fitness equipment buying guide

New Years is obviously a good time for the fitness industry. After a holiday season where everyone –including yours truly–seems to have eaten to0 much, New Year marks the time when everyone wants to break from their unhealthy ways.

Of course, we’d love to see you here in Motiv. We can certainly get you into great shape again in a safe and healthy way.

But many folks want to workout at home, so  it becomes shopping time for fitness equipment.  At the top of most lists are the treadmill and the elipitical trainer.

Before you make the major purchase — they are expensive — let me ask you a question: what is your goal? Is it to burn fat and lose weight?

If your main goal is to lose weight, let me suggest a safer and cheaper machine: the exercise bike.  Personally, I recommend this one here — which is only about $625 delivered from a number of places on the web.  You could get 2 or 3 treadmills for that price.

Why? Do I just like biking? No. I like results.

If you want to lose weight doing cardio-type work, there is a gold standard workout you need to be doing: Interval Training.

Don’t take my word for it, read about it here, and here and here in the New York Times.

Now, interval training is not fun. But it only takes about 20-25 minutes per day.  Repeat: not fun, but effective and quick.  We help all our clients with interval training workouts on their ”off days” from the studio.

But, you say, I like my 40 minute runs on the treadmill.  OK, great. Steady-pace runs just don’t burn fat.  They may relieve your stress, but chances are your body has adapted to the workout so it just isn’t effective any more. Ask yourself: Was running for 40 minutes relatively easy for you? If the answer is yes, it didn’t burn fat.

And did I mention that interval training will take half the time?

So, if you’re going to buy a new piece of equipment, choose wisely. Don’t buy a really expensive clothes rack.

happy holidays from motiv

Just a quick note to say Happy Holidays to everyone.  Enjoy your time with friends and family.

From all of us here at Motiv,

Amy, Emily, Heidi, Jake, Laura & Brian

getting our newsletter?

Not all of our best content is here on the blog.  We also publish a newsletter 2 times on a month with practical tips, a healthy recipe and more;  sign up on on our website here at the bottom of the home page.  As you prepare for your New Year’s Eve party, here’s a timely excerpt from the past issue:

Your Holiday Party Cheat-Sheet

Short Cut #1: Eat a sensible meal before the party.
You should always arrive at parties with a full stomach. I realize that this goes against the popular trend of starving yourself before a party, and that’s exactly why most people gain weight. Since your stomach will be full, you’ll have the clarity to pick and choose the

treats that you really want, rather than stuffing yourself with everything in sight.

Short Cut #2: Bring a healthy dish to share.
Don’t worry if the party that you’re going to isn’t a potluck – the hostess will love you for being so thoughtful, and you’ll have a healthy option to enjoy.

Short Cut #3: Never drink calories.
Do you realize how quickly calories add up when you’re slurping them out of a cup? Alcoholic beverages and sweet holiday drinks are simply packed with calories. These calories don’t take up much room in your stomach so you’re left wide open for even more calories.

Your best strategy is to avoid these beverages altogether, and stick with water. Aim to drink 2-3 glasses of water at the party.

Short Cut #4: Fill your plate, but only once.
I’m certainly not going to tell you that you shouldn’t eat anything at the party. By all means, go and fill up your plate. But only once.

That’s right, you heard me. No going back for seconds. Since you’ve already eaten a sensible meal before arriving, this rule is going to be easier to keep than you think.

Short Cut #5: Taste dessert, just a taste.
The holidays are all about sweet treats, so go ahead and partake. But just a taste. Look at desserts as something to savor, not something to fill up on.

And since you ate a sensible meal before you came, then you filled up your dinner plate once you’re probably going to be pretty full at this point anyway.

That’s it – all you need to know to not gain a single pound at holiday parties.

And don’t miss the 27 fat loss tips coming in the 1/1/10 issue.

biggest loser reality

Our client Rebecca pointed out this very good article about the “reality” of the Biggest Loser TV show on NBC.

Overall, it is important to note that good weight loss tops out at about 1-2 pounds per week in the “real world.” The results achieved on the Biggest Loser are just not something that one can accomplish safely.

How do they achieve this weight loss?

At least one other contestant has confessed to using dangerous weight-loss techniques, including self-induced dehydration.

And any Google search about the show will bring up plenty of other stories about the safety of the show. After all, 2 of the contestants were hospitalized this season. That’s not good.

Anyone surprised?

We run a Biggest Loser contest in our studio. Of course, in our studio, it all in good fun since we are only focused on taking off weight and keeping it off. It is an extra piece of motivation to help you change your behavior. Because that is what is required. Not some quick fix or a “crash” program.

cookie diet

OK, I’ve been avoiding this one for a while. Seemed kinda obvious to me. The WSJ has a good rundown of the cookie diets here.

The cookie diet is just like every other of the millions of diets out there – lower your calorie intake to less than what you are burning everyday and lose weight. There is a reason that there are millions of diets: they don’t work. Why? Because when most people end their diets, they go back to their old eating habits.

Says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a private weight-loss consultant in New York and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association about the cookie diet:

“A lot of patients tell me, ‘Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.’ But that usually puts the kibosh on success. They can’t wait for the day when they can stop doing it,”

Yup, just like every other diet, if you are waiting for the day your diet ends, you just won’t be successful. So don’t just start a “New Year’s Resolution” diet that will only leave you disappointed. Make the changes that you know you need to make. Slowly. Deliberately. It won’t be any easier tomorrow, so start today.

dr oz’s salt challenge

I was watching a tivo’ed Dr Oz show last night and saw one the guests featured in his salt challenge was from my hometown.  A chef–of all people–was challenged to give up salt and eat a healthier diet.  And so far in the first 11 days, he’s lost 20 pounds.  Now, that my be a bit extreme, but listen to the first thing he did:

The first step in shaking the salt habit was cleaning out his cupboards, Bacigalupo said, getting rid of all the nutritional “felons” — packaged and processed food, canned food, lunch meat and low-calorie foods, which are often loaded with sodium.

He also had to give up fast food — a move that is saving his family about $150 per week.

Btw: Corner Bakery and oh, just about every other place you eat lunch, is still expensive fast food.

Overall, Dr Oz has a great plan to kick the salt habit.  Click here to learn more about the salt detox.  Go ahead. Make that change. Start today.

exercise = anti-aging?

No surprise, really. New research published in Circulation: Journal of the American Hear Association indicates that long-term physical activity has an anti-aging effect at the cellular level.

Ulrich Laufs, M.D., the study’s lead author and professor of clinical and experimental medicine in the department of internal medicine at Saarland University in Homburg, Germany says:

“This is direct evidence of an anti-aging effect of physical exercise. Physical exercise could prevent the aging of the cardiovascular system, reflecting this molecular principle.”

Read more here.  Especially if you like reading about telomeres.