Holiday Shopping Sales

Here are a couple places offering great deals for the holidays:

• Perform Better - Really good holiday sale selection and free shipping. If you've been waiting to buy a foam roller or some kettlebells this is your chance.

• Fitness Anywhere - They make the TRX suspension systems. Everything they sell is at 20% off. This is the absolute best home training tool and at about $150 the best bang for the buck on the market.
  

Ready, FIRE, Aim

I have a confession to make. I'm a planner. I like to have everything figured out before I start a project. And then summer of 2008 rolled around. This was when I decided to leave the corporate world and pursue my passion for fitness and nutrition and helping people reach their fitness goals. But I've always come up with great ideas and then I'd never follow through. I would take time to plan out every step and essentially become paralyzed by the planning process. I needed to take action then adjust as I went along. So within a few days I was enrolled in a certification program and was ready to quit my job. Thing is I've made tons of adjustments as I go. All the knowledge I gain and people I work with have helped me to narrow my focus and adjust my goals. I like the analogy of the snowball at the top of the mountain (I'm stealing this from Alwyn Cosgrove.) Picture yourself at the top of a mountain with a snowball. You want to push the snowball down to the bottom, making it go in a certain direction, and make it bigger as it goes down. You can come up with an elaborate plan taking into account weather and wind and every possible scenario. But as you're planning the snowball remains at the top of the mountain. Instead you can just push the snowball and run alongside adjusting on the fly. All the planning in the world doesn't matter until you take action. Ready, FIRE, Aim. If you want to get in shape, start today. Take action. This may mean hiring a trainer or joining a gym. But do something. Do not put it off until next week as you devise a 12 week plan. And don't wait until the new year. You have 25 days until January 1st. Why waste even one of those days? Move fast, and make adjustments as you go.

Lack of Speed Kills

After a putrid posting performance from me in the month of November I am determined to be a much more active writer this month. First up for December is power development. Once we hit about 30 years old we lose a pound of muscle each year. With that muscle loss we lose strength. Even more important we lose power. Power is simply the ability to summon our strength fast. This becomes more and more important as we age. Think of slipping on an icy sidewalk or step and being able to catch yourself. By maintaining power we can prevent falls that often lead to broken bones that can then lead to a sedentary lifestyle. The good news is this can easily be offset by adhering to a solid strength plan. We can maintain and even build power by adding speed to our workouts. The worst thing you can do is perform exercises slowly. If you exercise slow you will become slow. Take a typical bench press as an example. Lower the dumbbells to your chest in a slow and controlled manner, then EXPLODE the weight up as fast as possible. Then add this principle to every exercise you do. Here are a couple great and easy power exercises to add to your training:

• Kettlebell swing - this is a great and easy exercise to learn to train explosive hip extension.
  
• Box jumps - Note the fact that she is simply stepping down in the video. You don't need to perform a ton of reps either. 2 - 3 sets of 5 will do it. Don't go crazy with the height of the box either. You should land soft and in an athletic position (feet just outside hips, knees bent, butt back, chest up.) If you are unable to land in a perfect athletic position use a smaller box. If you aren't yet ready for box jumps you can perform Jump Squats. Start with no weight and work on your landing. Again, land in a perfect athletic position. Then you can add weight, either a barbell on your back or hold two dumbbells by your side.
  

Whether you play a sport or not we are all athletes and maintaining power is the best way to avoid potential falls and injuries.

Random Randomness

I came across some interesting reading over the past few days:

• Here is a great article about gluten sensitivity. Gluten is a protein found in wheat that most of us have some degree of difficulty digesting. Celiac Desease occurs when intestinal damage occurs due to gluten sensitivity. Celiec Desease is rare but on the rise. Gluten sensitivity, on the other hand, is very common. People often don't even realize they are gluten sensitive until they eliminate grains from their diet for a while. If you eliminate grains from your diet for a month or so then reintroduce them don't be surprised if you don't feel so well upon the reintroduction.
• With all the controversy this week surrounding the change in the mammography recommendations I thought this would be a good read. This is merely an alternate, science based take on the controversy. There is significant research that indicates mammograms should be used sparingly. A woman who receives this screen is getting tons of radiation pumped into their body. Radiation is bad...and causes cancer. "Even the American Cancer Society lists high-dose radiation to the chest as a medium to high risk factor for developing cancer."
• I went to Whole Foods over this past weekend and I was completely overwhelmed. They have such a tremendous selection of great and healthy food that I had no idea where to begin...which is probably a good thing because I could see myself spending way too much money there. Having said that, even at a health food store, we must be diligent about reading the labels. Just because it's being sold at a store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's does not mean there is no high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. So absolutely keep shopping for the highest quality foods but keep attentive to the labels. And you will never have to read a label if you eat all natural!
  

Movie Review

Sorry folks, I've been missing for the last week or so. I've been having a bit of quasi-writers block. Anyway, I saw a movie over the past weekend that I thought I'd write about. Food, Inc is a documentary about our food supply in this country (the U.S. for any overseas readers.) This is a must see for anyone who is concerned about what you eat. As a big proponent of eating an all natural diet of meats, vegetables, and fruit, Food, Inc. simply confirms everything I've been preaching. I especially like the fact that they make a very clear distinction between corporate raised meat and naturally raised meat. They are not anti-meat by any stretch. They understand that eating meat is essential to achieve optimal health. But eating the meat sold at the grocery store by corporations like Purdue and Tyson is not the way to go. I've referred to the line, "You are what you eat eats." This is very true. Corporate raised animals are fed a diet of grains and soy. You don't want grains and soy in your system. I buy my meat (eggs, chicken, beef) at Trader Joe's. Whole Foods also has a great selection of grass fed meats. And here is a good online source as well. And another. And here's a farm locator. Yes, this is more expensive. It is a shame that families need to choose a box of pasta over vegetables due to the fact that a box of pasta costs $1 and a couple stalks of organic broccoli can cost $3.50. That is insane! I think we have the ethical obligation to support the farmers who are raising naturally raised food in order to vote against corporate food that does nothing but make us fat and sick. That's my rant, check out the flick.

And here's another documentary that looks interesting. It's called "The Business of Being Born." I think I'm going to check it out.

And finally...more proof that Cardio Sucks!

Super Size your Breakfast

I thought I had written about this previously but I guess not. I wanted to talk about breakfast. We've all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day since we were all little tykes. Eating a good meal first thing in the morning gets your metabolism kicking to give you more energy throughout the day and burn more calories. We are now finding that the size of the breakfast is just as important. Here is a fascinating study. A group was split into two sub groups. They were all given the exact same amount of daily calories. One group had a 300 calorie breakfast, the other had a 600 calorie breakfast. After 8 months the group that ate a larger breakfast lost nearly 4 times as much weight as the group that ate the small breakfast! So if weight loss is your goal please (I am pleading here) don't skip breakfast! And try eating a larger than usual breakfast while eating less throughout the rest of the day. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

The Perfect Body

I was listening to an interview yesterday and the coach who was being interviewed made what I thought was a great point. He asked, "If I could give you the body you've always wanted today, how would you change your behaviors to maintain that new body?" People generally say if they could just get in shape then they would change their eating habits and exercise habits. This is completely ass backwards. If you have a weight loss goal ask yourself what changes would you make if today you were granted the body you've always dreamed about. Then implement those changes...Today!