The Ultimate To Do & Not To Do List

One of the main problems people approach me about is the amount of information out there about health and fitness and that they simply do not know what to do with it all. This all to often leads to ‘paralysis by analysis’.

With all this information we do not know where to turn and we do and achieve nothing. So to make it a lot simpler I have decided to give everyone an easy 10 point ‘To Do ‘ & ‘To Not Do’ list for training and nutrition. By knowing what to and what not to embrace, you will definitely enhance your chances of athletic and fat loss success. Most of these points are very simple and I definitely will not be winning any Nobel prizes for talking to you about them, but hey simple things work best.

To Do

1) Invest in a coach

Look everyone needs a coach or a mentor. If uber-athletes like Michael Phelps need one, then I would hazard a guess that us mere mortals do too. Interestingly enough, a lot of team sport athletes in the United States have also hired their own personal strength coaches to work with them alongside existing team staff. As far as trends go, Australia seems to follow the U.S. so it will not be long before our team sport athletes do the same thing. Personally, I have three mentors – one for business and two for technical aspects of my profession; all are considered experts in their fields. Having a coach makes us accountable; it gives us guidance, motivation and also makes sure we look after ourselves. To be honest, the biggest problem I see is that people attempt to do TOO MUCH, they do THE WRONG STUFF with health and exercise then they end up LOSING MOTIVATION and GIVING UP. They are not held accountable, they lose inspiration, they have no clear direction and they do not look after themselves – all the things that coaches provide. For this reason we have released a web based coaching service for a limited number of clients. It is filled with cutting edge material and everything is result based. If you are interested in this, have a look at our Satellite Coaching Program.

2) Good Old Fashioned Vegetables.

Nobody ever got fat off broccoli and cauliflower. Eat more of them. End of story.

No but really do yourself all a favor and google ‘cruciferous vegetables’. These little suckers help to beat cancer, regulate estrogen and are fiber packed. The famous Nurses Health study showed us we need to eat eight servings a day of fruit and (predominately) vegetables to avoid obesity related conditions like Diabetes. Oh and eight servings equals eight cups – scary eh? If you are not getting these sort of amounts, you need to start using Primal Greens which is the best organic greens mix around. Primal Greens will also help to reduce the body’s acidity levels and to reduce the harmful effects of stress & cortisol. This product will actually also help you pack on lean body mass. This is because an alkaline body finds it very hard to produce cortisol. As cortisol basically eats muscle up, a greens drink can be considered an anabolic by default. To order the Primal Greens or if you would like more information on the product, contact us here.

3) Sleep More

Sleep is one of the fundamental keys to weight loss and a healthy life. We are designed to sleep when the sun goes down until the sun comes up. Last time I looked this period was around 10-11 hours on average throughout the year. Now with the advent of artificial light, modern day stress and ‘constant contactability’, our sleep patterns are (quite frankly) rooted. Sleep will help with lean body mass, decreased junk food & carbohydrate cravings and you’ll exercise more intensely & perform better. So let’s get more of it – make sense?

4) Train Hard

Look if you want to really change your body shape and keep it there, at some stage you are going to have to endure some tough stuff training wise. I was speaking to well-respected female trainer, Lisa Stokes recently and one of things that came out was that, in her experience, most females train at only around 50% of the required intensity needed to change body shape. I would have to say this holds true for most males I see in exercise settings also. The amount of males I see talking on their cell phones between sets or spending 5 minutes chatting between sets of triceps pushdowns is phenomenal. Ditch the distractions, stop wasting time and go test yourself. You’ll be surprised.

5) Go for Game

Game meats are some of the best protein sources you can put in your mouth. Loren Cordain, author of the Paleo Diet and one of the world’s foremost experts on nutrition, considers game meat to be a vital (but missing) part of nearly all people’s diets. Most game meats are organic (i.e. they have to be shot or caught first) and are nutritional powerhouses – high in amino acids and healthy fats. The other reason to eat a lot of game meats is for variety and to avoid food intolerances, which will develop if you do not rotate your food sources. Go out there and try a few. Word from the wise though, do not overcook the camel rumps!

6) Cheat wisely

Everyone needs a break now and then from their eating regime. Depending on their physical condition, I actually advise clients to have a ‘cheat’ or ‘reward’ meal every five days. Some of the reasons behind this are that it is mentally rewarding, you have greater control over the appetite hormone leptin and you do not compromise Branch Chain Amino Acid production. However I do have a caveat here. If you are going to cheat, make smart cheat choices. For instance, dark chocolate covered almonds instead of lollies. A multi-grain bread instead of white bread. Sweet potato instead of fries. Uncomplicated but it does make a difference.

Not To Do

7) Stay Away from Shake Diets

One thing that really kicks into gear over the new year period is the amount of ‘slimming’ shake diets that hits the shelves. Having seen more than my fair share of young females try these, I can say they will result in weight loss in the short term but so will starving yourself or only drinking cabbage soup for two weeks. However, in the long term, the results are quite pathetic when compared to structured eating (this actually also can be said for all weight loss drugs like Xenical). A certain type of whey/casein shake diet will work for the very carbohydrate intolerant individual but on the whole, my advice would be to stay away from these!

8) Same Goes for Celebrity Programs

Pick up any bodybuilding or gossip magazine on the rack in any grocery store. Open it up and you’ll find the latest Hollywood glamour girl’s ‘authentic’ weight loss diet or Mr. Great Galaxy’s ‘official’ training program and supplement regime. Let me say this – "Yeah right." Point is to go get a coach, learn how to do things correctly and reap the benefits rather than try to follow Mr. Great Galaxy’s supposed 5 sessions a week of bench press.

9) As For All Those Exercise Products That Only Cost Three Easy Payments Of…

Just like the shake diets and programs, celebrity endorsed products will be rolled out very shortly for all those New Year resolutions. If you have ever had to endure early morning infomercials, you’ll know exactly what I am talking about here. Although the latest version of the AB Master can target the abdominals in a unique 33 different angles and the Perfect Pushup will sculpt ‘perfect pectorals’, they do not work if you do not use them. Lets face it - most of these products get bought to become glorified dust collectors. The better answer is to save your money, swallow your pride (there is always someone who knows more than you) and invest in getting taught how to do things properly. ‘Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime’ – you know the story.