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By Josh Anderson support@alwaysactiveathletics.com

Always Active Athletics LLC http://www.alwaysactiveathletics.com

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Part I: Nutrition

Overview

I get it; we all have incredibly busy lives with little time for proper nutrition

and exercise. Who has time to develop a workout or nutrition program when

you barely have time to make it to the gym? To truly live a full, healthy life,

we know that we need proper nutrition and exercise. In this book I’m going

to walk you through the steps to setting up your own nutrition regime along

with how to structure a proper exercise regime that can be accomplished at

home or at the gym (Part II).

I’m going to give you the ability to reach the results you want wherever you

are; at-home, at the gym, or on-the-go! You’ve already done the hard part;

you’ve made the conscious effort to find resources to help you achieve the

results you want! Make sure to read through this entire manuscript, it’s full

of useful hints and tips that can make your fitness life easier (trust me; it’s

taken years for me to learn all of this information so you can learn from my

mistakes). Come along and I’ll show you how to not only reach your goals but

crush them!

Nutrition, Nutrition, Nutrition

The first step towards becoming a healthier you, is to clean-up your diet by

educating yourself. Your diet is literally 75% of the equation when it comes to

shedding pounds and gaining muscle. Abs and toned arms/legs are not made

in the gym; they are made behind the kitchen counter! Without this

foundation you literally are building your physical fitness on a sandy

foundation which can crumble at any minute due to cravings and the inability

to control yourself. There are many diet plans and fads out there that come

around each year. Trust me; you really want to stay away from them unless

you like throwing your money away.

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While these plans might help you lose weight initially, if you do not educate

yourself on proper nutrition then you are bound to regain the weight

(Hensrud et al. 1994) and literally fall into a vicious circle of gaining weight,

losing weight via dieting, and regaining weight…over and over and over again

(the yo-yoing effect)! Not only do you regain the weight but you actually lose

any physiological benefits you got from losing the weight in the first place;

like self-confidence (Foster & Wadden 2002). That is no way to live and who

really wants their weight and emotions to fluctuate like that?

When setting up your diet you don’t necessarily have to set up a super strict

and completely clean eating diet. We need a diet that allows us to still

occasionally enjoy foods we like or else we would never stick to the diet, it

needs to be convenient. This diet needs to be practical and fit into your busy

lifestyle or else sticking to it is not realistic. Likewise, if you screw up one day

on your diet, don’t get down on yourself; learn from that mistake and move

on. You need to be true to yourself and do what needs to be done. That

being said, you need to make a conscious effort to start a diet plan and stick

to it. Actually, you should make a contract with yourself or even a spouse or

fitness partner that will hold you accountable. If you think you have the

desire and the persistence to actually develop a good, healthy lifestyle and

you can stick with it, let’s figure out what is going to be in this diet. Note:

with a deep burning desire and persistence ANYTHING you wish can be

accomplished!

There are many diets out there: intermittent fasting, paleo diet, counting

macros, small frequent meals, etc…, but I believe the one that is easiest to

stay focused on is a hybrid of several of these. This diet does not involve

starving yourself; that doesn’t work in the long run! Starving yourself into

weight loss will result in you regaining any weight you have lost and can

cause your own physiology to work against you! For instance, under severe

metabolic stress, cortisol is released which causes receptor cells to uptake fat

for use during future bouts of metabolic distress; a large portion of these

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cells/receptors are located around our abdomen (Bergendahl et al 1996)! To

me, the ideal diet involves a healthy breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch,

mid-afternoon snack (pre-workout nutrition loader if working out in the

afternoon), and supper (post-workout nutrition replenisher if working out in

afternoon). Your pre- and post- workout meal will differ depending on the

time you have to exercise. For instance, if you workout during your lunch

break, take your lunch (pre-workout meal) a 45-60 minutes before you will be

at the gym. This diet works, I know it does! I’ve followed it for roughly 2 years

now and it is the only lifestyle that has produced 6-pack abs for me! Let’s

break it down.

Breakfast

First and foremost, any nutrition regime should start off with a complete,

healthy breakfast. This is easily the most important meal of the day and sets

you up both energetically and nutritionally for a great day. Why is this so

important? One major benefit of eating breakfast is the fact that it actually

affects your brain and makes you feel more full throughout the morning

(Purslow et al 2007) resulting in less daily snacking (Schlundt et al 1992).

Likewise, it has been found that those that maintain successful long-term

weight loss were more apt to eat breakfast (Wyatt et al 2012) and in fact

after that weight loss was maintained for at least two years, weight

maintenance got easier (they fell into the routine of a healthy lifestyle) (Wing

& Phelan 2005). What should this main meal include? You can’t wake up and

chow down 6 breakfast cakes smothered in syrup and butter. You need

proper nutrition to propel you through the day. For starters, your breakfast

should include eggs! Eggs are loaded with muscle building protein while

having only ~85 calories and when combined with a proper diet they can

actually induce weight loss (Vander Wal et al. 2008). Get this; Louisiana State

University did a study that compared the weight loss of dieting individuals in

which one group ate eggs for breakfast compared to a group that did not eat

eggs over the course of eight weeks. The group that ate eggs lost 65% more

weight, had a 34% greater reduction in weight circumference, and a 16%

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greater reduction in body fat percentage compared to the group that did not

(Vander Wal et al. 2008)! When it comes to your morning coffee, go with

black coffee and try to stay away from loading it with creamer and sugar!

Lastly, if you drink orange juice with your breakfast, make sure its 100% juice.

Here are a couple ideas for you:

2 - large hardboiled eggs (144 calories, 12g protein)

1 - piece of fruit (medium banana: 105 calories, 1g protein, 3g dietary fiber)

½ - cup old-fashioned oatmeal (150 calories, 5g protein, 4g fiber)

2 - large poached eggs (142calories, 12g protein)

½ - cup old-fashioned oatmeal (150 calories, 5g protein, 4g fiber) and 1 cup

berries (blackberries: 62 calories, 2g protein, 8g fiber / strawberries:49

calories, 1g protein, 3g fiber)

2 - large fried eggs (180 calories, 12g protein)

1 ½- cup peach, banana, strawberry salad (138 calories, 1.5g protein, 4g

fiber)

1 - high fiber granola bar (brand dependent: 150 calories, 3g protein, 9g fiber)

1 - two-egg spinach omelet (194 calories, 14g protein, 2g fiber)

1 ½ - cup peach, banana, strawberry salad (138 calories, 1.5g protein, 4g

fiber)

2 - wheat Toast (150 calories, 6g protein, 2g fiber)

Mid-morning snack

This meal is key because we all are usually getting hungry around 9-10 a.m.

and we go scrounging around the office vending machine looking for a bag of

FUNYUNS! But fear not, you can easily bring some healthy, convenient snacks

with you to the office. I recommend eating peanut butter during this mid-

morning snack session. Heck the stuff is amazingly delicious, contains protein,

gives you instance energy, and contains omega-3’s; although it may contain a

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lot of sugar, look for more organic brands. These snacks below will get you

started:

1 - whey protein shake (brand dependent: 112 calories, 22g protein)

1 - piece of fruit (medium banana: 105 calories, 1g protein, 3g dietary fiber /

medium peach: 59 calories, 1g protein, 2g fiber)

1 - protein bar (brand dependent: ~200 calories, ~20-30g protein)

1 1/2 - cup peach, banana, salad (138 calories, 1.5g protein, 4g fiber)

1 - whey protein shake (brand dependent: 112 calories, 22g protein)

2 - cup strawberry, peach, banana smoothie (184 calories, 2g protein, 5g

fiber)

Lunch

By the time our lunch break rolls around, if you are like me, you are starving

again! This is a good sign. It means your metabolism is ramped up and at full

capacity, constantly burning calories; WHOO-HOO! We need to feed it more

fuel to keep it going. In this meal we want it to include more high quality

carbohydrates and proteins to get us through a large portion of the day.

1 1/2 - tilapia fillets (150 calories, 32g protein)

1 - cup broccoli (25 calories, 2g protein, 2g fiber) 1/2 - cup brown rice (340 calories, 8g protein, 3g fiber)

2-3 (115g) - chicken breast tenders (120 calories, 20g protein)

1 - cup green beans (44 calories, 2g protein, 4g fiber)

2 - tbsp hummus with 1 cup broccoli (79 calories, 4g protein, 4g fiber)

½ - 1/3 (120g) - beef steak (cut dependent: 248 calories, 28g protein)

1 - cup steamed spinach (45 calories, 6g protein, 5g fiber)

1 - cup baked sweet potatoes (180 calories, 4g protein, 7g fiber)

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Mid-afternoon snack (pre-workout)

This snack (around 3 p.m.) is critical if you are planning to work out after

work. As stated earlier this pre-workout meal applies to whenever you are

working out, just adjust your meal schedule accordingly. For our pre-workout

meal, ideally you should consume a meal rich in slow-digesting carbohydrates

1-2 hours before your workout (Bird & Hay 1987; Williams &

Chryssanthopoulos 1997). This makes sense because it allows your muscles

to have plenty of glycogen (energy) which can become depleted, leading to

muscle fatigue (Williams & Chryssanthopoulos 1997). Proper carbohydrates

can include: sweet potatoes, red potatoes, yams, whole grain rice, and

oatmeal. This combination of carbohydrates should give you the energy you

need to kick-butt during your workout! Likewise, your pre-workout

supplements can be taken ~30 minutes before you workout, this really

depends on the supplement instructions.

1 - cup baked sweet potatoes (180 calories, 4g protein, 7g fiber)

1 - piece of fruit (medium banana: 105 calories, 1g protein, 3g dietary)

1 - cup black beans (114 calories, 6g protein, 8g fiber) 1/2 - cup brown rice (170 calories, 4g protein, 2g fiber)

1 - medium (173g) baked red potatoes (154 calories, 4g protein, 3g fiber)

1 - piece of fruit (medium peach: 59 calories, 1g protein, 2g fiber)

Supper (Post-workout)

Finally, that brings us to supper or post-workout meal (5-6 p.m.).

Immediately post-workout it’s a good idea to eat a piece of fruit to replenish

the glucose and carbohydrates used during the workout, along with a whey

protein shake (see below for a full description) to soak your muscles with

ample protein so they can start building the muscle you are working so hard

to gain! Now that we are to the main post-workout meal, its importance

when it comes to getting the results you want from your workout is beyond

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compare. You have a 30-60 minute window after a great workout where you

really need to focus on your nutrition to get your body the muscle building

blocks it needs; after this window the absorption of these nutrients won’t be

as efficient! This meal should be full of proteins and carbohydrates to

replenish the glycogen lost during exercise.

2 - tilapia fillets (200 calories, 42g protein)

1 - cup whole wheat pasta (174 calories, 7g protein, 6g fiber)

1 - cups green beans (44 calories, 2g protein, 4g fiber)

1/2 (150g) - beef steak (cut dependent: 370 calories, 42g protein)

1 - medium (173g) baked red potatoes (154 calories, 4g protein, 3g fiber)

1 - cup spinach salad (45 calories, 6g protein, 5g fiber)

2-3 (115g) - chicken breast tenders (120 calories, 20g protein)

1 - cup black beans (114 calories, 6g protein, 8g fiber)

1 - cup brown rice (340 calories, 8g protein, 3g fiber)

These dishes may sound pretty bland but you can add certain seasonings

(ginseng, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, oregano, black pepper, garlic) to these

dishes to not only get the added benefits of these great spices but also their

great tastes. I also like to add cayenne pepper to these dishes to get the

added benefits of capsaicin, which can ramp up your internal body

temperature and your metabolism as well (Bowden 2007). Don’t add things

like ranch dressing and butter because it defeats the purpose of eating these

healthy foods when they are drenched with literal fat! All nutritional

information was from www.nutritiondata.self.com. This site is really valuable

if you are ever curious about the nutrient content of a certain food.

These may sound like really complex meals, but they aren’t. The majority of

your foods be cooked or steamed on Sunday night before your work week by

batching it all out; chicken breast (if frozen cook at 400 degrees for 35-40 min

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[size dependent] or until the center is at least 170 degrees), fish (if frozen

cook at 400 degrees for 20-25 min or until flesh is flaky and white), and

vegetable steamed or boiled.

The best thing to do is buy the majority of your groceries frozen, that way

there will be less spoilage (saving you $$). Likewise, for vegetables, the

nutrient content is pretty much the same between fresh and frozen (Favell

1998). The main thing is to make sure each meal contains fruits, vegetables

and quality proteins. Below you will find a list of some substitutes that can be

used in any of these meals, make sure to have fun with it, don’t let it get

mundane, and change it up enough where you aren’t getting bored or tired

of eating the same thing! Note: Of course there are many more foods you can

also try, research, experiment and make it fun….most importantly though:

make it convenient!

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Proteins:

Chicken

Swai/tilapia

Salmon

Tuna

Eggs

Jerky

Whey protein

Cottage cheese

Beans

(kidney/black)

Fats:

Avocados

Nuts

Extra virgin olive oil

Veggies: ANY, just

eat them

Green veggies are

the best

Carbohydrates:

Whole wheat bread

Whole wheat

spaghetti

Sweet potatoes

Red potatoes

Oatmeal

Yams

Fruits: ANY, just eat

them

Did you catch that? There is actually a fats section in the above list, that’s

because we actually need fats for certain body processes. Some fats are great

for us, unlike trans fats and some saturated fats, monounsaturated fats like

those found in nuts/olive oil and polyunsaturated fats like omega 3’s (fish)

are amazingly good for our heart! For instance, in order to efficiently absorb

and digest protein we actually need some good fats. So you can replace some

of the items listed above for a handful of almonds for instance, or an avocado

instead of your typical oatmeal. Just make sure to stay away from trans fats

like those found in doughnuts and French fries!

This brings us to a topic that you don’t really think about when you are

developing or just starting your diet: water consumption. Water is truly one

of the most important things we need to be constantly conscious about

considering it helps flush toxins from our body, provides us with healthier

skin, lubricates joints and muscles, causes increased blood flow to the brain,

and can actually delay the feeling of fatigue over the course of a day (Bowden

2007). So how much is enough? We’ve all heard the eight glasses a day rule,

but a method recommended by Dr. Jonny Bowden (C.N.S.) the author of The

150 Healthiest Foods on Earth suggests to, “divide your body weight in two

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and drink that number of ounces a day.” That’s the rule I follow because it’s

super easy to remember and keeps me hydrated. Besides my morning coffee

and the occasional unsweetened tea, water is what I drink with all my meals.

Another important note to remember when it comes to consuming whey

protein shakes (we will get to that in a minute), is to remember that drinking

too much protein can be hard on your kidneys if you do not drink enough

water. So it’s key to stay hydrated and not overdo it with the protein.

Supplements

Finally, the last bit we need to discuss when it comes to nutrition and getting

ready to destroy your workouts is supplementation such as whey protein.

When it comes to whey protein, honestly whey is whey no matter what else

the manufacturer throws in it. If you want the added benefits of more

protein in your diet to induce muscle growth you can go with the simplest

whey out there and that will do you fine. Be sure to read the label though

because a lot of proteins have so much stuff added to them that it might not

be what you are looking for and will probably cost you more too! One good

protein that has always worked for me is ON (Optimum Nutrition) 100%

Whey Protein, its legit and tastes pretty darn good!

One note about protein though, if there are 25g of protein per serving

prescribed you might think using double that amount (50g) will get you even

better results, not so fast. First of all, excessive protein (basically 4 calories to

1 gram of protein) is usually turned to fat, not muscle. This is because the

body can only process and use so much of it. Protein is a great thing, don’t

get me wrong but you need to be aware of the risks of over supplementation,

with one of those being weight gain if too much is consumed. So how much is

too much? One recommendation I was taught is to consume 0.8g/kg body

weight or converted to 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. For example a

170lb person would need 61.2g or a 115lb person would need 41.4g. For

those of you that perform intense resistance training, more protein is needed

to repair the microscopic muscle tears associated with this type of training

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and to maintain a lean body mass. Use this simple conversion to determine

how much protein is recommended and adjust from there. Second of all,

consuming too much protein in shake form can be hard on your kidneys

(especially if you already have renal complications) if you don’t drink enough

water. Lastly, if you would see double the results don’t you think the

manufacturer would prescribe that amount to make you see better results

and use their product quicker (a.k.a. you reorder more quickly)?

Another type of protein for those of you that have trouble packing on muscle

mass is called casein protein (ON sales this too). This is a type of really slow

digesting protein that is consumed right before bed to feed your muscles

slowly over night. A lot of people use this to decrease muscle breakdown

during sleep when our body is technically fasting, so they consume casein to

give the body a little protein over the night to get it through its metabolic

needs.

Other forms of supplementation include multi-vitamins, fish oils, BCAAs,

thermogenics, and pre-workouts just to cover a few. When it comes to

multi-vitamins I think it’s a good idea to take one. Although you may not

digest all of the vitamins within the pill you will still get some essential

vitamins that can be useful. As for fish oils, I believe any extra omega-3 I can

get for the old heart is a good thing, I take one after waking up and one

before bed. BCAAs (branching-chain-amino-acids) can be quite useful for

muscle recovery and growth after a strenuous workout. They are basically

the building blocks of proteins and muscle so the more you have the better

your muscles can recover after a workout!

Thermogenics are a way to increase your basal metabolic rate throughout the

day; therefore helping you burn more calories.

Lastly, pre-workout supplements can be really useful to give you the rush of

energy you need to get amped up for that next workout. They truly do wake

you up and get you pumped to hit the gym. That being said, some people

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have different tolerances to these things so make sure to take the minimum

dosage the first couple of times to see how your body reacts. They usually

also contain a bunch of other supplements like beta-alanine and creatine to

support muscle growth. One of my favorites is Assault by Muscle Pharm. It is

delicious, works, and scientifically tested to be relatively safe for athletes!

Motivational Tools

Now that we have a nutrition plan and are getting ready to develop an

exercise program we need to create a few motivational tools that can be

used later during our times of struggle to really show us exactly how far we

have come! We have already discussed signing a nutritional program contract

with a friend to keep you accountable but you can also do this with an

exercise program (more tips in Part II). For example, sign a contract with a

partner that you will not only try to stick to your nutrition program but you

will also work out 4 times a week and do 4 hours of cardiovascular exercise a

week.

Another great way to keep you motivated to continue your nutrition program

is to take pre-program measurements and pictures. It may sound silly but

these will be vital tools in keeping you motivated when you hit a hill or

plateau. One great way to keep the motivational ball rolling during your

times of future struggle is to take a self portrait of yourself (a selfie; front and

side view) so you will know what physique you began with. As you get into

the groove of working out and you are feeling more fit you can look back at

those images (wait at least a month into the program for noticeable results)

to see how far you’ve come. This will provide instant motivation to keep up

with that regiment or nutrition program!

Another way to stay motivated is to do some self-assessment fitness tests

before you start your regiment, such as the maximum number of pushups or

sit-ups you can PROPERLY do in one minute. Lastly, we can take body

measurements to look at how many inches we lost! Body areas to take

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measurements are the hips, waist, thighs, biceps, and chest. Now, it’s more

beneficial to do a number of these self-assessments/pictures because science

tells us that a multifaceted approach to exercise motivation is most effective

at keeping us on the path to our goals (Li 1998). We will discuss fitness

partners or using a personal trainer in the Part II!

Conclusion

As you can tell there is A LOT that goes into creating a good diet that fits your

needs and time constraints. I just want you to remember that you need to

develop a sustainable and convenient diet that fits your busy schedule; this is

just an example of meals so you can wrap your head around it. That will allow

you to actually stick with it. It doesn’t have to be exactly like this, you could

only eat 3 or 4 times a day, as long as it’s healthy and sustainable that is the

main premise behind giving you this information.

The main point of giving you these meal ideas is to show you that you need

plenty of quality protein, carbohydrates, fruits, and veggies. Well you’ve

made it through Part I on your path to shredded. You clearly are looking for

tips to improve your health, and hopefully you found them here. One step

down, and that was definitely the biggest step! We are more than half way

there. We got to break it down (fat via a proper diet) and build it up (muscle

via exercising) to get that toned look we all want! Remember that we all

make unhealthy compromises because they are convenient and easy.

We need to make our nutrition and fitness program convenient so that it

will be the compromise we make!

For the ladies, check out the Fit Female Club program for total complete

weight loss planning (workouts, meal plans, recipes, shopping lists…etc).

Guys check out our Services page to see how we can help you get results!

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Part II: Exercise

Overview

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to think about some of the nutrition tips I

provided in Part I. After a couple weeks it will become easier and easier to

stick with! You should have a basic understanding what is a quality, healthy

food and what is just empty, wasteful calories that don’t fill you up or provide

you any nutritional sustenance. By now, you should also understand what

works well for your body and your busy schedule.

Good for you if you’ve accomplished this, and keep on trying if you are just

getting started. As I always say 75% of losing weight and maintaining a lean

body mass is done in the kitchen, the other 25% is done exercising! Part I was

a guide for that 75%, now I’m going to provide you what I do for the other

25%. This is mostly what I’ve learned over the last ten years basically living in

a gym. This is what I have found to be true through my own personal

experience so you don’t have to go through the trials and tribulations to

learn it yourself. Let’s begin.

Importance of Strength Training

Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to maintain your weight but build

more lean muscle? Either way, we can accomplish these goals by

implementing two very important exercise foundations: strength training and

high intensity interval training (HIIT). Both of these can be done effectively

at-home or at the gym. You just need to decide what you have time for and

what fits your schedule!

If you’re a lady, you may think that you don’t need to do weight training

because you don’t want to get “bulky”. That’s a terrible excuse, you need it.

Not only does having muscle give you the toned look everyone wants (where

do you think that definition comes from, bones?) but muscle also burns more

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calories than fat. Regarding women being afraid of getting bulky, the widely

popular fitness trainer Joan Pagano said, “The truth is that most women lack

the necessary hormones to build muscle mass. There is a direct relationship

between the male hormone testosterone and muscle growth: the more

testosterone you secrete, the greater the tendency to build muscle mass.

Women only produce about one-tenth the amount of testosterone than

men, making it difficult to bulk up.” Strength training starts a snowball effect;

as you get more muscle your metabolism ramps up causing you to burn more

calories and fat. You become a well-oiled machine and it’s awesome.

With this as the foundation of your fitness regime you can accomplish all of

your goals with hard work and determination. That being said, there is no

proven way to specifically target losing weight from certain areas of the

body. Say for instance, you really want to lose your tummy so you start doing

a billion crunches a day and nothing happens. This is because when you lose

fat, you lose it from all parts of your body, you can’t just burn stomach fat.

On the other hand, you can specifically target certain muscle groups to make

them more defined, that is possible. What we need to do is lose fat from our

entire bodies through exercise and nutrition and build up muscle mass in our

weak areas to get toned. We have to break it down (fat through exercise and

nutrition) and build it up (muscle mass through resistance training) to see

definition and tone-up.

Warming Up

Before we jump into some possible workout regimes, you should always

stretch and warm-up. You should start off by an 8-10 minute warm-up

consisting of briskly walking on a treadmill or other cardio equipment (jog in

place if you don’t have equipment). Warm-ups are great because they

gradually increase your heart rate, increase your internal body temperature,

increase oxygen consumption, and increase blood /oxygen flow to your

working muscles (AFAA PFT Theory and Practice 2010).

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Next, perform static stretching (low-intensity, long duration) for 5-10 minutes

(AFAA PFT Theory and Practice 2010). This form of stretching allows the

muscle fibers to slowly relax during the duration of the stretch, making this

the safest form of stretching. Ballistic stretching on the other hand is

characterized by bouncing and uncontrolled movements that can cause

muscle spindles to fire which can create loads of tension in the muscles,

leading to injury (AFAA PFT Theory and Practice 2010). Stretch the major

muscle groups (chest, arms, shoulders, back, hamstrings, quads, glutes,

calves…etc.) for a duration of 15 seconds, working up to 30 seconds

(American College of Sports Medicine 2010).

I know warming up and stretching are incredibly easy to skip, especially if you

are in a time crunch. I myself have been known to skip both of these, but

they are great things to get in the habit of doing. You will definitely see the

benefits of stretching when your muscles are tight from working, or just a

way to increase your flexibility.

My Personal Routine - Start Slow

One thing I want to mention is that even if you don’t use this exercise

program you need to start slow and build up your strength. No matter if you

are doing bodyweight exercises or resistance band exercises, you need to

start off slow and light. You may ask yourself, why would this matter? For

one, if you start fast and go heavy, you are going to regret it. You will be so

sore you can barely move and it will make you hate lifting weights. I’m talking

the kind of sore where you can barely sit on your toilet, the kind of sore when

your significant other playfully hits your chest it sends you crumbling to your

knees. Trust me; you don’t want that when you first start. The second reason

to start slow is that being that sore gives you a much higher chance of

dropping the workout regime completely. Who wants to work out if it hurts

that bad every time? So, start slow and build up your strength. You will be a

little sore, but that’s expected!

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I also want to point out that this exercise program is just my own personal

regime that I have come to really enjoy doing. I’ve tweaked it several times

and I’m always changing it to keep my body guessing. You should change

your workout and experiment with new exercises at least every 4-6 weeks,

just to keep things fresh and interesting (it also allows you to hit different

muscle groups). Also, this entire workout can be done at-home or at the gym.

You can perform it with dumbbells, barbells, bands, machines…whatever is

most convenient for you. That’s what it’s about, making exercising

convenient and fun enough where it isn’t a big hassle. If that means doing

squats in your basement every morning, so be it! At least you are doing it!

My Personal Routine – Concentrate

When doing the exercises I’m getting ready to tell you about, I want you to

concentrate on three main things: form, speed, and breathing.

Form – this is one of the most important aspects of lifting that determines

how effectively you hit the targeted muscle groups (AFAA PFT Theory and

Practice 2010). The correct form can be the difference between burning

biceps or a hurt back. Please, none of that swinging and swaying to lift the

weights, it’s dangerous. If the form is bad, use a lighter weight and do it

correctly! Nothing is worse than seeing someone who is clearly using way too

much weight do the most amazing body contortions to lift the weight for one

repetition! They should be happy they didn’t herniate a disc! I’ve found some

of my best days were when I used a really light weight, increased my

repetitions (more of that below) and concentrated really hard on perfect

form.

Speed - this pretty much goes along with form. When lifting, make sure to

perform it at a steady, controlled rate. Don’t be lifting like you’re in a race.

Perform the exercises by slowly lowering the weight and bursting through the

contraction (lifting) stage. Keep it uniform.

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Breathing – I don’t know how many people I see at the gym not breathing

properly. You will easily notice them. When they are really straining they stop

breathing, their face turns purple, and they have funny little veins protruding

from their forehead. Breathing is key, not because it helps you lift more

(might just be psychological aspect), but because it’s dangerous not to breath

during the contraction stage of lifting. When holding your breath during

lifting or any strenuous exercise the Valsalva maneuver comes into play. This

causes increased blood pressure and increase pressure on the veins returning

to the heart and therefore causes a disruption of the oxygenated blood

supply to the brain; aka you can pass out (AFAA PFT Theory and Practice

2010)! If you already have previous heart conditions it can cause some

serious damage. Let’s just not do it, okay? Inhale during the eccentric aspect

of the exercise (coming back to rest) and exhale during contraction!

My Personal Routine – Here We Go

I like to break my workouts down into muscle groups (4-5 exercises per

group). I also workout four times a week so it breaks down to: Day 1 – Back

(Latissumus dorsi)/Biceps, Day 2 – Legs/Abs (start LIGHT), Day 3 – Shoulders

(Deltoids)/Traps, Day 4 – Chest/Triceps. You can definitely mix and match

these up to make them fit your schedule! My favorite thing to do is have a

very quick, efficient workout. To do this I like to superset my exercises. That

means two exercises, one immediately right after the other without rest in-

between. For instance, hitting the chest and then immediately going to a

tricep exercise without rest (AFAA PFT Theory and Practice 2010). This keeps

your heart rate up the entire time and is just more efficient. Once again,

make it convenient for you! Note: all of these exercises can be found at:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/ . Click on the exercise to see an

example.

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Day 1 (Back/Biceps):

Wide-grip lat pulldowns

Standing bicep curl

Straight arm pulldown

Concentration curls

One-arm dumbbell rows

Hammer curls

Kneeling high pulley row (one handed)

Wide-grip reverse curls (burnout)

Day 2 (Legs/Abs):

Squats

Scissor kick

Romanian deadlifts

Crunches

Dumbbell lunges

Toe Touches

Calf raise

Diagram via www.exercisefortheobese.com

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Planks

Calf raise burnout

Day 3 (Shoulders/Traps):

Barbell(dumbbell) shoulder press

Barbell shrugs

Deltoid alternating dumbbell raises

Dumbbell shrugs

Bent-over rear deltoid raises

Barbell behind back shrug

Face pulls (rear deltoid)

Dumbbell shrug burnout

Arnold press burnout

Day 4 (Chest/Triceps):

This is the only day I do not superset. The reason is that I want as much

power as I can for my benchpress and if you are smoking your triceps along

with the chest you will struggle with a lot of your chest lifts; triceps really

help out the chest during these lifts.

Incline dumbbell benchpress

Guillotine barbell press (neck press)

Incline dumbbell flyes with a twist

Dips (weighted if possible)

Reverse grip tricep extension

Dumbbell kickback

One arm cable tricep extension

Overhead tricep extension burnout

Wide grip barbell benchpress (burnout)

My Personal Routine - Format

Like I said, this is just the foundation of my routine. After about 4-6 weeks of

the routine I will experiment and add or subtract exercises! When it comes to

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repetitions you want to perform each exercise for 3 sets of 6-8 reps. Do a

light warm-up set before you begin the exercises to get you nice and loose.

During the working sets, do 6-8 reps of a weight where the last rep is very

difficult. Stay with that weight for the last two sets (get a spotter if needed).

If the 6th rep is easy, add more weight! Really focus on concentrating on the

muscle contraction and hold it for 1-2 seconds before doing another rep. The

only person you are cheating is yourself from becoming a healthier you!

Make sure the weight really pushes you but don’t do so much that you lose

your form and hurt yourself! Record your weight lifted for each exercise so

you will know what to lift the following week. For the first week of lifting you

may just want to feel your way through it and use some relatively light

weight, so you aren’t super sore the following days. Note: When you seen

(burnout) that means perform as many reps as possible until you are fatigued

(you can’t do anymore reps). Still do the burnouts for 3 sets.

My Personal Routine - High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

That brings us to the second part of the workout equation: HIIT sessions!

These can do all sorts of awesome things for you! Okay first off, there is no

way that I have 10 hours of extra time a week to do conventional cardio,

which can be hard on your joints and can cause you to metabolically plateau.

Screw that, I’ll take HIIT sessions. These time-efficient sessions take interval

training to the maximum. HIIT sessions are simply alternating between short

periods of maximal effort and short periods of rest.

These sessions can have remarkable outcomes. In fact doing just three, 15

minute HIIT sessions a week can increase endurance, increase VO2, and

increase your metabolism (Gibala & McGee 2008). Another study in which a

group of young males performed six, 15 minute HIIT sessions over the course

of two weeks for a weekly total work effort of only 250 kcal. The results

showed HIIT sessions improved insulin sensitivity by 23% (helping increase

metabolic processes: Babraj et al 2009)! The scientists indicated that this

time-efficient training method can be very helpful for sedentary middle-aged

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people by offering an alternative to time-consuming cardio training (Babraj et

al 2009). Enough with the science, my go-to HIIT session goes like this:

●10 min jogging/walking warm-up

●15 min HIIT session: Alternate between 30 second intervals of all-out

sprinting and 30 second intervals of walking/resting. If you are just beginning

your HIIT session journey, you may want to increase your rest intervals to 45

seconds or one minute. You must remember that during the high-intensity

intervals you really need to push yourself as hard as possible during the

sprinting sessions!

●5 min cool-down period

Remember that you don’t have to run for it to be a HIIT session you can use a

stationary bike, stair climber, elliptical…etc. It’s ideal to do only 2-3 HIIT

sessions a week considering that can be incredibly draining on the body when

done right and your body needs a period of recovery between sessions. I

would suggest starting with two evenly spaced HIIT sessions a week, and

depending on your goals jumping up to three sessions max.

One suggestion I have for you all is if you are really crunched for time, get the

Tabata Timer on your Smartphone (it’s free). It doesn’t log calories, miles, or

show you certain exercises, but it is great at timing you for Tabata training

sessions. Tabata training sessions are short term (< 10 minutes) high intensity

interval sessions that totally kick your butt! The benefits you can get from

such a short period of high intensity exercise compared to traditional steady-

state cardio can be amazing. The beauty is that it doesn’t have to be running

HIIT sessions it could be biking, stair stepping, jump-rope…etc. It’s a must

have if you don’t have a lot of time to do cardio but still want to achieve

some of the fat-busting power and heart healthy benefits of HIIT sessions!

If you are really crunched for time or after your normal workout, you can do

what I call the “4-minute RampUp” to finish off your workout. Basically,

pick an upper body exercise (i.e. pushups) and a lower/full body exercise (i.e.

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burpees: image below). Perform your pushups for one minute, doing as many

reps as possible, then go immediately into squats, back to pushups, finishing

off with squats (each for a minute with no rest in-between). On the second

set you can use a modified exercise to finish off the final minutes if you’re at

failure. Sound easy? Hell no! You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone in your

local gym that can do pushups for one minute without failure, let along twice

in four minutes. This is the best way I’ve found to finish off a workout; it

torches your muscle. Because there is no rest between exercises, your heart

rate and oxygen consumption is at a max, increasing your afterburn! We all

want that! If that isn’t enough, try a 8-minute RampUp…good luck!

Don’t Get Distracted

This brings me to a problem everyone has at one time of another at the gym.

During this time of the year when it is wicked cold outside it’s hard to make it

to the gym anyways and when we are there we need to make that time as

efficient as possible! That efficiency relies on us not getting distracted. I’m

not saying you can’t socialize at the gym, but if you are doing the workout I

described above you will be too busy going from set to set to have a lot of

time to talk to your buddies. Wait until after your workout, not only to save

time but to make the workout more effective, to socialize (at which point you

can talk until you are blue in the face).

Alternative Exercises

Not all of us can do a full workout four times a week and I totally understand

that. There are simple alternatives you can do when you have any free time

at-home that can help you get in shape. I also believe you need to make the

time for exercise in your busy schedule to truly reach your full potential at

whatever you are doing. As Dustin Maher (Fit Moms For Life) said in a recent

interview, “I would just first start off by realizing that you aren’t going to be

the best mom, wife, employer, boss, business owner if you aren’t fit, healthy,

have energy, are happy, feel confident in your own skin. To do that you need

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to take some time for yourself and even though it seems selfish sometimes to

maybe like give yourself twenty to thirty minutes a day to do that, long term

it is the most unselfish thing you can do.”

Take this time for yourself! On days when you can’t take the time but still

want to exercise, there are many exercises you can do! For instance,

bodyweight training can greatly improve your functional strength and make

everyday activities easier! The beauty of these is that there is no equipment

required. Exercises like dips, pushups, squats, lunges, and pull-ups can be

some of the most beneficial exercises out there, even as effective as going to

the gym to train traditionally (Weiss et al. 2010)!

So what can you actually do? Well you can perform all of these bodyweight

exercises like in a circuit, or you can pick one of the exercises that you think

you need the most and perform it every day. If you need more upper body

strength to tote your toddler around then perform pushups, pull-ups, or dips.

If you need lower body strength for pushing that stroller around then

perform squats and lunges. Ideally, you should pick an upper and lower body

exercise. Every morning after you drag yourself out of bed, perform these

exercises. For instance, the first day after you wake up perform 20 pushups

and squats, the next morning perform 21 of each, the next day perform 22 of

each…..etc. Build up your strength and you will see great results.

Another alternative is using resistance bands which can be used anywhere

and are super cheap to buy. These guys are great for those with a limited

space and time. A full exercise guide can be found here. Whatever you

choose, stay with it and you will see results. Get active and moving around!

Every exercise posted in the resistance bands link can also be done with

dumbbells. Use whatever is the easiest and most convenient for you (I sound

like a broken record)!

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Post – Workout Meal

This was covered in Part I but I want to reemphasize the importance of this

meal! Immediately post-workout, you should consume a piece of fruit to

provide your muscles with instant glucose and carbohydrates to replenish

what you had used during the workout, along with a whey protein shake (see

below for a full description) to soak your muscles with ample protein so they

can start building the muscle you are working so hard to gain!

The importance of our post-workout meal when it comes to getting the

results you want from your workout is beyond compare. You have a 30-60

minute window after a great workout where you really need to focus on your

nutrition to get your body the muscle building blocks it needs; after this

window the absorption of these nutrients won’t be as efficient! This meal

should be full of proteins and carbohydrates to replenish the glycogen lost

during exercise.

Motivation

We covered some basic ways to motivate yourself in Part I; from taking pre-

program selfies, to taking pre-program fit assessment tests and then looking

back (after 4 weeks on the program) to see how far you’ve come! Another

great way to keep putting in your workouts (or even start for that

matter) and stay on your nutritional program is to have someone hold you

accountable (Vartanian & Shaprow 2008). Now this doesn’t have to be a

personal trainer (although they definitely will hold you accountable), it can be

your spouse or someone you trust to keep you on track. It could be as simple

as having them ask you once a week if you are working toward your goals or

they could actually be your fitness partner.

A fitness partner is the ultimate motivation which will hold you accountable

to just show up and workout in the first place, because you don’t want to

let that person down (Jeffery et al 1998)! The only disadvantage could be

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scheduling conflicts or differences in physical fitness when starting the

program. If you can’t find someone to workout with you and have a little

extra money, you can hire a personal trainer who will help you achieve the

results you want. They pull from their many years of experience and

knowledge to help you get results, quickly!

Conclusion

There you have it! That is exactly what I do, day in and day out. The thing you

need to remember is that you must start slow and experiment with what

works for you. If you have the time to make it to the gym, try this workout. If

you only have time to workout at-home try bodyweight or resistant band

training. If you don’t have time for either, perform some bodyweight

exercises first thing in the morning to improve your strength but also wake

you up a little. I really believe that you must make the time to exercise, even

if you are super busy, to be the best you possible.

Don’t be intimidated by any of these exercises, after doing them a time or

two they will become second nature! Strength training and HIIT sessions will

get you the results you need, hands down. You need to strength train to

make you functionally stronger but also to boost your metabolism. You also

need cardio (in HIIT form) for its heart health and calorie burning benefits. As

I said earlier, we have to tear it down (fat through HIIT, strength training,

nutrition) and build it up (muscle through strength training) to get that toned

look everyone wants! Don’t believe me? Well, try it and see what happens!

You can do it, I promise. Set your mind to it and begin, nothing can hold you

back from the life you want! Be Active!

For the ladies, check out the Fit Female Club program for total complete

weight loss planning (workouts, meal plans, recipes, shopping lists…etc).

Guys check out our Services page to see how we can help you get results!

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