This is a great starting point for someone who is a beginner in fitness. Beginner’s have a hard time when they start working out because there is so much information out there that contradicts itself. One trainer will say heavy weights low rep, the next will say low weights high rep, high-protein vs low fat, etc. To make it even more difficult, those same opposing viewpoints/ methodologies can both be right. Getting into shape largely depends on the individual person and their goal. There is no one size fits all. We have a few universal laws but there are many ways to apply them. For example, to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you take in. I can name 9 different ways off the top of my head to attain that goal. However, what has worked for me or another client may not work for you. You have to find the right tool to get the job done. Being well versed in many styles of training and nutrition is a plus.

To apply the scientific method to your own unique situation you will need three things. Pen, paper, and commitment. Use the pen and paper to plan your workouts/ nutrition and track the results. You will need the commitment to see the “experiment” through. Begin by asking what your goals are. What is it that you want to achieve and how can you do it? After that do some research on your goal. Let us assume that your goal is to lose weight. Read up on the best ways to lose weight from a credible source such as AlchemyFit.com or other good but not as great online resources, lol. Based upon your findings construct a hypothesis. It could go like this: ” If I took one of the hours I spent watching t.v. daily and exercised 4 times per week and cut back on processed foods I can lose weight”. For most people out there, these two simple changes would be enough to make a huge difference in results.

Next, you would test your hypothesis by experimenting. Your experiment consists of your exercise and nutrition program for an amount of time. I think that 8-12 weeks should do. Four weeks is not enough to see substantial change and twelve weeks is ample time to see results. Take your measurements, body fat percentage, and weight down before you start the program. At the end of the 8-12 weeks analyze your results and draw a conclusion. If you lost 20 pounds and dropped 7 percent body fat, you can conclude that whatever you were doing works for you. If you lost 6 pounds or even worse gained with no changes in your body fat percentage, you can conclude the program wasn’t very effective. Should you be mad, upset, or demotivated? No!!! Look at it like this, you didn’t fail you just found a way that didn’t work for you. Over the years I have tried many different programs with mixed results. All of them were part of my learning process. I absorbed what was useful and disregarded what was useless. Somethings that I found useful for me did not work for other people and things that were useless to me worked wonders for other people. So stop trying to find the perfect program and pick one and do it. Track the results, make some adjustments, and continue on.

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.

This diet is called the Caveman Diet or Paleolithic Diet because it is based off of what our ancestors ate. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers (Wow, I owe my 6th grade social studies teacher $5. I bet her I would never need to know about evolution in real life!). They primarily ate lean game meat, nuts, berries, and vegetables. Our bodies evolved over thousands of years on this type of diet. A balanced diet high in protein, lower carbohydrate, and ample amounts of good fats (Omega-3 and Omega-6). They never counted calories or held back from certain foods. Obesity and diabetes were also very rare in those times. Coincidence?

Take a look at our present diet and you can see why we are cancerous, obese, and diabetic. Sure diet isn’t all to blame, it only accounts for 80% of the problems (Note: that last 80% number hasn’t been scientifically verified but that’s just how the author feels and he wanted to get a message across). The other major issue is the sedentary life-style that we now have. We expend very few calories in search of our meals these days. We walk downstairs and open a refrigerator then pop it in the microwave. Back then, we had to hunt food. We would track them for miles in some cases and have to get in spear or arrow distance. When we hit the target it would likely still be running for a while longer and we would have to follow the blood trail. We would then have to carry it back to the camp and so on. Even though some of us still hunt today, it is nowhere near as difficult or strenuous.These days a rifle will drop game right where they stand and we haul it back home on the back of a pick-up truck.

The Caveman Diet is the only diet you need to know if you want to lose weight, stay in shape, and maintain optimum health. Over my years of research and trying different diets and implementing nutritional advice, I have yet to find anything close to being this simple and effective. I had also unwittingly adopted this diet without knowing the name for it. Piecing together the best aspect of the Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Mediterranean Diet, Volumetrics, etc. I had followed this routine with amazing results. I cut back on carbs, ate protein at every meal, and ate plenty of fruits and vegetables. The best part is that I didn’t count one single calorie. I ate until I was full and saved the rest for later. Also, a few cheat meals each week didn’t hurt my results. So lets recap: it is easy to do, not as restrictive as other diets, no calorie counting, and it works! Try it out for 30 days and let me know how it works for you.

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.

How can you beat the odds? Outlined below are 8 things that you can do to ensure your success when beginning an exercise program. I have studied the habits of the people who have succeeded with their weight loss goals and noticed they performed many of the same activities. All of them didn’t do everything on this list but did most of them. That’s the beauty of diet and exercise. It’s not what you do all of the time, it’s what you do most of the time. Here’s the list:

1. Begin with the end in mind- Stephen Covey popularized this saying with his landmark bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Beginning with the end in mind means knowing where you want to go in life and progressively taking steps towards that goal. Having a clearly defined vision of where you want to go is the key to any success. Nobody wakes up and accomplishes anything significant by accident. If you want to get in shape, figure out where you want be then focus on what you have to do to get there. Begin to draw up a blueprint of what you will have to do, what you will have to sacrifice, and why it is significant to you. He who has a strong enough why can bare any how. Also, figure out what is standing in between you and your goal. Knowing what obstacles or challenges you will have to overcome can help you adjust your plans accordingly.

2. Be Committed – After you have set your goal, be 100% committed to reaching it. I don’t care what life throws in your way keep your eyes on the prize. Be prepared to go over, under, around, or through any obstacle. When obstacles get in the way, change your route to reach your goal but not your resolve to reach your goal.

3. Keep a journal - You can’t manage what you can’t measure. How do you know if you’re doing the right things? Contrary to popular belief, the best way to tell doesn’t have to do with scales or measurements. Of course the results are a measure of the strength of the effort, but you must make sure you are on the right path. The best way to to know if you are on the right track is to focus on your activity. When you keep a journal for exercise/ nutrition you hold yourself accountable. That way you can always look back to see what you did to get in shape or what you didn’t do to get in shape. It’s easy to lose track of what you ate or how many times you workout during the week unless you write it down. I recommend you write in your journal daily. If you don’t think it is something you can do long term, try it for 30 days. I guarantee that you will find you’re more productive in those 30 days keeping track of what you do.

4. Prioritize your workouts – This ties in with being committed. At the beginning of each week, schedule your workouts. During those times, let everyone (including family) know that you are off limits. Anyone who cares about you should not complain about your unavailability for one hour a day four times per week. If they do, drop them! No, seriously though, I was once told that love is wanting the greatest good for someone else. Your family will be understanding and supportive of you in your fitness quest.

5. Find a workout partner – Finding a workout partner can be very beneficial to you. There is someone else to hold you accountable for showing up to the gym. Some days you may not want to go but will show up because you don’t want to let someone else down. They can help spot you on difficult exercises and give a much needed push when you are ready to quit. Personally, I am always in my best shape and at my strongest when I have a workout partner. There is one point to keep in mind about workout partners. You are at the gym to exercise not socialize! Spend a few minutes talking about your day, family, work, etc. before you start working out or save it for the cool down. You should keep small talk to a minimum between sets especially since you will be alternating equipment. While your partner works you rest and when you work your partner rests.

6. Train with the proper intensity level – This has to be the biggest mistake most people make when they are at the gym. They either workout with weights that are too much to handle or to little to make a difference. The former is typically committed by the males in the gym. We pride ourselves on our strength and athleticism but check your ego at the door of the weight room. Lifting too much weight than you are ready for will probably not benefit you. You will probably start to recruit other muscles to help lift the weight which can turn an isolation exercise into a full body workout. You will work up a sweat but won’t see any results. Even worse, you can possibly set yourself up for injury. I’ll tell you like my old high school coach told me; “Focus on weight and you’ll impress some guys in the gym, focus on technique and you’ll impress the girls on the beach”. That was enough for me, I’ve been refining my technique ever since! The best thing about lifting with proper form is that you will eventually become stronger than someone who just throws up weights recklessly. After a while, their progress will halt due to injury, muscle imbalances, and/or lack of stabilizer strength.

The latter mistake is done by everyone. Lifting a weight for 15 reps when you could have done 25 is a waste. Not only is that weight to light to trigger any significant adaption besides endurance, you didn’t fully challenge the muscle. Muscle growth occurs as a response to a stimulus, an overload. Many women lift very light weights because of a fear of bulking up like a man. In 99.2% of the women out there, this is not a valid concern. Women lack the amounts of testosterone needed to pack on as much muscle as the fellas. Even still most of the guys who they picture are professional bodybuilders who are using many “substances” to get that size. In my years, I have yet to meet an overdeveloped natural bodybuilder. Also, it is more than just training and rep ranges. You have to factor in your diet as well. Don’t eat like a horse if you don’t want to look like a pig.

7. Periodization – Periodization is the division of a training program into smaller, progressive stages. It sounds like an oxymoron but changing your routine up every few months prevents you from falling into a routine. Your body will keep adapting as long as you keep providing fresh stimulus. Have you seen people who go to the gym religiously and run an hour on the treadmill but can’t lose the pounds? It’s because their body has adapted to the workout. To keep seeing results and to stay motivated, change things up every 8-10 weeks at the max. Focus on endurance one month, strength the next, and so on.

8. Look forward to your workout – This is the final piece of advice. Don’t dread going to the gym like it is some type of chore. It is an active investment in your health and well being. Think about it like this, for every hour you spend in the gym, you are adding an extra day to your lifespan. Look at it in monetary terms, for every dollar you put in the bank you get twenty four back. That’s an awesome return you won’t find anywhere else. Factor in the magic of compound interest a.k.a working out continuously over the years and it gets even better. Start investing in your health today!

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.

There are two things you have to do to take advantage of the thermic effect of food. Number one is eating 4-6 smaller meals and snacks throughout the day. Every time you eat, your metabolism goes up slightly for a few hours to process the meal. By eating more frequently you reduce the risk of overeating at a meal when you are hungry. Haven’t you noticed you tend to eat more food after going a long time without eating? It is hardwired into our primal instinct to do so. Our bodies took thousands of years to evolve into the modern day state. In early days food wasn’t always in abundant supply and there were no dollar menus. We also had to expend calories chasing prey down or foraging for nuts and berries. To protect us, our bodies became very efficient at storing body fat for times of famine. Fast-forward a few millenniums where you only have to take a few steps and open a refrigerator or drive up to a local fast food place to get a meal. We are the only animals (not in captivity) besides scavengers who spend so few calories to get a meal. Now you can see why there is an obesity epidemic going on in America.

The second part of the thermic effect of food has to deal with the macronutrients. The three macronutrients are protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Of the three, protein is the most relevant to this discussion. Your body spends more energy trying to break down proteins than it does for carbohydrates and fats. It is estimated that 25-30% of the calories consumed from protein sources are used in digestion compared to 15% for carbohydrates and 2-3% for fats. This goes to show that a calorie is not a calorie. If you were to eat equal calorie meals comprised of the different macronutrients, the protein meal would be more beneficial to your weight loss goals. Many people have seen great results by using the Atkins diet and other high protein diets due to this. In my opinion, some of those diets are too restrictive but you can up your protein intake in a balanced diet. My favorite is the 40/30/30 ratio -carbohydrates, protein, and fat respectively. That’s the percentage of calories you should get from each macronutrient in your diet. For example, if you were to eat 2000 calories daily this would be the breakdown: 800 calories (200 grams) from carbohydrates, 600 (150 grams) calories from protein, and 600 (66 grams) calories from fat.

If this post has helped you in anyway, please feel free to make a donation to our “Lose Weight, Save A Child” fitness challenge. We are raising money to help those who need it the most. Thank you.

Eat Less and Exercise More- This is by far the best strategy you can implement to lose weight. You do not have to go on a very restrictive diet and you will not have to live in the gym. Studies prove that people who make small changes in their exercise routines and nutrition get better results than people who just do one or the other to the extreme. Translation- it is better to workout an hour a day four times per week and eat 4-6 nutrient dense meals daily than to stay in the gym three hours a day with horrible eating habits. It is also better than having extremely restrictive eating habits and not exercising. You will stay with the program longer and have a better quality of life.

When you hear an expert say eat less and another expert say it more, who is right? Generally speaking, both are right if we are using the assumption that one is in the normal population and focused on losing weight. I know it sounds confusing but it is really simple. Eat less calorie-dense and low nutritional value foods and eat more nutrient-dense lower calorie foods. So cut back on the Big Mac’s that are loaded with calories and very little nutritious value and eat more fresh produce with lean meats (chicken, turkey, and fish). Notice that I said cut back not eliminate completely. It’s what you do most of the time that makes the biggest difference not what you do all the time. If you are disciplined enough to never cheat and eat healthy ALL the time, good for you. But there are so many delicious treats that we can indulge in sporadically, maybe once per week, and not have it affect our goals. Try to eat clean 5-6 days out of the week and have a cheat meal at your favorite restaurant one day as a reward for your discipline.

Eating more also refers to eating more frequently (4-6 small meals daily at regular intervals 2-3 hours). There is a trend that I have noticed over the last ten years and I’m confident you have noticed it to. The trend is that the people who are overweight tend to skip breakfast and only eat once or twice per day. Those meals tend to be larger than the normal portion size due to hunger and what I call “perceived hunger”. Perceived hunger is when someone goes a very long time without eating and overloads their plate at the next meal to make up for it. The other part of the trend is that some of the thinnest people I know eat the most. They eat 5-8 meals per day and I’m not talking “rabbit food” (salad). Is it coincidence? Is it genetics? I am certain from experience and scientific evidence that it is not coincidence. There may be some slight genetic factors to consider in some cases but not the majority. It has to do with metabolism which we will discuss more in our next article.

If you are eating right, exercising, and not losing weight, I have three words- UP THE INTENSITY. Doing the same 30-45 minutes of cardio at only 50-60% of your maximum heart rate will keep you relatively healthy internally but it will not do much for your external appearance. If I told you there was a way to spend less time in the gym and get better results would you be interested? Of course you would!! Try doing H.I.I.T which stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It is the best of both worlds. Your workout won’t take as long and your results will be better. Interval training is when you constantly change intensity during your workout. For example, if you are using a treadmill you would jog lightly for 2 minutes then the next 1-2 minutes do an all out sprint. After you are done sprinting, go back to jogging and keep repeating that cycle for 20 minutes. Check back in later for a more detailed article on interval training.