The Edge of a Knife/All over the Map/Goals

There have been times that the best of us question why we're doing what we're doing. Doubt.
Yes, even the people that you constantly see motivating others everyday.
They, at times, struggle to be motivated.

I recently got back from the CBBF National Bodybuilding Championships.
It put many things into perspective.

Watching one of my good friends, Rob Friss, go through hell and back. Questioning things, being at an all time low for energy reserves, not only physically but mentally.

Back to the point.

Really ask why you're doing what you're doing.

If you're doing something to cross it off your bucket list, do a LOT of research first.

Do you know that the average first time bodybuilding/figure show requires around 16 weeks of perfect dieting?

Do you know how long a marathon is?

I'm not talking about pick up softball in a bush league here and there, I'm talking about serious feats of "fitness."

I would like it if people boarderline equated it to an Olympic sport. People don't just wake up and say "the heck with it, I'm going to do a skeleton race this year at the Olympics."

No.

Not only that, but let's also say the following.

You're dieting for your first figure/bikini show. You're doing great, you have a trainer who's pumping you up, motivating you, you're following your meal plan, following your workout, following your cardio regimen, everything.

Everyone is telling you how awesome you look. Friends, family, everyone. You're pumped.

Let's also say you do in fact look good. Great even.

You compete.

You place dead last.

Here is that edge of the knife.

Does this crush you?

Or does this motivate the living hell out of you?

Tons of questions will be swirling about your mind. Were my friends/family lying? Did I look like crap? Should I have even competed? Should I dig myself into a tunnel and never come out?

You have to be prepared for this stuff.

Not only that, but if you are "serious" about your endeavor, you should get back up, dust yourself off, and do better.

Imagine if the first time you fell off a bicycle, you said "screw this" and never did it again. Sounds kind of silly, doesn't it?

To motivate yourself is challenging. I have a trainer/nutritionist myself as I have stated many, many times. I love it. They help me out a ton.

But also, reflection should be there. Let's keep with the bicycle analogy. Obviously if you have competed in something like figure/fitness/bikini, you are competent at riding the bicycle, and are trying tricks per say.

If you do it, and ACTUALLY decide you don't like it, that's another gig as well. Let's say its taking away from other activities you love. Being social, doing other physical activities. Trips. Work.

Balance. Yes its been talked about a lot, but not necessarily at this angle.

In order to improve somehow, eventually you're going to have to give up certain things you REALLY enjoy.

Bodybuilding - you're not drinking a few beers on the weekends with buddies.
You're not having a piece of cake at your birthday party. Especially if you're in pre-contest and it's not on your meal plan.

What are you willing to give up?

I've motivated myself a lot. By the changes I see. How I feel. How I train my clients and the success I see them have. I motivate them, which in turn motivates me. Plus, If I get wildly out of shape, who would listen to me in the first place? A fat nutritionist? Nice Mega, Nice.

Don't hesitate to be honest. But if you're willing to put effort, and sacrifice but NOT suffer... Maybe some magic will happen...

The Human GPS

I was talking to one of my clients about this, and we came up with this together.

My position is very similar to a GPS.

When you hire a personal trainer/nutritionist, you're shopping for a GPS.

There are going to be great models out there, economy models, overpriced models, and then ones that are worth what you pay.

Picture yourself in the middle of a desert. And you have a GPS.

The end destination, aka. where you want to be for fitness, is as far away or as close as your goals are.

The GPS is the personal trainer/nutritionist.

The GPS should be telling you the exact course, the exact direction you need to go.

In the beginning the route will be very straight forward. You're in a desert, it will tell you which direction to go, and simply walk in that direction.

Eventually, if your goal is big, you'll have to pay close attention to the GPS and take the correct turns, off ramps, detours etc.

All seems simple, correct?

Here's the kicker:

There are people that won't follow their GPS. They think they know how to get to their destination quicker. They think they know where their destination is. The proper turns. The whole shabang.

Then I ask you:

Why did you buy the GPS?

If you feel the GPS is defective (bad training/nutritionist)

Return it. Get another one.

But, if you get lost, and you didn't use the GPS, don't blame the GPS.

Calories In vs Calories Out

A great debate.

Let's preface by saying this. Are you trying to tell me that if we were to duplicate your genetics, and we were to feed one of you 2000 calories of chicken, and the other 2000 calories of ice cream, they'd end up the same?

It just sounds hilarious to begin with.

Once again, this depends on your goals.

Most people would like to retain muscle mass and lose their bodyfat.

Let's go over some elementary concepts first however.

If you eat 2000 calories, and you're burning 2500 a day by your total daily expenditure, you will lose weight.

If you eat 2000 calories, and burn 1500 calories, you will gain weight.

Remember what we've talked about, how "weight" means water, fat, muscle, glycogen and a host of other lovely variables.

This is where what the calories are coming from matters.

This is why "eating smaller portions" will only work for so long, until you change WHAT those portions are.

Remember the macro nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats.

Having the macros set up in the correct amounts will be the key to your success more so than how many calories you are eating, depending on exercise, goals, the whole shabang.

And something else quickly I wrote on my face book page:

If you eat an ice cream sandwich, and expect to get on the treadmill and "burn it off" you're out of luck. Your body isn't that smart at tossing out crap, it will toss out a mixture of things, possibly fat, possibly hard earned muscle.

It doesn't work that way, crap in does not mean crap out. It could be crap in = muscle out.

There are tons of formulas out there for how to set up your meal plan, but try to remember:

Clean it up first. If your big fallacy is crap, then cut it out or at the very least minimize it.

If what you're eating is clean and progress has stopped, figure out what macronutrients are in the foods you're eating, and change them around.

Hope that helps!

This is Earned

All of this.

It's all earned.

Even the people who claim to eat crap and look great. Which, yes, there are people out there like that. They're jerks. Only because that's not me.

A side note, right quick, is those people, the ones above, have to watch their health. The way your body looks has nothing to do with how healthy you are on the inside.

Back to topic.

It's earned.

Your physique, your stamina, your health.

All of it.

It's going to be work. Sure it is. Did you REALLY, deep down inside, think you'd only have to eat clean for a bit? Did you REALLY, deep down inside, think you'd only have to do a tiny bit of weights or cardio?

If you did, shame on you.

I like to use the analogy of money. I've stolen this partially from Chris Aceto.

The people who have always had money very rarely care about money (in terms of losing it all or having none). These people are the ones with naturally great physiques.
But, if you had nothing, and you built a fortune, you're going to care a heck of a lot more about your wealth than someone who inherited it.
These are the people that have been through the grind.

These are the people that earned it.

These are the people who saved. Dollar after dollar. Cent after cent. And waited.
Gaining the wealth. Making the proper investments. Not being stupid with their money. Not buying into bogus schemes and money traps.

This is your physique. It's earned. You have to lay down foundation. Then save up. Build more muscle. Lose more fat. Gain more strength. Not taking insane supplements or relying on them.

So, with the proper mantra, the proper guidance, you can earn at least a very plausible physique.

Will you win a show/contest? Maybe not. But can you look back and be MUCH, much better than where you were?

Only if you earn it.

All the cliches come into effect.

"How hard are you willing to push?" is what I ask my clients all the time. Some people reach a limit, where sacrifice becomes suffering. That's fine.

Some people it's early in their progress, some people it's very late, or never.

The bottom line is:

If you can't sacrifice, if you can't eat all your meals, if you can't make it to the gym, if you can't stop drinking booze, if you can't cook your food, if you can't remember to take your vitamins/supplements, then you can't complain.

If you do, you may as well tell it to the wind, because no one will want to hear it, and it will only be whisked away anyways.

Have some damn pride.

Putting it All Together

So, lets assume you've followed quite a bit of my blogs. This is a huge assumption, because I know there is quite a bit of information to absorb in them.

so, as a recap

1) You understand the BASICS of program design (even doing the beginner routine I outlined).
2) You understand the basics of nutrition (how to put together a general guideline based upon your needs)
3) You have a proper cardio regimen to fit your goals.

How the heck do you ALTER this?

This is where, to me, having a Trainer has the greatest potential for help.

If you got from X to Y, and Y is still not good enough for you, or you want more, now you need to get some advice.

I've talked about getting reputable sources to give you opinions. Getting these is challenging and tough.

Because let's say all 3 factors at the top are in line.

BUT results are lacking or not happening?

What If I told you it COULD be something else?

What?

Yes. For instance, myself and Chest development was/is an issue. In other words, it just would NOT develop at all. It looked awful, and it was behind every bodypart, even my lagging biceps.

So, I had to get opinions. And here's the worst part: a lot of them were garbage, and worse, I got a subluxation in my left collarbone thanks to it. Incredible.

So, through some PROPER advice and research, I have figured it out for myself what to do, and have put quite a bit of mass on my chest, not enough by any means, but much, much more than there was.

I have diagnosed a couple clients also with low testosterone. In other words, 3 of my male clients were doing great in terms of
1) following meal plan
2) doing their workouts
3) prescribed meal plan.

Yet seeing CRAP for results. So it was NOT their fault.

I had them go see their doctors, and get their testosterone levels checked.

Sure enough, they were low. Very low.

Where am I going?

Maybe there ARE things outside of your control affecting your progress, such as the ones above, or thyroid, digestion issue, something.

Having that educated 2nd, 3rd, 4th opinion is always great to have there.

But this is also saying don't take everyone's advice, implement it, and not know what was the factor that worked. Change something. Not everything, and see if that works. Then arrive at your conclusion.

To get past X, and into Y and Z, you have to get smarter. For me, smarter is keeping even smarter people around me to help and train. Progress should always occur, but the reasons why can be elusive.

On top of this, don't expect to get a ton of results constantly. You have to put in time/effort and it actually has diminishing returns. In other words, the harder you work and the further you go, the less results you'll eventually see. To keep packing on muscle or whipping off fat at the same pace is a dream.

This is how to put it all together. Get opinions other than your own, and try it out. Don't try out everything at once, but try SOMETHING if NOTHING is happening.

Super Foods

Yes, after a long break here I am. Back to spew out what I do best: The sensible truth.

So today's topic is superfoods.

Yes, I'm looking at you acai berries, wheat grass, greek yogurt and everyone else whom tries to fit into this club.

Stop it.

Again.

Stop it.

What you're doing, superfoods, is ruining people's perception. In other words, you're telling people you're the answer. To most, if not all of their health and weight issues.

Out of all of the "serious" nutritionists I've worked with or read, none of the 3 foods I mentioned were on their "must have" lists. Sure, they could be included in a healthy diet, but what does that even mean?

Does that mean I can add in acai berry and now my McDonalds + Acai berry diet has my health running perfectly?

I can't eat greek yogurt hung over and reap is magical benefits?

Give me a break. This is short, and this is sweet.

Stop it. No singular food, or even two foods is going to make fat loss and health miracles happen.

If they did... why is everyone still so damn fat?

Personal Training Certifications

I just saw something horrible, and it made me upset enough to write this post.

I'm going to go a bit more in depth with personal training certificates.

The only ones "safe" from this post are PFT (personal Fitness Trainer) and some Kinesiology programs.

BUT

Let's start with my own experience.

I first off took the AFLCA (Alberta Fitness & Leadership Certification Association) at Red Deer College.

In order to become a Certified Fitness Trainer or whatever they called it, I don't quite remember, you had to take "fitness theory" and then a specialty, aka resistance training, aquatic training, elderly training etc.

So, in walks someone whom I couldn't help but raise one eyebrow. I'm going to keep this brief, but it could be expanded, and I'll go with this: She didn't look anything liked she belonged, and looked at if she were to pass out any moment from being malnourished.

I will say this, that fitness theory went decent. It was a 2 day course that basically rambled off mostly useless knowledge about levers, the names of the bones, along with some fun-filled word searches and the like to make sure you memorized these things to be able to impress your clients with your knowledge of the 2nd class lever.

The garbage part was the nutrition section. We were given Canada's food guide. The old one, not the new one. And a sheet from 1997 talking about how bad creatine is for you.

I don't need to say anymore than that.

Resistance training was where I got very upset.

I will pre-face with the following:

My working knowledge of the Human body was not as great as it is today, seeing as my course was 3 years ago.
The class I attending was comprised of mainly elderly women for whatever reason.
This was my first encounter with a "pro-trainer", which is the title for someone whom has been given the go ahead to certify/teach new trainers.

Every question I had was either answered incorrectly, or I was told "We'll come back to that."
To me it was simple things such as
"What about MCT's?"
"What is your opinion on the glycemic index?"
and I forget the others at the moment.

The practical part was even worse. We paired up, and had to demonstrate an exercise.
I remember that I picked the Deadlift.

Here's the funny thing: no one was corrected with what they did wrong. Some of the these people had never been inside a gym setting in their life, and were given zero correction.

Other than the following:

The instructor demonstrated her version of the squat.
Now, I do not expect a lot from a Personal Trainer, I have learned this.
But, from someone whom is a "pro-trainer" i expected a LOT.

This was horrible, inaccurate and flat out wrong and unsafe. I won't get into specifics, but let me tell you that squatting this was would eventually lead to injury and out of line posture.

We then were broken into teams of around 5, and each given a scenario to deal with.
We got a super easy one, a 20 year old male looking to build muscle.

I sat back and asked what the team thought. I could see the complete dismay across their faces. In other words, they were taught nothing so far. We hadn't even TOUCHED on program design, yet here we are, supposed to design a program.

I took the sheet, and set up Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength beginner routine for them. It was very humbling to see them whip out their notebooks and start copying down the routine I was writing and also taking down the words I was saying as to why and when to implement the program.

I got up to present our case to the class, and did so very well in my opinion.

Now, let me shoot one further thing your way. I have no problem with people giving me their opinion, or trying to sway my opinion. I love a debate more than anybody and everybody...

BUT

When it turns into a "you're a jerk" and other name calling events, thats when I either leave or become very, very upset and crush the other person with evidence, unless of course they are that stubborn then of course I leave.

So, of course I had someone say that I was wrong. I politely asked why. I was given his suggestion. I explained why the suggestion the other class member had given was wrong, and that was the end of it.

And sadly, I asked for feedback from the instructor, whom said nothing other than "This probably wouldn't work for very long."

Side note, it worked for me for roughly a year. I guess we have different opinions of "not very long."

Ahhh yes. my favorite and the moment I left the class.
We were asked to name compound exercises.
People said bench press, squat.
I said Deadlift.
she said, and I quote "No, that's an isolation of the lower back."

Wow.

Wow.

I got up, got my things, and that was it. I had enough of this buffoonery and was done.

My second example is with a Local Registered Dietitian.

For those of you who don't know what a RD is, they are someone whom I believe goes through 6 years of schooling, and is allowed to give nutritional advice to bring people back to health from sickness. Correct me I definitely could be wrong.

This is not to be confused with nutritionist, whom doesn't have the same schooling as a RD.

I attending a Personal Training seminar about injuries, which I actually really enjoyed and took a lot away from. And at the end we had a guest speaker, a RD.

She prefaced her talk with a brief bio. All fine. Until she said the following:
"...once we get the person's carbohydrate requirement out of the way..."

I shot my hand up, as always, with my dumb grin.

I said "Hi! Have you heard of an essential amino acid?"
Confused, she said "....yes"
"Have you heard of an essential fatty acid?"
"...yes"
"Have you heard of an essential sugar?"
"...no ?"
"Then why did you just tell me I have a carbohydrate/sugar/glucose requirement?"

She stammered for a bit, and I got up and left.

AS ALWAYS MEGA MARTY GET TO THE POINT!!!!

These certifications really don't mean much. Yes this is my own personal experience, but I can't see them getting any better anytime soon.

They're profit driven. The amount of people in my class was probably equivalent to the amount of personal trainers currently in Red Deer. And that was one organization, and one class. So there has to be unprepared people failing in this industry all over the place.

Here's the really scary part:

The misguided trainers believe what they're being shown, and what they're practicing, is correct.
Parallel this to thinking we're doing things to save the planet when in fact we've been killing it (not true, just an example).

And no, I do NOT need to hear people tell me "But Mega Marty, they're just getting people started." or "Not everyone needs to do things perfect etc."

Because its YOUR BODY. These people can/will potentially mess up YOUR BODY due to improper instruction.

Bottom line is that there is yet to be a perfect personal training certification put out there, and none of them are perfect. All have some decent merit, but don't base your judgement of the trainer solely on the certification.