Monthly Archives: April 2012

Simple Smartraining Tips for Fitness Success

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Fitness. Figured out.

1. Complete three strength and four Koko Cardio sessions per week.

When your monthly Koko progress report arrives in your inbox next Tuesday morning, check to see if you have a minimum of 12 strength and 16 cardio sessions for the month of April. If you do, you are getting the CDC/WHO/Surgeon General recommended 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity exercise to decrease your risk of developing several nasty, chronic diseases.

2. Get active and have fun outside of Koko FitClub.

Why get in shape if you don’t enjoy that improved fitness? You’d be amazed how quickly riding bikes with your kids, walking the dog or digging in your garden logs a ton of extra “active” time to your week. This weekend I plan to be working in my yard for a few hours and going for a two hour hike on Sunday. All of a sudden my 150 minutes of Smartraining turns into seven hours of activity! Seven hours of activity a week is a magic number that not only off-sets a sedentary day job, but also cuts my risk of dying prematurely by 40% compared to folks who exercise only thirty minutes a week.

3. The Smartraining “Three Rep Rule.”

If a weight feels too light or too heavy during your next Koko strength workout, (not a strength test,) you can perform three fewer or three additional reps than what the Smartrainer suggests for you and it will trigger an automatic weight adjustment for the next set. If the weight is too heavy, three fewer reps will trigger a lighter suggested weight next set. If it’s too light, three extra reps will trigger a higher weight next set.

4. Mix up your cardio routine.

No matter how much you LOVE the “Mt. Diablo” treadmill hike, don’t do it every time. Think variety and progression with your cardio. If you are comfortably working at the same intensity level every session, try the next level up and see how you do. (You can always make adjustments if it feels too difficult.) Do you have a favorite piece of equipment?  Forsake it every other session. You will get much more benefit by alternating between treadmill and elliptical. Bottom line, it’s best to mix it up – different intensities, different programs and different equipment.

5. Improve your pace score to improve your Q-Score.

Has improvement in your Koko Q-Score stalled even though you are working out consistently? Remember – Q-Score is a pace adjusted strength to weight ratio. Next strength test, really focus on getting the best pace score you can on the last, heaviest set for each of the four exercises in your strength test. Can’t get a decent pace score on that last set? Do fewer reps, recognizing that it is ok to stop as soon as your pace score starts to slip.

6. Reduce the amount of added sugar in your diet.

Over the next two to three weeks, work on cutting down your consumption of added sugar and you will lose body fat around your abdominal area. Your total added sugar intake should stay under 25 grams/day for women and 38 grams/day for men.  Of course, foods have natural sugar, that’s not what I’m asking you to avoid. Read food labels to watch for “added sugar.” It can come in the form of high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, brown rice syrup, etc. If you are consistent with your Koko workouts and follow this added sugar rule, you’ll really notice the change in your waistline. (I have over the last three weeks!)

These simple changes can have a big impact if you keep at them consistently. Let me know how it goes!

Michael Wood, CSCS
Chief Fitness Officer
Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub Franchising

 

“Is Cardio Better at Burning Calories than Strength Training?”

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Not necessarily! Cardiovascular fitness is critical to your health and longevity, which is why we embrace Koko Cardio. (Read our blog entry on just that subject.) But, a workout regimen that consists of only cardiovascular exercise is lopsided at best.

Circuit training strength regimens have the ability to burn nearly as many calories per workout, build strength and improve aerobic fitness by 7 to 15%. The calorie burning and aerobic improvements from this type of strength workout make it a fair trade-off for a straight cardio workout. However, over the long haul, the calorie burn from circuit strength training easily trumps cardio alone. Here’s why…

In circuit strength training you move through a “circuit” of  resistance exercises, alternating muscle groups with little rest between, so your heart rate stays elevated. Sound familiar?

That’s because a Koko Smartraining workout IS circuit training! Besides providing a solid cardiovascular workout, Koko Smartraining develops lean muscle tissue. Lean muscle is a calorie burning machine. When you have a higher percentage of lean muscle in your body, your metabolic rate is higher. So, you burn more calories all the time, not just during exercise.

Speaking of calories burned during exercise, do you know that the Koko Smartrainer is the only strength equipment with the ability to track them? This comes in handy when you want to know how many you’ve expended each workout, but it can be deceptive for the reasons stated above. You may burn more calories during a straight cardio work out, but the 50 to 100 calorie difference will easily be bridged, then surpassed, as your metabolic rate increases through consistent Koko Smartraining.

So, next time you find yourself worried that you aren’t getting enough calorie burn from a Koko Smartraining strength session, remember that the most beneficial, long term calorie burn can’t be captured as a data point in the computer, but it makes all the difference in your health and appearance.

Koko makes it easy, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just 3 Koko Smartraining strength sessions per week, plus 3 to 4 Koko Cardio 15-minute sessions is all you need for a balanced, calorie burning, training plan.

Start burning, Koko Nation!

Michael Wood, CSCS
Chief Fitness Office
Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub Franchising

How I Get Fitness Motivation from my Koko Monthly Smartraining Review

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I love that Koko gives me hard data on my exercise habits and feedback about my fitness progress. After years of Koko workouts, I still look forward to the 1st of each month when that data is delivered to me via email in my personal Koko Monthly Smartraining Review. I have a routine that I go through every time the report arrives in my inbox, and it plays a big part in keeping me motivated to stay on track with exercise.

First thing I do is save it to my special Koko Monthly Report gmail folder, where I keep all of my past reports at my finger-tips. Then, I take a quick look back to compare past month’s total strength and cardio sessions to my current report to see if I’m slacking anywhere. (There was NO slacking in March!)

Next, I take a peek at my total calories expended between strength and cardio sessions. Let’s say in March it was 6,800 calories. If I was on the ball with my nutrition,  then I should have lost about two pounds with that level of caloric expenditure. (Every 3500 calories expended = one pound weight loss.) Just to be clear, my main focus is not weight loss, (body composition and the ratio of lean muscle to fat is what really matters,)this is just one way I keep myself honest about how I’m doing with the “calories in” side of the equation.

I then take a look at my total hours spent Smartraining. My personal goal is a minimum of 150 minutes a week of moderate–intensity exercise. That equates to 600 minutes or 10 hours a month.

Last, but not least, I end with my All-time Best Performance data at the bottom. These are like gold stars! I check to see if I added any new 1000 point workouts and  if I managed to beat my personal highest session for weigh lifted. (Love when I have managed to do that.)

I hope this inspires you to look a bit differently at your Koko Monthly Smartraining Review. The data and feedback it contains is something that only Koko can give you.  It can be incredibly motivating and will most definitely keep you on track if you give it some attention. Now, when May 1st rolls around, are you going to be as excited as I am to see that report?

Stay Koko Strong!

Michael Wood, CSCS
Chief Fitness Officer
Koko FitClub

Koko FitClub Franchising