J. Quick

Best Wishes

J. Quick

Therefore, if you want to get a rough sense of how much high fructose corn syrup is in your breakfast cereal, or how much sugar is in your pasta sauce, all you have to do is glance at the ingredients. If sugar or HFCS is one of the top three or four ingredients on the list, then you can safely roll your eyes and put the product back on the shelf. It’s an easy decision-making method for consumers who don’t want to eat over-sweetened food.

Or is it?

Insidious Workarounds

Unfortunately, a quick glance just isn’t enough any more, because many food companies have caught on to us. They know that we’ve all trained ourselves to scan the ingredients and make sure sugar and high fructose corn syrup aren’t near the top of the list.

So they’ve arrived at an insidious workaround that subverts our quick glances, and often leads consumers to underestimate the sugar content of a food. How? By using three, four or even five different kinds of sugar in the food, and listing each sweetener separately.

Thus a sugar-heavy cereal that years ago might have listed sugar as the second ingredient may now be made with sugar, brown sugar, molasses, dextrose and corn syrup solids. And those ingredients may be listed as the sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth and twelfth ingredients, respectively. Here’s the insidious part: the sugar/sweetener content is higher than ever, but sugar now appears sixth instead of second on the list. And the consumer, who quickly glanced and didn’t see sugar among the top three ingredients, is misled into thinking that this food has less sugar than it really does.

Protect Yourself

How can you protect yourself from being misled? Here are three tips:

1. First, you’ll have to read ingredients lists a lot more closely than you did in the past. There’s just no way around it.
2. Second, be on the lookout for the following ingredients–any of them can be used in addition to, or as a substitute for, plain old sugar:
   molasses
   brown sugar
   honey
   maple syrup
   glucose
   fructose
   juice concentrates (these are typically fructose- and glucose-heavy)
   brown rice syrup
   high fructose corn syrup (or HFCS for short)
   corn syrup (an often-used alternate name for HFCS)
   corn syrup solids (HFCS in powder or crystalline form)
   dextrose (a form of glucose, also a sweetener)
   maltodextrin (another sweetener, made up of a chain of glucose molecules)(A brief word on the last two items on this list, dextrose and maltodextrin. Despite having fancy names that don’t sound sweet at all, these two variant forms of glucose are indeed sweeteners.)
3. Third, be aware that when you’re looking at a list of ingredients with multiple sweetening agents, there simply isn’t enough information for you to estimate the total sugar content of that food. However, a good rule of thumb is to assume that any food with three or more sweetening agents has an inappropriately high sugar content.

Walk Away

Finally, let the consumer products companies know that you won’t use your wallet to support hyper-sweetened foods or misleading ingredient labeling. Of course it’s one thing if you’re buying cookies or candy–you’d expect to see sugar and its variants prominently (and repeatedly) listed in the ingredients.

But if you see this labeling technique used with cereal, pasta sauce, prepared dinners or any other food that really shouldn’t contain tooth-aching quantities of sugar, punish that brand immediately. Put the product back on the shelf, shake your head at the shortsightedness of the processed food industry, and slowly walk away.

Here are some benefits of stretching.

• Reduced stress in exercising muscles
• Improves posture; good posture minimizes stress and maximizes strength of all joint movements
• Reduced risk of injury-muscles become more pliable
• Improved performance in everyday activities

Here are detriments of not stretching.

• Increased stress in exercising muscles
• Promotes bad posture; bad posture maximizes stress and minimizes strength of all joint movements
• Increases risk of injury-muscles to become less pliable
• Inhibits performance in everyday activities

In working out proper nutrition needs have to be met. Pre and Post workout meals/snacks. The same rules apply for stretching. Pre stretching is called Dynamic or Active (short stretches in motion) and Post stretching is called Static (stretches held for a prolonged period). So we must stretch before and after.

Here’s a detriment within the Pros of stretching:

When you are to compete or train in a high intense activity for a short period of time, do not engage prolonged stretching. A overly stretched muscle is a weakened muscle. Those static or prolonged stretches should take place after your competition or training session, not before. It would be equivalent to getting a massage and leave the body spent, meaning that your fast twitch muscles (which are needed for high intense movement) will not fire off at their maximal potential. To be explosive requires the recruitment of fast twitch  muscles. When you get into the mode of grinding and overly stretching, you will defeat the purpose of quickness, speed and explosiveness. So in preparation for high intensity activities, it’s best to keep the warmup short and specific using Dynamic or Active stretches.

Here’s an advantage and a detriment within the Cons of not stretching:

In a nutshell, you can explode in any movement from an unwarned up or cold state of being. The muscles are ready to fire off, but injury can occur during movement and the muscles won’t lengthen at the maximal potential because one isn’t warmed up properly.

So depending on the activity, weather it’s a sprint or a long distance run as an example, you must choose the proper stretching technique. Regardless of which, the fact remains, YOU MUST STRETCH!!! Choosing the right time to stretch Dynamically or Statically is crucial to performance.

Remember flexibility is the measure of the range of motion (ROM) around a joint, capable of withstanding stress or stretched without injury/damage.

How are you stretching?

Truth is that so many people are caught up into buying fitness gadgets and devices that all promise fast results. Having spent tons of money because of false advertisement that guarantee the look of an action figure, they quickly become disappointed. Therefore these gadgets aren’t used anymore, take up space and turn a house into a gym of unused equipment.

The solution is not to be too machine and gadget dependent. If one is working out for the first time, it should begin by doing bodyweight exercises. This way the core strength, balance and stability can be developed. Machines and gadgets assist movement, so one isn’t fully doing the work, meaning majority is being done by these instruments. Being too dependent on these devices only leads to a downward spiral of being deconditioned. When those devices are not available, one will find it difficult to utilize proper form when doing exercises without them.

Devices leave us in a fixed, isolated position stressing very few to one particular muscle group during exercise. This is because it only allows movement in few planes of motion
(up, down, forward and back). The human body is functional and should move in other planes of motion as well (side to side and rotational).

Bodyweight exercises recruit more muscle groups together, instead of stressing one muscle, allowing functional movement in all directions thereby reducing the risk of injury.

Examples of injury:

1. Lifting a toddler up and turning sideways to place them in a carseat.
This may cause tension in the upper and lower back.

Correction:

Use exercises that target the core, obliques and upper/lower back. Such as sit-ups, planks, side bends and trunk twists.

2. Running only on treadmills is okay for inclement weather or time constraints.  But one wrong step while the belt is motion can send you flying off, resulting in twisting an ankle or hyperextending the knees.

Correction:

Running outdoors on grass or sand from time to time so your feet, ankles and knees can adjust to different types and levels of terrain, instead of the treadmill belt pulling your legs doing half the work.

Before an individual attempts to use machines and gadgets, one needs to develop core strength, balance and stability. Most of injuries occur because people are not properly developed. They exercise in one plane of motion and try to progress to functional movements too soon. Bodyweight exercises work directly with the nervous system making it easier to adjust to different environments. Such as performing exercises indoors/outdoors, while stationary or in motion.

Good ole fashion hard work doesn’t hurt at all. Seek advice from a Fitness Professional

How much lung consumption of oxygen and the expelling of carbon dioxide rely on your core. The medical term called “PULLING”, in regards to breathing refers to using the stomach to inflate/deflate instead of proper lung usage.

Strengthen the core muscles to improve your cardio performance. Try to work both sides of the coin by using both abdominal and lower back exercises. Having both sides working together will make your workouts easier.

The body breaks down in 3 stages. 1st it burns the carbs, 2nd it starts biting away your fat, 3rd it starts eating away at your protein (muscle mass) meaning your body will start eating itself. So make sure you have adequate amounts of carbs, healthy fats and protein in your diet. 

The last thing we want to do is lose lean mass. We lose a pound of lean mass per year after our 20′s, so it’s important to take action and change our way of eating. Healthy eating will increase your workouts and help the metabolism.

If you like to sleep late, you may find it difficult to go without eating anything leading to the a.m. hours.  The rule of the thumb is not to eat 3 hours close to bedtime. So if you go to sleep at 1 a.m. this means no food after 10 p.m.
You don’t want to eat late at night because your food may not digest properly. This can cause upset stomach, gas and cramps.  Some people who complain about bloating never realize that it’s from the gas and food particles left over from improper digestion. This can be avoided if you cut down the late night eating. The body must rid itself of toxins. So if your belly is full while sleeping, those toxins just lie there overnight because you’re system slows down while resting.
Eating late at night also forces your body to use its energy on digestion. The purpose of sleep is to help you recuperate from the day. Meaning you want your body to be as relaxed as possible so you can wake up energized.
Now realistically we will have a tendency to cheat occasionally.  So if you must cheat, then eat something healthy like a piece of fruit or a very small handful of nuts.
Anything other than a light snack will stunt your metabolism. Meaning your body will go from fat burning to fat storage.

Here are some benefits to eating before your workout:

It can boost recovery and strength gains.
It can help you sustain longer, more intense workouts.
It can help you avoid low blood sugar, which can make you feel dizzy or nauseous.
It can make your workouts more enjoyable (since you’re not thinking about eating the whole time).

The bottom line is that you need to fuel your body for best performance. Some people workout so early, they think they don’t have time to eat anything. The best answer to this is to have a little snack before. Don’t go hungry just because you think you’re burning more fat…after all, if you cut it short or lower the intensity because of low energy, how much fat are you burning anyway?

If you do eat before a workout, make sure you give your body time to digest it. The larger the meal, the more time you’ll need. Solid meals should be consumed approximately 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs prior to working out. Liquid meals 1 hr to 1 1/2 hrs prior. That’ll give the meal time to digest. You want your meal to reach the intestines instead of it remaining in the stomach. About 1 fist or 1 fist and a 1/2 sized portion will do just fine.
But, if you choose a light snack (100-200 calories) and stick with higher carbs, you can probably exercise after about 45-60 minutes.

Try some of these pre-workout snacks to prepare your body for exercise:

Banana (or other type of fruit)
Yogurt
Energy Bar
Fruit Smoothie (freshly made)
Sports Drink
Wheat Toast or Oatmeal (good carbs)
Egg Whites (best overall protein source)

Your Personal Trainer

Jason Quick

The role of the core is vital in all movement.

It’s main purpose is to stabilize the spine and to resist extension/rotation. The core also is a wall of muscles that protects some of your vital organs. Over 90% of movement involves core contraction. In exercise and in everyday movement. Getting up from a seated or lying position, walking, running, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting and so on. Most lower back problems and injuries occur because the core muscles are weak. Also having a weak core contributes to having some breathing irregularities. How much lung consumption of oxygen and the expelling of carbon dioxide rely a lot on the core muscles.

For some, most of the day is spent sitting down.

Waking up, they rise from a lying position leave home and go to work, get in the car or some other form of transportation and sit back down. At work they approach their desk or work area and sit down again. Feeling guilty from sitting all day they goto a gym, pick a machine and sit down some more. Tired, they go back home to lay down.

This leads to further deconditioning of the body, flexibility and lack of functional movement. There’s little to no core contraction or stimulation from a seated position.

Instead, take the stairs instead of the elevator if time permits. Try exercising standing up instead of letting seated fixed machines govern our natural body movement. This challenges our core’s neuromuscular system to act, react and contract.

Using my exercise regimen and methods at quickboxing, you will gain core strength, more balance and stability aiding in your overall functional movement.

Because it’s core ALL THE TIME!!!

Got Core?