May 21, 2007
May 21, 2007
The ladies over at The Diet Pulpit have offered various ways to exercise that will not require much space, lessen the amount of time in a gym, and practically no planning. The title “No More Excuses” is a reasonable approach for each individual to take responsiblity for our very own lives by doing what is necessary to live a more comfortable, convenient, and active life. They’re right, people don’t need 12,000 square feet of space with shiny chrome weights, or fancy heart rate monitors hooked up to some expensive cardio machine. All you need is working limbs, and in some cases you don’t even need those to be fully functional to get in a decent workout.
Along with the walking poles, resistance bands, DVD’s, and various other training devices, I wanted to add my top 3 basic movements that we can perform while using about 10ft of space and our own bodyweight.
1. 
Wall pushups. Elbows close to body, looks pretty easy but give it a try.
2. 
Hip Thrusts. Start doing this movement after you’ve develop some abdominal strength by doing more conventional abdominal exercises.
3. 
Bodyweight Lateral Squat. You can interchange these with stationary lunges.
After reading their latest post I had to take this opportunity to piggyback and offer my two cents on how much I appreciate their willingness to share their own personal stories, knowledge, honesty, and their wisdom in regards to their weight-loss journey. I also appreciate how they take responsibility for their own actions while offering practical, encouraging, and motivating advice to others.
So, there’s my two cents on some other movements we can do that doesn’t require time, space, money, or planning. So drop down and give me 50.
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
www.fitnessgenerator.com/mcgheetraining
May 20, 2007
What if the taste of food didn’t exist? Would people clean up their diets and realize that we “eat to live” and we don’t “live to eat”. I know that sounds somewhat cliche’-ish but it makes sense, food doesn’t have to be eaten for pleasure.
I think over the past couple of days I just realized how boring it is to sit down to eat, and how unnecessary it is to engage in the act of overeating of unhealthy foods. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone could invent some type of device to turn our taste buds off and on. On the other hand, instead of these expensive and risky surgeries, how about working on an invention to stop us from eating for taste. Maybe something that would stimulate our pleasure senses in our brains like food does, and since it would hinder our taste buds, we wouldn’t need to eat unhealthy tasty foods. I don’t know if that makes sense but, there would be less overeating, your stomach would dictate when it’s time to eat instead of your brain saying it’s time, and junk food wouldn’t be an option.
Since having this septoplasty surgery I haven’t been able to smell or taste anything. It’s somewhat annoying and I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life like this, but right now I could care less about taste of food. The past couple of days would have been a perfect opportunity to experiment with crappy tasting healthy foods. Today I sat down to eat chicken breast and a salad and it was like magic, the minute I was satisfied, I stopped eating. I ate enough to satisfy myself, however, if I had my sense of taste right now, it would’ve been a whole different story. Anyway that was just food for thought. I haven’t wanted to write any informational type posts over the past couple of days, so I thought I’d try something different. Maybe I’m just recovering from the anesthesia and pain killers they had me on.
May 19, 2007
EVIDENCE, CONSPIRACY, URGENCY, TRUTH, WHO KNOWS? Is there any surprise these days that health care costs are at an all time high? DECEIT, MISDIAGNOSIS, MANIPULATION, LIES, WHO KNOWS? Has anyone ever questioned how or why when we need costs to be at an all time low, they are at an all time high? TRUST, ILLUSION, SECURITY, VULNERABILITY, WHO KNOWS. Are we all frustrated with how things are going in the medical field in regards to care, treatment, prescription costs? DESTITUTE, WEAK, HUNGRY, FIEND, WHO KNOWS? Are we all going to take care of ourselves by exercising, eating right, resting, avoiding stress, managing stress, encouraging others, or, are we going to depend on the institution to do it for us. FREEDOM, ACCOMPLISHMENT, JOY, SUCCESS!
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
May 19, 2007
It’s all good, I think!
May 18, 2007
I tell you what, I broke my leg (in half) about 6 years ago playing a meaningless game of softball, and it didn’t compare to anything like I’ve experienced today. That break was pretty bad and probably 100 times worse than how I feel today, however, I cannot remember ever feeling this miserable.
I have been battling a sinus infection for approximately 12 months and during this time my family physician (he really is an idiot) has put me on at least five different antibiotics and nothing has ever seemed to work. During my last visit he suggested I use a steroid to help with whatever, who knows, and my mind immediately closed so needless to say, I totally ignored his advice and finally went to visit an E.N.T. What had I been waiting for? Well, if any of you experienced the ridiculous process I went through with my leg, you would understand how I feel about doctors. For me, doctors are and will always be my last resort.
After visiting this E.N.T. and finding out that I had a deviated septum, (my family physician diagnosed it as a staff infection, told you he’s an idiot), I decided to take his advice, and follow through with this surgery. If anyone has ever experienced this type of infection, then you know what I’m talking about. We all know you cannot breathe, you cannot sleep, and the infection has the most horrific smell known to man that you feel like nobody wants to come near you. My wife who is a nurse manager in the recovery room (PACU) began asking questions about this particular doctor, and heard nothing but good things. Much to her surprise, she had previously never heard his name, which I later found out was a good thing. Surgery scheduled!
I couldn’t wait for today to get here. Naturally, the closer you get to something the longer it takes and the more miserable you becomes. Well as it stands right now, I wish today would’ve never gotten here. I still can’t breath, my head is about to explode, I can barely talk, and I cannot eat. I have consumed a protein shake and a Vitamin Water in the last 22 hours. A total of about 220 calories (liquid). Honestly, I have no idea how I wrote this tonight, I’ve slept all day, and these pain killers in a completely different stratosphere. I won’t be training for about a week but I sure hope I can eat something later or tomorrow. I feel like I’m gonna puke. Oh well!
May 17, 2007
After going through the glycemic index with a friend of mine and explaining how it works, what foods to stay away from, then adding a post on the subject, today I get an email with an attachment. Don’t get me wrong my friend wasn’t questioning anything we discussed, however, the article was extremely confusing and could have raised concern and credibility issues if she didn’t fully trust me. Earlier in the day, I receive an adverse comment to my glycemic-index post, and what made that so bad was this person was missing the entire point of my article. Here’s the comment. Did I mention I got up at 5:30 this morning. 🙂
Imagine how many people have read this article and had questions regarding this misinformation. The title itself will give a person a preconceived judgement of the entire article, not to mention, it is somewhat difficult to follow. Articles like these are the reasons why people are confused and do not know who to trust in the weight-loss industry. Understand how the media has misguided people into believing what they want you to believe. It’s amazing, and it’s the reason why I will not post inaccurate information.
This post is not about the glycemic index, just a quick tutorial in regards to processed foods.
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
www.fitnessgenerator.com/mcgheetraining
May 17, 2007
The death rate (morality) from gastric bypass is about 1 out of 350 people (1/350)
The mortality rate for gastric bypass is similar to the mortality rate for other major general surgical procedures done on a group of patients who are obese and have multiple health problems. Risk of dying from any procedure depends on the general health, age, and weight of the individual. Clearly people who are older, have more severe comorbid problems, and are heavier are much higher risk than younger, healthier, less obese counterparts. The most common causes of death after gastric bypass include infection secondary to staple line or suture line leaks, pulmonary embolism, and respiratory problems.
Who else would have this surgery? Surely not a bodybuilder, a fitness model, or a professional athlete. In other words, the only people having this surgery is a person struggling with obesity. Not that it’s an unnecessary procedure, I just feel like doctors these days are all about the money and are more willing to cut a person instead of working with them on a more personal level. Just a little research I did in regards to this popular weight-loss procedure. That’s a pretty high mortality rate for an elective surgery.
May 16, 2007
For those of you who have consistenly read my blog and commented on the various posts that I have written, I want to say, I really appreciate your interest. I do enjoy writing so it is extremely gratifying for me to see that some people actually want to hear what I have to say. What’s more important is I have the opportunity to help a large number of people, without having the expectations of anything in return. I have a couple of affiliated links on here, and if people use them I would appreciate it, but in actuality, I could care less. They are on here for reference and convenience. (I don’t even think I put the HTML code in correctly, I had to delete the first couple of characters to get it to link). LOL!
Anyway, if I post anything on this blog I want all of my readers to understand that it is 100% irrefutable information. If I don’t know it, I know somebody that does, and if they don’t know it, they know somebody that does. In other words, I will not write anything based on my opinion, beliefs, or what I ‘think’ will work. I’ve had the pleasure of working with many people and in my short time of blogging, I have met some really interesting and neat people. I spent about an hour last night putting together a plan for a friend of mine who wants to get stronger and lose a few pounds. After that I decided to read up a little more on how carbohydrates affect our insulin levels and where certain foods rate in the glycemic-index.
Having said that, I would like everyone to take the opportunity to visit Mendosa’s site on glycemic-index. Read his blog, learn about the foods that are good for you and the ones that are killing us as we speak. Learn how diabetes is a disease that kills and how being overweight and/or obese puts us at a risk for various other diseases and possibly death. Learn how he has prevented complications and maintained a healthy lifestyle as a diabetic, and how he has managed to implement healthy eating habits and exercise so that he can enjoy the quality of life he deserves. There is a wealth of information on this site and I would encourage everyone to add it to your favorites, it may save your life. 
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
www.fitnessgenerator.com/mcgheetraining
May 14, 2007
I have been inspired to write this post from a person I don’t even know who told me I was wrong in my thinking on myths. There is no way I am wrong because if you notice at the bottom Joe D. is the author. Occasionally I will use other sources to add other reliable information to my blog. However, I always acknowledge where these articles come from. I will start out by saying that not only is Joe D. correct, I am also correct or I would have never posted his myth.
Let me first explain that in order to do any type of aerobic conditioning (plyometrics) you have to have some sort of muscle development. For example, think of the time you or a person you know broke a leg and had a cast put on it. What happens to the muscle? The muscle begins to atrophy (loses muscle), right! Depending on how long the cast was on or how long a person has gone without using this damaged limb, will determine what a person can or cannot do after the removal of this cast. Let’s say the cast was on for 8-weeks. Who does a doctor send you to after the removal of this cast? A physical therapist right! (Which most people fail to follow through on). Does a physical therapist have you go out and jog (plyometrics) a mile before they have you do resistance training to rebuild the muscle. Of course not, even though the bone is healed (and in most cases stronger than before, due to the calcification around the break area), you must develop a level of strength to engage in any high impact plyometrics (running). We have all seen the knees buckle on a baby that is learing to walk and using the coffee table to hold themselves up?
Knee pain, joint pain, and lower leg muscle tension is a common concern for most runners, especially if you haven’t developed any level of strength (not in all cases). Now, take into consideration that both legs have been inactive for a prolonged period of time and are weak in comparison to a person’s overall bodyweight. Please consider, if you’re overweight or just beginning a fitness program, beware of any type of high impact plyometrics (especially running off/on concrete) before building a solid foundation of strength.
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
www.fitnessgenerator.com/mcgheetraining
May 14, 2007
At least once every month I slack off for multiple days by not training, eating right, or participating in any type of physical activity. There used to be a time when I would feel totally guilty with this type of behavior, almost to the point where I would become discouraged and turn a few days off, into a few weeks and even as long as a month. Naturally, I would justify this behavior by saying things like; “I needed the time off”, “rest is good”, “I’ll get back on track”. I could do that in my twenties, but unfortunately, I am no longer youthful, energetic, and as resilient as I once was.
My downfall started on Saturday when I decided to play in a fundraiser Texas Holdem tournament, where I thought I would be a favorite to win a 96 player tournament. Ha! I lasted a total of 1 hour 20 minutes and found myself on the rail eating another piece of fried chicken. I had already eaten 4 pieces, a slice of pizza, and drank almost 4 cans of coca-cola (ugh). Oh, I forgot the jo-joes. 🙂 I didn’t mind the amount of food, because I figured I would train Sunday and everything would be fine. Needless to say, I forgot it was Mothers Day and training was not an option.
My point is, I still have these weekends where I engage in this type of inactivity, overeating, and ignoring healthy food choices. What’s even more mind boggling is once I get started, I cannot stop. I continue to make unhealthy food choices and I always find a way to justify my behavior. On another note, today is a new day without distractions and justifications. Nobody is perfect and as long as we all realize that, then even if we have a few down days we can still rebound if we stay positive and our focus remains on our goals.
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
www.fitnessgenerator.com/mcgheetraining
May 12, 2007
What are your views on aging? Is fatigue and joint discomfort the inevitable result of growing older? If so, do you believe that the elderly should take it easy when they are tired and suffering from mild aches?
The fact is that many age-associated declines occur not because of the aging process itself, but as a result of our lifestyle habits, including exercise. In our sedentary society, many muscle and joint problems are the result of weakness and inflexibility. By increasing your strength and flexibility, you can prevent injury and slow the age-associated loss of muscle function. This means that some of those old cliches turn out to be true…”use it or lose it” and “you’re as old as you feel”.
Inactive people become more frail than active people and are more likely to sustain a serious fall that could lead to hospitalization, permanent disability, dependence and even death. According to the federal government., Americans live an average of 73.7 years, but spend their last 11.7 years in “dysfunctional life”, which is marked by disease and impairment. Reducing the number of years lost to restricted physical activity has become a national priority.
Exercise itself, can slow and even reverse many components of the aging process. It’s probably the single most effective way to lengthen life. Proper exercise can rejuvenate you and take years off your chronological age- it’s the closest thing to an anti-aging pill. In other words, exercise can add years to your life and life to your years. The U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, claims that a 50 yr. old today can expect to live, on average, to over 79. This is a lot of time spent in the “golden years”. Instead of believing that over 50 means “over the hill and declining”, you should view it as “over the hill and picking up speed!”
It was once thought that aerobic capacity and muscular strength decreased dramatically as one grew older: Studies revealed that a sedentary 65 yr. old has only 60% of the aerobic capacity as a young sedentary adult, and that after the age of 30, people not engaged in strength training lose muscle mass amounting to about six to seven pound of muscle each decade. Remember that these declines apply to sedentary adults.
A 25-year study on runners performed at Ball State University found that many of the runners who continued to train had aerobic capacities similar to what they had 20 years ago. A ten year study from the Center for Exercise Science at the University of Florida found that runners who took up resistance (strength) training were able to maintain their muscle over the ten years. Those who did not, continued to loss muscle mass. The results of these studies apply to everyone, not just athletes.
Each person over the age of 55 who I have trained has found that they have marked increases in their muscle tone, strength and aerobic capacity: they have become more fit and vigorous then ever before.
One of the things that happens when you begin strength training is that connective tissue, such as ligaments and tendons, gets stronger along with your muscles. This helps to protect your joints from injury and makes everyday tasks easier, such as walking up stairs, carrying groceries and keeping up with grandchildren.
There are community programs available to help older adults stay active. Many wellness programs include low-impact aerobics and strength training. Bowling, and croquet leagues are also a fun way to stay in shape. Whatever form of exercises you choose to do, you should include ones that employ a mixture of endurance, strength, balance and flexibility exercises.
Before starting, check with your doctor to see if there are any medical concerns. Appropriate exercise can reduce frailty in old age thus helping to make a person’s last few years be filled with active participation instead of the bedridden existence that too many elderly people now experience.
We were designed to be active..don’t rust out before you wear out because you aren’t putting your body to proper use. If you want to stay strong and mobile, look and feel well, and continue to live independently instead of ending up in the care of others,then you better START MOVING!! Deborah L. Mullen, CSCS
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
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May 11, 2007
I will never walk another 18 holes of golf again in my lifetime. I know on some courses walking isn’t even permitted, but for a below average golfer, walking should never be allowed on any course.
I have a few friends that believe golf is a non-physical sport and requires little, if any, physical conditioning. Little do they realize that the best golfers in the world engage in some sort of strength and/or conditioning, and the ones that don’t consistently train, rarely finish high on the leaderboards. All physical activities require some sort of general physical preparedness, golf is physical, it is an activity, and you better be prepared. Watching athletes on television has a tendency of making things look relatively easy while novice athletes have a misconception in regards to the amount of hard-work and effort required to play on a professional level.
Lets take into consideration that some of us are decent to bad players, in other words, we are lucky if we play bogey golf. For a novice golfer let’s add in the fact that you have to swing the club with extreme effort at least 2 times per hole, and on par 5’s sometimes three heavy effort swings. Now we’ll add in the fact that, if you’re not on the tour or a scratch golfer, you have to play out of trouble most of the time. Golf courses measure the distances from the tee box to the green., in other words, they don’t zig-zag throughout the course on each individual hole like I do. (I guess it’s a way of getting my moneys worth) I actually considered doing the math on how I can turn a standard 5500 yard course into over 8000 yards. Needless to say, I hit the ball hard, I hit long, and I don’t play very well, which means, I am all over the place.
Whenever a sport or a game has a large prize pool or hefty salaries you’d best believe that most players stay in some sort of shape. Could golfers be in better conditioning? Probably! However, the same goes for most athletes in every other sport.
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
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May 10, 2007
How much of a diet is diet soda? You may be one of those people that doesn’t want to pick up those extra calories from regular soda, but unfortunately you cannot resist the sting effect that the carbonated drinks have to offer. There are many things to consider when mixing diet sodas into your strength-training, weight-loss, and fitness lifestyle. Here’s a few facts worth considering the next time you think it’s okay to drink a diet soda.
Diet soda is carbonated. A byproduct of oxidative energy production is CO2 carbon dioxide. CO2 is eliminated through normal cardiovascular processes, however during intense exercise CO2 buildup may occur and you do NOT want to add additional CO2 gas from carbonated drinks. In addition, carbonation may interfere with hormone production as well as cause dehydration. Diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners cause the brain to react to sweet taste (cephalic phase response) by preparing the liver to receive a new supply of sugar. Additionally, if no sugar appears, the liver signals an urge to eat, or possibly over-eat. Irrespective of the possible adverse effects of diet sodas on weight control, no one disputes the lack of nutrition in these diet drinks. Typically, diet sodas sole contribution to dietary and nutritional requirements is a little sodium.
If you’ve been struggling to control your appetite and your favorite drink is carbonated and artificially sweetened, you may need to eliminate it from your ‘diet’.
LIFT HARD! TRAIN HARD!
www.fitnessgenerator.com/mcgheetraining
May 8, 2007
I had to post this because my mother just totally annoyed me by telling my daughter that stretch bands are good for women because they don’t give you manly muscles. I want to make it clear right now, bands develop muscle and they are not isolated for women only. Where did she hear that? My mother is 60 years old and I know for a fact that I have exposed the “manly muscle” myth to her. My point here is, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, please do not engage in conversations if you don’t have facts.
Myth #5: Women should focus on performing aerobic activities because weight training will give them a “manly” appearance.
This myth just won’t go away, mainly because of bodybuilding magazines. People associate females who strength-train with the female bodybuilders pictured in bodybuilding magazines. Professional female bodybuilders usually resemble men because of the massive amount of anabolic, androgenic drugs they consume. However, these “females” shouldn’t be confused with drug-free women who incorporate resistance training into their fitness programs. The next time that this topic comes up, remember the following facts: 1) Much of the difference in muscle mass between males and females is attributed to hormones, specifically, Testosterone. On average, men produce ten times more Testosterone than females. Unless you’re a female who’s taking anabolic steroids or other male hormones, lifting weights will not make you look like a man! It’s actually harder for most females to build muscle compared to their male counterparts. 2) There’s also a difference in muscle mass distribution between men and women, especially in the upper body. If you do build a significant amount of muscle, you still won’t look masculine. So, it’s important to remember that male hormones and muscle mass distribution are the two main reasons that men usually carry more muscle than woman. Ladies, get in the weightroom!
J. Defranco #5 of Top Ten Traininig Myths
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