Top 5 March Madness Tips

If you have not heard- March Madness is here. In my opinion the real March Madness is the Division I Wrestling Tournament that starts this week. But, I know I am out numbered in that debate!

Either way, there are 5 huge lessons you can learn from these dedicated, talented athletes in pursuit of your health and fitness goals! And they all still pertain whether you are an average Joe/Jane that hates to work out, or a has-been work out warrior who is completely out of shape right now.

Also, at the end of the post is a link to register to win over $1200 in training to get your fit on just in time for outdoor pool and barbeque season!

So, here are 5 tips that you can learn from amazing athletes to help you reach your health and fitness goals!

1. You Must have a POWERFUL and Compelling Purpose or Goal

Basketball players want their team to win the title. Wrestlers want to become individual and team champions. What is your goal?

Tell me this. Do you love working out? I mean every day, getting great strength and cardio work outs in. I doubt it. I know I don’t! There are often days when I don’t feel like working out. And most of our clients are the same- they don’t always LOVE working out. Not only that, but the hardest part of losing weight and body fat is cutting out the tasty junk and sticking with eating healthy food. All the more reason to have a strong reason. If your goal is not important, you will not do what needs done to get to the goal (Unless you develop a love for working out over night!)

2. Make it a Priority

Do you think that Doug McDermot and the Jays show up for practice even on days they get busy doing other things or don’t feel like practicing? Do you think that Tony Ramos and the Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers work out even when they are sore or tired from a stressful week?

I would guess that they don’t miss. Period. You have to develop consistency in exercise, healthy shopping, planning ahead, and the other things you need to get in shape. Dan Gable is famous for saying “If it is important, do it every day.” If that means you skip your favorite t.v. show, or a night out with the girls watching “The Bachelor”, then that is what you have to do!

3. Make it Social

The best teams have unity and friendships that help them succeed. The same is true for you! Make sure that you have people on your team that will help you and encourage you.  Maybe even let you know if you are slipping a bit. At DeVetter Fitness, we are really good at that. So if you need a little help, call or e-mail today and we will be there to help you to the championship of your goals.

4. Have a Proven Game Plan

I am a huge John Wooden Fan, even as a wrestling coach and former wrestler. He had a great plan for each practice, week, game, and season. Everything was planned out to a T. And he had a proven plan that he was always working on to make even better. Don’t just start trying to eat healthy or going to the gym with out a plan. Make sure that you have a plan for success.

5. Enjoy the Process

The best athletes know that with the hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice they are working toward their goals and that they won’t be able to do it forever. They enjoy it while it lasts. Nothing reminds you of that like being sick or injured and not being able to do the things that you usually do. So, even if it is hard, make sure to enjoy the process of improving your health and wellness. Make sure to celebrate even the little victories and to forgive yourself when you make a mistake. Be thankful that you are healthy enough to have the abillity to choose to make those changes. And make sure to enjoy the time that you spend with others who are helping you on the way even if it involves a little sweat and healthy eating!

Now, the part where you can win 6 months of Boot Camp! All totally free!! Just click here, and follow the instructions. It won’t take more than two minutes. I promise! Hurry and get entered, because the deadline is Friday March 21st at 5 p.m.

Monkeys, a FREE TRX Work Out and a Mango Salsa Garnish That Will Make Any Fish Taste Great!

WOW!  That title is all over the place, but only because I have some cool stuff to share today.

As I write this I am enjoying a beautiful ocean view in lovely Red Frog Beach, Panama.   My wife Jeannine and I have been having such a great time and all without completely wrecking our health and fitness goals.

Just chilling out, thinking back on our activities of the day got me thinking… since you can’t have me on vacation, maybe it would be helpful to give you a go to work out to keep you on track to your health and fitness goals.

Along with the tips I have included a delicious mango salsa garnish that you could use on fish or chicken (not with chips because we are trying to have a healthy vacation, right?).

I am calling the TRX work out the Monkey Work Out because I saw 5 white faced monkeys while working out in the jungle.  How cool is that- working out in the jungle with monkeys? It is definitely one of my top 10 favorite work outs ever!

Before I get to the good stuff, I want you to know that I realize that most people like to relax and unwind on vacation with lots of rich food and drinks.  I am not saying you have to forgo all that.

I just feel bad for our clients and friends who work so hard, then take two steps back by eating whatever they want and not working out on vacation.  It’s not worth it.  If you try to eat healthy and limit your adult beverages (notice that I did not say eliminate), you can relax, unwind, and not feel guilty about it when you come back!  So here is the Mango Salsa and the Monkey Work Out.

Espero que te guste.  I hope that you like it (or something close to that)

Mango Salsa Garnish Recipe

1 mango
1 tomato
1 green onion
½ red onion
1 handful of cilantro
1 medium red pepper
1 lime (use all of the juice)
½ orange (use all of the juice)

TRX Monkey Work Out

Hit a 5 minute body weight warm up of your choice and you have got a fun                        and challenging work out that you can knock out in less than 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Lower TRX straps to the bottom
4 sets of :30 work followed by :15 rest

1a. Feet in the TRX Incline Push Ups
1b. Single Leg Bulgarian Split Squat (both sides)

Raise TRX up to hip height
3 sets of :30 work followed by :15 rest

1a. TRX Squats or Squat Jumps (based on your ability)
1b. Modified Pull-Ups
1c. Triceps Extensions
1d. TRX Biceps Curls

If you need help with your health and fitness goals, click here to request a free consultation! Otherwise, if you have any questions on the work out or the salsa, just comment below.

 

7 Habits of Highly Effective Weight Losers

The name of this post may sound familiar to those of you who have read “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Stephan Covey.

These tips do not follow the outline of the book closely, but like the habits in the book, they deal with changing your whole mindset when it comes to your health!

So here you go. Make sure to leave a comment if any of these really hit home for you!

1. Control what you can—What you eat, your exercise, sleep…

2. When you control what you can, realize that your weight WILL fluctuate (especially for women), no matter how well you are doing. Look at the trend over time. It’s just like the stock market. You can’t freak out if your stock goes down one week; instead, you should look at the trends over time. Some weeks you will lose more than others. Some weeks you may not lose. Remember that you are in it for the long haul! And most of our clients that have had amazing transformations have done it over time by changing habits. They did not give up even if they had a bad week.

3. Make eating and exercise habits a lifestyle. What you eat will account for at least 75% of your results. When you combine eating, exercise and all of the components in a complete program, you can build lean muscle, lose body fat and tone up all at once.

4. Remember that although weight loss is a good goal, it is not the only thing to watch. Maybe even more important are inches, how your clothes fit, body fat and energy levels. If you have not already read the article about 5 women who all weigh the same, click here and read it.

5. Replace lesser habits with habits that are conducive with your goals- A large part of changing your lifestyle to a healthier lifestyle is to replace other habits, even non destructive ones, with habits that help you eat healthy and stay active. Sadly, we only have 24 hours in a day, so that may mean cutting out some TV shows or social events to make time for new priorities. But if the goal is important to you, it will be worth it!

6. Find Social support and accountability. Weight loss is hard. There will be times that you stall or slow down. It can be easy to get frustrated and give up, but don’t do it! Surround yourself with people, whether it’s family, friends or a trainer, who will help you through.

7. Address the physical, mental and spiritual issues that may be holding you back! Some people discover that they have always seen themselves as heavy, and so mentally they have a hard time realizing that they can get healthy. Some people use food to cope with stress or other issues that come up. Going through this journey you can learn a lot about yourself.

8. Okay, there is a bonus. #8 is to KNOW that you can do this! No matter how many times you have tried quick fixes or diets and failed. You can develop a healthy lifestyle that will lead to the results you are looking for. But it won’t happen if you don’t think that it can. Think about that for a minute…

Good luck!

If you need help with your health and fitness goals, click here to request a free consultation! Otherwise, leave a comment with your weight loss tips.

Does Rachel from Biggest Loser Weigh Too Little?

Rachel from Biggest Loser after losing 155 pounds

Everyone is talking about Rachel on The Biggest Loser! Rachel, who was a former competitive swimmer lost 155 pounds while on The Biggest Loser. She went from a starting weight of 260 to 105 pounds. That is an incredible amount of weight loss. The most shocking thing was what Rachel looked like at the final weigh-in after she had been working out on her own at home.

Check out Rachel’s before and after pictures on the right.

She does not look anything like when she first started. In fact she is much thinner than many of the photos of her when she was swimming competitively. Many people think that she looks unhealthy and sick. Here is my take:

First of all, I don’t think it is fair for me or anyone else to tell someone if they should lose weight (although we can help you if you want 🙂 ) OR to gain weight. Saying that Rachel needs to gain weight is no different than telling someone that they are heavy and need to lose weight. It is not generally anyone else’s business. Our value is not defined by how we look or what the scale says. No one should feel inferior because of their weight or looks.

Rachel at her starting weight of 260 pounds.

Next, there is a $250,000 prize on the line for The Biggest Loser. I guarantee that many if not all of the contestants are eating less and drinking less the day or two before the weigh-ins. I would be willing to be that Rachel’s sucked down look is from trying to be at the lowest weight possible for this competition. I would guess that she was at least 10 pounds heavier a few days before. That is not ideal, and you should not do it on a regular basis, but tell me that you would not do it one time for a shot at $250,000… I doubt that too many of you would say that.

My hope for Rachel is that she changed her lifestyle to one of eating healthy nutrient-dense foods and working out on a regular basis. I can’t tell you if that is the case with her or not. The hardest part about a show like The Biggest Loser is that the contestants have to go back to the real world with all of its stresses and the lack of trainers, time and nutritionists on call 24 hours per day. There have been some contestants who have kept their healthy lifestyle after they left and many more that have gone right back to where they started.

The biggest thing that they and you need to know is that health and wellness is a process and a lifestyle. It is not a destination. Set goals. When you reach those goals, set new goals. Find people and things that help encourage you in that lifestyle. If you do that, you are on your way to achieving your health and fitness goals for life!

If you need help give us call at 402-301-8657 or sign up for a free consult. We will be happy to help!

My Fitness Journey

by Shelley Lessig

Shelley Lessig (far right) towards the start of her health and fitness journey.

The summer of 2010 was the beginning of a journey I didn’t see coming. As a child and later as an adult, my weight had always fluctuated a bit. As I became a mom and settled into family life, I found myself wearing comfy clothes on the weekends and oversized sweaters to work. Later on, when my changed careers, I traded in my sweaters for nursing scrubs, which are built to be forgiving—in this case, it wasn’t helpful.

Even though I had always cared about my appearance, subconsciously I now know I was trying to hide my extra weight. When I look at pictures of myself before boot camp, I can see how that wasn’t working. Although I would entertain the idea of losing weight and becoming more fit, I hadn’t given it serious thought and I continued to enjoy my same eating habits. I hadn’t committed myself to making a change.

During my time as a student in an accelerated nursing program, I had lost some weight due to stress (who knew changing careers would be stressful?) and my crazy schedule. Losing weight felt good, but after I graduated and life returned to a normal pace, the extra weight returned. In my free time, I had watched weight-loss makeover shows and I thought, “I could do that.” During the spring of 2010, I found a DeVetter Fitness Groupon. I figured that for the cost of this Groupon, I could definitely give boot camp a try. I had nothing to lose. I was tired of carrying extra weight around and I wanted to look and feel good in my clothes again.

When I started boot camp at DeVetter Fitness, I thought it would be a short-term experience (a few weeks, a couple months). I was amazed at how helpful and supportive everyone was. Even though I had 50+ lbs. to lose I was able to talk to Chas without feeling overly self-conscious. My journey gradually transitioned from a short-term experiment to a way of life.

As time went by, I began to understand maintaining health is not a destination, but a life-long journey. A key to maintaining this is in turning healthy diet and exercise into a lifestyle. Committing yourself to change is something only you can do for yourself. You have to want it. If you don’t, you won’t be successful. When I bought the boot camp Groupon, I was in the early phase of my journey and I didn’t get it. I found silly reasons why I couldn’t start right away. This week was too busy—that week wasn’t good for whatever reason. Exercise has to be something as normal as brushing your teeth. It’s something you do to hold on to your health and extend your quality of life. And, it can be fun and enjoyable—I found the key to be finding activities I enjoy.

Shelley Lessig after losing 50 pounds!

As the weeks flew by, I began to push myself and the inches began to fade away. Initially, I didn’t see a huge change on the scale, but my clothes fit better and most importantly, I felt better.  When I finally jumped on board with tracking my diet more changes started to happen. I never liked fad diets or the idea of “counting points.” Tracking my diet showed me where I had been going wrong. My whole life I had always had a huge sweet tooth. Thankfully, it is now under control and I crave protein instead of sweets. Can a person eat too much peanut butter? Probably, but that’s another topic. I don’t miss the added carbs, unhealthy fats and sugar. Who would have guessed? Amazing…

In addition to learning how to track my diet, nutritional education provided by DeVetter Fitness showed me how to shop the perimeter of the grocery store—I now purchase less processed/boxed foods, and I pay attention to serving sizes. I never used to think about how much of something I was eating. I’d grab a bowl, scoop some ice cream and away I’d go. It’s amazing how many extra calories a person can consume without realizing it! Thankfully, this is something I have been able to teach my kids. Not that my 14-year-old is hearing me now, but hopefully he’ll remember it in the future. Many foods look like they would be single servings until you look closely at the label and realize there are multiple servings inside (hello, Pop tarts… this has become a “sometimes” food for my son and most of the time he doesn’t even realize they are gone).

Another important lesson I learned is in eating enough calories. Many people think by skipping meals you’ll lose weight, but all they’re doing is starving their bodies and messing up their metabolism. Learning how to calculate the calories I needed to lose weight and eating every 3-4 hours helped me along my weight loss journey. It’s true; in order to lose weight a person needs to eat. It’s what you eat and more importantly, what you don’t.

So now, I plan out healthy meals and snacks for home and when I’m at work. Having healthy snacks available prevents me from being tempted to eat junk. It’s easy to throw nuts or cut up fruits or veggies in a bag and have them ready to go. I also keep track of my cheat meals. Cheat meals are important and everyone needs to have something they crave once in awhile (Mmm… taco pizza). Being successful with losing and maintaining weight isn’t about always depriving yourself of foods you love.

Fellow bootcamper Phyllis Bishoff (left) and Shelley Lessig (right)

The last big thing I learned was how important it was to surround myself with people who support my lifestyle changes. This hasn’t always been easy, but it’s important to have a support system, especially in the beginning. Surround yourself with people who value living a healthy lifestyle whenever possible. My DeVetter Fitness friends have been very supportive, which has been wonderful. Not only have I lost weight, I am also healthier than I have been in years. Being physically fit has given me the confidence to try new things (run, bike, climb, crawl through mud, etc.) and to venture out of my comfort zone.

I’ve been in the maintenance phase of my fitness journey for more than two years and I feel like I’m on autopilot, which is awesome. I’ve learned how to eat healthy, how to make exercise a priority, and where to make changes if the scale starts to rise. Chas has often said maintenance is easier than losing weight and I would definitely agree.

If you find yourself reading this thinking that this could be you, wanting to lose weight, wanting to be more fit, wanting to be healthier, what are you waiting for? I’m living proof that where there is a will, there is a way. I look forward to seeing you at boot camp!

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If you would like to achieve your weight loss goals like Shelley did, click here to request a free consultation!

Got Motivation?

There are certain times of year that new clients, long time clients and everyone in general seems motivated to finally lose weight, get fit, eat healthy, be active and get into shape!

This is not one of those times of year.

There are also several times of year that people start to lose resolve, get worn out and let things slide a bit more than they would have before. You know, the old frog in the pot story. If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water it will jump right out, but if you put a frog in a pot of warm water and gradually turn up the heat it will get used to the change in temp and boil to death.

That example might be a little extreme when comparing it to peoples health and fitness, but you get the point. We start to see client who have lost huge amounts of weight gradually allowing just a little more junk food or maybe skipping a workout here and there. Little do they know, it all adds up!

As humans, we naturally have more energy and excitement certain times of day, days of the month, and times of year. So, how can anyone stick to that HUGE fitness goal that they set out to achieve? Here are some tips to embrace the grind, push through tough spots and get to your goals. After all, it is all about consistently doing the right things.

1. Know your “why”—Every major accomplishment takes discipline and commitment when you don’t feel like doing it. Even NFL, NBA and Olympic athletes have many times that they do not feel like practicing, watching film or doing whatever they need to do in order to be successful. The good ones do it anyway and they do it full throttle, all out. Even when they don’t feel like it. For them the “why” could be to win a championship, be the best at their position or even to put food on the table for their family. WHAT IS YOUR “WHY”?
2. Consistently track and monitor—The worst thing that you can do if you have a goal of weight loss is to not ever check your weight. Or if your goal is to increase running speed, it is not a good idea to just run without ever timing yourself. It makes sense, but often when people fall off the wagon they just bury their head in the sand and avoid measuring that which they had hoped to improve. At DeVetter Fitness we have our clients fill out a weekly accountability sheet. The goal is to celebrate the good weeks, but also to find out when things are off track sooner, so that our clients can draw a line in the sand and kick it back into gear.
3. Make it as fun as possible—Fitness and nutrition can be fun if you make an effort. Here is what I mean. In order to keep things fresh with your healthy eating, it is a good idea to constantly be looking for new healthy fruits, veggies, recipes, healthy eating blogs and other things that will peak your interest and keep healthy eating from getting stale and boring. As far as fitness goes—get off the treadmill or elliptical everyday. Or quit doing the same bench press routing that you have had since high school! Better yet, come join a fun, exciting personal training or boot camp program like we have at DeVetter Fitness.
   
4. Dig deep—Some weeks are guaranteed to be busier, more stressful and have more challenges when it comes to eating healthy and getting your workouts in. That’s okay. Just get it done. Plan ahead and figure out how to minimize the damage. All you can do is your best, so be happy with that. And if (probably when) you have a week that you gain weight or don’t have time to exercise, put it behind you and move on. Hopefully, one of your goals is to make health and fitness a lifestyle. If it is, then know you will have a rough week here and there, but you have to get back on the horse and go at it just as hard as you did when you first started.

If you have a bad week and you learn from it and make changes, then you are right on track. If you have a week that is headed in the wrong direction one week and continue to do the same thing week after week, that is a MAJOR RED FLAG. You need some help with your goals ASAP. If not, you will digress to where you started or beyond.

If you need help and would like a free health and fitness consult click here. Also, right now we are giving away a month of semi-private personal training as well as other great prizes in our Body Love Giveaway. Click here to enter for free.

I hope this helps and has strengthened your resolve to get to whatever goal you have!

Leave questions or comments below.

What Is a Cheat Meal?

Usually the conversation starts off like this: “I only had a couple of cheat meals…depending on what you count as a cheat meal.”

Then, it continues onto something like this:

“Other than the really bad day in which I had 5 glasses of wine, two cheeseburgers, marshmallow fluff and a slice of cheese cake, I did pretty good.  I mean…otherwise I only had one bad day that included ½ of a pepperoni pizza–because that was all that was available. And I may have had bread sticks and a coke with a cookie for dessert (after all it was free). So that’s 2 cheat meals right?”

After a food confession like this, I usually ask a few more questions to find out if the client is being honest with themselves. For example, did they have any other snacks like alcoholic beverages or desserts that they knew were not nutritious and needed by their bodies to function at their best?

A typical response might be…

“…Well, I did have 1.5 glasses of wine every night this week while I was cooking, and I grabbed a handful of my kids healthy crackers every time I walked by the cupboard. And, okay, I’ll admit it! I grab a few m&m’s out of a coworker’s bowl every day at work. But those aren’t meals, so they don’t count as cheat meals…right???”

Wheeeew.

A cheat meal is any food that you put into your body that is not nutrient dense or helpful to your body.

Or, it has nutrients that are counterproductive for reaching weight loss/body fat loss goals.

So, when trying to decide which foods might be considered cheats ask yourself a couple of questions:

1. Did I eat this food believing that it is needed by my body and will help it function at its best?

For example: Did I eat the donut believing that it was good fuel for my body, or because my body cried out for me to eat that delicious ball of amazing and I had no choice?

2. Did the food have anything in it that is bad for me or not helpful for my body to function optimally?

For example: Are the fruit snacks a good choice because they have 4% fruit juice or might the 75 grams of sugar be harmful for my body and counterproductive to my weight loss/body fat loss goals?

Those 2 questions should be able to help you look back at what you are eating to determine how many cheat meals you are having (you do track your food, right?). Even better, you can use those questions to help you plan out how many cheat meals that you will have ahead of time and make sure that you enjoy the cheat meals that you eat. That is right, you should have a certain number of cheat meals based on your goals. AND you should enjoy every bite, rather relish every bite without feeling guilty.

At DeVetter Fitness we have a system to help you to know if you are eating too much junk to actually reach your goals.

If you would like some help with this part of your eating, click here to request a free health and fitness consultation.

Otherwise I would love to hear your questions and comments below!  Make sure to let me know if any of this makes sense or how you handle making sure that you don’t eat too much junk food.

Why The Scale is LYING TO YOU…AND It’s Not What You Think

The scale can be a sore subject for some people that have been trying to lose weight, have lost and regained weight and even for some who just have a bit of an unhealthy view of themselves based on what the scale says.

I am here to tell you that what the scale says about you is a LIE!

There are several reasons why.

The main reason is that too many people feel bad about themselves because the scale says they weigh more than what they used to and more than what the skinny models on the cover of people magazine weigh. Ladies, do you hear me…?

Your weight has nothing to do with your value as a person.

Your size has nothing to do with your value as a person. You should know that you are awesome just the way you are. Created perfectly. And you should feel good about that and good about yourself. Until you do that, you are starting from the wrong place and believing a lie. You should never feel guilty or worthless based on your weight.

There are billions of dollars spent every year to make you feel terrible about yourself and your weight, because when you do, you will have to have the product that they sell in order to relieve your pain. I am just telling you how it works.

As a fitness coach, I see women and men all the time who believe the lie that their value is based on their weight or their appearance. Don’t buy it. 

I also know some people who are heavier that are happy with themselves and don’t even pay attention to the fact that they could not be on the cover of a magazine. That is not their priority. Those people tend to be more successful if they later make health a priority because they don’t not feel guilty and horrible about their health and fitness. At least that’s my experience.

Here is the point: don’t beat yourself up over your weight or appearance.

On the flipside, wanting to lose weight or become more fit is a good thing if it is for good reasons. Here are a few good reasons: to feel better, to have more energy, to decrease the likelihood of diseases like heart disease and cancer down the road, to look attractive for a spouse/boyfriend, to be stronger or more enduring to handle every day life (functional), to get better at a sport that you enjoy…

There are many good reasons that one could decide to lose weight or body fat or just to get healthier. Just make sure that it is not out of guilt and that you know your own value and worth no matter what your weight or size.

At DeVetter Fitness we love helping people who want to get in shape, to do just that.

Should you lose weight or get in shape?

I don’t really care. It is up to you.

If you do at some point decide to lose weight, decrease body fat, get stronger or in better shape, we would love to help. In fact, we have a 5 Week Fat Blast personal training program that you can join that includes personal training, nutrition help and all takes place in our private facility.

At DeVetter Fitness, you won’t have to work out in front of hundreds of fit chicks in sports bras or meat heads who are grunting and throwing weights around. In fact, I think we have the coolest clientele in town and the most welcoming environment.

The 5 Week Fat Blast is your chance to try us out at over 60% off of the regular price, but make sure to sign up right away because we are a private studio and have limited availability.

Click here to find out more about the 5 Week Fat Blast.

Weight Lifting Essentials for Losing Weight and Melting Body Fat

Jennifer Garner strength trains, and it has not made her bulky!

Let’s get right to it today–weight lifting will not make women bulky. Eating Cheetos will make you bulky. Eating too many calories will make you bulky. Drinking too much wine (I know, I know wine is “good” for you…) will make you bulky. Fortunately, this truth is becoming more widely know.

The truth that women don’t have the hormonal make up to get huge and jacked from lifting weights along with a healthy diet. That being said, if your nutrition is terrible and you lift weights, you will gain body fat which may feel like you are getting bulky, but it is the same bulk you would gain if you were eating the same foods and not exercising.

Instead of bulky, lifting weights the right way with the right nutrition program will lead to a lean, toned look. Your arms and legs will not get bigger; they will shrink, which is a hard concept for many women to wrap their heads around. A good strength training program will help you increase strength, lose weight and body fat, and bump up your metabolism.  With the right strength training program you can cut down on the treadmill or elliptical cardio workouts and actually get faster results! This may sound crazy to some of you, but I have seen it with our clients here at DeVetter Fitness over and over again. In fact we have helped hundreds, if not thousands, of women lose weight and body fat this way in the past 5 years.

Sounds great, right? I must tell you that many women who lift weights do not do so in a manner to see the best results. That is what today’s post is for: to give you tips on how to make sure you are getting the most out of your strength training program.

Tip 1 – Use compound movements. Using the hip abductor/adductor machine (thigh master type machine) is doing something, but not much. Same with the biceps curl machine, or the triceps extension machine. For the fastest results in the least amount of time, use compound movements like squats, deadlifts, rows, vertical and horizontal presses.

Tip 2 – Forward progress is key. Add weight, sets or reps consistently (up to a certain point) to force your body to adapt and for you to see the best results.

Tip 3 – Use perfect form. Make sure that your form is perfect on every rep to decrease the odds of getting injured. If you become too tire to use perfect form, stop and take a break.

Tip 4 – Change your program. If you use the same program for too long, your body will become efficient, and you will not get the best results possible. I recommend that you switch your program every 6 weeks or so.

Tip 5 – Don’t let your reps get too high. After doing a certain exercise for a long time, it becomes endurance training and does not have the same effect as anaerobic strength training. It get a little complicated, but trust me. If you are going to a class that is doing the same exercise for 3 minutes straight, you are not strength training. You are doing some form of aerobics with weights.

Well, there you go. Take these 5 tips and get to work. Leave comments below if you have tips or questions and I will be happy to answer them.

If you would like a free, no obligation health and fitness consultation, click here.

8 Healthy Food Ideas to Have a Rockin’ Memorial Day Weekend and Still Lose Weight!

Memorial Day is almost here.

That means grill outs, pool parties, hanging out at the lake, fun with friends and family in the sun, you name it. But it doesn’t end there. Memorial Day is the kick off party for all other summer parties. If you are like many of our clients at DeVetter Fitness, you have lots of parties to attend. The problem with all of these social events is that there are lots of foods there that will set you back if you have weight loss goals.

If you haven’t already read my last blog post “How to NOT Gain 10lbs on Vacation,” there are some very good tips that also apply to eating healthy at parties. Along with that, I want to give you some food ideas so you can still enjoy some tasty food this coming weekend and not be set back in your weight loss or body fat loss goals.

The great thing about showing up with some of this tasty grub at your party is you won’t even be known as the weird person with the gross, healthy food. They won’t even know it’s healthy!

Click here to download a list of these recipes. And please post below  if you have tried any of these or if you have other good healthy food ideas for our readers!

1. Chicken hotdogs and turkey brats: Tastes just as good or better than higher calorie options. Low in calories and high in protein!
2. Black bean and mango salsa: Great summer snack that goes with anything!
3. Caprese salad: This Italian dish is a favorite at any party.
4. Tomato, basil and millet/quinoa salad: Tastes great, and quinoa is high in protein. Even better, it’s a unique dish and fun for everyone to try.
5. Apple pineapple crisps: Light, tasty, summery dish that you’ll wonder why you never thought of it.
6. Black bean burgers: You can make these for vegetarians, or you can add in beef or turkey. They’re very filling and very delicious!
7. Sweet potato apple cake: For those who have a sweet tooth.
8. And last but certainly not least, the must have delicious dessert–black bean brownies!

Enjoy, and don’t forget to download the recipes and comment on which ones that you have tried and even add other recipe ideas for everyone to try!

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