Fitness Blog

The Love of Avocados

The Love of Avocados

Avocado Pic (.Man, do I ever love avocados!! Besides their great flavor, here are some good reasons you should love them too!

This fruit, yes I did say fruit, does contain a good amount of fat. However do not let that dissuade you from understanding it’s amazing amount of nutrients. To begin with, the fats contained in an avocado are what are called healthy fats. Healthy fats decrease the level of bad cholesterol in your blood. Invariably, this lowers the amount of stroke and heart disease just by eating them.

But more importantly, it contains a decent amount of protein compared to other fruits. It’s low in sugar, is a great source of potassium, vitamin K, B5,B6,B9 and E. Not to mention almost half of the daily recommended amount of dietary fiber. All in one average sized avocado! Amazing right??

But the benefits don’t just stop at the amount of vitamins the Avocado has. I mentioned earlier about the way they can lower the risk of heart disease but I didn’t mention that they can lower the risk of diabetes. They have been proven to improve overall diet quality, nutrition intake and reduce risk of metabolic syndrome. All of which can lead to a lower chance of diabetes.

In addition, there is no cure for cancer as of yet but Avocados are rich in phytochemicals which are primarily used to prevent the onset of cancer. The Avocado has been analyzed and has been found to have a combination of many different members of the phytochemical family and can be used in being a strong diet prevention method.

Lower cholesterol, diet stability, lesser threat of diabetes and chock full of vitamins; the avocado is truly a powerhouse when it comes to a smart diet or for general well being. Hopefully you can start loving them as much as I do! I usually have either one half of a large or one whole Avacado for breakfast, yum, what a way to start the morning!

If you live or work in SW Houston then give me a call and I’ll hook you up with 4 free sessions to get you started on the path to a longer healthier life: 832.500.5459


Banana: A Miracle Fruit

Banana: A Miracle Fruit

Banana Pic (2)Don’t we all go a little bananas sometimes? Well, here’s a few facts why it isn’t a bad thing to do so!

We all know that bananas are an important source of potassium. But did you also know that it’s an important source of B6, B12, Fiber, and lots of other essential minerals?

Not to mention, the amount of carbohydrates, protein and just raw energy that the banana possess. It rockets up to the number one food amongst athletes. Studies have shown that, on average, eating just two of the yellow fruit can provide enough sustainable energy for a heavy 90 minute workout!

But that isn’t where this miracle fruit stops. Oh no, when bananas get going they really get going. They have been proven to help with PMS as the B6 within it helps regulate glucose levels which affect mood swings. Trying to quit smoking? Well, you’re in luck! The B6 and B12 in the fruit help curb those nicotine withdrawal symptoms. So now you’re probably thinking, Ron, there’s no way this fruit has that many uses all stored inside that yellow shell. Well, you’d be wrong as this is merely the tip of the iceberg so to say.

Just recently, the USDA has approved banana companies to advertise their product as being able to efficiently reduce blood pressure and the risk of stroke! Studies have shown that the fruit’s high potassium levels have been proven to be sufficient in scale to lower blood pressure dramatically.

The effects don’t stop there either. Many studies from Harvard, the USDA, and various other sources have proven that bananas aid in: improving brain activity, relief of constipation and the symptoms of a hangover. It also helps in increasing iron in the body to help with anemia. It soothes heartburn, avoid morning sickness and even used topically can lower the swelling and inflammation from a mosquito bite!

This glorious golden panacea of the fruit world should not be underestimated. Sorry apples, but perhaps it’s time to change the old adage to “a banana a day keeps the doctor away”!

If you live or work in SW Houston then give me a call. I’ll hook you up with 4 free sessions to get you started on the path to longer healthier life: 832.500.5459


Are eggs good for you?

Egg Pic (2)Hi everyone, just thought I would put up  some info on eggs. What I find is that there seems to be so much confusion these days around them. Also it’s one item my clients ask me about all the time as well.

Well allow me to diffuse some of the confusion immediately, They are good for you. No matter how the USDA or other food organizations decide to spin it for the month, eggs will always be a great source of protein, good fats and healthy cholesterol.

To begin, eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet! One whole egg contains vitamin A, B5, B12, B2, Selenium and trace amounts of a lot more nutrients. In fact, eggs contain a little bit of almost every nutrient that we need to continue living!

They average about 77 calories, 6g of protein and 5g of healthy fat making them a great filler for your diet if you are missing just a small amount of calories from breakfast or at dinner.

But the main concern I hear the most is, what about the cholesterol? Yes, it is true that eggs are high in cholesterol. However, not all cholesterol will actually raise your levels. Did you know that your liver pumps out cholesterol every single day? In fact, if we eat an egg, the liver produces just enough to match it’s current allocation. For the most part, the huge majority of people will see no increase in cholesterol levels by eating an egg unless they over consume. As for the minority, they will see an increase but they are already labeled as “hyper responders”. They have an acute metabolic reaction to this and other items being introduced into their diet.

I’m sure you’ve heard of good cholesterol when talking about eggs and that is exactly what they have. High density lipoprotein is what this is commonly called and eggs are a great source of this. HDL is often found to reduce risk of many diseases including those of the heart.

I could go on and on about how amazing eggs are. Fried, poached, boiled, scrambled, yum! There are so many reasons to eat eggs and the best thing about it is that they are delicious and you don’t have to choke them down to receive the healthy benefits.

So the next time someone decides to tell you that eggs are bad for you, give them a little enlightening and enjoy your breakfast!

If you live or work in SW Houston then give me a call and I’ll hook you up with 4 free sessions to get you started on the path to a longer healthier life: 832.500.5459


Ron Russell and The Body Master

Ron Russell and The Body Master

10641217_734381466630144_4627874575111580266_n“1. Please provide a bio-where you grew up, educational background and any influential forces in your life that lead you in the direction of health and wellness.

I grew up in Houston Texas and began a career at a very young age in the Construction Industry Through hard work and ambition, I managed to pull myself up rung by rung until I found myself running several construction related companies.

As you can imagine, there’s a lot of stress associated with becoming an executive, To lower my stress levels and maintain an even keel, I began working out at the Gym. Soon I was going to the Gym six days a week and at times even going back for a second daily workout. As I continued to train, I found myself getting very serious about learning nutrition and how it affects the body; also how by proper nutrient manipulation in ones diet you could make significant changes in body composition as well. In addition, I looked at how the Bodybuilding world has many of the same goals of normal people, i.e. fat reduction, strength gain, and muscle protection.

As I gained more and more knowledge I found that many times in the Gym, people would approach me for help in either their diet or around some aspect of their workout. Whenever this happened, I really enjoyed sharing with others to help them perform better. After a few years I found the stressful construction management gig along with a significant down turn in the market had become absolutely unbearable, However the working out and helping others in the Gym was really quite enjoyable and was where I found not only my stress relief, but most of my happiness as well. After a period of soul searching, I decided to find a way to jettison the stressful vocation and turn my avocation into my vocation.

I wanted to be in a position where I could share my knowledge and help others achieve and live a healthier lifestyle where they could accomplish their fitness goals. In order to make this happen, I first sought out the necessary Education, developed my skill set, and then set out to create a place where I could remove as many of the obstacles and negatives found in the usual Health Club and bring in as many positives as possible.

Today when you come to my Studio, you will find this has definitely been accomplished at The Body Master Fitness Studio. Now I am totally dedicated to teaching clients proper nutrition, how to set up a healthy diet, best ways to lose weight, how to gain strength, create a healthy lifestyle, and for those that need it help them to rehab an injury and get them back to normal living. All of this is done utilizing whatever techniques and modalities necessary to help my clients accomplish their goals.

Furthermore, I am a voracious reader and continuously study and research the best methods to help my Clients. In addition I send out a Newsletter each week with a good helpful article along with a Fitness tip and a healthy recipe to boot.

2.When did The Body Master open in Houston?

January 1996

3. Tell me about your philosophy in terms of health, weight management, fitness, etc. This can be your mission statement that you share with your clients and staff.

Short version: My philosophy is to meet people where they are on the fitness continuum and help them reach further than they ever expected to be.
Longer version:
In 1996, I decided to give the average populous an alternative to the typical gym setting and formed the Body Master Fitness Studio. A place where one would feel comfortable in a non-threatening environment without any of the usual club hassles and be able to learn how to develop a healthy lifestyle.

My philosophy is that it is important to meet people where they are in life on the fitness continuum. For instance, I would never take a person in their fifties through a workout tailored more for a twenty year old and visa versus. Additionally, I utilize different methods for every diet or fitness situation. I may use Weight training with free weights and machines with one Client and Exertubes with another, or even a combination of all of them. Sometimes, I even use the pool for their training. Mentioning this, one area of training that I really like is Aquatic training out in my pool. I find that my Clients get into it and enjoy themselves so much they don’t even realize how hard they are working until they get out and gravity hits them. This harder workout of course heightens the results quite a bit as well.

I really feel like my style of training up to this point has helped a good amount of people reach their fitness and health goals and ultimately find a little bit more happiness. And isn’t that really what personal training is supposed to be all about anyway?

4. I believe you added another personal trainer to your company. Can you please introduce him into the article so I can share your words with fellow Texans.

At the moment, I am actually the only personal trainer and I take care of every client personally. They each receive the highest form of attention from me and I push them to be better with each visit. Needless to say, my days are fairly busy. The person being mentioned however is my son and I am hoping he will be returning in the not to distant future.

5. What do you believe is your cutting edge in the personal fitness arena? What sets you apart from other practices similar to yours in the Houston area?

I can offer a clean private environment as well as a homey feel that allows my Clients to relax and not worry about prying and judging eyes. Usually, when you are comfortable enough, you will work harder as you’re not feeling self conscious about how you look while lifting weights or during any other exercise. I think it’s important to want to work out and busy gyms really can be a bit intimidating and can have you not wanting to stay longer than you have to or maybe even not long enough to complete a good workout

6. Who are your customers? Demographics, age range, male/ female ratio, etc.

My demographic ranges wildly. I get quite a few guys who come in trying to bulk up or lose weight and tone up as well as women who wish to do the same. Ratio wise, I would say about 2 women to every 1 guy. As for the ages, I have a couple of teens at the moment and the oldest Client is 84, and I truly have every age in between.

7. Do you only hold one on one sessions or do you also offer group lessons? Please elaborate.

I definitely offer group sessions. Again, going back to the feeling of comfort, working out with someone you know definitely helps keep you going at it. Currently, I have a mother and son group session and they go at it together for some real solid training. I also have a Father son team and some couples as well. Another group consists of a few women who enjoy working out doing their strength session in the pool. Anyway, I offer multiple varieties and create specific work out plans to manage the increase in numbers. I think it really makes the workouts more energetic and personal whenever you are able to do it with family or friends.

8. I see that you offer Personal Training, Stress Boxing, Nutritional Guidance and Post Rehabilitative Training… Please elaborate on each category and tell the readers what each area consists of so they understand your services well…

To begin, my personal training is exactly as it sounds, training of the person. I don’t stop at just exercise however and I do continue to offer diet and other supplemental information all along the way as they traverse the fitness continuum to help them understand how to live a healthy and happy life. Within personal training, I also offer weight training, diet help, strength training, functional conditioning, and much more. Personal training is a fairly broad term but my goal is to help you hit your health goals no matter what they are.

One area that many Clients seem to enjoy is the Stress Boxing I offer. In this world today people have a heck of a lot of stress in their lives and getting an opportunity to knock something about really relieves their pent up stress and besides it is a lot of fun as well.

9. I believe your web page said that you are one of the few personal trainers in Houston certified as a rehab exercise specialist. Please explain what a RES is and why did you decide to become certified in that field? Stress this and highlight this area as much as possible since this is relevant to our readers as well as the fact that it appears to be a part of your marketing edge.

To obtain the best results when working with anyone recovering from an injury or from surgery, my goal is not to only rehab the affected area, but also to work on their entire body holistically. I believe in doing this because there is a cross-over effect that can be beneficial in expediting the healing process.

Unfortunately, it has been my experience that when a person is going through the Rehab process in a PT setting the majority focus seems to be on the affected area. My understanding is the Therapist are regulated in such a way as to only be able to operate in this manner and only give a small portion of their time to the rest of the body. Therefore, when I see someone who has come in after completing their PT, I immediately begin to work their whole body with whatever tools that would be best for their particular situation as well as to continue the Rehab process of their effected area.

As an example, I had a Client who showed up on crutches after ACL Surgery on his knee. He was not allowed to put any more than 125 lbs of pressure on it when he arrived at the Studio. The weight limitation was prescribed by his Doctor and his weight at the time was a sloppy 285 Lbs. Yes all on a man that is 6 foot 2 inches in height as well.

Within 3 months he was back to riding his bicycle and scuba diving and then in six months his weight was down at a fighting weight of 215 lbs. Additionally, he was doing 60 miles a day by that time on his bike and doing one heck of a lot of Diving to boot which is his absolute passion. This is what I mean about getting a person back to their life and doing it in a holistic manner.

Truly I have many more stories like the previous one. In fact I currently have a 75 year old Client that just had knee replacement surgery in September who I am doing pool sessions with and he is doing wonderfully at this point and another Client who is recovering from a stroke as well.

10. Please add in any helpful hints on how to get through the holidays without worrying about over-eating. Anything that you can share with the readers is greatly appreciated.

Most people out there will tell you to work in moderation or even to abstain from the delicious food and drink that encompass the holidays. However my main advice is to stay focused.

When I say this, I mean to focus on your health goals and keep them in mind as you take that sip of egg nog that you know you wouldn’t have any other time of the year. The holidays is a great excuse to be merry and engorge but if you can keep your focus and fitness goal in mind, keeping off that holiday weight will be easy as pie.

A few easy ways to keep that focus is to:

1. increase the amount of workouts you do per week. If you do 2 workouts, try doing three instead. If you do 0, try adding one in. Having any kind of physical activity really pushes you to remember what your goals are. And with the extra workout, you’ll notice a change that may make you want to avoid a snack or two to keep your figure.

2.Try to keep to a sleep schedule! It’s amazing how many people forget how beneficial sleep is for its restorative properties as well as its ability to keep your body running correctly. Not to mention, in terms of focus, a sleepy person is more likely to not be able to see things as clearly as a well rested person. Not to mention, it has been shown that when we do not get enough rest our cortisol levels will go up which causes additional fat storage, and can also lead to other health issues as well. Bottom-line when you get enough rest this will put your body into a routine that can make it run much smoother.

3. When you know you are going to a Holiday party or related event where there will be high fat foods and the like try eating a good healthy meal just prior to going to help you in making better choices and to not over indulge as well.

4. Try to stay away from alcohol if at all possible. If you find that you are not able to not drink, and then do so as little as you can when you do.

5. Finally, involve your family! Holidays are all about family so why not use them as a support team? Ask your spouse, significant other, or a friend for some moral support when you need to stay focused. Have them remind you of how healthy and good you have been looking lately to reinvigorate your drive to push through the holidays and come out the other side without gaining anything more than a new pair of socks you never knew you wanted!

11. I see that you have several testimonies. If you can get two of your clients to give you permission to use their first and last name, I would love to include 2 of the testimonials for sure. Please let me know which ones I can have the “green light” on.

Andron Smith and Marsha Turny.

12. What are your short term goals? Long term goals?

My goal is to continue to help people live a healthy lifestyle as long as I physically can continue to do so. So as it stands for the time being, my plan is that I will work with my Clients in my Studio and also to help more and more people via the Web as well, then when I can’t continue to physically do the work, I will be still helping people none the less.

13. At the end of the article, we have a For More Information section. Please include address, phone number, website, facebook and any other form of social media you actively engage in.

The Body Master Fitness Studio
7814 Nairn St
Houston Tx 77074
713-773-0077
Http://www.TheBodyMaster.com
Http://www.Facebook.com/TheBodyMaster
Http://www.Linkedin.com

If you live or work in SW Houston then give me a call and I’ll hook you up with 4 free sessions to get you started on the path to a longer healthier life: 832.500.5459


Choosing Your Certified Personal Trainer

Choosing Your Certified Personal Trainer

quick internet diplomaGiven that Personal Training Certification is very easy to come by nowadays, choosing your Certified Personal Trainer is not something you should do without finding out as much as possible about the candidates.

Before you even start looking at trainers though, you need to think about what you want from a Personal Trainer so you don’t waste your time interviewing people who are obviously unsuitable

You should know the answers to the following:

  • What are your goals – what do you want to achieve ultimately from your fitness program?
  • Do you want to work out one on one in a private studio? Or do you want like the hustle and bustle of a big fitness club atmosphere?
  • Do you want your Certified Personal Trainer to focus exclusively on you? Or don’t you mind sharing their attention with several other clients concurrently?
  • Do you have concerns about potential injury? You should have! You’d be surprised how many people get injured working with an inexperienced Certified Personal Trainer who doesn’t really understand human physiology or how to get the best results with the least potential for injury. Even a small injury can set you back several weeks in your training program…or worse.

If you live or work in SW Houston then give me a call. I’ll hook you up with 4 free sessions to get you started on the path to longer healthier life: 832.500.5459