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This week we discuss what to do if you over eat on a regular basis and why Kevin is in love with single leg training.

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We, as fitness professionals, hear it all of the time, “I ate perfectly during the week, but I just had to have pizza during the game on Sunday.” (Or something along those lines).

Why is compliance so hard?

Is it an addiction to food? Maybe.

Is it because we rationalize our actions because that is how those around us are eating? Maybe.

Is it because we are on a diet that isn’t right for our blood type? F*ck no.

Is it because of fruit? Double F*uck No.

Here is the reason why:

Ready for it?

It is going to blow your mind… Seriously… Sit down. Oh…you already were…

We as humans have a major problem with the passage of time. Specifically our perception of the present and it’s effects on the future (hence the Doctor Who picture above).

Now let me explain this.

We want everything now. Be it results, or that hot piece of pizza on the table.

Instant gratification.

Or in this case, an immediate reaction to the actions that you took. What’s more gratifying, a grilled chicken breast or some Chinese take out?

When you eat a bunch of junk food, you don’t immediately add a new roll of fat or love handles moments later. Therefore the result of your actions are not immediate. Trust me, if you knew you were going to add 3-5 pounds of body fat overnight, you would have made a different decision.

You need to give yourself a good (valid) reason why you are not going to eat that junk food. Not, “Oh, wouldn’t it be swell to be able to fit into those old jeans.” It doesn’t work like that. That is just a dream, not a clear, vivid image. We lie to ourselves all the time. Stop bargaining with yourself so you can eat what you want when you want it.

You need to clearly understand the consequences of your actions (good or bad), even if they are not immediate. For example, if you eat a dozen donuts, you will put on two pounds of fat you didn’t have before you ate them. That could set you back another week to reaching your goal. Before you put it in your mouth, think about how future you is going to feel later that week. Another example of this conundrum are smokers. They figure that they won’t really have to deal with the consequences of their smoking until they are much older. Sacrificing tomorrow for today.

This is why mini diets like losing 10-15 pounds for a wedding or a vacation are usually successful. But when you return, you don’t have that immediate reason to continue eating clean and you are back to where you were again.

(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are kicking so much shell they can eat tons of pizza and stay lean. They are also mutants…)

Photoshops Aren’t just for Making Fun of Your Boss

One thing that can help you literally visualize the future you want to come to pass is a photoshop of what you want to look like. Leigh Peele uses this to great success with her clients. Find a friend that is good with photoshop and have them modify your body for the end result you want to see. Keep it realistic though, don’t put your head on Yvonne Strahovski’s or Arnold’s body. That is unless you have great genetics (or have a personal chef and trainer on you 24/7) or drugs (Arnold wasn’t just drinking whole milk).

A great reason to watch Chuck. She also kicks quite a bit of ass.

Goal Setting:

I have talked about this before, but it is still important. Just take 15 minutes right now, sit down, and write out exactly what your fitness and physique goals are. STOP READING AND DO IT NOW OR YOU WILL NEVER DO IT! Again, this is the excuses thing popping up.

Start with a goals over the next four weeks.

Week 1: No cheat meals. Lose 2 lbs. Reassess and review results.

Week 2: Calculate resting metabolic rate and a 10-25% deficit. Comply. Lose 2 lbs. Reassess and review results.

Week 3: Comply with deficit. Lose 2 lbs. Reassess and review results.

Week 4: Comply, increase cardio (steady state or intervals, whatever floats your boat). Reassess and review results.

Week 5: Reassess and review results. What worked, what didn’t What Obstacles did you run into? How did you overcome them? Did you fail? Make a goal for the next 4 weeks.

When it comes to the goals, keep it simple. Don’t micro manage everything. That is why I wouldn’t even count calories for the first week. You know what’s excessive. Keep your meals small and nutritious. Get lean protein and vegetables at most of your meals Cover your bases with the proven supplements:

• Fish Oil
• Multivitamin
• Vitamin-D
• Creatine (if you want to be jacked like Vin Diesel in the upcoming Blockbuster, “Fast Five.”

So What Do I Do Now?

Decide right now:

How much you really want to be lean?

You might not care that much. Honestly, if you cared so much wouldn’t you have already done it? Let me put it this way, now you know that you want it, you just need to convince yourself of that. Prove it to yourself. Prove it to those around you. Instead of getting the pizza, get the grilled chicken Caesar with no dressing. Will they call you out for eating healthy? Yeah, but take a look at their ass and remind yourself that you don’t want your ass to look like a half deflated kick ball.

We open the mailbag back up to talk about the side effects of diet soda, the importance of total volume in your training, quality of your vitamins, and much more!!!

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A big announcement and a mailbag full of questions about squatting, fish oil, and more!

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FitCast News

• Need Help with Two Logos
• The FitCast Supplement
• Big News with Lou Schuler

Mailbag
Hey guys, long time listener here from Florida. I am 19, male, 5’11″, 185 pounds, and ~12% bf. I have been trying to gain strength and size recently, and I have a question about SQUATS. I love squats, but have had some trouble form wise after getting back into the rack. Firstly, I have bad hip flexibility I believe and have had some trouble getting down all the way to parallel. To remedy this I have started trying DeFranco’s agile eight, if you haven’t heard of it it consists of foam rolling, stretching etc for the hips. Also I have noticed that when I squat and really try to get down to parallel with good form, I feel like I am about to fall backwards once I am at my lowest point. I asked someone in the gym for advice and he suggested putting my heels on 2.5 lb plates for stability. And lastly, and I what gives me the most trouble is my wrists. Today, I was doing box squats and I did 185X20. After racking the bar I felt a familiar “decompression” feeling in my wrists and general pain in them. I know this shouldn’t happen, and I am wondering what to do?

So in summary:
How to increase hip flexibility to get me squatting ass to grass?
What can I do differently to not feel unstable at the bottom of a rep/ is the heel plate idea solid advice?
What is the most likely problem with my wrists and what can I do to remedy the situation?

Thanks in advance, anything you’ve got I’m sure will be of help. -Hunter

__
Hi Kevin, Leigh and John. Love the show, and have been listening for years. My questions is one that relates to doing what your boss tells you vs. doing what you believe is right.

I work at a Crossfit affiliate, and I wholeheartedly agree with pretty much everything that you guys say about Crossfit. I believe it can be ridiculously unsafe and dangerous. Fortunately I have a working brain and focus on giving our clients exercises in which they can perform safely. Unfortunately this often clashes with my boss (the owner of the gyms) ideas. They constantly program movements that most of our clients have no business even attempting.

I’m talking lots of unilateral work, as well as typical advanced skills for people who are far from advanced. Now I do my best to modify these movements for the clients that shouldn’t be doing them, but I cannot teach every class and I have gotten in trouble for straying from the programming in the past. I feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand I have the clients safety, which to me is paramount. And on the other hand, I have my job which I love. How should I handle this situation? Do I talk to my boss?

Thank you,
RC
__
Hi Guys,
Thanks for doing such a great job with your podcast. I wonder if you could give me some advise on the use of fish oils. I’ve been working out for about 2 years, I’m 37, 6’5 and currently weigh 200lbs. I’m looking to gain about 20lbs of lean muscle mass. I eat a healthy diet of roughly 3,500-4000 calories a day. How much fish oil would you suggest I supplement my diet with? I currently take two capsules of Carlson’s omega 3 fish oil per day. I have tried to find an answer to my question online etc but the advise ranges from 15 capsulates a day to 3 a day.
Thanks very much! -Patrick
__
Seriously Kev, are you too old to take up Kung Fu? Do you even shave yet?
At 38 I took up muay thai, brazilian jiu-jitsu. Both of these are way tougher than Kung Fu (I’m not bashing it) in the sense of impact on joints, cardio, strength …
I’m still at, in my early 40s and my only regret is that I didn’t take it up earlier. The stress release and improvements in coordination are way beyond anything I got from any form of strength training (again not bashing).

It’s never too late! -Jason
__
Good morning FitCast!

First off, here is the link to the video I’m talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o-RM6ebuis

I am a new fitness professional, and while researching Crossfit, I stumbled across this video. It features a couple doing a Crossfit workout. As the video begins, the coach’s voice is heard in the background and they begin their set. As the video progresses to the end of the reel (especially at marker 1:30 and beyond), their form becomes sloppy, and in my opinion, dangerous.

There are a number of things that I admire about the Crossfit program, but this lack of attention to form is downright disturbing. As far as I know, training a faulty movement pattern in more likely to instill a faulty movement pattern. Training a faulty movement pattern under heavy loads is a high-risk scenario leading to possible injury.

To me, a weight-bearing exercise has utterly lost its effectiveness once the client’s limbs look like macaroni… they are swinging these weights around like bags of potatoes toward the end and the coach is saying, “BEAUTIFUL!” And I’m thinking, “I can’t believe what I’m watching.”

The comments at the bottom of the page say things like,”These people know what they are doing. Crossfit is badass.” Ok, whatever, but in my opinion, these people barely know what they’re doing. Not to mention that if you have to be coached/cued/corrected movement by movement (under heavy load, WITH NO SPOTTER) then something is out of order.

This video has over 375,000 hits and is one of the first that pops up on YouTube when you type “CrossFit Workout.”

I would really like to hear input from the cast on this video. I dread to think how many of the 375,000 people took this video to heart after they watched it. Something like this makes it very hard to recommend the Crossfit program to anyone in good conscience and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for your show, I am very addicted,

Janette Tank
__
Hey,

I wanted to mention something about 4HB that you guys didn’t discuss.

In the early chapters, “subtracting fat” and “adding muscle”, he had
some pretty dramatic results. He attributes it to kettlebell swings
and Brazil nuts and some other shit.

THEN, in the “reversing injuries” chapter, he takes all of the
following (for his injuries, of course):

-Deca
-Cytomel
-HGH
-IGF-1
-Androgel
-Delatestryl
-Depo-Testosterone
-Sustanon 250

I am sure his changes in body composition are mostly due to the Brazil
nuts though.

–Erica

(Sub Zero the Killer…)

(Sub Zero the Chiller…)

OK, now that I got the obligatory video game reference in… I want to know what is in your fridge. I will show you mine, if you show me yours (and the sexual reference is in too…BAM!). After you send them sent in, I will do a follow up showing off our listeners/readers fridges. You can send them to: questions@thefitcast.com

Now here is mine:

(Spike, Pasture butter, tons of green tea and some protein shakes in case of emergency)

(lots of seltzer water, milled flax seeds, green beans, more green tea, cage free eggs, egg whites, lite cheese blend, kiwis, and plain greek yogurt).

(Frozen vegetables, Ezekiel Bread)

(Some frozen meat, more frozen vegetables and fruit)

Next up will be the cabinets.

]]> http://thefitcast.com/what-the-hell-is-in-your-fridge/feed 5 http://thefitcast.com/episode-198-hot-topics http://thefitcast.com/episode-198-hot-topics#comments Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:40:37 +0000 Kevin Larrabee http://thefitcast.com/?p=2337

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Things got a little heated this week on the FitCast as the cast debates about Crossfit and many other topics. Nick Tumminello also joins Kevin to talk about tabats, stretching, and much more!

FitCast News

• Interview with Nick Tumminello
• Episode 200, whats doin?
• What up Leigh?
• Online PT

Mailbag

• My question pertains to the relationship between nutrition and ‘trigger points’:I’m a 22 year old male 5’9 and 75kg and somewhere around 12% bf – I train 4-6 times per week – with weight training 3-4 times following the 5,3,1 program as well as 1 or 2 cardio sessions (muay thai / hill sprints) also.I stretch before and after each session and foam roll regularly. My issue is that I seem to develop trigger points and knots in my muscles fairly easily and feel like I am constantly dealing with overly tight muscles and tendons all over my body. I bought myself the ‘Trigger point Therapy workbook’ which has helped in pin-pointing the right spot so that I can reduce the effects with massage or foam rolling; but as soon as the muscle is used again they seem to tighten back up.

  I am interested to know if this could have anything to do with what I’m eating – I try to follow a pretty healthy diet eating plenty of vegetables, eggs, lean meat, porridge oats, nuts, green tea etc etc with occasional packet of pop tarts or quarter pounder here and there. I consume a few supplements also: creatine, fish oil, D3 and whey and casein protein.

  Could any of these things be causing problems? Are there any specific foods that could make things worse? And are there possibly any foods that I should maybe try and consume more of to reduce the recurrence of these tight spots?

  Thanks a lot for your help and keep the awesome episodes coming.

  Kane
  Bedford, England

• Hey Everyone,
  I really enjoy listening to the show and have even grown to like the off topic segment!
  I don’t know if you have previously addressed this question, but I would like to know everyone’s opinion of CrossFit..I realize that may be like asking McDonald’s, “What do you think of the Whopper?” – But I am curious if the Fitcast thinks the philosophy/methodology of CrossFit seems sound. I am not necessarily interested in joining CrossFit, but I do currently perform 3 total body workouts a aweek, focusing on squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, dips, some ab work and running on a treadmill(at least 3 times a week).
  I look forward to hearing or reading the Fitcast response..thanks!
  Matt
  Cape Cod, MA. –Matt
• Hey Kevin, Jon, and Leigh,Love the podcast. Last week’s discussion format (episode 197) was fantastic and the off topic about choosing video games over sex was EPIC.I’ve been strength training consistently for over 3 years and have increased strength substantially as well as filled out my previously scrawny self. My friends have definitely noticed the change, and one – who is an absolute strength-training beginner – has asked me to help him out and get started in the weight room as well. At first I was reluctant, as I am not a certified trainer, but after much persistence I caved and began putting together a simple beginner program based on my own research and experiences. We met at the gym and I walked him through it, using low weight and focusing primarily on form. He was doing really well until we got to the lower body movements. When standing in a neutral position, knees forward, his feet point out quite significantly. Almost any action I tried with him (lunge, squats) resulted in pain in his knees and hamstrings. I immediately told him to stop and have refused to help him with any lower body work. I don’t mind experimenting on myself – the trial and error method with different exercises and programs has worked really well for me – but I don’t want to be responsible for causing any strain or long-term injury for my friend. I’ve told him to find a professional trainer, but he doesn’t really have the money to do so. I have two questions that come out of this: How can I help instruct the movement so that it works for him? And more generally, what’s your take on amateur fitness enthusiasts helping out others?

  Thanks,
  Mike, Toronto, Canada

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The cast is back together to get in heated debates about deloading, repackaging nutrition info, and much more!

FitCast News

• Still a few spots open for the BBB Online Discount
• The People People
• What’s up Leigh?

Mailbag

• Hello Kevin, Jon & Leigh. Enjoy the podcast.I use full body workouts (1 upper body push, 1 upper pull and 1 lower body movement) 3 x per week with 1 day of rest between. I rotate between sets of 5 and sets of 10. For example Mon – H push/pull & DL sets of 5. Wed V push/pull & lunge, sets of 10. Fri – H push/pull & GHR, sets of 10. Sun – V push/pull & Squat, sets of 5. Rinse & Repeat. By rotating my reps in this manner, am I by default incorporating deloading?
  Thanks,
  Jeff
• This question has to do with Celiac “Disease”. I put it in quotes because the conspiracy theorist in me thinks it seems like a manufactured illness. I’m only 24 years old, but in my whole life I had never heard about it until the last 5 years or so. Now I personally know three people who have it, all diagnosed in the last 3 years… A 30 year old male, overweight, a woman over 75, generally good health and another woman in her early thirties, a little overweight. I’m just confused as to why it suddenly is so prevalent in our society… what are your thoughts? The below blog post got me thinking about it again:http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/09/19/paleo-diet-solution/Thanks in advance you guys, I hope this sparks some good conversation… unless of course you guys have already covered this, in that case I apologize for making you repeat yourselves.

  Mark in SLC

• Hey Kevin and the rest of you guys. This questions for Jon.
  For the last few months every time I internally rotate my leg with my foot planted on the ground my knee has been ‘clicking’, it would become particularly noticeable between sets when I squat. I have to admit that occasionally I’d actively do it on purpose too, clicking joints is a very bad habit of mine, but there was never any pain so I ignored it.
  Last week though whilst squatting I experienced a sharp pain in my knee that made me cut my sets short and there’s been a noticeable pain constantly ever since. It’s not affecting my walking or day to day actions but its definitely noticeable and uncomfortable.  I compete in Olympic Weightlifting and consider myself to have great squat technique, with zero valgus. Any insight to causes/prevention of this pain would be hugely appreciated! Thanks in advance, Rhys, in rainy England.

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Eric Cressey joins me to talk about programming for strength, getting past plateaus, death circuits, and much more!

Click Here to Check Out Eric’s new product Show and Go

Smitty of the Diesel Crew joins us to talk about single leg training, kettlebells, grip training and much more!

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Show notes will be up soon. Sorry for the delay!