Boosting Fat Burn PLUS Benefits of Weight Training

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Boosting Fat Burn with Dr. Lori Shemek PLUS Benefits of Weight Training with Eric the Trainer

This episode of Talk Fitness is in partnership with The Vitamin Shoppe, where knowledgeable health enthusiasts are standing by to help you thrive every day.

Lisa Davis (Host): Hi, I’m Lisa Davis. So glad you’re listening to Talk Fitness Today. Today, I have got two very special interviews back to back. The first one is with Dr. Lori Shemek How to Fire Up Your Fat Burn and the second is with Eric the Trainer, all about weight training and gals making time for ourselves so we can get in the gym, get fit and feel great. So, enjoy these two interviews.

So, glad today to have the wonderful Dr. Lori Shemek. She’s the author of Fire Up Your Fat Burn. We are going to be talking about getting rid of that unwanted fat and keeping it off. Hello there, Dr. Lori.

Lori Shemek, PhD (Guest): Hello Lisa. Thank you for having me.

Lisa: It is so great to have you on. I honestly, if somebody said to me when I was in high school and I was eating peanut butter sandwiches and bananas late at night and trying to gain weight that I would someday be like what’s going on with my thighs? I would have told them they were crazy. But now, I’m trying to lose some weight and I need your help just like you out there so, give us some tips and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Dr. Lori: Sure. Yes, well that is what I do. I have clients and they are mostly weight loss clients and so, that’s my focus and I love it because I get to see really dramatic changes and big smiles on people’s faces. So, what you want to do, is understand just briefly that weight gain is really, really tied to low level inflammation. Okay, so we have got different types of inflammation. We all know what a sprained ankle looks like and feels like, right? And that’s acute inflammation. And we need that. It’s a necessary part of our immune system. It’s very important. It helps us heal. Without it, we are sitting ducks, really, we wouldn’t be around too long.

And then we have got something called silent inflammation that we don’t necessarily feel right then and there, but it does rear its ugly head down the road. And then we have something I call fatflammation. And fatflammation is specifically tied to low level inflammation and weight gain because we have fat cells throughout our body and particularly in our mid-section, we have these fat cells that like to spew out inflammatory molecules. And when that happens, it slows down our metabolism and we put on weight and then we put out more of these inflammatory molecules, putting on more weight and it becomes a vicious cycle. So, instead of just having one health condition resulting from this low-level type of inflammation, such as heart disease; you will have a cluster of them down the road. Possibly diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure all at the same time. And that’s why this is very important to know.

Lisa: Yeah, it sounds like we need to lower our inflammation. So, what are some ways to do that?

Dr. Lori: So, what you want to do, the very first thing I tell people to do is to reduce their carbohydrate intake, especially here in the United States. Because we have something what we call the SAD diet, the Standard American Diet, which is for the most part, most everybody is engaging in this type of eating, these eating choices. So, we have 68% of our population is overweight and part of the reason is because they are ingesting too much sugar for one, and too many carbohydrates. Even too many of the healthy carbohydrates. And what happens is when you do that, you spike your blood sugar super high and then it drops super-fast. And it is much like throwing a ball high up into the air and watching it fall rapidly to the ground. And that’s inflammation in action right there.

And another thing you are doing, you’re triggering the hormone insulin and insulin is not just about diabetes, it also is equated to optimal health. So, when you are triggering insulin, you are doing it excessively, which most Americans are. That means that insulin is storing all that sugar that is circulating in your body which carbohydrates do turn into sugar in the body, glucose and it stores in the cells. Okay, for energy at a later time. But what happens is insulin which is like a little Pac Man likes to gobble up that sugar and store it. It is always knocking on the cell’s door saying let me in. But the cell becomes really irritated with this constant knocking and then eventually, ignores insulin’s knocks. Okay, so insulin just turns around, goes away and continues to circulate and so does sugar in your body. And it doesn’t only like to keep the fat there, it’s just more of an inflammatory reaction really in the end.

Lisa: I see. So, you need to cut out the sugar or cut down as much as you can and the carbohydrates.

Dr. Lori: Ideally avoid it.

Lisa: Avoid it yes. I cut out sugar about seven weeks ago and I feel really good. I did lose some weight and I just feel so much better. I tend to eat a Paleo diet except I do like my quinoa and my beans, so I guess I’m not – real Paleo’s are going okay that doesn’t sound very Paleo. But what do you think of that, where you have got the grass-fed meat, the vegetables, little whole grains, just a little bit here and there, lots of fruits and vegetables?

Dr. Lori: I actually, used to recommend grains, okay, but we now know grains create that surge of insulin again, so here I go, right, with the same old, same old. And so, it’s very important to – they are still healthy in moderation. There are healthier types of say wheat if you are not sensitive to wheat that you can opt for. There is a grain variety out there called einkorn and it doesn’t have the effect. It’s the traditional wheat that we used to eat back in the pioneer days back in grandma days, even before that actually, before industrialization came along and changed everything about the way we eat and the way we process our food. So, yes, sugar is one, carbohydrates, reduce them, okay.

The next one you want to look at is water. Most people are mildly dehydrated and don’t even know it. So that’s another important.

Lisa: Are there signs Dr. Lori that you can tell?

Dr. Lori: Yes. If you are feeling tired all the time, you are always tired throughout the day, your joints ache, you are gaining weight, you’re hungry, your skin is dry. There are a lot of telltale signs that you are mildly dehydrated. Have you ever gone to the cupboard or the pantry or the refrigerator and opened it up and stood there and said what do I want to eat? I know I want something. I just don’t know what it is. That’s a sign you are mildly dehydrated, probably. Because the brain confuses thirst with hunger. And it’s very common. The majority of Americans are walking around mildly dehydrated and they don’t even know it. So, weight gain ensues because due to mild dehydration; because cellular function slows down when our cells are not optimally hydrated. And that means so does your metabolism.

Lisa: Oh, that makes sense. So, I’m guessing in Fire Up Your Fat Burn you are addressing these issues of cutting out the sugar and lowering the carbs or cutting them out if you can, drinking more water. I’m assuming exercise plays into this equation?

Dr. Lori: Yes. Exercise is very important, but I have to say, that nutrition is 80% of your weight loss. That is very important to know. Exercise in important as well, it is critical. It is that 20% and there is a form of exercise called high intensity interval training. Now don’t let this scare you off if you are not used to exercising. Because you can always work up to what I’m going to tell you to do. And a good example is – of high intensity interval training is to warm up for three minutes okay. Now I want your audience to know that it only takes 12 to 15 minutes and so what you want to do is go all out for thirty seconds, you want to go back to a slow to moderate pace for 90 seconds and do that eight times. And you are good to go, three to four times a week.

Lisa: Be sure to check out Dr. Lori Shemek. That’s Dr. L-O-R-I S-H-E-M-E-K. You can check her out Dr. Lori Shemek.com, also on Twitter @lorishemek. I hope you enjoyed the interview with Dr. Lori Shemek. Joining me know is Eric the Trainer, so stay tuned.

I have got Eric Trainer. He’s a Hollywood physique expert with over twenty years’ experience in celebrity physical transformation. Hello Eric.

Eric Fleishman (aka Eric the Trainer) (Guest): Hi, I’m so happy to be on the show. Thank you so much.

Lisa: It’s so nice to have you. I’m jealous. It is probably super warm, but you know Eric, we recently spoke, and I know that you train men and women differently talk to us about this and is this something that we should be doing and in what difference does it make to really focus on the sexes in a different way?

Eric: Well first of all, I have to let you know that most of the women that I train are actresses and actresses needs and desires are very different than the needs and desires of the average woman. From a health perspective, an average woman can really benefit from using weights. It battles against osteoporosis. It builds lean muscle mass. It helps them with their daily activities and that’s phenomenal. With a lot of the women that we train, we actually train them without weights and challenge them using only their body. For many actresses, we use no balls, no bands, no machines, no weight and we challenge them in a very specific way using their body that really leads them to a sleek, beautiful physique, but it looks natural. The very hallmark of our female clientele here in Hollywood, is it looks like I have never met them. They look like they just fell out of the sky perfect. There is no excess muscle mass. They almost look like Jane from the Tarzan and Jane series and Jane doesn’t go to the gym, but she looks amazing in a fur bikini.

Here in the World of Fitness, we measure your output, how hard you are trying during the workout by something called exertion and women specifically have the desire to work hard. Their pain tolerance is actually higher than men’s and so your willingness to give high levels of exertion is right there. And as a trainer I recognize that. However, sometimes using weights, especially excess weights and machines with women they have a tendency to hurt themselves because the bottom line is you don’t really have testosterone in your body to help supercharge your muscles that way that I do and perhaps their husband does. Instead, your muscles will never get to the point where they are oversized. And so, because women like to challenge themselves, the possibility for injury and the occurrence of injury with women that workout with weights and machines, because they work so hard, is higher than you would expect. Therefore, we developed a system very early on in my career, where women really can display the highest levels of exertion using only their body weight and it is virtually impossible to hurt yourself in this way.

So, you can really go for it if you know what I mean. Meaning if you are on a mat, on all fours and you are sweeping your legs straight out to the side like you are karate kicking a bad guy that is next to you, even though that is challenging after the thirtieth rep, after the fortieth rep; because you want to work so hard and you so determined to look amazing in that dress when you go to your family get together. I allow you to display the highest levels of exertion without you worrying about hurting yourself and it really leads to a beautiful physique.

But the second part of that question is how do women’ s bodies actually change? What’s the key to physical transformation when it comes to women? And the answer is, and this is after 23 years of experience working fulltime as a trainer; women that challenge themselves from below the chest to right above the knee, in that midsection, if I challenge you exclusively in that section, it actually creates a whole-body transformation. Meaning, if you say to me, heh I just got a role in a movie, I need to make my jawline a little bit sharper, I want my arms to be sleek, I need my clavicle, my collarbone to really show when I wear a dress; I would have you do leg kicks because that’s the key to full physical transformation in women.

In men, it’s the opposite. Men need to challenge themselves higher on the body up near their pectoral region to create a full body change. And it is true that there are men that actually do bench presses and their whole body, including their legs get some small benefit because that’s the key to physical change in the men’s body.

Remember, I’m a guy that works many times for four days, for seven days, for only 12 days with a person before they go shoot a movie, so my methods need to be spot on. I have no learning curves and I have to do my best because if these actors don’t change in that short period of time; I will never work for the producer again.

Lisa: Oh wow, yeah, so it sounds like there is a lot of pressure. Now Eric, talk to us about some more examples of body weight exercises for women. You mentioned the kicking the leg out to the side. You also, when we spoke, you talked about when you do pushups, you are supposed to do them very slowly up and down. Is that correct?

Eric: Right. You know the way that we train women and the way that we train men is almost the polar opposite of each other meaning if men want to build their pectoral regions and be strong. I have them do old fashioned pushups where they come down and they power up. Just like you would see Jack LaLanne back in the day do the pushups. For women, we want their arms to be sleek and beautiful but we want – but we don’t want them to be overly muscular, so we do the opposite. We actually have women start on all fours on their knees and their hands and slowly lower their bodies, their torsos down towards the mat very slowly. The process of going from straight arm to touching their chest and belt buckle on the floor sometimes takes up to 12 seconds. So, they are lowering themselves down in a slow and focused manner with their elbows tucked in as opposed to men who shoot their elbows out to the side. And so, we focus on what they call the decline or the negative aspect of a pushup for women and what that yields is a small, sleek, beautiful arm.

You need to make time for yourself. I find that women as a gender are selfless and I mean that as a huge compliment. Your concerns involve children, husbands, boyfriends, extended family. You are very giving, and you are very intelligent but sometimes you put yourself last on the priority list and ultimately, it is really a losing proposition. So, I encourage women to actually increase their standing on the priority list for themselves and all we need to do is three simple things. We just need to align your exercise, your diet, and your sleep in the right way and magic happens. I have seen many, many women come in to see me, they have got short haircuts. They are kind of chubby. They have given up on looking amazing and I say to them listen, give me one chance, one chance to reclaim that glory that you had. I remember what you looked like back in the day. And believe me, in a very short period of time, sometimes in a month or two, they start looking like they are the babysitters not the moms and it is really cool to see.

Lisa: If you would like to learn more about Eric the Trainer, you can go to www.ericthetrainer.com . Thank you so much for listening to Talk Fitness Today. You can find us on social media at TalkFitness2 day on Twitter and Snap Chat. You can also find us at Talk Fitness Today podcasts on Facebook and find me at healthmediagal1. Thanks for listening and stay well.

This episode of Talk Fitness was produced by The Vitamin Shoppe where trusted health enthusiasts help you thrive every day. Visit one of 800 stores across the county or head to vitaminshoppe.com for all your wellness needs.