Some Food For Thought...

My sister Kristi gave me a book for Christmas that I have had the pleasure of beginning to read since I have been at home sick for two days now. The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, is a scientific look into how our environment and our mind affects our body. Bruce H. Lipton PhD is a former University of Wisconsin and Stanford Medical School professor and a man who deeply explored two new fields of biology, including Epigenetics, which means "above genetic control" or the way environment influences the expression of genes. It didn't take long for me to be captured by Dr. Lipton's writing and he briefly touched on the danger of western medicine's medicated and invasive approach to fixing mental and physical illness. Here is a paragraph from the book I feel needs to enter the awareness of all people:

"Because we are not powerless biochemical machines, popping a pill every time we are mentally or physically out of tune is not the answer. Drugs and surgery are powerful tools when they are not overused, but the notion of simple drug fixes is fundamentally flawed. Every time a drug is introduced into the body to correct function A, it inevitably throws off function B, C, or D. It is not gene-directed hormones and neurotransmitters that control our minds; our beliefs control our bodies, our minds, and thus our lives..." - Bruce Lipton

If this little blurb has you wondering how our beliefs can be so powerful, I suggest you grab yourself a copy of the book. Lipton's approach is rigorously scientific and revolutionary. I am a firm believer in the power our thoughts have over our bodies and life experience. Dr. Lipton sheds some great scientific light on this subject, making it much more tangible than what some might consider some spiritual hocus-pocus. Lipton is a prime example of credible scientific information that challenges what we commonly accept as scientific truth about mind, body, genetics and evolution.

The big picture Lipton is tugging at aside, the purpose of this blog was really to shed some light on the fact we are a medicated society. You can't watch more than ten minutes of television without being sold some sort of anti-depressant or drugs that will cure common ailments. We are a nation in need of healing. We are a nation suffering from mental and physical diseases that do not require drugs for fixing; but requires a shift in understanding and beliefs. It is time to accept there is no quick fix and medicating ourselves only masks mental and health issues. It is time to acknowledge there is something we don't know about the world and be open to new insight into what we are.

What I've Learned About Being Sick

Here is what you need to do to keep from getting sick the Reader's Digest Version:

1. Sleep
2. Wash your hands.
3. Eat fruits and veggies.
4. Stay hydrated
5. Exercise
6. Listen to your body when it tells you it is tired.
7. Your tonsils and throat are an indicator of foreign invaders, pay attention to how they feel.
8. When your body tells you its tired or you feel your throat, tonsils or sinuses acting up: stop exercising, eat extra-well, drink more water and get MORE  SLEEP.
9. Don't go to work, relax and sleep some more.
10. Sooner rather than later, you will be well and back to your routine.

The Long Version

Bed time is when our body gets a break from the wear and tear of the daily grind. Sleeping is an important component to maintaining a healthy body and mind. No one knows this better than myself. I am by no means a beauty sleeper. You won't find me sleeping in until ten or eleven in the morning on weekends or catching z's for more than seven or eight hours. But one thing is for sure: my body and my mind feel like absolute jelly if I don't sleep those seven hours.

Our day is filled with things that drain our physical and mental energy: work, kids, driving, relationships and working out. It doesn't mean these things are bad, they just simply take our undivided attention, focus and physical interaction. Sleeping is when we recharge the battery and gear up for the next round of our cyclical routine. But what happens when you aren't sleeping? What happens when you aren't charging the battery enough and your energy that feeds the life around you wears low? First, you'll feel drowsy during the day. You may even become anxious, irritable and moody. If this persists for a couple days, you will not only be unpleasant, but your weakened immune system will force you to do something you won't do for yourself: you'll be forced to slow down.

Sleeping is crucial to maintaining healthy immune function in the body. When you are sleep deprived and your immune system is weak, you not only are mentally spaced out but you are much more susceptible to catching a cold or flu. This is your body's way of telling you, "Hey! I am getting my butt kicked! Nourish me the right way, rest and get some shut eye!" Despite your body's efforts to slow you down, you'll push it until your symptoms become nearly unbearable. This was common practice for me much of my life. I would push through any and every physical condition to make sure I kept pace with whatever I had going on in my life whether it was sports, school or my career. One of the things I have learned, after my dad tried to beat it into me for years and years is to listen to your body and slow down!

This past week was a perfect example. Last week I trained clients and worked out all the way up until Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve I was up until about one or so in the morning spending time with my family. On Christmas Day I woke up after about six hours of sleep, worked out first thing in the morning and proceeded to celebrate Christmas all day long and got to bed around 12:30 a.m. Then comes Saturday morning, I woke up totally wiped out and thought a workout might boost my energy before Melissa and I took off to Laguna Beach for a day to visit her grandparents. We got back at midnight on Saturday and I spent all Sunday writing and playing music with my band. When I got home last night I told my girlfriend, "I am really feeling the last few days! I am totally burnt!" What do you know, when I woke up this morning I had a scratchy, sore throat and my sinuses were a mess. Now Jeff of the past would have got up and said, "I don't feel THAT bad, I'm going to go train the eight appointments I have lined up for today!" Today, I wisely woke up and felt the aches in my muscles, acknowledged the way my head, sinuses and throat felt and said, "Ok, today I need to just rest."

This may seem sort of silly to some people, but it is a huge step for me. All through high school and up until last year I would get hit once a year in December or January by terrible sickness. Sometimes it was a flu, once it was strep throat, tonsilitis another year and numerous sinus infections plagued me in December and January. After some reflection,  I realized I didn't have a weak immune system and bad luck during this time of year. I was always healthy the rest of the year. What I realized was at the end of each year is when my body is at its end and needs a rest. I've learned instead of pushing through what starts out as a small cold and turning it into something worse when my body is completely obliterated, it is OK to take some days off from school, work, sports, activity or whatever seems like it can't be missed. This mentality is what kept me from getting sick most of 2009 and wasn't about to make the mistake before the year's end.

So today, I'm writing this blog after cramming my system with vitamin C, relaxing, reading and listening to music without too much thought to the things that zap most of my energy on a daily basis. The moral of the story: Get rest and don't push your body over the edge. If you feel sickness coming on, then stay home and work on getting well! Don't go to work, school or practice and break your body down more! Being sick means your body is in a state of unease or DIS-EASE. Help your body return to normal by building it up with good food, water and SLEEP!

Wakeup Workout: Box Jumps

On today's WakeUp Workout segment with Chris Schauble I gave some quick tips on performing the box jump. This is a great exercise, especially for athletes and recreational sports participants.

4Tips to Staying Fit On Christmas!

Tonight is Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is Christmas Day and New Years is a week away. No doubt this is the time when people will pack on a couple extra pounds thanks to the plentiful availability of delicious meals. You worked so hard in 2009 to drop some pounds, don't throw it all away with a two week binge! Here are four tips to keep your waistline from busting over the next couple days:

1. Eat Normal Portions - We tend use the holidays as an excuse to completely engorge ourselves in all kinds of food we typically don't eat. Just because a lot people DO over eat during the holidays, doesn't mean it is what you SHOULD be doing. Feasting during the holidays is about having your cake and eating too, so just take portions in moderation. Instead of loading up several plates full of everything, try smaller portions of your favorite food in one sitting and come back for seconds in a couple hours. You don't need a serving size of all ten dishes your family brought, get a little taste and move on!

2. Don't Over Do The Desserts - No doubt the holidays are full of delicious treats to follow up the great family meal. But just because its Christmas doesn't mean you need to eat three or four pieces of cheesecake. Desserts are typically filled with incredibly high amounts of sugar and other simple carbohydrates that will likely get stored as fat, especially if you over ate at dinner. Limit yourself to one piece of dessert, or maybe try several small pieces of different desserts so you can taste it all without inflating your waistline. Not to mention, after you over eat at dessert, you set yourself up for a huge energy crash after about an hour. Eat well and feel good by controlling yourself!

3. Move Around A Little Bit - A great way to burn off some of those calories you are going to take in is by getting a little physical! Bowl Season is here and basketball is full swing, go outside and toss the ball around, shoot some hoops or spend fifteen minutes chasing the kids around the house with their new toys. It's better than nothing!

4. Snooze On The Booze - Aside from the fact that sober family members hate having a drunk idiot running around the house, drinking heavily adds tons of calories without you noticing and will likely increase your already uncontrollable appetite. Add in the fact that alcohol decreases your fat burning capabilities and its obvious that a good move would be to limit yourself to just a drink or two for the sake of your family and your fitness.

On that note, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a fun, safe and healthy New Year!

5 Reasons Why You're Not Getting Bigger

Building muscle is not as elusive as you may think it is. The truth is, when you bring all the components together and follow a program the right way, it is nearly impossible to NOT see results. Taylor Lautner is right now the most famous and best example of what can happen when you are young, dedicated and stick to a well designed program. Now not everyone is young, but a large amount of his success came from the dedication to his training routine. He packed on 30 pounds of muscle in a year! In my own experience, I gained 15 pounds of muscle between my senior year of high school and freshman year in college. I put on another 15 pounds of muscle in between my freshman and sophomore year of college. Remember, when you're training for football you don't just lift and eat all day, you also run a hell of a lot, so it's even tougher to keep weight with all the conditioning. Last year in a period of eight months, I trained, ate and slept to BUILD and went from 185 pounds to 205 pounds! No magic pills, no steroids, no testosterone boosters. Just good ol' fashioned hard work and discipline. Getting big, fast without any supplements and steroids is not impossible. It simply takes dedication and consistency. Here are five mistakes you are making that are keeping you from getting SUPER SWOLE:

1. You aren't eating often enough - You should be eating every 2-3 hours from wake up to bed time. Long periods of time without eating will cause your body to go into a catabolic (breakdown) state and it will metabolize essential nutrients needed for building muscle mass.

2. Your form sucks - Let's face it, most people don't know how to lift properly. Bad form is not only a recipe for joint pain and injury, but it is also a sure way to slow your results. Good form keeps you working the muscles you intend to work and successfully overloads them. Check your ego in at the door, suck it up and ask for some help from a fitness professional or a strength coach to show you how to perform biomechanically sound movements.

3. You over train a muscle group - To get muscles to grow you need two main things: overload and recovery. Many guys think it makes sense that the more you work out a muscle group, the more it will grow. Therefore, they will do arms every time they hit the gym or rock the chest four days a week. Sure this creates overload, but there is no chance for recovery. This is a huge no-no. If you are looking to gain some size, limit working a muscle group to one day (if you're doing extremely high volume body-building training) or two days a week (moderate volume split routine) with at least 24-48 hours of rest in between muscle sessions. Resting the muscles allows them to build back up!

4. You fear no beer - Aside from the other serious risks associated with drinking several nights a week or binge drinking every weekend, excessive alcohol intake seriously inhibits your body's ability to build muscle. Consumption of alcohol inhibits the secretion of growth hormone and slows down the process of protein synthesis. A moderate intake of alcohol is recommended, which means two drinks for men. This is not to say you can never drink alcohol again, just limit your partying to once a month if you are serious about your fitness goals.

5. You stay up all night playing Call of Duty - Ok, so maybe its facebook, video games, insomnia, your significant other, homework or whatever! Not sleeping enough impairs your body's ability to rebuild the muscle you tore apart in your weight training session. Growth hormone is secreted a couple hours into your sleep cycle to help repair tissue damage and is vital to getting bigger. Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night to ensure you're getting the most out of your hard work in the gym!

Six-Pack Abs Article: Featuring Jordan Yuam

Check out the CNN.com Health article that features tips from fellow trainer Jordan Yuam. For those of you who may not know, Jordan owns the gym I train out of and he is the man responsible for Taylor Lautner's transformation into a "super swole" (that's my phrase!) werewolf. In this article Jordan touches on some of the truth behind fitness and looking good. Jordan discusses how difficult it is to maintain a six-pack and explains how what you see in magazines isn't what you get in real life:

Six-packs are difficult to maintain because they require less than 10 percent body fat, said Jordan Yuam, a fitness trainer and owner of Jordan's Virtual Fit Club in Valencia, California, who was not associated with Dinant's fitness.

"It's really, really hard to keep that up," said Yuam, who trained "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner.

"Most people, in terms of bodybuilding or any kind of figure modeling, they have something called off-season training. They're going to look best during competition time. People don't realize there's two different worlds of the human body that you generally don't see when they're in magazines. They think they look like that year-round -- it's not true." - CNN.com

 Be sure to check back soon as I will be featuring an interview with Jordan regarding how he transformed Taylor Lautner for Twilight and how he continues to churn out one magazine worthy body after another.

Wakeup Workout: Front Squats

Remember that post on saving your joints? Here is the front squat, a great squat variation that is actually easier on your knees than a regular back squat! You will need a much lighter load for this exercise as it involves a lot more core stabilization and really hits the quads. The preferred way to rack the bar is by holding it palms up, with your elbows high and the bar resting on your hands and shoulders. Liz does the "genie hold" on front squats because she can't hold it with her hands the way I just described. If you want to save your knees and get an overall better workout, the front squat is the next step in your leg routine!

Is Your Attitude Towards the Gym Keeping You Fat?

According to studies performed at the George Washington University Medical Center, the negative emotions tied to the thought of going to a gym may actually outweigh the factual health benefits in motivating people to exercise. Suprisingly, the behavioral study of 1,552 individuals, 989 of them which were overweight, revealed that both normal weight and overweight people share very similar attitudes towards the gym. When it came to working out with the opposite sex, routine boredom, exercise equipment familiarity and exercise complication, the two groups shared similar perspectives. The study did point to one difference: overweight people appear to feel less comfortable in the gym and reported feeling intimidated by exercising with younger, fitter crowds.

The behavior theories that propose that attitude drives the intent to exercise describe attitude as an evaluation of positive versus negative. If this is the case, then, it is important to minimize the negative and maximize the positive in order to promote the desired behavior. Thus, it would be wise for exercise professionals and commercial health clubs to help overweight people feel more comfortable around those who are different from themselves and to minimize the intimidating aspects of the exercise environment, while promoting the benefits of exercise to personal health and wellbeing. - Science Daily

There is no doubt negative feelings and emotions towards the gym may keep people out. Not liking the gym is not an excuse for only 30% of Americans who are trying to lose weight to be getting the recommended daily amount of exercises, as reported by the National Institute of Health. Although I can see how going to a gym may be intimidating, it is not a good enough reason to let your body fall into a poor state of health. What's worse: running next to a girl on the treadmill with six pack abs or going to dialysis for the rest of your life? Is it more uncomfortable to try and figure out a machine or try and figure out how to keep your heart from stopping tomorrow? If you are someone who is intimidated by the gym or doesn't like them, here are a list of activities you can partake in to lose weight, stay healthy and live a long happy life:

- Buy an elliptical, treadmill, bike or a bowflex you can throw in your garage.
- Buy a workout DVD and some dumbbells, go to town!

Too expensive, not enough room?

1. Buy a bicycle and ride it around the block for 30 minutes a day
2. Try walking, jogging, running up and down your street for 30 minutes.
3. Go to the local high school and walk, run or jog the stadium and or track.
4. Go to the park and throw a Frisbee around with friends or your kids.
5. Pick up a basketball, shoot and chase it around for a half hour...you can do this by yourself you know!
6. Go on a hike...
7. Play tag outside with your kids (for their benefit and yours!)
8. Pick up a recreational sport in a league or just for fun (soccer, tennis, basketball, softball, even paint balling will get you running around!)
9. Go to the aquatic center or park and take some swimming lessons or swim laps
10. Buy Wii Fit

There you go, no more excuses. Just move around a little bit! You don't need gyms, machines and sales people to get in shape! If you really want to change, you can. I just gave you ten simple ways to get moving without a gym...now stop making excuses and show your body some love!

U,S. Cancer Rates Declining

A report done by researchers at the NCI, NIH, CDC, ACS reveal the cancer diagnosis rate has decreased by an average of 1 percent from 1999 to 2006. Mortality rates also fell between 2001 and 2006, down 2 percent for men and 1.5 percent for women. The mortality rate has decreased as a result of less fatal cases of America's most common cancers: colorectal, prostate, breast and lung cancer. Although some cancers and illness did increase including a small rise in leukemia, liver, kidney, thyroid, pancreas and bladder cancers, the results of the studies are promising.

There is no doubt modern treatments and the ability to diagnose cancer earlier has helped Americans in this battle against cancer. Medicine is making strides forward and new treatment techniques are being explored every day. The medical world is doing what it cans to save us, it's important we do what we can to save ourselves! Studies have shown adopting a healthy diet with plenty of fruits and veggies combined with regular exercise, moderate drinking habits and not smoking can put you ahead of the game. Whether you are willing to admit the truth or not is up to you, but the ultimate lifestyle question is: are you making choices that choose more life or more death?

Check out some of my favorite past cancer posts:

Low Cholesterol & Prostate Cancer

Fruit and Veggies A Cure For Cancer?

Fitness Fail #3

Check out this ridiculous exercise gone real bad! I'm not even sure what the hell this guy is doing in the first place. It looks like some sort of hip extension exercise, even though he probably thought he was doing abs. Either way, his exercise is worthless and the universe lets him know it...

Determination

Check out this truly inspiring story covered by Chris Schauble of KNBC-LA. This man's story embodies what it means to overcome obstacles. If this doesn't make you want to go out and get what you want in life, I don't know what will!

San FranciscWHOA

My dad and I love football. We also happen to be Rams-converted-to-Cardinals-thanks to Kurt Warner fans. It was my idea to have Christmas come early for my pops and fly us to San Francisco to watch the Cardinals play the 49ers on Monday Night Football. The trip seemed simple: fly up in the morning, rent a car, have lunch, watch the red hot Cardinals lock up the division and fly home that night. If only that was how it went.

The beginning of the trip was just fine. My dad and I got a workout going early in the morning, then headed to LAX for our flight. When we got there, the flight was delayed fifteen minutes which was no big deal, there was about six hours to game time. When we landed in San Francisco we opted to rent a car to have some freedom to bounce around town before the game started. We drove over to Fisherman's Wharf and had a hamburger and chili fries at Johnny Rocket's (don't judge me it was a man meal before a football game, I'm only human!). Shortly after, we headed back towards the stadium to watch what we hoped to be the Cardinal's perilous passing attack and Super Bowl caliber offense. Let's say the Cards fell short.

Dad and I sat there through four quarters of the most absolutely pitiful
displays of offense we'd ever seen at any level of football. The Cardinals fumbled seven times and threw two interceptions, while the offense all but completely hung the defense out to dry series after series. The Cardinals lost their second game in their division again to the 49ers, who didn't look too hot themselves. Unfortunately, the Arizona Cardinals faltering sparked an evening I am sure not to forget any time soon.

With the wind out of our sails a bit, my dad and I returned to our rental car at 9:00pm, plenty of time to drive six miles back to SFO and catch our 10:45pm flight back to LAX. What proceeded was a two hour trek over the course of six miles! First, it took over an hour to get out of the main parking lot we were located in. Once we got to the main street, we sat in more traffic as the San Francisco PD did not direct traffic, but simply watched as all 60,000 fans from Candlestick waited at one traffic light! Then, thanks to our handy new Tom-Tom GPS, my dad and I were completely thrown for a loop and mistrusted our instincts to be guided through a wrong turn. After a cop gave us bad directions to the freeway, we only had about a half hour left until the flight left us behind.

Finally, we got on the freeway and what do you know; there was gridlock traffic and red lights for a couple miles. After some nifty navigating, we shot out into the clear and headed towards the airport. Before we could try and depart, we had to drop the rental car off which was at a different off ramp and BOOM, Tom-Tom struck again! After an annoying cadence of confusing directions, we missed our off ramp with only ten minutes to go and we were forced to drive a circle. Once we dropped the car off, my dad and I hopped on a broken down tram, got moved to another functioning rail line and ran up and down escalators on the way to our terminal. It's too bad the Arizona Cardinals coaching staff wasn't in the airport because me and my dad sprinted and cut our way through the San Francisco Airport like pro bowlers! Just a minute or so late, we round the corner for United Airlines flight to find...A COMPLETELY EMPTY AND DESERTED TERMINAL. No employees. No travelers. Not even a janitor in sight.

After some phone calls, some cursing and some laughing, dad and I conceded to stay the night in the airport and fly back to LAX at 6am the next morning. We could have stayed at a hotel, but at this point the trip was getting expensive and the only way to make the trip a really great story was to sleep at the airport! So we opted to bunk up at a Subway sandwich shop that was open 24 hours and we crashed in one of the booths. The trip turned out no where near as simple, smooth and enjoyable as planned, but man did it turn out to be an adventure. My father and I had fun on Monday. The kind of fun only a father and son could enjoy together during a complete disaster! Merry Christmas Dad, I wouldn't have wanted to share that experience with anyone else!

Turn Your Workout Up A Notch

Turning your weight training routine up a notch doesn't mean just adding more weight to the bar or picking up heavier dumbbells from time to time. Seeing results in the gym comes down to one thing: overload. Your body responds to stress. When the workload you place on your body day in and day out is no longer stressful, your body stops adapting. Here are a few not so commonly known ways to put your body under more stress in a workout session:

Volume Training: Your body used to doing two or three sets of ten reps? Keep your intensity where it is at and try doing some more reps and sets. This is a more commonly known practice and is great for shaping, sculpting and body building. Throw the two or three sets out the window and try four sets of ten to twenty reps and feel the burn!

Super Sets: I hear this term used all the time, but people are confused about what a super set is. A super set is when you work two opposing or unrelated muscle groups back to back with no rest in between. This technique is a great way to get more bang for your buck and increase work performed in less time! Here are some good super set pairings: legs and back, chest and back, legs and shoulders, biceps and triceps, chest and biceps, back and triceps...anything unrelated! Perform two movements back to back, rest and repeat!

Compound Sets: Commonly mistaken as super sets, but compound sets are when you perform two exercises for the same muscle group. This is a great way to add volume and overload to your routine. Some ideas for compound sets include pairing explosive exercises with strength exercises for example: a jump squat with lunges, a plyo push up with bench press or medicine ball throw down with lat pulls. Another good compound combo is pairing stabilization exercises with strength exercises.


Complexes: This a very effective technique for increasing intensity and building your ability to perform work in a session. A complex is when your string a minimum of three exercises together using the same set of dumbbells, a barbell, plate or medicine ball without putting the resistance down. You perform all of the exercises back to back until the end of your set, rest then repeat. Here's a good dumbbell complex: dumbbell high pulls, dumbbell snatch, squat with a shoulder press, dumbbell rows, dumbbell push ups.

Hope these tips help you increase the intensity if your workout session! Mixing up your routine is a great way to jump start your metabolism and confuse your muscles!

Don't Drink Yourself Fat!

Check out this new public health video sponsored by New York City. As you may recall, New York City led the push for restaurants to post calorie content in an attempt to raise nutrition awareness and fight obesity. I wish the entire country could adopt this ugly truth revealing mentality when it comes to fighting America's issues with over indulgence. I can almost guarantee if you can manage to cut out sodas and other sugary beverages every day, you will drop a couple pounds in no time! Enjoy...

Wakeup Workout: Line Drills

Check out this great variation of line drills! Ideally, set yourself up with 5-6 lines about 5 yards apart and perform the ladder up and back a few times. Throw the burpee in there, and you have a real killer! Enjoy!

Body Basics: Behind the Scenes

Here are some behind the scenes photos of the DVD shoot on 12/12/09!!!

Body Basics Workout DVD Shoot...A Dream Realized

After over two months of brainstorming, planning, writing, scratching out and rehearsing I can proudly say I have completed the filming portion of my very first self produced workout DVD! I have called the four workout series DVD and its small handbook "Body Basics". My goal was to put together a short series of workouts and a program booklet that could safely and effectively guide in home users through a legitimate training program. Many of the workout DVD's on the market are done using cheesy cardio routines and aerobics workouts that are great for burning some calories every once in awhile, but fail to really help people build a base level of total fitness and fat loss knowledge. Trying to accomplish my goal was not easy! Putting all the information I want to get out to people could not be done on film. To do that it would have taken an extremely long day to just capture me on film talking and then add another day or two to capture cut away shots to keep the piece interesting to go along with filming the workouts.

My first challenge in this process was streamlining what I wanted to get out to the public. I was able to do this by deciding to incorporate a small booklet with the program design, cardio tips and nutrition planning information people should be using to see results. The second challenge was creating workouts that made sense! I was not about to just throw together some exercises and sell them as something real! In this DVD I used real program design and sequencing techniques that I use with my clients every day. Coming into this project it was of great importance for me to bring viewers something REAL. People need to know that losing fat, seeing results and staying in shape takes work! The workouts I used are by no means a push over, especially for beginners and even for intermediate users. You'll see when the video is released, I was sweating up a storm while I did the routines!

As if working out and talking isn't enough of a challenge, it definitely took me awhile to really get comfortable in my role. For the last several months I have been doing on camera work with NBC for the WakeUp Workout series, but this project was an entirely different monster! I had to get out of "WakeUp Workout" mode and into "Jeff the Trainer" mode. The first couple minutes of our rolling rehearsal were a little rough. I was nervous and feeling a little tight. But once I shook the feeling of being in front of the lights and the camera, I entered a place in my mind that was purely and simply ME. It felt great to eventually ease into being who I am for all of the world to see. I am not over the top Richard Simmons or Tony Little. Nor am I the intense, in your face screamer Jillian Michaels. I am Jeff Bomberger, enthusiastic and passionate trainer, with a side of goofiness. This project has transformed me, and it feels AWESOME!

On a sentimental level, after ten hours of setting up, filming and breaking down shop, I felt a tremendous sense of fulfillment. My clients, the Gousse family, opened up their home to my project and gave me the opportunity to see a dream realized. Thirteen year old Asia Gousse filmed our production for a behind the scenes project she was doing for her video production class at school. By the end of the day, Asia had edited the piece together and shared it with everyone. I can honestly say watching all the magic come together in Asia's mini documetary nearly brought me to tears of joy. I could not believe that just two months ago this project was an idea in my head and now it was a nearly completed project. "This is so awesome," I thought to myself, "This is what I am here to do."

I want to just thank everyone involved in this project from the bottom of my heart, as many people played a vital role in this project coming together. We have not finished the final product, but I know it is going to come out better than I could have envisioned a couple months ago! Here is the credit list for everyone involved and to each and every one of you: THANK YOU!

Cast:

Carla Porter - Demonstrator
Pia Friedrich - Demonstrator
Brandi Forte - Demonstrator

Crew:
 
Mike Manning - Director
Wes Barker - First AD
Kevin Zanit - DP
 Sebastian Stenhij - A Cam Operator/Set Dresser
Mark Margossi - B Cam Operator
Chris Walters - C Cam Operator
Dane Naimy - Key Grip
Katie Reina - Hair & Make-Up

A special thanks to my dad, my mom, Melissa and my buddy Brandon for coming by and showing their support all day long! Thanks to the Gousse family for welcoming us into your home! Thanks Thanks Thanks a million!

Look for the DVD out in late January!!!!!

Fitness Fail #2

Just read an article that can be found on MSNBC's website that was written about a t-shirt called RipTFusion and it costs $58. This state-of-the-art t-shirt apparently "supports your core, takes inches off your belly and enhances posture." Forget diet and exercise, just wear this t-shirt! Are you kidding me? This product is more garbage than the horrendous Shake Weight and really is a low of lows for people trying to make money off of out of shape people. What bothers me the most, is the continued attempt to make a buck off of lazy people that won't get off their ass and break a sweat. The t-shirt is so insulting to human intelligence, it actually has directions for how to put it on! What the eff? The more we try to sell people there is an easy way out, the more people will believe there is. Check out a portion of  Jim Ray's article for MSNBC on RipTFusion:

"I tested my RipTFusion in a variety of environments — at work, where I sit in front of a computer between going to meetings, at a wedding in Philadelphia in August (for that perfect combination of heat and humidity) and a night of eating and drinking around Seattle. The first and most obvious thing you notice is that this is the most form-fitting undershirt you’ve ever worn. Even well fitting T-shirts are going to hang loose, bunch up underneath a dress shirt, come untucked and need adjusting. Not so with the RipTFusion, it stays put once it’s on.

However, that form-hugging fit means that you always notice that you’re wearing it. I like my clothes to fit properly without constantly reminding me that they’re there. The RipTFusion is more like John the Baptist’s shirt of camel hair, prickling to remind you not to be penitent but to suck in, sit up straight and look good. I don’t know that it actually helped improve my posture or figure over the course of a day at work, but it was downright uncomfortable underneath a suit and the under the strain of East Coast humidity.

As for reactions from my friends and coworkers — the crowd was disappointingly silent. No one seemed to notice that my breathing was a bit more shallow or that I was cutting a slimmer figure. Until, that is, word about this very article got out around the office (newsrooms are allergic to secrets), at which point the response ranged from incredulity to jocular ribbing to constantly being asked whether I was wearing my “man Spanx.” My advice, should you decide that RipTFusion is for you, is to guard that skeleton in your wardrobe with your life." - FULL ARTICLE

Why You Should Train Explosively

A staple in any athlete's program is explosive power training. Through the use of plyometrics and olympic lifts, athletes reach incredible fitness potentials that allow them to perform at their highest ability when the lights go on and competition starts. Let's face it, you're no Adrian Peterson or Lebron James.  Despite your specific need for explosive training, as is the case with athletes, there are several reasons why you should train explosively.

Explosive training requires the body to rapidly recruit powerful type II muscle fibers, which are prone to growth when overloaded. If you have been doing the standard three sets of ten reps for years, throwing in an exercise that includes one to three sets of five to ten explosive reps will demand your body to recruit muscles in a way it has never been required. This new stimulation to the type II fibers can elicit gains in size as the muscles are required to adapt to the new stress of explosive training. These adaptations have not only proven to be beneficial for gaining muscle, getting faster and weekend warrior performance, but endurance athletes also increase their ability to produce power in short amounts of time!

The rapid loading of the body also incurs some beneficial neurological adaptations including increasing the rate at which the nervous system communicates with the muscles. Because neuromuscular coordination and neural conduction speed reduce with age, explosive training holds some benefits for active adults and the aging population. Some research has suggested the intention to move quickly can result in similar adaptations as actually performing highly explosive movements. This means that you don't have to jump as high or medicine ball pass the ball as forcefully as an athlete, but simply asking your body to recruit muscles to your highest abilities will result in similar adaptations.

Due to the explosive nature of these movements, load or weight should be relatively light to what you would lift with traditional exercises. For beginners I would recommend incorporating explosive training no more than twice a week on non-consecutive days, with the total reps not surpassing forty. Be sure to correctly learn how to perform explosive movements under the supervision of a certified personal trainer or strength coach who has an educational background in sports or performance training.

References: Journal of Applied Physiology

Check Your Ego At The Door Please

I was listening to Slipknot's latest album "All Hope Is Gone" while I worked out today, and a specific line of lyrics in the song "Sulfur" spurred some inspiration in me. Lyrical genius Corey Taylor sings a line, "The longest hours you'll have in your life, are the one's you sit through to know that you're right," and I thought, "Man, how true is this?" Think about a time when you were stubborn about your beliefs or held so tightly onto ideas and assumptions that it made progress virtually impossible. Can't think of an example? How about a time when you got into an argument with a friend or family member and it was so heated, the tension went unresolved for days or weeks? Better yet, since this a fitness blog, what about a time you were not open to advice or guidance because you refused to budge from your workout routine you've had for ten years? In the last year, I have personally grown tremendously as a trainer and a business person. I have encountered some people along my path in the last several months that have pushed my training and business abilities to new heights because I have been open to assistance. It could have been easy for me to stick to old training techniques and old ways of doing business. I mean, I was after all one of the best trainers and managers in the region for 24 Hour Fitness. But life brought me people and ideas that pushed me to a new experience of myself. This new me has ultimately led to a positive impact on my environment. This year was clearly a year for me to set aside my ego and become a student once again.

This mindset of holding onto unwavering beliefs, whether they be about the world, relationships, business practices or personal wellness is ultimately what suffocates true growth. In order to evolve as a person in any aspect of life, you must check your ego in at the beginning of each day, because guess what: there is something about life that you do not know. In Buddhism this concept would be considered "Beginner's Mind", and it is a perspective that once adopted can catapult your experience of life into unrealized potentials. Not only will beginner's mind help you learn more from every day experience, but each day becomes an opportunity to soak up life in its entirety.Remember when the Earth was the center of the universe? Do you recall how you giggled when you first learned that people used to think it was possible to sail off the edge of the Earth and fall into space? Keep an open and skeptical, but reasonable mind. Most of all, release your attachment to what you think you know and be open to guidance. You just might learn something that will change your life and maybe even others...

Fitness Fail #1

Keeping fit is part of maintaining a long and healthy life. As with anything, there is a bad that comes with good when it comes to fitness. That is why I am starting a "Fitness Fail" segment where I will comb the internet searching for the good, bad and ugly sides of fitness. Enjoy this first installment of BombergerPT's Fitness Fails.



Come on dude!

Save Your Joints!

A recent study has revealed high impact activities really do take a serious toll on joints as people age. Researchers studied the MRI's of 236 men and women between the ages of 45 and 55, and their respective self-answered activity level questionnaires. The studies found those who had marked their activity level as "high" had the highest occurrence of injury in joints and their MRI's revealed significant breakdown of the cartilage in their knee joints. Researchers suggest that high impact activities performed heavily in mid-life may lead to an increased risk of osteoarthritis, the inflammation of a joint as a result of bone on bone action. Osteoarthritis affects over 27 million Americans, so here are some ways to stay active and save your joints as you get older:

- Limit your participation in high impact activities like basketball, soccer or running on the treadmill to one or two times a week. You don't have to give up your favorite form of exercise, but these activities put your knees under a tremendous amount of stress and will take their toll on aging joints.

- Drop the heavy weights HeMan! Instead of pumping heavy iron for 6-10 reps, consider trying workouts that include higher volume and perfect form. To maintain and build mass you need to overload the muscles and you can do that by benching 225lbs five times, or by repping out 135lbs twenty times with perfect technique. Good form, proper joint alignment and changing tempo counts can give you great results without thrashing your joints.

- Forget back squats and stick to front squats, split squats and well executed lunges. In a study that appeared in the NSCA's Journal of Strength & Conditioning, researchers found the sheer forces on the knee joint in a back squat were much higher than a front squat, with no significant difference in size or strength gains. In fact, the front squat is functionally a more naturally loaded movement and forces you to engage your core more so than a back squat, thus rendering them more beneficial for total fitness. Split Squats and lunges are also great exercises to work functional leg strength. By properly by aligning the knee joint over the heel and dropping your body to center of your base, you can reduce the sheer forces on the knees and increase muscle isolation when performing this exercise.

- Use swimming, biking and elliptical machines as low impact substitutes for cardiovascular work.

Just because you're getting older doesn't mean you have to stop working out or that it has to hurt. I commend you for sticking to your goals and continuing with your fitness journey. Use these tips to save your joints so you can continue to exercise for another forty years without hurting too bad!

Body Fat Loss vs. Weight Loss

It is no secret that Americans are battling a huge health problem. According to the Center for Disease Control sixty-five percent of Americans are overweight, with a third of the population tipping the scales at obese. Needless to say, there is a growing interest in fitness, exercise and weight-loss products. You see the claims all over bookstores and on television, “Lose thirty pounds in a month!” or “Drop ten pounds in five days”. People are becoming obsessed with numbers on the scale and reaching out to any and everything to help their number drop. Unfortunately the scale doesn’t tell the whole tale when it comes to your personal health and fitness, which is why you should be paying more attention to your body fat percentage than your weight.

For decades physicians and statisticians have used Body Mass Index as a measure of a person’s health. The problem with the BMI formula lies in the fact it is a rating of height to weight ratio, not taking into account a person’s respective lean body mass and body fat percentages. For example, I am 5’8 and 195 pounds and on the BMI scale I would be considered morbidly obese. BMI does not take into account that my body fat is currently at 9%, which means the majority of my body weight is lean muscle tissue, bones, water and everything else but fat. In fact, if the CDC and physicians began using accurate body fat testing as a measure of a person’s health, we would likely see the number of unhealthy adults increase. This is due to the fact that a person can be “skinny fat”, meaning they may have a normal height to weight ratio, but their lean muscle tissue is relatively low compared to the amount of fat their body carries. It is excess body fat, not body weight, that increases a person’s risk for heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

What does this mean in terms of your fitness goals? This simply means you should get a body fat percentage reading at the beginning of your fitness program, set your goals and track your progress based on those results. When people use liquid cleanses, crash diets or certain weight-loss products, they are likely to see a large overall drop in body weight on the scale. Unfortunately, this drop will include the metabolism boosting muscle mass that will be lost as a result of a nutrient deficiency. When it comes to setting healthy fitness goals, you want to ensure you are losing body fat and retaining as much lean body mass as possible. If you are on a solid fitness program, you may even notice your “weight loss” will start to slow down on the scale. This can be attributed to a decrease in fat and a steady increase in lean muscle mass. This is exactly what you want when it comes to losing fat for good as you are losing the “bad” weight and putting on the “good” weight that boosts your metabolism! Body fat can be recorded a number of ways such as: the Bod Pod System, the “dunk tank”, skin fold calipers and by bio-electrical impedance. Below is a chart for body fat percentage rankings for men and women provided by the Bod Pod Body Fat Testing System:

Body Fat Rating           Men           Women
Risky                          >30%           >40%
Excess Fat                  21-30%       31-40%
Moderately Lean         13-20%        23-30%
Lean                            9-12%         19-22%
Ultra Lean                    5-8%           15-18%
Risky (too low)             <5%             <15%

By participating in a well structured resistance training routine, a cardiovascular plan and a balanced food intake program, one can successfully isolate body fat loss. It is time for us Americans to shift the way we think about our fitness goals. We must set aside our old thoughts and ideas about weight loss and shift to a paradigm that emphasizes fat loss. Remember, the scale does not tell the whole story! You want to decrease fat and increase muscle mass, which weighs the same on the scale! Know that your hard work in the gym is paying off by tracking your body fat percentage and kick the habit of weighing yourself on the scale everyday!

Low Carbs: Eventual Bad Mood

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at the long term effects of low-fat and low-carb diets on the mood of 106 obese and overweight adults. The group was randomly split in two and put on separate food intake programs. One group was put on a low-fat diet that consisted of 46% of its calories from carbohydrates, 24% from protein and 30% from fat. The other was put on a low-carbohydrate diet which allowed on 4% of its calories from carbohydrates, 35% from protein and 61% from fat. The study found the mood of both groups improved early on in the study. While both groups saw similar loss in weight over the course of the year, one group finished the study with a little extra bounce in their step and the other dropped back to pre-weight loss mood. The low-carb approach appeared to have a negative impact on mood in the long term over the course of the entire year.

Researchers speculate the difficulty of sticking to a diet so strictly low in carbohydrates for a year may have caused feelings of social isolateion and mental stress. While this may have something to do with it, I think it would be fair to not overlook the obvious fact that carbohydrates are the preferred source of energy for our brain, the nervous system and muscles. In fact, brain cells consume twice the energy required by other cells in the body. I'm sure most of us haved experienced the feelings of low blood sugar when we go a long time without food. Your head might feel a little fuzzy, you will have a hard time concentrating and you will notice yourself to be easily irritated. Since carbohydrates are the body's main source of glucose and the brain requires double the energy of a normal cell, it would make sense that decreasing carbohydrate intake would lead to increased feelings associated with low blood sugar. Not to mention, a diet consisting of only 4% carbohydrates means one would have to almost completely eliminate the
consumption of fruits, veggies and "good" complex carbohydrates that give us a long, sustained flow of glucose in the blood stream.

Clearly a diet so low in carbs is lacking some vital vitamins and nutrients. You hear nutritionists, health experts and doctors hounding at the fact that a body functions at its best when it is well nourished. All social psychology aside, the results of consuming a diet drastically low in carbohydrates appears to me to re-emphasize the importance of healthy, balanced macronutrient ratios. If your brain is starving for energy and you often feel a bit cranky, fuzzy and out of it, there is a good chance your overall mood will go sour over time. I am aware of the fact that the body will convert proteins and fat into glucose as needed. The reality is, these are much more complicated metabolic processes compared to fueling the body and brain with its preferred source of energy: carbohydrates. All the researchers may be much smarter than me, and perhaps they know more than I do, which is why they speculate low-carb diets stress people out. Or they may be over analyzing the whole situation and overlooking the fact that our body and mind function best when fueled properly.

Remember the Pink

Here's a cool video for Breast Cancer Awareness. I just spent the last month lobbying for men's cancer research and now it's time to show breast cancer a little love. Some of you football fans may recall NFL players donning pink gloves, towels and even cleats in honor of breast cancer in the month of October. In reality, every month should be cancer awareness month as a large number of these deadly diseases are linked to lifestyle choices we can control. Take some time to do research on what you can do to better your overall wellness. The information and resources are out there! We are fortunate enough as a society to have people that dedicate their lives to improving the human life experience. Don't take this opportunity for granted...Enjoy the video

NFL's New Rules & Safety In Football

In light of all the revealing scientific studies done on concussions and retired NFL players, the NFL has wasted no time in making some positive first steps towards protecting the health and wellness of their players. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has instated a new rule saying players who suffer a concussion in a game will not be allowed to return back to the field of play for that day. This is a great step in protecting the safety of NFL players. Teams are going to also be required to employ a team neurologist to help properly evaluate players during and after competition in the case of concussions sustained on the field of play.

There has already been a small change in handling concussions by many teams leading up to the new rule. In the last couple weeks alone we have watched key players Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner and Brian Westbrook all sit out games due to the fact they suffered concussions in a previous week. Roethlisberger in fact came under scrutiny from teammate and go-to wide receiver Hines Ward. Apparently Ward thought Big Ben was being a Big Baby by sitting out last week's game against the Ravens and criticized the decision to sit Roethlisberger. Ward claims he has lied to doctors about his injury symptoms in order to get the green light to play in seasons past. Unfortunately for the NFL and the rest of American sports, it is a common mentality that playing through serious pain is the manly thing to do. The macho approach to nursing injuries has no doubt led to several eventually career ending sports injuries and in the NFL's case, a growing population of debilitated old pros.

I think it is important for the NFL and other professional sports organizations to publicly encourage sports participants to take their health seriously when it comes to treating injuries. I know from my own experience there is a sense of duty and obligation you have to your team, to your own hard work and the game. The last thing you want to do is sit out a game and reduce your team's chances of winning when you feel like you can still play. There is a difference between bumps and bruises and playing through potentially serious injuries. I am guilty of this on several occasions and it is this "play at all costs" mentality that ultimately led to me having two ankle surgeries.

With all of the new studies on concussions and football, I grimace when I look back and think of my senior year of high school when I literally lost two minutes of consciousness in a game and returned to play. To this day I remember the hit, going black and waking up on the sidelines mid way through a conversation with my coach. When I looked around, two minutes had passed on the clock and my offense was on the field without me. I stood up, told coach I was good to go and went on to have a pretty great game. I do remember my head throbbing the whole time and the week after was rough.

At this point I am thankful to have a fully functional, reconstructed ankle and grateful that I still have the ability to spell my own name. Sports are fun and can build a tremendous amount of character in some sense. It is important for kids and pros alike to see the bigger picture. Missing a game or two for an injury could mean the difference between playing for years to come or resorting to being an armchair quarterback. At every level of competition, players should be concerned for their own long term health and wellness. Playing the game in pain hurts. Having to miss a game hurts too. But nothing hurts more, than being forced to walk away from the game for good.

California Physical Fitness Test

The local newspaper recently posted an article on how well the schools in the Santa Clarita Valley performed on the state's physical fitness test. The California Physical Fitness Test requires all students in the fifth, seventh and ninth grades to meet a satisfactory level of fitness in six tests: aerobic capacity, body composition, upper body strength, trunk strength, abdominal strength and flexibility. The state averages for students meeting satisfactory fitness levels in all six tests were 29.1 percent for fifth-graders, 34.1 percent for seventh-graders and 37.9 percent passing for the ninth-graders. The Santa Clarita Valley schools did fairly well compared to the rest of the state, with the amount of students meeting all six requirements ranging from a state average 30 percent to as high as 48 percent. 


To me these numbers are not all that impressive considering the results tell us only about a third of the states youth are in satisfactory fitness condition. These numbers don't reflect "great" or "outstanding" fitness achievement. The results are just the passing grade in all six events and only a third of California's kids can pass it? The outcome is even less impressive when you look at the standards for passing, which I could only find the passing marks for students in the seventh and ninth grade age range. Here is a quick view at what is considered satisfactory fitness levels for our youth: For girls they must be able to complete a mile in under eleven and a half minutes, their body fat must be below 25 percent, they must be able to perform 18 curl-ups, have a trunk lift of 9 inches, complete seven push ups and touch their finger tips behind their back. For boys, the must complete a mile run in under nine and a half or ten minutes, have a body fat of less than 25 percent, be able to do at least 24 curl ups, have a 9 inch trunk lift, perform 16 push ups and finally touch their finger tips behind their back.

Looking at those numbers, you can't honestly say it is ok that we have two-thirds of children in public schools not passing this fitness test because they fail to meet one or more of those requirements. You would probably believe me if I said these results came from tests performed on a population of middle-aged Americans with desk jobs. Those statistics I just shared with you are what I would expect from a sedentary and poorly nourished population. The number one excuse I hear for people not being limber, agile and healthy is, "Jeff, that's what happens when you get old." Now I don't buy into that thought process all the way. I think underuse and depreciating levels of activity greatly accelerate that feeling of "old" that I so often hear about. The plummeting levels of  activity and poor eating habits age us and among our youth it is what's keeping a majority of students from achieving a satisfactory score in their fitness tests. 

I believe it would be more acceptable if 60, 70, or even better, 80 percent of kids between the ages of 10-15 to pass all six fitness tests. Setting examples for the youth in the next generation and for our kids is entirely up to us. Many Americans today are stuck in an office chair all day long, then come home and sit on the computer or couch, all the while stuffing their face with food practically void of any real nutritious value. Where do you think kids learn their unhealthy and lazy behaviors? That's right, it comes from their role models. There is a serious issue brewing as we speak, as I have commented on it before. America is seeing only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to lifestyle related health issues. If we don't change our actions fast not only will we be choosing our own early death, we will be passing the formula along for generations to come.

                                                  

My New Diet & The Results

For those of you who follow my blog you might recall I started a new food intake plan about three weeks ago. On October 22nd I did a Bod Pod Body Fat test and my results came in at 198.8 pounds total body weight, 14% fat with 170 pounds of lean body mass. Not happy with my body fat percentage, I changed my workouts and dropped a percent in a little under a month and begin a new diet on November 16th. I opted for a diet with just about equal intake of carbohydrates and protein. My carbohydrates intake is set at 240 grams a day, my protein intake at 250 grams and my fat intake rounds out to about 65 grams a day.

Not only have my results in the last three weeks been great, but my energy levels feel absolutely phenomenal! I believe much of this can be attributed to my decreased consumption of carbohydrates and my increase in protein. This balance of carbs to protein doesn't work for everyone, but seems to work exceptionally well with me. I don't want to get into it now, but I will soon post an article on Metabolic Typing which suggests different bodies have different metabolisms. Therefore some metabolisms and bodies will run more efficiently on a high intake of carbohydrates, high protein or a balanced combination of both. Metabolic Typing aside, I am down from 13% body fat to 9% in just three weeks. Not only that, my lean mass has gone up about 3 pounds! This gain in muscle mass can mostly be attributed to my extra protein consumption,strict meal schedule and SLEEP.

So is my exact diet the key to seeing results? It has been for me. The craziest part is, I haven't really increased my cardiovascular work. Outside of the metabolic training or high intensity strength-cardio I perform, I don't do much else but jump rope now and then. This proves to me and hopefully will help all of you cardio nuts out there see that cardio is not THE ANSWER to losing fat. Cardio simply helps burn calories and keeps your heart in shape, but you can do that with metabolic strength training as well! The key to successful body fat loss lies in a good resistance training program and SOUND nutrition. I follow my food schedule to a T. I don't allow more than three hours to pass in between meals and I stick to my plan. I sat down one night and gave myself three menu plans to choose from. Each day I pick my food from the three choices I gave myself for each meal of the day. Minus my cheat day, I stick to either the exact food or the calorie allotment for each meal. This keeps me on schedule and under control.

My goal at this point is to try and get down to about 7 or 8 percent body fat and see how I feel at that range. If it is difficult to keep it that low and I find myself starving to keep it there, then I know I should either carry a little more fat or adjust my food plan accordingly. To drop four percent body fat in three weeks off of a well conditioned body without crash dieting can be a challenging thing. I only hope my example can serve as inspiration and motivation to all of you out there if you make a plan and stick to it, you will be successful!

Wakeup Workout: Agility

On Today's Wakeup Workout, I am demonstrating a nice little body weight, agility circuit that can get you burning some calories in a short amount of time. We all know time can be tight during the holidays and if you're traveling, space can be limited. This body agility circuit utilizes push ups, plank rotations, ice skaters and some directional jumps to get the blood flowing. In the segment I say to try three or four sets. An even better challenge is to repeat this circuit as many times as you can in ten or fifteen minutes for a nice little density set. Have at it with this one!

Exercise Is Just For Jocks

Not so fast. Swedish researchers have found significant results that link cardiovascular fitness in mid to late teens to increased brain power and greater socioeconomic status in adulthood. The release of these studies come at a crucial time, especially for us Americans, as we see a decline in physical education programs at the junior high and high school levels.

"We believe the present results provide scientific support for educational policies to maintain or increase physical education in school curricula as a means to stem the growing trend toward a sedentary lifestyle, which is accompanied by an increased risk for diseases and perhaps intellectual and academic underachievement," write researchers Maria Aberg and colleagues of the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - WebMD

The study was performed on over one million Swedish men who were enlisted in the military. All of the men were born between 1950 and 1976 and assessed in physical fitness and intelligence tests at the time of their enlistment. The studies linked higher scores on cardiovascular fitness tests to equally impressive marks in cognitive performance.

Perhaps the most intriguing find in this study lies in the data supporting that changes in cardiovascular fitness, not muscular strength, occurring between 15 and 18 years of age were the greatest predictors of intellectual performance. At the age of 18, cardiovascular fitness levels seemed to provide an accurate glimpse into the future of subjects, revealing higher fitness levels to be linked with greater academic achievements and higher social status later in life.

Does this mean to become the next Bill Gates you should hit the cardio in grade school and not stop until you sell your company for billions? It might help, but there is a mental aspect of these results that I feel could easily be over looked. Let's look at the basic fact that cardiovascular fitness doesn't just increase all of the sudden. One day you don't go to bed with the heart efficiency of child and wake up with Lance Armstrong-like cardiovascular strength. Improving your fitness level takes work. Being healthy takes dedication, discipline and a concern for one's own well being. A desire to take care of one's body, improve its function and performance is likely the mark of someone who holds character traits sure to be indicators of a successful person.

What does it take to be a successful student and professional? Desire, goal setting, planning and dedication. If you are passionate about what you are doing, set goals for yourself, plan on how you will reach those goals and dedicate the time necessary to see that plan through, you will be successful in any endeavor.
I am willing to bet these results are unearthing an underlying psychology to success more than anything. Do I believe there are some real physiological benefits to these results that are linked to improved mental function? No doubt those young adults who are engaged in regular physical activity are reaping some great benefits of exercise such as reduced feelings of stress, increased levels of serotonin and improved self image. These benefits will surely play an important positive role in the development of young adults.

The bottom line is this: exercise is good for you. It has physical, mental and emotional benefits. There are no acceptable reasons to neglect your personal well being. We often deprive our body of sleep, essential nutrients and sometimes choose to put practically poisonous substances in our body for enjoyment. I think we owe it to our body to take it for a jog every once in awhile. After all, it still works for us despite how poorly we treat it.

The Chasing of Illusion

You've spent months in the gym, your nutrition is perfect and your body fat is lower than its ever been. Despite all your hard work and discipline, you look at yourself in the mirror and you're still not satisfied with the work you've done. "I just don't look the way I want," you think to yourself. "Maybe I'll cut some more calories, or throw in extra cardio at the end of each workout to get the definition I want." Despite your efforts over the next couple weeks, you still seem to go nowhere. Have you had this conversation with yourself before? Have you ever been in this position? I have. It wasn't until about a year ago when I was picking the brain of celebrity trainer Jordan Yuam, did I realize the images we see gracing the pages of fitness magazines are often times a total illusion. You know exactly the images I am talking about. On the cover of men's and women's fitness magazines you see perfectly sculpted bodies, with unbelievable definition and a myriad of sexy poses. "I want to look like that!" You think to yourself. And you can too in some cases. Just don't expect the results to last for very long.

There are a few things you have to understand about photo shoots, bodybuilding shows and even some movie scenes before you see the truth behind the images. Bodybuilding competitions, photo shoots and movie scenes are all planned in advanced. Therefore, whoever is participating has ample notice they are going to be shedding their clothes for all eyes to see. This allows the competitor, model, actor or actress to strategically manipulate their diet and exercise routine to "peak" on the day of their event. This means they will plan weeks and maybe even months in advance, each and every workout and every single day of eating so that they will look their best on the very hour they will be required to participate in the event. What happens to bodybuilders after a show? They put on ten, fifteen, even twenty pounds within a week or two of their show by simply reverting back to a normal diet plan.

For fitness models, you will see much of the same diet planning that allows their body to peak on the day of their shoot. This doesn't mean they don't look good day to day or that their body fat isn't always fairly lean. Another trick of the bodybuilding, modeling and movie trade is "pumping up". Have you noticed when you work out, your body actually looks better? You will see more definition and your muscles will look fuller mid workout. This is due to the increase of blood flow in the muscles. Knowing this, one can make themselves appear more full and cut by pumping up muscles that are going to be visible to the camera. This is a common technique used in photo shoots and on set in the movies. Pumping up, coupled with strategic camera angles and lighting can create a dramatically altered appearance of one's body and in the entertainment world, it is of course the more appealing appearance. Between dieting and pumping up, you can already see how it is difficult to achieve the look you saw on the cover of Muscle & Fitness or Shape magazine.

Last but not least, we cannot forget the forgiving invention of Photoshop. It is sad to say, but a large majority of the images you see in magazines are doctored photos. Again, this is not to say the people you are looking at are in bad shape, unhealthy or unfit. The fact is you're not seeing the real version of them. Photoshop can completely transform an image removing blemishes, doctoring definition and eliminating fat or cellulite lines on the body. Don't give up quite yet on transforming your body! That is still possible!

Can unbelievably low body fat percentages be achieved? Yes. Can one maintain a healthy lean body fat percentage over time? Yes. Can we look like fitness models every day of the week? Nope. The bottom line is the images you find in the media are backed by a strategic formula to create the most attractive looking IMAGE possible. Real or fake, the magazines and movies want to portray what they think is perfection. You can admire the images and even use them as inspiration. Do not become obsessive over looking like these images, because I can assure you the journey will be endless and frustrating. It is ok to work out to look good. It is also ok to be a normal human being. Work until you are happy with where you are at, not where magazines say you should be happy. When you workout for yourself and strive for healthy body fat ranges, as I have learned to adapt my program, you will find a much more fulfilling road.

Chris' Ironman Journey

Take a look at Chris' inspirational three year journey to his successful completion of last month's Ironman Arizona. Chris' transformation from out of shape news anchor into an Ironman competitor is truly remarkable. Chris has taken his lumps along the way, battling back from a serious shoulder injury he suffered just a few months ago. Let's not forget Chris manages to find the time to be a loving father and dedicated husband, all while working towards some important personal goals. His achievment is one that has and will continue to inspire many. Visit Chris' blog at NBC LA to review his training regimen.

Nice Football News Story...

Coming out of my high school alma mater. It's nice to see the news doing some positive pieces rather than beating the doom and gloom dead horse. This story touches a little bit of everything from football, to health, to emotional healing. Enjoy!