Having trouble losing weight?

When you lose weight your body tends to fight back. You may be able to lose quite a lot of weight at first without much effort but eventually you will find yourself slowing down or stopping altogether. This is why you will see a lot of people lose a good amount of weight then a month or two later they are back to their old ways. And you think what happened just the other month you were looking good and it seems like they just got tired and gave up on themselves. Well if you find yourself in this situation or wanting to know how you can keep the weight off, below I will give you 3 tips you can implement in your life TODAY!

#1 You may be losing weight without realizing it

When it comes to losing weight a lot of people are often caught up in looking at the scale than paying attention to their actual body. Being a trainer that is one of the first thing that I tell my clients when they tell me they want to lose weight. DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE SCALE! You will drive yourself crazy stepping on the scale everyday wanting to see results and then you realize nothing has come off and you get discouraged. A lot of times your weight may stay the same but your waist gets smaller or you start to see an ab start to peek. Pay attention to your body rather than the numbers on the scale.

#2 You are eating the wrong things

People often follow these ridiculous diets and meal plans when they are just putting their body through more stress and being more complicated than it actually has to be. I give my clients structural guidelines on when to eat and what to stay away from. One of the things that I emphasize to them is to stay away from foods that have high glucose. A lot of people do not know eating foods with high Glucose is the #1 way to gain weight. Such foods that have glucose are pasta, potatoes, wheat, things of that nature. Also you should be eating whole foods. McDonald’s chicken nuggets is not going to have the same effect on your body as a chicken breast that you get from whole foods that you make yourself.

#3 Your drinking too much alcohol

I know we all like to go out and have fun and drink from time to time. There is nothing wrong with that. But when you are serious about losing weight and want to seriously make a change in your life then you have to cut certain things out and alcohol. It’s called making sacrifices. And if you absolutely NEED to have a drink then I suggest to stick to spirits like Vodka mixed with a zero calorie beverage. Beer, wine and sugary alcoholic beverages are very high in calories.

The last thing I would suggest is to try keeping a food diary and keeping track of what you eat so you can keep yourself accountable. Losing weight and changing your lifestyle requires dedication, a lot of self discipline and perseverance.

If you would like to have a free consultation with me so we can discuss your fitness goals, please contact me via social media on instagram @quinnmitchellii or email me@ Quinnmitchell1@att.net.

Coach Q

Benefits of working out with Resistance Bands

A lot of you that have been following me on my social media have noticed that I have been working out with strictly body weight and resistance bands and no actual weights. And to be quite honest with all of you my body feels just as good as it did when I was lifting with weights. What a lot of people don’t realize that resistant band workouts when done properly are just as effective as people lifting weights. And the question that has been asked the most is what are the benefits of resistant band workouts? And now I will tell you.

Resistance bands does exactly as it says, it adds resistance to your workout. This added resistance helps strengthen your muscles and pushes you to work harder.

One of the benefits of resistance band workouts is that it for one tones and strengthens your muscles. As resistance bands stretch they create increased tension in your muscles which makes them contract. The more you stretch the band the more intense the resistance gets and the harder the workout becomes.

Another benefit is that it adds assistance to specific exercises that you may be struggling with. For example if you wanted to get better at doing pull ups you can simply attach the resistance band to the bar and under your foot so you can have support until your strong enough to do a regular pull up.

If you’re somebody that is an athlete that needs to put on muscle I suggest using free weights to start. But as you put on the muscle that you want resistance bands are great for retaining the muscle and not losing it. I have always had bad wrists when it comes to lifting with dumbbells I swear every other day I used to sprain my wrist but with the resistance bands I do not have this issue. Also these bands are a great way to recover from injury and get yourself back into the routine of working out again.

One last benefit that I love about resistant band training is that I can do it at home. You never have an excuse on why you don’t have time to get a workout in. Whether you had a long day at work or are just simply tired you can take 15 minutes of your day and get a quick and effective workout in.

If you have any questions about this type of training or want to join one of my programs feel free to contact me on Instagram @quinnmitchellii or Snapchat – quinn03 and I would love to talk to you and work with you.

Coach Q

Should you count yoga as a workout

From the outside looking in yoga used to be looked down upon. I know I used to think that it was only for women because when I would look through the glass and see the people doing it that’s all I would see. It was almost considered sissy like for a man to be in a yoga class but now times have changed. Now that men are starting to see the benefits from yoga it has started too make it become more popular. Now yoga classes are very diversified and more welcoming to all ages and genders. Now the question that I have come across, is yoga considered a workout?

With the various different yoga programs out there there are numerous ways that yoga can be considered a workout. There are programs that challenge your strength and endurance. Eventually though you may want to incorporate different exercises to strengthen your upper body. One of the main downsides of yoga is it doesn’t include any upper-body pulling movements (such as pull ups and bent-over rows). Yoga may also offer balance, mobility and flexibility benefits.

Ultimately yoga can be considered a good workout but I wouldn’t rely on it for your strength training. Yoga is good for relaxing the body and allowing you to become flexible and use parts of your body you wouldn’t necessarily use during a normal workout.

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Why consistency is greater than hardwork

A lot of people look at the most powerful people in the world and they think wow they must work hard everyday to get to where they are at. Which yes this is the case but what a lot of people over look is the consistency aspect of the hardwork that they are putting in. When you look at some of the great athletes in the world, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry these guys are masterminds at their craft but what a lot of people don’t realize is that they do NOT TAKE A DAY OFF. Every day they are in the gym getting shots up working on their craft. When I look at my college basketball career is was not a coincidence that I magically had a career year my junior year. I was literally up everyday before practice shooting at 5 AM. And the days that I had to miss because of the snow, I did form shooting in my room. There was not a day that went by that I did not touch a basketball.

There is power when you are consistent with what you want to do in life. Whether it is lose weight, gain muscle, become a millionaire, become successful at your craft, you have to indulge yourself in this process and make a promise to yourself that you won’t take a day off. Because one thing my pops always told me growing up when I was training is that the minute you take a day off there’s a kid on the other side of the world waiting for you to take a break so he can catch up to your greatness and take your spot in the world. So everyday you have to make sure you live by this thing called consistency. Yes when you first start off there will be a lot of discouragement and a lot of excuses will arise that will want you to take a break. But if you can make yourself become diligent and have will power to resist the temptation of breaking consistency I promise you that your reward will be great on the other side.

Nothing worth having comes easy and it damn sure doesn’t come in a short period of time. But whatever your goals are in life, if you can promise yourself that you can start today and work towards your goal everyday I promise by the end of the month if you are consistent you will see great progress and will feel good about yourself. Stay positive and stay motivated!

Coach Q

Misconception of small waist big booty

The question that I get asked the most is, “how do I lose weight, get a skinny waist and get a big butt?” I am sure a lot of you reading this are wondering the same thing. Especially in today’s society that specific look is considered “hot.” Every girl wants the Kardashian body & booty. These women are perceived to be “goals” of what the human female body should look like. But in reality, it’s called money. Every day women are going to the gym and running on the treadmill and doing squats until they die because this is how they think they will create the perfect body. Yes, they are losing weight but they are losing it in the wrong places. Excessive cardio can break down muscle tissue causing you to lose whatever gains you are getting.

Let me break this down. I am going to explain to you the 3 different body types that we have. They are Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph.

Ectomorph is somebody that is small and skinny, they have a hard time putting on weight, have a very fast metabolism and have a lean muscle mass.
Mesomorph is somebody that has very defined muscles, they are athletic and strong, and are able to gain muscle easily – they gain fat more easily than ectomorphs.
Endomorph is somebody that has a round physique, stocky build, gains muscle and fat very easily, soft and round body and has a slow metabolism.

Now with this being said, I am not saying that somebody who is an Endomorph can’t bust their ass at the gym for a couple of years and turn into a Mesomorph or vice versa. I am simply putting this here to give you a better understanding of what kind of body types are out there and how they work.

The Solution

The key factors to making your butt grow are very simple. There are 3 main butt muscle groups:

Gluteus Maximus: The largest muscle that makes up the majority of your butt

Gluteus Medius: The second largest muscle that lies near the outside of the pelvis

Gluteus Minimus: The smallest of the 3 main butt muscles, which lies underneath the gluteus medius

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me.

Coach Q

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How to stay motivated for the gym

A lot of people often ask me how do they stay motivated for the gym and I often start to ask them numerous questions such as, what is their reason for going to the gym or how many days do they go to the gym. Often times when you break down these questions you will soon start to realize the reason why people are lacking motivation for the gym. Below I will give you some key tips that will help you stay motivated throughout your journey.

One of the things that you will soon realize that is a major key to staying motivated for the gym is that you have to have a reason on why you want to get into the gym. Whether it is wanting to lose weight or simply doing it for yourself to gain more confidence you have to have that reason engraved in your mind. Because trust me, there will be days when you just want to forget about the gym, Your body will be aching and you will be you will need that extra boost of motivation which will come from having the reason why you want to go in the first place. Playing basketball all my life I had to learn this lesson early. One of the things my dad always told me when I didn’t want to get in the gym is you can either be like everyone else and do what is required and leave or you can want to be the best and do what others won’t do. And that is what drove me to stay consistent and wake up at 5am every morning and not miss a workout.

Another thing that will help you stay consistent is by doing workouts that you enjoy doing. If you hate the treadmill do another form of cardio and if you hate lifting weights then do body weight training, there is always an alternative that you can do to get around something that you hate doing. But the key is to not get emotionally drained because you will eventually tap out mentally and dread the gym and once you get to this point it is a hard place to turn back from.

Lastly I think a key to staying motivated for the gym is having someone that will hold you accountable. Whether it is your friends or a trainer like myself I think when people have someone that will hold them up to a certain standard then it will be hard to let that person down. So you will make sure that you get the workouts in and stay consistent and be true to yourself.

The secret to losing weight

The big question people always tend to ask is, “how do I lose weight?” A lot of people tend to think that the major issue is their caloric intake. Calories play a factor but is not the main factor. A lot of individuals are being deceived by the people that work in the vitamin stores. They tell them all they need to do is take a certain pill and in days, weeks, or months you will start seeing results. There is WAY much more involved to losing weight. Losing weight involves many other factors such as eating a clean diet and working out regularly. But guess what… I have found a secret.

Have you ever eaten a meal in the morning and by the afternoon you felt like you were ready to crash? What I am going to talk to you about is one of the major reasons why you may have felt like this and how it can keep you from losing weight. The key component is called insulin. We all have it naturally in our body. Some of you may not be familiar with what insulin is so let me break it down to you. Insulin is released from the cells in your pancreas and into the blood stream when your body senses blood sugar has been increased. Very high blood sugar levels are not good and insulin acts as a bridge between cells and the sugar found floating in your blood. Without insulin however your blood sugar would be extremely high and your body wouldn’t be able to get that sugar into the cells. Before insulin starts forming blood glucose into fat cells, it first stores as much as possible into the liver for a later use. Unfortunately the liver can only hold a limited amount of blood sugar then the excess starts getting dumped off into muscle cells. Muscle cells can hold more glucose than liver however they also have their limit. Once the limit is reached, there is a “spill over” that happens when most of the sugar from carbohydrates in your diet will begin to be stored as fat cells in order to lower to lower your sugar found in your blood stream back to normal.

Therefore, if you control the food you consume you will have low levels of insulin making it easier to burn that unwanted fat. It is high insulin levels that block you from burning fat. Limit your carbohydrate intake and you will see a major change in your weight. Also, it is a good idea to stay away from starch such as potatoes, rice, and bread.

Gives this a try for 2-3 weeks and let me know your results! Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Coach Q

Importance of patience

A lot of people including myself made decisions off of emotions instead of logic. A lot of times we set plans and tell ourselves that we have a set goal but then when things don’t go our way we take our eyes off of our plans and tend to do things for temporary satisfaction. All of my life this has been my weakness. God knew that when he put me on this earth that this would be my weakness. I hate when things don’t go my way and especially when things are out of my control.

When I look back at my life if I were to practice patience I feel like a lot of things would have been different. Simply looking at my basketball career after my junior year of college I told my parents that I wanted to transfer to the school that I played against that year but the reasoning that I wanted to leave was the wrong one. I had just the best year of my career my family and everyone close to me was telling me to stay there because now I had everything I ever wanted. But because of my greed and wanting to have more of a social life I transferred and ended up being injured my whole senior year. Now was this a sign from the man above telling me to listen to him instead of moving on my emotions? Maybe it was but the point of me telling you this is that I made a decision based off of my emotions instead of thinking logically and now my path of becoming a pro basketball player has become harder because of my injuries.

Now I know at times when we set goals for ourselves we often get put in tough situations where something happens suddenly and we have to make decisions right then and there but I’m talking about when there is no rush to make a decision and you’re making decisions because your impatient. And yes I know sometimes it hurts to wait but trust me if you can endure the pain that comes with this the blessing on the other side will be worth the wait.

Being around my mentor we talk about things like this everyday and he simply tells me it doesn’t matter what they think right now, it’s all about the end goal and as long as you work towards that everyday and put your head down and chip away one day you will look up and your goal will be attainable.

Writing things like this is tough for me because it is something I am constantly dealing with on a day to day basis and the only way for you to know how to truly get through something like this is personal experience. But if I can help you avoid missing out on your blessing and show you that in order to achieve some of the great things in life you sometimes have to wait it out. People will lie on you, talk about you, laugh at you, tell you it is not possible but if you believe in yourself and make yourself your biggest critic I promise you will get everything you want in life.

If you are reading this right now, you are alive and breathing which means you’re on this earth for a purpose. Go out and fulfill it everyday

I love y’all

Coach Q

Hot bath or ice bath which is better for recovery

Being a college athlete I always wondered which one would be better for my body after practice/ games. At times I would experiment with both and just put my ankles into a cold tub for 5 minutes and then into the hot bath the next day just to see how my body had adapted to it. So the real question is which is better for recovery?

The physiological effects of hot baths and ice baths differ. After a hard practice or run creates micro-tears in the muscles that cause an inflammatory response which is why you tend to see certain joints hurting or swelling. Ice baths are known to limit this reaction by constricting the blood vessels which could in turn reduce the onset of delayed onset muscle soreness. Which is why they are the best choice after post workout activities.

Hot baths on the other hand promote blood flow to the muscles by dilating blood vessels which is something that you do not want immediately after you exercise. However in the days that follow if you are still having pain a hot bath is recommended to increase circulation which helps the healing process.

So the best time to have an ice bath is when you need a quick recovery turn around time such as playing back to back games or your last hard training session before a big race. You will see the difference in your body and will feel a whole lot better.

The truth behind the growth of Gluten Sensitivity

Ten years ago few people knew what Gluten even was and you rarely heard people go into restaurants and ask if you had a “Gluten Free Menu”. Now recently you can find the terms gluten free being talked about everywhere

While we don’t know how many people have this celiac disease but it is estimated to affect 3 millions people in the world which is 1% of the population and has increased over the last 50 years.

Now the real question is, why is this becoming so popular now? Or has this had been an ongoing condition that was previesoly misdiagnosed? Now we will dive deeper into it

Gluten is a protein in rye, barley and wheat. It is also used in dough so the bread can rise, hold it’s shape and absorbs liquids like soup. It can also be used to make soup thicker as well.

Gluten-Sensitivity nor celiac disease are food allergies but they are two entirely different concerns. Some people who are sensitive to gluten may only experience mild symptoms such as an upset stomach.

Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder of the small bowel that can cause similar side effects but to a more extreme level that could lead to death. When they consume foods like gluten it irritates the gut and your body reacts as if a toxin is attacking it.

THE PROBLEM WITH GLUTEN

Some doctors and scientists believe there is an increase in gluten sensitivity due to environmental and food changes. These changes include

New wheat varieties have higher gluten content
Farmers are using wheat with higher gluten varieties because of their natural insecticide qualities
People are consuming more wheat-based products than previous decades

Some ways that we can solve this issue if you find yourself suffering from this is simply eating grains other than wheat. Healthy and gluten free options include brown rice, oats and millet. Many Gluten free products are higher in sugar,fat and sodium to make up for the lack of gluten and improve the flavor and texture.