Jason Morgan

Some in search of their ultimate body are only willing to do so much to succeed. Without even knowing what success feels like yet, they make the assumption that they’re already doing enough to get the job done.

Believing that “this strategy is overkill” or “that training style doesn’t make sense” without enough experience to make those kind of evaluations will limit your progress. Coming to the conclusion that “that much focus isn’t necessary” or “that kind of detail isn’t necessary” before even trying the strategy demonstrates that you are only willing to do so much to succeed.

Just because you think you are currently doing enough or are convinced you are on the right track doesn’t mean you really are. Just because you feel you are giving 100 percent doesn’t mean that’s enough to get the job done. Just because you think you are a hard worker doesn’t mean you are working hard enough to be successful.

What makes you so certain that you already know what it takes to succeed? To be brutally honest, how would you know exactly what that requires? You’ve never achieved what you want with your physique yet.

Many in search of fitness make a lot of incorrect assumptions about what’s the best way to train or the best way to eat—without enough experience to support those beliefs. Those beliefs become ingrained convictions that stall their progress and lead toward frustration.

Take Action and Do This NOW!

You must open your mind to new and different strategies if you want to produce better results than what you are currently getting. Look for mentors to help you reach that new level of enlightenment. Success leaves clues. If you do what you’ve always done in the past, you’ll produce the same results.

What are the benefits you will enjoy by opening up your mind to fitness truths and steering clear of false promises? You can gain a sense of understanding, confidence, and certainty which will provide the mental edge needed to reach your full genetic potential. You can progress more smoothly and efficiently. You could make significant improvements in your physique and improve your overall health much sooner. You could generate unstoppable momentum that can produce results that rival those of someone with much more fitness experience. All in all, you could make the entire physique transformation experience more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Sometimes when you are going for your fitness goals, “right” can feel “wrong” to you. Remember that.

One of the biggest issues many people trying to lose unwanted body fat face deals with sugar, or more specifically hidden sugar. You may have every intention of eating healthy. You may even shop at the specialty stores that promote healthy, organic foods and still not see the results you are looking for when it comes to fat loss. Just because you walk into a health food store doesn’t mean you’re going to get something healthy. You’ve still got to read the labels because unwanted sugar can still sneak into your food, cleverly disguised under other names. If you’re trying to cut sugar out of your diet, the best way to go about it is by reading labels. If nutritional labels just said “sugar,” the task of cutting sugar out would be easy, but they don’t so it’s not. Don’t be fooled if the words “organic” or “natural” are added to these sugar terms. It may be organic, but it is still sugar and excessive simple sugar intake compromises fat release.

There are many names for sugar out there and this handy little list reveals them all.

• barley malt
• beet sugar
• brown sugar
• buttered syrup
• cane-juice crystals
• cane sugar
• caramel
• carob syrup
• corn syrup
• corn syrup solids

That’s just a small taste of it. There are many, many more so read on…

• date sugar
• dextran
• dextrose
• diatase
• diastatic malt
• ethyl maltol
• fructose
• fruit juice
• fruit juice concentrate
• glucose
• glucose solids
• golden sugar
• golden syrup
• grape sugar
• high-fructose corn syrup
• honey
• invert sugar
• lactose
• malt syrup
• maltodextrin
• maltose
• mannitol
• molasses
• raw sugar
• refiner’s syrup
• sorbitol
• sorghum syrup
• sucrose
• sugar
• turbinado sugar
• yellow sugar

People’s attempt to lose fat fails due to these sneaky tactics used by food manufactures all the time! The thing is, once any form of sugar gets into the body, there is little difference in how the body uses it. When you eat foods that are mostly sugar, like soda and candy, they are absorbed quicker which causes your blood sugar levels to quickly rise, and then fall. Keep yourself in check and eat carbohydrates that are more complex and in their natural states, which means not refined. When you eat whole foods like fruits, sugars are released slowly into the bloodstream. 

The following is a guest posting by my good friend and colleague Dexter Tenison. Dexter is an ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer and I highly recommend looking him up if you are in the Memphis, TN area. For more on Dexter, go to www.dextertenisonfitness.com.

I help people become more lean, more fit, and more healthy. I emphasize with my clients to lose 1-2 pounds of fat a week in order to keep their metabolism high while still getting fat loss results. However, the contestants of the biggest loser seem to defy my advice by losing a whole lot of weight in a short amount of time. Here are some of my top key things I see as flaws of the show:

• The severe exercise program and calorie restriction weight loss is not from fat, it is actually mostly water, not fat loss. This has little value towards improving health and fitness.
• Losing more than this a week will slow down metabolism due to muscle loss. Muscle is the metabolic tissue that burns calories. It is true that the body will use some of the body’s fat for energy during this time, but it relies much more on amino acids. Where does the body get amino acids? That would be stored in muscles, which have to be broken down to be used. Your body actually catabolizes itself if you were to go on an extreme program like the ones you see on the show! Gross!

• The contestants have excessive skin due to the extreme weight loss in a short amount of time. Skin does not reshape as fast as the rest of the body when extreme measures are taken and the end result is having extras flaps when waving goodbye to people.

• The show tells viewers that in order to get extraordinary results, they must enroll into a fat camp that has a controlled environment that has a sole purpose that revolves around exercise and dieting. The average person may be able to train 1 hour a day, most days of the week. On the show, the contestants train 6 to 8 hours most days of the week. This is an insane and impossible task for most people that would result in injuries and people not being able to pay their bills!
• Finally, if you follow the contestants after the show you will notice that most of them will gain the weight back (sometimes more) after the show. If the point was to keep the weight off instead of gain it all back, was this successful? Here are just a few examples:

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20090112_tows_followup

http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/ryan-benson-biggest-loser-follow-up/

I’m not a fan of the show because they do not do things the best possible way for a successful fat loss program. This show has the prime opportunity to send people the right and accurate message on how to lose weight and keep it off forever. This show and others like it are simply other “diet” programs that fitness professionals have to fight against because most people keep searching for the “miracle pill” for fat loss that does not exist. They must begin to implement the concept of continual progress, consistency, and nutritious eating. If watching the show gives you inspiration to exercise and eat better, who am I to say it is bad? Remember, the key is to learn how to effectively take what is learned about behavior modification and apply that to the daily rigors of real life, then participation in the show is worthwhile.

There are two realities that have made fitness a multi-billion dollar industry:

• The #1 fitness goal is to have a leaner, more physically attractive physique.

• Everyone strives for improved performance, function, health and vitality.

In terms of priorities, the vast majority of women would put looking good over functioning well. We know this because time and time again women have sacrificed their health, sanity, immune system, energy levels, family, jobs etc…. for unhealthy lifestyle, training, dietary or supplementation practices. Women want the perfect body, often, at any cost. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a give and take situation. You can be beautiful, lean, sexy, sleek, and functionally fit, strong, vital and healthy at the same time.

Interestingly, the formula for attaining both a body that PERFORMS well and LOOKS amazing is the same but it is the exact type of program that women often shy away from. It is the Female Fitness Paradox. Women are often afraid to work hard, lift heavier weights at lower reps, do less “cardio”, eat more protein and do more functional, compound exercises because as women, you wrongly think that these protocols will produce the opposite results. Meanwhile, the hours of steady state cardio, high rep / low weight “toning” classes, spinning classes, low fat / low calorie fad diets, frozen light entrees and whipped yogurt desserts are taking you further and further away from your goals.

I know the struggle! You can’t figure out why you still suffer from “cottage cheese butt” syndrome when you are supposedly doing everything right.

Your intentions were right but your plan of action was wrong. Your struggle ends now! I strongly believe that what you achieve and master in the gym carries over into your life. Whatever you are afraid to tackle in the gym correlates to something you habitually fear taking on in life. The gym is not real – life is real. But what you do (or won’t do, can’t do…) in the gym is a real representation of your life.

One of the biggest problems with many people’s training program is that they fail to make progress. Usually they have no one to blame but themselves. They either do the same program with little or no change or they impose mental limitations. Many women do not use beyond 12 lb dumbbells because of a stereotype that anything higher is for men, that it will be too heavy or that it will build big bulky muscles (do you think the models in women’s fitness magazines really build those fabulous bodies with the 5 or 10 lbs weights they are posing with?) This thinking will ensure that you never change your body and that your body will eventually decline.

If you continue to train at the same level of intensity, load, sets, reps, tempo, rest between sets with the same repertoire of exercise order, selection etc… you will stagnate. If you continue to tell yourself a given weight is too heavy or a given exercise is too difficult, it will be. You need to apply a “next level” training and thinking to each component of your exercise program – every rep, every set, every exercise, every phase, every cycle, every program. The goal is to always “one up” yourself in some way whether it be load, reps, sets, rest or time. To do this, you need to apply this new way of thinking before every set. You can never allow yourself to think that you are not capable of doing the set/rep/exercise. You need to own it mentally as if you have done it a million times before and will do it again.

This is why recording your workouts is so important. You need to know what you did previously for a given workout in order to take it to the next level and “one up” yourself. If your program outlines a shoulder press for 3×8 and last week you did 3×8 with 12 lbs, one-up it next workout! Next week, start with 12 lbs for your 1st set and aim mentally for at LEAST 8 reps…if you can get 10, do it. Next set, you are a fool if you pick up 12 lbs again. 15 it is! Even if you only get 6, you have taken it to the next level. Guarantee you’ll get 8 on set 3. And the process continues. Once you achieve the rep range with a given weight, you MUST increase the load. I prefer increasing load over increasing reps. That is how you get STRONG, break through mental barriers and build a sleek, sexy, functional body.

If you start applying these concepts to every aspect of your training (nutrition too!), you will make dramatic improvements. Plus, you will constantly impress yourself by busting through new plateaus and be motivated to train again to re-set the bar.

If you feel like your regular crunch just isn’t doing it anymore, you’re probably right! Muscles get “bored” after doing the same exercise repeatedly. The double crunch works your upper and lower abdomen muscles because you are lifting both the upper and lower portion of your body. To “surprise” your muscles into working harder, try this twist on the classic crunch.

INSTRUCTIONS