Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Stretching, why are you so against it?

In my club I have started seeing a rising trend in clients and participants skipping out on stretching. I'm curious if this is happening in other clubs and studios as well. I have clients tell me they don't want to waste any of their hour with me by stretching at the end. I have participants in my classes leave right after core before the final stretch because they don't feel the need to stay. They will also just stand there and stare at me blankly when we stretch a particular muscle group we just worked during class. I don't understand the concept of not stretching after your workout. It makes no sense to me. It's just like the vitamins that you get from the food you eat for your body. If you don't get enough of a particular vitamin from your diet then you take a supplement. Stretching equals the same as a supplement.
Let me first start off by clearing up this short fact. Yes I said stretching after you are finished with your workout. If any of you are STILL stretching before your workout you deserve a thump on the head. Quick reason why we don't do this. Our muscles have what is referred to as autogenic inhibition (also just called AI and I'm sure it has other names as well). When we stretch AI is actually what tells the muscle it's being stretched and it stops the muscle from fighting against that stretch. In simpler terms, it shuts the muscle down. This is what leads to injury during a workout. So, stop stretching before your workout. Now back to the real topic at hand!
Stretching is such an important part of your workout. Skipping out on any stretching can seriously mess with the results you get from all of your hard work in the gym. Stretching returns those worked muscles to its original resting length so that it can better and evenly repair itself after a good exercise routine. Your body just needs it. Think about this:
You have a great (or not so great) nights rest, you wake up and roll over and reluctantly stand to get out of bed. What is the first thing you will probably do after standing? Simple answer. Stretch.
In addition to returning our muscles to normal resting length we also stretch to improve our ROM (range of motion) in our joints. A greater ROM means less tendency for injury. This is especially true for athletes. Can a joint be overstretched? Absolutely. Just like anything else, too much of something can never be a good thing.
A good effective stretch after a workout should last about 5 minutes. Spend 20 seconds per each muscle worked (and if you've been reading my blog up to this point you should be doing full body workouts EVERY workout so stretching should fill a whole 5 minutes). Some good stretches can be found all over the internet. A few stretches I definitely recommend avoiding would be the full plow (I have never understood this stretch to begin with), the hurdler's stretch, straight legged toe touches, and for those with lower back issues, any other unsupported spinal flexion (forward folds) stretches.
So, what have we learned? Stretching is a must. STOP skipping out on it. You might actually find that was the reason you weren't getting the results you were looking for.


Thursday, July 14, 2011

Your core, it's more than just abs.

If anyone has ever told you that you need to work your core and all you did was add a couple of abdominal exercises to your workout regimen, you are only getting a third of the job done. Your core involves a lot more than just that so-sought-after six pack. I often refer to the core as the powerhouse of your body. Almost every single move your body makes involves your core. So, back to the question. What exactly is your core?
Of course a part of your core is the front of your midsection or the rectus abdominus (abs). But even this part isn't that simple. There is more there than just that. You have muscles all around that that act as postural muscles to keep you upright. Below your rectus abdominus is your transverse abdominus. Just consider this another layer to your abs. To each side of your rectus and transverse abs are your obliques. These muscles are called obliques because of the direction they run. They actually run diagonally through your midsection. SO MANY AB MUSCLES, how do you work them all?! Simple. The most effective ab workout is the plank (also called a hover). Another great exercise is the Ab Rollout on a Swissball. The great thing about the Ab Rollout is that you can progress from a Swissball to lower apparatuses such as an Ab Dolly, Ab Wheel, or just a barbell with different sized plates when you get the hang of it and want to keep challenging yourself.
Alright, so the front of the midsection is taken care of. What about the back of the midsection? This is also a part of your core, a very important part of your core. Your back muscles are what keeps in you good posture and keeps you from slouching forward as you get older. Also, keeping the back strong greatly lessens your chance of having any lower back problems. One of these muscles is called your erector spinae. You work this by doing Pointers or Swimmers. Depending on who you talk to some consider your latissimus dorsi part of your core. I'm one of those. Your lats are a key part of having good strong posture. A simple exercise for the lats is the Lat Pull Down. If you want to shake things up a Bent Over Row works great too.
The last and final piece of the core puzzle is your hips. YES, your hips. There are A LOT of little muscles that make up your hips and I won't even begin to name them all here. The most important fact to know is that working these muscles is just as important as working everything else. Any exercise that has you working your legs from side to side or outside to inside (in the frontal plane, if that makes sense to you) is going to work the muscles of your hips. A couple of examples is a Banded Step Touch or a Power Step Touch. Squat with a Hip Abduction is an example you see a lot with trainers or group fitness instructors.
All of these different systems of muscles all work together to make the core. It's more than just ab work that is going to give you the strong core you want and need. Results really should come in a total body package. Now you understand why I refer to the core as your powerhouse. It initiates almost every movement you will ever do in a day whether inside the gym or at work or even at home. So take all this, let it soak in, and on your next trip the gym try out some of these exercises and see if it doesn't make a difference in your results.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

So you have the summer body, now what?

Alright so you worked all winter long to get your figure right for summer, now what are you going to do? First and most importantly you can't stop working for your goal just because you acheived it. If you stop working out you will lose that beach bod much faster than it took you to get it (assuming, of course, you did it the right way). You need to find a good maintenance program. Obviously the routine you had worked so I recommend tweaking that a little to last you longer or trying out Female Body Breakthrough my Rachel Cosgrove or The New Rules of Lifting For Abs by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. Both programs are also great if you haven't reached your summer goal yet. They will definetely get you there.
Secondly you have to make sure your eating habits match your body. A bad diet will always overrule a good exercise program no matter how long you've been on that program or regardless of how great the program is or how long you've been doing it. Pick a diet high in protein to help maintain muscle and rich in all nutrients to make sure you are keeping your body healthy. And also remember having a little cheat treat once or twice a week isnt going to ruin your results. So get out there and show off your new bod!
If you have any specific questions on a diet or exercise program for you please feel free to email me or contact me on facebook!
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Monday, June 13, 2011

Athletic shoes, why are you breaking them in?

First off, let me say, if you aren't wearing athletic shoes to work out in I will personally find you and smack you in the head with all the love I have in my heart. Not wearing proper shoes to work out in is a quick trip to knee problems. Whether those problems come quick or later on in life depends on you but know that it will happen. So go to the shoe store and buy a pair of athletic shoes, they don't have to be expensive to be good. Brooks and Saucony make fantastic athletic shoes and they have several pairs to choose from for under $60. NOW, on to my real point of this post.
You should never have to 'break in' your athletic shoes. If you wear your shoes once and you end up with blisters or they just aren't comfortable then that is a big message they are the wrong kind of shoe for your feet. There are all types of shoes for different types of feet. You may have a foot with no arch which means you need a shoe to support that. In the reverse you may have a foot with a high arch. They make shoes for that too. Not every shoe fits every foot. Yeah that pair of Nike shoes may look pretty but they may not be right for your foot.
To find out what kind of arch you have lay down a brown bag and wet the bottom of your foot. Step on the paper bag and then lift your foot. If you see an entire foot print on the bag then you have a foot with no arch. If you see a footprint with a partial middle, then you have a foot with a 'normal' arch. If there is no middle to your print then you have a high arch. Now you know, and now you can go buy a shoe that will fit your foot. A good shoe store will also have someone on staff who can measure your foot and tell you what type of foot you have and what type of shoe you need. Again, I will say, the shoe doesn't have to be expensive to be a good shoe. Don't let them try and up-sale you on an expensive shoe.
Now go get your shoes and get back to being fit!

Any other questions or comments please e-mail me at kwxercise@gmx.com or simply leave a comment below. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Bowel habits, someone has to talk about it!

Alright let's talk about something that most people won't want to talk about but, seriously, SOMEONE has to talk about it. SO, why not let it be me? I have all kinds of conversations with my clients. As you have learned so far from reading this blog you know fitness is a very 360 degree concept. It involves much more than just working out or eating right. It takes both of them together in the right pattern for the right person for it to work. A conversation that comes up quite a bit (begrudgingly and in as low of a voice as possible might I add) is how much bathroom habits change after you start eating right and exercising. This is good! It's exactly what is supposed to happen!
I'm always shocked when I hear a client talk about how their normal habits in the bathroom are so shockingly minimal. If you aren't urinating at least twice a day it's a given you need more water. If that urine is yellow you still need more fluids throughout your day. It isn't necessary to drown yourself with water every time that you do drink fluids but just make it more of a habit to drink throughout the day. Always carry a bottle of water with you at work so it's always there and convenient. You'll find that you will drink out of it just because it's there. If you scroll through all my blog entries you will find I talk about water a lot but that is because it is so, so important.
Alright, the other bathroom habit, let's talk about it. I am floored when clients tell me they only excrete solid waste once every three days. THIS IS AWFUL! If you aren't getting rid of your solid waste at least once a day there is A LOT that needs to change. You first need to up your fiber intake which can easily be done with supplements or just eating the right whole grain foods. Second, of course, you need more fluids. This is especially true if passing solid waste is particularly difficult for you. Third, you need to start exercising regularly. This is an awesome cure for bad bowel habits. Trust me, once you start moving on a regular basis, everything inside of you will start moving as well. You know the old axiom right? Regular exercisers are just that, regular. Okay, maybe I just made that up but its true. If you have any serious questions about bad, or difficult bathroom habits your doctor is an awesome person to talk to. Any other questions you know you can always ask me. I talk about this kind of thing everyday.
Coming soon, I know I promised an article about core strength, that will come next so stay tuned!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Getting off the scale, getting a new mindset.

Alright, I'm just going to come right out and say it. I want you to walk over to that awesome new fancy scale you just bought, pick it up, walk over to your trash can, and drop it in. Oh yes, I said it. And I mean it. If you are using your scale as the end all be all means of telling whether you are getting healthier by losing weight, end it now. That is one of the most unhealthy and unreliable methods there is to telling whether you are reaching your fitness goals. You have to get the number out of your mind. The number on the scale means absolutely nothing. I can tell you this, if you are dieting and exercising the way that you should be the number on that scale just may increase. Yes ma'am, yes sir, it just may increase if you are doing everything you are supposed to be doing when looking to make long term healthy changes in your life.
Think about this, if you go from a state of never exercising or exercising sporadicaly to exercising all the time you are going to gain muscle before anything else happens. Muscle is weight, good weight, but still weight. So when you step on the scale for the first time after starting your serious exercise regimen that number is more than likely going to be more than when you started. This is normal. Think of the scale as more of a starting point. Look at your number in the beginning and let that guide you towards your goal. Once you are into your workout routine for a few months, then check it again and see where you have gotten. That's all you should ever use it for.
For my clients I find that measuring inches of extremities and waist line is a more effective approach at measuring results. Your arms are going to change shape with new muscle, same as your legs and your waist will start to get smaller. These new muscles are going to help burn the fat that you want to lose. But you first have to gain the muscle. As I said before, new muscle equals new weight.
Don't let the scale tell you whether or not you're on the right track because no matter how 'smart' your scale is it still has no idea who you are and its just programmed to give a number, a number that really, truly means nothing. Fit and Healthy comes in all different shapes and sizes. So find the shape and size that best fits your body type and get off that scale!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Eating right really is simple, just a few basic rules.

So I was sitting in the doctor's office recently to take care of my abnormally large tonsils when I found myself skimming through a magazine published by a very popular chain of gyms which I will not name here in this post but we all know the name. Well, I think we all do. ANYWAY, so I was skimming through when an article about healthy eating caught my eye. In this article I concluded that they really didn't know what they were talking about and I finished the article more confused than when I had started. So that got me wondering how many other people out there are either A) reading that article and feel like healthy eating is too hard so they said 'forget it' before even trying or B) really are clueless from the get go about what it is they should be putting in their mouths. Well here are some easy rules to follow when choosing right eating habits.

1. Do. Not. Starve. Yourself. EVER.
This one should be a no brainer, however, it is not. Women fall prey to this every single day. They have the weight they want to lose so they can fit into that perfect pair of jeans or dress for this perfect day so what do they do to get ready? They don't eat. This is stupid. Really stupid. Not only are you going to gain that weight back plus some but you have just officially made it harder for your body to lose any more weight for your future endeavors of getting a slimmer body. Starving yourself seriously screws up your metabolism. Not to mention a lot of other things. You leave yourself susceptible to all kinds of airborne viruses and germs. That's disgusting. You have to eat in order to lose weight. Yes, I will repeat it with full confidence. YOU HAVE TO EAT IN ORDER TO LOSE WEIGHT. Several small meals a day work great for training your metabolism.

2. Don't be scared of carbohydrates. Seriously.
Carbs are our friends in terms of our body's ability to effectively function throughout the day. Carbs are a ready source of fuel for our body to use in doing anything and everything that we do in a day. Especially working out. You need carbohydrates before and after your workout to get your body ready AND also to adequately recover from your workout. Recovery takes just as much effort from your body as the actual workout itself.

3. Don't skimp on your protein, regardless of your gender or goals for your body.
Proteins are the building blocks of EVERYTHING in your body. Every little cell in your body is built up of protein. All your DNA is protein. Bones are built of proteins. Muscles are built of proteins. On and on and on. As far as a carb to protein ratio it should be pretty close to this, 4:1. That's 4 carbs, 1 protein.

4. Fear not all fats.
Fats are actually needed by your body. Skipping out on all fats isn't necessarily a healthy choice in choosing your new way of eating. Every muscle you have and every organ you have is actually surrounded by a protective stretchy sac called fascia. That fascia is made up of fat. Look for omega-3s as healthy fats to add to your diet. You'll find these in fatty fish like tuna.

5. Stay hydrated.
Just because you aren't thirsty doesn't mean you don't need water. That thirst sensation is telling you that you REALLY need water because something is about to stop working effectively inside your body unless you get more. Drinking water regularly throughout your day is a really good way to keep you hydrated and everything inside of you working at its most efficient especially the organs that need fluid in order to filter out those toxins that are floating around inside of you like your liver. In terms of exercise you should be drinking well before your workout, all throughout your workout, and well after your workout. We are like plants in this sense, without water we can't live.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Breaking personal goals, each and every gym visit.

Are you the type that comes into the gym and does the same thing every time your in the gym and can't figure out why you aren't getting results? Or maybe you got results in the beginning and now can't figure out why you stopped? It's because your doing the same thing every time you come into the gym.
You shouldn't ever do the same workout two gym trips in a row. Ever. No exceptions. The whole point of working out is to confuse your muscles. If you keep doing the saaaame cardio routine or the saaaaaaame lifting routine your muscles are going to learn what you are doing and they will quickly adapt and they wont grow or your body will adapt and you won't shed any more pounds regardless of caloric expenditure. And for the love of all things workout and results STOP DOING ISOLATION EXERCISES! Your body doesn't move isometrically so you won't get great results isometrically. And no more leg days, arm days, back days, etc. etc. etc. Work your whole body in a circuit every time you come to the gym and you will get MUCH better, balanced results. This concept should make sense to everybody: The more muscles you work the harder your body works so you burn more calories and you will see desired results much more quickly. Easy concept yes?
The whole point of your workout is to set personal bests. What I mean is you should always be exercising to reach a new goal. So you should always be going harder, lifting heavier, jumping higher, reaching further, etc. If you aren't then, of course, you probably aren't seeing results or you aren't seeing the results that you think you should be seeing. Now that doesn't necessarily mean you have to increase your weight each time you visit the gym. Sometimes that increase is in reps which possibly might mean you use a little less weight. That's perfectly good! That's muscle confusion in action. That is what will give you the body you want!
Quickly I want to end this with a little lecture about your core, specifically your rectus abdominus (the ever so longed for 6 pack). Just because you see someone with a 6 pack doesn't necessarily mean they have great core strength. That definitely isn't what that means. Some of the weakest athletes I've seen in my career have the abs but don't have stability or core strength worth anything. And let's think about the magazines you see where every model and celebrity has a 6 pack, how much do you think they starved themselves the day before to look like that? A LOT of them do. Just because they 'appear' fit and healthy doesn't necessarily mean they are.
Stay tuned in the near future for a whole blog entry dedicated to nothing but the core! Everything you wanted to know and all the things you didn't even think of. Now get into the gym and show yourself your personal best!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Let's talk about that guy, the one you don't want to be.

Okay so we all know that guy who comes into the gym, drives all around the parking lot until a spot in front opens up then finally parks and goes into the gym to do nothing more than walk leisurely on the treadmill. That is the prime example of that guy. Don't be that guy. That guy is paying however much a month to come to the gym and then walk on the treadmill. That's one seriously expensive treadmill. It's costing him not only his gym dues but also gas. Not to mention, it's costing him time he could have been spending actually doing something to change his body and better his health.
Let's first talk about the treadmill. I know I've talked about it before but let's seriously break this down. The things a treadmill can be used for effectively: basic warm-up, interval training, cup holder, clothes hanger. That's it. Really. I come into the gym and I use the treadmill for 10 minutes to get my juices flowing and organize my workout. Once I get that done I hop off, forget about it, do my real total body warm-up and get into my exercises. The only time I use it for my clients is when we are doing interval training. We hop on, do 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard, repeat repeat repeat. Even with this though, I find an elliptical is a little kinder to your joints. You cannot hop on a treadmill and walk on it for 30 minutes twice or three times a week and expect that to count as your workout. That's not a workout. It's wasted time (the only time this might not apply is if you are a brand new exerciser, but even then you HAVE to push yourself). In order to change your body you have to challenge your body. If you are hell bent on using that treadmill get on it and bump up the incline, walk that hill for a few minutes, then take it easy, repeat repeat repeat. But I would much rather see you walk over to the free weights and do some lifting. Fact: An hour of weight training is a much more effective calorie burner than an hour on the treadmill.
So I just told you weight training is the way to go, what do you do with those free weights? For starters you won't pick up those weights and start doing biceps curls. That is an exercise that is a waste of time. You will get plenty of biceps work doing other exercises. Fact: Your biceps will not grow out of proportion with the other muscles in your arms. So it is absolutely pointless to isolate them and work them to fatigue. Yeah they might fill with blood like any other muscle and fill out while your doing those curls but as a long term exercise it really is time wasted. Good free weight exercises include things like a Dumbbell Push Press, Split squats, Bulgarian (Rear Foot Elevated) Split Squats, deadlifts, deadrows. Even without dumbbells a great pushing exercise is the Push Up. Lou Schuler wrote a great book with Alwyn Cosgrove called The New Rules of Lifting. I highly recommend that book for any level of exerciser whether you are new to exercise or an advanced lifter. That book has great exercises and great info. Plus Schuler has an awesome sense of humor so the book stays entertaining when most books might go dry and get boring.
So, lots of information to let sink into your brains. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know, find my e-mail on this page.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Going on a diet, quick weight loss doesn't mean results.

Clients love to argue with me about diets. First of all, if you are my client you have obviously reached out to me for advice and motivation concerning weight loss and fitness so don't argue with me about the advice I give you. Second of all, I would never give you advice to sabotage your well being. That goes against everything I stand for as a Fitness Coach. Almost every client I have ever had has told me a story about how they went on this diet and lost all this weight a year ago and have since then gained it all back and then some. Well, let's back up a second. If you went on the diet to lose weight but have actually gained weight, I would call that diet a failure. So whatever diet that was throw it in the trash. This is where people love to argue with me. They say but I did lose weight in the beginning.
Stop.
Getting healthy and fit is all about long term life changes. Diets that make you fluctuate in weight (by fluctuate I mean lose a couple of pounds, gain them back, lose it, gain one pound, plateau, start all over) is not a healthy diet. You have to find that balance of exercise and proportionate eating that works for your body. It isn't a one size fits all kind of thing. What works for your friend or neighbor or that guy on TV that lost 100 pounds on the blah-blah-blah diet may not work for you and that's fine.
Getting healthy isn't ever going to be quick and easy. If it was everyone would be an ideal weight and eating the right foods everyday. I do promise you this though, the effort that you put into it will definitely be worth the outcome. Finding the right balance now will save you hundreds or maybe thousands on preventable hospital bills later on in life.
A couple of diets I do recommend has been put out by Fitness Quest and Rachel Cosgrove. Definitely check those out they may give you a good place to start.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Change is coming, accept it or not!

There is a lot of talk about change going on right now in the fitness industry. Credible fitness professionals and exercise scientists and organizations are putting out some pretty extreme stuff right now. I think it is sort of a make or break time for a lot of trainers. Are we all willing to accept everything that 'needs to change'? I don't know if I am willing to take it all in yet myself. There are a lot of things that I have done so far in my programming and with my clients that has seemed to be affective and I haven't really had any adverse affects. Of course, I am the first one out of the trainers and coaches I know that will drop everything I've been doing to accept a 'better method' if it has in fact been proven to be better. I'm all about being better, but I also want to keep training in my style and not be a one size fits all. What would be the point in selling me as a product if I had to say I was just like every other product on the market? When is it okay not to change?
A very reputable man that I follow very closely in this industry, Mike Boyle, has come out with a whole lecture as to why many exercises and exercise programs are becoming a thing of the past. One of these exercises being the common squat. If there is one exercise that I can honestly say everyone has done at least one time in their life is the squat. Everyone knows what a squat is and everyone can execute a squat if asked (note I didn't say they all could perform this correctly, just simply execute). Reason behind this being that it is too knee dominant and we are a society that has been overloaded with knee dominant exercises and now are seeing more knee injuries. On top of this due to a focus on knee dominant programming we have neglected to put focus on hips. So the solution to this is moving away from the thought of bilateral movement and moving into unilateral movement. The science to back this up is the the fact that we are able to load a unilateral squat with more weight than a back squat. This makes sense to me because in a back squat using 1RM weight the first thing to give is never the legs, it's the back. I also find this idea effective with my athlete clients as well. I see major improvement in mobility and muscle growth.
Another point that Boyle brought up was the idea of spinal flexion actually not being that much of a functional move at all. How many times in a typical a day do we actually lay on the floor and do a crunch? Never. I think the only time we actually 'crunch' is to raise ourselves from a lying position to get out of bed in the morning. He also mentioned back injuries due to this sort of movement in the spine. I accept this sort of thought until we start talking about injuries. I haven't known of anyone who got injured doing a crunch correctly. Now in a full sit-up, absolutely, but not doing a crunch. The science behind this stating that our lumbar spine wasn't built for mobility but more for stability for our hips and for our T-Spine (our hips and T-Spine both being used as the mobility joints). I have actually removed all spinal flexion from my programming and moved into other exercises such as the plank or hover and Swiss ball or bar rollouts. The feedback has all been surprisingly positive. Clients with low back pain have reported less pain and every client has reported feeling stronger in their core. I have had one instance where a client was not comfortable doing the rollout because he said it hurt too badly but that may have been an error on my part for starting him on a bar instead of the swiss ball then graduating him to using a bar.
One thing I still see coaches doing with athletes is having them stretch and using foam rollers before workouts. Stretching before a workout has been proven time and time again to be ineffective and dangerous. I wouldn't even consider doing it with the healthiest of athletes. Now the foam roller I'm a little confused on. Why would you have your athletes roll on the foam rollers pre workout? Would it not be more affective to wait until after your athletes have warmed the muscle to roll out the surrounding fascia? Seems like just in the idea of stretching, rolling would be a waste and maybe harmful to begin with it. I also can't say that I have put a whole lot of time into researching yet. Maybe I will find my answer when I dig in deep and look at some scientific evidence. I do believe rolling is great though, I am just on the fence as to when it would be most effective not just for athletes but for my general clients as well.
A lot of trainers and scientists are saying we are becoming too rehab oriented in our exercise programming and that we should save the rehab for physical therapists. My opinion? Exercising is rehab. Just as we rehab a muscle that has been injured and now is weak and needs to be conditioned our bodies have gotten out of shape and weak and need to be conditioned. It's the same thing to me. Maybe this statement was said in response to a question concerning the exercise intensity? I'm not certain but that really wouldn't make sense either considering our job as coaches and trainers is to change peoples' bodies. Change doesn't come from sitting still. Change takes work, hard work.
Like I said, lots of interesting things coming out right now. I did try to condense a little bit as to not make this post too long but still wanted to get the facts and ideas out there from not only myself but other great trainers and coaches as well. You definitely need to Google Mike Boyle and Alwyn Cosgrove and read some of their stuff. It is worth the time. I will definitely continue my research and may come to find some stuff I have said in this post is proven wrong. I will definitely let you know if this happens. Any other good stuff you find also feel free to e-mail me. My e-mail is posted on this page somewhere.
Don't let change be the reason you lose your clients. Definitely put in some time researching and decide what you agree with and what you don't agree with and then research some more. Ultimately the decision is yours. Just don't be afraid to change!