I was reading a post at Tom Venutos blog which was a question from a guy in Scotland that says that all of his friends drink, and everyone in Scotland drinks a lot of alcohol and how can he change and entire country so that he can live a healthier lifestyle. Of course everyone just says “change your friends” but as much as this seems like the easy answer it is not an easy thing to do. Tom says to change yourself and let those changes influence your actions. Here is a quote.

Once you accept a new lifestyle to the point that it becomes your identity, you can’t go back. You can’t say to yourself “I am a bodybuilder” and mean it, right down to the deepest subconscious level, and then go out drinking every weekend - it is simply not congruent, and your nervous system will short circuit behaviors that might sabotage you as a bodybuilder.

And the same works in reverse. If your identity is, “I am a drinker,” you cannot fight the automatic behaviors that are generated as a result, because it’s subconscious mind you are working against and thats a fight you always lose in the long term.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Now that it is College Basketball playoff time we get to see a lot of young kids interviewed after games and often they say things like “I gave it 100%” or “I left everything I had on the court” or my very unfavorite (as my daughter would say) “I gave it 110%”.

Gave it 110% eh? Well that does not even make sense but the reason thaqt people say that is that they want to stress that they had nothing left except what they did today. The fact is it is impossible to give your workouts, whether cardio or weight everything all of the time. You have off days and you have times when you are a bit tired or your diet is not quite there on a particular day.

To really make gains ion strength or losses in fat you need to go beyond your norm, beyond 90% and remember how these college athletes do things trying to get to the final 4. I have always been a believer that if I do a set of bench press the first few reps are useless for strength increases. The only reps that matter are the ones where you are pushing your already known strength limits and reaching to levels of strength where you have never been, the last couple of reps is where all of the muscle gets created to be needed next time. Read the rest of this entry »

Whenever we are aiming for a big change such as weight loss, we obviously need to change our lifestyle and eating habits. This is when we start making excuses. But you have to remember that excuses will take you nowhere. Excuses won’t help you to lose weight; diet and exercises will do. If you really want to lose weight, you need to be thoroughly disciplined. If you dig deeper into the kind of excuses you make, you will see that some of them are just baseless.

What you need to know is how to stop making excuses and reach your weight loss goal fast.

To save themselves from the rigors of diet and exercise, people tend to make various excuses. If you ask them to exercise, they will say that it is too boring and that they don’t feel comfortable doing it; still others will pronounce that they haven’t got any time for exercise because they have got to juggle with a family and a job. If you ask them to diet, they will say that they don’t have any time to cook those healthy meals or that it is too boring. Even though people want to lose weight, they don’t want to take the necessary action because of the fear of failure; hence the lame excuses. Read the rest of this entry »

With the rise in awareness about the different diseases associated with obesity, more and more people are trying to lose weight. People can lose weight in several different ways. There are weight loss programs created by professionals which individuals can join for a fee; then there are diet pills and supplements that claim to help people lose weight.

However, as a matter of fact, not all weight loss pills and supplements are that effective and it is hard to tell which ones would really work! A better option is to start losing weight through a healthy diet plan coupled with an effective exercise program.

First of all, you need to decide what you really want from your weight loss program. Do you just want to shed off a few pounds, or lose weight? Remember there is a difference of heaven and hell between losing weight and losing just a few pounds; the former will require an entirely different approach than the latter. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to weight loss, you should never take someone else’s advice. One reason behind this is that everyone’s weight loss adventure is different. There are people who never reach their weight loss goals, and then there are people who not only conquer their food intake successfully but also lose weight and become slim.

There are folks who never lose beyond a certain amount of weight and then get stuck to that level; others make it successfully to the top. If you really want to lose weight, the best way to do this is to set a weight loss goal, and for that you need to have a clear idea of what you really want from your weight loss program.

Here are the four basics that you need to internalize to help you lose weight and not only continue losing but not put it back on Read the rest of this entry »

Ever noticed that when you are tired and do not feel like exercising that it quickly passes when you just get up and get a bit of movement? Well you are not alone. A recent study from the University of Georgia seems to prove that exercise will over come tiredness. Here is a quote from the author of the study:

“Too often we believe that a quick workout will leave us worn out, especially when we are already feeling fatigued,” Tim Puetz, who helped conduct the study, said in a statement.

“However, we have shown that regular exercise can actually go a long way in increasing feelings of energy, particularly in sedentary individuals.”

So next time that you are tired remember this post. Even better, start to exercise without even thinking about it. If you are even a little tired it is really easy for your mind to convince you not to workout at all.

I was listening into a conversation going on around me yesterday about whether it is worth it to work out. I am sure that my workplace is no different then any other where we talk ourselves into and out of things through conversation with others.

Martin and Christina where talking about whether to work out or not. Christina has not used her treadmill since she got it and Martin said that it is tough and boring to use equipment and that there is so much more to do in life then to walk or run on a treadmill.

Neither Christina nor Martin need to lose weight, I have no idea about their fitness level but if you feel OK when you look in the mirror it is hard to workout or rather easy to make an excuse not to workout.

So here goes the rant.

I know that working out is tough, I know that working out takes time and I know that it can be boring or inconvenient so why not hit all of these factors head-on. Read the rest of this entry »

Depression is one of those illnesses that can be helped in a large part by starting an exercise program. Exercise as any seasoned runner knows will increase endorphin levels and the idea of a runners high is very much something that can help a person. Add the regulating of hormones that happens as you get in better shape and you have a great prescription to a better attitude and a cure to some peoples depression

The number of doctors prescribing exercise for people with mild to moderate depression has increased significantly in the past three years.

According to the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) 22 per cent of GPs now prescribe exercise therapy as one of their three most common treatments for depression.

This compares to just five per cent who did so three years ago.

GPs’ beliefs about exercise therapy have also changed since 2005, a survey by the charity revealed.

Over six in ten GPs now think that a supervised programme of exercise is ‘very effective’ or ‘quite effective’ in treating mild to moderate depression, compared to just over four in ten three years ago.

Two thirds of the 200 GPs polled who currently do not have access to an exercise referral scheme say they would use one if it were available.

The MHF described the survey’s findings as “excellent news” but warned that exercise on prescription is still not widely available.

Less than half of GPs are able to access an exercise therapy referral scheme for people with depression.

“There is a real need for increased availability of exercise on prescription so that it is accessible alongside antidepressant medication and psychological therapies,” said MHF chief executive Andrew McCulloch.

“Depression is a complex illness – it is important that GPs have a range of treatments to offer and that people with depression have a choice.”

The MHF is working in six sites in areas that offer exercise referral schemes to identify the barriers preventing the schemes from being offered universally.

I was so excited this year about new years resolutions that I decided to create minor ones to support my big ones for the year for February.

Of course I am a little off pace after January for my new years resolutions but I can almost expect this. I always seem to aim too high and then when real life gets in the way I have to ratchet back my goals a bit. I have done this before and I will do it again and I expect it.

So I have made some nice smaller goals that are all about consistency. I have decided that there are certain things in my life that have not been gelling together and nothing will fix this faster then consistent effort and small results.

My fitness took a bit of a fall in January when I hurt my back and now my back is better so I am again looking at cardio every day and then taking out cardio days for weight days as I go through February.

Last week I was again reading the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and it reminded me of a couple of things that I am doing terribly wrong in my life. First email, I check email constantly during the day so now I have decided as a way to save time I will only be checking mail a few times, maybe 3 or 4 times a day and either dealing with or deleting what I do not need. My email mailboxes are sitting at 3000 or 4000 messages across a few accounts and most of it is just junk and spam. I am not much better with reading RSS feeds and right now I follow about 300 different blogs, I will be cutting back on that too.

Another thing that I am looking at now is that I have made really great changes with my eating and not snacking at night. I am proud of these changes but now I am looking back on my new years resolutions and realize that the next step is cutting back on my pop and chocolate. This change in diet will not be as big as the other changes that I have made but I always like to make sure that I am moving in a more healthy lifestyle and going in the right direction at all times is more important then making those big changes that we always seem to strive for.

So now that I have shared all of that what are you going to be doing? As we all know most new years resolutions have failed already for most so it is my guess that now that we are into February you can make some better decisions and easier to attain goals that are all about you and not what you want to tell everyone else.

Share them or keep them private, but I really do believe that this is the best time to make better  goals and resolutions that will stick.

Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training sent this email about what to do to keep yourself motivated to workout even when you don’t feel like it.

There will be days (everyday?) when you don’t feel like doing your workout.

Sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed.

Sometimes you don’t want to leave your office because you feel like there are too many deadlines (but this is when you need a workout the most!).

Sometimes you don’t want to end story time with the kids only to head down to the basement gym.

It even happens to me.

But I knew how I’d feel like a million bucks after the workout.

And in the end, I know I can’t let myself become “soft” and start skipping workouts. I have to lead by example.

But if you are set on achieving a goal, then when it’s workout time, come heck or high water you’ve got to bear down and do the job.

Workout Motivation Tips

1) Reward yourself. Finish your workout and treat yourself to a magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new songs for your IPOD, or even a little extra time for yourself.

2) Or set up a punishment for missing workouts. Skip the workout, put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. Make sure your spouse controls the jar.

3) Review your goals everyday and every night. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind will help you stay on track.

4) Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting your butt to the gym. Once you get 5 minutes into the workout, you will be over the hump. So tell yourself, “I’ll just go in and do 1 set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go”. Next thing you know, you’ll have done the entire workout.

5) Visualize yourself doing a great workout and finishing strong. Get yourself mentally prepared and you will literally have better workouts each time.

6) Crank the tunes. Seriously, nothing motivates like music.

7) Get social support. If you have a workout partner, you’ll feel like crap if you let them down. Or become accountable to everyone in the Turbulence Training workout forums…if you don’t post your workouts, they’ll track you down and demand to know why you’ve fallen off track! So online or offline, get everyone on your side!

Now get out there and kick the fat to the curb,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS