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Tony

It’s Too Darn Hot: Keep It Cool During the Hot Weather

We were pretty lucky in June. Temperatures stayed moderate and didn’t hover in the 100-plus range until late in the month. As we head into July and August, the hottest months of the year in Las Vegas, you have to take into account the heat when you’re exercising outside. That includes playing a round of golf, a playing with your kids or even going for a walk in the park.




Exercising in the heat can stress out your lungs and heart because your body temperature rises while you workout and with the heat in the air. Your body reacts by circulating more blood to your skin to cool it off, leaving less blood for your muscles. That makes your heart rate increase. As your body is trying to cool off, you could suffer from heat cramps, heat exhaustion or heatstroke.


A few tips will help you avoid heat-related illnesses and work out comfortably through the summer months.

1. Go slow. Instead of diving into your workout, let your body adapt to the heat. You can increase your intensity and length of workout as your body gets used to the higher temperatures.


2. Hydrate. Your body sweats to help it cool down, and in order to sweat, you need to have plenty of liquids inside you. Make sure to bring along a bottle of water no matter whether you plan to work out for 20 minutes or an hour. Drink it whether you feel thirsty or not. Your body will stay cooler.




3. Dress right. Make sure you’re wearing the right types of clothing while you’re working out. Lightweight clothes that fit loosely help your sweat evaporate. Try to wear lighter colored clothing that doesn’t absorb as much sunlight.


4. Timing is everything. If you do exercise outside, try to time it in the morning or evening when the temperatures are lower.




5. Lather up. A sunburn can hinder your body’s ability to cool off. Wear sunscreen even in the morning and early evening.


6. Listen to your body. If you feel weak or dizzy or develop a headache, muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting or a rapid heartbeat, stop exercising. Get out of the heat, apply water to your skin and fan yourself off. If you still don’t feel better after an hour, call your doctor. If you have a fever over 102 degrees or become faint or confused, seek medical attention.
With these tips, the heat won’t get in the way of exercise.

You are what you think

Every Thursday in June, we ran The Beast — a one-third mile cross-country run with two sets of stairs, 20 walking lunges, 20 push-ups, 20 jumping jacks and a sprint to the finish.



Naturally this exercise tests your cardiovascular system and stamina, but more importantly it’s a battle of mind over matter. Just completing this grueling finisher can be an accomplishment by itself. You have to get over thought that you might not be able to finish. The power of positive thinking can take you a long way toward reaching that goal.

Studies found that negative emotions can weaken people’s immune response to a flu vaccine. A study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin shows that activation of brain regions associated with negative emotions appears to make subjects more susceptible to illness.

Take this idea back to boot camp. One member, Alex, says that nearly every exercise we do is his favorite. Pushups followed by a plank crawl. His favorite. Tai kwon do moves. His favorite. His positive thinking helps him get through the workout without getting frustrated and believing that each exercise really is his favorite.



One way you can get a more positive attitude is to take the three Cs approach — commitment, control and challenge.

Make a commitment to treat yourself well, especially with the gift of good health. Praise yourself when you complete something like The Beast. Dream of running it faster. And be enthusiastic about doing it instead of dreading it.

Control your thoughts. Concentrate on things that are important to you like a healthy lifestyle and a fitness routine. When you learn to set goals and priorities for those things most important to you, you accomplish them a lot faster. If losing weight or gaining muscle tone are important to you, making them a priority will help you accomplish that goal.

Enjoy your successes along the way. If you want to lose 40 pounds, it could take six months to a year to accomplish that goal. Celebrate every 10 pounds that you lose. Setting smaller goals along the way will help you reach your big goal.

Finally, challenge yourself to change and improve on a daily basis. On any given day, you have to do your best and don’t let small setbacks get in the way. Maybe you ate a high-fat dinner last night. Move on and keep working toward your goal without beating yourself up over one lousy meal or a bad workout. Every day that you’re in boot camp, give 100 percent to help you reach your goal.



Any way you apply positive thinking to your life makes you a winner whether in boot camp, with your relationships or work. And that means that the next time we run The Beast, it won’t be as intimidating.

11 Habits to You Need to Quit

Many of my clients who just get started training with me tell me "I've been eating healthy" all I have to do is exercise. I've very quickly learned eating healthy means different things to different people. So, the first thing I have all my new clients do is get started with a food journal.



In the food journal they are to include all the things that goes into their mouth - snacks, chips, drinks, alcohol... everything!

What I find is there are a lot of habits people need to quit.

Here's a list of 11 habits I've seen if food journals that may be sabotaging your success.


1. Thinking diet soda is the answer to your weight loss problems.
While it may eliminate a few extra calories, it's like putting a band-aid on a broken leg. It's just not gonna work. Break the everything I drink must-be-sweet addiction. Switch to water and unsweetened iced tea.


2. Thinking low fat foods are the answer to your weight loss problems.
Same as the above. Just because something is low fat doesn't mean it'll help you lose weight. In fact it still may be loaded with calories so check the calorie content.


3. Having dessert on a regular basis
Even if it's small you may still be taking in an extra 200 - 500 empty calories of sugar and fat which can easily sabotage your weight loss dreams.


4. Eating fast food at 3 AM in the morning.
Unless you work all night, this food is not being used as energy. Go to bed and save a few hundred calories.



5. Getting five hours of sleep every night.
Your body needs to repair and recover to look and feel great and does this when you sleep. Make it your goal to get 8 hours of sleep nightly.


6. Hitting Happy Hour every night after work. Processed food and cheap beer are no way to slim down the waistline. Cut it out!


7. Buying food from vending machines. This isn't real food, stop fooling yourself. Plan in advance and bring your own snacks like: yogurt, cheese, nuts or fruits and vegetables instead.



8. Buying food from convenience stores. 100% of the food you'll find here is either unhealthy or overpriced. Pay for your gas outside and don't even go inside to be tempted.


9. Saying you plan to start eating better just as soon as... (you get a better job, you get a raise, you have more time)
Stop it with the excuses.If you NEED to do it, stop talking and JUST DO IT!

10. Saying you'll quit drinking after this weekend.
I have a friend who says this every week. He's a pretty strong guy but will never loose his spare tire until he cuts down on the drinking.


11. Saying you'll start exercising on Monday Honestly, how many Mondays are you going to let go by. How bout starting today :)



Don't know where to start?

Just go through this blog. Begin with the goal/mindset topics section on the right.



"Nothing changes until you do"


talk to ya later,


Tony