Supportive Nutrition: A Guest Post from Nedah Barrett

The Non-Cooks’ Guide to Supportive Cooking
By Nedah Barrett of http://leanKitchen.com
AFPA Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant

As a little bit of a preface, let me start by saying that I’ve never been to culinary school, nor have I so much as even taken a cooking class. Everything I learned I learned by experience, and of course, by watching The Food Network. It’s true.

The Theory of Fat Loss and Injury Prevention

Injury prevention is critical to any fat loss program (and any exercise program). Unfortunately, the tendency of society is to take a reactive approach to injury rather than a proactive one. This is a direct result of... for lack of a better term... ignorance. If people had just a basic understanding of the law of repetitive motion and were given just a few practical tools (like foam rolling or postural correction, for example) to prevent injury during training, then perhaps qualified fitness professionals wouldn't have to have an ongoing battle with certain (and I do mean certain, not all) physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, personal trainers, lay persons, etc. who keep repeating the same simple minded dogma about lifting weights that keeps society, as a whole, in the dark ages regarding proper training.

We've all heard ridiculous things such as:

"Squats are bad for your knees."
"Deadlifting is bad for your back."
"Lifting heavy weights is bad for your joints."
"Moving is just too dangerous. That's why I recommend having a machine spoon feed you pastries and potato chips while you sit on the couch all day."

 Squatting is Bad

Just ask the doll

Franchise Your Fitness (Part 1): Don't Get Screwed

I am in the contemplation phase of writing a new fitness book. I mentioned this in a previous post, but now I have a much clearer picture of how I want it to look. Of course, this has to wait until basketball season ends. Because of my brief stint as a franchise owner and my current role with its franchisor, Fitness Consulting Group, I have been able to draw a number of parallels among fitness, business, and success in general.

What is most interesting to me at the moment is the similarity between rapid fat loss gimmicks and get rich quick schemes. What draws people in is always the promise that it is going to be easy... or that it is all about "1 weird tip" that some stay at home mom discovered. We've all seen the internet ads.

The Erik Rokeach Interview

Three months ago, I had no idea who Erik Rokeach was, but when he asked me to do a fitness business video interview for his website, I just had to say yes. Well, Erik is making quite the name for himself interviewing all of the top fitness entrepreneurs out there, but nobody had ever interviewed him... that is... until I decided to do it.

Of course, it helped that 1) He has an awesome name (as someone pointed out to me... and, if you were wondering, his last name is pronounced like "teach"); 2) He read my book, legitimately thought it was awesome, and did a video testimonial for me (see top right corner of this page); 3) People think he's attractive (see interview... heheh).

So, without further ado, here is the Erik Rokeach interview...

How to Burn Fat Fast: A Better Solution

How to burn fat fast... that is what seemingly everyone wants to know. They don't want to know how to be healthy. They don't want to learn the theory behind fat loss They want to know how to wake up tomorrow with a six pack without having to put forth any physical effort, without having to change their diets, and without having to revamp their lifestyles. Unfortunately for them, even if they could take fat off quickly... the truth of the matter is this: SHORT TERM SOLUTIONS YIELD SHORT TERM RESULTS.

The Legendary Steve Payne Interview: Firestorm Fitcamps, Fat Loss, Hunting, Life

I'm here with fellow fitness professional and legendary old man Steve Payne. He operates Firestorm Fitcamps out of San Antonio, Texas, and despite his advanced age, still pretends that he is a young guy like me. He even has his own blog! Kidding aside, if you live in San Antonio and want to find a great place to work out, he runs one of those rare group fitness bootcamps that actually is known for getting people real results.

Alright Steve, I have some questions for you...

Fat Loss Secrets: Neural Cardio Circuits

Fat loss secrets are hard to come by... at least the TRUE fat loss secrets. Why? There really is no "secret" (see links) other than it takes real work, consistency, and progression. However, that doesn't mean that when push comes to shove, you can't structure your workouts to make them effective for both the short term AND long term.

Enter the neural cardio circuit.

Fat Loss Theory: The Relative Intensity Trap

When it comes to exercise and fat loss theory, many people who don't get results fall into what I like to call the "relative intensity trap." What is the relative intensity trap? It's really quite simple.

The relative intensity trap is the false mindset that a workout was good for fat loss just because it was difficult for YOU.

 

Just because you're exhausted doesn't mean you'll lose fat.

"Wait a minute, Timothy Ward... Are you telling me that being tired and out of breath during a workout or being extremely sore the day after a workout doesn't mean a damn thing for fat loss?"

"That is exactly what I'm telling you."

The ONE Thing You Need to Know About Fat Loss Theory

If you wanted to take one point away from The Theory of Fat Loss and one point only, a concept that summarizes in it's entirety what fat loss theory is truly about in terms of exercise, then I would tell you one word... PROGRESSION.

In my previous post, Fat Loss Theory and the Hedgehog Concept, I discuss that there are two types of exercisers, those who are foxes, overwhelmed with the infinite means to the same end, and those who are hedgehogs. The hedgehogs know that to be successful long term with an exercise program, you only need to continue to get better. Simply put, once you stop progressing in the gym, you stop getting results!

In other words... you won't look like this:

... training like this:

The fact that some people still go to the gym and do the same thing they've always done and expect different results is insanity! Take the following example:

Fat Loss Theory and the Hedgehog Concept

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins reveals to us the Hedgehog Concept, based on the famous Isaiah Berlin essay "The Hedgehog and the Fox." The story goes as follows.

The story revolves around the idea that people are categorized as either hedgehogs or foxes. Foxes know many things, but hedgehogs know one big thing.

The fox is cunning and can devise hundreds, if not thousands of strategies for sneaking up on the hedgehog. So, every day the fox comes up with a new plan to pounce on the hedgehog. He circles around the hedgehogs den just waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

The hedgehog leaves his den to find food, and the fox has his chance, so he leaps out hoping to surprise and kill the hedgehog using his new plan. Of course, the hedgehog, although he is in danger, is not afraid. He wonders if the fox will ever learn. The hedgehog rolls up into a ball and becomes a sphere of sharp spikes. The fox sees this and realizes he can't do anything or he will get speared... so he retreats and tries to come up with a new plan. Every day, another version of this battle takes place... and every day, the hedgehog wins.

As Bruce Lee once said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

You see, foxes, according to Berlin, are "scattered or diffused, moving on many levels." What they don't have is a one unifying concept or overall vision. They see the world for all its complexities. Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify all these complexities into one basic principle. Every challenge, every dilemma, no matter how complex, is reduced to a simple hedgehog idea. According to Collins, anything that does not relate to the hedgehog idea is irrelevant.

What does all this talk of hedgehogs and foxes have to do with fat loss? Read on and find out!

The Theory of Fat Loss: Knowledge Limits to Exercise

In my opinion, one of the most overlooked parts of The Theory of Fat Loss was the chapter on "knowledge limits." It isn't because the information wasn't important. It wasn't because people couldn't understand it either. The reason is that I basically told people that learning was important. It is a good message I suppose, but it is not really all that practical.

Oftentimes stories can be used to illustrate a point much more clearly, and now I have one for you. It demonstrates the power of knowledge when it comes to training with limited resources.

The Theory of Fat Loss: Author Interview

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to share with you today my interview with Erik Rokeach from Fitness Business Interviews. In that interview, I discuss how I got started as a fitness professional, my growth in the industry, what inspired me to write a book, how I went about inventing a fitness product that doesn't suck, and a whole bunch of other things. I hope you enjoy it.

You can check it out here:
Fitness Business Interviews