Sunday, April 12, 2015

For Better or Worse

Chicago Fitness Training is moving our blog location! http://chicagofitnesstraining.blogspot.com/2015/04/hello-and-welcome-chicago-fitness.html


Hello and Welcome! Chicago Fitness Training has moved it's blog, so while this is technically the inaugural entry of a blog, it is the continuation of chifittraining. Feel free to look back at some of the earlier posts, and, as always, do not hesitate to contact Chicago Fitness Training for consultation or training needs.

The question is: Are you getting better, or getting worse?

This is not another version of the age-old question about the glass that is half-full or half-empty. It is a simple reminder that your body is changing every day; adapting to the demands placed upon it so that it can better perform those tasks in the future. Even though you might feel the same as you were yesterday, countless small changes have taken place inside your body.

Good posture reduces discomfort and impacts appearance.
This process of adaptation is a survival mechanism that we all have from birth. The more often you do anything, the easier it will become. You can get stronger, faster, and more agile. You can change your appearance and posture by building muscle or burning fat. You can get better at your sport or your profession. Become a better musician, a better listener, improve your memory..become anything you want to be.

But take care to choose what you want to be better at, because your body is getting better at whatever you are doing. It will get better at storing and holding on to calories if you keep eating without reservation; it will stoop your posture to keep your eyes aligned with a computer monitor. Your body will actively change to make you better at whatever it is that you spend your time doing, whether or not those changes are good for you.

Little changes can make a BIG difference!
This brings up an important point. While there are many activities that are beneficial; what of those that are detrimental to your well-being? Many do not have the luxury to dictate how long they sit or stand, how much they have to lift, or how active or inactive they have to be in their career. Most make sacrifices to enjoy hobbies, and gladly suffer a bit of soreness or strain to spend free time pursuing enjoyable activities and sports.

In both leisure and work, two things should be considered. First, are there any behavioral modifications that can lessen the negative effects? These quick fixes can be as easy as using a lumbar pillow to improve posture while sitting or reducing the lift in the heal of any shoes that have to be stood in for a number of hours. Proper diet should be always emphasized, but that goes double for any job that requires long periods of sitting and limited activity.

Second, are there exercises and activities that can balance out the workload that the body must perform over the course of the day? A round or two of squats or back extensions can strengthen and maintain lower back strength that is sapped by hours of sitting. Swimming or twisting exercises using moderate weight can balance the one-sided nature of sports such as golf or softball.

Life is a journey. Train for the road ahead!
So choose what you want to become by practicing the tasks necessary for whatever you are passionate about. You can do anything you set your mind on. But also remember to balance the negative changes that will come from doing any single thing too much by keeping a healthy diet and an exercise regiment that keeps your body fully functional for as long as possible. For better or worse, your body is there for all of your days; take care of it.



Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Step Back, Move Forward

Hello and welcome back to the Chicago Fitness Training blog! The weather is starting to come around here in Chicagoland, and many seasonal enthusiasts will begin our spring and summer training routines shortly. While most know to build their body up before really shifting into high gear, I would like to remind everyone of something that might just save you some discomfort and frustration.

Today's topic is a simple message: Sometimes you have to take a step back before you can move forward. Whatever your sport, hobby, or preferred training method; remember to listen to the feedback that your body is giving you.  If something is sore or tender beyond the typical next-day muscle soreness that comes from a winter full of inactivity, then that means there is a problem with your body mechanics that will only become more pronounced as you progress through your seasonal training program.

For example, if an ankle or foot is sore after the first few weeks of running; there is a good chance that your stride is overextended or there is a lower-leg muscle that has lost strength and is having trouble balancing the pull of its antagonist.

If your body starts communicating through discomfort or pain, ease off of your initial high- volume training and refocus on the mechanics of what you are trying to perform. A few sessions with a qualified personal trainer or movement coach can be very beneficial at this point, especially if you are having trouble pinpointing the flaw in your technique.

Remember that you always have a choice. You do not need to struggle through an injury while training.  Every program can be modified to fit your timeline. Once you have corrected the underlying flaw, the pain or discomfort will melt away and you can resume your training program and get everything out of it that you put in. Good luck this season and enjoy the warm weather!

Monday, February 23, 2015

Be Aware of Scientific Studies: A Grain of Salt #1

Hello again, and welcome back to Chicago Fitness Training; I hope your practice is going well! I am often asked what my opinion is by a number of personal training clients about a variety of topics. Some of them do not even have anything to do with fitness or nutrition. Typically, they had seen a brief news clip or read an article about the results of a study and were trying to understand how it impacted them. Most recently a client told me of a study that showed that wine has been found to burn fat.

And so today we begin a new series, A Grain of Salt. If you are not familiar, the saying "take it with a grain of salt" has come to be a warning that something should not be taken completely at face value, or as entirely truthful. For example, take a political campaign promise with a grain of salt. This saying unfortunately has to be applied to scientific studies as well.

Science is one of the greatest innovations in the history of civilization. It has lead us to countless discoveries and helped to make the world a better place. The hallmarks of the scientific method are "systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses" (Oxford English Dictionary). The problem with scientific studies lie not with the science itself, but with subjective motivations of those that fund, conduct, and report on them.

Studies are often funded by a group that hopes to profit from the results of the study. Scientists themselves have the same motivations as you or I when it comes to achieving success and renown in their field. Journalists and news companies seek to increase their viewership with sensational headlines that play on the emotions and desires of their target demographics.

That is the grain of salt you must take when you read or hear about a scientific study that espouses the benefits of this food or denounces that activity as bad for you. Whenever I see the words "research shows" or "studies show", a number of questions come to mind: What are the specifics? Who funded the study? How long was the study conducted for? How many participants did the study have? Has a different team verified the results independently? How many studies agree? Are there studies that disagree, and how many do so?

One study does not make something a fact. The more studies that independently agree, the more sure you can be of the truth. So take a grain of salt when you hear or read about something close to heart that has been part of a scientific study. Keep a healthy amount of skepticism and do not let sensational news derail the progress that you have made.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Key to Paradise

Today, Chicago Fitness Training will let you in on a dirty little secret of the fitness and personal beauty industry. It is the key to achieving every goal you have regarding your physical and mental abilities (and it works for everything else, too). YOU HAVE TO BE CONSISTENT TO GET THE LASTING RESULTS THAT YOU WANT!

I say that it is the dirty secret of the fitness industry because it flies in the face of the sales pitch that is used to get you to buy another of the multitude of products and supplements that perpetually hit the market. So while you watch commercials and read articles about this product or that program that claim to give you amazing results with little to no effort, remember that anything that is not sustainable will be a temporary fix at best. And these temporary fixes will become harder and harder to have success with, because the underlying problem continues to grow.

While improvements and deeper understanding in science, medicine, and technology will yield innovations that let you train more efficiently and effectively; take care to stay active and continue to work on the things that you want to change and improve. Do not wait for the product that makes what you want easy, because it probably does not exist. Becoming "the best you" is a process that will not happen overnight. There may be a morning that you wake up and realize that you have come a long way toward achieving your goals, but that momentary realization is just a point from which you are able to compare the past and the present.

Keeping a regular practice of the things that you want to stay good at is vital. A thirty-day diet that you could not imagine following for the rest of your life is not the answer. If a few flights of stairs take your breath away now, eventually they will not be manageable at all..
unless you practice that movement.

You have to unlock your potential to become the best that you can be. And every lock has a key. The key to achieving an inner paradise, where things are as effortless as can be, is consistency. Not every workout has to kill you. Not every exercise has to be done with the heaviest weight you can hold. You can improve your posture while you are reading this. You can improve upon your willpower by making one healthful eating decision later today. But make sure that it is not just today. Make sure that you work on it a little bit tomorrow. And as it gets easier, add a little something else into it, and practice it a little bit more.

Monday, January 26, 2015

In-Depth Review: The 30-Day Challenge, Part 2

Hello and welcome back to the Chicago Fitness Training blog! Last time, we began a workout review of 30-day Challenges by exploring the benefits and drawbacks of this type of exercise routine. We also did a quick review of the basics of form and technique that should be kept in mind during any challenge or exercise (If you missed it, click here). Today we will delve further into the challenge-type of workout by covering how to make it part of an existing program, and how to modify it, as well as what to do afterwards.

For those of you who want to add a challenge in to an existing program (hopefully to help get a friend jump-started on a program of their own), it is more about reducing other parts of what you are already doing. Always remember that there is too much of a good thing, and that includes exercise. Consider the action and the range of motion on your challenge: Any exercises that you already do that cover the same movement should be reduced if you are following your challenge to the letter. An alternative approach would be to skip the challenge on the day when your normal routine covers the same muscle groups. As long as you stay on track, you will be fine. Finally, make sure that you add more of the opposite muscle group exercises to maintain the overall balance of your body.

Any challenge can be modified in a number of ways. You may want to make it more difficult if you want to keep the challenge going for another thirty days. Adding weighted resistance or time is simple. With a little bit of equipment or ingenuity you can increase the difficulty by challenging your balance (pick up a limb on a blank, do your squats on a bosu ball, etc).

You may want to make it easier if you are working with a disability or coming off of an injury or long break. You can reduce the weight that needs to be supported by keeping more weight on a different part of your body. This can be done by elevating your upper body for core exercise; or by holding onto a railing so that the hands may help for the lower body.

Finally, you might want to modify it to complement your overall fitness goals. Sports enthusiasts should consider practicing weight shifts or twisting during their challenge. Those with cardiovascular goals or those with a focus on toning and slimming could break their challenge into sections and splice it in with five or ten minutes on an elliptical or rowing machine. Send Chicago Fitness Training an email if you are having difficulty coming up with a good variant for your particular needs.

You have made it all the way through the challenge. Congratulations! So now what? I am sure you can find another 30-day challenge to occupy a month, and another after that, and so on, ad nauseam. But when you come back to this challenge in a few months or a year, you will find that you have to build it back up; just like before. And, frankly, after you have done a few rounds of them, they can become kind of boring.

The two best things to take away from your successfully completed challenge are the knowledge and confidence that come from learning that 1) you have to consistently challenge yourself if you want to become better and 2) that you have the ability to change when you stick to your practice. (A very important note: This applies to more than just exercise!) If you keep that in mind, the post-thirty day challenge possibilities are endless. Functional movement training makes a lot of sense if you do not have any specific goals, but if there is a sport or activity that you have wanted to tackle; now is the time to start! Just keep going, your body's need to move will never go away, and the more consistent you are, the easier it becomes.

Monday, January 12, 2015

In-Depth Review: The 30-day Challenge, part 1

In the last few years, a number of 30-day challenges have exploded onto the fitness landscape as people continue to strive toward a healthier, more active lifestyle. For those who are not familiar; the currently in-vogue challenge takes a single exercise (e.g. plank challenge, squat challenge) and builds the number of repetitions that must be done each day until the end of the challenge.

There are a number of benefits to these challenges. First and foremost, they are focused on body weight exercises that can be done anywhere. They have a nice, easy beginning that is not at all scary and encourages participation. By keeping the focus on a single exercise, it keeps both the time and effort-level within the realm of manageable. Furthermore, by pushing the participant to consistently add repetitions or duration, it begins to reinforce the notion that fatigue and burn can be worked through: in essence, it teaches that you are not as tired as you might think that you are.

There are some drawbacks to the 30-day challenges, but many of these can be mitigated with a little forethought and a bit of help. The first of these is the fact that these challenges are conceived of for an universal audience; and, as such, are not for everyone all of the time. What that means is that, by being written for general participation, they do not take into account the infinite variety of experiences, injuries, and genetics. It may take a few months to successfully complete every day of a challenge (in the case of injuries, it may be a few months before your body is healthy enough to even attempt it). If you are unable to move up, stick with whatever time/amount you were able to correctly complete and your body will eventually break through the plateau. But do not forget that you still have rest days!


As with all exercise, technique and form are of the utmost importance. Incorrect form leads to inflammation, injury, and pain; no one should have to tell you that these are not desirable outcomes for anything. This is where the help comes in: Have a spouse, friend, or workout buddy spot you for form at least every third day that you participate in the challenge. Core alignment (good posture) should be maintained throughout any challenge (straight line from ears through shoulders to hips), so should limb alignment (knees point in the same direction as the feet, shoulders in a neutral position). If you are not properly aligned, then you are not successfully completing the challenge.

In two weeks, Chicago Fitness Training will continue to explore the 30-day challenge. Up next will be challenge regressions and progressions, as well as working challenges into existing routines and what to do when the challenge is over.