Speeches

So it’s make over week on Biggest Loser. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

As a personal trainer the make overs don’t really do anything for me.  I am sure they are exciting for the contestants and for a lot of the fans of the show.  I know from personal experience with my clients being excited about buying new clothes.  However, sometimes I think it gives people a false sense of accomplishment.  Yes they have accomplished something, but not everything they have set their sights on.  I usually recommend not to but to much because I don’t want them to get comfortable with the gains (losses) they have made and become satisfied halfway to their goals.

The speeches.  They were emotional but not that motivating.  For me, actions speak louder then words.  You’ll hear a million times where someone talks about how they got fat and how they’ve changed.  They people in the audience get all excited and think they are going to start their confirmation tomorrow!  The alarm goes off the next morning, and they hit the snooze on their alarm and their lives!  As Nike says, Just Do It!  Don’t talk about what you are going to do, just do it and let your actions speak for themselves.

I like what Liz said.  You can’t be everything to everyone.  That’s the biggest excuse I hear as a personal trainer.  I have to take my kids here or there, I have to make dinner for everyone, I have to clean the house, etc.  If you are overweight you are unhappy.  Your kids know it, your spouse knows it, and your co-workers know it.  They will cut you some slack if you are trying to recapture your health and your life.

So Alan has been dogging it in the challenges!  I can see why.  They always want to eliminate the strongest competitor.  That’s a smart move on his part.  Who cares about the prizes.  You want to stay as long as possible!

Rebecca got hosed.  Liz fell below 3 times and got saved every time!  But, Rebecca did have the lowest percentage, and I usually feel like that person should go home.

I hope we get back to focusing on weight loss next week.  I a bored of all the other crap they do on the show!

See ya next week!

John Pietenpol

Posted under Peak Performance

Week 8 – Inspiring a Nation

Week 8 was pretty boring for me.  So boring that I feel asleep halfway through and had to watch the rest on DVR at 5am this morning!

So now we are into Singles competition.  I guess this will start to eliminate the weak links that can no longer be saved by their teammates.  I think the voting will be interesting because I don’t feel that big of a blue vs. black dynamics this season due to how Tracy butchered the teams.

The group workout was cool in DC.  I am sure a lot of the people just wanted to meet Bob and Jillian because personal trainers are right below rock stars in how famous and popular we are!  Hopefully there were a lot of people who left that workout inspired to start their own fitness journey!

Daniel really hit a nerve with me when he talked to the congress people about the lack of health education and physical education in schools.  I am living proof of that!  Although I love being a personal trainer, my first career was as a PE teacher and football coach.  I lost my job due to cuts in the budget and could not find another teaching job.  PE and Health is being eliminated at a frantic pace.  And now there are less and less kids becoming involved in sports.  We don’t learn to read and write on our own, it is taught to us.  So how are we supposed to learn how to eat healthy and exercise if there is nobody to teach us?  This is a subject I could discuss for days on end . . .

The contestants sure came a long way in 7 weeks running that mile.  The combination of weight loss, increased strength, and increased endurance really showed!  It’s great to see them perform better as well as look better.

Congratulation to Shay on breaking the 400 lb mark!  It’s a great start on a long journey.  People who way 300 and 400 lbs don’t just go on a diet and exercise plan, they go on a lifestyle changing plan.  You cannot deviate from the plan down the road and expect to maintain your weight loss.  There is no going back to what was normal.  You have to create a NEW normal.

So Tracey finally got hers.  People will forgive but they never forget.  I believe game play was tossed out the window and people were basically looking for revenge on Tracey, and they wanted to eliminate her because she is so unpredictable.  As much as she irritated me I was happy to see she was still losing weight at home.

John Pietenpol

Peak Performance GM

john@peakperformancewi.com

Posted under Peak Performance

Week 7 – The Good Cry

I decided to call this episode The Good Cry because I am fairly confident that everyone who watched shed a few tears, including myself. We often forget the emotions that go along with becoming overweight. It’s not because you’re hungry! There’s usually an underlying reason. I’ll touch on that more, later.

So this week is face-off. What’s the best strategy? To go strength vs. strength and put people of relatively close weights against each other and hope for the best? Or do you match you 3 strongest players against their 3 weakest players? It’s a crapshoot for sure.

Sometimes it seems that the challenges are unfair based on team ability. It’s obvious that the Blue team is a little more athletic then the Black team. Fortunately the Black team used their heads in the second challenge and their strategy proved correct.

Now, back to the emotions of weight loss and gain. Jillian does an excellent job breaking down her team members mentally to force them to deal with the issues that created weight loss. It reminds me of a parable. If people are constantly floating down stream crying for help because they can’t swim; instead of swimming after them one at a time head upstream to find out why they are jumping off the bridge in the first place. I sincerely wish we could break through the mental issues that caused our clients to gain the weight they are trying to lose with us. Because swimming in one at a time is not the answer.

Side note: Baseball uniforms are not flattering at all!

It was great to see another cooking lesson. Notice how they used a lot of ingredients that are very flavorful, high in nutrients, and low in calories! By doing that we don’t have to add so many oils and dressing to make something taste good. And while you’re at it cook a TON of it so you have plenty of leftovers to get through the week!

Odd to see Jillian’s soft side and weakness come out when talking to Abby. Nice to see she is not a robot after all! I still can’t fathom what happened to Abby, and I’ll leave it at that.

What an interesting thought. Jillian mentioned that Shay was still killing herself even though she never used drugs. You are killing yourself with food! Think of how profound that it! Something that is essential to life –food – can also kill you. Mind blowing.

So Abby fell on the sword. I hate it! The one thing these people need to learn how to do is put themselves first, and offering to go home is not putting yourself first. I understand that she did ok losing weight at home but you cannot cut short the opportunity of a lifetime. You just can’t! You will never lose weight as quickly and learn as much anywhere like you will on this show!

I am going to miss Abby, a lot. She makes me appreciate my wife and not take for granted the times we have together, even if it’s just sitting on the couch doing nothing.

John Pietenpol

Peak Performance GM

John@peakperformancewi.com

Posted under Peak Performance

So this week the Blue team won the challenge and sent the Black team home.  Bravo to the Blue team for making the right decision.  They have a lifetime to spend with their friends and family, but only a short amount of time to learn everything they can at the ranch.

It will be an interesting first test to see what the black team has learned on the ranch.  This is also a test of how much determination and self-discipline these contestants have.

Dina, although I may suck to have to bring your son to the gym with you . . . way to be a great role model!  He is learning from you what it takes to stay in shape, and how hard it is o lose weight once you have become obese.

For those of you without a personal trainer; ask for help when you are at the gym!  Gym employees and other gym members are always willing to help if you ask.  Some people at the gym may have a lot of knowledge to offer you.  Many times gyms have employees who’s one responsibility is to help the gym members.  Unless of course you belong to Anytime or Snap Fitness where you workout alone . . . literally!

I was so disappointed in some of the Black team’s family members.  Way to be supportive you dummies!  How can you eat crap like that when your friend/family member is trying to lose weight?  I wouldn’t expect them to eat a salad in support, but come on! 

It was great to see Danny prepare a healthy meal at home instead of going out to eat.  People go out to eat too often in general.  I loved what he said to his daughter, “Every minute I spend in the gym is more years that I get to spend with you.”  How true is that?!

Rudy is still kicking butt in the weigh-ins!

Tracy – way to be all about the game and not supportive of other contestants, hoping they ate cake and ice cream.

Dina – man she got hosed on this vote.  Daniel really should have been voted off.  This is his second chance already, third of you figure he was brought back last season.  Great job to her for continuing to lose weight at home!

“Believe in yourself, trust the process, change your life!”

Keep up the good work!

John Pietenpol

Posted under Peak Performance

So we start out the show with a food temptation.  I absolutely hate these, but understand they are necessary to create some drama for the show.  In the real world there is no potential reward for making poor food choices and compromising your diet.

As for picking teams, you have to pick based on who works the hardest.  It’s a percentage of weight lost that makes the difference, not total weight lost.  Hard-working teammates will motivate you, and help you win challenges.  Tracy totally screwed up the teams and alienated herself in the process.  Unfortunately she is still stuck in “game mode” and not focusing on weight loss.  As a side note, I can’t help but wonder if the producers had anything to do with Tracy winning the challenge.  It makes for good television!

Now I am going to rant for a minute:

I get so mad when I see people on the show, and in real life get so upset and emotional about changing trainers.  If you have 2 great trainers to choose from (or 5-6 at Peak) your results will not be much different by changing trainers.  It dies not matter who trains you as long ad you are working as hard as you possibly can.  What makes the difference between winning and losing a contest or gaining or losing weight comes down to what you do when the trainer is not around!  Are you 100% on your diet?  Are you doing the homework and getting the extra cardio in?  That’s what makes the difference on the show and in real life!

There, I am done.

I loved Jillian’s response to Tracy picking Bob.  I agree, she probably was afraid of the but-whooping Jillian was going to give her!  Tracy, by the way, is EVIL.  I think there’s something mentally wrong with her.  Between hr facial expressions and mood swing she doesn’t seem right!

A Mental Block; that’s what Dina has created.  I have clients who are heavier and older then Dina that can jump onto a box that high.  However, she has told herself over and over that she cannot do it.  If you tell yourself that enough times you start to believe it and the brain will eventually tell the body it cannot perform the task.  Physically that task is easy.  A small jump and lift your feet and you are there.  But if the brain doesn’t send that message to the body it’s not going to happen.  This can happen in all aspects of life.  That’s why it I so important to stay positive.  The brain control everything, so make sure your brain believes you can do it!

The weigh in was successful for almost everybody this week.  It looks as though Daniel lost the “water weight” he gained last week prior to the weigh-in.  Also, I think Shay finally put all the pieces together and had a big week.  Previously she was not losing enough weight considering her large starting weight.

So Mo fell on the sword.  Not a good move.  I think he should have stuck it out.  He’s get better medical treatment and workouts at the ranch the he would at home.

For those who follow the blog, good luck on your weight loss this week. Ask yourself daily:

            “Did I do everything I possibly could to lose weight today?”

There are no “off” days when you are trying to lose weight!

John Pietenpol

General Manager – Peak Performance

john@peakperformancewi.com

Posted under Peak Performance

I am not sure if they name each episode of Loser, but if they did I would name this episode “Who’s #1”?   Jillian did a great job of pointing out the fact that when you have as much weight to lose as these contestants do you NEED to make yourself  the #1 priority in your life.  The same can be said for our Peak clients and Boot-campers.  It may seem selfish and your friends and family may not understand at first but it pays off in the long run.  When you start putting other priorities in front of your health you lose sight of the goal and eventually give up all together.  Just think of much more enjoyable other aspects of your life like work, friends, family will be when you are 180 lbs vs. 380 lbs.

The other great thing Jillian does is get to the root of the problem.  What are you 400 lbs?  The easy answer is “I at too much.”  But WHY did you eat too much?  Until you realize the deep down buried emotional reason for your over-eating and deal with that reason, you have almost ZERO chance of taking back your body and regaining your health.  We are ALL emotional eaters.  If I have a bad day I’m looking for the ice-cream or beer just like everybody else.  But it’s when you eat emotionally on a daily basis that you spin out of control and wake up 200 lbs over weight.

Wow!  Tracy really messed her body up with that first challenge.  I think the producers need to take some responsibility for her injuries.  Every season the first-day challenge is getting harder and harder and the people are bigger and bigger.  I feel it is irresponsible to expect these overweight people to compete in such difficult challenges knowing how far out of shape they are.  It’s not safe and it’s not reasonable.  Not to mention the message it sends to the people watching at home.  “Hey!  Get off the couch and go run a mile even though you weigh 400lbs, are diabetic and have heart issues!”  The injuries are mounting and it’s not good.

I thought it was a great idea to teach the contestants how to eat from a menu.  I can’t tell you how many clients tell me how good they are on the week, only to blow it over the weekend when they go out to dinner.  Knowing what is ok to eat on the menu is valuable information.  However, the greater issue is willpower.

Allen was my obvious choice to win the challenge due to his upper body and grip strength required of a firefighter.  However, Daniel proved that sheer determination can make the body do amazing things.  Congratulations to him.  However, I think he used his immunity sandbag the weigh-in.  I assume that he probably drank a large amount of water prior t the weigh in to keep his weight up.  Water weighs 8lbs pr gallon.  He will easily sweat and urinate all of that water out over the next few days, and lose the weight he normally would have next week.  This will easily give him a large weight loss next week.

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!  He’s still my pick to win.

Shay is NOT losing weight fast enough.  Something is missing there.  She might be eating too much or too little.  She’s still the heaviest there; theoretically she should lose the most weight every week.

Why is Tracy losing weight?  She’s not exercising!  My only answer is that it takes A LOT of energy for the body to heal itself from injury.  If she is keeping her diet under control she should be having a daily calorie deficit.

Congratulations to Julio for losing over 100 lbs at home!

Finally – Character is what you do when nobody is watching.  What are YOU doing when your trainers are not watching?  Extra cardio?  Counting calories?

Stay Fit!

John Pietenpol

Peak Performance General Manager.

Posted under Peak Performance

Week 3 is all about choices, and how those choices affect the competition.  This is the part of the show I hate, when contestants start “playing the game” instead of losing weight.  It sees as though some of the contestants view themselves as being on a game show vs. a person who is desperate to lose weight.

Tracy is off to a bad start this week.  Choosing 2lbs over working with the trainers is CRAZY!  You are there to lose weight and learn how to lose weight once you are off the show.  She has been there maybe a week due to her hospital stay.  She hasn’t learned ANYTHING yet.  Remember back to when you started at Peak Performance or Boot Camp.  Could you imagine coming in after 1 or 2 weeks and running your own workout?  We don’t even let qualified trainers come in and train right away.  They are put through a 2-3 week learning process before they are allowed to train a client at Peak.

The temptation challenge was lame.  Only eating 400 calories to earn the right to choose who weighs in?  First, 400 calories is nothing when it comes to a food challenge.  And second, picking who weighs in is a crap-shoot for the most part.  It’s way too early to know who is or isn’t going to have a good weigh in.  As we discovered Tracy was only about 50-50 on her picks.  And boy did she alienate herself!!!!  DON’T ROCK THE BOAT OR YOU’LL LOSE THE VOTE!

I support Bob and Jillian in their choice to be severely upset with Tracy.  She’s trying to manipulate the situation instead of working hard and winning the right way, BY LOSING WEIGHT!  As a personal trainer it is very frustrating to hear clients talk about how badly they want to lose weight or how disappointed they are with their results only to later hear them talk about how poorly they ate over the weekend.  It does feel like the client is laughing off whatever advice we give them.

Man the product placement in the show is cheesy!  I wonder how much Yoplait pays for that.

The tire and sledge hammer were awesome!  We hope to have that available when the new Hartland studio is open!  We’ll have so much more room to do awesome stuff like that.

I would have definitely picked carrying the 10 lbs the shorter distance.  Carrying 2 ½ times the weight the extra distance would be to hard and time consuming.  I don’t think they thought it completely through when they chose the heavier weight.

In the weigh-ins it was great to see Ashley work around her injury and still lose weight.  It goes to show there’s more then one way to skin a cat!

RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!  He’s my top pick right now, putting up big number every week.  He’s working hard and not concerning himself with the other crap.

I was shocked at Tracy’s weight loss.  But, remember that she is a week behind the other contestants.  That may explain her weight loss.

Congrats to the red team!  The learned enough in 3 weeks to continue their momentum at home.  To have each lost over 100lbs is awesome!!!

Would you rather, what a question.  It’s one we ask ourselves every day.  Would you rather sleep an extra hour, or get up and burn some calories on the treadmill?  Would you rather pack a healthy lunch, or take your chances on what the cafeteria is offering today?  Every choice we make ultimately affects our weight loss goals.

Remember this: Do what you’ve always done and get what you’ve always gotten.

John

Posted under Lake Country Boot Camp, Peak Performance

 We begin week 2 minus Alexandra. It’s too bad that hen it comes down to eliminations the contestants use the excuse that “this person can do it on their own at home, and that is why I voted for them.” What a lame reason. If they could have lost the weight on their own they never would have had to join The Biggest Loser. Hopefully she will get a chance to rejoin the ranch as we have seen in prior seasons. The 150 pound challenge is a tough one. Week 2 is always difficult. Why? Because heir bodies are in shock from the amount of weight they lost he first week. He body is stressed, the body does not want to change that fast, and it goes into survival mode. It drastically slows the metabolism. That is why Bob and Jillian made sure they stuck to their calories in and calories out targets for the week. I will touch on that later.

I like how Coach Mo said they needed a game plan. Anyone who wants o reach a goal needs to have a game plan, no matter what you goal is. Whether it is to make a million dollars or lose 150 lbs you need a game plan. What’s YOUR game plan? Jillian made some great points talking about nutrition. You cannot starve yourself to lose weight. The human body is WAY too smart for that. If you do not eat enough, the body will begin to store fat to prepare itself for times of starvation. You have to determine what your exact daily caloric intake should be, and hit that every day. He only way to guarantee that you hit that goal is to count your calories EVERY DAY!

She mentioned food journaling, but there are a lot of easier methods on the internet. Anyone who has had a Nutrition Consultation with me has been shown how to count calories on line. He question is whether you stick with it over time. Later in the show Jillian talked to the Brown Team about preparing meals in bulk. This is a GREAT idea. Pre-planning your meals is a great way to ensure that you have healthy snacks and meals on-hand at all times. When you are busy, starving, and to tired to make a meal you tend to make poor food choices. Thos poor food choices can ruin your diet for the day. Also, it takes the guess work out of counting calories if you know exactly how many are in the prepared meal. I thought the teammates really showed a lot of support for each other this week. It’s always better to have someone in your same position supporting you and pushing you harder. That is a great benefit of our group training program at Peak! The clients are always pushing each other and encouraging each other. Unfortunately not all clients have supportive friends and family to lean on. They often times do not understand what their overweight friend/family member is going through. That is when it is great to have a Peak Groupie to lean on for support! They know exactly what you are going through.

I was really happy to see Tracy rejoin the rest of the members on the ranch. She could have easily given up and gone home. What happened to her was scary, but she was determined to keep going. She understood that what happened to her was because of the poor health that she has, and she wants to change that. When trying to lose weight it is common for illness and injury to occur. It’s up to you as an individual to decide how to react to it. Fight, or go home! On a side not I will be curious to see how much weight Tracy lost at the hospital by strictly reducing the calories she takes in. * she lost 10 lbs!* I could not agree more with Bob about protein after workouts. We offer Smothie’s in Pewaukee (and the future Hartland local) because we know their benefits! If you do not drink our smoothies, purchase the ingredients and make them at home. You work WAY to hard a Peak to not take advantage of the potential result by not having post-workout nutrition!

As for the information the Chef brought to the show, it goes to show you how little they average person knows about nutrition. Portion control, cooking without fat, how to make a healthy salad, etc. A salad should consist of greens (lettuce), veggies, 1 portion of lean protein, and little to no fat free dressing. Rudy is a Beast! Watch out for him in future weeks, and keep up with my Biggest Loser Blog each week!

- John
John Pietenpol, General Manager
Peak Performance Personal Training

Posted under Uncategorized

Exercise, Your New Favorite Thing?

The list holds your favorite foods, music, TV shows, movies and even people in your life that you can’t get enough of. This is the stuff that you really enjoy. It’s the stuff that makes your life worth living.

Somewhere on the list is your health and appearance. You know that looking and feeling great make a good life even better.

The interesting thing about your list is that without fail you’ll always make time for it.

• When your TV show airs, you watch it or record it to watch later.
• When your favorite actor stars in a new movie, you do your part by going to the theatre.
• When you’re hungry, you turn to your favorite foods.
• When the weekend rolls around, you do everything you can to spend time with the special people in your life.

Time for TV, but no time for exercise… We live in an age where life is full. You don’t have extra time anymore.

You no longer have time. You make time.

• You make time for your TV show.
• You make time for your hobby.
• You make time for your friends.

An excuse.

You know how to make time for your favorite things. You know you want good health. You know you want to look great. You know you want more energy.

Exercise delivers all those benefits – and more.

I believe that exercise belongs on your list of favorite things.

Make It A Favorite: How do you turn something that you’ve dreaded into something that you enjoy?

1. Block the Negative: Your thoughts play a big part in determining your favorite things. Block out any negative thoughts you may have about exercise. Focus your energy on creating a positive attitude that will get you excited about hitting the gym, rather than dreading it.
2. Focus on the Benefits: With exercise you have so much to gain and nothing to lose. Exercise makes you stronger, sexier, happier, and gives you more energy. Pick the benefit that moves you the most and fixate on it.
3. Get Guidance: The easiest way to put exercise on your list of favorite things is to experience it at its best. Get onboard with one of my personal training programs and I’ll show you the most effective and enjoyable techniques that will get you into the best shape of your life.

Energy Muffins

Finally, a great-tasting muffin recipe with no added sugar! Naturally sweetened with banana and blueberries, these muffins are as sweet as they are delicious. Enjoy one with a side of scrambled egg whites for a quick and nutritious breakfast. Servings: 18

Here’s what you need…

• 1 cup mashed banana
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup refined coconut oil
• 2 cups wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup frozen blueberries, left to thaw in a strainer

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 18 standard-sized muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine banana, egg whites, water and oil. Add the flour and mix. Gently fold in blueberries. Immediately spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove muffins from tins and cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Analysis:

Total Body Workout

Click Here —>  http://www.my1channel.com/channel/4000fitness/1060fitness_pp_6/index.html

Posted under Uncategorized

Hey guys,

We just got our Peak Performance + Lake Country ABC hats in….

Tanya Wolf modeling the Boot Camp Hat – $20

Tanya Wolf Modeling The NEW ABC Hat

T $$$ - lookin' ganster

Peak hat picture’s coming soon….

Hat’s are $20 and available at the Pewaukee studio

Call 866.305.8575 or email Amanda @ support@peakperformancewi.com

to reserve your’s – hurry, limited aupply available!

Posted under Uncategorized