Children and outside time, how to make it happen in fall....

An after school gathering with influencing your health on a cool, sunny, fall afternoon. What is possible?

10.11.12

Directly after work/school we had many options for being outside and after narrowing it down to two, it was between riding bikes together or hiking for some quality leaf collecting (we are pressing the leaves this weekend with a art project for Grandma’s B-day :).

Tryon Park in Rochester, NY was the chosen ground and it was a beautiful afternoon.  The beautiful foliage is just around peak and the colors dance against the blue sky.  We set off with running & jumping in the “soup bowl” of trails that are shared by both mountain bikers (which are cool to see with a 4 year young) & hikers alike.  We have stomped the ground on these trails several times before and they yield some great up and down elevation gains. 
 

The exploring of the woods can be a very rewarding experience.  Good habits to keep in mind are stopping to listen to all the fall noises & watching in silence as the leaves dance through the air and allow gravity to bring them to Earth.  Fallen trees are unique opportunities as well.  The lessons that can be simply added to a conversation or just asking the little one questions to engage in the moment.  Being on the trail, surround by nature changes the way one can think, just by being in a different environment.  Mindfulness of being more aware plays huge dividends on your mental health.
Red, Orange, Yellow, Many mixed colors and shapes filled my pockets as we crunched many leaves under our feet.  We explored tire and animal tracks while very much loved kicking the fallen leafs covering the trail at times.  After an hour the sun was low in the fall sky and times to head off to witness the sunset, this is a high energy point and is best shared with someone.....Cobbs Hill Park, Rochester, NY provides a spectacular view.......

Parents, regardless of your feelings of Fall time, try this time toldcraft..

Just a day during the week of a father & son enjoying the special moments of the season...



The pumpkin was a special one, it started as a seed in the hands of my lil man on a brisk afternoon during the early parts of May.  We charted out the garden for the best plot and spacing possible, the idea was to pack it in, but be able to tell y’all this story...

We harvested his pumpkin in a ceremonial event last week, he just loved that he got to hold a knife too!  Growing his pumpkin has been more then a rewarding experience on so many levels. I would encourage all parents to try this in the spring time, of course none of this would have been possible for two reasons.  One, my mom had a garden when I was a child & I remember growing our own one year; two, the BEES!  Without them busy bees pollinating the flowers, the harvest would not have been.  Thank you bees!!!

The carving activity was set up with him drawing (using his shapes & numbers) his Jack-o-Lantern face (as he described it) into a circle on a blank piece of paper.  After his idea, we cut the top off & began the slimy experience of removing the inside parts and separating the seeds. 

Now the seeds add the nutrition piece, because they grew that way and are an amazing natural source of protein.  So the carving was a huge success, the seeds still delicious, and hearing him tell that story to others just warms my heart.  The candle lighting ceremony is also an exciting event on those spooky fall nights......

How can a father & son have an amazing day?

Single Parenting 101, have a plan, practice supporting local organizations, smile, modify & adjust your plan all the time :)

Just a day in the weekend adventure of a father & son enjoying the moments...


10.1.12

Reflecting on the last weekend of Sept and it being a lil man weekend too, the foundation for what I find to be pure happiness was put into motion.  I plan the day around food.  The idea is it should grow that way, the food itself is the ingredient.

    Almonds, peanuts, pistachios are all big favorites as power snacks, he doesn’t even know we are having an “organized snack,” most of the time because we are out and about on the go.  The natural source of protein is great, fiber, and fat (the good kind), just have it in a baggy and was perfect to take on the trail with our water bottles.  Simple veggies make a great take along too.  Of course it takes time to develop a child's pallet to want the natural stuff (you too ADULTS!!), but food has been my medicine for many years now, so I listen to my MOM and eat more vegetables now then ever before.

We ended up at some nature trails (with a rich history as the signs & markers were fun to read along the way) and discovered a new water fall on our hike, we ended up exploring, collecting leaves, listening to the natural sounds, and also making fun on the North American Grey Squirrel along the way!  One almost dropped a black walnut on my head, so we turned that moment into a comical report for the remainder of the 3 mile hike. 

We ate breakfast, took some snacks, headed out on a local trail, only to be outside on a crisp fall afternoon.  The quality of time and uniqueness of the conversations are endless, especially engaging in the new season that the autumnal equinox has brought us.

Bowling with Papa followed and that great three generations of boys enjoying more physical activity with family time continue the flow of another amazing day.  It also yielded a much needed HEALTHY nap by a 4.5 & 35 year young boys :)

Young adults, kids, & childern......

My passion is to guide you to be well                    9.28.12

As I continue to channel health & wellness content to all those interested, a shift from my approach is being applied.  The shift is in the direction of training.  I look at everyday as we are training for life, are you practicing quality sleep, nutrition dense eating patterns, moving that body optimally each day?  Life is practice, each day is another opportunity to do what we want with our individual choices.

The mission is to be the best single daddy I can by choosing to share my life experience with my son.  This experience just so happens to be a way of life that supports being human.  I still will be blogging about health & wellness, but more so directed to ANY parent out there that wants to incorporate more quality experiences with their family, not to just spend time, but to teach basic fundamental principles of exercise, nutrition, and basically WELLNESS into day to day occurrences.

Living life each day is a gift, but with adult responsibilities, sometimes we get distracted from what truly is important in life.  I find my family and health are most vital to my experience on EARTH and my smile correlates with how I feel.  I want to smile, I choose to smile, my smile is supported by daily choices that allow my body to thrive.  Everyone wants happiness and no one wants to suffer.

My intention is to guide others with activities, ideas, and openness to thinking differently about who you are and what you do.  We can all shift our minds to new experiences.  How many parents out there want to do more, but feel a bit overwhelmed to do so?  Let me support you and be your guide.  I have been developing many health and wellness concepts to be applied into a simpler approach that can allow YOU to smile :) everyday!

A healthy how to guide to lose weight. Start HERE!

Physical Activity of LIFE!                                         9.14.12

Taking care of your inside parts is what counts the most, health is an internal thing and when we exercise we truly are impacting our guts more then you may think. 
 No matter where your starting point is with your life and condition of the body, these are the first steps to identify healthy habits to build a foundation for a healthy lifestyle. 

1.  How much sleep do you get each night out of seven days?  To maintain an ideal body weight an adult should accomplish at least 7 hours each night.....SLEEP is a vital variable to maintaining & achieving an ideal body weight.

2.  Start a food journal with writing down EVERYTHING you eat over 7 days  A specific focus on food consumption (diet is anything a person eats) with looking into how many calories each day, while identifying Protein, Carbs, Fats in grams for each category.   Not a bad idea to eliminate both Alcohol & Sugar from the diet.  Drink WATER, you cannot consume to much of this!!!!!

3.   Physical activity is a MUST for everyone.  The idea is to balance your movements into something you enjoy participating in, basically the rule is 60 min. a day on most days of the week.  Look into measure your heart rate during exercise/physical activity, as this is the best tool for driven results.  Find your target heart rate & put your heart in it!!!!

4. Set a goal that is both reasonable and specific (results can be measured).  Actually write it down and check daily what have you done to accomplish it. 
Get educated on moving smarter, not harder.  The idea is to be effective, safe, and results driven.  Seek out knowledge on you own through several different mediums.  Ask questions to a dietitian, personal trainer, wellness coach, or other fitness professional.  Be aggressive with your health and being in the know is a great way to be effective. 

5. A base assessment of body fat should be conducted in the beginning, this measurement (NO SCALE for WEIGHT, bad reference point) should give a fat to everything else ratio & that number will decrease over the course of becoming more physically active.  This is also the reference point for results for the future.  For body weight their is no quick fixes, truly the solution is a lifestyle that supports as much movement as possible.  Making daily choices that have positive outcomes will continue the habits necessary to live well.  

How can the heart be monitored?

That helps my heart feel better.......

What you NEED to know about your Heart...                 9.12.12

The lub dub in your chest is a major player for personal health, so if you want to be healthy in the least amount of time (truly its a lifestyle) or lose fat off your body, well its time to start paying attention to that HEART!  Understanding the science about the inside parts of what makes us human is important to being successful with accomplishment of any health related goal. 

Fat burning Zone, Training Zone, Aerobic Zone, well they are all the same and make up a person’s specific Target Heart Rate Zone. I should also mention it is the most effective way to train the body during aerobic physical activity.  Your heart rate matters and should be monitored to maximize your workout so you know when to kick in the intensity and when to pull back & allow your beats per minute to slow down (yeah, its ok to walk & be training effectively).

Its all about the numbers here, keep that in mind when training for anything (just maintaing a healthy life, running a 5K, or when trying to lose weight).  I train my clients to be smarter and move more effectively.  The first lesson is to use a heart rate monitor for training, especially for burning body fat because it provides immediate feedback for results driven training.

A simple HR Monitor (I recommend Polar Brand) can be purchased for under $35 & can be used in a pool too!  Playing games with your heart can lead to a more rewarding workout, as you become smarter about what is taking place inside your body, your results will start happening much faster!

Healthy body weight MAGIC!

How to lose weight, healthy style.....                                   9.7.12

As a Wellness Coach & certified Personal Trainer I am constantly assessing a persons body fat % which is 1 of 5 components of a persons’ health-related fitness.  To achieve an ideal body weight through balancing your body composition (fat to muscle ratio, again 1 of the 5 parts of health-related fitness) try combination training with your other components of fitness every time your workout, exercise, or perform physical activity.
Many variables factor into a persons ideal body weight or more importantly body fat %.  I have identified 4 MAJOR players in the role to improve body weight to be in a healthy range... these are the first steps to identify the number one way to lose weight, influence your metabolism in a health concsious way!! 
 SLEEP - the idea is to regulate your metabolism through patterns or regular doses of zzz
Hydration - think water, water, water for everything you drink!  Its that simple.
Physical Activity - Diversify & practice Muscular strength & endurance, flexibility,& cardio
Nutrition - Ideally eating 5-7 feedings will have the greatest impact on your metabolism & 1/2 o                what you eat should be fruits & veggies.
The best way to fire up your calorie burning furnace is through balance with a patterns & routines that encourage maximum results.  With physical activity, combination style exercises that take you from training cardio, to strength & endurance.    By focusing on 3 of your 5 components your body has nothing to do but increase that heart rate to fire up that METABOLISM during each time you exercise. 
For body weight their is no quick fixes, truly the solution is a lifestyle that supports as much movement as possible.  Making daily choices that have positive outcomes will continue the habits necessary to live well.  

Can streching do anything for me? WOW, you have no idea....!

A MAJOR component of health-related Fitness - FLEXIBILITY              9.6.12

Your physical health can be improved through physical activity, hopefully that isn’t ground breaking news?  What types of physical activity should you do to improve or maintain your health?  The idea is to create a balance, don’t focus all of your attention on one aspect and neglect the other parts.

The 5 Components of Health-Related Fitness are:  Cardio-vascular Endurance, Muscular Strength & Endurance, Flexibility, and Body Composition.  This post is all about the Range of Motion for each joint which directly impacts a person’s flexibility. 

I focus clients movements on specific joints that humans poses and their are 13 major joints on the human kino-matic chain (starting at bottom up):  ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck.  With utilizing the way a joint moves, that can help to isolate-muscle and/or recruit more muscles for a specific task (exercise).

When stretching any part of our body it is important to already be warmed up, with our heart rate elevated and joints more lubricated.  The idea is to perform stretches in sets and reps just like when lifting weights.  Ideally, 3 sets per stretch is encourage with at least 30 seconds on task too.  Muscles are located above and below all joints, so the focus should be to eventually stretch all the major muscles in our bodies.

Improve your circulation, impact your energy, feel better, all from simply taking time to move your joints in the very specific way, by STRETCHING to work on your component of health-related fitness called FLEXIBILITY!

Update: WATER, is it relative?

How much does H2O matter, imagine this?                                         9.2.12

The main reason I am writing this blog is to put out quality info on various topics that relate to a human's health, basically covering the four parts (Physical, mental, emotional, and social).  The focus today is to touch on the physical side, which is the part that most people easily associate with health. 

When is the last time you checked your Hydration?  Do you know the easy way to see if you are adequately hydrated?  Well it is simple, simply  look at your pee.  Clear or lemonade color is great, while yellowish or apple juice means dehydration is taking place. 

 WATER is the basis for every bodily function, from respiration to digestion; a person’s energy levels through metabolism are regulated to your bodies ability to store water in its muscles, organs, & blood.  No matter what your fitness goal could be, everything rests on the simple condition of drinking more water and/or being mindful of the other habits in our lives that remove water from our system. 
Being adequately hydrated is an amazing first step to practicing daily healthy habits to build a foundation for a healthy lifestyle!!  The important fact to know is a majority of the water in our bodies is stored in the muscles (blood & organs too).  So if a person does not practice muscular endurance or strength training exercises, then their ability to store water is limited.  It is important to balance physical activity through your 5 components of health related fitness.  Think H20!!!

Do you know to eat your veggies?

Believe in YOU...                        8.25.12

This summer I a developed my first ever veggie garden.  It started with my 4 year young (lil man) & I turning up the grass in a 18’ X 18’ plot in the back yard.  This led to a new habit of just eating raw vegetables for breakfast.   The point of this story is about trying new habits all have a beginning and hopefully it is a good habit that is starting, because at first it isn’t a habit at all, its just an experience. 

Veggies have a ton of water & amazing connective tissues (fiber), plus have a plethora of health properties we label as anti-oxidants.  Veggies should be eaten, NOT drinking, but juicing them from time to time can yield some new special treats or even making some healthy Popsicles!

Food is my medicine, & the concept of 1/2 a person’s plate should be made up of fruit & veggies at each meal has been heavily promoted. Don’t you know you should eat your vegetables?  In order to make them accessible to munch on over the course of a few days it takes planning & organization before they are gobbled up to aid in my health and wellness. 

So a great new habit was formed from a few small practices.  When you have a positive new habit in your life it is truly wonderful.  Adding more raw veggies (easy to do during summer & fall farmers market season) to my diet regularly, started with being outside and connecting with Earth, then followed up by how amazingly delicious they are, which led to a functional gift, which now gets filled often with a super healthy snack that has a tremendous positive impact on my life.

Its the small things that start habits in our day to day and week to week lives, what will be your next new one?......

Quality of Life.

My dad had major, emergency surgery on his inside parts & my time has been dedicated to his healing.  I will be making regular posts again in April to encourage health & wellness in your day to day life.....

Thanks to all who follow my blog & support quality information on fitness.

A healthy mind, a healthy body :~)

thanks,
Brian Lucchesi

INFO:
http://wellnessguru.tv

QUESTIONS:
wellnesshero@gmail.com 

Body Fat solution made easy...

Body Composition.                                     3.1.12

As a personal trainer I am constantly assessing a persons body fat % which is 1 of 5 components of a persons’ health-related fitness.  To achieve an ideal body weight through balancing your body composition (fat to muscle ratio, again 1 of the 5 parts of health-related fitness) try combination training with your other components of fitness every time your workout, exercise, or perform physical activity.
 No matter where your starting point is with your life and condition these are the first steps to identify the number one way to lose weight, influence your metabolism!!  The best way to fire up your calorie burning furnace is through combination style exercises that take you from training cardio, to strength & endurance.    By focusing on 3 of your 5 components your body has nothing to do but increase that heart rate to fire up that METABOLISM. 
Be sure Set a goal that is both reasonable and specific (results can be measured).  Actually write it down and check daily what have you done to accomplish it.  Usually when combination training is being practiced it can be accomplished in less time, basically your intensity level is so high a 20-30 min. bout of vigorous activity can drive home results much faster then most peoples typically low to moderate intensity for an hour....
A base assessment of body fat should be conducted in the beginning, this measurement (NO SCALE for WEIGHT, bad reference point and doesn’t determine a person’s health) should give a body fat % & that number will decrease over the course of becoming more physically active.  This is also the reference point for results for the future.  For body weight their is no quick fixes, truly the solution is a lifestyle that supports as much movement as possible.  Making daily choices that have positive outcomes will continue the habits necessary to live well.  

Mental Health Awareness.

                    2.25.12
A healthy mind, a healthy body.

Mental Health is internal and starts with an attitude to be happy, because really who decides if they smile or not?  A brains reaction (s) to outcomes of our choices are all about how our mental state decides it is going to be.  So if you do want to have a better experience you have to make a different choice?  Think about it.....yeah I’m happy only if I want to be (no one else decides that for me) and can’t we all make new choices day to day?  Are we really in control of our habits & decisions...

My experience is about being in the know and now (present moment).  Continuing forward with improved choices for even better outcomes is possible.  It is a new day so people make simple, small changes that vibe with our daily habits, but allow a more positive balance to exist by being aware of what that decision may be.  Mental health is about accepting and understanding new ideas and concepts.  With knowing that it is an individual choice to be proactive and take your smile to the masses and see how just that simple choice of always smiling changes everything about a better continuation during the present moment. 

So go ahead and just do it, smile for the next, well you decide how long you want to be happy for.  Hey, I’m not going to put a gun to your head to make you smile.....:-)

Balance your life with practicing how you think.  An open mind can only exist with the ability for a person to be able to change the way they actual think; think about it, it really the brain thinking about the brain, but applying a new way of making choices, but it is for different outcomes, ones that make us happier :~)

Walk into a fitness center, now what?

In the Gym options                        2.20.12

The analogy I use when people ask me this question, “what should I do when I get to the gym/fitness center?” or “what is the best way to get me in shape?” is simply this, look at me as a personal trainer/fitness specialist in a gym more like a librarian at a library.  A librarian does not say go read this or only stay in that area.  What you do & how how you do it should be based off of many factors, so what are these important guidelines that should dictate what to do with all the gym options out there?

First a person should understand your 5 components of health related fitness because this is what makes up all the parts of physical health.  An assessment should be performed to see where you rank within each category, some of the answers you might already know, like you need to lose weight, but truly knowing your actual body fat percentage is a powerful guide not only as a measurement of progress, but it is one of those 5 major components of your physical health.  Flexibility, Muscular Strength & Endurance, and finally Cardio-Vascular Endurance are the other four fitness components.  Simple test can reveal results that will be guiding principles for your physical activity.

Each component plays a vital role in your success at both the gym and at home.  I always say training yourself is a lifestyle, not something you do at just a fitness center.  The idea is to combine as many components into a workout as possible.  Never truly repeat a workout, but make small modifications to movement to increase resistance.  Full body is the way to go with an emphasis on never really taking a break, but perform what I call an “active rest” (walk to get water, stretch, perform small simple one joint movements, breakdown or set up next movement (exercise)).  It is common to always see people around the gym beings social butterflies, taking long excessive breaks, and only performing simple one task movements that only work one part of your body within one component of fitness at a time.  All that takes LONG & is a waist of time with yielding very little results.  Getting on one piece of cardio equipment (like an elliptical) for 45 min. consecutively will not burn fat off your body in an effective way, that is totally utilizing your bodies energy systems in a “slow motion” way. 

The basic principle of knowing what to do at a gym should be totally driven by how you want to live your life, more specifically your goals.  What should you accomplish, how long will it take to get there, does my ability limit my options, how do I actually exercise effectively in the shortest amount of time?  Well, if you have any of those questions, that is exactly what a quality personal trainer can answer for you!

Counting your daily steps has benefits!

The Pedometer Challenge                        2.19.12


If  you took time to read my blog about lifestyle choices verses organized exercise, this one goes a step deeper on how to apply a pedometer to your life.  This is a great opportunity to purchase (dirt cheap) a cool piece of technology that can help document your physical activity progress as you walk about your daily routine.  Totally not selling you something, but giving a strong recommendation for a recorder of valuable info on your health & fitness. 

Pedometers (if you did not know) are step counters that allow an individual to record several parts of vital data (depending on the model) to the health of the individual.  Basically their are guidelines to a healthy lifestyle, just to maintain health a person health.  To document progress and see real time results can also assist as a motivational tool as well.  My son just loves seeing the numbers go up, well so does daddy too!  Thats motivation enough!

The Surgeon General recommends that the average adult (to just maintain health) should accumulate 10,000 steps a day (while walking) and the gov’t has set up (www.fitness.gov) a website for a person to keep track of what they have accomplished.  Children & older adults have separate goals, but the bottom line is, how do you know unless you count?

Whether you are a seasoned veteran of fitness or a novice, I would encourage everyone to take advantage of this health enhancing opportunity.  I wear mine daily and love to constantly look down to see where I’m at for the day, plus several of my clients ask me how many steps I have taken.  I move to learn and learn to move!

What to eat when your done Working Out

I want to stress that Carbohydrates are SUPER important to maintaining our health with a balanced diet.  The difference, complex (good) verses simple (bad) carbohydrates, eat the good, don’t eat the bad, but this blog is more about the science of eating after your are done with your physical activity.

Recovery Nutrition Science 101
The body continues to burn calories after a workout, called exercise post oxygen consumption (EPOC), which lasts 15 minutes to 48 hours after training. EPOC causes an additional calorie burn and higher metabolism beyond the workout--a benefit for weight and fat management. The amount of EPOC calories burned depends on gender, training status, training intensity and duration, and fitness level-- accounting for a few to several hundred calories. Why are extra calories burned?
EPOC calories are burned because:
• The body replenishes sugar in muscles and replaces the simplest energy form called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) at the cellular level; 
• Lactate--responsible for post exercise muscle soreness needs removal.
• Normal breathing, heart rate and body temperature needs restoration to pre-exercise levels
• Blood needs re-oxygenation after muscles cease working out.
Recovery Fuel 
Depending on training type and timing of the next workout, the composition and amount can vary while keeping in mind the golden recovery rule; getting something--anything as long as it's within the window of refueling opportunity, about 15 minutes to two hours after training for adequate replenishment.
The best foods to eat are those high in carbohydrates. Planning ahead by storing a sports drink, bar, or snack in the gym bag or stopping for a smoothie on the way home is one way to ensure adequate replenishment within the recovery window. Meals/snacks with 65% carbohydrates or more, about 0.8g to 1 gram/kg bodyweight / hour have been shown to replenish muscle stores best. For the 150 pound athlete (68 kg) (kg=pounds / 2.2), a snack or beverage with about 54 grams -68 grams carbohydrates. Visit the Recovery Fuel Chart for snacks that meet this requirement.
It's just as important to refuel after shorter high intensity workouts as it is for longer workouts. The difference between the recommended foods depends on whether or not it is the last workout of the day.
As for hydration, replacing fluids at a rate of 1-1½ times, about 16-24 oz for every pound lost in sweat. Weighing before and after a training session can provide a good guestimate of fluids lost during exercise. And while it's not necessary to weigh daily, seasonal weightings are recommended since ambient temperature affects fluid losses.
Urine color is the simplest and one of the most accurate measures of hydration. If the urine is pale yellow, that's good, while dark urine means dehydration. Completely clear urine is a concern since it suggests overhydration--the overconsumption of water and potential loss of electrolytes. Therefore, recovery fluids should include water, electrolyte rich sport drinks, and recovery fuels with sugar and protein (depending on the intensity of the workout) to cover all bases and replace all losses. When food doesn't work, a sport shake is an easy, portable way to replace carbohydrates and protein needed for maintaining muscle gains and strength accomplished during workouts.