Are You Making The Most of Your Time

Do you ever daydream? I’m sure I already know the answer to this… of course you do. We all daydream and have small glimpses of what we want to accomplish. One of my mentors, Greg Justice, defines a daydream as “a shift of attention or wandering of the mind from ongoing tasks that take up past memories, present wishes or fears, and future plans or fantasies. They last for but a moment, to over a minute, but their average length is about 15 seconds.”

These daydreams can be used to gather information about ourselves. Many times, this so called mindless wandering, can allow us to really see what we want and who we really want to be. We can learn a lot from these daydreams if we actually write things down. Give it a try. The next time you catch yourself in one of these so called daydreams, write it down. This can be a great self visualization technique if used properly.

Most of us do not self visualize enough. How are you ever going to get to where you want to be in life if you do not create a picture or working image of it? Self visualization techniques, like writing down your daydreams, can help us achieve our goals at a much quicker rate and stay focused on the desired outcome. This technique can be used for every aspect of life. Write down your vision of who you are and make a plan based on that.

First, you need to start by making your goals SMART. If you use this popular method, you are going to have a much higher chance of actually following through and achieving your goals. Let's start by understanding what SMART goals actually are.

S – Specific. Try not to create a goal or vision of that is too open ended. An example of a popular open ended goal is losing weight. Get more specific and really think about what you want to lose… 10, 20, 50 pounds. The more specific you can be; the better.

M – Measurable. “If you can't measure it, then how can you determine its success?” Losing 25 pounds, lowering your cholesterol 30 points, or going to the gym three days a week are all goals that have a measurable variance in them.

A – Attainable. Making smaller, more frequent milestones will help you reach your long term goal. Losing 25 pounds may definitely be attainable; however it seems like a rather large number when you look at the goal long term. Making each 5 pounds a small milestone makes the 25 pounds seem a lot less. Hitting these milestones will help motivate you and continue your progress toward that final goal.

R – Realistic. Your goal must be realistic. It can be a big, long term goal but make sure it is something you can honestly see yourself achieving.

T – Time Sensitive. Set a time limit for your short term and long term goals.

Hopefully that can help clear up what SMART goals are. Let’s take a look at a goal or vision using that system.

“I want to lose 25 pounds by the end of the year.” That is a specific goal (lose 25 pounds) w/ a measurable variance (weight) and is time sensitive (before the end of the year).

Now let’s see if it’s realistic. Research shows that we can safely lose 1-2 kg per week or approx. 2-4 pounds. From now until the end of the year, we are looking at about 13 weeks to hit this goal. In order for us to hit our goal of 25 pounds by the end of the year, we will need to lose 1.92 pounds per week. As you can see, this would definitely be realistic.

Finally, let’s make the goal attainable. Instead of looking at the 25 pounds as a whole, try to look at the weight loss in smaller increments. We should be hitting our goal as long as we can lose approx. two pounds each week. Breaking the 25 pounds down into small two pound increments make the goal seem much easier. Also, these smaller intervals give us a good chance to evaluate if our plan is working.

Do this for every area of your life. If you want to own your own house, than visualize what you want. “I want a two story house, brick, with a large yard so my dogs can play, in a quiet neighborhood, and easy access to the bike paths. I want to have this house two years from now.” Go through each step and make sure each one of your goals is SMART. Make an action plan and take control. We have the power to do extraordinary things if we are focused. Take the time to do this and see the results.

It’s Go Time ;-)

Post Workout Nutrition... Are you setting yourself up for Success?

This week I am going to have a good friend and fellow fitness professional Steve Long describe his thoughts and opinions on post workout nutrition. Steve has impressed me with his knowledge and I fully trust his decision making and education when it comes to fitness. Here is an article that will help briefly show you the importance of getting your post workout nutrition in. If you know me, you should know how much I preach post workout nutrition, so take it away Steve, teach my followers the way brother.

Written by Steve Long, owner of Complete Fitness Results:

One of the most major things that people do not know about or look past when it comes to fitness is post workout nutrition. Most of us are not bodybuilders or athletes, but there are some things that bodybuilders and athletes do that will help us in our training. If you ask any bodybuilder in the world if they have a post workout shake I would bet that 99.9% would say yes. If you ask any professional athlete is they have a post workout shake after their workouts and I’m sure the numbers would be just as high. Regardless if you are a pro athlete, a gym rat, a weekend warrior, or just someone that works hard in the gym for the best results, post workout nutrition is a must.

After an intense workout your body is in a different state then when at rest. It is starving for nutrients and is depleted of energy. Muscle glycogen stores are depleted and your protein balance is at a negative. Cortisol is released which is catabolic, meaning muscle will be broken down. You have basically just injured your body and set yourself up to lower metabolism.

Now that you have injured your body, how do you fix it? That’s were post workout nutrition comes into play. Sure you could leave the gym and go home and eat a sandwich and that would be decent. You could grab a bar from the gym and that would be better than nothing. If you are like me however, you want to best possible results from your efforts. I don’t go to the gym to get so so results. I go to get the best results possible for the effort I put in. I put in a lot of effort so I want a lot of results. I don’t want to waste that effort with a so so post workout nutrition choice. So how do you get the best post workout nutrition and the best possible results?

They are many theories and studies that debate the perfect post workout nutrition and I think that falls out of the scope of this article. There are many different combinations of supplements that can be used and different macronutrient ratios and things of that nature, but my goal is to make fitness simple. So simply, you want to have a certain ratio of carbohydrates to protein, you want it to digest fast, you want it to be immediately after your workout.

* I recommend a that you have your post workout nutrition in the form of liquid. Liquid absorbs faster and will get the nutrients into the muscles before your window of opportunity closes.

* You have roughly a 30-45 minute window of time to reverse the negative effects and replace them with good effects so make sure that you have your shake immediately after your workout.

* Its best to have a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein for your average person. For an extreme bout of exercise like distance running or bodybuilding you may increase the carbs to 3:1 carbs to protein.

There is much more that can be taken into account when deciding what kind of post workout shake to have. There are products on the market which have the perfect ratios and types of carbs and protein in them to choose from. In a pinch, skim milk is a good option, but it takes a lot of milk to get the amount of protein that would be ideal after your workout. It is up to you to find what kind of post workout nutrtion you want to use, but to get best possible results and make it easy, I recommend “Workout” by Prograde Nutrition. It’s what I use and I love it. It mixes easy, tastes great, has a 2:1 ratio, and has the best quality protein on the market. I know and trust the guys who own and operate the company and I know that when they say something is in a product that it is true. I can’t say that about any other company on the market. Click below to see all of the great products that Prograde has to offer.

Steve Long of Complete Fitness Results Highly recommends Prograde Nutrition.
Go here to find out more: http://completefitnesssupplements.getprograde.com

The Seven Deadly Exercises

In the past, I’ve shared my top exercises for rapid fat loss and muscle gain, featuring a host of multi-joint, compound movements for your upper body (push up’s, pull up’s, etc.), lower body (squats, deadlifts, lunges, etc.), and core (planks and anti-rotational exercises). These “multiple muscle” exercises provide the biggest bang for your buck during your workouts to generate maximum results in minimal time.

However, I think I’m going to switch it up a bit today and focus on the WORST exercises you can add to your training routine. The following list features movements that I wouldn’t be caught dead doing. These movements deliver shoddy results and flat our hurt people- movements that have far greater risk than reward:

The 7 Worst Exercises of All Time

1.) Abs Machine

Crunches and sit-ups only promote excessive flexion of the lumbar spine and tend to cause neck and back pain. "The traditional sit-up imposes approximately 3300 N or about 730 pounds of compression on the spine" (McGill, 88). And that’s with body weight only, each repetition. What’s worse than crunches or sit-ups? Doing a similar movement with added weight in a machine that only trains your body in an unnatural front to back motion in a seated position!

Yes, abs machines, like crunches and sit-ups, do make your feel your abdominal muscles. However, there are far better ways to accomplish this without the high risk of this machine. It’s all about risk/reward.

Remember, the true function of your core is stabilization, both static and dynamic. You should be able to maintain a neutral, straight-line position from your hips to your shoulders in all 3 planes of movement (front to back, side to side, and rotational) no matter what the external stimulus may be.

21 Century Training Upgrade: For rock hard, athletic abs focus on pillar stabilization exercises like front, side, and back planks and ground based anti-rotational core work like chops variations and upper body twists with minimal movement in your lumbar spine.

2.) Back Machine

Well, if I HATE the abs machine, how do you think I’m going to feel about the back machine? This exercise is just plain out stupid!!

First of all, people already use too much “back” on most movements because of tight hips and inactive/weak glutes. Thus, I prefer to focus more on hip extension movements that strengthen your butt rather than continually overloading the spinal erectors. Plus, adding in corrective stretching for the hip flexor complex, the hip rotators, and the hamstring complex that opens up your hips and alleviates excessive spinal flexion and compressions is literally exactly what the doctor ordered.

Second of all, just like the abs machine, this bootleg exercise trains your body in one plane of movement in a fixed path, and as a result, this machine doesn’t work your key stabilizer muscles.

Lastly, the way that most people perform this movement in such an out of control manner for speed just makes me want to vomit. It literally looks like they are trying to lie down for reps. Is this the type of movement that we want to get really good at? I don’t think so!!

21 Century Training Upgrade: For a strong, stable back focus on deadlifts, good mornings, and hip extension variations. Also, you should be simultaneously focusing on the corrective stretching and self-massage of the Lumbo-Pelvic-Hip (LPH) complex.

3.) Leg Extension Machine

This exercise is a personal one for me. When I first started lifting weights as a stubborn 10^th grader who did whatever it took to keep pushing my training loads up. I abused this exercise like few others.

I remember maxing out the rack at 200 lbs and doing spastic sets of 20+ reps where the whole universal machine that the leg extension apparatus was attached to would shake like an episode of soul train.

Here’s the bottom line with this exercise. It will wreak havoc on your knees! The excessive compressions on your patella will without a doubt results in the brake down of articular cartilage which will in turn results in a bunch of arthroscopic knee surgeries to remove loose bodies and eventually full blown crippling arthritis. Avoid this machine like cancer!

21 Century Training Upgrade: For strong, stable knees, focus on both knee-dominant (lunge, step-up, and single-leg squat variations) AND hip-dominant single-leg exercises (single-leg hip extension, deadlift, and good morning variations) to prevent strength imbalances between limbs AND to prevent strength imbalances between your front and back thighs and your inner and outer thighs.

4.) Fly Machine

If your goal is tear your pecs and destroy your rotator cuff, then I highly recommend that you add this exercise to your routine. I think the chest fly machine actually gets even more use then the bench press does, which is considered to be the most popular exercise for guys.

Again, the use of a machine versus doing a dumbbell fly alternative eliminates the use of the key stabilizer muscles surrounding your shoulders. So in other words, if you must do flies, use dumbbells. Furthermore, this machine typically results in overuse injuries like shoulder impingement or biceps tendinitis.

21 Century Training Upgrade: For strong, stable shoulders focus on performing an equal amount of pushing and pulling exercises. In fact, more pulling exercises initially may be a good idea if you find yourself heavily internally rotated and hunchbacked from years of sitting at the desk. The best pushing exercise you can do is any push-up variation as it not only safely trains the entire front side of your body but also engages your upper back musculature, specifically your scapula stabilizers, in a way that the bench press does not.

5.) Elliptical Machine

Look- if you are really, really overweight and haven’t exercised in over a decade, then I think an elliptical has some use. But, other than that, I think it’s relatively useless.

Yes, it is a low-impact alternative to running on a treadmill, but there is very little range of motion during the movement and does not burn nearly as many calories as the machine claims it does.

Furthermore, the elliptical is not a good machine to do intervals on because it promotes excessive hyperextension of the knee. This can easily result in injury at high levels of speed and resistance.

At the end of the day, you can read a damn magazine while you’re on an elliptical, so how much benefit do you really think you will get from this overpriced waste of space?

21 Century Training Upgrade: For optimal results during your cardio training, you must focus on intervals. They burn 9 times more body fat than aerobics and also result in greater improvements in overall conditioning than long, slow, boring cardio. If you are overweight/de-conditioned and/or have joint issues, the best place to start an interval training program is on a spin bike, or better yet, an Airdyne Bike which has both upper and lower body attachments to make it more of a total body conditioning experience. Swimming is also another low impact exercise that uses full body.

6.) The Yes/No Machine- Abductor/Adductor Combo

Ah, the sex machine… this one just makes me smile. It certainly takes me back to the days where my meathead buddies and I would shamelessly gawk at this outrageously good looking gal who did 1,000 reps on the adductor/abductor machine to fit into her “skinny jeans.”

But, I can assure you this machine had nothing to do with her nice body. Rather it was a combo of genetics, a clean diet, and being a multi-sport athlete that did the trick.

Women all over the world seem convinced that this “naughty” exercise can somehow help them rid themselves of the thunder thigh/cellulite situation.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard: “What exercises can I do to get rid of this flab inside my leg?” Too many times!

If you’ve listened to some of my ranting and raving about “spot reduction”, you should know my stance on this. Seriously, no amount of direct inner or other hip-thigh work will burn that ugly fat covering that sexy toned musculature everyone wants to see, so just let it go.

The first thing you need to do is clean up all of the junk carbs in your diet and starting consuming lean proteins, healthy fats, and fruits and veggies every 2-4 hours while chugging water like a fish.

Then you need to get off this sexy machine and get real with a total body workout!

21 Century Training Upgrade: The best exercises for your inner and outer-hip thigh will come from band-resisted hip walk variations, side pillar variations, and any and all single-leg exercises, especially lateral lunges. My favorite lateral lunge is the Valslide Lateral Lunge that simultaneously stretches and strengthens your hip musculature.

7.) Leg Press Machine

It never ceases to amaze me how we all look for the easy way out when it comes to working out. It’s clear why people prefer to leg press- they get to lay or sit on their ass depending on the exact type of leg press machine being used.

If you want both nice legs and a flat midsection then you need to squat! And yes, you can’t squat lying down, sorry!

But squats are tough because they require a whole body effort, an effort most people aren’t willing to put in explaining why they get crap results form their workouts.

The leg press could very well be a major contributing cause for the rapidly increasing number of bulging and/or herniated discs among exercise enthusiasts. People always use way too much weight and use poor form resulting in brutally compressive forces on the spine.

Seriously, if you are opting to leg press over squatting, then you don’t know squat, pun intended ;)

21 Century Training Upgrade: The best (and safest) exercises for your lower body are a healthy combination of double-leg and single-leg exercises using free weights and body weight based exercises. Be sure to perform an equal amount of knee-dominant lower body exercises (e.g. squats and lunges) and hip-dominant lower body exercises (e.g. deadlifts and single-leg hip extensions) to make your knees, hips, and back bulletproof. In fact, most people are very knee-dominant and could benefit to start by performing a greater number of hip-dominant movements to balance out their lower body musculature.

You’ll notice once common trend among all of these crap exercises: they all involve MACHINES!

Get off those damn machines!!!!!! Focus on functional movements using free weights, bands, stability balls, etc. Not only will you ramp up your fat-burning and muscle-building pursuits, but more importantly you won’t end up hunchbacked in a wheel chair by the time you turn 50.

It’s go time,

Jared Woolever

PS- What other exercises do you see people doing in the gym that make you cringe? What other exercises do you absolutely hate? What exercises have gotten you hurt in the past? Please share your personal experiences by posting a comment to this blog post, thanks!

Edwardsville Personal Trainer Helps Show You How to Design a Strength Training Routine Designed To Burn Fat

In the past, the cornerstone of most resistance training workouts has been performing exercises in a straight set format. Essentially, this means you perform a certain number of reps for a given exercise or you perform as many reps as possible for a given exercise and then you rest anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes. This rest period is essentially based on your training goals. For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain emphasis shorter rest periods are ideal. Longer rest is needed for improving maximal strength and power

So, what’s the problem with this format? Well, though straight sets are extremely easy to comprehend for people new to fitness, they are also an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for let’s say the bench press. They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on ESPN, and then gingerly walk back to the bench area to hit up their second set. In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one movement pattern (a horizontal push). At this pace, it will take well over an hour to complete a good solid workout.

It’s all about utilizing your time wisely in order to get the most out of each workout. With this design, you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a predetermined, short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s). Essentially, we are improving the density of each workout to ensure the time spent working out is productive and helping us achieve our goals. There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:

• Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

• Trisets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

• Complexes: Usually five to six exercises performed without ever putting the weight down (e.g. upright rows, reverse curls, front press, Overhead reverse lunge, goodmornings, and bent rows)

• Circuit Training: A series of four or more exercises performed with minimal rest

Though supersets and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe circuit training is by the far the best option time and time again. To demonstrate why, let’s examine my favorite circuit training template using timed set intervals:


The 50-10 Five Exercise Circuit: You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for all five exercises in the following 5-minute circuit:

Exercise#1- Kettlebell Swings

Exercise#2- Squats/ Squat Jumps

Exercise#3- Single-Leg Hip Extensions

Exercise#4- Push-UP’s

Exercise#5- Stability Ball Rollouts

Perform this circuit up to four times for a 20-minute total body fat burning workout.

Basically, in the same 15 minutes that it took to get in three sets on the bench you could have gotten in three sets of five different exercise for a staggering total of 15 work sets! Plus, the intensity on each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in this five exercise circuit you will have full recovery with over four minutes before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).

To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean muscle gain.

It’s go time, Jared ;-D

Video of the Week

Are you looking for some new and exciting way to spice up your warm-up routine? These two different types of squats are great for improving hip mobility, as well as targeting some of those hard to reach areas at the same time. Try adding some of these squats into your routine. Beginners may use these body weight variations as a strength exercise. Moderate to Advanced lifters should use these as a warm up primarily for hip mobility as opposed to strength.

Crossover Squats

Do your best to keep the hips, knees and toes facing forward. You want to look like a speed skater while doing these. If done properly, you should feel a good stretch in the glutes on the lead leg and the quadriceps on the trail leg firing. Maintain good posture throughout the entire movement. Do 10 on each side.

Frog Squats

Start with feet hip width apart, toes pointing at a 45 degree angle. Squat as deep as you can ensuring proper posture. Open the hips up and try to get a good stretch in the groin. You can sit at the bottom and get a good stretch by using the elbows to pull the knees apart. Weight should be back in your heels as you squat, letting you knees follow your toes as you descend. Do 10 of these or 5 of the variation below (Frog Squat w/ Reach).

Try to incorperate these drills into you warm-up. These are also great to do on your off days from strength training. I will be showing you some more of these drills that can easily and safely be used to spice up your routine and improve functionality at the same time.

It's go time ;-D

Jared Woolever CSCS, CPT
Owner- Edwardsville Better Body Boot Camps

Strength Training to Lose Weight

Trying to drop weight can be quite a challenge sometimes. We must manage our time wisely and put our time and efforts into the most successful methods. I am only going to discuss the first two factors that play the largest role in maintaining a slim, defined phisique.

Nutrition is the best way to change your phisique with little to no time to workout. Even if our schedules just don’t allow enough time to make it in to the gym everyday, we still have to eat. I will be posting some simple nutritional guidlines to follow a little later, so keep your eyes open.

Strength training comes next in line. The reason being; creating a stress to your body that forces change is vital to ensure fat loss. Resistance strength training will force your body to adapt to the new (or overloaded) stimulus. The way our bodies do this is by developing our muscles to help handle this new stress in our routine. Muscle is alive and needs a fuel source to maintain itself. This fuel source is essentially going to come from your fat cells. Each lb. of muscle requires approximately 50 calories per day to maintain itself. That may not seem like a lot, but it will defineately add up over time. Just think about what another 5 lbs. of lean muscle would do for your metabolism. 5 lbs. of muscle x 50 calories a day x 7 days a week = 1750 calories per week, or 91,000 calories per year. That’s the equivelant of 26 lbs. of fat per year.

Let’s go attack our goals with a well defined plan. Start with a sound nurition background. This can be attained in several ways. Enlisting in a nutritional education program or simply doing the labor of sifting through the materials out there. This will help us gain a solid understanding of what “proper nutrition” is. Finally, if strength training is not being incooperated, it must be somehow be safely introduced into our routines.

It's go time ;-D

Jared Woolever