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Maximizing your Treadmill Intervals for Fat Loss, Performance and Unlimited Benefit

Will this blog help you get unlimited benefits? Maybe that’s a big statement

I’ve spent years now testing various treadmill interval blocks. Being native to the Pacific Northwest, I can run outdoors whenever I want but there are many times when I prefer to run indoors on a treadmill.

Treadmill intervals, if you go to OTFSeattle you'll recognize a face or two from this special Ft. Lauderdale workout

Treadmill intervals, if you go to OTFSeattle you’ll recognize a face or two from this special Ft. Lauderdale workout

The benefit of running on a treadmill:

  • Since it is a machine, you can find it easier to quantitatively track, record and achieve parameters of progression.
  • Increase resistance by simply increasing the incline
  • There is never a need to go downhill, so there may be less stress on the knees and the quads will be subjected to less stress and therefore less soreness.
  • Typically, less soreness means you can up your training frequency, thus getting faster results (so long as you stay healthy).

Designing effective treadmill interval blocks

Treadmill intervals are more a mental game than anything else. Almost every healthy person who uses a treadmill regularly can run faster than the maximum speed they’ve ever used on a treadmill. People just need a little encouragement! That’s why HIIT classes like Orangetheory Fitness in Seattle (my home studio Capitol Hill!!) are so popular and effective.

Example of a progressive HIIT block on the treadmill

Since teaching exercise classes to over a thousand people in Seattle, I’ve started focusing on how to coach these treadmill blocks even more effectively than before. Example of a recent All-Out block I coached my classes on.

  • 30 second all out at 1% (exerciser chooses their most intense speed possible for 30 sceonds)
  • 45 second walking recovery
  • 30 second all out using the same speed as last time, but at 3% incline
  • 45 second walking recovery
  • 30 second all out at 1% incline, starts off as an aggressive push, and halfway through exercisers are coached to peak at their maximum speed (even if only for seconds at a time)

After the block was over and people were walking for recovery on the treadmills, I asked people to raise their hand if that was the fastest they have ever gone on the treadmill. More than a quarter of people raised their hands, knowing they have achieved something they never achieved before and thus breaking another mental barrier which could have held them back from their fitness goals.

Kyle Anderson in the teal from Seattle, Washington. He's our fitness and business inspiration

Kyle Anderson in the teal from Seattle, Washington. He is one our fitness and business inspirations and a leader for the local team here

HIIT is here to stay

Exercise science tells us this. Workouts only need to be between 20-60 minutes long and the intensity can vary from minute to minute throughout the training. There is no better way to release that cocktail of beneficial fat-burning hormones in the hours after your workout. Good recovery from high intensity training guarantees the accelerated decrease in fat-cell size.

Stay tuned my people

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How do you Maximize High Intensity Training for Accelerated fat loss?

Use heavy weights

Of course heavy is relative to the levels of your capabilities. Lifting technique improvements can certainly make for a safer and more powerful exercise. Progressive resistance is fundamental to strength training philosophy.

Body-weight can be heavy enough especially if you perform the reps as fast as you can

Body weight can be heavy enough if you perform the reps as fast as you can or get more work done in a shorter period of time than your last workout (aim for progress)

Training the mind to train the muscle and burn fat

Why do some people not go nearly as heavy as they can? Perhaps to play it safe and I understand that. More vulnerable populations (like if you’ve had shoulder surgeries) will have to watch it especially. That being said, the healthy workout population should consider this…

Lower the size of fat cells, while increasing the density of muscle cells

Lower the size of fat cells, while increasing the density of muscle cells

Maybe people don’t go heavy because they don’t want to bulk up. I’ll say that some people are more prone than others in this bulking regard. Most often it is the opposite — once people train heavier, they get lowered body fat and denser. It’s likely due to the reduced reps and volume.

Central Nervous System for fitness, cognitive function and mobility

We train movement patterns at Orangetheory Fitness in Seattle. For example, a common exercise is the squat and goblet squats with a weight do make the booty go good.

Goblet Squat keep your core tight and drive through heels

Goblet Squat keep your core tight and drive through heels

The heavier we go relative to our overall 100% max is similar to doing a push pace at 84% or higher on the treadmills. In other words, by increasing the intensity there are many ways that the exercise recovery will produce beneficial body adaptations.

So next time you select a training weight, think about what is 80% of what your overall maximum capability would be and go from there.

Squeeze the weight

You will activate more nervous system pathways by squeezing the weight and focusing on full body tension during every multi-joint exercise.

Stay tuned…

 

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Healthy Body Image at Seattle’s Orangetheory Fitness in Capitol Hill

The body image mindset

This is believing that your body was never meant to look like anyone but you. My body is my vessel and my food is my fuel. It is knowing that today you will never get back.

Focus on the core to get stronger everywhere else

Focus on the core to get stronger everywhere else

Coaching body image

How can you not feel proud of yourself after completing a HIIT workout at OTF… it is one of the best feelings. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment which is accompanied by the process of physical recovery post-workout. If you consume some protein then, you will do good for the body.

Orangetheory Fitness vs. Orangetheory Weight Loss

I am sure OTF has the widest appeal of HIIT training currently in Seattle. That’s why you will see so many more of them coming up throughout Washington. I love being the Head Trainer at Capitol Hill OTF in Seattle.

Our workouts have the potential to boost bone density, promote healthy blood sugar, support muscle tone, reduce fat cell size, and make you feel great at any age. Fitness is a key element of longevity and anti-aging. Being part of a healthy community is proven to improve quality of life at any stage of life.

Open invitation

You are invited to experience what we have going on at OTF in Seattle – Capitol Hill.

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5 Insights from Holistic Health for FAT LOSS

Want to burn more fat?

The goal seems simple yet our bodies respond in curious ways. Lets look at body composition.

Runners, explosiveness/strength vs endurance/distance

Differences in body comp, maybe its okay to be heavier than runway model standard or ultra endurance runner (r)

Think about body composition for a moment. You may notice an individual who is exceptionally lean no matter what they are wearing. Their body composition would indicate low levels of body fat.

How do we burn more body fat?

Focus on the gut

I think fat gets way too much attention, probably because you can see it. We can’t kill the fat cells, but we can make them smaller. The fat cells must receive hormonal signals in order to begin the burn of energy from fat cells. In other words, it’s the fat cells themselves that burn the fat, yet it’s the internal system that must first produce the signal.

Once you have a certain amount of fat cells, they can only shrink in size -- never disappear.

Once you have a certain amount of fat cells, they can only shrink in size — never disappear.

To signal fat cells to burn fat, the most common way is to workout. High intensity exercise can be short and still burn a ton of fat. The HIIT workout (example: Orangetheory) will burn fat mostly due to the hormonal release post-workout. These are the signalers that tell the fat cells to use energy and therefore get smaller.

The gut is complicated

Take a moment to think about all of the organs in your torso. There is much life within my human digestive system, it’s like totally ecological. There are so many billions of non-human life inside my body, it’s a biotic fiesta in my stomach. I like to celebrate with my gut and with my friends.

TBT may'n, back at LP Athletics trying to have healthy gut micro-flora

TBT may’n, back at LP Athletics focusing on strength and having healthy gut micro-flora

Aside from the fact that the digestive system is the biggest key to human immunity, the gut is ground zero for so many metabolic processes. The nutrients we consume from food contain catalysts for physiological, biological, and hormonal elements that life would be impossible without it. Therefore pure fat loss is impossible without nutrients.

Nutrients are the most valuable

Don’t leave it to scientists to discover everything, but it’s pretty amazing the advances in nutrient science with the last few decades. It’s unlikely we’ll understand everything about nutrition, but we can go on these ideas:

  • Nutrients come in many forms, for example: 
    • vitamins, minerals, water
    • dietary fats, carbohydrates, proteins
    • antioxidants, phytonutrients, fiber
  • Doing it right

    Doing it right

    • enzymes, pre-biotics, pro-biotics
    • curcumin, gingerols, dietary nitrates
    • etc
  • The goal is to improve symbiosis within the gut and surrounding organ systems between human cells and colonies of bacteria
    • Lactobacillus acidophilus is a commonly mentioned pro-biotic in our guts
  • A calorie is probably still a calorie, but most of us don’t really appreciate the depth at which food impacts our metabolic lives  24/7 including how fast the cells age!
    • Anti-aging strategies always involve exercise and nutrition
  • You can’t beat real food and herbal sources
    • Fresh, green food provides many catalysts for fat loss, and also for systemic health
    • High quality herbal extracts have benefited human health for thousands of years
  • It’s less about what you don’t eat, than what you do eat
    • Even if you restrict calories, you may be restricting nutrients as well
    • A low calorie poor diet is still a poor diet — dieters may become nutrient deficient if their food is not nutrient-dense.
    • The nutrients contain catalysts — cellular processes – sending signals to fat cells
    • Give your body a reason to burn fat, for example: antioxidants

You always knew it was about the gut anyway

If you’ve ever had a gut feeling, you may have experienced a range of feelings, emotions, and experiences from within the gut; Some pleasant, some anxious, others perhaps made you feel compelled to action.

Listen to the gut. Focus on nutrients. Simplify your life by consuming fresh vegetables.

And if you have a sweet tooth like me, you could be eating berries almost every day of the year. Blueberries are loaded in antioxidants. Give your body a reason to burn fat. Nutrients. Antioxidants. A reason.

You'll be excited about this when your eating window is only 8 hours long

YEEEE!!

Good luck my readership. May you eat mindfully and enjoy your existence inside and out.

and Digestion Immunity Nutrition Orangetheory Fitness Seattle Orangetheory Seattle
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Technique for Novice Deadlifters

Deadlifts provide valuable training stimulus

They also go to show how strong you REALLY are.

That is because true strength requires muscles throughout the entire body to work at the most efficient joint angles. Technique is incredibly important for injury prevention and performance.

Deadlifts are for strength

Deadlifts are for strength

Like any exercise, deadlift is a skill which requires the lifter to learn the deadlift movement pattern.

Deadlift Fundamentals

For the deadlift, you should take note of these

1. Full body tension

2. Legs and hip drive

3. Squeeze the butt aggressively

4. Bar is as close to the body as possible during the entire lift

Deadlift Critique

Setup
Need to correct – Leaning forward
1. Chest Up
2. Hips back
3. Drive through the heels
Sit back into the rep, focus on using glutes as the power player.
Mid-Range
Need to correct – Hips rise too fast
1.Focus on Leg Drive
2. Push heels into the ground
3. Spread the floor with your feet
Lockout
Need to correct- Stopping short
1. Pull the bar towards the body
2. Squeeze glutes forcefully
Lowering
Need to correct – Too much lower back on way down
1. Keep the chest up
2. Let the hips drop as soon as bar passes the knees

How to Improve your Deadlift

Main ways to improve the Deadlift

  • Practice the deadlift (train the deadlift)
  • Get stronger in all key areas (upper back, lower back, core, glutes, hamstrings, quads)
  • Practice the deadlift!!!

More reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LhYspMFUmY

More reference 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qRntuXBSc

Keep at it y’all. Cuz you realize that when you’re deadlift technique is good, you WILL have a strong, strong, strong back and legs. Your spine will be protected by slabs of muscle and you will feel the strength in all the other areas of your life!!

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