I am a pretty lucky guy when it comes to knowing people in the fitness world! I am fortunate enough to be great friends with many of the top fitness professionals in the world.
I am not talking about “fitness experts” that you might see on TV doing movements they saw on youtube with crappy form and no understanding of how to actually coach or prescribe the movements.
No, I am talking about the real world experts that are in the field changing fitness for everyone. They are the ones that are the best in the world at what they do! I know metabolic training experts, corrective exercise training experts, rehab specialists, fat loss nutrition specialists and strength specialists. I have a ton of resources at my finger tips.
I am not telling you this to brag, but more to introduce an awesome tool that my good friend BJ Gaddour has out there called StreamFit. It is an amazing resource for training programs you can do anywhere streamed right to your computer or smart phone.
Now, you might be wondering why I am telling you all this? Won’t that have people leaving the gym to do StreamFit Workouts at home?
I have no doubt that BJ’s programs are great, and I have even used some of them. However, I know that there is no substitute for educating our awesome clients on how to get even better results, providing them awesome tools and resources and ensuring that they can do what we ask anywhere at any time. I would rather you use this tool than P90X or one of those other DVD/homework programs out there. At least I know all the contributors for this are quality fitness professionals and I know them each personally.
The other thing that makes me comfortable recommending you look at this resource is that I know you can’t substitute the energy, coaching and atmosphere you get at Force Fitness anywhere in the world. I know we have one of the very best programs for group metabolic training, personal training and athletic development in the entire world! Our coaches are world class, our programs are top notch and the support system you have from our entire team and your fellow training partners is second to none! You just can’t get the results that you get in our program anywhere!
Let’s just say, I aint’ scared 
Here is a quick little minute burst you can do anywhere to enhance your fitness results. 
Here is another ab workout: 
I wanted to get you a resource that you can use at home or on the road to stay in great shape. I hope you enjoyed it!
REMEMBER: Saturday May 12th is our Fundraiser Boot Camp Day! 8am bring a friend and we are donating $5 to Girls Inc for every person that attends our workout. The best part is it is free!
I experiment with a lot of new stuff for fat loss. It’s true, I am willing to try almost anything to see if it gets results and there is enough proof, either social or research to make me think it is worth trying. Some of these things that I try are great and others flop, some have probably even been adverse to my health for a while. Hey, it’s all in the name of getting you better results.
While this post isn’t really about a new training methodology or brand new supplement I am going to fill you in on three of my new favorite tricks or items that can get you great results!
Protein in my coffee!
Since about Christmas time I have been drinking more coffee in an attempt to get away from my Diet Mountain Dew habit. I have tried this before and it usually works fine while it is cold outside but then I go back to my old ways once the spring and summer roll around I the last thing I want to drink in the morning is a hot cup of coffee.
While this little trick isn’t new to me it was recently reintroduced to me by my wife. She is always making my life better
Lately I have been putting a scoop of flax meal (I will talk about that in a bit) and one scoop of protein in my coffee in the morning. Either vanilla or chocolate works, but I am partial to my chocolate flavored coffee. It seems to cool it down, make it tolerable for me to drink the morning and tastes great! Kim even loves it and she hates regular coffee. This is a great way to get an extra shot of protein in the morning and get your caffeine in as well!
The trick to this is using quality protein. Add it is slowly and keep stirring or it might get a little gritty. The flax meal will add a bit of chunkiness to the coffee and you can leave it out if you want but it is a great way to get some omega 3 fats in and fiber as well. If there is one thing that will keep you regular it is some flax in your coffee!
If you don’t want to make coffee I have another trick that I used to use a long time ago as well which is putting a small scoop of instant coffee, and now I think they even have little individual instant coffee packs from Starbucks, into your protein shake to give it a different flavor. What a great way to change up the pace of your shakes, especially if you are like me and pretty much live off them in the morning every day of the year.
Flax Pax
These are one of best things to happen to me in a while. In the midst of a pretty hardcore phase of my training and nutrition I needed to make sure in a reduced caloric state that I was getting enough healthy fats and fiber. Not to mention traveling usually messes with my digestive system and screws me up for days, this presents several problems when you are on the road pretty much every week.
Flax is a great source of omega 3s, it doesn’t replace fish oil, but it is a great way to help reduce some inflammation and balance out your intake of other fats including omega 6 and 9s. The majority of us don’t get a quality balance of these omega fats and our ratios are skewed in the direction of 6s and 9s. The one problem with flax is that you have to have it milled or meal, which basically just means ground up. If you eat whole flax seeds your digestive system won’t break through the outter shell of the seed and it pass through you and you won’t get the benefits of the healthy fats. However, it isn’t tough to find flax meal or milled flax to get in your diet.
The problem is usually that it comes in a big bag and you have to measure it out each time you want some and it is a pain to take with you unless you prebag all your protein supplement servings for the day. Well, I found a solution! They are called Flax Pax and it is an individually packaged 2 TBSP serving of flax meal that I can take with me anywhere, travel with it and it makes it easy to get in my healthy servings of flax each day. These things have been great to add to my shakes, but on salads and add a bit of healthy fats and fiber to my nutrition plan. You can find Flax Pax at Kroger in the organic food section right next to the other flax meals.
BCAA
BCAAs are not new to us in the fitness world. They have been around for ever and it stands for Branched Chain Amino Acids. These are basically the building blocks of protein and contain the essential amino acids needed for us to survive. One of the coolest things about these are that they are metabolized in the muscle of our bodies and not the liver. They are actually given to liver failure patients to retain lean muscle mass. You may not care about that unless you actually have liver failure. Some of you (I have seen you drink) may want to stock pile your supply of BCAAs
The real reason that these made my list is because I recently added these into my supplement program. Again, I am on a hardcore training and nutrition phase and tend to lost muscle mass like crazy as I try to get below a certain body fat percentage and body weight. I was trying to avoid ingesting carbs during my training as it slows down my fat loss, but I needed something to hold off muscle loss. IN come BCAAs! After just 5 days of supplementing with them I have noticed my lean mass is more defined, I recover faster and my fat loss sped back up. It was amazing. I look better than ever right now as I am dieting down to a low body fat percentage.
I completely tie this into BCAAs as that was the only change that I made. I no longer feel drained, I can kick ass during my training and I am not really hungry. It is a win-win. The easiest way to take these is in pill form and our partners over Prograde have some great research and info on it : http://forcefitness.getprograde.com/branched-chain-amino-acids.html
My recommendation is taking 2-3 doses prior to training and 2-3 after. If you are really training and dieting hard I would take that dose plus one extra dose or two with any snacks or between meals. This is a sure fire way to improve your progress as it maintains your lean tissue as you get lean and from what I can see keeps your metabolism running at full steam even if you can feed yourself every 3 hours.
This is definitely going into my must have supplement list from now on!
Summer is right around the corner and besides sexy abs one of the most sought after attributes are sexy arms. Seriously, who doesn’t want a great set of guns to parade around during the warm summer months is sleeveless tees, tank tops and your swim suit?
I know that I was one of the biggest advocates AGAINST direct arm training until just recently. I had an epiphany and figured out a way to train my arms and still get in the work that I need to keep me moving well and getting the results I wanted. Now I have a few secrets that allow me to get the biggest bang for my buck when it comes to arm training.
Before we move any further I have to tell you that if you want sexy arms we can’t only focus on the bicep. The real key to sexy arms are great triceps and shoulders. If you have great triceps your biceps will look better! So push ups and pressing are still key in your program, don’t avoid those for concentration curls, in fact don’t do any concentration curls at all.
Here are three great tri-sets that you can do to get great arms for the summer. If you do this workout 2-3 times a week at the end of your current program you will have sexy looking, toned arms in no time!
To complete the tri-set you will complete 20s of work for each movement and seamlessly move into the next movement. No rest is to be taken between exercises. At the end of the third exercise you can rest for 20s and then repeat one more time.
Tri-Set One Sexy Shoulders
20s Alt DB Press
20s Alt Lateral Raises
20s Alt Front Raises
20s Rest and Repeat
Triset Two Tantalizing Triceps
20s Close Grip Push Ups
20s Tall Kneeling DB Alt Tricep Extensions
20s Top ½ Push Ups w/ Band
20s Rest and Repeat
Triset Three Bodacious Biceps
20s Alt Hammer Curls – Heavy
20s Iso Squat Concentration Curls
20s Eccentric Supine Grip Curls 5s down each
20s Rest and Repeat
Enjoy!
I am in the midst of getting into the best shape of my life! I have a serious bet going on right now with a few people and the goal was to reach a body weight that I have not been at in over 6 years. The day after this workout I hit my lowest bodyweight in over 2 years and cracked the elusive, for me, 230lbs mark. Normally for me to go below 230lbs I must be completely dedicated to my nutrition and training, and this is exactly what I have been doing for the past several weeks.
As I wrote in the email today, I just got back Thursday night from a business trip and I did not, I mean REALLY DID NOT, want to train. I was tired and wiped out from the dieting that I have been doing and the last thing that seemed appealing to me was taking myself through a training sessions. Luckily, I had written out a training idea I had that day in one of our meetings and figured I would go to the gym, take myself through this new workout and see what happened.
Taking that first step and just telling myself I would get to the gym is the first step. Once I arrived I knew it was going to be game on for the workout.
The only tools that I used for this workout was a low box and my bodyweight. I progressively moved up in intensity each round and it was pretty tough!
The timed workout lasted right at 34 minutes and I was dripping with sweat at the end.
The workout consisted of doing 30s of low box cardio drilss combined with core stability work for 6os. I rotated through 5 movements/exercises for each and I did 4 rounds. If you have a low box or old aerobic step this will workout just fine!
Round 1
30s- Low Box Running at a moderate pace
60s – Alt Arm and Leg Birddog Hold
30s- Low Box Burpee step outs
60s – Opposite arm and leg birddog holds
30s- Ground Zero Jumps
60s – Alt Dead Bug Holds (Switch at half way)
30s- Skater Jumps level 1
60s- Plank
30s- Low Box Lateral Step Offs
60s – Side Plank switching at half way
Rest 60s
Round 2
30s- Low Box Running at fast pace
60s- Birddog holds with belly breathes
30s- Low Box Burpees with vertical jump
60s- birddogs again
30s- Ground Zero Jumps w/ higher jump
60s- Alternating Deadbug holds
30s – Skater Jumps level 2
60s- Plank
30s- Out In Out Low Box Drill
60s- Side Plank switching half way
Rest 60s
Round 3
30s- Fast as possible Low Box Running
60s- Birddog opposite arm and leg w/ movement
30s- Low Box Burpee + Jump onto box
60s- switch birrdog sides
30s- Ground Zero Jumps High as Possible
60s- Alternating Movement Deadbugs
30s- Skater Jumps Level 3
60s- Plank
30s- Out In Out 180 Jumps on Low Box
60s- Side Plank switching half way
Rest 60s
Round 4
30s- Fast as possible Low Box Running
60s- Birddog opposite arm and leg w/ movement
30s- Alternating Single Arm Burpee
60s-Birddog opposite arm and leg w/ movement
30s- Ground Zero Jumps High as Possible
60s- Alternating Movement Deadbugs
30s- Skater Jumps Level 3
60s- Plank
30s- Out In Out 180 Jumps on Low Box
60s- Side Plank switching half way
Workout Complete
After spending several days in Frisco, TX teaching about 50 of the top fitness professionals in the country about running a fitness business I got to spend sometime with my good friends BJ Gaddour, Mike Robertson, Eric Cressey and Dave “The Band Man” Schmitz. These guys are the leaders in the strength and fitness industry. Seriously! I am sure that you have heard of a few of them before and others fly under the radar for the general public and focus on coaching the fitness professionals. The coolest thing about my trips like this are that I always learn something new from these guys.
Here are the top 4 things that I learned from my good friend at the Elite Training Workshop:
Bands are an amazing tool that are only limited by your imagination
I am a huge fan of bands, and that is obvious if you come into our facility. We use bands in everything from the warm up to the workouts and in hundreds of ways. I am a huge fan of bands because you can use them to train anywhere any time and get in a great workout. Not only that, but the bands that “The Band Man” uses are great for anyone. Athletes to the fitness junkie, advanced workout freaks to the absolute beginner. If I had to start up a home gym it would be 90% comprised of these bands. In fact, I never travel without my set of bands.
I got to spend a few minutes with Dave talking about training for our athletes and adults alike and how to better use the bands! Watch out for some new workouts very soon!
If you want to pick up some bands, just let us know and we have them at Force!
Core work should be kept simple, but not easy
It is too easy to let your simple core work and functional training seem easy. However, the simple little details that we try to pay so much attention to at Force Fitness make all the difference. Simple things like birddogs, planks and other basic core moves can be really tough when done right. If you want to get the most out of your training focus on the basics and do them really well. I started thinking to my own training and realized that I focus on basic training movements all the time and try to keep challenging myself to do them better each month, month after month. I never master the movements and it is always a challenge to my body.
It is fun to do fancy and new movements, however the majority of your program should be focused on doing things the right way and doing them really well. Have complete focus on each simple movement and watch it, no feel it, become much tougher.
Corrective work must have a focus
My buddy Eric Cressey is the shoulder guru. This guy knows more about shoulders than anyone else that I have ever met. He works with hundreds of baseball athletes from the age of 9 to guys in the MLB and he is the go to resource for our corrective work with shoulders. This weekend after watching EC go through a ton of shoulder rehab work with our attendees at the event I realized that you have to really focus on doing these correctly. This isn’t something that I didn’t already know, but after watching fitness professionals try to do the movements right I realized that it is even more important for our coaching clients to do these movements with a purpose.
Make sure that if you have corrective work, stretching or mobility work in your training program that you are doing it with a purpose. I think too many of us try to fly through this stuff without thinking and get it done so that we can start our program. Start focusing on your corrective work with the same intensity as your workout and watch your body change!
Metabolic Training is Fun!
One of my all time favorites is BJ Gaddour! BJ is the godfather of metabolic training in this era. He has been a good friend for a long time and has literally changed the way that fitness professionals all over the world program their boot camps and metabolic conditioning. BJ always makes things fun and he is one of the funniest guys that I know. Not to mention that he has a motor that doesn’t stop and is the sweatiest man alive. A title that I once thought went to me!
BJ has so many ways to plan out your metabolic training and it makes it fun to continually see the changes he makes.
One thing that I got from BJ this weekend is that we have to continue to challenge ourselves in a workout. You must have the mental toughness to push as hard as you possibly can to get the results you want. Don’t let the little voice in your head let you stop or keep you from reaching the next level. The great thing about metabolic training is that you don’t have to think about anything, just do it. Make sure you are pushing as hard as possible during your short, intense metabolic workouts so that you get the absolute maximal results from your program.
I hope that you can take these 4 things and make your training even better than it already is! I know that it will change the way I look at my personal training programs and our clients’ programs at Force.
We want to welcome our newest members of the client Wall of Fame at Force Fitness!
Congratulations to Deb Dunbar the Force Fitness Client of the Month!
Deb Dunbar has been with Force Fitness since Mid-January and has lost 20 pounds and 14 inches! She says she isn’t quite to her goal but is almost at her halfway point, and feels driven to reach her goal. She plans on making working out a way of life.
Deb really enjoys the trainers’ philosophy and staff at Force. She likes that she is accomplishing steps toward her goal due to the customized work outs and the pushing from the evening staff. She says there is no doubt that Force has an incredible team who know their mission and values and believes in what you do. “Force people are the absolute best!”
Deb started coming to Force when she met Amber through a presentation to a group that she is one of the members. As Amber explained the philosophy and approach of Force, something clicked and she decided to make a life change. She met with Amber 2 days later and started working toward her goals. She was scared to death to go to her first session, but now she cannot wait and wants to attend more and more training days per week.
Deb says that since Force asks their clients to be 90% compliant in and out of the gym, she tries to be 99% compliant with her nutrition and workouts. She supplements at home workouts when she is not at Force for her three times a week of personal training.
Deb says her family and friends really notice a mental and physical change and she sees the beginning of a process of change. Keep working hard to reach your goals!
Congratulations to George Trippany the Force Fitness Boot Camper of the Month!
George has been with Force Fitness for one year and has lost 80 pounds, numerous inches, reduced his body fat percentage into the teens, and gained a lot of confidence! His goal now is to continue to maintain! He says that he is NOT going back!
George really enjoys the fact that at Force he knows he is not alone. He has his loving wife is right by his side for inspiration. He loves the family atmosphere. He says it is like a family because everyone knows how difficult it is and they support each other in trying to reach their goals then maintain.
George started coming to Force for the Summer Slim down Challenge in April 2011 as part of the team Chicken Florentine! He started coming and has not stopped. He was also the individual winner of that challenge! He was nervous when he first started, as he had met Ryan a few years back at the softball fields and always shrugged off the invites to boot camp as he figured it was not for him. Boy was George wrong! He looks forward to his Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday workouts.
George has been very successful by sticking to the program that Force has provided, mentally, physically, and nutritionally. He tries to push himself every workout and goes to boot camp 3 to 4 times a week. He focuses on eating protein and veggies and takes a multivitamin and fish oil supplements.
His family and friends are amazed and impressed and cannot believe all he has achieved! He loves it! We encourage George to keep pushing himself and working hard!
Congratulations to Caleb Arthur the Force Fitness Athlete of the Month!
The team at Force Fitness and Performance has selected Caleb Arthur as the athlete of the month. Caleb has been selected for his hard work, amazing results, and outstanding attitude.
Caleb has been training at Force for almost 1 ½ years and has literally transformed his body to become a great athlete. Caleb has focused his efforts on becoming the best football player possible, through improvements in strength, power and explosiveness. Achieving goals along the way Caleb’s confidence has improved and along with it his DESIRE has grown even more!
Caleb has seen tremendous results in his Olympic lifts; his Snatch has improved nearly 50 lbs in the last 6 months. Along with that Caleb’s bodyweight has decreased, while his overall muscle mass has increased!
Caleb is motivated by always looking forward to next week. He has clearly defined goals and each week he is working on knocking down the next barrier and getting better. His favorite part of training is, TRAINING! He loves the feeling he gets from working out.
The entire Force team would like to congratulate Caleb on his outstanding accomplishments and look forward to watching him perform in 2012!
Congratulations Jodi Trippany for taking home the 2012 Transformation Contest Grand Prize of $1000 Cash, a 90 minute Massage a few more choice items !
Jodi worked her butt off, literally, as did all of our contestants in this 8 week contest. We are proud of each and everyone of you but the voters have spoken and Jodi was elected as the Grand Prize Winner of our 2012 contest. Not only does she get $1000 cash and free massage but she is moving on to the National Contest that will be voted on very soon for the chance to be in the Personal Trainer Foods National Advertising Campaign. We wish you luck at the next level Jodi, you have earned this!
Jodi Trippany
Start: 178.8
End: 146.4
Total Lost: 32.4 = 18% body weight lost
Inches off belly button: 36.5 to 29.25 = 7.25
Dalane Anderson took home the second place prize! We hadn’t really planned on doing a cash prize but do to the overwhelming number of votes Dalane got we had to give her $500 cash and a massage gift certificate for her efforts!
Dalane Anderson
Start: 181.2
End: 166.4
Total lost: 14.8 = 8% of BW lost
Inches off Belly Button: 40.25 to 36.75 = 3.5
Chris Howell made a valiant effort and a good run at the title but came up just short in the votes but big in the results category! Congrats Chris on the breakthroughs. You will are getting a massage gift certificate!
Chris Howell
Start: 314.8
End: 289.4
Total lost: 25.4 = 8% Bodyweight
Inches lost from belly button: 50.5 to 47 = 3.5
Since coming back from the IYCA Summit in Louisville, a grueling 4 days I might add, this past weekend I have been thinking a lot about training and systems. You see, everything that we do revolves around a system, or at least it should. Our training programs are a system, we have a nutrition system, we have a business system. These systems are nothing more than processes of if-then scenarios and actions that we take to get certain results.
This also got me thinking about the book I am currently reading called “Worked The System.” It is about using the systems, or creating them if you don’t have them, to create an efficient and effective machine for any process. The key to any book is figuring out how to take the practical knowledge and concepts from the book and fit them into your life or business. I am not finished with this book yet, so I may have an incomplete thought, but I put together a system for getting the best results in the fat loss world.
I must give credit to my good friend BJ Bliffert that gave me some insight to a Venn diagram that he created for getting optimal results. It has three parts, actually his had four, but for the purpose of this article we will talk in terms of the three I feel are most important. These three parts are fitness (workouts), nutrition and supplements. IF you have one and not the others you are likely to get mediocre results at best. You can figure that some changes will occur, but nothing drastic. The magic happens when we put all three systems to use in an efficient way. In today’s post I want to fill you in on how easy you can turn your body into a fat burning, fitness machine.
1) Start with fitness or working out. This is a great way to begin moving and increase your metabolism. The best system for this is total body training in a metabolic fashion. Think paring exercises, doing circuits and hitting your big bang for you buck exercises. There is no greater feeling than doing a workout that jacks your metabolism up so high you can actually feel it working. It is a warm, tingly feeling that you get after your workout for hours. You know what I am talking about…. the workout that has you sweating even after you take a shower.
If you have never experienced one of those workouts you need to push a little harder. See if there is a light at the end of that tunnel
2) Set up a plan for your nutrition. This can be a very simple plan to get you started and you can make adjustments as you go, but you have to start with the basics. Eat breakfast, include protein at every meal, stay away from starchy carbs and fill up on veggies. Once you have this down I recommend sticking to three moderate sized meals and one snack or pre workout drink.
Yes, you read that correctly! I recommended three meals and not 5 or 6. It has come to my attention that people simply can’t get in that many meals and they typically overeat when they do. So, we have made this simple, remember systems are supposed to make life easier.
3) Supplement with the basics. Most people fall short at this point. They don’t get what they should supplement with to get the best results and often times the skip the basics to get to the high octane stuff. I hate to break it to you but most of the high octane stuff is crap and it won’t help you anyway if you are missing out on eating right and working out.
I can put rocket fuel in an old, beat up car but it isn’t going to run like a rocket.
Start by getting in a great multivitamin and fish oil. These should be staples in everyone’s plan. Next up is a protein supplement or meal replacement so that you can eat on the run if needed and get in quality protein. After this you should look into a recovery drink or shake.
Finally if you are eating right, training hard and covered your supplement basics you can add in a metabolism booster or other supplement to help you reach your goals. Just remember that these will likely only give you a small boost and aren’t going to be a band aid for a crappy diet or lack of intensity when training.
When you can put all of these together, a great training program, solid nutrition and proper supplementation you can create fat loss magic and keep getting amazing results.
I was sitting at the computer and just couldn’t think of anything to write about for this post. I was trying to come up with something fun and creative, but that isn’t my forte
So, I went back to wheelhouse and kept things at an elementary level of thinking and creativity. I mean this post is about as advanced as finger painting!
Every time I think about our clients and how to get them better results I always come back to the simple things. It isn’t the advanced techniques, nutrition practices or workouts that gets the best results. 99% of the time it is the simple things that get the biggest results for all of our clients. Let’s face it, most of us (including myself) aren’t even close to needing advanced methods of training and nutrition to get us where we want to go and the body we want. If we do reach the point that we need these advanced methods it is usually for a brief period of time to break through a plateau.
We need to get back to the ABC’s of fat loss to get the best results.
A- Avoid starchy carbs, except prior to or after your strength training
B- Bust your butt! Work hard in the gym and make each session count
C- Consistency. This will trump advanced methods everytime
D- Don’t give up- you will have to fight through some rough spots, but you can’t fall off the wagon
E- Expect Results – this once comes right from our accronym for CHANGE- if you expect results you will do what is needed to get them.
F- FORCE- okay I had to put this in there somewhere- if you want results you come here
G- Get your mind right. If you have the right mindset you can overcome many obstacles
H- Honesty. Be honest with yourself about your goals and what you are willing to do to get them. Lying about your effort or food isn’t going to fool your fat.
I- Intensity. Put for the effort in your training and nutrition for best results.
J- Jump. Dive right into your program, don’t think about it, just get it done.
K- Keep pace. Know what pace you need to move to reach your goals in time.
L- Learn. The more you know the better you will understand the changes you need to get great results.
M- Metabolic Conditioning- once you reach a baseline level of strength you need to do some metabolic conditioning to get great results.
N- Nutrition is king. To get the best results for fat loss you have to have your nutrition in order.
O- Overcome Obstacles- Know and understand what these will be for you and you can plan to overcome them.
P- Plan. Having a nutrition plan and training plan is essential to your success.
Q- Question. Ask questions and educate yourself on how to get better results. Ask yourself if what you are doing is working or do you need to change?
R- Recovery. You have to be able to recover from your training to consistently change your body
S- Strength. Have strength to
T- Teamwork. Find a support system and use them get better results. A team can do more than any individual.
U- Uncomfortable. You must be comfortable getting uncomfortable to get great results. Get out of your comfort zone and push yourself to new heights
V- Variety. You need variety in your diet and your training to get continuous results.
W- Why? You have to know the real reason and motivating factor for you wanting to change.
X- X out excuses. No one really cares and we all. have them. The faster you learn to quit giving yourself an out the faster you can get your results.
Y-You. To get the best results you have to be doing this for yourself.
Z- Zeal. If you have a passion to get results you will do whatever is needed to get them.
Okay, that is the end of my ridiculous post! I hope you got at least one thing out of this list that will help you get better results.
Every treadmill, elliptical and cardio machine that people get on seems to emphasize one thing…. Calories Burned.
Several times I am asked how many calories are burned during a boot camp, strength training session, etc during one of our training sessions. The easy answer is – I have no idea!
Yes, you read that correctly, we have no idea how many calories you burn during a typical workout. The amount of calories you burn is dependent on dozens, if not hundreds, of factors including intensity, muscle mass, body weight, duration, stimulant intake, heart rate, metabolic rate, efficiency, and the list goes on and on. Even those little gadgets that claim to measure your caloric burn are probably inaccurate. I could be wrong, but I wouldn’t put money on their accuracy.
With the type of training we do at Force their are many other factors to consider besides the number of calories that we burn during the workout. That is a very short sighted way to approach your fitness or fat loss goals. And I want to explain the reasoning behind it….
During our high intensity workouts both personal training and group metabolic work (boot camp) you are putting a great deal of stress on the body. You are using creating a very high metabolic demand on your muscles and energy systems. Because of the the damage that you are doing to your muscles and the way the the program is designed you will continue to burn calories at an elevated level for up to 24-48 hours after your workouts. Unlike typical cardio you will burn and elevated number of calories during the work period, but as soon as you stop you will return to normal very quickly. With metabolic training you will continue to have an increased metabolic effect for long after you are finished. Have you ever noticed that you feel hot and energized after your work for a few hours? Something just feels different? That is the increase in your metabolism from the EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). This EPOC will cause you to burn more calories to help the body recover and return to its normal state.
For this reason we have to look much more indepth at our caloric expenditure than during the workout alone. If you eat right, train hard and monitor your progress you will quickly notice that counting calories, trying to figure out your energy balance and being obsessive about how many calories you burn during a workout.
If you want to look like this you can monitor your calories and only worry about burning more than you consume:
If you want to look like this you can eat the right foods (protein, veggies and healthy fats), train hard and make sure you recover well:
It doesn’t have to be complicated to get in great shape, you just have to be willing to consistently do the right things!
