Random Thoughts...

....looking back at 2011 and looking ahead to 2012 a few days late.

• I do not think I have changed much from a training perspective in the past year. If I have in fact changed ways it has been by making things a bit simpler. Just establishing basic movements patterns and building on those movement patterns by going to an exercise that would be the next progression or by adding some load to that existing exercise. What I have found is that about 80% of the population could fit into the same training program with some tweaks here and there for each individual. And if more I could get more people to do more of the simple stuff on a more consistent basis I think they would all be "more better".



• I love the expression on a guy's face when he looks over at the women next to him who is doing the same exact exercise, but she is using a lot more weight than he is. Oh yeah, she's also a lot leaner than he is. I've started to see more of a shift of women realizing that it's okay to to be strong. "Strong is the new skinny".



• Excuse me for being harsh, but I have to be honest. If you can not do a particular body weight exercise, let's say pull ups for example, you are either too fat or too weak.



• If people did a better job of setting their goals they might do a better job of achieving their goals. A lot should go into your goal setting. Your goal should be measurable. Your goal should have a specific time frame. Your goal should be achievable. You should establish behavior based goals that are going to get you to your outcome based goal. And then "the goal is to keep the goal the goal". You following me?



• If you are going to rush through your warm up, you may rush your self into injury. Any good training program should have a pretty solid warm up. Some foam rolling, maybe some static stretching and then anywhere from 5-8 dynamic flexibility and mobility exercises. Ten minutes of your total workout time. Maybe 15 minutes at the most. So you can spend 10-15 minutes a couple of times per week trying to prevent injury or you can skip the warm up and bitch about your newest ache and pain and be missing sessions because you're hurt.



• Is it you can't squat or you do not want to take the time to learn how to squat properly? As a number of strength coaches have said, it's probably not the squat that is hurting you. It is the way that you squat that is hurting you. The same could be said for deadlifts.



• The most inspirational video I've seen in the past year:

• I saw a change in the past year as far as the way people have looked at advice they have been given in the past. I saw more people start to look at things that they have been told for awhile and realize what they have been told doesn't hold much truth to it. What are some of the things I'm talking about? Stuff like low fat is the way to go. Nice theory, except that since a low fat diet has been promoted as the way to go obesity rates have risen. Also, in regards to fat we've been told saturated fat is bad for us. Well, not all saturated fat is bad for us. We actually need some saturated fat in our diet. It's where the saturated fat is coming from is the problem. Hopefully people start to question more of this mainstream advice, because I think a lot of this mainstream advice has lead us to where were today...a country with an obesity rate close to 70 percent.



• I started realizing just how important getting enough sleep actually is. I've always thought I could get away with 5-6 hours of sleep a night. And I actually could get away with it. But once I started to read about sleep and how it may be the the missing link to weight loss or fat loss issues, I worked on getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Then when I talked to others that were struggling with weight loss I realized they were not getting anywhere near 7-8 hours of sleep per night on a regular basis. Then seeing studies were those who got enough sleep each night were much more successful with weight loss. For instance, those who tend to sleep less tend to have higher caloric intakes over the course of the next day. Sleep also might be the number one way to control stress. More stress equals more cortisol which equals more belly fat. Sleep is also a top five priority when it comes to recovering from your training sessions. In a nutshell, focus on getting 7-8 quality of hours of sleep per night. You can catch up on your Facebook in the morning and DVR your shows for the next day. You need to sleep more.



• One other thing I've changed is trying to stay away from plastic as much as possible. I'm not talking about swiping the old credit card. I'm talking about plastic bottles and food containers. And I'm not talking about helping the environment. I'm talking about helping your own personal environment. Drink and eat from a lot of plastic and you're going to be drinking and eating a lot of toxins. Toxins that could be dangerous to your health and toxins that are going to keep you from dropping that unwanted body fat. Stop buying cases of plastic water bottles and and go buy a filtered water system instead. Spend a few extra bucks on some glass food containers rather than the plastic ones that are being passed from one party to the next. Stop microwaving your food in plastic containers if it is in a plastic container. Microwave your food in a glass dish or bowl instead. Now is using plastic less the only answer to your health and body fat issues? Of course. not. But it may be one of the issues that you can actually do something about.

Here's a late toast to a Happy and Healthy 2012!! Cheers!!