Hey, check out THIS workout we did the last week of our last camp:

30 jump jacks
30 hi knees
30 butt kicks
30 jump rope rotations
Repeat 2x’s

20 standing side crunches with weights (each side)
20 straight leg wood chops (each side)
1x

20 incline pushus
20 tricep dips
20 incline mountain climbers
20 deep squats (butt down, hands touch ground)
20 split squats (or reverse lunges)..alternate legs
Repeat 3x’s

REPEAT ABS again 1x

THEN BACK TO THE TOP AND REPEAT ALL OF THE ABOVE AGAIN

YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Enjoy your day of fitness! dawn

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

Good Calories, Bad Calories

All calories are not created equal; not all calories are evil—you need calories to live and have energy. A diet capable of supporting health and fitness is one that is packed with good calories. So what’s a ‘bad’ calorie? You might recognize it by another name—an empty calorie.

An empty calorie is a calorie with no nutritional value. It is a calorie largely based in fats and sugars devoid of vitamins, minerals, and important nutrients. When trying to achieve weight loss in Tempe, you should learn which calories are empty calories and try to avoid them.

Protein, carbohydrates, and fats are all macro nutrients. There are good sources of these needed dietary elements, but there are also a lot of bad sources that are nothing more than empty, useless calories.

Good calories and good sources of macro nutrients have necessary carbs, good fats, and proteins, and they also have micro-nutrients such as fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Useless, Empty Calories

The problem with empty calories is that they provide little to no energy, no restorative and constructive properties (for muscle, bone, and tissue), and add to fat stores. Very simply, empty calories have none of the necessary elements needed to support body function, workouts, and good health.

Fitness depends on having good sources of calories that also provide other needed elements and energy for working out. The right caloric sources will result in improved energy, enhanced muscle formation, and increased weight loss. Empty calories will negate these efforts, making it harder to achieve weight loss in Tempe.

How To Spot An Empty Calorie

In a hurried world it is easy to consume many empty calories throughout the course of the day and not even realize it. This can leave you feeling sluggish and thwart the best of fitness efforts. Many people trying to achieve weight loss in Tempe eat mainly empty calories and do not even know that they do it. So how can you easily spot an empty calorie?

First off, consider that all ‘junk food’ is empty calories. Avoid sugar-laden foods and refined grains (white flours). Eat natural sugars (fruits and vegetables) and whole grains. Avoid fried foods, candy, and sugary drinks (soda, but also sugary ‘energy’ drinks that are often nothing more than sugar and caffeine).

Also look out for beer and alcohol; these are sources of sugar and stored fats with nothing else to offer.

Depending on preparation, even good calories can turn empty quickly (fried foods and more). To really learn to quickly spot empty calories you need to get educated—talk to a nutritionist, your doctor, or your personal trainer. These professionals will give you the basics of good calorie consumption, help you balance out your diet and point you to reliable resources for more information about weight loss in Tempe.

Your health and well-being depend on your good diet. Reaching your fitness goals does, too. Many a person has found that simple dietary changes, a switch-over to good calorie sources rather than consuming empty calories, has made the difference between a stalled fitness campaign and reaching and exceeding fitness objectives.

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

What is the glycemic index?

The glycemic index was developed by Dr. David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto in the early 1980s. The purpose of his work was to discover the best kinds of foods for people that suffer from diabetes, a disease in which the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, the hormone responsible for breaking down foods like sugars and starches. Dr. Jenkins discovered that foods like potatoes, traditionally thought of as a complex carbohydrate, or food that was thought of as breaking down slowly, thus causing the blood sugar to rise slowly, actually lead to a rapid rise in blood sugar, which can be dangerous for a diabetic. This discovery prompted researchers to begin classifying foods by their glycemic index, or the change in blood sugar that happens after food that is high in carbohydrates is consumed.

How can it help me lose fat?

Following glycemic index diet, which encourages eating foods that have a low glycemic index and avoiding foods that have a high glycemic index, can work because eating foods that spike the insulin, or those that have a high glycemic index, and reduces glucagon, a hormone that metabolizes carbohydrates, making it harder to burn off fat. It sounds simple enough, and research has shown that it can actually work. A study was performed by researchers at the University of Sydney in 2006, in which 129 overweight young adults were split into four groups, and each group was given a different diet to follow for twelve weeks. Two diets were high in carbs and two were high in protein. In each group of two, one diet included foods with a high glycemic index and the other had foods that had a low glycemic index. Between the two high carb diets, those that followed the diet with a low glycemic index experienced nearly double the fat loss, with a very strong response in women. While those following the two high protein diets lost equal amounts of weight, there were differences in the level of good and bad cholesterol, with those following the low glycemic index diet coming out with better cholesterol levels.

The Negatives

To be honest, there aren’t any major reasons not to follow a diet including foods that have a low glycemic index, but there are some important things to keep in mind. First, the glycemic index is an average, and every body is different. It is impossible to predict how any given food will react in your body, so keep this in mind if you don’t see the results you wished for not happening right away. Secondly, the most important thing to keep in mind when changing your diet with the focus of losing fat is that you still need to burn off more calories than you consume – just because a food has a low glycemic index doesn’t mean that you can eat tons and tons of it. Finally, if you’re already following a Tempe weight loss and fitness program, throwing the glycemic index into the mix can make planning your meals much more time consuming and confusing that it needs to be.

The Bottom Line

Whatever your fitness level, a Tempe weight loss trainer will keep you motivated throughout your entire weight loss process. They will show you exciting and new exercise routines to keep boredom at bay! There is no better time than the present to hire a Tempe weight loss professional to make your goals a reality!

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

Weight Loss Doesn’t Mean Fat Loss

When most of us say that we want to lose weight, what we really mean is that we want to reduce to amount of fat in our bodies to create a leaner silhouette. Most of us know that the fundamental principle of losing weight is that if we burn more calories than we consume, the result will be weight loss. But where is this weight coming from? Let’s take a closer look at how our bodies process the calories that we consume.

First, the body converts what we eat into energy, which in turn gives us the power to go about our daily lives. When we consume more calories than we burn, the resulting calories are converted into fat. On the other end of the scale, when we consume less calories than we burn, we lose weight but we also lose energy. Unfortunately, the weight loss doesn’t necessarily come from the fat, but the energy stores that are depleted are made up proteins and carbohydrates, which are found in muscles. This means that the muscles get smaller, the metabolism lowers, and once the body has adapted to the lower energy levels, the body will cease to continue losing weight.

The bottom line is that simply decreasing the amount of calories consumed may result in short term weight loss, but the weight won’t necessarily come from fat. Plus, if the calories are restricted too much, the body could even start storing fat as a preventative measure, because it doesn’t know when it will start receiving normal levels of calories again.

Getting Rid of Fat Instead of Muscle

So what’s the right procedure to get rid of the unwanted fat? The answer is simple – begin a nutrition and exercise program with Tempe health. Your body still needs enough calories to keep your energy levels high, but you can eat a great deal more and keep your appetite satisfied with a healthy, balanced diet than you can with a diet full of junk or fast food. The other important factor is a balanced fitness routine comprising of both cardio and strength training. Both cardio and strength training are important for burning away fat and increasing muscle mass, not to mention increasing the metabolism.

Measure Your Body Fat

There are several ways of measuring your body fat, which is often a better gauge of your overall health than a scale. Calculate your Body Mass Index or have a Tempe health specialist calculate your body fat with a skinfold caliper or simply measure yourself with a tape measure and keep track of the results. The best way to gauge your body fat is to simply look in the mirror, take note of how your clothes fit, and most importantly, how you feel. Feeling great is really the best result of following a Tempe health and fitness program.

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

Walking Routines

Walking is a great, balanced exercise for people of all ages, but those that truly wish to benefit from this routine will have to do more than take a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. Walking at a faster pace than normal will help burn calories and keep the muscles working. Picking up the pace can be as simple as lengthening the strides and keeping the arms moving – not necessarily swinging but by bending the arms at the elbow.

For older folks, walking is a great way to help keep the body in shape, but younger people may not gain as many benefits and might want to augment their Tempe fitness program with another exercise. Walking may also be difficult for those that suffer from joint or muscle problems.

Swimming Routines

Those with joint or muscle problems may benefit from a swimming routine, which works the entire body without putting undue stress on joints and muscles. Swimming is great for those that want to work at their own pace, and beginners can slowly build up their endurance and eventually be able to swim continuously for as much as thirty minutes at a time.

However, if the goal is weight loss, swimming may not be as affective as choosing a workout routine outside the water. One of the benefits of working out outside of water is that the body temperature rises and the metabolism is increased for upwards of eighteen hours after exercise, but exercising in water results in the water conducting the heat away from the body, which means that the body temperature will not be raised and neither will the metabolism.

Resistance Routines

If your goals include increasing strength and muscle mass, doing a resistance routine may be the best choice. Not necessarily the best choice for losing weight or improving cardiovascular fitness, resistance training can at least help maintain body weight, as the muscles will use more calories than the fat. Resistance training can also be increased in difficulty with added repetitions or less time between exercises.

Trying to decide the best path to take isn’t always as simple as choosing a favorite sport or routine. Consulting a Tempe fitness trainer, who can assess your present fitness, strengths and weaknesses, can be a valuable asset to any one seeking to improve their health. Not only can a Tempe fitness trainer set you on the best path to reach your goals, but he will be with you every step of the way, to make sure you work in the safest way possible and to encourage you.

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

5 Tips For Preventing Diet Missteps

To increase the odds that you will stick to your diet this time around, achieve your Tempe Arizona weight loss and nutrition goals, and build up eating habits that will last for overall weight control and health, put these five tips into action.

1. Work Out. Exercise holds a number of advantages for those seeking Tempe Arizona weight loss: it helps you control your appetite, it gives you something better to be doing, it places focus on your health and fitness, and it helps you see faster results of dieting efforts. What’s more, working out places increased demands on your energy, so if you can commit to a workout you enjoy, you can commit to fueling that activity by providing the right diet needed for working out.
2. Work With A Personal Trainer. A personal trainer is really more like a personal advocate. It is the job of the personal trainer to see you reach (and move beyond) your fitness goals by helping you move towards Tempe Arizona weight loss. Trainers accomplish this by teaching you about good nutrition, supporting you and motivating you, and reminding you of your own wants and needs when you’ve forgotten.
3. Write It Down. What you eat, that is. Keep a journal of what you eat each day so that you don’t miss a beat. Revise your list at the end of the day and see where you succeeded and where you need to improve. It is helpful to share your journal with your personal trainer and nutritionist—many of us think we are eating well when we are not, and an experienced nutrition expert can help you find the hidden foods and ingredients that might be spelling diet disaster for you despite your best efforts.
4. Get Educated. As we’ve said, many of us think we are eating well when we are not. Our understanding of food and nutrition is increasing. Manufacturers are also getting better at hiding bad foods under good labels. Read and seek professional advice about Tempe Arizona weight loss to learn more about what really is and really isn’t good for your diet.
5. Maintain Balance. In dieting, balance is key—balance portions, balance foods, and balance timing. Eat a well-balanced meal (which you’re going to learn about!) and eat as often as you should so that you are never starving and binging to catch up.

To Err Is Human

Follow these tips and you will be well on your way to Tempe Arizona weight loss. As always, remember that it is human to err, and so a diet slip-up is not an excuse to give up. Seek the support of your friends and family, nutritionist if you have one, and personal trainer. With these people on your side and this plan for preventing dieting difficulties, you’ll soon be reaping the rewards of your new and improved dieting efforts!

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

A Tempe Arizona personal trainer says…Wrong! Breakfast is arguably the most important meal of the day. Think about it – you’ve just gone without food for twelve hours. Your body needs to refuel several times a day in order to be in top shape, especially after not having any fuel over the longest period of a twenty-four hour day. Don’t forget the roots of the word breakfast; you’re literally breaking the fast of the last twelve hours. In this article, we’ll discuss why breakfast is so important and how you can improve your health simply by having breakfast every day.

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

Why do we need breakfast?

There are plenty of reasons that our bodies function better when we’ve eaten breakfast. First of all, breakfast restores our sugar levels after not eating for up to twelve hours. We need our sugar levels to rise in order to have energy to do the things we need to accomplish during the first part of the day. Thanks to this energy boost, we are better able to concentrate on the task at hand. But the best news about breakfast is that it benefits people that are trying to improve their health and even lose weight!

It sounds too good to be true, but the fact is that breakfast also raises the metabolism, which controls how efficiently your body burns calories. Plus, it’s very hard to get in all of the nutrients your body needs by only relying on two meals a day. Finally, people that eat breakfast are much less likely to be tempted by snacks in the middle of the morning…nothing makes a Tempe Arizona personal trainer happier! Even the smallest snack that you can find in the vending machine at work is likely to be higher in fat and calories than what you could have consumed in a healthy breakfast, and not nearly as filling.

A balanced breakfast

Ideally, a balanced breakfast includes protein, grains, fruits or vegetables and dairy. This sounds like a tall order for someone that hasn’t been in the habit of eating breakfast, but it’s okay to start off slowly by adding one thing from each group in the beginning and build your way up to a balanced breakfast. A simple breakfast could include a hard boiled egg, a glass of orange juice, and a bowl of cereal with whole grains with milk.

No more excuses!

Those that haven’t been in the habit of eating breakfast may find it difficult in the beginning, but there simply aren’t any more acceptable excuses for skipping this important meal. You don’t have the time? Breakfast doesn’t have to be a formal occasion; there are plenty of breakfast foods that can be eaten on the run, like cereal bars, fruit, and there are even healthy alternatives offered at most fast food restaurants, such as bagels or English muffins. You don’t like traditional breakfast fare? That’s alright, too. You can get the same benefits by eating a veggie breakfast burrito, crackers and cottage cheese, a baked potato, and even a slice of cold vegetable pizza with a glass of milk is beneficial…not every Tempe Arizona personal trainer will tell you that!

Even if you just don’t like eating in the morning, try breaking up your breakfast into two smaller meals. For example, you could eat a hard boiled egg and a glass of juice before you leave for work, and take a break at the office an hour later to eat an apple and a handful of pecans.

It is widely accepted today that children that eat breakfast do better in school, because they are better able to concentrate and are less likely to be tired by the middle of the morning. It looks like these clever kids could teach us a thing or two! If you are ready to take your health and fitness seriously, contact a Tempe Arizona personal trainer to get started!

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

What is a Crash Diet and Why is it Bad?

Crash diets are famous for promising unbelievable results with minimum effort in a short period of time, but what do they entail exactly? Most crash diets have a poor diet and questionable supplements in common. They usually involve drastically cutting back on the number of calories you consume during the day, and sometimes have complementary supplements which are nothing but diuretics. While practitioners may notice rapid weight loss at the beginning of such a diet, often the weight lost is nothing but water weight and, if continued, will result in muscle loss as well.

When you follow an extremely low calorie diet, the first thing that happens is that your body uses up its stores of carbohydrate, also known as glycogen, as well as the water that is stored with it, in the liver and muscles. This is what prompts the weight loss in the beginning. Once these carbohydrates are used up, the body starts using proteins in the muscles for energy, which can leave you feeling tired and irritable.

Soon, the metabolism slows down, putting your body into a kind of starvation mode, because it doesn’t know when it will start receiving healthy nutrients again. Then, when you go back to your previous eating habits, you’re likely to not only put back on the weight you’ve lost, but add more pounds as well, because the metabolism is still too slow to keep up with the new intake of food.

Worst Case Scenarios

Those that put themselves of a constant cycle of crash dieting and eating poorly are doing a lot of damage to their bodies which could result in potentially life threatening illnesses. Due to their restrictive natures, crash diets could prevent you from eating healthy foods with nutrients that your body needs to function properly, such as iron, B12, potassium or sodium. These could lead to deficiencies that can cause other problems, like nerve and muscle functions and heart attacks. They also cause a great deal of problems for organs like the liver and kidneys, because without the proper nutrients, the organs can’t function properly. Finally, not getting enough calcium in the diet can lead to the development of osteoporosis, which makes bones brittle and more prone to fractures.

Eat a Balanced Diet for Better Results

If you’re trying for a plan that will work better than quick weight loss in Tempe, resist the temptation to follow a crash diet and look for healthier alternatives instead. Gradually change your eating habits and your proportion sizes so your metabolism won’t drop too quickly, and pair your new eating habits with a fitness routine, and you’ll be losing weight in no time. Think of your new good habits as a lifestyle change instead of a temporary diet.

You may not lose weight as quickly as a crash diet can promise, but you’ll be doing it in a much safer way and the weight is more likely to stay off. For a safe and longer lasting alternative to quick weight loss in Tempe, consider hiring a personal trainer. Personal trainers ensure that you will achieve your long term goals by changing up your routines and keeping you moving.

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

Fitness—What Your Genes Have To Do With It

Genetics determine everything about you, including how you will respond to food and exercise. This may help explain why, despite your best efforts, every exercise regimen you have tried has not produced the desired result for you. A personal trainer in Tempe understand that genetics play a significant role in your health and fitness will help you find out what will and will not work for you to reach the specific fitness objectives you are after.

A personal trainer in Tempe knows that your genes determine what the structure of your body will be, how naturally strong you can potentially become, how fast and flexible you’ll be; they also dictate what shape your body will be, as well as things like how your body will respond to certain types of exercise and overall athletic/exercise performance (which explains why there are people who are natural athletes and those who are not). Research has shown that some people are simply more genetically prone to be fit. Even at a mitochondrial level, they are able to better process oxygen and energy and translate that into power for the body.

So what does this mean for you personally? Are you destined to be unfit? Not at all. A personal trainer in Tempe can help!

Environment Trumps Genetics In Health And Fitness

While researchers have shown that weight control and fitness may be easier for some people to achieve, it has also shown that the real factor is environment and lifestyle. While not every person can be an Olympic athlete, every person can be fit and healthy. The growing incidence of obesity across the nation is not attributable to genetic change—it is directly the result of lifestyle.

While it is helpful to understand a bit about genetic limitation, genetics are no excuse for poor health and fitness. Understanding your body type, how you respond to certain exercises, and what your physical abilities are is important to structuring an effective and safe exercise plan. By learning about your genetic predisposition, you can work with a personal trainer in Tempe to:

• Develop an exercise plan that is safe for you
• Develop a plan that targets difficult areas of the body and maximizes others
• Set realistic fitness and weight loss goals that you can achieve
• Develop a realistic body image
• Prepare you for the work involved in reaching desired results
• Diversify your fitness routine to achieve desired results

Just as no two bodies are the same genetically, the most effective fitness routines will not be the same (although they may be similar) for two given people. Working with a personal trainer in Tempe and developing the best fitness program that will respond to your genetic predisposition takes a bit of time and a lot of understanding of the function of exercises so that the right type and quantity of each is incorporated into a balanced, effective fitness plan for your genes.

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!

Personal trainers in Tempe say…Wrong! Skipping over the stretching part of your warm up exercises or even during your cool down is not only a bad habit to start, but could also be dangerous to your body and lead to injury. Stretching is a very important part of your work out routine, whether you’re walking or preparing to lift weights. In this article, we’ll take a look at why stretching is such an important part of your workout routine and why you should always stretch both before and after a workout.

Dawn Franklin’s Outdoor Bootcamp in Phoenix will help women of all ages reach their fitness goals. Serving women in Ahwatukee, Chandler, Phoenix and Tempe, Dawn’s Fitness bootcamp is a fun and interactive way to get in shape! Contact Us to get started today!

Why Stretching is Good For You

There are a whole host of reasons that stretching is good for you. Muscles that are tired are have not be in use are usually tight and constricted. Stretching helps keep the muscles flexible, not just for work out routines, but for everyday tasks. Stretching promotes good posture, helps protect your joints, and leaves you feeling relaxed and free of tension. In fact, stretching has so much going for it that even those that stretch on days that they do not work out can reap the benefits.

However, overdoing it can be just as harmful as not stretching at all. Personal trainers in Tempe stress that stretching should never be painful! Every body is different so don’t judge yourself against the person stretching next to you. If you’ve stretched to the point of pain, back off a little and hold the new position for twenty seconds or more.

Stretching During Warm Up

It is important to remember that stretching is an important part of the warm up, but it is not all there is to warming up! Recently, personal trainers in Tempe have started recommending that a ten minute warm up period should precede any stretching. This is because the muscles shouldn’t be stretched while they are still “cold,” or before any physical activity has taken place. The warm up period of movement helps encourage the blood to flow to the muscles, sonovial fluid to “grease” up the joints, and get the heart rate increasing. Stretching before the body has had time to warm up a little can cause strains or tears in the muscles, which is exactly what you’re trying to avoid by stretching in the first place!

Stretching During Cool Down

Personal trainers in Tempe stress that just like during the warm up period, stretching is integral to the cool down period. All of the blood that is pumping through the muscles during the work out can pool there if the muscles are not stretched; stretching encourages the blood to return to the body’s organs. A good stretch after a work out can also discourage lactic acid from building up in the muscles, which can help promote the feeling of soreness the next day. Most importantly, stretching helps relax the body and relieve tension, which means that you’re likely to feel much better after your work out than when you started!

Serving: Phoenix, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Chandler, Foothills and More!