Whats in your Core?

So Whats in YOUR CORE?

I was asked to do a blog on core exercises. Now I could just rattle off a bunch of exercises and simply say "I hope this helps". But I won't. WHY? Because simply giving you a list of exercises without educating you would make this useless.

First thing that has to be said is.......(drumroll please). If your diet isn't in check you will have a difficult time trimming your waist line. We all know those people who proudly say they do 100 crunches a day, 5 days a week and its not working. This same person is probably eating fried chicken wings right now and drinking a can of  Beer. So in my previous blogs I talked about knowing what your Calorie intake should be, so that is a good starting point.

Second thing that has to be said is........ You can not just work your abs. There is NO such thing as targeted weight loss. Your body determines where you will lose the weight. So those 100 crunches a day will not help you shed weight just in your mid section. A total body workout is needed to truly benefit and see results in how your clothes fit and what you see in the mirror.

Third thing that has to be said is..... Your Core is not just one muscle. You core is actually made up of several muscles. Without boring you with an anatomy lesson. Just take a look at this picture below.

Your Core also includes muscles in your back and hips etc.

Now its very important that you have a strong core. A weak core can cause various problems, the most common being Low Back Pain. 

A weak abdominal area tends to pull the back forward  or causes the lower back to arch.  So many of  you know people who have larger midsections and they tend to have constant lower back pain, knee pain, foot pain and are prone to injury on a regular basis. 

These injuries are a result of a weak core

So the first thing you should do aside from taking the time to clean up your diet by tracking your calories is to work on your stabilizer muscles. These muscles are the ones working behind the scenes. 

A good  starting exercise for working on your core is a Two Legged Floor Bridge. 

You will lay on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. You will then engage your abs and glutes and lift your buttocks off of the floor keeping hips, knees and shoulders in line. This exercise should be done for 3 sets of 12 reps and work your way up to 20 reps.

#2 Core stabilizer exercise is the Plank. Now many people think they have to get all the way down on the floor for a plank. Actually there are modified ways to do a plank.

 The First way is a plank with your knees on the floor. You want to make sure your shoulders, back and hips are flat.  Try holding this position for 30-60 seconds for 3 sets. If this position is too difficult you can always place your arms on a bench and have your knees or feet on the floor.

The second way is the traditional way to do a plank. This can be held for 30-60 seconds for 3 sets. 

So now that you have worked on stabilizing your core you can add in strengthening exercises

1. For my Upper Abs I like to use the Stability Ball for Crunches. You can do these for 3 sets of 12 Reps and over time you can increase the intensity by adding resistance  by holding dumbbells or a medicine ball in front of you. Keep the weight close to your body.

2.  For my Obliques or the SPARE TIRE. The Second exercise I like doing are Trunk rotations, Russin Twist or Torso Twist. You sit on the floor with your knees bent holding a medicine ball or dumbbell rotating from left to right. This can be done standing as well. 3 sets of 12 reps on both sides.

3. And Lastly for the Lower Abs I like doing reverse crunches. Lying on the floor with your knees bent. Lift your hips off of the floor while bringing your knees towards your chest. This can be done 3 sets for 12 reps.

So  I hope you learned a lot from this post. Please let me know what you think and feel free to Share!

Ebony Pearson, NASM-CPT,LWMS 

Reverse Diet Week 1/ Day 4

Cheat Meals?

Many people feel the need to have a "Cheat Meal" every week or weekend. In some respects a meal high in carbs but low to moderate fat content, can provide the right metabolic jolt to over come a weight loss plateau. Typical "cheat meals" or "refeeds" may be necessary every 6 to 12 days based on a person's body type and previous progress.  However, it takes a reduction of 3500 calories per WEEK to lose 1lb of fat. This means if you are strict on your diet Monday through Friday, but Saturday and Sunday you eat 3500 excess calories. Don't expect to lose a pound. 


So what am I trying to get at? You have to be consistent to see results. And as all of you know my philosophy on eating is portion control on the foods that you like to eat. The control is making sure it fits within the appropriate amount of calories or protein, fat and carbohydrate plan your on. 


Be consistent, Be successful! 


Ebony Pearson, NASM-CPT, LWMS 

What should I eat to get rid of my belly fat?

What should I eat to get rid of my belly fat?

This is a question that's often asked. Fueled by the misconception that specific foods can help you burn fat specifically in your belly. This misconception is used by  those who have created certain kitchen appliances that allow you to create tasty drinks loaded with vitamins and minerals. But even those drinks aren't the solution to losing your belly fat.

I know you really want a list of things to eat to help you trim that waist. Maybe I'll tell you what I eat? No, that won't help either. There is no fast way to answer or solve this problem.  The best thing to do is evaluate your diet. You probably are over-eating. Remember a few blogs ago I talked about knowing your metabolic rate? Well by evaluating your metabolic rate and the foods that your eating you can determine if your eating too much. 

Typically a calorie tracker will have a certain calorie count it wants you to have. That same calorie count = Protein  (4 cals per gram), Carbs (4 cals per gram), and Fat (9 cals per gram). If your Macros (protein, carbs, and fat) are out of balance you could be eating too much or not enough of one or more macros. 

For instance, say  your on a 1500 calorie diet. You eat a 1,000 calorie lunch thats 60 grams of fat, 86 grams of Carbs and 29 grams of protein. Just this meal alone is more than half of your calories. Your fat intake in this meal more than likely is over what you can metabolize on a daily basis, your carbs are prob more than half of what you can burn as well. 

And the burner is "What are the chances you won't eat again? " I highly doubt you will skip meals for the rest of the day. But wait you have 500 calories left! However,since you pretty much maxed out on your fat and carbs your left with a plate of low to no-fat Protein to chew on. Highly doubt that you will be ok eating this way.

You see eating a balanced diet of protein, carbs and fat will reduce the possibility of over eating. By not over eating you can actually lose weight in your midsection. All of the food items labeled as belly fat busters aren't the way to solve things. If thats all you ate, you  could easily still over eat and  lack adequate balance of carbs, protein and fat.  

So whats this about balance of calories. Its science and in the world of exercise and fitness science wins. 

A balanced or portion controlled way of eating will allow you to enjoy food but keep your calories in check. There are no special foods or secret detoxes. Eat what you like, but keep your portions in check. 

Where can you find your portions?

A nutrition facts label of course. Here is a resource to check out: http:// www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm274593.htm 

The nutrition facts label (a picture of one is at the bottom of the page) lets you know the serving size and measurement for the calories listed. This is a key ingredient to tracking your calories or macros because each label will list the total Protein,  Carbs and Fat. Using this label to measure your portions will definitely help you monitor your intake. 

I will say that treats from time to time are ok. But you want to consume nutrient dense foods as much as possible. This will help keep you full longer and your body running on high octane fuel!

If you have questions regarding macros or balanced/flexible eating please contact me at epearson@pearsonpersonalfitness.com to schedule an appointment.

How many calories can I burn Sitting on the couch?

I find that many people are unaware of their Basal Metabolic Rate aka BMR. Now don't get this mixed up with your Body Mass Index or BMI thats a whole other subject in relation to your level of health risk.

Now back to the BMR. Now we all have different metabolic rates. Unfortunately, the older you get the slower the metabolism. 

But, consistent exercise is the key to keeping your metabolic rate as high as possible.

There is also the issued of a damaged metabolism due to repeated bouts of dieting. This is  typically the result of FAD diets. 

Fad diets come and go and they leave behind thousands of people. People who rebound from their drastic weight loss by gaining  back what they lost and some. 

 Why? Because  FAD diets can't be sustained for long periods of time. In fact, it tends to create a bad relationship with food.  

I've personally been one of those people. I went on a low carb diet for approximately 12 weeks and ended up gaining 14 lbs in a matter of weeks. 

Why? Because I wasn't educated enough to know how to ease myself back into regular  balanced eating and I definitely didn't know what my BMR was at the beginning or end of my diet. And lets say my coach at the time didn't either.

So lets see how we can break this math session down.

First: your weight (lbs) x 10= equals your resting metabolic rate which is approx 70 % of the calories you would burn sitting on the couch. 

Example: 130 lb x 10 =1,300. Boom easy enough right? 

This represents  energy for your body to function at rest, on the couch, playing chess, whatever you do, that won't make you break a sweat.

But wait, how do you know what your total estimated daily calorie burn is? Like what if you don't want to sit on the couch? 

Oh well this changes things. 

Sooooooo. Now we need to figure out how active you are?

Be honest pick one of the activity factors below:

Very light: Nothing that will make me sweat, driving to work, sitting at work, standing at work.

Factor: 1.2-1.3

Low Active: I exercise for 30mins a day with moderate intensity, including driving to work, sitting, standing etc 

Factor:1.5-1.6

Active: I exercise 30 mins a day plus 3 hours of additional activity like cycling at a moderate speed or walking approx 4.5mph. 

Factor:1.6-1.7

Heavily Active: planned vigorous activities, physical labor, full time athletes, hard professions such as steel or road workers 

Factor:1.9-2.1

(Physical activity factors for various levels of activity for adults of Average size, 19 years or older- NASM  essentials of personal fitness training 4th edition revised)

Ok so your BMR x the Activity Factor = The estimated number of calories you burn including Your exercise.   

Example:1300 x 1.6 for a person in the active category =2,080 calories. This number represents total calories or energy used. 

Now is it reasonable to say that you can eat this amount of calories everyday? This depends on how consistent you are with your physical activity.

 It also depends on how many calories your eating right now. If your nowhere near 2,080 .. Don't run to chomp down on extra calories to get to 2,080. 

Why ? Because to your body right now, those are excess calories and you probably will gain weight from the sudden increase of calories. 

Rule of thumb First track your calories to see if your even eating enough to sit on the couch. 

For some of you, your BMR will be the number to work up to. A lot of people don't eat enough for daily body function and tend to cut even more calories and never lose weight. 

disclaimer:The number you come up with, is in no way my personal recommendation just a basic guideline to calculate your metabolic rate. Take it easy and use a calorie tracker app to be sure your eating enough to sit on your couch. 

Till Next time...

What Happens When you eat late at Night?

As a personal trainer and weight management specialist I often hear people say they are gaining weight because they eat late at night.

When asked what types of foods they are eating. People tend to skirt around the question and state that they are certain that their late night eating is the problem. They even add in that they always go to sleep right after so that food just sits and turns into fat.

Yup this is my face when I hear this .

So here's the deal. Calories in versus Calories out. If you eat more than what your body can burn at rest + activity or exercise  (calories burned)) . Guess what you gain weight!!

 For Example, say my Basal Metabolic Rate aka what I can burn sitting on the couch is 1300 and I also exercised and burned 200 calories. This equals 1500 calories for the mathletes out there. So instead of eating 1500 calories, I eat 2000 calories every day. That's 500 excess calories everyday times 7 days in a week. Hmmmm you know what 500 x 7 =3,500 calories which equals 1lb gained. So in a years time I could potentially gain approx 50lbs. 50 pounds that wasn't gained overnight literally. 

The talk of weight gain due to night time eating is a myth. In reality its the quantity of food consumed that causes weight gain. Excess calories is the reason. 

So Im sure your wondering how to calculate your basal metabolic rate? Well thats another blog for another day. STAY TUNED!!