Lack of sleep is an all too frequent theme developing among my clients.  Sleep is just as important as a well-balanced diet and exercise program.  Recent medical studies show that sleep loss can increase hunger and affect your body´s metabolism in a way that makes weight loss more difficult.  In addition, our bodies need sleep to recover and rebuild what lean muscle we´ve broken down during the day.  Lack of sleep can lead to lack of recovery and eventually overtraining, which puts the brakes on your program.

The culprit is a stress hormone called cortisol, and when we are deprived of sleep, it is released in increased amounts and makes us feel hungry even when we may be full.  On the flip side, losing deep sleep hours decreases growth hormone levels, which helps regulate proportions of fat and muscle in adults, … Read More »

For Strength Training, we see a similar need for a frequent program. Adaptions due to strength training require at least 1 month. That being said, I hear new exercisers say all the time that they get stronger every week. While that´s true, it´s not for the reasons they would expect.

In short, muscles are made up of fibers which are connected by cross bridges that, when contracted under the right conditions, shorten the muscle fibers and therefore the entire muscle as a whole in order to move a load. While that´s all well and good, muscles aren´t effective without the nerve fibers that innovate them. Messages from the brain are sent to these nerves and it is the nerves that tell the muscle when to fire and with what force. In the start of a strength training program, all increases in … Read More »

In order to start a fitness program, you should realize one crucial detail: It will be hard work! You´ve chosen the difficult route. You could stay home and let your lack of fitness overcome you, but you´ve chosen to get up off the couch and do something about how you look and feel. The road to better health and fitness is not a smooth one, nor is it the same as anyone else´s path to their goals. Your journey will be yours alone. There is no miracle exercise, diet, or pill that will make this process any easier. You will just have to suck it up and do the work and you WILL see results.

Once you´ve come to terms with all of this, you are already on your way. The first thing you need to do is come up with … Read More »