Kick Your Own Butt - Try This Glute Workout

I try to concentrate my workouts as much as can on lower body, since I have a LOT to work on my legs and well, my Brazilian rear end... no fancy way to say it.

Having dealt with hip injuries for a while, I learned the hard way that strengthening my hips and glutes was a priority not only to make them look good.

I try to stay as educated as I can in a variety of training, but I think I have a butt magnet in my brain (boy, does that sound weird!) :) I'm sure you know what I mean... ;)

I have A LOT to learn and am not creating anything new here. As I stated on my previous blog "Wake Your Butt Up!", glute activation and strengthening are not for a specific public. This stuff is for EVERYBODY. So, you will always see me coming back to it to try to motivate you to get stronger in that area as well (boys and gals).

Today's post is short and sweet. Just sharing a workout I like to do, starting with bodyweight glute activation exercises first, to fire the glutes properly, then moving to HEAVY sets.

Quick disclaimer: if you don't know proper form for these exercises, make sure you get it right first (here comes the value of consulting a trainer):Bodyweight (2 sets x 15 reps each):
Single leg bridges x lateral band walk
Single leg sit/stand  x donkey kicks

Heavy (3-4 sets x 12-15 reps):
Squats x Single leg step back lunge/high knee
Barbell Stiff-legged deadlift x Barbell hip bridges
Heavy walking lunges (active rest with bodyweight bridges) 

Once a month won't do anything for you. I'd recommend 2-3 times per week (depending on how you recover), so stay consistent and talk to a trainer if you don't know how to progress or change it up. I hope you enjoy it!
Can't leave out huge thanks to Nick Tumminello and Bret Contreras for the fabulous teaching and inspiration, in addition to the awesome (butt)wake up calls!

The Answer is YES, TRX Is For You Too!!

Most of my clients come to me looking for high intensity/fat loss training, as more people start to appreciate the results I deliver along with my clients’ hard work. Hardcore, mean J , tough, brutal, were adjectives that I could hear often about my style and results. Sometimes fun, but Woah! From a different perspective it concerned me that people would think that I would make them do burpees supersetting with pull ups at their first session, make them dizzy, nauseous and injured, but so what! As long as they could lose 10lbs in 2 weeks, that should be all good, right? Nooooooooope! I lifted my Stop sign right there a while ago, as I had to work with regressions and slow a lot of people down to address threatening weaknesses that could easily turn into injuries. There I was looking to incorporate more functional training.

Rewind a bit here. I found TRX Suspension Training on the internet while looking for portable tools as I was expanding my in-home training clientele in NC. The stability ball was too big to get in and out of the car, bands were a great tool, but not for everything I wanted to explore, dumbbells my favorite but heavy. My jaw dropped when I saw this crazy all-in-one tool, as I first called it.

There was only 1 TRX available at the gym I used to work for in NC, but I quickly started to incorporate as much as I could understand, while I tried to educate myself. Life fast forwarded me to MD, where I started to use TRX more regularly almost 2 years ago. I was reluctant until I started to learn more regressions to use clients of all levels, specially because of my challenging training style.

That’s when I loaded my clientele (even more my own workouts) with TRX options to “slow them down” and help them to take ownership of their bodies and training.


Yours truly anchored to a tree. Work those shoulders and back!

As Suspension Training was a challenge for them to deal with the fear of “hanging themselves” off of straps, they started to better understand their bodies, recruit more muscles, feel inch by inch what muscle activation meant.

For the tough cookies, I could applied the progressions, more challenging options, also taking advantage of fusion workouts, mixing TRX, machines and free weights in the same session.

The ones who had more challenges  (balance, strength, stability, or mobility) started to show responses that, to be honest with you, I wasn’t even expecting that fast.

Flexibility gains were opening the doors to more difficult moves. Core stability was blowing my mind away, bringing up performance to the next level. “Dormant butts” were waking up, abs were on fire, planks were lifting off the ground. The fear was dissipating and pains were going away!

The case I’m most passionate about is the gains of strength of a client with a spinal tumor that visibly affected her right side. At first, we couldn’t maintain secure grip of the handles, but now she does pulling movements, keeping her grip and her shoulders stable. No injuries! Her doctors were impressed with the gains on upper body strength and development of muscle tone on that affected side.  

Soon, the opportunity came and after I very thorough and extensive training, I became a TRX R4 Trainer, and started to teach group classes, through my TRX Training Camp. The group setting was the living proof that the “all-in-one portable” tool could work for everyone and anyone at the same time. Same workout, different fitness levels and the system worked its magic smoothly. The feedback was amazing, huge gains in strength, postural correction, improvement for runners, muscle definition, you name it.

Of course I wanted to learn more!


TRX Sports Med STC, Gaithersburg, MD 6/5/2011

I had the privilege to attend the TRX Sports Medicine Suspension Training Course this past weekend, coached by Chris Nentarz, and I my mind was once again blown away by the endless possibilities to bring back people coming out of injuries who need or simply want to gain (or re-gain) peak performance. No matter what peak performance means to you. For some, just the ability of standing up and rotating their shoulders can mean a life-change. There is no “oh, then TRX is not for you”. There is ALWAYS an option, there is ALWAYS a regression, and there will be always improvement through the different pathways your body will find to become functionally fit.

Have you ever had a leg injury? Has your knee ever been cranky? How about twisting your ankle? Have you ever fallen?

Would you like some numbers? There is scientific evidence proving that leveraging your own bodyweight and manipulation your stability, you can benefit from key findings. Here stealing from the information provided by TRX Suspension Training about reduction of risk of injuries and about improving health and fitness:

-         Lower limb injuries by 39% .

-         Acute knee injuries by 54% .

-         Ankle sprain injuries by 50% .

-         Recurrence of ankle sprain reduced two-fold.

-         ACL injuries by 88%!!!!!!!!!!!!

-         Safe and effective in reducing fall risk.

-         Improving performance such as vertical jump height increase in 9%.

Yes, I totally dig it. Why? Client feedback. That simple. It just works.

Cute fact: my daughter loves it too. J

It’s your turn now… And to answer your question, YES, TRX is for you.

Here Comes The Sun!! What's The D(eal)??

Here comes the sun! I come from a tropical country, so that makes my heart smile!

My body smiles too because that increases my chances of exposure to the sun with moderation, not only to look tanned, but also to boost my Vitamin D level.  The ultraviolet rays help the body synthesize that vitamin. However that’s just a small percentage from what your body needs.

As part of my current fat loss health recovery journey, I found out my Vitamin D level is low and I am not on a prescription dosage to bring it back up in addition to a higher nutritional supplementation. To me, that’s a big deal because studies show that low levels of vitamin D can be associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart problems, and obesity.

The last one particularly interests me in my journey.

I had learned through Metabolic Effect’s Dr. Jade Teta that University of Minnesota’s researcher Shalamar Sibley has found that inadequate levels of vitamin D could inhibit a overweight person’s ability to lose fat, even on a fat loss/weight loss diet.

That totally caught my eye!

The doctor did not recruit specifically people who had low levels of Vitamin D. She was doing a weight loss study with overweight  and they all happened to be Vit D deficient! That obviously indicated some relation with the problem.

The more elevated vitamin D levels found in that study also predicted higher fat loss, specially in the abdominal area.

Now I’m sure more research is popping up with more definitive conclusions.

Also, how about your ability to exercise, exert without pain or injury? Certainly keep an eye on that too! Another research from the same University showed that in a group of 150 patients who had chronic musculoskeletal pain, an alarming 93% were deficient in Vitamin D.

So, if you are a calcium freak to get your bones strong, you’d better check your Vitamin D level because that’s essential for calcium absorption too.

So, get some sun, check out the food list below to boost your vitamin D intake, but most importantly, CHECK YOUR VITAMIN D LEVEL!!!!!

I’m not a doctor, so I can’t recommend dosages. Mine has to be kept between 3,000-5,000 IU just for maintenance! I’m also on a 3 month treatment of 50,000 per week prescribed by my doctor. Again, each person is different, so ASK YOUR PROVIDER, but please don’t let something so simple become a huge problem for you.

Here is a list of some foods and their Vitamin D content.

SOURCE:			VITAMIN D CONTENT
SALMON
	fresh, wild (3.5 oz)		about 600-1,000 IU of D3
	fresh, farmed (3.5oz)		about 100-250 IU of D3 or D2
	canned (3.5 oz)		about 300-600 IU of D3
SARDINES, canned (3.5 oz)			about 300 IU of D3
MACKEREL canned (3.5 oz)			about 250 IU of D3
TUNA canned (3.5 oz)			about 230 IU of D3
COD LIVER oil (1 tsp)			about 400-1000 IU of D3
SHITAKE MUSHROOMS
	fresh (3.5oz)		about 100 IU of D2
	sun-dried (3.5oz)		about 1600 IU of D2
EGG YOLK			about 20 IU of D3 or D2
EXPOSURE TO SUNLIGHT			about 3000 IU of D3
UV B radiation (0.5 minimal erythemal dose)
FORTIFIED FOODS
	milk		about 100 IU/8oz, usually D3
	orange juice		about 100 IU/8oz, D3
	Infant formulas		about 100 IU/8oz, D3
	yogurts		about 100 IU/8oz, usually D3
ASK YOUR PROVIDER ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS!!

What's Holding You Prisoner? Lighten up! IT'S OK!

Life is crazy. Yes, it is. And how long can we sustain that as an excuse to let go? Sorry, but that IS an excuse. It’s been mine several times because I was exhausted and feeling sorry for myself. Uuhhh yeah because I happen to be human, I happen to get tired, angry, frustrated at times, because things just happen and we have to deal with them.

Are you too busy to make things happen for yourself?

Here is the scenario of my busiest day: Wake up at 4am, start working at 5:30. Leave at 2:30 to pick my daughter up from school. Help her with homework, feed her, supervise her shower, take mine to get ready to go back, answer e-mails, make a couple of phone calls, go back to work at 5pm, work until 9:30pm. I’m POOPED!

Last year, that use to be my schedule Monday through Thursday and I'd work Saturdays until the afternoon. I’m no hero. This brought me down to my knees. My stress level was brutal and it took me almost 1 year to adjust my schedule.

Interestingly enough, the busiest time last year was when I was the most compliant with my fat loss lifestyle, seeing huge results. Had problems not getting enough sleep, but I was doing great! Surely enough, my poor stress management caught up with me, and I couldn’t keep up. I crashed.

Not getting into the details I already mentioned on a previous blog, my struggle was huge, gaining fat back, having health issues. I asked for help and am doing what I was told to do: to take care of myself. I'm following not only my diet but also my health plan. Hey! By he way, how is your health?

In what I DO NOT call a coincidence, I’m finally back to MY fat loss lifestyle, feeling right about what, when and how I’m eating. I’m indulging when I can, resuming my plan when I’m supposed to and slowly feeling the changes, even though I don’t see them as much as of yet. I made peace with the idea that this is going to be a bit long of a process, but feeling well makes it doable for me. Are you ok with taking time to heal? 

What makes it doable for you to sustain the lifestyle you wish to have?? Or simply what makes you want to get back to it.?

I felt I had hit the switch not too long ago, but couldn’t sustain it. It was terrible because I was all excited at first, but my body was so out of whack that I had to dig deeper. I’m currently following a plan to find the right balance for my body with the help of the amazing Naturopath Dr Jade Teta, also founder of the Metabolic Effect concept.

Do you need help? Are you ASKING for help? Instead of expecting people to understand how you feel or act, TELL THEM, ASK THEM.  Not talking about support only. Talking here about expertise too!!

How are your workouts? If you know what to do in terms of your workouts, do you have the motivation you need to get out there?

So, just brainstorming here on my favorite options.

Hire a trainer is my suggestion number 1. Why? Because you can have individualized attention, discuss your goals, setbacks, and get a good butt kicking. Basically your trainer will certainly help you push more than you would just by yourself if motivation is an issue right now. I personally think that having a trainer makes it soooooo much more fun and keeps you accountable. 

If you can get your butt out the door and just need somebody telling you what to do, you can take advantage of video/workouts such as the ones you find on FitnessByTY.com .

Take some group exercise classes! My suggestion is that you look for the short duration, high intensity ones. Flat out. If you are in the MD/VA/DC area, come take my Metabolic Effect class at Rio Sport&Health. If you need a guest pass to try it, let me know.

Stick to short cardio workouts too. Why are you going to spend 3 hours at the gym when you can barely convince yourself to get your foot out the door? So, pretty basic, do this quickie: hop on the elliptical, warm up at medium intensity for 5 minutes, then PLAY with the resistance! Go 1 minute super hard at higher resistance, than bring it back to low resistance and chill, just moving slowly for 1 minute, repeat and repeat until you get to 20 minutes, then do a cool down for 5 minutes on the elliptical, or walk around for 5 minutes. I like listening to Pandora, by the way. J

I’m not rediscovering gunpowder here. You’ve read or heard all this before, right? So, what’s the deal?

I heard from somebody the other day: “I don’t want to live in a prison”.

Fat loss is not a prison! It’s a choice. You can choose anytime. And yes, you can go off and on all the time. Just beware of what’s going to happen to your body, and specially to how you feel about yourself. Take responsibility too. Are you ready for the rebound? Is it worth it to throw everything up in the air and say “I’m done with this, give me chocolate and beer every night!” ?

Now, to me, THAT’S the prison. A fat loss diet can be hard because it does take will power and time to understand my body, but nothing can be worse to me than looking at myself and seeing that sometimes by choice, I’m letting myself go without looking back. When I reached that point, my own body felt like a prison.

I’m not talking about falling out the wagon here and there. That’s part of the process, bumps in the journey and it doesn’t have to be such a big deal to make you give up and say it won’t work for you. That’s too easy to say, but it will be much harder to deal with it.

If you are using your tools to control your cravings, hunger and energy level, guess what’s left?? Your compliance. And that’s key. That’s YOUR choice. But you will hop in, hop out, do it again, then slip, then every time you will learn something new, you can always take something good out of it.

You don’t have to convince me. Convince yourself. Wait! Do you really need to “convince” yourself? Find your purpose. Stop self-battling. Try the little things first if big changes are so hard for you. IT IS OK. Sometimes, that one, simple, little thing will open a big window to a beautiful new fat loss day. Be good to yourself.  J

Power in Transparency and Being You: Fitness Talent Jill Coleman's Success Story Interview

About 2 years ago, doing some serious fitness homework, looking for effective and motivating techniques to help my fat loss clients, I came across this CRAZY video, with this hot chick, HAMMERING heavy dumbbells, with an amazing coach in the background.

Freeze here for a second. J ) Jill Coleman, creator of JillFit Physiques, fitness pro competitor and model, Metabolic Effect’s Director of Instructor Training and the Fitness Coordinator at Wake Forest University. Jill holds a B.S. in Health and Exercise Science, an MS in Human Nutrition and is an ACSM-certified personal trainer. Well, I guess enough said…  

From Fluff to Buff: Meet Scott

You haven't seen the before and after pictures yet, can start this article by scrolling down and checking them out if you want. OR you can see the change happening through the lines, even before you get to the bottom line of this story. Your call.

It was January 2010. Gym packed with New Year’s “resolutioners”. Tons of brand new people. It didn’t take me long to find Scott. He was there, punctual, ready to be found. As I always do, I asked Scott what made him make the move to sign up for training. The first few sessions were a gift from his father, who listened to Scott’s desire to change his life. “I want to lose weight and get in better shape”, Scott answered. I insisted: “Ok, fair enough, now tell me WHY are you really here? Why do you want to lose weight?”

His answer made the world stop and reset for a second: “I want to see my daughters grow up.”

Scott was on several medications, for high blood pressure, cholesterol, sleeping meds. In addition to other things, there was also the inseparable mask that he needed to let him breath through his sleep apnea.

Being 5’4” and almost 190lbs, we both knew that was a serious talk. There was no half way, and for Scott, there was no way back. The game was ON.

Scott told me he would follow all my recommendations to achieve his goals. “Whatever it takes”. I loved the enthusiasm, however I knew the challenge we were facing. Even basic bodyweight movements were hard. Scott couldn’t do a lunge or go up the stairs without huffing and puffing. Tough grounds to move from a sedentary lifestyle and get into a healthy lifestyle HABIT.

To my surprise and excitement, Scott literally followed every single advice offered, in training and nutrition, and kept renewing his training packages. He cleaned his eating to a high quality fat loss diet, and trained 3 times per week with me. We concentrated in high intensity workouts, focusing on the Metabolic Effect's Rest-Based Training technique. Scott also added swimming and bike rides to boost the workouts and stay active.

It didn’t take long for Scott to start seeing results. The first 2 weeks, 10 lbs down. Whoa! That was A LOT. I was doing my best to motivate him to stay away from low calorie diets, and he listened! Scott started eating more protein adn vegetables, eating more frequently, and controlling his carbohydrate intake. He was eating more, and losing fat.

It’s been always a motivation to me as a trainer to see Scott’s commitment. Flawless punctuality, keeping track of his progress, asking questions to make sure we were on the right path.

The first short term goal was hit in March 2010. A ski trip with his father and brother. I can’t express how happy I was to get a quick e-mail update from Scott, thrilled to be absolutely ROCKING the ski trip. His quads didn’t let him down, he felt great, strong, lighter! It was just the beginning…

Summer came and the wardrobe was changing to much smaller clothes. The fat percentage coming down, as well as the scale numbers.

But the best updates start to come from his blood work and doctor’s check up. The meds dosages were dropping like dead flies, and it wasn’t even a year after the start, Scott was off of all of them, including the sleep apnea machine. Cured? You can call it whatever you want. I call it FREE.

Scott was experiencing the most important freedom. Freedom from the fear of not being around to see his children grow up. Freedom from discomfort, low self-esteem, from meds, and machines, from the body that just didn’t match such light spirit.

Scott’s shoulders were no longer rounded forward to hide the “unhidable” belly. Scott was then all shoulders back, chest forward. His muscle definition several times susrprised him and made him stop in front of the gym mirrors so he could appreciate it. J

The self-confidence was matching other changes in Scott’s personal and professional life too. It was all coming along, just because that one day back in January, he decided that not a single day would go by without him empowering himself.

Along this journey I had the pleasure to meet Scott’s parents. I trained his mom (my sweetheart) for several months and also had a chance to hug his dad and chat about how proud we both were to see Scott turning a heavy sluggish body into a fierce machine.

To balance out the intensity training, Scott also started doing pilates once a week, and is now digging the Trigger Point Performance Therapy. He is getting more flexible, more functional. He can perform exercises he couldn't before. He is absolutely an unstoppable inspiration.

The challenges keep coming. We’ve had to pull the horse’s rein to stay focused and go through ups and downs.  It was NEVER easy. Busy life, tons of business traveling, vacations… life didn’t simply stop to wait for Scott, but Scott didn’t stop to get run over by life either. He even came up with his own title for his fitness story: "From Fluff to Buff".

We are always working on his new goals, keeping his fat loss lifestyle in check. He never lets down the passion on his quest to keep the journey along his two beautiful daughters and his wife.  Specially now that he can enjoy more active time outdoors with them without losing his breath. Who knew.

Scott is now 46lbs down, no meds, no machines, and had a drop of ~9% in Body Fat.

	Jan-10	Apr-10
Body Fat	28.60%	19.90%
Arm	13 1/2	11 5/8
Chest	43 1/2	37 3/4
Waist	41 1/2	33 1/2
Hip	40	36
Thigh	22	19
Calf	16	14 1/4
Weight	190 lbs	144 lbs

To keep his privacy mainly for professional reasons, Scott’s face is cropped off the pictures. On the other hand, he’s proud to show his body. J Meet Scott’s body before, and recently at his best: