Method Fitness: The best "new" stretches and how to use them, even when you skip the gym.

Many people who sign up for fitness boot camps for women in NYC are shocked with the types of exercises that they encounter in the first few sessions. This is because most people think of very basic military-style exercises and stretches when they think about weight loss boot camps.

Push-ups and jumping jacks are the typical exercises that people think of doing when they sign up for fitness boot camps for women, but what they are actually hit with is usually something very different. Yes, those exercises are thrown into some weight loss boot camps, but the core workout presented in our boot camps is anything but traditional or old school.

Reinventing the Wheel

Personal trainers love exercises like jumping jacks and push-ups today just as much as they did in the past because they are highly effective. The difference in today’s fitness boot camps for women is that trainers are taking those old school exercises and putting a modern twist on them. They are making them even more effective by incorporating different groups of muscles throughout the body.

For instance, consider the squat. We all know what squats are and if you have ever attended weight loss boot camps you know that they are extremely effective at shaping your thighs and toning your rear end. They also happen to be the base movement or stance for a wide variety of newer exercises commonly used in weight loss boot camps.

For instance, kickboxing segments of a boot camp will have you bending down in a squat while punching in different directions. You may also perform different types of squats with different leg positions and even incorporating weights or workout bands.

Combined Movements

Another newer form of exercise that is often used in fitness boot camps for women involves combining two or three separate movements into one. For instance, a personal trainer may have you squat down then come up into a dumbbell press over the head, sinking right back down into the squat. Or, you could find yourself squatting down and then leaping straight up in the air, coming straight back down into a squat.

Combined movements are especially effective when you add lower body movements with strength training movements for the upper body. Just lifting weights for the upper body doesn’t keep your heart rate very high, but if you are lunging, squatting, crunching, and doing other movements along with the arm exercises you can get more cardio and fat burning benefit while strengthening and toning.

Trainer Innovations

The great thing about weight loss boot camps is they are usually led by some of the most talented, experienced personal trainers. These trainers come up with their own innovative moves and combinations of moves that aren’t found anywhere else. Sometimes they have a moment of inspiration and come up with a new challenge on the spot. Other times they have been planning the torture days or weeks in advance.

The only thing that is for certain with fitness boot camps for women is that you will not be doing the old school movements that you expect. You may start out with some jumping jacks but you can guarantee there will be something more challenging, more modern, incorporated at some point.

This surprise is what adds challenge and difficulty to the workout and that is what makes weight loss boot camps so successful and life-transforming!

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Best (and worst) Snacks

You see the word “healthy” everywhere today and hear it a thousand times a day from people who are trying to make improvements to their life. Yet, what one person considers healthy is different from someone else’s standards. More importantly, what the best personal trainers consider healthy is often very different from what the average person believes is healthy.

The problem is that so many foods have a mix of healthy and not-so-healthy attributes. Most people start getting healthier by making substitutions to something healthier than what they typically eat. The problem is the healthier version is still not very healthy according to many of the personal trainers who are experts in healthy eating.

To help make sense of it all, let’s discuss some of the best and worst healthy snacks. Snacks are supposed to revive your energy and keep you feeling satisfied between meals so they have to increase satiety and energy without leading to a sugar crash or making you feel bloated and stuffed.

The Best Snacks

Here are five ideas for healthy snacks that even experienced personal trainers working at the most elite private personal training gyms in NYC would recommend:

1. Fresh fruit or veggies

2. An apple with all natural almond butter or raw almonds.

3. Hummus with celery sticks or baby carrots

4. Fresh berries with almonds

5. Whole grain turkey or chicken wrap

Notice that these healthy snacks do not include sugar or artificial sweeteners and coloring. The focus is on natural food selections such as fresh produce, natural almond butter and (wheat-free) whole grains. You can consume some processed foods while eating healthy snacks, but the less processing and packaging the healthier it is going to be.

Personal trainers like whole, fresh foods because they deliver more nutrients to the body which means more energy and better performance during workouts. It also means better progress toward weight loss and fitness goals.

The Worst Snacks

Walk into the best private personal training gyms in NYC and these are some things you will not see sitting around or being recommended by the personal trainers:

1. 100 calorie packs of cookies

2. Packaged kid meals like Lunchables

3. Breaded chicken

4. Lunch meat, cheese, and mayo on white bread

Cookies are loaded with sugar and offer absolutely no nutritional value to your body. They will crash your energy, rather than pumping you up! Even if you control your intake to 100 calories, they are bad for your body.

Lunchables and sandwiches on white bread are very high in fat and condiments can often add in tons more fat. Lunchables and similar prepackaged products are processed to the point very few nutrients actually remain in the food. Plus, those things will never keep you feeling full for very long!

Many people fall into the pattern of thinking chicken is good for you, but when it is breaded it can be extremely high in fat. When it is sandwiched on white refined bread, it is even worse.

When trying to select snacks that even the strictest personal trainers would approve, think of how natural your options are. You want to cut out the options that are more processed and focus on those that are offer more natural vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients.

When you choose the healthiest snacks possible you will feel better, look better, and perform better in the gym.