If I could have my loving husband eat any one food more often, it would be foods that are high in antioxidants. So what are antioxidants, you ask, and more importantly, what do they do for you and me (and my loving husband)?

First off, antioxidants have been clinically proven to lower the risk of neurodegenerative diseases (i.e. dementia and Alzheimer’s disease), macular degeneration and increase one’s immunity system. Scientists are also noting that eating foods high in antioxidants, especially those found in fruits and vegetables, can aid in preventing cancer and heart disease.

How and why, you wonder? Think of antioxidant’s in terms of a Zamboni driver. If you have ever been to a hockey game, you know what I’m talking about. A Zamboni driver drives a specialized piece of equipment out onto the ice after each period ends to resurface the ice. Well, daily living can do the same damage to our cells as our beloved hockey team (insert favourite team here) can do to the ice. The difference being that hockey player’s skates tear the ice up during those games, while in our bodies a natural by-product called free radicals tear up our cells.

These free radicals are created by exposure to various environmental factors, tobacco smoke, radiation and intense bouts of exercise. Antioxidants, such as vitamin C, E and A, selenium (a mineral), and a group known as carotenoids, act as our very own Zamboni driver and come in and rid our cells of these free-radicals.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a catch with these antioxidants. Number one, studies have consistently shown that success against free radicals are achieved only by eating the foods high in antioxidants. Where there are a number of pills, and even juices, that claim to be high in antioxidants, it seems that eating the food itself is the only way to get these internal Zamboni drivers working.

The second catch is that, even though a fruit or vegetable may have a high antioxidant content, the body can not and does not absorb all of it. This is called the bioavailability of a food – how much of it actually gets absorbed and metabolized in the gut. There are a number of factors that can influence the bio-availability of a food including the fibre content of the food, whether it has sugar molecules attached to it, or if it is cooked or eaten raw. Best advice; eat a variety of foods high in antioxidants foods.

Here is a list of the top 20 food sources of antioxidants, based on their total antioxidant capacity per serving size:

Happy Sweat!

ps – I had some great tunes coordinated with the workout, but YouTube took them down. It seems the big boys in the record business are tightening their hold on their product. So, unfortunately you only get to hear me and my heavy breathing as I puff through this ab workout, instead of some great tunes. Sorry.

You see I am not a fan of machines. I recognize that there is a need for them, in certain instances, but 99.9% of us could use with a little less support (which is what machines do), a little less sitting (which most weight training machines get you to do) and a lot more learning how-to stabilize our structures while moving. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t love a few toys to workout with.

Here are my top 10 Can’t-Live-Without Workout Tools:

Dumbbells

TRX

BOSU Ball

Stability Ball

Medicine Ball

Kettlebells

Gymboss Interval Timer

Travel Roller

Skipping Rope

STEP with lots of risers

Have fun & sweat lots

Shirley hanging around in the TRX

For those of you who also have a love affair with the TRX, I have developed a workout using it in single-handle mode. If you are unfamiliar on how to adjust your TRX into single handle mode, please click here to download a pdf from the TRX website explaining how-to.

Good luck & happy sweat!

And I listen. Cause if I ignore my low back’s warnings she will throw me a threat. Something to get my attention. Kind of like sending someone a ransom note, with the abductees’ finger in the envelope (yeah, she’s not subtle my low back). And, if I continue to ignore her, she pulls out the big guns and constant, free-flowing throbbing pain begins in the lower lumbar area and slowly travels down. It’s hard to stop, too, once started. Kind of like inertia, once it picks up steam it takes a lot of effort to bring it to a halt.

Keep your low back on your “Friends” list with these three exercises. Enjoy and a big thanks to my amazing model, Erika.

Over the ball low back extensions - part 1

Part 2 : Lift up & twist through spine. Alternate twisting each side & do 20 reps.

Low back extension - Part 1. On stomach, arms extended over head & toes gripping into floor. Keep the chin tucked in throughout the exercise & the toes gripping the floor.

Part 2: Lift the chest up off of the mat & at the same time circle the arms dwn to your sides. Keep your feet gripping into the floor. As you lower your chest, circle your arms back overhead. That's one rep, do 20.

Ahhhh... stretch it out for 20-30 seconds.

Travel Roller with pressure balls

While I would love for you to support this product (it’s Canadian, by the way. Yay us!), you probably have your own massage tool already in your own home – a tennis ball.

A tennis ball is a cheap and easy-to-use tool to apply acupressure on sore and tight muscles. I used one on myself and my clients for many years, before I bought my roller. The downside of using a tennis ball, though, is that  I would have to steal it from my dog every night. And, he just couldn’t understand why I needed to sit on his ball instead of throw it for him. It was a tad confusing for him. So, now he has his tennis ball and I have my roller – everyone’s happy, especially my sore and tired muscles.

Here are four exercises, targeting usually tight areas in people, using Fido’s best friend. Good luck and let me know how you do.

Glute/Piriformis

• This one hurts like a bugger, but if you run, walk, stroll, jump or sit this one is a must.
• Place the ball under your gluteal area with the cheek-side leg bent and crossed over the straight leg. Roll the ball around until you find a trigger spot, and then hold it there for a few deep breaths, allowing the ball to sink deeper into the muscle. Roll again, until another trigger spot is found and repeat.
• How do you know when you have hit a trigger spot? Well, if it hurts like hell you’ve found one.

Hamstring

• This one is great for runners and I also recommend it for people who experience periods of low back pain.
• Using the non-working leg, and your arms, roll the tennis ball down the leg. When you find a trigger spot, let the ball sink in and hold. Remember to breathe.

Calf

• I believe this little exercise could be used as a torture/interrogation technique. Maybe it’s just me and my tight calves though. But the calves do scream when I do this one (it’s a good scream and so long as the neighbors don’t hear).
• Use your body weight and sit back into the ball and work out the knots in your lower limbs.

Upper Back

• Ahhh, this one is the money spot. I love using the ball to roll out the kinks in my upper back. This is particularly good for those of you draped over a computer all day.

For just 3 installments of $29.99 you too can have that secret. I promise. Just email me your banking information and I’ll send you the goods.

Sound too good to be true? Yeah I know, it’s supposed to. Sound ridiculous? It’s not, because thousands of people fall prey to shysters on the ol’ web everyday.

It’s always the same old thing. These “experts” always have THE best diet, THE best pill,  THE best exercise, THE best way for you to lose weight. They also claim that you will never feel hungry or deprived and that you will get to eat all the foods that you have come to love. In addition, you will instantly feel energized and better than you have felt in years.

I agree, that sounds pretty awesome. But it’s also bullshit.

First off, the only diet that is the BEST and that WORKS is one that you will follow. So, if you choose one that is too restrictive, or too complicated you won’t last. Choose a program that speaks to you. I, personally, devised a program that’s mix between Atkins and the Mediterranean Diet. It works for me. Others I know use Weight Watchers, South Beach or Bernstein’s. Those work for them. Find a program that you like, with foods that you can eat, and follow it – to a tee. That’s how diets work.

Second, you are going to feel deprived and hungry when you start. That’s just basic science. You are now ingesting fewer calories than you are used to and your body will respond with a dull pain in the stomach. My suggestion: tough it out for a week and your stomach, and body, will adjust to the new amount of food. Still starving, check what kinds of food you are eating because not all calories are created equal. Science now tells us that people who eat a higher intake of protein throughout the day feel fuller and more satisfied (so are less likely to snack), and they burn more calories (through thermogenesis).

Third, you can not eat the same foods that you have been eating if you want to lose weight. I don’t want to sound rude, but those foods are what got you here in the first place. You may, one day, be able to have smaller portions of some of your favorite foods, but that’s a ways away. First you need to re-stabilize your blood sugar levels, become a better fat-burning machine and learn to say “No” to cravings. Only then can you re-introduce those “comfort” foods.

After the first few weeks of toughing it out you will start to feel more energized. But, do me a favour and don’t think of food as the enemy. It’s our mindset that needs to be tweaked. Food is a wonderful thing that our bodies need to live and function with. So, find the right amount of quality foods to get you revved up and healthy and you will feel better than you have in years. I promise. If not, then for 4 installments of $49.99 I have the secret to happiness…

Enjoy the video everyone and I also challenge you to see if you can spot how many times my loving husband rolls his eyes while doing this. While he did agree to help, it was not willingly. So , let’s see if you can spot all the eye rolling and heavy sighing that was happening while filming – kind of like “Where’s Waldo” without the tacky hat.

The effectiveness of circuit training is completely dependent upon the intensity of the workout. It is imperative that the heart rate not fall below the lower end of your training zone (60% of maximum). ACSM established with their study that two and a half minutes was the minimum time needed for the aerobic portion of the circuit program, (aiming for a target heart rate 85-90% of maximum) and during the strength portion of the program your heart rate will fall, but as mentioned earlier, make sure that it falls no lower than 60% of maximum.

Keep the muscles confused.
If you are still doing the same workout that you did this time last year, it is time to mix it up. Physiologically, it takes the body about 8-12 weeks to adapt to a new stress, which is why it is important to continuously change up your routine. Doing the same program week in, week out is also a sure-fire way of getting bored and falling out of love with your workout routine. Change it up for your mind, body and soul!

Pump some iron!
As our muscles age, they begin to shrink and lose mass, and the actual number and size of our muscle fibers decrease, making our muscles slower to respond. This loss of muscle strength and power can lead to increased frailty and functional dependence. Further consequences include gait and balance problems (increasing the risk of falls and fractures) and an increased risk of chronic diseases such as osteoporosis and diabetes. On the positive side though, research has consistently shown that if a person weight trains at the appropriate intensity and duration, the older individual will elicit similar gains in their strength and power as younger adults do.

Now, if aging muscles aren’t a concern for you, how about the ability to burn more calories? Yes, the more muscle mass you have, the greater amount of calories your body will have to use to keep those gorgeous muscles warm. So, even while lying on the couch and watching television you will burn more calories, making you a better fat-burning machine.

Keep machine training down to a minimum.
I am not a huge fan of strength training equipment. I’m not a total teetotaler, though. I agree that in some circumstances you need these big pieces of metal for certain exercises and individuals, but I firmly believe that these circumstances are the exception rather than the rule.

As a trainer (and I am sure that the rest of my profession out there will agree with me), I do not like these pieces of machinery because they support and guide the exerciser.

Now, what’s so bad about that, you ask? Let’s start with the obvious. Most of these machines have you sitting down while performing the exercise. Call me a tyrant, but I thought that the whole idea of going to the gym was to get moving, not get sitting. Second problem is that your body is braced and kept stable throughout the movement, therefore eliminating any chance of getting other muscles involved to help the body stabilize and balance. Third and final problem is that you can only lift in one plane of motion – which is counter-intuitive to daily living where we are constantly lifting, pulling and pushing in all different angles and directions.

Stay away from the “Fat Burning” button.

If there is one thing that annoys me the most, it is those little buttons on the cardio equipment in our local gyms that start blinking at you, taunting you, and asking you whether you want to A) enter in a “Fat Burner” workout or B) enter in a “Cardio” workout.

Unfortunately, these buttons are misleading and lead the exerciser astray. While you do burn more fat as a fuel with a lower intensity workout (what is termed the “Fat Burning” zone on your machine) and more carbohydrates as a fuel as the intensity increases (the “Cardio Zone” on your machine), it is the total number of calories burned that is of importance. At higher intensities, such as the Cardio program on the machines, you work at a much higher rate, but for a shorter period time. This type of training not only boosts your body’s rate of caloric expenditure for the workout it also boosts your ability to burn calories after the workout too.

In a nutshell, at higher intensities you will burn more calories, in a shorter amount of time, benefit from a greater metabolic burn after your workout and improve your heart and lung health too. So, stay away from the Fat Burning program and give the others a fair try. These are my abs below and not once I have hit the “Fat Burning” button on a machine.