Singapore Personal Trainer: Zero Carb Bread Update

Some people on forums have tried the 0 carb bread with nuts crushed and mixed in. Thats a good idea! I'm gonna give it a shot soon.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Supplement Update

Well so far... I can't exactly tell if I'm digesting better, but there are some indications that I am. I seem to be sleeping deeper which is good for stress levels, recovery and health in general. I suspect the HCL helps me digest magnesium better and that mineral helps sleep.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Food Acidity

Here is a PDF of the acidity/alkalinity of some common foods. Make sure you get a balance of both so that you maintain good health. (Right click to download). -ve means alkaline, +ve means acidic.

Buy why are veggies important? (the alkaline stuff)

One of their key benefits (besides anti-oxidants, fiber, micronutrietnts etc...) is that they are alkaline. compared to most carbs and protein sources which are acidic.

If we eat too much acidic stuff without enough veggies,, our body will actually take minerals from our muscles and bones to balance out our blood acidity. That means weaker muscles and bones. bad Bad BAD.

Singapore Fitness Coach: Is it possible to get a Degree (reach your short term goals) without getting an Education (life long learning)

I was thinking about this recently. Most of us have degrees/diplomas/certifications in many things. But when it comes to the true value of education, I find many people lacking. The love for life long learning is WAY more important than the degrees we hold. Nothing wrong with having degrees! In fact many of my best friends have PhDs to their name. But don't lose sight of the journey that gets us to the degree.

The education where correct habits and character are learnt is more important and ensures more success in life than the degree itself.

Same thing with fitness. Im proud of the clients who lose 17kg a month (he was very overweight or else this would not be safe!), jump 50cm more in their broad jump after training with us for a few months, lose inches in weeks and fix their posture and movement problems quickly with the right corrective exercsises.

But those are "degrees" short term results. Important yes, but not as important as the life and habits that they find.

I'm far more interested in education. The love for learning can be grown with the right coaching and the right environment. So can the love for makign wise and healthy choices in life!

Singapore Personal Trainer: I eat too much!

If you have heard me talk about my previous (i.e. fat boy) life, you will know that I like eating! My favorite "sinful" food is ice cream and warm chocolate cake - the one with the oozing liquid chocolate in the middle. Yummy.

While I don't eat sinful foods often - 1 or 2 times a month. And I do have healthy habits 90% of the time or more... I have trouble getting REALLY lean, not just visible abs (which for me is now normal because if the good habits) but really really lean.

I simply eat too much!

I eat healthy food but I eat it in unlimited amounts.

Now I'm going to eat them in limited amounts. Even good stuff like fruits and lean meat will be limited. The only unlimited things will be green veggies!

Singapore Personal Trainer: What If I trained, but ate anything I want?

If you are trying to lose fat, exercise without proper nutrition will not work.

You will gain the health benefits, and you will "feel" better than not doing anything at all. BUT if you want the visible changes, you will need to change your diet and nutrition as well.

But a recent study by one of my fellow fitness professionals in the US came to a pretty shocking (but very commonly observed) result. A group of sedentary people with high body fat (which is most people nowdays!) did 12 weeks of hard training - 3 hours/week of weights and 2 hours/week of cardio and did not have any dietary control.

Their average results:
Gain 1kg muscle, lost 1/2kg fat, change in fat percentage -1%... which is VERY discouraging for that amount of exercise which is more than most people do anyway.

I cannot overstate the fact that dietary changes are super important!

Good diet is a big part of the reason our clients get results:

• A very overweight client dropped 17kg in 1 month of training
• Another large client dropped 9kg of weight, lost 12kg of fat and gained 3 kg of muscle in 2 months
• Yet another lost 10cm on his waist in just 5 weeks

This happens when the "switch" goes off and says... wow I better not be eating so much crap!

Singapore Personal Trainer: Obesity, Greater girth, shortened life

No shock here. Being obese, tubby or just plain fat not only makes you more likely to be dumber in your later years, it makes your later years lesser as well (i.e. you die younger). While this is no surprise...

It is something to worry about because this is probably the first time in recent history where the life expectancy is dropping!

Yes. The cigarette manufacturers are selling you the sticks of death...

Yes. The food manufacturers are selling you food that has nitrates, trans-fats and environmental toxins that kill ya...

Yes. We live in stressful Singapore where work hours are long and time is short...

But No that doesn't mean that we can forget about taking care of ourselves. We can always make the hard choices that lead to better health. We can't take care of our families or loved ones if we don't.

I don't think of time/money invested training and eating as "spent". I think of it as "saved"... saved on medical bills, and saved on a future low quality life!

Singapore Personal Trainer: Observation - Beware what you buy

One of my clients missed 2 training sessions this week. He is one of the most dedicated guys who has gotten some of the best results of any client! But why miss training?

Stomach viral flu thats why. Constant toilet trips for 3 days, and a trip to the hospital for an IV drip. He lost 3kg in 3 days.

He got dehydrated, weaker and less healthy.

Hes back now but it will take about a week or so of proper eating and training to get back to pre-sickness levels.

But hey isn't that what some places in Singapore that specialize in weight loss do?

Wrap a client up in cling wrap and stay in a heated room to lose "weight"... or some injections that cause your body to cleanse itself?

I think I have found the perfect analogy.

Those therapies have no scientific backing (and those centers will not be able to provide any...).
They are dangerous

They work as well as...

A Stomach Flu Virus

Same mechanism - you lose water, go toilet more...

Same results - you lose health

NOT A VALID WEIGHT LOSS METHOD

Singapore Fitness Coaching: Corrective Exercise

This class of exercise requires a good assessment and then a good application of exercises that correct the problems found in the assessment.

My company is offering a new Corrective Exercise and Fat Loss Class in April. Check it out, I think it will help many people who feel they may not be getting as much out of exercise as they would like to.

There is a special price for this round because this is a new class! Go and check it out.

Singapore Personal Trainer: The 80-20 rule in training

Use Of Time: The difference between success and failure!

I know that many other personal trainers, fitness professionals and fitness coaches in Singapore and around the world use this rule in their training, coaching, and program design. I'll just give some examples here of how this rule is used in some sample programs for my clients.

The general idea of this rule is the 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

That is very true. But I would like to look at it from the perspective of our most important asset.

Time

I often have clients who have to cut short training because of urgent work or family commitments. This is not their fault.

Here is where the 80-20 rule makes it's presence most obvious in the training program.

Our training programs for the majority of clients include individualized Self massage, corrective training (for posture/movement dysfucntion) warmup, core training and static stretching.

Followed by strength training and then metabolic training/cardio

This usually takes 55-70mins

But what if I had 25 mins?

PRIORITIZE

I would first cut out the self massage with rollers/tennis balls - yes its important, but people have gotten good results injury free before this came onto the fitness scene. skipping a session of this is not the worst thing in the world. And most of my clients buy a foam roller for home use anyway so its not a big deal (in the grand scheme of things) self massage does not fall into the critical 20%

Then I would cut out the cardio at the end. This is used to burn extra fat calories at the end of a workout when fat stores are most easily burned. It's good for fat loss but its not critical compared to maintaining lean muscle mass. Again, not part of the critical 20%.

Then I would cut out the corrective training, yes its important, but the benefits are felt long term and not over a single session. Again, not part of the 20%.

That leaves warmup (5 mins), strength training (15mins) and metabolic conditioning - burpee variations, bodyweight circuits, Kettlebell swings etc...(5-10 mins)

A total of 25 mins.

In fact for the strength training, I am cutting out probably everything ecept a superset that includes a compound lower body exercise like a deadlift, and a big upper body exercise like a chinup.

Will a client on such a program get fat after such a short session. No. In fact some people are over trained and such a program will actually boost results.

As long as nutrition is ok, this top 20% of critical time usage will just about ensure that even busy clients get awesome results.

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Rehab - Anterior Hip Pain

If this is you, read on!

I recently had a personal training client who was having pain in her hip. The pain comes at the top portion of a squat or dead lift movement.

Any time there is a pain in the front of the hip (anterior hip pain), don't forget to consider "femoral anterior glide syndrome" as a possible cause.

The pain seems to be at the front of the hip joint and does not seem to come from a muscle or ligament.

SOLUTION: Think about how the femur (thigh bone) is made secure in the hip socket. It is held tight and back in the socket by the function of the glute muscles. That means your buttocks have to work well to keep the bone in place.

So, during your warm up, do more glute activation (you can even do these between sets as I instructed my client to do) and during exercises like squats, lunges, or pulls, remember to focus on a contraction of the buttock muscles to keep the femur tight in the socket and avoid it slipping forward and causing pain. Go to my forum for some glute activation exercises you can do. (Check out the "quadruped hip extension" and the "cook hip lift")

Singapore Personal Trainer: Nutrition Observation

I was recently walking past a famous hawker stall that is known for its wanton noodles. There was a massive line waiting to buy the noodles. I suspect it's a 30-40min wait!

Think about it for a moment, this is a massive waste. You wait a long time wasting time which is our most un-renewable resource.

Then you eat food that shortens life and reduces the quality of life. Another priceless thing.

What a bad use of an afternoon. Think about it...

We need to disconnect emotions from food.

"Oh I feel stressed" becomes "I need a sweet desert now"... that is an emotional linkage to food and it gets us fat and weak.

Singapore Personal Trainer: Nutrition Thoughts

No matter who it is, personal training clients, athletes, group training clients - Everybody needs to think about what they eat. I have had many guilt looks when I ask my clients what they had for lunch. It takes time to wean yourself off bad foods.

I just read an interesting article in TIME magazine. About "Why we eat so much". Sure to us in the fitness industry those things should be common sense but it was an interesting read with nice pictures of food.

The main point I took away form it is that food is mental. It is a habit. And to achieve great health and a great physique, you need to break the bad ones and build great new ones.

I always talk to my clients about the "rubber band" that is the 28 days it takes to build new habits. If you just do 1 week (which is how many "quick fix" solutions work") you are just stretching the rubber band a bit but then it returns to normal and there are no long lasting effects.

When you push through and build great habits for 28 days or more, the rubber band is broken and you are free to live your improved life. That is what I work a lot with my clients on.

That is one reason I recommender T-nation's Velocity Diet. It is mostly a supplement only diet for 1 month. It is safe and it is effective. But most of all, it drastically reduces cravings for evil food.

You can get similar effects on other strict diets which are made from health foods. But I have not witnessed as much of a taste bud change as from the velocity diet.

My results and the results of my client Annie are here in the forum.

Annie and I, check out her results here.
She started out at 64kg (before even starting training) and now is a nice lean 51kg:) 25 inch waist and visible abs at 16-17% fat - which is AWESOME for a lady!

Singapore Personal Trainer - Teaching Exercise Technique

One of the key roles of a trainer is to teach exercise technique. This is actually not a "difficult" thing to do.

As a personal trainer or coach (fitness coach, sports coach, pretty much any coach at all) we have to believe that there is a correct way to do things.

A correct way to run, jump, land, change direction, turn, squat, lift, press etc.

These have been covered many times in magazines and videos and DVD's and websites.

The problem occurs when we are forced to adjust to individual differences. This is where a coach earn his/her money when it comes to teaching technique.

people differ in:

• height
• shoulder width,
• hip width
• angles at the knees and ankles
• natural flexibility
• muscle imbalances
• ratios of arm length to height
• ratio of leg length to height
• ratio of upper arm/leg to lower arm/leg

all these things mean minor adjustment in technique and leverage to perform exercises safely and effectively.

With serious imbalances or postural issues, this also means adjustment to loading and finally to exercise selection.

Some general guidelines:

Thickly build people tend to have shorter legs and logner torsos. They are good at squatting and squat with near perfect form with just a bit on careful instruction. However they need modifications to their dead lift technique to make it more effective.

For the upper body these guys excel as well in pulling and pressing movements because the total distance lifted is less and thus they can handle more weight.

Longer limbed people need more help with squatting sometimes going wider and opening up the hips more. They also will likely not lift as much as the stoutly build thicker people. however these long limbed guys will usually excel at dead lifting because their long arms and short torsos give excellent mechanics for good pulling.

Longer limbed people tend to do better in ball sports because they have more reach and have long limbs that can, with proper training be put in good control.

Even among Singaporeans who are all supposed to be of Asian descent, there is a huge variance in body types. But rest assured with the correct training, anybody can achieve an awesome physique that is aesthetically magnificent, and performs just as well as it looks.

Built to Squat and Press Weights overhead!

Built for ball games

World class physiques come in all shapes and sizes. And they do need modifications in training to help them reach their potential!

How Important Nutrition Is - Now I have something to tell my clients

My first taste of what good nutrition is was many years ago when I realized that it was not good enough just to be large and strong. I was carrying excess fat.

I did not look obese but I know that I could have been quicker and leaner.

I decided to go on the first "diet" of my life! Well actually it was just cleaning up my nutrition habits.

• Eating often keeps metabolism high
  
• Eating no starchy stuff unless after training (replenish glycogen stores, after training starches don't make us fat).
• Eating more fruits and vegetables (I'm starting to really like some veges, broccoli, spinach:) hehe never thought id see the day!).
• Drinking only water and green tea.
• Eating more protein with each meal.
• Eating healthy fats from nuts and fish.
• Eating un-processed foods. (best foods are from their natural packaging, things in pretty packages with shiny wrappers are usually 99% of the time BAD for us)
• 3 months later I was down 10kg and looking alot better!

I did NOT count calories, weight food or starve myself. I simply trained hard and made good food choice.

For history's sake, here are the before and after pics from that diet many years ago.

92KG Before

82kg After

As a Personal Trainer - Associating with Professionals

Do people doubt Doctors? Lawyers? Dentists? Engineers?

In general, they don't.

That is because most of these professionals have a strong governing body that guarantees the quality of the training of these guys. They are highly paid and rightfully so! They have high standards expected of them and by and large, they deliver consistent results.

But the fitness industry (perhaps even more so in Singapore than in the western countries) is very un-regulated.

Becoming a "personal trainer" in Singapore is almost absurdly easy. The Basic exercise course is extremely easy to pass. After that you have the "qualifications" to work in any gym.

A medical doctor takes 6-10 years of intense study to be work with a patient's body, but a personal trainer only needs 3 days and is also expected to perform preventive medical care (which is what good health is isn't it...) on a client.

Yup it doesn't make much sense.

But I'm not the whining sort. I want to be part of the solution not part of the problem. I do not believe that there is a certification at the moment that fully covers all you will need to know to become a personal trainer.

To be technically excellent a personal trainer will need to have good understanding of:

• Biomechanics (how the body moves in space)
• Kinesiology (how the joints move etc)
• Nutrition
• Endocionology (hormonal system)
• Manual Therapy (massage, rehab, trigger point work etc)
• Injury Prevention
• Performance Enhancement

And I'll probably think of more if I really sat down to do it. The body is such an awesome piece of creation that we will probably never get to the end of it.

Oh yeah, don't forget that it's not just good enough to know. A personal trainer must distill out the important points and teach/coach them to a client.

I believe all this is too much to teach in any reasonable amount of time. It needs to be learnt over years of consistent study and practice. This cannot be driven by any certification. It has to come from an intrinsic sense of excellence. Being the very best that you can be.

I know I'm not perfect but I do want to make the best use of whatever God given ability I have. If that means spending several hundred bucks a month on books, dvds, seminars etc. So be it.

"Who we are is God's gift to us, who we become is our gift to God" so we might as well be the best we can be!

Maybe one day personal training will be a professional qualification. That will be a happy day for the fitness industry.

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 4)

In the final part we shall talk about guarantees. Yes nothing in life is guaranteed. BUT there should be some buyer security when it comes to something as important as your body. Come on even your MP3 Player has a 1 year guarantee (with reasonable conditions).

All fitness places and personal trainers in Singapore that are serious about the results of their clients will have a guarantee. It's not a "oh just do what you feel and anytime you can get your money back" kind. Rather it's in the sign-up contract.

If you:

• Train the way we ask you to
• Modify your diet the way we ask you to
• Rest and recover the right way

And this doesn't work - It's MY fault! you deserve a refund! I can't pay a person's time but the least I can do as a professional is to return their money.

On the other side of a coin, a client who just comes in to fool around (I have never had one like that but in theory its possible) I reserve the right to release.

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 3)

Ok lets say you have no serious medical conditions, and you have found a nice training community. Whats next? The next thing is not usually budget. It is time. I believe that most people are not as worried about spending money as they are about wasting time. Thats the most scary thing. Time is our only non-renewable resource.

So. Saving time means you need to have the most time effective forms of training and nutrition.

These are the fundamentals of ANY proper training program for general fitness. If they are violated, you are probably wasting both money and time.

A good coach should (baring any pre-existing medical conditions) have you doing:

• Assessment - If you are not assessing, you are just guessing. There has to be continual assessment and adjustment to get you to your goals. It's like a guided missile. You start off in the general direction but you need mid-course guidance to hit your fitness targets.
• Free Weights - Machines indicate either a lack of care for you, or a lack of coaching ability
• Total Body Movements (mostly done standing up) - These movements use your whole body. Stuff like squatting, picking objects off the floor, chinups (and its variations if you aren't able to do a chinup yet, pushups. Stuff like that.
• Moderate to high intensity cardiovascular exercise. Low intensity stuff (walking on a treadmill/slow bike etc) is a waste of time (results wise) and a waste of money (you shouldn't need to pay anybody to watch you walk.

All clients from national level athletes, to regular working professionals of age 7-77 do total body exercises!

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 2)

As you continue on your thought process to choosing a personal trainer in Singapore, the next thing to think about is the training environment.

This comprises of several things. The trainer (and his staff if he is more established and owns a private gym), the other members of the gym, and you yourself.

When these 3 groups of people come together its truly a beautiful thing. Why? not just because you get results, but because you KEEP the results.

You see, in the process of changing a life (which is what we are doing when a training company like Genesis Health & Performance works with a client) from old ways and habits to new ones, there are 3 stages.

Stage 1 is Awareness: I am aware that I am out of shape, or that I can't run fast enough, or that my pants no longer fit...That is when I may call in the services of a professional to help me form my situation

Stage 2 is Intervention: This is where My staff and I come in. We teach, motivate, assess, adjust, guide, encourage, whatever it takes to get each of our clients consistently good results. After an adjustment period, they end up doing well. BUT...

Stage 3 is Sustenance: This is where the true quality of the fitness service can be seen. This is where the quality of the coaching as well as the quality of the community is important. A good fitness company can provide the coaching. But what I tried to do to make our place special is the community. Not just the coaches but every single person in the company. From each staff member, to each gym member.

No random cursing, no gossip, no slander. Only positive words and actions. This builds a community that is like a 3rd home (yeah I'm borrowing the Starbucks idea) Work, home, then GYM!

This is the culture that I as the owner do my very best to set.

Part of Our Training Community Here at Genesis Health And Performance

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 1)

There are several things to look out for when choosing a personal trainer whether in Singapore or elsewhere. There is the good, the bad and the unspeakable but in general there are several categories of personal trainer.

Here is the thought process that you need to go through when deciding:

Your current medical status.

A personal trainer is not a medical professional. That means that if you have a clinical problem or pathology he/she (Myself included!) is not the person to look for. It is perhaps even irresponsible for me as a personal trainer to take on a client who is having a serious medical condition or joint problem. If you fall into this category you need a therapy guy (chiro, osteopath, body worker, physio etc). Get well before you decide to get fit

If your problem is not acute (sharp pain all day!) then its possible that you have an inefficiency. This is not as "bad" as a pathology. A really good trainer can help you with this. That guy usually has a strong knowledge of bio mechanics and kniesology (how the body and joints move). And has in his "toolbox" an assortment of assessment and corrective training tools to get you both a corrective training effect as well as a fitness training effect. I.E. you get fixed and fit at the same time.

There is no "clear" line between these 2 medical states. But use a bit of wisdom to figure out which side you are on. A responsible professional will do what is best for you. Either refer you out or take you on as a client.

This is one reason I work closely with medical professionals (Orthopedic Doctors, Physios, etc) because its best for our clients to have a network of integrated services (personal trainers, medical, manual therapy etc) to meet any of their needs.

If this is you...you need a surgeon, not a personal trainer...