Athlekinetix Blog

Who doesn’t want six-pack abs and toned, beautifully sculpted legs? The problem most people make with designing their exercise programs is focusing their efforts on creating the perfect body part instead of working to strengthen the entire body. This emphasis on ‘spot reduction’ is not necessarily the best strategy you could use to get the desired effect you are looking for.

Before you spend all of your time needlessly exercising one body part, ie. doing hundreds of crunches a day or Jane Fonda leg lifts, concentrate your efforts on lowering your total body fat percentage first. You can have all of the muscles in the world, but if they are hidden under layers of fat, they will not be seen by you or anybody else for that matter. The goal is to reduce your body fat to less than 22% if you are a woman and 15% if you are a man. The best way to reduce your body fat is to focus on eating fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins and increasing the intensity and duration of your cardiovascular exercise.

In the age-old debate of cardio vs. resistance training, for the initial purposes of fat burning, cardio wins by far. However, once you have successfully lowered your total body fat percentage within the recommended guidelines, then it is time to introduce resistance training into your workout.

Women are unnecessarily afraid of adding resistance training to their lower bodies, especially weight bearing exercises for their glutes and thighs.  Unfortunately, it is far too common to hear “I already have big thighs, resistance training is going to make my thighs even bigger!”  This is a major misconception. Sculpted, toned muscles make your legs leaner, more defined, and more beautiful. Muscles do not make your legs bigger, they actually make your legs leaner.

Some great leg exercises that can be done with dumbbells are lunges, squats, dead lifts, and inner thigh plies. Incorporate these exercises into your regular workout routine and your legs will look amazing by summer. Strive for 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps.

Daily exercise is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle for your physical and mental health. It doesn’t matter where you exercise or how you exercise, just that you exercise. Belonging to a gym is similar to belonging to a church or synagogue. You don’t have to go to an organized place of worship in order to live a religious life and you don’t have to belong to a gym in order to lead a healthy, physically active life either. Read more »

It is little wonder that obesity rates in this country are at epic proportions when you compare the daily caloric intake of Americans to the rest of the world. Portion sizes of foods have nearly tripled in the last 30 years and the prevalence of processed foods has made high calorie, fattening foods a mainstay in people’s diets. Simply put, we are a nation of overweight people because we eat too much food and the food we consume is high in calories and low in nutrients. Read more »

It is a common scenario in homes across the country to hear parents promise their kids treats if they eat their dinner nicely, if they behave, if they get good grades, or if it’s a special occasion. As if this weren’t troublesome enough, it is combined with teachers in schools passing out candy for behavior incentives, birthday parties, ice cream days, and holiday parties at school. Read more »

It is shocking when studies of receptive language of toddlers before they were verbal found that as early as a year old, toddlers can point to fast food images like McDonald’s golden arches when asked to point to “McDonald’s.” Or maybe it’s even more frightening of the fact that babies today are teething on french fries as some of their first finger foods.

It is no surprise then that obese adults often cite fast food as their biggest downfall. Who doesn’t love the greasy, salty flavors of fast food? The problem with this obsession of fast food is it is being consumed in large quantities and on a regular basis by children in alarming numbers as well.

The percentage of obese children has tripled in this country since the 1970’s. Children are suffering from diseases and health conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and Type II diabetes that only adults previously had to contend with. Children are having to be dependent on prescription drugs at such young ages, that in some cases the drugs had only been previously tested on adults.

In this economy, a sad reality is that fast food restaurant profits are booming in spite of the food being unhealthy for the people who eat it. The busy schedules of families and the affordability of fast food make it likely that the fast food restaurants will be in business for a long time.

Studies have shown that not only are obese children more likely to consume more calories daily if they eat fast food as a regular part of their diet. They are also likely to consume less fruit, vegetables, and fiber than children who eat fast food only occasionally. By consuming the excess calories that are inherent in fast food products, children will gain weight if they don’t exercise. If you have an active child, eating fast food will affect your child’s growth and development even if his or her waistline is not adversely affected. Fast food is completely lacking in the vitamins and nutrients your child’s growing body needs to thrive.

If the main appeal of fast food is taste and speed, you can easily make healthy substitutions to your children’s diet if you get rid of their fast food addiction. Nuts, string cheese, low fat yogurt, fruit, celery and peanut butter, homemade fruit smoothies, and a stir fry with lean protein and veggies are quick ways to get a healthy snack fix. 

The problem with children eating copious amounts of fast food at such young ages besides the prevalence of childhood obesity is the fact that most obese children become obese adults. Don’t let McDonald’s profit at the expense of your and your children’s health. No french fry, no matter how tasty, is worth the cost to your health.

One of the most common complaints of harried adults has to do with feeling tired all the time. In fact, the “I’m tired” has now been replaced with “I’m so exhausted!” Tired does not begin to describe how people feel trying to negotiate all of the tasks they have to accomplish during the day to keep on top of their careers and families.

Therefore it comes as no surprise that being too tired is one of the top excuses people make to avoid exercising. When in reality, exercising is the perfect prescription for chronic fatigue and low energy. Adults and children are not getting enough sleep each night and this sleep deprivation is affecting their daily functioning.

Exercise not only boosts your energy levels during the day, but is also a vital tool in helping you get a good night’s sleep as well. It sounds counterintuitive to think that by exercising even if you feel tired will make you feel clear-headed and rejuvenated, but it is biologically true. Exercise actually provides an adrenaline rush in our bodies which produces an “exercise high.”

There are several ways you can fool your body into exercising even when it’s the last thing you want to do. First, make exercise a non-negotiable. If you remove the mental part of exercise from the fitness equation, it doesn’t matter if you feel like exercising or not. Just exercise regardless if don’t want to.

Have you heard of the expression that ‘thin just feels better’? So does exercise. If you don’t exercise, you will inevitably have regrets later. Not only will your body be less toned, but you will feel sluggish and worn down by the end of the day. On the other hand, if you exercise regardless if you want to or not, you will always be glad you did. Focus on how you will feel after you exercise instead of letting your feelings before you exercise sabotage your workout.

Finally, pay attention to when you work out. Research indicates that women, especially during the menopause years when insomnia is a problem, are better off exercising in the morning than at night. Exercise before bed stimulated them and affected the quality of their sleep. But, a similar study showed that active men in their 20’s weren’t affected by exercise even when they exercised right before they went to bed.

Don’t let the timing of exercise deter you from exercising. Exercise is not only good for your body, its good for your mind. Experiment with what time of day is best for you when it comes to exercise. Exercise wakes some people up in the morning and sets a positive tone for their day. For other people, there is nothing more stress reducing than exercising after a long day at work. It recharges their batteries and makes them ready to unwind and relax for the rest of the day. To find out what works best for you, exercise at different times of day for a week. The best time of exercise for you is the time that makes you feel your best and is one you will most likely stick to.

The best way to energize your body and mind is to exercise at a moderately intense level for at least 30 minutes every day. Your stress will be reduced, your body will be physically engaged, and you will sleep better at night as a result.

The healthiest foods for our bodies like fruits, vegetables, and proteins may be healthy, but not as healthy as you think. A study in AOL Health focused on dirty food consumers should beware of.

How can food that is healthy be unhealthy at the same time? Think about where natural food is grown and raised. Vegetables grow in the ground. Fruits grow on vines in the ground or on trees before falling to the ground when ripe. Fields are fertilized with manure and farm animals defecate on the ground. This scenario provides the basis for E Coli and salmonella to be found in our food.

Some of the foods on the dirty food list were surprises and some were not so surprising. It is conventional wisdom that raw poultry is a breeding ground for salmonella. That is why it is important to wash all cutting boards, knives, hands, counters after touching raw poultry in order to avoid cross-contamination. The interesting thing is that eggs are susceptible to salmonella in alarming numbers as well. Over 600,000 people a year get severely ill from salmonella contamination, with 300 of them dying annually. Lean chicken breast meat and egg whites are a great source of protein to your diet, but use these precautions when consuming them. Make sure to clean cook your poultry fully, no ‘medium rare’ temperatures. For your eggs, make sure you purchase only pasteurized eggs and that you check the carton to make sure all of the eggs are intact. Obvious cracks allow bacteria to settle.

Peaches are another food that should give you pause before eating. There is nothing better than a ripe, juicy peach in the summer. The problem is experts warn that peach skins have been blanketed with pesticides before being stocked in the produce section of your local grocery store. Why would that be? Because farmers know in a carton full of peaches at the market, you are most likely to purchase only the most beautiful blemish-free peaches. Even though a truly delicious peach might be bruised, a consumer will overlook the taste for a peach that is visually perfect. The result of the picky consumer has caused the skin of this very nutritious fruit to be full of chemicals. This is not to say you should never enjoy a peach again, but be extra careful to wash it before eating.

Melons like cantaloupe are also loaded with vitamins and are a satisfying low calorie snack on its own or combined with cottage cheese. The problem with cantaloupes is most people don’t wash them at all before cutting them because they believe the fruit is protected by the hard rind from outside dangers. The unfortunate truth, however, is that the bacteria is spread to the flesh of the fruit when you cut into the cantaloupe to eat it. Over 4% of domestic cantaloupe tested positive for salmonella and 7% of imported cantaloupes were found to be contaminated. The good news is that by scrubbing the rinds with a mild dish soap before cutting them eliminates most of the risk of illness for consumers. Enjoy this delicious fruit, but only after you have properly washed it.

One of the most surprising finds for dirty foods were pre-packaged bags of fresh lettuce and baby spinach. These bags of vegetables are not only a super convenient way for people to eat their daily vegetables, but the bags say they have been ‘triple washed’. This fools the consumer into believing that the lettuce or spinach does not have to be washed again before eating. The prevalence of E Coli in these ready-made produce bags could scare even Popeye away from eating spinach. Spinach in particular is one of the healthiest foods you can put in your body. The message here is to not stop eating salads and spinach, but to make sure to wash even pre-washed bags thoroughly before eating.

The bottom line is even food that’s good for you can be dangerous if proper precautions are not taken when preparing to eat them. Always wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly and take care to not cross-contaminate when dealing with raw meat and poultry. Bon appetite!

More children than ever are competing in recreational, school, and competitive club sports than ever before. In fact, sports that were once seasonal like soccer and basketball are now year round intensely competitive club sports for boys and girls of all ages. It is not uncommon to hear that children in sports like swimming and gymnastics are training up to 25 hours a week outside of school.

Coaches of all sports have become very well versed in training these young athletes, but are less knowledgeable about nourishing them. One of the greatest challenges parents of young athletes face is properly feeding their children in order to provide the necessary fuel their bodies need in order to perform at optimum capacity.

There are a few problems at play with athletes and food. A huge problem for competitive athletes is there are not enough hours in the day to consume the amount of calories required to compensate for the immense amount of calories they are burning in their rigorous training regimen. An athlete like Michael Phelps, for example, needed to consume a whopping 10,000 calories a day in order to make up for his daily expenditure of calories.

A typical workout for a teenage swimmer in competitive club swimming today consists of a 2 hour practice in the morning before school. There might be a 10-15 minute window to scarf down a quick meal before the morning bell rings.  After school, there is an hour of dryland training followed by 2 more hours of swimming. Before this intense afternoon practice, a swimmer doesn’t want to consume a big meal and by the time the swimmer arrives home for the day it’s already 8:00. For competitive student athletes, no matter what the sport, this is a familiar scenario. There just isn’t enough time in the day to consume enough calories.

Not only are these child athletes burning hundreds of calories a day through exercise, their bodies are also growing and developing at astounding rates. The best way for an athlete to eat in order to get the calories their bodies require to be in top condition, is to snack nutritiously throughout the day. It is unrealistic for them to be able to consume or digest large meals at one sitting.

The best strategy is to keep your child stocked with snacks that are nutritionally dense and satisfying. Teenagers are susceptible to junk food binges and fast food drive-thrus when they are starving and pressed for time. This not only is counterproductive to the physique they are striving for as athletes, but it also causes them to feel sluggish during their practices.

Excellent snack options are comprised of a healthy combination of fruits, lean proteins, low fat dairy, vegetables, and whole-grain carbohydrates. Celery and natural peanut or almond butter with an apple make for a great snack. Low sugar, lowfat yogurt with berries and sliced almonds or granola is another excellent option. Lean turkey wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, carrot sticks, and apple slices or an orange provide good energy as well.

The important thing for parents to remember with their children who are exercising a tremendous amount of hours and growing at the same time is that healthy food is critical to not only your children’s bodies, but to the ability for them to compete at top form.

The quest for the perfect ‘six pack’ is not unique to adults only. Teenagers are involved in competitive team and individual sports in record numbers. In order to stay competitive and rise in their sports, teenagers are supplementing their practices with weight training and conditioning on their own. There is no doubt that strength training complements every sport. A stronger athlete is a faster athlete and a greater competitor.

The problem arising from teenagers weightlifting is not the weight lifting per se, but the fact that the weight lifting is being done without any adult supervision. Coaches of all different sports from tennis to basketball either strongly suggest or mandate to their athletes that they weight lift on their own in addition to their rigorous practice schedule.

When competitive teenage athletes are left to their own devices to weight train two things happen. First, teenage egos take hold and they believe they know how to create versatile, effective weight training programs on their own. Coaches are excellent when it comes to teaching specific techniques, proper forms, and drills to succeed in the sport that they coach. But, when it comes to weight training, however, coaches all of a sudden leave it entirely up to the individual athlete to figure out what sets to do, how much weight to use, and the amount of reps they should perform. There is no emphasis or training on proper form and technique. Weight training is no different than any other aspect of a sport that coaches are responsible for teaching their athletes. By being set free in weight rooms alone, teens are opening themselves up to injury and stress to their bodies.

Second, teenagers are competitive by nature. Especially with teenage boys, if there are no rules or proscribed programs, the amount of weight being lifted can get out of control. Everybody wants to out bench their friends. Not only are proper lifting techniques for all muscle groups not being taught or demonstrated, but the importance of spotting and working out with partners for safety purposes is overlooked as well.

By lifting weights that are too heavy and inappropriate for their abilities and growing bodies, teenagers are placing themselves in danger and putting their future career as athletes at risk.

The bottom line is teenagers should weight train to get stronger and leaner. But, the weight lifting should be done under the supervision of a trainer or coach. Developing good lifting habits and proper techniques as teenagers will be something they can take with them and benefit from for the rest of their lives.

Celebrities have made fasting fashionable again. But, fasting has been in existence for centuries. Jesus was said to have fasted for 40 days for contemplative meditation. Jews atone for their sins and ask God’s forgiveness every year at Yom Kippur while fasting. Muslims fast for 30 days during Ramadan, their holiest month of the year. What makes fasting newsworthy when Beyonce fasts?

Unlike other types of fasting that were based on deep religious principles, trendy fasts are most often used as a way to lose weight fast. Beyonce dropped 20 pounds quickly for her role in Dreamgirls by not eating and drinking the famous Master Cleanse concoction of maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper for a couple of weeks. This is one of the more well-known fasts, but the fasting industry has boomed for people looking for the magic bullet for weight loss.

It is even more common to hear that the underlying significance of fasting is to detoxify your body. It is argued that by eliminating the toxins in your body you are giving your digestive system a much needed break. Detox fasts have become so popular with mainstream America that the whole detox/body cleansing program phenomena has become a cottage industry.

The problem with all of these non-religious based fasts, no matter how they are characterized, is they are unnecessary for the body and potentially detrimental to good health. Long-term fasts are not detoxifying, but rather starving the body of vital nourishment for optimum functioning. Bodies are actually self-detoxifying. Organs like your liver and kidneys are hard at work everyday ridding our bodies of toxins. Secondly, the function of nighttime besides getting proper rest, is to have a built-in fast period to prepare our bodies to be replenished the next day with food. This is why breakfast is really ‘breaking the fast’ of the night before.

The real truth with this fasting trend is that people are using fasts as an unhealthy way to lose weight rapidly. Fasting makes for a poor weight loss tool for several reasons. First, your metabolism slows down to a crawl if you are taking in too few calories. Fasting fools the body into thinking it is starving so that when you do resume eating, your body will cling to those calories for dear life and you will gain more weight than you lost with fasting. Secondly, the weight you lose during a fast is not “real” weight. It is mostly water weight and it will reappear as soon as you start eating. Finally, fasting makes you weak and basically non-functional. It is dangerous to exercise if you have stopped properly fueling your body. Regular cardiovascular and resistance training are necessary to make your body strong and healthy. If you can’t exercise because fasting has depleted you of all energy and nourishment, you will look and feel ill, not vital and strong.

A better idea if you want to detoxify and lose weight, is to eat a nutritionally dense diet with heavy emphasis on fruits and vegetables. In addition, stay hydrated with plenty of water, get proper rest, and exercise daily. Your body will look and feel better than ever. This is a much more appealing and successful way to lose weight and feel your best than starving your body of the nutrients and energy it needs for proper functioning.