The Fitness Buster

Conventional wisdom has made us believe that Weight Loss is super complicated to achieve.

The following weight loss equation lays out the sensible way to lose weight so think of this as Diet 101: Hunger Pains and How to Satisfy Them. This may be a bit redundant if you’ve been reading the Fitness Buster for a while; if so, consider this a quick cob web cleaner course.

3500 calories = 1 lb of adipose tissue (Fat) or .45 kilograms
1lb of muscle = 50 extra calories burned each day while at rest

Technically, this means that if you start eating 500 fewer calories per day than you normally do now all while adding some form of extra physical activity that burns 500 calories extra per day, or any combination of the two in order to create a 500 calorie deficit, you will burn off a pound of fat (half a kg) per week.

Now, if all of your weight loss comes from just eating less every day (that means no exercise), you’ll start to lose muscle along with fat but if you keep the muscle you have and/or gain a little bit more then you raise your basal metabolic rate (BMR) making your job a lot easier in the long run. So, to make sure you keep the muscle you have while losing fat, it’s good to go with a smart mixture of eating less, eating healthy, and exercising hard!

Confused yet?

Simply put, start exercising at a high intensity while feeding your muscle the nutrition it needs to heal and recover and you will reap the best of both worlds while increasing your results.

Now I know I know, you want to take action right now so what can you do to make sure you can get off on the right foot. Right?

Well I promise I will cover all the details in depth very shortly but if you just started reading this while you had a 5 minute break at work or maybe you’re on your way out the door to meet your wife for a late dinner then let me tell you my quick guidelines.

Pick an activity you absolutely enjoy doing (hiking, running, pushups) and work as hard as you can at it for as long as you can, then when you go eat stick to eating lean meats, vegetables, nuts/seeds, with some fruit, in that order. A general rule of thumb I abide by is if its man made eat it sparingly, that means grains or anything else agriculturally grown.

Again that is in layman’s terms so if you need or want a more in depth answer then keep reading.

A good diet is made up of primarily REAL food and by real food I am assuming you know that when you go to the grocery store the majority of your cart should be filled with foods around the perimeter. Fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, nuts/seeds, and fresh whole or multi grains (watch out though, not too many). Your meals should have a good balance of protein, carbohydrates, and good fats. That means I would prefer you not buy the stuff that comes in a box or out of a laboratory, but instead out of the ground or from nature. The less processed it is, the less that has been added to it, the better off you will be. Again think lean meats, fish, eggs, veggies, fruits, and nuts/seeds.

A bad diet is loaded with bad fats and simple carbohydrates (like simple processed sugar); it’s also severely lacking in actual nutrients because of how many times the manufactures have refined it. If you find it in a vending machine, pulled into a drive-thru, or had it delivered then it is probably not to good for you.

Now lets talk about how much you should eat. It will all depend on your size at the moment and how much you want to lose or gain (obviously this isn’t a bodybuilding, add 20lbs of muscle e-book). A safe and reasonable amount of weight to lose is around 1-2pounds (.5-1kg) per week. If you’re looking for a cost effective and easy way out, take 5 minutes to signup for a free account at dailyburn.com, sparkpeople.com or caloriecount.about.comand plug in your current statistics (height, weight, and goal weight). If you are someone who loves a interactive experience then I highly recommend Vitabot which is the only NASA endorsed nutritional program that has a interactive report card that grades you on your daily diet based on your current goals (hands down the coolest nutrition software available).

Or, you can just do some simple math to figure it out…

Before we get to the equations you will need for your calculations we need to figure out a few things first.

All our bodies burn a TON of calories every day just BREATHING! The human body is quite complex (probably the most complex organism on earth), which means our bodies will burn all kinds of fuel just making sure we are working right.

This caloric number is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which I touched on earlier. This number represents the number of calories our body’s burn on our lazy day off when we are relaxing in front of the tube watching reruns while never leaving the couch.

If you like playing mathematician, the equations are just below. If you’re anything like me then visit this link in order to calculate your BMR. For you international folks, make sure you click metric.

This number is derived from your height, weight, and age. As you age your metabolism slows down, hence your BMR will start to decrease. So, as you age, it is tougher to eat the same foods that you are use to and remain the same weight. Doesn’t that make sense?

English BMR Formula

Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23*weight in pounds) + (12.7*height in inches)
- (6.8*age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35*weight in pounds) + (4.7*height in inches)
- (4.7*age in years)

Metric BMR Formula

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7*weight in kilos) + (5*height in cm)
- (6.8*age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6*weight in kilos) + (1.8*height in cm)
- (4.7*age in years)

If you are reconsidering playing Mr. Mathematician here’s the link again.

Once you’ve calculated your BMR (mine is 1574.85 cal/day), you have a starting point for how many calories you burn while laying on that couch.

To determine roughly how many calories you’ll burn during activities, you multiply you BMR by a certain number based on how active you are.
This formula is called the Harris Benedict Equation (go here to calculate), and here are the two equations you will be looking at:

- Light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week: Cal. Calculation=BMR*1.375
- Moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week: Cal. Calculation=BMR*1.55

Take your BMR and multiply it by the appropriate number to determine how many calories you burn on a daily basis while being active.

Once you have the number from the equation, you can see just how many calories you need to eat daily in order to lose weight!

Whether you are looking to lose weight, gain muscle, take back control of your health and enjoy more out of life the only thing standing in your way is motivation.

With all the quick fixes marketed to us in today’s world, don’t you think that we would have found the answer by now? The truth is that the answer lies in your dedication motivation to the pursuit of change.

The answer isn’t what the next best fitness regimen, miracle diet, or super fruit that hits the market can do for you, those are just added benefits to a already good plan. It is in your diligence to consistency, intensity and timing.

What does that mean?

It means pick a fitness program and stick with it and don’t let anyone come along and distract you with shallow efforts to convince what they are doing is better. Are all programs made equal? No, absolutely not but now with all our technology it is much much easier to get information from the experts that are the pioneers or hire a personal trainer that will do the research and programing for you.

Whether you pay a personal trainer to develop a personalized fitness regimen for you, buy p90x (the most marketed fitness program ever) or a book/program you purchased during a moment when you believed in it all I want you to do is get started again and this time dedicate yourself for the entirety of the program (usually 90 days). Use your energy to master it, feel a mind body connection, how you feel fatigued, strong, unstoppable. Its like the entire world has ADD or ADHD and we get distracted so fast that we never allow the fitness program we start take effect and start to change our physiques, instead after 1-2 weeks, maybe 1 month we say,”this isn’t working, time to move on”. Have you ever thought or been told why programs usually give a timeline of 90 days? In my opinion, I believe it takes the average person at least 3 months to truly learn something very well but at the same time at a more cellular level it also takes your body 12 weeks to regenerate new blood cells which as I am sure you know is our bodies entire transport system from oxygen to micro nutrients.

So, be consistent with your workout days, be intense with each workout you perform and get into the habit of working out at the same time that you decide is best for you. This allows your body the best chance to adapt your new way of life.

Do not allow conventional wisdom make you believe what you are doing is wrong or will not work. Be sensible and realise that if your current plan is not working that you can always make small changes to make it better or challenge you more in order to see results.

Always look to improve yourself and on a side note always remember that you can not out train a bad diet.

Keep Motivated, you are changing from the inside out not the vice versa.

Do you live a busy life, never finding time for exercise?

Whether you work in front of a computer all day, sit at a desk for hours on end, or simply want to get in shape and have more energy during your busy days, Fitness Breaks are the answers to your prayers!

Fitness Breaks can offer you short, easy to implement exercise routines that can target every single muscle group in your body. You can gain strength, sculpt muscle, burn fat and gain endurance in less time than it takes for your over stressed out of shape co-workers that run out of the office for a cigarette break.

I don’t know about you but that sounds like the ideal fitness program, right?

Well, don’t believe its all hype. I’m not here trying to sell you on anything, in fact, I’m so confident that anyone can do this once I’ve explained the rules I can guarentee you that it is something you can implement TODAY!

So let’s get to it, shall we.

Although bodyweight exercises will be the most cost effective, efficient, and convenient to use at work and with such short workouts your only limited to the degree of your imagination.

All you need to do is take 5 exercises that you know, currently using, learning or mastering.

Pick one for each muscle group or targeted muscle groups you are looking to improve. I’m into total body fitness so my exercises are as follows:

Push – Pushups (regular, wide, military, uneven, ect)

Squat – Squats   (regular, 80/20, pistols)

Pull – Inverted Rows (not many options in a office setting)

Core – Planks (Situps, leg raises, bicycle crunches, 6″ holds)

Core – Supermans (wonder womans for you ladies)

Now that we have 5 exercises everytime we take a Fit Break to de-stress, gain energy, and re-focus on our work, we will use our 5 minutes to target our goals.

If you are looking to gain strength, endurance, and get a good muscular pump you will perform 1 exercise per minute for as many reps as possible with little or no rest in between exercises.

If you are looking to get a cardiovascular, calorie burning, sculpting workout you will perform 5 reps of all 5 exercises every minute on the minute for the entire 5 minute break equaling 25 total reps per exercise.

There is nothing fancy about this routine, in fact if you are looking for the magic pill then this article wont help you, but if you are looking to work hard in short bursts to get the body of your dreams because going to the gym a hour a day is not realistic then Fitness Breaks will take you there.

Use your imagination, any five exercises, just make make sure that you have one exercise per major body part (Push, Pull, Squat, Press, Squat) or exercises for the body part you are looking to target.

Have fun and leave me a comment.

When it comes to exercise people always ask me what is the “Best Exercise” or “Best Machine” for achieving there goals and I always give my goofy dumb founded look (you know the tweaked out eyebrow and curled up lip) because there is never going to be such a thing. Exercise is not a popularity contest, each exercise you learn goes into your “Fitness Toolbox” so that you can always reach for one of them when needed (or 10 . I was told at a fitness conference that there is over 9000+ exercises that are known, can you believe that? I know, I didn’t at first. But, now thinking about it, do you think it is possible to find the one best thing out of 9000? Absolutely not and if that’s what you are looking for then be prepared to search for a needle in a haystack, so to speak.

I on the other hand believe that it isn’t the exercise but instead the execution of the exercise. I also believe that if you have never spent your time mastering your bodyweight then Calisthenics is place to start.

You know those beloved exercises you see both men and women using in the military, martial arts and usually in prison cells. All in all, every time you see someone using these exercises you can probably appreciate the shape the person using them is in.

So with all that said, that’s exactly where we will start. Push-ups, Squats, Pull-ups, Shoulder Presses, Planks and I will refer to them as my starting 5. With that being said keep a eye out for my first workout video. Remember my goal is for my experiences to motivate you to start your own journey of fitness and health and wellness so I wont be taking up a lot of your time with video after video of  instructions because it will just make you second guess yourself from starting because you will not be sure if you are doing it wrong. Instead, I will start will absolute beginner protocols that absolutely anyone will be able to do and then progress to advanced workouts that would challenge athletes.

Whether you decided  to go to the doctor (my recommendation) or answered no to all the PAR-Q questions you are reading this post because you are ready to embrace your fitness journey just like I have. Don’t think that means we are going to just pick a routine and go gun-ho into our workout, no no no, we are going for achievable goals and sustainable long-term change, remember?

So, before we start talking routines or exercises why don’t we start out with the most natural movement in our lives, walking.  Our homework for week 1 is very simple, we walk at a brisk (fast) pace that allows us to feel fatigue and we walk for as long and as far as we can get in 20 mins. You can not stop during the 20 mins, it has to be a non stop effort unless you are physically unable to do so. Once you have completed your 20 mins. measure it somehow, I find myself always using my car to map out my distances because I love to perform my walks outdoors but if you prefer a treadmill then be my guest to use it, I would hate to see you not to use such a big investment and space hog.

So lets hypothetically say that I haven’t exercised in over a decade, I use the elevator whenever it is possible, I have a uncontrollable sweet tooth, and I am over stressed from my family and work.

How can I start taking back control of my life?

Well the first step will be to organize my strategy so that I don’t become overwhelmed, which will surely raise my chances of success ten fold. Did you know that 92% of those with New Years Resolutions fail and we see all of these successes and failures by march only three months later. Well I definitely want to be hanging out with the 8% that made it through march this year that’s for sure!

If you look at what science studies are telling us about exercise and nutrition then you might spend more time studying them than taking action from what you have learned just like I did, so instead of experiencing paralysis by analysis I am going to make super easy rules I am going to follow to the letter that will be implemented for all the major components to getting in shape Nutrition, Cardiovascular Conditioning, Strength Training, Fasting, Hydration, etc…

Lets start with the most important factor, shall we, “Diet”. Some experts believe that our Diet makes up as much as 80% of our results. Now, although I don’t believe in exact numbers for an individual because everyone is different in there own right I do believe that the diet does play the most integral role in any physical goal someone has. Like the old saying goes, “you are what you eat”.

So, with that said I will refer to mine as the “Parameter Diet”. What I will do when I am buying groceries is walk into the store and first find my fruits and veggies, followed with a visit to the deli to get lunch meat that have the lowest sodium and least amount of preservatives that I can find. Once done with the deli I will avoid the isles all together and make my way to the dairy section and do my best to buy all natural butter, almond milk or soy milk and sometimes real milk (milk is a crutch for me since living on a farm in Wisconsin, so I will do my best:), and then free ranged eggs before I leave the dairy section. My last stop will be the stores bakery to get multi grain bread or wraps that are as fresh and as wholesome as possible.

That’s it, I will not fall victim to the isles where all the prepackaged, high preservative foods live. Seasons are something I already have at home so variety is always available and fresh and my needs are met.

Now that I have minimized my nutritional needs, I need to take a look at my life and re-prioritise so that I can have a focused mind.  My first move will be to get 7 pieces of paper out and write down every hour of the day on each piece from 12 am-12 pm. I will answer simple questions about things I do daily and filled in the times with the most amount of details I can come up with. So on a average day this is what I have come up with.

10 pm-5 am – Sleep

5-530 am- Get dressed, brush teeth, drink a glass of water, eat a piece of fruit.                              Out the door for work.

6-630 am –  When my first clients (the breakfast club crew) come in to workout.

730-8 am - Eat breakfast (usually a omelet) and take my vitamins.

9 am- Clients

10 am- Clients

11 am- Afternoon Break, small snack

12 pm-  Workout

1 pm- Recovery Drink that has a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio

2 pm- Lunch

3 pm- Clients

4 pm- Clients

5 pm- Quick snack, Clients

6 pm- Clients

7 pm- Light Dinner

No that you know how I have simplified my grocery shopping and how I have written out my schedule so that I may re-prioritise what is important to my current and future goals.

I think you should do the same (it just might help

So we are looking to get back in shape, right? Lose weight, gain muscle, tone up and sculpt, ect.

Now I know what your are thinking, what exercises will we be doing? How about the rep ranges, sets, super sets, giant sets, how about a little HIIT? Well like my momma dukes use to say, “Hold your horses.” Like I said, in order for our results to become part of our lives instead of some fad diet or quick fix routine, then we must start out at the beginning it will allow us to build the quickest momentum that will give us lasting results, no matter what the goal is.

We first must start with the paperwork which consists of your Medical history review, Risk factor assessment and stratification, Prescribed medications, Level of physical activity, Establishing whether physician consent is necessary, Administration of fitness tests and evaluation of results, Setup of exercise prescription, Evaluation of progress with follow-up tests. The first four parts to this process are answered through the industries two standard preparticipation health screening questionnaires.

In the Fitness Industry you will find two standard preparticipation health screening questionnaires that are commonly used to answer these questions for you or your Personal Trainer, those are the PAR-Q and the Health Status Questionnaire.

The Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire, more commonly know as the PAR-Q, is a self-administered questionnaire that is a simple, concise, and is a safe pre-exercise screening tool for individuals that would like to start a moderate-intensity program and/or activities. The idea behind this form is to screen potential participants by asking them 7 questions and if he/she answers yes to any of the 7 questions, they are directed to contact a physician before undergoing a fitness test or pursuing regular exercise.

If you are more likely to want to get involved with a high intensity routine similar to what you would experience in a small group or boot camp setting, then the Health Status Questionnaire with do a more thorough job of identifying whether you have risk factors that may affect a individual from beginning a exercise program. You can use this link as a resource to find a PAR-Q form http://www.csep.ca/forms.asp.

So your probably saying to yourself, why do I have to go through a screening in order to exercise? I walk everyday and have know problem, I just want to lose weight what’s the big deal?

Well first off, lets take the scenario that you visit the doctor before starting your program (my recommendation).Imagine you have waited 3 years to start exercising again, the Dr. says you have to lose 60 lbs and you are at a very high risk factor for (CHD) Coronary Heart Disease. Now by just visiting the Dr. you now have a good idea on where you need to start because he/she naturally identified your risk factors by having you fill out paperwork and by asking you questions.

But what if you avoided this crucial step and ignored what indications your body was telling you by starting a program that was to vigorous for you to begin and just 2 weeks later you ended up in the hospital for a triple bypass heart surgery, what would you say then?

Ya, I would second check whether or not I can start exercising too! Besides you are really canceling out your chances of risk just by be able to answer no to all 7 questions on the PAR-Q. So do yourself a favor and go through answering a PAR-Q and if you have a doctor or insurance and really want to take the safe approach then go get a physical done with your physician. It can’t hurt to get a better idea on where you and your health stands.