360fit Blog Abs and Clean Eating Rules

Everyone wants that lean stomach. Abs are the first thing people are always looking for when they come to see me. They are completely ready to do millions of crunches, leg raises and situps. In fact they are willing to do anything as long as it doesn't mean they have to change their food.

There's an old saying that abs are made in the kitchen, and its partly right. You can't get lean and you can't get abs if you don't clean, just like you can't get lean if you don't workout.

The two go hand in hand. If you want a lean body you need to workout, and you also need to cut out all the crap food you are eating.

It really isn't rocket science when it comes to food. Follow these three rules;

1. Don't eat things that are processed.

2. Don't eat processed sugar.

3. Don't eat  carbs at night.

If you follow those three rules you will see a difference in your body for sure!

Now couple that with some workouts that are based around resistance exercises, with short breaks between the exercises and you will get lean and get those abs you want.

So make a few small changes in you food and you will get that body you want!

Devin Sherrington is seven time Best Personal Fitness Trainer Halifax award winner, and owner the award winning fitness studio 360fit in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He lives in Fletcher's Lake with his girlfriend Lauren and children Reign and Journey.

Click here for a FREE personal training session at 360fit!

360fit Blog Long Isn't Better by Devin Sherrington

People often think if they want to be fit they need to spend hours a day in the gym. I am asked all the time how much do you workout, and you must workout for hours a day!

The truth is all my workouts are less than an hour and many are under 45 minutes. So how can I workout less and be fit? The answer is really simple.

More doesn't mean better.

When you workout you want to stress your body and force it to adapt top the stress you put on it through exercise. When your body heals from the stress of the workout, it is in better shape so it handle the stress from that workout, which is how you get more fit.

But your body is an amazing machine. It also is gauging all the time how it will stay alive. When you stress it too much, with hours of exercise a day, it reacts by keeping fat on you.

Why?

Because fat has more calories than muscle. So if your body is over stressed it will hold on to fat to help keep you alive. This doesn't just work with exercise related stress. Any high stress on your body will produce the same result.

Now with exercise you want to add stress to your body, and the best way to do that is to work hard for a short time frame. Short burst workouts that stress you for 45 min or so will allow you to stress your body and then let it recover. And it will get more lean because of that.

So next time you think you need to be in the gym two hours a day give your head a shake! You can get way more fit and healthy with less time.

Click here for a FREE personal training session!

Devin Sherrington is seven time Best Personal Fitness Trainer Halifax award winner, and owner the award winning fitness studio 360fit in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He lives in Fletchers Lake with his girlfriend Lauren and children Reign and Journey.

360fit Blog - What to Eat by Devin Sherrington

What do I eat? That's a question I get almost on a daily basis and I'm not surprised.

People are constantly confused on what to eat and how to eat. We are bombarded on a daily basis with new fad diets promising results without work, eat what you want all day and get in shape, eat only soup for a month, do only one workout for five minutes and get in great shape... The lists and claims go on and on.

Bottom line is the fitness industry is full of people trying to get rich quickly, and it's a billion dollar market place. So every day another fad diet comes out with wild and amazing claims. But most of these are complete hogwash.

Here is what I can promise you I have learn in my over 20 years of working in the fitness field, nothing comes without effort and anyone telling you different is not being truthful. There is no easy way.

When it comes to your food you cannot eat junk and be fit. It just doesn't work that way. But there is good news. Eating clean is not rocket science and with just a few small rules you can eat clean.

Here are five simple rules to follow when it comes to food.

1. Eat five to six small meals a day. This means all your meals and snacks are about the same size.

2. Make sure you have protein in every meal.

3. No starchy carbohydrates after five pm. So no bread, rice, potatoes, pasta etc. in the evening.

4. All portion sizes of protein, carbs etc should be no larger than the size of the palm your hand.

5. Eat veggies and fruit in every meal.

Follow those five simple rules and you will see big changes in your body!

Devin Sherrington is seven time Best Personal Fitness Trainer  Halifax award winner, and owner the award winning fitness studio 360fit in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. www.360online.ca He lives in Fletchers Lake with his children Reign and Journey.

Click here for a FREE personal training session! 

360fit - How Women (and everyone) Should Train

 

I absolutely hate seeing seeing trainers, fitness magazines, and so called fitness experts ranting about how women need to do hours of cardio a day to reach their goals. They tell women to get on a treadmill for and hour a day to get the lean look they want.

This is completely wrong. Not only is it wrong but it a huge waste of time!

I just took on a new client who's old trainer had her working out like this. She was frustrated, over trained and gaining weight because her body was so worn down and beat up.

I cut down her work out time, cut her cardio to two 30 min sessions a week, and she is looking better and already in better shape in only a few weeks.

I'm not a miracle worker. I don't have a magic formula for fitness. But I do know simple truths about training and fitness. So here a four rules to follow if you want to get in great shape.

1. More exercise is not better. It is easy to over train and burn yourself out. when you do too much you will lose muscle and gain fat. Recent studies show that anything over an hour of intense training is actually harmful to your heart and won't get you in good shape. It will get you in worse shape.

2. If you want to do cardio to get in shape do intervals. Sprinting for 30s and walking for 1 min for 20 min will get you a better fat burning workout than straight running at a constant pace. If your goal is to be a better runner then there is nothing wrong with constant pace, but if you want to be lean and more fit, intervals is the way to go.

3. Do more compound exercise. This means do exercises that use more muscles. If you can do a curl while sitting that only works biceps. If you do the same exercise standing on a bosu you will get more muscles involved and get a better workout.

4. Take days off. No one is a superhero. Workouts don't get you in shape. They are the stimulus to get fit. Eating clean, and sleeping is when your body repairs and you get more fit.

So try changing up some things and for heavens sake please get off the hours of treadmill.  You will be happy you did.

Devin Sherrington is seven time Best Personal Fitness Trainer in Halifax award winner, and owner the award winning fitness studio 360fit in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. www.360online.ca He lives in Fletchers Lake with his children Reign and Journey.

Click here for a FREE personal training session!