Meet my friend Megan (pictured here getting her hair done by a Peruvian expert stylist).

I met Megan on the second day of college and we’ve been great friends ever since.  Over the years, Megan has served as a great inspiration to me and my Epic Quest of Awesome: after we graduated from school, she randomly packed up and moved to St. Thomas for a year, and since then has lived in Spain, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and Peru in between semesters as a grade school teacher.

She is the queen of spontaneity, and more often than not I get a phone call from her asking me to do something completely random and ridiculous.

More often than not I say “yes,” because life is all about making great stories.

Now, when she’s not traveling or teaching, Megan loves to help make kids lives better.

I need your help making these kids’ lives better too

Seeds of Hope

In November 2011, Megan spent six weeks volunteering at an after-school program in Huarez, Peru, where she met some of the nicest, happiest, most grateful children ever.

At this program, children receive help with their homework, to do educational activities, have a meal, brush their teeth, and have the opportunity to play.

These awesome kids come from very poor families. Most live in houses without running water and/or electricity; Seeds of Hope pays for their school uniforms, school fees, provides them with at least one meal a day, and really emphasizes hygiene – they buy toothbrushes for each kid and make them brush their teeth before leaving Seeds so that they get to brush at least once a day.

The education system down there is unfortunately quite poor as well. Oftentimes, these children’s homework is to simply copy text from a textbook into their notebooks. Consequently, there are major skill gaps, and reading comprehension is especially low.

Right now, their current “library” consists of donated books that are in English (these kids speak Spanish) and on too high of a reading level.

The education system isn’t preparing the kids with the tools they’d need to break the poverty cycle.

If there was a library full of books on every level for students of all ages, Seeds of Hope volunteers could work with students on their level to develop their reading comprehension, which is the best way to help them break out and get a job that could change their life.

Megan asked if I could help get these kids some books that they actually can read and allow them to live better. She let me know that her students here in Tennessee have already raised the first $400 of the $2500 required to supply Seeds of Hope with the proper reading materials to help these children develop their education properly.

That’s where we come in.

Support a good cause, get a shirt, be a hero

For the next two weeks, Nerd Fitness will be donating 100% of profits from every single item in the Nerd Fitness apparel store towards helping these kids get a library.

The way I see it, you end up with a cool t-shirt (that you will do something epic in and send me photographic proof!), and these great kids get books to further their education, learn more about the world (which is what nerds do), and grow up to be superheroes.

If you ever planned on picking up a t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants, hat, tank top or whatever, you’d be MY hero if you picked up in the next two weeks to help these kids out!

On top of that, with Summer right around the corner, I figure we should do some spring cleaning!

For the next two weeks, we’re having a sale on our colder gear stuff:

• Hoodies are $7.00 less ($37.99)
• Sweatpants are $7.00 less ($22.99)
• Long sleeve thermals are $5.00 less ($24.99)

A QUICK NOTE: If an item is “BACK ORDERED”, it means we sold out of our current stock but are replenishing ASAP! We’re ready to place orders  for new items the second it looks like we’re heading towards running out of them, so feel free to still place your order even if it’s back ordered to make sure the money goes to the kids.  It might take a few extra days for you to get your shirt, but we’ll do so as soon as humanly possible!

Thanks for your understanding

What if I just want to donate?

Now, if you’d like to make a donation to the cause but aren’t interested in any apparel, first of all: thank you.

You can donate as little as you’d like, but For a minimum donation of $10, we’ll send you two NF stickers to show your support of the Rebellion. (one Red, one White)!

On top of that, Campus Customs (our apparel partner) and Team Nerd Fitness have joined forces to match every dollar donated (for the first $500 donated).

You get some bad-ass stickers (each piece of apparel comes with stickers as well), you get to feel good, and the library gets double the donation.  That’s a win-win-win.

Donate Here!

Thank you!

For the Rebellion!

I just wanted to take a quick opportunity to say thanks again for being part of Nerd Fitness.

I’m honored to level up alongside you, and I’m happy to be able to be a part of something that makes people’s lives better, in many more ways than one.

Moving forward, I’m excited to see where this community goes and find out just how many different ways we’re capable of putting a dent in the universe.

Thanks again.  Now, let’s get these kids a library

The goal is $2100 to get these kids the books they need.  

If we happen to raise more than that, we can actually send Megan down there to help set the bookshelves up properly and make sure these kids get started on the right foot.  

Think we can do it?

For the Rebellion!

-Steve

PS: Do we have any woodworkers in the Rebellion?  Would love to be able to send these books down there with an awesome wooden plaque with the NF logo carved into it to put with the books and library.  Shoot us an email at contact@nerdfitness.com with WOODWORKER in the subject line and we can chat!

###

Hey, I’m Steve, and I’m a nerd.

When I started Nerd Fitness five years ago, I wanted to help people who identified themselves as Nerds: people who followed hobbies and pursuits outside of the mainstream.

I wanted Nerd Fitness and the Rebellion to be like Charles Xavier’s “School for the Gifted,” except instead of everybody having mutant powers, we’d all have unique nerdy and fitness “powers.”  We’d get to discuss incredibly nerdy subjects while also learning about healthy eating, proper lifting techniques, and leveling up our lives.

Honestly, this place has already become something bigger and better than I ever could have imagined, and we’re just getting started.

Today, whether or not you identify yourself as a Nerd, I want to tell you my thoughts on why being a Nerd is awesome.

I also want to invite you to tell us why you’re a Nerd, and be recognized for it.

What makes a Nerd a Nerd?

Do you have to like Dungeons and Dragons to be a Nerd?

How about Star Trek or Star Wars?

Computers and video games?

In my humble opinion, Nerds are Nerds because they take their knowledge about a subject, “nerdy” or not, beyond the surface and dig into the layers beneath:

• Where normal people watch Game of Thrones on HBO, Nerds have read all of the books twice, spend hours debating the future of Westeros on message boards, and and have taught themselves High Valyrian.
• Where normal people might have loathed chemistry or physics class, Nerds fell in love with the endless possibilities of mixtures and experiments that could result from a day’s class.
• Where normal people devote a few minutes a day to Angry Birds on their iPhones at the bus stop, Nerds devote hours upon hours to getting 100% on Dark Souls or maxing out their character in World of Warcraft.
• Where normal people might spend their evenings watching the latest reality TV show, Nerds might spend their time creating and crafting an epic story for their next table-top adventure.

Now, going beyond the norm and fully immersing yourself in an interest or hobby is awesome, but oftentimes get Nerds ridiculed for being different: for not going with the flow or being part of the crowd.

Sure, our parents always asked us: “If everybody jumped off a bridge, would you do the same?” to encourage us to think for ourselves, but society really expected us to be like everybody else.

In grade school and in high school, being uber passionate about stuff (anything really), oftentimes resulted in bullying, weird looks, and a seat at the ‘not cool’ kids table.  If we had nerdy passions, they would only be shared with our other nerdy friends, behind closed doors, and at night while everybody else was out.

Fortunately, thanks to the power of the internet, we’ve come to learn that we’re not alone in these passions.

And more importantly, we’ve come to learn that being a Nerd is freaking awesome.

Why being a Nerd is freaking awesome

Two weeks ago, I stumbled across a video from a ‘nerdy’ conference where actor/nerd hero Wil Wheaton was speaking.

A woman who plans on raising a nerdy daughter asked Wil to give her young child words of encouragement down the road. Wil did not disappoint.  I found myself with a huge grin on my face as I watched Wil explain so succinctly what being a Nerd truly means, and why we need more Nerds  in this world.

WARNING: This might make you tear up a bit (it’s pretty misty over here at NF HQ right now):

“Why being a Nerd is Awesome video”

In Wil’s words:

Being a Nerd is taking the time to really understand what goes on in the world instead of just riding the planet through space. When I was a little boy, people really teased us about that and made us feel like there was something wrong with us for loving [science, board games, books, etc.].

I think a lot of us have realized that being a nerd or a geek…is not about what you love, but how you love it. So there’s going to be a thing in your life: sports, science, reading, fashion design, building things, telling stories, or taking pictures; the way you love that thing, and the way that you find other people that love that thing in the same way you do…that’s what makes being a nerd awesome.

Don’t ever let anybody tell you that the thing that you love is something that you’re not allowed to love.

Being a Nerd means finding something you love and not being afraid to dig in 100%. It’s about feeling connected, finding something that makes us feel alive, that makes life worth living, and then having the confidence to pursue it.

Thanks Wil, the world needs more people like you.  

This is why the aspect of Nerd Fitness that I’m most proud of is the Nerd Fitness Community.

I love seeing people with different nerdy passions (Firefly, Cosplay, Star Trek) and different fitness interests (power lifting, running, parkour, yoga) getting to be 100% themselves.

Nerd out about our favorite passions and things we love while ALSO learning to be healthier?  Hell yes!

What kind of Nerd are you?

I love getting emails from people saying: “I’m not a Nerd, but I enjoy your site…Though, I do love  [something uber nerdy].”

Guess what, you’re a Nerd!

Embrace it.

As my friend Mars says, “The world needs you.”

This would suck without passionate people.

I don’t care if you nerd out about: sports, sports statistics,Dungeons and Dragons, sewing, knitting, Parkour, video games, science, rock/stamp/fossil collecting, table top games, reading, writing, photography, science fiction, gardening, rock climbing, yoga, LEGOs, MineCraft, cosplay, anime, travel, videography, art, drawing, music, performance, theater, archaeology, philosophy, movies, shows, ancient history, Greek and Roman mythology, whatever!

Regardless of how nerdy your interests are, you’ll have a home here on Nerd Fitness.

I’ll start us off:

I’m Steve, and I’m a Nerd.

I am a bookworm; I’ve read the Lord of the Rings series multiple times. I’ve read the Hobbit a half-dozen times. I read The Silmarillion so I could understand more of Middle-earth and its rich history.  I love the A Song of Ice and Fire series.  I think In the Name of the Wind was phenomenal, and I read Ready Player One in a single sitting.  I’ve read the Harry Potter series probably three or four times, and I honestly can’t wait to check out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter the next time I’m in Florida.  

I love ancient history, mythology, archaeology, and old churches. I love a good conspiracy theory. This is probably why Pillars of the Earth is one of my favorite books and Assassin’s Creed II is one of my favorite games: they mix all of these things together so perfectly.

I love gaming. I can beat Metroid Prime on GameCube in under three hours, thanks to devoting hours upon hours to watching speed runs on YouTube. I recently spent a good 40 hours tracking down platinum trophies for God of War I and God of War II, and I’m working on the same for God of War III.

I’ve dumped probably 100 days (not hours, DAYS) worth of time into EverQuest and EverQuest II, which is why I’m so excited about building a real life MMO: Rising Heroes.

True story: Five years ago, while on a particularly epic raid in EverQuest II, the components in my computer, which I built myself from scratch, fried from overclocking and I didn’t have the money to fix it.

So, I finally started dumping some serious hours into this crazy idea I had for a website helping Nerds get healthy.

I think things worked out

What does being a nerd mean to you? What are you passionate about?

Leave a comment and be recognized.

We’re glad you’re here.

-Steve

###

photos: danbo glasses, mario and luigi, Wil Wheaton, Dungeons and Dragons

You hear it every day on TV: “The Perfect Workout Plan!”

You read about it in every magazine: “The one secret you need to lose weight!”

You find it on every fitness website: “Why this plan works and why that plan doesn’t.”

It can be confusing, and it can be intimidating.  Don’t you worry though, as I’ve come up with a solution to determine the PERFECT workout plan that will get you the results you want and allow you to have success.

Where did I find it?

Trekking through the Amazonian jungle, I stumbled across an ancient training plan, written in hieroglyphics on the wall of an temple from a long lost civilization.

Nope, that’s not it.  

How about…Mad scientists created the world’s most scientific 7-minute workout! 

Hmmm, nope. that’s not it either.

Here’s how I really discovered the PERFECT WORKOUT PLAN.

The Perfect Workout Plan

I get a few emails a day from people asking me advice on what plan to train with.

They want to know if the Rebel Fitness Guide is the perfect workout plan, or if they should be doing P90x, Insanity, a gymnastics routine, Couch To 5K, Yoga Strength, a bodybuilding routine, 7-Minute Abs, etc… Unfortunately, all routines tend to present different information, require different diets, and make an effort to present themselves as superior to all other training routines.

So, I reply with something they probably don’t want to hear, but need to hear:

The BEST workout and diet plan is the plan that you actually follow through with.

The best coaching, training plan, and/or diet plan based on your dietary needs doesn’t mean ANYTHING if you don’t actually follow through with it!

I’m proud to say that the Rebel Fitness Guide has helped a ton of people (like Joe, Ryan, Veronica, and Bronwyn) get healthy, but it’s not because it’s the best plan in the entire world.  It worked for them because they tried it out and it WORKED FOR THEM!

The plan helped those people succeed because it lined up with the Triforce of Awesome of Nerd Fitness:

• Happy – You enjoy what you are doing; you can wake up with a smile on your face.
• Healthy - You can do the things you want to do without your body slowing you down, and you get a clean bill of health from your doctor.
• Feel great and look good naked - You feel comfortable in your own skin, you have confidence, and you don’t think badly about yourself.

Now, here’s the thing: there are almost an infinite number of ways to accomplish those three goals, and every single person will have a different definition of what each of those things means.

• If you are a marathon runner, your ideal “look good naked” will certainly be different than somebody who wants to be a bodybuilder.
• If you hate lifting weights in a gym, your “happy” might be outdoor gymnastics or Parkour.
• “Healthy” might be running a mile in less than 6 minutes, being able to do 10 pull ups, or having low cholesterol.

You know what? That is AWESOME. That’s what makes us different, special, and weird .

I once wrote an article called “What is Your Profession?“, creating different character classes based on your fitness goals.  This is one of Nerd Fitness’s most popular and discussed articles (450+ comments).  

It was one of my favorite articles to write, and the start of Rising Heroes, a project that is currently in beta testing as we speak (Sign up for the email list if you’d like to learn more, as we’ll be making another announcement on this really soon).

The reason that article has resonated so well with Nerd Fitness Rebels is that WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT.  Some of us are Warriors, others are Scouts or Monks, or Assassins or Druids.

This is what makes the Nerd Fitness community so freaking great.

Uh, so how do I pick which plan is right for me?

“Thanks for nothing Steve, you just told me all options can work. What the heck do I do then?”

For starters, your first step is to determine what your primary goals are, and what the most important thing is to you:

• If you want to run faster or improve your 5k time, then a running training program could work.
• If you just want to lose weight and get stronger, something like the Rebel Fitness Guide could work.
• If your goal is primarily to look good, a body building routine might work best for you.

Now, I already know what your next response is going to be, because I get this ten times a day too:

“Well, I want to lose some weight, build some muscle, and also build up more endurance.”

Here’s the truth: your body can only do so many things at once, and the three goals above will pull your body in three completely separate directions. Although there are some people with crazy genetics that are exceptions, more often than not:

If you want to build bigger muscles and add mass: You need to eat more calories than you burn, which means you won’t be losing fat. These are two separate physiological processes, as building bigger more explosive muscle requires fast twitch muscles, and you build those by doing fast-twitch activities.  Building up your endurance with lots of long distance running puts more emphasis on your slow twitch muscles and makes building bigger muscle and mass way more difficult.

If you want to lose weight, you need to eat a caloric deficit.  Remember, you can’t outrun your fork. And while strength training CERTAINLY helps you keep the muscle you have and allows you to get stronger, don’t expect to put 20 lbs of muscle while losing 20 lbs of fat.

If you want to get better at endurance, don’t expect to also build bigger muscles! Your body is going to use all of your excess calories to fuel your endurance instead of fueling the muscle building process.  You can run sprints while eating to build bigger muscles, which can help add to your endurance capabilities, but if you want to be the best runner possible, you gotta be running!

If you try to do all three at once, you’ll most likely never make true progress in any direction and get discouraged.  Instead, pick one main focus for the next few months and build your training around that.  Make that goal your primary focus, and then be satisfied with minimal/incremental gains in other areas as a side effect:

For example, my friend Ryan from Gold Medal Bodies wanted to perform a one-handed handstand, so he spent 14 WEEKS focusing on just that ONE movement. All other exercise was supplemental.  His endurance probably suffered, he probably didn’t build as much muscle as he could have following a bodybuilding routine, but he didn’t care. He found something that he wanted  to accomplish and built his training around it.  

These days, my goal is primarily focused on muscle and strength building, so I follow a routine that focuses on those things. I spend too much time traveling, I can’t squat and deadlift much these days, and I play basketball on Tuesday nights: all of these things are taking away from my potential, but I’m happy (which means it’s a routine I’m going to continue following through!).

Find a routine that lines up with your goals, and as long as they make you happy and keep you healthy, you have my full support.

I know what I want – what now?

“Well, I have my goals, but how do I pick the right plan for that goal?”

Do enough research to make you feel comfortable about starting that plan for your goals. Watch youtube tutorials, read up on basic workouts, and try to find somebody in your situation that has succeeded with that plan before (if possible).

And then start.  

Like, now.

Today.

Don’t become an underpants gnome.  Pick a plan, and try it out for 30-60 days. Follow it to a T. Do exactly what they recommend, and then reevaluate.

Here’s the truth: ANY halfway decent plan will produce results, as long as you are consistent. 

How will you know if it’s working? Remember: “That which gets measured, gets improved.”

You need to become your own guinea pig.  Every two weeks, take more measurements or new photos and track your progress. Take notes on your workouts.

Ask yourself:

Am I feeling better? Am I looking better? Am I happy?

If so, GREAT.  KEEP DOING IT!

If not, identify why you’re not seeing results: 

• Are you actually following the plan? Or are you cheating?
• Are there small adjustments you can make to improve your process?
• Are you trying to do too much?  Are you trying to accomplish 30 goals at the same time instead of focusing on dominating just one or two?

If after 6-8 weeks you don’t see ANY results in any way (weight loss, strength increase, endurance improvement) – which I would highly doubt – Congrats! Cross it off your list, and move on to another one.  Take the lessons you learned from your previous effort (“this worked, that didn’t” or “I could NEVER stick with that”), and make an informed decision moving forward.

Just don’t keep trying to succeed in the same way that lead to no success last time, or you’ll continue to get the same lackluster results.

As long as you are tracking your progress with more than one metric, you should be able to tell if you are moving in the right direction!

What if I don’t fit in?

“You will be judged…or you will be ignored” - Seth Godin

I think it’s important to have convictions in this world.  I am a firm believer in these ideals, and I have built the programs and products at Nerd Fitness based around what I believe will help the greatest number of people have the greatest chance for success at the three goals above (happiness, healthiness, and looking-good-nakedness).

That being said, I know there are a million and one ways for people to get healthy, and I love that.

It’s why our message board is segmented into guilds and classes: because everybody is different! 

Embrace your differences.  Be thankful that we’re not all clones of one another.  We might be a tight-knit group, but we’re a tight-knit group of misfits and weirdos, of oddballs and outsiders.  Nothing makes me happier!

If you want to focus on bodybuilding, more power to you.

If you want to be a powerlifter, that’s awesome.

If you are a vegan (or paleo), there’s no reason we all can’t coexist!

As long as you are happy AND healthy, keep doing what you are doing, and let others do the same.

Just like in any quality MMO group, we need people of all different classes here at Nerd Fitness and in the Game of Life!

Tell me what your goals are. I’d love to hear about what you’re working on.

What program are you following?  Do you have a question on what to pick?

Leave a comment and share your story with your fellow rebels!

-Steve

###

Today’s Rebel Hero: Guillermo from south of the border, Mexico!

Guillermo is a third year internal medical student, and has retaken control of his life, both in school and his training.  He sent along this picture of him climbing a mountain down in Mexico on a recent adventure.

Thanks for sharing Guillermo, and thanks for inspiring the Rebellion!

Want to be the next Rebel Hero? Take a photo of you doing something epic in your Nerd Fitness gear and send it to contact@nerdfitness.com so we can feature you on the site!

photo sources: beach, road split, egg, runner

This is a guest post from my good friend/relationship & dating expert Lindsay Miller.  

With Nerd Fitness’s tagline being “level up your life,” I thought it was important for us to level up on the inside as well as the outside.  We can change our outer appearance through strength training and better eating decisions, but oftentimes we forget about leveling up other parts of our lives too.  Believe it or not, some of us nerds struggle with social skills (okay, a lot of us do, myself included), but it is something that can be learned.  Take it away Lindsay!

Do you wish you were better at talking to people? 

• Did you use your 20 seconds of courage and then run out of steam?
• Once you learned how to approach people, did you struggle with what to say?
• Have you ever found yourself standing in the corner at a party?
• Maybe you didn’t even go to the party?

Small talk, for better or worse, is a big part of social interaction.

It’s the way we navigate the exciting uncertainty of new friendships and relationships. It greases the wheels of our interactions with other people and primes us for the deeper connections that follow. It’s the foundation of water cooler conversation, yes, but it’s far from frivolous—if you shy away from small talk, you may find that you have difficulty feeling connected to people, since it’s nearly impossible to skip right to the big stuff.

Fortunately, it’s easy to get better at it!

“Oof,” you might be thinking.

Retract your oof, I say! It’s actually remarkably easy to level up your small talk skills. “So,” you’re now saying (since you kindly retracted your oof), “If it doesn’t take tons of time and energy to improve, then what does it take?”

Thankfully my dear rebel friend, it just takes the desire to improve (you’re reading this article: check), the willingness to try (you’re a member of the Rebellion: double check), and four simple keys to keep in mind.

What are these keys? Every person and every conversation is different, but all good small talk has four things in common…

Key #1: Good small talk is happy

The main reason we human folk seek to connect with one another is that it scratches a social itch. Our social needs are just like hunger and thirst—we eat, drink, and talk to people because there’s a gap between our actual state (hungry/thirsty/lonely) and our ideal state (satiated/quenched/connected). Your brain is saying, “Dude, mind helping me out a little? I’m not where I want to be.”

The whole idea here is to feel better after than we did before. You ever talk to people who are in a super sour mood? It’s kind of contagious, isn’t it? Unless you happen to be friends with people who can make crankiness charming (such as professional comedians and/or giant puppies woken up from deep slumber), it’s usually a bit of a bummer. Let’s not be bummers! Let’s be those other kind of people, the ones who leave our conversational partners in good moods after they talk to us.

Engaging in happy small talk isn’t just good for the people we talk to, by the way—it helps us as well. “Fake it ‘til you make it” is more than just a catchy rhyme. The idea that acting a certain way encourages us to be that way has been around since Aristotle’s time. Take a look at his quote (from over 2,300 years ago!):

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”

Turns out the man knew what he was talking about. A team led by Fritz Strack showed in 1988 showed that simply holding a pen in your mouth in a way that simulates the muscle movements of smiling makes cartoons seem funnier than when you hold it between your lips like a straw; other studies have shown that merely crossing your arms can make you more persistent!

So the next time you’re feeling surly and looking for a change, challenge yourself to talk to someone in a more upbeat way and see if that helps shake it off.

I’m not suggesting you bop around like sunshine and fairy dust, but isn’t it powerful to realize that by simply chatting with another person in a positive way, you can walk away from the conversation with both you and them feeling better off?

(Feel free to give a little mental fist bump to Aristotle when you see how well this works.)

Key #2: Good small talk is thoughtful

Good small talk adapts in real-time, thoughtfully and attentively applying to whatever is happening in the moment.

This may sound overwhelming at first, especially if you like to plan things to say out in advance. The trick is to take a step back and pick one thing, any thing, on which to focus your attention.

There’s a finite list of what this thing will be:

• Whether it’s sunny, rainy, or snowy, that’s weather.
• Whether it’s a street parade, an art exhibit, or a hot tub limousine driving by, that’s scenery.
• Whether it’s someone with crazy shoes, a guy doing back handsprings, or a woman swinging from a chandelier, that’s people.
• Whether it’s a cute baby, a fluffy puppy, or a cool book, that’s belongings.

See how all of a sudden you can imagine having one or two prepared responses that can still perfectly apply to even the most novel of situations?

Now, this may only get you as far as your first or second line within a conversation, after which you may need to start coming up with stuff in the moment. But the same logic of “step back/pick one thing” applies here too, and will help you keep from getting overwhelmed or panicking about what to say.

Here’s an example:

You: “I think I literally saw a cat and a dog raining down from the sky today.”

Them: “Ha! I know, right? I thought it was supposed to be spring.”

You: “It must be really tough to be a weatherman. You’re either stating the obvious or you’re a liar.”

Them: “My cousin is a weatherman.”

Curveball! You haven’t prepared anything about weatherman cousins! But this is interesting and novel enough to justify a conversational tangent all its own (and could fall under the category of jobs, if you wanted to add it to your earlier list). Try a simple question.

You: “Oh, interesting. How’d he or she get into that?”

Before you know it, you’re having a unique conversation, not banal “small talk”. You’re also learning things about your conversational partner (and they about you), which will help you build from one-off conversations with strangers to consistent friendships and relationships with people.

Challenge yourself to identify these “one things” (weather, books, back handsprings) as you’re out interacting with people. Use the comfort of a prepared line to open with if you like, but with the goal of finding something interesting that’s happening in that moment to comment on. Your conversations will instantly be more thoughtful, and the people you’re talking to will feel it, too.

Key #3: Good small talk is quirky

My cousin Kim met my fiancé for the first time a few months ago. As soon as we all sat down, she said to him, “Tell me every single thing about yourself, starting from birth, and ending with right now.”

I thought it was just about the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.

If my friend Jess is at someone’s house for the first time, she’ll say, “If I were the bathroom, where would I be?”

She gets the answer– and a chuckle.

My friend David struck up a conversation with a cute girl in Jiffy Lube by asking her if she thought the guy in the waiting room looked like a beagle.

He called me to thank me for introducing him to his girlfriend.

These examples all have in common the theme of turning awkwardness into awesomeness. They’re about being confident, not being smooth. Sometimes dialing up the awkward dial can be just what everyone needs to loosen up a little, like when my friend Mike starts his presentations at work by saying, “If I seem incredibly nervous, it’s because I am indeed incredibly nervous.” It’s a bold strategy, to be sure, but it can be incredibly refreshing.

There’s something undeniably fun about someone who says, “I’m hugely overcaffeinated right now, so I may pass out at some point. How was your weekend?”

In short, don’t feel pressure to rigidly adhere to some abstract notion of what small talk should be, losing all of your own delightful personality in the process. You’re a member of the Rebellion, after all!

You challenge conventional wisdom and embrace the weird every day– let small talk be no exception.

Key #4: Good small talk is imprecise

Remembering the little things? Sweet. Remembering every little thing? Creepy.

I happen to be in possession of a frighteningly good memory; I remember specific conversations (as well as where they took place, and what we were wearing) with people who couldn’t pick me out of a lineup. I’m absolutely the person who goes up to people and says, “You’re a chiropractor? We sat next to each other on a plane from L.A. to San Francisco about a year ago, right?” Yes, right… but it didn’t matter. The dude was thoroughly creeped out, and I couldn’t blame him!

I’ve had to learn to hold back a little (okay, a lot) and not spew forth with every single thing I remember about my last conversation with someone the next time I see them.

Instead of saying: 

• “Hey, how was that conference you went to in Phoenix?” go with, “You were going out of town when I saw you last, right?

• “Is your upper left molar feeling any better?” go with, “Hey, how’s it going?”

Like a good hairdo or pocket square, it sometimes takes a bit of effort in conversation to make it seem effortless, but it’s far preferable to freaking people out. Take your time. With each conversation, you’re watering a healthy plant, not dousing a fire. 

In fact, leaving a bit unsaid is probably the best way to ensure future conversations, and give you something to talk about next time! Besides, when you’re imprecise, you allow the other person to narrow in on a topic that they are comfortable with, rather than forcing them to talk about their upper left molar!

Start talkin’

With these four keys in mind, you’re ready to start small talkin’.

Challenge yourself to approach one person a day and strike up a conversation, even if it’s brief.

Like everything else we do in life, good social skills can be learned, developed, honed, and improved.  Though, it’s really tough to practice unless you commit to TRYING it out.  And who cares if the conversation goes poorly?  Failure is awesome. Odds are you will NEVER see that person again in your life, and your life is no different now than it was 5 minutes before the conversation.

Of course the opposite could be true: you could meet somebody awesome.

And there’s only one way to find out which outcome you’re gonna get.

If you’re feeling really rusty, give it a shot with a friend or family member and ask for a little feedback afterward. If you’re feeling bold, approach someone you wouldn’t normally talk to. If you draw a blank, ask a question.

Breathe, smile, listen.

Most of all, remember why you’re doing this, and remind yourself that you’re not imposing on someone by having a pleasant conversation with them—you’re making their day a bit brighter, and you should never be made to feel bad about that.

As always, I’m very interested to hear what you think, and how these lessons feel when you take them out for a spin.

We all crave regular social interaction; you might be surprised by how easy being good at small talk really is!

What are your major hangups with small talk?

Where do you plan to give these tricks a try?

###

Check out Lindsay on Twitter @RellimYasdnil or send questions/comments at LoveAndDatingAdvice@gmail.com.

photo source:  lego small talk, happy, thoughtful, imprecise, quirky, storm trooper

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

With one sentence and a simple waving of his hand, Obi Wan Kenobi became the coolest guy in the world to 5-year-old Steve.

I couldn’t help but wonder how great it would be to possess the powers of the Force like this Jedi master, getting in or out of situations that I couldn’t normally, simply through the powers of persuasion.

Now, unfortunately the Force has yet to be officially discovered in this Galaxy (or has it?), but it doesn’t mean we can’t actually use Jedi mind tricks on OURSELVES to live healthier lives.

Although you’ll hear everywhere that “eating less and moving more is the key to losing weight,” I would argue that conquering the mental battle before the physical one is the real key to weight loss and healthy living.

Here’s what I mean: our brains are incredible pieces of technology, and they tend to get in the way of our quest to get healthy.  

Whether it’s eating too much accidentally, or tricking ourselves into rationalizing and justifying unhealthy behavior, our brains have the ability to move us towards a better life, or closer to the dark side.

Here are 5 of my favorite tactics you can use to Jedi mind-trick yourself into living better.

Use smaller glasses, plates, and bowls

Yup, I realize this sounds absolutely crazy.

The problem with that argument is that this actually works.

Back in February I was down in Brazil for Carnival (crossing a few things off the Epic Quest) staying in hotels in a few different spots throughout the country, and realized something peculiar: all of their plates, bowls, and cups were TINY!  They had breakfast buffets, like we do in the US, (with a lot of the same unhealthy foods that we have) but there was a few key differences:

• The glasses that you could use for drinking juice?  Maybe 4 ounces.
• The plates to get your food? The size of a side plate.
• The bowls for cereal?  Smaller than our soup bowls.

Compare this to a typical American setup: massive plates designed to allow you to stack your food sky high, bowls so large you could fit an Ewok in them, and glasses/cups that will hold massive amounts of your favorite beverage.

Right now, you’re thinking “Steve, that’s ridiculous. If they are smaller plates, I’d just get two or make an extra trip.” Or maybe, “Here in America, the plate size doesn’t matter, I eat until I’m full.”

To that, I reply, “OH REALLY FOOL!?“ 

It turns out, we are pretty bad at being consciously aware of the food we eat — by simply tinkering with your plate or cup, you will eat more or less and not even know it!

“Prove it, Kamb!” you might be saying.  Sure.

Researchers at Cornell University wanted to test serving size and overconsumption of movie theater popcorn.  They told movie goers they wanted to ask them questions about the m0vie afterwards, and they would be given free popcorn before.  Some people were given a medium or large size tubs of fresh popcorn, while others were given a medium or large size tubs of 14-day old stale popcorn.  What happened?

• People with large tubs of fresh popcorn ate 45.3% more than people with medium sized tubs.
• People with large tubs of STALE popcorn? They ate 33.6% more than those with medium sized tubs.

IT WAS 14 DAY OLD POPCORN!!! It looks like size does matter.  If you struggle with portion control, shrink the size of the serving devices you use when feeding yourself.

Not only that, but I believe this study has shown us something else as well:

Practice Mindful Eating

Think back to yesterday: how many times did you eat a meal or snack while doing something else?  

I bet it went something like this:

• Ate breakfast while watching the news and checking email
• Ate a snack at my desk while checking email and working on a project
• Ate lunch during a meeting and listened to Jim talk about TPS reports.
• Ate some candy at Carol’s desk while taking a break
• Ate dinner in front of the TV watching Duck Dynasty
• Late night snack while playing Bioshock: Infinite

Notice a pattern?  We have become so indoctrinated with multitasking and doing so many things at once that it’s crept into our eating habits.

Don’t pull a Homer Simpson.

Now, as you’ve seen from the previous research study about mindless eating while at a movie, where moviegoers ate buckets of 14-day old stale popcorn, eating while also performing another task is a great way to overeat yourself to extra calories.

In another experiment, researchers gave soup to two groups of people. The catch? One of the groups’ bowls were secretly being refilled as they ate! The people who ate from the rigged bowls ate 73% more soup, and didn’t rate themselves as being more full! The best part? They didn’t even notice they ate almost twice as much! As the author put it, “In effect, people use their eyes to count calories and not their stomachs.”

Plus, it turns out, distracted eaters actually do consume more calories than people who are focused on eating.  

I challenge you this: today, you are only allowed to EAT.  You cannot “Eat and ________.”

You can have a conversation with the people at your table if you’re eating a meal with your family or friends, but that’s it:

• No eating at your desk while working.
• No eating while watching TV.
• No eating while checking email on your phone.
• No eating while gaming (besides, you’re mucking up the controller. Stop that!)

If you are going to eat something you need to be focused on JUST EATING.  Think about what you’re putting into your body, and enjoy each bite.

Speaking of bites…

Advanced food tactics

Another batsh** crazy idea that doesn’t make a lot of sense, until you think about it:

According to results published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, chewing food 40 times instead of a typical 15 times caused study participants to eat nearly 12 percent fewer calories.  Now, I take every “study” I read with a major amount of skepticism: after all, I don’t believe there’s any physiological change that results from chewing food more often.

At least not directly.

Instead, I believe this tactic works because it forces you to do a few important things:

• Enjoy/savor your food.  Rather than engulfing your meal in five minutes and moving on as quickly as possible, you’re actually taking the time to enjoy each bite of it.
• Eat slowly.  It is said that it takes around 20 minutes or so for our brain to get the message from our stomach that it’s full.  When you eat a meal in five minutes, your brain never gets that message!  If you SLOW down, and lengthen the time it takes you to eat, your brain gets that message sooner and you’ll feel full sooner.
  

Now, this tactic is predicated on not changing what you eat, but rather the quantity of food you’re consuming.  Although not all calories are created equal, we’re huge fans of small changes, and adjusting quantity of food is a great first step.

Another tactic that works for this?  Putting your fork down between every bite.  A challenge, for sure, but it makes you stop and think, “do I really need to eat this whole thing? Am I full?”

Create a trigger for change

My friend Derek Halpern wanted to kick his horribly addicting soda habit.

Derek is one of the most driven, successful, and intelligent people I know, and yet he couldn’t get healthy.  Sound like anybody you know?  Really smart, but can’t seem to break an unhealthy habit or cycle?

Fortunately for Derek, he’s a student of psychology, and understood the importance of making a trigger for himself.  He simply made one tiny change to his life that lead him to dropping high calorie drinks and losing fifteen pounds.

What was the change?

He put his scale in front of his refrigerator.

Every time he went to the fridge to get another soda, he had a subtle reminder that he was trying to lose weight, and that he probably didn’t need that extra soda.  It reminded him that he was working towards something.

He’d go to open the fridge, see the scale, and ask himself, “do I REALLY need another one?”

What sort of trigger can you add to the habit you’re trying to break or build?  Because we are constructed of our habits, creating a change requires us to be mindful of that habit for the first 30 days or else the habit won’t stick.  We use up willpower when we make a new habit, so we need to be reminded of that habit constantly with a trigger or mental switch of sorts.

I use post-it notes as my triggers. I post them them EVERYWHERE:

• Bathroom mirrors – “I FLOSS AFTER BRUSHING MY TEETH”
• Counter tops- “I AM NEVERY LATE TO ANYTHING”
• Laptop - “I WALK AROUND EVERY 15 MINUTES”
• Desk – “DO IT NOW”

When I’m building a new habit, I use these post it notes to remind myself of the habit I’m trying to create.

You can do the same: create a reminder (post-it notes, a calendar reminder, an app with pop-up notifications, whatever!) that allows you to stay on target.

Increase the steps between you and a bad habit

This one might be my favorite.

Instead of trying to outsmart yourself with Jedi mind tricks, use your own laziness to your advantage.

A friend of mine felt like he was addicted to television and watched WAY too much of it.

Want to know what his solution was?

He put his TV in his closet.  

When he came home from work and wanted to plop down on the couch to watch some mindless reality show, he had to ask himself: “Do I care enough about this show to get up, open the closet, take out the TV, plug it back in, set it up, and then turn it on?”

For many occasions, the answer to that was “hell no, that’s a lot of work, I’ll just read a book or do ANYTHING ELSE instead.”

If you are trying to break a bad habit, increase the number of steps between you and that task:

• Don’t keep cookies on the counter. Put them in a container, in the closet, or downstairs.  Out of sight, out of mind.
• Perform a great purge.  Chuck all of the bad food in your house. Tough to cheat by eating bad foods when you have to get into your car and drive to the store just to get them.  Less willpower required when they’re not in your cabinets!
• Cancel your cable.  If you want to watch your favorite shows, purchase them for 2 bucks on iTunes or watch on Hulu or Netflix.  Tough to spend extra time watching crappy shows on TV when you are legitimately unable to do so, or have to fork over cash each time!
• Turn on Self-Control. (or Self-Restraint for PC) Addicted to going to Facebook, Twitter, and Perez Hilton at work?  Being less than productive? Turn on Self-Control so you are locked out of those sites until your work is done.  This is the tactic I’ve used to increase my productivity by 100000% (approximately).

Don’t turn off your targeting computer until you’re ready

Young Jedi, there are still things you must learn before you can save the Galaxy.

We’re damn smart creatures, and unfortunately we allow our brains to drift when it should be mindful. We allow our brains to rationalize the irrational and justify the unjustifiable.

We need to use our targeting computer during the first month of building a new habit, until that habit becomes automatic and we can turn it off.

For that reason, I recommend only picking one or two tactics from above to implement at once for the next thirty days. REMEMBER: our goal isn’t to drop a bunch of weight quickly and miserably, only to put it all back on two months later.

Our goal is to have life long success, happiness, and bring balance to the Force.

What are your favorite mind-tricks to help keep yourself on task?

Which ones did I miss out on?

Leave a comment with your answers, and may the Force be with you, always.

-Steve

###

Today’s Rebel Hero: Maniacal Mitch from the land down under!!

Running in The Great Tribal Chase around Sydney, Mitch dominated the competition, obliterating the course record by two hours.  Unfortunately, after the race it was determined that his Nerd Fitness shirt qualified as a performance enhancer, and Mitch was disqualified.

Not that I’m surprised, my shirt gave me the power of levitation…

Okay, so maybe none of those things happened.

But Mitch did kick some serious ass in the Great Tribal Chase!

Want to be the next Rebel Hero? Take a photo of you doing something epic in your Nerd Fitness gear and send it to contact@nerdfitness.com so we can feature you on the site!

photo source: R2D2 and C3p0, xwing, eating, kiwi, button, stairs

Meet Dominic, the Rebel who lost over 30 pounds (14 kgs) in less than 4 months!

Just a few months ago, Dominic found himself in familiar territory for many: minimal regular exercise, poor diet habits, and a daily routine that sucked all of the energy and life out of him.  Long story short: he was stuck, and going nowhere fast.

But, by a stroke of luck (or destiny?), Dominic found Nerd Fitness.  He made a few small changes, built an accountability system, and dominated.

This is his story.

Dominic’s Story

Steve: Thanks for sharing your story Dominic! To start off, who are you and what do you do?

Dominic: My name is Dominic and I’m 38 years old. I work with computers, designing Storage Systems.  In about 14 weeks I’ve lost over 30 pounds, dropped from a 38 inch waist to a 34 inch, and from an x-large shirt to a medium.

Steve: First and foremost, storage systems designer?  You’re in the right place  Congrats on your success dude – you seem like a different person.  What was the old you like?

Dominic: I would have a muesli bar (healthy right? wrong.) on the train to work then a bacon and egg roll with my morning coffee. I usually ate some kind of mid-morning snack like chocolate or a soda, and then lunch would be something from the food court, usually Chinese food. I especially liked sweet and sour pork…you know the stuff they deep fry twice and then cover in sugary sauce, with white rice on the side.

In the afternoon I’d have another coffee, often with a pastry, biscotti, or a chocolate bar to get me over the afternoon lull. I also had a major soft spot for candy.

I was a bit of a night owl, so I would stay up late working or watching a movie, then get out of bed in the morning as late as possible to try to make sure I had enough sleep. I used to drink around 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day, would still be wired when I got home, so I’d have a couple of beers or a few glasses of wine to ‘wind down.’

I would usually not have any motivation or energy to cook when I got home from work, so I’d eat a lot of takeaway food for dinners if my wife didn’t make anything. Fish and Chips, noodles, Thai, Indian Curry; you name it, I’ve tried most of the takeaways where I live and I’ve only been here a year.

I took pain killers for lower back pain almost every day and my wife would complain every morning that I kept her awake snoring.

Steve: Your poor wife! Looking back…was there a specific moment when you decided to make a change? What inspired you to get started?

Dominic: My parents visited me over Christmas, and when they returned home they sent me some photos from their trip. I looked at the pictures and couldn’t believe it, I looked so out of shape.

A switch flicked inside my head, and I knew I had to reverse the neglect and bad habits. After I watched the movie 300 I decided to find out how those guys got to look like that, and my the search led me to the 300 article on Nerd Fitness. I devoured the site content from there reading article after article for hours.

I was talking with a friend at work who told me he was starting Weight Watchers. We decided to have a challenge to see who could lose the greatest percentage weight in a month. We also set a prize: the loser had to pay for lunch in a restaurant of the winner’s choice.

This helped keep me focused as I have a competitive streak! Needless to say I won the challenge using my NF knowledge and then won the rematch in March as well!

Steve: That’s awesome, finding a way to keep yourself accountable is half the battle. So what does your life look like now?  How much have things changed in 14 weeks?

Dominic: I’m up between 6 am and 6:30 am week days so that I have enough time to do some exercise before I go to work; I either do my Rebel Fitness Guide, or I walk my dog for 5k.  I also make sure I have enough time to have breakfast before I leave. I’m very fortunate that I can work from home quite a lot, so on those days I’ll take the dog for a 5k walk at lunchtime.

Most days I cook a Paleo dinner; in the past I hardly ever cooked so my wife has also enjoyed the change. I often cook something big on Sundays so I have leftovers for days I know I’ll be home late in the week. There are always some Paleo Mexican Meatballs in the freezer in case of emergency. I haven’t ordered a single takeaway order so far this year!

Plus, on the weekends when I have a bit more time I go for a swim in the local pool. Since I lost the weight I don’t take any painkillers at all, my back pain is gone, and I don’t snore anymore either.

Steve: Both your lower back and your wife thank you for taking control, brother! How about your diet, how has that changed in these 14 weeks? 

Dominic: Initially I just watched what I ate, cut out sugar, processed food, and takeaways. Then, in my second challenge, I decided to try Paleo for 50% of my main meals. This kept my weight loss on track. Diet has been a revelation; I’ve really educated myself on what makes me put weight on. I’ve stopped consuming all that stuff I thought was healthy and helping me, but wasn’t (who knew there was so much sugar in orange juice?!).

I used to eat a lot of bread and pasta, I avoid those now. I also have a sweet tooth and used to consume a lot of sugar, I don’t have any now apart from an occasional dessert if I’m at a nice restaurant or if my wife makes Clafouti.

Steve: That’s awesome Dominic.  How did you track your progress during this adventure?

Dominic: I do a weekly weigh-in on a Sunday morning at home. I didn’t take any photographs or make any other measurements along the way. I decided to just focus on moving that number on the scales downwards. I wish now I had taken some proper ‘before’ photos but I didn’t want to look at the time.

The scales I use have a body fat function, it’s wildly inaccurate but at least it’s consistently inaccurate, so I could see the fat number going down. This helped me recognize I was dropping fat not muscle.

Steve: Glad to hear that you didn’t freak yourself out by weighing in EVERY day.  Sometimes that scale can lie!  What do you think the most important change you made was that helped you you succeed?

Dominic: In terms of mental change, this time I wanted it more than anything else and I would not compromise on anything. There were a couple of difficult situations with people wanting me to do things that would of interrupted my program, but I knew there was no negotiation to be had.

My weight loss and health came first and I was stubborn about it.

No excuses.

During my first challenge I was trying to break a lap goal in the pool, starting to struggle a bit and getting ready to stop. I saw a young girl with a broken leg in a special cast get in the pool to swim. I thought if this little girl can keep trying and work so hard with a broken leg, I can push out a few more laps. I went on to achieve my challenge goal right there and then and I’ll never forget that image when I am thinking about giving up on a workout.

In terms of practical change, I have cut out almost all liquid calories. I used to drink a lot of beer, now I try to keep it to once a week. Those calories really add up and you can consume them so quickly and easily.

Steve: Everybody takes a different path, and we’re so glad you found yours.  What kind of support system did you have along the way?

Dominic: My wife has been brilliant; once she saw I was serious she’s supported me and encouraged me. She also enjoys eating the Paleo foods I prepare and she’s started back at Yoga and also lost some weight. I find that positive steps you take in life tend to rub off on other people.

The challenge threads on the NF forums have been my mainstay for support and a great medium for sharing experiences with other people in similar positions. I owe a lot to my fellow Rebel ‘Honeysuckle’ who has been there throughout both my challenges, encouraging and supporting me. There have been many times when knowing someone is interested in your progress and is watching to see how you do has spurred me on when I didn’t feel like working out. Honeysuckle you’re awesome!

Steve: Never underestimate your A-Team!  Was this the first time you tried getting healthy?

Dominic: I always knew someone had to be holding out on me, following what you call “conventional wisdom” I failed over and over. I have been trying to take down a goal of getting into a healthy BMI category for 4 years. I was using CW aerobic workouts and strict dieting, eating “healthy foods.” Every time I would lose a few kg’s over a couple of months then lose heart, get injured or lose motivation.

As you know, this is a familiar story.  I failed over and over and over.

The really fit guys I knew would just tell me to take protein shakes and eat 6 times a day, and I couldn’t get any concrete answers about what EXACTLY they did to get in shape. People want to make it appear easy to be in shape, strong and healthy, but it’s not. It takes hard work and dedication. I had both in the past, but what I didn’t have was the knowledge.

The big change came with finding Nerd Fitness, understanding the importance of bodyweight and strength training exercises, and having something prescriptive I could follow.

I started with the Angry Birds workout, up to about level 4 then bought the Rebel Fitness Guide. I’m on the last level of that now and looking forward to starting the Strength Guide next.

I’d read other people’s stories (like Joe and Saint) and saw the results; I knew this should work if I followed it and didn’t cheat.  Guess what: IT DID.

Steve: As someone who has tried and failed, but pushed through to succeed, what would you tell somebody in your situation (5 months ago) to help them?

Dominic: It’s never too late. I tried and failed over and over with conventional wisdom and wasted money on gyms I never took advantage of. Make some friends on the NF boards, sign up for a challenge and an accountability group.

Or do it on your own at home, whichever you prefer.

Just get started, right now!

Starting is the hardest part.

Here’s a bullet list of how I lost my weight:

1. Stop collecting underpants.
2. Stop eating sugar.
3. Stop eating processed food.
4. Start doing exercise involving lifting weights or body weight.
5. Do cardio you enjoy. Walking, jogging, basketball, frisbee, whatever!

Steve: Love it!  So, you’ve made this big change…What’s next for you?

I used to play a lot of squash and go surfing, but I haven’t done either for about 2 years. I’m really excited to get back to those sports. I’ve used starting back at them as rewards for one of the goals in my current challenge thread.

I’m also looking into taking up Tae-Kwon Do again which I used to do when I was a teenager.

The truly exciting thing is now I’m at a decent weight and feeling stronger there’s nothing that I want to do that I can’t.

Steve: Can you give us a few examples? What are you excited to do now that you weren’t physically able to do before?

Dominic: When I first started exercising I was really tired at the end of a 5km walk, now it’s nothing. I can do it whenever I want and feel normal at the end of it. This has kept my puppy very happy too! He gets 5k almost every day regardless of what else I have going on.

I can do 7 chin-ups in a row and 22 in a session. 15 weeks ago that was 0 chin-ups.

Steve: Best exercise ever, right? Your physical appearance has changed…what else has changed about you?

I’ve got some self-esteem back now I fit into my old clothes again. I’ve got a lot more energy and it’s steady throughout the day.

I have a more positive outlook on life now I don’t have to expend energy worrying about being overweight.

Steve: Hell yeah! On to the important stuff.  Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?

Dominic: The first movie I ever saw at the Cinema was Return of the Jedi so it’s got to be Star Wars.

Steve: Favorite video game of all time?

Dominic: This is such a hard question. Ultima Underworld was probably what got me hooked first when I was a schoolkid. More recently I loved Darksiders on the PS3.

Steve: If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be, and why?

Dominic: There’s a character in David Eddings’ Belgariad books called Relg who was capable of altering the structure of his body so that he can pass through rock and feel the presence of caves. I always thought that was very cool, it got him into places no one else could.

Steve: Do you have a quote to live by?

Dominic: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

Steve: Awesome choice! Tell us something interesting about you!

Dominic: When I was younger I Scuba Dived in a tank full of sharks!

One of my goal rewards is to get back to Scuba, eventually I want to be good enough to dive the Yongala wreck.

Become the next success story

Does Dominic’s story sound familiar? Do you find yourself with no energy to get healthy, skipping workouts and resorting to takeout and fast-food?

Fortunately, Dominic and other Rebel heroes show us that it can be done. By making smart adjustments to your lifestyle and attitude, you can see real change too.

Dominic, with the help of his fellow Rebels, was able to defy conventional wisdom and build lasting healthy habits. This wasn’t a quick fix, health magazine six-pack shortcut, or diet gimmick, these were real changes.

Plus, these changes didn’t just level up his own life, but trickled down to his family as well (his dog included!).

Dominic didn’t just collect underpants, he took action:

Enough was enough: After years of starting and stopping, following conventional wisdom, and struggling to build momentum, Dominic put getting healthy as his top priority.

There are a lot of potential distractions and excuses, and staying on track can be hard work. Dominic was able to generate enough momentum so that achieving his goals didn’t seem like a far off herculean task, but rather an achievable quest.  No longer did automatic, unhealthy habits dictate his life, his quest for a leveled up life did.

One change at a time: Dominic didn’t sign up for a gym and train six days a week while drastically changing his diet habits and his daily routine all at once.  He started by cutting back on sugar, then processed foods, then mixed in some strength training, then started cooking some Paleo meals, and then added in more exercise.  Each change didn’t seem that drastic and was thus obtainable; as we all know, these small changes can add up to big transformations.

Dominic educated himself: Dominic failed over and over for years, and as of 14 weeks ago, was still trying to get healthy. After trying aerobic workouts and mass marketed “health food,” Dominic didn’t see results, so he changed his approach.  He read up on how his body worked and how he could start to build tiny habits. He learned to fail differently – which is a big lesson to learn.  He understood that he would have to try a different approach than all of his previous attempts or he would end up with the exact same result: no progress.

He challenged himself: This one might be my favorite.  To kickstart his journey, Dominic and his co-worker had a weight loss competition, with the loser having to buy the winner a fancy dinner.  Faced with the prospect of losing and having to admit defeat to his co-worker, Dominic decided “hmmm, no, I’ll just be awesome and win this now.”  He ended up winning this contest and the rematch a month later!  Go Team Nerd Fitness!

Worried you won’t have the motivation to follow through with your plans?  Put an accountability system in place!  It worked for Saint, it worked for Dominic, it can work for you.

He stopped using “I don’t have time” as an excuse.  Dominic got most of his food via take-out, as he never “had time” to cook.  He realized that he was using this as an excuse, and what he was really telling himself was “cooking is not a priority for me.”  Tasked with changing his life, he challenged himself to cook more and find healthy options that he could prepare quickly.  He now keeps emergency healthy meals in his freezer, he prepares meals for him and his wife, and he even cooks a lot of food to start his week so he has meals all week long.

He had to change his priorities, and made preparing his own meals one of them.

Balancing coffee, energy, and sleep: Before Dominic got healthy, he struggled for time in his morning routine, and as a result grabbed fast-food items and snacks to-go. Not only that, but he consumed 3 or 4 coffees a day to keep up with a routine that left him feeling sapped of all energy and motivation. Now Dominic’s morning routine is under control, and he even has built in enough time to work out before his day begins. Don’t underestimate the power of taking control of your morning routine and coffee habit.

Dominic found his manual: After failing finding so many different thing’s that didn’t work, Dominic realized he needed a manual.  Let’s be honest, us nerds are REALLY good at following specific instructions, but we can talk ourselves out of anything if there are too many choices or too much uncertainty. The Rebel Fitness Guide took thinking out of the process for him and spoke his language: he followed the program, from Level One up through Level Four.  Dominic didn’t want to worry about the fact that there are a million different resources or ways to get healthy (which can overwhelm anybody); instead, he found a resource that made sense to him and gave it a solid chance.  14 weeks later, he’s a new man.

Congrats to Dominic on changing his life.  I’m confident now that he’s lost this weight and changed his life, he’ll continue finding new dragons to slay.

Do you have any questions for the man?

When will you be sending in YOUR success story?  (Seriously, I love these things – send me your story so we can feature you on the site too!)

Start with small changes.  Cut back on sugar and liquid calories. Go for walks with your dog. Do some push ups.  Cook something!

And then dominate life, like Dominic!

-Steve

PS: Yeah, I’m damn proud to say that Dominic used Nerd Fitness and the Rebel Fitness Guide to help him succeed on his journey.  It spoke his language, laid out things in a simple-to-follow manner, and gave him a blueprint to manage.  If you are struggling to lose weight or constantly get overwhelmed, don’t underestimate the importance of picking a plan that makes sense to you.  I don’t care if it’s the Rebel Fitness Guide or any other plan, as long as you pick one and stick with it!

PPS: In case you missed the announcement, I’m in Boston tonight and having a meetup at Whitehorse Tavern.  You can get the details here.  We’ll be meeting from 6:00pm-7:30 or 8:00pm before some of us continue into Boston to catch my favorite band, NEEDTOBREATHE, at the House of Blues. Hope to see you at Whitehorse Tavern!

###

This is a guest post from Khaled Allen.

Imagine that you are Spider-Man.  

You’re reading Nerd Fitness, so I’m guessing this isn’t too much of a challenge.  

What’s the first thing you would do with your new powers?  Probably something like webslinging around your city, scaling the side of a building, and hanging upside down just for the hell of it, right?

You’re not alone: after all, it’s these scenes in the Spider-Man movies that are always the most exhilarating.

We want to BE Spider-Man in those moments, playfully exploring new powers, free of danger and full of creativity.  Essentially, it’s like a kid on Christmas morning.

Wouldn’t it be great if workouts could feel like that (and not something that you have to suffer through)?

Spider-Man’s big appeal is that he’s playful. He seems to genuinely enjoy climbing walls, swinging from skyscrapers, and popping flips around the bad guys. He even cracks jokes in the middle of fights. Spider-Man is having fun, and this playfulness characterizes the way he moves, fights, and trains.

I’m here to tell you that you can use play to explore your abilities in ways more creative and empowering than the limited, controlled movements of a standard workout.  It’s okay to act like a kid, and it can be incredibly beneficial!

Let’s learn how.

Benefits of Play

Play workouts (or playouts) have a number of benefits over traditional workouts.

• First and most importantly, a playout isn’t about building muscle, losing weight, or perfecting a routine – A playout is about figuring out the best way to interact with the environment in order to meet your goals. It shifts your focus from internal to external. It is about solving problems and having fun.  Watch any video of Ido Portal (a real life Spider-Man?) and you’ll want to go outside and roll around.
• A playout integrates multiple movement patterns to overcome an obstacle – For example, Spider-Man’s web swing requires accurate aim, powerful jumping, swinging, and climbing. Excelling at these skills individually wouldn’t help, since Spider-Man needs to transition between them seamlessly to make the move work. In the gym you might train pullups and dips separately, but if you need to climb a tree, you’ll use both in sequence, as well as weird variations of each that blur the lines.  This is the basis of Parkour.
• Playouts involve more exploration and improvisation than traditional workouts. There is no ‘right’ way to do anything when you’re playing. There are only more and less efficient ways. Which you choose will depend on your skill and level of fitness. If a regular workout is like building a model with instructions, playouts can be thought of as using a giant box of LEGOs: there will be many ways to build the same object, and your model’s complexity depends on how comfortable you are with the blocks.

Designing Your Perfect Playout

Having a good playout requires that we think differently about exercise. Remember, rule #9 of the Rebellion: We Question Everything.

Playout Ideas

1. Find a play area

In his latest cinematic adventure, Peter Parker goes to a shipyard to play with his skateboard, but he co-opts the ramp and chains in the dry dock to start practicing his spidey swings. Nothing he interacts with in that scene was meant to be used for spidey training, but he thinks outside the box and finds his own challenges, seeing how far he can push his abilities.

The first step to a successful playout is to identify a problem you’d like to solve. This requires that you learn how to see situations creatively. The more varied the environment, the better, but you can get pretty creative with just a park bench if you know how to view it. Good places to start include:

• Playgrounds
  
• Parks with benches, rocks, and fences
• Skate parks
• Sculpture gardens
• The wilderness

2. Explore your options

Once Peter started playing with the shipyard chains, he spent some time figuring out different ways to interact with them. He climbed them but found that swinging worked better, and later discovered that he could swing from one to the other.

Once you have your problem, discover different with ways to interact with it. Start with the obvious, but don’t stop there. This is where you can get creative, be silly and try things that may not work.

Make an effort to try movements that are unusual or novel, or even unnecessarily elaborate

For example, dealing with a park bench, you could:

• Crawl over or under it (break it down further: bear crawl, military crawl, shrimp, crab walk)
• Jump over it
• Jump on top and down
• Dive and roll over
• Vault it
• Move it
• Simply go around it
• Climb the overhanging tree and swing over

You don’t have to be as acrobatic as these guys (must watch!), but every little bit counts!

3. Groove the individual movements

Spend 5-10 minutes with each element in your play area and work on your form.

Good form here means the move starts to feel more natural and less effortful.

Focus on efficiency and comfort, and figure out what feels best for you.

If you get bored, move on to another element. The goal is to maintain a high level of mental and emotional engagement, so you learn faster and stay alert, thus avoiding sloppiness and injury.

4. Start building movement combos

Once you have experimented with different ways to approach each segment of your play area, start putting them together and moving through the environment.

Start with two obstacles and one transition and go slowly, focusing on smoothness of execution. This can be as simple as crawling across a field to a bench, transitioning to your feet, and jumping onto the bench.

Once you have drilled that a few times, it will feel more natural and you’ll hesitate less. At this point, you can start adding additional pieces to the front or back of your combo.

1. Try jumping off the bench
2. Then add a roll to the landing
3. Then try to smoothly transition to a sprint after the roll

If there are objects around, make them part of the game; do a relay with rocks or logs, carrying them through your course.

As you start to get a feel for the pattern, it will go faster naturally, so don’t rush. Conditioning will come after sufficient skill and strength for safety.

5. Check for mistakes

The first time the (soon to be) Amazing Spider-Man used his webslinger to make an escape, he ended up swinging right into a bus. Ow. Clearly, he needed to spend some time refining that move.

Here are some things to look out for that can alert you to the need to go back and refine your form:

• If you keep banging one spot of your body every time you do a move, make adjustments: check your posture, be sure you are staying tight, or slow it down or find a simpler variation.
• If a movement is generally jarring or jerks you around, refine your movement pattern until it feels smoother. Again, change the speed of the movement or try a variation. Look out for this on landings especially. Jarring is also an indicator of fatigue and might be a sign that it is time to wrap up your play session.
• If you find it difficult to maintain balance or stick your landings when you rush into an element of a playout, slow down on that segment and spend some more time drilling precision and balance. Fatigue also affects these abilities.

6. Make it social

No matter how much he practiced on his own, Spider-Man could never really develop the skill necessary to save New York until he went out and tested his powers with villains.

While I don’t suggest you go out and try to break up muggings, having a partner to challenge and encourage you can make a huge difference in your training, and play lends itself very well to social workouts.

There are some things you can do with a partner that you simply can’t do alone.

The options are endless, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• Toss sticks back and forth while running or balancing
• Have them throw (light) stuff at you while you go through your course
• Carry each other through the course
• Race each other
• Create cooperative rules: try running through the course with the rule that a move cannot be used more than once by either person

Make a game out of it. This is play, after all.

Tips and Tricks

The first time you to playout, it may be stilted and awkward.

It’s very hard to think outside the box we’ve become accustomed to. Most people stop playing long before they become adults; the wild, free creativity of youth gives way to organized sports as early as elementary school.  You’ll probably get funny looks. That’s great. Embrace the weird!

Luckily, we can take some pointers from Peter Parker and inject the same sense of joyful exuberance Spider-Man brings to everything he does:

• Always warm up. Just because it’s play doesn’t mean it’s not intense, and varied movements can take you by surprise. You can warm up with low-intensity play, like crawling, low walking, and balancing.
• Give yourself plenty of time. Play is creative and suffers under pressure, just like any other creative endeavor. If you feel even a little rushed, you will default to movements you are familiar with in an attempt to get through the challenge as quickly as possible.
• Repetition will help you see more options. You will actually get more creative with successive iterations. Let a problem stew for a few days, and revisit the same play area more than once, so that you can elaborate upon your previous movements.
• Don’t try to get a workout. If you approach play with the intention of conditioning, you may unconsciously restrict yourself to movements you associate with traditional workouts. Don’t worry so much about whether a movement is good exercise or if you know the ‘right’ way to deal with something.

Everyday spidey play

When you’re training to be a superhero, there are no off days.

Spider-Man knew this, but he also genuinely had fun with his powers, like doing his homework hanging upside down in his room.

In the same way, you can use the mindset of playfulness to add some extra movement and practice into your everyday life, and more movement is always a good thing. With a bit of creativity, you don’t even have to go out of your way.

• Walking down the street, try balancing on curbs or precision jumps between paving tiles.
• While waiting for a bus, practice single-leg balancing.
• Use squats to get stuff out of your refrigerator.
• Jump and down stairs, challenging yourself to cover more steps.

The more options you can see, the more freedom you have. Fighting crime is serious business, but even superheroes should get to enjoy their powers every now and then…without worrying about the fate of the world.

So try adding a playout or two to your weekly routine in between strength training or running.

Where do you plan to try your first playout?

Khaled teaches MovNat in Boulder, CO, and writes about living with integrity, embodying excellence, and overcoming fear on his blog, Warrior Spirit.

###

photo source: spider-man job, mosiac, kids, jungle gym

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. -Sir Winston Churchill

Today is a big day for Nerd Fitness.  I happened to notice last week that this would be my 500th post published!  It had me thinking about how the heck I got from “I’ll start a blog” to “let’s build a freaking rebellion and take over the world.”  It also had me thinking about how there are so many parallels between the Rebellion’s growth, and the growth of all of us in our quests to live healthier, better lives.

I’ve come to realize that it’s not the best genetics, the best workout plan, or the most time spent working out that produce the most success…

It comes down to one key word.

Grit.

What the hell is a “grit”?

No, not grits like in My Cousin Vinny.

Grit is defined as: “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.”

There we go.

More and more research is coming out that shows in school, work, and in life, intelligence is no longer the greatest predictor of success.  It’s grit and character – the ability to push through adversity, challenges, and setbacks to find a new solution or path to success.

Angela Duckworth, Psychology Professor at University of Pennsylvania, has found through her research that:

“Smarter students actually had less grit than their peers who scored lower on an intelligence test. This finding suggests that, among the study participants — all students at an Ivy League school — people who are not as bright as their peers ‘compensate by working harder and with more determination.’ And their effort pays off: The grittiest students — not the smartest ones — had the highest GPAs.”

She also discovered that:

“At the elite United States Military Academy, West Point, a cadet’s grit score was the best predictor of success in the rigorous summer training program known as “Beast Barracks.” Grit mattered more than intelligence, leadership ability or physical fitness.

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the grittiest contestants were the most likely to advance to the finals — at least in part because they studied longer, not because they were smarter or were better spellers.”

These findings suggest that the achievement of difficult goals entails not only talent but also the sustained and focused application of talent over time.

Last week in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman published an article that I couldn’t agree with more: “Need a job? Invent one!”  In this article, he references Harvard Education Specialist Tony Wagner, “Today, because knowledge is available on every Internet-connected device, what you know matters far less than what you can do with what you know.”

So what does all this science and job talk have to do with Nerd Fitness and losing weight?  After all, it’s simple, right?  Eat less and move more, right?

As we all know too well, there is so much more to having long term success that goes beyond counting calories and completing a workout.  It’s not how much information we know about getting healthy and losing weight, but what we actually DO with that information that will determine our success.

Or, in Nerd Fitness terms, success is going from an Underpants Collector to an Action Taker. 

Instead of knowing all of the answers, instead of chasing the perfect workout or diet plan, people who succeed get started. And then they stick with it.

My tale of grit

I’m proud to say that I am healthy, happy, and strong.

But it wasn’t always that way.

I was cut from my high school basketball team for being too weak and scrawny (and because I couldn’t dribble with my left hand).  I tried to work out for the first time the day after that and almost killed myself by dropping the bar on my chest during a bench press.  I spent the next six years after that trying to get strong and healthy, but having very limited success. I ate poorly. I followed routines from bodybuilder magazines and spent ten hours a week in the gym and had nothing to show for it.

It wasn’t until I adjusted my diet and simplified the sh** out of my workout that I finally started to have success. From that point on, it was another six years of incremental improvements, setbacks, adjustments, and research that led to small changes and new tactics.  I imagine I’ll spend the rest of my life learning more, failing more, and trying to discover new ways to improve myself

To some, this might sound boring or daunting.  

However, I discovered that it is fascinating and encouraging to see improvement from week to week, no matter how small they were, to see changes in my appearance, no matter how unnoticeable they were to anybody else, and to see increases in my strength and health, no matter how minuscule.   

“Boring” became exciting.

I feel in love with small changes and small wins adding up to big transformations.  Like grinding out kills and experience in a video game to reach the next level, I loved grinding out one extra repetition or lifting five pounds more.  And 12 years later, my workouts are no less exciting.

Instead of saying, “ugh, I have to work out,” it’s become “I wonder what I’m capable of today? RAH!”

Somewhere early in the second half of my journey to a healthier life, I decided I wanted to help others feel that same excitement without having to make all of the same rookie mistakes I made during my six years of discovery;  I wanted to help beginners see progress and build momentum and confidence from day one.

I’m proud to say that my dream has been realized: Nerd Fitness, 500 published articles later, has evolved into a community more powerful than I ever could have imagined.

These days, we add hundreds of new rebels every single day to our cause, and we reach over a million sets of eyeballs every month.  We’ve had some transformations so drastic that they’ve brought me to tears.

But it wasn’t always that way!

Want to know how many subscribers I had after 9 months? 

90! 

So why didn’t I give up?  What kept me going? I celebrated the small wins. I remember the first reader that emailed me (Evan!). I knew if I could reach one reader, then I could reach two, and then ten, and then twenty.  I built momentum.

I’ve learned that grit CAN be developed, and once you have it in one area of your life, it carries over to others

Developing grit

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, what I was doing was identifying the new “normal” and the new “identity” I wanted for myself (Hat tip to  James Clear for the idea).  

Then I proved that this new identity was actually a future possibility with teeny tiny small wins, building momentum, developing more grit and perseverance.

Here’s how you can develop grit yourself:

1) Identify the new “identity” you want to have. The more specific you can be with it, the easier it’ll be to prove it to yourself. “I’m the type of person that never misses a workout.”  ”I’m somebody who eats a healthy lunch every day.” “I’m somebody who works on my side business every dang day.”  Remind yourself of this EVERY day by hanging up a post-it note on your bathroom window, or using your phone/calendar to keep this at the front of your mind.

2) Prove to yourself you can do it with small wins.  Create a teeny tiny benchmark for yourself to show that you are heading in the right direction.  Make it something you can do every day, that takes less than 15 minutes. 5 minutes is even better.  Build the habit.

3) Build momentum by completing the small win every day for at least 30 days.  Remember we have limited willpower, so dump all of it into building this one habit.

4) Once you have established your new “normal,” it’s time to stretch again.  Constantly adjust your new normal, but make the adjustment small so it’s not a drastic adjustment.  Slow and steady for the win!

5) If you fail at something, make sure you fail differently next time.  Failing is not a reflection on your character. You’re simply crossing something off your list that didn’t work. Move onward and upward.

Rebel grits

Rule #1 of the Rebellion: It doesn’t matter where you came from, only where you’re going.

This is why I love sharing Nerd Fitness success stories.  These are people like you and me: normal folks with normal jobs and normal problems, who probably never thought they’d be healthy.  They tried every tactic out there and struggled to find success for a long time.  Then, for whatever reason, that light bulb went off in their head and they were encouraged to try something different:

• Joe used to be 320 pounds. Now he does pull ups, handstands, and is creating his own costume to wear at C2E2 2013.
• Staci used to be overweight and a chain smoker. Now she deadlifts 380 and helps people get healthy for a living full time at Nerd Fitness.
• Ryan used to be really big, unhappy, and lost.  Since then he’s lost 115 pounds and completely changed his life.

These guys didn’t set out to drastically change their life, but they knew it was a possibility.  They just focused on small wins, building momentum, and building a new normal for themselves.  As a result of that, these men and women are forever changed; their new normal is healthy, happy, and fit.

My goal with NF is to help you build grit and momentum.  I’ve seen it happen with thousands of people, and it all starts with one thing: the first step.

This is a challenging journey, but one I hope you’re willing to take. There’s no doubt in my mind you have it in you to become that level 50 version of yourself, and I look forward to the day when you start to believe it too. Prove it to yourself.

Don’t ever let anybody tell you that you can’t accomplish something.  

My nana, who passed away two years ago yesterday, always told me: “Of course you can.“

Tell me one small victory you’ve had recently, and one small change you’re going to make.

-Steve

PS - Leave a comment by May 5th at 11:59pm, and we’ll pick one comment at random and give the winner a Nerd Fitness shirt. Why? Because I can

###

photo sources: top of mountain, deadlift, tennis kid, tortoise and bunny

This is a guest post from my friend Darrin over at TheGuyCanCook.com.  I asked Darrin to write a guest post on getting started with cooking, and he asked if he could draw inspiration from Game of Thrones.  My response was, “duh.”  Whether you’ve only seen the show or you’ve read the books, there’s much to learn from the people of Westeros.  Haven’t seen or read them? Shame on you! Go check out this awesome story, then come back.  Take it away Darrin!

“Winter is coming.”

The motto of House Stark – and it’s really more of a warning – sets the tone for everyone in a Game of Thrones.  The epic series, A Song of Ice and Fire, focuses on the struggle for power between the great families of the seven kingdoms.

But mysterious forces threaten the entire world as well, and the daughter of an overthrown king plots her return from exile…and she’s bringing dragons with her.

This legend is much like what you will experience when you start to learn how to cook healthy food for yourself:

• Like the war between the royal families, it can feel like a brutal struggle for power.
• You will face what feels like other worldly forces that will try to hold you back from what you want.
• But, if you take action, you can rise up from the ashes and win the throne for yourself.

Allow me to explain…

Slay Your Fear

“The man who fears losing has already lost. Fear cuts deeper than swords.”
-Arya Stark

In Game of Thrones, many characters face their fears over and over again. As a result, they change. They get better. They live more epic lives.

And you want your life to be an epic story, right?

Most people don’t cook because of one thing: they are scared of it:

• We are afraid of spending money on kitchen gear we don’t know how to use.
• We are afraid of trying new foods.
• We are afraid of ruining a meal.

We are terrified of trying something new and failing.

Where cooking was once an essential skill that was passed on from generation to generation, the success of the prepackaged food industry means that expertise in food preparation is now as rare as knowing how to wield a sword.

Fear is a good thing. It is a sign that you are getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new.

And it is only by trying new things that you will truly develop and get what you want in life.

You may be afraid of learning how to cook, but you’ll never be able to learn and grow while it is holding you back. And the “failures” you have along the way will only help to increase the speed that you learn to cook.

Here’s a step-by-step method to conquering any fear:

1. Acknowledge that you are feeling fear.
2. Ask yourself if that fear is holding you back from something you want.
3. If the answer is yes, use your 20 seconds of courage and roll the dice.

If you are dedicated to learning a new skill, you will conquer your fear only when you decide to confront it head-on. It will never go away on its own.

If Sam Tarly can kill a White Walker, then you can certainly suck it up and cook a meal!

Eat Like a Medieval Warrior

“The eight soon-to-be brothers feasted on rack of lamb baked in a crust of garlic and herbs, garnished with sprigs of mint, and surrounded by mashed yellow turnips swimming in butter… There were salads of spinach and chickpeas and turnip greens, and afterward bowls of iced blueberries and sweet cream.”

In the novels, food plays a starring role.

From great feasts to humble breakfasts, every meal is described in rich detail.

So we can see that the warriors of the Seven Kingdoms eat a lot of plants and animals, but no ultra-processed foods.  Believe it or not, there weren’t many vending machines in King’s Landing.

Although Game of Thrones is set in a fictional world, it is based on historical human civilizations, and the characters eat the same foods humans did 800 years ago.

Up until recently, eating unhealthy was impossible. Healthy food was literally the only stuff that was available!

But these days, our food system has moved away from fields and farms and to factories and laboratories. We are now getting a massive amount of our energy from things like sugar, white flour, and seed oils, things our Medieval ancestors wouldn’t have had the opportunity to consume.

While the debate rages on over what specific diet is ideal for everyone, one fact remains: switching from heavily-processed “food products” to fresh REAL FOOD is the most important change you can make with the way you eat.

Here’s a quick Real Food primer:

• Vegetables and protein should make up a big portion of your diet.
• Fruit, eggs, nuts, and seeds are all solid sidekicks.
• Grains, beans, and dairy are optional, but you might want to experiment to see if a Paleo-type diet without them works best for you.
• Natural herbs, spices, sauces, and even sweeteners are best used in moderation, enhancing your food rather than taking over.
• Signs that your food isn’t Real Food include: it makes bold health claims (seriously!), it contains unrecognizable ingredients, and it contains a dozen ingredients or more. Eat at your own risk!

Now, if you’re going to eat like a Medieval warrior…you’re gonna need to learn how to cook a few good meals.

Be the Sword and the Fire

“Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night’s Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”
-Oath of the Night’s Watch

The Night’s Watch is the society of men whose job is to defend a massive wall protecting all seven kingdoms from northern invaders.

Learning how to cook means becoming two things, both of which can be found in the oath of the Night’s Watch:

• The Sword in the Darkness – knowing how to cut up meat, vegetables, and other fresh food (without losing a finger)
• The Fire That Burns Against the Cold – knowing how to heat ingredients up until they are edible (and tasty!)

That’s it.

For all of the fear surrounding learning how to cook healthy food, it boils down to just these two basic skills.

To be the sword in the darkness, you must learn these five basic knife skills:

1. Peeling–Removing the outer layer of a vegetable (carrots, potatoes).
2. Slicing–Creating thin pieces of veggies (celery, carrots, onions, peppers).
3. Dicing–Creating large cubes or squares (onions, peppers, potatoes).t
4. Chopping–Roughly cutting (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage).
5. Mincing–Like chopping, but ending up with smaller pieces (garlic).

To be the fire that burns in the darkness, you must learn how to use heat in the four basic cooking methods:

1. Roasting–Heating food slowly in a closed environment.
2. Frying–Heating food quickly in an open environment.
3. Boiling–Heating food in boiling liquid.
4. Steaming–Heating food in the steam of boiling liquid.

Once you have learned the five knife skills and the four heating skills, you can literally cook up a tasty and healthy meal no matter what ingredients you have on hand.

“But how can I learn them?”

The best way to learn these skills is by learning how to cook your favorite meals from scratch.

I’m a big believer in learning things slowly as you need them. Choose JUST ONE healthy meal that you could eat over and over again. Google the directions, buy the necessary ingredients, and then make it as often as you can. Learn from your mistakes. Get better. Get faster.

Then learn how to make another meal.

Master your knife and cooking skills by making the kinds of foods you like to eat anyway.

Here are some examples of good meals for beginners to learn:

• Pot roast with mashed potatoes
• Roast chicken with roots and tubers
• Grilled steak and veggies
• Chili
• Chicken and rice soup
• Salmon and asparagus
• Beans and rice
• Barbecued ribs, baked beans, and cole slaw
• Epic Salads
• Scrambled eggs, bacon, and home fries

Start with one thing – just learn that one thing!

Play the Game of Thrones to Win

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”
-Cersei Lannister

In Westeros, many people are warring over who is to be king. And this is to say nothing of the forces growing both north and across the seas to strike against the Seven Kingdoms.

Ultimately, everyone is fighting so that they can rule themselves, rather than serving someone else.

This skill something you must work hard to win and constantly be on guard to keep. It means you have earned the right to live the life you want, on your own terms.

Most of the food you find in a box, a bag, or a can is garbage, and the manufacturers are battling for the prize of getting you hooked on stuff that will make you unhealthy and out of shape (while making them rich).

When you play the game of thrones, play it to win.

Put yourself and your health first. Not the bottom line of food and supplement companies.

Commit to learning how to cook healthy food.

Do it despite your fears. Learn how to prepare and cook meals from scratch. Eventually it will become second nature. And instead of opting for a microwave dinner or going through the drive thru, it will be easier to just reheat some leftover pot roast or quickly whip up some baked chicken and asparagus.

Over time, you will notice that you start looking better, feeling better, and living better.

And all this without the pain of trying to starve yourself, the agony of tracking calories, or the horror of a diet of protein shakes, egg white omelettes, and unseasoned oatmeal.

Winter is coming…

Darrin Carlson is runs TheGuyCanCook.com where he teaches normal people like you and me to stop being afraid of the kitchen. Check out his Kitchen Hacking Manifesto for more tips.  

###

Today’s Rebel Hero: Bronwyn who has gone from overweight and unhappy to powerlifting supermom in a matter of months:

From Bronwyn: “I went in my third powerlifting competition yesterday, at PTC Brisbane, and got 2nd place trophy. That’s two trophies now for my shiny new collection! (The other was the deadlift comp.) Who would’ve thought I’d ever get trophies for a sports competition of any kind? I was always the short asthmatic who got picked last for any given sports team in school.

Attached are some photos of my 110kg deadlift, and here’s me with my shiny new trophy. All in my NF t-shirt! Shiggles from NF forum took the photos, and CruellaT’Kill from the forum also went in the competition, her first one ever, and she had a blast!

You know what I like? My trophy photo. Take a close look. There’s muscles!

Congrats Bronwyn!!

Want to be the next Rebel Hero? Take a photo of you doing something epic in your Nerd Fitness gear and send it to contact@nerdfitness.com so we can feature you on the site!

Photo: winterfell map, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Flame, Kings Landing, Tyrion

Feel free to imagine me yelling that headline like Steve Carrell in Anchorman.

I have a lot of really freaking fun stuff to announce today, so you’re getting a special Tuesday article, because I love you that much. Yes, you.

Before I start to ramble on about who knows what (and lord knows I do plenty of that), let’s jump right into the good stuff!

Paleo Central on Android

Finally!

After hundreds of “Kamb, get your act together” emails over the past few months from Rebels with Androids, I’ve finally gotten my act together and programmed Paleo Central for Android all by MYSELF!

Hahaha, totally kidding,I’m a gamer nerd, not a programmer nerd.

I DID, however, hire a great company to build the Android version, and it looks freaking awesome and works flawlessly.

Paleo Central is now available on iTunes AND Google Play Store AND Amazon Marketplace for just 99 cents.

Even Macklemore would think that’s a bargain

Paleo Central, one of the best selling and best rated Paleo Diet apps, has been downloaded close to 30,000 times for iPhone, and has nearly 200 4-star and 5-star ratings. Check out what Paleo Central users are saying:

“I am just starting to eat paleo, and this is the perfect app for figuring out exactly what is Palei and what is not. All you have to do is type in the food item and it tells you if it’s paleo or not.  It’s much better thank googling every ingredient, and it has a great list of foods sorted by category. I am so happy I found this app!!!

“Freaking awesome. Straight forward and so easy to use that it’s helped stop me at the last possible second from cramming crap foods into my cake hole. And it has some entertaining commentary to boot. Nice work.” 

“I’ve been looking for an app like this forever! Thanks NF for making my year! So easy to use, great database and always growing and improving. Hooray!”

If you happen to pick up this app for iPhone or Android in the near future, or you already did, I’d be eternally grateful if you left a review and rating of the app.

We’re still hard at work cooking up new features that we’ll launch on both iPhone and Android – so you can expect the app to get better and better and better!

Performance Racing Tanks!

The Rebellion asked for them.

Some Rebels asked for them repeatedly.

Well, they’re now available!  Get your Nerd Fitness superhero racing tanktop today for $22.99!

We know most Nerd Fitness Rebels already FEEL like superheroes, so we figure it’s time for us to start dressing like true superheroes as well.

These shirts will give you superhuman strength, x-ray vision, and supersonic speed. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

Grab your Nerd Fitness superhero men’s performance racing tanktop, printed on incredibly soft and high quality New Balance apparel, today for $22.99.  Just be prepared to be more awesome than expected while wearing it.  

Texas Rebels rule!

Look, it’s a real life tribe of Nerd Fitness Rebels out in the wild down in Texas: Wicked Pixie (owner of the first Nerd Fitness tattoo), BigM, Page, Robin (Hammi!), Devyn and Rachael!  

Congrats to those that ran (including 50by25, not pictured) and a huge THANK YOU to those that came out just to cheer them on! Plus, it looks like a freaking Nerd Fitness rebel gear catalogue photo!

All joking aside, it’s stuff like this that makes me beyond proud to be a member of the Nerd Fitness community.  I have honestly never encountered such a supportive, kind, and amazing group of people anywhere in the galaxy.

Thanks for being you. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being there for each other

FOR THE REBELLION!

Live Q&A

I want to try something new this Thursday evening. I wanna chat.

Every time I get a chance to hang out and chat with Rebels either in person or online, I have way too much fun and end up laughing my ass off.

This Thursday starting at 7pm CST, I’ll be doing a free Q&A live on the INTERNET! (Ever heard of it?)   I’ll be reading your questions and answering them live on video.

We’re still working out the technical details, but you won’t have to pay for anything or sacrifice your first born to attend, just come hang out Look for an announcement in Thursday’s article and on our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout the day.

If you haven’t noticed, I can pretty much talk about, relate to, and discuss practically anything – so bring your questions: fitness, diet, and video games, Star Wars trivia, and anything else.  I’ll try to keep the bad language and corny jokes to a minimum, but no promises.

Hopefully you can make it, we can have some fun, and this can become a regular thing!  

More to Come…

At the moment, I feel like a human cannonball, waiting to get launched after spending the past three months quietly packing as much gunpowder in as possible.

Starting in a few weeks, you’ll see a slew of new announcements, projects, updates, and upgrades to practically everything on Nerd Fitness: Look out for new free features and updates, along with a premium product or two.  Don’t worry, you’ll still see free articles every week and the message boards will remain a free haven for all Rebels.

On to the projects!  I can’t spill ALL of the beans just yet, but I can mention a considerable number of them:

I spent the past week with Chase Reeves, a great friend and one HECK of a designer, out in San Francisco, CA.  I’m going to guess you can figure out what we’re working on, but don’t be surprised if Nerd Fitness looks a bit different soon.  I wish I could show you a preview, but this redesign has me incredibly fired up, as it makes the site WAY more responsive, much simpler, and still keeps the NF nerdiness.

Remember Rising Heroes, our live action MMO?  We’re still hard at work in development, and although we’re still a long way from its potential, we already have close to 200 people beta testing it!  Our interest list has a few thousand people looking to get in on the beta and we’ll be announcing more details next month explaining how people can get a chance to join us in the fight for Arcadea’s future!

NF Team member Staci and I are hard at work on a fitness program designed specifically for women looking to get started with strength training.  I promise the program will be full of the NF charm, well researched information, inspirational content, and answers to every question you’ll have relating to women and strength training (can you guess what part Staci will be writing?).  Keep an eye out for this in early June.

And one final secret project that will remain a surprise until we announce it in a few weeks  Don’t worry, I know you’ll love it.

So, rather than selling the company to a conglomerate, I think I’m just gonna do everything I can to make Nerd Fitness the best damn website on the internet instead.  Sound good? I’m so excited for the future of the Rebellion, and I’m glad you’re here helping me make things even better.

Thanks for reading Nerd Fitness - I feel honored that I get to wake up every morning and focus completely on making this place better; thank you for that opportunity, I’ll do everything I can to make sure I continue to earn your attention and your time.

And we’re just scratching the surface.

Next stop: Nerd world domination!

-Steve

###

photo source: anchorman, old radio, human cannonball