It’s been around two years since I’ve taken a weekday, morning trip to the local shopping mall, St Lukes, very close to Auckland City.  My mall visits are usually done late afternoon, evening or weekends but as I am off work for a few weeks I took the opportunity to visit the mall earlier in the day.

St Lukes was one of New Zealand’s first “all in one-place”  shopping centers and is alike to all the others, offering an overwhelming number of fashion clothing shops, cosmetic and personal needs stores, a few appliance and specialty stores and a food supermarket. And, of course, an abundance of cafe’s, small restaurants, and fast food outlets.  There’s plenty of choice with foods ranging from fries, cream buns, and iced cupcakes to sushi or healthy kebabs, egg based dishes or steak and salad on flat bread. There’s whipped cream topped hot chocolate (a very yummy occaisional treat) through to trim lates and freshly made fruit juices.

There’s a buzz at the mall and a pervasive sense of wanting to buy “stuff”. I’m reminded of a childrens Veggie Tales movie about the “Stuff Mart” and how we are entreated to buy “stuff” no matter if we need it or not.  In fact, even my home is filled with a lot of unecessary “stuff” and I’m not easily swayed by advertising.

But back to the reason for this post: There are so may FAT people at the mall.

Don’t take offense; it’s a statement of fact, not judgement BUT I wanted to grab a lot of them and shake some sense into them, not that it would have helped; there’s plenty of education and help available.

What I noticed was families; gran, mother and children; and friends together eating huge iced, creamed buns, sweet cakes and slices, the worst brands of burgers and fries, along with fizzy drinks. The people sitting at these cafes were noticeable by their size, they were obese!

I know I’ll get told I am being unfair on those who chose to have a treat that day but walking past those fast-food outlets and cafe’s I had lunch at Coffee Club where healthier, yummy choices are available. I ordered freshly made  pizza and drank my previously bought miso soup. Pizza is high in calories but it’s toppings were chicken, feta, tomato, olives, a little bacon and minimal pizza cheese; healthy foods with excellent nutrient value, unlike the carbs and sugar laden, nutrient deficient foods I saw so many people eating.

I’m left wondering how we can educate and help people when they choose against all recommendations.

I find it easy to overeat and that’s mostly on “good” foods and so, for me, diet (what I eat, not what I don’t) and exercise is very important.

Walking, swimming, playing ball with children or the dog are all excellent, fun choices for cardiac health and general fitness.  Using hand weights (or assisted weight machines) or  Vibration Training on high quality machines, in a vibration studio, fitness or beauty centre, or at home, is the other part of the fitness equation helping to build muscle and strength which then uses up more calories to maintain.

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive.  Simple exercise isn’t expensive.

Choosing to eat right and exercise – too hard for some.

But, what about after vibration training? The customer wanted to gain fitness and strength and lose weight. We went over the difference between weight-loss, which can be fat, water, muscle, even bone density, and fat-loss which is what she really wanted and includes maintaining the other measures or even increasing them.

The short answer is, Yes, it’s important to eat within an hour of doing your Vibration Training program.  And what’s more, it’s important that you eat the right foods to aid your muscle recovery, lift the fatigue that comes after exercise, and aid muscle and fitness increase.

Let’s get a better understanding of what to eat and why

Vibration Training can be looked apon as Reistance Training, similar to doing a heavy weights program.  Many people find that immediately after their program they feel amazing, revitalised and happy but within an hour fatigue sets in along with a heaviness or dullness in their thinking and lessened ability to do regular tasks or make decisions.  This is a completely normal response to hard exercise and Vibration Training when done on a high energy machine is really hard exercise.  The same rules as weight training apply – one day training, next day off for rest and recovery.

Understanding this helps to answer the question, “Do I have to eat after my Vibration Training session?”

Yes!

It is important to choose the right foods to eat; a chocolate muffin and a cream topped mochachino is, sadly, not the right food and it will add up to 600 calories to your daily total while providing little goodness, just lots of fat.  Definately not recommended unless a person needs to gain fat and then there are better ways.  We recommend eating a meal or snack containing mostly protein within an hour of your workout session. This can be two eggs on toast, a tin of tuna or salmon, chocolate milk, or similar.

A fast option for people who train during their lunchtime is to have an Eggcel (pure, pasturised, egg whites) shake, made by mixing Eggcel with chocolate milk or with fruit juice or pulp for those who don’t want to have milk. Many Vibra-Train studios stock Eggcel for your convenience or it can be bought in bulk packs online in New Zealand.

It can be helpful to eat some carbs also after exercise as this provides the immediate sugars needed to continue the days tasks and prevents protein breakdown in the muscles so you can eat a  peanut butter sandwich as well as your Eggcel protein drink.  Some trainers also stress eating a little protein with carbs before exercise and say a protein shake or turkey and cheese sandwich is good.  I don’t personally do this but I always have a banana and a pre-workout carbs drink.

To get the very best results from any training program your diet (what you eat) becomes important.  People start out wanting to gain strength, build muscle, lose fat etc and we don’t talk about their diet, they simply do their Vibration Training sessions.  Within a few weeks customers tell us they feel good and have started to look at their diet.  They make the necessary changes without help or if they ask we can give them simple guidance.

Whatever your goal, what you eat helps you attain it. This is especially true when doing Vibration Training on high-force, lineal machines, such as Vibra-Train, as your metabolic rate increases and remains activated for around 48hours after training as your body builds and replaces lean muscle tissue, giving you strength increase.  For those wanting to lose fat its worth remembering that for every pound of lean muscle you build you will use up 35-50 extra calories a day just to maintain it.

Starting six months ago, soon after I began working for Vibra-Train, this customer initially had exciting results.  She had a specific goal; fat-loss and toning, with increased overall strength and she found that vibration training, specifically using Vibra-Train lineal machines, really worked for her.  I looked forward to her studio visits and helping her train hard.

We’d chat about nutrition somedays and I often had to encourage her to eat more, not less, and help her understand that weightloss would not occur in a starvation situation, there being a huge difference in how the human body copes with calorie deficit compared with real calorie deficiency which was what she was doing and so causing her body to protect itself  by laying down fat stores rather than releasing fat to be used as part of her workout energy source.  All too often her energy “batteries” were empty.  But as we progressed this customer, who I’ll call Sue, gained strength, lost fat and a few dress sizes.  She told me how she was wearing designer jeans that she’d kept due to their cost but hadn’t been able to fit for three years.

A vacation with lots of eating-out and the long, hard winter in New Zealand bumped up Sue’s weight a little and she was expecting vibration training, which she’d kept on with three times a week except during her vacation time, to deal with it and get her back on-track and slimmed down for summer.  She wanted a body that would look amazing on the beach and she’d was working well toward it, restricting her calorie intake and occaisionally taking a walk.

So what was going wrong ???

Sue had progressed so well in her ability to do the program that she did it alone while I instructed less able or newer customers.  She was supervised though, as are all our customers, and I corrected her positions occaisionally.  I also noticed that she’d dropped down to the level 2 machines whereas

she’d been using a higher level, and she was doing only the basic program, which is enough for most people, but as she’d pushed herself harder earlier in the year and was holding perfect positions we’d advanced to a higher force machine and also added in a few repeat positions to give her an edge on faster fitness and toning.  Sue had told me the highest level machine (Level 5 Sports model) gave her some pain in an old injury so she prefered the lesser force, levels 2 or 3.

Sue was adamant that vibration training was not working anymore for her.  I talked with Lloyd about her concerns and he reminded me that, for women, hormones play a part in setting our body shape and also asked if Sue was “mixing up” her training by varying the level of machines she was using rather than the same all the time.

I got Sue to do a Body Composition Analysis on our studio BCA machine and, while most results were acceptable, her body fat percentage was high and her resting metabolic rate was low.  Somehow we needed to give her metabolism a “kick-start”.

Sue is now pushing herself very much harder in her training sessions.  She’s using a level 5 Sports machine, not the one that aggravated her old shoulder injury but one that has a very smooth feel, high force with low amplitude.  She’s doubled up on the time spent on some positions, from 60 seconds to 120 seconds.  She’s looking at her diet, and I still advise her to eat more not less as I’m sure that’s the biggest factor in her lack of progress; it’s not how much she eats but learning to eat foods that will give muscle growth and burn calories.  Sue has also started doing water aerobics and so added cardio exercise to her fitness routine.

For Sue, vibration training is definitely playing a part in improving her strength and fitness, she readily says this.  It’s giving her the stamina to take on other activities and now that she’s increased the effort she’s putting into her training I’m confident she will see the results she wants.

It’s important to note that while results are individual I can guarantee muscle growth if a person makes the effort to seriously train three times a week (it can’t work for lazy people!).  Strong muscles support the bones and give great shape to the body, while also increasing the rate of calorie use.  Unless sabotaged by an inadequate diet or overindulgence the body shape changes; slim people gain a healthy look while larger people slim down.  The only other variable is the quality of the vibration machine and with the ones at the studio where I work, there’s no question as they’re the best!

Regular customers become “addicted” to the sessions; the rain doesn’t stop them. One of the best points about our fast, effective, 10-15 minute workout; it can be easily fitted into a busy routine.  Newer people sometimes take extra days off but then come back saying they missed their workout and felt sluggish through the day and, of course, rain sees more cars on the road, slows the traffic and people find themselves short on time before work.

This morning has been a little difficult for me as an instructor.  I’ve been very strict on one customer ensuring he gets into and remains in perfect position on the machines.  A discussion with another customer to clarify aspects of her special-needs program left her annoyed and feeling that I was being unhelpful.  She will talk with my boss and I have his full backing.

Good pre-workout food

A customer came in at 8am for her second session and I asked if she’d had breakfast.  She told me no but she’d had lots of water and taken tablets to enhance fat metabolism.  There’s a strict rule here -” no food = no workout” – and there’s good reason for this.  The short, sharp, 60-second positions on the machine uses up blood sugars very quickly with no time for the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose and send it into the blood.  I explained to her again the reasons she must eat before her workout then with rain pouring down and knowing she’d made the effort to come in I let her do just the first few positions and the anti-cellulite massage but not the whole program.  We have a cafe a few shops away but this customer needed to get to work whereas some people are very happy at my suggestion they go off for a coffee and muffin and then return for their workout session.

Add in regular instruction of customers and supervising those who know the program well; many phone calls with questions from people who want to come in for their first, free, trial visit, explaining to them that they MUST eat before their session; ensuring customers of neighbouring businesses don’t use our carparks (on a wet day customers need them rather than having to walk up from roadway parking spaces) and all the regular tasks that make up my job.

This is the sort of work day I enjoy; not the small difficulties although I have learnt to be very strict as customers are paying for a quality program and it’s my place to ensure they get it, but the happy busy-ness of a full studio and seeing customers getting amazing results.

This is an amazing product, so versatile for making a smoothie after your vibration training or other exercise session.  Fast and easy to use by simply mixing 3/4 cup or Eggcel with 1/4 cup of chocolate milk or mixing a cupful of Eggcel^TM with just one scoop of your regular after exercise protein powder and a tablespoon of milk (gives it that smooth milkshake texture we all enjoy), shake it up and enjoy!

Eggcel can also be mixed with juice or fruit (banana and pineapple or berries are my favorites) and milk.  Add it to your pancake mix or omelette/scrambled egg recipe to increase the bio-available protein for muscle growth and repair.

I’m proud to be stocking this Eggcel-ent, New Zealand made product and invite everyone; Vibra-Train customers, Club Physical and Les Mills customers and well, just everyone to come in to try and buy.  Product available in 1 litre bottles or as 1kg powder.  Powder Acai Blast (500g Powder) is also available on request.

-  No Artificial Additives or Preservatives

-  High in Protein – a Complete Essential Amino Acid

-  Extremely Low in Carbohydrates, Low Calories, No Fat!

- Heat Pasteurized – “Liquid” Not Raw

- Tasteless – Quick – Convenient – Simple to Use

Websites to visit for more information: Vibra-Train ;  Eggcel

It’s quite a common question and some books and websites encourage people to exercise before eating breakfast with the reasoning that their bodies will find the fuel needed from fat stores and so encourage toning and weightloss.

The problem with this is that the fat within cells is not a readily available fuel.  If no food has been eaten plasma glucose is rapidly used up and the body then moves to its secondary fuel source, glycogen, stored in the liver and muscles.  The process of coverting triclycerides from fat takes longer.

There’s strong opinion on both sides about going for a morning walk or easy run before eating because, basically, as long as you take it slowly you might be okay but when it comes to resistance exercise and vibration training there’s no argument about it –

You Must Eat before your session!

Vibration Training causes you to burn up loads of energy within each 60 second position on the machine.  Muscle contraction of this magnitude, using 100% of muscle fibres, needs fuel and it’s all too easy to become hypoglycaemic in an instant at any time during the program.  Some people feel a little dizzy or nauseous, others cope with the program with no apparent difficulty and then having thoroughly depleted their body’s supply of blood glucose symptoms hit them hard and fast with insufficient oxygen reaching the brain and they pass out.

This morning my first two customers at 6.30am were mother and son.  For the son on his fourth session he knew the rules – eat before coming in – but he hadn’t conveyed this to his mother and I made the mistake of forgetting to ask.

The mother was healthy and strong and had no trouble working through the program until she dropped straight into hypoglycaemia and fainted.  Even the sports drink I had on hand was insufficient to stop the brain fog she continued to experience afterwards.

It’s my responsibility as an instructor to ensure customers have eaten adequately before their session and today I failed in this – a lesson I hope I have now learnt well!

Researchers at the Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne have found that the type of carbohydrate you eat before your morning cardio session  can affect the amount of fat you burn.

A study of 8 women aged around 24 years showed that by eating a low GI breakfast; think meusli, yougurt and skim milk;  before an exercise session, the women used up 50% more fat than those who ate a breakfast that was high in the type of carbohydrates that make blood sugar levels rise sharply, such as white bread or cornflakes.

Most studies done on pre-exercise feeding and glycemic load have been done on men and usually with endurance athletes who have special exercise needs whereas this study gives results useful to the general population.

For the study, on two different occasions the women walked on a treadmill for 60 minutes three hours after eating either a high or low glycemic index breakfast.  Blood samples were taken before, during and after the exercise, results showing the average amount of fat oxidized during the exercise was 7.4 grams after the low-glycemic meal but just 3.7 grams after the higher glycemic index meal, a nearly 50 percent difference.

Previous studies have shown that a low-glycemic menu before exercise is beneficial to fat burn but this study shows some additional results.  The caloric value of the breakfasts was always 265 calories but the low GI option had a higher fibre content.  We know that high glycemic carbs cause a rapid spike in blood sugar levels while lower GI carbs cause a lower blood sugar response and this may boost the body’s use of bodyfat for cardio exercise energy.

This study builds on previous results and although it used women of healthy weight it’s anticipated that the results hold true for those needing to lose some weight.  Low GI breakfast foods include whole grains, porridge, some whole grain cereals, soy and linseed bread.  Portion size remains important; eating a large amount of low GI carbs before exercise would be detrimental to both regular and overweight exercisers.