The Vlog

Some people think they work hard when they work out. Others read their newspaper while doing their cardio.

How do you know when you’re working hard? In my experience, doing intervals at 90% of your maximum heart rate for 20-30 seconds is a good test to see if you’re really working hard. How do we figure out what 90% of your maximum heart rate is?

I recommend an exhaustion test. Steadily increase the speed and incline of a treadmill until the heart rate remains unchanged after about 10 seconds. I recommend taking about 10-15 minutes to reach this point with intermittent slower periods. In this way, you can make it a training session too.

Once you have this number, just multiply it by 0.9 and you have 90% of your maximum heart rate. Now you can use this as your target number for your interval training, as mentioned in the second paragraph above. Good luck!

Let’s say you work a job. After work you go buy some groceries, put gas in the car, and go rent a movie. But what if I told you that you didn’t know how much you were being paid. I think you might wonder, “Do I have enough to buy the things I want?”

This is like not knowing exactly how much you are eating — if your goal is weight loss. You will have no idea how much you should be losing. But if you do a little math, you can figure out how much you should lose.

A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. If you can burn 3,500 calories, you will lose one pound of fat. So if you lower your calories by 500 calories per day for seven days, you should lose one pound of fat. But don’t forget you have to figure out your maintenance level, i.e., how many calories your body needs each day to maintain its weight. My favorite method is the Katch-McArdle formula (http://www.freedomfly.net/Articles/Nutrition/nutrition14.htm). Once you figure this out, you will be able to count your calories from foods to make sure you are eating 500 calories less than your maintenance level.

For my clients, I tell them exactly how much they should lose. In this way, they know exactly how much they need to eat and train in order to lose that amount. If this sounds complex and you think you need some help, feel free to ask. You can e-mail me at von@vongillette.com.

Von

Analysis Paralysis

There is so much good (and bad) information about dieting that it can be difficult to decide which diets are actually worthwhile. I would like to go over a few bottom-line points any good diet should have.

1. Balance – A diet needs a fair amount of daily protein and fat (30g. or more). These are critical for basic survival. Carbohydrates are not necessary for human survival. This doesn’t mean that carbohydrates shouldn’t be included in your diet. It does mean, however, that carbohydrates should probably not make up the bulk of your diet — even though the FDA still recommends just that.

2. High Quality Foods – No dietary advice would be complete without emphasizing highly nutritious foods like vegetables, fruits (optional), and good fats like nuts, seeds, and organic dairy. Protein that is also grass-fed, free range, and organic are preferred. Without first taking care of your health, no diet can be carried on long-term without ill effects.

3. Long-term Plan – A long-term plan is critical for any diet. Most people will resort to convenience. A solid long-term plan develops good habits and enables people to stick with it without thinking about it.

4. Realistic – A good diet plan must be realistic. Without this component, you could never succeed with a diet requiring you to cook five meals a day when you work 9-5. Unless you’re a chef, it won’t happen. Find a realistic plan that works for you.

Although finding the right diet plan can be challenging, if you follow these guidelines I’m confident you’ll find a diet that works for you. If you want more information or help in finding the right plan for you, contact me at von@vongillette.com.

I am Oglala Lakota and during tribal ceremonies I’ll often hear about healing one’s spirit.

In my experience, when one take’s a hard look at themselves and begins to “train” their spirit with the dedication and honesty that they employ in their fitness and nutrition lives, miracles happen.

What am I talking about? For some, it might mean forgiveness of a loved one who has really hurt them. For others, it can mean re-experiencing all the pain they’ve grown up with and loving their way back from it. For some, it can mean sharing with another the true pain involved in what they’re dealing with now. For some, it may mean battling depression or an addiction.

All of these things will have huge effects on one’s health, weight, and fitness. I believe, however, that good health and fitness and the proper weight can help with spiritual healing. Your mind and body are mirror reflections of each other. Improving one can help the other.

In my nutrition course one of the sessions focuses on the spirit and making sure the feeding of our spirit is aligned with the good things we are doing physically, as well. I invite you to join our group and share your story as these stories seem to help other’s in their journey too.

Thanks.

Von

Hi, I’m Mark. I’m one of Von’s clients and he has been gracious enough to let me upload this guest post.

Midway through 2009 I started taking vitamins and actively began avoiding certain kinds of food, especially wheat products. The vitamins and diet changes had a profound impact on the quality of my life. Without ever going hungry I went from a peak weight of 315 to 305 by the end of the year.

Then I met Von. Since January I’ve been doing the strength and circuit trainings Von designed for me. Not as often as Von would like, but often enough to get my metabolism ramped back up. As a result I’m now down to 274 lbs., a weight I hadn’t seen since 1998.

I’m on track to lose over fifty pounds this year thanks to exercising smarter and eating more wisely. I hate to call what I’m doing a diet because I’m never hungry, and never feel like I’m scrimping on portions.

I’m sharing this story with you because I attended Von’s first two nutrition classes. One of the guys at the first class had been working out for years, but without dietary guidance he was having little luck shedding pounds. My story gave him more confidence in the dietary part of weight loss, and I’m confident the pounds will melt away for him.

Unlike most classes connected with weight loss programs, Von’s not selling supplements, equipment or anything but his expertise and services. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Losing weight is about commitment based on knowledge. Von has the knowledge, and he’s pretty good at getting people to commit. He’ll be posting the times for his next class soon, and I encourage everyone who reads my testimonial to sign up.

Do fat loss creams work?

The research is pretty clear that nearly all of the heavily advertised weight loss “aids” do nothing. However, one compound found to be very effective is aminophylline. One study found there was a significant difference in the waist lines when a cream with this compound was applied.

The researchers who created this study were candid and let readers know that without a certain amount of exercise and a particular calorie limit, there would have been no significant differences between the aminophylline group and the control group.

In the study, both groups were held to a 1,200-calorie diet and were encouraged to walk.

At the end of twelve weeks, the aminophylline group lost an average of eleven centimeters (4.33 inches) while the control group lost five centimeters (2 inches).

I believe that if the individuals in this study had included more exercise and switched from walking to strength training/circuits, there would have been more lost inches. Still, that is quite remarkable for a cream.

1. M. K. Caruso, 1 S. Pekarovic, 2 W. J. Raum 3 F. Greenway. Topical fat reduction from the waist. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2007 May;9(3):300-3.

People struggle with fat loss. It’s a tough battle yet most people engaged in this war lack a support network. Whether on the job, in sports, or even when cooking (as you serve food to people), it helps to find like-minded people who are rooting for you to succeed.

This is why I created the Healthy Eating for Fat Loss course. I saw many of my clients had the same questions, but there were different answers depending on the person.

Here are some examples:

One of my clients asked me, “How many times a day should I be eating?” I asked, “How many times a day can you eat?” He exclaimed that he could eat five meals a day. I said, “Then you should be eating five times a day. It’ll reduce your hunger and help your blood sugars stay stable.”

Another client asked me the same question. I responded with the same question: “How many times a day can you eat?” He replied, “Possibly three meals.” This is the answer I expected because he is extremely busy. I told him that “Three meals is excellent, just make sure that you get the right foods and amounts so that you are not hungry for the next meal. We have to design your meal plan to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

The great thing about a class is that we explore all of the realities and myths of fat loss. We even explore the exceptions and the differing degrees of truth of these realities of fat loss.

You will learn about which fat loss “secrets” you can actually use in your life and how to use them effectively to get real long-lasting results.

There’s plenty more room for more people to join this class, and I’d love to see you next Sunday at 1 pm. Email me for details.

Von

I work out at Anytime Fitness.

One of the more interesting things I see is that about 90% of the college-aged women I see will begin with about thirty minutes of cardio (including steady-state or interval training).

Afterwards they might do some strength training, usually core work and maybe some direct arm work like curls or triceps extensions. I’m guessing that their goal is to lose fat or to tone up.

Given the enlightened information in women’s publications — “Women’s Health,” “Oxygen,” and “Self” — I would have expected most women to have switched to doing strength training first. I suspect the problem is a thing called tradition. Women, like men, tend to do what other women (or men) do.

Why should a person do strength training first?

When you start with strength training you help to mobilize fat around the body to be released.

Strength training also helps to build or at least maintain muscle mass. The research is filled with studies showing cardio-only exercise results in decreased muscle mass and thus leads to decreased metabolism.

Also, cardio done after strength training is beneficial because aerobic work helps burn the fat which was released by strength training. There are other benefits to doing strength training first, but these considerations are some of the most important for fat loss.

Von

Sometimes the toughest part of a workout is finding a place to do it in, especially when you’re traveling.

As a trainer I dread hearing a client say they’re going on vacation because all too often that means skipped workouts. That doesn’t have to be the case.

I’ve developed lots of circuits that can be done in a motel room. Bridges coupled with T push ups in ten-minute sets can make for a challenging workout.

Talk to me before you travel and I’ll give you a routine to take with you.

Von

Great for in-room workouts

I enjoy running around the lake.

I often do it with my shirt off for maximum Vitamin D absorption and not to show off (yeah right). People are often surprised when I tell them that I never did any ab exercises to get my 6-pack. What exactly did I do?

I simply followed a low-carb plan consistently (not hard). And I did heavy strength training like squats, DB presses, chin-ups, and bulgarian split squats along with interval training for about an hour a day. And I did zero ab work.

Now, I’m not saying direct ab work is going to hurt you, only that without strong nutrition and a balanced exercise program, a 6-pack will not happen.

Von Gillette