How training correlates with real life

I haven’t posted a blog in a couple of weeks because I have been swamped lately, but I plan on posting a training video on the muscle group you voted for!

Most individuals that workout hard take consistent criticism from individuals that are of the opposite. The lazy people that would rather eat unhealthy and not excercise instead of caring about their health are the ones that talk the most. The people that criticize you for going to the gym and busting your ass are not trying to bring you down, they are looking for help. When I was younger I would take offense to everyone that tried to tell me the lifestyle I chose to live was wrong. The thing is, those individuals just need help and that is their way of asking it. Sounds messed up, but it is true. I avoid confrontation by asking them if they would like to train with me, not so that I can show them up but to give them guidance and motivation. Sometimes people only need a helping hand to put them on the right path. Ultimately we should not work out to be better than everyone, but to be healthy. The healthier we are as whole, the stronger we will be as a society.

Nearly half of hiring managers will not hire someone who is obese in fear that the person is lazy. I agree to an extent. By judging a book by its cover you will assume the individual is lazy, but that might not be the case. At the end of the day I do not care if someone is lazy at home as long as they bust their ass for me at work. At first glance, when you only have so many things to go off in the hiring process so I can see how this will hurt ones chances at landing a job. I agree that this may not be fair, however there are so many people that are qualified and smart in the world so if you can do anything to set yourself apart from the pack, being fit and healthy is an easy way to do that and will also help you in the long run.

Being fit and training are completely different. I define being fit as someone that eats healthy for the most part but also splurges and has a few drinks or eats good a few times a week, and goes to the gym 3-5 times a week and either does cardio or a light workout. Someone that trains has a strict diet, trains 5-7 times a week, does cardio 3 times or more a week unless bulking, workouts are tough and for a purpose. I understand not everyone wants to be a bodybuilder, but you do not have to be a bodybuilder to be in shape and healthy. If you bench 425 pounds but you are overweight 60 pounds maybe you should leave your ego at the door and focus on being healthy first.

I truly believe that going to the gym and striving to be fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle correlates to real life. Not just in the work place, but around people, and how you look at yourself. Going to the gym takes patience, motivation, work ethic, perseverance, goals, and so much more! Training does so much more for you than making you look good naked and that’s why I am addicted. Not only can I look good but I can also better myself in other ways? Sign me up!

Check out this article!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3030815/Overweight-needn-t-bother-applying-job-Nearly-half-employers-unlikely-hire-fat-workers-fear-lazy.html

Muscle Group Survey!

5 exercises that are super fat burners!

 

1.DEADLIFTS

I love doing deadlifts. This exercise is by far my favorite and it burns fat! Deadlifts utilize your whole body and do not target only one certain muscle group. Making them a killer workout, but also a super fat burner. I usually deadlift about twice a week. Sometimes 3 times if I am not too sore. In the beginning of the week my deadlift routine consists of 5 sets of 20 reps at a comfortable weight. My main focus with this exercise is to feel the burn and make sure my form is superb. 100 reps of deadlifts = wheelchair. Later in the week I go heavy with deadlifts. My heavy deadlift routine consists of, 2 sets 10 reps at 50% 1rm, 2 sets 8 reps at 70% 1rm, 1 set 4 reps at 80% 1rm, 1 set 1 rep at 90% 1rm, 1 set 1 rep at 1rm. I do 7 sets in order for my body to be warmed up by the time I go for my 1 rep max. Try these workouts out next time you do deadlifts!

 

2.SQUATS

I have only met a few people that actually like to squat, and the ones that do have huge legs. You must embrace the soreness and squat, squat, squat. When I say squat, I do not mean loading the bar up with 400lbs and moving your knees 2 inches. The only way to squat is touching your ass to your heals, other known as ass to the grass. I get it, you aren’t that flexible. To start off, go lighter and as deep as possible and just sit there. Be comfortable and let it stretch. You have to start somewhere, so leave your ego at the door. Squats burn fat and add mass, they are a must in every leg workout! My routine is as follows, 1 set of stretch hold with comfortable weight, 2 sets 6 reps at 50% 1rm, 2 sets 6 reps 70% 1rm, 2 sets 4 reps 80% 1rm.

 

3. WALKING LUNGES

My favorite leg day finisher. I try to go as heavy as possible but I make sure my form is excellent. Good form with this exercise is the key to building those quads. If you can master good form and go heavy, not only are you going to burn fat but also gain mass and have shredded legs. My workout for walking lunges consists of, 4 sets walking lunge to 20ft and back alternating each leg as I lunge.

 

4. ROWS

There are many different ways to do this exercise. You can do supported rows on the machine, dumbbell rows, cable rows, bodyweight rows, barbell rows, just to name a few. My favorite type of row exercise is supported rows on the machine. This machine forces you to only use your back muscles and does not allow you to cheat by supporting your chest. You are able to extend, pull and squeeze without any movement hindered, and you are in a comfortable position. I have noticed that when I make this workout the main attraction when I am training my back, I see the most results. Not only muscle gain, but also in fat burn. For this exercise, I make sure I am in control of the weight as I lower the bar, when I bring the bar up I make sure to hold for a second or two and squeeze.
5 sets 6 reps adding more weight each time.

 

5. PULLUPS

The most common but effective workout you can do. Look around, I am sure you can find something near you that you would be able to hang from and do a pull up. To perform this exercise you do not need any weights, machines, just your body and something to hang from. Whenever I train my back, I always incorporate pull ups. When I do pullups I do 6 sets of ten. 2 sets wide grip, 2 sets close grip, 2 sets underhand grip.

 

A must read for dog owners!

I live on the second floor of an apartment building with two pitbulls. When I am home I take the dogs outside for walks, and when they have to do their potty business. When I am not home, the dogs go out on the balcony to use the bathroom. Previously, I had put fake grass on the balcony but this only worked for so long, as the patio began to stink with urine. I researched several solutions, and found a company that makes a square area with fake grass for the dogs to pee on. Almost like a cat litter box but to the extreme. This product goes for about $400, knowing that I could make it cheaper and save some money I decided to make my version!

Accompanied by my girlfriend, we went off to home depot to find our materials. My idea was to make the box very simple and add real grass to make the dogs feel as if they were outside. I decided to go cheap, because my dogs will be peeing and pooping on the box. No need to spend a lot of money. An employee helped us find everything we needed and made the cuts for us.

My idea was to make a box out of wood, and then to line it with a waterproof plastic. Lay dirt on top and then plant sod. Very simple but effective.

We loaded up the truck up and headed home to begin the project!

These are all of the materials I used besides the sod and the dirt fertilizer. Featuring Dodger.

Next I put the materials together began to make the product. I put the plywood on top of the four posts and secured them to the plywood with 2 inch nails. Then I flipped the box over and began to lay the waterproof plastic over the box. I secured the plastic with nails in each corner, as well as the sides. The nails seemed the hold the plastic down fine, and I was not too worried about the plastic flying away because there would be sod in the middle holding it down.

 

This is before adding the sod. You can see the nails in the corner to hold the plastic down. The next picture is with the sod. I laid a base layer of dirt/fertilizer and then cut to fit the sod. I used a pocket knife to cut to fit. Sod isn’t too difficult to cut.

The finishing product!

Brady using the pee pad. The dogs seem to like the pee pad way more than the fake grass, and my balcony does as well.

 

 

 

Stop the weight loss wraps!

I am not sure why there is a craze with wrapping your body in weight loss wraps. The wraps are said to take inches off your waist or wherever you choose to wrap yourself with them. If you had any common sense, any at all, you would know that there is no such thing as losing weight with a damn wrap. Whoever came up with this is a genius. They have marketed the product well enough to have made great amounts of money because they targeted Americas laziness. Instead of dieting and working hard in the gym, many people resort to a shrink wrap type method to maybe lose a couple inches off their waist, legs, or arms. This method is very dangerous, as it causes severe dehydration and lack of circulation. Yes there has been results that show wraps work, but the results only last for a couple days. The wraps only work for a couple of days because your body replenishes your water levels back to norm. The same concept applies to when boxers or mma fighters prepare to make weight cuts. They lose water weight in order to weigh in at low weight. When they actually fight, most are 10 pounds heavier than the day before at the weigh ins.

If you are going to spend 100- 200$ on a wrap, think again. You are wasting your time, money, and could potentially hurt yourself. If you want to spend 200$ on a weight loss method and actually keep off the weight, hire a personal trainer!
The Seattle Times interviewed a promoter of the weight loss wraps, and she explained that all wrap results  just like going in and getting a spray tan, the results are temporary. Most spray tans cost 20 – 40 $ and last several weeks, not 200 $ and health risks for results that normally last only one day. These harmful wraps drive me crazy, as you can tell! The reason why the wraps bother me so much is because truly care about the health of the public. Hopefully I can provide some information about these wraps before you waste your money and maybe hurt yourself.

In conclusion, the idea of wrapping your body to lose weight sounds great. Who wouldn’t want to wrap themselves with a product filled with nutrients designed to take inches off your waist and other areas you select to wrap yourself. Many people are sucked in by this lie, and that is why these companies make money. Do you think these companies really care about your health? Hell no! They only care about the next trip they are going to take on their private jet. Wake up and realize weight loss comes from hard work in the gym and a strong diet. Quit being lazy, and stop trying to do things the easy way. If you do not agree, or have an opinion about the waste loss wraps write a comment! I would love to hear what everyone’s opinion is on the subject.

 

http://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/the-rap-on-body-wraps/

I’m not seeing results…

As a personal trainer, I hear it all the time. Clients, random people on social media, friends, you name it. Every person that trains, has gone without seeing results for period of time or have hit a plateau.

Is this a bad thing? The fact that you noticed, shows that you care, and you have been putting in the effort to expect results. Just because you are not seeing results, does not mean that you are not progressing. It is very hard to stay motivated in the gym and with your diet plan if you feel as if you aren’t progressing. I always make sure to take pictures every two weeks and compare to weeks previous. Every two weeks you should see noticeable progress if you are staying to true to your nutrition plan and working hard in the gym. I also use the pictures for the opposite, to show myself I need to stop eating so many cookies. 🙂

Plateaus aren’t  very different from not seeing results. The most common plateau I have seen is being stuck at 225 and cannot hit for a one rep max. Being in a plateau can be everything from stuck on certain one rep max, stuck on a certain weight in rep ranges, or even on the scale. I believe that plateaus are 50/50 mental, and your body telling you that it is bored. What does the guy at the gym do when he wants to hit 225? You can spot him at every gym, he’s the guy that you see benching every other day. Mix it up. If you find your self struggling at certain weight, switch up the workouts, switch up reps, switch up the number of sets. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

I am very knowledgeable about nutrition as well as training. I also know my body very well, and how it reacts to certain things. Even so, I still struggle with seeing results at times. It is very hard to stay motivated at times and I understand, at the same time there is only one way to get results. Stay motivated and stay hungry!

Side note: I do offer training and diet plans. I also will answer any questions that you have for me. I am here to help you stay motivated and get results!

 

 

My 5 tips for staying on a diet plan!

Sticking to a strict diet is hard. If diets were easy, there would not be hundreds of successful weight loss companies making a fortune in the fitness industry. Diet plans are hard because they tell YOU what to eat. Nobody likes being told what to do. Plus, I would rather eat cookies than a spinach salad any day. You know you are thinking the same thing 🙂

Personally I do not eat clean all year. The only time that I stay on a strict diet is when I am preparing for a photo shoot or a competition. Most of the year I am on a pretty lenient diet, consisting of three cheat meals a week. I get away with this by sticking to one simple rule that I have discovered works well for my body. For every cheat meal that I have, I must make up for it with cardio. 1 cheat meal = 1 badass cardio session, 2 cheat meals in a week = 2 badass cardio sessions, etc. Although I only stick to 3 cheat meals a week, there are those weeks that things come up. The weddings, the birthdays, etc. My tip for events is to plan ahead! Use these days as a cheat meal. You cannot tell yourself that its fine if you have another cheat meal because you are attending a birthday party. Once you stop following the plan, it is very hard to get back on track. Do not hear me wrong, other than the 3 cheat meals that I have throughout the week, I do stick to a custom diet plan that I have made for myself.

To consistently track my progress, and to stay motivated I create goals for myself. I make weekly goals, monthly goals, and yearly goals. These goals do not have to be fitness related only. Push yourself not only in the gym, but also in life. I found that setting goals for myself allows me to stay away from that unmotivated decline that can tend to happen when you feel as if you aren’t improving. I track my goals on paper but also through pictures. Pictures are the best way to track your progress. I cannot stress enough that you have to set goals and go after them. Set the bar high and dream big. If you do not reach your goal, you are still  one step closer than you were before you made that goal.

 

A summarization of my tips is as follows,

1. Cheat meals are OKAY. But like everything in life, do not abuse them.
2. For every cheat meal that you devour, you must add a cardio session.
3. Dieting sucks, make goals to track progress! Weekly, monthly, and yearly.
4. Make dieting fun. There are ways to make turkey burgers, and chicken tasty without making them unhealthy. Make dieting into a competition with yourself or a friend.
5. When you are at the store and you see those cookies, pies, and cakes, remember your goals. Yes they are delicious, but they only do one thing. Hurt you.

What made me pursue living a healthy lifestyle

 

I have always been fit. Not because I ate healthy or worked out the best, but because I was blessed with a fast metabolism and more energy than I knew what to do with. I lifted weights throughout high school and also in college where I played baseball. No matter how hard I pushed myself I could never take my physique to that next level. Nutrition was never a topic that came into my mind. I always thought that if you eat chicken, broccoli, and rice, eventually you would be leaner. Which is true, but to an extent. Not worried about my diet, I ate whatever I wanted, when I wanted. I ate this way throughout my childhood, throughout high school, and throughout college. I have always had a passion for working out and hitting the gym hard. Pushing myself to the limit was not a hard task for me. When I finished my 2 years playing college baseball, I was faced with a challenge. By playing sports and being active, I was able to get away with eating unhealthy foods. After college my physique stayed the same no matter how hard I worked.

My outlook on fitness changed the moment a stranger introduced himself to me at the gym. I saw Russell a couple times at the gym I went to, and knew automatically that this man was a hard worker. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was on the incline bench working incline curls. During my set Russell approached me. The only thing he said was, ” You should compete”. He handed me a sticky note with his contact info and we went from there. From that conversation at the gym, became a friendship that I can now call Russell truly one of my closest friends. I went on to compete with his sponsorship, and had a life changing experience.

Soon after competing, I pursued my personal training certificate and passed the test with an A. The test for me was easy. Here is why. After competing, I wanted more. I wanted to know more, do more, and better myself. I wanted to take in everything fitness related. I fell in love with it. I read books, studied the topic,and watched videos. I wanted to know everything.  I can now call myself a fitness expert, and I truly believe that statement.

Ultimately, I think you have to find what motivates you. A trainer can tell you what to do and what to eat, but you need to dig deep and find what makes you work. For me, my motivation was simply I was tired of busting my ass in the gym and not seeing results. Find what motivates you and get to work! See you at the gym!