RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

This you? Breakfast: oatmeal or eggs, potatoes, toast, Lunch: pasta, Dinner: meat or fish, salad, rice, bread. If so, you're consuming high glycemic carbs (bread/pasta/rice/oat) all day long. These carbs are sugars that digest quickly, and since we can't be exercising 24hrs/day, they aren't burned & are stored as body fat. ONLY eat them after exercise. No exercise = no high glycemic carbs. Earn them!

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Having "six-pack abs" doesn't mean the abs are strong, just means they're defined. Doing side forearm/straight arm planks, forearm/pushup planks, bridges, etc, where we hold the position is how we make our core (abs, lower back, glutes) strong. Very important to strengthen the core, because a strong lower back/abdominals protect our neck/spine/back, and our glutes protect our knees from injuries

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

When burning calories, there's calories from fat (the ones we want to burn to see results) & there's calories from energy (glycogen). The intensity & duration of the exercise determines which one is more. For example, when we do 30-60 minutes of cardio, afterward we feel completely drained; thinking we accomplished a lot, but it's majority energy calories burned, and minimal fat calories loss.


HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING is the answer to losing majority body fat calories. We have to get our heart rate high by doing an intense exercise for one to two minutes, then bring down the intensity for one to two minutes so that the heart comes down, and keep repeating that high/low interval. Doing this will make our resting heart rate during exercise approximately 125-145bpm, and when it's there, it's burning more fat calories.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Don't think of healthy eating as negative or a punishment. Good nutrition is just about making smarter choices. For example, if you're craving something sweet & rich like ice cream, choose FROZEN KEFIR instead. For 1/2 cup, it's only 90cal, 1g of fat (0g of bad saturated/trans fat), 4g of protein, lactose & gluten free, and loaded with calcium & probiotics which keep digestion in check and keep your immunity up. Try it!

http://www.lifeway.net/Products/FrozenKefir/FrozenKefir/TartandTangyStrawberry.aspx

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Do you ever do cardio with an incline or while wearing weights? Adding resistance, is beneficial for burning more calories & increasing quickness with the weights, but in the long term is not worth the added stress put on your joints and ligaments = injuries. The only safe cardio exercise for an incline is walking. Instead, increase the intensity by doing 60 seconds fast 60 seconds slow intervals for just 25 minutes.

Safety with exercise should be priority #1! You might not feel any pain right now, but putting unnecessary pressure to your joints/ligaments/spine will add up and eventually lead to injury. Think about your future.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

What is your body fat %? Don't judge fitness just by the scale or if you look skinny. "Skinny" doesn't mean lean. You could still have a high body fat %, but look skinny cause your body carries it differently than an obese person. Have a qualified health & fitness professional measure your body fat %, because the higher it is the more at risk we are for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Men 18-35yrs old should be 12-14%, 35-50yrs old 14-16%, 50+yrs 16-18%

Women 18-35yrs old should be 18-20%, 35-50yrs old 20-22%, 50+yrs 22-24%.

Doctors put a lot of emphasis on BMI, but it's just your height over weight. For example, a bodybuilder could be 5'10" 210lbs and have 9% body fat, but his BMI will register as being obese, so BMI is irrelevant. Body fat % is most important, have it checked asap!

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Yesterday made it ONLY 40 days until Summer 2011! It's getting close, but THERE IS still time to get lean & tone, decrease that cellulite, and look & feel better than any other Summer before! Here's EIGHT simple things you can start doing TODAY to get there.

1) Eliminate all trans & saturated fat from your daily nutrition. All of that "bad" fat is contributing to your arteries clogging up, and to the collection of fat deposits underneath your skin = more cellulite.

2) Start consuming more healthy fats (poly & mono unsaturated) daily. This includes unsalted/raw nuts, avocados, oily skin fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, herring, etc.), unsalted/raw seeds, and cooking with olive or sunflower oils. Also, look for foods high in flax. Add flax seeds to yogurt or soups to get that healthy fat you need to help decrease bad fat.

3) Start consuming more fiber. Fiber helps to slow down the digestion of the sugars we consume. We need to slow that down, because the faster sugars are digested & absorbed, the quicker they are stored as fat. Start paying attention to the nutrition facts on everything, because we want 8g+ of fiber in the foods we eat.

4) Monday thru Friday, as soon as you wake up, before you consume any calories, do just TWENTY-FIVE minutes of high then low intensity 60 second intervals of cardio.

5) Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, also strength train. If you're going to weights and cardio together, first do the weights, then cardio. The most effective and quickest way to get lean/tone and lose body fat with cardio/weight training is HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING. Google/YouTube it for more.

6) Consume a WHEY ISOLATE PROTEIN always after you exercise (after both cardio & weights). This will help to build more lean muscle tissue, and the more you have the more calories you will burn all day long = faster results. A perfect one to have because it's very low in calories/fat, zero carbs/sugars, and high in protein is Nature's Best Perfect ISOPURE.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/nb/perfectisopure.html

7) Unless you eat them ONLY after exercise do NOT have any bread/pasta/rice/oat carbs. They are high glycemic carbs, which are sugars that digest quickly; and if not burned immediately are stored as fat. Fruits & veggies are the carbs that are okay to eat throughout the day because they digest slowly.

8) Get rest at night. Lack of sleep causes: the body fat producing hormone cortisol to increase, decreases growth hormones that help us recover from exercise & our day, increases the cravings/appetite hormone ghrelin, and decreases levels of leptin which suppresses appetite.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Weight machines were designed from scientists dissecting corpses to see how muscles move. So, using machines to strength train, is exercising like a dead person! Unless you're over 90, recovering from a MAJOR injury, or have never exercised in your life, NEVER use machines. Too low intensity & you're in a position that you're never in life. Use free weights/BOSUs/medicine & stability balls instead.

*****If you have a personal trainer, and they put you on a machine, and you don't have one of the three circumstances listed above, that means your trainer is lazy, uneducated, inexperienced, and is more than likely just training you how they do themselves. Anybody can go up to a machine read what it does and follow the pictures on the diagram on how to use it. This is not personal training, so stop wasting your money. Personal training is designing specific programs for each individual client. Personal training is designing new, fun, and challenging sessions that are never repeated.******

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Want to see faster results? Drink 80oz-120oz of water daily. Muscle tissue is 75% water, and if you're not hydrated, your muscles don't have part of what it needs to grow. More water helps curb appetite too, because that "hungry" feeling isn't always for food, but water. Water also slows down the buildup of lactic acid which makes us sore. Less sore = the more we can exercise = faster results.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

This past Sunday made it ONLY 50 days until Summer 2011! Swimsuits, Summer dresses, shorts, tank tops, etc, are only 50 DAYS AWAY! Here are FIVE simple things you can start doing TODAY/UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY to help bring your sexy back just in time for the Summer.

1) Monday thru Friday, as soon as you wake up, before you consume any calories, do just TWENTY-FIVE minutes of high then low intensity 60 second intervals of cardio.

2) Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, also strength train. If you're going to weights and cardio together, first do the weights, then cardio. The most effective and quickest way to get lean/tone and lose body fat with cardio/weight training is HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING. Google/YouTube it for more.

3) Consume a WHEY ISOLATE PROTEIN always after you exercise (after both cardio & weights). This will help to build more lean muscle tissue, and the more you have the more calories you will burn all day long = faster results. A perfect one to have because it's very low in calories/fat, zero carbs/sugars, and high in protein is Nature's Best Perfect ISOPURE.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/nb/perfectisopure.html

4) Unless you eat them ONLY after exercise do NOT have any bread/pasta/rice/oat carbs. They are high glycemic carbs, which are sugars that digest quickly; and if not burned immediately are stored as fat. Fruits & veggies are the carbs that are okay to eat throughout the day because they digest slowly.

5) Get rest at night. Lack of sleep causes: the body fat producing hormone cortisol to increase, decreases growth hormones that help us receover from exercise & our day, increases the cravings/appetite hormone ghrelin, and decreases levels of leptin which suppresses appetite.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Try this intense cardio routine: Just twenty-five minutes of thirty seconds sprinting 100 yards then jogging thirty seconds for 50 yards intervals.

Real results, quick results, comes from challenging yourself, pushing yourself passed your own mental barriers. Break away from your comfortable exercise routine & challenge yourself TODAY!

If your fitness level is not to the point of doing the sprint/jog intervals, do thirty seconds jogging 50 yards, then thirty seconds walk 50 yards intervals for just twenty-five minutes. Doing static stretching after.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Before following exercise/nutritional advice from a person/Internet, consider their educational background/experience. The advice may not be based on fact, Internet especially. The daily fitness tips in our status updates are done by trainers who have at least two National certifications, kinesiology/anatomy/physiology degrees, and ten years experience helping clients.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Mom was right! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! As bedtime approaches, the body knows to slow down our metabolism (how fast we burn calories) cause we won't be consuming anything during sleep. If we skip breakfast, our metabolism stays slow, which means anything consumed later is usually stored as fat. Plus, we'll be starving at lunch = bad choices & overeating.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

Want to get lean & tone faster? Weight train in addition to cardio. Want to burn more calories weight training? Do COMPOUND MOVEMENTS = using upper & lower body together. Instead of just bicep curls or just lunges, when you go down into the lunge hit a curl. Instead of just a squat or just a shoulder press, as you come up from the squat hit a shoulder press. Google/YouTube compound movements for more.

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

One of the best pieces of fitness equipment, is our own body weight. Expensive equipment or even a gym aren't necessary. Doing pushups, planks, lunges, squats, pull-ups, etc, with nothing more than our own body weight as resistance, can sculpt a lean & tone body. Once you're advanced, start doing those exercises w/ one arm/leg to really kick up the intensity = the key to seeing results faster!

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

We need to EARN bread/pasta/rice/oat carbs! They're high glycemic carbs, which are sugars that digest quickly. For ex: eggs & toast in the morning, pasta for lunch, then chicken with bread & rice for dinner, those are all digesting quickly. Since we're not exercising all day long, they're not burned & turned into fat. ONLY eat them after exercise. No exercise = no high glycemic carbs! EARN them!

RIO Fitness Chicago® Tip:

ONLY 8 WEEKS/60 DAYS UNTIL SUMMER 2011! NOW is the time to get 100% serious about your nutrition! NOW is the time to take your exercise to a high intensity level! NOW is the time to get active DAILY if you've been slacking! Don't wait until Memorial Day to start doing "cardio & crunches." By starting NOW, you should be able to lose 8-16 body fat lbs by MDW in a healthy, long lasting way.