10 Health and Fitness Tips by Huntington Beach personal trainer Davey Anderson to make your new year’s weight loss resolutions happen!
One
The number one thing you can do to lose weight, get fit, feel good, and look great this year is to make a plan. Make a list of your goals and then write down what it takes and what you will do to work towards those goals. Create a clear vision of what you want for yourself, how you will get it, and then do your best to stick to your plan.
Two
is for 20 minutes of cardio a day. Go out and shoot for at least 20 minutes. Then if you’re feeling good, go for 5 or 10 more. But remember to boost up the intensity and fat burning by adding in some internals or burst training.
Three
is for strength and resistance training 3 days per week. The absolute best way to exercise is to do a full-body workout for about 45 minutes, 3 days per week.
Four
Decrease your chance of cancer by more than 40% by eating whole grains and avoiding processed (white) foods.
Five
Make sure you are getting vigorous physical activity a minimum of 5 days each week. This can be exercising, playing with kids, hiking for fun, or even house and yard work if you are moving fast enough to raise your heart rate. And, of course my boot camp at the park in Huntington Beach definitely counts for vigorous activity.
Six
is for the 6 portions of fresh, raw fruits and veggies you should be eating every day. Hey that’s one fresh serving with each of your daily meals. Sound familiar?
Seven
Try and eat your last meal before 7pm, and do your best to avoid excess carbohydrates with this meal. Your body doesn’t require very much energy while you are sleeping and extra calories tend to be stored for tomorrow (body fat, ack!).
Eight
is for 80%. The Japanese have a saying hara ha chibu, which translated means “eat until 80% full. This cultural habit is actually a principle of longevity and a good strategy to avoid obesity, unlike the American pastime of all-you-can-eat buffets and “super size it” at Mickey D’s. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being famished, and 10 being packed full, try to eat at a 3 when you’re not starving and stop eating before a 10, where you are completely gorged.
Nine
Drink at least 9 cups of water each day. When you are drinking enough water, you will lose weight faster and feel much better, I guarantee it! Water balances your body’s chemistry, aids in digestion and elimination, and hydrates your skin and muscles. So be sure to drink plenty of water before and during workouts.
Ten
is for trainer. You are ten times more likely to reach your health and fitness goals with the help of a personal trainer. That said, you may want to consider hiring a professional to help you stay on track with your new year’s resolutions this year.
I’d love to help you with your weight loss plan, show you how to train properly, and teach you the best way to eat for fast fat burning. Call or email me anytime: 714-881-3333 davey@ocbeachbodies.com
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Motivation by on Jan 6th, 2010. Comment. 
Personal training and weight loss in Huntington Beach
Tank Top or Twinkies?
Come on now, this is Orange County, California. Year-round, I’m almost always dressed like I’ve just come from the beach.
I know you guys want to look good in a tank top and shorts. Sooo…
Think about it like this: Everything that you put in your mouth had to be accounted for. Whether you burn it off with exercise, or those extra calories go for a ride along in the saddle bags, everything counts.
It’s like that one guy put it, “If you eat fat, greasy food, you’re gonna be a fat, greasy dude!” You are what you eat. It’s true! Are you eating lean and clean, or are you chomping on jelly donuts? Yeah, yeah, you know that. But here’s the point.
You have to set your priorities, and the follow them.
If you want to be looking good, you can’t keep eating bad. I’m tired of all the excuses and the “I know, I know, but’s…”
Now I realize that some of you are already thinking, “This guy’s no fun!” But I assure you that it’s really not all that bad. In fact, well worth it! Trust me, I still am able enjoy all kinds of food and drink, and would you believe not all of it is healthy? Yes, every now and then I even still eat junk food!
Let me remind you, it’s not all about the “No’s.” For me it is thought process more like, “Sure, I could if I wanted to. But I don’t really want to because I would rather have great-looking abs this summer.” It’s just that I value something different than the temporary pleasure of eating some unhealthy food. Not everyone is the same way and that is fine. But in your quest to look and feel better, remember a few points.
Remind yourself of your health and fitness goals often, especially when tempted to cheat.
Plan your healthy meals, and plan your unhealthy ones too. Don’t just go to the drive-thru off of a whim because you were hungry and didn’t have your snacks.
Don’t beat yourself up when you fail. It happens, get over it, enjoy your food, learn from the experience, and try and put together a plan to do better in the next situation.
Please, just make healthy choices. No excuses.
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Metabolism, Nutrition and Diet by on Jan 4th, 2010. Comment.
Weight Loss in Huntington Beach
Book Review: Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Although some parts of the book about blistered my ears, I enjoyed reading Skinny Bitch. The fiery discourse on how Americans need to wake up and smell the coffee (but don’t drink it!) about what kind of garbage they are putting down their throats is very entertaining. I jotted down some things that stood out to me, but didn’t comment too much about my personal viewpoint, leaving the review a bit more neutral. Enjoy the notes and the quotes!
Introduction
Are you sick and tired of being fat? You don’t need to starve yourself, hold a degree, or spend all day in the gym—just use your head! This book is not about a diet but a way of life. It’s time to reclaim you body and your mind.
Chapter 1: Give it up!
Chapter one is a shotgun approach to shoot down all of our dirty vices, and pleads with us to “Use your head!” You need to get healthy. Healthy equals skinny. Fat equals unhealthy. So give up your unhealthy crap! Junk food, smoking, and drinking are all making you fat. Beer is for frat boys, not skinny bitches. Soda is liquid Satan and there is nothing in soda that should be put in your body. Diet soda is even worse.
Artificial sweeteners have been blamed for a slew of maladies, and perhaps you have a lumpy ass because you are preserving your fat cells with diet soda! Water helps with the elimination of all the sh*t you eat, Read more on Book Review: Skinny Bitch…
Filed under Book Reviews, Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Motivation, Nutrition and Diet by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Eating right and proper training will boost your metabolism
Many of you have been talking about your struggles with eating properly, and it sounds like most of your problems are not what you eat, but when you eat. Let’s take a look.
What do pigs and sumo wrestlers have in common? They both use the same weight gain techniques! A farmer fattens up the hogs by letting them run around the pen most of the day, and then having them “pig out” on a huge trough full of slop. Likewise, sumo wrestlers train all day, and then sit down for a 3-hour long dinner buffet right before going to sleep. Often with our busy lives, we do the same type of thing—we go and go all day without eating, and then when we finally sit down, we gorge ourselves and overeat!
Paradoxically, many weight loss problems come from not eating or restricting too many calories. You see, what happens is when you go without eating, your body goes into a protective “starvation mode” for conservation, and the metabolism begins to slow and shut down, thusly storing reserves (body fat!). Then, when you finally eat (and most likely overeat), it is with a metabolism that is already turned off.
An analogy to help you understand your metabolism is that of a campfire. Initially, you have to constantly supply small sticks to build the fire and keep it burning. But any good boy scout knows if you let the fire burn low, and then try to throw on the Yule log you may be left with unburned wood! So keep the fire blazing by continually adding small sticks.
The key to weight loss is an increased metabolism (the rate at which your body burns calories), and here is how that’s done:
• Work and build your muscles—this is the only way to boost your resting metabolic rate, which accounts for 60-70 percent of the calories you burn daily.
• Cardio or aerobic exercise—raise your heart rate and sustain aerobic activity to temporarily burn calories. Come on, you got to sweat!
• Eat more frequent and smaller meals—consume 4-6 smaller meals (healthy ones, of course!) daily and try not to go more than 4 hours between meals. Sometimes you may need to eat something even though you don’t feel hungry, and that will help you to eat sensibly at your next meal.
• The metabolism is highest in the morning so don’t skip breakfast! Also, exercise in the morning.
• The liver and kidneys play a part in your metabolism, so drink lots of pure water.
One of the best advantages of an increased metabolic rate is you can afford to eat some of your favorite foods every now and then and it won’t show up on your hips or gut. So, get your metabolism up and kicking by implementing these points into your daily routine. It is very important to establish habits, so start now and do whatever it takes. Work hard, eat right, pack snacks, and drink water.
Piece of cake 
Ask me more about tips and tricks to give your metabolism a boost next time you see me in the gym!
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Metabolism by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Snack Attack! Davey Anderson is a Huntington Beach personal trainer.
You may have found that since we’ve started working out together, the hunger pangs are hitting harder and earlier. You may even feel like you’ve been eating more food at meals. “What’s going on?” you might be asking. Well, that is your metabolism starting to kick it into high gear—and that is exactly what we want it to do! 
It’s pretty unrealistic to ignore hunger. And for some it’s almost impossible to overcome impulse with sheer will power. I know I’m not very disciplined and often succumb to my impulses for instant gratification. So let’s snack instead of suffer!
You may think that the old school idea of eating between meals is a no-no. But don’t think that by not eating you will help yourself lose weight. That only turns on “starvation mode” which holds on to the fat stores. Plus, we get so hungry we then devour the dinner table and overeat. Eating sensible snacks between smaller meals will stave off hunger and keep your blood sugar at a good level and prevent this type of situation. In fact, studies have shown that eating several small meals a day instead of three large ones is better for your health and helps your weight loss by keeping your metabolism revved up! To shed pounds, we have to turn up our metabolisms by burning more calories with exercise, and then refuel with clean, healthy, quality foods.
All snacking is not necessarily bad; we simply need to make sure we are snacking on healthy foods that will fuel our bodies for energy.
Here are some excellent snack choices:
• Raw veggies
• Fruit
• Raw nuts
• Dried fruit
• Low-fat dairy products
• Hardboiled eggs
• Whole-grain crackers
Try combining a couple of these, too. An apple with a small handful of nuts and a bottle of water is a great, healthy snack that will tide you over until dinner.
Tip: Keep your snack foods readily available and easily accessible because if you’re like me when you get hungry, you’ll eat the first thing you can get your hands on!
Don’t: satisfy your hunger with junk foods and empty calories that will add weight with no nutritional benefit
Do: When hungry, grab some healthy snacks that will give you the energy and nutrition you need to feel great all day
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Davey Anderson is an Orange County Personal Fitness Trainer in Huntington Beach
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Metabolism, Nutrition and Diet, Snacking by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Eating Clean Huntington Beach Personal Fitness Training by Davey Anderson
Clean eating is a buzz word in the health and fitness community that means consuming quality and nutritious foods. It’s all about eating food that is as close to its natural state as possible—not laboratory developed and factory produced. Raw, fresh and unaltered foods are considered clean, in contrast to processed and packaged products (90% of your local grocery store!). Eating clean is not about dieting and deprivation. In fact, you may find yourself eating more and feeling full more of the time. It’s not about giving up foods, or completely avoiding one food group or another. Eating clean is simply about giving your body what it needs to be healthy and thrive.
Your body processes everything that enters it, absorbing the nutrients it needs and eliminating what it cannot use. Imagine yourself trying to sweep the floor while the dog keeps tracking in mud. You won’t make much progress and will soon become overworked and eventually break down.
Your body is the same way. So clean up your eating habits and stop bringing in the junk! Take, for example, a Twinkie compared to an apple as a snack food. Junk food contains sugar, fat, and artificial ingredients that will clog you up, slow you down, sap your energy, tax your immune system, and make you fat! Fruit has vitamins and minerals, complex carbohydrates, and fiber to give you lasting energy, keep you clean, build you up, and slim you down.
Some benefits of eating clean are:
• Greater longevity and improved quality of life.
• More energy; feeling good all day!
• Less body fat while toning muscle. Now those hips are shrinking, and you’re looking great!
• An improved immune system; you don’t have to get sick!
• Significant decrease in the risk of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, depression, and other chronic illnesses.
• Improved concentration and psychological well-being.
Now that you realize how important it is to eat right, check out some simple tips for clean eating:
1. Practice clean eating by cooking from scratch. Instead of buying packaged foods, 
diet foods, and processed snack foods, spend a little more time in the kitchen preparing healthier foods with natural ingredients. This also saves money!
2. Buy locally grown, unprocessed foods. Find a farmer’s market and stock up on fresh produce. Plus, you can usually find whole grains, homemade bread, wild honey, and other whole and healthy ingredients.
3. Stop counting calories, fat grams, and carbs. Focus on consuming whole, healthy foods, and don’t worry about counting it all up. Think about it in basic terms: if you snack on 5 cookies, that’s 500 calories, while 5 celery sticks is only 15. Eating clean provides your body with a balanced diet; there really is no need to worry about the numbers.
4. If you do buy processed foods, look for all-natural, organic, non-additive, pesticide-free, whole food. Try to minimize the refined, artificial, preservative, and chemical ingredients in your foods.
5. Eat less red meat. Red meat is hard for your body to digest. Try replacing it with fish or poultry. Beans are also a great source of protein.
6. View food as fuel for your body. Premium fuel equals premium performance.
7. Flood your body with quality nutrients while minimizing toxins. Don’t depend on a vitamin tablet to make up for poor eating habits. Nutrients should come from organic sources (i.e. food that grows).
8. Here’s the idea:
• Stop eating sugar
• Cut out unhealthy fats (animal fats, fried foods)
• Avoid refined (white) foods
• Ease back on salt and watch out for additives (try seasonings like Mrs. Dash and dried herbs for a flavor kick)
• Steer clear of anything artificial
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Please don’t smoke!
• Drink lots of pure water
• Eat tons of fresh fruits and vegetables
You have one body, one life, and it’s entirely your choice to take care of it. If you aren’t yet convinced that you should be eating clean and healthy, please don’t wait to be diagnosed with a chronic illness. Start now and give it a try. The way you feel should be proof enough that clean eating is right for you!
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Davey Anderson is an Orange County Personal Fitness Trainer in Huntington Beach
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Metabolism, Nutrition and Diet by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Training tips from Huntington Beach personal fitness trainer Davey Anderson
Consistency—two steps forward…no steps back!
One donut won’t make you fat, but one a day will. One cigarette won’t kill you, but one at a time will. And, unfortunately, one work out won’t get you into great shape, but a few goods ones each week will. A healthy lifestyle depends on consistency. It’s the everyday-grind and all the small, daily habits that add up over time.
You can work out once a week with all the vigor in the world; however, by working out just once a week, you will not make much progress. Likewise, you could work like a dog for a month, and then lose everything the following month by not doing anything at all. Also, eating one heavy, high-fat meal could negate all your efforts in the gym. Or eating junk can cancel out the health food you ate earlier.
Make it a habit
There was a time when my doctor prescribed a bottle of antibiotics. The doctor informed me that if I did not take all of the pills at the correct time, the medication would not be effective. Taking his advice, I set the bottle of pills in the middle of my kitchen table to remind me to take one in the morning and at night. I had to help myself make it a habit.
You must be consistent in developing good health and fitness in order to accomplish your goals and live an abundant life.
Don’t work out hard one week and then take the next week off, and don’t let one binging spree cancel out all of the hard work you did in the gym. If you are taking steps backwards by missing workouts or forgetting to eat healthfully, don’t get discouraged. Instead, identify habits that waste time and aren’t taking you closer to achieving your goals and dreams and replace them with good ones. And don’t be afraid to get others involved. Ask a friend or family member to call you and encourage you to get your work out in or to skip on that burger and fries. They will be glad to help. Soon, with some routine consistency, you will be experiencing amazing results!
For some, consistency comes naturally, while with others it must be forced. Regardless, if you don’t show commitment and consistence to your own health and fitness, you won’t reap the full reward of your efforts. Do whatever it takes to apply the principle of consistency to your life and you will soon see how a little bit of commitment goes a long way.
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Motivation, Nutrition and Diet, Training by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Personal eating habits are a huge deal with your weight loss
Calories, ack! I hate the word and, even worse, counting them. Actually, I have never even tried counting calories because I think it is too hard and I don’t believe that it works. Instead, when it comes to eating, I use a few simple guidelines for weight loss. They are balance, an increase in nutrient dense foods, and less empty calories (food with lots of calories but little or no nutritional benefit).
It’s all about balance. Everyone knows that unburned calories turn into body fat. For example, picture a scale. On one side represents caloric input (eating), and on the other, caloric output (activity). More input and less output creates weight gain. But, less input and more output produces weight loss. It’s really that simple.
When food is processed, it loses much of its nutritional profile. Foods such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, and white sugar have been stripped of their nutrients and become empty calories. In other words, they make you fat without giving you what you need to be healthy and strong. Dieticians recommend that nutrient dense food such as fruit and vegetables be substituted for empty calorie foods.
Why is it that when we get hungry, fruits and veggies are often our last choice? Just as the Snickers ad says, we want something that satisfies hunger…and we want it NOW! Well, it is essential that we change our thinking from satisfying our hunger with empty calories, to satisfying our body’s needs with wholesome nutrition. Let’s realize the importance and nutritional impact that fresh fruits and vegetables play in weight loss and overall health.
Fruits and vegetables are loaded with complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and fiber—everything you need for tremendous energy and health! Without these foods in your diet, you may find that your energy levels are not as high, your immune system not as strong, and eventually you will start suffering from various health ailments. By ensuring that you are satisfying your body’s requirements by getting at least the recommended intake of fruits and vegetables every day, you will help ensure your body is functioning at its best.
Microwaves Destroy Antioxidants In Vegetables!
Studies show that microwaving vegetables can destroy up to 97% of cancer-preventing antioxidants, and that blanching and freezing can destroy up to 70%.
The next time you go grocery shopping, make sure you take a trip to the produce department and stock up on nature’s finest foods. Don’t skimp out on this food group or you will be shortchanging your body of good health and reducing the chance of meeting all of your health and fitness goals.
It may be hard to get used to eating your veggies again, but even if you have to force yourself to eat them, do so. Whatever it takes! And don’t worry; you’ll soon develop a taste for things like ripe fruit and garden-fresh salads.
Here are some tips to get you eating more fruits and veggies:
1. Always start with a salad at lunch and dinner. This way you fill up more on the healthy stuff and less on the heavy, fattening main course
2. Eat fruit with breakfast. It will help your body cleanse and detoxify in the morning.
3. Eat fruit for snacks. Scarf down an apple and banana for a quick and easy afternoon pick-me-up.
4. Pack them to go. Take along a pear or an orange, or munch on some prepared veggies during your commute.
By now you should be eating more often and between meals to boost your metabolism and keep up your energy levels—just make sure you are eating the right foods! Fruits and vegetables don’t stay with you as long, but you can feel free to eat plenty of them because they are low in fat and high in fiber and nutrition. Hopefully you will start taking some healthy snacks with you to conquer those cravings with something wholesome.
Change your habits, change your health, change your life!
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Nutrition and Diet by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
Sport scientists call it “cyclic activity.” Gym rats call it “cardio.” Whatever you call it, if you want to be lean, you got to do it! By now you are seeing yourself getting into better and better shape. Part of that is because of your commitment to your cardio fitness 
training. You can see how much it helps you keep up with your gym work outs, too. For the next two weeks we are going to up the ante and turn up the fat cooker by cranking up the cardio!
The Term: Progressive overload. You know how you have been slowly adding more weight to your resistance training to challenge yourself as you progress? Well, you want to do the same thing with your cardiovascular training—always push yourself just a bit more.
The Theory: By mixing bursts of high intensity work with low intensity periods of recovery, you’re overloading both aerobic and anaerobic functions at the same time, getting the benefits of both aspects of training simultaneously.
Let me introduce you to interval training. It may not be love at first sight, but I guarantee you will learn to love intervals—or at least fall in love with the results! Nothing brings faster, better results. Here is a way to really take your cardio conditioning to the next level. You will be amazed at what you can achieve.
There are two simple ways to do intervals. One is with time, the other is with distance. For example, with timed intervals, you could run hard for 30 seconds, and then slow down for 30-60 seconds to catch your breath and recuperate before going hard again. An example for distance intervals would be if you are jogging outside, choose an object out in the distance (such as a light pole or the next block) and sprint to it. Then slow down to a jog again to recover. Remember you can use this technique for any type of cardio (running, rowing, machines, etc.). Be sure to start with your usual 5-10 minute warm up before going for your first interval. Here are some time examples to start with
• Beginner: 20 seconds fast / 2-3 minutes slow
• Intermediate: 30 seconds fast / 1 minute slow
• Advanced: 30 seconds fast / 30 seconds slow
Cycle back and forth for 15-25 minutes, and then be sure to cool down for at least 5 minutes. And always remember to stretch. During your high intensity intervals, you’ll want to “redline” it and get close to maximum effort. What this means is that you will feel like you can’t go any faster or harder and can barely sustain the level you are working at. It’s like an (almost) all-out sprint. Try this interval workout on your own at least 2 times during the week and you will see your energy level and cardio capacity sky rocket, while you burn fat and lose weight.
You’ve got to want it—go for it!
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Davey Anderson is an Orange County Personal Fitness Trainer in Huntington Beach
Filed under Fat Loss/Weight Loss, Training by on Jan 2nd, 2010. Comment.
