Yep, you heard me right. I'm going on record right now and telling you if you eat less, I promise you will lose fat. Besides you already knew this anyway, right? I mean when you want to shed a quick five pounds you start skipping meals anyway. So I'm supporting you, continue to eat less and watch the fat melt away.
I know what some of you may be thinking right now and trust me I'm not crazy. Despite what you have read, heard, or seen I know I am right and I'll spend the next few minutes proving it. But let me say it once more: EAT LESS AND I PROMISE YOU FAT LOSS!!!
Here's how it works. At some point in your life you will hear or make the statement, "my metabolism has slowed down," or something to that nature. But have you ever taken a moment out of your day to ask why that is? Well I've got the answer for you. Your metabolism is your muscle. And we all know what our metabolism does don't we? As rhetorical as the question is I'll answer for complete clarity, it is what allows our bodies to burn calories.
So let's get this straight. Our metabolism burns calories and muscle is our metabolism. However, we often say our metabolism slows down when we get older. But if the metabolism is muscle, why wouldn't we just add more muscle or keep what we got to burn more calories. Hopefully by now you see where I'm going with this.
By eating less muscle you will definitely lose fat - and yes you eat muscle. In fact, you probably eat more muscle than you do ordinary foods. Heck you might even be eating muscle right now! Every time you wake up your body is expecting to be nourished with a food (a well balanced breakfast that is). Yet you deprive it and thus your body enters a state of starvation. So to keep you moving and energized your body uses muscle as it's energy source. After days, months, and years of repeating this cycle (and similar cycles such as missing lunch or dinner) your body constantly depletes itself of muscle. Hence your metabolism is slowing down and when that happens you store more fat.
Be sure to get in breakfast, lunch, and dinner and more importantly the snacks in between each of those meals. This my friend is what all the talk of eating 5-6 times a day comes into play. By doing so your body will be fueled by the foods you eat versus your muscle. You see it is possible to eat less and burn more fat depending upon the context of the statement. In this scenario I'm suggesting you eat less muscle.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Your Training is Insane....Literally!
Have you ever been to a meeting and all you hear is "blah, blah, blah?" To make matters worse, it's a meeting that's held at the end of the day, you know when there's only 10 minutes left on the clock. Seriously, what manager expects their employees to REALLY listen to what's being said.
We have all been in a situation exactly like this or at least very similar. The last time I was, I took away one thing and one thing only from the meeting (or wrap-up as they put it). This one thing was this - "if you do what you have always done, you'll get what you've always got!" Now you've got my attention buddy!
Unfortunately for this manager my attention was not on him and his rambling about how we should be better at our jobs, my focus was on how this relates to fitness. I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of people regarding fitness and they all have one thing in common - they do the same things over and over. By definition this is insanity (not that I'm calling these people insane, although technically they are).
Now the purpose of this blog isn't to determine who's a lunatic and who isn't. This post is written with one thing in mind - challenge yourself. Once your progress has neutralized, you have to push harder than you ever imagined. Remember when you first started working out and it was so tough, well if you want progress you must relive those days. This doesn't mean you have to go in the gym and hurt yourself. However, it does mean you have to be willing to push it to the limit. Don't become a victim of doing the same circuits week in and week out. Variation is vital to your success but this does come at the expense of knowing what it is your body needs.
I'll leave you with this: go to the gym and inspect the equipment before you use it. If any of the cushions on the machines appear to have what looks like someone's rear end is embedded in it, it's probably yours. What you do at this point is easy - stop doing the same exercise and try something totally different that works the same muscle group. At this point your sanity is now restored!
We have all been in a situation exactly like this or at least very similar. The last time I was, I took away one thing and one thing only from the meeting (or wrap-up as they put it). This one thing was this - "if you do what you have always done, you'll get what you've always got!" Now you've got my attention buddy!
Unfortunately for this manager my attention was not on him and his rambling about how we should be better at our jobs, my focus was on how this relates to fitness. I have had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of people regarding fitness and they all have one thing in common - they do the same things over and over. By definition this is insanity (not that I'm calling these people insane, although technically they are).
Now the purpose of this blog isn't to determine who's a lunatic and who isn't. This post is written with one thing in mind - challenge yourself. Once your progress has neutralized, you have to push harder than you ever imagined. Remember when you first started working out and it was so tough, well if you want progress you must relive those days. This doesn't mean you have to go in the gym and hurt yourself. However, it does mean you have to be willing to push it to the limit. Don't become a victim of doing the same circuits week in and week out. Variation is vital to your success but this does come at the expense of knowing what it is your body needs.
I'll leave you with this: go to the gym and inspect the equipment before you use it. If any of the cushions on the machines appear to have what looks like someone's rear end is embedded in it, it's probably yours. What you do at this point is easy - stop doing the same exercise and try something totally different that works the same muscle group. At this point your sanity is now restored!
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Real Reason You Aren't Getting Results...
I'm actually in shock that I have taken the time to put my thoughts on this subject on paper (well, on Microsoft Word to be technical). My position on this is quite simple however it may not be accepted by most - and I'm ok with that.
As frank as I can be, you're not getting results simply because you don't want results. If you disagree for now I can understand but please read on. I was raised on very solid principles and while my mom is a young mother, she was old school. We had a picture frame that was in the living room that housed the Golden Rules of Living. As I think about that old dusty frame, I remember reading "if you can't fix it, call someone who can."
Now consider you fitness progress over the last few months. Has it been at a standstill? Are you frustrated with your scale (and trust me, your scale isn't broke)? Have you changed your routine but still nothing has changed? Let me not forget to ask, have you changed your diet but still haven't made the physical changes you desire? Answering yes to anyone of these questions or any question similar to these confirms that you do not want results.
If we were all living through the Golden Rules of Living we would have stopped and realized that we just can't fix our weight loss dilema on our own. I believe that if you really wanted to make the changes you would make the commitment to bring in professional help. Would you ask the server at McDonald's to perform your annual physical? Didn't think so. That being said, my role as a fitness trainer means I have to be educated and well versed in areas the general public has no clue about. Therefore it offends me when I hear people say "I can do it on my own." If that were 100% true my profession wouldn't exist.
When your employer hired you, at some point you went through a training program. So how would you feel if I went to your work place and sat in your seat and suggested to do your work for you? Initially this may sound good but the catch is this, you will only get paid your salary if I did everything correct and I mean every single thing. We probably wouldn't have an agreement then would we?
If you felt confident I would do a great job you would stop working today and bring me in. But you won't so I'll say this one last time, you're not getting results because you don't want them. If you truly wanted results then you would find someone to fix your problem.
As frank as I can be, you're not getting results simply because you don't want results. If you disagree for now I can understand but please read on. I was raised on very solid principles and while my mom is a young mother, she was old school. We had a picture frame that was in the living room that housed the Golden Rules of Living. As I think about that old dusty frame, I remember reading "if you can't fix it, call someone who can."
Now consider you fitness progress over the last few months. Has it been at a standstill? Are you frustrated with your scale (and trust me, your scale isn't broke)? Have you changed your routine but still nothing has changed? Let me not forget to ask, have you changed your diet but still haven't made the physical changes you desire? Answering yes to anyone of these questions or any question similar to these confirms that you do not want results.
If we were all living through the Golden Rules of Living we would have stopped and realized that we just can't fix our weight loss dilema on our own. I believe that if you really wanted to make the changes you would make the commitment to bring in professional help. Would you ask the server at McDonald's to perform your annual physical? Didn't think so. That being said, my role as a fitness trainer means I have to be educated and well versed in areas the general public has no clue about. Therefore it offends me when I hear people say "I can do it on my own." If that were 100% true my profession wouldn't exist.
When your employer hired you, at some point you went through a training program. So how would you feel if I went to your work place and sat in your seat and suggested to do your work for you? Initially this may sound good but the catch is this, you will only get paid your salary if I did everything correct and I mean every single thing. We probably wouldn't have an agreement then would we?
If you felt confident I would do a great job you would stop working today and bring me in. But you won't so I'll say this one last time, you're not getting results because you don't want them. If you truly wanted results then you would find someone to fix your problem.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
America's Best Fat Burner...
What's the best fat burner? Tell me the best thing I can do to loose fat? What diet will allow me to burn fat? I have the answer but the question is "Do you really want to know?"
Before I answer let me ask this question, "What dictates something being the best?" Is it scientific study, personal preference, or celebrity endorsed? Sadly enough only when something is socially acceptable do we feel confident we have made the right choice. A friend and I once suggested we develop a sugar pill and sell it as new fat burning phenomenon. Obviously we put more thought into it because surely a sugar pill alone won't cut it. We decided we'd add a few ingredients other fat burners had in them and photo shop a few before and after pictures to add to our testimonials. Throw in some marketing dollars and boom - instant success! Oh and we'd sell these pills for $30 knowing a large bag of sugar would allow us to make millions.
However, there's this thing called reality that set in and we scratched that plan. My point is this: there are plenty of companies out there that make millions marketing their fat burners and consumers will continue to throw their money with anticipation of 30lbs lost in 30 days. Our world is one of instant gratification. The old adage, hard work pays off, doesn't mean squat these days. Another friend once said "it's fun getting out of shape, but it sure as hell isn't fun getting in shape!" His reference was to the foods we eat.
So the answer to the original questions are quite simple: your mouth. Once you learn to control what goes in it, there's no need to ever ask or wonder.
Before I answer let me ask this question, "What dictates something being the best?" Is it scientific study, personal preference, or celebrity endorsed? Sadly enough only when something is socially acceptable do we feel confident we have made the right choice. A friend and I once suggested we develop a sugar pill and sell it as new fat burning phenomenon. Obviously we put more thought into it because surely a sugar pill alone won't cut it. We decided we'd add a few ingredients other fat burners had in them and photo shop a few before and after pictures to add to our testimonials. Throw in some marketing dollars and boom - instant success! Oh and we'd sell these pills for $30 knowing a large bag of sugar would allow us to make millions.
However, there's this thing called reality that set in and we scratched that plan. My point is this: there are plenty of companies out there that make millions marketing their fat burners and consumers will continue to throw their money with anticipation of 30lbs lost in 30 days. Our world is one of instant gratification. The old adage, hard work pays off, doesn't mean squat these days. Another friend once said "it's fun getting out of shape, but it sure as hell isn't fun getting in shape!" His reference was to the foods we eat.
So the answer to the original questions are quite simple: your mouth. Once you learn to control what goes in it, there's no need to ever ask or wonder.
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