Hey gang, I’m back again with another episode of Look Great TV.  Today, I’m answering Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp Walk-Run Club member Dawn Braa’s question…

“How do you fit it all in?”

Great question.  And, for submitting a question and having it featured on Look Great TV Dawn gets herself a copy of 7 Steps to Skinny Jeans. 

Look Great TV:  Episode III

Part 1

Part 2

By the way, speaking of fitting in the important things.  Yesterday, I wrote about BJ Gaddour’s new program MISSION: UNBREAKABLE.  If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, make time for it right now.  CLICK HERE.  It’s that important!

Remember, submit your questions to questions@justinyule.com.  If I answer your question on a future episode you’ll get a FREE COPY of 7 Steps to Skinny Jeans. 

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chanhassen/Eden Prairie and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

If you’ve been reading my newsletter and blog long enough, you know I’m a straight shooter.  I’m not a fan of BS.  And, today, THERE’S A LOT OF BS OUT THERE; especially, when it comes to the world of fitness.

That being said, when I say YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO DO/OWN SOMETHING, I’m totally convinced and in full belief of it.  I don’t really know how to convey that to you strongly enough in an email, but just go with it.

In life there are really only two things YOU HAVE TO DO – pay taxes and eventually die.  How cheerful. 

But, in my mind there are few others that are damn high on the list.  Obviously, I believe everyone should exercise, and the facts tell us that everyone should take a multi-vitamin, but that’s not what this is about.

Today, I want to share a new program that my friend BJ Gaddour has been working all year on.  I was fortunate enough to have BJ take me through it a few months ago when I was visiting him in Milwaukee, and I gotta tell you…IT’S A LIFE CHANGER.This program isn’t about massive weight loss or building a buff body.  No, it’s something more important.  It’s about living without aches and pains.  It’s about being able to move about and do the things that everybody should be able to do without discomfort.  It’s basically about feeling great all the time, and being, well…unbreakable.

Since I started performing MISSION: UNBREAKABLE I’ve been able to do so much more, and I’m not just talking about my performance goals.  Even just sitting at my desk I feel better.  Stiffness and soreness are totally a thing of the past.

I’ve even used MISSION: UNBREAKABLE with a few clients (with BJ’s permission of course), and they couldn’t be happier.  In fact, just take a look at what Denise Prince has to say about it:

“I’d pretty much resigned myself to living day-to-day with some sort of pain, especially in my legs.  Working with Justin in boot camp has been life changing because of the incredible weight loss and strength gains I’ve made.  When Justin asked me to test pilot MISSION: UNBREAKABLE with him I immediately jumped at the opportunity.

WOW!  I was truly blown away by this program.  The progress I’ve made with just doing it 1 day per week (36 minutes) has been amazing.  I’ve seen and FELT improvements every single week.  I know have more days that are pain free than are with pain.  Now that the program is available to purchase, I plan to continue with MISSION: UNBREAKABLE and even add some of the mini-sessions in during the week to accelerate my results even further.”

OK, enough said.  I’m not going to try to convince you anymore.  It’s changed my life.  It’s changed Denise’s life, not to mention the other test pilot members.  And, it’s backed my real science and put together by two of the top guys in the industry, BJ Gaddour and Dr. Kareem Samhouri.

Bottom line- this product will make you feel better… I guarantee you this.

You either want to feel great all the time, or you want to make excuses why you don’t.  That’s me cutting the BS and just getting right down to it . ;-b

Grab your own copy of MISSION: UNBREAKABLE today while it’s on sale! CLICK HERE NOW

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, BS, CPT, YFS

President, Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp

PS – I’ll be including a complete MISSION: UNBREAKABLE routine in the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Challenge every Saturday at 8:00 am – note, there was an error on the website that said 6:00 am.  I’m not that much of a jerk to make you get up that early on a Saturday ;-b

PPS – Check out all the great stuff you get with MISSION: UNBREAKABLE…

• ONE 30-10 general pre-workout routine soundtrack
• ONE 30-10 general post-workout routine soundtrack
• ONE 30-10 tissue quality circuit soundtrack
• ONE 30-10 flexibility circuit soundtrack
• ONE 30-10 mobility/activation circuit soundtrack
• ONE 60-minute regeneration soundtrack
• THREE instructional videos on how to perform tissue quality, flexibility, and mobility/activation routines
• ONE audio interview with BJ Gaddour and Dr. K discussing the M:U project
• ONE video webinar with BJ Gaddour and Dr. K explaining the M:U project
• ONE program design cheat sheets PDF outlining all of the M:U routines

FYI, the price will go up 20 bucks by the end of the week, so act fast

Get MISSION: UNBREAKABLE here

More registrations are coming in for the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Transformation Challenge!  Like I always say, “Have faith & take action!”  If you live in the Chanhassen, MN or Eden Prairie, MN areas you need to be a part of this life changing program.  The benefits are far too many to list here.  The bottom line is if you want to:

• Look and feel 10 years younger in the next 10 weeks, AND/OR
• Fit into a sexy new pair of jeans (multiple sizes smaller than what you’re wearing now), AND/OR
• Be the next Fat Loss Transformation Challenge champion and get your hands on the $5700 in prizes

YOU NEED TO JOIN US.

I had some more good questions come in, so here’s another video with the answers.  Check it out…

You can CLICK HERE to see the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Transformation Challenge competition details.

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chanhassen/Eden Prairie and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

Well, the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Transformation Challenge is causing quite a buzz.  Members are really excited and it’s now making it’s way into the public.

Funny thing though…the fact that this weight loss challenge is so inexpensive has actually caused some confusion, and perhaps some skepticism.  Very interesting.

There are some other questions that have come up as well, so I thought I’d just shoot a video, look you in the eye, and tell you what you need to know about this truly one-of-a-kind all inclusive weight loss program.

Watch the video below and then head over to the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Transformation Challenge information page for all the details.

Click HERE to see everything that you get with the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Transformation Challenge including the details of the $5700 in prizes!!

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chanhassen/Eden Prairie and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

It’s a new month and there’s so many great things happening at Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp:

• New kick-ass phase of boot camp workouts that are going to dramatically change our members bodies before the end of summer
• Boot Camp Birthday Bash this Saturday at The School II Bistro in Chanhassen - RSVP by clicking HERE.
• Preparations for the new Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp location – TBA at the party
• Working on the details of the 2nd Annual Back-to-School Fat Loss Challenge
• And, a few more things that are still kinda top secret ;-b

But, before we move forward into August, it’s time to recognize our June Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp Member of the Month!

I’m extra excited about this month’s member because of how far she’s come.  It wasn’t just about weight loss for her, it was about getting her life back, being pain free, and being able to do things she couldn’t do before.  Of course, she’s pretty psyched about losing 15 lbs in the past three months as well, not too mention needing an entirely new wardrobe since she joined Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp last fall.

Without further ado, in her own words, here’s my friend Denise Prince…

If someone had said to me one year ago that today I would be working out six days a week – 3 in a boot camp program and 3 in a walk run club; that I would be able to walk/run nearly 5 miles in 70 minutes, (and I would be looking forward to walk/running 10K) and that I would be 30 lbs or more lighter, I would have laughed for sure.

But to understand why, you have to understand where I was at one year ago.  At 49 years of age, I was overweight – well over 200 lbs; walking a flight of stairs would leave me winded, and I suffered from nearly constant knee pain.  In spite of all of this, Justin Yule assured me that I could perform the exercises in the Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp and see results.  I thought he was crazy.

In spite of my doubts, when Justin started the 9:30am class in October 2009 I joined.  Justin and I talked about my knees, and decided together that the first order of business was to rehab my knees.  Most exercises were modified so to protect my knees and help them get stronger.  In those first few months, the 5-minute warm up was a major workout!

Over time my knees started getting stronger.  Less modification of exercises was needed and the warm up was just that – a warm up.  I was getting stronger!  My knees hurt less and walking stairs was no longer as difficult as it once was.  By May of this year, I had dropped a few dress sizes, and things were going along pretty good.  Then Justin offered 2 supplemental programs: Maximize Your Metabolism – concentrating on the nutritional aspect of getting fit—and Walk Run Club.

Signing up for MYM was easy.  I knew that I needed to learn more about eating to fuel my body.  Now, if you are not familiar with the MYM program, please do not confuse this with a “diet.”  MYM teaches you how to eat to support your fitness goals.  Combined with a “resting metabolic rate” test, I learned I wasn’t eating enough!  And I learned I wasn’t eating often enough.  Since the beginning of MYM (5/19/10) I’ve lost over 15 lbs.

The Walk/Run Club took a little more convincing.  Once again Justin assured me that I could do this, and that by the end of the 16 weeks I would be able to complete a 5K.  I borrowed Justin’s belief and signed up for the WRC.  The first day was rough.  1 mile took me nearly 16 minutes!  But I have followed the program, volunteered to test the new Mission Unbreakable program.  And today (7/31/10) on our 70 minute run I made it 4.72 miles.

Now the math whizzes reading this have figured out that from October to May (8 months) I lost a little over 15 lbs, and from mid May to mid July (2 months) I lost roughly the same amount.  What changed?  I learned to eat correctly through MYM and I started “off day” cardio in the form of WRC.

I hope that you, the reader, will understand that I tell you this not to brag about what I have accomplished.  Rather, to illustrate what Justin Yule and the Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp programs can help you accomplish.

Wow!  How cool of a story is that.  And, let me tell you my friends, it’s just the beginning for Denise!

Thanks for working so hard Denise.  You deserve every bit of success you’ve had!

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

Well, another month has gone by, and I’m happy to report I’ve seen some great accomplishments with my dedicated Chanhassen boot camp members in Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp.  In fact, we’ve got another great Spotlight Member story coming later this week.

Despite the “busyness of summer” the truly dedicated make it happen.  They let nothing get in the way of their weight loss and fitness goals.

I’m also excited to let you know that my personal weight loss and fitness program is going great.  Take a look…

If you look closely, you’ll see I only missed one day the whole month!!

Now, I’m not sharing this with you too impress you, but rather to impress upon you that if you want something bad enough you’ll do what it takes to get it – just so long as it doesn’t violate the rights of others.  Right?

You see, when you have real weight loss goals with a truly motivating reason why, you will find a way to get your workouts in and eat right.

Sure, the summer can be busy with trips, kids activities, BBQs and just wanting to lounge around outside.  But, the fall is busy with back-to-school stuff, raking leaves, mulching and picking out your Halloween costume.  Oh, and then Thanksgiving through New Year’s…forget about it!

Do you see where I’m going with this?

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A REASON WHY YOU CAN’T FIND THE TIME.

Excuses are like…well you know…everyone’s got one.

If you truly want to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals, quit talking about why you can’t workout and eat right.  That’s old.  Everyone else is doing it.  Be more original.  Start taking action and proving to yourself you can do what it takes to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals.

And, if you need some help, motivation and accountability just join our team in Chanhassen at Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp.  We’re making our weight loss and fitness goals a reality.

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

Method Behind the Madness – August Workouts

We have a great month of new bootcamp workouts locked and loaded for you!

As you know, we spend an inordinate amount of time researching and testing exercise variations and workout templates to best ensure that we bring the very best weight loss and fitness workouts your way each and every month.

Lots of other bootcamps simply seek to just beat you down and get you tired with no rhyme or reason behind what they do. This results in limited results and lots of unwanted injuries.

However, everything we do at Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp is based on sound exercise science and battle-tested, in the trenches real world experience.

I have always felt that it’s important to know why you’re doing what you’re doing when it comes to fitness because it helps reinforce the implementation of the necessary habits to get into the best shape of your life.

So I just wanted to take the time to briefly explain the method behind the madness of the incredible, cutting-edge interval training workouts coming your way this month – there are actually three different templates:

Workout A:  40-20 Drop Sets Circuit

Workout B:  60:30 Strength/Cardio Supersets

Workout C:  30-second Complexes

Each of these weight loss and fitness workout program templates will attack your metabolism (and body fat) in different ways helping you develop a lean and sexy body that looks great at the lake!

40-20 Drop Sets Circuit

The 40-20 Drop Sets Circuit is a classic high intensity bodybuilding style of training with an interval training twist.  One of the keys to developing lean fat-burning muscle is using maximum intensity and training to what’s called “momentary muscle failure.”  This is the one time where we actually want to “fail.”  In other words, we’re going to train with a load where no matter how hard we try we simply can’t complete one more repetition in good form for that set.

Why?

Without getting all scientific on you, just understand that training to failure will cause maximum muscle fiber breakdown thus signaling the need for the body to build more lean and sexy muscle and ultimately BURN MORE FAT WHILE AT REST!

Well, drop sets take training to failure to a whole new level.  Here’s how they work:

1. Select a load that you will cause you to fail at X number of reps
2. Perform that set with maximum effort and than upon failure immediately reduce the load enough so that you can continue working for another X number of reps.

When you train “beyond failure” like this you will send the ultimate signal to your body to build muscle and burn fat.

Here’s how we put a circuit training twist on this incredible high intensity training technique:

You will alternate between 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest for each exercise in the following 4-exercise circuit.  Upon hearing “halfway,” perform a drop set (decrease intensity) for each exercise where applicable.  You’re goal is to complete 10 reps per exercise for each half of each set.

Perform up to 5 total rounds for a 20-minute total body workout.

WARNINIG: This is not something you can do in every workout.  The intensity is just too high.  That’s why we’ll only be using the 40-20 Drop Set Circuit format once per week in this training phase.  We’ll also be doing it on Monday’s after getting maximum rest over the weekend.

60:30 Strength/Cardio Supersets

60:30 Strength/Cardio Supersets are an incredible way to train total endurance:  muscular and cardiovascular. Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against a resistance for an extended period of time. Cardiovascular endurance is the ability of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygen to working muscles and tissues, as well as the ability of those muscles and tissues to utilize that oxygen.

Endurance is important for most recreational and competitive athletics, as well as living a high-quality everyday life – think about getting through the day with less fatigue, keeping up with your children or grandchildren – not too mention avoiding our top three killers:  heart disease, cancer and stroke.

By performing our workout in a superset fashion we’re able to take our endurance training to another level and get the best of both worlds (muscular endurance and cardiovascular endurance) in the same workout.  Supersets amp up the intensity of a workout because when we perform non-competing exercises back-to-back our muscles get a “break” and we’re able to maintain a higher level of intensity through the workout which we know is critical for maximizing our sexy. 

Below is an outline of how we’ll be performing strength/cardio supersets this month:

At each station you will alternate between 60 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest for both a strength and cardio exercise.  Your goal is to complete 30 reps per exercise or 15 reps per side.

You will perform 2 total rounds followed by a 1-minute rest and transition for 3 total stations for a 20-minute total body workout.

30-second Complexes

30-second Complexes are an absolutely awesome way to light things up, especially at the end of the training week.  This classic kettlebell style training employs heavy loads and maximizes the amount of total work that can be done in a short period of time.  The end result – a metabolic turbo boost that will have you burning fat all weekend!

The key to this workout template is performing compound unilateral (single-side) exercises to both overload the working muscles AND provide recovery for the next exercise in the sequence.  Remember, compound exercises are multi-joint exercises involving large muscle groups.  For best results, use total body movements that integrate the upper and lower body.  Take a look:

You will perform 6 consecutive 30-second work sets followed by a 1-minute rest and transition.  Your goal is to complete 10 reps per exercise – that means heavy loads!

You will perform this 4-minute sequence up to 5 times for 20 total minutes.

While this workout doesn’t look like much on paper, don’t be fooled – it’ll work every part of your body and have your heart rate flying and your muscles screaming.  Of course, anyone can do this workout and every exercise has injury and limitation modifications so don’t be scared…

The only thing you’ll have to worry about this month is picking out your new fall wardrobe. 

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

Look Great TV:  Episode II

I’m so excited about all the great feedback I’ve gotten about Look Great TV!  I’m so glad you’re liking it because it’s really fun for me to do. 

Today’s question comes from Jayna Locke:

“What percentage of a workout regimen should be cardio training vs. weight training?”

Part 1

Part 2

Here’s that link to Workout Muse Classic I promised you.  And, yes, it is an affiliate link.  If you purchase through my link I’ll be happy to write up a workout routine that you can use with the metabolic resistance training circuit music tracks.  Just shoot me an email with your receipt and I’ll hook you up with that. 

And, remember, if I answer your question on a future episode of Look Great TV I’ll send you a FREE COPY of 7 Steps to Skinny Jeans!

HAVE FAITH & TAKE ACTION!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT, YFS

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – Check out our ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINING BOOT CAMP at www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

This week we’ve kind of got a “beaten up body” focus going on.  Monday, Craig Ballantyne gave us “3 Secrets to Faster Recovery from Muscle Injuries.”

Yesterday, I shared a great article from Prograde Nutrition – How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Your Quick Weight Loss?

Well, today one of my best friends and former assistants from Life Time Fitness, Travis Merritt, has a shared an interesting story with me on How Stress Affects Weight Loss.

He said I could share it with you.

Over my years as a fitness professional I’ve had the privilege of working with numerous individuals on their health and fitness goals.  Through a lot of trial and error, and tons of research and empirical date, I’ve come to a very clear conclusion about weight loss…

IT IS NOT JUST A CALORIES GAME

Think about that for a minute.

We have been told that as long as you burn more calories than you consume you will lose weight; but did you?

We have seen hundreds of gym goers subject themselves to long workouts and hardly eat anything… but did they lose a significant amount of weight AND keep it off?

Why is this?

Let me share a story with you…

When I began my career as fitness professional I held on to that simple truth that as long as you burn more calories than we consume you will lose weight – I called it simple math.  But I came across one person that completely proved that theory wrong.

This client, we’ll call her Jane, came to me wanting to lose 15lbs and gain a few pounds of muscle.  Sounds easy right?

Well as we worked together over the weeks her body was just stubborn.  No matter how much we worked, how often we worked, and how diligent we were in monitoring her eating she wasn’t losing any weight.  I was becoming increasingly frustrated that this simple truth I held on to for so long wasn’t working.  For a short time we even decreased her calories to 1400 a day… still no weight loss.

During our time of working together I learned a lot about Jane.  One thing that did stick out in particular was that this woman was under a lot of stress.  She began a new career, was separating from her husband, raising a little girl, and on and on.  I mean, my goodness, I was surprised she even had time to train.

Being too proud to fail a client I did a bunch of research and discovered something… IF YOU ARE UNDER LARGE AMOUNTS OF STRESS YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT!

Let me explain.

When the body is under large amounts of stress physiological reactions occur, one of many being the introduction of stress hormones such as cortisol.  These hormones are related to the evolutionary response of “fight or flight.”  In other words, when the body feels that it’s in danger or stressed there are chemical and hormonal reactions that take place to prepare us for the upcoming “danger”… do we fight this danger/stress or flee from it.

I will just talk about cortisol for now because I can go on all day on the effects of stress and weight loss.

Cortisol is produced in response to stress – physical, mental or emotional.  This can include extremely low calorie diets, intense training, high volume training, lack of quality sleep as well as common daily stresses such as job pressures, fights with your spouse, or just everyday life.  When released in the body, cortisol is responsible for many functions, some positive and some negative.  When regulated, this can be a beneficial hormone to the body, but if its excessively secreted it has been shown to affect the metabolism (slow it down) and cause a slew of other negative effects: catabolic digestion of proteins (the body utilizes its own flesh or muscle to produce energy for fight or flight) which leads to decreased fat burning muscle mass.  In excess this hormone has also been linked with poor thyroid function, sugar disorders, high blood pressure, weakened immunity and loss of bone density.

In fact, burning fat becomes much more difficult for the body since glucose levels are maintained at high levels from the stress.

So, when the body is under constant stress it spends most of its energy just preserving itself and not allowing a person to shed unwanted body fat (in fact most people gain fat!) and increase fat burning muscle mass.

So what can you do?

The best thing is rest.  Just let the body press the reset button and in a few days you’ll notice that you begin to look and feel much better because the hormone levels have balanced out.

Back to my client:  I had her take a full week from training to let her body reset and take some necessary steps on getting her life in order.  When she came back we decreased the training volume to three days a week and in about a month she had lost 11 pounds and was well on her way to the 15lb goal she had in the beginning of our training program!

In Health,

Travis Merritt, BS, CPT, CES

Personal Training Department Head

Life Time Fitness

Fairfax, VA

 

Note from Justin:  BTW, this is exactly why I insert “restoration weeks” into my boot camp program design

We’re about halfway through summer, and a lot of folks are really training hard to lose weight and burn fat. 

Several of my Chanhassen Boot Camp members are really getting after it 6 days a week right now!  We’ve stepped up the intensity of class and we offered another fat melting cardio blitz program for the days in between. 

Needless to say the boot camp classes and the walk-run club are working wonders for our members.  However, with extra intense training comes beat up bodies and potentially injuries. 

To help us with that, I’ve got another great article from Craig Ballantyne.  He’s going to share his 3 secrets to recover from a muscle injury fast.

3 Secrets to Recover From a Muscle Injury Fast

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Author, Turbulence Training

This article on the 3 secrets to faster recovery from muscle injuries another great article to print out and file!

But first, confession time.  Despite everything we know old meatheads like me still end up hurting ourselves in the gym. But I’m lucky, because I heal quickly.

Now when you have a serious injury, you have to go to the doctor.  There is nothing that I can do to help you – sorry!

NOTE #1 – I hope you never, ever get hurt!

NOTE #2 – If you do get hurt, the most important thing for you to do is get your injury checked out by a doctor.

Please be conservative!

But when I get a little muscle strain, I just use these 3 simple secrets for fast recovery. These secrets were given to me by my chiropractor. 

1) Apply Ice immediately

Start by icing for ten minutes, then take ten minutes off, and then ice again for ten minutes.

(NOTE: Keep a thin moist towel between ice and skin to prevent skin damage.)

Ice the injury 3 times daily for the first 72 hours (morning, noon, and night). Of course, if the injury is severe, go immediately to the hospital.

2) Perform frequent, low-intensity activation of the injured muscle

Chiropractor Dr. Michael Sommers says, “You want to start the healing process by moving the muscle through very low intensity movements, and doing this frequently in the early period after injury.”

This low-intensity exercise keeps blood flowing throughout the muscle and prevents over-shortening during recovery.

For example, if you have a sore hamstring, Dr. Sommers suggests, “walking and doing low intensity leg swings will help recovery. But don’t do anything that involves too much exertion.”

(NOTE: If you aren’t sure what to do, ask your therapist…more about their role in secret #3 below.)

Personally, I also add in light, frequent stretching for the sore muscle. I’ll do one light 20-second stretch every hour or two, and that seems to help me.

3) See a therapist immediately…preferably someone skilled in A.R.T. (Active Release Techniques)

According to Dr. Sommers, “For most soft-tissue injuries A.R.T. is the best therapy to reduce scar-tissue build-up and to promote ideal muscle length through the healing process.”

“While other therapies can provide relief (ultrasound and TENS may have some effect), A.R.T combined with specific stretching and exercise seems to heal the tissue in the shortest to time with the lowest incidence of re-injury,” says Dr. Sommers.

In addition to getting A.R.T. treatment, a great therapist will give you a professional advice/assessment to gauge an appropriate time to return to training.

As Dr. Sommers says, “Re-injury is commonplace with weight training. Without the proper guidance it is all to easy to re-aggravate soft tissue injuries and triple the amount of time it will take to heal.”

Now I may push too hard in the gym, but I’m at least smart enough to stop pushing once the injury has occurred. And I’m also smart enough to go in for treatment ASAP after the injury has happened.

Dr. Sommers says, “Injuries rarely resolve on their own, especially if the improper technique continues. Lifting through pain is a recipe for chronic injury and the sooner you are properly diagnosed and treated the more likely you can expect a quicker return to pain-free activity.”

So don’t try to “avoid” a nagging injury.

It’s better that you take 2 days off now rather than being forced to take 2 months off in the future.

Train safe and listen to your health professional!

To find an A.R.T. practitioner in your area, simply Google, “Active Release Techniques + Your area”

**********************

Those are the 3 most important secrets for healing fast, however I have a few more tips for you.

Nutrition

I believe that nutrition plays a huge role in recovering from injury.

Dr. Sommers agrees, saying, “Certain foods promote inflammation within the body’s various systems while others have an anti-inflammatory effect.

“Avoiding pro-inflammatory foods (nightshade vegetables, white processed flour, and deep fried foods) and eating a diet rich in omega 3 fatty acids can only help speed up the healing process.”

(For those who don’t know: Potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, paprika, cayenne, and Tabasco sauce are classified as nightshade foods.)

Personally, I recommend eating a diet of at least 10+ servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This should provide your body with the best healing environment. At worst, at least limit your intake of sugar, western diet, comfort food, etc., that promotes inflammation in the body.

I recommend my Simple Nutrition plan for fat loss & recovery:

Dr. Sommers says, “Each of us has to consider our own particular ability in trying to train safely. Fortunately our bodies are amazing communicators.

They give us warning signs when we’re verge of injury. Unusual aches and pains lasting longer than 48 hours should be taken seriously and all training should cease until it is deemed safe to continue.”

Be conservative!

Recovery As You Get Older

“Finally,” Dr. Sommers says, “Don’t forget that older bodies take longer to heal. Older muscle fiber requires longer recovery time, so whether it comes to recovering from heavy workouts or working through nagging tendon problems, age plays an important factor in return to activity planning.”

Be conservative!

Please forward this information on recovery from injury to your friends and family.

To your success,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Author, Turbulence Training

Note from Justin:  Amanda and her staff at Restore Therapeutic Massage in Eden Prairie are miracle workers!  They specialize in sports injury massage.  My boot camp members love it there. :-)