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Ok… this is definitely what you are used to hearing from fitness people… especially you women (meaning you hear this a lot).
I just finished a press release that talked about making sure you train hard enough and I couldn’t agree more.
Lighter weight and more reps is completely bull honky.
Well… maybe I am a little premature by saying that it is completely bull. The caviat would be… lighter weight lifted to the point of complete exhaustion by the last predetermined rep. Now you are making progress.
While I have no hard evidence and you are going to be forced to “take my word for it,” I can tell you that most people do not lift… or even exercise… nearly intense enough to see results.
So next time you are in the gym, really push yourself. You will know what you can and can’t handle.
That brings my short little post to an end.
I will get back to posting regularly, but I am in the middle of launching The Art of Weight Lifting for real. So I encourage you to check it out and pay attention to interview and teleseminars that are going to be coming up really soon.
Sorry I have not been posting that much this week. I have been so busy with one of my other businesses that is not in the fitness industry and…
Taylor is competing in her first fitness competition on Saturday.
This is not bodybuilding… but rather just looking muscular, lean, and unavoidably sexy. Preparing has been really tough on her and therefore pretty darn tough on me too.
But there is one thing that I am really proud of her for…
No Split Routines
When she got into this, we talked about what would be the best way to train without doing split routines. We decided on a 4x a week upper body one day and lower body the next… alternating.
This has worked out really great because she is looking better than any of the other girls that she has been doing posing training with.
I will post some pictures after the show.
I also know I never posted the women bodybuilder vs. the weightlifter. I do have the pictures but when I posted the one with the guys… my traffic tanked… I guess you didn’t like that post. So I have been apprehensive. I think I will post it anyway because I have some crazy pictures.
You may have heard of Cameron through the articles he writes for Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health… to just name a few.
Cameron is a great trainer who lives out in Califorina with Alwyn Cosgrove… one of the trainers that has influenced us the most.
He has great things to say about fitness and getting results. He definitely subscribes to the same beliefs we do regarding weight loss, weight training, and nutrition. This is a great interview and both Taylor and I think that you should get his one and only book…
These two ingrediants are really sneaky because they are hidden.
First is the high fructose corn syrup. This is a man made sweetener that is very cheap to make and always escapes scrutiny. I have noticed that a lot of foods these days have taken it out… but it still remains at large.
This grows fat straight to your gut.
Second are the trans fats. The “newer” laws state that food companies had to eliminate trans fat… insert asterisk.
That asterisk is… only to a certain level. Not zero.
So what this video… share your thoughts and tomorrow I am still going to post the women pictures of a bodybuilder and a weightlifter.
I’m a guy… and naturally I am attracted to pretty women.
Ladies… bite your tongue… I know you are just as likely to “gawk” at a good looking guy. You just know how to hide it better with your sophistication.
Anyway… I was flipping through the channels and noticed all of these pretty models in bikinis. Instantly it hit me they were talking about a fitness program and saying…
“Yeah lifting weights makes me really big and bulkly…”
“I never want to build all this muscle… I want to stay lean…”
“Lifting weights is for bodybuilders…”
Ok, these are not exact quotes but I could not help but laugh my ass off. What made it even worse was this was a Tony Horton program. I lost respect for the guy… I did think P90X had some great exercises and routines in there.
But this is the reason why completely wrong impressions seep through the foundation of the fitness industry… they poison you and keep you from ever seeing the results you want.
Weight lifting is not going to make you look like a HULK!!!
No if’s… and’s… or but’s about it.
So to show you this I have two pictures. 1. Is a bodybuilder and 2. is an Olympic weightlifter.
Ladies… this applies to you more than men… and I will do another post using woman’s photos.
Notice the huge difference…
The bodybuilder is bulky and huge. He has to be. That is what he gets judged on. I am not going to speculate too much… but I think that it is obvious there are some enhancements going one in this picture…
I know a lot of bodybuilders and what they do is remarkable. But it is for their sport… that is why they choose to train and get Hulkish.
Now, notice the other picture of the Olympic weightlifter… he is big to say the least but not HUGE or Hulkish. He is probably just as strong if not stronger than the bodybuilder but is considerable smaller in size.
So why did I pick these two pictures?
You, most likely, will not train to become a bodybuilder or an Olympic weight lifter. So you will never see results like either of these guys… and you don’t need to either.
But the point is if you weight train… and train your whole body then you will get ripped and you will build muscle that will make you look awesome.
Tomorrow I am going to post the last of the nutrition videos and then a special post on the weekend showing some women pictures between a bodybuilder and weightlifter.
A quick aside…
What brought this post about was seeing that terrible video of the Olympic weightlifter who broke his arm. Before that I thought everybody who is interested in truly getting results from a fitness program should see that he was not HUGE… but really strong and ripped.
Anybody can do it… both men and women… and you don’t have to break you arm either.
It’s no secret that women everywhere, even men, are constantly working to improve their regularity. They take all sorts of different ’supplements’ to help.
Would you believe that the common ingrediant in these regularity supplements is the same that is used in a lot of the weight loss supplements?
Fiber!
Like every nutrient… getting it from natural sources is always better. Most likely because it is more in its natural state than anything else.
Fiber is extremely beneficial… but it is important to differentiate the different type of fibers.
Insoluble fiber - this type of fiber is the one every nutritionist talks about. It moves through the digestive system very fast because… it is insoluble and can’t be digested.
While in your body it also absorbs water… making you feel fuller.
Insoluble fiber comes from:
Prunes
100% whole wheat
Bean
Potatoes
Bran
Those are fun some of the many sources.
Soluble Fiber - is digestible and usually has a lot of great nutrient benefits… vitamins, minerals, etc…
Why Do You Need To Add More Fiber To Your Diet?
Fiber is so beneficial because it pushes things through your system quicker. This helps to stop the unnecessary absorption of fats, sugars, and the such that affect your body.
Since fiber is a carbohydrate… this is what makes a carbohydrate a complex one… you should try to also eat it when you eat carbs.
The reason I say this is… it will not produce massive gluscose production which in turn will skyrocket your insulin levels… which then in turn has the affect of packing on body fat.
So botton line is… eat your fiber. Make sure when you purchaes bread, it says 100% whole wheat, eat veggies, and etc…
Yesterday, we talked a little about eating clean… and Taylor gave a very nice run down of things that she eats.
That is the goal… but what are you doing now?
This is interesting because you might think you eat healthy saying, “eating clean… yeah I eat almost 100% clean. I have nothing to worry about.”
What if you were shown some common foods… so common in fact that I bet you have a lot of these sitting in your pantry now.
And… what if these foods (common foods) were packing on pure, nastly, unadultered fat to your midsection?
Well you don’t have to worry because you are now going to see what some of these foods are and they will probably shock you!
Pretty Crazy huh?
The confusing thing is that foods like yogurt are advertised to help you mid section reduce fat. But as you can see yogurt can actually pack on the fat.
Warning - Tangent in thought - I don’t know if you have ever heard of the great dairy conspiracy. Apparently dairy isn’t great for you midsection like the commercials say it is… that is the dirty work of Washington dairy farm lobbyists to help pump up their profits.
Now, I don’t know if that is true… and I don’t even know what that has to do with helping you choose the right foods, but I thought you might find that little snippet interesting.
Tomorrow we will look at some more interesting foods…
Can you identify… or guess… at the most common culprit?
Eating clean is eating right and it doesn’t have to be hard… it can be really easy to do.
At its fundamental level, eating clean is just eating foods that are free of anything man made…
chemicals
preservatives
fake sugars
all that “stuff” you can’t pronounce
Why is eating clean such a big deal?
This is the sad truth… if you were to bust your butt in the gym but remain with a terrible diet, your results would not be that great. However, if you were to completely neglect the gym… but eat well… your results would be so much better.
Nutrition has a death grip on the results you hope to see… so you have to tackle that nutrition piece of the puzzle.
5 Ways To Help You Get Started Eating Clean…
1. Start Small - take 30 minutes and plow through your pantry and fridge to find the worst foods you have. You are looking for sodas, butters, fried “things,” sugar foods, and anything that has all that stuff you can’t pronounce.
Now get rid of the worst half of that crap. You just started towards eating clean. Start to ween yourself onto this lifestyle. Once you get use to the eating without the foods you got rid off… continue and get rid of the other half.
2. Find Replacements - You need to find replacements. Got soda? start to drink sparkling water. WalMart actually has these sparkling waters that taste amazing. Got chips? try those root chips… I think they are called tarro chips. That’s good stuff!
Keep looking for replacements… they are out there and you are going to find that besides sweets (although sweets are coming ever so close)… healthy food replacements taste 10x better than their counterparts.
3. Educate Yourself - learn more about the eating clean lifestyle. Go pick up Tocsa Reno’s book… and listen to the great Tosca Reno interview we did. Do some other great searches on the internet and book store.
If you start to learn more about it… and I mean the details, you will embrace it. It will almost become a personal mission.
Kick it up a notch and add weight training routines to your competition and see who can get the most ripped. If you don’t have a significant other… use a best friend… or an Internet buddy.
5. Tell Someone - make a commitment to somebody and ask them to hold you accountable. Pick a person or a support group that you would despise to disappoint.
This could be the strongest way… it can be really hard to get going but like all good things… just start… get through the hard part… and then you will feel amazing and it will be smooth sailing from there.
Eating clean is pretty cool and it does feel good… I am trying to get Taylor to back me up and create some shopping lists to post… hopefully soon.
Life is a thing of habits… what you eat is a habit, what you do in the morning is a habit, and even the activities you enjoy are a thing of habit.
Therefore it makes perfect sense that working out is a habit too… and that can lead to a pretty big problem.
Not Resting Long Enough
I have talked about rest before, but probably spoke to general about how rest is required and how rest is when your body actually produces results… but are you actually utilizing rest?
Or… are you in the habit of working out almost everyday and neglecting the rest your body just might be begging you for?
Not everybody is a planner, but if you plan your rest days and plan your workout days better, you could take your results to the next level. It is also possible that you don’t use your rest days because you need something to do on those days. A website that I love to visit because I completely respect the owner has a great suggestion about planning meals on your off days.
1. Plan your meals for the entire week or half week: Don’t just plan your meals which can take a long time itself, but make your meals. Cook the chicken, prepare the ingredients for the sandwiches, the yogurts, and group everything together… so it is ready to rock when you need it.
2. Plan some fitness adventures: This could be tough itself, but plan some fun things outside of the gym and outside of the house. Go for a hike somewhere you haven’t been before… visit a local park… organize a sports game with friends… anything to just have fun.
Most of the time these adventures will not be intense enough to jeopardize your rest and you can get more enjoyment out of life… ditch the tv.
3. Educate yourself more about fitness: Learn more about your body and why it does what is does. If you track your workouts… which you should, analyzer your numbers and see if you can find a few areas for improvement.
4. Get a new hobby: Do you have a hobby that is not fitness? If not then find one. There is nothing better than rounding out your life than finding multiple things that you enjoy. This is probably the best way to take advantage of rest. It even helps to increase your enjoyment of your workouts… you have something to look forward to - mainly because you haven’t been thinking about it.
Share some other really great ways to have fun and use rest days. Just remember that rest is really important and you should never have to workout more than 4 times a week… unless you are training for something specific…
In fact next week only workout two days a week… the rest of the time just rest and take it easy!
