Christmas for the Fitness Enthusiast

Ho ho ho! It’s that time of year again. The time of year when all of my loyal readers are desperately searching for that very special something to get their favorite fitness columnist/personal trainer! Well, as much as I’d like to get presents from all of you, my humble nature won’t allow it. What I’ll do instead is present you with my second annual “What To Get The Fitness Enthusiast In Your Life For Christmas” column. Wow, that’s a mouthful!

1. Resistance bands. There are a ton of different uses for resistance bands. You can warm up, get stronger, do cardio, stretch. You can get the one’s with the handles on the ends at any sporting goods store but you have to go online to a site like EliteFTS.com to get the ones that are like big rubber bands. Both kinds are very useful.

2. Chuck Taylors. Do you wonder why your balance isn’t very good, or your knees are a bit achy or your hips are real tight? It might be the shoes! The thick, cushiony, sneakers most of us wear are actually hurting us. For one thing, the heel lift they have puts us on our toes too much and that can hurt our knees. For another, all that cushioning gives us no feel for the ground and that effects our balance. Get some good old-fashioned Chucks! They’re cheaper and still the best sneakers around.

3. Quinoa. It’s pronounced Keen-Wa and it’s delicious. It can be found near the rice in your grocery store and you cook it the exact same way. It’s a grain, like rice, but it has more fiber and protein and a little lighter flavor. Bon appetit!

4. Patience. I know you can’t exactly buy someone patience for Christmas, but I’d like to. Too many people are way too anxious for the quick fix. The body just doesn’t work like that. Have some patience and do things right and two things will happen: 1. The change has a better chance to stick and 2. You have a better chance to enjoy the process, which will then lead to other fitness goals and an enhanced, physical life. There’s no point in losing a bunch of weight if you’re just going to gain it back after the “special diet” is over.

5. Any piece of “Lift Strong” clothing from EliteFTS.com. This was on the list last year and the reason holds up. The clothes look good, are comfortable and inexpensive, and the proceeds go to cancer research. And just wearing a LiftStrong t-shirt is said to instantly add 25 pounds to your bench press!

Well, there are a few ideas for you, but don’t forget to take care of yourself, as well. One of the best gifts you can give your family and loved ones is the commitment to get yourself in shape. Believe me, seeing you taking care of yourself makes everyone happy and right now is a great time to start!

Happy holidays and I’ll talk to you in a few weeks.

Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Don’t Resist Good Exercise

I talk to a lot of people that either aren’t experienced exercisers or spend their time in the gym doing “cardio” or “machines”. When I talk to them, I always try to see things as they see them. This is never more evident then when I use the term “resistance training”. About this time in the conversation I usually see a bit of fear in their eyes as they picture a long barbell with a bunch of weight on each side getting thrown around by a massive, screaming bodybuilder. What I then explain to them is that resistance training can always be made easier or harder depending on the person’s physical condition. Actually, many times we use no external weight at all. We just do simple bodyweight exercises.

While I could talk about how to program resistance training for different people, what I really want to talk about today is it’s importance and how it fits in with everyone’s goals and situation.

Resistance training for fat loss: For long-term fat loss what we are really looking to do is speed up the body’s metabolism permanently. Since lean body burns more calories then fat we must increase it to raise our metabolism, therefore raising the amount of calories we burn each day. Doing the 30-45 minutes of cardio that most people do actually has the long-term effect of lowering metabolism, making it progressively harder and harder to lose the weight we want to lose.

Resistance training for endurance athletes: Every time a runner’s foot hits the ground they need to produce a certain amount of force to propel themselves forward. Doesn’t it make sense that if they get stronger they could produce more force, thereby making themselves a faster and more efficient athlete?

Resistance training for older people: After the age of 40 we lose about 10% of our muscle mass each decade. With this comes an decrease in bone density, particularly in women, an increase in fat and a general decline in health and well-being. This doesn’t have to be the case and this process can be slowed, stopped or even reversed by resistance training. Don’t we all know someone who experienced what seemed to be a minor fall and yet suffered major injuries? A lack of bone density and general strength is the culprit.

Resistance training for injury prevention: Our muscles and bones aren’t the only recipients of resistance training’s benefits. As our muscles get stronger our ligaments and tendons do as well. This means that whether we suffer an accident, run a marathon or just want to pick up your grandchild, every part of our body is better equipped to handle the stress of the event.

If you have any questions about how to properly incorporate resistance training into your life, please drop me a line.

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE

Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com/
Discover Your Strength!

This Saturday!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to drop a quick note to remind everyone that my Free seminar, "The Truth About Fat Loss" is this Saturday! It's at the Inner Athlete, 377 Macarthur in San Leandro at 1pm. I hope to see you all there!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

They're All Lying To You

They’re lying to you, you know. That’s right. They’re all lying to you. A quick search on Google turned up 162,000,000 hits for the term “weight loss”. That’s not an exaggeration. With that amount of information out there it’s not hard to understand why people have so difficult a time knowing what to do.

A couple of months ago Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore made headlines when they twittered that they were going on a maple syrup, lemon water and cayenne pepper diet “for health reasons”. Gwyneth Paltrow’s personal trainer Tracy Anderson appears on multiple TV shows exclaiming that women should never lift more than three pounds. “The Biggest Loser” tells everyone that losing two pounds a week is a low number. Turn on your TV on a Saturday afternoon and you don’t have to go far to find an infomercial telling you that the new ab-roller/coaster/rocker can help you lose 25 pounds in two months if you use it for only 15 minutes three times a week. They’re all lying to you.

The weight loss industry is multi-billion dollar-a-year business. That’s billion with a “b”. There are diets that tell you to eat no carbs. Diets that tell you to eat no fat. Diets that tell you to eat whatever you want as long as you have this special pill first. There are exercise books that tell you to do hours of cardio and abs. Think about it. Does any of this really make sense?

Have you noticed that on every weight loss pill bottle the label says something like, “Our studies have shown that if you take two of these pills a day along with proper diet and exercise you will lose weight.” Really? You mean that proper diet and exercise don’t do anything without your magic pill that costs $79.95?

They’re all lying to you.

We know that obesity rates are skyrocketing. We know that this stuff is now being passed on to our kids. How can this be when a quick search can give me 162,000,000 pieces of advice? It’s because so much of this information is just out there to promote someone’s book or someone’s TV show or sell a pill.

How do you know what to listen to? You’re in luck. On Saturday September 18th at the Inner Athlete in San Leandro I am going to be giving a free fat loss seminar at 1:00 pm. I am going to talk about these lies and tell you what the real truths are behind fat loss and how you can figure out the difference. The Inner Athlete is located at 377 Macarthur in San Leandro. Please call me at 510-754-7113 or email me at MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com if you have any questions, or just show up. It’s free and I hope we can help help a lot of people. Have a great week and I hope to see you there!

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE

Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com/
Discover Your Strength!

Area Fitness Professionals: Paul Southern

Hello, everyone. For my next few articles I’m going to introduce you to a few people in the area and talk about their approaches to exercise and general well being.

Today we’ll talk to Paul Southern. Paul owns Re-Active/CrossFit Pleasanton. He started as a coach 12 years ago after leaving the Marine Corps where he was a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman. He started coaching people in his garage and has since expanded to a 5,000 square foot coaching facility in Pleasanton.

Mitch: Talk about your fitness philosophy.

Paul: Someone that works out and strives to eat nutrient dense food has made a decision that the good life is something that we create for ourselves. Fitness leads to a healthier body and most importantly a healthy mind. If there is turmoil and dysfunction there, a person will be unhappy. I encourage people to start going in the right direction. Eat well and workout to make the mind and body healthy. It’s a decision about how you want to live.

Mitch: Talk about your gym, your coaches and the different things you offer.

Paul: I have always believed in the power to change my circumstances. In order to do this, everyone needs to take responsibility for themselves. Re-Active gym is about creating a place and a community that is trying to move in the right direction.

CrossFit is a group training program that aims to develop every aspect of an athlete, and we are all athletes: from our 8 year olds to our 73 year olds. We also work with athletic teams. Their coaches will work on their sport’s specific techniques but we want to make sure they can move right and are strong and conditioned. Our private training is for people that have specific goals or special needs that require them to work with a private trainer.

I am constantly bombarded with applications for coaches. There are plenty of mediocre “trainers”. I’m looking for the best of the committed coaches. The first requirements are integrity and attitude and then we look at a coach’s skills. Just like the clients they work with, a coach in my facility is always growing and improving their skill level. For example, Jesse Burdick was presenting at a conference in L.A. and I asked if he would like to come work for me. Harry Selkow is a coach and writer for EliteFTS (a top website on strength and conditioning). He moved to Pleasanton to be part of the team. Dan King was a coach at Bally’s that had outgrown the Globo Gym approach to fitness.

Mitch: Anything else?

Paul: Fitness is a way of life. We are designed for it. To ignore this simple fact is to live a less than optimal life. Live a full life and be fit. Also, don’t eat yellow snow.

You can see more about Re-Active at their website www.ReactiveGym.com. Call him at 925-353-4894 to talk about the CrossFit training or if you’d like to talk about personal or small group training at Re-Active you can call me at 510-754-7113.

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE

Mitch Rothbardt Fitness

510-754-7113

http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com/

MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com

Discover Your Strength!

The Last Ten Pounds

Hello, everyone! The idea for this week’s article comes from a loyal reader named Michelle. She asked me to write an article on losing the last ten pounds. The question is, why is it so hard to lose that last little bit? Of course, it doesn’t have to be 10 pounds. It could be 15 pounds or five, but what the question is really about, is sticking points. It’s about when the weight stops coming off and what you can do to start it going again. I’ll go into a few reasons why you might hit a sticking point and let you know how to get through it, or hopefully avoid it altogether.


1. Adjust your diet. Depending on where you were when you started your weight loss you might not have readjusted your diet. What I mean is this: Say you started your diet eating at a daily 500 calorie deficit. A month later you’ve maybe lost five or six pounds. At this lighter weight you’ll need fewer calories each day to maintain your weight and if you haven’t readjusted, you may be eating at a maintenance level for your current weight instead of at a deficit. A good strategy is to readjust your diet about every four weeks.

2. Don’t be afraid of a break. If you’ve been on a restrictive diet for a while, you might need a break. After a long period of low calorie eating, your metabolism might be driven down to a point where you’re not burning off calories at the rate you might be used to. Take a week or two and eat at your new maintenance level or even a touch higher. Restart your metabolism and start again.

3. Exercise. Make sure that you are sparing as much lean body mass as you can during your diet. Lean body keeps your metabolism high and is what you want to see when you shed the fat. What this requires is resistance training. Combining full body resistance workouts with interval/circuit style training will maintain or possibly even increase lean body mass and boost your metabolism to make sure that you are burning off the fat you want to get rid of. Long drawn out cardio sessions do not have this effect.

4. Keep a food journal. I know that just cutting back a little may have gotten you to this point, but to lose that last little bit, you may need to be a little more precise. Keeping an accurate food journal will help you know exactly where and how to adjust your diet. Remember, this process gets harder as it goes and if you really want to lose that last ten pounds, small adjustments of just a few hundred calories can be very important.

These are a just a few common mistakes that people make on their way to their goals. Hopefully they’ve given you some insight on how to continue on your way. If you have any questions or want some more individualized advice, please email or call me and let me know how I can help. We still have some summer left, so get out there and have a great time!

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

The Secret

There is a secret. I’ll tell you if you promise to keep it quiet. It’s not a pill. There is no such thing as that and, frankly, I’m glad. If there was, that would mean that there is an end. A finish. An absolute. Take this and be everything you want. Take this and be perfect, whatever that is. I’m happy there’s not. This is a journey that we need to take. That’s what makes it worthwhile. It’s not just meeting a goal, it’s what we discover about ourselves getting there. What we’ve sacrificed and put ourselves through that makes the final goal mean something to us. It’s what we’ve learned through the process that ensures that we can do it, or something like it, again if we need or choose to. This is what gives us the confidence to achieve other things in our lives. This is what learning and enjoying the process does. So, when people say they wish they could take a pill to lose their belly or lift more weight, know that the real goal isn’t about the belly or the weight. The real goal is to find out more about ourselves and only honest, hard work will allow us to do that. So, yes, there is a secret. The secret is that it’s not supposed to be easy.


Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Get Outta Here!

Hello, everyone! I hope you’ve been taking advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve been having. It’s the start of summer and and great time to get out, be active and have a great time.
Today I’m going to talk about some things you can do outside that can help get some weight off and keep it off during these summer months. First, however, let me say this: if you’re going to do an outdoor workout don’t forget your three best friends: water, sunblock and a hat. Dehydration is nothing to mess with and either is a nasty sunburn. Anyway, here we go.

1. Take a walk.

It seems simple, but when the weather is nice this can a great way to be active, get your blood flowing and get that Vitamin D you missed during the rainy season. Also, you burn about 275 calories an hour during an easy stroll. You can do at least that walking around Lake Chabot on a nice afternoon!

2. If you want to do something a little more intense, how about a beach workout.

With the uneven ground and the give and shifting of the sand, it can make some pretty simple exercises very challenging. Have you ever tried running in sand? It’s not easy. How about plain old jumping jacks? Pretty tough.

After a good warm-up and stretching session try the following workout:

20 second plank
15 second sprint
20 second Jumping Jacks
15 second sprint
30 second rest
Do three rounds and see how you feel.

3. Do you not like the beach and want something a little more hardcore? One word: Sandbag!

Get some contractors trash bags, some duct tape and a bag of play sand. Loosely fill some trash bags with five or ten pounds of sand each and duct tape them closed. It wouldn’t hurt to double bag them, either. Make sure the bags are filled a little loosely because you want the sand to be able to move around just a bit. Put the bags you made into an old duffel bag, bear hug it and go for a walk. Half a block should be a good distance to start. If you can go longer, please do. If it’s too light, make another sandbag.

If going for a walk is a little too boring, try this: pick the bag up from the floor and throw it over one shoulder. Put it back down, then pick it up and throw it over the other shoulder. That’s called shouldering. Try this complex:

10 squats holding the bag however you like
10 shoulderings
10 overhead presses
Rest 45 seconds and do it again.

There you go! Really the only thing getting in the way of a great summer workout is your imagination. If you need some more ideas, just let me know, and remember to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Some Updates

Hello, everyone. Wow, I blinked and it's been a month and a half since an update. Sorry about that. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here and I have a few things coming up.

Articles
My next three article are all written or at least planned out. The first one appears in the Castro Valley Forum tomorrow and possibly in the San Leandro Times on Thursday. I never know if it will make it into the Times until the paper comes out. Anyway here are the dates and subjects of the next three:

July 14 Forum - July 21 Blog: Outdoor workouts
July 28 Forum - August 4 Blog: The Secret
August 11 Forum - August 18 Blog: The Last 10 Pounds

Let me know if you have any suggestions or questions for these or any ideas for future writing.

Training
Well, since the meet in May my training has pretty much been for s**t. I injured my back the week after the meet and it still is giving me some very weird problems. It's getting better but I have to watch it. It's frustrating because I feel like I've had to waste the last month, specifically with my squat and deadlift.

On the flip side it seems like my bench might be movin' on up a bit. I've tried a couple of new things, going back to dynamic work but structuring it a bit differently and also doing some high rep work in my accessory movements. It feels like it's helping. Last week I hit 320 off a three board with a terrible set-up. I couldn't do a proper set-up with my back feeling like it did, so even though my PR is 325, the 320 felt pretty easy even with the bad positioning. I'll keep going with this and see where we are when I can really get tight again. Right now I am pretty much stuck doing only floor press because laying on a bench with my feet on the floor is very uncomfortable. That's OK though, because the floor press is something that will help me in the lower portion of the bench which is where my weakness is anyway.

Another thing that this injury has forced me to do is re-think my own core training. I'm basically going to start over, focusing on basic anti-extension movements to re-establish better lumbar posture. I'm going to start with the very beginning dead-bug progressions and advance one a week (Read this excellent Mike Robertson article to see what dead-bugs are). I'll also be doing a lot more hip flexor stretching and hip mobility work in general to improve my posture and performance, and to make sure that this injury doesn't happen again.

Anyway, that pretty much catches you up. One more thing, on July 25th Re-Active Gym in Pleasanton, where I work and and where I do my own training is hosting a powerlifting meet. There will be all sorts of lifters competing, both men and women, beginners and elite level. It will be fun and it's free to attend. Come by and say hi! The lifting starts at 10am and the gym is located at 7075 Commerce Circle, Suite B in Pleasanton. Let me know if you need directions or if you have any questions.

I leave you with this. What does it mean? (Make sure your sound is up.)



Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
www.MitchRothbardtFitness.com
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

May 23rd Meet Recap: AKA Mezza Mezza

Hello, everyone. As most of you probably know I had my second powerlifting meet in Sacramento this past Sunday. "How did it go?" you may ask. Well, I'll tell you. It went OK. Not as good as I hoped but still not too bad. Let's break it down James Brown style:

The Squat
1st attempt 385: This was a little f***ed up. I had Elton wrap my knees too early so by the time I got to the platform my legs were basically numb. Compound that with my mistake of making my rack height too high and having to reset it and by the time I squatted I had no feeling in my legs and I ended very high on the squat and missed it. This really should have been a gimme, so I didn't sweat it and went up on my second attempt. By the way, I didn't find out until later that day that if you miss all three of your squats you are out of the meet. I guess it was better I didn't know that.
2nd attempt 424: My PR is 425, but I still had no fear here. I knew I could get this and I did.
3rd attempt 451: This was my goal going in. I felt good. The 424 was easy and I was pretty sure I could get this. I unracked it, went down, stood up and then heard the annoucer say, "No good." I asked the judge why and he put his thumb and first finger about half an inch apart indicating that I was above parallel by that much. Here's the video. Judge for yourself.



It was right around here that I started getting a bit tired.

The Bench
1st attempt 248: This wasn't too bad. Not a piece of cake, but not too bad.
2nd attempt 264: Here we go again with the bench. Got about half way up and that's it. I did this weight a few weeks ago at the gym, but not today. My goal was 270 going in. That wasn't going to happen.
3rd attempt 264: One word: Stapled.

Now I was definitely tired and a bit frustrated. I was two for six and missed the first two goals I had for the day. I was talking to Shane and he suggested a Red Bull. Not a bad idea. He also introduced me to the wonderful world of Ammonia. That woke me up a bit. I knew that the deadlift was my best lift and I actually felt good warming up, so I was cautiously optimistic that I could hit my 500 lb. goal.

The Deadlift
1st attempt 405: Went up easy.
2nd attempt 461: Not too bad, but I really didn't know if I had another 40 pounds in me. I decided that I was going to give a shot anyway. I did 473 last time so there really was no point in just matching that or going up just 10 pounds.
3rd attempt 501: Not too bad at all. Took a second or two to get off the floor, but then flew up. My sticking point with deads is off the floor, so I knew that once I moved it off the floor a little I was fine. I was a little hesitant until I saw the three white lights and then I gave a little yell. The 500 pound mark is a pretty good mark. I feel that you are starting to get somewhere once you break 400, but breaking 500 means that you are strong. This one felt real good. Check out the video.



So, all in all a decent day. My 1167 total was 32 pounds more than my total at the March 13th meet, so I'll take that. I really wanted more, though. Weighing 198 pounds, an elite total is 1471. That's a big number. I just have to get my bench moving. I simply will not hit that total until I do. I figure something like a 565 squat, 300 bench, 615 deadlift will get me there. It just seems like that bench number is pretty darn small comparitively. I need to figure out what is the sticking point there. We'll get it done.

Anyway, a big thank you to Elton, Shane, Andy and Jesse for helping me out at the meet. It was also a nice unexpected surprise to see to see Eric Kenyon RKC there.

Anyway, let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon.

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

4 Mistakes to Better Exercise

Long before I was a trainer, I just loved going to the gym. I read books and magazines about training and I tried lots of things out. When I look back, I realize that while many things I did got positive results, I definitely made mistakes along the way. What I'd like to do this week is tell you a few of my mistakes so that you can avoid making them.

1. Don't use body part splits. For those that don't know, many people lift weights according to a schedule of body parts (chest and triceps on Monday, back on Tuesday, etc.) usually hitting each body-part once a week. A standard workout will have someone doing three exercises of three or four sets per body-part. There has been a lot of research done on this and it has been shown that hitting a body part with one exercise three times per week yields greater gains in strength and muscle size when compared to three exercises once a week. There are exceptions, but those usually apply to higher level athletes and bodybuilders. For most people, at least initially, a full-body workout is the way to go.

2. Have well-defined goals. A goal is the seed from which everything grows. Without knowing what you want, how do you know what to do? If you want to gain or lose weight, figure out how much. If you want a better bench press, figure out a number. The goal tells you everything you need to know. It tells you how to eat, how much to lift, how much cardio. It gives you purpose. Don't be one of those vacant-eyed drones shuffling along on the treadmill for no reason.

3. Measure your progress. Once you have a goal, how do you know you are doing the right things to hit it? You've got to measure your progress so you can make any necessary adjustments in your program. This doesn't mean change everything the moment you don't notice a change, but measuring your progress over time lets you know if you are on the right track much quicker than guessing.

4. Get help. I lifted for far too long by myself and a result developed some bad habits and fell into a bit of a rut. Don't be afraid to get some help with your exercise program and especially your exercise form. This will help prevent injuries, will help to keep you motivated and will help put you on the fast track to your goals.

While this certainly doesn't get into all of the mistakes I've made in my exercise career, hopefully it will give you an idea of how to avoid at least a few of them. If you have any questions about how to avoid your own mistakes, please drop me a line or give me a call. Also, be sure to see your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
Discover Your Strength!

Big numbers!

Hello everyone! I'm on my way up to Sacramento for tomorrow's meet. I hope to hit some good numbers. 450-squat. 270-bench. 500-deadlift. I feel good and am really ready to go. Follow my Facebook page during the day tomorrow for real time updates and I'll have a more extensive recap here next week, hopefully with some video. Wish me luck!

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
510-754-7113
http://MitchRothbardtFitness.com
http://MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com
Discover Your Strength!

May 23rd

Hello all! I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on what is going on.

1. I am running some really great deals on one-on-one and small group sessions at both my San Leandro and my Pleasanton gyms. Drop me a line or give me a call for the details. If you like, I'll send you a flyer. By the way, my small group sessions can have up to five people and for some of the packages it comes out to less than $20 per person per session.

2. On a personal level, I am currently finishing up my training cycle for my next meet which is in Sacramento on May 23rd. I'm very excited. If you remember at my last meet (which you can read about here) my goal going in was an 1100 pound total. I was very happy to hit 1135. At this one, my goal is 1200. I think I can hit a 450 squat, a 265 bench and, maybe, a 500 dead. That would put me at 1215. Those would be pretty big numbers for me and they would represent a massive gain from just six months ago. I'm feeling good and I'm excited. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'll leave you with a video of one of the guys I train squatting 1003 pounds. He's quite a bit stronger than me.



Have a strong day!

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT

MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
MitchRothbardtFitness.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

A Grocery Guide

Hello, everyone! The idea for this week's column came from one of my readers. Unfortunately when we spoke I forget to get her name, so if it was you, please call or send me an email so I can give you credit. Anyway, after my last "Apple A Day" nutrition column she called me and mentioned that she had been in the grocery business for a number of years and was appalled at what was happening with our food. She mentioned that she'd like to see an article that talked about what to look for when grocery shopping. I thought that was a great idea, so here we go.


1. Stick to the outer edges of the store. What do we find on the edges of the big box known as the local grocery store? Fruits, vegetables and meats for the most part. What should the vast majority of our diet consist of? You got it! Fruits, vegetables and meats! By the way, if you're a vegetarian, the tofu is in the vegetable aisle.

2. If it takes ten minutes to read the ingredient list you probably shouldn't buy it. The fewer the ingredients in any food the less that food has been processed and the better and more complete the nutritional value. What are the ingredients in an apple? An apple. What are the ingredients in a fruit roll-up? Well, out of the 17 things on the ingredients list of General Mills' Fruit By The Foot, only sugar and water were not either a highly processed food or a chemical. Mmmm, this Acetylated Mono and Diglycerides tastes great!

          

Which one has better ingredients?




3. There's nothing wrong with frozen veggies. On the excellent show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" (Friday nights at 9 on ABC), Jamie pointed out that frozen vegetables are picked when ripe and then frozen very soon afterwards, preserving the nutrients extremely well. This can help save some money and make sure that your broccoli doesn't go bad.

4. High fructose corn syrup isn't good. Basically, for reasons that I barely understand, our country produces a incredible amount of corn. Far more than we could ever eat. For this reason new uses for corn had to be discovered such as ethanol and the aforementioned high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is used as a super cheap sweetener in all sorts of fruit drinks, sodas and many other foods, as well. While there is conflicting research on it's health effects, it does seem like foods that contain high fructose corn syrup are much more likely to be, in technical terms, garbage.

Well, I hope this gives you some basic tips. As always, let me know if you have any suggestions or questions. Eat well and have a great week!
 
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
http://www.mitchrothbardtfitness.com/
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

New Referral Program!

Hello, everyone. I wanted to let everyone know that I am starting a referral program for my clients. If you refer a new client to me, for every four sessions they buy you get one free. It's good for up to five free sessions! You and your friend can even workout together if you like. If anyone has any questions about this, please let me know. Help your friends, relatives and co-workers get in shape!

Thanks and have a great day!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT

MitchRothbardtFitness.com

MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com

510-754-7113

Discover Your Strength!

The Resistance to Good Endurance Training

Hello, everyone! I hope you're doing well. Last Sunday I spent some time at the Fitness Expo at the finish line of the Oakland Marathon. I was there representing The Inner Athlete, which is where I train people in San Leandro. I was noticing the people who had just finished the various races (either the team relay, the half marathon or the full marathon) and a few things struck me. First, it was immediately apparant who trained effectively for their race. I saw people who were excited about their accomplishment and walked around with pride and I noticed others who could barely move.

The other thing I found, was that only one person I talked to had done any resistance training in preparation for their race. It wasn't a coincidence that this person barely looked like she competed.

Many people fail to realize the importance of resistance training for any kind of endurance event. The endurance training community is incredibly passionate about their sport and they work extremely hard in their training, but one constant among participants is an astonomically high injury rate. Resistance training can be a crucial part in preventing many injuries as well as increasing force production and economy which are both a very important part of any sport.

For an easier understanding let's break this down: There are approximately 2000 steps per mile. If you weigh 150 pounds that is a total of 300,000 pounds of force that you must produce with your legs to go that mile. Now, suppose that you have the ability to produce 200 lbs. of force with each step. (You can probably produce more, but let's keep it simple for our purposes.) That would mean that you have the ability to produce 400,000 pounds of force during that mile for a difference of 100,000 pounds. Let's add some resistance training to the mix and let's say that with a good program you add the strength to produce just 25 pounds more force per step, a very achievable goal. Now you can produce 450,000 pounds of force during that mile! That's an extra 50,000 pounds you have in the bank each mile and a difference of 150,000 pounds! Don't you think that would improve your time and endurance, not to mention easing the burden on your joints and therefore increasing your resistance to injury? This is also before even talking about how things like core stability, rotational strength, postural awareness and many other aspects of a resistance training program can help your time and keep you healthy.

What I'm trying to say is don't neglect resistance training in your long distance pursuits. A good program can keep you healthy and improve your performance. Also, don't forget to talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Mitch Rothbardt Fitness

www.MitchRothbardtFitness.com

MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com

510-754-7113

Discover Your Strength!

New Website Is Up and Running!

Hello, everyone! Just a quick note today to tell you all that my new website, http://mitchrothbardtfitness.com/ is up and running. Go, take a look around and let me know what you think! I'm excited.

He's excited, too!

Let me know what you think.

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Locations in San Leandro and Pleasanton!
MitchRothbardtFitness.com
MitchRothbardtTraining.blogspot.com
510-754-7113
Dicsover Your Strength!

An Apple A Day: Part 4

Hello, everyone! With no further delay, the exciting conclusion of "An Apple A Day".

7. Stick to the 90% rule.

The 90% rule states that we eat clean 90% of the time. That means if we're eating 5 meals a day, or 35 meals a week, three or four meals can be what I call reward meals. If we're eating three meals a day that means two meals can be reward meals. These are the meals that reward us for eating clean the rest of the time. If you are in a caloric deficit, these reward meals can also help jump-start your metabolism which may have slowed during your diet.

8. Don't go crazy with your 10%.

Just because you get 10% to go off your diet, don't go crazy! If you are eating in a 500 calorie deficit each day, that comes to 3500 calories a week. That would equal about a pound of fat loss. If you eat a pizza with an ice cream sundae for one of your reward meals, that could easily equal 1500-2000 calories and would cut any gains you've made by more than half. Eat one more meal like that and have a drink on Saturday night and you've gained weight for the week. Your 33 good meals during the week are completely counteracted by two bad ones.

9. Eat for your activity.

People are afraid of carbohydrates these days, but they really shouldn't be. Carbs are a primary source of energy for our body. That being said, you should eat most of your carbs before and after exercise. If you are going to be sitting behind a desk your body is not going to need all that much energy and the carbs you don't use will be stored as fat. The same goes for eating potatoes or grains, such as rice, with dinner. These are great foods when eaten at the right time, but again, your body doesn't have anywhere for that energy to go if you are just going to relax and watch CSI Miami after dinner. You must remember that many of our eating habits were developed when most people worked at some sort of job that involved manual labor or, at least, more activity than most people get at work now. We have to make adjustments to our current activity levels!

10. Don't buy junk.

This is pretty simple. If you don't have junk food in your house, you won't eat it.

I hope this series has helped give you a sense of some pretty simple things you can do to get your diet in order. As always if you have any questions or comments, please drop me a line and let me know. Happy and healthy eating to you!
 
- from the Castro Valley Forum, March 24, 2010
 
Mitchell Rothbardt
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Endurance Training Thoughts

Hello, everyone! It was a beautiful day here and it was very nice down at the Oakland Running Festival today. One thing really struck me, though. As I watched and talked with various people who had just finished either the half or full marathon, it became pretty apparent that many of them really hadn't trained the best way they could.



Some people looked good and some really looked terrible. I only spoke with one person who had even done any resistance training in preperation for the race.



Resistance training can help the endurance athlete in so many ways from injury prevention to force production to running economy. It's not just for guys who want to get big.



I think that I will write something a little more extensive about that soon, but seeing as how I'm doing this on my phone I think I'll end this one now and keep you in a little bit suspense. You can, of course, call or email me with any questions if the suspense is too debilitating. I don't want anyone getting hurt.



I hope you're having a great weekend! We'll talk soon.





Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE

Mitch Rothbardt Training

510-754-7113

http://mitchrothbardttraining.blogspot.com

Discover Your Strength

Yelp!

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that I just got a Yelp page. http://www.yelp.com/biz/mitch-rothbardt-fitness-san-leandro
If anyone would like to go there and write a review, that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

What Now? A Starter's Guide

So, what now? You've decided you need to get in shape. What now? Where do you go? What do you do? Thousands of wide-eyed folks join gyms every day with sugar-plum thoughts of fitness in their heads only to stop going six weeks later seeing no discernible difference in their bodies or, more importantly, the way they feel and move. They still have the bad knee. They still have the belly. Why? Well, there's probably a few reasons. What I'll try to do here is outline a couple of things you can do to get started in a way that will actually help you achieve your goals and not be one of the disillusioned souls wondering why nothing is happening.

1. Set your goals.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don’t much care where--" said Alice.

"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the Cat.

How does this awesome quote from Alice in Wonderland relate to the gym? Easy. Goals. The Cat is merely pointing out that if Alice isn't clear on where she'd like to go then he really can't help her. In other words you need goals to know what you need to do. The goal will tell us everything. It will tell you what to eat, what to lift, how often, etc.

When I ask people their goals, I often hear, "I want to get in shape." What does that mean? The fact is, it's much too general a term to mean much of anything. To different people it can mean losing weight, gaining weight, getting stronger, getting faster, reducing pain, increasing endurance and probably a hundred other things I can't even think of.

What I'm trying to say, is that saying, "I want to get in shape", isn't a particularly useful goal. You need to be much more specific. "OK", you say, "how's this? I want to lose 15 pounds."

That's better, but you need one more thing. A realistic time frame. Otherwise you could just keep looking to lose those 15 pounds for years! And many people do.

"Fine. I want to lose 15 pounds in three months." That's a goal. The next step is the planning.

2. Plan it out.

Coming up with your goal is obviously a huge step, but you can have any goal you want. If you don't take the time to figure out how to achieve it, then you are once again like Alice talking to the Cat. You need to break it down and figure it out.

For instance, if you're going to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit. A pound is about 3750 calories. 15 pounds in three months is a little over a pound a week so you need to be in a deficit of maybe 4000 calories a week, etc. You now have a blueprint on what you need to do with your diet and training that will get you toward your goal.

I know this stuff can be very difficult and overwhelming and, not coincidentally, this is the part where many people fall off the wagon. Don't be that person! If you can't figure out a plan to get you where you'd like to go, find someone who can. If I had a goal to build an addition on my house, I certainly wouldn't try to come up with a plan to build one because I don't want the roof to fall on my head. I don't know the first thing about doing that, so the first part of my plan would be to find someone who knows what they're doing to help with my goal.

These two steps are crucially important whatever your goal may be unless, of course, your goal is to wander around the gym aimlessly. It's really just like anything else. You wouldn't cook dinner without having an idea what you were trying to cook, would you? That's no different than this. Too many people's gym routines are like someone just blindly throwing stuff in a pot and then wondering why dinner doesn't taste very good.

Don't shortchange yourself. You are worth the extra effort to give yourself a better chance at success! Wouldn't you rather spend a little extra time at the beginning so you don't wind up wasting weeks or longer? I believe so, and I believe that when you give yourself the best chance at success it will payoff later and, in this case, will continue to pay off for you for the rest of your life.

If you need any help defining your goals or setting up your plan please drop me a line or give me a call. I'll be glad to help.

Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
Now in Two Locations!!
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Are You Excited?

Are you excited?

I'm excited! We are almost 25% into a great year. I can feel it. Can you? All you need to do to make this a successful year is to tell yourself that on December 31st, 2010 you will be in better shape than you are now. What does this mean to you? Who knows? That's your decision. Does it mean ten pounds lighter? Ten pounds heavier? Ten pounds better in your bench press? It doesn't matter. Figure it out and go for it!

Having said that, let me say this: What do you think is the most important thing you can have to hit your goals? The best exercises? Wrong. The best equipment? Nope. The cutest top and gym shorts? Absolutely not.

It's this: Enthusiasm. Just that. Merely a little excitement and passion about what you're doing.

How often do you walk into a gym and see a row of people just trudging away on the treadmill like they're walking through three feet of snow and would rather be anywhere else? What do you think their results have been like over the past year? Do you think most of them have hit their goals? Sure, maybe a few of them have through sheer force of will, but with that mindset what is the likelihood that they will continue to hit goals or even maintain the ones they've already hit? Here's a hint: it's not very high.

Now think of the gym-goer you notice that's having fun. They are into it. You can feel their excitement whatever they're doing whether it's lifting weights, throwing a medicine ball around or maybe just walking on the treadmill. The difference being that they are walking with a bounce in their step and a purpose in their stride. You can tell that this person looks forward to this. What is the likelihood that this gym-goer will hit their goals? You probably know the answer to that one.

You see, here's the thing: This should be fun! Not only because you are much more likely to do something that is fun, but because you will work harder and better if you are enjoying yourself. Doesn't that make sense? You've heard the saying "time flies when you're having fun" haven't you? Have you ever seen a lousy movie that feels like it's four hours long even though it's only an hour-and-a-half and then you watch a great two-and-a-half hour one that feels like it's 15 minutes? Exercise is the same type of thing. If you approach it with enthusiasm and excitement you will get better results and you will make it a habit that will benefit you for life. Not just until you lose that 10 or 15 pounds.

Now, if you've never had much fun exercising you might be saying to yourself, "Yeah, right. Waiting in line to use that ab crunch machine isn't going to be fun, no matter what." You know what? You're right! So don't wait in line to use it. Have you ever done Landmines? Or Farmer's Walks? Both those exercises are much more effective and will make you feel like wrestling a saber-toothed tiger when you're done. Hate doing the 45 minute walk-of-doom on the treadmill? Me too. So why don't we do some sled drags instead? They take less time, burn more fat, get you in better cardio-vascular shape and, best of all, they'll make you feel like you can move a truck with your bare hands!

No one has ever finished a good workout and said, "Wow. I'm sorry I did that." When you finish a workout you should feel like you've accomplished something. Like you've improved yourself. Even just a little bit. Do you feel like that when you're done? If you haven't, you probably haven't had a good workout. (And by the way, just because you're tired or sore doesn't mean you've had a good workout.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Have some fun! We all know how important exercise is, so let's put some effort into having a good time while we're doing it. If you don't know how, that's fine. Talk to a trainer and tell them what's going on and they should be able to get you on the right track. Remember, this is important! You only have one body and, save for a few noses, it's the only one you'll ever have. Let's have fun with it, and please remember to consult your physician before starting any exercise program.

Mitch Rothbardt Fitness
Now In Two Locations!
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

An Apple A Day, Part 3

Hello, everyone! In my last two articles I introduced some ideas about nutrition and talked about how and why people let their diet stop, or even reverse, their progress. This week I will continue to give you a few guidelines on how to improve your diet. Without further procrastination, here we go:
4. Eat 5-6 smaller meals a day instead of 3 big ones.

While this is not necessarily a must it can be a huge help in controlling insulin spikes (which can lead to fat gain), and hunger. It is also much easier to control caloric intake and maintain consistent energy throughout the day when eating this way.

By the way, a mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal can consist of a protein shake and a handful of nuts or an orange. I’m not talking about eating a steak six times a day.

5. Don’t drink beverages with more than zero calories.

People just don't realize how many calories they drink. The main reason for this is that most beverages simply don’t make you feel very full and it usually doesn't take very long to drink them. You can very easily take in 500-600 calories in a day with drinks and not notice a thing. If you do this 5 days a week (and those of you who get your fancy Starbucks drinks before work absolutely do) that adds up to about a pound a week. That’s 52 pounds a year. From a drink with no nutritional value. That takes 5 minutes to consume.

Stick to water or green tea. If you need more taste to your water get some of those little Crystal Light packets. Many people looking to lose weight can drop a quick ten pounds on this advice alone.

6. Eat breakfast.

This is kind of an offshoot from number 4, but we've all heard the expression that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It's true for many reasons. It gets fuel in our system, it stabilizes our energy, it jump-starts our metabolism. I think it's important because simply getting some healthy food in us to start our day makes it much less likely that we'll binge on unhealthy foods later on.

Many times people say they can’t get up early to fix something. I say it takes less than 10 minutes to make and eat a bowl of oatmeal with a handful of nuts and a scoop of protein powder mixed in.

In my next article I’ll finish up this series. If you have any questions about this topic or any other, please drop me a line. I promise I will get back to you, and maybe your question will get answered in this very column! Have a great week!

-from the Castro Valley Forum, March 10, 2010

Mitch Rothbardt
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

1135!!

Well, how are you all doing? I hope you had a great weekend. Just to let y'all know I hit my goal plus 35 more pounds at the meet. I wanted to hit 1100 and I hit 1135 and actually won my weight class. That was a surprise and probably has more to do with the experience level that entered as a lightweight raw than anything else, but I am pretty darn happy and proud of how it went.

The first lift was the squat. I opened very light at about 330. I went that light because I wanted to make sure to hit my first lift at my first meet. I didn't know how nervous I would be. It turned out I wasn't really all that nervous and I hit that pretty easily. I then went up to 385 and hit that as well. I came up a touch early but still hit the lift and it wasn't too hard. I was thinking about going up to about 425, but Jesse wanted to keep it a bit lower seeing as how I was a touch high at 385. He set it at 413 and here's how it went:



I was happy with that, as it bested my previous PR by about 8 pounds.

Next up was bench. While this has always been my favorite lift, it's also always been my worst lift. I opened at 225. Hit that pretty easily. Went up to 248 and hit that pretty easily. I wanted to go to about 265 but in Kilos that worked out to either about 270 or 260. I went for 270. Here's how it went:



"Way to go, spotters," is not what you want to hear after your lift.

The good news about my bench is that it really didn't feel heavy at all until it stopped moving. I know that sounds funny, but it's true. I think I'm getting stronger at bench, but it's not really showing in the lift yet. Needs more work, but I'll get there. At this point I was annoyed, but I knew that I was still on track for my goal of an 1100 total.

Also, surprisingly I was the leader in my weight class. I noticed that my squat beat second place by about 25 kilos and my bench was behind by about 10 kilos putting me about 15 kilos in the lead. I also noticed that the second place lifter was opening the deadlift about 25 kilos heavier than me.

The final lift is the Deadlift. This has always been my best lift. I opened at about 385 and smashed it. I went up to 439 which is about a 4 pound PR and I really smashed that. I was thinking about about maybe 450 when Jesse told me to go up about 50 pounds. I figured OK although I hedged a bit and went up 35 pounds to 474. Also, at this point I was 7 kilos ahead of second place and I knew that if I hit my lift I would win.



I've got to say I was pretty darned ecstatic about this lift. I thought I maybe had 450 in me, but I didn't think I had this. It went up pretty easy, too. 500 next time!

All in all it was a great day and I can't wait for the next meet! In closing here's a great pic that Kate took of my 413 squat.

P.S. Sorry for the video quality. I accidentally left the battery on in my video camera and I had to use my phone for the videos. I'll get that right next time.

I have a new article coming up tomorrow. Enjoy!

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Ready for Tomorrow

Hello all. Just a quick note from the magic phone. Tomorrow is the meet. 1100 is the goal. I feel ready. I am up to about 190 pounds. I've been able to put on about 17 pounds in the past few months, and I feel great. Have you done anything about your goals?
I hope so. I've worked hard and I'm ready to go. I'll let you know how it goes. Keep an eye on my Facebook profile page tomorrow. I'll try to update as I go. I'll try to have video next week, as well.
Talk to you soon. Work your goal!

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT ACE
Mitch Rothbardt Training
510-754-7113
http://mitchrothbardttraining.blogspot.com
Discover Your Strength

An Apple A Day: Part 2

Hello, everyone! In my last article I introduced some ideas about nutrition and talked about how and why people let their diet stop or even reverse their progress. This week I am going to give you a few guidelines on how to start improving your diet. Without further procrastination, here we go:


1. Prepare!

The absolute number one key to good nutrition is preparation. You know that eating grilled chicken with roasted vegetables is a better choice then stopping by the McDonald’s drive-thru, but you don’t have that choice if you haven’t prepared for the fact that little Johnny has soccer practice and you’re not going to have time to make dinner tonight. Look at your schedule honestly and take the time to prepare for those instances where you know that making good choices will be difficult. Make a little extra while preparing dinner and have it for lunch tomorrow or just put the extra in the refrigerator and save it for that night that you just don’t feel like cooking, for example.

If you take the time to think and prepare in advance, good nutrition and great results will be much easier than you thought.

2. Have lean protein at every meal.
Protein is the building block of muscle. Without adequate protein, recovery from exercise or even normal activities takes longer and is not nearly as effective. This leads to less effective workouts, which can dramatically slow down or even stop your progress. This can end up leading to slower muscle gain, which means a slower metabolism. That’s not a part of any one's goals.

Protein has also been shown to increase the feeling of satiety in people, which helps control caloric intake. Plan your diet around protein and good things will happen.

3. Eat your fruits and vegetables.

I simply don’t have the room or time to expound on why vegetables are good for you. If you don’t know that by now, there’s not much I can do. Eat as many vegetables as you want. Carry a bag of baby carrots around with you so you don’t feel tempted to pick up a bag of chips if you get hungry. This gets back to preparation. Have fruit or vegetables with every meal.

Fruits and vegetables are very high in vitamins, minerals, and one thing that we really don't get enough of: fiber.

Also, for those of you worried about the sugar in fruit, keep in mind that fruit sugar is not processed. The body doesn't treat it like the sugar in those chocolate chip cookies. And when was the last time you heard about someone getting fat by eating too many apples.

Next week, Part 3.

-from the Castro Valley Forum, March 3, 2010

Mitch Rothbardt
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

Updates and Facebook

Hello! Well, I've finally done it. I'm up on Facebook. If you'd like to go to my page, just do a search for Mitch Rothbardt Fitness and it will come up. I can't figure out how to post a direct link to there, so if anyone has any idea how that works, please let me know. It seems like Facebook is pretty amazing when it comes to some things, but is a bit lacking in certain other things that seem pretty basic to me. What is more likely is that I just haven't figured out a way to do some of the stuff yet.
In other news, I am almost all set to move into my new facility. It's called The Inner Athlete and it's located in San Leandro. It is a small private facility and I really think it's going to be a great move for both me and my clients. I think it's going to be a huge benefit for people that really want to make fitness a part of their life. I can't wait.
I also can't wait for March 14th and my meet in Sacramento. My lifts are going up and I'm very excited. 1100 is the goal. I know I can hit it.
Let me know what your goals are for the next month and I'll see if I can help you hit them. Let's do this together! Get pumped!

Mitchell Rothbardt

MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com

510-754-7113

Discover Your Strength!

An Apple a Day: Basic Nutrition Part 1

What is the one thing that I hear most when I ask people about their goals? Come on, I'm sure you can get this. No, it's not to finish third in the Charles Laughton look-a-like contest. Guess again. There you go! It's losing weight.

Now, can you guess the one aspect of a good weight loss plan that people mess up the most? The thing that flat out kills most people's progress? This one is a little bit harder. It's their diet.

Whenever you have a goal involving body composition, the exercise plan, while certainly very important, is always secondary to diet. In fact, in many ways it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a fat-loss exercise plan and a muscle building exercise plan. For example, in both you are using compound movements to either preserve or build muscle.

Why do so many people ruin their progress with their diet, you ask? Well, there's lots of reasons. For one, it's easy to go to the gym and do what your trainer tells you to do for a few hours a week while he's there watching you. It's much harder to break old habits when you are on your own and hungry. For another, we are bombarded with so much information about different diets and ways to lose weight that our eyes glaze over and we end up not doing anything different at all because we just don't know where to start. What many people fail to realize is this: good nutrition is very easy. Yes, there are some concepts that are certainly very involved and difficult to understand and implement, but for the most part those concepts only apply to very specific kinds of people with very specific kinds of goals, such as high-level athletes. For the rest of us, it doesn't have to be about counting calories as much as just using good common sense. 

For example: what's a healthier snack, an apple or a candy bar? What's a healthier meal, grilled chicken or fried chicken? You see? It's not so hard. (If you had trouble answering those questions, please call me immediately. You need some help.) What it really comes down to is just eating good, non-processed food as much as possible.

In my next few articles I will give you some basic guidelines to follow to set up a good diet. Remember, nutrition doesn't have to be difficult, just smart and logical. If you have some questions about your diet, please call me or send me an email. Now, everyone eat their oranges and I'll see you in two weeks.

-from the Castro Valley Forum February 10, 2010

Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT

MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com

510-754-7113

Discover Your Strength!

An Apple a Day: Basic Nutrition Part 1

What is the one thing that I hear most when I ask people about their goals? Come on, I'm sure you can get this. No, it's not to finish third in the Charles Laughton look-a-like contest. Guess again. There you go! It's losing weight.

Now, can you guess the one aspect of a good weight loss plan that people mess up the most? The thing that flat out kills most people's progress? This one is a little bit harder. It's their diet.

Whenever you have a goal involving body composition, the exercise plan, while certainly very important, is always secondary to diet. In fact, in many ways it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a fat-loss exercise plan and a muscle building exercise plan. For example, in both you are using compound movements to either preserve or build muscle.

Why do so many people ruin their progress with their diet, you ask? Well, there's lots of reasons. For one, it's easy to go to the gym and do what your trainer tells you to do for a few hours a week while he's there watching you. It's much harder to break old habits when you are on your own and hungry. For another, we are bombarded with so much information about different diets and ways to lose weight that our eyes glaze over and we end up not doing anything different at all because we just don't know where to start. What many people fail to realize is this: good nutrition is very easy. Yes, there are some concepts that are certainly very involved and difficult to understand and implement, but for the most part those concepts only apply to very specific kinds of people with very specific kinds of goals, such as high-level athletes. For the rest of us, it doesn't have to be about counting calories as much as just using good common sense.

For example: what's a healthier snack, an apple or a candy bar? What's a healthier meal, grilled chicken or fried chicken? You see? It's not so hard. (If you had trouble answering those questions, please call me immediately. You need some help.) What it really comes down to is just eating good, non-processed food as much as possible.

In my next few articles I will give you some basic guidelines to follow to set up a good diet. Remember, nutrition doesn't have to be difficult, just smart and logical. If you have some questions about your diet, please call me or send me an email. Now, everyone eat their oranges and I'll see you in two weeks.

-from the Castro Valley Forum, February 10, 2010

Mitch Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

What's it going to be?

Ok. I'm ready to do this. As you may know on March 14, I am going to be doing my first powerlifting meet. My goal is an 1100 pound total. That would represent small PRs (personal records) in each lift. I can do that. I can feel it. I'm excited about it. My question to you is what are your goals for the next few months? Let me know. I'm interested. I want to know. Email me, call me, put it in the comments. I'll tell you this. If you tell someone you become accountable, and if you become accountable then you have a much better chance of reaching your goal. Do it. Come on! I told you mine, you tell me yours! Let's do this together! I KNOW WE CAN!!!

To get you excited here's a video of an 82 year old, 164 pound grandfather deadlifting 420 lbs. If he can do it you sure can give it a shot!



Mitchell Rothbardt
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!

It's Up To You!

It's up to you! These are both the most empowering and scariest words you can hear. What do I mean by that? It's simple. Those words put the responsibility on your shoulders. They give you the power! That's great because you are now the one in control. The one who decides what to do. Unfortunately, for some people those words are scary for the very same reason. The twist is in how you look at it. If you don't hit your goal, then you're the one to blame.


Do you want to lose weight? It's up to you. Do you want to get stronger? It's up to you. As a trainer, I've helped people with all sorts of goals, but the people that have had the most success are, very simply, the ones who work the hardest. They have decided that it's up to them to put the work in. My job is to present them with the best program and make sure they're using correct form, but other than that, it's up to them. They are the ones who started eating better. They are the ones who exercise and put in a great effort whether I'm there or not.

Getting our bodies to change isn't easy. Due to thousands of years of evolution, our bodies have learned to be extremely resistant to change. In other words, your body doesn't want to lose that last ten pounds or give you the ability to bench 300 pounds. It still thinks that winter is coming up and it has to preserve all excess energy and tissue. It doesn't want to waste energy doing something silly like getting stronger, or doing something dangerous like losing tissue that it might need for fuel during those long, cold winter months. You have to remember that it's a relatively recent development that we can get food pretty much when we want it, and without having to scavenge and hunt for it, too.

Saying that though, we are remarkably adaptable. When we continually force our bodies to perform a new task, our bodies will change over time and adapt to the new demands we place on it. That's how we eventually get stronger or faster or learn to play the bagpipes.

What I'm trying to say is this: Your body will do what you want it to do whether it's it's lose weight or play the drum part to "Tom Sawyer", but it's up to you to put the time and effort in to make it happen.

If you need some help to make your goals happen, call me, and remember, it's up to you to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

P.S. A huge thanks to Jesse, Shane and Mario at Prevail. They taught me everything I know.
 
-from the Castro Valley Forum, January 27, 2010
 
Mitchell Rothbardt, CPT
MitchRothbardtTraining@yahoo.com
510-754-7113
Discover Your Strength!