Archives for 2013

Hello. I hope you’re having a great holiday season! We only have about two weeks to go in the year. Christmas is coming next week and there’s lots to do. What do you have planned for next year? I’m sure you want to be further ahead 12 months from now, right? I’m sure there are things you want to do. Things you want to have accomplished. Well, I really think that 2015 is going to be great!! Think of everything we got done in 2014, there’s no reason we can’t keep it going, right?

You see what I did there? No, I didn’t make a mistake. I just wanted to make a point.

The point is this:

The next 12 months are coming. What are you going to do about it?

Do you want to look back at 2014 a year from now and be proud of what you’ve accomplished or do you want to look back at all the excuses you made to yourself and wonder where you could have been. Yes, it’s easier to sit on the couch. Yes, it’s easier to surf the internet. Yes, it’s easier to say that you just don’t have time. We know the truth, though. The funny thing is that you knew the truth at the time, too. You know whether you really did what you could to reach your goals in 2013 and if you didn’t, then it’s time to step up and really make the decision that 2014 WILL BE DIFFERENT!!

I’m not going to say much more about that but I do have just thing to ask. Please don’t say that you have goals if you’re not willing to do anything to meet them. If that’s the case, then your real goal is to stay just where you are. You might not like where you are, but if the thought of going outside your comfort zone just a little bit is too terrifying to even contemplate, then I submit to you that you’d rather maintain your current position then do anything about it. Therefore your actual goal isn’t change.

What are your real goals and, more importantly, what are you willing to do to meet them?

Happy holidays, everyone!! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are getting ready for a great Christmas and New Years.

We’ve had a fantastic season so far and Kristi and I are really looking forward to our Christmas present to each other. We’re seeing The Book of Mormon this Saturday!

Foam Roller and a Lacrosse Ball: Not everyone needs a foam roller and a lacrosse ball. You just do if you workout or don’t workout. Really, though these tools help you if you’re sore, hurt, tight, inflexible, or if you just want to put yourself in the best position to get a great workout! Every one of my clients starts their session with some kind of work with these tools.

Converse All-Stars: I don’t care what color. These are still the best shoes to lift in. I don’t have time to get into too much detail but here’s a few reasons why:

• they keep you low to the ground
• they help your balance
• they allow the muscles in your feet to work
• they give you better stability

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are getting ready for a great Christmas and New Years Day.

I’ve had some new clients over the last few months and one of the most common things I’ve been seeing is confusion over what they should be eating. If you do a quick search for ways to lose fat you’ll find methods and terms like Paleo, Intermittant Fasting, Atkins, Low Carb, IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros), South Beach, The Plan, and so many more I could quite literally go on for years.

The bottom line is that there are many ways to accomplish your goals as long as you follow some basic principles. I just want to go over a few of them so you can finish 2013 and start 2014 on the right track. I’ll just do them at random.

1. The best plan is the one you’ll follow. 

What good does it do to put together the “perfect” meal plan if it’s full of food you don’t like or just makes you completely miserable? Yes, if you want results you need to step out of your comfort zone, but be honest with yourself about what you’re willing and able to do. I’ve had people tell me they can’t lose weight because it’s too hard for them to eliminate bread. You know what I tell them? You don’t have to! There are other ways!

Now on the flip side, don’t expect to get much in the way of results if the only concession you’re willing to make is to eat just a few less french fries with your Big Mac each night.

2. How much protein? Here are some general rules about protein intake:

For weight loss, eat about 1 gram per pound of lean body mass per day. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and are 25% body fat you have about 150 pounds of lean body mass, so you should eat about 150 grams of protein per day.

For weight gain, eat about 1 gram per pound of body weight per day.

For general maintenance I’d recommend somewhere in the middle depending on your activity and the type of exercise you’re doing.

Also, there really isn’t any set rule for how to break it up. Generally speaking the total is what matters.

3. Don’t eat processed junk (most of the time). Most people would do just fine with their nutrition if they simply stopped eating processed junk. If it’s made of chemicals or has trans fats, don’t eat it.

4. Eat good fats. Don’t be afraid of healthy fats. Many vitamins and minerals need fats to help break them down, fats can be used as a great source of energy, eating healthy fats also teaches your body to use fat as fuel. These are all good things.

Some good fat sources include:

Fish oil, olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, some cheeses, eggs (yes eggs. THE WHOLE THING INCLUDING THE YOLK), nuts, natural peanut butter.

Do be careful about amounts though, because even good fats contain a fair amount of calories.

5. If you’re trying to lose fat you have to restrict calories. Sorry. There’s no way around this.

6. If you’re trying to lose fat you have to feel a little hungry sometimes. Sorry. There’s no way around this.

7. Sugar doesn’t have to be the enemy. Would you like to be able to lose weight eating pizza and ice cream every Saturday night? I’ve had clients do just that, but the catch is that the rest of the week their diet is dialed in 100%. You can have those crazy indulgent nights if you want to (and sometimes it’s actually helpful) but they have to be part of an overall plan if you want results and the crazier those nights are the more dialed in you have to be the rest of the time.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions. Have a great day!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach, FMS
2861 Grove Way in Castro Valley
510-754-7113
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
MitchRFitness.com
I Help People Discover Their Strength!

Hello, everyone. Its that time of year again! The holidays! I think growing up Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday and it’s coming up in a few short weeks. I liked the family get-together and I always looked forward to the assortment of pies. Apple, pumpkin, cherry. Deeeeeee-lish!!

Each year we hear about how the average person gains something like 5-10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years Day and each year we read how you can avoid that by eating light on Thanksgiving and Christmas day. Well, I’m here to tell you this:

Goals.

What do they mean?

What do they mean to you?

Why do you want to reach them?

Why do I keep asking annoying questions?

When it comes down to it my job is about one thing. Telling people how to reach their goals. Someone comes to me and says they’d like to lose 30lbs. Someone else wants to get rid of the pain in their shoulder. Someone else wants to increase their mobility so they can play with their grandchildren. Someone else wants to add 30lbs to their squat.

I talk with the client, look at the appropriate things and come up with a plan. Here’s where it gets difficult. Once it’s written, my impact is a bit limited.

The most common example is someone who wants to lose weight. We’ll talk about how it’s probably a good idea to limit the pasta and bread dinners, but it’s not up to me anymore. I can’t follow someone home.

This is why thinking about those goals you say you want is important. Do you really want to lose 30lbs? Why? How badly do you want it? It’s not fun to lose 30 lbs. It’s going to take several months and will require some changes and sacrifice. What’s going to get you through the times when you want pizza, bread or pasta? It can’t be just the 30lbs. It has to be something deeper.

You want to be healthy for your family. You want to have more energy to play with your kids. You want a boyfriend/girlfriend. Figure it out. It’s up to you. There’s no wrong answer and the more you know about why you want to hit a goal the better the chance you have of hitting it.

Oh by the way, this also leads to a greater understanding of yourself and that should ALWAYS be a goal every single day. I’m getting deep now.

Here is what I think about, though. I know some very smart, wonderful people. People who have worked very hard for years at their job and their family. People who always knew that they should start taking their health seriously as they watched their weight, age and physical discomfort increase.

People who always wanted to lose that 30lbs (which over time turned to 40lbs, 50lbs, 60lbs) but never really thought deeply about why they should. People who, as they get closer to retirement are realizing very sadly that they would give anything to go back and take some time for themselves because they’re not really able to do much anymore.

They’re getting to a point in their lives where they should be able to enjoy the fruits of how they’ve spent their life and now they realize that it’s not going to happen like they thought it would. They can’t take that trip because they can’t walk very well. They can’t be on an airplane very long because it’s too hard to manage their medication. They can’t do much of anything right now because they’re getting ready for knee replacement surgeries.

This is heartbreaking to me. Think about what you really want. Not just right now, but years from now. Is all that bread really worth diabetes? Is watching your show really worth never exploring your full potential? Is a little introspection, as difficult as it might be, really so hard as to throw away so much time and the one body we are given?

We only have one chance. In our minds eye we all see ourselves doing what we want to do 20 years from now. We don’t imagine ourselves having to use a walker or recover from some surgery. We see ourselves on a beach in Hawaii.

Well, I’m here to say that if you want that, don’t wait until it’s too late. Now is the time. You can improve at any age. There are many studies that show this and I have clients that can tell you about their improvements as well. I guarantee that if you look within yourself and think about these things you WILL be happy about it and you WILL be a better person because of it.

Let me know what you think.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness at 2861 Grove Way Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
I Help People Discover Their Strength
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com 
MitchRFitness@gmail.com 
http://www.Facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness
http://fast-metabolism.com Boost Your Metabolism With My Free Report

We were in bootcamp last week and the old Diana Ross song “I’m Coming Out” came on the radio. If you’re not familiar with the lyrics, the chorus goes like this:

I’m coming out
I want the world to know
Got to let it show

My client (March 2013 client of the month) Christina McFadden jokingly asked me what I wanted the world know. Well, I thought that would be a good idea for an article, so here goes!

1. It’s fun and important to challenge yourself. Doing this is where self-confidence and true satisfaction comes from. It won’t happen on it’s own.

2. You need to squat. No necessarily with a bar on your back but it’s an extremely important movement pattern for many reasons.

3. Get your head on straight! More than anything else, your attitude will determine your results. Go into things with a positive mindset, and you’ll be amazed at what happens!

4. The pushup is a phenomenal core and shoulder mobility exercise. In many ways these qualities are tested more than pure strength when this exercise is performed properly. Are you performing it properly? Two questions: Are you elbows flaring straight out as you lower yourself down? Are your hips sagging as you lower yourself down? If the answer is yes to either of these you’re not performing it correctly. (Watch for an article covering this very soon.)

Proper bottom pushup position

5. You can, and should, always be thinking “tall position” when exercising. That goes for whatever excercise you’re performing and whatever position you’re in. You can be in a “tall position” when standing, kneeling, bending over, at the bottom of a squat, lying down or any other position you can think of.

6. Being in a tall position doesn’t mean your head is thrown back like a Pez dispenser. It’s means your legs are straight, your glutes are turned on, your core is turned on, your chest is up, your shoulders are down and back and you’re looking straight ahead. Make any adjustments you need to account for positions other than standing.

Not a tall position

Good Posture and a “Tall” position

7. Any goal you have won’t be reached and/or maintained unless you’re working on getting physically stronger in some way.

8. Any goal you have won’t be reached and/or maintained unless you’re working on proper movement patterns.

9. Any goal you have won’t be reached and/or maintained without a positive mental attitude. (I know this kind of a repeat of number 3 but it’s that important.)

10. The scale is a liar and is frequently a VERY poor indicator of actual progress, particularly if you’re actually following numbers 7, 8 and 9.

11. If you have a goal involving body compostion (fat loss or muscle gain) you MUST MAKE APPROPRIATE CHANGES TO YOUR DIET OR YOU WILL NOT REACH YOUR GOALS. Did I say that loud enough?

12. Steady state cardio for weight loss is almost always a waste of time at best, and actually counterproductive at worst.

Well, there’s 12 things I’d like the world to know. Let me know what you’d like to tell the world.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness at 2861 Grove Way Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
I Help People Discover Their Strength
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com 
MitchRFitness@gmail.com 
http://www.Facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness
http://fast-metabolism.com Boost Your Metabolism With My Free Report

When most people think of power they think of Barry Bonds crushing a ball into the seats or Mike Tyson knocking out Michael Spink in 90 seconds. Now, unless you’re a professional baseball player or fighter you might be asking yourself why you even have to bother training power.

Here’s a couple of examples. If you start to fall what is the physical quality that will allow you to react quickly to prevent injury? Power. If you find yourself crossing the street and you realize the light is about to change, what is the physical quality that will give you the burst to make it to the other side before the driver in the Astrovan who’s texting instead of paying attention runs into you? Power. Lastly, what is the physical quality that dimishes the fastest as we age? You got it, power.

Let me also say this, every single one of my clients does some sort of power training. Every one. That includes 25 year old men and 70+ year old women. It’s that important. Many people confuse power training with cardio training because many times you’ll use the same exercises for both. The differences lie in the way you use them, where you place them in the workout and the amount of time you perform the exercise.

Here’s what I mean. Let’s say I have someone doing medicine ball throws for power. I’ll usually place them at the beginning of the workout, I’ll have them only doing about 5 throws a set, and the rest between the throws will be at a full 3-4 seconds. I set it up that way so that whoever is doing them will have pretty close to full recovery between each one. That way maximum power can be achieved. If they’re doing throws more for “cardio” type training I’ll have them do more, maybe 10-20 throws per set with no rest in between. Here is a short video of a great client of mine, Shannon, demonstrating some great form and pacing with her throws. Notice, in particular, how she takes that extra second to really load up each throw so she can exert maximal power behind each one.

There are lots of ways to traing power and lots of exercise you can do to develop and/or maintain it. Some of my favorites include, different kinds of jumps, sprints, throws, and punches. Not all of these exercises are appropriate for everyone, particularly jumps, but almost anyone can do some type of medicine ball slam or punch so there’s no reason to neglect it as part of your training. Unless you want to be weak, slow and unathletic.

Let me know if you have any questions about how to train and improve your power, whether it’s to live a more fulfilling and safe life or just improve your tennis game. Have a great day!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness at 2861 Grove Way Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
I Help People Discover Their Strength
510-754-7113
www.MitchRFitness.com 
MitchRFitness@gmail.com 
http://www.Facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness
http://fast-metabolism.com Boost Your Metabolism With My Free Report

Hi. I want to talk a little today about something that really doesn’t get much attention despite it’s importance. I know it doesn’t get much attention because I talked to a very good, long-term client last week and she was more than a little distressed about it, which is something that made me feel pretty horrible for not covering. I want to talk about what to do and expect AFTER you’ve lost weight.

We so often focus on how to eat and train for weight loss that what to do and expect once you’ve achieved yout goal can get looked over. The thing though, as was pointed out to me last week, is that what happens afterward can be pretty distressing if you’re either not expecting it or if you don’t know what to do. In this article I’ll lay out a few things that you can expect and do to make sure that your hard won weight loss and improved health and well-being is maintained.

Let me get this out of the way first:

You should not be in a weight loss phase forever!

If you have been in a weight loss phase for several months with no end in sight there are only two reasons for it.

A. You had a lot of weight to lose. You are having good success but there’s still more to go.
B. What you are doing isn’t working.

There is no option C.

If your answer is option A, then you have to realize that you need to step out of eating at a caloric deficit from time to time to reset your metabolism. If your answer is option B then you need to change what you’re doing. It’s that simple. But this article isn’t about that so now that we have that out of way let’s move on.

1. The first thing to know after you’ve stopped eating for weight loss is that you cannot go back to how you ate before, unless you want to gain all that weight back and then some. This is the reason why most people who lose weight wind up putting it all back on. They think they’re done and that’s it.

You have to understand a few things. First, that the reason you had weight to lose in the first place is because of the way you ate. Second, you now have a different body that needs less calories to maintain itself. You must eat accordingly. This is why it is so important to make your diet during the weight loss phase at least resemble a sustainable nutritional plan. It might not be exactly the same, but it shouldn’t be night and day either. This is why I generally don’t recommend liquid type diets unless you plan on drinking your breakfast and lunch for the rest of your life.

2. The rebound effect. Most effective weight loss diets have some manner of controlling carbohydrates as a big part of them. I won’t go into all the reasons why this is effective, but you do need to know two of the things that happen when you reduce your carbohydrate intake.

One is that your body doesn’t hold nearly as much water. Another is that your body doesn’t hold nearly as much glycogen (this is a substance that your body uses for energy. Water and glycogen do weigh something, so when you add carbs back in to your diet at even a moderate amount, and even if the carbs you are adding back in are very healthy, you will put some weight back on.

It is very important to realize that just because you’re putting weight on that doesn’t mean you are gaining back fat. It isn’t uncommon for someone coming off a low-carb diet to gain back 4-5 pounds once they introduce a moderate amount of carbs back into their body. This is something that can definitely freak people out a little, but just as every ounce you lose isn’t fat every ounce you gain isn’t fat, either. Don’t go crazy. It’s fine.

If you know that this is going to freak you out, here are a couple of suggestions. The first is to forget the scale for a while. Scale weight is not necessarily the best indicator of how a diet is going. It means something but not everything. In some cases it literally means nothing at all. Most people gain 4-5 pounds throughout the course of each day only to lose it as they sleep. Don’t believe me? Weigh yourself just before bed and then again the next morning just after you get up. Do you relly gain 5 lbs of fat every day and lose it by sleeping? No.

The second is to come off your diet slowly. Start by introducing additional carbs only after exercise for a week or so. Then add a few things little by little. Understand that you still can’t go back to how you ate before but by adding just a little here and there you’re giving your body time to adjust without reverting. Keep in mind what I mentioned previously about having your weight loss diet resemble your maintenance diet. You shouldn’t be so far off between the two that you have a tremendous amount of things to add in. For example no diet should contain much, if any, processed foods. Most diets, both weight loss and maintenance, should be based around lean protein, good fats and fruits and vegetables.

If you keep these things in mind then coming off your phase shouldn’t be too bad. Let me know if you have any questions or need help setting up a weight loss plan or finishing one up. Have a great day!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness at 2861 Grove Way
Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
I Help People Discover Their Strength
510-754-7113 
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
http://www.Facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness 
http://fast-metabolism.com Boost Your Metabolism With My Free Report

Wow. That was a busy weekend. I spent it in Louisville, Kentucky at a fitness seminar. As you could imagine, in an intensive setting with about 16 hours of content over 2 days you can learn a lot of things, and I did. From new breathing techniques to assessments to business materials and a lot more, I’ve got a lot to take in and my head is kind of spinning. I’m the last person to think that I know everything and I’ve got a loooong list of things to put into place starting right now to become better at every aspect of being a trainer and business owner.

OK. I know what you’re thinking. “That’s great that you learned a lot, but how does this apply to me?” Here’s how: It would be very easy to look at all the notes I took of things I need to change and the completely new things I need to introduce and get overwhelmed and intimidated. It would be very easy to put off doing anything until I rest up a few days from the long plane trip and the experience. It would be very easy to get back into my routine and put my notes away with the full intention of pulling them out soon and looking them over. We all know what happens then, don’t we?

Probably nothing.

Life gets going again and a tremendous opportunity turns into just a weekend trip instead of the game-changer it could have been. In 6 months I’ll look back and say to myself, “I really need to look at those notes.” Maybe I will and maybe I won’t, but what would make me do anything at that point if I didn’t do anything when it was all fresh in my mind? Most likely I’ll just wind up wasting my time.

So how am I going to avoid that? How am I going to put this overwhelming amount of this stuff in place?

By picking one thing and putting that in place. After that’s dialed in I’ll pick one more thing and put that in place. What will I do then? Well, I think I’ll pick one more thing and put that in place. Let’s say it takes me a while to do each thing and I can only manage to really nail one every two weeks. Well, that means in six months I will have made 12 changes. 12 things that will make me better at what I do. 12 things that will make me more valuable to my clients, which in turn will make me more valuable to my family.

Now take out what I was talking about and put your goals in its place. Whether it’s losing weight, getting healthier, dealing with that bad back or anything else it’s all really the same thing. It’s an opportunity that is begging to be taken advantage of, and how am I going to deal with all of it? By doing one thing. I can’t lose 50 pounds without losing 1 pound first, right? So let’s get that out of the way. After that I’ll look for my second pound. If I’m not sure what to do first, I’ll ask someone who knows. As I said before, there are many people out there who know a lot more than me about a great many things so when I need help in figuring out what to do I ask them.

Research tells us that it takes about 21 days to form a new habit. It also says that if we really dedicate ourselves to changing just one thing it will stick something like 80% of the time. Now if we try to change two things at once that number drops to around 40%. Three things at once and now we’re down to about 20-25%. You see what’s happening here?

Now we know the next six months are coming. I know I want to be better at the end of that time, don’t you? I don’t want to look back and realize that I wasted that time, do you? We all know that six months can turn into six years very easily. I know that if I just move myself a little out of my comfort zone I have a better world waiting for me.

All I have to do is one thing.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness at 2861 Grove Way
Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility
I Help People Discover Their Strength
510-754-7113 
www.MitchRFitness.com
MitchRFitness@gmail.com
http://www.Facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness 
http://fast-metabolism.com Boost Your Metabolism With My Free Report