Two girls at the beach were admiring the passing scene, which included a bodybuilder who was strutting his best.  “That’s my type,” said the first girl. “Well, I don’t know,” the other replied.  ”I have a friend who married a man that owns a two-car garage, but he just keeps a bicycle in it!“

There’s a postulate in quantum physics that states, “We don’t know how much we don’t know.”  This statement rings out such resounding truth when it comes to weight training… and, yes, sex… but for now we’ll stick to the topic of weight training. 

Every gym across the country has them… you know the people… the ones who make you put on that set of headphones (no stereo mind you, just the headphones) just so you can be left to yourself…. the woman who sees no wrong in setting the treadmill to the very lowest setting, and staying on it for an hour and a half while others are in line… the wannabe Hulk who loads 280 lbs. on a barbell and starts pounding away bicep curls by throwing his upper body back and forth – without ever bending the elbows… the men and women who filter in and out of the gym every day thinking that they are accomplishing something with their aimless antics and lack of planning. Every one of them thinks that they are doing it right!

The reality is that most people in the gym have lousy form, and pathetic knowledge of weight training. There’s little wonder why they look exactly the same, week after week, month after month, year after year. In fact, over 90% of the people who frequent gyms fall squarely into this category.

Let’s take a look at some of the characters that are commonly found in any gym across the nation:

“No Pain, No Gain.” There are actually people who believe this! I sincerely doubt that Ronnie Coleman or Arnold have ever consciously tried to hurt themselves. Yet there are morons out there that actually train with that mentality. Exercise should never be painful. If it is, you’ll run the risk of injury as a result of overtraining. Once you enter the “overtraining zone,” you’re guaranteed to experience physiological and mental stress which can eventually lead to a number of health problems.

The Flirt. All you guys know who she is. She is the one that thinks she’s the hottest girl in the gym, but in reality she is simply the most annoying. She is the one that comes up to you immediately after you have just pounded out a set of squats from hell, bats her eyes at you then proceeds to ask you “Can you please come take these plates off the leg press. They are just too heavy for me.” To which I would say “Hell no, what do I look like, your personal trainer?” (You know how moody one can be after doing a set of brutal squats.)

The Screamer. Every gym has to have at least one of them. I know you will easily create an image in your mind of the person that I’m talking about. He’s the guy that, for some reason, feels it’s his obligation to shriek at the top of his lungs before performing any set. What makes it even more astonishing is that this person will be lifting such a small amount of weight. I find these people more humorous than annoying. I’ve had the “privilege” to experience quite a few occasions where the “Screamer” has made his presence known. Although it may seem to provide a psychological edge, it has been proven through research, that yelling before or during an exercise provides absolutely no benefit whatsoever. It can, however, be very distracting. My first reaction when I hear someone scream is, “OH GOD! Someone’s stuck beneath a barbell,” or “OH NO! Someone just tore a muscle!” Whenever I am in the presence of a Screamer in the gym, I always remember something I was told when I first started training. I was having a conversation with a young lady that was training next to me when a Screamer yelled at the top of his lungs. As I was trying to suppress my laughter, she turns to me and says, “You know, I’ve always heard that the noises a person makes while training are the same ones they make while in bed.” After hearing that, I nearly had to use the restroom to wipe my backside clean. As funny as it was at the time, I think she may just be right! What to do think?

The Spandex Lady. This one is not a pretty sight to see. This is the lady who really needs to lose about 75 more pounds before she tries to squeeze that lard into those tight-fitting spandex shorts. Lady, let me clue you in on something, NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOU IN THAT! To makes matters worse, she’s the one I described above… the woman who sees no wrong in setting the treadmill to the very lowest, slowest setting, and stays on it forever while others are waiting in line to use it. She goes so slow that she burns maybe 20 calories the entire time she lumbers along. This lady needs to make it worth all of our time by picking up the pace, or getting the hell out of the way. More importantly, she needs to do us all a favor and just wear some big, baggy sweats.

“My Ego Is Bigger Than My Bench.” Inevitably, you will always have at least one guy who feels the need to place more weight on the bar than even Ronnie Coleman himself will lift on a regular basis. What sucks about this guy is that since you look like you work out, you are a prime candidate to spot this person. Being the nice person you are, you happily agree to spot them. Then just before they begin, they look up and ask you, “Give me a lift-off on 3 and make me work!” You respond by saying, “Okay, on 3″. One, two, three, lift.” The person holds the weight for an instant and then, in the blink of an eye, the weight accelerates straight down like, well…dead weight! You fear the worst, thinking that the person over-estimated their abilities and could be seriously injured. So, with all of your strength, you apply as much possible resistance to slow the downward plunge of the weight. The thud it makes at the bottom makes you cringe! You breathe a sigh of relief when you notice that the person is not hurt and you immediately begin to pull the weight up and towards the rack. As you do, the most mind-boggling thing happens. The idiot murmurs in a low, strained voice “Help me get one more…” Your mouth nearly hits the floor in amazement as you think to yourself, “What? You didn’t even get the first one.” You repeat the process. After it’s over and your traps are recovering, you swiftly move to the other side of the gym in hope that the person won’t ask you to help him again. As you move away, this clown asks the question heard around the world, “How much did you help me”? “Well, Bullet Head… A WHOLE DAMN LOT!” From that day forward, you avoid that person like cardio during the off-season.

There is a common theme that must be adapted by any successful bodybuilder. It’s called “Let Go of My Ego.” This is where you must convince yourself that your body will grow with proper technique, correct form, and most of all… nutrition. It is not always necessary to lift massive amounts of weight all the time, and sacrifice good form and technique to do so. The moral of the story? Big weights only look cool if… and ONLY if… you can lift them without subjecting the person spotting you to an unexpected set of shrugs.

The Rat Pack. Similar to the previous category, except this is usually a group of three or four guys that work out together. They are usually using way more weight than most pro bodybuilders fathom using. There are two distinctive characteristics of this group of pinheads. First, they all think they are getting bigger and stronger. I mean… they truly believe it! Picture these guys. They load up a barbell with way more weight than any of them can dream to lift with proper form, and then proceed to take turns spotting each other through set after set of gyrations and movements that defy nature. The second distinctive trait is that the person spotting is actually getting a better workout than the one doing the exercise!

Marathon Man. He always seems to be the first to arrive, and the last to leave. He believes that the longer he trains in the gym, the more weight he will lose (or gain). His workouts are of epic durations. He’s the guy that performs every conceivable exercise designed for the particular body part he is training that day. He just doesn’t get it. The longer you’re in the gym, the more muscle fibers you’ll tear down. This is an unhealthy way to lose (or gain) weight. Once your body hits a catabolic state, you begin to lose energy… and that eventually leads to over-training… which leads to a plateau. A plateau is an inability to make progress in training. It can last for months. To be safe, consider working out for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, increase the intensity and continue to progress.

The Serious Person. When this person gets ready to train the first thing he will do is get into his own little world. Then he gets the “if you talk to me I will kick your butt” look on his face. He grabs his belt, straps and whatever else he may need on that day of training. When he gets in this zone he doesn’t like to be bothered. You know him… he’s the guy that after doing a heavy set of dumbbell curls will walk around and brood even though he has just pushed himself through a pain barrier that nobody else in that gym is willing to do and doesn’t even have the guts to do. He never looks at anyone in the eye. Everyone avoids him until it is finished. Then as quickly as the all-out assault started, it is over. Then he comes back to the real world and once again he is a really nice guy… until the next time he trains. I guess this is why people think bodybuilders are crazed idiots. He can be intimidating to most people, but at least he has a purpose for his training.

I am sure you can relate to most, if not all, of the people I have written about. If you are one of these people… let me ask you this? Do you want to be stuck in the stagnant pond of mediocrity all of your life? No? Then get over yourself and change your views towards training. Be like the Serious Person… determine the PURPOSE of your training… determine the PURPOSE of your workout… determine the PURPOSE of the exercise. And then train WITH A PURPOSE. Only then will you begin to train RIGHT! Only then will you begin to feel the pleasure of accomplishment after each repetition of every set. And only then will you truly ENJOY your workouts… sounds a lot like sex, doesn’t it? Whatever your training goals, whether it’s the size of the muscles, or the use of them, don’t miss the adventure along the way… again, it sounds like sex. Vince Gironda once said, “There’s joy on the gym floor.” Only those with a heart for training can understand what he meant.

I believe that about wraps up Dr. Diet’s Personal Rant Session. I feel much better now. And if anyone reading this knows me, yes I am talking about you!

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

But did you know that the average person gains almost a pound a day while on vacation?

That’s right! Lazy vacation days usually lead to one dreaded thing: extra pounds. From missed workouts to large restaurant meals, travel days often become high calorie days.

As you embark on your next vacation adventure keep the following tips in mind, and come home fitter than when you left!

TIP #1: Be Active
If your travels keep you too busy for a workout, or if your hotel does not have an exercise room, make a conscious effort to be active everyday. Go on a brisk walk after your day’s activities. This is a great way to see a new city, and also a great way to burn off that rich dinner you just ate! Take the stairs instead of elevator in your hotel and any other buildings you visit. Go on a short jog in the mornings or evenings of your stay. If your hotel has a pool, swim a few laps each morning or evening.

TIP#2: Indulge with Control
Eating out is a must while on vacation. Whether you’re visiting 5 star restaurants or fast food diners, you are faced with the same problem: large portions. While the easiest thing to do with a large portioned meal is to simply eat it all – you are on vacation after all…right? That isn’t the best for your waist!

When you order your meal ask the waiter or waitress to bring you a to-go box. Take half of your meal and place it safely into the box before you even begin to eat. This gives you no choice but to eat a healthy portion. If you would rather not carry around a to-go box then ask that your entree be made into a smaller portion. If it is dinner time ask for the lunch-sized entree.

TIP#3: Snack Healthy
Have you ever noticed how travel days create the perfect opportunity for snacking? A coffee and muffin before your flight, a snack on the plane and then before you know it…it’s lunch time! Taking a road trip? This opens up even more opportunities for regrettable snacking…rest stop vending machines, gas station quickie marts and of course the never ending string of fast food restaurants along the highway.

This summer cut unhealthy snacking off at the pass by brining along your own healthy options. Dried or fresh fruit, unsalted nuts, health bars, cut veggies and low fat crackers are a good start. By filling up on these healthy snacks between meals you will end up eating less when presented with a less-than-healthy meal.

TIP #4: Avoid Fried Foods
While fast food restaurants are definitely convenient, with their low prices and quick service, this convenience is not worth the additional pounds brought on by chips and fries. As you enjoy your vacation keep this in mind: avoid fried foods. While this is always good advice to follow, it is even more important to abide by while traveling.

While vacationing you will likely burn fewer calories each day than you would burn at home, and you are consuming more calories due to your schedule of eating out. You are walking a fine line, and eating fried foods would throw you right over the edge. A gram of fat contains 9 calories as compared to the 4 calories that proteins and carbohydrates carry – so you can see that consuming fried foods will drastically increase your caloric intake.

If I still haven’t convinced you to pass on the curly fries, keep in mind that heartburn and indigestion are never fun…especially while on vacation!

TIP#5: Team up with a Pro – Yours Truly!
Well, fitness is my specialty…and since you are serious about creating a healthy and fit physique – guarantee your results by teaming up with me.

Together we will come up with a fitness plan that is uniquely yours, one that fits your lifestyle and brings you promptly to your goals – something that you will appreciate while on vacation and at home.

Sure, you may lose 5, 10 or even 20 pounds on a fad diet…but you’ll gain it all back and then some. How can I be so confident that your results will be short lived?

It’s actually a simple concept, and once you understand it you will be forever saved from the tortures of yo-yo dieting.

Fad diets saddle you with unreasonable calorie restrictions and some even cut out entire food groups just to produce that short-lived drop in weight – a process that is actually harmful to your health. The fad diets also ignore one major component to shaping up: exercise.

You see, most fad diets operate on one age old premise: cut calories, cut calories, cut calories. By restricting the type and amount of food consumed the fad dieter usually sees an immediate drop in weight. If only it stopped there…

But it doesn’t stop there. Life continues, and the fad dieter returns to their pre-diet eating habits – with one major difference in their body due to the sudden drop in pounds. Their calorie requirements have gotten smaller.

In practical terms this means that the dieter will begin gaining weight even though they are eating their normal pre-diet portions. And since exercise hasn’t become a part of their routine, the unneeded calories will result in pounds gained. So what’s a dieter to do? Find a brand new diet to follow – right? Wrong.

There is a way to drop pounds and firm your body, but you won’t read about it in the next diet book or hear it on the news. The solution to your fad dieting nightmare is a lifestyle change.

What is a lifestyle change? To change your lifestyle means to replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones, and to do so consistently. It isn’t something you do for a week or two, only to revert back your old ways – a lifestyle change redefines who you are.

I know this is starting to sound like some heavy stuff, but hear me out. Changing your lifestyle from one that is unhealthy to one that is healthy will be the best thing that you ever do for yourself. Trust me; I help people like you make this change every day with amazing results.

Fact: The shape of your body is the direct result of your current lifestyle.

So how do I change my lifestyle? That is a great question, and the answer is actually easier than you might think.

Most people who are unhappy with their bodies are really only holding on to a few bad habits. Once these destructive habits are identified and then replaced with healthy habits their body naturally transforms from one that they loathe to one that they are proud of.

In other words, to get the body that you want simply determine your unhealthy habits and replace them with healthy ones. Here are the most prevalent unhealthy habits:

The habit of inactivity. Failing to exercise on a consistent basis is one of the most destructive obstacles for your health and figure. (The key word here is consistent. If you aren’t exercising at least 3-4 times each week then you own this habit.)

The habit of overeating. Consuming calories in excess of your daily caloric needs is one of the main reasons that more adults are overweight today than ever before.

The habit of empty calories. Filling your diet with foods that hold little to no nutritional value is a great way to expand your waist. (Hint: if a food item is made up of mainly sugar and/or fat consider it ‘empty’ calories.)

You can lose weight and improve both your appearance and your health.
You can look and feel great.
You can transform yourself into the person that you’ve always wanted to be.

Don’t let another day go by that leaves you a slave to unhealthy habits. Take action now. Call or e-mail me today and together we will recreate your lifestyle and redefine your body.

By the way, I should mention another deadly habit that destroys too many people’s dreams. The habit of procrastination.

How many times have you told yourself that you will start eating healthy tomorrow? How many times have you told yourself you will start exercising next week? How many times have you promised that you would call me to start your personal training program? Each day that you succumb to the habit of procrastination is a day that pulls you farther and farther from your goals… and makes you more and more of a failure!

Break that nasty habit of procrastination – Check out my Lake Ozark Personal Trainer program Get started today.

It’s simple, really. We used to think that cardiovascular training was the quickest and most effective way to shed unwanted pounds. Aerobics, jogging, swimming and biking were the activities to turn to when we wanted to slim down.

Boy, were we misled...

The idea was that when you perform low level aerobic exercise your body relied on calories from fat. Sounds good, right? Well, there were a couple of major limitations with this method…

First of all you only burn fat calories while the aerobics are performed. If you do twenty minutes, then you only burn for twenty minutes; if you do two hours, then you only burn for two hours.

Secondly, if you are overzealous with aerobics your body actually eats away at lean tissue, leaving you with lowered calorie requirements. Ever wonder why you eat the same amount but still put on pounds? A loss in lean tissue will do that to you every time.

So where does this leave you?

Lucky for us, we live in a time of great scientific discovery with tools and statistics that give us the cutting edge in our quest for a slimmer, sexier body. And science has given us the solution for optimal F.A.T. B.U.R.N.

The Solution: Resistance Training

You have probably heard about the many benefits of resistance training. Here are just a few:

1. Increase in muscle strength
2. Injury prevention
3. Improved bone density

But what about F.A.T. B.U.R.N.? Here are the two reasons that resistance training is the most effective way to B.U.R.N. F.A.T.

Oxygen Debt
Now I know debt isn’t usually a word that we enjoy…but in this case I’m sure you will agree that it’s a great thing. Resistance training puts your body into oxygen debt which means you will B.U.R.N. F.A.T. as you recover from your workout. And this effect can last quite awhile – studies have shown an increase in calorie burning for up to three days following a resistance training workout.

Lean Tissue Burns More
The other way that F.A.T. B.U.R.N. is accomplished with resistance training is through an increase in your resting metabolism. You see, lean tissue (muscle) requires many more calories each day than fatty tissue. In fact, one pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories each day at rest – compared to a measly 9 calories per pound of fat.

When you perform resistance training exercises your body composition will change to contain more lean tissue, thus resulting in extra calories burned while you sleep. What could be better than that?

Resistance training is truly worth your time – talk about an exercise that keeps on giving.

Wouldn’t you love to reap the rewards of a solid resistance training program by waking up slimmer every morning? I love nothing more than to see my clients achieve awesome results – clients just like you, who decided to change their shape forever by giving me a call.

Do something nice for yourself – contact me today – together we will turn you into a F.A.T. B.U.R.N.I.N.G. machine.

CLICK HERE and I’ll show you how my Lake Ozark Personal Trainer program can help you get the results!

I want you to go back to school with me for a minute, and review some simple math.

Now, when I teach this stuff to trainers and clients, as soon as they hear the word “math” their eyes glaze over and they look like a collective herd of deer caught in the headlights of a Mack truck. But, honestly, how are you going to talk sensibly about calories, diets like “40/30/30,” percentages of calories from protein, decoding a food label, or anything else along those lines without clearing up some of the basics in the math department? You can’t!

Which brings me to the area of “fat-burning” zones.

See, one of the biggest misunderstandings and “myth-conceptions” in the field of exercise and weight loss has been around the field of fat-burning. Aerobic teachers are constantly admonishing their students to work at a slower rate so they can “burn more fat.” Almost all cardio equipment in the gym has a “fat burning” program, and fitness professionals are constantly bombarded with questions from clients about how to get their heart rate in the targeted “fat burning zone.”

The misconceptions come from a basic confusion between percentages and absolute amounts. At rest, the body is always burning a mix of fuels. All other things being equal, it doesn’t like to burn protein. So that leaves fats and carbohydrates (more technically, fatty acids and glucose). At rest, the “average” person burns about 70 percent fat and 30 percent carbs. As one moves from rest to activity, the percentage of fuel coming from fat decreases and the percentage coming from carbs increases. The more intense the exercise, the more carbs and the less fat in the mix, until you reach the point called the “anaerobic threshold” where you’re going at about your intensity limit. At that point, 99 percent or more of your fuel is pure carbohydrate and 1 percent or less is coming from fat.

Now, this situation has led many people to assume that in order to “burn fat” they need to exercise at lower intensities.

They’re missing the boat.

Why? Because while at rest, although a higher percentage of your calories is indeed coming from fat, you are ultimately burning a lower absolute number of calories. At higher-intensity exercise, the percentage of calories from fat goes down…true…but it is a percentage of a significantly higher number.

To illustrate this critical difference, I often ask people to picture Ross Perot standing next to me. Then I ask them, “If all things were equal, would you rather have 90 percent of all the money I have in the world, or 1 percent of all the money Mr. Perot over here has?” When they give the obvious answer, I say, “But why? 90 percent is so much higher than 1 percent!”

They get the picture.

So, let’s say you’re exercising at a fairly low intensity that burns 100 calories in a half-hour. Let’s say that 70 percent of those calories come from fat. Your neighbor, however, is working out much harder…outside the magical “fat burning” zone. She’s burning up, say 300 calories in that same half hour, but only 50 percent of those calories are from fat.

Now do the math.

You’re burning a higher percentage of fat, but 70 percent of your 100 calories equals 70 fat calories burned. Your neighbor, on the other hand, is burning a lower percentage of fat, but she has burned up 50 percent of 300 calories, or 150 fat calories…more than twice what you’ve burned in the same period of time!

And THAT is exactly why the style of cardio training that I recommend is far superior than the “typical” cardio you see legions of people doing across health clubs in America. My clients burn 4 times more calories in the same amount of time as the average cardio session.

Think about that for a minute… That’s Twice the Results in Half the Time!

Get it? Not yet? Well, let’s cut to the chase. Who in their right mind honestly believes that working slower will yield a higher rate of return? If that was the case, then laying on the couch would yield better results than exercising in the first place! If that was remotely true, we would not see so many obese people walking the streets. But, over 65% of Americans are overweight or obese.

Now…isn’t it worth understanding the numbers?

CLICK HERE and I’ll show you how you can get the results!

When does a lie become an accepted truth? When the lie is repeated often enough.

It’s the oldest trick in the book, a favorite ploy of politicians and others who stand to gain… but we still fall for it.

Especially when it comes to losing weight…

The truth is Americans want to believe so badly that they can lose weight quickly and easily that they are readily willing to accept any ruse that implies it is possible. And the diet industry is riddled with self-perpetuating myths, misconceptions, and downright mistruths that prey on our dreams.

The strategy is to market fringe products and miracle cures that are very seductive in what they promise. Note the billions of dollars the diet industry spends on consumer advertising. Very few people are successful at losing weight, but the promise gets into our subconscious and stays there. Why? Because the lie is repeated often enough.

The antidote is for consumers to educate themselves from reputable sources with reliable data. I will start the process by smashing ten of the most common weight-loss lies right here.

1. “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Or any other gimmick that pledges massive weight loss at break-neck speed. It’s not healthy, and it’s not true. Permanent weight loss requires lifestyle change, not a quick fix. You didn’t become overweight overnight. It’s not realistic to think you can lose weight overnight, either.

2. Fat is bad for you. Dieticians forwarded that one to people for years. Now they know better. The truth is that some fats are unhealthy, and some are good – indeed, necessary – for your health. (Hence the term, “essential fatty acids”!) In fact, certain fats are necessary for a healthy heart.

3. Carbohydrates are bad for you. First it was fat, now carbohydrates are the bad guy. Can somebody please make up their mind? This trendy idea is just too broad. When trying to lose weight, make a distinction between unhealthy, simple carbohydrates, such as white flour and sugar, and fibrous carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains, which provide vital vitamins, and fiber to aid digestion.

4. Lose weight by not eating. Uh… no. First of all, what is healthy about starving yourself? Starving deprives the body of the nutrients it needs for life and can lead to serious illness. Plus you lose muscle mass, not fat. Even if you do lose pounds, you gain them back almost immediately when you raid the fridge again.

5. Don’t eat after 6 p.m. This is my favorite industry lie. It’s not what time you eat, it’s what you eat! In Europe they eat at 10 o’clock at night and they’re half the size of Americans.

Let’s be realistic about this… do you really believe your body has a special enzyme, or mechanism, that says “its 6:00 p.m. It’s time to store all food as body fat!” Give me a break!

6. Salad bars are healthy. Bacon, cheeses, fried chicken, oily dressings… The apparent allure of salad bars means they probably require as much of your considered attention as ordering at a fast food restaurant. You have to choose the foods at a salad bar wisely. Most people simply do not do this.

7. Diet sodas aid weight loss. Nope… no way… no how. This is another one of my favorite pieces of diet-industry hype. There isn’t a single study that shows diet sodas help you lose weight. There’s absolutely no data on that at all.

8. You shouldn’t step on a scale. It’s another misconception that dieticians have passed on. I completely disagree with it. Though I do not believe that the scale should be your main barometer for measuring your progress, checking your weight on a regular basis (say once a week) is an obvious way to gauge your progress and alter your diet accordingly. However, scales in and of themselves, well… they suck. I encourage people to keep track of hip, thigh and tummy inches, too. Better yet, the way your clothes are fitting and the way you look in a mirror are the best indicators for measuring improvements.

9. You can lose weight with a pill. I call this one “cardio in a bottle.” You can’t replace healthy eating and exercise with a pill. Pills aren’t a new thing; they’ve been tried for decades…with horrible side effects. There is no pill that can make your body burn calories… NONE! That’s right …that Hydroxycut does you no good at all if you are not eating properly and doing cardio exercise. It requires proper nutrition, cardio and weight training. The weight you lost is probably because you reduced your caloric intake instead of the product. Guess what. You could have done the same damn thing without spending your money on the “cardio in a bottle.”

10. You have to join the gym. Would I love to see everyone working out in a gym? Of course. Is it a necessity? Absolutely not. Actually, the most recent research indicates 30 to 60 minutes per day of moderate physical activity is all it takes to balance healthy food intake. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, just move your body!

There you have it… Stop believing everything you hear or read. Start using common sense. Do what it really takes to lose the tonnage.

Move a little more… eat a little less…and exercise a little discretion the next time you hear about a weight-loss product, or diet program, that sounds too good to be true.

CLICK HERE to continue…

Osage Beach Personal Trainer Program

To decide what to eat after cardio, you have to approach the meal with the understanding that the types and quantities of food you eat affect your hormone levels. These hormones play a direct role in the burning (or not burning) of body fat. Keeping fat-burning hormones elevated – the very hormones that increase during cardio – is the single most important factor in determining what is best to eat after a cardio session. OK, let’s start with the simple stuff.

Fat

We know it makes no sense to eat a lot of fat after cardio. If your knowledge of physiology is limited, you can rely on common sense. It’s simply not a rational idea to chow down on a lot of dietary fat after having just jumped off the treadmill. Truth be told, dietary fat is easily stored as body fat, more so than protein and carbohydrates.

Protein

Protein is anti-catabolic. Dietary amino acids derived from protein foods can be used directly as fuel after cardio. Often, protein stores are broken down with cardio. That is, in addition to burning body fat, longer cardio sessions or cardio sessions performed in a total calorie deficit can cause a loss or burning of your hard-earned muscle. Since protein protects against muscle loss, taking in easy-to-absorb protein following the cardio session is a must. It can put an end to protein breakdown and keep the metabolism from taking a dive. That’s because burning protein is a strictly catabolic event, and catabolism is always associated with a slower metabolic rate.

Carbs

Carbs are the double-edged sword of nutrition. You need them for recovery and growth, yet they can initiate fat storage. Carbohydrates promote a rise of insulin, and insulin can be classified as a fat-storing hormone. In general, the more carbs you eat, the more insulin is released. Insulin is the quarterback of the entire fat-storing team and regulates the signals that allow fat cells to “open up” and store more body fat. Simultaneously, insulin directs dietary fat into fat cells and drives carbohydrates down fat-storing pathways.

Does it make sense to eat a lot of carbohydrates after cardio? Not really. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates, insulin levels will increase, shutting down fat-burning hormones and enzymes released during cardio.

The two benefits to cardio are:
1. it burns calories, and
2. it changes the hormonal status in the body, favoring the burning of body fat. Your carb quantity and choice after cardio affects the hormonal balance. Where cardio increases the circulation of cathecholamines (tiny messengers that target fat cells to break them down) insulin decreases the release of cathecholamines.

Whereas cardio increases the output of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), a hormone that “opens” fat cells and allows fatty acids to be stripped as fuel, insulin opposes its release and can even spike levels of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which does the exact opposite of HSL. LPL seals off fat cells and helps push fuel into fat stores. Therefore, it seems best to avoid carbohydrates after cardio to keep the fat-burning hormones elevated.

However, small amounts of insulin actually support the metabolism. How so? Insulin is also anabolic. It stimulates growth and repair of muscles. And, during a recovery or growth state, the body literally steals from its fat stores to obtain energy in order to sustain the recovery or growth process. Growth and recovery require fuel (energy), and most of that energy will come from fat stores. Insulin also supports the uptake of thyroid hormones, calorie-burning hormones, by tissues.

So, with regard to carbs after cardio:
1) A large amount will shut down fat burning and reverse the hormonal advantage associated with cardio.
2) Skipping carbs altogether leaves you with “just protein.” While protein helps prevent a loss in muscle, your body always needs a small amount of carbs for support.
3) A small amount of carbs helps support recovery and growth without shutting off the fat-burning process.
4) Small amounts of carbs coupled with protein can prevent thyroid hormones from declining.

I believe the best bet is to consume 25 to 40 grams of fast-acting protein, such as whey protein, egg whites or fish, along with 30 to 50 grams of carbohydrates within 30 minutes of cardio.

Ideally, the carbohydrates ought to be fiber-based, such as oatmeal, oat bran, peas or corn. Fiber slows the breakdown of carbohydrates, allowing them to be delivered in an almost “time-released” fashion. The benefit: slower-digesting carbohydrates result in moderate insulin rises, and moderate insulin is our goal. Moderate insulin offers anabolic or building support, without reversing the fat-burning state induced with cardio. Simple carbs, such as white bread, juices or high glycemic carbs, should be avoided because they tend to spike insulin levels, and the resulting spike can compromise fat burning by suppressing fat-burning hormones and enzymes.

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Osage Beach Personal Trainer

The buns are getting loads of press lately. It seems a perky posterior is as high a priority for many women as a pair of equally perky breasts. Some women are going to great lengths to achieve a more voluminous back-side, including undergoing buttock implants, augmentation and fat injections – extreme procedures when trying to eradicate a saggy, unimpressive derriere.

Haven’t these people heard of weight training?

With fitness and muscle development trends today, women can readily, and easily, achieve a tightly tones rear-end without having to consider surgical alternatives. When you think about it, who would want to get cut with a scalpel when you can get the results you want with weight training? Most of you are already incorporating weight training into your fitness and body-shaping regimens, so it’s just a matter of focusing more on what’s behind you.

You really have to make an extra effort to train the glute muscles. They do come into play when doing other muscle-building exercises, but to truly shape your posterior you must add a few specific butt-shaping exercises. The good news is the three muscles making up the glute region – the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus – respond very well to direct training. Like the abdominals, the glutes can withstand a lot of punishment, so think of it in terms of incorporating a dedicated glute-training program twice a week to lift and tone.

Choose two glute exercises per workout session, 4 or 5 sets of each exercise, 12 to 15 repetitions per set to totally work the muscles. Not sure if you are doing the exercise correctly? Reach around behind and touch your muscles during the exercise. You should be able to feel them contracting.

The Exercises

Prone Hip Raises – A good exercise to lead off with, prone hip raises can be done with or without weights. Lie on the floor on your back with knees drawn up, feet planted shoulder-width apart. Raise your hips off the floor so that your bodyweight is supported by your shoulders and feet. Squeeze the glutes as you raise your hips so that you feel a good contraction. DO NOT let the buttocks rest on the floor between repetitions. Try to complete 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps.

If you want to increase the degree of difficulty, incorporate “burns” into your hip raises: Raise your hips, contract the glutes and do pulses or mini hip raises, at the top of the movement. Do 12-15 burns after doing the full-ranges hip raise. You will soon discover why I call the “burns.”

Putting a weight on your abdomen creates an even greater challenge. Hold the plate securely on your midsection so that it won’t slip down and hit you in the face. Really feel those glutes working. Squeeze the muscles. You will eventually be able to use two 45-pound plates.

Lunges – As far as I’m concerned this is the grand-mommy of all glute exercises. When performed properly NOTHING adds shape to the tush faster than the lunge. The problem is that most people do not do lunges correctly and never receive the benefits from such a tremendous movement. Lunges can be performed with or without weights, walking, with one leg up on a bench, reverse lunges on a Smith Machine, etc., etc. The variations are limitless.

Most often when you see someone attempting to do lunges they kneel down and touch their knee to the floor, come back up and repeat the same motion with the other leg. The exercise is called lunges, not “kneel downs!” If you were supposed to simply kneel down the exercise would be named accordingly.

Proper execution of the exercise requires you to lunge out (hence, the name) as far as possible, keeping your upper body perpendicular to the floor (erect). As you move forward from this position you must squeeze the glutes tightly to completely activate all the fibers of the glute region. This squeeze, or contracting of the muscles, is what makes the exercise so effective. This contraction cannot be achieved by simply kneeling down.

Squats – That’s right… Squats. “But Rick, squats are hard.” That’s right, they are. And your butt will be hard too… if you do them. Plain and simple.

I prefer for women to perform squats on a Smith Machine. Position yourself under the bar and place you feet out in front of you (anywhere from 1-2 feet). The reason for this is simple. If your feet are directly beneath you and you perform the exercise, your knees will pass forward of the position of your feet. This places a lot of undue stress on the knee joint, and is a recipe for disaster. The knee is not made to handle the amount of weight that your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and hips can handle combined. But when you attempt to squat with your feet directly under you in the Smith Machine this is exactly what you are asking your knees to do. This is a recipe for injury. So, with your feet out in front of you to avoid injury, begin your descent to the floor slowly and deliberately. Descend all the way to the floor. That’s right… take your bootie all the way down to the floor. The glute muscles are activated during the lower part of the exercise. As you begin your rise back to the top, push with the heels of your feet and squeeze your rear-end tightly. This little tip will create more activation of the glute muscles than you can imagine. As you reach the finish point of the repetition, do not lock out at the top. Instead, stop just short of locking your knees out, pause for a moment and begin the next repetition. Four to five sets of 10-12 repetitions will be plenty of this exercise.

REMEMBER: Take your butt all the way to the floor, push with the heels of your feet, and squeeze the hell out of your butt to get the most out of this exercise.

Kneeling Cable Kickbacks – Want to hit all three glute muscles with a bang? Nothing does it better than the kneeling cable kickback. A variation of the standing cable kickback, kneeling demands more effort from the glutes because the range of motion is greater. It also works against gravity.

Place a flat bench in front of a weight stack. Attach a cuff to one of your ankles and attach that to the weight stack. Kneel on the bench with the free leg. Bring the cuffed leg far forward, then slowly back and as high as possible. Like with the squats, try to push backwards with your heel to generate more contraction to the glute region. Contract the glutes tightly as you work. Place a hand on the working glute periodically to feel the muscles working. This helps to keep your effort honest. Perform 4-5 sets of 12 repetitions for each leg. Begin with a moderate weight like 30 to 40 pounds to perfect your technique and build a strength base. Progress to more weight in two to three weeks once you feel you can handle it.

A machine that is found in many gyms these days is called the “Butt Blaster.” This machine simulates the motion of the Kneeling Cable Kickbacks since it is designed to place you in the proper position for the exercise.

Other effective glute-training exercises to consider adding for variety are stiff-legged dead-lifts and good mornings.

Cardio – If you want a rear-end that stops people dead in their tracks you must do your share of cardio training. Let’s face it… you can have the greatest ass in the world, but if it’s covered by layers of fat nobody will ever be able to admire it, much less want to admire it. Stair-climbing and elliptical trainers are both effective modes of cardio exercise that target the glutes, but as far as yielding the highest results, nothing works better than walking on a treadmill at a high-grade incline. The higher the incline, the more the glutes are activated. Forty to sixty minutes per session, 4-5 times per week.

Nutrition – This one is pretty obvious, isn’t it? If you don’t want junk in the trunk, then you can’t eat junk. This should be a no-brainer. If you’re not sure what to eat CLICK HERE.

Eat properly most of the time, perform direct butt-shaping exercises and put in your time on the treadmill, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly your butt becomes an object of affection. Trust me… in today’s society, with breast implants being as commonplace as make-up, any woman can have a pleasing upper body. But, a tight, toned, jaw-dropping backside is truly something to behold… a REAL show-stopper. So, what are you waiting for… get your ass in gear!

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

1. Burn more calories than you eat. This is the basic rule of weight management. If you want to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in each day, each week, and each month. Now the neat part – It doesn’t matter if all the food you eat is healthy, wholesome or “clean.” The total calories from all of the food you eat – no matter what kind of food it is (protein, carbohydrate, fat) – must add up to fewer calories than your body efficiently burns each and every day. It’s that simple!

Unfortunately, you can’t just stop eating and expect to lose body fat…and you can’t just start eating like crazy in order to build muscle. If you want to gain quality weight, you must eat strategically.

2. Take the necessary steps to control your metabolism. Another key to effective weight management is regulating your metabolism. No matter what your physical challenges may be, you CAN do a better job of managing and regulating your metabolism. You must do the best with the gifts – and challenges – you are presented with.

Eating small meals throughout the day will help keep your metabolism operating at a steady rate. You should schedule meals every two to three hours throughout the entire day. Of course, weight training and cardio exercise will also help regulate your metabolism.

By following through with strategically-timed small meals, weight training workouts and cardio sessions for a series of days, weeks, months, you’ll improve your physique over time.

3. Stop searching for the perfect diet. It doesn’t exist! People are often distracted by the notion that there’s an easier diet somewhere that requires less discipline than the one they’re on. If the diet doesn’t work as quickly or effectively as they expect, they blame the diet – and not their own unreasonable standards or expectations.

Diets appeal to different people for different reasons besides the level of effectiveness. The Atkins Diet, for example, may seem great to some people because they love to eat meat. The Zone Diet may seem ideal to others because they love salads and vegetables. Even a strict, bland bodybuilding diet may appear to be the best option for some people because they like the idea of not having to make decisions on a continual basis or because they really enjoy the taste of protein shakes. I personally prefer food, but to each their own!

4. Keep your diet SIMPLE. Do you know people who always ask themselves, “What am I going to eat for dinner tonight?” Some people put a lot of effort into thinking about their meals. In my opinion, that makes the eating process far too complicated. The more complicated you make your nutritional program, the more difficult it will be to follow through.

During the week I intentionally keep my meal plan simple. My primary goal during that time is to add muscle to my body while keeping my body fat levels manageable. If I decide to relax at all, it will be during the weekends. Obviously, when I begin dieting my meal plan becomes even more simplified, and I do not allow myself the luxury of the weekend indulgences.

When it comes to feeding yourself properly, the less thinking and planning you have to do, the better. Try to look at eating as merely a method of constructing a muscular, lean and attractive-looking physique, instead of a source of recreation, pleasure and a way of connecting with your family and friends. Think of eating as a means to an end, not a social activity.

I realize that fine dining is one of life’s great pleasures (believe me, it’s one of my favorite pleasures), but try adjusting your thinking to that of an efficient, disciplined individual, instead of one of gluttony. Simple meals will help you be consistent with your eating habits. The K.I.S.S. Principle works wonders – Keep It Simple Stupid.

5. Give the diet you choose your full attention. Just about any diet, when applied on a consistent basis, will work for you, but you must have confidence in the diet you choose. Otherwise, you won’t be able to give it your complete focus.

With all of the diets available to choose from, it’s easy to get confused – and almost impossible to have 100% certainty about the one you’ve chosen. Just when you think you’re on the right track, you’ll hear or read about the new “miracle” diet. Just when you’re ready to dig in and get going on a structured meal plan, someone you know will tell you about all of the amazing results they’ve had with a diet that seems very different from yours. Hell, even if your diet is working, you will sometimes doubt if it’s working well or fast enough.

Instead of focusing on the differences, try to discover how the diets are similar. That way you will know you are already on the right track.

6. Take 100% responsibility for your successes and failures. In other words, if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s YOU and not necessarily the diet program that’s failing you. It’s not your challenging situation, genetic limitations or time-management dilemmas that are preventing you from reaching your goals. Your inability to do what it takes – or find out what it takes – is what must be overcome.

People often blame their circumstances or genetic conditions for their lack of progress. If you are truly committed, you’ll eventually find a way around your physical or emotional challenges to reach your goals. In other words, quit making excuses and do something about it!

People also occasionally unfairly compare themselves to others. “She can eat anything she wants and still look good, while I eat like a bird and gain weight!” The route you have to take may not seem as easy as that of someone else, but there is ALWAYS a way to overcome your challenges.

Realize that the decisions you make reflect on the quality of the physique you really want – and the one you ultimately get. EVERYTHING worth having has some sort of price tag on it. Usually, the more desirable something is, the higher the price. Maybe you don’t want to pay the price for having the physique you thought you wanted. That’s fine, but you must accept the consequences of that decision.

Don’t blame your lack of knowledge; blame your lack of desire.

Don’t blame your genetics or personal conditions; blame the fact that you decided not to overcome those challenges at this time.

7. If you’re not getting the results you want, you’ll need to raise your standards. You either need to do a little more of this or a little less of that. Food selection, food quantities, meal frequency, meal timing, cardio-training intensity and frequency, weight-training intensity and frequency are ALL factors that are 100% in YOUR CONTROL. Focus on finding the combination of those factors that works best for you; what you must do more of and what you must do less of to reach your personal goals.

It’s YOUR body, and no one else will care about it more than you. Never rely on someone else to solve your challenges for you. Take FULL responsibility for the task of finding what’s best for you and your body.

8. Don’t waste time talking to people about your eating, metabolic and genetic challenges. Are those other people really going to challenge your beliefs anyway? Do they really care? All of the talk about how difficult it is for you to lose body fat (or build muscle) reinforces your disempowering beliefs about what you cannot accomplish. It is self-defeating. By eliminating this negative talk, you will reach you goals much faster.

This does not mean to not ask questions or rely on someone else’s expertise. This does mean that you are ultimately responsible for the direction you go and your successes or failure ultimately fall on your shoulders.

9. Learn how to manage the emotional relationship you have with your current eating habit. Schedule your cheat meals in advance, and schedule your cheat days – those days when you plan to indulge your cravings – in advance, as well. Use those cheat meals, or days, as special rewards for being disciplined all week long or for putting together a series of weeks of good eating habits.

Do not use food as a reward for accomplishments in other areas of your life, however. You do not want to create, or strengthen, an emotional link between success and fattening foods. Also, you do not want to use delicious, not-so-healthy food to mask emotional pain that you might be feeling due to challenges in other areas of your life. In other words, don’t eat to make yourself feel better.

10. NEVER try to make up for poor eating habits with more exercise. Up to 80% of the way you look will be determined by the foods you eat – not by your training habits. You may mistakenly believe that you can make up for poor eating habits with a little extra exercise; NOPE, NO WAY, NO HOW! It will NEVER happen! The exchange rate between eating and exercise is not a fair exchange at all!

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Leave us your comments…

Question: How can I be thin like the models in the magazines?

Answer: Thin people are the exception, rather than the rule, despite what the magazines portray. Most images in magazines are “computer slimmed” – they really are not that skinny. The average American woman is a size 14, so your aim should be not to be “thin”, rather, it should be to become healthy, full of energy and within the healthy weight range for your age and height. There is no such thing as an “ideal weight” but there is a healthy weight range you can work toward by making healthy food and exercise choices.

Question: Exercise is too much like hard work, where do I begin?

Answer: Exercise is all about feeling good about yourself and positive about your achievements. Choose an activity you feel comfortable with (walking is an excellent beginner’s choice) and start with just ten minutes. It’s all about getting out there and moving, breathing and living. It’s all a bout improving your QUALITY of life.

Question: I don’t like jogging or walking, what can I do?

Answer: There are lots of exercise activities you can do around the house which do raise your pulse rate to the “fat burning” range! Sweeping up leaves, cleaning windows, vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom are all excellent, providing you put in some extra energy over a sustained period of at least twenty minutes.

Question: How can I find time for breakfast?

Answer: Many busy working people skip breakfast – don’t! It’s the most important meal of the day. A simple breakfast consisting of a low fat, low sugar cereal, skim milk and half a banana, and a slice of toast will not only get you and your brain up and running with enough fuel to energize your day, but will also kick start your metabolism for the day.

Question: How can I get going without my coffee to start the day?

Answer: Coffee (and to a lesser extent tea) is one of the worst ways to start your day! Coffee gives you a caffeine boost which just as quickly lets you down again, but it also increases hunger by boosting the output of insulin and is also dehydrating, making you thirsty and hungry and looking for a second hit.

Question: How can I find time to exercise?

Answer: Find time! Healthy people manage to fit daily exercise into their daily routine! Unhealthy people make excuses! Fit exercise into your day by getting up half an hour earlier (you really won’t miss that half-hour sleep) or at lunchtime (up and down the stairs if it’s raining) or after work at a gym, on an exercise bike or treadmill.

No matter how busy you may think you are, there’s someone busier than you finding time to take care of themselves.

Question: How can I stop my friends sabotaging all my attempts to eat healthier?

Answer: Be honest and tell them it’s your choice what you eat. Though I disagree with lying to someone, if you must, tell a white lie and say you are worried about your cholesterol level (even the most persistent saboteur will accept this) and your doctor has told you to avoid high fat foods.

CLICK HERE to read my related post…

Question: What should I be drinking?

Answer: Water is the beverage of choice and apart from the last 50 years or so, that’s all we drank! Alcohol is a toxin and goes straight to the fat stores; tea and coffee are both drugs which dehydrate and make you hungry; fruit juices are outrageously high in sugar as are soft drinks. A popular cola drink contains all the above and is not a healthy choice. Sports drinks are designed only for professional athletes such as marathon runners.

Question: I work long hours. How can I find the time to cook?

Answer: Most supermarkets are open 24 hours a day, so quit making excuse! Shop once a week and plan ahead for healthy, quick to prepare family meals such as stir fries, pasta with sauce, or grilled fish, chicken or steak with a big salad and vegetables.

Question: I’ve failed on every diet I’ve ever attempted! What’s gone wrong?

Answer: “Diets” just don’t work and will be guaranteed to fail you every time. You haven’t failed, the “diet” failed you. The only thing that will work is to stop “dieting” and think healthy eating instead. Expect to succeed and you will succeed.

Question: Why do people keep offering me food and even if I say no, no, no they still push?

Answer: Unfortunately the more you say no, no, no, the more unhelpful people will push unwelcome food at you! Practice saying “Thanks, it looks great – I’ll have some later.” Try it – it really does work.

Question: Why are lifestyle changes so difficult to make?

Answer: Any change takes courage. Courage is the power to face difficulties. Courage comes from a determination to succeed and to practice new lifestyle skills. When we isolate our problems and work on finding a solution we gain the necessary courage to succeed.

Question: Why do I feel as if my life is stuck in a rut?

Answer: Once we stop learning, we stop growing as a person. Being open to new ideas, new concepts and new learning will mean developing new skills. Starting is the key, because if we want to be successful in any endeavor, we must start sometime. The house of success is built brick by brick.

Question: I can’t afford to go on expensive pre-packaged food diets – what can I do?

Answer: No one needs pre-packaged diet food! The power to achieve successful weight loss lies within each of us. We alone have the responsibility to develop a healthy weight. When we understand this, we begin to realize that we alone are pushing ourselves forward or holding ourselves back.

Question: I’d really love to be slimmer, but why do I think I will never succeed?

Question: There is so much conflicting nutrition information in magazines and on TV!  What is really correct?

Answer: It’s a case of sourcing out information and taking an intelligent and informed look at it all. Basically, 80% of what we eat should come out of the ground in the form of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. We need quality protein to build and repair, dairy products to supply calcium and minimal amounts of fat, sugar and salt. Chemicals, preservatives and colorings in food are a real health hazard, as are sugar laden soft drinks.

Question: I have a family history of diabetes – is it important I lose weight?

Answer: With a family history of heart disease, diabetes, stroke or bowel cancer, attaining and maintaining a healthy weight is imperative to remain healthy. These are the killer diseases which can be directly related to obesity.

Taking charge and gaining control over weight will go a long way towards preventing the killer diseases, many of which show a family pre disposition to developing.

Question: Plateaus are so discouraging! What causes a dieting plateau?

Answer: Everyone who goes on a “diet” will plateau! This is because all diets put people on a set calorie intake day after day. The body naturally, and quickly, becomes accustomed to a very low energy intake and slows metabolism down. This is why weight goes back on again after each diet attempt, plus interest.

Successful, maintainable weight management is not the result of “dieting”. It can only be achieved by a varied and enjoyable food intake which fits into your own family lifestyle.

Question: I don’t want to change anything! Why shouldn’t I keep eating the food I like?

Answer: To achieve a change in our health and weight we have to accept that some changes will be inevitable. Change can be daunting or it can be an exciting, goal-oriented challenge. It all depends on how you view change. We can still eat the foods we “like” (which is usually all the fat laden foods) but enjoy them in moderation. High fat, high sugar, high salt foods are “special occasion foods” not everyday foods.

Question: I lasted on my last diet for three weeks and then my mother arrived to stay and it all fell apart. How can I prevent this from happening again?

Answer: The ability to handle relapses and then get back on track again as soon as possible is the key to success at any endeavor. We are human beings. That means we are not perfect! Problems in life arise for everyone – even for those people with the trim bodies you envy! The trick is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on track.

Question: I’ve lost and gained weight back on again more times than I care to remember! Why does overweight keep finding me?

Answer: As with any endeavor with an end result worth achieving never give up. Keep persisting and persisting until you achieve that goal you set yourself. If it is worth achieving (and what could be more important than your health!) then it is worth persisting despite the challenges, which will appear along the way.

Question: I’d love to lose weight, but my husband says he loves me just the way I am. Is he telling me the truth?

Answer: If you are not happy within yourself, then how can those who love you possibly be happy? Our greatest power is the power to choose! We can decide where we are, what we do and what we think. No one can take the power to choose away from us. We can be what we want to be. The choice is ours and ours alone.

Question: My whole family is overweight – if I lose weight, won’t I feel like the odd one out?

Answer: If you are happy with your weight and are healthy, there is no reason to allow anyone to tell you to “lose weight”. However, if you are unhappy and unhealthy, maybe now is the time to be a pioneer within your family and help point them in the right direction from a healthy point of view, by your example and inspiration.

Question: I’ve got young children – how can I find the time to lose weight?

Answer: We are beasts of habit. The force of habit and making excuses are quick to force us to fail or never begin! The more we do something, the more likely we are to do it again. Establishing a healthy eating, cooking or exercise habit forms a bridge, which enables us to walk across the deepest valley to success.

Question: Why does something always happen to prevent me from reaching my goals?

Answer: Choosing to fail or choosing to succeed is entirely up to the individual. There are no limits to our possibilities. When we imagine success and positive happenings in our lives, this is what we can expect to achieve. When we imagine success our vision expands, we capture and hold onto our dreams and our views are fulfilled.

Whether you believe that you can… or that you can’t… you are right!

Question: I try to lose weight, so why do I fail each time?

Answer: “Trying” to do something allows us automatically to fail. In the words of Joda the Jedi Master in Star Wars. “Do or do not. There is no try.” Choose to do it or to not do it. However, if you choose to do it, then do it – don’t just try! Listen to what your own self talk is saying to you and re-program your head to tell you positive self-talk, not negative, self-limiting self-talk.

Question: I really envy all my friends who are slim and full of energy. Why is life so unfair?

Answer: Life is not a rehearsal and there is no such thing as a magic weight loss fairy (or magic pill for that matter) which will turn you into a slim person overnight. Instead of wishing you could be slimmer and full of energy, take a good look at just what you are eating and how much exercise you perform each week. To both lose and maintain weight we need to reduce our total fat grams eaten per day to around 20-24 grams, eat three balanced meals and two snacks every day and exercise four times per week. Remember, healthy people do it all the time!

Question: How can losing weight make me feel better?

Answer: The health benefits from even a small weight loss are extraordinary. Even a 10% reduction in overall body weight can see blood pressure come down, cholesterol levels come down and energy and self esteem levels go up. As we lose weight, there is less strain on backs, knees and ankles, reducing pain. Headaches become lessened, we sleep better and function more effectively in all areas of our lives.

Question: Why do I feel such a sense of failure when I always put weight back on again after going on a diet?

Answer: Diets are doomed to failure each and every time! The ONLY successful way to both lose weight and maintain weight is to establish lifelong healthy eating habits. When we take small daily steps and congratulate ourselves every day for even the smallest change towards achieving our weight loss goals, we begin to think like a winner. And the more we think like a winner, the more we begin to feel and look like a winner.

Question: Why are my thin friends so lucky?

Answer: There is no luck involved in being slim, healthy and full of energy! What is involved is healthy, low fat regular meals and snacks, and a sensible exercise routine. Most people really do have to work at keeping their weight where they want it to be. There is no luck involved. It’s all about getting out there and doing it, not wishing it would happen.

Question: I’ve thought about beginning so many diets in the past. Why can’t I ever get around to it?

Answer: It does take a lot of courage to begin to make significant lifestyle changes. Most people with a weight problem do need to ask for help and this takes courage. In fact, sometimes taking that first step is the hardest part of making any change. Until you take that first step, you stand little chance of reaching your goal. Once you have made the decision to change, stick to your resolve and commit to changing your lifestyle for good health.

Question: I’d love to do all sorts of things in my life. Why is it that somehow I just don’t get there?

Answer: Stop procrastinating! Thinking about, or wishing about, becoming slimmer won’t help. Thinking about it is what got you in the position you are in! Set your goals a bit higher than you feel you can achieve and always aim for super success. Wallowing in doom and gloom is not nearly as much fun as knowing you have won, and achieved everything in life you want to achieve.

Question: I really hope I’ll be slim and happy one day – will it happen?

Answer: This life is not a rehearsal – we are only given one shot at it.

- One shot to become the person we really want to be.

- One shot to eat well, get our weight down to where we want it to be.

- One shot to learn as much as we can.

- One shot to improve our lives and the lives of our family and loved ones.

Don’t leave your life behind without knowing you gave it your best shot.

Question: Why doesn’t anyone ever do anything for me?

Answer: Well, maybe you don’t give too much either! George Burns lived over 100 years, sharing and giving and living by this philosophy. When we give something, expecting nothing in return, then it is given back to us with interest.

Still not sure what to do, or how to get to your fitness goals? Let me help you. CLICK HERE to learn about my Online Training & Nutrition Program which will guide you every step along the way to the body of your dreams…

GUARANTEED!

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…