Last Minute Workout Deal

is proud to offer a new daily special that will be offered via email most mornings!

LAST MINUTE WORKOUT
One person’s late cancelation can mean a great deal for you.
Starting this week we will email unexpected openings in our schedules that are up for grabs for that day only.
What does that mean for me is what you are probably asking?
What it means for you is if you would like to come in for a workout for one of our late cancelation spots it will only cost $30.00 for a 1 hour workout (normally $60)!
The only catch is that it is a first come, first served situation. So don’t wait, call when you get the email so you can claim that slot for yourself!
This special is transferable. If you know someone that has wanted a personal trainer and has been unsure about coming in, this is a great bargain for them, plus if they sign up for 10 sessions or more after, you get a free session for a referral reward.
Use this special for yourself, give to your spouse, or pass it on to your friends.

Who says waiting until the last minute is a bad idea!
Call (804) 332-5476 to claim your Last Minute Workout deals.

Or you can visit our website www.myphyzique.com for more information.

Personal Change: The Easiest and Most Difficult Life Application

Everyone knows that change is inevitable.  We can’t stop it.  Change in the world around us will happen regardless of whether or not we decide to participate.  If change is the only true constant in the world, why is personal change one of the most difficult challenges that we seem to face within our lifetime? 

It usually takes something catastrophic within one’s life to cause a reaction that is strong enough for one’s will to be able to accept that personal change is the only way to avoid an early arrival to life’s ultimate conclusion.  For any addict to realize that they have no other alternative other than to change, they must lose most of what they hold dearest in their life in order to have a moment of clarity long that is memorable enough to carry themselves through the rehabilitation process.  Many diabetics must lose a limb before they realize that Diabetes is nothing to be taken lightly, and in order to maintain possession of their remaining peripherals they must completely alter their way of eating and living their life on a day-to-day basis.  Heart patients=heart attacts, etc, etc, etc. 

What is really disturbing is that many women are more terrified to change their current eating patterns in order to increase their current fitness and health levels than they are to go to a plastic surgeon and have their fat brutally sucked out of their body with a surgical grade hoover, or to have their body sliced open in order to increase their cup size a letter or two.  

In the past five years we have had a couple of clients that have unfortunately not listened to our warnings and not taken their current conditions serious enough even though their doctors have warned them that they are on a collision course with the end of this existence.  One client (to our extreme dismay) was an amazingly successful individual who had everything going for him in his life.  He made an amazing amount of money annually, he was one of the top performers at his firm and had nothing but indications that personally and financially his life was only going to get better.  On the other hand, his cholesterol was through the roof, he had high blood pressure, he was overweight, and dealt with an amazing amount of stress on a daily basis.  We tried to get him to realize that his current path (health wise) was not one that would have a desirable conclusion.   He relocated to another state and we lost touch with him.  Of all the ways to receive an update about someone, we overheard someone at a restaurant mention this man’s old firm.  When we asked whether or not this person had known our old client he apologized and told us that he had past away a few months before due to a massive heart attack.

We recently have had another client that has the unfortunate genetic gift of serious heart disease within her family.  Her brother died at age 34 and at this point she is 2 years younger than he was when he died of a heart attack.  This young lady knows that she already has a high percentage of artery blockage at her young age and although she is at extreme risk of early death nothing I said ever seemed to get through to her.  She has recently discontinued our services and odds are that she will not continue with any exercise program therefore greatly increasing her odds of early mortality.  But even when faced with a short countdown with the inevitable change just was too much to accept at this time.  I hope with all my heart that she will survive her first heart attack so that she will have a second chance to see what a gift life is and that sometimes, the problems within us that don’t cause pain, are the most dangerous.  I do hope that I am wrong with my statement that she will not continue on with a fitness plan on her own.  What a crime it would be to have such a wonderful person taken from us so soon when it is (with all probability) avoidable. 

Change begins with a single decision, a decision that can be made at any moment of the day precipitated by something so benign as seeing yourself in the mirror or by surviving a possibly catastrophic event.  Once you make that decision and are firm in your personal commitment to change, nothing with stop you.  Change is easy to commit to, but so difficult to stick with.  Studies have shown that if you can stick to a new pattern or behavior for as little as 6 weeks (which at the time seems like an eternity) it will become accepted by your brain and body as what is now “normal”.  They have even done a study that shows you can actually change your taste buds and learn to like food that was once disgusting to you but is now delicious in 6 weeks. 

Making the decision improve your “lifestyle” can have an effect on almost everything around you.  Your productivity at work will increase, your ability to handle stress will improve, your sex drive and sexual experience will improve (not to mention your partner will find you much more desirable), energy levels will go through the roof and your overall mental health will greatly improve. 

With so much to gain and so much unhealthy baggage to finally be rid of, why do people hesitate?  It is one of the mysteries that troubles my conscience when I can’t get through to people.  It saddens me to see such wonderful individuals never deem themselves worthy enough to have a happier and healthier life.  Until we can all understand that our ship sails or sinks based on our decisions of which waters we sail I will keep fighting the “good” fight and do my best to “nudge” our clients in the direction they originally committed themselves to. 

When your happiness and life are on the line, failure is not an option!  Believe in yourself and believe that you are worth it.

Eating Problems….what?!!!

There is a term that floats around there that I don’t like very well-Eating Problems.

  The media likes to use this term, trainers and dietitians like to use this term, even doctors like to use this term.  Telling a friend, patient, or client that they have an eating problem is not only unfair, but untruthful and misleading.  Eating is not problem, it is a necessity.  We cannot continue to exist without eating or consuming nutrients that this act provides us with.  Therefore, if eating is necessary to sustain life it is impossible to have an eating problem.  What we as credentialed people  don’t want to tell our patients/clients is exactly what they need to hear…they have decision-making problems. 

Food is not the problem, the decisions they make to eat what you eat, how much of it to consume, and why or what motivates you to eat the way you do for your body to be in bad condition, these are the problems that we need to focus on and address.  We as professionals that deal with people that are suffering from weight, confidence, and possible emotional issues, like to dress it up and not make it sound too harsh.  Why?  Because we don’t want to hurt our patients’ feelings.  As professionals, our communication to our patients/clients shouldn’t be modified or softened just to save the ego or personal feelings of the individual that is in need of help or that is asking for help. I understand that everyone’s feelings are important and should be respected, but when speaking to someone who needs to make a life change so that they can enjoy a much longer life than their current behaviors will allow, the truth needs not only to be said without censorship, but with conviction and caring.  If the truth is never said it will never be heard.  Consequently, that individual that so desperately needs to be advised properly will never truly understand they are the captain of their ship and they can change course (it’s never too late) and experience life as a completely different and much more enjoyable and rewarding journey. 

Although it is through the act of eating that some people express and alleviate their stresses we cannot focus on eating as the problem.  It is because of this popular terminology that when I express to people who are eating twice or three times a day is not the healthiest choice in the world and that they should eat several more “meals” a day that internally they panic and are terrified that if they do eat more often during the day that they will blow up to a size that will dwarf their current condition.  It is a very common reaction and one that I have seen more often than not.   I try to explain the nuts and bolts behind why it works and why they should comply but by the time that I have finished I find that they stopped listening and “eat more” and didn’t even hear the “often” ending to the sentence. 

I try to find out why people make the decisions that lead to the unhealthy choices in eating that have led them to walk through my door and ask for help.  It is only through that exploration that I can find out why my clients are where they are at the moment and it also helps me map out how we can better help them. People make horrible choices in eating for many choices, here are just a few:

1. Laziness: they are too lazy to cook, or prepare meals ahead of time.  Because of this they go to fast food restaurants, vending machines, they skip meals, or just eat whatever is within reach. 
2. Stress: we all have our ways of coping with stress.  Some people drink (not a good choice), some people discuss their problems openly with their friends or partners, some people exercise, a lot of people eat.  The food has the same reaction in their brain as do some drugs that people can buy on the street.  I know there have been many times in my life I decided after a bad day that a pint of Chunky Monkey (by Ben & Jerry’s….one of my favorite sinful delights) would be just the thing to pick me up and improve my mood.  Unfortunately, after the five minutes it took me to eat the pint, my problem was still their and I still felt stressed. 
3. Social reasons:  because  we are out to eat, or with friends we tend to make our choices based not only on what’s available but also what our friends may be eating.  If they order dessert, we may feel a little pressure to do the same.   This can also be said about how much alcohol is consumed during a meal in a social situations.

There are a myriad of reasons why people make the decisions to eat in a way that is unhealthy and detrimental to their future, but in my experience, those three that I stated above are the most common.  By taking the “Problem” tag off  of eating, not only will we more effective in the quest to assist those that are in need of help, but we can also open their minds up to the new information that has come out over the last fifteen or so years that states that increasing the frequency of meals and decreasing the size of meals that we eat, might just be the strategy that they need to implement to change their entire life. 

Let’s get rid of “eating problems’.  They don’t exist.  Let us as professionals dedicate ourselves to the true needs of our patients/clients and help them understand that just as their current condition is the result of a pattern of continuously making poor decisions regarding their eating practices and habits, they can just as easily create a new pattern and begin to make new and better decisions that will lead to a healthier, much more comfortable, and happier life.

Fitness Gadgets! 1st post: Heart Rate Monitors

Since I am a bit of a gadget nut, I will be posting reviews and helpful hints about fitness gadgets and equipment that I think are great and….not so great.  Understand that I have no personal relationship with any companies of the equipment that I discuss.   I also do not have any endorsement deals or contracts to talk about any particular product in a positive light.  These are just my opinions as a gadget junkie and hopefully I can help anyone that is reading our blog make an informed decision before making any major (or minor) purchase of fitness equipment or accessories. 

So today I begin with Heart Rate Monitors.  I love heart rate monitors!  Not only are they relatively inexpensive but outside of hiring a personal trainer (of course!) they provide the best bang for your buck in any fitness purchase.  There are a ton of heart rate monitors out there.  Nike, Timex, Garmin, Mio, etc, etc, and it can be difficult to choose one if you are not really educated about these types of products.  There are heart rate monitors that use fingertip readings, around the finger (ring type) readings, and some that use chest straps to send the signal wirelessly to a watch for monitoring your heart rate.  Most (if not all) of the non chest strap HRMs are slow and inaccurate.  Many people complain that the chest strap may be uncomfortable or difficult to put on.  Usually people who complain about it being uncomfortable are women that have large bust sizes, or very overweight individuals (that need this product more than anyone) that the standard medium size chest strap may be too small for.  Easy fix, go online and order the large band for your chest strap.  With my experience, 90%  + of people who use HRMs without any problems whatsoever.    

Basic HRMs show beats per minute and duration of your workout, while others take it a step further and show you the percentage of your Maximum Heart Rate that you are exercising at, and Calories Burned. These kinds of statistics can be very positive reinforcement and can help you stay motivated by letting you know you are on the right track.

Hear Rate Monitors help you not only pay attention to what is going on inside while you are exercising, but they also let you know how effective your current workout is.  If you know your basic heart rate range (220-your age) you can get a bit of a grasp of where you need to keep your heart rate during exercise.  Theoretically, if you stay between 55%-85% of your Maximum Heart Rate you will be able to continue exercising without much discomfort, minus the normal fatigue.  The main discomforting feelings I am talking about are

1. side stitches
2. nausea
3. dizziness

By paying attention to the numbers you will be able to exercise not only for a longer period of time, you will also be able to do it much more comfortably, and with much more effectiveness. 

I could go into a very long explanation about how these really work and just bore you to death but I am just trying to give a basic description that could be useful to you. 

 There is a lot of discussion going on now about how the different percentages work and whether you should do workouts for longer durations at lower (55%-65%) percentages or whether you should do short durations via interval training (bouncing between 55% & 100% at selected time intervals) to maximize fitness improvements and weight loss, but that is a discussion for another day. 

As far as brands for HRMs go, my favorite is Polar.  Polar was one of the first on the market (if not the first) with heart rate monitoring equipment. Does anybody remember the Nordictrac cross-country skiing machine from the ’80′s?  Polar had a heart rate monitoring device that clipped to your earlobe and sent the signal via wire to its little console to tell you your number of Heartbeats per minute.  They have come a long way since then and in my own opinion, they continue to lead the pack in this particular market.  Since they were the first on the market, they cornered the cardio equipment market early. Almost all treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, rowing machines etc, ect at any gym, will interface with a polar heart rate monitor strap that is being worn on your chest.  The cardio equipment will not only show you your heart rate on the console of that particular machine, but most come now with programs that let you tell the machine where you want your heart rate and it will make all the adjustments for you to keep you in your range!  It doesn’t matter if you are in a Bally’s in Kentucky, or a Gold’s Gym in Tokyo, they will all work with Polar HRM’s.  They almost always have the Polar name and logo on the console.  You will never see the Nike logo, or Timex logo on these machines. 

There are MANY different Polar heart rate monitors, but for general consumers who are looking to improve their fitness and lose weight the Polar F series has all of what you need and more.  On the Polar website the F series runs anywhere from $69.95-$129.95.  If you shop at Dick’s Sporting Goods, you can take $10.00 off of that price for any model and pick it up at any of their stores cheaper.  In reality for the average to slightly above average user you really don’t need any more than the F7 or the FT7.  You can pick those up at Dick’s for $109 and $119.  There really is no reason to spend any more on a HRM unless you are a serious competitive athlete or if you are a cyclist and want speed and distance functions for your bike as well. 

So, the moral of the story is…..Heart Rate Monitors-USE THEM. They are easy to use, they tell you everything you need to know to stay effective and they can even take all the thinking out of using cardio equipment to stay in the appropriate ranges.  They are great little gadgets that can make a huge difference in your workouts, and your results!  Remember, for the average person, if you spend more than $120 you’ve spent way too much. 

If you have anything to add, or questions to ask please leave comments!  I look forward to any and all discussions.

Our entry into the Blogosphere

This is the Blog for Phyzique Personal Fitness Training and Wellness Solutions in Richmond, VA.  We will be making posts to our blog that we feel are pertinent to our clients as it pertains to the world of fitness, weight loss, an exercise.  Most of the contributions will be made directly by Keith & Jay Janssen (owners of Phyzique) but we will also be attaching links and articles that we feel are important and interesting.  While we are entering into an unfamiliar territory, we promise to learn as much as we can as fast as we can about this type of Medium for communicating not only with our clients but with the general public so that we can make this blog a frequent stop for all who stop by check us out. We are also available on Facebook with our Phyzique fan page and you can follow us on Twitter @myphyziquefitness. 

We encourage any feedback or just general feedback/conversations on all of our future posts.

We hope you enjoy our blog