Archive for the ‘Fat Loss’ Category

Linda S. – August 2011 Bootcamper of the Month!

We’re starting a Bootcamper of the Month on our blog today!  Every month we will feature a NEW bootcamper and include a video or write-up about them!

…And who better to start it off with than Linda S., from our Mountain View Fit Body Boot Camp!!

Linda has been training with us for over one year, doing a combination of bootcamp training and at-home personal training with Roy and her BFF, Yvonne.

Stepping it up as a true leader in the MV bootcamp, Linda has some wise words here for new bootcampers.  Check out the video!  …And don’t forget to leave your comments for Linda below!!  We are a community…don’t be a silent onlooker!  YOU, our Fit For Life Solutions blog reader, are part of this!!  Thanks!

Forrest’s Birthday Gifts to YOU!

Hi there, Forrest here,

Well, I turned 34 today, and I’m feeling pretty good about it (besides this damn poison oak!).   But I feel really good about my age, and my life right now.  I’ve got everything a guy could ask for.  Great friends.  Great family.  A wonderful girlfriend.   Two beautiful kids.  Great co-workers.

…And of course, my awesome bootcampers and blog readers!  Yes, that’s YOU! ; )

So for my birthday, nothing would make me happier than to give you some gifts!  I’ve put together some of my best for you to download right here from the blog!

Let’s see, I’ve got my color-coded bodyfat % sheet, my weight management worksheet, my Eco-Tox Cheat sheet PDF, my 7-day carb rotation and 12-Day Fat Blaster PDF, and I’ve even included my favorite fitness lifestyle quotes you can print out and put on your fridge to remind you to keep on track with your fitness lifestyle!

…And it’s all yours, FREE!! It’s just my way of saying thank-you, and letting you know how important YOU are!

 

THANK-YOU!!!!!!!

FFLB Bodyfat Worksheet
FFLB Weight Management Worksheet
Eco-Tox Detox Program
FFLB Hierarchy of Fat Loss
Forrest’s Favorite Quotes
7-Day Fat Melter Plan
12-Day Fat Burn plan

Metabolic Typing: How to eat right for YOUR body type

We recently sat down and did an interview about Metabolic Typing with Liza Laurinkus, owner of The Kneaded Spot (located inside the Foster City Athletic Club).  Being a holistic health practitioner, massage and Bowen therapist, and certified metabolic typing advisor, we wanted to ask her what her take on metabolic typing is, and how it could potentially benefit YOU, our newsletter and blog readers.

Forrest: Hi Liza, thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk with us.

Liza: Your welcome, Forrest, it’s my pleasure to share with you some of the amazing things metabolic typing can do for your clients, or anyone who wants to try it.

Forrest: Very cool.  Tell us, Liza, what exactly is Metabolic Typing?

Liza: Metabolic Typing is a safe, medically approved program, developed from studying the fundamental body control systems such as the autonomic nervous system, oxidative system, endocrine system, blood type, etc.  These systems have been researched over the past 70 years and the discoveries that have been made are amazing.

Forrest: Wow, that does sound interesting…what kind of discoveries have been made?

Liza: Well, for example, one interesting study is a health study on preventing early death.  According to Harvard Public Health Study in 2009 on “Top 12 Preventative Causes of Death”, 10 out of 12 causes are diet related.  That leads us to conclude that the wrong diet is now the leading cause of premature death in the US.  On the other hand, the right diet can prevent or reverse 10 out of 12 leading causes of premature death.

Forrest: Man, that really shows how much control we have over our health and our lives when we know more about the right foods designed for our body type.  Liza, with all the other diet programs out there, why would someone choose Metabolic Typing?

Liza: “One size fits all diets” do not work.  Your body responds uniquely to food based on genetics, biochemical makeup, family history, and your own interaction with the environment.  Metabolic Typing puts an end to the confusion about what diet is right for you.  When you begin to eat right for your type, your metabolism will move towards balance.  You will begin to experience weight control, high energy, relaxed alertness, positive state of mind, and greater mental clarity.

Forrest: I’ve personally tested probably hundreds of diet and nutrition programs on myself and my clients over my 10 years in the industry.  I’ve found that there really is no “one-size-fits-all”…so I’m glad you shared that perspective, and you have an answer that I think will work well for people, because it chooses foods that are meant for their unique body.  Who exactly would your program be good for?

Liza: I would say anyone with weight issues, low energy, food cravings, high blood sugar or hypertension.  Even someone who may be taking medication for high cholesterol…it can be the perfect solution for anyone struggling with weight issues despite constant efforts in the gym or with other diet programs that don’t address their unique body type.

Forrest: This has been great, Liza!  Thank-you so much for taking time out of your day to inform our blog readers about this incredible solution to finding the exact right foods for their body.  Truly excellent stuff, thank-you!  Any closing words for our readers, Liza?

Liza: Sure.  I would say to your readers that if their body is out of balance, they need help.  It is time for us all to understand that we are way better off by setting our focus on gaining health than on simply losing weight.  Get Metabolically Typed to learn what foods YOUR BODY needs.  Dieting right for your type will eliminate cravings.  Your energy will increase, your memory will improve.  You will eat less while feeling satisfied.

Forrest: Thank-you so much, Liza!

Liza: Thank-you, Forrest!

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Instructor Steve gives us his EXACT nutrition he uses for body building competitions

Didn’t you always want to know exactly what a body builder eats in a day to look so muscular and lean? I know that sometimes you can find this kind of stuff in magazines or online…but to actually see this straight from one of our instructors who you know and trust – what better way to get the inside info, right?

If you didn’t know, Steve Aros is our bootcamp instructor from the 9:15am bootcamp in Foster City. Steve is a very committed instructor, fitness enthusiast, fire-fighter in training, and body building competitor.

Caroline (Steve’s girlfriend) and Steve

As a bootcamp instructor, Steve continues to re-invent himself daily, always bringing new exercises into the mix, and getting the group to push past their self-percieved limitations, as he does in his own training. Here, in this raw video footage, Steve gives us the inside scoop on EXACTLY what he eat in a day. Check it out!

(Steve gives lot’s of great tips in this video, including the low-down on yogurt, fruit sugars vs. sugar, nutrient timing, protein and which carbs to avoid!)

…AND as a bonus for you, our loyal Fit For Life Solutions blog and newsletter readers, Steve has also let us in on the supplements he uses to recover from intense workouts, build muscle, and burn more fat!

If you’re a woman, you’re probably thinking “Well…that’s great if you’re a GUY! What should I eat to see those kinds of results?” Well, I would say to eat the same as Steve does, only less. Use the size of your hand to measure out portion sizes and that should be a good guideline to follow. However, if you’re interested on finding out what Steve’s girlfriend, Caroline, eats in a day, leave a comment below and I’ll see if she’s available for a video interview.

4 On-site nutrition talks that reveal how to lose fat and keep it off!

Starting this Thursday we have on-site nutritionist Donna Barnett here sharing tons of VERY valuable information on how to master your nutrition and get the results you are looking for.

Want to lose fat and keep it off? Exercise is only part of the equation. Most trainers, including myself, will rightly tell you that nutrition, NOT EXERCISE, is the key to flattening your stomach and burning fat off your hips and thighs.

NOW is your chance to get your hands on the information that will get you to your fitness goals!

Here are the class topics:

THIS THURSDAY! TOMORROW!! APRIL 28TH AT 7PM!! THE FIRST 10 WHO E-MAIL A CONFIRMATION TO FORREST@FITFORLIFESOLUTIONS.COM TO CHOOSE THIS OPTION GET A FREE ONE-ON-ONE SESSION WITH A FIT FOR LIFE SOLUTIONS PERSONAL TRAINER AND A 12-DAY RAPID FAT-BURN MEAL PLAN!!

April 28th at 7pm

Fat ain’t where it’s at” – how best to permanently lose it

MAY 5TH at 7PM

“Eating in, eating out” – Healthy menu choices at home and in restaurants

MAY 12TH at 7pm

“The right combo to go with your mambo” – the best mix for peak performance

MAY 19TH at 7pm

“To B or not to B” – the benefits of nutritional supplementation in weight management and exercise.

All you have to do to sign-up for one, or all, of these events is e-mail forrest@fitforlifesolutions.com and RSVP with the event date(s) you would like to attend.

At first we only let people in bootcamp know about this, but now that it’s being broadcast to over 800 local residents you’ll want to e-mail, call or text me right away to reserve a spot – space is limited! Each of the nutritional talks are only $10, and what you’ll learn in these talks will be priceless when it comes to staying healthy and losing all the body fat you can before summer!

E-mail: Forrest@fitforlifesolutions.com

or Call : Forrest at 650-771-5149

or Text: Forrest at 650-771-5149

Don’t wait, save your spot RIGHT AWAY!

…And remember, knowledge is power!!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

Roy Vs The Six Dollar Burger

Roy and I got some inspiration from fellow trainer Josh Carter to make you this video.  It’s a video that demonstrates what kind of effect your cardio has versus the foods you eat.  After all, it takes a lot of your time and effort to throw in even just 20 minutes on the treadmill, so we want you to be clear about what you’re up against.

We know that the mentality with a lot of people is that it’s ok to eat whatever you want, just as long as you exercise.  But is it really ok, or are we just fooling ourselves?  This video will attempt to expose this “free-food-pass-for-cardio” myth once and for all!

If anything, watch this video to see if Roy barfs after eating 1,900 calories of junk food, then running at 6.5 miles per hour on the treadmill!  ;  )

 

 

 

 

3 Reasons taking a BEFORE photo gets you to your AFTER photo!

I find most people dread taking before photos, but for some reason, really love to see there BEFORE and AFTER photos! Hmmmmm, imagine that!

Imagine…that’s actually the perfect word for our purposes.   You see, without the ability to imagine in your mind what your life will look like and feel like when you’ve reached your goal, you’ve limited your subconscious minds ability to step in and drive you to your goals.

It’s your subconscious mind, not your conscious mind, that shapes and changes your life.   Your subconscious mind controls 96%-98% of your daily habits and behaviors, and your conscious mind only controls 2%- 4%!   It’s no wonder so many of us fail our New Years resolutions goals…they were never embedded into the subconscious mind!

So, if we know that it’s the subconscious that gets us to our goals, what can we do about it?   Well, in terms of fitness, your BEFORE photo is something you can do to get to your ideal body.   Here are 3 reasons why a BEFORE photo helps you get to your AFTER photo!

1) When you take a BEFORE photo, you’ve subconsciously stated that this is the “old me” and you are transitioning into the “new me”.  Making that mental shift from who you were, to where you are going, is the first step in making a change.  When my son found out he was in danger of being held back for poor grades, he told us, that was the “old me” and now I’m the “new me”.  Every time his old patterns crept back in, he was able to recognize them and label them as the “old him” and he was able to correct his course.  Last week he got an “A” in his science and his spelling test!

2) BEFORE photos really help you visualize your after photo.  Actually, here’s something you can do today that is very powerful! Have a trainer or a friend take a BEFORE photo of you and print it out.  Then, find your ideal body in a magazine or on the internet, print it out, then take a cut-out of your face and post it on the picture of your ideal body.  Then post your faux BEFORE and AFTER photo somewhere you’ll see it every day, let’s say…your bathroom mirror or by your bedside.  Visualize the transformation as though it’s already happened every morning and evening.  This is a very powerful way to put your subconscious to work for you!

3) Another reason to take a BEFORE photo is to pay it forward.  After you reach your goals, you’ll be kicking yourself if you never took a BEFORE photo, and the reason is because once you do hit your goals, you’re going to want to share it with others.  Think about how great you feel when at a holiday party you whip out your BEFORE and AFTER photo’s to show your aunt Betty!  And when you inspire someone else you know to get fit by showing them your photos, you create a ripple effect that spreads health and fitness into the world!  Now that’s powerful stuff!

 

 

 

Transformation starts in the mind

Change starts in the mind. It’s something we at Fit For Life Solutions truly believe. I’ve included a short audio clip with our philosophy on change, along with the link to Bill Phillips new program, Transformation. If you’re in our bootcamp, or even if you’re not exercising at all right now, take a look at this program. These mindset tools could change EVERYTHING. Don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself.

Audio File – Fit For Life Solutions philosophy on change.Mp3

8 “Stupid Easy” things to avoid so you can conquer the scale!

Here’s a post by Roy Schuhmacher.  Roy is known for his very…err…blunt approach.  His no excuses mentality might seem a little harsh for some, but hey, it works!  Enjoy!
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Look, I know losing weight isn’t always easy, but it also doesn’t need to be that hard…YOU ARE NOT STUPID!  It’s very simple. You know what’s good and bad.  You know when you bite into a Big Mac that it isn’t going to help flatten your stomach.  But people do it everyday…over…and over…and over.  You get the picture.  I’m here to just lay it all out, the real truth, the no bull#$*! truth.  So here are some quick tips:

1. Mayonnaise. No…just no.  I mean come on, fat in a jar…its just creepy.  Don’t add it to anything but your garbage!  If you rrreeeaaaaalllyyyyy need it, then light mayo can be substituted in, but no mayo is better.



2. The sugar craving. If you need sugar, because you are just one of those people who need your “FIX”, then don’t eat a king sized snickers right before bed.  Have some dark chocolate post workout with your protein, the sugar will promote protein synthesis.  And by “SOME” i don’t mean 2 bags of M&Ms, I mean 1/4 of a dark Hershey’s bar.
3. Salt. You see that salt shaker, yeah the one on the table while you sit down to eat…DONT TOUCH IT.  Its not necessary to add a 1/4 pound of salt to a plate of food, I see so many people, sit down to a nice dinner, a lean steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli, then BAM!  Here comes the salt shaker, and a once beautiful and healthy dinner turned into a bag of salt and vinegar chips.  And don’t get me started on the half cube of butter plopped on top of those potatoes…..
4. BUTTER! Ok, so I’m getting started on the butter.  : )  People…really?!!?!? Butter?  Why?  You know it’s awful, and just plain bad for you.  So instead of me writing how bad it is, I just want you to sit there for 30 seconds and try to think of a reason why butter is good…Ok done thinking?  Yeah I couldn’t think of one either.  NEXT!
5. The liquid “QUICK” fix.  Soda. Sugar in water with bubbles.  Why pour sugar down your throat?  Do yourself a favor, save money!  Don’t buy soda, buy cases of water!  What is it…3 bucks for a 36 pack at Safeway?  Four twelve-packs of soda for “Buy 2 Get 2 Free” seems like a great deal sure, but what it means is, “buy 2 cases and gain 2 pounds”!  And guess what? You gain 2 MORE pounds for FREE!  Awesome deal right?  Like I said, “Stupid Easy” tips.  You know all this already.



6. The Drive-Thru and Fast Food. Almost every fast food joint I’ve ever been to has a salad, so don’t give me the “Well, it was the only thing I had time for.” or “It’s all they had.”  A 1600 calorie #1 Big Mac meal at McDonald’s or a 320 calorie Southwest Chicken Salad “GRILLED”.  It’s not rocket science people, everyone knows numbers, we all went to kindergarten.
7. Sauce and Dressing. BBQ!  Caesar!  Honey Mustard!  Why take a healthy salad, full of tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, olives and wonderful veggies and pour calorie dense sauce on top?  Why?  Ok, Olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar, I get that…But why cover it with a thick calorie syrup?  Like think about this.  McNuggets?  I can’t get over it.  I just can’t. “Hey!  Want some chicken fried in oil?  YEAH I DO!  Awesome! And let’s dip it in sauce also!  I LOVE THAT IDEA!”  What’s wrong with that conversation? Yes, the answer is everything. Let’s switch topics before I have a heart attack.



8. Alcohol. Yeah you are guilty…so am I.  Moderation is key.  If you wanna have a glass of wine a few times a week with dinner great, but if you are going bar hopping Friday and Saturday night with your buddies or girlfriends and waking up the next morning 3 counties away in a bush, that’s a problem!  So drink responsibly.  I don’t need to have this conversation with you, I’m sure your parents did when you were 18.

Well, that wraps it up.  8 “STUPID EASY” things to avoid so you can conquer the scale.  It’s plain and simple…weight can get confusing and very in-depth.  But right now, these are simple guidelines that anyone can follow to promote fat loss and just live a healthier lifestyle.  

Take it from me, the worst example of a healthy person before I started my fitness journey.  I remember the sluggish and sick feeling of eating crap all day.  Don’t use this read as something that just took up 10 minutes of your life that you will never get back.  Use it as a wake up call, and people will notice your healthier choices.  And hey, maybe you will change someone else’s life for the better in the process!

 

-Roy

 

 

5 lbs and 5 fat loss tips! 3-Week Slow Carb Update, Arleene loses 5 lbs!

So here we are, on week 3.   Arleene has lost 5 lbs, but is still skeptical. Before you watch the video below, here are 5 tips to stick with this, or any other nutrition program.

1) Eat the same thing every day. If you find something that works, duplicate it!   This is why I send so many of our clients to the food logging site at www.myfitnesspal.com.  If you find out for even just 1 day the amount of calories and food you need to keep you on a caloric deficit, you will consistently be losing a pound of fat or more per week.  (An average deficit of 500 calories per day burns 3,500 calories for the week.  3,500 calories is equal to 1 lb of fat!)

Do this for 3 days with some of your favorite meals, and then use this as a template to cycle through.  By eating the same thing every day, you leave out the variables and greatly reduce your chances of failing.

2) Stay accountable to someone.  If you’re involved in a program such as our bootcamp, you’ve given yourself a much higher probability of success.  It’s a funny thing, but often times you won’t do it for yourself, but you’ll do it for someone else!

3) Drink a serious amount of water.  By serious, I mean between 1/2 to a full gallon of water per day!  Yes, you will be in the bathroom all day, but you will see greater fat loss for a number of reasons.  One is that if you’re fully hydrated your bodily processes become more efficient, including your bodies ability to release fat.

Another reason is that you can work out at a higher intensity when fully hydrated.  Have you ever worked out in a state of dehydration?  You hit the wall pretty quick that way.  Also (this is the big one), when you drink large amounts of water, especially before meals, you can’t eat as much!!

4) Purge the junk!  Yes, you’ll feel like you’re doing a disservice to the starving children in Africa, but like the commercial says, “Just Do It!”.  Once you’ve thrown out all the junk in the house, you won’t be lured in when you’re feeling low on will power.

5) Measure just one thing.  Studies have shown that by measuring at least one variable it will have a huge difference in your ability to get results.  You can measure the grams of protein you eat each day, or the grams of fat.  You can use food logging to measure your calories.  You can even measure portion sizes with your fist and stick with that for a serving.  You can even measure how many times you chew each bite!  Just measure something!!

 

 

15 Awesome Fitness Blogs

Although we, at Fit For Life Solutions, constantly update our fitness blog to keep you informed, entertained and in the loop, I thought I would take the time and introduce to you some other amazing fitness blogs that will help you with fat loss and maintaining a fitness lifestyle. These are inspirational to me, so I hope they help you too!

Fitness Blogs

http://www.ttfatloss.com/

Want to know how much protein your body can process at one time? Want exercises to break through a plateau? Then check this blog out. Craig has a great blog. He’s the same guy who invented Turbulence Training. We do a lot of the same exercises in our boot camp! He’s got some very solid content here on his blog.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Want to understand how to eat like we are supposed to eat…like the caveman thousands of years ago? Then check out Mark’s blog!

<http://www.theiflife.com/blog/

Here’s an interesting blog. Have you ever heard of intermittent feeding/fasting? Yes, sounds crazy…but I guess it strikes a chord with a lot of people who like to lose weight simply, without jumping around to a bunch of fad diets. Is it another fad itself? You be the judge…

http://www.nakedfoodcooking.com/blog/

Want to cook food while standing around naked? Well, that’s not exactly what this blog is about…but food can be sexy, right?

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/

The Conditioning Research blog is an interesting spin on fitness, performance and training with a lot of research to back it up…

http://fitnessblackbook.com/

Fitness Black Book is a great fitness blog all around. I like the clean look and the cool choice of pics. This is for people that want the Hollywood body type, not the Bodybuilder body type. There was a cool post I just checked out here on how to “MacGuyver” your own gym equipment! Cool!!

http://www.adonisindex.com/category/podcasts/

This one is all about targeted muscle building and fat burning for the perfect physique. Straight to the point.

http://zentofitness.com/

Personally, I’m into anything Zen. It’s all about living a simple life with fitness being a core element in it. Sounds like the kind of thing I’m into!

http://fitandbusydadblog.com/

Fatherhood, a fitness lifestyle, health…they must have made this blog for me, Roy, Dan and John!

http://fatburningtips4women.com/

This is a great blog focusing on women’s fitness. Angie is a passionate trainer. I found it funny she shares Roy’s last name…but it’s spelled a little differently. Angie Schumacher is a Certified Fitness Professional who trains clients in her home and is a Women’s Boot Camp Instructor in Colorado.

http://zacheven-esh.com/blog/

Zach is a trainer in the circle of trainers I follow, and this guy is the real deal. He’s all about no B.S., underground strength training with tires and sledgehammers and whatever else works.

http://www.fatmanunleashed.com/

If you’re a guy and are over-weight, follow along with Isreal and his weight loss journey to keep you motivated!

http://www.getfitandyummy.com/

Fit Yummy Mummy is a great blog for mom’s and will help get you motivated if you’ve recently had a baby, or are just getting back to fitness as a busy mom.

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/

Tom Venuto kinda reminds me of “Tony” from “Who’s the Boss”, that old TV show from the 80′s. That said, Tom V. is a very knowledgable and passionate guy when it comes to fitness.

http://alwyncosgrove.com/

Alwyn Cosgrove is a personal hero of mine. This guy is a “trainer of trainers” and a great leader in the industry. Read his blog and learn from the best!

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/

This blog is meant for nerds like me! So cool!! Check out his post on the “Angry Birds” workout! Hey…I wonder if I can get him to send me a free Nerd Fitness T-shirt by pumping up his blog!

Ok, that’s it for my favorite fitness blogs. I went to 16 blogs, not 15 for two reasons. The first is I like to over-deliver. The second is something anyone who’s ever worked with a trainer knows very well…trainer’s can’t count!

If I missed any cool fitness blogs, please leave them in the comment section. Thanks!

Robin’s Team Wins with 29 lbs Fat Loss for January 2011!

This is an official announcement on our 1,000 lbs Fat Loss Challenge, where all our bootcamps serving Foster City, San Mateo, and Mountain View compete for weight loss in sub-divided teams.   If you or someone you know wants to get involved, it’s as simple as joining our bootcamp! You’ll automatically be enrolled in the 1,000 lbs Fat Loss Challenge.   You have nothing to lose except a few extra pounds!

Our winning team this month is Robin Hastings team!  Congratulations Robin and team!   At 29 lbs of fat lost in one month, you’re the winners!  (This is incredible fat loss in one month for only 4 people!) I wonder if any team can top this?   You’ve set the bar high!  Nice work!

As your prize, we are taking the entire team out to dinner!   And team leader, Robin, wins one month of free bootcamp!   Great work guys!!

Here are special mentions and some of the results from the other teams as well!

5 Rainy Day Exercise Tips, Plus Forrest Crazy Exercise Video

It’s cold, windy and rainy outside. Last week the Bay Area was 75 degrees and sunny, and this week…well, let’s just say we shouldn’t complain. Compared to the rest of the country, even our rainy days are considered good weather. I thought I’d shoot you 5 Rainy Day Exercise Tips to help you get motivated.

Rainy Day Exercise Tip #1 – Hit the gym. That’s right, there’s no excuse now! It’s time to get yourself out of the rain and into the warmth of the gym where you can stay dry and get your workout in.

Rainy Day Exercise Tip #2 – Try something new. The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Now is the time to try something new. If it’s weight loss you’re after, ask yourself, “What can I do differently that will produce the results I’m looking for?” All too often we don’t get what we’re looking because we ask ourselves the wrong questions.

Rainy Day Exercise Tip #3 – Pay it forward. The secret ingredient missing in a lot of people’s exercise lifestyle is that they don’t give. This is a universal law. When you give, you get! It’s just that simple. Invite a buddy to exercise with you. They’ll thank you and you’ll be more pumped-up and motivated to take your workout to the next level.

Rainy Day Exercise Tip #4 – Join an indoor bootcamp. Most bootcamps are outdoors, and when it’s rainy and cold outside, no matter how many times you tell yourself that it adds to the fun, soaking wet socks, cold-blue hands and convulsive shivers aren’t pretty. With an indoor bootcamp you’ve got the benefits of staying dry, plus you’re sure to get a great workout and have a good time.

Rainy Day Exercise Tip #5 – Go jog in the rain. I know it’s counter to what I said in #4, but hey…jogging in the rain revitalizes you! It’s makes you feel like a kid again and you can really wash away all the negative effects of work, daily craziness, and stress. Just make sure you’ve got a nice warm shower to come home to!

Here’s a crazy video I’ve recorded for you to watch strictly as entertainment. DO NOT TRY ANY OF THESE EXERCISES. I’m a trained professional and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Stay dry!

-Forrest, Owner of Fit For Life Solutions

Update on Slow-Carb Days 1-3

I must say…I’m impressed. Arleene is keeping strong with the “beans”.   If you’re just tuning in, my girlfriend, Arleene, has been doing the Slow-Carb Diet from Timothy Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Body (featured on Dr. Oz).  The Slow-Carb Diet consists of protein, veggies, healthy fats and slow-burning carbs in the form of beans.

Things like eggs, avocado, black beans and salsa are the norm around our place lately.   When we eat out, Chipotle works well. Despite some of the program’s restrictions, I think it has some big pluses, such as no counting calories.   That’s right, that means no food-logging, despite my constant badgering and preaching about food logs, this particular program doesn’t call for it.   It also includes a cheat day, so one day per week, anything goes – pizza, beer, hotdogs, spam sandwiches – whatever.

Here’s a pic of our breakfast! It’s plenty of food, and this type of breakfast gives you LOT’S of energy for the day!

Here’s a quick video of Arleene and her thoughts on getting started on Super Bowl sunday.   I bleeped out most of the bad words.

Make sure you leave a comment below. We’d love to hear your thoughts!   We’ll be updating you with Arleene’s progress all month!

Day 0 – The “Slow-Carb Diet” Shopping Day

Ok, like I’ve been saying – it’s not about balance anymore, it’s about cycles (which is how nature balances herself out). Lose 10-15 lbs in a month, then get back to balance and maintenance. I think where people go wrong with dieting is that they’re either 100% on or off. Why not be 100% focused for 30 days, then go into a more balanced approach to maintain that weight loss?

This is what I’ve taken from Timothy Ferriss’ new book, The 4-Hour Body. Hit a cycle of weight loss to get fast and immediate results, then go to a balanced cycle.

A balanced approach would be to enroll in a bootcamp, such as our bootcamp in Foster City and Mountain View, so that way exercise and accountability is covered. Even if you’ve hit your goal, it would still be a good idea to come at least 2x/week to maintain, and get weighed-in regularly. There’s no way the scale could sneak back up if you’re committed to a healthy lifestyle with a bootcamp program or a personal trainer. ; )

…and considering a personal trainer costs over $500 – $600 per month at 2x/week, doesn’t it make sense to spend $200 per month for bootcamp at 4x/week so that you can keep up your fitness lifestyle? In my opinion, it just makes way more sense, because who can’t budget $6 per day to stay in bootcamp all year long?

Yes, you may have to stop eating out as much, or skip the $5 lattes at Starbucks, or maybe cut back on the Heineken’s…but it’s all for YOUR HEALTH, right?

Our nation is in serious trouble right now. With 1/3 of America obese, we need to stop criticizing each other, and have the courage to love ourselves and our families, starting today. We have to start with our own fitness, and pay it forward. We’re on a mission! More organic, less processed. More slow, less fast. More exercise, less TV. More walking, less sitting in cubicles. More sunshine, less florescent lights. More awareness, less tuning ourselves out. More giving, and less taking.

Sorry if I’m ranting now…but it’s important that we look out for one another, and working on ourselves first is the way we can ripple the effect out to our families, kids, friends and communities.

So…now that I’m off my soap box. Here is a video with us at Safeway starting up the “Slow-Carb Diet”. Enjoy!

Forrest goes to New York, plus hotel workout from New Jersey!

I went on my first ever trip to New York, and besides freezing my butt off, and being sick, I had a wonderful time!

I’ve always wanted to travel to New York. Keep in mind, the only places I’ve ever been are: Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Oregon, Nevada, and Minnesota…and maybe some others, but I was too young to remember. I’ve never been to Europe, and I’ve never been to any Asian countries, but now I can say I’ve done New York!

What amazed me most about the Big Apple was the skyscrapers. They seem to go on for miles, and seemed surreal, kind of like in that weird movie with Leonardo Dicaprio, Inception.

Traveling can be a time when many put their workouts on hold – besides, there’s so much great food when you go on vacation, right?

Well, I think it’s because of all the great food available that we should keep up our workouts while traveling. That’s why when I was in our hotel in New Jersey, I snuck away for an hour or so on my vacation to shoot this hotel workout video for you!

Even when I’m away, I’m always working…that’s how much I love what I do, and how much I appreciate YOU reading our newsletters and blog posts!  Thanks!!

Oh, and I also put together a montage video, film noir style, of Arleene and I in New York.  Enjoy!

The 4-Hour Body and the Slow-Carb Diet

Just got done reading the 4-Hour body, and I must say…LOVE THIS BOOK!

Author Tim Ferriss is someone I’ve followed for a few years now. (He also wrote the book, 4-Hour Workweek, and coined the term “lifestyle design”. Needless to say, I’m a big fan.)

This is the question Tim sought to answer in his 549 page book of awesomeness:

For all things physical, what are the tiniest changes that produce the biggest results?

After tons of research from top trainers, doctors and scientists from around the world (and a lot of self experimenting), here is what Tim shows us in his book (I’ve left out a few things, but these are the things I’m concerned with as a fat loss coach):

• How to lose 20 lbs in 30 days on the ubersimple Slow-Carb Diet
• How to prevent fat gain while bingeing (X-mas, weekends, holidays, etc.)
• How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice
• How to sleep only a few hours per day and still feel fully rested
• and much, much more…(I left out the part where he shows how to produce 15-minute female orgasms…it’s not our focus here…but I’m sure it will burn a few extra calories!)

So…after 10 years of being in the fitness industry, and comparing his Slow-Carb Diet plan with all of the bazillion diet books out there (I’ve read every book on the shelf…), I like this approach.

It’s simple.

It’s effective.

And it will work…as long as you stick to it.

My girlfriend has volunteered to be my test pilot for this one, and I’ve invited others to follow it for 30 days to see what kind of results they can get.

Would you like to lose 10-20lbs this month along with us? Then great!  Here are your instructions via my “cliff notes” version of the Slow-Carb Diet.  I encourage you to go out and buy the book, The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss.  I picked mine up at Borders for 40% off!

Step 1)  Go shopping. The Slow-Carb Diet is all about…you guessed it!  Slow carbs!!!  In this case, we are going with beans as our staple, then we have eggs, chicken, fish, beef, and veggies.  Butter is allowed, and so is EFA’s like extra virgin olive oil (Tim recommends macadamia oil), and you should have at least 1/2 an avocado per day.  You can eat nuts, but sparingly, because overdoing it could halt your fat loss.

The great thing about the Slow-Carb Diet (well…2 great things).  The first is a cheat day 1 day per week (eat anything you want!!).  The second is NO COUNTING CALORIES! (I thought you’d like that one!).

Step 2)  Make some food! Arleene and I are planning to ask my mom to make us her award winning chili, and her awesome hamhocks and beans dish.  Then we’re going to look online for a good lentil soup recipe, bake up some chicken breasts, get a ton of veggies and steam ‘em up for the week, and boil a whole bunch of organic eggs.

Step 3)  Have a plan for eating out! We like to eat out a lot, but that’s not a problem.  You can pretty much eat at Chipotle forever on this diet.  Beans, chicken, an avocado and some ice water with a lemon in it and you’re good to go!  (See Tim’s book for his secrets on lemon and cinnamon and how they help you burn fat…).

Step 4)  Eat the same thing every day. The beauty in this plan is in it’s simplicity and it’s redundancy.  It’s actually a proven fact that those that eat the same thing every day get better fat loss results.  Plan your fun-time for the cheat day, otherwise, just wash, rinse, then repeat.

Step 5)  Sorry, no fruit. Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of vitamins in your veggies and from a multi-vitamin.  Save fruit for cheat day.  Remember – this is for 30 days.  After you’ve lost 10-20 lbs, then you can go back to your regular diet…and hopefully be eating less junk because of the new, healthy patterns you’ve followed on the Slow-Carb program.

Step 6)  Forget about balance, think “Cycles”. I myself used to go around preaching balance all the time.  The problem with balance is that you never tip the scales, so to speak.  Cycles makes more sense, and is actually the way nature balances itself.  Everything in nature runs in cycles – night and day, the 4 seasons, the cycle of birth and death, etc.  Let’s stick with nature on this one.  Lose 20 lbs fast, then get back to a healthy routine and exercise maintenance plan.

For the rest of the details, go buy the book!  Don’t be a cheapskate, you gotta’ pay to play!  (I don’t get any money for endorsing this book, I just think it’s a good investment in your health…).

MyFitnessPal food logging tutorial

Look no further! Have you ever wanted to get a better grasp on your weight loss goals, specifically in the realm of nutrition, but felt overwhelmed just by the thought of it?

In this post, I’ve taken the liberty of showing YOU just how easy it is to get your own food log started so you can reap the benefits of it right away!

Did you know that 20% of participants in all bootcamp fitness programs get 80% of the results?

Why?!?!

One of the BIGGEST reasons is food logs! This video shows you how to dominate your fat loss goals!

As you may already know, our goal is to get our bootcampers to lose 1,000 lbs this year! This means that the Foster City, San Mateo, and Mountain View community is going to be much healthier and happier! We are proud to say that our bootcampers are among the most dedicated, amazing and wonderful group, and we are so happy and thankful to have them as our clients.

If you have 5, 10, 15 or more pounds to “chip in” to help us reach our goals, please contact us at 866-431-BOOT. We are dedicated to getting the Foster City, San Mateo and Mountain View residents into the best shape of their lives this year in 2011 and beyond!

Teamwork! Burn 1,000 lbs of FAT!!

Alright, this is crazy.   I’ve only been away from boot camp for one week and I’m busting open at the seams!   (No…not from too much food…)

I can barely sleep at night, I’m sooooo fudgin’ excited about getting things going for 2011!

There are NEW programs going into launch ASAP, such as our Leadership program, the Banded-Fitness Ranking System, the 1,000 lbs of Fat Loss community weight loss goal, the Beta version of my Elevated Fitness Lifestyle Coaching Program (It’s almost ready to launch…), and a massive amount of energy going into our training programs and boot camps!!

Some details about the 1,000 lbs of Fat Loss goal: We have set a high goal of getting our community to lose 1,000 lbs in 2011!   How are we going to do it?   With everybody working together as a team, that’s how!   We’re going to break it into chunks and hammer away at this goal piece by piece until it’s done!

If we get 100 people to lose 10 lbs, we’ve hit our goal!  We will collectively burn off 1,000 lbs of fat!!

However, we can’t do this without TEAMWORK! We need YOUR HELP!   We need 25 leaders to step up and create a team of 4 or more people to make this happen. (1 leader + 4 team members = 5 people per team).

With this team system in place, we will hit our goal and beyond!!   This brings us to what the NEW Leadership program is all about.

I need 25 leaders to step-up, and lead a team of people to victory!

More details:  We will help you form a team of 4-8 people, give you the tools necessary, and cut you loose!   With you as the team leader, your bootcamp instructors as your guides, and a willing team ready to follow orders, we can’t miss the target…1,000 lbs of fat lost by 2012!

Well, it is going to be the end of the world, but who cares!?   Let’s leave this world in the best shape of our lives!!   Just joking here…hehe. Nothing wrong with a little end-of-the-world humor, is there?   Besides, if you can’t take a joke, hit the unsubscribe button!   We get edgy from time-to-time, so if you’re as cool as I know you are, and you’re still with us, let’s go for it!!

Here’s how you can get involved as a leader:

For the most part, you’ll be hand-selected by Roy, Dan and myself.   We are choosing the leaders based on positive attitude, results you’ve achieved (or are determined to achieve), performance in bootcamp and leadership ability.

One of the cool things about being a team leader is that you have a chance to win every month.

What do we win?

The team leader wins free bootcamp the following month, and we take the whole team out to dinner!  Pretty cool, huh? I thought so… (Don’t worry, no McDondalds!).   We’ll go someplace fun like sushi or something.

I will e-mail the people I’d like to see step up as team leaders, and we’ll get going on this ASAP.   It needs to launch by next week, so I’ll need at least 15 team leaders ASAP, and we can add more as we go.

Here are some teamwork quotes to inspire us to accomplish our goal of collectively burning 1,000 lbs of fat by 2012!

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.  The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

- Andrew Carnegie

“T.E.A.M = Together everyone achieves more.”

- Anonymous

“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skill of the others.”

- Norman S Hidle

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

- Vince Lombardi

“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.”

- Japanese proverb

By the way, IF YOU HAVEN’T TRIED OUR BOOTCAMP YET, NOW IS THE LAST CHANCE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE 21 DAY RAPID FAT LOSS PROGRAM, OUR BEST BOOTCAMP INTRO PROGRAM EVER!!

Combat Fat Report – Our early holiday gift for YOU!

Thank-you for reading our fitness e-newsletter and Fit For Life Solutions blog! Roy and I want to thank-you and wish you a Happy Holiday with this early holiday gift, our “Combat Fat” report!

A Holiday Gift For YOU! – 13 Untold Ultra-Fat Burning Secrets

I’m sure you’ve seen hundreds of other fat loss “secret” tips out there. They all say pretty much the same thing. Eat every 2-3 hours, drink plenty of water, avoid white flour, don’t eat refined sugar, don’t order dessert, don’t drink soda, use your fist to determine portion size, do cardio 30 to 60 minutes and build more lean muscle to speed up metabolism. These are all great tips but they are definitely not worthy being called untold ultra-fat burning secrets.

I have personally witnessed hundreds of my clients kick 20 pounds to the curb and tone their stomachs in 8 weeks using the exact information that I am about to share with you.

This fat melting knowledge has literally taken me 10 years of research and volunteering my own body as a guinea pig to perfect it. And now, here it is, for you – FREE!

Fat-Loss Secret # 1
1. The #1 make or break success factor is getting your mindset right! Looking back over the last ten years at my clients who have had the most Jaw Dropping, Eye Popping Extreme results, and they all had a certain mind set before every workout. No, they didn’t put on war paint and go commando (well some of them did). Simply put, before every workout, they committed to giving 100%. No excuses, No complaining. Believe it or not, once you practice this mindset a few times, it becomes an easy habit.

 Mindset tip – before each workout, visualize what is most important to you. Being healthy for your kids, looking ripped at the beach, having girls want your body, being the hottest girl at the club, etc. Picture what inspires you and say to yourself– that’s me, that’s me, that’s me…

Fat-Loss Secret # 2
2. Technically, this does not burn fat, but it will make your waist look slimmer instantly. As I look around, I see endless clients with poor posture, which is the result of training programs which overly concentrates on working the chest and shoulders, combined with sedentary jobs where you are sitting at a desk or in front of a computer terminal all day. The result of this poor posture is rounded shoulders and a slumped forward appearance, which just pushes your belly out!

To test this, all you have to do is stand up straight while drawing your shoulders back and instantly witness your stomach flatten. Strengthening the muscles responsible for maintaining an upright posture (lower back) and drawing your shoulders back (scapula retractors) will lead to a flattening effect on your stomach. Another quick remedy for bad posture is stretching your chest muscles.

 Tip – A great posture improving and waist slimming exercise is “seated rows”. Sit up straight, extend arms forward all the way, pull back with your elbows against your sides and squeeze shoulder together.

Fat-Loss Secret # 3
3. Unless you want to spend hours and hours in they gym, have a fast-paced workout. Most people don’t have all day to work out (I sure don’t). By not resting in-between exercises, you can build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

I have personally tested this by putting a heart rate monitor on clients and comparing a fast-paced, intense weight workout vs. taking a spin class. It was shocking to discover that they actually got more cardio in the fast paced weight workout than in the spin class. What could be better than saving time and melting more fat?

 Tip – Maintain a vigorous pace. Keep moving from exercise to exercise. One trick is to bring a pair of dumbbells next to a treadmill. Run for 60 seconds on the treadmill then jump off and do
a dumbbell exercise, then get back on the treadmill. Keep alternating throughout the workout.

Tip – Plan your workouts ahead of time. Don’t waste time and let your heart rate go down trying to think of what to do next. Spending a little time planning your workouts will save you a lot of time and yield better results in the long run.

Tip – Use “free” snacks and drinks that fill you up, curb your cravings but won’t add any significant extra calories. Eat and drink as many of these free snacks and drinks, as you want.

Tip – Pick exercises that do not require a lot of time to set up. It’s all about pace and saving time.
Exercises that take more then a few seconds to set up let your heart rate go down and can add a lot of extra time to your workout.

Tip – Keep your routine flexible. If a piece of equipment that you need to use is occupied, don’t wait or ask to work in. Just move on to the next exercise and come back later. Keep the pace going and the fat melting.

Fat-Loss Secret # 4
4. When you get the late night sweet tooth, try a delicious homemade Chai Tea. This is how I make it. Put two Yogi Mayan Cocoa Spice tea bags in a cup (I use a big 20 ceramic cup) of boiling water. Add a tiny dash (it’s very sweet) of KAL brand Stevia. Let it steep for a few minutes then add a little no sugar added Silk Soy Milk.

 Tip – Cut up cucumber, Jicama or celery. Munch away all you want!

Fat-Loss Secret # 5
5. Don’t just work out aimlessly. Take pictures, measurements and weigh yourself before your next workout (or your first workout if you’re just getting started) then set a goal and a date, usually 6 to 8 weeks. If you can, get someone to agree to do the measurements to help keep you accountable. Over the years I discovered that when clients know they are going to get measured for progress on a certain date, they are less likely to miss workouts or cheat on their eating.

 Tip – set a realistic goal so that you stay motivated and do not get discouraged.

Fat-Loss Secret # 6
6. A big secret to melting fat is to do exercises that work several muscles at once. This is important for two reasons:

1) Working several muscles at once burns more calories because it requires your heart to work harder to supply oxygen to the areas under stress.

2) It saves you time. Your workouts take a lot less time because you don’t have to do separate exercises for each muscle. You won’t see these super fat burning exercises too often at your local gym because most people just don’t know about them and their fat crushing benefits.

 Tip – Do Dumbbell Squat Presses: Target = Butt, Thighs, Shoulders, Triceps and Cardio. Hold dumbbells level with ears in the press position. Squat down until thighs are parallel to the floor.
Stand back up and then press dumbbells over your head. Lower them back down and repeat 20 to 30 times.

 Tip – Do Walking Lunge Lateral Raise Curls: Target = Butt, Thighs, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps and Cardio.

With dumbbells at your sides, lunge forward with your left leg, then bring your right foot forward up to
your left foot. Next Raise the dumbbells laterally out to your sides until they are level with your ears, and then lower them back to your sides. Next curl the dumbbells up and down with your palms up. Repeat, alternating legs, until 20 to 30 lateral raise curls are performed.

 Tip – Do Burpee Pushups: Target = Butt, Thighs, Shoulders, Triceps Chest, Core and Cardio.
Do one push up. Quickly jump feet forward to a squatting position. Jump high into the air, raising your
hands above your head. Land with feet shoulder width apart, on the balls of your feet and drop back into a squat. Jump feet back to a push up position. Repeat 20 to 30 times in a fluid motion.

Fat-Loss Secret # 7
7. Don’t work your abs…That’s right, I said it! Abdominal exercises do not burn fat away from your abs! I see so many people every day in the gym wasting their time crunching away then wondering why their body hasn’t changed after months. Working out the way I discussed in Section 3 and 6 is the way to melt fat and get lean and toned in a hurry.

 Tip – you can incorporate a few stomach exercises like hanging leg raises and cable twists between exercises as part of your fast-paced workout.

Fat-Loss Secret # 8
8. Eat real food to get lean! Ever watch The Discovery Channel? See the tribes in the jungle. You never see anyone who is fat, even the elders have six-packs. Why? They eat real food and stay active.

Stay away from processed foods. The food companies strip out the good stuff like fiber and nutrients.
What you have left is a food that has way more calories then normal. Plus, the worst part is that they are high glycemic, which means your body treats it like sugar.

The good news is once you cut out these processed foods for a couple weeks, you lose your cravings. I’m not saying to not have a life. I eat burgers, pizza or have a piece of cake from time to time.

 Tip – watch out for foods and drinks that people think are “healthy” like bagels, pretzels and sports drinks like vitamin water. Consuming these is like eating table sugar.

 Tip – Stick to foods like lean meat and fish, long grain brown rice, and fruits and vegetables.

Fat-Loss Secret # 9
9. Alkalizing the body sheds fat fast! The body is naturally acidic. However, the foods we eat add to this acidity and the fat in our body stores the additional acid, which results in overweight problems and an unhealthy body.

To protect against acid buildup, the body begins to create and store fat. Even if you are on a weight loss diet and you exercise, your body will try to hold on to this fat because it is important for protection against acids. That is why many people whom restore alkalinity in their body find it incredibly easier to lose weight.

There are certain foods that are alkaline and help to flush the acid and fat from the body.

 Tip – Most green vegetables are high alkaline. Some really high acid foods are: Fast food, milk, eggs, cream, cheese, pork and red meat.

Fat-Loss Secret # 10
10. Be prepared. Most of the time, clients eat poorly because they did not bring food with them or did
not prepare. Bring healthy snacks with you like apples and almonds. If you can, bring some Tupperware containers with healthy meals. Keep it simple. If you don’t feel like bringing food, then plan out some healthy restaurants or stores that you can patronize.

 Tip – Get a rice cooker and keep some long grain brown basmati rice cooking on your counter. Also pre-cook some chicken or fish. It will only take a few minutes to prepare 1 or 2 meals and grab a few snacks to bring with you.

Fat-Loss Secret # 11
11. Warning: Artificially Sweetened “Sugar Free” Foods Make You FAT. Did you know that most foods labeled as “sugar free” or “low-carb” actually contain artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, and other additives that create a hormonal disaster inside your body, actually causing your body to STORE more belly fat and increase cravings! Also, foods labeled “whole grain” only have to contain a small fraction of whole grains, where the majority can still be refined starches and sugars that spike your blood sugar faster then a bowl of ice cream.

 Tip – Stop eating foods with artificial sweeteners for two weeks, then try it again. It will taste like disgusting sweet chemicals.

 Tip – If you really want to sweeten something, use an all-natural sugar free sweetener like Stevia or Xilatol.

Fat-Loss Secret # 12
12. Don’t cheat on your nutrition plan for 21 days. It takes the brain 21 days to reset itself and create a new habit. When you want to make a change, don’t tell yourself you are doing it for life; tell yourself that you are going to try it for 21 days. Now, when you have completed this for 21 days, your conscious mind has the choice of stopping it or carrying on, or so it thinks. Your neural pathways have formed already and you will more than likely continue with your new habit, you will have seen the benefits along the way your unconscious will want to continue if it has been beneficial.

 Tip – Make it as easy as possible for you to have a successful 21 days. Use your day planner to schedule eating and workout times. Leave reminder notes to yourself.

 Tip – Try working out first thing in the morning before your busy day starts and your workout gets put on the back burner.

Fat-Loss Secret # 13
13. For at least one week, write down everything you eat and drink. You have to write it down right before the food or drink is consumed. By writing it down first, you will have a moment to stop and think about whether this decision is going to melt belly fat or pack it on.

 Tip – Have someone agree to review your food journal everyday. Make an agreement that for each day you do not give him your journal, you owe him $10.00 and every time you cheat you owe $1.00 dollar. Doing this will help keep you accountable.

Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to read this special report. If you know anyone on this planet who would love to get their hands on this body-transforming information, (it could be a friend, family member, co-worker or anyone else that you know), please feel free to forward this to them. They will thank you and so will I.

Happy Holidays!

Forrest and Roy

The Ultimate Annihilator Workout! Burn 764 calories in 45 minutes!

Happy Holiday’s!  Here’s an early holiday gift for you!  It’s our “Ultimate Annihilator Workout”!  This one had everyone feeling totally worked last Monday in our Fit For Life Bootcamp, the most awesome indoor boot camp in the Foster City and San Mateo area!  Enjoy!

Here’s a break-down of the “Ultimate Annihilator Workout”, a 764-calorie burning extravaganza!

Directions: Perform each exercise for 1-minute, with 15-second rest periods between exercises.

1) Annihilator push-ups.  A push-up with 4 pauses on the way down, then explode up with the exhale.

2) Wayne Gretzky’s. Side to side, lateral jump crossing the leg behind you (leg behind you doesn’t touch the ground).  Move arms like you are shooting a slap-shot, and use the core muscles.

3) Bruce Lee’s. Balance on left leg.  Raise right knee to hip height.  Kick with right foot and punch with right hand at the same time.  Retract foot and punch with left hand while foot is in retracted position.  Repeat in a coordinated rhythm.  30 seconds each side.

4) Terminator 2′s.  Legs up and crossed.  Ten crunches, reaching up and to opposite side of body.  On tenth crunch hold, then do 10 squeeze-pulses from the abs as you reach up.  Switch sides and do another 10.  Then go into double tuck crunches, both legs out, then crunch in for remainder of minute.

5) Commando’s. Crawl out in bear crawl count of 3, then back, then burpee (jump with hands reaching up).  Less advanced can do a squat instead of a burpee.

6) Capoeira Lunges. Start with feet together in a squat, then extend leg back while putting hand flat on floor outside of front leg, opposite arm reaches over head.  Switch back and forth, staying low.  It’s ok to lean, this movement is not a traditional lunge, but a martial arts movement called an Esquiva from the Brazilian art of Capoeira.

7) Navy Seal presses. Bodyweight shoulder press.  Advanced go with feet on bench, hands on floor, with butt way in the air (upside down pike position) and head and neck straight.  Intermediate can do them straight on the floor. Beginners can put hands on the wall instead of the floor.

Then take a 2 minute break.  Repeat a total of 3 rounds.  Have fun!

Disclaimer: This is a very advanced full-body exercise routine.  It should be performed under  professional supervision from a personal trainer or fitness coach.  Please check with your doctor before starting this, or any other fitness routine or exercise program.

Here’s a video of us doing the “Ultimate Annihilator Workout”, and some of the “Turkey Burner” workout from Thanksgiving.  Enjoy!

Results! Results! Results!

Every time I talk fitness, I tell people about the many benefits regular training has…especially the training in our boot camp! Benefits like having less stress, feeling more energy, having more stamina are just icing on the cake. Here’s a list some of the many benefits joining a fitness boot camp such as our can provide:

• Variety in your workout, never get bored!
• Drop 1%-3% bodyfat percentage every 6-8 weeks
• Drop pants or dress size every 6-8 weeks
• Get toned!
• Look and feel awesome!
• Get your “Me Time” and get more energy
• Flatten your stomach, lift your butt, and tone your arms
• Get a no-brainer nutrition program, not a diet!
• Get inspired and motivated by surrounding yourself with like-minded people
• Reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease
• Get professional coaching and accountability from certified instructors
• Reduce anxiety and stress
• Become a role model and inspire others!
• Get healthy
• Lose weight and feel great!

Usually, after I’ve told someone about the many benefits of training in our bootcamp, they are intrigued, but they aren’t convinced. The reason they aren’t convinced is that they’ve heard it all before…but they aren’t sure if they can do it. They think it’s for “other people” and they start making excuses in their mind why it won’t work for them…or maybe it will work, but in some far off future that never quite gets here.

Through the years, I’ve found that there is one thing that gets people seeing and believing they can do it, too. I can talk to people until I’m blue in the face, but it still won’t convince someone to take action until they’ve heard from other people like them, who’ve seen success!!

This blog is dedicated to all the bootcampers and people in training who’ve seen success, and continue to motivate and inspire others to live a healthy and fit lifestyle. Here are just a few of the people who’ve seen amazing success from our program, and who inspire others (and inspire me!) on a daily basis:

First, meet Sara! I sometimes call her “Sarah Conner” as in the movie Terminator 2 where Linda Hamilton looks totally ripped and pulls off those bodyweight pull-ups. Our Sara is equally inspiring! Check out this short video!

Next, meet Doug! He’s the male-model for what you can do with dedication and determination! He and his wife Geralynn rock our bootcamp to the core! He’s not 100% to his goal yet, but so far he’s seen great results, and he’s just getting started!

Here’s Amie, our awesome-mom bootcamper from our Mountain View location! Listen to how she lost her “mommy pounds” here:

And how about Julie, who’s is one of the leaders and pioneers of Fit For Life Bootcamp in Foster City. Many people have been inspired by Julie’s story (she lost over 60 lbs in her journey), and she continue’s to maintain her fitness even with her busy-mom schedule!

And there’s Shanon, who completely transformed. She’s lost over 20 lbs, dropped to a size 1, and is now training to be a personal trainer! Way to go, Shanon!!

In fact, there are way too many success stories to list, but here are a few more!

Yvonne, who lost 30 lbs in our Mountain View bootcamp!! She’s been training with us since July 6th, and she is doing great! I saw her this morning and she is just beaming with confidence. Keep it up, Yvonne! (I’ll see if I can get a BEFORE and AFTER photo from her soon!)

…and here’s a picture of Veronica, who got great results from us in less than 3 weeks!

“Fit For Life Bootcamp was amazing!” I was very happy with my results and couldn’t have asked for better trainers. I lost 2% bodyfat and 3 lbs in just 10 days! Would I do this again…heck yeah!!!”

…And here’s a few more!

• Tod Steinfeld from our Foster City boot camp has lost close to 30 lbs and over 5 inches around the waist!
• Linda Segal from our Mountain View location has lost over 15 lbs and 7 inches around the waist! When she first started she could do 35 push ups from her knees, and now she can do over 35 push-ups from her feet!!
• Elaine Eggen lost 4% bodyfat and went from being able to do 130 bicycle crunches in 2 minutes to 220!!
• Leah Naniola lost 27 lbs in just 12 weeks!!!

Here’s a happy bootcamper, Racquele, talking about her experience…

…and of course, one of our most awesome super-stars, Kristen G.!!!

Our boot camps are in Foster City, bordering San Mateo, and we also have a new boot camp in Mountain View. Come check us out! If you’re a San Mateo, Foster City, or Mountain View resident, come join us for a FREE trial week! Just call 650-771-5149 and ask for Forrest!

Please leave your comments below! Your comments fuel my blog, so please leave a comment! Thank-you!!

Product Review and Notes – Zero Resistance Weight Loss (Part 1)

The following is what I learned so far from Dr. Robert Anthony’s program, Zero Resistance Weight Loss. I bought his program because I strongly believe it is the mind and your day-to-day thoughts that will ultimately get you results in our bootcamp or any other weight loss, body conditioning or fitness program.

I purchased this program myself so I can review it for you, and I highly recommend it to you because it get’s to the root about the reasons for gaining excess weight, and how if you remove the root cause, you will release your excess weight automatically. You won’t even have to worry about dieting, because the program gets you to naturally pick foods that are the right kind, and in the right amounts, without resistance.

If you really want to lose weight, and you are tired of making excuses, failing or not seeing results fast enough, this is the program for you.

Here are some things I learned from part 1 of the Zero Resistance program (these are my actual notes from the program):

Go for weight release NOT weight loss (if you lose your keys, you want to find them. You don’t want to find your weight again, do you!?)

Your “subconscious emotional weight survival program” is the software you are running inside your mind that keeps you at a subconsciously selected weight. The good news is that you can override this programming!

Normally, weight loss involves a constant struggle, but not if you remove your subconscious resistance first!

To be successful, you need to align subconscious with conscious. Your thoughts might say you want to lose weight, but if your subconscious mind says something else, it will override your conscious mind every time.

Weight loss is more than calories in vs. calories out.

If your subconscious emotional weight survival programming is set for you to be overweight, you will continue to not lose weight.

All diets fail in the long run.

Overriding your subconscious programming doesn’t work in the long run. You can’t simply use “will power”.

Trying to get results with only your conscious mind is like driving your car with the emergency brakes on. (I personally thought this analogy hit the nail on the head.)

If your emotional survival switch is turned off it will be easy and effortless to lose weight.

Addiction is having a lack of choice. Compulsive and emotional eating is an addiction.

Will power does NOT work. This is trying to override your subconscious programming and is the path of resistance.

Stopping smoking by willpower is difficult. However, stopping smoking by having the same thoughts as a non-smoker is easy. You simply won’t be interested or you’ll be repulsed by the idea. This same idea works in releasing your excess weight.

Mental, emotional or spiritual stress is perceived as a lack of something. Brain takes the message of not enough, and turns it into something physical. Food, shopping, alcohol, caffeine, ect. may be what your mind will look for.

Being overweight is serving your emotional needs.

If you believe you were meant to be fat, or born to be fat, you have your emotional weight programming turned on.

Weight loss becomes effortless with the fat switch turned off.

Systematically eliminating the mental and emotional factors.

Emotional eating – eating purely for emotional reasons. Distracts you from what is really bothering you. Cope with negative emotions. Physical tension or anxiety then triggers the physical response to eat. When I’m stressed, I tend to eat, because it calms me down and makes me feel better. Anticipatory anxiety or worry is a stress that can create emotional eating. Associate love, comfort and security with eating. Brain is programmed to use food to fulfill these needs. Ex. Your a child, you get cake for your birthday. Your mom gives you candy when you are good, or to make you feel better. People use food as a treat or a reward. When you’re stressed, the candy bar wins out over the fitness strategy every time. Dopamine is released and leads to patterns of addiction and leaves a permanent identification of where pleasure comes from. We all engage in emotional eating to some degree. Healthy people eat to live. Emotional eaters live to eat. This means your fat switch is turned on.

Emotional obesity – Is the actual need to be fat as an emotional survival mechanism. When you have emotional obesity, you come to the conclusion that consciously or unconsciously being fat makes you feel safer. Not good, but safer. Being fat or overeating becomes the best way to protect you.

No weight loss program will ever be able to work for you. When you turn off your fat switch and emotional obesity you will succeed.

If you do not change this, you will find a way to sabotage your weight loss. Even if I said you will lose weight just by snapping your fingers 30 seconds per day, you would find an excuse, lack of time, etc. why it will not be possible to do this. Your emotional obesity will always win out.

Fat can create an emotional “distance” in relationships or in being harmed in relations with people.

Fear can make people fat, or skinny (anorexia).

Gaining weight can be a way of hiding from the world, almost like a turtle. Retreating inside your body, or underneath your fat.

Some people stay fat to rebel against the people who want us to be slim. “I don’t want to be controlled, and you can’t control my weight.”

If someone else wants you to lose weight, they may stay fat just to resent you, and to maintain control.

You will have people around you that try to sabotage you, and you may want to stay the same just to keep everyone happy.

If people start giving you attention because you lose weight, and you don’t want that attention and it makes you feel out of your comfort zone, you may revert back to emotional obesity to remain in your comfort zone.
Another way we can be triggered into emotional obesity is through death or a loss of a relationship.

You cannot ignore the problem of emotional obesity. Rather than ignore it, address it, and then watch the weight literally melt off your body.

Here’s an important lesson when it comes to emotional eating, and emotional obesity, that you must learn – sometimes in life, you just have to allow yourself to feel bad. This is critically important, so it will be repeated. Sometimes in life, you just have to allow yourself to feel bad.

By bad I mean stressed, upset, dissapointed, frustrated and so on.

To fix the problems in your life, sit with your feelings. This will cause you to get to the root of the problem.

True freedom from being overweight does not involve a lifetime of dieting. True freedom requires getting to the bottom of things, and then dealing with it, so you will be released from being overweight forever.

The reasons diets don’t work, is that they require you to change your eating habits without addressing your crutch.

Food is merely a mirror that reflects what you’re feeling or what you don’t want to feel.

The old behavior was to eat.

The new behavior is to heal and resolve what’s causing you to emotionally overeat.

Another problem with being overweight is because it’s accumulative, and it shows on you wherever you go.

All diets and even healthy eating plans are doomed for failure.

Being overweight is really a disease of MORE. No amount of food is enough. No matter how much you have, it’s not enough.

The need for food is sometimes called the big empty. If you’re spiritually feeling disconnected, this could lead to emotional overeating to fill the void with food.

It’s never about the food, it’s about the emotion behind the food.

Meaning and purpose to our lives gives us “soul food”.

How do you know when your emotional eating issues are gone? You will feel safer, better, more connected. Your fat switch will turn off, then you will have zero resistance and you will naturally drop the weight.

Roy Interviews Sam Bakhtiar from Fitconcepts.com on nutrition

Here’s an interview Roy did with Sam Bakhtiar who is a fitness and weight loss guru in Chino Hills, CA. Sam has a track record that Roy and I aspire to with getting his clients great, life-changing results. We listen to him, and so should you!

Don’t forget to check out his blog at http://www.fitnessgurusam.com/

21 Tips to Rock Your Fitness Training

If you’re like me, you can sometimes get motivated easily, and other days…well, it’s not so easy. Here’s 21 tips to help you ROCK your fitness training so you get focused and motivated to dominate your fitness goals!

1) Have a plan, and log your foods! It doesn’t do much good to just “jump into it” without a little bit of a game plan. Do some research. Google is a great place to start. There are so many ways to approach fitness, it’s really up to you and what you think will hold your interest, challenge you, and get you to your goals. The people who get the best results are always the people who log their foods. Use www.MyFitnessPal.com or the iPhone app, Loseit! to keep track of your calories.

2) Drink lots of WATER! Drinking a bottle of water a day just doesn’t cut it when you start exercising. Did you know 7 out of every 10 people are dehydrated right now! Are you one of them? Keep your house, car and work stocked with water bottles, and invest in one of those BPA free bottles. Staying hydrated will help pick up your energy, aid you in your workouts, and ultimately aid in fat loss as well.

3) Exercise with a friend. Isn’t it much more motivating to exercise alongside a buddy? Challenge your friend to see who can exercise the most days in a month!

4) Form a habit with 21 days. Research has shown that it takes 21 days of doing something to create a habit. Exercise for 21 days straight and it will become a regular habit that you won’t even have to think about, you’ll just do it. Just like brushing your teeth! Hopefully… ; )

5) Use interval training during cardio. If you want to speed up your metabolism, perform interval training. Periods of high and low intensity is the proven method for burning fat and getting toned and lean. (This is one of the tricks we use in our bootcamp…)

6) Grocery shop once per week. Schedule a time and day where you will go to the store and load up with fresh fruits and veggies, nut, lean protein sources and whole grains.

7) Prepare your food for the week. This is important. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you take a few hours on a Sunday to prepare some meals and pack them in tupperware, it will be sooooo much easier to grab-and-go with your healthy foods during the week. You won’t even have to think about it!

8) Eating healthy isn’t enough. One of the first things I hear from people trying to lose weight is “I eat really healthy”. Don’t get me wrong, you have to eat healthy foods to feel great and stay lean, but that’s just part of the equation. You can still gain weight and store fat by eating too much healthy foods!

9) Workout with full-body exercises. If you’re doing bicep curls and crunches all day, good luck. You’re likely to get frustrated and quit because of lack of results. Use compound movements like push-ups, squats, back rows and lunges. These movements use the most muscles at once, and burn more calories overall.

10) Stop worrying about bulking up! Trust me on this one. You’re not going to get bulky. If you’re on a caloric deficit, you’ll be losing fat and creating muscle tone. Believe me, you’re lucky if you gain even 1 pound of muscle!

11) Add muscle to boost metabolism. One pound of muscle burns up to 50 calories per day. That means if you add 10 pounds of lean muscle to your body, you’ll burn an extra 3,500 calories per week! (500 calories x 7 days per week.)

12) It takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to burn 1 pound of fat. This isn’t so much a tip, but a fact. This means you can burn 250 calories with exercise and eat 250 less calories and you’ll be at a 500 calorie deficit. This adds up to 3,500 calories and will get you to drop 1 pound by the end of the week.

13) Be happy when you lose 1 pound! Sometimes people tell me, I “only lost 1 pound!” and they sound disappointed. Do you have any idea how big 1 pound of fat is?!? If I put it on a plate in front of you, you’d be impressed! Remember, slow and steady wins the race.

14) Set performance goals. Set a goal for how many push-ups you can do. Or how about going from your knees to your feet? Set a goal for how much weight you can do in a one-arm row. How about setting a goal for how long you can wall sit or hold a plank? These goals keep you motivated and help you get in great shape!

15) Join a fitness bootcamp! It’s a great way to stay motivated when you’re with a group of like-minded people. Bootcamps are challenging and lot’s of fun. Not only that, they get results. Find a bootcamp that has a 100% guarantee. This will let you know that they mean business and have your best interest at heart. Also, try out a class before you commit. You want to make sure you vibe with the energy and the instructors philosophy. Some are more “Army-style” and some are more “positive coaching”. Find what fits you…

16) Don’t set unrealistic goals. An example is, I’m going to Hawaii in 3 weeks and I want to lose 20 lbs! Remember, your body can only lose 3 lbs of fat per week. It’s designed that way as a defense mechanism for starvation during famine. If you lose more than 3 lbs in a week it’s muscle and water. And you don’t want to lose muscle! That lowers your metabolism and will make you gain the weight back…and then some!

17) Avoid starvation diets. You won’t get far with these, and you’re not likely to exercise with low energy from not eating enough. The trick is to be on a caloric deficit, while at the same time eating enough protein and essential fats.

18) Read other peoples success stories. Knowing that other people have been there and gone through the same struggles you have will help you when you are in need of some motivation.

19) Find your “WHY”. Why do you want to get in shape? You say you want to lose weight, but why? Knowing your why, will help you when you come across obstacles in your training. If your why is strong enough, nothing can stop you. Some of the strongest “why’s” are things like being in shape for the family, not wanting to die of heart failure like a parent or grandparent, sick and tired of not feeling like your old self, wanting to get back in shape after a break-up or divorce, an upcoming event like a wedding or a reunion. Do you see how much more powerful these are then just saying “I want to get in shape and lose weight”.

Exercise: Give me your why right now in the “comments” section of this blog below.

20) Don’t give up. Challenges will come up. You will get sick. You will binge eat. You will skip a workout. You will feel like quitting. What are you saying to yourself if you quit? Stay with it, and you will reap the rewards. I often tell people to imagine your life 5 years from now. One version with exercise, and one version without. Where do you want to be in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?

21) Pat yourself on the back! Don’t forget to give yourself encouragement and a reward every so often. Buy yourself an iPod or treat yourself to a movie after you’ve exercised consistently for a month. And don’t forget to add a cheat meal once per week. You will stick to your plan better if you eat at your favorite pizza or burger joint once per week. Using this as a reward prevents you from feeling deprived and gets you to your results much faster!

There you go, 21 tips to ROCK your fitness training! Have fun!!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

P.S. – Don’t forget to tell me you “WHY” below!! I want to know what motivates YOU!

3 Crazy Ways to Stay Accountable to Your Fitness Goals

You’re about to learn about 3 absolutely crazy ways to make sure you hit the mark on your fitness goals. You and I both know it’s one thing to set a goal, but it’s a whole different ball game when it comes to staying accountable to your goal.

WARNING: These accountability strategies are not for the faint of heart. They may even offend you. But if you put even one of these strategies in place, you will increase the chances of hitting your fitness goals by 50% or more!

Now that you’ve been warned, here are our top 3 Crazy Ways to Stay Accountable to Your Fitness Goals:

1) The Alpo Diet - You’ve heard of Alpo dog food, right? Well, this strategy consists of you calling up your best friend and asking them for help with hitting a fitness goal. Once they say they will help you, tell them that you promise to lose at least 8 lbs in one month (or maybe 4 or 6lbs, or maybe stop smoking or drinking, or whatever health goal you want…), or you will eat a whole can of Alpo dog food right in front of them!

This insane strategy does two things. One, it gets your goals out of your head and into the public eye, in this case your friend, who is sure to talk this up among your entire circle of friends just for a few laughs.

And two, it makes you associate a painful situation if you don’t hit your goals. Think about it. Are you likely to miss that workout or order that scone at Starbucks if you might have to humiliate yourself in front of your friend and down a whole can of nasty, smelly dogfood!

2) The Poorhouse Method – This strategy has to do with one of the most motivating factors in your life…money.

Call a friend, family member, or even your trainer. Tell them you need help with hitting a health goal. Tell them you plan to log your foods and exercise daily. For every time you don’t exercise or log your food, you promise to pay them 10 dollars! Now that’s motivation!!

3) The “Scare You To Death” Method – Yes, this accountability strategy is the craziest of them all. In this one, you take something in your life that scares you to death (jumping out of an airplane, spiders and snakes, a class on public speaking) and you agree that if you don’t hit your goal by the end of the month, you have to do what you agreed to do that will scare you to death!

This method, although incredibly crazy, will undoubtably get you to your fitness goals and beyond!! Have fun!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

Chocolate Milk and Your Best Body Ever!

Ok, so you know how Roy and I are always harping on you guys to get in more protein, especially post workout as a protein/carb drink for full protein synthesis and glycogen replenishment?

Well check this out. Because your body has a certain time frame after a workout to get these nutrients into the system for optimal recovery, you need to drink your protein/carb, not eat it!

That’s why you don’t see Roy walking around snacking on a chicken breast after a workout, you see him drinking a protein shake (I think he uses the SNAC brand product, Proglycosyn, which is a great product. You’ll have to ask Roy directly if you want to try it…).

So if you want the next best thing, check out this article that Bill sent me:

http://www.health.am/ab/more/chocolate-milk-is-a-natural-for-post-exercise-recovery/

By the way, if you haven’t heard already, the cat’s out of the bag! We’ve officially announced our 21-Day Rapid Fat Loss program, and we’ve already sold out of our 6pm time slot! (maybe I could fit one or two more in…).

We still have a few 9am and 7pm spots available in Foster City, and 6am in Mountain View, so call me right away at 650-771-5149 if you want in on it. This offer isn’t for people who like to “think about it” or who’d like to put it off for another year. This is for people who want to get lean and toned NOW!

And for $97, what have you got to lose…except for inches off your waist! ; )

OUR NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE IS LAUNCHED!!

Hi there, Forrest here,

I’ve got great news for you today! We’ve just launched our online magazine and it totally rocks! Check it out and forward your favorite articles to your friends or on Facebook!

Don’t forget to check out all the cool exercise videos! =)

Fit For Life Solutions Magazine

Fitness Magazine Articles

Your Trainers For Life,

Forrest and Roy

Eating Frequency For Fat Loss

Here’s a cool post by our go-to registered dietician, Jayson Hunter. Enjoy!

Q: I’ve heard that eating more frequently will increase my metabolism and help me lose weight? Is this true and how does this happen? I thought you had to eat less to lose weight.

A: You’ve probably heard this advice from many different places: personal trainers at your gym, online weight-loss websites, and popular diet books. Even though it has some merit, it may not be entirely correct, especially if your physical activity levels are low or non-existent.

The suggestion to increase your eating frequency, meaning going from eating three square meals a day to six smaller meals and snacks, stems from both research and anecdotal findings. Some of the benefits attributed to eating more often include reducing hunger and caloric intake, boosting your metabolic rate, and controlling hormones that increase your desire for food. For some people this is true, for others, not so much.

In the research world, scientists have shown certain benefits from eating more often compared to less:

• By eating the same amount of calories in several meals spread throughout the day there’s a suppression of free fatty acid release from adipose tissue, which enhances your ability to use glucose (from carbohydrate foods) as fuel
• The amount of insulin secreted from your pancreas to help you use the nutrients you’re eating is reduced, so there is less potential for those nutrients to be stored in fat cells. Instead, the insulin that is released sends those calories to your needy muscle cells where they’re used to provide energy for daily movement
• Your stomach is stretched less with smaller meals, which slows the rate at which food is delivered to your intestine, and in turn, your blood stream. This creates a consistent flow of energy to your body rather than one fast, large dump of nutrients
• Blood total and LDL-cholesterol levels in your body are decreased due to less cholesterol synthesis and increased cholesterol removal

Despite these findings, reviews of all the scientific investigations looking at the effect of increased eating on weight loss have not shown that eating more often reduces body weight. The recent review by Palmer and colleagues in 2009, and the ones by Bellisle and colleagues in 1997 both found this same result; eating more often does not seem to decrease body weight in every person. Explanations for this finding includes the fact that the energy density of our food has increased over the years, even though we’re evolutionarily meant to be “grazers”. Even with lower calories, eating more frequently does not help decrease the numbers on the scale by itself.

For body composition, some observations of people that eat more rather than less show that their body carries less fat. However, research investigations have not shown that just going from eating less to eating more magically lowers body fat. Those people that eat more may simply burn more calories naturally during the day, or expend more calories in movement. Then there are those people that never gain fat no matter how hard they try (not the norm nowadays though).

However, there are clear benefits to eating more often:

• You stave off hunger before it sets in and pushes you to overeat
• You give yourself more energy to exercise harder
• You prevent swings in your blood sugar levels which can make you cranky, unhappy and lethargic

As far as increasing your metabolism, eating more often can potentially increase the amount of calories you burn in a day, by a mechanism known as the “Thermic Effect of Feeding”. However, this effect is relatively small and can be made easily obsolete with poor food choices and excess caloric intake.

It is true though that when you eat more often rather than less, you’re more likely to meet your exercise goals instead of not having the energy to even begin to do anything. Then, when you exercise more, especially a combination of weight training and cardio, you can increase your muscle mass and lower your body fat, which makes your body look tighter and fit better in clothing. And who doesn’t want that?

However, eating more often doesn’t work for everyone: If you’re not exercising, eating more will definitely cause fat gain – those calories have no where else to go! And, when you eat more you still have to make good food choices and balance your intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat; eating more chocolate and soda will not help your metabolism at all. Considering that most “snack” foods are based off sugar and starchy carbohydrates (crackers, granola bars, etc), it’s really easy to over-consume carbs and miss out on important proteins and fats.

Bottom line: Eating more can help meet your body composition and weight goals if you’re selecting your nutrients wisely and using them to help you exercise consistently.

Click here to see 7 powerful nutrients that boost your metabolism

Resources:
Palmer MA, Capra S, & Baines SK. Association between eating frequency, weight, and health. Review
Nutr Rev. 2009 Jul;67(7):379-90

Bellisle F, McDevitt R, Prentice A. Meal frequency and energy balance. Brit J Nutrition. 1997;77(Suppl 1):S57–S70

Jenkins D, Wolever T, Vuksan V, et al. Nibbling versus gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:929–934

Frequent Eating Associated with Lower Lipid Concentrations. JWatch General. 2002: 3-3
Farshchi HR, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA. Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in healthy obese women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2005;81:16-24

Ruidavets JB, Bongard V, Bataille V, et al. Eating frequency and body fatness in middle-aged men International Journal of Obesity. 2002; 26: 1476-1483

Bodybugg Product Review and Kristen G. Great Results!

Today I’m writing to share with you two things.

1) An amazing Fit For Life Bootcamper, Kristen Gansheimer, and her results to help inspire you.

2) Our Bodybugg product review video, starring Kristen.

Kristen started up with us in early January 2010. Here’s what she had to say about us in our Yelp.com review.

(more…)

3 Fitness Survival Tips for College Students

If you want to beat the “freshman 15″ and make your way through college in as good or better shape than when you started, here are simple 3 tips to make sure you come out on top.

1) Do your own shopping and plan your foods for the week. Getting in the habit of brown-baggin’ is the best way to make sure you stay away from the fast food and vending machines while saving some duckets for the weekend.

Yes, I know you’re a super-busy student , and it takes some prep time and extra work, but it’s all worth it. Do you think it’s going to get any easier when you’re an on-the-go working professional? The habits you start now last a lifetime.

If you want to be on your A-game, keep your energy levels up and your mind sharp, make sure you eat every 3 and 1/2 hours to stabalize your blood sugar levels.

2) Join a college fitness class, sport or a bootcamp to keep you accountable and motivated to exercise. You know as well as I do that if you don’t have to do it, you probably won’t. However, if you sign up for something, you’re way more likely to follow through because you’ve made a commitment.

Remember – If you don’t make exercise a priority, it just won’t happen. And the thing is, now that you’re in college, no one really cares if you exercise or not. YOU have to be the one that cares about your body now!

“You’re all growns up!” – Swingers (if you haven’t seen it, make sure you Netflix it!)

3) Keep the drinking to the weekends. Yes, I went there. Yes, I’m a hypocrite, looking back on my college days. But really, if you keep the drinking until the weekends, you’re not only going to be sharper during the week to stay on top of your studies, but you’ll have more energy during your day (which is way sexier than being all hung-over in class), and you’ll steer clear of tons of unwanted booze-and-brew calories.

Hope this helps!

And props go out to Greg Solin and SFSU!!

Your Trainers For Life,

Forrest and Roy

Bonus Tip: I know you need energy for those long nights of studying, but please stay away from those sugary, high-calorie energy drinks like Redbull and Rockstar. A healthier energy drink is the one Lance Armstrong endorses, called FRS Healthy Energy. Another option is to take a good multi-vitamin.

Hollywood Celebrity Workout Videos

I tracked down some of the hottest Hollywood Stars and put their workout secrets in this blog. Enjoy!

Beyonce Knowles

Gerald Butler

LL Cool J

Angelina Jolie

Jessica Biel, Wesley Snipes and Ryan Renolds

Exotic Dancer, Author and Abs Expert Darren Michaels Interview

I hope no one thinks this blog is too “risk-ay”, because, after all, it is about male stripper Darren Michaels, his abs-o-steel and his exotic dancing. But beyond all that, this is about a guy who took a vision and turned it into a reality, through hard work, dedication, consistency and a passionate determination, he did what some might think impossible.

What did he do? Well, let me paint the picture.

Imagine a chemist with a Masters Degree, working a 9-to-5 in a lab, nothing special otherwise. The guy is shy, and I mean super-shy. He’s got no luck with the ladies (25 year-old virgin?), and his fitness level…average at best.

I was teaching abs classes at the Foster City Athletic Club when I first got to know Darren. He would join in on my half-hour, ab-marathon classes, and each time he’d push himself harder than the time before. He seemed like a man on a mission, and we got to know each other after a while. I could tell he meant business. The quiet people in the gym are always the ones to look out for, because they are the ones who get the job done.

He reminded me of myself during my martial arts days. I didn’t go around telling everyone I was going to become a second degree black belt, I just did it.

After months of taking my class, Darren showed interest in teaching abs classes, and I introduced him to the group exercise director there at the club. Sometime around then, he had an emergency appendectomy, and after the doctor said to lay of the abs training, he came back, more determined than ever to create his 6-pack abs and to teach his abs class.

Somewhere along Darren’s path, he met a professional exotic dancer, got it in his head that he wanted to become one, decided to go for it, and did it! And I’m talking from scratch!

He packed on the muscle, lowered his bodyfat to below 5%, and got the kind of indoor tan any WWE wrestler would be more than proud of. The dude didn’t even know how to dance for Pete’s sake! Not only that, but like I said, he was incredibly shy. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, it takes a hell of a lot of courage to make that big of a life change.

Whether you agree with his path or not, I’m sure you’ll agree that he has demonstrated the exact kind of mindset it takes to make a real body and life transformation.

These days, Darren is a super-successful chemist by day, superstar exotic dancer by night. He’s found success in all areas of his life, and is sharing his passion about fitness with others. Did he ever get the girl? What do you think!?

If you want to find out more about Darren (and all his crazy stripper adventures!), I suggest reading his book or checking out his website at www.AbMiration.com.

When you break it down and analyze how he was able to pull it off, you can see the steps he took and apply them to your own life. In my view, this is what he did:

1) Desire to change. He had a desire to change because he was frustrated with where he was at in his life. He had a career, drove a Mustang, and had the looks, but no girl! Believe me, that will fuel any man’s desire to make a life change, no matter how successful you are!

2) Commitment to take action. After desire comes commitment. Through his training and mentoring, Darren made a real commitment to the type of people who would hold him accountable to his actions. You can think about something you want to accomplish all you want, but until you make a commitment, nothing ever happens.

3) Consistently taking focused action toward the goal. Although having desire and making a commitment are the first 2 important steps, the steps lead to nowhere without consistency. Darren showed incredible perseverance by coming to the gym almost every day, meeting with his dancing mentor every chance he could, visualizing how he would look and feel when he reached his goal, and never quitting, no matter how impossible things may have seemed at the time.

Great work, Darren! Thanks for being an inspiration to me, and to so many others. Although this may sound cliché, you are living proof that you really can do ANYTHING you set your mind to!

So without further ado, here’s my video interview with Darren and another video of him “doing his thang” at one of his photo shoots.

WARNING: ADULTS ONLY PLEASE. NOT X-RATED, JUST PROVOCATIVE…THANKS!

P.S. – Only cool people leave comments! Put yours below!

The 6 Step Bootcamp Plan for Fat Loss

Here it is. This is THE PLAN to get you results in your fitness bootcamp!

THE PLAN

Step 1) Log calorie intake DAILY (go to www.fitday.com) and set up a food logging account or get the LoseIt! app for your IPhone. A general caloric goal for weight loss is 1,800 for men and 1,400 for women (adjust calories to suit your needs). See The Diet Solution for our recommended nutrition plan.

Step 2) Exercise, Fit For Life Bootcamp style, 5 days per week!

Burn 700 calories/day x 5 days/week = 3,500 (it takes 3,500 calories to burn off 1 pound of fat).

Step 3) Cardio on the weekend to accelerate fat loss.

Burn 500 – 700 calories with your own cardio workout on Sat. or Sun. (1 hour hike, bike ride, treadmill, etc.). Mix it up, get outside, have fun!

Step 4) Build muscle and accelerate metabolism (this is done in bootcamp, so as long as you show up, it will happen!). This will ensure you burn fat and keep muscle.

Step 5) Choose a rest/cheat day on a Saturday or Sunday. On this day you will rest your body and mind from exercising and counting calories. Have fun and enjoy your cheat day, you’ve earned it, and it will actually get you to your goals faster!

Step 6) Show up on “Assessment Day” every 5th week to see your progress, and make any changes to your program if you’re not seeing results. Give yourself a reward for a job well done by going out to eat, party with friends, or buy yourself a gift!

And that’s it! Nothing motivates better than results. Work hard, and you will be rewarded through your own hard-earned efforts. If it were easy, anyone could do it. Not just anyone trains in Fit For Life Bootcamp, only the brave!!

3 Simple Strategies to Lose 8 lbs in 28 Days

Would you like to lose 8 lbs from your stomach, hips and thighs in the next 28 days?

This year, year of the Tiger, is the year of taking action. What better way to take advantage of the New Year? In this blog, I help you create a simple plan, go into action, then stick to it. Give yourself a goal to lose 8 lbs of fat in the next 28 days. With these strategies at the heart of your focus, you will get there!

1) Take control of your calorie intake. You need to start thinking in numbers (and once you learn numbers, you can think in terms of portions). It doesn’t have to be forever. Just do it for 3 weeks. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but after 3 weeks a mental shift takes place because you start understanding and memorizing the calories of your favorite foods. (Minimally do it for 3 days…you can’t make excuses about just 3 days!)

Keeping a food log really helps deter you from reaching for a donut when you think of that donut in terms of calories and fat grams instead of just Homer Simpson’s famous phrase, “mmmmmmm…donuts…”

So to take control of your calorie count. I recommend going to www.fitday.com to start logging your food. It’s free, so what have you got to lose? This one thing will be the most important action you take when it comes to understanding how many calories you consume on a regular basis. This is the key to weight loss!

A good, comprehensive nutrition program is the Diet Solution by Isabele De Los Rios. I recommend it highly.

2) Make a commitment to exercise. That’s right, I said that scary word that everyone runs from, “commitment”. I have to admit that I’ve always been scared of that word myself. But the commitments I’ve made have changed my life in incredible ways. Once you make a commitment, it makes things so much easier, and you will be amazed by how good you feel when you do finally commit. So join a gym, or even better, join a boot camp or get a trainer. Your commitment will keep you focused and clear despite the obstacles that are sure to arise.

Think about the word commitment for a second. Now ask yourself, have you ever achieved anything worthwhile in your life without making a commitment at some level? Probably not. I think the best thing to do is to suck it up and sign on the dotted line. When most people have thrown in the towel, you’ll still be moving toward your goals because of the commitment you’ve made to your training.

3) Write down your goals, then set a date of completion. You can do this yourself, or join a weight loss contest to bring in a sense of urgency. Either way, having your goals and a date written down will make you consciously and subconsciously work harder toward your weight loss goals.

Your conscious mind is good for setting goals, but it’s your subconscious mind that gets you performing daily habits that will get you to your goals. Your subconscious mind is like a compass. Once your subconscious mind is set properly, it will continue endlessly to follow it’s course until it reaches it’s goal for you.

Writing down your goals, setting a date on the calendar for your completion of those goals, working out regularly, visualizing how you will look and feel when you reach your goals, taking your vitamins and supplements, eating wholesome and nutritious foods. All of these things align your subconscious mind to get you to your goals. The power you possess by putting this into practice is unstoppable!

Please leave a comment about this post, it really helps me deliver you more content!! Thank-you!!

Thinking about a 5K?

When I mention a 5K to most people, usually their initial response is “I’m not a runner” or “I can’t do that!”.

Not being a runner myself, I can relate.

I’m been a professional fitness trainer for close to 10 years.

I’m a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

I’ve hiked 30 miles in 3 days in Yosemite with giant blisters and a bruised knee, I’ve mountain biked some of the most wicked singletracks in the Bay Area, and I’ve participated in every sport known to man except figure skating.

But I’ve only done ONE running event in my life.

That event was a 5K.

It was the Carneros Valley Vineyard 5K at the Artesa Winery in Napa and it was awesome!!

This was a few years ago, and ever since I’ve really been sold on 5K’s, but haven’t done any…until now!

You see, I want to do something to motivate both myself, and YOU!

I’ve found that anyone can do a 5K. If you don’t believe me, click on this link:

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/6_Reasons_to_Run_a_5K.htm

If you want to join me and the others who have decided to challenge themselves with a 5K, just go to our 5K Club page. Make a commitment. You’ll be surprised at what you can do!

Hope to see you out there!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

Our NEW Solution to Healthy Nutrition and Fat Loss!

Roy and I have been doing a lot of research lately, trying to find a comprehensive nutrition system that we can recommend to you so you can get the best results in 2010.

In the past we had used various nutrition strategies that covered the basics, but we wanted something that could not only get you results, but help you create healthy eating habits for life.

Great news. We’ve found it!

You see, one of the things Roy and I believe is that your nutrition can’t be a cookie-cutter approach. Everyone is different. This program is customized to your unique metabolism and body type. It even has you take a metabolic typing test before you get started, that’s how dialed-in this program is to YOUR body!

It also shows you that it’s not just how many calories you eat but where your calories come from that matters when you are trying to reshape your body and develop your health.

If all we cared about was your weight, we could just tell you to eat celery and non-buttered popcorn all day and you would lose weight. BUT you’d also lose precious, metabolism-boosting muscle tissue, you’d have low energy, get headaches and feel grumpy all day. You wouldn’t even have the energy to exercise properly in that state. Not Good.

In this plan, developed by nutritionist Isabele De Los Rios, you will learn all the best foods to stabalize your blood sugar, maximize your vitamin and mineral intake, boost your energy, and build healthy, lean muscle tissue.

The program comes with a manual, the metabolic typing test, a quick-start guide, a success journal, a shopping guide, and done-for-you meal plans.

The plan also comes with bonuses, including a 14-Day fast results plan, the top 10 nutrition mistakes booklet, and a recipe guide.

I’m even adding in a bonus of my own for you if you order here through our link today, which is an article I’ve written entitled “You will NEVER get a slimmer waistline by doing ab exercises…PERIOD!” This article finally uncovers the truth about getting a flat stomach and what strategy you need to use to get there. (just e-mail me after you place your order and I’ll send it to you.)

One of the best things about this program is that it’s in downloadable PDF form, so you’ll be able to access it and start implementing it right away. You won’t need to sit around waiting for a hard copy, because there is none. Just straightforward information in an easy-to-understand format that you can print it out right there at home immediately after purchase.

I included a link to her nutrition plan and presentation video below.

*NOTE* – The video is very informative and will help you understand a lot about this nutritional approach. However, you need to get past the first 2 minutes or so to get to the good stuff, trust me on this one.

Just click here for your nutrition plan.

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

P.S. – You can e-mail me at Forrest@fitforlifesolutions.com if you have any questions. I’m really excited about sharing this program with you, and believe in it’s approach of creating higher energy and burning fat 100%.

Fit For Life Bootcamp Amazing Transformation – Shanon Mah

Here’s a testimonial from an amazing client of ours, Shanon Mah. From the beginning of her training, I knew there was a quiet fire burning inside her to make a change, and that she was ready to grow and develop as a person.

Shanon followed our advice to the letter, attended Fit For Life Bootcamp as much as she could week-by-week, and turned in food logs to us weekly. She pushed herself every class and she got involved with the beta version our “Accelerated Bootcamp” program (which we plan to unveil in spring of 2010!), which helped speed up her results.

Thanks Shanon for your hard-work, sacrifices, and for being a true inspiration!

-Forrest and Roy

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BEFORE

AFTER

I used to be a very athletic person, very energetic, and I noticed within the last couple years a big slump, in a rut, and gaining weight. I couldn’t keep up as well with my kids and with the things I like to do. I wanted to do something about it and change it. I thought I’d try something new, that’s when I tried Fit For Life Bootcamp and I loved it, and I’ve continued on since then.

At first it was just about the “me time”, and not getting caught up in being a mom all the time, and then when I started to see results it fueled my desire to set goals for myself.

What I like most about the training, because I’ve tried personal trainers before, was that training in the boot camp was always different. I don’t think I’ve ever done the same routine, and I feel like there is a lot of individual help and a lot of change-ups so your body is always feeling it. Through the week I’ll know, ok, we’ve hit that spot! It’s just exciting to come and know that there is something different that’s going to happen each time.

Actually, I wasn’t expecting to see the kind of results that I did. I came in with expectations of losing 5 lbs and I didn’t even consider body fat % and inches, but when I saw those results come within the first 4 weeks I was amazed! It made me want to drive, go harder and go for bigger results.

Ultimately, I lost 18 lbs, over 7% body fat, over 4 inches off my waist and over 3 inches off my hips. I went from a size 6 to a size 2, which hasn’t been since high school!

A lot of my friends went away over the summer and when they saw me their response was “Oh my god! What have you been doing? I want to do that, too!” My family has noticed the changes as well.

Mentally, my whole attitude in life is so different. My confidence has been raised. I had sunk into a shell for a while, and now I feel I’m coming out of that, and it’s an awesome feeling. It’s more than just physical, it’s also mental.

-Shanon Mah

Drink, Party and Burn Calories this New Years 2010!

This New Year I am really looking forward to going BIG with everything I do. Bigger focus, bigger fitness, bigger results, bigger business, bigger fun, bigger family, bigger goals. The only thing that isn’t going to get bigger are my clients! HaHa!!

So I’ll let you in on what I’m doing for New Years (especially now that I’ve set up a babysitter…thanks Natalie!).

I’m going to a place in San Francisco called the Coda Lounge to see my brother Tommy’s band play. They are called Dynamic and they rule!! You can check them out at www.dynamicliveband.com.

If you don’t have plans yet, you should go!! www.CodaLive.com to make a reservation. (It’s only $20 without dinner, and I think it’s $60 with dinner.)

I’m looking forward to dancing the night away (I may look like a fool, but hey, I have fun doing it!)

I checked out how many calories a 160 lb person burns in 1 hour of dancing and it’s about 350. (If I dance for 3 hours that’s over 1,000 calories!!) Not bad for a fun night out, eh? I’m sure that a few drinks would cancel that out…but I don’t think I’ll have more than 3 drinks, so I think I’ll come out ahead.

My favorite drinks when I go out are either a Guiness, a Hefeweizen, or a White Russian.

Here are some calorie counts for beers to help you plan your night. (I got this from: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_calories_are_in_beer)
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Calories in Beer

Here are some calorie counts for 12 ounces of different beers:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: 175
Sam Adams Lager: 160
Pilsner Uruqell: 160
Michelob: 155
Guinness: 153
Heineken: 150
Corona: 148
Budweiser: 145
MGD: 143
Stella Artois: 140
Bud Light: 110
Coors Light: 102
Budweiser Select: 99
Michelob Ultra: 96
Amstel Light: 95
Miller Genuine Draft Light: 64
Anchor Steam – 153
Bass Ale – 160
Beck’s – 140
Budweiser – 140
Corona Light – 105
Guinness Draught – 126
Guinness Stout – 153
Miller Lite – 96
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – 175
Sierra Nevada Stout – 210

By the way, the average wine has about 275-300 calories per 12 ounces. Of course, one glass of wine isn’t usually 12 ounces. You might drink half as much wine as you would beer, making wine slightly lower calorie.

Mixed drinks are about the same. Gin & tonic or vodka cranberry have about 300 calories per 12 ounces. Margaritas are very bad: they might have about 750 calories!
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Well, there you have it!

So have fun, eat, drink, dance, and enjoy life, cuz come January your butt is mine!

Roy and I look forward to seeing you and helping you achieve your fitness goals this 2010!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

4 Questions to Catapult You in Your Fitness Journey

Questions are soooooo powerful.

Did you know that your mind has the ability to answer ANY question you ask it?

How do I know this? I’ve extensively researched this topic by reading about NLP, hypnotherapy, meditation, law of attraction, neuroscience, psychotherapy and quantum physics.

Not only have I read about it, I’ve put it to practice, and IT WORKS!!

…But don’t take my word for it, try for yourself.

Here is the list of my 4 most powerful questions for being my best as it relates to health and fitness. (Ask yourself these questions and put them in writing.)

1) What does “being in good shape and good health” mean to me?

2) What actions must I take to get the fitness results I desire?

3) On a scale of 1-10, how committed am I to this process?

4) If I’m not at a 10, what will it take to get me there so that I will be so excited about it I couldn’t help but take action and get started today?

Once you ask yourself these 4 questions, you will be amazed at the answers that seem to come straight out of the sky! Then, once you have your answers, make a “To-Do” list and start taking massive action immediately! (Nothing happens without action!!)

You will be blown away at the results of this simple exercise. (TIP – This will feel so easy and get you such fast results, you will think this method is too good to be true!!)

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest Folen

The 5 Secrets Tactics to Fat Loss

I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m going to give away my top 5 secrets to fat loss that Roy and I use in our bootcamp! They might not be what you would expect (notice that we don’t even mention crunches even once!).

1) Food logs. We put this as #1 for a reason. It’s like Roy always says, “Abs are made in the kitchen.” Ask any expert dietician or weight loss guru, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Actually, you can just ask some of the folks in the Fit For Life Bootcamp who’ve transformed their body, and they’ll tell you it’s true. Bill lost over 40 lbs, but he never saw a single pound come off until he started logging his food. Shanon and Julie lost a combined total of 30 lbs, but they were on our Accelerated Bootcamp program, which requires food logging! (We will be launching the NEW version of this program in early 2010). Even Weight Watchers has the saying, “Write it before you bite it!”

To get feedback directly from Roy, visit www.FitForLifeSolutions.com/forum and let him know what you’re eating. Two other great resources are www.fitday.com, a free, internet-based food log software and www.calorieking.com. Log on, log in, and start logging!!!

2) Set SMART goals and write them down. SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic and Timely). Goal setting is sooooooo important. We recommend writing down a time-specific, long-term goal, such as “I will lose 10 lbs of fat and fit into a size 6 pants by February 15th, 2010.” After you’ve written down a long-term goal, then write down three short-term goals that are aligned with the long-term goal. For example, 1) I will log on to www.fitday.com and log my food every day this week, 2) I will substitute all soft drinks with water for the next 21 days, 3) I will attend boot camp at least 3 times per week for the next 4 weeks.

After writing down your goals, print them out and post them on your fridge, in your office, above your bed, in your car. You can share them with your family and friends. You can also visit www.FitForLifeSolutions.com/forum and share them to a like-minded community. Sharing goals makes it “real” to you. That’s just the way it works. When you put your goals out there for the world to see, you suddenly become accountable, and you become much more likely to follow through.

3) Take baseline measurements. How can you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re at? By measuring your weight, bodyfat %, and getting at least the basic circumference measurements of the chest, waist and hips, you put yourself on the path to making changes. Also, it helps to revisit your measurements every 4-6 weeks to see if you’re on track. If things aren’t changing the way you wanted them to after 4-6 weeks then it’s time to quit, right? WRONG!!! This is the problem most people have who don’t train alongside a qualified professional.

If you’re not seeing results, there is a reason for it. Or maybe your body is changing, but you don’t know how to correctly interpret the changes. Are you feeling more energy? Are your pants fitting looser, despite what the scale tells you? Then you’re on the right track! Whatever you do, DON’T QUIT! It’s the lifestyle changes you are making which ultimately benefit you in the long run. If you have to go back to the drawing board and make some changes, that’s fine, but remember, quitting is for losers!

Also, don’t just measure your body measurements. It’s also extremely helpful to measure your strength, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, and even track your attendance in the gym. Tracking performance is a powerful motivator and will help keep you moving forward in your progress.

4) Visualize and Re-Commit daily. Your mindset is the single biggest determining factor of you seeing results from your training. Everything that you get from your training is really because of your own desire, commitment and perseverance. If you make it, or don’t make it, don’t give the credit to anyone but yourself. As trainers and boot camp leaders, Roy and I do our best to set up the environment for change, provide exercises and motivation, push you when the going gets tough, and arm you with the knowledge to get results. Ultimately though, it all comes back to you. Ask yourself, “do I put in 100% commitment to each day”.

Start your day by visualizing how you want to look and feel. See it clearly in your mind, even if you feel like crap, visualize yourself at your best. Take 3 minutes every day (it’s not the length of time, it’s the consistency that’s important) to purely visualize like this, then re-commit to your self, your health and your life. This simple practice is one of the secrets of the mind-over-matter power of many successful people in business, body transformations, professional sports and people who live extra-ordinary lives. Don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself!

5) Re-charge your life energy! There are several ways you can keep your energy high. Your life energy is comprised of many things. Your thoughts, your nutritional habits, your exercise habits, your accumulation of stress, your overall health. I recommend starting with exercise and positive thoughts. When you start exercising, you bring direct control into your life. You are saying to yourself that you want to be healthy, have strong life-energy, and that you want to be your best.

When you eat pure, organic foods, you feed your body and give it the energy it needs to keep you focused and mentally clear. When you practice deep breathing, meditation, mindful walking, yoga or other mind/body methods, you clear your stagnant energy and habitual thoughts and open yourself up to the present moment, which is where all action takes place, right here, right now.

If you put these 5 secret tactics into practice, not only will you lose weight and see incredible body transformation changes, but you will see things improve in all aspects of your life! Now go and make it happen. Ideas are good, plans are better, action is king!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest Folen

Hormones and Fat Loss From Jillian Michaels Newest Book, Master Your Metabolism

Jillian Michaels, personal trainer on the hit TV show, The Biggest Loser, has recently released a new book, and in my opinion her best book, Master Your Metabolism. The book gives answer to this question, “Is your scale stuck no matter how little you eat or how much you exercise?”, and then proceeds to dive into the little understood world of hormones-a world I feel we all could stand to learn a bit more about.

I don’t know about you, but from my perspective, as a weight loss coach and fitness bootcamp instructor, I want to know why I can take two similar people through a diet and exercise program and witness one person get incredible transformative results while the other can barely shed 1 or 2 pounds. What gives?!

They were both on a caloric deficit. They were both working out with the same consistency and intensity. They were both given customized nutrition programs and followed them to the letter. They were both the same age and gender (granted they have different genetics).

Can you imagine my clients frustration as they see their best friend put in the same hard work they did, but have to go home and get back to the calorie counting “drawing board” as their friend is off to the mall to buy new, smaller and tighter fitting clothes? It’s enough to bring my clients to tears…and it has.

As a trainer, this burns me.

The people I train often joke with me about how I must lie awake at night thinking of new, torturous exercises because our bootcamp and personal training programs are very creative, to say the least. Although it’s true that we put a lot of creativity and thought into our exercise programs, what really keeps me lying awake at night is being able to deliver results to my clients.

Nothing matters more to me than to be able to show others the impact of fitness on their lives. Sure, there are more reasons to train the just weight loss. More energy, a strong body, and stress relief are very important as well. But seeing your body change and obtaining the confidence that comes with that is monumental.

This is why I’m writing this blog today. To tell you about the importance of what not only Jillian Micheals is saying in her book, but where the future of health and fitness lies – creating and maintaining health through healthy eating, exercise, and balance of our bodily systems, especially that of the endocrine system.

Question: What is metabolism?

False Answer: The way my body burns calories.

Burning calories is something your metabolism does, but that doesn’t explain what it is.

The Real Answer: Your metabolism is your hormones! It’s the biochemistry of your body!

In this blog I’ll share with you information from Jillians book about 3 very important hormones – Insulin, Cortisol and Human Growth Hormone (HGH), which are essential for you to understand if your goal is to lose body fat and keep your body at it’s optimum health.

Insulin. Insulin’s most important function is to lower the concentration of glucose in your blood. Insulin is released from the pancreas when you eat. After you eat a meal, your food is broken down into simple sugars we call glucose, and released into the bloodstream.

I think a good way to think about insulin is to think of it like a Taxi driver. One of the places the Taxi driver (insulin) likes to go is to drive glucose (sugar) to the liver, where it can be converted into glycogen for use by the muscles.

Insulin can also turn glucose into fatty acids and drive them to fat cells, where they can be stored as fuel that the body can use at a later time.

It’s also interesting to note here that creating an insulin spike by digesting simple sugars after intense exercise will cause the taxi driver to help drive amino acids into the cell for protein synthesis to occur. This is where that carb/protein shake with a 2 to 1 ratio comes in super handy. It can improve post-workout protein synthesis by 600%!! I highly recommend it for my personal training and bootcamp clients. Click on this link to get my favorite post workout shake mix: http://fitforlifesolutions.getprograde.com/pre-and-post-workout-drink.html

Jillian’s writes, “let’s say you had a Milky Way on an empty stomach. Your blood sugar surge is then so dramatic that insulin overreacts and works twice as hard to clean the sugar out of the blood.

This overefficient sugar removal doesn’t leave enough glucose in the bloodstream, so your blood sugar concentration drops, you feel hungry again, and you crave (and probably eat) more carbs. That’s postsugar “crash-and-binge” cycle, the root of sugar addiction.”

She also says, “While you may have heard that obesity causes insulin resistance and diabetes – and it does – another plausible sequence is that insulin resistance comes first, spikes insulin production and blood sugar and makes people fat.”

The key points to take away on insulin is that according to what and when you eat, insulin can work for you or against you. That’s why we always recommend staying away from refined carbs like white rice and white bread, and going with the stone-ground wheat bread or brown rice that takes your body much longer to break down into sugar.

Cortisol. This is an important hormone to understand, because in our society, it’s elevated in epidemic proportions and although many have heard of it, and know that too much of it leads to fat gain, they don’t do the steps necessary to keep their cortisol levels in check.

Cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, can be a real menace when it comes to trying to lose weight. Cortisol is emitted by the adrenal glands, and is a catabolic hormone (breaks down, rather than builds up, which would be anabolic). Released by the adrenals, cortisol “tells your body what fat, protein, or carbohydrate to burn and when to burn them, depending on what kind of challenge you face.”

“If you haven’t released the excess cortisol in your blood by punching back or running away, cortisol will increase your cravings for high-fat, high-carb foods.”

She also writes, “Once you eat, your body releases a cascade of rewarding brain chemicals that can set up an addictive relationship with food. You feel stressed, you eat…you can become physically and psychologically dependent on that release to manage stress.”

Now here’s where the weight loss stuff comes in, “When stress continues for a long time, and cortisol levels remain high, the body actually resists weight loss. Your body thinks times are hard and you might starve, so it greedily hoards any food you eat and any fat already present on your body.”

Cortisol also takes healthier fat from butt and thighs and turns it to a very unhealthy type of stored fat called visceral fat in your stomach area, which stores a specific enzyme that converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol, “yet another vicious cycle created by visceral fat.”

Meditation and specific mind/body techniques are known to decrease cortisol levels naturally by as much as 44%!

It’s also worth noting that excess cortisol also deconstructs bone and skin, leading to osteoporosis, easy bruising and stretch marks.

Human Growth Hormone, also known as HGH or simply as Growth Hormone, is one of those hormones that we all want more of. “It seems to make everything better – it builds muscle, burns fat, helps you resist heart disease, protects your bones, increases your overall health, and some say it even makes you happier. People with high levels of growth hormone live longer, and better.”

Growth hormone is produced in the pituitary gland, a tiny gland under the hypothalamus in the brain. “Growth hormone is amazing at helping you tap into your fat stores.”

Hollywood actors have been known to spend up to $20,000 per year for HGH injections. However, this practice is not only pricey, but can cause horrible side effects, one of which is insulin resistance, because it counters insulin’s ability to shuttle glucose into cells. Production of HGH drops as we age…as much as 50% by the time we reach 60 years old.

There are natural ways to get your body to produce this anti-aging, miracle hormone. An excellent way is to reach delta brain wave patterns, which is accomplished during meditation practice. (Another reason I’m so big on keeping a regular meditation practice!)

HGH is also released when you get enough sleep, 8 hours being the magical number.

I could go on and on, but I’ll let you find out more on your own. If you’re interested in learning more, check out Jillians book, entitled Master Your Metabolism.

Please leave any comments below. I greatly appreciate feedback. Thanks!

P.S. – Shout out to A.V. Woop! Woop!

It’s True, Exercise Won’t Make You Thin

A Trainers Response to “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” by John Cloud in TIME Magazine and “For Losing Weight, Diet Beats Exercise” by Erin Allday in the SF Chronicle.

Recently, TIME Magazine published an article written by a man named John Cloud about how we have all been misinformed about exercise. In his argument, John suggests that “Exercise isn’t necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder.” John then goes on to site various studies from experts such as Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University who says, “In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless”.

As you can imagine, after this article was published, hundreds of personal trainers and exercise experts from all over the world published on the web their bitter responses as to how this article was by far doing the public a great disservice. Think about it…how hard have these trainers had to work to motivate their clients to sweat out their long hours in the gym? How many personal trainers, fitness magazines, fat loss experts, and exercise gadgets have their existence at stake in the name of the all glorious, all righteous path of exercise as being the holy grail of weight loss? I would say quite a few people’s lives might be affected by this controversial angle on exercise – even mine.

Then, if TIME Magazine wasn’t enough, on August 27, 2009 one of my loyal clients tells me about how the San Francisco Chronicle published “For losing weight, diet beats exercise”. The Chronicle? Now this was getting a lot closer to home. And if all my boot camp and personal training clients were privy to this info, I had better start looking into this! So I got ahold of both articles. I read them. I read them again. I came to a conclusion.

However, before I came to a conclusion my first gut reaction, as a fitness trainer of 10 years and owner of Fit For Life Solutions, a business specializing in fitness and fat loss boot camps and making exercise a way of life (www.FitForLifeSolutions.com), was that this was a bunch of bull! How dare these writers use this fitness propaganda to twist the minds of these poor misguided people who already have it hard enough, and now have to struggle through the dark and angled musings masked in highly-credible columns of TIME Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle! Couldn’t I just as easily publish an article on how water isn’t necessary for good for hydration, and how it can even kill you!

So, as I said, I read the articles. And I read them again. And I came to a conclusion.

And my conclusion is…they are both absolutely right!

Exercise is not the key to weight loss. I tell my clients this all the time, “if you’re looking to lower the numbers on the scale, you have to focus on nutrition!” But here’s where I differ from the columnists, exercise IS MY LIFE – and the quality of my life has been improved tremendously through living a fitness lifestyle – so much so that words cannot express. Therefore, on behalf of myself, other personal trainers helping people around the world, the hundreds of people who’s lives we have touched here at Fit For Life Solutions, and the millions of people who love exercise, I have to say the following statement:

Exercise and fitness are not about losing, they are about gaining. Gaining energy, gaining muscle, gaining confidence, gaining respect for ourselves and our bodies, gaining friends, and gaining a power over our lives than we otherwise wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for this wonderful experience we call exercise and all the benefits it brings us.

There’s also another very important piece to exercise as it relates to weight loss. Here’s the thing…do people want to lose weight or lose fat? Fat of course! Instead of fat though, people often use the word weight, but losing weight could mean something quite different thing than losing fat. For example, let’s say you went on a diet without exercising and more specifically, lifting weights. Well, what would typically happen is you would lose weight, but not necessarily fat.

Let’s say you lost 8 lbs in two weeks. Sounds good, right? Not necessarily. You see, that 8 pounds you lost were probably a combination of fat, muscle and water weight (most diets have you severely restrict salt intake…that’s because they want you to think you’ve lost more fat than you really have!). So if you lost 3 pounds of fat, 3 pounds of muscle and 2 pounds of water weight, that would mean you lost 8 pounds on the scale. But losing that 3 pounds of muscle really means you’ve lowered your metabolism. That’s why when people go on diets, without exercise, they end up gaining the weight right back…and then some! (TIME Magazine didn’t tell us that, did they!).

I say stick with weights training to promote or at the very least maintain muscle mass. If you’re on a caloric restriction, you lift weights regularly (and properly), and you have adequate essential fat and protein intake, you’re on the road to successful FAT loss, not just WEIGHT loss. See the difference?

Thank-you Time Magazine and SF Chronicle for helping us to revisit why exercise is so important to our fitness lifestyle, how we indeed must focus on nutrition to lower the weight on the scale, and how we can choose merely to lose weight, or to really make a change and lose fat by transforming our bodies and our lives through exercise.

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest Folen, MCT

Cure for Type II Diabetes?

As you may know, diabetes is one of the biggest problems with America’s growing obesity epidemic. I personally know quite a few people who are pre-diabetic, people with type II diabetes, and even type l diabetes (I have had 2 cousins with type l diabetes – it really sucks.)

My take as a fitness lifestyle and fat-loss pro is that we need to address the root of the problem. Granted, we can use exercise as a way to combat type II diabetes in a big way. The guys over at WebMD.com (full article at http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/exercise-guidelines) said this:

Exercise is very important in managing type 2 diabetes. Combining diet, exercise, and medicine (when prescribed) will help control your weight and blood sugar level.

Exercise helps control type 2 diabetes by:

Improving your body’s use of insulin.
Burning excess body fat, helping to decrease and control weight (decreased body fat results in improved insulin sensitivity).
Improving muscle strength.
Increasing bone density and strength.
Lowering blood pressure.
Helping to protect against heart and blood vessel disease by lowering ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and increasing ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.
Improving blood circulation and reducing your risk of heart disease.
Increasing energy level and enhancing work capacity.
Reducing stress, promoting relaxation, and releasing tension and anxiety.

Take a look at this video (keep in mind many, perhaps most, doctors say curing type II diabetes is impossible)

BOSU Circuit for Fat Burn and Muscle Tone

When I work out, I like to make my workouts simple, yet effective, and have a little edge of challenge to them. That’s why I often incorporate the BOSU. BOSU is that blue little half ball, dome-shaped thingy that you see laying in the corner of most gyms. They’ve been getting more popular recently, and they are something I’ve used for years to make my workouts, and my clients workouts, more interesting and challenging.

The reason they benefit you when you use them is that they work on your muscle/brain/central nervous system communication pathways. The term we use in the training world is proprioception.

When you do squats on the floor, you work through a range of motion that puts a workload on the muscles of the quads, and gluteal muscles, along with some hamstring and core muscles.

When you incorporate a squat on the BOSU, watch out!! You have entered a whole new world! All of a sudden you have to balance, stabilize your core, and focus your mind on a whole new level.

Add a BOSU into a circuit routine and you’ve got a fun, challenging fat-burning circuit that gives you tons of benefits if you practice it regularly.

I’ve included a video of a workout you can do here that will help you burn fat using the BOSU!

Disclaimer: Remember, all our videos are for informational purposes only and we recommend using the guidance of a qualified trainer before progressing to these or any other exercises. Thanks!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

Fitness – It’s gotta be a lifestyle!

Weight loss can be a great motivator to start working out, eating right, and getting in shape.  However, if weight loss is your only motivation, it won’t work out in the long run.  Eventually, weight loss, as a goal, will become a superficial reason for working out and staying disciplined to eat healthy.  Why?  Because weight loss, on it’s own, has no purpose.  You have to have a reason why that weight loss is important to you.

I received an e-mail today from a client thanking me for helping her with her new healthy lifestyle and achieving a bodyfat percentage under 20%.  I wrote her back and asked told her that she is a success story that is sure to inspire others.  Her response was “I am not sure what happened, I guess I just got focused on working out to make me feel better.  As soon as I stopped obsessing about getting back to where I was, it just sort of
happened.”

That’s it!!

When she wrote that I knew that she had shifted her perspective and is now training as a part of her lifestyle, and not just a superficial goal.  That’s why she became a success story!  That’s also why she will continue to gain the great results of more energy, less stress, and a strong body and mind!

I’d like to thank Crystal for inspiring me to continue to help others make that lifestyle switch!

Thanks Crystal!!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest Folen, MCT

Ultimate Fat-Burning Cardio Video

I’ve gotten a lot of requests on cardio routines that burn the most fat. Our take on cardio at Fit For Life Solutions is that unless you have an extra 2 hours per day, you should skip the long, slow, boring treadmill routines and get started with some interval training.

However, if you’re just starting out, you may want to just do some easy 10, 20 or 30 minute routines to ease your system into it. As always, consult your doctor before starting any exercise program, and if you ever feel pain, stop immediately.

To make it easy Roy and I put up this video for you. It’s our ultimate fat-burning cardio workout!

Your Trainer for Life,

Forrest

4 Cornerstone Nutrition Tips for Fat Loss

Nutrition is the topic people have been asking me about the most lately. The reason for that seems to be because everyone has been really putting in the effort in their training, and they’ve realized they can’t do it without eating the right foods.

You see, gone are the days when you can lose weight by diet or exercise alone. Today you need both.

If you lose through diet alone, you’re bound to lose muscle at the same time you’re losing fat. When that happens, and you return back to your normal eating (which inevitably happens at some point), you will regain the weight… and MORE! That’s the typical yo-yo diet nightmare; not fun.
If you attempt to lose through exercise alone, but don’t eat the right proportions of nutrients at the right times of day, you’ll be cheating yourself out of the great results you could be getting if you were to only eat the right foods.

Here’s 4 nutrition tips that are crucial for you to get results for weight loss training:

1. Eat 5-6 meals per day. You may have heard this a lot, but you still tell yourself you don’t have time for between meal healthy snacks because of your busy schedule. Look… take yourself to GNC or Max Muscle or Target, pick yourself up some ready-to-drink protein shakes (the Myoplex brand is a good one), and you’ll be half way there. Then take some fruit, cheese sticks, nuts, a few cliff bars, and some wasa crackers and you’ve got some serious snack ammo.
2. Plan your meals. Have you heard the cliché, “If you fail to plan you plan to fail”? If you don’t plan you’ll end up going for what’s most convenient, and that can sometimes be a big mistake.
3. Take 3 or so hours every Sunday to do some shopping, cook/prepare some meals, and pack them in tupperware in the fridge and the freezer for the week. This tip is worth its weight in gold. Three of my favorites dishes for this are whole wheat past w/ marinara sauce, tuna w/ low fat mayo (throw in a can of corn and some hot sauce and eat w/ a whole wheat tortilla…yummmm, and baked chicken breast w/ brown rice and a garden salad.
4. Have a protein/carb shake after every exercise session, especially the intense ones, such as our bootcamp routines. This one is a must for anyone who lifts weights. Usually an insulin spike is something you don’t want, because that means fat storage. However…if the insulin spike is within about 30 minutes after an intense exercise session, and you have the liquid protein for quick digestion such as whey protein, that insulin spike works toward muscle gain which will help you burn more fat then the fire-pits of hell on the fourth of July! Yee-Haw!! A 2 to 1 carb to protein ratio is what we recommend. That means if the shake has 30 grams of carbs, usually in the form of dextrose and maltodextrin, it should have 15 grams of protein.

There you have it. These 4 nutrition tips are the cornerstone of a fat loss nutrition strategy. Print it out. Memorize it. Magnetize it to your fridge. Whatever you do, do it!

No More Excuses!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest