On Sunday June 24th Nutrex Solutions Private Personal Training will be celebrating our official GRAND OPENING and we’d love for you all to attend.
10AM to Noon: Open House
Come see the new facility at 1001 Rymal Rd. E. in Hamilton. Take the tour and talk with personal trainers Mark Young and Stacey Nolan.
Noon to 1PM: Seminar on Targeted Fat Loss
Firm Butt. Shapely Thighs.
by Mark Young
This is, by far, our most popular seminar. Always entertaining, this seminar will teach you tons of things you never knew about fat loss and leave you questioning what you thought you knew about nutrition.
***Seating is Limited. Arrive Early to Secure Your Spot.***
Discover how your microwave might be making your legs fat.
Learn how your choice of Tupperware affects how you look in jeans.
Discover which vegetables actually facilitate fat loss in the hips and thighs.
Find out how low stomach acid can cause your thighs to balloon out.
Learn which alcoholic beverage actually decreases fat storage in your butt.
There is no fee for this seminar, but donations will be accepted and donated to the Children’s Exercise and Nutrition Centre at McMaster Children’s Hospital .
1PM to 3PM: Meet the Clients
Chat with some of our clients and learn about their experiences and their successes. The infamous Jeff Franco of The Jeff Franco Project will also be here to showcase his results.
3PM to 4PM: Open House
***Extra Goodies***
On June 24th only you will be able to book a one hour private personal consultation (normally a $100 value) for only $10. As with the seminar, all money collected will be donated to the Children’s Exercise and Nutrition Centre at McMaster Children’s Hospital.
We’ll also be allowing those in attendance to put in a ballot to win 1 free month of personal training in our brand new private facility. (New clients only please)
May 31st, 2007
Nutrex Solutions would like to officially welcome the members of mybestweight.com to our website. Those joining us can benefit from the frequent article updates on exercise, nutrition, and supplementation from industry experts.
Mark Young, who founded Nutrex Solutions in 2002, has received frequent media coverage in the past year having been featured in The Hamilton Spectator “Tone Your Zones” column 5 times with 9 more to come. Nutrex Solutions Private Personal Training has also launched a brand new private training facility in Hamilton, Ontario.
If weight loss information is what you’re looking for then you’ve come to the right place. Simply sign up to our newsletter below and we’ll send a copy of our 8 page ebook “An Expert’s Guide to the Secrets of Permanent Weight Loss” straight to your inbox for FREE.
May 30th, 2007
The squat is, by far and without question, the very best lower body exercise. It targets the quads (front of the legs), the hamstrings (back of the legs), AND it targets the glutes (you know where they are) all in one movement. It also requires almost every other muscle in the body to contract just to maintain the correct position. As a side benefit, when you’ve finished a set of squats you’ll feel your heart pounding inside your chest as your raging metabolism burns of hundreds and hundreds of calories. When it comes to leg training there is absolutely nothing like it.
You might be asking yourself “If the squat is so great, why on earth aren’t more people squatting?”
Maybe most women just don’t want an amazing eye catching butt and a firm, toned set of legs. Maybe most men want to have skinny chicken legs sticking out of their shorts so that Colonel Sanders will be calling them for donations.
But if I really had to guess I’d say there are three reasons people don’t squat.
1. They’re Hard
The truth is that squats aren’t really hard. They’re horrible. They aren’t fun and they certainly aren’t like yoga or a cardio pump class. Okay, I could lie to you and tell you they’re as relaxing as your weekly crocheting group, but as soon as you got under the bar I’d be found out. They’re tough and there’s no way around that.
However, the results you’ll get from squatting are unparalleled. Your body will quite literally transform in front of your eyes. No other exercise for the lower body can even compare. If you want to look better than the masses (and trust me…you want to look better than the average North American) you’ll have to do something that the masses won’t do. You’ll have to make the decision to suck it up, put the bar across your back, and squat.
2. Fear
Once you’ve decided that you definitely want to look dead sexy in a pair of jeans you’ll need to overcome the next biggest obstacle that I believe prevents people from squatting…FEAR.
For some reason people just fear squatting. Sure, they’ll do the squats with little pink dumbbells, but the thought of stepping inside that big metal rack and standing up under the weight just sends chills down most people’s spines. To be honest, I felt exactly the same way when I first started squatting. I was afraid that I’d get to the bottom and not be able to stand up. I was worried I’d look like an idiot.
Nonetheless, the promise of a stare-worthy lower body inspired me to give it a try. Just like driving a car for the first time I felt totally out of control and I certainly didn’t know what I was doing. I probably did look like and idiot…but I persisted. After a little while squats became second nature. I can’t say that they ever became “easy”, but I’m definitely not afraid to get under the bar anymore. One thing I realized that helped me get over the fear is that pretty much every squat rack has a set of adjustable safety bars to catch the bar. If you were to get stuck at the bottom the only thing that could possibly get hurt is your ego.
As for looking like an idiot, you can take comfort in knowing that nobody does it perfectly in the beginning. You don’t drive like an expert the first time behind the wheel and squatting is no different. The seasoned veterans of the gym will know this and they understand your pain. They were once in your position. Of course, there are those who have never squatted who might poke fun at you, but they’ll never be blessed with a set of buns that the Pillsbury Doughboy would be proud of.
3. Lack of Knowledge
Another part of the fear people experience is not knowing exactly what to do once they step into the squat rack. In an attempt to help rid you of your fear I’m going to provide an extensive set of instructions on how to squat safely and effectively. If you don’t pay attention to this you WILL look like an idiot.
The Setup
If you’ve ever watched a cooking show on TV you’ll know just how much easier it is to get things done with everything setup properly in advance. All the ingredients are premeasured, prechopped, and ready to go. Compared to the normal kitchen, where the setup is rarely quite as extensive, everything tends to go much more smoothly.
“Make sure you setup properly or BAM…you’ll regret it”
The same is true of the squat. If you take the time to prepare, your form will be more solid and you’ll execute the exercise like a pro. Unlike the cooking shows where someone else undoubtedly does the prep work, you’re going to need to do your own with the squat. Here’s what to do.
1. Set the safety bars. Inside the rack squat as low as you can and put the bars about an inch lower than your shoulders. If you get stuck you’ll simply have to let go of the bar.
2. Grab onto the bar making sure that your hands are at the same distance from the center on each side. A good starting point is to put your pinky fingers on the rings on either side of the bar.
3. Pull the shoulder blades tight together to form a “shelf” for the bar to rest on.
4. Step under the bar and place the bar across the shelf on the upper back. Make certain that you’re in the center of the bar. In this case an inch means a lot so take the time to position yourself properly.
5. Place both feet side by side in a squatting position. Do not attempt to lift the bar with one foot in front of the other. You will get folded like an accordion. See concern above about looking like an idiot.
6. Lock the spine in a neutral position. During the squat there should be no rounding of the back. Your natural arch should remain throughout the lift although you’re going to have to fight to keep it that way.
7. Look straight ahead. Think about a time when you were driving and turned your head to see something out the side window only to find yourself drifting in that direction. Your body wants to follow your eyes. If you look down your spine will bend. This is bad. Keep your eyes ahead of you.
The Squat
Now you’re set up tighter than Scrooge’s wallet and you’re ready to squat. Take a deep breath and focus on sitting back into the squat. Your weight should be on your heels and you should lower your body backwards almost as though you were sitting into a chair. Continue lowering yourself until the backs of your legs touch your calves. There is some debate as to whether the squat should stop when the knees reach 90 degrees, but without getting into too much scientific mumbo jumbo it is safe to say that it is absolutely fine to squat all the way to the bottom. In fact, the deeper you go the more your glutes will fire and the greater your butt will look in the mirror. As a side benefit, you’ll probably drive a few undereducated personal trainers crazy by doing so.
Without bouncing, start to come up from the bottom by focusing on spreading the floor with your feet. Pushing outwards will keep your knees from coming inwards. Be forewarned that the bottom half of the squat is the most difficult. For this reason it is “affectionately” known in powerlifting circles as “coming out of the hole”. In my opinion, this is the biggest reason why a lot of people don’t squat to the bottom. However, keep your eye on the prize and remember that you’ll see the big payoff in your jeans. If you feel stuck just keep pushing. Once you make it out of the hole the rest of the ascent is easier. Stand all the way up and keep the body tight for the next rep.
Sometimes when performing the squat people have a tendency for their hips to rise too early and they end up bending forward. To overcome this, make absolutely sure that you’re not bouncing at the bottom as this can be the primary cause of the problem. Also, as you begin to come up from the bottom push back with the head into the bar BEFORE you push with your legs. It might feel awkward at first, but I assure you you’re not going to fall backwards. You’ll quite easily stand up with a much straighter position than before.
Having completed your first rep I can guarantee you that it only gets better from here. With practice you’ll soon be comfortable under the bar and the results will soon follow. If you can accept that it’s going to be difficult and overcome the fear of doing something unfamiliar you’ll be handsomely rewarded.
Ladies, you’ll finally have a skirt worthy pair of legs and gentleman, you’ll be able to tell the colonel to stop calling me for your phone number.
May 22nd, 2007
Yesterday Mark Young was featured again perfoming a side plank in the Hamilton Spectator. What’s even more exciting is that they’ve asked us for 8 more exercises to be published over the next several months. In fact, they’ll be in our facility next week for the photo shoot. Hamilton residents keep your eyes on the GO Section
To see the latest exercise contribution click HERE.
May 17th, 2007
