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This week’s nutrition tip has to do with meal planning. Enjoy!

The Sunday Ritual
by Dr. John Berardi

To ensure that good foods will be available when you need them, use the Sunday Ritual. This is performed by setting aside three hours every Sunday to write out your menu for the week, shop for the week, and prepare your meals for the week. Cook all the meat, chop all the vegetables, measure out all the yogurt and/or cottage cheese, and distribute all the powders. Have them ready and set aside so that you can grab them in the morning and bring them with you regardless of what your day holds in store for you.

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Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be showing a weekly nutrition tip. We’ll mainly be posting these on Mondays, but to get things started we’re going to post the first one today. So here it is!

Eat Pasta… Carefully
by Dr. John Berardi

As a God-fearing Italian, I have to admit that I love pasta. But, as a gut-fearing weight lifter and athlete, I definitely have to choose the lower GI, nutrient dense whole-wheat variety. During training phases that require or allow for higher carbohydrate intake (higher volume training) I’ll eat one whole-wheat pasta meal per day. During other phases (like where I’m trying to lose fat), the pasta stays on the shelf in favor of a higher lean protein, good fat, and fruit and veggie intake.

SEE ALSO:
This tip is sponsored by Precision Nutrition - our pick for the best nutrition and supplement resource currently available. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want — guaranteed.

Order Precision Nutrition now and get $50 off!

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How consistent are you in your workouts? Do you have a plan each time you go to the gym or do you just go and do whatever feels good?

Deep down everyone knows that its best to have at least some type of a plan. But how many of us actually do it? Many books out there such as Body-for-LIFE recommend that you should never go to the gym without having a plan. This is very good advice because it keeps you focused on what you should be doing. And let’s face it, if you really are reaching to achieve what we call lifetime fitness, then you have to take it seriously and plan what you’re going to do each and every workout. This is consistency.

Another level of consistency is planning out how often you are going to workout and then sticking with it. If you schedule changes from time to time, don’t just go with the flow and gradually adjust things accordingly. Instead, do it ahead of time and make sure that you are always planning what time you’re going to exercise based on your schedule. In a perfect world we would all be able to have the perfect schedule, but that sadly isn’t the case. Plan your time the way you need to so that you can make things happen. This is consistency.

To be successful in anything, you have to be persistent and consistent. Health and fitness is no different. Set your goals, make your plan, and go out there and do it!

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Every now and then its a really good idea to mix up your routine and do some really good intensity workouts. There are a lot of different methods and techniques that you can use to increase the intensity of a workout. Here are a couple that you may have heard of:

Dropsets - do a normal set for one exercise (curls for example, 6-8 reps), then immediately drop the weight by about 20% and do 6-8 more reps, then do it again. This would be a ‘triple drop set.’

Supersets - this is where you take two exercises and do them without rest in between. This can be done with exercises for the same body part of different ones. Great intensity technique and time saver!

Running the Rack - start at the lighter end of the weight rack, do 6-8 reps of an exercise, then without resting (or maybe a short rest of 10-15 seconds) move up to the next weight. Go as high as you safely can, then go back down.

This is just a small sample of some techniques out there. For a great article on some intense arm workouts, check out 5 Star Arm Workouts by Tom Venuto. Tom also recently released a great chest workout that has great intensity also. You can reach that article here: Build a Bigger Chest in 3-5 Workouts or Less.

You can also read about a lot of intensity techniques in Arnold’s book The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.

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Let’s face it: there are a lot of good body weight exercises out there that a lot of us don’t do because we think you can only workout by going to the gym. But what about those days where you just didn’t have time to go? Think about it, what would be better: don’t workout at all or do some good body weight exercises so that you still get your workout even though you aren’t pumping iron? Yes, its sort of a duh statement - you should at least get in some sort of a workout!

One of the great classic moves is the pushup. The nice thing about the pushup is that it isn’t just a chest move. Its actually more of a full body workout that most people give it credit for. Let’s break it down a little bit and see what groups are being worked when doing pushup:

Chest - yes, the pushup does work the chest. Similar to the compound movements of the bench press, doing pushups will also stimulate your chest muscles

Arms - also very similar to the bench press, doing pushups will work your arms as well. Especially the tripceps.

Abs - here’s where some of the differences start to come in. By holding your body straight you are also working out your abs because you have to contract them in order to keep your back straight.

Lower Back - similar to the reason doing pushups works your abs, you also have to clench your lower back muscles to keep your back straight. This actually applies to you glutes as well.

Looking at the list above, you have to agree that pushups are much more than what a lot of people think. In fact, it might not be a bad idea to incorporate some of them into your standard workout as well. (The military has had people doing pushups for a long long time . . .)

If by chance you don’t want to do pushups because you think they’re boring, look at them again and spice things up a bit. There are a lot of variations that you can do with pushups. Here’s a great article from Men’s Health writer Scott Quill: More Power to the Pushup

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It seems that the work environment is the one that most people have a hard time with when it comes to eating properly. This is where meal planning and scheduling will become vital if you are going to reach your goals. Keep healthy snacks with you at work, and avoid the vending machine! Also, rather than always going out with co-workers to lunch bring your own lunch to make sure that you are getting the right foods at the right times.

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Most would agree that a cheat meal here and there is not a bad thing. But if you’re going out to a fast-food or even regular restaurant several times a week you won’t reach your goals any time soon. Restaurant portions are not even close to the portion size that you should probably be eating, so keep eating out to a minimum. When you do eat out, maybe try sharing a plate with someone else or just plan on having leftovers. This takes some discipline and planning, but you’ll be setting yourself up to win.

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A basic rule you should incorporate into your life is never go shopping with an empty stomach! Shopping when you’re hungry is a very easy way to set yourself up to lose. I know that every time I shop when I’m hungry I am much more likely to buy a lot of food that really should not be part of my menu. When you shop hungry just about anything sounds good, even though you know you shouldn’t buy it. Make it a very firm rule and stick with it: Don’t Shop When Hungry!

Its also a good idea to make sure that if you shop with someone else that they aren’t hungry either. When two people go shopping hungry, you’re just asking for a junk food festival. We hope this tip helps!

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In order to reach your fitness goals you have to set yourself up to win. One way to set yourself up to win is to learn how to control your surroundings. In other words control the things that are holding you back from reaching your goals and become a master of your own environment. Here are a few things that you must learn to control if you’re going to reach your goals:

Control Your Home Environment

Are your cupboards full of junk foods that you’re always snacking on, even when you know you shouldn’t? Let’s face it, if you’re trying to lose weight you have to eat right. Also, if you’re trying to gain muscle you have to eat right. While your methods and meals may vary a bit, you still have to eat the right stuff! So set yourself up to win and remove anything from your cupboards, fridge, and freezer that are not helping you reach your goals.

You may consider keeping a few things around for a cheat meal or two, but I still recommend removing everything from the house that shouldn’t be part of your meal plan. This is another way to control your home environment. Think about it: if you have to go out and buy the cheat you may decide that you don’t want that cheat meal so bad after all.

Use these tips for controlling your home environment and you’ll be one step closer to really reaching your goals!

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Today we wanted to take a minute to let you know about one of the best overall programs out there, Precision Nutrition. This site is from health expert John Berardi and some of his pals and is a great resource for any information you need on the subject of losing weight, gaining muscle, or anything else you need to reach your goals. Check out the forum, which you can view for free, and many of the other resources that are available.

Here are also some of the books written by John Berardi:

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