Move more –bad food + good food = Dieting success

Let’s break down this equation into its component parts:

Move More – if you burn more calories than you currently do, you will lose weight, plain and simple.

If you don’t walk around the block, take a walk around the block

If you currently walk around the block then, add intervals of sprints

If you currently walk and do intervals then, weight train

If you currently walk, do intervals and weight train then, decrease the rest periods between sets

Do you see where this is going?  Take what you currently do and add more movement / decrease rest and you will burn more calories which will cause you to lose weight.

Get off the couch and move!!!

Subtract bad food – I am always fascinated when someone is given a diet and you see what is prescribed.  Eat these carbs but not these carbs, eat these fats but not these, avoid red meat and eat lean protein.  All of these may be sensible recommendations, but have you looked at what the person is currently doing?  If someone currently drinks a 4 cans of soda per day, why not move them down to 3 cans and then slowly reduce from there?  If someone eats a bowl of ice cream every night before bed, have them do it every other night and slowly reduce from there.  Dieting occurs in stages when it is successful and if you have someone who eats like crap and you try to get them to eat like a World Class Athlete, you will fail every time.  Let’s face it, we don’t like change.  Considering that fact, implementing MASSIVE change is not going to work.  Small changes do work and they add up to a big change over time.

He didn't get that way by eating spinach!!!

Add good food – if you ask any doctor worth their salt about diet, they will tell you to eat more fruits and vegetables, we have heard this forever and guess what?  IT IS CORRECT!  Increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables will increase the amount of vitamins and minerals you get which will help your body function better and more efficiently.  Also, fruits and vegetables contain fiber which helps jettison fat out of the body.  Unlike most processed foods, fruits and vegetables are NOT calorically dense and they are vitamin RICH so, they will fill you up without adding to your waistline.  I always love when someone with a crummy diet hears the words fruits and vegetables as if it is some horrific thing.  If I have the choice of a lollipop or a ripe peach, I will take the peach all day long.  All goodness aside, it tastes BETTER!!!

Eat good food that is natural not processed, like a peach

Don’t overcomplicate things, keep it simple!!!

What would we do if doctors did not want to share information with one another?  Research would come to a halt, innovation would cease and diseases like mumps and polio would run rampant.  Sounds like a pretty cruel scenario, but thankfully this is not the reality for the medical community.  Unfortunately, it IS the reality in the fitness community.  The more I talk to trainers, the more I scratch my head.  There are many who think that there is some “secret formula” to achieve goals and obtain results.

Trainer 1: “I do back and shoulders with my clients.”
Trainer 2: “Oh, wow (Trainer 1 is an idiot)…I do back and biceps with my clients.”

Unless both of these morons are training people for the 2020 Mr. Olympia then, they are both WRONG!!!  How about I blow the roof off of the entire fitness industry!?!?!?!

Here is the SECRET way to get ANYONE in shape, no matter what their goal is:
1)      Move around
2)      Train in all planes of motion
3)      Push / pull, rotate and move sideways

Stop overcomplicating everything!!!  I don’t give a crap about bosu balls, agility ladders, dots, cones or any other gimmicks, they are IRRELEVANT!!!

Sorry, this is NOT going to get you into great shape, maybe a trip to the hospital.

Upper Body
Vertical (Above Shoulder): Push (overhead press), Pull (Chin up)
Vertical (Below Shoulder): Push (dips), Pull (Deadlift)
Horizontal: Push (Bench Press), Pull (Back Row)

Lower Body
Push (Back/Front/Hack Squat), Pull (Hip Press)

What about lateral movement?!?!?!  Do some side shuffles, run around, play sports.

This applies to 99.9% of the population.  Maybe if you are an Olympic athlete or you are a professional athlete, you need something more in depth, I agree 100%, but for everyone else, it is not more complicated than that.

"Why are we doing this? I don't know, just smile and keep pressing!"

One of my good buddies and fellow strength coaches, Kyle Newell of Newell Strength was talking to me a few weeks ago and we spoke about how he and his athletes / clients never perform direct arm work and instead perform lifts which have a systemic effect on the body, like the Barbell Back Squat.  Do you want big arms?  Do squats and Chin Ups!  Wait a sec, no concentration curls or barbell curls with an arm blaster?!?!?  Nope, the squat will have a greater anabolic effect on your entire body than any isolation movement!!!

The squat will grow your arms better than any arm isolation exercise

What is YOUR goal in the gym?  How can you achieve it as simply as possible?  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people in the gym for HOURS when they can spend minutes instead.  Either they are slaves for pain, don’t know any better (most likely) or simply think that’s what they NEED to do.  Don’t just go to the gym, do stuff for an hour and pat yourself on the back because you sweat, set goals and achieve them.

Here is my advice:

1)      Put down the newsstand magazine which is written for the average guy and average girl

2)      Find someone with experience who has what you want or knows what you want to know, ask them how they achieved it

3)      If their advice is simple then, implement it, if it is not simple, then keep asking around until someone with experience has given you a simple and effective answer

One more thing, don’t confuse simple with EASY!!!  Becoming a millionaire may be simple in concept, but it is also difficult in implementation.  Losing body fat is simple in terms of what needs to be done, but it is very difficult to actually do it.  Go for it, set a goal, make a plan to achieve and go crush it!!!

Bruce Lee tried everything while he trained.  His goal in doing so was to distill everything he tried into a simple philosophy.  That was his hallmark, be as effective as possible while also being simple.  Have you ever asked someone a question and their answer takes 10 minutes, but you can probably summarize it in a few sentences?  Me too!  This is the exact opposite of the philosophy that Bruce Lee espoused.

I had a great conversation with a fellow strength coach this week.  One of my favorite topics, muscle hypertrophy (i.e. muscle growth), came up and I asked him his opinion after being in the game for 15 years.  He started with, “I am a big fan of simplicity.”  When I heard this, I smiled J  This is the answer of someone who has tried it all and distilled his experience into what was the most simple and most effective, much like Bruce Lee.

Hypertrophy is all about higher volume with a moderately heavy weight.

Mon/Thu = 2 big lifts (Deadlift + Squat) + 1 Assistance Exercise
Tues/Fri = 2 big lifts (Bench Press + Back Row) + 1 Assistance Exercise
Wed/Sat = 2 big lifts (Shoulder Press + Shrugs) + 1 Assistance Exercise

1^st 4 weeks: 5 sets x 5 reps (big lifts) – increase each set by 5+ LBS until reaching failure
2^nd 4 weeks: 8 sets x 8 reps (big lifts) – increase each set by 5+ LBS until reaching failure
3^rd 4 weeks: 10 sets x 10 reps (big lifts) – increase each set by 5+ LBS until reaching failure

After reaching failure on the big lifts (i.e. can’t reach 5, 8 or 10 reps for the set), cut the weight in half and do 50 reps.  It doesn’t matter how long it takes, just don’t rack the weight until you reach 50 reps.

For the assistance exercises, do 5 sets of 12-20 reps OR do 5 sets of bodyweight exercises (chin ups, push ups, dips, etc.) and go to failure each set.  It may take more than the prescribed number of sets to reach complete failure.

REPEAT after 12 weeks.

Do variations of each of the lifts to keep it interesting.  That’s it, hypertrophy made SIMPLE!!!

I have noticed a recurring theme with women who want to lose weight.  Women will come to me asking about losing weight, body fat in particular, and the first question I ask is, “What do you eat?”  The typical response is, “I don’t eat that much so, I don’t understand why I don’t lose weight!”  If someone is morbidly obese because they eat thousands of calories per day then, they need to REDUCE the number of calories they consume in order to lose weight.  On the flip side, if someone is moderately overweight and they have drastically reduced their calories for a prolonged period of time, they actually need to INCREASE the amount of food they eat in order to lose weight.

You have to eat in order to lose weight!!!

In a normal example, these equations hold true:
If calories consumed < calories burned = lose weight
If calories consumed > calories burned = gain weight

The only problem with those equations is that our body tries to maintain homeostasis as a protective mechanism so, each situation depends on where you are right now.  Your body screws up the equation by changing the calories burned based on the calories consumed.  So, if the calories your body burns changes, you also need to change your calorie consumption to have any effect.

Body temperature is a great example of homeostasis

A great example of homeostasis at work is with body temperature.  Our body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you walk outside and it is very hot, you sweat which acts as a cooling mechanism so that your body temperature will remain at 98.6 degrees.  If you walk outside and it is very cold, you shiver which creates movement to make you warm which is also in an effort to keep your body temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you are a little overweight and eat “barely anything” and you want to lose weight, here’s what to do:

1)      Multiply your current weight by 10 and that is the number of calories you will eat (For example, let’s say you are 200LBS, you would eat 2000 calories)

2)      Increase your protein intake, eat more vegetables and drink more water

3)      Weigh yourself then, consume the amount of calories for one week from step 1 (2000 cals) and re-weigh yourself.  If you weigh more or the same then, reduce your calories by 300 per day (i.e. eat 1700 cals per day instead of 2,000).  If you weigh less then, stay at that level of calories until you stop losing weight and start all over again

There you have it, simple yet effective!!!

1) Set the goal

2) Determine the path to achieve the goal

3) Leave your ego at the door

That dog doesn't know who he's messing with!!!

I was training a prospect a few weeks ago.  He was a middle-aged male who was about 30 pounds overweight.  When I asked him what his goal was, he told me that he wanted to lose 30-35 pounds to prove to his kids and friends that he could do it.  Upon hearing the GOAL, I determined the best way to achieve it (metabolic training, maximum work with minimum rest), now it was up to him to listen to me and leave his ego at the door.

I told him that I knew what we needed to do and I put him through an assessment.  He assessed a little below average, but made sure to tell me how he used to Bench Press a lot of weight “back in the day”.  This was a HUGE red flag for me, because I knew this guy wanted to bench the pounds away and that he was going to insist on benching rather than listening to me.  Low and behold, I put him through a sample workout with a metabolic focus, 2 to 1 work to rest ratio (30s on, 15s off) since his goal was fat loss.  About 5 minutes into the workout, he was very pale, sucking wind and told me that he was light-headed.  As he was doubled over, hands on knees, barely able to breathe, he turned to me and said, “When are we going to lift some heavy weight?”  I reassured him that the way we were training was the proper protocol for his goal of fat loss, but he asked, yet again, when we were going to lift some heavy weight.

If this gentleman was able to accomplish his goal on his own then, he wouldn’t be fat and he wouldn’t need me.  If it was as simple as “lifting some heavy weight” then, he would be slim and trim, but he is overweight and will continue to be until he checks his ego at the door and follows my advice.  The Moral of the story here is to leave your ego at the door.  Once you set a goal and figure out how to achieve it, stay focused, follow the path and see where you end up.  You can always change course along the way, but if you don’t move forward, you will never get there.

The Single most important quality to possess to get the results you desire is intensity.   There is NOTHING that will amplify your results more or help you achieve them faster than having an insane amount of intensity.  Perhaps you are thinking, what about steroids?  I can pump you with all of the steroids you want, but if you don’t train, you won’t achieve results.  Intensity is directly connected to mindset and while both can be worked on, having them from the start will help you achieve any goal you desire.

Arnold trained with INTENSITY!!!

I have 2 clients which are the epitome of the word Intensity.  In their own words, client A was “at death’s door”.  They had bone cancer and had been declared cancer free a year ago.  When they train with me, I have never had to tell them to “push through” or “dig deep”.  I actually have to tell them to stop b/c they will keep going if I don’t.  When you have seen your life flash before your eyes, you will live with a level of intensity like no other.  Client B has achieved tremendous results and it is all do to their intensity.  They actually told me that going through childbirth was easier than training with me, now THAT is intensity.  The funny thing is that THEY determine the intensity, not me.  I can only do so much though, intensity comes from within.  I can tell the client to push through and dig deep, I can refer them to their goal which they want to achieve, but without the intensity, we are wasting each other’s time.

Do YOU live life with intensity?

Watch this video and see which excuses you have for not getting in shape:

So, what is your excuse NOW???

- Napoleon Hill

We have all heard the following expressions, “Play until the final whistle blows”, “As long as there is time on the clock, we haven’t lost”, “Play all 27 outs”, “Play all 60 minutes”, “It’s not over until it’s over”, etc.  Most people misconstrue these statements as relating to time, they do not.  All relate to the fact that no matter how badly you are losing, you only lose once you have accepted the loss in your mind.  If you never quit, then you never lose.  Once you quit, it is over, all the talent and ability in the world is not enough to overcome that.  Quitting is a choice that you make in your MIND.  Achievement is no different.  It is in your mind that you achieve your goals before you achieve them in reality.  Everyone who has ever won any major Championship has pictured themselves winning it before it actually occurred.  That all sounds nice, but what does it have to do with you?  What does it have to do with you getting into great shape, getting more muscle, getting stronger?  EVERYTHING!!!

Last week, I was doing heavy squats and on the first set I was struggling.  It started creeping into my mind that maybe the weight was too heavy and I should take a little off or maybe I should do fewer reps.  As a survival mechanism, your body is always trying to protect you so, it is natural to think about backing off when you are about to accomplish a very heavy lift.  You have to fight through that natural instinct in order to succeed.  As I stood there resting between sets, I said to myself, “WTF are you doing, you can lift this weight, explode out of the bottom, YOU’VE GOT THIS!!!”  Then, I closed my eyes and pictured myself doing the squat successfully.  The next set with the same weight felt EASY!!!  Not only that, but 3 sets later, on my last set, I did 40 LBS heavier than I did the first set!!!  Was I stronger than I was during the first set?  Did I take some magic supplement?  NO and NO!!!  I used mental imagery or visualization and self-talk to propel my success. 

Let’s do a simple exercise on mental imagery…however you direct your mind is what you are going to think about, positive or negative and whatever you say, you will think about.  Try this:  DO NOT THINK ABOUT PINK ELEPHANTS!!!  I bet you just had a picture of a pink elephant in your mind, LOL!!!  So, our mind will think about whatever we feed it.  Hence, if you want to be successful, think of success.  If you want to be in great shape, have 6 pack abs or be a MASSIVE FREAK then, think about that image and it will drive you towards achieving that goal.  As the great Earl Nightingale said in The Strangest Secret, “We become what we think about.”  The mind always moves you toward your current dominant thought.  Research shows that self-talk and visualization works. 

Stop thinking about me!!!

Self-talk refers to statements individuals address to themselves for specific purposes, such as increasing motivation or enhancing skill execution (1).  Tod et al. (2) found that “…healthy, active individuals may enhance the display of muscular power via the use of instructional and motivational self-talk… self-talk may lead to an increase in muscular power by alterations in movement kinematics. The use of self-talk may contribute to improved performance in sports requiring power-based skills.”  Hatzigeorgiadis et al. (3) found that motivational self-talk led to improved distance in the water polo throw.  Self-talk is promoted as a way to enhance sport and exercise performance (4).  As you can see, giving yourself verbal cues, whether instructional or motivational, does correlate to success. 

Research proves that mental imagery is an effective tool as well.  Silbernagel et al. (5) found “Athletes who used imagery more often were more confident.  There was also a positive relationship between imagery use and imagery effectiveness and confidence in the weight room. Thus, it seems as though imagery is a source of confidence in the weight room, just as it is a source of confidence in sports and other domains.”  Woolfolk et al. (6) used positive and negative imagery with the task of putting a golf ball and the results were significant.  “In the positive imagery group, subjects imagined the ball going into the cup, while subjects using negative imagery visualized the ball narrowly missing the cup. Subjects in the control group putted without instructions. On each of 6 consecutive days a 10-putt trial was conducted for each subject.  Post hoc analyses showed significant differences among all groups, with positive imagery producing the most improvement, the control condition producing less, and negative imagery resulting in performance deterioration.”  Some of the most successful athletes and some of the most memorable performances have been the result of using positive mental imagery.

Arnold Schwarzenegger – 7-time Mr. Olympia

Look at Arnold “chiseling” his mountainous arms

Arnold’s entire Bodybuilding career was the result of his use of mental imagery.  He imagined moving to America and becoming a Champion Bodybuilder ever since he was a little boy.  A great example of Arnold’s use of mental imagery was with his biceps, one of his most impressive physical attributes.  He said, “I was constantly playing tricks on my mind. This is why I began to think of my biceps as mountains, instead of flesh and blood. Thinking of my biceps as mountains made my arms grow faster and bigger than if I’d seen them only as muscles.  When you think of biceps as merely muscles, you subconsciously have a limit in your mind, which for biceps is something in the area of 20″ or 21″. When you limit yourself to that measurement, it is very hard to get to that level and, needless to say, impossible to get past it. But when you think about mountains, there is no limit to biceps growth, and therefore you have a chance of going beyond normal mental barriers.”  Arnold went on to say, “Whether it’s muscle or money, you have to make it with your mind.” That is such an incredibly powerful and true statement!!!

Billy Mills – 1964 Gold Medalist 10,000 meter run

View this video to see one of the most improbable victories in Olympic history:

Billy Mills was the first American to ever win Gold in the 10,000 meter run and no American has won the event since.  The favorite in the 1964 Olympics for the 10,000 meter run was Ron Clarke of Australia who held the World Record.  Mills’ time in the preliminaries was a full minute slower than Clarke.  Mills, a believer in visualization or “imagery,” did not permit a negative thought to enter his head as he worked toward the biggest race of his life.  Mills said, “The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality or imagination.”  He elaborated, “You focus for 4 years, dozens of times a day, visualizing, reliving the moment the way you want it to be and then you win.  That one fleeting moment, you know, you’re the very best in the world.”  What an incredible story, visualizing his victory day in day out for four years and when given the one opportunity to run the biggest race of his life, he achieved in reality what he had envisioned in his mind hundreds of times before.

Jack Nicklaus – won a record 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour

Jack Nicklaus winning his final major, the 1986 Masters.

Jack Nicklaus, “The Golden Bear”, is the most prolific golfer in PGA history amassing an incredible 18 major championships over the span of 24 years.  It is no surprise that one of the greatest golfers ever used the power of mental imagery to forge his success.  In his words, “I never hit a shot even in practice without having a sharp in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First, I “see” the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I “see” the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there’s a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality only at the end of this short private Hollywood spectacular do I select a club and step up to the ball.”  What an incredible of vivid use of mental imagery!!!

Michael Jordan – 6-time NBA Champion & One of the Greatest Basketball Players Ever

Growing up, I had the privilege of seeing Michael Jordan play.  I say privilege because he was one of a few players who could single-handedly take over an entire game.  He had the ability to overcome double teams with ease and still score 50 or 60 plus points.  When asked about athletic skills versus mental skills, Michael Jordan said, “The mental part is the hardest part, and I think that’s the part that separates the good players from the great players.”  In terms of mental imagery, Jordan said, “I visualized where I wanted to be, what kind of player I wanted to become. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and I focused on getting there.”   Yet another legend who used mental imagery!!!

As we saw above, mental imagery or visualization is a technique employed by some of the most successful athletes of all time.  While we may not have the same physical gifts that they had, any of us can employ the technique of visualization to achieve tremendous success in our physique, business and in life.  As with anything in life, visualization takes practice and what works for one person may not work for another so, find out what works for you and go with it.  You can call upon these images of success whenever you need them and the more you use mental imagery, the more confident and successful you will become.  Focus your mental images on achieving success rather than avoiding failure, only focus on positive thoughts and close your eyes and repeat a message to yourself until the image becomes very vivid and clear.  See yourself achieving your goals, getting the physique you desire and living the life that you deserve.  Do this continuously and one day, you won’t need to close your eyes anymore because those dreams will become a reality!!! 

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References:

1) Hardy, J. Speaking clearly: a critical review of the self-talk literature.  Psychol Sport Exerc 7: 81–97, 2006.

2) Tod, DA, Thatcher, R, McGuigan, M, and Thatcher, J. Effects of instructional and motivational self-talk on the vertical jump. J Strength Cond Res 23(1): 196–202, 2009

3) Hatzigeorgiadis, A, Theodorakis, Y, and Zourbanos, N. Self-talk in the swimming pool: the effects of self-talk on thought content and performance on water-polo tasks. J Appl Sport Psychol 16: 138–150, 2004.

4) Zinsser, N, Bunker, L, and Williams, JM. Cognitive techniques for building confidence and enhancing performance. In: Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance. J.M. Williams, ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. pp. 349–381

5) Silbernagel, M.S., S.E. Short, and L.C. Ross-Stewart. Athletes’ use of exercise imagery during weight training. J. Strength Cond. Res. 21(4):1077–1081. 2007

6) Robert L. Woolfolk, Mark W. Parrish and Shane M. Murphy. The effects of positive and negative imagery on motor skill performance. Cognitive Therapy and Research . Volume 9, Number 3, 1985, pgs. 335-341

-  Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac

In many ways, Ben Franklin was a man ahead of his time.  Getting plenty of sleep makes you more aware, helps you perform better, allows you to maintain a healthy weight, helps your body repair and it is during sleep when Growth Hormone and Testosterone help our muscles grow.  There are certain things which we know are GOOD for us to do…eat fruits and vegetables, get plenty of exercise, get plenty of sleep, etc. and there are dozens, sometimes even hundreds of studies which validate these good habits over and over.  Every so often a study comes out validating something you already know, but does so in such a way that it slaps you in the face.  That was what I felt when I read the following, “This study found that skipping sleep reduces a young man’s testosterone levels by the same amount as aging 10 to 15 years.”  Say what?  Of course I had to read more after seeing that.  I figured that it must have been the result of chronic sleep deprivation as in someone who has insomnia, but when I read the time frame, my jaw dropped…ONE WEEK!!!  One week of not getting enough sleep can reduce your Testosterone levels the same as aging 10-15 years!!!  Wow, Ben Franklin is right again!!! 

The study I am referring to is, “Effect of 1 Week of Sleep Restriction on Testosterone Levels in Young Healthy Men” and it appeared in the June 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).  Some of the highlights of the study are as follows:  At least 15% of the adult working population in the United States gets less than 5 hours of sleep a night.  Testosterone deficiency is associated with low energy, reduced libido, poor concentration, and fatigue.  The study’s subjects were an average of 24 years old, lean and in good health.  They passed a rigorous battery of tests to screen for endocrine or psychiatric disorders and sleep problems.  For the study, they spent three nights in the laboratory sleeping for up to ten hours, and then eight nights sleeping less than five hours. Their blood was sampled every 15 to 30 minutes for 24 hours during the last day of the ten-hour sleep phase and the last day of the five-hour sleep phase.  The effects of sleep loss on testosterone levels were apparent after just one week of short sleep.  Men who slept less than five hours a night for one week had significantly lower levels of testosterone than when they had a full night’s sleep.  Five hours of sleep decreased their testosterone levels by 10% to 15%.  Testosterone levels in men decline by 1% to 2% a year as they age so, this study found that skipping sleep reduces a young man’s testosterone levels by the same amount as aging 10 to 15 years.

In order to LOOK and FEEL younger, get plenty of sleep!!!

Do you feel like you just got slapped in the face?  If that doesn’t make you get more sleep, I don’t know what will.  Trust me, I know how crazy life can be.  Work, family, lifting and fitting in a little fun doesn’t leave much time for sleep, but if you want to be strong and healthy, you have to get plenty of sleep.  The goal is 8 hours per night and you should make it a point to be in bed by 10PM.  Remove anything that makes noise, get the room as dark as possible and have the temperature be comfortable to cool (68 degrees Fahrenheit).  Get your 8 hours and you will be happier, healthier, stronger and feel younger!!!

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References:

R. Leproult, E. Van Cauter. “Effect of 1 Week of Sleep Restriction on Testosterone Levels in Young Healthy Men”. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2011; 305 (21): 2173 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2011.710.  ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 4, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/05/110531162142.htm