I wanted to share my last workout of the day with a client, who wanted to really tough workout. Their overall goal is weight loss with a emphasis in building lean body mass. I like to train in tri-sets with minimal breaks. I can usually get 3-4 rounds of exercises per workout. My workouts last 45min -1hr with static stretching done at the end of the workout.

Round 1

Single Arm Dumbbell Chest Press 30lbs, 15 reps - Skull Crushers 15 lbs, 15 reps - 1 Legged Squats 15 lbs, 15 reps

Round 2

Single Arm Chest Fly with Resistance Band(RB) with a Stationary Lunge 15 reps - Torso Twist with RB - Straight Arm Pulldowns w/RB 15 reps

Round 3

Tricep Pressdown with RB 20 reps - Bicep Curl on 1 leg 25 lbs, 15 reps - Squat with a Shoulder Press 20 lbs, 15 reps

Round 4

Hamstring Curl with Stability Ball 20 reps - Ab Curl with 12 lbs, 25 reps - Cobra 40 sec

There is no rest between exercises in the same round, although after the 3 exercises there is a 1 minute break. I want everyone to try this routine and let me know what you think.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

San Diego Beach Workout.

Our San Diego beach workout was a fun time. My client and good friend, Shana helped participate in this workout. Not only did we get a good workout in, we experienced a fun day at the beach. We even saw dolphins at the end of our workout.

The first exercise she did was the lunge, which is good for overall leg toning and strength. The next exercise was the squat, followed by the 1 leg balance. (Always do both legs for optimal balance).

My exercises were the push up with a hand touch and the centipede with knee ins. Both these exercises are good for upper body and core strength.

I know some of you don't have access to the beach like we do here in San Diego, but a park would work just as good. Staying fit doesn't mean you have to workout in a gym setting. Take your workouts out doors, its a great stress release. Have a great weekend and enjoy your health.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

This is a great exercise for the core muscle groups. If you find this exercise challenging at first, don't worry your not alone. Enjoy and let me know how it works. I recommend doing this exercise every other day with your core routine.

1. Start on all fours(hands and knees), in neutral spine, with abdomen drawn in and chin tucked.
2. Slowly raise one arm (thumb up) and the opposite leg.
3. Keep both arm and leg straight while lifting to body height.
4. Hold for 5-10 seconds.
5. Return both arm and leg slowly to the ground.
6. Maintaining optimal alignment and repeat alternating sides.
7. Progression is holding for longer periods of time. You can hold up to 45 seconds
   
   
   Reps -10 each side
   Sets - 3
   Intensity - body weight

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Day 6 on Shana's Fitness Journey

It's amazing how taking a few steps in a positive direction can actually motivate you. I just got back from the gym and I feel terrific! The last few workouts have been all about cardio with an emphasis on stretching. I have generally tried to do about 45 minutes to 1 hour on the elliptical machine or treadmill with a moderate incline and intensity. These workouts leave me drenched and feeling like I am one step closer to my goals.

I would like to say that all you have to do is workout a little bit to feel better about yourself. But I can honestly say that any journey you take has to incorporate a variety of things if you truly want results. In just one week (6 days) I do feel much better then when I started. But at the start of this "transformation" I understood that I needed an overhaul in many areas.

I personally have not only started to workout, but I have also taken a look at two other areas in my life that deeply affect me. Everything I put into my mouth, and everything I put into my mind. I am not sure which one is easier to control or which one controls the other, however I do understand that together they play a huge part on this journey.

This is where a personal trainer with an emphasis on "wellness" coaching comes in. They encourage you to take a deeper look at what is hindering you from achieving your goals and what will help you to reach them. They support you in a well rounded way and cause you to reach deeper then just a physical workout. Kevin Moses has been awesome in directing me in these areas and I am thankful for the opportunity to work with him.

Next, I look forward to sharing a few tweaks I have made that have already helped me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

This exercise is great for strengthening the lower back, shoulders and glutes. It may help in the prevention of lower back pain.

1. Focus on lying flat on your stomach with your neck aligned with our spine.
2. Bring your upper body and arms off the floor.
3. You may also bring your legs off the floor to emphasize the glutes.
4. Extending the neck may cause pain.

I recommend doing this exercise three times a week. Try 3 sets with a hold position for 20-40 seconds. Always challenge yourself. If you feel any pain or discomfort please contact your local doctor or chiropractor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Everyone has been asking me about the Wii Fit. I have played with the Wii before, but not the Wii fit. Some of the games I have played were golf, boxing, tennis, and bowling. I think overall its a good thing, although injuries might arise if done incorrectly or misused.

Some of the most common injuries will be muscles pulls and strains. The reason I bring this up was because I just had a client, who I have been training for three years, played the Wii this past weekend, (bowling) and actually pulled his glute muscle.

I ask why? It could be a number of reasons, I think on this occasion it was no proper warm up. The warm up phase before exercise is that important in reducing injuries. I have been injured so many times, and most of the time it was due to pushing too hard and/or no proper warm up. Have fun playing the Wii, but try to do a brisk walk or do a few jumping jacks before you start, it just may save you from a pulled muscle. Anyone else have any experiences with the Wii?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Side Plank - works the obliques

This exercise video will demonstrate the side plank exercise, which works the obliques. I recommend starting on your knees and elbow for your first set, then working your way up to your feet. Make sure your elbow is directly under your shoulder as you move up in the stabilizing position. Do this exercise for 3 sets at 20-30 seconds per side. Let me know if you like this exercise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

How to get better sleep? Shared by Cameron Sutter

Approximately 100 million Americans struggle with difficulty sleeping. If you have trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep, there are some “tricks” to improve the situation. To some extent, insomnia can be like the old expression about fear: there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Sometimes, just the fear of not being able to sleep causes enough stress to keep us awake. Don’t worry, these guidelines should help.

1. Sleep is like a good meal. It must be at the correct time and well anticipated; it helps to be hungry, the food should look, taste and smell good; your surroundings should be pleasing; and you should have plenty of stress free time to enjoy it. Make your bedroom as inviting as that meal and you will sleep better.
2. Don’t look at the clock. Studies have shown that looking at the clock during the night increases insomnia. You will sleep more if you ignore the clock when you wake up during the night.
3. Leave work at the office and don’t take it to bed with you. If you wake during the night – do not think! Mental distraction is the name of the game. Try counting backwards from 100. The first times that you try this technique you might count from 100 two or more times. It’s OK. Eventually you will fall to sleep at about 95. You are training yourself to stop thinking about problems and to fall to sleep instead. It will take time to learn this good habit.
4. No caffeine after dinner. The half life of caffeine is about four hours.
5. Alcohol makes you doze off quickly, but after it metabolizes it will interrupt sleep later in the night.
   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Initial Assessment and First Workout shared by Shana (7/19/08)

"I am not sure why, but initial assessments of any kind, especially those that pertain to your body, seem to be painful. This is definitely the first start to your workout transformation though because you need to have some kind of initial base line to work from.

I was horrified when Kevin pulled out the body fat measuring calipers and measured my body fat! It's pretty scary when you see this big plastic thing that is pinching the fat in all those tough to lose fat areas, like upper under arms, the spot right under your belly button that always seems impossible to lose, and the inner thighs. Can you hear me groan?

However, after that was finished I was "all in" and ready to jump on the scale. My body fat measurement was 21% and my start weight is 154 lbs. So, I did not gain 15 pounds, but more like 18 from my move! This was not a great way to start my first work out. Over all I feel pretty sluggish, embarrassed and just not quite ready to start, but today is the day regardless.

My first workout with Kevin went great! It started with a 7 minute warm up on the stair master. After that he made sure I stretched out a bit to avoid any injuries. We then worked out our chest, shoulders and triceps and finished with 20 minutes of cardio.

I feel terrific! I went in feeling tired and without much "umph". But after the work out I have so much energy! My mental attitude is positive and I feel better! The stress that had my shoulders knotted up is gone. The rewards of this first work out is what I needed...motivation and excitement about my next workout!!

Thanks Kevin!

This is where having an experienced fitness coach or personal trainer pays off! They help to motivate you, push you to that next level, and teach you the proper way to work out. The end result is meeting your goals and feeling Absolutely Wonderful! Can't wait to share my next experience with you!"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

One of my clients and good friends wants to go through a fitness transformation and she is kind enough to share her journey on my blog. Her name is Shana and she just moved from Missouri. She will be posting her workouts, challenges, obstacles, and successes. Please welcome her and give her tons of feedback. Maybe her story might inspire you.

"Hi, I'm Shana, and today I am entering into a journey of fitness transformation. I have currently relocated back to San Diego, CA with my 3 young daughters to start a high demand career in the medical field. During this trek across country, I managed to fall off the wagon of my current health and wellness journey. The change in my diet and lack of exercise literally caused me to gain 15 extra pounds, increased body fat, and a change in my overall appearance.

The above changes have caused me to experience a drop in energy, strength, confidence and balance. I have gone from feeling energetic, strong, happy and healthy to a state of lethargy and negative self esteem. For some reason, I just seem to have lacked the motivation to get back into a healthy routine.

I decided that I need help on my journey from someone with experience in helping others to get back on track and into better shape. Kevin Moses has been a trusted friend, mentor and source of inspiration through out the years and I have complete confidence in his ability and expertise to lead the way and guide me through my transformation. He has inspired me to dig deep into my intestinal fortitude and find something to motivate me. It is extremely important to find a trainer that you can trust and have confidence in and I know that with Kevin's help and professionalism I can achieve my goals.

My goals are to reduce body fat, increase strength, energy and muscle tone, as well as lose the extra weight I am carrying around. My motivation comes from the energy it takes to keep up with 3 little girls, a somewhat stressful full time job, and just over all feeling good about myself.

I invite you to join me on my journey of fitness transformation with Kevin. Hopefully it will not only help me to achieve my goals, but also inspire you to reach for your own personal goals of health and wellness. There is no greater joy than feeling great about who you are and sharing that with other people. Let's get started.... "

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Abdominal exercises for everyone from beginners to advanced. This exercise video is showing the abdominal curls in 3 stages, beginners, intermediate, and advanced. I recommend 3 sets with 15-30 reps depending on what you can accomplish. If you have any lower back pain, consult your Dr before starting any exercise program.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Stability ball workouts can be made custom for everyone depending on your exercise level. I just shot this video today at one the gyms I workout at in San Diego. I like this exercise because it hits many body parts and is great for overall core strength.

Jack Knife - Abs, Hip Flexors, and Shoulders

I recommend doing 3 sets with 10-20 repetitions.

To make this exercise easier, one would stabilize with feet on stability ball and upper body extended like in this exercise. Although there would be no movement of the legs. The more of your leg on the stability ball, the easier this exercise gets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Why should you eat walnuts? Walnuts are rich in protein, and high in potassium and other minerals such as zinc and iron. Even the bark of the walnut tree is used to treat gum disease, among other things.

Here are a few of the top benefits of walnuts and why you should incorporate them in your diet.

1. The nuts are soothing and a natural digestive.

2. Eat daily while convalescing to relieve fatigue and helps strengthen the body.

3. Fresh walnuts and walnut oil encourages circulation and aid the heart.

4. Eat walnuts for heartburn and diarrhea.

5. Walnuts can also be added to ease discomfort of irritable bowel syndrome.

As you can see there are many benefits of consuming walnuts, not to mention a great snack for someone trying to lose weight. Walnuts are also high in Omega three fatty acids, which has a whole new list of benefits. Are you getting enough omega three's in your diet?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

I'm thinking about doing a live video cast on exercise, nutrition, and other health related topics on this blog. PLEASE let me know if you would participate. It would be a half hour to 1hr long. People would participate through IM, asking questions and/or for me to do demonstrations on exercises with resistance bands and other exercise tools. This will be a FREE service. I would appreciate any feedback.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

This article on Allergies and Asthma has been given to me by my chiropractor and I thought I would share it with everyone. It has some useful information.

Nutritional Approaches for Allergies and Asthma
In addition to avoiding one's specific hypersensitivity triggers such as dairy products, shellfish, or gluten, there are many proactive nutritional solutions available. All will help restore the body's natural ability to create internal balance and more normal functioning.

The most important recommendation is to drink enough water. Most of us don't do this. Coffee, tea, juice, and soda don't count. Water is the key - eight cups per day are recommended. If you're not used to drinking water, start with four cups per day, get used to doing that, and work your way up to eight cups per day.

Put simply, if you're not drinking enough water, your internal metabolic environment is toxic. For those with hypersensitivity problems, not drinking enough water exacerbates the problem. Drink water!

Also, make sure you're doing food combining - eating portions of protein and portions of carbohydrate at each meal. Combining protein and carbohydrate is metabolically efficient, keeping your blood sugar level throughout the day, and removing unwanted stress on your endocrine and other systems.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Being a personal trainer, I get asked many questions. One of the most popular questions is, "what time of day is best to workout"? Me personally, I love working out in the morning. It gives me the energy I need to have a productive day. It sets my mood on a positive note. The morning is when I have the most energy and feel like my workouts are most productive.

So is one better than the other, working out in the morning vs working out at night. I tell people, working out period is the best thing you can do for yourself and your body. So what works for one will not work for others. I have a client who works out at 4am every morning. This may not work for most, but for her its the only time she can get in. She has 3 daughters and has a full work load.

There are so many positive benefits of exercise, so just get off your butt and start. Your body will thank you for it. Stop making those stupid excuses, like I don't have time. I have shown people how to workout in there home, with a few simple tools. All you really need is resistance bands and a stability ball to start your exercise program.

Let me know what time you workout and what benefits you see from exercising. Thanks for visiting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

I recently started taking Zrii a few days ago. Zrii is an interesting product that was recommended by my chiropractor. The reason I say interesting, is because it doesn't have your normal vitamins and minerals that are used in most supplements, it has natural herbs used predominately in eastern medicine.

One the ingredients is Ginger, which has many positive effects including:

*Improves digestion, absorption, and assimilation

*Frequently used for heart burn, colic and arthritis

*Lowers cholesterol and has blood thinning properties

*Can be used for nausea

*Aids in movement of the GI tract

*Anti-bacterial and analgesic

Has anyone else been using Zrii and what kind of benefits have you seen?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

How many calories to burn one pound of fat? The answer is 3500 calories to burn 1 lb of fat. Understand if you burned 3500 calories with exercise all of it would not be fat. Another good tip, one gram of fat equals nine calories, one gram of protein equals four calories, and one gram of carbohydrates equals four calories. So fat is twice the energy as protein and carbohydrates. If you do consume fat I highly recommend eating the good fat. A few good fat sources would be olive oil, raw almonds, and avocados. Thanks again to everyone who posted in the poll.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Stability ball squat is demonstrated in this exercise video. I recommend doing 3 sets with 12-15 repetitions. To make this exercise more challenging, you can sit in a stationary squat position. This stability ball squat works the leg muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, & glutes. Let me know what other videos would like to see. Thanks for visiting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Free workouts in San Diego for people willing to drive to my studio in the Poway area. Right now I'm offering TWO FREE sessions to the first person who can tell me how many muscles are in the human body. I want to quiz and challenge everyone to learn about health and fitness. I will be doing other Specials throughout the year. This offer is good for new people who have not experienced my services.

For those of you who live in other parts of the country and world, I'm willing to send you a exercise video for your current routine. Let me know what body part or type of video you would prefer.

This is the first time I'm offering this type of special. Let me know what you think.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

The time is now to protect yourself from Alzheimer’s – a disease affecting around 4.5 million Americans (some as young as 55).

Below are few simple ways to keep a fit mind:
1. Try the Sunday crossword puzzle in the newspaper.
2. Eat foods or supplements containing omega-3 fatty acid DHA.
3. Do a puzzle a week that requires logic, like Sudoku, Kakuro and Nurikabe.
4. Play games that involve strategy, like chess, dominoes or bridge.
5. Take up a new musical instrument, or learn a new language.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Here comes summer! Fun in the sun. Barbecues, fireworks, and cool drinks. And outdoor activities - hiking, biking, running, swimming, skating, blading, and even canoeing. Getting back into shape seems like a very good idea right about now. We want to look good in our shorts and tee shirts, and more importantly, we don't want to be huffing and puffing. We want to be able to do what we want to do without having to think about limitations or restrictions.

How to return to fitness? There are three main areas on which to focus - losing some weight, doing aerobic exercise, and doing some weight-training.1,2

Whether you want to lose five, ten, or twenty pounds, the easy-to-follow principles are the same. First, eat several (five or six) small meals each day. Each small meal contains about 300 calories and your total daily intake is between 1800 and 1900 calories per day. This might be a significant reduction for many people, so be sure to check with your doctor and get his or her OK to begin such a food plan.

Each small meal contains both protein and carbohydrate. This food-combining principle retrains your body's metabolism and helps you become a lean machine. Food combining optimizes energy utilization and evens out insulin levels throughout the day. This is particularly important for people who are hypoglycemic or pre-diabetic. Again, check with you doctor to be sure such a plan will work well for you.

Returning to aerobic fitness is very important for summer activities. Get out of your house and begin a walking program. Start with ten or fifteen minutes of easy walking. Add a minute each day, building up to thirty-minute walks over the course of three or four weeks. When you can walk for thirty minutes easily, increase your pace. Again, increase your pace gradually over several weeks.

Treadmills, stationary bikes, stair machines, and elliptical machines all provide excellent aerobic workouts. The key, as with walking, is to build up gradually to a high level. Interval training methods are also valuable and improve cardiovascular efficiency. Interval training involves alternating intense and slow periods of activity.

Weight-training tones muscles, trains your body to do physical work, and causes your metabolism to burn fat while you're resting, so there are a wide variety of benefits here. Many excellent books and magazines are available to help you begin a weight-training program. Workout with a knowledgeable friend. Hire a personal trainer for four weeks and learn enough to be able to workout on your own. The physical and psychological benefits are well worth the time and effort.3

Now you're fit and well-prepared to enjoy all that summer has to offer. The final tip is to be sure to stay hydrated all day long. Drinking water is the most important nutritional advice anyone could give to anyone.

1Simkini-Silverman LR, et al. Lifestyle intervention can prevent weight gain during menopause. Ann Behav Med 26(3):212-220, 2003 2Knuttgen HG. Strength training and aerobic exercise: comparison and contrast. J Strength Cond Res 21(3):973-978, 2007 3Kraemer WJ, et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 34(2):364-380, 2002

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Choose the Right Shoes. Look around any crowded city street, and you'll see plenty of footwear— from stiletto heels to platform shoes— that is more than a little unkind to our feet. It's no wonder that foot pain is such a common complaint. But it's not just our feet that are hurting. Improper footwear places strain on the knees, hips and back. According to Karen Achtermann, DC, your feet serve three purposes: support, locomotion and shock absorption. So, support your body by following these guidelines for proper footwear.

Leave the High-Heels Behind
Women, listen up: The higher the heel on your shoe, the greater the amount of stress placed on your forefoot. High-heeled shoes can contribute to the collapse of one or more of the foot's three arches. These shoes also place undue stress on the ankle, which can lead to ankle instability and sprains. Plus, when you wear high-heels your calf muscles shorten, warns Achtermann. Then, if you alternate between high heels and flat shoes, your calf muscles go through a shorten/lengthen cycle that can lead to pelvic imbalances and low back pain.

Consider Orthotics
Many chiropractors recommend orthotics. There are two kinds of orthotics: the simple, commercially-made insoles that are available at outdoor sports or shoe stores, and custom orthotics. Custom orthotics are superior since they are tailored to your individual foot and are designed to correct for your particular imbalances. These are created by making an impression of each foot called a cast, and then correcting for specific misalignment's. According to Achtermann, custom orthotics help to prevent dysfunction of the lower body and legs, and decrease spinal stress.

Thanks to Cameron Sutter for providing us this article. Cameron is my chiropractor and does any a great job with me here in San Diego. Please visit his website for more articles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.

Everyone always asks how I came up with idea of these shirts. To be honest I'm not 100% sure. Around seven years I had this idea to start a clothing line, Back then I called it Moses Fitness Wear. The name really didn't inspire me. I now call it Mozis Wear. I like the name better than before, probably because the play on words. I would love any feedback on the name, Mozis Wear. Thanks for every ones support. Here's one of our new shirt designs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Moses, BS, CSCS is a San Diego personal trainer and fitness coach specializing in helping individuals with strength training, sports conditioning and weight loss.