Fat Loss Revealed Part 1

By Yuri Elkaim

The secrets to achieving the lean athletic physique that you've always wanted are held by Canada's top trainer, Yuri Elkaim. Most people waste a lot of time in the gym with no real direction or positive results. Fitness and wellness coaches, such as Yuri Elkaim know there is a better way.

Yuri is a former professional soccer, Certified Kinesiologist, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the nationally ranked University of Toronto men's soccer program, and considered by many as Canada's top trainer and fitness expert. He's created Fitter U™, the world's only 12-week body shaping fitness program for iPod/MP3 players geared to helping people lose weight, burn fat, and improve their fitness level. In this article, Amy Coates, Total Wellness Consulting's nutrition expert will be interviewing Yuri on various facets of weight loss.

AC: Hi Yuri. What is your general approach to helping people lose fat?

YE: The basic concept for any fat loss program is to burn as many calories as possible and maintain or increase lean tissue (which is what burns the calories in the first place). Regardless of how many calories you burn in training - once you lose lean tissue (a typical problem) you burn less calories overall - so your focus has to be on burning calories while trying to offset that problem.

A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition (8(3): 213-222, 1998) showed that 5 days a week of 45 min aerobic training for 12 weeks had no effect on body composition over dieting alone. Obviously even at these high levels of activity there is still a problem.

AC: Where do you start working with an overweight person?

YE: With a full lifestyle and structural evaluation. Typically the overweight person has so little structural integrity that a resistance training program to target their weaknesses and imbalances is my first approach. I also spend a lot of time educating them on the importance of maintaining a positive and unwavering mindset. Finally, I spend a good deal of time looking at their food intake, analyzing the integrity of their digestive system and supportive endocrine glands, and teach them how to prepare healthy menu plans.

It's interesting that the typical program for an overweight person is usually 1000's of reps (i.e. aerobics) which will cause more problems. A superior system would be to target the muscular system and control set duration and rest periods in order to create the same metabolic and cardiovascular demand. My approach is mirrored in the workouts and structure of my Fitter U™ MP3 fitness program.

AC: What type of questions and lifestyle review do you do with overweight clients? Are there any common factors among overweight clients?

YE: Primarily I see people with a lack of knowledge, lack of motivation, and lack of commitment to sticking to a program. I would say that the majority of what I do lies in motivating my clients and helping them bring their true potential and hidden greatness to surface. Every single person has greatness just waiting to be unleashed and I think it's a necessary step in the process.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time), lack of motivation, and need the accountability.

AC: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

YE: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and unconditioned. That's a big enough problem right there.

But it's not just overweight clients - it's EVERYONE! Every client is different and presents different challenges.

Everyone should have a full evaluation performed by a qualified professional. Any serious health and medical issues should be cleared by a medical professional first.

Most trainers have a program in mind when someone walks in the gym. I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do until I see the client and evaluate them. If you're not assessing - you're just guessing!

Yuri Elkaim is the owner and founder of Total Wellness Consulting, a leading health, fitness, and wellness company offering health-conscious individuals the most innovative information, programs, and technologies to help reach their goals of physical and mental well being. He is a Certified Kinesiologist, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, former Professional Soccer Player, Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the University of Toronto men’s soccer program, and regarded by many as Canada’s leading fitness expert.

You can join his wellness community at http://www.totalwellnessconsulting.ca and receive 2 FREE MP3 guided workouts, a 44 – page Willing Your Way to Wellness e-report, and a subscription to the highly acclaimed Liv Well and Weekly Wellness e-newsletters – All for FREE.

About the Author: Yuri is the owner of Total Wellness Consulting and creator of the only 12 week body shaping fitness program designed for Ipod/Mp3 players. Please visit http://www.myFitterU.com for more info.

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Tags: weight loss, wellness, fitness, diet