A Quick 101 Class On Nutrients

A Quick 101 Class On Nutrients  By Mark Frangiosa 

Hi all, Mark here from Alltone Fitness and BNG Fitness Boot camp. This week’s blog covers the important role nutrients play in our daily lives and why it is important to consume to right amount of nutrients. Lacking in certain nutrients can affect our exercise output thus stalling progress.

The science of nutrition involves studying nutrients in foods and the body’s handling of them. Even though nutrition is a relatively young science, we already know what nutrients are needed for an adequate diet and what foods provide them.

Nutrients are substances obtained from food that promote growth, maintenance and repair in our body. Below are the six classes of nutrients found in food. 

Carbohydrates – Protein – Fat   (These three nutrients provide us with energy to function and the                                                            ones I will be covering today)

Vitamins – Minerals – Water

1 gram of Carbohydrates equals to 4 cals

1 gram of Protein equals to 4 cals

1 gram of Fat equals to 9 cals.

CARBOHYDRATES

We store carbs as glycogen in our liver, this provides us with the most readily available source of energy. Glycogen assists in maintaining blood sugars and in muscles for use during rest and physical activity. Due to these energy stores being relatively limited we must consume the right type of carbs in sufficient quantities on a daily basis. Carbs are composed of three molecules being carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They are found in many different forms such as sucrose, lactose and glucose just to name a few.

Quick overview: Carbs and Exercise

Glucose is the most readily available source of fuel for exercising.

Exercise reduces muscle and liver glycogen that’s why active people need an adequate carb intake to maintain and boost glycogen stores.

Stores must be continually refilled from dietary carbohydrates

PROTEIN  

Proteins are water soluble molecules that are made up of 20 amino acids and are like the body’s building blocks. Eight of the 20 amino acids are essential as they cannot be made in the human body so they must be consumed in our diet.  The functions of protein in our diet are many, we need it for the transport of lipoproteins and hemoglobin, protection against antibodies and blood clotting, it carries nutrients across cell membranes, maintains water balance, the growth and maintenance of cells and tissues and acts as an energy source.

We obtain protein from both animal and plant sources. Protein from animal sources are referred as complete proteins because it contains all the essential amino acids. Protein from plant sources usually

lack one or more essential amino acids, although when one or more plant sources are combined they can become complete sources. General recommended protein intake for active people who exercise regularly are 1.2 – 1.8 grams per kilo of bodyweight

Quick overview: Protein and Exercise

Protein is important for muscle growth and repair.

High protein intake assists muscle growth only if training is adequate.

DIETARY FAT.

Fat provides the body’s major store of energy. It is a molecule also composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen that is a sub category of compounds called lipids. Apart from providing energy, fat also has many other functions in the body. It assists in supplying the body essential fatty acids, it provides insulation and protection for structures and organs and the absorption and supply of fat soluble vitamin. The types of fatty acids are, Saturated, Monounsaturated, Polyunsaturated and Trans Fatty Acids.

Saturated fats are generally animal fats, solid at room temp (lard, butter ). 

Monounsaturated  fats can be summarized as liquid or semi solid at room temp, they appear to decrease the risk of heart disease. Sources include nuts and seeds, avocado and olive oil.

Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and sources include plants, fish, grains and cereals.

So there you go. I hope that has been informative and shed some light on the different types of nutrients and the role they play in our bodies. Apart from maintaining a balanced diet with adequate nutrients we should also take part in regular physical activity such as boot camp Greensborough, or outdoor group personal training to live a long and happy life.

Take care – Mark Alltone Fitness& BNGBoot Camp Bundoora, Mill park and Watsonia. 

6 Ways To Help You Keep Your New Years Resolutions

At some point we have all made new year's resolutions and broken them. We often set unrealistic goals or pressure on ourselves to eat healthier, losing weight, become fitter, stress less and the list goes on and on. Is it that we place time restraints on these goals that we failure? Or is it just becuase we actually don't take the time to think about what it actually is that we want out of life? It is important to remember that one minor set back is not a total write off.
Why not make this year's resolutions stick.
Here are my top 6 ways to help you keep on track.

1. BE REALISTIC

Don't set a goal that is unrealistic or you cannot keep. For example, telling yourself  you are never going to eat your favorite food again is setting you up for failure. Try changing your goal to - I will only eat my favorite food once per month.

2. PLAN AHEAD

People who plan their resolutions on New Year Eve or mid way through January are more likely not stick to their goals. Don't plan your resolutions on new year's eve after a few drinks. Planning ahead is crucial and gives you time to reflect back on your year while thinking about the direction you would like to take in the year to come.

3. OUTLINE YOUR ACTION PLAN

Being realistic means knowing that their will be temptations to skip that boot camp class or cancel your personal training session. Have a action plan in place for those times you feel like giving up. Call a friend for motivation, practise positive thinking, or simply tell yourself the negative effects this will have on your goals.

4. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

Keep track at each small success milestone. Whether its through weight loss, being able to run that extra distance, lifting more weight in the gym. Tracking your progress is a sure way to keep you motivated and successful in conquering your resolutions.

5. DON'T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF.

Tell yourself the occasional slip up is not the end of the world. Obsessing over slipping up will do no good for achieving your goals. This is where some positive self talk can do wonders. Create a mantra that is short and sharp like " I CAN DO THIS " ONE SLIP UP IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD" I WILL GET BACK ON TRACK"

6. SEEK HELP FROM A PROFESSIONAL

If losing weight or becoming fitter is your goal, then join a outdoor group personal training session, gym, or book in with a personal trainer. Having the guidance of a fitness professional who will push you that little further can mean the difference between success or failure.

HERE'S TO A FIT AND HEALTHY 2016! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WAYS TO BOOST YOUR METABOLISM

Hi all, 

I hope this week see's everyone doing well and finally enjoying this fantastic Spring weather. Life has been pretty hectic for myself with personal training and boot camp running at near capacity. We have also commenced running Hatha Yoga Classes, 

We still have some spots left for boot camp mill park and some availability for personal training mill park. You can head to www.alltonefitness.com.au/booking and book your $5 personal training trial session or $2 boot camp trial with no obligation afterwards.  

If yoga is more your thing then we now run 3 Yoga Classes per week in Watsonia. Yoga is great for improving flexibility, increasing core and muscular strength, and most importantly reconnecting body and mind! You can book your no obligation trial yoga class for only $2! Head to www.yogicjourney.com.au for more details.

This week's article comes form the health.com. website and is about ways in boosting your metabolism. As we age our metabolism slow's down which can cause health implications like weight gain and lack of energy. The good news there are ways to help boost your metabolism which can reduce these health risk's. Hope you enjoy! 

Ways to boost your Metabolism! 

From Health magazine

Here's welcome news: You may have inherited your slow-mo metabolism, but you’re not stuck with it. New research shows you can trick your body into burning calories more efficiently, especially if you hit the gym. By strength-training just a couple of times a week, for example, you’ll reverse 50% of the seemingly inevitable metabolism slow-down that comes with age, says Gary Hunter, PhD, a professor of human studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. So take control of your metabolism by making these boosters part of your routine—and (finally) stop sweating every cookie

Kick it up a notch

The next time you run, swim, or even walk, ramp up the intensity for 30-second intervals, returning to your normal speed afterward. Using this strategy will help you consume more oxygen and make your cell powerhouses, the mitochondria, work harder to burn energy, explains Mark Hyman, MD, an integrative and functional medicine specialist in private practice in Lenox, Massachusetts, and author of Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss. "You increase the number of mitochondria and how efficiently they burn throughout the day," heexplains.This way, you can exercise for less time than it takes to plod along at the same pace and still get great results.

Here's how to do it: Exercise for 5 minutes at 3.5 mph. Increase your speed to 4 mph for 60 seconds. Then go back down to 3.5 mph for 90 seconds. Repeat the entire sequence 5 times, twice a week. (To get a more challenging workout, increase the incline or your pace.

Get your omega-3's

Why does eating lots of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, herring, and tuna) help amp up metabolism? Omega-3s balance blood sugar and reduce inflammation, helping to regulate metabolism. They may also reduce resistance to the hormone leptin, which researchers have linked to how fast fat is burned. A study inObesity Research found rats that ingested large doses of fish oil while exercising lost weight. Take omega-3 fatty acid supplements; Hyman recommends 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams per day. Hate the fishy after-burp? Try flaxseed oil, walnuts, or eggs fortified with omega-3s. Or check out supplements (by brands such asNordic Naturals) that have no fishy taste

Make some muscle

Not only does muscle weigh more than fat, but it uses more energy, too. The average woman in her 30s who strength-trains 30 to 40 minutes twice a week for four months will increase her resting metabolism by 100 calories a day. That means you're resetting your thermostat to keep running at that rate even on the days when you don't make it to the gym, Hunter explains

Enjoy the afterburn

Exercise is a gift to yourself that keeps on giving. In a phenomenon known as excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), your body can take hours to recover from a robust workout (one intense enough that you can't hold a conversation) and return to its previous resting metabolic rate. The windfall: Your body is actually burning more calories than it normally would—even after you've finished exercising. There’s a catch, though. The better shape you're in, the less benefit you'll get, because your fit body replenishes its energy stores efficiently. You can improve your burn by increasing how often or how hard you work out (think intervals), suggests Walt Thompson, PhD, professor of kinesiology and health and nutrition at Georgia State University.

Trim the trans fat

You’ve heard they're bad for you. But trans fats also slow down your body's ability to burn fat. "They have an altered shape and make your biochemistry run funny," Hyman says, explaining that trans fat binds to fat and liver cells and slows metabolism. Eating trans fat can also lead to insulin resistance and inflammation, both of which cripple metabolism and can cause weight gain

Think protein

Your body digests protein more slowly than fat or carbs, so you feel full longer (this is especially true when you have it for breakfast). Plus, it may also give your metabolism a bump. In a process called thermogenesis, your body uses about 10% of its calorie intake for digestion. So, because it takes longer to burn protein than carbs or fat, your body expends more energy absorbing the nutrients in a high-protein diet. Another bonus: One recent study from Purdue University found that diets higher in protein may help preserve lean body mass, which is the best fat-burner of all.

LIFTING FOR TWO

Hi all, Mark here from Alltone Fitness Personal Training BNG Boot Camp Greensborough.

This week’s blog is by Nicole Moneer form the bodybuilding.com website. We often forget to talk about fitness and pregnancy and how women can stay active and keep resistance training throughout their pregnancy. This is a fantastic article taking you through Nicole’s experience and how she adapted and modified her training to stay fit and active while pregnant.

Also we are pumped to be back outside for BNG Boot Camp Mill Park. We are launching a boxing boot camp on Monday 28^th September at 6:30pm. For more info head to www.bngbootcamp.com.au

ENJOY!

LIFTING FOR TWO

by Nicole Moneer With Dustin Lapray 
Last updated: Jun 17, 2015

The weights don't always have to go back on the rack when you find out you're pregnant. Here's how Bodybuilding.com athlete Nicole Moneer modified her workouts and kept training into the third trimester!

The difference between the first trimester in a pregnancy and the second and third is, to say the least, dramatic. As I detailed in my "Guide to a Fit First Trimester," you experience a lot of mysterious and powerful feelings for those initial 12 weeks—thirst, sleepiness, nausea, and bizarre cravings in my case—but you don't necessarily feel like you've got a living, wriggling person growing inside you. But then, at some point, that baby announces his or her presence with authority!

This is when you start to feel really pregnant—especially in a physical sense. How women respond to this change varies incredibly from person to person. A number of people were shocked to see I was still lifting weights halfway through my pregnancy. I had to remind them that every woman is unique, just like every pregnancy is unique.

My hope is that I can help you get the most benefit out of whatever training you can manage during the second and third trimesters of your pregnancy. To be clear, not all women feel like they can work out during this time, and in some cases, it's medically necessary for them not to. So check in frequently with your health care provider.

But if you're up for it, join me as I show the modifications that allowed me to keep training all the way through my 

NOTES

§  Keep moving, keep active, and don't overdo it.

§  Focus on opening up posture with arm exercises.

§  Be confident, but reasonable. Every woman comes into pregnancy from a different place, and has different challenges to overcome and choices to make.

§  Rest! A huge part of taking care of yourself and your child isn't working out—it's resting.

HOW TO HOLD ON TO FITNESS

During the second trimester, making customizations and listening to my body became far more important than it had seemed during the first trimester. If I felt the muscles in my abdomen stretching, I immediately switched to a seated exercise, decreased the weight, or stopped the exercise altogether. If something didn't feel good, I changed it up or didn't do it.

You must take care, because reckless movements can lead to bleeding or tightening of the uterus or stomach, among other complications. If you are not a veteran lifter, hire a professional to teach you training adjustments. I accepted that many of my former "normal" activities would need modification, and I would probably experience greater muscle soreness.

Here are some of the major adjustments I made:

§  I kept teaching cardio-kickboxing classes, but I took needed breaks and kept the class moving even when I wasn't.

§  I made the switch to push-ups from the knees. Before, I repped single-arm push-ups!

§  I took Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off from the gym. I eventually worked down to two workouts per week, and that was plenty!

§  I cut my cardio way back. Trust me, once you get past Week 30, just getting around is enough of a battle!

§  No more crunches. I did a modified plank for a while, but eventually, core work ceased to really be feasible or advisable.

As a special reward for all of this work—and because it just felt great—I got deep-tissue pregnancy massages once a week, with special focus on my TFL [tensor fasciae latae], IT, sartorius, and glutes. I highly recommend this, but make sure your practitioner is trained in pregnancy massage specifically! I would always feel great after my massage, but the next day I was usually tight again from sleeping on my side.

KEEP ON SQUATTING

Squatting isn't just the best lift in weight training; it is also one of 12 natural positions for birth. I wasn't sure if I was going to give birth squatting, but I definitely kept doing squats throughout my pregnancy. This is one of my major messages to pregnant women: Just because you can't do what you used to doesn't mean you can't do anything! We can all benefit from using our muscles in some way.

In the second half of my pregnancy, I was doing sets of 12 of unweighted Smith machine squats.

It's the reverse of normal lifting, where you exercise, get progressively stronger, and increase the challenge. I lowered the weight, did more reps, and once I couldn't do a lift anymore, I just let it go.

Even with just a few weeks to go, squats felt so good to do. I did multiple variations: sumo, hip-width, and sometimes narrow to strengthen all the muscles around my hips. I also did a lot of lunges. I knew I'd benefit from having a strong and flexible lower body, both during my birth and in those crucial post-partum recovery weeks.

In the third trimester I felt the weight pulling as I carried dumbbells, so I carried them by my shoulders. For this reason, I also began relying on the Smith machine. It was safer with the weight, giving me stability and balance so there was little chance of me falling. If you are at home, squat into a chair, sit up, and stand up. Dial things back however you need.

SOME NUMBERS GO DOWN, OTHERS GO UP

Yeah, about the weight: I allowed myself to gain 20 pounds through 30 weeks without freaking out the slightest bit. Moms need to have a healthy weight to have a healthy baby weight, and the amount that women gain can be widely variable. If you were underweight to begin with, you actually might gain more. It's not unheard of for women to gain 40 or even 50 pounds over the course of a pregnancy, and that's OK.

With those crazy first-trimester cravings out of the way, I put my focus on eating quality food and didn't worry about counting calories precisely. I ate lots of protein, vegetables, and healthy fats—sound familiar?

Supplement-wise, I kept taking my whole food-based prenatal, and since I avoid store-bought dairy, I got extracalcium from leafy greens and supplements. I also started drinking Rejuvalec, a fermented wheatberry drink high in vitamin B, which I felt helped with nausea, my energy levels, and clear skin.

SLEEP GET IT WHEN AND HOW YOU CAN

Sure, working out when you're pregnant is hard. But it's not nearly as hard as sleeping. Getting quality rest was the ultimate challenge!

Unfortunately, sleeping doesn't get any less important as your pregnancy progresses. In fact, it becomes more precious, especially because you know some seriously sleepless nights are right around the corner once that baby is born.

It got to the point where I sometimes needed a hand getting up and getting out of bed. In time, even the simple act of lying on my side became difficult because of all that weight. I slept on my back a lot, but propped upright with pillows. Sitting up helped me sleep slightly better. If I slept on either hip, my muscles would tighten up.

My recommendation: Get pillows and a Snoogle. A Snoogle is a pregnancy pillow that helps prop up your legs so you can sleep in the fetal position. I hated sleeping on my side until I got one. If this doesn't work for you, well, keep looking until you find what does!

FINDING THE PERFECT LINEUP

The day I became pregnant, I became part of a club—the mommy club. I heard all the stories—the good and the bad, the danger and the joy. I saw that labor and delivery, while scary and overwhelming in many ways, could also be wonderful!

I knew I wanted a healthy, natural delivery. I wanted to avoid medical intervention. I wanted a midwife, rather than a doctor. I had a vision and a plan, but also recognized that anything could happen the day of the birth. Still, I planned ahead to have the right team with me: my midwife, my doula, my partner, and my mom's best friend—she was there in my late mother's absence. I know other women who only wanted their partner there with them. That's their team, and it's fine, too. What's important is that you make full use of yours.

It's like what do we do at Bodybuilding.com. We surround ourselves with like-minded people who share our goals, people who have overcome challenges and can help us do the same. I took that mentality with my pregnancy and birthing: teamwork, community, support. As the day got closer, I took great comfort in knowing who would be at my side.

Fitness can teach you a lot about pregnancy, and vice versa. Set your own goals, then open yourself to others' remarkable stories and use that to keep your mindset positive. Then fearlessly transform your life!