Want a Lean Look? Lift Weights!!

So a lot of people (women especially) are afraid of lifting weights because they think they are going to end up looking like this guy on the right. False. Weight lifting in this country does come with it an image of the super jacked psycho steroid using guy, but it just is not true. People think that if they lift weights they will not get that lean slender look with toned/cut muscles. False. Here is a simple truth: lifting weights builds muscle, muscle burns fat quicker and speeds up your metabolism, therefore lifting weights promotes a lean/thin look. If you build muscle, you will lose inches, but not pounds on the scale. You will lose body fat %, but not pounds on the scale...you will be healthier, but you won't lose pounds on the scale. I went from a 38 - 32 waist with lifting and interval cardio but my weight didn't drop too much. Resistance workouts are key.

"I don't want bulky muscles, I want lean muscles," someone said to me once. There are no bulky muscles, there are no lean muscles...all muscles are just muscles...all muscle is lean. It takes an obsessive amount of lifting and eating of tons of amounts of protein to get that body builder bulk that everyone dreads; all those guys do is lift, lift, lift, and eat creatine and munch on steroids! NOM NOM NOM!! Gravity does not want your body to get that big, it takes soooo much to get even a bit of "ugly bulk".

A "lean look" is more what people mean when they say "lean muscles". To achieve this there are some simple things to understand. While cardio is crucial to a lean look, you absolutely have to couple it with resistance training. Resistance makes your muscles work. Jogging on a treadmill 5 days a week is not going to help you lose much body fat or build muscle. Speed up your metabolism with 2 or 3 days of resistance work coupled with some cardio and you will undoubtedly get a lean look over time (if you eat well of course with low fat, low carb, high protein). You can help promote a leaner look also by doing a higher rep count with a lighter weight. A little more size comes with 6 - 10 reps of work, while a leaner look comes with 12 - 15 reps. The latter self-limits your body from building too much muscle. Choose a weight that makes that last couple reps real hard though, you should be struggling on the last 2 or 3.

So ladies (and a lot of gents), don't be scared of dumbells. Don't be scared of resistance bands. Lifting weights will no doubt help you get a lean look. You will burn fat, speed up your metabolism, and be in good aerobic shape from lifting weights (the anaerobic work your body does during lifting helps your aerobic system also!). You will not look like a bodybuilder if you lift 2 - 3 days a week, I promise.

A program like Chalene Xtreme via Beachbody is the perfect example of how muscle helps you get a lean look. It is a lot of resistance band work and weight training and it helps tons of ladies get into lean super model shape. I recently saw a pic of a 46 year old woman go from "thin" and flabby to lean and tight with resistance training! P90x is another great example of a program that does this with not JUST cardio. You need to mix it up! Bottom line...resistance training is crucial to get a "lean look" and burn fat.


Email me (tim.bell02@gmail.com), twitter (@CoachZoso), Facebook links on the right and top. I really want to help motivate you folks. I am here to help :)


CoachZoso

Cheat Days, We are Human

So whenever I go to my girlfriend's college house I always find myself cheating. Not with another woman. With food. There is inevitably some chocolate lying around, some chips, some cookies, some junk that either she or her housemates have. Last night it was jelly beans and chocolate eggs. I hounded a good amount of them, and gosh darnit, they were tasty! What did I do after I ate 'em, I felt guilty. I felt really guilty. I went to the mirror and looked at my stomach, judging myself. I thought about weighing myself, I thought about working extra hard the next couple days to simply punish myself for eating handfuls of jelly beans! OH JESUS I AM GOING TO HELL.

Then I realized today...so what? Is a cheat here and there going to ruin my well-being physically? No. Is a handful of jelly beans going to ruin a transformation process? No. In fact, in newsletters, books, and blogs I have read that a healthy lifestyle usually incorporates cheating every now and then. It is okay to have a day where you have some junky, fattening and/or sugary food. I really don't recommend doing it all the time, but once every 2 weeks or so, it is ok. The reason why it is okay is that if you are constantly practicing a caloric deficit of 300 or so calories (i.e. eating 300 less than what your body really needs, in order to lose weight slowly) your body will want a reminder every now and then that massive amounts of calories are available in case of an emergency. If you give it a lot of junk high in calories it will be like, "Ok, that was nice, now I feel okay with letting this fat on my body go!" But it is important that after a cheat day, you hop right back on the wagon and eat healthy and smart.

A general tip...if u are in good shape, and are happy with your look and feel, you've got that 8% body fat, and those lean cut abs, then 90% of the time eat healthy, and 10% of the time eat some junk! for real it is ok! If you are going through a diet plan like in P90x, Turbofire, Insanity etc. you want to really steer clear of the junk for the transformation to really take place, but hey reward yourself when you are done.

We eat bad food, we drink a couple beers, it is not the end of the world. Learn from it though. Be mindful when you have a cheat meal. Enjoy it, and maybe ask yourself why did I eat this? Am I not getting enough calories? Is it stress eating? Next time you will have more insight. Maybe have "healthy junk food" like dark chocolate, or all natural peanut butter cookies. Be creative! I will put some recipes up eventually :)

We are human beings, not machines.

"Do your best, and forget the rest" - Tony Horton

As always, email me @ tim.bell02@gmail.com if you wanna talk about this stuff or if you are interested in a coach FOR FREE! Check out my facebook pages (links above on the right) and follow me on twitter (@CoachZoso). Thanks guys!

Timo, out

Right Mindset, Right Program

So this new fitness program came out...its called Insanity: The Asylum. The name alone strikes fear into some people and why shouldn't it? Back in the day, workout programs were called "Sweatin' to the Oldies" and "8 Minute Abs" I mean look at that photo on the left? He looks like he wants to kill us all, or at least the camera man! My point is, workouts have changed and some are a lot more intimidating to some people. I mean P90X sounds intense too! So we need to find the right fitness program that matches you. A quick side note, a good amount of people have purchased The Asylum and bitten off more than they can chew because it is so challenging!

A lot of people will see a program advertised on TV and they immediately think, "I can't do that." or "Look how ripped that guy is, I can't do what he is doing," or "She is so much thinner than me, that is why she can do it, I will struggle too much and look silly." These are just self defeating thoughts rooted in fear. It is really easy to listen to them. We tend to listen to our thoughts like this because we want to stay with our comforts; we are afraid of failure. This goes back to an old post, but if you give up before you try, that in and of itself is a failure.

That being said, what are some fitness programs for the young professional or busy body to do? You have to measure out what kind of time you have, what your goals are, and how hard you want to work. If you are extremely busy, you may not have the time to devote 50-90 minutes a day to working out with something like P90x, or you may not be in the best shape yet to take it on. You may want to consider Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer for example or Slim in 6. Here are a few programs with a quick blurb about them

P90x: The most popular program on Team Beachbody, 12 extreme workouts for a TOTAL BODY 90 day transformation. The workouts range from 45 minutes to 90 minutes and this is for people who want a challenge. You can lose weight, slim down, build muscle, get lean, get flexible, the whole friggin' nine yards with it!

Insanity: This is a total body conditioning program that uses no weights or resistance. It only uses your own body to get into the best shape fo your life with extreme cardio interval training. This is incredibly challenging. You will have to dig deep to get through this 60 day program.

Turbofire: Turn up the music on this one. This is high intensity interval training with Chalene Johnson, a great trainer from Team Beachbody. There is a lot of fun music in this one and lots of intense cardio that helps you burn tons of fat off! It is very similar to Insanity, but not as draining.

Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer: This is a workout routine for the real busy individual. You get DvDs and a band or two and that is all you need. You work out for 10 minutes a day at first then up it to 20 and maybe even 30. It is ridiculously convenient and people have shredded tons of weight with it.

Slim in 6: Debbie Sieber's program is a 6 week (duh) program designed to get you looking lean with light resistance, cardio, and calisthenics. It does not create bulky muscles. It is great for beginners and a good precursor to something like Chalene Extreme. It is not too time consuming either.

Insanity: The Asylum. This is the sequel to Insanity. It is 30 days. If you hate yourself, do this program. Hahaha, no just kidding. It is increddddibblyyy difficult and be ready to hurt during the workouts. It is rewarding though because you train and feel like an elite athlete. if you play a sport, you need The Asylum.

** Most if not all programs from Team Beachbody come with a nutrition guide tailored to the program itself to maximize results. They do all the work for ya, you just gotta eat things! NOM NOM NOM!!

These are just a few of the many programs that Team Beachbody has to offer. Check out http://beachbodycoach.com/CoachZoso for TONS more programs; better yet, email me, tim.bell02@gmail.com. There are at least a dozen or so more. The most important thing to take away from this post is that whatever you decide, program or no program, gym or no, whatever...don't defeat yourself before you start. Who cares about what other people do and how well they do it or what they look like! Slow and steady and you will start owning these workouts and feel great about yourself. I SUCKED at pull-ups, now I am a little less sucky at them! I have been doin 'em for awhile now too...

this is a lesson I only learned recently: quit obsessing about the results, how you look etc. just do your best, keep showing up :)

CoachZoso

11 Nutrition Nuggets for Busy Bodies

So a lot of my readers live on college campuses, or they are extremely busy with their jobs, OR BOTH. Some of us are just so busy all of the time, so how do we do it? Well personally I think we as Americans should take on less! But...that won't happen any time soon...So how do we find time to practice good nutrition habits? Here are some tips that I follow to help me achieve optimal nutrition and peak levels of fitness while being a graduate student, having a job, and managing a social life.

#1 Ditch The Energy Drink and Soda - The amounts of caffeine and sugar in these drinks is shocking. These will cause a sugar and energy rush that will feel good but then you are going to come to a huge crash and ultimately your energy levels will be completely sapped. You won't have energy to work out or anything else really and your metabolism will be confused and not work properly; it also affects your sleep. Find natural energy in good foods and Shakeology! Also, carbonation messes with your lungs and makes cardio a lot harder.

#2 Whole Grain When You Can - When there is an option for a whole grain anything over a white bread or enriched anything, TAKE IT. Enriched white breads drain all of the nutritional value of a whole grain food (pasta, sliced bread, cereal etc). You get more fiber, vitamins, and minerals with whole grain bread and complex carbs provide better energy. You also don't get a spike in your blood sugar!

#3 Portion Control - I know it is hard when you enter a buffet style place as a college student to not just eat everything in sight. Try your best to measure out small portions when you eat! Have some self control.

#4 Certain Smoothies and Bars = Good! - A quick smoothie or Shakeology in the morning is the perfect way to start the day and it is so easy. Milk, ice, frozen fruit, whey protein and you are set! Bars are also great, but be aware of the big ones that have tons of saturated fat and corn syrup! The Pure Protein brand bars are excellent!

#5 Bring Food On The Go!!!! - This is probably my best tip. It is important to control what you put in your body. So when you go to work, pack a cooler full of 1% fat cottage cheese, greek yogurt, fruits, veggies, hummus etc.. When you go to a long grad school class, do the same! Make an all natural PB and whole fruit Jelly sandwhich and a Banana. AMAZING meal. There are simple ways to prep food for yourself that take NO TIME AT ALL. I do it all the damn time.

#6 Read Labels, Ask Questions - When you buy something in the store, read labels. If you can't pronounce the majority of the ingredients you are better off without it. Look out for the dreaded high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, trans fats, saturated fats, and fake sugars (sucralose and aspartame, almost as bad as regular sugars but for different reasons). When you are in a restaurant, ask the waiter or waitress for something to be prepared a different way (whole grain pasta with veggies instead of enriched pasta in alfredo sauce), they want your money and will probably do it! (Just leave a nice tip :) )

#7 - Sugar is OK at the RIGHT TIME! - Sugar after a workout like the P90x Results and Recovery Formula is OK. Sugar all the time is bad. Make sure they are good complex sugars from fruit! I try to measure out having sugar (agave nectar in yogurt, fruit, a protein bar) after a meal cause I LOVE DESSERT. Do the same to satisfy your sweet tooth.

#8 - Eat Mindfully - I don't want to get all Buddha on you, well I actually very much want to but I will practice some self control...try to enjoy your meals. Enjoy peeling that orange, enjoy the smell of your food, eat it slowly and really savor it. Too often, and I am incredibly guilty of this, we eat in front of the TV or in a rush...if we have the time to enjoy a meal on a sunny day, do it! You will feel more fulfilled.

#9 No More Fast Food - Seriously...if you have to eat quickly, do yourself a favor and at least go to a subway to get a turkey sub with mustard and tons of vegetables, pile 'em on! Fast food is going to kill you slowly, very slowly and painfully. Those of you who live in a big city, I know you have access to healthier options like a health shake place (though some are dangerous and have lots of sugar) or a salad bar (Olive oil and balsamic is the best dressing to eat! Dont pile on crappy fake dressings) type place...ditch the Mickey Ds, ditch the BK.

#10 Try Shakeology - I know I plug this a lot, but I really wouldn't talk about if I didn't believe it to work and be so important for your fitness, nutrition, and overall health. There are things in this health shake that you cannot get anywhere else. Green Superfoods, Red Superfoods, Supergrains...all from exotic wonderful places with great health benefits! It has helped me transform and feel better, it can do the same for you!

#11 Take it Slow - Sometimes it is hard for us to try and make a complete 180 degree shift from unhealthy foods to healthy foods. Often, we try to do it and fail and then just beat ourselves up and go back to eating junk to relieve the stress of failure! Maybe just take a few steps each week and slowly get into healthy habits. Don't do all of these at once, you will just stress yourself out.

Eating in a fast paced world in a fast paced job or a fast paced graduate school with loads of work can be extremely difficult. You have to make a conscious effort to do so. Once you do, you will find it to be the best decision of your life. Treat your body well, put good things inside of it and you will be rewarded with sustained energy. Nutrition is the cornerstone for any transformation process or workout regiment, and heck it just feels great. Whole healthy foods taste great and help prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease etc. Hopefully these tips will help you in your busy lives.

As always, find me on twitter (@CoachZoso), Facebook (Get Trim With Tim), or via email! I'd love to hear your problems about nutrition and fitness. You don't have to do it alone.

CoachZoso

Does Shakeology Taste Good?

This is just a little augmentation to my review of Shakeology. The review I gave focused more-so on its benefits. It increases your immune system, maximizes your metabolism and utilization of good calories, cleanses your body, helps you lose weight, and fights off disease. But I need to give a word about how it tastes...

Most people look at the ingredients and think, that is going to taste disgusting. I have a direct quote from a friend of mine who got Shakeology recently: "This stuff tastes better than Coldstone Creamery!" For those who do not know, Coldstone is an ice cream chain...a really tasty ice cream chain. Talk about decadent! So he straight up said, Shakeology tastes like an ice cream milk shake. Shakeology tastes good. Shakeology tastes great. Shakeology tastes phenomenal.

If you are pressed for time, always on the move at school or at a busy job, Shakeology is the way to go! Just go buy a blender, get some frozen fruit, get some chocolate Shakeology and mix it all together with ice. You will be so happy. I have more energy, it helps me rest better, and it helps me in my workouts like P90x and Insanity. I literally look forward to it every morning and it is the tastiest meal of my day. Email me about it, or ask me for some good recipes! Keep on digging friends.

CoachZoso

Work Out For You!

Too often, folks get the idea in their head that they need to be the epitome of fitness for someone else. They think, "Oh if I just practice good nutrition habits and get into fitness, my girlfriend, my family, my friends will all like me better." This is kind of a subtle aggression towards yourself, you are thinking that you are not good enough for them and need to change. Don't approach fitness this way! That is how I started, and it only made me neurotic and unhappy.

Fitness, nutrition, lifestyle changes should be for you and for no one else. If you don't go into a transformation process with a love and acceptance of who you are, whats the point? You are just going to come out just as unhappy. You will be seeking out compliments all the time instead of being content with your hard fitness work and change in eating habits. You can have 2% body fat and have the most shredded body, but if you don't love yourself for the right reasons, you are not going to enjoy life.

The compliments are great bonuses, great icing on the cake, but in reality what feels best is a genuine acceptance of yourself and a sort of pride for the hard work you have devoted to getting into shape.

When we think about working out, or getting into fitness we often look at other people. Guys who are ripped, girls who are slender and we think "If I could only look like them, I'd be so happy." This is an ignorant stance. Be you. Trying to look like someone else, or be someone else is setting yourself up for failure cause you will never be them. Sure it is fine to be inspired by someone (heck I am inspired by Tony Horton, creator of P90x every day), but just be you, just do you.

We also think, when we see these super in-shape folks who are fitness gods or what-not doing 80 pushups and lifting 50 lb dumbells that "I could never do that." It is a process! Change it to "I presently struggle with," and then with time you will find that you can do it. You can do pullups, you can run a mile or two or three without stopping. This goes back to an earlier post where I mentioned how American's want quick results and hate themselves. There are no quick fixes! Don't get stuck in a comfort zone and give up before even trying! Use the coaches, the trainers for motivation but ultimately do the work for you.

Find me on twitter (@CoachZoso) and please like/fan my facebook pages on the top right :). Get in touch with me ASAP if you have questions or want some coaching, or just wanna talk.

CoachZoso

Step off the Scale! Weighing Yourself Hurts your Fitness Goals!

So I was talking to a resident who lives in my dorm. She had tried P90x for a month and then quit. She told me that the scale wasn't showing any drop in weight. She kept weighing herself and she was the same. Finally at the end of thirty days, she gave up because the scale just wasn't showing the number that she wanted it to. Here is an important tip: the scale is misleading and not the best way to gauge your fitness and overall health!

There are a lot of things that factor into what the scale will read throughout the day. I once sweat a lb. and a half of sweat off my body, then I drank a bunch of a water and the lb. and a half returned. My point is that the amount of water we drink, how much we sweat, how big of a meal we have...all of this effects your weight. We generally weigh more at night than in the morning. Our weight fluctuates so much throughout the day, and too many people think that little number on the scale is what matters. They think that they are that number, they identify with it and forget the hard work they are putting into their nutrition and fitness. Stepping on the scale constantly is an easy way to set up yourself for self aggression and judgment. Sure if you lost a few lbs in a couple weeks, great! But if you didn't, you are going to hate yourself. Just roll with the highs of eating and living better. Don't succumb to the highs and lows of the scale, not worth it friends.

You are not that number folks. When you undertake a workout program or nutrition change you need to think about the work you actually do. Be in the moment of your workout, be in the moment of eating that healthy meal. Don't think about the end result. When I first got into fitness I thought I would look like Shaun T (Insanity guy below) after 2 months of Insanity. Reality check! These transformations take time and they are only hindered by constantly stepping on the scale. We think about the end result too much! We feel defeated when that number doesn't go down. Focus on your workouts, on the energy you feel, the yummy endorphins swimming in your brain, the delicious healthy food you eat. That is you. Not some number. I don't even weigh myself anymore during a program. I wait the entire length of the program and check my weight because I want to be "in the workout". I want to live with the fitness and the nutrition. That is the best way to approach this stuff. It took me awhile to realize that, but it is truth!

Other measures of health: resting heart rate, cholesterol levels, how your clothes feel, body fat % (get some calipers), energy during workouts, amount of pushups/pullups/jumping jacks/miles etc you can run or do, clothing measurements

Please, step off the scale. You will feel better.

CoachZoso