Mmmmmm Giant Frosty Donut: Quick Fat Loss Tips

We all, at one time or another, let our inner Homer Simpson get the best of us. We succumb to the goodies of life...beer, pizza, burgers, more pizza. I'm guilty of it at times myself. A little lapse here and there is no big deal, but we must be consistent. Here are some quick tips to help avoid the traps of your quest for fat loss.

1. Calories in vs. Calories out.

This one is simple enough. If you are not losing weight the simple answer would be to decrease calorie intake. Now adding some weight training into the mix will produce even better results, but to keep it simple we will just stick with caloric intake. I'm not sure what a "good" formula to use is, or if any formula that "they" use is even worth a shit. Just cut back on the calories. Avoid drastic decreases right off the get-go. This can mess with energy levels, metabolism, mood, training sessions, and losing muscle as opposed to fat (aka losing scale weight, but no visual change). As far as what foods you should consume you should stick with fruits(sparingly), veggies, lean cuts of ground beef (preferably grass-fed), chicken (preferably free-range), fish, and nuts (avoid one's that have added oils).

2. Stop the long slow duration "cardio."

Stop and look at the people on the treadmills, elipticals, and bikes next time you are at the gym (unless your gym doesn't have these, which in that case give yourself a high five) notice that most of the people that constantly slave themselves away on these contraptions aren't exactly what you would call "fit." Why spend countless hours a week on a stationary equipment getting no results when you could be kicking ass in the next room performing a session of heavy lifting and actually getting results? There a number of reasons that lifting and "conditioning" will contribute to greater fat and weight loss more than LSD which include the type of hormones secreted and how much, muscle fiber recruitment (type and number), effects on metabolism, EPOC levels, and muscle fiber damage (this leads to muscle fiber re-generation which will be covered next).



3. Consume more protein.

In order for a muscle to grow it must be broken down first. It is broken down during training (not just going through the motions, but actual training), and the best time to re-synthesize the damaged muscle fibers is after your workout. So there's one reason to consume more protein.

Here's another. Protein has the highest thermal effect on the body. This means that it requires the most energy to breakdown out of the macronutrients (carbs,fat,protein), which results in more calories burned. It also results in more lean muscle mass which in turn increases the basal metabolic rate, or energy expended at rest. You hear reports of take x amount of protein per lb of body weight or take this amount. I say that its all horseshit. Just get more of it.



4. Be active on your "off" days.

A mistake that many make is doing nothing on their "off" days or days when they don't have a planned training session. Some active recovery work (foam rolling, mobility drills, activation drills, playing basketball, etc.) can go a long way for you and your quest for fat loss. Not only will it lead to more calories burned (the foam rolling, mobility, and activation won't acquire too much), but it can add to the longevity of your training. If you have muscle stiffness, imbalances, faulty movement patterns, faulty stabilization patterns, inhibited muscles, etc. you definitely should work on these not only on training days, but off days as well.

5. Choose exercises that recruit the most muscle groups.

The more muscles that are recruited, especially those with the largest cross-sectional areas, will lead to greater fat loss. I have used this as a template for my fat loss clients. Program the big bang exercises early and for fillers use corrective and core work. It has worked pretty well. Just take a look at Jake and Ned, two clients of mine who have went through the system.

Ned Resch Results from Training with Coval Training and Performance

I'm not going to say too much about Ned. I think our time together is very well summed up in his testimonial. I do want to say though that people like Ned make my job more enjoyable than it already is. You get what you put into your training and diet, and dedication, determination, and enthusiasm are what Ned put into his training and diet. In return he transformed his body. In the two months before I left for my new job, Ned and I met only once or twice. He had a situation that took him out of state for a few weeks, and then him and his wife welcomed a baby girl soon thereafter so meeting up was difficult. It never stopped him from training though, or quitting on his diet, or making excuses. He continued to train on his own with my guidance and did an awesome job. Awesome job Ned! I'm proud of you man!>

I began working out with Mike in mid-February 2010. I had just moved to Ann Arbor and had recently finished graduate school. I gained roughly 30lbs in grad school to go along with an enormous amount of weight gained from marriage! I weighed 293lbs.

I constantly felt uncomfortable, tired, winded, and depressed. I wanted to be active again; I wanted to go up a flight of stairs and not breathe hard! I met Mike at a local gym and began training with him. From our first meeting Mike demonstrated his professionalism, in depth knowledge of strength and conditioning, and concern for my physical well-being and health. He included me in the planning of my program and designed a routine that worked best for me. I told him I hated to run – and he designed a program without running!

The best thing about Mike and his programs was every day I knew exactly what to do. Mike always had it planned out for me. I was never discouraged or overwhelmed about going to the gym because it was all right there in the program. And both on the weeks when we trained together and those weeks we did not, Mike was always there to answer questions or concerns. He was very prompt in response to my phone calls and emails. If I was unsure of an exercise or routine – he would video record the exercise and send it to me or post it on the web.

This resource and professionalism carried over into the non-physical side of training: nutrition. Mike was very helpful in directing me towards better eating habits and providing me with information about eating right to lose weight and build muscle. Mike didn’t profess to be a nutritionist – if he didn’t have an answer about food questions, he found the info for me or helped me find it.

As of Sep 2010 I am at 248lbs and have lost 45lbs. The weight lost has made me extremely happy – but what I am really excited about is my increased stamina, flexibility, mobilization, and especially strength. I have not only lost a lot of weight, but am stronger than I ever have been.

Throughout my training experience with Mike he has been professional, encouraging, supportive and NEVER demeaning. It is hard to be overweight. And it is REALLY hard to exercise when you are overweight and wanting to lose those pounds. Mike was great at always being positive and motivating.

Lastly, this was not always a fun experience. The first month was HELL. Many times I didn’t want to go. Mike didn’t go easy on me and sometimes I wanted to tell him where to go. But, this has been the most rewarding physical challenge of my life and I am excited to continue it. I have 25lbs to go!!Thanks to Mike for helping me get motivated and training me into the ground!!!

Results Report: Jake Sawyer

Jake is a distance client of mine that I started working with a few months back. I only get to see him every couple of weeks, so he is alone for probably 90 % of his training. As a former collegiate athlete (played 4 years of college football at Kalamazoo College), Jake found himself not in the same shape as he was in during his "glory" days. Sub-par eating habits, training habits (not entirely his fault as he was misled by a popular bodybuilding magazine, like many tend to be misled by this publication and many others...but that's a whole other story), and daily postural habits set Jake back a bit. At 240 lbs, Jake was frustrated and needed some help. That's when we developed a gameplan for him to attack in order for him to achieve his goals. That was the first week of May.

Fast forward to July 21 (when the second group of pictures were taken). Jake was down to 223 pounds. Noticably leaner, and with better posture (notice how his center of gravity is more in line compared to the huge anterior shift he had before, his anterior pelvic tilt has decreased, tension in his neck and traps has decreased, etc.). This is after only a little over 2 months! Not to mention Jake has been getting stronger. Jake has always been strong, but I think he never fully displayed his true strength in the gym before he started on his new program. Today, August 9, Jake sumo deadlifted 430lbs for 3 reps, a new PR by 45 lbs...oh and his weight this morning was 214.5. Stay tuned for more updates on Jakes progress.

And yeah I am well aware the pics that I took were not ideal (lack of consistancy with exact spots of where they were taken, background, zoom quality, he had to tug on his shorts a little for the last two pics because we couldn't get his shorts to stay above his knee). My fault entirely. Live and learn.

The Blog Post About Nothing In Particular Part 1 of ?

Mmmmmmm hmmmmmm

And here begins the randomness..

1)Phuck Physioballs

As much as I'm not a fan of Muscle & Fitness, I did manage to find a quality piece of information in one of their recent publications. It was on a study conducted at Cal State Northridge on how training on physioballs and BOSU balls sucks for performance enhancement. If you haven't seen it posted on my Facebook page, or the Coval Training and Performance Facebook page, then check it out HERE. This goes against what Joey the trainer at Globo Gym has been telling you. You know that benching on a physioball is good for your "core" (he probably doesn't even know what the true core consist of). It's also good for zapping your strength and possibly destroying your body. Just ask Francisco Garcia of the Sacramento Kings. He shattered his forearm after his physioball burst while he was benching back in the fall of '09.

2)Eye of a Tiger

If you don't have a training partner that has an eye for inefficient movement patterns, then definitely tape yourself when you train. I cannot begin to tell you how beneficial it is. Most of the time I don't have anyone to train with, so I use my Blackberry or my digital camera to record my main lifts. And with my squat it has helped a TON. Granted, I've had to regress all the way down to body weight squats in order to regroove my squat pattern (it sucked), but I am making progress and am increasing my body awareness in the process. I've also thrown in some isometrics from the bottom position of my squat to help with equal force distribution on both legs. Got a little off topic there, but again I can't stress the importance of having a trained eye to observe you when you are training. If you don't have a training partner, or have no idea what the hell you are doing, then seek out professional help....just stay away from Joey.

3)It's All About the Benjamins

Darko Milicic was signed last week to a $20 million dollar contract. The world no longer makes sense. Next thing ya know, Kim Kardashian is gonna be blowin' up my phone...actually Darko's contract is way more ridiculous than KK hittin' me up for some late night company. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Hope everyone's week is going great! If there are any topics that you would like me to dicuss, please by all means give me some input. Thanks!

Coval Training and Performance Testimonial

This is a testimonial from distant client Jim Cicinelli. He was suffering from a bulging disc in his lumbar spine. Check out what he has to say....

Dear Mike,

I want to give you some feedback regarding your assessment, assigned workouts, and the impact on my health. Before doing so, I just want to say that I will miss being in your local area for further sessions; however, you have certainly opened my eyes as to the wide range of skills and quality of care regarding trainers.

Mike I was surprised by your attention to detail. While other so-called trainers had their customers go straight into workouts, you had me start with simple stances, basic movements, and stretches. That was new to me, but it revealed much about my muscle movements, weaknesses, strengths, and coordination. Your assessment was "dead-on" correct.

Next, the specialized exercises you assigned me were, in a word, effective. To explain further, the exercises helped improve my lower back pain and they were easy to do; meaning no special equipment was necessary and convenient to do. Furthermore, I was impressed with your current use of technology. Using a video camera to record yourself doing each of the exercises while expalining them in detail and posting them on YouTube was very beneficial. I could see and follow precisely how each movement was to be accomplished, keeping proper form.

Finally, the result has been positive. To repeat, the pain in my lower back has improved. While the impacted are is complex and delicate in nature, your guidance has been spot on. Again, I wish I was closer geographically to continue training under your supervision; however, you have provided me with knowledge to recognize a properly educated and motivated trainer. Please feel free to have any of your clitents contact me as a reference.

Sincerely,
Jim Cicinelli


Don't miss out on the opportunity to get the results that you have always wanted. Get ahold of Coval Training and Performance today! Email: CTPmike@yahoo.com. Call at 734.945.6585 and ask for Mike.

Dispelling Myths of Fitness (Part 2)

In part 1, I introduced you to a few common myths that are generally accepted as the truth in the fitness world. In part 2, I'm looking to help everybody get their learn on once again.

Myth: If a muscle feels tight you should always stretch it.

You probably are thinking that this is insane, but trust me on this one. A great example is the hamstrings. Constantly I see people stretching their hamstrings, when in reality the majority of people should NEVER stretch them (at least statically). The idea behind stretching is to lengthen the muscle, but the majority of peoples hamstrings are already lengthened. That "tightness" is the the tension that the hamstrings are under due to the pelvis being anteriorly tilted. When the pelvis is anteriorly tilted there will be hip flexor stiffness, low back stiffness(possibly even low back pain, and if there isn't LBP then there willl eventually be), and lengthened abdominals. The fix? Strengthen the hamstrings and abdominals. Stretch the hip flexors (low back not recommended). This will change your pelvic positioning and put your muscles in a more balanced state and in the process getting you stronger and decreasing the chance of injury.

If anterior pelvic tilt is wrong, then I don't wanna be right

Myth: Calve raises will increase your vertical jump.

Calve raises have the potential to increase the cross-sectional area (muscle size) of your calves, which in turn leads to the possibility of greater force generation. But, calve raises don't utilize the SSC(stretch shortening cycle), which is gonna help you if you wanna sky like Shannon Brown.

Just filthy

The type of lifts/exercises that you do in order to increase your vert should implement a quick eccentric (lowering) phase followed by no ammortization (pause at bottom) phase, and an explosive concentric contraction. Countermovemnt jumps, jump squats, speed squats, box jumps, depth jumps, and single leg variations of the previous mentioned exercises are what you should be doing.

Dispelling Myths of Fitness (Part 1)

This is part 1 of...well...who the hell knows how many parts, dispelling myths pertaining to fitness, nutrition, and whatever else I feel like talking about. It's hard for the general public to know what to do when they get in the gym, or what to eat when they are at home or on the road due to all the content that the mass media spews on a day-to-day basis. If you train on a BOSU ball you increase your bodies kinestetic awareness, if you want to improve body composition you should run for miles at a time, and when dieting you should stay away from fats because they make you fat. We've heard it all. What's true? What's not? Who's who? Who's hot? (those last two questions were purely for two reasons...1)show off my poetic flowetry 2) show a picture of a hot chick in hopes of getting more people on my site)

I don't watch Heroes, but I'll be your hero any day Hayden (think she would dig that)?

Myth #1: Women should not lift heavy like men. They will become "bulky."


Ehhhhhhh nope. False. Look at the facts. Women have a smaller muscle CSA (cross-sectional area) than men (aka their muscles are smaller), men produce as much as ten times more testosterone than women which has a HUGE influence on muscle hypertrophy, and women have a lower composition of fast-twitch IIx muscle fibers (the one's that have the greatest growth potential).

Myth #2: You shouldn't hold your breath (valsalva manuever) when lifting.



By all means if you want to snap your spine in two on your max effort squat day, then don't implement the valasalva maneuver. This is a protection mechanism in that it activates the Transverse Abdominis (TVA) which will protect the lumbar spine. Fill that belly with air!!! (This can be difficult for most. As apart of a warm up, practice some diaphragmatic breathing by placing your hand on your abdominals and inhaling deeply using your diaphragm. Try pushing your hand out as far as you can.)

Myth #3: You can isolate muscles.

He isn't isolating anything, except for my thoughts. I'm thinking that he's a pansy and needs to get rid of that 1995 haircut.

This common myth has been popularized by bodybuilding magazines. It is impossible to isolate a muscle. For instance, during the incline bench press you are not training your "upper chest." In fact, there is no such thing as "upper chest." Your pec major is diveded into two portions, clavicular and sternal. And to further elaborate on this point technically you are using way more than your "upper chest." Your anterior delts, triceps, lats, external obliques, among others are recruited for the incline bench press.