The Body Attack Group Effect

Dear Body Attacker,

Do you want to learn a simple trick you can do to boost your performance and push you to go the extra mile every time you workout?

Its not coffee. Not Alaxan. Non of those expensive pre-workout wheyprotein or energy gels. It’s something as simple as joining a group class!

Les Mills calls this the “Group Effect.”

It's a similar concept in psychology called "social facilitation" where in scientist observed in an experiment "a significant improvement in performance produced by the mere presence of others’.

On your own, it’s easier to stop when the going gets hard.
In a group, you'll gain strength from working out with others and you'll motivate each other to work harder, and push yourself just a little more.

This is one of the main essence of Body Attack. Shared energy and connection.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, the most effective way to get motivation, inspiration and results is by making exercise fun and not a chore.




Surround yourself with like minded people, bring your friends along to a Body Attack Class, have fun working out to chart-topping music and experience the Body Attack group effect!

Let's sweat together!

Erik

Body Attack Plyometric Lunges: The Bridge Between Strength And Power!

Dear Body Attacker,

Do you want to be strong or fast? Why not choose both?

Squats, deadlifts and snatches are a staple of any good training program if you want to build strength and explosiveness.

Although training squats and deadlifts with heavy weights will give you a base of strength you need and improve your efficiency in the way you move, in can only and increase your speed to a certain point.

here's what a bar bending deadlift looks like... complete with angry face and popping veins

If you want to work on explosiveness, the best exercise to help you with it are things like olympic lifts (clean and jerk, barbel snatches), ballistic kettlebell moves (swings and snatches) and plyometrics. However, these moves are fairly intense and can tax not just your muscles but also the nervous system.

That’s why one of my favorite Body Attack move is the Plyometric Lunge. The lunge is the key that will unlock your strength (for a heavier squat and deadlift) and develop your explosiveness (higher jumps and speed).

It is the bridge between strength and power.

You don’t just want to be strong. We want to be fast too. The ability to explode, sprint and change directions like a ninja.

The Body Attack plyo lunge is great for explosiveness but not as hard and taxing as a box jump or a full-on tuck jump. You'll gain more strength weight training with deadlifts or squats but when it comes to delivering the benefits of speed and power, plyo lunges will take you a step further.

Because you drop down and have to explode going up, your body has to learn to absorb force and redirect it which is GREAT for developing power in a way that is easy to learn and not to tough on the joints.

If all you want in life is to look and feel good, get the most out of life that you can and have no plans of competing in the Olympics anytime soon, then lunges are a great tool to increase your speed and power without costing a lot of time or energy.

However if you're training to beat Goku and could use a little more gains in speed and power, lunges provide a great transition into more intense tools like olympic lifts and plyometrics.

So the next time we do some lunges in track 4, keep your front knee out, back straight, chest up and feel the strength and power in your glutes and your legs!

Feel awesome knowing every lunge is a step further towards a functional, strong and fit body attack booty!

Happy lunges, Erik

How to start a Body Attack a habit and take your fitness to the next level effortlessly.

Dear Body Attacker,

How are your fitness resolutions? 

The first month of the year is almost over and most people have already fallen off their promises and new year resolutions. Don't let that happen to you!!!

How to make your new year resolutions stick

“Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going…” This quote written on the walls of Fitness First Wynsum Ortigas many years ago stuck with me and it still rings true today.


In truth, there’s no substitute for hard work and discipline, in your fitness goals or any goals for that matter, you have to put in the work, sweat hard and you have to do it on a consistent basis.

The secret lies in making “work” fun for you and turning it into a habit so it doesn’t require discipline, or willpower for you to do it regularly. That’s why the Les Mills group exercises worked so well for me when I was starting on my fitness journey.

It was fun, and it turned into a habit. Instead of dreading at the thought of the workout, it was something that I would look forward to every time I would go to the gym

Become a Body Attack athlete by building a Body Attack habit. 

Now we know what Connor Mc Gregor has been up to... Body Attack secret training! 

In any training program, there’s the nitty gritty of planning the progression, recovery and varying levels of intensity and volume. But none of these stuff will work if you don’t actually show up and workout on a regular basis and not just on the first month of the year.  Have fun, enjoy the workout, feel the music and  don’t worry about dialing up the intensity. The first step is making it a habit.

SMART START - What’s the secret to building a habit? Start with small doses. “Too many people make the mistake of leaping into exercise when baby steps are what’s needed,” says Bryce Hastings, Les Mills Head of Research. If it’s your first time, keep these in mind:

Start slow – Don’t push your body too soon, stop your workout when things are feeling tough.

Build gradually – Aim towards staying for a full workout as your fitness builds

If you want to start a habit of flossing your teeth every night, Psychologist Bj Fogg recommends starting by flossing just one or two of your teeth.

With the BODY ATTACK SMART START format, you can just do half the class (tracks 1 to 5) and you will still get the benefits of agility and mixed impact training (track 2), high intensity interval training ( track 4),  and athletic strength training in (Track 5). You still get high and happy from the endorphin rush of a good workout and experience the fun and feel good music in every Body Attack release.

How to make the most out of your Body Attack workout when doing the low impact options

Body Attack is for everyone. Whatever your fitness level, Body Attack will unleash the inner athlete inside of you.

In Body Attack, there are many ways to tone down the intensity. You can:

Take away the complexity - Most of the Body Attack tracks will have your arms and feet moving  in a contralateral way. A contralateral movement pertains to exercising muscles on opposite sides of the body from one another and this is important for developing your core and stabilizer muscles and it improves functional fitness.

To make it easier, you can focus on the footwork and take away the arm movements and with time, the arm movements will come naturally.

Tone down the intensity and take away the impact- Plyometric moves like tuck jumps and burpees burn a lot of calories as it involves moving your whole body with a fair amount of intensity. Even the Body Attack Jump Jacks will have your legs, arms, lungs and heart pumping hard.

If you need to recover or if you find your form and technique starting to suffer, you can switch to the low impact options shown by your instructor in every track. It’s actually called “low impact” options and not “easy option” because it is not necessarily easier but it shifts the focus of the moves to a different aspect of the workout.

The options let you focus on the form, technique and alignment of the exercise  by toning down the intensity and taking away the jumps. This will help you ingrain the functional movement patterns in Body Attack deep down into your muscle memory and give you a foundation of strength and balance when you choose to do switch to including the plyometric moves.

Start small and keep doing it until it becomes automatic! Make Body Attack a habit!


KIA ORA!

Erik

Wear your Santa Hat and be a hero for kids at the "Lahat Santa" Christmas Charity Run

Save the Children’s #LahatSanta campaign wants you to put on our Santa hat and be a hero for kids.



October 30, 2017, Save the Children launches its new Christmas campaign #LahatSanta giving everyone an exciting opportunity to become Santa to poor kids.

“In the Philippines, 1 in 3 children suffers from stunted growth due to hunger and malnutrition, and this means that they wont be able to reach their full potential. Poor families struggle to feed their children and its estimated that 1.5 million Filipino children go to sleep hunger every night, not having eaten a thing all day” says Amado Parawan, Save the Children health and Nutrition Advisor.

Be a hero, wear a Santa Sombrero
Lahat Santa is a new fun way to celebrate Christmas@ save the children encourages individuals, schools and companies to wear their Santa Hats, raise funds in their own creative way and make the holidays much more meaningful by donating to save the Children’s programs

Upon signing up on www. Lahatsanta.ph, participants get a free fundraising kit which includes a coin bank, Christmas poster and a Santa hat. The kit includes ways you can fund raise, from bakes sale to the good old Christmas caroling, it is up to the participants how they’ll spread the cheer.



On the day of action on December 15, save the children calls participants to put on their Santa Hats and shout out on social media how the are fundraising for save the children using hashtag #LahatSanta. The fun does not stop here. On December 17, a fun run will be organized to benefit Save the Children’s Christmas campaign.

Filipino artists and influences such as Ria Atayde, Bianca Guidotti, Jeush Wenshiu and Trish Ramos have also expressedi nterest in the campaign. Many reputable companies have also come together to support the Save the Children’s campaign, including BPI foundation, Family mart, Strong Media Avertising Soultuions, INC< light Network, Nyxsys, OLX, ANC, Business mirror, Page One, Manila Scorep, Philppine Graphic, Lamudi, Manila Times, Manilan Bulletin, Manila Business insight, Pilipino Mirror Zen Health and When in Maila.

“With every Lahat Santa Hat comes great responsibility. Your commitment to Lahat Santa camping could mean life-saving support for a child. Your donation  an provide treatment to babies suffering from malnutrition and help expand our programs that could impact their lives in the Long run

HOW YOU CAN HELP

1. First, SIGN UP on www.lahatsanta.ph to receive a free fundraising pack which includes your coin bank, Christmas poster and your Santa hat for December 15. We’ve included some tips and ideas there too

2. Plan your fundraising activity and gather your family and friends from work and school to help you out, Whether this is through a garage sale. Good old caroling, selling artwork and doing Christmas dares, Because you are Santa we want you to be as creative as possible




3. Send your donations to save the children, the sooner we receive it, the soonerwe can put it to good use.

How do I pay in my donation?

You can send your donations to Save the Children through bank transfer, facebook https://www.facebook.com/SavetheChildrenPH/ or by visiting our office!

Bank details: Please contact one of our Save the Children staff at 852 – SAVE (7283) for our bank details.

National Office:
G/F Midland Bldg. 1040 EDSA Magallanes Village, Makati City 1232, Philippines
Luzon Program Office:
4F Sunnymede IT Center, 1614 Quezon Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines

Team Runner Rocky, Team Run Direction, Podium queen Seanna and Guerilla Race director and obstacle racer Gas joined forces at the Lahat Santa Media Launch 

Wear your Santa Hat on December 14 and have a shout out post or selfie using hashtag #lahatSanta selfie to show us how you are fund raising for children.

TeamRunnerRocky discovers ANYTIME FITNESS’ secret to exponential growth (not just muscles but in business too) from Anytime Fitness CEO Maurice Levine

October 17, 2017.  Anytime Fitness, the world’s number one, largest, and fastest-growing fitness franchise has opened the doors to its 50th branch in Glorietta, Makati, in the Philippines. The brand is recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as the world’s top global franchise in 2015 and 2016, as well as the International Franchise of the Year by Franchise License Asia three years in a row.

(From left to right) Billie Pech, Director of Glorietta 5 Branch; Michael Pineda, Director of Glorietta 5 Branch; Mainard Sahagun, Multiple Club Franchisee; Maurice Levine, Anytime Fitness Asia CEO; Rey Bolivar, Anytime Fitness Asia COO

“We are thrilled to replicate our global success in a country like the Philippines, where the hunger for health is growing. Our franchise system has allowed Anytime Fitness to support local communities’ increasing need for safe, secure, and welcoming environments for Filipinos access to get to a healthier place. We are honored to have franchisees who are just as committed to providing our members with the tools to help them reach their goals as we are,” says Anytime Fitness Asia CEO and Master Franchisee Maurice Levine.


In less than three years since Anytime Fitness opened its first gym at Pioneer Center, Pasig City in 2014, the chain has branched out beyond Metro Manila to Laguna, Pampanga, Baguio, Cavite, Cebu, and Davao. With strong year-on-year growth of almost 250%, Anytime Fitness Philippines joins the ranks of over 3,000 gyms in 25 countries servicing over 2.5 million members annually.


What’s the secret to their success?

“Anytime Fitness empowers our franchisees through our 4 Ps: People, Purpose, Profit, and Play. Our people – from the members to the staff – are at the core of our business. Their goal of a healthier place, is our shared goal, and we all have fun reaching it,” Levine explains.

“There is no pressure to lift heavy weights or look like a model, and our team truly cares about each member that goes through our doors. Our facilities – open 24/7, secure, and world-class – that’s what inspires people to enter. But it’s our people, our culture, our environment that makes members stay.”
With each membership opening the door to every other Anytime Fitness around the world, the brand has a unique global reciprocity that allows members to work out not just anytime, but anywhere as well. “The Glorietta branch, just like most of our gyms, are located in communities within 1-3 kilometers of where people work, play, and live. We look forward to further growth in the Philippines, in Asia, and around the world, and we invite everyone to get to a healthier place with us,” Levine states.

For more information on memberships and franchise opportunities, visit www.anytimefitness.ph and follow Anytime Fitness Philippines online at https://www.facebook.com/AnytimeFitnessPhilippines/.

Now you can have your cake (actually it's cookies and cream) and eat it too.

Yes you can have your cake (actually it's cookies and cream) and eat it too.

After two decades, Herbalife launched two new exciting additions to its product line-up in the country: a new favor of Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix - Cookies and Cream, and Herbal Aloe Concentrate Mandarin. 

Mr. Rosalio Valenzuela, General Manager of Herbalife Nutrition
Philippines.

The launch event was held at the Herbalife Nutrition Philippines Corporate Office in Bonifacio Global City Taguig. It features an exercise routine led by Herbalife Fitness Coach Dwan Abantao, a wellness evaluation, a live demonstration on how to prepare Herbalife Formula 1 Shake, and a sharing on the results of the 2017 Balanced Nutrition Survey – spanning 15 Asia Pacific countries including the Philippines.

Body fat and muscle mass analysis using Tanita bioelectrical impedance technology

We got to shake our butts and buns during the workout, then had our thirst quenched and energy replenished with the new F1 Shake flavor cookies and cream!

F1 shake demo and preparation

With the F1 Shake cookies and cream, you can rejoice in the taste of cookies and cream and get the benefits of:

Balanced nutrition: with high levels of vitamins and minerals to help you achieve your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA).

More energy: With the low glycemic index, you get a slow release of energy to helps you stay invigorated and alert, instead of  insulin spikes, sugar rush and crash you would normally get from high glycemic sugary sports drink and artificial fruit juices.

Weight control: Instant Herbal Beverage can help you: stay hydrated, improve mental performance and avoid sugary drink alternatives and tailor use it as a meal replacement for fat loss or a supplement and post workout shake for muscle gain and workout recovery.

Herbalife Formula 1 Shake provides balanced nutrition through an optimum mix of high quality protein, vitamins, minerals and fibers. It is recommended for people seeking an easy-to-prepare healthy, balanced meal to support their daily nutrition, and is also available in Dutch Chocolate, Wild Berry, and French Vanilla flavors in the Philippines. 

Herbal Aloe Concentrate (HAC) Mandarin flavor is made from aloe vera concentrate with natural mandarin flavor. It complements the established Herbal Aloe Concentrate mango flavor, and likewise prioritizes healthy digestion.

Cheers to health and fitness!

Laarni Paredes spills the beans on juggling career, being a mom and finishing the hardest triathlon in the world.

Laarni Paredes is not your regular work-at-home mom. She can swim 4km, bike for 180km, run 42km and is a consistent podium finisher in running and triathlon events.  She is also a qualifier and finisher of the Ford Ironman World Championship, and a 7 time full IronMan finisher.

And as if that’s not enough, she recently became the first Filipina to finish the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon last August 5, 2017.

The Norseman Extreme Triathlon is dubbed by many as the hardest triathlon in the world.

It takes the full Iron Man distance to another level of torture as the swim is done in 13 degrees celsius and below, the race starts by jumping off a boat and swimming to shore.  


The bike ride has a total elevation gain of a little more than 3,000 meters going uphill and down, and the marathon run will have you running uphill with an elevation gain of 750-1500 meters including the infamous Zombie Hill, which is so steep you will regress from running to walking like zombie.

That makes Laarni Paredes a #CertifiedMamaw

During Herbalife’s pressconference, I got a chance to ask Laarni about her training, how she juggles working, being a mom and being a top athlete for Herbalife’s triathlon team together with her husband. 

Here's a snap shot of Laarni's typical day, life and training:

On juggling a full-time job, being a mom and triathlon training

It helps that her husband Omar is also a triathlete, so they both understand the level of sacrifice and healthy lifestyle one needs to have in order to maintain top condition. 

Laarni works as a home-based digital content manager and most of her work hours are at night. In the morning, she makes breakfast for her 5 year old daughter, sends her to school and as soon as she gets home, she starts her training. She does light workout in the morning and reserves the hard part of her workout late in the afternoon to the evening.

Mileage

For a full triathlon training, she did eight 180 km bike rides and runs 60 to 70 total km per week including 32 km long easy runs. And in the final weeks before race day she includes hill runs aside from the swim and interval work.

Injury prevention

She keeps away from injury by listening to her body and backing away from the intensity of training by taking it easy but keeping the volume or by focusing on the other aspects of the triathlon, the moment she feels any kind of pain.


Mindset and race strategy

“Kung kakayanin ng lalake, kaya din ng babae” 

What motivated her to do the race and what kept her going during the times in the race where she felt like giving up:

 

"Inisip ko lang yung mga taong nag-support and nag-offer ng prayer"  

I

Her race strategy was to keep an even pace throughout, especially on the hills where it was critical to conserve energy as much as possible.

On how she endured the extreme cold

Although the bulk of her training was done in the Philippines, she stayed in Norway 5 weeks before the race to acclimatize to the extreme weather. She trained in Mt. Makiling and the mountains of Baguio to prepare her for the five mountain passes on the bike leg. 

She was also more prepared and confident learning from Omar’s mistakes and experience with the race (her husband who was the first Filipino to finish the race last year… making them the first couple Filipino finishers of the Isklar Norway Extreme triathlon)

Laarni also read the book “Becoming the Iceman” by Wim Hoff and implemented his protocols using cold thermogenesis and breathing techniques to boost her immune system and endure extreme temperatures.. 

During the race, she ended up using 4 layers gloves as she needed to change gloves every time it would get wet and iced up due to the extreme weather.

When Laarni started having difficulty gripping and using the brakes of her bike as her hands started getting numb, Omar came up with an idea to make her wear dish washing gloves inside on top of the other gloves to keep the ice and water in check and it worked perfectly preventing her hands from succumbing to frost bites.

What’s next for Laarni?

Right now her priority is to sleep and recover and go back to being a mom. Her husband also implied that they were planning to include another child in the team. 

Nomnomnom...
 We got a taste of  Herbalife's new cookies and cream flavored nutrition shake and a shot of aloevera concentrate as we raised our glasses in celebration of Laarni's triumph

Laarni used Herbalife's comprehensive performance nutrition line of products to help her get ready, get set and get fit. Balanced with carbohydrates, protein , vitamins and minerals, it provides optimal recovery and fuel for athletes to help you go beyond the finish line.