Uncategorized

We all know that in order to burn body fat, we have to provide some sort of caloric deficit (calories in must be less than calories out) to do so. Despite what many people claim, they are not the lone exception in all of human history that defies the laws of thermodynamics. As I have stated before, “you’re not that special.” I often find it comical when someone will just assume that their lack of progress (as far as fat loss) is due to a “buggy” thyroid, when in fact, a closer look at their daily diet and/or activity level tells us a completely different story.

A few quick thoughts:

1. It stands to reason that you have probably heard or seen the mantra that in order to lose a lb of fat per week, you must provide a caloric deficit of 500 kcals per day. The rationale is that because one pound of fat equates to roughly a 3500 kcal surplus, reducing your caloric intake and/or increasing your caloric expenditure by 500 kcal per day will result in one pound of fat loss per week. Let it be known that I HATE this approach (for a plethora of reasons that I won’t get into here), but for the sake of argument I will use it since this is what most people are familiar with.

How do most people try to pull off a 500 calorie deficit? If you’re like me, you wrestle polar bears for fun or fight global warming by washing your clothes on your abs (you know, cause it saves water). Since everyone can’t be me, lets assume that most (read: not all) trainees will revert to copious amounts of steady state cardio. How long do you think it would take you to burn 500 calories walking/jogging on a treadmill? For most it will take anywhere from 45-60 minutes. From a time efficiency standpoint, that doesn’t make much sense. We could spend an hour on the treadmill everyday OR we could just not eat that piece of homemade apple pie or that bowl of cereal that has been calling our name. Either way we provide a 500 calorie deficit, however from a time efficiency standpoint, not eating the piece of pie or bowl of cereal makes much more sense.

2. I can’t stress enough how important one’s overall nutrition is in regards to fat loss. As I have stated on numerous occasions, you can’t out train a poor diet. However, if I had to choose, in the beginning, I’d much rather see trainees increase their activity level through exercise to provide a caloric deficit (preferably lifting weights) than reduce their caloric intake to levels that would make Keira Knightely think you’re crazy.

In a nutshell, exercise (again, preferably lifting weights) is a metabolism booster, while continually reducing calories for an extended period of time is a metabolism killer. Many trainees make the mistake of reducing calories too low for too long and then are perplexed why they haven’t made any progress for weeks on end.

Over the weekend, my girlfriend and I were in Maine celebrating my birthday. Since my birthday is considered a state wide holiday up there, it was a weekend to remember. Lets just put it this way, if being awesome was like having the lamest line in Star Wars history (“Noooooooooooooooooooo!!”), then this past weekend would be Darth Vader.

Nonetheless, it was a spectacular weekend. While we did indulge ourselves with eating out at nice restaurants (desserts included), we didn’t use the entire weekend as an excuse to OVER indulge ourselves with two days worth of gluttony.

We made it a point to stay at a place we knew would have a kitchen in their units so that we could make our own meals when we wanted. Granted it’s a bit more expensive then staying in a regular hotel room, but in my opinion, it’s a cost that’s well worth it. In doing so we were able to stock our fridge with fresh fruit/veggies, cottage cheese, yogurt, mixed nuts, and eggs from the local grocery store. Matter of fact, grocery shopping was one of the first things we did when we arrived in Maine. As luck would have it, the store we were in was having a wine tasting that evening. Score!

We also made sure to scope out where the local gyms were located. Even though we were on “vacation,” we were still able to get one good training session in. Nothing spells “weekend getaway” then a heavy deadlift session on a Saturday morning.

Long story short, many people tend to use extended vacations or even short weekend getaways (like the one above) as an excuse to eat like crap and/or slack on their exercise routine. No one is saying that you can’t live a little and indulge a bit. In the grand scheme of things that’s what vacations are for. But I think it’s a major cop out when people try to make excuses and attempt to justify eating at the buffet three times per day because they didn’t plan ahead.

Not too long ago, I was chatting with a guy who was frustrated with his progress in the gym (trying to put on some mass) and mentioned to me that he dropped $150 at his local GNC on supplements the prior day. Upon asking him what he bought, he had no idea and couldn’t even remember the names or what the supplements were used for! Basically he walked into GNC and became an instant “BFF” with the sales clerk. For those out of the loop, “BFF” stands for Best Friends Forever. A “BFF” is someone whom you can always count on for support and who will always be there for a good ol’ fashioned tickle fight. I mean, don’t you watch MTV? Yeah, me neither.

Anyways this particular guy felt that because he wasn’t making any progress, he needed to buy supplements. We sat down for a few minutes to really delve into the issue. Upon ending our conversation we came up with the following facts:

1. He was training between 1.5-2 hours per day, six days per week; 60-90 minutes of weight training along with 30 minutes of cardio. For someone who has always had a hard time putting on weight (let alone quality mass), this would be the exact OPPOSITE approach I would take. In a nutshell, ectomorphic body-types (those who have a hard time putting on weight) would do better with LESS training volume. In his case I would cut total training down to three full-body training sessions per week (maybe four days with an upper/lower split) and cut out the excess cardio completely.

2. I asked him how many calories he was taking in per day. He had no clue. HUGE mistake! How is one supposed to make progress if he/she has no idea what or how much they’re eating? I asked him to break down an average day for me and we came to the conclusion that he was ingesting roughly 1500-1700 kcals per day (or barely enough calories to keep an Olsen Twin alive). It never ceases to amaze me how people will drastically UNDER-eat for their goals. You can’t build an impressive physique through sweat alone. You need to provide the raw nutrients the body needs to grow. Point. Blank. Period.

3. On an aside with the points made above, I’ll always come across guys in the same situation who mention to me, “there is no way I can eat 3000-4000 calories per day, I just can’t do it.” Well, if you’re the type of person who only eats two or three meals per day, then yes, you won’t be able to do it. There aren’t many people out there (outside of Rosie O’Donnell, oh snap) who can polish off two or three 1000-1500 calorie meals per day. What one needs to do is eat more often and spread their calories out over six to eight meals per day. If someone’s goal is to ingest 3000 calories per day, it’s a lot less daunting (not to mention much more manageable) to ingest six, 500 calorie meals than it is three, 1000 calorie meals.

Long story short, this gentleman did NOT need to go out and splurge on $150 worth of supplements. He just needed a swift kick in the pants and some guidance. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Supplements are progress ENHANCERS, not progress STARTERS. If you’re not making any progress (whatever your goal may be) with your training and/or diet alone, then buying enough supplements to start your own Olympic team isn’t going to cut it.

I was doing some of my daily reading the other day and came across an article written by Coach Robert “Dos” Remedios (Strength and Conditioning coach at the College of the Canyons, located in Santa Clarita, CA) where he discussed “comfort zones.” As I have said before, we’re creatures of habit and it’s only natural that we have a hard time stepping out of our comfort zones.

I mean, it took me a long time before I realized that making the woman pay for the first date by “accidentally” leaving my wallet at home wasn’t the smartest thing to do. It wasn’t till I got out of my comfort zone and suggested we play “rock, paper, scissors” to see who picked up the tab that girls started hanging out with me more.

All kidding aside, in his article, Coach Dos discussed how the majority of trainees fail to ever sway outside of their comfort zones in the gym. As a result, they rarely (if ever) make any significant progress with their body.

Examples include:

1. The guy who only trains the muscles he can see in the mirror, otherwise known as the “beach workout” (and has horrible posture to boot).

2. The woman who performs her 45 minutes of aerobic exercise on the same elliptical machine day after day, while watching “The View” no less (and is still 30 lbs overweight).

3. The teenage boy who never trains his lower body (and still wonders why he can’t gain any weight).

The list could go on and on, but I’m sure you get my point. The fact of the matter is, you NEED to get out of your comfort zone. You need to start doing things that you’re normally not accustomed to in the gym to get the results you want.

It’s been my experience that when left to their own vices, trainees will typically do what is “normal” and what they view as easy. Hence why you tend to see more people performing leg curls than deadlifts; or performing steady state cardio rather than ball busting intervals (sprints). Many trainees fail to realize that it’s supposed to be hard work. It’s not supposed to be pleasant. Next time you’re at your gym, do yourself a favor and watch the people train who have a physique you desire.

Are they reading People Magazine while they’re walking on the treadmill?………………………No.

Are they talking on their cell phone or sending text messages to their friends while they’re exercising?……………………No.

Are they starring at the television watching the latest highlights on SportsCenter in between sets of tricep kickbacks?………………No.

Are they checking out the hot new personal trainer?…………………..Um, yeah. Duh. She’s hot. They get a mulligan for that one.

Needless to say, many people would bode well by learning to get out of their comfort zones and start incorporating exercises or programs that they have never tried before. You might be surprised at what kind of progress you can make in a short amount of time.

Just wanted to take this opportunity to say I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I also wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks to all of those who read this blog on a daily basis. It’s somewhat humbling to know that there are people out there who want to read what I have to say. Then again, I am kinda awesome, so I guess I can’t blame you….(wink). In all seriousness, I thank everyone for their kind words and I very much appreciate it.

That being said, I am headed back home to central New York tomorrow, so I won’t be updating this blog till next week. By 4PM tomorrow, I will officially be in insulin coma. I’ll need the rest of the week to recover.

In the meantime, if you haven’t purchased LiftStrong yet, what’s stopping you? ALL proceeds go to the National Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. You’re getting 800 pages of quality information from some of the top names in the fitness/nutrition industry for what it would cost you to take you and your significant other to the movies ($25). Give thanks, by helping those who need it.

My friend Leigh Peele, author of The Fat Loss Troubleshoot made this video a few days ago and I thought I would share it with you. It’s about 3:30 minutes long, but WELL worth the time.

Needless to say, it’s completely true.

Wanna know what else is completely true? I was pulled over by a police officer last night for having these guns for arms. It’s a curse.

My good friend Eric Cressey wrote an article not too long ago titled “Are You Doing Stupid Stuff in the Gym?.” In it he claimed that any healthy male under the age of 50 can and should be able to deadlift at least 400 lbs within two years of proper training; sometimes even faster than that.

Needless to say, Eric caught a lot of flack in the fitness community for saying such a bold statement.

Meet Pete Dupuis (Vice President of Cressey Performance). 364 days ago Pete weighed 160 lbs (at 6-1) and barely had enough flexibility to get low enough to the ground to perform a deadlift safely. I believe his first time performing a deadlift he used less than 100 lbs.

364 days later, Pete weighs roughly 200 lbs and he pulled 400 lbs……easily. And he totally made out with his girlfriend afterwards.

A few thoughts/comments:

1. Everyone has to start somewhere. Whether you’re a newbie or a world class powerlifter, we ALL started in the same boat (weak, weak, weak). If you would have asked Pete when he first started if he thought he would be pulling 400 lbs a year later, I’m sure he probably would have laughed. But he had a goal in mind and trained hard, and he won’t stop there. You shouldn’t either.

2. Sometimes less is better. I wrote an article not too long ago, titled “Training Disasters,” where I briefly discussed how I feel that many trainees deadlift BEFORE they’re ready. That’s to say, I think everyone should learn to deadlift, but not everyone can (or should) walk into their gym on day #1 and pull a bar from the floor. What’s nice about the deadlift is that it’s a movement that can be conformed to fit the needs of the lifter (and not vice versa). Pete started with less than 100 lbs and he made the proper progressions as he got more proficient. Long story short: train hard, but be patient. Make the proper progressions.

3. Training environment is huge. Never fails that when someone trains in an environment with like minded people, their progress almost always skyrockets.

4. For those who are curious. That’s Wu-Tang Clan playing in the background. Wu-Tang FOREVER!

Everyone is always looking for a new way to train their “core.” One of my favorite movements is the Pallof Press. Here, we’re training core stability (or anti-rotation), which is the main function of the abdominals in the first place (not trunk flexion: ie, crunches).

Key Points to Remember:

1. Stand perpendicular to the apparatus (you can use a Functional Trainer or a regular cable/pulley system) with the arm set at chest level.

2. Assume an “athletic” stance (knees slightly bent, feet just past shoulder width apart, chest high, butt back).

3. Begin with the handle right against your sternum. Brace your abdominals. “Press” the handle away from your body until your elbows lock. Do not let the weight/cable rotate you in any way (essentially you’re resisting the pull of the weight). Pause for a second, and then return to the starting position. Repeat. Once you complete all your reps on one side, switch and perform your reps on the other.

4. Be amazed at how many people now want to hang out with you.