That’s what we have determined all of our hard work, consistency and efforts on to tell us if we are succeeding or not.

Sounds a little ridiculous when you look at it that way doesn’t it.  Well that’s what many programs and even more individuals have based their whole workout and nutrition efforts based on what that machine says.  And its an obsession.

And I can understand that to a point, but only to a point.  The scale is the easiest form of measuring numeric progress, however it is the least accurate.

There are many ways to measure progress, and many less to measure numerically.  Numbers matter to many people, there is no getting around that, and so much emphasis has been placed on bodyweight, that it’s hard to ignore the stereotype that is all over our society.

Now there are a number of ways to measure progress without numbers such as, mood, energy level and how your clothes feel.  And those are the initial feelings you are going to have when making changes to your nutrition and exercise program.  Then you have the numerical results such as inches, body fat percentage, pounds, clothing size, as well as cholesterol, blood pressure, and heart rate.  Prioritizing these is difficult as everyone has different needs when starting an exercise program.  One person may be very lean and looking to tone up more, so scale pounds aren’t important as body fat.  On the other side someone who is very obese, the scale would have importance as would body fat percentage.

When training for fat loss, there are very specific things that need to be in the exercise program for it to be fully effective.  Strength training is one of those things, and strength training and the scale don’t mix well.  This is one of the big reasons I tell my clients who are looking to lose fat to not weigh themselves unless they are on a high level rapid fat loss program (and they weigh themselves only to monitor immediate progress to see if the meal plan is working for them- and will make quick changes if it is not).  The real results happen with the circumference measurements (hips, waist, thigh, arm) and the body fat percentage.  Out of those two the body fat percentage shows the best indicator of progress if you had to choose one measure to be the most important.  However having all measurements will tell the best story of how you are doing, and also realizing that measurements do monitor progress but the other factors or results of making lifestyle changes should not be forgotten.  Those unmeasurables often will keep you consistent and give you a positive outlook on your efforts.  The scale gets way too much credit for what it tells you, especially when there are so many factors that can affect it: water intake, sodium intake, time of day, before or after workout, and the list goes on and on.  The moral of the story:  don’t believe everything a machine tells you, take the whole story into account

This month the ‘cream of the crop’ were two very well deserving campers who have been at it for a long time.  Their consistency and work ethic has earned them every bit of results they have achieved.  Fellow campers recognize their effort and see them as leaders (and nominated them as winners for this month).

Also our Champion of the Month from our Youth Camp has made amazing strides in improving in class.  He too has made the extra effort and is paying off big time for him.

Here are your superstars from January!

Black Tshirt Award

Jenna Heinrich

Jenna is that smiling face you hope to see when you walk in our doors.  She is very friendly and always is willing to lend a helping hand or, better  yet, tell a funny story.  Jenna started bootcamp, then found out she was pregnant and stopped bootcamp for about a year.  When she came back she had baby weight to lose and set a goal to achieve that.  She has achieved that and thensome.  Now a member of our second Sparta Project, Jenna is taking her results to a new level, working on enhancing her results and building upon what she has reached so far.  She never backs down from a challenge and is always willing to give anything a try.  It’s that attitude that has gotten her to where she is today.

Congratulations Jenna for winning the Black Tshirt this month.  Your fellow campers thank you and continue to be motivated by you.

Camper of the Month

Gretchen Lewis

Gretchen, much like Jenna, is that smiling face you hope to see when you walk into our facility.  Bootcamp can sound intimidating and its always nice to see a smiling, friendly face when you walk in.  In fact, I have never seen Gretchen NOT smile.  Whether she is cranking out 20 Burpees or deadlifting 200 pounds, Gretchen always has that friendly smile on her face.

Gretchen’s always present effort is perhaps what draws people to be motivated by her.  Her endurance is second to none and often is difficult to challenge.  Becoming a participant in our Warrior Strength and Conditioning class has helped her become more well rounded with her efforts, adding more strength training to compliment the tremendous stamina she has.  Gretchen is on the fast track to becoming a black tshirt winner in the very near future.

Congratulations Gretchen for being named Camper of the Month for January!

Youth Camp Champion of the Month

Eli Moore

Eli started off youth camp with some challenges, and for a while I wasn’t sure if I would be able to remedy them.  Over time though Eli has grown tremendously, making huge strides with exercise form to compliment his always present effort from beginning to the end of class.  Eli has enthusiasm in class that is contagious to other youth campers.  He has had a great month working on his focus in instructions and coming out of his physical shell, by showing us what he is capable of.

I anticipate seeing much more from Eli in the future as he continues to progress and develop into a very well rounded, confident young man.

Let’s be honest, its that 800 pound gorilla in the room that everyone knows is either helping or hindering your performance and results but seems all too often to get ignored.  And its not because we all think it isn’t important…its because we all know it is!

It’s pretty black and white when we say nutrition is 80% of your results and exercise is 20%, but that is pretty conservative in my mind.  I think its more like 95% of your results and exercise is 5%.  I mean, think about it, if you eat for fat loss and perform any exercise (almost) you will get results.  Even if you don’t exercise at all, you will get results from eating the way the body was meant to.

I used to run nutrition classes on teaching people how to eat ’supportively’ to promote an environment in their bodies for fat loss to occur.  Now I’ve transitioned to more of a support group helping people with accountability and responsibility of answering to someone other than themselves on a regular basis.  So many want to know ‘what’ to eat, but the what isn’t nearly as difficult as the ‘why’.

Why we need to eat the foods are just as important as the ‘what’ if not more important.  History has told us if we know ‘why’ we need to or not to perform a task, we are always more likely to do it or not do it.  It also evokes more learning and habit forming tendencies than the ‘what’ does.  In terms of nutrition the ‘what’ is great and gives you instant gratification, but won’t stay with you and more often than not will eventually get boring and you will not have formed a habit.  Not to mention the ‘what’ is pretty simple, I can tell you what to eat in one line:

lean meats and other proteins, vegetables, fruits, healthy and natural fats.

Eat in priority of that list with most abundant being lean meats.

If you stick to that list 90% of the time or better, you are in excellent shape.  When you start asking ‘what about _____?’ , you start to veer away from this list.  The list is pretty simple, ‘what abouts’ are very likely not on this list for a reason, and if you have a question about it, you are guaranteed to not be asking about something that would fit on this list

No secrets, nothing you haven’t heard before here, just discipline and understanding why before applying the what

I know that food is 80% of your results, but the concept of eating fruits, vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats won’t fill a blog post.  See, I just covered the nutrition in that sentence.  Now, moving on…

Let’s talk building muscle and losing fat.  A concept that just a few years ago, was thought to be impossible.  It is now known that is not the case.  It is possible, but there are a few rules you should know before jumping into any workout program to achieve these results.  You will see me refer to metabolic training a lot.  Metabolic training is performing weight training at a moderate weight with higher intensity, such as circuits, complexes, ladders, etc.  Those of you in bootcamp, think of it as a bootcamp class. Oh and by the way, when I’m referring to building muscle, I’m talking about the muscle tone of an olympic middle distance sprinter, not one of Conan the Barbarian

Your first requirement is to have a blend of heavy strength training with metabolic training.  If you train twice in the same day, make every effort to do your heavy training first then your metabolic training after.  Heavy strength training takes experience to lift heavy so make sure you have proper instruction and is always best to train with a partner when lifting heavy for safety purposes.  Movements like Deadlift, Squats, Floor Presses, Rows, and Olympic/Powerlifting Movements work best in this department.  Two to three movements of true heavy lifting will be all your body can handle for one day, so you can add in some secondary movements with high weight and low reps to round out the workout.

Your second requirement is to have a metabolic training in your program.  Metabolic training can take the place for the bulk of your cardiovascular exercise due to its very high calorie burn capability.  Tabatas, complexes, circuits, ladders, and many more methods are great ways to test your body and burn major fat at the same time.  Plus, often times they are fun.  One thing to be sure of is that the metabolic training has balance to it especially if you are training heavy and metabolic in the same day.  If you have been performing deadlifts and metabolic in the same day, for example, and the metabolic workout is leg intensive, maybe back off the weight for the hips in the metabolic portion a little, and turn it up on the other body parts.  However, the metabolic is so variable and whole body, that often doesn’t need to happen, but for balance purposes I needed to mention it

Your third requirement is frequency; how often should you work out.  That can vary and where you are in your training, how much experience you have with exercise, and where you are in your goals.  My clients have had the best results with training 5-6 times a week, with at least one full day off from exercise.  Getting 2-3 days of heavy lifting and 3-4 days of metabolic training (to equal 6 max), is a good rule of thumb.  So, if you are currently training 3 times a week, you don’t need to necessarily jump up to 6 right away.  Add a day now, and in a few weeks add another.  If you are already training 6 days a week, perhaps change the ratio at which you are training heavy versus metabolic.  If you are training 6 days a week and not reaching your goals one of two, or both can be going on: you are not truly training heavy and/or metabolically, or your nutrition needs work.

Three requirements that are quick and dirty to get you to losing fat fast and building muscle at the same time.  Great rules to know now as you plan for your New Year’s Resolutions

Camper of the Year Candidate #4

Cheryl Perry

Cheryl has had an amazing year.  It started off with her high intensity she brings to every bootcamp class.  However once Warrior Strength and Conditioning started, she blossomed into something more.  She has a real talent for lifting heavy and is extremely coachable.  When you have desire, willingness to learn and the work ethic Cheryl brings, much like other Camper of the Year Candidates, you have a winning combination.

Her petite body type is very deceiving to the strength she has.  Her results are not measured by the scale, rather are measured by her muscles.  475 pound tire flip for 6 reps without blinking, knocking on the door of 200 pound deadlift, 44 pound kettlebell snatch for 4 reps per arm are just as amazing as someone losing 40 pounds or 15 inches off their body.

Cheryl has redefined herself and pound for pound is one of the strongest bootcamp members on our roster.  Her intensity has translated into bootcamp and she is boosting her intensity, her weight selection, and her inspiring effort.

Congratulations Cheryl, you are a candidate for Camper of the Year

Camper of the Year Candidate #5

Troy Randall

Troy has an addictive attitude that makes him a very likable person.  He fit into the 530am bootcamp class quickly as his hard work and effort earned the respect of that sometimes intimidating group.  Troy, didn’t shy away from any workout, and although in the beginning, some of the workouts got the better of him, he didn’t give up and it is paying off big time.

Starting bootcamp, Troy had some back issues where he needed to be cautious of his movements.  Those days are long in the past as now he has no daily back issues and is stronger than ever.  He ‘keeps up’ with the 530am class, which, getting through a workout is one thing, but being able to keep up is a whole other animal.  He has built strength in his upper and lower body, most notably being able to box jump the tallest box.  Not an easy feat when you have had issues in the past with your back (and knees).

You hear the word consistency thrown around a lot and its importance.  Well Troy embodies consistency because in a year, you can count on one hand easily how many classes he has missed.  Amazing attendance, probably the best of all our bootcamp members.

Congratulations Troy, you are a Candidate for Camper of the Year.