Welcome to the first post for 2012 – Happy New Year!
Now it may seem like i’m going to rain on your parade and all the positivity that is around at the start of a new year when I make the statement in the title of this post “Why New Years Resolutions Don’t Work” but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You see I want to actually help you make 2012 YOUR YEAR.
I want you to wipe the slate clean on all the previous years mistakes.
That was the trial run for this year.
For the new year.
And after you watch this short video you’ll understand why I think New Years Resolutions are a load of rubbish.
So what do you think? Am I on the right track? Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments section below.
And there will be more short and sharp videos like this featured more often – where I give you a short 60 sec tip or insight into helping make 2012 the year you finally DO get back in your skinny jeans.
This is my last post before I break for Christmas so instead of giving you a be good for Christmas load of rubbish I’m going to give you the inside mail on how you can get around stacking on a bunch of kgs while still enjoying your festive period!
So below you’ll find links to a bunch of posts that I’ve previously written from great bodyweight workouts you can do at home, to food guidelines to get you back in action after you enjoy your feasts to a final word of motivation.
After your Christmas feast has finished start my 3 Day Detox Diet immediately. If you don’t have this in your arsenal you need to buy it ASAP (yes a shameless plug but it will give you the downsizing your looking for – I promise you).
The investment is less than $30 and you should get at least one of these completed between Christmas and New Years Eve and then another one starting January 2.
And finally some words of inspiration from the NBA legend himself Michael Jordan:
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
That should see you emerge on the other side in even better shape then when you started.
I read with interest about the new Australian Dietary guidelines that have been released today.
If you missed the original story you can catch it here.
But in a nutshell this is what it recommends (i’ll give my 2 cents afterwards):
* Eat from the five food groups daily
* Eat different types and colours of vegetables and legumes/beans
* Include whole grain breads, rice, pasta, cous cous, oats, barley, lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, yoghurts and cheese
* Drink milk and water
The article also states “Dietary guidelines for the first time recommend babies as young as seven months should eat up to two serves of vegetables a day to establish healthy eating patterns and reduce the risk of obesity”.
Surely anyone who thinks anything other than this is a space cadet. I’ve seen first hand evidence from my nieces and nephew as well as my clients kids that those who are given veggies from an early age grow to love them as they consider it a normal part of their diet.
My Thoughts Overall
Yes we need to eat more vegetables in our diet. That’s a no-brainer. Starting from as young an age as possible will help develop their taste buds in the right way.
But this falls way short of the mark as, unsurprisingly, the guidelines still recommend people to eat wholegrain bread, pasta, etc.
If you have been around this blog for more than 5 seconds you’ll know that all of this is rubbish.
The other thing it missed the beat on is it says men need to eat 20% less red meat. I hardly think that is the problem that is killing us off early.
Start with removing the processed foods from your diet IE bread, pasta, and anything grain based. That’s a very good start and you will get healthier.
The other big mistake is the quote that says “When you look at the evidence around the whole food group of milk, it shows that there’s something protective about milk”. WRONG!
The first thing you should cut out from your diet is dairy!
The amount of health effects that it causes is amazing.
Try this test:
If you drink a lot of milk go without it for a week – yes even in your coffee and watch how your skin improves. Watch that you’re belly isn’t as bloated. Watch as you don’t feel as sick.
And it is a big myth that you need to drink it for the calcium. Eat your leafy greens, eat nuts and seeds and eat your salmon (including the small little bones in the tin).
Case closed!
And follow this video to live a long and healthy life:
Pretty much everyone who has ever trained before knows that it’s a good idea to warm up before you start a workout routine whether that be in the gym or a home exercise program.
The benefits are obvious. It warms your body up for the impending onslaught and it helps to prevent against injury – which there’s a fair chance of happening if you dive straight into a set of burpees first thing in the morning after you roll out of bed.
With all the people around now making good on getting in those last few workouts before Chirstmas I can guarantee that they are going to be plenty of people jumping all guns blazing into a new workout routine but be wary – there are no excuses for not doing a proper dynamic bodyweight warm up routine.
So what actually constitutes a good warm up routine?
I’m glad you asked!
The warm up should target all the areas that you’ll be training in your workout and should be much more detailed than the old “go for a run around the park” or “jump on the treadmill for 5 mins” that used to pass in the old days.
By the way – if your trainer is giving you these type of instructions before a session it’s time to move on and look elsewhere.
The video that you are about to see involves the following exercises all done for 10 repetitions each and repeating the whole circuit 3 times through and comes straight from the Bodyweight Blitz home exercise workout program.
1) Stick Ups with Calf Raises
2) T Squats
3) Rockin Hover
4) Push Ups
5) Split Squats on each leg
You can see a video demo here:
Be safe with your training and do these types of warm ups before you unleash the fury of your training routine and you’ll go a long way to preventing any injuries.
Well I thought I’d start a bit of a hornets nest today and stir up a bit of controversy. Time to stop playing Mr Nice guy. Here’s my stand against obesity.
Why are so many people obese today?
Really, the obesity epidemic is spiralling out of control and the powers that be (anywhere in the world) don’t have the guts to change the situation when really it should be a no-brainer.
Our hospitals are overcrowded and treating people with lifestyle conditions that they should simply not have.
Which in turn sucks up tax payers dollars to pay for their stay.
So why are people obese?
This video gives my 2 cents worth.
I’d like to hear your opinion in the comments section below.
Now how can we start fixing the situation?
* An across the board, worldwide, tax on junk food. Tax it like the do for cigarettes. We’ll see then how many people want to say that it’s to expensive to eat healthy.
* Tax rebates for people that can prove that they are healthy and active. Whether that be through an annual fitness test, or showing proof that they attend a gym or personal training sessions. Whatever. Something needs to be done.
There is no way known why fit and active people should pay the same health insurance premium as someone who is overweight, a smoker and a heart attack waiting to happen. It doesn’t happen with life insurance so why health insurance?
Okay, it’s time for me to take a deep breath, calm down and await your feedback…
One of my favourite ways to get in an awesome bodyweight workout is to head outside and go down to the local park for a big playground workout.
Maybe I’m just a big kid at heart but I love to get a playground workout in. And trust me, once you’ve done one of these you’ll never look at a playground the same way again!
Just check out this set next time you need a workout to follow along to:
Light bodyweight warm up of incline push ups and recline rows x 2 sets
The workout
Chin Up variations playing around with grip – close grip, wide grip, mixed grip you name it supersetted with Decline Push Ups.
That’s it.
Your goal is to knock out 10 sets of 10 reps of each. As it’s going to be pretty hard to knock out 10 sets of 10 chin ups I’d switch to cheat chin ups when you max on on regular ones.
Those 2 exercises back to back are going to be one of the hardest workouts you’ll do in a long time.
The best part of this is there is no weights needed – just your own bodyweight and some playground equipment.
No more excuses for not working out!
Get to it and don’t let fear hold you back… and if you’re looking for more bodyweight workouts to do outside now that summer is here check out the $4.95 30 day trial for Bodyweight Blitz – the step by step home workout program.
A couple of weeks ago I was at a family bbq and after the conversation I had with this bloke I was pretty inspired. And excited.
You see this bloke was telling me that in 3 months he was going to step into the ring for a MMA (mixed martial arts) fight.
BUT the big twist on this was this bloke is well, a little out of knick, shall we say.
This bloke – Adam Thompson – was telling me of his goal to go from an overweight average Joe to being in elite condition and stepping in the MMA octagon.
Yes, he is putting his real job as a sports reporter aside and is going to be training full time like a real athlete. But I think it is a pretty great bit of motivation for a bloke to put himself through this.
As a result I got him on the DPM Performance hotseat for this QnA.
DPM: So Adam, what is The Fight Project you’ve just launched?
AT: Basically The Fight Project is a social experiment where an average Joe lives the life of a professional mixed martial artist for 3 and a half months.
This average Joe has to keep to a strict diet, endure a full time training regime, undergo a weight cut of 16kg and then finally step in a cage. Oh yeah, that average Joe is me!!!
DPM: What would possess a normal bloke – who incidentally loves a good feed and a good beer – to do something crazy like stepping in a cage against somebody who does this for a living?
AT: Insanity mostly but a few other things as well. I have worked as a journalist covering sport and in particular mixed martial arts for sometime now and from the outside looking in it looked intense what these athletes put themselves through.
MMA fighters in particular need to have incredible strength & conditioning in addition to mastering the techniques of at least 4 different martial arts – boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling and Jiu-jitsu.
I wanted to get inside and really study what makes these guys tick and this truly is the most effective way.
DPM: Were you under the influence when you came to this conclusion?
AT: I won’t lie. I had consumed a few reds on the Perth to Sydney Red Eye before deciding to go ahead with this, but anyone who knows me will tell you I don’t need to be under the influence to come up with rash and radical life choices!
DPM: What does your lovely wife Nicole think of your move and has she taken out life insurance for you?
AT: She is all for it! I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad thing! But in all seriousness she well educated in regards to this sport (MMA) and knows I am working with the best of the best thanks to Competitive Edge.
She trusts everyone involved has my best interests at the forefront of everything they do so she is right on board. That may change on fight night though!
DPM: Good to hear. Now being serious for a minute, how can your project inspire the everyday guy or girl who has let life get the best of them and stacked on a few extra kg? Are there any big take home points you’d like the readers to realise?
AT: There is a couple things I would love to achieve by the end of this. One is long overdue recognition for these athletes who endure this incredible lifestyle to achieve their goals.
The other is to show people what the everyday guy and girl are truly capable of. No one outside of professional athletes are going to be as well resourced as I am but I have plan, I have short term goals and my nutrition is right.
There is no excuse why people can not transfer those 3 things into their life. Think of your body as another person who you have been neglecting and abusing for years – except no matter how badly you treated it, it is not to late to make amends.
DPM: That’s gold. Read that again everyone if you have too. What’s going to inspire you to get out of bed at the crack of dawn and to give up a nice cold one at Christmas time?
AT: Commitment. I have a lot of people who have put their faith in me and I have no intentions of letting them down.
I can’t control the result at the end of this but what I can control is how much I put in. Like a poker player with his last chip – I am going all in.
DPM: Finally – good luck with this project – I know you’ll nail it. Where can people go to follow along with your mission?
Cheers mate. So jump on board – follow Thommo on his mission. Subscribe to The Fight Project’s youtube channel, follow along on facebook and check out the website as even though we’re only a week into the 3 month mission it will be a ride you’ll want to be on for. And watch this video review of his first week in action:
I got a great message on facebook last week from a great girl, Kerensa, in the States who had completed my Aussie Fatblast program (which is no longer available by the way).
So today I want to show you that online programs actually do work – but only if you get off your arse and follow them!
That’s a no-brainer but you’d be surprised how most people just let them gather ‘virtual dust’ on their hard-drives.
But not this action taker!
So I wanted to get inside Kerensa’s head to see what made her tick and how her story can help you achieve your goals.
DPM) What results did you experience when using the Aussie Fatblast program?
A: I got great results, I lost about 10 pounds (4.55kg) and am so much more toned in my arms and legs.
I also lost a couple inches off my waist, I even had to go buy all new pants!
I feel so much better than I did, I have more energy, can work out longer, and don’t feel bloated all the time like I used to. (DPM: read that again if you have to)
DPM: What would you say the biggest change was that you made in your day to day life?
A: The biggest change the program made for me was my diet. I eat completely different than I used to, and I feel a hundred times better because of it (DPM: massive take home point for everyone – you can’t out-train a bad diet)
DPM: What was the hardest thing to change?
A: The hardest thing for me to change was my diet. I have always played sports and worked out so it wasn’t hard for me to stick to a workout routine.
But I have never really followed a particular eating plan so that was a challenge for me to think of different things I could eat and to cut out all the crap I was eating.
The hardest thing for me to eliminate was bread, I still love it but only eat it a few times a week now.
DPM: How do you feel now that you have achieved such amazing results?
A: I feel amazing! My stomach area was my biggest problem and now I am so much more comfortable with how I look.
I will absolutely be sticking to the eating plan and keep up with the bodyweight workouts from now on just to maintain what I have achieved.
DPM: What advice would you give to someone reading this now who is in the same shoes that you once were?
The hardest part is forming new habits. Like instead of reaching for a sandwich, reaching for a tuna lettuce wrap.
Or instead of going home an hour early to watch tv, getting your workout in at the gym or at home.
But as soon as you get into the routine and forming those new habits, it becomes as normal and natural to you as what you are doing now (DPM: massive take home point on this people!)
Not only will it be just a part of your daily life, but you will feel incredible and never want to go back to your old ways!
So thank you Kerensa for sharing your story. Yes Kerensa is an athlete but she still had to make changes. She took responsibility – stopped making excuses – and made them.
And now look at her!
So there you have it!
Online workout programs work – if you’re willing to put them to use.
Don’t let it gather dust on your hard-drive. Put it into action and who knows – you might be able to end up looking amazing like Kerensa!
NOTE: The Aussie Fatblast program that Kerensa used is not currently available online. It will be re-released in 2012. If you are looking for something now I recommend Bodyweight Blitz
I have seen everything when it comes to the so called latest and greatest way to rip money out of your pocket. Sorry, I mean to get the fat loss results and the promised body that you have always desired.
First came the Ab Roller, followed by the Ab King Pro, the Vibratron 3000 and a bunch of other useless pieces of dust gatherers which promised the world but delivered little in terms of real world fat loss results without the big asterisk leading to a disclaimer that says you actually had to eat right.
You may have missed that in the ads as it was so small I only found it when I had my glasses on.
Sure, I may have had a little bit of creative author’s license with the Vibratron 3000 but I think you get the point.
All of these gimmicks were designed to get us results while we do not much at all.
Which is what most people want in life. A quick fix for everything.
The truth about fat loss is that if it sounds too good to be true, than it probably is.
In most cases. I am about to share with you the fat loss secret that is actually as good as it sounds.
Did you know though that there is actually a pill that will let you burn fat while you sit on your backside?
I am being serious here.
Sure, a pill is a strange way to label interval training routines but that is what it basically is.
When taken correctly as directed, this pill can boost your metabolism for up to 48 hours after you finish training and no, that is not a misprint.
This is because of a scientific theory called EPOC, which stands for Excess Post Oxygen Consumption.
I will not get too technical here but basically you burn more calories after doing intense exercise than your mate at the gym who is doing the traditional aerobic training session (long boring cardio).
The best way to take your interval training pill is to do short bursts of high intensity exercise followed by recovery, or periods of less intensity.
Perfect examples are hill sprints where you walk down the hill for recovery, or sprints on an exercise bike followed by slowly turning your legs over for the designated recovery period.
This pill gains superhuman results when you combine the interval training with another great form of exercise, the supersets method of resistance training.
The supersets method is where you perform one exercise for one body part, followed by another exercise for an opposite body part straight after without a rest.
Some people may choose to use an upper body exercise followed by a lower body exercise. Some people may choose to use a chest exercise followed by a back exercise or to use two full body exercises back to back.
Whatever method you choose will depend on your current fitness level, but the end result of supersets training is increased fat loss results and the boost in metabolism for up to 48 hours after your training session.
The only catch is you have to work hard and sweat your backside off but at least you will finally achieve the long lost results that you have been looking for.
Don’t let fear hold you back. Take the next step and take the tip and follow my ‘magic’ fat loss pill.
