Motivation To Get In Shape

If you are a male who needs some motivation to get in shape, you need to watch this short clip! I'm serious. Put the donut down and watch this now. If you are a female and the man in your life needs to lose a few pounds around the middle, you need to drag him (kicking and screaming) over to the computer screen to watch this short video! If this doesn't do it, nothing will!



Wasn't that fun? Quick, while you are still motivated, start to devise a plan of action. Eighty percent of the problem with doing exercise is basically SHOWING UP AND DOING IT. Now, what are you going to do?




I try to do things that I enjoy doing. If you don't enjoy it, you won't be doing it for long. I love the feeling of speed and the wind in my face. We have a lot of bike paths around my neck of the woods so I like to ride my bike and go inline skating. I have done a few century bike rides (100 miles) with some local bike clubs that were very enjoyable. It is socially as well as physically healthy. On weekends I like to go on long rides on my skates too. I have been known to go 20 miles in an afternoon. I have invested in a couple of pairs of good performance skates. My favorite is made by Technica. These are the same people that make high quality ski boots. Speaking of skiing, it is rough to skate or ride my bike around the Chicago area in the winter. I like to go snowboarding when I can but when I don't have that kind of time, I try to go cross country skiing. It is very economical and I don't have to wait in lift lines.

Having a dog has been helpful too. She loves to go for a walk with me and it gets us both out of the house and into the sunshine. Actually, I think I am going to go right now before the sun goes down. I'll be right back . . . .



Ok, I'm back and I feel better now. I am trying to explore some other things that I can do to build more muscle and vary my routine. Although I have never ordered his products, I have been interested in Matt Furey's "Combat Conditioning."
Every once in a while, I go to his blog at Matt Furey Uncensored
He advocates exercises that are ancient but powerfully effective. He says, "Forget Weights and Forget Cardio." His exercises use your own body weight and can be done in as little as 15 minutes a day. I'm not into body building and I don't care what others think of my physique. I just want to be healthy and toned. Aerobic exercise is good for your heart, lungs and major muscle groups. Weight resistance training and stretching are good additions to that. The good thing about Matt Furey is that he shows you how to exercise using more muscle groups at one time in order to get more done in 15 minutes than most people could get done in an hour. Saving time is a good thing!

Benefits of Anaerobic Strength Training:

• Increased muscular strength

• Larger muscles that burn more calories

• Increased flexibility and balance

• Decreased risk of heart attack

• Prevention of muscle loss and falls during aging

• Improved bone density and decreased risk of osteoporosis

I like the fact that more muscle helps my body to increase it's metabolism and burn calories even while I sleep!

So here are a few exercises that I have found on Youtube that illustrate some variations on the old "push up" and the "squat." The first one is called a "Hindu Push Up." If you can do a hundred regular push ups, I dare you to try that with a Hindu push up. Try to do at least ten. Another variation on that would be a "Dive Bomber" push up. The difference is that it uses more different muscles than you are used too. If you notice, it also stretches the spine and increases flexibility. The second one is the proper form for a Hindu squat. If you don't like the name "Hindu", feel free to change it. If you want to call it a Presbyterian push up or a Second Day Adventist squat, that would be fine. It is still the same movement.





What is great about all of these exercises is that you don't need to spend a fortune on a lot of exercise equipment. If you have that kind of money and that equipment isn't collecting dust or acting as a place to dry the laundry a year from now, that is great! More power to you.

Another great way to develop muscle without breaking the bank is to use what is called a "Swiss Ball" or "Stability Ball." They are relatively cheap and you should get one based on your height. You can usually get a book with it or you could go to Youtube.com and find some exercise videos that you like. Here is an example of 10 exercises that you could use with the Swiss ball.



Sit ups and crunches on the Swiss ball put less strain on the back. Because you are having to balance yourself all the time as you sit on the ball, you are actually using more of your stabilizer muscles and getting a little better work out.

So, I hope that gives you some more variety for your workouts. The important thing is to enjoy what you do and to stick with it. I would you do several things.

• Keep a written journal of what you do every day
• Write down your goals of what you want to accomplish and by when you want to accomplish it.
• Tell someone what you are going to do and ask them to hold you accountable to do it. Better yet, find an exercise partner. Two are better than one.

Feel free to make a comment here and share some of your own workout tips and ideas too.

For more excellent reading on this subject, read the following blog posts:

The Seven Essential Habit Of A Seccessful Fitness Routine

What Motivates You To Get Fit

You, On A Diet . . . Again!

Release the hounds! It is diet season again, sports fans! The diet aisle in my local bookstore is loaded with people looking for the that hot selling new book that will give them the latest "secret" diet plan. Needless to say, it might be the twentieth book they have bought over the years, but who is counting. From pills, potions and programs to gadgets, diet food and drinks, we're gobbling them up, seeking an easy solution to our weight problems.

Weight-loss plans promise to help you shed pounds, but lots of them will do nothing more than lighten your wallet. Americans spend about $50 billion a year on weight-loss products. Before you lay out some serious cash for that new product, program or gadget, consider this. Only 5-10% of the 50 million people who go on a diet this year will actually succeed, lose the weight and keep it off.

Hey, we are Americans. We like things to be easy and we like things NOW! We are suckers for anything that says "Eat all you want and still lose weight" or "Melt away fat while you sleep." We find it hard to believe in this age of scientific breakthroughs and medical miracles that an effortless weight-loss method doesn't exist. But it doesn't.

Fraudulent fat-fighting programs were the most common consumer scam of 2007, the Better Business Bureau said, noting that complaints about diet programs have surged more than 40% in the last five years. In New York, complaints about health, beauty and fitness companies jumped 50% in just the past year.

Diet schemes run the gamut from weight-loss tea - which turns out to be little more than a warm drink - to supposed fat-dissolving injections that resulted in extensive swelling and pain, but not the hot body being promised.

Here are a few pointers when looking at a new diet plan:

1. Advertising can be deceptive, so don't believe everything you read.

An FTC review of more than 300 ads from radio, television, magazines and newspapers that ran during 2001-2002 found that a whopping 55 percent made claims promising more than the product or service could likely deliver.

Claims such as "rapid weight loss," "no diet or exercise required," "eat whatever you want" and "take it off and keep it off" are all hot buttons that advertisers use to get consumers to buy their products and services. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

2. 'Scientifically proven' or 'doctor-endorsed' doesn't mean it works.

Many products claim to be tested at "respected," "major" or "leading" medical centers or universities. Check it out. Find out if the medical center or university even exist! Where was the study conducted and where was it actually published and by whom? Was the doctor a medical doctor or a doctor of philosophy? Is he a real doctor or does he just play one on TV?!?

"Often there's no scientific evidence behind Dr. X's claims," notes Dr. George Blackburn, a member of the government-sponsored Partnership for Healthy Weight Management and assistant director of nutrition medicine at the Harvard Medical School.

And often the endorsements fail to disclose that the health professional doing the recommending has a financial interest in the product, or that he or she may not have reviewed the scientific evidence. Even if it was reviewed, he or she may not have used acceptable review standards.

3. Testimonials are not a good indicator of a product's success.

Have you ever taken a hard look at the before and after pictures that come along with the testimonials? They are hilarious. Typically, in the "before" photos, the person appears with poor posture, a neutral facial expression, unkempt hair, unfashionable clothes and washed-out skin tones. The "after" photos generally are better lit. The person stands with shoulders held back, tummy tucked in, wearing smarter-looking clothes and is carefully made up, coiffed and smiling.


Sometimes companies take healthy people, make them overeat and the "after" picture shown is really what the person looked like before they began overeating.

4. Just because the government allows it on the market doesn't mean it's safe or does what it claims.

People mistakenly think that the FDA is monitoring everything that is being put out there on the market. It gives them a false sense of security and nothing could be further from the truth.

The majority of diet products on the market today are dietary supplements. Under the DSHEA, or Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act passed by Congress in 1994, the law doesn't require the manufacturers of dietary supplements to demonstrate that their product is safe or efficacious before it goes on the market.

In the last 10 years, the FTC has brought over 100 cases against manufacturers for false and misleading claims and advertising. That is a drop in the bucket as to what is really out there.
Unless there is an "adverse affect" (something really bad) that is reported, they don't even have time to look at it. People have to die or get really sick before they will even look into it.

5. Don't believe everything you hear.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Mark Nutritionals Inc., a Texas-based company selling the Body Solutions Evening Weight Formula, advertised on the radio that you could shed unwanted pounds in your sleep without having to change your diet or exercise. How silly.

They had a really slick advertising campaign in three states. They used local DJ's to spread the word as they supplied them with product and compensated them well to share the weight loss gospel. The advertising was not misleading. It was false and bogus. The FTC went after them and Mark Nutritionals is no longer operational.

6. 'Natural' or 'herbal' doesn't guarantee safety.

One "natural" diet supplement in the news lately is ephedra. It's an amphetamine-like diet supplement derived from the Chinese herb ma huang and has been found to constrict the blood vessels, speed the heart rate and raise blood pressure.

The FDA received more than 16,000 complaints of adverse reactions to the herb, which is found in more than 200 dietary supplements sold over the counter. It has been linked to 155 deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Hundreds of ephedra victims have filed suit.

Recently, after more than six years of study, the FDA announced plans to ban the "fat-burning" herb ephedra, declaring it a hazard even for healthy adults.

But ephedra is not the only "natural" product on the FDA's watch list. It has issued warnings of "possible health hazards" against herb-supplement products containing chaparral, comfrey, willow bark and wormwood. Additional items on the watch list include supplements and so-called dieter's teas that contain senna, cascara, aloe, buckthorn and other plant-derived laxatives.

7. Fad diets don't work.
ALL of them are doomed for failure. Fad diets are a temporary solution to a long term problem. You don't need a diet. You need a long term lifestyle change. You don't need a rapid, unhealthy amount of weight loss. What goes up must come down. In terms of weight loss, it should be "What goes down, will eventually come back up (and more)." Losing it slow and steady is much healthier and gives you a better chance of keeping it off.

Hundreds of fad diets have been published over the years. If any one of them truly worked, there wouldn't be the need for another one.

8. Nothing is free. It will cost you.

All three of the largest national weight loss chains -- Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and LA Weight Loss -- continue to make millions in revenue. In 2003, Weight Watchers' revenue was approximately $943 million, while Jenny Craig saw $280 million and LA Weight Loss climbed from revenues of $105 million in 2001 to $250 million and counting in 2003.

While costs vary for each program, they could be worth it if you stick with it and do it in a healthy way. The costs of obesity are extremely high. Think about that for a moment. It's not a cosmetics issue. Successful weight loss of even five to 10 pounds can save hundreds of dollars per person and hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy in health-care costs. Programs that teach you a healthy diet and lifestyle produce the best outcomes.

9. There is no magic bullet.


Some dieters place their hopes on pills and capsules that promise to "burn," "block" or "flush" fat from the body. But science has yet to come up with a low-risk magic bullet for weight loss. Some pills may control appetite but can have serious side effects. Amphetamines, for instance, are highly addictive and can have an adverse impact on the heart and central nervous system. Other pills are utterly worthless.

Let's be realistic. You can't solve years of overeating overnight. There are no shortcuts. Exercise, proper sleep, healthy eating, nutritional supplementation and a permanent lifestyle change are the path to success.

Oh, and just in case you thought that diet sodas and other products that have aspartame, Splenda, sucralose, saccharin or other artificial sweeteners in them might be a help in losing weight, think again. Click here to read why they may be MAKING you fat!

Here is to your success this year. May this be the year that you make your breakthrough to better health and more energy to live a long and happy life. You deserve it. Be smart and do your homework and you should be on your way very soon.

If you want to learn what the Three Reasons Why Diets Fail are and what to do about it, check out my blog entry from December 31, 2007: Why Diets Fail

Another excellent post on this topic can be found on the Health and Fitness blog. Click on the following link to read Tom's post on "Health And Fitness Is Not A 12 Week Program."

P.S. Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. Oz, MD have written a great non-diet book called "You On A Diet." In it, they state that your waist size is more important than weight, because belly fat is so strongly linked to many health risks. So ditch the scale in favor of the tape measure. Good book.