Cary Raffle Certified Personal Trainer - NYC

Calculate your personal zone, remember that higher intensity is not necessarily better .

It’s that one essential workout that you’ll commit to memory, keep in your back pocket or save on your cell phone. You’ll know the exercises you need to do, the order of exercises; and you’ll easily adapt it to your changing fitness level and goals using the chart below. You’ll get better results too, because you’ll waste less time st the gym - you’ve got a plan and you’re sticking to it. The program is designed as a circuit of compound or super sets. You work opposing body parts, with continual flow from one exercise to the next, rest only as needed. This maximizes your time and can also help burn more calories each time you Workout. Beginners focus on building endurance, and do 1-2 sets of 15 repetitions; if you’re doing 2 sets, repeat the super set before going onto the next exercises. If you’re working out on your own, weight selection is trial and error: if you can only do 12 reps, it’s too much weight, if you can do 20 reps it’s not enough weight. Goal Sets...

If you feel like you've been stretching a tight muscle forever and not making progress, you're not alone.  Most people do static stretches and some myofascial release (foam rolling), either on their own or in stretching or yoga classes.  These are valuable techniques but they may not be enough to get the results you want and may not target you individualized needs. Muscles become tight from extended periods of sitting and repetitive motion.  Remember isometric exercises?  Exercises where you hold a muscle in a contracted position to strengthen it? Sit in front of a computer for extended periods of time and you're doing isometrics.  Literally strengthening and shortening the hip flexors, upper trapezius, chest lats, and anterior shoulder muscles.  At the same time, you're stretching and lengthening the glutes, middle trapezius and rhomboids and shoulder external rotators. If a muscle is tight and short, the antagonist or opposite muscle is ex...

Thanks for your readership of my fitness blog. To show my appreciation, I am pleased to offer a complimentary fitness program review .  We will discuss your goals, fitness level, current program and results, and give you a chance to ask questions.  This is a must if any of the following apply: you're just starting out or returning you've been working hard but aren't getting the results you want you've plateaued  you've had an injury, medical issue, pregnancy you're bored, routine has gotten stale you aren't working with a trainer you have a special event -- wedding, trip, beach, etc. you've been a reader for some time and just have some questions Please note availability is limited and we need to schedule in advance. 

QUESTION: True or false:  to improve your cardiovascular conditioning,  get your heart rate as high as possible in aerobic exercise? ANSWER: False.  You improve your cardio condition by increasing cardiac output at lower heart rates.   Here's the mathematical equation used by doctors and exercise physiologists: Q = HR x SV Your cardiac output, Q,  is the product of your heart rate times your stroke volume - that's the amount of blood exiting the heart from the left ventricle every time it beats.   A strong heart pumps more blood with every beat.  At rest, Q is typically about 5-6 liters per minute.   During exercise it can be 3-6 times as much.   Extra Horsepower To improve your cardiovascular conditioning, we focus on improving your Stroke Volume, conditioning the muscle fibers in the heart to pump more blood each time it beats.  Think of it as adding horsepower to a pump. We do this with a...