Archive for July, 2009

You just need to tighten up your abs huh?

Monday, July 20th, 2009

kid with abs 225x300 You just need to tighten up your abs huh?

OK.  So, I get an email today, well, it was a message on facebook or myspace, now i can’t remember, but it went something like this.  “Hi Tony, my name is so and so, and I see that you are a personal trainer.  You got a mad tight body yo!  How do i get abs like yours?  I know my workout is on point, but I just need to tone up my abs and love handles.  Help me out bro.  I know you got tips.  Tell me how to get all cut up! Love Whoever”  So, that wasn’t EXACTLY what the message said.  But I get stuff like that every day.  And now, here is a general response to that. 

Most people who write me those messages, DO NOT only have to tone up their abs and love handles.  They have GOT to realize that this isn’t a spot reducing game we are playing here when it comes to exercise.  If in fact, you are absolutely shredded everywhere, but your abs and love handles hang over your pants, then, you are kind of a freak of nature, and i don’t know what that would look like exactly.    More than likely, the case is that the person who is asking the question, needs to look at their situation in a whole body approach.. The fact is, they need to lose fat.  Period.  They WANT to lose fat, in their stomach, and “core” area, because that is the “sexy” area everyone determines a persons level of fitness from.  You can’t have defined, sexy abs, when you have fat on your arms.  I know it doesn’t sound like that correlates, but it does.  You can’t just lose fat in your stomach.  Here is the bottom line.  If you can’t see your abs, you could probably stand to lose some fat elsewhwere as well. 

Now, there are certain cases, where it is people who maybe have a pound or two to lose, to get the final cuts out and actually see abs.. Usually, this has to do with diet.  I still get the people who say they are doing everything they can, and nothing is working.  Guess what.  They aren’t doing everything they can then.  It comes down to really dialing in on your diet, and paying attention to when you are eating and what you are eating.  Most people go wrong on one of those two things. 

Anyway, I’m sure I could talk more about this topic, and I’m sure i will.  I suppose this is just a little taste, but your comments and questions are always welcome.  Hope you guys enjoyed this little rant tonight.

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Spaghetti For Breakfast?

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

spaghetti Spaghetti For Breakfast?So, here i am, at two in the morning, writing a blog.  Wow.  I should be sleeping, but i gotta get this outta my head!  So the other day, Josh, a friend of mine, asked me this question.  “What can I eat for breakfast besides eggs and oatmeal?”  or something like that.  I have to, by the way, thank him for the title of this blog.  Thanks Josh.  So anyway, my answer for this was kinda simple, but we’ll get into it in some more detail instead.

If you read any fitness, health or bodybuilding magazine for that matter, they’ll tell you that for breakfast you should have egg white omelets, and oatmeal, and turkey bacon, and sausage mcmuffins, and…….. wait.  No, not sausage mcmuffins.  My bad on that one guys.   Which is a GREAT breakfast.  Throw in a few veggies in that omelet, and it’s pretty complete.  But what about the people who hate eggs, like myself?  I know they have reasons for saying that is the ideal breakfast.  You get some protein from the eggs, some carbs from the oatmeal, and some fat from the turkey bacon, all your macronutrients right there.  That, to me, is a good enough reason i suppose.  But I don’t really like that food.  But i think the main reason they say those foods all the time is because they are ”breakfast” foods.  They also say cottage cheese, whole wheat toast, yogurt and fruit.  ”Breakfast” foods again.  But what if you don’t like those foods?  Should you just skip breakfast?  Ummm… no.  These aren’t wonder foods that have amazing powers, only if you eat them in the morning, and they aren’t the only foods you can eat in the morning either.  This whole thing has been based on tradition.  Who’s to say you can’t eat a lean burger at breakfast?  Your mom?  No.  Hopefully she stopped telling you what to eat years ago.  If she didn’t, you should either have a talk with her, or you could just move out of her house already.

Moving on.  There is no magic “breakfast” in terms of specific foods.  Lean protein is lean protein.  And complex carbs, are pretty much complex carbs.  Whether it’s oatmeal or brown rice, they are pretty much doing the same thing.  Whether is turkey breast or egg whites, they both are protein rich.  Getting into specific types of protein and to a certain extent complex and simple carbs, really don’t have much to do with the general public.  When you are at 10% bodyfat and want to get down to 8%, that is when you start worrying about that.  But basically, you can eat whatever combination of meat and grain you want for breakfast.  Spaghetti and Meatballs?  Why not?  just make sure the spaghetti is whole wheat, and the meatballs are made from the finest, umm…. what do they make meatballs out of?   Meat?  yeah, the finest meat.  

 

P.S. I apologize if this blog is jumbled, as i am half asleep as i’m writing every sentence.  so if you don’t get any of this, read it while you are sleeping, because, it makes sense to me!

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Should You Lift Heavy Weights

Monday, July 6th, 2009

pink dumbbells Should You Lift Heavy WeightsA lot of times i get asked questions I am afraid to say, kind of annoy me.  When are you going to be ready? Why Are you late? Who is that girl? Why aren’t you wearing pants?  But the question that I seem to hear most often is this.  “Should I be doing heavy weights?  I don’t want to bulk up.”  This question, in itself, is enough to make me slap someone in the back of the head.  Usually, this question is asked by women, who obviously have been misinformed about the nature of lifting weights.  I want to let everyone in on a little secret.  You gotta work a lot harder than most of the people who ask this question, are willing to work, to “bulk up”.

     Let’s say, I am taking on a woman, who is about 25% bodyfat, who doesn’t want to “bulk up”.  She wants to stick with her 3 and 5 pound dumbells, which is fine, if you are doing wrist curls.  Do you expect your body to change at all, if you are lifting the same amount of weight, for every exercise?  I do actually.  What will happen is, you’ll push your weak muscles, and your small muscles with those tiny weights, but the bigger muscle groups, this will have no effect on, so you will develop LOTS of muscle imbalances.  Does it make sense for your tiny little tricep to be as strong as your shoulders?  NO!  so why would you lift the same weights for  them?  Every woman who is under this misguided belief needs to realize this one fact.  How heavy is a child?  Even a newborn is heavier than 5 pounds right?  Wouldn’t it make sense to be strong enough to lift a 20 pound kid, multiple times?  If not, just stop reading this.  But if it does, I’ll continue.

     A woman’s muscles, even if she is small in stature, are not going to explode like some men’s muscles do, without the help of some illegal substances.  I love the girls who say I put on muscle really easily.  No you don’t.  You put on weight really easily when you aren’t paying attention to what you do.  If you are doing squats with a 5 pound dumbell, you aren’t going to put on muscle really easily.  In my opinion, that would be called a warm up.  Very few people are taxing their muscles with enough intensity to break them down at that weight, so they aren’t going to grow anyway. 

     Bottom line.  Prepare yourself for real life.  Real life is not all about 3 and 5 pound weights.  Real life is about 10 pound bags of groceries, 20 pound kids, and 30 pound moving boxes.  Do the math, and let me know how all that works out for you.

     Today’s blog was kind of a rant, and I apologize for that.  But it is what it is.  Until next week my friends.

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