NIGHT TIME EATING... The Do's and Dont's

    
     Afternoon Everyone! Rob here, taking a few minutes from being Mr. Popular over here at the DFC to answer one of my favorite questions I was recently emailed (robdfc@rochester.rr.com if you have any subjects you would like information and criticism on)... Night Time Eating! There are many theories touching everything from storing calories to decreased hunger the following day. Here is where my infamous "science over logic" thought process takes hold...
     Theories suggest a lot of things and one of the biggest stereotypes of late night eating, is that all of those calories get stored away immediately. Logic suggests that this is in fact a true statement because you are not physically active during your rest time; however I cannot stress how incorrect this theory is. Your body, whether involuntary or voluntarily active, is constantly working to maintain it awake or asleep. Your body is constantly burning calories at rest and while being active. Yes... we do burn more calories while we are being active or exercising, but we still have to burn calories to function while resting. Whether it is heartbeat, temperature regulation, breathing, digestion or another one of the body's "automated" functions... You are burning calories in order to perform these actions. You are not storing much more than you would normally store while sitting at your desk at work.
     Night eating does have its drawbacks; however, in some cases disrupting sleep and causing gastrointestinal discomfort. In some studies, researchers believe eating before sleep can also affect your body's ability to heal due to your insulin levels blunting your body's ability to release growth hormone (which is a natural action during sleep). Agitating your sleep patterns can be very detrimental to your body's ability to recover from your daily activities. Stuffing your face with dinner immediately before bed is definitely not something I would personally suggest, but if you decide you want a glass of milk and a handful of nuts... You should be in the clear!
     The key theory that I truly believe in, and this applies not only to pre-bed snacks but to your entire day... Watch what you eat, and eat in moderation! We tend to make very poor choices before bed solely because that is what we are used to. People eat desert after dinner, junk food during movies, poor snacks during their favorite TV shows and much more. We associate these foods and actions with the evenings. It’s rare you will find an active, career driven individual sitting on the couch on a Monday afternoon watching Fight Club while snacking on handfuls of chips. You might around 9pm that evening once they have gotten the chance to destress and sit down after a long day though!
     "Calories in, Calories out" is the key factor you should always have in mind when it comes to your day to day eating. The more you eat, whether they are from poor or good sources, equates to having a calorie surplus resulting in storage... Plain and simple… Night eating is not entirely the issue even though you may not eat the best before bed. It is your over all eating habits, plus the "icing on the cake" that night eating tends to represent. If you watch your food consumption, your sources and quantities... you will be in the clear if you decide to have an apple after dinner tonight!
    

New Club Additions and Programs!

Afternoon everyone! Rob here, after a little blip of business I want to take a few minutes and let you all in on a few new additions to our club over here at the DFC as well as my new program over here which is making some waves... The DFC Athlete Program and our up and coming Run DFC program.

DFC Athlete is an all around athletic training program focused around using a range of different techniques, modalities, and periodization in order to develop our members into well rounded athletes comfortable in various styles of training. Our skill work ranges from conventional strength/powerlifting, olympic lifting, strongman, marathon/triathalon endurance training to various styles of functional athletic training applying to various skills and necessary mobility movements. Our key goal is to help our members grow not only in physical prowess but mental toughness, build strong self-esteem and discipline; all the while helping them get in the best physical and cosmetic shape possible! By periodizing the year, but maintaining our specific format, we allow our athletes to grow into each skill set and become well beyond familiar with technique, safety, and usefullness; while maintaining a high level of athletic endurance and strength! The program consists of a scheduled week starting with "Daily Athlete Training" classes on Mondays and Thursdays at 12(noon) and 630pm; as well as 10am Saturday, Recovery Tuesday, Weights Wednesday, and Focus Friday. From there we offer benchmark testing to mark progression in various modalities, Weigh Ins to track body fat and muscle mass, and Meets to allow our athletes to apply their newly developed skills in a competitive and fun manner.

 

Along with access to our new spin bikes, Rowers, Pool, Variety of Treadmills and Copious amounts of street routes in the downtown area... we are taking our formatting for DFC Athlete and applying it to Run DFC! A program revolving around a city-wide sport, including but not limited to 5k, 10k, half/Full Marathon, Triathalon and Obstacle Course style event training!

If you're looking to get in competitive shape, involve yourself in a new sport, or just get in the best shape possible... Come down and try a class with us! I would be happy for you to drop in and take advantage of our facilities and see what we mean by...

Normal People work out... Athletes Train!

Down with the sickness... Up with your Immune System!

Afternoon, readers! Rob here, after needing to go home yesterday due to some nasty little 24 hour stomach bug. That "norovirus" is a tough one I'll tell you what... I woke up feeling awful yesterday and stayed that way the remainder of the day... I woke up today and felt like nothing happened. I definitely feel like I had the best abdominal workout ever though! This brings me to a pretty important subject given the time of year that I always urge my clients to keep control of. That's your physical wellness during the winter months! Your nervous system needs a lot of support from different bodily functions including your sleep pattern, nutrition, and day-to-day environments; and it is incredibly important to get the best balance of all 3 if possible given your lifestyle!

Sleep is everything everyone! The whole concept "you'll sleep when you're dead" is probably the most naive and frustrating statement I hear on a regular basis. It doesn't help that I'm at the age where a majority of individuals have a "work to play" mentality. It’s rough especially when having a social life means typically within your free time, which just consists of Friday and Saturday evenings. Your body does some healing and repairs throughout the day but a majority of its main growth functions are conducted while you sleep! Muscle growth, metabolics, injury repair... everything! Your body's conducts lots of processes which involve oxidization, and when unchecked with proper rest can run rampant and create an "inflamed" state in the body. Losing out on this key part of your health can lead to one thing and one thing only... A lack of zest and wellness! What do I mean by zest? Have you ever slept very well for a handful of days? If so, do you remember how it felt those days following? You felt fantastic right?! I know when I'm consistent with my sleep patterns I feel like I can take on the world. One little slip and I feel like someone threw a 40lb weight vest on me for the rest of the day. It’s because your body did not have enough consistent rest to help repair and recover from its previous endeavors! If this happens often enough, this will bog down your immune system leading to a higher likelihood of illness!

Nutrition plays another key role in maintaining a healthy body (duh right?)! Conducting any type of bodily function requires nutrients and calories, from cell manufacturing to your metabolism, proper nutrition is needed to maintain and conduct these important processes. I'm sure you can look back to your days in grade school or high school, and remember the idea of white blood cells and anti-bodies. Let me ask you something though... What does your body need to produce such things in your system? Nutrients! Anti-oxidants play another large role in maintaining a healthy Immune System. The effects of anti-oxidants helps keep a balance to that "inflamed" state I referred to before. Keep your nutrition well balanced and plentiful, and your immune system will flourish.

Your environment plays a large role in your physical condition just as much as the internal environment you create for yourself. I'm sure you have stressed yourself sick at some point in time. I know I have more times than not, and that's usually the main cause of a cold for me. Your environment from at home to your work place, takes a toll on the body whether it’s a good environment or not. A positive environment is uplifting, and allows for the person to have a present state of being. A stressful environment is very normal but can be toxic to the way the body functions by increasing cortisol levels and causing significant amounts of bodily inflammation. There are many ways to reduce these effects, and one of which I am very fond of... Exercise! Physical activity is a great way to release stress and put the mind to a neutral point allowing it to relax and in turn lower its release of cortisol. Free Radicals (oxidative agents) run rampant in the system while the body is stressed, so keeping yourself in a sound state of mind through daily means such as exercise or meditation can help prevent it from taking a large toll on your immune system.

A great balance between these 3 aspects is important because they all support one another. A sound environment allows for frequent and healthy eating, and relaxing sleep. Relaxing sleep compliments the eating with great repair and reduces inflammation and stress; while your nutrition helps support both by providing the means for your body to keep the others in check even if they are lacking. Work on these aspects, maintain and control them the best you can and you will avoid a good quantity of these hefty little bugs floating around in these cold winter months!

Our Annual Spring Fling Sale

Morning everyone, Rob here! Not gonna lie I'm pretty excited about our big sale up here at the club... Every year on Ground Hog's Day, we conduct a big sale called the "Spring Fling" sale cutting down prices on everything from merchandise, supplements and services. This gives people the opportunity to really take advantage of things such as personal training, at an unbelievably great price!

Let me tell you a little about what I do, so you have an idea why I'm so excited about the sale and what it means to me. I have been personal training for just about 6 years this month... 2 years here at the Downtown Fitness Club. I got into this industry looking to give people the results they want in tbe best way possible, all the while educating them on the details and the "why" for everything I do. Whether you are training to compete in an up and coming power lifting meet, conditioning for one of these ever so popular adventure runs; or just improve your fitness for cosmetic or health/medical purposes... Its what I do and I love every minute of it (if I didn't it probably wouldn't be my career). I program, I teach, I learn, I poke, I prod, I push... I am your friend, your barber, your relationship consultant, your sound board, your motivation, and most likely your more obvious love/hate relationship.  To give people the opportunity to purchase a large chunk of time so I can give them the results they want and get those big smiles brimming with confidencee... why the heck wouldn't I be excited?!

Our Spring Fling Sale includes:

$350 for 12 personal training sessions

$650 for 24 personal training sessions

Unlimited Tanning for just $49 with the purchase of a personal training package

Unlimited Tanning for $10/month for as many months as you like (maxiumum of 12)

All Prepaid Protein Shake Packages (11 for the price of 10) are 15% off

All Supplements and Protein Powder are 25% off

Pre-order DFC and DFC Athlete Hoodies!

For one day and one day only... Saturday Feb. 2nd!!!

I hope this gives you the opportunity to get involved in some great sales here at the club and let me help you not only get ready for spring... but get in the best shape possible!