Trainer's Blog

Son saves father, father saves another 

On Feb. 21, 2011, Francois Tort, trained in American Red Cross Emergency Response, helped save the life of his father, Eric.

While having a family dinner, Eric began choking on a piece of food. Upon hearing choking noises from another room, Francois immediately approached his father and administered abdonimal thrusts to successfully dislodge the blockage. Eric sustained no injuries from the incident.

In April of that year, Tampa's 10 News 10 Connects named Francois Tort, of Fast Twitch Fitness Performance as "Hero of the Week." To see the footage, click here.

The Certificate of Merit is signed by the President of the United States, who traditionally serves as the Honorary Chairman of the American Red Cross. This custom began in 1913, with President William Howard Taft, who had also been elected President of the American Red Cross. President Taft passed on the honorary Red Cross Chairmanship to newly elected President Woodrow Wilson, thus setting a precedent which continues today.

As a result of an executive action, on September 17, 1928, the Certificate of Merit was established. From 1928 to the present, the Certificate of Merit has borne the signatures of 15 Presidents of the United States. The Certificate of Merit have been issued to individuals who have saved or have sustained a life as a direct result of American Red Cross training in its Health and Safety programs.

What is the best way to shed fat and get in the best shape of your life? Strength and conditioning training. Why? Read on.

The Mayo Clinic tells us that “Your basal metabolic rate accounts for about 60 to 75 percent of the calories you burn every day.” Your basal metabolic rate, commonly referred to as your metabolism, is how much energy your body burns at rest. The remainder of your calories (25-40%) are used up by your daily physical activity (15-30%) and something called the thermic effect (10%).

Now, we know how to increase the expenditure of calories via the physical activity route. Move more, right? Boring but easy. What we don’t all know is how to affect that much bigger number, namely the metabolism and its 60-75% contribution to your daily calorie expenditure.

Long story short, what you need to understand is that the more lean mass (muscle, bone, etc.) your body holds, the more it costs in calories to exist all day every day regardless of your level of physical activity.

Now, a lot of people will say, “But I don’t want to look all muscley like those bodybuilders…” to which I reply, “You know how you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see? Is that muscle you're looking at?!?”

All of you that worry about getting too big, all I have to say is “good luck”. Most of you (myself included) don’t have the genetics to get to even “kind of big” let alone...