Merry Christmas

When you have such an amazing group of people who come into your life on a daily basis, it's hard to describe the level of gratitude you feel. The fact that you trust us with your health, your fitness, and your overall quality of life means the world to our entire team.
 
2013 has been a goal smashing year for all our Velocity Performance Training family. Some of you have finished your first mud run, half marathon, figure and/or powerlifting competition. You've put on muscle, taken off fat, and crushed your personal goals. We are so proud to watch each of you taking your fitness journey one step at a time.
 
We want to take this chance to tell each of you that you inspire us! You have overcome your own obstacles this year and come out stronger, not just physically, but entirely! Your journeys inspire us to keep changing the way fitness is done and find new, positive ways to walk with you as you take on your next goal!
 
We are excited to finish out 2013 strong with you and launch you into 2014 refreshed and ready to jump over whatever obstacles might come your way. 
 
If you haven't had a chance to check out the new gym, and the awesome equipment that Santa brought us this year, we can't wait to show you. Come in after Christmas for a shake, a class, or to workout to your program. You're gonna love the  look.
 
From all of us at Velocity Performance Training, have a very Merry Christmas and a truly amazing New Year! Look out 2014...HERE COMES VELOCITY PERFORMANCE TRAINING!!

WWW.VelocityPerformanceTraining.com
831-601-6529
Marty@VelocityPerformanceTraining.com

Think Fat Loss...

Get started now! 
Www.VelocityPerformanceTraining.com.  
Marty@VelocityPerformanceTraining.com
831-601-6529

Want to know my 3 favorite pieces of exercise equipment?  Well, I will give you a little hint on one of them... and we just got a shipment in.  Who's ready for some TRX Rip Trainer classes.  Only facility on the peninsula with it.  #teamVPT

Contact Marty Ozaeta for more info:

831-601-6529
Marty@VelocityPerformamceTraining.com

Some of The Toys You Will Use In Our VPT Metabolic Class

At VPT you don't see rows of cardio equipment, like you do at most gyms.  We use a much more effective (and a lot more fun) way to do "cardio".  Our VPT Metabolic group sessions are our version of a cardio workout.  They burn calories, get your metabolism revving and give you the cardiovascular benefits you are looking for.  In the research, interval cardio training has been shown to be the most effective for fat loss.  We've taken it up a notch and incorporated exercises in multiple planes of motion, using all kinds of equipment such as TRX, kettle bells, ropes, sand bags, medicine balls, and more into an interval-style workout.  You'll have a blast and you'll torch fat!  Contact Marty at 831-601-6529, or Marty@VelocityPerformanceTraining.com to sign up

I Can't Wait

675 lbs. dead lift Failed Attempt

5 Bodyweight Exercise Substitutions

Earlier this week I was contacted by a former client who moved to Japan to give them awesome exercise substitutions to make workouts better.

I decided to do the same for you. Here are 5 bodyweight exercises to do in place of common free weight moves:

1) Pushup becomes a Harder Pushup


It doesn't matter where you're at with pushups, there's always a way to make them harder. Here's a great progression:

- Wall Pushups (standing position)
- Kneeling Pushups
- Pushups with your hands on a bench or bar set at hip height
- Regular Pushups
- Close-Grip Pushups
- 1-Arm Elevated-Pushups (1-hand on 4 inch block)
- Decline Pushups
- Spiderman Pushups
- Decline Spiderman Pushups
- Decline Spidermand Close-grip Pushups <= Good times!

2) Dumbbell Squat becomes Jumps Squats or Total Body Extension


Dumbbell squats are a good start, but most people have grip problems. So let's keep the intensity but eliminate the need for weights by switching to Jump Squats.

Put your hands behind your head, Prisoner-style, dip your hips and knees, and drive up. Land with your knees bent and hips back to absorb the force in your muscles, not your joints.

But only do this on a soft surface, not concrete. preferably a floor covered in gym mats, or outside on flat grass.

3) DB Row becomes TRX Suspension Trainer Row


DB Rows are great, but most people use terrible form. With suspended rows, you must use good form, otherwise you can't even do a single repetition. So keep your body in a straight line and squeeze the muscles between your shoulder blades.

4) Leg Press becomes a 1-leg Squat Variation

Leg press can be dangerous for your low back because your spine will round at the bottom position. That's a no-no, just like doing sit-ups and crunches.

So you'll switch to a single-leg exercise to hit your quads and glute with a safer move.

If you are a beginner, use the 1-leg lying hip extension.

For intermediate, go with a split squat or reverse lunge.

If you're advanced, use the Bulgarian Split Squat (back foot elevated on a bench or step) or the 1-leg squat. You can use a resistance band looped around a pole or a TRX Suspension Trainer for support. Make sure to 'sit back' in the move to work your muscles better
5) Pulldown becomes Pull-ups (overhand) or Chin-ups (underhand)


Pulldowns are fine, but pull-ups are harder, and almost any time an exercise is harder, that means it's also better.

Your abs, upper back, lats, and arms all get more work from the pull-up.

Today I did chin-ups in my workout, and my entire body worked much harder to keep my strict form as my arms and lats tired out.

BONUS) Crunches becomes Cross-Body Mountain Climbers


Crunches are useless. Switch to a total body ab exercise that requires core stability and upper body strength. Plus, Mountain Climbers were one of the exercises used in a recent study that found 4 minutes of bodyweight intervals resulted in the same fitness gains as 30 minutes of slow cardio.

Put it all together and what have you got?

Amazing exercise substitutions.

Train Insane or Remain The Same,

Marty Ozaeta
Velocity Performance Training
VPTraining10@yahoo.com

The Best and Worst Movie Foods

Catching the latest Blockbuster on the big screen is an event, but it’s not just the digital surround sound that makes it exciting—the pre-movie trip to the concession stand plays just as big a role. Unfortunately, traditional movie munchies can turn any film into a horror flick. The truth is that all that mindless snacking during your show can add hundreds of calories to your daily intake.


One Cornell study showed just how mindless it can be. Researchers gave patrons different-sized popcorn buckets, and those with large buckets ate nearly twice as much as those with medium buckets. And get this: In some of the buckets, researchers traded out the fresh-popped corn for two-week-old kernels! Those moviegoers munched away so absentmindedly that they put away 34 percent more stale popcorn than those with medium buckets of fresh corn! That’s why I have developed this guide to movie theater snack survival. Avoid the following belly-ballooning munchies at all costs.

Worst Movie Snack

Buttered popcorn (medium: 10-12 cups)


600 calories

39 g fat (12 g saturated)
1,120 mg sodium

Popcorn can be a great, fiber-rich snack, as long as you stay away from the dreaded butter pump. Besides tripling the calories of a page of popcorn, many movie theater “butters” are teeming with trans fat. (Check out the Fattiest Foods in America.) Instead, seek flavor from the spice mixes many theaters carry now. Or grab a pretzel: As long as you’re not dipping it into molten cheese, a large soft pretzel makes a reasonable movie theater snack. Be really good and ask them to skip the salt—mustard packs plenty of sodium as it is.

Worst Chocolate Candies

M&M’s (1 bag)
240 calories

10 g fat (6 g saturated)
31 g sugars

They may seem harmless and fun in their tiny candy-coated vessels, but a few generous handful of M&M’s can wipe out a meal’s worth of calories before you know it. Pick Junior Mints instead. Minty candies tend to be the best of the chocolate choices. Just be sure to split the box with your friend.

Worst Licorice-Type Candy

Twizzlers (1 package)
480 calories
2 g fat 

64 g sugars

Ignore the “low fat” claims on the side of the package—these are nothing more than ropes of high-fructose corn syrup. Opt for real licorice in the Good & Plenty box. Many cultures have viewed licorice as a healing herb for centuries, with anti-inflammatory properties. But we’re just thankful they have less sugar and fewer calories than traditional chewy fruit candies.

Worst Chocolate Bar


Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar
210 calories

13 g fat (8 g saturated)
24 g sugars

If you’re going to eat pure chocolate, you’re better off picking up a bar with at least 65% cacao. That way, you lower you sugar intake while maximizing antioxidants. Since most movie theaters don’t offer the dark stuff, opt for a Kit Kat bar instead. Break it up and dole out the pieces to your friends. (Just because there are four in a package doesn’t mean you need to eat them all yourself).

Worst Chewy Fruit Candy


Dots (22 pieces)
260 calories

0 g fat

42 g sugars

They stick to your teeth just like they stick to your waistline. You’re better off going for nearly any other gummy product besides Dots. In the world of pure sugar candies, few are better than the fish from Sweden.

Thanks for reading!

Marty Ozaeta
Velocity Performance Training
www.VPTBootCamp.com
www.VPTForAbs.com
VPTraining10@yahoo.com









5 Strategies to Improve Your Child’s Nutrition

Getting kids to eat right is a challenge for parents. With busy schedules, discerning palates, and poor food choices always readily available, it’s important to make a commitment to your child’s nutrition. Below are some tried and true strategies I have derived from research, experience, and working with a large number of parents and kids.
1. Your children will mirror your behavior.

Very few things will influence your child’s nutrition more than your own attitudes and behaviors towards nutrition. If they see you miserably “eat healthy” to lose weight, they start to see “eating health” as a punishment. If I have to sit through another consultation with a 300 pound parent complaining that their kid “won’t eat healthy” I’m going to transform into the incredible Hulk. You
won’t like me when I’m angry.

2. Make good choices available.

“My child just eats fast food all day!” Apparently, unbeknownst to me, 10 year olds are now driving to fast food and to the store to get junk food. That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to how they are making these choices against their parent’s will. Our kids eat what is readily available to them. If we make real food available during snack time and meal time, that is what they’ll eat. Keep a lot of fruit and whole food around the house.

3. Kids need to eat breakfast!

There is a robust body of research highlighting the various physical, mental, and psychological benefits of eating breakfast every day. They have found a link between skipping breakfast and future obesity in the United States. Commit to getting your child to eat breakfast! In an ideal world, we would stick with eggs, breakfast meats, whole grain toast, oatmeal, peanut butter, and other high nutrition items. My parents fought this battle with me when I was young and to this day, I’m glad they won!

4. Sit down for dinner.

Having dinner together is a great tradition for a variety of reasons.
Research has found that children who eat dinner with the family eat up to 7 times more nutritionally dense foods like fruits and vegetables in a month’s time. As we abandon this tradition, our kids learn to look for the fastest dinner alternative available, of highly processed food. With our busy schedules, it’s not always going to happen, but we should make an effort.

5. Establish the concept of “Real Food.”

Taking what we know about children, the best way to guarantee that they will do something is to tell them not to do it. When we are trying to get our kids to make better nutrition choices and we talk about “Don’t eat fast food because you’ll get fat” or “It’s bad for you” we may be actually challenging their natural rebellion. Instead of “good” or “bad” if we can create a notion of “real food vs. not real food” it’s much more effective. When I was growing up, real food was the stuff we had when we sat down for dinner every night. I would see mom get the stuff at the store and cook it. Even at a young age, I knew what was in everything. My parents would make a big deal about cooking with food we grew in our garden, so I would be extra-excited to try these home-grown foods. While we still were treated to an occasional McDonalds, even at a young age, I knew this was like candy. It tasted good, but “food” was something else. Have your child read ingredients labels. Have them actually write out the ingredients in potato chips, sugar cereal, etc. Spark the question “Do you know what that is?” Educate them on chemicals that go into processed food. At the end of the day “kids will be kids” but the better educated they are, the better choices they will hopefully make.

Best in Health & Fitness,

Marty Ozaeta
Velocity Performance Training
www.VPTBootcamp.com
www.VPTForAbs.com
VPTraining10@yahoo.com
831-236-3423