Healthy Weight Loss Tips

The past little while you may have felt overwhelmed with reading so much about lose weight this way, lose weight that way, blah, blah, am I right?

Some of the advice you may have been given from friends might have felt at times quite questionable, especially crash diets like the cabbage soup craze which yes it will help you lose weight but you may also lose your mind in the process. Hopefully you know better and have stayed away from absurd advice like this which can downright be hazardous to your health.

It’s a tough game to play and we all play it day in and day out especially trying to get right in our heads what will really work for us and what will be actually a healthy way to weight loss.

So these tips will help you get past it all and make it easy, straight forward and simple to follow, take my lead…

Healthy Weight Loss Tip #1: Morning Psychology

Breakfast goes a long way in the morning, your body has been fasting all night and it’s striving for clean nutrition to help fuel it for the day ahead. That is probably not news to you, but let’s get into the psychology of this a little more because I honestly think this is what we need to do to really get a hold of our morning will-power.

Let’s compare two scenarios. You wake up, make a coffee and have a muffin with some butter and jam and rush to get ready. Hmmm, caffeine is ok but a shock to our adrenal glands to wake us up quicker, and then lots of sugar combined with fats, not a great start. You may have not really thought about the nutrition this supplies to your body but what about this better scenario…

You wake up and slam down a tall glass of water, then make some eggs and a bowl of oatmeal with frozen berries & some honey on top. The nutrition is packed in this meal, we’ve got the essential amino acids in the eggs to repair and grow our muscles, the anti-oxidants in the berries to help keep our immune system in check and the carbs/fiber from the oats to fuel our body.

With this in mind, we’ve started our day with a healthy meal and our psychology will be stronger to keep this throughout the day because we already have made this effort. Really think about this because when you put it in place this will be an awesome weapon to carry you forward in your healthy eating.

Healthy Weight Loss Tip #2: Whey Protein for War

Still have doubts about how good whey protein is for you? It’s time to give this a try or at least become more consistent with having whey protein in your arsenal. Some of you may have tried having protein bars at hand all the time but a lot of times these protein bars are full of excess calories you don’t want.

Instead a better plan is to take a tub of whey protein with you to work so you always have it on hand. With flavours like Cookies and Cream or Delicious Milk Chocolate you really should take comfort in how good these drinks taste today.

And by the way, don’t go for the cheap variations you find in Walmart or Costco, these don’t mix well and taste all chalky and gross. Instead go for high quality variations like my two favorites which are Gaspari Myofusion and Optimum Natural Whey. Taste-wise they just don’t compare!

The great thing you’ll find about having whey protein with you at all times is that it is a great way to help you fight any cravings, especially if you take it right away when a craving is beginning to rear its ugly head.

Healthy Weight Loss Tips: Conclusion

I think it’s best to take these two tips and really apply them so you can see the benefits they provide particularly if you have weight loss as one of your goals which you want to overcome right now. If you like the angle this article covered with healthy weight loss please leave me a comment below and I’ll continue to build this out in future articles to get you that much closer to achieving your goals.

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Eliminate Love Handles

When was the last time you had someone put your arms around your waist and give you a comment about how firm you feel? Maybe never? Or have you felt uncomfortable sitting down while in your bathing suit because you know what that will look like from behind?

Well some of us store pudge around our waists more than others and you may have already tried some techniques to specifically eliminate love handles but didn’t have much success.

So what steps should you take to tone up the love handles (aka obliques)? Is it countless sit-ups and core exercises, or a completely different approach which you need to implement?

The Truth About Your Love Handles

Unfortunately, love handles are to an extent a genetic thing. These genetic traits determine where your body stores fat, and if you’re like me you wish it could be just in your biceps and ankles! If only we could dictate this to our bodies right?

Ok so what if it’s not entirely genetic and it’s just that we have excess fat all over? In this case, we need to focus our workouts on lowering our total body fat percentage.

We can only do spot focus training with a limited degree of success so we need to make sure we workout our muscles in a manner which will burn the most calories. Let’s look at what this will take…

Eliminate Love Handles Training

Ok, so we need to reduce total body fat, and you’re wondering what is the quickest yet healthiest way of doing this. Here are two great approaches:

Circuit Training

Do 2-3 workouts a week where you are incorporating circuit training. The idea behind circuit training is to do a number of exercises together in succession with no or little rest between them. They can be exercises which target two completely different muscles so you give one the ability to recover while you do the other.

Circuit training works to eliminate love handles because even when you are training with weights it creates a pseudo-cardio workout which revs up your metabolism and makes your body burn fat at an accelerate rate.

Power Training

Power training involves an exercise which works out multiple muscles at the same time. An example would be squat and press with a barbell where you are using almost all your leg muscles to lower and raise your body and then pressing the barbell with your arms to also include your shoulders and back.

If you do any exercises like this you will notice that you get tired very quickly whereby your body depletes your glycogen (blood-sugar) stores at a rapid rate. This is awesome because this is what need to do to make this a fat busting workout.

Try doing a session where you do a few sets of three or four power training exercises with high repetitions and you will be completely exhausted. That is why this is kind of training is such a big part of cross-fit, and mixed-martial arts training, simply because they are so effective.

Eliminate Love Handles Nutrition

It should come to no surprise that even though the training suggestions above can really help with lowering overall body fat, you cannot eliminate your love handles if you don’t watch your diet.

A good way of going about this is to be conscious of taking out just one unhealthy food item each day and replacing it with a raw food like an exotic fruit or berry. This will keep it interesting and allow you to still have fun with your diet all the while accumulating bonus points that make you feel good about how much control you can have over your will-power.

Want to see an example of a diet plan which can help you eliminate love handles check out my recent article on diet fat loss plan.

Supplements to Eliminate Love Handles and Burn Fat Quickly

If you want to super-intensity your workouts with an energy booster try USPLabs Jack3d, this stuff works and hence why it is the number one workout supplement in the industry right now. Others you may want to consider is a thermogenic fat burner such as OxyElite Pro but be warned this stuff is pretty powerful.

Eliminate Love Handles

You’ve got a powerful arsenal under your belt to reduce your belt size and eliminate love handles. Put together power training, circuit training with a healthy diet plan which is devoid of processed foods and you will be doing all that you can to make this work.

Just remember one thing, take it one day at a time, one step at a time and don’t overwhelm yourself with always trying to be perfect, the point is that you challenge and have fun at the same time.

If you have any questions or feedback about how to eliminate waste size please leave a comment below…

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Exercise Equipment Top 5 List

There’s one very powerful way to make sure you succeed with getting at least 30 minutes of exercise a day – having your own exercise equipment at home. And by this I don’t mean a full gym with heavy weights. I mean exercise equipment you can get at around $20 a piece that is quality and allows you to challenge using mostly just your body weight.

So with this in mind I thought it would be a good idea to help many of you who either can only workout at home or for those of you who just don’t have the time on certain days to make it to the gym. With this top 5 list you will be able to not only stay on track but even continue to burn fat at an accelerated pace even if you do it in front of the tv.

I’m going to go through this list and provide you links with where I have gotten this equipment from a reputable online store which has my highest recommendation and trust.

Exercise Equipment #1: Stability Ball

I can easily count over 30 exercises you can do on a stability ball from pushups to ab crunches, to back extensions and even squats, the stability ball is a must-have exercise equipment that should be in everyone’s homes.

If you want ideas and workouts for the stability ball I have prepared several articles for you already: Exercise Ball Ab Workout, Abdominal Workout – Exercise Ball, Ultimate Upper Body & Abs Workout, Fast Abs Workout

At just $15 this burst resistant stability ball is pretty awesome – Altus Burst Resistant Stability Ball

Exercise Equipment #2: Weighted Jump Rope

Next to running, nothing burns more calories than jumping rope. It’s not easy, it takes a lot of coordination and endurance to be able to master the art of jumping rope and yet it is such a simple and straight forward exercise. One of the best things about jumping rope is that it is inherently interval based since your speed will vary naturally as you try and push through with the quickest pace every 30 seconds or so.

Once again at under $20 this is one equipment that packs a lot value in fat burning, check out this high quality rope which has weighted handles and comfy handles – Harbinger 2 Lb. Weighted Jump Rope

Exercise Equipment #3: Resistance Cables

If you’ve ever trained with resistance cables you know how good they are in strengthening your joints and tendons. In fact most physiotherapists will use resistance cables when helping an athlete with rehabilitation after an injury.

You can do a lot with resistance cables including tying them to a heavy table so you can get some great resistance. But this resistance cable also offers different levels of resistance if you want to go anywhere from light to super heavy – Harbinger Resistance Adjustable Cable

Exercise Equipment #4: Balance Board

Balance boards are awesome at making any standard exercise into a full body challenge. By compromising your balance you have to integrate your core muscles in order to compensate and the good news with this is that it shoots up your metabolism like crazy.

Try a simple exercise like pushups and compare it with pushups with your hands on a balance board and you’ll see that I mean. You can be very creative with balance board exercises especially if you have a couple weights.

Now you may have found bosu balls to be extremely expensive (usually over $100) but I’ve found that this balance trainer does just a good job for a lot less – Harbinger Balance Trainer

Exercise Equipment #5: Medicine Ball/Kettlebell

One of your best investments if you can’t afford a set of dumbells which usually go over a hundred dollars are medicine balls or kettlebells. You can use these as weights in your home to really pack a punch with every exercise you do. Just try holding one of these weights when doing ab crunches and the challenge will be much greater.

Now the best thing I’ve come across since the stability ball are these 2 in 1 medicine ball/kettlebell that you can get from Altus, you can do so much it’s crazy and they even include a DVD of exercises for you, check them out – Altus 2 In 1 Power Medicine Ball And Kettlebell

Exercise Equipment Conclusion

I hope you like this list as much as I do and you can get out of it as much too. Even by having just a couple of these items you can do quick workouts at home to keep you on track and burning fat while maintaining your muscle/joint integrity on days when you are super short with time.

If you like this article and have any feedback/comments please leave a comment below and remember to share it with your friends on facebook/twitter…

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3 Easy Fat Loss Tips

Regardless of what level you are at in your training or weight loss achievements we all face challenges on a regular basis especially when it comes to our diets.

On our good days we can fight the temptations and wavering motivation levels, and on the bad days we make decisions that take all efforts a few steps backwards. I know you know what I mean by this because I’m there with you, but the trick is to not beat yourself up about it.

Don’t let it get you down, that in it’s entirety is the whole challenge that you have to stay on top of to win with your goals. To make it all easier for you these 3 easy fat loss tips will help you keep on track as long as you hold them in the back of your mind.

Easy Fat Loss Tip #1

You’re going to like this, because it is super easy and it definitely works. One day, I began to realize that I had arranged my fridge in a way that I saw the healthiest foods – the fruits and veggies in clear sight when I opened the fridge door.

This was particularly interesting because I almost forgot I had some of those guiltier and processed foods. The fruits and veggies was more of what I was eating by far.

I thought this was the best tip to give my clients. Just store your healthiest foods in clear sight. Your brain has the incredible ability to remember that food and think about having it for later when you are hungry.

Doubt this psychology? Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean, such an easy tip to implement and it totally works.

Easy Fat Loss Tip #2

Stand at least half the time as you usually sit. This one is good because again it’s not that a big deal to stand half the time and there are actually more bonuses than you may think.

Firstly, you burn extra calories keeping the gravity on some of the largest muscles in your body – your legs. Secondly, it gives an extension to your hamstrings which usually become tighter the more you sit down. This is great news for your back because tight hamstrings often are the cause for lower back pain.

Another tip on this matter, if you find that you need to be sitting at work in order to type away at your computer then try bringing a stability ball to work to sit on for half the time. It’s great to keep your core tight that extra time and also is a constant reminder to keep your posture fixed.

Easy Fat Loss Tip #3

This one may sound like it might be something to get used to, but can be huge if you think about how much you would accumulate over a month. Set a timer when you are at your computer so that every 50 minutes it beeps to remind you to get up. Now spend 2 minutes doing a combination of situps and pushups, as many as you can in just 2 minutes.

If this is just 20 calories burned per session and you do 2 sessions a day for 4 days a week in month that totals 640 calories! But the cool thing is that in reality it will probably be more like 1000 calories since your body will have elevated metabolism for 10-15 minutes after each time you do those exercises. Smart hey?

Top 3 Fat Loss Supplements

Burning fat with supplementation means using thermogenic stimulators which blast through belly fat. These are the top 3 selling fat loss supplements:

Fat Burner Extreme Energy (Try: Cellucor D4 Extreme)
Diet Support Stimulant Free (Try: Cellucor WS1 Extreme)
Fat Oxidation Stimulator (Try: Nutrex Lipo 6 Black)

Easy Fat Loss Tips Conclusion

Put these three easy fat loss tips together and guess what you have, a pretty killer concoction of fat-busting-not-much-effort-taken steps to put in your daily routine. If you like where I went with this article take a read at some others found in the tips section of this website and leave a comment below…

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Water and Weight Loss

You’ve probably heard of the statistic that the human body is composed of up to 60% of water, but what is the relationship between water and weight loss? Is it all about hydration or are a lot of weight loss plans just about losing water weight?

Well I’ll let you in on a little secret that you may have not heard about. Most fitness models will go through a day or two of dehydration right before their photo shoot because stripping the body of water will show more muscle definition and tone. The way they do this is by diet pills which force them to pee out more water than usual and in many cases this is not only unhealthy but quite dangerous.

Let’s go back to the first point, our body is mostly composed of water because the water in our blood helps with the transportation of nutrients to all our cells. Further to that, water also helps our cells remove byproducts of metabolism in order to function at their optimum levels. You know what’s even more interesting is that our brain is actually composed mostly of water, somewhere over 70%!

I think you see where I am going with this article, hydration is key to our existence so shouldn’t it bare more attention. You may have read a lot about having at least 8 glasses of water a day but what about when you are exercising?

Water & Exercise

Many studies have been done with the science of hydration and exercise and of course there are so many different factors which come into play that it makes the exact science a little harder to measure. From age, sex,activity level, genetics to environmental conditions our bodies require different amount of water to stay completely hydrated and performing at their maximum.

With that said, the best research indicates that we want to aim for these measures when it comes to water intake:

Before Exercise: 2 full glasses (1/2 liter) 2 hours before exercise followed by 1 full glass 15 minutes immediately before exercise
During Exercise: 1 full cup for every 15 minutes of exercise. If exercising for longer than 75 minutes an electrolyte rich sports drink should be consumed at one cup for every 30 minutes.
After Exercise: 2-3 full glasses of water for every pound lost

Pretty impressive right? This means a lot more water than we may have considered, on average as much as 10 more glasses, especially if we’re exercising pretty intensely.

We have to also remember that with all this water that we also need to make sure that our electrolytes are balanced primarily sodium and potassium. That is why post workout nutrition is so important and I have dedicated an article just to this topic.

But what about when we are wanting to lose weight quickly? How does water play a roll?

Water and Weight Loss

If you’ve ever noticed that exercise has caused considerable weight loss but then you have gained that weight back after a few days then you now know a little more about how and why this is possible. We can lose a pound of weight or more per hour of intense exercise so then why do we place so much stress over weight.

This is the exact reason why time and time again I get my clients to focus more on how good they feel after they workout and eat right, rather than a scale which is so great at leading people down the right path. Remember muscle too is composed mostly of water so the more muscle we gain the more we naturally weigh.

Having a positive reinforcement of how good we feel will change our entire perspective on weight loss and will make this much more easily sustainable in the long term.

What are your thoughts, questions, feedback about water and weight loss? Please leave a comment below…

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Fat Loss Secret

When it comes to fat loss you may think that there really is no secret. Highly intense training and super strict diet is all it takes right?

Well the answer may be a little more surprising than you think. In fact, there are a ton of secrets that I have come across and researched along the way of training for over 18 years now and when you combine them together they create a dramatic and powerful change.

Lately I’ve been having a ton of feedback with visitors of this blog leaving comments as well as our Facebook & Twitter page and the topic of fat loss is almost always the most asked about question. So I thought it was time to try a new series of articles out where I talk about the latest interesting research that is being discovered and talked about when it comes to fat loss.

Fat Loss Secret

One of the most fascinating of these a study at the Wayne State university which found that slowing down the time it takes to lower a weight can actually boost your metabolism!

This is a pretty cool secret to fat loss which I think is as easy as pie, and I’ve actually come across this ideology in training when reading some exercise routines which have been discovered in bodybuilding quite a few years ago.

Back to the secret, the study was specific in finding that taking just 3 seconds to lower a heavy weight can actually boost metabolism for as long as 72 hours after lifting the weights. Researchers have hypothesized that the reason that this occurs is based on negative resistance. When we do workouts which focus on the lowering or negative resistance part of an exercise our muscles see greater damage, and the body then elevates metabolism to help with the repair process.

In this case, the study was done with heavy weights where the maximum repetitions used was just 6, but testing this ideology with higher reps is definitely worth a try if it can help you lose fat a little quicker, doesn’t it?

Top 3 Fat Loss Supplements

Since we’re talking about muscle damage it then makes sense to include natural supplements which can help our body with recovery. Without a doubt the top 3 supplements would be:

Gluatmine (Try: Optimum Glutamine Powder)
BCAA’s (Try: SciFit BCAA AKG 1000)
Whey Protein (Try: Gaspari Nutrition MyoFusion)

Fat Loss Secret Conclusion

Whatever advantage you can get for knowing more and more fat loss secrets the quicker you will be able to attain your beach body 6 pack goals, and little secrets like this one are pretty sweet especially since you don’t really have to do any more work. Throw this type of slow negative resistance exercises at least once a week in your routine to see how much it affects your physique and try and if you’re diet isn’t always 100% then the above mentioned supplements will really help your body recover and show better results.

If you like this secret and want to know more fat loss secrets please leave a comment below, as I always I appreciate your feedback…

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Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Advanced

You’re tired of reading all the same stuff about how to lose weight and some of the fad diets you’ve heard about like the cabbage soup diet seem down right dangerous. With that said you want something more advanced and accountable when it comes to a fool-proof plan on keeping your motivation high and losing weight at the same time.

We’re going to look at a SMART approach to weight loss and discuss how you need to set goals in the first place so what you end up with is plan you can stick to.

If this has got your attention then realize that you have already made the first step in reading this article, because at the end of the day your knowledge on this matter is what is going to bring the most light when you think about your obstacles and how your body responds to food and exercise.

Let’s jump right into it…

Weight Loss Motivation Tips: SMART Approach

Now I told you we’d be SMART about this right? When it comes to setting your weight loss goals keep this guideline in mind:

S – Specific goals are the most effective. Find a photo of a celebrity or athlete you want to look like and write down how you envision yourself reaching these goals.
M – Measurable goals are essential so you can track and see how far you are coming along at each step of your training and diet plan.
A – Attainable goals will save you a lot of grief and frustration in the long run. 15lbs in 2 weeks is pretty ridiculous, 1-2 lbs a week is more like it.
R – Relevant goals again will allow you to keep focus on what is most important. If you want to lose belly fat then a heavy weight training routine is not the best plan. Make sure your goals are absolutely relevant to your end result.
T – Timed means give yourself a schedule of what you will include or avoid each week. One less chocolate bar a week can mean thousands of calories saves each month.

You’ll notice with this SMART guideline to weight loss motivation that you are going to be writing down all the important details on your training and diet plan so find yourself a good journal to keep yourself accountable. I’ve found this one to be a really good one you can order on the web – Fitlosophy Fitbook. Some have recommended online sources for keeping a journal but for some reason I’ve found that most success comes with having a hard copy journal which you can add notes to all the time and this has a different effect on the psychology of motivation.

So now that we have all these elements in place and we’re recording our results what’s the next step in making this motivation ongoing. Simple said – keeping a positive state of mind.

This can be much more challenging then it seems especially when obstacles keep getting in the way or your sore muscles start to take a toll on your energy levels. Is there something we can do to trick our psyche back into a progressively positive focus?

You bet, take this one into serious consideration. As soon as you feel yourself making excuses not to get to the gym or you’re just not feeling it, flip it completely on to its side. Think about your end goal and then think about the good feeling that this is going to give you. How will your end goal affect the rest of your life? Try and think outside the box a little too so it’s not just vanity issues. For instance, healthy heart and brain which allow you to enjoy your time with your partner and family and to excel in your work.

If you find this isn’t working enough draw it out on paper and make links of all the positive energy this is going to bring into your life, the point here is to drown out the negative noise and this is a sure fire method which only takes a few minutes.
Now let’s take this even further and have a proactive approach which will prevent further obstacles from getting in your way. Make a plan for what you can do in the following situations:

• If you want to have some exercise but your muscles are too sore (e.g. yoga, pilates, biking, massage therapy, glutamine for recovery)
• If you are really short on time and need a quick workout plan to do in just 15 minutes (for instance my recent article 15 Minute Fat Burning Workout)
• If you don’t have enough time to make a healthy meal (whey protein smoothie for instance)
• If you feel too tired and need a pick-up (e.g. 15 minute nap, energy drink like SuperPump250, coffee)
• If you’re bored of your current routine (e.g. other workouts from the workouts & training section of this site, a kickboxing or step class in your gym)

Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Conclusion

You’ve got it all laid out now, the SMART guideline for keeping motivation high, followed with notes on how your end goals will provide positivity in all the different aspects of your life, as well as a proactive approach on how to combat all the common obstacles you face on a daily basis.

If you have any questions about these advanced tips to keep your weight loss motivation high please leave a comment below…

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Muscle Pain Treatment

One of the biggest problems keeping most of us back from complete and total success with our training plan is muscle pain and often many of us chose to simply ignore the pain until it gets to the point where it is debilitating.

Well it’s about time we start evaluating what the right muscle pain treatment is for us so that we can take the next step in progressing with our workouts.

To cover all angles I’ll relate this to both beginners and seasoned athletes who train as often as 6 to 7 times a week.

On that note let’s get right into this…

Muscle Pain Treatment: Over-Training

Are you the type of person who is working out pretty intensely at least 4 to 5 times a week but you feel that your results are pretty lack luster? Chances are you are over training big time and truth be told this is something that even I’m pretty guilty of. Once you get into a routine the endorphin rush you get from training is quite unlike any other feeling in the world.

If you know what I’m talking about then you’ve really found a gem that you should cherish pretty strongly, but I’ll show you some techniques that will satisfy your endorphin rush and at the same time allow you to treat any muscle pain.

But before I get into that, remember most of your body parts need approximately 48 hours to recover from intense exercise. This is why split training is the most followed training technique by athletes and bodybuilders. Don’t train the same body part two days in a row and add more variation. Have at least one day a week of complete recovery time and perhaps another day which is very lower intensity.

Muscle Pain Treatment: Yoga

The first technique which can both help with treatment of muscle pain and still provide an endorphin rush is Yoga. Regardless of the specific type, all yoga is rejuvenating because it massages your muscles from the inside out. I like it because it is still challenging enough to give you a good workout, yet it allows your muscles to relax and for your joints and tendons to get stronger and stronger.

This means you can train harder on the following day and accelerate your body’s ability to burn through belly fat, increase muscle tone and give you the results you strive so hard for

Yoga is also great for those of you who get bored of the gym or don’t know where to start. It will take some patience but at the same time will allow you to learn more about where you body is in space and time so you can have greater coordination and stamina if you get into the gym.

Muscle Pain Treatment: Massage Therapy

The second technique is massage therapy. If you can find a high quality massage therapist then not only will your body thank you but so will your mind. The entire experience is so relaxing that it can really make a significant difference in blood movement throughout your body in which your muscles are supplied with nutrients and oxygen more efficiently. This means quicker recovery time and increases your ability to train pain free.

Do your best to get at least one massage therapy session a month, after all you are letting someone else do all the work for you and allow you to get so much benefit.

Muscle Pain Treatment: Diet and Supplements

Adequate pre and post workout nutrition is a must. You can’t really go wrong with whey protein fruit smoothies since the whey protein provides the highest quality and most effective uptake of essential amino acids into your muscles which are necessary for their growth and recovery. The fruit also provides clean energy in the form of fructose sugar so you can be as intense as you can during your workouts.

Pair this with some glutamine powder and you have a power muscle recovery drink which is healthier and better tasting then anything else out there. It is a part of my daily routine and I love trying different fruit all the time to keep it interesting.

For a great tasting vanilla flavour try Optimum 100% Natural Whey and for high quality glutamine try AllMax Nutrition Micronized Glutamine.

Other than these, a diet rich in fruit, veggies and fish is the most powerful in providing all the right ingredients for quickest muscle recovery time. I like to supplement with Nordic Naturals Omega 3′s since getting enough fish can be quite challenging at times and Nordic Naturals is the most trusted brand when it comes to high quality filtered oil so you aren’t exposed to the toxic chemicals most fish in our food chain are so susceptible to.

Muscle Pain Treatment: Conclusion

Remember to watch out when it comes to over training especially if you are finding your results are lacking in respect to the time you are investing working out. Consider your diet and make sure to use Yoga and massage therapy to your advantage in dealing with and preventing muscle pain.

If it were up to me I would have a fully government funded yoga and massage therapy program because in the end this kind of health care is the most successful in being a preventative and proactive measure which ultimately results in reduced patient care costs. Want to argue against this? Then I’d say try yoga and massage therapy for 4 weeks and then get back to me.

What are your thoughts on these treatments for pain? Do you think they will work, or don’t work? Please leave a comment below…

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Lower Back Pain Relief

Without a doubt one of the most common problems that can cause problems with our training and hold us back from real results is lower back pain. Most of us will look to medication for a resolution or simply ignore the problem and hope it goes away.

A smarter strategy would be for us to find the right away which will not only provide relief but will also prevent pain in the future. This is especially important for those of you who have had lower back pain at least more than once in the past.

Remember, we want to create a long term strategy which is part of our routine allowing us to get stronger and get more efficient in the way we use power so that we can train as hard as possible and see the best results when it comes to muscle tone and fat loss.

Lower Back Pain Relief: Strategy 1

The main cause of lower back pain is usually from a weak core in which your core is defined by your pelvic muscles, most notably the abs, obliques and erector spinae (muscles around your spinal cord). Secondary to the lats (side back), glutues maximus (butt) and trapezius (upper back) also come into play as supporting muscles.

To strengthen the muscles of the core, you will be using a lot of body weight exercises and your focus will be to do the contractions with a slow and controlled pace. Pressure and strain should be kept off your neck and anytime you feel uncomfortable tension in your lower back you must make certain to tighten your abs during the exercise. This one tip will help you become more aware of your core muscles especially when you exercise.

For some great workouts to strengthen your core check out these following articles:
Core Workout Made Easy
Oblique Exercises
Tone Lower Abs Workout

Lower Back Pain Relief: Strategy 2

So what about pain relief right now? This is where flexibility training becomes your most effective and powerful weapon. There is some pain medication in the market which can help alleviate the pain a little but if you can do it without drugs then wouldn’t want to try that method first?

Now I’ve already written an article on stretches for lower back pain, so if you haven’t bookmarked it yet check them out here – Lower Back Pain stretches.

Flexibility training has so many benefits including enhanced results from your training because it allows your joints to work more efficiently throughout the range of motion. Put this in place and you have a serious advantage over most people who are just training and exercising all the time. You should be dedicating at the minimum 10-15 minutes at the end of your workout for flexibility, take this time to really enjoy the feeling and think about what you enjoyed most in that days workout session and how you would improve it next time.

Tied into the flexibility training, one of the best ways of really seeing some muscle tone improvement is by incorporating yoga into your weekly routine. The smartest thing to do in this case is to place a yoga session on your rest day away from the gym. Yoga will not only make your joints stronger but it will naturally relax the muscles in almost all parts of your body. With more relaxed muscles you get better muscle recovery and the continued ability to increase your game with the fat loss war.

Lower Back Pain Relief: Strategy 3

Now another way to combat nagging lower back pain is to put two other methods together: massage therapy and icing. When it comes to any muscle pain relief I personally have found the best results with massage therapy, but this may sound easier than it sounds. Finding the right massage therapist (hopefully one that is registered and certified) can be difficult. You may need to try a handful before you find one that really matches your style and continually asks your feedback and is open to changing the pressure and method.

Following up massage therapy with icing is brilliant because the massage therapy gets proper blood flow going throughout all your muscles, and then the icing calms down any inflammation and jump starts your body’s repair functionality.

Lower Back Pain Relief: Conclusion

I know without a doubt these three strategies together: strengthening your core, increasing your flexibility, plus massage therapy and icing will be extremely powerful in helping you relieve even the most chronic back pain problems. The key is to stay consistent and patient in order for these to work and at times it may seem pretty challenging but you should always focus on the positive it is giving you.

Have any questions or feedback about lower back pain relief strategies in this article? Please leave a comment below…

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Warming Up and Stretching

How often do you find that you are running into the gym or rushing to do your workout at home and not giving any time to warming up. The other day I was asked if warming up and stretching were a waste of time since they don’t really help with muscle building and fat loss anyway right?

You got to admit, I think even as a trainer sometimes I just want to jump right into my workout. It’s a real challenge to force yourself to do an adequate warm up and even some stretching before getting into it.

So is there any real value to warming up and stretching before weight training?

Let’s look at it with fresh eyes…

Warming Up

If we look at a biological point of view our muscles are constantly being challenged in a lot of different ways every day and making sure we have the right nutrients in our diets to keep them at top level can be a little difficult at times. Couple this stress, poor sleep or over training and our body reacts by giving us sore muscles as a signal to slow down and change for the better.

This all makes sense doesn’t it? I think sometimes we take for granted how much we put our bodies through every day and just expect everything to go smoothly with regards to getting stronger and losing fat. It’s time to bring a little attention to this matter and take our game plan to a much higher level.

If you look at any professional athlete a warm-up is not just a regular thing before getting into the exercise but it is absolutely essential to success. So why should our mentality be any different. We want to be the best we can be right?

The warming up stage allows our heart to start pumping blood at a faster rate to our entire body and most importantly our muscles. With this greater blood flow, more nutrients are carried to the muscles and more waste products are removed. Staying on this topic most of will notice that without the proper warming up phase we will often get a cramp and this is because the lactic acid build up is too great for our circulatory system to remove it.

So how long of a warm up is long enough? This is a great question to ask and the answer is, long enough that you break a good sweat. I find a 6-7 minute gradual warm up on the treadmill or elliptical trainer is pretty adequate. Just make sure to get to a level which is quite moderate in intensity.

Stretching

Old school mentality was that stretching should be done as soon as you get into the gym. Then new studies proved that stretching should only be done when your muscles are adequately warmed up. The reason behind this was that for the aforementioned reasons increasing your body temperate allows your muscles to have greater ability to stretch and prevent micro tears from happening.

You can get a pretty good stretching phase in by just using body weight exercises or light dumbbells. This goes especially for the guys reading this, whatever you do, don’t come into a gym and go straight for the 60lb+ dumbbell bench press! You are asking for an injury to happen, and this is extremely common with our weak points like our shoulders, knees and lower back.

Try at least one or two sets with super light dumbbells to really stretch out the muscle and get you the full range of motion.

Speaking of full range of motion, stretching is brilliant in encouraging this and with greater range of motion our muscles get worked more and we end up with way better results.

For both women and men using stretch bands is also another fantastic way to stretch out the muscles so if you own some or see them in the gym give them a go especially if you have had an injury in the past. This is the reason physiotherapists use them in rehab and if you get into regular practice of doing this you will prevent yourself from a lot of pain, grief and frustration in losing results due to an injury.

Warming Up and Stretching: Conclusion

So going back to the question of warming up and stretching being a waste of time because it doesn’t really help us gain muscle or lose fat, well hopefully you see now that quite the opposite is true. Serious athletes are always focusing on this so they don’t get injured and take several steps backwards and my intention of writing this article is to really help you increase your game.

Try it out for a few weeks and you should see yourself really beginning to get in a pattern that you don’t even have to think about. It’ll be a little tough at first but if you can prevent yourself from injury which can often be lifetime isn’t it worth it?

What are your thoughts about the points in this article? Good, bad, you don’t think you’ll ever do it? Please leave a comment below…

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Weight Loss Tips: Lose Weight Without Starving

Sometimes you just want to lose some weight and yet you know that the only way you can do it is by expending more calories than you consume consistently. The problem is that when you exercise you also notice that your appetite goes up quite a bit too.

So what do you do? Do you just give in to the whole starving issue and have your stomach grumble for a lot of the day? Or do you think smarter, and use these weight loss tips to give yourself a major advantage to win this battle?

Let’s look at 5 simple ways to lose weight without starving…

Weight Loss Tips #1: Always Eat Breakfast

You know by now that breakfast is by far the most important meal of the day because your sleep was basically a 7-8 hour fast and the only way you can feed your muscles, cardiovascular system and brain is by eating a healthy breakfast.

The thing is that many of us have a carbohydrate rich (hopefully high in fiber) breakfast and within a couple hours later we are already significantly hungry again.

So what we need to do is to outsmart our digestive system and make sure that our breakfast also includes some high quality protein. Ideally some scrambled eggs, a glass of skim milk and some low fat cottage cheese would be a great choice. The protein content will keep fueling our bodies for much longer than a bagel or even some cereal.

Mix it up and even go for some lean turkey breast or smoked salmon to start your day. If none of these are fast enough you can always include some whey protein powder (the best tasting recommendation I can give is the chocolate peanut butter flavour of Gaspari Nutrition’s Myofusion)

Weight Loss Tips #2: Get Nutty

Although plain nuts have high fat content it is the good fat that our body and brain thrives on. Plus just a handful will do wonders with curbing your hunger for a significant amount of time and the protein they contain is also great for your muscles.

My favorite is an assortment of plain peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. You can even add some cayenne, season salt and black pepper to give it a kick!

Weight Loss Tips #3: Pass on Starchy Food

Almost any white carb is pretty much devoid of nutrients that will keep you full for any length of time. So when it comes to white bread, pasta, rice or even potatoes just eliminate these from your diet all together.

Switching to whole grains and even sweet potatoes is definitely the way to go when you want to lose some excess weight.

Weight Loss Tips #4: Take Your Time

When it comes to eating your stomach and brain are two completely separate entities. Your stomach will signal to your brain when it is hungry, but the problem is that this signal has some delay. In other words, once your stomach is full it will take your brain a few minutes to realize this but in the meantime you have consumed excess calories.

Slow down and really enjoy your food. There have been many studies to back this up and especially in cases where people eat in front of tv’s or when they are out with friends they forget to slow down and really think about the food they are consuming. Are you one of these people?

Weight Loss Tips #5: Eat As Much Veggies As You Can

The thing about veggies is that most of us don’t get enough of them in a day. Veggies not only supply essential vitamins, minerals and fiber to our diet but they also are a great way to keep us from giving into our cravings.

Have fresh cut veggies ready to eat whenever you start feeling a little hungry and you will without a doubt see some pretty fantastic results when it comes to your waist line. Give it a try and be adventurous with your veggies, there are so many different varieties that you can find in markets that are surprisingly quite tasty!

Top Supplements to Decrease Appetite & Increase Fat Loss

Cellucor D4 Thermal Shock
USPlabs OxyELITE Pro
BSN Atrophex

Conclusion: Lose Weight Without Starving

These 5 tips are a life saver for those of us who have challenges when it comes to our stomach overpowering our brain. Stick with these and be patient as your brain will probably want to resist these very effective healthy eating habits.

I hope you enjoyed this article and I would love to hear other ways that you have found to work for you in terms of losing weight without starving. Please leave a comment below…

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Buying Organic Food

Ideally all our food would be organic and free of chemical pesticides as well already know there are certain biological implications of these which are quite detrimental to our health.

The first and most obvious are the scientific studies which link chemical pesticides with causing hormonal imbalances possibly leading to problems with our cardiovascular & respiratory system as well as sexual problems and possibly even cancer.

The latest studies have taken this further and shown that synthetic chemical pesticides used in farms for both livestock and fruits & vegetables can also be directly linked with weight gain and poor muscle development. Organic foods are on the whole found to be richer in vitamins, antioxidants and overall nutrients meaning that our bodies are more able to burn fat and develop more muscle. (If you want some info check out my article Benefits of Organic Foods)

This in itself is quite enough to convince me to recommend organic foods for anyone seriously considering weight loss, fat loss and muscle building. Of course, the costs of organic foods can be quite high so let’s take a look at what studies show when it comes to the top 10 most beneficial organic foods in our diet.

In other words, if you could only afford some foods to be organic then focus on these ones…

Buying Organic Food – Top 10

1. Organic free range eggs – the protein in eggs is almost unmatched (just below whey protein) and if you are eating a lot of eggs then organic free range are much healthier and definitely tastier.

2. Organic oatmeal – oatmeal is a super high quality rich-in-fiber breakfast idea and if we can get the organic variety then we have just seriously upped our most important meal of the day.

3. Organic milk – lately the price of organic milk is dropping significantly because more and more of us are demanding it. Considering the vast amount of hormones and antibiotics given to cows, going organic is a very smart choice.

4. Organic green tea – we already know green tea is a fantastic metabolism booster, but most green teas are pretty highly processed and lack the antioxidants they are promised to have. Going organic with this will almost guarantee a higher quality green tea product.

5. Organic whole grain or flaxseed bread – most bread even of the best brands use wheat which has been sprayed with chemical pesticides or had some kind of chemicals during their processing. Organic bread is usually of higher fiber content and definitely more nutritious.

6. Organic turkey breast – next to cows and chickens, turkeys are also given tons of antibiotics and growth hormones so they grow bigger. Going organic will mean leaner turkey meat which is not only better for you but also tastes better.

7. Organic apples – of all the fruit in grocery stores, apples have been found to have the highest chemical pesticide content. Switching to organic apples if that is all you can afford is a great idea because these chemicals have a hard time penetrating other fruit like oranges, bananas, lemons, melons.

8. Organic grass fed beef – although a lot of media hype has said that beef is bad for you they never reference extra lean beef or let alone extra lean organic grass-fed beef. Tastier, healthier and full of high quality protein and even glutamine and creatine.

9. Organic cheese – straight from the source, lots of antibiotics and hormones given to cows especially when these are contained in greater amounts when fat content is high like that of cheese and butter. Look for low fat organic cheese and you’ll get the best of the best!

10. Organic greek yogurt – lots of studies lately showing how great greek yogurt is for you with high protein content than regular yogurt, just like issues with cheese, going organic greek yogurt is brilliant.

Top Organic Supplements and Products to Buy Online:

• Organic Belgium Chocolate Chip Bar
• Natural Vitality Organic Life Vitamins
• Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein
• Nutiva Organic Hemp Oil
• Organic Food Bar Omega-3 Flax Bar
• LifeTime Pure Certified Organic Acai Juice

Buying Organic Food: Conclusion

You now have a pretty decent top 10 list of foods that you should be buying in organic form if your budget will allow you to. With that said, most of us can definitely cut on eating out and choose to spend our money more wisely with buying organic foods. If you’re wanting another angle to hit with your weight and fat loss efforts, or if you are trying to gain lean muscle mass then organic is a very smart choice for your health.

What has your experience been with buying organic food? Good, bad or any other feedback please leave a comment below…

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Burn the Fat

When you know it’s time to Burn the Fat there are so many different angles to consider that it can be a bit overwhelming and even frustrating when things aren’t quite going your way.

In this article we look at 3 powerful techniques that are proven to help you burn the fat both efficiently and in a way that will not zap away all your energy like a lot of the latest fitness and diet fads.

All you have to do is stack these 3 techniques on top of each to really build your confidence up and turn all the negative into positive energy which is absolutely essential for a successful fat burning strategy. The question is are you up for it?

Foods that Burn the Fat

If you’ve been following this blog you will have heard me preach about eating as much veggies as you can each day. Veggies are not only full of vitamins, and nutrients which keep your heart, brain and body functioning at their best but they also are full of water and give you a full feeling. Next meal, load up your plate with some broccoli, carrots, onions or whatever other veggie you like and you’ll now what I mean.

To make the veggies extra tasty add a splash of extra virgin olive oil (for some healthy fats) along with some cayenne, cajun powder, or even basil to really bring out the flavour and make it extra tasty. A lot of research also indicates that spices are great for increasing your metabolism and getting your body to burn the fat at an accelerated pace so don’t be shy with experimenting with them until you find your favorites.

In addition to veggies, if another part of your efforts are focused on eating high quality lean proteins including whey protein then your chances of having a healthy musculature system which burns fat at an elevated level are increased exponentially. You can make healthy fruit protein smoothies or even add some peanut butter chocolate whey protein to your oatmeal to easily boost your protein intake. My favorite is Gaspari Nutrition’s Myofusion whey protein, it mixes incredibly well and the taste is simply brilliant!

Sleep to Burn the Fat

Sleep too little or sleep too much and you put your body’s entire circadian rhythm out of whack (circadian rhythm is the rhythm which your body’s physiological and chemical processes occur based on a 24 hour cycle). What this means is that the time when your body was expecting food but didn’t get it, or wasn’t expecting food but did get it places excess strain on how your body manages nutrients and in turn causes weight gain in the form of fat.

This is probably one of the most common problems most of us face and through experimentation I believe most of you will find that 8 hours is indeed the magic number you want to hit. It’s long enough to have you feel well rested and short enough to not make you lethargic and lazy.

You need to get this pattern regulated no matter what it takes especially if you notice that you are training and eating relatively healthy and yet not getting the results that you think you should be getting. I’ve found some natural supplements which help with stress like Optimum Stress B Complex and Optimum Nutrition ZMA have really helped with keeping stress under control and therefore resulting in better sleep so you may want to consider trying them out.

Training Variety to Burn the Fat

Most people lose their motivation with training and exercise plan simply because they don’t include enough variety. A great rule of thumb is that if you’ve been doing the same routine for longer than 6 weeks then it is time to change it up. It doesn’t matter what you change as long as it is relatively significant enough.

If you are asking “what is significant enough?” then you are asking the right question! Significant enough would be switching from running to biking or swimming, or instead of training your legs with the same 4 exercises you pick 4 entirely different exercises. Or it could even mean doing abs and back on the same day rather than just abs.

Another great idea is to follow the seasons and pick a sport which you can switch with one of your workouts and then focusing some of your training in the gym to help you with that sport. The stronger you get in doing those similar movements in the gym then the better you will be at that sport and in turn the more fun you will have.

If you want different workout ideas check out the workouts and training section of this site or you could also try signing up for notification of my online personal training program which will be launched in a few months and will be quite comprehensive in the number of workouts it will contain.

Burn the Fat: Conclusion

You’ve now got 3 powerful techniques to really help you burn the fat as fast as possible without harming your health (which is a common long-term trait of most fitness and diet fads). Put them all together and remember to continue to add variety and look for the positive in it all. If it’s not fun then it won’t be sustainable and you’ll start to make up excuses, but hopefully now you won’t have to do that anymore!

Have any questions or feedback about this article to help you Burn the Fat? Please leave a comment below…

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Food Myths

This is probably one of the most controversial topics that I will have written for this site and many of you will have some pretty strong opinions on what I’m about to discuss, but even so I hope that it will enlighten and bring to light some common food myths.

Generally when I sit down with a client who wants to shed some excess fat and put on some lean toned muscle the first thing I look at is their diet. It’s interesting, sometimes I think most of us have our brain turn off and we become unaware of all the different things we consume not in just the course of a day but through the entire week.

To really shed light on this I’ve found that keeping a food journal for at least 3 days is a great way to change your subconcious when it comes to eating. In case you missed it I wrote an article including a free printable food log just a little while ago, so give it a look.

Food Myths: #1

Hopefully you have already given the food log a go lately or are ready to give it a try now. Even though that cookie or small bag of chips today doesn’t seem like a big deal over a matter of a week this accumulates to hundreds if not thousands of calories you could easily eliminate.

This is in fact is a pretty common food myth in itself! Thinking that one thing today won’t really make a big difference does a lot more harm than you may realize. If your goal is to show those abs you now have a great reference on what to pay attention to.

Food Myths: #2

Low fat is always the healthiest option in a grocery store right? The problem with low fat products is that in many cases their sugar (carbohydrate) content is blown way out of proportion in order to make it still tasty. You’ll find this happens the most frequently with yogurt, frozen yogurt and even cereal or baked chips. Remember to take a quick look at the carbohydrate amount per serving next time you grab something that is labeled low fat.

Food Myths: #3

Red meat is always far inferior to chicken and other lean meats? I think this is a fundamental flaw in what a lot of old school health studies have shown. If you’re going for extra lean red meat and you’re having a smaller portion then few other meats come close to the nutrient quality of red meat (especially if you go with grain fed organic). The problem with the old studies is that they focused on fatty red meat being burned and those burned parts have been shown to be cancer-causing.

The great thing about extra lean red meat is that they contain nutrients which are fantastic for the recovery and growth of our muscles. Of these nutrients Vitamin B and L-Glutamine are found in greatest concentration in red meat, and if you do a search in this website you’ll see many instances where I talk about the benefits of these for anyone who is working out.

Conclusion: Food Myths

This list of food myths can get pretty long but I think I’ll make it a multi-part series of articles so that I can take the right amount of time to research and write about them with a good amount of depth. For now, the above mentioned are some of the most important that I honestly believe will help you combat that extra amount of fat covering your midsection, just make sure you start with the food log to start getting you on the right path.

Have any other food myths or questions/feedback about the above? Please leave a comment below…

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Eliminate Junk Food Cravings

Probably one of the biggest obstacles getting in our way to carving our abs and toning up our muscles is our inability to eliminate junk food cravings. But what if we took a look at it in a different angle and set ourselves up for success? Would this help us eliminate the junk food cravings?

The psychology behind it is actually pretty fascinating if we consider how we were brought up by being rewarded with ice cream and other sugary or deep fried treats when were a kid. See where I’m going here?

You see our brain has an incredible ability to make associations. With reward comes pleasure and our brain’s release of endorphins when we were given these foods and that cycle is extremely hard to break. Anytime we feel down our brain wants to react and fix it and subconsciously we may not even realize that food has become a sort of drug which helps ease the pain.

If this resonates with you in any way read the last few paragraphs again and think about how fascinating this is and make yourself extra aware of this next time you think you want to eat something unhealthy.

But let’s take this a step further. Let’s eliminate the junk food cravings before they even happen. What’s the best way to do this?

The answer is pretty simply, just don’t store it in your house. I found this secret several years back when my world started focusing on being the healthiest I could possibly be. I found there were certain times during the day when my defenses would break and I would open the cupboard to grab “baked” chips or something really sweet.

We all have our weaknesses, and I one day just thought if I don’t have these junk foods in my cupboards in the first place then I can’t break down. I started replacing them with smarter alternatives. First and foremost being some of my favorite exotic fruits like pineapples, mangoes and star fruit.

Then I took it another step further, and started buying different flavoured whey protein powders to make smoothie drinks that were full of amino acids to help my muscles recover and grow stronger. This was probably the best thing I ever did! Not only was I getting awesome flavours like chocolate peanut butter but I was eliminating my junk food cravings and packing on pure muscle.

Eliminate Junk Food Cravings P.S.: The best tasting whey protein powder I have ever tried is Gaspari Nutrition’s Myofusion. Like I mentioned they have my absolute favorite which is chocolate peanut butter, but they also make a killer delicious vanilla, and strawberry & cream which are great when blended with frozen fruit! YUM!!!!

Conclusion: Eliminate Junk Food Cravings

Ok, so now we’ve cleared our cupboards of the junk food and bought lots of fresh fruit and even some protein powder to make killer protein smoothies. Adding this to our awareness of the psychology and things are going to start changing.

With all this said, it’s also a good idea to allow yourself a cheat day or two, I like to have this on the weekends so I can still enjoy some of my favorite guilty pleasures knowing that I worked hard all week to be at my best. This takes the pressure off of being perfect all the time and really creates a successful plan. I have more and more to add to this article so if you guys want to hear more please leave a comment below and I will make sure to make this a series of articles….

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Free Printable Food Log

I couldn’t give you a weight training log and diet blueprint without also giving you one more golden token to help you achieve your success.

I’m with you on this one, just the idea of keeping a food log is a major turn off, but what if were to tell you that this one technique could be the thing that breaks all barriers you’ve always faced in this effort?

What if keeping a food log gets you to have not just a pretty decent body but one that you really feel proud of this beach season? Perhaps the focus could be more about removing the fear and hesitation of it because we want to get the goods, and after-all what do we really have to lose?

I’m giving you the whole kit-and-kaboodle here, it’s literally at your finger prints and I’ve even going to make it easier for you by giving it to you in an easy to print PDF format.

But before we do, let me give you some pointers which will highlight how this will really help.

You’ll notice that I have a space for “how you are feeling”, don’t ignore this one. When you write down how you felt when eating the food it can give some very powerful information about your pscyhe. Were you eating out of boredom, were you tired, had something upset you recently, or did something you see make you hungry all of a sudden.

If you take this log for just a few days and go back and look at the items which were a little out of your “healthy” list of items, perhaps you’ll see a pattern and develop a plan of action to prevent this from happening in the future.

This one simple part could be a complete game changer and you’re going to have to be totally and completely honest with yourself.

Notice I have also left an area for water intake, because for a lot of us getting 8 full glasses of water (8oz serving) during a day may seem easy until you write it down. And remember you want to increase this by at least 4-6 cups if you are exercising for just one hour that day. Dehydration leads to a number of problems which are particularly related to how hungry you feel.

Without further adieu…

Conclusion: Free Printable Food Log

Having something in writing which shows what you consume on a typical day works wonders and I won’t say anything more because it’s just one of those things you have to do for yourself. It’s the one thing that will lead to that killer beach body and just feeling comfortable with yourself. I know it’s hard and I’m there with you so if you encounter any times when you feel like you won’t do it, come to this article and leave an article, you’ll get support from me and the great community here…

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Weight Loss Tips: Diet Blueprint

Without a doubt you’ve come to the right place if you want to find the right information about losing excess weight, toning up plus all levels of workouts that you can play around with. But the real question that I still get asked most often is: “how do I go about leaning out?”

You may have tried a number of different diets and workouts, some of you may even be exercising 6 times a week but you’re finding that it’s not making enough of a difference. Here is where it gets interesting for me as a trainer and health coach!

I could devise the most sophisticated and advanced workouts, but if you’re going to go home and eat processed and packaged unhealthy foods no exercise plan in the world could out-compete that. So where do we go from here?

Well first of all you need to take some of that pressure off yourself and relax. Be grateful that you are already on your way to finding the right answers that fit for you. This website is dedicated to helping you along this journey and so far I’ve had hundreds if not thousands of people leave comments on how much this site has helped them overcome their challenges. But I want to make it even more simple…

The Diet Blueprint

You can dive right into this site and grab a number of different workouts, then use my free downloadable weight training log to track and measure, and now I’m going to give you a diet blueprint to take it even further!

Here it is in the most simple form, and there will be a lot of sub-notes for you to think about…

1. 8am Breakfast
2. 10:30am Snack
3. 12:00pm Lunch
4. 3pm Snack
5. 5pm Snack
6. 7pm Dinner
7. 9pm Snack

So you’re questions may be what are examples of healthy snacks that you can include. Here is a solid list:

• Any Fruit
• Any Vegetable
• Almonds, Peanuts or other nuts
• Fruit Smoothie
• Whey Protein Shake (try Mysofusion’s Chocolate Peanut Butter)
• Yogurt

Now for meal ideas, I’ll direct you to these two articles which have healthy and very tasty breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas for both men and women:

Fitness & Diet Plan for Women
Workout and Diet Plan for Men

Weight Loss Tips: Diet Blueprint

Ok, so now you have a rough blueprint to follow. With portion sizes you are going to have to experiment to see how your body responds because it really depends on so many factors, like how active you are, what age, what sex, and even your genetics (i.e. metabolism). A great rule to follow with this respect is to eat until you’re almost totally full, but just a little under. You will find this works wonders!

In the end, have fun with it all and just try new herbs and spices all the time, and you’ll find some pretty interesting revelations!

Have any questions or feedback about Weight Loss Tips: Diet Blueprint? Please leave comments below:

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Weight Loss Tips – Secrets to Greater Results

When it comes to losing a little excess fat around the waist we all want to know the secrets to getting better and greater results from our workout and diet plans!

Well the answers may be right in front of you and if you can use this knowledge to put it all together in a manner which will work for you then success in your goals will be close to reach!

Before we get into this grab a cup of tea (preferably green) and get in the positive mood to take this in. As soon as you notice yourself cringe or have negative feelings about a certain topic you will know this is an area you will need to work on most. Think of why those negative feelings arise and always, always look for the positive in your response to it.

Ready? Here we go…

Weight Loss Tip #1 – Secrets to Greater Results

Hydration. If there was any one thing you should always have at the front of your mind, is “when was the last time I drank some water”. It’s pretty hard to over-hydrate especially if you are an active person, but even more important is the fact that without proper hydration our hormones don’t function properly.

Your goal should be about 8 cups of water a day, but what about if you exercise? Well you should add at least 3-4 cups of water for every hour you exercise.

Weight Loss Tip #2 – Secrets to Greater Results

Focus on a healthy breakfast. There should be no excuses here, even if you are really short on time. You should be able to make some healthy oatmeal and boil an egg or two within 4-5 minutes. If you would like more healthy breakfast ideas make sure to check out (Healthy Diets for Men and Healthy Diet Plan for Women: Breakfast Ideas .

Why is breakfast so important? Think about it this way. If you start out your day with a healthy meal you are much more likely to continue your efforts throughout the day in comparison to starting it out with a muffin and butter which is full of calories and fat. If you look for it and read the labels you can find some healthy variations of oatmeal and even high fiber cereals that don’t have sugar as the first or second ingredient.

Weight Loss Tip #3 – Secrets to Greater Results

High Intensity Interval Training (aka HIIT). You will never see such incredible results in fat loss until you have tried HIIT, not only does it decrease the amount of time you spend on your cardio, but it also leaves your body as a thermogenic fat burning furnace for hours after wards. Try and aim for 2 HIIT sessions a week and make sure to give yourself at least a days rest from intense cardio after this session so your body can recover.

If you want more info on HIIT make sure to ready my article High intensity Interval Training

Weight Loss Tip #4 – Secrets to Greater Results

Variation. Nothing comes close to shocking your system than varying your workouts at least once every 6 weeks. Your body has the incredible ability to adapt quickly to any stress you place on it, and working out is no exception.

Play with your workouts, make them challenging and have fun with it all! You’ll notice that this will not only keep your motivation up but you will get far better results!

Weight Loss Tip #5 – Secrets to Greater Results

Focus on unprocessed foods. Processing and packaging of foods is a major cause of the extra belly we store around our weights. Usually with processing chemicals are added to preserve food and this creates havoc with our internal systems (primarily our hormones which dictate how our metabolism operates).

There is one exception, that is cereal, bread and oatmeal. Obviously it’s pretty hard to get enough fiber without eating these kind of processed foods, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t look at the nutritional info of these product, right? If you want a quick read on how to read these labels read my article – How to Read Nutrition Facts Labels.

Weight Loss Tips – Secrets to Greater Results Conclusion

How about them apples. Which one of these tips created the biggest cringe for you? That is your weak point, so start focusing on improving it with positivity in mind. Some dedication to your healthy eating, hydration and interval training will go a really long way. Now you just have to wait to see how good it makes you feel when you put these all together!

Have any questions or comments about these Secrets to Greater Results? What have you found works best for you? Please leave a comment below…
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Tips to Build a Strong Chest

The chest muscles are extremely important in providing upper body strength and we use them in almost every single movement on a daily basis. For men, it definitely provides sex appeal when the muscles are challenged extensively, and for women it definitely does the same allowing for brilliant tone.

For most guys and definitely some women, the chest muscles are actually overworked and this can lead to some postural problems along with imbalances in the shoulder area leading to extensive injuries.

So what tips do we need to take into account for building a strong defined chest and at the same time remain confident that it doesn’t make us prone to injuries?

Build a Strong Chest: Tip #1

The pectoralis muscles which define the chest are usually one of our stronger muscles especially if you have included push-ups as part of your training while growing up. When we get into the gym most of us have a tendency to go really heavy right from the bat and therefore abandon the regular push-up. But this is probably one of the easiest ways to mess up your shoulders and cause an injury that will make you fall back in your routine. So what do we do?

Make sure to warm up with at least one set that uses only your body-weight. You can do regular push-ups, or you can do one of a variation of push-ups. Some of these include, having your hands on a bosu ball or balancing board, having your feet on a bench and your hands on the floor, having your hands close together and then far apart mid-way through your repetitions, having your hands on a stability ball.

The important thing here is to vary it and keep it interesting and make sure you warm up your joints nicely. Once you have done this you can begin to go heavier with each set.

Build a Strong Chest: Tip #2

If you are working our your chest muscles more than you are your upper back this is another way to create major joint imbalances which also lead to poor posture and injury. Make sure to do as many sets with your upper back as you do with your chest exercises. If you have bad posture already? Then take it a little further a work out your upper back even more.

Build a Strong Chest: Tip #3

Hit your chest at 3 different angles. By this I mean that you need to think of doing exercises which include a flat bench, an incline and a decline. This allows your chest to get the most definition and grow the strongest.

The decline is the most effective in activating the lower part of the pecs. An incline targets your upper chest muscles, and if you do flyes on a bench then you are going to see some pretty impressive tone in the separation between your chest muscles.

Build a Strong Chest: Tip #4

Wondering which supplements are most effective in building muscle size in your chest? Then you will want to make sure you include:

Whey Protein for muscle production (Try: Cellucor IsoPro Ultra Lean)
Creatine Ethyl Ester for greater muscle energy (Try: Higher Power Creatine Ethyl Ester)
Glutamine for muscle recovery(Try: AllMax Nutrition Micronized Glutamine)

If you want to build definition and tone your chest muscles then you will want to include:

Thermogenic Fat Burner (Try: Nutrex Lipo 6 Black)
Fat Blocker (Try: BSN Cheaters Relief)
Thyroid Regulator & Green Tea Extract (Try: Universal Animal Cuts)

Have any questions or comments about how to build a strong chest? Please leave a comment below…

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How to Deal with Workout Boredom

If you’re training 4-5 times a week and doing the same routine for months on end, then boredom to your workout routine is inevitable. The problem with boredom is further multiplied because it also sets a physical plateau where you stop seeing results from your workouts.

I recently talked about how to know when to increase your intensity in my article Faster Results with Higher Intensity but is there more than just changing your intenisty or workout all together?

Let’s do a refresher on how to deal with boredom and get you to increase your muscle tone right away…

Bust Boredom & Increase Muscle Tone

Do you agree that you need to bust out of your comfort shell and make things more interesting? The truth is that those most successful with their workout routines are those that realize progress only happens when you challenge yourself with a whole smorgasbord of different exercises.

When was the last time you took a class? Hopefully your gym offers different classes like kickboxing, ab training, core training, or any other variation, but even if it doesn’t I’m sure your local recreation center has something out of the ordinary and inexpensive for you to try at least once!

Truth be told, that most like me are a bit apprehensive in trying these kind of classes, but I had an interesting revelation one day. I watched one of the classes for just a few minutes and then prepared myself to get into the mindset of the challenge of a new adventure. In fact, recently I tried Pilates for the first time and had to laugh the next day because my abs and core were so sore!

In these situations you have to make fun of yourself and just go with the flow. Don’t take things so seriously when it comes to working out, or you are going to dread it eventually and that’s not a path you want to keep taking. Look for the positive and a little silliness won’t hurt anyone!

When you see this positivity you will also begin to see better muscle tone and definition without even realizing how much effort you put into it. Aerobic classes like bootcamps are great for shedding the extra fat, and anytime you begin to struggle just try and laugh at how that exercise is challenging you so much, you thought you were a tough one didn’t you?

Conclusion: How to Deal with Workout Boredom & Increase Muscle Tone Today

Rule to follow? Try adding in a different class or trying a new sport, or even hiking a new path once a month. The joy that this will bring you will not only be in your physical state but will also spill into your mental and emotional state. Your appreciation in challenges is what will give you results beyond your expectations. Of course, these variations in your exercises are only half the battle so tomorrow I will follow-up this article with how to add some fun into your diet plan. This is good….

How have you or will you add fun to your workout plan? Please leave a comment below so we can all think of new exercises to try!

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3 Easy Tips to Less Fat & More Muscle in 5 Days

Recently I’ve stumbled across 3 pretty cool tips that have helped my clients and I lose fat and gain muscle really quickly…actually in as quick as 5 days! I couldn’t wait to share this with you because they are simply so easy to implement.

One thing before I get into this, you will see best results with this if you are making at least some effort in cutting back on the processed and junk foods you are eating. The problem with processed and junk foods is that they are quintessentially less nutrient rich than raw natural foods like fruit, veggies, and even fresh lean meats like fish. Replace at least one processed food each day with one fresh natural food and these tips will be amplified considerably.

Do I have your interest? Now on to to the 3 easy tips…

Less Fat & More Muscle Easy Tip #1

I’ll start with the best one, because it’s pretty awesome. Hopefully it’s obvious from reading any of my article that whey protein powder smoothies are a no-brainer when it comes to your efforts with increasing your muscle mass and reducing your body fat levels by reducing your appetite for junk food.

But what if you are really trying to watch your calorie intake or even have the slightest sensitivity to lactose (milk products) and want to try something else?

Well, I recently have been experimenting with branch chained amino acids (aka BCAA’s). And was absolutely blown away with the difference it was making for fat loss and muscle production.

BCAA’s provide our muscles with the amino acids they need to recover and grow (similar to whey protein). In fact BCAA’s compose about 35% of your total muscle mass and are essential for any muscle growth to occur, especially if you are exercising.

Over the past few years I had heard a lot of about a specific product which had one a number of awards (Glutamine Supplement of the Year 2008, Recovery Supplement of the Year 2009), it is called Scivation Xtend. The cool thing about this product is that it comes in some really tasty flavours (Apple, Raspberry, Grape, Lemonade, Orange & my favorite Watermelon), but it is also zero calories! Mix it with some water, ice and even some fresh berries and garnish with a fresh mint and you have one killer low calorie muscle producing drink that is good for you in so many different ways. Here is the link for the lowest price and my most trusted source – Scivation Xtend at BodyBuilding.com.

Less Fat & More Muscle Easy Tip #2

Green tea is another great drink to help you reduce your body fat and it has the added benefits of anti-oxidants which help fight damage by free radicals from our environment. Unfortunately, green tea also has caffeine and can disrupt your sleep if you have it late in the evening. So what’s the next best alternative?

Water sounds boring doesn’t it? I know, I’m definitely in the same boat as you! But what if we super-power our water. This is pretty easy. Try making a liter pitcher of water with fresh juice of half a lime, and throw in some slices of fresh cucumber. Now we have the antioxidant benefit of Vitamin C from the lime and cucumber plus some other vitamins and minerals which can help with the digestion of our food as we sleep.

How else is this beneficial? Water helps curb night cravings and is extremely important to help flush out all the toxins in our body and keep our muscles fully nourished. This ultimately equates to less fat. Not convinced? Try it for 5 days in a row and you’ll be surprised!

Less Fat & More Muscle Easy Tip #3

If you find that you are tired a lot and have some weight gain that you can’t rid of then it is possible that you have a thyroid hormone deficiency (aka Hypothyroidism). Although statistically 3% of the general population has this condition it is something that researchers are finding to become more and more common, likely cause from environmental pollution. So, how can we make sure our body has optimal thyroid support?

This is a significant one. Vitamin B’s are especially important for the enzyme that make thyroid hormone and what’s more fascinating is that these vitamins are also involved in the metabolism of every cell in the body (affecting DNA synthesis and regulation). In this scenario Vitamin B12 is the most important, and we can find it only in foods that come from animals including fish, meat and poultry. This makes it especially a concern for vegetarians, but even for people who eat meat, one breast of chicken only contains 6% of one’s daily requirements.

So Vitamin B’s help not only with our thyroid, but also with fat burning and even for muscle production and I’ve found supplementing with it has particularly increased my energy levels, reduced body fat and increased muscle tone. The one I like the most is from Optimum Nutrition, here is the link – Optimum Stress B-Complex + Vitamin C.

3 Easy Tips to Less Fat & More Muscle in 5 Days: Conclusion

Try combining these 3 tips together along with the replacement of one processed food with a fresh raw natural fruit or vegetable in watch the results you get in as quick as 5 days. I’ll be quite surprised if you aren’t as impressed as my clients and I am, but I’d love to continue hearing your feedback on this. Have any questions or feedback? Please leave a comment below…

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Weight Loss Tips: Psychology to Success

What makes someone have the ability to succeed with their weight loss goals for life, and what causes failure for others? That is the question health and sports psychologists are continuing to research and explore even today.

So have you asked yourself what is holding you back? Last week in my article Weight Loss Tips: Goal Setting I talked about this extensively and went deep into motivation and goal setting, but I believe that everyone is different and what’s holding you back may be completely different from someone else.

So let’s get into the psychology a little deeper…

Weight Loss Tips: Belief

I want to paint a picture that you can reference and hopefully connect with at some level. Sports psychologists know very well that athletes who have the most belief in their ability to succeed are the ones who perform better and in fact win the gold medals. Not allowing themselves even a split second of doubt or a hundredth of a second to slow down in any way is what pushes them over the edge to completely annihilate their competition.

This is interesting isn’t it? If only us ordinary people could have that much determination and belief, how much could we succeed not only with our fat loss efforts but also in every other aspect of our lives. So where do we start to achieve such determination?

Well the factors which are holding us back includes the voice in our head, however disguised it may be, that “I’m not good enough” or “I don’t deserve it”. This is what kills our healthy eating and exercising plan. No matter how clear your goals are, this is the voice we need to kill. We need to replace it with the positive affirmation voice.

Sounds cheesy? Yes, I know, but maybe we aren’t as complicated as we think to be! The laws of physics at the quantum level dictate this and are what have made the two hits “What the Bleep do We Know?” and “The Secret” so fascinating and revealing.

In other words, if we work harder at changing our psychology to focus on the positive and on the now, “what positive health choices you made today” then the universe will only nourish this and give you even more positivity.

So here is where the challenge arises, and I’ll be honest, from my experience even the most accomplished and successful in the health industry are always focused on overcoming these challenges.

Weight Loss Tips: Psychology to Success Conclusion

The above mentioned is such a deep rabbit hole, and it will take you a ton of energy to put in place. The point is that you take responsibility, you work on eliminating your self-doubt and focus on the positive every single day, or every single hour, or actually every single minute. Starting from a place of being grateful for what you have is a good angle and then reminding yourself of your accomplishments. It’s not going to be easy but knowing that you are not alone in this challenge and asking your friends and family to also help you change the paradigm to brightness is what will make the difference.

What will you do, or already do every day to make sure you have the psychology to succeed? Leaving a comment below will solidify this success…

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Immune System Booster

As we transition into summer viruses are running rampant trying to survive through the summer by infecting as many people as they can. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) North America is seeing a pretty large rise in the seasonal cold virus during this time of year and millions are missing at least 2-3 days of work at any one time.

You should probably be asking why this time of year is especially bad? Is it just the weather or is there another link?

Well without a doubt May weather is usually rainy and stormy in most parts of North America and when most people are indoors viruses have the greatest ability to spread. But is there more to this puzzle?

Well for most the several months before May there is a culmination of stress factors from work, school, and social relationships…and with stress our immune system is seriously compromised.

With this in mind we want to boost our immune system as much as we can so what measures should we take?

The Ultimate Immune System Booster

Let’s put together an ultimate immune system booster package to make sure our bodies can fight the seriously negative side effects of infections from viruses and bacteria.

Obviously sleep plays a major role in our ability to recover from the days stress, so we must do whatever we can to have a good nights sleep reaching the 8 hour mark. The less sleep we have the less time we give our system to flush out the toxins and regenerate damaged cells.

If you find you are having trouble sleeping the most natural supplements to help without causing addiction include Melatonin and Valerian root extract. Numerous double blind studies have found that both Melatonin and Valerian extract help people fall asleep quicker, reduce the number of awakenings during the night and improve the overall quality of sleep. Two of the most trusted brands include Optimum Melatonin and NOW Valerian Root.

What about fruits like oranges and berries? You bet, citrus fruits and berries are high in the antioxidant Vitamin C which help prevent our cells from being damaged by bacteria, viruses and environmental toxins. A great start to your day is to include a fruit smoothie protein drink which will give your immune system a boost for the rest of the day. I like to add some vanilla whey protein, a couple tablespoons vanilla yogurt, 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup water, some ice cubes and frozen berries. Yum! (I use Optimum 100% NATURAL Whey because it mixes really well and tastes great).

Boost some more? You can take your fruit smoothie shake and add a little of the amino acid L-Glutamine. Glutamine is an amino acid that is in high demand by our bodies because it used by our muscles to recover and also extensively by our immune system to maintain optimal performance. Again one of the most respected brands is Optimum Glutamine Powder.

Immune System Booster Conclusion

With exercise, work and other dynamics our immune system is easily compromised during many parts of the year, and if you are finding yourself dragging your butt a lot then you know that you need a immune system boost. Follow the tips above – sleep, fruits and antioxidants, plus glutamine and you are going to do your best at preventing or quickly fighting off a cold.

Have any questions or other ideas on how you to boost your immune system? Please leave a comment below…

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Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Goal Setting

It’s that time of year when motivation is really beginning to lack and you know this to be the case because the large crowds which were filling your gym in the earlier months of the year have definitely died down.

You can have all the best intentions and the voice in the back of your head screaming to keep it up and continue to push through but sometimes life just gets in the way and the all the stresses prevent you from staying on track. If this or at least part of it sounds like something you can relate with then you are not alone and this article is a friendly boost to help you reach your goals…

In fact, goal setting is the highlight of this article, but there is something that we should first clarify…

Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Defining Motivation

What the heck is motivation anyway? Maybe if we define it and think about it with a little more depth, that alone will shine a new perspective on this entire matter.

According to Wikipedia, motivation is the energization of a goal orientated behaviour which is rooted in the basic need to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. Wow, read that sentence again and think about it in the perspective of weight loss or weight training.

Are you wanting to lose weight or build muscles to have a better appearance in your bathing suit? Or are you exercising and eating healthy because it makes you feel good about yourself?

This type of questioning is really the key to achieving success with your goals particularly if you can take your ego out of it. In other words, instead of just being about a rocking body focusing on the health benefits – how exercise and eating healthy can benefit you in preventing you from getting diseases (especially of the heart, plus others like cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis), having a better sex life, being able to think more clearly and have excellent memory.

So when setting up your goal you will want to continue to ask these questions…

Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Goal Setting

Now goal setting is the other part of the puzzle which will allow you to maintain motivation and succeed. You can now outline your goals by keeping the above in mind and then asking these questions:

Why do you want to eat healthier?
Why do you want to exercise more?
Why do you want to lose weight?
Why do you want to increase your muscle mass to fat ratio? (i.e. reduce fat and increase muscle)

With these answers you can now clearly define your goals, but there are some tips you should also remember. Be very specific with your goals, be positive, and be realistic too. Write these down. Some examples include:

“I will eat 5 smaller meals throughout the day spaced 2-2.5 hours apart.”

“I will exercise Monday through Saturday and take Wednesdays and Sundays to do house cleaning and light walking as my form of exercise.”

Weight Loss Motivation Tips: Conclusion

Hopefully you had an “Aha” moment with this article and are ready now to use this wisdom to benefit you and your family when it comes to exercise and healthy eating. Remember we can always keep improving and challenging ourselves with how we exercise and how creative we get with our healthy eating, and in the end if you are not focusing on the benefits and the joy that this is giving you then you are not going to get out of it as much as you can be.

Now I’d like to ask you to leave a comment below letting me and all the great readers of this blog know at least one of your goals with this new mindset…

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Can Vegetarians Build Muscle Easily?

Not everyone wants to eat meat in their life. There is nothing wrong with that – some people just have different beliefs or opinions on the subject. But, if you don’t eat meat, does that mean that you can’t achieve the physique you want?

Vegetarians can do the same thing meat eaters can do in terms of their physique. Sure, it may be harder and take a lot more planning, but with the right knowledge and willpower, anything is possible.

The main area you are going to have to watch is the protein intake. With meat being the main source of protein in most peoples diet, it will be essential for the vegetarian to find another source so they can meet their daily needs. Most vegetarians get their protein from bean and legume based products, like tofu, or just straight beans or lentils.

If you can eat dairy products and eggs, getting your protein will be a lot easier. Whether you are a vegetarian or not, eggs are a great source of protein, are easy to cook, and you can make a lot of different egg combinations with a variety of spices. Similarly, milk is another great protein source, and you can always get whey powder (which is dervied from dairy) to meet all your daily amino acid, vitamin D and calcium needs.

Your fats can come from things like avocados, various oils, and nuts. Getting the required amount of fats on a vegetarian diet is generally not that difficult.

Same thing with carbs – there are so many vegetarian carb sources available that you wont even have to worry about this.

If you choose to be a vegetarian, you can still achieve your physique based goals. There are a whole variety of foods available that you would have probably never thought of that can fulfill your macronutrient requirements with ease. Just plan ahead, stick with it, and you will be a winner!

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Weight Loss Tips: Is It Really All About Weight?

I’ll be completely frank with you, the #1 question I always get over and over again is that “I’ve been working out and dieting but I am actually getting heavier! What gives?”. Well this question is not without merit…

The marketing angle of so many “weight loss” products and programs is that you achieve success by losing weight on a scale simply because it is the easiest thing to measure. However, in my humble opinion this is the worst measure of your health possible! Why?

There are a number of reasons why most health experts and I believe the focus should not be on the weight because that simply is a trap for failure…

Fact #1: The More Muscle You Have the Heavier You Will Be

Obviously one pound of fat weighs the same as one pound of muscle, but if you are looking at two people who weigh 150lbs and one is 12% body fat and the other is 26% body fat who would you say is the healthier one?

With that said I don’t want you to get obsessed with body fat compositions either. One thing that was startling during my education in Kinesiology is that most body fat measuring devices have an error percent of +/- 8-12%! In other words, the device can tell you that you have 10% body fat when in actuality you have 22%!

Forget all these numbers they simply will lead you down the wrong path. You may be exercising and eating healthy but noticing that your weight is actually going up simply because you are gaining more muscle than you are losing fat. Let’s change this focus…

Fact #2: Focusing on Positive Is Always Better

The best and most effective advice I give all my clients is that you are much more likely to succeed if you focus on the positive.

In this case, the positive is how good you feel after your workout (Ok, well maybe after you have showered after your workout!). The same goes for how good you feel at the end of a day where you have ate super healthy.

Try and change your outlook on this and everything will change for the better, I guarantee it. This directly relates to my next point…

Fact #3: Psychology is Everything When it Comes to Health

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that you break down and eat processed, fatty junk foods? Are these foods giving you any nutritional benefit or enhancing the way you feel about yourself? Are you eating simply because you are bored? How can you replace these junk foods with healthy and tasty alternatives?

Think healthy food can’t be tasty?

Seriously? Come on, it’s the year 2010 and this excuse just doesn’t fly anymore!! Not with the variety of goods we can find at all the local supermarkets and grocery stores.

It’s time to take control and educate yourself with healthy recipe ideas, you can check out the healthy recipes section of this site or find a number of healthy cookbooks from Amazon.com for under $20.

I’ll be honest with you, if you keep pushing yourself to learn more about healthy recipes the more you will enjoy healthy food. I like chocolate, ice cream, and chips as much as the next person but ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you how surprised they are by how good my healthy dinners are so delicious!

Take a few weeks and experiment, buy tons of different spices and herbs, make fresh salsa and low fat salad dressings and you’ll be really happy you made the effort.

Conclusion: Weight Loss Tips – Is It Really All About Weight?

I hope you appreciate my frankess with you here. Focus on the awesome feeling you get after a killer workout and after eating a yummy healthy meal and just have fun with it all. This is the path to success with your health and you shouldn’t let anything get in your way!

Think there’s more to it then this? Leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to follow up with you!

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5 Surprising Symptoms of Stress

We all go through very stressful periods, heck you may be going through one right now and you may be down-playing it trying to act all tough and strong.

However, our bodies give signals that we need to slow down and deal with our stress, health experts in this field are screaming at us to take make notice of this!

The problem with ignoring the stress is that after a period of time it takes a toll and leads to a manifestation of health problems. Are you ignoring symptoms that you should be?

Surprising Symptom of Stress #1: Memory Loss

Some forgetfulness is pretty normal especially if you are always busy and on the run. However, have you noticed that your memory is more shot than it normally is? Are you forgetting your keys, birthdays and appointments? Did you ever think that this could be stress related? Let me explain…

Research indicates that the size of our hypothalamus actually shrinks temporarily during times of stress. The hypothalamus is the central core of storing our memories and keeping normal brain function so when it shrinks it negatively affects our memory.

The solution? You MUST schedule an appointment to get in at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. This is critical to your overall health and yes even your memory.

Surprising Symptom of Stress #2: Sleepiness

During times of stress our bodies overproduce the hormone adrenaline which is a response to give us energy to work through the stress. But guess what happens when you don’t deal with the stress? You crash because these hormones also crash.

If you feel like you are eating well and not overdoing the carbs/fats during lunch and still crashing then stress may be the likely cause here. So how do we combat this?

Get more sleep. Sleep is under-rated in terms of how it helps us control our stress. When we wake up well rested and we can focus more on the important things that really matter.

Surprising Symptom of Stress #3: Weight Gain

Another hormone which causes some grief during stress is cortisol. Cortisol just like adrenaline is part of the fight or flight mechanism which means an increase in our blood sugar levels, but what happens when our cortisol levels are high for an extended period of time?

Our body begins to store fat particularly in the lower abdomen area as a source of energy. So if you’re noticing that a good diet and regular exercise is not leading to weight loss then you may want to look at your stress levels and see if you can lower them with an activity such as Yoga or meditation (read my article on Health Benefits of Yoga). But there is another downside of long-term elevated cortisol levels…

Surprising Symptom of Stress #4: Catching a Cold

Our immune system is always working and very active, thus it is actually quite fantastic in how much it protects us. But when we have lots of stress cortisol also leads to a weakened immune system, and minor infections by viruses or bacteria become a much bigger deal. This is one of the reasons why if we don’t rest we simply won’t get better.

Surprising Symptom of Stress #5: Muscle & Eye Spasms

With all these hormones running rampant during our times of stress our muscles get confused and can often spasm repeatedly. Sometimes is can also be your eyelid which is a tell-tale symptom. Don’t ignore these signs, your body is telling you to slow down.

This is when you want to spend a little more time on your stretching and flexibility routine. Leave at least 10 minutes at the end of your workouts to stretch and relax all your muscles. If this is not enough you can even do a little pampering and book yourself an appointment with a registered massage therapist.

Conclusion: 5 Surprising Symptoms of Stress

Wow, what happens if you have more than one or all of these symptoms? Well now you know your body is telling you something you simply must not ignore. It’s time to be proactive and do whatever it takes to relax. You need some personal time, exercise, yoga, massage, do whatever it takes to bring light to positively feeding your body the good hormones you need more of.

Do you have any of these symptoms? How are you going to deal with your stress? Please leave a comment below…

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Weight Loss Diet Results

One of the main reasons people cant stick to diets for very long is because they don’t see results as fast as they want to.

They stick to a diet for a week or two, don’t see measurable results, get upset, and then decide to try something else.

If you truly want to lose weight, gain muscle, and achieve the physique you have always wanted, you have to make sure your expectations are in check.

One thing that most people don’t understand is that you will have a very hard time seeing any difference in your appearance by just looking in the mirror. Little changes happen everyday, and the more you look at yourself, the more used to it you will get and you will not see the results you are getting.

To get around this, it is a good idea to take a picture of yourself and take your measurements before you start your diet. Measure your neck, stomach, legs, anything you want – and record the numbers. Then, a week or two into the diet, take another picture and take more measurements.

Keep on doing this on a weekly basis, and if what you are doing is working, you will be able to see results. If you are not seeing the changes you want to see, you can change up your routine based on the empirical data you have accumulated.

Generally speaking, it can take up to a month for any noticeable changes in measurements to occur so don’t get discouraged that easily. Everyone’s different, and some people just take longer before they show fat loss or muscle gain.

The most important thing is that you don’t give up and keep a positive attitude. If you do that, there is no way you can fail.

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Nutrition and Aging

Other than protection from the sun one of the most effective ways of reducing our age-defining wrinkles is with proper nutrition. And it’s important to note that aging goes beyond our skin, it also references our internal organs and hormone regulation which affects our mood, memory, vitality and libido!

I was about to you use another stock photo of a healthy couple cutting up some fruit and veggies fort this article but then I thought why not include an image of the 4 beauties from Sex & The City?!

I’m not intending to target this article just to women, but these 4 ladies have definitely aged amazingly well and regardless of their sex, I’m 100% positive that their diet consists of some of the most healthy foods and supplements you can find. The reason?

Aging occurs when the body’s cells die faster than new cells are generated, and improper nutrition aids this unfortunate process as well as increasing our chances of cancer, diabetes and a number of other chronic diseases.

In addition to this, when we have a poor diet our body produces a large quantity of free radicals (highly reactive oxygen molecules) and these free radicals break down our healthy cells and boost the speed at which we age.

So what specific foods, vitamins and minerals should we all be including in our diets to prevent aging as much as possible?

Foods that Prevents Aging: Berries

As mentioned above, free radicals are our worst enemy when it comes to aging, so one way to counteract these chemical reactions is to consume foods that are high in antioxidants. Berries are full of phytonutrients called flavonoids which are some of the most potent antioxidants we can get.

By now you probably have heard of some of the super-berries which are especially high in these nutrients, these are Acai Berries, Goji Berries and blueberries. The fresher the better, but lucky for you you can also get the goodness of all these berries in a juice drink like Country Life Liquid Goji & Acai. I’ve tried this super-antioxidant juice and it tastes absolutely amazing, great to put into a whey protein fruit smoothie shake!

Foods that Prevents Aging: Green Tea

Green tea is especially high in the polyphenol antioxidant known as EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), and this specific compound is one of the most powerful antioxidants for human cells which are exposed to damaging free radicals. To take this further, researchers are currently investigating the use of green tea’s EGCG in treatment of many disorders including cancer!

Pretty fascinating and I’m not sure why you wouldn’t you want to include as much green tea in your diet as possible right? (For those who really dislike green tea or just want to make sure they get the most out the goodness of green tea, you can try a green tea extract like Primaforce Lean Green.

Foods that Prevents Aging: Fish Oil

You might have heard about Omega 3′s helping you control your cholesterol levels (especially lowering LDL’s), but these essential fatty acids are also vital to your immune system and proper brain functioning, all factors in how we age internally.

Although flaxseeds are a good source of Omega 3′s, recent research does indeed indicate that fish oil is a better source since flaxseed has a greater chance of going rancid by the time you get it in your home and in turn losing its effectiveness. But what about fish oil?

Fish oil we get from farmed fish (most commonly found in grocery stores) is not as beneficial as deep ocean wild fish which are also less polluted (and have been found to have less trace toxins such as mercury). So if you can, definitely go with fresh wild fish for the best quality Omega 3′s, and if that is not possible then you can also supplement with Omega 3′s which are derived from deep ocean fish such as Almmax Nutrition’s Omega 3 (at under $15 for 180 capsules it’s quite an affordable supplement to include in your daily diet)

Nutrition and Aging Conclusion:

Proper nutrition goes hand in hand with regular exercise and relaxation to make sure you decrease the negative effects of aging as much as possible. Celebrities such as the Sex & the City ladies are obviously quite aware of this and it’s time that we all make a conscious decision to make good nutrition a must-have part of our lives.

Berries, green tea and fish should be a staple part of your diet regardless of whether you are male or female and not only will you stay younger but we will also be able to train harder in your workouts and keep lower body fat and greater muscle tone.

Have any thoughts you’d like to add to this article on nutrition and aging? What else do you do to make sure you stay young and age gracefully? Please leave a comment below…

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Burn Fat Faster

You may be one who just ate too much this weekend and need to burn a little extra fat, or you may simply have a goal you want to reach quicker, there just never seems like there are enough ways to burn fat faster, does there?

Well it’s going to take a little extra effort but in this article we’re going to go over 5 ways of burning fat faster through your workouts. Pretty sure you’re going to want to save this article because you can quickly reference it every time you need to get back on the saddle of toning up (particularly great if you want to hit the beach soon too!).

Now if you’re a total beginner or haven’t been exercising very consistently I would recommend going back to the basics first and building a strong foundational core (great workouts for you here – Fitness Plan for Women, Workout Plan for Men). Having a strong foundation to start with is extremely important because it allows your joints and tendons to strengthen and be ready for more intense workouts so that you don’t encounter injuries and pain that would interfere with your training.

Enough said, let’s look at the 5 tips…

5 Tips to Burn Fat Faster

Burn Fat Faster Tip 1: Increase Resistance

When was the last time you varied the resistance on the cardio machine of your choice? It’s time to break a good sweat with increasing resistance by changing the level. If it’s a treadmill increase the elevation, have you tried jogging at level 6 gradation? It will get you sweating in no time! The harder you work here the higher your heart rate and the more fat you will burn even after you have stepped away from the machine!

Burn Fat Faster Tip 2: Supersets

A superset is when you do two or more exercises right after each other without a rest period. For example say you are working on your arms today. Try doing dumbbell bicep curls and bench dips rich after each other. This allows your biceps to begin recovering while you workout your triceps, at the same time it will quicken your workout and create a serious challenge.

I like to do this near the end of my workouts because it is so energy draining. With high reps super sets are great for toning, adding definition and giving you a serious muscle-adrenaline pump!

Burn Fat Faster Tip 3: Jumping Rope Between Sets

Jumping rope is one of the best cardiovascular exercises on the planet. It incorporates training your ability to coordinate all your body parts to work together and gets your heart beating very quickly. Now try adding this between the sets of any exercise and you’ve turned your body into a fat-burning oven!

Burn Fat Faster Tip 4: Combine Exercises

This goes along the lines of your supersets, but is a little different as you want to combine two exercises in one entire movement. For instance, lunging with dumbells and then doing an overhead press with those dummbells. What this does is condition all your muscles from head to toe so you burn fat and tone your entire body in one move! Impressive, and extremely exhausting at the same time so use this technique once or twice per workout.

Burn Fat Faster Tip 5: Circuit Cardio Training

So many do circuit training with their weights, but what about circuit training with cardio machines? This variation principle will shock your body like those electric paddles they use in ER! Try 5 minutes bike machine, 5 minutes treadmill, and 5 minutes elliptical trainer, this 15 minute cardio workout will burn fat faster far greater than one cardio machine alone because different muscles will come into play with each machine and your body will have to keep adapting.

Burn Fat Faster Conclusion

Implement these 5 tips anytime you need to accelerate your body’s ability to burn fat faster and you’re going to see some very impressive results. Remember to build intensity gradually so you don’t injure yourself and always concentrate on how you can be improving your form, these are critical factors to your long-term success.

If you’re going to try one or more of these tips please leave a comment below and make sure to come back and let us know how your results are coming along!

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Is Dieting Really A Mental Game?

For some reason, people think dieting is hard. No matter what they try, the just can’t seem to lose any weight. They think there is something wrong with them or their genetics predispose them to be overweight. But, it’s really all in their head. Let me explain…

Dieting is 95% mental. This may sound rather outlandish, but it is true. How do you lose weight? You consume fewer calories than your body needs and fat will come off. But, if it is that simple, why do most people still fail? Its because their mind is playing games with them.

First, sticking to a healthy diet is one of the most difficult, yet most important things to do if you want to lose weight. If people could just stick to any kind of diet, they would see great results. But, their mind doesn’t allow them to do that. They trick themselves into cheating and breaking their diet.

Next, people get really confused when their weight goes down one day on a diet, then up the next. They think they put on fat. But, the body is a very complex machine, holding water and playing tricks on you. That is why it is a good idea only to weigh yourself once a week to get over this. If you are one of those people who like to weight yourself once a day, you will end up driving yourself crazy and you will never be satisfied with your results.

In the end, dieting is a mind game. You need to focus on sticking to your diet and not worrying about every little thing. You need to have a diet rich of natural healthy foods and eliminate food products that have ingredients you can’t announce. If you can do this, you will reach your goals quickly , and you will not have any trouble controlling how your body looks at any time!

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Should You Eat Sugar-Free Or Diet Foods?

I’m sure you’ll agree that the food industry is always evolving, changing it’s face and constantly re-inventing itself.

With the world’s current obsession with losing weight, more and more food producers are focusing on producing diet and sugar free foods.

These foods claim to have fewer calories, which is great for weight loss, but are they something you should be consuming?

Generally speaking, it is a good idea to consume whole, unprocessed foods on a cut. Things like fruits, vegetables and meats are all staples that should be the basis of any cutting diet. These foods are natural (relatively speaking), offer great nutritional benefits, and keep you full.

They are also usually cheaper than processed foods and most of the time taste better. If you have even the most basic cooking skills, you can make something that tastes many times better than any processed foods you can find on the shelves at your local grocery store, right?

But, if you have to eat processed foods, it is ok once in a while to eat sugar free or diet foods. But, my methodology on the subject has always been this – if you are going to have a cheat, why not eat food the way it was intended, then forget about it and go back to your diet.

If you want to eat a cookie, what is better – a sugar free cookie that tastes like cardboard or a real one that tastes like cookies are supposed to taste.

In the end, it is really your own personal decision. You are wise enough to make your own decisions, and you can go and look for information yourself. If you are eating a relatively healthy diet, you should not be eating that many processed foods anyways, but objectively look at your diet situation and see if it is worth it for you!

Try them out and see if it makes a difference in your progress….

Your feedback is appreciated on this mater! Do you agree or disagree with this ideology? Please leave a comment below…

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Boost Your Health: Health & Wellness Series

I was inspired to write an article about boosting your health since in Vancouver there is going to be the 18th annual Wellness Show (April 30th- May 2nd) which showcases the best of the best in the health and wellness industry.

It’s important for you to find inspiration from a number of different sources when it comes to your health and wellness, simply because life just happens and it’s really easy to get off track. Whether it be work, relationships, family, or injuries we all have constant distractions & issues that come up and compromise the integrity of our workouts and healthy diets.

The Wellness Show is pretty cool because it caters to all ages and sexes and is a great way to bring a little focus to you and your family’s well being. If you’re not in Vancouver, I’m sure if you do a quick Google search you will be able to find similar events in your city, they key thing here is that you expose yourself to as much health-related events and materials as you can (hopefully this health blog is one of your resources that you can come to and share your feedback and ask questions on this matter).

I say this because the more we have reminders of wellness in our lives the more our subconscious will keep us on track and the more success and joy we get out of it. It’s a simple statement, but it really is true!

If you’re able to get to an event like the Wellness Show, all you have to do is just soak it all in and if you can get just one take-a-away then don’t you think that this time would be all worth it?

Let’s boost your health a little further with some things to keep in mind when it comes your wellness:

• How much time are you allocating towards your exercise and well being each day?
• If you can only improve one thing when it comes to your health this week what would it be?
• When was the last time you tried changing your workout routine?
• Is there some exercise, sport or activity that you have always wanted to learn but never got to?
• How much better would you enjoy everyday if you implemented a practice such as yoga, pilates, or meditation?
• Have you tried adding natural supplements such as Omega 3 or whey protein powder to your diet?
• Have you tried challenging yourself with a cardio, ab, kickboxing, bike class?

I hope that this article and these questions will allow you to find the most rewarding exercise and diet program of your life. I can’t express how good you can feel when you try a different exercise challenge or try different recipes that are not only healthy but taste absolutely amazing (check out these articles: Healthy Diet Plan for Women, and Healthy Diets for Men . Being creative with your health and spending some time with other people who are interested in health and wellness will without a doubt influence you in so many great ways that only you can find out for yourself.

If you can make it to the Health and Wellness show in Vancouver it runs from April 30th through to May 2nd and features over 300 exhibitors (for more info check out the website – www.thewellnessshow.com). I will definitely be there and make sure to follow up this article with at least one or two take-a-ways that I think we can all benefit from.

Have any comments or feedback about this article series? Please leave a comment below…

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Bulking Up

A relatively common question people who are in the process of loosing weight have is when should they stop their cut and start bulking up and building muscle.

They have worked very hard to lose a lot of their excess body fat, and don’t want to screw anything up by starting to eat too much too soon.

Technically speaking, there is no concrete body fat percentage number you want to get to before you start your bulk.

Its not like you will gain less muscle if you are at 10% or at 25% body fat. As long as you eat enough and work out hard, you will put on muscle.

But, realistically speaking, no one who has lost a lot of weight wants to put more back on and walk around with a large stomach.

The higher your body fat is, the less noticeable your muscles are and the less definition you have. So, you may have 200 lbs of lean body mass, but no one will be able to notice because it is all covered in fat.

Ideally, you would want to wait until you are pretty lean and start going on a slow bulk. By just increasing your calories to 300 or 500 over maintenance, you will be able to slowly gain muscle without putting on a thick layer of fat on top of it.

So, you can start bulking at any body fat percentage, but if you want optimal results and want to stay relatively trim in the process, you should definitely wait until you are around 12% body fat before you start your bulk.

Don’t be one of those people who start bulking at 20% body fat and get huge, but carry a lot of fat on top of their muscles, that definitely will definitely make it a huge challenge to get beach-ready!

Are you going to start a bulk-up phase? What is your strategy?

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Weight Loss Tips: Ripped Abs Edition

Everyone wants ripped abs because they are so damn hard to get! If you’ve had them before you know how good they feel, and if you haven’t had them before just imagine sitting at your desk and not having your lower ab fat roll over the top part of your pants!

Try it now! Lie your hand on your tummy and feel how hard or how soft it is. This is a good way to measure your progress, if you’re dieting and training hard and in several weeks time you place your hand on your tummy and notice a difference it’s going to be a pretty cool feeling.

Screw the whole weight loss issue, it doesn’t mean anything compared to this feeling!

How about we look at 5 simple tips we can all think about when it comes to our nutrition and our goal to get ripped abs?

Tip #1: Whey Whey Whey

You’re not getting away easy here, whey protein is one of the most effective supplements when it comes to ripped abs. Being rich in the amino acid leucine, this single amino acid helps with fat metabolization (oxidation in this case).

The best part here is that all the other essential amino acids (essential in that we must obtain them through our diet) that whey protein provides is great for muscle recovery and production as well.

Furthermore, whey protein obviously decreases hunger and provides a powerful full feeling which can help you from being overcome with junk food.

My favorite new whey protein powder? Gaspari Nutrition Myofusion – Milk Chocolate flavour. If you like milk chocolate flavour then you are in for a treat, this not only tastes as good but doesn’t have the high sugar content of regular milk chocolate. Get the guaranteed best price on Myofusion by clicking here

Tip #2: Eat Big!

Volume of food is an interesting topic. How do you know how much to really eat? Well try this one principle…try and eat as large as possible when it comes to vegetables. Their size, water content, and ability to make you chew a lot makes you feel fuller than almost any other food. Plus they contain tons of vitamins and minerals.

So the largest part of your meal should be a big portion of veggies on your plate. And don’t be shy to add herbs/spices or better yet grill them on your bbq with a little bit of olive oil and cayenne pepper! mmmmmm!

Tip #3: Eat Often

Sure some researchers may argue that eating often does not increase your metabolism like many health freaks say they do. But you won’t really know unless you try it for yourself. And we’re not talking about eating high-carb granola bars and similar packaged foods.

Instead of eating a large lunch, try splitting it into two and eating them 30min-1hr apart. Dare you to try this for a week and see the difference it makes!

Tip #4: Be Green

I’ve written about Green tea many times on this site (when you sign up to this site you should get the email about it – here is the link: 5 Day Course to Quick Weight Loss, a number of studies have shown that habitual drinkers of green tea have shown greater ability to maintain their weight than non-drinkers.

Green tea has heart-healthy antioxidants plus increases thermogenesis and fat oxidation for increased metabolism of fat.
Don’t like green tea? Make it easier and try Green Tea extract capsules, here is the most positively rated exact in the market – PrimaForce Lean Green.

Tip #5: Get Fishy

Omega 3 fatty acids are essential to your diet, and most likely you aren’t getting enough each day so supplementation makes sense. The kicker is that Omega 3′s also help with fat metabolization so even though they are a fat, they actually can help you reduce your belly fat!

Guess what you also get some added benefits with Omega 3′s, they help keep your cardiovascular system top notch, your skin healthy and even decrease depression.

Supplementation with Omega 3′s is pretty inexpensive and if you’re worried about the high mercury content of fish then chosing a supplement that is from deep cold water fish is a good idea. Here is a great one I found that makes sure to be mercury free: AllMax Nutriton Omega 3.

Conclusion: Weight Loss Tips – Ripped Abs Edition

You are now one step closer to getting ripped abs, 5 simple tips – whey protein, eat big, eat often, green tea, and Omega 3′s! Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Well diet is about 60% of your efforts towards ripped abs, so couple that with an intense training session and you’re going to see the fat melt away in front of your eyes.

Have any questions or feedback about these weight loss tips? Please leave a comment below…

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4 Foods That Should Be Included In Your Diet

Everybody wonders what essential foods should be included in their diet if they want to lose fat and build lean toned muscle.

You want things that still taste great, but are cheap to buy and help meet your macronutrient goals, right?

The following four foods should be the main staples in anybodies diet.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of the most commonly eaten complex carbs by bodybuilders or people looking to put on muscle. All you have to do is cook it with warm water (some people just add water or skim milk to it and eat it raw). You can add honey, fruit, cinnamon or any other number of toppings to make it taste great!

Chicken

Chicken, and even turkey, are some of the leanest protein sources around. They are relatively cheap, easy to cook, and taste great. You can eat it plain or dress it up with condiments or marinades. Skinless chicken should be a staple in your diet especially if you want to lose fat in your midsection.

Eggs

If there was one food that I could survive on for the rest of my life, it would be eggs. This combination of protein and fat can be prepared in so many different ways that you can never get bored of it.  Hard boiled, poached, fried, scrambled, or even in omelet form with lots of hearty veggies – eggs are truly a super-diet-food!

Olive Oil

Olive oil is one of the best ways to get healthy fats in your diet. It doesn’t matter how you eat it – you can have it on your whole wheat pasta, you can use it to make salad dressing, some people even drink it out of a shot glass. Olive oil is one of the easiest ways to get healthy fats in your diet.

Conclusion: 4 Foods That Should Be Included In Your Diet

The aforementioned four foods should be included in everyone’s diet, no matter what your goals are. They are cheap, easy to prepare, taste great, and offer many nutritional benefits!

Are these 4 foods a staple in your fat-loss muscle-building diet? Why or why not? Please leave a comment below…

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Do You Have An Effective Pre Workout Routine?

One of the commonly problematic ignored areas of people’s workout plans is their preworkout routine.

More often than not, when you step foot in the gym, you head right for the weights and start banging it out. But, if you implement a little bit of preparation before you start your workout, you can achieve much better results in the same period of time.

Mental focus is a very large part of working out. However, most people are thinking about relationships, social life, work, etc. when working out.

This is very detrimental to your goals because it cuts on your body’s ability to focus on which muscles to activate. You need to have 100% focus on what you are doing to achieve maximum results. When you are squatting, you need to focus on your glutes, quads and core – not what that girl/guy on the treadmill is wearing…

The best way to get mentally focused is to start a short routing before you head out onto the gym floor. Maybe you listen to a sequence of three of the same songs on your iPod. Maybe you do some positive thinking and some other mental exercises. Just think of something that can help you forget about everything on your mind except the workout you are about to do!

Next time you head to the gym to workout, take special notice of the pre workout routine you currently follow.

If you are like most people, you probably head to the gym and go straight into lifting weights. But, if you are not warmed up and in the right mental frame of mind, you will not get the maximum benefits from your workout and you will have trouble completing them with 100% intensity.

Remember, working out is also a mental game, so your mind has to be focused too!

What is your pre-workout routine to get you mentally focused before you train?

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Is Yogurt Good For You?

It’s always surprising when you look at the ingredient list of so many so called “healthy products”, and one that recently caught my attention was that of many yogurts you see in the grocery aisle.

Combining excellent packaging and design yogurt containers scream out that they are fat-free or have no sugar added, but is yogurt really good for you?

Let’s take a closer look…

Downsides of Yogurt: Is Yogurt Good For You?

One word – Sugar! Look at most low-fat, flavored or fruit yogurt and you’ll find one culprit…Sugar and sometimes the worst kind – high fructose corn syrup. In just a small serving some yogurts can have upwards of 20 grams of added sugar, that’s equivalent to about 5 sugar cubes! And when it’s the high fructose corn syrup kind then that is a double whammy because it has been clearly linked with the obesity epidemic through causing a number of physiological effects.

So a quick take-away from this article is that it’s really important to look at the nutrition labels of yogurts and if you need help reading those make sure to read my article Nutrition Facts Label – How To Read.

Other things to be aware of include artificial sugars. Many zero-sugar yogurts use Aspartame or Sucralose (AKA splenda) and if you’re concerned about the possible negative health effects of these artificial sweetners then you might be surprised to find out how much of these are found in most of these yogurts.

And what about those who are lactose intolerant? Well yes, yogurt is made from milk so depending on your lactose-intolerance level yogurt could cause some havoc with your digestive system. However, it is interesting to note that some studies have shown that yogurt is not nearly as bad as milk for those who are lactose-intolerant. The reason being that the healthy bacteria found in yogurt (called probiotics) helps with digestion of lactose.

This is a great turning point for this article, as you may have already known yogurt definitely has a lot of positive health benefits as well.

Benefits of Yogurt: Is Yogurt Good For You?

The probiotics found in almost all yogurt is real major plus for your digestive tract. These bacteria help keep the healthy bacteria in our intestines operating at an optimal level. This helps boost our immune system as well as help fight the “bad” bacteria that we are exposed to on a regular basis (especially if you are one to eat out a lot!).

What else? Here’s a triple-play: Protein/Calcium/Vitamin D. Yogurt is a great source for these three nutrients which we all need to maintain healthy muscles and bones. That’s truly what make yogurt one of the better snack foods.

There’s more though! Did you know yogurt is also a great source of Vitamin B12? Vitamin B12 plays a major role in our brain and nervous system as well as the metabolism of every cell in our bodies. In fact, supplementation with B12 also helps with management of our daily energy levels (if you haven’t yet, check out my article on How To Boost Your Energy Level Cycle).

How Can We Make Yogurt Even Better?

Well first off, you’ll find the least additives in plain yogurt. And if that’s boring we can add vanilla flavored whey protein to give it a serious boost in taste (my favorite is Optimum 100% Natural Vanilla).

You may also want to try the organic kind so you get the highest quality ingredients with cows which are not full of hormones.

And what about Greek Yogurt? Greek yogurt is great, usually has more protein and is definitely creamier in texture (even the non-fat kind). Just be aware that most greek yogurts don’t have as high content of calcium because of the way that it is produced. A good idea is to have both regular and greek yogurt so you can enjoy the benefits of each.

Lastly, I think it’s important to add that it’s much better to get the plain yogurt and add your own fresh berries or other fruit. Most fruit yogurts contain fruit purees which are higher in fructose content and have less vitamins minerals of fresh fruit.

Conclusion: Is Yogurt Good For You?

Hopefully you got some good takeaways from this article and will now be more aware of the sugars that are added to most yogurts. Buying organic plain low-fat yogurt and then adding your favorite berries, some vanilla whey protein powder and even some high fiber cereal makes it a fantastic breakfast or snack idea.

What is your favorite yogurt and has this article made you see things a little differently? Please leave a comment below…

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Should You Workout Alone Or With A Partner?

A controversial topic in the world of resistance training is whether you should have a workout partner with you when you workout.

Now, if you are lifting heavy weights that require someone to spot you, it is essential to have someone with you as you workout. But, what about other times? Is it beneficial to have a workout partner?

Well the truth is that there are many benefits to having a workout partner!

First, they are a form of motivation. If you know there is someone at the gym waiting for you, you will be a lot less likely to skip a workout because you don’t want to let them down.

Likewise, having someone with you is a great way to combat some of the boredom in the gym and pass the time while waiting to do more sets.

But, on the other hand, having a workout partner can have its down sides as well!. They may be distracting to you, and you may spend more time talking than actually lifting weights. Also, if they are unreliable, they may sap some of the energy you have towards continuing your workout program. If they are not serious about the same goals of decreasing fat and increasing muscle as much as you are, you will not be able to achieve your goals.

So, the decision to workout alone or with a partner is a personal one that you will have to decide for yourself.

While it could offer you motivation and some way to not get bored while working out, it could also have a negative effect on your workouts as well.

The best thing to do is try to find someone that has similar goals to you and workout with them a few times. If it works, great! If it doesn’t, go back to working out by yourself!

Do you workout alone or with a partner? What have you found to be most effective for you?

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How to Boost Your Energy Cycle

Having trouble with your daily energy level can cause a number of negative effects from your productivity at work, to your personal and social relationships, to your workout effectiveness. How to boost your energy cycle is one issue I get asked about quite often especially through my Facebook page for Weight Loss and Training.

There are generally two or three times during the day when we experience the biggest drop in our energy levels and this is the cycle which I am referring to. For most of us on the 8-5 work schedule this is usually around 10am, 2pm and 5pm.

Do you see the pattern here?

It’s actually quite simple, this is directly related to our eating cycle. Of course, sleep also has to do with it, but the trick is to be very aware of your dips in energy levels and take note of what you ate an hour before if anything.

The largest reason we have a drop in energy is because we consumed to much carbohydrates, especially the high glycemic kind. Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index includes refined sugars such as those found in cereal, pastry, muffins, doughnuts, potatoes, rice, pasta, beans and some fruit such as dates.

What occurs with high glycemic foods is that the sugars they provide is quickly absorbed and creates a spike in our blood sugar levels causing a temporary energy boost. And with all things that go up, they must come down. When our blood sugar dips this also drops our energy level and we notice a crash or a feeling of sleepiness.

Now although this does occur which a high intake of carbohydrates the same thing can be said with a high intake of fats. The only difference is that we may notice the drop in our energy a little later than carbs because fats simply take longer to digest.

So what is our solution? Be aware of the foods you are eating and how they affect your energy level. High glycemic foods are ok to consume but if you can, try and have them closer to 30 minutes before your workout so that you can use that energy to push you through your training (I wrote about this in a little more detail in the article – Pre Workout Energy Foods).

But what about other times during the day?

Just reduce the portion size of that particular food so that it doesn’t create as much as a rise and fall of your blood sugar levels.

On the flip-side of this argument is that your brain may also be signaling your body that you need to consume some more food. In other words, if you are eating at 8am and you are noticing a serious drop in energy around 10 or 11am, then bring back your energy level by having a healthy snack like an apple, protein smoothie (check out my fruit smoothie recipes) or even a handful of plain almonds.

Supplements to Boost Your Energy Levels

You may be wondering about different supplements to help you maintain your energy cycle throughout the day. From experience I was quite surprised to find that supplementing with Vitamin B12′s drastically helped me maintain healthy energy levels throughout the day. Optimum has a great B12 supplement under $10 which is really good because it also contains Vitamin C (keeps our body fighting effects of stress) – Optimum Stress B Complex

What about other energy boosting supplements? Like I mentioned in my list of top 10 supplements for men and women one that is getting the most praise right now is USPlabs OxyElite Pro which also contains an impressive blend of fat burners – OxyElite Pro. Just be aware that this supplement is best taken in the morning.

Conclusion: How to Boost Your Energy Cycle

Sleep, exercise and diet are all extremely important factors to your daily energy cycle, but one thing that can be easily enhanced is your diet. Being aware of how what you eat affects your energy levels will help you overcome the dips in your energy level and having healthy snacks on hand is definitely a great weapon in this battle.

Have any other feedback or questions about how to boost your energy cycle? Please leave a comment below…

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Eggs for Weight Loss

I’ve come across a number of articles that indicated that eggs are great for weight loss and reduction of body fat in adults. So I did a bit of research to find the real facts.

Can eggs really make you sexier?

You might be surprised by the research!

A recent study in the Journal of Applied and Basic Nutritional Sciences indicated that a low carbohydrate diet with the addition of eggs for breakfast had a positive effect on fat loss especially in the lower abdominal area.

The study also compared feeling of fullness after eating eggs for breakfast and how those subjects had different perspectives on what they ate for lunch. The comparison involved subjects who had a protein rich egg breakfast consisting of 3 eggs and a piece of toast compared to subjects who ate equal amount of calories but their breakfast consisted of a bagel with low-fat cream cheese and low-fat yogurt.

What they found was that those who had eggs felt less hungry afterwards and also made a wiser decision on what they ate for lunch when given the ability to eat whatever they wanted at a buffet.

How do the scientists hypothesize that this effect occurred? They noticed that those who had the bagel breakfast had a higher level of the hormone which stimulates hunger (called Ghrelin).

And what about effects of eggs which are noted to by high in dietary cholesterol affect the HDL cholesterol (aka “good cholesterol”) levels of these subjects? Well again the results were a little surprising! They found that subjects who had eggs actually had a higher level of the good HDL cholesterol in their blood and their LDL cholesterol did not change.

Conclusion: Eggs for Weight Loss

So what’s the general take away here? I believe there has been a lot of misinformation by the media in the past couple decades on eggs and how they can affect our health in a negative way.

Egg protein is one of the highest quality proteins and has higher bioavailablity than most other sources like meat, beans and soy. Bioavailability means that our body is able to digest it and use the breakdown of eggs to help supply our muscles and energy system. The only thing better is whey protein and some may argue that because eggs are completely natural and un-processed that they are better for us.

Nevertheless, you may want to consider trying eggs or at least egg whites for breakfast 2 or 3 times a week and see how your body fat responds to this after 3 or 4 weeks. You can get some extra healthy bonus points by adding herbs, and spices like Cayenne pepper which is high in Vitamin A and also has Vitamins B6, E & C.

What are your thoughts about having eggs for breakfast? Have you found it to help you with your fat & weight loss efforts or are you willing to give it a try? Please leave a comment below…

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How Much Rest Should You Get Between Sets?

A lot of people who work out take breaks between sets that are way too long. It is understandable if you have to share machines or if you are working out with a workout partner, but if you are alone and have a machine all to yourself, you should be taking shorter breaks.

Most people take too long between sets, and it definitely shows with their lack of progress…

One of the main goals of working out is to out stress on your body. Your muscles will not grow if they are not damaged and don’t get a sufficient workout.

When you take breaks that are too long, this is what happens – you don’t out enough pressure on your muscles and you don’t make the progress you want to. It doesn’t matter how many supplements you take – if you don’t tax your muscles, they wont get any bigger!

Also, working out faster with shorter breaks can have other benefits as well.

First, you can get your workout done faster, which is always good. You can also increase your heart rate, which is good for building endurance and burning body fat. Finally, you can keep a more intense pace that will keep you focused on your workout and will give you a satisfied feeling when you are done.

The amount of rest you get between sets of workouts entirely depends on what your goals are.

If you are working out to lose fat and want to integrate some cardiovascular endurance building in your workouts, you should take as short a break between sets as possible to make your workout resemble a circuit training routine.

If you are going for maximum strength or any other goals, you can afford to take more breaks between your sets. But, whatever you do, don’t become one of those people who do 10 reps then take a 5 minute break!

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5 Tips to Improve Your Cardio Workout

Being aware of your body in space and time is at the heart of the education in Kenesiology which gave me a completely different outlook on maximizing all my training principles.

When you understand which body parts are doing the movement and how they are connected to each other, not only do you improve your energy output when exercising but you also gain better results and prevent yourself from possibly life-long injuries.

If you would allow me to share with you a different perspective with all this in mind I sincerely believe you will get a lot more from your cardio workouts, but you will also benefit significantly when training with weights and playing sports.

Tip 1: Nutrition

I have to give the first tip as nutrition simply because it is the most important part of your training. Without feeding your body the healthiest foods your body will not be able to expend energy the most efficiently.

Clean raw foods like fruits, veggies, beans are fantastic in providing readily expendable energy. This is one of the biggest revelations I had when studying Advanced Exercise Nutrition, even if it’s just a banana before your workout you will notice a HUGE different in the quality of your output.

Post workout nutrition is equally as important for muscle recovery and the ability to restore the glycogen (energy) in your muscles for your next workout. I highly recommend whey protein fruit smoothies as the #1 post-workout snack for both men and women of any age. (If you want more info on this topic, read my article on post-workout nutrition).

Try Optimum 100% Whey Gold Vanilla with frozen berries, vanilla yogurt, and 1/3 cup skim milk and 1/3 cup ice water and you got probably one of the healthiest treats you could posisbly give your body, it has the essential amino acids, the fructose, some fiber, tons of antioxidants, and lots of calcium just to mention a few. For the best price on Optimum 100% Whey Gold click here.

Tip 2: High Quality Running Shoes

Back or knee pain? Shin splints? These are all indicators of running shoes that need to be replaced. Your feet are extremely important in keeping your entire spinal column aligned so any time you are running or even doing lunges/squats in the gym high quality running shoes will keep everything in check.

Bonus Tip: try and find a running shoe store which has knowledge staff who can examine your old running shoes to see where you need support the most.

Tip 3: Strong Core Focus

Wonder why so many trainers focus a lot of their training on their core muscles? Again a strong core gives you the foundation for all other movements. Next time you’re in the gym try doing bicep curls normally. Then do it again with your abs and core really tight. Notice a difference?

Keep your core in mind for whatever exercise, sport or even cleaning in your house and you have no activated hundreds more muscles throughout your midsection to keep everything completely aligned and strengthening each time.

Tip 4: Back Posture

Sitting down at a desk and being on the computer we all get the rounded forward shoulder syndrome. Combine it with strong shoulder muscles and you have a serious imbalance which leads to a lot of back pain.

The tip is simple here, in almost every exercise, sport you are doing keep your shoulder blades squeezed back together. You can increase strength in this area with the seated rear deltoid raises (view image).

Bonus tip: when running be extra aware of your shoulders and watch how you swing your arms. Use your shoulders for the movement with your shoulder blades squeezed together and you will keep everything in proper alignment.

Tip 5: Knee Positioning

When you run or do any cardio exercise are your knees directly over top your ankles on impact? Try watching yourself doing this movement slowly in front of a mirror and you’ll see what I get here. You may be bending to forward and creating an excess amount of force on the knees which not only places unnecessary strain on your knees but also slows you down. So what should you do instead?

Focus on all the tips above! Core tight, shoulder blades back, and try thinking about reducing the impact of your feet on the ground. All these things together will allow you to do any kind of cardio without tearing up your knees. Now if you want to add a proven supplement to help you with the fluids in your knee joint try Glucoasmine Chondroitin (you can read my full article here – Glucosamine Chondroitin Supplement).

Conclusion: 5 Tips to Improve Your Cardio Workout

Obviously this topic can be taken deeper and get much more sophisticated but I honestly believe these 5 tips will really make a major difference in your cardio workouts. They will become more energy efficient and easier allowing you to excel and get better each time, and this means better results with fat loss and more muscle tone. Of course, you will also prevent injuries from happening if you really take these to heart.

Please try these out and let me know what results you see in your next workout by leaving a comment below…

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Will Lifting Small Weights Allow You To Stay Lean?

A common misconception that many people have, especially females who are just starting to work out, is that if you lift heavy weights you will put on a lot of bulk.

They also think that the key to maintaining a lean physique is lifting light weights with extra high reps.

Well, that is not all true!

The main goal of lifting weights is to damage your muscles so when they repair themselves they grow. That is a vast oversimplification of the process, but for the purposes of this article, it will do.

So, lifting both heavy and light weights have the same effect. It is just that heavy weights damage your muscles faster and allows you to stimulate more growth faster.

But, this does not mean your muscles will automatically grow faster – all it means is that your workouts in the gym will be faster and more efficient with heavy weights. You can get the same effects to a certain degree with light weights, but it takes a lot more reps and your workout starts to resemble a cardio session than a muscle building session.

More so, the size of your muscles is more dependent on your diet than the size of weights you lift. For example, you could life like Jay Cutler all day, but if you weren’t in a serious calories surplus, you would not put on much size. So, if you want to stay lean and limber, adjust your caloric intake accordingly.

In conclusion, it doesn’t matter what king of physique you are trying to build, whether it be a lean one or a bulky one like a bodybuilder. To make progress, you should lift as heavy weights as you can! If you want to get big, eat big. If you don’t, use smaller portions and maintain a caloric deficit. Leave the 2 pound dumbbells to the kids in high school…

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Weight Loss Tips – Leg Exercises

Are you one of those people who gets in the gym day after day but barely does any resistance exercises for your leg muscles?

Perhaps you do a few leg exercises every week but you’re still not noticing results with weight loss and muscle gain in the rest of your body as much as you should be.

So let’s look at some surprising results of a new study examining calories burned the day after resistance exercises for lower body compared to upper body.

The study found that people who exercised their lower body burned more calories the next day compared to those who exercised only their upper body.

The reason?

The theory is that your large leg muscles like your quadriceps and hamstrings generally have much more muscle mass than your chest and arms, so per square area you are firing much more muscle fiber with exercises targeting your legs.

So where is the kicker here? On the following day your body is expending tons of energy to repair and upgrade your muscles so if you are working out a greater muscle area then you are also repairing more muscle fibers.

The result? More calories burned, more inches off your waist and more muscle strength and size. Now we’re talking!

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to follow the workout series for men and women that I have created which includes some great foundational leg exercises. Check these out if you missed them…

• Fitness Plan for Women: Phase 2 Part 2
• Workout Plan for Men: Phase 2 Legs & Shoulders

Conclusion: Weight Loss Tips – Leg Exercises

No excuses here of you having big legs already or working them out in your other sports! If you really think you should be getting better results from your training then why not trying a little more focus on doing some more intensive resistance exercises for your legs every week (at least once a week is a good number).

If you want to make sure your muscles are recovering quickly then I would also highly recommend you include some whey protein powder in your diet. Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Gold is one of the top sellers in the market because it mixes easily and tastes great, and if you want the best price in the industry go here.

Have any questions about this weight loss tips series for leg exercises? Please leave a comment below…

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Compound Exercises – Better For Gaining Mass?

There is an ongoing argument over which is better for muscle gain – compound or isolation exercises.

While some people believe isolation exercises are the way to go, very few muscular people got the way they are without heavy compound exercises.

The key to success is using both in your workout!

Heavy compound exercises should be the bread and butter of any workout program. Squats, dead lifts and bench presses are the main exercises that put on a lot of muscle fast and quickly strain your body and muscles.  

There is no better way to put on lots of muscle and functional strength on your major muscle groups than heavy compound exercises. While it is important to get proper form down before you start lifting heavy, these exercises are usually the answer to mass gains.

But, isolation exercises also have their place. If you don’t have perfect form when doing your compound lifts, some of your muscle groups will not develop evenly, and some areas may need some extra work. This is where isolation exercises come in.

If you identify a lagging muscle or muscle group, you can do an exercise that targets that area specifically and allows it to catch up. Isolation exercises are also very helpful when you are rehabbing an injury, so you can get a good workout on a specifically targeted muscle group without straining the rest of your body!

To achieve your goals, it is a good idea to implement both compound and isolation exercises into your workout routine. You can use heavy compound exercises like bench presses, squats and dead lifts to put on mass, then use isolation exercises to build in areas that are lagging.

That one two punch will allow you to achieve your physique related goals in no time!

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Sleep Away Fat!

One common problem many people who are not reaching their physical or fitness related goals have is not getting the right amount of sleep.

You out hard in the gym everyday and have your diet dialed in, but you just can’t make any progress.

More often than not, the problem is the amount of sleep you are getting! It’s time to understand how to sleep away fat…

We all have busy lives with not enough time to do everything we need to do. But, it is absolutely essential to get the right amount of sleep every night. And it has to be quality sleep as well.

Sure, some people can function on 4 hours of sleep per night if they have a coffee in the morning, but they are not doing their body any favors.

In simple terms, your body repairs itself and your muscles when you are sleeping. It takes that time to do what it has to do in regards to muscle repair or even fat loss.

But, if you are not giving it enough time to do that, you are really short changing yourself. Not only that, but not getting enough sleep can effect your mental state of mind, and can drain your energy so you can’t give 100% in the gym every time you work out!

Sleep Away Fat Conclusion

So, how much sleep do you really need per night to allow for maximum recovery time? Well, it varies from person to person, but shooting for a minimum of 6-7 hours is a good idea. You will have to use some trial and error to see what works best for you.

You want to be able to wake up fully rested and feeling good, while not spending too much time sleeping. That’s really all there is to it!

How much sleep do you find is optimal for you? Do you think you can now sleep away fat?

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Body Fat Testing?

Knowing your body fat percentage is an essential component to setting diet related goals.

But, how do you determine your body fat? Estimating is not good enough.

Here are the three most popular ways to measure your level of body fat!

Calipers: body fat calipers are the most common way people test their body fat. The skin folds on specific areas of your body are measures by a giant lobster claw looking tool. Once you get the measurements from all these predetermined areas (usually 7 points or 11 points, depending on the test), you combine them and you get a body fat reading. These are not the most accurate, and the level of hydration you have when you do it can affect the results greatly.

BodPod: a more advanced way of testing your body fat is going to a facility that has a BodPod. This is basically an egg like structure that you go and sit in and in a few minutes, it will give you your body fat information along with many other vital pieces of info about your body composition. Many universities have these, so call up a local school and see if their athletics department has one.

HydroStatic Testing: Lastly, one of the most accurate ways to test your body fat is by doing hydrostatic testing. This is the most involved of the three options presented. Basically, there is a pool of water, and you go and submerge your self in it for a while. Using hydrostatic technology, the technician is able to measure your body fat and even give you a pretty accurate estimate of your BMR. Hydrostatic testing facilities are more difficult to find, but if you do have one at a facility near you, definitely try and book an appointment.

Any of these methods will give you a relatively accurate body fat reading. What is more important than the absolute number is the amount of fat that is lost over a specific period of time!

What is your body fat percentage and what is your goal target?

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Low Carb High Protein Diet to Boost Fat Loss

I’m getting quite a few questions about what to eat and how many calories you should be eating to lose fat and in turn convert that fat into lean muscle, so let’s dive into this topic and reveal a very important principle.

Before we begin, I hope to bring to light something here again. We get quite stressed out about calorie counting and it seems to ruin our whole joy in eating, so please take it out of the picture. The focus is really wrong with this mentality and leads to the greatest failures.

Instead try and think about how to continually improve and advance your form in the gym and in whatever sport you are taking part in. What things could you take out of your diet, and what healthy things can you add in place of them? Is someone or something holding you back in getting the results you want to achieve? How can you overcome that?

Ok now we’re getting somewhere! With these in mind now we can focus on having fun with it all and in the near future if you feel like you need more support with this, I am thinking of adding a membership section to this site so that I can help you see the fun in it. If you think that is a good idea please leave a comment for me below! But for now let’s get back on track…

Low Carb Diets

Low carb diets were all the rage a decade ago, cause the idea was that our body immediately stores excess carbohydrates as fat in our bodies. But then nutritionists, personal trainers, dietitians and health professionals screamed that this was not the right way to go. Sure low carb can lead to some weight loss results but the problem with it is that it robs us of our energy. We need carbs to fuel us throughout the day, and especially need them if we want to have a successful workout.

So how can we make sure we get enough carbs and at the same time have a reduced carbohydrate consumption to allow us to have killer workouts that allow us to progress week from week? Can we focus more on protein to counterbalance the calorie intake and use that protein for the energy?

High Protein Diets

Most guys know now that you need to have a high protein diet in order to fuel your muscles and keep them recovering and growing from your training. Women tend to not focus on this as much especially after all the crazy health problems caused by diet plans like the Atkins Diet. But what about now? How much has our knowledge of high protein diets been improved?

Can we maintain a high protein and low carb diet to boost our fat loss efforts?

Well the answer is….YES…sort of!

What does that mean? It means you have to use your knowledge of your body and your training schedule to manipulate this principle.

The key is to have a high protein diet full of lean meats, beans, peas, and of course whey protein powder (please read my article on benefits of Whey Protein Powder), as well as a diet full of low carb foods like veggies, and fruit.

So where does the sort of come into play? Simply before your workouts. Make sure to have a good amount of carbohydrates about 1-2 hours before your training. This will allow your body to digest the carbs and then immediately supply them to your muscles as a form of energy.

You be asking what about if you workout first thing in the morning? Well a bowl of cereal or a banana should definitely do the trick. Just try and have it first thing right after you wake up and then get ready after.

Of course we can take this to another level with carbohydrate loading phases. I’ll address carbohydrate loading benefits in another advanced article which is a little targeted towards much more serious athletes. At this stage let’s not worry about that as again that takes the fun out of eating and causes most of us to lose focus.

Conclusion Low Carb High Protein Diet to Boost Fat Loss

Ok now we have something more concrete, we have advanced our knowledge of including a low carb high protein diet throughout our days to help us boost fat loss by remembering to eat lots of cabs right before our workouts. This is a golden key you’ve been given and I guarantee success with this because ever since I studied it thoroughly in my advanced exercise nutrition certification it has opened up so many different new doors for me that I didn’t believe was possible before. I hope you gain to value this knowledge as I do now!

I’d love to hear your feedback on this article and if you would also like to be part of the beta group for an upcoming membership section of this site. Please leave a comment below…

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Weight Loss Plateaus: How To Break Through

Most people can lose weight for a little while – it’s not that difficult. But, sometimes when you are on a long weight loss journey, you run into road blocks. They seem to happen for no reason, but you will go weeks or even a month or two without dropping a pound.

This is termed the dreaded weight loss plateaus, and they happen to everybody. How do you get through them, though?

Here are the two main methods that you can use to break through a weight loss plateau.

Change Your Diet

The first thing you should change up is your diet. It doesn’t matter what you do – change your caloric intake (up or down), or change your macros (fat/protein/carb) – just do something.

This is the area that most people have trouble with. They find a diet that works, and they won’t do anything else.  While they think they are proceeding to their goals, they are just letting their body adapt to lowered caloric levels.

Always be switching up your diet – as long as you are in a deficit, you will loose weight!

Change Your Cardio

The next option you have is to change up your cardio and any other exercise you are doing. If you are doing hours of steady state cardio a week, why not try and do some high intensity interval training instead?

If you are not working out at all, why not start some cardio? Whatever you are doing, just try something different!

If you just change up your diet or cardio when you hit a plateau and keep working hard, you will blast through your weight loss plateau in no time. Remember, your body adapts to what you are doing, so it is essential to change things up every once on in a while to give it a shock!

What do you do when you hit a weight loss plaeteau? Please leave a comment below…

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