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Every so often we tend to let our weight get a little beyond where we might like due to work stress, having kids, etc and we rationalize that we’ll just have to “take it off later”.  However, recent research on leptin shows that perhaps this doesn’t work exactly as we might expect.

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You see, leptin is a very interesting hormone that was evolutionarily responsible for protecting our body from starvation.  At our normal weight (i.e., when we are not calorie restricted) leptin levels remain stable and our metabolism plugs along just fine.  However, as we lose weight our leptin levels fall which can slow down our metabolism and make us want to eat more to restore us to our original weight and bring leptin back up to its original levels.  This is normal and anyone who had tried to lose weight in the past will know exactly what I’m talking about.

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But here’s the kicker, when we gain extra weight and carry it around for a while our leptin threshold (the point leptin levels have to reach to keep us weight stable) becomes higher.  In other words, we’ll have to eat more to restore leptin to that higher level and this predisposes us to go right back to that weight.  So basically, once we gain weight and carry it around for a while, it will actually get harder to maintain any future weight loss.  Shit!

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And to make the problem worse, the new leptin threshold (you know…the one we created by allowing ourselves to carry around the extra weight that we were going to take off later) does not appear to go down even if we take off the weight and maintain that new body weight for a long time.  Instead, the higher leptin threshold appears to be permanent and once it is changed there doesn’t appear to be much we can do about it.  Double shit!

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So what can you do about it?

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 If you’ve gained some weight and you’re not where you’d like to be then you need to immediately implement a plan consisting of several well thought out action steps that will carry you to your goal before your body adapts to your current weight.

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Alternatively, if you’ve been at your current weight for a while and you think your body may already have adapted, what you can do is start by taking action today to prevent future weight gain.

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Of course, if you need that extra litte bit of incentive to finally take action I should remind you that today is the last day to Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle product before the end of day and you’ll have the opportunity to get lean, and defeat leptin, and win an all inclusive trip to Maui all at the same time.

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Whether or not you decide to use Tom’s product is up to you, but frankly, the incentive to go to Maui is pretty convincing to me.  But the very least you need to do is start taking some action today (no matter how small) to start moving in the right direction.

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So here’s the deal…I recently connected with one of my long time fitness idols Tom Venuto. If you don’t know Tom, he’s a really down to earth guy, evidence based (you know I love this), and he’s been around in this industry so long that I think the first time he wrote down his thoughts on training and nutriton they were probably carved on stone tablets. Okay…I’m exaggerating a bit here, but Tom’s book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle was first released almost a decade ago so you know that computers weren’t quite what they are today.

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In short, when it comes to body compostion change, Tom has seen the trends come and go and his program still stands as one of the best and most popular on the internet.
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As a result of our recent email discussions I cracked open Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle again and was honestly as impressed as I was a few years ago when I read it for the first time. Perhaps even more so because it is a stark contrast to a lot of what I’m seeing on the internet these days.
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In recent years, I feel that training just to look good has taken a back seat to being “functional” (whatever that means) and we’ve been made to feel guilty about just wanting to look good naked. I think that reading Tom’s book again made me realize that this IS okay. In fact, it is normal. We all want to look and feel good and we shouldn’t have to feel bad about it. Heck, isn’t that why most of us started training in the first place?!?
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I guess what I liked most about Tom’s program is that it is scientifically supported AND it has been battle tested for over a decade on thousands of people in over 100 countries! In short, it freaking works!
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So if I read it and liked it so much why didn’t I tell you about it sooner?

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Because during my conversations with Tom he mentioned that he was in the midst of putting together an absolutely epic transformation contest where those with the best results over the course of 14 weeks would get to go on an all expense paid vacation to the beautiful white sand beachies of Maui and I didn’t want to mention anything about it until I knew all the details.

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In addition, he’s informed me that there are other prizes like cash, iPods, and Kindles which is pretty friggin’ awesome!  Oh…and you don’t even have to win to score this stuff.  If you sign up to be a member of the Burn the Fat Inner Circle you can win prizes for just being the most supportive member!  How cool is that?!?

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So basically, if you purchase Tom’s ultimate body composition changing program Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle or a membership to his “Inner Circle” you are automatically elligable to enter this 98 day summer challenge for a trip to Maui and all sorts of other awesome stuff.

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So here you go…you can learn more about the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book and start looking the best you’ve ever looked here:

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 Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

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But let’s be honest, you want to know where you’re going and you want to see pictures and video of the resort right?  Yeah…I did too.  You can check out the contest deets, the resort, and info on the ultra supportive and motivating Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Inner Circle here:

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Contest Details, Resort Photos, and Videos

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So that’s it.  Get the product, enter the contest, look great naked, and show off your hard earned body on the beach in Maui.

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But there is only one catch

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While you can most certainly pick up your copy of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle at any time, the ability to enter this contest ends at the end of the day on Wednesday, May 25th.  In other words, if you don’t act fast, you may get lean, but you sure aren’t going to Maui…not for free anyway.  This isn’t one of those times when you can think about it forever.  If you want to make a change, the time is right now…or you’ll miss out.  And like I said, you don’t want to miss out on this:

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Contest Details, Resort Photos, and Videos

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Full Disclosure

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I should note that if you purchase through one of the links on this page I do make a commission on the sale that I will use to fund this blog as well as support my family and do generally awesome stuff.  However, I would NEVER recommend a product I don’t believe in because:

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A) This is morally wrong.  I’m just one of those guys that wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he was scamming people out of their hard earned money all the time.  Being that I’m in the fitness industry, this trait is a giant pain in the ass as I could most certainly make more money otherwise.  But the fact remains that I can’t bring myself to be anything but honest with my readers.

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B) If I break your trust, I lose my readership.  Frankly, I know that a lot of people have been duped by crazy fitness products and I know it would be easy to convince some people to spend money once.  But the fact of the matter is, if the product I recommend sucks, that person is probably not going to trust me again and they’ll never purchase anything I recommend again (thereby eliminating any future chance of making commissions or selling them a product of my own).

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C) If you return the product, I actually LOSE money.  Basically, if you purchase a product I might make a few bucks, but if you return the product I lose my commission and I pay a small fee for having had a return.  If I recommended crappy products I’d have tons of returns AND I’d be paying out of my pocket.  In the end, I could actually risk losing money on a promotion which is NOT GOOD.  So I only promote stuff I know works and I know you’re going to love because I want you to be successful and I want to not go broke in the process.

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So that’s it.  This recommendation for Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is totally legit!  It is a great product and from now until next Wednesday you have a chance to pick it up, get shredded, AND enter a contest to spend the end of your summer on a beautiful tropical beach in Maui.

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So go pick up Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle here:

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Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

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Or go check out the details for this incredible contest here:

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Contest Details, Resort Photos, and Videos

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Either way, the key here is to take action and to make this your leanest summer yet!  Get at it!

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What good is a Monday morning without zombies right?

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Last Friday the group Sumo Cyco released a totally SICK music video.  The group features Sever (the alter ego of musician Skye Sweetnam), but more importantly I’m totally stoked because my brother in law Brad got to play the blood sucking, brain eating, zombie in the video and his girlfriend Sara did all of the supremely gory makeup…which makes the video totally awesome.  If you missed your coffee this morning, this video will definitely wake you up.  I’m really digging the tune and thinking this one might be a solid addition to the playlist for leg day this week too! 

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*Warning – Video may not (read: is definitely not) suitable for work*

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Okay…now to get down to business.

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Recently I had two people ask me questions regarding things they should be eating to lose fat faster.  The first was a male friend who mentioned that someone had told him he should start eating coconut oil to accelerate his metabolism.  The second was a female friend who had heard from some of her friends that if you eat a certain amount of cinnamon per day (mixed in yogurt of some kinda) that this would help her to lose fat faster.  In fact, some of her friends stated that they were doing this and that it was actually working.

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So what do I think?

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The very real truth is that there ARE some compounds that have a thermogenic effect and result in a (slightly)  increased metabolic rate.  However, the second someone asks what they should be eating to make weight/fat loss go faster I tend to think they’ve been terribly misguided.  In my experience, weight loss isn’t about consuming MORE of anything.  In fact, for most people the real magic is created simply by consuming less.

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In short, I tend to answer questions like this with questions of my own.  In these cases I simply asked “Do you think that if you maintained your current level of activity and calorie intake that adding this ingredient would make a visual difference in how you look”?

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I don’t know whether either person actually took that to mean what it was meant to mean, but the key here is to understand that IF there was a magic ingredient that made for a truly visually noticible change in appearance without any change in diet or exercise it would probably be VERY expensive and you wouldn’t be able to buy it in the store for $10 or less.

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But what about the people who were doing the cinnamon thing and getting results?

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Again…if the scale was changing I’m guessing that this would be more related to subconscious changes in intake or exercise as a result of the act of monitoring weight in the first place.  And, of course, there is the placebo effect that I mentioned here as well.  But most certainly, the main point you should take from this is that there is NO MAGIC.  There are NO SECRETS.  Real and permanent weight loss will always be the result of serious dietary or activity changes (usually both).

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PS: If you haven’t already, don’t forget to find me on Facebook and Twitter.

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PPS: Seats are going quickly for my speaking engagement in June.  If you don’t want to miss it click HERE to find out more.

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I just wanted to drop a quick post today to let you know that I’ve just confirmed a speaking engagement for next month where I’ll be talking to fitness professionals about strategies for reading research and using it to create incredible programs for looking good naked and athletic performance.

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My good friend Jon Goodman will also be talking about fat loss programming for beginner clients and my uber smart colleague Scott Tate will be discussing how to make connections and work with with other types of practitioners to vastly improve your personal training business.

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This will be a full day workshop with seminars in the morning and applied sessions in the afternoon.  And if you’ve never heard me speak in person…rest assured that I will make all attempts to give you a few laughs (while learning, of course).

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Enough with the jabbering already Young, just give us the deets!

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Oh yeah…right.  Here’s the info on the seminar.

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Where: 

Body + Soul Fitness

378 Eglinton Ave West

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 
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When:  

Sunday June 12th

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Time:

10AM – 3PM  (break for lunch with the presenters from 12-1)
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Cost:

1 Billion Dollars!!!

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Okay…ever since watching Dr. Evil say that I’ve always wanted a chance to use it.  However, the best part of this workshop is the price.

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IT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE!

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As a way to launch the first official workshop put together by the Personal Trainer Development Center, my friend Jon Goodman has decided to offer the complete full day workshop totally free.  Because he is totally passionate about teaching personal trainers the skills required to have a successful, lucrative, and enjoyable career he is offering this seminar as a way to share knowledge with other fitness professinals.

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I personally charge a minimum of $80 per hour for time spent with me and my guess is that Jon and Scott are similar.  As a result, paying for a day like this with the three of us to learn and hear our experiences would probably cost you over $1000, but this event is totally FREE!

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But there is one catch!

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Spaces are VERY limited!  Given that the three of us are probably blasting this promotion out to a combined several thousands of fitness professionals you can bet that these precious spaces will fill up fast.

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So if you are interested you need to act quickly.  Simpy call Jon Goodman at 416-484-1500 or shoot him an email at jonathan@theptdc.com today to reserve your spot.

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I hope to see you there!

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 Oh…and I’ll also be allowing one lucky attendee to buy me a beer at lunch.  Just kidding.  I swiped Jon’s credit card and I’ll just put it on his tab.   

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Last week I received a reader question on Facebook and since this seems to be a hot topic these days, I figured I’d share my answer here for those who are interested.

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Question:  “I’m curious to know your thoughts on the effects of low testosterone on the results I’m getting (or not getting) in the gym.  I’ve heard that testosterone levels decrease with age (I’m 35) and I’ve started taking a testosterone booster supplement.  Since then, I’ve noticed I’ve felt a difference.  What do you think about this stuff?”

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My Answer:  Whenever I get asked about this, it is usually the case that the person asking the question does not feel that their results are matching up with the effort they are putting in at the gym and in the kitchen.  When this is the case, there are usually 3 possibilities.

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Possibility #1 – The person’s expectations are too high

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They’ve been convinced by the media that results can happen much faster than they actually do (in people who aren’t using steroids).  With my clients I always have them set goals for 1 year from their start date so I have a clear picture where they want to end up.
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More often than not, I’m blown away by how unrealistic some people’s goals are…especially in terms of muscle gain.  There is a reasonable amount of muscle to expect for each year of training and I make sure clients know what this is so they’re not chasing some media driven ideal that is never going to happen and leave them frustrated.  In short, the longer you’ve trained…the less muscle you’re going to be able to gain so you have to be realistic.
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Possibility #2 - The plan they are using sucks!
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This happens about as often as (and frequently in combination with) the first one.  Frankly, a lot of people are completely misguided when it comes to exercise and nutrition.  They’re either not training properly, eating properly, or both.  And in many cases they have no record of what it is that their actually doing and no objective measures of progress at all.

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When this is the case, the person in question would be wise to hire someone smart (*hint hint*) to give them an objectively based plan or at least pick up a quality program and follow it to the letter.  If this sounds like you then I’d highly recommend Show and Go or Accelerated Muscular Development to get you on the right track.

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Note – I’ve promoted both of these product in the past and there has not been one return on either product!

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Possibility #3 - There is a true issue with testosterone
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I saved this one for last because I think that it is by far the least common of the 3 possibilities.  In fact, I think that too many fitness professionals are putting too much emphasis on this when it is the least likely cause of poor results.  Granted, it DOES happen, but I would argue that getting everything else straightened out in terms of diet and nutritition is a first priority.  After that, we can worry about sorting out such issues…if they indeed exist.

But if you insist on figuring this out now, a quick blood test conducted by your doctor will confirm whether there is or is not a problem. If testosterone levels are low, it can be treated by way of hormone replacement therapy.   If not, we know it is probably one of the first two possibilities and your plan probably isn’t as good as you think it is.  I should say though, that if you still have a libido (i.e., watching Jessica Alba on TV makes you need to have a cold shower) your testosterone levels are probably just fine.
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In terms of test boosting supplements, I think most are pretty much just a waste of money.  If you’re questioning taking one, simply go to PubMed and type in the “active” ingredient from your supplement and see if there is any research suggesting that it is worth taking.  In most cases, I think you’ll find the results are weak at best.  If you want to learn how to use PubMed and Read Research…that is another story altogether.  Fortunately, I heard a really smart guy created a product recently that teaches you to do just that.  

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Of course, if you’re noticing a difference it could be due to the placebo effect which leads us to believe something is working when there is actually nothing to suggest that it does actually do anything.

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So…you are either a victim of probability 1, 2, or 3.  Once you rule out three…it is only a matter of figuring out which of the other two is the case for you and taking action to correct it.  My guess is that this is where most people will find the problem whether they’re willing to admit it or not.

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