NEW FAD 3: Initial Workout

so, where do you go from there?

Once your assessment is completed, you're cleared to workout, now what?

Its time to workout! so, what do you need?

1) log book. if you don't have a log book, you're wasting your time. to this day i have no idea how/why people don't have this. its essential and pivotal that you have one.
without a book to measure your progress, you're essentially guessing. if you can remember your workout routine (however many days there are in it) and the exercises, weights, and reps you preformed, you're better at it than all my clients and myself included. write down exactly what i just said. exercise, weight, reps preformed.

2) flat shoes (for lifting) see my running post. you're not running, so DONT WEAR RUNNERS. anything standing or where your feet are in contact with the ground, don't wear runners. enough said.

3) water bottle. hydration people. or fountain. up to you.

4) adequate nutrition. this is paramount, and the further along you become the more important this will become. nothing sucks more than being hungry during a weight session, let alone being malnourished and unable to preform exercises. this also makes us susceptible to injuries, blackouts and nausea.


SO, what SHOULD you be doing for a workout? 2 days a week? 3 days? 12312 days? how long should i work out for? 30 mins? hour? 234675 hours?
should i be doing cardio? if so, how long? what type? how many days a week?

these are things that should be working around YOUR schedule, fitness level, goals, nutrition, profession(your job).

these factors you can try posting online and hopefully someone will help, but this is where a professional (Mega Marty plug, DUH!) will come in VERY handy, being able to help you with this.

its easy and complicated at the same time.

so, what workout should you preform? I'll give you an IDEAL WORLD example for a 20-40 year old healthy male, BRAND new to the gym.

Squats - 3 sets of 10
Bench Press - 3 sets of 10
Bent over Row - 3 sets of 10
Standing Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 10
Lat Pulldown - 3 sets of 10
Tricep Pushdown - 3 sets of 15
Barbell curls - 3 sets of 15

there! why? here is why in short:
a)uses all body parts
b) uses abs and lower back indirectly for optimal development in a beginner
c)uses push/pull to maximize power/strength/recovery

once again, THIS IS IDEAL. healthy, no injuries, good posture, good everything.

any further questions can be facebooked or emailed to me if you wish.

weights should be VERY light. enough that you are comfortable and ENJOYING it. if you don't like what you're doing, you're not going to do it. liking something and doing something are 2 different things. convince yourself you'll love the results, and then in turn hopefully you'll love the workouts too.

recovery! for this example, i would preform this workout 3 X a week, or a similar workout (so A and B) so your week would look like:

monday: workout A
wednesday: workout B
friday: workout A

next week: B A B

makes sense? horray you're learning!

is this enough stress? will this work forever? what do i do if i can't preform 10 reps? im sooOOOo sore what do i do? there's no calves! what about arms? dont i need more arms? where are the core exercises? how long should this take me? should i do cardio before? after? what tempo should the reps be? how long in between sets? how should i breathe? should i stare at myself in the mirror? how long in between reps? i feel the squats in my knees, is that normal? my back hurts doing the bench press, am i doing it wrong? this doesn't feel like enough work. im not losing any weight. I'm not gaining any weight. bodybuilding.com didn't say to do this, I'm doing more. you're stupid marty this won't work.

ANNNND even more questions than that ensue! stay tuned for HOPEFULLY SOME answers!

NEW FAD 2: Initial Assessment

So, where are you?

in terms of the following things
1)flexibility
2)motivation
3)goal setting
4)muscularity
5)level of fitness for your goal/sport
6)injuries current and prior

and there might be some I'm leaving out.

these are some of things I go over with my clients.

one of my clients, Pearl Johnson, wrote me a fantastic testimonial, where she talks about how she needed, and more importantly, WANTED to make a change. you can find pearl's testimonial here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mega-Marty-Nutrition-Fitness/115549985162377

so once you have gotten in the door, that is my job (or yours) to decide how badly you "want it"
it really does boil down to that. if 2 weeks from now, are you going to say "this sucks" and run away with your tail between your legs? what is YOUR definition of fun? whats YOUR definition of hard work? aside from a few crazy freaks like myself, I bet your definition is different from mine.

working on my body is FUN. its beyond exhilarating. its WHAT I WANT more than ANYTHING in the world.

do you have to have this mentality? no.

BUT

you DO have to want it. when it gets "hard" whenever that will be, you have to stick to the course.

hard, however, should NOT be joint pain, and weird pain, other interesting things (see my post on Muscle Soreness)

so, once the "want" is out of the way, we can look at some newer better things

flexibility. some people/trainers will put you through a series of tests/stretches to see where you're at. I like putting people into the positions of the exercises i would ideally use, and see what they look like. an example of some things i look for are :
are their shoulders popping?
is their lower back rounding on the squat?
are they trying to recruit different muscles than the intended ones?

once we get through that, I can then make an educated assumption.

special attention should be made to injuries. people with injuries, i recommend you get a competent trainer/massage therapist to assess this, instead of doing it on your own. this can REALLY set you back if you just "work through it" to find out you've been damaging something pretty severely.

don't come into the gym without goals.

why are you here? look good? feel better? more energy?
sure, those are fine and dandy but you need to get a bit more specific. as in
in 2 months i want to know how to bench press effectively and get my weight to X.
or
I want to squat without my lower back hurting
or
I want to compete in a bodybuilding competition in 2 years.

all are just examples. weight loss, toning, shaping, all these other things DEFINITELY come into play as well.

so, where are you muscularly? is this your first BBQ? or have you been doing this for a while now and looking for an edge? did you play sports in high school? or were you sedentary and drank and did drugs throughout highschool? these DO play factors!

also, different goals DO have different approaches. a marathon runner vs a male bodybuilder will have vastly different workouts (once at the intermediate phase) and vastly different nutritional requirements and regimens.

so, lets use my marathon/bodybuilding example. have you done marathon before? are you a runner? how often? when? etc.

bodybuilder: have you trained the muscle groups before? do you know proper technique? have you competed before?

just SOME of the questions a professional in the field will/should drill you with before you start.

these meetings I have with people can last from 30 mins to an 1 hour 30 mins. this should take some time. yes, writing it down helps a LOT

Tosca Reno's "eat clean workout" review

A couple of my clients have been asking me about this lady, I in fact had never heard of her until recently.

She is apparently a role model for middle aged women (and beyond) to get in shape and that "you can do it too!"

that is all fine and dandy, I have my role models too. but I KNOW i CANNOT and WILL NOT look like these guys (search Dorian Yates, Tom Platz just as examples) no matter how hard I try. I'm trying to improve ME to make an even better ME.

so, One of my client loaned me one of her books (which apparently she has 10 books and counting... who knew?) which is titled "The eat clean diet workout"

I thought "sure, I'll give it a whirl, just to see whats out there now"
this was written in 2008, and here is my "quick" review.

yes, my "new fad" posts had to stop because I feel this is needed. badly.

Pros:

- muscle is good. who knew??? Tosca totes that women should strive to GAIN muscle, not lose weight. this is very good, and I'm glad shes said this. also that you cannot and will not gain ugly bulky muscle. she doesn't go into why, but at least she states it.

-Ditch the scale. self explanatory, but great that she put it in there none the less.

-Don't Train too rapidly. very good as well. adequate rest during workouts is needed for various reasons I've talked about here.

-never bounce/drop weight. she means during exercises, during the negative portion, dont drop the weight to the starting position. control the weight. definitely.

- ease into things. yes. don't go jump into 293843 X a week doing cardio and weights. even with nutrition, which she mentions. great.

-sleep is key. self explanatory.

soooo, that pretty much wraps up the pros. here are my cons...

Cons:

-Scary recommended exercises.

Where should I start? from her recommending good mornings to her saying that heel wedges should be used for free weight squats, everything is pathetic and terrible. a lot of her reasoning was cyclical, in "the squat works because it does!" was awful. we're supposed to take Tosca's word for it because shes done it so we should too. right. this was actually awful. that and the amount of isolation exercises was hilarious, even for a figure/fitness competitor. the people wanting this book shouldn't/wouldnt want/need these exercises.

- Horrible opinions/myths

Yes, everyone has an opinion. some of you will think this review is crap, that is fine. but here it is !
where she gets her myths kind of blows my mind. for instance, the 2 that really stick out memorably are 1) don't EVER push out your stomach because you could PERMANENTLY stretch your stomach/abdominal wall. not even as a joke. this is pathetically not true, and would go against all proper breathing principles. she even recommends wearing a weight belt to keep the stomach tight. wow. hilarious. (no folks, this DOES NOT happen. ) 2) steriods kill people and are horrible for you. I'll segue into this later, but 2 of 6 pages in the supplement section has to do with her VERY negative opinion on steroids. her claims are unfounded and untrue. NOTE: this is not me condoning or rejecting the use of steroids, its me saying if you're going to hack/promote something, back it up. don't just say your word. these are 2 examples of the weird stuff "Tosca says" for us to do.

-BLATANT over pushing of oxygen magazine.

I believe at least once she says keys to success are to NEVER miss an issue of oxygen. self promotion, nice. I believe this woman is married to Robert Kennedy, owner of oxygen? (whom also does the crappy forward for the book) so why wouldn't you promote this magazine? the last time I read oxygen, i could barely contain my emotions from wanting to burst out laughing or rip all the pages out in a maddened frenzy. quick response: this magazine is crap and not worth anyone's time.

- Totes science, yet no studies

I'm very neutral when it comes to scientific studies. what i mean is that yes, some results are convincing, others are not, and i judge accordingly. protein builds lean muscle, and has been documented to do so. creatine works, every case. caffeine wakes you up. BUT, "Tosca says" a lot in here, that i have YET to see backed up. better yet, she claims most/everything she talks about has scientific backing. she gives us no references, just claims it to be scientific. you gotta do better than that, Tosca.

-Change routines every couple weeks.

I have been over this a lot, but here it is none the less. the "switch it up" or "change it up" methodology, with more scientific backing of "Tosca says". right. i'm not getting into this anymore, just know that NO. this is lies.

-Definitions of certain techniques/workouts

the one that really stands out to me is "rest pausing". shes got it right when she says you take a short/defined amount of time in between sets, yes, but she says its one rep or your one rep max. no. this is incorrect.

-women's bodyfat percentage

Lyle McDonald, whom of which the nutrition/workout community owes A LOT of thanks/responsibility to for compiling books with NUMEROUS scientific studies backing up his research/findings/teachings, says that women cannot go below 9% bodyfat due to essential fat reasons (between organs, brain, etc) Tosca says that women on stage are 10-12% bodyfat, and she has "seen" a girl who has been 4%. errr, I'm going to go with Lyle on this one... lies. sorry Tosca.

-"cutting workout"

I thought this was dead, but i guess not. she claims to "switch" to isolation movements when you're cutting weight. okay.... maybe if you explained why. I have been over this ridiculous unfounded myth, but i will say one mini pro. joints DO lose their integrity when boyfat is low, water restricted etc. but you need to think, you can't lift as heavy as it is when cutting weight (eventually) so your body won't allow you to fail. unless technique is off. but no. lies again.

- more reps for lagging bodyparts

this one has to be the most ludicrous so far, if not at all. she says, and i loosely quote, "if one bicep is smaller than the other, do an extra couple reps for the lagging bicep" Right. because further damaging an already weak muscle is the way to go. once again we should do this because "Tosca says" preposterous.

-pre workout nutrition

a banana with some almonds. no reasoning. anyone that knows me at all, and what i teach... Where is the protein? answer: there isn't any. why she says to have this blows my mind. no reasoning given at all.

-her supplement section

basically, this section is completely useless. she gives a list of the vitamins, and the food sources they're contained within. that's fine, but what about supplements? like i said earlier, 2 pages of this 6 page section was bashing steroids. right. why would someone go so far out of their way to bash steroids? maybe shes hiding/denying usage herself? hmmmmmmmm. also, that is it. other than "protein powders exist" thanks for that tip/update. nothing about multi vitamins, when to take supplements, how, creatine, fat burner myths, NOTHING. pathetic on all levels.

-sample workouts

trash. this is awful. okay, well i'm being a tad bit harsh. there is SOME merit to SOME of them. but the "advanced routines?" are you kidding me? dumbbell flies AND pec deck for chest? women need that much isolation chest work? not only that, but she makes "specialization workouts", where she "prioritizes" muscle groups, again chest is there, doing about 5-6 chest exercises with multiple sets. wow. im not even going to elaborate a complaint/counter argument, i don't feel one is needed.

-sample streches

trash. recommends the standing quad stretch, where you grab your leg. awesome thing is, she doesn't even need support. Tosca's balance is THAT good! because yes, 200, 250, 300 lb people should be trying to balance on one leg AND stretch their muscles. because thats the way you can relax and get an effective stretch. right. also she shows one called the "swan" or something. wow is all i have to say about that one.

-Forward by robert kennedy

to my knowledge, tosca is this guy's wife, and he owns/produces or does something with oxygen. all i have to say is he says what Tosca has written about in this book has "never been done before" and is cutting edge yadda yadda. pathetic.


There you have it kids. my "quick" review of this. glad to see I'm still in business and am still needed to bust myths out there. this was awful, and gets 1/10 for my total score.

The latest greatest fad

Alright, upon talking with colleagues and friends, I'm going to do this.

I'm starting a new fad. THE new fad.

this is going to be better than P90X

better than the bosu, stability balls.

Better than TRX.
they
Better than the ab circle, shake weight, and stand-on-it-and-it-shakes-you thingy.

so what is this fad you say?

drummmmmmMMM rolllllll....

the fad is:

NO FAD.

thats right. there is NO FAD that works. that is why they called it a fad. they potentially work in the beginning.

they might even make you in much better shape than the gym has ever gotten you into. but lets ask ourselves the following questions:

1) did you change your eating habits?
2) How is/was your stress level?
3) what do you attribute to your success? the workout/fad solely?
4) how "on track" were you?

that is just a couple questions to ask yourself.

where am i going with this?

I'm going to provide a series of "helpful articles" or ways to keep yourslef going. what the answers are. I've provided most of them in here, but i can see them being confusing so i'm going to do something i haven't done, and "lay it out" what you should be doing, and what i do with most Mega Marty Nutrition & Fitness clients.

I've contemplated doing this and not doing this, but I've decided to give away the Mega Marty Method fad: there is no fad.

I'm going to lay out what I would have YOU or anyone else doing.

questions are MORE than welcomed, thats what I pride myself on is being able to answer any questions you can.

So prepare for the new fad: NO FAD!!!

season of lies and excuses

So, A couple people asked me to do this, so here it is.

the holidays. christmas new years and any other ridiculous excuse you may conjure up to overeat and blame the gain on is here!

i hope you can see already where i am going with this.

let me ask you this.

what is on december 28th?

nothing.

exactly.

so, therefore, why are you/people still making excuses about their nutrition then?

in all honesty, i really don't believe in any day being a free for all. even Christmas day itself. people do have different "holiday meals" in terms of some have it for breakfast, some have turkey lunch, some have turkey supper. I haven't met someone who does all 3.

where am i going with this?

if you know that you're going to "indulge", have some "non-approved" items, do NOT let yourself be convinced that it is "okay" to do it THE WHOLE TIME aka December 1st - Jan. 2nd ish.

that is just flat out awful, and you know it. we love excuses. I heard numerous people at the gym about 2 ish weeks ago saying
"yeah, its already started with the christmas cookies, christmas parties, " etc etc etc.

give me a break.

if you actually want fitness, and its a goal (not below on the list of get super fat over the holidays) of yours, remember that.

yes, be social. yes have some egg nog. don't drink the whole carton of egg nog while eating every last shortbread/stuffing/peanut butter balls you can. that is not "enjoying the holidays" that is "self sabbotage" that will only lead you to a crappy start to your new year, and a lowered self esteem.

want to know what my plans are? tonight (christmas eve) I will be going to my girlfriends house for a family get together. i might have one or 2 snacks if it tickles me the right way.

tomorrow? the big day? I'm having turkey supper. guess waht I'm having the rest of the day? my regular prescribed meals.

....


there is the extent of my christmas indulging. I didn't plan on this being a "how to survive the holidays" guide, because in my opinion, its trash and if you want one, go pick up any fitness magazine.

suck it up, stop lying to yourself making excuses. even if you are away from home, you can still bring protein powder and lots of other snacks to get you by. not fly off the rails so hard you can't see them when you come to.

What do you expect?

Sometimes i get asked

"that's it?"

"where is the variety?"

"I'm very unimpressed with this."

"i thought there would be more to it."

and to this, i smile and ask..

"what do you expect?"

note that the comments i get that look like those above are ALWAYS before a nutritional program has been attempted AT ALL.

before changes have been implemented. before anything has even been given a chance.

it used to make me angry. very angry. but then i came to terms with it.

most people, ESPECIALLY new people to a nutritional coaching service, need to be brought into this whole new world most of us are already used to VERY lightly.

not overload them with information. if they want information, GREAT! but bare in mind they cant handle it at that amount at that time.

but did you really think there is something magic? an all grapefruit diet? lets only eat chicken on days 1-5 then over indulge on even more grapefruit?

methodical process. there is nothing that works better than being consistent. nothing.

Staying on track/motivation

I get asked a lot how I do it myself.

what keeps you on track? how do you stay motivated?

now, i find it much easier. why?
1)if im not motivated, how the heck am i going to motivate my clients?
2) I have hired a nutritionist and trainer myself. distance, mind you, I haven't found anyone locally i would even consider hiring.
anyone who wants to hack me or make fun of me for hiring someone isn't really looking at the "why"
i not only get to learn from this person, but now i can focus on my clients and them only.
plus, its a business write-off!

not only that, but i do the following still:

social circle.

this I am finding out more and more as i progress myself and watch my clients grow, its the most important factor.
When i was scratching my head wondering why this client is failing, and lots of my reasonings had drifted, it was this.

you need to have people around you who are at the very LEAST supportive, and at the best, involved/have the same goals as you.

this really is becoming more and more imperative. I've seen people with the greatest ambition in the world , so it seems, fail horribly due to this.

worse, i have trained wives/husbands/friends whom which get RIDICULED for their attempt at better their health, performance, and body composition.

yes, we really are THAT negative and jealous of each other, that if someone has a goal, we blatantly hack them down. this DISGUSTS me, but here we are.

suggestions? get a buddy. post on kijiji. ask a friend to start up with you. hire a personal trainer nutritionist (BIG PLUG). find out when the recreational sports teams are playing/what/where and join a team. CHANGE your social circle if yours isn't what you want it to be. I'm very lucky to have my best friend be an aspiring bodybuilder and already successful business man (which is what I'm aiming for) so we do very well together.

Training Partners work for a bit at least, and will definitely help keep you going.

Motivational articles / videos.

this is what I have found to use a lot more lately. there are some fantastic youtube videos and articles. they really are not hard to find, just do a general/basic search and they'll be there.

a lot of my personal training clients end up going on their own. I sound like a used car salesman talking to them, but i really try to get them to keep coming in weekly for an assessment, which includes us having a 15 minute chat and checking their nutrition. this creates MUCH better adherence and accountablilty.

journal

not only a food journal, but a training journal. these help out a crazy amount. now you're accountable for yourself. look up what those 2 pizza pieces have for calories. it'll blow you away, and motivate you.

motivational photos

this has 2 meanings. sure, get a photo of an athlete or someone whom you'd like to look like. but don't get it in your head you'll look JUST like them. better more, get a photo of you at your WORST. and keep it close (computer, wallet, desk) and know you're NOT going back there. ever.

a good eye:

if you're not going to get a nutritionist, have someone with agood eye let you know how to progress is going. scales will end up lying, so you need someone that can say "okay, you do look better" or "no, you look awful" when everyone else is saying you look fantastic.


what i have found to do especially, is "pick the motivation"
when someone says " i don't know why you're in here marty, you've been doing this for years and are still small" i LOVE THAT. i BATHE in that. that is so motivating to me. why? because i KNOW what i look like when im off. when im slacking. they think this is small/fat? you don't want to KNOW.

or when i wanted to get 5 reps, and i got 3. that doesn't discourage me. that INFURIATES me. i walk away, enraged, and underline it in my log book. that damn next time i will BLOW by 5 reps. smash it into smithereens.

there are a LOT of people that will pick being defeated. pick the motivational. don't you dare let someone or a log book or even YOU tell yourself you can't. up that. you can do this.