When things are getting tough and you feel like just giving in on what you want to accomplish, find something very meaningful to you as to why you want to accomplish a goal. For me, getting in great shape at 35, brings back to watching my father go through cancer over 12 years ago. He inspired me to make changes in my life at 23yrs of age and again when I need inspiration I think back of what he went through during his sickness and the regrets he had in life when he thought back as to what he accomplished. I don't want to have any regrets and want to live a healthy and happy life for as long as I possibly can.
Below is an article that will inspire you to discipline yourself and think that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/events/1996/olympics/daily/july22/flashback.html
Saturday, November 29, 2008
London Personal Trainer Begins His Journey
So this past Monday I have set out to get into the best shape of my life!!! To help me get into great shape I have hired an online personal coach in the name of Dr. Berardi and his many staff to get me to where I want to go. Now you many might question why a Personal Trainer and coach needs a there own coach but if you look at all the most successful people and champions around the world they all had a coach that guided them and supported them on their way to success. So whatever area in your life your trying to improve it's best to ask someone who has helped many before you. Whether that be the relationship, financial, business or fitness part of your life I find for me to make my goals a reality I need the help.
My many Round One Bootcampers come to me in search of help and some answers to meet their health and fitness goals. I am always happy to lead, guide and support them towards their goals. Many have simialr goals of getting healthy, losing Fat, learning new exercises, getting stronger and overall for someone to help them get the results they are after.
So what are my goals over the next 6 months of my journey? They are:
-Improve my health
-Reduce my body fat to 10% or below
-Increase my strength in the compound lifts
-10-15 pounds of muscle.
By hiring an online coach who will keep my accoutable, support me and give me the knowledge I need , I plan to meet my goals and enjoy the journey towards them.
You only live once and life is short. While your here it's important to challenge yourself and give it 100%. There will be obstacles and times when I will want to eat that whole piece of cheescake or choclate bar, but reminding myself of the goals I want to achieve and visualizing the end result, I know I will get to where I want to go.
So stay tuned as I will continually post my progress through my workouts and nutritional challenges throughout the six months. Below are some of my starting stats:
Weight: 178lbs
BF: 22%
Squat: 225
Bench: 175
Deadlift: 220
My many Round One Bootcampers come to me in search of help and some answers to meet their health and fitness goals. I am always happy to lead, guide and support them towards their goals. Many have simialr goals of getting healthy, losing Fat, learning new exercises, getting stronger and overall for someone to help them get the results they are after.
So what are my goals over the next 6 months of my journey? They are:
-Improve my health
-Reduce my body fat to 10% or below
-Increase my strength in the compound lifts
-10-15 pounds of muscle.
By hiring an online coach who will keep my accoutable, support me and give me the knowledge I need , I plan to meet my goals and enjoy the journey towards them.
You only live once and life is short. While your here it's important to challenge yourself and give it 100%. There will be obstacles and times when I will want to eat that whole piece of cheescake or choclate bar, but reminding myself of the goals I want to achieve and visualizing the end result, I know I will get to where I want to go.
So stay tuned as I will continually post my progress through my workouts and nutritional challenges throughout the six months. Below are some of my starting stats:
Weight: 178lbs
BF: 22%
Squat: 225
Bench: 175
Deadlift: 220
Thursday, November 6, 2008
How to Gain Body Fat While Excercising
How To Gain Body Fat While Exercising 14 Hours A Weekby John Berardi, PhD, CSCS
Exercise Without DietA few weeks back I shared with you an article called "When Exercise Doesn't Work." And in this article, I reviewed some fascinating new research demonstrating that, without a dietary intervention, exercise doesn't have much of an impact on body composition. Even to the tune of 6 hours per week...Even when it's high intensity exercise.......participants following an exercise plan, without being cognizant of their nutritional intake, only tend to lose an extra pound of fat vs. those folks who do nothing for the same 12-16 weeks.Disheartening, I know. But oh so true.Especially when supported by this new information I'm going to share with you today.
More Support For the "No Diet Hypothesis"Just yesterday, I received an interesting email from Dr Gary Homann, a faculty member at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO.(Some of you may recall that we collaborated with Dr Homann a few years back and came up with some interesting insights, spotlighted here: Long Haul Training)Gary, intrigued by my last article, shared with me the results from a very telling study he completed back in 2003. Here's what he found.
2 Hours a Day and They Still Got Fatter!In Dr Homann's study, 56 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 - all of whom were in a program run by the South Dakota Department of Corrections - volunteered to get involved in a 4-6 month wellness program.The idea was to have the girls exercise for about 14 hours per week (2 hours per day consisting of various activities such as hiking, running, circuit training, step aerobics and basketball) while following the USDA Food Guide, as it appeared in 2003.At the beginning of the study and again at the end, a host of measures were recorded, including:
A step test and timed mile for cardiovascular fitnessHeight, weight, body mass index (BMI), skinfolds (for % body fat), waist and hips circumference for body composition
Shuttle run for agility
Standing jump, sit-ups and bench press test for muscular strength and endurance
And sit-and-reach and straddle tests for flexibility
So, what happened? Well, as expected, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, agility, and flexibility all improved. That's great!What's not so great is that body composition measures worsened. Instead of losing body weight and fat, these girls, on average, gained 6lbs, increased their waist circumference by 1/2 and inch, increased their hip circumference by 3/4 of an inch, and increased their body fat by over 1/2 a percentage point. Now, I don't know about you. But this isn't exactly what I'd expect to happen if I went on a 14 hour per week exercise binge!
The USDA Food Pyramid circa 2003(note: the pyramid has since been updated...thank god!)Exercise + The Food Pyramid
As you'd imagine, I'm kinda disappointed to learn that it's actually possible to gain body fat when exercising 2 hours per day, every single day. You're probably disappointed too.However, what's even more disappointing is the fact that it's possible while actually following a nutrition plan!Remember, participants in this study were following the recommendations of the USDA - you know, that famous food pyramid that everyone talks about. The one that dietitians across the land recommend that we follow. The one recommending 6-11 servings of breads, cereals, and pastas each day.
(Now, it is true that the USDA has since changed their recommendations - for the better. But can you blame me if I'm a little gun shy on backing their new recommendations? Especially after the checkered history of the last food pyramid?)
Questions
Now, you might have some questions about the study design...as I did when first reading it.
After all, maybe the girls didn't follow the USDA plan to a "T"...Or maybe they were going thru puberty at the time of the study and that explains the fat gain...Or maybe being put in a detention center isn't exactly condusive to fat loss in the first place.Well, after speaking with Dr Homann, I'm pretty confident that these factors can't really explain away the fact that these girls exercised for 2 hours every single day, while following the USDA's guidelines, and got fatter.
For starters, the girls were living in a detention center and they were provided all their meals.
So there wasn't much room to cheat.Further, the girls were starting out quite over fat. Indeed, their average body fat was just over 30% to begin with. So they did have fat to lose. And their fat gain can't be explained by simply "getting older" or "puberty".
Let's Bottom Line This:
I could probably go on and on here...but I'll spare you that. Instead, I'd like to simply say the following:
The data are pouring in. And they paint a pretty clear picture. If you want to look better, feel better, and perform at the top of your game, you definitely have to exercise...(although 14 hours a week probably isn't necessary). But, even more importantly, you've got to look after your nutrition - specifically what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat it.Indeed, without the right nutritional intake, you simply can't expect inspiring, noticeable results. Heck, in some cases, you might even expect to get worse!So don't leave your nutrition up to chance. And if you need some help getting your nutritional intake straight,
Precision Nutrittion can Help!
By:John Berardi, PhD, CSCSPresident, Precision Nutrition
Exercise Without DietA few weeks back I shared with you an article called "When Exercise Doesn't Work." And in this article, I reviewed some fascinating new research demonstrating that, without a dietary intervention, exercise doesn't have much of an impact on body composition. Even to the tune of 6 hours per week...Even when it's high intensity exercise.......participants following an exercise plan, without being cognizant of their nutritional intake, only tend to lose an extra pound of fat vs. those folks who do nothing for the same 12-16 weeks.Disheartening, I know. But oh so true.Especially when supported by this new information I'm going to share with you today.
More Support For the "No Diet Hypothesis"Just yesterday, I received an interesting email from Dr Gary Homann, a faculty member at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO.(Some of you may recall that we collaborated with Dr Homann a few years back and came up with some interesting insights, spotlighted here: Long Haul Training)Gary, intrigued by my last article, shared with me the results from a very telling study he completed back in 2003. Here's what he found.
2 Hours a Day and They Still Got Fatter!In Dr Homann's study, 56 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 - all of whom were in a program run by the South Dakota Department of Corrections - volunteered to get involved in a 4-6 month wellness program.The idea was to have the girls exercise for about 14 hours per week (2 hours per day consisting of various activities such as hiking, running, circuit training, step aerobics and basketball) while following the USDA Food Guide, as it appeared in 2003.At the beginning of the study and again at the end, a host of measures were recorded, including:
A step test and timed mile for cardiovascular fitnessHeight, weight, body mass index (BMI), skinfolds (for % body fat), waist and hips circumference for body composition
Shuttle run for agility
Standing jump, sit-ups and bench press test for muscular strength and endurance
And sit-and-reach and straddle tests for flexibility
So, what happened? Well, as expected, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, agility, and flexibility all improved. That's great!What's not so great is that body composition measures worsened. Instead of losing body weight and fat, these girls, on average, gained 6lbs, increased their waist circumference by 1/2 and inch, increased their hip circumference by 3/4 of an inch, and increased their body fat by over 1/2 a percentage point. Now, I don't know about you. But this isn't exactly what I'd expect to happen if I went on a 14 hour per week exercise binge!
The USDA Food Pyramid circa 2003(note: the pyramid has since been updated...thank god!)Exercise + The Food Pyramid
As you'd imagine, I'm kinda disappointed to learn that it's actually possible to gain body fat when exercising 2 hours per day, every single day. You're probably disappointed too.However, what's even more disappointing is the fact that it's possible while actually following a nutrition plan!Remember, participants in this study were following the recommendations of the USDA - you know, that famous food pyramid that everyone talks about. The one that dietitians across the land recommend that we follow. The one recommending 6-11 servings of breads, cereals, and pastas each day.
(Now, it is true that the USDA has since changed their recommendations - for the better. But can you blame me if I'm a little gun shy on backing their new recommendations? Especially after the checkered history of the last food pyramid?)
Questions
Now, you might have some questions about the study design...as I did when first reading it.
After all, maybe the girls didn't follow the USDA plan to a "T"...Or maybe they were going thru puberty at the time of the study and that explains the fat gain...Or maybe being put in a detention center isn't exactly condusive to fat loss in the first place.Well, after speaking with Dr Homann, I'm pretty confident that these factors can't really explain away the fact that these girls exercised for 2 hours every single day, while following the USDA's guidelines, and got fatter.
For starters, the girls were living in a detention center and they were provided all their meals.
So there wasn't much room to cheat.Further, the girls were starting out quite over fat. Indeed, their average body fat was just over 30% to begin with. So they did have fat to lose. And their fat gain can't be explained by simply "getting older" or "puberty".
Let's Bottom Line This:
I could probably go on and on here...but I'll spare you that. Instead, I'd like to simply say the following:
The data are pouring in. And they paint a pretty clear picture. If you want to look better, feel better, and perform at the top of your game, you definitely have to exercise...(although 14 hours a week probably isn't necessary). But, even more importantly, you've got to look after your nutrition - specifically what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat it.Indeed, without the right nutritional intake, you simply can't expect inspiring, noticeable results. Heck, in some cases, you might even expect to get worse!So don't leave your nutrition up to chance. And if you need some help getting your nutritional intake straight,
Precision Nutrittion can Help!
By:John Berardi, PhD, CSCSPresident, Precision Nutrition
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