I really like lists. They are simple and to the point. This list is not exhaustive but even if you follow half of it you will be leaner in no time. I plan to dive deeper into each point in the future but beach season is right around the corner.
1. Fix your gut. There's a pretty good chance your stomach acid levels aren't up to par. If you can’t break down your muscle-building/fat burning nutrients your gonna have a really hard time getting lean.
2. Work on your joint mobility, because if you can't squat/lunge/deadlift/pull/press properly your programming is not going to be good enough.
3. This follows number two, do compound movements for the majority of your workout. Step away from the machines and single joint exercises.
4. Eat more protein, and no the protein from a hot dog is not the same as from an egg.
5. Repeat this to yourself as much as needed, "I've been brainwashed to think the treadmill and elliptical are the keys to fat loss but I'm wrong, I need to start building muscle instead of losing it by doing steady state cardio"
6. Earn your carbs, if you make yourself insulin sensitive you can have much more fun with carbs. But until then cut out the sugars, starches and other stuff you know is garbage.
7. Speaking of Insulin sensitivity, start taking Fish Oil.
8. Take a quality Multi-vitamin. If it uses Magnesium Oxide, throw it in the trash right now.
9. Eat as many vegetables as possible.
10. You need more good fats. Nuts, olive oil, fish oil etc are all your friends.
11. Drink more water, you do not want to be dehydrated and there's a good chance you might be. Quick test for dehydration. In a seated position put one hand on each thigh and wait 10 seconds. You should be able to see the veins in your hands? Now raise your hands in front of your eyes. The veins should be gone within 1 second. If not, you are dehydrated.
12. Drink more green tea.
13. Don't worry about counting calories. If you try to count calories everyday you are going to drive yourself crazy and drive up cortisol levels. To steal from Charles Poliquin, "Counting calories is for dweebs".
14. Speaking of Cortisol, find some time to relax everyday(preferably before bed). Getting lean has as much to do with the mind as it does the body.
15. Get your body fat measured. Speaking from personal experience, this will give you a swift kick in the ass if you've been slacking.
16. Plan your meals, this is absolutely huge. You have to cook ahead of time. If you go out to eat all the time you will be fat, guaranteed.
17. When you go to the grocery store don't buy stuff you know you shouldn't. If it is your house you will eventually eat it.
18. Detoxify yourself. Much more on this in the future.
19. I know it sucks but boozing really doesn't help the whole getting lean thing. If you are going to be drinking don't binge on garbage food, booze essentially shuts off the fat burning process in the body. Therefore that entire large pizza you just ate is gonna get stored, and not as muscle.
20. Take Vitamin D3, seriously the research is pouring in and most of us are deficient. This poses numerous health risks.
21. Get quality deep sleep.
Part Two coming soon...
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Biosignature
Hey Everyone,
I just returned from a 5 day conference on nutrition for body composition and health. It was excellent and I changed a lot of my own dietary practices as a result. The conference was based on an individual "Biosignature", which is essentially the result of a 12 skin fold body fat test. BioSignature is a system based on scientific evidence that where people store their body fat is an indication of their hormonal profile. We then went through all the protocols(Nutrition, lifestyle, supplementation, environmental changes) to help people get leaner and stronger. It seems to be the future of the health and fitness industry as we know now its possible to spot reduce body fat, something long thought to be a myth. Charles Poliquin presented and I hope to pass along some of the great new information that was shared. I'll highlight some of the major things here and then dive into them more specifically in the near future.
3 Major Things that make us fat
1. Stress(Cortisol)
2. Malnutrition
3. Toxins
Most people don't eat enough protein for optimal metabolism/leanness. The first 30 grams of protein in the morning goes towards Phase 2(P2) detox of the liver. Our liver has to detox over 500 chemicals on a daily basis. The next 30 grams supports the immune system. So if your only getting 60 grams a day(Ladies!) very little of it is going towards helping you build/maintain muscle and keeping your basal metabolism high.
The majority of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D3, Zinc, Magnesium and HCL(Acid found in your stomach that helps with digestion). I personally was deficient in Zinc and HCL(I've been supplementing prior to the course with D3 as well as magnesium). HCL is the major one as someone can't digest and absorb all their nutrients, vitamins, proteins etc if they don't have proper HCL levels. A few presenters mentioned this being one of the major under diagnosed problems we face. They talked about the importance of taking vitamins, omega 3's etc but if you can't absorb them properly they become useless. I have a way to test your HCL as well as help fix it that I will write about later.
TAKE FISH OIL. About 6 hours was spent on this and all its benefits. It seems that most Omega 3 experts are recommending cycling through different fish oils every 7-8 days. Also for body composition purposes taking your body fat % in grams of fish oil had a dramatic effect on ones ability to get leaner. Also it was mentioned about not taking a low quality fish oil, as they often aren't tested for heavy metals, plastics and solvents. A recent lawsuit was brought up regarding companies that sell low quality fish oils. http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/18426668. If your skeptical on fish oil, a good thing is to go to google and think of an obscure disease and type in fish oil next to it. 100% guarantee there will be studies and research that show it helping with that disease.
Insulin is the one hormone we have 100% control over. It was basically stated that you need to "earn your carbs". If you are more insulin resistant, which is shown through higher body fat in the Sub scapular(underneath shoulder blade) and Supra-illiac(Love handles), you need to be on a low carb diet to lose body fat. It was estimated this is about 75% of people. The Sub scapular skin fold is based on genetic disposition and Supra-illiac on nutrition.
Take a Multi-vitamin. If your multi uses Magnesium Oxide, its a dead give away its a cheap multi that most likely isn't helping you(more on this in the future).
We also did an entire day on proper cleanse protocols and why most on the market are garbage. Liver detox was huge, I'm sure most in this group could benefit from that.
Aaron Swan
I just returned from a 5 day conference on nutrition for body composition and health. It was excellent and I changed a lot of my own dietary practices as a result. The conference was based on an individual "Biosignature", which is essentially the result of a 12 skin fold body fat test. BioSignature is a system based on scientific evidence that where people store their body fat is an indication of their hormonal profile. We then went through all the protocols(Nutrition, lifestyle, supplementation, environmental changes) to help people get leaner and stronger. It seems to be the future of the health and fitness industry as we know now its possible to spot reduce body fat, something long thought to be a myth. Charles Poliquin presented and I hope to pass along some of the great new information that was shared. I'll highlight some of the major things here and then dive into them more specifically in the near future.
3 Major Things that make us fat
1. Stress(Cortisol)
2. Malnutrition
3. Toxins
Most people don't eat enough protein for optimal metabolism/leanness. The first 30 grams of protein in the morning goes towards Phase 2(P2) detox of the liver. Our liver has to detox over 500 chemicals on a daily basis. The next 30 grams supports the immune system. So if your only getting 60 grams a day(Ladies!) very little of it is going towards helping you build/maintain muscle and keeping your basal metabolism high.
The majority of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D3, Zinc, Magnesium and HCL(Acid found in your stomach that helps with digestion). I personally was deficient in Zinc and HCL(I've been supplementing prior to the course with D3 as well as magnesium). HCL is the major one as someone can't digest and absorb all their nutrients, vitamins, proteins etc if they don't have proper HCL levels. A few presenters mentioned this being one of the major under diagnosed problems we face. They talked about the importance of taking vitamins, omega 3's etc but if you can't absorb them properly they become useless. I have a way to test your HCL as well as help fix it that I will write about later.
TAKE FISH OIL. About 6 hours was spent on this and all its benefits. It seems that most Omega 3 experts are recommending cycling through different fish oils every 7-8 days. Also for body composition purposes taking your body fat % in grams of fish oil had a dramatic effect on ones ability to get leaner. Also it was mentioned about not taking a low quality fish oil, as they often aren't tested for heavy metals, plastics and solvents. A recent lawsuit was brought up regarding companies that sell low quality fish oils. http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/18426668. If your skeptical on fish oil, a good thing is to go to google and think of an obscure disease and type in fish oil next to it. 100% guarantee there will be studies and research that show it helping with that disease.
Insulin is the one hormone we have 100% control over. It was basically stated that you need to "earn your carbs". If you are more insulin resistant, which is shown through higher body fat in the Sub scapular(underneath shoulder blade) and Supra-illiac(Love handles), you need to be on a low carb diet to lose body fat. It was estimated this is about 75% of people. The Sub scapular skin fold is based on genetic disposition and Supra-illiac on nutrition.
Take a Multi-vitamin. If your multi uses Magnesium Oxide, its a dead give away its a cheap multi that most likely isn't helping you(more on this in the future).
We also did an entire day on proper cleanse protocols and why most on the market are garbage. Liver detox was huge, I'm sure most in this group could benefit from that.
Aaron Swan
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