Blog Posts

7 Tips to Make Your Own Healthy Shake

10/18/2017

There's no better (and faster) way to consume your daily nutrients via a healthy shake.

Here’s a few pointers on how to put together your very own healthy shake. Remember that blending it is much better than juicing it, since juicing veggies and fruits actually strip almost all the fiber away. It also takes out some essential enzymes and nutrients. We like to keep everything in there, so blending it is the way to go. I use Magic Bullet which works great!

So here we go:

1.) Add a Green Veggie: Kale leaves, swiss chard leaves, or spinach for a bundle of nutrients. Don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of these, you won’t even know it when you add your healthy fruits in there.

2.) Add Protein: Greek yogurt or scoop of whey protein (vanilla, chocolate or plain).

3.) Add Healthy Fat: This will keep you satiated. Walnuts (chopped), flax seeds, chia seeds/powder, almonds (sliced), organic peanut butter, organic almond butter.

4.) Add Cinnamon (optional): Keep blood sugar levels normal. Oats do the same thing and it’s easy to add most combinations of shake.

5.) Add base: Milk, Almond milk, coconut water or plain water are great options. Fresh squeeze orange juice also works great here. The aqueous setting in the blender will help blend veggies and fruits easier. It’s also easier to drink =)

6.) Add Natural Sugar AKA- Fruits: For higher sugar taste add frozen mangoes, frozen pineapples, or bananas. For a little less sugar reach for the berries; blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries.

7.) Ice, Blend and Enjoy! Here's a nice review on the best blenders available.

Play around with different combinations and see which ones you like the most. Then, buy a bundle of the ingredients, keep it easy to reach in the fridge and freezer and blend away.

Committed to your health,
Kendrick

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Convenient Store Diet- 27lbs lighter

10/9/2017

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This past summer, the K-Fit nutrition team sat down to talk about the "convenient store diet" and it's ridiculous (and confusing) results.

Back in 2010, Mark Haub, who's a nutrition professor at K-State (Go Wildcats!) decided to start a diet consisting of twinkies, doritos, debbie cakes, cereal and other sweet treats.

His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.

And wouldn't you know it, 10 weeks later the premise held up and his results were shocking:

He shed 27 lbs
His LDL (bad cholesterol) dropped 20%
His HDL (good) increased 20%
His Triglycerides decreased by 39%

Amazing and almost science defying right? Hmm, perhaps.

Before the diet, he shifted from consuming 2600 calories to 1800 calories and locked in that number (that's a giant drop and not recommended for most people). He took one protein shake and a multivitamin daily along with some veggies for dinner, this way he wouldn't be completely nutrient deficient.

Basically 2/3 of his diet consisted of sweet treats. He also timed his meals to eat every 3 hours.

How can this happen and what does this prove?

If you're having a hard time losing weight, you must know how much you're consuming on a daily basis. At least initially. It's work, it's not sexy, and it doesn't sell like the latest celebrity go-to diet...but it's simple physics.

If you were having trouble with your finances, your advisor would initially probably want to know where the money is going so you would have to track it down. Similar idea with nutrition. To really take control of what and how much you're eating, one of the best ways is to start writing everything down.

Although, there may be some variation among people with metabolic irregularity (i.e.: thyroid) calories are a unit of energy, and the relationship between matter and energy figures prominently among the physical laws of the universe.

The second thing that's important is the timing your meals. Mark ate every 3 hours and his portions were not enormous (200-500 calories). This kept his metabolism fired up during the day (when we don't eat, the metabolism slows down). Although he had massive surges in cravings because of the sugar spikes, he stuck to his calorie daily goal (which remember was also 800 calories lower than he was usually eating).

Now, there were no long term results recorded and he agrees that it's very likely that his overall health would decline since he was not taking in enough nutrients.

The point of the study was to show that calorie control and timing is very important when it comes to weight loss. You need to set some parameters....and the number can fluctuate depending on the amount of exercise you do daily, but it should stay within a reasonable amount.

Finally, if you're looking to shed some weight without big surges in cravings (and have more energy during the day), you should replace those sweet treats with complex carbs which will help regulate your blood sugar levels and create a more sustainable nutrition plan. Also, round our your plate with plenty of greens, legumes, protein and healthy fat in order to decrease overall sugar cravings.

Committed to your health,
Kendrick

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5 Habits of Fit Clients

10/4/2017

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If history has taught us anything regarding success, it is to look at others who are living the lives we want to live and simply do what they are doing. This can not only be applied to business but also in our personal lives. You can't just browse through Instagram and expect fitness via osmosis.

If you're looking to maximize your health, you must learn to make a shift from the current actions that you are doing, or else you'll continue to get the same results.
The common question I get at the Studio is "How long until I lose "X" pounds?" Or "How many classes do I need to do to lose X pounds."

I usually tell people that the workouts at the Studio is not a replacement for negligent nutrition at home.

The better question to ask is: "Besides esthetic means, why am I doing this?" That usually comes with a more meaningful response that can be carried over to maintaining a regular exercise regimen.

Sometimes, we have people that get frustrated with the lack of results they see. When I ask about their nutrition at home, they list the excuses why they've been eating junk food or drinking too much wine or simply just eating too much.

You can't out train an unhealthy diet.

Yet, there are a number of people that have been with us and achieved incredible results, from losing 80+ lbs, to qualifying for the Boston Marathon to reversing diabetes to keeping up with their kids during a weekend family bike ride (that's in large part to putting work on those airdyne bikes!)

I've found there are some common habits that these life changing healthy individuals share.

Here are five habits they have that you may want to incorporate in your own life for true and long lasting health:

1- They put their health first. People who live healthy lives make their well-being a priority. It isn’t always easy to do, but they make sure they spend time at the gym, make healthy food choices, and get some sort of physical activity each and every day.
You're already sacrificing time, energy and your cognitive bandwidth for your work. Don't sacrifice your health too!

2- They don't let negativity take over their lives. 5% of the news if useful information needed to stay in tune with what's going on in the world, the other 95% is information that uses fear tactics to get you hooked on watching more, sharing the negativity and getting into useless arguments with people about things that are totally our of our control.

That cycle can affect our relationship, our work and our health. Fit people learn to take control of the things that are under their control.
Being positive all the time is a fairy tale, but being aware of what kind of energy you bring into a room is life changing...for both you and whoever is in the room =)

3- They take time to rest. Fit people realize the importance of having some down time. Your body needs time to regenerate and recover because, without it, your muscles, joints and mind become overworked and weak.

4- They eat consciously. Fit people make a habit of monitoring everything that goes into their mouths because they know the harmful effects of mindless eating. Make a habit of eating with purpose and you will soon see how much it affects your waistline.

5- They understand that health is more than just weight loss. Fit people need to exercise to keep themselves sane, their hormones balanced and their mindset in the right place. They understand the positive effects of hormones in their body and realize that it’s not all about what the scale says.

Looking good doesn't necessarily translate to feeling good. I've met people who were skinny, but also starving and angry with the whole world because they hadn't eaten carbs in weeks. Find a deeper meaning and you'll be able to sustain an exercise program for the long haul!

Committed to your health,
Kendrick

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8 Key Takeaways From Training with Celebrity Trainer, Gunnar Peterson

9/20/2017

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They say in order to be successful, you must model success. My dad was the first one to advise me on that one, and it was later reinforced by others throughout the years. Early in my career I decided to do just that and learn from the very best in the industry. While in College I got a chance to work at the Institute of Human Performance with Juan Carlos Santana, who to many is considered the father of functional training. I learned a great deal with him and continue to apply his many lessons with my own clients today.

Thanks to the wide world of internet, I was also able to reach and follow other celebrity trainers. One in particular was Gunnar Peterson. Who is Gunnar? He was a celebrity trainer before that word was even around. In his 30 years in the business, Gunnar has trained thousands of celebrities. Some current ones include Jennifer Lopez, Kate Beckinsale, Matthew Mcconaughey, Angelina Jolie, Tom Brady, Kim and Khloe Kardashian.

I noticed a significant difference in Gunnar versus other well known trainers. He made it all about his clients. While other trainers posted half naked pictures of them flexing and drinking protein shakes, Gunnar was making videos on how to properly execute exercises and put together a great workout. It wasn’t about how much he could lift. It was all about his clients.

That approach obviously has served him well, as today he continues to deliver incredible results to his clients (both celebrity and non celebrity) at his gym in Beverly Hills. He has a massive waiting list too.

I liked his approach and decided to implement many of his methods. Cardio interval training is big on his list. That, along with the endless research on heart and brain health is one of the reasons I incorporated the water rowers, ski erg and ardyne bikes into the K-Fit HIIT and Tight-N-Tone workouts at Studio K-Fit.

One year ago I decided to write an email to Gunnar simply to thank him for inspiring me. After I was done, I never sent it to him. I got cold feet and thought, “Oh, I shouldn’t bother him, he doesn’t have time to read these little emails”

About 1 month ago I was cleaning up my email drafts when I ran into the email I wrote Gunnar last year. Oh, what the heck, let’s just send it out! Who cares if he doesn’t get back to me.

The next day, his assistant tells me he read it and was touched by my story. She also mentioned that next time I was in LA to come in for a workout and chat with Gunnar.

WHAT!? I ‘m going to meet Gunnar?! I immediately replied and told her that I was going to be in LA the following weekend. She said he starts his workout at 5am Saturday and was expecting me. That’s usually a bit early for me on a weekend while on vacation, but given I was about to workout with the world’s top trainer, I was ok with it.

That Saturday I arrived just before 5am at his secret gym in Beverly Hills. I spent the next 3 hours chatting with Gunnar. Bigger than life, yet you would never know behind his down to earth, witty, and flat out cool personality.

Here are some key takeaways:

1.) You can’t have a million dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic. That’s actually one of the signs up in his gym and he really lives by that. Gunnar is in his mid 50’s and still trains 10-12 clients per day, 6 days a week. The day starts at 5am with his own workout first. He hasn’t let fame deviate him from performing his very best day in and day out.

2.) He refuses to train anyone was is not interested in exercising or wants to whine and complain during the sessions. He’s not interested in running an adult babysitting service, so he only commits to those that are committed to him.

3.) Interval training is king. Over the years, Gunnar has been gifted many top of the line machines to use with his clients. Many of his workouts included bouts of interval training as he says it’s important to keep the heart rate up and increase the metabolic demand in the body. Agreed.

4.) He doesn’t let the small things bother him. In the world of personal training, it’s inevitable that clients will share many personal things with you...many of which can include first world problems that are really irritating to hear complaints about. He’s learned not to take it personal or take with him outside the gym. He says that once he leaves the gym, it’s all about the family. He doesn’t bring his work (or the drama) back home with him.

5.) Knowing how to handle people’s emotion and build them up mentally is key. This is where we dug into the psychology a bit (Gunnar has a bachelor in psychology from Duke). The mental approach to fitness is equally as important as the physical one.

You may have heard it before, your body can only go as far as the mind will allow it. Aside from fitness, working on developing a healthy mindset (and limiting the junk that you expose it too) can have a massive positive impact on your relationships, your work, your health and your overall well being.

6.) Shift to looking at food consumption with the end result in mind. Meaning, instead of feeding your desires and taste buds, ask yourself how that particular food will make you feel afterwards. It may be a temporary high, but it may not be worth the extra empty calories. Look at food as fuel, not as the temporary treat that you “deserve because of a hard and long day.” Food has a powerful effect to make you feel super energized and alert or tired and regretful. Choose wisely.

7.) A fit body is the foundation in developing a healthier overall life. Nothing is as simple as fitness, yet the rewards you reap is priceless. You get more mental clarity, you get more energy in order to soak up more of life, it inspires healthier decisions (ie: nutrition), allows you to sleep better, and helps you develop a better overall version of yourself.

8.) For motivation, find something emotionally compelling to you (ie: family). Nothing and no one else can give you more sustainable motivation than yourself.

Overall, it was an incredible time with Gunnar. Honestly, I didn’t do much “working out” as I was more interested in asking him questions and get his insights. I’m grateful for his time and his lessons. I’ll be applying many of them in my own life and hope you can grab a few valuable takeaways as well.

Committed to your health,
Kendrick Ribeiro

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Best Type of Exercise for Aging Muscles

9/17/2017

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By now everybody knows that exercise is good for them. From helping to develop strength, maintain lean muscle mass, burn fat, sleep better, and even help avoid certain diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

But did you know it can help you at the cellular level which can help delay the aging process?

What I find fascinating at the moment in the world of exercise science is the in depth studies of exercise in relation to the brain and the cells. Recently, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. conducted an experiment on the cells of 72 healthy but sedentary men and women who were 30 or younger or older than 64.

Baseline measures were determined for their aerobic fitness, their blood-sugar levels, the gene activity and mitochondrial health in their muscle cells. Then, the group was broken up into 3 groups for a specific exercise protocol for 12 weeks.

Group A: Weight training only
Group B: Interval cardio training (bouts of hard effort followed by easy efforts)
Group C: 30 min steady cardio, plus a little bit of weight training

After 12 weeks, the lab tests were repeated with some interesting results. Group A as expected came back with increased muscle mass and overall strength. Group B increased endurance far more than the other 2 groups.

The astonishing results came from looking at the muscle cell activity. The younger subjects who went through interval training had positive changes in cellular activity level in 274 genes, compared to 170 genes for steady cardio and 74 for weight lifters.

Among the older group (older than 64), the activity difference at the cellular level was even more noticeable. The interval training group increased activity level of 400 genes, compared to 33 for weight lifters and only 19 for moderate exercise.

The cells affected are believed to influence the capability of the mitochondria, which is basically the mothership of the cell. If you can remember back to biology class in high school, the mitochondria is referred to as the “powerhouse” of the cell. Without enough of them (and without increasing their activity levels), the cell does not function properly and eventually dies off.

According to the director of the study, Dr Sreekumaran Nair, it seems as if the decline in the cellular health of muscles associated with aging was “corrected” with exercise, especially if it was intense exercise. He also mentioned that the ideal workout would be interval workouts such as Tight-N-Tone and the K-Fit Experience. These two are the like the organic fountain of youth.

Ok, maybe he didn’t add that last part in… but it’s nice to know that all those interval on the assault bike at Studio K-Fit is not just for giggles and toning your butt. It can also maximize your health on a cellular level. And as the studies demonstrated, it’s certainly never too late to start training.

Interval training continues to be king in the world of fitness, at least for those interested in slowing down that aging process and keeping the heart and mind in peak condition.

Keep training smart!

Committed to your health,
Kendrick

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Those Cookies Though...

9/10/2017

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Beside psychological barriers, we also face physiological barriers when making food choices.

Once your favorite cookies (or treats) are in site (or even a clear image in your mind), your brain already begins to squirt out dopamine--this is a neurotransmitter in the brain that's linked in reward-motivated behavior--which then tells us that this indeed is what we need at this moment. The picture above may have already done the trick!

It plays a sweet song of immediate gratification and plays down any chatter of long term consequences.

Heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes are the last thing on your mind.

Your mind (and body) become heavily obsessed on what you are focusing on...and whatever you focus on expands. If it's within sight and it's something you really enjoy, it will be hard to simply forget about it and go on about your day. This is why the "out of sight, out of mind" is so crucial when attempting to clean up your diet.

To add to the element of challenge, when dopamine is released, it also triggers the release of stress hormones that makes us feel anxious. This is why the more we think about the reward we want, the more important it becomes to us. The more we think we have to it NOW!

Ironically, the ultimate rewards we're looking for can elude us every time, but the smallest possibility of payoff and the anxiety of giving up the quest can keep us hooked, even to the point of obsession.

Researchers shows that that the dopamine release triggered by one promise of reward makes us more likely to pursue others. Dream of striking it rich or get a raise at work, and food can become really appetizing.

If we're to succeed with our nutrition and our overall discipline factor, we must learn to distinguish between the false, distracting and addicting rewards we're enticed with every day, and focus on the real rewards that give us true fulfillment in life.

This is not to say that you shouldn't enjoy your favorite treats every now and then. Simply becoming aware of what our bodies are doing physically can give us the tool to combat the need to always give in to the strong cravings.

A simple way to clean your diet right away is to simply write down everything you eat on a daily basis for at least 3 days. That will be enough to encourage you to double think everything before you consume it. Our favorite app is the "Lose it" for tracking foods.

Keep your eye on the prize...but most importantly aim for progress each day with your nutrition. Soon you'll make that 80/20 approach a natural habit in your life.

Speaking of the 80/20 approach, we'll be doing that during the 21 day K-Fit Reboot which starts on Tuesday. You'll have a total of 4 cheat days during the challenge (that's the 20%). The other 17 days we'll be focused on eating as clean as possible; no sugar (including hidden ones), no processed food (if it has more than 5 ingredients), no alcohol.

In addition to our small group workouts at Studio K-Fit, we'll include some workouts you can do on your own as part of the daily goals in order to fully reboot. Email us if you're interested and we'll get you set up.

Committed to your health,
Kendrick

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Forward>>

7 Tips to Make Your Own Healthy Shake

Convenient Store Diet- 27lbs lighter

5 Habits of Fit Clients

8 Key Takeaways From Training with Celebrity Trainer, Gunnar Peterson

Best Type of Exercise for Aging Muscles

Those Cookies Though...

Kendrick Ribeiro, MS, CSCS

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