You know what you need to do to reach your goals. But you still aren’t doing it. You are still hitting that snooze button 2-3 times each morning. You are still cutting your workouts short because you have racked your brain subconsciously to find something you need to do that was (not) more important than exercise. In a matter of seconds, you have justified ordering the Eggs benedict instead of the egg white omelet and grapefruit.

Every single one of these decisions boils down to one thing.

Lacking the inability to sacrifice in the short-term for long-term gain.

It is really all about instant gratification and taking the easy way out. You do this at too many decision points and it becomes an ingrained habit. It becomes much too easy to succumb to temptation. The worst aspect of this type of decision-making is that it becomes so easy and effortless that you may not even be aware that you are doing it.

The first step in overcoming this habit is to become aware of it. Analyze your decisions throughout the day and ask yourself if each decision is hindering your long-term goals. You can easily become so habituated to instant gratification that you can forget it is a conscious choice.

The good news, is that if this sounds like you- you can change it. Recognizing a weakness is the first step to eliminating it. It can make you understand, every time you are tempted by a short-term view (oooh, a cupcake!) you are really hurting yourself. And suddenly, the temptation will not be as strong as it was before.

This is not easy, because you can be stuck in bad habits that you didn’t even realize. You need to think about what you really want. Are you willing to sacrifice your biggest dreams for temporary satisfaction? I hope not.

Remember, you cannot get something you want, without giving up something in return. So next time you see ads like this “Get ripped in 5 minutes a day!” or “Lose weight without giving up your favorite foods!”- think twice!

At the end of the day, the most important thing to ask yourself, “Did I make the necessary sacrifices to move towards my long-term goals?” I hope more often than not the answer to that question is yes and then you fall asleep soundly.

The post The #1 Reason You Don’t Look Or Feel Your Best. appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

Kaizen is basically defined as “continuous improvement. It is a Japanese business philosophy and a key to steady improvement and innovation found at successful companies like Toyota. The philosophy of kaizen is about continual improvement each day, rather than a search for perfection. It is an approach that can be used when we are talking about our own health and fitness.

It is very easy to look at a magazine cover or see someone on TV and be discouraged that you will never look like that or be that healthy. That vision of perfection can stifle an attempt to get in shape or to make lasting changes.

“Why should I bother if I know I’ll never look like that?”
“My genetics are never going to allow me to achieve that type of body”

The overriding principles of kaizen are daily, continuous, steady improvement and to take a long-term view. Like anything worthwhile in life, achieving Kaizen requires commitment and a strong willingness to change.

So don’t get discouraged by images and perceptions of “perfection”. Focus on the small things each day that you can improve and build momentum towards the changes you want to achieve. There is always room for improvement, that is the spirit of kaizen. It’s not about how much weight you have lost or how much weight you have to go, it is only about this moment and the willingness to learn and improve.

Here are five ways to make your personal health about Kaizen.

1. Ready, shoot, aim.

Do not aim for perfection, you’ll never achieve it. This is about doing it daily! Take action on that gym membership even if you only have time for a 30 minute workout. Don’t wait until next Monday to start eating breakfast, begin today by eating an apple. Remember, it is about achieving great, big goals one little step at a time.

2. Correct things right away if you slip up.

Stuff happens. Accept it, and adjust accordingly. If you adhere to the first one above then you are accepting that there will be mistakes to correct. I love the analogy of an airplane in flight to describe this. The plane you are flying in is rarely “on target”, it is usually a little off. But, the pilot constantly adjusts, and the plane ends up at it’s destination.

3. Sacrifice in the short-term for long-term gain.
Much of why we are not in the shape we would like has to do with giving up long-term gains because we are not willing to sacrifice in the short-term. In fact, if you can understand this concept in the context of all the decisions you make within a day, there is no limit to what you can achieve. Kaizen is about continuous improvement, it is not about taking one step forward and two steps back. So if your idea of a healthy lifestyle is being really good during the week and letting “all hell break loose” on the weekend- I suggest asking yourself where can you sacrifice in the short term to achieve Kaizen.

4. Break Your Goal Down To Small Steps.

Break your big goal down to small, actionable steps. You do have it written somewhere, right? Start with the big picture and break it down into doable steps. It doesn’t have to be a complete master plan (refer to #1). Build momentum with small steps and you can achieve your goals.

5. Visualize it.

Visualize what it looks like when you achieve your goal. Visualize how you achieve each actionable step. The more you see the picture in your mind the greater chance you’ll succeed. Your body can’t go where you mind has never been!

As a personal trainer, I am constantly working with people with their daily habits. Whatever your situation is, it is mostly a collection of your habits. Kaizen focuses on constant improvement so it is excellent at building good daily habits and removing the negative ones. Habits must be developed and the steady, gradual approach of Kaizen lends itself nicely to creating successful habits.

Kaizen is incredible tool for effective long-term change and it may the fresh alternative approach you need to finally achieve you goals. Pick one portion of your health and fitness routine and apply this approach for a few months and let me know how it goes!

The post A New Way To Look At Health. appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

The most common thing I get asked by clients or people I talk to who know I am a personal trainer can be boiled down to one basic questions.

How do I burn fat faster?

Usually I am asked this by someone who has a wedding, vacation, reunion etc. coming in up in about 2 weeks. Obviously, 2 weeks is not enough to make a gigantic dent in your body fat levels- but let’s assume you haven’t procrastinated. What is the best way to burn fat faster and in less time?

Interval Training.

Hands down, interval training is the king of burning fat faster and more efficiently. There is plenty of research that supports this, too. Yet, most people would rather do long, slow, boring cardio sessions.

You have seen them, heck you may even be one- most gym goers (especially new ones) always gravitate to the cardio machines and do long sessions of low intensity. And, I get it. It’s a low barrier of entry to use a treadmill and much less overwhelming then trying out the resistance machines strewn across the gym. Most of us are afraid to be out of our comfort zone, so jumping on an elliptical for 45 minutes and watching TV at least makes you feel like you did something. But, in reality has your body been changing?

Low intensity Cardio has benefits;

• Lower risk of heart disease and stroke
• Lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol
• Lower risk of type 2 diabetes
• Strengthening of bones
• Easier on joints

So you need to decide if those are your only goals or if you want to turn yourself into a fat burning machine with your cardio too.

High Intesity Interval Training (HIIT) can deliver all those benefits listed above as well as optimal fat burning and saving you time (and boredom) from a “slo go” cardio session. If you properly structure your interval routines to your fitness level, you probably won’t even have to worry about any joint soreness whatsoever.

Oh no! Did he say joint soreness?

I have been training clients since 1999 and if there is one piece of advice that would work across the board it would be–Get out of your comfort zone!

The best things in life happen when you take calculated risks and the same goes with exercise. So don’t worry about a little joint soreness. If it hurts a little, pull the intensity back and maybe one night of icing and you’ll be back on it. You will never know your limits if you don’t test them. Of course, if you haven’t been running at all make sure to work up to intervals so you don’t get injured.

If you are serious about burning body fat you need to incorporate interval training into your cardio routine, even if it is only one day a week, at first. By doing intervals during your cardio you will burn maximum calories, get a great heart workout and maximize your time spent in the gym. You probably won’t be able to chit-chat with the person on the treadmill next to you, but you certainly won’t be wasting your time anymore.

Intervals are periods of high intensity followed by periods of low intensity. This allows you to push yourself out of your “comfort zone” and burn extra calories that you aren’t able to reach when you do traditional cardio. You will jack your metabolism higher throughout the rest of the day because you push yourself a little harder during intervals.

Don’t listen to people who don’t recommend intervals for beginners, they are crazy! You don’t have to be Lance Armstrong to do intervals, you need to tailor it to your fitness level. People get the wrong idea with interval training. They picture an athlete sprinting for 1 minute followed by thirty seconds of a jog, but they don’t have to be that intense. If you are beginner walking on the treadmill, your intervals may be one minute walking at 2.8 mph and one minute walking a 3.2 miles an hour. All you need to do is to push yourself a little out of your comfort zone. Intervals can be done by varying speed, incline, or resistance, and mixing cardio intervals in between weight exercises is a high intensity way to achieve increased fat loss results.

OK, let’s structure your interval routine.

The best place to start an interval cardio is with a 20-minute routine. Let’s use the treadmill. Do a 5-minute warm up between 3.5 and 5 mph to get the blood flowing and the muscles loose so you are ready for your intervals. The intervals would go as follows

Beginners-

High intervals- Start with a mph that is 5% higher than the highest you have ever gone on a treadmill
Low intervals- the low number you use during your warm up

After a 5 minute warm up you will do 1-minute high intensity intervals followed by 2 minutes of low intensity

Do this for 15 minutes or 5 intervals. Gauge how you feel right after, 5 minutes later and the next day to see how your body responded and adjust the intervals accordingly. Remember, you need to push yourself out of your own comfort zone, in order to get results.

Intermediates- add 5 minutes

High Intervals- Start with a mph that is 15% higher than the highest you have ever gone on a treadmill
Low intervals- the low number you use during your warm up

After a 5 minute warm up you will do 45 second high intensity intervals followed by 1:15 of low intensity to recover.

After your 5 minute warm up, you should strive for 10 intervals at this pace. Gauge each workout to see if you are pushing yourself enough for your fitness level.

Advanced – add 5 minutes

High Intervals- Start with a mph that is 20- 25% higher than the highest you have ever gone on a treadmill
Low intervals- the low number you use during your warm up

After a 5 minute warm up you will do 30 second high intensity intervals followed by 1:30 of low intensity to recover. You should strive for 10- 12 intervals in this routine.

The key to any interval cardio routine should be finding the right intensity level. If you are not 100% successful on your first try, don’t worry, you might have the perfect intensity. Each routine should push your limits, and usually it is going to be mental roadblocks, not physical. If you aren’t used to what it feels like to tax your cardiovascular and muscular system than you may be a little hesitant during these initial sessions. Take it slow at first, you will adjust accordingly and let your body prove to you it can handle it.

Now go out there and start your interval training workout today, and let me know how it goes by email (with all that free time you’ll be saving by not doing 45 minutes of slo-go cardio).

The post How to Burn Fat Faster (and in less time) appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

When you make a New Year’s Resolution, what you are really saying is that you want to make a change in your lifestyle. At one point or another, each one of us has attempted to make a change in our lifestyle. And, I would venture to guess that you realized that making a worthwhile change is difficult.

Whether you realize it or not your entire life is just a series of habits. Most are unconscious, but some are a direct result of effort and persistence. We are creatures of habit. The quality of your life is 100% dependent on the things you do day in and day out.

Are you overweight? Look at your habits. Journal your food and exercise for 7 days to find habits you didn’t know you had.
Are you tired all the time? Look at your habits. Keep track of how much caffeine you have each day and how many hours of sleep you average a night.
Are there not enough hours in the day? Look at your habits. Write down every 15 minutes what you are doing from the minute you get up until you go to sleep for 3 days.

If you are not aware of your current habits it will be difficult to focus your energy into creating new ones. Your brain changes according to the habits you keep, whether good or bad. In fact, the brain stores memory of every habit you have ever had. These memory traces can be undone to stop a bad habit. Good habits that you may have lost recently can be also be easily resumed because these memory traces
are still stored inside your brain.

If the right cue comes along, (“Wow! Look at that piece of chocolate cake!) it can reset even the best intentions because the brain remembers all that chocolate cake you used to eat when you didn’t have to worry about your weight.

You can create extremely strong new habits and eliminate old ones by focusing down and creating the proper strategy.

Here are 24 hacks to help you get there.

1. Use the 21-day method. Studies show that the if you want to create the memory traces or patterns in the brain that form the foundation of a habit you need to do it for 21 straight days- without missing a day. I have used this method in my fitness programs for years and the most common feedback I get after 21 days is that it feels weird not to do the newly engrained habit. 21 days is realistic, actionable and it will build all the momentum you need to make this habit a regular (and easy) part of your life.
2. Choose only one habit at a time. Don’t make a list that includes, eat breakfast, brush teeth, check my email only twice a day, don’t buy clothes, etc. There is no need to complicate your effort. Stay laser focused. One habit-21 days. The only exception is you can piggy-back habits that complement each other. If you goal is to exercise every day, you could also decide to have a green smoothie each morning before you exercise.
3. Use visual cues. Give yourself reminders everywhere. Put notes in places where you will be when it’s time for this habit. A yellow sticky note on your bathroom mirror, a note on your scale. A picture inside the snack cabinet. Whatever it takes.
4. Start with an easy habit. If you have a track record of unsuccessful resolutions, you may need to build some momentum and show yourself that you can achieve goals when they are properly structured. After you finish the easy “test-run” habit, you’ll be firing on all cylinders to conquer your next habit. Maybe you start with drinking a glass of water before every meal, and once that is accomplished move on to a bigger goal of drinking 2 green drinks a day.
5. Do it the same every day. Make sure your perform your new habit at the same time and same place every single day. If your new habit is part of a currently established daily routine, do it then. The process must be followed.
6. Find like-minded people. Creating big lifestyle changes is not easy, there will be times you need support. Ask for help, before you need it. Find a support group of like-minded people. Whether it’s a boot camp, yoga class or an online support group, at some point you will need someone to keep you on track. Social support is key. People’s behaviors and habits are a direct result of the people they spend the most time with.
7. Figure out your why. To achieve anything worthwhile , there always has to be a why. Why do you want this so bad? To impress your friends? Doctor’s orders? While that can be motivating, research proves the more you want it for yourself, the moremenaingful it is to you, the more likely you will stick to it.
8. Break it down to make it achievable. If your goal is to lose 40 pounds break it down into actionable habits. Set a 21-day habit to walk 8 miles every day or a 21 day habit to eat only grilled chicken and lightly steamed vegetables after 12PM each day. These steps can be tracked and you know when they need to be done. Losing 40 pounds is a goal, but a better strategy is to figure out the habits you need to create to make that happen.
9. Track your progress. In business there is a saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure. The same goes for health and weight loss habits. If your habit can’t be measured, than you won’t be able to manage it. You need to know on a day-to-day basis that you are on track. Get a calendar and cross each day off as you do it.
10. Say it out loud a lot. Growing up my best friend used to do this thing in stressful situations where he would touch his nose and chest with his thumbs and say “ Different person, different person.” I used to rag on him a lot for this, but now I realize he was like a 9 year old habit ninja. Whether he knew it or not, he was ingraining a habit that gave him confidence in any situation. You don’t have to say “different person, different person”, but build your confidence by saying things like “I am strong enough to make this change”, “Just take the nest step”. “I’ve come too far to turn back.”
11. Be grateful. Focus on all the positive things that are happening as you work on your new habit. Be grateful that your blood pressure is lower, that you need a smaller belt, that your back hurts less, take note of all the ways this habits is and will help you.
12. Have a trigger. This is vital because it is something that will train your brain to get ready to do the new habit. If daily exercise is your 21 day habit, then a good trigger would be putting on your running sneakers right when you get out of bed. No matter how motivated you are feeling about the habit that day, accomplish the trigger and you’ll move on to the habit easier.
13. Do not make excuses. Don’t let yourself off the hook during the first 21 days. Quitting is not an option and you have to be serious about the habit you are choosing and you cannot deviate from the plan.
14. Go small. If you have a history of being unsuccessful with killing old habits or creating new ones, maybe you can go small. Since, I am a personal trainer, I always default back to exercise habits. If you have been struggling building a habit of exercise, maybe you cut your workouts down to 30 minutes. 15 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of weights. This short time frame will build the persistence, it will create the habit and get the success mindset going so you can expand on this habit when you are ready.
15. Write it down. Write one sentence that explains your new habit to you. Put it somewhere you will see it each and every day. I keep it at the top of email inbox and write it in the subject line so I see it every time I go into my email.
16. Don’t replace something with nothing. Creating habits like eating less or quitting drinking are the hardest goals to achieve. This is because our efforts center on replacing something (let’s say food)- with nothing. Remember, habits are a part of your brain’s memory. You can’t stop your memory from working, so instead you need to reprogram it by replacing it with something else. In the example of food, you have a better chance of success if you eat differently rather than just trying to eat less.
17. Watch the videotape. One of the best tools to create success in your life is visualization. The “videotape” refers to you being successful with your goal down to the smallest details. What it feels like, what it looks like, what it sounds like- everything. Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps swim coach has had him watching “the videotape” every night before he sleeps (which is the best time to do this) for his entire career. He visualizes the perfect race from walking to starting block to getting the gold. Michael credits this one daily task with a gold medal he got in Beijing in 2008, when his goggles filled with water and he was blind for whole race. Without the “videotape” to refer to he would have raced badly from stress and probably would have mistimed the wall. Don’t underestimate this one.
18. Use the word- but. A big issue when it comes to successful habits in negative self-talk. Whenever your thoughts begin to get negative just stick a but in there. “I just can’t seem to do this.. BUT if I persist today it will get easier tomorrow.” Or “There aren’t enough hours in the day… BUT if I can stay off Facebook I would have more time for myself. Always finish a but sentence with something positive.
19. Remove temptation. It makes sense to set yourself up for success, right? Then it would make sense to restructure your environment, rather than rely on good ol’ willpower at every instant. If your goal is not drinking, than do not go to the bar with your friends. If your goal is food based, throw out all food in your house that does not coincide with accomplishing your goal.
20. Exert as much energy into your ne habit as you can. An object at rest tends to stay at rest. Just as and object in motion tends to stay in motion. Launch your habit like you would a rocket. Throw out anything that will tempt you to break the habit, get rid of friends who will drag you down and use the momentum of going big to shake up your current mindset and facilitate change. Look through the next 21 days for potential things that could derail you and get rid of them immediately.
21. Think progress, not perfection. You are not omnipotent. You are human, and you will give into your old bad habits at some point ( not during the 21 days, though) . Don’t consider yourself a failure, just chalk it up to a setback. All massive changes will have a setback. Acknowledge it and forget about it. Move on and get right back on the habit train!
22. Habit first, quality second. Your entire focus should be on completing the habit each day. Do not worry about the quality of the habit, you can improve the habit later. The first priority is always to establish the habit, not that it is perfect.
23. Smile. This is an important one. No matter what habit you have chosen, try and smile through it. You are making a healthy change, smile through it, hell even laugh. If you can’t enjoy it, then it might not be worth doing!
24. Don’t let your brain use progress as an excuse for self-indulgence. For some people, simply acknowledging success will trigger failure. And this wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the occasional “You look great!” resulted in one celebratory cheeseburger and a beer. But as any recovering addict can tell you, it’s never just one. So if you make great progress on forming your new habit, you are very likely to give yourself a splurge just once. But, as soon as you do, it’s like opening the floodgates of self-defeating behaviors.
There you have it, it is time to turn knowledge into action. Focus on the daily action plan, do not worry about yesterday or tomorrow. The only thing you can control is the present. I hope this list has inspired, motivated and shown you that with a few secret hacks you can achieve all of your goals this year.

The post 24 Habit Hacks: A Personal Trainer’s Guide to Conquering Your New Year’s Resolution appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

The internet is big. Real Big. There are millions of sites and I bet the good majority of them will waste your time, energy and probably make you dumber. I wanted to list a few of my favorite websites that I go to learn, grow and occasionally lose myself. These are resources that I trust.

1. NuSI.org – The Nutrition and Science Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the economic and social burden of obesity and obesity-related chronic disease by improving the quality of science in nutrition and obesity research. In a nutshell, current dietary guidelines are not based on rigorous science. NuSI is unencumbered by existing recommendations, conventional wisdom, or bureaucracy. Another words, they are not funded by some secret food giant or in danger of losing grants if there research doesn’t turn out the results the company wants. It is a group of some of the best scientists working together and I cannot wait to see what they find out through their research.

2. Eatingacademy.com – Dr. Peter Attia’s official blog, this is a great place to get science based research on nutrition, sports performance, cholesterol and weight loss. He founded NuSI.org, he is an advocate of reducing sugar intake to zero or close to it, and he is a low carb advocate for health and weight loss.

3. Earlytorise.com – Probably my personal favorite website on the internet. Early to Rise is written by Craig Ballantyne and it basically wakes you up every morning with inspiration and practical advice on how to accomplish your goals. It talks about entrepreneurship, business goals, personal goals, health advice and wellness. This is a great site if you are always looking for ways to get an edge.

4. zenhabits.net – This site written by Leo Babauta is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives.It is one of the top blogs in the world so you may have already heard of it, but it is a must read with a wealth of great information. He talks a lot about habits which I feel are the key to being successful in any aspect of life.

5. Pickthebrain.com – This blog covers a wide range of topics but most posts fall into 5 main categories- personal productivity, motivation, self education, psychology and philosophy. Tons of great, useable information here.

6. mercola.com – One of the largest websites on the internet. There is a wealth of information on Dr. Mercola’s site. They promote natural and practical solutions to health problems. If you find yourself always on webmd.com, go here first.

7. marcandangel.com- This is a great site that shares practical thoughts on life, hacks, productivity and health and much more. There posts are inspirational and they really make you think.

Alright, I hope you enjoy the sites I’ve listed above, go ahead and put any of your favorites in the comments below, I am always looking to learn!

The post 7 Killer Resources To Help You Be Better At Everything. appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

You are probably going to live towards 100 years old. Our living conditions are better, our food is better if we make the right choices, most diseases that used to kill us with regularity, like cardiovascular disease and heart attacks are now just speed bumps in our long road to 100.

But, the scary part isn’t necessarily the ever-increasing longevity of our lives- but it is how we are going to age? Is it going to be enjoyable? How vital are we going to be? Are you going to be confined to a wheelchair or an oxygen tank? Or are you going to enjoy vacations, shopping and maybe even your great grandchildren well into your  90’s?

Stop and think about it. How much fun is life going to be for you if you live to be 100.
How much fun is life going to be if you live to be 100 and you continue killing your vitality and body up to 8-10 hours a day – every day?

Numerous research studies have now proven that regardless of whether you jump up at the end of the day and run for an hour you cannot negate the negative health effects of sitting for 10-12 hours a day in front of the computer.

What health effects you ask?

Increase in blood fats, increase in blood sugar, and an increase in insulin production and a decrease in body’s ability to use it. It is also associated with metabolic syndrome- which is defined as a group of risk factors the lead to coronary artery disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes , cardiovascular disease and even cancer.
Too much sitting is not the same as too little exercise.

These same studies have shown that when people sit for long periods of time that their muscle activity flat lines, the same as a flat line for the brain, or a dead horse.
Studies only performed on rats showed that this muscular shutdown is quickly followed by a dramatic drop in an enzyme that acts as a fat vacuum in the bloodstream. This gives artery-damaging fats a great opportunity to build up. Popping up to jog once a day is unlikely to undo the damage.

So what can you do?

If you are chained to your desk for most of the day, you need to get up and move around every 45 minutes. And that doesn’t mean you have to do tai chi in the middle of your office or rip off  20 lunges, all you need to do is get up and walk to the printer. This is more about not allowing your body rest comfortably in whole-body-muscle-inactivity, rather than breaking a sweat.

Walk to the bathroom, hand deliver a message or walk one lap around the office after each phone call. It’s not hard stuff but it will take discipline, set a timer or leave a sticky note on your computer to remind yourself that you are going to live a long time, and it will be way more fun if your computer doesn’t slowly kill you.

The post Your Computer Is Trying To Kill You. appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

You probably exercise to make positive changes in your body. Whether that is to lose fat, build muscle, get healthy or all of the above, there are 7 mistakes that may be holding you back from getting the results you want. The picture was an honorable mention, but didn’t make the list.

1. You equate time with work.

Yes, showing up is half the battle, but flipping through People Magazine and chatting with friends is not going to change your body. What will is pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. You don’t need to be a workout beast, just work hard enough that you are sweating and breathing heavy. My advice is cut your workout time in half and do all the exercises you normally do, because unfortunately the benefits of gym time don’t work through osmosis.

2. You hit cardio 6 days a week.

Listen up, cardio fanatics. Cardio is not enough to get you the body of your dreams. In reality it is probably the least important part of your overall routine. Weight training will build lean muscle, boost your metabolic rate and burn more body fat than anything else- even hours after the workout. If time is an issue in getting in workouts, skip the cardio and hit the weights for 30 minutes to change your body.

3. You listen to your body.

Some people use the mantra “listen to your body” on a regular basis to talk themselves out exercise. In order to change your body, you have to push yourself and challenge your muscles. Stepping out of your comfort zone is imperative when exercising. It took a lot of effort to put that weight on, it takes a lot of effort to take it off. Soreness and fatigue is ok to a point, just make sure you can differentiate between soreness and an actual injury.

4. You only do 20% of what it takes to achieve a body transformation.

No matter what your goals are- achieving them relies on 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. You are never going out-exercise all the bad nutrition you take in. Attack your nutrition just as diligently as you would your workout. Don’t overwhelm yourself with calories- make good food choices. Eliminate processed foods, and replace them with organic fresh vegetables, fruits and grass-fed meats. Your body will run better, feel better and burn body fat more efficiently if you it is not jammed up with toxins and chemicals.

5. You drink anything but water during your workouts.

The commercials’ show these elite athletes with eight pack abs guzzling sports drinks before, during and after their workouts, right? So why shouldn’t you drink them, too? I will tell you why, you don’t sweat and move enough. Second reason, is that your goal is weight loss, not to be able to get that last yard on third down with two minutes to go in the game. You don’t need the sugar. Third reason, you don’t work out long enough to warrant one. These drinks are perfect formulations of electrolytes and sugar to replenish the body after a long, strenuous workout- they are not formulated to have with your salad at lunch or during your workout. There is too much sugar in these sports drinks and you will sabotage your weight loss if you drink them. Drink water!

6. You never skip abs.

Alas, many of you will not want to hear this, but you are wasting your time when it comes to abs. So many people waste their time doing hundreds of crunches at the speed of lightning. I’ll admit it does feel good to have sore abs, but what are you trying to accomplish?  All that stored body fat around your waist will not disappear, even if you did 1,000 crunches everyday for the rest of your life. A combination of proper nutrition and calorie-burning exercise is the only way to burn it off. Stick to doing 3-5 sets of ab exercises for 15-30 reps every other day, spend the time you save training your large muscle groups.
Believe me, you have a six pack somewhere under there, you just have to uncover it. Your abdominals are like any other muscle, they will tighten, tone and grow with sufficient stimulation, but they will not burn body fat from your abdomen. Fat is metabolically inactive tissue, it is not going to be affected by doing sets of 100 crunches. Sorry, that is the reality of it.

7. You stay within the “fat burning zone” when you are doing cardio.

Unfortunately, most people still don’t understand this one. If you are trying lose weight and body fat specifically, you need to train in the cardio zone or as close to it as your fitness level allows.

The fat burning zone is a lower intensity zone, you absolutely do not burn as many calories as you would if you were in the cardio zone. The myth originated because in the fat burning zone, a larger percentage of the calories you burn are fat calories. To explain a little further if you burn 100 calories in the fat burn zone, 53 of those calories might be fat calories. If you burn 100 calories in the cardio zone, 47 of those calories might be fat calories. Those are arbitrary numbers, but let me tell you they are not far off. What’s the difference? It will take you a shorter period of time to burn the 100 calories in the cardio zone, so in actuality, if you did twenty minutes in each zone, you would burn more overall fat in the cardio zone.

Make these changes right now and enjoy a healthier, more energetic body and become a more efficient fat burner.

The post 7 Exercise Mistakes You Don’t Know You Are Making. appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

I have been blessed to be surrounded by incredibly successful people in my business over the last 15 years. I have gleaned a lifetime of knowledge of what it takes to be successful in life and work from spectacular clients. I have been able to pick the brain of those with vast experiences and received life lessons that you can only get from people who have “been there and done that”.

So as I was reflecting on the last 15 years of my life, I thought I would come up with the 15 best life lessons I have learned from clients and my own research. These are habits that I have found to be common in successful people.

1.Early to bed, early to rise.

“Early to bed, early to rise will make a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Benjamin Franklin’s quote may be more true than it ever has been.

Mornings are more conducive to exercise, stress-free relaxation and will keep you slimmer. Nights are more conducive to melting into a couch watching prime-time programming, drinking alcohol and internet surfing. If you want to live a long, vibrant life, listen to your body’s natural biorhythms and go to sleep when it is dark and wake with the sun.



2. Nothing compares to interval training when it comes to burning body fat.

Athletes have known this forever, but interval training will work for every fitness level. Short bursts of high intensity exercise followed by a more moderate period will save you time, burn more body fat and increase your cardiovascular health- period.

The best place to start with this is to do 45 seconds of cardio as hard as you can followed by one minute and 15 seconds of recovery time. Try this for 20-25 minutes and it will completely revamp your cardio routine. Perhaps the greatest benefit to this method is the time that is saved can be used as leisure or family time.

3. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

15 years of being a personal trainer is a long time. I have seen my share of fad diets and I have even agreed with some of them at certain times for certain people, but the truth of the matter is, the only advice that has stood the test of time and I can get 100% (not 99%) behind is Michael Pollan’s advice – Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That more or less is the answer to the question I have heard 100’s of times over the years-“What should I eat?
To add a few more details- meat won’t kill you (it’s actually healthy), make sure it is grass-fed, and hormone free. REAL, whole, fresh foods are always better than processed foods. Drink water and avoid sugar as much as possible.



4. Attack goals and build habits 21 days at a time.

It can be overwhelming to undertake a health or fitness goal, especially if you have significant weight to lose or you have been diagnosed with a health issue. When you are overwhelmed it is too easy to give up at the first sign of difficulty. Without a laser-focused goal you cannot weather the storm. Goals are achieved one day at a time, with persistence and dedication and the best way to build the momentum that will carry you through is to set a 21-day goal.

21 days is easy to wrap your head around, it isn’t vague or so long that you can’t actually “feel” or “see” it.  21 days is the perfect amount of time to feel like you have accomplished something significant, build up the necessary momentum to continue it and it gets your “mind right”.

See, functions of the brain are carried out by chemicals called neurotransmitters, one of them is called dopamine. It does many things, and one of them is it acts like a motivator, creating a sensation of pleasure when the brain is stimulated by achievement. So, dopamine plays a key role in keeping you focused on your goals and motivating you to achieve them, rewarding you by elevating your mood. Thus, you’ll feel good when you work towards your goals.

Conversely, if you set outrageous long-term goals and fail to achieve them, the brain responds by making us feel anguish, fear and anxiety- thus bringing us back into feeling helpless when it comes to our health. So set goals 21 days at a time and build the healthy lifestyle you need to live long and vibrantly.


5. Don’t worry, be happy.

Things never happen the way you imagine. When you are worrying, you are essentially saying “ I know things are going to turn out badly”. Can you tell the future? I seriously doubt it, so don’t waste the energy.

Don’t talk yourself out of doing things because you are worried you will look like an idiot, or you might fail. Really living life is all about taking calculated risks and getting out of your comfort zone. If you are constantly worrying about the bad stuff that can (but probably won’t) happen you’ll never really live.

Worry robs you of emotional energy, it distorts reality and is really bad for your health. Physically, worry will increase your blood pressure, cause digestive issues, muscle tension and skin blemishes.
6. Stop thinking you aren’t ready. You are.

I have always liked the motto “Ready, Shoot, Aim” because personally I have struggled with periods of inaction in various areas of life and business. It helps me realize that the most important thing you need to do to achieve is to take ACTION.

Most times it is better to substitute action for knowledge because really there is no better way to learn than to actually do it. You can always correct the course as you go. Don’t wait for the perfect conditions before you act because the conditions will never be just right. Have you ever said any of the following?

–    When I have the money I will…
–    When the kids are older I will..
–    When the economy gets better I will…

Don’t blame your past for what you don’t have. Blame your present. Ask yourself this, What can I do now that will bring me closer to where I want to be?

7. Get a Vitamix blender.

This one little kitchen appliance has literally changed the way my family and I eat. Never could I have imagined that blending vegetables and fruit could be so incredibly tasty, give me crazy amounts of energy and make me feel superhuman, but it does.

And to top it off, I never thought my kids would beg me to make them green smoothies. If you are serious about living a healthy, long life their may not be a more vital tool to have in your kitchen.

8. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen.

I’m convinced that the only reason I didn’t fail philosophy in college is because the teacher did not want me back in his class. I argued with him constantly about all his “voodoo” talk. He talked about the Law of Attraction, vibrations and the power of meditation and how if you can control your mind the sky is the limit of what you can achieve (and how he could levitate). I was a closed-minded individual at the time and I did not believe a word that came out of his mouth.  But, as I got a little older I realized how much of an idiot I was for not opening my mind to how much our thoughts affect our lives.

Now I constantly visualize things I want to manifest, I have a vision board at home, I am studying meditation and NLP and it really has had a profound effect on my life. I still have a long way to go, but I think it is a lifetime process.

A perfect mantra to remind yourself each day that your thoughts create results was said by Benjamin Disreali “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.”

9. Nothing will ever take the place of resistance training when it comes to sustained weight loss.

With 15 years as a trainer under my belt,  I have seen my share of exercise fads, for sure.  But, the underlying truth in the ones that actually work, is it takes resistance training to build lean body mass, burn excess body fat and to be optimally healthy. I think most of you who are reading that know this, but unfortunately, most people I see at gyms are either spending way too much time doing cardio and bicep curls.

Yoga, pilates and cardio exercise are certainly parts of a complete exercise program (and are awesome) but fat loss begins and ends with resistance training.


10. Everyone can feel 10 years younger with these two things. A foam roller and a yoga routine.

While they are a little different in what they do for you, they complement each other very well. Yoga could be single greatest thing you can do for your health in this day and age. It will reduce your stress levels, make you more aware of your body and increase your flexibility. A foam roller will help you work out trigger points, knots and areas of increased muscle density throughout your body.


11. Exercise for 30 minutes every single day.

Whether it’s resistance training, cardio, yoga, meditation or foam rolling set aside 30 minutes every day to do something healthy for your body. Your health is your life. Don’t let it go. Setting a goal of 30 minutes of exercise will make it more likely you don’t miss a workout because of time constraints and it will build the momentum needed to make it a lifestyle.


12. Cut out the white stuff.

The negative health effects of eating sugar, namely fructose go way beyond just increasing the size pants you have to wear. It creates low level inflammation in the body, raises your blood pressure, fools your metabolism into turning off your appetite control, increases insulin resistance and gives you that beer belly look too.

If you “have a sweet tooth” I highly recommend you to set aside an hour to watch “The Bitter Truth” it might be just the video you need to cut out the white stuff.

13. Keep it real.

It might actually be 1000’s of times I have been asked what to eat to lose weight and regain health and the answer has gotten more simple over the years as I have researched exhaustively and experienced life-changing effects of eating real food with my myself, my family and my clients.

Eat REAL food.

Real food is whole, unprocessed and unrefined, pasture raised or wild, local, seasonal and organic. The best rule of thumb is if it comes in a bag or a box or has a health claim written on it, don’t eat it.

I truly believe that industrial food processing has without a doubt had the most detrimental effect on our health than anything else on the planet. I also believe we will never learn how truly bad processed foods are because there is too much money at stake to allow that information to get out.

The scariest thing about eating foods loaded with toxins, GMO’s and other man made ingredients is the damage it does may not show up for years, but the damage will show up. Whether that is something as benign as low energy levels or migraines or something serious like cancer or insulin resistance, you probably won’t know until it is way too late.

14. You don’t need a product. You need a lifestyle change.  

One of the scariest things I have learned from the hundreds of clients I have helped over the years is that people are too quick to turn to a product or a pill to fix a (real or perceived) problem with their health.

Whether it is sleeping pills, diet pills, alcohol or a shake weight (ok, no one has turned to a shake weight) people are too quick to take a product rather than take a real look at their lifestyle.

Regular exercise, eating real food and finding the right coping mechanism for stresses is hard work. But you’ll add years to your life and life to your years if you put in the extra effort needed to change your lifestyle rather than look to the quick “fix”.

15. Whatever your past was, it’s gone now.

Nothing you do today will change anything that’s happened so focus on what’s happening right now.

I used to identify with my past a lot, I did some crazy things that people who know me now would never believe, (nothing malicious, but stuff I am not proud of). I used to let my past dictate my present and future. But, one of the most freeing things I have learned is the past is not today, it can’t be changed, forgotten or erased. It can only be accepted and learned from. We have all made mistakes, had struggles or regrets in our past. But, the past does not define you, you are not your past and you have the power to shape your future exactly how you want.

Thanks, I would love to get your feedback!

The post 15 things I Have Learned In 15 Years As A Personal Trainer appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

I had a hankering for some milk yesterday and since I don’t do dairy, I thought I would make some delicious almond milk. Real almond milk and real nutrition, not the processed almond milk found in the grocery store that probably has 7 entire almonds in the whole carton. It is really easy and it is  really gaining in popularity the last few years.

If you have a Vitamix (and a nut bag), you can make almond milk with 3 ingredients, almonds, water,  and dates.

Take 1 cup of almonds and soak them overnight for about 7-8 hours to take off the phytic acid of its skin so it easier to digest.  Combine 3 cups of clean water with 1 cup of soaked almonds and blend for 2 minutes or until you can’t hear the chunks of almonds. You can add 3 medjool dates for a little sweetness too.  Pour it out into a nut bag stretched around a glass container. Next squeeze the milk out of the almond meal into the glass and voila! You have almond milk! And the best part is you know every ingredient in there- the way food should be!

If you bake you can use the left over almond meal for any baking needs too. But, I’m not a baker.

Almond milk is one of the most nutritionally packed alternatives to milk.  It is really high in vitamins and minerals. Good fiber, calcium, vitamin E and it’s low in calories.

Almond milk is lactose (yahoo!), gluten, casein and cholesterol free.

If you are looking to get away from dairy, almond milk is a great, healthy choice.

The post Make your own almond milk appeared first on Brian White Fitness.

Natural – the word implies that a food contains no artificial ingredients and is therefore more wholesome. But, the problem is the FDA has no strict definition  of the term and many packaged foods claiming to be natural contain added chemicals and other substances.

High in fiber or good source of fiber – To boost their fiber content, many packaged foods contain added fibers like inulin, maltodextrin and polydextrose. These count to the product’s fiber total they haven’t been proven to offer the same health benefits as naturally occurring fiber in fruits and veggies.

Supports Immunity – Because of a loop-hole in the FDA’s labeling rules some foods can put the label “Supports Immunity” because it contains a vitamin or two in it. Rest assured, there is not enough of any vitamin in it for any favorable immune response.

O grams of  trans fat – the FDA allows companies to round down to 0 if it contains less than .5 grams per serving. Most foods have unrealistically small serving sizes and that 0 grams of trans fat can add up quickly, especially if you are eating processed foods. If you see any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils on the label it does contain tans fat.

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