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America's Obesity Problem
Who's Really to Blame!

By Rich Lauro MAT, MES,

"Over one-half of all Americans (about 97 million) Are over weight or obese"

It's amazing to me how an entire industry the "Diet" industry makes promises that are destined to fail people. In fact the industry thrives because of that failure.

You've seen them, those infomercials for various weight loss and fitness gizmos that claim you can lose 30 lbs in 30 days by drinking their magic drink or those fitness products that promise you ripped abs, toned thighs in as little as 6 minutes a day. You would expect this quirky advertising from these infomercials looking to make a quick buck.

Unfortunately this type of false advertising is not limited to just infomercials. It's every where you look, even in your own neighborhood supermarket. Just walk down the aisle and look at the food labels that read "Fat free & Sugar free". Let me assure you these labels blatantly lie…legally!

Let's look at a well known butter substitute "I can't believe it's not butter"! That should mean it doesn't have fat right? Well think again! Hydrogenated oils are fat, pure fat and a bad one at that. Here's another popular product most health conscious people buy.

Pam cooking spray or any other spray that claims to be calorie and fat free. Do you know what you are spraying out of these cans?

OIL=FAT!

That's right. Look at the ingredients and you will see oil as the main ingredient. This means this product is claiming to be fat free, but it's actually 100 percent fat.

Tip: always look at the ingredients, not the big print on the product.

Now lets look at the "sugar free or no sugar added" products. I am sure you guessed by now, that it doesn't mean sugar free at all. Any food sweetened with fructose, or sweetened evaporated milk on the ingredient list means it has sugar in it. Here's another example of deceptive labeling.

This one is a top weight loss supplement on your supermarkets shelf: "Slim fast" What's this super weight loss product made of? Simply skim milk and sugar with some other ingredients thrown in.

Now if that works to lose weight than let me sell you on my new snickers bar program. Do you know why people lose weight on this product? You are cutting out calories, no other reason.

Learn what these food labels really mean If you live in the Fredericksburg area, Richard hosts shopping tours of the supermarket to teach consumers how to read food labels, read past deceitful marketing ploys and choose wholesome and nutritious foods to nourish their bodies.

You will learn what low fat, light, less, lower and other food labels really mean. You will finally understand how to make better choices like, butter or margarine, canned or frozen, low fat or low carb and so on. Cost $20.00.

STOP GETTING RIPPED OFF! LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT DIETS, WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS AND FAT BURNING SUPPLEMENTS To get the FACTS on exactly how, what & when to eat and how to train to achieve maximum fat loss, without losing muscle or slowing down your metabolism... AND to discover the shocking truth about the diet, weight loss and supplement industries, click here now.

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10 Tip's To Prevent
Exercise Related Injuries

By Rich Lauro MAT, MES,

Any exercise tip you use needs to be simple yet smart.

As the old saying goes "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment" this is especially true for exercise, in which bad judgment can lead to aches, pains, and injuries. Even taking one good exercise tip to heart can prevent problems from occurring.

Therefore, you should make yourself aware of the pitfalls that afflict the novice and seasoned exercisers alike. This will help prevent problems and help you to maintain a comfortable and consistent program.

Many common exercise pitfalls not only cause serious injuries, but can also deflate whatever motivation you may have. You should use the following guidelines to avoid common exercise pitfalls.

Exercise Tip - Don't Ignore the Experts: The first and foremost exercise mistake many people make is not taking any advice. You should always consult a physician before starting a new exercise program.

A good idea to hire a qualified fitness trainer, the right trainer can do a lot to get you on the right track from day one. Without help you may waste a lot of time and cause yourself unnecessary harm.

Exercise Tip - Always Warm-up: one of the most common causes of injuries in athletes or body builders is the inadequate warm up or no warm-up before doing the more heavy exercises. Warm-up is generally a high rep, low intensity, quick paced exercise done to increase blood flow to the muscle.

This quick, light movement raises the temperature of the involved muscle promoting flexibility and mobility. A warm muscle is more elastic and pliable than a cold, stiff muscle. Some recommended forms of warm up include riding a stationary bike, jogging, swimming, stair climbing.

Exercise Tip - Don't Make Bad Choices: Choosing the right kind of exercises can make all the difference in the world. Studies have shown that most people drop out of a new fitness program within 4 to 8 weeks because they got bored or simply do not enjoy it. So choose an activity that one will enjoy doing.

Exercise Tip - Use Proper Technique: The most common weight training injuries are related to poor exercise technique. Faulty technique can pull, rip or tear a muscle, or some ligaments. You should avoid twisting, turning or contorting while pushing a weight. Either perform the rep using correct technique or don't lift the weight at all.

Exercise Tip - Don't Use Too Much Weight:Another one of the most common causes of injury, because those who are just beginning out in their zeal tend to go overboard sometimes. Using too much weight in an exercise is a high risk proposition rife with injury potential. You should be able to identify when it's too much: if you can't control the weight as you lower it; can't contain movement within its biomechanical boundaries; and has to jerk or heave the weight in order to lift it.

Exercise Tip - Breath Properly: Many people actually do not breathe correctly during exercise. Remember that proper breathing is not only important during cardio respiratory or aerobic workouts, but also during weight training and stretching.

Exercise Tip - Set Realistic Goals: It is true that regular exercise can help you lose weight, but you cannot burn away fat in specific areas of the body with numerous exercises for that area. This exercise myth is known as 'spot reduction' or 'spot training'. Thousands of sit-ups or fancy abdominal crunch machines will not get rid of the 'love handles'. It is a physiological impossibility!

Exercise Tip - Don't Expect Too Much Too Soon: You have most likely heard this one before. Nevertheless it remains a common mistake among novice exercisers. An unfit body will respond to exercise very rapidly and beginners usually see dramatic results within the first few weeks.

This often inspires them to increase their efforts to get even more or better results. The outcome is often serious injuries or total burnout. Take it easy, you have the rest of your life to exercise.

Exercise Tip - Don't Do Too Much After a Layoff: even experienced exercisers sometimes overestimate their own abilities when returning to their fitness program after a long break. Detraining can start within two weeks after the last workout, so be careful of returning with too much confidence. Start slowly, ease back into it and progress one step at a time.

Exercise Tip - Avoid Over training: Over-training negatively impacts the body's overall level of strength and conditioning. Over-training saps energy, retarding progress.

You will not see results if you are over-training. It also interferes with both the muscles and the nervous system's ability to recuperate. The solution is to cut back to 3-4 training sessions per week and keep session length to no more than an 45 minutes.

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6 Surefire Ways To Avoid
Weight Gain

By Rich Lauro MAT, MES, PRS

"Tis the season to eat, drink and be merry" Or is it! This time of year brings lots of temptations, stress and less time for exercise.

The average person can gain between 6 to 10 pounds during the holiday season. We all want to indulge in out favorite holiday meals and goodies without worrying about putting on extra pounds.

So...how can we eat, drink and be merry while avoiding the holiday fat trap.

Listed below are 6 surfire ways to enjoy the holiday season without feeling guilty.

Tip #1. Losing weight during the holidays is not a realistic goal. Instead focus on maintaining your current weight. Plan on losing weight after the holidays, this is a much better plan. So go ahead and enjoy your favorite foods this holiday season just eat smaller portions don't over do it. And stay active.

Tip #2. The holiday season can be very stressful. So if you're not eating healthy, don't think that exercising won't do you any good. It is especially important to burn off those extra calories and mentally, you won't feel like your sabotashing your fitness program and you just may see some results from it!

Tip #3. Avoid wasting calories on alcoholic drinks. The average alcoholic drink contains up to 200 calories per glass. Drink lots of water throughout the day and allow yourself just one alcoholic beverage. Instead of having a full glass of wine, try mixing half a glass of wine with sparkling water or with a diet soda. This will help cut your calories in half.

Tip #4. Exercising for 30 minutes at home with just a pair of dumbbells can help you burn fat and speed your metabolism. You'll be more inclined to follow-through on your exercise program if you don't have to drive to the gym or deal with the holiday traffic. Working out at home requires very little equipment (it even can be equipment-free).

Tip #5. When attending a holiday parties, try to eat at least 1 hour before arriving to lessen your hunger. If the party is in the evening, eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and snack (just as you would on any other day). Since you have eaten meals earlier in the day, you'll be less tempted to go overboard and eat everything in sight.

Tip #6. Holiday shopping can be a workout in its own. To really take advantage of your shopping time and turn it into your exercise time. Make it a point to spend an extra 15 minutes before or after your shopping time at the mall just walking. Try to speed walk to burn extra calories.

Hopefully these tips will help you to eat, drink and be merry while maintaining your weight (If you follow these 6 tips you may even lose a pound or two). Remember moderation is the key. Have a great holiday season! This is an excellent beginning to the New Year.

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Stabilizing the Core to Eliminate
Low-Back Pain

By Rich Lauro MAT, MES, PRS

This is the first article of a series of articles to follow. In this article I will be addressing one of the main core stabilizing muscles of the lumbar spine and its role in back pain, as well as specific exercises that should be performed to prevent and recover faster from your back pain.

You should make these exercises part of your everyday routine, just like brushing your teeth.

Words of wisdom before performing these exercises:

Core Stabilizer:

Transverse Abdominal (TVA) is a very important stabilizer of the low-back. It is the deepest of the abdominal muscles and the only one that runs horizontal. It activates prior to the muscles of the hips and thorax. When contracted it flattens the abdominal wall and compresses the viscera.

The TVA is required for all integrated movements. If the TVA is weak it will allow bulging of the anterior abdominal wall increasing lordosis in the low-back and will also create a lateral bulge in (forward bending) or extension (back bending).

Researchers used EMG activity to identify the timing of the TVA and the multifidus contraction, compared to other abdominal muscles, during movement of the upper limbs in response to visual stimuli.

They found that, in subjects without lower back pain, the first active muscle was the transverse abdominis contracting prior to the upper limb. The model they developed "identified a consistent dysfunction of transverse abdominis in people with low-back pain.

Isometric Exercises Explained:

Before we get into the specific exercises for the TVA I would like to explain why isometric exercises are so important.

In order to activate the TVA muscle fibers or any other muscle for that matter, a weak muscle must first be "jump started" using MAT Therapy or by using isometric exercises before you can strengthen it through exercise.

If a weak muscle is not first jump started, then the body is forced to compensate and use other muscles to perform the desired movement.

Isometric exercises solve several problems that Rehab programs and weight lifting activities do not solve:

Problem #1: A weak muscle will not contract with most strengthening exercises because dominant muscles will compensate for weak muscles.

Problem #2: When the body senses instability in the joint, it will tighten up to protect the joint. Stretching a tight muscle will only create a temporary release and could result in a more vulnerable joint.

Problem #3: Muscle imbalances may occur through repetitive use of the same muscle, or through injury, causing the body to go into "protective" mode.

When performing isometric exercise contractions, the contraction should be held for 6 seconds and repeated 6 times. This allows time for peek tension to develop and metabolic changes to occur in the muscle. The muscle should be placed in its shorthend position. In this position the muscle is at its weakest.

The intensity of each isometric contraction should increase. By the 6th contraction, greater range of motion and neural input should occur. For more information on isometric exercises visit www.sports-injury-solutions.com

Exercises for the TVA

This exercise is critical in re-estabilishing good communication between the brain and the key stabilizer muscles (TVA). Progressing to advanced abdominal exercises when your body is not prepared will only magnify muscular imbalances that can cause injury and pain.

Lie on your back and cross your left leg over right leg. Your left heel should be next to the right knee. Rotate right approx 30 degrees your left hip will come off the ground several inches.

Push knee into the ball or wall 6 times for 6 seconds. Start lightly and increase pressure each time. If you feel cramping in the inner thigh you are pressing too hard. This exercise will activate the TVA and should be followed up by regular abdominal exercises.

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Stabilizing The Core To Eliminate
Low-Back Pain - Part 2

By Rich Lauro MAT, MES, PRS

This is the second part of a series of articles that strengthens the core to help eliminate low-back pain. In this article I'll be addressing another one of the main core stabilizing muscles of the lumbar spine and its role in back pain, what is this muscle you ask?

The Multifidus. You should make these exercises part of your everyday routine, just like brushing your teeth.

What is the multifidus?

If you never heard of this muscle, don't feel alone. This is probably a mystery muscle to most people. The multifidus is one of many back muscles and it's situated more deeply then most back muscles.

It runs the entire length of the spine all the way up to the neck. Don't be mistaken it's not one long muscle its many individual multifidus muscles combined, all crossing two or more levels of vertebrae. This allows the multifidus to gain fine control over a single segment of the spine.

Like all muscles, the multifidus needs a nerve to carry a signal to it. It's this signal that makes the muscle contract and work. Think of it like an electrical cord that carries power to a lamp to make it light up.

Why is the multifidus so special?

The multifidus is special because it's the only muscle that's segment ally innervated. Meaning it gets its nerve message from only one level of the spinal cord, making it more prone to injury.

Other back muscles are innervated by multiple segments of the spine to help them contract, so that if one nerve doesn't work well, it still has others to help it out. Important stabilizer of the back

As I mentioned earlier the multifidus is capable of providing control over individual segments of the spine that compress each vertebra to resist torsional forces while increasing stability. It also controls flexion (forward bending) and anterior shear in forward bending.

The multifidus can become inhibited during a lumbar disc injury. This inhibition leads to atrophy (muscle wasting). The problem for back pain sufferers is that when the symptom of the disc problem is reveled the weakend multifidus muscle cannot perform its stabilizing role. The risk of the injury and re-injury is greater.

This is why specific exercise for the multifidus is key to low-back pain.

Low-Back Pain

Studies have shown people who had low-back pain also had wasting of the multifidus muscle on the side of the back that matched the painful side. The studies also showed that over time back pain did improve. But this does not mean the multifidus is back to normal.

In fact research found that their was a decrease in size of the multifidus. That's why increasing strength and endurance with specific exercises for the multifidus is so important.

Isometric Exercises for the Multifidus

There are lots of exercises that strengthen the multifidus as well as the other back extensor muscles. The only problem is all the extensor muscles will contract with traditional back exercises.

This will cause the strong muscles to compensate for the weak ones. The multifidus must first be isolated and re-activated through specific isometric exercises then followed up with functional exercises to further strengthen the muscles of the lower-back.

The following isometric exercise should be performed to strengthen multifidus muscle.

Multifidus- Exercise Instructions

Direction of Resistance:

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Combining Exercise and Nutrition
For Maximum Fat Loss

By Rich Lauro MAT, MES, PRS

While aerobic exercise does increase metabolism it's only a small piece of the weight loss puzzle. Although it's often looked at as the solution, I will let you in on a secret it's not the solution, its only part of it. There are two other key components you must include if you want to lose fat and keep it off.

They are resistance training and eating the right foods every 3 to 3 1/2 hours throughout the day. When all three of these components are part of your exercise plan you can't fail.

Simply by doing these three things you will be teaching your metabolism to burn fat all day long. I often get asked by clients, how can I tighten the fat on my arms, hips and thighs. My answer is always the same, you can't!

Don't get me wrong, you can and will reshape your body. You just can't tighten up fat. Fat doesn't tighten period. By following these three guidelines you will train your metabolism to become a fat burning machine.

Muscle is more metabolically active then fat. So doesn't it make sense to build more muscle to help speed-up your metabolism for fat burning? Rather than trying to lose fat by going on a diet and just doing aerobic exercises.

When you do this you risk losing even more muscle because you're restricting calories and performing aerobic exercise without consuming enough quality food. Following this type of plan you are destine to fail.

This is why resistance training is so vital to any weight loss program. When fat is burned, it has to be released into the bloodstream so it can be shuttled into a muscle cell where it is burned as fuel. Muscle, therefore, is the fat burning machine.

Most people go on diets only to find after a few weeks they have gained all the weight back, and then some. Diets fail because you cut back on calories. The proper way to lose fat is to do the opposite of dieting which is to feed your body good nutritious food every 3 to 3 ˝ hours to keep your blood sugar leveled.

You should avoid simple sugars when fast loss is your goal. Why you ask? Because when you put simple sugars into your body it elevates blood sugar levels. When this happens the pancreas increases its production of insulin to remove excess sugar from the bloodstream and store it in the muscle and liver as glycogen.

There is another hormone the pancreas produces called glucagon. Glucagons job is to release fat, but what happens when the pancreas puts out more insulin to deal with the excess sugar it cuts back on the production of glucagon. The result fat release is crippled.

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