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The “Land Meat” That Rivals Wild Salmon in Omega-3 Content — Grass Fed Beef & Other Grass Fed Meats

Editor — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:00:44 +0000

Improve your health, lose body fat, and build muscle with one of the healthiest protein sources available

by Mike Geary — Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

I know you’ve heard all of the buzz over the last few years about the health benefits of wild salmon and other fish that have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

However, did you know that there’s a “land meat” that has similar omega-3/omega-6 ratios as wild salmon? In fact, this “land meat” not only contains as much, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, but without the possible negatives such as heavy metals (mercury, etc) and PCBs that can be found in fish frequently.

I’ve talked about this type of meat before and how it’s one of the healthiest forms of meat you can possibly eat… It’s grass-fed beef and other grass-fed ruminant meats such as bison, buffalo, lamb, and venison.

Now I know that a lot of people will try to convince you that meat is not good for you… and to be honest I partially agree with them when it comes to your typical factory farm-raised meat where the animals are fattened up with huge quantities of grains & soy that are not their natural diet & given unhealthy doses of hormones, antibiotics, etc.

On the other hand, when cattle eat mostly grass instead of grains & soy, their meat becomes higher in omega-3s and lower in omega-6 fatty acids, achieving a more natural balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fats. In addition, grass-fed beef also contains much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has shown some promising benefits in studies for losing body fat and gaining lean muscle mass.

Note – only the natural form of CLA from grass-fed meats and dairy has shown the fat loss and muscle building benefits in studies… beware of the supplement pill forms of CLA, which are artificially created.

A similar comparison can be made between wild salmon and farm raised salmon. Wild salmon is a healthier option than farm raised salmon and has higher levels of omega-3’s because the wild salmon eat what they’re supposed to eat naturally. On the other hand, farm raised salmon are fattened up unnaturally with grain/soy based food pellets which detrimentally changes the salmon’s fat ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.

The problem is that it is VERY hard to find healthy grass fed meats in typical grocery stores. In fact, even at health food stores, you might find some “organic” meats (which is at least a little better than standard), but it is often hard to find any real grass-fed meats.

Well, about 2 weeks ago, I did some searching and found a great website that sells all kinds of varieties of grass-fed beef and other healthy grass fed meats…

They have everything you could ever want… grass-fed burgers, ribeye steaks, filet mignon & any other quality beef cuts, grass-fed buffalo, grass-fed cheeses, and even free-range chicken and turkey!

And better yet, they deliver it right to your house with no shipping costs either… and I actually found that the prices were pretty comparable to what I usually pay at the grocery store anyway.

I’ll tell ya… I was like a kid in a candy store when I found this site. I placed my order for all kinds of goodies on a friday, I got a shipping notification email that Monday, and my delivery came right to my door the very next day in a sealed cooler… I couldn’t believe the service I got from this company.

Wouldn’t it give you peace of mind to know that you and your family are eating meat that is actually good for you instead of the mass produced junk at most grocery stores? I know I’m getting most of my meat from them from now on.

Everything in my order ended up being awesome… here’s my recommendations:

•the grass-fed filet mignons (delicious and tender!)
•grass-fed burgers and bison burgers when I need a quick but healthy 5-minute meal (use some grass-fed cheese and sprouted grain roll for the ultimate balanced meal)
•the free-range chicken and turkey sausages (makes great italian dishes or healthier breakfast sausage)
•grass-fed cheese and butter (higher in CLA and omega-3 than normal butter or cheese)
•they even have free-range turkeys available for big family meals (you won’t find free-range turkeys in stores)
Plus, besides getting much healthier meat than you’d ever find in the store, another benefit to this site was that it was like doing my grocery shopping from my living room, instead of fighting the crowds at the store.

>> Click here to download the Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean Body free ebook

Loss Weight, Not your Health

Editor — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:00:37 +0000

At the heart of almost all weight loss plans is the reduction of calories in one way or another. While this is essentially needed to lose any weight, often times this reduction of calories leads to unhealthy eating habits.

These habits can then leave our bodies lacking in many of the essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that maintain good health and for the proper function of the body. If you plan to lose weight using calorie reduction, it is vitally important that you supplement all of those lost nutrients daily.

Many of these nutrients work on a method of “build up” in the body. When taking any supplements on a weight loss program, it is really important that you not take too many.

Any decent multivitamin will most likely meet your RDA (recommended daily allowance) for all of the essential minerals and vitamins. Sometimes, the supplements can slightly exceed the RDA for some of these nutrients but this is nothing to worry about.

Taking some of the oral type supplements can be a tricky task during weight loss. This is because they are often processed very quickly by the body and where there is an excess of any one vitamin or other nutrient, the body will want to expel the extra quantity with your urine.

So in order to get the maximum effect from your supplementation, taking a twice-daily version of a multivitamin is a good idea so that your nutrient levels are kept higher throughout each day especially if you are expelling lots of liquids from weight loss.

When it comes to choosing an oral supplementation product, you will usually have to choose between liquid or pill form. There are many nutritionists who believe that the liquid versions of multivitamins are absorbed into the body more easily and therefore allow for better health overall.

This choice however, is up to your personal preference. Many people find it much easier to take a liquid form, as it can be mixed into juices or with water.

A general multivitamin is usually a great place to start for anyone trying to lose weight. These other supplements can then be added if you choose, and are believed to aid the body in some way with weight loss. Here’s just a couple of them:

Psyllium (Fiber) – Used to increase the feeling of fullness.

Dandelion – Used for water elimination.

Green Tea Extract – Said to enhance the metabolism.

Chromium – Necessary for carbohydrate metabolism.

Caffeine – Used for increased energy and appetite suppression.

Ginseng – Another aid to carbohydrate metabolism.

One of the most under-used food supplements for weight loss is fiber. This substance will help to create a feeling of fullness during meals and help to keep the digestive system “regular”. It is also very important to drink lots and lots of water when taking fiber or losing weight in general.

Because fiber is bulk-forming, it needs a lot of water to work properly.

Most of these special ingredients are combined into many weight loss pills that are on the market today. Although they are generally safe for consumption, there have been cases of side-effects when taken by people with serious health problems.

It is advisable to check with your local physician before adding any new supplementation to your diet to make sure they don’t react or interfere with any medication you may currently be on.

You can begin this fantastic new diet right here:

http://www.theweightlossgrail.com

Does Diet Soda Make You Fat, or is it Really Good for Weight Loss?

Editor — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:42 +0000

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

We all know by now that soda (aka “pop” in some areas) is one of the most evil things you can put in your body… the nasty chemicals, the gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup, and a myriad of health problems caused by this carbonated cocktail worshipped by those that don’t care about their health or body.

Since you’re one of my subscribers, I know that you actually do care about your health and the appearance of your body.

Surprisingly, many people falsely believe that “diet” soda is in some way a good thing for losing body fat. In fact, I hear people all the time proudly state that they eat so healthy and only drink diet soda.

So let’s set the record straight…

There is NOTHING even remotely healthy about drinking diet soda. In fact, I’ve even seen several studies that showed dedicated diet soda drinkers got even FATTER than their regular soda drinking counterparts.

Here’s some findings from an 8-year University of Texas study that I had read…

An excerpt from the study author:

“What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,” Fowler tells WebMD. “What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”

“There was a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day,” Fowler says.

Ok, as if we didn’t already know how bad regular soda was for us, and now they’re showing us studies that diet s

oda makes us even fatter than the already bad stuff!

>> Click here to download the Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean Body free ebook

Are U Overeating From Exercise

Editor — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:19 +0000

The phrase “To lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more” has become a cliche. All dieters know that eating less food is one of the best practices when trying to lose body fat, but becoming more active seems to be the major hurdle that causes almost all weight loss plans to fail again and again.

But what if the opposite was true? What if I was to tell you that exercising may actually be causing you to lose less wight?

Generally, most people tend to exercise very early in the morning and on an empty stomach. This is probably because they have heard or read somewhere that this is the best time to exercise or the only time of day where you can squeeze in a workout.

Whatever the reason may be, if you exercise on an empty stomach and really early, it can actually wreak havoc on your stomach. While exercise does burn calories, it also makes you feel hungrier afterwards. Along with the “high” that the body feels after a prolonged amount of exercise, this can often lead to overeating.

Although you may not end up eating 4 pieces of toast along with 6 eggs and 2 large glasses of orange juice after each workout, your calculation of the amount of calories burnt during the workout is often much higher than the actual amount.

Add this to the fact that many people also underestimate the amount of calories they eat at meals, combine for slower weight loss.

Losing weight too quickly is something that you should not aim to accomplish. A slower approach to weight loss is one that will most likely see permanent results and the plan can be maintained for a longer period of time because it is tolerable and not too strict.

One key to successful weight loss is to never perform a workout just before a main meal. Try to do it just before some other activity or before you need to go out.

For instance, if you just finished a 30 minute workout on your treadmill, you should go and shower, and then maybe go out for a walk to the park, or maybe you could go to your local coffee shop and enjoy a sugar-free, low fat latte.

Something to keep in mind is fiber. Fiber will help to fill your stomach without adding too many calories. So what you could do is eat a high fiber snack just before a workout. Slim-Fast make great bars of this type as well as All-Bran.

One of the biggest downfalls of weight loss are sport waters and protein shakes. These usually contain very large amounts of sugar. All the calories you had just burned off get added straight back to your body with these sugary drinks. Be sure to check the labels and choose low calorie versions.

So remember that exercise can cause you to have a larger appetite and take precautions to watch your snacking after workouts and learn to snack wisely.

You can begin this fantastic new diet right here:

http://www.theweightlossgrail.com

The Top Fat Loss Secrets for Flat Six-Pack Abs and a Lean Stomach

Editor — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:00:21 +0000

an interview by Geovanni Derice with Mike Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by a fitness professional from NYC, Certified Personal Trainer, Geovanni Derice. The interview is below and I think you’re going to like it… I reveal some of the hardest hitting strategies for getting rid of that stubborn stomach fat to uncover those flat six pack abs that everyone wants.

“GD: Welcome Mike to our 4-ever-Toned Fitness Journal. For those who do not know you, please tell us a few things about yourself and how you can help our readers with their fitness and health.

MG: Thanks for having me, Geo. Well, to go back a little, I have been heavily involved in fitness and sports for about 17 years now, ever since I was a teenager. Being involved in sports in high school got me interested in strength training and conditioning.

At that point, once I started feeling more energetic, getting stronger, and looking better, I was instantly hooked for life. I’m 33 now and still addicted to the way living a healthy and fit lifestyle makes me feel energetic, confident, strong, and youthful on a daily basis.

I decided earlier in my 20’s that I wanted to make the commitment to help other people experience the excitement of being fit and getting in the best shape of their lives, especially since we’ve reached an epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. That’s why I became a fitness professional. It just gives me so much satisfaction to help others, who have struggled for years to get in good shape, and show them that it can be done, and it can be fun in the process.

I’ve expanded over the years from just reaching local individuals with personal training, into being able to help people all over the globe achieve their fitness goals with the reach of the internet. I only hope that my passion for fitness inspires people to take action and improve how they look and feel for life.

GD: Now Mike, there’s so many things out there as to what works and what does not work… if you had to pick 3 things that work time and time again to get flat lean abs, what would they be?

MG: The first and most important thing to get control of in order to lose your belly fat and get flat abs is cleaning up your diet. Exercise is important, but your diet is king when it comes to losing body fat so that you can see your abs.

There’s so much confusion these days about what a healthy diet that promotes fat loss really is… after all, we are bombarded by conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy and what is not, and you have all of these gimmicky diet books about low carb, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, atkins, south beach, liquid diets, and hundreds more. There’s so much conflicting info, that the average consumer doesn’t even know where to start when it comes to eating for fat loss.

The second thing that works time and time again, is to focus on the intensity of your workouts and focus on working the body as a whole in order to get the best metabolic response to lose that stubborn stomach fat.

In order to really get lean, the workouts should have a high intensity, with short rest periods, working the largest muscle groups of the body, instead of trying to isolate specific small muscles like the biceps, triceps, or calves.

For the third thing, let’s talk about actually training the abs specifically. When it comes to training the abs, if you want real results, I always recommend forgetting about the crunches and situps for the most part. They are ok for someone that is really deconditioned, but most people that already have some training under their belt need a much better stimulus for their abs than crunches. Crunches are one of the abs exercises that actually provide the least amount of resistance, and remember that resistance is what develops and tones the muscles.

I provide a ton of great abs exercises in my book, but one of THE highest resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises (but NOT the way you see most people at the gym doing them). The key to doing these and actually working the hell out of your abs is to curl your pelvis up as you raise your legs. Almost nobody ever does this right. To be honest, the majority of people cannot do this at first, but I provide some strategies in my book as to how to progress to doing these correctly.

GD: What are people doing wrong when it comes to developing the coveted “6 pack abs”?

MG: Well Geo, I know this sounds funny to most people, but the MAIN thing that people are doing wrong to get those flat 6-pack abs is… are you ready for this?

They spend entirely too much time focusing on training their abs! WAY too much time spent on abs exercises. Sounds crazy, but it’s true.

Remember, having a flat and visible six pack of abs is all about getting down to a low body fat percentage. In order to do that, your workouts must focus on stimulating a fat burning hormonal environment in your body, and increasing your metabolic rate. That just does not happen when you focus too much time training a small muscle group like the abs.

Instead, you must use the majority of your time focusing on training the largest muscle groups of the body like the legs, back, and chest. That’s what stimulates your metabolism and the fat burning hormones that will get you truly lean and sporting a flat sixxer!

GD: Which exercises are the top exercises that people need to do if they are to get maximum defintion with their midsection?

MG: When it comes to developing the abs themselves, I again refer to any kinds of hanging abs exercises, as well as some good floor abs exercises like lying leg thrusts (all described and illustrated in my book).

However, maximum definition in the abs and midsection comes from losing bodyfat, and the most effective exercises featured in my program for that goal are various forms of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettlebell exercises that almost nobody ever does in normal gyms), squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, clean & presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and other full body exercises and calisthenics. If you want great looking flat abs, focus on those instead of focusing so much on training the abs directly!

GD: When it comes to diet Mike, people really have tried millions of ways to get one thing… and that is fat loss. What recommendations have you used to successfully help your clients lose body fat and keep it off?

MG: I have included a fully comprehensive discussion of this topic in my book, which accounts for almost half of the book, but I’ll try to make some nice simple generalizations to get people started on the right path immediately. The most important thing is that your diet is as natural and unprocessed as possible. It almost always comes back to the overprocessing of food that makes it unhealthy, and makes it totally wreck your metabolism and hormone balance in your body.

For example, why eat refined grains, when you can eat whole grains (even better are sprouted grains, as I usually recommend limiting grain foods overall for best results).

Why eat refined sugar, when you can get natural sources of sugar from a high nutrient whole food like fruit. Why eat highly processed, refined, and hydrogenated vegetable oils (these are THE worst thing in the modern diet), when you can eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, organically raised meat, and so forth.

The point is to not fall for some gimmick like extremely low carbs (although I do believe in a fairly reduced carb intake as that is a big problem for most people), low fat, super high protein, or any other combination that has you focusing on one macronutrient vs. another.

Your body needs all macronutrients to thrive and obtain a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Trying to cut an entire food group out just works against what your body needs. I get into much more detail on this vitally important topic towards losing body fat (especially that stubborn stomach fat) for life in my book.

GD: Thank you very much Mike for sharing with us all of this great information.

>> Click here to download the Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean Body free ebook

Loss Weight with The Replacement diet

Editor — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:00:44 +0000

So you have just made a decision that it’s time to lose some weight. The only problem is, your completely confused about where to start and just how to approach a better eating plan that will work with your daily schedule.

One of the biggest keys to losing weight successfully is eating a little less calories each day that your body normally requires. This approach may seem slow to begin with, but the results will be long lasting because it is easy to make the small changes a habit.

One of the biggest problems with most diet plans available is the large amount of change required. Some of the more popular plans out there require drastic changes to the way you eat daily.

This will not only create confusion, but it can be quite tiring with all the calorie counting or by denying yourself the foods you love. Usually quite soon, you drop the diet plan and your weight loss stops and starts to reverse itself into weight gain.

One way to start a new weight loss plan is to begin using the “replacement diet”. This diet takes many of the foods you currently eat and replaces them with foods that are comparable, yet healthier for you.

This will enable you to start losing weight without many of the struggles of changing to an entirely new lifestyle. Some of these key replacements include:

Soda Drinks - The average soda drink contains about 150 calories. Changing over to a calorie-free soda can add up to a difference in calories of about 1050 per week if you consumed one can per day. These numbers are larger for bigger bottles.

Breads - Try substituting your regular traditional style bread that contains around 70 to 75 calories a slice with lower carb tortillas or wraps. These types of bread usually have as little as 50 calories each.

This can be a difference of around 100 calories for a sandwich and also the fiber content of these breads are higher that will allow you to feel more full for longer.

Vegetables - Not all vegetables contain low calories. Carrots, corn and green beans especially, tend to have higher amounts of calories from their natural sugar content than other green vegetables. Switching to lower calorie green vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli can drop your calories a little more.

Eggs - Try leaving the yolk of an egg in the shell. The yolk contains by far the most calories of the entire egg. On the other hand, the egg whites contain only around 15 calories per egg. Try putting two egg whites in a low carb wrap and you have yourself a perfect snack that contains only 75 calories.

If you spend some time on it, you can find many places in your diet that can be modified slightly to lower the overall calorie count without sacrificing too much taste.

By approaching your diet from this viewpoint you can still eat all of the foods that you like, just in a slightly different way that makes weight loss that little bit easier. The more manageable you make your diet, the more able you are to stay on it for the long-term.

You can begin this fantastic new diet right here:

http://www.theweightlossgrail.com

How to avoid food marketing deception and make healthy choices at the grocery store

Editor — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:00:49 +0000

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

I was at the grocery store yesterday and had to shake my head at all of the deceptive labels with everything claiming all sorts of things that are supposedly “healthy”, but aren’t really.

One of the things that really disturbed me was that I saw several examples of healthy foods in their natural state, but I saw counterfeit versions of these foods claiming that they were healthier than the original…

Yet in reality, all of these counterfeit versions were actually MUCH worse for you than the original… and they still have the balls to claim that their overly processed “junkified” versions are better.

This is food marketing deception at it’s worst!

Example #1: Product claiming “Better than peanut butter”

This product is ludicrous! I can’t believe anyone would ever believe that this junk is better for them than natural peanut butter.

First of all, if you buy a good simple peanut butter (organic is best), it is usually nothing but 2 ingredients… peanuts and salt. And they don’t add much salt so it’s not high in sodium.

However, this counterfeit peanut butter which claimed it was “better than peanut butter” (trying to seem healthier than peanut butter based on it’s label claims) had a list of junk in it you wouldn’t believe. First of all, they strip all of the healthy fats out of the peanuts so that it is a “low fat” product. Ok, now you’ve just taken away one of the healthiest parts of the product…the appetite satisfying healthy fats that you need to control cravings and manage more stable blood sugar levels.

To make things worse, the healthy fats were replaced with 2 different types of sugary syrups as well as additional dehydrated cane juice (aka SUGAR), in addition to added refined starches.

This product has taken something as simple and natural as peanut butter, and turned it into what should really be called some sort of processed candy. Yet, they claim that it’s healthier than peanut butter. And somehow they get away with deceiving people like this. Don’t be their fool!

Example #2: Product claiming to be “better than eggs”.

I won’t get as detailed on this one because I recently talked about this entire topic in another newsletter.

But basically, this product was just egg whites with a bunch of added chemical colorings, flavorings, and other nonsense, including fake added vitamins.

Again, this product has essentially ruined a good thing by removing the healthiest part… the YOLKS! And yes, the yolks ARE the healthiest part of the egg. Anybody that tells you different doesn’t understand much about true nutrition. The important thing to look for in quality whole eggs are cage-free and organic.

If you missed the previous article about whole eggs vs egg whites, you can view it here…

Are Whole Eggs or Egg Whites Healthier?

Example #3: A product claiming to be “better than butter”.

This was essentially crappy margarine loaded with highly processed and deadly trans fats, yet it had the nerve to claim it was “better than butter”.

Heck NO!

Even low quality butter is healthier than ANY margarine. One problem with butter is pesticides and hormones from improperly raised cows.

For this reason, you always want to choose organic butter, and if you can find “grass-fed” butter, then I would even say it can be healthy for you. In fact, adding a little butter to your steamed vegetables helps your body to absorb more of the vitamins and minerals in the veggies.

>> Click here to download the Training & Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean Body free ebook

Using Weights with your Treadmill

Editor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:00:56 +0000

In recent times, treadmills have grown in popularity and have become the primary source of exercise for many people as an aid to weight loss. Although treadmills are a great choice and can help you burn a decent amount of calories, there are few tricks you can use to burn even more calories while using a treadmill.

For the first 15 minutes of using the machine, your body is simply warming up and not many calories are being burnt. Because the leg muscles are large, they require a significant amount of blood flow in order to start burning fat.

Most people are excited to complete the first 15 minutes of a treadmill workout, but this should be just the beginning. Everything after 15 minutes is where the fat burning action really starts to begin.

The best way to get the most out of any treadmill workout is to actually warm your legs up just before you start by using weights. Doing this will reduce the time it takes for your body to warm up and start burning fat. Here are a couple of exercises you can perform for around 15 minutes with weights before getting on the treadmill.

Squats - Using a smith machine or squat bar is a perfect way to warm up those muscles in your legs. Doing sets of 10 repetitions with about 90 seconds of rest in between sets will warm up your muscles effectively and quickly.

If you don’t have any free weights or equipment, you can just perform normal squats which are still good, however, you should increase your repetitions per set to around 20.

Lunges - These may seem a little awkward, but they are excellent as well for warming up those leg muscles.

To perform a lunge, you simply place one foot in front of the other while bending the knee of the back leg to touch the ground, you then stand up straight and bring your front leg back to normal position and repeat. These again, can be performed with free weights or without.

After you have properly warmed up those leg muscles and get on that treadmill, every minute will be burning fat. Losing weight is all about burning body fat so these easy replacement exercises will help you to achieve much more weight loss from the same amount of time.

Also, you should remember to change your treadmill routine around from time to time especially if your goal is weight loss. If you can, use a treadmill that has the option of inclining and declining so you can target different muscle groups of the legs.

If you like to run, you should try walking, but at a brisk pace for longer periods. This is to reduce the strain put on the knees.

Remember, losing weight comes down to burning calories, so don’t forget to warm up those legs first before you set foot on the treadmill so that you burn fat from the very first step and not the 500th.

You can begin this fantastic new diet right here:

http://www.theweightlossgrail.com

Stop Wasting Your Time with Worthless Treadmill and Elliptical Machine Workouts!

Editor — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:00:11 +0000

Have you ever considered if treadmill or elliptical workouts are actually that effective… or are there more fun and more effective exercise methods?

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Now that I pissed off all of the treadmill and elliptical machine worshipers… let me say that if you truly enjoy mindlessly pumping away on a treadmill or elliptical (or exercise bike for that matter too), then by all means, keep doing what you enjoy, because enjoying your exercise is one of the most important aspects to sticking with any exercise program…

However, don’t say that I didn’t warn you that you were wasting your time with all that mindless cardio machine boredom.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I don’t believe in cardio machines, and to be quite honest, I don’t think I’ve personally used a treadmill, elliptical, or exercise bike for at least the last 7-8 years or so.

As a matter of fact, I don’t even use cardio machines anymore for warmups before a workout (did before occasionally)… Nowadays, I prefer to do dumbbell or kettlebell snatches and swings mixed with bodyweight exercises as the perfect full body warmup at the beginning of my workouts.

So why do I have such hatred for cardio machines? Well, here goes:

1) Treadmills, ellipticals, and exercise bikes are mind-blowingly BOOOORING!

2) Mindless steady state cardio exercise while watching tv or reading creates a mind / body disconnect resulting in poor results from your exercise routine

3) I’ve seen studies that indicated that treadmill running may be less effective than outdoor running for various reasons such as stride abnormalities on treadmills vs natural running, slightly less caloric burn compared to outdoor running, etc.

(although I never recommend just “jogging” anyway… variable intensity walks / runs or sprints are so much more effective, training your heart rate in a much wider range instead of just the same pace during the entire workout).

4) Treadmills and ellipticals are ridiculously expensive and a waste of money for people that workout at home… there’s so many better options for home workouts you could have spent your money on rather than wasting it on a treadmill, bike, or elliptical.

The perfect home gym setup is MUCH cheaper… there’s no reason you need anything other than a jump rope, bodyweight exercises, a few dumbbells, stability ball, maybe a few kettlebells (if you want to get fancy), and perhaps high tension bands for some more variety. And of course… the great outdoors has some of the best workout options of all… hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, skiing, sports, and more!

5) Treadmills and elliptical machines are just a very ineffective way to workout compared to other options. Why should you do treadmill or elliptical workouts when you can get better results by doing more interesting forms of training that actually stimulate a fat-burning hormonal response and stimulate your metabolism to a greater extent.

So what are the alternatives to treadmills and elliptical trainers? Here are some of my favorite types of alternative exercises:

•jumping rope – great mind / body connection (try speed jumping, crosses, double jumps once you get skilled at it)
•bodyweight training – bodyweight squats, pushups, lunges, jumps, bear crawls, mountain climbers and jumpers, planks, and the list goes on and on
•kettlebell training – nothing will get your heart pounding like high repetition KB swings and snatches or clean & presses (can be done with dumbbells too, but I prefer KBs)
•outdoor wind sprinting (the ultimate for a rock hard ripped body… just look at the chiseled powerful bodies of world class sprinters, and compare that to the weakling withered physique of a typical marathoner… nuff said!)
•hill sprinting (yet another classic for a rock hard powerful body)
•rowing machine (ok, I don’t really lump this in as a “cardio” machine like treadmills and ellipticals… I think the rowing machine is actually a great full body workout that actually uses resistance)
•sprint style swimming workouts (a more muscular workout than steady state distance swimming… I actually love the upper body pump I get from sprint style swimming) – this is the same concept as sprinting vs jogging but in a pool instead
•heavy bag punching / kicking workout, speed bag, rebound bag… all great forms of training and much more interesting than boring cardio machines (requires an intense mind / body connection)
•shadow boxing… awesome workout, but if you’re shy, this is best done at home since you’ll get some crazy stares doing this at a typical gym from people who think they’re “too cool” for stuff like that.
Well, I hope that helps give you ideas on how you can get away from all of these mindless and ineffective treadmill and elliptical trainer machines (and exercise bike) workouts that are just wasting your time and energy that could be better spent on more effective workouts.

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Meal Flipping For WeightLoss

Editor — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:00:30 +0000

In today’s society, there are three main meals that almost all families enjoy. They include breakfast, lunch and dinner. For most people living in the US, these meals are generally set in stone.

Usually, breakfast is fairly small and light, then lunch, which is mid sized and then there’s dinner, the largest of the three meals. What most people don’t realize is that this way of eating is not the best for anyone trying to lose excess body weight.

When we wake up to begin the day, we are in negative calorie territory. There has been many hours of fasting which is why our first meal is called breakfast (break fast).

It is also the meal that has the longest amount of active hours to be used as fuel rather than for fat storage on the body but it is also, unfortunately, the smallest meal for most people with busy lifestyles. Dinner is usually the largest because we have more time to sit down and actually enjoy the meal.

On the downside, our dinners are the meals that end up requiring the most physical activity to burn off, but is placed towards the end of each day when our bodies are least active. So in order to lose more weight, we need to flip this meal programming and eat more sensibly.

To flip your meals, you will need to begin to prepare and eat the largest meal at the start of the day for breakfast. This meal should contain the most calories. As an example, let’s say your on a diet that consists of consuming 1500 calories each day.

Your morning meal can account for around 600 of the total calories. The remaining 900 calories can be used for the remaining two meals and snacking.

For lunch, your meal would be medium sized and could contain around 400 calories. It is the last meal of the day where the big difference occurs.

At dinner time, you should consume a meal of only around 300 calories. This would usually be the same amount of calories in a standard fast breakfast. So as you can see, the day has been completely flipped.

We now eat the amount of calories for breakfast that we used to eat for dinner and vice-versa. The remaining 200 calories can be used for snacking 3 times throughout the day.

This method of losing weight is very effective because your calorie requirement is split up into 6 different meals. The largest meal you eat also has the longest time to get used up as energy and the smallest ends up requiring the least activity to burn.

There have been no overall changes in the food intake, simply a reversal of breakfast and dinner.

The real change in your life that will lead to prolonged weight loss and management will require a change in your thoughts rather than a change to the foods you eat.

By eating as many as 6 meals daily and eating the largest amount of calories at the first meal, your body will work much more efficiently to burn off all those calories eaten.

You can begin this fantastic new diet right here:

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