10 Tips To Workout On A Travel Trip

Since I am taking off to the Kangaroo Land of Australia in 2 weeks, I decided to research for myself (ooh yea.. and you guys) some easy tips to stay ridiculously good looking between the binge drinking and fast food marathons. Just because it is time for you to relax and let loose doesn't mean your tummy should also. Most of my worst weight fluctuations have come after times of travels. This time instead of getting fat, I'm going to come back more ripped, more energized, (and if possible) more good looking, And so should you!!

1. Plan Ahead Of Time - I am a big supporter of gyms. No matter what, the at home bowflex system will do nothing more than collect dust or become a sex bench. Before you hop on that plane or in that car, call ahead and find a gym to work out at. I have a gym pass at 24 hr. fitness and they actually help you find a gym if you travel and have discounted rates.

2. Moderate Yourself - As said in my recent post about being an extremist, you have to find a good middle ground. Understand the fact that you won't be able to get your full work out that you're used to, but also understand that some workout is better than none. Keep it quick, simple, and to the point with a quick warm up run 20-30 minutes worth of weight work out and 20 minutes worth of cardio. Pat yourself on the back and continue relazing

3. Nature vs. Nurture - If there is no readily accesible gym, look for a nearby park or the beach and enjoy the scenary while getting in your workout routine. A good after you wake up jog on the beach or thru a park will let you soak in the scenary without taking away from your precious party time at night.

4. Be Active - Instead of planning a lazy week in the sun, plan a fun filled week full of to-dos that'll require you to get your ass off that lounge chair and kill an animal. Not an animal killer? Fine... go splash in the pool, you get the idea.

5. Be Prepared - Always bring a pair of trunks or bathing suit wherever you go. If you go to Russia, pack some warm workout clothes instead. The clothes will remind you why you lugged a pair of running shoes and shorts 3,000 miles away from home.

6. Eat Out, Eat Healthy - Instead of getting your deli ordered tuna sandwich packed with mayo tell them to go a little easy on it. You can eat healthy without having to sacrifice the fun of eating out.

7. Snack Up - Take 30 minutes out of your trip to find a local grocer (unless you end up traveling to antartica they'll most likely have one). Stock up on healthy snacks. Instead of eating out at expensive restaurants every meal, they'll save you money and time so you can spend the rest of the time petting dolphins or whatever it is that tickles your fancy.

8. Relax And Just Have Fun - Stress brings that ugly chemical we all hate called cortisone into our body. Stress relief gets rid of that. Cortisone has been proven to turn your body into your Uncle Joe, a fat loving pile of lard.

9. Be Safe, Pack Rubber - Rubber resistant bands don't set off airport alarms. They also offer an easy way for you to get a complete body workout without having to pack an ab-roller in your suitcase. You can get one for cheap from your local GNC or even hardware store.

10. Take 5 - Take 5 minutes before you go to plan out a little plan for you to get your workout in. Don't get crazy and plan an elaborate city adventure that has your work out in it. Jot down a quick routine.

Quick Circuit Routine:
Do 5-10 Super Sets (doing all the below in order is 1 super set):

10 push ups
10 sit ups
10 leg lifts
10 resistant band biceps
10 resistnat band triceps
10 leg dips
15 jumping jacks

repeat

Then let the party continue!

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10 Tips To Wake Up On Time, Every Time

Having trouble waking up on time? If your boss is on the verge of firing you, or you're about to flunk out of a class for being good at being late, these 10 easy tips should help you get out of the bed on time.

1. Make sure you are getting enough sleep. I don't care if you're Superman. If you try to sleep for only 2 hours each night it just is not going to work. I've tried a couple different sleeping arrangements but the most effective will always fall between 5-8 hours of sleep a night. Remember, sleep is vital for muscle growth, fat loss, overall health, mood, and much more. Get those ZzzzZZZ's just don't over or under do it.

2. Invest in a quality alarm clock that will wake your neighbors up if you had to. If you think you're in control of that internal clock, think again. Get an alarm clock with a nice large display so that you can tell what time it is when it rings.

3. Before you go to sleep make the conscious choice to wake up at "x" time. This way when you get your wet dreams interrupted by your ridiculously loud alarm clock, you will see the time and force yourself to get up.

4. Avoid the Snooze Function of Death. They made the snooze function for one reason and one reason alone. For you to be too lazy to wake up. Never use that function.

5. When your alarm goes off. Wake up and STAY UP!. Do not go crawling back to your bed. Your bed is anchored in your mind as your sleeping haven. The second you place your groggy hand back on that bed you'll fall asleep faster than a Jennifer Lopez movie.

6. Place that alarm clock as far away from you as possible. There is no use placing the alarm clock next to your bed, you might as well unplug it and cuddle with it while you sleep. Put the little sucker in a place where it will still scream at you in the morning, but make you work to shut it up. I preferably like it next to my sink and shower so I can wake up and be there to shower or brush my teeth.

7. Move On! the second you wake up, move on to your next daily habit. Brush your teeth, take a shower, drink some coffee...

8. Turn some music on when you wake up. I'm not talking that little dinky music on your alarm that makes Rap sound like Polka. Jump on the computer and turn on a jam with a beat. Music controls emotions and body rhythms, use this tool to energize you in the morning.

9. Let the light in. The importance of the sun cannot be explained to a mere mortal like you. The sun regulates serotonin levels deciding if you're either happy or like them poor Alaskans, plagued with S.A.D.'s syndrome (depressed). The sun also regulates your circadian cycle (your natural alarm clock) which makes it easier for your grumpy ass to wake up.

10. Try to make your days as fun and non-stressful as possible. It's a lot easier to wake up looking forward to what is ahead of you then to wake up and want to stay in bed to hide from your troubles. Be a man and do what needs to be done!

If worse comes to worse, click the email me button on the top of this page, send me your name, number, and address, and I will personally come down with a club to wake you up (don't ask me what the club is for).

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Put A Leash On That Inner Extremist

You know those people, all or nothing, live or die, starve to be skinny, forget about life to get money. I myself am currently one of these people (if you haven't been able to pick it up from my other posts). Extremism has gotten me to a lot of places in my life that I would not be at otherwise, but it has also gotten me in over my head.

I am lucky enough to be surrounded by good "grounding" people who pull my head down as it starts to float away. In the life of an extremist like myself (and probably you since you're reading this) there is a perfect balance somewhere in the middle to be strived for. The balance is the place where we can stand firmly, go after what we want, without losing sight of everything else in our lives.

You've seen those "holics" people. Gambaholics and Alcoholics. These are all horrible forms of extremism. The good thing about these extremists (the "hoics) is that it is easily catchable and shunned upon by society. Now there is the other group that is extremist because of society. That few percent of society who try to conform to society so much that they give up the balance in their life.

Everything I have done up to this point in my life has always been All or Nothing. This is a good mentality but only when applied in the right circumstances. A key example of this for me would be healthy eating habits. When I first started planning my meals and calorie counting, I went completely OCD on it. I had to count every single calorie and plan everything else or I felt like I was not at maximum efficiency. Now a days, studies show that the more extreme you are with your diet, the less likely you are to keep it. There was a time when i dropped from 17% body fat to 9% from being extreme with my health behaviors. It was a good thing that I was able to reach that low of a body fat percentage in such a short time but the sad thing was, I did not keep it. 3 Months later my body fat % was up to 20%(+3 % from when I initially started) and I was 10 pounds heavier! The extreme diet that I had put myself on did not work. I could not keep up 2X a day of Cardio and 6 fully cooked meals per day.

Fast Forward to Now a Days. I am at a comfortable 11.6% body fat and a good weight. I've eaten Chipotle a few times this week and don't pay too much attention to my meals. I just simply keep in mind what is okay, excellent, or bad food. Instead of writing down what I ate exactly I just keep that in mind. I make the time to work out but I'm not spending 4 hours in the gym any longer (I'm spending at most 30-45 minutes a day 4 days a week). This healthy lifestyle that I live now I can do with my eyes closed. Instead of having to go extreme I just live life normally how it is supposed to be and get the good results.

This analogy applies to all aspects of my life. Now my life belief is to find something that will progress me as a person, but instead of going all out at it, just chisel away slowly at a comfortable pace. What would've taken the old extremist me 4 hours a day, 7 days a week in the gym to get results but then to lose them now takes me, the "comfortable life lover," 30 minutes a day 4 days a week.

The answer is always balance. Whenever I feel like I am heading too much in one direction of life and forgetting about the other important factors, it is time to stop, look around, and throw a leash on that inner extremist.

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Wake Up, Don't Eat, Work Out and Win!

No this is not an article about starving yourself throughout the day, it's an article about using your starvation from sleep to boost your cardio efficiency by 300%. So ready to wake up, take life by the hand and whip it into shape? That's the attitude! And if you're anything like me, morning means 12 noon. Time to change that! Today I'm writing about waking up early and getting that morning cardio in. It's a little hard to preach about this because I don't practice this yet...(I'll show you my no faith reader...) I am changing my daily schedule to implement this, read on and you will see why your non-morning ass should also!

I could go into the scientific jargon on why you should do this, which I will.. but I'd rather start off with what benefits you will see immediately just by implementing this. I notice that no matter what time I sleep, I wake up at 11am. I can go to sleep at 7am and wake up at 11am or go to sleep at midnight and still wake up at that time. That is obviously over sleeping, or just poor sleeping habits. By the time I wake up, half of my day has already gone by. Getting my (or your) lazy butt out of bed at 6-8am (or whenever as long as you have time before you go to work/school or just sit in front of the t.v.) will fix one of the biggest problems that I have. I will now have bought myself an extra 3-5 effective hours in my day. I'm sorry if I don't considering going to the bar with the boys effective hours, neither is sitting in front of this computer reading my blog all day.. go live life!.

The second benefit you and I will both have is that we will get the most pain staking or out of the way thing in our lives... out of the way, early. Getting the cardio in first thing in the morning will ensure that we get it done no matter what. The same way that we brush our teeth should be the same way that we do cardio (not with a toothbrush dork, i meant consistency). Our days should consist of, wake up, brush teeth, change to gym clothes and go do cardio (wherever you choose, i just do it at the gym so that i can watch prison break on my IPOD video, more on that at a later time) I personally like to keep my cardio around the 30 minute mark, no more no less. With our morning cardio out of the way, we can continue on with our daily duties feeling good that we got it done. Also, we can't deep fry a Turkey for Thanksgiving, eat the whole thing, and blame missing cardio because we're full and don't want to cramp (sorry to push my life on to yours but too bad!)

Those two benefits alone should have you on the edge of your seat like me ready to start the day off right tomorrow. If not, you suck and here are the boring medical reasons on why doing cardio in the morning in a fasted state is not only good for you but a must (no I'm not drawing you a diagram you logical weirdo).

1. It all comes down to efficiency ratios baby! Doing cardio in a fasted state is arguably the most efficient way to burn that fat off (apparently some people at Stanford have too much time on their hands and like to prove things wrong, apparently their next research is to prove gravity does not exist... JK.) The reason behind this is that when you're in a fasted (meaning you have not eaten anything all night) state your body has already burnt off all of your calories from food. Thus from doing cardio you will burn strictly calories from fat opposed to doing cardio mid day after you eat when you first have to burn off calories from your last meal before you can burn calories from fat.

2. After an over night fast your glycogen levels will be lower which means that your body will burn more fat.

3. Early morning cardio wakes you up better than a cup of coffee and will set your circadian rhythms better than laying butt naked in the sun at 6am in the morning. This means that by doing this habitually you and I will in theory be more energized when going into work.

4. After you do cardio in the morning your metabolism will spike giving putting your body into high gear. If you do cardio in the evening or at night you cannot take advantage of your super human metabolism.

5. You will be less inclined to be A.D.D. and skip your cardio work out because something more fun comes along.

6. The last and most important reason is to just do it because I said so. So send me them emails on your experiences and I'll post them for your fellow winners.

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Listen to Your iPod and get Smarter at the same time

You probably thought that the iPod was not good for much other then keeping your mind off your long workout. But studies have recently shown that you actually get smarter when you workout and listen to music.

Participants were given music while they worked out, and the study confirmed that it increased their intelligence.

Who says you can't have a great time and get smarter?

If you'd like to read about the study, click here:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/osu-alm032304.php

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Length Does Matter: A Workout Length Primer

Tired of spending your whole day in the gym? Here is some good news for you. Your weight training workouts should never last for more than 45 minutes to an hour. The optimal workout length falls somewhere around the 45-50 minute range. Workouts that last for longer than an hour put a lot of strain on your nervous and endocrine system. Specifically your growth hormone and testosterone levels will decrease while your cortisone (that stuff that makes your body hold on to fat and lose muscle instead.

Keeping your length around that time period also ensures that you get the best work out possible while not taking important time from your busy life. A good drill and game to play with your workouut partner or yourself is to try to beat your last workout's time. Keep decreasing until you get to a point where you feel the workout working and you're not wasting your whole day.

Next time someone trys to tell you that size doesn't matter. Whip it out (this post)and show them that it really does.

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From Fat to Phat!

Ever wanted to step in the shoes of a fat fiance and chronicle your fat loss for millions of online and subscribers of Men's Health? Ok maybe not... but here is a good article from Men's health by David Schipper who does just that. He chronicles his whole journey from being a fat fiance to fit groom. Whew, what a relief for his fiance. David also gives tips on losing 30 lbs. in 3 months (if you read my last article, this is when you should be asking yourself: I hope that means 30lbs. of fat not muscle) Read the article here.

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Track That Fat, Lose That Ass

After years of experimenting with different forms of diets, weight loss programs, and basically everything that has ever been printed on paper or put on a cd (I'll post on that some other day) I have come down to one conclusion. There is one habit that if taken into account will guarantee success and on-going success with trimming off that fat and keeping it low. The good news is, this habit only takes about 2 minutes a week.

This habit comes down to one minor thing... Tracking your body fat. Everyone who begins the journey of diets always comes in with one mindset. They want to cut off X amount of pounds so that they can look good and feel better. I know this because I was there just a few years ago. Now this mindset in and of itself is flawed. First of all it takes into account only one detail. WEIGHT LOSS!.. Weight loss accounts for nothing. It does not take into account how much body fat and lean muscle mass that an individual has. All it takes into account is how much that scale says. This flaw can be exemplified by one analogy.

Would you rather be 6'2" Bubba the line backer who is 25% body fat weighing in at 230 pounds or would you rather be 6'2" Ken the star quarterback who is 9% body fat but also weighing in at 230 pounds. Although at first both of them seem the same. They are the same height and the same weight. The only difference is that Bubba looks like a walking blob and Ken looks like a Da Vinci sculpture got up and walked away. It comes down to one thing, and one thing alone: BODY COMPOSITION.

So next time before you make your New Years resolution of losing 10 pounds to fit into the pants that you can't wear anymore. Ask yourself one question, would you rather be a fat light weight or a fitter version of yourself? Body Fat is less dense then its cousin muscle. Body fat will fill in the gaps between muscles giving you a round puffy look. Muscle on the other hand makes you look fit and compact. Staying the same weight but lowering body fat % can lower your waist line by unbelievable amounts.

Stick to this one thought and measure yourself once per week under the same conditions. If you measure yourself after a shower Monday morning then do that for the rest of your life. If you measure yourself first thing when you wake up naked then measure yourself first thing when you wake up naked same time every week. This will keep consistency.

Lastly, never stop weighing yourself. The thought process behind this is everytime i look back on my charts and photos of my roller coaster rides of fat loss. Everytime my results would go south from me either getting lazy and not eating healthy or just not working out in general, I would stop measuring myself. This action is kind of like the heroin addict that won't admit he's addicted. He'll keep shooting up until one day he's too deep in the rabbit hole to look back. Keeping track of your body composition will slap you in the face with a frying pan every Monday you wake up. After you get slapped enough times, you're going to want to get up and do something about it.

Yesterday I posted a post with an excel sheet that will do all the math for you. Simple plug, chug, save, and be fit for the rest of your life. I'm at my perfect body composition now but I still weigh myself every Monday morning and I haven't had a fallback since.

It's getting pretty late and i have to be up in 4 hours. Tomorrow I will right a post on how exactly you should go about measuring yourself and how to optimally use the excel sheet that i have posted yesterday.

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Body Fat: Check Yo' Self

If you are like me in anyway, your bathroom mirror is probably completely defiled by scotch tapings of your weekly body fat chart. What is a weekly body fat chart? a Weekly body fat chart is used to keep track of your weekly body fat, lean mass and optimal weight. This chart (that i made from scratch) will show you if you've been naughty with them Chipotle Burritos or nice with that cardboard excuse for a meal. Download the chart here After you download the file just replace the red numbers on there with your numbers.

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Drink Wine... Become An Athlete?

A recent study on mice has shown that there is hope for all raging alcoholics who want to beat Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. So you think you're cool because you can do a 5 minute keg stand? Put your alcoholism to good use. According to a study published this month by Dr. David Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School, the drug resveratrol, which can be found in common red wine has been linked with reversing the effects of obesity in mice, extending their life, and increasing their endurance!

Before you go down 5 bottles of wine to try to get Hercules-like physique and stamina, be forewarned that the experiments have yet to be tested on humans.

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How To Stay in Shape with No Work

We all know what to do, but what happens when you're short on time. Well, here is a top 5 list of things to do to stay in shape without working hard or working out!

1. Keep Liquids in Your Body. We sometimes eat when we're thirsty SO stay hydrated to avoid this trap. Drink Vitamin Water, Teas, Water, whatever, but keep liquids in your body. And drink liquid before you eat your meals because I see people who eat when really they're just dehydrated. Also, avoid fruit juices with lots of sugars as they will make you fat!
2. Do some physical activity each day. This can be anything -- from taking the stairs instead of the elevator, to walking to a store rather than driving, but do one physical activity per day. Personally, I go on a 20 minute walk each day. Getting laid does count too!
3. Have a salad with as many meals as possible. Green, leafy salads help eliminate toxins from the body so that you don't crave junk-food as much. This will also help fill you up so that you don't turn to as many Grains.
4. Get Away from Grains! Processed carbs make you fat in a heartbeat. They feed grains to pigs to fatten them up. Do you think they act differently in the human body?! People eat these to help fill themselves up, thing is that grains aren't as good for you as we once thought. So watch your grains to watch your waistline.
5. Have a junk meal! We started eating junk food when we were like two years old when we had a our first birthday cake, and why stop now?! The only thing is that we need to moderate ourselves. No one likes that word BUT here's how you do it. Once a week have a junk meal where you eat what you have been craving for that week. Afterwards it's back to business!

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