Metabolic Rate Calculator:

I wanted everyone to take the time to find out your metabolic rate. Knowing your metabolic rate is extrememly important if you are trying to loss weight, gain weight, or maintain. Your resting metabolic rate will be how many calories your body burns at rest. If your RMR is 1500 kcal then you will need to eat 1500 kcal with no exercise to maintain. If you are trying to lose weight you will eat a few hundred calories less then your RMR and exercise regularly. Click on the link on the right of the page and fill out the information in the middle to calculate your RMR.

Q: Hi Mike,

I had a question with abdomnal training. I currently do ab exercises 4-5 times a week. My ab muscles have gotten a lot stronger and I can do 100 crunches everytime I workout. My question is even though I know I'm getting stronger there why do I still have fat in that area?

--Sara, Carlsbad

Answer:

Hello Sara,

What you are trying to do is called spot reducing. Unfortunately this is not how your body will burn fat. You can concentrate as hard as you want with exercises that target certain areas of your body, but that does not mean you will lose fat in that area. By concentrating on those areas you are getting that area stronger. You body will take fat from where ever it wants to. By doing these ab workouts you may be losing fat from your arms, face, legs, .... everyone is different. Another comment I wanted to make about your question is the number of reps you are performing. You want to keep your rep range around 15-20 for your specific goal. Your abdominal muscles are made of the same tissue as other skeletal muscle in your body (such as your arms). You would not want to perform 100 bicep curls or 100 squats because you can risk injury and overtraining. If 15-20 is too easy then you need to change the exercise to make it harder. If you or others have any questions about this please let me know.

Thanks,

Mike

Q: How does caffeine affect my training?

Dear Mike,

I drink a lot of coffee and coke. Is this bad?


--Christine, Carlsbad

ANSWER:

Christine,

Caffeine is a drug in the stimulant category and needs to be monitored in your diet. Since caffeine is a stimulant it will increase your heart rate and blood pressure. If you add exercise on top of this then your heart rate and blood pressure will increase even more so you need to be aware of how high it may get. The reason so many individuals use caffeine is to help delay fatigue throughout their workout routine. While caffeine will help with this it is important to remember that your body is tired for a reason and needs proper recovery. Caffeine will only hide the fact that you are run down it will not sure it. Caffeine is alright in moderation but it should not be a regular part of your exercise routine where you rely on it for energy. I hope this information will help with your workouts.

Good luck,

Mike