Does this ever happen to you?

It’s midday, lunch is over and done with and there is still an hour or two before dinner. You’re working away at your job, busy with school or with the kids when you start feeling tired and begin to lose focus on what you’re doing. Or maybe you get a headache and the “little things” begin to get on your nerves.

This is what is known as the midday slump and it’s usually caused by a rapid drop in blood sugar. Combine this with a lack of proper rest and you have a recipe for weight gain.

What you do between the hours of 2pm and 4pm can have a dramatic impact on your weight loss efforts. There is a twofold effect that happens:

1.) When the slump hits your first instinct is to eat, eat, eat and your cravings are usually not for some health fruit or vegetables either.

2.) If you’re like me you make poor decisions when you’re hungry and that leads to pizza for dinner or a trip out to your local restaurant.

So how do you stop this from happening?

I usually fight this in 3 ways:

1.) I eat a smaller, more protein dense lunch. This way the drop in blood sugar is not so dramatic.

2.) I bring pre packed snacks so that I am not tempted to grab something really unhealthy. Granola bars, almonds, or 100 calorie snack packs are all good choices as well as at least 1 bottle of water.

3.) I get moving. Take a break from whatever you are doing and walk, stretch, or run. It doesn’t really matter just get your heart rate up and the blood flowing. You’ll be more alert and able to make better decisions.

One last suggestion I can give you is to get your rest at night. 6-8 hours a night at least. Most of us waste way too much time at night watching TV or dare I say on the computer. An extra 30-45 mins of sleep can really make a big difference during your day.

What do you think? What do you do to beat the midday slump?

What does a personal trainer do for you that you can’t already do on your own, right?

I asked myself that question a year ago while I was 35 Lbs over weight. I received a lot of advice from family and friends, mostly negative. They’re too expensive, not worth it, and just another way for the health club to make money was what I heard.

So naturally I signed up for some one on one sessions. I figured everyone that offered me their negative opinion was overweight and out of shape, so of course they would be against hiring a trainer.

Going in I thought I knew enough about weight lifting and cardio that this guy would be impressed. Boy was I wrong. Apparently my technique and form were really bad (that explains the shoulder and lower back injuries); currently up to 70% of people perform at least 1 weight lifting exercise incorrectly.

He also pointed out that I was missing out on all of the benefits from those last few reps that I quit on. I was “lifting for comfort and not for size or strength”. (His words)

What did my trainer do for me?

The 2 most important lessons that I learned from my trainer were:

1.) How to lift weights properly, for safety as well as maximum gains.
2.) How to push myself beyond my normal comfort zone, on my own.

To this day I still follow that advice and have been injury free ever since. As well as dropping the 35lbs

How Much do they cost?

This varies from city to city and gym to gym. I signed up for 10, 1 hour sessions and paid a total of $450. So you really need to check with your local health club. My sessions were without a meal plan. But the generally accepted fees are anywhere from $40 to $100 an hour.

Most health clubs have plans that include your trainer fees, fitness assessments and meal plans.

Conclusion

I do recommend hiring a personal trainer for at least 6 sessions anything less and you won’t really see the benefits. After that you should be knowledgeable enough to go it alone.

Follow these guidelines on how to pick a personal trainer. From Ray Burtons site buildingbodies.ca

How would you like to workout for less time but still achieve the same or better results than a longer workout?

If so the answer is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). This is a method of exercise where you alternate between going all out at maximum effort for short bursts and slowing to a more moderate “rest” pace. A typical session lasts from 15-25 minutes depending on your fitness level.

Why is it so important?

Burn baby, burn. Calories that is. You can burn more calories overall and more calories from fat versus lower intensity exercises. Which is amazing in itself but the real benefit comes after your workout is done. Studies have shown that performing HIIT keeps your metabolism raised for up to 24 hours following a session. Meaning you’re burning more calories while you sleep, work and play.

Lastly, doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) can help preserve the muscle mass that you already have, which you tend to lose with lower intensity activities.

How to do it

I use it while running but you can apply it to all sorts of exercise, biking, stairmaster etc..

Here is the 8 week program that I used to kick start my weight loss. Start each workout with a 3 minute warm-up and finish with a 3 minute cool down.

Week 1-2

Run at 90-100% of your max speed for 30 seconds.
Slow to 60-70% of your max speed for 2 minutes.

4 cycles – Total time including warm up/cool down
16 minutes

Week 3-4

Run at 90-100% for 30 seconds.
Slow to 60-70% for 1 minute.

6 cycles – Total time including warm up/cool down
15 minutes

Week 5-6

Run at 90-100% for 1 minute.
Slow to 60-70% for 1 minute.

6-7 cycles – Total time including warm up/cool down
18-20 minutes

Week 7-8

Run at 90-100% for 1 minute.
Slow to 60-70% for 30 seconds.

8-10 cycles – Total time including warm up/cool down
18 -21 minutes

If you aren’t seeing the kind of results you want with your current low intensity aerobic workouts, try switching them up for some HIIT. I think you will definitely feel and see the difference.

Here are some other great articles on the benefits of performing HIIT.

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