First, I apologize for not posting anything in a long time. I have been diagnosed with a pretty nasty disease and it has laid me out in bed (almost 20 hours a day).
I have been diagnosed with full blown Crohns disease. Crohns disease comes in 5 grades of severity and I am at the highest grade. I am starting to feel better and I will write about this ordeal and how I plan on working exercise around my condition as soon as I can. I will also be getting back to the normal content I post here as well.
In the mean time if anyone that reads my blog has any information on Crohns, or tips to manage it or just anything at all please let me know. I could use all the support and knowledge I could get.
Thank you for being patient with me,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Strength testing - 1 rep max
Okay, tonight I explore what you "could" be lifting in some of your exercises.
The test is called the one rep max and it tests to see what the maximum amount of weight that you could lift. You then take this and apply it to the correct weight you could use daily in your routines.
Lets take the bench press as an example. Here is the scenario (you need to know all three pieces of information):
1) You currently are lifting 150 pounds in the bench press.
2) We use 10 reps for simplicity. So try to come up with the weight that you can lift 10 times to fatigue as a starting point.
3) Your current weight. We will use 170 pounds in this example.
The formula is:
w = weight you are lifting now in pounds
cw = your current weight in pounds
1 rep max = w / .75
weight ratio = cw / 1 rep max
So for our example:
1 rep max = 150 / .75 or 200 pounds
Weight ratio = 200 / 170 or 1.18
To find out the theoretical amount you could be lifting do the following:
Weight ratio * w or 1.18 * 150 or 177 pounds
This formula is mostly used for big muscle group testing such as: back, chest, legs. I do not usually use this formula for other muscle groups because the numbers could be skewed.
As always, with any weight lifting - please have a spotter.
If you are like me you are going to go to the gym and want to apply this test to the major exercises and then start lifting those increases. I was amazed at how much more I really could lift - and that made my workouts even more productive.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
The test is called the one rep max and it tests to see what the maximum amount of weight that you could lift. You then take this and apply it to the correct weight you could use daily in your routines.
Lets take the bench press as an example. Here is the scenario (you need to know all three pieces of information):
1) You currently are lifting 150 pounds in the bench press.
2) We use 10 reps for simplicity. So try to come up with the weight that you can lift 10 times to fatigue as a starting point.
3) Your current weight. We will use 170 pounds in this example.
The formula is:
w = weight you are lifting now in pounds
cw = your current weight in pounds
1 rep max = w / .75
weight ratio = cw / 1 rep max
So for our example:
1 rep max = 150 / .75 or 200 pounds
Weight ratio = 200 / 170 or 1.18
To find out the theoretical amount you could be lifting do the following:
Weight ratio * w or 1.18 * 150 or 177 pounds
This formula is mostly used for big muscle group testing such as: back, chest, legs. I do not usually use this formula for other muscle groups because the numbers could be skewed.
As always, with any weight lifting - please have a spotter.
If you are like me you are going to go to the gym and want to apply this test to the major exercises and then start lifting those increases. I was amazed at how much more I really could lift - and that made my workouts even more productive.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Monday, July 14, 2008
New theme strength testing
Okay enough about flexibility testing and on to much more fun tests.
In the next few days I will be giving you some tests that you can do on your own to assess your muscular strength. The tests will give you a good idea as to where you stand in regards to muscular strength to the general population. I will also be giving you a cool formula to see exactly how much you "could" and "should" be lifting with certain exercises. Don't miss them because they will charge up your workouts.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
In the next few days I will be giving you some tests that you can do on your own to assess your muscular strength. The tests will give you a good idea as to where you stand in regards to muscular strength to the general population. I will also be giving you a cool formula to see exactly how much you "could" and "should" be lifting with certain exercises. Don't miss them because they will charge up your workouts.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Trunk flexibility test
Hello, Tonight I am going to talk about trunk flexibility(flexion) and how to test yourselves. Above you will see two tables that you will need to refer to after you get your test number. By double clicking on the images you can get a better view.First a disclaimer: Before I test a client for flexibility I have them fill out a fitness form, waivers, and many others that let me see my clients health history and possible limitations. Since I cannot do that with the readers of this blog I must caution that this flexibility test could cause further injury to individuals with diagnosed lower back issues or for issues that may let turn up. You should not try this flexibility test unless you have a doctors okay.
Before you test yourself make sure that you lightly stretch your low back and hamstrings. Make sure you perform the test slowly or you risk injury.
1. Place a yardstick on floor.
2. Place piece of tape at least 12 inches long at a right angle to the yardstick (with zero mark towards the body).
3. Clients feet should be about 12 inches apart, heels aligned with tape at the 15 inch mark of the yardstick.
4. Place hands one on top of the other w/ tips of fingers aligned.
5. Exhale and slowly lean forward (keep your knees straight), drop head toward or between the arms.
6. Your fingers should maintain contact with yardstick while you keep your knees straight.
7. Score is farthest point reached after 3 trials.
8. Compare to norms (displayed above - you will have to enlarge the image to see it clearly - if you cannot see them clearly send me an email to personaltrainernj@gmail.com and I will send you the files).
9. Evaluate where along spine bending takes place. This can give you clues to what muscle imbalances or other issues you may have.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Friday, July 11, 2008
Trunk extension test
Okay today lets assess your trunk extension flexibility. Basically the test evaluates the amount of backward bend available to your lumbar spine. Most trainers test this because the loss of flexibility and extension in the lumbar spine can cause low back pain and increase injuries. I want to know if my client has the lumbar stability to handle over the head exercises as well as other types involving the lower back.
First a disclaimer: Before I test a client for flexibility I have them fill out a fitness form, waivers, and many others that let me see my clients health history and possible limitations. Since I cannot do that with the readers of this blog I must caution that this flexibility test could cause further injury to individuals with diagnosed lower back issues or for issues that may let turn up. You should not try this flexibility test unless you have a doctors okay.
Lie face down with your hands in position for a pushup. Then push your upper body up while letting your lower back relax as much as possible and attempt to keep the hip bones in contact with the floor. Keep rising till your arms are fully extended. Do not fight it if your hip bones want to raise.
Compare your results to the table below to see where you stand for trunk extension flexibility.
Good - The hips remain in contact with floor while the arms are fully extended.
Fair - The hips raise from the ground up to a tiny amount below 2 inches or less.
Poor - The hips raise from the ground 2 inches or more.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
First a disclaimer: Before I test a client for flexibility I have them fill out a fitness form, waivers, and many others that let me see my clients health history and possible limitations. Since I cannot do that with the readers of this blog I must caution that this flexibility test could cause further injury to individuals with diagnosed lower back issues or for issues that may let turn up. You should not try this flexibility test unless you have a doctors okay.
Lie face down with your hands in position for a pushup. Then push your upper body up while letting your lower back relax as much as possible and attempt to keep the hip bones in contact with the floor. Keep rising till your arms are fully extended. Do not fight it if your hip bones want to raise.
Compare your results to the table below to see where you stand for trunk extension flexibility.
Good - The hips remain in contact with floor while the arms are fully extended.
Fair - The hips raise from the ground up to a tiny amount below 2 inches or less.
Poor - The hips raise from the ground 2 inches or more.
As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Back from vacation
To all, I just came back from my vacation. While my family was on vacation we were overwhelmed with the junk that is served at the amusement park food stands AND restaurants. It took an extreme effort to find healthy food and even then most of the times the options we ate were NOT what we would of chosen - given options.
Here is how we did it. Maybe some of our methods could help you.
* For our little girl we brought a whole lot of food from home: healthy snacks, fresh fruit sliced up, organic milk, organic/no sugar fruit roll-ups, pretzels, healthy cereals, yogurts etc.
* For our son we packed pop-tarts as a healthier snack at night in the room then cookies or cakes and dried fruit snacks he likes.
* My wife and I winged it and figured we could find right choices there.
To make matters worse and make our nutritional choices even more important was the fact that the hotel did not have a fitness room. The hotel did have agreements with surrounding resorts that allowed us to use their gym for a small fee. I managed to get to the gym just once in 7 days. Having a fitness room miles away made it very very difficult to schedule it. Ex: A one hour workout turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour ordeal.
So in order to maintain some fitness we performed a full stretch routine I developed nightly. It made us feel a little better about missing the gym and still gave our bodies some conditioning. Later on when I write about hotel workouts I will share some of that routine with you. The quick point I am making is no matter what challenges to your nutritional and fitness needs you face you can always make small differences to get some good health - even on vacation.
BUT, we did not restrict ourselves either. We ate pizza a few times, had some premium sundaes, and even enjoyed a hot dog or two.
It takes a lot of work to eat right on vacation and we took almost a suitcase of food with us to make it happen. The fact that airport security took us side and asked us about all the food and searched our bags attest to the fact that very few people travel with their nutrition in mind - or for that matter have a desire to deal with more stress.
Tomorrow I will go back to writing about flexibility testing.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Here is how we did it. Maybe some of our methods could help you.
* For our little girl we brought a whole lot of food from home: healthy snacks, fresh fruit sliced up, organic milk, organic/no sugar fruit roll-ups, pretzels, healthy cereals, yogurts etc.
* For our son we packed pop-tarts as a healthier snack at night in the room then cookies or cakes and dried fruit snacks he likes.
* My wife and I winged it and figured we could find right choices there.
To make matters worse and make our nutritional choices even more important was the fact that the hotel did not have a fitness room. The hotel did have agreements with surrounding resorts that allowed us to use their gym for a small fee. I managed to get to the gym just once in 7 days. Having a fitness room miles away made it very very difficult to schedule it. Ex: A one hour workout turned out to be a 2 1/2 hour ordeal.
So in order to maintain some fitness we performed a full stretch routine I developed nightly. It made us feel a little better about missing the gym and still gave our bodies some conditioning. Later on when I write about hotel workouts I will share some of that routine with you. The quick point I am making is no matter what challenges to your nutritional and fitness needs you face you can always make small differences to get some good health - even on vacation.
BUT, we did not restrict ourselves either. We ate pizza a few times, had some premium sundaes, and even enjoyed a hot dog or two.
It takes a lot of work to eat right on vacation and we took almost a suitcase of food with us to make it happen. The fact that airport security took us side and asked us about all the food and searched our bags attest to the fact that very few people travel with their nutrition in mind - or for that matter have a desire to deal with more stress.
Tomorrow I will go back to writing about flexibility testing.
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Hamstring flexibility test
Okay, my last post until July 10th deals with Hamstring flexibility. The hamstring muscle probably has the most implications to your quality of life then most other muscles. One of the primary responsibilites of this muscle is stabilizing your knee. And if it is tight you are risking injury to your knee. You might be saying how can that be if it is in the back of my thigh. But if you know muscle anatomy you would see that the hamstring has primary control of the knee. If you are too tight or too strong you risk instability in your knee joint. Most people have much more strength in their quadtriceps (front of the thigh) and this causes inbalance and a host of issues. Your hamstrings should be no more then 60% - 70% the strength of your quadtriceps. Do the math. If you can lift 100 pounds during a hamstring curl you should not do more then 60-70 pounds in a leg raise.
So how do you test the flexibility of your hamstring muscle.
1) Lie on the floor with your face facing the ceiling.
2) Have a partner raise up one of your legs - that you keep knee locked and straight.
3) The minute your non-raised legs off the ground while your partner is raising your leg you fail.
4) To pass the hamstring flexibility you need to be able to raise you leg at least to a 80% to 90% angle without your non-raised leg rising off the ground.
Take the test and see if you have been working out incorrectly. Maybe your hamstring is too tight. If you find it is - why not reach out to me and I can suggest some really cool stretches to get you back in the game per-say.
I would not introduce my client to lower body work till they could show me they were flexible to take it. I could hurt their knee and cause them life long pain. You should be assessing yourself as well. These flexibility tests could save you from major injuries - please try them.
This is my last post until July 10th. I will be on vacation in Disney World with my family. Please do not forget me. I live to pass on my knowledge. And I beleive I am giving you a reason to come back - daily - to learn from me. Right?
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
So how do you test the flexibility of your hamstring muscle.
1) Lie on the floor with your face facing the ceiling.
2) Have a partner raise up one of your legs - that you keep knee locked and straight.
3) The minute your non-raised legs off the ground while your partner is raising your leg you fail.
4) To pass the hamstring flexibility you need to be able to raise you leg at least to a 80% to 90% angle without your non-raised leg rising off the ground.
Take the test and see if you have been working out incorrectly. Maybe your hamstring is too tight. If you find it is - why not reach out to me and I can suggest some really cool stretches to get you back in the game per-say.
I would not introduce my client to lower body work till they could show me they were flexible to take it. I could hurt their knee and cause them life long pain. You should be assessing yourself as well. These flexibility tests could save you from major injuries - please try them.
This is my last post until July 10th. I will be on vacation in Disney World with my family. Please do not forget me. I live to pass on my knowledge. And I beleive I am giving you a reason to come back - daily - to learn from me. Right?
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Vacation notice
To all, I will on vacation from July 3rd to July 10th. During that time there will be no posts. My last post will be tomorrow night. But please come back on July 10th. Or better yet go through any of my previous posts that you may of missed. There is a treasure chest of information contained in this blog. There many more great themes coming and alot of very cool and great information for you to use in your workouts. In the coming months I will be having themes such as:
1) Pre-made mini-workouts for you to use.
2) How to work around injuries.
3) Special populations (diabeties, heart disease, pregnancy, etc.) and how to workout safely when you have these conditions.
4) Proper form for popular exercises.
5) Workout methodology for sports related goals.
6) Alternative exercise methods and routines such as speed bag/body bag, jump rope, body bar, flexibility ball, BOSU ball, bands, using ones own body weight, etc.
7) Special workouts for special occasions: bride to be boot camp, hotel workouts in your room, workouts in the park, swimming pool workouts, etc.
So you see there is a lot of stuff coming and I want all of you to benefit. So I hope to see you all coming back on July 10th. :)
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
1) Pre-made mini-workouts for you to use.
2) How to work around injuries.
3) Special populations (diabeties, heart disease, pregnancy, etc.) and how to workout safely when you have these conditions.
4) Proper form for popular exercises.
5) Workout methodology for sports related goals.
6) Alternative exercise methods and routines such as speed bag/body bag, jump rope, body bar, flexibility ball, BOSU ball, bands, using ones own body weight, etc.
7) Special workouts for special occasions: bride to be boot camp, hotel workouts in your room, workouts in the park, swimming pool workouts, etc.
So you see there is a lot of stuff coming and I want all of you to benefit. So I hope to see you all coming back on July 10th. :)
Regards,
Eddie Camaroto CPT
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