Two girls at the beach were admiring the passing scene, which included a bodybuilder who was strutting his best.  “That’s my type,” said the first girl. “Well, I don’t know,” the other replied.  ”I have a friend who married a man that owns a two-car garage, but he just keeps a bicycle in it!“

There’s a postulate in quantum physics that states, “We don’t know how much we don’t know.”  This statement rings out such resounding truth when it comes to weight training… and, yes, sex… but for now we’ll stick to the topic of weight training. 

Every gym across the country has them… you know the people… the ones who make you put on that set of headphones (no stereo mind you, just the headphones) just so you can be left to yourself…. the woman who sees no wrong in setting the treadmill to the very lowest setting, and staying on it for an hour and a half while others are in line… the wannabe Hulk who loads 280 lbs. on a barbell and starts pounding away bicep curls by throwing his upper body back and forth – without ever bending the elbows… the men and women who filter in and out of the gym every day thinking that they are accomplishing something with their aimless antics and lack of planning. Every one of them thinks that they are doing it right!

The reality is that most people in the gym have lousy form, and pathetic knowledge of weight training. There’s little wonder why they look exactly the same, week after week, month after month, year after year. In fact, over 90% of the people who frequent gyms fall squarely into this category.

Let’s take a look at some of the characters that are commonly found in any gym across the nation:

“No Pain, No Gain.” There are actually people who believe this! I sincerely doubt that Ronnie Coleman or Arnold have ever consciously tried to hurt themselves. Yet there are morons out there that actually train with that mentality. Exercise should never be painful. If it is, you’ll run the risk of injury as a result of overtraining. Once you enter the “overtraining zone,” you’re guaranteed to experience physiological and mental stress which can eventually lead to a number of health problems.

The Flirt. All you guys know who she is. She is the one that thinks she’s the hottest girl in the gym, but in reality she is simply the most annoying. She is the one that comes up to you immediately after you have just pounded out a set of squats from hell, bats her eyes at you then proceeds to ask you “Can you please come take these plates off the leg press. They are just too heavy for me.” To which I would say “Hell no, what do I look like, your personal trainer?” (You know how moody one can be after doing a set of brutal squats.)

The Screamer. Every gym has to have at least one of them. I know you will easily create an image in your mind of the person that I’m talking about. He’s the guy that, for some reason, feels it’s his obligation to shriek at the top of his lungs before performing any set. What makes it even more astonishing is that this person will be lifting such a small amount of weight. I find these people more humorous than annoying. I’ve had the “privilege” to experience quite a few occasions where the “Screamer” has made his presence known. Although it may seem to provide a psychological edge, it has been proven through research, that yelling before or during an exercise provides absolutely no benefit whatsoever. It can, however, be very distracting. My first reaction when I hear someone scream is, “OH GOD! Someone’s stuck beneath a barbell,” or “OH NO! Someone just tore a muscle!” Whenever I am in the presence of a Screamer in the gym, I always remember something I was told when I first started training. I was having a conversation with a young lady that was training next to me when a Screamer yelled at the top of his lungs. As I was trying to suppress my laughter, she turns to me and says, “You know, I’ve always heard that the noises a person makes while training are the same ones they make while in bed.” After hearing that, I nearly had to use the restroom to wipe my backside clean. As funny as it was at the time, I think she may just be right! What to do think?

The Spandex Lady. This one is not a pretty sight to see. This is the lady who really needs to lose about 75 more pounds before she tries to squeeze that lard into those tight-fitting spandex shorts. Lady, let me clue you in on something, NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOU IN THAT! To makes matters worse, she’s the one I described above… the woman who sees no wrong in setting the treadmill to the very lowest, slowest setting, and stays on it forever while others are waiting in line to use it. She goes so slow that she burns maybe 20 calories the entire time she lumbers along. This lady needs to make it worth all of our time by picking up the pace, or getting the hell out of the way. More importantly, she needs to do us all a favor and just wear some big, baggy sweats.

“My Ego Is Bigger Than My Bench.” Inevitably, you will always have at least one guy who feels the need to place more weight on the bar than even Ronnie Coleman himself will lift on a regular basis. What sucks about this guy is that since you look like you work out, you are a prime candidate to spot this person. Being the nice person you are, you happily agree to spot them. Then just before they begin, they look up and ask you, “Give me a lift-off on 3 and make me work!” You respond by saying, “Okay, on 3″. One, two, three, lift.” The person holds the weight for an instant and then, in the blink of an eye, the weight accelerates straight down like, well…dead weight! You fear the worst, thinking that the person over-estimated their abilities and could be seriously injured. So, with all of your strength, you apply as much possible resistance to slow the downward plunge of the weight. The thud it makes at the bottom makes you cringe! You breathe a sigh of relief when you notice that the person is not hurt and you immediately begin to pull the weight up and towards the rack. As you do, the most mind-boggling thing happens. The idiot murmurs in a low, strained voice “Help me get one more…” Your mouth nearly hits the floor in amazement as you think to yourself, “What? You didn’t even get the first one.” You repeat the process. After it’s over and your traps are recovering, you swiftly move to the other side of the gym in hope that the person won’t ask you to help him again. As you move away, this clown asks the question heard around the world, “How much did you help me”? “Well, Bullet Head… A WHOLE DAMN LOT!” From that day forward, you avoid that person like cardio during the off-season.

There is a common theme that must be adapted by any successful bodybuilder. It’s called “Let Go of My Ego.” This is where you must convince yourself that your body will grow with proper technique, correct form, and most of all… nutrition. It is not always necessary to lift massive amounts of weight all the time, and sacrifice good form and technique to do so. The moral of the story? Big weights only look cool if… and ONLY if… you can lift them without subjecting the person spotting you to an unexpected set of shrugs.

The Rat Pack. Similar to the previous category, except this is usually a group of three or four guys that work out together. They are usually using way more weight than most pro bodybuilders fathom using. There are two distinctive characteristics of this group of pinheads. First, they all think they are getting bigger and stronger. I mean… they truly believe it! Picture these guys. They load up a barbell with way more weight than any of them can dream to lift with proper form, and then proceed to take turns spotting each other through set after set of gyrations and movements that defy nature. The second distinctive trait is that the person spotting is actually getting a better workout than the one doing the exercise!

Marathon Man. He always seems to be the first to arrive, and the last to leave. He believes that the longer he trains in the gym, the more weight he will lose (or gain). His workouts are of epic durations. He’s the guy that performs every conceivable exercise designed for the particular body part he is training that day. He just doesn’t get it. The longer you’re in the gym, the more muscle fibers you’ll tear down. This is an unhealthy way to lose (or gain) weight. Once your body hits a catabolic state, you begin to lose energy… and that eventually leads to over-training… which leads to a plateau. A plateau is an inability to make progress in training. It can last for months. To be safe, consider working out for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, increase the intensity and continue to progress.

The Serious Person. When this person gets ready to train the first thing he will do is get into his own little world. Then he gets the “if you talk to me I will kick your butt” look on his face. He grabs his belt, straps and whatever else he may need on that day of training. When he gets in this zone he doesn’t like to be bothered. You know him… he’s the guy that after doing a heavy set of dumbbell curls will walk around and brood even though he has just pushed himself through a pain barrier that nobody else in that gym is willing to do and doesn’t even have the guts to do. He never looks at anyone in the eye. Everyone avoids him until it is finished. Then as quickly as the all-out assault started, it is over. Then he comes back to the real world and once again he is a really nice guy… until the next time he trains. I guess this is why people think bodybuilders are crazed idiots. He can be intimidating to most people, but at least he has a purpose for his training.

I am sure you can relate to most, if not all, of the people I have written about. If you are one of these people… let me ask you this? Do you want to be stuck in the stagnant pond of mediocrity all of your life? No? Then get over yourself and change your views towards training. Be like the Serious Person… determine the PURPOSE of your training… determine the PURPOSE of your workout… determine the PURPOSE of the exercise. And then train WITH A PURPOSE. Only then will you begin to train RIGHT! Only then will you begin to feel the pleasure of accomplishment after each repetition of every set. And only then will you truly ENJOY your workouts… sounds a lot like sex, doesn’t it? Whatever your training goals, whether it’s the size of the muscles, or the use of them, don’t miss the adventure along the way… again, it sounds like sex. Vince Gironda once said, “There’s joy on the gym floor.” Only those with a heart for training can understand what he meant.

I believe that about wraps up Dr. Diet’s Personal Rant Session. I feel much better now. And if anyone reading this knows me, yes I am talking about you!

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

Sure, you may lose 5, 10 or even 20 pounds on a fad diet…but you’ll gain it all back and then some. How can I be so confident that your results will be short lived?

It’s actually a simple concept, and once you understand it you will be forever saved from the tortures of yo-yo dieting.

Fad diets saddle you with unreasonable calorie restrictions and some even cut out entire food groups just to produce that short-lived drop in weight – a process that is actually harmful to your health. The fad diets also ignore one major component to shaping up: exercise.

You see, most fad diets operate on one age old premise: cut calories, cut calories, cut calories. By restricting the type and amount of food consumed the fad dieter usually sees an immediate drop in weight. If only it stopped there…

But it doesn’t stop there. Life continues, and the fad dieter returns to their pre-diet eating habits – with one major difference in their body due to the sudden drop in pounds. Their calorie requirements have gotten smaller.

In practical terms this means that the dieter will begin gaining weight even though they are eating their normal pre-diet portions. And since exercise hasn’t become a part of their routine, the unneeded calories will result in pounds gained. So what’s a dieter to do? Find a brand new diet to follow – right? Wrong.

There is a way to drop pounds and firm your body, but you won’t read about it in the next diet book or hear it on the news. The solution to your fad dieting nightmare is a lifestyle change.

What is a lifestyle change? To change your lifestyle means to replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones, and to do so consistently. It isn’t something you do for a week or two, only to revert back your old ways – a lifestyle change redefines who you are.

I know this is starting to sound like some heavy stuff, but hear me out. Changing your lifestyle from one that is unhealthy to one that is healthy will be the best thing that you ever do for yourself. Trust me; I help people like you make this change every day with amazing results.

Fact: The shape of your body is the direct result of your current lifestyle.

So how do I change my lifestyle? That is a great question, and the answer is actually easier than you might think.

Most people who are unhappy with their bodies are really only holding on to a few bad habits. Once these destructive habits are identified and then replaced with healthy habits their body naturally transforms from one that they loathe to one that they are proud of.

In other words, to get the body that you want simply determine your unhealthy habits and replace them with healthy ones. Here are the most prevalent unhealthy habits:

The habit of inactivity. Failing to exercise on a consistent basis is one of the most destructive obstacles for your health and figure. (The key word here is consistent. If you aren’t exercising at least 3-4 times each week then you own this habit.)

The habit of overeating. Consuming calories in excess of your daily caloric needs is one of the main reasons that more adults are overweight today than ever before.

The habit of empty calories. Filling your diet with foods that hold little to no nutritional value is a great way to expand your waist. (Hint: if a food item is made up of mainly sugar and/or fat consider it ‘empty’ calories.)

You can lose weight and improve both your appearance and your health.
You can look and feel great.
You can transform yourself into the person that you’ve always wanted to be.

Don’t let another day go by that leaves you a slave to unhealthy habits. Take action now. Call or e-mail me today and together we will recreate your lifestyle and redefine your body.

By the way, I should mention another deadly habit that destroys too many people’s dreams. The habit of procrastination.

How many times have you told yourself that you will start eating healthy tomorrow? How many times have you told yourself you will start exercising next week? How many times have you promised that you would call me to start your personal training program? Each day that you succumb to the habit of procrastination is a day that pulls you farther and farther from your goals… and makes you more and more of a failure!

Break that nasty habit of procrastination – Check out my Lake Ozark Personal Trainer program Get started today.

Have you ever quit your exercise routine because you became bored with it? And going to the gym seemed like a chore?

Have you ever struggled to lose just a few pounds, even though you were going to the gym and eating a bunch of boring healthy foods?

The sad fact is that most people who try to do it on their own fail. Very rarely does their body seem to change much, even when they try their hardest.

By far, the absolute best solution to this problem is to get a personal trainer. They can guide, direct and motivate you to a better body. Personal fitness trainers can help to change someone’s physique like nothing else on the planet

But, many times this isn’t the case and the trainer ends up being more problems than they’re worth…You see, often times when someone hires a personal trainer the only place they end up trimming any extra fat away is in their bank account.

Have you ever known anyone who hired a trainer and got NO results at all?

Have you ever been working out in a gym and actually observed the trainers?

If you have, I bet you probably could tell right away that the trainer is just doing a job, and has no emotional investment in seeing the client get results.

If you’ve ever hired a personal trainer yourself you know what a crap shoot it can be to try and find the right one.

If you’ve had friends who’ve hired personal trainers it’s no doubt you’ve heard the horror stories… The flakey trainers who are always late and missing their appointments, the trainers who promise everything yet produce nothing in the way of tangible results and the trainers who go on and on about insignificant matters the entire workout all on the client’s dime!

If you’ve ever done a trial workout with a trainer you know that many of them can give great sales pitches, but how do you know if they’re really the best trainer for you?

Keep reading and you’ll find out…

The Problems with Many Personal Trainers…

One of the problems with many of the personal training programs in Camden County is that the trainer and client spend a lot of time talking about their personal lives, and frankly, the trainer wastes a lot of time just standing around counting reps.

Why pay good money for someone just to count your reps? You could easily hire someone for minimum wage to count your reps if that’s what you’re looking for.

And if you’re looking for someone to talk about your personal life with for an hour then a therapist might be more what you’re looking for…not a trainer.

Here are a few of the types of problem personal trainers that are giving the rest of us a bad name:

The Selfish Trainer… who’s motto is if it works for me it will work for you – This is the trainer who doesn’t take their client’s goals into consideration when designing a routine.

This is why it’s common for a female to hire a personal trainer and then 3 months later she looks all buffed out like she’s been taking steroids.

Or why you’ll see people in the gym working out with a trainer doing some really ineffective and funky exercises.

You see, while the client’s goal might be to lose fat and tone up, the trainer will put the client on one of “his” favorite exercises, which won’t do anything but add a couple of yards to your golf swing… but if you want to lose fat, who cares about improving your golf swing! Just because the trainer’s a golfer and finds that doing a lot of functional sport training routines helps him improve his swing and impress his buddies on Saturday morning doesn’t mean that’s the same workout his client’s need to reach their own fitness goals.

But the Selfish trainer doesn’t see this. Because he’s completely self-absorbed and self-obsessed and what his clients want really doesn’t matter to him.

So it’s very important when hiring a trainer that you let them know EXACTLY what your goals are.

Make sure the trainer knows that you have no interest in improving your golf swing, unless that’s your goal.

If you’re a female and don’t want to get big and bulky, make sure you tell this to the trainer before you sign ANYTHING, and ask the trainer to see before and after pictures of his clients, so you can make sure he’s not turning women into bodybuilders.

Watch out for the Selfish Trainer who just puts his clients on “his’ favorite exercises, with no consideration for the client’s goals.

The Amateur Psychologist Trainer… One of the biggest problems in the industry is personal trainers trying to be amateur psychologists.

They’ll happily give out financial advice even though they’re broke.

They’ll happily dish out marital advice, many times as a way to get into their clients pants! (I’ve seen this one more times then I can count).

They’ll talk to you about your inner child; right after they just snorted a few lines of coke in the gym bathroom (cocaine and steroid addiction is a giant problem in the personal training industry).

The truth is many of these “pop-psychologist” personal trainers live lives that are an absolute mess. And it’s easier for them to dish out information about how their clients should live their lives than it is to fix their own.

Watch out for the personal trainer who wants to play “psychologist.”

The Know-It-All Trainer… It’s impossible to know EVERYTHING about exercise. There’s just so much to learn. Science is rapidly finding the best ways to go about losing fat and toning muscles that to know it all would require a hundred lifetimes and a university-sized library of knowledge.

Any personal trainer who claims to know it all is dangerous! If a client comes to this kind of personal trainer with an important question regarding their body or health, if the trainer doesn’t know the answer many times the “know-it-all trainer” will just dish out any old line instead of admitting they don’t know the answer and going and finding the best answer or solution for that individual client with the client’s best interest in mind.

A true fitness professional will keep their client’s best interest at the absolute forefront of their mind at all times, and won’t be scared to say “I don’t know”
An amateur will THINK that by admitting that they don’t have the answers to everything that it’s a weakness, so they’ll tell a boldfaced lie to the client and dish out possibly harmful information just to protect their own ego.

Beware of the know-it-all personal trainer.

The Rep-Counter… The Rep-Counter is the most harmless of trainers yet also has the worst track record for getting results.

You see, a lot of personal trainers just train for the money and look at it as job.

In fact, gyms are filled with unqualified personal trainers who could give a damn about their client’s goals and only care about bringing in a paycheck.

Here’s a typical situation of how this kind of personal trainer gets hired:

In this case we’ll call our trainer Johnny.

A local gym puts and ad in the newspaper or online saying they are hiring for Personal Trainers, Sales People, Front Desk Staff and Custodians.

Johnny is fresh out of high school (maybe college) and needs a job so he can afford his weekly sack of weed, gas money and the $25 a week he pays his parents for rent to live in their house.

While looking through the classifieds, at the strong urging of his mother, he sees a job listing for “Personal Trainers”.

This catches Johnny’s eye because he’s heard trainers get a lot of “chicks” and Johnny kind of looks like a trainer. Not because he works out, but because he’s young, has good genetics and took P.E. in high school for the past four years… he looks like he’s in good shape.

So Johnny applies. And since many gyms will hire just about ANYBODY to be trainer, he gets the job. They make him go to a two-day certification program that the gym offers which amounts to one day on how to train people, and then another day split in half between how to sell personal training to people who don’t want to buy it and how to up-sell their clients on the line of crappy supplements that the gym offers, allowing the trainer to make a 5% commission.

Johnny loves his job because he quickly realizes that all he has to do is sell packages of personal training and count reps and his boss is happy.

And the fringe benefits are, while Johnny’s on the job, he can check out “chicks”, go on and on about his personal life, and even possibly sleep with a few of his unhappily married Osage Beach housewife clients.

A common disguise for this kind of trainer is the stop watch and clipboard, which will many times only serve as “costume” for making them look like they know what they’re doing.

Shocking yes, but common…

When searching for a trainer, be sure and avoid “Johnny the Rep-Counter.”

Two-Routine Trainer… Another common situation that gives personal trainers a bad name are the trainers who put clients on one of two workout routines.

Routine #1 is where the trainer will stick the client on a treadmill for half the workout while the trainer either blabs about his personal life to the captive-audience client on the treadmill or while the trainer hangs out and chats with his trainer buddies at the “trainer desk”. All while the client is forking over good money for the hour.

Routine #2 is where the trainer knows how to do one workout (usually the one he learned in that two-day certification program) and he puts his clients on this routine, EVERY TIME THEY COME IN THE GYM.

What the trainer didn’t learn in his two-day certification program is that this not only will get clients very little in the way of results due to the “Law of Physical Adaptation,” but this will cause pattern overload syndrome, which will ruin the client’s joints and cause them to have that horrible-rounded-shoulder- head-poking-forward-posture that will make them look like a caveman.

Do NOT hire the “Two-Routine Trainer” unless you want to end up paying high dollar to walk on a treadmill while you turn into a hunchback.

The Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer… The last kind of trainers I’m going to warn you about is the “genetically gifted” and the “steroid freak.”

Often times this trainer comes in a combination of both and is actually a hybrid, which I call “The Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer.”

Due to either steroid usage or genetics or a combination of both, these trainers can do just about anything and be in perfect shape. Any kind of exercise they do will make them look like Greek Gods, even if they live on cheeseburgers and onion rings.

Now that’s great for them, but the problem is these trainers think that since whatever they do in a gym works for them, then it must work for everyone else.

And their clients believe it too because any trainer in that kind of shape MUST know what he’s doing. Right? WRONG!

Unfortunately, most of us weren’t blessed with perfect genetics, nor are we willing to order black market pharmaceuticals from third-world countries online and then inject them into our tush just to get six-pack abs.

There is so much science behind what it truly takes for the average person to get into incredible shape, and what works for “Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer” will not work for the vast majority of the population.

But “Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer” doesn’t need to keep up on this science because hell, anything works for him!

The truth is that this is an extremely dangerous breed of trainer because often times they are so amped up on the ‘roids that they can perform near superhuman feats in the gym. And the harder the feat, the better the results.

Yet the real problems start when they give these kinds of routines to their clients.

Not only will these routines put the average client into an over-trained state which will actually cause their bodies to lose muscle and hold onto fat, but they risk seriously injuring the client as well.

Avoid “Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer” like the plague, they are the most dangerous of all trainers!

And to make matters worse…

Did you know that many trainers make the majority of their income by keeping their clients out of shape and dependant on them?

They know that once they get you into great shape you probably won’t need them anymore.

They also know that if they give you just enough results to where you see a small change in your physique, you’ll probably keep coming back in hopes of really getting into shape.

And they know if they keep you uneducated that you will most likely completely rely on them to get into and stay in shape. This means big bucks for the trainer yet a feeling of dependency for you.

Bottom Line…

It’s extremely important when looking for a personal trainer that you are (or stay) on the lookout for these kinds of trainers and avoid them at all costs.

There are a lot of great trainers out there but there are also a lot of scam artists who will take your hard earned money and then throw you on a treadmill for the entire workout.

Or they’ll make you do the same unproductive routine every time you come in for a workout.

Their sales pitch might be great, but the only place you’ll lose any fat is in your wallet.

Make sure you state your goals and what you’d like to achieve before you make a commitment to any trainer.

There’s nothing worse than seeing a female get all buffed out because of her personal trainer, or watching a guy get a nicely developed upper body from workouts but get stick-figure-twig legs that all his friends tease him about.

The sad fact is that 93% of personal trainers just look at training as a job.

So make sure you find one of the 7% who love to help people get into shape, find a trainer who trains people because that’s his or her passion in life.

When you first meet the trainer, ask him or her why they decided to become a trainer in the first place.

Asking this question could save you thousands of dollars and countless hours working out with the wrong trainer.

Make sure you can try at least one workout before making any financial commitment to a trainer. Many will just want to do a quick consultation and then sign you up. So remember to make sure and really taste the goods before you buy… Insist on a trial workout.

During this trial workout your job is to see how well the trainer motivates you.

Do they push you to do your best while still showing you respect?

If not, I would run away, not walk, RUN from that trainer as fast as you can.

Immediately after choosing your trainer, make sure and go home and clear out your fridge and cupboards of any junk (it’s been my experience if there’s junk in the house, it will eventually get eaten).

Then go buy the foods your trainer tells you to buy. This will ensure you will lose fat as quickly and safely as possible. Eating the right foods is extremely important.

And another tip is to find a trainer who works with multiple people at one time. You’ll be amazed at how much more enjoyable the workouts are when there’s someone else beside you giving the workout their all as well.

The energy of a semi-private workout is much higher than with traditional one-on-one training and the results the clients get are much greater and come much faster.

One last tip… Find out how busy they are. Usually the best personal trainers are busy. With the rare exceptions of the dedicated trainer just starting out, the trainer who just moved to the area or the instructor who chooses not be busy because of personal value preferences, the best personal trainers in Camden County are busy training clients… especially because there is such a demand for good trainers in this area.

So What Do You Do Now That You Have This Information?

Armed with this information you’re now one of the most savvy and educated consumers in the entire world. You now know instantly how to differentiate a good trainer from a bad one.

Go to Fit Physique Custom Fitness and opt in to my Get Fit Newsletter. It will keep you on the forefront of the fat loss frontier with cutting edge information on how to lose fat FAST, and keep it off for good.

Also, I want to let you know that I’ve hand-picked a team of what I believe to be the best 1% of personal trainers in Camden County.

Not only do these trainers bring a tremendous amount of passion and experience to their training, but they are all down to earth, good human beings with a proven track record for getting people into incredible shape.

I urge you to learn more about this unparalleled team of personal trainers here…

Click here to learn about the Fit Physique Custom Fitness Training Team

Yours in Never Ending Health and Fitness,

Rick Streb

Physique Transformation Expert
http://www.fitphysiqueonline.com

P.S. By the way, I’m not sure how well you know me yet, but as a new subscriber to my Get Fit Newsletter you can learn a little bit about me here:

Click here to learn about who I am and why you should listen to me

And in case you haven’t checked out my Fit Physique Online Training Program, be sure and check it out:

Click here to learn about the Fit Physique Online Training Program

5 Things You Should Know to learn more about finding the right personal fitness trainer for you.

You can visit our Osage Beach personal trainer page to learn more about finding the right personal fitness trainer for you.

When does a lie become an accepted truth? When the lie is repeated often enough.

It’s the oldest trick in the book, a favorite ploy of politicians and others who stand to gain… but we still fall for it.

Especially when it comes to losing weight…

The truth is Americans want to believe so badly that they can lose weight quickly and easily that they are readily willing to accept any ruse that implies it is possible. And the diet industry is riddled with self-perpetuating myths, misconceptions, and downright mistruths that prey on our dreams.

The strategy is to market fringe products and miracle cures that are very seductive in what they promise. Note the billions of dollars the diet industry spends on consumer advertising. Very few people are successful at losing weight, but the promise gets into our subconscious and stays there. Why? Because the lie is repeated often enough.

The antidote is for consumers to educate themselves from reputable sources with reliable data. I will start the process by smashing ten of the most common weight-loss lies right here.

1. “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Or any other gimmick that pledges massive weight loss at break-neck speed. It’s not healthy, and it’s not true. Permanent weight loss requires lifestyle change, not a quick fix. You didn’t become overweight overnight. It’s not realistic to think you can lose weight overnight, either.

2. Fat is bad for you. Dieticians forwarded that one to people for years. Now they know better. The truth is that some fats are unhealthy, and some are good – indeed, necessary – for your health. (Hence the term, “essential fatty acids”!) In fact, certain fats are necessary for a healthy heart.

3. Carbohydrates are bad for you. First it was fat, now carbohydrates are the bad guy. Can somebody please make up their mind? This trendy idea is just too broad. When trying to lose weight, make a distinction between unhealthy, simple carbohydrates, such as white flour and sugar, and fibrous carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains, which provide vital vitamins, and fiber to aid digestion.

4. Lose weight by not eating. Uh… no. First of all, what is healthy about starving yourself? Starving deprives the body of the nutrients it needs for life and can lead to serious illness. Plus you lose muscle mass, not fat. Even if you do lose pounds, you gain them back almost immediately when you raid the fridge again.

5. Don’t eat after 6 p.m. This is my favorite industry lie. It’s not what time you eat, it’s what you eat! In Europe they eat at 10 o’clock at night and they’re half the size of Americans.

Let’s be realistic about this… do you really believe your body has a special enzyme, or mechanism, that says “its 6:00 p.m. It’s time to store all food as body fat!” Give me a break!

6. Salad bars are healthy. Bacon, cheeses, fried chicken, oily dressings… The apparent allure of salad bars means they probably require as much of your considered attention as ordering at a fast food restaurant. You have to choose the foods at a salad bar wisely. Most people simply do not do this.

7. Diet sodas aid weight loss. Nope… no way… no how. This is another one of my favorite pieces of diet-industry hype. There isn’t a single study that shows diet sodas help you lose weight. There’s absolutely no data on that at all.

8. You shouldn’t step on a scale. It’s another misconception that dieticians have passed on. I completely disagree with it. Though I do not believe that the scale should be your main barometer for measuring your progress, checking your weight on a regular basis (say once a week) is an obvious way to gauge your progress and alter your diet accordingly. However, scales in and of themselves, well… they suck. I encourage people to keep track of hip, thigh and tummy inches, too. Better yet, the way your clothes are fitting and the way you look in a mirror are the best indicators for measuring improvements.

9. You can lose weight with a pill. I call this one “cardio in a bottle.” You can’t replace healthy eating and exercise with a pill. Pills aren’t a new thing; they’ve been tried for decades…with horrible side effects. There is no pill that can make your body burn calories… NONE! That’s right …that Hydroxycut does you no good at all if you are not eating properly and doing cardio exercise. It requires proper nutrition, cardio and weight training. The weight you lost is probably because you reduced your caloric intake instead of the product. Guess what. You could have done the same damn thing without spending your money on the “cardio in a bottle.”

10. You have to join the gym. Would I love to see everyone working out in a gym? Of course. Is it a necessity? Absolutely not. Actually, the most recent research indicates 30 to 60 minutes per day of moderate physical activity is all it takes to balance healthy food intake. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, just move your body!

There you have it… Stop believing everything you hear or read. Start using common sense. Do what it really takes to lose the tonnage.

Move a little more… eat a little less…and exercise a little discretion the next time you hear about a weight-loss product, or diet program, that sounds too good to be true.

CLICK HERE to continue…

Osage Beach Personal Trainer Program

To decide what to eat after cardio, you have to approach the meal with the understanding that the types and quantities of food you eat affect your hormone levels. These hormones play a direct role in the burning (or not burning) of body fat. Keeping fat-burning hormones elevated – the very hormones that increase during cardio – is the single most important factor in determining what is best to eat after a cardio session. OK, let’s start with the simple stuff.

Fat

We know it makes no sense to eat a lot of fat after cardio. If your knowledge of physiology is limited, you can rely on common sense. It’s simply not a rational idea to chow down on a lot of dietary fat after having just jumped off the treadmill. Truth be told, dietary fat is easily stored as body fat, more so than protein and carbohydrates.

Protein

Protein is anti-catabolic. Dietary amino acids derived from protein foods can be used directly as fuel after cardio. Often, protein stores are broken down with cardio. That is, in addition to burning body fat, longer cardio sessions or cardio sessions performed in a total calorie deficit can cause a loss or burning of your hard-earned muscle. Since protein protects against muscle loss, taking in easy-to-absorb protein following the cardio session is a must. It can put an end to protein breakdown and keep the metabolism from taking a dive. That’s because burning protein is a strictly catabolic event, and catabolism is always associated with a slower metabolic rate.

Carbs

Carbs are the double-edged sword of nutrition. You need them for recovery and growth, yet they can initiate fat storage. Carbohydrates promote a rise of insulin, and insulin can be classified as a fat-storing hormone. In general, the more carbs you eat, the more insulin is released. Insulin is the quarterback of the entire fat-storing team and regulates the signals that allow fat cells to “open up” and store more body fat. Simultaneously, insulin directs dietary fat into fat cells and drives carbohydrates down fat-storing pathways.

Does it make sense to eat a lot of carbohydrates after cardio? Not really. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates, insulin levels will increase, shutting down fat-burning hormones and enzymes released during cardio.

The two benefits to cardio are:
1. it burns calories, and
2. it changes the hormonal status in the body, favoring the burning of body fat. Your carb quantity and choice after cardio affects the hormonal balance. Where cardio increases the circulation of cathecholamines (tiny messengers that target fat cells to break them down) insulin decreases the release of cathecholamines.

Whereas cardio increases the output of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), a hormone that “opens” fat cells and allows fatty acids to be stripped as fuel, insulin opposes its release and can even spike levels of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which does the exact opposite of HSL. LPL seals off fat cells and helps push fuel into fat stores. Therefore, it seems best to avoid carbohydrates after cardio to keep the fat-burning hormones elevated.

However, small amounts of insulin actually support the metabolism. How so? Insulin is also anabolic. It stimulates growth and repair of muscles. And, during a recovery or growth state, the body literally steals from its fat stores to obtain energy in order to sustain the recovery or growth process. Growth and recovery require fuel (energy), and most of that energy will come from fat stores. Insulin also supports the uptake of thyroid hormones, calorie-burning hormones, by tissues.

So, with regard to carbs after cardio:
1) A large amount will shut down fat burning and reverse the hormonal advantage associated with cardio.
2) Skipping carbs altogether leaves you with “just protein.” While protein helps prevent a loss in muscle, your body always needs a small amount of carbs for support.
3) A small amount of carbs helps support recovery and growth without shutting off the fat-burning process.
4) Small amounts of carbs coupled with protein can prevent thyroid hormones from declining.

I believe the best bet is to consume 25 to 40 grams of fast-acting protein, such as whey protein, egg whites or fish, along with 30 to 50 grams of carbohydrates within 30 minutes of cardio.

Ideally, the carbohydrates ought to be fiber-based, such as oatmeal, oat bran, peas or corn. Fiber slows the breakdown of carbohydrates, allowing them to be delivered in an almost “time-released” fashion. The benefit: slower-digesting carbohydrates result in moderate insulin rises, and moderate insulin is our goal. Moderate insulin offers anabolic or building support, without reversing the fat-burning state induced with cardio. Simple carbs, such as white bread, juices or high glycemic carbs, should be avoided because they tend to spike insulin levels, and the resulting spike can compromise fat burning by suppressing fat-burning hormones and enzymes.

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Nutrition is almost always THE neglected factor when someone isn’t making any progress with their fitness training.  And why shouldn’t it be?  It can be quite confusing.

But understand that without a grasp of proper muscle building and/or fat burning nutrition, you won’t be able to make the progress that you desire, and you won’t reach your potential.

With a well implemented nutrition plan, you’ll be on your way toward achieving your fitness goals.

Why does nutrition seem so confusing?  For starters, there are too many choices. This makes it very difficult to decide the appropriate course of action.

We have the Hollywood diet, the cabbage diet, the grapefruit diet, the juice diet, the zone diet, high carb, low carb, no carb, high protein, low protein, no protein (okay, maybe not but it wouldn’t surprise me), high protein foods, high fat, low fat, slim fast, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, etc, etc.

Obviously, nutrition is big business.

It can become very frustrating trying to sort through all this information.

I’ve read hundreds of articles, books, and medical journals on nutrition, and I’ve come to decide on some fundamental principles that all nutrition programs do include.

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Remember, we are all different, but all essentially the same.  What this means is that the principles of proper nutrition apply to all of us, but we will need to make certain adjustments for the individual.

The important thing is to understand the general principles of a nutrition program so that you can tailor it to your specific needs, whether it be to build muscle, burn fat, get stronger, or nutrition for your specific sport.

Let’s take a look at some general principles of a proper nutrition program.

We’ll start with a brief introductory look at the three macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein, and fat.  All play an important role in your sports nutrition program.  And YES… there are only three macronutrients!!!  Vegetables ARE carbohydrates!

Carbohydrates - Carbs are your muscles preferred energy source for short, intense muscular contractions, i.e. weight training.  They supply the energy for these sessions as well as play a crucial role in recuperation and muscle growth.

Ingesting carbs signals your body to release insulin, which transports the amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and the carbs into your muscle cells.  This absorption by your muscles is a very important part of the muscle growth and repair factor.

Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in your body’s muscles, and it’s this glycogen storage that gives the muscles their fullness.

This is the basis of the idea of carb depleting and then loading before a bodybuilding contest, the idea that when you deplete your body of glycogen and then “carb up,” your body will store even more glycogen then before in the muscles, making you look larger, tighter, and more ripped than ever.

In addition, the consumption of carbs creates a “protein sparing” effect, in that more of your protein will be used for the muscle building process instead of being burned as energy.  As you’ll see below, this “protein sparing” is a key element in your nutrition program.

Some important rules to keep in mind with regard to carbohydrate consumption are…

Avoid all processed foods -  Processed foods are ‘empty’ calories that do nothing for your health or your fitness.  By dropping them from your sports nutrition program, you’ll go far in improving your results – building muscle, losing fat, improving sports performance, increasing energy – not to mention vastly improving your health.

Processed foods include things like cookies, chips, donuts, pastries, soda, candy – your basic junk food.  But beware, processed foods can be dressed up in “healthy” packaging.  Read labels.  Stay away from these foods, especially one’s that contain high fructose corn syrup

That low fat muffin you’re about to eat… put it back.  It’s loaded with unhealthy sugar.  The regular muffin would actually be a better choice.

Processed foods should never be a part of your nutrition program, no matter what your fitness goals are.

Instead of processed foods and high fructose corn syrup, get the carbohydrates in your nutrition program from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Protein - Protein, as most of you know, is the building block of muscles.  Without adequate protein consumption, you will be spinning your wheels with regard to your resistance training program.  No nutrition program is complete without proper adequate protein intake.

You should consume a MINIMUM of 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass every day.

And you may find better results taking in up to 2 grams per day per pound of body weight.  At 225 pounds, I’ve found that roughly 400-450 grams of protein per day works very well for me, which is about 2 grams per pound of body weight.

Fats - Yes, fats.  A macronutrient that is more misunderstood than carbohydrates, if that’s possible.

Here’s a neat little factoid for you.  The United States went on a low fat, high carb craze in the 80′s and began to get fatter and fatter as a nation.

Fat is not your enemy.  Good or “healthy” fats such as omega 3′s and omega 6′s are essential to good health and a properly functioning body.

Hey, maybe that’s why they are known as Essential Fatty Acids.

Here’s the problem with most people’s nutrition.  They are taking in enough fat but they are taking in the wrong fats by consuming too many trans fatty acids and saturated fats, and not enough good fats.

Try and eliminate the bad fats (in things such as margarine, shortening, snack foods, and most fast foods).

Consume more of the good fats, such as cold-water fish (salmon), walnuts, ground flax seeds of flax seed oil, hempseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, fish oils, and olive oil.

In addition, taking in enough EFA’s (essential fatty acids) is imperative when trying to put on muscle.  Low fat diets suppress the body’s ability to produce testosterone, a cardinal sin when trying to build muscle.

Fats also supply chemical substrates that are necessary for proper hormonal production, as well as protect our vital organs and carry the fat-soluble vitamins to where they are needed.

Fats are an important part of your sports nutrition program to develop muscle, burn fat (yes, burn fat) and get fit and healthy.

Water - Drink it… Drink lots of it… And drink it often.

Seriously, you should be consuming at least 8 – 10 eight ounce glasses of water every day.  Our bodies are made up of 75 percent water.  It’s not uncommon for people to dehydrate by 2 percent to 6 percent of their body weight during exercise.  The result isn’t good.  Cell function is disrupted, muscle growth stops, you become mentally and physically sluggish, have a general sense of fatigue and can no way be on the top of your game.

There you have it.  Sound  nutrition includes ALL of the macronutrients.  It does not eliminate any of them like most of the “fad” diets do.  Keep that in mind the next time you want to start eliminating carbohydrates or fats from your nutrition program.

Do you see the point here?  There is nothing magical to it.  Just a little common sense will yield results like the pros.

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

Such a theory could potentially unlock all the secrets of nature and the universe itself, or as theoretical physicist Michio Katu, puts it “an equation an inch long that would allow us to read the mind of God.”

That’s how important unified theories can be. However, unified theories don’t have to deal with such heady topics as physics or the nature of the universe itself, but can be applied to far more mundane topics, in this case nutrition.

Regardless of the topic, a unified theory, as stated above, seeks to explain seemingly incompatible aspects of various theories. In this article I am attempting to unify seemingly incompatible, or opposing, views regarding nutrition… namely, what is probably the longest running debate in the nutritional sciences: calories vs. macro nutrients.

One school, I would say the ‘old school’ of nutrition, maintains weight loss or weight gain is all about calories, and “a calorie is a calorie,” no matter the source (e.g., carbs, fats, or proteins). They base their position on various lines of evidence to come to that conclusion.

The other school, I would call more the ‘new school’ of thought on the issue, would state that gaining or losing weight is really about where the calories come from (e.g., carbs, fats, and proteins), and that dictates weight loss or weight gain. Meaning, they feel, the “calorie is a calorie” mantra of the old school is wrong. They too come to this conclusion using various lines of evidence.

This has been an ongoing debate between people in the field of nutrition, biology, physiology, and many other disciplines, for decades. The result of which has led to conflicting advice and a great deal of confusion by the general public, not to mention many medical professionals and other groups.

Before I go any further, two key points that are essential to understand about any unified theory:

A good unified theory is simple, concise, and understandable even to lay people. However, underneath, or behind that theory, is often a great deal of information that can take up many volumes of books. So, for me to outline all the information I have used to come to these conclusions, would take a large book, if not several and is far beyond the scope of this article.

A unified theory is often proposed by some theorist before it can even be proven or fully supported by physical evidence. Over time, different lines of evidence, whether it be mathematical, physical, etc., supports the theory and thus solidifies that theory as being correct, or continued lines of evidence shows the theory needs to be revised or is simply incorrect. I feel there is now more than enough evidence at this point to give a unified theory of nutrition and continuing lines of evidence will continue (with some possible revisions) to solidify the theory as fact.

“A calorie is a calorie”

The old school of nutrition, which often includes most nutritionists, is that “a calorie is a calorie” when it comes to gaining or losing weight. That weight loss or weight gain is strictly a matter of “calories in, calories out.”

Translated, if you “burn” more calories than you take in, you will lose weight regardless of the calorie source and if you eat more calories than you burn off each day, you will gain weight, regardless of the calorie source.

This long held and accepted view of nutrition is based on the fact that protein and carbs contain approx 4 calories per gram and fat approximately 9 calories per gram and the source of those calories matters not. They base this on the many studies that finds if one reduces calories by X number each day, weight loss is the result and so it goes if you add X number of calories above what you use each day for gaining weight.

However, the “calories in calories out” mantra fails to take into account modern research that finds that fats, carbs, and proteins have very different effects on the metabolism via countless pathways, such as their effects on hormones (e.g., insulin, leptin, glucagon, etc), effects on hunger and appetite, thermic effects (heat production), effects on uncoupling proteins (UCPs), and 1000 other effects that could be mentioned.

Even worse, this school of thought fails to take into account the fact that even within a macro nutrient, they too can have different effects on metabolism. This school of thought ignores the ever-mounting volume of studies that have found diets with different macro nutrient ratios and with identical caloric intakes have significantly different effects on body composition, cholesterol levels, oxidative stress, etc.

Translated, not only is the mantra “a calorie us a calorie” proven to be false, “all fats are created equal” or “protein is protein” is also incorrect. For example, we now know different fats (e.g. fish oils vs. saturated fats) have vastly different effects on metabolism and health in general, as we now know different carbohydrates have their own effects (e.g. high GI vs. low GI), as we know different proteins can have unique effects.

The “calories don’t matter” school of thought

This school of thought will typically tell you that if you eat large amounts of some particular macro nutrient in their magic ratios, calories don’t matter. For example, followers of ketogenic-style diets that consist of high fat intakes and very low carbohydrate intakes (i.e., Atkins, etc.) often maintain calories don’t matter in such a diet.

Others maintain if you eat very high protein intakes with very low fat and carbohydrate intakes, calories don’t matter. Like the old school, this school fails to take into account the effects such diets have on various pathways and ignore the simple realities of human physiology, not to mention the laws of thermodynamics!

The reality is, although it’s clear different macro nutrients in different amounts and ratios have different effects on weight loss, fat loss, and other metabolic effects, calories do matter. They always have and they always will. The data, and real world experience of millions of dieters, is quite clear on that reality.

The truth behind such diets is that they are often quite good at suppressing appetite and thus the person simply ends up eating fewer calories and losing weight. Also, the weight loss from such diets is often from water vs. fat, at least in the first few weeks. That’s not to say people can’t experience meaningful weight loss with some of these diets, but the effect comes from a reduction in calories vs. any magical effects often claimed by proponents of such diets.

Weight loss vs. fat loss!

This is where we get into the crux of the true debate and why the two schools of thought are not actually as far apart from one another as they appear to the untrained eye. What has become abundantly clear from the studies performed and real world evidence is that to lose weight we need to use more calories than we take in (via reducing calorie intake and or increasing exercise), but we know different diets have different effects on the metabolism, appetite, body composition, and other physiological variables…

My Unified Theory of Nutrition

… Thus, this reality has led me to my very own Unified Theory of Nutrition which states:

“Total calories dictates how much weight a person gains or loses;
macro nutrient ratios dictates what a person gains or loses.”

This seemingly simple statement allows people to understand the differences between the two schools of thought. For example, studies often find that two groups of people put on the same caloric intakes but very different ratios of carbs, fats, and proteins will lose different amounts of body fat and or lean body mass (i.e., muscle, bone, etc.).

Of course these effects are not found universally in all studies that examine the issue, but the bulk of the data is clear: diets containing different macro nutrient ratios do have different effects on human physiology even when caloric intakes are identical.

Or, as the authors of one recent study that looked at the issue concluded:

“Diets with identical energy contents can have different effects on leptin concentrations, energy expenditure, voluntary food intake, and nitrogen balance, suggesting that the physiologic adaptations to energy restriction can be modified by dietary composition.”

The point being, there are many studies confirming that the actual ratio of carbs, fats, and proteins in a given diet can effect what is actually lost (i.e., fat, muscle, bone, and water) and that total calories has the greatest effect on how much total weight is lost. Are you starting to see how my unified theory of nutrition combines the “calorie is a calorie” school with the “calories don’t matter” school to help people make decisions about nutrition?

Knowing this, it becomes much easier for people to understand the seemingly conflicting diet and nutrition advice out there (of course this does not account for the down right unscientific and dangerous nutrition advice people are subjected to via bad books, TV, the “net,” and well-intended friends, but that’s another article altogether).

Knowing the above information and keeping the Unified Theory of Nutrition in mind, leads us to some important and potentially useful conclusions:

• An optimal diet designed to make a person lose fat and retain as much lean body mass (LBM) as possible is not the same as a diet simply designed to lose weight.
• A nutrition program designed to create fat loss is not simply a reduced calorie version of a nutrition program designed to gain weight, and visa versa.
• Diets need to be designed with fat loss, NOT just weight loss, as the goal, but total calories cannot be ignored.
• This is why the diets I design for people (whether for gaining or losing weight) are not simply higher or lower calorie versions of the same diet. READ THESE NEXT SENTENCES CAREFULLY. In short: diets plans I design for gaining LBM start with total calories and build macro nutrient ratios into the number of calories required. However, diets designed for fat loss (vs. weight loss!) start with the correct macro nutrient ratios that depend on variables such as amount of LBM the person carries vs. body fat percent , activity levels, etc., and figure out calories based on the proper macro nutrient ratios to achieve fat loss with a minimum loss of LBM. The actual ratio of macro nutrients can be quite different for both diets and even for individuals.

             Did you get that?

             If not, read it over and over until you do.

• Diets that give the same macro nutrient ratio to all people (e.g., 40/30/30, or 70,30,10, etc.) regardless of total calories, goals, activity levels, etc., will always be less than optimal. Optimal macro nutrient ratios can change with total calories and other variables.
• Perhaps most important, the unified theory explains why the focus on weight loss vs. fat loss by the vast majority of people, including most medical professionals, and the media, will always fail in the long run to deliver the results people want.
• Finally, the Universal Theory makes it clear that the optimal diet for losing fat, or gaining muscle, or what ever the goal, must account not only for total calories, but macro nutrient ratios that optimize metabolic effects and answer the questions:
  1. What effects will this diet have on appetite?
  2. What effects will this diet have on metabolic rate?
  3. What effects will this diet have on my lean body mass (LBM)?
  4. What effects will this diet have on hormones; both hormones that may improve or impede my goals?
  5. What effects will this diet have on (fill in the blank)?

Simply asking, “how much weight will I lose?” is the wrong question which will lead to the wrong answer. To get the optimal effects from your next diet, whether looking to gain weight or lose it, you must ask the right questions to get meaningful answers.

Asking the right questions will also help you avoid the pitfalls of unscientific poorly thought out diets which make promises they can’t keep and go against what we know about human physiology and the very laws of physics!

There are of course many additional questions that can be asked and points that can be raised as it applies to the above, but those are some of the key issues that come to mind. Probably the most glaring question that you are asking right now is, “How does one determine the total calories needed, or correct macronutrient ratios?” Well, if I told you that you would have no more need for me, now would you? Sorry. Besides, it’s not that simple.

Bottom line here is:

If the diet you are following to either gain or loss weight does not address those issues and/or questions, then you can count on being among the millions of disappointed people who don’t receive the optimal results they had hoped for and have made yet another nutrition “guru” laugh all the way to the bank at your expense.

Any diet that claims calories don’t matter, forget it.

Any diet that tells you they have a magic ratio of foods, ignore it.

Any diet that tells you any one food source is evil, it’s a scam.

Any diet that tells you it will work for all people all the time no matter the circumstances, throw it out or give it to someone you don’t like!

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

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Osage Beach Personal Trainer

The buns are getting loads of press lately. It seems a perky posterior is as high a priority for many women as a pair of equally perky breasts. Some women are going to great lengths to achieve a more voluminous back-side, including undergoing buttock implants, augmentation and fat injections – extreme procedures when trying to eradicate a saggy, unimpressive derriere.

Haven’t these people heard of weight training?

With fitness and muscle development trends today, women can readily, and easily, achieve a tightly tones rear-end without having to consider surgical alternatives. When you think about it, who would want to get cut with a scalpel when you can get the results you want with weight training? Most of you are already incorporating weight training into your fitness and body-shaping regimens, so it’s just a matter of focusing more on what’s behind you.

You really have to make an extra effort to train the glute muscles. They do come into play when doing other muscle-building exercises, but to truly shape your posterior you must add a few specific butt-shaping exercises. The good news is the three muscles making up the glute region – the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus – respond very well to direct training. Like the abdominals, the glutes can withstand a lot of punishment, so think of it in terms of incorporating a dedicated glute-training program twice a week to lift and tone.

Choose two glute exercises per workout session, 4 or 5 sets of each exercise, 12 to 15 repetitions per set to totally work the muscles. Not sure if you are doing the exercise correctly? Reach around behind and touch your muscles during the exercise. You should be able to feel them contracting.

The Exercises

Prone Hip Raises – A good exercise to lead off with, prone hip raises can be done with or without weights. Lie on the floor on your back with knees drawn up, feet planted shoulder-width apart. Raise your hips off the floor so that your bodyweight is supported by your shoulders and feet. Squeeze the glutes as you raise your hips so that you feel a good contraction. DO NOT let the buttocks rest on the floor between repetitions. Try to complete 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps.

If you want to increase the degree of difficulty, incorporate “burns” into your hip raises: Raise your hips, contract the glutes and do pulses or mini hip raises, at the top of the movement. Do 12-15 burns after doing the full-ranges hip raise. You will soon discover why I call the “burns.”

Putting a weight on your abdomen creates an even greater challenge. Hold the plate securely on your midsection so that it won’t slip down and hit you in the face. Really feel those glutes working. Squeeze the muscles. You will eventually be able to use two 45-pound plates.

Lunges – As far as I’m concerned this is the grand-mommy of all glute exercises. When performed properly NOTHING adds shape to the tush faster than the lunge. The problem is that most people do not do lunges correctly and never receive the benefits from such a tremendous movement. Lunges can be performed with or without weights, walking, with one leg up on a bench, reverse lunges on a Smith Machine, etc., etc. The variations are limitless.

Most often when you see someone attempting to do lunges they kneel down and touch their knee to the floor, come back up and repeat the same motion with the other leg. The exercise is called lunges, not “kneel downs!” If you were supposed to simply kneel down the exercise would be named accordingly.

Proper execution of the exercise requires you to lunge out (hence, the name) as far as possible, keeping your upper body perpendicular to the floor (erect). As you move forward from this position you must squeeze the glutes tightly to completely activate all the fibers of the glute region. This squeeze, or contracting of the muscles, is what makes the exercise so effective. This contraction cannot be achieved by simply kneeling down.

Squats – That’s right… Squats. “But Rick, squats are hard.” That’s right, they are. And your butt will be hard too… if you do them. Plain and simple.

I prefer for women to perform squats on a Smith Machine. Position yourself under the bar and place you feet out in front of you (anywhere from 1-2 feet). The reason for this is simple. If your feet are directly beneath you and you perform the exercise, your knees will pass forward of the position of your feet. This places a lot of undue stress on the knee joint, and is a recipe for disaster. The knee is not made to handle the amount of weight that your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and hips can handle combined. But when you attempt to squat with your feet directly under you in the Smith Machine this is exactly what you are asking your knees to do. This is a recipe for injury. So, with your feet out in front of you to avoid injury, begin your descent to the floor slowly and deliberately. Descend all the way to the floor. That’s right… take your bootie all the way down to the floor. The glute muscles are activated during the lower part of the exercise. As you begin your rise back to the top, push with the heels of your feet and squeeze your rear-end tightly. This little tip will create more activation of the glute muscles than you can imagine. As you reach the finish point of the repetition, do not lock out at the top. Instead, stop just short of locking your knees out, pause for a moment and begin the next repetition. Four to five sets of 10-12 repetitions will be plenty of this exercise.

REMEMBER: Take your butt all the way to the floor, push with the heels of your feet, and squeeze the hell out of your butt to get the most out of this exercise.

Kneeling Cable Kickbacks – Want to hit all three glute muscles with a bang? Nothing does it better than the kneeling cable kickback. A variation of the standing cable kickback, kneeling demands more effort from the glutes because the range of motion is greater. It also works against gravity.

Place a flat bench in front of a weight stack. Attach a cuff to one of your ankles and attach that to the weight stack. Kneel on the bench with the free leg. Bring the cuffed leg far forward, then slowly back and as high as possible. Like with the squats, try to push backwards with your heel to generate more contraction to the glute region. Contract the glutes tightly as you work. Place a hand on the working glute periodically to feel the muscles working. This helps to keep your effort honest. Perform 4-5 sets of 12 repetitions for each leg. Begin with a moderate weight like 30 to 40 pounds to perfect your technique and build a strength base. Progress to more weight in two to three weeks once you feel you can handle it.

A machine that is found in many gyms these days is called the “Butt Blaster.” This machine simulates the motion of the Kneeling Cable Kickbacks since it is designed to place you in the proper position for the exercise.

Other effective glute-training exercises to consider adding for variety are stiff-legged dead-lifts and good mornings.

Cardio – If you want a rear-end that stops people dead in their tracks you must do your share of cardio training. Let’s face it… you can have the greatest ass in the world, but if it’s covered by layers of fat nobody will ever be able to admire it, much less want to admire it. Stair-climbing and elliptical trainers are both effective modes of cardio exercise that target the glutes, but as far as yielding the highest results, nothing works better than walking on a treadmill at a high-grade incline. The higher the incline, the more the glutes are activated. Forty to sixty minutes per session, 4-5 times per week.

Nutrition – This one is pretty obvious, isn’t it? If you don’t want junk in the trunk, then you can’t eat junk. This should be a no-brainer. If you’re not sure what to eat CLICK HERE.

Eat properly most of the time, perform direct butt-shaping exercises and put in your time on the treadmill, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly your butt becomes an object of affection. Trust me… in today’s society, with breast implants being as commonplace as make-up, any woman can have a pleasing upper body. But, a tight, toned, jaw-dropping backside is truly something to behold… a REAL show-stopper. So, what are you waiting for… get your ass in gear!

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

My answers are always the same. There is no magic pill or powder or even secret that trainers, professional athletes or fitness models are keeping from the general public. It all comes down to hard work, being conscious of your diet and, most importantly, being consistent.

If it were easy everyone would be in perfect shape all of the time. To quote Bill Cosby,

“In order to succeed, the desire for success
must be greater than the fear of failure.”

The fear of failure is something I encounter 90% of the time when discussing fitness goals with women.

Whether they realize it or not, many women prevent themselves from achieving their fitness goals because of an inherent fear of failure. Unless you determine that you are going to make sacrifices and make fitness a lifestyle it becomes all too easy to ‘give up’ because ‘it’s not going to happen – I have bad genetics.’

Stop blaming your parents, your husband, or your kids for your own fear of committing to yourself and your fitness goals. While it is true that some are genetically predisposed to developing lean muscle it is completely possible to train hard and diet to create the best body you can have for you.

You will never know until you put all of your doubts aside and make it happen. Now, combine this fear of failure with the many myths that surround women and weight training and you have a recipe for disaster.

I am breaking down the six most common myths many women believe and thus hinder their progress or potential gains. Hopefully this will help educate more women to the truth behind what makes the body effectively transform.

Six Common Myths

Myth 1: Lifting Weight Will Make/Build/Develop Muscle Like A Man.
We have all heard this one from some woman at one time or another. Ladies… NO … Lifting weight will not make you develop muscle like a man. Quick lesson in anatomy:

Both men and women have hormones coursing through their bodies. These hormones are testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and DHEA. For those of you who are not aware, men and women share all of these; however men have a much higher number of testosterone and DHEA than women do and women have a much higher concentration of estrogen and progesterone.

Testosterone is a very powerful hormone, this is one (if not the) primary factor that enables men to build muscle the way they do. Are there women in this world who lift weights and look like men? Yes. Why? They take testosterone or other androgens to help them achieve that look. Does the average woman who wants to get in shape and attain a ‘sexy’ body have to supplement this way to achieve her goals? NO.

And, in all honesty, most women that attend the gym to get in shape or look good at the beach do not lift weights that are nearly heavy enough to develop in this manner.

Myth 2: Eating A Lot Will Make Me Fat.
Eating a lot of cake and candy and cookies will absolutely make you fat. So can eating a lot of pasta or chicken or bananas. There isn’t any one type of food that can be blamed for unwanted fat gain in the body. What needs to be understood is that every morsel of food that is ingested has calories (many also contain vital nutrients). However, if you overeat anything at any point during the day the excess that your body does not need will be stored as fat.

Food                              Calories       Protein      Carbs         Fat

Chocolate Cake                          428                  5.9g                73g              15.6g

Candies, Reese’s Pieces          497                12.5g             59.9g             24.8g

Cookies, Chocolate Chip       497                   4.6g             66.1g             25.2g

Pasta                                              131                   5.2g             24.9g                1.1g

Chicken, Roasted                     190                 28.9g                   0g               7.4g

Bananas                                          92                        1g             23.4g               0.5g

When a bodybuilder or fitness model, professional athlete or personal trainer stresses they eat frequently throughout the day they are not saying they eat “too much.” Eating small meals 6 – 7 times a day will increase your metabolism so your body is constantly burning calories and is constantly receiving the adequate nutrition it needs to maintain all bodily functions including building and maintaining muscle.

It is important to get an understanding of what proper nutrition consists of and what you need to feed your body to not only maintain it but ‘evolve’ it into the figure of your dreams.

Myth 3: Carbs Are The Enemy!
Ladies, forget Dr. Atkins… Please! In fact, try to stay away from all the fad diets on the shelves at Barnes & Nobles that promise to give you a bikini-perfect body if you do ridiculous things like stand on your head and eat nothing but Oreos.

There is no secret trick and no magic in a bottle. Cutting carbs and eating nothing but steak and bacon are not going to get you closer to having a firm butt and thighs. Sorry, but that’s the truth. The Atkins diet and calorie restriction diets are excellent starting points for obese individuals that need to lose weight quickly for health reasons. They are not conducive to building muscle.

The macronutrients needed for a well rounded nutritional program are carbs, protein and fat. All three of these are necessary and have important functions within the body. I am not going to go into complete detail here as a complete breakdown of macronutrients and their function is extremely lengthy and would be better suited in an article on nutrition which I will write at another time.

The basic reasons are carbohydrates are necessary in rebuilding muscle. They are also an excellent source of energy within the body. This is not just energy to run five miles, this also means energy required to keep your heart beating, maintain the digestive process and even ensure cellular respiration can occur.

(Fancy terminology that means your body does much more than what you make it or ask it to do.)

Myth 4: Working Out Turns Fat Into Muscle.
No, working out does not turn fat into muscle. Nor can you change apples into oranges by juggling. Think about it, muscle and fat are two completely different things. Fat is made up of triglycerides and muscle is made up of amino acids. How can one turn into the other?

The reality is that building muscle will in turn help you burn fat. The more muscle developed the more calories the body will burn even while at rest. The transformation will not occur over night – it can take months or even years.

Likewise the theory that 1 lb. of muscle weighs more than a 1 lb. of fat holds absolutely no water. 1 lb equals 1 lb no matter what that pound is made up of. However, muscle takes up less space within the body than fat does. Because of this someone who is extremely muscular but the same height and appears to have the same amount of body mass as an individual that has a softer physique can weigh more.

Myth 5: Drinking Too Much Water Will Make Me Bloat.
Actually the opposite is true. Not drinking enough water can make you bloat. Women are especially vulnerable to this. If an adequate amount of water is not consumed during the day the body will actually hold onto whatever water it has stored in the muscles in an effort to maintain necessary hydration for metabolism and other bodily functions. This can give you a bloated appearance. I say women are especially vulnerable to this because of the high fluctuations we experience with hormonal levels (and yes, that ‘time of the month’).

These factors make your bodies more sensitive to maintaining adequate hydration so it is necessary to drink at least a gallon of water a day. (The exact amount of water necessary for an individual will vary depending upon the sport / activity she is involved with as well as her weight etc. This is another performance nutrition factor that will be addressed another time.)

Myth 6: I Don’t Want To Train At The Gym Because People Will Look At Me.
Many women have said this during the years that I’ve been weight training. There is a common misconception that you must be blonde, busty, and extremely fit before you can walk in a gym and weight train. This is not the case. To be honest, most people are not looking around the gym gawking at other people while they are working out. They are too focused on their own form, staring at themselves in the countless mirrors scrutinizing their own bodies and what needs to be improved.

People Really Aren’t Going To Be Gawking At You.

Nobody is going to notice you in your sweats pushing through your personal workout. They are too focused on themselves. Don’t get me wrong, there are some people at the gym who are social butterflies and like to walk around and talk to everyone, but nobody is judging you.

Conclusion

I hope you have found this article helpful and it has helped to clear up any misunderstandings you might have had regarding common workout myths. You can find out more information, or even contact me directly for advice or other fitness tips at www.fitphysiqueonline.com.

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

Now more than ever there are more diets, theories, programs and pieces of exercise equipment bombarding us every day. However, America continues to grow fatter and fatter every year. Obesity is a major problem. There are numerous factors that play into gaining and losing weight such as activity level, cultural habits, genetics and so on.

However, probably the most influential factor is energy intake (i.e. eating). You can work your butt off in the gym day in and day out. Yet, you will never have that six pack if you overeat everyday on top of that.

In the fight for the next big money maker of fat loss miracles, there are two theories that have stuck around for quite a while now. They are:

1. Eat a good breakfast to “Jump Start” your metabolism.
2. Don’t eat late at night because everything you eat will be stored as fat.

What Is The Truth?
Both of these theories have explanations and logical reasoning behind them, but regardless of how you come to the conclusion, they are, at the heart the same. But are they true? While it is true that the digestion of food does require energy and creates a thermogenic effect, the first question at hand is if eating a breakfast in the morning results in a higher 24 hour energy expenditure or a negative net calorie balance.

The second theory is that eating after a certain time (typically ranges between 6-8pm) results in the storage of every calorie that you eat. This is an interesting one that has perplexed me for quite some time. The notion that after 6pm our body alters the way that it processes nutrients is rather fascinating to me, and is simply ludicrous. Think about it for a second… are we really supposed to believe that our bodies have a special mechanism that turns on at a certain time of the evening to store all foods as body fat? Give me a break!

According to this theory, somehow, for some reason, after 6pm the metabolic fate of all nutrients (especially carbohydrates) is to be stored as fat.

These two little snippets of nutritional folklore have hung around longer than most others and this as driven me to get to the bottom of it all.

So the pressing question here is, “Are they true?” Recent research has found the answer to both of them!

867 individuals consisting of both men and women were studied for there food intake at various times throughout the day for a number of days. Neither the subjects, researchers nor dietitians who analyzed the food for nutrient content were aware of which meals would be analyzed at what times of the day. This was done to prevent subjects from eating less/more or lying about actual intakes.

The food intakes were analyzed for density (calories per gram) and at what times of the day meals were eaten. The criteria for a “meal” was it had to be at least 50 calories and separated by 45 min from the previous food intake. They were also analyzed for a satiety index based on calories per minute.

This measure gives an idea of just how badly these people were stuffing themselves and at what times of the day. And as a side note, the average weight of the participants was 150 pounds, so no, these were not already overweight people who were accustomed to overeating.

The First Point:

The results were interesting to say the least. The first major point was that as the day progressed meal size increased and the time between meals decreased. So people were eating more, more often! This is where the satiety index comes in.

For what ever reason people seem to feel more and more hungry as the day wears on and, of course, will eat until they are full. You know the old bodybuilder’s adage – You never want to go hungry! And if you didn’t know, you do now!

The Second Point:

The next point made actually helps to answer the question about getting in a good breakfast. There was a very strong and negative correlation between meal size early in the morning and meal size late at night.

That means people who ate meals with high energy content in the morning were eating less total calories the rest of the day, and vice versa. The people who didn’t eat much in the morning actually ended up eating more the rest of the day.

Between 6pm and 11pm calorie intake per meal skyrocketed from 525 calories to a whopping 720 calories per meal. And remember, people were eating more meals more frequently at this time. Not only that, but the calorie density shot up.

So these people are eating high calorie, low volume / weight food. These are the same people that always tell you that they don’t eat much but can’t seem to lose weight. On top of that, during that same time period carbohydrate intake shot from 35 grams per meal to 72 grams per meal. That is more than double!

This suggest that people tend to underestimate just how many calories they are actually eating, and that is probably a direct result of feeling hungrier and hungrier as the day wears on. Many things can affect hunger, not just how much food is actually in your stomach. The things we see and smell, a phrase, someone just talking about food. All of these things can make you hungry. And the more time that has passed in the day only give more chances for one of those to pop up and make a person hungry.

There You Have It…
So there you have it. We have answered our two pressing questions. Does eating breakfast “Jump Start” your metabolism? NO, the reason that eating breakfast can be a factor in a structured weight loss program is because you will tend to eat less calories over the course of a day.

And our second questions, does restricting food past a certain time (especially carbohydrates) prevent a person from getting fat? Again, NO it doesn’t. For whatever reason, the overall calorie density of food that people choose to eat at these times of the day skyrockets. And more over, the foods that people seem to reach for tend to be carbohydrate rich. If one were to cut the carbs after 6pm, they will have just taken a big chunk out of their total caloric intake.

Add that to a good breakfast in the morning and you are likely to eat even less during the day. A lower total calorie intake over the course of a day, month or year is not a magic metabolic formula for fat loss. It is just another way to get you to eat less.

Conclusion
In today’s modern world the average length of an individuals day has increased dramatically. Before the invent of the simple light bulb much of the days activities were over by sundown. Now we are up through all hours of the night. For most people, being up doesn’t always involve being active.

There are many people who sit up watching late night infomercials thinking how they should get that new piece of exercise equipment and get back in shape while they munch on some delectable snack. The bottom line here is pretty simple. It’s not the carbs and it’s not the time of day.

There is no magic ratio, combination or super pill that will make you thin. It comes down to being absolutely sure you know the exact number of calories you are putting into your body every day, as well as knowing how many calories your body is burning every day.

Rick Strreb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…