1)Starting strength(3rd edition basic barbel training):  Mark Rippetoe authors this amazing book and specifically covers the bench press, the squat and the deadlift.  He touches different variations of these and other exercises and does an amazing job of actually teaching things that are Very hard to teach in a book.  A must for anyone since these lifts are the backbone to any lifting program.

2) The Primal Blueprint:  Mark Sisson does a great job explaining nutrition and lifestyle in the heavily detailed book.  Although he says very little on weight lifting or real training, he has a lot to say and says it well with his ten laws which are as follows.  1:  Eat animals, Insects, and plants   2:Move around a lot at a slow pace  3:  Lift heavy things   4: Run really fast once in a while   5:  Get lots of sleep  6:  Play  7: Get some sunlight every day  8: Aavoide trauma and doing stupid things  9:  Avoid poisonous things  10:  Use your mind

3)  The 4 Hour body:  By Timothy Ferris

4) Hardcore Bodybuilding:  A Scientific Approach:  By Ph.D Frederick Hatfield

5) Any ebooks done by Skip La Cour

Whey Protein-  For muscle growth and repair as a supplement to your daily nutrition.  Simply getting a serving with breakfast will start you out right for nutrition in the mornings.
Creatine-  Generally a good supplement for strength and muscle gain.  Cycle on and off.
Multivitamin-  Ensure your body has all the vitamins and nutrients it needs to perform optimally.
Omega 3 Fish oil-  General Physical and Mental health
Chromium Polynicotinate-  Good natural anabolic effect and primarily, good at stabilizing influence on your insulin levels and for appetite control.

Vit D3-  Also known as Cholecalciferol.  Ideally, you would get enough Vit D3 from being in the sun on a daily basis but since many of us are indoors mostly, it is a great supplement.

Aspirin-  Is available commercially, but also available herb as salicin, White willow bark  (more natural source and definitely the recommendation here).  Aspirin should be used sparingly but aspirin can be very useful in muscle repair, reducing inflammation.  Consult a doctor before use.  For a detailed explanation, read about it in Dr. Ph.D. Frederick Hatfield’s book.  Hardcore Bodybuilding:  A Scientific Approach

Sidenote:  I pause to mention this as a supplement so Please do your research on this

It’s so important that it takes top priority.  If you don’t write things down, you will be measuring your progress by simple gut feelings not factual numbers.  You’ll say, “Gee, that felt great, I feel like I’m making progress”.  But you wont really know will you?

Writing stuff down also gives you a better idea how much you are capable of, and how far you can push yourself for your upcoming workout.  It will give you an exact idea of what you can do and what you can’t physically do, each and every set.  It also allows you to set a goal for every set before you even do it based on last weeks accomplishments.  

Over time, these small improvements each week which you are recording compound upon themselves and you gain great results.  This will motivate you and have a positive snowball effect over time.

I can think of more then a dozen exhaustive reasons to write things down and all of them important.  Sometimes it’s best to just take the advice and reap the benefits without knowing all the “whys” behind it.  I think you get the general idea though.

Here is an example of a Chest/Upper back/Calves workout with Aerobics.

1/15/12

Chest

            Barbell Bench-  260lbs                                         1 set     (6 reps)

            Incline Dumbell Press-  200lbs                             1 set     (8 reps)

                                                   210lbs                             1 set     (6 reps)

Upper Back

          Lateral  Pulldowns-  200lbs                                    2 sets     (8 reps)

          Hammer Row Machine-  310lbs                             1 set       (7 reps)

          1 Arm Dumbell Row-  110/110lbs                         1 set       (10 reps)

Calves

          90 degree calf raise-  190lbs                                   2 sets      (8 reps)   

          Straight leg seated calf raise-  500lbs                     2 sets       (20reps)                      

Special Note:  Form on 1 arm row was shaky, keep same weight next week

Anaerobic Training(3 minute by 1)

            3 min @ 4 mph

            1 min @ 10 mph                                 Alternate = 15 minutes

            Total distance 1.5 miles

            Heart Rate:  75% – 85% entire time

            Calories burnt:  177 cal

The list should include the date, the exercise, the amount of weight, the number of sets, any notes on pain or satisfaction of your own form, and your aerobic workout.

That’s it.  Its super simple and more importantly, effective.

For your cardiovascular workout, be sure to include heart rate, duration, speed.

What is Gluten?

Gluten is a protein from foods processed from wheat and grain species including barley and rye.  It helps rise dough and improves texture in bread.

Gluten acts as a stabilizing agent in:

Barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, wheat, triticale

Pizza, bagels

pie, pastries

ice cream

ketchup, mayonnaise, soy sauce, salad dressing

Alcohol

sauces, soups

Imitation meats

To test if you affected by gluten or are gluten intolerant, Get rid of these foods for 3-4 weeks and then incorporate them back into your diet to see if you notice a difference.

But don’t we need the fiber found in gluten?

Considering there are many foods that contain fiber such as practically every single fruit, nut or vegetable, we simply don’t need gluten.  We need to look past the government’s recommendation of grains at the foundation of the food pyramid and look at reality.  Scientific research should dictate what we eat, not some kind of authority.

Are you saying gluten going to make me gain weight?

Yes, kind of.  Especially if you are eating too much gluten,.  Not all calories are created equal.  A calorie from fresh organic food is healthier then a donut or bagel.  If you simply learned to cut gluten, exercise, and cut out liquid calories(soda, frapachinos, excessive alcohol), you will lose fat rapidly assuming all other things remain the same.

Basically, foods with gluten tend to be high in calories so cutting them out can help with weight loss like beer, pizza, burgers, or pancakes.

Lectins are bad too.

Lectins are carb-binding proteins and are present in plant and animal products as they serve to protect against pathogens and parasites.  They bind with sugars but are bad for our digestion as they stick to the intestinal lining and wreak havoc.

Foods high in lectins include Grains and Soy so eliminating these primarily will go a long way.  Cutting down on dairy products will also help.

But Back to Gluten:

Gluten is probably “ok” to eat for the majority of the population, but for people with celiac or gluten sensitive individuals, it can be bad.

The New England Journal of Medicine listed 55 “diseases” that can be caused by eating gluten. (iv) These include osteoporosis, irritable bowel disease, inflammatorybowel disease, anemia, cancer, fatigue, canker sores, (v) and rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and almost all other autoimmune diseases. Gluten is also linked to many psychiatric (vi) and neurological diseases, including anxiety, depression, (vii) schizophrenia, (viii) dementia, (ix) migraines, epilepsy, and neuropathy (nerve damage). (x) It has also been linked to autism(ix)(Hyman).

Commit to gluten free options:

Vegetables, brown rice, seeds and nuts, along with meat, fish, eggs.  Try to adopt to other whole grains and flours that lack gluten, such as buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, millet, teff, sorghum, and wild rice.  Consuming a wide range of grains gives more nutritional variety to your diet.

Remember, eating gluten free foods can still lead to weight gain when eaten in excess just like anything else.  Gluten free diets aren’t a substitute for abandoning other diet principles and exercise.

References:

Mark Hyman, MD: Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You

http://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/gluten-free-weight-loss

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lectins/

The perfect cardio program trains your body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates or muscle.  Beginner exercisers need to gradually work to the point where they can become better conditioned.  To learn more, check out this video.

For example, through scientific vo2 breathing tests a beginner, age 50 burns fat calories when his heart rate is between 70-78% of his maximum heart rate.

Note: Maximum heart rate can be measured by following equation

220 – (age 50 years) = 170 (max heart rate)

The test showed that he burnt 7 calories per minute, 5 calories from fat at this heart rate.  When he increased the intensity, he burned between 8-9 calories per minute but only 1.5-2.7 calories came from fat.  This happened because he couldn’t burn fat calories at a high intensity because his aerobic base wasn’t optimal.  He was reaching his anaerobic threshold too easily and this meant that exercising too intensely wasn’t helping him burn fat calories.

*Aerobic base: the fastest pace you can perform while breathing aerobically with oxygen.  For the 50 year old above, his aerobic base was between 119 beats per minute and 132 beats per minute heart rate.

*Anaerobic threshold:  the point where energy is derived from nonoxygenic sources rather then oxygenic sources during exercise.  Glucose and carbohydrates are depleted rather then fat.  For the man above, his Anaerobic threshold hit around 138-148 beats per minute.

This kind of program will gradually increase your fat burning abilities so your Aerobic base and your Anaerobic threshold are virtually identical in intensity.  For the beginner, perform 30 minutes a week 3 times a week.  If you miss a workout Alameda, do the workout when you can rather then skipping it and stick to the program.

Alternate between 65%-70% and 85% heart rate

Weeks 1-3

1 min at 65%-70%

2 min at 85%

Weeks 3-6

1 min at 65%-70%

1 min at 85%

Weeks 6-9

1 min at 65%-70%

2min at 85%

Note:  If you don’t have access to a breathing vo2 test in Alameda.  Your body has a built in indicator.  It’s called the talk test.  Basically, perform your cardio to the point where talking is easy but you are still pushing yourself.  This will be about your aerobic base.  To find your anaerobic threshold, increase the intensity so that talking is difficult, but still manageable.

**Another way to keep track of your body’s exertion is to buy a heart rate monitor and alternate between 65%-80% of your maximum heart rate.

Its not a solid number because it depends on age, height, gender, activity rate, diet and temperature.

So this begs the question, can we actually increase our resting metabolic rate?  Yes we can.

But it’s not as much as you might think.  Here are the facts.

The Journal of Applied Physiology (3) conducted a study over 18 weeks and found that in the first 1-8 weeks, men gained 2.8 pounds of muscle and the average daily metabolic rate rose by 263 calories a day..

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If you do the math and divide the increased metabolic rate 263 by the increase in muscle, this gives us the number of about 94 calories per pound.  This sounds great, but when we look closer at weeks 8-18, we see that the men gained another 1.8 pounds of muscle mass but their metabolic rate didn’t increase at all this time.

Researchers think that regulation and balancing of the sympathetic nervous system are partly responsible.
So, What is the “real” metabolic rate of muscle?

In the book Ultimate Fitness:  The Quest for Truth about Exercise and Health, Gina Kolata spoke with Professor Claude Bouchard an expert researcher in genetics and obesity.  Bouchard explains that compared to certain organs, muscle actually has a low metabolic rate if it’s not being worked or activated.

.
Organ or tissue             Daily metabolic rate
Adipose (fat)                         2 calories per pound
Muscle                                    6 calories per pound
Liver                                        91 calories per pound
Brain                                        109 calories per pound
Heart                                       200 calories per pound
Kidneys                                  200 calories per pound.

The ballpark number is being discovered as measurement methods in science improves..

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Another expert, Robert Wolfe, Ph. D, Chief of Metabolism and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Texas Medical branch, says, “every 10-kilogram difference in lean mass translates to a difference in energy expenditure of 100 calories per day, assuming a constant rate of protein turnover.“

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This converts and equals to a little less than 5 calories per pound..

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Fortunately, exercise will increase protein turnover and increase protein synthesis and breakdown which increases caloric burn after exercise..

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Studies also show that the more muscle you have, the more muscle you can activate and this increases the amount of calories you burn after exercise(6).  This is because recovery is caloric expensive as glucose and fat stores need to be refilled and protein levels built up.  This all requires energy and calories..

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So while the resting caloric burn of muscle isn’t extraordinarily high, there is an burn afterwards.  This is a great reason to increase the frequency and intensity of workouts rather then duration.

Weight bearing exercises will improve your body in a many ways.  With a well designed program, you will burn calories both during and after your workout.  Additionally, if you don’t lift weights while you are dieting, much of the weight you will lose will come from muscle as well as fat.

References
1. Poehlman, E.T., Denino, W.F., Beckett, T., Kinaman, K.A., Dionne, I.J., Dvorak, R., & Ades, P.A. (2002). Effects of endurance and resistance training on total daily energy expenditure in young women: a controlled randomized trial. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 87, 1004-1009
2. Pratley, R., Nicklas, B., Rubin, M., Miller, J., Smith, A., Smith, M., Hurley, B., & Goldberg, A. (1994). Strength training increases resting metabolic rate and norepinephrine levels in healthy 50- to 65-yr-old men. Journal of Applied Physiology, 76, 133-137
3. Van Etten, L.M., Westerterp, K.R., Verstappen, F.T., Boon, B.J., & Saris, W.H. (1997). Effect of an 18-wk weight-training program on energy expenditure and physical activity. Journal of Applied Physiology, 82, 298-304
4. Wajchenberg, B.L. (2000). Subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue: their relation to the metabolic syndrome. Endocrine Reviews, 21, 697-738
5. Wang, Z., Heshka, S., Zhang, K., Boozer, C.N., & Heymsfield, S.B. (2001). Resting energy expenditure: systematic organization and critique of prediction methods. Obesity Research, 9, 331-336
6. Smith, J., & McNaughton, L. (1993). The effects of intensity of exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption and energy expenditure in moderately trained men and women. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 67, 420-425

NASA scientist Ray Cronise runs the blog http://hypothermics.com/category/blog/ .   His thesis is: Diet, Exercise, and Thermal Load (environmental conditions) are ALL important.

Cold exposure and fat loss results depend on how large the temperature difference between your body and the environment and how fast heat (calories) is leaving your body(and time).

Water is 24x more conducive and effective then air in this process.  40F water is a lot more drastic than 40F air due to the increased heat capacity and thermal conductivity of water. A change of only 2-3 degrees down in water is equal to many more degrees in air.  Swimming WILL positively affect your body’s heat loss and will trigger hunger. Resist the urge to over eat and you’ll lose fat faster, guaranteed.

Even in water at competitive pool temperatures (82F/28C) you are losing heat at great rates as the water temperature is far below body temperature (98F/37C). This is why hypothermia in air sets in below 32F/0C and in water sets in below 60F/15C.

In other words, you don’t have to sit in a tub of ice water to reap benefits.  Make it more comfortable by making small changes.  If you do try to expose yourself to cold temperatures, try to go from cold to colder rather going from a warm place to an extremely cold place and use caution and know the limits of the human body.

One thing that everyone seems to agree on is that all humans respond to cold by increasing metabolic rate.  The reason for this brings us to the subject of BAT (brown adipose tissue).  Just find ways to get cold living in east Oakland.

What’s BAT?  It turns out that there are two main sources of adipose (fat) tissue in your body.  The white adipose tissue (WAT) is what you see in piece of meat and jiggling in the mirror.  It’s the kind of fat we are all trying to lose.

Brown Adipose Tissue is actually “the good fat” and although no one can increase the amount he or she naturally has, it’s an active part of the energetic side of your metabolism. Think of all fat as flammable gas.  BAT is simply gas with a match causing everything to burn.  The secret is that a cool environment causes these matches to light and burn and creates a high “caloric utility bill”.

Just as important, try to keep out of POSITIVE heat situations (saunas, bikram yoga, or hot tubs).  You may or may not have much BAT and if you do, it will contribute to a measurable expenditure of energy when activated by cold.

Basically, we naturally preserve heat.  When you are hot your body runs efficiently, but when you’re cold, your body has to work harder and burns more calories.  It’s not about being freezing.  It’s just about being cooler over time.  If you can get comfortable with cooler temperatures, the cumulative affect will be substantial.  Ray studied peer reviewed articles and came up with these tips from much research.

Ray’s tips straight from his online report

1.  Write it down what you eat in a small notebook, moleskin notebook.

2. Eat no more then the size of your fist of protein every 3 hours.
3. Eat small meals and drink water with it to make you feel full.  Try ice water.  It will only burn 134 calories for your body to cool a gallon of ice water but over time, weeks, months, it adds up.
4. Shower in cool water.  Not cold mind you.  Just try around the temperature of a swimming pool 82-84F.  Turn down the heat a little.  Also, stop wearing hoodies, sweaters, pants, heavy covers unless you need them.  Turn off the thermostat.
5. Carry layers don’t wear them unless you need them.
6. Wear a hat, gloves, ear muffs first.  Remember, your body naturally neglects the extremities even when the temperatures are just cool(not even cold yet).  Try this rhyme, “gloves before sweater will make you look better.”  If you start shivering, put on the sweater.

7.  Avoid too much sun exposure, Bikram yoga(sweating isn’t real weight loss), general hot activities.

8.  Put a pack of ice on your neck for 30min while watching tv or working.   This is where most of your BAT is located and can be activated.  Tim Ferriss’s experiment found this to be 60% as effective as 20 minutes  full body ice bath and a whole lot less painful.

I guarantee you will find these top 68 foods at the grocery store at a good price and organic.  I have found these to be most convenient and healthy due to pesticide reasons and general nutritional quality and balance.

Don’t throw away all your hard work at the gym by eating bad.

These foods are in my kitchen and they should be in yours too.  Now throw away all your junk rather then eating it!

1                   Quinoa

2-3               Brown rice pasta or brown rice bread.

4-5               Couscous, quinoa

6-10             Legumes: Black beans, red beans, lentils, peas

11-12           Sweet potatoes, little red potatoes

13                 Yams

14                 Organic Chicken grass feed

15                 Organic Ham or Deli Ham

16                 Cheese(raw and grass fed.  Cheese is fine in limited amounts.)

17                 Cottage Cheese(good protein source on the fly.  Mix with apple sauce, yum)

18                 Goats yogurt(Good alternative to other yogurts, add jam, berries, nuts)

19                 Grass fed beef

20                Organic Turkey or Grass fed

21                 Steak sirloin

22                 Pork tenderloin

23                 Shrimp

24                 Crab

25                 Tuna(limit the amount bc Mercury levels)

26                 Lamb

27                Cage free eggs

28-29          Whey Protein powder, casein protein power

30-31          Brown rice or wild rice

32-33          Oatmeal, or Oat bran

34                 Spinach

35                 Broccoli

36-45          Seeds/nuts, almonds organic, macadamia, walnuts, pecans, cashews, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flaxseed

46                 Kiwi

47                 Banana

48                Grapefruit

49                Oranges

50               Avocado

51               Asparagus

52              Spinach

53              Garlic

54              Unions

55              Artichoke

56              Zucchini

57              Carrot

58              Tomato

59-61       Raspberries, blackberries, cranberries

62              Watermelon

63              Beets

64             Cauliflower

65              Eggplant

66-67      Yellow squash or butternut squash

68             Figs

Building your mental and your internal motivation and strength is a vital step in your fitness journey.  People don’t realize that they often set themselves up for failure before they even BEGIN their quest for better health and fitness.

If you want to Try fitness and you want to “give it a shot”, you aren’t going to get maximum results because you aren’t going to put in the work.

Here is why.  Anyone who told you that you can make a big positive change in your life(or your body) without working for it is trying to sell you something.  You are just deluding yourself into thinking that you will achieve a body that you are proud of

Here is the honest truth; no one cares about how hard you work in health or fitness or anything else.  Only You know how much effort you put into being a success and looking awesome.  The person who has an amazing body had to make a few sacrifices to look like that.

In fitness and any self improvement process, its YOU against YOU, you are your greatest competition.  I also recommend finding a role model who has similar genetics as yours but who has accomplished a higher level then yourself.  This way, there is something to strive for without making excuses.

In addition to making excuses, people also limit themselves by thinking(believing self limiting thoughts) in a manner which does not allow them to reach their true potential.  For example, if you believe your genetics are slowing you down, how will these beliefs empower you to utilize all your skills, abilities, and resources?  Will it become and excuse?

If you believe that working hard in the gym is silly, if getting fit and healthy is low on your priority list, If you believe that you have to starve yourself to get fit, these are all examples of self limiting beliefs.

The foundation of the level of success that you will or will NOT achieve will be based
upon your rules, beliefs, values, and standards.  So create good ones or at least better ones.

Here is an example of a rule:  I will eat 2500 calories, 6 meals a day, equal portions, with lean proteins, complex carbs, and a little fat.

What has to happen for this journey for health and fitness to be a 10 experience?  If you arent excited about your goals (1-10 scale),Then you wont have the emotional and mental strength it takes.

Its got to be sweet enough. Know the world is fair, no excuses.  Find a role model.  Find someone you DONT want to be like(anti role model).  What level do you want to be at?  Its your choice. Find as many reasons you can to take the action.  Short term, medium, long.  How does this add to your dream life?

Alcohol is a vasodilator and it actually speeds up your heart rate and after just you’re first drink and if abused regularly, will lead to liver damage.  If you drink for a year straight excessively and on a regular basis, the damage can be frightening:

REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS: Heavy drinking causes a drop in testosterone levels with men, and causes testicular shrinkage and            impotence. With females, menstrual cycles can be disrupted and fertility is affected. Some studies show that women who drink up to five units of alcohol a week are twice as likely to conceive as those who drink 10 or more.

BRAIN: Over time, alcohol causes permanent damage to the connection between nerve cells. As it is a depressant, alcohol can also  trigger episodes of depression, anxiety and lethargy.

HEART: Small amounts of alcohol (no more than a unit a day) can actually help protect the heart, but heavy drinking leads to chronic high blood pressure and other heart irregularities.

BLOOD: Alcohol kills the oxygen-carrying red blood cells, which can lead to anemia.

CANCER: Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to an increase in the risk of many cancers. Cancer Research UK warned how growing alcohol use is causing a steep rise in mouth cancer cases.

PANCREAS: In addition to all this, just a few weeks of heavy drinking can result in painful inflammation of the pancreas, known as pancreatitis. This results in a swollen abdominal area and can cause nausea and vomiting.  This will not help you people looking for Alameda weight loss resolutions.

Alcohol has 7 calories per gram.  This is 3 calories more then carbs and proteins!  It contains only empty calories because it has no nutritional value.  Alcohol also is catabolic which means it breaks your body down during its natural chemical and metabolic processes.  Alcohol will not help you lose weight so lose the beer belly for optimal weight loss.

Alameda, if you’re having problems losing weight, consider cutting back on your alcohol intake to achieve the weight loss.  If you are a regular drinker, this really is something you will get amazing results from.  I’m not saying stop drinking because drinking a little occasionally can help stress levels, help your heart, and add to fun in life(just a few drinks per week max). But if you do drink alcohol, drink water in the meantime to cause a sense of fullness and to limit dehydration. It will help to limit the effects that alcohol will have on your metabolism.