There is nothing wrong with either of those scenarios as long as you know what you want and are training accordingly. Don’t just follow some exercise or nutrition trend because its hot right now as it might be counter-intuitive and actually slow down your progress. I always say if you want to perform train for performance, If you want to look like a model train like one, If you want to look like a boxer train like one etc… Personally when I have a high fashion model client I never train them cross-fit style. I would destroy their physique with nothing but heavy squats, overhead pressing and pull-ups. Alternatively if I got a women who wanted to get physically stronger and perform better for her line of work as a stunt double then cross-fit might be the perfect style of training. Those statements might ruffle some Cross-fit feathers but any Pro Fitness Trainer knows them to be true. I have to know what my clients intentions and goals are then train them accordingly. I cant just dump my ideas and goals onto to my clients just because I personally like to train a specific way. Watch out for this when looking for a trainer as i see this often!

The key is knowing your intention! Do you need or want to be lean, strong, balanced, agile & flexible? If so then cross-fit is not your thing. Yoga and functional training is more your thing. Do you need brute strength, performance, a challenge and are competitive in nature…awesome cross-fit is probably perfect for you. Are you really stressed out, have anxiety, tight and cant imagine giving anymore of your valuable energy away right now…then concentrating on your nutrition, meditation and Yin yoga is where its at for you my friend.

In order for trends to stay alive, continue to gain followers and make more money they tend to continually promote themselves as the only system you will ever need usually while bashing all other forms of training. I dont know about you but I like to add all kinds of elements into my training. I like a little cardio, some circuit training, lots of heavy lifting and tons of flexibly/balance training etc…this is how I feel and look the best. Could I use a little meditating on a cloud once and a while…maybe. Could I use a little more on the verge of barfing training to spice things up…maybe. My focus has always been on feeling good and looking good so personally I’ve found a nice balance, but hey we are all different.

There is no “one diet” that works for everyone just as there also is no “one style of training” that will work for everyone. We all have different genetics, lifestyles, levels of stress and goals. Once we determine what are intentions and goals are then we can make the right decision for what kinds of exercise will work best for us. Try not to get sucked in by trends as not all trends are healthy for you. Try a few things out, see what feels best then make your decision. Remember, trends come and go. A few years from now a new trend will be hitting hard. Are you going to jump from trend to trend or choose a mix of modalities that will keep you feeling healthy, fit, strong and flexible for life?

Balance is the key my friends…this is the Yin/Yang way…it’s also the Jade Way :)

Namaste
Jade

Ok lets get started…Take a tape measure and measure around your waist at the belly button level. Centimeters is usually the easiest to keep track of. Also weigh yourself. Write the numbers down and follow this advice for the next 4 weeks then re-measure/weigh. You can thank me later.

Remove these 4 white devils from your diet for 4 weeks. Flour, Salt, Sugar and pasteurized dairy (yes pretty much all dairy). Here is why:

The foods (I should say non foods) we eat today cause massive amounts of stress on our digestive systems. In return the reaction is bloating and stomach distend (enlargement from inflammation). Most people are holding water weight and have bloated inflamed stomachs making them think they are fatter than they actually are.

The Flour/Grains we eat including whole grains are processed to the point of acting like sugar when eaten. They crank your insulin levels and trigger your body to store fat. They don’t digest well causing all kinds of inflammation in your digestive system…you guessed it your stomach will stick/puff out.

Sugar in general will make you fat but the white stuff is pretty much the worst. It contains zero nutrients, minerals or enzymes…it is completely empty calories. When you eat empty displacement foods your body will actually borrow nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the crap you just ate. Plus it triggers your body to store fat like crazy. Lovely.

The Dairy we consume has been pasteurized in order to remove bacteria and increase shelf life…problem is when you pasteurize something you also kill all the enzymes in the food that are needed to break down and digest that food. If you don’t digest a food properly it sits in your stomach and pretty much ferments/rots making you bloated and causing a ton of other health issues. Great for the waistline…not! If you must have dairy use full fat milk/cream in your coffee and full fat organic yogurt when needed.

Normal Salt/sodium chloride has had all its trace sea minerals removed and is pretty much just blood pressure increasing poison. Stick to sea salts only!

I could go on forever on those 4 non food items but let’s just keep it simple for today.

Also make sure to drink half your body weight in ounces of clean filtered water each day and get 8 hours of sleep each night during this test. Tap water is technically safe to drink but guess what…it’s chlorinated. Chlorine’s job is to wipe out bacteria good or bad. Remove too much good bacteria from your stomach and the bad bacteria take over.

It doesn’t matter if you believe what I’ve just told you… It’s the truth. Take the blinders off, step out of your comfort zone and stop listening to mainstream media on how to lose weight and get healthy. I have just given you some tools to lose weight, decrease your waistline, increase your energy and make you healthier in a very short time frame…it’s now up to you to try it.

This is the same technique I use on my clients and have for years with amazing success!

Make this your healthiest year!

Jade

#1. Intention. First off ask yourself “what do I want”? “Why do I want this”? “How bad do I want this”? And “what am I willing to do in order to achieve it”? Write these questions and answers down somewhere…even if it’s just in the notes application on your phone. As cheesy as this sounds this is an important step. There is a good chance you’ll have to read this back to yourself when you are having a low motivation day. Knowing your intention is an important step in any resolution.

#2. Sleep. Without enough sleep you won’t have the energy to hit the gym. You also won’t be recovering properly from your workouts once you get started. Don’t listen to those idiots who tell you you’ll live longer with less sleep. You don’t get bigger, stronger, faster or leaner in the gym. This happens after exercise only with the proper rest and nutrition. Train hard without enough sleep (8 hours) and not only will you see very little results you can actually gain unwanted fat!

#3. Water. Odds of you losing fat if you aren’t hydrated properly is pretty much zilch. You are made of more than 60% water so don’t expect your body to function properly when your tank is empty. Drink half your bodyweight in ounces per day to be properly hydrated (for most people that is 2+ litres). Coffee, milk, juice or caffeinated tea doesn’t count…and avoid any kind of flavoured or vitamin types of water as they are full of sugars, artificial sweeteners, colors & dyes and very cheap low quality vitamins (basically garbage). Also the number one cause of fatigue during the day is dehydration. Want more energy during the day, drink more water. Simple right?

#4. Sugar. This simple carbohydrate will have your energy fluctuating all over the place during the day and pack on the fat faster than you can imagine. Avoid all added sugars and just go for naturally occurring sugars if you need a fix (fruit etc…) watch your fruit intake though as it’s easy to consume even too much fruit sugar! Also avoid all juice unless it’s made fresh right in front of you. Once the juice has been squeezed from a fruit it oxidizes very fast and becomes basically flavoured sugar water…remember what I said about flavoured water?

#5. Food Quality. Ok this one sounds like a no brainer “eat healthy” right? Well yes but I have a challenge for you. Going forward I want you to make a shift in how you look at food. Most people make food decisions based on how much time they have, how hungry they are or how much money they have. Instead ask yourself “what kind of energy (life force) is this food I’m about to eat going to give me”? Almost every cell in your body gets rebuilt and replaced over the course of a year based on the nutrition you put into it. You literally are what you eat. When you sit down and eat a fast food meal full of processed garbage your cells, your thoughts and your energy in return become garbage…you essentially become garbage. What do you think the odds are of you wanting to make healthy decisions like hitting that yoga class after work when you’ve put garbage into your body all day…not likely. So I ask you how much energy do you think a protein smoothie is going to give you vs. a Starbucks breakfast, a salad vs. a Tim Horton’s lunch or a burger and fries vs. a homemade stir-fry dinner? Here’s a tip: If the food you are about to eat is a processed food then you’ll gain low energy/life force from it. If it’s a whole food then real energy/life force is what you’ll gain from it.

By this time next year you’ll be a completely new you whether you like it or not. Luckily we have a choice of what we’d like to be made of. Try these 5 tips for 21 days in order to create them as new habits and this will be the year those resolutions we keep promising ourselves happen!

Namaste

Jade