Free Workouts

If you're looking to start exercising, but you aren't sure what to do, or which program to buy, youtube is an excellent place to try workouts for free. Most of my workouts are from P90X, Supreme 90 Day, and Body Beast, but if I need something new, I check out youtube.

Abs is an area everyone is looking to workout. Here's a couple great abs workouts that only take 10 minutes:

Crunchless Abs Workout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKFVZu_4Lq4

10 Minute Trainer Abs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-NKhBarAcc

Sugar Intake

A couple years ago I cut out added sugar in my diet. I heard sugar has the same effect on our brains as cocaine. Also, too much sugar, is one of the main causes of Alzheimer. Scary stuff! Alzheimer's runs in my family, so once I heard that, I cut back on added sugar immediately!

Here's a great 0:53 second video titled, "Sugar Intake Has Become A Public Health Crisis":
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/medical/sugar-intake-has-become-a-public-health-crisis/vi-BBmQ746

I drink a fair amount of coffee and green tea, so if I don't add sugar to what I eat or drink, what do I use as a sweetener? Unpasteurized/Raw honey and pure maple syrup. Both are natural sweeteners and have a lot of health benefits.

Unpasteurized/Raw honey is hard to find. Most honey sold in grocery stores is pasteurized. Where I live, I've only found two grocery stores that sell honey unpasteurized. Unlike pure maple syrup (which I'll talk about as well), there's no difference in price between the two. Here's a article explaining what unpasteurized is:
http://unpasteurizedhoney.com/what-is-unpasteurized-honey/

Being Canadian, we have Pure Canadian Maple Syrup. As mentioned, it's more expensive then an Aunt Jemima's Syrup, but for only a few dollar more, you'll have all these amazing health benefits, so it's worth it:
http://www.purecanadamaple.com/benefits-of-maple-syrup

Workout Warm Up

To stay with a "Before a Workout" theme, I'll mention the best way, I've heard, to warm up before a workout. Naturally, you'd think stretching is the best way to warm up. I thought so too, until I took the Personal Training course in 2012. My instructor said, the best way to warm up, is to do a few exercises you're going to do that workout with lighter weights.

For example, if I'm going to do a Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps workout, first, to get the blood flowing, I'll jog on the spot for about 20 seconds, followed with 15 jumping jacks. Then I'll grab some light weights, do 10 Chest Presses and 10 Chest Flys to warm up my Chest, 10 Shoulder Presses and 10 Upright Rows to warm up my Shoulders, and 10 Overhead Triceps Extensions and 10 Triceps Kickbacks to warm up my Triceps. After that, I'm good to go.

If I'm working out my Back and Biceps, after the jogging and jumping jacks, I'll warm up with 10 Back Rows and 10 Back Flys, and 10 Biceps Curls and 10 Hammer Curls.

You get the idea for Legs, I do some Lunges and Calf Raises too warm up. If I'm going for a jog, I'll just walk for a couple minutes to loosen up my legs, and start jogging.

Stretching, I've heard, is for after the workout.

Food Before a Workout

This may sound crazy, but one thing I enjoy about having a Personal Training Certificate, is earning 4 CE Credits every year to keep it updated and valid. One way I can earn them, is by reading articles in the CanFitPro Magazine, and passing an online multiple choice test about what I read. The test are easy to pass, because it's open book, but I learn a lot.


One article I really enjoyed was called Whole Food Endurance Fueling. It talks about eating simple carbs, like fruit, before a workout. Something light, easy to digest, it will stay down, and won't make a comeback.


 

As suggested by the article, here's what I usually have before a workout, a banana, apple, and a cup of coffee. So far, the only times what I had before a work out made a comeback, was when I drank too much water, or over did it with Pull Ups.

Jogging

I played pick up Ultimate Frisbee on Wednesday night's last summer. It was the first time I played the sport on a regular basis, I played ok, but one thing I really noticed was how my cardio improved. If you haven't played Ultimate Frisbee, it's like a mix between Football and Basketball with a Frisbee. There's no stoppage in play until a point is scored, so it's constant running. When the pick up games ended in late August, I didn't want to lose my cardio gains, so I decided to start jogging. As of now, I jog once every 5 days. My workout routine includes 3 days of weight training and a cardio/core day, so jogging once every 5 days is good enough for me.

I've been reading about jogging, and I found a great article about the 10 Health Benefits of Jogging.
http://homeremedyshop.com/10-health-benefits-of-jogging/

New Fitness and Nutrition Blog

I'm a Certified Personal Trainer with CanFitPro. Fitness and Nutrition is a hobby of mine. I started this blog to post links to articles I've read, and talk about my work outs. I make a lot of my own meals, so I can post them as well. When it comes to food, I still eat things like pizza, burgers, and chicken wings (my favorite), but I make them myself, so I know what's going in them.

Learning never stops, I'm always looking to try new workouts and meals. Any tips or suggestions are always welcome and encouraged.