ACSM Fitness Summit Top Ten Important Facts

I went to the ACSM Fitness Summit last week, and I really enjoyed it. Not only was it amazing to visit California (I'd never been there before), it was awesome to get some of the knowledge I already had reinforced, and learn some new things. Going to these conferences seems to recenter me, and it's also nice to see the studies and statistics that back up the methods I'm using, and teach me about new ways I can help my clients get the results they need.

I decided that since it's late, and I have been really busy trying to catch up on all the work I missed while I was gone, I wanted to sum up the top 10 things I got from the conference, that I want to make sure I share with you guys. Each one I may post more detail on in the next week or two, but while it's still relatively fresh in my mind, here they are:

#1) STOP DRINKING YOUR CALORIES

#2) We are an incredibly sedentary society, and all the sitting has detrimental effects on not only our weight, but also our health, I'm going to teach you new strategies to break up the sitting.

#3) High Intensity Interval Training is one of the most effective ways to boost your metabolism, shrink your waist line, and improve your athletic performance.

#4) STOP INGESTING ASPARTAME

#5) Barefoot Running is something you need to ease into, and is not yet proven to be safe or unsafe... if you are one of my runners who is considering switching to barefoot running, please talk to me and I will give you strategies to ease into barefoot, or five finger toe shoes safely.

#6) There is some really COOL technology coming out to help all of us on our path to health and wellness, I'll do a post giving you some good links for all kinds of technological goodies!

#7) BOSU balls do NOT activate your core any more than doing the same exercise on solid ground. Just something to think about...

#8) Exercise, and full range movement actually stimulates the brain, and helps create more dendrites in the brain. It improves short term memory first, and the longer you exercise, the more this neural development spreads to the rest of the brain, making you smarter and smarter! The more ways you move the better you activate your brain.

#9) Breakfast really is important, as is getting the right amount of PROTEIN, CARBS and FATS. We need balanced nutrition. If you eat too little you will slow your metabolism and make your weight problem worse.

#10) Resistance exercise actually does burn calories, boost your metabolism, is incredibly important, and creates an after burn for several hours post-exercise. Basically it's just as good as High Intensity Interval Training, but you need both. Yay! Such good stuff. Feel free to email me with any questions.

Ohh.. and lastly... avoid large quantities of sugar...