Tyler involvement with sports and conditioning started at age 5 with soccer. After five years of dedication to soccer, he made a switch to football, which he continued into his college years. It was his athletic background that laid the foundation for his transition from conditioning for sports to his commitment to living a life full of fitness and activity. Tyler continues to train to enhance his muscle mass and has a regimented routine of cardio exercise of 4-5 days per week. He enjoys water sports/activities and being in the great outdoors with hiking and walking of trails.

Tyler is a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) by the International Sports Science Association (ISSA) and has recently completing a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education with and emphasis in Exercise Science. He has worked with competitive athletes and also enjoys working with people of all ages helping them achieve their fitness goals. He is eager to work with new clients and stretch his skills to develop conditioning program for various fitness goals.

Tyler knows the relationship between client and trainer is important to develop. Trainers create a special bond that propels the client into better results by providing a support system to lean on in times of difficulty. In fact, Tyler is very aware of the depth of the relationships that can result. In college, through his work with women’s softball team’s conditioning program, he developed a friendship with one of the players. He worked with the team to develop their speed and strength. After softball season, his friendship moved to a deeper level and that athlete eventually became his wife. To this day, he still works with her on her fitness. Now that’s developing a client relationship for life!

If you like to contact Tyler, you can either call the Studio at 301-934-8855 or our office at World Gym La Plata, 301-934-0855.

Jessica has been active her entire life. Since her father introduced her to running at age 10, she has nurtured her passion and intrinsic drive to run. Her running has ranged from an early enjoyable hobby to success as a competitive runner in Cross Country, track, and local running events. To keep a balance, she also engages in activities like basketball, weight training, gymnastics, and mountain hiking. She has a true love for nature and prefers doing activities in the great outdoors.

Jessica has an honor’s Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maryland, with a focus in medicine. She is a certified Personal Trainer from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and is also certified in blood-borne pathogen training and CPR/AED. She has a substantial academic background in anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, neuroscience, and biology which all serve her well, as she also works for two emergency care facilities and an urgent care clinic. She hopes to take all her knowledge and skills she has obtained, enroll in graduate program, and become a successful Physician Assistant.

Jessica enjoys training all types of clients, from young to the more mature. She closely relates with obstacles that women have to overcome to achieve their fitness goals. Of course, if you want to learn how to run better or train for a specific running event, she would LOVE to help you. She knows that true fitness is attained naturally, starting with a great plan, and then dedicating yourself to the work of reaching your goals. This carries over to emotional health too, as you can only feel as good as the body is willing to let you. A balance of good nutrition, exercise, enjoyment, and sufficient rest is the magic elixir for a great attitude and having the ability to conquer the challenges of your daily life.

If you like to contact Jessica, you can either call the Studio at 301-934-8855 or our office at World Gym La Plata, 301-934-0855.

Melanie has lived the fitness lifestyle her entire life. Over the course of her journey, she has participated actively in roller skating, hiking, biking, weightlifting, aerobics, dancing, running, and walking; anything to keep active and maintain her fitness level. Throughout high school she was involved in several sports; basketball, tennis, swimming, and volleyball. She has been weightlifting since age 19. At present, her exercise activities consist mostly of walking, biking, and strength training. She has also always eaten healthy, preferring to limit her intake of fatty/sweet foods, soft drinks as well as staying away from caffeine and tobacco.

Melanie is a certified personal trainer by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). For many years in the 80’s, she taught group aerobics at the Family Fitness Center chain in San Diego, California; eventually becoming the head instructor. In the early nineties, after relocating to the Mojave Desert area in California, she conducted group aerobic classes for Navy personnel who failed to meet fitness standards. After the birth of her children however, she transitioned to a career with Mary Kay Cosmetics that allowed her to be home with her family. Now, after one of her children has left home and the other a freshman in high school, she has gotten back to her fitness roots in the area of personal training.

Some of what motivated Melanie to step back into the fitness profession is the increasing number of sedentary adults and youths. This has lead to an increased need to educate an individual on how to get back in shape to live a healthier life. She works well with all groups of people and her approach lends itself to all types, but has always enjoyed working with women. She also finds herself being drawn to youth. In today’s age, she feels the fitness level of many kids is low, much lower than when she was a child. This is cause for a greater need for our youth to be educated and trained in the importance of proper fitness.

Melanie also instructs a Small Group Training (SGT) for women in the mornings at World Gym. The Woman Only Training is Monday and Thursday at 9:30am. If you missed this course, the next one starts August 22, 2011. If you are interested in contacting Melanie about the SGT or how she could help you reach your specific fitness goal, you can contact her at our office in World Gym at 301-934-0855.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a favorite, unless it’s holding you back from progress and results. Now I’m not saying that if you are a endurance athlete, you should change your program to a 50/50 split between cardio and weights, but I haven’t met a runner yet that couldn’t use a little more stability exercise to assist their running performance. Even the large weight lifters could benefit from some cardiovascular system enhancement…. IT’S TRUE!

One of the most common ways we see this expressed in exercisers’ programs, who are looking to lose weight and fat, is an over-abundance of their exercising time spent on low intensity cardiovascular exercise. Once you have gotten a cardiovascular base, this low intensity needs to be progressed to higher levels and resistance training included to spike your metabolism to help make you a fat burning machine. One of the ways to conserve on time and get both benefits is to use circuit training (or some form like Tabata training).

Regardless of your favorite type of exercise, an optimally balanced exercise program will help you achieve greater success and have a more completely conditioned body. If you think you need help finding your balance in your program or making that difficult change, contact us anytime for assistance.

Dana has participated in dance for many years. The dance styles have included: liturgical, hip hop, mime, and contemporary. In the military, she was a PT Leader and led running groups for the troops she supervised. She made sure they kept a focus on maintaining their level of physical fitness to exceed the standards on the fitness tests they had to take each year. For her church, she is one of the Body and Soul leaders that educates and motivates the congregation towards achieving higher levels of health and wellness. She continues to dedicate herself towards a life of fitness and living a healthy lifestyle.

Dana is currently enrolled in the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) and expected to complete her Associate’s Degree in Exercise Science this year. She is a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) from National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and in Basic Life Support (BLS) from the American Heart Association (AHA).

Dana has experience training diverse groups. Her favorites to work with are kids and senior citizens. She feels both have an enthusiasm about being physical that can’t be rivaled. Whether she’s organizing Youth Field Day, through church, or teaching a small group fitness class at Richard Clark Senior Center, she loves the feeling she gets back from each participant. She also enjoys working with these groups because you can see the benefits appear so quickly. She is passionate about helping people take themselves to better lives through movement and healthier lifestyle choices.

If you like to contact Dana, you can either call the Studio at 301-934-8855 or our office at World Gym La Plata, 301-934-0855.

Mitch earned high school varsity letters in soccer, cross country, swimming, and indoor/outdoor track. He went on to play college soccer, before he sustained an injury. It was his sports background and this injury that peaked his curiosity and helped led him to want to pursue working with injured individuals and athletes to lead them to better lives and better performances. Today, he continues to work as hard at his own training as he did as an athlete, especially with his running and weight lifting. But today he trains for the purpose of staying as fit as he can, for life as he sees it, is a sport to be played.

Mitch holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Athletic Training from California University of Pennsylvania. He is a National Board Certified Athletic Trainer, a member of National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), and a certified Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) from National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). He has worked as an athletic trainer for collegiate football, volleyball, track, and basketball. He has also been an athletic trainer at the high school level, working with dance teams, cheer squads, and various varsity sports.

From Mitch’s athletic training experience, he is comfortable working with clients of all age ranges and levels of fitness. He has skills to address issues for post rehabilitation to the top level athletic conditioning. Whether you are an athlete looking for your competitive edge or the recreational athlete looking to stay injury-free, Mitch can design an exercise program to fit your needs. Mitch understands that with training you develop more than your body. You develop a healthy mental state and the confidence to have a life where full participation is always possible.

If you like to contact Mitch, you can either call the Studio at 301-934-8855 or our office at World Gym La Plata, 301-934-0855.

Some examples of exercises for single leg training are:

• Single Leg Squats
• Forward Lunge with Rotation
• Step Up with Opposite Leg Hip Flexion
• Standing Hip Abduction with Tubing
• Single Leg Use on Fixed Machines

If you’ve been training your legs and you notice you have a difference between the two, I suggest you give some the exercises above a try. Start off light and make sure the non-dominate leg is working at a level that allows it to perform optimally. Give them a couple months of consistent work and you’ll notice a higher level of balance and performance resulting from your efforts!

If you’ve been in the fitness game as long as I have, you’ve undoubtedly seen many fads that have come and gone. The times change, so the focus and the specific techniques change with resistance training. I’m not here to argue if kettlebells are more beneficial than dumbbells. I’m much more interested in making sure whatever method of resistance training you choose, you start it from where you should and progress it in the right direction.

What I see daily are exercisers doing resistance training that is not at the appropriate level for them. There are three basic levels that you can perform resistance training exercises: stability, strength, and power. Each has its own purpose and provides a unique benefit. If done out of sequence, however, it can have a disastrous effect.

Stability training is the first phase of resistance training. This should be the foundation from where all your other training is launched. If you are new to exercise this is where you definitely should start. This phase is about developing muscular balance around the joints. Joints and muscles work most effectively when there is a length/strength relationship to them. When certain muscles get longer and/or weaker and other muscles get tighter and/or stronger, it creates a “wobble” to the joint that alters its mechanics. Training in this phase should be about re-establishing that balance and developing muscular endurance for certain muscle groups that are more involved in posture and core function. Even if you have been working out for a long time, this is an important phase to go back to and work through because the very nature of your existing exercise program can be developing muscular imbalances and hindering your results.

The strength training phase is where most people start their exercise programs. Whether your goal is to lose weight, build muscle, or develop strength, there is an expectation with most people that they should grab a weight and start doing some reps. If you haven’t gone through the first stage of training, the strength phase can actually help to build bigger dysfunctions in your body. This phase targets the larger, more dynamic muscles of the body. If you have imbalances, and you strengthen these bigger muscles, you develop strength in this position. If the joint still have “wobble”and the stabilizing muscles are weak, the imbalance is reinforced. Your newly developed strength in a bad position can lead to an overload issue. The joint not moving correctly stresses tissues around that joint. Doing your training enough can bring on common overuse injuries, like impingement syndrome of the shoulder or patella femoral syndrome of the knee.

The last phase of resistance training is for power. The power phase of training is based in time. You do things quickly. Some of us actually start our training here, skipping the first two phases altogether. This would include training that involves jumping, throwing, kicking, and ballistic movements. This training creates high degrees of shear force through the joints that can only be off-set by the working muscles and connective tissue. If you haven’t balanced your joint through stabilization training and strengthened the muscles properly, when you perform these movements, you are literally sending mini earthquakes through your body. You can have overuse injuries develop, but more likely, this is where the muscles or joints just give way to the large forces. A muscle tear or torn cartilage are not uncommon with this training.

As I stated before, all training has its usefulness and can be beneficial. I’m a big proponent that you use a variety of styles and techniques to achieve your desired goals. Just make sure you start your training at the appropriate point and progress it in the proper manner, so to not undo all the benefits you get from your training.

I hope that this gives you some new insights into your resistance training program. I wish you happy and successful training.

There is something called the respiratory exchange ratio (RER). The RER is the ratio of carbon dioxide produced relative to the amount of oxygen that is consumed. The RER is a marker for the proportion of fat or carbohydrate used for fuel at different intensities during steady state exercise. Steady state exercise is where the relative intensity stays generally the same for an extended amount of time. At rest, the average RER is 0.75, and this means the body is burning approximately 85% fat and 15% carbohydrate. As the intensity increases, so does the RER. A higher RER means that a larger percentage of the fuel is coming from carbohydrate and less from fat. The link that has been incorrectly made is that low intensity exercise is the best for burning fat.

Here’s the take home message, in case the science has bored you. A greater percentage of fat being used as fuel does NOT mean you burn more fat! What this means is that when you train at a higher intensity, the fat burning percentage may be lower, but the amount of fat you actually burn is greater. Not to get all numbers and sciency on you again, but here’s an example: A person weighing 130 pounds runs at 5.0 mph for 20 minutes, they burn about 157 calories. If fuel from fat is down to 50%, they burn about 9 grams of fat! Same person walking at 3.5 mph for 20 minutes burns about 74 calories, and with 75% of fuel from fat, ends up burning about 6 grams. While you may be saying to yourself, “there’s not a lot of difference here!”, the fact is more fat was burnt at the higher intensity.

If you are new to exercise or unaccustomed to greater intensity in your cardio, this doesn’t mean you should go kill yourself with your cardio tomorrow at the gym. If your goal is to burn fat, you should attempt to gradually increase your intensity levels. The higher you can sustain a working steady state intensity, the more fat you will burn. Let’s not forget, as you get in greater physical condition, your body becomes much better at utilizing fat as a fuel source and you are a more effective fat burning machine, even at a rest!

When:
 Saturday, July 24th, 
12:00 – 1:00 pm

Where:
 World Gym, 
6615 Crain Highway, 
La Plata, MD 20646

Capacity: 
Limited to 25 Participants

Cost:
 Free for current Longevity Studios clients and World Gym members. 
$10 for the general public. Call 301.934.0855 to register.