Author Archives: AlexK

About AlexK

Pro Fitness Trainer of 10+ yrs. Founder of www.CardioBlast.com. The Complete Home Workout & Vitality program including new cardio workouts every week, full 50 page Meal Plan, Fitness Tracker, Strength Workouts and much more!

Some simple facts about Sugar

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Some simple facts about Sugar

Some simple facts about Sugar

Most packaged foods on the market contain some sort of refined sugar. We end up eating quite a bit more sugar than we think we are as a result and this is contributing to more and more health issues. Here are some simple facts about sugar that you should know.

??? Sugar is the additive most often used in foods. Sugar alone is added to food 10 times more than all other food additives combined together.
??? Brown sugar is simply refined white sugar with some molasses added to it and is not any healthier for you than white sugar.
??? Most canned foods, cured meats, cereals, salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, packaged foods, mayonnaise, juices and many other products all contain sugar. Look at your labels closely for all of the forms of sugar.
??? The average soft drink contains approximately 9 teaspoons of refined white sugar.
??? 1 tablespoon of ketchup contains approximately a teaspoon of sugar.
??? Sugar comes in many forms on labels including sucrose, fructose and glucose just to name a few.
??? Corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are two other ingredients that are basically the equivalent of sugar.

So why are we showing that sugar is in so many foods and in many different variations? This is because humans eat way more sugar then we ever have in history and excessive sugar consumption is linked to many diseases and has negative effects to your overall health. We suggest you really try to limit the amount of sugar you consume as it will improve your overall health and give you more consistent energy throughout the day.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.

3 things you need to know before you stop exercising

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3 things you need to know before you stop exercising

3 things you need to know before you stop exercising

The average person will often go through a roller coaster ride with their exercise programs. Some weeks they exercise and other weeks they get ???busy??? or ???lazy??? and don???t exercise. Weeks can turn into months and this creates a lot of problems in terms of staying in shape and managing their weight. This is why consistency in your workouts is extremely important.

People often ask me why I am so dedicated to my workouts and why I don???t skip them. I tell them that it is actually easier to exercise regularly than it is to take breaks and start back up again. By taking days or even weeks off from exercise you make the process of staying in shape difficult. Here are 3 things you need to know before you stop exercising.

First of all, every time you stop exercising for a few days, weeks or months you take your body back into restart mode. Since you are always ???restarting??? the workout process, the body goes through its usual phase of being extremely sore. We???ve all had that feeling when we go back to an exercise program or we start a new one. There is usually a great deal of soreness and discomfort for many days. This then makes it difficult to work out in the days ahead and further hurts your motivation to workout causing you to take another so called ???break???. By exercising regularly you can avoid the extreme soreness that happens after longer breaks.

The second major problem is that it messes with your metabolism. When you work out regularly your metabolism is elevated which means you burn more calories every day both while exercising and while at rest. By stopping and starting your workouts you jerk your metabolism around which will eventually affect you long term. It speeds up and then it slows down over and over again. As people age their metabolism does not increase as easily and all the years of creating the ups and downs means a much harder time keeping the weight off. A consistent metabolism will help you keep your weight steadier over the years.

Finally, by regularly working out, both your body and mind are prepared for it and it becomes a regular part of your daily routine like eating and sleeping. You end up feeling that ???high??? that you get from exercising and you look forward to it daily. This makes life much simpler and healthier. You honestly end up needing your workouts and you do it because you feel better. You have more energy, less illness, sleep better and feel better about yourself. This in turn feeds your desire to exercise again and the upward spiral continues!

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.

Busy Moms make your workout more efficient

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Busy Mom's make your workout more efficient

Busy Mom’s make your workout more efficient

Quite often we hear from stay at home Mom???s who are trying to fit a lot into their busy schedules. Between taking kids to school, preparing meals and running errands, their lives are busy and they find it tough to fit their workout program into their daily lives.

We all know how important exercise is for our physical health as well as for our emotional health. Keeping your workout in your schedule is crucial for you especially when you are busy which tends to make you a little overstressed.

To help busy moms make your workout more efficient and ensure you achieve success in maintaining them we have two suggestions for you. One is to do with the way that you do your cardio workouts and the other is to do with the way you do your strength workouts.

For your cardio, we suggest doing interval training for your workouts. Interval training involves short bursts of high intensity exercise follow by a short period of rest or moderate intensity exercise. This form of cardio has been found to be much more efficient than longer duration aerobic cardio (ie, running for an hour). Your heart rate tends to stay higher for longer periods of time which burns more calories. Also, interval training challenges your heart more than steady state training which helps it to become more efficient and will eventually help lower your resting heart rate. This means a heart that will remain healthier for more years of your life.

To make your strength training more efficient we suggest you do what are called supersets. Normally when people strength train they pick a body part or two and focus on those for the day. They end up starting on one body part and do a set of an exercise and then take a rest. With this method of training there are a lot of rest periods and this can add significant time to the length of your workout. Supersets are where you take two opposite body parts and work them at the same time to make your workout more efficient. For instance, you could work on your biceps and triceps. You can perform a set on your biceps and then while they are resting you would perform a set on your triceps. Basically you are taking your rest period and filling it in with another exercise on another body part. Both body parts still get the rest they need while the other body part is being worked. Another benefit to this style of strength training is that it tends to increase the heart rate a little more; thereby burning more calories and creating somewhat of an aerobic workout for you.

If you???re a Mom looking to make sure you fit exercise into your busy schedule we highly recommend these two tips to increase the efficiency of your workouts. You can use these ideas effectively for your home workouts, at the park or at the gym.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and customized online workout programs.

Fix your posture before it damages you

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Fix your posture before it damages you

Fix your posture before it damages you

Posture is a good overall indicator of the health of your muscles and we don???t look at it very often at all. Just by looking at someone standing up you can tell a lot about whether their muscles are weak, strong, tight or flexible.

Have someone stand up and take a look at them from the side. Here are some pointers on some things that could be going wrong with their posture and some suggestions on how to fix your posture before it damages you.

??? The top of the head is level and not dropped down at the forehead (ie. texting syndrome where people are constantly looking down at their phones). This can cause strain in the neck and possible headaches. Make sure your head is level. It may seem ackward at first but give it a couple of weeks and it will seem more natural.

??? The head should also be retracted back so that the neck is vertical and not angled forward. The ear should be aligned over the ball of the shoulder joint and not in front of it.

??? The shoulders should be rotated back and not rounded forwarded. Many people have their shoulders rounded forward (ie. in a slouched position) and this causes their chest to tighten up and their upper back muscles to weaken. You often see seniors with what looks like a ???hunched??? upper back. This is caused by tight chest muscles, weak upper back muscles and degenerating bones. Stand tall keeping your shoulders back for a strong posture.

??? The stomach and low back should be tall and strong. Often times you will see the stomach rounded, the hips tilted forward and the low back in an excessive arched position. You want your stomach and back to be tall and work as one unit. This has the effect of making you seem leaner in the stomach and will help reduce pain in your lower back.

??? The ball joint at the top of your leg (where the leg bone connects into your hip joint) should be aligned vertically under the shoulder joint.

??? The knee joint should also be aligned with hip and shoulder joint as well. The knees need to remain slightly bent and not locked.

??? Finally, the ankle joint should also be aligned with the knee, hip and shoulder joint.

The younger you are the easier it is to correct your posture as your muscles are generally stronger and more flexible. As you age, your muscles become stiffer and smaller. This makes it more difficult to maintain a correct posture. If you find that you have any of the issues above we recommend that you undertake both a strength training and flexibility program to help you correct and maintain a strong posture. This can be implemented at any age!

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and customized online workout programs.

Warmups are key to a good workout

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Warmups are key to a good workout

Warmups are key to a good workout

One of the most important keys to a successful workout is a good warm-up. People often skip or cut their warm-up short, especially if they are in a hurry. However, here are some reasons why warmups are key to a good workout and why you need to make sure you plan it into your activities.

First of all, a proper warm-up will help reduce the risk of injury. During the warm-up there is increased blood flow to the muscles. This increased blood flow increases the temperature of the muscle along with its elasticity. By increasing the elasticity, the muscles are able to stretch further during your workout without becoming injured. Your warm-up should include what is called ???dynamic stretching???. This is where you do moving stretches that stretch the muscle out and then relax it. This is repeated over and over again until the muscle is able to achieve the length needed for the activity you are going to pursue without feeling excessive strain.

The second benefit of a good warm-up is that it reduces lactic acid buildup in the muscles. When you workout intensely you get waste products (lactic acid) that build up in your muscles and this reduces the intensity with which you can workout as well as causes soreness in the muscles. By gradually increasing the intensity of your workout through a proper warm-up, you delay the process of lactic acid buildup. The muscles are better able to effectively get rid of the lactic acid and this gives you a better workout.

If you are playing sports a proper warm-up also helps facilitate the mind-muscle connection. This helps your brain send the right messages to the right muscles in the fastest way possible. If you???ve ever tried to go play a sport and feel a little ???rusty??? when you start you???ll know what this means. Your hand eye coordination and balance just don???t seem right if you go straight into activity. Therefore, a proper warm-up that gets the mind-muscle link properly established will allow you to be ready to compete right from the start of your competition. This includes footwork drills where the feet are made to move over and around objects, balance drills that challenge both sides of the body and hand eye coordination drills for sports that involve the use of objects.

Plan a proper warm-up into your exercise routine and we guarantee you will notice better results immediately.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.

BC’s Biggest Bootcamp presented by Cardio Blast

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BC's Biggest Bootcamp

BC’s Biggest Bootcamp

Join Cardio Blast Founder Alex K for a great workout in BC’s Biggest Bootcamp. For those of you living in the lower mainland of British Columbia this is a chance to workout with hundreds of fitness minded people just like yourselves.

Plus, we are supporting a great cause by donating all proceeds from the event to the Abbotsford Minor Hockey Association to help underprivileged youth play minor hockey in the upcoming season. Hockey is an expensive sport and we want to help those who can’t afford to play to have a chance as well.

The event takes place on Monday June 17th at 6:30pm. Location is Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford, BC. Cost to attend is a minimum donation of $5 which will be donated to minor hockey. There are over $1300 in door prizes for participants as well.

Deadline to register is June 7th. More information can be found on the website for BC’s Biggest Bootcamp at www.etsfitness.ca.

Hiwire Creative – www.hiwirecreative.ca
Abbotsford News – www.abbynews.com
Star FM – www.starfm.com
Theragear – www.theragear.com
Team Sharp Training – www.teamsharptraining.com
Abbotsford Heat – www.abbotsfordheat.com
PHD Nutrition – www.phdnutrition.ca
Perfect Tan – www.perfecttan.ca
Suzanne Pennell Personal Training – www.befitabbotsford.com
Vos Hockey – www.voshockey.com
Envision Financial – www.envisionfinancial.ca
Ned Athletic Wear – www.nedathleticwear.com

Get your registration forms in today. You don’t want to miss this!!

For more information on Cardio Blast programming please visit www.blog.cardioblast.com.

Cardio Blast in the Dragons Den

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Cardio Blast in the Dragons Den

Cardio Blast in the Dragons Den

Cardio Blast in the Dragons Den! Cardio Blast President and Founder Alex K recently found himself in the Dragons Den to film a segment for the hit CBC show. The online fitness pro describes the experience as being one of the coolest things he has done in his life.

“I got a call last Tuesday from the Dragons Den producer saying we want you to fly to Toronto and come film on Sunday morning” said Alex K. This didn’t leave him a lot of time to prepare. “I had Wednesday and Thursday to book flights and hotels & prepare my presentation and props knowing that once I got to Toronto there wouldn’t be a lot of time for last minute changes.”

Once in Toronto there was one day to prepare and then Alex K had to be at the CBC studio at 6:45am on Sunday morning. “Getting up at 5:00am on Sunday morning wouldn’t have been so bad except my body was on Pacific time which meant I was waking up at 2:00am. This meant very little sleep for what I would consider to be the biggest presentation of my life.” said Alex K.

“Being in the Dragons Den was kind of surreal. I got to talk to and present the Cardioblast.com business model to Jim Treliving, Kevin O’Leary, Bruce Coxon, David Chilton and Arlene Dickinson. These are the same people I watch every week on the hit CBC show. It was a great experience just to be in the presence of these fabulous entrepreneurs.”

Alex K isn’t allow to disclose the results of the show to anyone until after the show airs. “I was filming for the fall season so it will be a little ways away before the pitch hits the air.”

Cardioblast.com is an online workout program where users get a new online workout every week plus a full 50 page meal plan and fitness tracker for the low cost of $19.99 per month.

Alex K workouts are tough and fun

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Alex K workouts are tough and fun

Alex K workouts are tough and fun

Alex K workouts are tough and fun at the same time. His goal is to give you drills that you can adapt to your own intensity level and make them fun by giving you a lot of variety. Here is what one participant has to say.

“I became disillusioned and bored with the gym earlier this year, and stopped going. After months of inactivity, a friend suggested working out with Alex K. I enlisted my sister and nieces to sign up with me, and found that exercise can be fun (even though there were times we wanted to throw things at Alex)! Although incredibly intense, Alex is a great motivator who encourages you when you think you can’t possibly continue. After every session, we all said how glad we were that we did the workout, and what a great workout it was. It’s like having your own personal trainer (for a great price!). Looking forward to the next Alex K workout!?? Marlene Kammenos

Are you looking for something new in your workout routine? If you want to try this great workout program with no obligation visit www.blog.cardioblast.com.

What is your favourite post-workout snack?

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Post-workout Snack

Post-workout Snack

What is your favourite post-workout snack? We know that refueling your body quickly after a workout is extremely important to your recovery but what you eat is just as important as how quickly you eat.

One of our favourite post-workout snacks is a whey protein smoothie. The recipe is shown above and gives you everything you need to fuel your recovery. The whey protein gives your body what it needs to repair it’s muscles and tissues. The fruit and vegetables help to replace the glucose you have burned. Adding liquid to the drink will also help you replace fluids lost during your workout. Overall this is just a great snack after a workout.

Now we want to hear from you. What is your favourite post workout snack? Share your ideas and recipes with us on our facebook wall at www.facebook.com/cardioblast. We would love to hear from you.

If you need any other fitness or health information please visit our website at www.blog.cardioblast.com.

Valentines without sugar

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Valentines without sugar

Valentines without sugar via Paper-Pixie

A Valentines without sugar seems impossible given all of the chocolate and candies we are bombarded with at the stores.

Most of the candy we buy, our favorites are those little valentines hearts, are 90%+ sugar. Basically they form sugar into a shape, add some artificial flavors and colours, and then call it valentines candy. The same goes for chocolate. Have you ever heard yourself saying “I’m craving some chocolate”. Most of us have and you’re probably not craving chocolate. You’re actually craving sugar!!

You see the first ingredient in most chocolate we buy is sugar – the ingredient that is the highest in quantity. You’ll be lucky if you get cocoa mass or cocoa butter in the top 5 ingredients but what you will get most of in chocolate is sugar! If you want to know what real chocolate tastes like, the kind that has all of the antioxidants in it, go to the baking section of your grocery store and buy 100% chocolate. This contains ONLY chocolate and will taste nothing like the chocolate that most of us buy.

We as a society crave, and are addicted to, sugar and of course this has many drawbacks to our health which have been discussed in previous blogs we have written. So how do you have a valentines without sugar and still feel like you are having a treat. Well there are many creative solutions.

For those of you that want chocolate you can buy that 100% chocolate, melt it down in a pot on the stove and then add a sweetener such as stevia or xylitol to it. These sweeteners won’t spike the glucose levels in your blood the same way sugar will. You can then sweeten the chocolate to whatever level you desire. Take the melted chocolate and eat it as is, put it into molds to create some cool shapes, or just let it harden and break it off into chunks.

Another great treat is to cook some frozen berries in a pot such as blueberries. Often when cooking blueberries we find they taste even sweeter than when they were raw. Take these cooked berries and dump them over some plain frozen yogurt for a yummy treat. Or let them cool in the fridge for a couple of hours and they will form a jelly like substance. Then you can mix them in with some plain greek yogurt to make a sweet, creamy treat.

Both of these options are very easy to do and give you great healthy alternatives to commercial grade candy that you buy in the store. They will taste great as well. There are many other things you can do. Just keep the mindset that you are trying to avoid excess sugar, artificial flavors and colors that most products contain in stores. For more information on great recipes and food ideas from our Cardio Blast Meal Plan please visit www.blog.cardioblast.com.