:BodyFitnessInfo.com BLOG

Here’s a sad, but also well known truth: Americans watch a lot of TV. Here are some interesting statistics from TVTurnoff.org:

- The average American home has the TV on for 8 hours a day
- The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day
- The average American household is 2.55 people, but the average home also has 2.73 televisions

These statistics tell us that as a people we are spending a ton of time in front of the TV. We aren’t suggesting that you all turn off your TV for good (although that might not be a bad thing), but rather suggesting that you at least make some good use of this time. Either during the show you’re watching or at least during the boring commercials, get down and do some pushups. During a standard commercial break you could probably get in at least 20-40 pushups depending on your level. Then maybe during another break do some crunches or other body weight exercise. The idea here is that if you’re going to sit around a watch TV, at least do something productive and helpful for your fitness/weight loss goals.

Here is a short list of exercises that you can easily do at home that require little or no equipment that you could do while watching TV:

- Pushups
- Wall Squats
- One-Leg Squats
- Quick Jog Around the House
- Chair Dips
- Angled Calf Raises
- Anything with Bands or Free Weights you have at home

Get creative! You could even come up with little mini workouts you can do, or even have a competition between you and other people watching the show. See who can do the most pushups before the show comes back on. That way not only are you getting in some good exercise, but you’re also have a good time with those around you and motivating each other to achieve your best.

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There are a lot of health foods and supplements on the market today that just don’t pass the test when it comes to effectiveness and research. Reishi is becoming one of the few supplements that is getting a lot of good scientific backing and may be something to consider as one of your regular supplements. You can purchase Reishi at LongevityHerbs.com today to give this supplement a try!

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Memorial Day is here, which means that we’re almost half way through the year. So, how are you doing on your goals? We talked back in March about how every quarter its a good idea to look back and see how you’re doing on your overall goals. Well, the end of June is the end of the second quarter of this year, so its time to start ramping up your efforts to be on track by the time you reach this important bench mark.

In preparation for the half-year goal checkup, first we’d recommend you pull out your goals again to make sure you’re on track. Hopefully you don’t have to dust them off too much :-). If so, don’t worry about it, just start moving forward on your goals. Reset them if necessary so that you can start to get ready for third quarter (July - September).

Memorial Day is also a great time to consider competing in some type of event like a 5k, marathon, triathlon, etc. There should be plenty of these activities going on in your state this summer, why not try and find one that you can start to prepare for so that you really have a deadline that is more pressing? A lot of people find that having a deadline like this really helps them to meet their goals even better because its an actual event rather than just a date on the calendar that they’re working towards.

Find out what works for you, but make sure that you keep moving forward and keep moving towards your ultimate goal.

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Just last night I watching a season finale of “The Biggest Loser”. I’m pretty sure it was an old episode, but I have to say that after seeing a few episodes of this show I feel that it is probably the most positive and actually helpful “reality” shows on TV. So many of the other ones are just junk, but this one actually can have a positive effect on the people watching the show from home.

One thing I wish they would do on this show is give the viewers more details about what they are actually doing with the participants as far as training and diet rather than focusing on the emotional side of things. Granted, I’m sure they do this for ratings, but I think that if they gave more details it would actually help more people get off their butts and have at least a starting point on what they could do to start losing weight. Now on the flip side of that, I understand that they are probably following a more customized routine or workout for those individual people and so there are many reasons not to share all of the specifics of what each individual person is doing. The least they could do is try to teach the viewers what to do on a basic level so that the show could really affect more people in the country.

Anyway, this is just my commentary on “The Biggest Loser” after watching a few episodes. I still think they’re doing a great job and I wish more of these so-called reality shows were actually in some way beneficial to the viewers beyond just entertainment value. Kudos to the creators and everyone involved with that show!

Dan Patterson
BodyFitnessInfo.com Editor

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When trying to lose weight (or even gain weight for that matter) you may not want to track every single calorie that you eat, but you will want to get an idea from time to time of what you are eating. In order to do this we would recommend using some type of calorie counter like the one you will find for free at MyFitnessPal.com.

With MyFitnessPal.com you have access to a lot of great features to help you on your fitness journey. Here are some of these features:

- Easy to use food diary
- Food database with information on 6,000 different foods (and growing)
- A personal food database
- Discussion forums for support and motivation
- Personalized diet profile
- Flexibility

The best part about MyFitnessPal.com is that it is always 100% free. They don’t charge any fees for any of these services.

One of the best features of MyFitnessPal.com is the community side. Having the support of others in your weight loss or muscle building efforts could be the missing key to your success. That’s why its always recommended that you have a training partner and also that you hang out with people headed in the same direction that you are. While you may not get a training partner (although you might find a local buddy there), you can at least get some great moral support. Check them out sometime!

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This week’s tip is about not being a perfectionist. In Bill Phillip’s book Body-for-LIFE he talks about the concept that it’s not what you do all of the time, but most of the time that makes a difference. If you miss a workout or eat too much don’t assume the world is over. Just pick yourself up and continue on. Here’s this week’s tip:

The 10% Factor
by Dr. John Berardi

If some people eat one food not on their plan, their failure to be perfect sets in motion a psychological chain of events that leads to frustration and the inability to get right back on the plan. The all-or-nothing mentality sets in and BAM, they’re back to nothing. But it doesn’t have to be this way. 100% nutritional discipline is never required for optimal progress. The difference, in results, between 90% adherence to your nutrition program and 100% adherence is negligible. So allow yourself the extra 10% wiggle room. This will allow you the freedom to eat a few extra things not on your menu without the guilt and subsequent crash.

This tip brought to you by: Precision Nutrition

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Not everyone has the same goals when it comes to fitness and exercise. Some people are trying to pack on muscle and be a body builder. Others just want to be in really good shape. Others are more interested in competing in events like marathons, triathlons, etc. Whatever your goal is, we hope that you’ll be able to find some information that will be beneficial here on BodyFitnessInfo.com.

Today we’d like to talk a little bit to those of you that are more interested in training for some type of running event. If you’ve been running for some time already, than this post probably isn’t for you. But for those of you that are just getting started in running and would like to know where to start, we hope you’ll find this to be a good resource.

The resource we’re referring to is the Couch to 5k Running Plan. This is a plan that was designed to take those that are just getting started in running and over a 9 week period get you ready for running in your first 5k event. One thing about running and really any other new exercise regiment is that if you work up to it you’re more likely to stick with it rather than running 5 miles your first day. Check the plan out and in 9 weeks you’ll feel much better about your running abilities!

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Recently Tom Venuto posted a few interviews on his Burn the Fat Blog that are well worth the time to read them. For those of you that don’t know who Tom Venuto is, he is the author of the number one best selling health/weight loss/fitness ebook on the web, Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. Tom is also the man behind the site BodyBuildingSecrets.com, where he posts some of his favorite workouts and intensity techniques from time to time. Other projects/sites by Tom are TomVenuto.com and AmazingAbdominals.com. Needless to say, you’ll get a lot of good information whenever you read something written by Tom Venuto.

Tom’s interview is conducted by Chris Mohr who also has quite the resume. You can read more about Chris at the bottom of the interview, but just to give you an idea he has been a nutrition consultant to many companies like Clif Bar, Discovery Health Channel, Fit Fuel, and more.

This particular interview comes in two parts and mainly has to do with fat loss. Very good information from a guy who practices what he preaches!

Fat Burning Secrets Revealed - The Interview, Pt 1
Fat Burning Secrets Revealed - The Interview, Pt 2

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These days there are so many programs being advertised that promise to help you lose weight or gain muscle that its almost impossible to choose one. This has created a huge problem of people trying a program for about a week, then jumping to another one for a week, and then jumping to another one … you get the idea. Honestly, you’re unlikely to get results from doing this.

First of all, we have to realize that a lot of the ‘programs’ out there are not very good. So before you start to follow any given program, make sure its a good one. Here are a few things to look for:

Is it too strict?
In order for a program to be effective for you there has to be some degree of flexibility. There is no such this as a “one-size-fits-all” fitness program.

Does it focus on the basics?
A good program will focus on the old tried and proven methods for either losing weight and/or gaining muscle. If it starts with something like “The new revolutionary way to (fill in the blank) in a week or less!” there is a good chance that its mostly hype. Feel free to check it out, just watch out for too much hype and not enough reality.

Does it have a good nutrition program?
If the program claims to be a complete program but doesn’t give you good suggestions on nutrition, then it isn’t a complete program. Refer to point number 2 for this one as well.

Is it appropriate for your body type?
If you’re a high ectomorph, don’t do the same training program that a high mesomorph or endomorph is doing. You have to train appropriately for your body type to really get good results. This is a constant problem with programs found in many of the muscle magazines.

There are other things we could add to this list, but I think that these three basically sum it up. You also have to realize that in order for any program to be effective, it has to have time to be effective. Jumping from program to program won’t get you anywhere. Yes, you do need to change up what you’re doing from time to time, but a good fitness program will have this worked into the program as well.

Take some good time when choosing a program to follow. Decide on what your overall goal is and then research some programs before you just jump into one. This will help you have a better chance of success.

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This week’s nutrition tip has to do with increasing your metabolism. We all know that metabolism plays a critical role in whether you are gaining or losing weight. That’s why you always hear about the skinny guy who just has a good metabolism and that’s why they don’t gain any weight. We hope you enjoy today’s tip!

Revving Up Metabolism
by Dr. John Berardi

I recommend more calories than most do. That’s because there’s no such thing as a stagnant metabolic set-point. Instead, metabolism chases intake. So, if you want a bigger metabolism, you need a bigger food intake. And if you’re worried about fat gain with this approach, just use outcome-based decision making and adjust energy (calorie) intake every two weeks based on your results. Not much ‘damage’ can take place in only two weeks. So if you end up boosting your metabolism, you’ll be thanking me eternally. And if it turns out you’re consuming too much, you can just adjust down.

This tip brought to you by: Precision Nutrition

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