Did you know.....

Dark chocolate is good for you?

Yes, it's true! Dark chocolate contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. It contains flavanoids (which act as antioxidants) and this helps to protect the body from ageing due to free radicals.


Dark chocolate can help to relax blood pressure, lower cholesterol, balance certain hormones in the body and reduce the risk of heart disease. It even contains more antioxidants than strawberries!

HOWEVER... This doesn't mean that we can eat a whole block of dark chocolate at once and it's going to necessarily be good for us! 100g is recommended to enjoy all of the benefits. Chocolate is still high in saturated fat, so use your common sense with this one!


Enjoy!


Tony

What Do You Focus On?

Do you focus on the 6am morning run or do you focus on the toned, tight body you will have in the near future? Do you focus on what you can't eat, or do you focus on your healthy body that is bursting with energy?

So many of us get caught up in everyday tasks, that we lose sight of the important goal at the end of it all! Lifting heavy weights, eating fruit and vegies, smashing out the cardio sessions are all important, but what are you doing it for? What's the end result that you want?

If you really want the best results from your healthy living plan, then you need to have clearly defined, written down goals! "Why write them down?" I hear you ask... Writing down your goals makes it more real. It increases your belief that you will achieve them. It brings emotion to your goals and that's what really drives them!

Check this out: In 1953, a study was done to examine the effects of having clear, written down goals. A group of university graduates were studied and only 3% had clear written down goals. 25 years later, it was found that this 3% had achieved more than the other 97% (who didn't write down goals)!

Pretty powerful stuff! So how do you do it?

• Find a quiet spot so you can focus


• Grab a pen and paper and think about what you would really like to achieve


• Write down your thoughts and ideas in all areas of your life - health, career, relationships, finance, etc


• Write down your goals as often as you can (once a day is ideal!) and see what you can achieve!

Go on, give it a go!

Cheers,

Tony

Not all fats are BAD fats....

In fact, fats are an essential part of any healthy eating plan. Fat helps nutrient absorption, nerve transmission and maintains cell membrane integrity . It's just a matter of working out how much we should have....

There are several different fats in the foods we eat. Healthier fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats reduce the "bad" LDL Cholesterol and increase levels of the "good" HDL Cholesterol. Foods which contain this good type of fat are almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pistachios, avocado, canola oil and olive oil.

Polyunsaturated fats are found in foods such as salmon, fish oil, corn, soy and sunflower oils. They contain Omega 3 fatty acids, which prevent the blood from clotting and lowers the bad cholesterol and increases the good one!

The fats we need to look out for are saturated fats and trans fats. Saturated fats increase total cholesterol levels, in particular the LDL cholesterol, and are found in animal products, such as meat, dairy, seafood and eggs. Trans fatty acids are found in packaged food, as they make the food last for longer on supermarket shelves.

Some tips for you to eat more good fats and avoid the bad ones:

• Use cooking oils such as canola, flaxseed and olive; avoid palm oil, coconut oil and vegetable shortening


• Use lower fat versions of animal products, such as lean meat, skim milk and low fat yoghurt


• Minimise using comercially packaged food - fresh is always best!

Happy eating!! Tony

The Secret Weapon for Burning Copious Amounts of FAT (for 12 hrs Straight!)

There is a secret weapon when it comes to fat loss and anyone can take advantage of it..... E.P.O.C. is the answer and it is not a dirty four letter word.....

E.P.O.C. =  Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.  

What this means is, a state our bodies goes into after exercise, whereby it is taking in and utilizing more oxygen than normal, to recover from the workout you've just done.

So what is happening in this recovery process? Well our bodies are removing the waste products, like lactic acid, from our muscles and our body is also hard at work repairing and rebuilding our muscles. So our bodies are still hard at work even though the exercise is finished just to prepare us to be able to do it all again.

Now this is where it gets really exciting!

The reason we are taking in more oxygen is because we are metabolizing fat! You see to turn fat into energy this requires oxygen. Fat contains a lot of energy so our bodies use fat now after we finish exercising as energy to remove the lactic acid and rebuild our hard worked muscles. How good is this extra fat being burnt up even after we finish working out!

Now the question is what exercise is the best for inducing long bouts of EPOC so I can continue burning copious amounts of fat for a long, long time!

Research shows it is both high intensity strength training and interval cardio training. Research has shown that strength training can induce EPOC for up to 12 hours! It has also shown that interval training for most people promotes EPOC for up to 4 times longer than long steady cardio training. In a nut shell, what this means is lift heavy things and quality wins over quantity!!

Get lifting heavy weights today and enjoy your own E.P.O.C experience!

Happy Training T-Rex!

Tony Hebrard - Z Team Coach

If you have any questions, drop me a line here!

 
"Brisbane Personal Trainers: Tony & Jodie Hebrard"

How to get your mindset right, so you can stick to your food plan!

2:15min - How to get your mindset right!

Most clients that I've worked with at our personal training studio, have a fair idea on what to eat.... BUT the one thing holding them back from their results is actually eating the right foods! 

Listen in on while I share with you mindset techniques that I use with myself and my own personal trainer clients, to make sure I'm putting the good stuff in....(watch here)




Brisbane personal trainer Tony Hebrard shares with you the techniques he uses to help his clients at his brisbane based personal training studio, the zenergy group.