Message from the CEO

  

We have been trained to fear fat and "eat less, work out more," however fat is a valuable energy source and under-eating can actually increase fat retention.

Our Obsession with Fat

 We are a society obsessed with body fat, but not for the right reasons. Although excess body fat has been shown to trigger many of the lifestyle diseases that plague us, most dieters are motivated more by body image than by health enhancement. In my thirty five years in health care and fitness, I have also found that nearly all of those who exercise regularly do it to look good as well. Whatever the motivation, the drive to slim down is always good, but unfortunately the lay public is constantly misdirected to use unscientific exercise and diet regimes that not only fail to reduce body weight permanently but can damage health as well.

This current reality is frustrating for health professionals because science has already unlocked the "secrets" to create a meaningful metabolic shift that results in sustainable weight management, but it is lost in all the chatter and hype from the $40 billion per year weight loss industry.

For over 30 years we have ignored fads and gimmicks propagated by the weight loss industry and successfully helped tens of thousands to create a lifestyle of sustainable weight management that is anchored in science. We have helped everyone from professional athletes who need to make weight and compete in specific weight classes, to everyday people who want to look and feel better with scientifically-developed exercise and nutrition strategies.

This week's feature article exposes the five most common weight loss myths that stubbornly persist in spite of the extensive body of scientific research that proves them wrong.

Whether you are a runner, enjoy another sport, or just want to gain awareness of how to keep your body working for you, my new book, Healthy Running Step by Step, includes all of the scientific principles of exercise and nutrition that we rely on for our professional athletes who have to make weight to compete and for the general public who just want to look and feel better.

Pre-order Healthy Running, Step by Step now and enter to win a free Phase IV Video Run Gait Analysis! Simply send us a copy of your pre-order receipt and you can have your running gait analyzed by our expert staff.

 

>> Read each week's CEO Message here 

Special Offer: Pre-Order your copy of Robert Forster's new book, Healthy Running Step by Step, due out this Summer by Fairwinds Press, and receive a free signed copy of the best seller, The Complete Water Power Workout Book by Robert Forster, PT and Lynda Huey. Bring in your online pre-order receipt to Forster Physical Therapy or Phase IV and receive a free, signed copy of the water book ($24 value), a must-read for runners and anyone who wants a great workout that's easy on your joints!

Five Myths of Weight Loss

 

New book by Robert Forster, PT covers science-based weight loss strategies for athletes in all sports

   

Myth #1) Hard workouts are the key to weight loss.

Undoubtedly by now you have read all the research that says that a combination of exercise and diet are the keys to weight loss and creating a healthy body. Most imagine this means purchasing a gym membership or a P90X workout program and making a commitment to grueling workouts day after day.

 

The Truth: Easy, low intensity workouts burn fat. Harder workouts burn carbohydrate and leave you feeling hungry. Walking, elliptical workouts and cycling (most of us cannot maintain a fat-burning heart rate while running) at a relatively easy pace creates the shift in your metabolism necessary to burn more fat 24/7, and this is the key to permanent and sustainable weight control.

 

Myth #2) The Fitness Formula: 220 - your age x 70% = Your Aerobic (Fat-Burning) Heart Rate
Fitness formulas such as this are supposed to put you in your aerobic heart rate training zone where your body can combine oxygen and fat to make energy. The problem is that they are not accurate.

 

The Truth: We have performed VO2 testing for thousands of athletes to determine their optimum fat-burning heart rate zones, and have found that the standard fitness formula is rarely accurate -- and when it is, it is by chance. Your metabolism is as individual as your finger prints. And it changes with activity level, diet, and other lifestyle factors. The only accurate way to arrive at your most productive workout heart rate for weight loss is by VO2 testing. VO2 testing is simple and affordable and provides us with precise heart rate zones to assure that all of your workouts are 100% productive at making you a "Better Butter Burner."

 

 

Read More . . .

 

>> Pre-order Healthy Running Step by Step here

Special Offer: Bring in your online pre-order receipt for Healthy Running Step by Step to Forster Physical Therapy and receive a free, signed copy of my first book, The Complete Waterpower Workout Book. 

Strength Training Improves Performance in Endurance Athletes

Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance Article Response

Weight training for endurance sports remains controversial in spite of a significant body of research that clearly shows its benefits. Many endurance coaches and athletes still believe that weight training will not aide performance in long distance efforts with most of the argument stemming around energy management and the belief that weight training programs leave athletes too fatigued to be able to complete their workouts. At Phase IV we disagree. Our observation is that the most successful coaches in the world find that weight training, when conducted in accordance with sound scientific principles, actually allow athletes to perform much more work in training throughout the season. If coaches would simply allow for the increased time needed to recover from gym workouts in the early season, they will have athletes who can train harder and remain injury free later in the season, when it counts most. These coaches have learned that any training time lost due to recovery from strength work is well worth it. Once athletes adapt to the rigors of weight training their ability to perform work is elevated and they suffer less injury.

Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100, with input from Robert Forster, PT

Robert Marchand, aged 102, broke his own one-hour distance record in January, 2014, averaging slightly more than 25 kilometers per hour. While speed may be sensitive to age, athleticism and a penchant for achieving sporting goals certainly are not. Photo courtesy cyclr.com.

Healthy Running Step by Step is not the first collaboration between Robert Forster, PT, and co-author Roy M. Wallack. For Wallack's Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100, he consulted Forster on maintaining health and fitness well into advanced ages, a specialty of Phase IV Scientific Health and Performance Center.

"By your mid-30s, most people still look young, but are already experiencing the Big Three of aging: deteriorating lean muscle mass, worsening posture, and crumbling joints," says Robert Forster, who's Santa Monica, California, physical therapy practice is the unofficial meeting hall for West Los Angeles' broken-down triathletes, adventure racers, and gym rats. "Age-related decline hits sooner than you think."

There is good news, however. "A long-term anti-aging workout plan is part physical therapy and part cutting-edge exercise research," writes Wallack, applications in which Phase IV and Forster Physical Therapy specialize.

Pre-Order Healthy Running Step by Step

Pre-order Healthy Running Step by Step before its arrival in stores and online in August.

Click here to pre-order Healthy Running Step by Step, the new book by Robert Forster, PT, and Roy M. Wallack, due out this August from Fairwinds Press, and gain automatic entry into a raffle for a free VO2 test!

 

(Click here for more information on VO2 testing.)

 

Don't let an old injury keep you from enjoying races, morning runs, or attaining fitness goals. In the first part of Healthy Running Step by Step, authors Robert Forster, PT and Roy M. Wallack recommend the best training based on your fitness goals, including strength training, cross training, sprints, yoga, and plenty of rest. Part two goes a step further from other books by addressing the most modern methods of treatment -- including current studies on the amount of rest required, new and controversial surgical operations and injections, the newest and most effective gear, and barefoot/minimalist running as a form of healing. If you are recovering from an injury or want to prevent becoming injured in the first place, Healthy Running Step by Step is a must-have guide.

 

Available in stores and at Phase IV and Forster Physical Therapy this Fall!

 

• Format: Paperback
• Publication: August 2014
• Pre-Order Price: $24.99

Phase IV and Forster Physical Therapy, the Exclusive Physical Therapy provider for the LA Marathon, are now the Exclusive Providers of EC3D gear in Los Angeles!

 

Scan with your iPhone or Android to call Phase IV for more information, sizing, or to order your EC3D Compression Gear.

 

Find us and join some of our social networks for scientific health & training tips and advice as well as chances to win  Phase IV services and products:

Forster Physical Therapy

Office: 310-656-8600  www.forsterpt.com

Phase IV Scientific Health and Performance Center

Office: 310-582-8212  www.phase-iv.net

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