Not Your Average Fitness Tips

Is weight loss really all about creating an energy deficit by eating less calories than you expend?  Dr. John Berardi has challenged that notion with what he calls G-Flux.  This concept involves energy flux, and Dr. Berardi argues that you are better off eating more and exercising more to generate a caloric deficit.  Essentially you influence your metabolic rate and ultimately increase your metabolism leading to a great number of calories burned than if you tried to simply eat less.  On the surface, G-Flux is a novel approach that makes sense when viewed over the long term. Continue Reading…

Have you ever wondered about how to get a gymnast body?  While it’s well documented that gymnasts make extensive use of bodyweight exercises, I would also recommend incorporating gymnastic rings training to really increase your strength and muscular definition.  Once you become proficient with EXF Rings, you can progress to a full gymnastics workout routine that includes advanced variations of static holds, upper body presses/pulls, core exercises, and leg training.  Overall, gymnastics training on its own can help you build a great body, but gymnastics exercises can just serve as a nice complement to your existing strength training routine as well.  Continue Reading…

Today I’d like to discuss branched chain amino acids.  You may have heard of BCAAs before but do they really live up to their claim of being effective for losing fat and gaining muscle?  While I’d say there are many benefits of BCAAs, whether you decide to supplement with them will depend in part on when you exercise and how restrictive your diet is.  For fasted training, I’d highly recommend using branched chain amino acids to help prevent muscle loss while maximizing fat loss.  Any other time, there’s probably only a marginal benefit at best. Continue Reading…

Over the past month, I’ve been trying out huaraches known as Invisible Shoes.  While I haven’t fully jumped on the barefoot running bandwagon, I definitely love using these for barefoot walking.  I started by wearing the 6mm Invisible Shoes every morning that I walked my dog.  I noticed a considerable difference in the way I walked between these and my regular sandals or sneakers.  I progressed to wearing them when playing with my son and found that I could easily run in them to keep up with him.  The only downside I’ve found to huaraches is that here in New England, I can probably only wear them 5-6 months out of the year for barefoot walking.  Continue Reading…

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve added a new section to my website where you can read all my best articles on a variety of fitness topics.  I wanted this to be the go-to source for all my best fitness tips.  Click below to check it out:

Best Fitness Tips

• Men’s Fitness
• Women’s Fitness
• Strength Training
• Gain Muscle Mass
• Bodyweight Training
• Cardio
• Abs Training
• Diet & Weight Loss Tips
• General Fitness Tips
• Exercise & Diet Reviews

By categorizing my articles, I hope you’ll be able to better focus on the area of training you’re most interested in.  Plus, I’m always implementing new fitness tips into my routines and thought this section would serve as a nice complement to my free Fitness in a Flash and How to Get a Beach Body reports.  Questions and comments are always welcome!

In my last two posts I’ve discussed how I use pushing exercises and pulling exercises as part of my workout routine.  When I do heavy weight low rep supersets, I like to pair a pushing exercise with a pulling exercise.  When I do low weight high rep training to failure, I like to perform pushing exercises one day and pulling exercises another day.  In this post, I wanted to quickly review a few different pushing exercises and pulling exercises that you can incorporate in your workout routine. Continue Reading…

While I generally think heavy lifting while avoiding failure is the best way to train, every once in a while I like to perform low weight high reps training to failure.  This is primarily used for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy which results in muscle mass gains.  Done strategically, training to failure can actually generate a nice “shrink-wrap effect” as well.  However, over the long term, I think low weight high reps training is best left to bodybuilders. Continue Reading…

Have you ever wondered about how to make your strength training workout more time efficient and effective?  Then it’s time to consider a high weight, low reps superset workout routine.  The best way to build strength is by using a heavy weight that you can only lift for a few reps.  Ideally you want to give your muscles plenty of time to rest between sets so that you avoid training to failure.  However, this is terribly inefficient.  This is where superset workout routines can be helpful.  Rather than just resting between sets, you perform a different exercise.  I’ve discussed my preferred way to combine high weight, low rep training with a superset workout in Fitness in a Flash and How to Get a Beach Body but thought it might be worthwhile to provide a little more flavor. Continue Reading…

I recently completed Joel Marion’s Xtreme Fat Loss Diet.  It’s a rapid fat loss diet designed to help you lose up to 25 pounds in 25 days.  Are the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet results really that impressive?  What sacrifices are you going to have to make along the way?  Read my Xtreme Fat Loss Diet review to find out the answers to these and more. Continue Reading…

As you get leaner, one of the biggest challenges is measuring body fat percentage and measuring muscle mass percentage.  If you’re trying to lose a lot of weight, the scale is just as good a tool as any.  However, when you’re trying to lose the last 5-10lbs of fat while preventing muscle loss, the scale alone won’t necessarily help.  How can you effectively measure your weight loss results if you don’t know your body fat percentage or muscle mass percentage?  Based my recent experience, your best bet is to combine a variety of different methods.  Even then, it’s tough to definitively determine anything in the short term. Continue Reading…