Collected Fitness Wisdom #51

Fact is, motivation is way over-rated.

Instead I focus on setting habits. Why? Because you can depend on habits. Habits are what YOU DO, they aren't based on how YOU FEEL. Motivation is mental and largely based on emotion. Notice, "I don't FEEL motivated today." I don't care how you feel. I care what you do. If you only workout when you feel motivated, you'll get no where.

~ Dave Chesser



Women have been brainwashed by the mainstream fitness "gurus" to believe that if they train for strength, they'll "bulk up." Which is a load of unadulterated crap. I HATE this type of predatory marketing. 

~ Geoff Neupert



We are all capable of impressing - and even surprising - ourselves with what we are capable of doing. Not everyone (even with an insane work ethic) is going to look like Captain American or play on ESPN. It doesn't matter.

What matters is that you never shot for something less than that. You gave everything you had, and you ran that course until it was over. Wherever that point may be, you arrived there knowing that you didn't leave anything in the tank. This is the absolute most you could do, given the tools you had, and you can be happy and fulfilled knowing that. If you attack everything with that mentality, you will be successful and happy with the result, even if that result isn't exactly what you thought it was when you got started.

~ Eric Cressey



The goal of any weight loss program should be to be happy with, and proud of, your body- Not to hit some predetermined arbitrary number.

 ~ Brad Pilon

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Remember, No Pink Dumbbells!

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The "I Love Carbs" Nutrition Plan

If you're a person who hates restrictive low-carb diets, I have great news for you. Craig Ballantyne's Simple Nutrition System guarantees you'll be able to enjoy lots of carbs and still dump excess fat.

Plus, you'll get his 31 Blender Drink, Smoothie, and Post-Workout shake recipes to fuel your metabolic fire. (I don't know why he calls it "31" recipes when it actually contains 43. Maybe those wacky Canadians count differently than Americans. ;-) )

I know how confusing it can be with all the different "experts" saying you have to eat a certain way to discard excess fat. But Craig is dedicated to helping simplify your nutrition program so that it's easy (and delicious) to follow for fat loss.

He knows what he's talking about. C.B.stays at 9-10% body fat year round, enjoying every meal and eating plenty of carbs.

So, not only will you get proven fat loss advice (his system is backed by clinical scientific research) but this program also takes the stress out of eating. It's so simple...even Craig's dog, Bally, uses the plan to get his six pack abs. :-)  (Yes, a vet actually told Craig his dog has six pack abs).

Let's be honest; we need simple. You may lose weight following a complicated, restrictive diet but are you going to continue eating that way for the rest of your life? Most likely, no. Then you're back where you started, probably even heavier because you binged on all the foods you weren't allowed to eat.

So, get ready to discover...

• The Simple Nutrition Rules for fat loss 
• The top 3 food myths that everyone gets wrong in their diet 
• The 7-step detox diet plan (no zany detox methods required) 
• Craig's grocery list and meal plan 
• 43 blender drink, smoothie, and post-workout recipes 

Best of all? You get all of that for just $7. No, that's not a typo. Craig has put his Simple Nutrition System on sale for just $7 until Wednesday (July 25th) at midnight.

$7? You can spend that much on a cup of coffee.

So, don't wait. Click here to get the Simple Nutrition System & Fat Loss Recipes ==>
 Craig Ballantyne's Simple Nutrition System

Remember, this crazy special price is good only until tomorrow at midnight so don't wait to check it out.

P.S. - If you are sick and tired of confusing and complex diets, you need to stop the insanity and switch to the Simple Nutrition for Fat Loss System. Your results are guaranteed by Craig's 100% money back promise.

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The Truth About The New Weight Loss Drug

I was disappointed that the FDA recently approved another weight loss drug. Reading the information on this medication, I found out that it was rejected in 2010 because its use resulted only in "modest weight loss". I planned on writing a blog post about it but haven't had time so when I ran across this article by "The Rogue Nutritionist", Jonny Bowden, I wanted to pass it along.

This situation reminds me so much of the hoopla around Xenical / Alli. Besides the health implications, I'm still baffled that people are/were willing to spend that much money to achieve an additional 1/2-1 pound average weight loss per month (especially considering the weight was regained after going off the drug). 

Anyway, read on for Dr. Bowden's assessment of the recently approved drug, Belviq.


Another Weight Loss Wonder Drug, Not!
by Dr. Jonny Bowden - PhD, CNS     

Have you heard of the new weight loss drug, Belviq?

Then gather ‘round, boys and girls, cause we have a rare opportunity to watch sausage being made.

This is the best time to talk about Belviq, because no one’s really heard of it—yet—so we have a chance to talk about what it does and doesn’t do before we’ve been subjected to what will probably be one of the most expensive pharmaceutical marketing campaigns in years. At that point everyone will have heard of Belviq, anyone who is even a few pounds overweight will be asking their doctor about it—(“Ask your doctor if Belviq might be right for you”)—and I will undoubtedly get a gazillion questions about it on the website.

So, as Ed Schultz would sway, “Let’s get to work”.

On June 27, the Food and Drug administration approved a new weight loss drug, lorcaserin, which is made by Arena Pharmaceuticals and marketed under the brand name Belviq. It’s the first time in more than ten years that a weight loss drug has been approved by the agency, so expect everyone to make a really big deal out of that.

Up to now, everything about Belviq has been “behind the scenes”. It was reviewed by the FDA in 2010 and rejected, one because it produced “modest weight loss” and two because there were concerns about a rat study linking the drug to mammary tumors. But Arena came back to the FDA with new data.

The new data—in research sponsored by the manufacturer—showing that 38% of patients had lost 5% or more of their starting weight in a year. Among people taking a placebo, only 16% of patients lost that amount of weight.

OK everyone, let’s do some math.

If you’re 200 pounds and you lose 5% of your weight over the course of a year—commendable, by the way, I’m all for it—you’ve lost all of 10 pounds. In a year. Which, if I remember my elementary school long division, would come to 10 divided by 12 months or a grand total of .83 pounds per month.

That’s decimal point 83, in case you missed it.

Meaning less than one pound per month.

Meaning approximately 4/5 of one pound. Per month.

Am I making myself clear?

Not only that, but 16% of patients were able to lose that much just taking a placebo, meaning that of the 38% of patients on the drug who had these nothing-to-write-home-about results, 16% would have lost the weight on a sugar pill anyway. That means that the actual percentage of patients in the study who achieved these results because of the drug was only 22%.

FDA Committee member and Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Daniel Bessesen, who voted for approval, said the drug provides “a modest weight loss, and it’s not what we would like.”

No kidding.

Then there are the safety issues. The data shown to the FDA fell just short of the standard the agency sets to rule out an excess risk of valvular heart disease. An increased risk for heart-valve disease was what ultimately caused Fen-Phen to be withdrawn from the market.

The sausage making part of this story is this: Watch carefully over the next couple of years at how the data on this drug is spun in the sure-to-be spectacular marketing campaign that will be waged on its behalf. These guys are so good at what they do that they will make you forget that their own studies showed only 8/10 of a pound a month weight loss (for a 200 pound patient), and that most people didn’t even achieve that.

And when you’re tempted to give it a try, please remember to come back to this article and read it again.

Four-fifths of one pound a month.

In about 22% of patients. (In other words, 78% didn’t even achieve that!)

With potential safety issues and side effects that generally don’t become well known till a drug has been out in the market for a while (i.e. Vioxx, Fen-Phen.. shall I continue?)

But by the time Big Pharma’s marketing departments get done trumpeting “significant results” and “38% of all patients lost an impressive 5% of body weight” and showing you commercials with happy, slim people running around the beach, you’ll almost be convinced.

Don’t feel bad. I almost bought a thighmaster once. 


Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He's a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master's degree in psychology and the author of five books including The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth and The Most Effective Cures on Earth.

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Workout Mistakes You're Probably Making #3

Another common mistake that exercisers make is...

You don't change your workout regularly.

People don't like change. They prefer to do things they're good at or already know how to do.

The problem is that you get into a rut. As I often mention, our bodies adapt to doing the same things over and over.

I know of people who've gone to the gym for years and did the same machine circuit they learned on day one. Hopefully, they increased their weights along the way but even if they did, they would have gotten better results from changing their routine every 4-6 weeks.

Switch things up; it will be better for you physically and mentally.


If you missed the previous mistakes, you can find them here...

Workout Mistakes You're Probably Making #1
Workout Mistakes You're Probably Making #2

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Collected Fitness Wisdom #50

Look, the only reason to eat a food, ANY food is because you WANT it.

Not as a reward, not as a punishment and not as a comfort blanket but simply because you WANT that slice of cheesecake, that bar of chocolate or that glass of wine.

No rationalisations, justifications or excuses necessary.

Lose the stories around food and eat what you want because it makes you happy.

Just remember to ask "Will I STILL be happy AFTER I've eaten it?" and if you can't answer yes then give it a miss... for now.

~ Dax Moy



When people come to me as a cardiologist and say they want to run a marathon I say, 'OK, do one and cross it off your bucket list and then let's focus on an exercise pattern that's more ideal to producing long-term health benefits and improving your longevity'.

~ Dr. James O'Keefe
(lead author of a study on the effects of excessive endurance exercise on the heart)




Pick one guy to listen to; one guy with a proven track record of getting results and do exactly what he says. Don’t question it, don’t read differing opinions, and don’t second-guess. Just do it. For six months straight. Then we’ll talk.

~ Jason Ferruggia

I walked the aisles of a local grocery store the other day and a thought struck me. It was simple and like a shot in the neck. "What % of items in this store are good for me?" Non processed, no high fructose corn syrup, all natural, lacking preservatives. While I didn't go package to package and look at all the labels, it was clear that likely 70-80% of the store violated this. In fact, if you step back and look down an aisle, you see the dazzling array of colors beckoning you to buy. If I am being honest with myself, I should ask, "Why are they dressing this up so much if it's good for me?" Super sized bags and boxes of empty calories lining aisle after aisle. 

~ Pat Fellows


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Tired Of Starting Over?

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Workout Mistakes You're Probably Making # 2

Here's another common mistake that many exercisers make that prevents or stalls their progress. 

You don't increase your weight / resistance on exercises.

If you are still using the same weights you did when you started or if it's been a long time since you increased, you're not challenging yourself enough. Our bodies adapt to the stresses we place upon them so if you mindlessly grab the same dumbbells or automatically set a machine at the same weight, you are not challenging your body to improve.

To make it easy for beginners, I use the old Nautilus protocol of 8-12 repetitions. When you can perform 12 reps with good form, you increase the weight slightly. Depending on the exercise, it could be 2 1/2 or 5 pounds.

As long as you can still perform 8 reps with proper form, you're good. If you can't get 8 reps (unlikely if you added only 2 1/2 or 5 pounds), decrease the weight.

Notice I didn't say, "Increase the resistance when it gets easy". It should not get easy. The last 2-3 reps should always be challenging and when you can do 12, you need to make it a little harder by upping the resistance.

If a baby can lift it, it's probably too light for you.

Each workout, your goal should be to get 1 or 2 more reps (only with good form) or to increase the weight. This is called progressive resistance and it's important whether you are trying to shed fat, get stronger, or build muscle.

It makes no difference if you're using 3 pound dumbbells or 30. Follow these guidelines and you will see your results increase.


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Happy Birthday, America!

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Happy Independence Day!

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Bodyweight Home / Travel Workout

Below are two versions of a circuit that can be done with no equipment. You can make the workout as long or short as you like, depending upon how many times you complete the circuit.

Do 10-15 reps per exercise (per side on single arm/leg movements). Complete whichever circuit you choose with little or no rest between exercises. After completing all 5 exercises, rest for 30-60 seconds and repeat for a total of 2-5 rounds.


HARDER:

• Plank to Pushup
• Single Leg Hip Lift
• Pushups
• Prisoner Front Lunge
• Spiderman Climbs

EASIER:

• Stationary Lunge *
• Plank Lifts
• Bodyweight Squats
• Knee or Incline Pushups
• Lying Hip Bridge

(* Also known as Split Squats)

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