I’ve always been into meditation. I guess it’s something I picked up from martial arts at an early age. But just recently I’ve been using it as a post workout tool for recovery. I have to say, it seems to do the job quite well.

Not to mention there are some legit studies showing it’s effectiveness post exercise. Check this study out from the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Here is my current routine.

1. I find a quite place to sit down and relax. I try to keep it distraction free, but by no means do you need to be in complete darkness and silence. Hell, sometimes I don’t even close my eyes. There’s no set rules in meditation. That’s why I like it.

2. Start by watching your breath. Just notice the sensation of the air entering your lungs. Try to keep the breaths deep into your abdomen. Almost like you’re breathing into your gut.

3. Focus on relaxing every muscle in your body. Start from the top of your head on down to your toes.

4. Once relaxed you’ll probably notice your mind will tend to wonder off occasionally. That’s alright, it always happens. Just bring yourself back to watching your breath.

It doesn’t take much to get results. Start with 2 or 3 minutes. Sometimes recovery is neglected, but it really is one of the most important aspects of a workout. In recovery is where you build lean muscle, burn fat, and clear harmful stress hormones from the body.

Give it a shot. Let me know if you’ve tried this or have found a better way.

1. Leg Extensions: You’ve already spent most of the day in a seated position. The last thing you need to do is train your legs from that same position. As someone who spends any amount of time sitting we have to be sure that our workout routines are well balanced. Providing exercises that focus more on quality movement patterns and less on specific muscle groups. Truth is leg extensions may be doing more harm than help. Passive structures in the knee (ligaments) are stressed more in open chain exercises like the leg extension which can lead to future knee pain and range of motion problems. During the knee extension several stabilizing muscles are taken out of the movement creating an imbalance of work done by primary movers and synergistic stabilizers. In other words, this is an injury waiting to happen.

Alternatives

*Dynamic Lunges
*Step-Ups
*Front Squats
*Terminal Knee Extensions or Backwards Walking for any individuals with knee impairments

2. Military Pressing: Few people, not excluding high level athletes possess optimal shoulder build to be able to do this exercise “safely”. I put safely in quotes because you may not suffer an acute injury from shoulder presses, but chances are down the road you may develop some sort of impingement. Understand this is not a matter of poor training or weak musculature. It is simply a matter of how you are built. This is not to say that Military Presses can’t have their place in a well planned out exercise program. Let’s face it; the average computer guy geek has sub-optimal posture in the first place. The last thing we want to try and do is have him press heavy weights over his head. The outcome could be very dangerous. For our purposes in the gym, I believe much safer exercises can be used to create even better results without this risk.

Alternatives

*Push-Ups (there is a large variety)
*Gators
*Press-Outs

3. Sit-Ups: Everybody’s favorite exercise. If not for great looking abs then surely they are good for “core” strength and your lower back right? The truth is, when you perform a Sit-Up you are using very little abdominal strength and a whole lot of hip flexor strength. Contracting these hip flexors and flexing forward can create excessive amounts of compression on our lower spine. For anyone who sits for any length of time during the day this is not an ideal situation. Most geeks need more abdominal strength but there are much safer and more effective ways to go about getting it.

Alternatives

*Planks and Side Planks
*Reverse Pull-Ins
*Jack Knives
*Chop and Lift

4. Bench Press: Another favorite exercise to most average gym goers. But here we sit, not the “average” person. One of the last things we as geeks want to do is reinforce our tendency to be slumped with our shoulders rolled forward. After all this is the position most of us are in the majority of the day if we spend any time at a computer. Unfortunately our friend the bench press is only going to do more hurt than help when it comes to this negative posture. Don’t worry though, like the others there are plenty more exercises that can be used to get the same and most likely better results. Most of which allow our shoulder blades to move freely throughout the exercise which actually reinforces a more desired posture.

Alternatives

*Push-Ups
*Cable presses (unilateral or bilateral)
*Gators

5. Upright Rows: When it comes to the upright row I struggle to find a reason why anyone would need this movement. If this is in your routine I suggest you take a moment to re-evaluate what your goals are in the gym. Keeping your forearms internally rotated while you abduct your upper arms is a recipe for impingement.

Alternatives

*Barbell Rows
*Dumbbell Rows
*Face Pulls
*Cable Row Variations

Conclusion: When designing yourself an exercise program it is important to create goals and choose exercises based on their potential benefits as well as risks. As geeks we have to be mindful of our posture and the implications it will have on our workouts. It may not be a glamorous approach but in the long run it will be the most effective approach regardless of what our goals may be. Remember, if you get injured working out it won’t matter what those goals are because you won’t be able to work out at all.

The Scene; You’re driving in your Volkswagen on a cool autumn day. You gaze out the window to admire the colorful foliage when out of nowhere a toddler on a big wheel rolls directly in front of your car. You slam on the breaks, just barely avoiding disaster.

You can feel your heart in your chest. It appears everything has slowed down. Your vision seems to have narrowed. Your once clogged sinuses are now clear. That nagging tendonitis you have had in your elbow seems to have temporarily gone away.

Your body has just given you a powerful dose of Epinephrine.

Epinephrine/Adrenaline

The fight of flight hormone. Your body releases epinephrine in response to short term stress situations. These situations tend to involve extreme changes in the environment, like those of temperature, noise, bright light, or children running in front of your car. The purpose of this temporary doping is to allow increased oxygen to reach the brain and skeletal muscle in order to allow for momentary peak performance. The type of performance one might have needed to escape from a sabre toothed cat 2 million years ago. The software in our bodies hasn’t really updated much since then.

Testosterone

For our purposes I’ll skip the sex education speech and go into the not-so-familiar method of elevating testosterone; through exercise. Studies have shown that using complex movements like squats and pull ups as opposed to leg extensions and biceps curls has a much greater impact on our bodies ability to naturally increase its testosterone levels. Testosterone offers us a plethora of benefits such as increased libido, mental and physical energy, decreased fat mass, and increased protein synthesis and bone density. Not bad for anyone whose goal is to either shed a few pounds or gain some lean muscle. Aside from using compound movements studies also seem to favor using heavy weights when trying to stimulate greater testosterone levels.

Cortisol

Like epinephrine, cortisol is also released due to stress. Its job is to try to bring your body’s systems back to homeostasis after an event. It does this by increasing blood pressure, blood lipids, and blood sugar. It also temporarily shuts down the immune system in order to cater to the other more important bodily systems. Unfortunately, some negative side effects of long term cortisol release can leave you pretty beat up on the inside. Your body is now more likely to store fat close to the vital organs in your gut so that it is more readily available for the next stressful event. A good way to spot the stressed out guy at your office is to look for the beer belly.

Although this article did not focus completely around exercise and fitness, it should be easy to see how knowing a little bit about the way things work on the inside can affect the way you look on the outside. Understand and learn your body; that is a major key to success in any fitness program.

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

Author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

I receive a lot of e-mail from people with loose skin or from overweight people who are concerned about having loose skin after they lose the weight. In fact, this is one of the biggest concerns and most frequently asked questions I receive from men and women who have a lot of weight to lose.

Just recently, I received this email from a reader of my syndicated “Ask Tom” fat loss column:

“Tom, I began a fat loss program using your Burn The Fat system and it worked so well I got down to 15 1/2 stones (from 19). However, this has caused me a problem: Excess abdominal skin. I didn’t crash lose this weight, it came off at the rate of about 2 lbs. per week just like you recommended. Now I’m unsure of whether to carry on, as my abdomen has quite a lot of excess skin – I feel like I’ve turned into a bloody Shar-Pei! Does everyone go through this? Will the skin tighten up? I was overweight for more than 12 years. Am I going to end up needing surgical skin removal? Can you offer me any advice? I’m a medical student in the UK and my colleagues seem determined to proffer surgery as the only option.”

There are 14 things you should know about loose skin after very large weight losses:

1. Skin is incredibly elastic. Your skin can stretch and expand or tighten and retract to a great degree. Look at what women go through during pregnancy. Some women do experience stretch marks after pregnancy, but obviously skin is remarkably elastic.

2. Elasticity of skin depends on both genetics and environment/lifestyle. Wrinkling and loss of elasticity is partly the consequence of aging (genetic factors) and also a result of environmental factors such as oxidative stress, excessive sun exposure, and nutritional deficiency. The environmental parts you can fix, the genetics and age part, you cannot. Advice: Get moving and change the things you have control over… Be realistic and don’t worry about those things you don’t have control over.

3. How much your skin returns to its former tautness depends partly on age. The older you get, the more an extremely large weight loss can leave loose skin that will not return to normal.

4. How long you carry extra weight may influence how much the skin will become taut after the weight loss: For example, compare a 9 month pregnancy with 9 years carrying 100 excess pounds.

5. How much weight was carried has a lot to do with how much the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be stretched so much and be expected to “snap back” one hundred percent. With extreme obesity, the probability of there still being loose skin after weight loss is higher.

6. How fast the weight was gained also has a lot to do with how much the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be stretched so quickly and be expected to “snap back.”

7. How fast weight is lost also has a lot to do with how much the skin will tighten up. Rapid weight loss doesn’t allow the skin time to slowly resume to normal. (This is yet another reason to lose fat slowly; 1-2 pounds per week, 3 pounds at the most if you have a lot of weight to lose, and even then, only if you are measuring body fat and you’re certain it’s fat you’re losing, not lean tissue).

8. There are exceptions to all of the above; For example, people who gained and then lost incredible amounts of weight quickly at age 50 or 60, and their skin returned 100% to normal.

9. Creams probably don’t work. There are many creams advertised as having the ability to restore the tightness of your skin. the late bodybuilding guru Dan duchaine used to recommend topical creams made with pycnogenol, which contain the antioxidant bioflavanoids called proanthocyanidins. But to the best of my knowledge, none of the topical creams are scientifically validated. I haven’t even heard much anecdotal evidence that they work — at least not permanently and measurably — and especially if you have a lot of loose skin. There are definitely some topicals that will pull water from under your skin, but remeber, that is temporary. Buyer should beware with topical products. (as an aside, Ive also heard anectodal reports that skin brushing was helpful, but again, I am not aware of any scientific evidence proving this is effective).

10. Nutrition has a lot to do with the health of your skin. Essential fatty acids in particular are very valuable for many reasons, and one of them is for the health of your skin. It would be worth taking an EFA supplement such as fish oil, flax oil or an oil blend like Udo’s choice. Antioxidants are also very important, so be sure to consume copious amounts of a variety of vegetables and fruits. Also pay very close attention to hydration. Drink approximately a gallon of water a day or a minimum of half your body weight in ounces. (By the way, whey protein is high in a powerful antioxidant called glutathione).

11. Exercise has a lot to do with how your skin appears after you lose body fat. If you use very low calorie diets, you are likely to lose lean body mass, and this is going to exacerbate the loose, hanging skin appearance. On the other hand, if you are exercising regularly and increasing lean body mass with weight training, you will be more likely to minimize the appearance of loose skin.

12. Get second opinions if you are considering surgery. If you’re considering surgical skin removal, consult a physician for advice because this is not a minor operation, but keep in mind that your plastic surgeon may be making his BMW payments with your abdominoplasty money. (Surgery might be recommended in situations where it’s not 100% necessary). Surgery should be left as the absolute final option in extreme cases.

13. Give your skin time. Your skin will definitely get tighter as your body fat gets lower. I’ve seen and heard of many cases where the skin gradually tightened up, at least partially, after a one or two year period where the weight loss was maintained and exercise continued.

14. Know your body fat percentage before even thinking about surgery. Loose skin is one thing, but still having a lot of body fat is another. Be honest with yourself and do that by taking your body fat measurement. This can be done with skinfold calipers or a variety of other devices (calipers might not be the best method if you have large folds of loose skin. Look into impedance analysis, underwater weighing, DEXA or Bod Pod).

Suppose for example, a man drops from 35% body fat all the way down to 20%. He should be congratulated, but I would tell him, “Don’t complain about loose skin yet, your body fat is still high. Press onward and keep getting leaner and be sure to focus on strength training to increase lean body mass as well.”

Average body fat for men is in the mid teens (16% or so). Average body fat for women is in the 20-25% range. Good body fat for men is 10-12%, and single digits is extremely lean. Men shouldn’t expect to look “ripped” with 100% tight skin on the abs unless they have single digit body fat. Women shouldn’t expect to have tight abdominal skin unless they are in the low to mid teens in body fat.

Except in extreme cases, you are actually unlikely to see someone with loose skin who has very low body fat and especially someone who has not just “lost weight” but has altered body composition by adding lean muscle as well. It’s quite remarkable how much your skin can tighten up once your body fat goes from “average” to “excellent” and even more so when lean body mass increase. Someone with legitimate single digit body fat and a ton of loose skin is a rare sight.

So the key to getting tighter skin is to improve your body composition (muscle to fat ratio), and lose more body fat, slowly and sensibly, up to the point where your body composition rating is BETTER than average (in the “good” to “great” category, not just “okay”). Only AFTER you reach your long term body fat percentage goal should you give thought to “excess skin removal.” At that point, admittedly, there are bound to be a few isolated cases where surgery is necessary if you can’t live with the amount of loose skin remaining.

However, unless you are really, really lean, it’s difficult to get a clear picture of what is loose skin, what is just remaining body fat and how much further the skin will tighten up when the rest of the fat is lost.

Need help getting rid of that last bit of body body fat? Click here to find out how to do it the natural way: www.burnthefat.com
About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.burnthefat.com

Tom Venuto, author of best selling ebook “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle“, answers the question ” what happens to the fat cells when you burn body fat?”.

Take it away Tom.

Tom:  Earlier this week someone in our discussion forum wrote, “I haven’t LOST any fat… I know EXACTLY where it went! I got a chuckle out of that because I “got” the joke, but truth is, most people really don’t know where the fat goes when it’s burned or how the fat burning process takes place, so this is a really good question.

When you “lose” body fat, the fat cell (also called an adipocyte) does not go anywhere or “move into the muscle cell to be burned”, as it was suggested to you (although that’s not too far off). The fat cell itself, (unfortunately) stays right where it was – under the skin in your thighs, stomach, hips, arms, etc., and on top of the muscles – which is why you can’t see muscle “definition” when your body fat is high.

Fat is stored inside the fat cell in the form of triaglycerol. The fat is not burned right there in the fat cell, it must be liberated from the fat cell through somewhat complex hormonal/biochemical pathways. When stimulated to do so, the fat cell simply releases its contents (triaglycerol) into the bloodstream as free fatty acids (FFA’s), and they are transported through the blood to the tissues where the energy is needed.

A typical young male adult stores about 60,000 to 100,000 calories of energy in body fat cells. What triggers the release of all these stored fatty acids from the fat cell? Simple: When your body needs energy because you’re consuming fewer calories than you are burning (an energy deficit), then your body releases hormones and enzymes that signal your fat cells to release your fat reserves instead of keeping them in storage.

For stored fat to be liberated from the fat cell, hydrolysis (lipolysis or fat breakdown), splits the molecule of triaglycerol into glycerol and three fatty acids. An important enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase (HSL) is the catalyst for this reaction. The stored fat (energy) gets released into the bloodstream as FFA’s and they are shuttled off to the muscles where the energy is needed. As blood flow increases to the active muscles, more FFA’s are delivered to the muscles that need them.

An important enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL), then helps the FFA’s get inside the mitochondria of the muscle cell, where the FFA’s can be burned for energy. If you’ve ever taken a biology class, then you’ve probably heard of the mitochondria. This is the “cellular powerhouse” where energy production takes place and this is where the FFA’s go to be burned for energy.

When the FFA’s are released from the fat cell, the fat cell shrinks and that’s why you look leaner when you lose body fat – because the fat cell is now smaller. A small or “empty” fat cell is what you’re after if you want the lean, defined look.

It was once believed that the number of fat cells could not increase after adulthood, only the size of the fat cells could increase (or decrease). We now know that fat cells can indeed increase both in size (hypertrophy) and in number (hyperplasia) and that they are more likely to increase in number at certain times and under certain circumstances, such as 1) during late childhood and early puberty, 2) During pregnancy, and 3) During adulthood when extreme amounts of weight are gained

Some people are genetically predisposed to have more fat cells than others and women have more fat cells than men. An infant usually has about 5 – 6 billion fat cells. This number increases during early childhood and puberty, and a healthy adult with normal body composition has about 25 to 30 billion fat cells. A typical overweight adult has around 75 billion fat cells. But in the case of severe obesity, this number can be as high as 250 to 300 billion!

The average size (weight) of an adult fat cell is about 0.6 micrograms, but they can vary in size from 0.2 micograms to 0.9 micrograms. An overweight person’s fat cells can be up to three times larger than a person with ideal body composition.

Remember, body fat is basically just a reserve source of energy and fat cells are the like the storage tanks. Unlike a gas tank in your car which is fixed in size, however, fat cells can expand or shrink in size depending on how “filled” they are.

Picture a balloon that is not inflated: It’s tiny when not filled with air – maybe the size of your thumb. When you blow it up with air, it can expand 10 or 12 times it’s normal size, because it simply fills up. That’s what happens to fat cells: They start as nearly empty fat storage “tanks” (when you are lean), and when energy intake exceeds your needs, your fat cells “fill up” and “stretch out” like balloons filling up with jelly (not a pretty picture, is it?)

So you don’t actually “lose” fat cells, you “shrink” or “empty out” fat cells.

Take-home lessons:

1. Calories count!The signal that triggers your body to release adipose from fat cells is an energy deficit… you have to burn more than you eat.

2. Cut calories conservatively. Starving yourself may cause quick weightloss at first, but never works long term because it actually decreases the activity of fat burning enzymes that release fat from the cells. to avoid this “starvation mode” use exercise to BURN THE FAT, not very low calorie crash diets.

3. Get control of your weight now. If you are gaining weight, and especially if your weight is climbing upwards out of control, make a decision to STOP RIGHT NOW. Your fat cells might be multiplying, making it more difficult to burn fat in the future. NOW is the time!

4. If you’ve already lost weight, you must be forever diligent. Your fat cells are not gone, they have merely “shrunk” or “emptied out.” Fitness is not a 12 week program, its a lifestyle. To stay lean you have to eat clean and stay active

5. Genetics are only a minor factor. You may not have control over how many fat cells you were born with, but you do control the major factors that determine how much fat you store: lifestyle, exercise, nutrition, mental attitude.

Genetics are not an excuse. The past is not an excuse. Your present condition is not an excuse. You can either make excuses or get results, but you can’t do both.

So keep educating yourself about the science, read these newsletters, take action every day and go out there and make it happen!

If you need more help, Burn The Fat is the eating plan that turned it all around for thousands of others… why not you? visit:

www.burnthefat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Although I am not a big fan of sit ups and crunches in the first place, people are still going to do them.

We can’t help it.  We’ve been socially conditioned to associate 6 pack abs with doing hundreds of sit ups.  You can thank the media for that one.

Today I thought I’d just bring light to a subject I’ve had a client inquire about lately; working out first thing in the morning.  The conversation started something like this…

Client:  I figured I would wake up 5 minutes early everyday from now on and do 100 sit ups.  That would make an extra 700 a week, 2800 a month etc, etc.

The problem here; upon waking up we have excess fluid accumulation of our vertebral discs during the night’s sleep.  This would create extra stiffness of the spine and also result in extra compression during movements requiring the spine to bend and move.  Not only sit ups and crunches would be a bad idea, but most exercise would not be recommended.

The solution: try not to work out until you’ve been up and about for at least an hour.  Drink your coffee, have breakfast, go for a walk, do some work.

Is the extra 36,500 sit ups a year really worth doing damage to the spine.  I don’t think so.

PS Lay off the sit ups and crunches and do some more reading on The Buff Geek.

By Mike Roussell PhD(c) http://thebuffgeek.com/warpspeedfatloss.php

Weight loss plateaus can be frustrating and detrimental to your fat loss if not dealt with swiftly and properly. Another way to look at weight loss plateaus is that they are actually your body settling in at a new body weight set point.

The set point theory is basically the idea that your body likes to be at a certain body weight and it will work to keep you there. Chances are you have experienced this in your own life. I’m talking about situations where you will gain or lose weight but inevitably after a couple weeks or months of trying to change you end up around the same body weight (I know for me 175lbs was a set point, in my own system for quite some time).

In order to break these body weight set points, it is important to understand the forces that you are working against (know thy enemy, right?). I’m talking about adaptive thermogenesis. Adaptive thermogenesis is the seemingly automatic reduction in energy expenditure that occurs when you diet. Many think that this is the driving force behind people’s body weight set point.

This is important so I want to make sure I’m explaining it clear enough so here’s an oversimplified example.

You are currently eating 2000 kcal per day. Your body is currently burning 2000 kcal per day. You decided that you need to lose weight so you cut 500 kcal from your diet. So in theory your body should now have to dig up another 500 kcal from body fat to fuel the calorie difference.

It doesn’t work that way. Studies show that your body adjusts its energy output so that it can now function on only 1500 kcal per day. This is adaptive thermogenesis. It has been demonstrated that adaptive thermogenesis occurs with both severe and modest calorie cutting.

What is the driving force behind this? Here are some candidates:

• Changes in body weight
• Changes in Leptin
• Changes in Insulin
• Changes in Thyroid Hormones
• Depletion of Fat Stores

 Fortunately you can beat all of these, prevent adaptive thermogenesis, and keep the weight loss coming.

The answer?

Exercise combined with diet.

This seems to help – but not in all cases. We know from research and anecdotal evidence that not all exercise prescriptions work. What does work is intense metabolic resistance training.

If you are currently stuck at a weight loss plateau, you need to break your body’s set point. To do this it is necessary to undergo a rigorous change in diet and training so that you can in essence shock your system.

Here’s what to do next. Once you break though your sticking weight using Warp Speed Fat Loss (or which ever method you choose), maintenance is very important. Get 5-15lbs below your old body weight set point and maintain that weight. Many people lose their fire and drive after they have lost the weight but you need to stay focused so that you can reset your body’s set point.

Maintain your new weight for 4 weeks (this is ideal – if you can’t go that long at least do 2 weeks) before you start losing weight again. This step wise approach will help reset your system to your new body weight and help fight its urge to return to the old set point. The key is keeping your body weight long enough so that your body ‘thinks’ that is the new normal.

About the Author/More Info:
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit http://www.thebuffgeek.com/warpspeedfatloss.php. Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. Mike’s writings can be found in magazines such as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss (http://www.thebuffgeek.com/warpspeedfatloss.php) is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

See the study here in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study uses 180 patients who suffered from osteoarthritis in the knee.

59 Patients received arthroscopic debridement.

61 Patients recieved arthroscopic lavage.

60 Patients received a placebo surgery.

The outcome of the surgeries was assessed over the 24 months following the procedures.

Result:  There was no difference in pain or function between the treatment groups and the placebo group.

The fact of the matter is; there is no evidence that arthroscopy treatments can cure or alleviate pain due to osteoarthritis.

So why are many doctors so quick to prescribe this type of procedure?

For more on dealing with knee pain, check out Lo-Tech Solutions and Mid-Tech Solutions.

Because everybody likes FREE stuff right?  

Download all 3 of them here.

These are 3 very high quality ebooks with tons of great quality information.  I wouldn’t be pimping them if they weren’t.  

21st Century 6 Pack AB Training

Top Secret Fat Loss Strategies Revealed

Top 6 Sources of Omega-3 Fats

Just right click on the link and save as.

Seriously this is the type of stuff that blows away all that crap you’re being fed in most magazines. 

San Diego elephants lose weight on ‘dumbo’ diet

Over the past 9 years 7 Elephants of the San Diego Zoo have lost a combined weight of 11,314 lbs.  Most of the captive elephants we see are much more passive then their wild counterparts and so they tend be a bit more overweight.

The elephants lost this weight through an increase in activity and a decrease in the amount of calories consumed (diet & exercise).  The weight loss was calculable and consistent.

So what does this have to do with you?  I’ll admit, we as people do not have a lot in common with elephants.  But we do share a similar metabolism when it comes to energy in and energy out.  

So why do you have so much trouble losing weight and the elephants seem to be rock stars at it?  

Two things.

1.  You think too much.

2.  You have a choice.

Mind set is the number one reason why so many people have trouble when it comes to losing weight.  Some believe that they are somehow magically destined to be obese their entire lives.  Unless of course they find that magic diet or pill to counteract the magic curse.

Remember, it’s not so much the diet or routine you’re on.  It’s more about your ability to stay consistent and follow things through to the end.  These elephants don’t have a choice in the matter.  You do.