Fix #1: Fix Your Sleep

Research has shown that people who sleep less than seven hours a night are up to 75 percent more likely to be obese. Researchers from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention looked at data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey on sleep habits of U.S. workers. They found that 30 percent of people in the study – which calculates to about 40.6 million workers in the U.S. – get fewer than six hours of sleep a night. A lack of sleep will cause an increase in the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, and a corresponding decrease in leptin, a hormone that helps you feel full.

But it’s not simply how many hours of sleep you get. It also depends on when you get them. Many of our hormones are produced in tune with the cycles of the sun and moon – our natural circadian rhythms. With the rising of the sun comes an increase in the the stress activating hormone (cortisol) which peaks around mid-morning. As the day progresses, cortisol levels decrease allowing for the release of melatonin (the growth and repair hormone).

Our bodies are designed to wind down from sunset until about 10 p.m. when sleep and physical repair should begin. Your body’s physical repair cycle is from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and your body’s psychogenic repair takes place predominantly from 2 to 6 a.m. So if you’re not going to sleep until midnight, you’re missing out on two hours of physical repair. Chronic exposure to light at night tells the adrenal glands to continue their production of cortisol. And if you’re constantly releasing cortisol during the day and into the evening you will keep that dreaded belly around your waist.

Fix #2: Fix Your Diet

The first rule of dieting is DON’T DIET!
If diets actually worked, then 60 percent of the U.S. population would not be overweight and obese. If there was a magic diet that worked for everyone there would not be thousands of diet books crowding the shelves in the bookstore. There’d only be ONE. Yes, if you go on a diet you may lose weight, but I guarantee you will gain it back, and then some.

You may often hear it’s simply calories in-calories out that matters, but it’s not that simple. Calorically restrictive diets don’t work in the long run because they disrupt important hormones and enzymes and will only set you up for long-term failure. It’s not simply how much you eat, it’s what and when you eat it that is important.
Instead of dieting, learn how to eat right for you metabolic type which is based on your own physiology. This is the first step in determining the optimal fuel ratio for your body.

Diet Do’s and Dont’s:
• Do eat protein at every meal (this will help build blood sugar balance and keep your blood sugar levels stable).
• Don’t skip breakfast (especially important for females).
• Don’t skip meals and let your blood sugar levels crash.
• Finally, avoid processed and commercial foods as much as possible as they have a negative effect on your health as well as increasing body fat.

Fix #3: Fix Your Fluids

This is a big one! Approximately 75 percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated. In 37 percent of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so week that it is often mistaken for hunger. Even mild dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as three percent.
When I ask my clients how much water they drink in a day, the most common response is, “Not Enough”! Well what is enough? The rule for how much water you should drink is very simple. Drink half of your body weight in ounces per day. For example, a 200-pound man needs 100 ounces per day. That’s approximately three liters per day.
Hydration helps to normalize cortisol levels. Cortisol regulation is the most important factor for performance and health.

As you’re drinking water your body will be less likely to hold onto water. Drinking H2O will signal your kidneys to increase the hormone that tells your body to release water (making you pee). So keep the water coming in so you body will flush it out.
Oh, and other fluids (coffee, tea, juices, soda, soups, milk) DO NOT COUNT!

Fix #4: Fix Your Fitness

Oh yeah, exercise. Let’s not forget that. Exercise is such a broad term. It means different things to different people. But the majority of the population needs a lot more of it!
For many, the first type of exercise many people choose for weight loss is to put on a pair of running shoes and go for a jog. Seems logical, practical, but this type of exercise is actually the least efficient method for fat loss. Back to that later. What you want to pick are activities that do promote fat loss, long after the exercise is over. And these would be:

1. Metabolic Resistance Training (a.k.a. Strength Training or Weight Training) Resistance training increases and maintains lean muscle tissue, which boosts your metabolism long after the training ends.
Resistance training offers the biggest bang for your buck towards achieving a lean, fit body. My advice is to forget about traditional machine-based exercise and body part training (e.g. Chest & Tri’s/Back & Bi’s).That is so yesterday! Be sure to find a qualified coach to teach you a functional movement based approach to total body resistance training.
2. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) HIIT is cardio performed at such an intense level that you are actually performing anaerobically rather than aerobically. This type of training burns more calories than steady-state training. HIIT also elevates your metabolism for hours after you finish because you consume a great deal more oxygen recovering from the bout of exercise than you would have if you’d just done a steady-state workout. This is known as Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption, (E.P.O.C). It will have you burning up to nine times more fat while sitting on the couch later that night than if you had spent an hour on the treadmill watching the news.
3. High-Intensity Cardio Interval Training This is aerobic cardio, but it’s still intervals. Longer periods of intensity with longer periods of rest than the previous model. It increases whole body and skeletal muscle capacity for fatty acid oxidation during and after the training is over.
4. Steady State Cardio: I promised I’d come back to it. Almost always a new exercisers first choice is last on the list when it comes to burning calories efficiently. This type of exercise burns calories during the workout, but that’s it.
• It does not build lean body tissue.
• It will not increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR).
• It does not increase E.P.O.C.

Fix #5: Fix Your Fun Time

We’re all over-stressed and over stimulated. Your body and mind need time to repair and recover from the daily grind as well as your exercise program, which is just controlled stress.
Chronic stress keeps cortisol levels high all day long which will increase body fat storage and have a negative effect on overall health.
Make sure you add stress-reducing activities or in-activities into your week such as: stretching, yoga, walking, meditation, a hot bath, a massage or even a good movie with a friend.

Brett’s Bottom Line:
If you want permanent, long-lasting fat loss you need to understand that being lean isn’t just a summer fling. It’s a permanent relationship with yourself, for yourself.
The only thing thing that works long term is changing the lifestyle patterns and thinking patterns that put the pounds on in the first place. That means learning what to eat and when to eat it based on your own physiology. It means implementing a lifestyle plan that includes sufficient amounts of water, movement and rest that will stimulate your metabolism as well as improve your quality of life. Remember, the body never lies. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, only you have the power to change that.

If I promised to add 25 yards to your drive, make your short game more accurate, and help you play pain-free but showing you how to do a 10 minute routine before you play what would you say?

Golfers will do almost anything to hit the ball longer and lower their handicap. While new ball technology and great fitting clubs are essential elements of good golf, it’s still the golfer that plays the game. Golfers are now recognizing that by improving their athleticism they can drive the ball further and enhance their overall performance.

A proper warm-up is something every great athlete does. Unfortunately a thorough pre -golf warm-up is something many golfers ignore. They either don’t understand the importance of the warm-up and/or don’t know how to perform one. A pre -game warm-up prepares you for the upcoming event and maximizes your ability to generate consistently high club speed.

The way we warm-up for golf might be the most important factor in achieving a fluid and repeatable swing and establishing mental focus.

A proper golf-warm up has 5 stages:

When temperatures rise and the birds begin chirping, we get inspired to resume our warm-weather activities. For golfers that means hitting lots of balls at the driving range or hitting the links.

Every golfer wants to play better golf! The desire to lower one’s handicap is present from the tour professional down to the recreational golfer. However, the most common method used for improving your golf game is either lessons from a golf professional and/or a lot practice. Although this seems like a logical approach, it is the very reason most golfers rarely reach their potential.

Did you know that: 80% of golfers suffer from some sort of pain or injury? According to a Golfers Health study by Golf Digest in 2006, 64% of all golfers suffered from low back pain.

By following this three-step formula for success, you can avoid pain and injury and have your best swing yet!

The Perils of Modern Living

Chances are you are reading this while sitting in some sort of chair. You, like most of the modern day population, spend your day in a chair. Our jobs and careers require us to sit  in front of computer screens, and the daily demands of our life often keeps us from any kind of beneficial physical movement. But we are not designed to be in chairs. We are designed to move. To squat, bend, push, pull, lunge, twist, walk and run. Yet from the age of six on, we are confined to this man-made prison. When you spend much of your day sitting, whether it be in front of a computer, behind the wheel of a car, or in front of the television-bad things begin to happen to the body.

Pay Attention to Your Posture

With so much time spent in front of computers and TV’s, we develop poor posture. We have a tendency to slump forward, our shoulder blades slide forward and up, our heads protruding in front of us. If you spend much of your day in front of a computer, you’re probably slumping over, even if you’re not aware of it. Without perfect posture, you significantly increase the potential for pain and injury in a chain that starts with your neck and shoulders, descends to your lower back, and all the way to your knees and ankles.

Get Your ZZZ’s

A productive day at work begins the night before by getting enough sleep. You parents had a bedtime for you when you were in school for a reason: so you woke up rested and refreshed the next day, thus affording you the best opportunity to learn in school. Well, your job at the office isn’t much different—the same principle of how to keep alert and healthy applies.

The fact of the matter is that most of us are walking around sleep deprived. How much sleep do we really need, then? Well, individual needs vary, but most would agree that we should be getting between 7 – 9 hours per night.

Caffeine Cut-Off

When you wake up tired, most people head straight to the coffee pot for some sugar and caffeine, which supplies the body with “quick” energy. Since caffeine has a half-life of about 6 hours, if you have a coffee at 3 p.m., you can still have as much as 150 milligrams of caffeine in your blood stream at 9 p.m. So steer clear of caffeine late in the day so you won’t disrupt your sleep cycles.

Begin Your Day with Breakfast

Our diet plays a fundamental role in our mental, emotional and physical well being. As kids, we are encouraged to eat breakfast in order to perform at our best. As adults, we need breakfast to sustain us as well. When we skip breakfast, we can end up going for as long as eighteen hours without food, and this period of semi-starvation creates physical and intellectual energy lulls.

Starting your day off with a coffee and a pop-tart only sets you up for failure. Eating a full breakfast will provide you with both staying power and energy to help you maintain productivity throughout the day.

Give Yourself A Break

When we were in school we called it recess. A pause from doing something (as in work): a break. Nowadays, people get to work and strap themselves into their work stations as if they’re about to go on a Space Shuttle journey. They never get up, they don’t go outside, they eat lunch at their desk while working. Your body needs to move! So take some self-time to get up, stretch and relax. It will help you to stay calm, focused and energized during the day.

Hydrate

To put it simply, to be healthy you need to be hydrated. Water equals life. Not only does it hydrate the body’s tissues and cleanse the body of unwanted chemicals, it is also an essential component of your body’s chemical reactions. Research has show that as little as 2% dehydration significantly impairs cognitive function. Water also makes up 85% of the intervertebral discs in your spine, so proper hydration is a preventative measure against low back pain and other chronic joint pathologies. To stay healthy it’s essential to drink half your body weight in ounces of quality, chlorine-free water daily. This will give your body energy and help to keep it functioning optimally.

Brett Cohen is a fitness & wellness Coach for Integrated Training Systems, as well as a fitness presenter & educator.

The new year is here! As one year bows out and a new one comes in, we’re prompted to reflect on our lives and what we would like to achieve or change in the new year. I often hear the phrase “new year, new you,” but sadly the vast majority of people fail to capitalize on this reflective phase of their life. The wishes of a New Year’s resolution inevitably fall back to normal routines and all remains the same. “New year, same you”.

Why do so many people that “resolve” to make changes in their life fail? We start with good intentions but it takes more than good intentions to achieve sustained change.

Resolution

This is the time of year when many people begin to “resolve” to: “be more healthy,” “lose weight” or “eat better.” However, these statements are abstract, unmeasurable and undefinable. The definition of resolution is a formal expression of will, or intent. Forget resolutions! They don’t work, they lack accountability. Resolutions do not have a strategy, a plan. Instead work on setting goals.

Goals

Goals, on the other hand, are clear, measurable and time bounded. Goals are the result of achievement toward which effort is directed. Goals provide you with a road map to go from wherever you are to wherever you want to be.

Here are some tips to help you reach your goals. A goal is most powerful when written with the following attributes:

• Specific: “I will to lose 30 pounds in the next 3 months,” rather than “I want to lose weight.” Or, “I will drink one half my body weight in ounces of water every day,” rather than “I want to be healthier.”

• Measurable: You can cross it off a list. If you set a goal of exercising three days per week and schedule it in your calendar, you can easily see if you’ve reached your weekly goal.

• Affirmative: They should be affirmed with positive statements like: “I exercise two times per week” vs. “I want to exercise more often.”

• Realistic: Your goal(s) must be realistic. If not, you are setting yourself up for failure. If you aren’t exercising at all and you say you’ll get to the gym 4 days/week, that is not realistic. As soon as you begin to fall behind, you will get discouraged and likely quit altogether.

• Time Sensitive: By when? Always state the date you intend to complete your goal by. If no deadline exists there isn’t much incentive to achieve them.

If you’ve had challenges making changes in the past, and you are serious about your health and fitness, you may consider the services of a coach to help you help you establish goals and reach them.

A coaches job is to:

1. Assess exactly where you are now.

2. Clarify where you truly want to go.

3. Identify obstacles and how to overcome them.

4. Provide a framework that allows you to build a bridge between them that becomes the road map to your success.

5. Document progress and accomplishments.

6. Encourage you to stay the course.

7. Help you get incredible results!

At Integrated Training Systems, coaching is available to anyone who needs help in determining what goals are realistic for you and in creating a customized plan of action that will help you succeed.

Brett Cohen is a sports performance coach, holistic lifestyle coach, fitness presenter, educator and founder of Integrated Training Systems.

Chicago, Atlantic City, Marine Core, ING Hartford, Philadelphia, and the Granddaddy of them all, the ING New York City Marathon… Some of the more popular fall marathon events in the northeast.

If youʼve run and completed one of these races, congratulations! Having run seven marathons myself, and considering signing up for my eighth, I understand how much preparation goes into an event of this magnitude.
Some of you may you have trained all year for this marathon, or at the very least, the last four months.You shared your glory with your friends and family after the race….you walked around the next day or two with your marathon medal around your neck…you spent the next
two or three weeks talking about how you could have run faster if you had only………But after about three weeks of that, itʼs time to move on.. NOW WHAT?

Recovery & Regeneration

Some of you will rest and recover, while others will sign up for another marathon, tri-athalon, or similar endurance event before the sweat dries. While setting a new goal for yourself is commendable, continually exposing your body to stresses of endurance training without the proper amount of recovery, may simply result in being disappointed with your performance results and bringing your body one step closer to orthopedic injury.

Running marathons is very stressful on the human body. Undoubtedly, it involves a deeper level of muscle and joint tissue healing and a more complete resetting of the endocrine and immune systems than that which occurs during your normal race and training cycle. Aside from just putting a strain on all of the muscles in your legs, arms and torso, marathons can also affect your lungs and many of your other internal organs.

An Austrian study found that blood levels of antioxidant enzymes remained significantly reduced, while bio-markers of muscle damage and inflammation remained significantly elevated, in triathletes nearly three weeks after they had crossed an Ironman finish line. I would imagine that such abnormalities could be found in runners for at least a couple of weeks after they complete a high-workload training cycle culminating in a peak event such as a marathon. Because of this, it’s important that you take some time off from running after completing a marathon. Marathon runners and marathon coaches often suggested different time frames that you should use when resting after a marathon before running again or running another marathon. The most common recommendation for resting after a marathon and running again is 2 to 4 weeks, before running another marathon, 16 to 20 weeks.

Expert Advice

On April 13, 2008, Ryan Hall finished 5th in the London Marathon with a time of 2:06:17-the fastest marathon time ever recorded by an American- born runner. Just 14 weeks later Hall ran the Beijing Olympic Marathon, finishing a disappointing 10th.Top-10 in the Olympic Marathon is nothing to be ashamed of, but Hall knew he could have done better.

After the Games, Hall confessed that his pre-Olympic training had gone poorly. He just couldn’t match the times he was accustomed to posting in key workouts, and the more he fell short the more he tried to force his training, and the more he forced it the worse he felt. In the immediate aftermath of Beijing, Hall wasn’t sure exactly why he had not been his usual self in the summer of 2008, but eventually he figured it out. “Looking back on it,” he said in a recent interview on runnersworld.com, “I think I never let my body totally recover from London so I never made the physical gains that I needed to.”

Many years ago, when asked how long one should wait after running a marathon before running another one, the great Bill Rodgers said, “Until you’ve forgotten it.” Ryan Hall probably defied this wisdom!

Training Cycles

For many runners, training cycles are year round. No change from month to month, season to season. But proper training for sport involve training cycles, with intense strength training and conditioning programs that lead into the seasonʼs schedule or event training program.

A runner can no more expect to train progressively year-round than a cornfield can expect to produce corn spring, summer, fall and winter. The body needs time to heal. Most professional and high-level competitive runners rest two to four weeks after completing a training cycle. The average should not be doing trying to emulate the professional runners training cycle.. A high-level runner has a team looking after them; a coach, trainer, massage therapist, physiotherapist, nutritionist, etc. They run, eat and sleep.. That’s it! The average runner is trying to cram in their miles within the confines of their forty to sixty hour workweek along with everyday responsibilities without the benefit of a team.

Create an Off-Season

With fall marathon season ending in November and with two to four weeks rest post race, the winter holiday season right on it’s heels….an ideal off- season for a runner should begin in January of the new year. The off- season allows the runner to: rest and recover from months of intense training, recovery from injury, and implement an off-season strength training and running training strategy. The off-season lasts 16 weeks. The same amount of time it takes to prepare for a marathon. This is the time it takes to establish a fitness foundation that will stand up to the demands of being an endurance athlete and allow the athlete to reduce the rate and risk of overuse injuries that plague endurance athletes as well as lead to improved performance.

Rather than using the spring race schedule to “get in shape”, runners should “be in shape” and simply use races to sharpen their times.

Getting Started

Letʼs break it down…We have 4 phases-each phase is a 4 week program periodized progressively and subdivided by workout days… then we start programming exercises. For those of you who followed a marathon training program…. the same principles apply.
Phase 1 (Intro phase-establish joint mobility, muscle flexibility, static and dynamic stability, improve posture.)
Phase 2 (Base conditioning phase-master movement patterns with specific exercises that emphasize your weaknesses.)
Phase 3 (Strength training phase-introduce load to movement patterns to improve neuromuscular recruitment.)
Phase 4 (Shock phase-add plyometric training to improve muscle elasticity and tissue tolerance.)

This cyclical approach to training that is progressive in nature results in peak levels of performance. But, before we begin our four phase conditioning program we must identify your weaknesses in order to make them stronger.

Know Before You Go

I have read many running related articles that discuss how to avoid common running related injuries. Few ever mention getting screened or assessed to see what your injury risk potential is! An assessment goes a long way in preventing training injuries in that it identifies the weak link in the athlete and allows the coach/trainer to target that weak link prior to the beginning of the training season.

Assessing injury risk is the first step to reducing that risk!! Itʼs far easier to prevent an injury than to treat an injury. The best way to prevent injury is by taking a pro-active approach. Injuries arise in runners because most simply try to add fitness or performance to a body out of balance or a body that is already injured and experiencing pain.

Strength Training for Runners

As runners STRENGTH TRAINING is something I think most runners feel that they “should” be doing, but as runners and endurance athletes we donʼt really know how to incorporated it into our training to make it beneficial to us. Thatʼs where the introduction of an off-season comes in.

The benefits of strength training are numerous, strength training: increases strength of connective tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments), increases bone density, improves resistance to muscular fatigue, maintains lean mass that gets catabolized in racing season, increases muscle POWER, improves running economy, reduces the rate and risk of training related injuries.

“Before each training cycle, I add one thing to focus on that will benefit my running, like doing strength training. This helps me to improve without risking injury by making drastic changes”. –Clara Grandt – 2011 Boston Marathon in 2:29:52 at age 24!

Why Runners Avoid Strength Training

So, with all these obvious benefits, why arenʼt more runners incorporating strength training into their programs? A recent on-line survey of runners revealed the following statistics.

What Strength Training do You do Regularly?

• Upper Body      27%

• Core and Legs   9%

• Entire Body      27%

• None                36%

There is a lot of controversy over the type of strength training an endurance athlete should be doing, when you do it, or whether they should be doing it at all. One reason runners avoid strength training is that they still figure that the way to get into better running shape is through more running. Although this seems logical, itʼs the very reason most road runners end up injured and rarely reach their running potential. Another reason runners avoid strength training is not enough time to do it. Itʼs hard enough to try to get in all the running you need to do, how can you fit in strength training into the mix? We tend to think of our training in terms of how many miles we can pack into our busy week, but yet doing the same thing season after season, and expecting different results is by definition, insanity! Lastly, lack of knowledge..they just donʼt know how.

Conclusion:

Running pain and running injuries are not an inevitable part of training.  If you plan your off-season as well as you planned your racing season allowing your mind and body sufficient rest and recovery, get screened and implement a functional strength training program-endurance runners can improve their bodies and run injury free, spending more time on the roads and less time in rehab.

Brett’s Bottom Line:

“Strength training will help you: increase speed, resist fatigue, prevent injury, and maximize your athletic potential!” – Brett Cohen

Brett Cohen is a Sports Performance Coach, Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach, Educator and Runner as well as creator of: “Ready to Run”, a comprehensive conditioning program specifically designed for runners and endurance athletes.