Five Things I DON'T Want for Christmas

OK, if I find these fitness fads under the tree this year, I'm either going to move to in with a new family or die because I laughed myself to death.  How do some of these things get on the market?  No wonder the fitness industry gets a bad rap.

My kids eagerly awaiting Christmas morning last year.

Enjoy!

1.  Shake Weight
I have no words.  What more can I say that hasn't already been said?  Just don't get it for me, I'm begging you.  If you must, find the Shake Weight commercial here.    And if we thought it couldn't get worse, it did: the Shake Weight for Men.  

Oh my, let's move on...

2.  Booty Pop
Who did the market analysis for this thing? I swear they've probably sold a grand total of two in this country.  Now, I am totally biased when it comes to this product since I am definitely one who does not lack anything in the booty department.  Since I'm constantly trying to tone and reduce that area, the idea of adding more "pop" to my back end is outrageous.  Check out the Booty Pop here.

3.  Cardioke
This one I'm a little torn.  I'm a singer.  I love to belt out a good tune and do pretty much do all the time.  Billy Banks Jr.s' workouts actually seem pretty intense.  And I must admit I ADORE his wife's gorgeous belting voice.  However, there is something about Grandma singing, "Don cha' wish your girlfriend was hot like me..."  that gets me rolling off my chair.  In the end, I'm smiling because these ladies are seriously workin' it.  Check out Cardioke here.

4.  Hawaii Chair
"If you can sit, you can get fit..." -- yeah right.  I love watching the gal who is trying to type while hula-ing on one of these things.  This Hawaii Chair is a riot.  Check it out here.

5.  Body Flex with Greer Childers
Now, THIS is one workout that scares young children and makes me laugh out loud every. single. time.  I have seriously been doing all of my clients a huge disservice by not giving them this workout.  I really should issue them refunds immediately.

 If you only watch one thing from beginning to end today, let it be this:

If you are not able to view the video, find it here.  
Happy holidays!

Related Posts:
Move That Boogie Body

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Toning Shoes - Thumbs Up or Down?

This is it!  

The last day to enter to win one of two $50 Gift Cards to Title Nine.  

Tell your butcher, your baker, your candlestick maker! 

 Enter here.

Due to the pathetic begging of my money-hungry son, we are going to have a garage sale. This is a huge concession for me, since I’m a “toss it” type of gal. It’s not the sale that drives me crazy, but the growing pile of garbage in the garage that does me in every time.

I have committed to Brian, however, that yes, we will actually have a sale. And yes, he can keep any money he makes from any of his toys he decides to unload. He is convinced he's going to hit the jackpot in a few weeks.

 Luckily, just a few dollars means a jackpot in his little world.

As I was cleaning some items out of my overstuffed closet this weekend, I came across these:

Yep, the Trainer Momma has a pair of toning shoes.

After the sale, that sentence will read past tense:  The Trainer Momma HAD a pair of toning shoes.

What are toning shoes?  If you walk into any mall, sporting goods store, open up any women's magazine you'll see the ads with the stick thin model that has no rear endo wearing shoes with rounded soles.   The convincing marketing campaigns go onto claim:

Buy and wear these shoes and you will burn more calories.

Buy and wear these shoes and you will lose weight.

Buy these shoes and will tone your legs and behind.

Buy these shoes and banish the cottage cheese from your legs.

Buy these shoes and you will be worthy to strut your stuff down the catwalk.

A pretty tall order, yes?  Even more so when you consider that many of these shoes, which come in all different brands, often push and clear $100.

**  Before I go on, these shoes were given to me at a conference.  I airbrushed out the brand label since the purpose of this post is not to bash certain brands, but to just cut through the fitness jungle and tell you WHAT WORKS.  So, call me ungrateful.  I call it honesty.

I know it depends on who you ask, however if you are asking me, which many of you have, I am giving the toning shoe trend a thumbs down.  

I know many of you LOVE your toning shoes.  I just don't.  They didn't win over this skeptical fitness fanatic.  Let me explain.

I did a little experimenting with them by using them on several of my morning walks the past weeks when I take the kids to school in morning. My observations:

Sore?
At first, yes, I was a bit tender after taking a 30 minute walk in these shoes. Others I've talked to interpreted that soreness into:  WOW!  THESE THINGS REALLY WORK!  I'M SO SORE!  Actually, the truth is what  I’ve explained in prior posts.  When we do a new exercise, or in this case distributing my weight differently by wearing these shoes with a half of a ball on the bottom, we are bound to be sore the first few times. After a few walks, however, the soreness wore off.

Awesome glutes?
Did it shape up my glutes? Let's just say the obvious:  I've got some serious backside to work with.  A lot of material back there.  If there is anything I work ultra hard on it is getting those glutes to be ultra hard.  These shoes did not transform the buns into anything magical, unfortunately.  I'm going to stick with more step ups and lunges.   And eating less chocolate cake.

Burn more calories?
Nope. I burned the same amount of calories wearing the toning shoes as I do wearing my normal workout shoes -- around 120 calories for a 30 minute brisk walk pushing my 3-year-old in the stroller.

Weight loss?
Um, nope again. This goes back to the above calories burned.  Since I didn't burn any extra calories, I didn't take off any weight. Wouldn’t that be fantastic, though? Just double knotting a pair of these and then the pounds would just melt away?  I'll keep dreaming...  And eating less chocolate cake.

Comfortable?
Yes, they are very comfortable. Any shoes that has a sole that is nearly 2 inches thick is going to feel like butta. I even considered keeping them for this aspect alone.  But, the pull of the garage sale and making the extra buck is a bit too strong.

Safe?
When used for their recommended purpose, walking, these shoes are relatively safe. However, I have seen them misused over the the past year since they’ve become popular. Running in them is a big no. Lifting weights, no.  It’s like a twisted ankle just waiting to happen.

Fashionable?
OK, ladies, I know I'm no fashion blogger.  And you will spot me around town wearing not-so-hot outfits when in a pinch (my scrub bottoms and Bronx Community College t-shirt with flip flops has been my grubby fav for about 4 years running now). But, these?  These just are not scoring high on the cute-o-meter.  Spend your cash on some smoking boots or something.

So, let me be the one save you the $100+ dollars and say buy a real, awesome workout shoe instead. These are not worth the money, just another fad passing itself off to be the magic bullet to take the guilt away when you skip another day at the gym.  Or when you eat too much chocolate cake.

If you really are dying for some, you can come buy mine at my garage sale in a few weeks.

I'll give you a discount :)

Related Posts:

Shoes:  Put Them On Your List
See Me Run
Health Trends Drive Me Nuts
Fad Diets - The Gig Is Up

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Are You In Your Fat Burning Zone?

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 Athleta.com!

Click here to enter!

Winner will be announced tomorrow...

Here goes a doosey of a post.  This post has been bouncing around in my brain since the start of Trainer Momma. Cross your fingers. Make a wish. Here goes nothing.

This is a very simplified explanation of one of fitness’s favorite controversies:

Aerobic Exercise vs. Anaerobic Exercise

or

Cardio Zone vs. Fat Burning Zone

There is a TON of complicated science that goes into this issue, however, I am stripping it down to its bare bones and explaining what matters to us.

Let’s start with an analogy: You are a Toyota Prius. Hopefully the kind with brakes that work. Your body is a hybrid electric car.

Oh yeah.  

That is you.

You are very cool.

You are driving around town, chillin’ like a dillin’ in your remarkably quiet, shiny Prius using battery power. This is all fine until you want to speed up and the electric power cannot cut it anymore. Since you are a Hybrid, and not a golf-cart, you are in luck! The gasoline kicks in and now you are using both functions simultaneously, the electric and the gasoline, to fuel your vehicle. Go burn some rubber.

This same scenario happens when you’ve been driving using the electric power for an extended period of time. Eventually, the gasoline power will join the electric power and you keep on truckin’ - or Prius-ing, I suppose.

Same with your bod. OK, let’s say you are out on your run (if you are not a runner, just work with me here. This can be applied to any cardio you do). You are at a nice easy pace, breathing deeply and just warming up. You are in the aerobic zone and your muscles have ample oxygen available to them. At this point your body is using fat for fuel.

The warm up is over, it’s time to pick up the pace. Suddenly, your breathing speeds up and you notice your heart rate is rising. At this point the oxygen needed to keep you in the aerobic zone is outstripped and glucose (carbs/sugar) pitches in and now you are in the anaerobic zone.

Alert! Alert! Big flashing arrows with lights are pointing to this fact that is missed by most:

 Fat is still being used for energy as much as ever, but is now being helped out by glucose.

It is not an either/or process. It is an both/and process. Fat is being burned in the aerobic AND anaerobic zones. It is just in the anaerobic zone, glucose jumps in and helps out. But, your fat burning capacity did not turn off. It is still chugging away.

So, how does this pertain to you? A few ways.

I was jogging the other day and I needed to stay between 65-85% of my maximum heart rate in order to stay in my aerobic zone (or popularly called the fat burning zone.  I hate that incomplete term).  For me that is in between 141 - 157 beats per minute. Let’s see, I am in that zone for - oh -  all of 8 minutes, if that. For the rest of the run, I am easily in the 160’s and even 170's on the sprints or hills. So, the question is -- was the whole run (minus the first 8 minutes) a complete waste of time? Did I not burn any fat since I was out of the magic “fat burning zone"?

OF COURSE NOT!

Cardio machines, heart rate monitors, or ignorant personal trainers straight out of high school are going to tell you that you are in the anerobic zone, thus you are not burning fat, so you need to slow down.

IGNORE THEM.  They are wrong.  Remember, even though you may hit your anaerobic zone, you are still burning fat and glucose as well.

You want results right? It all comes down to calories in vs. calories out. How are you going to burn more calories? Walking for 30 minutes or running for 30 minutes? OF COURSE RUNNING. Weight is lost when there is a calorie deficit -- so burning calories during a cardiovascular workout is your goal!

Let your body worry about what it needs to use for fuel. It is very good at flip flopping back and forth between aerobic and anerobic, fat and glucose -- with no help from you, thank you very much.  Your job is to DO THE CARDIO. Just get it done! And push yourself. The most effective type of cardio incorporates HIIT -- which leads us back to another post.

I know that there will be exercise buffs, athletes, and scientists pulling their hair out yelling, "But there's so much more to this!"  (The Doc is one of them.  Sorry hon).  But, we are here to understand what matters to us, not necessarily be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  However, if they call I will graciously travel to Stockholm to accept.

To answer the question in the title post, the answer is a loud, emphatic YES!  If you are doing cardio, whether it be aerobic or anaerobic, you are in your fat burning zone!  CONGRATS!

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Health Trends Drive Me Nuts

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I read in Time magazine a few months ago that exercise makes you fat.  Then, just last week I read that women need 60 minutes of exercise a day in order to prevent weight gain as we age.

I was at a class this week where the instructor told me to never eat whole wheat bread before a workout, only white Wonder bread.

I was told recently that if I eat the peels of the apples I buy I am going to die an early death.  I was instructed to peel all my apples before eating them, unless I buy organic produce exclusively.

I read on bottle that agave nectar, the newest sweetener, is the new Cinderella of the sugar industry.  Then, I read an article that yells at me to avoid it like the plague.

I read that high fructose corn syrup has single handedly caused our nation to reach new levels of obesity.  Yet, I just read an article from sparkpeople.com this week saying that it isn’t so bad.

I read that getting good, solid workout shoes it important.  Now I’m told to get shoes that are round on the bottom, so I can rock my way to a rock solid behind.

Are you as confused as I am?

I am very skeptical when it comes to the latest health trends that are reported on the media and that are advertised in magazines, on television, and on blogs.  I am reluctant to hop on band wagons.  I have a tendency to sit back and wait to see if that wagon rolls off a cliff.

Now, I am the first person in line to tell me that my opinions and health practices are not perfect, I am not all knowing, and I still have a lot to learn.   It is a bit comical to me to reflect on opinions I have had about exercise and food few years ago.  Over time, experience, a little research, reading, and some education I have come full circle and changed my tune to several things.

Many of you email me questions about some things you've read or heard out there -- I LOVE IT. It keeps me on my toes and I have to respond with the occasional, "I don't know."

In a nutshell, I try to base my opinions and health habits on  information based on real science and not just the latest gimmick that that is making someone money.

This is when my "It sounds too good to be true..." red flag gets raised:

"The medical establishment is against us!" 

"The government is trying to suppress this breakthrough treatment!"

"I was near death until I took this pill and now I am an ultramarathoner!"

"Weight loss finally made easy!"

"Made with our secret formula from ancient times!"

"Watch our 30 minute infomercial!"

"Featured on Oprah!"

"Suzanne Somers uses it, so it must work!"

This all makes me tired.

Finding truth in all these health trends is a tricky business frankly because as the Doc likes to remind me, science is always discovering and changing.  This can be a very good thing and it can be confusing.

When reading a health related article I use this 4 part "CARS" checklist:

Credibility
Mayor Shin from the Music Man said it best: “I need that man’s credentials!”

Accuracy 
Is the info current, factual and comprehensive? Are there huge gaping holes where questions are ignored or unanswered? Are there sweeping generalizations?

Reasonableness
Is it balanced and rational? Is the author objective, or does he/she have an agenda, or product, to push?

Support
Are they legit?  I want to see the supporting documentation for the scientific evidence cited.

I know we all come from different backgrounds and upbringings and in all reality, that has a lot to do with our health practices day to day. I only write this post to let you know my agenda in regards to Trainer Momma, the blog:

To provide you with practical, safe fitness and nutrition ideas.  

To help you realize that fitness CAN fit into your crazy, busy life.  

Eating right can be fast and tasty.

Being healthy can be a way of life, not just another diet to try.

When it is all said and done, I am a pretty moderate gal who just wants to be as healthy as I can using the limited time and money that I have.  And I'm pretty sure you are too.

Fad Diets -- The Gig is Up

Atkins Diet
Alli Diet
Acai Berry Diet
Beverly Hills Diet
Cabbage Soup Diet
Celery Diet
Cookie Diet
Egg Diet
Fat Free Diet
Grapefruit Diet
HCG Diet
Liquid Diets
Suzanne Somers Diet
Subway Diet
The Zone
3 Day Diet
Phen-Fen
Diet Patches
Diet Pills
Plastic Wrap
Jaws wired shut

Oh my gosh, does the list ever end?

After reading about diet after diet and all their restrictions and rules, I just wanted to run to the hills screaming. Frankly, there are little bits of truth within each of the diets. But it seemed like the weirder the diet, the more followers it has.

I found this online and started laughing out loud:

Is this true or what?!? And why is it?

If you've read Trainer Momma for more than one day, you'll know that I'm no alarmist. Yes, I do recommend certain foods, fitness gear, workouts, and books that offer sound fitness and nutrition advice. I suppose you could call me a moderationist (I just made that word up).

I advocate what works:

Vegetables
Fruits
Lean proteins
Whole grains
Good fats and oil
Low sugar
Low bad fats
Low salt
Nutrient dense foods
Tons of water
Do cardio most days a week
Lift weights a few times a week
Sweat
*CONSISTENCY*

We don't have to reinvent the wheel here. WE KNOW THIS STUFF. Why do we as a culture keep looking for the next take-twenty-pounds-off-in-a-week program? Why not just use the knowledge we already have, DO IT, then enjoy long term health and fitness?

The diet business is a $40 BILLION a year industry. This is crazy.

I'm taking my money and going buy some more spinach and goat cheese, thank you.

Fit Mommas, what are your thoughts on fad diets?

The Ultimate Match-Up

From Collages

This morning I was sweating away to Maroon Five on the gym's elliptical trainer. I got a good 45 minutes in -- plenty of high intensity intervals thrown in the mix -- I was feeling strong, empowered and ready to start the day.

But before I hit the shower, hmmm... Let's see. How many calories did I burn? I check out the display on the elliptical machine:

Whoa! Holy cow! 584 calories in 45 minutes! Oh, yeah! I was workin' it, baby!

Wait a minute, what about my trusty heart rate monitor? What?!? Only 366 calories? Who is right? What gives?

Sorry, to break it to you, gals, but the heart rate monitor is more right. Cardio machines at a gym or at home are as notorious for lying as my first grader was (that was a frustrating phase!). The machine spits out greatly exaggerated numbers for calories burned, often up to 30-40% more than the actual calories expended.

So, treat the cardio machine like your aunt who exaggerates everything (I had all my babies with no anesthesia, I only gained 10 lbs per pregnancy, I cooked for 300 the night after I delivered my 5th child, I used only cloth diapers, I ironed my husbands shirts every morning, etc.). Check it out, politely smile, then mentally slash it in half and that is the approximate truth. If you are a numbers freak like me, get a good heart rate monitor (I will post on this in the future) and it will be much more accurate.

SWEET! A little controversy never hurt anyone...

I was raised on Sweet 'N Low. My mother had the idea that flavored yogurt was totally terrible for you, probably because it tasted good and her theory of food was if it tasted good, it had to be bad for you. So, we got plain yogurt. All the time. I was the only kid who ate plain yogurt on the planet in 1980, I swear. But, to soften the blow I had unlimited access to the pink little packets to make it edible. Then, it was Equal. Now it is Splenda. I was raised on this stuff and so far so good. No third eye has appeared on my forehead -- yet.

It is easy to Google a million articles from the popular press on how artificial sweeteners (click on link for a great article about it) cause cancer and other illnesses. I know this may rub some the wrong way (especially my sister-in-law, sorry!), but the fact remains there have been no conclusive scientific studies to suggest that artificial sweeteners are harmful in the small amounts that we consume.

So, if you drink a glass of Crystal Light or a diet soda occasionally, I say it is fine. Note the word -- occasionally. That means like once a week on date night. OK, I can't believe I'm saying this but even once a day won't kill you or your weight loss endeavors.

I have several friends who admit to drinking 8 - count it - 8 diet sodas a day. Whoa. All I can think of here we are, putting in all this time, lifting, biking, walking stairs, running, abs -- and then to follow it up with --chemicals?

I am a huge advocate of eating clean and frankly artificial sweeteners are simply chemicals and although low in calories, still empty calories. There are so many products out there with this stuff in it, it can be easy to eat mostly artificially sweetened stuff. And guess what? Calories are calories and you'll still gain weight. I can't help but think of all the fantastic stuff -- like WATER, fruits, veggies, REAL FOOD -- that is being skipped when downing yet another Diet Dr. Pepper and eating an entire bag of chocolate chip rice cakes.