Fitness on the Road

You might be taking a break from it all, but ask yourself if your fitness program can afford to take a break when you on the road. Richard Thurmann from Fitcorp Asia has some advice for the business and leisure traveler in 2010.


So you have just set out on a one-week journey for business, three-day weekend getaway with the family, or a two-week beach holiday and the last thing you’re thinking about is exercise. You have two choices, one of which is to let all those gains you’ve achieved over the previous months go to waste. The other choice is to take steps to maintain your fitness, but the question is how? Well here are a few steps you can take the next time you go on vacation.

The first requirement for the Fit Traveler is that you maintain some level of activity. At Fitcorp Asia we usually prescribe a morning metabolic booster. This is a series of exercises designed to activate muscles throughout the body in just 15 to 20 minutes. Using a combination of exercises in series such as squats, pushups and jumping jacks a 20 minute fat burning workout can be achieved. In just a one hour session with one of our trainers at Fitcorp Asia you can learn how to maximize your 15 or 20 minutes in order to achieve maximum results. It’s quite convenient for the person who is short on time and just needs to get moving.

For the weekend getaway traveler, simply get active. If you’re at the beach go for a swim, go for a walk, and take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Go for a walk after meals. Be sure to give your stomach a little time to digest before you head out however. During our weekend beach boot camps we do various simple exercises that you can do on your own like walking lunges in the sand, which provide a different challenge to stabilizer muscles than the very same exercise done on solid ground. If lunges are a little tough try squats or squat jumps. A good old game of tag or Frisbee will do just fine if you’re hanging out with the family.

If you’re traveling for a couple of weeks, make sure you combine a few of the strategies previously mentioned. I personally like to take my TRX with me wherever I go. A TRX is a great tool, a bodyweight trainer that is no heavier than a yoga strap. It can be wedged in a doorway and provide you with numerous different exercises to help get you toned and increase core strength. Next time you’re on holiday or a business trip you should have one of these handy tools. Just a one-hour session with a trainer and a TRX is all it takes to give you a year supply of exercises to do when on the road.

Your nutrition is also going to be an essential component of remaining a Fit Traveler. Many people go on vacation and binge on foods that they wouldn’t normally consume. Many times it’s tough to find a place that serves quality, low fat meals. For the business traveler this can be a nightmare. Often you may find yourself sitting in meeting after meeting without food and if there is food, it’s usually some pastry or high fat food that is presented. So what do you do? Pack! That’s right, pack a healthy lunch or snack to hold you over. Bring raw, unsalted nuts, vegetables and or dried fruits to keep your tummy happy and your metabolism on fire. Think of it as brain fuel that will enhance your mind as well as your physical fitness.

For the weekend or vacation traveler, I often recommend that you find a grocer near the location in which you will reside. This way you can buy healthy items and store them. This not only helps you to eat right, maintain or even lose weight, but you will save loads of cash by not paying for overpriced, unhealthy dishes. There is no reason why traveling should equal eating out all the time. Indulge in the local cuisine, but remember your fitness goals and don’t let these take a vacation too. Trust me, you wont feel the better for it afterwards no matter how brief or long the lapse in fitness is, and you probably don’t deserve the ensuing guilt trip either. Flip it around and you will feel so much better for having kept to your goals and returning home feeling fit as well as relaxed.

So it all comes down to making small adjustments in our lifestyles that can give us major gains and help us maintain our goals and strive to be our best. For more information on healthy eating, diet and exercise, TRX trainers or general inquiries for fitness at home or away, contact Fitcorp Asia at info@fitcorpasia.com

By Richard Thurman, B.Sc, MA, CSCS, CPT

Rich is the Fitness Development Manager and a Fitness Coach at Fitcorp Asia. Thailand's leading personal training, sports performance and corporate wellness organization. With a Bachelors degree in Physiological Science from UCLA a Masters in Sports Management from The University of San Francisco, Rich has over 10 years of experience in Fitness, Sports Performance, Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation.

Whether it’s fat loss or toning, personal training or group exercise Fitcorp Asia, Thailand’s leading sports experts has something for everyone. If you are in Bangkok or traveling through, drop in for a training session or try our morning or evening bootcamp training in the park at these times:

MWF 6am
T Th 530pm

Stay consistent – Weekends can be healthy and fun!

By Mark Slaney

Well, ironically enough it’s Friday afternoon as I start to think about writing an article for the Fitcorp Asia newsletter and the conversation with my colleagues has fallen to plans for the weekend…

After a great week of workouts, calorie counting and a beer free fridge I find myself once again devastated at the prospect of a ‘dry’ weekend - ‘dry’ meaning not just the booze but more importantly maintaining a healthy balanced diet. But hang on, why can’t I put my feet up and have a treat?! After all, I am just the marketing guy…. Surely I can take solace in a delicious nutritious Mac Fat burger and fries this weekend can’t I? Well, I know the trainers here wouldn’t agree and I guess if I am honest I know undoing 5 days good work in just two days of gluttonous over eating and calorie packed beer guzzling would probably seem ludicrous… Hmmm, I guess I am faced with every dieters dilemma – How do I stay true and on track with my fitness goals without sacrificing my entire life?! Weekends after all are sacred!

Anyway, a stern telling off from the trainers here and some great guidelines and advice as always and I suddenly have the inspiration for my newsletter article… Stay Consistent – Weekends can be healthy and fun!

One reason we find ourselves back to ‘square one’ come Monday morning is because during the weekends we find ourselves falling out of our regular daily routines. There are always dinners, dates and family gatherings, where trouble is lurking in the form of buffet lines or rich desserts! Weekend menus can also be more difficult to plan - and without a plan, you're more likely to stray from the healthy habits you have been working so hard to develop and maintain. The key to achieving any goal is not to do something correctly but to do it correctly – CONSISTENTLY!

This "Weekend Survival Guide" is designed to help your diet survive those dreaded weekends. Keep it with you - in your purse, in the car - wherever you go. The checklist and helpful tips can keep you focused and on track. Most importantly remember this: when you start feeling the temptation to slip, ask yourself how you will feel about your decisions once Monday morning rolls around.

TIPS FOR AVOIDING TEMPTATION

1) Plan family activities like bike rides or outdoor games. This helps you spend time with your family and burn calories all at once!

2) Carry a water bottle with at all times! Take it to your weekend activities, take it to the shopping mall and even take it to bed! This will help you get your water for the day and resist the temptation to reach for a soda or other caffeinated beverage so full of diet destroying calories.

3) Set some "weekend specific" health and fitness goals for yourself based on the realities of what you'll be doing. They may look very different than your weekday goals, and that's okay.

4) If you know you are going to be out all day, then take 5 minutes the night before to pack some healthy snacks in case you get hungry. There is no easier way to sabotage your good intentions then to get caught hungry at the shopping mall with the only food available being ice cream or pizza.

5) Set Monday as your weigh-in day. You are more likely to resist temptation if you have to face the scales first thing Monday morning.

6) Plan ahead!! If you are going out to eat, find the restaurant's menu (and any available nutritional information) online. Search online for a calorie counter and do the math. You'll have plenty of time to make a healthy choice before you get there and this way you will be able to enjoy yourself at the meal table and feel guilt free knowing you have just ordered the healthiest thing on the menu.

7) Don't save all of your splurging for the weekends. Allowing yourself a few treats throughout the week will help you avoid the mindset that the weekend is an excuse to go crazy. And by spacing your treats evenly, you're less likely to get sudden, irresistible cravings and undo all your hard weekday work.
So there you have 7 tips to avoid self-sabotage, and keep yourself on the right track - without having the need to be rudely awoken by the alarm clock at 5am on a Saturday morning reminding you it’s time to get up and jog on down to the gym! With a little extra effort and planning, you can turn weekends into an enjoyable experience and an opportunity to keep your program moving in the right direction without the need to spend all day Sunday confessing your dietary sins.
Have a great weekend and give a little thought to how much alcohol you might consume as well; It’s always cheaper when you hit the bars during happy hour!

Strong Buns for Performance & Fat Loss: Why Training Glutes is Essential

Many of you may remember the Sir Mix-A-Lot song, “I Like Big Butts”, but for those of you who do not remember this popular early 90s rap song and wonder why someone would prefer a big butt, think about this. The butt, which is composed of the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus is the ultimate sign of strength, power and in most cases a point of attraction for the opposite sex. The Glutes are often neglected and allowed to wither away into nonexistence by the working public who spend most of their time sitting at a desk, riding escalators instead of taking the stairs and generally performing activities without activating the Glute muscles.

But why should I have strong or shaped Glutes you ask? Well first of all, to hold up those pants without having to pull your belt so tight that it cuts off circulation. On a more serious note, having strong Glutes can help improve posture, ease back pain, strengthen your running stride, help prevent knee and hamstring injuries and increase power output during activity involving the legs.

At Fitcorp Asia, one of the things we emphasize with all of our new personal training, group training and even Boot Camp clients is the importance of Glute activation. We identify weaknesses or imbalances during initial evaluations and many of the problems that our clients face, whether it is in their performance or dealing with pain can be traced directly back to a weakness or an imbalance in the Glutes.

Activating the muscle fibers of the Glutes are the first step in developing a stronger, more shapely butt. Learning how to trigger those muscles on command and integrating their usage into the lower leg exercises that you may have done for years will provide much greater results over the long haul. Once you have successfully learned how to activate the Glutes, multi-joint exercises like squats and lunges will provide much more results.For the ladies who are concerned with having a larger butt, don’t worry one bit. These are the reasons why:

1. The Glutes are the second largest muscle group of the body after the back. For this reason, when we stimulate growth of these muscles, not only are the muscles used more, but more calories are utilized resulting in greater overall fat loss throughout the body.

2. Muscle takes up less space than fat. More muscle, less fat…less space. Just ask my personal training clients how their jeans fit since we’ve been Glute training.

3. Muscle has a defined shape giving the body nice curves. Need I say more?

For all the guys who are thinking, I don’t want to do Jane Fonda exercises; these are the reasons to reconsider:

1. Consider Usain Bolt, the fastest man on earth. For all of the men striving to be faster but focusing on the quadriceps, think again. It is the Glutes that are required for horizontal propulsion and according to studies fire more than twice as much as the quadriceps during sprinting. Don’t forget your backside gentlemen!

So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get off your backside and get moving. The road to a happier, healthier body starts here.

By Rich Thurman, B.Sc., MA, CSCS, CPT.

Rich is the Fitness Development Manager and a Fitness Coach at Fitcorp Asia. Thailand's leading personal training, sports performance and corporate wellness organization. With a Bachelors degree in Physiological Science from UCLA a Masters in Sports Management from The University of San Francisco, Rich has over 10 years of experience in Fitness, Sports Performance, Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation. Whether it’s fat loss or toning, personal training or group exercise Fitcorp Asia, Thailand’s leading sports experts has something for everyone. For more information check out our website at www.fitcorpasia.com or drop Rich a line at Richard@fitcorpasia.com