Someone recently asked me what the most important part of hiring a personal trainer was.  Of course I had my knee-jerk responses like "A Personal Trainer will hold you more accountable than you ever will hold yourself."  Among other things.  But, for some reason my standard answers didn't seem sufficient and the question haunted me, now for several days.  And then just this morning a quote that my dad used to keep on the fridge when I was a kid POPPED into my head for some reason, and it all came together for me.

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."  Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

So I thought about that quote for a few moments...  So here is why this applies to what getting a GOOD personal trainer will not only help you lose weight but will help you change your life.

We, humans, are lazy by nature.  We are designed to seek out the easiest ways to do things and to do them in the least time possible.  That is the curse and benefit of our big brain.  It is by this fact that we make every decision in our life.  You can either microwave those potatoes or you can triple the time to cook them in the oven.  Unless you are a food snob you probably use the microwave, and why not?  It tastes pretty good still and is so much faster, and requires much less of your valuable time.

Fitness has those same issues, except the fitness microwave SUCKS!  Those fitness gimmicks on TV almost never work, and if they do work they still don't work for you because they still can't force you to work your hardest or to never skip a workout, or follow you diet either.

So to be explicitly clear, here is what a Personal Trainer will do for you that you will never do on your own.

• A Personal Trainer will beat you down into a pile of pulp laying in a puddle on the floor wishing someone would scoop you up with a shovel, poor you into your car and drive you home.
• A Personal Trainer will force you to see the difference between what you are capable of and what you THINK that you are capable.
• A Personal Training will force you to own your choices and own your results.  You decide to go out for drinks this weekend, your choice will cost you your entire weeks results!  Own it!
• A Personal Trainer will give you more confidence then you were ever aware that you were capable of having because it will be DRILLED into you that you are your own best friend and worst enemy until they no longer need to speak to you about it.
• A Personal Trainer will stretch your mind to new dimensions concerning who you are and what you are capable of.  You will never be able to make ignorant decisions again, because you will forever be aware, and you will own it forever!

Due to the success of our weight loss program we have expanded our hours to help those early morning people.  If you have been on the fence about getting your FREE 30 DAY WEIGHT LOSS program then now is the time.  Just follow the link ------> HERE!

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With guys we call it the spare tire, with gals we call it the muffin top, and it is not only unsightly but it is deadly.

This is not necessarily new information but new studies are coming in that are clarifying the issues with abdominal fat even further.  Here is what you need to know when looking at your belly!

• You do not need to gain weight to have increased abdominal fat.  If pants that used to fit you no longer fit then it may be time to get out the measuring tape and see exactly how much damage has been done!  "Even if you haven't had a noticeable weight gain, if you notice your waist size increasing that's an important sign," said lead author Eric Jacobs of the American Cancer Society, which funded the study. "It's time to eat better and start exercising more."
• A BMI can lead you down the wrong path.  BMI can be extremely inaccurate when it comes to abdominal fat.  The ratios are all wrong when it comes to a healthy waist line.  I, for example, have about 9% body fat but come out clinically obese and HIGH RISK on a BMI test.  I would have to get an exception just to be let into the military!!!  So use other more accurate tools to calculate your body health.
• It is never too late.  The longer your body fat(ab fat) stays high the more damage is done, BUT you can significantly reduce risk factors by decreasing your waist line.  So get to it.
• 70% of women in the US have waist lines larger then is healthy!
• 50% of men in the US have waist lines larger then is healthy!
• The average adult waist line has grown by an inch per decade since 1960.
• An extra 4 inches above normal increases your risk of death by 15-25%, and that number then includes the top 25% of people considered healthy under BMI standards...

Here is the science.  Fat stored inside your abdominal wall appears to have a far greater impact on your health than fat stored just under your skin.  Certain foods like saturated fat and alcohol seem to store more often as body fat under the abdominal wall then simply eating too many calories.  The studies do not yet consider causation, so "WHY" you are fatter underneath your muscles has not yet been addressed, it is simply that if you are then you are at risk.  Men with waists (measurements made at the largest part of the waist) enter the "HIGH RISK" category as did women with the same measurement at 35 inches.

The truth is that we all know what carrying extra fat can do.  These studies are simply adding more information and hopefully motivation to the pool.  Also, note that weight was not a major factor in this study.  Some people may weigh more because of other factors, like height or muscle, and still maintain a healthy waistline while others may appear to be a healthy weight but too much of the body fat is being stored under the abdominal wall...  Time to get out the measuring tape!

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More great info for weight loss!  Make sure that you share this info, DIGG it, Facebook post it, tweet it, Stumble it, book mark it or email, but this is info that everyone needs to know for effective weight loss.

All exercises are not created equally when it comes to their effectiveness for weight loss and fat loss.  These exercises are selected because of the 2 main factors that lead to fat loss from weight training.  First, they each burn maximal calories while you do them.  Second, each exercise has a strong post exercise caloric burn commonly referred to as after-burn.  And the best part is that if you have even a nominal weight set at home you won't need a gym to do them, so there is no excuse for skipping a quick workout every other day!

1. Weighted Squats.  Squats are one of my favorite (least favorite depending on your perspective...) because the incorporate SO much of your body.  Your primary movers are your quads, hamstrings and glutes, but a weighted squat will also involve your entire core complex.  So not only will your biggest muscles all be working together and burning an awesome amount of energy you will engage those hard to reach muscles in the ab, lower back, ribs, spinal extensors and hip flexors.  Put all of this together and you have a ton of calories burned.  A weighted squat is different from a body weight squat because you squat your body weight all day long so more of the same will not send a strong signal for change, while a weighted squat will challenge you more and ask your body to improve more aggressively.  This signal for change is what stimulates the after burn effect so that you can burn extra calories for up to 48 hours after you are done exercising!  So toughen-up and add some weight to your squats!
2. Bent-over Row.  These incorporate all of the pulling muscles in the upper body like the Lats, Biceps, Posterior Delts, Rhoimboids and Traps, but also gets your legs, lower back, spinal extensors and whole core involved.  Again, massive calories burned by incorporating so many muscles in the movement.  Make sure that you use a heavy enough weight to maximize your after burn because I see people all the time who are lifting 5 pound weights and they are LITERALLY wasting their time.  Very few calories will be burned and absolutely no after burn!
3. Push-ups.  Push-ups are great for the same reasons.  All of your pushing muscles like your pecs, Anterior delts, Triceps ect have to be working had to get you up, but keeping your body rigid during the movement will require all of those peripheral muscles in your core, legs, back extensors, even up to your neck, to be involved!  More muscles used means more calories burned.  Also, it take quite a while before you can do more push-ups than are effective.  If you can rep out more than 20 full push-ups in a row then it is time to get into the weights, but short of that as long as you are going to muscle fatigue/failure then you are still burning tons of calories doing the exercise and still getting a good after burn effect.

The key to all of these exercises is pushing yourself hard enough!  You need to get to that point where you simply cannot do another repetition with good form to get the full effect of these exercises.  Now you have a quick at home workout that can really make a difference unless you are at a pretty high fitness level.  If you are concerned about form and technique then make sure that you get a trainer to help you.  Most trainers will work with you on this sort of thing for free so don't be shy!

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Let me tell you how impressed and interested I am in the new information on the psychology behind weight loss!  This is great stuff and make sure that you share it with others, DIGG it, Tweet it, Stumble it, Post it or email because this is powerful stuff that everyone needs to know.

Next, before you read this that you must know that I am certainly no psychologist or psychiatrist so I am simply filtering and restating what I have been learning.  If you want to read one of the original articles just click on the picture of the brain above.

So here is the deal.  Our traditional sense of guilt for not accomplishing our goals, or not meeting our own expectations appear to have DIRE consequences.  For example, when we fail to get into those skinny jeans by our target date!

Here is a list of the worst culprits according to clinical Psychologists, Dr. Nando Pelusi and Dr. Mitchell Robin:

• I must be thin
• I must eat until sated (full)
• I need immediate results
• I need comfort
• I feel awful
• It is intolerable to stick to a diet
• I am no good

It comes down to motivation and creating the habit of success.  For example when someone wants to climb Mount Everest they do not make that their first climb ever, they go through a process of learning how to climb and improving their skills before they attempt that final goal.

Here are the ways that 5 experts tell us to approach this process.

• Lose the all or nothing attitude.  We all know that an hour is better at the gym than 20 minutes, and that getting to the gym is better than doing that video at home, BUT do what you can at first and get into the habit before you try to go all out.
• "Aerobics is no longer the panacea for losing weight. It's the change in body composition that makes you look better, and for that, strength training is more effective. Don't constantly weigh yourself, since muscle weighs more than fat. Instead, measure your body mass index—or even your waist—and only once every four to six weeks. I've had many female clients gain five pounds but go down three dress sizes."
• Dealing with problems is a skill, so expect issues and then use those issues as an opportunity to learn and practice new skill sets.  Do not expect a 100% success rate, but celebrate (not by eating out) your success and appreciate what your struggles teach you.
• "Our culture puts emphasis on goals, on absolutes. We're taught to believe competition should be ferocious. But if we lose that sense of fun, of delight, all the haranguing in the world from an instructor won't give a student lasting motivation. The bottom line is to savor the (process) the physical sensation of moving...  That itself becomes a reward compelling enough to keep one involved."
• "Self-regulation is key; you can make it simple by being your own monitor. You have to think like a thermostat—be able to detect a discrepancy between the environment and your internal standard. It's the difference between your current state and where your mind and body would like to be. You can then adjust—raise your standards to meet your expectations—through strategy and action. Some of us are born with high self-regulatory skills, but I can identify clients who lack the know—how and I teach them. Awareness is the first step: noting how many calories you've consumed, how effective your exercise is, how frequently and intensely you've exercised."

This is all very great stuff and can be applied to weight loss but also to many other things in our lives.  We see people losing 15 pounds per week on TV and assume that we should be able to do that to.  What we fail to consider is that these people were hand selected by experts to ensure that they could lose that way, and then they are taken out of a real environment and put into a bubble where their entire existence is weight loss.  So make sure that you learn to celebrate the other and little things.  If you stick to it there will be a day that you are able to celebrate the process rather than the goal, and that is when you will have finally taken control of your physical health.

Remember that fitness is a journey, not a destination!

When it comes to losing weight BR Specialists consistently delivers the best weight loss info!  Make sure that you leave comments, share it on Facebook, tweet it, DIGG it, Stumble it, email or simply share the info around the water cooler!

A new clinical trial (meaning double-blind study!) was just published sharing my favorite weight loss technique EVER!  This is so easy that everyone can do it, even you!  Here it is:
DRINK MORE WATER!

Drinking water plays several roles in weight loss, and there is even a little technique involved to maximize your results.

1. Drink two full glasses of water before your 3 major meals.  This will help you control your portion size because your stomach will not know the difference between food and water as far as why it is full.
2. We OFTEN confuse being thirsty with being hungry.  People who are hydrated tend to eat less food overall because they do not risk that confusion.
3. Water is essential for turning fat into energy.  If you are dehydrated it is very difficult for your body to turn fat into a usable form of energy.

Researches claim that of the 300 patients who were on a restricted calorie diet, those who drank two full glasses of water before their 3 major meals per day lost on average 5 pounds more fat over a 12 week period than those who simply restricted calories and did not drink the additional water!

Remember that everything in your body has H2O as part of it and depleting that resource will obviously impact all of those systems.  So do yourself the favor of increasing your water intake.  Just two glasses of water before your 3 major meals could be that last trick that you need to start getting those pounds off for good!

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