Written by Shin Ohtake on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 • 8 Comments
If your training for an upcoming 10 km and you’ve been told that you need to run, run and run some more for those distances or longer to build up your endurance…you’ve been told wrong. Training for a 10 km or even a longer endurance event isn’t about just doing that activity for long periods of time. It’s easy to think that way and it seems like the right thing to do, but what you don’t know may actually be hindering you from getting better faster. There’s nothing worse than putting in hours of hard work and not seeing the results you expected. If you want your results to reflect all the hard training you put in, than you better start training right. I’ll show you the most common mistakes people make when training for these events and simple but effective training methods that you can easily implement into your training regimen to help you improve your performance.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 • 55 Comments
Do you workout but your one problem area never seems to go away…your belly fat? If you’ve been on a quest for a flat belly or even a six pack, it’s what you don’t know that may be sabotaging your efforts of budging that stubborn fat off your stomach. The right information can be the difference between looking at your same old belly a few months from now or seeing a brand new you with flat abs you haven’t seen since your high school days. Find out what’s keeping you from losing your gut.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 • 23 Comments
Losing weight isn’t the hard part, it’s maintaining your hard earned body that’s tricky. Most people gain their weight back within 2 years of losing it all. And the reasons aren’t what we initially thought. Gaining your weight back and more, may have more to do with your body’s biological processes. There is strong evidence which shows, once you lose the weight, your body does everything in it’s power to regain that weight back. Your thinner body needs less calories to sustain itself, but your craving for food intensifies, making it increasingly difficult to maintain your hard earned lean body. But not all is lost, where there’s a will there’s a way! Find out what you can do to keep your weight off and maintain your lean body for the long term and avoid being the 90 - 95% of people that gain it all back.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 • 40 Comments
Will you get better results if you workout in the morning or the afternoon? Some say exercising in the morning forces your body to utilize fat as the energy source, so it’s the best time to workout if you want optimum fat loss. Others say your lean muscle building and fat loss hormones peak in the afternoon, so if you want a better body you’d better workout later in the day. So which is it, AM or PM?
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 • 28 Comments
Death by running? Talk about an oxymoron. The once savior to all heart disease is now a possible culprit? Say it ain’t so! Well, just this past week there were three deaths in the Detroit Marathon. The incidents all happened within 16 minutes of one another—most likely all from cardiac arrest. But don’t worry, as suggested by the CNN article titled, “Despite 3 deaths in Detroit race, runner fatalities are rare”, these incidents are not common. Whew! A sigh of relief if you love running and participate in long distance events like the marathon, right? Not so fast. What I’m about to tell you may have you thinking otherwise…
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 • 30 Comments
Exercising within your “target heart rate” zone has long been accepted as a standard training protocol, but what if I told you that the formula for calculating your max heart rate is inaccurate? And that even the doctor that created the formula admits to being completely surprised at how the medical and fitness communities have made it the standard formula, without anyone actually doing any extended research. Here’s the real story on how the formula for calculating your max heart rate came about (from the NY Times Health):
Written by Shin Ohtake on Tuesday, September 08, 2009 • 24 Comments
Strengthen Your Abs With Suitcase Squats:
One question I’m often asked is, “What ab exercises can I do other than the traditional sit-ups and crunches?”. Well, if you’ve been following me or have read any of my articles, you know that I’m not a big fan of “traditional” ab exercises. Here’s why:
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, September 02, 2009 • 25 Comments
So the question still remains… were we born to run or walk? According to Bramble and Leibermann, we are and they did have some compelling anatomical evidence that suggests so. Although I find the evidence extremely interesting and intriguing, I’m not completely sold on the idea (at least not yet anyway). It’s hard to imagine that we ran everywhere we went. I feel that more evidence is needed before any conclusive statements can be made. But, asking this question brought up another interesting and often debated question amongst runners: Are we naturally forefoot/mid-foot runners, or is heel striking the way to go? As you read in Where We Born To Run, Not Walk (Part 1) of this article, I’m a strong advocate of forefoot or mid-foot running, either barefoot or with very little cushioning. And, since so many of you commented on the last article wanting to know exactly how to forefoot run, I’ll get straight to the video demonstration before I continue on with the rest of this article:
How To Make The Transition From Heel-Striker To Forefoot Runner:
Written by Shin Ohtake on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 • 51 Comments
Edward Muybridge’s 1887 motion study of an athlete running (Eadweard Muybridge/Bettmann Corbis)
To run or to walk? Which is the preferred method of travel? Most of us would probably pick walking. It’s low impact, easier, and although it takes longer, most of us can walk for much longer distances before we run out of gas. But what if I told you that our bodies are designed to run, not walk? According to a study done by University of Utah biologist Dennis Bramble and Harvard University anthropologist Daniel Lieberman, we evolved from more ape-like human ancestors that survived due their ability to run longer distances for hunting animals and scavenging carcasses—and it’s what shaped our anatomy. This theory goes against the popular long standing theory of bipedalism, which states that we evolved to walk first and that running was just a simple byproduct. Dennis Bramble and Daniel Lieberman state that some of the most compelling evidence comes from our own anatomy.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Monday, August 10, 2009 • 15 Comments
One of the most misunderstood exercises (other than the squat) has got to be the deadlift. Maybe it’s the name. Anything with the word “dead” in it can’t be a good thing—especially when it comes to exercises, right? I remember back when I just started high school, in one of my first PE class, we had to run this cross country course. But this wasn’t just a regular run-of-the-mill cross country run. No siree. A few days prior to the run, we had heard several horror stories and in particular about the dreaded “Dead Man’s Hill”, which was to come at the end of the run. We were told about how the hill got it’s name—apparently a star athlete with immense talent and speed tried to run up the hill, ignoring warnings from his coaches and teammates to take the hill slowly and cautiously because of it’s shear steepness. As the story goes, the boy never made it to the top. His body was found three quarters of the way up the hill, he apparently passed out and died from exhaustion. Now, at the age of thirteen, I really didn’t know what to think or believe. As I got ready to run what may be the last run I’ll ever do, the thought of Dead Man’s Hill weighed heavily on my mind…
Written by Shin Ohtake on Monday, July 13, 2009 • 23 Comments
Vacations, get-togethers, cookouts, and carting the kids around…with summer in full swing, you’re probably busier than ever. I know I am! But there’s no reason you can’t work in a quick, killer workout no matter your schedule or whereabouts. So today, I’ve gotta another no-excuses workout you can squeeze in anytime, anywhere. Plus, this one will get you out of the gym for a day so you can soak up the sun and enjoy the outdoors while getting your sweat on. All you need is one kettlebell ( a dumbbell will work just fine if you don’t have a kettlebell) to get your heart pumping with this full-body beach workout. Not to worry…the beach isn’t a requirement, but it sure is fun! Check it out…
Written by Shin Ohtake on Monday, July 06, 2009 • 23 Comments
As you may already know (or experienced), shoulder instability is a common issue that can lead to serious injury later on. From years of bad posture to overuse through sports or other repetitive activities, there are many reasons you might lose flexibility in your shoulders. The good news is that you can reverse these problems or even prevent them altogether.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Monday, June 29, 2009 • 28 Comments
If there’s one major mistake I see people making at the gym that’s costing them their results it’s this: Most people (especially men, but women aren’t exempt from this either!) tend to load up on the weights, but don’t move through the exercises’ full range of motion. Sure, you might feel stronger by packing on a few more plates, but if you’re stopping a few inches shy of completing each move, you’re cheating your muscles—and that’s going to cost you better results.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 • 35 Comments
With summer officially here, I thought it would be a great idea to give you an outdoor workout so you can get your heart pumping, muscle burning, and sweat pouring to burn that last bit of excess fat off… just in time to bare it all and get your tan on.
Written by Shin Ohtake on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 • 32 Comments
If you have access to a fully equipped gym, it’s makes it a lot easier to change up your workouts and keep things fresh, but it shouldn’t make or break whether you can achieve your fitness goals or not! Getting in great shape can be done anywhere and with anything. Just a little creativity and a little know how, and you can create a workout that will rev up your metabolism to burn the fat and get you lean.
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