Thursday, November 4th, 2010
Yes…we are.
There is much going on here behind the scenes. It’s kind of cool.
I had much on my mind when I wrote the Power of Ten article a few weeks ago and much of it is coming to fruition:
Joanna, as you know is going behind the scenes. She is helping us with the much needed re-design of MP4 and the development of our affiliate companies. Who is coming to forefront will be announced tomorrow. Just know, great things come in small packages.
MP4–and the rest of our affiliate companies–are going live in 2011. (Wait for that info…you will like it when you hear it.) And when it does, there will be more MP4 staffers coming out of the wood work! Very excited.
Our blog is getting a face lift and with the addition of our new blogger and MP4 staff member, we will take on a more refined approach to the information we provide for you.
All of the programs mentioned on the blog thus far will be released in 2011. They will enable you to reach your goals, both weight loss and performance, in an organized, affordable manner. Your food will be done for you, your weight training, functional and supplementation schedule laid out for you. Short of it working out for you, it is complete!
Heather is moving to the Northeast. Oh wait, did I say that? Ok…she’s not, but I tried. Haha! Wishful thinking.
The sister company to MP4, for those of you who want what MP4 has to offer but are not prepping for an athletic event, is on the way. This has been the number 1 request of 2010. “I love what you have done for me and my ‘fill in the blank’ is not getting ready for anything, can she still work with you?” Up until now we have said no. But not anymore. Many are hounded when they are in the gym by folks wanting to know ‘who they are training with’ because our programs are so fun and unique. If you are tired of the same old weight routine that looks like it was plucked out the back of a magazine, just know that there is more to working out than a four day split. Or if the power/Olympic lifting thing is not quite for you, just know again that there are options out there that get you to the same place without you having to learn a clean and jerk.
Have patience with us as we unfold everything over the next 3 months. Email us at info@modelper4mance.com because many things will be in place before you see it on the site so keep in touch. Although I will say, there are lots of you who are doing that already and we thank you for your support! Hang tight!
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Are you over the top with your training? Or not enough? Would you know if you were or weren't?
I get up pretty early in the morning. On normal days I get up about 4 am and on days that I sleep in it’s more like 5am. My idea of a lazy day is getting up around 6am. My normal routine is to get up and get out of the house and either head to a client’s house or head to teach one of our bootcamp classes and inevitably every time that I am out there I pass a myriad of runners. Most of them are smart enough to be traveling in pairs so I get to check them and their running partners out at the same time. It is very obvious to me that many of these are runners are ones that have chosen running to either lose weight and get in shape or get in shape even though they are not losing the weight. And although that probably started out as a valiant idea, I am sure they have found out that it is not necessarily that simple.
We have spoken about this before in other posts when we talked about making weight for your sport. How important it is to be the right weight to avoid injury and to do the best for your weight and age class. And we spoke about how it is not smart to try to use your event prep as the only means to losing weight for your event or you are asking for trouble. Whenever this happens, no matter how hard the event is, people typically end up gaining weight. Now you would think after prepping for a marathon that you lose, but you do not. You gain. So what is everybody doing wrong that they cannot manage their race/sport/event prep and their weight loss goal at the same time?
So how do you know if you are overdoing it? I am sure you have realized by now that there are hundreds of books on the shelves to help you out. And I am sure you are also thinking, ‘If I had time to read a book and understand the concept, I wouldn’t have gained the weight in the first place.’ I am hearing you loud and clear on that one. Doing it yourself is hard and time consuming and you are never sure if you are doing right or not. However, hiring someone can be expensive and for crying out loud it’s just a 10k! So what gives?
Well we have been banging our heads against a wall here at MP4 (not too much, though, b/c it messes with the hair) and have come up with a solution. Starting in September we will have a plan for you that answers all of the issues above by it being:
It is customized for you
It is simple
It will help you lose weight AND it will prep you for your event
It will answer all of your post exercise questions
AND it is NOT an ebook!
This is a LIVE plan. You will work with us, inexpensively, for your event and we will help you to make weight for it. Keep your eyes peeled for this because this is hot. You have stretches, workouts, menus, unlimited email support and the list goes on for an AFFORDABLE price and it is customized for you!
If you are tired of running nowhere, here is your direction. I look forward to telling you more about this in a few weeks. Hang tight!
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
It’s summer time in New England which means we have about 4 weeks of summer left, 4 weeks of rainy season that will pop up somewhere in June/July and an early winter that will show up in August. Oh the joys of New England Weather!
During this time we urge you to get off of the elliptical, get outside and try something new. This time around, I am asking you to try sprinting outdoors on a track.
Any time I ask a client if they do sprints they always say yes. As I dig further I realize they are talking about sprinting on a cardio machine, not outside on a track. Please let me set the record straight by saying, if anyone from MP4 says sprints—we mean out on a track. Sprinting on cardio is like having non-alcoholic beer—really, is there a point?
Since we work with all types of athletes—not just endurance athletes—such as soccer players, hockey players and so on, our sprints are more about making you a lighter, more agile athlete than they are about making you a great sprinter. Keep in mind our main goal here at MP4: to make you a better athlete by bringing you in to your ideal competition weight. Whether that means dropping weight off of you while enhancing your sport performance or adding some weight to you through sport performance, it does not matter. Our primary focus is to make you a lighter athlete through any athletic means necessary. Hence the sprint.
There are many different ways to sprint outside but before you feel all Usain Bolt and all, please note some important safety rules:
So now you are ready to sprint outside and bang out a great conditioning session. When it comes to sprints, do not think length of time but instead think about what you want to accomplish. Since we want to use it as a means to shaping the body and conditioning you for any sport, we are very interested in the starts and in the number of sprints that you do. Notice we did not say speed here because we are not trying to make you the next best track star (unless that’s why you hire us;).
In terms of starts:
In terms of number of sprints:
You may do as few as 9 sprints (or 3 sets) and as many as 12 sprints depending on your level of conditioning. Anything more than that is unnecessary and you are most likely not sprinting anymore—just trying to run fast.
Doing a set up like this 1 to 2 times per week on top of your weekly regimen really does help change your body composition. It also allows us to be able to cut down other aspects of your training without affecting your performance because too much activity is a weight loss killer.
We challenge you to add sprinting in to your weekly regimen and if you have any questions on how to do so, or any suggestions, hit us below. We’d love to help you out.
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
By Matt Fitzgerald
I am sure I have mentioned before that I am quirky. A bit on the odd side… I’ll admit it; I don’t need you to agree. I have some habits that can become all consuming. One of them is reading. I love to read. Check out the team bios here and you can find out just how much.
Recently I ran across a book that defines the purpose of MP4 better than any other book out on the market. I was shocked. Actually, I was excited because I thought to myself briefly, “So we’re not making this up. People really do think like us.” It was refreshing to be quite honest. The book is Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald and I highly recommend picking up if you get a chance.
What Matt talks about is the mantra that we espouse here at MP4: You cannot be the best at your sport until you are the best at you. This means your weight is a factor. Matt goes on to explain how damaging it is to have extra bodyweight while being an endurance athlete and I cannot agree more. For every extra pound you have on your frame while running, you are crushing your spine into the hard pavement as you move along. Not good for long term success!
Where Matt really shines in this book is in the introduction. He does an incredible job of setting up the reasons for caring about your weight and how it relates to your sport. Very few people focus on the tough issues that he does. He discusses what is specific to each sport and his 5 step method for reducing bodyweight. It’s thorough and well researched. Where Matt fails in this book is twofold:
When he discusses each individual sport, he says that female runners make the mistake of not running enough. That they should keep a volume of 35 to 60 miles per week to lose weight and/or maintain their bodyweight. Caloric restriction is not the way to go. Yes, he is right about caloric restriction but he is WAY off the mark on how to lose weight as a runner. Sixty miles per week is crazy, unhealthy and unrealistic if you are heavy trying to lose bodyweight. My hair almost fell out when I read that. Put the crack pipe down, boy, seriously. There are far more efficient ways to lose weight as a runner without having to sell your soul to the mileage and risk stress fractures and overuse injuries and guess what: MP4 knows how to do it! More is not better. Make sure you hear our call this week on recovery. If you missed it, the replay is going out this week and if you are not signed up for it, do so at the bottom of this page and we’ll get it right out to you.
Not only can we get you to race weight without all that mileage, we’ll get your body to look like the gorgeous vessel it was meant to be without massive caloric deprivation, as well. Do not ascribe to old school mentality anymore. Come find out from the experts–that’d be the MP4 team– how to lose weight the “easy way” (relatively speaking;).
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book. I feel like he could have gone into more detail in some areas but for the most part it is a great read. Pick it up, check it out and if there is anything else out there that you are interested in reading exercise-wise, run it by me because I betcha 10 bucks I have read it already and I’ll tell you if it is good or not.
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
A few weeks ago I alluded to the fact that carrying some extra weight while trying to improve your performance hurts you. In fact, I will take it one step further today and say that it is almost a waste of your time—not doing the sport, but trying to improve while having weight to lose. The problem is not necessarily food choices, laziness, lack of will or etc. The problem usually comes from lack of resistance training.
Running for weight loss
I totally understand why you think that your sport will help you to lose weight. It’s activity right? And you believe that getting up and going is all that you need to lose weight. Well think again. If you sit at the finish line of a marathon and watch the finishers cross the line, the first ones crossing are the elite runners and they are all close to ideal weight (some may be too lean but that’s coming a bit later). However, the longer you sit there the more you notice a trend that the runners are becoming heavier and heavier as the race goes on. Why didn’t they lose the weight running? They didn’t have to run less miles to train for the race than anyone else, so why are they still heavy?
Trying to use an endurance sport alone to lose weight is like shaving your legs with a kitchen knife: I’m sure in theory it could work but it’s going to be painful and awkward all at the same time.
It is known and accepted that the one of the best methods (really, most efficient because cutting off a limb is still effective in getting the scale to move fast) for weight loss is interval type training mixed with resistance training. Whenever I meet a runner, cyclist or triathlete of any size, they are only concerned with their sport and have no interest in weight training whatsoever. That’s a shame and needs to be addressed ASAP. Resistance training presented in an interval-type fashion is the answer to those whose must lose weight while trying to improve and it is the primary answer to those who are at game weight but still want to improve their time. Essentially, you will not get faster until you get stronger. Period.
Losing weight through kicking, hitting and punching
Imagine that. You show up to Jenny Craig and start kicking the daylights out of the lady at the door. Now there’s a visual—but so not what I mean.
Are you in a league sport? Soccer, tennis, martial arts? You have the right idea with your sport, you just need some fine tuning. Typically what we find here is you are not doing enough, poor nutrition/recovery and no formal weight training. Your sport, though, is fabulous for some weight loss because of the nature of the activity but imagine how much you could excel if you enhanced your athletic skill through the process of losing weight. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Not only would you drop some pounds, but what you would use to drop the weight would directly enhance your performance on the field. Heck, get me a beer—we need to celebrate.
Right weight, Wrong approach
Are you game weight but just cannot seem to improve no matter what you do? However, ‘what you do’ really is just variations of your sport; you’re not really trying anything new or innovative. For you folks it is all about the resistance training. Now instead lifting to lose weight with short, metabolically driven programs, you need to put a car on your back and walk it around the neighborhood. Essentially, you need to become stronger. In fact, make sure there’s a family of four in that car when you walk it around…with groceries in the trunk…and make it a Suburban…am I making my point?
If you are too lean or better yet, too thin but lacking muscle, you will find it incredibly hard to excel because you have no base for optimal power output. How are you going to get faster when you are not stronger? How are you going to get stronger when you are not doing anything to make that happen? Your focus, like everyone else’s, needs to be resistance training as well as making sure you are eating quality foods with enough fat for your size. We find that when you do not have to worry about your weight, that you tend to slack on the details. What you eat, when you eat and how much you lift matter the same as everyone else. Do not get too big for your britches.
In summary, I will meet all of you in the weight training room today at 3pm. Make sure you are adequately dressed for the occasion. No jean shorts (that’s for Joanna), bare feet or bad attitudes. We’re lifting to effect a change in your body so it’s going down. Do you think you can hang?
