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Dec 07
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Preserve the Aging Process With Fitness

Prevent & Preserve the Aging Process With Fitness – Pure Motivation Fitness

By Workout

How are you? coach Dimitri here!

It’s time we open up a topic that not too many of us want to talk about and thats aging!  Yes I know, as much as we don’t like to talk about it, its going to happen its inevitable and like my favourite saying, ” there are 3 things we cant hid from in life” and thats  Taxes, Death and Fitness, eventually we will break down and get weaker.  However there is a way to prevent, prolong and ensure it doesn’t happen that fast.   Ive listed a few different methods of exercise that helps different age groups and saved the best one (Strength Training) for last.  Hope you enjoy this and if you do, forward it to a friend, co-worker or family member that you feel it can help.

Fitness and Aging

In September we celebrate grandparents, but the truth is we’re all getting older. And with age comes a natural decline in our bodies and our brains.  While we can’t stop the clock, there are ways to keep your muscles active and your brain sharp. Exercise has proven to reverse age related declines in our bodies and minds. 

First things first if you haven’t reached mid-life yet, maintaining an active lifestyle will ensure you’re able to get out of your chair when you’re 80. Studies have found that age related decline starts earlier than previously thought. At age 50 our balance, strength and endurance are already diminishing. By age 55 studies have found participants that did not engage in regular activity had thinking skills similar to those of a 90-year-old.

Here are few exercises and their anti-aging benefits.

Walking

You don’t need fancy equipment to implement this into a habit. Daily walking at least 30 minutes a day is proven to prevent or manage heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. It helps strengthen your muscles and bones and enhances your balance and coordination. If that’s not enough to get you up and moving, walking also helps protect against dementia, peripheral artery disease, depression, colon cancer and even erectile dysfunction. If you’ve reached a point in life where it hurts to move, find every opportunity to take a few steps. Your health improves with every step you take.

Swimming

If you suffer from joint pain jump in and swim. Swimming can help increase flexibility and reduce join inflammation. It’s other anti-aging benefits include lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as reducing your risk for heart disease and dementia.

Tai Chi

Tai Chi is a strength training exercise that includes a series of flowing movements. The beauty of Tai chi is that regardless of age or physical capabilities it can be done by almost anyone.  Tai chi helps build and preserve muscle while focusing the mind.  It helps improve bone strength, joint stability, cardiovascular health and emotional well-being. Because it targets leg strength, flexibility, range of motion and reflexes it helps improve balance and reduces the risk of falling, which is a major concern as we age.

Cycling

Research done with 125 amateur cyclists aged 55-79 had more muscle mass, less body fat and lower cholesterol levels compared to the 75 participants who were sedentary during the study. It also showed a younger immune system. The thymus glands that produces key immune cells called T-Cells shrinks at age 20 decreasing T-cell production. This same study found that the amateur cyclists’ bodies were producing just as many T-Cells as a younger person.

Strength Training (the Best of all types of exercise for any body type, any age, any level)

Starting at age 30 our body loses 8-10% of its muscle mass every decade, which also results in a decrease in your metabolism. Strength training using your own body weight or with light weights just twice a week can drastically cut those percentages to only 1-2% a decade. Strength training also decreases the risk of osteoporosis or bone fractures by increasing bone density and strengthening your tendons and ligaments. The improved muscle and bone strength decrease your risk of injury or falling and allows you to be more resistant to general aches and pains.

If you need help starting a fitness program and your not a member with us or for your family member just click on this link to schedule a Complimentary 1on1 Fitness Assessment & Movement Screening with one of our staff!

Despite your age or how you’re feeling it’s never too late to start. Our bodies were created to move so keep them moving. Incorporate cardio and strength training exercises into your daily routine to keep your body and brain young.

Until next time, remember that your ATTITUDE is Everything!

Dimitri Giankoulas
Fitness, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach

P. S. Hope you enjoyed this tip and dont forget to follow us on Instagram & Facebook by clicking the links below.  We want to help everyone improve their fitness!

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Dec 06
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As Canadians Are We Exercising Enough

Is the Fat Burning Zone a Myth?

By Workout

how are you?

I remember when I started in the fitness industry , now over 10 years ago, I remember the recommendation for the ‘fat burning zone’ was to stay at 60% of your max heart rate. These were the recommendations provided and if you even see, some cardio machines still have that ‘target’ zone listed for optimal fat burning results.

Thankfully, exercise science has continued to evolve , rapidly, of course with the increasing knowledge of the all around benefits of physical activity but also, with the rising rates of obesity worldwide. Science doesn’t lie and thankfully this myth has been debunked!

You don’t have to be a science buff to understand this so don’t worry – It’s Friday and our brains are slowly starting to shut off so we won’t get into too much science detail!!

From a qualitative point of view, when you are training at 60 % of your max HR, you are still able to hold a conversation. When we think about just that for a second and for all the people that have lost pounds of body fat through their journeys, they can tell you that its definitely NOT easy and lots of sweat and out of breath moments are required! There isn’t complete non sense to this claim though. It is true, that at rest or lower intensities, our bodies do use fat as energy more vs in higher intensities.

So… The reason why working in higher intensity zones is more recommended nowadays HITT training – High Intensity Interval Training) is for two reasons.

Image result for HIIT training

1. Higher Caloric Expenditure :You burn more calories working in higher intensity zones which in turn, still applies to the calories in calories out rule that you need to be burning more then you are consuming

2. EPOC effect: Working in higher intensities, especially when applying load ( resistance training), forces your body to burn more calories at rest post work out (thus,  increased fat burning). This is called the EPOC effect and stands for Excessive Post Oxygen Consumption. Due to the limited supply of oxygen able to get into your muscles during interval based training, your body lets a surge of it come into the muscle cell when you are done working out, for hours.

Now, the key thing is to not get turned off by this ‘higher intensity ‘ training. Consult a fitness professional and they can guide you to ensuring you start with the right capacity of interval training for you.

Need more guidance ? Lets chat!

Before we end off, Coach Melissa is having an AMAZING event coming up next weekend, Sat Nov 16th.

Our first ever Women’s only Bootcamp and Seminar and the best thing about it – its free!

This event is open to members and non – members.

Attitude is Everything,

www.puremotivationfitness.com

Pure Motivation Fitness Studio | 1410 Major Mackenzie Drive Unit C1 , Vaughan, Ontario, L6A 4H6

Dec 06
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Do Vegetarians lack in Nutritional Macros

Do Vegetarians lack in Nutritional Macros?

By Nutrition

I’ve written this email with the intent to showcase the positive effects, discuss some myths and give back some information about Vegetarian Diets despite me personally being a full out carnivore and prefer a mixture of a Mediterranean Diet.

As a fitness coach for over 23 years my main concern when it comes to helping my members follow or stick to a diet is that FEMALEStry to maintain a min or average of .8 -1g or protein per pound of body weight and for MALESto consume 1-1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight.  Sometimes even suggesting 1.7-2g of protein per pound of bodyweight depending on the size and height of the athlete and how much lean mass they have.

Say what you will about vegetarianism, but the truth of the matter is more and more people are making the change to a plant-based diet, even if it’s only one day of the week hence meatless Monday.  October 1stwas World Vegetarian Day, but the day has been expanded to Vegetarian Awareness Monthto celebrate and highlight the benefits of a plant-based diet.  Stereotypes come with every “diet”, but vegans and vegetarians face some misconceptions that are held with popular beliefs. Here are a few myths we are busting  up about vegetarians.

Myth 1-Vegetarians and Vegans don’t get enough protein?

Despite the stereotypes associated with vegetarianism and its many forms, if you want to be a bad ass and think about it plants provide ten times more protein per acrethan meat.  Which means vegans and vegetarians have a variety of protein sources including: beans (black, soy, garbanzo, etc.), nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews) quinoa, leafy greens, tofu, tempeh, seitan, buckwheat, seeds (hemp, pumpkin, etc.) jackfruit.  Plus, plant-based proteins contribute to a more heart healthy diet because they contain more fiber and less saturated fat than meat.

However, if a client or person wishing to shed bodyfat doesn’t understand how their mesomorphicor endomorphicmetabolism and body types contribute to eating a diet that is typically higher in carbs and less in protein they can spike blood sugars very easily and store more sugar to fat than they want to.  That’s why you should always mix a plant based protein with a carb either something high in fiber (fruits & veggies) or a healthy nutrient dense measured out grain based carb (quinoa, oats, wild /brown rice, grain crackers ect) and a healthy fat (avocado, olives, cheese, nuts, seeds, nut butter, salmon, sardines) so that you eat all 3 macronutrients tougher and slow down the release of the carb you choose to not spike blood sugar.

Myth 2- If you don’t include dairy in your diet you have weak bones?

Most people think of vegans and vegetarians as waifs or skinny and weak because they think:  A – they don’t get enough protein and B – because they don’t get the nutrients from consuming dairy products. First, not all vegetarians are against dairy. Vegans don’t eat anything that comes from animals including dairy and eggs, but most vegetarians are Ovo Lacto Vegetariansand consume eggs and dairy. So if anything I highly recommend anyone who is Vegetarian to follow this slightly less restrictive form as you can beautifully consume higher amounts of protein per pound of bodyweight male and female and thus never be catabolic (where your losing lean mass due to being more active and consuming less protein than your body requires or are deficient.   Someone that is an Ovo Lacto Vegetarian can for example have fresh omelettes with 4-5 whites and 1-2 yolks a few times per day and consume a total of 25-45g of protein per serving!  Add some delicious burrata cheese, Mozzarella, Ricotta or Feta cheese to every salad per day and there can easily be another 15-35g per day so this is more something that I can give my Spartan Stamp of Approval to.

However,even if you are vegan, the nutrients needed for good bones – calcium, vitamin D and protein – can be found in kale, broccoli, bok choy, tofu and soymilk.  So for anyone that claims that Vegans or Vegetarians have poor bone help take a hike because your mistaken.  There is a difference between what macronutrients and vitamins are needed for muscle grown and sparing and other foods for bone health.  Anyone that claims to talk down to a Vegetarian Diet is simply uneducated and needs to know that facts!

Myth 3- If it’s vegetarian it’s healthy?

Wouldn’t that be amazing! But that is absolutely not true.  Sugar is vegetarian and is a huge contributor to obesity and other diseases. It’s easy as a vegetarian to load up on processed foods like veggie burgers or “chikn” because it doesn’t take a lot of work, but those processed foods can be full of sugar, oils and sodium.  Remember unlike a lean piece of red meat, chicken, turkey, or fish being grilled on a BBQ with minimal to now sugar ALL the MEATLESS PATTIES consumed are full of ingredients to help promote and extend shelf like because its man-made. And, to add to it there are many labels to claim they are PURE Vegetarian but have ingredients like sugar, and corn syrup as the first 2 ingredients meaning they are of highest values.

However,As expected with a well-balanced diet that for anyone in general should try to avoid processed foods and make sure it looks like it was yanked out of Yia Yia or Nona’s garden (grandmother in Greek & Italian).

Myth 4- A vegetarian diet is full of carbs?

Carbs are not a bad word and yes, vegetarians on average consume more carbs than meat eaters, but a vegetarian meal isn’t just pasta. Just like a well-balanced diet that includes meat, requires planning, so does a vegetarian diet. While it’s easy to whip up a vegetarian pasta dish, make sure you’re eating whole food sources of carbohydrates. They contain more water and fiber to make and keep you full and don’t contain added sugar, fats or chemicals. Oats, beans, root vegetables and fruit are all whole foods sources.

That’s why is essential for anyone who wishes to change or stick to an ALL VEGAN or some form of LACTO OVO or VEGETARIAN diet that they learn the importance of knowing how to gauge and measure your macros so you can properly and precisely create a plate that has a mixture of food that all give you protein , carbs and fat.

For Example:

a)   Breakfast of 3/4c beans with 1/2c diced veggies +1.5 tbsp of olive oil and 2oz of nuts and feta cheese

b)   Protein shake with khale, +water + ½ avocado and nut butter

c)    Mixed green salad with 1/2c chick peas , 1/2c pumpkin seeds, 1tbsp olive oil and vinegar and1 cup of red cabbage

***All these are a great mix of min 25-30g of protein, 25-50 g of carb and 10-25g of healthy fats.  This is way better than just having oats and fruit for breakfast or salad nd fruit on it. ****

However,Plants are full of phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber and eating a plant-based diet is one of the most nutrient dense, healthy ways of eating and dieting because lets face it if your 25-55lbs over weight it 80% due to you eating months or years of highly processed foods, carbs or nutrient deficient caloires and not moving enough…So…if you want to shed the “cheecho” (Italian for love handles)its time to imagine replacing your carbs you eat each day in high amount to veggies in each day in high amounts and watch how fast your tummy and thighs slim down.

YES ITS THAT EASY!!!!

But it takes work and thoughtful planning to reap the benefits of this lifestyle. Make one small change this month, even if it’s finally including a meatless Monday, to celebrate plants as a bountiful food source.

ATTITUDE is everything,

Dimitri Giankoulas

Fitness, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach

***LETS SCHEDULE A “FITNESS DISCOVERY CALL***

Fitness, Personal Training & Nutrition Counselling is my life’s work!  I was born to Motivate, Educate & Inspire so lets help you book a 15min Fitness Discovery Call (or if your really serious and want to fast track) a Fitness Assessment so we can help you solve any Exercise, Nutrition or Motivation problems you may be having by clicking here: https://go.oncehub.com/DimitriGiankoulas

 

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Nov 27
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What is Strength Training

What is Strength Training? Why Is It Important?

By Workout

Today I wanted to touch on a type of training that, pound for pound is probably the most effective type of exercise. For many reasons that we will get to below!

Now, let’s start off. What is strength training?

Strength training is using muscular force against resistance. Muscles adapt to any type of resistance.

The resistance can be a heavy object, one’s own body weight, elastic resistance from bands, or other types of machine resistance from pulleys or hydraulics. The object could be a kettlebell, free weight, another person — anything that has mass.

Different types of equipment that can provide resistance :

Barbells

Dumbbells

TRX suspension training

Kettlebells

Sandbags

Medicine Balls

Resistance/Rubber Bands

Resistance Machines

Calisthenics

Why is strength training so important?

-improving the ability to coordinate your moving parts

-improving how quickly you can generate force to move against the resistance

-building muscle tissue

-strengthening connective tissues such as tendons

-Improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity

-Maintains and enhances muscle mass

-Maintains and enhances metabolic rate

-Improves bone density

-Decrease chance of injury

-Improves ability to engage in daily activities

-Decreases bad cholesterol levels

-Improves balance

-Improves self-esteem

-Enhances strength and endurance

-Enhances speed, power and agility

-Improves body composition

-Decreases blood pressure

-Improves aerobic capacity

When muscle metabolism is altered, it can contribute to the development of many chronic diseases. Maintaining muscle mass with strength training can help to prevent some of the most common health conditions, including obesity and diabetes.

Who can strength train?

In the past, strength training was primarily used by athletes to enhance performance and/or increase muscle size.

However, strength training is now recognized as critical to everyone’s health and fitness — regardless of gender, age, or ability. Leading health organizations, including the ACSM (American Council of Sport and Medicine) recommend regular strength training as part of one’s fitness regimen.

With a properly constructed workout program that is tailored to individual goals and skills, anyone can strength train: men, women, children, adolescents, older people and people with disabilities or movement limitations.

According to  the Journal of Clinical Interventions in Aging:

“Human aging results in a variety of changes to skeletal muscle. Sarcopenia is the age-associated loss of muscle mass and is one of the main contributors to musculoskeletal impairments in the elderly. Previous research has demonstrated that resistance training can attenuate skeletal muscle function deficits in older adults. Resistance training offers numerous benefits beyond improvements in muscle strength alone for older individuals. Several reports have demonstrated improvements in balance, functional mobility, stability limits, and fall prevention.”

So what should i do?

Firstly, it depends on movement quality. An assessment screen of an individuals movement is essential. Factors can be age, occupation, lifestyle and fitness/movement experience.

Ensure to get a professional to screen your movement quality and then provide the proper demand to meet your bodies capacity.

What is your Goal?

For strength and power, focus on complex, multi-joint, “movement plane” exercises such as squats, deadlifts, pull ups, rows, weighted jumps, etc. You can also use “functional” type exercises such as sandbag carries, sledgehammer swings, and tire flips.

**Volume, Intensity, Frequency and Type of exercises all are crucial

  • For muscle mass gain, you can use strength and power-type exercises (with medium loads) as well as targeted body part isolation exercises, such as biceps curls or triceps extensions.
  • For endurance (for sport or rehab), you can use strength and power-type exercises (with lighter loads) as well as targeted body part isolation exercises.
  • Many rehab-type exercises involve building endurance in specific body parts using very small movements (such as arm raises) with very light loads.

**1RM = 1 Repetition Maximum, maximum amount of weight that a person can possibly lift for one repetition

*sources from Precision Nutrition and the Journal of Clinical Aging

Stay tuned for more on strength training and how to make your workouts harder next this week!

Until next time,

Daniel

Interested in learning more about our programs? 

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Nov 26
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5 Ways To Get Over A Plateau Period

5 Ways To Get Over A Plateau Period

By Workout

Your either one of our dedicated Spartan members,  or you’ve just started a healthy lifestyle journey and at first the weight was coming off quickly and then as you got into your routine the numbers tapered off, and then you’ve hit a wall and the numbers aren’t changing. Whether you’re looking to lose weight or bulk up a plateau is part of the journey. They’ll come a time where your body gets used to what you’ve been putting it through, and you’ll need to reevaluate and readjust to get the numbers moving. Here are a few ways to get over the plateau.

Trust me, Ive been there too and this is my 23rd year of training!  You figure that by now I would have the perfect formula figured out right? Well, not exactly.  The body is the most miraculous invention known to man and humans are the most adaptable species on the planet, so when our bodies begins to understand and get used to the way we shock it we need to provide it new stimulus and principles of exercise, eating and intensity to break out of the plateau period and today Ive put together 4 of my easiest ways to do so.  Hope you enjoy them!

1#  Calorie Adjustments

If you’ve been losing weight your body requires less energy to fuel the new you, however, on the other end of the spectrum if you’re looking for more muscle your body will need more to fuel the new muscle mass you’ve acquired. Revise your caloric intake based on your goals. Whether your goal is to lose or gain, make sure you’re implementing more fresh foods and less processed and begin to Log your food using this food journal and lets look at what types of areas your either under eating ( as in not enough protein every 3-4 hours) or over eating (as in eating too many fruits, grains or portion servings).  The body is unique and will only adjust or do what you tell it to, just like a computer we are the ones responsible for the outcome so dont get upset when your starting to stick or plateau!

2#  Change Up Your Routine

{{first_name}}, once you’ve established a routine that works it can be hard to stray from what’s been working, but if you’re not seeing the progress you’re aiming for it’s time for a change.  Chugging away on a treadmill or elliptical machine might have started your weight loss, but try incorporating HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training, to burn body fat.  If you’ve been pumping the same iron and your guns are no longer blazing you can change up your sets, rather than volume focus on intensity so instead of 3 sets of 10, do 10 sets of 3.

Try doing active rest principles (yes I said active rest…like skipping in between sets, slamming a heavy ball against a wall or floor or try pushing a heavy sled with weight in between sets.  You can also simply add an abdominal or core exercise in between every set you do as well if you don’t have access to a sled, or brick wall).

#3 Protein, Protein, Protein

Protein is essential for weight loss or weight gain.  Eating proteins burns more calories during digestion and contains an amino acid, leucine, that initiates your body to burn fat.   Didi also mention it gives you more satiety (feeling full) when you add it to every meal.  Just like your workouts your body can get used to what you eat. If you’ve been sticking to skinless, boneless chicken and eggs as your protein sources, change it up. Incorporate cod, beans, turkey, or quinoa into your meals.  Try adding 1scoop of protein powder + 1cup of water (or almond milk) +ice + 1tbsp of peanut butter and some spinach to your in-between snacks mid day between breakfast and lunch and then again between lunch and dinner 1!  Your body needs more protein to build stronger muscle mass as you train and improve so if you dont supply it how the heck and you break your plateau?

4# Take a break!

This may seem crazy {{first_name}}, but going full steam ahead on your goals is great, but sometimes your body needs a break. Take a week off and let your body reset. Taking a break isn’t just good for your body it’s good for your mental health also.  Despite what you may be thinking, taking a week off isn’t going to mean you’re back at square one. Studies have found there isn’t much change in a week. If you do decide to take a break, continue to pay attention to what you’re eating, don’t go crazy and fill up on sugar and fat, but do treat yourself. When you get back to the gym you’ll feel like a new person and you’ll be ready to work harder.

 5# Analyze what your actual doing right and wrong!

Sometimes we place too much stress on the body and expect it to just change, sizzle off unwanted fat and pump up with new lean muscle mass despite all the junk we sometimes put inside of it or the lack of change or new stimulus we provide.  Log your ACTUAL workouts on a calendar, are you actually sticking to the frequency you say are?  Log how high your intensity is with your heart rate monitor? Log if your doing any additional cardio on the off days? Log if your routine has been the same for more than 4-5 weeks?  Log how many times you drank wine in a week? How  many times you had ice cream 3 hours before bed… The list goes on but if you cant log what your doing you cant track or change anything.   Greg Glassman the founder of Cross Fit said the best line that I always quote,  What cannot be logged or measured cannot be defined!  Let that one sit with you today!

Bottom line…Plateaus happen, it’s a part of the journey. Know your numbers and you’ll know when things are starting to slow down. If you’ve tried making changes and still don’t see a difference talk to your doctor to make sure there are no underlying concerns.

Just remember your ATTITUDE Is EVERYTHING,

DIMITRI GIANKOULAS
Owner

P.S. if you feel you or someone you know needs a push, needs some motivation, or needs a slap of PURE Motivation forward this email to them or have them try our amazing 15 Day Trial by clicking here

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