If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

One of the biggest complaints that I hear from people getting started, or trying to get stated, in working out is:

“Where will I find the time to workout?”

We all lead busy days and often the time between the morning when we get up and the evening when we go to sleep goes by in a blur of work, family, preparing meals, finding and foraging for food and getting a little bit of downtime.

So where do we find that few minutes a day to workout? I think that I have a bit of an answer.

Get you priorities straight

First things first. Look at your day from the time that you awake until the time that you go to sleep. What are you doing in every 15 minute block? You may think of this as micromanagement but really it is more important to look at your day and see little gaps and times when you are not batching your work. Read the rest of this entry »

What gets you motivated to workout, or to eat well? I know that sometimes this is a struggle for me and if I create a habit that makes exercise a part of my day automatically then it will happen.

Today is a very snowy day in Calgary (how many times has that come up on this blog?) and I know that my normal daily schedule tomorrow is going to get thrown off. I like to get on my bike and ride to work but there is no way that I can ride in a foot of snow and will take the bus instead.

Eating is the same way. I have a plan in the morning of exactly what goes into my lunch bag and I know right now that I will be having oatmeal for breakfast, bringing an apple and orange for snacks as well as a coke and chocolate bar and I will be having chicken left over from tonights dinner 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 »

Warming up before exercise is critically important for you so as to not injure yourself or pull muscles like I did on the weekend. There are a few steps to good stretching and if you do these steps you will have a good workout and not have to fear that you are going to pull, teat, or stretch muscles and stay healthy instead.

1. Start off with a good walk, jog, or run. Whatever you do first. The cardio helps the blood and oxygen flow through your body. Always remember when you do cardio, start off slow and then increase your pace, then slow down towards the end to prevent the blood from rushing to the legs.
2. After you have warmed up is the only time that you should stretch. Stretching is a physical exercise that when done cold can lead to strains and muscle pulls (I can vouch for that just a week ago)
3. Stretch one arm across your chest. Make sure it is straight as you go across. This is very important. Do this twice on each arm. Hold 10 seconds each. This will stretch you upper back and your shoulders.
4. Lift your arm up over your head and touch your shoulder blade with your hand. Make sure everything is straight again to get all the benefits. Do twice on each arm, hold 10 seconds each. This stretch is to stretch all the muscles going down your sides as well as the triceps of your arm.
5. Stretch your neck side to side and down. Hold each for 10 seconds.
6. Do a child’s pose. Sit on your knees and bend down and stretch your arms out in front of you. This stretches the upper and lower back, as well as the arms.
7. Finally stretch you legs by holding your foot to your butt and stretching your quadriceps, put your heel on a chair or table and lean forward so that you stretch your hamstrings, for calves just lean against a wall and move one foot back a couple feet and try to bring your heal down.

These are all of the basic stretches that I try to do every day. If you are looking for agility and a wider range of motion in your everyday life you will find that these stretches in no time at all will help.

I am always a fan of warming up before a workout and stretching but somehow I did not do it right this afternoon when I went to do my weight workout.

I started with very light weights as a kind of warmup/stretch and as soon as I started with my lower back I felt my back seize up and I went down to the ground. One side of my lower back is OK but the other side is absolutely in pain whenever I try to move.
I am now stuck lying on the couch and trying to figure out how I did this bad pull to my lower back. Needless to say there will be a bunch of posts from me about strengthening your core. I have been hobbled and I seem to have trouble getting up at all so I am joined now to this couch.

My wife and the kids are enjoying calling me an old man and hopefully I heal soon enough to get a workout in again sometime next week but we all know how dangerous back problems are and how they can become chronic issues.

eDiets has an article telling us what fit people do. It is right on the mark

1. Sleep well and wake up naturally. Many fit people arise without an alarm clock feeling energized, rested and hungry. They have set fitness goals and a plan to achieve them. People who are fit fall asleep easier, have more quality sleep and require less sleep than someone who is unfit. Lack of sleep is strongly associated with obesity. Sleeping helps the body repair, rebuild and recover.

2. Get prepared. Fit people pack their gym bags the night before, have clothes laid out for exercise, toiletries packed for a shower, clothes for work and an appointment in their planner for physical activity. They regard their workout appointments as highly as any other business or social commitment. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been planning and putting this offer together for a while now and it is nice to finally unveil it on the blog. As I hope you have seen I have done reviews of the three big internet weight loss and fitness programs. The programs are:

Fat Loss for Idiots - This is a customized online diet program that comes with a handbook to help you through your diet to lose weight.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle - This is a mammoth 350+ page book written by a natural bodybuilding champ that shows you how any normal overweight person can lose fat and gain muscle through a special diet and good exercise.

Turbulence Training Program - A three day a week weight training program that will help you lose fat while gaining muscle. Not the standard way that most people workout but in fact a new program that is done in just 45 minutes 3 times per week.

The above links are direct to the sales pages of the programs but if you want to see my reviews you can just click on the links on the right side of this page. Each of the programs are only $39 so you can choose any of them and know that you won’t get soaked for a bunch of money, they are all really cheap. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week was a really cold week up here in Calgary. I rode to work once and the temperature other than that has been dropping to around -20 which is a bit too cold for me. I hummed and hawed about my exercise and even though I should transition immediately to indoor training I was a little slow. Last night I finally worked out indoors.

I got home from work, changed into shorts and popped in a DVD of the Survivorman TV show. I hit the exercise bike for 26 minutes and then my elliptical trainer for another few minutes and then relished the fact that my indoor workout was a great way to keep myself in shape.

Even though I ride my bike almost everyday from about March to October or November I really am not sure how good that workout is. I try to ride quickly but the breeze and the fact that I am moving stops the sweat from really building up on my skin and clothes so it is really hard to judge the workout.

When you are training indoors you can definitely feel how hard you are working out. Last night when I was on the exercise bike I could really feel how hard I was working and my next workout on the elliptical trainer will be a lot more difficult in that it will work my arms well. After having a few workouts indoors I am sure that my body will be sore again. Everytime that you change you workout you get sore because you are working the muscles differently then you did before.

Of course when I wrote the last articles about this subject I talked a lot about the weights in my basement and how you need to have those too. The strength training that you do will add a lot of calories burned, mix up your workouts and actually help you lose fat. Did you know that a pound of extra muscle that you put on will force your body to burn an extra 50 calories a day? This can add up really quickly.

What do you think? Are your workouts tough enough? Are you working out indoors or hoping to just wait until spring comes back?

I think I made it clear last week in one article about doing weight workouts to increase your strength that it is importatn to do a very few sets with low reps to failure. I keep finding however referwnces to the 300 workout. The 300 workout si a workout inspired by the movie called 300 and is supposed to make you lean and incredibbly strong and buff. We will see how this influences regular workouts but this is long and mentally grueling with lots of sets and lots of reps for a workout.

Chris Aitkin is a martial arts trainer and expert and inspired this spin to the 300 workout which although I believe would work very well for overall fitness would also take a long time and really beat you up. I can’t wait to try it out.

Ever since the movie “300″ came out and the rippling abdomens and rock-hard pectorals of dozens of stars and extras made their debut, many versions of the so-called “300 workout” have arisen on the internet. As a trainer and someone who enjoyed watching that movie, I was interested in what types of exercises these body-breaking workouts were employing, and I managed to find three or four different variations on the same theme. Read the rest of this entry »