Taurel Fitness

This gym was designed to incorporate the latest in equipment technology while also creating a space that allowed complete flexibility in training styles.  As with your gym, I worked with the architect and interior designer to create a beautiful space.   

Please click on thumbnails below to see larger images. Please note there are 2 pages of images.

Together we will create a space that will stimulate you and allow you to enjoy your workout.  Using the following elements.

• Fitness needs for you, your family or organization.
• Space and budget.
• Interior design and aesthetics.
• Most up to date technology and equipment
• Flooring.
• Sound Systems.
• Lightning.
• Mirrors.

I train at a 20,000 square food facility with top of the line equipment at 54 west 21st street, on the 8th floor. Between 6th and 5th avenue, closer to 6th avenue.              www.peakperformancenyc.com

• Keiser, Cy-bex, Power plate, sleds, prowlers, DB’s, locker rooms and showers.

Train stops near:

• F,V on 6th and 23rd street
• N, R, W on 23 street and Broadway
• 1,9 on 18th street and 7th avenue

• Athletic Performance Institute Phase I 2008
• Athletic Performance Institute Phase II 2008
• American College of Sport Medicine 2001-current
• National Strength Conditioning Association 2001-current
• National American College of Sport Medicine 2001-current
• Power Plate Muscle Vibration Certification 2008
• Pre and Post Natal through AAAI / ISMA 2003
• Life Weight Management Nutrition Specialist by Dr. Jane Pentz 2003
• Aerobic and Fitness Association of American Science 2001
• Baylor College of Medicine as a Personal Fitness Trainer 1999
• Dr. Marc Brackin and Baylor College of Sport Medicine Fitness and Sports Nutrition         Symposium 1999
• A.C.E. Personal Trainer 1999
• A.C.E. Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant 1999

Completed Phase I & II Mentorship at Athletes Performance Institute, 6 days of analyzing human and sports performance in Nutrition, Pre-Hab & Pillar Strength, Plyometrics, Acceleration, Absolute Running Speed, Multidirectional Speed & Strength, Rotary Training Energy Systems Development and Functional Movement Screens.

Completed Grey Cook’s Functional Movement Screen Seminar Workshop, on ascertaining potential risk with individual’s movement patterns.

Completed Juan Carlos Santana (Med, CSCS), workshop on Optimum Human Performance in strength, agility, balance, reaction and deceleration.

Completed Michael Boyle’s (nationally recognized strength and conditioning coach) workshop, on Athletic performance, Biomechanics, Strength and Conditioning and Human Performance.

Certified by and participated in Frank Zane (Three times Mr. Olympia) workshop which discussed nutrition and exercise and included “hands-on” correct techniques and construction of training programs for clients depending on their specific goals.

Certified and studied with Arthur Lessac, renowned instructor of the human body (230 hours of training in Body, Voice and Speech).

Several Health consultations and presentations made to Royal Dutch / Shell Group companies as part of their HSE management program to improve employee well being.

Several Health consultations and presentations made to Hughes & Hubbard law firm in New York City regarding weight loss, weight management and how to fight cardiovascular disease.

coming soon…

• 1 scoop of protein powder
• 1/2 cup of Almond Milk
• 1 navel orange peeled
• 1 Tbsp of wheat germ ( wholeflax seed if fine)
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of ice

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Second Recipe

• 1 scoop of prtein powder
• 1/3 cup of dry steal cut or Irish oatmeal
• 2/3 cup of almond mil or water
• 1 frozen bannaa
• 1 Tbs of almond butter ( Not peanut butter)
• 3 Tbs of apple suace
• 1 Tbs of flax seed ( whole flax-seed is fine)
• 1/2 cup o ice cubes

Below is the link to a very reputable supplier of high quality supplements that I recommend. I always suggest my clients supplement, at a minimum, with fish oil, vitamin D3 and a multi vitamin. But please consult your doctor before starting any new supplementation.

Order Supplements Online

coming  soon…

coming soon…

Eating Out

Recipes

The same principles that you would apply at home apply when eating out. Eat lean proteins from fish, poultry and lean red meats. Eat high fiber vegetables and beans and eliminate white carbohydrates and junk carbs.

Appetizers
You want to stay away from bread-based and cheesy appetizers. Like fried cheese, onion rings, nachos or cheese plates. The plates are jut too heavy in calories and will make your overall dinner caloric intake way too high.

• Choose appetizers that are higher in protein and lean meats and not fried.
• Grilled or cocktail shrimp, smoked salmon, grilled chicken and beef skewers and tuna or beef tartar.

Salad or Soup Please
The key in not overeating on bread is to have something flavorful and in front of you fast. House salads and soups are great choice to help you. Order a broth soup or mixed salad always before dinner. Choose oil and vinegar for your dressing but if not ask for vinaigrette on the side and NO croutons or bread. Freshly squeezed lemon with salt and pepper also tastes nice.
Order soups that don’t have any cream.

• Miso, lentil, black bean soup, split pea and tomato soup are good choices. They are high on fiber which means you will fill up faster. Always ask your waiter if the soups have cream or butter in it or on top as a garnish.

If you know a salad or soup is coming in 5 or 10 minutes, then you are less likely to eat the whole breadbasket in front of you because you won’t be feeling so ravenous. The longer you have food in your stomach the more time that allows your stomach to send a signal to your brain that you are getting full. It takes at least 20 minutes for your brain to recognize your belly is full when you start eating.

Use Color
Having color on your dinner plate is a great way to know if you are eating right. Foods with color are always high in fiber: I always immediately look at the sides list first to see how many grilled vegetables or even sautéed vegetables I am going to order with my main course. Order a double side of grilled veggies if you feel you get plenty to eat.
Green, yellow and red vegetables. Yellow squash, green asparagus and spinach, zucchini, brown, black and red beans and light green lentils. Color is the fist step and easiest way to order healthy.

LEAN MEATS
Pick lean red meats like filet mignon, strip steaks, white pork, chicken, turkey, salmon or any white fish. Be sure that they are grilled or broiled. Again always tell your waiter that you don’t want any butter on your meat. And when in doubt what to eat, always order fish grilled. The fat content-will probably have fewer calories than a similar portion of chicken or even beef; But not if the fish is a vehicle for fat. For example, a five-ounce serving of fried shrimp is 675 calories and has 39 grams of fat.
Beware the words “crispy” or “lightly fried” or “a light in cream sauce”. Try picking foods that are simply described on the menu.

NO WHITES
When you are trying to reach your weight loss goal the more whites you eliminate from your diet the faster you will reach your goal. Stay away from whites like white breads, mash potato, white rice, white pasta and white burger buns. A plain bake potato is not so bad but the problem of course is that we tend to gussy up potatoes with butter, sour cream, and cheese. An unadorned, fist size potatoes, at a mere 145 calories each, a really are a good choice, particularly because they lend themselves to portion control. Even though potato size varies, we an all count to one. Whereas rice or pasta, is a bit more difficult. Portions of pasta vary in size among restaurants and they end up being smothered in heavy sauces.
But if you do order spaghetti, order plain pasta with a marinara sauce. This is an safe and healthy choice. Anything else, is simply Russian roulette.
Wine Please
Choose WINE over cocktail drinks like margaritas, daiquiris and mixed drinks. They are usually extremely high in sugar and calories. Save your calories for something else. One margarita can have as much as 300 calories. If you choose liquor, keep it to a minimum and choose clean liquor, like scotch. Vodka with club soda and squeeze of lime is also not a bad choice. The vodka is clean and the lemon or lime slows down insulin response to the alcohol. Beer is not the best choice for weight loss, even light beer. It is made of maltose sugar, which spikes insulin levels. Keep beer to one or two.

Desserts
And for desserts, order a bowl of fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries. If you are going to choose something heavier like ice cream, then choose plain vanilla. It has the lowest amount of calories. Of course yogurt would be great if they have it.

Going out to Lunch
Order a either a clean sandwich or a salad. Choose whole wheat or grains breads for your sandwich and lean meats like turkey, chicken or roast beef. Filled your with as many high colored veggies. Choose mustard or plain olive oil and vinegar for your condiment. Don’t choose full fat mayo on a sandwich. You can be adding as much as 20 extra grams of saturated fat. And if I wanted a wrap I would choose a whole wheat or spinach wrap. Now the wraps are not perfect but they are better than white breads.
Salads are easy. Add as many veggies as you want, lean proteins like salmon, chicken or tuna and oil and vinegar for your dressing.

Summary:

• Order a broth soup or house salad to start so that your weight time for dinner is cut in half and you don’t over eat.
• Order quality proteins and choose fish when in doubt.
• Order grilled or steamed vegetables instead of mashed potatoes or order a plain baked potato.
• Choose wine as your alcohol choice and stay away from cocktails and mixed drinks. Go easy on beer.

Tip:
Going out to a party where you don’t know what the foods is going to be, eat something 15 minutes before you arrive at the party. Like an apple or a piece of 9 grain toast spread with either peanut butter or humus. Eat something with fiber and healthy fats.

• You can also drink a glass of metamucil. The high fiber in your stomach will help you feel fuller faster and curve your appetite.

Push ups

Higher Vo2 means Fat Loss.

Running on a treadmill formula for calculating calories being burned per minute. 

The higher your Vo2 the more calories you will burn during and after a workout.

• First find Vo2:  3.5 + 5.36 (speed on treadmil) + .24 (speed on treadmill) (%inc on treadmil)= ( This number equals how hard you are working, how good of shape yo are in)
• Then Vo2 in leters:  Vo2 ( number from above)  X’s your body weight in Kilograms (Body weight in lbs divided by 2.2) then all of this divided by 1000
• Finally:  Number from above X’s 5 calories = Calories being burned per minute

• Multiply this number with the number of minutes you worked out and you have your total number of calories.

coming soon…

The Body Mass Index is a fromulat that take into consieratio your height and your weigh, and give you indication of whether you’re overeigh, obese or in good shape.

To calculate:

• Take your weight and multiply it by 703. 150 x’s 703 = 105,450
• Take your height in inches and then square it so a 5.5 person would be 65 inches x’s 65 inches=4225
• 105, 450/4225=24.95

• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
• Overweight = 25-29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

If your weight is 170 lbs and have a body fat % of 32 percent and would like to be 24% body fat,  then you would need to lose 17 pounds to achieve that goal.

• 170 x’s .32 = 54 pounds of fat on your body
• 170-54 pounds of fat =’s 116 pounds of lean body mass
• 1-.24 ( your desired body fat %) = .76
• 116/.76= 153 pounds. YOUR GOAL WEIGHT
• You need to lose 17lbs of body fat  170-153 =    17

So to give you an idea of how many workouts this would take as long as you did not eat any more that you are currently eating it would go as follows:

• 17 pounds of fat are 59,500 calories.  There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat so 17 x’s 3,500 =’s 59, 500
• 400 calorie workouts, would take you about 148 workouts.
• 6 days per week, would take you to about 6 months.

Bonus: if you do achieve this caloric deficiency through your workouts, you will actually burn more through out the day because your RMR will be fired up. Meaning you will burn more fat from just sitting around. And if you eat healthy then you could probably achieve your weight loss goal in 4 months.

Summary:

If you want to lose Body Fat correctly and keep it off for a long time, you must exercise and supplement with proper nutrition. Meaning eating foods that are not calorie empty and high in sugar. Obviously this is a very simplistic way of looking at weight loss because there other factors that we can manipulate to get there faster. But the point being that if you don’t eat smart and exercise the battle of losing the bulge is tough. I would say impossible to lose.

Why stretch before and after a workout?

• Stretching primes the muscle for the activity you are about to perform so that you can live your everyday life without injury.

SAMPLE STRETCHES

Bent over lower back stretch:

• Hold onto the back of a chair or stable surface around hip height and lock your knees. 
• Bend forward from the hips, using the chair as a support. 
• Try to imagine showing your butt proudly to everyone behind you. You will start to feel the stretch right around the back of the legs. Depending how tight or flexible you are, you will feel it higher or lower on the leg. 
• Make sure that you bend from the hip and keep your back as straight as you can by keeping your head up and looking forward. 
• As you start to find this less challenging, try the same stretch but with your legs crossed and both feet on the floor.
• Repeat 2 or 3 x’s for 20 seconds. 

Standing hamstring stretch:

In order to build muscle, the principle is simple, time under tension and proper timing of nutrition. The longer the muscle is under tension the stronger and bigger it will grow.  And the better  your nutrition is after the workout, the faster the body grows and builds muscle.

The program will include Cardio Anaerobic Threshold (CAT) training to address the energy systems of the body so that the muscle can work harder and longer.  As well as core and functional training to add balance , and stability to the joints of the body so that it can perform at its peak without the risk of injury.

• Nutritional plans to optimize growth hormone and reduce cortisol.
• Define your nutrient requirements
• Increased muscle definition
• Increased strength
• Stronger Immune System
• Increased Flexibility and Mobility with in the joint
• Increased Power

(CAT) Cardio Anaerobic Threshold training  -Addresses the energy systems of the body and is bar none THE most EFFECTIVE way of achieving your weight loss and performance goals.

• Accelerated Metabolism
• Reduced body fat
• Increased muscle definition
• Higher anaerobic capacity
• Ability to handle high amounts of CO2 and lactic acid
• Increased strength
• Stronger immune system
• Increased power
• More endurance

Sprinkle short bursts of high intensity training ( 10 to 15 seconds) into your cardio and weight sessions.

EXAMPLE:
Use an Elliptical trainer for five minutes at 65% to 75% percent of your maximum heart rate for 5 minutes and then working hard for 10 to 15 seconds at 80% to 85% of your HRM. Repeat this cycle three or four times.If you don’t have a heart rate monitor, another easy and fast calculation is to rate your work rate from the scale of 1 to 10 (1 being easiest and 10 the hardest). Work for 5 minutes on what you would call a level 6 and then work hard for 10 to 15 seconds at what you would call a level 9 of intensity.

Fat Loss Cardio Program

Walking Program

The most important variable in injury prevention and reducing pain is stability and mobility. Discovering where you need more stability and what part of your body needs more mobility. When these two variable are in balance then pain reduction is achieved.

The program is dominated by advance core training, passive and active flexibility and mobility exercises.

• Corrective exercises
• Functional Movement Screen assessment
• Core Training
• Hip Training
• Glute strengthening

My philosophy is simple, to create a personalized program that meets your daily life needs at any age.  By getting you up on your feet and keeping you up; pain free. Helping you to stay active for the things you want to do and the demands that life makes on you. We create a program that includes resistance training (not necessarily weight training), range of motion mobility exercises, balance work, core work, and extensive stretching to increase your flexibility and help your joints stay mobile and agile.

• Decrease your chances of Injury
• Eliminate your back pain
• Dramatically decrease your sciatica pain
• Increase your stamina
• Increase balance
• Increase strength in legs and arms
• Increase your speed of walking
• Increase your activity level in your life
• Increase the ability for you to produce power and force for your daily life

I have learned through all my years of experience with my pre-natal clients that endurance, energy and no back pain are my supreme objectives. Taking into consideration all of your specific needs and concerns but making sure you are gaining hip strength and and hip mobility to make your pregnancy as smooth and easy as possible. And keeping your recovery time as short as possible.

The program includes strength training, a lot of hip work, cardiovascular training, mobility and nutrition.

• Eliminate your back pain
• Triple your chances of having a shorter labor
• Decrease your risk of injury
• Keep your weight gain to a minimum for post pregnancy recovery
• Increase your strength in your legs, hips, back and arms
• Increase overall stamina
• Feel more confident throughout your pregnancy regarding daily living.

I believe the way to long term weight loss is through a combination of strength training to build lean muscle, interval aerobic work to burn the maximum of calories and to apply basic fundamentals in nutrition and supplementation to increase the body’s metabolism and healing.

• Eating plans with recipes
• Perfect day eating plans
• Cardiovascular training prescriptions
• List of healthy supplements
• Goal setting
• Visualized graphs that chart your progress every 3 weeks
• Body composition analysis (optional)
• Accountability so you stay on course