Training

Quinoa (Keen-Wah) has become one of my favorite dishes at home!  Often thought to be a grain, it’s actually a seed and is a great source of protein.  It’s very simple to make and as you’ll see on this In The Kitchen segment on Fox you can use it for breakfast lunch or dinner.  Watch below to learn more! Know The Goal Chris Bryan

Are you looking to strengthen your core while trying to get the six pack abs you’ve always wanted?  On this segment of the Today Show along with Colleen Oddegard and Paul Schadt, I will show you a few exercises that you can do at home or while on the road to help you keep in a good routine!  

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With all of the new equipment coming out all the time we can certainly over complicate what we need and what would be best for us.   Exercise does not have to be complicated and never should be.  Your goal when working out should be to get your heart rate up for a continued amount of time and to do it in a safe and sustainable way. For some of us we deal with aches and ailments that may limit us from certain exercises.  For example Carpal Tunnel Syndrome could keep a person from doing many wrist exercises when holding dumbbells.  For someone with Plantar Fasciitis running and certain agility exercises may create too much discomfort and pain. These two pieces of equipment are great for helping with both of these and they are amazing if you have no injuries at all! Here are 3 exercises you can do with each piece of equipment to get a full body workout! Do each exercise for 30 seconds and rest for 10 seconds then repeat each exercise 4 times.  4 rounds of each is sure to get you heart rate up while keeping your body safe the entire time! Know The Goal Smash Ball: Squat to Press :  Hold the ball on the sides, squat down bringing elbows to the inside of the knees allowing the ball to hit the floor while still holding it.  Upon rising curl the ball toward the chest and press up over head. Seated Russian Twist : Sit on comfortable floor, squeeze thighs together, bend the knees and lift the legs, keep eyes straight ahead and bring the ball to each side of the body allowing it to his the floor. Keep the chest lifted and don’t slouch to alleviate back pressure. If you need to drop the legs, keep them bent and drive the heels into the ground. Volley Ball Tips : Hold ball over your head, press up to the sky allowing it to release from the hand slightly and then catch it above the head and repeat. While doing this drive the knees high at all times Sliders Forearm Plank Mountain Climbers : Put sliders on the feet, go into forearm plank and drive the knees up toward the chest in a mountain climber motion Chest Fly Sliders :  Come into a high plank position, wing the sliders out to the side and back in to work the chest.  If needed drop down to the knees and perform the same motion Jack Push Ups : Come into high plank with sliders on both feet, do a jumping jack motion with your feet sliding them out to the sides, go into a push up and as feet come back in rise up from the push up

Running a 5k is a great way to get out into the community and to show your support for amazing causes.  For some they can be intimidating, but just like anything in life, if you prepare, you can succeed!  Here’s a great Couch to 5k training program for you to get started! Don’t be nervous, you’ll do great! Know The Goal

  1. Drink a Minimum of 64 Ounces of Water Per Day Ideally if you can get between 90 and 120 ounces per day, I highly recommend it, but at minimum 64 ounces or a half gallon is needed.   We lose water all day, through breathe, sweat, bathroom trips and more, and when this happens we can become dehydrated, which can lead to blood not getting to our organs, as well as possible constipation or kidney stones and many more bad things we could name.   Drinking water is going to help brain function, which a large portion is made up of water, which can also help alleviate headaches.  It.s going to help us detox by getting impurities out of the body, and help boost our immune system. Best of all it will promote weight loss, by removing by-products of fat, speeding up metabolism and filling the stomach making us less hungry! 2. Don’t Mix Your Fruit With Other Foods Fruits can be great for us, they are filled with vitamins and nutrients, but they can also be filled with lots of sugars. Why this can be bad for us is that sugars help to ferment other foods that are already in the digestive tract, and this can keep them from being processed the way we’d like them to be.  A good rule of thumb is to have your fruit a couple hours after your breakfast or lunch so that there’s no other food in the stomach. 3. Add Raw Plant Protein To Your Daily Diet Believe it or not there are big differences in the way our body breaks down protein from animal meat and protein from raw plants. Animal protein can be much more difficult to breakdown and puts a lot of stress on our kidneys.  Research has shown that bio availability of raw plant protein is twice that of animal protein meaning 25 grams of raw plant protein is equal to what would be 50 grams of animal protein.  Some good examples of raw plant protein you could add to salads or smoothies, or just eat by themselves are: Broccoli Sprouts, Hemp Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Almonds and Spirulina Powder. 4. Always Get Organic When You Can To preserve foods and make them last longer, companies have been using pesticides which contain toxins and synthetic estrogens which are carcinogenic, disrupt hormones and can be very harmful to the body. The USDA has reported that the best way to keep away from many of these toxins is to buy organic.  The top fruits or vegetables to be sure and to buy organic due to potential toxicity are:  Apples, Strawberries, Avocados, Cabbage, Grapes, Celery, Peaches, Cherry Tomatoes, Cantaloupe, Eggplant, Grapefruit, Kiwi, Spinach, Mangoes, Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Sweet Potatoes, Pineapples,  Kale, Potato 5. When and If Using Salt, Be Sure To Use Sea Salt Traditional table salt is dried with heat and this evaporates the healthy trace minerals and elevates bromide.  Bromide is in all salt but is very toxic at elevated levels.  Sea Salt is dried naturally which causes the reverse effect, the bromide evaporates and the healthy minerals and necessary sodium is left with little to no toxicity.

On the morning of Sunday May 17th my alarm went off at 4:42 am.  I woke up with an incredible amount of energy and focus, along with that feeling of unexpected nerves. I was about to participate in my first ever triathlon and while I felt confident in my preparation, having never attended a competitive event such as this, still brought some extra focus.  I always say you don’t know what you don’t know, so even when thinking you’re ready you’re bound to find some new challenges!  When I arrived, passing rows of cars with athletes outside prepping their gear, I got so pumped up, I knew I was meant to be there, and the first thing I noticed was how friendly everyone was.  It was as if everyone was familiar with the 3 foot rule in sales, if someone comes within 3 feet of you, you say hello, and for me being a motivator of people, was the coolest thing, I’m a big fan of saying hi! Got my packet, my race chip and was greeted by a good friend and one of the reasons I decided to train for tri’s my friend Stephen, and he was just as pumped up as I was!  Stephen and his wife Lucy are truly a bada$$ couple, training hard to race the Augusta Tri in September which is far longer than what we were running Sunday.  You may have remembered me talking in earlier blogs about Lucy and her awesome story of survival.  If you’re looking to follow someone go see her blog at Life with Lucy, guaranteed to find some motivation to be a butt kicker at life, click the link and see for yourself! As we approached the water, nerves were high, but people just as friendly, giving high fives and pumping each other up.  First wave was off, into the open water, then the second wave, and then my turn! I knew the water would be a challenge, and about 20 feet out, I realized it was going to be more than that.  I literally got run over, I was water level and then someone came right up over my back and I was 4 feet under water, on the way up I must have drank a half gallon of water, then came a kick to the goggles knocking them off filling my eyes with water.  We were out just far enough that I could not touch bottom and I remember thinking WHOA, this is gonna be tough! I regained composure and went back after the swim.  No lying, I was so tired half way out that I remember thinking, wow I could totally die right now, I rolled over on to my back and started kicking to catch my breath.  A lady in a kayak hollered my way, ARE YOU OK?  Being far enough away that I knew she wouldn’t hear me I kindly yelled back ” Even if I wasn’t you would be too far away to save me” waving my hand so she knew I didn’t need a hand.  I then made a pit stop half way there, grabbed the dock for a minute, talked to some staff, told them to keep an eye on me as I swam to finish the leg. Coming out of the water was a relief, and once I stepped out, I felt great, I was wide awake and ready for the rest of this amazing journey! The bike was tough, an event I quickly learned I will need more help with.  One after the other passing me by in what appeared to be a seamless cadence and the wizzing sound going by, along with their friendly voices saying “you’re doing great, keep going”  again just so cool to feel the comradery amongst athletes.  Along the way on the side of the road, I actually saw and old friend and fellow yoga instructor Shane P who lives along the route and was just chilling out front, it was a good laugh and helped to keep me motivated. Once the bike was done came my strongest event the run, a simple 5k, but how simple after a swim and ride we were about to find out.  When I compete in timed events, I dig deep, I think of those that we’ve lost too soon, those that if they were here wouldn’t let the burning pain and fatigue slow them down, they give me an amazing mental strength, I run for them and I know they’re looking down giving me the support I need. I went after the run, and I passed every person I saw in front of me, all the people that passed me on the bike, and as I did, I returned the same motivational courtesy, YOU CAN DO IT, FINISH STRONG! I missed my goal time by just over 2 minutes, but the real goal was just to finish and I did, I finished strong, and learned more at that one event than I had in 2 months of training. All in all, if you’re considering it, I say do it.  You’ll meet great people, you’ll become the most fit you’ve been, and most of all you will learn a lot about yourself and what you’re made of. It was a hard 97 minutes but I loved every minute of it, so much so that I’m running my next on June 13th in Charlotte NC!  Back to training!  Stay tuned I’ll keep you posted on progress! Challenge yourself everyday!  Fight to be your best! ‘Know The Goal’

The warm weather rolls in and we slowly start to come out of the winter hibernation rut that has kept us away from our passion to run!  As the flowers and trees bloom new life and the energy of the sun hits us we become energized and look to be active outdoors!  My favorite time of year! As your trainer I have to remind you to not jump right into your old running routine without taking care of the few essentials to be sure it is a safe and healthy running season for you!  Running can be hard on the body if not done correctly so here are my top 3 ways to get yourself started!  Whether you’re new to running or have been running for years, these 3 to-do’s are key to making this your best running year yet! 1. Start Smart:  What are you wearing on your feet?  This is the most common question I’m asked by readers, “how often do I change shoes?” and while the answers can differ from person to person, anywhere from 3 months to 5 months if you’re using them often is a safe bet.  Don’t skimp on the sneakers, if your soles lack support, it can lead to lower back pain, knee pain and other injuries.  The support of your sneaker is very important and I always recommend seeing your local running specialist store so that they can check your gait, record your stride on video and let you know what your foot is doing (pronate – supinate) so that your shoe insures your safety.  If you’ve been following me, and live in Charlotte NC, definitely go see the guys at Charlotte Running Company  you can click that link to see their locations, but they’ll do this foot, stride, shoe analysis free of charge and you’re guaranteed to learn a lot!  They have a huge selection of my favorite brand running sneakers Brooks and a lot of different styles and colors like the ones shown in the picture which are my running shoe of choice the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15.   2. Where and When:  If you have not been running for a while, it’s not a great idea to jump back into your 6 mile or more jaunt.  Lets see how the body is feeling, start of with 1 or 2 miles on your first day, just to get your feet back under you as the saying goes.  Give your shins a chance to feel the impact of the ground, so that they can heel up, be stronger and get you ready for the season.  A great idea is to write out a schedule of runs to help you stay focused.  Maybe start with 2 miles, wait a day and increase gradually.  Figure out your long run goal of the year, and work up toward it, so that when that day comes you are strong and you’re ready!  Choose a good place to run, not a busy road with no side walks.  If you can find a dirt running track, go with that, if you’re in the Charlotte NC ara there are some great runs, the Ballantyne Greenway, and McAlpine Park are two of my favorite places! Finally pick a good time.  The hours of 11 to 4 may be more challenging come summer time.  It will hot and humid.  If you can go early, or even as the sun starts to set, you’ll be in great conditions. 3.  Why?  Have you thought about training for a specific race?  This is a great way to stay focused and to work toward a goal.  The race does not have to be competitive, in fact I highly recommend getting some friends together to all run a race for charity.  They are always such a great time, 100’s sometimes 1000’s of people getting together for a cause, I get goose bumps just typing about it because they can be so rewarding.  Stay tuned for some upcoming posts on races that I’ll be attending to run for a cause, and if I can meet you there, I’d love for you to say hi! There you go, three easy ways to find your stride as you begin your running journey!  Running is a life long journey, a true marathon of a sport, no matter if you run 1 mile or 90 miles, take in the moment, enjoy the challenge, enjoy the scenery, and most important, make it fun! ‘Know The Goal’  

Traveling for the holidays, or maybe you have family and friends in town and can’t make the gym? Don’t miss your workout this year, and in fact, try this fun Stars and Stripes themed body weight workout with the whole family! Perform each exercise for 30 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds in between before going to the next exercise!  Try to go through the list 3 times and at the end you will have gotten an amazing workout! Get After It! Know The Goal

So the first thing to know here is that 80% of losing fat or building muscle happens in the kitchen. You need to be discipline and go into this part of the program committed to putting healthy foods into your body so that the body can use every nutrient to your benefit! Lets talk about caloric intake real quick, a pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, and in order to lose body fat you must burn more calories than you consume. If you were to burn 2500 calories per day and consume 2000 calories of food each day you could expect to lose about a pound of body fat per week. It is within a healthy limit for you to burn 1000 calories more then you eat a day to be able to lose about 2 pounds per week at a healthy rate. Now you may lose more weight according to the scale, but you’ll be losing water weight as well. There are few more factors that go into how we set up our meal plan and we’ll go into that in just a moment, but we start with calories because the only way to lose anything is with calorie deficit. Take a look at this photo, this is a comparison of what 5 pounds of fat looks like compared to 5 pounds of muscle.

The reason it is so important for me to show you this photo is that in your first month you may not see a huge difference in weight when standing on a scale, the reason being you will be creating more muscle, so the scale may actually show that you weight a couple of pounds more then you did, but please DO NOT get discouraged, in that same amount of time you should notice your close are fitting better and you’re will absolutely be feeling healthier. It will take the body a little bit of time to adjust to your new healthy lifestyle, so give it the time it deserves. I often times tell my clients not to step on a scale for the first 30 days, this is to avoid any discouragement , our society has become completely obsessed with what the scale says, and I’m telling you now that the scale does not matter for the 1st six weeks. Also remember this when thinking nutrition; what we’re trying to do is speed up our metabolism, and nothing does that better than muscle, and muscle uses fat for it’s energy source, so that more muscle we build, that faster our metabolism works, in turn helping us burn more calories. Muscle is the name of the game! So lets talk about Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat. All three play a very important role in having a balanced diet and all play a role in either helping to burn body fat, or build muscle. Have you ever tried or know someone who has tried a low carb diet, lost a lot of weight and then within a very short amount of time gained twice as much weight back? The reason is, the body is very smart and it needs carbohydrates for proper brain function as well as for some organs to work properly. So what happens is, you starve your body of carbs , you lose a lot of weight, but when you’re done with that diet and start to eat carbs again the body says; “I don’t know if you’re ever going to give me carbs again, so I’m taking these, I’m turning them into FAT and storing them on your sides where you don’t want them and where you will never be able to get them again haha” Seriously, this is the body doing what’s best for the survival of the body , it has gone into survival mode stored all those carbs and now you or the person you know has gained back twice as much weight. I tell you this so you understand why it’s important to have balance in the diet. Fat is the same thing, just because something says fat free doesn’t mean it’s good for you, or that’s it’s not going to affect your health. The body needs good fats for proper function of organs, but also by eating good fats, you’re ensuring the body knows how to process and metabolize good fats, when the body has digested all of the fats you’ve consumed it is still in the mode of looking for fat to process and it starts to use body fat that has been stored as it’s source for energy when you’re in a low intensity cardio state. Now that you know how many calories you consume has a direct effect on you hitting your target goals and that fat, carbs and proteins must be consumed within a balanced plan, let’s talk about how much of each. If your goal is to lose body fat you will want to have a deficit of 500 to 1000 calories per day, if you’re trying to gain weight you will want to consume 500 to 1500 more calories per then you burn. The average person will burn 2000 calories per day, just living life, so let’s use that as our baseline. You burn 2000 calories plus whatever you burn in the gym, call it another 500 for this example; so you’re assuming 2500 calories being burned per day. From there you will determine how many calories you need to consume to hit your goal. You were able to see from the BMI chart above what your target weight should be, so using that number and the below equation, lets see what your ratios should be for losing weight or gaining muscle. What is your current body weight? __________ What is your Target body weight? __________ How many calories do you burn per day? __________ To lose weight how many calories will you eat a day? __________ How fast you want to lose body fat is up to you, so if you want to lose 2 pounds per week, you will need to consume 1000 less calories per day then you burn. We will NEVER want to go less than 1200 calories per day, the body needs at least 1200 to ensure that the metabolism is going at 100% all day long. So next let’s figure how much protein, carbs and fat. TO LOSE BODY FAT (Rule of Thumb, but can be adjusted) – 1 Gram of Carbohydrates Per Body Pound ( So a 130 pound person will have 130 grams) – 1.25 Grams of Protein Per Body Pound – .25 Grams of Fat Per Body Pound TO GAIN MUSCLE – 1.5 Grams of Carbs Per Body Pound – 1.5 to 2.0 Grams of Protein Per Body Pound – .25 Grams of Fat Per Body Pound These are the basic fundamentals you’ll need to keep yourself on track to get to your desired goal. . Everyone is different and everyone likes to eat different things, so instead of giving you a meal plan to follow, I’ve giving you the guidelines of how to set up your meal plan, and I’ve listed several very healthy foods that you can incorporate in your plan. I’ve also included a sample plan for losing body fat so that you can see how they may be set up. I’ve also included one Meal Replacement Protein Shake on each of the plans and you’ll notice my recommended choice is Shaklee 180, which has the perfect ration of carbs, protein and fat and is also packed with Leucine which is an amino acid which signals the body to burn body fat, but not muscle which is exactly what we’re trying to do. The other reason I always recommend Shaklee product is because I can trust what they’re putting in their product which is no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners or anything that could be harmful to the body. By getting the Embrace Change Guide you’ve been added to my newsletter email list in which you’ll be receiving very helpful information about how to read labels, what foods to look out for as well as information on what supplements are right for you.