Barry Bragg, personal trainer and president of Raleigh fitness and wellness center, Transformation, LLC will host a two-day, continuing education workshop for Triangle-area fitness professionals. The workshop will be held March 21-22 at Transformation’s North Raleigh location.

“It’s essential that personal trainers continually educate themselves to set themselves apart from their competition,” says Bragg. “The goal for the workshop is to arm local fitness professionals with cutting-edge knowledge, skills, and tools to further their careers and help their clients achieve their best results.”

Day one will consist of a nutrition training workshop by the Transformation team from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., followed by a specially prepared organic dinner. During the training workshop, participants will be introduced to unique nutrition ideas such as:

• Teaching clients to eat according to their body type and metabolism
• How to properly assess a client’s lifestyle and nutritional status
• How to read a label for chemicals and additives that cause fat-gain
• Which foods will help burn body fat quickly
• Which supplements can be safely introduced to maximize results

On day two, the Transformation team will conduct a technical workshop from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Professionals will learn new training tips including:

• Teaching and technical skills to help clients achieve their goals
• Functional Exercises for maximum impact in minimum time
• Knowledge and skills of training for clients at all levels
• How to design and implement successful boot camp workouts that will keep clients energized
• Cutting-edge kettlebell training techniques

Pricing for the workshop is $300 for a single day or $500 for both. For more information or to register, go to PT3.

Should I rest
between exercise sets?

We’ve all seen it at the gym – the big, muscular man that spends 30 seconds grunting, groaning and moaning to bench press a weight that we only dream about lifting. Then we watch him sit around for five minutes before starting another exercise. So in order to obtain large muscles and maintain fitness, we should do the same. Right?

Wrong!

Get the Most Out of Your Workout

One of the biggest excuses among Americans is that they just don’t have time to work out. Do you only have thirty minutes? The best way to achieve maximum results in a small amount of time is to reduce or eliminate rest between exercises. Choose an exercise that works one muscle group and then move to another exercise that doesn’t use that muscle group to allow recovery. For example, if you’re doing an upper body workout after you finish doing a chest press, move on to pull-ups or another exercise that doesn’t specifically target the chest.

For those of you looking to lose weight or excess fat, eliminating rest between exercises also has the added benefit of keeping the heart rate up which means you’re burning more calories and losing weight faster!

If you want a great workout to try, Barry Seneri has come up with one that’ll get you well on your way. Check it out below:

Stepping Outside the Box – “Flab Busting” Workout 1 with Kettlebells –

Immediate Download PDF

Barry Seneri explains how to “rethink” your workout for best results. Completely illustrated and laid out step by step, here are five simple, yet functional body exercises combined for a complete body workout. If you’re tired of the same old boring gym routine – this is a quick and effective way to spice things up. By practicing this routine, you’ll soon see how engaging all of your muscle groups will maximize fat burning for the desired lean body result. The demonstration works best with a set of kettlebells, but it can also be done effectively at home with dumbbells. 10 pages.

Price: Only $9.95

For those who think training to failure is a good thing, answer this question: ‘In what sport is it advantageous to train to failure?’ Think about it – are you going to hit tennis balls until your body fails to swing the racket, or are you going to stop practicing when you start to lose your form and effectiveness? It’s common practice to stop training when you lose effectiveness in all sports. Furthermore, who wants to train with the mindset of ‘training to failure’? Most people would never dream of ‘training to failure’ in other areas of life. So, why do people use this erroneous philosophy in the gym?

Is Proper Form
missing in your workout?

Proper Form or Failure?

When strength training, many people want to ‘burn out’ every set or at least one set every workout. Some use the argument that you don’t break down your muscle enough when you stop before burning out. It’s ludicrous to think that your form will stay perfect when you reach the point of failure. Trust me, I’ve seen thousands of people do it, and it ain’t pretty. Many people often injure themselves by training this way. At the very least, you actually weaken your tendon and connective tissue strength and stability over time. This defeats the very purpose of ‘strength training.’ I can attest to this first hand.

Training to Failure and Injury

When I was in high school, I trained very hard in the weight room to perform better on the playing field. However, I trained by the notion that it was always good to train to failure. I often compromised the quality of the movement for quantity of repetitions. Over the course of 2 years, my strength dropped and my shoulders began to weaken by training this way. I could actually feel the weakness. I eventually had a complete dislocation of my right shoulder while playing football. Even though the actual injury occurred on the football field, I caused the shoulder weakness and stability problems from improper training, which led to the injury.

Work on Flawless Technique when Exercising

Thus, my advice is to focus on flawless technique when exercising or strength training, and put the weight down or stop the exercise when you are no longer able to maintain perfect form. If you don’t know what perfect form is, educate yourself or seek the help of a qualified personal trainer or strength specialist. Injuries stink, but most are preventable.