Cary Raffle Certified Personal Trainer - NYC

No, it's not a blog posting about weird exercises. It's about the ECCENTRIC or negative phase of resistance exercises.  This often under appreciated and ignored part of an exercise is important for: 1. Increasing strength  2. Increasing muscle size 3. Giving you delayed onset muscle soreness 4. Producing maximal power, ie, in plyometric movements 5. Rehabilitating injuries like tendonitis and protecting muscles, connective tissues and joints from future injuries Read on for some simple ideas and changes you can make to help improve your exercise program  ... whether you want to get bigger, stronger, more powerful, reduce the risk of injury , or speed recovery. Often left unloved Consider the Chest Press. Most people think this exercise is all about the pushing (or CONCENTRIC contraction).  Have you ever just let the weights fall after the last push or pull?   If so, you've eliminated the ECCENTRIC part of the exercise. In a set of 12 repetitions,...

We're on track for ta hot summer, and with everybody sweating more, many of you have asked about hydration and fluid replacement strategies. This posting  reviews common myths about perspiration and provides hydration and fluid replacement guidelines to enhance performance and avoid heat related illnesses.  Information comes from authoritative sources including position stands of The American College of Sports Medicine and peer reviewed publications of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. MYTHS ABOUT PERSPIRATION #1 - The More I Sweat the More Calories I Burn.  FALSE.   Perspiration is part of our body's cooling system, it does not necessarily require burning calories or correlate with caloric expenditures.  Example:  stand outside on a very humid 90 degree day, and you will sweat profusely.  Run indoors in a very dry 65 degree environment, and you may hardly break a sweat. #2 - I Can Sweat The Weight Off.  FALSE....

How many kinds of pushups can you think of?  A generic pushup is included in the new Jump Start Program - now some of you may pushups a bit challenging, others may find it boring or not particularly challenging.   How do you make a push up harder?  Make it less stable so you have to use your deep core muscles more.  After all, a push up is a plank with an up and down motion. My own clients range from those doing "girl pushups" to those doing push ups on 2 stability balls or 4 medicine balls.  For an illustrated guide to 16 more different variations of the pushup from easier to harder  click here .  

Yes this sounds almost too good to be true. Interval Training involves alternating between higher and lower intensity in your cardio workout. It could be right for you if you have a good cardio base and want to improve performance or results. If you're just beginning to train, we start by getting your cardio base established first, and prepare your body for the demands of this training. A cardio base is usually established with moderate exercise, 60-70% of your maximum heart rate or a rate of perceived exertion of about 5-6 on a scale of 10*. (A simple estimate of your maximum heart rate is 220-your age, I can give you a better estimate if you give me your age and resting pulse). Research shows that Interval Training burns more calories than training at a steady rate, partly because it raises your metabolism for 2-3 hours after you stop exercising. The scientific term for this phenomenon is EPOC for Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption. It also seems to cause molecular chang...

There are only 2 proven ways to lose body fat: Burn more calories than you consume or consume fewer calories than you burn. Most of use a combination of both - exercise and watching our diets. What about watching carbs? Sure, if you load up on empty calories your body may crave more nutrition and you'll end up eating more, but protein shakes are also loaded with calories that you may not need. I've got some tips, by no means a complete list but just my personal top 10: Cary's Top 10 Fat Burning Tips 1. Eat a good breakfast. Numerous studies have shown that people who eat breakfast do a better job losing weight and keeping it off. Breakfast skippers tend to make up lost calories later in the day. They don't have the energy to work out as hard, and the body doesn't produce the enzymes need to burn fat during their workout. One theory is that if you workout hard on an empty stomach, the body goes into "survival mode" - sparing fat and burning mu...