Personal training has become quite popular. With more and more people getting interest in fitness, a lot of them make use of the services of personal trainers to traverse the confusing path of diet and exercise. The price of the personal trainer can vary a lot, however on average a personal training session can cost you about $50 per hour. Considering that you spend three, one-hour sessions with a personal trainer each week, the price of working out with a trainer will be about $650 per week.
This is a significant amount of cash that you will be spending each month and therefore you need to make sure that you are getting the results worth the amount of money you are spending. Some of the personal trainers are very good, however there are a lot of bad ones. Unfortunately it is very counterintuitive to figure out which ones are bad. Fitness related services are a little different when it comes to customer experience. Most of the services are oriented towards comfort. If the professional did a good job then they made the life of the customer easy. For fitness though it is the other way around. To get fit we need to challenge ourselves and get uncomfortable. Therefore to really get you results, a good trainer has to make your life difficult by always challenging you with a difficult workout. Unfortunately for the trainer, if they make the life of the customer too difficult they run the risk of loosing the customer. A lot of trainers therefore play it safe and do not push you as hard. Whenever you are evaluating a personal trainer bear it in mind that a personal trainer might not push you as hard because they do not want to scare you off. It is your job to ask your trainer to push you as hard as you can handle. Below are five signs that you need to look for to realize that your trainer is not pushing you as hard as he should be. > You do not go out of breath: A tough workout is hard on your cardiovascular system. Your muscles are working hard and burning a lot of calories. To burn all those calories you need oxygen and therefore your breathing rate goes up. If you are breathing rate is normal or only mildly higher, then it means that your muscles are not working as hard. You need to increase the intensity of your workout. Gently ask your trainer to increase the intensity of your workout, so that you are working out at your full capacity. > You do not break any sweat: As you burn more calories and sustain the hard work for longer time, your body temperature is going to increase. To keep your body cool, you start sweating. Sweating is a sign that you are struggling and therefore doing a good workout. If you notice that during your workout sessions with your trainer you are not sweating at all then clearly your trainer is not pushing you as hard as he should be. > You end up spending more time talking: A lot of trainers spend a lot of time talking with you about random things. This is their way of keeping you happy and entertained. It is all about the experience and as long as people stay comfortable and entertained they will come back. A tough trainer who does not talk to you and goes right into a tough workout will be labeled as tyrannical and will be soon out of job. Unfortunately it is that tyrannical trainer who will get you results. In a good workout the resting time is for recovery and getting ready for next set, not for chatting. If you notice too much chatting between your sets then let your trainer know that you want to increase the intensity of the workout. > You are not sore the next day: A tough workout pushes your muscles to their limits. Your muscles should be sore the next few days after a tough workout. If you notice that you are not feeling sore after you workout sessions, then clearly your trainer is not pushing you as hard. Let him know that you do not feel sore the next day and want to increase the workout intensity > You did not see any benefit in the first month: If you are doing your workouts right, you should see benefit within the first few weeks. If you notice that you are not seeing any progress towards your fitness goals then let your trainer know about it. Many trainer might ask you to be patient and tell you take it is going to take time. This is a clear sign of a bad trainer. Now of course if you cannot lose 20 pounds in a month, however you should be able lose 4-5 pounds in a month if you are doing everything right. If you notice that you are not making any progress and your trainer says you need to be patient, then it might be a sign that your trainer is not pushing you as hard as he should be. Personal training is all about customer experience. A trainer has to make his client feel good about their workout then only the client will come back again and again. Time and again I see people leave everything on the trainer. Under the fear of scaring the client away the trainer does not push the client as hard and therefore the client does not get good results. In the end everybody loses. The client loses interest and the trainer loses client. Leaving everything on the trainer is not a good idea; you are the one who has to set the pace of the workout, not the trainer. Think of yourself as the boss and the trainer as your employee. Just as the employee will do whatever boss likes, the trainer will just do whatever you like. To get optimal results, make use of the trainer just as a guide under whose supervision you push yourselves as hard as you can. If you understand this you will be able to make a much better use of the trainer.
0 Comments
In the modern times body fat has been correlated with poor health. Everybody is looking to shed fat and be as lean as possible. However we must not forget that body-fat is not inherently bad. Body fat does have an important role to play in our body and in fact there is some body fat that we should try to increase rather than decrease. Not all body fat in the human body is the same. There are different types of body fats, which have different function. There are various ways to categorize body fat, however in broad terms all the body fats can be categorized as White fat and Brown fat.
Being humans, we have an inherent desire to get results as fast as possible and with a minimum amount of effort. Our mind is always looking for shortcuts. No wonder a lot of us, buy lottery tickets with the hope that we can become instantly rich. The stories about someone succeeding due to some lucky break always appeal to us. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts, there are only our fantasies. This applies to all the aspects of our lives and the sooner we realize it the better.
In the area of fitness, the most common question people ask is, “how to lose fat and reduce belly size fast?” It is so unfortunate that a lot of people like these ignore good advice and fall for gimmicks with promises of fast results with minimal effort. No matter how often these products are debunked, they keep coming back and people keep wasting their money on them. Fortunately most of these products have common characteristics that you can identify. In this article, we are going to identify five categories of such products, which should raise red flags. Weight Loss PillsThe science behind losing weight is very simple. Eat fewer calories than your body needs. That is it, nothing more. You can achieve this either by eating less or working out more. Now, simple though it may sound, doing this is quite hard and if you are severely overweight, it is going to take months or even years. Add to that the lack the patience and unwillingness to put in the effort and the idea of the magic pill, which we can swallow and lose weight without going through the pain of starving and working out, sounds so attractive. Alas! It does not work like that. If somebody is trying to sell you a magic pill made up of this special substance that was discovered in some exotic place, which will help you in losing weight. Then be very careful, that person is trying to sell you a gimmick. Many times the seller provides a money back guarantee. However, we are all busy and who has the time to ask for money back on a product worth $10. Or maybe that product is a diuretic, which makes you lose water weight and so it meets the weight loss guarantee, but in reality you have not lost any fat. There is no magic pill, weight loss is all about what you eat. Fat Loss Belts People feel most conscious about their belly fat, as it fat everywhere else does not matter. I have heard a lot of people say, “I do not want to be a fitness model. I just want to lose belly fat.” This clearly shows that they are really not serious about their health. They just want to cut corners and just get rid of their belly fat. Enter the fat loss belts, just wear it and you will lose belly fat in no time and without going through the pains of diet and workout. Many commercials show a guy with six back abs wearing the belt and when he removes it, there is sweat around his abdomen as if all the belly fat has melted into sweat. This is all a gimmick. You cannot spot reduce fat. The scientific evidence on this is very clear, when our body loses fat, it loses it from everywhere. Imagine how strange it will look with a person who has fat all over his face, arms and legs and has a perfect six pack ab on the belly. This product has been debunked so many times and yet the product keeps coming back and people keep wasting their money on it. Fat Loss by VibrationThis gimmick comes in various forms. In general, there is a device which vibrates and you need to hold it or wrap it around your belly or it is some sort of chair. The customer is shown how this vibration breaks break down the fat in your body, as if fat is some kind of sediment, which needs vibration to be broken down. The model demonstrating such a device is then shown sweating, signifying that the broken down fat has converted into sweat and is discarded out of the body. Such devices claim to spot reduce fats and there are devices for different body parts. Some devices claim to remove fat from your arms, other tone your thighs and of-course there are ones which remove fat from the belly. Most of these products are marketed as a new patented technology with a fancy name that the company selling it has come up with. It all sounds highly technical however the sellers are just tapping on the fancy of the customers. A lot of attics have some version of such devices languishing there. Posture Braces In the recent times there are a lot of companies coming up with posture correcting braces. These braces provide support to your body and keep it in good posture. The support may temporarily improve your posture while you are wearing it, however when you take them off, your posture is going to get back to what it was, or in fact might even get worse. The science behind great posture is also quite simple. Your posture goes bad when one set of muscle groups is weaker than the opposing muscle group. Let’s consider the case of drooping shoulders. It happens because of sitting for long times while being hunched over your laptop. Sitting this way your chest is contracted and your back is stretched. If you sit like that for long periods of time, your chest muscles become strong while back muscles weaken resulting in a hunched over posture. The right way to correct this will be to strengthen your back and stretch your chest. The posture correcting braces however just gives support to your body in way that your back is not stretched and chest is not contracted without really making your muscles stronger. This support in fact might make your back weaker thus making your posture even worse. There are some posture devices which sense how you are sitting and remind you when you start to slouch. These devices can be helpful; however, it might be too painful to sit a certain way. The best way in my opinion is to strengthen your muscles with strength training, you posture will automatically improve and you will not have to force yourself to sit a certain way. Toning ShoesYou must have seen those ugly looking shoes with a very thick wobbly sole, which claims that by wearing these shoes you will tone up your butt, thighs and calves. Again there is no scientific evidence that suggests that such shoes really help in anyway. The only women I have seen wearing them are the ones out of shape. Do yourselves a favor and buy decent running shoes and go for a run instead of wasting money on these ugly looking shoes. You might be noticing a trend with these gimmicks. Most of these tap on our desire for an easy way to get fit. They then provide an intuitive explanation on how their product works, which they bolster with vivid and imaginative imagery such as fat breaking down with vibration and then turning to sweat. Finally, they throw in a fancy term such as “patent pending circular strength technology” to make it appear authentic. A lot of people fall for it and spend their hard earned money on it. Do not fall for such gimmicks, understand that getting into shape takes time and a lot of commitment. The good thing is that the whole process is very rewarding. When we set a goal for us and make progress towards it, our dopaminergic system gets activated, which is very pleasurable. Enjoy the journey! When most of us start on a diet, we desire to get quick results and sometimes setup very unrealistic goals. I answer a lot of questions on Quora. Last week I came across the question “How to lose 10KG of weight in a Month” and I thought how would someone be able to achieve such a rate of weight loss. I soon realized the absurdity of such a target and decided to write this blogpost to just show you how difficult and dangerous such an endeavor will be for your body. That being said, there are certain special situations where this rate of weight loss is possible and I will point that out later in the article.
A sound mind is in a sound body- The Greek proverb promises fitness of mind if we keep our body fit! Regular exercising helps us stay fit and healthy. It has a direct impact on our brain and it assists us to fight against psychological diseases like depression, stress, and the like. The infographic shows the benefits of regular exercise or workouts. See how the exercise enables us to get rid of depression in a cyclic way
https://www.kaa-yaa.com/exercising-makes-us-smart-infographic/ Essential micro-nutrients as the name suggests are nutrients our body needs only in small amounts. These are the vitamins and mineral. In this article we will talk about sources of vitamins and minerals and the function of micro-nutrients.
Vitamins and minerals are essential micronutrients that play a variety of roles in our body, from building to repairing tissue, to aiding digestion, and maintaining nervous system functions. There is daily recommendation of all the micronutrients that we should consume to function normally. Deficiency of vitamins and minerals results in diseases. An example is scurvy due to Vitamin C deficiency in sailors who went on long voyages during 16 and 17th century. Keep in mind though there is also an upper limit for the amount of vitamins and minerals one must consume on a daily basis. When we consume too much of a particular vitamin or mineral, it can stay within the body, making blood levels more toxic. There can be unpleasant and even damaging side effects to having too much of micronutrient also.Sources of Vitamin and Mineral FunctionsVitamins are either water-soluble or fat-soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E, K. These all require fat for digestion. Vitamin A plays a major role in vision, reproductive health and the immune system. Vitamin A and D play a key role in bone health. The best sources of vitamin A are egg yolks, milk and liver. The best source for vitamin D is sunlight. Vitamin E, has antioxidant properties and helps prevent cell damage. Vegetable oils, nuts and seeds are a great source of Vitamin E Vitamin K is found in leafy greens such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts and spinach. It plays a role in healing and blood clotting and bone growth. The water-soluble vitamins include all the B vitamins, vitamin C, folic acid and niacin: Niacin, Riboflavin (also known as B2) and Thiamin (also known as B1) help metabolize carbohydrates and amino acids. The great source of vitamins B1 and B2 are grains, cereals, meats, and legumes. Vitamin B6 plays a role similar to those of Niacin, Riboflavin and Thiamin, and also plays a role in neurotransmitter synthesis and the synthesis of blood cells. The great sources of vitamin B6 are poultry, cereals, chickpeas various root vegetables. Folic acid plays a major role in neurotransmitter and DNA synthesis, amino acid metabolization and red blood cell function. You’ll find it in fruits, legumes, liver, and wheat germ. Vitamin B12 plays a major role in the nervous system and in message transduction by maintaining the myelin sheath that encases nerves. Because of its important role, B12 deficiencies are serious. Unfortunately you’ll find B12 only in animal based food products such as poultry, beef and dairy. For vegans therefore we strongly recommend them to consume cereals fortified with B12. The work of Vitamin C is very broad. It plays a crucial role in healing and collagen production, it is an antioxidant, and synthesizes DNA and neurotransmitters. Vitamin C does not prevent the general public from contracting the common cold, though that seems to be a common myth. Too much vitamin C can be a bad thing, acting as an oxidant and even leading to nose bleeds and gastrointestinal distress. Best source of vitamin C are citrus fruits and vegetables.Essential MineralsEssential minerals that our body needs include:
With all the information we have you might now be confused on what you should be eating and how much. So to simplify things just keep in mind that micro-nutrients are available in whole, unprocessed foods. If you are able to consume a diet high in a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and meats and fish, you probably are not deficient in any of them. If on the other hand you find that you are eating a few of the same foods over and over, you may want to supplement your diet with a few key-missing micro-nutrients. We all know that exercising has a lot of positive effects on our body. It makes our muscles strong, improves our cardiovascular system and keeps our joints healthy. However exercising also has a lot of positive effects on our minds. In this article we will discuss the positive effects of exercising on the brain.
Short Term Benefits If you regularly go for walks or run, you might have noticed that your thinking gets far clearer during and after your exercise. A lot of creative individuals have had their greatest insights come to them while performing an aerobic exercise. A lot of people find comfort in walking while being anxious about something. Ever wondered what exactly is going on inside our brains while we exercise? The explanation that science has provided goes as this: When we perform a difficult exercise, our muscles are working very hard. To perform all this hard work, our muscles spend a lot of energy. This energy is obtained by burning calories, which needs oxygen. So our breathing rate increases. Higher breathing rate results in more oxygen going to our brain. This increased oxygen in our brain is a signal that our body is in distress. In order to cope with this distress or brain releases endorphins. Endorphins are the chemicals, which lead to reduction in our pain sensation thus decreasing the discomfort resulting from the exercise. The other effect of endorphins is to relax our minds. This clearly explains why exercising helps us cope with depression and anxiety. Moreover, as we experience… Read More Proteins are one of the three macronutrients required for a healthy body. In this article we will discuss
1.The protein function in our body 2. What are the best sources of Protein? 3. Vegetarian high Protein foods, and 4. How much Protein should you eat daily? The primary function of Protein in our body is to build, repair, and fortify connective tissue. Other protein functions include hormone creation, enzyme activity, molecule transport around the body and defending the body against pathogens by creating antibodies. Protein can also function, as the source of energy when eaten more than is needed by our body. Proteins are made up of the molecules called amino acids. There are 22 different types of amino acids that our body needs to carry out protein functions. Different combinations of these amino acids make up the different types of proteins. Protein is typically thought of as poultry, dairy, fish or meat and legumes. However, nearly all foods contain some version of protein. Consuming a wider variety of foods allows the body to have and create all of the 22 essential and non-essential amino acids that our body needs. Together, they are able to repair, heal, process and strengthen connective tissue including, bones, tendons, muscles, collagen, ligaments, and fascia. What Foods are High in ProteinAnimal based Protein: Most of the Animal products that humans eat are the high protein foods. Although unprocessed meat is thought of as a rich source of protein, it is the eggs that prevail as the best source of protein. Eggs have the greatest amount of protein per gram. The protein is also 97% bioavailable. That means that the human body is able to digest and use up to 97% of the protein from eggs. When choosing proteins, be aware that the number of grams written on the label is not necessarily what your body will be absorbing (some foods are only 50-60% bioavailable!). The next best source of protein is fish; it not only is high in protein but is also a rich source of healthy omega-3 fat. White meat such as chicken and turkey comes after fish. It is high in protein and low in fat. Unprocessed lean cut of beef is the best source of protein coming from red meat; it is also rich in iron and vitamin B. All these meat based protein sources are high in useable protein. Dairy is another great source of protein. Unprocessed Milk itself is quite high in protein, however the milk can be processed further to make very high protein foods such as casein and whey. Both of these proteins are very high in protein and low in calories, therefore are used as supplements. We will do a separate video on it later in this series. Other processed dairy products such as yogurt and cheese are also high protein foods. Recently strained yogurt also Greek Yogurt has gained a lot of popularity because of its high protein content. Plant based Protein: Although animal based foods are rich in protein, more and more people in the recent times are deciding to avoid animal based foods due to moral, religious or environmental reasons. For them there are still a lot of plant based protein options. Legumes, which include peas and beans, are high in protein. Peas include foods such as lentils or dal, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, gram etc. While beans include Soybeans, Black beams, Kidney beans, Navy beans etc. Whole rice, whole or steel cut oats and Quinoa are also good sources of protein. Finally there are the nuts, especially peanuts and almonds, which are a good source of protein. Plant-based proteins mentioned above are not only high protein food but are also a good source of other macronutrients. Legumes and wholes grains are also a good source of low Glycemic index carbohydrates while nuts are a good source of healthy fats. There has been an opinion in the fitness community that plant based protein is inferior to animal based protein. In our opinion that is not the case as there are a lot of examples of individuals who have strictly followed a plant-based diet and still attained great strength and physique. So plant based protein should not be discounted as a less worthy source of protein. However keep in mind that the plant-based protein is generally bioavailable only from 50% to about 75-80%. So you might need to adjust your intake accordingly. Also since plant based protein sources are also rich in other macronutrients, while cutting fat, you might need to workout extra hard to burn the excess calories that you have consumed. How much Protein Should You Eat?The amount of protein that you should eat is dependent on what your goal is. If you are bulking up and trying to gain muscle then protein should make up 25-35% of your total daily calories. If you are trying to maintain weight then again proteins should make up 25-35% of your daily calories. If you are trying to cut fat then protein should constitute 40-50% of your total daily calories. Proteins take time to be absorbed and also are harder to digest, thus leaving you feeling fuller for longer. This makes them a suitable macronutrient to consume while cutting fat. This is the reason for the popularity of low carb high protein diet. Since the body does not store protein for reuse, be sure to distribute your protein throughout the day instead of concentrating it in just one meal. If you weight-train a lot, be sure to load up on protein before bed, to help with the recovery and reparation process that occurs during sleep. We hear a lot of advantages on being fit, such as how it prolongs our life, is good for our well being and improves our living standard. Your health is your biggest wealth and you definitely should be taking your health seriously. However everything is not rosy for people who are fit. In this article we will talk about some of the disadvantages that people experience as they get fit. Keep in mind that these disadvantages are minor inconveniences when compared to the advantages of being healthy. The below mentioned disadvantages by no means justify ignoring your health.
Your Intelligence is Doubted: People generally perceive that you mostly focus on building up your body rather than improving your mind. The knee jerk response of most people is that you are a meathead. Moreover this perception of stupidity is combined with the perception that these fit individuals are vain about their body. This perception can sometimes make it very difficult for fit individuals to be taken seriously about anything other than fitness. People are Afraid of you: If you are very muscular many people get intimidated by you quite easily, especially if you are of African descent. They might think that you are a bouncer or wrestler. This makes it difficult for you to meet new people freely. On the flip side this might have some advantages also as people will not screw with you easily. It gets Difficult to find Clothing that fits well: As you get fit you realize that most of the brands do not make clothing suitable for athletic people. While your waist remains suited for small or medium sized shirts, your shoulders and chest get too big for them. If you get a shirt large or extra large in size, although it will fit your shoulders and chest, at the waist it will be too loose. Similarly for jeans, a jeans which fits you on you waist will not be able to house your glutes and quads, while if you get a jeans which can accommodate your glutes and quads it will be too loose on your waist. You will be Type Casted as a Fitness Freak: People will form an image of you as a fit person in their mind and it becomes very difficult for them to look at you any other way. You can talk with them about a variety of other topics, such as literature, politics or philosophy, however they will never think of you on those terms and will pigeon hole you to the role of a person who is crazy about fitness. Grocery Bill will Balloon: As you gain muscle mass, your metabolism will skyrocket. You will eat far more than what you used to eat previously. Moreover to stay fit you will mostly be eating healthy stuff, which is expensive. All of this will significantly increase your grocery bill. On the flip side though, you will be eating out less so expense will decrease from that side. Eating out with Friends becomes Difficult: Restaurant food is optimized to taste good rather than provide nourishment. Therefore to maintain the lean body you will have to avoid restaurant food as much as possible. This means no more Friday night hangouts and beer in the nearest sports bar. Put up with People’s Excuses: People will feel a sense of inferiority when comparing them with you. To feel better about themselves they will come up with a lot of excuses, which you will have to put up with. You have worked so hard to achieve this physique however be prepared to get your results been attributed to your genetics. You will even see these people cursing their genetics while freely eating deep fried stuff and gulping bottles after bottles of beer. You get Unwanted Attention: As you start to stand out in the crowd, people will do strange things, such as posing in a fighting position in front of you or just pass some sort of comment on your muscles. You will develop a lot of sympathy for women, as you will notice how some people might inappropriately touch you or follow you around. You Experience Body Dysmorphia: Body Dysmorphia is when you perceive small imperfections in your body as huge defects. If you are serious about your body, you are bound to experience this. While bulking up your stomach will bloat and you will feel as if you have grown fat, while during cutting you will feel that you have lost all your gains while in reality it is just that your body is low in carbs. No matter how good you become you will never be there, which you think to be the perfection you are targeting at. So there you have it, some of the inconvenience that you might notice when you get fit and muscular. Getting fit is well worth bearing all these disadvantages as getting fit is the best thing you can do not just for yourself but also for everyone you love. About Kaa-Yaa : Kaa-Yaa is an Android-based personal trainer app that creates custom tailored workouts ideally suited for your specific fitness goals. The app is designed to be your workout partner, who creates personalized workouts ideally suited for you, motivates you to perform your workouts and provides audio and video instructions to make sure that you are performing your workout correctly. The app allows you to hop on board your fitness journey and achieve your goals, without the need to search for a fitness instructor and pay large sums of money for their services. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2018
Categories |