Doughnut Sandwiches and Harlem Shakin'

Well, happy belated National Doughnut day to you all! I suppose that, being a personal trainer and all, I may lose some credibility by admitting that I've been known to enjoy the occassional donut....or 3. What can I say? I, like most New Englanders, love my Dunkin'.

However, there's been one recent development from Dunkin' Donuts that got me a bit fired up. Behold, the doughnut sandwhich.

If this sandwich isn't familiar to you (after all, it was unveiled nationally yesterday), here's a link I found from the Boston Globe:

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June 06, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

Let Pain Be Your Guide

Every now and then one of my clients will say some derivative of the following: "it hurts when I do X....is that OK?"

My answer? Well, let's not do that anymore.

When the individual picks themselves off the ground after getting bowled over by my deep wisdom (or, lack thereof), they usually go on to ask if not doing X is going to hurt their progress. The answer? Absolutely not! "No pain, no gain" is not just silly, it's moronic.

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June 03, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

Two Mistakes (Almost) Everyone Makes

Well, even though it's not officially summer here in Boston, the 90+ temperatures of the last few days have brought back that summer feel. Suddenly, Snowmaggedon 2013 is a distant memory and everyone is now in beach mode.

To that end, I've noticed a trend with those who want to lose weight or "tone up" (biting my lip as I absolutely abhor that term). These two mistakes often go hand in hand, and a little awareness can go a long way.

So what are they?

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May 28, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

Exercise to Make You More Awesome: The Step Up

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! It's been busy at the gym for the past few weeks, and I had my sister in town this weekend which was nothing short of awesome. If you're curious, we ordered....and finished....an entire boat of sushi. It was pretty much the best meal I've had in a while.

That said, it's been some time since I highlighted a particular exercise, so I wanted to do so with an exercise that's not as popular, but pretty darn effective: the step up.

First things first, this is not your 1980's aerobics class brand of step up.

May 20, 2013 By: Alex Tanskey Comment

Your Scale is Lying

I know what you're thinking...

"Oh, great. Here's another post on why the number on the scale doesn't matter."

Boom. You're right. But, I have the evidence to prove it.

Let's face the facts: we are a numbers-based society. But, the problem begins when we rely on one specific factor (in this case, scale weight) and ignore everything else.

One such example occurred this past weekend with a client of mine. For some backstory, she's just coming off having two young boys (both under the age of 4), and she started with us about two months ago. At the outset, she weighed in at 131.2 and had a body fat percentage of 29.4%. Definitely not terrible, but not good either.

Contrary to what you may have heard, lifting weights will not transform women into da Governator.

Fast forward to yesterday, and we took her latest numbers. While the weight on the scale measured 133.2....her body fat had DROPPED by 4.2%! Did she weigh more? Yes. But, is that increase due to more lean body mass and less fat? You betcha.

After talking with her a bit more, I came to find out that she had actually gone down a size in her wardrobe (further evidence that lifting weights will NOT transform a woman into Mr. Schwarzenegger). However, she was continually under the impression that she wasn't making progress because the number on the scale wasn't going down.

Below is a picture (not of my client) that has made it's way around the internet over the past year. I think it gives a solid appreciation for how basing your health around a scale is an unhealthy and simply wrong way to live your life, as this client looks like she lost 10-15 pounds, even though she weighs more in the picture on the right.

Ok, so what's the secret?

Instead of focusing on running or "cardio," my client and I were focused solely on getting stronger! She also made more of an effort to eat more whole foods and less processed foods. Is it simple? Yes. But was it easy? Nope.

The number that displays when you step on a scale is hardly indicative of any success in the gym. Of course, if you're solely interested in the number on the scale, you could simply cut off your least favorite arm and reach your goal. But, does that mean you should?