If you are a habitual dieter and watch your intake religiously all year long, you may already utilize "breaks" of some sort. Breaks from dieting take the form of "cheat meals", "cheat days", or "diet breaks". No matter what your break looks like, taking time off of diligently planning your meals and watching your food consumption is an excellent strategy for long term results. In practice, diet breaks are very advantageous. During prolonged bouts of dieting, hormonal profiles can take a hit … [Read more...]
Fitness Coaches Break All The Rules – The Fitness Summit 2015
What do you get when dinner time hits with a group of 140 fitness professionals, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts? This question was answered this past weekend in Kansas City, Missouri, at The Fitness Summit, a national conference for trainers, nutritionists, doctors, and weightlifters. It was my first time - I had heard stories of the piles of pulled pork, brisket, and rib slabs. And from Thursday through Sunday, I was able to witness it first-hand. It's impressive. Seriously. … [Read more...]
How To Lose Fat Without Macro Counting – 10 Simple Strategies
Macro counting can be cumbersome. Annoying. Time consuming. Confusing. Obnoxious. Obsessive. Anxiety inducing. In fact, for a noob, it can be the biggest hurdle between spinning the wheels and making eye-popping progress. So, can you beat your hunger and win the battle of the bulge without counting anything? Probably. But it's a bit like trying to hit a moving target. Your overall calories are going to be the main driver of fat loss. If you can maintain a caloric deficit for a decent … [Read more...]
Macro Tricks: The Weekly View
Everyone loves their "treats". No matter what those "treats" are. Some have a sweet tooth, others prefer the salts. Bacon, cakes, ice cream...........whatever your vice may be. Perhaps you prefer a few cocktails on a Saturday night. To each their own. Don't let the weekends derail your progress - but if you don't enjoy your weekends, then what exactly is the point of bettering your health? If we can't have fun - and still make progress - the point of progressing is rather moot, … [Read more...]
Confessions Of An Ex-Carbophobe
I have a confession. This is a big one. Hold tight. It pains me to say this.......... I used to be a carbophobe. Seriously. I used to be deathly afraid of carbohydrates. Any form of carbohydrates. All grains, all sugar, all fructose/sucrose/glucose. All of them. I wouldn't touch them. Not with a 10 foot pole. It wasn't always like that. Carbs were my friend. Actually, they were more like my lover. Carbs were a huge contributor to the problem I had eaten myself into. And … [Read more...]
The Best Protein Sources in America. Period.
A noob macro counter, when faced with a higher protein intake than ever before, can have some difficulty. That number, the "P" in the P/C/F trio of macro counting, can be a toughie to tackle. Even moreso if you're new to the macro game. Many protein sources have lots of other "tagalong" calories. It can be a tough assignment to keep your "C" and "F" in check while keeping your "P" sky-high. But it's doable. So, what we have here is a guide for you. This list will be your friend - … [Read more...]
How To Lose Fat Without Losing Muscle
Creating an an appropriate fat loss plan is a task which nearly all of us must tackle from time to time. When training for hypertrophic gains, it's nearly impossible to turn every morsel of caloric surplus into lean body mass. Every once in a while, cuts will need to be utilized to ensure proper insulin sensitivity and health in general. When you decide it's time to strip away the excess body fat, there's a few items to keep in mind. This list certainly isn't all-inclusive, but it … [Read more...]
The Fitness 1%
99% of the fitness shit out there doesn't matter to 99% of the population. Seriously. It's an absolute, verified truth. Fitness articles come out every single day that don't matter - at all - to 99% of us. Every day. Sometimes multiple times per day. These topics include: -The best possible time to ingest your post-workout creatine. -Whey vs. casein for optimal protein synthesis. -2 meals vs. 3 meals for superior recovery capacity. -Back squats vs. front squats for … [Read more...]
Macro Tricks: The 3-For-1
I tend to look at things with a "big picture mentality". It's the only way I can stay sane. When I start to read lengthy and wordy articles about ATP release, I often find myself looking for the abstract ---> the scientific version of the "tl;dr". Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't because I don't think the information is valid or interesting. On the contrary. Optimization should and does play a huge role in our time here on earth. We should always be tinkering and adjusting - … [Read more...]
Keeping The Horse In Front Of The Cart
Before you begin to carefully critique and analyze the most perfect, most intricate, and most well-thought-out diet plan - the plan that will take you "there", be sure you keep the big picture in mind. Dieting seems complex. It seems difficult. It seems way more convoluted than it needs to be. Should we avoid carbs? Should we carb-overload? Should we only consume "low-GI carbs"? Should we "detox"? Should we go "Paleo"? Should we go "keto"? Should we eat 7 meals? Should we do … [Read more...]