Haley is pregnant. Who would’ve guessed. She is exercising just like always. She feels better when she works out. She and the baby will be healthier because of it. And she will recover faster after the baby is born.

Please no excuses about not working out. They just don’t hold water.

Ouch, bad pun.

The perfect chest exercise is… You see the thing is, unless you are a competitive bodybuilder I can’t really imagine a reason to do the perfect chest exercise. You are not just a chest. You are a whole person with many interconnecting muscles.

Fitness to me is the ability to lift, run, jump, twist, move without injury. We need strength, flexibility, joint stability and cardio fitness. Train movement patterns with multiple joint exercises. Feel free to do bench presses but not to the exclusion of the rest of your body.

Grab some dumbells and hold at your shoulders, squat until your upper leg is parallel with the floor then stand and press the weights overhead. That is a total body movement which requires strength, stability and flexibility. Add some pushups and some chinups and you have a great workout

It snowed this morning again. BUT, this week the word is temps in the 50s. Whoa.

Let’s get out into the outdoors and run, jump and breathe. No more stale air and stale recession chatter. Life is good. Let’s enjoy it. See you outside.

Thanks to Haley for the tip!

An article in the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/health/nutrition/31BEST.html?ex=1202446800&en=3bfa19fc7ea45c91&ei=5070&emc=eta1

This is something I’ve been talking about for many years based on my experience. Keep your workouts hard and intense to keep your performance high. Oh yeah, you will look younger too.

Did I mention you will keep your weight down as well?

I am talking about doing sprint workouts at least once per week. I am talking about making your workouts as intense as you can handle. Not over-training but keeping your rest between sets as low as you can handle. Get rest between workouts. Train the whole body as a unit. Train movement patterns not body parts.

Experts are predicting that 75% of Americans will be overweight by 2015. Is that crazy or what? Have we become so lazy?

Let’s get to work. Work out and eat better. That is all.

Their loss.

Ta ta.

If you have a little common sense and a little dedication you can be as fit as you want to be. There is lots of information which can help. But if you simply eat better and exercise regularly you will improve. Of course if that was easy to do there wouldn’t be a zillion dollar industry trying to take advantage of people who want to take the easy way out.

I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked about a pill…

“So do (fill in the blank) fat burners or ephedrine or steroids or the latest fad pills work?”

The answer is some do. But the cost in side effects is not worth it.

I have also had a woman with over 40% body fat tell me that she eats Twinkies for breakfast every day. What are you thinking?

Common sense and regular exercise.

Yes I will give you additional help. Just take it.

A few suggestions:

1) Eat small meals more often. Every 2.5 to 3 hours eat something.

2) Whenever possible eat real foods, whole grains, raw vegetables and fruits.

3) Ladies, eat protein please. Guys seldom have this problem. About one third of your diet should be protein, lean meats, turkey, chicken, fish. There are plant-based proteins but they need to be taken in combination with other proteins. Animal based proteins contain the essential amino acids your body requires, i.e. the ones your body can’t manufacture. Plant-based proteins don’t contain all the essential amino acids.

4) You need unsaturated fats every day. For a long time fats were public enemy number one, but you need them every day for essential functions. Olive oil, peanut butter, almonds avocado are all good sources.

5) The past few years have seen carbs become the latest food enemy in the eyes of the media and marketers. It isn’t true. You need about half your diet from carbs. The source of those carbs should come from vegetable and fruit sources not fast foods or chips or pop or……

6) Cheat. We have to enjoy life so in moderation, cheat. To me that means on the weekend I can have a meal out with dessert and not feel bad about it. I’ll be back in the gym tomorrow. I’ll be eating steel cut oatmeal and eggs for breakfast. On and on it goes.