So today was the first day of the week, and I did not make it to the gym.. As a matter of fact I have been super sick for the first time in a long time.  I worked out really hard on friday, and was feeling pumped for the weekend, later that night I began feeling really fatigued and decided to head home after a big dinner.  Spent the next two days laying around and attempting to eat, just to have it come right back out.. no fun at all.  Anyway I am feeling a little better tonight and will try my best to fall back into my routine by tomorrow evening.  please make sure to post any questions or comments you may have!  Otherwise, sorry about the lack in posts for the last couple of days, but now you know why!!

Hey!

So this picture is JP (front), Me (back) and my best buddy/ the man who got me addicted to fitness/ article contributor/ Steve… Well today was a good day, and yeah I do say that a lot but its always true.. just about everyday is a good day and as long as you keep a positive mind, it will continue to be so!  I actually once wondered what life meant (to me), and the answer I came up with was.. Life is the “Pursuit of Love”, to love what you do, to love yourself, and to love the people around you…. when I came upon this as my answer I realized that I had two of the three covered and always had a positive attitude but often found myself not liking what I did for a living.  I owned my own business but felt it was not the legacy I wanted to leave behind, nor did I feel like I was making a positive influence on the world.. So I sold my company off in pieces, liquidated my self completely and then skipped to Ft Lauderdale, FL to spend some time on the beach and relax to find what it was I truly “loved” and wanted to do…. So here I am.. working in the industry I truly have a passion for.. FITNESS!  Now this may or may not have mattered to you, but often I wonder what people did before they found what they felt was the business for them, so I wanted to share how it was I came to be writing fitness articles on the Internet, and now you know!!!

Here was my day!

Meals: 8am- 11pm

-Peanut butter cookies (220 cal, 6g protein)

-Snack Bar (120 cal, 4g protein)

-Tv Dinner Healthy choice (310 Cal, 18g protein)

-Snickers Energy/Protein bar (220 cal, 16g protein)

-Fiber one (1 of 2) pot-tart 20 min before workout (+/- 100 cal)

Workout

-Protein Shake (200 cal, 25g protein)

-Dinner my friends made, steak vegetables (+/- 425 cal, 20g protein)

-Random snack, cheese and beef jerky (160 cal, 8g protein)

Total:  +/- 1855 cal, 97g protein

Workout Details:

-Ran around the track for 5 min for mild warm up

-Dead Lift 3 sets 8 reps @ 175 lbs

-Dead Lift 2 sets 6 reps @ 235 lbs

-Jumping Military press using barbell, 3 sets 10 reps @ 85 lbs

-1 set of Non Assisted pull-ups to failure

-tired so then went off to play basket ball for cardio and indoor soccer for about 45 min

Workout Notes: So this was by no means on my top 10, but still felt good and will add to my goal, felt great about today in general, so fell good about any activity!  haha sorry about the corny comments in this article, but want to start being more personal in my posts so you can get an idea of who I am, and why I want to help!

2/22/10

Today.. Ahhh today..

Feeling the effects of my binge pizza eating of saturday, and my pure lazy’ness of yesterday, although I did make it to the gym to do a little cardio last night, but it was pretty much just to get me prepared to push it hard this week.  So I woke up this morning and decided to start it out right, realized I didnt have much to eat in my house, so ate the following on the road today, but killed it in the gym with a great back and biceps workout!!

Meals: 8am-11pm

-Healthy Choice tv dinner (yeah for breakfast)(240 Cal, 15g protein)

-Fiber One snack bar (150 Cal)

-McDonalds Bacon Angus Burger with cheese and fries (not proud of this)(1000 cal, 80g of fat!)

-Snack bar (120 cal)

Workout

- Protein Shake (25g protein, 200 cal)

-Tv Dinner (210 Cal, 15g protein)

-Half Can of Ravioli  (120 Cal, 6g protein)

Total: 2120 Cal, +/- 90 g protein

Workout Details:

-3 laps around 1/5 mile track for warm up

-3 Sets of 10 reps super slow, Wide Grip non-assisted pull-ups

-3 sets of 10 Lat-Pull-Ups 120 lbs

-3 sets of 10 seated rows 100 lbs

-3 sets of 10 reps, Bent Over Row 70 lbs

-3 sets of 10 reps, one arm smith machine bent over row (bar plus 20 lbs)(+/- 65 lbs)

-3 sets of 10 reps regular inside pull-ups

-Sit-ups, and hanging leg lifts to failure

-basketball/soccer for about 30 min for end cardio

Notes: now this is not that intensive of a workout, I have for sure done a lot more lifting in a one time session, but what really set this one above from the rest was the way that I worked out.  I pushed every second of this, with little downtime between sets and breakneck cardio at the end, I will for sure see the results if I continue out the week with similar workouts, but never the same

Hey,

Back at it again.. Took the weekend to hangout and get a little bit of work done, decided to go out for some drinks with my friends on friday, and that caused me to order 2 large pizzas from Papa Johns, and go to town all day on some serious grubbing!  need a day like that every once in a while.   I am going to hit the gym hard tomorrow but until then, its still the weekend, enjoy yourself!

10 Reasons Why It Is Hard To Lose Weight

Do you believe it’s simple to lose weight? If you listen to the weight loss industry, you’ve been told over and over how easy it is…just take this pill, follow that diet or buy this piece of equipment and everything will melt away in a flash. In fact, we spend over billions each year on weight loss products and services and yet we’re still overweight. In light of this, is weight loss really that simple?

Complex Problems, Simple Solutions

The idea behind weight loss is simple–burn more calories than you eat. This can be accomplished by replacing a couple of sodas with water and adding 20 minutes of walking each day. Sounds simple…and it is. If it’s that simple, why can’t we seem to do it?

There are a number of factors that contribute to our weight gain that you already know. But it’s not just about finding time to exercise or choosing the salad over the burger–it’s about genuine commitment to make healthy decisions every day….REGARDLESS of what’s happening in your life. If you’re not ready to make some changes, losing weight will be hard. Below are 10 things you’ll need to look at in order to get yourself on a healthy track.

1. Your Attitude. If you’re only on a health kick to lose weight or look a certain way, it will be hard to lose weight permanently. Why? Because, what happens if you don’t see results quickly enough? You give up. Weight loss is a great goal, but unless you have something else to motivate you, what’s to keep you going if the scale doesn’t budge? It takes time to lose weight–how will you motivate yourself in the meantime? Find more reasons to be healthy–having more energy, dealing with health problems or wanting to live longer to be around for your kids. Those are some darned good reasons, if you ask me.

2. Your Workouts. If you don’t workout consistently enough, it’s hard to lose weight. Yes, it’s possible to lose weight through diet alone, but you’ll likely hit a plateau. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym, you only need to set up a reasonable workout schedule that you can follow each week. It’s not about killing yourself with workouts–it’s about finding something you like and that you’ll continue with for the rest of your life. You have to be willing to be more active on a regular basis–not just for a week here and there.

3. Your Eating. Changing the way you eat is another thing you’re going to have to do for long-lasting weight loss. You need to be willing to replace unhealthy foods with healthier choices–every single day. This might mean:

• Keeping a food journal
• Spending more time in the grocery store reading food labels
• Spending more time preparing meals
• Saying no to extra portions
• Making conscious choices about what you put in your mouth.

For permanent weight loss, you need to pay attention to what you eat and make good choices more often than not. Maybe a structured diet eventually ends, but healthy eating never stops…there will never be a time when you’re done eating healthy. You might feel you’re sacrificing the good stuff (pizza, fast food, etc.) and your life won’t be fun if you can’t have those foods. Guess what? You can still have them…just not whenever you want. Are you ready to make these changes? Are you ready to stop giving your body the most convenient thing available (and often the most fatty) and, instead, spend time planning what and when you’ll eat? Because that’s what it takes to get healthy…permanently.

4. Your Lifestyle. If you want a healthy life, you have to be willing to change how you live. It doesn’t mean changing everything overnight, but simply being open to new ways of doing things. Some things you might need to change for a healthy life are:

• Daily Routines. You may need to get up earlier to prepare your lunch or squeeze in a workout, use your lunch hour for exercise or go for a walk after work instead of watching TV. Are you willing to do this?
• Limits. You might need to set new rules for yourself limiting how much TV you watch or how long you sit at the computer. You’ll need to pay attention to how you spend your time and where you’re out of balance so you can add more movement.
• Your Pantry. I’m the kind of person who will eat an entire bag of Doritoes if they’re in the house. That means I don’t keep them in the house and if someone (ahem…husband) brings them home, he must immediately re-locate them elsewhere. If you want to be healthy, you may need to get rid of those foods you just can’t resist.
• Your Schedule. If you’re not willing to sit down and change the way you live each day to include exercise, time to prepare meals and time to nurture yourself with sleep, it’s hard to lose weight. People use busy schedules as an excuse not to be healthy…are you one of them? If you’re not ready to take responsibility for the schedule you’ve created, it will be hard to lose weight.

5. Your Surroundings. Sometimes, you can’t control the things around you. At work, you may be surrounded by temptations–donuts, vending machines and the like. That’s just one thing you have to deal with…but what about your home? Surround yourself with things that will support you in your efforts to get healthy. That might mean spending some money on home workout equipment, setting up a corner of the house for your gear or commandeering the TV a few nights a week to do an exercise video. Set up an environment that encourages those healthy choices and reminds you of them–just walking into my kitchen and seeing that bowl of fresh fruit is often enough to remind me of all the healthy choices I’ll need to make that day.

6. Your Support System. While getting healthy may be something you’re doing on your own, it’s a big help to have a support system. At the very least, family members who understand what you’re doing and are either willing to participate or help. If you have a spouse who wants to continue eating the kinds of foods that tempt you, you need a plan to deal with that so you can still reach your goals and keep your relationship together. Try to surround yourself with people who support what you’re doing and avoid those people (like that co-worker who always offers you a donut even though you refuse on a daily basis) who don’t. A workout buddy is also an excellent idea for support.

7. Your Spiritual and Mental Health. If you have other reasons for being overweight–past hurts that you’ve used food to deal with, depression or other problems, it’s hard to lose weight. For many of us, food is a comfort and something we’ve relied on all of our lives to help us deal with emotional problems. If that’s the case for you, pinpointing those behaviors and what drives them is important for becoming aware of what you’re doing and why. A counselor can help you with this or take some time to read about emotional eating. Be willing to learn why you make the choices you make and to confront them.

8. Your Goals. If you’ve set impossible goals, you are guaranteed to fail. Weight loss becomes hard to achieve if you feel like a constant failure…who wants to feel like that? If that’s how your weight loss experience is, it’s no wonder you keep quitting. The key is to set reasonable goals. So what is reasonable? That’s going to be different for each person depending on your genetics, eating habits, exercise, and metabolism to name a few. You’re better off setting a long-term goal (whether it’s to lose weight or compete in a race) and then focusing your attention on daily or weekly goals. Your weekly goal might be to get in 3 cardio workouts, minimum. Pick things you KNOW you’ll achieve so you’re always successful. It can be as small as you like, as long as it’s reachable.

9. Your Flexibility. You hear a lot about lifestyle changes, but it’s daily choices that really test you. What happens if you have to work late and you can’t get to the gym? Or what if you get stuck in traffic and miss your fitness class? Any number of things can happen in a day that may throw you off track. The trick is to be flexible. It helps if you’re always prepared–keep some workout shoes in the car so you can stop off at the park for a quick walk. Keep some food handy so if you get stuck in traffic, you get a snack in before your workout. Often people skip workouts because something comes up and they simply aren’t ready for it or they aren’t willing to give themselves other options–can’t do 45 minutes? Why not just do 10? Something is always better than nothing.

10. Your Willingness to Fail. You will not be perfect every day. As a perfectionist, I have to say that is a frustrating concept for me but, the truth is, everyone (even perfectionists) has good days and bad days. On the good days, you’ll eat all your fruits and veggies, say no to that pizza and do your workout even though you’re tired. On the bad days, you’ll wake up late, forget to bring your lunch, have an extra piece of cake at your friend’s birthday party and skip your workout. The bad days will happen if you’re a human being. The trick is to never give up, even when you mess up. You’re not a loser just because you make some mistakes…you’re simply a person trying his or her best to make good decisions

Hey!

I woke up this morning and just knew it was going to be a great day! First a good breakfast and now I’m ready to take on my day! Time to go make some money and then get my butt to the gym to workout for the day…today is chest and triceps day…one of my favorite!!  Here are some of the details

Meals: 5:30 am – 11:00 pm

- High Fiber Oatmeal (one packet) and cup of coffee for the car

- One giant banana

- One piece of 12 grain toast with peanut butter

- Cup of yogurt, strawberry fiber one

- Buffalo chicken deli sandwich w handful of multi-grain chips

Workout

- Protein Shake (30 grams)

- Banana

- Bertollis Lemon Shrimp w/vegs

Workout Details: Chest/Triceps Day 7:00 pm

- Regular Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets of 8 reps 65 lbs

- Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets of 12 reps 40lbs

- Dumbbell Flyes 3 sets of 10 reps 30 lbs

- Dips 3 sets of 12

- Tricep Cable Extensions with straight bar 3 sets of 10 reps 100 lbs

- Tricep Kickbacks 3 sets of 12 with 10 lb dumbbell

- Finished of workout with 25 min of Cardio on the treadmill, good jog pace with a steep      incline!

Notes: Was a very successful workout today! Did a lot of reps and pushed myself hard to finish every set, very little downtime in between sets. Good Cardio at the end and ate healthy all day. I feel very confident that I’m progressing very well and soon can push it even harder! Trying to get ready for the Beach in  March!!

Let me know if you have any questions on anything or suggestions.

Thanks!

Today was pretty good, was feeling pretty good this morning, got up early and did some mild cleaning over at my buddy’s place.  Decided to come out to his place and workout with him in Monticello MN, pretty nice community center out here, only five bucks to workout, play ball and or swim.. over all pretty cheap.  Anyway, crashed out at his place and shot over to the gym to take some pictures to use as diagrams, so now there will be a link next to ever part of the workout, so you can see what I mean, since some terms are hard to understand.   Let me know if there is anymore you need or want to learn…

Current weight: 157 lbs

Height: 5’ 10”

Estimated body fat: 8%

Meals:

-Oatmeal High Fiber (Packet oatmeal)

- Roast beef Sandwich, peperjack cheese on 9 grain bread

-Mac and Cheese tv dineer (a healthy one)

-Chocolate and Oats fiber bar (I love these things)

-Some Goldfish

Workout: 6:00pm

-Protein shake (30 grams)

-Chicken Pasta with red sauce

-water, banana and fiber bar

Workout Details:

-5 Min of mild stretching and jogging in place

-2 sets of 10 wide grip pull-ups

-3 sets of 10 squats with 135 lbs

-2 sets of 10 body weight slow squats

-3 sets of 10 reps with 275 lbs

-3 sets of 12 reps seated calf-raises with 115 lbs

-3 sets of 10 reps laying down leg curl with 90 lbs

-3 sets of 10 reps seated leg raises with 100 lbs

-3 sets of kneeling leg kick backs with 65 lbs

-finish with 2 sets to failure hanging leg raises and some minor abb ball sit-ups

Workout Notes:

Overall a pretty good low weight high rep leg workout, I have been wanting to increase my stamina and get some of my agility back I use to have when I was around 16-18.  Not to say that I am not in the best shape of my life, just don’t want to loose my random skills of back flipping off walls and other useless fun activities

So Today was a good day!  Pretty nice back here in the Minneapolis MN, was about 30 degrees, sunny and gave me the energy I needed to hit the gym hard this evening.  Ate pretty light throughout the day, mainly cause i was on the run most of the day, but still managed to finish with one of the best calorie burning workouts i have had in a long time.  Anyway here is what I ate throughout my day, and the best part.. my workout!

Meals:

-Oatmeal (high fiber)

-Fiber bar

-Banana and snack bar, diet coke

-roast beef sandwich on wheat bread no cheese

-peanut butter toast 1 slice 20 min before workout

Workout:  7:30pm

-protein shake (25 grams)

-15 gram protein snack bar

-tv dinner with 15 grams of protein and a huge glass of water

-some multigrain chips

Workout Details:

-5 min of light jogging around the indoor track

-3 sets of 8 reps super slow, Lat Pull-Ups

-3 sets of 10 reps Deadlift using dumbells at 60 lbs each (120lbs)

-3 sets of 10 “reps good-mornings”  45 lbs bar with 30 lbs on it (75 lbs)

-mild running around the track for 5 min

-3 sets of 10 reps jumping military press with 35 lbs bar and 50 lbs on it (85 lbs)

-3 sets of 10 reps hanging leg lifts

-3 sets of 15 super slow abb ball crunches

-25 min of soccer juggling, and kicking against wall (insane cardio)

-20 min of basketball game with 5 other guys (we won!)

Notes:  This was killer, I was pushing it from the moment I stepped in there.  Cardio at the end is for sure what put it over the edge though.. my buddy talked me into playing 3 on 3 with some other guys at the gym, despite my always saying “dude i suck to bad at basketball to actually play, but i will shoot around for cardio”  haha anyway the truth is I can hold my own, on defense and if you give me some space I can hit 3 pt’ers like its my day job!

Metabolism is a combination of physical and chemical processes called anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism is the constructive phase of metabolism in which body cells synthesize protoplasm for growth and repair. Catabolism is the destructive phase of metabolism in which complex substances are broken down into simpler compounds producing energy which is essential for the proper functioning of body cells. Together, these processes distribute nutrients which are absorbed into the blood after digestion.

Three factors determine your metabolic rate.

1. Amount of calories your body uses every day (aka: basal metabolic rate [BMR]).
2. The rate you burn energy during physical activity
3. The rate you use energy during digestion of food are the two other factors involved in your total metabolic rate.

To improve your metabolic efficiency you need minor alterations to your daily eating and exercise program to experience a difference in how you look and feel.

The best way to jump-start your metabolism is to exercise. Exercise will reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass. By increasing lean muscle mass your metabolism will increase and aid in the weight-loss process. Muscle burns significantly more calories than fat tissue because it has a higher metabolic rate. Aerobic exercise, like walking, swimming or cycling, has the added bonus of speeding up your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising. Additional calories will be burned long after you stop exercising.

If you want to reap the benefits of a faster metabolism throughout the day, exercise in the morning, or exercise in short 10 or 15-minute bursts every couple of hours to keep your metabolism pumping.  By exercising just a little more than usual you can speed up your metabolism and use up stored fat in the process.

Eat breakfast!
Breakfast is essential. Your body has been deprived of food throughout the night; therefore your metabolism has slowed. Think of your body as a train and this train hasn�t had any coal for the last 8 hours. Time for some coal! If the cells do not receive sufficient nutrients they will begin to function less efficiently on smaller amounts, and they will actually store more fat to use during these times of nutritional deprivation. You are starving your body by only feeding it a couple times a day, so it goes into survival mode and starts to store as much as it can from the meals it does get. Eat 6-10 small meals a day to keep your body�s fuel supply consistent and keep your metabolism revved up. Consistency is important because your body metabolism adapts to your current weight. If you have been dieting or skipping meals your body�s metabolism slows down to compensate for the lack of nutrients. When lean people overeat their metabolism speeds up and when obese people diet their metabolism slows down. The key is a balance of exercise and diet.

Best Foods to Increase your metabolism:

• Fish
• Oatmeal
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables
• Tomatoes
• Blueberries and many other fruits
• Whole Grains (increase your dietary Fiber w/ grains, fruit and veggies)
• At Least 8 glasses of water a day.

Stay away from:

• High-fat/calorie foods
• Sugary Food (Substitute Sugar for Agave or Stevia [Google it])
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Do not Smoke

You can jump-start a sluggish metabolism through exercise and proper diet! Proper nutrition is the very most important piece to your fitness puzzle. The truth is 85% of your results can be seen by developing a healthy, everyday diet!!! Only about 15% will be seen by exercise alone!!!� Get the Idea!!!