11Alive.com | Mari Garner's Blog | Get in Shape Atlanta

Why Sometimes, Slower is Better

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:31:00 -0800

When focusing on technique, slower may be better. Yes, even in high intensity boot camp or kickboxing workouts, this could be the case.

"What, I thought we hustled through everything in boot camp?" Although you may want to be attentive and move from exercise to exercise with as much speed as possible when participating in a higher intentisy exercise class, you should always pay attention to form. When we are performing an exercise that is complicated or when the instructor specifically mentions to focus on technique, a slower pace is often better.

For example, your muscles will react differently if you perform very fast squats vs slow, controled squats pausing at the bottom of the movement. You will feel the burn in the quads during the very fast squats, but with the slower movement, you will feel it more in the glutes.

Additionally, if you are working with weights in your class you will want to take extra caution to make sure your body is aligned properly. Are your shoulders down and back? Are you abs pulled in tight? Are you knees slightly bent? Are you breathing? These quesitons should go through your head on every repitition. Take the time to slow down and check. As you get more confident with the movement, you can increase your speed. But technique should not be sacrificed for speed!

So slow it down when you work on technique, but hustle up between interval stations or when switching between exercises and you will see results in no time!

Mari Garner's winning Red Team lost over 250 pound in only 11 weeks in the first Atlanta's Biggest Loser. For more information on kickboxing or boot camp classes with Mari Garner or The American Boot Camp Company go to www.thebootcampcompany.com. Join us for a FREE workout on February 24th to see what outdoor fitness is all about and why Tommy lost so much weight so quickly!

Keep Your Resolution Resolve

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:26:00 -0800

It’s six weeks into the new year, and how are your resolutions going?

Many of you have joined gyms or made promises that you have not kept. One of the main reasons that people don't succeed in keeping their fitness resolutions is that they bit off more than they can chew, so to speak. They simply get in over their head. Well if you are one of those people, there is good news for you. Accountability based fitness programs. Often called boot camp, gyms across Atlanta are now offering programs that include attendace taking as part of your fee. This is a great way to make sure you show up, because if you don't - they follow up with you!

So many of us just need a little bit more help when it comes to sticking with our fitness routine and and indoor or outdoor boot camp is a great way to get that help. The folks at The American Boot Camp Company know making the decision to commit to a program is often the hardest part. That's why their 4 week outdoor fitness programs include accountability, daily motivation and tons of hand holding!

Sound like a program for you? February boot camps start on Monday and TABCC is ready to help you renew your resolution, build it better for your bikini, banish the football season beer gut and get back to the STONGER, HEALTHIER YOU. Don’t delay and sign up today at http://www.thebootcampcompany.com/.

How to succeed in spite of yourself

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:54:00 -0700

"The difference between a successful person and other is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." Vince Lombardi

As a personal and group trainer that deals with the fitness goals of others every day, I often find that it is sheer will that seperates the people that see results and those that do not. How can you win the battle of will? Try these steps:

1. Avoid tempting situations. This seems simple, but many times we set ourselves up by poor choices. When it comes to eating, don't starve yourself all day. Try eating five or six smaller meals over the course of the day. Always eat at the table and not in the car or standing up.

2. Monitor your food intake daily. Writing down what you eat allows you to be honest with yourself and to get a true picture of where you can change things to be more successfull and to see the number on the scale decrease.

3. Set realistic goals with specific time periods. I want to lose 100 pounds in a month is not going to happen. Try I want to lose 100 pounds over the next 12 months and I am going to hire a trainer or join boot camp to do it is a specific goal. Then break that big goal into smaller shorter term goals. I want to log my food every day for a week. Once you achieve the small goals, the larger goal gets easier.

4. Substitute eating with exercise. When you are stressed take a kickboxing class. When you are snacking because you are bored, take a walk in your neighborhood or head to the gym.

Incorporating these four steps into your daily routine will help you be more successful and can lead to a healthier lifestyle.

Why your weight isn't such a big deal

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:02:00 -0700

As Atlanta's Biggest Loser contestants prepare to lose the first of 12 wonderful people, I want to make sure to remind everyone that the scale isn't always the best measure. Although that is the chosen measurement on the National Show, the number on the scale only shows a small part of an individuals story.

We all know that obesity is a major problem in this country and many of the contestants are considered obese and thus have decided to make a change. Obesity is defined as the amount of fat in a body. So to truly grasp the level of obesity you need to measure body fat.

This week the men all went to get their body fat tested and, like the scales, the results proved eye opening. However, a trainer can make specialized changes to each clients programming armed with body fat percentage and the information that can be derived from knowing how much lean body mass a person is made up of and how much of their "scale weight" is body fat.

Also keep in mind that a muscle weighs more than fat and that a woman weighing 160 pounds can wear a size 8 and a similar woman with less muscle wearing a size 8 might only weigh 145 pounds. Similarily a man weighing 220 pounds that is solid muscle (11-14% body fat) might be slim looking compared to a man weighing 220 that has %40 body fat.

So ladies and gentlemen of the blue and red teams and all of those at home on the black team - don't get discouraged if you only lost 1-2 pounds this week. You might have gained muscle! Also remember that it is usually not healthy to lose more than 1-2 pounds of fat a week.

Wanna Lose Weight? Get Tanked!

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:59:00 -0700

This morning, after their workout at The American Boot Camp Company's Blackburn Park boot camp, the Men's Team of Atlanta's Biggest Loser got Tanked - In the Body Fat Van Tank, that is! Bali Patel, owener of the Atlanta territory, generously offered to test the Men's team and determine their percent body fat, their percent lean body mass and their resting metabolic rate.

So why should you do this? Because the body is composed of bone, muscle, internal organs, water and fat tissue. Just stepping on the scale doesn't differentiate between these things. One person might weight 160 pound and have a higher percentage of bone mass and muscle mass and could be the same physical size as a person with higher body fat that weights only 140. From a healthy standpoin the amount of fat tissue in the body is important and body fat testing can help determine where you stand compared to healthy people. The healthy levels are based on age and gender, so men tend to have lower body fat percentages and women higher. Average body fat for a man 30-39 years old is 15.9 percent.

By differentiating between lean body mass and fat body mass you can determine the true caloric intake needed to lose weight. The Body Fat test is done hydrostatically, that is, underwater. Go to www.bodyfattest.com for more information or to schedule an appointment. The van is a high-tech mobile body fat testing lab. The hydrostatic method is the most accurate in the fitness industry and helps us determine how to eliminate the unwanted fat on a person's body.

The process can be intimidating as you must sit in a tank of water that is attached to many pieces of high tech equipment and is also a scale. You then have to submerge into the water and blow all of the air out of your lunges and stay submerged for a few seconds while the tank calculates your weight under water. The test is repeated several times and then the number is plugged into equations to determine your body fat percentage, lean body mass percentage and even the number of calories you as an individual need to intake to maintain your weight. You also get a detailed report including the amount of calories you will burn doing different types of exercise at various intensities.

So when you begin your weight loss journey, pay a visit to the body fat test van and "Get Tanked!", then meet with a fitness professional and be on your way to losing weight, the healthy way!