Pro Page

Client Profile Videos

Healthy Eating to Support Strength Training

I promised a simple menu for a client that continues to work hard taking two steps forward at training but falls back three steps - thru her eating habits - and finds no gain is accomplished.

In fact, most of us struggle with the same issue.  I encourage people to make a selection and commit to a nutritional support program that you can live with - daily - for at least two months and then stand back and see the results of your work.   For example, my website provides a link to eDiets  which provides an array of diet and nutrition choices.  Pick one, sign up and work with it. 

Alternatively, you can use my simple menu below.  Simple, because it is void of a lot of choices; easy to remember and very basic.

Weigh yourself and mark the calendar.  Follow this menu every day for two months.  Email me and let me know how many pounds you lost as a result by sticking to the plan. If you incorporate a strength training and cardio/interval circuit workout, I will guarantee you will see a change in your body weight, a gain of muscle tone and loss of body fat.

Remember!  This is an EVERY DAY Plan 

Morning Meal -Small Bowl of Oatmeal - use cinnamon, cloves, raisins, etc to spice it up and keep it interesting.  Do not use the instant pre-sweetened, sugary packets.  Make it yourself from scratch!   Coffee, Tea or Juice or your choice. 

Yes, its a carb.  Yes, you need the energy.  Yes, it has fiber and will help keep your body regular and remove the cholesterol.  My favorite is Quaker Oats 1-Minute Quick Oats with 4-5 slices of Turkey Bacon and a large cup of coffee.

Mid-Morning Meal - Egg Whites - whether scrambled, an omelet or boiled.  Plan to eat 3-4 egg whites before 10am every morning.  Whole wheat or grain toast or muffin is great.  Make it interesting with peppers, onions, spinach, broccoli, feta cheese, whatever will help you to eat the clean protein.  If you miss the oatmeal you better not miss this one.  I eat some sort of Egg White Omelet every morning.  An alternative would be an egg white smoothie!  Yeech you say?  Ok, then use a Ready-to-Drink Meal like, Muscle Milk Ready-to-Drink Meals (11 ounces = 220 caloriesp; 9g carb, 11g fat, 21g protein packed) .  These can be found at TheVitaminShoppe.

Lunch - Healthy Protein (fish, chicken or beef) grilled or broiled (never fried) with colorful vegetables (green, orange, yellow, red, purple, get the picture, salad, broccoli, yams, carrots, corn, beets, squash, eggplant, etc.) No pasta, no rice, no potatoe, no bread.   Have the veggies cooked, steamed, broiled or raw.  Just eat them with the protein before 1:00pm. 

Mid-Afternoon Meal - Protein Snack - No not a candy bar or cake or a cookie.     Celery with Peanut Butter, Tuna with Celery, Apple with Peanut Butter, a Muscle Milk RTD, handful of nuts with a piece of fruit.  Combine a Complex Carb with a protein and fat for a small snack.  Because I am on the go, I tend to use the Muscle Milk drink or I grab an apple with a couple of spoons of peanut butter. Try it for 2 months and watch what happens.  Let me hear from you!
 
Dinner - Healthy Protein with colorful vegetables.  Same as lunch, just pick something different.  No wine, no beer and no soda. Try Crystal Light or Green Tea flavored water.  Dinner is best if it can happen between 5-7:00pm.

EveningSnack - Protein Snack - You guessed it, and RTD or a smoothie, a piece of cheese and a pear or apple.  Keep it light and simple.  You do not want a lot on your stomach while you are trying to let the body rest and recover for the evening.  This shouldn't be any later than 10:00pm. 

Then get up in the morning and start all over again!  

Cross Training With Pilates

If you are looking for a workout schedule that will burn fat at the same time as helping you produce a longer, leaner physique bear in mind Pilates.  Pilates programs are intended to help build up your strength and suppleness and combined with cardio training, will consistently help in burning calories, losing weight and burning fat.

The Pilates approach to exercise is one of the finest ways to get going on the road to good health.  TheStrengthClub.Net is all about weight resistance training in support of burning body fat.   The weight resistance helps your body to build muscle and it is muscle that really burns calories - even when you are at rest.  Constructing a lean muscle mass is the secret to turning your body into a lean mean fat-burning machine.

Yet, cross training with Pilates will help to add back the loss of suppleness and sometimes limited range of motion that may be experienced with too much weight training as a result of tight, constricted muscle.   Pilates is designed to expand and increase in length the muscles of the body.

With consistent work, students and enthusiasts of Pilates swear that they feel longer, taller and leaner.  While strength training is still an excellent way to stay in shape and to build up bone mass it does require a sense of balance.  I use Pilates Principles while training my private clients in the gym to help them gain control of the use of the core with balance and stability.  Pilates mat can help all people experience the same result.  Weight training exercises make tighter and shorten our muscles, whereas Pilates training elongates them. The outcome is a lean, fat-burning body that is additionally flexible and relaxed.

Go to ThePilatesClub.Net for an array of audio downloads available for Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced Mat.  Try out the Free Intro to Mat download and then add a mat class to your weekly training repertoire and notice the differences in your body as you lean out and burn up those calories. 

The Hardest Part is Eating Right!

The hardest part of training the body for every client I work with on a daily basis is what and how to eat on a regular basis.  I get more questions on this topic, see more puzzled faces, find more hidden secrets about what they are really doing from every good intentioned person on this topic.  It is a puzzle for most people.  The what, the how, the when and the nagging argument if the choices made were the right ones.

Most of us are actively in pursuit of the loss of a few pounds, the cinch of the waistline and the tightening of those legs and glutes.  My clients  work hard in their hours with me - on the floor in Pilates, in the gym or the park Strength Training, on the treadmill or the track running circles for miles of Cardio calorie burn.  Consistency in the area of activity is key.  But if you come home and chow down on the wrong foods because you "don't have time," "don't  know what to eat," "get tired of the same old thing," then you have probably given into failing the true lesson of living a fit and healthy lifestyle.

It is not about how much weight you can press, push or pull.  It is not about how many reps you put into a set.  It is not about how many perfect rollups or Teasers you can make happen.  If you take the time and energy to spend hours a week sweating to burn the calories, you may as well take the time and energy to feed the muscle you are trying to shape, tone and build.

The work is the same for everybody.  Fitness consultants, yoga or Pilates teachers, athletes, coaches and you!  You need energy to fuel a good workout and you need to honestly and effectively replenish the fuel with the right food after the workout.

Here is an example of Summer Time eating that I have been using regularly to stay on point and ready to deliver all my energy for the next client session - while still maintaining my body in its shape and form.

My morning starts at 5:00am when I get up and make a great strong (french expresso roast) cup of coffee.  I never seem to finish the oversized cup, but I keep making a large one anyway!  I generally have 4-5 slices of Louis Rich Turkey Bacon (I don't eat pork and the turkey is a leaner protein source). 

Whether summer, winter, spring or fall, I always have a large bowl of Quaker Oats oatmeal; add teaspoon of Olivio olive oil for the good fat it provides and a half-teaspoon of maple syrup.  I am out the door for a 6:00am client session. 

Today I taught a 9:00am Pilates class of 12 men and women, following the two early morning client sessions.  My breakfast held me until the end of the hour.  But by 10:00am, on most days, I am hungry again!  Before I start my own workout, I drank a whole container of a Muscle Milk Ready-to-Drink shake. I needed the extra fuel at that point, to support my 1.5 hour  gym workout; cardio for 45 minutes, using the treadmill (15 minutes), recumbent bike (10 minutes), vertical bike (10 minutes), elliptical (10 minutes).  Then a combo upper/lower body routine consisting of balance (single-leg) squats, deadlifts, cable abduction/adduction followed by frontal/lateral planks to pushups using the Bosu Trainer, followed by abdominals. 

By 11:30, I left the gym and was famished.  Now here is the good part.  I got home at  12:00pm and  I don't want to sound at all like Martha Stewart (she is surely not my style) but the last thing I wanted to do was wait a long time in preparation of a meal.  Just like you, I needed it to be quick, simple and easy! 

Easy Healthy Meal - For Lunch or Dinner

So, I pulled out a bag of frozen vegetables (medley of broccolli, cauliflower, carrots, summer squash) poured a little olive oil (splurged on flavor by using White Truffle, Extra Virgin - so deliciously decadent!) in my wok, sliced up one clove of garlic and sauteed it with the veggies till the edges were brown.  Added
a little water to fully steam them.  Simultaneously, I warmed a chicken breast (from the day before) in the microwave and by 12:20, I was eating the lunch of great protein and colorful vegetables and decided to blog about it as encouragement for you!

Any healthy protein (fish, chicken, beef or legumes) combined with brightly colored complex carbs (vegetables and low-sugar fruits) are the recommended ingredients to fuel your body and your workouts for the summer, winter, spring and fall.

The same quick preparation of veggies with a piece of salmon, halibut or even a grilled steak would be a great meal in the evening.

Hope this helps as another way to close the loop in the fitness puzzle for you.

Gina Jackson, Fitness Consultant, is the creator and energy behind Prescription4Fitness.com, TheStrengthClub.Net, TheCardioClub.Net and ThePilatesClub.Net; fitness resource websites, providing tips, articles, experts, news and MP3 downloads to help your fitness goals become realized.