Protect the asset. (yes, that's you.)

Protect the asset. 

For many of us, trying to be the best dad, mom, employee, business owner, etc. that we can be, we often find that we don't have enough time to do things for ourselves. We are so focused on being the best at whatever it is we are doing that we feel there is not enough time to do things for us like sleep, exercise, eat right, etc. It often feels like these things are an indulgence and that we are being selfish if we set aside an hour a day to work out, or time to go to bed early or take time to prepare food for the week.

Even more ironic, is that those who are trying the hardest to be the best parent, employee, business owner etc. are even more likely to neglect working out, sleeping, eating right, relaxing, doing things for themselves. 

Here's the catch. 

In order to be the best mom, dad, employee, or business owner you can be, you have to be operating at your best.

 The biggest asset you bring to the world is you. 

You operating at 100%.

 You operating at 100% is the best gift you can give to the world, to your family and to your job.

 An investment of time in taking care of yourself is worth more to those around you than a 50% you overworking yourself and ignoring things that make you feel good and happy.

Moms are particularly susceptible to this as they tend to put everyone else, ie: children, husband, house, etc. before themselves. 

Don't fall into this trap. 

Think of it this way,. When you listen to the safety information on an airplane, they instruct you to put your mask on first before helping others. 

Only when you have your mask on can you help others. 

You won't be any help to the others if you are dead. ;-)

"Helping ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things."

IronWillStrengthStudio.com
GetOnThePROGRAM.com
ShapelyStrength.com

"I get bored easily."

"I get bored easily."

Can't tell you how many times people have told me that in our initial meeting. "I get bored easily. My other trainer used to change it up a lot."

I get it. But it doesn't apply to what we do. 

Let me explain. 

Do you think an Olympic gymnast gets tired of practicing back handsprings? Of course she does.  Does that mean she should do something different every time she shows up for practice? Just so she doesn't get bored? Does she tell her coach she wants to swim or do throw some baseballs to "change it up?" 

Getting stronger and building muscle is not supposed to be fun. Don't believe all the Zumba people out there. 

Dancing is fun (well, not for me but for some people). Playing sports is fun. Going to sporting events is fun. Skiing is fun. Partying is fun. 

Kids are fun. (sometimes) 

You get the idea.

Lifting weights is not fun. It's hard. 

And it can be boring. 

And you have to do the same lifts a lot if you want to get good at them. 

But you know what is fun? Getting results. Being strong as hell. Looking fantastic. Feeling hard as a rock. 

No one has ever said my workouts are fun. Not ever. 

But very few complain about being bored once they see the results.
Here's another thing.. If your trainer has you do squats with 20 lbs once a week every week for a year that is boring. And dumb. I would be bored too. It's boring because you are not making progress.
But how about this? You show up on your first day and you can only do 12 squats with 20 lbs.
We squat every week, but every week you get a little stronger and a little better. Your legs feel tighter. You butt is getting better.
After 6 months, you are squatting with 135 lbs. Your legs and butt look fantastic. Your back never hurts because it is strong as hell.  You can lift just about anything you would ever need to. You feel invincible.
Do you think you'd be bored that we were doing squats again?
I don't think so.

There is an expression in marketing that says when you are getting bored with your marketing is just when it's starting to work. 

It's similar with working out. 

Do you know how many different leg exercises I know how to do? About 250. 

Do you know how many I do each week for the past 15 years? About 6. 

There are exercises that provide a big "bang for your buck" and a lot of results. Those are the ones we focus on. Does that mean all the others are "bad"? No, not at all. 

But when they distract you from doing the best exercises, they are bad. 

Don't get discouraged if you get a little bored. That usually means it's getting hard and that is where the magic happens. 

I see a lot of people "changing it up" and what isn't changing are their physiques. 

Don't get sucked into changing it up all the time. Stick with what works and get really good at those exercises and get really, really strong  on them. Skip the nonsense and the "invented" exercises. 

"For Best Results- Start Here"

Imagine that the body you desire came in a box. When you open the box, there are directions for how to obtain your goal body. When you begin to read the directions, you see you see that there are three different sets. 

One set says "For best and fastest results, start here". Another section says "For moderate results, begin here". And a third section says "For slow and inconsistent result, start here". Which set of directions would you start with? 

When it comes to achieving your fat loss goals, it is very important to start with the "For best results" section.

The obvious reason is that it will work the best and the fastest. The less obvious reason is that when you see dramatic results you will be more motivated to continue and see further dramatic results.

The instructions in the "For best results start here" column for your new body would be as follows:

For fastest bodyfat and weight loss choose almost exclusively from the following foods: natural proteins, tons of vegetables, fruits and natural fats.

 Eat things as close to whole foods as possible, meaning no boxes and no ingredients. 

Think about that for a minute. 

A carrot doesn't have ingredients. A piece of fish doesn't have ingredients. 

An egg doesn't have ingredients. A bag of bread has a lot of ingredients. 

A box of mac & cheese has a lot of ingredients (many that you can't pronounce).

You get the idea. 

The next part of the directions would say "Don't get creative". This is where you can get into trouble. Don't scour the isles of the supermarket trying to find foods (and I have totally done this) that somehow miraculously have high protein, good fat content and no refined carbs, yet still taste like macaroni and cheese. 

They don't exist, and if they do they are full of chemicals and shit. 

The best results and fastest results will come from eating whole food proteins like meats and fish, tons of vegetables, and lots of avocado, butter, coconut oil, olive oil and nuts. 

Drink lots of water and you are all set. 

Don't overthink it and don't get creative. Eat that way for two months and you will see incredible changes in your body.

Why I hate "bootcamp" workouts.

Why I hate "bootcamp" workouts.
As many of you know, I am quite opposed to the bootcamp style of workout. There are many reasons for this but I'll give you the two most important reasons. 
Reason number one is that it is simply not effective. It doesn't work.
Is it a good workout? Yes, I guess. It depends upon what you mean by a good workout and what your goals are. 
If your goals are to get exhausted and pushed to your limits and perhaps test your mental strength, then yes, it's a good workout. 
But if your goals are to get stronger, leaner and achieve a physical transformation then no, it's not a good workout. It's a terrible workout. I say that not only because I disagree with the science, or lack of it, involved in the actual workout design and structure itself but I also say that because I have seen literally thousands of people go to these bootcamp type workouts for months, even years, and not see a physical transformation. 
Many of them have not even lost a pound. These same people also think that they are burning 800 to 1000 calories per workout.
Let me ask you a question. If you were actually burning 1000 calories per workout, don't you think you would be losing weight after a few workouts? Of course you would. You are not burning 1000 calories, no matter what your little FitBit says and trying to lose weight by burning off the calories in that way simply doesn't work anyway. (Ask anyone who has trained for a marathon and has no leaned out at all.)
The second reason that I dislike that style of training is for the emotional and mental aspect of it. What I love about strength training is that my clients leave the gym feeling accomplished, feeling successful, feeling like they kicked ass and took names. When you come in and hit a new personal best on the deadlift, squat or bench and do things that you never thought you would be able to do, you leave the gym pumped and proud and ready to take on the day. Think about a person that comes to see me and accomplishes everything that I put in front of them and more. Think of the confidence that person has, having just lifted more than they ever thought they could. Contrast that to the overweight or unfit person who goes to a bootcamp and is screamed at by their super-fit instructor about how much they need to work harder and how much they have to want it and that person is led to believe that if they're not throwing up or doubled over in a corner that they are not working hard enough. That person leaves the gym with a feeling of failure. That person leaves with the feeling of "I guess I need to work harder if I'm ever going to be fit." They feel that they need to come to the gym more often and more frequently and for longer periods of time to see the results that they want. Ironically, the lean and fit instructor most likely does not do bootcamp or a workout anything remotely like that. That is the ultimate fitness irony, most trainers don't practice what they preach.
You don't have to kill yourself to get results. You don't have to train until you're going to puke. You don't have to train five days a week. 
You have to train hard.
You have to eat properly. 
You have to be consistent.
You have to get stronger.
Is it hard work? 
Yes.
Does it have to be absolutely exhausting?
No.
Should it be?
No. 
Training should make you feel good, not bad.

Exercising doesn't do sh$t.

"I go to the gym 3 times a week."
"I do classes 5 days a week."
"I lift weights 2 times a week."
"I do cardio every day."

What do all of these have in common?

It doesn't matter. 

It doesn't matter if you go to the gym every day or 3 times per week. It doesn't matter how often you do cardio or how many classes you take each week.

None of those things determine your results.

Do you know how many people come to me and say that they don't understand why they are not seeing results when they "go to the gym 3x per week" or insert any of the above phrases?

If you are not being INTENTIONAL about what you actually do at the gym and following a specifically designed training PROGRAM that has a point and a plan then you are just mindlessly EXERCISING.

Mindlessly exercising does not do shit.

Yes, that's right.

Just exercising does not do shit.

I hear that all the time to. "Well, at least I did something." "It's better than nothing."

Well, not really.

What if I just went to a martial arts studio every day? Well, what did I do when I was there?
What if I went and  just start hitting things and kicking things? If I did that every day or twice a week do you think it would make a difference after six months? How about after a year?

Nope.

I still wouldn't know how fight.

Now, what if I went 3x a week and an instructor taught me the basics, then progressed me to harder moves and more advanced techniques and I went from a white belt to a black belt. After 5-10 years I'd be a serious bad dude.

If I just went and randomly started hitting things, I could go every day for 4 hours and after 20 years I still wouldn't be any better than I was on day one.

That's how many people approach their training (it's actually not even training when it's done that way, it's just working out.)

Just exercising or working out doesn't work. You need a specific plan designed for your specific goal and that goal is almost always the same, no matter who you are.

Add a lot of lean muscle and lose a lot of fat. 

That's it.

How do we do that?

Not by running around mindlessly killing ourselves in the gym.

We do it by methodically getting stronger and building lean muscle and by following a nutritional protocol that burns fat. 

The end.

www.GetOnThePROGRAM.com

Don't touch the Christmas cookies.. (just kidding)

As you guys know by now, I'm not the kind of coach who was going to tell you "how to have a healthy Thanksgiving dinner" and to have chicken breast instead of turkey on Thanksgiving.

 I'm not the kind of coach who is going to tell you not to touch single Christmas cookie at your family celebration or not to have a few drinks on New Year's Eve.

Quite the contrary, I want you to give yourself permission to live a little bit and enjoy the holidays. That's what life is all about.

But I want to take a second to clarify something.

 I am also not kind of coach is going to give you permission to fall back into bad habits and the routines that got you into trouble in the first place. I'm not suggesting you throw your goals and your healthy habits out the window for the next two weeks. I'm not suggesting you can eat and drink everything that your heart desires and not undo a lot of the progress you have made.

Even though it is a tough time of year to be disciplined, you can still make forward progress. You can still start 2015 better than you started 2014.

It's not time to give yourself persmission to go back to eating platefulls of refined carbs for your meals. It's not a time to skip your workouts or forget about the importance of healthy snacks and staying hydrated.

 It is simply a time to allow yourselves some room to make mistakes and to be okay with it.

 I know that many of you that I have spoken with, myself included have already gotten the crappy stuff out of our systems. I for one, am getting all of my workouts in and have gotten back to all of my healthy habits (water first thing in the morning, fat/protein snacks, etc.) I know that I will sneak in some cookies and some poor food choices over the next week or two but I'm okay with that.

 But simply getting my workouts in and drinking my water have made a world of difference. Remember, holiday parties are much more fun when you feel good about yourself. Just sayin'...

Happy Holidays!!

This is CRAZY!

This is crazy.

So we are all very familiar with the effect that nutrition has on our energy and our appearance. If you have read The PROGRAM, you also understand how important body chemistry is and how much of a role nutrition plays in our hormones and the various things that control fat-burning and muscle-building.

 

One thing, however, that we often overlook is the importance of the micronutrients and other elements of nutrition. Those are things like vitamins, minerals, and even digestive enzymes. It's not just protein, fat, carbs and calories. Vitamins, minerals and the various micronutrients are essential to good health and for the body's "machinery" to function properly. Sometimes even I forget how important this is and also, how easy it is to have deficiencies with even the healthiest diet. Let me give you an unbelievable example. My daughter is six years old and is a very picky eater.  She is not much different than most kids her age, where there are not a lot of healthy foods that she likes to eat and even when she does eat, it's not a whole lot. I have tried to get her to take various vitamins but it is often a struggle.

 

 Over the past few months my wife and I have commented on how we need to get her eating more healthy but we have not been very successful. Recently she has been extremely moody, had a few low-grade colds and has just generally been rundown. She is also in the process of losing a few teeth and that is a factor as well. One of the teeth is almost all the way out and is literally almost dead. This tooth has been almost gray in color due to the lack of blood and nutrients to the tooth. She has also been complaining of growing pains at night which are aches and discomfort in the upper thighs, commonly associated with the rapid growth of kids this age. The thought is (and I would agree with it) that it has to do with the rapidly going bones and some have suggested the minerals (or lack thereof) associated with this process.

One night it just hit me like a ton of bricks and occurred to me that my daughter is severely deficient in probably numerous vitamins and minerals and I was just standing by and watching it happen!

 

  I immediately went out and found some liquid vitamins and minerals and powdered calcium/magnesium. I bought the additional calcium/magnesium because the multivitamin has very low amounts of magnesium, which is an extremely important nutrient. I'll give you the exact brands and types at the end. What happened next was remarkable and kind of blew my mind.

 

 Less than 24 hours after adding these additional nutrients, my daughter was a different person. Her energy shot through the roof. Her mood literally changed overnight. She was back to the perky, happy and playful child that we had always known. She did not complain of leg aches for days. It still happens occasionally but much less frequently. And the most remarkable thing? Her grey tooth became white again! I know it sounds unbelievable but I watched it happen. And it actually makes sense. 

 

When the body, the bones and teeth (which are essentially bones) are deprived of nutrients they begin to not function properly and even "die". Once given the proper nutrients, the body resumes normal functions. The moral of the story is that nutrients, not just protein, fat, carbs and calories have a massive impact on your health and well-being. A strong reminder on the importance of getting a wide variety of natural foods, particularly lots of vegetables and berries. I would also recommend everyone to take a good quality multivitamin/multimineral and fish oil on a daily basis.  Shown below is what I used with Charlie and I have seen the power of adding this to her diet and it is unbelievable.

 

PS. Calcium and Magnesium and VERY involved with the stress/anxiety system of the body and a deficiency in this area can cause considerable anxiety and a sense of being "unsettled". Adding these minerals has a huge calming effect on those suffering with anxiety. I've had it and this basically eliminated it. 

 

(For kids, the products below are great because you can add them to juice and they will actually drink it. Good edibles are hard to come by and often the kids won't like the taste. For adults, I've found the brand New Chapter's Men's and Women's Multis to be very good.