Turkeys, Push-Ups, and Calorie Chasers

• I hope everyone has a chance to relax, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy some great food this Thanksgiving. I certainly will enjoy some great food.

• The November Push-Up Challenge has one more week left. We will be reassessing everyone next week. I have seen dramatic improvements in just about all of my clients already. Should be interesting to see the final results. I will reveal December's challenge soon. Any guesses?

• The numbers don't lie. If your numbers (reps or weight) are improving than your training is going well. One number we don't measure is calories expended. Why? Because that is one way to set yourself up for failure. What do I mean? Well Calorie Chasers (a term I just made up), or people who use exercise to solely burn calories, lose out on the power of exercise training to enhance all components of their health, fitness, and body composition. Performance-oriented training (or progression, which is one of the basic principles of strength training) will help you not only enhance your performance, but also how your body looks (body composition). I have seen it time and time again with clients. So, as I keep preaching, focus on improving your performance numbers and the improvements in body composition will follow.