Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

Hey San Antonio,

Here are a few great meals for fat loss and healthy eating. Enjoy!

Spinach Omelet

Ingredients:

* 4 Egg whites
* 1 Whole Egg
* 1/4 Cup fresh Spinach, minced
* 2 Tbsp Skim Milk
* 1 Small toasted whole-wheat Bagel or Pita

Servings: 1

Instructions:

1. Preheat a skillet lightly coated with a nonfat cooking spray like Pam
2. In a small bowl, beat egg whites, whole egg, spinach and milk
3. Toss in the preheated skillet
4. Eat with toasted Bagel or Pita and Enjoy!

Chicken Pita Pizza

Ingredients:

* 1 Whole-wheat pita
* 1/4 cup low-fat pizza sauce
* 1 portion cooked chicken breast, sliced
* 1/4 red bell pepper, sliced
* 1/4 yellow bell pepper, sliced
* 1/4 small zuchinni, sliced
* 1/4 cup reduced-fat mussarela shredded

Servings: 1

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven o 415º F
2. Place the pita on a baking sheet. Spoon pizza sauce evenly over the pita. top with the sliced cooked chicken, bell peppers, zuchinni and mozzarella cheese
3. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted
4. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Power Pancakes

Another simple recipe that takes about 5 minutes to make. They are delicious, although a much firmer consistency then regular pancakes, but you get all your protein, carbs from the whole grain. Enjoy!
Ingredients:

6 Egg whites
1 Egg yolk
1 – 1 1/2 Cups of dried Oatmeal
Splash of vanilla extract
Cinnamon

Serving: 2
Instructions: Mix to puree and put on a griddle like regular pancakes until cooked. Enjoy!

Banana Nut Bread – Awesome Breakfast Idea

This recipe makes 2 servings, so 1/2 of the batter is a meal. Each serving has 38g of Carbs and 25g Protein!

What I like about this recipe is that it is all natural, no artificial sweeteners and no oil. It tastes just like regular banana bread and takes only minutes to prepare! I make 2 in the evening and then bring one to work for my mid-morning snack the next day. I love warm banana bread, so I just heat in the microwave for a few seconds and it’s delicious!
Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

* In Medium Bowl Combine:
* 3 Tbsp Plain Protein Powder
* 1/2 Cup 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour
* 1 Tsp Baking Powder
* 1/8 Tsp Baking Soda
* 1/4 Tsp Cinnamon

In Small Bowl Combine:

* 1 Medium Banana (Starting to turn brown), mashed
* 1 Egg White
* 1/4 Cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce

Servings: 2

Instructions:

1. Add wet ingredients to dry. Stir until moistened
2. Divide batter into 2 mini-loaf pans and bake in toaster oven at 350 for 20 minutes, or put all batter into 1 mini-loaf pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or use a regular muffin pan to make 4 muffins
3. Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes.

Try these and comment!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution – San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Today was just that – a day off. I decided to forget about training, work, working out, losing fat, gaining muscle and everything else and just relax today. Took a long ride into the country with my family and enjoyed every second of it.

Every once in a while, you have to do that. Get away from work, get away from thinking and get away from the stress and just unwind. I did it today, and I’m telling you, I already feel recharged and like a new man.

Working out is my job – I love fitness and I love nutrition, but today was just about stopping and smelling the roses and appreciating an absolute gorgeous day and watching what was once my baby grow into a little boy, soon to be a young man. Putting things in perspective, life is a pretty great thing.

Tomorrow will be work again, and while I enjoyed today, I can’t wait for the new week!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Going to have a new feature here on my blog, and it will be my “Client of the Week”. How I decide which client will be the client of the week will be based on numerous factors: motivation, progress, and intensity will all be factors. There will also be intangibles, such as distractions and hardships overcome. My staff of personal trainers and I will discuss this weekly (although we didn’t this week) and determine which of our clients we’d like to niminate.

This will be MUCH harder for me to choose than it will be for my clients to achieve. Why? Because most all of my clients give 100% and make exercise and nutrition a priority. They don’t let life get in the way and they don’t hide behind excuses. They do the work, put forth the effort and put thoughts and ideas into action.

With that being said, I wasn’t going to pick one today, but one client of mine made a profound impact on me this week. It was her FIRST week, and she was referred to me by another client, which happens to be her boss (who also put forth an amazing week with several distractions).

Rarely does a client come in and go full speed from scratch – she started her food log on day 1, did exactly what I asked her to on days off, made me take her shopping after her second workout and texted/called me whenever she had a question about any meal. Trust me, I love that – I’d rather a client ask then guess!

Anyway, without further adieu, the Client of the Week (ending February 20, 2009) is Christina M. As I said, this isn’t easy and it’s definitely not a knock on other clients – I’m impressed everyday by many of my clients’ accomplishments. But as I stated, Christina totally overwhelmed me with her immediate dedication, willpower and motivation – I pushed her hard every day and she was actually upset at herself for not dominating everything I threw at her. Don’t worry, Christina – you actually impressed and motivated me!

So, Christina, congrats on being our first Client of the Week! You deserve it!!!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Looking for an incredible weapon to add to your fat loss arsenal? Well, I’ve mentioned High Intensity Interval Training in other articles, and today, the workout of the day is HIIT on a treadmill.

Why HIIT?
-Less time on cardio
-Muscle preservation
-Body burns more fat for longer when you’re finished
-It is intense!

I do believe that HIIT is an amazing weapon for ANY body transformation!

To start, I warm up for 3-5 minutes at a light to moderate speed.

I then alternate 45 seconds of very high intensity (whether it is increasing to speed to 10-12mph or the incline to 15% or maybe a combination, such as 8mph on a 10% grade – it doesn’t matter, just make it hard). I then go back to my lower intensity, warmup speed for 45 seconds. I alternate this for about a total of 10-15 minutes. At first, you may only be able to do 3-4 minutes, and that’s fine, just work on building it up each and every week. 2-3 sessions per week will make a huge difference in not only fat burning, but in recovery ability between sets while weight training, as the style of the exercise is totally transferable to other parts of your training regimen.

Give it a try and let me hear about it!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

As promised, I thought I’d tackle one of the hottest questions that I answer a few times per week. I’m going to try to make this as simple as possible. Remember that this is dependent on you doing both during the same session.

First thing one must understand that is glucose is the fuel that is responsible for muscle contractions (ATP — CP — Glucose). When you lift weights, you must have glucose in the body, period. When doing cardio, your body will burn up glucose before it dips into fat for energy. Reading those two statements alone makes it pretty evident why you need to do cardio first. But let’s delve a little deeper.

Doing Cardio Then Lifting
Too many people confuse warming up for cardio. A warm up is just that – increase the body’s temperature and get it ready to work. A typical warm up lasts from 5-10 minutes. So what happens when you go hardcore on cardio for 20-30 minutes and then lift? In short, you burn all glucose up, barely tap into fat stores during cardio, then force the body to tap into MUSCLE (not fat) for glucose to fuel muscle contractions. Let me reiterate – fat to glucose is a slow process that isn’t efficient enough to support a heavy set during resistance training. It simply does not work that way!!! Not only is this worse than the other way, it is actually COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

Lifting Then Cardio
Read my posts about pre-workout nutrition, as I explain the importance of carbohydrates and protein before you workout and why you should not weight train on an empty stomach (you don’t have glucose to fuel contractions). With that being said, weight training will do a sufficient job of using the desirable fuel (Glucose) for muscle contractions. Once you’ve completed your weight training session, it is safe to say that you are glucose depeleted, and ready for the body to get into the oxidative pathway for energy and tap into fat stores. My one recommendation would be to consider a small source of amino acids to protect muscles from being attacked for glucose (for example, 20g or so of whey protein).

I understand the convenience factor of doing cardio and weight training at the same time – the “I’m already here, right?” logic. If I had my preference for what would be optimal, I’d do cardio on non-weight training days or separated by several hours on the same day (say, at least 2-3 meals in between for recovery, replenishment and proper fueling).

I’ve mentioned before that people totally abuse cardio when they’re looking to lose fat and do way too much. Of course, people take that statement to an extreme and believe that I’m anti-cardio, and that’s simply bogus. It definitely has it’s place, but when large amounts it simply breaks down muscle at too quickly of a rate which leads to a slower resting metabolism in the long run. For body transformation, brief periods (15-30 minutes) of intense cardio is infinitely better, due to it’s muscle sparing and after-burn effects on fat (see my other cardio articles for more information on this).

Saving what muscle you already have shouldn’t only be something you try to do, it should be your PRIMARY goal – saving muscle will result in more fat lost.

Until next time,

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Another one of my older writings. Before you read this, find the Limiting Amino Article I posted a few days back under the nutrition section. Protein seems to be the nutrient that most people are looking for information about – considering it’s importance in fat loss and muscle gain, I thought I’d add another article about it.

I don’t think that anyone on this blog doubts the importance of protein for adequate growth and devlopment, but I find that many don’t understand the concept of protein absorption, complete and incomplete proteins, or protein utilization. Let me see if I can explain it!

Complete proteins are proteins that contain the essential amino acids in amounts that are sufficient for maintenance of normal growth rate and body weight. Complete proteins are said to have a high biological value. These include proteins contained in eggs, milk, milk products, most protein powders (such as casein protein) and most animal proteins.

Incomplete proteins are usually deficient in one or more of the essential amino acids. This amino acid deficiency creates a limiting amino acid condition which will adversely affect growth and development rates. Most plant proteins are incomplete because they are low in an essential amino acid. However, based on the above discussion on the dynamics of amino acids in the body, even high quality proteins may be incomplete for the athlete’s needs. Furthermore, research indicates that the proper proportions of both essential and nonessential amino acids are required for optimum growth and recovery. This means eating high quality protein sources, as well as consuming sports supplement formulations. The dietary goal is to eat a diet fortified with amino acids that are used for energy and non-growth functions and to ensure that there will be an adequate amount of amino acids for growth and recovery without creating too much of an excess intake of protein. Excess intake WILL be stored as fat-do NOT believe that your body will absorb and utilize all of the protein you consume.

It is also interesting to note that the World Health Organization suggests that newborn infants need complete dietary proteins that contain about 37% of the weight in essential amino acids. Adults, on the other hand, require about 15%. This demonstrates that the proportion of essential to non-essential amino acids is an important factor for growth and development. Athletes training for stronger and bigger muscles and fat loss should attempt to maintain higher proportions of essential amino acids in their diets.

Net protein utilization (NPU) is a way of determining the digestibility of a protein. This measures the biological value (BV) or percentage of absorbed nitrogen from amino acids. (Again, see the nitrogen balance section in the Limited Amino article above.) The NPU reveals the amount of a protein needed to achieve nitrogen balance. So, if a protein has a low NPU, it means that more is needed to maintain nitrogen balance. Obviously, the proteins with high NPU values, like egg and milk proteins, are more desirable for athletes. Remember, we’re looking for the most nitrogen in the least amount of protein!

Biological value is also an important factor on how complete (or incomplete) a protein is. Although I do not support a vegan lifestyle, something can be learned from that group. They use different plant proteins to “compliment” others, to ensure they’re getting a decent amino acid profile. For example, let’s say that egg whites have 95% of the needed amino acids for growth and energy for a specific individual (remember, EVERYONE is different). That means you would need to find another source to get the other 5% of the aminos you need to ensure a complete amino profile. This is why I find it beneficial to supplement with amino acids and branched chain amino acids.

From this information, you can see the importance of eating a wide variety of different proteins, instead of the same choices every meal, to ensure that you’re getting all of the essential (essential aminos must be derived from food) and non-essential (non-essential aminos are created within the body) amino acids that your body needs for growth and recovery.

Next article: Which do you do first, cardio or weights? I’m asked that everyday, and I’ll be giving you a definitive answer!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Earlier this week, I asked what fitness and nutrition related articles you’d like to see, and I received roughly 45 emails with suggestions. Some of them were from individuals that had read my other blogs and wanted me to relate on things I had written in the past. Of course, the blog on my main personal training page was hacked, so a lot of that information was lost. Trust me, nobody was as furious as I was, as I had put in a lot of effort to make that blog useful.

Nonetheless, I’d be interested in re-writing many of the articles, as several people requested more information on things that I’ve written about in the past. Trust me, if I write on it, I’m interested in it and enjoy it. So here are some of the things I’ll be writing about in the upcoming days/weeks:

- Sprint training vs. Distance running for body recomposition
- Zigzag diet and carbohydrate cycling
- Attacking fad diets (I love doing this)
- Strength training for females
- Supplementing with melatonin (I’ve never written about this, but it is something that I do and recommend)
- Pathways of energy (I have an article I’ve written about this saved, so I will add it soon if I haven’t)
- Muscle fiber types and training
- Fat burners
-San Antonio Restaurant reviews

There are a few more requests, and I’m going to make a serious effort to get to each and everyone of them.

Thanks for your input and definitely thank you for taking the time to submit your requests. You guys rock!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

I always take the time to mention my clients that are competing in shows, on the front or featured in magazines, or anything else that may happen to individuals that are clients at my personal training studio. Well, no news is ever bigger news than busting through a goal!

Today, my client Jennifer (who SOMETIMES updates her blog ;)) reached a few milestones. When she started, she was 142 and admittedly “jiggly” – today she is now 117 and perfectly defined. When she started, she could not do 10 “regulation” (aka men style) pushups. Today, she did 50. I don’t typically assess my “body transformers” on push-ups, but she told me she wanted to try it. Oh, but there is more. When she started working out, she could NOT run for 3 minutes consecutively. Maybe just over 2 – today, she ran a mile. She didn’t just RUN the mile, she ran it in 6 minutes and 28 seconds. That’s fast for anyone, especially when the person who did it is not a typical runner (she hates it). When she started, she could barely do body weight only squats. Now, she can squat more than her body weight for 20 reps. She can bench press her weight for reps. She has control over every exercise, and her confidence level is so far past what it was when she started. For the ladies that say “ewwww, I don’t want to be big and bulky”, she is anything but. She’s lean, small, and as toned as they come. Not huge veins and freakish looking muscles – she looks extremely feminine!

I’ve seen a person literally transform in under three months. I said “I’ve seen a PERSON” – not just a body. I’m proud of her because it seems that as soon as she took control of her mind and body, everything else just fell into place. The greatest part of it is that it happens to everyone that makes the decision to do what they need to do. It isn’t magic and it isn’t rocket science. It’s simply the power of positive thinking and knowing that if you can make amazing changes to your own body that there is absolutely nothing in this world that you cannot do.

Jen, I’m extremely proud of you! Your fat loss and body transformation has been simply amazing and inspiring to everyone that sees you everyday during your training session (and I’m sure at her home, work, and wherever else she may go).

You’ve only just begun and there’s NOTHING that you won’t accomplish!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
16613 Huebner Rd
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Yesterday, I took a couple of clients shopping to help them get started on their eating plan. This is something that we do for clients who ask to ENSURE they’re not only getting the right foods for their program, but to also show them how to read labels and make the proper choices. It simply comes down to the fact that training sessions do not end when you leave the personal training studio. Heck, we even offer to come to the client’s home and do a “cabinet and fridge makeover”, removing all junk food.

Bottom Line: if you’re looking to lose fat and change your body, we will not let you fail!!!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
16613 Huebner Rd
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

I think the title is a simple question, but is there a simple answer? Yes and no. Regardless of what you may believe about yourself, physically, you, or anyone else is capable of making amazing changes to their bodies. Want abs? You CAN get them. Want defined legs? Nothing can stop you. Want big arms, guys? Don’t hide behind genetics, you can do it.

Physically, many people have conditions that may impede or slow down progress, but there are people with serious situations – no legs, missing hands, spinal injuries and even they will themselves to 6 pack abs – there are even bodybuilding shows for individuals with the aforementioned conditions. Those people are extraordinary.

But why are there so many “normal people” that struggle with making radical body changes? Part of it is misinformation and lack of knowledge. But the biggest road block, quite simply, is willpower and discipline. I’ve heard people say asinine things like “My body structure would never allow me to be lean” and that’s just nonsense. Heck, I meet a lot of people, friends and strangers that open up and tell me how bad they want to get in shape and how hard they’re willing to work, but when the rubber meets the road, they’re able to come up with more reasons why they aren’t going to be able to “start this week” than I come up with to avoid family reunions.

Saying you want to do it isn’t enough. Even asking for help isn’t enough. You have to make the decision to do the things necessary, and drastic situations call for drastic measures. It’s not easy, and it is called working out for a reason. Getting discouraged because you don’t look like a super model in 3 weeks cannot be acceptable. You didn’t get out of shape in a week, so you’re not going to get into shape in a week.

I write articles each and everyday about the inner-workings of nutrition and training. On my 3 blogs, you can find all of the information you could ever need to change your body. But the bottom line is that I cannot MAKE you want it bad enough to put the laid out plans into action. That must come from within.

Make the decision. WHEN you want it, I will help.

Boyd Myers
SATX Personal Trainer
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution

Hey San Antonio,

Here are a few healthy back tips from my chiropractor, Dr. Greg Otterman of Advantage Chiropractic here in San Antonio. Check out his website in the blog roll!

You may be asking why this is on a website about fitness? If you can’t exercise, you can’t make progress. I realize that a lot of people are skeptical about chiropractic care: I used to be one of those. Just like any practice, there are flakes out there, but a good one is worth his weight in gold for pain elimination and prevention. Dr. O is one of those!

Try to implement these tips. I admit, I’ve been guilty of a few of these things myself.

Healthy Back Tips

Exercise Regularly – This does not have to be anything overly strenuous. Something as simple as a daily walk can make a huge difference.

Eat A Healthy Diet – Proper nutrients allow the body to repair itself easier

Maintain Good Posture – Are you sitting up straight as you read this?

Stretch Your Spine Before And After Sports – This will also help to loosen up the surrounding muscles.

Don’t Overload Your Backpack Or Purse – Remember to carry it over both shoulders to balance the load (if possible).

Stretch Your Legs And Back After Each Hour Of Sitting – Whether in a car or at a desk, stretching regularly will help to keep you from tightening up or injuring yourself further.

Never Cradle The Phone Between Your Neck And Shoulder!

Sleep On Your back Or Side, Not On Your Stomach – This helps to keep your spine in line and reduces the risk of hurting your neck while you sleep.

Invest In A Good Chair, Pillow And Mattress – When you think about the amount of time you use these things each day, it’s worth it.

Have Regular Spinal Check-Ups – It’s much easier to prevent a problem than to correct one.

It’s time for me to do a little intense cardio – gotta work the most important muscle, the heart!

Boyd Myers
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
San Antonio Personal Trainer

Hey San Antonio,

I’ve been very pleased with the amount of traffic this site has been getting in a very short amount of time – I haven’t even started search engine optimization on it yet (getting it listed at the top of Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) but so far, so good!

I had to make leaving comments a little bit of a challenge and I apologize for that, but there are a lot of spamming programs that search these blogs out.

If there’s a topic you’d like to see covered or discussed more in depth, let me know. Be as general or as specific as you like. I have so many ideas for articles that will help a lot of individuals with their goals, and I love keeping this blog up to date, informational and useful. So, you tell me – training? Nutrition? Personal Training related? Cardio? The “Ask the Personal Trainer” section is always open, so send your questions!

Email me at boyd@the-personal-trainer.com and I’ll start a queue of articles that you ask for! Of course, these articles are always written in my own words – not a lot of fluff and bs, and never any sales pitches about “supplements you must try” (ala the muscle magazines).

Thank you for your continued support, SA!

In health,

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio!

I received a lot of feedback for my Recommended Daily Allowance vs. Performance Daily Recommendations article, especially the part about protein synthesis and Essential Amino Acids.

Well, I wrote this one many years ago, but I think it’s a great piggy-back off of that article. Understand that this was written toward muscle gain, but it’s even MORE important for those primarily interested in fat loss due to the preservation of muscle. Let me clarify this: amino acids are basically the individual building blocks of protein. Each plays a different role (or many different roles) in muscle growth, energy, etc.

Enjoy!

Limited Amino Factor/Leucine’s Importance in Synthesis
By Boyd Myers

I wrote this a couple of years ago, but still good info. Of course, your body has to have every amino acid present to be in a positive nitrogen balance. The BCAAs (leucine, Iso-leucine, and Valine) are the most readily metabolized for energy, thus are the most limited. Not having them present, no matter how many total grams of protein you consume, will NOT allow you to build muscle. SO, SUPP WITH BCAAs and EAAs!!!

For optimum muscle growth, cellular growth, metabolism, and recovery to occur, the proper proportions of amino acids need to be eaten. However, eating amino acid sources, such as meat and eggs, does not ensure that the amino acids they supply will be available for muscle growth and formation of other proteins. For example, suppose you have a gross intake of 100 grams of protein with all the essential amino acids present in equal amounts. Now consider how these amino acids are used in the body. To start, a considerable amount of leucine will be used for energy in exercising muscle. This means that there may be only a small amount of leucine available for growth and repair. When leucine finally runs out, this will affect protein formation because leucine is an essential amino acid. That means your body cannot make it. In actuality, perhaps only 15 grams of the original 100 grams of protein will be available for growth and repair. This is one reason why athletes need more protein, not just to compensate for growth and recovery demands from exercise, but to compensate for the loss of essential amino acids like leucine when they are used for energy.

However, there has been a trend in some circles of athletes, bodybuilders in particular, where they are ingesting pure protein meals or supplements. This is counterproductive, because some of the protein will be broken down and converted to glucose and fatty acids in the liver. You should always have some amount of carbohydrates, and fat, to prevent the undesirable destruction of ingested protein.

Like fats and carbohydrates, amino acids can also be used for energy. When dietary circumstances cause amino acids to be used as a source of energy, they cannot be used for building muscle tissue and performing their other metabolic functions. Actually, under conditions of outright starvation or training induced starvation, the body releases amino acids from muscle tissue to be used as energy or in energy cycles. This catabolism of proteins also can and does occur during exercise and when the body runs out of carbohydrate fuel from the diet or from glycogen stored in the muscles and liver. Even though the body can depend on fat stored for fuel, muscle proteins will still be used as fuel, unless proteins are taken in as food. During intensive exercise, the body will use amino acids for energy, especially power exercises and prolonged endurance sports. That is why it is essential to maintain a proper daily protein intake each hour of the day.

Even if you are maintaining a proper diet, amino acids are going to be used as the body’s fuel during those grueling exercise bouts. The branched chain amino acids, isoleucine, valine, and leucine are used by muscles to supply a limited amount of energy during strenuous exercise. Research has shown that although all three branched chain amino acids can be utilized for energy during exercise, leucine is the amino acid that gets used up the most. Studies have shown that a trained person’s muscles use up some amounts of leucine even while at rest. This disproportionate use of leucine and the other BCAA’s will effect the overall use of amino acids in the body for growth.

There is data available that suggests that Leucine is used by the body as an “indicator” amino, meaning it checks the availability of Leucine, and if it is available, the body assumes it has the aminos it needs to be in a positive nitrogen balance and increases synthesis. This may explain why protein synthesis is higher in proteins that have a higher level of Leucine.

Comments welcome!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
16613 Huebner Rd
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

When you’re training hard, recovery is one of the most important factors in improving the body and increasing performance. Here are a few ways to increase the recovery process.

1. Sleep. This one is a no-brainer, but most people don’t get anywhere near enough. No excuses – turn the tv off and go to bed.

2. Keep anti-oxidant levels high. AOs decrease inflammation in muscles, among other things (including keeping you from getting sick – sick = can’t train. No train, no progress.)

3. Massage. I don’t understand the phobia of massage that most people have. It increases blood flow to damaged tissue and gets knots and kinks out of abused muscles.

4. Chiropractic care. This one creates controversy in some circles, but a good one is worth his weight in gold. Keeping the body aligned is key to keeping muscles balanced and long term reduction of pain.

5. Pre and post-workout nutrition. Fuel and replenish. I discuss this in other nutrition articles, but if you aren’t putting a lot of effort in these meals, you’re missing out.

6. Active recovery. Don’t recover by laying on the couch. Get active – blood flow heals broken down muscles (don’t destroy a tortured muscle, allow it to recover).

7. Schedule down time. Sometimes we need a break and a few days off. No, don’t miss a workout or two per week. That will set you back. But take a few days off every 10-12 weeks to allow the body to heal up and rest.

Short and simple – remember the fewer calories you’re consuming, the more rest you need. So these things apply to all goals, including fat loss and muscle gain.

Listen to your body! If you’re bogged down and not focused, you’re not recovering!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Here’s another post for delicious healthy recipes. You may be convinced that eating to lose fat and change your body has to be bland, but it doesn’t! Here are a few more of the recipes that I’ve found on the internet and have recently tried. Enjoy (and be creative)!

Frying Pan Tuna Pizza

You can have a huge variety of pizzas just changing the ingredients. Use shrimp, salmon, chicken, ground beef etc.

Frying-Pan-Tuna-Pizza

Ingredients:

* 1 Whole-wheat Tortilla
* 1/4 cup low-fat pizza sauce
* 1 portion Tuna flaked
* 1/4 red bell pepper, sliced
* 1/4 yellow bell pepper, sliced
* 4 Thin slices of Tomato
* 1/4 cup reduced-fat mussarela shredded

Servings: 1

Instructions:

1. Preheat large frying pan
2. Take the tortilla, spoon pizza sauce evenly over it
3. Top with the tuna, bell peppers, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes
4. Place the tortilla on the frying pan and cover
5. Wait for about 3 minutes or until the cheese is melted
6. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Spinach-Sundried-Tomato-Dip

Ingredients:

* 1 Cup Frozen Spinach
* 1 Cup Fat-free Cottage Cheese
* 2 Tbsp Fat-Free Cream Cheese
* 2 Tbsp Sundried Tomato pesto
* 1 Whole Wheat Pita bread

Servings: 1

Instructions:

1. In a mixer, blend cottage cheese, cream cheese and pesto
2. Thaw frozen spinach in mircowave for 1 minute and squeeze all water out
3. Add spinach and mixed ingredients in a heated pan, cook for about 5 min
4. Toast pita and spread spinach dip on top of pita

Stuffed-Pasta-Shells

Ingredients:

1. 1 12 oz box of Jumbo Shells
2. 1 10 oz box frozen pinach
3. 1 1lb container of low fat cottage cheese
4. 1 Tsp. garlic powder
5. 1 Tsp. pepper
6. 4 Cups low fat Red Sauce

Instructions:

1. Cook shells and spinach according to directions on package
2. Mix cottage cheese, spinach, garlic and pepper in bowl
3. Stuff shells with cottage cheese mixture
4. Put small amount of sauce in bottom of 9 x 11 baking dish
5. Put stuffed shells in baking dish, pour remaining sauce over top and put into 350 degree oven for approximately 13-15 in or until heated through.

Try these three recipes – you will be pleasantly surprised!

Boyd Myers
San Antonio Personal Trainer
Owner, Personal Fitness Revolution
16613 Huebner Road
210.391.1454