All of the current research shows incredible and life-changing results can come from only 30-minutes of movement per day.

Imagine how much more you’d get out of increasing that with healthy eating and an even more active lifestyle!

Take 9-minutes and nineteen seconds to watch this entertaining and informative video from Doctor Mike Evans, then ask yourself if you can limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23.5 hours a day?

I’ve set up a donation page, started growing my mustache (see a picture on the donation page) AND am offering 8 by-donation classes for all of the Vancouverites who wish to learn any or all of the following things:

The world’s leading expert on spine health, Dr. Stuart McGill from the University of Waterloo, explains the latest results in spinal-health research and what to do to keep your back healthy for life.

This may be one of the most valuable four minutes and ten seconds you ever spend!

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”

I was thinking about this during my workout this morning. Our Strength In Numbers studio is next door to a physiotherapy office that specializes in rehab for people with serious neurological and physical disabilities. Every day as I work and train, I see their patients being dropped off by Handy Dart bus or a family member. I also get to see them tentatively walking by our window, assisted by a physio, learning how to walk again. The fact they come week by week and month by month, fighting to restore their lost mobility is a huge inspiration to me and our clients at the gym. In fact, I think it makes us all work a little harder knowing we have a greater ability to do so!

The other day, I had the pleasure of chatting to one of their clients, a woman who is recovering from a severe stroke. She was told she would never walk again, but said she told them there was no way that was gonna happen! It did not, as when I met her she was already walking to her physio appointments. Our conversation ended with her telling me she plans to come to one of our classes sometime in the future : ) That made my day!

So remember, if you are ever feeling down about your lot in life, there is someone out there who is in a lot worse shape, and despite the odds, fighting to make things better for themselves.

Now get out there and do something to improve YOUR life!

The reason is always the same; starting a workout program after years or even months of inactivity invariably results in some serious and very unfamiliar discomfort and often a little pain. When the most effort you exert is the occasional run for the bus or that hike you were fooled into taking, the mind equates exercise with a phenomenal effort and the resulting pain & struggle. I believe part of the the key for breaking this barrier is understanding the exact reason why your muscles burn and how, with a little bit of stick-to-it-ness, you can get past it and on to a higher quality of life, and maybe even a much longer one!

The ‘burn’ you feel in your muscles during exercise, especially at the very start, and any time the intensity is raised (eg going up a hill) is caused by the acidity from the accumulation of Lactic Acid. You see, during these periods of your workout, the body’s supply of oxygen outstrips the demand and there is not enough of it to be converted into energy. The Lactic Acid is an essential product of the chemical process within your muscles that provides energy in the absence of oxygen. The excess Lactic Acid is cleared from your muscles within seconds of stopping the exercise, or when you reach a steady state again (eg flat section of the road).

The great part is, the more you exercise and the fitter you get, the better your body gets at buffering the Lactic Acid and thus the pain lasts for less time. Of course, you will also eventually end up working out harder and having the same level of burn (with increased performance!) but you’ll understand what it is by then, and knowing it goes away quickly, push through to new levels of fitness!

Stay tuned, my next post will explain why your muscles hurt one or two days AFTER exercise and what you can do to ease the soreness and keep getting fitter and stronger!

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/21/7-steps-to-live-to-100

Since she joined the challenge in the first week of February, she has lost 6lbs of body-fat and is well on her way to her 10lb goal. She has been losing approximately one pound per week since we started and has also gained 1.5lbs of muscle. All of this happened with just simple lifestyle changes (taking the stairs and walking more) and healthy-eating (cut out most starchy carbs and sugars). Her regular kettlebell workouts started only last week, so I am expecting the rest to come off in about half the time. By the end of the 12-weeks she will definitely have surpassed her original goal!

I am very proud of her and will keep you all updated on her continued success : )

Welcome to week 7 of Steve’s Fat-Loss Challenge. Next week is when we do the final weigh-ins, so get ready for the fat-loss to top 50lbs total!

This week, I want to share a success story that’s close to my heart, let you hear from someone else who is also seeing great results, and answer some reader questions, including a cool video about the real-life application of the “all-over-strength” that kettlebell training provides.

First of all, there’s once client who’s success I value just a little bit higher… my Mom!

Since she joined the challenge in the first week of February, she has lost 6lbs of body-fat and is well on her way to her 10lb goal. She has been losing approximately one pound per week since we started and has also gained 1.5lbs of muscle. All of this happened with just simple lifestyle changes (taking the stairs and walking more) and healthy-eating (cut out most starchy carbs and sugars). Her regular kettlebell workouts started only last week, so I am expecting the rest to come off in about half the time. By the end of the 8-weeks she will definitely have surpassed her original goal!

I am very proud of her and will keep you all updated on her continued success : )

Next we have my 9am class client, Jules…

Here’s what she had to say in response to my last Fat-Loss Challenge email.

“Steve is correct – all of his advice and his irreverent yet motivating teaching style have already resulted in 6.5 pounds of weight loss and 1% decrease in body fat! And that’s just me! My husband has lost a few pounds himself, and 2% of body fat.

Being a social person, I couldn’t do it on my own. My husband and I have taken on the challenge together and combined with Steve’s classes three times a week, we are well on our way to meeting our fitness goals. At first I didn’t think we could work it around our schedule, but once you make it a priority, it’s amazing how you can fit it in.

Steve, thanks for “keeping it real” and helping us get fitter than we’ve been in decades!”

Find a partner to keep you motivated and consistent…

Jules and her husband, Rick have been both cleaning up their eating habits AND consistently attending my class 3 times per week, with the results speaking for themselves. If you are having a hard time keeping up a healthy eating plan and consistent exercise schedule, do what they did and find a workout partner to keep you honest!

Reader Q & A

Last week I promised to answer some questions I have received since starting the Fat-Loss Challenge in February. I’m going to answer some training-related questions as well, since the two go hand-in-hand.

Steve, what kind of results does full-body functional strength training produce, compared to the machine circuit I am currently doing at the gym?

Simply put, next time you go through the mostly-seated machine circuit, try to think of a real-life application that exactly mimics the movement you are doing while sitting in the machine. Having a hard time? Of course you are! We hardly ever lift and move things from a seated postion, nor do we lift and move things with only one muscle and/or joint. For the most part, machines were designed to make it cheaper for gyms to operate as it takes a lot of staff on hand to ensure all members are performing free-weight movements safely. Also, the repetitive strain caused by the same plane of movement over and over again (think factory-worker) takes a long time to manifest itself in an injury, whereas dropping a dumbell on your foot in an improperly supervised gym setting provides ammo for an instant lawsuit : )

Below, I have posted links to two videos to illustrate a realistic application of the Turkish Getup. This is a functional full-body move where you take a weight from a lying position to standing. The first video shows the actual exercise and the second, starring yours truly, shows a possible real-life application. An application particularly suited to those of us living in an earthquake zone!

In relation to fat-loss, full-body training burns way more calories!!! When you get off the machine and have to use your body to support the movement, it is obviously much more difficult and recruits many more muscles. More difficult + more effort + more attention paid to the lift = more energy expended. It is that simple!

Eugene Sandow built this lean and powerful physique with a clean diet & regular exercise, before they had even invented fat-burning pills and weight-training supplements!

Steve, I have a friend who starts on a course of fat-burning pills around April and by the beginning of June she is super-lean. She does not work out a lot the rest of the year but boy does she look good for the summer!

Having worked at a big gym for 5-years, I have a lot of experience with people on these fat-burners. Do they work? Of course they do! Anything that so drastically ramps up your metabolism, when combined with exercise, will speed up the results.

Eugene Sandow built this lean and powerful physique with a clean diet & regular exercise, before they had even invented fat-burning pills and weight-training supplements!

Speed being the operative word as you will feel like you just took some…

If the below side-effects do not trouble you and you wish to take an obviously health-defying shortcut, the choice is yours. For a life-long lasting trim and fit body, the moderate and healthy fat-loss option of consistent and healthy eating / exercise will work much better, and avoid these nasty possibilities:

• anxiety or nervousness
• irritability
• insomnia / restlessness
• hyperactivity
• high blood pressure
• tightness in the chest
• heart palpitations
• heart attack
• stroke
• congestive heart failure
• digestive tract problems
• vomiting, diarrhea,
• constipation
• stomach pain
• fever
• dry mouth
• headaches
• dizziness
• blurred vision
• profuse sweating
• hair loss
• menstrual cycle and sex drive disturbances
• urinary tract problems

That’s all for this week.

I wish all of you continued success in your quest for a summer-ready body that lasts all year!

For those of you in Vancouver who want some further help and motivation, click here for a listing of all my training options : )

Here we are at the 3/4 point of the 8-Week Challenge and we have an awesome total of 43lbs lost so far! Way to go, people!

Sorry there was no email last week! I tweaked my back and have been limiting my sitting-at-the-computer time to short-duration tasks only.

Now the pull in my lower-back has almost totally healed and it is time to get back at helping you to lose fat!

A crucial point…

We have now reached a crucial point in the 8-Week Challenge. This is the time when we may start to rest on our laurels and decide we can backslide a bit on the eating and exercise plans. In fact, this is the time when we should double our efforts and ensure we DO NOT give in to temptation, saying this is “good enough” and “I’ll relax now and lose the rest later”. Remember, we committed to a full 8-weeks at the start of this journey to increased-energy and a better-looking body!

2-months is the key…

The three-month period is a very important one as studies have shown it takes 8-12 weeks to form a new habit. Of course, 8-weeks will not magically change the course of your entire life as that takes continued dedication. The kind of dedication you get from getting clear about your reasons for change, like when you made your two lists in Week 1! Now might be a good time to review those lists and get re-invigorated!!!

A roadblock may come up…

For those of you who may be getting back into regular exercise for the first time in a number of years, there may be another problem… You may get injured! Now, if you exercise with a focus first and foremost on proper form, this is much less likely to happen. Of course, proper form must be learned first and so I would recommend you see a Personal Trainer to make sure you are doing everything right. Those 3 or 4 sessions will be worth their weight in gold as you safely progress to better and better results using safe and effective technique. Online videos teaching proper form are helpful but there is no comparison to having a professional correct your form!

Hurting my back last week gave me the opportunity to practice what I preach and not just stop working out but look for other things I could do to stay active and continue to work towards my goals. My current goal is to pass the RKC Snatch Test at my March 25th recertification. I have to be able to snatch a 53lb kettlebell overhead 100 times in 5-minutes, as well as perform all of the required kettlebell movements flawlessly in a number of tough workouts over a 10-hour day. Taking 7-days off training was just not in the cards for me. What could I do? I was unable to do any ballistic exercises like Swings and Snatches as my back was too sore and would be re-aggravated. Well, with my knowledge as a Trainer, I figured I could still work the non-ballistic lifting patterns with very light weights and get my hard-cardio sprints in on the exercise bike. The sprints are very important as my respiratory system must be used to the lung-burning effort of the 5-minute Snatch test.

On the importance of “active-recovery”…

Continuing the other lifts with light weights allowed me to engage in “active-recovery”, getting much needed blood flow to the pulled muscles, thus speeding healing. I also worked out the trigger spots in my back-muscles with some self-massage, using a softball against the wall. The result was that my back was ready to resume heavier training within 6-days and my respiratory system is even more ready for the demands of the Snatch Test.

All in the mind…

I also managed to keep up a positive mental outlook as was still able to make progress despite my injury. This was the most important part, as the mind, once on a negative path will tend to stay there, hampering any further progress. Before you know it, you wake up and are back where you started!

I cannot stress enough the importance of finding ways to continue towards your goals, even when you are faced with a setback of some sort. Unless you are really badly injured, there are a myriad of ways you can shift your focus and continue on. As long as your “diversion plan” does not negatively affect the healing process, it will instead serve to keep you on track and mentally still in the game!

If your mind is not in it, there is NO WAY you will reach your goals. That is the simple fact of the matter…

Over the past 6-weeks, I have provided you with Motivational, Eating and Exercise tools, which when implemented will guarantee you fat-loss. For the next 6-weeks, we are going to work on honing these tools to get EVEN BETTER results!

Time to rest the back. I’ll talk to you next week!

PS: Next week I’ll be posting answers to some of the many fat-loss and exercise questions I have received.

–
Steve McMinn, RKC / CK-FMS – Trainer
778 898 4649
steve@fit4real.ca
www.fit4real.ca