Exercise Equipment for the Obese

You know you are overweight when you break your scales, the treadmill at the gym and burst your stability ball. So what do you buy when you weigh so much that you break your exercise equipment?

High-Capacity Scale

This isn't really for exercising, but it is a necessity for some people, because a conventional scale just won't do. Fortunately, this professional-grade scale weighs people up to 550 pounds.

Burst-Resistant Stability Ball

Unless you tip the scale at over 2,000 pounds, here's one exercise ball you don't have to worry about popping.


Extra Sturdy BIG Bicycle

Need a bike that can support more than 300 pounds? You're in luck, thanks to the recumbent bicycles and tricycles offered by Lightfoot Cycles. They feature over-sized wheels and sets made specifically for overweight cyclists.

Bike Seat

Bike seats are notoriously uncomfortable, and are even more so for people who carry a bit of their own "extra padding." For them, there are twin-pad, high-capacity seats.


Designing an exercise program and activities for someone who is extremely overweight can be a challenge for a personal trainer. Here in Toronto my focus when helping such people to lose weight is to get them outside and doing fun activities that they can not only do, but will enjoy doing on their own even when I am not there to encourage and motivate them.

Having the necessary equipment so you can exercise like a normal person and not feel like you are disabled makes a big difference in your ability to stay motivated and keep exercising.

Happy Exercising!

The Triceps Kickback

So you want to work on your triceps eh?

Well then there is a fantastic exercise called the Triceps Kickback.

This particular exercise is great for toning the underside of the arm (the triceps) which for some people are notorious for being flabby because fat likes to accumulate there. To reduce the fat you will need to do cardio, but if you're looking to build muscle there then you will want to do exercises which use the triceps a lot.

It's only January right now but it's not too early to prepare for the summer, and last minute vacations to warmer destinations than freezing Toronto.

(I was outside skating yesterday at Ramsden Park near Rosedale and I eventually decided it was too cold even for me and went home.)

How To Do A Triceps Kickback

1. This exercise can be performed with one arm at a time, or both. If you have never tried this one before, or have any low back sensitivity, try one arm at a time.

2. Start by placing one knee and one hand (from the same side of the body) down onto a bed, bench, the couch or even a stability ball.

3. Your back should be really straight, parallel with the floor. The leg that is not resting on the bench is on the floor, stretched out of the way behind you. The free hand is holding a dumbbell, with the arm stretched down toward the floor. 

 

Note: Use a dumbbell which is relatively light the first time you do this. You can try it later with heavier weights once you learn proper form.

4. Bring the elbow up as high as it can go but keep it close to your body. It should be able go higher than your back. Throughout the entire exercise the elbow will remain fixed in the position.

5. With the forearm only, bend back from the elbow as far as range of motion will allow, until the arm is straight out behind you. 

 

Do 10 reps, 3 times total, repeat 3 times per week to see results.

Two Arm Triceps Kickback.

For two arms, start with both feet together and bend your knees slightly. Bend forward from the hips until your back is parallel to the floor. With a dumbbell in both hands, raise both elbows up and behind, higher then the level of your back. At the same time, bend the forearm back until both arms are straight out behind you.

What is wrong with the triceps kickback?

Unlike other triceps exercises such as: dips, skull crushers, push downs and overhead extensions, you will be really fighting a resistance to move the weight. With the triceps kickback the most beneficial part of the exercise is at the very end of the movement, when the arm straightens.

At this point squeezing the triceps is how the exercise activates the muscle fibers. Even better, squeeze the muscle, and try to raise the whole arm just a little higher.

 

What makes a healthy teenager?

Good grades and fun times are important aspects of the high school experience. But that happiness is often threatened by bullying at school, unhealthy weight and the temptations to party hard and hang with the "cool kids".

Parents need to play a strong role in ensuring their high school kids stay healthy. A lack of sleep and exercise, too many fatty snacks, and caffeine packed drinks don't produce a healthy teenager - but they can make for an overweight teen with a sleeping disorder and high stress levels. It is up to the parents to do what they can do to keep their teenagers in good health - both mentally and physically.

Breakfast - Don't skip breakfast!

Eating in the morning gets their metabolism going. What should they eat? How about some instant oatmeal, cream of wheat, fresh fruit, whole grain bagels, and/or low-fat yogurt. Even pancakes with maple syrup is better than nothing.

Waiting too long to eat causes over-eating and binging later - which can lead to eating disorders.

Snacks - Aim for the Morning and Afternoon!

Healthy snacks in the morning or afternoon boosts the metabolism. Snacking late at night, especially junk food, puts on extra weight. The body's metabolism slows down during sleep, which causes much of the bedtime snack to be stored as fat. Encourage your teens to snack during the day, around 10 AM and 2 PM, and to eat healthy snacks they enjoy.

Sleep - As if teenagers don't sleep enough already!

Experts agree that teenagers need 9 hours of sleep per night. Unfortunately, sleep isn't always a major priority for them. Teenagers should keep a regular bedtime so they know when they should be going to bed and when they are getting up. This will prevent sleep disorders and higher stress levels, and a proper night's sleep prevents over-eating on sugary/caffeine foods during the day. Most teens don't appreciate the benefits from sleep, such as improved mood, improved cognitive functioning, and better academic performance, because they become too easily obsessed with certain social activities - such as chatting online and texting these days

Teenagers should avoid late night studying and caffeine drinks after 2 pm. They should begin winding down (relaxing) about an hour before bedtime. They should also avoid exercise during that time too. During this time they should avoid bright light sources, including looking directly into a computer screen or television. This also means no fast-paced video games in the late evening hours.

Many teens stay up late at night text messaging friends. A "no cell phone in the bedroom at night rule" may be unpopular with your teenager, but sleep is more important than unnecessary text messages.

Nutrition - Aim for Balance!

Teenagers should eat a balance of vegetarian proteins or lean meats, whole grains, high fiber carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables. Teach your teens to eat only when they're hungry. Many teens eat due to boredom or stress. Healthy snacks should be encouraged if they are eating due to boredom so try and find out what foods they like best that are healthy. One way to do this is to send them to the grocery store to buy fruit and see what they come back with. eg. Watermelons.

Exercise - 60 Minutes per Day!

Experts say that teens get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day. They need a good balance of activities including aerobic, flexibility, and strength exercises. The benefits include building and maintaining healthy muscles, bones, and joints; Controls weight; Reduces Fat;  Releases Endorphins, Better Sleep.

Teens should avoid exercising too close to bedtime.

Controlling Weight - Making Exercise Fun

Teenagers get bored really easily unless it is an activity they really enjoy. Try to find what activities they are interested in doing and then sign them up for lessons in that activity.

It could be something more unusual like archery, fencing, Kendo, martial arts... or it could be a sport like tennis or football, in which case for team sports they may need to train hard to join a school team or they may need to join a team that is more for fun.

The production of endorphins, which makes people feel happy, is increased when doing fun exercise activities - It is also addictive and teenagers hooked on a fun exercise activity (like skateboarding or rollerblading) will want to keep doing it. Such exercise can help teenagers who struggle with mild depression and help them to break away from addiction to video games (which also produces endorphins from the mental stimulation).

Most teenagers aren't too concerned about their health. Parents need to set rules and encourage a healthy lifestyle to ensure their teens stay healthy. Set a "no cheese puffs/text messaging/caffeine cola/action video game before bedtime" rule may seem rather strict, but if you can get your teenager out there playing tennis or doing archery instead it will be worth it because you will be setting them on a life of healthy balances.

The Canadian Daily

I have been invited to start writing exercise / dietary advice on the news website The Canadian Daily.

So far I have only done the following article:

How I Lost 50 Lbs of Fat + 12 Weight Loss Tips

I think I may contribute a new article to their site once per week or maybe twice monthly if I am really busy in a particular month.

Update

5 Common Factors in Weight Loss

Nutrition is More Important than Exercise

Not long after I became certified as a personal trainer in Toronto I began to wonder if I should have been a nutritionist instead.

If you read the title of this post you've probably guessed why.

Its because nutrition plays a huge role in whatever fitness goal you are attempting to achieve. Some estimate that the role is as high as 90% nutrition / 10% exercise. And the reason is because without proper nutrition, regardless of whether your goal is weight loss or muscle gain, you won't reach your goal anywhere as quickly as you would if you were eating properly for that specific goal.

So for example if your goal is weight loss then you want to cut back on carbs and sugars, avoid toxins entirely, and you want to limit your diet to approx 1800 to 2000 calories daily while taking in lots of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, protein and fibre.

If your goal was muscle gain you would want to do the same thing, but up the percentage of protein (possibly by using supplements) in an effort to match your weightlifting regimen.

Now you might think its possible to achieve great results without changing your diet. And depending on your current diet, that might be possible, except most people in North America probably eat a lot more calories than they realize. Try counting all your calories for a week and keeping a daily record and you would get a better idea of what you are really eating.

Lets say for example you had two twins named Jeff and Greg and they both do weight lifting and exercise the same amount daily.

Jeff eats healthy, gets lots of veggies and makes certain he is getting enough protein for his weightlifting regimen by drinking 3 raw eggs every morning Rocky Balboa style.

Greg meanwhile eats lots of greasy food. He is still getting some protein, but comparatively little, and his intake of nutrients / minerals from fruits and veggies is almost non-existent.

Which one do you think will get the most muscle gain and which one do you think will have some belly flab? The answer is pretty obvious.

Here's another anecdote, this time for weight loss.

I know a colleague who is also in the fitness industry. She lost 45 lbs back in 2004 by making some drastic changes to her diet and coupled that with running 3 - 4 times per week.

She later became a personal trainer here in Toronto, and took up weight lifting and a variety of other exercise activities to stay in shape, but her initial weight loss she credits completely to the lifestyle change with respect to her diet. She admits the running helped, but it was the dietary change that made the big difference.

Lets stop and calculate how many calories she was consuming and burning while running.

Before she changed her lifestyle she had a yo-yo diet and when she wasn't on the latest fad diet she was consuming 2500 to 3000 calories per day. So lets average that out to 2750. So by changing her diet to 2000 calories per day she cut out 750 calories per day and stabilized her diet. Thanks to that change she prevented herself from gaining 1.5 lbs per week.

Next she started off weighing 185 lbs and ended up at 140. So her average weight during that training period was 162.5. So if I feed that into a calorie calculator and estimate that she did an average of 5 km in an hour each time she ran then she burned an average 382 calories per run.

And if she did that 3.5 times per week she burned 1337 calories per week... which is a little over one third of a lb.

Now imagine if she had NOT changed her diet and was still eating an extra 5250 calories per week. Even with all her running she still would have been gaining weight because she hadn't changed her diet.

By changing her diet she cut out a lot of extra unneeded calories and began a fat burning process.

In her own words:

"I had not done any weightlifting yet and the idea of doing physical activities for fun still had not registered in my brain. In retrospect I can guarantee that it was not all the running that helped me to shed all of that weight in under a year. It was changing my diet and my lifestyle!"

Research now supports that nutrition plays a much larger factor in weight loss success. Don't get me wrong, exercise is certainly necessary and important and speeds up the process. And exercise will help you to tone up so that when you lose weight your skin will be tighter and not loose or saggy. Not to mention, you won't get a hard-body or six pack by nutrition alone!

So far in my career as a personal trainer I have found that many people not only underestimate how much they eat, but don't have a good handle on food quality. The  real trick to eating really healthy is to make the most out of your daily caloric intake by looking for foods that are highly nutritious - or making more nutritious choices even when choosing a tasty snack. It's a huge difference in both the quality and the quantity of food, and thus creates a better overall nutritional profile.

If you're having trouble shedding weight through your exercise regimen, the answer to your weight loss problem may be rooted in the nutritional choices. The extra calories you are consuming are holding you back from your dreams.

It only take 21 days to make a new habit, so changing your lifestyle doesn't really take that long to change.