The Last Word on Fitness by Craig Boyd

If a client asks me what the best abdominal exercise is, I invariably tell them it’s the plank exercise. This simple

Plank 'do': proper alignment

yet powerful exercise targets the entire core area – abdominals, lower back, hips – and helps you build endurance.

No matter what level of fitness you’re at, you can always make plank position a challenge. If you’re new, you can start the plank on your knees. If you have abs of steel, you can add weights to your plank and/or work towards holding the plank position for extended periods of time. On that note, does anyone know what the world record is for holding plank? It’s 33 minutes and 40 seconds, set by a 68-year-old Aussie (the previous record was held by a 50-year-old).

We’re not suggesting you work towards holding the plank position for 30 minutes, or even 15. All you need to aim for

Plank 'don't': hips too high

is two minutes. And if you are adding side plank to your routine, aim for 90 seconds per side.

A few tips to achieving plank position perfection:

• Keep your arms aligned under your shoulders
• Maintain an active scapula (don’t let your shoulders slouch)
• Keep your hips and shoulders aligned
• Pull your belly button in toward your spine

So keep working on your plank and before long you’ll notice a big difference in your posture, core strength and endurance.

Plank 'don't': hips sagging

In terms of food, Thanksgiving is known as the big feasting holiday. But over the years as portion sizes have exploded along with unhealthy recipe variations (think Candied Yams with marshmellows), a plate of Thanksgiving dinner can easily tally 3,000 calories – well over the recommended daily caloric allowance for most of us.

In order to enjoy your meal without feeling terrible afterwards, we’ve

Image credit: Flickr/jonbolden

gathered ten healthy eating tips for Thanksgiving. Jade, one of Precision’s nutrition coaches, says, “The key to healthy eating at Thanksgiving is to apply tricks to not overeat without feeling deprived. There is so much tasty food on that day (and the next) that you want to be able to enjoy them without feeling guilty—and without falling too far off your current eating plan.”

Here are ten healthy eating tips for Thanksgiving dinner:

1. Workout early that day – Try to sneak in a workout on the day of the dinner to both burn off and make room for the extra calories that night.
2. Eat normally throughout the day – Don’t skip meals to conserve calories. Eating normally will make sure you aren’t starving by dinnertime and will help avoid gorging.
3. Drink lots of water – Be well hydrated before dinner and you’ll find that you won’t eat as much at the big meal.
4. Eat slowly – Chew your food thoroughly during dinner. Put your fork down and socialize—enjoy your meal with others. This will ensure you don’t overeat, get bloated and feel gross afterwards.
5. Minimize starchy and bread-type dishes – Keep these portions small, and focus on the protein and veggie dishes.
6. Go skinless – Avoid the skin of the turkey to slash some of the fat and cholesterol. Otherwise, turkey is an excellent form of protein and has less fat than most other meats.
7. Make a conscious decision to limit certain foods – Be wary of the high-fat and high-sugar dishes, i.e. candied yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetable cheese ‘casseroles’ and pumpkin pie. If you’re the chef, experiment with some healthier ingredient substitutions such as milk for cream, or replace traditional recipes with healthier versions.
8. Break between helpings – Wait 10-15 minutes before having a second helping to give your body a chance to register how much you’ve already eaten. You might find you don’t need that extra plate and can keep some room for dessert instead.
9. Walk after dinner – Going for a walk after dinner gets blood flowing and increases digestion. A cup of peppermint tea is another soothing way to aid digestion.
10. Practise portion control – Don’t feel like you have to fill your plate because it’s Thanksgiving. Remind yourself what a ‘normal’ serving size should be. Here’s a handy size reference guide:
    • 3 oz. protein/meat = the size of deck of cards
    • baked potato/yam  = computer mouse
    • mashed potato = lightbulb
    • 1 cup veggies = baseball
    • dinner roll = hockey puck
    • 1 TBS butter = poker chip

Happy Thanksgiving eating, everyone.

On October 15, we’re kicking off a contest for fans of our Facebook page: the goal is to secure as many entries as possible. Start with a “like” of Precision Athletics’ page for one entry. Then each time you check in via your mobile phone for updates and postings by our personal trainers, you’ll receive five entries. If you write a recommendation on Facebook, you’ll secure ten entries!

After November 15, the contest end date, we’ll draw from all the entries for these great prizes:

1. One month of Precision group fitness classes twice per week PLUS a $100 Cactus Club gift certificate
2. $50 Cactus Club gift certificate

What’s not to like about that?

Already Extremely Fit, But in Search of a Flatter Stomach

Wayne runs 6 days per week, covering off 85-105 kilometers. He also has been working with personal trainer Craig Boyd twice per week since 2004. A former elite cyclist and marathon runner, Wayne is in great shape.

Except, like many of us, he has a weakness for sweet stuff: “Chocolate. And not the good stuff…I’m talking about M&Ms.” His treat of choice is chocolate candy, and quite a bit of it.

Despite the running regime, Wayne still wasn’t happy with his midsection and wanted to get rid of the extra fat around his waist. So he set a new goal to get rid of the fat: “I felt uncomfortable with my stomach…and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. To have all this chocolate around me and not touch it.”

The new Wayne has limited his love affair with chocolate.

He started by reading The Lean Belly Prescription by Travis Stork, MD; and then discussing with Craig how to change his diet, which needed an overhaul: “I don’t like healthy foods.” Two of the key changes were to incorporate a protein at every meal and to choose more healthy food options. Breakfast is now a smoothie and snacks include yogurt or nuts. He still allows himself a little chocolate at dinner, but no longer eats it throughout the day—if he feels like it, he just reminds himself he gets to eat it after dinner.

He also has a ‘cheat day’ when he can eat whatever he wants: “My go wild day…pizza, chips, chocolate…” This helps him get through the week of healthier eating. He also gives himself a break when he travels, but is definitely more conscious of what he eats while away.

The results? At the start of this change (the end of July), he weighed 156 lb with 13.9% body fat. At the end of August, he weighed in at 148 lb and 8.7% body fat. All of his measurements with the calipers had been cut in half. Very close to reaching his weight-loss limit, his new challenge will be eating healthfully while keeping his weight up.

Besides achieving a flatter stomach, Wayne says he feels better in general, “I feel like I have more energy, both while running and doing exercises like pull-ups.”

Three questions for Wayne:

What motivates you? Working out in general: “Having a personal trainer. Sometimes you don’t feel like working out, but he’s waiting for me and I’ve paid for the session…it helps to have someone push you to improve, otherwise you don’t push yourself hard enough.”

Motivation for the fat-loss goal: “Seeing the measurement results. Once it started dropping off, I was motivated even more.”

What do you like about working out with Craig? “Craig is a fantastic trainer—he’s hard, makes you work…always pushes you to your limit and there’s no getting out of it.”

Your advice? “Have a good reason for achieving your goal…whatever is really going to motivate you. You have to set measurable short term and long term goals, that are achievable yet challenging.”

We often get asked what is the best type of hydration for outdoor sports. Is water enough? Are sports drinks really necessary?

The research behind Gatorade, the original sports drink, was done on marathon runners in the heat and humidity of Florida summers. It was found after 90 minutes in these tough conditions that Gatorade’s mixture of sugar and electrolytes (what your body loses when you sweat) was absorbed faster than water.

So sports drinks do work. Let the buyer beware, though. Most people will not reach that level of electrolyte depletion in a cooler environment like we have here in Vancouver. Moreover, not many sports last longer than 90 minutes. Another consideration: most sports drinks have food coloring and high-fructose corn syrup, two things we would rather not put in our bodies.

If you want to replenish your electrolytes, you can now buy them without the processed sugar and chemicals. Craig recommends Elyte, which only consists of electrolytes. It comes in a dropper bottle, so it’s very portable and easy to add a couple drops to your water bottle. A small eye dropper-sized bottle of Elyte costs $4-6 and makes 20-30 servings of electrolyte-enriched water. Compare that to $2-3 for a sports drink that probably has more sugar than you need, and it’s a win-win situation. You can take electrolytes prior to or during your event to make sure that you’re not electrolyte-depleted.

Another healthier alternative to sports drinks is young coconut water. Coconut water is naturally rich with electrolytes. The Brazilian national soccer team has relied on this for years playing in humid South American qualifying tournaments. You can find it either in tetrapaks or cans at most grocery stores – two of the most common brands are Vita Coco and Zico.

Our new challenge for the fall is the “Filthy Fifty”. Here’s how it works:

1. Set your baseline: On Monday, Sept. 19th OR Tuesday, Sept. 20th, set your baseline time from which we’ll calculate your improvement.
2. Keep training: You’ve got 8 weeks to improve your fitness and bring down your total time. Work on those weaknesses!
3. Attend the finals: Monday, Nov. 14th OR Tuesday, Nov. 15th. Put it in your calendar, there are prizes to be won!

PRIZES for Most Improved and Fastest Time.

CATEGORY DETAILS

Advanced

50 Box jump 24/18”

50 Jumping pull-ups

50 Kettlebell swings 35/26#

50 Steps walking lunge

50 Knees to elbows

50 Push press 45/30#

50 Back extensions

50 Wall balls 20/16#

50 Burpees

50 Double unders

Intermediate

50 Box jump 18/12”

50 Jumping pull-ups

50 Kettlebell swings 26/19#

50 Steps walking lunge

50 Hanging knee raises

50 Push press 30/20#

50 Good Mornings 15/10#

50 Wall balls 16/12#

50 Burpees

50 Tuck Jumps

Beginner

50 Box jump 10”

50 Jumping pull-ups

50 ½ Kettlebell swings

50 Steps walking lunge

50 Laying leg raise

50 DB push-press

50 Good Mornings

50 Ball squat & throw

50 Heel touch & jump

50 Skips

Vancouver has much to offer in the way of outdoor fitness, from running and rollerblading on seawalls, to hiking and trail riding on the mountains. Another thing that our beautiful city has a lot of is RAIN.

For those fitness enthusiasts that love to train outdoors there are inevitably days when you may not want to go outside to battle the elements. And for some this becomes an excuse not to exercise.

The solution: A good back-up plan to ensure you don’t fall into this bad habit! The easiest one is to get into a gym, but you also may want to consider stair-climbing if you live or work in a high-rise building. Climbing stairs is a great workout. Walk or run up the flight of stairs from the ground floor. Walking down stairs can be hard on the knees so I recommend using the elevator to return back down for your subsequent climbs.

‘Fran’ is a CrossFit workout involving 21 thrusters (@ 95lbs for men and 65 lbs for women) and 21 pull ups, then 15 reps of each exercise and then 9 of each.

Exercises are performed as fast as possible with little or no rest. It’s a tough workout that challenges your strength, muscular endurance as well as metabolic conditioning. We held a challenge for the CrossFit and Training class members after 6 weeks of training.

The winning times were Cindy McMillan 5:26 (Advanced category) with an improvement of -1:22 and Dominique Adhai (Intermediate scaled weights and pull ups) -3:23. Dominique was the most improved with 35.61% change. Jon C receives special mention for most improved, but was unable to take part at the finals.

Congratulations to everyone who participated – most people improved by -20% or more from their original time! The winners received a trip to the spa on us Precision Athletics t-shirts!

Advanced 95 lbs M /65 lbs W + Bw chin ups

Intermediate

This is an original Crossfit benchmark timed workout that our Crosstraining & Fitness class members are working on over the next 6 weeks.

It involves alternating a set number of thrusters and pull-ups without a break:

• 21 thrusters (75 lb weight for men, 65 lb for women)
• 21 pull-ups
• 15 thrusters
• 15 pull-ups
• 9 thrusters
• 9 pull-ups

How the challenge works: Set your baseline time, then train with the intention of improving it and show up at the finals to beat your original time. No problem!

The finals are set for Saturday, July 9^th at 10 am. You don’t need to be a member of the Crosstraining and Fitness class join in on the challenge. Contact us with any questions.

Urgh, my legs!

Between Tanya and Julie’s class my legs and abs have taken a beating.  Just two more months till beach time so I have to get to it.  During Saturday’s CrossFit class with Tanya I had the brilliant idea of mentioning that I had not been doing abs lately.  Well, Tanya made sure we did enough abs in that class to last us for a full week. Read the rest of this entry »