Health | Top Form Fitness

Top 5 Priorities of Fat Loss Nutrition

One of the things I’ve frequently noticed in interviewing new clients, speaking to other trainers, and communicating with other fitness freaks online, is how many different opinions there are and how much confusion there is related to fat loss nutrition. Some people are just completely clueless, while others are so devoted to a particular way of eating that their diet becomes like their religion! People have some pretty strange ideas about their diet. With so many different fad diets and nutrition protocols out there, it’s no wonder people get confused. For example, you’ve probably heard about: Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Low Fat, South Beach, The Zone Diet, Volumetrics, Raw Food Diet, Dr. Bernstein, No Carbs After 6:17PM, etc. That’s not even getting into tracking systems (calorie / portion control plans) like Weight Watchers or Nutri-System. Now, I’m not saying that all (or any) of the above nutritional strategies are necessarily [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:04:43-04:00

Instructor Courses for Teaching Clients Effective Exercises for Fitness

Guest Post from Jenny Richards, Health & Fitness Journalist: If you are a fitness freak and aspire to help others achieve their fitness goals, you may pursue a career in health management, especially personal training. Go for scientific research based accredited personal trainer certifications. These certifications would help you become expert fitness and health professionals. You would be able to deliver personalized fitness programs for your clients so that they could adopt healthy lifestyle on a long-term basis. A certified personal instructor could help out people with fitness issues at any of the numerous facilities nationwide. Right at the outset, he should be able to make his clients understand the importance of exercises for promoting good health and fitness. To know more about Gym management courses, visit Keleven’s guide. Role of Exercises in Enhancing Your Health One cannot undermine the role of exercises in promoting fitness and good health. A [...]

Josh Hewett2020-08-06T14:38:04-04:00

Which Supplements Are Worth Taking?

If you’re into fitness chances are at some point you’ve considered using supplements to help you reach your goals. The problem is there is so much hype, marketing, and misinformation about supplementation that it makes it really difficult to know which supplements are actually worth taking. As a trainer I get a lot of questions about what supplements to take, and since I became sponsored (by SD Pharmaceuticals) I’ve done a lot of research into this topic. The fact is that there are some supplements that can have a very significant benefit to you, while others might be a waste of money. […]

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:07:46-04:00

Sciatica: Facts, Symptoms and Treatment

Are you suffering from sciatica? Know all about it here and find how to reduce your pain. Sciatica is defined as the pain caused in the lower extremity resulting from irritation of the sciatic nerve. The pain of sciatica is felt from the low back that is the lumbar area to behind the thigh and can radiate down below the knee. The root cause of this pain is irritation of sciatic nerve, which is the largest nerve in body. It begins from nerve roots in the lumbar spinal cord in the low back and extends through the buttock area to send nerve endings down the lower limb. 1. Causes While sciatica is most commonly a result of a lumbar disc herniation directly pressing on the nerve, any cause of irritation or inflammation of the sciatic nerve can produce the symptoms of sciatica. This irritation of nerves because of an abnormal [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-14T19:56:58-04:00

Building a Bulletproof Body – (Injury Prevention)

My last few blog posts have focused on injury prevention and fixing sore joints and muscles, specifically feet / ankles, knees, lower back, shoulders, and neck. This post is a summary or culmination of each of those previous topics, which I am collectively entitling "Bulletproof Your Body". My hope is that this will serve as a convenient reference for those suffering from aches, pains, weakness, and / or injury. Let's start by outlining my fundamental approach to injury management: 1. Fix muscle imbalances by addressing your weak or inhibited muscles rather than trying to stretch out the tight ones. The key is to address the root cause, not just the symptom. This is why I suggest to avoid passive stretching, and instead to employ active stretching, isometric exercise, and corrective isolation exercises. Learn all about this in my recent blog post: => The Truth About Safe & Effective Stretching 2. [...]

Josh Hewett2013-12-03T11:27:47-05:00

How to Fix Your Shoulders

In our modern society, rounded forward posture is becoming more and more common. It seems that the more advanced technology becomes, the more sedentary we as humans become. Whereas physical activity used to be a natural part of our lives, now we need to schedule time to go to the gym to stay in shape. Many people spend most of their days sitting at a desk, in front of a computer, in a car, on the bus, or in front of a TV. No wonder we appear to be de-evolving!After spending so much time hunched over, the muscles in our mid-back between the shoulder blades tend to get weak and lengthened, while the muscles in the front of our body and around our neck become shortened and tight. This can lead to shoulder pain related to a/c joint impingement, tight upper traps, rotator cuff muscle imbalance, anterior delt irritation, and [...]

Josh Hewett2022-03-22T21:15:24-04:00

How to Fix Your Back

As I discussed in one of my earlier blog posts, I was involved in pretty serious car accident as a teenager. A tire blew out and our vehicle rolled into the ditch, throwing me out of the window and about 20 feet through the air! I ended up fracturing 3 lumbar vertebrae (spinal compression fractures) and was confined to several days of bed rest in the hospital. After that I was told to never lift heavy weights again, which didn’t make sense to me because it was strength training that had protected me from a more serious injury! So I set out to learn as much as I could about strength training and post-injury fitness, and in the process I have trained my lower back and core to be one of my strongest muscle groups. Now, I understand that for most people suffering from lower back pain and/or tension it may not be [...]

Josh Hewett2013-11-26T15:11:20-05:00

How to Fix Your Knees

Back in 2004 I was taking Judo lessons (along with Kick-boxing and Wrestling) in my quest to become a legitimate bad-ass. During one lesson I was grappling with another big yellow belt and both of us were being a bit bull-headed, so when I tried to throw him (with sloppy technique) and he fought it, I ended up awkwardly twisting him across my leg and suddenly “POP”, there goes my ACL. Since a major part of my life involves being physically active I opted to have ACL reconstruction surgery. After the surgery I was surprised and disappointed to discover that my knee wasn’t recovering as quickly as I’d expected. I tried everything: physio, massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, laser, etc. I’d get temporary relief at best, but my strength and stability wasn’t there when I hit the gym. I just couldn’t get my medial quad to contract properly. Even after several months [...]

Josh Hewett2013-11-25T18:01:42-05:00

Stretching Can Cause Weakness and Injury

As in many aspects of our society, in the fitness industry there are things that many of us accept as true based on dogma rather than science and facts. An example is the persistent myth that “eating fat is bad for you”. Once an entire system of training (or nutrition) has been developed around a certain (erroneous) belief, it becomes very hard to change, regardless of how much evidence is presented. Cognitive biases are formed over time, which are inflexible by definition. This is why it is SO important to keep an open mind and to become a critical thinker! Stretching and flexibility training is one of the aspects of strength and fitness that really seems to be dragging it’s ass. Despite the abundance of mounting research and evidence to indicate that passive stretching can lead to muscle weakness, joint instability, and increased risk of injury, there still seems to [...]

Josh Hewett2020-06-20T12:52:51-04:00

My First Movember Mustache Crusade!

Much to the dismay of my wife and daughter I have decided to participate in Movember this year! This means I will be grooming my moustache for the entire month to increase awareness of and raise funds to combat testicular and prostate cancer. But I can’t do it alone… I need your support to fight the good fight! Find out more and give what you can on my MoBro page at: => MoBro.co/JoshHewett Or sign up yourself and start growing your own epic stache! If you do I invite you to join our team at: => MoTeam.co/Barbarians Watch this short video introduction to my Movember crusade: […]

Josh Hewett2013-11-04T02:30:56-05:00

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