January's "New Year, New You" Total Body Circuit

Bird Dog Exercise - Core strength & balance

Stability Ball Plank with Pulse - Core strength, Balance & Stability

Dumbbell Shoulder Press with a Internal Rotation - Shoulder Strength & Mobility

Straight Arm Pulldown - Back, Waist and Arms

1 Arm Cable Row - Middle Back & Core Stabilty

Modified Pushup using the Smith Machine - Chest, Shoulder and Triceps

Cable Deadlift - Legs, Hips, Back and Arms

Forward Lunge with a Horizontal Rotation - Legs, Hips, waist and Core Stability

"Tis the Season to Tone Up" December's Total Body Circuit

Leg Bicycle

Static Arm Curl

Dumbbell Raise & Rotate

Glider Pushups

2 Way Dumbbell Row

Split Squat w/ Toe Touch

Medicine Ball Around The Worlds

Bender Ball Crunch/Partial Situp

November's "Giving Thanks for Our Health" Circuit Workout

October's Fat Scaring Workout!

Hey everyone. We have another great total body circuit workout for you this month. In case you haven't heard, Wilmington Lady Fitness will post a new member workout plan every month. You can watch the video links here or go to You Tube directly.





Every exercise in our workout plan has modifications and our staff will be trained to demostrate the exercises for you one on one. Call the club to set up your workout 910-392-3339.





October's Workout:


3 Way Lunge (24 reps each leg)

Bosu Pushups (max reps)

Kettlebell Swing (40 reps)

Dumbbell Curl & Press (12 reps)

3 Way Shoulder Fly (24 total reps)

Tricep Press Ups (max reps)

Stability Ball Pull Ins (max reps)

Stability Ball Side Crunch (24 reps each side)

September's Circuit Workout

This month's workout is designed to give your entire body a workout.

Your goal is to complete each exercise for assigned number of repetitions.

Take as little rest as possible between each exercise. Take a longer rest at the end of the circuit.

How times can you complete the circuit?

Can you add more resistance to your exercises?

Can you use the harder modifications?

Maintain strict form!


Get help from our staff for individual instruction.

http://youtu.be/B5QXLn3Vyt4

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Out With The Old: Food Pyramid Being Retired!

The USDA is now going to use a plate divided into basic food choices, protein, grains, vegetables, fruits and dairy. The change is unlikely to impact public health and still is an abstract idea to many people with little real world application.

Unfortunately many Americans are confused by and manipulated by food product companies marketing. Have you ever seen the movie Idiocracy? The future world is "dumbed down" primarily by the lack of proper nutrition caused by watering our agricultural crops with a sports drink instead of water! WHY? Because the companies said it was good for you AND good for our plants!

Don't make eating healthy any harder.

Plan your meals.


Eat WHOLE foods.


Stay consistent.

Whole foods are:


Fruits
Apples, Oranges, Bananas, Strawberries etc.
NOT - Orange juice, V8, fruit rollups, apple sauce


Grains
Steal Cut/whole Oatmeal, Barley Quinoa
NOT - Boxed cereal of any kind, bread, crackers


Protein
beef, fish, chicken, turkey etc.
NOT - Jerky, Peanut Butter(more fat than protein)


Vegetables
Broccoli, Califlower, peppers etc.
NOT - eggs, cheese, bacon bits, ranch dressing with some iceberg lettuce

Learn to cook with whole foods by purchasing a good healthy eating cookbook.

Eat whole food snacks between meals.

Plan your meals and prepare ahead of time.

When dining out, pick meals that are simple.
Example: sirloin steak, side of broccoli, salad. (Control your portion )

If you have a busy lifestyle use Custom Fit Meals or go online and study your local restaurant menus to find out their healthist option.

Look at calories, sodium, fat and eat simple.

In good health,

Brian Autry

Why Custom Fit Meals Works!

If you are not losing weight from your exercise program you have one or two problems. Your not exercising enough (intense or long enough) OR your diet isn't as good as you think. In most cases of diet, many people are confused about what is healthy and what is not healthy.

Most people are confused about their diet and don't realize it. Due to powerful and maliputive marketing, what you may think is healthy may not be. For example, cereal companies are leading us to believe that since they have fiber and a long list of vitamins and minerals on the side panel that they promote health. Unfortunately, they also provide sugar (natural or not), sodium and processed grains. An individual would be better off taking their multi-vitamin and a fiber supplement and forget the extra calories from the refined ingredients.

Whole foods that are minimally processed should be the cornerstone of every diet. Lean sources of protein such as natural caught fish, chicken and turkey breast. Small amounts of lean red meats, raw nuts and seeds. Fruits & Vegetables that you can buy in the produce section. Whole foods provides our diets with bulk that will control your appetite naturally, ample amounts of fiber and phyto-nutrients that you can't buy in a bottle.

The main reason many people don't eat whole foods more is because of convenience and know how. It takes time, effort and knowledge to pleasure our taste buds with health food. Our meals typically are bland and lack variety or excitement. Until now getting healthy food that is as convenient as a fast food drive through was impossible. Our Custom Fit Meals provides pre-portioned fresh whole foods. Each meal includes a variety of vegetables and lean protein. You will only find delicious health food and nourishment that your body craves. If you want a low fat, low cal desert or imitation "diet" pizza you won't find it in their menus. Custom Fit Meals cooks only the nutritious foods. You will have to get anything else on your own.

I challenge you to try a week of Custom Fit Meals. Try 3-4 meals a day for the work week and let us help you design a plan for the weekends. You will find that you are spending less money than you think on the service because you are replacing your typical groceries and cutting the cost with spoiling leftovers in your fridge. My wife and I have notice a big decrease in spending on impulse foods that pad the grocery bill and make far less trips to the store.

In good health,

Brian Autry
www.CustomFitMeals.com

Circuit Workouts: Burn Fat, Scupt & Boost the Metabolism

The circuit training workout has been around for ages. When I first read about it, it was called "the perpheral heart circuit". Or something close to that. Basically it meant, pump blood throughout the body with exercising different muscle groups in sequence with little rest.

Circuit workout basics:

Train all major muscle groups with little to no rest between exercises.

The benefits of Circuit Workouts:

Burn lots of calories

Tone/Strengthen while receiving cardiovascular benefits

Quick workouts

Fun & Challenging

With today's busy lifestyles the circuit is great way to get a quick workout. You can throw in a 20 minute circuit anywhere during the day. The exercises you choose for your circuit are dependent on your fitness goal and your other activities. The following are some guidelines to building a circuit plan.

Decide your goal.

What body areas do want to work? Is your goal to tone & strengthen, or do you want to burn lots of calories and get some aerobic benefits?

Choose the number of exercises, repetitions and number of sets of the circuit.

Go through each exercise with little to no rest between each. You might want to consider the order you placed each exercise.

Rest briefly after all your exercises are completed. Repeat the circuit for additional sets.

Never under estimate the intensity of a circuit. If you choose the right weight and repetitions it should be tough. Sets 2 and 3 should be really tough!

Circuit training systems can be more cardiovascular based workouts. In the example below you could perform each exercise for 2 minutes. Before you begin you would pick your intensity level each.

Cardio/Aerobic Circuit

Bike, Aerobic Step, Jump Rope, Elliptical, Trampoline Runs, Jumping Jacks, Treadmill, Bosu Foot Taps, Swing Kicks

You could add toning and strengthening exercises like pushups, crunches or lunges to the aerobic circuit inorder to make it a total body conditioning workout.

The days of sitting and resting between sets of exercise is over. Shorter workouts with less rest between sets is a great may to boost the metabolism and total fitness.

Weekly Workout Plan for Weight Loss

Monday: 20 minute upper & lower body circuit, 40 elliptical

Tuesday: 40-60 minutes Treadmill interval training 0r aerobics class such as Spin

Wednesday: 20 minute upper & lower body circuit, 40 minute elliptical

Thursday: 40-60 minutes treadmill interval training or aerobic class such as Step

Friday: 20 minute cardio circuit and pilates

Saturday & Sunday: 60-90 minute walk with children, husband or friends (Get outside and go moderate intensity.)

If you have questions or comments please post or contact me at wilmlady5226@bellsouth.net .

In good health,

Brian Autry

Successful Dieters Master The Art Of Food Preparation

Body For Life Challenger (Before & After) 12 Weeks!

I have previously mentioned consistency as an important element in success. This is especially true with weight loss. It's quite common to make a step forward with a week of positive habits and then take a step back (or two) by letting yourself slide for a few days. Many dieters never get to see the true potential of a consistent, healthy, whole foods diet for two main reasons.

1) They decide to give up because they have unrealistic expectations. Many dieters believe weight loss is perfect. They expect 1-2 pounds of weight loss every week. That means in four weeks they should have lost up to 8 pounds. And if they only have lost 2 pounds by week four, they give up altogether. Sounds reasonable, right? I've seen 5, 6 and even 7 pounds literally fall off individuals on week eight. If you're consistently doing the right things it will happen, just not always the way you expect it.

2) The second and probably the biggest detriment to successful weight loss is lack of meal preparation. In order for your body to decide hormonally to let go of stored body fat, it must have a consistent and adequate nutrient supply being delivered. That means small meals spaced throughout the day. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of work. Most of us have busy schedules with family and work obligations. The only way to be successful is to plan ahead. That means you will have to have some degree of preparation.

A Lesson From Body For Life

One of the most successful diet system I've experienced is the Body For Life program. Actually, Body For Life is a complete transformation system that completely changed those that took their "challenge". When you first viewed before and after photos of the participants your first thought was disbelief. I would show people the results that were possible and it was common to hear," that's not even the same person"or " that photos been altered". The transformations were that outstanding. After trying their system over 15 years ago for the first time I became convinced that steady nutrition is the foundation for how our body looks . The results from the consistency of diet and a progression exercise program were truly unbelievable.

The key component to the Body For Life program was a perfectly balanced diet. The system called for 6 evenly spaced meals throughout the day. Each meal consisted of a high quality protein and a high fiber carbohydrate. Every meal was between 300 - 500 calories and mainly consisted of whole foods such as lean/low fat meats, lots of vegetables and moderate amounts of starches as whole grains.


Those that took the BFL challenge were everyday people with families, jobs and personal lives. In order for them to stick with their diet, the program ask them to prepare all their weeks meals on Sundays. On Sunday they would cook Breakfast, Lunch, dinner and healthy snacks for the entire week. It was a lot of work that all those that were successful did. When it became time to eat they had their food ready. This meant they were less likely to grab fast food or equally worse not eat. These successful people didn't have super human will power to stick to their diet. They had preparation!


Planning meals, preparing meals and being ready for the days nutrition is the number one skill/habit to practice for weight loss. Once you develop a consistent dietary regimen, your weight will drop dramatically. Unfortunately for many, they start but never finish. Three or four days of proper nutrition will never bring permanent changes. Like exercise, you must dedicate yourself everyday. Never the less, no body's perfect. There will always be bad meals and missed workouts, but it should be infrequent. Maybe once every few weeks, not every few days.


Remember, your physical self is a picture of your lifestyle. Heavy smokers and drinkers will look like heavy smokers and drinkers. Marathon runners will look like marathon runners. Mother Nature can't be fooled. You must work at changing your lifestyle to change your body. Extraordinary accomplishments can take place in a short period of time when you dig in and give it all your focus. The excitement you feel when you see the dramatic results and reach your goal will stay with you forever. You will feed off that great feeling and never look back.



In good health,



Brian Autry

Progression: Everything Is Changing. Are You?

Getting results is exciting. Getting life changing, dramatic, turn every one's head results in 90 days is REALLY exciting!

It happens everyday. Go online, watch Saturday morning paid programming. You can see dramatic results on every supplement, exercise gadget, diet and workout video. And for the most part, the results are true. Although, the way they got the results may be deceptive. But the results did happen. And quickly.

If you follow the right diet and exercise program results happen. So what is the "right" program and why doesn't everyone do it? Before I tell you what program, you must know the foundation to the results you want. Faith. Consistency. Desire. Focus. These are the four biggest characteristics that bring dramatic change and big time results. There must be an overwhelming desire to change. When that happens you really focus on the desired outcome. You will become consistent. Every waking moment will center on creating the result. And you must believe that you will have what is rightfully yours to have. That's faith.

Now back to the "right" program. All result producing programs are basic systems that include progression. Progression = Advancement. Some way of doing something a little better and improving. Small steps forward that over time show big improvements. For example, if you can now ride an exercise bike for 10 minutes straight. You progress to 11 minutes, 12 minutes...etc. It's easy to understand progression in regards to cardiovascular exercise. Conceptionally, it makes perfect sense that if you can run a marathon you will be in better shape than when you could only run a few miles. The body has to let go of extra weight to endure all those miles.

Typically, at some point in a person's fitness regimen they reach a plateau where they continue to stay with the same workouts. They change nothing. And if they change exercises, it's basically the same intensity and doesn't challenge the body to improve. For example, let's say you were using lunges to work the legs and were doing 3 sets of 12 reps. Each set you stop because your legs are tired and burning. Now you switch to squats and do 3 sets of 12 reps and stop when your legs are tired and burning. Even though, you may get sore from the new exercise it doesn't necessarily mean your legs are going to be in better shape. The reality is that your muscles are working at the same intensity. Muscles that are ask to produce more work (output) must adapt to the increase stress upon them. If you had stayed with the lunges and started holding a pair of dumbbells for extra resistance and completed the same sets and reps, that would have increased the workload on the leg muscles. Early, when you first began to exercise, you naturally put higher demands on your muscles and your body adapted. There are a whole host of ways your body adapts to increased stressed. Hormones that burn fat and build muscles are released, muscles need repairing and energy substrates need to be replenished. Overall, your body will require extra energy to adapt. That means your body will hopefully devour body fat for the required energy. In addition, your body will be able to efficiently manage the calories you ingest.


If you want to break results down into a simple equation you could imagine it like this:


RESULTS= Increased Intensity (stress) = Fitter Body = Body able to work harder = Increased Intensity = Fitter body etc..

You can see that it is a cycle. You work harder to achieve better fitness, better fitness allows you to work even harder to burn more calories and build more muscle. The saying, " the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" , can be applied to our health and fitness. The trick is to keep the cycle in motion. It can get tough. Our motivation and dedication are always at risk. That's why many people are constantly seeking new routines, workout programs and equipment. And that's OK. Any program or routine that gets you to work harder than you previously had will get the job done. You must be able to track your progress.

Progression is equal to applying higher and higher intensity upon yourself. Don't let the word "INTENSITY" scare you either. You should only apply small changes over time that allow yourself to adapt without injury. Our initial enthusiasm toward losing weight is both a good but potentially dangerous emotion. Pushing beyond our bodies ability to recover may lead to over training or injury.

In conclusion, a new workout video, personal trainer or routine may or may not give you the result you desire. In the end it comes down to progression. If you build small goals to work toward and keep yourself accountable for these goals you will progress. Long term weight loss and head turning body transformations always includes an exercise regimen that is based upon building fitness through better cardiovascular output, increased muscular strength and endurance. As your body gets stronger, your body will transform!



In Good Health,



Brian Auty

The "Laws" of Weight Loss

No matter what diet book, fancy training scheme or Saturday morning exercise gadget info commercial you've tried or heard about there are only a few reasons that the "program" gets any results. You can call them "laws" or proven facts. They are common in just about every diet and exercise program. Many times they are hard to distinguish because the author or creator has added a twist or coined a special name to dress up these common truths. Think about it, why would anyone keep buying the same ideas or things you already know?


A "Cheesy" Example of the "Laws of Weight Loss" in Affect.


Have you every heard of the grilled cheese diet? This must be a real diet because I overheard gentleman describing the diet to his wife several years ago. For real. This guy was convinced to try the diet because his friend had lost weight on it. I mean this guy was excited! And I can't blame him, everybody loves a grilled cheese. Right? Now, his wife wasn't buying the story and was skeptical about this novel approach for weight loss. But this guy was sold on the idea and was willing to give it a try.


From what I could gather, here's how the "Grilled Cheese Diet" works.

Breakfast: Eat something sensible.


Lunch: Grilled Cheese


Dinner: Grilled Cheese

That's it. BAM! Obesity epidemic solved. In a few short weeks your pants will be looser and your weight will be down. Every greasy spoon diner in America will be now considered weight loss centers. Move over Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. Mel's Diner is the future weight loss leader!

OK. Let's analyze this diet. As absurd as it sounds there's a hundred "single food" diets out there that are waiting for you. And guess what? They all REALLY work. They all produce weight loss. Because there are several underlying laws of weight loss hiding in plain sight. For a diet to work it first must convince the dieter it is going to work. The dieter is now motivated and a whole host of positive behaviors start in motion. The individual stops snacking between meals. Little things like a cracker here, a few pieces of candy there all make a caloric difference. A typical dieter will start to exercise more. They may take up a walking in the evening with their spouse or start going to the gym again. Either way this means more calories that are gone. And the number one reason the single food diet works is that it cuts all the other calories from favorite foods that the individual may have been typically eating in his/her diet. They may stop eating a huge meal for dinner or a late night cereal binge may be avoided. Granted, they are eating a grilled cheese, not the healthiest thing, but two pieces of bread and a couple of slices of cheese may still be a significant reduction in calories for them.

You see, the #1 Law of Weight Loss is calorie reduction. It wouldn't matter if it was called the chocolate cake diet. As long as it causes a caloric reduction in the diet it will cause weight loss. Add some motivation and a little increase in physical activity levels and you have a formula for success.

In conclusion, there are some very basic "laws" to losing weight. Caloric reduction is one of the very basic. Unfortunately for many weight loss is only temporary. Single food diets get boring, adherence starts to slack and the metabolism slows. The truth of the matter is that it does take a lifestyle change, a paradigm shift in thinking. Permanent weight management and a healthy body encompasses a variety of behavior changes for many. Change starts within and there's no magic bullets. Incorporating more whole fruits and vegetables into your diet and increasing your daily activity level is a start. Eating at home more, planning your meals and researching some healthy recipes.

So, what would be some other laws of weight loss? Many diets sneak these common healthy habits into your nutritional lifestyle:

• More fiber from fruits and vegetables.
• More nutrients (vitamins & minerals) from whole foods.
• Less processed carbohydrates, typically breads and pasta.
• Less sodium and saturated fat.
• More protein.
• More exercise.
• Structured and consistent eating.

There they are. This is the "Secret" list for losing weight. For now I won't break down the reasons why each is important and works. It's actually very basic human physiology taught in any health related field in college or personal training certification. Many weight loss gurus and info commercial programs call them scientific breakthroughs. And they were. In the 1960's!

Unfortunately, implementing these habits into our daily life can be quite difficult. Cooking, planning and shopping are all big time constraints in a busy lifestyle. And one missed meal could lead you to the fast food window and tear down all your hard work by putting you back on the junk food roller coaster.

The good thing is that we all make mistakes and there's always... "the next meal and the treadmill"!

In good health,

Brian