You hear it all the time on the TV, Radio, from Doctors, around the coffee machine and throughout your daily life: Get physical activity in your life. But what exactly is physical activity and how much should you really get?

In science, physical activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure. In real life, physical activity is basically anything that you break a sweat doing. Really anything. Do you work when you vacuum the house? That is physical activity. Do you work when you chase your grand kids? That is physical activity. Do you work when you go shopping and have to walk around the entire mall? That is physical activity.

What is NOT physical activity? Watching hours of TV. Sitting in front of a computer (reading killer articles on Ninteman Fitness is OK for now). Doing nothing is not physical activity. Physical activity doesn’t have to be hard to do. Just make sure what you are doing is hard. Park farther at the mall. Do lunges when vacuuming. Race the kids around an obstacle course around the house. Do jumping jack during commercials through your favorite TV show. Walk up and down your stairs at your house. Find a step and do 20 min of stepping up and down your step. When you look around, you can really find ways to get in your 30 min a day 5 days a week of physical activity each week. It shouldn’t be a chore. Find things you are doing already and amp them up to get in your activity. Your health will thank you in the long run.

There are times in my life as a fitness professional where I come across someone who is so inspiring, talking to them gives me goosebumps. I had one of those conversation today.

I am taking a therapy class on how to work people back from injuries. I had a gentleman very close to the same age as me (mid 20s). He was in a car accident in his teen years and was the only one who survived out of the entire 5 people in the car. Even though he was alive, he was in really bad shape. Years later, he is making great strides in improvement and went from having no mobility through his entire body, to having complete movement in his entire body, except his lower legs.

I had a great conversation with him today on CAN’T vs. WON’T and how they are used in the English language. CAN’T is a shorten version of CANNOT. If anyone should say this word, it is the gentleman I am working with. However you will not find it in his vocabulary. WON’T is a shorten version of WILL NOT. Again, a word my client does not use.

However, too many people use the word “can’t” and “won’t” that should not use it. First, no one should use the word can’t. If a guy who physically CAN’T walk without help doesn’t use it, neither should you. In no way, shape or form.

Second, you CAN do anything if you are willing. Most people that say “can’t” really mean “won’t”. “I can’t run for 20 minutes on the treadmill”. YES YOU CAN! You just are not willing to. You will not. You won’t. You can do anything you put your mind you. You hear that over and over again. Don’t be afraid to fail. Try Try and TRY AGAIN! Remove Won’t and Can’t out of  your vocabulary. Try and Do. Those should be the words you use. If you try and do not succeed, at least you tried. Saying you can’t do something is a cop out in my mind.

Today’s post is by Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS. Craig owns a great fat loss product called Turbulence Training. Regular readers know how much I am against information product because in today’s day and age, everyone is an expert. Well, Craig is an expert. He holds a masters degree, high level certifications and writes for some of the most prestigious magazines on the markets. He stuff is legit and I highly recommend you heading over to Turbulence Training and check out his product. You will not be disappointed.

Why Cardio Doesn’t Work for Fat Loss

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work
so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has
tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn’t add up.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.

British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That’s a lot of
exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great – I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out…

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They
classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators”
and the “Non-compensators”.

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does,
research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your
appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for
your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program
of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research,
interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And
increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-
burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of
cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity
exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
About the Author

Learn about the “Dark Side of Cardio” in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at www.TurbulenceTraining.com. Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

One of the easiest, fastest, best workout you can get is at your home using your own body. Body weight workouts are a great way to get in shape. They are quick and easy and need no equipment. Here is a quick workout you can go that will give you great results.

WIth this workout, do about 10 reps of each exercise, moving right on into the next exercise as a super set. Once you finish all 5 exercises, rest for about 2 minutes then do it again. Depending on your fitness level, try to get 3-5 rounds of the super sets done for a workout.

Exercise 1: Tuck Jumps

To do this exercise, Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and  your knees slightly bent. Jump straight up in the air as high as high as you can and bring your knees toward your chest. Land on the balls of your feet with your knees slightly bent and quickly go into your next jump. Again, do about 10 of these then jump to the next exercise.

Exercise 2: Squat Jump

Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart and your finger laced behind your head. Bend at the knees to lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the floor, ten jump up as high as you can. Sink directly into the next squat without stopping. Do 10 reps.

Exercise 3: Power Skip

This is similar to your traditional skip, but you are generating more power and you are not moving. Propel yourself up as high as you can  with each skip by driving your knee up into the air. As you punch each knee up, swing your opposite hand upward t get as much vertical lift as possible.

Exercise 4: ZigZag Bound

Think about lengthening your stride as much as possible. Drive one leg into the ground to push of forcefully and lift your opposite knee high in the air as you surge forward. Propel youself upward, forward and slightly laterally o that you bound forward and to the outside.

Exercise 5: Stick Landing

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, hands beside your thighs. Jump and land with your knees bent and your butt and hips back. Try to land on the front two thirds of your feet, with your heels just off the ground. Hold for 2 seconds before standing to perform your next lunge.

Again, perform all the sets a few times and you have a great workout.

Fitness is like any other industry. It is effected by trends and fads. One of the most recent trends coming about are bootcamps. Similar to the boot camp that military would go through, these workout consist of most body weight, or lightweight workouts, done at a park or beach or something similar and usually have quite a few people participating in the activity.

Boot camps are a great way to get in shape. They are not only fun, but you get to meet new people and that helps to hold you accountable to show up everytime. They usually are not cheap, so paying that much money is also quite a motivator to get you out the door and workout (although that is not the case for all people).

But I do have some words of warning when looking for boot camps in your area: Make sure the person who is running the boot camp knows what the hell they are doing!

It is really easy now for someone to go spend $97.95 and get a “certification” to run a boot camp. Worse yet, are those people who are trying to run boot camps with no education, certification or training! Not only are those people ripping people off, but they could potentially hurt one of their “clients”!

If you are thinking about joining a boot camp, ask the instructor about their background. Do they have a degree? Do they have any certifications? How long have they been doing boot camp style workouts? How many clients do they currently have? All these things will show you if this person is worth giving your money to and getting your money worth back out of it.

Remember: YOU are the client. YOU are the one paying. It should be YOU getting the best experience of your life. Anything less is a waste of your money, and a waste of your time. If you are not happy with the trainer or instructor, there are literally hundreds in your area probably.

If you would like more questions to ask a trainer, or would like to see what answers to your questions would suffice in my opinion, or for recommendations on bootcamps in your area, as always, my email is always open for you to drop me a line: Zach (at) nintemanfitness.com.

There is so much conflicting information out there when it comes to the topic of building muscle, and sometimes it can be very difficult to know where to start. If you’re beginner looking for some basic guidelines to follow in the gym, the following 8 points will start you off on the right track.

1) Train With Weights and Focus On Compound, Free Weight Movements.

If you want to make solid, noteworthy gains in muscle size and strength, you should train with free weights and focus on basic, compound exercises. A compound exercise is any lift that stimulates more than one muscle group at a time. Examples of these lifts are the squat, deadlift, bench press, chin up, barbell row, overhead press, dip and lunges. Compound movements allow you to handle the most weight and will stimulate the greatest amount of total muscle fibers. Plus, these exercise focus on big muscle groups, which helps you build a significant base.

2) Be Prepared To Train Hard.

One of the biggest factors that separates those who make modest gains from those who make serious gains is their level of training intensity. In order to stimulate your muscle fibers to their utmost potential, you must be willing to take every set you perform in the gym to the point of muscular failure.

Muscular Failure: The point at which no further repetitions can be completed using proper form.

Sub-maximal training intensity will leave you with sub-maximal results, plain and simple. If you want look hard, you need to train hard.

3) Track Your Progress In The Gym From Week To Week.

Our bodies build muscle because of an adaptive response to the environment. When you go to the gym, you break down your muscle fibers by training with weights. Your body senses this as a potential threat to its survival and will react accordingly by rebuilding the damaged fibers larger and stronger in order to protect against any possible future threat. Therefore, in order to make continual gains in muscle size and strength, you must always focus on progressing in the gym from week to week. This could mean performing 1 or 2 more reps for each exercise or adding more weight to the bar. Keep a detailed training log to track your progress as your strength increases over time.

4) Avoid Over training.

Over training is your number one enemy when it comes to building muscle size and strength. When most people begin a workout program, they are stuck with the misguided notion that more is better. They naturally assume that the more time they spend in the gym, the better results they will achieve. When it comes to building muscle, nothing could be farther from the truth! If you spend too much time in the gym, you will actually take yourself farther away from your goals rather than closer to them. Remember, your muscles do not grow in the gym; they grow out of the gym, while you are resting and eating. Recovery is absolutely vital to the muscle growth process. If you don’t provide your body with the proper recovery time in between workouts, your muscles will never have a chance to grow.

5) Eat More Frequently.

The main area where most people fail miserably on their muscle-building mission is on the all-too important task of proper nutrition. Training with weights is only half of the equation! You break down your muscle fibers in the gym, but if you don’t provide your body with the proper nutrients at the proper times, the muscle growth process will be next to impossible. You should be eating anywhere from 5-7 meals per day, spaced every 2-3 hours in order to keep your body in an anabolic, muscle-building state at all times. Each meal should consist of high quality protein and complex carbohydrates.

6) Increase Your Protein Intake.

Of the 3 major nutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats) protein is without a doubt the most important for those who are looking to gain muscle size and strength. Protein is found in literally every single one of the 30 trillion cells that your body is made up of and its main role is to build and repair body tissues. Without sufficient protein intake, it will be physically impossible for your body to synthesize a significant amount of lean muscle mass. If your body were a house, think of protein as the bricks. A general guideline is to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day from high quality sources such as fish, poultry, eggs, beef, milk, peanut butter and cottage cheese.

7) Increase Your Water Intake.

If you want a simple, easy and highly effective way to maximize your muscle gains, drinking more water is it. Water plays so many vital roles in the body and its importance cannot be overstated. In fact, your muscles alone are made up of 70% water! Not only will drinking more water cause your muscles to appear fuller and more vascular, but it will also increase your strength as well. Research has shown that merely a 3-4% drop in your body’s water levels can impact muscle contractions by 10-20%! Aim to consume 0.6 ounces for every pound of body weight each day for optimal gains.

Be Consistent!

Consistency is everything. Those who make the greatest gains in muscular size and strength are the ones who are able to implement the proper techniques on a highly consistent basis. Simply knowing is not enough, you must apply!

Building muscle is a result of the cumulative effect of small steps. Sure, performing 1 extra rep on your bench press will not make a huge difference to your overall results, and neither will consuming a single meal. However, over the long haul, all of those extra reps you perform and all of those small meals you consume will decide your overall success. If you work hard and complete all of your muscle-building tasks in a consistent fashion, all of those individual steps will equate to massive gains in overall size and strength.

Recently, I had the chance to chat with a group of people about their experience at big box gyms. Here are some of the opinions picked out of the conversation:

“Commercial” gyms, such as 24 hour fitness, can be an overwhelming place to try to get in shape. If you are just getting into working out, it can be intimidating. You have girls wearing too little of clothing while working out on a bike going 1 MPH while reading the latest version of Cosmo, or you have the meat head group of guys who think they are the next Mr. Universe, grunting and sweating their way through a workout that really is not making much of an impact. You walk in, see these situations, and get discourage. So you go take the farthest elliptical machine and start getting cardio, until you see a leg machine open up, then you jump on that doing light weights that don’t really benefit you. If this is you, don’t waste your time or money on your GYM PASS!

The commercial gym setting,  is not for everyone. There are some people that benefit from having people stare at them, but there are some that are truly throwing away 20, 30, 50+ dollars a month. I am here to tell you that you DO NOT NEED A GYM! You can get great workouts around your home doing simple things around your house. No big box gym needed!

There are more than enough ways to get great workouts at home. There are body weight workout plans you can do, tools such as the TRX and if you are savvy, you can find anything around your house to get a great workout in.

After talking with this small group, I realized that many people would be interested in a workout program they can do at their own home. If this is something that you would be interested in, email me at info@nintemanfitness.com and tell me

• why you prefer working out at home vs. the gym,
• how many times per week  you can dedicate to working out and the length of time and
• name, age, goals you want to achieve.

If I get enough emails (actually, if one person wants it I will do this!) I will create a newsletter that will delivered to your inbox that will have workouts you can do, at home, no (or little) equipment, and NO DISTRACTIONS! Of course, this newsletter would be free of charge, so  you really have nothing to lose. Drop me a line and let me know what you want!

To Your Health,

~Z

So you want to get in shape, huh? Want to start living healthier? Here are a few things you can do to start living a better life NOW!

1. Take a walk-Enjoy nature!
2. ride a bike-ENJOY NATURE!
3. Walk your dog-Enjoy nature and your best friend!
4. Eat Breakfast-The don’t call it the most important meal of the day for nothing.
5. Drink Water-It does more than you thinks.
6. Take a multivitamin-Fill in the holes that your diet leaves.
7. Hug someone you love-Nothing is better than hugging someone close.
8. Hug someone you don’t love-Never underestimate the power of a hug.
9. Eat fruit-5 a day keeps the doctor away. Fruit is a great snack throughout the day.
10. Spend 30 min outside everyday. Rain or Shine (Ever danced the salsa in the rain? Give it a shot!)
11. Take some quiet time for yourself-Some call it meditation. Others call it relaxation. Whatever you call it, it clears the mind and is a valuable part of health.
12. Sleep-Sleep refreshes your body.
13. Don’t oversleep-You need just enough sleep to refresh yourself. Too much sleep and you will become over tired.
14. Breathe-take a few minutes every day and focus on your breathing. Concentrate on the breath in, and the breath out. This will remove any stress at the moment you are having. Just breath.
15. meditate-Or relax. Do whatever you call it to have some time for YOU!
16. read-Flex those intellectual muscles!
17. Turn OFF the tv-It is a waste of time. Most channels offer condensed versions online. Why do you need to sit for an hour doing nothing?
18. Smile-It keeps you in a positive mindset, which is critical for having a happy health life.
19. Call your family-Mom, dad, brother, sister, friend that is like a brother-Call to check is a great way to relieve stress.
20. Stay positive-See Smiling. Thinking positive is one of the most critical parts to living a happy, stress free life. It is all mental.
21. Drink Less Alcohol-Alcohol in moderation is not a bad thing. But too much, even just a bit too much-throws you over the edge.
22. Be grateful for the day-You are alive. You are working on your health. You have things you appreciate in your life. Be grateful for those things. Say it out loud-”I am grateful for….”
23. Eat less-Simple and effective. Moderation in everything and everything in moderation.
24. Eat Green Leafy veggies-Salads are a great source of fiber, calcium and iron-essentials for a health body, especially for women.
25. Quit smoking-HUGE! If you smoke, you are hindering yourself from getting healthy. If you need help, get it. Quiting smoke (although I know easier said then done) is a huge way to instantly increase your health.
26. BONUS!: Enjoy life. It is a gift.

If you are like most Americans, you walk into your gym to get some good cardio work in and are met with too many choices of machines. Treadmills, elliptical, bikes, recumbent bikes row machines, it is hard to choose. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will have a better sense  of what the best machine for you is. Now, although choice is a good thing because it can vary your program, the more choice the more confusions.

Now, every exercise machine will build fitness, but not all exercise machines are created equal. Treadmill running burns plenty of calories, but may be unacceptable if you have knee problems. Stationary bikes and stair climbers are easier on the joints, but are too boring and take too much muscle power. The best cardio machine burns plenty of calories, but is also easy on the joints.

As far as burning calories and fat, running on treadmills is the best, stationary cycle are the next best, and walking n a treadmill is the next best. The reason treadmill running is the best cardio is that during running there is a period when both feet leave the ground. This takes a lot of energy and force to go airborne, even if you are running slowly. You maintain contact with the exercise machine at all times when walking or working on a cycle.

As far as joint health, good cardio machines promote a stress free environment on the joints. If you have kneecap pain or knee joint pain, you are going to want to avoid machines that cause high joint tension, such as cycling or stair climbing. Treadmill climbing may cause ankle, knee, hip or back pain. The elliptical machines in by far the bet in joint integrity as it uses a smooth motions and does not put stress on the joints.

So if you are free of joint pain, the best cardio you can do is running on the treadmill. If you have, or develop joint pain, give the elliptical machine a try.

No matter what cardio machine you use, the only way a good cardio routine will work is if YOU work hard. Don’t plague your workout by getting lost in your music or reading a magazine. Put in the work and time and the results will follow.

Have you hit a plateau on you workouts? Here are 5 tips that you can do to get back on track and jump start results again:

1. Move quickly from upper to lower body-By switching from upper to lower body, you crank up your caloric burn exponentially. Try this: Move from biceps curls to squats. It can raise your heart rate by forcing blood to shunt from your arms to your legs. Try to work this into your routine once a week to get great results.
2. Lower your weight-Get every single fiber firing when you lift. When you lift, start with a heavier weight and do 10 reps. Switch to a little lighter of a weight to ensure that you can complete the next 10 reps. Then go even lighter on the third set again to ensure you can complete all the reps. Do this once a month, as you can feel VERY sore after you complete this workout.
3. Work two muscle groups at once-Save time and burn more calories with a series of several muscle groups together. Try adding triceps presses to squats or front shoulder raises to lunges. This technique isn’t highly fatiguing, so try it once a week.
4. Balance on one leg-Using one foot instead of two during strength moves will recruit the muscles in your core, helping you sculpt flat, sexy abs. Stand on one leg from everything from shoulder presses to squats. Because you are using only one leg, you will have to use a lighter weight in order to complete the exercise.
5. Team up on one muscle-zap your most persnickety parts into shape by doing back to back exercise for the same muscle groups. For example, blast your lefts with a squat, followed by a lunge. To attack your abs, do bicycles followed by reverse crunches. This pushes your muscles to total exhaustion, so don’t try it more than twice a month.