5 Steps to Your Best Summer Body

If you are ready to get in the best shape of your life and want it to last, this is just what you need to get started. We all have goals for the summer, but how many of us have a plan? Here are five steps to help ensure your success this summer and to help you keep that body for the rest of the year.

Step 1: Nutrition before exercise.

When most people think about losing weight or getting in shape, they think about exercise. They sign up for a gym, hire a personal trainer, or grab a book or a magazine to find a workout plan. But while exercise is a crucial part of losing weight and getting healthy, I’d argue that it’s not the most important piece.

Research shows that with exercise alone you can expect to lose only about one pound per month. That’s not something to get too thrilled about, especially for the amount of work you should expect to put in during a month of training. So if exercise alone gets dismal results, what does work?

Nutrition. And not just what you eat, but also HOW you eat. Eating habits can be just as powerful as food choices in helping you to lose weight, so make sure you look also at your whole eating routine (e.g. speed of eating, activities during meals, time of day, number of meals, etc.) By focusing on nutrition and eating habits, you can expect to lose up to five times more fat in the same one month period as before.

Step 2: Find you key motivator.

We’ve all heard that to make a big change, motivation must come from inside. And it’s true. We all need a “reason why” — a real purpose and a sense of why losing fat and getting in shape is important to us. But sometimes you need extra motivation to actually start making change. You need a big motivator that pushes you into action.

So while looking good in your bathing suit may be motivation enough, it never hurts to add motivation to help ensure your success. You can make a bet with a friend—money is always a good motivator. You can actually GIVE money to someone to hold that you can only get back when you reach your goal. You can do the “5 why’s exercise” where you keep questioning your goals until you get to your most true and meaningful reasons behind them.

Whatever it is, find the motivation you need to not just start your program, but to see it through until the end.

Step 3: Do one small thing each day.

Dan John, a well known strength and conditioning coach, once put it this way: “If something is important, do it every day; if it’s not important, don’t do it at all.” That’s especially true in body transformation.

When trying to create new habits, there is nothing more important than repetition. We must do something daily, if not multiple times per day to ensure that it does in fact become a habit. The key here though is doing only ONE new thing at a time, but doing it daily. Any less, and you lose momentum; any more, you get overwhelmed.

Most people find this out the hard way. They make a heroic effort to change every part of their life, from the time they wake up in the morning to the kinds of foods they eat to adopting a new workout program and dozens of other changes. This all-or-nothing attitude may work for a week or two, but pretty soon they’ll crash and burn and be right back where they started. That’s why it’s important to practice one small thing at a time instead of trying to make a mad-dash for the finish line.

So instead of taking on the world, find one thing that you are confident that you can do every day, and start doing it. This can be as small as drinking an extra glass of water each day. The only two requirements are that it will help you reach your goal and that you are confident that you can do it every day. Once you have met these two requirements, work on this goal until it becomes habitual and only then look to add on anther habit.

Step 4: Find a support group.

You’ve probably heard this saying before: “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” And that’s exactly right. People who have a strong network of friends, co-workers, family members, or even complete strangers online that are supporting them in their goals often have more dramatic results than someone who goes at it alone.

With a good support network you can connect with people when you’re excited, confused, or wondering what to do next. You’ll have people around you who can offer feedback, guidance, support, and accountability.

This last point may be the most important. We are terrible at being accountable to ourselves, but we are exactly the opposite when it comes to others. It is very hard for us to let others down, and when they are counting on you to lose weight, get to the gym, change your diets, or anything else, you will be much more likely to follow through.

So find a group or a gym that you feel supports your goals, is there for you when you struggle, and is ready to hold you accountable in reaching your goals, and you will be much more likely to find success.

Step 5: Actions speak louder than outcomes.

We can’t control outcomes, but we can control our actions that may lead to those outcomes. In other words, you can’t lose 20 pound just by focusing on losing 20 lbs. There is no “lose weight” action. What you can focus on, however, are all the actions that can help you reach your goal.

This is important for two reasons. First, a focus on outcomes is more likely to lead to frustration and failure than it is to lead to long lasting results. That can then lead to two negative outcomes: you either quit or your do whatever it takes to reach your goal, regardless of sustainability. You focus on something that is out of your control and you miss an opportunity to learn from your journey.

Second, a focus on actions will lead to manageable successes, increased motivation and self-esteem, and will actually help you learn how to maintain your results once you get there! The goal is to focus on what is in your immediate control and the rest will follow. These actions, when practiced daily, will compound in there effect over time and lead to amazing results.

What to do Next

So what do you do with all of this? Here’s what: the key is to make one simple change right now. Don’t try tackling all 5 steps at once (remember step 3!) Instead, take an inventory of which of the 5 you are doing already. Have you found a support network? Do you have a solid nutrition AND exercise program? Do you have a big motivator? Are you good about just taking things one step at a time?

Ask yourself these questions, pick one thing you need to work on, and start there. It doesn’t matter if you go through the steps in order. And if you have something that is limiting you even more than these things, start there! It’s not about right or wrong. It’s about taking action. Because, while all of these are important, getting started is the most important step of all.

What is Your 1%?

How would your life be different if you did one thing, every day, which was directly in line with one of your goals? Perhaps you are looking for a new job, so that one thing could be a phone call (this can work for business, social, and relationship goals as well). What a difference you could make with one phone call every day for the next week, month, or year. Some of these could help to build new relationships and others could help to grow existing ones. Either way, as long as you stayed with it, I’m willing to bet things would change for the better.

More appropriate to this blog, what if you did one thing every day to help you move toward a health or weight goal. Now we can look at this one action as working out, cooking your own food, going for a walk, or eating an extra serving of veggies. The idea is to do something, even if it seems insignifant on it's own, because when you repeat it everyday, change will occur.

Once you start, however, there is a second piece to this equation that will end up making all the difference.

1% Better

You must strive to improve by 1% each day. While this may not seem like much change, there is no substitue for small but consistent movement toward a goal. Most people try to make huge changes all at once and fail. The concept of 1% works because it is manageable but can create great change over time. The idea of "1% better" also has a nice twist to it that I like. When you increase by 1% over time, you do not grow in a linear fashion, but rather, exponentially. That means that if you stay focused, today could be the least amount of growth you ever experience again.

Of course life is not as clean cut as a nice math equation, but I think the take away from the analogy is this: experience is the currency of growth. So every day that you work toward your goal, whether you have made tangible progress or not, you have gained experience. And over time, it is your experience that is compounding, growing, and will undoubtedly lead to your success.

Friends with Failure

To become 1% better everyday is not about seeing results right away. As mentioned, tangible progress cannot be your berometer of success. Rather, we must look at our experiences and failures as our feedback on our improvement. If you are not failing, you are not going to succeed. This is why it is important that whatever your goal, you learn to take action, and adapt quickly.

Keep trying new things, keep fighting to achieve your goal. When you fail, accept it, learn from it, and move on. The more you can become comfortable with failing, the faster you will reach you goals. Those that achieve the greatest success are usually also those that have failed the most. It is all about experience, and there is absolutely no substitue for it. This is what it means to get 1% better every day. Not that your income increases every day, or that you lose 1 lb every week. It means that every day, you try something out. Everyday you look for opportunities to take actions that might lead you to your goal.

If you do this, accept that that your actions may send you in the wrong direction, and commit to getting back on track when they do, you will reach you goals faster and become the type of person that can maintain those results for the long run.

For Who You Become

Someone I listen to regularly, Jim Rohn, always talks about the importance of goals and goal setting. He has an interesting twist on the idea, however, that is usually missing when people set out to reach a goal. Goals are usually about the outcome. I want to lose weight, I want to earn more money, I want to get a better job. What Mr. Rohn wants us to realize is that the value of a goal is not what we will achieve, but rather, who we must become to achieve such a goal.

If you want to lose weight, it is not about the number on scale; anyone can go on a detox and drop a few pounds just to add them back on later. The important part, rather, is the change in who you are, how you act, and what you value. These must occur for you to earn your weight loss and what should be sought after. Only once you see goals in this light will you be able to have long lasting and noteworthy success. 

Take Away

So as we enter the summer months and our yearly goals are well underway, let us examine our progress thusfar and reevaluate our success thusfar. However close or far we are from reaching our goals, we must remember that it does not take large, life altering changes to succeed. Rather, it takes small, but CONSISTENT movement in one direction that will lead to the most meaningful and powerful results. We must not be afraid to fail and we must value the process. With the proper perspective and undying perseverance, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. 

The Truth about Caffeine

By: Sepano Hassanzadeh

There are probably very few people that have not used caffeine at some point in their lives. It is one of the most popular drugs in the world, and yet many people do not fully understand exactly its effect on the body and how to use it the most effective way.

The mission of this article is to simply explain what caffeine is, where it comes from, and how it affects the body. Additionally I will detail how to properly take caffeine to optimize overall health, fitness, and performance.

What is it?

Caffeine is scientifically identified as a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid (technical terminology for saying it is a stimulant and acts as a toxin in its natural state). When consumed, it affects our central nervous system and metabolic system.

Where does it come from?

Caffeine is found in different amounts in seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide to insects feeding on the plants. We consume it primarily through drinks made from extracts of the seed of the coffee plant and the leaves of the tea bush, as well as from various foods and drinks containing products derived from the kola nut. [Fun Fact: kola nut is a caffeine-containing plant,  for which the world-renown beverage, Coca-Cola, got its name.]

How does it affect me?

So what effects does caffeine have on our bodies? We will now examine the psychological and physiological changes which occur with caffeine consumption.

The Good

In the right doses, caffeine reduces physical fatigue and works to restore alertness when drowsiness occurs. It produces increased wakefulness, faster and clearer flow of thought, increased focus, and better overall coordination. The amount of caffeine needed to produce the mentioned effects varies with each individual, depending on body size, tolerance and even gender.

The Bad

Yes, the effects of caffeine on the body can be great, but too much of anything can harm you. Caffeine is not exempt from this rule. Caffeine basically tells the brain to signal the adrenal glands to release chemicals, putting the body in a “fight or flight” state. This in turn raises stress levels to produce the above positive effects of mental alertness and focus.

However, here's the catch. When taken in excess over long periods of time, this mechanism of action wears out the adrenal glands to the point of fatigue. This state of fatigue weakens the body's central nervous system, creating negative effects such as constant drowsiness, decreased motivation or energy, irritability to perform, and poor mood. These are just a few of the negative side-effects of over-consumption.

What to do about it

Okay, so we now have a better idea of the pros and cons of caffeine intake. So how do we know how much is the right amount to keep us in the good?

The optimal daily dosage of caffeine for an individual can vary greatly. The normal recommended range is between 200 and 400 milligrams per day (we will go over what this means in practical terms below). While this is the average, not everyone is the same. Some people metabolize caffeine in such a way that even one cup of coffee can actually have an opposite effect, leaving them feeling spaced out, tired, and unfocused. Others can have more and feel great! For most, however, 200-400 is optimal and anything above that over a prolonged period of time will lead to negative effects on the mind and body.

To give you an idea of how much caffeine you are getting, a cup of coffee is roughly 200 mg, the safe and effective dose. An individual should consume no more than 2 cups of coffee during his or her day. Caffeine tablets are also very effective and are absorbed more rapidly. These pills usually contain 100-200 mg per tablet, depending on the potency.

Below is a further detailed list of caffeine sources and amounts per serving size:

Caffeine Content in Select Food and Drugs
Product	Serving size	Caffeine per serving (mg)	Caffeine per liter (mg)
Caffeine tablet (regular-strength)	1 tablet	100	—
Caffeine tablet (extra-strength)	1 tablet	200	—
Excedrin tablet	1 tablet	65	—
Hershey's Special Dark (45% cacao content)	1 bar (43 g; 1.5 oz)	31	—
Hershey's Milk Chocolate (11% cacao content)	1 bar (43 g; 1.5 oz)	10	—
Percolated coffee	207 mL (7 U.S. fl oz)	80–135	386–652
Drip coffee	207 mL (7 U.S. fl oz)	115–175	555–845
Coffee, decaffeinated	207 mL (7 U.S. fl oz)	5–15	24–72
Coffee, espresso	44–60 mL (1.5-2 U.S. fl oz)	100	1,691–2254
Tea – black, green, and other types, – steeped for 3 min	177 mL (6 U.S. fl oz)	22-74[66][67]	124-416
Guayakí yerba mate (loose leaf)	6 g (0.2 U.S. oz)	85[68]	358 about
Coca-Cola Classic	355 mL (12 U.S. fl oz)	34	96
Mountain Dew	355 mL (12 U.S. fl oz)	54	154
Guaraná Antarctica	350 mL (11 U.S. fl oz)	30	100
Jolt Cola	695 mL (23.5 U.S. fl oz)	280	403
Red Bull	250 mL (8.4 U.S. fl oz)	80	320

(cited from Wikipedia)

Practical Application

So we've discussed proper caffeine dosing up to this point. Now we will complete the puzzle by putting theory to practice and going over when to actually consume caffeine for optimal health and performance.

Caffeine dosing protocol is dependent on the individual's goals. There are two criteria: health/brain boosting, and physical performance enhancement. For the former, taking a 200mg dose of caffeine first thing in the morning is amazing for starting off the day alert and mentally sharp. If you can tolerate it, having another cup mid-morning can keep you going, but it is not recommended to consume caffeine in the afternoon. This can negatively effect sleep and natural hormone cycles. 

As for improving physical performance, taking a 200-300mg dose 15-30 minutes before your competition or physical activity is required. If you are planning on doing this, please test it out before you put it to practice in competition.  Everyone reacts differently, so the timing and dosage may need adjusting. 

Wrap-up

So there you have it. When taken correctly, caffeine can boost alertness, mental clarity and physical performance. To do this, however, you must find your optimal range, usually falling between 200-400 mg of caffeine per day. This can come in 1-2 cups of coffee (100-200mg) or caffeine pills (200mg/tablet). Over-consumption of caffeine can lead to central nervous system and adrenal fatigue, which is generally observed through symptoms such as drowsiness, irritation, low motivation, and mood swings. If your goals are general health and brain function, 200mg in the morning upon waking is best. If optimal physical performance is you goals, then this dosage should be taken 15-30 minutes before your physical activity or competition. 

Just remember, caffeine is a stimulant drug and as should be treated as such. As outlined, when utilized properly, caffeine can be a wonderfully effective at boosting brain health, physical & mental performance, and general wellness.

Only One Body

I was looking through my old posts this week and I ran across this one from last year. I feel like this is timeless advice, so here it is again. Enjoy!

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Imagine you are sixteen years old and your parents give you your first car. They also give you simple instructions. There is one small hitch, you only get one car, and you can never get another. Never. No trade-ins, no trade-ups. Nothing.

Ask yourself how would you maintain that car? My guess is you would be meticulous. Frequent oil changes, proper fuel, etc. Now imagine if your parents also told you that none of the replacement parts for this car would ever work as well as the original parts. Not only that, the replacement parts would be expensive to install and cause you to have decreased use of your car for the rest of the cars useful life? In other words, the car would continue to run but, not at the same speed and with the efficiency you were used to.

Wow, now would we ever put a lot of time and effort into maintenance if that were the case.

After reading the above example, ask yourself another question. Why is the human body different? Why do we act as if we don’t care about the one body we were given. Same deal. You only get one body. No returns or trade-ins. Sure, we can replace parts but boy it’s a lot of work and it hurts. Besides, the stuff they put in never works as well as the original “factory” parts. The replacement knee or hip doesn’t give you the same feel and performance as the original part.

Think about it. One body. You determine the mileage. You set the maintenance plan.

No refunds, no warranties, no do-overs.

How about this perspective: One of my clients is a very successful businessman. He often is asked to speak to various groups. One thing he tells every group is that you are going to spend time and money on your health. The truth is the process can be a proactive one or a reactive one. Money spent on your health can take the form of a personal trainer, massage therapist and a gym membership or, it can be money spent on cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and plastic surgeons. Either way, you will spend money.

Same goes for time. You can go to the gym or, to the doctor’s office. It’s up to you. Either way, you will spend time. Some people say things like “I hate to work out”. Try sitting in the emergency room for a few hours and then get back to me. Working out may not seem so bad. Much like a car, a little preventative maintenance can go a long way. However, in so many ways the body is better than a car. With some good hard work you can turn back the odometer on the body. I wrote an article a while back that discussed a study done by McMaster University which showed that muscle tissue of older subjects actually changed at the cellular level and looked more like the younger control subjects after strength training.

Do me a favor, spend some time on preventative maintenance, it beats the heck out of the alternative. Just remember, you will spend both time and money.

(This article was taken from an e-mail blast I received from Mike Boyle, one of the leading strength and conditioning coaches in the world.) 

Start Acting Like a Baby and MOVE!

One of my mentors once said "movement is life" and it could not be more true. Think of your life and how much movement plays a part. We often take our movement for granted, and only when we lose it does its importance become clear. This can happen acutely (injury/stroke), or chronically (desk job), but either way, when it is gone, it can be defeating, painful, and depressing. Today, let’s look at chronic restrictions in movement, and what you can do to ensure you keep your body mobile and function for all your years.

Begin with the End in Mind

What do you think of when you picture getting old? Are you healthy, enjoying life, able to do all things you have always wanted? Or, are you weak, frail, and reliant on others for support? Either of these is possible, but most of us think of aging in relation to losses in quality of life. It is not inevitable that you will lose your strength, flexibility, vision, cognitive skills, etc; it is only a common trend resulting from years of neglect. Industrialized countries, especially America, have innovated to the point of total convenience. We have cars to help us travel. We have one-stop shops where we can buy everything from clothing to groceries to toilet supplies. We have microwaves to cook our pre-made frozen meals in seconds. We have everything we need so that we save time and energy. But for what?

We have constructed our lives so that we can literally roll out of bed, sit down to eat without any work in preparing food, sit in our car while driving to work, sit at our desk for 4 hours, eat a lunch out (while sitting), sit for another 4 hours at work (all of this in front of a computer screen), sit in our cars again to come home, sit down for dinner, and then sit in front of the TV (more screen time) before rolling back into bed. We do this for 40+ years, then wake up one day with (hopefully) more wealth than when we started, a family, friends, house, etc, and with no health or ability to enjoy it.

It doesn’t have to be this way though. When you were born, you were full of energy, movement, and life. You built strength, balance, coordination, and stability. If you wanted to look at something on the ground, you would squat down and actually be able to stay there. If you wanted to get somewhere fast, you would run. If you wanted a challenge, you would work your way across the monkey bars at the park. If you wanted to go play soccer, you didn’t think about taking it easy; you went out and played until you couldn’t walk. So what happened? 


We do not lose our ability to move because we get old. We get old because we stop moving! In the first few years of life, we are constantly exploring and moving. We enjoy physical challenges and testing our own abilities. After a time, however, sitting becomes more and more dominant, and by the time we are out of school, sitting is almost all that we know. Good thing, because there is a lot more of it to come! Now we continue to practice sitting until things start to hurt and our waist line starts to expand. We want to start moving, but it is hard when we are so out of touch with our own bodies. It can be disheartening to not move like we once did, and it often keeps us from really spending time on it until it is too late.

Taking Control

If you want to maintain the highest quality of life, you must move. While I am obviously a huge supporter of exercise and strength training, I also believe strongly in designing one’s life to promote health and longevity. When it comes to staying young, here are my top daily activities:

-          Cook more. Spending time in the kitchen can be an adventure and a workout all at once. Don’t think it’s hard work? Try making your own mayonnaise with a whisk…your arms will be sore for a week. Other benefits include time spent standing, becoming more in tune with the food that you put into your body, training both sides of the brain (creativity in cooking while needing to get those measurements right!), and engaging in a relaxing activity. Cooking is definitely one of my top lifestyle choices for longevity.

-          Buy a standing desk. Start asking around about this and you will undoubtedly find someone who has made the switch and is now healthier, happier, and probably out of back pain. Sitting might be the single most detrimental activity when it comes to maintaining pain free movement. Back pain, neck pain, and knee pain are often traced back to extensive sitting. So get out of that chair and start standing!

-          Take up an active hobby. Find a sport you like to play and join a league or team. Start gardening. Go hiking on the weekends. Find something that you enjoy doing that gets you moving and hopefully also gets you outside. There are tons of options here, so brainstorm and start playing around with different activities.

-          Read more. While this is not physically active, keeping the mind active can be just as important as keeping the body active. There is so much in this world to learn about, why not spend some time every day becoming just a little bit wiser.

-          Go for a walk every day. Walking is our most natural form of locomotion and it can be a peaceful time spent unwinding while also moving. If the weather is bad, just walk up and down the stairs in your building. If it is sunny, go out and soak up some rays.

-          Do your homework. This is for all of you that have past injuries that are still nagging you. Go see someone about it, and then do what your health professional tells you to do. Too often I run into people that have poor movement or are in pain due to past injuries that they never fully recovered from. Most of the time, it is because they never took their recovery seriously. By the time I see them, they have been avoiding any movement that causes discomfort in the affected area and are so bound up that it takes serious work to undo the damage. Don’t hide from pain, figure out what it causing it, and then work to regain your movement!

-          Learn how to breathe. Just because we all have to breathe does not mean that we are very good at it. We can thank sitting and stress for this one. Most people, unless they have actively worked to improve their breathing, tend to breathe with their chest, neck, and shoulders rather than diaphragm. If you want to see what you do, look in a mirror and take a big breath. Do your shoulders come to your ears? Not good. To improve this, think of your torso as a balloon. With every breath, your goal should be for your torso to expand in all directions. That means you should feel your stomach, sides and back all expand. To practice, use an exercise called Crocodile Breathing from the video below.

If you are a shoulder breather, spend some time every day working on this. This can also be used as a stress reduction technique. Just lie on your stomach and breathe so that your low back pushes away from the ground. 20-30 breaths should do the trick. If you can master your breathing, you will improve not only your stress levels, but also your overall movement.

A Fresh Start

There are plenty of ways we can add movement to our lives, so take some time to think about what will work best for you. The two things that I feel are most important to sustainable health are finding ways to avoid sitting (at work, at home, in transit), and taking control of your food (cooking, shopping, reading). If we start playing around with some of these ideas, we will see that it is not aging that should be feared, but rather immobility (and this is in your control). The fact that you get older have very little to do with your movement quality. It is the 365 days a year of sitting 8+ hours a day that adapts your body to sitting. Why should your body care about good posture and moving when it can just hang out all day in a chair? Repetition leads to adaptation, so start thinking about what you want your body to adapt to, and start doing it!

We all start the same, able-bodied and full of potential. Let’s take a step back and see if we are really living up to that potential. If not, maybe it is time to start back at square one and reconstruct our lives to center around what is most important—movement.