Your Athletic body awaits....

Hey campers,

I train a lot of women and moms. However my background is more in the arena of training athletes. Now that I have been training 'non-athletes' for several years, I have come to realize something:

We all have an athlete inside of us!

Now that may sound a little corny, but its true:

• We all have a desire to better ourselves, and constantly pushing our own comfort zones to achieve this (at least you do if you read this journal)
• We all have weaknesses that we must work on to achieve our goals
• We all want to look better to some degree
• Thirst for competition (against others or against ourselves)

Looking at the above descriptions, its easy to see that many of us are athletes but perhaps didn't know it.

When I realized this, I stopped seperating the two groups (athletes, and non-athletes) and began training all of my clients as if they were athletes, hence the generation of fitness boot camp.

The principles remain the same for fat loss, muscle strength, and endurance if you are an athlete or a non-athlete. Of course there are different levels of intensity involved but everyone can benefit from training as an athlete.

A Note on Competition

Competition can scare a lot of people. We all either fear or embrace competition at some level. When striving to reach a desired goal whether it be fat loss, applying for a job, or bidding on a home, competition is all around us.

This can often be overwhelming for many individuals, and often they will shy away from it. And I agree there are healthy and non-healthy forms of competition. Healthy competition mostly derives from within yourself. You are competing with yourself and perhaps secretly with those around you. Whether you are striving to beat your time in a race or striving to beat that one person you have had a 'private' competition with all along in your mind. It is often celebrated by others cheering others on as they are able to relate to the hard work others are putting in to succeed. Healthy competition is not gloated and many times not voiced at all. It remains within and builds a strong will to succeed.

Unhealthy competition is often seen in professional sports where there is a lot of taunting, their feelings and emotions are known by everyone around them, and everyone cheers for only their friends or teammates. This creates a lack of community togetherness, and segregation.

Bottom line: If you fear competition at any level ask yourself if you are ready to make a change, then make it within yourself. Avoid unhealthy competition at all costs as it will only regress your achievements. Surround yourself with like minded individuals all striving to better themselves and are supportive of you trying to do the same.

Motivational Quote of the Week

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.
William Arthur Ward

Basal Metabolic Rate vs. Calories In

Too often I encounter someone who believes eating 500 calories a day will help them lose weight.

It is unfortunate but a lack of truthful information is streaming through the media.

And diet companies are not the only ones to blame.

Every day we are inundated with information contradicting itself that it gets so frustrating, you don't know what to believe.

Honestly, I'm not surprised that we are in the situation we are as a country.

When I deliver information, I make sure it is scientifically proven and from a viable source.

This one is no different.

Basal Metabolic Rate

Your basal metabolic rate is how many calories you will burn at complete rest (calories you burn sitting on the couch all day long). These calories are expended performing functions in your body so you stay alive.

Unfortunately the Basal Metabolic Rate is often taken out of the equation when trying to balance the whole calories in versus calories out equation (I suppose unbalance would be a better word here).

So the mentality is that training for 1-2 hours and burning 1200 calories is going to be the calories out while taking in 1000 calories in a day creates the calorie deficit we are looking for.

Theoretically this is true, but here is why it doesn't work.

Your basal metabolic rate is your metabolism. Your metabolism is dependent upon several factors: body size, activity level, diet, and amount of lean muscle tissue to name a few.

If you were a 40 year old 140 pound female who was 5 feet 6 inches tall, your basal metabolic rate would be 1532.36.

That's 1500 calories doing absolutely nothing!

If you add that the example above has a desk job, so is a pretty sedentary person, her calorie output just working and sitting on the couch would be 1838.832!

And that is without any exercise.

Makes eating 500 calories a day seem a little absurd doesn't it?

The great thing about the basal metabolic rate is that you can increase it so that you burn more calories at rest.

Weight training will do that. Your muscle IS your metabolism

Supportive nutrition will do that. Make the food work for you by burning more calories just to digest it.

Looks like the impossible just became a little more realistic:)

Hey bootcampers,

if you feel the your bootcamp is the best!! Go to this site and vote. It's in the Etobicoke Guardian "Best of section". under bootcamp

Thanks for your support.


www.tcnreaderschoice.com

I have no time for exercise???

Hi bootcampers,

I used to think it was true.

I didn't think I would ever have time to exercise with such a busy schedule.

Boy was I uneducated!

I didn't know that a four minute workout could continue to provide an 'afterburn' long after my exercise session was over. And if I didn't know, how would other people know who don't have exercise and fitness as a profession!

The truth is I got sucked in rather than looking at the science. The media, the magazines, and even other 'fitness professionals' promote long bouts of exercise as being the most effective means of burning body fat.

In fact, just last week I had a client come to me to ask me the very same question as they heard from an exercise physiologist that long cardio sessions are the way to go to burn body fat.

You know what I told my client?

The exercise physiologist is right.

Now, before you delete this journal for me contradicting everything I have ever said, let me explain:

We are taught in school to look at the exercise session and the exercise session only. We are taught to look at the effects on the body within the exercise session only. We are NOT taught to look at the effects of the exercise session on the body AFTER exercise.

But science is starting to catch up to those of us who have been using these principles for years.

A long cardio session WILL burn MORE fat than a short interval training session DURING the workout. AFTER the workout is finished the individual performing long cardio sessions will have their core body temperature and heart rate return to normal about 30 minutes after a workout.

When performing interval training this is not the case. Due to the drastic changes in intensity during the workout, some studies show your heart rate to be elevated and your body attempting to return to a resting state for up to 36 hours post exercise session!

Yup, you read that right. You can be burning an elevated amount of calories from interval training 36 hours after a workout!

As a result you will burn 9 times more calories performing interval training than with a steady state cardio session.

Start looking outside the workout session to the recovery portion of your workout and the rest of your day. Your body and the amount of time it takes to recover from a workout will define the amount of results you achieve.

Getting back to my main topic of not having enough time to workout effectively, its a bunch of crap. Even if you have five or ten minutes here and there during the day, you can stimulate your body to cause 'turbulence' and elevate your heart rate and metabolism.

Motivational Quote of the week:

"Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose"

Does Weight Watchers work??

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone whom you feel might benefit from its contents.

I wish I had a nickel each time I heard it, bootcampers.

The painful statement my clients say time and time again.

'I used to go to weight watchers and lost weight fast. But when I stopped, I gained it all back and then some.'

I'm not here to bash Weight Watchers, rather I want to shed some light on what works and what doesn't.

And I mean for the long term.

I'm not about temporary solutions or a band-aid especially on a problem like being overweight.

Knowing WHY you are doing something and HOW to sustain a habit for the long term are two key points that are overlooked by most weight loss programs.

If you don't know WHY you are doing the habits you are doing, then how are you going to maintain them for the long term?

If you do know why, then you can take action steps toward fixing the issues that will arise long into the future.

I mean sure there is a point system that puts foods on a hierarchy of healthfulness.

But it never says to stay away from foods that will do nothing for you.

It just jacks up the point value for them.

So you can still have them, but it will cost you points.

How about it can cost you your life if you eat them, because that is the reality.

How about it will slow down your metabolism to the point that your muscle tissue will starve of nutrients.

Why are they starving? Who knows they haven't taught that. So how do we know how to fix it?

Good question...

Stay away from elliptical trainers!!!

The latest Men's Health magazine comes down on elliptical machines
hard.
Now I know elliptical machines are often the only option for people
with bad knees, but if your knees are healthy, think twice before
using the elliptical machine for these three reasons.
First, on page 52 of the December, 2008 issue, Men's Health warns,
"Never trust elliptical machines".
They quote a study that found elliptical machines over-estimated
the number of calories burned in a workout by 31%!
Ouch.
So if your "elliptical cardio workout" burned 400 calories, the
truth is you really burned closer to only 300 calories.
Second, later in the Dec. issue, Men's Health magazine interviewed
Biggest Loser contestant Ed Brantley. Ed lost 73 pounds on the
show, but had this to say about elliptical machines, "I hated the
elliptical. It was too easy, I didn't feel like I was doing
anything."
Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.
But that's EXACTLY why elliptical machines are so popular...
You see, the third reason elliptical machines are inferior for fat
loss is because they fail my "human nature" test.
Put it this way...
Take 100 people and put them in a gym with 100 treadmills and 100
elliptical machines.
Tell them they have to exercise for 30 minutes at a hard pace, and
they have the choice to use either the treadmill or the elliptical.
Guess where 90% of folks are going?
The elliptical!
Why?
Because it is human nature to take the EASY WAY out. And that is
why elliptical machines are so busy at the gym and you rarely see
anyone doing intervals on a treadmill or bodyweight circuits in the
corner of the gym.
Often I see folks using the elliptical machine only to say they
"worked out", but without getting any REAL work done.
So if you are stuck at a fat loss plateau, and you've been counting
on the elliptical machine to help you out, then forget it.
To burn fat and get more out of your workouts, do interval training
or bodyweight circuits.

Bodybuilding vs Fat Loss Functional Training

(send to any friends that currently go to gyms and reads fitness magazines for workout programs)

Hey bootcampers,

Bodybuilding is a fantastic sport. I mean the competitors are intense and the dedication and discipline they must have to be successful is not easily paralleled in society. Those who participate in bodybuilding have the tenacity, dedication, and time, not to mention the genetic predisposition to be successful.

Do you and I have that ability? I mean do we have 6-8 hours in the day to do nothing but eat and train? Do we have the genetic make up to be successful in this sport (maybe some of us do). Do we have such a strict eating schedule that we can not enjoy a slip up from time to time? In truth that is a body builder world. It is their profession to eat and train, and they spend a lot of time doing it.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, we don't have that luxury. We have jobs, families, and other obligations that take up almost all of our time. Often the last thing we think about or make time for is for exercise, and when we do make the time we only have small windows in which to train. So we better make them count.

So why do so many gym goers still train like body builders? Maybe some of them have aspirations for big things in the sport, then that is great. But many gym goers are training just to stay in shape or are training to lose belly fat. But they aren't to blame they take the programs they get out of the latest muscle magazine and hit the gym.

Bodybuilders don't train to lose belly fat. They train to be the most blown up and biggest and most ripped of anyone else on stage. For the average person, that isn't the goal they have in mind at all. Many people just want to see their abs, or fit into the same size clothes they did in high school.

The reality is that bodybuilding routines and fat loss routines are two very different things but many use them together thinking they will still yield the same result.

A typical body building routine will have you training one body part per day or a split routine of two body parts on separate days. You will train all of one muscle group first before moving on to the next muscle group. Often you will do several exercises for the same muscle group and will rest for a few minutes between sets. Your typical body building routine will take at least an hour and a half to complete. You will train a lot of single joint movements and a few multi joint movements but your goal is to get a really great pump in the muscle.

A typical fat loss routine will have you training either full body or also in split body routines. You will alternate between muscle groups or movements and will have little to no rest from one exercise to the next. This is more like a circuit format where you will rest at the end for a short time before starting a new round. Your typical fat loss routine will take less than an hour to complete. You will train a lot of multi-joint exercises as your goal is to boost the metabolic demand on the body which means you are increasing how much oxygen you need and how quickly your heart can pump blood. The higher the metabolic demand the higher the fa.t loss effect (afterburn-calories burned after exercise).

As for the nutrition, these are two very different animals. In bodybuilding there is a huge calorie amount taken in to help build bulk and build muscle. So your calorie intake is going to be much more than what you are used to if you want to see results (about double depending upon body type and previous experience). Your carbohydrate intake will also be very high. With fat loss programming, your calorie intake is cut so you are at a deficit from your normal intake, and your carbohydrate intake will be restricted to an extent.

As you can see they are at two very opposite ends of the spectrum when you look at nutrition. As for exercise there are some similarities but also some glaring differences.

So before you go into the gym and start training from any program you find in a magazine, make sure it has your goals in mind and it is the most effective training program for those goals.

yours in fitness,

I love this picture!!!

Exercise can kill you!

Well not exactly.

But it can inflict a whole lot of damage if your nutrition isn't supporting your exercise habits.

Exercise causes an increase of free radical damage to your body. You have probably heard of free radicals before in relation of terms such as pollution and cancer. Free radicals are basically items that damage your body's cells.

Now the damage is slight and the benefits of exercise drastically outweigh the consequences, but even the slight damages from exercise can add up over time.

Your best defense? Antioxidants.

Antioxidants are found in many healthy foods such as: fruits, vegetables, nuts, green tea, plain coffee, and dark chocolate.

If you aren't creating 'support' through nutrition for your body, you could, in essence be creating more harm than good with your exercise program.

There is no middle road here. Either eat to support your exercise habits, or spin your wheels regarding health. Which path do you choose?

By the way don't think that starting the morning off with a large coffee with chocolate is the answer. I'm talking black coffee in small amounts and the dark bitter chocolate in its raw form (for some reason I knew what you were thinking:).

Look at these new bodies!!!!!

After 1 year of Intrafitt bootcamp the Philbricks are looking awesome!!!

Before

After (exactly 1 year)

The building blocks of nutrition

Fiber and Protein

Two essential ingredients to a successful nutrition plan.

But just how much should you have?

Lets start with fiber.

Fiber intake is important to a successful nutrition plan because it often times is an indicator of a quality food source. You will find fiber in whole grains (real whole grains), beans, dark green veggies, some breakfast cereals, as well as fruits.

You want to aim to have 25-35 grams per day of fiber in your nutrition plan.

If you fall below the recommended range, look at your menu and see what you can change to improve. It often only takes a few small changes to fall within quality parameters.

Next is Protein

Protein has several important roles in the body. It is especially important in the role of body composition (body fat vs. lean muscle)

One reason is the thermic effect. The thermic effect is the amount of energy it takes to digest a certain food. The thermic effect of protein is 30%. That means one third of the energy found in protein is burned just to digest it. When you compare that to carbs (6-8%) and fat (2-3%), you begin to realize proteins importance.

So how much protein should you have. Take your current body weight and multiply it by .8. This will give you the minimum amount of protein you want to have in one day.

Quality protein sources include: boneless skinless chicken breast, boneless skinless turkey breast, protein shakes, tofu, beans, fish, some seafood, buffalo or other wild game.

If you are able to get these two important parts of a successful nutrition plan under control, the other parts will fall into place.

Motivational Quote of the week

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius

Your body is my business!!

There are excuses. Then there are RESULTS....
TRAIN HARD!!

I have a new teammate!!

Sharon Philbrick Intrafitt's new bootcamp instructor

First off I (Michael) have to say Sharon is one of the most determined and committed athletes I've ever trained. She is extremely passionate about fitness and a perfect match for Intrafitt style of training.

Sharon's Bio:

Sharon is an inspiration to anyone looking to become healthy and active. She is a welcome addition to personal training. Her infectious energy, and encouraging approach stems from her own personal journey towards wellness.
Sharon’s own personal struggle with weight loss began in childhood. She ate whatever she wanted and was very inactive. It wasn’t until high school when Sharon, a high achiever, realized that this excess weight was literally weighing her down. She took control and began exercising and eating well. With this approach, Sharon reached a healthy weight and excelled at school and in various ‘activities’.
This confidence led her to aspire for more. She was accepted to Carlton University as a economics major and decided to pursue a career in modeling. She was signed immediately with a modeling agency but was told that she must lose 20lbs, well below a healthy standard. Poor eating habits ensued as she ate very little to compete for work in the super skinny industry. She continued with her modeling and poor eating habits for one year after completing her degree.
Sharon left modeling for a desirable position in the financial industry. During this time, she received her Canadian Securities Diploma. She joined gyms and focused on cardio to maintain her svelte, model-esque physique. She continued to eat what she though was healthy.
Sharon married her husband, Michael, a professional athlete and had two beautiful girls in the years that followed. It was the addition of weight training, in conjunction with cardio and healthy eating that helped Sharon return to her pre-pregnancy form although she continued to struggle with her mommy-tummy.
Sharon joined Michael Grayer’s Intrafitt Bootcamp. After following his meal plans and exercise regimen, she lost 20lbs of pure fat and said goodbye to her muffin top. She is newly educated on the importance of fueling your body, and how to eat healthy. She was so inspired by Michael Grayer’s style of training and fitness etiquette that Sharon decided to become a trainer herself. Sharon is ready to inspire others who are willing to work to achieve their wellness goals.

Sharon 1 year ago
Sharon today

Hey bootcampers watch this video this guy is a real inspiration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0DRk8dFjI

yours in fitness

Michael

The food industry has no interest in how you look

Any trick they can find that will get you to buy their product, you can rest assure they will use it. That includes adding ingredients to once thought healthy foods to make them more desirable to your taste buds. This also allows them to lower the price of foods giving them the perceived affordability factor. In their mind there are two scenarios they are expecting to happen: you will be in a rush to grab the cheapest food available and not look at the nutrition label; or you will look at the nutrition label and not know what all the ingredients are (or be able to pronounce them) and will become frustrated and buy what looks like is healthy.

Deciphering a nutrition label can be a science in itself. However, there are three ingredients which you want to watch out for and avoid as much as possible. These foods are lethal to your fat loss goals and I call them the anti-fat loss foods.

Anti-Fat loss food #1: Hydrogenated Oils

These oils are saturated fats, plain and simple. You have heard of saturated fats I'm sure. They are responsible for obesity, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, and the list goes on and on. There is nothing good about this food and should be avoided at all costs. Hydrogenated Oils can be found everywhere too, not just in obvious areas; breads, condiments, wraps, cereals, and peanut butter are some of the lesser thought of sources. They can also be found in potato chips, desserts, and candy.

Anti-Fat loss food #2: High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a sugar substitute that registers as zero calories. Sounds good doesn't it? It's not. High Fructose Corn Syrup actually shuts off the satisfaction switch your body usually gets when consuming food, so you never have that full feeling with foods that contain this evil ingredient. So while you may think you are eating less, your body will begin to crave more and more food, thus increasing your chances of eating unsupportively.

Unfortunately High Fructose Corn Syrup is found everywhere. Some of the obvious sources include: candy, ice cream, cereals, soda, and fruit juices. But it is also found in less obvious sources such as: low fat dressings, low fat options of most foods, fat free options of most foods, breads, condiments, diet sodas, and many low calorie alternative foods.

Anti-Fat loss food #3: Enriched flour

Enriched flour is a fancy word for flour that has been stripped of its nutrients for processing then nutrients were infused back in. Enriched flour is masked sugar when it comes to what it will do in your body. It takes nothing to digest this food and if it isn't used instantly as energy, your body will store it as fat. You can find this food in pastas, cereals, breads, crackers/chips, cookies, and most other foods that required dough to make.

Bonus Anti-Fat loss food: anything ending in ose

Sucrose, fructose, galactose, glucose. These are all fancy words for sugar. Added sugar can be considered instant fat when it enters your body. Fruit juices, cereals, desserts, breads, canned fruit, salad dressings, and packaged deli meat are a few sources of this processed sugar.

Once you start to look for these foods in the ingredients list, they will start to pop out of the list and signal an alarm in your head to step away from that food. It can be quite eye opening and a bit frustrating as you will discover actually how many foods have these ingredients. But by eliminating one food per week that contains just one of these ingredients, will yield tremendous results in your energy levels and in your physical appearance. If it will do that, a few extra minutes spent making sure your food choice is supportive is definitely worth it.

fail to plan... plan to fail

I've been helping people transform their bodies for over ten years now.
 
And I can tell you the #1 problem I see over and over and over.
 
You're not going to like it, but I'm going to tell you anyway. 
 
You FAIL to plan your meals.
 
All the little clich?s are true. And in this case when you fail to plan,

you plan to fail.
 
Here's just one scenario:
 
You wake up knowing full well your metabolism will be firing on all

cylinders the entire day IF you eat a proper fat loss breakfast.
 
But you can't do that because there's nothing to eat in the house. 
 
Or maybe there's some sugary cereal or pastry.
 
You get the point.
 
So you skip breakfast and off to work you go.
 
Congratulations. You have just sabotaged your metabolism

for the day. All because you failed to plan out your meals. 



Yours in fitness,



,

This time of the year gains you an average of 12 pounds of fat...

Canadians gains an average 12 pounds of fat between
Halloween and January 1st.  
 
This was a statistic that a fellow fitness professional
pulled from a magazine article.  

Now I don't know if this is true or not, but when you
think about it this could be very true. 

You eat a little candy on Halloween then the holiday
parties start appearing.  

Your life gets busier with holiday shopping and parties
and then there are the holidays themselves.  

Needless to say your focus on proper exercise and nutrition
has been pushed to the wayside.  

So I don't know if the 12 pound average is accurate or not,
but it makes a lot of sense and quite possibly is accurate.

So what are you going to do about it?

Don't wait until the first of the year to make those new years
resolutions.

Don't wait until mid-december to start complaining about
gaining weight.

Act now and make sure that when everyone else is complaining
about their weight going up you are losing weight and creating
different new years resolutions instead of the normal
"I am going to lose weight" resolutions. 

Take action and get these types of results before January 1st. 
 

Motivational Quote of the Week

"Show me someone content with mediocrity and I'll show you someone destined for failure."

Johnetta Cole