Cary Raffle Certified Personal Trainer - NYC

Proper nutrition before and after competition or workouts can improve performance and results and in recovery. Many people today are putting too much emphasis on protein. Your muscles need carbohydrates for fuel and after a hard workout, they need to replace depleted glycogen - glycogen is the energy source that your muscles use and it most readily comes from carbohydrates. PRE EXERCISE Eating before exercise can be tricky and very individual, you want to make sure that you can tolerate different foods at different times. Don't try new things the day of a big race or competition, and be aware of your body's signs. In general, you want to start with an empty stomach but plenty of energy flowing in your blood and stored in your muscles. Some people prefer a light snack within the hour before exercise, some prefer a larger snack about 2-3 hours before, others perform better with a large meal. It is also important to have enough fluids, and avoid greasy foods that can upse...

Maybe you've been stuck on XpressLine for a while and aren't getting the results you want, or you've advanced your program but need a few new moves to kick it up a notch. I've got 4 words for you: TOTAL BODY EXERCISE CIRCUIT! This mini program empasizes two factors that will maximize your calorie burn: Exercises that use multiple joints and muscles groups simultaneously. The more muslces you use, the more claories you burn, especially when we incorporate the larger muscle groups (legs, back, chest - especially legs). You'll want to be as flexible as possible to begin, so try the program above as a warmup, and make sure to keep your abdominal core engaged throughout. Circuit Training to keep the heart rate up. Bring your water bottle along, this program is designed to minimize the rest period between exercises to keep your heart pumping. The faster yoru heart beats, the more calories you burn. Be careful to stay in your comfort zone here, if you don't h...

We've talked about it before in this space. Most of the clients and gym members I meet work at a desk all day long, seated and leaning over to reach their keyboards and computer monitors. Many also spend long hours on cars, trains, buses and planes. Their bodies become tight in front and some are virtually locked in that seated position head and shoulders forward position. For all of you, this is a fairly simple mini program to address the most typical issues as summarized below: TIGHT/SHORT MUSCLES: Calves, Iliotibial Band (side of leg), Adductors (Inner thigh), Hip Flexors/Quads, Piriformis, Chest, Anterior Deltoids and Internal Rotators (Front of Shoulder), Upper Traps, Lats WEAK/EXTENDED MUSCLES: Glutes Medius and Maximus, Deep Abdominal Core (mainly Transversus Abdominus) , Lower Traps and Rhomboids, Shoulder External Rotator Follow the link below to a flexibility program designed to stretch/lengthen the tight muscles and strengthen the weak/extended muscles. This program is n...

by Cary Raffle MS CPT Master Trainer Hardly an hour goes by at the gym that I don't find someone doing something that is not really helping them and might eventually hurt them, including: • Incorrect Exercise Form • Inappropriate Exercise Selection • Obsolete Exercises • Ineffective Exercise Programs • Things that Look Good but Don't Make any Sense (most of these don't really look good they just think they do) • Poor Nutritional Habits This is the first time I have attempted this project, I've searched the internet and the books and can't find anything else like it all in one place. I'll be working on adding to it over time, and I invite you to clip the list and email me with any suggested additions for future editions. NO BEHIND NECK PULLDOWNS! NO BEHIND NECK SHOULDER PRESSES! NO UPRIGHT ROWS (FRONT ROWS)! You may as well kiss your rotator cuff goodbye. These exercises are obsolete - they have been shown to cause injury or impingement of the rotato...

If you want great looking abs, the first thing you need to do is reduce the layer of fat covering your abdominal muscles. The only way to burn fat is to have a calorie deficit: either burn more calories than you eat or eat less calories than you burn. You can do this through diet, exercise, or a combination of both. Resistance training of your large muscles - legs, chest and back - will maximize your calorie burn and may also help increase your resting metabolism as you gain lean muscle. Abdominal Exercises strengthen your muscles but are not effective in reducing abdominal fat. You can have very strong abdominal muscles covered by a layer of fatty tissue. It is more efficient to spend the majority of your limited exercise time burning the fat than strengthening the abs. You cannot spot reduce - working the muscle in an area does not reduce the fat in that area, fat does not "turn into to muscle" they are two different types of tissue. Most people will see definition i...

Research from the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University, commissioned by the American Council on Exercise. This study measured activation of the abdominals muscles - the rectus abdominus (6-pack muscle) and obliques - for 13 different exercises. The three most effective in terms of activating muscles are the bicycle, captains chair (leg raises) and stability ball crunches. Some equipment, like the ab rocker, was far less effective than even traditional cruches. The study also reported that most people are unable to separately trigger activation of the upper and lower ab muscles - suggesting that the muscles act together and not independently. To read the full story click here. Feel free to let me know if you have questions.

by Cary Raffle With all that's going on, its no wonder that so many people are more stressed out than ever. Last month, one of my colleagues and I conducted a 'StressBusters" seminar at one of the major corporations downtown - 20 minutes of stretching and exercising to get people's minds off their troubles and get their bodies moving. According to the American Council on Exercise, stress can help you feel less anxious, relax you, make you feel better about yourself and make you eat better. They say that just 20 minutes of aerobic activity a day can significantly improver your ability to control stress. Yoga and recreational sports are also recommended. Ideally, get away from your office or even company gym to reduce work related stress ( although we've developed a 20 minute StressBusters session that works pretty well in a conference room). If you tend to work in large groups, ACE suggests avoiding crowded classes, however if you work alone the social contact i...

By Cary Raffle The idea of repetitive motion injuries - more recently referred to as repetitive strain injuries - is well accepted for assembly line workers, but we aren't quite as aware of it when thinking about executives, professionals, or even our workouts at the gym. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is probably the best know among office workers. This is prevalent among people who use a mouse; the nerve in the wrist become compressed from constant pressure and can cause a shooting or radiating pain up the arm. Avoiding pressure on the wrist and using a gel pad can help prevent this problem. People sitting all day frequently develop hip pain because the muscles are flexed all day long. People rounded over the computer keyboard have shoulder pain. Sometimes it is a repetitive movement, sometimes it is from being in a fixed position or posture like when you get up from sitting on a long air plane flight. Below I will share a few stories and solutions that have helped other people with thes...

By Cary Raffle Almost everyone has muscle imbalances. A few simple observations and movement tests tell a fitness professional which muscles are tight or overactive and need stretching and which are extended or underactive and need stretching (these are included in your fitness assessment). Below are a few of the more common observations and indicated stretches and strengthening recommendations to give you an example. Observation Shortened Muscles to Stretch Extended Muscles to Strengthen Feet turn out, shin splints, pain on bottom of foot (plantar fascitis), Achilles tendonitis* Calves, Quadriceps, IT Band/TFL Anterior Tibialis (shin), Gluteals, Medial Hamstrings Shoulders round, soreness in mid/upper back, forward head Chest, front of Shoulder, Lats, Neck, Upper Traps Middle and Lower Traps and Rhomboids Excessive forward lean at hip Hip flexors and Quadriceps Gluteals, Hamstrings, Abdominal Core *Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasicitis a...

by Cary Raffle You may not think that office work is physically demanding, but it takes a toll on your body! Locked in Seated Position Have you ever gotten up from your desk or after a long trip and felt like you were locked into seated position? Most of you spend many hours sitting. At a desk or table, hunched over a keyboard, leaning forward to see a computer screen, traveling on trains, busses and airplanes. For hours at a time, your hips are flexed, your shoulder muscles are tight, your glutes and middle/lower back muscles are all stretched out. Then, you want to come into the gym and workout or run or play ball outside. It's a setup for inefficient use of your muscles and potential injury. A Set Up for Injury Tight muscles can have limited range of motion and reduced blood flow, which leads to decreased work capacity Muscle imbalances result as the wrong muscles are recruited to do the work. Here is one example: hunching over a keyboard tighten the muscles in the chest and fro...