Colin R. Stuckert's Blog, page 29
September 22, 2014
The Gym Life Email Archive: Real People Seeking Real Answers
Below is 15 email threads I’ve had with various readers of this site. I changed the names to protect identity. There’s enough gold in here to turn into a course or ebook but I decided to turn it into a post instead. I’m generous like that =D
Read through these threads and I bet you will find something that sounds familiar. If you ever want to send me your own questions, do so here.
The Gym Life Q & A
Email Question #1
John:
Colin – just found this site today and really enjoy it so far. (I’m new to CrossFit – after years of “traditional” workouts and HIIT.) Question, in your “50 Ways to get Better at Training” you mention that needing to eat before/during/after a workout was supplement industry BS. From experience I can tell you that pre-workout shakes, then intra workout shakes, then post workout shakes left me with some “shake” in my midsection. I’ve been going to my CrossFit workouts at 6:30am having not eaten since dinner the night before. I do however usually sip on a 10g amino acid + 25g carb mix during my workout. Waste of time and money?…or actually “muscle-sparing”. If that’s even a real thing!
Colin:
Hey John, – I would def recommend starting to train in fasted state. Post workout, most of the time, you can do just protein and water for recovery purposes. When you finally lean out, you can work more towards more carbs and protein post workout. Also you should try fasting post workout sometimes for a few hours. Mark sisson has a few good articles About this.
And ya, no such thing as muscle sparing unless you are in a major calorie defect state and/or you are overtraining.
Hope that helps!
John:
Colin, – Funniest thing happened this morning during my 6:30 WOD…I drank water…no pre-workout shake…no intra workout shake…and I didn’t die! In fact, I felt great! Thanks for the advice. Really enjoying your website, keep up the great work.
Colin:
Haha that’s awesome Joe! It took me awhile to realize that there were many ways to skin a cat and that i decide what’s best for my body instead of buying into everyone else’s dogma..
Keep it up!
Email Question #2
Ronald:
Hey Colin, – Big fan of your articles, I just want to know if I’m doing right; here is my routine: wake up at 5:40, eat a banana for natural carbs for energy for cf, do my protein shake, and go walk to the box (it’s very near my home, about 1.3 km) stretch and do my wod, and do 100 sit ups regularly after the wod, then I walk back to go to a job as a gym assistant (I’m 16 tbh it’s a pain in the ass to be in that job), anyways I do a cardio WOD at home at around 5:00 o’clock. Strict diet of pure protein, veggies, spinach, no milk or bread, juice, water, and fruit. I aspire to become an athlete, and I try to do my best. (Tbh my only role models are you and Rich Froning lol). Recovery plan of 5 on 2 off, cheat meal on saturday (hell yeah). As for #9 you said that fasting is important, so I shouldn’t eat the banana for carbs? Since my protein powder doesn’t have sugar, fats, cholesterol, and just 8g of carbs. Please reply.
Colin:
Roland, – Thanks for the email and sharing… use Rich as your performance rolemodel and me as your nutrition/food role model lol.
Ok, so in the morning I’d prefer you to wait till post-workout for the banana and shake. Start trying to train on an empty stomach… after awhile you’ll be much stronger doing so.
What are your protein sources? You probably need more quality fat intake, but what you are staying away from is good. So you are on par with that.
I would avoid doing two WODs a day or at least scale the volume back a lot. FOr your 2nd workout, you could focus on a lot of skill work, mobility and whatnot. That will help you work on your weaknesses while also avoiding over-training.
Make sure you have at least one full rest day a week and try to get another semi-rest day where you get outdoors and walk or hike or do a light jog at the beach.
I would say more fat (avocado, coconut oil, kerrygold butter, a variety of raw nuts/seeds, some olive oil, sardines, salmon, fatty fish, grass-fed beef, bison) and more skill work. As you get stronger you can slowly add a bit more in the WOD department but let your body adapt safely in time.
Ronald:
Thanks for the feedback Colin, I have a final question, if I stop taking protein powder shakes will I lose muscle? My protein sources are eggs, ham, salmon, chicken (not fried).
Colin:
Why would you stop with the shakes? Take it post workout and stick with just whey protein and water. You’ll be fine.
Ronald:
One last question Colin, I try to cut and bulk at the same time and I know it is almost impossible to do so, I recently got silk unsweetened coconut milk, so the days that I do one Crossfit WOD I use water with my protein shake to reduce the amount of calories I consume to cut, and the days I do a WOD and skill work I may use the milk with the protein powder to bulk; is this right or vice versa? I am trying to play it smart because I want it to result. Thank you for replying.
Colin:
Yeah, this sounds perfect.
Email Question #3
Jane:
Hey Colin, – I hope you’re doing good, I’ve been trying to get stronger in crossfit (or hoped to when I began) and cannot do so, I’ve been starting to do as a cash out after a WOD 3 sets of 5 thrusters (empty barbell), to add a strength program detail to my routine, but it’s not working. Yes, I have been eating loads of protein every day, spinach, carbs, fruit, vegetables, raw orange juice, water, chicken, coconut milk, and such. But I don’t know what I’m doing wrong?
Colin:
More sleep. Less workouts most likely.
How many workouts and how often?
You want to lift weights 2-3 days a week. GO hard and heavy for a short period of time. then do 2-3 wods a week. That’s it.
Email Question #4
Cindy: Hello Colin, – Hope you don’t mind me emailing you but I am new to CrossFit and I came across your ’50 ways to get better at CrossFit’ article and think it is probably the best resource I’ve found so far. Lots of suggestions etc and I’m definitely going to put some into practice but I do have a question.
1″4. For the ladies: have someone spot your ankles as you perform strict pull-ups (push off the spotters hands to assist reps and go for failure). This is the best way to develop the dead hang pull-up that I have found.”
I am very keen to get improve my chin ups but I don’t understand why this is just for ladies? Are we meant to do it differently to men? I’ve probably missed something obvious about form but I’m inexperienced.
Thank you
Colin: Cindy, – It’s not just for ladies by any means. It’s just more common that ladies struggle with strict pull-ups to a point where many can’t even do one. For men, it’s often they can do at least one or two. In that instance, they just have to do LOTS of them. But either way, if man or woman struggles, a spotter at the feet can help you development the dead hang uber-effectively!
Cindy: I see, great stuff then coz I definitely struggle and want to practice. Really do think your resources are great.
Thank you! 
Email Question #5
Page: Hi there! First of all, I want to compliment you on providing SO much amazing information and words of wisdom in your blog. I visit it daily/weekly and have learned a great deal from your articles. I recently bought “The Art of Living” and it truly helped put so much in perspective for me… thank you for the recommendation!!
Now to my question. I am a 34-year old woman, I’m highly active (CF 3-4 times per week plus mountain biking), and I eat clean (paleo probably 90%). When I started doing CF religiously, I weighed 120-121… a weight that I have maintained for 10-12 years. I also was not paleo when I started doing CF, but maintained a very health diet. Within the last several months, I have gained weight… 124.5 this morning! Clothes still fit the same (my appetite is a bit bigger…), so I’m not too concerned. My question is do people usually gain weight with CF… and is it just do to muscle gain? It seems like so many people loose weight! Not me… haha
Let me know your thoughts! Thanks,
Colin: Page, – Thanks for the kind words…means a lot to me!
Art of living is life changing…really. Congrats.
In short, the scale is a liar. Your weight can fluctuate as much as 3 (or more) pounds in a day. The only thing that matters is what you look like in the mirror and how you feel. Those are the only markers that matter.
Think about it, who said you have to weigh a certain amount? That is just an idea in your head that you are fixated on.
Use the mirror and the quality of your life as your gauge.
Ive heard of others gaining weight. Especially those that are leaner due to the increased muscle mass. We are all different and our body seeks homeostasis on it’s own..meaning it tries to find and maintain your natural genetic disposition. Stick with clean eating, a healthy balance of training with enough rest, and use the mirror to determine what is right for you.
Email Question #6
Stan:
Hey man, Love the site.. appreciate what you’re doing and I know many people are getting it done right!
I have a crazy schedule (law enforcement), my hours are switched up every three months and have a hard time keeping up with the diet. Right now I’m on the night shift (7p-730a), I usually get home around 8a and sleep until about 2p. I try and workout right when I wake up and then eat my meals until about 1030p and then start the fasting phase.
Should I not be fasting the entire time I’m at work? Should I be eating? Never thought too much about supplements, but taking you up on a few you suggest.
I know you’re busy man, but if you get a chance I would appreciate your feedback.
Colin:
Stan, – Thanks for the kind words!
How many meals are you eating when you break your fast and how long is your feeding window? NM, just reread it.
Your schedule sounds fine. Fasting during work is actually preferred because when we are busy its much easier to avoid food and not think about it while on the flip side when we have free time we tend to snack and think about food more. I would keep that up. That said, you have to focus on your food quality. Eat the best Paleo foods you can get with lots of fat protein and veggies, fruit and clean starches.
You should absolutely be doing tihs stack as a minimum: http://goo.gl/fI1z9N
They recently launched this and its my new fav supp stack bar none. Ive been waiting for someone to come out with these “essentials” in one line. Def get this and start taking each daily. Then, you should grab a bottle of carlson cod liver oil to get a bit more omegas in at each meal time (2-3 caps per meal).
What you are doing sounds good, keep it up.
Stan:
Damn man! Didn’t think I would hear from you so quick.
Yeh I appreciate it. I’ll check it out. So much temptation at work so reading your stuff often keeps my ass on point.
Just put the order in for some of this supps.
One last question.. Any suggestion on a multi vitamin? BCAA product?
Thanks again man,
Hey also my energy crashes after 10 hours so the last two hours of my shift are tough (falling asleep). Can you recommend anything safe for a boost? Usually go straight to bed when I get home so nothing insane.
Colin:
Stan – Ya that’s tough. Natural stacks has a Smart caffeine but that might be too much. A bit of tea or a few sips of coffee might be enough. The best thing also is to get up and do a few sets of push-ups or squats can help get blood flowing and wake you up. I would test each of these and find what works best. Or you might just use a combination of them.
Email Question #7
Trisha:
Colin — found your site; already a fan of MDA. Been active my whole life–riding/showing horses, running marathons, teaching indoor cycle classes, some weight training. Wanted a change, so at 47 found CF and dropped all else. Been at it for about 6 months and love it. Been Primal for longer, but not seeing results as I expected. You mention not snacking, but if I eat lunch at say noon or 1 and don’t have dinner until 6 or later, I NEED a snack in between. My downfall is almond butter. I simply cannot control it and eat too much and feel like crap. What is a better alternative so I keep my total caloric intake down? I know it’s not about calories, but for me it sort of is as I’m 5’1″ and about 110-115 lbs…want to be at 105 or lower, but can’t seem to make a dent…thanks for whatever info you can offer
Colin:
This is tough bec what I would prefer you did is fast altogether. But that takes time to get used to, especially for women.
There are a few things you should do:
Before you allow yourself to have any snack at all drink 8oz of water and let it sit for a few mins. Then have some protein first. Anything clean, just eat a small portion of 2-3oz. Then you could try Celery with almond butter. If you can load your stomach up with techniques like this, it will help you control when you dive into the almond butter. Also you should never eat out of the container. Never ever.
You should take a spoonful or two and put it on a plate and go sit at the table and eat it. This will help you mentally accept when you should be finished.
Email Question #8
Brittany:
I’m a 24 year old girl and I’ve always been underweight. No matter how much I drink, eat or consume I have never been able to gain weight. I wanted to try crossfit but my ex always told me that I wouldn’t fit in so I’ve become very self-conscious to the idea. What are some ways I can start gaining weight? I don’t work out at all and I have counted calories. I eat almost 2200-3000 calories a day.
Colin:
Your ex is a douche. Everyone fits in with a CrossFit program. It’s a personal fitness journey not some fad group you have to join. Thats complete bullshit.
As far as gaining weight, my best advice is to get lots of paleo based calories, especially fat and protein from avocado, coconut, pastured butter, wild caught fish, grass-fed beef, etc.
It’s hard to determine issues with weight-gain. You can try huge shakes with almond butter, coconut milk, and fruit, etc. I would seek a doctor for some help with that perhaps.
Hope that helps,
Brittany:
Dear Colin, – Thank you for the uplifting message! He was terrible; cheated on me, physically abused me in public and basically after sticking with his problems for 1.5 years he told me my skin color was too colored and found someone else. I’m an American born girl to Indian parents..
I would really like a positive lifestyle where I can move on and not judge people due to this experience. I’ll definitely look into the diet change and plan to sign up for crossfit next month. I’m hoping for a new and improved me at this point.If you had to recommend a certain calorie intake for people wanting to gain weight what would you recommend? And are certain meats better than others? Is whey protein beneficial for adding body weight?
Scar tissue heals eventually I guess.
Thanks again for the reply,
Colin:
Brittany, – Congrats on your new life. Make sure you are the type that actually takes action and not just talks about it (like many I have encountered). You only get one shot at life. Get it.
Certain meats are def better: grass-fed, humanely raised, no antibiotics, organic, from small family farms. Avoid mass-produced meat. Whey can be beneficial for weight gain. Check this brand, it;s my favorite.
For meat, try this company: US Wellness Meats Get the sugar-free pork breakfast sausage (its amazing!) and all of their animal products are great. ALl from small family farms.
It’s hard to tell calorie amount. YOu have to test and see. Eat a lot of avocado, coconut oil, pastured butter, sweet potatoes, and some white rice if you are struggling with weight gain.
I would eat 3 square meals a day + 1 post-workout shake. Make sure you eat until you are full each time. Then from there, you can expand calories as needed. That is a good base though to start.
If you need any more help let me know
Brittany:
Colin, – Thank you for all the tips. And I will definitely take this new shot at life and run with it. I will be in touch so I can prove it to you and myself. You’ll be my motivation for the time being even though I haven’t met you or know you. So you’ll hear from me every couple of months or something if that is alright with you.
Thank you for everything,
Email #2 from Brittany
Brittany:
Hey! How are you? Just wanted to update you on my life! I have started to work out at least twice a week. I’ve been doing planks, burpees, dumbbells and squats with weights. I’ve gained four pounds and minimal muscle but its a start right. I’ve also kicked out the ex even though some days my mind wanders and I think I’m a horrible person. But I haven’t given in yet.
Hope your doing well. I am doing squats with 40 lbs hoping to raise it up in another month maybe?
Have a great week!
Colin:
This is awesome…awesome.
Be very weary of the scale..it’s a liar. Keep your twice a week, then add a third as you get more solid in that routine. Also try to do a ton of walking, even walking on a treadmill with an incline produces some great results
Always be pushing your weights and reps. I’ve learned that most of this is a mental thing for people that simply aren’t used to pushing themselves and adding weight. If you just tell yourself you are going to do it, you probably will. Muscle takes a long time to build, but fat can burn quickly. Keep it up!
Let me know if you need any help
Brittany:
Colin, – Thanks for the recommendations. I will definitely take them into account. Why is the scale a liar?
Also I’ve been watching the Crossfit Games since it started recently. 14.1 had double-unders and power snatches. I have been doing power snatches in my workout today. I can’t do the 55 lbs but I’m doing 30 lbs for the time being. Beginner status lol. But I cannot seem to get double-unders. What is the secret to double-unders?
Thanks. Hope you have a good weekend!
PS – Your turning out to be my pseudo long distance weight trainer! Thank you
Colin:
Brittany, – I’m glad to help! The secret to dubs is to keep elbows in and flick wrists forward/inward each spin. Plus you need a fast speed rope and not a heavy nylon rope. Then, just focus on getting one at a time with a big jump and keep going until you can string them together.
The scale lies because your body weight isn’t an accurate determinant of your results. I’ve seen females gain a few pounds yet look like they actually lost 20. Your muscle mass will improve and you will lose bodyfat but you may not lose that much total weight. So be careful relying on that. Use the mirror + how you feel. Those are the true tests.
Email Question #9
Molly: I’m trying gain weight to keep up with my bf’s lifestyle. Any recommendations? I eat my fair share of every group on the food pyramid. On a side note, if my bf cheated on all his exes prob means he’ll cheat on me 2 right?
Colin: Molly, – What part of the food pyramid are you referring to? And why keep up with your BF? You should eat for a healthy life and not to appease anyone or anything else. Also, to answer your last question, yes that is likely. The odds are in the favor anyways.
Check marksdailyapple and robbwolf.com for what foods to eat. Are you eating Paleo or are you eating from the food pyramid meaning you are eating grains.
Email Question #10
Marissa:
Hi Colin! I started crossfit first in June 2012 but “seriously” got into it (i.e. quit other sport hobbies) I’d say six months ago. A few months ago I went Paleo. The results have been AMAZING. I’ve lost 5 kg fat (I know I’m quite skinny now — the fact that especially my upper body does not contain fat scares a lot of people, well mainly family members, and they have started to call me Schwarzenegger… :D), I’ve gained strength, my allergies and migraine is gone, I feel great… an endless list almost. The thing is, I do not eat meat. What this means is that I eat a lot of fish and eggs. I crave fat, so a lot of salmon, which is not very ethical/sustainable. The best part of the fish for me is the parts other people throw out, because they contain most fat. My question is this: I feel that my body needs meat, but I have been without meat for 16 years (since I was 13 years old). The idea of eating meat is way scary. Do you think there are serious health benefits in adding good meat to my diet? Or do you think what I eat now is sufficient? This is a tough thing for me, but I would like to be as healthy as possible. Thanks! (BTW I am Finnish if you notice some errors in language…)
Colin:
Marissa, – If you are making sure to get enough fatty fish, you will do fine without eating meat. I would suggest you try adding just a bit to your diet to see how you feel eating it. Overall though, you dont have to eat meat to sustain a long-term healthy life. In fact, the entire PALEO diet is based on our ancestors finding access to fish and eating the omega 3 enriched fish that allowed our brains to grow. So, really, fatty fish is the most paleo thing of all! But, the caveat is the mercury in the fish. We don’t have the cleanest oceans/world anymore. I would look to try adding meat to your diet so you can have options should you need to in the future!
Keep up the great work!
Email Question #11
TJ: Hey Colin – For openers, thanks. Thanks for the healthy dose of information and inspiration you provide to me and other folks here @ agymlife.com. My question is a simple one with what I’d imagine is a fairly complex answer. Specifically, “how do you get off of a plateau”? I say this as a guy who has been at this CrossFit thing for about 18 months – but over the last 90 days, my lifts, body composition, energy level — all things CF have been unchanged. I say that as a 205lb, 44 y.o. father of two with a full-time job and a side gig. Where do you start to get the dose response needed to make the changes that make CF so satisfying. Nutrition? Could us some help there. Sleep? Could use some help there? Strength? Could us some strength there? Mobility — you get the picture.
I welcome your insight and input.
Colin: TJ, – Thanks for the kind words and for reaching out. I’m going to save this answer for my next video post. Give me a few days and probably next week ill release it. Sign up for my mailing list if you haven’t already on main page so you can get an email right when it’s released! http://agymlife.com
A few hints until then:
sleep way more and in pitch black room
go lower carb, completely eliminate sugar for a week and see what happens
consider a rest week/few days
Email Question #12
Visitor:
Colin! I really enjoyed reading your blog on ABS and it got me thinking. I cook every meal for myself and have my entire adult life. 7 months ago I decided to ditch my 23 years of lifting weights and decided to try CrossFit 3-4 days a week and 2 days of yoga. I love it, but thought it was time to ditch the breads and pasta and go PALEO. I’m pretty strict yet haven’t really seen the results I want and it’s a little frustrating.
Colin:
Thanks for the kind words…it keeps me going!
How long have you gone Paleo?
How often are you eating every day and what does an average meal look like?
What are your fat sources?
Are you supplementing?
What does your lifestyle look like, stress,sleep, etc
Well figure it out don’t worry…
Visitor:
You’re so awesome for responding so quickly. I’ve been on Paleo for 4 months and I’m not going to lie on Sundays I allow myself a sweet treat, but not all the time.
I’m pretty good about eating at least 3 good meals a day with snacks. So breakfast might be 2 eggs and some fruit with almond butter (unsweetened) and tea with almond milk. Lunch is pretty much leftovers from dinner the night before. Dinner is usually like I had tonight chicken legs roasted with veggies (no potatoes) olive oil, garlic. No dessert…no I had a pear. I eat a lot of greens like kake. For a snack I had some dried fruit and I cut up some tomatoes with olive oil salt and pepper. Right now on in Europe on vacation (I’m a special ed teacher so summertime is travel time) and still doing my best to keep Paleo… Not gonna lie it’s hard. So my fats are from meat, almond products such as milk and butter, coconut oil…
I’m not supplementing, but I’m not going to lie I get hungry late at night which I’m working on with my chiropractor.
Lifestyle….well when I’m working its stressful to be a teacher and my dad has cancer so life can be overwhelming (this is my first time traveling in 2 years since he got ill). Sleep is on and off for me which I’m really working on because I know it’s something I struggle to get enough of everyday. I just have a difficult time falling asleep.
Sorry I know it’s a lot. I’m a very active person with a lot going on which I know prob needs to be cut in half.
I really appreciate your advice. I just want to be healthy I don’t care about a 6 pack. Also I’m 44 years old, am 5’2″ and weigh 118. My body fat is 21.89% which I just got tested by the float tank. My goal is 19% in a year. Maybe that’s unrealistic, but 20% would be cool too.
Thanks again for the help!
Colin:
Sorry for late reply, I was in NY and a bit busy.
Here goes:
Cut meals to 2 or 3 MAX a day and don’t eat between. If you aren’t hungry skip meals. It is know as fasting and it is extremely beneficial to health, weight loss, and longevity. It may be new to you but take my word for it…its how we are made to eat and it can be lifechanging
Watch snacks with dried fruit…high in sugar. ANd avoid snacking in general. Eat balanced meals
Get 8 hours of sleep a night and take naps if possible. THis is huge for weight loss. No sleep = no weight loss. Period
Stick with the basics: lots of meat, seafood, eggs, veggies, little starch, little fruit, little nuts/seeds, grass-fed butter, lots of coconut oil, olive oil (good quality)
Biggest thing will be: stop snacking, eat 2-3 meals a day MAX. If you need to eat more calories at your meal increase your fat + protein intake to compensate. Then you add sleep and you will see life changing results.
Let me know if you have anymore questions!
Email Question #13
Regan: Hi, my name is Regan, emailing all the way from South Africa.
I have been training hard for three years, with good results, I have lost three almost four pant sizes. I am 5ft tall, and weigh 52kg, and I have only recently started crossfit, because gym just got so boring.
I am proud of what I have been able to achieve so far, however, I just can’t seem to lose weight around my arms, no matter how hard I train, how many reps I do, nothing seems to be working. Its like I have this huge layer of fat around my biceps and triceps that just does not want to go anywhere. I have spoken to people, and they keep on saying the same thing to me: “train your triceps”, “do arm exercises”, “diet” etc. and I do all of this but nothing is working. I am so self conscious about my arms, the rest of me in tiny except my arms, and I hate it because my waist is a small or extra small and my arms if like a medium, so its hard for me to buy clothes.
Do you have any advice that I can use to get rid of the arm flab?
I train and train so hard, but I get so defeated because of my arms.
Waiting for your reply.
Thank you.
Colin:
I’ll tell you what you probably haven’t heard. Train less.
Training your arms is only going to make your arms bigger…you are lifting weights I assume? Training a body part to lose fat is known as spot reduction and it does not work. It usually has a reverse effect because trainees end up making the muscle bigger and thus doing the opposite effect.
You might be overtraining. What is your training schedule look like on a weekly basis?
Diet is important btw. Your body typically will only lose the fat in your trouble areas only after the rest of your body is lean. That is why they are trouble areas…they seem to not leave us no matter what we do.
What does your diet look like? I recommend a primal/paleo diet that is gluten-free and lower carb. Avoid sugar in all forms, especially drinks. And don’t eat artificial sweeteners or other processed junk food.
Rest and proper diet is how you will lose the arm fat.
Let me know.
Regan:
Thank you for your response.
I would love to train less, but then if I do, I start feeling fat, and guilty 
I do 4 days a week of crossfit, and 2 days a week of pole dancing (at an advanced level). So I’m very active, and I love being active, but I guess its not a bad idea to rest cause my body aches on a regular basis.
At crossfit the exercises don’t concentrate on my arms like how I used to concentrate on my arms at gym (doing 4 triceps exercises, and 3 biceps exercises a week), but I don’t gym anymore.
Well for a while my diet consisted of 6 meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner with 2 snacks.. But since I read about the primal diet, I’ve limited it to 3 meals a day..
My breakfasts usually consists of oatmeal, special K, or boiled eggs.. When I used to snack it would be low fat greek yogurt with honey and fruit / or cracker bread (low in carbs) with peanut butter and banana. Lunches would be oven baked fish or chicken schnitzels with boiled mixed veg, or whatever is leftover from home.. And dinner is whatever is at home, I’m Filipino, so we eat a lot of rice with our meals. I get home too late to make food so I eat whatever mother dear has made.. I don’t drink soda, we don’t even just juice or soda at home, just water, and I don’t drink coffee.. I have tea with honey and lemon juice, and sometimes hot chocolate (only in winter though hahaha).
I honestly don’t want to be stick thin, I’m quite happy with my body, but my damn arms (I feel like I wanna do liposuction on my arms, I can’t see any other way).
Thanks for the advise.
Colin:
You need to train less, find ways to rest. If your body is aching that is BAD. And i’m trying to help so I’m not going to sugar coat anything. If you really want to make a chance that isn’t surgery or LIPO than you need to hear it: Your diet sucks.
Special K, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter/bananas, rice, is all BAD (rice is ok in small amounts). This is why your arms the way they are because of the insulin resistance and spikes you are creating.
Read this post: Why You Don’t Have Abs (Specifically look at the food recommendations.)
Then go here and here and here for exact food lists.
Keep it up with 3 meals a day. Skip meals when you are not hungry. 2 meals a day is best IMO
You need to eat more fat and protein and cut the carbs and absolutely cut the grains and processed gluten-filled junk food (special K, oats, etc)
Please don’t get lipo. It isn’t necessary and it won’t make you healthier. Your arm issue is a good thing because it’s showing you what you need to change to be healthy for the long term. It is a calling.
Regan:
Hi Colin – Its actually so funny, because some people say one thing, and some say another.. Its just hard to figure what right and wrong? But will see how the primal diet works.
How big do the portions need to be if u eat 2 meals a day.. Would it be ok if I have a full bfast and lunch, and for dinner after crossfit I have whey protein shake?
What type of meals do u mean by slow cooked meals?
I won’t do lipo, as much as it would be the easier option, I won’t, I can’t afford it, I’m only 23 haha..
Thanks
Colin:
Trust me on the food. There is too much evidence and I’ve personally seen too many lives transformed (as well as my own) to just KNOW that this is the natural human diet. Just like animals have a natural diet that they thrive on, we have the same thing.
You should do 3 square meals a day, just eat slow and until you are full with protein and fat first then some carbs and veggies thrown in. You could do a shake post workout but after you workout that is best time to consume calories. If you do do a shake make sure its just whey and water and no milk or other added junk.
Read over those links I provided. It will literally change your life. If you have any specific questions please dont hesitate to ask!
Email Question #14
Ayad:
First off, I would like to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your blog. I wanted to thank you for putting it together and for all the great links there are in there. I’ve very recently started crossfitting and have fallen in love with the sport and training. My work unfortunately keeps me away from the city (I am a project coordinator for an industrial construction company) and so I find myself struggling with staying healthy eating cafeteria food and a very limited gym.
Do you have any advice for designing travel wods that will help me keep up my conditioning? I don’t have any free weights around, but there is a universal gym and I’ve invested in a 1.5 pood kettlebell. I also have a treadmill, and rower available to me along with a speed rope.
Thanks so much for your time!
Colin:
Thanks for the compliments! I’m glad you can glean some useful information to help improve your health and fitness.
First of all, I recommend checking this post out http://agymlife.com/crossfit-workouts-at-home/
Use the matrix and/or get one of these cards to create limitless home travel WOD’s.
You can get in insane shape with those tools you listed. Follow this format each workout:
run, row, or jump rope to warm up for 3 minutes
Do dynamic stretching and mobility like arm slaps, toe touches, air squats, etc
Perform strength with whatever tools you have. Squats, Presses, Deadlifts, Handstand push ups, etc. Since you have limited weights you will have to do rep sets such as: max reps in 2 minutes of X. Spend about 10-15 minutes on strength exercises of 3-5 sets of 5-20 reps on average. The goal here is to get to or near failure on any given movement. You want to reset between and not make it into a WOD.
Perform your WOD or conditioning and go all out for a period of time and reps.
Make sure you hit each one super hard. You will know when you are near failure on all of it by how much you put into your training.
This post has the same basic training template down and is geared towards weightlifting, but the format is exactly the same. http://agymlife.com/basic-weightlifting/
Hope that helps and let me know if you have any more questions!
Ayad:
Hey Colin! – Thank you for writing me back and for all of the helpful advice!
I did have some questions with regards to strength conditioning:
“Perform strength with whatever tools you have. Squats, Presses, Deadlifts, Handstand push ups, etc. Since you have limited weights you will have to do rep sets such as: max reps in 2 minutes of X. Spend about 10-15 minutes on strength exercises of 3-5 sets of 5-20 reps on average. The goal here is to get to or near failure on any given movement. You want to reset between and not make it into a WOD.“
So, and I am just repeating to make sure that i’ve understood correctly: strength conditioning can be either max reps in 2 mins of X OR 3-5 sets of 5-20 going as hard as I can with a certain lift? To use an example yesterday night I did 3 sets of shoulder presses and 3 of leg presses with a minute rest and then a WOD, is that what you meant? Also, do you recommend strength work before every WOD or 2-3 times a week? Also, when doing 2 min of X how do you determine the weight you want to use?
I am usually at the mine for 10 days at a time and I will workout for 8 of those days. When I am back in the city I will WOD all my days off.
Thanks again for all of your help Colin. I really appreciate your time and your advice. I’ve also started meditating and following your tips from 50 Ways to Get Better at CrossFit article.
Hope you had a great weekend,
Colin:
Always do strength before WOD’s. This prevents in injury.
You can take more times on your strength. Have more rest between sets and do more sets. You want to really hit failure and get good muscular fatigue in.
If you are doing max rep sets of 1 min, 2 mins or even 3 minutes you can vary the weight. The key is to perform as many reps as possible with that weight so if its lighter you should be doing much more reps and if its heavier you will do less reps. The key is to work HARD. You will know what it feels like if you get to 20 reps and your arms are dead for example. You want to do that at least once every set and sometimes twice. THis is training HARD.
The reps and sets don’t matter much it just comes down to hitting that hard training fatigue/failure. If you train to that point every workout you will be amazed at your results. I like 3-5 sets of 7-20 reps. If you have heavier weight you can keep it in the 5-10 range.
Make sure you rest on days also. If you really kill a workout and are sore you NEED to rest and have days where you do absolutely nothing. This is big part of growing your body.
Keep it up man!
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Email Question #15
Visitor:
Hey there! Great website! A little about myself, I have been doing crossfit for just under a year now. I’m so hooked its crazy- best drug out there as far as I’m concerned. I originally started to lose weight (something I have been struggling with my whole life). I have never been terribly overweight always carrying an extra 20-30 pounds from my ideal. As I have have been doing crossfit the weightless has become secondary to the way crossfit makes me feel. I still want to drop some weight, I think it will help my performance etc. So, IF? 16 hours is a long time!!! Do you find that it matters what times of day you begin?? I typically am not hungry in the morning. My coach encourages me to eat as soon as I wake up. I did my WOD yesterday without eating and felt great! Long story short I think I could make it 16 hours if I could eat at night and not in the morning. Thoughts??
Thanks for having such a complete site!
Colin:
Thanks for the kind words.
A few things:
Do not eat when you wake. That is number 1 fat loss trap. Some live by it and it works for them but for most it’s unnecessary and sometimes downright bad for specific goals. Eating does not ‘reeve’ your metabolism as the would have you think. Eating spikes hormones that store calories as fat. Plain and simple.
Skipping breakfast and fasting during the early part of day is very common on IF. It’s what I do, it’s what leangains.com recommends (where I found the protocol).
If you aren’t hungry in the morning you have found your natural eating window. Try this experiment for a week. Wake up and eat when you start to feel hungry. Don’t rush it, give it time. Write down/remember the times you had your first meal. YOu will find a natural average that is your ideal time to break the fast.
Once you find your ideal fast breaking time you can map out the rest of your eating as long as it is within 8 hours from the time you break the fast. You could do 3 meals in 8 hours similar to a breakfast/lunch/dinner or you could do 2 meals (like I do).
You should always listen to what your body is telling you and not what others tell you. You have to test and test and find what works for you. There are only a few truisms to health and fitness and those are rooted in the basic fitness maxims as well as the basic Paleo/IF principles.
Eat the best quality food you can, skip meals, eat slow, eat variety, and eat in seasons. Stay low carb(ish) throughout the process depending on your body type and how you do.
If you have any more questions please let me know…
The post The Gym Life Email Archive: Real People Seeking Real Answers appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
September 21, 2014
Learn How To Develop Elite Fitness: The Gym Life Book Of Fitness
My name is Colin and I own a gym.I’ve seen thousands of eager people come through my doors over the years. Some get life-changing results, some do OK, and the rest fail miserably after spending a lot of time and money on the process.
This book is for the latter two groups.
I felt compelled to write this because I hate, hate, hate seeing people fail in pursuit of the most noble goal of all: health (I also hate seeing the many pitfalls that advanced athletes fall into, which I also cover).
I wrote this book to help people with their fitness. You will see that fitness doesn’t have to be difficult or lacking of results.
So why do so many people struggle with their fitness?
Well, let’s look at the gym industry as a whole. Did you know that 67% of people that have a gym membership never use it? I bet you also didn’t know that 89% of gym-goers fail to ever get the results they desire.
It’s sad and it pisses me off.
So why does this happen? Well, there are many factors, but I’m here to address (and fix) one of them. One of the main reasons people fail to get results is because they have no clue how to build fitness.
No clue…
Most gym-goers mosey around the gym going from machine-to-machine trying to mimic what everyone else is doing. They’ll hit the treadmill, try a few machines, maybe break a sweat, and go home convinced (or praying) they did something productive. There are even some that follow a program and train hard but suffer from lack-of-results-itis.
It’s not your fault!
You have been misled by the pushy sales staff that tout all the fancy equipment and state-of-the-art sauna. You have been sold the lie that is popular fitness culture.
Here’s the thing: none of what they are selling you is going to get you to where you want to be.
Your body is a special snowflake that needs just enough dose of just enough stimulus to develop. It needs variety and hard-work for brief periods of time coupled with moderate and low-intensity training the rest of the time.
Building elite fitness is the hardest thing in the world if you aren’t doing the right things! On the flip side, getting results is easy when you have the correct information and follow the proper protocols. And that’s what I provide you within the pages of this book.
That’s what I provide you within the pages of this book. You will learn the many aspects of fitness and results-getting in simple-to-understand (and apply) language. No fluff or science to get in the way of getting you what you want: R-E-S-U-L-T-S!
The goal of this book is to give you a basic, yet complete, education on how to develop world-class fitness on your own by utilizing a varied and balanced approach to exercise. Many of these protocols won’t feel like ‘exercise’ at all.
Inside:
Learn how bodyweight conditioning can make you lean and strong and give you that functional, natural look that women crave and men want.
Learn how a balanced approach to your fitness will increase performance, help you live a long time, and make you look good naked.
Learn the basics of what makes a human “fit.” And how to balance these three to get the most training “bang for your buck.”
Learn how to get six-pack abs without drugs, expensive supplements or insane amounts of time in a gym.
Learn the difference between being big and strong. (And how to train, or not train, for each.)
Learn how developing “general fitness” will help you reach any, and every, goal you have.
Learn from my 10 year journey in the pursuit of a six-pack. Recommendations work and nothing else!
Why most people do too much in the gym and how it ruins their results.
Learn the ONE thing that determines 80% or more of how your body looks!
How almost everything you see on TV is wrong… and what to do about it!
Learn the importance of recovery and body maintenance. (And how it can prevent injury and get you results faster!)
Follow the weekly fitness “template” as a guideline for developing your own program.
Learn the most effective way to structure your weightlifting workouts.
How to use bodyweight conditioning to develop amazing amounts of “relative” strength.
Whether you have a gym membership or not, you owe it to yourself to learn how to build your fitness!
The skill of fitness will last you a lifetime and provide you the many benefits that come from having great fitness like a lean body, mountains of energy, long-term health, mental clarity, better sleep, lack of stress, and a body that looks good naked!
Buy a copy today and give yourself (or someone else) the gift of fitness!
Yours in Fitness,
-Colin Stuckert
The post Learn How To Develop Elite Fitness: The Gym Life Book Of Fitness appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
September 15, 2014
5 Rules For Finding Your “Secret” To Success
Do you agree with Mr. Powell?
Personally, I agree and disagree.
He’s got it right with the latter part of his quote: success requires preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
But he’s wrong about there being no secrets to success.
I believe there are secrets. In a way, that is.
This makes me think of Socrates. You know what Socrates would say about now?
He would ask, “What are secrets?”
Then I would have to define the word “secret” to support my statement about there being secrets to success.
I would answer his question with: “A secret is something not known to others.” Then I would have to defend my point of view, to which Socrates may or may not agree (or leave me with another question).
Sorry, getting caught up with the visual of debating with Socrates…
So, how are there secrets to success while achieving success is not a secret?
Let me explain…
I believe that there are secrets to success but it is not a secret for discovering these secrets to success. By following the known ways to success—like preparation, hard work and learning from failure—you will discover the “secrets” to success for you, the individual.
A bit of paradox this may seem to some, other’s will get it.
See, you and I, and everyone else, posses the “secrets” to achieving success. Like Mr. Powell, most of us know that we must work hard and keep going to reach success. The thing is, not all of us truly understand what this looks like, or we might not be using this information to reach success, or maybe we don’t realize that these secrets, that are in plain sight, must be combined in a way that will produce success and that each require a bit of finagling to figure out what the secret to our success will be.
Yes I know, I’m getting a bit esoteric on this, but that’s (partly) been on purpose. I’m setting you up for what’s coming.
Mr. Powell was right: preparation, hard work and failure are integral to success. But the “how” of applying for you is the big secret that lingers over us all.
So basically, the secret to success is different in what it looks like but the same in how to reveal it.
Paradox or not, what it comes down to is you must figure out your secrets to success.
So how do you figure out your secrets to success?
You start preparing, working hard, and learning from your failures!
Cheeky you are, you might think right now. But don’t fret, I’m not finished. So please, bear with me, I’m gonna bring this home with some concrete examples of what this looks like.
But first, I need to share the fundaments of reaching success. These are universal to all and to neglect them is to handicap your results. While it might be possible to reach success by foregoing some of these fundamentals, you will only be making it harder than it needs to be.
The Fundamentals of Becoming
Successful In Life As A Human Being
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1. Health has to come first.
You will never become the best version of yourself, or reach the greatest results you are capable of reaching, if you neglect your health.
It’s as simple as that.
When you are healthy, you can focus and your work is more productive. You get more done in less time. Then, and this is what people fail to realize, once you reach success… you get to freaking enjoy it!
Why, please tell me, would you want to be a millionaire but sick, feeble, overweight and unable to enjoy your wealth?
Make health your first priority and success will come easier and more abundant: avoid processed foods, exercise regularly, get sunlight, utilize rest, and invest in your relationships.
This is first and foremost. If you don’t have health, you have nothing.
(Check out the Gym Life Fitness Course for help in this area)
“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” -A. J. Reb Materi
2. You must constantly read and pursue knowledge.
Reading is the habit of the successful. There is no substitute for it. To be successful, you must develop a curious mind that is always absorbing information.
It’s like Will said in Good Will Hunting, “You dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin education you coulda got for a dollah fifty in late chahges at the public library.”
After dropping out of college, I soon learned the power of this quote. Reading is the reason I’ve reached any level of success in my life. I attribute it to every single thing I’ve ever done that has brought me money, joy and happiness. Reading was alway the epicenter of these efforts. Always.
(I’m not suggesting college is bad—it can be bad for some people, good for others. I’m just highlighting the power of reading.)
3. You have to start and finish.
To be successful, you must not just know how to take action and finish what you start, but you have to be doing it all the time. While there are times you should quit a project, the majority you should finish even if the prospect of financial reward or acclaim isn’t there. The act of finishing is reward itself.
The more you start and finish, the easier it becomes to do both. And let me tell you something about success in life: it’s all about starting and finishing things.
If you cannot finish what you start, you will never get rich or become the best you can be.
Taking action is integral to figuring out the “secret” that is your path to success. It’s how you learn from our failures so you can iterate and get better. How can you learn from you mistakes if you never make any?! (That was rhetorical.)
Act, fail, act, succeed. What real life actually looks like: act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, succeed, fail, act, fail, succeed, act, fail, succeed, succeed.
This is what the path to success looks like. It is an ugly mess of ups, downs and uncertainty. Only the persons that are devoted and numb to the stings of the harsh process will see it through.
Your path to success will be different from everyone else, and no matter what you do, you can never be fully prepared. The only thing to do is journey through it.
The journey is what prepares you, what unveils your secrets.
4. You must learn… then apply.
Failure is only useful if you learn from it and then apply what you learned to get better results the next time. (The same is true of any knowledge: you must use it.)
Never blame others, or the economy, or whatever. You must take full responsibility for the results you get in life by always asking yourself “why” you failed.
Never, ever, ever attribute blame.
This is a great policy to life that will have far-sweeping implications in your personal life, and as far as success goes, it’s absolutely necessary.
You cannot learn if you cannot accept the results of your actions (or inactions). You are the reason you have—or fail to have—what you have in life. Never, ever, ever forget that.
5. Use money well… or fail.
To be successful, you must learn how to use money well. And this doesn’t mean just stuffing it under the mattress or in a low-yield savings account either.
It means you must invest it when necessary, spend it when necessary, and give it away when necessary.
Money is a tool that will work for you or against you. When it works for you, it will bring you wealth and prosperity. When it work against you, it will suck you dry of every last penny.
If you don’t learn the principles of money, and the Science of Getting Rich (book recommendation), then you will never be able to achieve lasting success.
Money is more important than people realize. Money can do great or terrible things, depending on who has it.
Never apologize for the getting of money. The greatest thing you can do as a human being is acquire as much wealth as possible so you can use it to make the world a better place.
I remember a quote but I forget who said it. It went something like this: “Having more money brings out more of who you are.”
If you are a miserable, selfish prick, you are going to be more of a miserable, selfish prick when you have more money.
If you are a caring, kind person who enjoys helping people, you are going to be able to care and help more people when you have more money.
And really, anyone that does not desire to attain resources for their family should be ashamed. To me, this is selfish and self-serving. To criticize money is to center the universe around you, the individual.
News flash: life is a group effort.
Your loved ones deserve your full effort in attaining as much money as possible so you can better protect and provide for them and so they all can benefit from the safety and opportunity that money provides.
Earn your money honestly and spend it honestly. Then never apologize or feel guilty for getting and having it.
Learn the principles of investing, business, and personal finance.
Invest and save as much of your money as possible. The richest men in the world got rich by buying and holding, not by buying and selling.
5. Consistency.
You must stay consist with the principles above, including this one. You must consistently stay consistent.
The thing about consistency is you can stay consistent with just about anything and success will almost always come in some form. This is why consistently is the most rewarding of all the attributes for success: because it’s the most difficult part of being successful and fewer people will do it.
The times you feel like giving up, when your motivation is waning, when the future is unclear, these are the times you must plow through.
In life and success, it’s the tortoise that wins the race.
I’ll tell you something about “overnight success.” The average overnight success is 10 years in the making. Very, very few people achieve success overnight the way people think (and like to glamorize).
Most people that have earned success have done so by working consistently for years. In short, they deserve to be exactly where they are.
Back to Socrates
Earlier, I claimed that Mr. Powell was wrong and that I believe there are secrets to success.
So where does that leave us?
Well, the principles above are not secrets or ground-breaking by any means. I’m sure you’ve “heard” them all and you probably agree with and see the practicability of each one.
So where does the “secret” of success come in? The secret you must discover is how the principles above—and the principles of getting rich—apply to your life. The only way you figure this out is by applying the principles of success and getting in the trenches and doing the work. From there, your secret to success will unveil itself in time as you work, learn, work, fail, work, iterate.
No one ever knows how they will get rich before they get rich. Even if they have an “idea,” it is never exactly they envisioned it. Most companies (and people) pivot their product multiple times before finding their breakthrough success.
The same holds true for you and I. We all have a “secret” to success that will only reveal itself by doing the work and applying the principles of success listed above.
To unlock our “secret,” we must go after it. Each time we take action and learn from the process, a little bit closer to our secret we get.
Apply the principles of health, knowledge, starting and finishing, learning and applying, using money well, and staying consistent with it all and you will discover the secret that is your path to success.
You don’t know what your path to success will look like, no one does, and that is why it’s “your secret” to success.
And that, Socrates, is my explanation to the secrets, and not secrets, to success.
The post 5 Rules For Finding Your “Secret” To Success appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
5 Rules For Finding Your Secrets To Success
Do you agree with Mr. Powell?
Personally, I agree and disagree.
He’s got it right with the latter part of his quote: success requires preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
But he’s wrong about there being no secrets to success.
I believe there are secrets. In a way, that is.
This makes me think of Socrates. You know what Socrates would say about now?
He would ask, “What are secrets?”
Then I would have to define the word “secret” to support my statement about there being secrets to success.
I would answer his question with: “A secret is something not known to others.” Then I would have to defend my point of view, to which Socrates may or may not agree (or leave me with another question).
Sorry, getting caught up with the visual of debating with Socrates…
So, how are there secrets to success while achieving success is not a secret?
Let me explain…
I believe that there are secrets to success but it is not a secret for discovering these secrets to success. By following the known ways to success—like preparation, hard work and learning from failure—you will discover the “secrets” to success for you, the individual.
A bit of paradox this may seem to some, other’s will get it.
See, you and I, and everyone else, posses the “secrets” to achieving success. Like Mr. Powell, most of us know that we must work hard and keep going to reach success. The thing is, not all of us truly understand what this looks like, or we might not be using this information to reach success, or maybe we don’t realize that these secrets, that are in plain sight, must be combined in a way that will produce success and that each require a bit of finagling to figure out what the secret to our success will be.
Yes I know, I’m getting a bit esoteric on this, but that’s (partly) been on purpose. I’m setting you up for what’s coming.
Mr. Powell was right: preparation, hard work and failure are integral to success. But the “how” of applying for you is the big secret that lingers over us all.
So basically, the secret to success is different in what it looks like but the same in how to reveal it.
Paradox or not, what it comes down to is you must figure out your secrets to success.
So how do you figure out your secrets to success?
You start preparing, working hard, and learning from your failures!
Cheeky you are, you might think right now. But don’t fret, I’m not finished. So please, bear with me, I’m gonna bring this home with some concrete examples of what this looks like.
But first, I need to share the fundaments of reaching success. These are universal to all and to neglect them is to handicap your results. While it might be possible to reach success by foregoing some of these fundamentals, you will only be making it harder than it needs to be.
The Fundamentals of Becoming
Successful In Life As A Human Being
1. Health must come first.
You will never become the best version of yourself, or reach the greatest results you are capable of reaching, if you neglect your health.
It’s as simple as that.
When you are healthy, you can focus and your work is more productive. You get more done in less time. Then, and this is what people fail to realize, once you reach success… you get to freaking enjoy it!
Why, please tell me, would you want to be a millionaire but sick, feeble, overweight and unable to enjoy your wealth?
Make health your first priority and success will come easier and more abundant: avoid processed foods, exercise regularly, get sunlight, utilize rest, and invest in your relationships.
This is first and foremost. If you don’t have health, you have nothing.
“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” -A. J. Reb Materi
2. You must constantly read and pursue knowledge.
Reading is the habit of the successful. There is no substitute for it. To be successful, you must develop a curious mind that is always absorbing information.
It’s like Will said in Good Will Hunting, “You dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin education you coulda got for a dollah fifty in late chahges at the public library.”
After dropping out of college, I soon learned the power of this quote. Reading is the reason I’ve reached any level of success in my life. I attribute it to every single thing I’ve ever done that has brought me money, joy and happiness. Reading was alway the epicenter of these efforts. Always.
(I’m not suggesting college is bad—it can be bad for some people, good for others. I’m just highlighting the power of reading.)
3. You must start and finish.
To be successful, you must not just know how to take action and finish what you start, but you have to be doing it all the time. While there are times you should quit a project, the majority you should finish even if the prospect of financial reward or acclaim isn’t there. The act of finishing is reward itself.
The more you start and finish, the easier it becomes to do both. And let me tell you something about success in life: it’s all about starting and finishing things.
If you cannot finish what you start, you will never get rich or become the best you can be.
Taking action is integral to figuring out the “secret” that is your path to success. It’s how you learn from our failures so you can iterate and get better. How can you learn from you mistakes if you never make any?! (That was rhetorical.)
Act, fail, act, succeed. What real life actually looks like: act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, act, fail, succeed, fail, act, fail, succeed, act, fail, succeed, succeed.
This is what the path to success looks like. It is an ugly mess of ups, downs and uncertainty. Only the persons that are devoted and numb to the stings of the harsh process will see it through.
Your path to success will be different from everyone else, and no matter what you do, you can never be fully prepared. The only thing to do is journey through it.
The journey is what prepares you, what unveils your secrets.
4. You must learn… then apply.
Failure is only useful if you learn from it and then apply what you learned to get better results the next time. (The same is true of any knowledge: you must use it.)
Never blame others, or the economy, or whatever. You must take full responsibility for the results you get in life by always asking yourself “why” you failed.
Never, ever, ever attribute blame.
This is a great policy to life that will have far-sweeping implications in your personal life, and as far as success goes, it’s absolutely necessary.
You cannot learn if you cannot accept the results of your actions (or inactions). You are the reason you have—or fail to have—what you have in life. Never, ever, ever forget that.
5. You must use money well.
To be successful, you must learn how to use money well. And this doesn’t mean just stuffing it under the mattress or in a low-yield savings account either.
It means you must invest it when necessary, spend it when necessary, and give it away when necessary.
Money is a tool that will work for you or against you. When it works for you, it will bring you wealth and prosperity. When it work against you, it will suck you dry of every last penny.
If you don’t learn the principles of money, and the Science of Getting Rich (book recommendation), then you will never be able to achieve lasting success.
Money is more important than people realize. Money can do great or terrible things, depending on who has it.
Never apologize for the getting of money. The greatest thing you can do as a human being is acquire as much wealth as possible so you can use it to make the world a better place.
I remember a quote but I forget who said it. It went something like this: “Having more money brings out more of who you are.”
If you are a miserable, selfish prick, you are going to be more of a miserable, selfish prick when you have more money.
If you are a caring, kind person who enjoys helping people, you are going to be able to care and help more people when you have more money.
And really, anyone that does not desire to attain resources for their family should be ashamed. To me, this is selfish and self-serving. To criticize money is to center the universe around you, the individual.
News flash: life is a group effort.
Your loved ones deserve your full effort in attaining as much money as possible so you can better protect and provide for them and so they all can benefit from the safety and opportunity that money provides.
Earn your money honestly and spend it honestly. Then never apologize or feel guilty for getting and having it.
Learn the principles of investing, business, and personal finance.
Invest and save as much of your money as possible. The richest men in the world got rich by buying and holding, not by buying and selling.
5. Consistency.
You must stay consist with the principles above, including this one. You must consistently stay consistent.
The thing about consistency is you can stay consistent with just about anything and success will almost always come in some form. This is why consistently is the most rewarding of all the attributes for success: because it’s the most difficult part of being successful and fewer people will do it.
The times you feel like giving up, when your motivation is waning, when the future is unclear, these are the times you must plow through.
In life and success, it’s the tortoise that wins the race.
I’ll tell you something about “overnight success.” The average overnight success is 10 years in the making. Very, very few people achieve success overnight the way people think (and like to glamorize).
Most people that have earned success have done so by working consistently for years. In short, they deserve to be exactly where they are.
Back to Socrates
Earlier, I claimed that Mr. Powell was wrong and that I believe there are secrets to success.
So where does that leave us?
Well, the principles above are not secrets or ground-breaking by any means. I’m sure you’ve “heard” them all and you probably agree with and see the practicability of each one.
So where does the “secret” of success come in? The secret you must discover is how the principles above—and the principles of getting rich—apply to your life. The only way you figure this out is by applying the principles of success and getting in the trenches and doing the work. From there, your secret to success will unveil itself in time as you work, learn, work, fail, work, iterate.
No one ever knows how they will get rich before they get rich. Even if they have an “idea,” it is never exactly they envisioned it. Most companies (and people) pivot their product multiple times before finding their breakthrough success.
The same holds true for you and I. We all have a “secret” to success that will only reveal itself by doing the work and applying the principles of success listed above.
To unlock our “secret,” we must go after it. Each time we take action and learn from the process, a little bit closer to our secret we get.
Apply the principles of health, knowledge, starting and finishing, learning and applying, using money well, and staying consistent with it all and you will discover the secret that is your path to success.
You don’t know what your path to success will look like, no one does, and that is why it’s “your secret” to success.
And that, Socrates, is my explanation to the secrets, and not secrets, to success.
The post 5 Rules For Finding Your Secrets To Success appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
September 8, 2014
Sometimes It’s Not What You Read But When You Read It
“We become what we think about.”
–Earl Nightingale
I read a lot of books. But I don’t always finish them, especially if they don’t “hook” me in the first few chapters. So naturally I have plenty of unfinished books taking up digital space on my kindle and physical space in storage.
The quote above reminded me of something I read this morning that was powerful and got me thinking.
I read every morning in the sun for 20-30 minutes. So I’m reading this book outside in the 90 degree Florida sun that I just got on my Kindle and I couldn’t get into it. I would have normally quit after the first few chapters but because it came so highly recommended I decided to keep going.
The book is called The Science of Getting Rich by William D. Wattles.
This book was recommend as: “The best book ever written about money.” Whether that is an accurate statement or not is yet to be determined. I’ve always been a sucker for a book when I hear someone make a bold claim like this.
If you tell me that “insert book” is the most life-changing book you’ve ever read, I will buy a copy same day. I’ve always figured that if a book could provide me an ounce of the value it brought the recommender than it would be a no-brainer investment. After all, $10 bucks is a bargain for knowledge that I can use for the rest of my life.
So I buy The Science of Getting Rich per a recommendation I read online and I’m half-way through it (it’s a short read) after 8 chapters.
Then finally I come across something powerful. I stumbled on a nuggets of wisdom that I needed to hear. Like really needed to hear. To think I would have missed out if I gave up sooner is a scary thought (and a lesson in itself).
So half-way through chapter 8 and I have a mini-revelation for my current situation—which the quote above reminded me of—and it was like bucket of water in the face.
Chapter 8 is titled, “Thinking in a Certain Way.” It’s about how you must visualize, as specifically as possible, what you want and what you are going after in life.
And while I’ve read this recommendation hundreds of times in hundreds of self-help books, I needed to read it now.
The ideas of visualization and vivid goal-setting aren’t new or groundbreaking. I’ve read the same concepts in all of the “get rich” books like Think and Grow Rich, The Millionaire Next Door, The Richest Man in Babylon, and Secrets of The Millionaire Mind, to name a few. They all cover the importance of using visualizing techniques for your goals, and how becoming rich is all rooted in the mind.
Like I said: nothing new.
And yet, the fact that I “knew” of this idea did nothing for me and my current situation. I needed to be reminded of it. It’s a simple as that.
This made me realize something about reading, books and information…
Sometimes you need the right information at the right time.
While I’ve read about visualization techniques hundreds of times, I hadn’t done so in the last couple months during a time when it was needed most. And as a result, I’ve been struggling with a sort of early-midlife-existential crisis while I try to figure out what the next step in my life is.
This line was like a slap in the face: “You can never get rich, or start the creative power into action, by sending out unformed longings and vague desires.”
I realized that I had been doing exactly that: sending out unformed longings and vague desires. Because I have so many random desires and goals bouncing around in my head, I’ve been unable to figure out what I need to do because, fundamentally, I don’t know what I want.
I realized that here lies the root of my problem: I must answer the question “What do I want?” before I can answer “What do I do?”
By first deciding what I want and then crystallizing that into a vivid imagine in my mind, the rest becomes cakewalk. I simply take the steps necessary to get to the want.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the basic premise to every self-help, get rich, motivational book ever written.
“If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.” -Lucius Annaeus Seneca
I am now trying to figure out what I want. Once I have a vision concrete in my mind (and down on paper), I will laser focus on it. Then, I won’t struggle with feelings of discontent because I’ll have a clear vision of where I’m going and what I’m doing to get there.
Back to books…
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were once asked what super power they would choose if they had their pick. They both said they would want to become the world’s fastest reader.
I dropped-out of college (I never did well in school). Because of this, I learned how to self-educate. I’ve studied business, marketing, management, math, history, writing, psychology and philosophy through reading books and articles (and podcasts). I then apply the principles I learn to my life.
Whether you are in school or not, your education should never end. This is where reading comes in to great effect. I believe that reading is the most powerful thing you can do to become a better person.
Reading to chapter 8 in The Science of Getting Rich helped me figure some tough questions I had been struggling with for months now. It’s hard to say how long it may have taken had I not read that book. The thing is, this isn’t an isolated incident. Reading has done helped me in my life in more ways than I can count. Knowledge is power when you apply it to life (not everyone does the applying part).
Start reading more!
I implore you to start reading more, and not just blogs or articles on the Internet, but books. You want to read the best books in the world because they have been professionally editing and curated (far more than any blog post or article) and because most of them stand the test of time.
Be weary of wasting too much time with weak books filled with weak ideas. Seek out the best books with the best ideas. There are more of these than you’ll ever be able to read so it makes sense to be a bit of a book snob in this regard.
My tips for reading:
1. Stick with what interests you. There’s too little time to read books you don’t enjoy. We all have enough interests to keep us reading great books for the rest of our lives.
2. If you aren’t enjoying the book, even it comes highly recommended, move on. There are types of fiction I don’t enjoy. The same goes for non-fiction books that read like a textbook. There are times you should give up on a book and there are times you might want to try a bit harder to stick with it (like in my example above).
3. Read fiction. There is research that suggests fiction makes you smarter, more articulate, and more “worldly.” I’ve seen this in myself. Reading fiction makes you better in more ways than you realize. It’s like doing complex math. While you may never use a complex math equation or formula in your everyday life, you still create brain synapses and expand your intelligence by working through math problems. I think the same concept applies to fiction.
4. Skim sometimes. Certain books lend themselves to skimming better than others. Obviously, this applies to non-fiction. Most non-fiction books are based on one or two main ideas or concepts. The thing is, you can’t sell a book for $19.99 that is only a few pages and filled with one or two main ideas. This is why most books are stuffed with “filler” that makes the book “fatter” so it looks more valuable on retailer shelves. This is the industry.
Sometimes you need to skim the filler to get to the meat. In the example I mentioned earlier, it took me 8 chapters to get to my first idea.
5. Start listening to podcasts and audiobooks. We all spend a ton of time running errands, driving around, and waiting in line. You can use this time to become smarter by using your phone and a set of headphones as a portable learning machine. There are so many free, high-quality podcasts that you can always have something interesting to listen to. Audiobooks are also a great option.
I hope you were able to glean some useful insight from this piece. I also hope you will start reading more. And hey, if you made it this far—1513 words—then that’s a damn good start!
Yours in Fitness,
-Colin Stuckert
The post Sometimes It’s Not What You Read But When You Read It appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
September 6, 2014
50 Ways To Get Better At Fitness
Your Task:1. Read the list…
2. Implement…
3. Watch yourself get better!
How to get better at Fitness (in no particular order):
1. Gear up. Get Oly shoes, some inov-8s or nano’s, a speed rope, wrist wraps, and quality workout clothes.
2. Lift heavy weights regularly. Don’t just stay in comfortable 70% zones. Push your limit… which leads perfectly to #3…
3. Use a spotter and FAIL. If you aren’t missing reps, you aren’t training hard enough. Period.
4. Work mobility A LOT. Before, During, After.
5. Take your training seriously. Always strive to become better.
6. Don’t take your training too seriously. Give yourself a break.
7. Train with others. It’s just better.
8. Show up no matter what. If you aren’t in the mood, here’s what you do. First: Walk to your car and drive to the Box. Second: Figure the rest out later.
9. Fast before you train. ‘The idea that we “need” to consume calories before, during, or after training, is bullshit hype pushed on us from the bodybuilding and supplement industries.
When you switch your metabolism over to training without food, you will PR more often and feel better in general. And you’ll want to send me a thank you card… you’re welcome.
10. Don’t throw your barbell or other equipment. It’s just douchey.
11. Warm-up A LOT. Make sure you focus your warm-ups and utilize dynamic movements before you train. This will improve your results and prevent injury.
12. Motivate other athletes. To receive, you must give.
13. Practice handstands often. You have to get upside down if you want to improve them.
14. For Females (and guys who don’t have strict pull-ups yet): Have someone spot your ankles as you perform strict pull-ups (push off the spotters hands to assist reps and go for failure). This is the best way to develop the dead hang pull-up that I have found.
15. Don’t cherry pick your WOD’s or days. Show up the days that make you want to hide. These are the days you should never skip (weaknesses… HeLLo).
16. Train your weaknesses. Really try to destroy them. This is the only way to become a better athlete in my professional opinion.
17. Utilize your coaches before and after class. They love to talk training, food, and lifestyle. Ask them questions and then shut up and listen. You will learn a LOT.
18. Ask other athletes for tips and tricks. We are all on different paths in this journey and have learned different things along the way. You never know who you can learn from.
19. Buy a jump rope and size it to you. Then never leave it at the gym.
20. Practice double-unders every day
21. Do a few strict pull-ups every day
22. Do a few one-arm push-ups every day
23. Meditate 5 minutes every day. This can improve your entire life (and your fitness).
24. Practice your Olympic weightlifting every day with a dowel and empty barbell. The gains you will make doing this are insane.
25. If there is an exercise you are not good at, do the following: perform 3 sets of 10 as part of your warm-up every day.
26. Work on heavy, light, and moderately weighted squats every week. Doing lots of squats will produce big gains for men and women. Squats are king.
27. Practice jumping in all modalities. Over, under, on top of, sideways, backwards, long, short, high. Get jumping.
28. Make sure you have a very good rack position. The barbell should be completely supported by your shoulders and not your hands.
29. Train planks often. And I really mean train them. The results from these come 30 seconds after your arms start shaking. You need some mental toughness for these.
30. Learn to bounce out of the bottom of a squat. This can be difficult for those of you that have tight hips and this is why you should practice squats often with a dowel and empty barbell.
31. Do pistols at least once a week (the more the better).
32. Make sure to hit all the major lifts at least once a week. Squat, Deadlift, Press, Bench, Snatch, Clean, Jerk.
33. Have a recovery plan: hot/cold water, massage, foam rolling, nutrition, ice, Epsom salt, etc.
34. Get your family involved. Who cares if you come off annoying at first? They are your family and you don’t want to bury them, do you? If you really love your family, you should give a shit if they are killing themselves with shitty food and bad lifestyle habits. Start working on them NOW.
35. Do shoulder dislocates with a dowel every workout. Don’t force them. Move smoothly.
36. Turn the wrists out at the bottom of the muscle-up. This will ensure you reach full extension of the elbows, lats, and shoulders.
37. Do lots of strict dips and negative holds on the rings.
38. Incorporate strongman work into your program. Sled work and the prowler can do amazing things. Walk with a sled attached to the hips as recommended by Louie Simmons.
39. Practice heavy farmer carries.
40. Throw things. We’ve been throwing spears and javelins for thousands of years.
41. Wake up to 20 push-ups every morning.
42. Do 30 air squats and 20 push-ups after every meal. No really..this is an awesome recommendation from Tim Ferris in The 4-Hour Body and I use it all the time. It’s even more effective after big meals. (The 4-Hour Body)
43. Walk after every meal. This improves digestion, prevents fat gain, and makes you feel less bloated and lethargic.
44. Do travel or home WOD’s if you can’t make it to the gym. Check TrainingBox.TV for free functional fitness workouts at home.
45. Practice L-sits often. Same with frog stands. These basic gymnastic skills are easy and low-stress movements that can help you become fitter.
46. Listen to your coaches! They see what you don’t see and they know training.
47. Work on your lifestyle and nutrition. Here are some resources: Cooking Guide, The Paleo Diet, MarksDailyApple
48. Take REST days. I know it’s an insane concept, but you CAN’T train every single day. CF is very stressful on the body and requires adequate rest. If you want to live a long life, and give your body time to get stronger, you must let it repair itself through proper rest and recovery.
49. Take a REST week every couple months. This has done wonders for a lot of my athletes.
50. The best thing you can do when training Xfit is to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. You must learn when you can push past your redline and when it’s time to back off. Listen to your body when it tells you to rest. Figure out what your body responds to and what it doesn’t. Self-experimentation allows you to develop a plan that works for your goals and body type.
Download the PDF: 50 tips
Get the Free Gym Life Downloads by Joining the Gym Life Club
100% Free!
The post 50 Ways To Get Better At Fitness appeared first on Improve Your Fitness and Life Through Training, Mindset, Psychology, Nutrition and Philosophy.
50 Ways To Get Better At CrossFit
Your Task:
1. Read the list and choose tips that will help balance your training
2. Implement and watch as you become a better athlete!
How to get better at CrossFit (in no particular order):
1. Gear up. Get Oly shoes, some inov-8s or nano’s, a speed rope, wrist wraps, and quality workout clothes.
2. Lift heavy weights regularly. Don’t just stay in comfortable 70% zones. Push your limit… which leads perfectly to #3…
3. Use a spotter and FAIL. If you aren’t missing reps, you aren’t training hard enough. Period.
4. Work mobility A LOT. Before, During, After.
5. Take your training seriously. Always strive to become better.
6. Don’t take your training too seriously. Give yourself a break.
7. Train with others. It’s just better.
8. Show up no matter what. If you aren’t in the mood, here’s what you do. First: Walk to your car and drive to the Box. Second: Figure the rest out later.
9. Fast before you train. ‘The idea that we “need” to consume calories before, during, or after training, is bullshit hype pushed on us from the bodybuilding and supplement industries.
When you switch your metabolism over to training without food, you will PR more often and feel better in general. And you’ll want to send me a thank you card… you’re welcome.
10. Don’t throw your barbell or other equipment. It’s just douchey.
11. Warm-up A LOT. Make sure you focus your warm-ups and utilize dynamic movements before you train. This will improve your results and prevent injury.
12. Motivate other athletes. To receive, you must give.
13. Practice handstands often. You have to get upside down if you want to improve them.
14. For Females (and guys who don’t have strict pull-ups yet): Have someone spot your ankles as you perform strict pull-ups (push off the spotters hands to assist reps and go for failure). This is the best way to develop the dead hang pull-up that I have found.
15. Don’t cherry pick your WOD’s or days. Show up the days that make you want to hide. These are the days you should never skip (weaknesses… HeLLo).
16. Train your weaknesses. Really try to destroy them. This is the only way to become a better athlete in my professional opinion.
17. Utilize your coaches before and after class. They love to talk training, food, and lifestyle. Ask them questions and then shut up and listen. You will learn a LOT.
18. Ask other athletes for tips and tricks. We are all on different paths in this journey and have learned different things along the way. You never know who you can learn from.
19. Buy a jump rope and size it to you. Then never leave it at the gym.
20. Practice double-unders every day
21. Do a few strict pull-ups every day
22. Do a few one-arm push-ups every day
23. Meditate 5 minutes every day. This can improve your entire life (and CrossFit).
24. Practice your Olympic weightlifting every day with a dowel and empty barbell. The gains you will make doing this are insane.
25. If there is an exercise you are not good at, do the following: perform 3 sets of 10 as part of your warm-up every day.
26. Work on heavy, light, and moderately weighted squats every week. Doing lots of squats will produce big gains for men and women. Squats are king.
27. Practice jumping in all modalities. Over, under, on top of, sideways, backwards, long, short, high. Get jumping.
28. Make sure you have a very good rack position. The barbell should be completely supported by your shoulders and not your hands.
29. Train planks often. And I really mean train them. The results from these come 30 seconds after your arms start shaking. You need some mental toughness for these.
30. Learn to bounce out of the bottom of a squat. This can be difficult for those of you that have tight hips and this is why you should practice squats often with a dowel and empty barbell.
31. Do pistols at least once a week (the more the better).
32. Make sure to hit all the major lifts at least once a week. Squat, Deadlift, Press, Bench, Snatch, Clean, Jerk.
33. Have a recovery plan: hot/cold water, massage, foam rolling, nutrition, ice, Epsom salt, etc.
34. Get your family involved. Who cares if you come off annoying at first? They are your family and you don’t want to bury them, do you? If you really love your family, you should give a shit if they are killing themselves with shitty food and bad lifestyle habits. Start working on them NOW.
35. Do shoulder dislocates with a dowel every workout. Don’t force them. Move smoothly.
36. Turn the wrists out at the bottom of the muscle-up. This will ensure you reach full extension of the elbows, lats, and shoulders.
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37. Do lots of strict dips and negative holds on the rings.
38. Incorporate strongman work into your program. Sled work and the prowler can do amazing things. Walk with a sled attached to the hips as recommended by Louie Simmons.
39. Practice heavy farmer carries.
40. Throw things. We’ve been throwing spears and javelins for thousands of years.
41. Wake up to 20 push-ups every morning.
42. Do 30 air squats and 20 push-ups after every meal. No really..this is an awesome recommendation from Tim Ferris in The 4-Hour Body and I use it all the time. It’s even more effective after big meals. (The 4-Hour Body)
43. Walk after every meal. This improves digestion, prevents fat gain, and makes you feel less bloated and lethargic.
44. Do travel or home WOD’s if you can’t make it to the gym. Check TrainingBox.TV for free functional fitness workouts at home.
45. Practice L-sits often. Same with frog stands. These basic gymnastic skills are easy and low-stress movements that can help you become fitter.
46. Listen to your coaches! They see what you don’t see and they know CrossFit.
47. Work on your lifestyle and nutrition. Here are some resources: Cooking Guide, The Paleo Diet, MarksDailyApple
48. Take REST days. I know it’s an insane concept, but you CAN’T train every single day. CrossFit is very stressful on the body and requires adequate rest. If you want to live a long life, and give your body time to get stronger, you must let it repair itself through proper rest and recovery.
49. Take a REST week every couple months. This has done wonders for a lot of my athletes.
50. The best thing you can do when training CrossFit is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. You must learn when you can push past your redline and when it’s time to back off. Listen to your body when it tells you to rest. Figure out what your body responds to and what it doesn’t. Self-experimenting allows you to develop a plan that works for your goals and body type.
Download the PDF: 50 tips
Get the Free Gym Life Downloads by Joining the Gym Life Club
100% Free!
The post 50 Ways To Get Better At CrossFit appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
September 1, 2014
50 Ways to Lose Weight
50 ways to Lose weight intelligently without the use of drugs or unhealthy protocols.
Please share this one with anyone that you know will benefit! Let’s keep fighting the good fight… Here is a snazzy click-to-tweet link.
This essay is about losing weight but it also doubles as a guide on how to live a healthy lifestyle. Overall, you will lead a better life if you make your lifestyle look something like 1 through 20.
1. Eat a Grain-Free Paleo/Primal diet
Health and longevity are centered around eating a Paleo or Primal diet (meat, leaves, berries). If you can’t go 100% grain-free Paleo (you can, BTW), you should, at the very least, be focusing on eating only unprocessed whole foods from nature. Eat real food in its real state.
Food is fuel. Only ingest the highest quality fuel you can find. Weight loss becomes effortless when you are eating real food.
2. Get lots of Sleep
I have clients that look at me sideways when I tell them they need to sleep 8+ hours a night. If you are one of these sleep-deprived zombies, I challenge you to try it for a week. You will be amazed by how you feel and where your body composition goes with this little experiment. You may realize that you have been in a chronic state of sleep deprivation your entire life.
3. Practice Intermittent Fasting (IF): Eat Less Often
I follow the leangains approach: a daily 8-hour feeding window followed by a 16-hour fast. Check it out: Leangains.com. Whether you follow a strict fasting protocol or not, you can definitely benefit by skipping meals on a regular basis. Contrary to popular belief, skipping meals can help you you build muscle (it also provides a ton of other health-related benefit).
Further Reading: MarksDailyApple, EatSTOPEat
4. Eat Slow and Chew Your Food ThoroughlyThis has done WONDERS for me. I used to inhale food like a whale gobbling up plankton. I would just swim right through the food until it was gone in a matter of minutes. Eating slow enables some important triggers for weight loss:
1. You reduce the insulin spike by slowing the release of glucose into your blood stream. This prevents insulin, a storage hormone, from storing calories in your fat cells–more insulin = more fat storage.
2. You eat less. Eating slow lets you feel full faster while also reducing how many calories you eat. We all hate that full, bloated feeling. That is the result of eating too fast and not allowing the full trigger enough time to tell your brain to PUT DOWN THE DAMN FORK.
5. Cook Your Food at Home
Restaurant food is just bad. Restaurants use cheap salt, sugar, sauces, thickeners, stabilizers and all kinds of other unnatural crap to reduce costs, stay profitable, and keep the food addictive.
The average restaurant margin is well under 5%. You better believe they do everything they can to cut corners and save on food costs. When this happens, the customer is the one that gets stuck with the health bill.
6. Don’t Drink Calories
When clients cut out soda/juices/beer they usually see 5+ pound weight-loss results within the first week. Drinking calories elicits a similar negative response on insulin levels that eating your food too fast does. The calories enter your blood stream too quickly and cause an overload of insulin. We are made to chew our food. Avoid drinking calories in any form.
7. Go Completely Gluten-Free
This can be life changing. Clean out your pantry and be super picky when eating out (say no to the free bread). This could be the missing link to that lean body you’ve been trying to achieve.
8. Don’t Snack. Snacking is The Bane of Weight Loss
One of the reasons Intermittent fasting is so effective is because it regulates your hormone levels through balancing your body between the fasted and fed states. Your body is made to burn fat when in the ‘fasted’ state and made to store calories when in the ‘fed’ state. Every time you put calories in your mouth you are entering the ‘fed’ state and thus shutting off your bodies ability to burn fat by introducing insulin into your blood stream.
Next time you grab that bag of almonds thinking it’s a healthy snack, you should think again; you are actually doing your body a disservice. Eat only during your meal times.
9. Take High Quality Fish Oil With Every Meal
Fish oil contains omega-3’s that help to balance out the omega-6’s that are prevalent throughout our modern diets (especially processed foods). Correcting this balance provides a major benefit to the body, especially weight loss. My favorite brand is Carlson
Further Reading: Read Robb Wolf’s post if you are interested in the science.
10. Take Vitamin D or Get Sunlight Every day
This could be the missing link in your weight loss efforts. Vitamin D is a hormone that is integral to many processes in your body. Take a vitamin D soft-gel or get 20 minutes of sunlight every day.
Further Reading: MarksDailyApple
11. Reduce Stress at All Costs
Do everything you can to reduce and avoid stress. Every time you get angry, stressed, or freak-out about something it is like taking a bite out of a candy bar. Stress releases cortisol and insulin into your blood stream just like taking a bite of your favorite candy bar.
As we discussed earlier, the extra release of insulin halts fat-loss and promotes fat-gain (cortisol also messes shit up). That’s a bad combination don’t you think? Take a chill pill and BREATHE.
12. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the act of focusing on a single object or task and turning off the rest of the noise (thoughts, worry, stress) going through your head. This helps with number 11 in lowering and preventing chronically raised cortisol and insulin levels. Our hormones get all out of whack as a result of our mind tormenting us with worry, stress, anger, resentment, jealously, and all kinds of other shit we shouldn’t be worrying about.
Techniques for being mindful: Counting your breath (breath meditation), sitting in a quiet place and emptying the mind (meditation), going outdoors and focusing on the sights and sounds (a form of meditation). I’m not a pro here, just a student, so I suggest you do some more research on your own. A little practice goes a long way.
Recommended book:
The Power of Now
13. Eliminate Sugar
It’s the absolute worst thing you can eat. Remember, fat doesn’t make you fat; sugar, seed oils, and processed grains are what make you fat.
14. Eat lots of High-Quality Fat
Fatty fish, grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, coconut oil, olive oil (I prefer it unheated), Kerrygold butter, avocado oil, macadamia oil, ghee, lard (make your own), tallow (make your own).
Fat is the most neglected nutrient for most people because of all the misinformation and anti-fat dogma that started in the 60’s. As a result, the majority of people still don’t understand how important fat is to the human body (especially for women and their wacky hormones).
Let me tell you something that is going to blow your mind: YOU SHOULD BE GETTING MOST OF YOUR CALORIES FROM FAT. Yes, this means 40%, 50%, and up to 60% of your total calories should come from quality fat sources.
Next time you sit down to eat, look at your plate. Are half or more of the total calories from fat? If not, go in the kitchen and grab more.
15. Eat lots of High-quality Animal Products
Keywords include: grass-fed, free range, pastured, organic, all-natural, hormone-free, humanely raised, family farms, local.
Your diet should look something like this:
Protein 30-35% of calories or more
Fat 35-60% of calories or more
Carbs in the form of starches/veggies = ~25% or less
Remember, these are just averages. Everyone is different and some will prefer lower carbs while others will do well on higher carbs. Tweak and experiment to find what works for you.
16. Perform Resistance Training ~3 times a week
You probably already know why this is beneficial. Just do it.
17. Perform High-Intensity Conditioning ~3x Week
Think intervals; short, fast, and hard. Avoid long distance and moderately paced exercise as the bulk of your training.
18. Walk Everywhere
Take the stairs, park at the end of the parking lot, walk the long way. We are made to move at a slow pace often. Get up and get moving.
19. Play Sports
Great for overall health, mental relief, muscle building, mobility, social development, etc. We have been playing games since the dawn of man.
20. Get Outdoors as Much as Possible
Check out the book based off of this article with more tips and expanded explanations of protocols!
Download the handy 20 Ways To Life a Healthy Lifestyle Poster
The first 20 are the fundamentals to living a healthy life. As you adopt more and more of this list, you will notice that you become a fat-burning machine, and you’ll soon realize how easy it is to tweak your weight based on what you do or don’t do. I recommend you incorporate these habits a little at a time until they become routine. Don’t try to adopt them all at once or you will probably get frustrated and fail.
More Tips For Weight Loss:
21. Drink a full glass of water before each meal
You will feel full faster and eat less as a result.
22. Eat your protein before your carbs and fat
Protein is very satiating and will fill you up fast.
23. Eat a bit of healthy fat 15 minutes before each meal
Fat triggers the release of hormones that signal your brain that you are full. You can kickstart these hormones by nibbling on some nuts or dark chocolate before your meals.
24. Eat hot and hearty soups and stews
Soups and stews are filling. Eat them HOT and slow (prevents overeating).
25. Sprint
Fast, intense, full-body exercise like sprinting has insane thermogenic and EPOC effects on the body. Basically, it turns your body into a calorie-burning furnace. Sprinting also builds massive muscle (compare a pic of a sprinter to a marathon runner…scary).
26. Make things difficult for yourself (on purpose)
Why would you ever do this? So you can move more, DUH!
The more movement you perform, the more calories you burn. Instead of always taking the easiest route, try this: grit your pussy willow lip and get moving.
27. Buy some Chuck Taylors or Reebok Olys
The more weight you move, the more calories you burn and more muscle you build.
28. Drink green tea
Green tea is full of antioxidants and a bit of caffeine–both good for fat burning.
29. Chew More
Chewing has been linked to improvement in digestion and breakdown of food through the release of the saliva enzymes amylase (starch breakdown) and lipase (fat breakdown).
30. Drink black coffee (in moderation)
Coffee offers many benefits to the body, one of which is fat burning, but there are some caveats. You should drink black and organic if possible (or try Bulletproof coffee, it’s amazing). Only buy the best Coffee beans as they are one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world.
31. Take a digestive enzyme, probiotic, and/or eat fermented food regularly
These products improve gut health and digestion. The better you digest your food, the better it is utilized in the body and the less likely it is to be converted into adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is FAT ladies and gentlemen, the jiggly, cellulitely, unpleasant kind of fat.
32. Perform heavy, complex, functional movements
Anything that trains the body as a whole is going to eat up calories for fuel. If you are stuck in isolation-land, I implore you to start picking up, carrying, and moving heavy shit on a regular basis. Go big and compound, or go home.
33. Avoid liquid food
And yes, that includes protein shakes. You should avoid liquid calories in any form if you are trying to lose weight. We know that drinking calories produce a large insulin spike and we also know that insulin is a storage hormone that signals our body to store calories. Well, do you know where those calories get stored? Yup, as fat.
Disclaimer: If you drink a shake in lieu of eating a meal, then I say it’s not that bad as long as you keep it simple and low-carb. Avoid those 500-calorie oat, peanut butter, and fruit smoothie concoctions (those are for weight gain). If it keeps you from eating shit and you want to drink a shake, then stick with water and whey and drink it slow.
34. Skip the condiments
How did I lose 10 pounds and finally carve out my abs after many years of frustration? Dropping ketchup. I used to drown my chicken breasts in ketchup; they were swimming. Eliminating this single product allowed me to bust through a stubborn plateau.
Store bought condiments are filled with sugar and other processed crap. There is no reason to include them in your diet, especially considering how easy it is to substitute them with a homemade or organic option. These seemingly small tweaks are what separate those that have abs from those that don’t.
Stick with organic mustard or homemade ketchup.
35. Drink lots of water
You don’t need to drink as much water as the pundits would have you believe, but for reducing cravings and making you feel full more often, water is useful. Listen to your thirst; it’s there for a reason.
36. Think hard – Use your brain
Your brain’s primary fuel source is glucose, so obviously it is beneficial to use up as much of it as possible so there isn’t any leftover to be stored as fat.
37. Perform Tabata intervals
A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Pick a movement—Air squat for example—and start a timer. Perform as many air squats in 20 seconds as possible, and then rest. Go after 10 seconds of rest. Repeat until 4 minutes is up and 8 rounds have been completed. The Tabata Interval is a brutal, effective, and simple exercise protocol that you can do with any exercise or movement.
38. Replace soda, juice, sweet tea with a soda water and lime (sparkling and seltzer also work)
This is how my sister and I weaned off soda (a long time ago). It allowed us to satisfy our craving for carbonation without the calories or sugar. You can even fake it at the club with a soda water and lime—you will still look super-cool and no one will know you are just sipping bubbly water.
39. Do NOTHING
Relieve stress by turning off your brain and laying around like a fat-lazy Jabba the Hutt. This is something some of us do well (or too much) and others do terribly (never relax).
Examples of doing nothing include: watching mindless TV, movies, people watching, lying on the beach, napping.
40. Take naps
Sleep is one of the top 5 techniques for living a healthy life. Naps consist of sleep. Thus naps do a body good (milk does not).
41. Get social
Humans are social animals that have survived for thousands of by staying together. The benefits of enjoying time with friends and family are enormous. Anything that improves happiness and makes us feel good will help us lose weight by reducing stress.
42. Fast before you train and/or after you train
The longer you go without food in your body the more you will burn stored fat. Training increases your body’s need for fuel. Your body will utilize fat stores for fuel if there is a lack of glucose in your blood stream. Fasting helps keep glucose out of your bloodstream so your body can burn off fat instead.
43. Watch your carb intake
This includes sugar, rice, potatoes, fruit, and grains (hopefully no grains). Even good carbs can become bad if you eat too much of them.
44. Take ZMA before bed (Zinc, Magnesium & Vitamin B-6)
ZMA is hands down my favorite supplement. Not only does magnesium aid in weight loss and a host of other bodily functions, it improves sleep as well. You will sleep deeper, fuller, and longer. This should be a standard supplement in everyone’s program.
Recommended product: Natural Stacks MagTech
45. Do Crossfit
Seriously, everyone can and should do some form of Crossfit. You can do more WODs, Less WODs, strength-bias, endurance-bias, gymnastics-bias, powerlifting-bias, etc. It is great for GPP (general Physical Preparedness) and it results in a sexy bod.
Links: strength-bias, endurance-bias, gymnastics-bias, powerlifting-bias, outlaw, etc.
46. Utilize active-rest days
Those days where you can barely walk and your back feels like a giant bruise (I heart that feeling) are days that you should avoid training. This is the perfect time for an active-rest day.
An active rest day looks like this: Work mobility, do some light rowing or jogging, work on Oly technique with an empty barbell, foam roll, stretch, etc.
Go at a slow and easy, yet deliberate, pace. This will improve recovery, reduce stress on your body, help recover your CNS, and get your body moving. This also improves fat burning and muscle building.
47. Opt for gluten-free hard cider over gluten-filled beer, and opt for liquor+soda water over sugar-filled mix drinks
Beer and mixed drinks are the Antichrist to your abs. A long island ice tea has 780 calories and about 40 grams of sugar. I used to drink those [Smacks forehead]. Try this drink recipe by Robb Wolf.
48. Avoid artificial sweeteners
This includes Splenda, aspartame, and other ‘naturally flavored’ sweeteners. Sweeteners spike your insulin levels because your brain can’t tell the difference between them and sugar. Thus the body response ends up being the same. They also might cause cancer. It just makes sense to avoid them. *Stevia is ok but I would still go light with it.
49. Don’t overtrain
Avoid overtraining at all costs. It saps weight-loss efforts and promotes fat-gain via the huge amount of cortisol release you release into your body. Read “8 Signs You Are Overtraining”
50. Plan ahead/pack a lunch
The best way to avoid falling off the wagon and eating junk is to be prepared. Always have something healthy with you. One-pot meals, the crockpot, and large roasts are great for making meals ahead of time.
How to Implement
Step 1: Be patient
Your new habits will take time to implement, and to show results. The people who get shit done in life are the one’s who stay the course. Stay the damn course.
Step 2: Test, Tweak, Test, Tweak
You must test and tweak regularly to find what works for you. All of these techniques will work for everyone to varying degrees if implemented in their purest forms, however, the dose and result can be vary wildly from person to person.
No matter what, we will always be learning, growing, and improving if we put in the effort.
Now get your ass in gear and get to work! Download the Printable PDF of this post.
Do you have any tips for weight-loss? Post below…
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The post 50 Ways to Lose Weight appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
August 28, 2014
Book: 50 Ways To Lose Weight: 50 Sure-Fire Ways To Lose Weight and Burn Fat Without Wasting Time, Money, Or Your Life In The Gym
I decided to write an expanded version based on the popular Gym Life article: 50 Ways To Lose Weight. Thus my new book was born:
50 Ways To Lose Weight: 50 Sure-Fire Ways To Lose Weight and Burn Fat Without Wasting Time, Money, Or Your Life In The Gym
I’m super excited about sharing this new project, and I’m supremely confident that everyone can find some weight/fat loss tips they can use in their program. You can find it on amazon here.
Book Copy:
We all struggle with our weight one way or another. It’s part of the human condition.
Corporations make billions on you being fat, sick and unaware. The weight-loss, supplement, food, and pharmaceutical industries profit from your ignorance. It’s part of their business model to promote misinformation and lobby for laws that increase profits and destroy your health. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
You see, there is no better customer than one buys products on a regular basis in the form of drugs, addictive foods, supplements, health insurance, medical bills, medicine, trainers, and even books that spread misinformation meant to further confuse you. It’s all part of a big system that is rooted in you not having access to the simple truth: the truth of what works.
I’m here to give you that.
They say knowledge is power, and when it comes to your body weight, there is no better statement. Why? Because if you don’t know what to do, or what not to do, you will sabotage your results without realizing it. The more you understand the mechanics of losing body weight and burning fat, the more you can build habits that work in your favor instead of against you.
This book includes 50 techniques for losing weight. The first 20 tips comprise the fundamentals for building lifelong health and fitness. Get even half of these right and you are way ahead of the pack.
With each new technique you implement, you’ll see more result. Some of you might only need a few tips to get over a stubborn plateau, while some of you might need a foundation for building a completely new life. No matter your goal or current fitness level, you will find techniques for taking your body to the next level!
Of course, I’m not going to sell you hype by saying it’ll be easy. It will take effort. But if you put in the work, you will absolutely, positively, undoubtedly see results. That is a guarantee.
Those of you that aren’t committed to doing the work should not buy this book. Save your money for diet pills and late-night infomercials.
Those of you that can work hard, follow simple instruction, and are ready to destroy your weight-loss goals, buy this book right now and get working.
This book features
You will learn what makes a human fit and healthy.
What type of foods to eat and which ones to avoid.
How the speed you eat determines how much fat you gain each meal.
What chewing can do for your weight loss.
Follow the first 20 tips for long-long health and fitness. No gimmicks, fads, or extreme protocols.
How you can “eat like a king” and still lose weight!
Why most people get nutrition completely wrong.
How low-fat makes you fat…
How carbs (or a lack of) can help you lose weight.
How to eat until you’re full and still lose weight!
Foods that everyone thinks are “fattening”… but aren’t!
Techniques tested with hundreds of athletes in my business.
Why most people do too much in the gym and how it ruins their results. (And how to recover faster so this never happens!)
Learn the single thing that determines 80% (or more) of how your body looks naked.
How almost everything you see on TV is wrong… and what to do about it!
Learn the importance of recovery and body maintenance. (And how it can get you results faster!)
A weekly fitness “template” you can use as a guideline for developing your own program.
It’s time to take your weight-loss and fat-burning to the next level.
Implement what you learn from this book and you will burn fat, increase performance, sleep better, have more and better sex, live longer, and overall feel awesome!
Buy a copy today and start the change… Available here on Amazon!
The post Book: 50 Ways To Lose Weight: 50 Sure-Fire Ways To Lose Weight and Burn Fat Without Wasting Time, Money, Or Your Life In The Gym appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
August 26, 2014
Have You Examined Your Life Lately? Here’s How.
–Socrates
Read the quote above and take a couple minutes to think about it. Consider how it applies to your life.
Thought about it? Good.
I thought about it, too. Here are a few things that came to my mind…
First, I think the process of regularly evaluating one’s life should be a part of everyone’s routine. We should constantly seek awareness of our thoughts, actions, routines, shortcomings, mistakes, and so on. Then, by using whatever we learn from this process, we can steer the course of our lives in the desired direction. For many of us, this will be a “correcting” of our path back to the intended, most direct, route to our goals.
Take time each day, week, or month and evaluate how you are spending your time and the direction your life is taking.
If we never take the time to stop and evaluate the route our life is headed, we quickly find ourselves getting distracted and headed down winding roads that may or may not be getting us closer to what we want. It’s often the wind of life that blows us off course.
Personal reflection allows us to adjust our sails and return to our intended course.
Learn Thyself
When you avoid self-reflection, you let your problems, that brew “under the surface,” boil until they eventually spill out in the form of freak-outs, mid-life crises, and other undesirable, totally avoidable, happenings. If you allow it to, your subconscious will literally turn you into a different person. The only way you combat this is by being aware of what’s going on below the surface. You can’t sweep your problems under the rug and expect them to stay there forever.
They always come back to the surface.
The more aware you are, the more power you have to make decisions that align your actions with your intended course. You’ll are in tune with what you are doing and where you are going, like an expert navigator at the helm of a ship.
This is a calling to analyze your life.
Just like any project at school or work, you should set aside time to do a thorough analysis of your life every so often (once a month is good). If you’ve never done this, that’s awesome because you have a gold mine of possibility just waiting for you to engage in the exercise. (I’m excited for you!)
Use a spreadsheet or a notebook. Be analytical about it. Ask yourself hard, probing questions. Take notes. Write to yourself. Do this before going to bed for a month (this puts your subconscious to work while you sleep). You’ll be amazed by the results.
Most people never do things like this, like ever. But you are different. You give a damn about your life and future so you are going to spend some time making sure you are living it right.
Many of you will have a difficult time with this at first. The biases ingrained in your subconscious will fight you every step of the way throughout this process. Your Ego doesn’t want to be poked and prodded by inquiry. It will try to convince you of your own BS. Don’t let it. Dig down deep inside and pull out the truth.
How do you feel about x, y, and z?
Why do you do what you do?
Where can you improve?
What is brewing deep down under the surface?
What is holding you back?
What are your strengths and your weaknesses? And how can you improve the latter and use more of the former?
Come up with your own questions. Write them down and the next time you complete your “life analysis,” you can compare your answers. This simple process can change your life.
Like an expert sailor, you must be aware of the direction the wind of life is blowing you. By paying close attention to your map, and making subtle corrections at the helm, you will stay true to your plotted course.
The post Have You Examined Your Life Lately? Here’s How. appeared first on Learn Fitness, The Paleo Diet, And Cooking Like A Badass.
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