Pilates Mat Works!

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What is Pilates? It is an exercise system that focuses primarily on your core muscles. Very simply put it targets, the glutes, low back and your abdominal muscles. Pilates helps to strengthen ìcoreî abdominal muscles uniformly so that they support and balance your spine in order to maintain good posture. ìCoreî means inside or center. When the core of the body is not strong, the torso lacks the stability to move efficiently and with power.

Try these 4 exercises to see if you can benefit from Pilates’ exercises.

1. Can you hold a hip bridge for 1 minute with out getting a cramp in the back of your legs?Your bridgemust looklike a beautiful arc to pass the test with no cramping.

2. Can you curl up like a ball? Lie on your back, pull knees to chest and bring your forehead to your knees.

3. Can you hold a plank position and lift your heel towards the ceiling while keeping your hips level?

4. Can you do a “bicycle twist” placing your elbow on the inside of the knee for full torso rotation with shoulder 1 blade off the floor as you lift diagonally?

5. Can you hold1 leg up at 90 degrees while on your back with no knee bend?

If you answered no to just 1 of these you really should try Pilates training to build your strength and flexibility! Empower Personal Training believes strongly in the Pilates principles and has developed a class just for beginners. If you have never tried Pilates and have been intimidated to try you owe it to yourself to try our 4 week Intro Level Pilates Class with Connie Winstead. Connie is a compassionate instructor who gives excellent instruction to her students so they feel successful.

The class will meet beginning Wednesday March 31st at 5:30pm, and will run for 4 weeks. The cost is only $75. Call the studio at (919) 401-8024 or click here to reserve your spot today.

Kathleen Pace

Kathleen has over 10 years of experience in the health and wellness field. She has worked with a variety of different populations including athletes, former athletes, seniors and overweight and obese clients. For more information about Kathleen and Empower Personal Training visit www.becomepowerful.com.

Kettlebells

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A kettlebell is a cannonball with a handle.

You can use them to work every muscle in your body. Kettlebells can be used to achieve any fitness goals you may have. Too cold outside for a run and don’t have access to a treadmill? Do kettlebell swings for 20 minutes and you have an aerobic workout. Looking to increase your power and coordination? Grab a kettlebell and do some snatches or clean and presses. Want to know my favorite core exercise? Try a Turkish get-up (watch).

The best part about kettlebells is that you can perform all the same exercises that you would normally do with dumbbells like presses, rows, lunges, bicep curls- you don’t need to be an expert.

If you feel like you need some instruction come in to Empower and try out our Saturday kettlebell class. It starts at 9:30 AM every Saturday and the first one is free of charge. You can just show up or sign up here for your convenience. Cheers!

Paul Piracci, CSCS Professional Trainer

Paul brings a background of athletics and education to the Empower team. He believes that wellness should be viewed as a blended lifestyle that balances nutrition, a healthy mind, and fitness which incorporates fun recreational activities. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024.

Accumulation of Calories Over Time

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Today I asked my fellow trainer Tom Stafford “what should I write about in the blog?” He suggested writing something about the accumulation of calories over time. Let me explain.

First of all, a little background. Everyone has a resting metabolic rate which is the amount of energy expended to maintain body systems while resting quietly in a comfortable environment. This is our involuntary caloric expenditure whereas voluntary caloric expenditure includes walking around, typing, exercise, and other activities you choose to do.

Involuntary and voluntary caloric expenditure together make up your total metabolic rate, which is the amount of calories we burn in a given day. We offset this by consuming calories (eating) and these two factors dictate, at the end of the day, whether we are in a caloric deficit or surplus.

Let’s use an example of someone (call him Joe) who’s total metabolic rate equals out to 2000 calories every day. If Joe were to consume 2000 calories every day he would be in a complete equilibrium and would not gain or lose a pound. However if Joe ate an extra 200 calories over his equilibrium every day for a year it would pan out to an extra 73,000 calories. One pound of weight equals 3500 calories, so Joe would gain 21 pounds in a year.

That is the accumulation of calories over time and it is dangerous because we are creatures of habit and an extra doughnut or second helping of dinner every night can easily become habit.

The good news is that you can use the same scale to lose weight! Let’s say Joe was trying to lose that 21 pounds. He could decrease his caloric intake to 1800 per day which would be a deficit of 200 calories instead of surplus and lose the weight in a year.

Better yet he could eat 1800 calories per day and exercise to burn off another 200 calories which would be a deficit of 400 calories and he’d lose the weight in 6 months!

A word of advice to someone looking to lose weight: don’t overdo it. I wouldn’t recommend someone have higher than a 500 calorie deficit per day because you start to run into problems with your body going into survival mode and your metabolism shutting down. Be patient and disciplined about your approach and you will see results.

If you need help figuring out how many calories you should be eating every day give us a call. We can set up an appointment with our dietitian who has extremely accurate equations and can use them to help you come up with a diet plan.

Paul Piracci, CSCS Professional Trainer

Paul brings a background of athletics and education to the Empower team. He believes that wellness should be viewed as a blended lifestyle that balances nutrition, a healthy mind, and fitness which incorporates fun recreational activities. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024.

Weight? Body Fat Percentage? Oh My!

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Most people would agree that simply taking weight is not the most accurate way to determine whether or not an individual is healthy. This article offers a pretty good explanation about how you can be at a “normal” weight but have excess fat, which subjects people to the same risk for diseases that overweight and obese people face.

So how exactly does someone measure body fat and determine what is healthy? There are a few ways, ranging from very easy but potentially inaccurate (antiquated BMI measurement) to extremely complicated and very accurate (underwater hydrostatic testing).

The problem with a BMI measurement is that it only takes into account your height and weight, so Julius Peppers (listed at 6’7, 283 lbs, BMI of 31.9, or obese) would be an outlier because he has so much muscle.

Julius Peppers does not like being called obese

Stores like Brookstone and Sharper Image offer bioelectrical impedance analysis devices which are also very convenient but horribly inaccurate as the measurement basically compares your weight with how much water is in your body. The more water in your body, the lower the body fat measurement will come out. It is plus or minus 11% accurate so someone who has a BF% of 20% might show as low as 9% or as high as 31%.

The most accurate ways to test BF% are hydrostatic body fat testing, BOD POD, and DEXA. These are all extremely accurate but also limited in availability as they are expensive to build and maintain.

In the middle of the spectrum we have skinfold calipers and circumference measures. Skinfold calipers measure the subcutaneous fat at different sites on the body and can be plugged into an equation to give a result that is usually within 3 percentage points of the actual measurement. Circumference measures are also taken from various spots on the body and plugged into a different equation that isn’t quite as accurate but those with weight loss goals find it very encouraging when you can tell them they’ve lost 3 inches off their waist.

At Empower we have skinfold calipers and tape measures with their equations along with a great group of trainers who can sit down with you after testing and recommend a healthy body fat percentage to try and obtain.

Paul Piracci, CSCS Professional Trainer

Paul brings a background of athletics and education to the Empower team. He believes that wellness should be viewed as a blended lifestyle that balances nutrition, a healthy mind, and fitness which incorporates fun recreational activities. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024.