Justin G. Walls, Certified Personal Athletic Trainer

A Calorie May Not Be Just A Calorie Recent Studies Show That Genes or Bacteria May Affect Matabolism A recent article in the Economist gives a synopsis of four very fascinating studies into how different people may metabolize glucose in different fashions. The metabolic pathways could change based on either certain genetic features of the person (or mouse in the study) or the presence of certain types of bacteria. Fat Mouse, Healthy Diet! There is another more extensive article in the New York Times looking more closely at how diets higher in fruits and vegetables but lower in saturated fat would not only result in weight loss, but also correlated in a change in the types of bacteria present in the mice that were losing weight in the study: the fat mice started to have similar bacterial compositions as the lean mice.  Eating healthy is an important part of changing the stomach flora, and we have discussed on this blog about some important dietary changes that you...

5 Minute Core Workout! Try one, two, or three rounds 1:00 Push-Up With Opposite arm and leg Raise   Start with both arms and legs on the floor, perform one push-up, and finish the push-up by lifting opposite arm and leg (pictured).  :30 Single Leg Squat Right   :30 Single Leg Squat Left              Use a bench, couch, or whatever you find stable.              Shift your weight to your toes as you stand up. To modify, place your straight leg's heel on the floor to assist you as you stand up   1:00 Alternating Side Planks     Start with arms straight as pictured, transition to side plank on right arm, return to straight arm plank, switch to side plank on left arm 1:00 Jump Squats     I think the picture says it all. :30 Side Plank Toe Touch     You can go into the side plank either on your hand or on your forearm. Raise your upper le...

Rituals make our food more flavorful - some simple gestures, not necessarily related to the food, make our involvement, and therefore our enjoyment, of the food, much higher. Nutrients are better on a plate than in a bottle - the food-first approach is everyone's best recommendation. Living on pills isn't. Get Informed! - know what to look for and what to know about supplementing your diet without risk of side effects or wasting your money on stuff that won't get absorbed. Get the app! -  have all your nutritional information on your smart phone Another "things you might be getting wrong" list - this focuses on weight perception and weight loss Best points about meals and weight loss: Only eat when you know what you're eating- so try to make the food yourself  Foods higher in fiber and higher in flavor go best together- like broccoli and garbanzos Watch the dressings on your salads- vinegar and olive oil are best bets for low calorie fla...

Use Breathing to Relieve Stress Ever notice how athletes will take a breath or two before going for the big play? Breathing is one of the easiest ways to relieve stress. You can read up on stress and the different forms of relief at this great article on Bodybuilding.com . I want to focus on a simple technique to reduce stress and light anxiety. Firstly, breathing is a stress response as part of our natural "fight or flight" response. However, we are able to access this response and slow our own breathing to reduce the hormone secretion during a stress response. Controlling breathing will also regulate heart rate and blood pressure. Combining breathing techniques with exercise is an added effective technique at changing our overall pathology of stress relief which usually manifests itself as neck and shoulder pain, which can be relieved through good old fashioned "talking about your stress". Research has shown that punching a bag, for example, my actually reli...

In a fascinating piece of survival economics, Howard Schneider asks in a WaPo fitness column as to whom we could expect to survive and lead in a "World War Z" scenario. The question is: is it better to be really fit and lean with little body fat, have lots of fat because food will be scarce, or somewhere in between? Brad Pitt- fit to survive! It basically boiled down to striking a balance between fitness and body fat reserves. A person with low body fat reserves will likely find it difficult to survive in a post-apocalyptic Earth due to the need to consume more calories each day. However, a person with high fat reserves would probably be too slow to effectively run away from danger. Don't rest too long!   We have discussed body fat percent in a previous post . It really is a better assessment of fitness than weight alone. So from now on, think of yourself not as being the most fit looking, but as being the winner in the survival of the fittest!

New Five minute Workout! For a longer workout, do this multiple times! Warm- up with :20 Jumping Jacks, :20 High Knees, and :20 Jump Squats Find a couch and let's do tricep dips for :30 Drop to the floor, and do some mountain climbers for :30 Move those legs fast! Let's do some pause push-ups for 1:00 At the bottom of your push-up, keep your chest a few inches from the floor, arms bent, count to 5 SLOWLY, then press up We're half way there! Let's stand up and do some walking lunges, prisoner style for 1:00 Find a box somewhere in your house, or just stack a bunch of books and get ready to do deadlifts for :30 It is important to maintain proper form. Keep you back straight and push your hips back for full leverage.  Stand up straight to complete the movement.                                     ...

Parkour for the rest of us: a gym in Alexandria, VA challenges regular people to attempt some forms of the street gymnastics called parkour to help awaken parts of the body rarely used in daily life Is there such a thing as "the least amount of exercise"? ACSM struggles with the issue of how little exercise can people get away with if they won't meet their standards for regular exercise. "Really doc, how much exercise do I have to do?" Stay AWAY from DMAA:  The FDA has seized a large number of GNC products containing DMAA, as its side effects have caused serious illness and death in people found to have taken the dietary supplement Best tasting Fitness Shake  I have switched to this shake because it not only has great vitamin, mineral, fiber, and protein content- it also tastes FANTASTIC mixed just with water. Contact me to get the best pricing Some Very Earthy Extracts Some are claiming that certain extracts taken from rocks have some amazing positiv...