You’ve seen the ads.  Beautiful, young women with perfect legs and butts advertising Reebok’s new “Easy Tone” walking shoe that is supposed to give you better legs and a tighter butt just by wearing them and walking around.

I’ve seen these ads and thought to myself, “Really?!”   and “Who would buy these?”  Well, as we all know, promises from a company that has as good a reputation as Reebok, often ring true.  And,” better legs and a better butt” is a great slogan that will catch the attention of just about any woman.

I am happy to tell you that the American Council on Exercise (ACE, the largest certifying body for personal trainers and fitness instructors in the US), published some interesting findings about these shoes.  I’ll share them with you and you can decide…to spend or not to spend.

Reebok claims that  “Wearing these shoes will increase the activation of muscles in your glutes (28%), hamstrings (11%) and calves (11%).”  (from the Reebok website).

That’s it?  11%??  These walking shoes cost $98!  You can increase the work for your hamstrings by doing 25 standing hamstring curls or shape your butt with a few extra squats…for free!

What’s even better is that Reebok’s results are based on tests comparing the Easy Tone to Reebok’s regular walking shoe.

According to ACE, the “study” consisted of 5 subjects walking on a treadmill for 500 steps.  Does this really count as “a study?”  The recommendation for adults is that we get anywhere from 6,000-10,000 steps per day on a regular basis.  Reebok is making outrageous claims based on 5 people taking 500 steps on a treadmill!

ACE has actually commissioned a study to be done by University of Wisconsin, La Crosse to investigate these shoes in more detail.  I’ll let you know what the final analysis is.

I am frankly, surprised that Reebok is stooping to such cheesy tactics to sell a shoe.  The brand has (in my opinion) up until now had an incredible reputation for quality and for appealing to serious athletes.

My feeling is save your money and walk faster.

Watch this space for the results of the tests.

What a great month!

I am so excited to share in the success all of you have had at our first 2010 Boot Camp.

We re-tested you all this week and the improvements in just 4 weeks are nothing short of AMAZING!

Every single camper had significant improvements!

Run times: Everyone was 2 to 20 seconds faster on their lap, with the greatest improvement award going to Kevin in our 6pm class. He took 18 seconds off his time.

Runners up are Scott from our 10am and Jennifer from our 6pm with 16 second improvements.

The greatest improvement in crunches award goes to Erika in our 6pm Boot Camp.  She got in an additional 9 crunches in 30 seconds!

And for push-ups , the award goes to Karey in our 6pm Boot Camp with an additional 7 push-ups in 30 seconds.

Congratulations to everyone!  You all have great improvements to be very proud of!

I can’t wait to see what the results are in February.

We’ve postponed our Girdwood Ski Day.  The feedback I’ve gotten regarding today’s ski outing in Girdwood is that everyone needed more notice.  Duly noted and I will have better info available sooner for our February Boot Camp.  Have you signed up for February Boot Camp?  If not, you’d better hurry!  Registration closes February 5. Click here now to claim your spot in camp.

Thank you to everyone who turned out at the Anchorage Wedding Fair last Sunday.

We had a great time meeting new people and talking about all of our programs that can have
you looking “Portrait-Perfect” on your wedding day.

Just because you couldn’t make it to the fair doesn’t mean you miss out on the great deals we had!

Click here to visit our “Brides” page.

We have specials on our Boot Camps and
Bride & Groom “Perfect Couple” packages (you can save $1,000 on this one!)

Have you seen our exclusive “Bridal Survival Guide”?

This handy little report is available only on our website and is the only publication of its kind.

We give you step-by-step instructions for nutrition and workouts to get you “Portrait-Perfect” for your wedding day.

The guide is completely free!

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I received this e-mail this morning and thought the information in it was so powerful that I should share it with you as is.  It’s a letter from Dr. Stephen Chaney, professor at UNC.  Just click his name and you can find out more about Dr. Chaney and his background…he’s amazing!  Without further ado, here’s what he has to say about why rapid weight loss is not the answer.

“By now many of you are starting to get really seriousabout your weight loss program for the new year.  You’ve probably been listening to your friend’sstories about how much weight they have lost on their new diet. You’ve been reading the latest diet books. You’ve been searching the internet for the latest diet fads.

In short, you’ve been checking out all of the latest fad diets. And all of these diets sound so good. They promise weight loss secrets that nobody else knows about. They promise that you won’t even know that you are on a diet. And they make all of those promises sound so scientific.

As I said last week, there is no “magic” diet program.  There is no “magic” diet food. There is no “magic” diet pill.  It’s all about calories in and calories out. It’s all about adopting a healthier lifestyle that you can stick to for a lifetime.

But one thing I did not talk about last week was how fast you should plan to lose your weight.

If a diet promises that you will lose 5 or 10 pounds in your first week and 10 to 20 pounds in your first few weeks should you choose it?  On the flip side, if you start a diet and only lose a pound or two a week should you feel frustrated? Should you feel like a failure?

Heck, you probably know the answer to that question already. I’ll bet you’ve heard expert after expert say that a safe, sensible diet should lead to 1 or 2 pounds of weight loss a week.  On an intellectual level you already know that a diet that leads to rapid weight loss may not be safe in the short run and is probably not sustainable in the long run.

But on an emotional level it is so hard to resist the lure of rapid weight loss!

So in this e-health newsletter, I thought it might be important to give you three reasons why you should avoid those diets that promise rapid weight loss.

#1: Rapid weight loss causes your “starvation response” to kick in!

With a fast food restaurant on every corner in today’s world it’s hard to imagine that we even have a “starvation response”.  But you have to remember that we evolved in a world in which you had to chase down your dinner, hit it over the head with a club and drag in back to your cave.  In that world you might have to go weeks with just a few berries and roots to eat – especially if you were as handy with a club as I am.

Because of our beginnings, we are all hardwired with a starvation response that dramatically reduces our metabolic rate whenever the calories in our daily diet decrease significantly.  The “starvation response” was a lifesaver when we were cavemen (and cave women), but it just causes frustration when you are trying to lose weight.

#2: Rapid weight loss causes you to lose muscle mass.

That’s because your brain needs glucose to function. Fat cannot be metabolized to glucose, but muscle protein can.  Because protein burns calories more rapidly than fat the loss of muscle mass decreases your metabolic rate even more.  When you combine the “starvation response” with the loss of muscle mass your metabolic rate decreases to such a great extent that you often encounter the all too familiar weight loss plateau.  Now, as hard as you try, you just can’t seem to lose any more weight.

#3: Rapid weight loss is almost never sustainable in the long run.

You’ve cut calories so dramatically that you feel hungry all of the time (and probably grumpy as well). You can’t imagine this as a permanent part of your lifestyle – and it almost never is.  That’s why most experts recommend that you aim for a calorie deficit of just 500 calories per day. Since 2500 calories is approximately equivalent to one pound, that’s just over one pound of weight loss per week.

If you add a 30 minute/day exercise program to burn off ~300 calories/day you will approach 2 pounds of weight loss per week.  So if you want to lose that weight and keep it off, learn to get excited about 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss per week ……and avoid all of those fad diets that promise more rapid weight loss!”

“To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney”

To learn more about your resting metabolic rate and how we can help you look and feel better with sensible, life-changing results, visit us at www.AlaskaFit.com and sign up for your free consultation.

Thanks to Jennifer in our 6pm Boot Camp class.  Tonight she’ll be re-tested so she’ll see real numbers results.  But, here’s what she has to say after just one month of Boot Camp:

“I just finished my first month of Boot Camp and it was AWESOME!! I have seen results and already signed up for February’s Camp!! It is great fun…”

Join Jennifer for our Feb. Boot Camp class.  We begin on Monday, Feb. 1.  Click here to register!

Jennifer from our 6pm Boot Camp has this to say at the end of her first month of Boot Camp:

I just finished my first month of Boot Camp and it was AWSOME!! I have seen results and already signed up for February’s Camp!! It is great fun…

Join Jennifer at our next camp, it begins on Monday, Feb. 1. Click here to register now!

Great news!  It’s been dumping snow in Girdwood for the past 3 hours… skiing should be great for our outing this weekend!

E-mail info@AlaskaFit.com to join!

It’s here!  Our first AlaskaFit Boot Camp Outing!

Please join me for an informal get together in
Gridwood this Saturday, January 30.

What will we be doing?  We’re cross-country skiing in
Moose Meadows.  The trails are groomed, the space is
wide-open and they’re predicting a sunny day for Saturday.

We will spend about 2 hours skiing and then return to my
home for hot drinks and healthy snacks. This outing is open
to all Boot Campers and their friends/families.  Why not
make it a day in Girdood?

We will meet in the Moose Meadows parking lot at 11am .
If you don’t have XC ski gear, you can rent it from the resort.
Alternatively, you can also bring snow-shoes and stroll
around the meadow if you don’t ski.

To get to the Moose Meadows Parking Lot , take Alyeska
Highway to the “T” at the end of the road.  Turn left (you’ll
be on Arlberg Ave.) and proceed about a quarter of a mile.
The parking lot will be on the left, just past the corner of
Arlberg and Brighton.  If you pass the parking lot, you won’t
be able to turn around until you get to the resort parking lot,
about 3/4 of a mile further on.

Send an e-mail to info@alaskafit.com and let me know if you’ll be
coming to the outing and how many people will be with you.
Your response will make sure that I have enough snacks
and warm beverages on hand when we’re done.

I look forward to seeing you all this weekend.