2010 June | Tony Cress Personal Training

Archive for June, 2010

99 Problems, but Fitness Ain’t One! HIT ME!

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

A couple of days ago on facebook, I asked a question. That question was this: “Do you work out? If not tell me why.” I got loads of responses on this topic. Now, most people who follow me, work out in some sort of capacity. Some people are looking for motivation to work out, and some people are workout studs and studettes. Yeah, I just made that word up. But I also said following the question, that I am curious to hear the reasons, and I think I can come up with solutions to their problems. Oh yeah, by the way, big thanks to Jay-Z for making that song so I could use it as a title for my blog. I can’t remember if “fitness” was the thing he said wasn’t one of his problems. Might have been something else. Anyway. I am going to suggest a few things to a few of the responses I received on facebook.

One of the first responses was probably one of the most misunderstood and difficult reasons for working out. A guy has been battling cancer, and hasn’t found a trainer who won’t ease him into the workouts. Although it’s a scary thing to come by, it’s going to be tough at first. He’s just got to keep looking for someone who can help him the way he wants to be helped. Working out can be VERY beneficial to people inflicted with cancer. There are countless stories about people beating cancer, by following great exercise programs, and a healthy diet. Obviously it isn’t going to be easy, but if you get with the right support group, exercise SHOULD be a part of your rehab.

Another big one was basically a complaint of no time. To me, i don’t want to offend anyone, but I don’t buy the “no time” excuse. If you have time to have fun, watch tv, go out at night, go to restaurants, concerts, WATCH athletic events, you are telling me you have time right there. You have kids, take them on bike rides if they are old enough. A dog, take your furry kid on a walk or jog. I know a guy who gets home from work around 7 or 8 pm, just in time to spend a few hours with his kids. He always uses it doing something interactive. It’s great for him, AND his children.

What if your little boy or girl is a baby? I think that’s almost easier. Unless you have severe attachment issues, you WILL NOT be holding that kid 24 hours a day. My brother has a baby. That baby has this thing called a cradle. He also has this thing called a swing. And a stroller. Point is. While that baby is in the cradle, what is stopping you from doing 5 pushups every few minutes? Or jumping jacks? Or take it up a notch and do mountain climbers. YOU. You are the only thing stopping you. Your energy put into exercise, will give you energy outside of exercise. You won’t feel exhausted all the time. Trust me!

There were also some “reasons” I would like to call, LAZINESS. A few people flat out admitted that. Well, here is my advice. Find a reason you shouldn’t be lazy. Whether you want to look good for the summer, or your health, or getting a boyfriend or girlfriend. Find a reason to work out. Barring injury, nothing bad can come out of it. As for the person who doesn’t like to get hot and sweaty, she lives in Las Vegas. It’s hot and sweaty here without working out. Might as well get some benefit out of being hot and sweaty.

Tags: diet, Exercise, Fitness, Las Vegas, motivation, work out, workout
Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Las Vegas Personal Trainer, Personal Training | No Comments »

Las Vegas Fitness Expert- My Report

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Well, here we go guys. I am 21 days into my own June Fitness Challenge. For those of you who don’t know, I decided to make a fitness goal of losing 3% bodyfat for the month of June. I have 9 days left, and I just wanted to update you on my status. Right now, I have been for the most part, eating very clean. Most of my meals consist of either a protein shake with skim milk, 6 egg whites, one yolk, and a cup of spinach mixed with a teaspoon of olive oil and some salsa, or a chicken breast, broccoli, and a cup of rice. The first week, went GREAT. within one week, I lost a percentage and a half of bodyfat. This is going to be easy right. Nope. Since that first week, I have only lost a half percent more. I will admit, my nutrition plan has taken a detour due to gifts from a couple clients. I still have yet to find out if they are trying to sabotage me on purpose:) Anyway, I have 9 days left, to lose a whole percentage bodyfat. This is going to be tough, and a real tight race. Who do you have? The bodyfat, or me? Choose wisely.

Tags: bodyfat, Fitness, fitness expert, Las Vegas, Nutrition
Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Personal Training | No Comments »

What is Your Fitness Commitment?

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

So you have decided to re-evaluate your fitness plan. It’s time to finally get in shape. You have the funds for a personal trainer, you have gone grocery shopping finally, and you just joined a gym(again). You really want to get rid of that 15 pounds of fat that you gained in the wintertime. Or your birthday. Or when your girlfriend/boyfriend broke up with you. You are READY to go. The fat will be gone in two months. you’ve set a weight loss goal, and you are sticking to it! You have an appointment with your personal trainer for your first workout this Friday. Everyone is excited. You, your trainer, and your mom. Friday comes around, and your friends ask you to go to the new Harry Potter movie, the same time you are supposed to start with your trainer. You don’t want to miss the movie, but you also don’t want to see it by yourself, so you text your trainer, saying you can’t make it. No harm done. Harry Potter is awesome. I can’t blame you. You reschedule for Tuesday, and enjoy the movie. Tuesday comes, and you are psyched about finally getting to start with your trainer. But work is asking you if you can stay another hour or two later. It’s not required, but you decide you should stay. You text your trainer, apologize, and stay late. You finally do get to meet up with your trainer, a week later, and start your fitness. The wind is slightly knocked out of your sail, but you do start exercising. Now you are on your way to your fitness goals. But the next week, two times you stay late at work again, another time you don’t work out because you are too tired from work, and then you have to take a lazy day off of doing nothing. So the very next week, you work out once with your trainer, and have a half ass workout at the gym.

This scenario plays out a lot more than you would think. I get a lot of people, who are motivated to finally get in shape, only to have outside sources hold them up. Whether it’s work, or friends, or Harry Potter movies, there is always something that takes priority. Why don’t you make fitness a priority for you. Here’s a few questions to ask yourself. Would you cancel a doctors appointment? Would you cancel work, because you just feel like going to a movie? There are all kinds of reasons people think are justifiable to delay their fitness goals, but to me, none of them are. If you take fitness as a priority and treat it just as any other appointment you have, you’ll find that your goals will come much quicker than if fitness can take a backseat to other things. Treat it as your job, and it won’t let you down. Treat it as something that can be cancelled or substituted whenever, and you will find that goals won’t come as swiftly as they say in the infomercials.

Tags: Fitness, Personal Trainer, work out, workout
Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Personal Training | No Comments »

Can You Be Fat AND Fit? Las Vegas Fitness Experts

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

Read the title. Yeah. I asked that question. I think it’s a good one. Being a personal trainer, I have run into many people, fit, and unfit, in shape, and a mess. Now, visually, you can’t always tell who these people are. And this is where my question comes from. Take Glen Davis of the Boston Celtics. If you saw this guy, you would think he’s a overweight, and needs a little exercise. Except he is in one of the most physically demanding jobs in professional sports. The guy is probably in better physical condition than I am. He probably has a higher level of fitness than me, so why does he look like that? Well, some people are missing one component of fitness. He might not watch what he eats at all, but he exercises all out daily. I do not. But I watch what I eat. you put me in that same basketball game, and I’m probably gassed by the end of the first half. I’ll give you another example. When I first started out training, I worked with an aerobics instructor who taught classes, literally ALL day. About 8 classes a day. She did the classes with everyone too. Now, I will say, she was not ripped by any means. You wouldn’t look at her and say, “Hey, I bet she just does step classes all day long!” Well, she could still run all of us into the ground. The point I am trying to get across here is just because someone looks fit, doesn’t mean they are. And just because someone isn’t concerned with their weight, doesn’t mean they are out of shape. Ya feel me?

Tags: Fitness, fitness expert, Personal Trainer
Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Personal Training | No Comments »

Fitness SPRINTervals-Las Vegas Workout

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Las Vegas is hot. No doubt about it. I finished my workout today, on the track at a nearby high school, and I could not stop sweating. That heat was just right for this personal trainer though. I did a few backwards runs, and some 100 meter sprints, and you wouldn’t believe what you can accomplish on a fat burning level with sprints. When I want to lose fat, this is what I incorporate. I’m not going to say your situation allows you to go to the nearest high school track and do sprints. For all I know, you could live in Alaska, where it’s too cold, or you just don’t want to deal with the 100 degree heat here. maybe you don’t have access to a track because where you live, all high schools are behind security bars, I just don’t know. Anyway. You can still do these sprint intervals wherever it is you may be. If you have a bike, or a treadmill, or nothing at all, you can still do this kind of exercise. What this is, is basically an all out effort for a short period of time. Let’s say you have no exercise equipment at all. What you can do, is do as many jumping jacks as you can in 30 seconds. Now these, aren’t regular jumping jacks. These are quick, intense, pushing in, pulling out jumping jacks. you should average more than one per second. This could be your exercise for 15 minutes. Spend 30 seconds doing the j.j’s, then 1:30 resting. Do another 30, and continue the trend for all 15 minutes. Trust me, if you do this right, you’ll be tired. So, to finish this up, you can do interval sprints anywhere. But to make it effective, it’s the effort you put out on the sprints that are going to make all the difference.

Tags: Exercise, Fitness, Las Vegas, Personal Trainer, sprint, workout
Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Las Vegas Personal Trainer | No Comments »

The June Fitness Challenge-What’s Your Workout?

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Hello United States. Your friendly personal trainer, back with another blog post. This month, I want to join in the fitness quest. Now, I stay relatively lean all year round. This has to do with my workout, nutrition, and way of life mostly. I understand that everyone has certain roadblocks and different circumstances when it comes to reaching fitness goals, but we all have goals. So what is your goal. Let’s take this month, and have a little challenge between ALL of us. Myself included. Now, what I am proposing, doesn’t have to be this “Ooh I’m so fat and I am gonna turn myself into this mean muscle machine in 30 days!” type of thing. What if your goal is to just START working out, or to work out for 3 days a week. Maybe your goal is to lose 5 pounds this month. Whatever it is, LET’S DO IT. There is no better time to plan for it, the time is now. For myself, I want to join in this effort, and be together with everyone. I don’t have a ton of bodyfat to lose, but I am going to make my goal, just as difficult as the next persons. Right now, I am at 6.64% bodyfat. This next month, I will try to get down to 3% bodyfat. I want to be part of this too. So what I would like you all to do, is tell me what your goal is, and what you plan to do to get there. I am going to be writing a daily journal of some of the different things i adjust, to reach my goal. What will you do? Send me an email, stating your goals, maybe a beginning picture, some stats, and your plan. At the end of the month, I want another email, with new pictures, new results and a better you! As always, if you have questions about your own workout, let me know. Now, you can hire a personal trainer, you can do this on your own, or you can do a little of both. We want results people. We are trying to change our lives, so again I say, LET’S DO THIS! My email is tony@tonycress.com We have from now until June 30th. I will choose a few winners, and tell their stories. We’ll also deliver some prizes to the best transformers. But not Transformers 2. That movie was way worse. Anyway, I’m listening.