Morning workouts ROCK

I was going round and round with a friend/potential client yesterday about joining our new "Altitude Bootcamp" and he as giving me the, "It's too early" whine. So Rob, my friend, this blog's for you!

Will morning training will help you shed pounds quicker. The answer is "yes," morning training has been proven efficient for weight loss. The reason is simple: Training in the morning will help "jump-start" your metabolism and keep it elevated for up to 24 hours, thus burning more calories throughout the day.

Here's why training in the morning is a great way to blast fat: Your body pulls energy from 2 primary sources, carbohydrates and fat. Sugar and carbohydrates are immediately available, short-term fuel sources. So you grad those first. Once depleted you make the jump over to the long-term source, aka: fat.

Your levels of muscle and liver glycogen (also called stored carbohydrates) are normally very low when you wake up first thing in the morning - since you haven't eaten anything in 8 hours. With depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar, you'll give your body the perfect environment to burn fat instead of carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates or glycogen are your body's primary and preferred source of energy. When they're low, your body will tap into your secondary energy reserve, which is your body fat. The less carbohydrates you have, the more fat your body will burn, and you never have less than in the morning.

Of course there's an adjustment period. The same way you're jet-lagged after an overseas trip or drowsy when you suddenly have to switch from the graveyard shift to a regular 9 to 5 shift, training in the morning will require some lag time. Normally, it should take about three weeks for your body to fully adjust to the time change. You'll start feeling fully energized; you'll wake up more easily and will generally be more alert.

But once you've made the shift and are on a new routine, its easy. And morning training has lots of advantages.

First of all, training in the morning will free up the rest of your day, allowing you to focus on work and enjoy your evening activities.

By completing your workout early in the morning, you're also guaranteeing that you'll actually do it. We all know that after a long day at work, it's easier to make excuses or other plans in order to skip a workout. In the morning, your body and mind are fresh and ready to rock 'n' roll. Just remember that being disciplined is the key to staying fit, so start losing your snoozing habits.

As you know, exercise increases mental acuity. By training in the morning, you'll wake up faster and be mentally alert at the crack of dawn. It'll also give you time to plan your day effectively before getting to work.

A good morning workout provides that rush of adrenaline and a sense of accomplishment that will stick with you throughout the day. Plus, you sleep LIKE A BABY at night. You've never slept as well as you will when you do morning workouts.

Finally, have you ever noticed how healthy you feel after a workout? And how you become turned off by greasy, unhealthy food? That said, training in the morning will force you to start watching what you eat from the first meal of the day. It will help regulate your appetite and set a "healthy mindset."

Now all you need is a louder alarm clock to help you get up those first few weeks. Before you know it, you'll be a lean, mean, morning machine. So Robert, rise and shine, my friend, because training in the morning definitely has its benefits.

Tips for Kid's Summertime Nurtion

Every parent wants good things for their children: a positive outlook on life, a healthy respect for authority, a strong sense of self, a disease-free body...a healthy body weight.

Despite our best intentions, a recent report suggests that for the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

With all the advances in medicine, how could this possibly be true? The blame falls squarely on today's toxic food environment. In short, your kids are eating too much junk.

And who can blame them? Junk food tastes great.

The good news is that healthy food also tastes great. Take these simple tips and transform your child's diet into one that is packed with good health.

1) Add Color

Adding bright and colorful fruits and veggies to your child's plate will get their diet on the fast track to health. Fresh fruits and veggies are filled with fiber, vitamins and minerals that are essential to good health.

If your kids are resistant then make it fun. Serve veggies with salad dressing as a dip. Cut fresh fruit in the colors of the rainbow and place them on a skewer. Serve a color themed meal – all green, all red or all orange. Use your imagination and you'll come up with an endless number of ways to make fruits and veggies fun to eat.

2) Think Whole Foods

Processed foods are the biggest problem with our modern diet. Packaged and refined food products are devitalized and filled with empty calories that quickly lead to weight gain. Unfortunately, processed foods make up a large portion of the diet of many children.

Train your kids to opt for whole foods, rather than packaged ones. Whole foods are foods that are in their natural state. An apple. A piece of sprouted grain bread spread with natural peanut butter. A piece of hormone-free chicken. A bowl of beans. You get the idea.

3) Use Wholesome Sweeteners

Refined sugar and corn syrup are packed into many of the foods that your kids love. But wait, there are more wholesome sweeteners available – sweeteners that add vitamins and minerals rather than empty calories. Use the following rather than white sugar or corn syrup:

•Sucanat: This pure, dried sugar can juice retains its molasses content. Use

it to replace white sugar in baking.

•Pure Maple Syrup: Forget the "fake" syrups containing corn syrup. Pure maple yrup

contains potassium, calcium and some amino acids.

•Brown Rice Syrup: Use this dark syrupy sweetener instead of corn syrup. It takes

longer to digest and won't spike your blood sugar like refined sugar.

•Dates: Throw a few seeded dates into your blender to sweeten your smoothie rather

than adding white sugar.

4) Make Smart Substitutions

Kids love pizza and pasta and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and that's not going to change any time soon. Rather than fight your kids on their favorites, try making smart substitutions to make their favorites more nutritious.

•Pizza: Up the nutritional content of your pizza by opting for wheat crust over

white, adding veggies to the toppings and sticking with lean meat toppings.

•Pasta: Use sprouted grain or whole grain pasta rather than traditional white

pasta. Add veggies to your pasta sauce. Stick with red sauce, since white sauce is

so high in fat.

•PB&J: A PB&J, made with white bread using sugar-filled peanut butter and corn

syrup-filled jelly, is fairly void of any real nutritional value. Try the PB&J

Makeover recipe below instead for a sandwich that will provide real wholesome fuel

for your child's day.

5) Ban Sugary Drinks

One of the best things that you can do for your child's good health is to instill in them a love for water rather than sugary drinks. Soda pop and juices are filled with empty calories that encourage weight gain. Its literally this simple: consumption of soda is killing our nation.

The easiest way to do this is to stock your house with lots of pure, filtered water. Don't have fruit drinks or soda pop readily available so they don't grow accustom to drinking them.

While I presented these tips as improvements to be made to your child's diets, these tips will also do wonders for your diet. Try these 5 tips out for 30 days and I guarantee you'll look and feel better.

Parents all want good things for their children. Now how about doing something good for yourself as well? You are your child's biggest role model on how to live, for better or worse.

Treat yourself right. Get started on an exercise program that will change your life for the better.