Rockland County Fitness Weekly Healthly Recipe

Eat Yourself Thin

Simple Summer Smoothie
(Serves Four)
1 banana
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup frozen cherries
4 ice cubes
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 teaspoon honey (optional)

1. Place the banana, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and ice cubes into a blender. Pour orange juice, vanilla yogurt, and honey. Puree until smooth.

Prep: 10 mins
Ready: 10 mins

Amount Per Serving – Calories:140 / Total Fat: 1.3g / Cholesterol: 2mg / Sodium: 33mg / Total Carbs: 31.3g / Dietary Fiber: 3.6g / Protein 3.5g
Recipe from AllRecipes.com.

Want More Great Recipes like this – that are fast and easy to make????

Rockland County Fitness – Strengthen Your Core in 12 minutes a Day

They’re the most neglected muscles in your body.
And, if not strengthened, they can make you more prone to back injury.

I’m talking about your core.

Today I’d like to share with you 3 quick exercises you can do to ensure your core stays strong, helping you prevent pain and injury.

Yours For Health,
JZ

Strengthen Your Core in 12 Minutes a Day

If you suffer from back pain — or want to avoid it altogether, you’ll need to strengthen your core.

Strengthening your core is what allows you to do those everyday tasks (i.e. carrying the groceries, bending over to pick something you dropped, moving boxes, etc) and not get hurt doing them.

Plus, strengthening your core will give you better posture and keep you mobile well into your “Golden years.”

Here are three exercises you can do everyday (best of all, you can do them in as little as 12 minutes!):

Superman – Lie on your stomach. Stretch both your arms out in front of you. Make sure both your legs are straight behind you. To do a rep, lift your head, chest, arms and legs off the ground. You’ll feel your lower back tighten. When doing it correctly, you’ll look like Superman flying through the air. Hold this position for 3 – 5 seconds. Now go back to the starting position. Repeat 10 times.

Plank — Lie face down. Now get into a pushup position. Lower your forearms so that they are touching the floor. Keep your legs straight behind your. Only your forearms and toes should be touching the ground at this point. Now tense your abs and keep your back straight. Hold this position for 10 – 20 seconds. Repeat 5 – 10 times.

Side Plank- To do these, lie down on your right side. Now bend your right elbow, palm facing down. Put your left leg on top of your right and make sure they’re stretched out. Now lift your body (like you did in the plank) except this time, all that should be touching the floor is your right forearm and right toes. Stretch your left hand out towards the ceiling. Hold for 10 – 20 seconds. Repeat 5 times and then do the same on the left side.

Don’t worry if you can’t do all three exercises as outlined here at first. If all you can do is one rep, that’s fine.

Gradually build up. But most importantly, make sure you do these exercises every day to build a strong core that’ll help you relieve back pain, prevent future injuries and keep you walking taller.

Strengthening your core is just one of many things you should be doing to keep yourself fit and healthy.

That’s why if you’re sreious about taking control of your health and losing that stubborn fat, I highly recommend you take advantage of your free Fitness Consultation (an $87 value).

There’s no obligation. And it’s completely free, no strings attached.

During this consult, you’ll receive detailed, actionable info on how to rev up your metabolism, burn fat faster, and stay healthy year-round.

Best of all, all this advice will be tailor-fitted to YOUR body and YOUR metabolism.

That means this is information you won’t find in a book or on the Internet.

To get started today, click here.

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Rockland Sports Performance – The # 1 Exercise All Athletes Should Be Doing

What If I told You there is One Exercise you could do to increase your sports performance and make you a better athlete?

Yup,  just one exercise!

It Will Increase Speed, agility, coordination, power, strength, overall conditioning, etc…

Yes, In my opinion there is one exercise that will do all the above….

Can You Guess What It is?

Well, if you said the  “All mighty” Olympic Lift – Power Cleans , Clean & Jerk Or any of their variations…

You Were Right!

This Lift is a must have if your are a serious athlete and want to elevate your game – No Matter What Sport or Position You Play…

This exercise incorporates all major muscle groups in your body to work together as a unit, just as all sporting activities require.

However, this lift is a very technical compound movement and requires great skill to master. And without appropriate coaching and instruction – you can seriously hurt yourself or not see any of the “cleans” great benefits like increase explosion, speed, strength, coordination, etc…

That’s Why all of our performance coaches at Optimal Performance Training Center are highly educated on all aspects of Olympic weightlifting. A few of us even compete  in nationally sanctioned organizations.

So if you are an athlete and are seeking to achieve your best potential you need to incorporate this lift into your program, and you MUST DO IT CORRECTLY

here is how it’s done;

JZ

FYI – All Of our athletes programs incorporate the Olympic Lifts and variations of them. Come see for yourself with our Special Limited time Rockland Sports Training Trial offer…

Check it out here – http://www.optcfitness.com/athlete-training/athlete-membership/

Have you taken advantage of our Free – No Obligation Consultation Click here and schedule yours today

Rockland County Fitness – Weekly Healthy Recipe

Eat Yourself Thin

Arugula, Fennel, and Orange Salad
(Serves Six)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bunch arugula
2 orange, peeled and segmented
1 bulb fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sliced black olives

1. Whisk together the honey, lemon juice, salt,
and pepper; slowly add the olive oil while
continuing to whisk.

2. Place the arugula in the bottom of a salad
bowl; scatter the orange segments, fennel slices,
and olives over the arugula; drizzle dressing over
the salad to serve.

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Ready: 15 mins

Amount Per Serving – Calories: 143 / Total Fat:
9.7g / Cholesterol: 0mg / Sodium: 250mg / Total
Carbs: 14.3g / Dietary Fiber:3.4g / Protein 2.1g

Recipe from AllRecipes.com.

PS – Need more fast and healthy meals???

Lose Your Belly Fat Before The End of Summer

Hope you had a great Fourth of July!
For most folks, it’s a time to get together with friends and family — which ultimately leads to
eating a lot of great-tasting food that isn’t so great for your waistline!

Now that the holiday’s over, it’s time to get back into a healthy mindset. That’s why if you’ve been wanting to lose a little fat around your belly, you’ll want to pay special attention to today’s article.

Lose Your Belly Fat Before The End of Summer

Want a slimmer waistline in a few weeks’ time?
It’s certainly possible. And easier than you may have thought.

When it comes to losing that bulge around the middle, most of the advice you’ve probably heard is completely wrong.

It’s not surprising. There are quite a few myths out there when it comes to getting a flat stomach.

For example:

* “You’ve got to do 100s of crunches to lose that belly”
* “You need to diet (i.e. starve yourself)”
* “All you need is XYZ brand’s diet pill.”
* “Do hours on end of traditional low-intensity cardio, like walking on the
treadmill.”

The truth is that it’s not that complicated to lose your abdominal fat.

Here’s all you need to know:

Eat right. This means eating properly to fuel your body, boost your metabolism and burn more fat. Avoid all junk foods, including fried foods, soft drinks and heavily processed foods. Stick to foods that have one or two ingredients max. That means good protein sources (like chicken, fish and eggs), plenty of fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, flaxseed oil, avocados, etc.) Also, try to eat 4 – 6 small meals
evenly spaced throughout your day.

Train with weights. This one’s a given. Train 3 -4 times per week. Focus mainly on compound
movements. This means the “tough” exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows, etc. These are effective at building muscle and priming your metabolism to burn fat like nobody’s business. Plus, these kinds of exercises are more functional and will provide the strength you need to go about your day-to-day life.

Do cardio smartly. Once you’re eating healthy and working out with weights, it’s time to add in a little cardio. But not the kind of cardio you see everyone else at the gym do. The goal isn’t to see how long you last walking on the treadmill.

Instead, you’re going to do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

Simply put, this means alternating between all-out exertion and resting. For example, if you’re on the treadmill, you’d warm up for the first 2 minutes, then sprint as fast as you can for 1 minute. Then rest the next minute. Do this for 9 more sets of 1 minute exertion followed by 1 minute rest. Doing cardio this way burns more calories in less time, since you’re “upping” the intensity factor.

So there you have it. Follow these three tips starting today and you’re bound to lose some belly fat before Summer’s out.

And if you’re truly serious about changing your health and fitness once and for all, take
advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation (an $87 value).

During this consult, you’ll receive detailed information on how to get fit that’s tailored to
YOUR body.

Get Your FREE Consult Here

This means that you’ll be on the path to burning
fat and getting the slim body you’ve always wanted
in no time at all.

There’s no obligation and it’s totally and
completely free. To sign up,  click here

The Need For Speed…

What Every Athlete needs to apply to their training in order To enhance their sport specific speed

I’ve got the need…The NEED FOR SPEED!!! And you should too. Every athlete needs to realize that they should always be searching for new ways to improve their speed. That’s because in sport speed kills.

You can never be fast enough. However, it’s not just how fast you can run from point A to point B. You have to be able to be as fast as possible while moving in various directions, starting and stopping constantly. After all, what sport do you know of where change of direction doesn’t happen? Not Many.

So let’s cut right to the chase…

Here are the top ways to enhance your sport specific speed for any sport:

1.) Be specific – to the demands of what type of speed you need in order to excel at your respective sport. For example, the type of speed needed for a football defensive lineman is totally different than the speed needed for a midfielder in lacrosse, or a forward in basketball. So your speed training must reflect the demands of your specific sport.

2.) You won’t get faster by simply running around a track – A major misconception to speed training has been to just run like a maniac around a track and expect to get faster. The problem here is that you may need other methods of training such as stretching, strength training
, core training, balance and/or stability training in order for you to get faster.

Maybe it’s a lack of flexibility that’s slowing you down

3.) Stop training like a body builder – Instead of training on that hamstring curl machine, try some multi-muscle movements like Olympic lifts (snatch / Cleans), squats, and dead-lifts. Not only are these exercises better than any kind of isolation based exercise (hamstring curls and leg extensions), they actually strengthen your leg muscles (and entire body) and train them to work together as a unit. While you’re at it incorporate some single leg exercises such as lunges, and single leg deadlifts. By doing so you will further mimic your body’s running actions.

Add some cleans to your sports training program for some serious improvements in speed & power

4.) Find your weak links, and correct muscle imbalances – You are only as strong as your weakest link, and muscle imbalances will always lead to weak links in your body. Take 2 to athletes that are the same speed. Athlete 1 has poor hip flexibility and weak abdominals, while athlete 2 has weak hamstring muscles, and tight quads. If all these athletes did was work on hip flexibility and core strength, Athlete 1 may get faster, while athlete 2 may actually decrease performance. So getting faster isn’t a one size fits all approach – you need to focus on the individual first.

If you’re not assessing, you’re just guessing!!!

There you have it, 4 easy ways to immediately increase your speed through proper training and smart programming. The only thing left to do is ‘Just Do It’!

Yeah, Yeah, I know what you’re saying, “But how do I know what my weak links are, and what the best exercises for me to do?”

The easiest way is to seek the advice of a highly qualified professional who has experience assessing and training athletes. Visit, our website, and sign up for our free email newsletter. It provides the information regarding sports performance enhancement, and info about all programs run out of OPTC.

Optimal Express Class weekly video

Optimal Express Class-OPTC GYM from Lou Torres on Vimeo.

Who’s to Blame!!!

Most average people detest taking responsibility.

They dread the thought that, perhaps, on
some level they may actually be the creators
of their circumstances.

That they… in fact, may NOT be victims!
(what a dreadful thought!)

Mature individuals LOVE taking responsibility.

They take comfort in the fact that whatever
their current situation looks like, they have
played a BIG part in creating it.

Good or bad.

Mature people LOVE the idea that, with their
hands placed firmly on the steering wheel of
their life, that they can decide to move closer
to their goals or away from them.

This was a weird week for me at Optimal Performance.

I have been a bit “absent” for the past few
months due to the mental overload of school,

being injured , and expecting my 1^st son.

Upon my mental and emotional “return” to training
my sports and fitness clients, I noticed something
that I didn’t like…

EVERYONE was slacking! — People here at the express class are complaining about exercises trying to get me to change or replace, so it can be easier for them. Somehow or another I have been slacking also cause for a while I would just tell them OK!!!! Just do XYZ and that’s wrong on my part…

Some people I noticed were showing up, but only giving a 1/2
effort…. that too is my FAULT. Lack of communication is what I say to that. For not explaining to them that going through the motions is not going to get them where they want to be.

At first, I wanted to blame them for being pus*ies
and treating the workouts like washing their butts.

THEN I realized… it’s ALL MY fault!

I am to blame for creating the disgusting situation
I perceived all around me!

So, What did I do?

Manned Up!

I took full responsibility for the lack of results,
firmly grabbed hold of my bullwhip…

I gave myself a few good lashings and proceeded to
rain down terror on any and everyone that stood
between me and the high intensity environment that
we have worked so hard to establish at my gym.

Things are almost back to normal again.

Where are you making excuses in your life?

What are YOU blaming for the dysfunction you’re
experiencing?

Is it the economy’s fault?

Is it the governments fault?

Is it your children or spouse’s fault?

Is it because of the color of your skin?

Here’s what I think… It’s YOUR fault!

Gorilla Strength- 1st (2)wks

Gorilla Strength 1st Video from Lou Torres on Vimeo.

Secrets for losing stubborn stomach fat

Secrets for losing stubborn stomach fat

I receive hundreds of fitness questions every day from people all over the world, but by far one of the most common themes in these questions revolve around the struggles that most people are having with losing that flabby stomach fat that doesn’t seem to want to go away no matter what they try.

Just recently I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow fitness professional named Mike Geary of TruthAboutAbs.com. Now Mike is a well-known expert who deals exclusively with the most effective strategies for losing stomach fat so that you can finally uncover those elusive six pack abs that everyone desires.

Read more

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