If You’re Not Getting Stronger, You’re Getting Weaker

girl in bikini looking bored

girl in bikini looking boredIf there’s one thing that holds true over the last few years is this. Either I’m getting stronger or I’m getting weaker. There is no maintenance.

I noticed, for example, if I deadlift a barbell that weighs 145 pounds, and then I keep lifting that 145 pounds with the same set and rep range, that 145 will begin to feel heavier than it did in the beginning. That has led me to believe that there is no real maintenance of strength. The body must be continually be challenged otherwise it starts to get weaker.

Read more >>>If You’re Not Getting Stronger, You’re Getting Weaker

The 30 day Triceps Experiment Results

As a refresher, this is what I said I would do…

Here’s the rundown.

1. I will do 20 triceps lying presses (skull crushers) every day using a 15# dumbbell
2. I will do no more than 10 reps per set
3. I will perform 2 sets for each arm and alternate arms for each set
4. I will do this everyday for 30 days
5. I will not do any bicep specific exercises
6. I will continue doing other exercises like pull-ups, deadlifts,pushups and squats

OK, here’s what happened…

-At the end of the thirty days, did I lose any weight?

No, nope, negatory. But, on the bright side, I didn’t gain any weight either.

-Did my arms get any bigger?

Yes they did. I gained an eighth of an inch on both arms.

-Was it a complete waste of time?

Absolutely not. No experiment is ever a waste of time. For me, I found out that I could actually add an eighth of an inch to my arms by using only a fifteen pound dumbbell for 30 days. I also found out that even though my triceps always burned, I didn’t lose any weight.

I’m still curious as to why when I did the same experiment on my biceps I lost weight. Oh well (shrug). Maybe I’ll need to revisit that bicep experiment again one day.

And FYI, I’m already planning my next experiment… Kettlebell Swings. Stay tuned.

 

 

30 Day Triceps Experiment

book

book

Back in 2013, I performed a 30 day snatch experiment. In that experiment I promised to perform 20 snatches per day every day for a month (30 days) to see if I would lose any kind of weight. The reasoning was because I had lost weight on the previous 30 day biceps experiment by only adding bicep curls to my daily routine.

I lost a total of four pounds on the bicep curl experiment without even trying, but lost nothing on the snatch experiment. In that article I talked about “the burn” I got when performing bicep curls and still wonder if that’s why I lost weight. On the snatch experiment there was no burn to speak of, ever.

Read more >>>30 Day Triceps Experiment

Why It’s Important To Check The Ingredients In Your Food

yogurt-bowl

These days I find myself checking ingredients a lot more than I used to. I was on a mission in the supermarket, like I usually am when I need food, and made my way to the last aisle in search of milk,  cheese and yogurt. The “normal” size of yogurt is too big for me to eat in one sitting,  I’m not that big of a yogurt fan,  so I was checking out some kid sized yogurts.

Now some of you might be asking yourselves, why don’t I just buy a large container of yogurt and scoop some into a small cup? My answer, longevity.  I just can’t seem to keep the large tub from going bad. Smaller containers work best for me.

I stayed at a Hampton Inn hotel once and part of the breakfast buffet was a small sized Yoplait yogurt.  The perfect size that I can’t seem to find in any of the markets by me. (sigh)

So as I was perusing the kids sized yogurts, one “natural” yogurt caught my eye.  The container was the perfect size. The yogurt was strawberry flavored and I expected a natural yogurt to include strawberries in its list of ingredients. Wouldn’t you?  To my surprise,  strawberries were no where to be found on the list.  Instead, it had natural flavors. I’ve read up on natural flavors and as far as I could interpret the info,  almost any type of preservative can be added to that natural flavor and it can still fall under the umbrella of “natural flavors.”

So I passed on that brand. Things like that have made me much more skeptical about reading ingredients and to be much more mindful about what I’m eating.

So did I find a yogurt that day? Yes I did. I came across an organic yogurt.  All the ingredients appeared ok and the sugar content was low,  12 g.  I prefer the blueberry.

Mission accomplished.

How To Lose Weight By Eating What’s On Sale Results

I’ll keep this post short and to the point.

I gave this trial plenty of time to see if I would, or could, lose weight by buying what was on sale in my supermarket. Unfortunately I didn’t see any results by eating this way. I guess my sister has stumbled on what works for her.

So far for me, the best way of eating is covered in my guide, “Dieting Bites.”

It’s available for sale on Amazon and available for free as a thank you for signing up to my mailing list.

 

How To Lose Weight By Eating What’s On Sale

I was talking to my sister the other day about all the different types of diets that are out there and she had this to say: “When I want to lose weight, I just go on the ‘on sale diet.'”

Since I never heard of such a thing, I was intrigued. “What’s the on sale diet?” I asked.

She poured herself a cup of coffee, stirred in a teaspoon of sugar and sat down at the table. “I just buy what’s on sale.”

It didn’t make any sense to me. “What are you talking about?”

She rolled her eyes and continued. “When money’s tight, I go to the supermarket and I buy whatever’s on sale that week. If orange juice isn’t on sale. Then no O.J. for me.”

“And how does that make you lose weight?” I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know the science behind it. All I know is that I lose weight whenever I have to eat that way. I guess it’s because one: Maybe I eat less and two: I’m mixing up what I eat. Sometimes I end up eating sandwiches one week, while eating plenty of chicken for dinner, because it was ninety-nine cents a pound. Other weeks the ground beef is on sale and other times spaghetti, milk, cheese and yogurt are on sale.”

I began to see a pattern emerge. It seemed like she was eating a lot more of one type of food some weeks and then not having much of it on others.

So this week, she ate chicken every single day, but next week she didn’t have chicken at all, and ended up eating ground beef cooked in different ways. (burgers, meatloaf, or in spaghetti sauce)

I found this interesting because most people eat the same meals over and over again each week. When I went to the supermarket yesterday, I noticed it myself. My basket was pretty much full of the same exact things that I bought last week.

Chicken
Ground beef
Pepper steak
Tuna fish in the can
Cheddar cheese
Donuts (yum…)
Italian bread
Orange Juice
Yogurt

I had already stocked up on the fruit and frozen veggies so I didnt need those. I always buy those in bulk, especially if I find them for $0.99 per bag.

Comparing this to my sister’s on sale diet, I saw why she might lose weight when she went on it. And it wasn’t because she was eating less food. In fact, I think she was eating more food than I was. So why was she losing weight?

Drum roll please….

I believe it’s the variety and lack of variety all at the same time. This week she didn’t eat chicken, but then next week it went on sale and she bought a bunch. So something else got cut out of her diet until it went back on sale, or she got a craving for it.

It makes so much sense. Think about it, if we lived way back in the hunter-gatherer days, would we be able to eat the same exact things every week? Or all year long for that matter? Doubt it. We’re lucky nowadays to have all types of food readily available, but that might just be one of the reasons we gain and have such a hard time losing weight. Right?

I plan on trying this out myself on my trip to the market next week, just to see how it goes. I’m curious to see if simply going on the “on sale diet” and changing nothing else would make me drop pounds.

I’ll post my results from this next experiment in the coming weeks. I think I need to follow it at least for one month to gauge the results correctly.

Curious to find out what happens?

Sign up to my e-mail list to receive a notice when I post the results.

Why I’m Still Against Long Distance Running

The body was meant to go long and slow, or fast and quick. Ever notice how even obese people can run for long distances at a slow pace, or even finish a marathon? But I bet if they had to out run a threat, running as fast as possible, they’d be in trouble.

And that goes for anyone who doesn’t normally run at a fast pace.

Let’s think about that, shall we?

When it comes to being functional, it’s a lot better to be able to run fast than long. If you told me I needed to get somewhere that was five miles away, guess what? I’m walking there–not running. Firstly, I don’t know about you, but I don’t walk around all day dressed to run. Secondly, I don’t want to arrive at my destination all sweaty, tired and hungry.

Read more >>>Why I’m Still Against Long Distance Running

Swimming For Quitters

swimming for quitters learn how to swim fred medina

Just in time for summer….

Swimming For Quitters: Learn How To Swim Calm, Smooth & Relaxed.

I released this learn to swim guide because even when I “learned to swim” in high school, I learned the hard way that I hadn’t. Most group swim lessons and even some private ones focus too much on kicking. Every time I hear “kick, kick, kick,” I get annoyed and upset. Why? Because I know that isn’t the best way to learn to swim.

Most beginning swimmers have a weak flutter kick due to limited flexibility in the foot and ankle, so they don’t generate much momentum with their kick. And the flutter kick is a tiring kick when you try to perform it as fast as you can.

With all that effort and energy expenditure, there’s also little movement. Needless to say, I don’t focus on flutter kicking much in my guide. I do explain that it’s needed more for twisting the body than for propulsion.

This guide is for anyone who has tried to learn how to swim and failed. I discovered the hard way that just because I could swim one length of the pool, that didn’t really mean I knew how to swim. Don’t learn the hard way like I did.

swimming for quitters

Swimming For Quitters: Click Here