THROUGH HIS EYES

Yesterday I had this experience that I want to share with you guys. It’s not fitness related but, it has made an impact on my life just like fitness has. This is going to take a second so please bear with me. Saturday, I decided to make my dog an appointment to get his monthly grooming. Yes, I groom my dog, and yes he needed it :-). My groomer lives next to me and I see her all the time, but when I went into her shop there was an older white gentleman sitting behind the desk. He looked up and said hello and came from around the desk. He was in a wheelchair. He called my dog over and started petting him, while my silly dog started licking him all over the face. He looked at me and grabbed my hand really tight. He was acting like I was the only person he had seen since he was born. Then he told me I was handsome and started rubbing my arm. At this point I was like “What the hell?”.  I tried to get my hand back but he wouldn’t let me go. He said come with me, I want to show you something. He takes me by my hand to the front of the shop to look out the windows. He said “Isn’t the sky just beautiful?” It was really big puffy white and black storm clouds, with just small hints of blue sky showing. To me it wasn’t pretty at all. It was about to be a mess out there. My groomer comes from the back of her shop and tells the man that I am one of the neighbors. She then tells me that the man is her father. I told him that it was nice to meet him and that he is one of the nicest people that I have ever met and he is welcome at my place anytime. I said to him that when he sees me out in the neighborhood to please say hello. He said that would be great, but he doesn’t know how much longer on this earth he has. He then pulls this cord up from his side and sticks this thing up under his nose. He then proceeds to tell me that he has terminal lung cancer and he’s not going to be here too much longer. I looked up at his daughter and her eye’s start to tear up and her face started to get a little red. She told her dad to let me go so I could go on about my day. He smiled with the biggest smile and said it was it nice meeting me. As I was heading out the door I heard him say to his daughter how beautiful it was outside today.

There are lots of lessons to be learned in life but human beings seem not to get them at all. This man taught me one. Sitting in my car I started to think about how I would feel if I knew that I was not going to be on this earth much longer.  Imagine what it would be like if you knew you would never see another sunrise or sunset. If you’d never get another chance to eat your favorite food, hug or kiss the person you love the most, talk to your parents or parents talk to your children. If you’d never play your favorite sport, have a glass of wine, go shopping at your favorite place, read a book, see a movie, smell the air, see another black person, see another white person, see another Latino, see another Asian, SEE ANOTHER DOG, SEE ANOTHER STORM CLOUD, SHAKE ANOTHER PERSONS HAND, etc. This list goes on. If we knew the end was near, we would appreciate everything we came across and that’s exactly what this gentleman was doing. In our society today we have so many things that are separating us as a people. Things like money, poverty, race, religion, politics, gender, social status, etc. It’s just plain stupid and we can’t seem to figure it out. I’m telling all of us this because it would be a waste of life to get all the way to your last days on this earth and realize that what I am saying is true and then finally start to live for once. This man, in that quick interaction taught me that. I just wish that I had the ability to let every human being experience what I did and be able to view the world through his eyes. Until next time…..

What kind of student are you?

One day this past week I was working out with a client of mine and she spoke about a lady in her weight loss support group that had started at the same time as she did and has lost more weight than she has. She seemed disappointed. I asked her one simple question. “Are you doing your homework?” She asked what I meant and I shared this little story with her. When I was in high school I had this history class that I did not like at all. I felt it was repetitive. Besides, I had heard all that stuff before. For a whole semester the teacher would give us assignments and I would not do them. I would just wait until I got in class and do whatever work I had there. If we had a test during class I would take it and do really well on it, but other than I wouldn’t do any other work. At the end of the semester I got a failing grade. I went to the teacher and said it didn’t make any sense because I passed all the tests I had taken in class. The teacher laughed and asked me how in the world did I think that those few A’s I had gotten on the tests would make up for all the bad grades I had gotten on my assignments for not turning in my homework. It was at that moment I realized he had a point. Haha!  We had homework every night and tests once a week. I had to bust my butt for the rest of the school year to get that grade up.

As a personal trainer I look at my job as if I am A teacher. When you come to work out you’re in my classroom. I’m going to give you a lesson every time that you show up. You’ll work hard and feel accomplished when you leave. The only thing is that when you leave, you do the assignment that I give you. Now, the assignment will consist of very simple things for you to do. You need to eat healthy meals, drink plenty of water, and exercise. I know that if you do these things you’ll have success. It’s great that you do well when you are in class with me, but just like me not doing my assignments outside of class, you are destined to fail if you don’t complete your homework. 4,5, or 6 hours a week of exercise will not make up for eating bad unhealthy food and not drinking enough water all week. You will never be able to “out train” a bad diet. I wish that I could follow every one of my clients around and make sure they eat healthy and exercise all the time, but we all know that’s not possible. Since it’s not, an individual most take personal responsibility and be diligent about doing what they are supposed to do outside of the gym to reach their goals. You get out of your program what you put into your program. If you do the bare minimum, then you will get the bare minimum results. If you find yourself not making as much progress as you want, you may have to ask yourself this question. “What kind of student am I?”  

THE REWARDS OF 25 CENTS

I realize I can never just have a normal day. The fact that I understand that is the reason why  nothing ever surprises me that much. Luckily, I use my blog from time to time to share it with you guys. This is my event from today and I just had to tell the people who read my blog about it. I hope you enjoy it, just as much as I did experiencing it.

Today, like ever Sunday,is my food prep day! I gotta eat! In order to keep myself from blowing up I have to have food prepared during the week for me to eat so it takes all the guess work out of trying to figure out what to eat thats healthy. One of my favorites places to go to shop is Aldi. If you've never been you need to go at least once. The cost of the food there is very reasonable, and their bottled water is very cheap. This store is different in the fact that when you go to get a shopping cart you have to put a quarter in it to get the cart free to use. You get the quarter back when you return the cart  to the place where you got it from. Normally, when I leave out from that store I try not to get the quarter back and just hand off my cart to a person that is on their way inside. I always say to the person I give the cart to "This is a gift from me to you." I always get a big ol smile and a thank you. Well today something different happened. I came out with my cart and I saw an elderly lady coming up with her 25 cents. I stopped her and told her that she could have my cart. She tried to give me her quarter but I refused and told her it was a gift from me to her. The lady asked me why I was being so nice and I told her I was always this nice. She said she needed someone to be nice to her today and starting crying a little outside the store. I was so confused but I wanted the lady to stop crying because people were looking at me like I did something to the lady. So, me being the silly person I am, I told her I really wanted to be nice to her. I pulled out one of the bananas I had bought and said here is a gun for you to have. Haha! She smiled through the tears and laughed a little. I asked her why she was so sad. She told me that she is a mother of two adult children. One was living in Texas and the other was living in California. They were supposed to come and spend the weekend with her but her daughter has a sick child and couldn't come and her son's job had some sort of emergency so he couldn't come either. I said they will just come next weekend then. She said that today was the anniversary of her husband's death. He passed last year on today. I was speechless. I told her I was so sorry. She said it has been rough on her all day and that me being nice to her really just made her lose it. She asked my named and I said it's Emmanuel. Her eyes filled with tears again and she said that that was her late husbands name also. I told her to hold a second. I went and put my groceries in the car and told her I would go with her in the store to help her shop. I had stuff I needed to get done, but I felt like that I bumped into this lady for a reason...

The point of me telling you this story is to hopefully show that even the smallest random act of kindness can mean the world to someone. I gave this lady a shopping cart and ended up feeling just as good or better than when I work out. I look at the news lately and see all this killing and people being angry at each and it's like we all have turned into wild animals. We've forgotten how to show empathy and love one another. We are all human beings, even though we've forgotten how to be human. I challenge everyone who reads this to do some small random act of kindness for your fellow man. I don't care if it is just as simple as holding a door open for someone when you go in a store to shop. You never know whose life you can affect in a positive way. I helped this lady to the car with her stuff and she gave me a big hug. We will probably never see each other again, but doing something nice for this lady made me feel as good as I figure I made her feel. The rewards of 25 cents can be awesome. Until next time people.. Rest in peace Mr. Emanuel...

Become a Phoenix (Life as I see it and motivation to keep going)

Normally, I try to keep most of my blogs about fitness and eating healthy and within that there is another hidden meaning. Well, this time it's going to be mostly motivational stuff because I think that is what's needed this time around. What made me want to write this is something that happened when I was at a store recently. I was in line with my stuff and there was a conversation going on at the counter. The guy who was checking out was talking about how July 2015 was a horrible month for him. The guy who was checking him out said "It was bad for me too". The next guy in line said the same thing. There was a lady pushing a cart by and heard the conversation and said me too. I started thinking to myself about how this past month was for me and to be damn sure July was horrible for me also. It got quiet and we all looked around at each other. It was just like a scene from a movie when something dramatic happens and everyone gets a chill. If you're reading this, think about this past month and ask yourself was it unusually crappy for you. Did that girl/guy you love start acting kind of funny? Did that co-worker that was getting close to getting on your last nerve finally reach that last nerve? Was your boss acting like that had lost their mind this month? Did you get fired or laid off? Family members acting crazy? Car broke down? Spouse do something stupid? Etc.. I know it happened because it happened to damn near every person I asked over the past of weeks. It came in waves. If you heard about something bad happening to someone, the next thing you knew it hit you. A lady in that store said that Venus was in retrograde and that's why all this stuff was happening. I don't know that much about all that astrology stuff, but I do have a different insight on what's really going on.

Try to follow me with this one. If you don't get it, it's totally fine. I know someone will get it and that's the most important thing and hopefully it will help them through this tough time. "Life!" Life is a beautiful thing. If you are living and breathing then it's a miracle that you are here. It takes so many different biological and chemical reactions to make life, and it has to be damn near perfect for it to succeed. My personal belief is that we were given the life that we have because we were chosen to be happy.  We were also given free will to make decisions and do things. All living things experience pain, and when that pain happens it throws off our happiness. In order for us to make that happiness return when we are in pain things must be corrected. Look at our planet for instance. Our big huge lovely planet. Believe it or not, it is alive. We don't take care of it like we should and do things to harm it at times. When we don't take care of it and do bad things to throw off it's happiness  natural disasters occur. Floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.. These things have been known to take out whole cities at times. Once it's done our planet is back to being happy. Blue skies and sunshine all around. It corrected the mistake we made on it. Take yourself for example. You go about your daily routine and lets say a fly flies around your head. It annoys the crap out of you so you swing at and it goes away. It may even sit on you and you never even feel it. Now, let say a mosquito sits on you. If it sits on you for long enough, you're going to get bitten and it's going to hurt. That mosquito just threw off your happiness, so what do you do? You swat that sucker and brush him off! You put some ointment on to keep it from itching too bad and then your happiness is restored. You corrected that problem.

I tend to look at life itself like living human being versus something I can't see but i know it exists because I'm living it. We go about our lives making decisions here and there not knowing that we are causing harm to our self  and putting into place things that are going to upset our happiness. We think we are doing the right thing but, we can't be sure. We just use our free will and go forth. For example, we took that job that seemed really good, we started dating that guy/girl we thought we could have something with, we kept taking that co-workers crap etc. Then all of a sudden life steps in and changes things because we made choices that are going to disrupt the happiness in our lives. When this happens it just like a natural disaster to some, but there is no need to worry. The reason why this is happening is because life has your back. When your life has burst into flames and turned to ashes, that is when you should BECOME A PHOENIX. A Phoenix is a mythical bird that bursts into flames and turn to ashes but miraculously arises from it's own ashes just as strong and powerful as ever. That is what we must do in order to survive and live a happy life. As I stated before that's what I was believed it was designed for anyway. So, when life seems to be tough for you, don't get all sad and down. You should feel thankful that life is correcting your mistakes in order to put you back on track to a happy life. How do I know this is true you may ask? Are you not just fine
now that all that bad stuff has happened? :-)  Until next time....

THE CRYING BABY EFFECT

It's been a little while since I've posted anything, but I got an email from someone who  had read some of my blogs and found them interesting to read. It's kind of scary that someone finds my babbling interesting. Haha! Since they were so ready to read some more I decided to write something for them and anyone else who cares to read it. If you've been around me for a while you have heard me talk about this before. If you haven't then here goes.

About a week and a half ago I had to opportunity to spend some time with this beautiful little baby girl. She is so cute! She's probably the happiest baby I've ever seen. Kids at that age are so sweet, but they are so helpless. When she gets hungry someone has to feed her because she can't feed herself, nor can she move fast enough to cover long distances in a short period of time. Someone has to come and physically pick her up to move her. Even though she is helpless she still lives her life care free. If you don't keep a close eye on her she may pick something up that could be dangerous to her and start playing with it or put it in her mouth. She may crawl under something that may fall and crush her, but it's not her fault because she knows nothing of the dangers that this world has to offer. She's just happy to be moving around. Then the inevitable happens, the baby poops on itself. Infants hate that feeling! They hate it so much that they start crying and pitching a fit until what? Mommy or daddy rushes in to change the diaper and drys the baby's tears and then that care free life that baby once enjoyed is restored. Not so bad being a baby huh?

Even though we are adults we like to act as though we are baby's sometimes. What do I mean? We try to live our lives care free just as we did when we didn't know any better. We go places we know we shouldn't go even if it is dangerous. We put things into our mouths that shouldn't be there. We act like we are unable to do certain things(for example workout) when all we have to do is just do it. Then the inevitable happens, we end up in some shit. Just like the baby, some of us adults like to sit there and cry about it like we didn't know what was going to happen when we knew full well what was going to happen. You know if you go places you are not supposed to, something bad will happen eventually. You know if you put bad things into your mouth and not doing enough physical activity you're going to gain weight or get sick. An adult looks at the situation and says "I'm in this situation, I need to do something!" The adult that is having the "crying baby effect" will just sit there and whine and cry about how life isn't fair and want to blame everybody else except themselves. The sad part is they will sit there like a baby and hope for someone to rush in and save the day. It just isn't going to happen. You are the adult, you have to take responsibility for your own actions. I'm not saying not feel sorry for yourself and shed a tear once you get into some shit. God knows that I can throw some real good pity parties myself. Hahaha! The difference is I don't throw them for very long. I set forth a plan of action to clean the mess up. The whole point is to take responsibility for the decisions you made that had you end up where you are. When that helpless baby is sitting in its own poop it's so pitiful to see. When an adults sits in its own mess and has the ability to clean himself/herself up and just sits there like they cant, its not pitiful. It's disgusting! If you sit in for too long...... Just like the baby would, you'll end up with a rash... CLEAN UP YOUR MESS! Until next time....

Experiment over!

I'm going to get right on into it since I'm writing this on 1 hour of sleep and I'm irritable right now. In celebration of the new year that's coming I decided to conduct a little experiment on myself. I had this brilliant idea to see what it's like to eat a little junk food and have minimal exercise for a week. I wanted to see how it felt. I was trying to recreate what it's like for a person that half way does what they are supposed to when it comes to their health and physical fitness. The first couple of days were ok. No major change. I even got out and ran on the 3rd day just for the hell of it. I ran just 3 miles to get the blood pumping a little bit. I decided I was going to take it all the way to the 1st of    2015. Well, I did not make it! Last night was the worst night ever. First, I had a stomach ache, then I caught the mother of all cramps in my foot, then I couldn't sleep, every negative thought or feeling I could think of was in my  head. It was so bad I had to get up and pray and hope I could go to sleep. It didn't work. I got up at 4a.m. and put on my clothes and went for a jog in the pouring rain to try to wear myself out. I only made it 3 miles and the time was so slow I'm embarrassed to say how long it took me. I just had to get out and do some form of exercise to try to make myself feel normal again.

Our bodies in my opinion are similar to a car. If you drive it, put proper fuel in it, and keep it serviced it'll last a long time. Now imagine taking that car and sitting it in the back yard and letting it  stay there for years at a time. Then when you finally do decide you want to crank it and get it moving you put some fuel in it that has trash or water in it. Do you think that car is going to crank if the battery isn't already dead? If you answered yes then you are fooling yourself. I put bad fuel in my body and let if sit for a week and I feel like garbage. I can just imagine how a sedentary non health eater feels. Look at some of the people that you know around you. Do you know anyone that is constantly in a bad mood or depressed and always in pain and aching? I can almost guarantee that they are mostly sedentary and eat horribly. If they aren't then they just like to complain. In this situation do like I would and tell them to grow up because I'm sure their life really isnt that bad.

The whole point of all this is that bad food and no activity equals a bad attitude and poor health. Good food and activity means better attitude and better health. Plain and simple! Im going to go because I'm starting to feel sick again. Experiment over!!

The Recipe

Another year and another Thanksgiving has passed. Did you eat too much? I'm sure some of us did, but to the ones that didn't. Well done! Well done on practicing self control and eating in moderation. I want to touch on something that I see happen a lot with people who are trying to lose weight. First off, you'll hear some people say that you shouldn't focus on losing weight, but focus on being healthy. Sounds good right? Well it is  if you don't have that much weight to lose, but if you have been struggling with being obese for a long period of time you are going to want to see the pounds on the scale drop. In the initial stages of weight loss for a thinner person the scale really isn't going to move that much but you'll see the changes in your body. If you're obese and  you change your eating habits the scale is going to drop swiftly. Most of this is just water weight that your body has been holding on to. After all that water weight is gone it slows down a lot. Now here is where the issue comes in for most. You're  dropping all this weight in the beginning and now hardly anything. You may do a little exercise here and there but you're still not seeing the results you were getting at the beginning. Also, you may go into a little denial about what you're actually consuming and how much exercise you're doing. The problem is your recipe isn't working anymore...

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately and I realized I'm actually pretty good at it. I've made some things from a recipe book and it was great! I tried to do it again and it just didn't taste the same. Has this ever happened to anyone besides me? I followed the same instructions and it came out totally different than the last time. What I realized is that the slightest little error can throw a recipe off. Unless you are 100% perfect every time the taste could be different. The point of me telling you this is to give an example of how your weight loss recipe can be different from the slightest little changes and result in a not so great weight loss. For example, an unexpected meal out, you ran out of food and had to get something from a snack machine, you drink an extra cup of coffee, you ate a few pieces of candy off your co workers desk, you go out for drinks with your friends etc. Those are just a few thing that will cause a shift in your progress. So, what I want to do now is to give you my recipe for weight loss that will ensure you a great week if you're watching the scale.

1: Keep a food journal
Journaling will keep you honest. Most of the time if you have to write down what you eat it'll keep you from sneaking things you're not supposed to have. If you can't keep a journal then you are not ready to face the fact of what you did to slow your own progress. Whatever plan you decide to follow when it comes to a diet will work as long as you stick to it!

2. Drink water
When I say drink water, I mean drink water! Not coffee, milk, iced tea, fruit punch etc... I mean good old water. You need about 64 ounces at the least. If you're not getting at least that, you can't expect to have continued success. You'll just end up retaining water weight instead of losing it.

3. Exercise
This one is very important! I'm about to give you a little truth here and I know some people won't like it but you need to hear it. What do I  mean when I say exercise? I don't mean going for a walk out in your neighborhood. To me that is just one step above the couch. I'm talking about getting out there and busting your butt. Lifting weights, doing crunches, interval jogging etc.. Something that is going to make you sweat and tighten those muscles up 4-5 times a week for an hour at least. The only times in my opinion that is ok to just walk for exercise is if you have been injured and you are rehabbing or you are very limited with movement. Otherwise, stop being lazy  and do something.

Follow these simple 3 steps and watch your body change and the pounds come off!

It's a journey

I had a conversation with a person I met in the gym about what it takes to accomplish your goals when it comes to being more physically fit. I explained to this person that for me it was a journey. You not only have  to be physically fit but also mentally fit to get to where you want to be. You have to have a strong will or someone behind you who is willing to accept the fact that you are changing and is not threatened by the change that is occurring. Just like any other long journey you would take on foot you will find yourself coming across a lot of obstacles. You just have to keep in mind that at the end of the journey it will all be well worth it.

A lot of mistakes are made when people are on this journey to better their health and fitness. I'm just going to touch on a few of the many that exist. The first one I'm going to talk about is..... "Trying to bring others along for the journey." Only you will know when it's time to make that change to better your physical fitness and health. Until you have made up your mind that it's time to do something it will not happen. You're going to feel so much better about yourself and you're going to want to share that with everyone you know. You may get a compliment or two and people will ask what you are doing. Once you tell peoople what you have been up to you're going to become like an evangelist for what you are doing. You'll invite people along with you to workout and give them advice on eating better but it's not their time yet. It's your journey and not theirs. If you do convince them to follow your lead it won't last long. You'll find yourself on the journey the same way you started.. Alone.

Something else that I see a lot of is.. "Being cheated out of your success by the negativity of others." You want to know if you are progressing on your journey? If you get outside influences trying to stop you from what you're doing. See you may not be able to notice but people around you will. Either your body is starting to change or you're able to move a lot faster or be able to do things physically that some of the people around you can't. All of these things are changes for the better, which ultimately makes you better. Most individuals don't like change and when you start to, for some reason it shakes their worlds up. You may get comments like, "You're obsessed!", "You're crazy!",  "You're losing too much weight!", "You need a real hobby!",  "When do you have time for fun!", "Why can't you eat this!", "You're starving yourself!", "You workout too much!" and one of my favorites of all time. "Your trainer doesn't know what he's doing!" Yeah ok.. Lol! It's times like this where you need to reflect back on what you were doing prior to making all these changes in your life. If you are doing a lot better than what you were then you need to  blow the negativity off you just like blowing a piece of lint off your clothes. If you choose to listen to the negativity and stop you run the risk of having to start all the way back over again with your journey. It's then when you'll realize how far you had come before having to start over again. Trust me, you don't want this for yourself.

Lastly,  "Being able to accept what you have accomplished." Once the journey is done and you're a better person, just being able to accept yourself is very important. I've seen some that are more critical of themselves now than before they started. This type of behavior is just pure insanity almost. Instead of seeing yourself as better you try to point out every flaw you have. Not only do you point it out to yourself but to everyone around you. This is where you need to call a time out for yourself. You've spent all this time being beat up by others on your journey and then when you finish and you beat yourself up. How does that make sense at all? I suggest finding an old picture or an old article of clothes. Look at the picture, try on those clothes, and if you see a difference then you have accomplished something.  If you can't accept that  then all of what you have done was for nothing. Make a vow to yourself that all of your hard work was not in vein and you going to do your best to love yourself and take care of yourself. At the end of the day if you can't love yourself, how can you expect for anyone else to.

There are many other examples I could give but it would take forever to go through them all. One of the reason why I love what I do is because I act as a guide for my clients to keep them on this journey. I've been down this road so I can show you the right way to go. I cant force them to do stay on it, but if you listen you'll get there. It's going to take a while but when you look back you'll be able to tell it was one hell of an awesome journey.

Fitness has a deeper meaning??

I'm going to express my opinion on this subject. I'm going to make sure my mom reads this one. My mom is a minister so I'm sure she is going to have a field day with this and I'm sure she is going to want to discuss this with me. I'll be busy though :-)

I got asked a question from someone who was struggling with getting back on track. They had went away on vacation and had a lot of fun but what they saw on vacation really got them thinking. They saw people who were super fit in the gym most of the time working on their bodies, and afraid to eat anything bad. They saw overweight people afraid to join in. The people who she saw having the best time were average looking people. They were the ones out drinking and eating and having the most fun. She said " This must be what it's like when a Christian doubts the gospel." Well, it's funny she brought that up. I've always said that fitness is a part of religion that hardly anyone ever talks about. You're probably wondering what I'm talking about. Well, just take for a minute and look at 1 Corinthians 6:19. It says 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? Being in the fitness industry that passage really sticks out to me. If you ever listen to any person who is passionate about fitness (trainer, bodybuilder, fitness competitor) you would think these people are a monk, priest, or philosopher. These individuals understand what it means to be one with your body and take care of this beautiful gift from God. We are the holy men/women and our temple is the gym. But just like the church, you have to beware of false prophets in your gym. You got the gym goer that thinks they know everything, and don't know nothing. The trainer who just wants to lock you into a package just to make his monthly quota or the trainer that has no clue what they are talking about. You can't even tell if this person if even certified or not. Some church goers may say you can't feel what we feel by going to church. Well, I beg to differ. I've been in the gym working out so hard that it had blood running clearly through my veins, muscles all pumped up, and chill bumps all over. Was I sick? No, but it felt good and it was like someone there was with me. It's the most awesome feeling ever imaginable. If you've never felt that in the gym then you are doing something wrong. When I left I felt great. The same way most people say they feel after a good church service.

The point of all that was to explain that these "health nuts" are just compelled to take care of their bodies. Taking care of your body in my opinion is one way these people end up getting closer to God. Even if they happen to stumble on to it by accident it doesn't really matter. There is power in taking good care of yourself. It extends life and keeps you out of the hospital if done correctly. People often pray for better health. Well, you've already been given the ability to have it you just need to take advantage of it. Better diet and exercise goes a long way. As for the average looking people enjoying all the food and drinks, it's only a matter of time before the join the ranks of the over weight if they don't change.... Until next time...

Fitness/Life/Awakening

I started to reflect a little on this past week and my thoughts went to some of my new clients. I always find myself saying the same thing to the new ones who have never worked out or haven't worked out in a while. I tell them that they may feel a little soreness the next day, but that second day is going to be much worse. Depending on what you've worked out you may not be able to lift a brush to brush your hair, or you may even have to go to the bathroom and be scared to sit down because you don't know how you're going to get back up. Haha! I can't tell you the number of times that I've been toilet dialed (when a client calls you from the toilet) by a client saying that I better get over there right now to get them up. Some people have walked away after one session because the pain of just moving a little more was too much for them to handle. I then began to ponder about life and how I've heard people on TV say how great life is. To be honest with you it started to make me sick. I think about my recent struggles with life and I don't see it. I have people around me all the time that have struggles with life just like I do. If life is so great how in the hell can it cause you so much pain. In my opinion life is pain. I mean think about it. In order for you to even walk around on this planet you caused someone (your mother during birth) a great amount of pain at some point. Life is so painful at times it makes you just want to check out and just give up! You just get so tired of it all, nothing ever goes right, and every time something good comes along to make you smile, it get destroyed, therefore causing more pain. Sound familiar to anyone?

Fitness to me is one of the best things ever. I love it! Anytime someone asks me about it I can go on and on talking about how great it is. I know I make some people sick sometimes talking about how great it is. I realized that I was worse than some of those people on TV I saw talking about life. Then I had an epiphany. Fitness and Life are so similar. Fitness can cause so much pain that I can understand why some people give up in the beginning stages. I mean seriously, it can be so painful that you would end up having to take a painkiller or get a massage to try to heal yourself. Why would anyone want to cause themselves pain if they can help it? My answer is because of the reward you receive at the end. The more pain that gets inflicted on you now, the better your body will look in the end. You have to put your time in to see the results you want. Then it dawned on me that the people I was seeing on TV had put their time in with life. I'm sure they have been in broken relationships, suffered a death of a pet or family member, loss of a job, have come down with some sort of illness, etc... But instead of giving up on life they just kept doing what they could to get by. I am sure the pain they felt throughout their life was intense but look at them now. If you probably asked them if the pain was worth it they would probably say absolutely! Just like if you asked someone who just won a fitness show if all the pain of working out was worth it they would definitely say yes!

My point is this; in order to receive something great in life and in fitness some pain has to be endured. Just know within yourself that the reason you are feeling such pain, whether in life or in fitness, is because there is something great that is waiting for you on the other side of it all. At the end of it all maybe someone will ask you if the pain was worth it and I can almost guarantee you will respond YES! "The pain is only temporary." Until next time people!

BEAST MODE

I had a rough night last night. I hardly got any sleep because I had so much going on in my head. I'm sure we have all had nights like that. I still managed to get up early and run 3 miles with my first client this morning. It felt great! I relieved a little bit of the tension I was feeling and it relaxed me a little. All was fine and well until I decided to take a little rest. Once I did the tension started to come back in slowly. I then rememebered one of my personal quotes I made last year. "Use your emotions as a catalyst for change in your life.. regardless of if they are good or bad let them fuel your success in whatever it is you want to accomplish." I then proceeded to let all the emotions I was feeling take over. I decided that the best way to deal with all the emotions is to turn them into something positive by working out. I got in the gym, put my headphones in and started to go hard in there. I didn't look at anyone hardly I was just going from exercise to exercise with moderate weight. I wasn't stopping and talking to everyone in the gym. I was focused and I made every rep count. I was leaving all those emotions right there in the gym. I tell people all the time that steel has healing power. It will pull all of the negativity right out of you. As I was leaving this older gentleman stopped me and asked if I was ok. He said I looked like an animal stalking prey today in here. I told him that I was just in beast mode. He said he had never heard of that before and I explained to him my interpretation of what beast mode is.

First, we have the Cheetah. That's when you see people working out hard non stop. You may see someone on the treadmill running or going from exercise to exercise non-stop. Most of my clients who are trying to lose weight can attest to this type of workout. I call it my F.I.S.T. training method. It stands for Focused Intervral Strength Training. But you can tell when someone has been doing it because when the workout is over they are exhausted and their clothes look like they took a shower with their clothes on.


Second, we have the Lion (which is what I was today). The lion is easy to spot. They are usually walking around with their headphones in not looking and smiling at people and holding long conversations over a machine. They train hard and very precise and they stalk the room looking for their next exercise/lifting station just waitng to attack it when the time is right.



Last but not least is the Silver Back Gorilla. These people find the heaviest of heavy weight and muscle it up. You may hear them yell, grunt, or scream but you'll know they are putting forth a maximum amount of power. Don't be surprised if you hear some heavy weights hit the floor. They are not doing it for show, they are just in beast mode. One good example of someone training in this particular mode is one of the most decorated Mr. Olympias there is. I'm talking about THE Ronnie Coleman. What this man does in a gym when it comes to strength and power is just unbelievable.


Regardless of how you train, train hard and make sure you make your time in there count! I don't care which beast it is, always try to train in BEAST MODE. You'll get the most out of your workout.


Here's a youtube video to Ronnie "THE KING" Coleman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSMaI63H9hc

Blurry Vision Or Something More??

Ok! Time to come clean. How many of us ate too much over the Christmas holiday? I'll be the first to say that I did. I had the best intentions of eating pretty good, but my family likes to cook and I like to eat. That's a bad combination just waiting to happen. :-) After making it through the New Year, I looked at my body in a mirror one morning and I could see that I needed to make some changes. I had lost a lot of the definition in my body and just didn't feel good about the way I looked. I told someone close to me that I wanted to drop about 30 pounds. They looked at me like I was crazy. They asked where I wanted to lose it from and told me I was already looking pretty fit. At this point I realized that one of us wasn't seeing something correctly. At that moment I realized that maybe it could be me. I deal with clients all the time that complain about the way they look but they look pretty damn nice by our societies standards. Here are a few examples of what I mean. Just recently I was talking with one of my clients and she was talking about how bad she had been over the Christmas holiday and how she needed to look good and as soon as she got it out of her mouth one of her neighbors looked at her with her mouth wide open and said "Wow, you look so skinny!" She looked at me confused and asked if the lady was talking about me. Another example is one client who swears her butt is a big as a house, but in reality this lady could finish in the top 5 in a fitness show easily. Or, one client who swears she is so obese, but realized after visiting with old high school friends that she is the same size she was in high school and she looked great back then. Just as people see themselves as being overweight it works in the same way with people actually being overweight and seeing themselves as being petite. Have you ever seen someone wear something (male or female) that you know they should not have walked out of the house wearing that was fitting way too tight? I know I have!

I had the opportunity to pick the brain of a psychiatric professional and we discussed these issues and we came to the conclusion that these may be some small traits of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. In layman's terms it means an individual with a skewed perception of their body image. The extreme cases of BDD are those who develop anorexia nervosa or like Michael Jackson and his multiple plastic surgeries.

 I asked the psychiatric professional how does one end up with these symptoms and how can one combat these symptoms. She explained that there is usually a direct correlation with one's self-esteem  in general. Causes of low self esteem often stem back to childhood and adolescence and how one was parented or if one was bullied. Working on self esteem or subsequent body dysmorphia symptoms is not an easy or swift process. It may involve taking a look at people in your life and assessing if they lift you up or keep you down. It may involve enlisting the help of a therapist to assist you in changing the way you think about yourself. But mostly it's engaging in a reality check with yourself that may require assistance from someone who loves you and whom you trust.

After writing about this subject and learning more about this, it really made me take a long hard look at the way I see myself. I realized that I never really gave myself any credit for what I have accomplished with my body thus far. Coming from a background of being extremely overweight to being fit is a massive change. Sometimes, I still look in the mirror and still see that overweight guy. I guess I am still a work in progress like most of us are. If you find that you can relate to this try some of the strategies mentioned in this. Until next time people!

A Long Hiatus

It's been a long time since I've posted anything to my blog. I've had so many things to deal with in the past year that it's a miracle that I'm here now to even write anything. I know most of what I am going to say in this entry has very little to do with what I normally write about but I feel the need to get this out anyway. Please excuse me if it gets too long. You'll have to use your imagination and probably a lot of visualization too to kind of understand this.

Regardless of who you are, you probably have something stressful going on in your life right now. It may be physical, emotional, or spiritual but I am sure there is something. It's basically your own personal hell. Sure you may know people whose situation is a lot worse than yours, but still your own personal hell is specific to you. It's your worst nightmare coming to reality. I was so bad at one point I recall myself being face down on the floor completely naked praying to God for a little help. My prayers went unanswered. As a matter of fact my situation got worse. Anytime someone said they were going to pray for me everything got worse. Use your imagination here with me. Imagine walking along with your best friend in the entire world. All of a sudden you look at your friend and they snarl at you and push you into the deepest darkest pit. On the way down you see the look of utter disgust on your companion's face. The fall seems like it lasts forever. When you finally hit the bottom you are hurt and hurt bad. You are dazed and confused and slowly maneuver your wounded body to the standing position. You think your vision is blurry, but it's so dark you actually can't see a thing. There are small flashes of light here and there but you have no clue what they are so you ignore them and try to figure out why you got pushed down there and second how in the hell you are going to get yourself out. As you stand there quietly you begin to hear voices. You realize that you are not alone and that there are others in the pit with you. Some have been pushed in by people, some have fallen by themselves, and some just woke up and found themselves there. No matter why they are there you decide you are getting out and taking everyone with you out of this pit. Some people have given up and decide they are just going to stay there and wait for someone to get them out, and some decide they are with you on trying to get out on their own. So, you have different ideas on how to get out and they all end like this. Fail, FAil, FAIl, FAIL, FAILL, FAILLL!!! After all the fails, most people give up on you and stop believing in you. Hell, even you stop believing that you are going to make it out. Your heart fills with sadness as tears stream down your face. You are not even sure what is causing the tears. Is it because your are stuck in this pit or that you got pushed in there by someone you cared the world for?

After throwing your own personal pity party and wiping away the tears you realize that the tears cleared your vision. The flashes of light you were seeing earlier were not just flashes of light. They were actually ropes. Ropes from friends who were trying to help get you out. Your vision was blurry because of a little thing called "Pride". All of a sudden you hear a little voice that tells you that you can make it out if you climb with everything you have. Your climb is tough but you can't give up. You stumble a little, slip a little, and even some of the people who are in the pit try to drag you back down in there but you can't give up. The more you climb the more the voice of positivity gets louder in your ear. To cut the rest of this little tale short I can tell you that I am not out of the pit. The good news is I can see the light at the top and I can see the faces of the people with the ropes that have been there the whole time trying to get me out. I have to say thank you to them for all their support and what they have done to keep me going strong. They've taught me some things about life. Some you'll understand and some you won't, and some will be just an inside thing that only they and I will understand.


LESSONS FROM FRIENDS
1. Even in this world full of aliens there is at least 1 human left. (inside thing)
2. It's ok to be a little crazy as long as you make it through the day and don't harm anyone.. Haha (inside thing)
3. If you know someone that you are friends with that is in need of help, help them. Regardless of how proud they are you help them anyway. Even if it's shoving a bag of food at them when they get ready to leave your house, or telling them to shut the hell up when they say something negative.
4. Never let someone with a lot of potential down talk themselves. Always try to lift them and let them know that you believe in them, even if no one else does.
5. Support your friend any way you can in a time of need and help them talk through the issue. You'll be surprised at what good some conversation might do. You never know, you may end up getting your kitchen painted in the process ;-) (inside thing)
6. A true friend will be there through ups and downs and won't leave your side until everything is better.
7. Even if your prayers don't get answered, try to keep some form of spirituality.

8. Last but not least an important lesson from my dog. (see image below)

My long hiatus from this blog is over. Spending time in this pit has drained me. I've struggled a lot but hopefully I'm a better man for it.

Until next time you guys take care.

 

 

 

Go Green

You can go to any grocery store, pharmacy, or health food store and you will see the words green tea everywhere. Over the past few years we have been experiencing a green tea craze. From actual drinking tea to gum, it is all over the place. People in Asia have been utilizing green tea for centuries, and now I myself may want to “GO GREEN”. Before I do, I have to know what this stuff is, and how can it benefit me?

  Green tea is said to be an accidental discovery by the Chinese emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BC . However, it was not until several thousand years later that Buddhist monks introduced green tea to Japan. Ever since then it has been a common drink in South East Asia – popular because of its taste and health benefits. In some parts of Asia tea drinking has even evolved into a religious ceremony. Even though we in the Western world have known about tea for centuries we have not really used it for anything but a drink. It is not until now that green tea – with its distinct color and flavor - finally caught on in our part of the world. It is the least processed tea and the flavors, antioxidants etc. are therefore much better preserved in the tea leaves.

  It has long been believed by Asian cultures that green tea prolongs life, prevents diseases and slows aging. Therefore green tea has also long been used in traditional Chinese medicine to cure various diseases from irregularity and slow metabolism to heart diseases and cancer. Companies selling green tea products here in the United States have used these beliefs and claims – especially about its weight management properties - to promote their products. Creating an entirely new industry where even giants like Lipton have made a new line of Lipton Iced Tea with various green tea flavors.

 Green tea is known for its high levels of polyphenols - a known agent for protecting against cardiovascular diseases by preventing the oxidation of cholesterol and build up of plaque in the arteries. Green tea also contains a polyphenol called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which is one of the most powerful antioxidants. Some claim that EGCG might explain or prove why green tea could have cancer fighting properties. The question however remains, is there scientific research and evidence to back up the claims about green tea.

 Several studies have now been done on the effects of green tea. The result of one such study was published last year in The Journal of Nutrition. Researchers found that participants who consumed green tea beverages during an exercise-induced weight loss program lost more abdominal fat than those who did not drink the tea. They therefore concluded that their results suggest that consumption of green tea can enhance fat loss . These results would back up green tea being sold solely as a weight loss supplement. Another study was conducted by the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Birmingham, U.K. on some of the health-promoting benefits of green tea consumption. The university found that the subjects’ average fat oxidation rates increased by 17% when using green tea as a supplement as well as a 13% increase in insulin sensitivity. Based on this they concluded that green tea can be used to increase fat oxidation and improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance .

 Several other studies have been done citing that green tea can decrease muscle necrosis (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), prevent and fight skin cancer (University of Alabama) and help prevent periodontal disease (Kyushu University Faculty of Dental Science, Japan). However, despite these studies green tea does not seem to be getting much serious attention in the medical field. Instead is seems to be regarded as part of the alternative medicine field and over the counter weight loss/health industry.

 The effect of green tea to today’s athlete or fitness enthusiast is quite obvious. During their pre-season when athletes are getting ready to compete green tea could be used as a safe way to assist in shedding adipose tissue. This will help them compete at a higher level without compromising their health or ingesting artificial or synthetic drugs. Also, taking green tea as a supplement will help prevent free radical damage. Studies done in Tochigi, Japan also suggest that consumption of green tea help endurance athletes. The results show that supplementing with green tea improved the athletes’ endurance capacity by as much as 24%. Based on this alone green tea should be a supplement taken by every endurance athlete out there. What runner or swimmer would not like to improve endurance and thereby performance by 24%?

 In general green tea is to be preferred over a drug with similar effects simply due to the fact that it is a 100% natural product. If green tea – even when consumed in high doses – had any serious side effects chances are we would know about them by now since it has been around for centuries. As of today the only side effects reported are mild and restricted to e.g. diarrhea and restlessness (due to the caffeine). As Americans get more health and environmentally conscious, as we search for natural remedies and look more to nature for solutions the market for products like green is sure to grow.

 The problem remains; how do you convince the average American, athletes and the medical field that green tea is not just that – a tea. If the claims about green tea hold to be true (more research is surely needed). Then we could have found our miracle drug of the 21st century and a natural one at that. One thing is for sure. With the mounting evidence green tea is on my list next time I shop for supplements.

SUPER BOWL!!!

As we all know the Super Bowl was yesterday evening. I hope everyone enjoyed it. It was a great game. The Super Bowl provides us with entertainment, but also it give us one of our biggest challenges. The Super Bowl Party!! There is always lots of drinks and things for you and your guest to eat. At most parties they  definitely not have the most healthy things. One of my newest clients gave me a call  yesterday. This guy has been on a roll for he past 2 weeks. He has his eating on track and working out like crazy when we train and even when he is on his on. In just this short period of time he has made some crucial changes to be successful at achieving his goal as to one day look as good as a professional bodybuilder. When I answered the phone he asked me how bad was pizza to eat with a few wings and a side salad. I laughed and I told him he might as well go to McDonald's and get a super sized meal and a diet coke...lol Anyone who has trained with me knows exactly how I feel about having pizza in your diet when you are training. I have seen it set people back so bad just from having a few slices. My client really wanted it though. He said "Please don't do this to me man, it's the super bowl!" I told him he needs to put some lettuce leaves in his "Super Bowl". Haha!  Then he went on to say he was having his girlfriend prepare a chocolate lava cake. He went on to describe this thing to me, I must admit it sound delicious, but not good enough to be set back a few weeks. So, instead of continuing to argue with him over this I had him look up the nutrition facts on everything he wanted to eat. By the time we finished calculating we were at about 5,000 calories. I told him he could easily get those calories off. He said just tell me what to do and I'll do it. I told him how I ran 16 miles and burned about 2600 calories.  He didn't like the sound of that at all. Haha! So I met up with him and his girlfriend and showed him a lot healthier options that he could have. Of course he gave me the "STINK FACE." We all know that look. The one where your upper lip curls up to cover the bottom of your nostrils like you just smelled something gross. Haha! He ended with with lean cut steak,(which was grilled) grilled veggies, a vegetable tray, and a fruit tray. His buddies still had their beer, but he stayed away from it. To his surprise everyone was thrilled with the food and said it tasted great. The point of this is that even in the toughest of situations you can make a good choice and not stray too far from your diet and still be on track as this client found out. I know it's tradition sometimes to pig out at certain occasions, but to really make a change you have to do just that. "CHANGE!" I know the Super Bowl is over for this year but there will be another next year. Put yourself to the challenge next year and try to make your Super Bowl a healthy one and throw some green veggies in it. ;-) Until next time..Train hard and be consistent ;-)

No one gives a better stink face than babies!!..LOL

"AGE AIN'T NOTHING BUT A NUMBER"

It's the beginning of the new year and as you can imagine my phone has been ringing off the hook. What has surprised me is the number of older adults I have gotten calls from. I think that is absolutely excellent. I get inspired when I see older adults take an interest in physical fitness. It lets me know that even in my later years of life I can still be energetic. Studies have shown that being more active in your later years can be very beneficial to your health. I asked one of my newest clients why she decided to give me a call. She said that she would go and visit her brother who was 2 years younger than her at his house. She said he took a variety of medications on a daily basis because he had a variety of illnesses. His physicians tried their best to get him to try to make changes in his life. Most of those changes revolved around exercise and activity. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could ever get started. She told me that her doctor was telling her the same things that his doctors had been telling him. She said in memory of her brother she was going to make that change. I am not the most soft hearted person but I had to fight back a tear or two hearing that. The reason for me even writing this blog is to hopefully get someone that you know, that may be in the same situation, to do something before it's too late. Be suppoortive and try to help anyway you can with positive reinforcement.Now, what is the right amount of exercise for an older individual? Me personally, I say what ever your body will allow. What I find most often is that you can do a lot more than what you think you can do. Age is seriously just a number. One of my clients in his 60's, he started with me barely being able to lift a 10lb dumbbell, but he has made a serious change. When I was at his house last week doing a training session I had my camera with me. I told him I just wanted to test out the quality of my camera...haha! Well, I kind of made a little video of this guy working out. If he knew I was posting this for everyone to see he would kill me, but oh well....That is what he gets for not keeping up with my blogs....lol...Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the video..Haha!

http://youtu.be/K4QKCbRWwq8

"Mental Jihad"

THESE ARE THE EVENTS OF THIS MORNING.

I know everyone has to deal with that little voice inside their head that helps them make decisions. Sometimes the voice inside them is negative, sometimes it's positive. Regardless, it's still there. I, like many of you, had to deal with this sort of situation this morning. My alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. then.....

Negative me: Hit the snooze button man!
Positive me: You haven't worked out properly in 2 days. Walking your dogs doesn't count. Get up!
Negative me: When you hit the snooze button, it's going to go off again in 9 minutes. Hit the damn thing, we are tired!
(I eventually ended up hitting that snooze button a few times.)

ONE HOUR LATER
(I'm somewhat awake trying to find my training clothes)
Negative me: Damn we are hungry! Let's grab some food and watch some tv.
Positive me: We have slacked off enough. We have goals to meet. Let's get going before your first session.
Negative me: Just think about what you have done over the last 6 months. You have worked our ass off, literally. All your shirts are big, people are telling you that your pants are sagging so bad it looks like you are wearing a diaper. Another day off isn't going to kill you.
Positive me: Now if one of your clients came to you with a tired excuse after taking 2 days off, what would you say to them? You'd most likely tell them to get off their ass and even threaten to come visit them to get them going.
Negative me: When is the last time you've had pizza. That used to be your favorite food. I have an idea. How about we cancel all our sessions for today, call Pizza Hut and order a stuffed crust meat lovers pizza and chill out for the rest of the day. We are stressed! We didn't have a proper cheat day, our whole weekend got messed up because of our car, we spent sooo much money trying to get it fixed and it's still broke! That pizza is sounding better and better huh?
Positive me: Hell, even I have to admit that pizza sounds nice. There is only one problem with that though. How long has it taken your body to recover in the past from eating pizza? Remember how frustrating it is to get back on track? Is it really worth it?

THE RESULT! (I got up and ran 5.99 miles)

My reason for sharing this story is some of the people I train and my readers know that I struggle sometimes also. To be successful at what you want to accomplish, sometimes you have to sacrifice. Would I love to have eaten that pizza and chilled out all day? OF COURSE! But, being set back a few weeks on my goal damn sure would not have been worth it. Also, I would feel totally like crap looking into my clients eyes and knowing what I had done. They've told me story of overcoming stress and food struggles and I cheered them on. What kind of a leader would I be if I couldn't even do it myself. A true leader leads by example and also leads from the front. In your time of struggle on your journey, follow my lead and choose the positive over the negative. Until next time people! Be consistent and train hard!

Super Food

I love to eat! That is just a fact! When it's time for me to eat I don't play. The best thing to do around my feeding time is to stay out of my way. Haha! There are foods that we eat that provide us with certain vitamins and minerals to keep us healthy, give us energy, etc. There are also some that I consider to be super foods. These foods do something that is outside of the ordinary that benefit us. One of my favorite super foods for this time of year is oatmeal. I know some of you may not like oatmeal, but read on and make up your own mind if it is worth giving it a try
Well we all know that oatmeal has alot of fiber. Alot of medical prefessionals will have  patients with high levels of cholesterol use oatmeal to lower it. So, I'm sure you are curious as to how exactly it works right? I'll explain. Oatmeal contains a molecule called Beta-glucan. What this does is bind itself to saturated and trans fat in the body. After it has binded that fat can easily be passed out of your system and not stored to make cholesterol. I've searched but I couldn't find any data that confirms that it could be a catalyst for weight loss. So......I did my own little independent study. I had someone I was training with cut way back on their exercise. I had them keep their diet the same except for one thing. I had them have oatmeal for breakfast every morning. The result was the person lost bodyfat and overall weight. I even tried it myself. I decreased exercise and started having oatmeal for breakfast. The results were exactly the same. A decrease in bodyfat and overall weight. There are products out on the market right now that are supposed to do the same thing. Before you go and invest in something like that. I suggest giving oatmeal a try. It's worth a shot.

Yum,Yum, Yum, give me some :-)

FAT LOSS AND EXERCISE IN A BOTTLE!

I normally don't talk about many products that I use but this one is almost too good to be true.Unlike what you normally hear about things that are too good to be true, this isn't. I mean, if you are a person who is trying to get in more exercise or more fat loss then this is a product you should definitely use. I've known about this for a while and I've talked to some of my clients about using it. I don't know if they take me seriously or not, but I wanted to share some information I acquired about it.

According to a recent study consuming this throughout the day can cause you to burn an extra 100 calories (Boschman 6017). That is the equivalent of running a mile. How cool is that!! The study suggests that consuming this supplement induces thermogenesis. Thermogenesis is a term used for a process in which the body raises its temperature, or energy output. This results in an increased metabolism and often fat cells are then utilized as energy to support this metabolic increase. This supplement could possibly increase your metabolism by as much as 30-40% (Boschman 6017).

So, I know you are curious as to what this stuff is so you can run right out and get some right? Well, it's already in your house right now. What I'm talking about is WATER! Everyone knows that if you get dehydrated you need to drink some water to get re hydrated. Or, if you want to offset the amount sodium you consumed you drink water to flush out the extra sodium, but to give you the equivalent of running a mile is excellent. Take the time right now and evaluate what you are doing with your diet and exercise regime. If you are doing all you can and you are still struggling, then ask yourself this one simple question. How much water have I drank today??

Study cited:
Boschmann, Michael, Jochen Steiniger, Uta Hille, Jens Tank, Frauke Adams, Arya M. Sharma, Susanne Klaus, Friedrich C. Luft, and Jens Jordan. "Water-Induced Thermogenesis." The Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism 88.12 (2003): 6015-019. Web. 5 Nov. 2011. http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/88/12/6015.full.pdf+html.