Posted: August 27th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Spirituality | No Comments »
What’s the one thing we need on earth more than anything else?
Breath.
Food we can go weeks, months even, water, a week or two, but breath? How far can you count on one hand? That’s how many minutes you have.
If you are good, in shape, and have good lung capacity.
How long can you hold your breath?
The proper way to breathe is through the abdomen. Feel your stomach expand, and then contract. Pull your stomach in as far back as you can go, and as far out as you can go out as well. Try to make yourself look pregnant.
Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth, and breathe in and out through your nose.
Okolo
Posted: July 23rd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
There are three major factors that determine whether you will gain weight, lose weight or maintain.
Those three factors are:
Calories in.
Calories burned.
Metabolism.
If you are eating more calories than you are burning, you WILL gain weight. That weight gain will either be in the form of fat or muscle.
If you are eating less calories than you are burning, you WILL lose weight, and again, that weight will either be fat or muscle.
A higher metabolism will help you burn more calories.
So how do you lose weight, lose fat, and build muscle? The first thing to realize is that it is impossible to do both at the exact same time. You can either lose fat, or build muscle, but because of the above statements about calories in and calories burned, you can’t do both at the same time. There are some ways you can eat more calories at one point of the day to gain muscle, and then later in the day eat fewer calories to lose fat, but it easier to have a singular focus, and know what your goal is.
What most people do when trying to lose weight is reduce the number of meals without realizing that they might be keeping the same calorie intake, or even increasing it. Missing a meal often later makes us overeat.
Ask fat people how many times a day they eat, most of them will say 2, very rarely 3, and almost never 5. And universally, most fat people don’t eat breakfast regularly. They don’t realize this is the worst thing in the world for the body.
This is how I explain it. Due to many years of evolution, if we miss a meal our body goes into “starvation mode” by holding on to fat, and eating away at muscle. Based on our evolutionary history, this makes sense. Muscle is the first thing to go. This is the exact opposite of what you want. This is a double whammy, because the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism, which helps you burn more calories.
So now that we’ve talked about what not to do (don’t skip meals), just what should you do? The ideal is to eat at least 5 times a day. That doesn’t necessarily mean 5 meals in the traditional sense, but a light healthy breakfast, a snack a couple hours later, a healthy size lunch, another snack a couple hours later, a medium dinner, and then if you want, another snack later in the evening, but not too close to bed time. Eating often also increases your metabolism, and keeps your body happy, and out of “starvation mode,” allowing any calorie deficit to eat away at fat instead of muscle.
The best weight lose program includes exercise, for two major reasons. First, it of course increases the number of calories you will burn, and it also increases your metabolism. Weight bearing exercises are also very important, not just cardio. Remember the last time you were sore? That’s the muscles breaking down and rebuilding, which takes calories. So each time you work your muscles, more calories are being burned than usual. So you could just be sitting at your desk, burning more calories than the person next to you, even if you both are the exact same weight, exact same build, etc… And if that person skipped their last meal, you’ll be burning fat, while they are burning muscle.
So what about diet (as in what to eat)? The first thing I’ll say is that I’m NOT a fan of low-carb diets. Carbohydrates should be the primary fuel of the body, but good carbs, not bad carbs.
Example of good carbs:
Fruits
Vegetables
Whole Grains
Example of bad carbs:
Simple rule of thumb, don’t eat anything white.
Yes, low-carb diets work while you are on them, the protein goes towards the muscle and burns away fat, but as soon as you go back to a more regular diet, all of that weight will come back. (anyone who’s been on a low-carb diet want to chime in and say amen?)
And besides, NOBODY on earth can tell me that eating a bunch of bacon and eggs is healthier than eating whole grains and vegetables. Let’s use some logic and basic common sense folks.
While I’m no longer a vegetarian (was vegetarian for 7 years, and vegan for one of them), I still recognize that eating a vegetarian diet, or at least reducing meat, is the healthiest diet out there.
Another thing about food, if you look at the average American diet (meaning what people eat, not attempts to lose weight) most people eat way way too much fat. Sometimes as much as 30%. The ideal breakdown of carbs/protein/fat is:
60% good carbs
30% protein
10% fat
All meals should contain some of each, and protein should be eaten or drank within 30 minutes of every workout.
For short term attempts to get your body fat way way down, for example for a body building competition, a low carb/high protein diet is helpful, recognizing it is only for a short, temporary period of time. It is not sustainable, and not recommended for long term weight loss goals.
You can track what those percentages are by using a site called fitday.com. This site will also help you estimate and track your calories burned and consumed, so you can know if you are at a calorie deficit or surplus. Remember, I don’t care how many times you work out a day, if you are at a calorie surplus, you CAN’T lose weight. This is why many people who start to train for a marathon sometimes gain weight, or at least often don’t lose any. Yes their metabolism is increasing, yes they are burning more calories, but they sometimes increase the number of calories eaten as well because they are so famished. Skip a meal while training, and the problems just compound.
So what’s a reasonable work out routine and diet? (diet meaning what you eat, not a new way to eat with the purpose to lose weight during a certain period of time). “Diets” rarely work, you’ve got to change your eating habits, today, tomorrow, and forever. The good news is you only need to eat a little bit healthier, and eat a little bit less to achieve great results. Just think of a perfectly balanced lever, just the slightest increase of weight on one side or the other, makes it move greatly. The same is true of a calorie deficit.
Within one workout session, always do some cardio and some weight bearing exercises. I personally don’t like weights for myself (I’m a pushup and squat kinda guy), but I recommend them for people trying to lose weight. If you have an hour to work out, a good ratio might be 15 minutes of cardio to start, weight bearing exercises for 30 minutes, then end with 15 more minutes of cardio. This is the formula I learned as a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym. So if we think about the above statement that when we are sore we are burning calories, by logical extension the muscles you want to work the most are the big ones. The biggest muscles are in the legs, then back, then abs. Many people, especially women, worry that if they work their legs they will get bigger. Remember rule #1, if you are at a calorie deficit, it is IMPOSSIBLE to gain weight, be it fat OR muscle.
As for what to eat, breakfast I usually eat cereal, a mid-morning snack might be an energy bar, I like the Kashi Go-Lean bars, or maybe a healthy shake. Lunch might be a vegetable, maybe broccoli or spinish, and a protein, maybe tofu, nuts or a lean meat, plus a starch, maybe brown rice. Another snack after lunch might be a piece of fruit or a healthy shake, and then dinner, smaller than lunch, again, a vegetable, starch and protein. Mix and match whatever foods you want into those categories, keeping in mind the ideal percentages mentioned above. (60% carbs, 30% protein, 10% fat) And yes, fat is necessary for our diets, just not to the extent that most of us eat it.
So the first thing to determine is are you trying to lose fat or gain muscle? It doesn’t really matter which you do first (if both are your goal), but most people I imagine would rather not get bigger first to later get smaller, so I suggest that most people lean down and reduce fat first, then go to build muscle. In the muscle building phase, you have to work/stress the muscle (weight bearing exercises) which is what will cause them to grow. If you increase your calories without working the muscles, you will simply gain fat.
Hopefully that was helpful, and if you have any questions feel free to send me a message.
Later I’ll get into specific weight bearing exercises, and strategies to use in the gym while lifting weights, as well as suggestions for cardio workouts.
Posted: June 29th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
I realized today that I’ve got a bunch of “little” goals that I’ve wanted to reach for YEARS, and at best, only make slow progress, if any at all. Many of these are even from childhood.
On this list is:
To do a hand stand (that’s what got me thinking in the first place)
Have a 6 pack, and about 10% body fat. (give or take based on optimal health)
Be able to do a complete split, with my chest to the floor, and also a complete “american split.”
Learn Spanish
Learn Piano
I’m sure there are others, but this is a good array to make the point.
Over the years I’ve tried to do a handstand periodically, sometimes once or twice a year, sometimes once or twice a month, but never really consistently. Over the years I’ve gotten better, but the goal still isn’t reached.
I got the idea a few months (maybe years) ago, what if I just do at least one handstand (attempt) a day, and if I were to count up the time it took me to master it, it would probably be measured in minutes, not even hours.
I did it for a few days, and noticed DRASTIC improvement, but then stopped.
I don’t know about you, but that speaks to many different situations in my life.
So I’m going to start again, every day, doing at least one hand stand (attempt). One will usually not be just one, but doing *at least one* will get me started. It is like the commitment to read 5 minutes a day, it always turns into more.
So I’m going to count the minutes that I actually spend practicing, my guess is I’ve got less than 15 minutes of practice time to reach my goal (accumulative), but it has been years that this goal has been on my list. (not written down though, which is very important)
I’m going to start with the hand stand, and see how it goes.
When I get a chance I’ll post some video, showing about where I’m starting from. (I’m very close, but yet so far, because I’ve not been consistent).
Somewhere in there there is a great life lesson, I’ll see if it carries into other areas of my life as well.
Okolo
