Learned A Lot From Trainer Today

I met with the trainer this afternoon, for the BodyGem BMR measurement, the body fat measurements, and the diet/training consultation. It was a 2 hour meeting, I paid $120 USD, and received a long-sleve microfibre training shirt, water bottle, vitamins, a Cliff Bar (which I ate almost immediately upon leaving his office), and a bunch of reports. I learned much more than I expected to. The trainer was very good, not a salesman, but someone very interested in nutrition, exercise, and training. I highly recommend this kind of consultation, because there's no conflict of interest. He's not trying to sell you vitamins, training sessions, software, exercise equipment or anything. He's simply a consultant to help you get in shape. It's his passion.

There are so many things I can change with my training program, that it'll take some time to soak in. Before I forget, I'll list a few conclusions from the meeting:

• I need to seperate cardio from strength workouts (move to morning)


• I'm possibly undereating


• My BodyGem BMR measurement is 1930 (good)


• I need to incorporate leg resistance training


• I should reduce my saturated fats (replace animal fats with vegetable fats)


• I will aim to lose another 10-15kg of fat


• My body fat goal should be 11-15% (much lower than I thought)


• My current body fat is 25-29% (scale measurements probably accurate for now)


• I need to take an essential fats (Omega-3) capsule with every meal


• I need to take a daily vitamin


• I need to eventually move to free weights


• I should limit strength workouts to < 60 min


• I should limit rest intervals to < 60 sec between reps


• I should eat leaner cuts of beef (no more top sirloin)

And there's more things to optimize, but I'll focus on the above in the next weeks. I won't be afraid to eat more, since my restricting and cardio workouts are probably inhibiting muscle growth.

The BMR measurement was pretty interesting. You breath through this device for about 7 minutes, and it's measuring something (CO2?) to figure out your metabolism. He said my 1930 was very good, since some people have much lower metabolisms. Women measure more in the 1200 range, and some men measure down in the 1600's. He said his was up at 2500 when he had more muscle 6 months ago, before cutting down his size for summer. It's a pretty cool device.