Spot Training

One of the questions I am frequently asked is what kind of exercises should be done to get rid of fat in a specific area.  Here is my answer:


You could do 2000 abdominal crunches every day for six months and not lose an inch around your waist.  Why not?  Because you cannot spot train!  There is no isolation exercise that is going to burn enough calories to significantly reduce fat storage.  Everyone is genetically predisposed to store fat in a certain area and whether it's your belly or thighs, it all gets reduced the same way.


TADA...


Calorie deficit!  You must burn more calories than you take in.  For example, if you currently consume 2000 calories per day, you must reduce your caloric intake to 1500 in order to lose one pound per week.  If you expidite the process by burning an additional 500 calories per day through exercise, you can achieve a 1000 calorie deficit enabling you to drop two pounds per week.


So if abdominal crunches are not going to turn my keg to a six-pack, what kind of exercise should I do?  So glad you asked.   To burn the most calories, you should preform exercises that use large muscles.  The legs, back and chest would be considered large muscles.  Also, working out at higher intensities will burn more calories.  What is a higher intensity?  Move faster and rest less.


So, sorry all of those crunches have not been paying off, but when you adjust your nutrition and increase your calorie burn, you may just uncover all of those muscles you have been working on.

New Recipe

I am always looking for new dinner ideas that are healthy, budget friendly and my kids will actually eat.  We eat a mostly vegetarian diet, and have recently tried to incorporate more vegan meals into the rotation.  I ran across this recipe at savvyvegetarian.com and thought I would give it a try.  Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients.  Most of them are spices and it is super simple.  The whole meal cost me under ten bucks and the whole family loved it.  The only change I made was to add more liquid.


Enjoy!!!

Quinoa and Red Lentil Stew

•  1/2 cup quinoa

•  3/4 cup uncooked small red lentils

•  Optional: 1 Tbsp olive oil

•  2 large carrots

•  2 stalks celery

•  1 small head cauliflower OR 2 medium potatoes or OR 1 med. zucchini OR 1 small butternut squash

•  1 bay leaf

•  2 inch piece cinnamon stick

•  2 thin slices fresh ginger


•  1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded

•  6 cups water or unsalted soup stock

•  1/2 tsp gr cumin

•  1/2 tsp gr fennel seed

•  1/2 tsp turmeric

•  1/2 tsp paprika

•  1/2 tsp gr coriander

•  1/2 tsp dried thyme leaf or 1 sprig fresh

•  1 tsp dried basil or 1 Tbsp minced fresh

•  1/4 tsp dried rosemary leaves or 1 sprig fresh

•  1/2 tsp salt or to taste and fresh ground black pepper

•  4 Tbsp minced fresh herbs: parsley, cilantro or basil

•  2 cups chopped fresh greens: kale, chard, or spinach

•  More Heat: Add 1/2 - 1 tsp green curry paste OR 1/4 tsp cayenne powder

Crockpot Directions:

1.            Rinse the quinoa and red lentils in a bowl or pan, then drain into a colander

2.            Peel the carrots, slice lengthwise, then slice in thin pieces

3.            Wash and trim the celery stalks, then slice crosswise in thin pieces

4.            or cut the cauliflower into large chunks - these will break up into smaller pieces as they cook

5.            Combine olive oil, quinoa, lentils, herbs & spices, fresh ginger and jalapeno in the crockpot

6.            Add the vegetables, except for the optional greens, and cover with the 6 cups water

7.            Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or more if needed

8.            20 minutes before serving, turn the heat up to high and stir in optional greens

9.            Just before serving, add the minced fresh parsley, basil or cilantro, salt & pepper, and serve, removing the ginger slices, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, as you come across them

Stovetop Directions

1.            Heat oil in large sauce pan on medium

2.            In a separate pan, bring to a boil: water or stock, quinoa, lentils, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, ginger slices, jalapeno

3.            Saute the veggies except for greens 10 minutes. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric, fennel and paprika and stir until heated and veggies are coated

4.            Stir in the quinoa and lentils, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the optional greens. Cover and cook 5 more minutes or until greens are wilted.

5.            Stir in the fresh parsley, basil or cilantro, salt & pepper, and serve

Tracy Anderson Workout

I was at the library with my daughter the other day, and I ran across 30-Day Method by Tracy Anderson.  I vaguely knew who she was.  Of course, I had to bring it home and check it out.   If you are not familiar with her, she trains Gwyneth Paltrow and a few other big names.


Basic Philosophy: A small dancer type body is the perfect body and by following her method without deviation your body will be perfect too.  The way to achieve this is to only work small muscles using cross-vectors of force (basically creating your own resistance by pulling with the opposing side of the body), do an hour of cardio/dance and follow the eating plan.


The workout is comprised of three ten day sequences.  For the each of the ten day sequences their are seven variations of leg lifts, six moves that focus on core, and four moves for the arms.  Each is preformed for 40 repetitions.  No weights are used, but you can add ankle weights and decrease reps when it becomes easy. Their are two dance/cardio sequences, and a meal plan.


Tracy recommends that you do no other workout than this one for the 30 days, and work your way up till you are doing this workout for 2 hours 7 days per week.


My Experience:  I have been doing the first sequence for about a week now.  It seems very similar to Pilates.  Although the moves are basic, forty repetitions of anything is going to burn.  It takes about 30 minutes to complete and then you move on to the cardio.   The cardio is all dance, and for someone like myself who is not a dancer, it's tricky.  My heartrate stays around 80--85 bpm for the duration.  That's well below "fat burning" range, but that being said, maybe if I was better at the moves I could do it with more intensity.  After three days I switched to alternative cardio and added some weight lifting, but continued the other portions of the sequence.  Tracy doesn't explain why she does not allow a day to rest the muscles.  Generally, your body needs a day or two to recover before you work the same muscles again, but I think it is because she feels that "these exercises do not tear down muscle, rather build upon muscle" (a quote from her book).  I am not familiar with this science, but my hips were quite sore which I associate with the tearing down of muscle.  Maybe she is not allowing rest is so the muscle cannot repair and therefor not get bulky.  I'm just guessing here.


The dance portion of the workout is constantly forcing you to move on a variety of planes so you are never continuously working any specific muscle. The reason for this is so you do not develop the large muscles.  In contrast, with an exercise like running you are constantly applying force to the same muscles in the same way.  I can see the dance being a lot of fun for someone who likes to dance.  It is definitely a great way to change things up.


The diet plan seems a little restrictive.  I am not a nutritionist, but from my calculations the first day allows about 700 calories.  The final 10 days culminate in a cleanse.  I will not be following the diet plan.


My Conclusion:  All in all I found it to be a good workout and definitely something I will use to supplement what I already do.  I don't have any desire to be really small.  I like being strong and having more defined muscles.  I would agree that in a more traditional workout we tend to neglect some of the smaller muscles in favor of developing the showy ones.  However, when you work larger muscles, you burn more calories.  It's more efficient for weight loss, and although I can see the value in targeting those small muscles on a regular basis, I cannot agree with excluding the larger muscles always.  Some would argue that building more muscle is important for increased metabolic burn.  That is because for each pound of muscle you theoretically burn an additional 30-50 calories per day. (That's questionable science too, but I thought I would throw it out there.)   I probably will not do the dance portion, but again that is personal taste and I'm just bad at it.  I enjoy working out at higher intensities for shorter duration and I don't have 2 hours a day to commit to exercise, so for me, it's not realistic.  I would strongly advise anyone considering the diet plan to talk to a nutritionist or get it ok'd by your doctor.

Fitting in Fitness

With Christmas fast approaching it can be tempting to cancel exercise.  There are numerous reasons to stay true to your fitness routine.  Don't stress, here are a few ideas to keep you on track.

Of course, check with your doctor if you are new to fitness, and use your best judgment to decide what exercises work best for you.

• Your workout doesn't have to be all or nothing.  If your time is limited, focus on cardio.  You will need the calorie burn to combat all those Christmas cookies.

• Try combining weights and cardio.  This time saving trick will increase your calorie burn and tone your muscles.

• If you are not familiar with high intensity interval training, now might be the time to try something new.  Try including some sprints in your workout.  I like to lift weights for a few minutes and then sprint for a few minutes, repeating this sequence for the duration of the workout.  Your not going to lift super heavy this way, but you will get a killer workout.

• Try splitting up your workout.  If you have at least 10 minutes, you have time to workout.  Do that a few time a day.

• Try doing your workouts at home.  In the time it takes you to drive to and from the gym, you could have your workout done.  Go old school with squats, lunges, dips and pushups.  They work.  Do you have stairs in your home--Cardio!  Do you have kids--free weights!  Get creative.

• Check out my quick and simple workout below...

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