Believe it or not, taking breaks like this has been shown to reduce the likelihood of overtraining and the related overuse injuries. In fact, my clients often tell me feel stronger on their first day back than when they finished the previous progression. But there is one drawback to taking a week or two week off. Your cardiovascular fitness adapts really quickly to your lifestyle and activity level. So you could experience a measurable loss in conditioning even after just nine days off.

SO, I encourage my clients to get outside and stay active. Whether you walk, run, swim, ride, whatever. You should get out for at least 30 minutes of easy to moderate cardiovascular exercise every day. And to make those trips to the great outdoors more productive if not more fun, I’ve compiled a list of local parks and exercises (running and walking) to keep everyone busy over the break.

First, hiking to the Hollywood Sign. You’ll start at the Griffith Observatory. From the parking lot you’ll see the Sign off to the north west, and a pretty stiff climb directly north of the Observatory. Follow the trail up to the top of Dante’s Peak behind the Observatory. You’ll find picnic tables and an observation deck. But you’re not done. You’ll see a ridge stretching from your vantage point to the Hollywood Sign on Mt Lee. And You’ll see a well worn path along the ridge leading all the way. The hike is 1.5 to 2 miles from the Observatory to the Sign depending on whether you take the direct route up Dante’s Peak or the fire road that winds it’s way up. From there you just follow the trail. The final stretch up Mt Lee is paved. You’ll end up behind the Sign. If you’ve ever noticed the tower above the Hollywood Sign, that’s where you’ll be. It’s a long walk. But how many of your friends have seen the Hollywood Sign from that angle?

Second, Lifeguard Stand Intervals. Specifically, lifeguard stand intervals from the Santa Pier to the Venice Jetty and back. Here’s how it works: park on or near the Santa Monica Pier. Walk down to the beach on the South side of the Pier. As soon as you reach the first lifeguard stand, turn left and start walking. When you reach the second stand SPRINT to the third stand. Then walk to to the forth, SPRINT to the fifth, etc. When you reach a long string of boulders stretching out into the Pacific, turn around and repeat the process back to the Santa Monica Pier.

Third, Dog Fartleks at Runyon Canyon. It works like this: Start walking around the outside loop at Runyon. As long as you see a dog on the trail ahead of you, you can continue to walk. But if you can’t see a dog up ahead, SPRINT until you do. Make sense? Walk if you see a dog ahead of you, SPRINT if you don’t. And don’t worry. I know Runyon has some long steep climbs. But it’s a DOG PARK! There won’t be that many sprints. So stick to the plan.

Arek Long MA, CSCS

Weight loss at night is primarily the result of water loss. Respiration and perspiration are the culprits here, accounting for as much as 80 percent of weight lost over night. So if you’re wondering how much moisture you burned off last night, do the math. If your weight was down 3lbs from the night before, you lost a little over a liter of water.

Dieters often weigh themselves in the morning and at night. And while I’m all for tracking your results, this system can be unnecessarily disappointing if you don’t understand what’s happening. For instance, it’s not unusual for me to hear a complaint like this: Yesterday, all I ate was a couple pieces of toast, a cup of yogurt and a small salad. But my weight was up 4lbs by the time I went to bed! How is that possible?

If you’re tracking your weight in the morning and at night, you have to remember to not only consider the calories you’re consuming, but also the weight of the food and drinks. That salad may have only had several hundred calories, but who knows how much it weighed. And when you consider you’re probably drinking 60-100oz of water per day, it’s easy to see where a weight increase from morning to night would be likely, even on a restricted diet.

So my recommendation is to find a consistent time to weigh yourself. The rule of thumb is first thing in the morning. And though I’m all for weighing yourself every day, remember it’s the week to week number that counts. And the more of those weeks you can string together while keeping your weight down, the less likely it will be for you to gain the weight back.

Your body wants nothing more than to stay the same. So legitimate long term weight loss is a tough undertaking. But once the pattern starts, and you learn what affect different foods will have on your weight from day to day, you’ll be able to adapt your diet to maximize your results. And if you ever need a little advice or moral support, just let me know.

Arek Long  MA, CSCS

This is how it works: Take a piece of paper and write a list of exercises down the left side of the page. Now before you get too far, there is one ground rule. No machines. If you’re doing the workout outside this goes without saying, but for those exercising in a gym, relying on machines to be available when you need them might be unrealistic. So to be safe, only list exercises that can be done using your own body weight, exercise bands, medicine balls, physio-balls, dumbbells, kettle bells, etc. Feel free to be creative.

So what type of movements should be on the list? Good question. Stick to big exercises; squats, lunges, jumps, presses, pulls, twists, whatever. You can also put in strictly conditioning exercises like a jump rope sequence, up-downs, speed ladder drills, or mountain-climbers.

Any particular order the exercises should be in? Don’t worry about the order. And feel free to work the same body part once in a while or multiple times in a row. Anything goes. A sample list might look something like this:

Lunge

Sit-up

Toe-touches

Mountain-climber

Row

Punch

Squat Jump

Punch (other side)

Physio-ball leg curl

Pull-over…

Just try to make the list as random as possible, while sticking to the theme of big exercises (limited [or no] single-joint exercises).

Did you fill the page? You’ll need around 27 exercises. So if you’re running low on ideas, feel free to use the same exercise on multiple lines. I know if I were writing the list for you, up-downs would show up at least 3 times. And feel free to add in a water break as well. Gotta stay hydrated!

Now, How many sets and reps? This is where it gets interesting. The intervals are 30 secs exercise, 15secs rest. So go straight down the list, 30secs on and 15secs off. Don’t worry about the number of repetitions. Just make sure you don’t stop during the 30sec intervals. And once you’ve crossed off the 27^th line on your page, the 20mins should be up.

Arek Long MA, CSCS

Let me dispel the myth right now, there are only 3 (non-pharmaceutical grade) things that can make you heavier; carbohydrate, fat, and protein. Weight lifting doesn’t make you heavier. Food makes you heavier. Weight lifting, like anything that could be considered exercise, requires a certain amount of energy to accomplish. So if you don’t consume enough calories to make up for the extra energy you expended, your body will start consuming its energy stores. And you know what that is…body fat.

We’ll cover more secrets of the universe in future articles, but for the purposes of this article we’ll limit it to one. Energy, for lack of a better term, can’t be created or destroyed. It can only be converted from one form to another. (save your particle collider comment, smarty pants) We’re sticking to good old thermodynamics and its effect on your metabolism.

Metabolism is the sum of the chemical reactions that occur to keep you going. The things we’re concerned with are the use of energy in your daily life and the process of converting energy from food to sustain that process, the use of stored energy in the form of fat if there’s a deficit, and the storage of excess energy if you’re consuming more calories than you need. For further details on the chemical process, do a web search for Catabolism and Anabolism, or wait for me to post an article on them.

Where were we?  That’s right, NOT bulking up! Weight lifting or any resistance training requires energy, and lots of it if you’re actually in the process of getting stronger. So you know the rule. You can’t create your own energy. If you begin an exercise regimen beyond what you are currently conditioned to, maintain the same daily caloric intake, and also maintain an otherwise similar daily activity level, you will create a caloric deficit. And your body will be required to pull energy from your fat stores to sustain your activity level. Result: you get lighter, leaner, more toned, etc.

By Arek Long  MA, CSCS

Admittedly, there is little research to support the effect of hydration on exercise, weight loss, etc. So we’ll start with what we know, then extrapolate the impact of hydration on your fitness goals.

First of all, your body tissues are 50-75% water depending on whether we’re looking at bone, muscle, or uhm, guts. So on average you’re 65-70% water overall. And on a daily basis you’ll lose 5-10% of your water. That said if you sat around in your living room with the express goal of seeing how long you could go without water, you’d be dead within 10 days; closer to 3 days if you do the test outside in the summer. The lesson here is you can’t conserve it. You certainly can’t make your own. So water has to be replenished.

How much water do you need? Good question! Let’s do the math. Say you weigh 120lbs. It’s a hot day. But you’re not particularly active. So we’ll say you lose 7% of your water during the day. 68% of 120lbs is 81.6lbs. 7% of 81.6lbs is 5.7lbs or roughly 90oz. That’s 90oz of water lost over the course of the day by just sitting around. So you’ve got to make it up, right?

What effect does not getting enough water have on your metabolism? This is where it gets interesting. We all know you’ll get something to drink before it gets dangerous. But as little as a 2.5% loss of water is equal to a 25% loss in efficiency. So when exercising you’ll quickly notice fatigue, reduced mental alertness, and reduced cardiovascular function. In short, if you’re dehydrated you probably won’t want to workout. And if you do, you won’t be able to perform at your best. This is important to take into consideration because the more work you do the more calories you burn.

What are the effects of staying well hydrated? This is where the research gets a little thin. I would hypothesize that if the research suggests a loss of mental alertness and reduced energy is associated with dehydration, then proper hydration should make you more alert and increase your energy. But don’t take my word for it. If you do a web search for the Thermogenic Effect of Water (I did) you’ll find a study that appeared in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism that found a 30% increase in metabolic rate in subjects after consuming 500ml of water. Pretty impressive when you consider the usual thermogenic aids you hear about are caffeine and ephedra.

On a side note, you should realize that you’ll be in the bathroom more if you stay well hydrated. It’s a hassle, especially if you sit in traffic as much as I do. But I think you’ll find it’s worth it. And on another aside, what if you drink too much water?! Somebody’s going to bring up water poisoning, or hyponatremia. It’s a legitimate concern, and a tragic way to go. But I found less then 10 published accounts of Americans drinking themselves to death (with water), ever! So I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, apparently it’s a genuine concern in hospitals. I’m just saying there are more than 20 times as many documented cases of spontaneous human combustion. And I bet you haven’t lost sleep over that.

By Arek Long  MA, CSCS