Cold water

Eat that sugary snack cake that you picked up in the checkout line at the gas station and you will have wasted 500 calories. There’s nothing in there that will do you any good. No muscle building proteins. No complex carbs to keep you fueled. No healthy fats keep testosterone levels up. Just simple sugars that will spike your insulin levels and shut off the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel.

The same holds true for what we drink. One huge source of empty calories that many people have a hard time giving up is soda. Most people who think they’ve given up soda do so by switching to the “healthier” diet soda. As if a diet soda has fewer chemicals.

I ran across a University of Texas study recently about diet soda’s impact on weight loss. The study followed 1,177 diet soda drinkers who were either normal or just overweight, but not obese. “On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese,” said Sharon Fowler, M.P.H., faculty associate in the division of clinical epidemiology in the Health Science Center’s department of medicine.

Those aren’t very good odds, as far as I’m concerned.

If that’s not enough, the study goes on to present an additional finding. The more diet soda that a participant drank, the higher their incidence of weight gain. Those who drank the most soda gained the most weight. A direct correlation between drinking soda and gaining weight.

There are many theories on why this is the case. A couple of the most common include:

• By drinking diet soda you’re tricking yourself into believing that this is a healthier option and that you deserve to eat more of other foods to balance things out. How many times have you heard or seen someone order a salad and drown it in dressing? When you’ve loaded it down with high-octane creamy dressing, it ceases to be a healthy choice. That one calorie diet drink suddenly turned into a few hundred wasted calories. Good job!
• The diet soda tricks the mind into thinking it’s getting the sugar it desires and you create a negative hormone response. The body becomes confused and shuts off the fat burning mechanisms and increases cravings for sweets.

So, what should you do instead?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, and again, and again. WATER.

Not flavored water.
Not sports drink.
Not coffee (after all it’s water based, right? Sorry, it doesn’t count)

Plain old cold water. That’s right, its boring. But would you rather be a little boring or a lot heavier?

Can I ask for two minutes of your time to give me some feedback?

Leave a short comment below to tell me the one thing you would like to know about fitness, weight loss, functional strength, toning, reshaping, eating better, making your workouts more fun and effective, or any other topic on your mind.

I look forward to your feedback!

Of all the crazy “as seen on TV” contraptions, this one takes the grand prize. For only four easy payments of $33 each, you can have your very own “3 Minute Legs”. For your hard earned cash, you’ll receive a spring loaded seat that you can straddle and push to the floor while doing bodyweight squats or lunges.

Seriously?

Squats and lunges are fantastic exercises and should be a part of almost any program. Why you would need this thing to do them is beyond me. Have we really been dumbed down so much that we need this thing when we could just do squats and lunges without it? Not sure about the right form? Watch this video to see the right way to do bodyweight squats and save yourself $122.

Their website claims that this thing “even works your core so it flattens your abs as it’s firming your legs.” Other than your core having to hold your body in an upright position, which it does when you’re just walking down the street, I can’t figure out how this thing “works your core”. Can someone please explain this one for me?

But, it’s all OK because, according to their website, “3 MINUTE LEGS is so remarkable, it was awarded the prestigious Seal of Approval by the National Health and Wellness Club”. Ever hear of this club? I didn’t think so. Neither have I. Go ahead, check them out on Google. You’ll be taken to a site that has some regurgitated content from other sources and “reviews” of products, several of them coincidentally are from the same company producing this product.

While we’re on the topic, three minutes isn’t going to do anything for you with any workout. The only thing you’ll lose on this thing in three minutes is $122.

P.S. By the way, Thane USA, your website has a context error. When referring to the supposed science behind this device you say “it uses a principal called unloading”. In this context, it’s a “principle”.

6 TRX exercises to improve your volleyball game

A strong core is required in every action you perform during the game. A player with a weak core won’t be able to block a strong opponent’s hit, dig up a killer serve, or serve a wicked ball.

Hitting, blocking, and jump serving require powerful legs and the ability to move unilaterally. Strengthening the legs independently through single leg exercises will push your performance through the roof.

Getting the most power from your serves and hits requires strong shoulder, back, and chest muscles. Even more important is the ability to rely on the rotational ability of your core. Imagine a baseball player swinging a bat without rotating the body. It’s the same thing with volleyball. Your power comes from the rest of the body and your arms are just the means to contact the ball. If all the action comes from the arms alone, you’ll destroy your arm while making a disappointing strike.

In this video, we’ll show you a series of 6 exercises to help your game.

The workout consists of 6 different exercises designed to target various muscle groups. The exercises and the muscle groups targeted are:

• TRX Power Pull – Back, shoulders, biceps, transversus abdominis
• TRX Chest Press – Chest, shoulders, triceps
• TRX High Rotation – Abdominals, shoulders, latissimus dorsi
• TRX Balance Lunge – Quadriceps
• TRX Suspended Pike – Abdominals, hip flexors
• TRX Suspended Hip Press – Hamstrings, glutes, back extensors

If you don’t have a TRX yet, get your own TRX Suspension Trainer!

Put away the cell phone!

You can work out.

You can’t do both. You have to decide. Try to do both and you’re just wasting time. Please get off the treadmill/elliptical/whatever machine and give it to someone who really wants to do something.

You’re driving everyone nuts. Please stop.

Hang up. Put the phone away. Get a real work out.

When you’re done, and only when you’re done, send me a text and tell me how well your workout went. Just don’t do them both at the same time, please.

Try the TRX Core 500

There are misconceptions about the core, so let’s take a minute to straighten that out first. Many people hear “core” and immediately think of their abs. While the abs are part of the core, there’s more. The core is defined as the lumbo-pelvic hip complex and the muscles that attach to it. It’s the rectus and transversus abdominis, obliques, hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, and latissimus dorsi. It’s basically the torso with exception of the extremities. Get a strong core and you’ll be able to do more.

There are many ways to train the core, but few are as efficient, as fun, as unique, and as portable as the TRX Suspension Trainer. Fitness Anywhere is always issuing new challenges to their followers, so I thought I’d put together my own challenge. I’m calling it the Core 500.

The workout is simple in terms of the number of exercises and the complexity of those exercises. There are just five exercises in this complex designed to challenge your anterior and posterior chain and engage your core throughout the workout. You’ll do all of the reps for each exercise before moving on to the next exercise. Your goal is to do the prescribed number of reps in as few sets as possible.

Here goes:

• 100 Atomic Push Ups
• 100 Low Rows (deep angle with feet under the anchor point)
• 100 TRX Chest Presses (feet under the anchor point)
• 100 TRX Power Pulls (50 per side)
• 100 TRX Rollouts

Here’s a video demonstrating the exercises in this TRX workout.

Time yourself and leave a comment below to let me know how much time it takes you to complete the workout. If you don’t have a TRX of your own yet, get one here.

He started in Astoria, OR, and is running 4514 miles, clear across the the USA. That by itself is impressive, but the rest of the story is what makes Mike a true patriot.

He’s running with a jogging stroller full of flags. Each flag is marked with the name and information or a soldier who lost their life in Iraq and he’s planting a flag each mile of his journey in their honor.

Learn more about Mike’s journey at the Project America Run website.

Run on, Mike!

The mirror muscles

Back to the first one though. The guns. The pecs. They’re the first things people see when you’re coming at them. So, most people focus their attention on them at the expense of the other muscles that can really help these muscles grow.

It’s important to train the muscles in the front of the body that you can see in the mirror as well as the ones you can’t. The posterior chain, which includes the hamstrings, glutes, and back are critical. If your posterior chain is weak, you’ll never fully develop the “mirror muscles”.

Here is a five exercise complex that will help give you a powerful posterior. Perform this routine as a circult without rest between exercises, doing the prescribed repetitions and repeat the circuit five times

• One arm dumbbell snatch – 15 repetitions per side
• Stability ball hamstring curl – 15 repetitions
• Swimmer – 30 count
• Single arm cable row – 15 per side
• Cable pullthrough – 15 repetitions
• Reverse hyperextension – 15 repetitions

Have fun! Comment here on this blog and let me know how you like the complex.

For a couple of years now, I’ve ridden my bike wearing a Road ID. The concept behind this thing is really simple and the cost is very low. Basically, it’s an ID tag that can be used to identify you and provide emergency responders with contact information as well as allergy and other important info.

The Road ID is a lightweight neoprene band with an engraved tag that you wear either on your ankle or wrist. It’s lightweight, flexible, and I don’t even realize it’s there.

It’s not limited to bike riders either. Runners, walkers, and anyone who spends any time outdoors should have one.

Twenty bucks can save your life. Get your Road ID right here!