You know the drill: To lose weight you have to burn off more calories than you take in. In a perfect world, with no job, kids or stress, that would probably work. But unless you’re able to employ a chef and a personal trainer and have no responsibilities other than to eat what you’re given and move as you’re told, it’s probably not going to happen. Besides, to see real and lasting change in your weight, you’re going to have to do the work—yourself. To make this process easier, here are 16 of our best diet tips to help you lose weight and maintain the weight loss, forever.

When it comes to the abs there is training for “show” and for “go.” The distinction between form and function is often misrepresented as an either/or choice. But I believe you can have both—proper function and great looking muscles.

Show

The abs get a lot of work in many non-ab exercises, but to get the look people are after when they think of “nice abs,” some direct abdominal training is typically necessary. Direct ab training also provides the additional benefit of giving you a sense of which muscles are working at various points in a movement.  This awareness allows for more accurate ab muscle contraction when you are doing full body exercises.

Go

The abs also have several jobs to do:

• They help us flex, extend and rotate the torso in everyday life.
• They have to move at various speeds.
• They create both movement (mobility) and prevent or accommodate movement (stability).

Every health and fitness professional understands that the holiday season is the most difficult time of the year for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We bake, we feast, we travel, we party. In fact, every day throughout November and December seems like a day spent consuming more calories than expended.

The year is almost up and there were plenty of workouts that challenged you and your client! See ACE’s 10 best workouts that will have you working up a sweat.

f you find yourself counting sheep to no relent, wakefully staring at the ceiling when you should be deep in sleep-town, you’re not alone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40 million people in the United States don’t get an adequate amount of sleep (Liu et al., 2016). Besides the dreadful mornings that put you in slow motion for the day, lack of sleep has also been linked to a variety of health issues.

Data from numerous studies suggests that insufficient sleep can be linked to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, early death, high blood pressure and a wide range of other health problems (Grander et al., 2014; Killick, Banks and Liu, 2012; Strine and Chapman, 2005).

As a female in the exercise science field for the past 12 years, I have learned a thing or two about the importance of weight training. When the end goal is weight loss (or pretty much any end goal), a weight-training program is a must. 

Hip pain is a common problem for sedentary and non-sedentary individuals, and many health and fitness pros want to know how they can help their clients who are struggling with this issue.

Chronic pain is a sign that there is irritation or injury at a site. There are a multitude of conditions that can cause hip pain, from trochanteric bursitis to osteoarthritis. The great news is that movement is the panacea for many of these conditions.

In injury assessment, we talk first about the mechanism of injury. This is very simply a description of the condition(s) that led to the injury. By understanding the mechanism of injury, we better understand the injury itself and how to use exercise to heal, not harm.

If you are ready for a pectoral-pumping workout that doesn’t involve push-ups, this workout is for you. Each move is guaranteed to train some or all of the muscles used in push-ups without doing a single push-up.

The human body obtains nutrient energy (calories) from three macronutrients: fat, carbohydrates and protein. Fat functions as a source of energy to muscle at rest, helps carry fat-soluble vitamins and contributes to the structure of every cell in our body. Carbohydrates provide the primary fuel for most bodily functions and are the preferred fuel for the brain and entire nervous system. Protein is vital for cell turnover and antibody production, and assists the body in maintaining fluid balance. It is because of protein’s association with muscle rebuilding and repair that it’s easy to get carried away with the notion of “a little is good, so a lot must be better,” particularly in the quest for creating a more favorable body composition. But the truth is that excess calories, regardless if they come from fat, carbohydrates or protein, will be stored as fat tissue and can contribute to weight gain.

Healthy food doesn’t just magically show up at your house. You’ve got to shop for it, and with the overwhelming number of choices available in today’s grocery stores, this can be challenging. Here are seven tips on how to fill your cart with the good stuff.