Health Habits

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The Lazy Man's Guide to Getting Ripped

September 8th, 2009

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a potential client. He told me that he would love to get fit, but he just doesn’t have the time.

He’s just too busy with work, kids, internet porn, etc…

B.S.

He’s not busy…he’s lazy.

And he’s not alone.

According to the WHO, there are 3.6 billion lazy guys sitting on couches all around the world.

And the trainer who can help those lazy buggers transform their lazy asses from….

…is going to be rich.

Filthy…Stinking…Rich

So, here we go. The lazy man’s guide to getting ripped….or as I like to call it – My ticket to becoming filthy, stinking rich.

(BTW, this story is based on a real client. We have been training for one week. He has already lost 5 lbs.)

DIET

Meal # 1 – Breakfast

1 Tbsp of Fish Oil
3 medium sized Apple or Pears
3 fried or hard boiled Eggs
Water or Tea
5 grams of Leucine

Meal # 2 – Morning Coffee Break

My client works in an office. Each morning, he has a mandatory group meeting. Coffee & pastries are served.

1 Coffee (with cream)
15 Almonds (brought to work in a little Ziploc baggie)
Water

Meal # 3 – Lunch

Big Salad – consisting of

Salad Greens (pre-washed, pre-chopped)
1 can of tuna or salmon, or 3 more hard boiled eggs, or leftover meat from last night’s dinner
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice or Vinegar
Salt & Pepper
5 grams of Leucine
Water

Before our hero goes to bed at night, he rips open the bag of greens and dumps it into the tupperware container. Same goes for the protein. In the morning he pours in the oil, lemon juice & salt and pepper. Come lunch time, he shakes the container and presto he has his Big Salad

Meal # 4 – Afternoon Snack

1 Coffee (with cream)
15 Almonds (brought to work in a little Ziploc baggie)
Water

Meal # 5 – Workout Nutrition

1 serving of Biotest’s Surge Workout Fuel, combined with
5g of Creatine, and
1 serving of Progressive Nutritionals VegeGreens
1.5 liters of water

Meal # 6 – Dinner

Another Big Salad or steamed vegetables prepared with a microwave steaming bag
BBQ – steak or chicken or fish or pork or lamb or….
5 grams of Leucine
1 Tbsp of Fish Oil
Water

TRAINING

I have designed a training program specific to his needs, injuries, muscle imbalances, etc…

But the basic design of the program is:

3x per week total body HIRT workouts
2x per week HIIT/Cardio workouts on his stationary bike
1 x per week active rest – long walks with his wife, soccer with the kids, etc…
Dynamic stretching at each workout designed to correct imbalances & prevent injuries

THE RESULTS

As I mentioned above, the client has lost 5 lbs in the first week.

And while that certainly is good news, what really excites me is the fact that he has been perfect on his meal compliance.

He said that it was easy…EASY!!!

But, that was the first week. Let’s see how he does this week. I will report back on Sunday.

BTW, if anyone needs some help setting up a plan like this one, I would be glad to help.

[contact-form]

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Your brain on meditation

May 19th, 2009

Your brain on meditation

We all have stress in our lives.

Job stress, school stress, family stress, economic stress, the stress of your daily commute, etc…

And how we deal with that stress can have a huge impact on our health.

Some of us direct that stress outward.

While others turn it back onto ourselves.

Well, today’s post is for those self-flagellators who tend to beat themselves up with all of life’s little stresses.

According to a new study, with just 5 days of practice, test subjects learned how to perform IBMT ( integrated body-mind techniques) and were able to:

Reduce their levels of cortisol – the stress hormone
Improve blood flow and electrical activity in their brains
Improve their quality of breathing
Reduce their levels of anxiety
Reduce their levels of depression
Reduce their levels of anger
Reduce their levels of fatigue, and

“create a state of ah, much like in the morning opening your eyes, looking outside the grass and sunshine, you feel relaxed, calm and refresh without any stress”

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So, what is IBMT?

IBMT is a combination of several body–mind techniques including:

body relaxation,
breath adjustment,
mental imagery, and
mindfulness training, accompanied with selected music background.

In the study, subjects followed an instructional compact disc with body posture adjustment, breathing practice, guided imagery, and mindfulness training accompanied by a music background.

The sessions lasted 20 minutes each day for 5 days.

20 minutes x 5 days?

Hmmmm

Where do I sign up?

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For all of you super-geeks, here is a pdf copy of the complete study.

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The status-quo is broken…We need a new model for burning fat and getting fit

May 11th, 2009

For decades, we have listened to the nation’s health experts tell us:

what to eat,
what not to eat,
how much to eat,
how much exercise we need,
what type of exercise we need….

And, after all of that advice, we have become a nation world afflicted with runaway obesity, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, cancer, etc…

And yet, when we want to improve our health or reduce our waistlines, we still turn to the experts.

Why?

Everyday I meet people who are trying to get into shape. For years, they have been trying to follow the rules laid down by the experts.

They followed the food pyramid
They cut the fat out of their diets
They did their 20 minutes of fat-burning cardio
They choked down their egg white omelettes
They ate their fiber

And they watched their backsides get wider and their blood pressure rise higher and higher.

It’s time for a change.

The status quo is broken.

The top-down approach doesn’t work.

But with the technology available today, we don’t need to rely solely on that expert advice from up above.

We can connect those people who are desperate to transform their bodies with those people willing to help.

We can create a tribe of people devoted to health, fitness and each other.

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10 more reasons to love High Intensity Interval Training

May 7th, 2009

Extreme HIIT

HIIT was better than the standard multidisciplinary approach (exercise, diet and psychological support) at helping overweight kids reduce their cardiovascular risk factors. Here’s the study
HIIT can prevent cardiac death in type 2 diabetic individuals. Here’s the study
HIIT should be a required treatment for all Metabolic Syndrome patients. 16 weeks of HIIT training significantly reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease, in terms of improved VO2max, endothelial function, blood pressure, insulin signaling, and plasma lipid composition. Here’s the study
HIIT substantially improves insulin action. Say bye-bye to type 2 diabetes & metabolic syndrome. Here’s the study
HIIT increases levels of HDL cholesterol – that’s the good cholesterol. Here’s the study
HIIT improves the HRR (Heart Rate Recovery – a measure of how quickly your heart returns to normal post-exercise)) in already well-trained cyclists. Here’s the study
HIIT drastically improves cardiovascular function (V02_max) in patients with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Here’s the study
Interval training produced a 302% greater increase inV02max when compared to a long, slow distance training protocol. Here’s the study
HIIT significantly improved the aerobic fitness of a group of prepubescent children (aerobic fitness measured by peak oxygen consumption $(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}} )$ and maximal aerobic velocity) Here’s the study
HIIT improves the erectile function of hypertension patients Here’s the study fellas

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What can Brown Fat Do for You?

April 9th, 2009

More specifically, what can brown fat do for you?

Well, according to some new research, brown fat may just turn out to be a very powerful tool in the fight against obesity and type 2 diabetes.

And while I have written previously about the potential fat-melting benefits of brown fat, this latest research:

has determined that brown fat does survive our evolution from babies to adults,
has pinpointed where those hard to find stores of brown fat are located on our bodies, and
has found that your adult brown fat is metabolically active.

And before you say….So What?

Why is this important?

It’s important because, up until now, the general consensus was that brown fat existed only in humans during childhood and that it disappeared as we grew into adulthood.

Brown Fat Distribution Patterns - Adult / Baby

For obesity researchers, this is huge.

Now, instead of:

trying to discover the new-est and best-est drug to kill your appetite
or to speed up your metabolism (without frying your heart – fen-phen),
they can look for ways to turn up the re-activate your heat generating / fat burning brown fat.

And they may be closer than you think.

Joslin Diabetes Center researchers are looking at a protein called BMP-7 that they think can promote the development of brown fat.

Check out this post for more info on BMP-7.

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The New Ultra-Longevity Diet

March 25th, 2009

Yesterday, Oprah devoted her show to Extreme Life Extension.

During the show, Oprah and Dr. Oz showcased some of the science and technology devoted to extending human life. And, for a health & fitness nerd like myself, it was fun to watch.

If you missed it, here is a synopsis.

Pretty cool, huh?

But what I found most interesting was the discussion about the Life Extension Diet.

For those of you who don’t know about the Life Extension Diet, here is the abridged version:

Restrict your caloric intake
Get those calories from highly nutritious foods

Simple.

Except, this is how Oprah’s viewers were introduced to the diet:

Click on the image to see a video showing what it's like to eat like our calorie restricting hero.

A skinny, middle aged guy weighing and measuring everything he eats….and if that wasn’t bad enough, he peels an apple for his breakfast.

And what’s so weird about that?

Because he threw out the apple and ate the peel.

Seriously

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, apple peel.

These people need to hire a better marketing company.

They need to:

Down play the caloric restriction – people don’t like being hungry
Upsell the sizzle of the steak

Make my mouth water over bowls of luscious fruit

And hire some sexy celebrity(ies) to glam things up a bit.

I mean, seriously, who is more likely to get America hooked onto the Longevity Diet?

Matthew McConaughey

or this guy…

and be honest.

You know that sex sells better than brains any day of the week.

So, with that in mind, here’s my attempt at marketing the new and improved…

Ultra-Longevity Diet

Endorsed by Matthew McConaughey
Loaded with sizzling steaks and fruit smoothies
Guaranteed to give you limitless energy & vitality
You’ll live longer than you can even imagine
And your sex life will be off the charts….

All for the low, low price of $19.99

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A Better Way to Health and Weight Loss

March 4th, 2009

In yesterday’s post, I talked about how our Western diet and lifestyle has caused an explosion of obesity, diabetes and various cardio-respiratory diseases.

I also talked about how the health experts of the last 50 years have continued to feed us the same advice even in the face of our growing obesity and chronic disease epidemic.

And after looking at all of that data, I wondered: why do we continue to listen to these experts with their food pyramids and low fat diets and aerobic exercise programs?

We must be insane.

Albert Einsten once said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

And that’s what we have been doing.

The same advice year in and year out. Even as we get fatter and fatter…we listen to the same advice.

I ended yesterday’s post by saying that there had to be a better way.

Here’s my idea.

A Better Way to Health and Weight Loss

In the past few years, web 2.0 technology has allowed large groups of people to collaborate and combine their talents to develop new technology, carry out a specific design task , or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data.

This phenomena has a variety of names: crowdsourcing, open source, collective intelligence, wikinomics, social commerce and crowdcasting.

Examples of this activity include:

InnoCentive
reCAPTCHA
Shutterstock
Threadless,
and everybody’s favorite – Wikipedia

So, what does this have to do with losing weight and getting fit?

Imagine if you could harness the collective intelligence and experience of each and every dieter, obesity expert, personal trainer, weight loss guru, bariatric doctor, psychiatrist, behavioral therapist and obesity researcher.
And imagine if you could direct all of that intelligence and experience towards finding a better solution to our twin dilemmas of obesity and chronic disease.

Instead of an environment where snake oil salesmen and government approved health experts sell false hope to the fat and desperate, imagine an environment where all concerned parties can come together to find a solution.

I know, I know, it sounds a little socialist to me too.

But, in fact, we are already seeing the first steps toward this concept.

Websites like SparkPeople have created massive communities of people interesting in getting fit, lean and healthy.

And those communities are getting larger by the day.

If you look at the numbers, SparkPeople sees 2.1 million American viewers per month.

By comparison, my teeny tiny little blog sees almost 40,000 Global viewers per month.

Obviously, SparkPeople is doing something right

In fact, they’re doing lots right.

But, they’re not perfect.

Earlier today, I entered an imaginary client into their system

The client was a 255lb. man who wanted to lose 40 lbs. He was also concerned about type two diabetes and hypertension.

This is what they recommended:

A diet high in starchy carbs & low in fat
A bodybuilding style resistance program
A moderate cardio-vascular program
Stretching at the end of the workout

Same old, same old.

Repeating the same diet & fitness advice that hasn’t been working for decades.

Can someone please stop the insanity!!!

Where’s the HIIT training?
Where’s the Paleo or Mediterranean or Zone eating philosophies?
Where’s the mental/emotional strategies designed to keep people from breaking their diets or skipping their workouts?
Where’s the discussion of supplements?

I don’t think that the folks at SparkPeople have any idea of what their site could be.

Anyway, that’s my two cents.

Anyone out there have any suggestions?

Any website gurus out there eager to build a kick ass health and fitness community/wiki?

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I Smoke, I'm Fat…and it's Your Problem!

July 24th, 2008

According to a new survey from The Vitality Group, most Americans – 82%, think that they are responsible for their health.

They also agree that lifestyle choices, like smoking, over-eating and under-exercising, have a direct impact on the health and health care costs.

However, nearly half of Americans – 44%, believe they should not have to pay for their health care.

What?

Am I missing something here?

How can 82% of people claim responsibility for their health while at the same time expecting someone else to pay when something goes wrong.

That just sounds wrong; and I am from Canada, the land of socialized medicine.

What’s Behind the Numbers?

When I first read this story, I was blown away by the hypocrisy.

And then I looked a little closer.

Vitality Group is the health promotion branch of Discovery Holdings Ltd. And according to Google Finance:

Discovery Holdings Limited

Discovery Holdings Limited is a South Africa-based holding company that operates in the international health and life assurance markets. The Company operates through five businesses: Health South Africa, Health United States of America, Health United Kingdom, Life South Africa, Life United Kingdom and Vitality. Health South Africa administers and provides managed care services to medical schemes and renders administration services to other business segments within the Company. Health United States of America offers consumer driven health insurance products to employer groups and individuals in the United States of America. Health United Kingdom offers consumer-engaged private medical insurance products to employer groups and individuals in the United Kingdom. Life South Africa offers a range of insurance and financial solutions to the Company’s clients against the financial impact of lifestyle-changing events.

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155 West Street PO Box 786722
Sandton, 2146
South Africa
+27-11-5292888 (Phone)
+27-11-5392958 (Fax)

Company website:
https://www.discovery.co.za
News Releases, Investor Relations, Financial Information, Corporate History/Profile, Executives, Employment Opportunities

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So, can anyone think of a reason why an insurance company would encourage an employer to set up a health promotion / disease prevention program for it’s employees.

Hmmmmm

How about reducing claims and increasing profits.

My two cents

Okay, so we have two sides to this story.

On one side, we have an American (obviously, not just the U.S.A. – I see lots of fat Canucks every day) public that doesn’t want to actually take responsibility for it’s increase in obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Wrong, so wrong.

On the other side, we have an insurance industry that is using guilt along with the economic pressure of America’s employers to increase their own profits.

Even wronger.

But looking at this mess, I can’t help but think:

What happens if because of this initiative, America’s employees become fit and healthy?

Does that mean that these two wrongs actually make a right?

Here is the original article with all of the details.

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Posted in diet/nutrition, exercise, health

Tags: business diet exercise finance fitness health insurance life nutrition

4 Steps to Developing Health Habits

July 23rd, 2008

This is a professional athlete

We all know someone who is always saying that they are going to “get into shape”.

But, they never do.

They know what to do, but they just don’t do it.

Basically, the opposite of Nike

So, how do we get them to do it?

Glad you asked.

This study found that individuals who focused on behavior-changing strategies were much more successful than those people forced to endure their doctor’s cognitive approach to behavior change.

Instead of attempting to change their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes surrounding exercise and healthy eating, study participants were successful at increasing their physical activity levels by implementing 4 simple strategies:

Goal Setting

Setting SMART fitness goals involves 5 steps:

S – A specific fitness goal could be a walk each morning before breakfast.

M – For a goal to be measurable, you should define how far you are going to walk and how often you will perform the workout

A – To be achievable, you should start off with a task that you can achieve, knowing that the distance / intensity will increase as for fitness improves.

R – To be relevant, your goal should be in tune with your overall fitness goal – weight loss, improved blood pressure, etc.

T – To avoid ‘accidentally’ missing a workout, you should arrange a specific exercise appointment in your daily calendar.

Stimulus or Cues

Establish physical reminders to encourage yourself to exercise – Pack your gym bag and leave it by the front door every night, leave yourself notes encouraging yourself to work out, schedule your workout into your electronic schedule with an alarm, ask friends or family to call and remind you…really any reminder will help.

Self Monitoring

Keep a workout and/or food log book. It’s tough at first, but it pays off in the end.

Feedback

Reward yourself with a non-food based treat when you succeed. The rewards should become larger / more important to match the degree of fitness success.

Successfully completing today’s workout deserves a small treat, but not missing a workout for 3 months deserves a really big pat on the back.

I will go into more detail about each of these 4 steps in future posts.

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Tags: diet exercise fitness health life weight loss

Weight Loss: The Good and the Very, Very, Very Bad

July 23rd, 2008

Here are two stories out of today’s news that clearly illustrate the right way to lose weight and the wrong way.

THE GOOD

AP/Kennebec Journal, July 18, 2008: Joel Marsh and his wife, Dorothy, pose for a photo in Randolph, Maine.

Associated Press/Kennebec Journal/Fox News

RANDOLPH, Maine — Joel Marsh, a 68-year-old retiree who shed 172 pounds in 20 months has been honored by TOPS Club Inc. as its “International King of Weight Loss.”

Joel Marsh tipped the scales at more than 350 pounds just over two years ago and was on 11 medications for diabetes, high cholesterol and other health problems. He said he is now down to just three drugs and expects to be off those soon.

“After all the doctor warnings, something finally kicked in and I knew I had to do something if I wanted to live any longer,” said Marsh, who heeded the suggestion of friends that he attend a meeting of the local TOPS chapter.

“The whole thing is portion control,” said Marsh, now a slim 178 pounds. “And exercise. I’m on the [Kennebec River] Rail Trail at 5 a.m. every day. I can eat what I want, as long as I get in my three to five miles every day.”

He began by forcing himself to walk 150 feet, a task that left him gasping for breath, and then added another 150 feet each day.

Marsh tells his weight-loss story at TOPS chapters across the state, and the organization occasionally flies him to other states to speak. He does so, he said, to provide incentive for others trying to lose weight.

He usually brings a pair of his old pants with a 58-inch waist that are big enough for him and another person to fit into.

Marsh said his weight was “reasonable” until he retired from his job as a drug and alcohol counselor at Togus in 1994.

“I didn’t keep active or do much of anything except watch television and eat everything in sight,” he said.

Marsh’s wife, Dorothy, also joined the TOPS chapter and has lost about 45 pounds. In addition, she gained a healthier, more active husband.

“I used to have to do all the yardwork and things like that, because he just couldn’t do it,” Dorothy Marsh said. “It’s hard to keep up with him now.”

And now for…

THE VERY, VERY, VERY BAD

Dawn Paige with her husband Jeff: She was told to drink 4 extra pints of water a day and reduced her salt intake Photo: SWNS

Richard Savill / Telegraph / SWNS

A UK woman has been awarded £800,000 (1.6 million USD) in damages by Great Britain’s High Court after a nutritional therapist placed her on a radical detox diet that left her brain damaged and epileptic.

By Richard Savill

22 Jul 2008

Dawn Page, 52, a mother of two, claimed she was told to drink an extra four pints of water each day, and reduce her salt intake, after consulting the therapist, Barbara Nash, about losing weight.

Her lawyers said she suffered uncontrolled vomiting within days of being placed on “The Amazing Hydration Diet”, but was assured her sickness was simply “part of the detoxification process”.

She claimed she was later told to increase the amount of water she drank to six pints per day.

However, less than a week after she started the diet, the former conference organizer, of Faringdon, Oxon, said she suffered an epileptic fit brought on by severe sodium deficiency.

She was treated in intensive care, but doctors were unable to prevent permanent brain damage.

So Let’s Compare

Sensible eating and exercise = sensible & healthy weight loss

Losing weight by depleting yourself of sodium = epilepsy & brain damage

But I would never do something so stupid!

Really?

How many people do you know who have tried the Master Cleanse?

I thought so.

The Master Cleanse involves drinking only lemonade made from fresh lemon or lime juice, Grade B maple syrup, water and Cayenne pepper.

No solid food can be eaten for the duration of the cleanse.

Let’s check out the nutritional content of the Master Cleanse recipe.

* 2 Tablespoons of organic lemon juice

* 2 Tablespoons of organic grade B maple syrup

* 1/10 Teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

* 10 oz of filtered water

That recipe is for a single serving of lemonade, and you should drink 6-12 servings a day.Lemon Juice – 12 servings = 24 tbsp/ 1.5 cups = 75 calories (all carbs) and 76.8 mg or 4.2% of your daily required sodium.

Let’s break down the ingredients

Grade B Maple Syrup – 12 servings = 24 tbsp / 1.5 cups = 1233 calories (all carbs) and 42 mg or 2.3% of your daily required sodium.

Cayenne Pepper – 12 servings = 1 1/5 tsp = 7 calories and 0.6 mg of sodium.

Total – 1315 calories and 6.5% of your required sodium intake

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Yeah, that’s healthy

But, Beyonce did it!!!

And before you jump all over me saying that salt is bad, read this.

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Tags: diet exercise fitness health life news weight loss

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Posts Tagged ‘life’

DIET

TRAINING

THE RESULTS

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Related Posts

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Related Posts

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Related Posts

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Related Posts

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Related Posts

Ultra-Longevity Diet

Related Posts

A Better Way to Health and Weight Loss

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Related Posts

Discovery Holdings Limited

My two cents

Goal Setting

Stimulus or Cues

Self Monitoring

Feedback

THE GOOD

Associated Press/Kennebec Journal/Fox News

THE VERY, VERY, VERY BAD

Richard Savill / Telegraph / SWNS

So Let’s Compare

But I would never do something so stupid!

Total – 1315 calories and 6.5% of your required sodium intake