In this week’s group meeting, we had a special guest, Dr. Ben Bocchicchio. Dr. Ben is the author of 15 Minutes to Fitness: Dr. Bens SMaRT Plan for Diet and Total Health. Dr. Ben is also a member of the National Fitness Hall of Fame and has been in the business for over 50 years. Some folks describe him as the “Godfather of Modern Fitness and Diet.”

Discussion:

• Dr. Ben and Dr. Tro began discussing a study done on HIIT (high-intensity interval training) on elite athletes and it showed that overtraining is easy and can affect glucose tolerance and mitochondrial function decreased at just 90 minutes a week.
• They both recommended doing short HIIT durations focusing on full-body exercises on larger muscles first then to smaller muscles. This taxes the muscles and reduces the risk of injury.
• Dr. Ben likes to focus on putting stress on the muscles to keep joint pain down, while also helping support systems work at high efficiency such as the cardiovascular, respiratory, hormonal, and skeletal systems.
• When it comes to fat loss, Dr. Ben recommends not being sedentary and working out efficiently. 
• When getting started, Dr. Ben suggests doing a full-body exercise focusing on the large muscles down to the smaller, using slow productive movement to support the muscle and load time. Also, make sure if you have any issues to get them corrected so you can use the correct form.
• Bands are great for resistance exercise and help reduce injuries. They offer a variety of resistance from very light to heavy.
• Dr. Ben says you should do other activities in addition to the short duration exercises because being inactive before and after is not very productive.

Brian Wiley

Brian Wiley is a Certified Health Coach who has struggled with food addiction and battled with obesity for most of his life. Being advised with mainstream approaches as his solution, along with the standard, “eat less, move more” resulted in minimal, or no success with eventual regain. In 2009, he reached his highest weight of 265 pounds. His doctor advised and encouraged him to take medications after his blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol reached dangerous levels at the age of only 35. His commitment to a low carb lifestyle resulted in a 100-pound weight loss, and he was able to reverse his abnormal health markers improving his heart health and avoiding type 2 diabetes. Brian has maintained his weight loss for the last 11 years. “I see people everyday on social media and in real life and they’re struggling. They’re going through the same struggles of food addiction, unhealthy eating patterns, and unsuccessful dieting like I did. I want to serve as an example that this approach can be successful. It is not a fad, and is a healthy long-term lifestyle solution.” Brian is also an ACE certified personal trainer. Brian was a featured guest on Episode 29 of the Low Carb MD podcast and on Vinnie Tortorich’s Fitness Confidential Saturday Success Story. Brian has also been featured on DietDoctor, Atkins and various other publications

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