J2 Fitness

J2 Fitness

Monday, February 16, 2015

J2 Fitness LLC Spring Lecture Series Announcement





We are excited to announce our upcoming spring lecture series titled: "Back to Basics For Health, Movement ant Nutrition" at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center starting in March.  On Thursday nights (every other Thursday) we will be gathering to discuss practical strategies on how to feel better, move better and eat better!

The cost of the series is $10 for ALL SESSIONS! You can register at any time and come to select sessions if you can't make them all.



Contact any of the Parks and Rec Centers below to register:

Black River Beach Neighborhood Center
1433 Rose Street
La Crosse, WI 54603
Phone: 608-789-8640

South Side Neighborhood Center
1300 6th Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
608-789-8298

Myrick Park Center
789 Myrick Park Drive
La Crosse, WI 54601
608-789-8690

Friday, December 19, 2014

Can Stress Make You Fat?

You are working long hours, your "to-do-list" at home keeps piling up, and you've spent your savings on Christmas gifts. With all of this stress in your life are you sacrificing your figure and potentially your health? The rumors may be true. The added stress in your life may actually be setting the stage for potential weight gain....

Researchers at THE Ohio State University College of Medicine sought ought to investigate this concept of stress induced fluctuations in how your body reacts.  In particular the researchers were interested in the effect that stress may have on your metabolic rate, specifically after ingesting a high fat meal which may be common practice for people who feast on comfort foods following a stressful day.  The researchers found that daily stressors may reduce your energy expenditure post-meal by about 103 calories.  They also found a reduction in fat oxidation following a high-fat meal essentially meaning that stress may reduce your ability to burn fat as a fuel.  Long term, both of these stress-induced outcomes may lead to weight gain.



Moral of the story, don't stress yourself out too much! It may be making you fat!



Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Habash, D. L., Fagundes, C. P., Andridge, R., Peng, J., Malarkey, W. B., & Belury, M. A. (2014). Daily stressors, past depression, and metabolic responses to high-fat meals: A novel path to obesity. Biological psychiatry.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Should you eat or fast before you exercise?

There always seems to be a debate on whether or not you should eat before you exercise.  A lot of people swear that performing fasted cardio first thing in the morning is the best way to lose weight. The rationale behind this strategy is that if you are in a fasted state your body will burn more fat while you exercise as insulin levels are low, glycogen levels are low (stored carbohydrates used for fuel) and therefore your body is forced to utilize fat as a fuel source which would lead to greater weight loss, specifically fat loss over time.


Dr. Brad Shoenfeld and fitness rock star Alan Aragon designed a study to find out (Research Article on Fasted Cardio). For the study, they recruited 20 young recreationally active females and put them through a 1 hour steady-state aerobic exercise session 3 days per week for a 4-week period. Half the subjects completed the workout after an overnight fast while the other group consumed a meal replacement shake prior to the workout.  After 4-weeks, both groups experienced the same amount of weight and body fat loss with no differences observed between groups. Moral of the story, fasted cardio is no more effective than consuming food prior to a workout in terms of promoting fat loss over time.  Therefore, find out whatever works best for you. Personally I don't function well without a little food in me before I exercise so I recommend eating something especially if you are completing a workout done at a higher intensity as some people may feel light headed or dizzy.

If you are interested in learning more, check out this interview with Dr. Shoenfeld as he discusses the topic in more detail (Fasted Cardio Interview).

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Concussions and Youth Sports

Unfortunately concussions in youth sports are becoming a hot topic in today's world of athletics. We are learning more and more about concussions and some of the long-lasting effects they can have on health, performance and overall well-being.  What once was referred to as "getting your bell rung" and something you could "walk off" and get back out there is now understood to be a mild brain injury that over time can have a serious impact.

Check out this great interview with Dr. Michael Bergeron of Sanford Health who is the former director of the National Youth Sports Health & Safety Institute. (Interview on Concussions in Youth Sports)

How many calories are you burning during your workout???

Do you ever wonder how many calories you burn during exercise? The answer depends on a variety of different factors including: age, weight, lean body mass, intensity level, duration, mode of exercise etc. There are a lot of different equations that are available to help predict calorie expenditure during exercise however keep in mind they are just predictions and therefore may not be the most accurate assessment.  The most accurate way to assess calorie expenditure during exercise is by measure the amount of oxygen you use while you are exercising however this requires fancy lab equipment that not everyone has access to.

So what other options are there? Websites like NutriBase offer a great tool that you can use to estimate calorie expenditure based on mode of exercise, duration and body weight. Remember this is just an estimate.  So get out there are starting burning those calories!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Why is weight loss so hard?



Why on earth is losing weight so hard?! Well to be honest, weight loss isn’t all that hard. If you were to simply stop eating you would lose weight. Obviously this is not a viable option so how can we go about weight loss without starving ourselves or spending hours at the gym? The answer: Moderation. And no I’m not talking about eating in moderation because no one likes to do that; although that would help. I'm talking about losing weight in moderation. 

If we look at the concept of weight loss in an extremely over-simplified matter, it really comes down to energy balance and by that I mean the overall net amount of calories in versus calories out. If we burn what we eat then we are in energy balance and we maintain our current weight. If we burn more than we consume then we lose weight... you get the picture. Well then shouldn’t the solution be just to eat a little bit less and exercise a little bit more? Well kind of.  In reality you can't just keep cutting calories little by litter every day to elicit weight loss as eventually you would have to cut down to zero; again not very practical. 

So again I ask, why is long weight and more importantly maintaining weight loss so hard?
Well if we look at what factors influence our daily calorie expenditure it can be broken down in to 4 main categories:

1) Basal Metabolic Rate: Which is our baseline metabolism or our resting energy expenditure, essentially the amount of energy it takes just to keep us alive. If we were to lay on the couch all day (i.e. My Saturdays during football season) this is how many calories we would burn.  This number is heavily dependent upon the amount of lean body mass aka muscle we have. I'll explain why this is important later.

2). Thermic Effect of Food: The amount of energy it takes to digest the food we eat. That's right, we burn calories just by eating. Especially foods that are high in protein, which is why you get the meat sweats trying to win that 72 oz. steak challenge.

3). Activity Level: This number is influenced by how active we are throughout the day. Different occupations will result in different activity levels throughout the day (i.e. a desk jockey versus a mailman) and therefore may influence the amount of calories you burn.

4). Exercise: Last but not least, exercise....The number of painful minutes you spend at the gym getting your sweat on, watching the "calories burned" number go up on the elliptical instantly determining how many mini-snickers that equals.


So which factor carries the most "weight" (pun intended) in terms of how many calories we burn each day? Believe it or not the answer is our basal metabolic rate which makes up roughly 60-70% of our total daily calorie expenditure.  So what does this have to do with losing weight? Again, can't we just spend a few extra minutes on the elliptical to increase the number of calories we burn and tilt the energy balance scale towards a calorie deficit for the day and watch the scale change? In the short, yes this would give you a negative calorie balance for the day and possibly even lead to some weight loss over time. BUT this may end up making it more difficult to continue losing weight and/or keep the weight off in the long run. Why you ask? Well, if we look back at the factors that influence calorie expenditure and observe what changes occur during a weight loss program you'll see why.  First, as people lose WEIGHT a lot of the times this means all weight, fat, muscle and sometimes even bone density all of which are not necessarily ideal, with the exception of body fat. When this happens, you are losing metabolically active tissue aka lean body mass and as a result you experience a decrease in resting energy expenditure. As a result, you burn less calories each day just because you thought it was a good idea to lose weight. Okay, so your daily energy expenditure is now lower, so you try to overcompensate by eating less and less calories each day? Now remember back to factor 2 on things that influence your daily energy expenditure.  By eating less throughout the day you will be missing out on the thermic effect of food, it sounds odd but eating less food will reduce your overall calorie expenditure throughout the day.  Alright, so losing weight is bad, cutting calories doesn’t work, what about exercising more? Well, if you have already lost weight or are in the process of losing weight, every time you go out and exercise you will be expending less and less calories per workout. Why? Well, you are lighter so it takes less energy (aka calories) do to the work. In addition, you also have less metabolically active tissue which will also reduce your energy expenditure for that workout.  AND, to top it off, research has also found an increase in mitochondrial (our cell’s energy producers) efficiency in individuals who have lost weight. Wait, an increased efficiency, isn’t that a good thing? Not necessarily. In this case our bodies, specifically our mitochondria are becoming more efficient meaning they can do the same amount of work while using less energy. In other words we are using or burning less calories to do the same  amount of work as we did before the weight loss.

So are we doomed forever? Is it pointless to even try to lose weight? Is it detrimental to lose weight? Not necessarily. Stay tuned for part II when we discuss strategies on how you can successfully lose weight and keep it off for good!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Fitness Minded



      Not sure what to get your fitness-minded friends for Christmas??? Check out below for some great holiday gift ideas:

       1. An activity tracker
a.      Activity trackers are a great way to promote movement and activity throughout the day. Recent research has suggested that getting a 30-60 minute workout in followed by 8-10 hrs. of sedentary behavior may not be enough. It’s important to remain active throughout the day and take short breaks to get up and walk around. Activity trackers help keep track of steps, distance covered, calories burned and sleep throughout the day. A lot of them also sync nicely with nutrition tracking software presenting you with your overall fitness profile for the day.

My personal favorite is the FitBit line as they sync with a lot of apps (https://www.fitbit.com/store)

       2. A foam roller
a.      Foam rollers are a great way to improve the integrity of soft tissues and muscle fascia which can become “tight” or damaged due to intense physical activity and/or improper body mechanics throughout the day. I prefer a more rigid foam roller to really break up the junk, improve mobility and promote recovery. 

Check out this video and link for more details:

My favorite foam roller:

3. Minimalist Shoes
a.      There is a lot of debate out there regarding the pros/cons of wearing minimalist shoes and to be honest more research is needed. People who have strong enough muscles in their lower legs and feet and can maintain proper running form really seem to benefit from these types of shoes. Regardless, one thing that is known is that a high heel lift or a thick squishy sole is NOT beneficial and probably does more harm than good. If you are curious, I recommend trying a “hybrid” minimalist shoe and one that is kind of in between such as Nike’s Free Brand:


       4. Voodoo Floss Band
a.      If you think the name looks crazy you are right. This unique recovery device works wonders for facilitating recovery and aiding with soft-tissue or tendonitis-like nagging issues. To be honest we don’t really know why it works so well, hence the name Voodoo.


And watch this video on how to use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dgbCDtqdlI

       5. Resistance Bands
a.      Resistance bands have always been around but their popularity is picking up serious momentum with the promotion of more functional movement based exercise and non-traditional modes of training. These bands are great for people who prefer to workout in their home or travel a lot for work as there are hundreds of exercises you can do without a need for weight machines.

Check out these bands if interested: 


      6. Active Wear
a.      By no means necessary to improve health and wellness but everyone wants to look good while they are getting their sweat on!

Dry fit and compression gear are always nice additions to a workout wardrobe:



7. Gift Card
a.      If you can’t find anything, a gift card to amazon, a grocery store or bodybuilding.com is always a great idea so the person can pick out their own products whether they are equipment, books, food or supplements. 

Check out these great books on fitness and training related topics:






Enjoy the holiday season and your shopping adventures. Your fitness minded friends will love it!