Better Is Better

How To Do A Pull Up

The pull up is by far one of my favourite exercises. OK, maybe not the funnest exercise to DO, but definitely one of the biggest "bang for buck" movements around.

But there's a lot of confusion about perfect pull up technique. So I'm doing a short series of pull up videos on BodyweightCoach.com. Here's the first installment.

How To Do Pull Ups

Hope you enjoy that. The next post will be about how to modify pull ups for people who are having trouble building up to their first pull up or who can't do as many reps as they'd like.

Pull Ups — Perfect Primal Movement Pattern?

I truly believe that pull ups are an essential component in any program. So much so that I had my own custom pull up bar built. It's a stainless steel beauty and I'm LOVIN' it!

But you don't need a fancy rig. The main thing is to be pulling your body up while hanging on to something. My cousin's husband has a couple pieces of rope with tennis balls knotted onto the end of them suspended from a mezanine railing. He just hangs onto those and does pull ups alternated with other bodyweight exercise variations and he stays in great shape.

No one told him he HAD to do pull ups. He was just instinctively drawn to them. And to me, that makes perfect sense.

Our ancestors would have been in a pretty tight spot if they weren't able to climb a tree to get away from danger or pull themselves up a rock face to access the safety of caves and protected ledges. We were "made" to climb.

Unfortunately, pull ups is about the most ignored exercise in the modern gym goer's repertoire. Bench presses and squats are much more sexy. But ignoring the flip side is both silly and potentially dangerous.

Even if all you want is bigger pecs. You still need to be do tons of pulling movements to keep your shoulder joint in balance and continue pushing hard in the "mirror" lifts. If you stop working your back, your brain will shut off your pecs too before you can get too far pit of whack. And if it doesn't... there goes your shoulder.

So find something solid to pull yourself up and, and start climbin'...

Neural Fitness — Is it the missing link?

If you're not getting the results you want. If you think you are "injury prone." If you'd like to perform better in your sport, but you're plagued by lackluster development. You may be neglecting the most important aspect of your training program—your nervous system.

Listen to Dr Kareem Samouri's explanation of his Neural Fitness principle. And if you're a fan of Circular Strength Training, you can have some fun with this video. Watch out for the parallels to many of CST's core philosophies.

BTW - you can check out Kareem's innovative programs by clicking here...

Enjoy!

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3 Things You Need To Know For Lasting Body Transformation

Low-Carb Breakfast Dilemma

I have the disadvantage of a slight egg intolerance. I can sneak a few in from time to time, but more than that and things turn bad quickly…

Unfortunately, it seems that pretty much every low carb breakfast option on the planet involves a generous helping of eggs in one form or another. So what’s a guy to do when he wants to break fast on something that doesn’t contain a high load of carbohydrates?

Well, one of the simplest answers — and the one that I most often use — is to eat whatever you had for supper last night. But for some reason, here in the West people aren’t too keen on that.

So here’s a quick concoction that I quite enjoy for breakfast.

Organic deli meat “wraps”

Take a few slices of organic deli meat like roast beef or turkey (the organic part is important — you want to avoid the nitrites / nitrates in conventional deli meat like the plague). Slice some English cucumber in long thin slices. Throw some cucumber and some alfalfa sprouts in each slice of deli meat and roll it up into a “wrap.” If you don’t mind a few extra calories and carbs, throw in a sprinkle of organic cashews in there before you wrap ‘em up.

That’s all for today. I’ll cover the whole nitrate / nitrite thing in a future Fit Foodie. It’s one of those hidden evils that most people don’t know about.

Fit Foodie Fifteen-Minute Fish Soup — Low Carb Lunch...

Carbs, in and of themselves, are not evil. But the way you use them — and which ones you choose to consume — will have a huge impact on your efforts to stay healthy and get lean.

And as you’ll know if you’re a client of the Bodyweight Blueprint For Fat Loss, our friend Joel Marion has even built an entire nutritional plan and program around the idea of strategically manipulating carbs for fat loss.

The problem is, we live in a carb dominant society. All the affordable, easy and tasty snacks are carb laden — and usually with the worst kind of carbs to boot. So if you want great low carb meals and snacks that are both affordable and quick, you’ll have to learn to make them yourself.

But that’s what being a Fit Foodie is all about…

The recipe below was done off the cuff. It tasted great! And it’s a perfect dish for your Low Carb days on Joel’s Cheat To Lose plan.

Fit Foodie Fifteen Minute Fish Soup…

Being a good Maritimer (person from the East coast of Canada), I enjoy my seafood. But up until recently, that was only true if someone else prepared it for me. You see, I never really learned to do a great job cooking the stuff.

That’s why every time I go “down home” I coax my mom into making me an enormous lobster feed (she requires very little coaxing). Preparing lobster is such a seemingly simple thing. I really don’t know why my mother can make it taste so much better!

Anyhow, I’ve been experimenting and have come up with a few seafood dishes that I enjoy making and that have turned out very tasty. And I even made one up out of thin air the other day…

I was grocery shopping with my daughter and noticed a sale on fresh halibut. I’m not generally a big fan of white fish, but decided to give it a try and grabbed some. On the way home I started daydreaming about what I could do with it to make a nice lunch for me and my daughter.

Fit Foodie Fifteen-Minute Fish Soup

Here’s what I came up with. The whole thing took between 15-20 minutes.

In a skillet, briefly sauté the following over medium heat. You want these to just start to soften and brown, maybe 2-3 minutes.

1 medium onion, diced
1 green onion, finely sliced
Half a package of mushrooms, finely chopped

To that, add a splash of red wine and a splash of balsamic vinegar and blanche your veggies for another minute or so. Then throw in a large glass full of filtered water (enough to cover your fish once you add it). Season to taste with Celtic sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Place your fish in the liquid and bring it to a simmer. Cover your skillet and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish.

Break your fish into chunks. This should be quite easy. Serve into your bowls and top with a small pat of organic pastured butter. If you like a bit of spice — I like a lot myself — sprinkle some dried red pepper flakes to finish.

Enjoy!

How To Avoid Going Crazy — And Other Benefits of Drinking Coffee

I got a very cool surprise in the mail this week. My buddy Chris, Toronto trainer and genius behind Fit & Busy Dads, shipped me a bag of gourmet organic espresso beans from his favorite coffee haunt.

One of the things I love about my job is getting to travel around the world and meet cool people like Chris. He took me to his coffee joint the last time I was in Toronto. It was an experience to be savored. And it was also an exercise in good health and continued sanity.

Coffee gets a pretty bum rap from conventional wisdom. It’s blamed for all sorts of evils. But most of the charges are pure malarky. Not only that, coffee is increasingly being identified as a downright healthy beverage.

Keep Your Wits About You

To get the ball rolling, consider the fact that regular coffee consumption may help us avoid dementia as we age (Eskelinen MH, et al.). That sounds good to me! And on a more anecdotal note, coffee can just plain make you happy. Enjoying a great cup of coffee with friends is a good way to wind down. And ditching stress through enjoyable activities is a sure way to encourage a long and healthy life.

I Take My Coffee To Heart

Coffee has also been credited with heart healthy benefits in a string of recent studies. Regular consumption of decaf has been associated with better blood flow (S Buscemi, et al.). Drinking 1-3 cups of regular coffee per day was shown to reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 24%. (Andersen LF, et al.)

Don’t Skimp On Your Cuppa Joe

If you want to reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, don’t be stingy with your coffee consumption. One study showed that at least 6 or more cups of coffee a day reduced the risk in men by 20%. (Lopez-Garcia E, et al.)

Geez, even I don’t drink that much… It’s a bit easier for the ladies to make their quota. Women peaked out at 4-5 cups per day and a reduced risk of 24%.

A Stroke Of Luck

Guess I luck out again. It appears my love of coffee may even reduce my risk of stroke. When it comes to the most common type of stroke, cerebral infarction, “Compared to men drinking less than 2 cups of coffee a day, men drinking 8 or more cups of coffee a day were at a 23 per cent reduced risk of cerebral infarction.” (Larsson SC, et al.)

A Tonic For The Maladies Of Civilization

The SAD (Standard American Diet) and the accompanying low levels of physical activity prevalent in our society are bad news. They form the perfect storm for the creation of a host of metabolic disorders which eventually lead to diabetes.

Obviously, taking care of the cause should be our number one priority. But it seems coffee can even help keep us out of the metabolic madness to which our habits predispose us.  Six or seven cups a day could reduce risk of diabetes by as much as 35%. (Odegaard AO, et al.)

What's In The Other 98%

So what’s up with coffee. How is it that caffein is the new elixir of life. Well, you may not know that only 2% of coffee is comprised of caffein. And it may be the stuff that makes up the other 98% that’s so good for us.

For instance, it’s thought that the magnesium content of coffee may be responsible for some of it’s protective effects from diabetes.

Coffee is also chock full ‘o antioxidants. And the best news is, the roasting process — the very thing that makes coffee so delightful — actually increases the antioxidant effectiveness of these plant phenols!

Take It With A Grain Of Salt

No, I don’t mean your coffee. And if you want my opinion, take your coffee black, no sugar. That’s the only way to truly appreciate it’s wonders. But I do have a few words of caution…

Coffee is absolutely addictive and must be treated with the due respect that any such substance deserves.

Conventionally grown coffee is also one of the most sprayed crops on the planet, so endeavor to go organic as often as possible, especially if you consume large quantities.

But other than that, if you enjoy coffee — and if you don’t then you haven’t really given it a real chance — then by all means go ahead and enjoy your cuppa Joe.

So what's YOUR take? Do you like coffee? Do you believe coffee is bad for you? Can it be healthy, or do addicts like me just like to rationalize our love of the black nectar? Let us know your thoughts in the comments...

7 Things To Avoid In Your Halloween Chocolate

Time for another Fit Foodie Friday…

If you’re a Foodie like me, you like food too much to deny life’s great pleasures. And chocolate is definitely one of those things that most of us Foodies will never be able to abandon.

But when it comes to your health, there’s GOOD chocolate and there’s BAD chocolate. Personally, I enjoy the taste and texture of the good stuff more than the bad.

Enjoying organic dark chocolate can actually be quite beneficial to your health — in moderation of course. Did you know it's even a great source of antioxidants?

Chocolate is made from the beans of the cacao tree, Theobroma Cacao Plant. Cacao is full of flavanoids that are commonly known for their antioxidant activity. A small bar of dark chocolate can contain as many flavonoids as six apples, four and a half cups of tea, or two glasses of red wine. (Fat Burning Kitchen)

Mike Geary, author of Fat Burning Kitchen, lists seven more health benefits of this sinfully delicious treat in his most excellent treatise on healthy eatin'.

But to balance them out, there are also 7 dastardly sins which you must avoid if you want to make the best choice for you and your kids this Halloween.

• Trans fat -- An artery-clogging type of fat that forms when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening.
• High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) -- Contains no enzymes, vitamins or minerals, and leeches micronutrients from your body. Raises your blood sugar levels beyond acceptability, and leads to insulin resistance and weight gain. It really is a metabolic poison and, in many ways, acts identical to alcohol with chronic exposure when eaten in high amounts.
• Artificial sweeteners -- Never allow anything "artificial" in your chocolate.
• Soy proteins -- Unfermented soy can cause digestive distress and a weakened immune system.
• Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) -- An excitotoxin, which over-excites your cells to the point of damage or total destruction. Can potentially cause brain damage and other disabilities to varying degrees.
• Preservatives and stabilizers -- Avoid anything artificial and look for only organic ingredients.
• Milk or milk byproducts -- Could impact how well you absorb the healthy antioxidants in the chocolate.

(These 7 deadly chocolate sins are from Dr Mercola’s newsletter)

Milk chocolate is generally a source of most or all of the above no-no's. These aren’t easy things to avoid. Your standard Halloween fare is resplendent in these ingredients.

Making the right choice will make Halloween more difficult and expensive. But if you care about your health and the health of your family, isn't it worth it? Don't be tricked by your treats...

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More Fit Foodie Friday...

Butter Me Up…

What’s THE Most Evil “Health” Food?

Butter Me Up…

Time for another edition of FitFoodie Friday…

Last week we talked about the evils of margarine. This week is devoted to the original that it was modeled after — butter!

But not just any butter. After all, how’d you like to smear a nice pat of pus, injected hormones, chemicals and insecticides onto your toast? Thought not…

But that’s just what you’re getting when you use the run-of-the-mill grocery store butter. Remember your mom or your grandma telling you that you are what you eat? Well, the same holds true for cows.

Did you know that over 50% of the antibiotics produced in the US go into animal feed? Do you wonder why? It’s because the animals are kept in such retched conditions that they need to pump them with antibiotics to keep them alive.

Guess what else many of them are getting pumped with… Bovine Growth Hormone. We’re lucky here in Canada that it has been banned, but in many countries it’s still used. And it increases the rate of udder infection by 50-70%, which means more need for antibiotics.

But it also means pus gets into your dairy products! There’s actually an “allowable limit” of pus in commercial dairy… (yuk!)
 
Then there’s the actual food that the animals are eating. Conventional farming has no qualms about using feed that’s been sprayed by countless chemicals and insecticides. And just as with humans, all that lovely stuff is secreted through the cow’s milk.

And they aren’t eating their natural diet of grasses either. They’re being stuffed with grains and other things they would never it if they were left to their own devices. This means that the fatty acid profile of both the animals and the milk is terribly skewed towards the inflamatory omega-6s and away from the healthy omega-3s and Conjugated Linoleic Acid.

OK, so all that probably turned you off dairy — including butter — right? That’d be a shame, since what I’ve just described isn’t REAL butter in it’s natural state. It’s something akin to butter that we’ve gone and modified through our treatment of the animals.

The real thing is a wonder of nature full of myriad benefits. Plus, it tastes great. Have you ever tasted conventional butter side-by-side with organic butter from grass-fed cows? You’ll be amazed.

My new favorite book on nutrition, The Fat Burning Kitchen, rattles off almost a full page of benefits derived from butter. Here are a few of the highlights…

• Butter is rich in the most easily absorbable form of Vitamin A necessary for thyroid and adrenal health, both of which are essential to fat burning and energy
• Contains anti-oxidants that protect against free radical damage
• Is a great source of Vitamins E and K
• Butter contains conjugated linoleic acid, which is a potent fat burner, anti-cancer agent, muscle builder, and immunity booster
• Vitamin D found in butter is essential to absorption of calcium, the immune system and overall well being

(excerpt from The Fat Burning Kitchen)

So I hope I’ve buttered you up sufficiently to put butter back on the menu. But make sure it’s organic and preferably grass fed. (and we’ll talk about pasteurization some other time…)

What are your favorite uses for butter? Do you use butter at all? If not, will you?

Bodyweight Workout For Fat Loss

As summer wanes and winter creeps ever nearer, you may find something else is also creeping up on you. Autumn tends to be accompanied by a slow creep of girth around the mid-section.

And even if you manage to fend off this slow creep, you still have the upcoming holiday season to think of. How you eat is going to have a lot to do with how well you weather the storm. I strongly recommend you check out Fat Burning Kitchen to help you with that.

But I’ve got another secret weapon for you. Below is one of my favorite bodyweight workouts for fat loss. In one minute, do three reps of the three exercises below. Take the rest of the round to recover before starting again at the top of the next minute. Do that 20 times...

3 x CST Frogger


3 x Lunge Jump


3 x CST Swing Split


Be forewarned, this bodyweight workout is deceptively easy for the first couple rounds. Don’t be fooled...

And make sure you blast through your three exercises as quickly as possible. You may be tempted to dawdle through it and take your entire minute to get the exercises done. But if you go that route you’ll soon run out of gas. The only way to make it through is to go as fast as you can and then spend the rest of the minute on recovery.

If you are more into training with equipment right now, you can also click through to check out my colleague Craig’s super popular fat loss program.

The important thing is to synch up your nutrition and your exercise to come through the dark months in fighting form for Spring. Keeping yourself lean and healthy year round is a pursuit that will pay dividends in mood, energy, vitality and longevity.

So make, borrow or buy a plan and get to it…

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You may also enjoy these bodyweight workouts:

Tough Bodyweight Workout (with video)

Bodyweight Workout for Fat Loss (with video)

 

Or this primer on doing the perfect pushup!