What Weight Loss Advice and Ninjas Have in Common

Weight Loss and Ninjas?  Bear with me here.

You see, there’s a scene in just about every ninja movie ever made where someone tries to sneak up on the good guy.  He (or she) acts totally cool, then the attacker all of a sudden catches a flurry of moves that would put a ginsu knife demonstration to shame.  Seconds later, the bad guy is dead and the good ninja goes back to painting/reading/knitting.  Weight Loss is kinda like that, I think.

When someone seeks out advice because they actually want that healthy change and they are seeking wisdom, then the anti-change ninja within them is momentarily sleepy.  He doesn’t realize the call is coming from within the house… but often time he does soon enough, then it’s a battle royale for who rules the house.  And if someone doesn’t want to be told they need help, or if they aren’t ready for any kind of change no matter what their voicebox might be saying, any kind of advice for this person requires you to pull out your best ‘crouching tiger, hidden dragon’ style..

You see, the second you talk to someone that doesn’t WANT to change, they typically go into ‘habit lockdown defcon 4’ and mentally take down your ideas with a series of spinning high kicks faster than you can say ‘roadhouse’.  All the while holding a smile on their nodding faces. Just like the ninja warrior they are.  So I’m not gonna play that game anymore.  I’m going to go ninja on them from now on.  Without even telling them.  Because if I’m actually going to make real change on this planet, I’ve gotta get all montage-y and leather up for battle.  Because I’ve realized how real weight loss is achieved.  Whether it’s conscious or subconscious, here’s how it gonna happen:

Real weight loss is made with stealth.

As a health and wellness professional, in the past when I’ve announced to someone “I’m here to help you lose weight”, I might as well have been saying “I’m here to burn your favorite childhood toys on the stake while I make you watch a la ‘clockwork orange’ style”.  The emotional response is visceral, and the ‘change-prevention rationales’ that fly up would put the US Missile defense systems to shame.

Launching ‘at least I’m not as fat as that guy I know from college’ long range ballistics in 4..3..2..

But tell someone there’s a fun event that their friends are doing, there’s music, a chance to see someone or something that they love, and they’re there.  Happens every week at Red Rocks Music Concerts here in Colorado (where incidentally I was lucky enough to share the stage last week for the Fitness On The Rocks event – which was mindblowing, but more on that in another post).  But Red Rocks has people climb more stairs than they would care to think about every week.  How?  The good seats are down the bottom, the beer is up the top.  Pretty simple, right?  If you’re at a concert, you probably want alcohol of some sort (kinda like people think of popcorn and a movie with the same connection).  They’re willing to climb the near-vertical ascent as long as the promise of chilled hops serve as their reward.

Are you the next warrior-spartan-crusader-rabbi-superhero?

Alternatively, there are a large variety of ‘adventure/obstacle races’ which are really glorified obstacle courses that any military boot camp would scoff heartily at, but to Mrs Johnson, they are a rite of passage from which they will never see themselves the same way again. If they can do that, well then, maybe their mother was wrong and they DID amount to something after all.

My weight loss strategies bring all the boys to the yard, and they’re like, it’s better than yours.

When I teach my fitness classes at our Bonza Bodies studio here in downtown Denver, I try to keep it fun keep the exercises varied and always do a different workout that gets the body sweating while the mind is thinking.  If you’ve been to one of my classes, you know that deciphering my mumbled Australian accent is just one of those mental challenges.

Point is this.  I figure if you can make it fun, wrap it in a different packaging other than ‘this is gonna hurt’, give it some camaraderie and something the office co-workers will want to ask questions about and you’ve got a small scale movement.  How do you get a community to mobilize around that movement?  Well, I’m still working on that part.  But I feel like I’m on the right track.  Maybe if I fabricated a zombie invasion of some kind…

Fur is Murder! Ermm.. I mean.. breeaaaiiinnssss!

.Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

The Difference Between ‘Functional Training’ and Other Styles… Part 2

Functional Training – the story continues.

This is part 2 of a post about an innocent body that once tried working out.  In part 1, we saw how the bodies brain decided to find out exactly what functional training was so it could sound smarter next time it’s body was working out in the gym.  I mean, that stupid mouth keeps talking about ‘blasting the hammies’, surely there’s got to be ways to sound better than that, right?  At least, as a personal trainer in my early years I felt like an encyclopedia for muscle and fitness quotes – my mouth has gotten smarter since then… the rest of me?  Well, the jury’s still out on that one.

Anyway, moving on to part 2:

Non-traditional Functional Training

If Traditional training is anything you see done on a sit-down exercise machine, then typically non-traditional functional training is anything that ISN’T what you saw on the fancy machines, but happens to have another piece of equipment thrown in without a real rhyme or reason other than it’s not traditional movement.  When you add a bosu ball squat to a dumbbell bicep curl or a fitball to a bench press, that doesn’t necessarily make it ‘functional training’.  It makes it non-traditional.  Which is fine if that’s what you’re going for.  Just know that what you’re doing probably doesn’t have a well-established rationale behind it.  Much like your theory that hanging out near the water cooler will help you meet hotties, because… well, they’ve GOT to drink water sooner or later, don’t they?   I mean, everyone knows that hotties are well hydrated, right?  right? (drinking a 2 gallon jug of water as I type this with the other hand).

Movement Based Functional Training

Yep, I just added that bit to the front of ‘functional training’, because as we already discussed, functional training is for a specific function.  If I want to improve a ‘movement’ then I need to train to either improve that ‘movement’ or train to remove the things that might be stopping that ‘movement’.

 Note:  It’s more often than not that the ‘movement-based functional training’ and the ‘non-traditional get confused…. and that definition is where people/trainers get confused and call something a coach purse, when it’s really just something that looks like coach that you bought from some seedy guy around the corner from the local farmers market.  

And, like functional training, it takes a trained eye to know which is which… but when you see it and you realize it, the reaction of internal disdain and disbelief is quite similar to the purse analogy. 

SO WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?  FUNCTIONAL TRAINING IS FUNCTIONAL TRAINING, RIGHT?

And now I hear your neurons clicking into place, collectively thinking “ok wise guy, so why should someone even worry about movement-based training?  I mean, isn’t it all the same?  Exercise is exercise, right?”  To which I would say; “very true, collective neurons… but wrap your synapses around this:  When they body moves, it’s training a movement (duh, right?) so what kind of a body do you want?  A body that moves great when it’s stuck inside a machine but looks awesome lying on the beach, or one that takes a little longer to get to awesome but can still play sports and go hiking in the mountains, still stand up tall and walk with grace, still be going strong after all the other bodies have checked out and gone back to the nursing home to watch golden girl re-runs.”

If you’re looking for a quick fix, there is none.  But for the sake of giving you just a taste of the kind of workouts we do at my local studio here in Denver CO (Bonza Bodies Fitness is the name of the place, if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood), I’ll give you a list of movements our personal trainers cover every workout.  It’s not a complete list by any means, but if you can make sure your workout covers these main movement patterns then you’ll be well on your way.

THE 8 MOVEMENTS YOU NEED FOR A BEGINNER FUNCTIONAL WORKOUT (WITH MACHINES YOU’LL LIKELY FIND IN YOUR GYM THAT WILL HELP YOU GET A START IN THE WORLD OF FUNCTIONAL TRAINING):

1. Push horizontally (pushup)
2. Push vertically (press)
3. Pull horizontally (row movements)
4. Pull vertically (lat pulldowns)
5. Twisting core movements
6. Squats
7. Lunge
8. Step ups

Follow those rules and you’ll be on the road to a functional body that can play.  Of course, it might be beneficial to add ipsilateral, contralateral and single and double appendage loaded movements in three planes of movement, but you’ll just have to come on down to Bonza Bodies Fitness (www.bonzabodies.com) and take a class to see what that’s all about 🙂

Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

Are you in the Denver area?  If you’re interested in coming in to our award winning studio, Bonza Bodies Fitness to see how our personal trainer staff do functional training, feel free to get in touch with us!  Send me an email at info@bonzabodies.com to learn more.

The Secret Weight Loss Stopper: Friends

Weight Loss is possibly one of the hardest things any of us can do.

How often is it that the best intentions for weight loss get crushed right at the start?  Being the owner of a small personal training studio here in Denver means I get to see lots of people right at the start of their journey (and also get to be the one trying to keep the wheels on as soon as the rubber hits the road, so to speak).  It’s interesting to me how our best laid plans are so quickly dashed – and I think I know why.

I mean, there must be something most of us are overlooking – I mean, we all start off with the strongest of desires, only to have our dream of fitting into a new slinky black dress torn apart almost as quickly as it came together.  But what happened to send our baby bird dreams plummeting to terra firma? We know what we’re supposed to eat, we know what we’re supposed to do, but yet time and time again our best intentions fall short.

This Bonza member did it – but then again, she was getting married which can do wonders for one’s motivation (especially when you have me playing the role of wedding punisher.. I mean prepper!)

If we know what we should be eating, why is Weight Loss so hard for us?

Is it habit?  Fear of the unknown?  Addiction to food?  Eating our feelings?  I’m going to say that all these play roles in our own personal self-destruction, but more importantly, it’s our social lives that get in the way of our weight loss efforts.

Your average weight loss effort might start with seeing or hearing about someone elses weight loss results, but the picture truly tells a thousand words – most likely a blend of cursing, explaining, self-talk and ‘no thank you’.

Where weight loss efforts fail #1:  I can’t say no

To say ‘no’ to our friends can be a scary thing.  We risk losing them or being taken out of our social circle since we no longer want to eat compulsory social snackfoods such as ‘cheese and crackers’.

Where weight loss efforts fail #2:  But, I love you!

When we are offered food from friends it’s sometimes a showing of love or care.  And to reject that is to seem careless and inconsiderate.  When your co-worker says they made something for you (even if it doesn’t have your initials personalized on it and was really just left over from a batch they made for another group of friends) they are looking for you to accept that package of ‘care’.  And to reject that can bring upon you disdain and urging from your co-workers to ‘just have one – it’s not going to matter’.

Where weight loss efforts fail #3:  One of us, one of us.

Children of the Corn.  The ultimate “peer pressure gone wrong” movie.

You’d be amazed how many times my personal training clients tell me about their friends trying to dislodge their efforts with statements like ‘he doesn’t have to know – just don’t tell him’ or ‘come on – you can’t eat like this forever’.  We sometimes tell this to our friends because we want them to be like us – and if you don’t do what I do, then you’re not like me.  And your friend wants you to be like them for three reasons:

• They want to surround themselves with people like them
• If the people around them change, then they’ll have to change to be like them
• If others don’t do the things they do, then they might start to feel guilty about not doing them themselves.

Cigarette behind the bike sheds, anyone?

So don’t say ‘no’.  In fact, don’t even let people think for a second that you’re not like them. Make it easy for them and just dodge their efforts, change the subject and never let them know you’re actually trying to lose weight.

No really.  Just tell them straight to your face that you’re doing the things they want you to do.  But secretly do the things that are important to you.

If you need help with this you’re welcome to come talk to my 4 year old daughter.  She’s a master at doing exactly what you want when you’re watching, but the second you look away she’s palm stuffing birthday treats into her mouth as if she’s training for the next cupcake eating competition.  Try to be the opposite.  Let people think you’re stuffing down the twinkies but be eating nary a crumb of the lifetime-shelf-life treats.

Need a drink?  Get a short glass of soda with a slice of lime and do your best tipsy impersonation.  Just not to the officer if you get pulled over going home.

Don’t want to eat what’s laid in front of you/handed to you?  Find an empty table to either lay it down on or scrape 2/3 of the plate off and walk around with a 1/3 of your meal on your plate.  If you’ve got food, then nobody will offer you any.

Friends ordering food?  If you know this is coming then make sure you tell everyone how stuffed you are from the fried food you ate just before you came over BEFORE they order the ‘triple cheese with chicken wings cooked into the dough’ special.

What’s the moral of the story?  Think about ways you can avoid saying no to your friends.  You’re not trying to be dishonest. You’re just saving their feelings (and making it easier for you to stick to your resolution to be a leaner, healthier, happier you).  Maybe it’s with a distraction, maybe it’s a story about what you’re going to be eating tonight that is soooo much more decadent than whatever is on the plate (a made up story, of course).

And when you start losing weight and your friends start to notice, just play it off – again, if you make your friends feel bad about themselves, they’ll try to pull you into line real quick.

And if you’re strong enough to tell people you don’t want to eat that… well, you’ve probably already started on the fast track to weight loss and don’t even need to be reading this post.  But for those of us that don’t have the steel will of ‘no’, this provides us with a stealthy way to get what we want without hurting the feelings of those around us.

Do you live in Denver?  Be sure to watch for us on local Denver news and tv stations (like FOX31 or the Denver Post) – we pop up all the time with advice like this.   Or if you’d like to come in and talk with one of our nutritionists or trainers about weight loss and a fast track to a leaner you that takes into consideration uncommon strategies such as social strategies, just get in touch – info@bonzabodies.com

Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

The Difference Between ‘Functional Training’ and ‘Bodybuilding on a Balance Board’

Functional Training has finally arrived as part of the common language of gyms.

What is functional training?  It’s a style of training being misunderstood by gyms and gym goers across the country.  It’s been around for ages, but, like

Functional Training is quickly becoming the ‘set of steak knives’ term that clubs and fitness centers alike love to use when referring to their offering of services.

“If you join now, Mrs Johnson, you’ll get the 3 pack of massages, the 2 months of free tanning and access to our VIP functional training area, where function lives and is waiting for you!  Now, spin the wheel to see if you won a small kitten”

Some go so far as to have a functional training area within their space, as if to wander into this special space while doing some traditional walking lunges would end in some form of electrocution or a large hook appearing out of nowhere and yanking you off to stage right. Sadly, functional training has become many things few of which should really be called ‘functional’.  Where I think most gym goers/some trainers go wrong is in their labeling of what is functional, and what is not.

Functional Training:  It’s like Pilates, but with less spandex

Functional training is typically accepted as something that’s going to ‘improve your core’, or ‘straighten out your posture’, or ‘work your body in a more integrated way’.  However, even though I normally take that same stance, I’m going to have to disagree with this position based on the definition of the word ‘function’.

Functional Training is Functional Training is Functional Training

You see, at its purest definition, functional training is really whatever training you’re doing – it’s training for a specific function.  In my mind training becomes functional when you can tell me what function you’re trying to create (or prevent). Dear reader, even bodybuilding is a form of functional training.  It all depends on what function you are CHOOSING to use to take your body through to create a certain outcome.

If I’m looking to give you a movement that will design the biggest muscle by working the target muscle while taking away the need for any other muscle to activate, then that is a function we’re trying to train (and there are many, many workout machines that serve this purpose exactly).

Medicine Balls and Bowling Balls. One prevents you getting fat, the other prevents you getting ladies.

If you want to have so much muscle that if someone ever pushed you over so you landed on your back then you would wriggle around on the floor like a flipped over turtle unable to get up, then that kind of ‘isolated muscle building’ functional training is for you. Let’s take a stand right now and break it down into 3 definitions of functional training.  Just to show how fair I am, I’m going to call ‘bodybuilding’ or ‘muscle growth’ training by its spiritual name of ‘traditional functional training’

Traditional Functional Training

Pretty much 90% of what you read in any bodybuilding magazine ever.  Exercises that use machine-based systems that are simple enough so people are able to follow along just from looking at the fancy pictures on the machines, including some other exercises that require to hold other joints steady and only move one joint or a minimal number of joints steady at a time.  A popular low-cost easy way to get your training in if things aren’t important to you like real world movement,sports related results or just being able to move smoothly and efficiently in general.

But if prime grade beef is what you’re looking to slap onto your body, there’s not really a faster way to get it (you may get muscle or two tear from the bone in the process, but hey, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some joints… I mean eggs).

End of part 1.

Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

To see what ‘non-traditional functional training’ and ‘movement-based functional training’ is, why not subscribe to us then you’ll know when the rest is posted online?

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What Fitness Magazines Won’t Tell You About Toning

Toning.  Toned.  Tone.

Let’s see it used in a sentence.

Ohmygod.  Look at Stacey in that cute sleeveless top!  Her arms are so nice and toned, she must have been working out over the winter break…. 

I hate her so much right now.

Toning.  It’s exercise-speak for ‘looking fit, but not buff’

Ahh, how we love our comforts.  The sweet sound of the word ‘toning’ itself draws calm into the hearts of vigilant exercisers across the land. 

For one day, if they work hard enough, eat right enough and dream big enough, one day they will be considered ‘toned’.  You’ll never really know if you are until one day someone tells you, then all of a sudden, there you are. 

Toned. 

The land of toned is a somewhat mystical place, like an ethereal land when everybody walks around being toned in their white bikinis drinking from long straws while petting large african beasts.

As a personal trainer, when I hear the word ‘toning’ I picture a generic in shape woman on the front of a generic fitness magazine with a generic headline that includes the word ‘toning’.  It’s almost you could insert the word ‘toning’ into just about any madlibs game and you’d get a fitness magazine headline.

Madlibs. helping editors write fitness front page stories since 1958

The TINY woman LOOKED FOR her TONED ARMS, but all she could see was CHEESECAKE.  main story, p56.

It’s a word that has become a compulsory part of the ‘let’s get in shape’ vernacular, a word that can be applied to almost any part of the body, and can be easily understood as being a body that is ‘fit’ without being ‘bulky’.

But what is Toning, really?

Why is it that we use this word so frequently, yet if I were to use the phrase ‘lose body fat’ or ‘gain muscle’  you can almost hear the brain cells shutting down before the sentence is even finished.

Observe if you will, a classic scenario that happens in gyms around the world every day (with gymspeak and realspeak translation for those wishing to be enlightened):

Trainer:  So Mrs Johnson, what is it that you’re looking to achieve with our training sessions together?

(I’ve been trained to ask you what you want, even though we both know you’re here because your muffin intake has been transformed into a muffin top around your waistline.  But I want to hear you say it.)

Mrs J: I don’t need to lose weight, I just want to trim up my arms.

(I don’t want to talk about how much weight I think I need to lose, but I also know that I don’t want you to put me on machines and make me bulky like She-Ra, which will happen with 100% certainty if you give me any kind of weight that isn’t foam-wrapped and brightly colored).

Trainer:  We can do that.

(I understand that you are scared that me putting you through a workout will cause your body to rapidly grow as if your muscles were inciting a revolution and suddenly tried to escape your body.  I will now nod knowingly even though I’m about to put you through the same workout I put every other client and tell you it’s toning because I don’t really know what else to do other than change up the repetitions).

Trainer (after nodding knowingly):  So let’s go through a special toning workout then!

aaaannnd scene.

Remember, it doesn’t matter how many ‘toning’ movements you do if you haven’t taken care of whats covering the muscle. You can sculpt the muscle, but you’ll show the muscle by sparing your body the extra calories it doesn’t need.

What Toned Really means

Here’s what toning is, in a nutshell.  it’s a lowering of body fat so you can see the muscle underneath, and there actually being muscle underneath to see.  More often than not the muscle has shape, it’s just covered by excess calories so you can’t see it.  If I took the biggest meat castle in the gym and put and extra 10% of body fat on him, you’d see a reduction in ‘toning’.  Muscle has shape to it, it’s just not going to be seen as long as it’s hidden beneath the ‘extra layer’.

Why you don’t get Toned just through diet

However, when people try to lose weight just by dieting and not working out, the body tend to lose muscle as it loses fat.

This creates that ‘skinny fat’ look you sometimes see in that girl in accounting who seems lean but abhors the idea of anything that might make her sweat, since that makes her feel all ‘clammy and sticky’.  She has become thin, but not toned.  The fat is less, but the muscle is equally less and unless she loses a LOT of body fat (a la some of the runway models you wish would just break down and eat SOMETHING) then she’s going to be losing muscle as she loses fat and she’ll be chasing a carrot on a stick, so to speak.

So you’re telling me that these fancy gloves DON”T make my arms look fat? Oh, but they do make me look like I’m auditioning for ‘million dollar baby 2’? Ahh, I see…

Add muscle to the equation AS YOU LOSE FAT and you actually end up ideally with an equal amount of muscle at the point that your body fat starts to lean out enough that you can see the muscle beneath.

Here’s how the toning equation goes.

No workout + Diet = less muscle and less fat = same perceived level of ‘toning’ just with small size.

Workout + No Diet = more muscle and the same amount of fat = same perceived level of ‘toning’ but now with bigger arms that you hate and blame your trainer for making you look like Miss Olympia.

Workout + Diet = EQUAL muscle and less body fat (since you’ll be losing muscle as you lose fat but then gaining it back as you workout for a zero sum loss) = nirvana, the mecca, the golden ticket, the big dance, the last dance at prom with the prom king… well, you get the idea.

Babies. The ultimate toning tool. Available from a good hospital with bad security near you. Get your baby today and be on your way to sculpted, sexy arms.

So there you have it.  Why don’t you hear this from magazines?  Well, because they need to keep printing these magazines, dear devoted reader!  If I can’t come up with a different way to tell/show/demonstrate for you how to exercise, then how am I going to keep all these fitness models in employment?  Without modelling gigs and interviews to ask them how they got so ‘toned’ and ‘sculpted’ and ‘fit-looking’, how else would they occupy themselves?  We’d end up with a race of supervillian amazons, destroying all in their path, that’s what.

So please, keep reading the magazines and articles that discuss ‘toning your trouble spots’, but know that in the end it’s just exercise plus good eating.  And if you don’t see results, then you need to improve your exercise or improve your eating.

Do you feel better now you understand what the word ‘toning’ REALLY means? 

Or like you’ve been believing in Santa Claus all this time only to realize it was your dad wearing a red raincoat and a crappy cardboard beard tied around his head by a thin piece of elastic all this time.  Either way, you’re welcome.

Jamie Atlas

PS It’s been a while since I’ve written something on this blog.  I’m recommitting to it after realizing that people were still reading it and commenting on it and actually caring about the content that was written in here.  If you’re coming back after a long time away, I’d like to thank you for sticking by it.  If you’re new here, then thanks for dropping by!  We love new friends around here.

And of course, if you’d like to subscribe to this blog, then do you see that big obnoxious looking button below?  You know what to do from here, right?

Introducing: The “Ski Squat” – the #1 Exercise for Ski Performance

If you live in Denver then chances are you have heard me talk  or attended one of my classes about ski conditioning and movement specific patterns.

When getting ready for ski season how we workout can be an important decision that either helps or hurts our skiing ability and endurance.

Here’s why you want to squat differently than everyone else in the gym:

Squat with Ski specificity for specific results

When you squat on regular flat ground, your body shares its load between the front and back foot.  When you are on the mountain with your skis pointed down, your body instinctively wants to lean back and stay vertical.  However, when skiing you must lean into the skis to get best control etc.

Lift it up

By placing a small wedge or lift under the forefoot (it can be as small as a yoga mat or as thick as you can maintain balance with) you effectively stimulate all the muscles that would ‘pull’ your body forward.  The result?  Your body learns to lean forward while going through movement.

If you were to try to lean forward while squatting on a flat surface the results would be… well, let’s just say that if you leaned too far forward it would be potentially counterproductive (as well asquite painful)

Here’s the video of a quick ski spefic workout I put together.  It is for ski conditioning – you will burn some fat and tone some muscle as you do it just as you would if you were to actually go skiing – this is a great way to get a quick workout in while getting yourself in shape for skiing:

Here’s the video that specifically explains why you want to ski with a toe lift as opposed to the conventional (read ‘bodybuilding’) reasoning of having a heel lift when you squat.

Have fun with it!  try different loads and speeds to see what feels like it will suit your individual skiing style and you will be carving it up with the best of them in no time!

See you on the mountain,

Jamie Atlas

PS Ski conditioning clinic happening at Bonza Bodies studio Saturday November 6th – see http://www.bonzabodies.com for details

Change Your Workout, Build Your Brain

If you ever wondered what the benefits might be for changing up your workout, this video featuring Dr Roy Sugarman – an internationally recognized neuroscientist who talks about switching up your workouts at an extreme level to keep building your ‘brain muscles’.  How indepth is his knowledge?  He’s gone through about 20,000 articles in the last year.  No joke.

As a personal trainer, I often talk to people about working out in variety – this video gets a bit technical, but it’s worth sticking with it to hear some science on your workout and your brain that you won’t hear anywhere else.

Particularly interesting is what Roy Sugarman says at 01:22, which is that the brain ‘hates routine’.  What does that mean to us?  Well, it means that doing an exercise or a workout where the body is guessing means that the brain is working.

Want a better brain to go with your better workout?  Now you know what it takes.

yours in better health,

Jamie Atlas

PS Thanks to PTA Global and Rodney Corn for creating such an awesome post!  Bringing the real brain knowledge combined with real workout science!

Resistance Band + Lunge = Perfect Butt.

If you ever wondered what could be done with your butt and a resistance band that would give you satisfaction on a whole new level, then you may end your search here.

On a completely PG level, your booty can get a great workout in a way that it just can’t with any other exercise.

I made a video about 2 years ago that is just now reaching 40,000 hits – it was called ‘how to get the perfect butt’

Here’s a video to show you the newest version of the perfect butt workout – it integrates a band and is not only a great butt exercise, it uses the core as well!

Note:  I am using a band wrapped around a barre at the a very cool denver boot camp/goal-based fitness studio downtown.  If you need to, use a pole/bannister/piece of furniture/your boyfriend.

there you have it.  The perfect lunge using a resistance band that promises to give you results that no other lunge can match.   Promise.  Just have a crack at it.

Go on.  Give it a shot – just do 2 sets on each side and write a comment letting me know if you felt it in a spiritually enlightening way (meaning you used the phrase ‘jesus ch$#%t that’s hard!’ numerous times)

Have fun!

yours in lunging health,

Jamie Atlas

www.fitnessbyatlas.com

PS Thanks to Michol Dalcourt for the inspiration for this exercise!

My Favorite Butt-Lifting Exercise Makes The Local News

You know when you learn something really cool after searching for it for years?  Like when you found out you could sneak into the local club for free if you went through a certain door – you weren’t sure whether to tell it to others because then if everyone knew it wouldn’t be as special and exclusive when you showed it to your new date you were trying to impress with your urban insider knowledge.  Well, this is what happened with one of my favorite ‘top-secret fitness clients only’ exercises.

Kim Kardashian... you may now take your 'booty game' to the next level.

Well, I was asked for my favorite butt-lifting exercise the other day by a person from the local media who was in charge of the fitness section.  And I told it – then I was asked to help run a photo shoot for it.  Then I was asked to give a description so it could be in the paper.. And then the paper went to print today.  And now, my top secret #1 butt-lifting exercise is out in the open, exposed and lonely, free to be abused and misinterpreted by any and all roughhouse workout fanatics.  Be kind, Denver Post, be kind 🙂

I only hope that it is treated with the kindness and reverence I have given it for many years.  Goodbye, sweet butt-lifting angled step up.  I will miss our special moments – but it was time for you to be free for the world to enjoy you as well.

And now, I will share this link with you so you can see how I think this butt-fitness exercise should be done – not the variations that you may see in the near future:

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_15599961

Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

PS Want to see another butt-lifting video that I made on “how to get the perfect butt” while working on your fitness?  Its not my best work, but by golly by gee, it’s my most popular vid with about 40,000 views.  it didn’t make it to the Denver Post, but that’s probably on account of its racy content 😉

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lHU50G0tmA

For Long Term Weight Loss, First Master your Mindset: Ask Why?

Weight Loss can be a complicated thing.  Getting results to stick around long term can be even more complicated.  I think I have found something that can make weight loss something that is realistic – but it doesn’t start on the plate.  It starts in your mindset.

Just saw this YouTube video from Heidi, one of my favorite Denver personal trainers –  and was blown away.  Normally I make these posts way too long, but not today.  I am going to let her video do the talking

Heidi doesn’t necessarily nail it down to weight loss, but anyone who ever wondered how their mindset took them astray will understand where she is coming from.

Believe it or not, this is Heidis second ever youtube video.  I am looking forward to more.

Would you like to see more of these vids?

Let me know what you think of Heidi’s thoughts by commenting below and I will pass it on to her – don’t be bashful, she needs the feedback!

Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

Atlas bootcamps and small group training

Denvers only small group personal training studio.

PS Is ‘diet a 4 letter word’?  Check out this other video of hers: