OPTC Fitness » rockland county personal traiing

Build Muscle and Burn Fat From The Comfort Of Your Own Home

optc — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:41:48 +0000

If you want that ‘ultimate’ beach body, building a little lean muscle will help you get there.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. Muscle is what gives you body that lean, sleek, sexy look.

2. The more muscle you have, the more calories — and ultimately body fat — your body will burn.

Now if you’re a woman reading this, I know what you might be thinking … “I don’t want to build muscle and get big and bulky.”

Rest easy. It’s not easy for women to build that degree of muscle. What’s more, building muscle for a woman is what gives her that toned, tight, sexy look.

So don’t worry. Even if you do put on a few pounds of muscle, you won’t look like some pumped up bodybuilder!

So what can you do to build muscle?

Easy. Start with these simple exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home:

Hindu Squats – place your feet shoulder width apart. Straighten your arms in front of you, palms facing down. Inhale and as you do pull your hands straight back. Now bend your knees and squat. As you do this exhale and let your arms fall to your sides and touch the ground. Now straighten your knees back to the starting position: standing straight up with your arms extended in front of you.

Jump Squats — Start in a crouching position, knees bent and in a full squat. Now quickly straighten your legs and jump upward as high as you can. As you jump, look up and extend your arms towards the ceiling. Soften your landing by landing toes first, then placing the heel on the ground. Now squat back down to the starting position.

Pushups — Lie face down. Place your palms flat on the floor, a little more than shoulder width apart. Extend your legs behind you and make sure they are together. Keep your back straight and lower yourself until your nose almost touches the ground. Now push yourself back up to the starting position.

There you have it. Three exercises you can do today (even as soon as you’re done reading this!) that will help you build more lean muscle and burn fat.

If you want, you can do these in rounds. Start by doing 20 Hindu squats, take no rest and move straight into 20 jump squats, and then immediately go into 20 pushups.

(if you can’t do that many, then do as many reps as you can for each exercise. Then gradually build up.)

Once you’re done with this superset, rest a minute or two. Then repeat 2 – 4 more times.

Do this, and I guarantee you’ll be huffing and puffing in no time. But best of all, you’ll be on the path to creating the “beach body” you’ve always wanted.

Oh and by the way — if you haven’t already, make sure you claim your FREE fitness consultation (an $87 value)

You’ll meet one-on-one with a highly-trained health professional. You’ll discuss specific nutrition and exercise techniques you can use for YOUR body to start seeing amazing results in just a few weeks.

Click here to get started.

Top 5 Reasons Why Athletes of All Ages & Levels Need To Participate In a Sound Strength & Conditioning Program

optc — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:58:28 +0000

Over the last 10 – 15 years we have seen an incredible advance in performance in all sports at all ages and levels. Athletes at every level are doing things now that were unheard of a decade or 2 ago, and a lot of it is due to the evolution of sports in general. In addition to the increased performance in sports comes the need for an advance in strength & conditioning programs as well.
There are now many reasons for athletes to participate in strength and conditioning programs, but there is one major reason that marvels all benefits. And that’s Injury Prevention.
Jason Zaretzky founder of Optimal Performance Training Center , a sports performance enhancement training facility located in Rockland County NY states, “With the increased performance in athletes comes a bigger risk of injury at all levels. With that in mind it is imperative that as a strength coach, we take that into consideration and make preventing injury a primary objective when working with athletes”.
In the past many coaches would have their players do pushups and sit ups as well as go for 40 minute conditioning runs. This now is outdated conditioning. This type of training leads to weaknesses, postural imbalances and overuse injuries which according to Zaretzky, is the opposite result of what strength and conditioning programs should do.
It is for these reasons that athletes (male and female) from age eight and up need to be on some sort of strength and conditioning program.
“Typically athletes come to us with the goals to increase their sports performance. They are seeking to get bigger, increase their speed, or simply get stronger. What they don’t realize on the surface is that if we don’t take preventative measures to reduce the chance of injury, all their improved speed, size and strength won’t matter if they are sidelined to an injury that could have been prevented through a structured conditioning program”, states Zaretzky.
So how does an athlete train to prevent injuries from happening?
Zaretzky gives his top 5 injury prevention training strategies that are a ‘must have’ in any strength & conditioning program;
1.) Assess, assess, assess;
If you are not assessing your athletes, you are not really customizing their program. Therefor you are not addressing any predisposed ailments your athletes may have. To properly design a sports performance training program you need to evaluate your athletes to see what they need in their program. Without an assessment you are not going to reduce your risk of injury, you can actually increase the chances.
2.) Corrective Exercises;
Every athlete has some form of postural considerations, certain muscle imbalances, weaknesses, and tightness that all need to be addressed. From the assessment and evaluation, we can select a number of exercises that can aid in correcting these imbalances. By doing so, you are going to dramatically increase your movement efficiency and prevent your body from over compensating (which is usually a factor when injury occurs)

3.) Form and function;
Every aspect of your training needs to be performed with great for and technique. By paying extra attention to your form you will teach your body to function correctly not just when training, but on the field or court too.

4.) Functional Strength Training;
As part of an effective strength & conditioning program you should definitely incorporate strength training. However, as an athlete you should not train like a body builder. Instead, you should focus on more athletic movements that will increase your overall functionality. Things like Olympic weightlifting (cleans & snatches), single limb training, and exercises that help increase balance, agility and relative strength.

5.) Proper recovery and nutrition;
Recovery techniques like myofacial release, deep tissue massage, static stretching, and mobility training will help aid in preventing over use and injury. Additionally your body will have the better ability to recover from a well-balanced nutrition regimen. You are what you eat and fueling your body with the right nutrients will help with recovery which will prevent injury.

6.) **Bonus** Get qualified help of a reputable strength and conditioning specialist. They will be able to tie all of the above together in a sound training regimen that will not only increase your performance on the filed or court, but will absolutely prevent you from being sidelined due to a preventable injury
There you have it. 5 solid strategies to help you increase your sports performance while decreasing your chances of getting injured both in preparation for your sport as well as actually competing in practice or games

Jason Zaretzky is owner and program director of Optimal Performance Training Center, Rockland County’s leading sports performance enhancement facility located in Valley Cottage. For more information or to register for their cutting edge sports training programs visit http://www.rocklandsportsperformance.com

Avoid This Common Diet Mistake

optc — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:29:37 +0000

Avoid This Common Diet Mistake

You hear it all the time …

“To eat healthy, you need to stay away from fat.”

This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, if you want to lose weight, keep it off, and look great year-round, you’ve got to eat fat.

The truth is your body NEEDS fat to survive (About 66% of your brain is made up of fat!).

But there is a catch –

You can’t just eat any kind of fat. You’ve got to eat more healthy fats.

See, there are “good” fats and “bad” fats.

Bad fats make you sick. Good fats heal your body, protect your heart, reduce inflammation and boost your metabolism.

So what foods contain good fats?

Mainly, it’s any food that’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids and oleic acid.

Here are a few you can start putting into your diet today:

Almonds — great to snack on and good source of omega 3.

Avocados — high in heart-healthy oleic acid.

Egg yolks — despite what you’ve heard, eggs (including the yolk) are good for you! They’re rich in omega-3’s, contain the full spectrum of amino acids, and have plenty of vitamins your body needs.

Grass-fed beef – Beef that’s been grass-fed is very high on omega 3 fats, which are incredibly good for you.

Fish — make sure it’s wild-caught, to avoid mercury contamination, among other things. Wild-caught salmon is a great choice.

Walnuts — another great choice for snacking.

In addition to these, use healthy oils as salad dressings whenever possible. Good choices include extra virgin olive oil and Sacha Inchi oil.

So there you go. You have permission to eat more fat. But make sure it’s the good stuff.

And as with everything, don’t over do it. Even though good fats are healthy, they’re still high in calories. Aim for 50 – 80 grams of good fat per day, depending on your calorie requirements.

Good nutrition accounts for 80% of your fat loss success. The other 20% is knowing how to workout properly and effectively for your body type.

That’s why if you haven’t already, I highly recommend you take advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation (normally $87).

During this consultation, you’ll receive detailed nutrition and workout advice that’s specific to YOUR body and metabolism.

What’s more, you’ll get actionable tips you can use right away to put you on the path to a healthy, slim and fit YOU!

To get started today,click here.

Rockland County Fitness Weekly Healthly Recipe

optc — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:35:33 +0000

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????

4/19 ” Southern Hemisphere”

LT — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:37:12 +0000

4/19

lets start today with (2) 40/20 time interval of :

a1)barbell squats

a2)alt lunges

b1) toe touch

b2) barbell twist

finish off with a killer leg circuit

spl sq’s x 8 ea

rev lunge x 8ea.

sl stepups x 12 ea.

sq jumps x 24

@ 3rds

4/18 ” Karma’s a b@!$*”

LT — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:29:49 +0000

4/18 today we’ll do some traditional tabatas (20/10″s)

a) x band walk(bear crawl)/ lat lunge

b) sandbag shouldering/ Croc drag

c) step up + curl/ rev lunge ->press

d) 1/2 getup/ Flr press+ tri ext

turkish getups = awesome

4/17 ” Ultimate Fighter”

LT — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:52:46 +0000

4/17 ” Ultimate Fighter”

DB Cleans x 20

Box Jumps x 15

Db Cln/Press x10 ea

plank-pushup x 20

jump rope x 50 skips

4/16 ” Lets get our swole on”

LT — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:43:11 +0000

4/16 Today we’ll get go through a killer Upper Body circuit….

60/60 (60 sec for ea. excer/60 sec off hold diff. plank variations)

Db bench press

CG handle Inv rows

Keiser Push/pull

Db cln’s

crazy ropes

getting swole on

4/13 ” Get er Done!!!!”

LT — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:24:18 +0000

4/13

1)DA KB swing & CLN

2) Ab wheel

3) Sandbag Shouldering

4) side to side pushup

5) 1 hand MB slam

Optimal Express Class weekly video

LT — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:13:34 +0000

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