The Sucrose/Fructose Addiction - Can you give it up?

The question is can you give up processed foods which contain surcrose and fructose? I bet you will find it quite difficult especially if your diet happens to contain a lot of processed foods. I just recently jumped on the no processed foods bandwagon and I am shocked at how much of that stuff contains sucrose, sodium and a whole host of other chemicals inhibiting my good health.

I guess it's not uncommon for people to take on new years resolutions at this time of year. Mine is to eat cleaner which means whole, fresh organic fruits and vegetables and more nutrient dense proteins. I have discovered Whey Protein Isolate as a good source of dietary protein and its made a huge difference in my energy and bringing some balance back to my diet. I wasn't getting enough protein.

Back to the sucrose/fructose challenge. What do you think? Are you up for it? Can you give up the refined, processed foods and eat healthier? Let me know what you think.

Gidget, Gadget or Gizmo - The Equalizer

The Lebert Equalizer Total Body Strengthener - Reviewed by Donna Hutchinson

The Lebert Equalizer was created by Marc Lebert and first hit the market in 2004 at The FAME show in Toronto. Marc is a Certified Personal Trainer and holds a BA in psychology. He is also quite involved in Taekwondo and boxing so I am not surprised that he developed a piece of equipment that would be suited for more intermediate or advanced exercisers.

The Equalizer comes with two bars and a laminated card with 9 exercises to get you started. Marc’s website has an additional 77 free exercises for viewing. It was nice that I didn’t have to spend extra money to get more exercise ideas. The Equalizer initially requires some assembly which took me about 10 minutes. Weighing in at 9lbs, the Equalizer is a solid piece of equipment. It’s marketed as being very portable, however it is assembled using bolts (allen key included) so I doubt whether trainers would spend time taking it apart. Storage for the bars shouldn’t be too much of an issue because of their slim design. The cost is probably the best selling feature at only $99.00 CDN plus tax and shipping, I would have expected the price point to be around $200.00 so its good value for the money.

The Equalizer attempts to covers all areas of fitness such as upper body, lower body, core, agility and flexibility. I found that there were many exercises focusing on dips and push-ups using just the Equalizer or incorporating it with other tools such as the stability ball. In a few pictures they used the equalizer as hurdles for plyometric training. Standing at 2.5 feet without adjustability this would be for more advanced athletes due to safety concerns.

What I really liked about the product was the ability to target the back muscles by performing chin-ups. In a home or fitness class setting these muscles can be difficult to isolate. I see the Equalizer being used with people who have stability issues as the bars would give them support. One aspect to be improved is the fact that there were so many dip exercises that were shown and chest exercises. It seemed like it was the focus of the exercises shown on the website. While I did try a variety of the lower body exercises I was concerned about the safety of the knee joint as in many exercises the knee traveled too far forward. I would also like to see Marc re-shoot some of the photos so that the technique and posture of his models mirrors what we should be asking of our clients.

With the many tools available to trainers today the Equalizer has potential to earn its place in our personal training tool kit. For the price I think trainers would find many uses for this product and continue to develop exercises. I rate it a good gizmo.

Book Review - Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription

Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription
Written by: Vivian H. Heyward 2006 Human Kinetics
ISBN-12:978-0-7360-5732-5
Reviewed by: Donna Hutchinson

Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription provides a comprehensive approach on how to perform and interpret fitness assessment results. The information is then applied to individual program design. The assessments covered are cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular fitness, flexibility, body weight and composition.

The book does not bog the reader down with too much technical jargon and I especially liked the format. It covers the specific assessments in one chapter and then follows up with a chapter on program design making the information more practically oriented. The reader can then see the link between the assessment done and how to incorporate that information into a program.

Having taken a fitness assessment course with hands on experience, I found this book to be a good refresher and review of the protocols. If I were to try and learn how to perform fitness assessments having never done them before, an accompanying DVD would have been especially useful to see how the assessments are performed. However, the book does try to break each assessment down in a step-by-step approach so in this way the author is attempting to make it as clear as possible. Human Kinetics also offers a supplemental online course which contains access to additional course material and exams allowing for a more distance education feel.

There are over 90 pages of supplemental material in the appendices including forms, norm tables, pictures and diagrams of assessments. However, some of the pictures in the flexibility section could use updating as correct postural positioning was not always taken into account.

Overall I enjoyed the book and felt it would make a nice addition to a fitness leaders’ library and a good resource on fitness assessments.

Book Review - The Science and Practice of Strength Training

Science and Practice of Strength Training (2nd Edition)
Author: Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky & William J. Kraemer

ISBN # 0-7360-5628-1
Reviewed by: Donna Hutchinson

If you are looking for a book that focuses on athletes and does not oversimplify strength training methods then you will enjoy reading the Science and Practice of Strength Training. The book is extremely comprehensive and focuses heavily on the biomechanics of strength training. So much so in fact, that if you do not have a good grasp of biomechanics and physics you will be lost amongst the graphs and formulas. You need an excellent foundation in biomechanics to fully appreciate its content. Therefore the book seems well suited for coaches and advanced personal trainers.

The first three chapters are dedicated to basic concepts of training theory. I use the term basic rather loosely as there are many studies, tables and formulas to navigate. With all the research presented in these chapters you will undoubtedly gain a deeper understanding of the how and why’s of program design.

The next four chapters deal exclusively with methods of strength conditioning. This is where the information from the first three chapters ties into the actual design of programs. The book does not offer cookie cutter scenarios and this was intentional. The authors stated that they believe strongly in individuality of program design for athletes so they were careful not to offer much in the way of sample programs. They prefer the reader to use the information presented and adapt it to their athletes in developing their sport specific programs.

The last three chapters were dedicated towards strength training for women athletes, young athletes and senior athletes. Compared to the first half of the book, these chapters seem overly simplistic with no new information being offered. I would have expected the same level of detail in the last chapters as there were in the first. These chapters may serve as a review of these topics and a good refresher.

Overall, The Science and Practice of Strength training is an awesome resource book for those looking to train athletes and really understand the underlying principles guiding their program design.

This text is published by Human Kinetics (www.humankinetics.com)