Josef Brandenburg • August 1, 2016

During the short days and cold of winter, we can’t wait for the warmth of summer to get outside …

Josef Brandenburg • July 27, 2016

During the short days and cold of winter, we can’t wait for the warmth of summer to get outside …

Josef Brandenburg • June 22, 2016

Eating after 6 p.m. will make you fat” is a myth that’s been repeated so often we assume …

Josef Brandenburg •

We’ve all seen the “one weird trick to” lose 20 pounds, look like a fitness model or something else …

Josef Brandenburg •

We’ve all seen the “one weird trick to” lose 20 pounds, look like a fitness model or something else …

Josef Brandenburg • May 4, 2016

Drinking enough water is one of the simplest and easiest lifestyle changes you can make, helping you lose weight and keep it off while improving your fitness levels. Here are five things that proper hydration does.

Increases intensity. There is actually no such thing as a lactate threshold. Your muscles do not stop working or get weak because there’s too much lactic acid being produced. Fatigue happens in your brain and as a result of the temperature of your muscle cells. Proper hydration allows your body to regulate its temperature better, keeping you going harder for longer. This leads to better fitness and more fat loss.

Improves recovery. The more water you drink, the less DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) you will feel. And the less sore you are, the more often you can work out. It follows that you’ll get better results in terms of fat loss and strength.

Regulates appetite. Very often people confuse thirst with hunger. Drinking water — especially before or during a meal — helps people regulate their appetite. In other words, drinking enough water helps you eat less without being hungry.

Protects your joints. Both water and movement are essential for keeping your joints lubricated and your cartilage supple. Without enough water and enough full-range movement, our joints and cartilage can dry out and become painful. Keeping your joints healthy is essential for being able to move and maintain (or establish) a healthy weight.

Displaces high-calorie beverages. The more water you drink, the less juice, soda or other high-calorie beverages you’ll drink (there is only so much room in your stomach). In behavioral change, it is usually much more effective to replace or displace something in your diet than it is to try and eliminate something.

How much water do I need? At True 180 Fitness, we’ve had a lot of success with half your bodyweight in ounces. That is, if I weigh 200 pounds, then I want 100 ounces. We’ve also found that converting this into the number of water bottles you need per day is very helpful, because it’s so simple. For example, if I have a 20-ounce water bottle, then my goal is to drink five of these per day.

A best-selling author and fitness expert, Josef Brandenburg owns True 180 Fitness in Georgetown. Information about his 14-Day trial may be found at true180.fitness.

Josef Brandenburg • April 8, 2016

More exercise = more ice cream. Research indicates that there is actually an upper limit to the number of calories that the human body will expend. Everyone is a little different, but adding more and more exercise doesn’t push that number up forever. Driving your metabolism, strength and endurance with smart exercise is very important for weight loss, health, etc., but it’s only half the equation. You can’t starve yourself to avoid exercise, nor can you work out twice a day to avoid eating better.

High intensity is all you need. The fitness industry has recently become obsessed with “high-intensity” fill-in-the-blank. People are looking for ways to make everything — including yoga — feel harder because “harder must be better.” One of the biggest problems with this fad? The injuries it’s causing. Injured people don’t train, and they move less all day long. That’s going to make losing weight much harder. (But please don’t take this too far in the other direction. Intensity does matter; a higher level, when appropriate, will help you get better results.)

Eating after 6 p.m. will make you fat. This is complete nonsense. If anything, intervention research shows exactly the opposite effect: waiting to eat until later in the day and eating the bulk of your calories with your evening meal gives you a slight boost in weight loss. The real problem with late-night eating is mindless snacking while watching TV. Devouring a bag of chips in front of the tube is bad for you at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. (and every other time).

There is a magic diet. The best diet is the one you can stick to long term. In other words, the best diet is not a diet. Diets are short-term periods of deprivation from which your weight will eventually recover (either quickly or slowly). The most important part of weight loss is keeping it off. Start small. Start with the fundamentals: eat vegetables, eat protein, drink water, don’t snack. Most people don’t need a shiny new nutrition program, they just need to get better at the basics. Chasing the “perfect” diet will keep you on the diet roller coaster. Instead, spend that time and energy on building a lifestyle that will keep you lean for life.

Arm exercises. For weight loss, “arm exercises” like bicep curls are a complete waste of time. Fat and large quantities of calories are burned in your muscles. The more muscles you work, the more you burn and lose. Arm exercises and other isolation exercises (leg extensions, crunches, etc.) work small muscles and small numbers of muscles. This means that they do very, very little to help you lose weight. You want to train all the muscles in your body during a single workout as often as you can. Good news: you can strength-train your entire body in 30 to 40 minutes.

A best-selling author and fitness expert, Josef Brandenburg owns True 180 Fitness in Georgetown. Information about his 14-Day trial may be found at true180.fitness.

Josef Brandenburg • March 17, 2016

It’s that time of year again: the days are getting longer and the winter coats are going back into storage (most days). Spring is one of the best times of year to reignite your fitness motivation. Here are five simple, actionable tips to help you get started “springing” back into fitness.

Get a new playlist. No matter how much you loved your old workout playlist, listening to the same thing gets boring fast. Not only is boredom demotivating, but boredom also motivates you to overeat. You don’t have to make your own playlist. Your music streaming service adds dozens every month.

Use your calendar. Before the week starts, schedule your workouts, specifying day, time, place and what. This increases follow-through by at least 200 percent. Otherwise, the time you need to take care of yourself is at the mercy of everything else — work, family, TV. Bonus tip: Make the appointments recurring so it’s easier to manage your workouts each week.

Clean up your kitchen. If it’s in your house it’s in your mouth. We will eat whatever is most convenient. By keeping cookies, ice cream, etc., in your kitchen, you create an environment where eating right is a challenge. Get rid of what you don’t want to eat every day, replacing those items with supportive foods, such as fruits, vegetables and protein. Sure you can still treat yourself to a cookie, but not every single day.

Get a program. “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client” is true in fitness as well. When you’re in charge of your own fitness program, that usually means you will do only what you feel like doing. Rarely will this be all of what you need. Having an expert call the shots helps you get better results and frees your brain up for other tasks.

Shift your focus. Outcome goals are things like “lose 20 pounds.” Process goals are things like “clean out my kitchen” or “strength-train three days per week.” When you focus primarily on the outcome, you are always frustrated; you’re never going to get there fast enough. What’s worse is that this frustration often leads to jumping from program to program without ever getting meaningfully closer to your goals. The more you focus on the process — and on getting better at implementing these behaviors — the better your outcome will be. It doesn’t happen the other way around.

*A best-selling author and fitness expert, Josef Brandenburg owns True 180 Fitness in Georgetown. Information about his 14-Day trial may be found at true180.fitness.*