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This may seem pretty straight forward but it’s something that’s really not negotiable. Your body and your overall health go everywhere where you go. Whether you treat it right or not is up to you but eventually it will catch up to you if you don’t take care of your body. Some people don’t realize the importance of their health until things like playing with their kids/grandchildrens get more difficult. Until they feel so physically limited that they can not do the things they love to do. Until a pandemic and become fearful since they are in a high risk category because of their bad health. Until their doctor tells them they will likely need annual medications or surgery if they don’t take action on their overall health.

 

You get the idea right? So many people put off their health until they are at the point where they become so limited in what they can do because of their bad health that they have no choice basically or else they will suffer major consequences.

 

Be proactive now so you can live life to the fullest without having to worry about your body holding you back.

 

If you are struggling to find a fitness routine that works for you. You know where to reach me.

 

Dedicated To Your Success,

Coach Evan

Strength Training has gained some popularity over the years because science has kept evolving and continues to show us the importance for optimal health especially for those not in their “prime” years!

 

I’ve heard everything from “I’m too old to workout” or “It’s not meant for me”

 

When in fact those are both FALSE.

 

It’s actually even more important to strength train as you get older since our bodies start to metabolically slow down after the age of 30 and progressively declines after each decade. Strength training can actually reverse a lot of the issues that come on later in life and the benefits include:

 

1) Balance and Coordination

-You work on training the type II fast twitch muscle fibers that are responsible for powerful and quick muscle contractions!

2) Strengthen Bones

-When you’re strength training, it stimulates bone formation, because bone put under moderate compressive stress responds by building bone density as a result of adapting to consistent moderate stress.

3) Strengthen and Build Muscle

-Muscle is built based on consistent stress to the muscle!

4) Injury Prevention

-Being stronger and knowing how to perform certain movements as simple as bending over to pick something up off the floor will significantly reduce the risk of injury with daily activities!

and many more!

 

So now lets look at some statistics.

-On average, after the age of 30 people lose 3-8% of their muscle with each decade

-Falls account for 3 million hospital visits that usually end with broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, joint trauma, and other kinds of injuries!

-A study showed that older adults who strength trained at least 2x/week have 45% of all cause mortality. 45%!!!!!

 

As you can see now with the benefits and the statistics I just gave you, strength training is a necessity if your goal is to be healthy which most people want to be. If you haven’t strength trained before or don’t know where to start. We can help you here at EA Fitness and Performance.

 

Dedicated To Your Success,

 

Coach Evan

Shocking that I said this right??

 

But its true.

 

Too many people and some health professionals swear by doing extreme diet restriction when it comes to losing weight and usually carbs are the first thing they get rid of for a lot of them which does have health benefits. However, by bringing balance to someone’s diet with the right amount of portioning every meal then you can lose weight without completely giving up carbs.

 

One of my clients saw another personal trainer and didn’t lose a single pound in one year of working with them. With the meal plan I came up with for him, he lost 23lbs in the first 6 weeks of working with me(he also went on vacation during this 6 week time frame!!).

 

And guess what??

 

He didn’t give up carbs!!

 

How’d he do it?

 

He strength trained 3x/week with some light cardio on other days, portioned his meals according to the plan I had for him(which I would adjust if necessary), had a 200-300 calorie deficit each day, and got 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

 

That’s it.

 

So if you are a person trying to lose weight, don’t think you’ll need to scratch out all carbs to lose weight because it’s simply not true.

 

If you feel that you are at a sticking point and want to lose weight, reach out to me and I’d be happy to help!

 

Dedicated To Your Success,

Coach Evan

In today’s society, we have created work environments where we are constantly sitting with poor posture which leads to dysfunctions in a lot of areas but especially with shoulder positioning. When you are sitting at a desk, it’s natural to round your shoulders forward and be in a prolonged kyphotic posture which isn’t conducive for shoulder health. It weakens the muscles in your upper back, shoulders, and causes your pectoral muscles to get tight. This can limit your range of motion in the shoulder joint especially in shoulder flexion(when you bring your arms above your head).

 

So what exercise should you do to help improve your posture? Face Pulls!!

 

Face pulls naturally put your shoulders in the proper position since it forces you to externally rotate the shoulder as well as strengthen the muscles in the upper back and posterior deltoids. This is one of my favorite exercises that I use that has helped a lot of my clients get rid of shoulder pain along with improving their posture! Do this exercise consistently and you’ll notice a difference!

 

Dedicated To Your Success,

Coach Evan

I mean this literally.

You can’t fall….

As simple as it sounds, it’s serious and is very common. I’m sure you know of someone who’s older who has taken a fall and hurt themselves. Around 3 million hospital visits are what falls are responsible that usually result in traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, and other various physical injuries.

Some signs that you are at more of a risk to falling include:

-You take short steps while walking

-You have to hold onto railings or other objects to help keep you stable

-You can’t get up and down off the floor comfortably

-You are slow to go up and down the stairs

-You have vision issues

-You have trouble walking and carrying things at the same time

-You can’t stay stable on one leg

These aren’t all of them but enough for you to get the point. There are a lot of factors that can increase your risk of falling and result in serious complications.

The good thing about it is that you can do something that will lower your risk of falling.

Implement strength training into your routine!!

I had a client who was 74 at the time and I had worked with them for 4 months and they took a fall in the shower. HOWEVER, because they had been working with me and got stronger they were able to brace the fall and get up on their own without any serious injuries. They said to me in the next session that “if I hadn’t been working with you before that happened, I’m not sure what would’ve happened”.

The strength they gained is what led his body to be more resilient even at age 74!

So long story short, you have time to prepare yourself and get stronger so you don’t become one of the 3 million that goes to the hospital for a fall. Strength training is your way out.

As always, reach out to me if you need any help or support.

Dedicated To Your Success,

 

Coach Evan

This is a typical problem I see in a lot of people. Both can cause frustration especially when someone is trying to incorporate new habits so they can become healthier in which both of them require different solutions. Here are a couple of examples:

Person
#1: Starting a healthier habit by adding more fruits and
vegetables to their diet but continues to get frustrated because the weight scale isn’t changing.

Solution:
No matter what you eat, in order to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. This means you need to expend more calories than you consume. You could eat 3,000 calories of broccoli and you wouldn’t lose a pound. It doesn’t matter. The amount of calories you eat is what really matters.

Person
#2: They start cutting out a lot of calories because they
realize they are eating way too much. They lose some weight in the beginning but then hit a lasting plateau.

Solution:
You do need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight BUT, it’s only recommended to be in a 200-300 calorie deficit per day. This causes the body to go in starvation mode and ultimately your metabolism suffers along with that which makes it more difficult to lose weight.

There are other components to a successful diet such as calculating the macronutrients percentages and balancing that out but the amount of calories you actually eat and finding out what your optimal calorie intake is more important than that when it comes to weight loss. The easiest route to find your optimal amount of calories is to find out what your Basal Metabolic Rate(how many calories you burn with no physical activity) and measure how many calories you burn a day. BMR calculators are all over the internet so
you can use that to find out what your basal metabolic rate is and then add in the calories you burn everyday. This will give you the amount of calories you need to consume in order to maintain your current weight. So if you are trying to lose weight and your BMR is 1,800 calories and you burn 600 calories throughout the day. This means you burn 2,400 calories a day so you would need to eat anywhere between 2,100-2,200 calories per day to lose weight optimally to start. As you continue to lose weight your BMR will also go down so you will need to continue to cut calories in order to lose weight.

This should give you a heads start to your weight loss journey and if you would like further help, you know where to reach me.

Dedicated
to Your Success,

Coach
Evan

These are two of my clients who I’ve been working with for years now. First, it was Art who was feeling “the old man” coming in. Things were getting more difficult with daily tasks and he decided it was time to invest in a personal trainer like myself to help him.

He was tired of chronic back pain and trouble with balance as well wanting to improve his golf performance. Safe to say he’s made a lot of progress. He is stronger, no longer deals with chronic back pain, improved balance and he hits the ball 20 yards farther!!

So with these results of course his wife Connie gained interest in what he was doing. She was looking to get similar results as Art did but she was dealing with some hip pain. She also has got some great results that include getting stronger, improving body composition, and she no longer deals with hip pain!

So, the reason I bring them up is because strength training has been a big piece of what has been keeping their bodies resilient for the years to come and keep them aging “gracefully”. It becomes even more important to strength train as you get older since it helps prevent falls, helps strengthen muscle/tendons, build up bone density, and many more benefits. Don’t wait. This is something that you need to do if you want to be healthy for the years to come.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you think I can help you!

So when we think of strengthening the core, a lot of times people think of doing sit ups, crunches, and oblique side bends. However, this is not the case. Shocking right?

 

One of the primary functions of the core is to bring stability to the lower half of the torso during any given movement pattern. In order for that stability to happen, the core muscles have to contract isometrically to keep the spine stable. An isometric contraction is a contraction that occurs when the muscles don’t change in length.

 

So what does this mean?

 

Movements like sit ups, crunches, and oblique side bends are concentric contractions that create a movement such as trunk flexion or trunk lateral flexion. These kinds of movements DO NOT teach the body to create a stable spine. They do have their place but if you’re looking to get a stronger core, you need to train your core muscles isometrically.

Good core exercises include:

-Bird dogs

-Carrying variations(farmers carry, suitcase carry, Kettlebell cross carry, etc.)

-Planks

-Deadlifts

-Squats

-Paloff Presses

You do these kinds of exercises daily and you’ll notice your back will be a lot happier with you! 🙂

If you want a FREE core program, send me an email at [email protected]

 

Evan

This is something that really stuck with me because I remember my dad talking about work a while back and he said one time “it doesn’t matter what you do the night before, you have to show up to work”. Basically no matter how you feel, you show up was my take away from that.

 

When it comes to gym, this is the hardest thing for people to do and there is something to be said for showing up even on days that you don’t feel like it. This is what separates people that succeed and people that fail with their fitness goals. Most of the time people just give up because they look in the mirror and they just feel like they are continuing to disappoint themselves and wonder why they even bother continuing to exercise and work hard at the gym since they aren’t getting the results they are looking for. Eventually they just stop going which doesn’t end well. People that are currently going through cycles of starting something then stopping need more accountability.

 

This means hiring a coach. So they can give you both the guidance and accountability to keep you on track with your fitness goals and make you continue to show up!

 

Like always, reach out if you need anything.

 

Coach Evan