Your weight can be your best friend and not your enemy

You have one great thing about your body that can help you lose weight and you don't even know it. Your own weight can be one of your greatest assets in your fitness goals. There are a lot of exercises that can be done that utilize your own body weight that work multiple muscle groups(burn those calories!) at one time.
The key to performing not only these exercises, but any exercise is proper form and mixing it up to work different areas. A lot of these exercises can be done at home, which means you won't need that expensive gym membership.

Chest and Triceps
Pushups work both your pectoral muscles as well as your triceps. You can target what areas you want to work by varying your hand position and the angle of your body. Adding chair dips will give you extra work for your triceps. For guys really building your triceps is what gives your arms the size that the ladies like looking at. Ladies working your triceps targets that area that you complain about, so work those dips and blast those bingo wings.

Standard pushups are performed with your hands shoulder width apart, straight back a tightened core. The key to an affective pushup is reaching a deep contraction(lowering your chest as low to the ground as you can) and a full extension by ensuring that your arms are fully extended and locked out. Remember that it's about quality not quantity. 20 pushups with proper form is better than 100 pushups with crappy form. So take it slow and control yourself on your way down and and really concentrate on squeezing your chest muscles and triceps on the extension. One area where people go wrong with pushups is they take their spine out of alignment by looking forward because they were told to keep their head up. The best way is to look straight down keeping your spine in full alignment. The saying keep your head up comes from when people tuck their chin to their chest.

To mix up what areas you work in your chest bring your hands closer together or spread them farther apart. By spreading your hands farther apart you really target your chest, by bringing your hands closer together you target more of your triceps. You Off set your hands with one set with your right hand farther forward an one with your left hand farther forward. If you want to target your upper and lower pectorals either elevate your feet for a decline pushup working the upper portion of your chest, or do an incline pushup by leaning agains a counter or table to work your lower chest.


By performing dips on a chair you can work your triceps. Simply place your hands on the front of the chair with your hands facing forward. Your lower back should be agains the front of the chair and your legs extended outward. Lower your body until your arms form a 90 degree angle and then extend your arms upward squeezing at the full extension. If you want to add some difficulty you can place your feet on another object like another chair or exercise ball.

Some simple body weight exercises with variations that target different areas and different degrees of difficulty. There isn't a need for a gym membership if you have the discipline to exercise while at home. This can be a go to routine or a back up for days you can't make it to the gym. Stick to your plan, stay motivated and reach those goals.

Stay tuned for back and bicep body weight exercises!

Best Way to Burn Calories and Fat

Walk, jog, sprint, lift...it's all exercise right? While yes it is exercise, but not all exercise activities are created equally. Some people say "if you want to lose weight then you have to run run run." ahh no way I hate running, ok then just walk. It doesn't matter, if you walk the same distance that you run you burn the same amount of calories. Running just gets you done faster. So whether you run 1 mile in 7 minutes or you walk it in 15 minutes, it doesn't matter.

The only difference is the intensity that it takes to run will create the micro tears in your muscle fibers that you need to build new muscle. This is why you are sore the day after you run. Building muscle will increase your metabolism in turn burning more calories during regular day to day activities. The downside to low intensity cardiovascular exercises is you tend to only burn calories for the duration of that activity. So your 7 minute mile only burns calories for 7 minutes. That leaves 23 hours and 53 minutes of the day that is left up to regular day to day activities to burn more than you consume.

So what do you then? Run for hours on end every day? God no, that would be torture. Add weight lifting or high intensity interval training (HIIT) to your routine. Weight lifting and HITT not only burn calories during the activity but also after. SWEET! You mean I can burn calories sitting on the couch resting after I work out? yeaaaaaa buddy! Actually for up to 36 hours after.

If you want to go the weight lifting route so you can finally have that model physique you've always wanted then start out with a routine that has you working your entire body focusing on the major muscle groups. Remember the larger the muscle is the more calories you burn during contraction and extension of that muscle. So do not ignore your legs. The muscles in your legs are the largest in your body.

Be sure you still have your cardio element to your routine, but add your cardio after you have lifted. If you run on the treadmill or elliptical before then you burn the energy you need to lift properly before you ever get to the weights. Instead use your energy on lifting first then deplete your fat stores for energy during your cardio. Also your heart rate should already be elevated from lifting so all you have to do is maintain your target heart rate for 30 minutes rather than having to get your heart rate where you want it and keep it there afterwards for 30 minutes. Keep things simple and working in your favor.

Now what was this about HIITing people, ahh yes HIIT. Such a great intense workout that you feel like you are taken to the very edge of failure every single time. An example of HIIT would be sprinting for 30 seconds, jogging for 60 seconds, sprinting for 30 seconds, jogging for 60 seconds. The jogging period is your recovery time because this sprint that you're doing isn't a slight increase in pace, it's a full on sprint like you're running for your life. All high intensity intervals are done at the level where you are pushing yourself to the point you can't push any harder followed by a lower intensity to recover and prepare for the next high intensity interval.

Here is a great video with some great tips on HIIT from Jim Stoppani.

Switch up your activities, keep it interesting. If you can manage the intensity of HIIT then add it to your toolbox, if not then work hard to get yourself to where you can. Remember, as long as you're putting in the effort you will only get better, stronger, faster and leaner. Keep your goals in sight and work hard to reach those goals, because if you don't then nobody will.

Uncover Your Abs

Well the heat is on and bikini season is a go for all you ladies....and uh gents.

I've been really working on trying to clean up my diet so I can get those 6 pack abs that every guy wants. Most people think that if you want great abs then you have to kill your abs with sit-ups and other abdominal exercises. While yes you need to have well developed abdominal muscles for great abs, you also need to get rid of that cozy blanket of fat that is covering them. No point of having the worlds greatest abs if they're hidden under a layer of fat.

So how do we get those great abs to show? Well there is a saying that abs are made in the kitchen and not the gym, and this is 100% true. The key to exposing your abs is lowing your body fat percentage. The average male is approximately in a range of 18-25% for males and 25-31% for females. Now keep in mind the average person doesn't walk around with great abs, they tend to have a little layer of fat covering those abdominal muscles. Also remember, we don't want to be average, we want to be extraordinary. So what percentage do you need to expose your abs for all the world to see your hard work and dedication? Well for males you need to drop your body fat percentage below 10% and for women getting below 19% would be where you need to be.

There are a few methods that you can use to determine your body fat percentage but the most accurate is a Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. Other methods would be water displacement, bioelectrical impedance and the skin fold test. Once you have determined your body fat percentage you can set your goals for where you want to be and a plan to get there.


So how do we get our body fat percentage down to where we can start to see some progress? Clean eating! I'm not saying wash your pizza with soap to get off any dirt, I'm saying eating lean meats, veggies and proper carbs. Some people will say stay away from carbs and bla bla bla. Uhhh hello McFly! You need carbs to provide fuel for your intense workouts. I've seen to many people pass out during a workout because they have been told to avoid carbs because carbs are bad! Those big mean nasty carbs! Eat carbs, but remember to taper your carbs throughout the day with most of your carbs for breakfast with portions getting smaller to the smallest portion at dinner. You can get a lot of carbs from veggies as well, which also provide fiber.

You can get into all the mumbo jumbo of "fat fighting foods" and "fat blasting supplements" but it all comes down to what you're eating, how much you're eating, and how much of what you're eating are you burning through exercise. Simple math, burn more than you consume= weight loss, consume more than you burn= weight gain.

A good way to keep track and keep yourself honest is to keep a food journal. Most of us have smart phones so try downloading a food journal app like MyFitnessPal or Spark People. Check them out and figure out what one is best for you and your needs. You would be surprised at how much you are either over eating or how the foods you are eating aren't providing the nutrients you need. Eat smart, live well, and stay motivated.

May I See Your Low-Fat Menu Please

We as normal people enjoy a night out on the town from time to time. Trying to live a healthy lifestyle doesn't  mean that you can't enjoy yourself, it just means that you have to look a little harder for a healthier option. Take tonight for example, the wife and kids decided they wanted to go out to eat for dinner. Naturally the kids want all the greasy stuff that isn't good for you and after a fun game of "What do you want? I don't know, what do you want?" we decided on Red Robin(more like the kids decided). Now if you're not familiar with Red Robin, it is a "gourmet" burger place. During my less than healthy days I'd always go with the Burn'n Love burger. MMM so good, nice and spicy with those fried jalapenos on it.

Now just because I have decided to live a healthier life, that doesn't mean that I can't have the things I enjoy anymore. If I were to have a craving for a Burn'n Love burger I'd just eat half and save the rest for lunch for tomorrow. This is always a great way to still enjoy a great meal out without overeating and consuming almost an entire days worth of calories in one sitting. These portion sizes that these restaurants are dishing out are ridiculous. Some of these meals literally have well over 2000 calories in one dish. Holy sweet mother of Neptune! The crazy thing is that we just sit back and chow down without even thinking about it. If you have a smart phone, which I believe most people do, try looking up a meal that your considering on the restaurant website for the nutritional content. This could help you decide on either what to eat, or how much of it you're going to eat.

Another great way to treat yourself is, if you decide you want to drink a soda (or pop for you weirdos in the north), try ordering a glass of water as well. You might find yourself drinking out of both and thus drinking less of that sugar filled soda of choice. Now for you beer drinkers out there you could try the same thing, but if you're like me you would feel like you're wasting a good beer if you don't finish it. So when the waitress/waiter asks if you want the tall 22oz, politely decline and just opt for the regular 12oz. You could also use this as a great way to test your will power and quit drinking alcoholic beverages all together. I hear all of the time from people "wow I've lost 10lbs just from not drinking beer or soda." Soda and beer are empty calories that provide nothing in nutritional value, but man are they refreshing.

Some restaurants now are even jumping on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon and offering lower calorie meals or half portions. I say great! Check your menus for these options and see if any of it tickles your tongue. Just remember that you CAN still eat out and enjoy a nice healthy meal, so go out and reward yourself on a great week in the kitchen and in the gym. Just remember that reward doesn't mean binge and forget all about portion sizes. Either way, enjoy your rewards and get ready for a new week of achieving greatness.