Looking good vs. looking good

So, my view is skewed, and after this yours might be too.

So, what does the average "ohhhhh you look SO good"
"You're not fat!"
You're in such good shape"

Mean?

To me, not much.

Why?

Friends are the worst judge of ourselves. Ever see the girls that hang around with others that are in "worse shape" than themselves? Exactly. To look better / boost self esteem.

Look at facebook photos.
The comments I quoted earlier, or something close will soon ensue.

My opinion due to my profession has been skewed horribly. I rip/pick people apart. He needs more pecs.
She needs a bigger but
He needs less love handles
Her triceps are too small.

Huh?

But she looks "soooooo good"

No.

If we were to take two people, put them in "covering" clothing aka nothing form fitting, and covering limbs, they could potentially look the same.

We put them in the skimpiest bikini available, those 2 could look vastly/massively different. Then, if we up the ante, let's do their body fat testing/ go up and give them a squeeze.

Harder vs softer is everything to me.

All the time my girls weigh much more than others, and then look much better than their 10-20-30 lb lighter counter parts, and they're "toned" by their standards.

Where am I going with this, as always?

Look for it. Look as someone's "defintion"
You say you want to be toned, show me. Do you? Or are you going after weight? Scale chasing? What for? Do you actually ZENJOY looking anorexic?

And if you do, let's have an in person chat.

So, before you envy that girl/guy, look at their composition.

Until next time, keep questioning the status quo.

Limiting Reagent

Way back in highschool, at the beginning of my highschool chemistry obsession, We learned about limiting reagents.
what is a limiting reagent?

in a reaction, there will always be one chemical or one thing that will hold everything else back, regardless of the amount. think about having a ridiculous amount of guns, but only so much ammo (ruling out that you could throw the guns or smack someone with them). so, you're only as tough as the amount of ammo.

you're only as tough as YOUR limiting reagent.

what does that mean?

if you just "aren't hungry", that's your limiting reagent.

if you have "no time to eat", that's your limiting reagent.

you could have all your food prepared, going to the gym X times of the week, perfect technique, no stress, perfect sleep, but no matter how good those are, if your limiting reagent isn't in check, then it will fail.

I work with all of my clients to find their limiting reagent.

I'll use mine as an example

I was having a lot of issues in my personal life at one point, and it was really causing a BIG snag in my personal goals. the people close to me could see this, and would tell me so.

when this limiting reagent was gone, "awesomeness" happened. i started sleeping more, eating more (appetite was back), which in turn everything else turned on.

where I'm going with this was that eating wasn't my limiting reagent. sleeping too little wasn't my limiting reagent.

the garbage in my personal life was holding those things caged, no matter how hard i focused on them. so without me even putting any effort into these other factors, they came into place once my limiting reagent was fixed.

here are some common ones:

1)personal life issues/relationship issues
2)sleep issues (irregular patterns, shift worker, smoker, drinker)
3)partying
4)social circle (friends of not same interest, discouraging comments)
5)time
6)motivation
7)knowledge
8)drugs (prescription or non prescription, illegal)

these all can be the one thing holding you back from your goals.

once again, where am i going with this?

once you figure this out, this ONE factor, watch all your hard work come to fruition.

another reason to have a great coach/trainer (MEGA Marty plug!) is to help you figure this out if you can't on your own. I'm very fortunate to have had friends and mentors to help me be able to figure mine out.

can you figure out what yours is?

Being "in shape"

what exactly does that mean?

Lots of people want to be "in shape"

so, let's go over what that can entail.

first off, there are people trying to get in shape for bodybuilding.
what does this mean?
1) achieving the lowest bodyfat possible while obtaining muscle mass
2) learning posing, and being able to present your physique effortlessly.
3)being able to mentally handle the challenges of society/every day life to stay on your meal plan/training/supplement regimen.

lets compare this with marathon running.

what does "in shape" for it mean?
1) being able to have longevity to be able to finish the race/distance
2) having the time to prepare for endless hours to build up your cardiovascular ability to handle the race.
3) have a good bodyfat/muscle ratio to be efficient during the race

2 VASTLY different goals, and 2 VASTLY different definitions of being "in shape"

so figure out with yourself what that means to you.

so you want to "shape up" or be "in shape"

okay, so what does that mean?
obviously, a bodybuilder couldn't (typically) be able to finish a marathon, and a marathon runner should (typically) come in dead last at a bodybuilding competition.

I am writing about this because who doesn't want to shape up or be in shape.

I have clients all over the map. feel healthy, compete, lose fat, gain muscle, you name it. but all of them would agree that they want to be "in shape"

who says one shape is better than the other?

you.

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.