Archive for April, 2008
Revving Up Metabolism
by Dr. John Berardi I recommend more calories than most do. That’s because there’s no such thing as a stagnant metabolic set-point. Instead, metabolism chases intake. So, if you want a bigger metabolism, you need a bigger food intake. And if you’re worried about fat gain with this approach, just use outcome-based decision making and adjust energy (calorie) intake every two weeks based on your results. Not much ‘damage’ can take place in only two weeks. So if you end up boosting your metabolism, you’ll be thanking me eternally. And if it turns out you’re consuming too much, you can just adjust down.
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This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.
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I did promise something exciting and new, experience GetFit.lu in the open air with our new outdoor training concept.
Go to www.forestfit.com for further details and how to secure your limited availability place, only 20 places available in total!
PS. The FREE video is not working yet, I am getting round to that tomorrow.
Luxembourg Bootcamps are coming
21.04.08Is Water Your Best Sport Drink
20.04.08From an athletic point of view, being dehydrated can have devastating effects on your performance. Not only does your body slow down but your brain function is reduced, get dizzy, vomiting and an increase in the bodies core temperature.
Now consider that most of the population do not drink enough water, I recently read a statistic that claimed that 1 in 10 people did not drink any water at all! Most of us are relying on other forms of fluids throughout the day, some are more evil than others.
So it is highly likely that you are dehydrated all of the time, to some extent. This effects your concentration, your mood, and your energy levels throughout the day, just like it effects your sporting performance, it massively effects your professional performance too.
The corporate athlete often depends on excessive caffeine fixes, from coffee, teas and so called performance drinks to keep them going throughout the day, just water is just never entertained as an option!
The sodas out of your company snack machine are nothing more than a sugary fix which will just add to your waistline. Step away from these at all costs.
The problem is all these false fluids do not hydrate your body in the same way as plain water, and in many cases cause further dehydration.
To get the best out of your body the solution is really simple and obvious.
- Drink more water! To keep things simple, for every 50lbs of weight you should be drinking a litre of water per day!
- Avoid ALL other types of fluid intake PERIOD.
- Get into a habit of having a full litre and half bottle of water on your desk in the morning and make sure it is finished by lunch, then start again for the afternoon
- And if fat loss is your primary goal, then taking a serious look at your alcohol intake should be your first assignment.
- Drop the alcohol completely from today for 21 days and your body will shed inches like you wouldn’t believe!
Once you are getting the water intake your body needs to function properly, your sporting performances will see an improvement, and you will certainly stay more alert through your normal working day too.
Other benefits of proper water intake include massively improved skin condition, the way your body eliminates waste will be improved. You’ll also stop getting so many headaches and get less digestive problems too.
Whilst drinking water is not so interesting, the benefits are certainly worth the tiny amount of effort of starting today for the next 21 days. I am sure you’ll see the benefits immediately and miss it if you stop again!
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Claim your free “Warm Up” video at http://www.corporateathletehandbook.com/ . Tim Goodwin is author and fitness professional from Luxembourg, training the busiest individuals to achieve amateur sporting success and a healthier body.
Does you scheduler resemble open warfare? There is so much on there it is impossible to see gaps. Fitting in a workout would just not be possible, you’d have to cancel it anyway because meetings always over run, or someone else wants another “quick” meeting!
Whether you are a top executive, middle management or team player, the working day is full of distractions, seemingly “important” appointments and meetings.
Many of us confuse work and “busy work”. Busy work is the answering of phone calls, reading and answering emails, impromptu meetings with your boss or co-workers, that consume so much of your day. As such your days get longer, lunch hours get shorter (or completely consumed), and late night work to finish a project becomes the norm.
The unstructured day drains your energy and is frankly a waste of time. Your training gets missed too frequently, and then dropped altogether. Not only does your sporting ability suffer but your entire “out of work” life too, there is no balance.
Because your sports and fitness training is vital to you, you need to do something about this otherwise weeks and months will pass you by with no structured workouts done.
Solutions to this big problem are everywhere, all sorts of technology solutions are available to better manage your time, but often these tools become even more time consuming to use and ultimately become “busy work” too.
Having tried numerous electronic organisers from Outlook, online calendars, PDAs, phones, etc etc. I have found coming back to a basic paper scheduler to be the most powerful tool.
As a trainer it is impossible for me to see every single client when it suits them, I force them to work their schedule around me, when they realise that this is for THEIR benefit as much as mine, they discover a freedom and opportunity that they had not recognised before!
The following tips for scheduling and planning your work and workouts have been used successfully by some of my busiest clients with great success:
• Plan to check email only twice a day, just before lunch and just before you go home in the evening. Keep it turned off at all others times.
• Arrange and accept meetings only in the morning, maximum of 30 minutes
• Afternoon is for real work, do 50 minute blocks of work, then break for 10.
• Put all this in your scheduler, blocking out portions of the day for this.
• Put in all your workouts for the week 5 or 6 sessions of 20-40 minutes are enough, the morning, lunch and evenings are obvious times. Sacrifices will need to be made though to make this fit.
• Fix your sports specific training in as well, keep the training focussed and goal orientated
As obvious and as simplistic as these suggestions seem, they are extremely effective if you stick to the rules without deviation for 5 weeks. By this point, not only will you become more effective with your planning, your work colleagues will be better “educated” with how you view your precious time and respect the rules you put in place.
Give these rules a try starting immediately, go to your scheduler and be brutal with the marker pen to block out sections of your day for specific actions. Stop the rot of busy work and turn off the phone and email notifier!
Claim back control of your training schedule and make these appointments as big a priority as your work appointments. It is not easy to start with and I wish you luck.
Claim your free “Warm Up” video at http://www.corporateathletehandbook.com/. Tim Goodwin is a fitness professional from Luxembourg, training the busiest individuals to achieve amateur sporting success and a healthier body.
Life coaching is a legitimate profession, with a great deal of professional individuals helping many people, let me get that out the way before I write anything that might upset someone…
However there is a certain stigma that seems to surround the words life coach or life coaching that implies someone needs to be told how to live their life better… I suppose it is the modern equivalent of going to see a shrink to help if you are crazy! The problem many people have with seeing a life coach relates to the perceived embarrassment of looking for help. Are we all too proud to ask for help?
Seeking help is what you do in so many other areas of your life, if you car is broken, then you get help from a mechanic, if the lightbulb blows in the kitchen you’ll ask your husband for help in fixing it, if your kids can’t do their math homework then they ask for help too.
So why is it that you don’t ask for help in working out how to better look after our body and mind. Modern lifestyle seems to be adding more and more stresses, both physically and mentally, that are health deteriorates to dangerous levels, causing your life to be quite miserable. Maybe because the fear of being pointed out as being a failure is still a greater pain or fear than asking for help.
One of the best things I have done since becoming my own boss, is finding a Mentor and coach to help me get more from my home life, family life, business and sport (they are not the same person!). Not only does having a mentor and coach mean I get to talk about my problems, it is also a means to making things much much better than I could have ever imagined, improving the quality of my life rather than just fixing what is “broken”.
So what is the purpose of this posting? Well simply to get you guys to ask for HELP, even if you are not broken, find someone that you can touch base with on areas of your life that you are passionate about. It doesn’t have to be a professional, it can be a friend or work colleague who you trust without doubt.
Just ask!
John Berardi Likes Eggs Too
15.04.08It seems strange that the day i write a post on Eggs, then one of the leading nutritional experts i know and trust also writes about eggs too… Maybe his is a little more eloquent, but ultimately the message is the same.
Take a look at his Shocking Snack from Last Night posting…
John Berardi is one of my top picks for nutritional programs, you can get more information at Precision Nutrition
Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!
Eggs for Breakfast?
15.04.08
The humble egg tends to get a fair amount of negative press. Talking with a number of my clients they generally have a negative opinion on the subject. Normally the negativity revolves around the claims of high fat and cholesterol levels, both of which are not the issue that people believe them to be. High cholesterol generally can be attributed to other lifestyle factors, that simply cutting out eggs would make no difference.
Personally I will eat about 3 eggs on a daily basis, I find them the perfect start to the day in the form of an omelet, and keeps me away from the junk all morning.
So here follows some health facts relating to the egg:
- Eggs are considered to one of the most complete and pure sources of protein by leading nutritionists.
- The complete, unadulterated egg is a great source of dietary fat, ie. It has the correct ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6.
- A healthy, complete egg has properties to emulsify the fats in an egg.
- Despite the negative press relating to cholesterol, it is in fact a key part of all cells in the body and is needed when there is an inflammatory process such as in the gut.
Inflammation of the gut can be caused by alcohol, food additives etc. Moderate consumption of products with fat and cholesterol content can be beneficial, even considered essential, for your health.
There is a caveat with this. The egg MUST preferably come from a good source, a commercially raised chicken will not produce eggs with the same quality as a free-range egg.
Nutritional Tip Fish Oil Rules
12.04.08 Fish Oil Rules
by Dr. John Berardi I consider fish oil to be an essential supplement for fat loss. Data from the University of Western Ontario shows that fish oil supplementation increases lean body mass (during non-dieting conditions), increases BMR (by up to 400kcal/day), decreases inflammation, and improves the ratio of fat/carb oxidized (sparing carbs, burning fat). Recommended dose: Start with 6-10g per day of total fish oil (assuming 30% EPA and DHA).
SEE ALSO:
This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.
Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!
Vibration training through history
11.04.08So you think all these fancy new Vibration Plate, power plate type machines are all the latest thing
These vibrating things have been around for a while, maybe you can spot your grandmother in the picture? I like that they are being served tea and all smiling like any good infomercial model, the tea may taste better and the models get better cosmetic surgery BUT the machines today are still equally INeffective for fat loss!
What I am confused by is the caps on their heads. I suppose they must be made of rubber to sweat away all that tea!
The raft of celebrity endorsments for the vibration plate machines just goes to show how people can be bought for putting their name to things, what is more scary is the thought that not so famous “scientists” and fitness “professionals” can also be bought to endorse these things too.
If you can’t trust the celebrities (ha ha), scientists or fitness professionals :o( who can you trust to give you sound advice on the most effective methods for fat loss… hmmmmm
