Florida Agenda

OAKLAND PARK – A local health and fitness entrepreneur is throwing down the gauntlet, metaphorically speaking, to motivate residents to shed their excess weight, and to do it for a good cause. “One in three Americans is either overweight or obese, making us the fattest nation in the world,” says Peter Jackson of Push Fitness.

To get residents off their couches and onto their feet, Jackson has organized the “Body Beach Challenge.”

“This is a grassroots effort to get people in our community to lose weight safely and make changes to live a healthier lifestyle,” Jackson says.

The Body Beach Challenge is an eightweek- long community-wide weight loss program targeting men, women and children aged 15 to 80 years old, whom Jackson would like to see shed their excess weight. The Challenge will kick off on April 7 and run through June 2–just in time for the arrival of summer.

Part of the event’s proceeds will benefit the 2012 Florida AIDS Walk and Music Festival. In addition, prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Jackson says his goal is to set up the participants to succeed, with an April 7 initial meeting at Push Fitness, at 1098 Floranada Road in Oakland Park. Participants will have their weight recorded and body fat measured. Those measurements will be taken again on Saturday, June 2. The individual with the most dramatic improvement— which will include average weight loss and body fat percentage decrease–will be declared the winner, with the grand prize including a $400 personal training package at Push Fitness.

“The $25 registration fee benefits the 2012 Florida AIDS Walk and Music Festival,” notes Jackson. Those who take part will also receive a Body Transformation Guide with weight loss and healthy living guidelines, as well as a spiral bound Daily Exercise and Nutrition Guidebook. For more information and to register, visit pushfitnessftl.com.

By Tom Bonanti

You’ve been pumping away in the gym for over a month now since making tthose New Year’s resolutions, and you can see and feel the difference. Even that jealous co-worker has noticed your bigger arms and harder pecs and you are delighted. So why all of a sudden are you feeling a little bored and burnt out with your exercise program?

This isn’t at all uncommon, no matter how determined you are or how dynamic your routine may be. It is important to understand what’s going on in your mind and with your body so that you can continue on that upward scale toward peak success. Here are my favorite tips that will help you keep that killer mindset as you hit the gym, track, or ring, etc. and continue your training with the same hungry animal intensity!

First, emphasize good form in all your exercises. If you’re lifting weights make sure to maintain perfect form for each repetition of each set. Avoid swinging and throwing large amounts of weight around. Use supersets and compound sets to vary your routines and make them more effective. Try a yoga or kick-boxing class to help your flexibility and improve your cardio-vascular strength. Variety is the spice of life!

Secondly, remember for the most part, quality is better than quantity… even as far as training is concerned. A half hour of intense weight lifting targeting two muscle groups is preferable to two hours of socializing and cruising with some weight training thrown in. If you’re doing cardio, try to get your heart rate into the target heart rate zone and keep it there rather than plodding through an hour on a stationary bike reading Glamour.

Thirdly, skip the competition. Sure, a little eye candy can be inspiring, uplifting, to say the least. Just don’t start comparing yourself to the 23 year old with the smoking abs or the hot daddy with the 20 inch guns. Stay focused upon yourself and your own goals. Chart your progress in a journal and keep track of your measurements. Compete only with yourself and try to become the best that you can be. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but don’t pamper yourself either.

Fourthly, think about progress. Watch yourself, your form, and your muscles as they work in the mirror. Listen to inspiring music and uplifting motivational CD’s. Studies have proven that visualizing success can increase the intensity and the positive results of your workouts by as much as fifty percent.

Finally, work the right muscles. If you don’t have a trainer, then keep track of which muscles you work on which days. Bigger thicker muscle groups like back and legs demand more exercise and more work than smaller muscles like biceps. Make sure to give each muscle group 48-72 hours of rest, depending upon the intensity of your workouts, before pounding them again. Overtraining can cause injury and even set you back further than not training at all.

Make your training sessions an integral part of your day, week, life, etc. and learn to enjoy them. Stay pumped, healthy and fit and take advantage of this great South Florida weather. For more motivational tips contact TrainerTomB@aol.com!

Tom Bonanti, is a certified personal trainer and owner of Pump’n Inc gym at 1271 NE 9th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Email: TrainerTomB@aol.com
Facebook: TrainerTomB. www.pumpnincgym.com

Great ideas for when you just can’t make the gym!

By TOM BONANTI

Spring – Break is upon us in South Florida. Whether you’re off on a cruise to some exotic tropical paradise or just staying here in sunny South Florida, warmer weather means less clothes and more time to strut your body at the beach, on deck, or poolside. The only trouble is that all winter, spring, summer and fall, your job keeps demanding more of your time – time you’d rather spend in the gym.

On those days when deadlines, long hours, and demanding bosses keep you from getting to the gym you can still get in a workout right there in the office. Here are some super exercises that you can do on break or between meetings. These must-do moves will help you to get in a pump and burn a few calories until you can get to the gym.

The squat is the best exercise for your lower body, especially your butt. Stand tall with your feet approximately 2 feet apart, toes pointed slightly outward. Bend your knees until your thighs are nearly parallel to the floor. Hold for four deep breaths then gradually stand back up to starting position. Repeat 15 to 20 times. Keep your back straight, hands on your hips and look straight ahead keeping your chin slightly upward. To make this exercise harder, add weight by holding a couple of large books. Follow each set of squats with high kicks. Lean over a bench or chair, steady yourself on one foot and kick up and out as high as you can with the other leg for 15 to 20 reps then change sides. These are great butt shapers.

Push Ups are dynamite exercises for the entire upper body, especially your chest.

For a bigger, harder chest, boulder shoulders and pumped biceps and triceps do your push ups daily. Bend your elbows and place your palms on the floor a bit to the side and in front of the shoulders. Straighten your arms and lift your body to balance on palms and toes. Bend your elbows to lower your body 3 to 4 inches. Press back up to start. Repeat 10 to 15 times. For variation try a set with your arms out as wide as you can, then do a set with arms shoulder width apart, then bring your arms in as close as you can. This will allow you to target and isolate the muscle groups of the upper body.

Criss-cross crunches will not only give you awesome abs, but they challenge all aspects of the core at once. Lie on a towel or a small exercise mat (you can store one under your desk) with your left knee bent towards your chest and right leg extended up off the floor. Place your hands behind your head to cradle your neck and head. Never pull on them. Curl head, neck and shoulders up off the floor. Rotate from the middle so that your right shoulder is pointing toward your left knee. Hold one breath then slowly rotate to the other side by bending the right knee and extending the left leg as the left elbow moves to the right knee. Continue alternating to complete the set. Repeat 10 to 15 times on each side.

Try this routine in the morning before you get to the office. Then find an uncluttered place at work to do it on your lunch break. Bust up the afternoon doldrums by doing it again on days when you can’t get to the gym.

Tom Bonanti, is a certified personal
trainer and owner of Pump’n Inc gym
at 1271 NE 9th Avenue, Fort
Lauderdale, FL 33304, Facebook:
TrainerTomB. www.pumpnincgym.com

The term flexibility refers to the range of motion around a joint. Flexibility is an essential component of overall fitness – just as important as muscular strength and cardio-vascular health. An adequate degree of flexibility will improve performance, speed up gains, and help prevent injuries.

Stretching before your work out will warm up your joints and muscles and prepare them for the work ahead. Stretch briefly before weight training and more extensively between sets and after your work outs. Longer stretchi

ng periods should precede every heavy duty cardio session from pounding a treadmill to outdoor interval training. Stretching after a workout of any kind will help your muscles and the body’s systems to cool down and aid in reducing muscle soreness.

When stretching, only go as far as your body allows. Stretch until you begin to feel a slight tension. Hold this position for 20-30 seconds. Never bounce or force a stretch. Breathe in deeply as you go into a stretch and then exhale as you reach the point of tension. Slowly exhale and relax as you let go. Flexibility is not hard to develop or improve. It only takes a few minutes every day. So why not relax, go with the flow and try these stretches in the morning before work, preceding a run on the beach, or after a killer routine in the gym?

Stretch One- lower back ; hamstrings and calf.

Stand with your feet about six inches wider than shoulder width apart. Slightly bend your knees into a relaxed position and roll your head and shoulders all the way over until level with your knees, or lower. Be sure your weight is forward, over the balls of your feet, and just relax into position.

Stretch Two- low back; hamstrings and lats.

Move right into this stretch from stretch one, reach with both arms over your right leg and try and touch your forehead to your right knee.

Stretch Three- hamstrings and hip sockets.

Continue from stretch two by placing both hands on the floor and lunge over to the right, bending the right knee to a 90 degree angle and leaving the left leg straight while flexing the left foot.

Stretch Four- quadriceps, lats and shoulders.

Stand up and lunge forward with your right leg. Place your left hand on your right knee for support, lift your left foot off the floor and grasp it with your right hand. Keep your back straight and lean slightly over your right knee as you hold the stretch.

Stretch Five- pectorals and shoulders.

Stand in a doorway. Move to your left and place your left raised forearm inside the doorframe and step slightly forward as you torque your upper body to the left. Hold the stretch, release it, and then do the same on your right side.

It takes lots of sacrifice and several weeks to lose 5 pounds of fat. It requires work, consistent dedication and sweat to improve cardio vascular health. Long hours of hard work in the gym is the only way to build solid muscle. It takes only minutes a day to increase flexibility – so what are you waiting for?

Tom Bonanti, is a certified personal
trainer and owner of Pump’n Inc gym
at 1271 NE 9th Avenue, Fort
Lauderdale, FL 33304, Facebook:
TrainerTomB. www.pumpnincgym.com