Warm-up
5 minutes of skipping
Soft-tissue work
Foam roller: Quads/ITB/T-Spine/Hams/Lats
Tennis ball: Piriformis/Glute Medius/Infraspinatus
Activation Exercises, Mobility, and Dynamic Stretching
1. Glute Bridge w/medicine ball adduction 20 sec isometric hold + 20 reps
2. Serratus pushups 15 reps
3. Rectus Femoris/Tensor Fascia Lata stretch (required to open anterior hip)
4. Pec major stretch (required to allow for squats)
5. Wall slides 10 reps (help activate lower traps)
6. Band pull-aparts
Strength Work
KB Clean & Push Press
6x16kg, 4x20kg, 3x24KG, 3x3x28KG
Cambered Bar Squats
Work up to 5x6x(Bar+110 lbs)
Blast Straps Pushups (BTR)
5x18, 16, 15, 15, 13
Glute & Ham Raises
1x10x&, 1x10x12, 2x10x15, 1x14x&
Chest-supported Dumbbell Rows
12x30, 12x35, 3x12x40
Weighted Plank
1x75 sec x 25, 1x75 sec x 35, 1x65 sec x 45
Seated Hip Abduction With Band
3x20 x mini jumpstretch
Time 90 min.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Garbage Cereal - Rant
If my mom is reading this, she'll get a good laugh because she knows just how much I love good old Golden Grahams cereal. As a kid, if I could have chosen to subsist solely from one "food" source it
would have been Golden Grahams cereal hands down!
Why? Well I was a kid for one, and even if you'd told me how bad that stuff is I wouldn't have cared. I mean, as a kid, you're invincible. And the idea of "nutritional value", just didn't exist to me as a kid.
Fortunately I've grown up... at least in that regard! LOL
My beef with the cereal companies is how they market their products. I was at the supermarket last week and I had the "lovely" experience of watching a kid pressure his mom into buying him four utterly garbage-filled cereals.
I am going from memory here, but they were:
1. Lucky Charms
2. Count Chocula
3. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4. Fruity Cheerios
As a (relatively) educated adult, that list sounds like a dessert list to me. But this mother gave in to her sons pressure and bought them all. I actually had to pretend to be deciding between a couple other products on the opposite wall so I could stay and listen in to the whole fiasco.
The mother said she wasn't sure if the cereals were nutritious enough, and it was actually the boy who pointed out a number of marketing and labeling facts that eventually convinced the mother to buy them.
From my recollection, there was mention of:
1. "Low in fat"
2. "Whole grain"
3. "Fruit has vitamins&minerals"
4. "Heart Healthy"
The cereals chosen were all low in fat, but really, who cares? More than anyone else, kids need fats. Of course they need healthy fats, not the kind you WOULD see in cereals if fats were not so taboo these days.
Whole grain. This is about the biggest joke ever. Just because you start with a WHOLE grain, doesn't mean after pulverizing the hell out of it that there's much left of any nutritional value. That's actually the whole point of cereals. Take Cheerios for example. Made from Whole Oats. Wow.. that's great. But if you take 1/4 cup of actual oats, after all the processing that General Mills does to them you get a whole BOX of Cheerios. So the cereal companies are basically diluting the nutritional content of the WHOLE grains in their products.
Of course they have to fill it with something, so what do you suppose that would be?
JOKE INGREDIENT LIST
Check out the ingredients list of this Berry Burst Cheerios garbage cereal. Can you believe they have the gall to put a little heart right square in the middle of the page that says "May reduce the risk of heart disease".
Read the ingredients list and you tell me if you think this cereal "might" reduce your risk of heart disease, or flat-out CAUSE you to get heart disease!
Here's another one...
As if being filled with corn starch, corn syrup, and corn meal wasn't bad enough, they even use corn as their "WHOLE GRAIN" base from which to make the cereal. It's absolutely abominable!
IMPORTANT VIDEO
Check out these VIDEOS I found on the GENERAL MILLS GARBAGE CEREAL website. These videos are short--basically because there isn't much to say that takes longer than 3 seconds about their cereals when it comes to health--and are designed to make you feel confident that you're serving your family healthy foods. They have a registered dietitian speaking in effort to boost your confidence in the health of these products.
First of all, as a registered dietitian, talk about prostituting oneself out to the highest bidder. Technically, everything she says is correct. But it does nothing to change the fact that those cereals are nothing more than vitamin fortified desserts that "start" with a WHOLE grain base.
Have I not made it clear enough that GRAINS aren't the end all and be all of nutrition? Yes they have lots of fiber when you eat them in the form they grow in or with minimal processing, and they do have some vitamins and minerals, but grains' biggest component is starch. Like we need any more of that!
Check this out... good old Cheerios, which used to be the cereal my mom would buy us all the time because she said it was the healthiest, has now sold out to the sugar demons. How many different sugary Cheerios cereals are there now?
Cheerios Variety
There are ten varieties of Cheerios, and seven of them have an image of fruit on the front of the box. Of the seven that have an image of fruit:
- Regular Cheerios and MultiGrain Cheerios actually have no fruit in it at all
- Berry Burst Cheerios has freeze-dried fruit (near zero nutrition)
- Banana Nut Cheerios has banana puree in it (can you imagine what that looks like when it is poured out of the massive drum at the factory... it's gonna look and taste like a grey sludge... no yellow colour) another near-zero nutrition
- Apple Cinnamon Cheerios has apple puree concentrate in it, which did come from apples, but no longer bears any semblance at all to the original fruit (another near zero nutrition)
- Fruity Cheerios has pear puree concentrate in it, which is basically no different than apple puree concentrate, it's just a sugary liquid with trace vitamin and mineral content (another near zero nutrition)
- Yogurt Cheerios has dried strawberries in it, which I would like to think may be somehow better than the others, but I just know it's not (another near zero nutrition)
So as you can see the marketing practices of these companies try to present their cereals as healthful with fiber, fruit, vitamins and minerals, when in the end they deliver virtually nothing.
Don't get me wrong, I could enjoy a bowl of cereal, I do have a sweet tooth, but if I were to do so it would be a 10% meal, and truthfully, so long as Hagen Daaz exists, they'll be my 10% meals!
At least Hagen Daaz doesn't try to be "Healthy"!
As always I welcome and encourage your comments, both good or bad.
would have been Golden Grahams cereal hands down!
Why? Well I was a kid for one, and even if you'd told me how bad that stuff is I wouldn't have cared. I mean, as a kid, you're invincible. And the idea of "nutritional value", just didn't exist to me as a kid.
Fortunately I've grown up... at least in that regard! LOL
My beef with the cereal companies is how they market their products. I was at the supermarket last week and I had the "lovely" experience of watching a kid pressure his mom into buying him four utterly garbage-filled cereals.
I am going from memory here, but they were:
1. Lucky Charms
2. Count Chocula
3. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4. Fruity Cheerios
As a (relatively) educated adult, that list sounds like a dessert list to me. But this mother gave in to her sons pressure and bought them all. I actually had to pretend to be deciding between a couple other products on the opposite wall so I could stay and listen in to the whole fiasco.
The mother said she wasn't sure if the cereals were nutritious enough, and it was actually the boy who pointed out a number of marketing and labeling facts that eventually convinced the mother to buy them.
From my recollection, there was mention of:
1. "Low in fat"
2. "Whole grain"
3. "Fruit has vitamins&minerals"
4. "Heart Healthy"
The cereals chosen were all low in fat, but really, who cares? More than anyone else, kids need fats. Of course they need healthy fats, not the kind you WOULD see in cereals if fats were not so taboo these days.
Whole grain. This is about the biggest joke ever. Just because you start with a WHOLE grain, doesn't mean after pulverizing the hell out of it that there's much left of any nutritional value. That's actually the whole point of cereals. Take Cheerios for example. Made from Whole Oats. Wow.. that's great. But if you take 1/4 cup of actual oats, after all the processing that General Mills does to them you get a whole BOX of Cheerios. So the cereal companies are basically diluting the nutritional content of the WHOLE grains in their products.
Of course they have to fill it with something, so what do you suppose that would be?
JOKE INGREDIENT LISTCheck out the ingredients list of this Berry Burst Cheerios garbage cereal. Can you believe they have the gall to put a little heart right square in the middle of the page that says "May reduce the risk of heart disease".
Read the ingredients list and you tell me if you think this cereal "might" reduce your risk of heart disease, or flat-out CAUSE you to get heart disease!
Here's another one...
As if being filled with corn starch, corn syrup, and corn meal wasn't bad enough, they even use corn as their "WHOLE GRAIN" base from which to make the cereal. It's absolutely abominable!
IMPORTANT VIDEO
Check out these VIDEOS I found on the GENERAL MILLS GARBAGE CEREAL website. These videos are short--basically because there isn't much to say that takes longer than 3 seconds about their cereals when it comes to health--and are designed to make you feel confident that you're serving your family healthy foods. They have a registered dietitian speaking in effort to boost your confidence in the health of these products.
First of all, as a registered dietitian, talk about prostituting oneself out to the highest bidder. Technically, everything she says is correct. But it does nothing to change the fact that those cereals are nothing more than vitamin fortified desserts that "start" with a WHOLE grain base.
Have I not made it clear enough that GRAINS aren't the end all and be all of nutrition? Yes they have lots of fiber when you eat them in the form they grow in or with minimal processing, and they do have some vitamins and minerals, but grains' biggest component is starch. Like we need any more of that!
Check this out... good old Cheerios, which used to be the cereal my mom would buy us all the time because she said it was the healthiest, has now sold out to the sugar demons. How many different sugary Cheerios cereals are there now?
Cheerios VarietyThere are ten varieties of Cheerios, and seven of them have an image of fruit on the front of the box. Of the seven that have an image of fruit:
- Regular Cheerios and MultiGrain Cheerios actually have no fruit in it at all
- Berry Burst Cheerios has freeze-dried fruit (near zero nutrition)
- Banana Nut Cheerios has banana puree in it (can you imagine what that looks like when it is poured out of the massive drum at the factory... it's gonna look and taste like a grey sludge... no yellow colour) another near-zero nutrition
- Apple Cinnamon Cheerios has apple puree concentrate in it, which did come from apples, but no longer bears any semblance at all to the original fruit (another near zero nutrition)
- Fruity Cheerios has pear puree concentrate in it, which is basically no different than apple puree concentrate, it's just a sugary liquid with trace vitamin and mineral content (another near zero nutrition)
- Yogurt Cheerios has dried strawberries in it, which I would like to think may be somehow better than the others, but I just know it's not (another near zero nutrition)
So as you can see the marketing practices of these companies try to present their cereals as healthful with fiber, fruit, vitamins and minerals, when in the end they deliver virtually nothing.
Don't get me wrong, I could enjoy a bowl of cereal, I do have a sweet tooth, but if I were to do so it would be a 10% meal, and truthfully, so long as Hagen Daaz exists, they'll be my 10% meals!
At least Hagen Daaz doesn't try to be "Healthy"!
As always I welcome and encourage your comments, both good or bad.
Better Fat Loss, Fight Cancer, and Prevent Heart Disease with Trans Fats
Who Else Wants To Know How To Get Better Fat Loss, Fight Cancer, and Prevent Heart Disease with Trans Fats
Trans fats have been condemned to hell by the media, and while man made trans fats are definitely not good for you, not ALL trans fats are created equal. In this article I will show you how specific trans fats will give you better fat loss, help you fight cancer, and prevent heart disease.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a type of trans fat that has been studied extensively due to its huge potential for helping with obesity, cancer, and heart disease.
Trans fats are produced naturally in the stomachs of ruminant animals such as deer, moose, kangaroo (not a true ruminant, but an exceptional source of CLA), bison, beef, sheep, and goats.
One particular trans fat called t-10, c-12 CLA has been shown to reduce fat mass and increase lean muscle weight in a number of different studies, while a number of other studies have shown the trans fat called c-9, t-11 CLA has effects that reduce inflammation and risks of cardiovascular disease.
Interestingly there are other studies that show the direct opposite to be true. Does this even surprise you? The one thing we should all know by now is that whatever science studies and proves is true, will often be found to be false in a subsequent study. This has happened numerous
times with studies on vitamins.
However, when both types of trans fat CLA are studied together, most studies showed reduced body fat mass, increase lean muscle tissue, and reduced incidencs of both cancers and heart disease markers.
The key element is that when science tries to isolate the effects of different substances, often the study methods influence the outcomes. But left to it's own devices, the human body will reap the benefits without experiencing the negative effects noticed in the studies.
Interestingly, when studies of the effects of CLA consumption involve its natural form INSTEAD of taking it as a nutritional supplement, once again, the health benefits are shown, with little to no adverse affects. (see I'm not writing this to sell any magic pills or potions to you!)
Another very important fact is that grass-fed animal meats contain between 300%-500% more CLA than their supermarket grain-fed counterparts.
So don't touch the stuff you find at your regular supermarket, unless it is clearly marked to be "GRASS-FED". If your local supermarket doesn't carry grass-fed meats, try your local butcher or health food stores.
One final study that I'd like to bring to your attention found that mothers who ate and drank organic grass-fed cows' meat and milk had 50 % higher rumenic acid (a type of trans fat) levels in their breast milk. In humans, rumenic acid is converted into CLA, which is responsible for the above noted effects.
The jury on this one, as always, is clear. Eat what nature provides for you in the form it exists in in nature, and you will reap the benefits. Try to put it into a magic pill, and you can't be sure that you will get the effects you seek, and you may even get some you don't want.
Over time science will study various nutritional substances and show that one thing works and another doesn't, and then later their studies will show the opposite. The incredible human body always knows exactly how to use all the nutrients in exactly the right way to get the best possible health benefits.
When selecting foods always choose organic if possible, choose fresh whenever possible, choose pasture raised forage and grass-fed meats, and in general, be wary of foods that require a big label that tries to convince you of their health benefits.
References:
Banni S, Angioni E, Murru E, Carta G, Melis M, Bauman D, Dong Y, Ip C (2001). "Vaccenic acid feeding increases tissue levels of conjugated linoleic acid and suppresses development of premalignant lesions in rat mammary gland.", Nutr Cancer 41 (1-2): 91–7
Donnelly C, Olsen AM, Lewis LD, Eisenberg BL, Eastman A, Kinlaw WB. (2009), "Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) inhibits expression of the Spot 14 (THRSP) and fatty acid synthase genes and impairs the growth of human breast cancer and liposarcoma cells.", Nutr Cancer. 61 (1): 114–22
Amarù DL, Field CJ. (2009), "Conjugated Linoleic Acid Decreases MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cell Growth and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Receptor Levels.", Lipids 26
Lee Y, Thompson JT, de Lera AR, Vanden Heuvel JP. (2008), "Isomer-specific effects of conjugated linoleic acid on gene expression in RAW 264.7.", J Nutr Biochem 26
Ha YL, Grimm NK, Pariza MW (1987). "Anticarcinogens from fried ground beef: heat-altered derivatives of linoleic acid.", Carcinogenesis 8 (12): 1881–7
Fite A, Goua M, Wahle KW, Schofield AC, Hutcheon AW, Heys SD. (2007), "Potentiation of the anti-tumour effect of docetaxel by conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) in breast cancer cells in vitro.", Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. (Scotland, UK) 77: 87
Kritchevsky D. (May 2000), "Antimutagenic and some other effects of conjugated linoleic acid.", Br J Nutr. 83 (5): 459–65
Belury, M.A. (October 2002). "Inhibition of carcinogenesis by conjugated linoleic acid: Potential mechanisms of action.", Journal of Nutrition 132 (10): 2995–2998
Ip C, Scimeca JA, Thompson HJ. (1994), "Conjugated linoleic acid. A powerful anticarcinogen from animal fat sources.", Cancer 233 (3): 1050–4
A C Watras, A C Buchholz, R N Close, Z Zhang and D A Schoeller, "The role of conjugated linoleic acid in reducing body fat and preventing holiday weight gain.", International Journal of Obesity (2007) 31, 481–487
Pariza MW, Park Y, Cook ME. (Jul 2001), "The biologically active isomers of conjugated linoleic acid.", Prog Lipid Res. 40 (4): 283–98
Tricon S, Burdge GC, Kew S, et al. (September 2004). "Opposing effects of cis-9,trans-11 and trans-10,cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid on blood lipids in healthy humans.", Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 80 (3): 614–20
Lukas Rist, Andre Mueller, Christiane Barthel, Bianca Snijders, Margje Jansen, A. Paula Simoes-Wust, Machteld Huber, Ischa Kummeling, Ursula von Mandach, Hans Steinhart, and Carel Thijs. (2007). "Influence of organic diet on the amount of conjugated linoleic acids in breast milk.", British Journal of Nutrition 97: 735–743
Trans fats have been condemned to hell by the media, and while man made trans fats are definitely not good for you, not ALL trans fats are created equal. In this article I will show you how specific trans fats will give you better fat loss, help you fight cancer, and prevent heart disease.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a type of trans fat that has been studied extensively due to its huge potential for helping with obesity, cancer, and heart disease.
Trans fats are produced naturally in the stomachs of ruminant animals such as deer, moose, kangaroo (not a true ruminant, but an exceptional source of CLA), bison, beef, sheep, and goats.
One particular trans fat called t-10, c-12 CLA has been shown to reduce fat mass and increase lean muscle weight in a number of different studies, while a number of other studies have shown the trans fat called c-9, t-11 CLA has effects that reduce inflammation and risks of cardiovascular disease.
Interestingly there are other studies that show the direct opposite to be true. Does this even surprise you? The one thing we should all know by now is that whatever science studies and proves is true, will often be found to be false in a subsequent study. This has happened numerous
times with studies on vitamins.
However, when both types of trans fat CLA are studied together, most studies showed reduced body fat mass, increase lean muscle tissue, and reduced incidencs of both cancers and heart disease markers.
The key element is that when science tries to isolate the effects of different substances, often the study methods influence the outcomes. But left to it's own devices, the human body will reap the benefits without experiencing the negative effects noticed in the studies.
Interestingly, when studies of the effects of CLA consumption involve its natural form INSTEAD of taking it as a nutritional supplement, once again, the health benefits are shown, with little to no adverse affects. (see I'm not writing this to sell any magic pills or potions to you!)
Another very important fact is that grass-fed animal meats contain between 300%-500% more CLA than their supermarket grain-fed counterparts.
So don't touch the stuff you find at your regular supermarket, unless it is clearly marked to be "GRASS-FED". If your local supermarket doesn't carry grass-fed meats, try your local butcher or health food stores.
One final study that I'd like to bring to your attention found that mothers who ate and drank organic grass-fed cows' meat and milk had 50 % higher rumenic acid (a type of trans fat) levels in their breast milk. In humans, rumenic acid is converted into CLA, which is responsible for the above noted effects.
The jury on this one, as always, is clear. Eat what nature provides for you in the form it exists in in nature, and you will reap the benefits. Try to put it into a magic pill, and you can't be sure that you will get the effects you seek, and you may even get some you don't want.
Over time science will study various nutritional substances and show that one thing works and another doesn't, and then later their studies will show the opposite. The incredible human body always knows exactly how to use all the nutrients in exactly the right way to get the best possible health benefits.
When selecting foods always choose organic if possible, choose fresh whenever possible, choose pasture raised forage and grass-fed meats, and in general, be wary of foods that require a big label that tries to convince you of their health benefits.
References:
Banni S, Angioni E, Murru E, Carta G, Melis M, Bauman D, Dong Y, Ip C (2001). "Vaccenic acid feeding increases tissue levels of conjugated linoleic acid and suppresses development of premalignant lesions in rat mammary gland.", Nutr Cancer 41 (1-2): 91–7
Donnelly C, Olsen AM, Lewis LD, Eisenberg BL, Eastman A, Kinlaw WB. (2009), "Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) inhibits expression of the Spot 14 (THRSP) and fatty acid synthase genes and impairs the growth of human breast cancer and liposarcoma cells.", Nutr Cancer. 61 (1): 114–22
Amarù DL, Field CJ. (2009), "Conjugated Linoleic Acid Decreases MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cell Growth and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Receptor Levels.", Lipids 26
Lee Y, Thompson JT, de Lera AR, Vanden Heuvel JP. (2008), "Isomer-specific effects of conjugated linoleic acid on gene expression in RAW 264.7.", J Nutr Biochem 26
Ha YL, Grimm NK, Pariza MW (1987). "Anticarcinogens from fried ground beef: heat-altered derivatives of linoleic acid.", Carcinogenesis 8 (12): 1881–7
Fite A, Goua M, Wahle KW, Schofield AC, Hutcheon AW, Heys SD. (2007), "Potentiation of the anti-tumour effect of docetaxel by conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) in breast cancer cells in vitro.", Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. (Scotland, UK) 77: 87
Kritchevsky D. (May 2000), "Antimutagenic and some other effects of conjugated linoleic acid.", Br J Nutr. 83 (5): 459–65
Belury, M.A. (October 2002). "Inhibition of carcinogenesis by conjugated linoleic acid: Potential mechanisms of action.", Journal of Nutrition 132 (10): 2995–2998
Ip C, Scimeca JA, Thompson HJ. (1994), "Conjugated linoleic acid. A powerful anticarcinogen from animal fat sources.", Cancer 233 (3): 1050–4
A C Watras, A C Buchholz, R N Close, Z Zhang and D A Schoeller, "The role of conjugated linoleic acid in reducing body fat and preventing holiday weight gain.", International Journal of Obesity (2007) 31, 481–487
Pariza MW, Park Y, Cook ME. (Jul 2001), "The biologically active isomers of conjugated linoleic acid.", Prog Lipid Res. 40 (4): 283–98
Tricon S, Burdge GC, Kew S, et al. (September 2004). "Opposing effects of cis-9,trans-11 and trans-10,cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid on blood lipids in healthy humans.", Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 80 (3): 614–20
Lukas Rist, Andre Mueller, Christiane Barthel, Bianca Snijders, Margje Jansen, A. Paula Simoes-Wust, Machteld Huber, Ischa Kummeling, Ursula von Mandach, Hans Steinhart, and Carel Thijs. (2007). "Influence of organic diet on the amount of conjugated linoleic acids in breast milk.", British Journal of Nutrition 97: 735–743
Friday, October 2, 2009
Get My Help
Hey Folks,
Gotta make this quick, but scroll down to the comments section and tell me in as much detail as you can exactly what kind of content you'd like to receive from me.
Tell me exactly what will help you most...
Nutrition?
Training?
Mindset?
Social support?
You tell me?
I deliver!
Deal?
Until next time!
:)
Shane
Gotta make this quick, but scroll down to the comments section and tell me in as much detail as you can exactly what kind of content you'd like to receive from me.
Tell me exactly what will help you most...
Nutrition?
Training?
Mindset?
Social support?
You tell me?
I deliver!
Deal?
Until next time!
:)
Shane
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of
In today's post I'm going to talk about some of the best arm exercises you've never heard of. I know that sounds kinda strange, but the truth is, most people have a pretty limited repertoire when it comes to arm training.
I'll admit, I haven't written much about arm training, because for the most part unless you're a bodybuilder or you need bigger arms for whatever reason, most people will get all the arm
development from just pushing their limits with all of their pressing and pulling movements.
That said, it doesn't mean that you won't benefit from some dedicated arm training, and there are some pretty good combinations of common exercises that can thoroughly thrash your arms. But what happens if that extra inch on those pipes really DOES matter?
**** If you couldn't care less about arm training, then just ****
**** stop reading here. I don't want to waste your time, ****
**** and this post is all about arm training. ****
Ok, good, you're still with me...
So, what then? Grabbing those dumbbells for another set of curls can get a little monotonous at times. So what are you supposed to do?
The first thing you need to do if you want to spark some new arm growth is to identify why your current arm routine is not working.
There are 5 common mistakes that I see regularly at the gym when people are training their arms.
Mistake #1 - Using Too Much Weight
With the possible exception of standing barbell curls and close grip bench press, which offer a neural benefit when trained heavy, the goal of direct arm training exercises should be to fatigue the
muscles thereby inducing the hormonal cascade that precipitates a local growth response.
I can't tell you how many times I see folks doing what looks like a "Reverse Grip Dumbbell Clean". It's pretty ridiculous. Pick a weight that allows you to complete the reps with decent form, but also don't worry too much if there's a little extra body movement.
Mistake #2 - Not Using Enough Weight
Generally guys won't make this mistake, so this mistake applies mostly to you girls out there who with good intentions are trying to not commit mistake number one. Most guys have massive egos that are way too big to ever risk making this mistake. God forbid some particularly beefy chick is committing mistake number 2 with more weight than you are while committing mistake number 1.
Whoa... did I get that right? Follow me?
The point is, girls, that you might feel it un-ladylike to grunt in the gym, but other than testosterone, there is a reason you usually find guys are more built than you, it's because they're not afraid
to put some meat and potatoes into their lifting!
So if you can get 15 reps (or god forbid even 20) with the same weight of bicep curls for a full three sets and you aren't scrunching up your face in the process, it's time to up the weight and drop
your reps.
Mistake #3 - Mirror Focus vs. Muscle Focus
Sigh... yes, this one applies again, mostly to us guys (I know I've committed this one in the past... it's so hard not too! ;).
There's something about a mirror and what it does to how we perceive ourselves while training. When guys tend to train their arms, it's as if the mirror doubles the size of our arms while we're watching.
I mean really, have you seen the look on guys' faces while they're training their guns? They may have pistols, but they see anti-aircraft artillery canons in the mirror! LOL
What we see in the mirror is ego-fueled, it doesn't necessarily give us the best information about the effects on our muscles of what we're doing.
Muscle Focus gives us far more information. Without the mirror, you're forced to think about what you are feeling in the muscle rather than just what you see.
Trust me... what you feel is MORE important. I have stopped using the mirror for virtually all training over the past year, and I have learned to identify my body position more than ever before. I have
also learned to identify when to force out a few more reps and when to call it a set. The result has been far more effective training.
Mistake #4 - Using The Insanity Training Principle
Presumably you're training your arms because you want them to get bigger and stronger. Ok. We're good. So if you've been using the same old exercises... let me guess.. Standing barbell curls, preacher EZ Bar curls, then concentration curls...
Am I close?
Point is, if you haven't been making any progress with your arm training (hint: use a tape measure, and look at the weight you're lifting), and you've been following the same old arm training routine... regardless of who wrote it and whether or not they had huge arms, if you aren't making progress from it, why are you doing it?
It's called the Insanity Training Principle. Following the same old routine that hasn't given you any results for a long time, and expecting that it will all of a sudden manage to give you great results.
Mistake #5 - Fear of Shrinkage
If you're really afraid of shrinkage... just stay away from steroids!
Seriously though, mistake #5 can be thought of as a adjunct of mistake #4. Many people reach a point in their training where they aren't making any more progress with their training, yet they keep following the same routine for fear that if they stop, they'll shrink away to nothing.
If you're seriously pounding away at the weights and nothing is happening, you could very well be over-training. Not too many people over-train, but it is possible, and if you are over-training,
backing off for a lighter week, or cutting out arm training all together for a week, or even taking a look at the possibility of using some different bicep and tricep exercises can really make a
big difference.
And speaking of DIFFERENT arm exercises, my colleague Nick Nilsson has put together a great book called: "The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of"
I was actually speaking to Nick a few weeks back when he asked me to review his new book. I was intrigued by the title because really, since the elbow is a hinge joint, how many ways can you really
train the arms anyway?
After reading it... 68 apparently! That I hadn't thought of before!
Here's the review I sent back to Nick:
> Hi Nick,
>
> Thanks for the opportunity to review your new book called The Best
> Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of. To be honest I was mildly
> jaded going in as the last few articles I'd read on arm training
> were pretty lame.
>
> Your book completely blew me out of the water! I know that sounded
> kinda "hypey", and if you've ever read my stuff, you'll know it's
> totally not my style to "hype" stuff up, but to be honest, I'm
> totally stoked to try some of the exercises in your book.
>
> If your readers are seeking a way to stimulate new strength and
> muscle growth, this is it! With your crazy stable of
> mad-scientist arm exercises, I think it would be impossible not to
> make some crazy new gains!
>
> There I said it... yes Nick, I think you are a mad scientist! But
> I guess that's ok, I presume you kinda like to be thought of that
> way. ;)
>
> Well you're a genius anyway!
>
> Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
> Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
> http://www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
> http://www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
>
>
> I hope that is a decent review that you can use with your readers.
>
> I can't wait to show my readers your book, I know they're going to
> love it.
>
> If you need me to change anything, please let me know.
>
> All the best,
>
> :)
> Shane
So there you have it folks, that's the review I sent to Nick, and while this book isn't for everyone, it's definitely going to be a huge asset to anyone who's bound and determined to grow their arms.
You folks know who you are. If you want to pick up a copy of Nick's book, visit the link below:
The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of
Chances are if you've read this far anyway, then you're definitely interested in arm training, and you really won't believe how many exercises there are for really effectively training your arms.
That link once again is:
The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of
I know tomorrow when I train I'm definitely going to do a set of "Bodyweight Preacher Curls"... yeah... try to imagine that one!
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
I'll admit, I haven't written much about arm training, because for the most part unless you're a bodybuilder or you need bigger arms for whatever reason, most people will get all the arm
development from just pushing their limits with all of their pressing and pulling movements.
That said, it doesn't mean that you won't benefit from some dedicated arm training, and there are some pretty good combinations of common exercises that can thoroughly thrash your arms. But what happens if that extra inch on those pipes really DOES matter?
**** If you couldn't care less about arm training, then just ****
**** stop reading here. I don't want to waste your time, ****
**** and this post is all about arm training. ****
Ok, good, you're still with me...
So, what then? Grabbing those dumbbells for another set of curls can get a little monotonous at times. So what are you supposed to do?
The first thing you need to do if you want to spark some new arm growth is to identify why your current arm routine is not working.
There are 5 common mistakes that I see regularly at the gym when people are training their arms.
Mistake #1 - Using Too Much Weight
With the possible exception of standing barbell curls and close grip bench press, which offer a neural benefit when trained heavy, the goal of direct arm training exercises should be to fatigue the
muscles thereby inducing the hormonal cascade that precipitates a local growth response.
I can't tell you how many times I see folks doing what looks like a "Reverse Grip Dumbbell Clean". It's pretty ridiculous. Pick a weight that allows you to complete the reps with decent form, but also don't worry too much if there's a little extra body movement.
Mistake #2 - Not Using Enough Weight
Generally guys won't make this mistake, so this mistake applies mostly to you girls out there who with good intentions are trying to not commit mistake number one. Most guys have massive egos that are way too big to ever risk making this mistake. God forbid some particularly beefy chick is committing mistake number 2 with more weight than you are while committing mistake number 1.
Whoa... did I get that right? Follow me?
The point is, girls, that you might feel it un-ladylike to grunt in the gym, but other than testosterone, there is a reason you usually find guys are more built than you, it's because they're not afraid
to put some meat and potatoes into their lifting!
So if you can get 15 reps (or god forbid even 20) with the same weight of bicep curls for a full three sets and you aren't scrunching up your face in the process, it's time to up the weight and drop
your reps.
Mistake #3 - Mirror Focus vs. Muscle Focus
Sigh... yes, this one applies again, mostly to us guys (I know I've committed this one in the past... it's so hard not too! ;).
There's something about a mirror and what it does to how we perceive ourselves while training. When guys tend to train their arms, it's as if the mirror doubles the size of our arms while we're watching.
I mean really, have you seen the look on guys' faces while they're training their guns? They may have pistols, but they see anti-aircraft artillery canons in the mirror! LOL
What we see in the mirror is ego-fueled, it doesn't necessarily give us the best information about the effects on our muscles of what we're doing.
Muscle Focus gives us far more information. Without the mirror, you're forced to think about what you are feeling in the muscle rather than just what you see.
Trust me... what you feel is MORE important. I have stopped using the mirror for virtually all training over the past year, and I have learned to identify my body position more than ever before. I have
also learned to identify when to force out a few more reps and when to call it a set. The result has been far more effective training.
Mistake #4 - Using The Insanity Training Principle
Presumably you're training your arms because you want them to get bigger and stronger. Ok. We're good. So if you've been using the same old exercises... let me guess.. Standing barbell curls, preacher EZ Bar curls, then concentration curls...
Am I close?
Point is, if you haven't been making any progress with your arm training (hint: use a tape measure, and look at the weight you're lifting), and you've been following the same old arm training routine... regardless of who wrote it and whether or not they had huge arms, if you aren't making progress from it, why are you doing it?
It's called the Insanity Training Principle. Following the same old routine that hasn't given you any results for a long time, and expecting that it will all of a sudden manage to give you great results.
Mistake #5 - Fear of Shrinkage
If you're really afraid of shrinkage... just stay away from steroids!
Seriously though, mistake #5 can be thought of as a adjunct of mistake #4. Many people reach a point in their training where they aren't making any more progress with their training, yet they keep following the same routine for fear that if they stop, they'll shrink away to nothing.
If you're seriously pounding away at the weights and nothing is happening, you could very well be over-training. Not too many people over-train, but it is possible, and if you are over-training,
backing off for a lighter week, or cutting out arm training all together for a week, or even taking a look at the possibility of using some different bicep and tricep exercises can really make a
big difference.
And speaking of DIFFERENT arm exercises, my colleague Nick Nilsson has put together a great book called: "The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of"
I was actually speaking to Nick a few weeks back when he asked me to review his new book. I was intrigued by the title because really, since the elbow is a hinge joint, how many ways can you really
train the arms anyway?
After reading it... 68 apparently! That I hadn't thought of before!
Here's the review I sent back to Nick:
> Hi Nick,
>
> Thanks for the opportunity to review your new book called The Best
> Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of. To be honest I was mildly
> jaded going in as the last few articles I'd read on arm training
> were pretty lame.
>
> Your book completely blew me out of the water! I know that sounded
> kinda "hypey", and if you've ever read my stuff, you'll know it's
> totally not my style to "hype" stuff up, but to be honest, I'm
> totally stoked to try some of the exercises in your book.
>
> If your readers are seeking a way to stimulate new strength and
> muscle growth, this is it! With your crazy stable of
> mad-scientist arm exercises, I think it would be impossible not to
> make some crazy new gains!
>
> There I said it... yes Nick, I think you are a mad scientist! But
> I guess that's ok, I presume you kinda like to be thought of that
> way. ;)
>
> Well you're a genius anyway!
>
> Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
> Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
> http://www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
> http://www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
>
>
> I hope that is a decent review that you can use with your readers.
>
> I can't wait to show my readers your book, I know they're going to
> love it.
>
> If you need me to change anything, please let me know.
>
> All the best,
>
> :)
> Shane
So there you have it folks, that's the review I sent to Nick, and while this book isn't for everyone, it's definitely going to be a huge asset to anyone who's bound and determined to grow their arms.
You folks know who you are. If you want to pick up a copy of Nick's book, visit the link below:
The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of
Chances are if you've read this far anyway, then you're definitely interested in arm training, and you really won't believe how many exercises there are for really effectively training your arms.
That link once again is:
The Best Arm Exercises You've Never Heard Of
I know tomorrow when I train I'm definitely going to do a set of "Bodyweight Preacher Curls"... yeah... try to imagine that one!
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Strength Training Workout of The Week
Due to popular demand, I'll be putting up the strength training workout of the week. Each week when I work with my one-on-one private studio clients, there will often be a workout that is so good, in fact, I'll even get jealous that they get to do it and not me. So I may post it as the strength training workout of the week.
For you guys who are my one-0n-one private studio clients, you may recognize one of these workouts as your own! ;)
Warm-up
Skipping 5 minutes
Soft Tissue Work
Foam Roller: Quads/IT Bands/Lats
Tennis Ball: Piriformis/Glute Medius
Activation Work
Glute Bridge w/Medball between the knees
20 sec isometric squeeze then 10-20 reps
Serratus Pushups 10-15 reps
Wall Slides 10 reps
Tube External Rotations 10-20 reps ea. side
Strength Training Workout
Always work up to your heaviest weight for each exercise with a couple lighter warm-up sets first. For example, if your working weight for 5 reps on Box Squats is 150 lbs, then you might do your warm-ups as follows: 1x6x45, 1x5x95, 1x3x135... then move onto your work sets.
For exercises where technique is more of an issue and you aren't using that heavy of a weight for your working sets, you may find you don't need any warm-up sets. This may also be true of subsequent exercises for each body part, as they will be warmed up well from the previous exercises.
1a/ Box Squats 5x5
1b/ 1-Dumbbell Push Press 4x6
2a/ Supported Pistol Squats 3x10
2b/ Weighted Pushups 4x10
3a/ Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 4x8
3b/ 1-Blast Straps/TRX/Barbell Inverted Rows 3x10
4a/ T-Twist Abs 3x20
4b/ Band X-Walk 3x10
Move from one exercise to the next immediately within each superset group.
Rest a minute between each superset group.
Do this workout, then let me know how it went in the comments section!
Kill it!
:)
Shane
For you guys who are my one-0n-one private studio clients, you may recognize one of these workouts as your own! ;)
Warm-up
Skipping 5 minutes
Soft Tissue Work
Foam Roller: Quads/IT Bands/Lats
Tennis Ball: Piriformis/Glute Medius
Activation Work
Glute Bridge w/Medball between the knees
20 sec isometric squeeze then 10-20 reps
Serratus Pushups 10-15 reps
Wall Slides 10 reps
Tube External Rotations 10-20 reps ea. side
Strength Training Workout
Always work up to your heaviest weight for each exercise with a couple lighter warm-up sets first. For example, if your working weight for 5 reps on Box Squats is 150 lbs, then you might do your warm-ups as follows: 1x6x45, 1x5x95, 1x3x135... then move onto your work sets.
For exercises where technique is more of an issue and you aren't using that heavy of a weight for your working sets, you may find you don't need any warm-up sets. This may also be true of subsequent exercises for each body part, as they will be warmed up well from the previous exercises.
1a/ Box Squats 5x5
1b/ 1-Dumbbell Push Press 4x6
2a/ Supported Pistol Squats 3x10
2b/ Weighted Pushups 4x10
3a/ Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 4x8
3b/ 1-Blast Straps/TRX/Barbell Inverted Rows 3x10
4a/ T-Twist Abs 3x20
4b/ Band X-Walk 3x10
Move from one exercise to the next immediately within each superset group.
Rest a minute between each superset group.
Do this workout, then let me know how it went in the comments section!
Kill it!
:)
Shane
Monday, September 14, 2009
Fat Loss Watch It In Action
Ever wonder what fat loss looks like? Well you don't have to wonder anymore. Fat loss watch it in action, before your very own eyes!
Fat Loss In Action
I've recently had a few people on the fence about whether they're going to join Your Beach Body Boot Camp, citing that they don't want to be wasting their time with ineffective, boring routines like at some other boot camps that they'd already done.
To answer that, all I can say is that each day, my girls get out there and the just kill it! It's wild! They love it so much, I just had to take this video to show you guys, and to hopefully lay any worries to rest about whether or not this is THE FAT LOSS-ACTION JACKSON!
If you don't think Your Beach Body Boot Camp will melt the fat off you, come and try it on me! I'll make it totally worth your while. For whatever reason, if you feel like Your Beach Body Boot Camp isn't your best chance of getting as lean as you can, as fast as humanly possible, then I'll refund you every single cent.
You've got nothing to lose!
So head on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com/join.php and let's get it on!
Until the next time!
:)
Shane
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Fat Loss In Action
I've recently had a few people on the fence about whether they're going to join Your Beach Body Boot Camp, citing that they don't want to be wasting their time with ineffective, boring routines like at some other boot camps that they'd already done.
To answer that, all I can say is that each day, my girls get out there and the just kill it! It's wild! They love it so much, I just had to take this video to show you guys, and to hopefully lay any worries to rest about whether or not this is THE FAT LOSS-ACTION JACKSON!
If you don't think Your Beach Body Boot Camp will melt the fat off you, come and try it on me! I'll make it totally worth your while. For whatever reason, if you feel like Your Beach Body Boot Camp isn't your best chance of getting as lean as you can, as fast as humanly possible, then I'll refund you every single cent.
You've got nothing to lose!
So head on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com/join.php and let's get it on!
Until the next time!
:)
Shane
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Monday, September 7, 2009
Build Muscle and Burn Fat At Home
I’ve been working a lot lately on a new product that I can’t wait to share with you guys. It's going to help you build muscle and burn fat at home with minimal equipment. It will be available through my website once it’s finished. The product will be an electronic, downloadable training program complete with full video gallery, a full program manual, and printable workout logs.
If you read my last post, you'll know how important it is to be as "inefficient" as possible when trying to burn fat. This program will definitely help you be as inefficient as possible while both building muscle and losing fat.
A while back I sat down to brainstorm the best possible program that could be done at home with minimal equipment, that would produce measurable results in a fraction of the time that most people’s exercise routines require. There were three main criteria for designing this program.
The key elements of the program are:
1. High-power movements that involve high levels of muscle tension, which helps to promote strength gains.
2. High calorie expenditure which promotes rapid fat loss.
3. Minimal time requirement, so that there are NO MORE EXCUSES.
Item number three is the one that people will be most excited by. The absolute minimum time requirement is only 4 minutes a day. Don’t get me wrong, four minutes a day isn’t enough if that’s all you ever do, but on those days where you don’t have more than 4 minutes, any of the four-minute routines will keep you strong, fit, and motivated.
I’ve got four sample workouts from the program below. I’m starting to film video of the exercises for the program next week, so I don’t have the videos for you yet, but as soon as they’re ready, I’ll be making the ones from the sample below available to you free of charge.
Each group of exercises are done in a circuit. Instead of counting reps, you will go by time. I suggest picking yourself up an interval timer. The best one out there is GYMBOSS. I use it for my bootcamps, and it is simple to use and only costs $20. I ordered it online from their WEBSITE, and it arrived in the mail in only 4 days.
If you are unaccustomed to vigorous exercise, you start slowly, and just focus on the technique, building up your speed and effort level over time.
Circuit #1 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Warrior Squats 20:20
Inverted Rows 20:20
Supported 1-Leg Squats 20:20
Pushups 20:20
Lateral “skating” hop 20:20
Extended Abdominal Plank 20:20
Circuit #2 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Front Squats 20:20
Pull-ups (assisted if necessary) 20:20
Supported Pistol Squats 20:20
Pike Pushups 20:20
Lateral Step-Overs 20:20
Floorclimbers 20:20
Circuit #3 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Jump Squats 20:20
Alternating DB Bent-Over Rows 20:20
Split Jump Squats 20:20
Hindu Pushups 20:20
Lateral Jump to 1-Leg Squat 20:20
Mountain Climbers 20:20
Circuit #4 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight 1-Leg Jump Squats 20:20
Band Pull-Apart To Chest 20:20
Sumo Band Squats 20:20
Plyo Push-ups (from knees) 20:20
4-Way Hop 20:20
T-Twists 20:20
Increase the difficulty of each exercise by increasing your speed of movement. Be sure not to drop too quickly in the bodyweight squat, as you don’t want to bottom out.
Depending on your fitness level, start off with just one or two circuits and train every other day. Each week, add another circuit, or do two rounds of the same circuit. Keep increasing the number of circuits and/or rounds of circuits until your total time reaches about 20 minutes. That's all you'll have to do to get amazing results.
If you like these workouts, and want even more variety, check out your local bootcamps, and look for boot camps where they run people through short but super-intense exercises involving lifting, carrying, throwing, pulling, dragging, and flipping of any number of different objects such as tires, ropes, and sandbags. Bodyweight exercises are great too, but they need to be done in circuit fashion like the circuits above in order to produce the rapid fat loss effects. Simply doing lunges for a minute then pushups then crunches is just going to make you sore.
The smartest thing you could do though without a doubt, is to check THIS out! Nothing will strip the fat off you faster! I designed Your Beach Body Boot Camp to be quite possibly the fastest fat loss program ever.
I won’t lie to you though, it’s tough. Really, really tough. But the folks who are coming down and really pushing their limits are seeing some incredible changes to their bodies!
Ah what the heck, nothing wrong with a healthy bit of self-promotion! ;)
So that’s it for this week’s newsletter, I hope you’ve enjoyed the three articles I had for you today. I’ll be back with a few more blog posts later in the week, and a brand new newsletter next week!
If someone forwarded the newsletter to you or sent you the link to my blog and you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, you really should. It’s absolutely free, and to boot you’ll get my Free 7-Day Fat Loss Jumpstart guide. There’s so much great info in it that I really should be selling it instead of giving it away, but I think the info is so important that I want everyone to have it.
To join up, just fill in your name and email address on the right side of my site up near the top. I promise to never share your name or email address with anyone.
Have a great week!
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
If you read my last post, you'll know how important it is to be as "inefficient" as possible when trying to burn fat. This program will definitely help you be as inefficient as possible while both building muscle and losing fat.
A while back I sat down to brainstorm the best possible program that could be done at home with minimal equipment, that would produce measurable results in a fraction of the time that most people’s exercise routines require. There were three main criteria for designing this program.
The key elements of the program are:
1. High-power movements that involve high levels of muscle tension, which helps to promote strength gains.
2. High calorie expenditure which promotes rapid fat loss.
3. Minimal time requirement, so that there are NO MORE EXCUSES.
Item number three is the one that people will be most excited by. The absolute minimum time requirement is only 4 minutes a day. Don’t get me wrong, four minutes a day isn’t enough if that’s all you ever do, but on those days where you don’t have more than 4 minutes, any of the four-minute routines will keep you strong, fit, and motivated.
I’ve got four sample workouts from the program below. I’m starting to film video of the exercises for the program next week, so I don’t have the videos for you yet, but as soon as they’re ready, I’ll be making the ones from the sample below available to you free of charge.
Each group of exercises are done in a circuit. Instead of counting reps, you will go by time. I suggest picking yourself up an interval timer. The best one out there is GYMBOSS. I use it for my bootcamps, and it is simple to use and only costs $20. I ordered it online from their WEBSITE, and it arrived in the mail in only 4 days.
If you are unaccustomed to vigorous exercise, you start slowly, and just focus on the technique, building up your speed and effort level over time.
Circuit #1 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Warrior Squats 20:20
Inverted Rows 20:20
Supported 1-Leg Squats 20:20
Pushups 20:20
Lateral “skating” hop 20:20
Extended Abdominal Plank 20:20
Circuit #2 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Front Squats 20:20
Pull-ups (assisted if necessary) 20:20
Supported Pistol Squats 20:20
Pike Pushups 20:20
Lateral Step-Overs 20:20
Floorclimbers 20:20
Circuit #3 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight Jump Squats 20:20
Alternating DB Bent-Over Rows 20:20
Split Jump Squats 20:20
Hindu Pushups 20:20
Lateral Jump to 1-Leg Squat 20:20
Mountain Climbers 20:20
Circuit #4 (4 minutes)
Bodyweight 1-Leg Jump Squats 20:20
Band Pull-Apart To Chest 20:20
Sumo Band Squats 20:20
Plyo Push-ups (from knees) 20:20
4-Way Hop 20:20
T-Twists 20:20
Increase the difficulty of each exercise by increasing your speed of movement. Be sure not to drop too quickly in the bodyweight squat, as you don’t want to bottom out.
Depending on your fitness level, start off with just one or two circuits and train every other day. Each week, add another circuit, or do two rounds of the same circuit. Keep increasing the number of circuits and/or rounds of circuits until your total time reaches about 20 minutes. That's all you'll have to do to get amazing results.
If you like these workouts, and want even more variety, check out your local bootcamps, and look for boot camps where they run people through short but super-intense exercises involving lifting, carrying, throwing, pulling, dragging, and flipping of any number of different objects such as tires, ropes, and sandbags. Bodyweight exercises are great too, but they need to be done in circuit fashion like the circuits above in order to produce the rapid fat loss effects. Simply doing lunges for a minute then pushups then crunches is just going to make you sore.
The smartest thing you could do though without a doubt, is to check THIS out! Nothing will strip the fat off you faster! I designed Your Beach Body Boot Camp to be quite possibly the fastest fat loss program ever.
I won’t lie to you though, it’s tough. Really, really tough. But the folks who are coming down and really pushing their limits are seeing some incredible changes to their bodies!
Ah what the heck, nothing wrong with a healthy bit of self-promotion! ;)
So that’s it for this week’s newsletter, I hope you’ve enjoyed the three articles I had for you today. I’ll be back with a few more blog posts later in the week, and a brand new newsletter next week!
If someone forwarded the newsletter to you or sent you the link to my blog and you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, you really should. It’s absolutely free, and to boot you’ll get my Free 7-Day Fat Loss Jumpstart guide. There’s so much great info in it that I really should be selling it instead of giving it away, but I think the info is so important that I want everyone to have it.
To join up, just fill in your name and email address on the right side of my site up near the top. I promise to never share your name or email address with anyone.
Have a great week!
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
To Burn Fat Fast You Must Be Inefficient
To Burn Fat Fast Inefficiency Is A Must!
Inefficiency? Really? Don’t you mean Efficiency?
Nope.. I mean Inefficiency!
Here’s the deal:
When you think of an efficient car, what comes to mind? A small car that can go a long way on a small amount of gas. Now what about inefficient car? What comes to mind? How about a Hummer? Or one of those Cadillac Escalades right? Both are gas guzzlers!
Essentially, the smaller more efficient engine requires less energy to do the same amount of work than the bigger, more gas-hungry engine of the Hummer and Cadillac.
In the human body, our “engine” when it comes to burning energy is our muscles. The principles that work in the car are the same as those that work in our bodies. If your goal is to burn as much fat as possible in the shortest amount of time, do you think it is better to be more or less efficient?
Less Efficient!
Because a less efficient machine “wastes” much of the energy that it is given. Most cars have an efficiency of about 18-20%. Which means they only get 18-20% of the energy in the gas to be converted into actual mechanical force that propels the car. Can you guess where the rest of it goes?
HEAT!
That’s right, practically 80% of the energy in the gas is turned into heat. At least you know now why the hood of the car gets so hot after a long drive!
The human body works in exactly the same way. The more inefficient we are, the more heat we produce.
Now, in a car, if you had to be as inefficient as possible, how would you do that? You would accelerate as hard as you can right? Exactly! Everyone knows that frequently stepping hard on the gas is the quickest way to empty your gas tank. Strangely, few people structure their fat-loss training this way.
In every poll ever taken in
However, if I concede that it is lack of time, why is it that for every person I see at a gym who is actually using high intensity interval training methods for fat loss, I see ten people reading the paper on their stationary bikes and elliptical machines?
A couple reasons come to mind. The fact is, pushing yourself hard enough to really do HIIT style workouts is a little scary for some. You do have to leave your comfort zone, and when there’s a nice “fat-burning” zone that’s easy and doesn’t hurt, most people will stay there. But this is also why MOST people do not reach their fat loss goals.
Remember Jared from the Subway commercials? He lost 300 lbs just walking an hour a day and eating a 6” subs. This was great “fat-loss zone” marketing, and it definitely contributed to helping to keep people from reaching their potential.
One of the real problems with training in the fat-loss zone is that you burn so few calories for the time required. In an hour you might shed 300-600 calories depending on your bodyweight and fitness level – but that’s it. There’s no significant elevation of your metabolism afterwards. Considering how easy it is to put those calories back on, it just seems like such a waste.
If you ditch the “fat-loss” zone in favour of high-intensity interval training workouts, you’ll only need about 20 minutes, and you’ll burn upwards of 200-500 calories during your workout, but you’ll continue to burn excess calories for up to 24 hours afterwards. The results can be quite significant. We typically see people losing between 1-3 lbs of body fat a week, with only three 20 minute workouts per week.
This type of training will leave you gasping for air, and this brings us back to the fat burning zone for a moment, I know you’ve also heard that if you can’t carry on a conversation then you aren’t burning any fat. This is true, but unimportant. If you were limited to only burning fat during the time you were exercising it would take you upwards of ten days to burn a single pound of body fat with an hour of slow, boring cardio a day.
What’s more important is the total number of calories burned not just during the exercise, but during the period of elevated metabolism that can last as much as 24 hours after exercise. Scientists call this period of elevated metabolism “EPOC” or Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption.
Essentially, because burning sugar for energy does not require oxygen, the reactions can speed along at incredible rates, liberating great quantities of energy very rapidly. However, it also creates a huge oxygen debt, which is repaid for hours after the exercise is stopped. By becoming inefficient, you’ll literally be burning more calories 24 hours a day.
So folks, stop the long, slow, boring cardio, and get inefficient and blast away your unwanted body fat!
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Can Exercise Actually Make You Gain Fat?
What really ticks me off is when journalists who can’t come up with creative, helpful content, just write crap in order to make headlines!
Take John Cloud from Time Magazine. In his Aug 9th column, he writes an article entitled “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin”.
HELLO MR. CLOUD: MY
Sorry folks, but this is going to be a bit of a rant!
In his article, Mr. Cloud writes about how he’s been exercising for a few years now and can’t seem to get rid of his gut. He quotes a number of studies that are all “true”, but mean nothing in the big picture context.
Mr. Cloud tells his readers how the country now spends more money on trainers and gym memberships than ever before, but still manages to show increasing rates of obesity. He also finishes the article saying how tomorrow he may skip his workout and his post-workout blueberry bar because there is some research showing that as a survival mechanism, when we expend large amounts of energy during intense exercise, hunger signals from our brain are increased.
There’s also a survival mechanism that says if you don’t look both ways before crossing the street you might get smoked by a truck. I wonder if Mr. Cloud would suggest we all stay home and not ever leave our homes anymore to avoid being run over.
YES, Mr. Cloud is correct, when you exercise harder you get hungrier. Makes sense doesn’t it? We are designed by nature to survive, not get lean and ripped. And by the way Mr. Cloud have you actually looked on the wrapper of your (Kellogg’s) Blueberry Bar? There’s about 270 calories, maybe 5g of protein, 45g of carbs, and 7g fat. If you eat this after your exercise, you’ll definitely replace the energy you just burned off.
There is a huge problem with Mr. Cloud’s article as a whole. It is basically telling the reader that they are powerless in their weight loss pursuits. That if you exercise harder you might actually gain weight, because you wont’ be able to help yourself .
Here are two quotes from Mr. Cloud’s article. In the first quote, he is speaking in the first person. In the second, he is quoting the journal Psychological Bulletin:
“What's going on here? Church calls it compensation, but you and I (Mr. Cloud) might know it as the lip-licking anticipation of perfectly salted, golden-brown French fries after a hard trip to the gym.”
“If you force yourself to jog for an hour, your self-regulatory capacity is proportionately enfeebled. Rather than lunching on a salad, you'll be more likely to opt for pizza.”
Excuse me for a second… are you freakin’ kidding me?
I HAVE NEVER, EVER OPTED FOR PIZZA OR FRENCH FRIES AFTER LEAVING THE
Seriously folks… if you’re trying to lose body fat, and you exercise hard and then go eat a bunch of crap… then you’re just plain hilarious. Clearly, you have either no idea, in which case now you do… or you just don’t really care if you lose any weight.
You can look all you want for examples of people who exercise and don’t lose weight and you can use it as your excuse to not exercise, but all the people I know who are serious about losing body fat, and who are actually making progress are busting their butts at the gym and it shows!
Maybe the editor of Time Magazine Online should make sure that with such a serious obesity problem as the country faces, that any articles they publish empower people to take action instead of just giving them another excuse to do nothing.
No matter how you look at it, this article by John Cloud gets a serious thumbs down from me!
Anybody else agree with me? Please leave your comments below!
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Monday, August 17, 2009
Day 8 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp
I know, I said I'd have a great bodyweight program ready for you on today's blog post along with guest blogger Katy Sinha's final review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp, but... with this incredible weather we've been having (since our summer so far has been pretty much garbage), I decided to take Sunday to get out in the sun instead of working on the program.
Don't worry, I'm sure the weather will be back to "normal" soon, and I'll have nothing better to do than head down to my studio and devise some evil new training plans for you!
That said, here's Katy's final entry on (Day 8) reviewing Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
It was hot outside this morning and sun shining. Most of my 'favourite' drills were still in the lineup: push ups, battling ropes of death, long jump, sledge hammer, tire pulling... geez, I can't even pick one favourite, they're all so endearing! It was the final session today for the first round of boot camp which has been Mondays and Thursdays for the past 4 weeks.
Shane is ready to start round 2 with boot camp on Monday/Wednesday/Friday for the next 4 weeks. I have signed myself up for more because I can proudly say that I feel stronger and have better energy. My lower back no longer feels vulnerable where my old injury occurred.
Boot camp has been just what I needed to break me out of my 'stay at home mom' routine. I now look forward to 3 mornings a week where I have an hour of time to myself to spend on improving myself. My baby girl has adjusted beautifully to having a bottle when she wakes. My husband has learned how to make himself a smoothie and my toddler has learned that her mommy does her exercises to get 'big and strong'.
Overall, a raging success and I'm very much looking forward to the next 4 weeks. I'll sign off here as it's been a great pleasure to guest blog for Shane. He's a superb boot camp coach. Always encouraging, motivating, knowledgeable, trustworthy.
Thanks for reading, hope my thoughts and observations have helped you decide to make a positive change for yourself too!
Katy
Thanks for following Katy's reviews, and as she mentions, there are just so many incredible benefits to this type of workout, and pretty much anybody can do it, you start at your own pace and build your capacity over time.
For the cost of the bootcamp, you really won't find a better value that delivers serious results!
If you'd like more information, please head on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com to check it out!
Thanks for reading!
:)
Shane Miller
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Don't worry, I'm sure the weather will be back to "normal" soon, and I'll have nothing better to do than head down to my studio and devise some evil new training plans for you!
That said, here's Katy's final entry on (Day 8) reviewing Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
It was hot outside this morning and sun shining. Most of my 'favourite' drills were still in the lineup: push ups, battling ropes of death, long jump, sledge hammer, tire pulling... geez, I can't even pick one favourite, they're all so endearing! It was the final session today for the first round of boot camp which has been Mondays and Thursdays for the past 4 weeks.
Shane is ready to start round 2 with boot camp on Monday/Wednesday/Friday for the next 4 weeks. I have signed myself up for more because I can proudly say that I feel stronger and have better energy. My lower back no longer feels vulnerable where my old injury occurred.
Boot camp has been just what I needed to break me out of my 'stay at home mom' routine. I now look forward to 3 mornings a week where I have an hour of time to myself to spend on improving myself. My baby girl has adjusted beautifully to having a bottle when she wakes. My husband has learned how to make himself a smoothie and my toddler has learned that her mommy does her exercises to get 'big and strong'.
Overall, a raging success and I'm very much looking forward to the next 4 weeks. I'll sign off here as it's been a great pleasure to guest blog for Shane. He's a superb boot camp coach. Always encouraging, motivating, knowledgeable, trustworthy.
Thanks for reading, hope my thoughts and observations have helped you decide to make a positive change for yourself too!
Katy
Thanks for following Katy's reviews, and as she mentions, there are just so many incredible benefits to this type of workout, and pretty much anybody can do it, you start at your own pace and build your capacity over time.
For the cost of the bootcamp, you really won't find a better value that delivers serious results!
If you'd like more information, please head on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com to check it out!
Thanks for reading!
:)
Shane Miller
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Day 7 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp
Keeping it short, we're back with guest blogger Katy Sinha's Day 7 review of
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Enjoy!
Hey everyone,
WHOA! Day 7 boot camp just picked up a notch. Ten minutes into the sessions, I was so winded and leg muscles feeling like spaghetti that I started thinking I'd have to sit out for one drill. I think it was the back-to-back "battling ropes of death" and then the long jump. I was fooled thinking "hey, the long jump! I did that in grade 3 during PARTICIPACTION.
More accurately, I should have said... I haven't done that since grade 3!
Push ups again... tough tough tough. I don't feel like I've improved yet. And THEN...bilateral "battling ropes of death" in the first session and again in the second session using one arm independent of the other. Those are deadly, ugh!
The other day in the mirror, you know what I noticed?! Shoulder, biceps, triceps, and (I think even my) butt muscles developing! I guess those pushups and sandbag cleans are working their magic.
So it's true and out in the open for us to digest. We are going to increase boot camp frequency to 3 mornings a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next four weeks. I have sorted out my child-minding and now have to get my brain used to 6:15am wake ups 3x/week.
More after Thursday's camp.
Katy
That's it for today folks, I'll be back tomorrow with an article on body weight only training that you can do at home with minimal equipment, to build both strength and increase muscle mass, as well as burn fat fast. I'll also be featuring Katy's Day 8 review of www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Until then,
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Enjoy!
Hey everyone,
WHOA! Day 7 boot camp just picked up a notch. Ten minutes into the sessions, I was so winded and leg muscles feeling like spaghetti that I started thinking I'd have to sit out for one drill. I think it was the back-to-back "battling ropes of death" and then the long jump. I was fooled thinking "hey, the long jump! I did that in grade 3 during PARTICIPACTION.
More accurately, I should have said... I haven't done that since grade 3!
Push ups again... tough tough tough. I don't feel like I've improved yet. And THEN...bilateral "battling ropes of death" in the first session and again in the second session using one arm independent of the other. Those are deadly, ugh!
The other day in the mirror, you know what I noticed?! Shoulder, biceps, triceps, and (I think even my) butt muscles developing! I guess those pushups and sandbag cleans are working their magic.
So it's true and out in the open for us to digest. We are going to increase boot camp frequency to 3 mornings a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next four weeks. I have sorted out my child-minding and now have to get my brain used to 6:15am wake ups 3x/week.
More after Thursday's camp.
Katy
That's it for today folks, I'll be back tomorrow with an article on body weight only training that you can do at home with minimal equipment, to build both strength and increase muscle mass, as well as burn fat fast. I'll also be featuring Katy's Day 8 review of www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Until then,
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Day 6 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp
Today we have a short one for you, just guest blogger Katy Sinha's review of
Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
Day 6
Boot camp this morning had MORE push ups and I don't think I was fully recovered from previous day because my chest was still killin'!
Thankfully, Shane showed me how to do a variation by bringing my arms in closer to my body so I worked my triceps much more this time and my chest much less. Wouldn't it be faaaabulous if I actually developed tricep muscles again?!
So there's this sneaking rumour going around that Shane wants to increase boot camp days to 3x/ week. Monday, Wendesday, and Friday. I wonder if I can commit 3 mornings per week as I have to juggle my family responsibilities which include 2 baby girls and a husband's work schedule.
My husband is definitely not a morning person however he has graciously been getting up with the girls on the mornings of boot camp so I can get my butt in shape. I'll have to work this out at home before I can commit.
I think Shane even commented on this aspect of getting in shape. He said that you've got to set yourself up for success which includes getting your partner on board. If he/she is eating junk in front of you, you're more likely to cheat also.
Same goes for this 3rd day in the boot camp schedule. I need my partner's full support. Given that he works long hours and I respect that he does need sleep in the mornings, I think I'll have to look elsewhere for caretaking of my kids. Perhaps my neighbor who is up early with her kids, perhaps my Mum can come over early one morning a week. I'll figure it out and let you know.
Now, why is Shane increasing the frequency? I'm still feeling the work out after each session... is my body already getting muscle memory and not working as hard as when I started? I'll ask him on Day 7.
Let's talk results now.
When I started boot camp, my lower back was in a constant state of vulnerability due to an old sports injury. Whenever I twisted or bent over, I would feel a little pull, or tingle which told me to be careful or I'd have a sore/tight back for a few days.
Since day 4 at boot camp I have not had any pain or sensitivity in my lower back. My abs and core are finally tight enough to handle the daily movements that I (as a Mum with 2 kids) endure. That alone is a milestone for me.
In addition, my whole body feels 'tighter', more together. I feel like I have much more energy throughout the day and my appetite has definitely picked up. I feel less inclined to reach for empty nutrition foods. I can honestly say that my brain is driving me towards healthy nutrient rich foods.
Yippee! Yes, I do want to come 3 mornings/week so I can enjoy more results!
See you after Day 7
Katy
I'll be back tomorrow with Katy's review of Day 7.
Until then,
:)
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
Day 6
Boot camp this morning had MORE push ups and I don't think I was fully recovered from previous day because my chest was still killin'!
Thankfully, Shane showed me how to do a variation by bringing my arms in closer to my body so I worked my triceps much more this time and my chest much less. Wouldn't it be faaaabulous if I actually developed tricep muscles again?!
So there's this sneaking rumour going around that Shane wants to increase boot camp days to 3x/ week. Monday, Wendesday, and Friday. I wonder if I can commit 3 mornings per week as I have to juggle my family responsibilities which include 2 baby girls and a husband's work schedule.
My husband is definitely not a morning person however he has graciously been getting up with the girls on the mornings of boot camp so I can get my butt in shape. I'll have to work this out at home before I can commit.
I think Shane even commented on this aspect of getting in shape. He said that you've got to set yourself up for success which includes getting your partner on board. If he/she is eating junk in front of you, you're more likely to cheat also.
Same goes for this 3rd day in the boot camp schedule. I need my partner's full support. Given that he works long hours and I respect that he does need sleep in the mornings, I think I'll have to look elsewhere for caretaking of my kids. Perhaps my neighbor who is up early with her kids, perhaps my Mum can come over early one morning a week. I'll figure it out and let you know.
Now, why is Shane increasing the frequency? I'm still feeling the work out after each session... is my body already getting muscle memory and not working as hard as when I started? I'll ask him on Day 7.
Let's talk results now.
When I started boot camp, my lower back was in a constant state of vulnerability due to an old sports injury. Whenever I twisted or bent over, I would feel a little pull, or tingle which told me to be careful or I'd have a sore/tight back for a few days.
Since day 4 at boot camp I have not had any pain or sensitivity in my lower back. My abs and core are finally tight enough to handle the daily movements that I (as a Mum with 2 kids) endure. That alone is a milestone for me.
In addition, my whole body feels 'tighter', more together. I feel like I have much more energy throughout the day and my appetite has definitely picked up. I feel less inclined to reach for empty nutrition foods. I can honestly say that my brain is driving me towards healthy nutrient rich foods.
Yippee! Yes, I do want to come 3 mornings/week so I can enjoy more results!
See you after Day 7
Katy
I'll be back tomorrow with Katy's review of Day 7.
Until then,
:)
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Top 10 Ways to Reduce Sugar Consumption plus The Real Day 5 Review
We have long known that diets high in simple and refined sugars lead to an increased risk for heart problems, but what we haven't known is why. Well, now we know.
A study recently published in the Journal of The American College of Cardiology conducted by Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine and Sheba Medical Center's heart institute (in cooperation with its endocrinology institute), has demonstrated the exact mechanism for how the damage is caused.
Now bear with me, this gets just a teeny bit mumbo-jumbo-y.
The scientists used what's called brachial reactive testing, which, similar to taking blood pressure, uses a cuff around the upper arm, but instead of just getting a static pressure measurement, they get a real-time measurement that they use to measure the reaction of the arteries over time to different meals.
Elasticity of the arteries is extremely important in helping to maintain optimal blood pressure, and reduced flexibility is known to be a factor in heart disease. This study showed a sudden and temporary dysfunction of the endothelial lining in the arteries in response to the high glycemic foods.
Apparently, while an important function of the arteries is their ability to stretch when needed, the enormous peaks and suddenness of the stretching over time causes damage to the endothelial lining, and the body responds to such damage with a repair job by a substance called c-reactive protein(CRP). CRP once laid down in the arteries creates a sticky place for cholesterol to adhere to. Thus starting the process of Atherosclerosis.
Clearly, we should all be looking for ways to reduce our consumption of simple and refined sugars.
Top 10 Ways to Reduce Simple and Refined Sugar Consumption
1. Don't add it to foods. This may sound simple enough, but people do it all the time. Sugar is added to coffee and tea all the time. Many people who consume upwards of 10 cups of coffee a day put as much as a tablespoon of sugar in each coffee. Adding sugar to cereals or to fruit salads is another mistake.
2. Cane sugar, Honey, Molasses, Turbinado sugar, Brown Sugar, Raw Sugar. Don't be fooled by these nicer sounding names for sugar. Once you eat it, they all cause the same damage.
3. Artificial sweeteners. These guys don't have a glycemic index, but because of their sweetness they may cause you to crave sweets at other times.
4. Reduce or elminate processed and refined sugars. Breads, pastries, candies, bagels, pasta, cereals, and virtually all snackfood are just loaded with refined sugars. They may come under different names such as Confectioners sugar, flour, cornstarch, high-fructose corn syrup to name just a few, but don't be fooled. Once in your stomach, they all turn to glucose and drive your blood sugar up rapidly.
5. Fat-Free foods. As soon as "Fats" were deemed bad, manufacturers stripped large quantities of fat from everything they could get their hands on, and dumped massive quantities of processed and refined sugars in their place to keep you coming back for more.
6. Eliminate Juices. I don't care whether they're natural and unsweetened or not, just get rid of them. If you want the goodness from natural unsweetened juice, eat the fruit. You'll get everything in the juice, plus a ton of fibre and you'll consume far fewer calories in the long run. The fibre in the fruit helps to slow digestion, keeping you full longer.
7. Keep Fruit Consumption Moderate. I know I said eat fruit instead of drinking juice, but if you were drinking ten glasses of juice a day, you can't eat ten pieces of fruit each day and expect to lose body fat. For those who have reducing body fat as an objective, keep fruit consumption to just a few pieces a day at most. Fruit, while containing lots of fibre, vitamins, and minerals, also contains significantly more sugar than vegetables, which also contain lots of fiber, vitamins and minerals. So if you believe you need to eat more fruit to get enough nutrients, think again. Reach for additional veggies if you think you need more than a few pieces of fruit each day.
8. Beware of Hidden Sugars. If you pick up a food and the label says there's 30g of total carbohydrates, and you notice beside the word "sugars" it only says 3 or 4 grams, what do you think is making up the difference? It's sugars of some sort. So take the total grams as what you're eating. Divide the total number by 4 and that will tell you how many teaspoons of sugar you're eating.
9. Increase Your Nutritional Awareness. I rarely read nutritional labels because most of the foods I eat don't come with nutritional labels. Apples, oats, broccoli, etc... these things don't need labels because they're in their natural form. Its only when man has messed with the ingredients (usually screwing it up in the process) that things needed to be labeled. Conversely, obsessing about nutritional content of foods is a surefire way to end up with all sorts of health problems. However, if you do pick up a food that has a label, give it a quick read, and make yourself aware of what you're putting in your body. The old saying "Ignorance is Bliss", is only true until you start suffering, and then Ignorance is your regret.
10. Use the 5 Ingredient rule. Try not to buy foods that have more than 5 ingredients listed on the label. If you limit it to five, chances are there won't be any refined sugars.
Day 5 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp by guest blogger Katy Sinha
Good morning !
Glad to get back to my car after boot camp this morning. We had a touch of rain and the BUGS were crazy outside! THERE! I said it. I was sneaking my blog entries in without mention of the bugs, but finally, I broke down and had to write about it. As they say, if it doesn't kill me it'll make me stronger! I think we're talking mental toughness again.
As for the drills today, push ups came into the lineup. I started with my sissy push ups from the knees in the first round. I promptly moved to push ups from my feet as I noticed that everyone else was challenging themselves with the real thing. Yes I do have a competitive streak in me and I figure that doing only 6 push ups in 20 seconds is better than 12 from my knees.
Sneaky Shane has now organized the drill order so that in a series of 4 stations, the end of the first station and the start of the second station are at opposite corners of the camp. Our precious rest period between stations is getting taken up by having to hoof it to the next drill. Boot camp, like in the military, is starting to have its effect. I've noticed that we're now in the habit of starting the next drill when we hear the 'beeeep' and not waiting for Shane to give us the verbal cue to start. Our collective attitude of "I won't do it if I don't have to do it" is now shifting to "well, I'm here so I might as well get stronger".
Looking forward to day 6 tricks.
Katy
That wraps it up for today! Come back tomorrow for Day 6 Review, and more goodies to keep you strong, healthy, and happy!
Until next time,
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
A study recently published in the Journal of The American College of Cardiology conducted by Dr. Michael Shechter of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine and Sheba Medical Center's heart institute (in cooperation with its endocrinology institute), has demonstrated the exact mechanism for how the damage is caused.
Now bear with me, this gets just a teeny bit mumbo-jumbo-y.
The scientists used what's called brachial reactive testing, which, similar to taking blood pressure, uses a cuff around the upper arm, but instead of just getting a static pressure measurement, they get a real-time measurement that they use to measure the reaction of the arteries over time to different meals.
Elasticity of the arteries is extremely important in helping to maintain optimal blood pressure, and reduced flexibility is known to be a factor in heart disease. This study showed a sudden and temporary dysfunction of the endothelial lining in the arteries in response to the high glycemic foods.
Apparently, while an important function of the arteries is their ability to stretch when needed, the enormous peaks and suddenness of the stretching over time causes damage to the endothelial lining, and the body responds to such damage with a repair job by a substance called c-reactive protein(CRP). CRP once laid down in the arteries creates a sticky place for cholesterol to adhere to. Thus starting the process of Atherosclerosis.
Clearly, we should all be looking for ways to reduce our consumption of simple and refined sugars.
Top 10 Ways to Reduce Simple and Refined Sugar Consumption
1. Don't add it to foods. This may sound simple enough, but people do it all the time. Sugar is added to coffee and tea all the time. Many people who consume upwards of 10 cups of coffee a day put as much as a tablespoon of sugar in each coffee. Adding sugar to cereals or to fruit salads is another mistake.
2. Cane sugar, Honey, Molasses, Turbinado sugar, Brown Sugar, Raw Sugar. Don't be fooled by these nicer sounding names for sugar. Once you eat it, they all cause the same damage.
3. Artificial sweeteners. These guys don't have a glycemic index, but because of their sweetness they may cause you to crave sweets at other times.
4. Reduce or elminate processed and refined sugars. Breads, pastries, candies, bagels, pasta, cereals, and virtually all snackfood are just loaded with refined sugars. They may come under different names such as Confectioners sugar, flour, cornstarch, high-fructose corn syrup to name just a few, but don't be fooled. Once in your stomach, they all turn to glucose and drive your blood sugar up rapidly.
5. Fat-Free foods. As soon as "Fats" were deemed bad, manufacturers stripped large quantities of fat from everything they could get their hands on, and dumped massive quantities of processed and refined sugars in their place to keep you coming back for more.
6. Eliminate Juices. I don't care whether they're natural and unsweetened or not, just get rid of them. If you want the goodness from natural unsweetened juice, eat the fruit. You'll get everything in the juice, plus a ton of fibre and you'll consume far fewer calories in the long run. The fibre in the fruit helps to slow digestion, keeping you full longer.
7. Keep Fruit Consumption Moderate. I know I said eat fruit instead of drinking juice, but if you were drinking ten glasses of juice a day, you can't eat ten pieces of fruit each day and expect to lose body fat. For those who have reducing body fat as an objective, keep fruit consumption to just a few pieces a day at most. Fruit, while containing lots of fibre, vitamins, and minerals, also contains significantly more sugar than vegetables, which also contain lots of fiber, vitamins and minerals. So if you believe you need to eat more fruit to get enough nutrients, think again. Reach for additional veggies if you think you need more than a few pieces of fruit each day.
8. Beware of Hidden Sugars. If you pick up a food and the label says there's 30g of total carbohydrates, and you notice beside the word "sugars" it only says 3 or 4 grams, what do you think is making up the difference? It's sugars of some sort. So take the total grams as what you're eating. Divide the total number by 4 and that will tell you how many teaspoons of sugar you're eating.
9. Increase Your Nutritional Awareness. I rarely read nutritional labels because most of the foods I eat don't come with nutritional labels. Apples, oats, broccoli, etc... these things don't need labels because they're in their natural form. Its only when man has messed with the ingredients (usually screwing it up in the process) that things needed to be labeled. Conversely, obsessing about nutritional content of foods is a surefire way to end up with all sorts of health problems. However, if you do pick up a food that has a label, give it a quick read, and make yourself aware of what you're putting in your body. The old saying "Ignorance is Bliss", is only true until you start suffering, and then Ignorance is your regret.
10. Use the 5 Ingredient rule. Try not to buy foods that have more than 5 ingredients listed on the label. If you limit it to five, chances are there won't be any refined sugars.
Day 5 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp by guest blogger Katy Sinha
Good morning !
Glad to get back to my car after boot camp this morning. We had a touch of rain and the BUGS were crazy outside! THERE! I said it. I was sneaking my blog entries in without mention of the bugs, but finally, I broke down and had to write about it. As they say, if it doesn't kill me it'll make me stronger! I think we're talking mental toughness again.
As for the drills today, push ups came into the lineup. I started with my sissy push ups from the knees in the first round. I promptly moved to push ups from my feet as I noticed that everyone else was challenging themselves with the real thing. Yes I do have a competitive streak in me and I figure that doing only 6 push ups in 20 seconds is better than 12 from my knees.
Sneaky Shane has now organized the drill order so that in a series of 4 stations, the end of the first station and the start of the second station are at opposite corners of the camp. Our precious rest period between stations is getting taken up by having to hoof it to the next drill. Boot camp, like in the military, is starting to have its effect. I've noticed that we're now in the habit of starting the next drill when we hear the 'beeeep' and not waiting for Shane to give us the verbal cue to start. Our collective attitude of "I won't do it if I don't have to do it" is now shifting to "well, I'm here so I might as well get stronger".
Looking forward to day 6 tricks.
Katy
That wraps it up for today! Come back tomorrow for Day 6 Review, and more goodies to keep you strong, healthy, and happy!
Until next time,
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Revealing Video on Food Addiction Plus Day 5 Review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp
I received an email this morning from a colleague in Boston, who found this excellent video by Dr. David Kessler, MD, the former chairman of the FDA, explaining why people find it so difficult to
resist eating certain "foods".
I'm quite certain you'll find it very enlightening.
You can watch the video here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mEWVSEWYGEKK1
Dr. Kessler has written a book that goes into great depth in revealing why people are so addicted to certain "foods". Just like the big tobacco companies did in manipulating nicotine levels in their product to create addiction, the big agri-food producers have done the same thing.
Foods with such high concentrations of sugar and fats simply do not exist in nature, yet they permeate every single restaurant, shopping centre, grocery store, and gas station bar. These foods stimulate neurotransmitters in your brain in ways that lead you to crave them when you haven't had them in a while, and to create high levels of anticipation once you make the decision to eat them.
Sounds a lot like the same way cigarettes make you feel!
The link to the video once again is:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mEWVSEWYGEKK1
Guest Blogger Katy Sinha is back with her review of Day 5 of Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
I've got to be careful now on what I comment on. Last post I had briefly explained how difficult but great it was to do a variation on the plank exercise for the abs. Not that Shane is reading my blog and plotting and scheming like a witch over a cauldron, but we did have to do another round of those killer planks PLUS a new variation.
He tucked those abs exercises in just at the end after we had stretched so I actually thought we were done. So, I got stuck in my mind where you expect to be finished, and you realize you still have more to do. Mental toughness was not one of the boxes I checked when I signed up, but I see that there is room for improvement.
Ditto on the 'room for improvement' with my diet. I am in perhaps the fortunate position where my main goal is not fat loss, rather it is strength and muscle gain. Many participants are on the challenging path of fat loss and I commend them for their desire to change and action in showing up every day at 7am. About 10 years ago Shane put me through a rigorous 3 week program that helped me lose 9 lbs out of a total of 45lbs that I've kept off since then.
Shane has been sending out these awesome motivational and hugely informative emails covering topics of: fat loss, health vitality and performance, 90/10 rules for discipline with eating healthy and having a cheat meal, kitchen makeovers (throwing out the junk in the cupboards and freezer).
But... gaining muscle as opposed to fat loss is just as difficult. I had a great weekend attending 2 BBQ birthday parties. Great friends, lots of food, however, I was grazing over salads, chips, burgers, birthday cake and did I mention... wine, wine and wine?
What did I notice about my slack discipline with diet?
Two things:
I noticed how my body did not feel great after the weekend as I am placing more demands upon it with boot camp. Second, the splurge on cake and chips especially did not feel worth it compared to the goals I am trying to achieve with boot camp. HA! So there...even I (who is not trying to lose weight) have to be careful about my diet and follow the principles that Shane is laying down through his emails.
This camp is making sense... it's a camp for the mind, body and spirit.
See you after Day 5
Katy
I hope you enjoyed the video I had for you today, and as well Katy's review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
I would love to hear your comments on the video today. I'll review the comments, and then tomorrow I'll have a giveaway for the person with the best contribution.
I need a minimum of ten comments to provide the giveaway, so click the comments link below and tell me what you thought of the video and whether you think there's even a chance for our society to beat this growing unhealthy epidemic.
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
resist eating certain "foods".
I'm quite certain you'll find it very enlightening.
You can watch the video here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mEWVSEWYGEKK1
Dr. Kessler has written a book that goes into great depth in revealing why people are so addicted to certain "foods". Just like the big tobacco companies did in manipulating nicotine levels in their product to create addiction, the big agri-food producers have done the same thing.
Foods with such high concentrations of sugar and fats simply do not exist in nature, yet they permeate every single restaurant, shopping centre, grocery store, and gas station bar. These foods stimulate neurotransmitters in your brain in ways that lead you to crave them when you haven't had them in a while, and to create high levels of anticipation once you make the decision to eat them.
Sounds a lot like the same way cigarettes make you feel!
The link to the video once again is:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mEWVSEWYGEKK1
Guest Blogger Katy Sinha is back with her review of Day 5 of Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
I've got to be careful now on what I comment on. Last post I had briefly explained how difficult but great it was to do a variation on the plank exercise for the abs. Not that Shane is reading my blog and plotting and scheming like a witch over a cauldron, but we did have to do another round of those killer planks PLUS a new variation.
He tucked those abs exercises in just at the end after we had stretched so I actually thought we were done. So, I got stuck in my mind where you expect to be finished, and you realize you still have more to do. Mental toughness was not one of the boxes I checked when I signed up, but I see that there is room for improvement.
Ditto on the 'room for improvement' with my diet. I am in perhaps the fortunate position where my main goal is not fat loss, rather it is strength and muscle gain. Many participants are on the challenging path of fat loss and I commend them for their desire to change and action in showing up every day at 7am. About 10 years ago Shane put me through a rigorous 3 week program that helped me lose 9 lbs out of a total of 45lbs that I've kept off since then.
Shane has been sending out these awesome motivational and hugely informative emails covering topics of: fat loss, health vitality and performance, 90/10 rules for discipline with eating healthy and having a cheat meal, kitchen makeovers (throwing out the junk in the cupboards and freezer).
But... gaining muscle as opposed to fat loss is just as difficult. I had a great weekend attending 2 BBQ birthday parties. Great friends, lots of food, however, I was grazing over salads, chips, burgers, birthday cake and did I mention... wine, wine and wine?
What did I notice about my slack discipline with diet?
Two things:
I noticed how my body did not feel great after the weekend as I am placing more demands upon it with boot camp. Second, the splurge on cake and chips especially did not feel worth it compared to the goals I am trying to achieve with boot camp. HA! So there...even I (who is not trying to lose weight) have to be careful about my diet and follow the principles that Shane is laying down through his emails.
This camp is making sense... it's a camp for the mind, body and spirit.
See you after Day 5
Katy
I hope you enjoyed the video I had for you today, and as well Katy's review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
I would love to hear your comments on the video today. I'll review the comments, and then tomorrow I'll have a giveaway for the person with the best contribution.
I need a minimum of ten comments to provide the giveaway, so click the comments link below and tell me what you thought of the video and whether you think there's even a chance for our society to beat this growing unhealthy epidemic.
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Add 25 lbs To Your Bench in 3 Hours with Curd Hos
I sent this out to my newsletter yesterday, but didn't get the chance to post it here, as I know there's still a few of you who haven't migrated over to the new platform.
If you're getting two copies of my newsletter and only want to get it once, unsubscribe to the one that says it's delivered by google. Don't unsubscribe to the one that's delivered by Aweber.
I'm using Aweber to manage my subscriptions now as it gives me far more control over how I can use the mailing list.
Here's what I sent out yesterday:
I just got off the phone with my good friend Curd Hos, who I haven't
spoken with in a while. Curd has been in the fitness industry for
even longer than I have, and let me tell you, my conversation with
Curd was eye-opening.
Curd told me that as a lifetime drug-free powerlifter he's finally
hit the 600 lbs mark on the bench. Curd is 41 years old too folks,
so don't think for a second that if you've had a couple kids, and
you're over 30 that you can't still get your bench up.
If you're interested in getting some top-notch coaching on your
bench press, Curd is hosting a bench press seminar on August 29th
2009.
Check it out:
http://www.fitnesswarehouse.ca/Bench_seminar.html
Spaces are limited to just 6 people, and at $75 it is an absolute
steal. I've paid over $250 for similar seminars in the past, and
while the mantra of you get what you pay for is almost always true,
I will personally guarantee that when you leave Curd's seminar, you
will agree that you would have paid easily double or triple what
Curd is charging for it.
On top of the low price and everything you're going to learn, Curd
is also throwing in for free:
1. 6 week detailed training program - $75 Value
2. NeoGenixx Performance Supplement Package - $75 Value
3. Bench Freak T shirt -$20 Value
So what's the catch?
Well I'm pretty sure, that once you meet Curd, and you realize how
awesome he is, you'll probably return to his store to pick up your
protein powders, essential fats, basic multi-vitamin / multi-
minerals and anything else you might need.
So yeah, I think that's the catch, but it's a win-win.
So if you've been struggling with your bench, head on over to:
http://www.fitnesswarehouse.ca/Bench_seminar.html
and sign up right away.
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
http://www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
http://www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
P.S. that link once again is:
http://www.fitnesswarehouse.ca/Bench_seminar.html
If you're getting two copies of my newsletter and only want to get it once, unsubscribe to the one that says it's delivered by google. Don't unsubscribe to the one that's delivered by Aweber.
I'm using Aweber to manage my subscriptions now as it gives me far more control over how I can use the mailing list.
Here's what I sent out yesterday:
I just got off the phone with my good friend Curd Hos, who I haven't
spoken with in a while. Curd has been in the fitness industry for
even longer than I have, and let me tell you, my conversation with
Curd was eye-opening.
Curd told me that as a lifetime drug-free powerlifter he's finally
hit the 600 lbs mark on the bench. Curd is 41 years old too folks,
so don't think for a second that if you've had a couple kids, and
you're over 30 that you can't still get your bench up.
If you're interested in getting some top-notch coaching on your
bench press, Curd is hosting a bench press seminar on August 29th
2009.
Check it out:
http://www.fitnesswarehouse.ca/Bench_seminar.html
Spaces are limited to just 6 people, and at $75 it is an absolute
steal. I've paid over $250 for similar seminars in the past, and
while the mantra of you get what you pay for is almost always true,
I will personally guarantee that when you leave Curd's seminar, you
will agree that you would have paid easily double or triple what
Curd is charging for it.
On top of the low price and everything you're going to learn, Curd
is also throwing in for free:
1. 6 week detailed training program - $75 Value
2. NeoGenixx Performance Supplement Package - $75 Value
3. Bench Freak T shirt -$20 Value
So what's the catch?
Well I'm pretty sure, that once you meet Curd, and you realize how
awesome he is, you'll probably return to his store to pick up your
protein powders, essential fats, basic multi-vitamin / multi-
minerals and anything else you might need.
So yeah, I think that's the catch, but it's a win-win.
So if you've been struggling with your bench, head on over to:
http://www.fitnesswarehouse.ca/Bench_seminar.html
and sign up right away.
Until next time,
:)
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
http://www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
http://www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
P.S. that link once again is:
http://www.fitnesswarehouse.ca/Bench_seminar.html
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Your Beach Body Boot Camp Day 3 Review by Katy Sinha
Day 3 boot camp this morning and I was expecting thunder storms and buckets of rain early morning but somehow we were spared.
New drills were added to our routine which worked upper body more. I've now started to identify some areas of my body that are my 'weak' spots. My lower back has long been a trouble area due to an old injury so I'm really enjoying all the killer abs exercises. Not that I love actually doing the crabwalk and all variations of the plank (didn't know Shane could come up with so many ways to make the plank new again), but I can feel my core tightening again. This is, of course, a blessed feeling after having had my 2nd baby only eight months ago.
Kettlebells
More on this plank exercise... Shane had us down on the ground, face in to the dewy grass with elbows and toes touching ground. This is the basic plank pose. THEN, he says "now lift your right hand up to the sky by rotating your core up, then come back down and rotate your right arm straight under your left shoulder... that's ONE repetition. Do ten on each side." Of course, he makes it look quite easy as though it would fit into a yoga class. I did my ten repetitions and knew that I'd be hurtin' around my shoulder blades after this one.
I'll let you know how I'm feeling after this Thursday's day 4.
Katy
Please post your comments about the videos or Katy's review by clicking the Comments link at the end of this article.
I'll be back tomorrow with Katy's review of Day 4.
Until then,
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Your Beach Body Boot Camp
Dynamic Stretching
New drills were added to our routine which worked upper body more. I've now started to identify some areas of my body that are my 'weak' spots. My lower back has long been a trouble area due to an old injury so I'm really enjoying all the killer abs exercises. Not that I love actually doing the crabwalk and all variations of the plank (didn't know Shane could come up with so many ways to make the plank new again), but I can feel my core tightening again. This is, of course, a blessed feeling after having had my 2nd baby only eight months ago.
Your Beach Body Boot Camp
Kettlebells
More on this plank exercise... Shane had us down on the ground, face in to the dewy grass with elbows and toes touching ground. This is the basic plank pose. THEN, he says "now lift your right hand up to the sky by rotating your core up, then come back down and rotate your right arm straight under your left shoulder... that's ONE repetition. Do ten on each side." Of course, he makes it look quite easy as though it would fit into a yoga class. I did my ten repetitions and knew that I'd be hurtin' around my shoulder blades after this one.
I'll let you know how I'm feeling after this Thursday's day 4.
Katy
Please post your comments about the videos or Katy's review by clicking the Comments link at the end of this article.
I'll be back tomorrow with Katy's review of Day 4.
Until then,
Shane Miller, CFT, CSN
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Boot Camp Review Core Training and Yummy Muffins
Welcome to newsletter issue #55. In part 1 we're going to get into the meat and potatoes of developing a strong and healthy core. In part 2 you'll hear about Day 2 of Your Beach Body Boot Camp from guest blogger Katy Sinha, and in part 3 you'll get my super healthy muffin recipe.
Enjoy!
OK! I am impressed. Just finished day 2 of boot camp this morning and 7am did not seem as early as the first day.
Throughout camp this morning, I could hear cheers of support and words of encouragement when the drills were getting tougher. 'Cause it's true, I wouldn't be doing this alone! Such 'grunty' drills... it's fun to do it with a group though.
I even heard someone mention that we should celebrate the end of boot camp with a martini party! So, we must be having fun!!
More after DAY 3
Katy
Enjoy!
Part 1
Question:
I’ve had low back pain in the past and I suspect it has to do with my not knowing how to lift properly, and that I have a fat tummy and probably very little abdominal strength. So (1) how do I turn my fat tummy into hard muscles, (2) work my abdominal core, and (3) not hurt my back in the process?
From Steve,
Answer:
Hi Steve,
You’ve listed three great questions there. With respect to not knowing how to lift properly, to fully answer that question is a full article in itself, which I will leave to a future newsletter. So without going in to the mechanics of how to lift properly, knowing how to protect your back when you lift or train your abs or back is vitally important, so let’s get into it.
Protecting Your Back While Training
When you stand with good posture, the natural lordotic curve of your spine is the same curve you should maintain while you lift. When you train your abs, depending on the movement, you want to maintain either the same lordotic curve or a slightly flexed spine.
To make sure your spine is protected when you’re lifting or training abs or back, you need to brace your whole midsection using the Val Salva manouever. Essentially, you take a deep breath, bear down hard, lock up your abdominal muscles and actually apply pressure outward against your abs. Do NOT pull your navel towards your spine as is frequently but incorrectly taught.
Protecting your back while training the abdominals is really not that difficult, but there is so much confusion, and a lot of it really comes from a lack of education as to what the muscle groups are and how they function. So let’s get a little bit of anatomy going here.
First, there are four abdominal muscles.
1. Rectus Abdominus
2. External Oblique
3. Internal Oblique
4. Transverse Abdominus
The (1) rectus abdominus helps you flex your spine like when you do crunches (which is a waste of time by the way). The (2) external and (3) internal obliques help you to twist, and more importantly help you to resist twisting. They can also help you to flex your spine too. The (4) transverse abdominus, when used correctly, braces your midsection making it stiff, solid and able to resist forces that would flex, extend, or twist it, and finally transmit external forces towards the extremities.
The transverse abdominus (TVA) is the muscle that gets people so confused. First, we get silly fitness instructors yelling out “Recruit that TVA!” to their participants. Get real man! Who the heck is going to know how to flex their transverse abdominus anyway?!?
Some smarty-pants then went and looked up the anatomy and function of the TVA and came back with the then-wise, but now-not-so-wise instruction to pull your navel towards your spine.
This is the problem with text-book ONLY education. Yes, the TVA does attach in part in the front to the linea alba, and in part in the back to the thoracolumbar fascia, which means that yes drawing your navel towards your spine does activate the muscle.
But folks, simple “activation” of this muscle is not what we’re after when trying to protect your spine. We’re after an inborn, instinctive, maximum effort recruitment of every single muscle fiber in your TVA. We’re talking about generating massive, life-saving muscle tension if necessary. While it is an instinctive process when needed, the key is to learn how to apply it day-to-day when lifting or carrying heavy objects or, of course, working out.
So whether you’re flipping heavy tires at my boot camp, doing a heavy deadlift or squat in the gym, or picking up your kid, trust me on this one.. do the same thing every time! Brace hard, and use the val salva manouever.
If you’re concerned about the safety of the Val Salva manouever, better not let your wife deliver your baby vaginally, as she’ll be engaging the Val Salva manouever for 10-15 seconds at a time for up to 2 hours to push your baby out.
It’s quite simple. If you’re not using abdominal bracing and the Val Salva manouever, start, or risk injury. Your choice!
Turn Your Fat Tummy Into Rock Hard Muscles
The truth is, unless you’re Jesus, just like you can’t turn water into wine, you can’t turn fat into muscle. But, you can burn off your fat tummy and turn your soft, thin, weak abdominal muscles into slabs of rock hard beach-ready abs!
Burning off your fat tummy is simply a matter of expending more calories than you consume. I’ve covered this quite a bit recently so I won’t get into it too much here, but 2-3 good hard sessions of weight training each week, plus 2-3 sessions of metabolic fatigue training such as www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com will do it.
Turning your soft, thin, weak abdominals into slabs of rock hard beach-ready abs requires the right training.
Before you think we’re going to have you jumping into hanging leg raises, and dragon flags, or any other crazy abdominal exercises, you have to understand the types of contractions you should and shouldn’t be doing and the progressions required to train your abs safely.
Static Contraction
The first exercises that need to be learned are exercises in which you use your abdominal muscles to resist externally applied forces.
Simple examples of Static Contraction exercises include:
- Front plank
- Side plank
- Reverse plank
- 1-Arm heavy dumbbell holds
In these exercises you are using your abdominal muscles to resist the force of gravity. Intra-abdominal pressure is maintained via the Val Salva manouever. Gradually build the length of time you can hold them. Once you can hold each of them for at least one minute, you can move into your first progression.
During any static contraction exercise, obviously you aren’t going to hold the Val Salva manouever for the entire duration. Instead, you allow short but shallow bursts of air to escape, and then you quickly pull it back in. The reason for the short, shallow breaths is to keep at minimum the movement of your midsection. Under a heavy load, if you were to exhale fully, you would be unable to maintain tension in your muscles. By allowing just enough air to escape, and then rapidly pull enough back in you are able to maintain the stiff position of your body.
If you ever feel dizzy from this, rest some, and then try again. Your cardiovascular system adapts quite well to this, allowing for significant and safe intra-abdominal pressure to protect your spine.
Progressions
Your first progression would include using other externally applied forces such as a plate on your back; your training partner pushing sideways on your hips; or even lifting a hand or foot just an inch or two off the floor. Make sure whichever progression you use, you maintain the same strict position as before. Do not let your body sag or shift out of place under the external force.
Stabilizing During Dynamic Movement
Now that you have a pretty good ability to brace your abs and resist externally applied forces, the next stage of abdominal training is to learn to brace your abs during dynamic movement of your extremities.
Simple examples of such exercises include:
- Floorclimbers
- Mountainclimbers
- Farmer’s walk unevenly loaded
- 1-Dumbbell front squats
- Dumbbell suitcase deadlifts
- 2-Arm Kettlebell pulls
These exercises teach you to use your abdominals to brace your spine during fast and forceful movements of your arms, legs, and hips.
Dynamic Stabilization During Dynamic Movement
Finally, exercises in which you actually use your abdominals to create movement as well as to stabilize your midsection are the next ones you will learn.
Simple examples include:
- Hanging leg raises
- Dragon flags
- Incline reverse crunches
- Incline leg raises
- Band crunch-downs to floor
- Blast Strap fall-outs
- Blast Strap oblique planks
- Kettlebell or 1-Dumbbell clean & press
During all of these movements your abdominals are always providing dynamic stabilization while helping to create the necessary movements of the spine. At all times, intra-abdominal pressure is maintained via the Val Salva manouever.
Here’s a sample 8 week abdominal strengthening program that a beginner could use. By the end of the 8 week program, this person will have significant abdominal strength and abdominal muscle thickness. Don’t worry, this type of abdominal muscle thickness, doesn’t make you look “thick” around the waist, instead, when body fat levels drop enough, it gives you the nice etched midsection look.
Sample abdominal Exercise Program
The prescribed exercises would be done 3 times per week, and could be tagged onto the end of your regular exercise routine.
| Week | Exercise | Sets/Reps/Time | Progressions |
| 1 | Front plank Side plank | 2 x 20 seconds 2 x 15 seconds | |
| 2 | Front plank Side plank Reverse plank | 2x40 seconds 2x30 seconds 1x20 seconds | |
| 3 | Front plank Side plank Reverse plank | 2x30 seconds 2x40 seconds 2x20 seconds | 10lbs added |
| 4 | Front plank Side plank 1-Arm heavy DB hold | 3x40 seconds 2x50 seconds 2x30 seconds x 20lbs | 10 lbs added & lift alt. feet |
| 5 | Floorclimbers Side plank Reverse plank | 2x20 reps 2x60 seconds 2x30 seconds | |
| 6 | Floorclimbers T-Twists 1-Arm heavy DB hold | 2x25 reps 5-10 ea. side 2x45 seconds x 25lbs | Increase weight |
| 7 | Floorcilmbers Farmer’s walk | 3x25 reps 2x60 steps x 15lbs + 30lbs | Increase weight |
| 8 | Mountainclimbers 1-DB Farmer’s walk Reverse plank | 3x20 reps 3x60 steps x 30 lbs 3x30 seconds | Add weight |
This is just a sample 8 week program, and while it is good and effective, it is far from all inclusive. There is so much more to complete core training than can possibly be covered in just a newsletter.
Last year a client of mine stumbled upon an abs program called Combat Core by Jim Smith, CSCS, and my client asked me if it was any good. Well it was so good, I ended up buying my own copy. If you like the information I’ve provided in this article on abdominal training, but you want even more information and more great abdominal training programs, you won’t find anything even remotely as good anywhere as Combat Core.
Jim Smith, the creator of Combat Core has worked with thousands of athletes of all different sports, and most recently helped prepare
Anyway, if you’re looking to get arguably the best information on abdominal training anywhere, Combat Core is for you.
Go HERE! to grab Jim’s Combat Core product.
Just a quick note: I've had enough people ask me for a really comprehensive product on abs, but putting together something like Jim's Combat Core would take me probably a year with the time I can commit to it. And truthfully, it would be tough to put together a better program myself. So if you don't want to wait for my product, get Jim's.
Guest Blogger Katy Sinha on Day 2 of
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
OK! I am impressed. Just finished day 2 of boot camp this morning and 7am did not seem as early as the first day.
The Battling Ropes of Death
Throughout camp this morning, I could hear cheers of support and words of encouragement when the drills were getting tougher. 'Cause it's true, I wouldn't be doing this alone! Such 'grunty' drills... it's fun to do it with a group though.
I even heard someone mention that we should celebrate the end of boot camp with a martini party! So, we must be having fun!!
More after DAY 3
Katy
If you’re expecting the taste of those super heavy, junky, sugar and fat laddened muffins you can buy at commercial bakeries, then this recipe is not for you.
But if you want a muffin recipe where each muffin by itself is a healthy, nutritious snack, that still tastes good even with all the healthy stuff in it, then you’ll love it!
A couple things about the recipe.
1. If you find it a little dry, add a bit of water or milk. Start with an oz at most and then make adjustments the next time depending on your preferences. We had to make the recipe about 4 times before we found the exact combination we liked the most.
2. If you want more protein, add more eggs or protein powder. (protein powder makes it drier, so use less oats and/or add some milk or water to compensate.
3. If you want less carbs, use less oats.
4. If you want less fat, use less butter and/or coconut oil
Wet ingredients
¼ cup of soft coconut oil
¼ cup of soft butter
8-10 ripe bananas
6 eggs
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
3 Dry ingredients
3 cups of oats
7 scoops protein powder
1 cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup ground flax seed (grind in coffee grinder)
½ cup dried coconut (unsweetened)
1 pinch salt
1 tsp magic baking powder
1 cup frozen raspberries or blueberries or 1 cup of chocolate chips
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In separate dishes, thoroughly mix wet and dry ingredients, then combine.
3. Bake at 350 for approximately 25minutes
Makes 24 muffins
Nutrition Facts per muffin:
| Optional Ingredient: | 1 Cup Frozen Berries | 1 Cup Chocolate Chips |
| Total Calories (kcal) | 226 | 296 |
| Protein (g) | 13 | 15 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 18 | 29 |
| Fat (g) | 11 | 15 |
So that’s it for issue #55
If you have any questions, or comments, please leave them below in the comment section.
Until next time,
Shane Miller,
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
Monday, July 20, 2009
Your Beach Body Boot Camp Review Plus Egg Yolks vs. Egg Whites
Welcome to Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach Newsletter. In today's issue we feature a review of Your Beach Body Boot Camp by one of it's participants, and a much needed article on a topic I hear far too much misguided beliefs... Egg Yolks vs. Egg Whites.
I made it to the first of 16 boot camp days this morning! It's very exciting to be in my first 'boot camp' and realized that it's as much a mental game as it is physical in GETTING there for 7am!
Looking around the group of 12+ fellow bootcampers, we each have a reason for being there and have expectations for the outcome. I like the group. Everyone seems really supportive of each other.
As far as how i feel 6 hours after my first session, BRING IT ON!!!!
More talk after my muscles start to hurt...
Katy
I overheard a conversation at the grocery store the other day between two women, who were discussing whether to buy eggs, or egg whites only. One woman said she preferred to crack the
eggs and dump the yolks down the drain, citing it as costing less than buying just egg whites, while the other woman said she'd rather pay for the convenience of not having to crack the eggs and separate the white from the rest of the "artery clogging garbage in the yolk".
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Right then and there I knew this would be the topic for my next blog post.
This is a perfect example of how confused people are about nutrition. About ten to fifteen years ago, the link between high cholesterol and heart disease was established. You don't have to search hard to find plenty of studies that clearly link a high blood cholesterol level with heart disease.
The problem is that this information was taken and debased and publicized as "Dietary cholesterol intake" being linked to heart disease.
First, understand that having high cholesterol levels is not a diseased state. Heart Disease is as disease, but high cholesterol isn't. In fact, the human body has such a big requirement for cholesterol--as it is involved in the function and formation of so many hormones in the body--that any shortage of dietary cholesterol simply cranks up the body's own production of cholesterol to bridge the gap.
Studies have also shown that it is not whether you have higher cholesterol levels in the bloodstream that causes heart disease, but whether there exists a state of inflammation in the body. A state of inflammation stimulates cholesterol to stick to the walls of the arteries in the body as a protective mechanism. Cholesterol is a healing in nature, and is a key building block for natural sex-hormone production in the body.
Testing for cholesterol levels is fine, as optimal health actually requires that you have a high HDL cholesterol level. A better predictive test as to whether you are developing heart disease would be to measure both c-reactive protein (crp) and homocysteine levels. Both tests when high indicate high levels of inflammation in the body.
What causes high inflammation in the body?
1. High carb, low fat diets
2. Diets low in vitamins, minerals, and fiber (usually from a lack of vegetables, legumes, and fruit)
3. Diets high in junk food (man made trans-fatty-acids are a leading cause of inflammation)
4. Diets high in burned or charred food (if you're going to BBQ your food, DON'T burn it! And DON'T burn your toast)
So next time your doctor says your cholesterol levels are too high, and wants to put you on possibly dangerous statin drugs to lower your cholesterol, make sure he or she has also tested you for both c-reactive protein and blood homocysteine levels.
If your tests come back positive for high levels, then you're definitely treading on thin ice, but the solution does not involve statin drugs, unless you are in life-threateningly poor health to begin with, in which case these drugs can save lives. The take home message about Statin medications is that they are last minute lifesavers. But they should not be used as part of a heart-disease preventative plan.
For most people, the solution lies in cleaning up their diet, and getting regular exercise, and certainly DOES NOT involve dumping the yolks down the drain.
Here's a few nutrition facts you might be surprised to see.
More Proof That Egg Yolks Trump Egg Whites In Every Nutritional Category
I invite you to check carefully the two columns above listed as One Yolk and One White. Note how through all the vitamins and minerals, the egg white is virtually devoid of any nutrients in comparison to the egg yolk. Additionally, when it comes to the fats, there is only 1.6 grams of saturated fat per yolk.
Most health professionals will tell you that your diet should contain about 10% saturated fats. So if you do the basic math, if you require 1800 calories per day, 10% of that is 180 calories, and divided by 9 calories/gram, gives you 20 g of saturated fat. So you're fine to consume 3, 4, or 5 yolks a day or more plus enjoying some steak at dinner.
These numbers are only for an 1800 calorie a day diet. If you're doing any serious physical exercise such as www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com or weight training, or playing any sports, then your calorie requirements may be much higher, resulting in an even higher upper limit for how many yolks per day you can eat safely.
The same doctors and so called nutrition gurus that tell you to eat fewer egg yolks, espouse the benefits of "heart healthy" monounsaturated fats such as oleic acid, which is found in olives and almonds. Yet they fail to notice that each egg yolk delivers nearly a full 2 grams of the same monounsaturated fat.
Finally, the big one, omega-3 fatty acids that have all the current research to back up their health benefits are contained ONLY in the yolks. There is none at all in egg whites.
Clearly, egg yolks are nutritionally superior in every single category.
So next time you're going to make an omelette or scrambled eggs, go for a few whole eggs instead of one whole egg plus 4 or 5 whites. Not only will it taste better, it is far more nutritious, and it's way less of a hassle.
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Guest Blogger Katy Sinha details her first day at
Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
I made it to the first of 16 boot camp days this morning! It's very exciting to be in my first 'boot camp' and realized that it's as much a mental game as it is physical in GETTING there for 7am!
Looking around the group of 12+ fellow bootcampers, we each have a reason for being there and have expectations for the outcome. I like the group. Everyone seems really supportive of each other.
As far as how i feel 6 hours after my first session, BRING IT ON!!!!
More talk after my muscles start to hurt...
Katy
Whole Eggs vs. Egg Whites
I overheard a conversation at the grocery store the other day between two women, who were discussing whether to buy eggs, or egg whites only. One woman said she preferred to crack the
eggs and dump the yolks down the drain, citing it as costing less than buying just egg whites, while the other woman said she'd rather pay for the convenience of not having to crack the eggs and separate the white from the rest of the "artery clogging garbage in the yolk".
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Right then and there I knew this would be the topic for my next blog post.
This is a perfect example of how confused people are about nutrition. About ten to fifteen years ago, the link between high cholesterol and heart disease was established. You don't have to search hard to find plenty of studies that clearly link a high blood cholesterol level with heart disease.
The problem is that this information was taken and debased and publicized as "Dietary cholesterol intake" being linked to heart disease.
First, understand that having high cholesterol levels is not a diseased state. Heart Disease is as disease, but high cholesterol isn't. In fact, the human body has such a big requirement for cholesterol--as it is involved in the function and formation of so many hormones in the body--that any shortage of dietary cholesterol simply cranks up the body's own production of cholesterol to bridge the gap.
Studies have also shown that it is not whether you have higher cholesterol levels in the bloodstream that causes heart disease, but whether there exists a state of inflammation in the body. A state of inflammation stimulates cholesterol to stick to the walls of the arteries in the body as a protective mechanism. Cholesterol is a healing in nature, and is a key building block for natural sex-hormone production in the body.
Testing for cholesterol levels is fine, as optimal health actually requires that you have a high HDL cholesterol level. A better predictive test as to whether you are developing heart disease would be to measure both c-reactive protein (crp) and homocysteine levels. Both tests when high indicate high levels of inflammation in the body.
What causes high inflammation in the body?
1. High carb, low fat diets
2. Diets low in vitamins, minerals, and fiber (usually from a lack of vegetables, legumes, and fruit)
3. Diets high in junk food (man made trans-fatty-acids are a leading cause of inflammation)
4. Diets high in burned or charred food (if you're going to BBQ your food, DON'T burn it! And DON'T burn your toast)
So next time your doctor says your cholesterol levels are too high, and wants to put you on possibly dangerous statin drugs to lower your cholesterol, make sure he or she has also tested you for both c-reactive protein and blood homocysteine levels.
If your tests come back positive for high levels, then you're definitely treading on thin ice, but the solution does not involve statin drugs, unless you are in life-threateningly poor health to begin with, in which case these drugs can save lives. The take home message about Statin medications is that they are last minute lifesavers. But they should not be used as part of a heart-disease preventative plan.
For most people, the solution lies in cleaning up their diet, and getting regular exercise, and certainly DOES NOT involve dumping the yolks down the drain.
Here's a few nutrition facts you might be surprised to see.
Egg yolk vs. Egg white
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21 (2008) |
I invite you to check carefully the two columns above listed as One Yolk and One White. Note how through all the vitamins and minerals, the egg white is virtually devoid of any nutrients in comparison to the egg yolk. Additionally, when it comes to the fats, there is only 1.6 grams of saturated fat per yolk.
Most health professionals will tell you that your diet should contain about 10% saturated fats. So if you do the basic math, if you require 1800 calories per day, 10% of that is 180 calories, and divided by 9 calories/gram, gives you 20 g of saturated fat. So you're fine to consume 3, 4, or 5 yolks a day or more plus enjoying some steak at dinner.
These numbers are only for an 1800 calorie a day diet. If you're doing any serious physical exercise such as www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com or weight training, or playing any sports, then your calorie requirements may be much higher, resulting in an even higher upper limit for how many yolks per day you can eat safely.
The same doctors and so called nutrition gurus that tell you to eat fewer egg yolks, espouse the benefits of "heart healthy" monounsaturated fats such as oleic acid, which is found in olives and almonds. Yet they fail to notice that each egg yolk delivers nearly a full 2 grams of the same monounsaturated fat.
Finally, the big one, omega-3 fatty acids that have all the current research to back up their health benefits are contained ONLY in the yolks. There is none at all in egg whites.
Clearly, egg yolks are nutritionally superior in every single category.
So next time you're going to make an omelette or scrambled eggs, go for a few whole eggs instead of one whole egg plus 4 or 5 whites. Not only will it taste better, it is far more nutritious, and it's way less of a hassle.
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Thursday, July 16, 2009
UFC George St Pierre Conditioning Training
The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), whether you like it or not, is the most physically demanding sport there is. Athletes such as Georges St Pierre of Montreal (Canada), the current welterweight champion, have strength and conditioning programs second to none in the world.
The Incredible Physique of Georges St. Pierre
Nothing produces fatigue as quickly as wrestling and swinging punches and kicks, not to mention taking punches and kicks, and being thrown to the ground.
So without signing-up for my UFC-Style Beatdown Bootcamp, where the old saying, "Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is quite literally the truth, how are you supposed to get the best possible strength and conditioning work in the least possible time, and for the least cost?
Easy! You go to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com where I will put you through the most intensive training you've ever experienced bar none!
Here's my guarantee: If you come to my camp, give it 100% and you don't significantly improve your strength and conditioning, not only will it be free, but I will pay you for your wasted time!
You might think I'm crazy to give this kind of an unconditional guarantee, even at the risk of losing money. Heck, I might even get a few people out just to make some money. But I know by the time they make it through, they won't ask for a dime. Rather, they'll probably be signing-up for the next camp.
Don't believe me? Call my bluff if that's what you think it is.
What have you got to lose?
Nada!
So head on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com and sign-up today!
We start Monday morning at 7am!
Have a great weekend!
:)
Shane Miller
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
The Incredible Physique of Georges St. PierreNothing produces fatigue as quickly as wrestling and swinging punches and kicks, not to mention taking punches and kicks, and being thrown to the ground.
So without signing-up for my UFC-Style Beatdown Bootcamp, where the old saying, "Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is quite literally the truth, how are you supposed to get the best possible strength and conditioning work in the least possible time, and for the least cost?
Easy! You go to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com where I will put you through the most intensive training you've ever experienced bar none!
Here's my guarantee: If you come to my camp, give it 100% and you don't significantly improve your strength and conditioning, not only will it be free, but I will pay you for your wasted time!
You might think I'm crazy to give this kind of an unconditional guarantee, even at the risk of losing money. Heck, I might even get a few people out just to make some money. But I know by the time they make it through, they won't ask for a dime. Rather, they'll probably be signing-up for the next camp.
Don't believe me? Call my bluff if that's what you think it is.
What have you got to lose?
Nada!
So head on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com and sign-up today!
We start Monday morning at 7am!
Have a great weekend!
:)
Shane Miller
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Burn More Fat At Your Beach Body Boot Camp
The last few weeks I've been hard at work putting together the best possible fat burning workouts I could think of. They're ready. I've also been hard at work getting a website up so you can find out how you too can burn more fat at Your Beach Body Boot Camp!
So bust on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com and find out for yourself why my email inbox is overflowing with sign-up forms since we went live at noon today!
Don't miss it!
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
http://www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
http://www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
So bust on over to www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com and find out for yourself why my email inbox is overflowing with sign-up forms since we went live at noon today!
Don't miss it!
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
http://www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
http://www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Fat Loss Quite Possibly The Most Effective Program Ever
Do you need to lose weight fast? Have hours of boring cardio on that painful bike seat finally brought you to your senses? Are you sick of all the silly fat diets and completely ridiculous claims of the next miracle weight loss pill? Are you looking for what just may be the most effective fat loss program anywhere?
The Battling Ropes of Death
The website is almost done, so stay tuned as we go live, ready or not, tomorrow at noon.
** Tremblay, A., J. Simoneau, and C. Bouchard. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism. 43:814-818, 1994.
If so, you're going to love what I've got in store for you. I've put together a fat incinerating workout using completely unconventional equipment that is loads of fun to use, and I guarantee you will never work so hard and have so much fun at the same time. I developed Your Beach Body Boot Camp to help you burn more body fat faster than quite possibly any other workout ever devised.
Here’s why it is so effective:
- Every exercise requires an all out effort. There is no medium, no low, only high! The more effort the workout requires, the more calories are needed to fuel it. Do you see where I'm going here?
- Proven, and well established in the literture**, High Intensity Interval Training has been shown to be the single most effective method of rapid fat loss compared to other forms of exercise.
- Producing a significant increase in excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), High Intensity Interval Training causes a whopping boost to your 24-hour energy expenditure. This means you burn way more calories all the time. Who doesn’t want that?
- Group training environment promote encouragement and teamwork from your peers, which always helps you to find energy you didn't know existed.
- When your fatigue level is second only to your level of excitement, hard work doesn't seem so hard. I guarantee you haven't done these exercises! After making it through your first workout at Your Beach Body Boot Camp, I can't imagine you'd ever do someone else' bootcamp.
- Come at your own risk, your risk losing fat fast, getting in crazy shape, and loving every minute!
The Battling Ropes of DeathThe website is almost done, so stay tuned as we go live, ready or not, tomorrow at noon.
** Tremblay, A., J. Simoneau, and C. Bouchard. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism. 43:814-818, 1994.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Womens Bodybuilding Champion Lynne Loiselle Cleans Up At 2009 Northern Ontario Bodybuilding Championship
I received a phone call yesterday afternoon from Lynne Loiselle -- a client of mine -- stating that she believes she may have won everything (middleweight class, masters class, overall class) at the bodybuilding show. She would have to wait another few hours until the evening show to find out if she was right. I got the second call from Lynne at around 11pm happy as can be, she said she took it all. I can just see the headlines tomorrow Womens Bodybuilding Champion Lynne Loiselle Cleans Up At 2009 Northern Ontario Bodybuilding Championship.
Lynne Loiselle
2009 Northern Ontario Champion
Middleweight Class, Masters Class, Overall Champion
Lynne Loiselle
2009 Northern Ontario Champion Middleweight Class, Masters Class, Overall Champion
So how does a woman achieve such extraordinary results from their diet? Well for starters, there's no cheating. The diet is tough, but the results speak for themselves.
Here are the basic nutrition principles used to achieve this result.
- Gradually reducing caloric intake
- Moderate to high protein intake
- Low carb intake
- High fat intake
Of course there are fluctuations built into the mix because a continually dropping calorie level will eventually slow the metabolism. So there are strategic high calorie days used along the way to keep the metabolism going.
Strategic high calorie days are essential to preserve lean muscle tissue and to ensure optimal leptin levels throughout the 16 week diet. The result is maximum muscularity and maximum fat loss as evidenced by the following photo.
Awesome Muscularity and Completely Ripped!
Womens bodybuilding gets an awful rap sometimes because of the drug use in the pro level shows, and even though it does trickle down to the local shows sometimes, a new champion like Lynne Loiselle is going to do a lot of good for the image of the sport we all love so much. Lynne is a beautiful woman both on the inside and the outside.
Congratulations to you Lynne!
If you are interested in learning more about what it takes to compete in bodybuilding or figure, please contact me at shane@spectrumfitness.ca or 613.852.5230
Here are the basic nutrition principles used to achieve this result.
- Gradually reducing caloric intake
- Moderate to high protein intake
- Low carb intake
- High fat intake
Of course there are fluctuations built into the mix because a continually dropping calorie level will eventually slow the metabolism. So there are strategic high calorie days used along the way to keep the metabolism going.
Strategic high calorie days are essential to preserve lean muscle tissue and to ensure optimal leptin levels throughout the 16 week diet. The result is maximum muscularity and maximum fat loss as evidenced by the following photo.
Lynne Loiselle
Awesome Muscularity and Completely Ripped!Womens bodybuilding gets an awful rap sometimes because of the drug use in the pro level shows, and even though it does trickle down to the local shows sometimes, a new champion like Lynne Loiselle is going to do a lot of good for the image of the sport we all love so much. Lynne is a beautiful woman both on the inside and the outside.
Your 2009 Northern Ontario Champion...
Congratulations to you Lynne! If you are interested in learning more about what it takes to compete in bodybuilding or figure, please contact me at shane@spectrumfitness.ca or 613.852.5230
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Vitamin Supplements Reduce Exercise Benefits
Those of you who knew me ten years ago would say that I'm eating my words today when I say that Vitamin Supplements Reduce Exercise Benefits! But the facts are now starting to pile up to prove it.
I'll be the first to admit I used to be a proponent of large doses of both Vitamin C and Vitamin E for their anti-oxidant properties. After all, the research clearly demonstrated that oxidative free radicals were bad for us, and that supplementing with high doses (1000mg Vitamin C and 400IU Vitamin E) reduced the effects of the bad free radicals in our systems.
The downside to science is that sometimes you have to eat your words. So folks.. I'm admitting it to the world here.
It has been long known that exercise helps you live longer as well as being a valuable tool in Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance management (1,2,3,4,5) . It has also been long known that exercise produces oxidative free radicals which have been shown to cause tissue damage (6,7,8). However the endlessly suprising human body that it is continues to defy us just when we think we know everything.
From the cited research above it would make sense to supplement the diet with antioxidant nutrients. But the latest study (9) examined the effects of supplementing with 1000mg Vitamin C and 400IU of Vitamin E on the benefits of exercise on diabetes risk and glucose metabolism.
Professor Ristow of the Department for Human Nutrition at the Institute for Nutrition , University of Jena in Germany stated that "Exercise causes repeated boosts of free radicals, which according to our results, induce a health-promoting adaptive response in humans." "Subsequently, our body activates molecular defense systems against stress, and metabolizes carbohydrates more efficiently, both of which prevents diabetes, and possibly other diseases."
Ristow explained that, "Blocking these boosts of free radicals by antioxidants accordingly blocks the health promoting effects of exercise, and that short term doses of free radicals may behave like a vaccine, helping the body to boost defenses against chronic stressors and building a long term adaptive response."
The conclusion of the researchers was that, "Exercise-induced oxidative stress ameliorates insulin resistance and causes an adaptive resonse promoting endogenous antioxidant defense capacity. Supplementing with antioxidants may preclude these health-promoting effects of exercise in humans."
This study definitely shows a clear negative effect on exercise benefits on supplementing with antioxidants. However, as always this is just a small piece of the larger puzzle. Are there still some population groups that may benefit from certain nutritional supplements? Very likely! Will more studies come out supporting this one? For certain. Will others come out showing benefits of antioxidant supplements in some cases? Yes again.
There is a mountain of research documenting the cellular protective effects of antioxidant nutrients, so how is it that they can be bad? Why is this stuff so damn confusing? Well folks, apply some common sense. If you are exercising with low-high intensity, for moderate durations (I'll always argue against marathons!), you will produce some free radicals. But the duration of their production will be short. If you have a diet with 10-15 servings of vegetables and fruit, you'll be getting tons of antioxidant nutrients. And your body, the master chemist that it is, will know exactly how much of which antioxidants and in which combinations, and in what quantities will be needed to keep you healthy.
Of course smoking, and a diet severely lacking in nutrients might be a reason to supplement with a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement. A recent study (10) showed conflicting results with regards to protective effects of antioxidants in smokers, even showing an increased number of cancers with Beta Carotene supplementation compared to placebo. However, after reading the study thoroughly I think the study could have been done better. First, the study was using mostly men in their sixties who had been heavy smokers for many years. Second, the study used very low dose supplementation when all the previous research on cigarette smoke oxidative stress on tissues being prevented with much higher doses of antioxidants. And finally, the use of isolated nutrients has been established to be less effective than using whole families of nutrients. In the case of Beta Carotene, which is from the carotenoid family, perhaps using it in conjunction with alpha- and gamma-carotene, lutein, and lycopene would have demonstrated a positive effect. Lycopene compared to beta carotene appears to be the most effective at reducing cancers in humans (11)
In the end, there needs to be far more study of these issues to be able to say anything conclusive, but if you are an otherwise healthy individual eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits and you don't put much garbage in your body, and you exercise to stay strong and healthy, you're probably best to avoid high doses of antioxidant nutrients.
Stick to a varied and colourful plate of food, train hard and enjoy your life!
If you have any questions or comments about this article, please post them below!
References Cited:
1: Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Apr;19(4):253-6.
2: Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2002 Aug 10;146(32):1479-83.
3: Sports Med. 2001;31(8):571-6.
4: Diabetes. 2007 Nov;56(11):2655-671.
5: Lakartidningen. 1998 Sep 16;95(38):4062-7
6: Jialal I, Fuller CJ, Huet BA. The effect of alpha-tocopherol supplementation on LDL oxidation. A dose-response study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 1995, 15: 190-198.
7: Halliwell B. Free radicals, antioxidants, and human disease: curiosity, cause, or consequence? Lancet, 1994, 344: 721-724.
8: Machlin LJ, Bendich A. Free radical tissue damage: protective role of antioxidant nutrients. FASEB J, 1987, 1: 441-445.
9: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 May 26;106(21):8665-70.
10: The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group. The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence of lung cancer and other cancers in male smokers. N Eng J Med. 1994, 330:1029-1035.
11: Ford, J.G. Nutrient in tomatoes is found to lower an individual's risk of lung cancer. Presentation at 1997 Annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
I'll be the first to admit I used to be a proponent of large doses of both Vitamin C and Vitamin E for their anti-oxidant properties. After all, the research clearly demonstrated that oxidative free radicals were bad for us, and that supplementing with high doses (1000mg Vitamin C and 400IU Vitamin E) reduced the effects of the bad free radicals in our systems.
The downside to science is that sometimes you have to eat your words. So folks.. I'm admitting it to the world here.
It has been long known that exercise helps you live longer as well as being a valuable tool in Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance management (1,2,3,4,5) . It has also been long known that exercise produces oxidative free radicals which have been shown to cause tissue damage (6,7,8). However the endlessly suprising human body that it is continues to defy us just when we think we know everything.
From the cited research above it would make sense to supplement the diet with antioxidant nutrients. But the latest study (9) examined the effects of supplementing with 1000mg Vitamin C and 400IU of Vitamin E on the benefits of exercise on diabetes risk and glucose metabolism.
Professor Ristow of the Department for Human Nutrition at the Institute for Nutrition , University of Jena in Germany stated that "Exercise causes repeated boosts of free radicals, which according to our results, induce a health-promoting adaptive response in humans." "Subsequently, our body activates molecular defense systems against stress, and metabolizes carbohydrates more efficiently, both of which prevents diabetes, and possibly other diseases."
Ristow explained that, "Blocking these boosts of free radicals by antioxidants accordingly blocks the health promoting effects of exercise, and that short term doses of free radicals may behave like a vaccine, helping the body to boost defenses against chronic stressors and building a long term adaptive response."
The conclusion of the researchers was that, "Exercise-induced oxidative stress ameliorates insulin resistance and causes an adaptive resonse promoting endogenous antioxidant defense capacity. Supplementing with antioxidants may preclude these health-promoting effects of exercise in humans."
This study definitely shows a clear negative effect on exercise benefits on supplementing with antioxidants. However, as always this is just a small piece of the larger puzzle. Are there still some population groups that may benefit from certain nutritional supplements? Very likely! Will more studies come out supporting this one? For certain. Will others come out showing benefits of antioxidant supplements in some cases? Yes again.
There is a mountain of research documenting the cellular protective effects of antioxidant nutrients, so how is it that they can be bad? Why is this stuff so damn confusing? Well folks, apply some common sense. If you are exercising with low-high intensity, for moderate durations (I'll always argue against marathons!), you will produce some free radicals. But the duration of their production will be short. If you have a diet with 10-15 servings of vegetables and fruit, you'll be getting tons of antioxidant nutrients. And your body, the master chemist that it is, will know exactly how much of which antioxidants and in which combinations, and in what quantities will be needed to keep you healthy.
Of course smoking, and a diet severely lacking in nutrients might be a reason to supplement with a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement. A recent study (10) showed conflicting results with regards to protective effects of antioxidants in smokers, even showing an increased number of cancers with Beta Carotene supplementation compared to placebo. However, after reading the study thoroughly I think the study could have been done better. First, the study was using mostly men in their sixties who had been heavy smokers for many years. Second, the study used very low dose supplementation when all the previous research on cigarette smoke oxidative stress on tissues being prevented with much higher doses of antioxidants. And finally, the use of isolated nutrients has been established to be less effective than using whole families of nutrients. In the case of Beta Carotene, which is from the carotenoid family, perhaps using it in conjunction with alpha- and gamma-carotene, lutein, and lycopene would have demonstrated a positive effect. Lycopene compared to beta carotene appears to be the most effective at reducing cancers in humans (11)
In the end, there needs to be far more study of these issues to be able to say anything conclusive, but if you are an otherwise healthy individual eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits and you don't put much garbage in your body, and you exercise to stay strong and healthy, you're probably best to avoid high doses of antioxidant nutrients.
Stick to a varied and colourful plate of food, train hard and enjoy your life!
If you have any questions or comments about this article, please post them below!
References Cited:
1: Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Apr;19(4):253-6.
2: Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2002 Aug 10;146(32):1479-83.
3: Sports Med. 2001;31(8):571-6.
4: Diabetes. 2007 Nov;56(11):2655-671.
5: Lakartidningen. 1998 Sep 16;95(38):4062-7
6: Jialal I, Fuller CJ, Huet BA. The effect of alpha-tocopherol supplementation on LDL oxidation. A dose-response study. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 1995, 15: 190-198.
7: Halliwell B. Free radicals, antioxidants, and human disease: curiosity, cause, or consequence? Lancet, 1994, 344: 721-724.
8: Machlin LJ, Bendich A. Free radical tissue damage: protective role of antioxidant nutrients. FASEB J, 1987, 1: 441-445.
9: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 May 26;106(21):8665-70.
10: The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group. The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence of lung cancer and other cancers in male smokers. N Eng J Med. 1994, 330:1029-1035.
11: Ford, J.G. Nutrient in tomatoes is found to lower an individual's risk of lung cancer. Presentation at 1997 Annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Fat Loss Supplements Are Dangerous
Hydroxycut fat loss supplements are dangerous! There I've said it! I've been hesitant to outwardly state it, but now there's finally proof. The company that makes the Hydroxycut products has removed 11 products from the shelves of stores in Canada plus an additional three products not sold in Canada after 23 reports of serious liver damage and one death of a 19 year old boy after use of the Hydroxycut products in the US.
PRODUCTS RECALLED IN CANADA:
I get no satisfaction from saying so, but "I TOLD YOU SO!!". If you've known me for any time, you'll know that I have never promoted fat loss supplements to my clients or to anyone asking for my advice on how to lost fat.
Whatever small advantage supplements can give is largely negated by the horde of nutritional mistakes most people who seek out these products are making anyway, so to me it's a complete waste of money.
It works something like this. If you choose to continue to skip breakfast (my number one most important fat loss rule is to have a good breakfast), then you will undoubtedly make poorer food choices all day long including over-eating at dinner and in the evening. So yes, you could take some fat loss supplement like Hydroxycut that costs you $5 a day and maybe, just maybe, it might help counteract this nutritional mistake, but folks, this is a $5/day band-aid for poor eating habits. It doesn't even begin to help you actually lose fat, it's just possibly reducing how much fat you are gaining by how poor your nutritional choices are.
This is presuming that Hydroxycut or any other fat loss supplement actually works. A few years ago legislation passed that made ephedrine illegal in the U.S. Ephedrine is probably the only substance that actually has a half decent fat burning effect that in small enough doses in relatively healthy individuals won't cause any health problems. But of course, marketed to everyone, including severely obese people who have cardiac issues in the first place, ephedrine can be problematic, hence the legislation against it.
So with ephedrine largely off the market, any fat loss supplement that you're spending your money on likely doesn't do anything other than burn a hole in your pocket book. And if you haven't checked, some of these fat loss supplements like Hydroxycut are ridiculously expensive!
If you are serious about fat loss, here are some important rules that you must adhere to. If you can't manage to stick to these rules, then fat loss just isn't in your life trajectory!
1. MOVEMENT
If you aren't moving, you aren't going to lose fat PERIOD! And you don't have to spend hours on end on boring cardio machines to make it happen. But you do have to work hard enough to generate a serious sweat. Two to three 20-30 minute high intensity fat loss intervals a week is enough.
2. INCREASE YOUR METABOLISM
Strength training, whether using weights, or bodyweight exercises like pushups, chin-ups, and lunges can all help you to build muscle. Muscle uses more calories than any other tissue in your body (except the brain) so the more muscle you have the more calories you burn 24 hours a day!
3. BREAKFAST
Have a sensible breakfast that includes a protein, fat, and carbohydrates from healthy sources. For example:
2 eggs (whole... yes including the yolk!!!)
1/3 cup oats
1/2 cup milk
1/2 banana
2 tsp Udo's oil or a few walnut pieces
4. BALANCED SNACKS
Research has shown that to maintain energy levels throughout the day and to prevent overeating at main meals, having a small nutritionally balance snack, mid-morning, and mid-afternoon is the key. Snacks should consist of fruit, vegetables, and dairy products, although the limit is your imagination.
Healthy examples for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are:
Handful almonds
1 apple
1 oz 2% cheddar cheese
or
Handful walnuts
1/2 cup organic plain yogurt
1/3 cup blueberries
How much you eat at your snacks depends on your activity level and your bodyweight. Smaller people generally need to eat less and if you're nursing a desk all day long, then opt for vegetables instead of fruit if possible.
Example:
Chicken salad with spinach, pine nuts, tomato, and a low fat dressing
4. HEALTHY MAIN MEALS
I already covered breakfast, but the same principle applies for lunch and dinner. Start with a protein choice, add a healthy fat choice, add unlimited vegetables, and finish with appropriate carbohydrates depending on your energy requirements.
If you're going out to play hockey in the evening, then eating chicken and spinach isn't going to provide you with much energy to play. So be sure to have a serving of brown rice or sweet potato. You could even have a mixed bean salad with dinner which would provide you with enough carbohydrate energy to last you through your hockey game.
If your evening activities are limited to helping the kids with homework and making their lunches, then your dinner can skip the starchy carbs (if fat loss is your main goal) and focus solely on a variety of vegetable sources.
5. DESSERT
It seems for some that dessert is just part of the day. Some people eat dessert every single night. I think it starts as a kid, and depending on whether or not your parents gave you dessert every night, many people carry this throughout their lives.
Folks... you don't HAVE to have dessert every night! Yes, it's nice.. I enjoy it too. But if you have fat to lose, daily dessert is guaranteed to keep your bodyfat right where it is, and possibly even increase it. Think of it this way. Eating a dessert is like not doing 30 minutes of exercise. So if you want to eat a dessert each day, you'll need 30 minutes of exercise daily to counter it so that you don't gain any bodyfat. So if you actually want to lose bodyfat then you need to do even more.
It's much easier to skip the dessert 4 or 5 nights of the weekk, enjoy it the other two or three nights, get your 2-3 sessions of cardio in, and lose the bodyfat!
6. ELIMINATE LIQUID CALORIES FROM YOUR DIET
Other than milk, if you drink soft drinks or juices (sugar free or not) you can forget about losing body fat. It's just that simple. Liquid calories are one of the main causes of increased body fat. Diet soft drinks in very small quantities are ok, but if you're putting back more than one can of diet soft drinks a day, then you will also have a hard time losing body fat. Your brain recognizes the sweetness of the artificial sweeteners in these products and releases insulin in much the same way as it does in response to actual sugars! Can't trick your brain!
7. WATER
I can almost guarantee that everyone who has too much bodyfat drinks too little water. Get your water consumption up and you'll be surprised what it can do for your fat loss efforts. Starting with reducing your cravings for junk, much of the time people confuse the early signals for thirst with hunger.
One to two hours after each meal, drink 250-500ml of water and notice a reduction in cravings for junk food. It's a free, no brainer! Mess this one up.. and well.. stay as you are! Your choice!
8. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Alcoholic beverages like wine have a somewhat culturistic place in our society it seems, and some people feel like it is an afront to their righs and dignity to suggest that they shoudn't have their wine with dinner. And while for folks who are lean, and who exercise and eat a generally healthy diet, their wine consumption isn't a problem. But if you aren't doing everything else right (diet & exercise), then wine is just like dessert... extra calories!
Beer, mixed drinks, and wine all contribute to increasing calories. Don't fool yourself into justifying yourself out of getting the fat loss results you seek. Trust me, once you get rid of the body fat, you can re-introduce these pleasures with little effect, but until then... their consumption is your choice to not change your body!
I know.... I'm mean!
Well I hope this information helps give you some concrete steps you can take towards getting rid of any unwanted body fat without the use of harmful (and mostly useless) fat loss supplements!
Please remember, my job is to help you, so if there's anything I can do to help you, please comment below or send me an email at shane@spectrumfitness.ca
While I can't personally reply to every email I get, I will take all your questions and answer them in a future Frequently Asked Questions post.
Have a great week!
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
PRODUCTS RECALLED IN CANADA:
- Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets
- Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Rapid Release Caplets
- Hydroxycut Hardcore Liquid Capsules
- Hydroxycut Max Liquid Capsules
- Hydroxycut Regular Drink Packets
- Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Drink Packets
- Hydroxycut Hardcore Drink Packets (Ignition Stix)
- Hydroxycut Max Drink Packets
- Hydroxycut Liquid Shots
- Hydroxycut Max Aqua Shed Capsules
- Hydroxycut 24 Caplets
I get no satisfaction from saying so, but "I TOLD YOU SO!!". If you've known me for any time, you'll know that I have never promoted fat loss supplements to my clients or to anyone asking for my advice on how to lost fat.
Whatever small advantage supplements can give is largely negated by the horde of nutritional mistakes most people who seek out these products are making anyway, so to me it's a complete waste of money.
It works something like this. If you choose to continue to skip breakfast (my number one most important fat loss rule is to have a good breakfast), then you will undoubtedly make poorer food choices all day long including over-eating at dinner and in the evening. So yes, you could take some fat loss supplement like Hydroxycut that costs you $5 a day and maybe, just maybe, it might help counteract this nutritional mistake, but folks, this is a $5/day band-aid for poor eating habits. It doesn't even begin to help you actually lose fat, it's just possibly reducing how much fat you are gaining by how poor your nutritional choices are.
This is presuming that Hydroxycut or any other fat loss supplement actually works. A few years ago legislation passed that made ephedrine illegal in the U.S. Ephedrine is probably the only substance that actually has a half decent fat burning effect that in small enough doses in relatively healthy individuals won't cause any health problems. But of course, marketed to everyone, including severely obese people who have cardiac issues in the first place, ephedrine can be problematic, hence the legislation against it.
So with ephedrine largely off the market, any fat loss supplement that you're spending your money on likely doesn't do anything other than burn a hole in your pocket book. And if you haven't checked, some of these fat loss supplements like Hydroxycut are ridiculously expensive!
If you are serious about fat loss, here are some important rules that you must adhere to. If you can't manage to stick to these rules, then fat loss just isn't in your life trajectory!
1. MOVEMENT
If you aren't moving, you aren't going to lose fat PERIOD! And you don't have to spend hours on end on boring cardio machines to make it happen. But you do have to work hard enough to generate a serious sweat. Two to three 20-30 minute high intensity fat loss intervals a week is enough.
2. INCREASE YOUR METABOLISM
Strength training, whether using weights, or bodyweight exercises like pushups, chin-ups, and lunges can all help you to build muscle. Muscle uses more calories than any other tissue in your body (except the brain) so the more muscle you have the more calories you burn 24 hours a day!
3. BREAKFAST
Have a sensible breakfast that includes a protein, fat, and carbohydrates from healthy sources. For example:
2 eggs (whole... yes including the yolk!!!)
1/3 cup oats
1/2 cup milk
1/2 banana
2 tsp Udo's oil or a few walnut pieces
4. BALANCED SNACKS
Research has shown that to maintain energy levels throughout the day and to prevent overeating at main meals, having a small nutritionally balance snack, mid-morning, and mid-afternoon is the key. Snacks should consist of fruit, vegetables, and dairy products, although the limit is your imagination.
Healthy examples for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are:
Handful almonds
1 apple
1 oz 2% cheddar cheese
or
Handful walnuts
1/2 cup organic plain yogurt
1/3 cup blueberries
How much you eat at your snacks depends on your activity level and your bodyweight. Smaller people generally need to eat less and if you're nursing a desk all day long, then opt for vegetables instead of fruit if possible.
Example:
Chicken salad with spinach, pine nuts, tomato, and a low fat dressing
4. HEALTHY MAIN MEALS
I already covered breakfast, but the same principle applies for lunch and dinner. Start with a protein choice, add a healthy fat choice, add unlimited vegetables, and finish with appropriate carbohydrates depending on your energy requirements.
If you're going out to play hockey in the evening, then eating chicken and spinach isn't going to provide you with much energy to play. So be sure to have a serving of brown rice or sweet potato. You could even have a mixed bean salad with dinner which would provide you with enough carbohydrate energy to last you through your hockey game.
If your evening activities are limited to helping the kids with homework and making their lunches, then your dinner can skip the starchy carbs (if fat loss is your main goal) and focus solely on a variety of vegetable sources.
5. DESSERT
It seems for some that dessert is just part of the day. Some people eat dessert every single night. I think it starts as a kid, and depending on whether or not your parents gave you dessert every night, many people carry this throughout their lives.
Folks... you don't HAVE to have dessert every night! Yes, it's nice.. I enjoy it too. But if you have fat to lose, daily dessert is guaranteed to keep your bodyfat right where it is, and possibly even increase it. Think of it this way. Eating a dessert is like not doing 30 minutes of exercise. So if you want to eat a dessert each day, you'll need 30 minutes of exercise daily to counter it so that you don't gain any bodyfat. So if you actually want to lose bodyfat then you need to do even more.
It's much easier to skip the dessert 4 or 5 nights of the weekk, enjoy it the other two or three nights, get your 2-3 sessions of cardio in, and lose the bodyfat!
6. ELIMINATE LIQUID CALORIES FROM YOUR DIET
Other than milk, if you drink soft drinks or juices (sugar free or not) you can forget about losing body fat. It's just that simple. Liquid calories are one of the main causes of increased body fat. Diet soft drinks in very small quantities are ok, but if you're putting back more than one can of diet soft drinks a day, then you will also have a hard time losing body fat. Your brain recognizes the sweetness of the artificial sweeteners in these products and releases insulin in much the same way as it does in response to actual sugars! Can't trick your brain!
FAT LOSS NIGHTMARE
7. WATER
I can almost guarantee that everyone who has too much bodyfat drinks too little water. Get your water consumption up and you'll be surprised what it can do for your fat loss efforts. Starting with reducing your cravings for junk, much of the time people confuse the early signals for thirst with hunger.
One to two hours after each meal, drink 250-500ml of water and notice a reduction in cravings for junk food. It's a free, no brainer! Mess this one up.. and well.. stay as you are! Your choice!
8. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Alcoholic beverages like wine have a somewhat culturistic place in our society it seems, and some people feel like it is an afront to their righs and dignity to suggest that they shoudn't have their wine with dinner. And while for folks who are lean, and who exercise and eat a generally healthy diet, their wine consumption isn't a problem. But if you aren't doing everything else right (diet & exercise), then wine is just like dessert... extra calories!
Beer, mixed drinks, and wine all contribute to increasing calories. Don't fool yourself into justifying yourself out of getting the fat loss results you seek. Trust me, once you get rid of the body fat, you can re-introduce these pleasures with little effect, but until then... their consumption is your choice to not change your body!
I know.... I'm mean!
Well I hope this information helps give you some concrete steps you can take towards getting rid of any unwanted body fat without the use of harmful (and mostly useless) fat loss supplements!
Please remember, my job is to help you, so if there's anything I can do to help you, please comment below or send me an email at shane@spectrumfitness.ca
While I can't personally reply to every email I get, I will take all your questions and answer them in a future Frequently Asked Questions post.
Have a great week!
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
WHO ELSE HAS TROUBLE FALLING ASLEEP AND WANTS TO KNOW MY COLOURFUL SOLUTION?
From time to time we all have trouble falling asleep for various reasons. If you had a cat nap in the afternoon, that will sometimes delay falling asleep at night, but most of the time when people have a hard time falling asleep at night it's because their mind is over-active! Sort of like a hamster running on the wheel.
The problem is that an overactive mind is hard to stop. And regardless of how tired you are, if your mind is overactive at night, you may be in for a sleepless night, and then a rotten next day!
These nights usually happen because of some sort of stressor. It may be work related such as not sure whether you get the job or not, or you may have had a fight with your husband or wife. It may even be issues with your kids at school or with their peers.
These issues (stressors) are all things that clearly your mind wants to devote significant thought too, and of course, its going to do it at the most inopportune time--when you need to sleep!
When this happens, trying not to think of these things never works. Even trying to calm your mind or not to think of anything never works. In fact in the past whenever I tried to stop thinking about whatever was on my mind, I would find myself thinking about it even more!
You may have also heard suggestions such as counting sheep. Well in the past I've gotten as high as 800 sheep before I finally gave up and went back to thinking about whatever was bugging me.
The problem is that you can't stop a locomotive in motion without excessive force (sleeping pills). But with a much lesser degree of force, you can change the direction the locomotive is going!
The key is to allow your mind to continue to think away, but to give it a distraction that eventually wins out. When your mind is finally thoroughly distracted from the original issue that was fueling its busy thoughts, the fuel to the thinking process is shut off, and before you know it you're out like a light!
If you have trouble falling asleep because your hamster is running away on the wheel and you just can't seem to make him take a break, I've got the perfect solution for you!
I'll admit this isn't some researched, scientifically proved solution, but I was prone to this problem falling asleep at night quite often, and this has worked every time in less than 5 minutes for me.
Do you know the colours of the rainbow? They are (R)ed, (O)range, (Y)ellow, (G)reen, (B)lue, (I)ndigo, (V)iolet.
The acronym to remember them is the proper name ROY G. BIV
So here's what you do. Don't try to stop thinking about whatever you've been lying awake thinking about, instead, just pretend that you're now looking at (or thinking about) the same issue but through a red pane of glass. So you can still see (think of) the issue clearly, but it's red now.
This might sound a little confusing, so let me paint the picture. Let's say that you're stressed out about the interview you had for a new job. Let's say that you keep going over in your head how the person interviewing you was looking at you when you answered a few questions. And that you're uncertain of whether or not you gave the answer they were looking for.
So what you would do is put yourself back in the office where you were having the interview, but everything is red. The walls are red, the carpet, the desk, the person who interviewed you has red skin, red hair, red eyes, is wearing red clothing, has a red cup of red coffee on the desk, etc...
So basically you overlay a red filter on everything you see. It may take a few minutes to be able to really see everything in red. I think it took me about five minutes probably of continuing to really try to see everything in red.
When you're finally able to really see everything in red, switch to Orange. Repeat the process in the same way. Then switch to Yellow, then Green, then Blue, then Indigo, then Violet.
I'll bet you don't make it through all the colours even once.
I'm not exactly sure how I came up with the idea of using colours, in theory I think anything that would distract you would work, but I found that trying to think of other things, just made me think of whatever was bugging me more. Whereas with the colours, you're not trying to stop thinking about the thing that bugs you, but you're just adding a distracting detail within the same environment.
Personally I find it challenging to overlay colour like this on my thoughts, and for this reason, I usually don't make it past Orange or Yellow. The first time I did it I got to Green, but haven't again since.
Anyway, before posting this I had brought the idea up to a few of my clients and family members who've come back to me very impressed and thankful, saying it worked very quickly for them.
So next time you're having trouble falling alseep because of the damn hamster on the wheel, give my colourful solution a try!
The problem is that an overactive mind is hard to stop. And regardless of how tired you are, if your mind is overactive at night, you may be in for a sleepless night, and then a rotten next day!
These nights usually happen because of some sort of stressor. It may be work related such as not sure whether you get the job or not, or you may have had a fight with your husband or wife. It may even be issues with your kids at school or with their peers.
These issues (stressors) are all things that clearly your mind wants to devote significant thought too, and of course, its going to do it at the most inopportune time--when you need to sleep!
When this happens, trying not to think of these things never works. Even trying to calm your mind or not to think of anything never works. In fact in the past whenever I tried to stop thinking about whatever was on my mind, I would find myself thinking about it even more!
You may have also heard suggestions such as counting sheep. Well in the past I've gotten as high as 800 sheep before I finally gave up and went back to thinking about whatever was bugging me.
The problem is that you can't stop a locomotive in motion without excessive force (sleeping pills). But with a much lesser degree of force, you can change the direction the locomotive is going!
The key is to allow your mind to continue to think away, but to give it a distraction that eventually wins out. When your mind is finally thoroughly distracted from the original issue that was fueling its busy thoughts, the fuel to the thinking process is shut off, and before you know it you're out like a light!
WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP, IS THIS HOW YOU FEEL?
If you have trouble falling asleep because your hamster is running away on the wheel and you just can't seem to make him take a break, I've got the perfect solution for you!
I'll admit this isn't some researched, scientifically proved solution, but I was prone to this problem falling asleep at night quite often, and this has worked every time in less than 5 minutes for me.
Do you know the colours of the rainbow? They are (R)ed, (O)range, (Y)ellow, (G)reen, (B)lue, (I)ndigo, (V)iolet.
The acronym to remember them is the proper name ROY G. BIV
So here's what you do. Don't try to stop thinking about whatever you've been lying awake thinking about, instead, just pretend that you're now looking at (or thinking about) the same issue but through a red pane of glass. So you can still see (think of) the issue clearly, but it's red now.
This might sound a little confusing, so let me paint the picture. Let's say that you're stressed out about the interview you had for a new job. Let's say that you keep going over in your head how the person interviewing you was looking at you when you answered a few questions. And that you're uncertain of whether or not you gave the answer they were looking for.
So what you would do is put yourself back in the office where you were having the interview, but everything is red. The walls are red, the carpet, the desk, the person who interviewed you has red skin, red hair, red eyes, is wearing red clothing, has a red cup of red coffee on the desk, etc...
So basically you overlay a red filter on everything you see. It may take a few minutes to be able to really see everything in red. I think it took me about five minutes probably of continuing to really try to see everything in red.
When you're finally able to really see everything in red, switch to Orange. Repeat the process in the same way. Then switch to Yellow, then Green, then Blue, then Indigo, then Violet.
I'll bet you don't make it through all the colours even once.
I'm not exactly sure how I came up with the idea of using colours, in theory I think anything that would distract you would work, but I found that trying to think of other things, just made me think of whatever was bugging me more. Whereas with the colours, you're not trying to stop thinking about the thing that bugs you, but you're just adding a distracting detail within the same environment.
Personally I find it challenging to overlay colour like this on my thoughts, and for this reason, I usually don't make it past Orange or Yellow. The first time I did it I got to Green, but haven't again since.
Anyway, before posting this I had brought the idea up to a few of my clients and family members who've come back to me very impressed and thankful, saying it worked very quickly for them.
So next time you're having trouble falling alseep because of the damn hamster on the wheel, give my colourful solution a try!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
5 REASONS YOUR SQUAT SUCKS (AND HOW TO FIX THEM)!
A GOOD SQUAT = HOLY GRAIL
A good squat for many is like the holy grail. We go to lengths most normal people would consider crazy in our quest to build a good squat.
I say "normal" when I refer to folks who DON'T spend countless hours each week just thinking about their upcoming squat workout--not to mention the time spent actually doing the workout.
With so much personal investment in just one exercise, when your squat just isn't improving anymore it can take a real emotional toll.
In effort to help keep you on the emotional even keel, here are 5 Reasons Your Squat Sucks (and how to fix them!)
1. NOT ENOUGH SLEEP (don't worry I'll hit the training stuff later)
I know this one may seem a little obvious, but it's often overlooked as a reason for why your squat sucks! As is often the case the obvious things are so important (hint: that's why they're obvious! ;).
I have a 10 week old daughter and in the last few weeks I'd been wondering why my squat has sucked so badly! Of course with my fatigue levels bordering on completely preventing me from training at all, my analytical skills were pretty lousy so it took me a while to figure it out!
Duh! I've only been managing to get about 5-6 hours of broken sleep each night. (Having a kid though, is a good reason for your squat to suck!)
A lack of sleep causes a number of things to happen.
(A) Growth Hormone production is reduced. Growth hormone is released in the first 90 minutes of sleep, and if your overall sleep duration is reduced GH output drops as well.
(B) Tissue growth and maintenance occurs during stage 3 and 4 sleep (deep sleep), and hard training demands more deep sleep as the microtrauma needs reparation. However, if you aren't getting enough sleep, your brain will forgo the deep sleep necessary to repair and grow new muscle tissue in favour of resting your mind.
From an evolutionary standpoint it kind of makes sense! It won't matter how big and strong you are if you're so tired that you forget to look both ways before crossing the road and you get smoked by MACK truck!
(C) Have you ever actually tried to squat when you're tired? It just plain sucks! So if you don't want your squat to suck make sure you get a good 8 hours of muscle building sleep each night!
2. WEAK HIPS, ADDUCTORS & GLUTES
Coming out of the hole requires powerful glutes and hip musculature. For many squatting below parallel seems impossible (by the way, any squat that isn't below parallel is naturally doomed to have more limited strength increase potential), but it can be learned.
If you've never squatted below parallel, some accessory hip and glute training exercises will go a long way towards preparing for the deep squat. Exercises like glute bridges, clams, adductor band work, various side lying abductor and abductor+external rotation exercises, and band X-walking should be introduced into your programming to help prepare your muscles for the strength requirements of full depth squatting.
Don't try to do them all at once, but add one or two exercises in as part of your warm-up. Do 2 sets of 10-20 reps (or until gentle fatigue) each leg/side/direction Then at the end of your workout you can do a few more sets and really push to get some heavier fatigue. Each workout change up the exercises to make sure you work the muscles from different angles.
LYING GLUTE BRIDGE
(Hard to screw this one up... just make sure you're concentrating on contracting the glutes to create the movement and not just arching up your back)
This next group of exercises is easy to screw up, so I've included two videos for each exercise, the first video showing the exercise done incorrectly, and the second one being done correctly. Pay close attention to the movement of my hips in the videos as I use my finger to show the undesired movement and the lack of movement when done correctly.
SIDE LYING CLAM - INCORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note the position of the hip, it moves backwards as the knee is raised)
SIDE LYING CLAM - CORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note the position of the hip it does not move backwards as the knee is raised)
(Note the position of the hip it does not move backwards as the knee is raised)
SIDE LYING BENT LEG ABDUCTION - INCORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note the position of the hip, it moves backwards as the leg is raised)
SIDE LYING BENT LEG ABDUCTION - CORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note the position of the hip, it does not move backwards as the leg is raised)
(Note the position of the hip, it does not move backwards as the leg is raised)
SIDE LYING STRAIGHT LEG ABDUCTION - INCORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note the position of the hip, it moves backwards as the leg is raised)
(Note the position of the hip, it moves backwards as the leg is raised)
SIDE LYING STRAIGHT LEG ABDUCTION - CORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note the position of the hip, it does not move backwards as the leg is raised)
A very common problem with many people's squat is that of weak adductors. The problem manifests itself as the knees buckle inwards during the ascent. Most people know they should keep their knees out during the squat, so they presume the problem is actually that of weak abductors. Now their abductors may still be weak, and that could be a contributing problem, but normally when the knees buckle inwards, it is because the adductors aren't strong enough to contribute to the upward movement, and so the knees swing in quickly to better position the quads to do all the work.
So if your knees swing in, some extra adductor work will help remedy the situation. Additionally, sumo deadlifts are a great way to strengthen your adductors for deep squatting.
(Note the position of the hip, it does not move backwards as the leg is raised)
A very common problem with many people's squat is that of weak adductors. The problem manifests itself as the knees buckle inwards during the ascent. Most people know they should keep their knees out during the squat, so they presume the problem is actually that of weak abductors. Now their abductors may still be weak, and that could be a contributing problem, but normally when the knees buckle inwards, it is because the adductors aren't strong enough to contribute to the upward movement, and so the knees swing in quickly to better position the quads to do all the work.
So if your knees swing in, some extra adductor work will help remedy the situation. Additionally, sumo deadlifts are a great way to strengthen your adductors for deep squatting.
STANDING ONE LEG BAND ADDUCTION
(Don't be fooled by how wussy this exercise looks, with a heavy enough band and enough reps you'll be walking the next day like a first time cowboy! Plus it will make your squat suck less!)
(Don't be fooled by how wussy this exercise looks, with a heavy enough band and enough reps you'll be walking the next day like a first time cowboy! Plus it will make your squat suck less!)
BAND X-WALKING - INCORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note that I'm unable to keep my leading leg out, in-line with my body, I'm also really having to lead hard with my upper body to swing my leg out. Finally, not how my trailing leg very quickly pulls in. All bad!)
BAND X-WALKING - CORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note that my leading leg stays tight and in-line with my body, and my trailing leg follows but under complete control)
BAND X-WALKING SIDE VIEW - INCORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note that I'm leaning forward, putting my hips out of line with the rest of my body)
BAND X-WALKING SIDE VIEW - CORRECT TECHNIQUE
(Note that my hips are in-line with my body)
3. POOR HIP MOBILITY
If you have trouble squatting down into a full depth squat with an empty bar, chances are you have some hip mobility limitations. Getting your hips ready for a deep squat can take some time. Most people don't stretch nearly enough, and pulling your foot up to your butt for 20 seconds before you start your squats just doesn't cut it.
The flexibility of the muscles involved is important, but the good motor control of the muscles is the most important thing. All the flexibility in the world won't help you squat properly if you can't control your muscles as you move.
The glutes, quads, hip flexors, and hamstrings are the usual suspects for preventing good squat depth. So identifying which muscles limit you is the first step. If you can't touch your toes, then hamstring flexibility is a good place to start and a good 10-15 minutes of stretching of all your tight muscles at the beginning of your workout will help you increase your squat depth.
4. YOUR EGO
If you've been squatting for any length of time and in effort to squat big you just keep piling on more weight every workout before your body is ready for it, your squat is gonna just plain suck! What ends up happening is that with each successive weight increase you lose a bit of squat depth.
Eventually you become a Budgie!
WHAT THE HECK IS A BUDGIE YOU ASK?
A Budgie is one of those guys in the gym with skinny legs who piles 2, 3, 4, or even 5 plates a side on the squat bar, steps under the bar, unracks the weight and then barely budges the weight more than a few inches on each rep.
Of course these guys know they're not full depth squatters and they'll quickly qualify that they can't do full depth squats because it hurts their knees and so they just squat down to parallel or just above parallel!
What's even more funny is when you have a group of Budgie's all squatting together and encouraging each other, getting all mad at the weights and all doing these little Budgie style squats!
If your squat sucks make sure your ego isn't part of the problem (or in the Budgie's case the entire problem).
Here's what to do. Look around your gym and find a trainer who's got guys or girls doing full depth squats with reasonable loads and ask them to watch you squat and give you some tips. Most trainers will be happy to do so as long as you don't take more than a few minutes of their time. If their tips make sense to you, consider hiring them for a session or two to help you work on your technique.
And finally...
5. LACK OF DESIRE
Folks don't be too hard on yourselves for this one. Unless you're one of those people that God seems to have built and put on earth entirely to squat massive weights with flawless technique and seemingly little effort just to piss the rest of us off, it will take years of sacrifice and pain on many levels to build a squat that doesn't suck!
It may be hard to accept for some that they just don't have what it takes to go the distance, but lack of desire is often a big reason for why your squat sucks. If your dating habits get in the way of your training schedule or interfere with your sleep requirements and you're not prepared to ditch the relationship in favour of a bigger squat, well then you just don't want it badly enough. If your job interferes with your eating schedule and you're not prepared to look for a more suitable job that allows for eating on the job or frequent food breaks, again, you don't want it badly enough.
In fact nearly every reason that your squat sucks can be fixed. But if its inconvenient in some way, then you lack the desire. Every guy or girl who's ever built a big squat has sacrificed many things to get there.
And if you really needed any more motivation to fix your squat so it doesn't suck...
Sunday, April 5, 2009
BULLDOZE YOUR FAT LOSS ROADBLOCKS
I received two emails today from a couple of my online readers and while their questions were both quite different, they were both suffering from the same fat loss roadblocks. The basic underlying problem they both have is meal structuring throughout the day. So in this article I'll go through a typical day and show you how to build each meal for optimum fat loss.
First, if you burn calories all day long, then doesn't it makes sense that your calorie intake should be spread throughout the day to ensure optimal energy levels? Surprisingly few people take advantage of this simple trick which can significantly increase your metabolic rate.
Just think about it for a moment. If you need 1800 calories each day, and you eat 90% of those calories at night when your only energy requirement following dinner is a few chores, making lunches for the kids, and then going to bed, do you really believe that your body is going to magically make all those calories disappear?
Of course not. And believe me this is going on all around us. Just take a look around, its not hard to spot an overweight person these days, and chances are they're making this huge mistake.
The problem when you go all day without eating is that you're teaching your body to conserve calories. The big caloric load that subsequently arrives with dinner is dumped onto a sluggish metabolism that has no way to use it. The result? Increased bodyfat storage.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #1 - POOR CALORIE DISTRIBUTION
Your calories should be divided over your six meals prioritizing meals consumed before and after your workouts. Up to 50% of your daily calories can be consumed in these two meals providing an abundance of energy for your workout and for replenishing your muscles afterwards without risk of storing any bodyfat. After that, earlier meals should contain more calories than later meals.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #2 - POOR MEAL STRUCTURING
Typically, when people are hungry they open the fridge, nothing is prepared, they seek instant gratification for their hunger and they down whatever strikes their fancy. If it's breakfast, a bowl of sugary cereal will do the trick. If it's lunch, heck, who eats lunch these days anyway!!! Well ok, if they do eat lunch then it's a quick peanut butter and jam sandwich or a quick stop at Tim Hortons or McDonalds. If it's dinner, hot dogs, hamburgers, hamburger helper, kraft dinner, all these items are fast to prepare and they very quickly satisfy your hunger, but their consumption is another fat loss roadblock.
Constructing meals should always start with your protein source, then progress to fat source, and finally end with carbohydrate source.
Here's an example of a typical North American breakfast at home:
Cereal w/milk
Juice
Bread w/jam
Fruit
All four items are carbohydrate based foods. Carbohydrate based means that the majority of the calories come from carbohydrates. The problem with this breakfast is that while it will get you going with a bang, it will also stop you like a truck shortly after.
Fast in, fast out! All night you've fasted, and your blood sugar, blood amino acids, and blood fat levels are likely at the lowest they'll be all day. So if you dump all carbohydrate based foods into your bloodstream, your insulin is going to spike like crazy and your energy will drop off just as fast as it came on.
Here's an example of a typical North American Breakfast at a restaurant:
Bacon
Eggs
Sausages
Hash browns
Toast with margarine
Juice
Coffee
The solution is to ALWAYS have a mixture of protein, carbohydrate, and fat based foods maintaining a moderate caloric load. And in fact this should be the way you structure all your meals, not just your breakfast. You can modify it as needed depending on what you're doing, but as a general rule, a mixture of all three will always elicit the type of result you're seeking: lasting energy!
Always start by deciding on your protein source. And remember, a protein based food is a food that contains more protein than carbohydrates per serving. Just look at the label and it will tell you.
Here's a list of acceptable protein sources:
Eggs
Organic Yogurt (must have a higher protein than carbs... check the label!)
Cottage Cheese (2%)
Low Fat (2%) Cheese
Beef (steak... trim visible fat)
Beef (ground... choose lean or extra lean and try to drain off a bit of the fat after cooking)
Bison (both steaks and ground are very lean)
Lamb Pork (tenderloin is the best choice)
Bacon (not a great choice, but if you're going to eat it, choose Back Bacon it's lower in fat)
Salmon (Farmed or Fresh... both are low in mercury)
Tuna (Skipjack light tuna from cans... Albacore tuna has higher levels of mercury)
Protein Powders (Natural or plain flavour... use Stevia to sweeten if needed and fruit to add flavour)
Once you've picked your protein source, then you look for your fat source. If you're having eggs, you don't need an additional fat source. Often is the case for higher fat meats too.
Here's some great fat sources:
Flax seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Hemp seeds
Almonds
Pecans
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Udo's oil
And finally, when you've made it this far, select a carbohydrate source:
Great carb sources:
Oats
Quinoa
Bulgur
Spelt
Brown rice
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Fruit
Vegetables
There are too many veggies and fruit to list them all, but try combining different veggies when you eat them. Veggies generally don't give you many calories compared to fruit or other carbohydrate sources, so typically you choose your carbohydrate sources based on your energy requirements for the following three hours.
Obviously if you're going to be sitting down and watching television at night, then you don't need many carbohydrate calories so multiple vegetable selections is best. If you're getting up Saturday morning, and you have a long day ahead of you of taking the kids to their sports, groceries, and various chores, you'll want to have a mixture of some starchy carb sources as well as fruit and/or veggie sources. If you have a workout planned for 4pm, then at 2:30pm, a good dose of starchy and fruit carbs will see you through your workout with plenty of energy.
Let's look at a typical day. This example of daily meal structuring must be tailored for each person based on your weight and activity level. If you were to eat this menu exactly day in and day out over a few weeks and you gained weight, then you would simply need to reduce the amount you eat. But the combinations of foods is excellent and shows how you should combine foods to eat for optimal health and fat loss.
Breakfast
1/2 scoop whey protein powder - PROTEIN
1 tbsp Udo's oil - FAT
1/3 cup Oats w/skim milk - CARBS
1/2 banana - CARBS
1/2 cup thawed frozen raspberries - CARBS
1/4 tsp stevia powder (sweetener)
Mid-Morning Snack
Handful of almonds (maybe 10-20) - PROTEIN & FAT
1 apple - CARBS
Lunch
3 oz chicken breast - PROTEIN
7 or 8 walnut pieces - FAT
big handful of spinach (not baby spinach) - UNLIMITED
1 Mandarin orange (put pieces in salad) - CARBS
1tbsp Udo's oil - FAT
1tsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Mid-Afternoon
1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese - PROTEIN & FAT
1/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple - CARBS
Dinner
6 oz salmon fillet - PROTEIN & FAT
10 asparagus spears (steamed) - UNLIMITED
1 med carrot (steamed) - UNLIMITED
1 small red potato (chopped and steamed) - CARBS
1 tsp butter - FAT
salt & pepper to taste
Salad
Bowlful mixed greens - UNLIMITED
6 halved cherry tomatoes - UNLIMITED
10 cucumber slices - UNLIMITED
small handful pine nuts - FAT
Salad Dressing
2 tsp Renee's Caesar dressing - FAT
1 tsp Udo's oil - FAT
2 tsp Organic Plain Yogurt
mixed well and drizzled over salad
Evening Snack
High Protein Fat Free Butterscotch Cinnamon Jello Pudding
Ingredients: Fat Free Butterscotch Jello Pudding prepare as
directed and add 1-2 scoops protein powder and a half tsp
of cinnamon for improved flavour.
1 serving is 1/4 of prepared product.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #3 - CONVENIENCE FOODS
If you know how to put together healthy fat loss meals, but you don't because you feel like you don't have time, coming to the realization that the time spent preparing healthy meals is an investment is inevitable to smashing your fat loss roadblocks! Convenience or fast foods are always laden in fat and sugar to make them taste good so you always crave them whenever you are in a rush.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #4 - GLUTTONY
Another common fat loss roadblock is just plain old eating too much! Even the healthiest of foods will make you gain body fat if you eat too much of it. Heck, thousands of years ago when there was no unhealthy food, there were still some heavier people. Of course they were the wealthy ones who could afford to eat enough food to actually become heavier.
Sometimes it's tough to say no to convenience foods, but if you ever want to shed the fat and see those abs you have to draw the line at some point and just plain not step over. For me personally, I just plain out refuse to eat fast foods except at certain times. If I travel I'll allow some exceptions. Camping is definitely another time I'll break the rule. In fact, I'll even seek out a McDonalds to get a couple McChicken sandwiches when I go camping. But a good 99% of the time I just plain old say no.
Well there you have it folks! Some great meal tips to help you bulldoze your fat loss roadblocks!
Oh yeah, my wife made some Fat Free Butterscotch Jello Pudding tonight... ohhhh... Here I come!
First, if you burn calories all day long, then doesn't it makes sense that your calorie intake should be spread throughout the day to ensure optimal energy levels? Surprisingly few people take advantage of this simple trick which can significantly increase your metabolic rate.
Just think about it for a moment. If you need 1800 calories each day, and you eat 90% of those calories at night when your only energy requirement following dinner is a few chores, making lunches for the kids, and then going to bed, do you really believe that your body is going to magically make all those calories disappear?
Of course not. And believe me this is going on all around us. Just take a look around, its not hard to spot an overweight person these days, and chances are they're making this huge mistake.
The problem when you go all day without eating is that you're teaching your body to conserve calories. The big caloric load that subsequently arrives with dinner is dumped onto a sluggish metabolism that has no way to use it. The result? Increased bodyfat storage.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #1 - POOR CALORIE DISTRIBUTION
Your calories should be divided over your six meals prioritizing meals consumed before and after your workouts. Up to 50% of your daily calories can be consumed in these two meals providing an abundance of energy for your workout and for replenishing your muscles afterwards without risk of storing any bodyfat. After that, earlier meals should contain more calories than later meals.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #2 - POOR MEAL STRUCTURING
Typically, when people are hungry they open the fridge, nothing is prepared, they seek instant gratification for their hunger and they down whatever strikes their fancy. If it's breakfast, a bowl of sugary cereal will do the trick. If it's lunch, heck, who eats lunch these days anyway!!! Well ok, if they do eat lunch then it's a quick peanut butter and jam sandwich or a quick stop at Tim Hortons or McDonalds. If it's dinner, hot dogs, hamburgers, hamburger helper, kraft dinner, all these items are fast to prepare and they very quickly satisfy your hunger, but their consumption is another fat loss roadblock.
Constructing meals should always start with your protein source, then progress to fat source, and finally end with carbohydrate source.
Here's an example of a typical North American breakfast at home:
Cereal w/milk
Juice
Bread w/jam
Fruit
All four items are carbohydrate based foods. Carbohydrate based means that the majority of the calories come from carbohydrates. The problem with this breakfast is that while it will get you going with a bang, it will also stop you like a truck shortly after.
Fast in, fast out! All night you've fasted, and your blood sugar, blood amino acids, and blood fat levels are likely at the lowest they'll be all day. So if you dump all carbohydrate based foods into your bloodstream, your insulin is going to spike like crazy and your energy will drop off just as fast as it came on.
Here's an example of a typical North American Breakfast at a restaurant:
Bacon
Eggs
Sausages
Hash browns
Toast with margarine
Juice
Coffee
IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF BREAKFAST THEN YOU'VE GOT SOME MAJOR FAT LOSS ROADBLOCKS TO BULLDOZE!
The solution is to ALWAYS have a mixture of protein, carbohydrate, and fat based foods maintaining a moderate caloric load. And in fact this should be the way you structure all your meals, not just your breakfast. You can modify it as needed depending on what you're doing, but as a general rule, a mixture of all three will always elicit the type of result you're seeking: lasting energy!
Always start by deciding on your protein source. And remember, a protein based food is a food that contains more protein than carbohydrates per serving. Just look at the label and it will tell you.
Here's a list of acceptable protein sources:
Eggs
Organic Yogurt (must have a higher protein than carbs... check the label!)
Cottage Cheese (2%)
Low Fat (2%) Cheese
Beef (steak... trim visible fat)
Beef (ground... choose lean or extra lean and try to drain off a bit of the fat after cooking)
Bison (both steaks and ground are very lean)
Lamb Pork (tenderloin is the best choice)
Bacon (not a great choice, but if you're going to eat it, choose Back Bacon it's lower in fat)
Salmon (Farmed or Fresh... both are low in mercury)
Tuna (Skipjack light tuna from cans... Albacore tuna has higher levels of mercury)
Protein Powders (Natural or plain flavour... use Stevia to sweeten if needed and fruit to add flavour)
Once you've picked your protein source, then you look for your fat source. If you're having eggs, you don't need an additional fat source. Often is the case for higher fat meats too.
Here's some great fat sources:
Flax seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Hemp seeds
Almonds
Pecans
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Udo's oil
And finally, when you've made it this far, select a carbohydrate source:
Great carb sources:
Oats
Quinoa
Bulgur
Spelt
Brown rice
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Fruit
Vegetables
There are too many veggies and fruit to list them all, but try combining different veggies when you eat them. Veggies generally don't give you many calories compared to fruit or other carbohydrate sources, so typically you choose your carbohydrate sources based on your energy requirements for the following three hours.
Obviously if you're going to be sitting down and watching television at night, then you don't need many carbohydrate calories so multiple vegetable selections is best. If you're getting up Saturday morning, and you have a long day ahead of you of taking the kids to their sports, groceries, and various chores, you'll want to have a mixture of some starchy carb sources as well as fruit and/or veggie sources. If you have a workout planned for 4pm, then at 2:30pm, a good dose of starchy and fruit carbs will see you through your workout with plenty of energy.
Let's look at a typical day. This example of daily meal structuring must be tailored for each person based on your weight and activity level. If you were to eat this menu exactly day in and day out over a few weeks and you gained weight, then you would simply need to reduce the amount you eat. But the combinations of foods is excellent and shows how you should combine foods to eat for optimal health and fat loss.
Breakfast
1/2 scoop whey protein powder - PROTEIN
1 tbsp Udo's oil - FAT
1/3 cup Oats w/skim milk - CARBS
1/2 banana - CARBS
1/2 cup thawed frozen raspberries - CARBS
1/4 tsp stevia powder (sweetener)
Mid-Morning Snack
Handful of almonds (maybe 10-20) - PROTEIN & FAT
1 apple - CARBS
Lunch
3 oz chicken breast - PROTEIN
7 or 8 walnut pieces - FAT
big handful of spinach (not baby spinach) - UNLIMITED
1 Mandarin orange (put pieces in salad) - CARBS
1tbsp Udo's oil - FAT
1tsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Mid-Afternoon
1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese - PROTEIN & FAT
1/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple - CARBS
Dinner
6 oz salmon fillet - PROTEIN & FAT
10 asparagus spears (steamed) - UNLIMITED
1 med carrot (steamed) - UNLIMITED
1 small red potato (chopped and steamed) - CARBS
1 tsp butter - FAT
salt & pepper to taste
Salad
Bowlful mixed greens - UNLIMITED
6 halved cherry tomatoes - UNLIMITED
10 cucumber slices - UNLIMITED
small handful pine nuts - FAT
Salad Dressing
2 tsp Renee's Caesar dressing - FAT
1 tsp Udo's oil - FAT
2 tsp Organic Plain Yogurt
mixed well and drizzled over salad
Evening Snack
High Protein Fat Free Butterscotch Cinnamon Jello Pudding
Ingredients: Fat Free Butterscotch Jello Pudding prepare as
directed and add 1-2 scoops protein powder and a half tsp
of cinnamon for improved flavour.
1 serving is 1/4 of prepared product.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #3 - CONVENIENCE FOODS
If you know how to put together healthy fat loss meals, but you don't because you feel like you don't have time, coming to the realization that the time spent preparing healthy meals is an investment is inevitable to smashing your fat loss roadblocks! Convenience or fast foods are always laden in fat and sugar to make them taste good so you always crave them whenever you are in a rush.
FAT LOSS ROADBLOCK #4 - GLUTTONY
Another common fat loss roadblock is just plain old eating too much! Even the healthiest of foods will make you gain body fat if you eat too much of it. Heck, thousands of years ago when there was no unhealthy food, there were still some heavier people. Of course they were the wealthy ones who could afford to eat enough food to actually become heavier.
Sometimes it's tough to say no to convenience foods, but if you ever want to shed the fat and see those abs you have to draw the line at some point and just plain not step over. For me personally, I just plain out refuse to eat fast foods except at certain times. If I travel I'll allow some exceptions. Camping is definitely another time I'll break the rule. In fact, I'll even seek out a McDonalds to get a couple McChicken sandwiches when I go camping. But a good 99% of the time I just plain old say no.
Well there you have it folks! Some great meal tips to help you bulldoze your fat loss roadblocks!
Oh yeah, my wife made some Fat Free Butterscotch Jello Pudding tonight... ohhhh... Here I come!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
How Many Sets and Reps for Maximum Strength and Muscle Mass?
If you ask a hundred internet gurus how many sets and reps are needed to build maximum strength and muscle mass you'll get a hundred answers. At least that's what I found after doing an online search. No wonder I get so many emails from confused folks asking that exact question. The answer is... unfortunately... that there is no set answer that applies to everyone at all times.
The human body is capable of tremendous adaptation to stress. In fact, in 1936 scientist Hans Seyle, developed his General Adaptation Syndrome, a theory specifically stating that the body will adapt to the stress applied to it up to its physiological limit in a manner that will help the organism survive.
Applied to strength training and bodybuilding, when muscles are exposed to stress in the form of tension and fatigue levels, muscles develop thicker contractile fibers and the brain improves it's ability to recruit more fibers upon demand to improve the ability of the muscle to produce force (strength). The muscles also increase their production of key enzymes which help to maintain higher levels of energy substrates within the muscle tissue.
You basically get bigger and stronger in response to progressively increased tension and fatigue in the muscles. Now if we return for a moment to the original question which is how many sets and reps for maximum strength and muscle mass, the problem is that muscles don't understand sets and reps. They simply respond to tension and fatigue levels. So how many sets and reps is dependent on how much tension you want to produce in the muscles, and how much fatigue you want to accumulate.
We know that with practice, the more tension you attempt to place on the muscle, the stronger it gets. We also know that if you expose a muscle to a certain amount of tension for a long enough time, it gets bigger. So somewhere there has to be an answer right? Well.. still not really.
The answer depends on many factors including but not limited to:
- Training age (how long you have been training in years)
- Motor control development (a history of sports and exercise will allow someone to build strength and muscle mass initially with heavier weights)
- Mechanical leverage of the muscles (Different muscles will respond to different repetition ranges depending on the exercise, for example, nobody will ever build maximum strength of their deltoids with the lateral dumbbell raise using sets of 3 reps... a more suitable exercise would be the overhead press)
- Individual biochemistry (Different hormone profiles allow some people to build muscle more quickly than others)
It is commonly held that the following repetition ranges produce the following effects:
1-3 reps:strength without size
3-5 reps:strength with some size
6-9 reps:size with some strength
9-12 reps:size without much strength
12-15 reps:size without strength
16+ reps:strength endurance
The most important thing to understand is that the concept of repetitions is a way to measure the time spent under the tension produced by the load. It is helpful in that it is easy to give someone instructions to do X number of reps. The problem is that everyone does them differently and consequently results are all across the board and we get well meaning instructions from hundreds of internet gurus that all conflict with each other. No wonder there is so much confusion?
Ummm... so like... they asked me to come down here and explain to you how many sets and reps are needed for maximum strength and muscle mass gains. And uh, well I'm kinda confused!!?!
Here's an example.
A 16 year old football player wants to start lifting weights in attempt to get stronger. He is 5'10" and weighs 145 lbs. This person would not increase their strength as quickly by strictly adhering to the repetition protocol listed above. If he only does sets of 3 reps, he will have a difficult time getting bigger, although he may get stronger over time and if he really stays with it, he may get as strong as possible at his weight, but the lack of increased muscle size will slow his ability to get strong.
So for this athlete to develop maximum strength and muscle mass in the shortest period of time, he would need to work on developing both strength and muscle mass at the same time. If this athlete has exceptional motor control, they may be able to incorporate both some heavier lifting in the 3-5 repetition range as well as some lighter training in the 9-12 repetition range which would help him build muscle more quickly.
If this athlete has a less than exceptional motor control, then they may need to start with training limited to the 3-5 repetition range with very light weights on basic strength exercises while using the 8-15 repetition range for accessory lifts. As the months progress, the 3-5 repetition range would be kept but heavier weights would be used. The accessory lifts might be reduced to the 6-12 rep range for subsequent months as well.
Notice I've mentioned two repetition ranges here that weren't mentioned up above. This is again because there really isn't a set answer. Every person has their own completely unique situation that needs to be addressed and then a plan set forth based on their requirements which will help them build maximum strength and muscle mass.
For argument sakes, here are two sample programs with set and rep protocols that this athlete might follow if they have (1) very good motor control and (2) fair motor control. Both programs are designed to build maximum strength and muscle mass.
(1) Good Motor Skill Athlete Program
Weeks 1-4
3 Circuits with a 1:2 work to rest ratio using between a 20-30 second work interval with the following bodyweight exercises: pushups, lunges, pull-ups, squats, inverted rows, medicine ball throws, hops, jumps.
Weeks 5-8
Squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps. The weight used should be light enough that all reps are performed with perfect technique. With the squat, often the weight cannot be increased very much at all initially due to insufficient flexibility of the hips, glutes, and hamstrings. In such cases, more than 5 sets might be prescribed to help improve the flexibility of the muscles involved.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Weighted Pushups 3 sets of 10 with 10 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 4 sets of max-2
Dumbbell Step-ups 3x10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 3 sets of 8 reps
Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds
Side Plank 3 sets of 30 seconds
Weeks 9-12
Squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Weighted Pushups 4 sets of 10 with 10 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 5 sets of max-1
Dumbbell Step-ups 4x8
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 4 sets of 8 reps
Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 45 seconds
Week 13-16
Squats 3-5 sets of 3 reps.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 3 reps.
Weighted Pushups 4 sets of 5 with 25 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 6 sets of max
Dumbbell Step-ups 5x6
1-Arm Dumbbell Row 3x10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 5 sets of 8 reps
Plank 3 sets of 75 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds
(2) Fair Motor Skill Athlete Program
Weeks 1-4
3 Circuits with a 1:3 work to rest ratio using between a 20-30 second work interval with the following bodyweight exercises: pushups, lunges, pull-ups, squats, inverted rows, medicine ball throws, hops, jumps.
Weeks 5-8
Squats 5 sets of 3-5 reps. The weight used should be light enough that all reps are performed with perfect technique. With the squat, often the weight cannot be increased very much at all initially due to insufficient flexibility of the hips, glutes, and hamstrings. In such cases, more than 5 sets might be prescribed to help improve the flexibility of the muscles involved. The range of reps being 3-5 here is because a fair motor skilled athlete may fatigue too much by 5 reps when trying to learn the technique, so a lower number of reps helps to manage fatigue levels.
Bench Press 5-8 sets of 5 reps. A higher number of sets is prescribed to the fair motor control athlete to give them more pratice at the technique. The weight needs to be lower to assure that all reps through all sets is done with strict technique.
Pushups 3 sets of 10 (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 3 sets of max-3
Dumbbell Step-ups 2x10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 4 sets of 6 reps (again lower reps to prevent accumulation of fatigue, and not indicative of a heavier weight which is normally the association)
Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds
Side Plank 3 sets of 20 seconds
Weeks 9-12
Squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps.
Pushups 3 sets of 10 with a 5 lb plate on back(excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 4 sets of max-2
Dumbbell Step-ups 3x8
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 5 sets of 6 reps (again, lower reps to manage fatigue, but not to handle a heavier weight than the higher motor skilled athlete and an additional set to maintain sufficient time under tension to elicit the growth response)
Plank 4 sets of 45 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 40 seconds
Week 13-16
Squats 5-8 sets of 3 reps. (A lower motor skilled athlete will not be able to control as heavy of a weight, so lower weight is used, but more sets are employed to continue to refine the technique and elicit a higher growth response)
Bench Press 5-8 sets of 3 reps. (same rationale as above)
Weighted Pushups 4 sets of 5-10 reps with 10 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 5 sets of max-1
Dumbbell Step-ups 4x6
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 5 sets of 7-8 reps (increased reps with same weight as previous 4 weeks)
Plank 4 sets of 60 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 50 seconds
With all programs, the athlete should always strive to lift the maximum weight possible for the given repetition range so long as they can do so with strict exercise technique. From week to week within a four week phase, the athlete can increase the weight if they are able to. And from one four week phase to the next four week phase, if the repetition range stays the same for a particular exercise, the athlete still tries to use the maximum weight possible. It may increase, or it may not. If the repetition range increases from one four week phase to the next four week phase, this may indicate lowering the weight if the athlete was at their limit in the previous phase. On the other hand if the athlete feels that they can still manage the same weight for the indicated increase in reps, then they should do so.
All of these if's are due to the requirement of individualization of a program.
Generally with assistance and accessory exercises, the higher motor control athlete will be able to manage higher levels of fatigue with a given weight than the lower motor control athlete, and so will often be prescribed either more reps, or the same reps but more sets.
One final word, variety, although it sounds so un-scientific, contributes significantly to long-term progress towards building maximum strength and muscle mass. If you have spent the past 3-4 months working within a specific sets and reps range with a specific goal in mind, and you find that you are not progressing as much anymore, try a different set and rep scheme for a few weeks and then return to your previous set and rep scheme and you may notice that you begin progressing again towards your goal.
I hope you have found this article useful. As you might now understand there really is no perfect answer that will satisfy every situation for how many sets and reps for maximum strength and muscle mass. If you require specific answers for your individual needs, please don't hesitate to contact me at shane@spectrumfitness.ca
The human body is capable of tremendous adaptation to stress. In fact, in 1936 scientist Hans Seyle, developed his General Adaptation Syndrome, a theory specifically stating that the body will adapt to the stress applied to it up to its physiological limit in a manner that will help the organism survive.
Applied to strength training and bodybuilding, when muscles are exposed to stress in the form of tension and fatigue levels, muscles develop thicker contractile fibers and the brain improves it's ability to recruit more fibers upon demand to improve the ability of the muscle to produce force (strength). The muscles also increase their production of key enzymes which help to maintain higher levels of energy substrates within the muscle tissue.
You basically get bigger and stronger in response to progressively increased tension and fatigue in the muscles. Now if we return for a moment to the original question which is how many sets and reps for maximum strength and muscle mass, the problem is that muscles don't understand sets and reps. They simply respond to tension and fatigue levels. So how many sets and reps is dependent on how much tension you want to produce in the muscles, and how much fatigue you want to accumulate.
We know that with practice, the more tension you attempt to place on the muscle, the stronger it gets. We also know that if you expose a muscle to a certain amount of tension for a long enough time, it gets bigger. So somewhere there has to be an answer right? Well.. still not really.
The answer depends on many factors including but not limited to:
- Training age (how long you have been training in years)
- Motor control development (a history of sports and exercise will allow someone to build strength and muscle mass initially with heavier weights)
- Mechanical leverage of the muscles (Different muscles will respond to different repetition ranges depending on the exercise, for example, nobody will ever build maximum strength of their deltoids with the lateral dumbbell raise using sets of 3 reps... a more suitable exercise would be the overhead press)
- Individual biochemistry (Different hormone profiles allow some people to build muscle more quickly than others)
It is commonly held that the following repetition ranges produce the following effects:
1-3 reps:strength without size
3-5 reps:strength with some size
6-9 reps:size with some strength
9-12 reps:size without much strength
12-15 reps:size without strength
16+ reps:strength endurance
The most important thing to understand is that the concept of repetitions is a way to measure the time spent under the tension produced by the load. It is helpful in that it is easy to give someone instructions to do X number of reps. The problem is that everyone does them differently and consequently results are all across the board and we get well meaning instructions from hundreds of internet gurus that all conflict with each other. No wonder there is so much confusion?
CONFUSED YET?
Ummm... so like... they asked me to come down here and explain to you how many sets and reps are needed for maximum strength and muscle mass gains. And uh, well I'm kinda confused!!?!
Here's an example.
A 16 year old football player wants to start lifting weights in attempt to get stronger. He is 5'10" and weighs 145 lbs. This person would not increase their strength as quickly by strictly adhering to the repetition protocol listed above. If he only does sets of 3 reps, he will have a difficult time getting bigger, although he may get stronger over time and if he really stays with it, he may get as strong as possible at his weight, but the lack of increased muscle size will slow his ability to get strong.
A BIGGER MUSCLE CAN PRODUCE MORE FORCE THAN A SMALLER MUSCLE ALL THINGS EQUAL
So for this athlete to develop maximum strength and muscle mass in the shortest period of time, he would need to work on developing both strength and muscle mass at the same time. If this athlete has exceptional motor control, they may be able to incorporate both some heavier lifting in the 3-5 repetition range as well as some lighter training in the 9-12 repetition range which would help him build muscle more quickly.
If this athlete has a less than exceptional motor control, then they may need to start with training limited to the 3-5 repetition range with very light weights on basic strength exercises while using the 8-15 repetition range for accessory lifts. As the months progress, the 3-5 repetition range would be kept but heavier weights would be used. The accessory lifts might be reduced to the 6-12 rep range for subsequent months as well.
Notice I've mentioned two repetition ranges here that weren't mentioned up above. This is again because there really isn't a set answer. Every person has their own completely unique situation that needs to be addressed and then a plan set forth based on their requirements which will help them build maximum strength and muscle mass.
For argument sakes, here are two sample programs with set and rep protocols that this athlete might follow if they have (1) very good motor control and (2) fair motor control. Both programs are designed to build maximum strength and muscle mass.
(1) Good Motor Skill Athlete Program
Weeks 1-4
3 Circuits with a 1:2 work to rest ratio using between a 20-30 second work interval with the following bodyweight exercises: pushups, lunges, pull-ups, squats, inverted rows, medicine ball throws, hops, jumps.
Weeks 5-8
Squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps. The weight used should be light enough that all reps are performed with perfect technique. With the squat, often the weight cannot be increased very much at all initially due to insufficient flexibility of the hips, glutes, and hamstrings. In such cases, more than 5 sets might be prescribed to help improve the flexibility of the muscles involved.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Weighted Pushups 3 sets of 10 with 10 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 4 sets of max-2
Dumbbell Step-ups 3x10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 3 sets of 8 reps
Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds
Side Plank 3 sets of 30 seconds
Weeks 9-12
Squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Weighted Pushups 4 sets of 10 with 10 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 5 sets of max-1
Dumbbell Step-ups 4x8
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 4 sets of 8 reps
Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 45 seconds
Week 13-16
Squats 3-5 sets of 3 reps.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 3 reps.
Weighted Pushups 4 sets of 5 with 25 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 6 sets of max
Dumbbell Step-ups 5x6
1-Arm Dumbbell Row 3x10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 5 sets of 8 reps
Plank 3 sets of 75 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds
(2) Fair Motor Skill Athlete Program
Weeks 1-4
3 Circuits with a 1:3 work to rest ratio using between a 20-30 second work interval with the following bodyweight exercises: pushups, lunges, pull-ups, squats, inverted rows, medicine ball throws, hops, jumps.
Weeks 5-8
Squats 5 sets of 3-5 reps. The weight used should be light enough that all reps are performed with perfect technique. With the squat, often the weight cannot be increased very much at all initially due to insufficient flexibility of the hips, glutes, and hamstrings. In such cases, more than 5 sets might be prescribed to help improve the flexibility of the muscles involved. The range of reps being 3-5 here is because a fair motor skilled athlete may fatigue too much by 5 reps when trying to learn the technique, so a lower number of reps helps to manage fatigue levels.
Bench Press 5-8 sets of 5 reps. A higher number of sets is prescribed to the fair motor control athlete to give them more pratice at the technique. The weight needs to be lower to assure that all reps through all sets is done with strict technique.
Pushups 3 sets of 10 (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 3 sets of max-3
Dumbbell Step-ups 2x10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 4 sets of 6 reps (again lower reps to prevent accumulation of fatigue, and not indicative of a heavier weight which is normally the association)
Plank 3 sets of 60 seconds
Side Plank 3 sets of 20 seconds
Weeks 9-12
Squats 3-5 sets of 5 reps.
Bench Press 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps.
Pushups 3 sets of 10 with a 5 lb plate on back(excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 4 sets of max-2
Dumbbell Step-ups 3x8
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 5 sets of 6 reps (again, lower reps to manage fatigue, but not to handle a heavier weight than the higher motor skilled athlete and an additional set to maintain sufficient time under tension to elicit the growth response)
Plank 4 sets of 45 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 40 seconds
Week 13-16
Squats 5-8 sets of 3 reps. (A lower motor skilled athlete will not be able to control as heavy of a weight, so lower weight is used, but more sets are employed to continue to refine the technique and elicit a higher growth response)
Bench Press 5-8 sets of 3 reps. (same rationale as above)
Weighted Pushups 4 sets of 5-10 reps with 10 lb plate on back (excellent exercise for developing the anterior kinetic chain)
Pull-ups 5 sets of max-1
Dumbbell Step-ups 4x6
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts 5 sets of 7-8 reps (increased reps with same weight as previous 4 weeks)
Plank 4 sets of 60 seconds (add weight on back)
Side Plank 3 sets of 50 seconds
With all programs, the athlete should always strive to lift the maximum weight possible for the given repetition range so long as they can do so with strict exercise technique. From week to week within a four week phase, the athlete can increase the weight if they are able to. And from one four week phase to the next four week phase, if the repetition range stays the same for a particular exercise, the athlete still tries to use the maximum weight possible. It may increase, or it may not. If the repetition range increases from one four week phase to the next four week phase, this may indicate lowering the weight if the athlete was at their limit in the previous phase. On the other hand if the athlete feels that they can still manage the same weight for the indicated increase in reps, then they should do so.
All of these if's are due to the requirement of individualization of a program.
Generally with assistance and accessory exercises, the higher motor control athlete will be able to manage higher levels of fatigue with a given weight than the lower motor control athlete, and so will often be prescribed either more reps, or the same reps but more sets.
One final word, variety, although it sounds so un-scientific, contributes significantly to long-term progress towards building maximum strength and muscle mass. If you have spent the past 3-4 months working within a specific sets and reps range with a specific goal in mind, and you find that you are not progressing as much anymore, try a different set and rep scheme for a few weeks and then return to your previous set and rep scheme and you may notice that you begin progressing again towards your goal.
I hope you have found this article useful. As you might now understand there really is no perfect answer that will satisfy every situation for how many sets and reps for maximum strength and muscle mass. If you require specific answers for your individual needs, please don't hesitate to contact me at shane@spectrumfitness.ca
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Introducing Alexava Nicole Miller!
Hi Guys...
Very sorry to have been absent for nearly the past three weeks, but as you may or may not have known, my wife Tanya and I were expecting our first baby on Feb 12 (today), and without warning on Jan 28, Tanya's water broke. So Alexava was born on Friday, Jan 30th at 1:36am.
Alexava's birth was not without some complications. Firstly, her growth slowed from week 30 on. She was born at 38 weeks, so she is full term, but with Intra-Uterine growth retardation (which is what they call it when the baby's growth slows), she was much smaller, similar to a premie. Tanya's labour was 18 hours long including two full hours of pushing to bring our little darling into this world.
Alexava was born with hypotonia (low muscle tone). Tanya had a high fever during her labour, so Alexava was kept in the Special Care unit at the Civic for 5 days on antibiotics and then transferred to CHEO for further investigations into her low muscle tone. Another 8 days later after an ultrasound, EEG, MRI, blood work, metabolic work-ups, genetics and neurological testing, the doctors found no underling pathology for her condition and have sent her home with us today! They presume at this point that her slowed growth is the cause for her low muscle tone and that with time it will improve and that there's no reason it shouldn't completely resolve itself.
So Tanya, Alexava, and I are all at home now relaxing and just enjoying spending some quiet time together.
Interesting that as a strength and conditioning coach, my daughter's condition is low muscle tone! Who better equipped to help her with whatever challenges she faces!
Thanks to all my readers for your support and some very kind wishes we received.
:)
Shane
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Awesome Nutritious Shake
I was getting my hair cut the other day at www.destinationhair.com (they're awesome!) and they made me this fantastic nutritious shake while I was waiting. I figured it would taste awful because it was green, but it was amazing. I knew right away I had to pass this on to my readers.
Here's the recipe.
In blender:
1/2 apple
1/2 banana
1/2 cucumber
1 stalk chopped celery
handful of spinach
1 tsp greens (optional)
1 heaping tbsp hemp protein powder (can substitute a non-sweetened whey protein)
1-2 tbsp ground flaxseed
2 chopped dates
1 tsp maple syrup
Add a bit of water to get it mixing, then add water to achieve desired thickness. To make it a cold treat add a couple ice cubes!
This shake is certainly not a high-protein low-carb shake, but it is made with all natural, healthy ingredients. And if you don't like spinach, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good this is. If you didn't know it contained spinach you'd never know. So it's good for those who want a way to get spinach in your diet if you don't like the taste!
Best of all it's highly nutritious, has lots of fibre, and tastes soooo good!
Enjoy!
:)
Shane
Here's the recipe.
In blender:
1/2 apple
1/2 banana
1/2 cucumber
1 stalk chopped celery
handful of spinach
1 tsp greens (optional)
1 heaping tbsp hemp protein powder (can substitute a non-sweetened whey protein)
1-2 tbsp ground flaxseed
2 chopped dates
1 tsp maple syrup
Add a bit of water to get it mixing, then add water to achieve desired thickness. To make it a cold treat add a couple ice cubes!
This shake is certainly not a high-protein low-carb shake, but it is made with all natural, healthy ingredients. And if you don't like spinach, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good this is. If you didn't know it contained spinach you'd never know. So it's good for those who want a way to get spinach in your diet if you don't like the taste!
Best of all it's highly nutritious, has lots of fibre, and tastes soooo good!
Enjoy!
:)
Shane
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
New Year's Resolutions
Happy New Year to everyone!
If you're like me you enjoyed possibly a bit more food and drink than planned for. Yes, I always say that I won't eat and drink so much over the holidays, but when they arrive... all that's out the door.
Additionally, with fewer client hours booked over the holiday, I think I'll have more time to exercise, but it seems like I have even less. It's the family commitments, catching up on chores at home, office work, and of course, Christmas shopping. I think I only managed about four or five workouts from Dec 20 - Jan 4th. This is the period that I'll officially call "the holidays".So with fewer hours spent exercising, and way more food and drink consumed, I'm left with a pound, maybe two at most to get rid of.
Ok, so my pound or two of body fat hardly seems interesting enough for a blog post, so why am I writing about it?
Well actually, its just my segue into the content of my blog post. The thing is, I've received probably twenty or thirty emails in the past two weeks from folks who've gained the "typical" 10-15 lb holiday fat, and they want to know how to get rid of it.
I Want To Know How They Gained It???
My concern is that I really ate and drank way more than I should have. In fact, thanks to my brother in-law Eric's amazing cheesecake, I ate to the point of discomfort because the damn thing tasted so good!
But I only have a few extra pounds to lose. Whereas the emails I'm getting are from people who say they've gained 10-15 extra pounds.
So somewhere here there's a disconnect. And the solution lies in the disconnect. Let's take a closer look.
Oh by the way, I got this cool watch for
Christmas, so now I can calculate
all my calories on the fly!
With each pound of bodyfat containing about 3,500 calories, at the high end of the scale at 15 lbs gained, an accumulation of 52,500 calories is what we're dealing with.
Divide that into the 14 days (Dec 20-Jan4) that I consider holiday time, and you have 3,750 calories that must be consumed above and beyond your normal caloric intake.
Now without getting to specific here, if you need between 1500-2500 calories a day to maintain your weight, we're talking about 5,250 - 6,250 calories that must be consumed daily over 14 days to give you enough overall additional energy to have you store 15 lbs of body fat.
I would definitely say that there were probably 2 or 3 days when I hit those numbers, but for all 14 days? No way! In fact, usually the day after eating so many calories, my body just felt stuffed and I ate much less the next day.
If you want an idea of how much food this is.. here's a quick sample menu for 6,000 calories:
Breakfast
6 eggs
4 toasts with butter
10 pieces bacon
1 butter croissant
Lunch
Fettucini Alfredo
2 glasses wine
1 piece cheesecake
Dinner
10 oz steak
2 baked potatoes with butter and sour cream
1 complete tub Hagen Daaz
2 cups milk
If you're coming even close to this on a daily basis, there's your first clue! So how come so many people are gaining so much weight over the holidays?
I think the disconnect is in people's ability to be honest with themselves. Folks don't start off on December 20th, eat lots and by January 4th end up with 15 lbs of extra body fat. I think it starts back in September or October, when the weather starts to get colder (at least up here in blistery cold
chool and few people maintain the same energy expenditure over the colder months as they do during the warmer months.
Here's a likely scenario:
Starting October 1st, energy expenditure drops by around 300 calories per day on average (a fast 40 minute walk). And beginning at Thanksgiving, which in
The sum is 600 calories of additional energy that is available to the body on daily basis. If it's not burned off, it's stored, since this is above your daily caloric requirement. So over the course of 90 days, you have 90 x 600 = 54,000 calories. Which is basically the same number as we started with.
The weight comes on slowly, and for most people who aren't very aware of their bodies or who are already carrying enough bodyfat to blur muscle definition, they won't notice until they've gained a full ten pounds or so. But by the time December comes around, the sluggish feeling is already upon many people, and they seek out quick
bursts of energy that come from sugary foods. This of course only makes the problem worse and they certainly gain that last five pounds by the time January 4 comes around.
Ok... so what have we learned here?
Causative factors:
1. Less energy expenditure (less movement)
2. More energy consumption (more food)
The Solution?
1. Although for some in practice it seems pretty tough, the solution is really quite simple. Move more!
The type of movement we're talking about is really just enough to get a decent sweat. A brisk walk after dinner or in the morning before work, or even on your lunch break. Take your dog for out for some exercise while you run or walk. Of course going to the gym is great too, but that takes extra time, so for some it may not be an option.
If this is your idea of taking your dog for a walk... just quit now!
The point is that you have to make a commitment to forming the habit. Without the habit, you won't do it frequently enough for it to make a difference. The 300 calories you'll burn in 20-60 minutes each day (depending on the exercise intensity) is practically impossible to "catch-up" if you only get out twice a week. Even though you can burn off the same number of calories during the exercise if you exercise for long enough on those two sessions, the effect on getting rid of fat will be nearly impossible to match. Remember, the longer you exercise at a time, the more efficient your body becomes. So shorter, more intense activity but more frequently will keep your body relatively inefficient at using calories to get the work done. This is a good thing, since an inefficient machine uses more gas to do the same amount of work.
2. When it comes to eating, being honest with yourself about how you eat is something more people need to work on. I've known so many people who say they don't eat badly, but who I see eating tons of stuff on a regular basis that I would only eat on my cheat days.
Draw The Line
I call it drawing the line. For me, I'll eat big at Thanksgiving. But folks, we don't have Thanksgiving "holidays", we have "Thanksgiving". It's one day only! Yes, I know there's leftovers, but that's fine. I'll consent to a day or two of eating some additional leftovers. This brings up the calorie intake, but it won't do anything to you long term if you draw the line at 3 days... Thanksgiving, and two days of leftovers. After that, I return to my normal eating habits. And they pretty much stay that way until Christmas. Which for me as I say is December 20th until January 4th. That's a whole two weeks, of delicious, yummy, anything goes.
If you can draw the line and not cross it, and form some good exercise habits, you won't end up with 10-15 lbs of fat to lose come January.
But if you do have some fat to lose, don't make resolutions to train 2 hours a day and eat 1200 calories a day to lose it in just 6 days, instead, work your way backward. Move more (300 calories of expenditure) and eat a little less (300 calories less to burn off), and a couple months will go by and you'll be back in shape.
Put it this way folks, 3 months will go by regardless of what you do, and when you get there, either you'll still have your "holiday" fat, or you won't. If you've been unsuccessful in the past with lofty goals of losing it faster (as the media and supplement industry so push on us), then why not try something different. Pick small changes that you can apply consistently and when those 3 months have come and gone, only you'll know it took 3 months... everyone else will just be impressed!
Of course so will you!
Here's to small but consistent changes for 2009!
:)
Shane
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
How to Build Your Chest...
Q: I've been really pushing my bench press for the past 6 months, and I've made pretty good strength gains but my chest hasn't grown much? What can I do?
A: This is a common complaint that I have heard frequently. Often when someone is able to make good strength gains and yet their chest still remains largely undeveloped to any significant degree, a certain genetic predisposition can exist which makes it pretty hard.
One of the things to look for is bigger shoulders and big arms. If this is you, then the way your muscles and skeleton are put together, when you train the stress falls primarily along the muscles of your arms. People in this situation generally have very little difficulty building up their arms. But their chest and back muscles generally seem to lag far behind.
In cases like this, exercise selection and exercise order become extremely important. Bench press, while it can remain part of your training arsenal, should be left for strength phases. For you folk, the bench press will likely never do anything to help you build your chest.
Dumbbell work, presses, and flyes will both provide significantly greater recruitment of the pectoral muscles than the bench press will. So these exercises along with other isolation movements such as cable crossovers will allow you to strongly recruit the pecs, which is ultimately required for growth.
Next you have to put them together into an intelligently planned training program.
Lets presume you're following a three day a week, full body program, or a four day a week, split routine.
With three training days per week, you'll want to be sure that at least two of your training days have a good section of chest work. With four days per week, again, at least two training days should have significant chest work in order to really get the chest to grow.
Here's a sample chest training that could fit in with the rest of your training template:
Flat dumbbell press 4x5
work up slowly with low reps until you reach a weight heavy enough that it's a challenge for 5 reps, but make sure it's not too heavy for you to get all four sets with good form.
Dips 3x8
Again, start off with your bodyweight, and as you're able, add weight with chains or by attaching a plate with a small chain and weight belt. Be certain to lean forward on this exercise as it facilitates the contraction of the pecs.
Cable crossovers 3x12
Make sure you get a good stretch on each rep and a full contraction at the peak position.
Starting off with sets of five allows us to get a decent weight which recruits some of the bigger fast twitch fibres which have the greatest potential for growth. Next we hit dips for sets of 8. With 8 reps we're getting into some of the more glycolitic fibers, and finally with the cable crossovers, at 12 reps, we're thoroughly fatiguing everything else.
Each week try to make an increase in how much weight you can use for good form. As part of your whole program, every 4-5 weeks should be an easier week where you drop the weight and the overall volume. This just allows for better recovery. When you get back into it the following week, you'll appreciate the reduced week.
Additionally, depending on your training age (how long you've been training) you can vary the rep ranges for each exercise from week to week or every 2nd or 3rd week or after each reduced week. Of course, keeping the general structure is adivsed... I don't think I have to say it, but cable crossovers aren't very useful at sets of 5 reps. Likewise, dumbbell presses become less useful going much higher than 10 reps. Each type of exercise has it's preferred repetition range and place in a program.
So give this post a re-read, and then hit the gym and give it your best! I think you'll notice an immediate difference in the way your muscles feel during the workout. That "feeling" is what's required for growth. Significant fatigue!
Numbers Never Lie!
:)
Shane
A: This is a common complaint that I have heard frequently. Often when someone is able to make good strength gains and yet their chest still remains largely undeveloped to any significant degree, a certain genetic predisposition can exist which makes it pretty hard.
One of the things to look for is bigger shoulders and big arms. If this is you, then the way your muscles and skeleton are put together, when you train the stress falls primarily along the muscles of your arms. People in this situation generally have very little difficulty building up their arms. But their chest and back muscles generally seem to lag far behind.
In cases like this, exercise selection and exercise order become extremely important. Bench press, while it can remain part of your training arsenal, should be left for strength phases. For you folk, the bench press will likely never do anything to help you build your chest.
Dumbbell work, presses, and flyes will both provide significantly greater recruitment of the pectoral muscles than the bench press will. So these exercises along with other isolation movements such as cable crossovers will allow you to strongly recruit the pecs, which is ultimately required for growth.
Next you have to put them together into an intelligently planned training program.
Lets presume you're following a three day a week, full body program, or a four day a week, split routine.
With three training days per week, you'll want to be sure that at least two of your training days have a good section of chest work. With four days per week, again, at least two training days should have significant chest work in order to really get the chest to grow.
Here's a sample chest training that could fit in with the rest of your training template:
Flat dumbbell press 4x5
work up slowly with low reps until you reach a weight heavy enough that it's a challenge for 5 reps, but make sure it's not too heavy for you to get all four sets with good form.
Dips 3x8
Again, start off with your bodyweight, and as you're able, add weight with chains or by attaching a plate with a small chain and weight belt. Be certain to lean forward on this exercise as it facilitates the contraction of the pecs.
Cable crossovers 3x12
Make sure you get a good stretch on each rep and a full contraction at the peak position.
Starting off with sets of five allows us to get a decent weight which recruits some of the bigger fast twitch fibres which have the greatest potential for growth. Next we hit dips for sets of 8. With 8 reps we're getting into some of the more glycolitic fibers, and finally with the cable crossovers, at 12 reps, we're thoroughly fatiguing everything else.
Each week try to make an increase in how much weight you can use for good form. As part of your whole program, every 4-5 weeks should be an easier week where you drop the weight and the overall volume. This just allows for better recovery. When you get back into it the following week, you'll appreciate the reduced week.
Additionally, depending on your training age (how long you've been training) you can vary the rep ranges for each exercise from week to week or every 2nd or 3rd week or after each reduced week. Of course, keeping the general structure is adivsed... I don't think I have to say it, but cable crossovers aren't very useful at sets of 5 reps. Likewise, dumbbell presses become less useful going much higher than 10 reps. Each type of exercise has it's preferred repetition range and place in a program.
So give this post a re-read, and then hit the gym and give it your best! I think you'll notice an immediate difference in the way your muscles feel during the workout. That "feeling" is what's required for growth. Significant fatigue!
Numbers Never Lie!
:)
Shane
Monday, November 3, 2008
2008 Ottawa & Eastern Ontario Bodybuilding, Fitness, and Figure Championships
On Saturday I had a client, Lysa Gubbels compete at the Eastern Ontario Figure competition.
Congratulations need to go out to Lysa. I'm not sure of the final placings, although she didn't make the top 3. This competition was very difficult, there were over 40 girls in the competition, and there were 6 girls in her class.
Regardless of the final placings, Lysa looked better this year than she has ever before.
Lysa trained for this competition over the past year following a couple different programs that I'd planned out for her. She dieted for a solid 5 months on a very difficult macronutrient and calorie rotation diet.
Here's a few pics so you can see for yourself.
Lysa pics 1
Lysa pics 2
Thanks to Blair Gable Photography for really capturing Lysa's physique so perfectly with his lens!
Once pics are posted on the Ontario Physique Association website I will post a link to them.
:)
Shane
Congratulations need to go out to Lysa. I'm not sure of the final placings, although she didn't make the top 3. This competition was very difficult, there were over 40 girls in the competition, and there were 6 girls in her class.
Regardless of the final placings, Lysa looked better this year than she has ever before.
Lysa trained for this competition over the past year following a couple different programs that I'd planned out for her. She dieted for a solid 5 months on a very difficult macronutrient and calorie rotation diet.
Here's a few pics so you can see for yourself.
Lysa pics 1
Lysa pics 2
Thanks to Blair Gable Photography for really capturing Lysa's physique so perfectly with his lens!
Once pics are posted on the Ontario Physique Association website I will post a link to them.
:)
Shane
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Smart Breakfast...
My clients often ask me what I eat for breakfast so I thought I'd post it on my blog for all my online viewers to see as well.
I "heat-up" in the microwave 1 cup of organic oats with about 1/2 cup - 2/3 cup 2% organic milk.
Add 1 scoop plain protein powder (about 25g protein in a 30g scoop) I use Isopro by Precision Nutrition.
Add 1 tbsp Udo's Oil Blend
Add 2 heaping tbsp ground flax seeds*
Add 1 semi-heaping tbsp ground pumpkin seeds*
Add 1 semi-heaping tbsp ground sunflower seeds*
Add 1 sliced banana
Add 1/2 cup thawed frozen raspberries (Either Europe's Best or Presidents Choice brand)
Add 1 or 2 packets Stevia
Add 2/3 cup Liberte organic plain 2% yogurt
Mix it all together and presto.. that's my breakfast every morning.
Yes this is a whole lot to eat and it weighs in around 1200kcal. It's about 30% protein, 50% carbs, and about 20% fat. It takes me all of 3 minutes to prepare every morning, and only another 5 minutes to eat it.
So there's absolutely no excuse to not get a good breakfast!
You might think that 1200kcal is too much for you, and it very well may be, so just multiply the amounts of each food item by .25, .33, .5, .66, or .75 to get 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, or 3/4 of the portion.
One of those amounts will probably be perfect for just about everyone.
The best thing about it is that you'll have loads of energy all the way through until noon, based on an 8am or 9am breakfast. I usually eat this between 5am and 7am depending on when I have my first client of the day, and I'm guaranteed a good 3-4 hours before I get hungry again.
Enjoy!
:)
Shane
I "heat-up" in the microwave 1 cup of organic oats with about 1/2 cup - 2/3 cup 2% organic milk.
Add 1 scoop plain protein powder (about 25g protein in a 30g scoop) I use Isopro by Precision Nutrition.
Add 1 tbsp Udo's Oil Blend
Add 2 heaping tbsp ground flax seeds*
Add 1 semi-heaping tbsp ground pumpkin seeds*
Add 1 semi-heaping tbsp ground sunflower seeds*
Add 1 sliced banana
Add 1/2 cup thawed frozen raspberries (Either Europe's Best or Presidents Choice brand)
Add 1 or 2 packets Stevia
Add 2/3 cup Liberte organic plain 2% yogurt
Mix it all together and presto.. that's my breakfast every morning.
Yes this is a whole lot to eat and it weighs in around 1200kcal. It's about 30% protein, 50% carbs, and about 20% fat. It takes me all of 3 minutes to prepare every morning, and only another 5 minutes to eat it.
So there's absolutely no excuse to not get a good breakfast!
You might think that 1200kcal is too much for you, and it very well may be, so just multiply the amounts of each food item by .25, .33, .5, .66, or .75 to get 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, or 3/4 of the portion.
One of those amounts will probably be perfect for just about everyone.
The best thing about it is that you'll have loads of energy all the way through until noon, based on an 8am or 9am breakfast. I usually eat this between 5am and 7am depending on when I have my first client of the day, and I'm guaranteed a good 3-4 hours before I get hungry again.
Enjoy!
:)
Shane