How to Evaluate Your Personal Fitness Trainer When seeking a personal trainer, it is necessary for the public to educate themselves on how to interview the right person for the job. While there are many certified personal trainers out there, only a select few of them are truly competent. You should always ask and verify where their certification is from and what their credentials are. There are different types and levels of training certifications, only a handful of them are good. Most tests are multiple choice questions that are moderately difficult and some others require some essay or program design but are usually easy. What you need to look for is the continuing education courses the trainers have taken. It is the seminars and practical workshops that make a trainer better.

It is difficult for the public to decipher a good trainer from a bad one. In many cases, even the worst trainer knows more about physical fitness than the average person. Below are some fundamental questions that should be asked before making your choice. They are designed to save you from choosing a bad apple.

Questions you should ask:

* What certifications do they hold?
* Do they attend workshops and seminars? Which ones?
* How long have they been a trainer?
* How thorough was your evaluation? Did they do a medical history and test flexibility, balance, core strength, proprioception, muscle strength and endurance?
* Are they familiar with functional training (training according to daily activities or a specific goal)?
* Have they explained the importance of flexibility?
* Do they stress how important it is to properly brace the core and preserve the lumbar spine?
* Do they know what P.N.F(Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) stretching is?
* Have they explained that function is more important than vanity?
* Can they explain what they are going to do in the routine and how it benefits you?
* Did they explain that cardio alone is an inefficient workout?
* Do they have a basic understanding of nutrition?

If you already have a trainer you can evaluate them:

* Does your trainer understand that a core routine is not a series of floor exercises?
* Do they understand current research that proves traditional sit ups, leg raises and many of the common exercises that flex the spine can actually be harmful even for healthy people?
* Are you doing more free weights and medicine balls than machines?
* Do they ever take notes?
* Are you being properly warmed up at the beginning and being stretched at the end?
* Does your trainer change the routine periodically?
* Does you trainer incorporate balance boards, swiss balls, single leg exercises and other challenged environments?
* When training the core (midsection) does your trainer explain how important it is to do dynamic multiplantar movements as well as isometric exercises and the importance of low back exercises?
* Does your trainer target weak areas?
* If you feel pain in places that you should not like your knees, low back and neck does your trainer change or modify the exercise to a pain free range?
* Do you truly understand what you are doing while you train?
* Are you really getting results?
* Do you do more back exercises than chest and abs?
* Are you setting goals?
* Are you talking about you and your needs?
* Are you getting undivided attention?

If you answered no to any of these questions, then your trainer may be lacking key knowledge that is necessary for you to reach your fitness goals. More importantly, your trainer may be doing you more harm than good. It is simple for a trainer to deceive an unsuspecting client into believing they are knowledgeable. This is due to the general public not being educated about the fitness industry and trusting a gym will provide them with a competent trainer. In most cases, gyms are not always concerned with the quality of the people they are hiring. If a gym thinks a trainer possesses strong sales skills, they will hire them as long as they have some type of certification. A qualified fitness professional will understand at the very least everything listed above. Remember when hiring a trainer to make sure they are a full time professional. Part time does not cut it when it comes to your health. Would you go to a part time Medical Doctor?

Be aware of trainers that are charging low rates. The going rate for a high level trainer in a gym like Equinox or New York Sports Club is around $85-$90/hr even their entry level trainers are $65-$70/hr in addition to membership. There are other gyms that charge way more than the rates just mentioned. In-homes for a high level professional trainer are around $125 and can be more. You may be able to get a really good trainer for $90-$100 depending on travel time, trainers charging much less are either just starting out, not that good or a close friend. You get what you pay for. It is important you research the trainers certification and check to make sure they are currently certified by multiple accredited agencies. Presently there is an agency named Ethics Safety Compliance Standards www.escs.info It insures all registered trainers are acting appropriately. Find out if your trainer is registered.

It is important to understand that certifications and degrees certainly help but do not mean everything. You want to know about their clinical experience and the workshops they attend. Ask who they work with and get at least three references to call from current clients. See if they work with any local doctors, all the good trainers work with at least one doctor.

A bad trainer can hurt you - do your research and make sure they are good.

Charles DeFrancesco is a Certified Master Trainer and Co-Founder of Greenwich Sports Medicine, a health and wellness center located in Greenwich, CT. Charles is also the founder of Fit and Functional, L.L.C., a personal training consultant company and certification specialist. In addition, Charles is an active board member for Ethics & Safety Compliance Standards, a self-regulated agency for fitness professionals. Fitness Programs
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  Be Fabulous After Forty A popular saying proposes, "The face is a reflection of the mind." Another saying claims, The eyes are the windows to the soul.

Beautiful eyes are an especially hot focus for women since eye contact is essential in personal attraction and interaction. Most people would agree that women, more than men, are noticed and praised for their beauty and vibrant sparkling eyes enhance your beauty.

Don't underestimate the importance of good-looking eyes. As a beauty-conscious woman, you may spend fortunes on your make up, but a lively and beautiful pair of eyes can win recognition and attention.

It doesn't matter how much you spend on makeup if your eyes are droopy, dull, or tired. Treating your tired eyes should be your top priority.

The first step is to understand why your eyes look tired. The basic structure of the skin near your eyes is thin and very delicate to enable your eyes to move easily. It is natural for this skin to shrink and lose suppleness as you age. This, in turn, makes your eyes look tired and aged. Tired-looking eyes can give away your age and sometimes even make you look older than you actually are!

Solutions for Tired-looking Eyes

Permanent or long-lasting solutions go a long way in helping you remain fabulous even after forty.

When seeking a cream to help revitalize eyes, look for these crucial ingredients.

* Hyaluronic acid, or HA, in Triple Effects Eye Serum plays the role of a fabulous "molecular sponge." How? It provides optimum moisture and adds thickness to the skin near your eyes; it minimizes dark circles.

* Jojoba esters, also found in Triple Effects, are natural oils and well-known skin moisturizers. Jojoba is rich in vitamin E and is naturally. It protects your skin from damaging and harmful molecules, enhances blood circulation in the area near your eyes, and prevents pooling and clears congestions.

* Witch hazel is a conventional astringent that soothes naturally. It tightens pores, reduces and prevents clogging, and combats swelling which would spoil the appearance of your eyes.

* Chamomile, also included in Triple Effects, is a natural soother like witch hazel; it eases swollen and puffy skin near your eyes and is rich in several anti-stress nutrients. It is an ingredient what can help you regain your glowing and youthful skin.

* Acetyl Hexapeptide 3 (AH3) show tremendous results when applied on the areas surrounding your eyes where wrinkles appear. Wrinkles are a result of the frequent muscular contractions involved when your face shows numerous expressions. AH3 is based on a complex amino acid formula.

Seeking out all the above treatments could be time consuming and challenging. Therefore, the simple way to topically treat dark circles or patches under your eyes is by using feature rich treatments like Eyederma(tm). Eyederma(tm) was formulated to diminish dark circles and enhance thinning skin around the eyes; it restores them back to a more youthful state. Eyederma(tm) can be obtained from the Bodestore at http://www.bodestore.com and amazon.com

Age is not a barrier to beauty. Even if you are over forty, you can remain young with glowing skin and bright eyes. You just need to be conscious of choosing the right make-up formula that will enhance your appearance.

For example, you can choose a cream or eye mask that serves most, if not all, of your needs to lessen eye imperfections. Remember: if you are going to use a variety of creams for treating eye problems as part of your beauty regimen, ensure the products complement each other. This can be challenging. You would, therefore, avoid the side-effects that different products are likely to cause. To be safe, use a single, simple solution like Eyederma(tm).

You can always look your best at any age. Take good care of your eyes and choose the right combination of make-up so your eyes look fabulous, bright, shining, young, and filled with life and exuberance!

Written by the V-Team courtesy Kamau Austin Publisher. The V-Team writes articles for the health and fitness enthusiast. Their timeless health and fitness tips are at the Fit After Forty Blog. See more useful news and tips about reducing dark cycle around the eyes with Eyedermaat http://www.healthandfitnessvitality.com/blogs/fitnessblog.htmLipolex
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  3 Little Known Tips for Cardio I've got a confession to make...

In the year 2006, I've seen so many articles on cardio that it even made me confused! Everything from don't with it "good night to cardio" to cardio is worthless to HIIT training and all kinds of crazy ideas. There's anti-cardio gurus and cardio masters.

At times, cardio seems like a diet plan.

Let me explain that...

With a diet, you have so many foods to choose from that you can literally make any combination up and call it a "diet."

Cardio seems to be that way lately. There's a lot you can do with your cardio workouts. Keep them short, make them intense, do all kinds of machines, do it every day, do it once a week, don't use machines at all but go outside and run hills... etc. List goes on and on.

Let's try and answer the question of the best time to do cardio and how much recovery after your weight sessions you need in order to get workout but without burning up any precious muscle.

3 Simple Steps to Effective Cardio Workouts

1- Use cardio as a tool.

Cardiovascular exercise is good for the heart. However, so is weight training. And lifting weights and building muscle will do more to get you leaner than 6 spin classes 6 times a week.

If your goal is to build muscle and gain weight or burn off the fat, then use cardio sparingly as a way to your goal.

Did you know that 1 lb of muscle burns more calories than 1 lb of fat? By focusing on building more muscle, you'll get leaner quicker than if you plug away at a treadmill all day long.

Let's put it this way...

If you cut bread with a saw (weight training) it gets the job done nicely. But if you cut the bread with a saw and then use a finely sharpened knife to make the slides perfect (cardio) you'll get the best of both worlds.

You'll get slides of bread quickly (saw) and you'll get them neatly carved out (knife).

If you can think of cardio as a tool to stripping off unwanted fat AFTER your weight training and nutrition is in order, you'll use the tool as it's meant to be used.

2- Do your cardio at the right times.

There's a loaded question if I ever saw one!

a) the right time is anytime it works for you. If you read several articles about morning cardio and you simply cannot do it, then do it when you can. There's plenty of studies that debate the optimal time to do cardio but they all point to the single fact that it doesn't make a massive difference in your overall gains. When it comes to eliminating body fat. Whether it's early morning, late evening, the most important thing is that you just do it.

b) do your cardio AFTER your weight workouts. Why after? Because your weight training workouts require something called glycogen. That's short term fuel. If you burn off and use up your short term fuel first, you'll have little to give when it comes to your muscles.

The fuel your muscles need for a weight training workout is different from the potential fuel sources you can use when doing cardiovascular activities.

When you do your cardio AFTER your weight training sessions, you are warmed up and have a better chance at using fat as a fuel source over glycogen.

3- Separate your cardio from your weight training sessions

If at all possible, try and give yourself plenty of time between a cardio workout and a weight session. Some programs recommend 8 hours. This means you'll do cardio in the AM and weights in the PM. You'll have plenty of time for post-workout nutrition and a few meals in there as well to help with recovery.

But what if you can't?

2 Tips to Cardio Workouts

Tip #1 - Do your cardio AFTER your weight session as in the step above. While this won't be ideal, it allows your body to use glycogen for short term fuel for the weights and potentially fat as a fuel source.

Tip #2 - Engage in post-workout nutrition (protein and carbs) after your weight training session. While you probably won't burn as much fat, you won't risk burning off as much muscle either.

The reason your body burns muscle is that it costs a lot to maintain it (metabolically speaking). In that case, make sure you can support the muscle by not overtraining and engaging in proper nutrition.

Those two simple concepts will go a long way in helping you to preserve muscle when you have a short rest period between a weight training session and a cardiovascular workout.

The bottom line is that cardiovascular exercise is part of a health and fitness routine. It should be used as a tool. Sometimes more (getting ready for a competition) and sometimes less (lean bulking). Lately it's been over-rated but it certainly isn't worthless.

Marc David is a bodybuilder and author of the, Beginner's Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding. You can get info on Marc's e-book at: http://www.Beginning-Bodybuilding.com . To get Marc's free e-zine, visit http://www.JustAskMarc.com.Hoodiacomplex
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  Weight Loss: Easing Into Exercise Okay, let's just accept the fact that if you want to lose weight, be healthy, or both, you need to get some sort of exercise program going. This has been proven over and over again. Yes, you CAN lose some weight without exercise, but your health will not improve, and you may find you have created some new problems if all you do is alter your diet in order to lose weight. Also, trying to lose weight without changing the way you have lived your life will prove the old adage to be true:

"Keep doing what you've been doing and you will keep getting what you have been getting."

So, to set about changing what "you have been getting" out of life, at least in terms of health, fitness, and weight loss, you will need to get into some sort of exercise program.

THE PROBLEMS

There are a few problems that people encounter when they start exercising...particularly if they have not been exercising for a while or even worse, are beginning an exercise program for the first time.

1. They have trouble finding the time to exercise.

2. They have difficulty making exercise a habit

3. They are dissatisfied with the results of their exercise program.

4. They injure themselves.

SOME SOLUTIONS

1. Many people find that until exercise becomes an integral part of their life, it is difficult to "find the time" to exercise. There are two points here.

Engage In Opportunistic Exercise

This is the sort of exercise that can be factored into each day's activities. While parking a few feet farther from the store can be a great way to introduce some physical activity into your daily life, one such event once in a while will not make a great difference. On the other hand, it IS a start, and one of the hardest hurdles to overcome is actually STARTING some sort of exercise program. Putting several of these events into your week, parking farther away, taking the stairs, carrying the groceries in from the car, standing up during phone calls, or walking in place while watching TV, for example can get you started on the road to feeling better, looking better, and better health.

Make A Commitment To Exercise

There is an old saying that work will expand to take up the resources committed to it. In other words, if a business is doing perfectly well with one phone and a combination fax/copier and then gets several multi-line phones and a high-speed copier, the employees will soon find they "cannot get along" without these additions. Our lives are similar. In our example, if the boss finds a need to cut costs, the employees will soon find that they CAN function without the high-speed copier, just like they did before.

In our lives, if we make a commitment to exercise, we will be able to "make" the time available, probably by changing something in our lives, but the bottom line will be how important the exercise is to us.

2. For most of us, one of the hardest aspects of this whole exercise thing is making it a habit. If it is not a habit, we will probably start "forgetting" or "having something else to do" and the exercise will eventually fade into the background and be forgotten.

It will be even harder to make something distasteful or time-consuming into a habit. A good tip here is to begin small and concentrate on getting used to the exercise as a regular part of your daily routine before you worry too much about all the other aspects. In other words, start with something simple that you can easily insert into your life, something that will be easy to remember to do regularly. Once the exercise IS a habit, you can expand it and you will soon find that you begin to get uncomfortable if you miss it.

A good point here is that the benefits of regular exercise express themselves in many ways, and if you move from being a non-exerciser to a regular exerciser, you will actually begin to enjoy your exercise experiences.

3. Unrealistic expectations plague many who try to begin an exercise program. The reality is that even the finest exercise program will take time to become fully effective and even then the intensity and breadth should increase and the weight decrease at a measured pace. Added to this is the fact most people do not really know how exercise works and what to expect. If you are starting slow as I advise and gradually increasing your effort, gains in fitness will be slow. Weight loss will also be slow, but, over time, a good exercise program will help your weight loss program, your overall health, your mental outlook, and provide defense against many conditions and illnesses.

NOTE: If you are beginning an exercise program as part of a weight loss program, don't be surprised if you gain weight for a while. This is normal. Ignore your scale and concentrate on how you feel and how your clothes fit. Even though you may be gaining weight, you might actually be shrinking as lean tissue replaces fat.

4. Related to the item above is the potential for injury. Unrealistic expectations occur because of ignorance and lack of experience. The same is true for injuries. People either try to do too much too soon, or simply perform exercises improperly or with the wrong equipment. A good brisk walk can feel good from the first day of your new exercise program, but not if you walk too far, too fast, too soon, or wear the wrong kind of shoes.

Remember, how much you CAN do is not necessarily how much you SHOULD do.

I have a friend who has started exercise programs several times since I have known her. Every time, she tries to start out doing as much as she can. Later she begins to feel sick because she is in poor condition, and then feels washed out and experiences pain over the next few days. That's the end of her exercise program until the bug hits her again a few months later.

Start slow, build up slowly, but keep on doing it and you will reap the rewards of a regular exercise program.

Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. He is a graduate of the University of West Florida, a member of Mensa, and retired from the U. S. Army. Find more weight loss information at: http://cinch-weightloss.web-home.ws/Fitnessblog
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