(Image courtesy of Lisa Payne)

In the first half of my interview with Chicago Trainer Lisa Payne we talked about her favorite places to work out in the city, taking days off from getting after it in the weight room and how ladies can make their workouts stronger. Read the first half here.

Wrapping up my time with Lisa, I wanted to get her take on working out on the road and eating right before workout and after. We left off on what ladies do wrong at the gym, and I don’t want to boys to miss out on a bit of constructive criticism.

Jeana Anderson: What’s one thing men do wrong when it comes to fitness?

Lisa Payne: Guys tend to not watch their form. I cringe every time I walk into the gym… They tend to go more for looks and they grunt a lot. It’s more of a testosterone thing and they don’t stop to realize, “Wow, I’m really jerking this thing around. I feel something, so I’m going to keep going.” I just feel like a lot of guys I see don’t pay attention to form. Not to say that’s all guys, just a lot of guys.

Guys don’t like to work legs. It’s hard. Nine out of ten guys I’ve ever trained burn out within five minutes of legs. I’ve had two guys recently who were sure they’d be fine with legs. They both threw up after two or three different machines. It was simple stuff … and they threw up. So guys need to realize that everything is attached. Guys want their upper body to look bigger … they don’t worry about their lower bodies because they don’t want their legs to get huge.

Fit tip: Gents, pay more attention to your form and spend more time on your legs. It won’t look weird, promise.

JA: When you/your clients can’t get to the gym, how do you/they get a workout in?

LP: I tell them, “work out every second that you can.” I have a ten minute workout video that I shot with Vital Juice like three years ago and people still use it … I have some clients that are really swamped … I tell them that you’ve got to get it in whenever you can and you can’t think that it’s going to take away from your energy. It might add to your energy… Your hour of stress relief. I try to get them to keep a tabulation of the minutes they get in rather than the hours they get in. Keep a tabulation of that … and see if you can continue to find more time – get up early, go walking, see if you can delegate as much as you can. Get a babysitter, if you have kids. It really doesn’t matter when you get it in, it’s just what you do.

You have NikeFuel and I encourage my clients to do it and start looking at that. It kind of gets them motivated because they’re not thinking, “oh wow, I’m so busy today, I’m not doing anything,” but if you have a NikeFuel band, you know you’re doing something…

Fit tip: Try Lisa’s 10 minute fitness video on Vital Juice if you’re in a workout time crunch. 

JA: Summer is coming  – How do you advise people to keep their nutrition in-check year-round, so they’re not dieting?

LP: There is no diet. I just tell people to eat as close to natural stuff as possible. I’ve tried out things with my clients. There was a diet called the Fresh Diet, it’s a food delivery service, and my client emailed me and asked, “it’s a Gilt Groupe, should I do it?” and I said, “I’ll do it with you.” and I didn’t really like it. It was really expensive and kind of troublesome. I tried another food delivery service called CJK Foods and I am obsessed. I tweet them all the time about their foods. They follow paleo and anti-inflammatory diet. You pick it up or they drop it off … Last night, I had tilapia with asparagus puree and onions. The asparagus puree, sounds like it would be disgusting, like baby food, it was full of flavor and garlic and it looked like mashed potatoes…

It’s just lean proteins and veggies. I’ve been promoting them because, there’s nothing bad about it and the price is reasonable. I tell my clients to eat as close to natural as possible and eat whatever is going to give you the most energy. Things like carbs you don’t need as much as night because carbs are really for energy, they keep brain power up. So if you’re having trouble sleeping, I tell people to lay off the carbs at night… Eat for fuel all day long, every day. There is no diet.

Fit tip: Eat for fuel all day long, every day. There is no diet. As an aside, Lisa is totally right about CJK foods. Boyfriend and I just got our first week of food from CJK. The pulled pork was delicious and we used the time we saved to work out. Two healthy choices in one.  

JA: What do you advise people to eat/drink post workout?

I tell them they have to – HAVE TO – it’s non negotiable – eat something an hour or two before they can work out. A banana is perfect. You read any fitness magazine and they’ll say a banana because it’s got potassium in it, which if you’re a little dehydrated will kind of help keep those minerals up and it’s just enough to get you through the workout. Because if you’re working out on an empty stomach you’re more likely to overeat after  working out. If you would just take 100 calories to eat a banana a hour or two before your workout. Then you’ll probably eat less overall. You’ll have that energy to give your workout as much energy as you can…

After the workout, I’d say the same thing. Within two hours, eat something. They do say that if you eat something with proteins and a little bit of carbs after working out, it will give you more energy. So if you’re a day worker-outer or if you work out in the morning, that’s probably a good thing to do. Eat within an hour of working out.

Fit tip: for better workouts overall, eat a little snack before – try a banana. Eat something with proteins and a little bit of carbs after.

JA: Is there anything else that we didn’t cover that’s just general good advice for people trying to stay fit in Chicago?

LP: People need to stretch and not leave class early … stretch is actually more important than anything else because your feet, your ankles and everything else support you, so you need to take the time. You need to stretch at least a half an hour or an hour a week. Every day pick something to stretch. Save your body.

Fit tip: Take care of your body and stretch.

Lisa Payne does private, small group and corporate training. Want to get in touch with her? Contact her here.