:BodyFitnessInfo.com BLOG

Over the last few weeks in preparation for 2007 we’ve been trying to give you some tips and hints on how to prepare yourself for the new year and set some goals to continue to strive for lifetime fitness. And really, thinking of your fitness as a lifetime thing is what you really need to consider when looking at your health. Too many people out there go from one diet to another, or one workout to another, hoping for the next new trend to finally be the one that works. The problem here is that you have to make complete lifestyle changes in order to truly achieve lifetime fitness! A 12-week mentality won’t cut it!

Now, setting goals in 12-week increments isn’t a bad thing as long as you understand that they are a means, not an end. If all you think about is that in 12 weeks or some other relatively short time frame all your life problems will be gone, you’re kidding yourself. Instead, look at the first 12 weeks or so as a spring board to creating some new habits. After that, keep on going and strengthen those new habits! 12 weeks is a short term goal. Make sure to set some long-term goals as well. 3, 6, 12 month goals should be standard, and right around the turning of the new year is a great time to plan for the coming year.

Another reason that its good to break up your goals in this type of fashion is that at different parts of the year you may have different goals. For example, perhaps for the first 3 months you want to focus on workouts and nutrition to gain muscle, but at about month 4 you want to start cutting up for the summer. Plan these sorts of things into your overall goals as well.

We’ve posted about goals and resolutions a lot this month, and the reason for that is that without them you’re just not going to hit the mark. That’s because without a goal you don’t have a mark to aim for! So with all the parties and fun this week, be sure to set aside some time to really decide what you want to achieve in 2007.

Happy New Year!

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Depending on how you look at this article, you could think that this is another excuse that scientists are giving us to be fat. Which is just what a lot of people would love to hear. But let’s take a look at the following article in a little bit of a different light.

Basically, there was a study done that shows that obese and really overweight people have more of a certain family of bacteria that are apparently keeping them over weight. Does this mean that a person is overweight solely because of ‘bacteria’? I think not! Let’s look at it this way: the body is an amazing thing. It will adapt to what you give it. For example, you stress a muscle enough, the body will adapt and make it grow. If a person continues to over eat, the body will find a way to make better use of that food. So, if a person continually eats a really high calorie diet, wouldn’t it make sense that the body would then adapt the body itself to be able to somehow process what it is being given? If anything, this type of study could explain why it is even harder for people that are extremely overweight to get back to ‘normal’ levels. So please, don’t use bacteria as an excuse for excessive weight. If anything, look at it as just another thing you’re going to have to change within your body if you really want to reach your goals.

One very beneficial thing that could come from this study is that hopefully scientists will be able to come up with something that can help to reduce the adaptive bacteria to help people be able to get back to a healthy weight with less frustration.

read more | digg story

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Honestly, this is a really sad commentary on the modern US Society. According to several studies, we are officially the fattest people on the planet. This is from an article that I read just this morning. Granted, the article doesn’t go into a lot of detail as to why or how this has happened, but in the end it’s not really that surprising. The question we have to ask ourselves is are we as individuals part of the problem? This is a problem that can be fixed, and honestly needs to be fixed for so many reasons that we won’t have time to go into here. But just look at the effect this is having on the health care system. Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done on an individual level if great changes are really going to happen. So, don’t be afraid of being called and ‘health nut’, because in the end its much much better than the alternative! Also, being a health nut is much better for our overall society than being fat ever will be!

Article:
There’s no polite way to say this: Americans are the fattest people on the planet. Americans are heavier than Mexicans, Australians, Greeks, New Zealanders and the British — from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Statistical Abstract Americans ate more than twice as much high-fructose corn syrup per person in 2004 as we did in 1980. (no wonder)

read more | digg story

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Just like having a plan for working out, you should also make sure you have a plan for your nutrition goals as well. In case you missed the post about having a plan for your workout, you can access it here: Having a Plan — Workouts.

So, when it comes to nutrition goals, what should you consider? Well, very similar to our goals for working out, you need to first decide what you’re trying to achieve. First of all, if you’re trying to gain weight you need to be sure that you’re eating more calories than you burn each day. Or, if your goal is to lose weight, then you need to do the opposite. Here’s a great tool for getting a pretty good idea of how many calories you are really consuming each day: www.fitday.com. This is a very easy to use tool so you can get a good idea of where your calorie intake really is. Then, you can also use the standard RMR calculation to see how many calories you’re currently burning on a basic level and see how many calories you should be consuming based on your goals.

So to recap, here’s the basics:
To gain weight, eat more than you burn each day.
To lose weight, eat less than you burn each day.

The purpose of this post is not to give you detailed recommendations on what you’re intake of calories should consist of. We’ll probably cover that more in detail in a later post. But, here are some standard recommendation to get you started: a standard recommendation is 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, and 20% Fat. You should also be eating around 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight.

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We’ve all heard this much overused statement: “If you fail to plan you plan to fail.” One of the funny things of life is that the more we hear something the more we tend to not realize how significant it really is. So, let’s take a quick look at this particular phrase and how it applies to reaching our fitness goals. Specifically, let’s take a look at having a plan for working out in the gym.

The thing to realize is that most of us just don’t know ourselves well enough to go to the gym without a plan. Once you’ve been working out and having success in the gym for several years, then you might be able to just go to the gym and know yourself well enough to have a good workout without a set plan. But even then, your overall achievements are likely to not be as much unless you have a plan.

So how do we come up with a plan for our workouts? First of all, you need to set a goal for what you want to achieve. Then you need to plan accordingly. For example, if your goal is size and strength, then you need to focus on the more basic, multi-jointed movements that build size and strength. This would include exercises like the bench press, squat, deadlift, chinups, and rows. Or, if you’re going through some sort of a cutting phase, then you should also be sure to incorporate some isolation exercises like flyes.

The important thing is to have a plan, and then stick to that plan! Just ask guys like Tom Venuto, Anthony Ellis, or Bill Phillips. They’ll all tell you that you need to set some goals for what you want to achieve, set a plan, and then execute that plan. Don’t make the mistake of considering yourself to be better than that. These guys stick to their plans, and look what they’ve achieved.

Other Recommended Article:

The Top 10 Bonehead Workout Mistakes Part 1 - Tom Venuto

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No matter what you do during the day, you are burning calories. As we mentioned in our last post, different activities burn different amounts of calories at a different rate. So, what is your average rate of just naturally burning calories? That’s where the Resting Metabolic Rate comes in, also known as RMR.

Here’s how to calculate your RMR:

RMR = [Lean Body Mass in lbs] / 2.205 X 30.4

So, find out what your lean body mass is (in other words, check your body fat percentage and calculate you lean body mass), divide that by 2.205, and then multiply that by 30.4. That will give you a good idea of what your RMR is, and from that you can get a good idea of how many calories you should be.

So how do you use this information? Well, if you are trying to lose weight, then you need to eat less than your RMR. If you are trying to gain weight, then you should be eating more calories than your RMR.

One thing to keep in mind with this is that the RMR doesn’t necessarily take into account extra calories burned by doing exercise. The concept is mainly based on if you have more lean body mass (more muscle), your body will work more efficiently and naturally burn more calories rather than a body that has less muscle. RMR is only to be used as a guide to help you make some plans for your lifetime fitness goals.

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Here’s just a nice little scale to help you get a general idea of how many calories you’re burning in some daily activities:

Activity	Calories Burned per Hour
Sleeping	72
Sitting	72-84
Walking (3.5 mph)	336-420
Calisthenics	300-360
Swimming (Basic)	360
Cycling (10 mph)	360-420
Jogging (5 mph)	600
Skiing (Moderate to Steep)	480-720
Running (7.5 mph)	900

Using this chart as a guide, you should be able to see what types of activities will help you to burn the most calories. Then, plan your activities or cardio workouts accordingly to get the most out of them.

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What is a staggered set you may ask? A staggered set is what you may call another intensity or advanced technique to help train lagging body parts. So this would be more relevant to those of you actually training for aesthetic purposes (i.e. body building) rather than just lifting weights for strength.

So here’s the basic concept: when you’re trying to develop a better body, you’re also trying to get good symmetry with your body. As a person is developing their physique, some parts of the body may develop slower than others. For example, maybe your chest is developing just fine, but your shoulders aren’t keeping the same pace. That’s where staggered sets come in.

The basic use of a staggered set is that you do extra sets to work the lagging body part on a day that you don’t normally exercise that body part. In other words, work it more often to keep it in an overload state. Force it to grow!

One important thing to watch out for with staggered sets it don’t over do it. With this type of technique, you should probably only do it once a week to avoid overtraining.

As with any new or different training technique, you’ll want to do some trial and error to see what type of a schedule for your staggered set works best for you. Should you do several sets on a different day, or just do one set in between other exercises? Try both of these approaches and see how each helps you and makes you feel. Remember that your body may react to this technique differently than someone else’s, so don’t get discouraged, experiment!

Here is another great article on the same subject from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself:
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/feature/88

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Here’s another reason to keep exercising: it may reduce your chances for contracting some really nasty cancers! According to the article, colon and rectal cancer are most common in developed countries. That would apparently make sense since we sit around so much and they probably don’t! Anyway, it makes an interesting read and hopefully will give you some good motivation to get out there and start working out or to at least keep going!

Article:
Whether is it jogging around the park, pumping iron or swimming, an hour of vigorous exercise a day can lower the risk of bowel cancer, a study said on Monday. Even cleaning the house, or two hours of less strenuous activity can make a difference, according to the study of more than 413,000 people in 10 European countries.

read more | digg story

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We have touched on this recently in another post, but since the new year is a mere 20 days away, we thought that now would be a good time to revisit the idea of setting your goals for 2007 now instead of waiting until New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to get ready to hit 2007 running:

1- Where am I at right now?

Get a good idea of what your current condition is. You could do this through taking measurements, taking pictures, or anything else to give you a good indication of where you are in your lifetime fitness goals right now.

2- Where do I want to be 3, 6, 9, and 12 months from now?

Get an idea of where you want to be. Find some pictures of people that represent the body you would want to have. (NOTE — Its a good idea if you’re going to do this to also check and see if that person is actually the same body type as you also. For example, if you are a 6′4″ Ectomorph, a 5′1″ Mesomorph might not be the absolute best role model for you.)

3- How am I going to get there?

It’s one thing to have a goal, it’s another thing to have a plan to reach that goal. What days will you be able to work out? Are you going to follow a particular plan? And so forth. Its also important at this point that you have a good understanding of what your main goal is: to gain muscle, or to lose weight. Then, make a plan and get ready to execute it.

These are just a few ideas to help you get ready for the New Year. Let’s all work together to make 2007 the year that more people actually achieve their fitness goals. We truly believe that one of the only ways that this is going to happen is by preparation. If you don’t start getting ready for 2007 now, chances are that March will roll around and you’ll be in the same shape or worse than you are now simply because you did not prepare.

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