10 Things I Changed This Year

I am constantly striving to learn more, do more with what I’ve learned and pay attention to whether it’s working or not.  So as the calendar flips to a new year, I thought I would share with you a few things I learned or changes I made 2010.  I look forward 2011 and changes it may bring.  Happy New Year!

1. This year I switched from Whey Protein to Hemp and Rice Protein.  Having my roots in bodybuilding I have long been a proponent of whey.  Protein shakes are an easy way to get a quick nutritious meal while still controlling your calories and I believed that whey protein was the superior choice.  I have re-thought that position and I feel for me personally,  I am better

physically, emotionally and spiritually choosing a plant based option. I believe that hemp and rice protein supplements are superior to whey.  Try it and let me know what you think.

2. I added short timed exercise challenges such as The Valslide Challenge.  I love using my new Gymboss timer for these challenges.  I have to keep pushing until I hear the beep.  By recording my score I have something to beat the next time.  I am competing with myself.

3. I also returned to longer, moderate intensity cardio. While I will continue to recommend intervals for faster fat loss, I see value in longer, moderate (does not mean easy) intensity cardio.  There are days when the thought of doing intervals would make me want to skip the gym altogether but doing cardio makes me feel better.  It puts me in a good mood and get my creative juices flowing.  Hardcore intervals are great for fat loss or when I don’t want to think about anything else but a more moderate pace allows me to work through a problem or get ideas for a blog post.  30-40 minutes on the elliptical or bike does the trick.

4. Focused more on my *one thing*.  People often get stuck on the minutiae of fitness when they really just need to move more and eat junk less.  Yes, it’s important to have a goal and a plan but don’t fixate on what are the best supplements, should you eat breakfast before or after your workout, are you in your fat burning zone.  Just get to work.  You can refine as you go.  In my *one thing* video, I asked people to tell me what they felt was the one thing they need to either start doing or stop doing that would make the biggest difference in their weight loss or fitness goals.  Lots of people responded with very clear answers, which tells me, you know what to do, you just need to do it!  When I keep the sugar out of my diet, everything goes better.  If I focus just on this, all of my eating improves, my workouts are better, my sleep is better and my mood is better.  I am focused on this one thing now.

5. I  added many new vegetable recipes to my meal plans. Green smoothies are still one of my favorites, but so are sautéed kale, roasted broccoli or  butternut squash, and any kind of grilled vegetable. For more inspiration, my friend Jason Ferruggia put together this awesome plant based recipe guide.

6. After a year of Action Hero Babe, I Want My Bikini Body or time in the lab creating new workouts or exercises, I have returned to my signature Red Carpet Ready® workouts – kicked up a notch! These feel the best and deliver the results that I’m looking for now – long, lean, sexy muscles – without bulk. I may revisit Action Hero Babe later this year, but for now, I am happy with my program.

7. I  have embraced Facebook. I came late to this party but I really love the community and being able to stay connected to my friends and colleagues.  Just last week I had over 200 birthday wishes!  As a Christimas time baby, I am use to everyone being out of town on my birthday and it slipping by unnoticed.  This year I felt the love and well wishes from so many.  Facebook also gives me an opportunity  to keep up with some of my favorite fitness professionals and Red Carpet Ready girls that I don’t get see or speak to often enough.  I love that the world feels just a little smaller.

8. I realized I can’t be everywhere. I want to devote more time to my blog, Facebook and the girls in my Red Carpet Ready® Club, so I have pulled back on Twitter and endless checking of e-mails. I will still pop into Twitter from time to time but not as much as I use to.  Fortunately, I have help with the emails so I can just respond to the ones the absolutely need me while still making sure that people feel taken care of.

9. This year I switched to Chia Seeds for supplemental fiber. As a member of the National Fiber Council for 4 years, and personal trainer and food coach for nearly 20, I am fully aware of the importance and the difficulty in getting enough fiber, especially when you also want to reduce your starchy carbs, like bread, rice and cereal.  Adding Chia seeds (which are also loaded with Omega 3′s) to your morning smoothie or green drink is a great way to boost your daily fiber. You can also sprinkle them on your oatmeal, yogurt or salads. Try them for 30 days and you’ll be hooked!

10. I foam roll more. Okay Michael Boyle, I’m finally listening. I’ve been using the foam roller on and off for years, but I am much more consistent with it now. I still prefer to stretch or go to yoga, but I’m willing to concede that what I prefer to is is not always what’s best to do.

I love hearing from you, so please share something you learned or a change you made this year that really made a difference.  We can all learn from each other.     This is one of the wonderful things about this community!

Red Carpet Ready: Get It. Live It. Because LIFE is an EVENT!

Click here to visit the Black Friday Fitness Sale!

For many years now I’ve been helping celebrities prepare for red carpet events like movie premieres, the Academy Awards, or the Emmy’s. It’s important for my clients that they look and feel their best, because millions would be watching, and their pictures would surely end up in magazines. My Red Carpet Ready plan was born from this…actual Red Carpet events. Later, Red Carpet Ready came to mean looking, feeling and being the best version of yourself. We all want to feel good in our body. We all want confidence and energy.

For years, this program was only available to Hollywood’s elite. When I finally sat down to write the book, I was worried that maybe it wouldn’t be as successful without me there, guiding the client through the workout. After all, my approach seems so much more moderate than other trainers. Well, I needn’t have worried. Thousands of woman have now followed my program with awesome results!

“Thanks to Val’s amazing workouts, inspiring coaching and delicious nutrition plan, I have more energy to play with my little guy, a brighter outlook in life and my hips have found their sway again! [Before meeting Val, I thought “sexy mama” was an oxymoron...Not anymore!]
The most important thing I realized is that being RCR isn’t a one night thing. It’s a way of life. An RCR girl owns the length of that Target parking lot like it’s the hottest red carpet in town, baby! One of the most memorable moments of the year happened in September as I was making my way through the airport. I walked by two young, very attractive pilots and one of them actually spun his head around as I passed, made a “mmm-mmmm!” noise and asked the other guy “Hey, did you see her!?!” Now, some women might be offended by it, but when you haven’t had a response like that in several years, it is more than welcome! Talk about feeling like a star!” -Stephanie M.

Two years ago, I launched the Red Carpet Ready Club – an online membership site where women could come together to encourage and support each other, while being guided and coached by me. In an effort to truly demonstrate how it works, I offered to take two women, Mary Bess Dalton and Cody Kennedy, through my program, on-line. The kicker was that they’d have to put themselves on camera each week, and tell us how they were doing. So, my feet were in the fire just as much as theirs. In addition, the 6 weeks they were on the program, included Thanksgiving and most of the holiday season –parties and all. You can see them just 4 weeks in, at Thanksgiving 2008, HERE.

What I am so proud of is how amazing not only Mary Bess and Cody are still doing, but how well so many of the other original Red Carpet Ready Club girls are doing too. They’ve learned that its not just a diet of a 6 week program, it’s a way of life.

Click here to visit the Black Friday Fitness Sale!

What does it mean to live Red Carpet Ready? It means you can go to your closet and pull out your favorite skinny jeans, knowing they’ll fit. It means remembering that you get to workout, not you have to workout. It means choosing the foods that help keep you lean and full of energy, while not feeling deprived. It means getting more out of life.

How do you do it?

Decide, right now, that this is something you want and must have. Stop wishing. Take action.

COMMIT – often times people give up too soon on their plan. Follow my Red Carpet Ready program for a full 6 weeks (or, another workout program if you choose) and you’ll see that soon things start to become easier and more automatic.

DO THE WORK! – Lets not pretend that you’re going to get a Red Carpet Ready body (lean, strong, sexy) by working out 10 minutes a day. It will take more effort than that. However, I promise that the workouts will make you feel good and you will start to notice real results in just the first two weeks – plus, they’re fun!

EAT REAL FOOD, not packaged diet foods. You really do need to ditch the processed junk – but you will thank me later. If you’ve been consuming too much sugar and refined processed carbs, and you cut them out, you may feel tired and moody – please know that this very temporary. You will pass through the worst of it in 4 to 5 days, if you stay the course. When you get on the other side of this mini detox – you will feel amazing.

MAKE NEW ASSOCIATIONS – I want you think about how good eating clean makes you feel. I want you to recognize that you are always in a better mood after a good workout. You may even need to surround yourself with some new friends that support you in choosing to seek the very best version of yourself. Inside the Red Carpet Ready Club, we support each other and cheer each other on. If you slip up, someone is there to pick you up and dust you off. Other times, you may need to have your feet lovingly held to the fire. We want to help you achieve the success you desire.

LOVE YOUR BODY NOW – Deciding to make changes does not mean you to be unkind to you body. You do need to take an honest assessment and see where you really are, but this is to help you determine where you want to go. You can still bless your body for all the wonderful things that it is able to do. Maybe there is a body part you feel really good about that you can focus on, while you improve the rest. As you get stronger, and work on your diet, you will see new, sexy muscles show up – it’s really fun when this happens!

We’ve got 6 weeks before we say goodbye to 2010. Did you achieve your goals? Did you get the body you wanted? There is still time. Decide today. Live Red Carpet Ready! Your life is waiting.

Click here to visit the Black Friday Fitness Sale!

How To Get Red Carpet Ready: Secrets from the Experts, part 2

In the last post, I covered the first half of the speakers from the Red Carpet Ready Fitness & Beauty Summit.

Today, I’ll recap my presentation along with the final 4 speakers as well as the announcement of the winners of the Red Carpet Ready 6 Week Transformation Challenge.

Valerie Waters (me!):  How To Live Red Carpet Ready Because Life is an Event!

After lunch, I spoke first and discussed my SIMPLE philosophy… it’s one of those fun acronyms. I’ll cover the S, I and M here.  Then we’ll move on the other speakers and get the last 3 letters in a future post (or in the Summit Videos when they become available)

The S stands for Start.  Quite simply, this means get moving.  Albert Einstein said, nothing happens without motion.  So just get started…   you don’t need the perfect plan from the beginning, you don’t need all the equipment.  (just Valslides. teehee)

If you’ve been stagnant lately, just get up and go for a walk.   Or do a quick Valslide circuit at home, just do something.  If you’re already moving, then good for you… keep it going!

I is intention. Intentions are basically goals on steroids.   Setting goals is great, but I’ve found the word “intention” to be much more powerful with both myself and my clients.  It’s really easy…   you just write what you intend to do.  For example:  “I intend to do 3 fullbody Red Carpet Ready workouts each week,” “I intend to weigh 122 pounds by November 15, 2010.”   State your goals, but add “I intend to…” before it.  Try it!

M is Motivation

Nothing breeds motivation more than success.  So often times, when your intentions are set and you START…  this leads to momentum, which leads to results, and then leads to more motivation.

But some things you can do right now to increase motivation are simple like finding inspiring pictures and/or quotes and posting them in places where you can’t miss them.

Some of my favorites are:

“You can’t choose your potential, but you can choose to fulfill it.” -Theodore Roosevelt

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes, but no plans.” -Peter F. Drucker

Buying some new workout gear works for me…  my new fave is anything from Splits59 (use my special code VALSLIDE for 15% off)

The P is for “Plan, Prep & Prepare”

The L is for Lift Weights (though this can be any form of resistance exercise, you don’t necessarily have to lift weights.  It just worked with the L )

and the E is for Eat.  Real food.

Frank Galasso: Get Fabulous Hair NOW!

Next up, is the man behind some of the sexiest hair in Hollywood, Frank Galasso.   He’s such an interesting guy…  he told a funny story about when he goes on the road with Kim Kardashian, many people often mistake him for her bodyguard (because I think he’s built like a highly trained bodybuilder.)

Frank was great because he didn’t just talk hair… he spoke about being Red Carpet Ready in all areas of your life.  And how hair is just an extension of your beauty.

Here are a few takeaways from Frank’s presentation:

• A proper diet is essential for good hair.  New cells are made from the food and things you put in your body… so make sure you’re choosing quality.
• Natural, organic foods with high fat content are great all-day conditioners for your hair.  Next time you have a day when you’re just sitting at home, try putting avocado or olive oil in your hair and letting it sit, or even slathering on some egg yolks.  It sounds gross I know, but you’ll be surprised how soft and manageable your hair is the next day.
• Stay as close to your natural hair color as possible…  very few people need to change their color dramatically to look their best.  It’s often not worth the maintenance.

And one final point, which I found extremely beneficial:

• Be ready to live your life Red Carpet Ready.  Stay as close to your goal as possible… whether its a certain hair style or even the way you want your body to look…  try to stay at a point where within 3-4 weeks, you can get back there.

Chad Waterbury: Scientific Programming for Rapid Fat Loss

Next up was Chad Waterbury.  Everyone was so excited to hear him speak… he’s one of the most highly regarded trainers in the world and doesn’t present very often so people were on the edge of their seat to hear what he had to say.

His talk was called Scientific Programming for Rapid Fat Loss and it was filled with great info, but for now – I’ll share what I felt was the most important.

Chad says when it comes to training, the single most important factor is the metabolic cost.  This is the amount of calories (energy) consumed as a result of performing a given task (exercise)

So to achieve maximum fat loss in the minimal amount of time, you want to INCREASE metabolic cost with every exercise and every workout

Here are a few ways to boost your metabolic cost:

• Use full-body workouts:  the more muscle mass you use and the less rest, the greater the metabolic cost.
• Move the body quickly.  Train fast…. lift the weights fast (but under control) and try to exert maximum force.
• Intensity is more important than short-term calorie burn.  You may burn more calories DURING a lower, slower workout…  but the real benefit of training with intensity comes in the time after your workout in what as known as the after-burn.  Higher intensity workouts = more calories burned over the next 24-36 hours.

Learn more about Chad’s Rapid Fat Loss program here at http://www.bodyoffire.com

Nerida Joy:  Face Diagnosing 101

Next, it was Nerida Joy’s turn.  She’s one of the top skin experts in the world and my personal facialist.  She’s also on the advisory board of New Beauty magazine and an all-around beautiful person.

Her talk was jam-packed with cutting-edge info far too detailed to cover here, but one of the most interesting things she shared was the idea of “face-diagnosing.”  This is a way you can self-diagnose your own skin and determine what exactly is causing the problems. Skin issues in certain areas of your face are connected to deeper issues in your body and can be addressed accordingly.

• For example, puffiness under the eyes is often connected to issues with your kidneys…
• If you have rough skin on your cheek, this is often a digestion issue with your small intestine and possibly a candida infection.  You may have an intolerance to dairy.
• Around the jawline, this can be a digestion issue in your large intestine… an area that is highly sensitive to stress and in turn can cause pimples.

She left us with this:  pick up a copy of New Beauty magazine; it comes out every quarter.  Read it cover to cover and you will know more about how to take care of your skin than 99% of working skin care professionals.

Also follow her on Facebook for more awesome tips!

Tom Morley:  Yoga: Beyond The Poses

I made a strategic decision putting Tom Morley up last.  He’s my favorite yoga instructor EVER and his energy is just infectious… so I thought it would be an awesome way to energize the room, wrap up the day and send the party up to the rooftop..

His talk was called Yoga: Beyond the Poses.

He stressed that the idea of yoga being all about flexibility and stretching is contained to the Western world, and that if you go to India – it’s less about the physical poses and more about freedom from the neurotic mind.

He went from dispelling the myth about yoga being just about poses, into the importance of the breath and made an important point:

We can go days without water and weeks without food… yet just a few minutes without oxygen.  When we die, it’s always a lack of oxygen that finally gets us.  Disease, age and those factors certainly contribute, but the final straw is that our body lacks oxygen.  So its very, very important for us to be conscious and breathe deeply and with intent.

We can actually use our breath for a number of things…  including stress reduction, increased well-being, more energy, a better body and pretty much every other goal you may have.

He had the entire room do a breath exercise called “Nadi Sadana” or nostril breathing…  you an see a video of how to do this at home right here:

“Naughty Breathing” for Health & Fitness

From discussing breath, he went to the mechanics of the mind which was very, very interesting and you’ll be hearing more about this when the summit videos are ready in just a few weeks.

After Tom’s talk, we took a short break and headed up to the rooftop of the London which was just amazing.  Tropicana provided the mix for some yummy Red Carpet Ready cocktails….   so from about 7pm to midnight, the attendees got to mingle with each other, the speakers and the other fitness professionals and celebs that stopped by.  More information was shared, new friendships were made and a great time was had by all.  It truly exceeded my expectations…

The Red Carpet Ready Fitness & Beauty Summit was a smashing success.  If you were unable to attend this year, don’t worry, we recorded the entire event and will keep you posted on when the videos will be released.

And to wrap up today’s post, meet Jenny Sledge… the winner of the Red Carpet Ready 6 Week Challenge.  She showed up to the event not knowing she won, so it was a great surprise to her when we called her on stage to share her story.   The other winner, who wasn’t able to attend was Chrystal-Lee Fellows followed closely by Lara Householder!  Great job to everyone that participated!

Learn more about the programs Jenny has used to see such amazing results at RedCarpetReady.com and ActionHeroBabe.com

Leave a comment below and let us know what you thought, who you favorite speaker is, or if you were in attendance…  maybe share some of your A-HA’s for the other readers of this blog

How To Get Red Carpet Ready: Secrets from the Experts Part 1

Last weekend was the first ever Red Carpet Ready Fitness & Beauty Summit and it far exceeded my expectations…  the turnout was awesome and the feedback so far has been absolutely phenomenal!  If you missed out, let me take a few minutes to fill you in…

The idea behind the summit was simple:  bring the best of the best – the top experts from LA’s fitness & beauty scene, to share their latest and greatest secrets for achieving amazing results in minimal time.

Having been a trainer in Los Angeles for over 17 years now, I’ve become friends with many of the best people, the ones responsible for creating the bodies we see on the big screens and the magazine covers every month.  When I asked them to come share, they were all just so thrilled!

We had some great sponsors come in to support the event and help us bring it to the most fabulous location:  The London Hotel in West Hollywood – a super hip hotel known for its extravagant celebrity parties and weddings.  Tropicana Trop50 was the title sponsor, as well as Puma and New Beauty magazine who not only provided awesome gifts for the attendees but covered the event for a future issue.

Now, let’s get into it.  I’ll do my best to give you a taste of what the summit experience was like, and leave you with some take-aways from each of the speakers that you can apply to your life right now to get amazing results.

First up was Jamie Milnes…  a trainer here in Los Angeles who works with a variety of clients, including some of the biggest names in Hollywood.  His true passion, though, is working with underprivileged kids with his organization, Get Fit Go Play.  It’s such an amazing concept…  he works with children from inner city schools who don’t have the opportunity to try certain sports like snow-skiing or trapeze, for example.   Then he works them for 6-8 weeks on a fitness program designed to prepare them for that skill.  At that point, they take it to the slopes/field/water/whatever and put their new fitness to the test.

He took his “Get Fit Go Play” philosophy and broke it down for the audience so they could use the same principles to improve their body and increase their fitness…

So basically, Jamie would tell you to choose an activity…  something you enjoy doing outside of the gym.  Whether its cycling, running a half-marathon, surfing, whatever.  Then base your training around improving at this activity.  Not only will you get in better shape to perform but your body will improve just the same.  This intrinsic motivation to improve at a skill is generally a much more reliable source of motivation than just dropping pounds and inches.

The way he structures his workouts is like this… for both celebrities, his GFGP kids and even himself and his girlfriend…

1. Develop the T.A.P. The Total Athletic Package by…  performing combination exercises using upper and lowerbody.  Training what he calls QARdio techniques (a topic for a future blog post) and developing your core muscles
2. Perform full body circuit training workouts
3. Use unilateral movements when possible….  so train one side of your body, then the other.  When done correctly, it creates an unconcious activation of your core muscles and…
4. Makes every movement “functional.”  Meaning the strength and carryover will be seen in your everyday activities and not just in the gym.

Anthony Slater came up next.  He’s one of the top trainers at Core Performance, and works with everyone from high-level olympic athletes to Ms. Next-Door Soccer Mom.  He specializes in all aspects of performance but his presentation focused on the psychological components of achieving your goals…

He breaks down the “science of achievement” into 4 simple steps, that if followed accordingly will lead to massive success in any area of your life… fitness and health included.

The four steps are.

1. Preparation
2. Action
3. Reflection
4. Celebration

1.  Preparation

Preparation and planning is kind of like setting the GPS in your car for your destination…  or at least HAVING a destination.  Because after all, if you don’t know where you’re going – how are you going to get there?  He asked the audience “how many people have ever showed up to the airport and asked for a ticket on the next flight out, no matter where it’s going.”

2. Action

Action is where the “rubber meets the road,” so to speak.  We can have all preparation in the world and the perfect plan in place, but with no action, there is no results.  So once you decide where you’re going or what your goals are, also determine what action steps need to be taken to get to those goals, and you guessed it… take MASSIVE ACTION NOW!

TRACKING + ACTION = TRACTION

One of the coolest things Anthony showed us here was his “whiteboard method.”   I’ve written about the idea in a previous post but it’s worth a reminder.  Quite simply, you hang a whiteboard somewhere that you’ll see it often and write down the activities that you’ve chosen to get you from where you are now to your end goal…   then every time you complete one of those activities, you make a tally.

This is an awesome way to keep yourself consistent and then reflect back on all of your little “successes” a long the way…  not to mention that after you’ve had a nice run of tallys going, you just don’t want to break that chain

Which brings me to the 3rd part of Anthony’s formula…

3.  Reflection

Reflecting on the progress you’ve made so far is great for a couple of reasons…

1.  It keeps you motivated… after all, you’ve come this far.  Why not keep it going!
2.  It allows you to fine-tune your actions…  if something is working really well, maybe do a bit more of it.  If something isn’t working as well as you had originally planned, maybe back off a bit.

And finally, the fourth step in Anthony’s formula and probably the most fun…

4.  Celebration!

Celebration is basically an extension of the reflection in step number 3… you must recognize that will power is a limited resource and at some point, it will need replenishing…

So after you’ve achieved a goal, don’t just move on to the next one without recognizing how far you’ve come…  hold the positive thoughts in your mind long enough for them to turn into feelings..  this will inspire continued motivation.

A few ways to celebrate:

• Special rewards
• Simple pleasures
• Support and reinforcement from friends
• Sharing
• Community participation (Red Carpet Ready)

Next up, one of the most anticipated speakers, celebrity nutritionist Cynthia Pasquella.  She’s just the cutest thing ever… 8 and a half months pregnant and still came ready to ROCK IT!

She discussed the idea of “weight loss resistance disorder,” which she believes to be the biggest phenomenon in obesity today…   in a nutshell, WLRD is an issue with individual biochemistry and metabolism where you body holds on to body fat and even increases fat cell production to protect itself…   sounds scary right?  I know.

1. Can’t lose weight no matter what you eat or how much you exercise
2. If you’re carrying around extra weight in your stomach and thighs (hormones)
3. If you suffer from gas, bloating, constipation (digestion)
4. If you are stressed or anxious often (adrenals)
5. If you don’t eat mostly organic foods and use chemical free cleansing and body care products (toxins)

There isn’t enough room in this post to cover everything Cynthia went over, but a a couple of the biggies that you can begin incorporating into your life right now are…

1.  Cleanse – The cleansing process does the following.

• eliminates toxic burden
• frees up fat cells so they can be byrned
• improves digestion
• aids in balancing hormones

Cynthia carries a phenomenal line of cleansing products you can view here.  Her protein is my favorite thing ever!

2. AVOID SOY PROTEIN!

She was very, very adamant about this.  After saying something to the effect of “I really don’t believe there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods…” – that it’s not always so black and white because even a lot of ‘bad’ foods have a good element.. she said soy protein is just bad.  Always.

This does not include fermented organic soy like tempeh, natto and miso.

One thing that I believe is standing out in everyone’s mind is when she said soy is processed with a chemical called “hexane,” which Wikipedia defines as a “significant constituent of gasoline.”  Cynthia compared eating most soy products to adding a tablespoon of motor oil to your food.  YIKES!

3. Get More Sleep

We all know we’re supposed to sleep more…  and for some of us, it’s not the easiest thing.  But here are a few points that Cynthia made about how the lack of sleep contributes to your Weight Loss Resistance Disorder.

• It decreases insulin sensitivity which makes you store fat easier
• Increases cortisol production and makes you crave caffeine and sugar for that energy boost
• Interferes with the thyroid and slows down your metabolism
• Increases appetites

You see, lack of sleep doesn’t only affect energy levels – it goes far deeper than that and directly affects the metabolic and hormonal process in ways some of us aren’t even aware.

So please, do your best to get at least 8 hours of sleep per night…

In the next post in this series, I’ll cover my presentation along with the rest of the speakers and the winners of the Red Carpet Ready 6 Week Challenge!!