"I Didn't Believe It" or "What Is a Boot Camp?"

I started being interested in fitness in the early eighties and for most of the years since then I believed everyone should workout an hour a day.  Then ten years ago I did a few 12 week sessions of Body For Life and learned that four hours a week could be at least as effective.  Last spring my friend Brett sat in my office and told me that you can lose weight and get fit in 30 minutes a day three times a week with the right program.  I was skeptical.  For the last eight months I have done the research, taught the program and seen the effects in the participants and in my own fitness level, and I am a believer! What is the program?  At Fitmania we call it a Boot Camp even though it may look different than some other boot camp programs.  This protocol for fitness is definitely the best model for fitness for the next decade.

How It Works:
We have learned over the last dozen years that 20 minutes of interval training is much better then an hour of steady cardio for weight loss, metabolic rate and even for cardiovascular fitness.  That was why the Body For Life program was able to reduce the time demands.  You still had three hours  a week for weights but the cardio was reduced to three, intense 20 minute interval workouts.

So what about those three hours of weights every week?  Well, instead of using the same few muscles to get your heart rate up you get off the treadmill and use large multi-joint, multi-muscle movements.  You use (mostly) your own body weight and move in ways your body was intended to move.  In order to get the interval effect you move in timed segments as hard as you can instead of your usual sets and reps. I am finding this at least as effective as traditional weight lifting in building muscle for strength and toning.  When I started doing this kind of a workout I was pretty fit but I have never been more fit than I am right now. 

Advantages:
1. Time.  A maximum of 30 of work with a warm up and cool down takes 45 minutes 3 x week.  That is 2 hours and 15 minutes a week!  I still think getting out and doing physical activity everyday is good for body and soul, but go do things you enjoy as part of a healthy life style rather than spending all that time in the gym.
2. Metabolism.  Builds a faster metabolism far better than traditional programs.

3.  Less injury.  Because we use natural movement, synergistic muscle groups and little weight there is very little risk of injury.

4. Cheaper.  It's better than personal training for about $8 a class and you don't need a gym membership.  (If you still want one you can use the Fitmania gym if you are enrolled in Boot Camp for free.)

"All of the body's systems - digestive, circulatory, immune, and so on - are interrelated.  The common thread that binds them together is movement.  The faster the molecules of the body move the, higher the metabolic rate.  The higher the metabolic rate, the healthier the human being.  We are designed to run, jump, climb fall roll, and skip . . . If these activities hurt or cause pain, it is because we are violating some or all the laws of health." Pete Egoscue

Join us for One Big Boot Camp on Black Friday at 9am.  Totally free for absolutely everyone!

SKINNY AND BEAUTIFUL ARE NOT SYNONYMOUS

"Taking joy in living is a woman's best cosmetic." -Rosalind Russell

Bulletin:  A person can be beautiful (handsome) and NOT be thin and thin is not necessarily beautiful. This is not a "Big Is Beautiful" endorsement because that isn't true either.  I am the first to declare that there is far too much extra poundage walking around.   Fat, in and of itself is not attractive. I'd love it if nobody had an extra pound, but beauty is much more complicated that weight or age or even genetics.

1. Beauty really is in the eye on the beholder, not because they are biased but because one who truly loves you sees you more like God does.  It's not that the beholder can't see our blemishes but that the beauty is so much grander and more obvious.  That is why some people become more attractive to us the more we know them.

2.  Cover girl, model beauty with all the make up and beautiful clothes is forgettable because it isn't real.  Manufactured beauty all begins to look the same and it doesn't feel approachable.  At the gym, and especially in my fitness classes, I watch people with all kinds of different bodies and they are in their workout clothes and sweating but they are beautiful and sexy (except the men prefer handsome and sexy).  The human body is always beautiful but there is something exceptional about these people.

3. Confidence, kindness, integrity, happiness  and a love of God and man simply creates an attractive aura.  This kind of a person is always trying to be the best they can be.  They take care of their body, improve their minds, make time for the spiritual and serve others.

4.  Now a note to men.  You already know that the woman you love is gorgeous but did you know you have the power to make her even more beautiful.  We are what we believe ourselves to be and you have the power to make her believe she is beautiful by the things you say and the way you treat her. We can do the same for the men.

"Each of us is what we believe of ourselves." -Anton Chekov