Client Christina – Masters Figure Competitor
As the top Personal Trainer in Fort Lauderdale, I see there are tons and tons of fad diets and “magical” weight loss pills out in the market today because people want to take the easy way out to lose that extra fat. Unfortunately, those diets and pills are not at all efficient and should be avoided. Most people don’t realize that losing weight isn’t rocket science, it an extremely simple and easy process that anyone can do. Below are four methods, that should be used together, that will show you how to lose fat. As you will see, the methods are a lot simpler than you might have figured.

Method #1: Cardio Training

A little exercise goes a long way, especially with cardio. Cardio is a great fat loss tool because you only have to do it for a short period of time. If you thought you had to run for hours before losing weight then think again because fifteen to twenty minutes is all you need. The key is to run sprints at maximum intensity for about a minute, jog at a slower pace for another minute, then alternate. It’s important to do this before after your weights when possible so you don’t wear yourself out first.  Doing cardio right after weights will ramp up the fat burning process.

Method #2: Strength Training

Cardio is not the only type of exercise you need because strength training is of equal importance. By building muscle your body is actively using up calories and stored fat. Doing your weight training workout first followed by your cardio assignment you will be able to burn the maximum amount of fat possible per session. Strength training will also boost your metabolic rate, meaning your body will be burning fat throughout the day.

Method #3:  Avoid Processed Foods and Eat Lean Proteins
Although you may be exercising, processed and refined foods such as chips sweets can ruin what you have been trying to accomplish. By eating these types of foods, you are increasing your body fat. The body is not meant to be eating such refined foods, so it is only natural that it they will store as fat until the body is able to break it down. Instead try for fruits and vegetables as well as lean proteins. Lean proteins can be found in boneless chicken breasts, turkey, fish, and lean beef. These proteins are especially important to those who have the main focus of building muscle.

Method #4: Sleep It Off

It is not necessary during sleep that causes you to lose weight, but the effects of a good night’s rest will. The recommended amount of sleep is seven to eight hours so be sure to get around that many, not too much more and none less. When you get an insufficient amount of sleep, your body prevents certain hormones from activating that maximize your fat burning and muscle building processes.

Following the 4 simple weight loss methods above will definitely help you burn fat easily. The best way to lose weight at the fastest pace possible would be to consult with the #1 personal trainer in Fort Lauderdale.  Joe will be able to design a plan that will make losing weight that’s as easy and fast as possible.   If desired, Joe will create a diet designed around your needs in order to achieve your goals.

One of the most challenging things a great personal trainer has to do in order to is keep his or her people motivated to stick to an eating plan that will successfully enable them to attain their desired level of weight loss and physique conditioning. Now, I will write about the number one misunderstood diet problem in my locale, which is sunny South Florida.

The number one weight loss problem with clients collectively speaking, specific to my area of the country, and in the thirty to sixty year old age group which comprises the bulk of my clients and probably the bulk of most personal trainers clientele. This problem is not primarily excessive food consumption alone. The biggest problem with people who desire to live the so-called good life, is drinking wine after a hard days work.

Now why is this a problem? Because wine merchants have successfully sold the idea that the good life cannot be attained unless one drinks plenty of high quality wine on a regular basis. This idea goes back hundreds of years in our culture. The upper classes in days gone by often served in prestigious posts in their nation’s military. The greatest military power in the world in the last five hundred years historians almost unanimously would affirm, would have to be the Great Britain. Now, what was a major difference in rations of officers, and those of enlisted men in the military of Great Britain?

The officers who came from the upper classes received ample supplies of wine in Great Britain’s military machine. More than an individual officer should have reasonably drank. Most officers used the extra they to entertain others in a gentlemanly way, although more than a few definitely developed wine drinking habits we would call alcoholism today. Wine is highly associated as necessity to this day especially in those within our society who consider themselves as above the socioeconomic level of the unwashed masses.

For personal trainers to truly be effective, and function as the moral, spiritual, and psychological leaders of their training programs must develop strategies to undo this perception about wine drinking in our client’s minds. Why you might ask?

Wine Hurts Your Weight Loss Efforts

Because, wine drinking in Americans of upper/middle income of middle age has become immoderate. It’s common for petitie women to consume over 1000 calories per day in wine or other alcoholic beverages.  This does not leave room in the clients eating plan for adequate nutrition, especially vitamins, minerals, and protein. This means that excessive body fat levels in personal training clientele is highly associated with wine drinking.
The clients have often ritualized this high quality wine drinking into a nightly habit, it is the reward for enduring a hard day at the office, and integrated powerfully with their unwinding ritual at the end of the day.  There is no possible way for these people to experience and significant weight loss.  And yes, these are the same people that come to me purporting that they want to lose weight.

Personal trainers must become fighters for truth, because I tell the truth!
No fat will be lost as long as this ritual exists in our clients! In my former competitive days, I was at a great advantage over my competition because I was a teetotaler. I never took in empty alcohol calories. I became a teetotaler because I grew up in a home where my parents drank far too much and thus made me look upon alcohol drinking as something I would rather avoid.

I have now utterly quit drinking alcohol again because I believe it is my duty to be an exemplar regarding maintaining a manner of living that optimizes conditioning. We have the duty to tell our clientele the truth, unless they stop the wine drinking they will never attain the weight loss and thus the physique ideal they desire to attain. We must be brave enough and bold enough to state the truth even when this is not what our clients want to hear.  A body to be proud of takes a serious investment of time, effort, and self-denial. We have the duty as leaders of our flocks to tell the cold hard truths people do not want to hear. If we faithful to the duty to be truthful, our clients health/wellness levels, bodyweight levels, and body fat levels will all move in a positive direction.  Our clients will be happier with their results, and we will be faithful to our duty to improve the conditioning of our nation.

Contact me for a trial personal training session in Pompano Beach!

Beginning your personal training program with the right mindset is absolutely essential to your ultimate success in your fitness endeavor. I will make a declaration here and now; you must be prepared mentally to go much further in time and effort than people believe in our world of instantaneous gratification.  Most training clients come to the personal trainer in their thirties and forties, drastically out of shape, radically underestimating the intensity and commitment level it takes to achieve visible and noticeable physical changes. In my competitive days as a bodybuilder, I had to diet perfectly with no breaks in discipline, for months to achieve my goal condition. I many times lost forty to fifty pounds in my preparation as a male in my twenties. It took monumental commitment. I vowed to myself I was going to achieve my goals (win) or die trying. This level of commitment, which I call a do or die commitment is utterly necessary for any middle-aged person to lose a major amount of weight…. let us say for example fifty pounds. Cardio twice a day six days a week for forty five minutes, no cop outs, no excuses. A consistent, rigid diet on controlled calories day in a day out for months.

When You Know

When the trainee has become utterly sick of themselves in their miserable overweight condition, this is when they finally develop the mind set for victory. Now the trainee needs to dedicate themselves to self-denial at a heroic level, for no compromise with the diet can be allowed. No breaks, no off days. Discipline must be utterly unrelenting, always having one eye on the prize which is a new fit and healthy self-identity. Getting optimally fit from being overweight is not easy. Follow the advice you read in this article as if it were the gospel, and you will succeed….. Nothing good comes without utter, unrelenting commitment.

How To Start

Now I will move on to some practical tips. Many will not want to hear what I am going to advise next. Set your daily calorie intake, or better yet let a quality fitness professional set your caloric intake goals. Keep your diet utterly consistent, yes I mean keep it the same every day. Only then will you know exactly what you are taking in. Don’t bitch about it being boring….this article is not written to entertain you, it is to teach you way to program success.Take vitamins and minerals, in a balanced way covering all the bases. Nutritional deficiencies can crop up when on a calorie reduced diet, some mineral combinations can significantly improve performance, but I will elaborate on that in another article. I cannot stress enough how important proper diet is, it is 75% of the game. I am always preaching to my clients the two secrets of my rapid fat loss program…. daily cardio, and rigid caloric control. Any trainer worth his salt will write his client’s diets himself, unless they have medical conditions which dictate special dietary requirements. Dedicate yourself to utterly consistent eating, it may not be exciting, but it will be monumentally effective! In this process we will put to death the scourges of self indulgence, and gluttony which takes away the health and happiness of so many in America. Say to yourself: “I am resolved to do this or die trying.” Do this and truly mean it, and nothing will be able to stop you from achieving your goal and feeling great while doing it!

Now’s the Hard Part

Ok, you have signed up on your program, now I will share with you what character trait you most surely must apply now for success, for the first three weeks you must cultivate total and complete mental commitment. If you establish your program properly from a psychological standpoint properly at the beginning you will be able to radically transform your body beyond your wildest dreams.

Your Training Program Will Be Hard

Uncompromising disposition, what do I mean by this, no alcohol, no carbs, no skipping workouts or cardio sessions. No giving in to your softer inclinations. Do you finally want to achieve transformation? No compromise. Did George Washington compromise with the British during our nation’s Revolution? No!!!   Incredible adversities were suffered by our armies in the quest for victory.

You too will encounter adversity on this program . The first three weeks is when you must establish victory by never compromising with yourself, do you want to look and feel your best. Follow the program like clockwork without compromise.  The first three weeks you will be sore as hell, your mind is a weapon, endure hardship, take joy in knowing soreness is a sign your muscles are getting fitter every minute,  after the first three weeks the soreness will dissipate because your conditioning level will rise exponentially. Hunger pangs are to be meditated on with joy because when you are hungry you can be assured you are losing fat at a rate faster than you can believe.

Your soft side must be crushed, our mindset on the training program must be that of a revolutionary fighting a tyrant. The soft hedonistic mindset is the enemy, every time you even have the idea to cheat on the diet you are commanded right here and now to get on the treadmill, or walk outside at an uncomfortably fast clip for an hour.

We are going to attack the fundamental problem: a soft compromising mindset. Victory or defeat is found totally in one’s mental approach, we will give the body the exact opposite of what it desire, we are going to crush soft thinking right at the outset. Every time you even think of skipping a workout you are to do an hour of cardio.

Your Training Program Will Be Rewarding

I have repeatedly used this psychological technique I call the principle of opposite to bring myself to competitive victory in my bodybuilding days, we establish a revolutionary, uncompromising mindset from the beginning, victory will be assured, this mental approach can help you in all spheres of life, not just the physical. Now let us proceed to the inevitable victory which is your destiny from now on, in every sphere of life you chose to apply a revolutionary mindset.

As men get older, they tend to put on extra fat, especially in their mid-section which results in a pear or apple-shaped body. The truth is, it’s harder to get rid of that excess fat as the years go by. The reason for this is actually simple, as you age, you lose muscle mass. Decreased physical activity contributes to the loss of muscle mass which, in turn, decreases calorie usage and the weight starts piling on. It’s also possible that fat cells in the arms and legs are no longer able to store fat and the excess goes to the abdomen.

That round belly doesn’t just mean having to buy larger pants, or putting another hole in the belt, it’s harmful to our health. The problem comes from the visceral fat that collects around the internal organs, causing them to work harder. According to the Mayo Clinic, a large amount of belly fat increases your risk of many health issues including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer and sleep apnea.

Cut the Belly Fat

Knowing that extra abdominal fat is bad for you is one thing, figuring out what to do about it is another. Cutting back on extra calories is an obvious place to start, but that’s not the entire story. To really make a difference, you also have to increase your physical activity. The advice that doctors, nutritionists, and fitness gurus give men is to increase the amount of aerobic exercise they get. But, there were also those that say that weight training is the cure for belly bulge. With the conflicting information, it begs the question; is aerobic exercise or weight training a better way to get rid of that excess fat?

Thankfully, there’s finally an answer to that question in a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Researchers compared the physical activity, waist size and weight of 10,500 men 40 and over. They discovered that men you spent 20 minutes a day on weight training gained 0.67 cm less in their waistlines than men who increased the amount of aerobic activity they did by the same amount. Not surprisingly, they also noted that men who spent more time in sedentary activities gained inches in their waistline.

Armed with that information, it might seem like a great idea to grab some weights and start working out. Slow down though, you could do more damage than good if you aren’t careful. It’s not a good idea to jump into any fitness program without first speaking to your doctor to make sure you’re able to. Once you’ve got the go-ahead, it’s a wise idea to consult a personal trainer to get some expert advice.

You don’t have to give in to age, in fact, you can fight it every step of the way. Starting a weight training program is one of the best ways that you can assure yourself of a healthy, happy and long life. Contact us to learn more about our personal weight training programs, or to schedule a fitness consultation.

Setting goals drives us to action and is part of what motivates us. One of the most common goals set by people is to lose weight. However, many people turn to fad diets or infomercial get-thin-quick schemes that never work, leaving them frustrated. The best way to see natural weight loss is to adopt lifestyle changes that get the results you want.

Follow the guidelines for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time (SMART). Setting SMART goals help you use these guidelines to achieve your goals and have the confidence to move forward by setting more ambitious goals. The weight loss goal is no exception.

So, how do you apply SMART guidelines so you are motivated to achieve your weight loss goal? It’s easy. Let’s say you currently weigh 150 pounds, and you want to get down to 130 pounds. You can set SMART goals to help you get there.

SMART Goals

S = Specific: It won’t help you to say, “I am going to lose weight.” That goal is too broad and subjective. Saying, “I am going to lose 20 pounds” is being specific. Use these questions to help you develop your specific goal:

• Why are you creating the goal? What motivates you?
• What benefits do you want to see?
• Who, besides you, is involved with the goal?
• How will you reach the goal?

M = Measure: You will know you are moving toward achieving your goal by setting a qualitative measure to it. In this example, your measure could be, “I will weigh myself every Sunday morning, and record my weight in a spreadsheet on my computer, indicating if there was a loss or gain.” As you begin to see yourself losing weight, you’ll find you are even more motivated to meet your goal.

A = Attainable: Define what steps you are going to take to lose weight. Is it counting calories, packing lunch instead of eating at the deli across the street, walking 4 times a week for 30 minutes each time, or something else you are sure you’ll do? What lifestyle changes must you make?

R = Relevant: The reason you want to lose weight should resonate with you. For example, do you want to have more energy? Perhaps get off your blood pressure medication? Make your high-school boyfriend sorry he dumped you when you see him at your upcoming reunion?

T = Timely: Make sure you are not setting yourself up to fail. Saying you will lose 20 pounds by the weekend isn’t achievable. The goal must be realistic. “I will lose 20 pounds in the next 4 months” is more realistic and easier to achieve. It also helps to break this down to smaller increments, such as “I will lose 1 pound a week to achieve my goal of reducing my weight by 20 pounds in total.”

Contact us to learn how we can help you lose weight the SMART way.

Many times in my over twenty years as a personal trainer, I have seen clients make awesome progress with regard to following the customized eating plan I give them only to become complacent and slip back into the unhealthy dietary habits (which I refer to as diet doldrums ) that brought them to the point of desperation. The question is how do we maintain the mindset that created success with regard to weight loss. The answer is that we must unswervingly focus on the end goal we established when we began on the program. Let’s say a client comes to me who weighs two-hundred and fifty pounds and he desires to take his weight down to two hundred pounds. The client, in order to remain motivated, must constantly, reaffirm the commitment he originally made to drop his weight to two hundred pounds.

How to fight diet doldrums

I firmly believe in using weight loss related mantras in order to stay motivated. The question is what is a mantra? A mantra is a constantly repeated saying which will affirm the client’s goals until the mantra becomes a part of the client’s belief system. Is this brainwashing? Maybe, but for thousands of years this has been a method which has been used in religion and in education to form belief systems and ingrain powerful and useful truths. In their spare time, I instruct my clients to constantly repeat the success mantra until it becomes such a part of them that nothing could stop them from achieving their weight loss goal.

Another power technique involves obtaining a picture of a body which is representative of what the client’s end goal is regarding appearance. Every day that picture should be looked at, and I instruct the client to spend one half hour creating a mental picture of themselves with this goal body. This technique is called visualization and if practiced with regularity will never fail to aid in the quest to remain motivated.

In order achieve success in their fitness program it is necessary for the client to dedicate themselves in totality in achieving their goals. Success only comes when a person dedicates themselves unreservedly in the pursuit of their goal. No failure self talk can be tolerated; examples of this would be “I have never been able to go more than two weeks on a weight loss diet,” or “I will always be fat,” statements such as these are the exact opposite of the success mantra described previously in this article. The reason why the success mantra is so important is that if diligently practiced will drown out negative self talk. Negative self talk is the number one enemy of program success and must be overcome by diligent practice of the techniques mentioned previously in this article.

Success is a certainty if motivation is maintained and I hope the motivational techniques mentioned in this article will enable you to achieve success in your weight loss endeavor.

More client results here!

Written By: Personal Trainer Fort Lauderdale Joe Kozma

Exercise and nutrition for weight loss go hand in hand when working towards your fitness and nutritional goals. You can exercise all you want, but if you do not change your eating habits you will not see a change in body fat reduction. On the other side, crash dieting, eliminating food groups, skipping meals or severely restricting caloric intake will cause you to drop weight very quickly but gain it back once you start to eat normally again. The key to reaching your goal and maintaining your new healthy body weight is to learn proper nutrition.

It has been proven that starving yourself or denying yourself food will only cause you to binge later. Fad diets do not work in the long term. You may reach your weight goal, but you will not be able to maintain that goal as you have not taught yourself proper eating and nutrition.

Your body requries fuel to run properly. You need protein, complex carbs, fiber and healthy fats for healthy weight loss. Eliminate, or greatly reduce intake of white sugar, white flour, fast food and large portions and stick to lean proteins, whole grains, vegetables and fruits.

Trying to create a healthy nutritional plan on your own can be daunting. Every day you are inundated with infomercials, talk shows, commercials and internet all yelling at you that this is the diet that works or this is the pill that works! All these products and diets are quick fixes and many people find themselves on the hamster wheel of yo-yo dieting. Obtaining your weight loss goals will take time and work. You did not gain weight overnight, you will not lose the weight overnight.

Contact us the best personal trainer in Ft. Lauderdale to once and for all stop the yo-yo dieting and learn how to lose weight through proper nutrition and exercise!

Pompano Beach Personal Trainer

If you are reading this page, then it is safe to assume that you’re interested in the benefits of personal training. Besides building muscle, there are many other benefits your body receives by working out regularly. These benefits will increase your wellness overall at any age and at any fitness level, so there is no reason not to start. If you’re not yet motivated, below are the top four benefits to strength training that will surely get you up and ready to work out.

Benefit #1:  Builds Muscle
As most people know, the main aim of strength training is to build muscle.  Don’t worry about “getting big”, you can build plenty of muscle that you won’t see.  The easiest way to get started would be to buy a few dumbbells at a weight you can manage. The goal is to tear the muscle tissue in order for it to rebuild itself during rest periods. Be sure to warm up and cool down before and after working out to minimize the risk of injury and to prevent soreness. A Pompano Beach personal trainer can help you choose the best types of exercises to do.

Benefit #2: Lose Weight
Every exercise will speed up your metabolism and burn fat with strength training being no exception. Performing intensive exercises will not only burn calories while exercising, but will keep burning fat throughout the day thanks to the boost in your metabolic rate. The reason strength training is the preferred way of losing weight is due to the fact that the body needs to quite a bit of effort into repairing the muscles, thus burning more calories than most exercises.

Benefit #3: Bone Health
If you are young, this may not sound like much to you. Of course, you may want to look into how common bone diseases such as osteoporosis can be as you get older, and if you looked it up you will see that it is a lot more common than you think! In order to prevent such a disease and to keep your bones as healthy as can be then strength training would be a good option. Also, if you have stronger bones the less of a chance a bone fracture will occur if you were to get injured.

Benefit #4: Mental Health
Stress, insomnia, and concentration are three mental problems strength training, or any exercise for that matter, can fix. When you are stressed or anxious, your brain releases two hormones called cortisol and norepinephrine, and if you have too many of these hormones it can cause your mind to go into a state of depression. It has been proven that resistance training will lower the output of these hormones and that will result in a lower stress level. Since your brain is not filled with unneeded stress hormones, it will be easier to concentrate at work or on any project you are working on. Insomnia is cured due to the fact your body is worn out from working out and it will cause you to fall asleep faster in order to recover. That and insomnia is usually linked to stress hormones, which are also prevented thanks to strength training. As you can see, three major mental problems common in most people are linked together and can be prevented with exercise.

Above are only the top four benefits to strength training. Exercising can also reduce cholesterol, strengthen the heart, and keep the body healthy overall. Although strength training may be a little intimidating to those who have never exercised before, it is quite easy to get started but you have to make sure to keep working at it. It would be wise to consult with a personal trainer in Pompano Beach in order to get the best out of a workout, plan out a diet that will benefit you even more, and stay motivated to continually workout until you have reached a healthy, physically fit body.

Call me to get started on your new workout plan!

Long distance running is popular form of endurance exercise people interested in having a healthier body and losing weight. The reason long distance a popular choice for weight loss is due to the fact that a lot of people enjoy the “runner’s high” – a rush of endorphins released by the body after a certain period of consistent running. Running addicts take great pleasure in long runs. Although studies do show that a higher intensity / shorter duration may burn calories faster, more people tend to follow through with a plan that lets them run at there own pace, even if it is for longer periods of time. The truth is you need a bit of both in order to lose fat. It is important that you build enough endurance to last through a running session that is a little faster than your comfortable pace. Below are a few tips to improve your endurance.

Endurance Tip #1: Warming Up
This isn’t so much a tip as it is more of a necessity. Warming up your muscles and getting the blood flowing will allow your body to perform at its best condition. By getting blood in the muscles you allow the muscles to take more impact thus letting you run a bit longer than normal. This can be done either by stretching or by jogging slower than normal. Cooling down is just as important. A cool down will stabilize your blood flow and muscles which will help prevent the possibility of injury.

Endurance Tip #2: Resistance Training
Cardio alone is not enough to build up your endurance and lose weight, so it is important to add strength training exercises to your routine even if it is only a little bit. The idea here is to train your body to get used to pushing itself beyond its limits. Overcoming different obstacles will help the body build endurance overall. Weight loss is sure to come to those who keep pushing their limits and work out intensively.

Endurance Tip #3: Distance Running and Hill Climbing
One of the most obvious way to build endurance and lose fat is too run a bit farther every session, even if it’s only a tenth of a mile. Slowly but surely you’ll be able to last a bit longer each time you work out. When hill training, it’s best to see how long you can run and be sure not to compare it to normal running. Hill running is entirely different in that you will get tired ten times faster than normal.

Building endurance can be quite easy after you start seeing your first bit of improvements. Following the advice above will help, but following the guidance of a personal trainer specializing in weight loss in Fort Lauderdale will be an investment far greater than it is worth. With Joe’s help you will lose weight quickly and improve your endurance and general health.

Fort Lauderdale Personal Training

Fort Lauderdale Personal Trainer

Whether you are walking to lose weight or strength training to build lean muscle, muscle cramps end up getting the best of us. A muscle cramp is an involuntary contraction of the muscle which can cause quite a bit of pain to those unprepared. Serious muscle cramps can only be treated by stretching and massaging the leg, but a mild cramp will usually wear off in less than a minute. In most cases muscle cramps occur in a person’s legs or feet. Although the exact cause of muscle cramps is unknown, there are still plenty of ways you can help prevent it from happening to you.

The number one muscle cramp prevention technique would be to warm up before working out or running. Be sure to target the most common areas where muscle cramps occur, those being the legs, feet, abdomen, hamstrings, calves, quadriceps, arms, and the muscle groups you are working on that session. Warming up and cooling down will keep the muscles warm and flexible which is believed to aid in the reduction of an involuntary contraction.

Muscle fatigue can also cause cramps. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push past your limits, but it does mean you should be weary not to over train and make sure you have proper form when performing an exercise. Over training is usually the result of people skipping out on their rest days in order to get ahead, but unbeknownst to them rest days are the period that the body best builds muscle. Improper form is often caused by those attempting to finish an exercise as faster than normal. Unfortunately this is also counterproductive, so be sure to pay close attention to the motions of an exercise and work out slowly.

Dehydration and electrolyte imbalances are also suspects of inducing cramps. In most cases water is enough to re-hydrate your muscles and prevent possible cramping; however it would be wise to drink a sports drink filled with electrolytes after an intensive workout. Electrolytes are responsible for aiding in the function of our cells and an imbalance is usually caused by a lack of sodium, calcium, or potassium.

Consulting with someone who specializes in fitness and muscle cramps may be a wiser choice to make rather than guessing and testing different ways to prevent the cramps yourself. A personal trainer is the type of person you will need to look up. Be sure to do your research in order to find the best personal trainer in Fort Lauderdale. You will find that a trainer will not only prevent and stop muscle cramps, but will also help you reach your fitness goal whether it is to gain muscle or lose weight.