New Year's Eve Workout

Today I did a quick killer workout. I did a bunch of exercises with no rest in between sets and it took less than 45 minutes. I warmed up outside using stones and tires followed by a martial art and medicine ball workout. Then I moved to the dumbbell overhead press with hammer curls, followed by a quick shoulder and forearm cicuit with 5lb orange exercise balls and then the 50lbs versafit sand bag cleans and shouldering. It was a good cardio workout as well as a total body resistance workout. I finished the workout with heavy arm curls using 135lbs on the barbell. Honestly, I didn't even plan this workout, I just did it. So when the urge to do something happens, just do it!!

Martial Art Warmup


MB Chop & Lift Warmup

DB Hammer Curls to OH Press

50lb Versafit Bag Cleans and Shouldering

5lb Exercise Ball Circuit

135lb Barbell Arm Curls

Meal of the Week 29 Dec 08

Car Rant Episode 6

The long drive continues as the rant goes into calorie reduction and metabolic effects.

Holiday Redemption

I had to punish myself today after the holiday rest period. I redeemed myself by doing a heavy upper body and core workout. I did some heavy bench press, climbing the ladder with singles and culminating with 300lbs for 3 reps and 225lbs for 12 reps (135-12,225-1,245-1,275-1,285-1,295-1,300-3,225-12), after that I did a superset of pushup variations with stabilization on the Stability Ball, Bosu and Equalizer. I finished crushing myself with a set of AB Roller rollouts going all the way out touching my forehead to the floor. Needless to say, I could barely move afterwards. But I felt better about myself taking the holiday break. What have you done or what are you planning to do to redeem yourself? I'm here to help you get back on track when the holiday vacation is over. http://www.dempseysresolution.com/


300LBS X 3 REPS

225LBS X 12 REPS

Pushups with Stabilization

Ab Roller- all the way out - no slacking

Car Rant Episode 5

The rant continues as I go on about portion control, surgery for profit and calorie intake.

Meal of the Week 22 Dec 08

This meal of the week has lean turkey slices, broccoli, cauliflower, red seedless grapes, and mixed unsalted nuts. Quick, no preparation time, ready to eat. Keep looking for different foods that you like, that can be prepared easily when you get hungry. By having many different choices, you won't get burned out and can stay away from the bad foods. High protein, good fats and fibrous carbs are the staples of a good nutrition plan.

This is how someone can eat too many calories in a day

This is how someone could actually eat too many calories in a day. This is my cheat meal that I had today and it is horrendous although it tasted great. All of the worst stuff usually is real good tasting which is why people have such a hard time giving it up. I have been eating real clean for most of the week and this was my 90/10 rule example. 90% of the time you eat good and clean and then you can get away with a cheat meal once in awhile.

This one meal had over 1660 calories. You can see how if you ate fast food a few times a day, you could quickly exceed your deficit calorie requirements and be in the red in the wrong direction. This could quickly lead to Jabba the Hut status as the massive calories, huge amount of carbs (over 133g), massive sodium (2690mg), Cholesterol (230mg) and fat (90g) would doom your numbers for the day. On the plus side there was 77g of protein. These numbers would be catastrophic to a fat loss program if someone ate this stuff everyday for multiple meals. No amount of cardio would be able to reverse the negative effects of multiple meals like this.

If you eat clean, it would be near impossible to duplicate these numbers in a meal due to the fact that good whole foods are so much lower in calories. You would have to eat a ton of good food to duplicate the calories in one fast food meal. You probably couldn't eat the same calorie amount of broccoli, nuts, fruits and lean protein without exploding. So don't fear eating alot of clean whole foods.

Minimize or eliminate the fast food and processed meals and you won't have to worry about eating too much.

How can I get away with a cheat meal like this you may ask? Even though the calories for this meal are huge, my calorie requirements are over 3000 a day so the rest of my calories came from multiple smaller meals of good, clean, whole foods. That is how I minimize the damage and get away with a cheat meal.

So strive to reach 90% of your meals from good stuff and you can survive a cheat meal once in

awhile. Remember to exercise and follow the basics and minimize the bad stuff in your nutrition plan and you can't go wrong.

Mikey and I got our Christmas Tree up

Today, Mikey and I finally completed our annual Christmas task of setting up the tree.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone !!

Lose Fat Not Muscle

Here is another example of weight loss vs. fat loss:

Latonya lost 3.4 % bodyfat and an inch off of her waist this week while her bodyweight basically remained the same. Great Job Latonya !!! She has been working hard on the nutrition plan and working out hard too. In spite of knee problems, she is able to squat properly without pain. This is just another excellent example of how the program works. You just have to follow it.

Following the mainstream wisdom, How could she have lost bodyfat and an inch off of her waist while maintaining her weight? Doesn't that require weightloss? - No, it doesn't. Had she lost weight, it would have been mostly lean body mass and her bodyfat would have gone up. If you are not tracking lean body mass and bodyfat along with tape measurements and a food journal, you have no clue what you are doing. I call it aimlessly wandering the halls of the adipose jungle. Don't be a catabolic commando. Lose fat not muscle.

The holidays are no excuse to lose all of the progress that you have made. Enjoy yourself and continue to follow the basics of the program. Remember the 3 basic rules - frequency(5-6 meals), amount ( calories per meal and total caloires per day) and type (macronutrient ratio of lean proteins, good fats and fibrous carbs) and you can't go wrong.

Latonya did a great job this week and once again showed that following the program provides fast, effective and safe fatloss while preserving critical lean body mass.

If you aren't currently following an effective fat loss program, visit Dempsey's Resolution Fitness to begin your fat loss journey to achieve the body of your dreams.

Meal of the week 15 DEC 08

This week's meal consists of tuna, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, baby tomatoes, radish, onions, flax seed meal, pecan meal, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. It only took 5-10 minutes to prepare. No cooking involved. Fast, tastes good and full of protein, essential fatty acids (good fats) and fibrous carbs. Keep looking for different combinations of what you like and have the food readily available. Make food in bulk when possible. Train hard and eat right and you will blast the fat off and build lean, toned muscle for the body of your dreams.

Trick Your Body Into Losing Weight Faster

Trick Your Body Into Losing Weight Faster
By Mike Roussell

Dieting can be slow and frustrating but what if you could trick your body into losing weight faster? Would you be interested? In this article I’ll lay out for you 3 simple ‘tricks’ that are safe, effective, and will help you lose fat faster.

1. Trick Your Body Into Thinking It is Starving – This sounds a little outrageous but it is essential to faster fat loss. By cutting your carbs you will signal your body to start producing ’starvation’ hormones. These hormones are responsible freeing stored body fat and shuttling it to your liver and muscles so that it can be used as energy. You don’t need to starve yourself (that’s a bad idea). Just trick your body by reducing your carbohydrate intake to 50-100g per day to trick your system and crank up your fat loss.

2. Trick Your Mind and Stomach Into Thinking That You Are Eating More – One major problem with dieting is hunger. The inability to deal with hunger while dieting is one of the biggest reasons why many people fail on their diets and can’t lose weight. This is an easy fix – just trick your body into thinking that it is eating more food than it really is. How can you do this? Eat more green leafy (spinach, kale, lettuce) and/or fibrous vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, etc). These kinds of vegetables have a lot of ‘bulk’ to them but not a lot of calories. This means you can eat a lot more food without consuming extra calories. You actually trick your body in two different ways. The first is visually. There is a big difference from a psychological perspective when you sit down to eat a plate overflowing with food vs. a plate that just has a few pieces scattered on it. The second trick occurs in your stomach. Your stomach has stretch receptors that signal the brain, letting it know your stomach is full and that you should stop eating. These receptors don’t sense calories, they sense volume. Eating lots of green leafy and fibrous vegetables will activate these stretch receptors and you’ll feel full even on less calories.

3. Trick Your Body Into Thinking That It is Time to Build Muscle – Successful long term weight loss hinges on your ability to maintain and stimulate your metabolism. The major driving force behind your metabolism is your muscle. Muscle is a metabolic powerhouse that burns massive amounts of calories allowing you to peel off the pounds. The people that lose muscle when dieting are doomed to not only slow weight loss but also being stuck with the ’skinny fat’ look once they are done dieting. Increasing your protein intake while dieting will help prevent muscle loss because certain amino acids found in the protein you eat work on the DNA level to stimulate protein synthesis (i.e. muscle building). Your body is smart (well not too smart as this article is dedicated to tricking it) and doesn’t like to waste resources so if it is building muscle then it won’t at the same time start breaking it down. This little trick will spare your hard earned muscle from destruction when you are dieting and allow you to keep your metabolism cranking.

There you go. Pretty simple…Eat more protein, less carbs, and more green vegetables to trick your body into losing weight fast. Put these tricks into action and you’ll be losing weight 2x faster than all your friends.

About the Author: Mike Roussell is an author and nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. Mike writings can be found in Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness and Ironman Magazines in addition to the internet’s largest bodybuilding and fitness website - T-Nation.com

His Warp Speed Fat Loss system is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint. You can learn more at WarpSpeedFatLoss.com Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit Warp Speed Fat Loss.

My Holiday Fitness Challenge to You by Tom Venuto

My Holiday Fitness Challenge to You


By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

Media reports say that most people gain between 5 and 10 pounds of body fat in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. According to research from the New England Journal of Medicine, the average amount is much more modest - just over a pound. However, even modest holiday weight gain may be cause for concern: A study by the National Institutes of Health found that this seasonal weight gain - even just a pound - is usually not lost after the holidays; it simply adds to the “weight creep” that sneaks up on us as we get older.
Whether the weight gain is a pound or ten pounds, did you ever ask yourself why does holiday weight gain happen at all?

Here are some common answers I’ve heard:

“I’m too busy over the holidays to work out as often as usual.”

“I’m more stressed over the holidays, and the food is there, so I eat more.”

“I have at least three parties to attend and then there’s Christmas and New Year’s, so it’s impossible to stay on a diet.”

“No one can tell me not to enjoy myself over the holidays, so I’m just going to eat whatever I want.”

These answers all have a few things in common.

First, they assume that it’s an either/or proposition: You can either get in better shape or enjoy yourself, but not both. Stated in reverse: You can either deprive yourself of holiday enjoyments or gain weight, but it has to be one or the other. The truth is, “either/or thinking” is a very limiting form of thought.

Second, these are all excuses or rationalizations. “I’m too busy” for example, is always an excuse, because I have never known someone who was too busy to make time for his or her highest life priorities. The problem then, is not lack of time, but that most people do not make exercise or eating healthy a priority. We all have the same amount of time - 24 hours a day - but the way people prioritize the use of time is the difference between success and mediocrity. And remember, words mean little. Actions reveal a person’s true priorities.

Third, none of these are the real reasons most people gain weight over the holidays to begin with. The real reason is because an intention was never set for the opposite: To get in BETTER shape over the holidays.

Most people set a “goal” to get in worse shape over the holidays!

It’s not consciously set, of course, as few people would intentionally set out to gain fat. They simply do it by default. In their minds, they accept that it must be just about impossible to stay in shape with everything going on over the holiday season, so why bother?

Once the decision has been made, then the rationalizing (“rationing lies”) continues:

“Why should I deprive myself?”
“Family is more important”
“Worrying about diet and exercise during the holidays is neurotic”
“I don’t care if I gain a few pounds, I’m going to enjoy myself anyway”
“It’s only these two or three weeks that I let myself go wild”
“I’ll start the first week in January and lose the weight then.”

As a result of this “negative goal-setting,” they expect to work out less, eat more and gain a few pounds, and they don’t seem to even consider alternatives.

But what would happen if you set an intention and a goal to get in better shape between now and New Years’s Day?

What would happen if you decided that it was not an all or nothing proposition and that you could enjoy the holidays and all it has to offer and get in better shape at the same time?

And what if you decided that your health and your body were the highest priorities in your life, because you realized that can’t enjoy anything else in life, including family or holidays, if you don’t have your health?

Here’s what would happen: You would get in better shape!

I’m not all that different from you just because I’m a bodybuilder and a fitness professional. I have many of the same problems, concerns and struggles as you do. Although today I always get in better shape between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, that’s a result of a conscious choice, a close examination of my old belief systems and a lot of action. For me, it all started about six years ago.

For most of my adult life, I wasn’t much of a traveller and I didn’t enjoy flying or staying in hotels. I had a belief that if I traveled, my workouts and nutrition would suffer. After all, “it would be hard to stick with my usual bodybuilding diet, and I wouldn’t have access to my usual gyms.” Because of these reasons (excuses), I never did much travel back in those days.

Then I was forced to take some trips for business reasons. Predictably enough, my nutrition and workouts suffered while I was spending time in airplanes and in hotels. With my experience having confirmed my beliefs, I re-affirmed to myself, “See, traveling is nothing but a pain. You just can’t stay on a diet and training program when you’re out of town.”

After several more trips, I noticed that something very negative happened: I surrendered. I had resigned myself to “not bother” while I was on the road. I let my expectations create my reality.

But I didn’t let it go on for long. As soon as I became aware of what was happening, I decided that I wouldn’t tolerate it, so I challenged myself and my previous limiting beliefs. I asked myself, “Why the heck not? Why let myself backslide? Why even settle for maintaining? Why not challenge myself to improve while I’m traveling?” The answer:

There was no reason, there were only excuses.

From that day forward, I set a challenge for myself: To come back from every trip or vacation in better shape than when I left. Of course there were exceptions, as when I went on a vacation for total R & R. But I never let travel get in my way again…

I prepared food that I would eat on the planes so airline food was never an excuse…
I only chose hotels that had kitchens, so I could cook my own food…
I went food shopping immediately after check-in…

And I actually found myself training harder than usual!

No matter where I was training - it could even be some “dungeon” of a gym in the middle of nowhere - it didn’t matter because my mind was focused on improving and looking better when I came home than when I left. I had a goal!

What do you think happened? It’s not hard to guess: I always came home in better shape than when I left.

Since then, my “travel challenge” has become somewhat of a ritual in my life. When I’m away from my “home-base” it becomes a “fitness road trip.” I search the Internet or yellow pages or ask locals to help me find the most hard-core gym nearby wherever I will be staying. When I get there, I train every bit as hard as if I had a competition just weeks away. I look forward to it now.
In fact, this experience is what led me to my “holiday fitness challenge.”

Like many people, I travel over the holidays, so I’m automatically in “travel challenge” mode at thanksgiving, Christmastime and New Year’s. But with the additional temptations and busyness that the holidays bring on top of the usual travel stresses, I saw fit to declare a new challenge: “The Holiday Challenge.” The difference was that for my “holiday challenge,” I pledged to not only to return home in better shape than when I left, but to enjoy the holidays to the fullest at the same time.

People who think I “deprive” myself to look the way I do would be shocked: I eat some damn good food over the holidays including Pie at Thanksgiving and my mom’s famous red and green Jell-0 Christmas cake. Then on New Year’s I’m usually toasting champagne and having a blast with friends or family. The difference is, every other meal stays right on schedule and I work out hard and consistently over the holidays; I don’t let everything fall apart just because ‘tis the season.’ In fact, I work out HARDER over the holidays!

The idea that you can either enjoy the holidays or stay in shape - but not both - is damaging and limiting. It hurts your social life, your emotional life and your physical life. Life is not an either or proposition; it’s a matter of balance. Success does not mean going to extremes. Success can be a simple matter of re-examining your beliefs, rearranging your priorities, setting goals, changing the questions you ask yourself, re-evaluating your expectations and acting in accordance with all of the above.

Your expectations will become your reality.

What are you expecting this holiday season? Are you expecting to be in better shape after holiday parties, celebrations, banquets, dinners, and desserts? If not, then why not? What’s preventing you from enjoying all of the above and still getting in better shape? Do you have a limiting belief which dictates that it’s one or the other? Could it be that you never set a goal, intention or expectation to do it? Could it be that you’re rationalizing or making excuses? If so, then I challenge you to change it this year.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO BE IN BETTER SHAPE ON JANUARY 1st THAN YOU ARE TODAY! I CHALLENGE YOU TO BE FITTER, HEALTHIER, LEANER AND MORE MUSCULAR!

There’s less than a month until the end of the year. Why not see how much you can improve your physique over the holidays, without depriving yourself of any holiday enjoyments or festivities? Just step up your expectations. Step up your standards. Step up your nutrition. Step up your training. Step up your action. Step up to the “holiday fitness challenge” the minute you finish reading this, and then just see what happens!

Eat right, train hard, and expect success,

Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Fat Loss Coach

BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE
The Classic Best-Selling e-book
——————————————————————

Discover the fat burning secrets of fitness models and bodybuilders and be 8-10 lbs LEANER by New Year’s. Visit: www.BurnTheFat.com

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Kettlebell Renegade Rows with Pushup

Today, Megan demonstrated the kettlebell renegade row with pushup. This advanced exercise requires total upper body strength, core stability & strength, wrist & forearm strength, and balance. Megan started with 15lb kettlebells and progressed to 20lb and finally 25lb kettlebells. She did a great job. Through her fitness and nutrition program, she has went down from 23% bodyfat to 16% bodyfat.
Great Job Megan !!

Car Rant Episode 4

The saga continues as I rant about gastric bypass surgery and the fat guy.

Meal of the Week

Meal of the week: egg whites, salmon, broccoli, flaxseed meal, pecan meal, organic 100% cherry juice, minced garlic, balsamic vinaigrette and extra virgin olive oil. Minimal preparation. It only took a couple of minutes to make the egg whites and everything else was cold and mixed in. Quick, easy and tasty. Keep finding variety and easy things to add to the mix. High protein, good fats (omega 3's and EFA's) and fibrous carbs.

Disturbing Fact You Might Not Like

Fitness pros get a bad rap at times. And hey, sometimes it's well deserved. It's unfortunate, but there are still way too many "meat head" trainers who are more interested in looking at themselves in a mirror than they are in their own clients.


But we also take heat at times for being too interested in looks and appearance than health and wellness.


Well, I'm going to fill you in on a little secret. We've tried to market our businesses by educating people about the health benefits of proper nutrition and exercise. We'd love for people to care more about their health than how they look.


Unfortunately, and this holds true for the vast majority of people, they only care about their health once they've lost it.


Think about that for a little bit.


I can tell you right now the unscrupulous marketers online are making a FORTUNE promoting these Acai Berry pills right now. And they are able to do that because they are promoting it as weight loss and not the real benefit of Acai Berry.


It is the "magic pill" of the day. If you've been paying attention to the weight loss market you'll know it used to be Hoodia.


Now, you might not like it, but I'm not going to be the one to lie to you. I'm not going to be the one to tell you take this little pill and watch the weight fall off. Acai Berry is a heck of an antioxidant that can help your body fight the aging process and help boost your immune system, but it's not going to flush the excess pounds off your belly, butt, hips and thighs. Sorry.


Now my friends at http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com have an amazing product that includes Acai Berry as one of its main ingredients. But unlike the Grade A scumbags out there lying to you, they only promote their product for what it is; a very powerful Antioxidant formula to help boost your health.


So if your health is of interest to you then definitely check out http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com


Sorry if this ticks you off. I'm here to shed light on the truth for you. It's up to YOU to decide whether or not your health is more valuable to you than your appearance.


Yours in health,


Eric Dempsey


PS - Again, if you value your health and want help with
the aging process I can't recommend http://dempseysresolution.getprograde.com
to you enough.

Car Rant Episode 3

The saga continues as I rant about calorie intake and eating too much.

Don't get up quickly from a prone position

Today, My son Michael was at home and he got up quick from the couch and blacked out and fell on the coffee table and banged his face up. I have seen numerous clients do the same thing. If you are on the floor exercising or lying down, try not to jump up quickly. The change in going from the lying position to standing, when done quickly, sometimes causes you to short out your circuits. The result can be painful such as Michael's fall. He was taken to the ER and recieved an EKG and CT scan. He turned out to be ok and was released with ice and motrin as the treatment plan. He's doing good now but will have a shiner. So try to get up slowly when you can and avoid a painful fall.

Squats: Work on Form before adding weight

Squats are one of the best exercises to do for overall fitness. There are a bunch of benefits to doing squats when you do them properly. Too many people are worried about the weight before mastering the form. It takes practice to get good squats down right. I have bad knees and a bad back so squats, lunges and deadlifts have always been extra tough for me. I have been trying to work extra hard on them and the result is that my bad knees and bad back actually are stronger and healthier now than they have been in years. But I have to practice good form and work on proper technique constantly before I worry about how much weight I use. I see people doing bad squats all of the time and it hurts my knees just to watch them. So start with bodyweight squats and then work on the different barbell and dumbbell squats with light weight and focus on form. Once you are comfortable with your form then slowly add weight and refocus on form. Here is a video of me working on form with the back and front squats with just the bar. Not perfect, but I'm getting better and deeper every time.

Meal of the Week

Here is another easy preparation meal. I used chicken, eggs, pepper, onion, almond meal, flaxseed meal, balsamic vinegar and ramen noodles. The thing I failed to mention in the video is the ramen noodles not being the optimal choice. I could have used more vegetables instead (which would have been much better) but I wanted a little variety. The good stuff in this meal outweighed the bad (ramen noodles). It didn't require any real prep other than a minute of nuking the ramen.

Car Rant Episode 2

The Saga continues.....

Car Rant Episode 1

This is the beginning of a small series of my car rant videos where I rant and rave about weightloss, gastric bypass and band surgery. The video is long and had to be broken up into segments. I'll try to post them in order. I have strong opinions and the right to have them. So take that and enjoy. Post your comments. The bee's hive was meant to be stirred up.

Basic Bodyweight Workout for New Clients

Here is the basic workout that I use to start new clients. It consists of pushups, crunches, bridge, prone cobra, plank and squats. Strive to build up to 4 sets of 12 reps, back to back, with no breaks. This will prepare your core and overall body for more intense workouts. You will also increase your cardio capacity for preparation to do Tabata drills by not taking any breaks in between sets. This is a simple workout that can be used by anyone, anywhere, regardless of your fitness level. If any of the exercises are too much or too hard to start with, use the modifed pushup, plank and shallow squats until you are more conditioned. In the videos below, I demonstrate a couple of reps for each exercise. When in doubt, stick to the basics and you can't go wrong.

3 Reasons to Avoid Elliptical Machines

The latest Men's Health magazine comes down on elliptical machines
hard.

Now I know elliptical machines are often the only option for people
with bad knees, but if your knees are healthy, think twice before
using the elliptical machine for these three reasons.

First, on page 52 of the December, 2008 issue, Men's Health warns,
"Never trust elliptical machines".

They quote a study that found elliptical machines over-estimated
the number of calories burned in a workout by 31%!

Ouch.

So if your "elliptical cardio workout" burned 400 calories, the
truth is you really burned closer to only 300 calories.

Second, later in the Dec. issue, Men's Health magazine interviewed
Biggest Loser contestant Ed Brantley. Ed lost 73 pounds on the
show, but had this to say about elliptical machines, "I hated the
elliptical. It was too easy, I didn't feel like I was doing
anything."

Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.

But that's EXACTLY why elliptical machines are so popular...

You see, the third reason elliptical machines are inferior for fat
loss is because they fail my "human nature" test.

Put it this way...

Take 100 people and put them in a gym with 100 treadmills and 100
elliptical machines.

Tell them they have to exercise for 30 minutes at a hard pace, and
they have the choice to use either the treadmill or the elliptical.

Guess where 90% of folks are going?

The elliptical!

Why?

Because it is human nature to take the EASY WAY out. And that is
why elliptical machines are so busy at the gym and you rarely see
anyone doing intervals on a treadmill or bodyweight circuits in the
corner of the gym.

Often I see folks using the elliptical machine only to say they
"worked out", but without getting any REAL work done.

So if you are stuck at a fat loss plateau, and you've been counting
on the elliptical machine to help you out, then forget it.

To burn fat and get more out of your workouts, do interval training
outside, on a bike or treadmill, or with kettlebell exercises or
bodyweight circuits.

For more interval training and bodyweight workouts, visit:

Turbulence Training

These are all better options in your fight against the fat,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

The Myth of Portion Control in your Diet

One of the big mainstream diet tips is to control your portion sizes. If you simply made your portion sizes smaller, you would lose weight right? - wrong !!! Every woman that I have trained and currently train have not been eating too large of portions. In fact, all of these women have been eating 1-3 times a day with an average of 1 tiny meal (usually breakfast), 1 small to moderate meal (usually lunch) and then 1 big meal (usually dinner with the family). So for the most part, portion sizes are not an issue except at dinner and afterwards. The problem with this standard eating way is that the meals are not the same size, not of the same macronutrient ratio, not consistent, and many times just not healthy.

So how do I relate portion size/control to my nutrition plan for you? My idea of portion size/control is by getting in your 5-6 meals a day, every 2-3 hours, of a pre-determined macronutrient ratio and a standard calorie amount for each meal. This means that you are constantly fueling your body with a standard protein/fat/carb ratio and calorie amount which raises your metabolism, burns fat and builds muscle.

Can you use portion sizes to try to equate your calorie needs without counting? - absolutely. Use the standard fist size of this, 2 fist sizes of that, handful of something else to keep from having to count calories. Or another way is to use the plate method where the biggest portion on the plate is of this (protein), next biggest portion is of that (good fats) and then the remainder is of whatever else (fibrous carbs).

So the bottom line is not to worry about tiny portion sizes to reduce calories. Stick to the meal plan and the nutrition principles to get your 5-6 meals, every 2-3 hours, with your deficit calorie requirements and macronutrient ratio. This, combined with your fitness program will get you the results that you are looking for.

Don't drink the mainstream portion control kool aid.

Eric Dempsey
NASM C.P.T
Dempsey's Resolution Fitness
www.dempseysresolution.com

Poor Man's Protein Shake

I was watching an internet video with Chris McCombs interviewing Bedros Keuilian and Bedros made a poor man's protein shake using diet coke, ice and canned tuna. Yup that's right. Well in the video, Chris was disgusted by it and wouldn't try it. So after watching the video, I got hungry and wanted something quick but good for me. Then a dose of the crazies hit me. Why not try the poor man's protein shake that Bedros made in the video. So I did. Watch the video to see how it turned out.

Shoulder Training

Today, I didn't have any pain anywhere so I figured that I would make short work of that situation by hitting some heavy dumbbells. I tried to beat my PR of 70lbs on the DB overhead press. I grabbed the 75lb Dumbbells and gave it a go. I pressed them up no problem and then failed on the way down two times in a row so I stopped and went to other shoulder training. At least I can push press them up initially. That is close but no cigar on that one. My shoulders were destroyed after that so I used resistance tubing to do my side raises and rear delt flyes. You don't always have to use weights. Tubing can be very effective and can be tailored to fit your needs.

Here in this video, I did a set of rear delt flyes followed by side lateral raises.

Making Big Rocks Into Little Rocks

My son Michael and I went out foraging for stones and tires for my outdoor training.
We came across some big concrete blocks and a couple of old car tires so we scooped them up. It was a workout just getting them in and out of the car. I weighed them and they averaged 78-79lbs which is way too heavy for practical client training. So I decided to finish my heavy chest workout with some sledgehammer work on the big concrete rocks. I busted them up into manageable sizes and got a killer workout in the process. Now I have multiple stones for my boot camp. And it was all free. The way I like it, with the tight economy. I would hate to be one of the chain gang, having to do hard time with a sledgehammer. It is an awesome total body workout.

Heavy Leg Workout with Bad Knees & Back

I've had injuries to my back and knees for years and it always hurt. They always told me don't squat, lunge, deadlift or anything else remotely challenging. Since I began doing all of those things on the don't do list, my knees and back have never felt better. I am stronger now than I have ever been. Use good form and build up gradually but don't fear the weights. Free your mind and your glutes will follow. Today's workout consisted of Leg presses and V-squats. The video's are of a 540 lb leg press, 250 lb & 270 lb deep V-Squat. Guess what? It was heavy as hell but my knees and back didn't hurt a bit and felt great afterward. I rehab myself. Skip the physical therapy and do your therapy with heavy iron.
Eric Dempsey
NASM CPT
www.dempseysresolution.com

Dempsey's Stone Training

Odd object lifting and strongman training aren't just for huge polish dudes that can lift trucks up and throw them across the yard. Anyone can benefit from this type of training as it develops strength, endurance, balance, core stability, and grip strength. And it's something new and different for a touch of variety. So here in this video, I do some stone shouldering and an overhead press with a 67lb stone.

Core Training with Heavy Dumbbells

When you think of core training everyone usually thinks of a girl doing some type of exercise on a stability ball, or a plank or pillar bridge of some type. What people fail to realize is that the best core training comes from resistance training with dumbbells, kettlebells or barbells where you are standing. This requires all of your stabilizer muscles to fire just to keep you standing straight while performing the exercise. I started doing heavy (what else) dumbbell overhead press for core training and shoulder training. Dumbbells are much harder to stabilize with (for me) than kettlebells. I started with 50lb dumbbells and have worked my way up to 70lb dumbbells as you can see in the video. It takes every fiber of my being to stabilize with a 70lb dumbbell in each hand. It works everything from head to toe and is very effective. I encourage everyone to try lifting while standing instead of being seated. Sitting while lifting takes alot of the stabilization effort out of the lift and allows you to lift even heavier. Anyway, this shows that you don't need to bounce around on a ball to work your core. It's only too heavy if you can't lift it and as always "Go heavy or Go home".

Training around an injured lower back while working it

I've dealt with numerous injuries throughout the last 27 years. Taking time off to heal never seemed to be an option and it really still isn't. So I've learned to train around the injury while taking care of it at the same time.

Last friday I resparked an old lower back injury that has been dormant through hard training for the last two years. I did it while doing deadlifts with 450lbs. Never do that last rep that you have to convince yourself to do.

The MRI said something about L4 & L5 bulging disks, pinched nerves, curvature of the spine, arthritis, tendonitis, degenerative joint disease and a bunch of other words I can't pronounce.

This injury of the lower back started with full contact sparring (kickboxing type)over 20 years ago and then my Army induced, high speed, dirt torpedo, impacts into the earth from static line parachuting and fast roping, long ruck marches with heavy packs, long runs, heavy weight lifting, and more martial arts kept it in play for the last 20 years.

Physical therapy (useless imo) and chiropractor weekly visits for over 20 years kept me operational. My last chiropractor on Fort Benning was a former personal trainer so we had alot to talk about. Not only did he snap me back into place but he gave me many fitness and nutrition tips that helped me get started in my civilian training business. He taught me about the importance of core training and simple things you can do to strengthen your lower back and core. As soon as I implemented his recommendations into my workouts my back improved dramatically. My knowledge and skills have improved alot since then and now I use those priciples as a foundation for my client's training. So if you are one of my clients you can figure out why you do the zillions of core drills weekly.

I also learned how to train around my injuries and train my clients around their injuries. Here are a few videos from today's workout - mostly deadlifts, shrugs, pushups, stair sprints, deadlifts to arm curls. All with light weight keeping in mind that I did this with a injured lower back. And no, it didn't hurt my back, it actually made it feel better. Check it out.

Another Quick Meal

Eating a bunch of protein tears up my stomach

This is a topic that I discuss daily with my women clients.

A common occurrence when embarking on a fat loss program is that the new increase in protein in your meal plan causes you digestive problems. You start having all sorts of belly issues and you start dropping protein gas bombs, pooping Godzilla turds, having green apple splatters and other vile, nasty stuff. The stench of your new endeavors is enough to melt paint and make you gag on a windy day. High Protein intake gives a whole new meaning to the farting term”silent but deadly”.

Guys can usually deal with this without major alterations to the alignment of the stars. Women, on the other hand, have traumatic reactions to this newfound horror. For women, this is unacceptable and it immediately puts a halt to fat loss efforts. Women would rather be fat than smell like a smushed, road kill armadillo on a Texas highway at high noon.

This is a common issue that affects everyone when they change their meal plan. When you start a fat loss program, you probably tried to change the types of food that you are eating, first. You clean up your diet and start making good food choices. This includes a massive increase in protein for the average person. You start making progress but then the gas cloud starts filling the breathable air with the stench of death and that brings everything to a gagging and screeching halt. You sound off with a loud and thunderous “screw this” and the protein is no longer part of the equation. As a result, progress slows or stops and then you start popping handfuls of pink poka dotted anti-depressants to avoid dragging a razor blade across your wrists. Don’t panic, there is hope.

Of course, it is not a topic that is easily talked about by most women so you avoid it like the Ebola virus when discussing your fat loss progress with your trainer. There are reasons for this phenomenon and things that you need to do to correct it. The protein is a must for fat loss and lean tissue development. So cutting it out is not the answer. The answer is that you must make sure that when you change your food choices, you do more than just add more protein and don’t eat anything else. This is common as many people only hear the part about eating more protein and cutting back on bad stuff like all of the processed death foods that come in a box. So you end up cutting out a bunch of stuff and only really adding a ton of protein. You fail to add in the rest of the plan which includes tons of fibrous carbs from vegetables and fruits, good fats and lots of water. When you add in all aspects of your newly designed macro nutrient ratio, you get the proper amount of fiber and fat, which balances out the increase in protein. This eliminates most of the protein belly trauma and gives you the essential elements for fat loss, lean tissue development and overall health.

There are a bunch of reasons why high protein intake causes an upset belly. Changes in your body’s PH level, the amounts of stomach acid, digestive enzymes and micro nutrients can wreak havoc on your system and any increase in one type of food alters this delicate balance. That is why you need to eat clean and balanced with the right amounts of each macro nutrient. Carbs, fats and protein have to be added to your meal plan in the right amount with the right frequency for your system to achieve balance. You need to add them all in together as a combined total meal plan. You don’t want to cut out the case of coke and three tons of pizza, pasta and bagels and just add a ton of protein. This is why the stink bomb hits you. You need to cut out the garbage food and add all of the healthy whole foods from your meal plan – not just protein.

So the bottom line is don’t cut out the protein, instead add your fibrous carbs from vegetables and fruits, good fats (like fish oil, extra virgin olive oil, nuts and seeds) and drink plenty of water. Get plenty of antioxidants and micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) through your healthy whole foods and supplement your plan with stuff like yerba mate tea, green tea and a multi-vitamin. By making your meal plan balanced and clean, you can still take in the protein that you need for fat loss and muscle development without the dreaded belly trauma.

Eric Dempsey
NASM CPT
Dempsey’s Resolution Fitness
www.dempseysresolution.com

Cranberry Spinach Salad

Hi everyone,
Here is a tasty and healthy meal for you. Try to cut down on the salt and sugar. Add other healthy flavoring. Go heavy on the nuts. Enjoy

Nutrition Tips

Nutrition Tips from the Green Pharmacy Guide to Healing Foods by Dr. James A. Duke.

Cinnamon is one of the most powerful antioxidants. It floods your body with a nutrient called MHCP , which seems to activate the insulin receptors in your cells, causing them to begin using up blood sugar for energy instead of letting it rise.

Almonds were used in a study where a test group that ate a few almonds each day experienced accelerated weight loss. They lost 62% more weight than another group that consumed the same number of calories. They also lost 50%more off of their waistlines and 56% percent more of their fat mass. Almonds were shown to have properties that help control blood sugar and diabetes.

Cheddar Cheese contains a potent nutrient that signals your fat cells to stop storing fat. A national study revealed that the people who got the most of this nutrient in their daily diet were 85% less likely to be overweight. The cheese also helps intercept the fat in your foods and sweeps it out of your body before it gets packed on your belly.

Knife Throwing and Double Sticks in the Back Yard

Today, I supplemented my heavy arm workout with some martial art practice in the back yard. In the quest to reimplement some old training methods from my younger days, I broke out the throwing knives and double sticks. I used to do this stuff daily, back in the day. I'm rusty and slow in my old age now but any effort will produce improved results. This stuff is alot harder than it looks and the skills are perishable. But I didn't do too bad for not having done it in an eon or so. This is an example of unorthodox training that requires little equipment. I practice the double sticks with two old branches, instead of escrima sticks and use tree limbs for targets. The knives are old junk knives. No big expenses there but still a good workout. I used to train people in this stuff often and women really like the knife throwing for some reason. The knife throwing is calming and meditative and is kinda like my version of dart throwing, except with big knives. If anyone is interested in this kind of training, let me know.

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http://www.dempseysresolution.com/

6 Pack ABS Training

The Best Ab Exercise for Obliques?

When most people think six pack abs, the best exercise for
obliques, and losing belly fat, they think about long boring cardio
workouts and hundreds of crunches. Fortunately, that isn't what it
takes to get a beach body belly and sexy oblique muscles.

In fact, there are many exercises better and safer than crunches.
After all, crunches involve spinal flexion (rounding forward), and
research shows spinal flexion can lead to herniated discs.

This information has lead me to a long and exhaustive search for
safe and effective ab training.

Last week I stumbled onto a new study supporting my "ab crunch ban"
and my preference for exercises such as the Side Plank. In this
study, researchers examined six common ab exercises performed by
120 subjects to see how hard the muscles were working.

Reference
J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2008 Oct;38(10):596-605.Related Articles
Changes in deep abdominal muscle thickness during common
trunk-strengthening exercises using ultrasound imaging.

When compared to other common ab exercises, the Side Plank and the
classic Abdominal Crunch exercises both resulted in the greatest
change in muscle thickness for the Transverse Abdominis and
Internal Oblique muscles, meaning they were contracting the muscle
more than the other exercises.

However, because the Side Plank does not involve spinal flexion and
because it builds abdominal endurance (previously found to be
associated with less low back pain), the Side Plank exercise wins
this head to head battle hands down and is the best exercise for
oblique muscles.

If you are looking for a new move to add to your total body fat
burning workout, do a 15 second Side Plank hold per side if you are
a beginner. For advanced core strength, hold for 45 seconds per
side.

Click here to learn more about the best bodyweight abs exercises:

http://tinyurl.com/4bjgns

Sincerely,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
Turbulence Training

Perform Better Products

If you are looking for great exercise equipment to use at home, then check out perform better. They have all of the latest equipment used by all major fitness establishments. They are a quality brand which I use myself. They also offer great training seminars. Check them out.

Trying to get back in shape

Hi Everyone,
Here are a couple of videos of me trying to brush off the martial arts rust on my old broken carcass. I'm slowly trying to add in old methods that I used with my old buddy and training partner James back in the day. In these videos, I did a short martial art weapons workout using nunchakus and the short staff. These workouts increase range of motion, flexibility, cardio, strength and endurance. These workouts also increase coordination, balance and timing. I'm not very good compared to my old better skilled days but I'm working on it. It was a good finish to my workout of shrugs, deadlifts, and tricep overhead extensions. If you are interested in self defense and martial arts for fitness or self defense, let me know.

Fish Oil For Fat Loss

Hi Everyone,
This video talks about the importance of having fish oil in your diet for fat loss and general health. Good info. Take your fish oil !!!
Check it out here:
http://tinyurl.com/54owv5

4 Foods for Fat Loss

4 Foods for More Fat Loss
by Mike Roussell PhD(c)
http://tinyurl.com/3lhet5

What foods should I eat for maximum fat loss? This is a common question that I get from clients and friends. There is so much new information out there everyday "X food is now good for you but Y food is now bad." How can you possibly sort through all the junk science and sensational reporting to truly find out which foods will help you lose weight and which foods won't?
Let me help. Here's a look at foods that you should eat to maximize fat loss. These foods are listed in no particular order because they are all important.

1. Salmon - While salmon was once demonized by the fitness community in the 90's because of it's fat content (I actually saw it in an article about 'Foods to avoid for fat loss') we now know that the long chain omega-3 fats found in salmon are the best kind. Research has shown that these fats can actually help you burn more fat. Salmon also contains high levels of protein - it is really the perfect package.

2. Almonds - Almonds are a great fat loss snack. Almonds are extremely convenient, portable, and they have a long shelf life. You should keep a small bag of almonds at your desk, in your briefcase, or backpack as an emergency weight loss snack. Almonds contain fat, fiber, and protein - all of which will help curb your hunger. They are also low in carbohydrates and provide your body with energy while keeping your blood sugar levels under control.

3. Broccoli - Broccoli is a true superfood. From a health perspective they contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that have been shown to help fight cancer. There is also some evidence to suggest that another compounds found in broccoli, Calcium D-glucarate, can bind excess estrogen in the body. It is a low impact carb with a nice dose of fiber. You can buy is fresh or frozen (broccoli cuts or florets - go with the florets). The bottom line is Eat Broccoli Often.

4. Green Tea - Green tea is another powerful food, like broccoli, that will have huge impacts on your fat loss and health. Green tea can be an acquired taste for some people as if you let it steep to long (e.g. leave the tea bag in the water) it can be very bitter. You can drink it hot or cold (if you opt for cold you may need to add a little splenda). Green tea contains cancer fighting compounds, not to mention antioxidants, caffeine, and the fat burning powerhouse EGCG. Research has shown that the combination of caffeine and EGCG (which is naturally combined in green tea) can help burn extra fat. Drink 2-3 cups a day. In fact I'm drinking some right now!
There you have it four time tested and research proven foods to help you burn more fat. If you aren't eating (or drinking) all of these foods daily (or at least every couple days) then you are not doing everything possible to burn maximum fat. Add them to your diet, get healthier, and burn more fat.

About the Author/More Info:
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit http://tinyurl.com/3lhet5.

Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives.

Warp Speed Fat Loss (http://tinyurl.com/3lhet5) is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

Recommended 9mm Ammo

I have trained numerous women in the use of handguns for self defense. For women who are a little jittery around guns, have no fear. There are many different pistols of suitable calibers that can perform their desired mission of self-defense. Many women want a tiny pistol but this leaves a lot of room for error. I suggest that you use a 9mm or .40cal pistol because they use the least powerful yet still effective rounds for self-defense. Anything smaller require you to be a very good shot under stress. Every woman that I have trained on pistols, has been able to easily utilize the 9mm round effectively with practice. I personally use the Glock 17 and Browning Hi-Power. They are easily controllable, reliable, dependable and very accurate at self-defense ranges.

So if you use a 9mm pistol, you want to maximize the effectiveness of the weapon. For personal defense, I recommend the 124 grain, jacketed hollow point, hydra-shok ammo. There are times when you may have to use your weapon to protect the lives of your loved ones and yourself. Leave nothing to chance. The Hydra-shok ammo used with the Mozambique drill (2 to the chest, 1 to the head ), will ensure that the bad guy goes down hard the first time even if wearing body armor. When you absolutely have to shoot someone in the face, hydra-shok is the answer.

If interested in some private instruction on how to safely employ the 9mm pistol, I am available for lessons. Yes, there are many other topics, other than fitness, for which I am highly qualified to train people on. Take advantage of this opportunity and learn how to utilize a handgun safely and effectively through private, one on one instruction. Contact me for more details.

Shelley's Progress

Hi Everyone,

Here are Shelley's progress pics. She has done an amazing job in a short amount of time. She has lost 9.4lbs and what's more important- she has lost 8.3% Body Fat. Shelley's disciplined efforts on her meal plan, her consistent training 3 times a week with me and her own workouts in between have produced dramatic results, not only in how she looks, but in her performance as well. She can now do regular pushups, 80lbs on the Bench Press, 2 minutes on the modified plank, 1 minute on the side plank, sets of 30 on the ab exercises, 100lb Dumbbell sumo squats and 30lbs on the kettlebell squat to overhead press. She has more energy and endurance. She did 3 sets on the Tabata drill. She is fitting into old clothes and people are making comments on how good she looks. And this is just the beginning. I'm very proud of her. She has contributed her before and after pics and is receiving 3 free sessions for her help in my marketing plan. Shelley has truly set the example for others to follow. Great Job Shelley !!

I encourage all of you to find a good before pic or we can take one during one of your sessions and we can start documenting everyone's success. The 3 free sessions will apply to everyone who submits their pics. Take advantage of this offer and show the world how hard you have worked and how damn good you look.

Stay motivated because all of you are doing a great job and I look forward to posting all of your pictures on my sites to show you off to the world. It's time to get sexy.

Train Hard and Eat Right

Eric

Good Red Meat for Protein

Hi Everyone,
I had some Bison sirloin and it was good. I also had some good steaks from naturewell. Kara told me about the Bison sirloin and it was right where she said it was - at the Fort Benning Commissary at the right side of the meat row. Click on the pic for a larger image. Check out the stats on these two types of beef compared to the hormone loaded, steroid loaded, grain fed poison meats. These are two types of good red meat that you don't have to fear. Enjoy good red meat and get lean and strong.

Fat Loss Honor Roll for 26 Sep 08

WEEKLY FAT LOSS HONOR ROLL 26 SEP 08

Caroline lost 5.8% Body Fat - WOW – OUT OF CONTROL – she said this week, she ate exactly how I told her to eat – see, it works very well. If 100% compliance yields that kind of results, even if you were in the 60-75% compliant range, you would still make massive progress in losing the belly.

Aimee lost 2.2% Body Fat – awesome job !!! Aimee is starting her 3rd package with me. She started on August 4th with 25.1% Bodyfat and is now at 15.4%. –Excellent progress for less than 90 days.

Great Job Ladies !!!!

Ryan lost 2.26% Bodyfat and packed on almost a pound and a half of muscle while in the field. He followed a disciplined meal plan and it paid off. Great Job Ryan !!!


Special Notes from this week

Girl Power update !!!!

The bench press club is anxiously awaiting the arrival of new members. Many of you are not far away from joining the ranks of those few, who earned the T-shirt.

Kara bench pressed 140lbs. Outstanding !!!! She also did 45lbs on the Kettlebell Squat to Overhead press. Who will be next??

Caroline bench pressed 125lbs and got my last T-shirt. Now I have to order more for the rest of you. Great Job Caroline!!!! She is the 5th member of the bench press club. And she lost 5.8% bodyfat in the same week. My program when followed =fat loss & muscle gain. Caroline is another example of real women making real results following my program.

Shelley did 2 minutes on the modified Plank and 1 minute on the side Plank. Great Job!!! I haven’t had any girl make 2 minutes on the plank anytime time recently. Outstanding work! Shelley is my latest before and after picture girl and she is getting 3 free sessions for letting me use her photos for marketing. I want more, who is next?

Angelica and Aimee got 1 minute on the side plank, Aimee did 1:25 on the modified plank Kara got 1:10 on the modified plank, Ansuya & Angelica got 1:30 on the modified Plank. Outstanding work !!! Core Strength = success.

Aimee is battling through the bench press zone of 110-115lbs and is not far away from joining the club.

Megan, from the front desk at Smith Fitness Center, did 3 minutes on the modified plank and then bench pressed 95lbs and almost got 100lbs. She doesn’t even look like she weighs a hundred pounds. She is doing awesome and continues to be the reigning YouTube girl. We added a video of the plank and the bench. Great Job Megan !!!

Another meal example

3 Minutes on the Modified Plank

Megan did 3 minutes on the modified Plank and then bench pressed 95lbs. She was real close to getting 100lbs. Great job Megan!!!!

The Secret Of Underground Bodybuilding

Hi Everyone,

I just watched another video my buddy Zach put togetheron the secrets of Underground Bodybuilding...

Watch it: ==> http://www.undergroundstrengthcoach.com/public/475.cfm?affID=ericd6

This might be the coolest video Zach has done yetbecause it shows you how to pack on lean muscle WHILE getting freaky strong at the same time. (And you'll also learn some 'Prison strength training tips and Zach will demo some killer exercises too)

People have been raving about these videos and I hopeyou're diggin them too...Check it out here: ==>

http://www.undergroundstrengthcoach.com/public/475.cfm?affID=ericd6

Train hard,
Eric

Biggest Loser

I just watched two episodes of the biggest loser and all I can say is aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That show drives me absolutely mad!! I can't stand it. It pisses me off to no end. So I forced myself to watch the two episodes so I can accurately rage on what I viewed.

Number 1: millions of people watch this show and think that this is the standard for health and fitness. Problem: It is a poor example of weight management training, unhealthy and based upon outdated and proven ineffective methods. People are further brainwashed by this garbage and it makes my job harder when I have to deprogram women in order to train them in an effective and healthy manner. The psychological damage it causes is astounding.

Number 2: It is entirely based upon weight loss. BAD, BAD, BAD. The poor people go through grueling and ridiculous workouts and the nutritional information shown on the show is garbage. The results speak for themselves. The people lose huge amounts of weight per week in the range of 3-15lbs or more with no mention of body composition analysis. How much of this weight loss is lean tissue and fluid and how much is fat? Nobody knows but I can guarantee you that most of it isn't fat. And regardless of how much weight they lose, the people still look extremely fat.

Number 3: They talked about recipes that they cooked and the criteria for the selections was low fat and low sodium. The low sodium is fine but the low to no fat is ignorant at best.
No mention of carbs or protein except when they selected a lean meat - turkey I think, which was 99% fat free and high in protein. The lack of nutrition info and the poor examples given are mind boggling.

Number 4: When everyone weighed in, their numbers were very low compared to what they thought they would lose - after all they busted their butts working out and doing these demanding events - why didn't they lose more? One guy who worked really hard even gained 3 pounds - how is that possible? I can tell you why as could any other trainer with a clue. But of course no mention of the details about why. The numbers that they lose exceed the healthy recommended weight loss guidelines by huge amounts per week. Even though those guidelines are not perfect, the amounts lost by people on the show are dangerous when no body composition analysis is done. All the show does is reinforce what cutting edge fat loss data has already proven. But it is displayed as a good thing and people have it stored in the brain housing groups that this is the way to go. - wrong!!!

Number 5: the exercise selections for their killer workouts outline exactly what not to do for effective fat loss training. They do steady state cardio and low weight / high rep training for endless hours with no proper nutritional guidelines. These poor people live in a catabolic, muscle eating state throughout the show. The muscle and fluid goes and the fat stays but they lose weight so it is cool.

I have trained numerous men and women who weighed the same as the people on the show in the 200-300 plus range. I wish I could have those people for however long they commit to that insanity so I could have them do the right things and eat properly. They would end up looking completely different. Any of the leading fat loss trainers and fat loss manuals will tell you that what they do on this show is madness. It is a shame because the concept is great and millions are inspired by these people and the hard work that they do on the show. It is too bad that the participants couldn't go through a real fat loss camp and attain positive, healthy results that would reinforce good nutrition and exercise as opposed to the ineffective, outdated and dangerous crap that they actually do.

That show will always piss me off every time I watch it. I am passionate about what I do and I believe in educating people on how the body works and how to train properly for effective fat loss and muscle building. This show is a thorn in my side because I have already interacted with numerous women who wanted to do training like the biggest loser and I said no way! Do it right or go somewhere else.

I give the people on the show all the credit in the world because they display courage and determination and they try very hard. I wish I could help them because that is what I do.

Ok, that's enough on that. I said my piece. Let me know what you think.

Tofu 2

Notice the animal above is in a grass field. This animal eats grass for food naturally. The cows and steers that the big companies raise in pens and shoot full of hormones are fed primarily grain feed and that is the real problem - yes grain, for all of you 100% whole wheat oat bran moonies. I don't recommend eating red meat from these sources. Naturally raised, free roaming, grass fed, organic beef sources are what I recommend when it comes to red meat. Each grocery store usually has a little organic meat section with grass fed organic labels so you need to look before you buy. Anyway that's a different article all together.

So....


Ok I ate the rest of my TOFU. Yup, I Still consider it to be of no use, in the greater scheme of the cosmos. Every time I ate a big chunk, I was still starving so I had to eat real food to feel full.


Once again, the macronutrient ratio of TOFU is hard to beat but....


I had to eat some dead animals, vegetables, nuts, and fruits - you know the things that God actually intended humans to eat.

So...

Yup I'm still an omnivore. I still have incisor teeth to rip and chew meat and molar type teeth to grind plants and nuts with . That is just my opinion though. Others disagree. = whatever!!!!



Oh yeah and not to mention the numerous articles and studies that I have recently read on brain damage and other great stuff that eating this type of soy poison does to you. But we won't go there -right now anyway.



I believe that you should strive to eat within a generic caveman / paleo profile. Meaning, if you can't catch it in the water, shoot it in the woods, pull it out of the ground, or off of a bush or tree then you probably don't need it. You can dig into that for days but that is my generic profile that I recommend. It is actually quite detailed when you think deeper about it.



So...



If you like Tofu and related vegan dishes, then rock on with your bad self.


But it's not for me and I'll never recommend it. So there!!!!

Eric Dempsey
NASM C.P.T.
http://www.dempseysresolution.com

Lemon Chicken

Here is a healthy chicken recipe for you - I recommend to leave out the salt and use more herbs and lemon for flavor. - Enjoy!!!

Another great T-nation article

Step Away From the Treadmill
by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove

The following article was excerpted from "The New Rules of Lifting for Women," written by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove:

This is the part of the book where you start to wonder if maybe I'm the victim of too many protein shakes. I'm going to argue that steady-pace endurance exercise — what most of us refer to as "cardio" or "aerobics" — is overrated as a tool for fat loss. But before I do, let me point out that I'm not disputing any of the facts that are indisputable. Does endurance exercise burn calories? Sure. Does it contribute to a longer, healthier life? Absolutely.

I'm not out to demonize anyone's favorite type of exercise. I just want to make the case that a comprehensive strength-training program — such as the one Alwyn Cosgrove designed for The New Rules of Lifting for Women — gives you plenty of exercise, including exercise at high levels of intensity, and thus delivering all the benefits you want from endurance exercise without requiring very much of it.

Defining the Problem
"Aerobics" is a made-up word, coined by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, a former college track star, to promote steady-pace exercise. Here's what he wrote in Aerobics, his 1968 bestseller:
"I'll state my position early. The best exercises are running, swimming, cycling, walking, stationary running, handball, basketball and squash, and in just about that order. Isometrics, weight lifting and calisthenics, though good as far as they go, don't even make the list, despite the fact that most exercise books are based on one of these three."


Cooper believed that endurance training was the key to everything. It was a counterintuitive idea, but unlike so many other leap-of-faith notions that arose in the 1960s ("tune in, turn on, drop out"), it gained a permanent foothold in science and practice. I call it "counterintuitive" because the human species isn't really designed for long-distance runs. We evolved to walklong distances — that's how our ancient ancestors put food on the table, before they figured out retailing — and to run really fast when we must. We're good at start-stop activities involving lots of different speeds and changes of direction, which is why human children instinctively play games like "tag," why human adults invent games like basketball and soccer, and why fighting sports like boxing and tae kwon do have rounds of several minutes, rather than continuous action until one fighter wins.


What we aren't good at, by nature, is jogging or swimming at a steady pace for longer than a few minutes.

And yet, that's what Cooper and many who followed his example have spent four decades telling us we should do.

To be fair, it's hard to make the argument that our species evolved to do sets of bench presses or deadlifts, either. So maybe it's facetious to take any aspects of modern life, including our exercise routines, and put them into a prehistoric context. I'm just trying to make the point that the ability to do anaerobic exercises — lifting heavy things, running fast, jumping, climbing, fighting — was vital to the survival of our species. Being able to jog for an hour at a specified percentage of your maximum heart rate wasn't.

The word "aerobic" refers to the aerobic energy system, one of three ways your body can fuel movement. You use your aerobic system constantly, whether you think about it or not. As long as you're breathing easily, whether you're working, sleeping, doing chores, or exercising, you're using it. That is, you're using oxygen to burn a combination of fat and glycogen (the form of carbohydrate your body uses for energy) to keep your body functioning.

Generally, the healthier you are, the higher the percentage of fat you'll burn at rest. If you're obese and/or diabetic, you'll burn more glycogen and less fat. A perfectly healthy woman would burn just under 60 percent fat and just over 40 percent glycogen most of the time. During exercise, as your heart rate quickens and you start breathing harder, the ratio will shift. All-out exercise is anaerobic — your body can't use oxygen to burn fuel, so it uses chemicals inside your body to generate the energy it needs. When your body needs to fuel movement without oxygen, it uses glycogen, rather than fat, to keep you moving. It has two systems for this: one for very short sprints, up to perhaps 10 to 15 seconds, and the other for longer dashes that last about a minute.

Given what I just wrote, you'd think that exercising with the aerobic energy system must be superior to using either of your two anaerobic systems, since you burn more fat with aerobics. That's where we got the now-very-much-discredited idea that there's a "fat-burning zone" in which we should all exercise.
The amount of fat you burn during exercise matters less than the amount you burn when you aren'texercising. And that's where you start to see some of the hidden benefits of strength training.

Killer Calories
If you compare the number of calories burned during endurance exercise to the number burned during strength training, endurance wins pretty easily. Let's say you weigh 140 pounds. If you ran six miles in an hour — a 12-minute-mile pace — you'd burn an estimated 512 calories. (That's including the 100 or so calories you'd burn in that hour if you didn't go running, but that's the same no matter what type of exercise we're looking at.) An hour of serious strength training would burn an estimated 384 calories, or 25 percent fewer. If you're a talented runner clocking eight-minute miles, you'd burn 800 calories, or more than twice as many as you'd burn in the weight room for that same hour.

At first glance, it's easy to see why strength training doesn't slay calories the way endurance exercise does. You spend more time resting in between sets than you do actually lifting, and you certainly aren't burning fat while you're pushing and pulling weights. If you're challenging yourself at all, you're shifting from your fat-using aerobic energy system to your anaerobic systems, which by design run on glycogen.

However, there is more going on.
First is the afterburn — the calories your body continues to burn after the workout is over. Intensity is the most important factor determining post-workout metabolism, so the harder you work in the weight room, the more calories your body will burn afterwards. Let's say that afterburn accounts for an additional 50 calories.
Calories aren't the only consideration. Serious strength training also signals your body to burn a higher percentage of fat calories for many hours after you leave the gym. A really intriguing University of Colorado study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2003, measured post-workout fat oxidation. ("Fat oxidation" is what happens when your body uses oxygen to turn fat into energy, as it does when you're using your aerobic energy system.) The researchers had a group of men and women do a weight workout one day and an aerobic workout another, with each workout burning about 400 calories.

Fifteen hours after the weight workout, the men and women were burning 22 percent more fat than they did 15 hours after their aerobic workout. The researchers concluded that the exercisers would've needed to burn twice as many calories during their aerobic workout — 800, instead of 400 — to reach the level of post-workout fat oxidation achieved by the lifters.

"Burn More Calories While You Sleep!"
I haven't yet mentioned resting metabolic rate (RMR), which is the speed at which your body burns calories regardless of whatever you happen to be doing at the moment. With men, it's pretty clear that weight lifting increases RMR. The workouts themselves speed up metabolism, in part because the body needs to work harder to repair and rebuild muscles, connective tissues, and bones.

There's also a cumulative effect that comes from adding new muscle tissue. It isn't anything close to the "50 calories per pound of muscle" that some people claim (and I say that knowing full well I've used that figure in articles going back a few years). But muscle is metabolically active tissue, and having more of it certainly forces your body to burn more calories throughout the day and night. The real key, though, is the workouts. The harder they are, the more calories you burn in the next day or two as your body recovers.

Women seem to get a slight increase in metabolism from lifting. It's still in the neighborhood of just 50 calories a day, which isn't a fifth of a Snickers bar. But it shows that the weights are doing something that probably won't happen with endurance exercise.

So if you add it all up, weight workouts give you two and possibly three important advantages over endurance exercise:
1 The afterburn, which might be an extra 50 calories.
2. A higher percentage of fat calories used for energy after the workout.
3. A possible increase in resting metabolic rate, in the neighborhood of 50 calories a day.

Having said all that, I'll acknowledge that you could equal these benefits of resistance training simply by doing more endurance exercise, or doing it at a higher intensity. You'd burn more calories, you'd get a greater afterburn than you would by exercising at an easier pace, and you'd train your body, over time, to use a higher percentage of fat calories during your runs or swims or rides, and to tap into those fat stores earlier in the workout.

Can strength training compete with that? Let me explain why I think the answer is yes.

The Power of Perturbation
Let's slow down for a moment, and ask ourselves why strength training has a bigger effect on metabolism and post-exercise fat-burning than endurance exercise. I think there are two key reasons.

First, there's the inefficiency factor. When you hear your boss use a word like "inefficiency," you know someone in the office will soon be using monster.com as her home page, and you hope it's not you. But when we talk about inefficient exercise, we're talking about routines that require more effort. Your body isn't used to the exercises yet, or hasn't fully adapted to the exercise parameters, and thus has to work harder to get through the routine.

Harder work means better results — you'll burn more calories during the workout, and you'll burn more afterwards, when your body is recovering. In other words, inefficiency is the ideal.

The problem with a repetitive routine, like running or cycling, is that your body makes adaptations and gets progressively more efficient. Those adaptations allow you to go farther and faster in your runs or rides, which is good if your goal is to be an endurance athlete who goes farther and faster. If your goal is to be leaner, then greater endurance isn't really to your benefit; the increased efficiency means you use fewer calories per unit of exercise.

Here's an example:
Back in 1990, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a study that compared the effects of diet and exercise, vs. exercise alone, for overweight women. The diet was extreme, cutting the women's daily calorie intake by 50 percent. Both groups of women did six days a week of steady-pace endurance exercise, 35 to 40 minutes a day. The diet-plus-exercise group lost a boatload of weight, as you can imagine — 29 pounds in 12 weeks, on average. Unfortunately, a third of it was muscle, which meant their resting metabolic rates slowed down by an average of 9 percent. The exercise-only group also lost weight, about 13 pounds per person, but only 14 percent of it was lean tissue, and their metabolic rates stayed the same.
But the really, really startling finding is that the first group became so efficient at endurance exercise that they burned 16 percent fewer calories when doing it at low intensities. The exercise-only group also got more efficient, but only burned 8 percent fewer calories. (I should note that the effect disappeared at higher intensities of exercise, which gets back to what I said earlier about the importance of working harder, vs. working longer.)

One more negative effect of chronic endurance exercise:
Your body will adapt to the increased efficiency by selectively shrinking your Type I muscle fibers. Yes, literally, those fibers get smaller as they get better at running or riding. The effect may not be dramatic, but it illustrates how endurance exercise makes your body more efficient, which is to say better at going longer distances with less fuel. If you're trying to get your body to burn morefuel, you can see the problem here.

The same problem arises with strength training, if you forget the "strength" and focus on the "training." Doing high-repetition work with light weights simply makes your muscles more efficient at lifting light weights, which is a surefire way to shrink your muscles and reduce their ability to burn calories.

Heavier lifts, as you can imagine, are inherently less efficient than lighter lifts. They require a bit more energy to perform, but consume a lot more energy as your body recovers from them.

Imagine a lower-body workout that includes leg presses, vs. one in which you do squats with a barbell on your shoulders. For the leg press, you're merely straightening your legs by pushing on a platform that, by virtue of its 45-degree angle, is designed to be easy to push. Contrast that with barbell squats, in which most of your body's muscle fibers are involved in either lifting the weight or keeping your body upright while you lift it. The squatting movement is natural — we do it every time we jump or get up from a chair — but the heavy weight and the difficulty of keeping it balanced on your shoulders make it extraordinarily inefficient.

That inefficiency flips all the switches on what's called your sympathetic nervous system. Again, forget that the word "sympathetic" has warm and fuzzy connotations in most of its uses. When we're talking about our nervous system, "sympathetic" involves the heavy-duty stuff, the stress hormones that trigger our fight-or-flight responses. It's your body's internal equivalent of a smoke detector.

Activating the sympathetic nervous system means your adrenal glands are kicking out adrenaline and other stress hormones, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, and your bronchial passages widen. Your body's core temperature increases, your sweat glands open, your pupils dilate, and you might even get goose bumps.

We're conditioned to think that all these things are bad, but in the context of a workout, they're actually good, since without this festival of stress, you wouldn't be able to work as hard in the weight room. And your body wouldn't burn as many calories, or use as much fat for energy, while you're recovering.

In other words, the real key to successful strength training is metabolic perturbation. You're shaking things up in your muscle cells, your nervous system, and your hormones. The calories you burn while throwing so much of your body into the spin cycle can be modest or substantial, but they're only part of the effect. What your body does afterwards, when it's trying to recover, has at least as big an impact on your physique as the calories used while you're actually lifting.

Could you shake things up with endurance exercise? Sure, if you do intervals, which are a mix of all-out and easy efforts, rather than running or riding at a steady pace. But at that point you're shifting away from your exclusive use of your aerobic energy system, and using one or both of your anaerobic systems.

In other words, you've stopped doing "aerobics" and started doing something that resembles strength training, at least in terms of energy. You're selectively using glycogen-fueled movement with the goal of forcing your body to use more fat while it recovers.

A Decent Interval
I'm not going to get into the particulars of Alwyn's workouts in this excerpt, except to explain why he emphasizes intervals over steady-state endurance.
First, there's metabolic perturbation, which we just discussed. Since it's harder to run or ride or swim fast, it's also more inefficient. That means you shake things up more than you would at a steady pace, which leads to a bigger post-exercise response.

Second, it takes less time. You'd be hard-pressed to go longer than 20 minutes in an interval workout. Thirty minutes is a pretty good interval workout even for an advanced athlete. So you're in and out faster.

As with any type of anaerobic exercise, you force your body to use carbohydrates for energy during the high-intensity intervals. Then you use more fat when you're recovering.

You can do intervals any number of ways, with any combination of work and rest. Alwyn uses a 1:2 ratio here, so you'll go hard for a minute, say, and then rest two minutes. In his experience, that's the most effective protocol for rapid fat loss in women who aren't either elite athletes or absolute beginners. (It's kind of an obvious point, but I'm journalistically obligated to say it anyway: Intervals aren't a good choice for someone who hasn't exercised since high school gym class.)

Now, if you actually enjoy endurance exercise, and would miss it if you couldn't do any, we don't want to discourage you from that. But Alwyn has come up with a unique way of making it more effective.

Do intervals first, to work off some of the glycogen in your muscles. Then step off the track or treadmill or get off the bike or out of the pool. That is, stop altogether for five minutes. Then get back on or in and do some steady-speed exercise at an easy pace.

Why bother? Because after you stop exercising, your body will immediately flood your bloodstream with triglycerides. Women's muscles use more of these fat molecules for energy than do men's. When you start exercising again, you'll have more fat readily available for energy, which means you'll burn more of it than you would if you'd done nothing but steady-pace work.

Does it work? Alwyn says the female clients he trains typically lose two pounds of fat in a week, and six to 10 pounds in a month.

Adapted from The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove. Available at Amazon.com and wherever books are sold.


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