Posts Tagged ‘Exercise Tips’

Every day I hear quotes such as the following: “I want to lose fat, so I will start doing cardio for the first six months and then I will start the weights AFTER I lose the fat”, or my all time favorite, “I just do cardio to keep the fat off”.  The problem with these statements is that they disregard basic principles of exercise physiology that state that there exists a balance of these two exercise modes.

There is a term in Exercise Science known as Specificity.  This principle is based on the fact that the human body adapts to various exercise stimuli.  In other words if I were to train you to be a bodybuilder I would want to train you using a resistance of about 75-85% of your I repetition maximum.  On the other hand if I wanted to train you to be a marathon runner I would be training in the 40-50% 1 rep max range because the body will respond entirely different to that kind of exercise.  So you may be asking yourself, “Well how does this have anything to do with finding the correct balance of cardio and weights?”  The answer is a resounding EVERYTHING.

Remember that cardiovascular exercise and resistance training exercise have a completely different affect on how your body adapts physiologically.  Take for example the following key differences:

-Cardiovascular exercise is catabolic (meaning that it promotes the breakdown of tissues, both fatty and muscular)

-Resistance training exercise is anabolic (meaning that it promotes the build-up of muscle tissue…BUT it does not encourage the build-up of fatty tissue)

-Aerobic exercise does NOT favor optimal strength development.  So when you hear somebody say “I lift weights for my upper body, but for my lower body I just run”, you will know that they are fooling themselves.

-Aerobic exercise encourages catabolic hormones (breaking down) such as glucocorticoids (cortisol,cortisone, ect).  These hormones prevent muscle growth and promote the storage of FAT…yes you heard me right…the storage of fat.  This is your bodies attempt at turning you into an efficient fat-burning machine.  The problem is that you don’t want to be an efficient fat burning machine.  Think about this for a minute…what do you want your air conditioner to be? Efficient or non-efficient?  Well, you want it to be efficient because then you are using LESS energy and that is a good thing.  But what about your body?  Remember that your goal is to burn fat NOT be efficient with it.

This is where resistance training comes into the picture.  Where cardiovascular exercise is excellent in burning extra calories and getting your weight down, it also has the tendency to keep you in a state of efficiency. 

-Resistance training promotes the secretion of Testosterone and Growth Hormone which ARE FAT BURNING HORMONES!  So what have we now…? We have the best of both worlds: the immediate fat-burning affects of cardiovascular exercise and the long-term fat-burning effects of resistance training (growth hormone, testosterone, and muscle itself which is highly metabolic in nature).

Summary: Cardiovascular exercise and Resistance Training Exercise have different outcomes on the human body.  A proper balance is needed to ensure fat-loss is maximized.  The following is a general starting guide for you to consider:

Beginners (less than 6 months weight training): 3-6 days cardio and 2-3 days of weight training

Intermediate: 50/50 split between the two modes of exercise.  For example weights on Mon/Wed/Fri and Cardio on Tue/Thur/Sat

Advanced: Favor more resistance training to optimize hormonal balance and maintain metabolism. For example weight training 5 days a week and cardio 2 days a week.  This will ensure you stay on the fat burning fast track.

Well there you have it my friends!  I will dive more aggressively into this topic, but this should keep you thinking squarely for now!  Remember that life is good!

Excuses & Meme’s…The Great American Way! Part II

Please read part I posted last week to shed light on what I am about to suggest in this post.  Last week I told you that all of us have meme’s and that they act to impede our fitness and nutrition goals.  Today I would like to give you some simple steps that you can apply to change your current mindset so that you can obtain the lifestyle that you truly deserve.

Step #1:  Acknowledge that you make excuses:

No, you’re not in AA but this first step CANNOT be overlooked. If you do, you will pay the price of failing.  You make excuses…yes you do.  There is absolutely nobody that is exempt from excuse making and you are no exception.  That is ok.  The good news is that you can change your mind once you identify your excuses and memes. 

Step #2: Write down all of your excuses and memes:

This is more of a process.  For the next 30 days I want you to write down all of the excuses and memes that you make to yourself.  See last weeks post for examples.

Step #3: State the opposite:

Once you have written down all of your most annoying excuses and memes you need to write down the exact opposite.  For example if you say, “I am too tired to exercise after work”, write down “Because I am proactive and take responsibility for my life, I will exercise before work to increase my energy level”. 

Step #4: Change your Sub-Conscience Mind: 

Your sub-conscience mind is the part of the brain that stores all of your habits.  It steers the proverbial ship.  This is where the vast majority of all your behaviors are stored and processed.  To change your sub-conscience mind you have to do the following things.

            a. Convince it that it is wrong:  You do this by stating the exact opposite of your memes.  The very moment that a negative or damming thought enters your head you must replace it with the opposite thought…even if you have to say it out loud.

            b. Construct a list of positive affirmations:  On this list could be something like “I am in control of my eating at all times”, or “Exercising daily is just part of who I am”. 

            c. Repeat your list of affirmations daily, morning and night: Do this when you first awake and before you go to sleep.  The goal is to be in a relaxed state where not much will bother you and where your mind can be at ease. 

            d. Be in a state of believing:  When you are repeating your affirmations, do so in a state of positivity and optimism

Step #5: Disarm your alarm system!

When you begin doing these simple steps your brain will tell you that you are crazy and that you are acting weird or like a moron.  This is normal because your brain is still convinced of the validity of your previous mindset of excuses and memes.  Persistence is the key here.  If you persist and repeat your affirmations day after day you will begin to believe the things that you are telling yourself and BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE YOURSELF YOU WILL ACT ON IT!  Yes your behavior will start to change in a way that you never imagined possible.

Step #6:  Realize that you never “Arrive”.

We live in a world of complacency, feeling entitled and laziness.  If you are not constantly reinforcing your sub-conscience mind, rest assured you will slip back into old ways.  Stay focused and realize that you have to be proactive to win the battle.  Things will not magically work out for the best if you are not constantly bathing your mind with the things that you want to accomplish.

Step #7 Action:

This is where it is time to get off your butt and get into action.  You can have the most wonderful meditation sessions of visualizations and imagery known to mankind, but if you don’t move you will never change your behavior.  It is much easier to shed your old excuses when you see yourself doing the opposite of them.  Soon you will be excuse free!

Step #8 Making it Long-Term:

Realize from the get-go that this is about lifestyle change for the long-term!  Never allow any short-sightedness to enter the picture here.  When you are planning your visualizations and affirmations make them long term.  You want to adopt a mindset of permanency.

 Well there you have it my friends!  Properly applied these principles can and will change your lifestyle for the better.  Start applying them today…there is absolutely no room for procrastination here.  Remember…life is good!

You may be asking yourself…what the heck is a meme?  The word meme is derived from a branch of Psychology called “Memetics”.  Memetics is the study of human behavior BASED on certain psychological beliefs.  In other words it is the study of mental habits.  If I believe that I am a fat, and unattractive slob, even though it may not be true, it becomes a reality in my own mind.  Take for example the victim of Anorexia Nervosa.  Although their body fat level may be fatally low, they think and believe that they are fat.  They live in an alternate reality that is fueled by their own flawed thinking.  Essentially memes are lies and excuses.  They may contain an element of truth BUT they can be altered by you.  They can be changed.

Now you may be asking the question…well what does this have to do with my fitness and nutrition goals?  The answer is a resounding: EVERYTHING!  Do you know that YOU have memes?  Yes, you have memes that are good and bad.  Here are some examples of memes to help you better understand this article.

“I can’t find the time to exercise…I am just too busy”

“My genetics have pre-disposed me to be fat…there is not much I can do about it”

“I am just naturally lazy…it is hard for me to get motivated to do anything!”

“I would like to eat healthier, but I don’t have time and it is too expensive”

“Nobody understands me…that is why I fail”

“I am too old to exercise”

“I am too important of a person at work to allow time to exercise”

“Eating healthy is boring”

“I am entitled to eat unhealthy…I’m an American” (This is more of a sub-conscience meme)”

“I would be healthier but I don’t have the support of my family”

“I am too tired to work out after my job…I just want to crash”

 I guarantee that many of you reading this are saying to yourself, “yes that is me” or, “well, yes they are excuses but they are true!”  Would I offend you if I told you that none of these excuses are rooted in truth?  Memes have a terribly insidious way of convincing you that they are indeed truthful.  Let’s take the time excuse for example.  In a recent study performed by the American College of Sports Medicine they found that the number one excuse for not exercising is time.  People feel like they don’t have enough time to exercise but what the study found is just the opposite.  People HAVE the time but they don’t MAKE the time.  Simply put it is not a priority to them.  This clearly show’s what a meme is…these people firmly believe that they don’t have the time to exercise but REALITY shows that they indeed do.  So to clarify…the meme is: “I don’t have the time”, but the reality says: “I don’t make the time”.  My friends there are a huge difference here!  Memes are nothing more than false mental realities that we create for ourselves…they are not rooted in truth.

 So how do we change our current thinking (meme) patterns?  In my next blog post I will give you a step-by step program that you can use to dissolve your current memes.  I assure you that you must dissipate your current memes if you ever hope to change your physical and nutritional lifestyle.  I have seen people succeed by changing their memes and I have seen people fail miserably because they don’t take the time to correct the mental before the physical.  In fact it has to be that way…mental before physical.  I think you can sense the truth inherent in these words.  Remember my friends; life is good…stay tuned for next week’s installment.

Ryan Flint, Lifelong Fitness Certified Personal Trainer and Sports Nutritionist

 I know there seems to be an on-going debate out there these days with health professionals, nutritionists, and the media giving different opinions about whether organic food is worth the slightly higher prices.

But there are a few VERY important aspects of organic food that I rarely see anybody out there talking about.

First, as you know, the main aspect that most people talk about in the organic vs conventional food debate is simply whether the food in question was grown with pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers, and whether that food contains pesticide/herbicide residues on the actual food when you eat it.

And that IS important… I mean, I know I don’t want to be ingesting pesticide residues that are potentially carginogenic or even estrogenic and can possibly increase belly fat (due to the xenoestrogens)… and I’m sure you don’t either!

But there’s another another MAJOR aspect of organic vs conventional food that most people are overlooking, and that is:

The impacts of conventional farm chemicals on the SOIL, and how that affects the nutritional composition (quantities of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in the food)

The harsh chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides used in conventional farming can destroy a large part of the microbial activity in the soils (bacteria and fungi) that help to make soil minerals more available to the plants roots.  Conventional farming degrades this aspect of the soil which results in lower micro-nutrient levels in the plants that you eat.

In organic farming, these harsh chemicals are not used, and the soil is healthier and more biologically active (fungi and bacteria aid the plant roots with uptake of minerals and nutrients), and the plants roots can therefore obtain more nutrition which produces foods with higher micro-nutrient levels.

Also, it’s quite possible that the heavy use of chemical fertilizers, which make crops grow much faster than normal, leads to a shallower root system, that inherently absorbs less micro-nutrients from the soil column compared to organically raised plants that are forced to have deeper, more extensive root systems to obtain all of the nutrients the plant needs.

I think it’s quite easy to see why organic foods can have superior nutrition levels and more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than conventional foods.

But beware of conflicting “reports” out there on this topic.  Although there is much data on the superior nutrition levels of organic foods, you may also find some data that contradicts these findings in particular studies.

The reason that this happens is that science isn’t perfect, and someone may measure the nutrition levels of a certain type of conventional tomato, for example, compared against a different type of organic tomato, grown in a vastly different geographic area in vastly different soils and climate.  There are dozens, or even hundreds of complications with these types of studies, which is why you can’t always make direct comparisons.

 However, I think with the evidence we talked about in terms of soil quality, nutrient uptake, and also just the pure fact that we don’t want carcinogenic and estrogenic chemicals in our food, it makes it worth it to try to buy organic as much as possible.

Sometimes Local may be MORE important than “Organic”

Here’s another vitally important thing to keep in mind… 

If your choices at the grocery store for the organic food come from half way around the globe (such as organic produce from Chile or New Zealand when you live in North America), then you might want to consider favoring local produce even if it’s not labeled “organic”.

For one reason, many local farm stands may actually have organic produce but simply aren’t legally allowed to label their food “organic” if they haven’t acquired whatever necessary licenses they need for that.  If you ask the farmers, many times you may find out that the local farm produce is in fact organic, or at least close to organic (meaning they use very minimal chemicals compared to a large industrial farm).

Also, local produce that is picked at it’s peak of ripeness, and on your plate in a matter of hours or days, will usually have much higher nutrition levels compared to “organic” produce that was picked halfway around the world well before it was ripe and traveled weeks to make it to your grocery store.

The one caveat to this is frozen produce… sometimes fruits and veggies are picked at their peak of ripeness and frozen rather quickly, even if they were picked halfway around the world.  In this case, organic frozen fruits and vegetables can sometimes be just as nutritious as local produce (although they may carry a bigger petroleum burden than local produce)

So, if I were to give my overall recommendations to save yourself from the inherent health dangers of pesticides and herbicides, while also eating food that contains the highest levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, it is this:

1. choose organic over conventional most of the time, when it’s available

2. choose local foods over organic if the organic food came from very long distances away (although frozen organic fruits and vegetables can be just as nutritious as local)

3. Don’t forget that choosing organic also helps to protect the environment from chemical fertilizer and pesticide pollution that can harm ecosystems and your own drinking water supply.

4. Don’t fall for “organic junk foods” — I’ve been seeing this trend lately — Just because crackers, cookies, cakes, and corn chips may be labeled “organic”, doesn’t mean they are healthy… junk food is still junk food!  And these are still overly processed foods that can make you fat!

Remember that forcing change for responsible agriculture starts with your choices as a consumer.  The more we demand responsibly grown and raised foods by choosing those foods in our shopping carts, the more that producers and suppliers will respond to that demand.

Written by Ryan Flint, NSCA-CPT, Sports Nutritionist

I’ve read about this very interesting Harvard University study about exercise multiple times in the past, but I was just recently reminded about this study again while reading the fascinating book called 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman.

Pay attention, because this actually shows a pretty powerful trick that you can use to literally make ANY workout or exercise program a LOT more effective and results producing.

According to the book 59 Seconds, here’s how this study was carried out:

Researchers at Harvard University studied over 80 hotel room cleaning attendants from 7 different hotels.  The hotel room attendants naturally received a lot of exercise from their daily jobs, which included cleaning an average of 15 rooms per day at about 25 minutes per room.  This work involves a good deal of exercise in carrying things, scrubbing, lifting objects, vacuuming, and so on.

The researchers knew the hotel maids led an active lifestyle from their work, but also questioned whether most of the maids may not realize that their work was actually good for their health.  The researchers set out to study the effects on the hotel attendants of making them very aware of how beneficial the exercise they got while working was for their health, and to see if this increased the results that they actually received from the exercise.

Basically, the question was… Would telling them that their work was great exercise improve their health, lower their blood pressure, and help them to lose weight compared to the hotel attendants that didn’t realize their work was in fact “exercise”?

The hotel attendants were split into 2 groups:

1. This group was informed about the benefits of exercise and told how many calories they were burning while doing their hotel cleaning work each day. They were specifically told how many calories activities such as changing sheets, vacuuming, and scrubbing bathrooms were burning each hour.

The researchers also wanted this information to stick in their heads daily, so they gave the attendants a handout showing the quantities of calories they were burning doing each activity of their jobs.  They were also shown a poster daily that reinforced how many calories they were burning.

2.  The control group of hotel cleaning attendants was simply informed of the benefits of exercise, but we’re NOT told how many calories they were burning doing their work, and also were NOT told that their work actually constituted a good form of exercise.

The researchers studied the existing lifestyles of all of the participants in both groups as well as giving them various health tests, including weigh-ins.

The study was conducted for 4 weeks.  The researchers made sure that none of the participants had actually changed their exercise habits, smoking, or eating habits outside of work.  This assured that there was no external lifestyle factor that could have accounted for the results of the study.

In addition, the hotel managers assured that the workloads of both groups stayed the same throughout the entire experiment.

Here are the VERY interesting results:

It turned out that the group of hotel cleaning attendants that was informed daily about the calorie-burning effects of their normal work routines ended up losing a significant amount of weight, lowered their body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, and decreased their blood pressure.

The control group of hotel attendants that was not told about the calories they burned while doing their work showed NONE of these improvements.

Wow… very interesting huh! 

Remember that each of these groups received the SAME amount of exercise and did not alter their lifestyle, eating habits, drinking habits, smoking, or anything else.  The only thing that was different between the 2 groups was simply that the one group was constantly being reminded of how beneficial the exercise during their work was for their health and how many calories they were burning, and therefore their minds were busy believing in the benefits of it.

This actually doesn’t surprise me… this is classic placebo effect at work here, and reinforces how powerful our brains are in relation to the results we get from exercise, food, supplements, etc.

How to use this info to burn more fat in your workouts, build more lean muscle, and improve your health more from exercise and nutrition

There’s a good lesson in this study.  If you strongly believe in your mind that the workouts that you are doing are drastically improving your body, your results will increase dramatically from those workouts. 

The trick I’ve used over the years is to really “get mental” during your workouts and believe strongly that the exercise you are doing is transforming your body into a lean chiseled machine.  So, if you want to burn more fat, not only do you need to work out intensely (for your individual capabilities), but you also need to mentally visualize the results you’re getting, the body fat you are burning, and really strongly believe in how powerful the workout routine that you are doing really is for your body.

Along the same lines, if your goal is to build more muscle, then you really need to strongly believe in your mind at how powerfully your workouts are helping you to build muscle.

And this can be applied to your food intake too!

Don’t underestimate how powerful your mind really is… If you are eating healthy foods such as those detailed in our client binders and nutritional guide, make sure that you are also actively thinking in your mind about how those foods are dramatically helping your body, making you stronger, making you leaner, improving your energy and health, and so on.

Don’t ignore this… this will drastically improve your results if you actively think about how truly healthy the foods you are eating every day are and how they are changing your body.  This is assuming that you actually are eating truly healthy foods every day.

Another benefit of this “mental programming” is that it trains you to actually want to avoid junk foods, because you want to be able to think about how everything you eat is improving your body instead.

So there you go… an interesting study that shows how you can legitimately increase your results from your exercise and nutrition by just actively thinking about the benefits of both every day!

Wow!  It is already Summer 2010 and man are we feeling it!  I don’t think too many of us object to the warmer weather!  Summer is a time that reminds us that life is to be lived ACTIVELY!  During the winter it is much easier to get into an “office” or “house” routine that limits our physical activity.  Unfortunately some of us get into “vacation” mode during the summer with is great…but it sometimes transcends into our fitness and nutritional way of life as well.  “I will start back on my routine when school starts” is a common theme I have heard countless times.  I must be honest, when I say this is frustrating to say the least.  In keeping with our mission to help change your lifestyle I want to devote this blog to that purpose.

 Step #1:  Re-Focus your Lens

 Most of us view fitness and nutrition as a vehicle to deliver us to a short term destination.  What I mean by this is, “I have a Lake Powell trip coming up in two months”, or my personal favorite, “I have a class reunion coming up in three months and I need to drop 40 lbs.”  It’s as though we are only concerned about our health for a specific period of time and for superficial reasons.  The perspective that is essential to have is that of a long term lifestyle change.  You have to start to think in terms of permanency.  Try this today.  Think of what you want to achieve and then imagine maintaining that for the rest of your life…that is exactly what you are going to do.  No more diets, no more funky workout programs that only last for a predetermined amount of time, just a lifestyle where working out is the norms and healthy eating

 Step #2: Adjust your attitude

 There are many activities in our lives that we do not initially enjoy but learn to love later.  Entering into a healthy lifestyle is very similar.  At first you will find the changes hard and challenging but eventually your daily activities will become habit and you will find yourself enjoying your newfound lifestyle.  It helps to look upon your new life as rewarding and enjoyable rather than daunting and repressing.  Attitude goes further than most people realize and this step should not be overlooked.

 Step #3:  Give your new lifestyle a chance (Be consistent and persistent)

 I have seen countless people get very excited and motivated to start an exercise program but then fizzle out later when the going gets tough.  “I get too sore”, “I don’t have the time”, “I don’t know what I am doing” are some of the common excuses employed preceeding the drop-out of that persons exercise and nutritional routine.  The problem stems from the fact that we need a little will power to change our lifestyle but our current “convienant based lifestyle” mentality kicks in to sabatoge our efforts.  Do not ever give up!  Yes it will be a little hard but worth it!  The only way to change your lifestyle is to give it an adequate chance to change…something very few of us ever achieve.

 Step#4:  Schedule your workouts and meals

 This is where you design your battle plan.  Take a few moments at the start of every week and schedule your meals and your workouts.  This is where you are making your lifestyle a priority.  This is a very important step because it forces you to make time for yourself a priority.  The #1 reason that people fail at fitness is because of “lack of time”.  In my opionion this is an absolute load of nonsense because we ALL have the time it is the act of making the time.  This step is worth the 15-20 minutes invested into it.

 Step #5: Stop being LAZY!

 Yes you heard me right!  Laziness has become an American Pastime as it relates to healthy nutrition and fitness.  If you don’t believe me checkout the latest statistics concerning obesity in America.  This means getting our butts off the couch on a consistent basis and following through with your plans.  If you find yourself offended by this suggestion then please refer to step #2 again and apply it again.

 Step #6: Form a new habit!

 Your habits are a sub-conscience function.  Think about it…do you think of your daily routines?  Do you think about whether to take a shower or brush your teeth?  I hope you are answering no at this point J.  My point here is that you need to be so habitual about exercise and nutrition that it becomes second nature to you on a sub-conscience level.  It is at this point that you will not have to worry about regression or relapse.  The only way to get there is to continue on your healthy lifestyle path day after day, month after month, year after year.

 Step #7:  Maintain your lifestyle and ENJOY it!

 Unfortunately those who have truly obtained a Phase IV lifestyle (a good healthy lifestyle) are the minority in America now.  More than half of the American population is either overweight or obese.  I congratulate all of you that have successfully changed your lifestyle and urge you to enjoy it!  Hold your head high and be of good cheer because now all you have to do is maintain it.  I would also encourage you to spread the word!  Fitness is infectious and you will find yourself influencing many people to change their lives for the better.

 Well there you have it my friends.  I realize that many of you are at different steps in your lives and I would encourage you to apply these principles as appropriate. I would encourage you to always remember one thing…life is good!

One thing has always amazed me with the pushers of fad diets.  They all claim to have found a break-through, a real-deal quick fix, or my personal favorite…the ONLY way to lose weight quickly!  If all of these claims are true then we must be idiots to believe them.  That would mean that we would have to blindly accept the facts of any given fad diet and completely disregard all of the sound principles of nutrition science that have been handed to us long ago before any of these non-sense diets ever came into existence.

As you know, I am an avid advocate of long term lifestyle change because I believe that it is the only way to accomplish long-term success.  Don’t believe me?  Well I am excited to share with you some statistics that may change your mind.  My hope in doing so is that you might start to look at these fad diets in a different light than you have in the past.

Definition of Fad Diet:

This is somewhat of a subjective term, but this is an accurate definition.  Fad Diets are aimed at rapid weight loss and disregard where the weight comes from (i.e., muscle, water, fat).  Fad Diets usually have a time line associated with them and are highly restrictive in nature.  They usually focus on the inclusion or exclusion of macronutrients (CHO/Pro/Fat).  Fad Diets are usually hypo-caloric (low calorie) and focus on certain foods that they deem “good” or “bad”.

Statistical Facts:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  estimate that at any given time two-thirds of all American adults are on a diet to either lose weight or prevent weight gain. Of those, 29 percent are men and 44 percent women. Yet only 5 percent of these dieters will be successful at keeping the weight that they lost off.

Guess what that means my friends?  That means that a whopping 95% of fad diets fail in the long run!  That is hardly a formula for success!  Even more discouraging is the fact that the human body thoroughly despises gaining and losing weight in a cyclical fashion!  The body prefers to be in a state of balance or homeostasis, and yo-yo dieting has been proven to pull the body squarely out of that balanced state.  The result is a fluctuation of hormonal levels, cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral balances and so forth.
A staggering 66% of Americans are either overweight or obese…this is after all of the diets having been tried and failed!  I have a simple question for all of us Americans.  When will we learn that weight loss and lifestyle change is NOT found in a pill, surgery, funky and faddish diets, or fat-burning shots? 

A wise man once said, “Anything worth having will require a significant sacrifice of time, hard work, and determination”.  I could not agree more my friends.  You may be asking yourself, “Well how do I know how to spot the fad diets”.  I personally think that common sense will take you a long way in this arena, but in the following will give you some valuable tips that you can use.

Putting your “Diets” under the “Diet Microscope”

1- Does the diet promote rapid weight loss? 

Remember that the American College of Sports Medicine advocates weight loss of 1-2 lbs per week.  The fact that we think this is “too slow” is an indication of our lack of understanding of true and healthy weight loss.

2-Does it exclude one macro-nutrient or promotes the excessive consumption of another?  

In other words, if your diet is telling you to only consume protein and fat then the red flag should be raised.  Remember that the body prefers a balance of carbs, protein, and fat.  A healthy ratio is around 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 20% fat.

3- Does the diet eliminate food groups?

The grapefruit diet is a perfect example of this, only advocating the consumption of grapefruit and other select foods.  Remember that this is no hand and conclusive scientific data to back up any of these silly diets.

4-Are they “lifestyle sustainable”?

If you can’t imagine doing your “diet” for the rest of your life, then run for the hills!  Remember that the ultimate goal of any nutritional regimen should be long-term and enjoyable.  Healthy eating can accomplish weight loss, weight maintenance and healthy weight gain if you are creative and proactive in your approach.

5- Does it advertize weight loss without exercise?

Thank goodness this gimmick is fading a little, but it is still out there.  If you ever hear this rest assured that the diet being advertized is bogus.  The fact that they are advertizing this indicates that the product probably is taking weight loss from either muscle or water with only a minimum amount coming from fat…certainly a recipe for long-term disaster!

6- Does the diet restrict calories less than 1200 for women and 1500 for men?

Remember that muscle is an intricate part of the human metabolism…the more of it present on the human body, the more

7-Does the diet require additional supplements or sponsored company foods or pills?

Typically these companies will try to gain your trust and excitement through emotion-based advertizing.  They want to get as much $ squeezed out of you as possible and if that means selling you expensive (and most of the time worthless) supplements to give you a placebo effect then so be it!  Be vigilant and aware of these gimmicky-like techniques.

My Suggestions

My suggestion is simple.  Stay true to time tested healthy eating principles such as eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, and with the correct balance of carbs, protein, and fat.  Be consistent and you will eventually find yourself if a lifestyle sustaining habit that will serve you for the rest of your life.  I know that is simple, and there is more to it, but suffice it to say that if you learn the basics and stay true to them you will make it much further that you ever would with all if the non-sense that is out there.  Trying to re-invent the wheel with fad diets only serves to plunge that wheel deeper and deeper into an unhealthy and cumbersome lifestyle that will ultimately leave you fatter, more out of shape and more discouraged than you started. 

Be good to yourselves and remember that life is good!

In my nearly 10 years of service in the health and fitness industry I have seen a common thread among those who fail at changing their lifestyle.  That thread I am referring to is that of excuse making!  We all have them and we all know deep down that they hinder our efforts to succeed in every way. 

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer in his book, Excuses Begone! states that excuses if used enough become a reality within our own minds even if they are not true.  He call’s these states of mind, “memes”, named after a branch of Psychology called Memetics.  Memes are nothing more than a certain perception, understanding, view, or paradigm that we hold in our mind that we treasure as truth.

Memes can be good or bad.  For example, in my own life I choose to entertain the meme that I am a “work-horse” and my actions follow through on a daily basis.  If kept in proper balance this meme serves me in a positive way.  On the other hand I have seen many people suffering with negative memes.  I will list a few of them below as they pertain to achieving and maintaining a healthy and fit lifestyle.

• “I just don’t have time to workout”
• “I am way too busy to get to the gym or go running today”
• “I am too stressed to eat right”
• “Eating clean is too time consuming”
• “Eating healthy is expensive and time consuming”
• “I don’t have the self-control to reach my fitness goals”
• “I have failed in the past so why try now”
• “That’s just the way I am”
• “I can’t lose weight because of my genetics”
• “My family does not support my efforts so I cannot succeed in my goals”
• “It’s just my luck”

I could go on for four more pages of excuses and memes but I think you get the point.  I can hear many of you thinking right now…”well those aren’t necessarily excuses; those are merely realities to be dealt with.  Ok, I will not disagree entirely with that contention, BUT what I want to point out in the following recovery program is that ALL of the aforementioned excuses are memes…that is they do not have control over us, and they are not foregone conclusions.  I really boils down to what our priorities are and what we need to do to change them.  In this weeks blog I will share the first 5 and next week I will conclude.

 Step: #1  Recognize that an excuse in just that…an excuse! 

This sounds simple enough but it is the hardest step of them all.  It is hard to get past our ego’s that constantly stand on guard and try to defend our self made realities (excuses) as though we are merely helpless victims that have no say in what happens to us or our ability to change our lives for the better. 

Step #2:  Recognize that your excuses are barriers to changing your lifestyle.

Once we know that we are making excuses (step #1), we are then able to be proactive and realize that our excuses are actual barriers standing in the way of our health and fitness success.  This is a step of realization and reality check.  Please use this step as an opportunity to change your perceptions of your “false realities”.  Take each excuse in isolation and put it under an magnifying glass…ask yourself how this particular excuse has helped you succeed in the past and then be honest enough with yourself to recognize that it hasn’t.  This may sound cheesy, but I encourage you to give it an honest effort…you will find this to be extremely helpful in weeding out the excuses in your life.

Step #3:  Be the opposite!

Here is where I want you to be proactive.  I want you to literally write down every excuse that you can think of.  Write it on a piece of paper with a line down the middle.  In the first column write down your excuse, and then in the second column write down the exact opposite.  For example, if you use the common excuse of “I don’t have any time”, you would then write down the opposite of, “I am creative and capable enough to find time to workout”.  The real key here is to act on the opposite statements that you are writing down.  Your subconscious mind will only start to believe the opposite statements if and when you start to live that way.   Please do not skimp on this step…it is vital to your progress.

Step #4 Create a success road map.

Now that you have all your excuses written down and you are actively trying to do their direct opposite, you will now benefit by putting together a plan of attack.  A synonym for this might be goal setting. I suggest the following steps for your road map.

            -Step #1:  Begin from the end.  What do you ultimately want to accomplish?  Take a picture of somebody you would like to look like.  Keep in mind if you are over 50 and you pull out a picture of a 25 year-old bodybuilder you are setting yourself up for failure.  Please remember to stay realistic.

            -Step #2: Have a plan A and B and Possibly C.  This is where preparation is paramount.  Say for example fast food is a weakness of yours because you like the convenience.  To overcome this you would plan your healthy meals the night before OR you can plan to eat somewhere healthier instead of a fast food joint.  Prepare daily!  There truly is no substitute for this!  I promise you that you need to have back up plans for the tough times.

            -Step #3:  Plan around your weaknesses!  It makes no sense to plan for your strengths…that is why they are your strengths!  It is your weaknesses that impede you every time!  So when making your goals plan, your attack plan directly targeted at your weakness!   For example, let’s say that you are a mid-night snacker, and it is contributing to weight gain.  A sensible plan would be to make sure that you are prepared in the day time and that you are eating more healthy frequent meals so that you don’t feel famished by the night time.

Step 5: Switch Paradigms! 

Remember that your current mindset is filled with excuses that have kept you where you are at right now…in a stagnant state filled with no victories!  What I want you to do, is to start thinking differently.  Steps 1-3 will help you with this immensely!  Be positive rather than negative.  Be optimistic rather than pessimistic.  Be happy rather than depressed!  Sometimes we like to think of ourselves as helpless little victims that have no choice in the matter when in fact we have all the say in the world.  Even your mood is a decision you make.

I promise you that you have the ability to change your mind so that all of those tired, worn-out excuses do not make it into your mind!  It will take time, discipline and hard mental work but you must do it or you will fall victim to your current mindset that has gotten you nowhere so far.

Well there you have it my friends!  Next week I will delve into the next 5 steps that can effect positive changes in your life.  Until then stay positive and APPLY what you have learned today.  Remember that life truly is good.

In good health,

Griff

I always encounter begining exercisers that have many questions about how to get started on a new exercise program, so I decided that I would refer them to my blog!  This article reflects the official position of the American College of Sports Medicine.   The following is intended to give you a basic framework to work under as it pertains to how much exercise you should do when starting and maintaining an exercise program.

Cardiovascular Exercise Guidelines 

Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week

Or

Do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week

So what does all of this add up to?

ACSM recommends that adults participate in at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity (PA) to prevent significant weight gain and reduce associated chronic disease risk factors. It is recommended that overweight and obese individuals participate in this level of PA to elicit modest reductions in body weight but should participate in approximately 250 to 300 minutes of PA per week for greater weight loss and enhanced prevention of weight regain.

And For Strength Training

Do eight to 10 strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week.

Moderate-intensity physical activity means working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat, yet still being able to carry on a conversation. It should be noted that to lose weight or maintain weight loss, 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity may be necessary. The 30-minute recommendation is for the average healthy adult to maintain health and reduce the risk for chronic disease.

Tips for meeting the guidelines (from ACSM)

With busy work schedules, family obligations, and packed weekends, it can often be difficult to get the recommended amount of physical activity. Try these tips for incorporating exercise into your life:

• Do it in short bouts. Research shows that moderate-intensity physical activity can be accumulated throughout the day in 10-minute bouts, which can be just as effective as exercising for 30 minutes straight. This can be useful when trying to fit physical activity into a busy schedule.
• Mix it up. Combinations of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity can be used to meet the guidelines. For example, you can walk briskly for 30 minutes twice per week and jog at a higher intensity on two other days.
• Set your schedule. Maybe it’s easier for you to walk during your lunch hour, or perhaps hitting the pavement right after dinner is best for you. The key is to set aside specific days and times for exercise, making it just as much a regular part of your schedule as everything else.
• Make it a family affair. Take your spouse, your children, or a friend with you during exercise to add some fun to your routine. This is also a good way to encourage your kids to be physically active and get them committed early to a lifetime of health.

Well, there you have it my friends!  These are basic guidelines that apply to just about everybody accept competitive athletes.  I hope this helps clarify things.  Take care, be well and stay healthy because life truly is good!

“Three sets of ten are all you need to do son!”  More is better.  Go hard or go home!  No pain no gain!  We have all heard these age old clichés, but the problem is deciphering which ones are true and which ones are completely false.  Today I want to give you a primer on weight training basics that will help ensure that your workouts are safe and effective.

 Principle #1:  Realize that your workouts must be tailored to your needs.

 -This is where a competent and qualified Personal Trainer can make all of the difference in the world.  It is their job to ensure that your workout reflects your unique strengths, weakness, and goals.  Anything short of this and you should be looking for a new Personal Trainer.  If you are going it alone then I suggest that you start VERY conservatively if you are just beginning.  Ignore the magazines as they have no idea of your particular needs and/or your abilities.

-Make sure that you progress slowly and steadily.  More is not necessarily better at first.  Remember that your joints and tendons are not used to the increased pressure of resistance training at first, but they will get used to it as you slowly progress in weight, reps, rest time, ect.

 Principle #2:   You must remember the “Law of Superscompensation”.

 The law of Supercompensation states that when a muscle is broken down from exercise it must be built back up through proper nutrition and rest.  As we all know, when we go to the gym we essentially break down our muscle fibers.  The key to making them stronger is to ensure an adequate protein intake afterwards, coupled with a proper rest period before attempting to hit that muscle group again.  In general, you want to make sure that you are not sore or unduly fatigued before attempting to workout again.

 Principle #3:  Large muscle groups take longer to repair than smaller muscle groups.

 -A bicep will always repair faster than a Quadriceps.  Why?  Because the quadriceps covered a much larger cross sectional area of the body and thus it requires more, bodily processes, resources, energy, and nutrients to repair.  In general your larger body parts such as quadriceps, hamstrings, and chest musculature should be given at least two days of repair before you hit them again…but remember this is for basic exercise.  If you are an athlete or bodybuilder it can take up to 4-5 days.

 Principle #4:  Rest Periods dictate your response.

 -I always get a kick out of those people I observe in the gyms that do a set of an exercise and then talk for a straight 5 minutes before their next set.  The problem with this scenario is that your rest period can directly affect the physiological response your body derives from your weight training session.  For example if you are waiting only 3-45 seconds between exercise sets you are deriving more of a muscular endurance training effect, whereas if you are waiting around a minute you are potentiating your Growth Hormone and Testosterone levels (both men and women) that is more conducive to muscular toning and growth.  In general you want to switch things up periodically so that your body does not get used to any given rest period.  You should select between 2 minutes down to thirty seconds for optimal results.

 Principle #5:  Remain Consistent

 -Let me clearly define what consistency means…it means 3 times per week as a minimum.  This can be more if you are more advanced, but for beginners you can even get away with two times per week for the first six weeks before advancing to three.  This number is highly variable depending on your abilities but the overriding point to be made here is that you should be exercising consistently each and every week.  If you get a week of 3 in and then turn around the next week and only do one workout you will NEVER make the kind of progress you are looking for because your body will not be able to become stronger BECAUSE there is not an adequate exercise stimulus to allow it to occur.  You must be consistent…nuff said!