- Category: Journal, Research Lab
- Date: 3.3.10
I recently meet up with a guy looking to get fit. He’s overweight, and sick of it, but has no idea how to go about it in the right way. So many questions I’ve heard from other people, and I see him doing all the wrong stuff that idiot trainers have taught him at his gym, or useless nonsense he has picked up from watching the Biggest Loser.
Here’s one of my replies, outlined his problems, with my easy solutions…
I always skip breakfast.
Make sure you always have skim milk on hand, and grab yourself a low carb protein powder (really doesn’t matter which brand, just anything with minimal carbs, ie under 10 grams). In the morning, as soon as you wake up, before anything else throw half a banana, a glass of milk, and a scoop of protein in a blender and down it with any vitamins you take. then go about your normal business. it’ll take you all of 5 minutes, tops.
My portions way too large (especially at dinner).
Get yourself a water bottle. Don’t just buy any one either, find one that you actually like the look of, it’ll make you be proud to carry it around, trust me, this shit actually does matter haha. try and drink water all day long, never go without at least a gulp every hour. And when you feel like snacking on something, take a few big chugs. Lots of times we feel hungry but it’s actually thirst.
I’m not eating enough fruits.
Fruits are basically just sugar. Stay away from them. Only eat fruit in the am, and try to keep it to 2 pieces a day MAX. The half a banana in your morning shake is plenty, trust me. If you need an energy booster later on, or want a snack before lunch, eat an apple.
I eat way too many carbs, and barely any protein.
Get protein in EVERY meal, even snacks. If you’re eating a plate of veggies and beef, eat all the beef first, every ounce. Then down a glass of water, let it all settle, and then move to the rest of it. Meat is what we’ve lived on for 10,000 years, it should always be the main attraction of any meal.
I overeat (obviously).
All the other stuff I already said should take care of this. If you’re downing water all day you’ll be less hungry, so you’re less likely to gorge when you get to dinner. And by making sure you eat shit loads of protein, you’ll also stay full longer.
Lastly, it’s good to hear you’re doing weights. However lets get you doing it a bit different. Ideally aim to do cardio 2 times a week and weights 3.
When you do weights, don’t think of a full body workout as doing each body part separately and accumulating into a full body workout. Work your body as a whole unit. Pick exercises that make you feel worked/sore in more than one place at a time. Put a few isolation exercises together (grab some dumbbells and hold them at your sides, do 5 squats, then 10 lunges, then 10 curls, then 15 presses, rest 30 seconds then repeat). Your workouts will be shorter, but more effective.
Then for your cardio days, make sure you’re still doing intervals. Choose either a rower or a treadmill (or a skipping rope if you can skip, and actually, if you can’t skip, get a rope and start practicing, it’s amazing for you. use it as your warm up. just skip for 5-10 minutes, resting as needed before you start your weights). Then warm up for 5 minutes nice and easy, then go back and forth from high intensity to low. High intensity would be like running/sprinting, low would be a jog. Choose to go for a certain distance or time, and choose how many intervals you want to do before you start (no less than 5, ideally 10 working intervals). Do 100m sprints then 100m jog to rest, and repeat 10 times. Or 30 second sprint with 30 sec jog, etc.
Comments: 3
- Category: Research Lab
- Date: 11.15.09
By Elliott Hulse
If you’re like me, you probably want nothing more than to feel like a ’super-stud’ every time you take your shirt off in public. You want to have the confidence to say, ‘Boy, this sweaty shirt is chaffin’ me’, then reach over your shoulder and tear your shirt off like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. When you know that your pecs look like two soup bowls inserted beneath your skin, and your abs are as hard the asphalt you stand on, it’s tough to keep your shirt on!
Today you are gonna learn the top 5 training principles that you MUST implement in order to make your physique and performance goals… a reality. But, before I open the info-floodgates, there is something you’ve got to understand. Men… all men, should recognize that we are athletes and our training programs must reflect this.
Even if you’re a ‘pencil pusher’ or a ‘white collar crook’, the essence of your being is athletic. In order to see any type of fitness results it is essential to recognize that Squats, Power Cleans, 40 Yard Dashes and Vertical Jumps are not only for NFL Combine participants… they are for you!
1. You’re An Athlete By Design
The foundation principle of everything that I teach all begins with one extremely powerful phrase: “We are primal beings living in a modern world”
Our physical bodies have been unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, today, our bodies are an exact expression of what our ancestors were over 100,000 years ago. It is believed that it takes about 100,000 years for 0.001percent of a genome to change… so yourself and Primal Man are for all intents and purposes… the same.
What has changed is how WE have chosen to live, if you can even call it that. As we have ‘advanced’ in technology we have regressed in physical strength and stature.
We function at a much lower capacity than were inherently capable of. This is analogous to those people who buy off-road vehicles that will never see anything but concrete! You’ve been given the ultimate athletic tool… use it.
2. Short, Hard and Intense Workouts Yield Lean, Hard and Muscular Bodies
When you spend over an hour in the gym sitting on useless ‘fitness machines’ while you’re waiting to do your ‘next set’…your nervous system’s primal response is to release Cortisol and Glucocorticoids – which are stress hormones, (these make you sick, sad, fat and, stupid) in response to your body thinking… “Holy Cow, we’ve been training for over an hour… perhaps we’re being chased by a tiger and need to preserve body fat”, then it begins sacrificing muscle tissue for energy! This is called The Catabolic Effect. Also, workouts exceeding 1 hour have been shown to be associated with a rapid decrease in androgen levels.
This is why marathon runners look so emaciated… id much rather look like one of those Lock, Stock & Ready Sprinters with muscles rippling across their backs and abs.
3. Aerobics and Cardio Training Is Boring & Ineffective
Strength coach Charles Poliquin has coined the phrase “Chunky Aerobic Instructor Syndrome” (CAIS). You’ve seen them, they do cardio all day long… don’t you think that they would be a bit leaner? Well, there is a scientific reason as to why they are cubby even though they bounce up and down on those colorful blocks all day long. In fact research has shown that aerobic instructors who taught an average of 3 hours a day maintained a body fat of 22-24% – mind you, that Olympic athletes hover around 9%.
Especially with repetitive exercises like aerobics the body adapts quickly to the stimulus and ceases to respond to the stimulus. Also, you begin to become very fuel-efficient… Listen, think of a metabolism that has adapted to long treks of cardio as being a Honda… it burns very little fuel (i.e. fat) but can go miles and miles. Think of a metabolism that is roaring with increased mitochondria activity (as is present in someone who weight trains with circuits) as a Hummer, large fuel combusting metabolism!
Here’s Why this is so important! You want a stronger heart, without the fat saving response of long boring cardio treks. That is why I teach my clients how to do work capacity sets. We take 4-6 exercises and complete them back to back with no rest and aim to complete them all with in about 2 minutes… if your heart is not ready to pound out of your chest after that, then maybe you should visit your veterinarian!
Here’s a simple circuit that you can do at home – first 20 squats, then 20 lunges, then ’step ups’ on a bench 10 each leg, finally do 10 squat jumps and get it all done in less than 90 seconds! Kick-ass workout!
We begin every session with Plyometrics and then get right into 3-5 “work capacity” sets for upper and lower body.
4. Get High on Oxygen & Sunshine
Besides the fact that training on treadmills and ’sit down’ exercise equipment is less effective than getting your feet on the ground and learning how to use your own bodyweight, training indoors can be detrimental to your performance and fitness results.
As ‘primal beings’ we are in need of several vital elements and forms of energy. The suns rays are nourishing to your mind as well as body. It is well documented that those who live in the cooler northern climates that enjoy less sunshine through out the year are several times more likely to suffer from depression.
Also, if you’re like most Americans you work and live indoors (maybe). In fact, the average person spends 90% of their time indoors. Several health experts have propounded that our homes and workplace are the most toxic environments in our lives. Many studies have stated that toxic particles and fumes found in your home and workplace include: air fresheners, spray starch, paints, mothballs and even ‘new car’ smell kills more people every year than automobile accidents!
So, what do you do? Train in the great outdoors! When I train my Strength Camp clients at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg Florida, not only do we benefit from the sweet bay breeze but also the scenery is beautiful enough to give a nun spring fever!
5. It’s Gotta Be Fun!
Drop out rates for exercise programs are almost as high as the drop out rate in my old middle school! The bottom line is, if you don’t enjoy it – you wont do it. The most effective way to ensure that you stick with your training program is to change it often. This doesn’t mean hop from one modality to the next before you get any results. It means stick with your weight-training program for a minimum of 90 day but change the exercises you use for each body part at least every 3 weeks.
This not only keeps you interested but also, your nervous system will be challenged with the new exercises and be forced to adapt. This yields fast and long-lasting results!
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