Why is every store suddenly selling Kombucha?

 

Why are there probiotics in everything these days?

 

It’s all about gut health. Gut health is a relatively new topic in the health and wellness space. Research is showing that it has a huge impact on most every facet of your health: susceptibility to autoimmune diseases, obesity, fertility, the list goes on and on. (1)(2)(3)

 

Gut health and obesity is especially interesting.

 

 

Here’s what’s up in your gut….

 

Your gut is full of trillions of bacteria microorganisms. The “gut microbiome”. All these microorganisms make up a whole ecosystem in your belly. This ecosystem can be helpful (doing things like improving digestion, or strengthening the immune system) or harmful (doing things like causing bloating, gas, and diarrhea) depending on the balance of different bacteria.

 

 

Let’s talk about the microbiome and obesity specifically.

 

Some interesting studies show that the gut microbiome may have a huge effect on your weight.

 

Exhibit A: Scientist took bacteria from two different strains of mice: one strain that stays naturally lean, and one strain that naturally becomes naturally obese. They then cloned mice in a germ-free environment. One group of cloned mice was given the obese gut bacteria, the other the lean bacteria.

 

The cloned mice that received the lean bacteria stayed lean. The mice that received the obese bacteria became obese. All despite eating the exact same diet.

 

Basically, some mice were determined to have “lean microbiota” and some had “obese microbiota”.  (4)

 

This same concept has been shown with humans. Lean people’s gut flora consistently looks much different than obese people’s.

 

 

 

Of mice and men

Let’s look at another study. This time, scientists took a pair of identical human twins. However, one twin was lean and healthy, the other obese. Scientists again cloned “germ-free” mice in completely sterile conditions.

 

One group of mice received the obese twins flora, the other the lean twins flora. They were then fed the same food in the exact same amount.

 

Guess what happened?

 

Again, the mice with the obese twin’s flora became overweight.

 

Even crazier, in the same study some of the mice that had their bellies populated with the obese flora were actually able to stay thin… by eating the excrement of the thin mice, allowing them to repopulate their guts with the “thin” flora. (5)

 

Gut health is still an area we don’t know lots about. But it has consistently been shown that healthy people have lots of diverse, healthy bacteria in their gut.

 

Increasing the diversity of your gut flora is important to staying lean and healthy, whereas reducing the diversity of your gut flora promotes obesity.

 

 

How To Get Your Gut Healthier

Both the number and diversity of microbes in our gut is directly influenced by our diet. Our gut microfloral depends on fiber to feed on.

 

Fiber, the stuff highly processed foods are basically void of.

 

The traditional Western diet is super low in fiber, which significantly inhibits the guts ability to grow healthy bacteria.

 

Your prescription: Quit eating so many processed foods. Eat a diverse diet focused on nutrients dense foods. Lots of different fruits, veggies, and fermented foods.

 

Antibiotics have also been shown to wreak havoc on the microbiome (although they’re sometimes necessary).

 

Gut health is important, but taking a probiotic isn’t a one stop shop to weight loss. Eat a diverse and nutrient dense diet, in a calorie deficit. Weight loss will come.

 

Sources:

1. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171023094458.htm

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27255389

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26911864

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20368178

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24009397

 

Constant, nagging back pain.

 

It sucks. Kills your progress in the gym, and takes away from your life outside it.

 

 

Lucky for you, fixing back pain isn’t as daunting as it seems.

 

Usually,it comes from any combination of the following:

 

1. Tight hip flexors

2. Poor core stability

3. Weakness and/or inability to recruit the glutes

 

All these add up to what’s referred to as “anterior pelvic tilt” (APT).

 

Basically, back arched forward, butt sticking out.

 

Think of that pose you do for the ‘gram to make your booty look bigger.

 

 

(Photo: BackIntelligence.com)

 

That’s the one.

 

APT usually comes from sitting/sedentary lifestyle/poor posture. These lifestyle factors usually lead to:

1. Tight hip flexors

2. Weak and/or poor mind-muscle connection to glutes and hamstrings

3. Quad dominance. The quads (on the front of the legs) do most of the work for the lower body. You become very “quad dominant”.

 

As the quads and hip flexors get unproportionately stronger/stiffer than the glutes and hamstrings, something called reciprocal inhibition takes places.

 

Reciprocal inhibition: when muscles on one side of a joint relaxing to accommodate contraction on the other side of that joint.

 

In this case, the glutes and hamstrings are weak and lengthened due to the opposing muscle groups, the quads and hip flexors, being strong and tight. This causes the pelvis to tilt forward, creating lots of arch in the low back. And also lots of low back pain.

 

Ok, so enough about the tilt. Let’s get to fixin’.

 

 

Stretches

 

Most of us spend the day seated, which leads to tight hip flexors.

 

The psoas is the biggest/strongest muscle of the hip flexor. It attaches from the lumbar vertebrae to the femur (from your spine to your leg bone). A tight psoas will constantly pull forward on your spine, contributing to anterior pelvic tilt. This needs to be taken care of ASAP.

 

Great hip flexor stretches:

 

Beginner hip flexor stretch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STH1aNooP1w

 

Advanced hip flexor stretch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heqIqJvaPak

 

The cat cow stretch is also a great stretch for improving your back health. It takes the spine through flexion and extension, stretching and mobilizing it.

 

Cat/cow stretch: https://youtu.be/aBHoZTle2lE?t=218

 

 

Stabilization

 

Core stability

You can split your core work into two groups.

 

1. Ab hypertrophy work: lots of people do this. Crunches, knee raises, and the like. Focused on “the burn” and making your abs look good

2. Core stability work: Core work with a focus on bracing and anti-rotation. Planks, loaded carries, pallof presses, etc. Less sexy stuff.

 

Having a stable core is a must to prevent back pain. When you can properly activate the muscles around the spine, much less stress is put on the actual spine itself.

 

A stable core also keeps the spine in the safest position possible when loaded with heavy weights.

 

Pelvic tilts: These strengthen your abs, and help you use the core muscles to push the pelvis into a neutral position. When carried over to movements like squats and deadlifts, the low back is safest in this position.

 

Pelvic tilts: https://youtu.be/aBHoZTle2lE?t=37

 

Dead bugs: taking your pelvic tilts to the next level, dead bugs are an excellent way to teach yourself how to move the limbs, all while: a) properly bracing the abs b) keeping the spine and pelvis in the safest position.

 

Dead bugs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbemelnkHag

 

 

Breathing

Yes, breathing. This is a crazy neglected part of back health.

 

You need strong core muscles. But to really stabilize the spine, you need the ability to create lots of “intra-abdominal pressure”.

 

Enter: “the Valsalva maneuver”. Forcefully breathing out against a closed windpipe. (So no air is actually escaping your mouth or nose.)

 

This technique traps air in your lungs and creates pressure inside your abdomen, known as “intra-abdominal pressure,” which stabilizes your torso against heavy loads. (1)

 

Picture a plastic water bottle. No lid on, the bottle can easily be crushed. However, with the lid on, the air inside pushes out against the walls of the bottle when you apply pressure, keeping it from being crushed.

 

This is basically how the the Valsalva maneuver works. As you attempt to lift heavy weights, the air trapped in your abdominal cavity helps keep the torso strong and rigid.

 

Take note: For those at a high risk of cardiovascular problems, performing the Valsalva maneuver can be dangerous.

 

For more on how to breathe properly when lifting:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=Wiv6mtPRims

 

 

Glute Activation

 

Finally, let’s take care of that booty.

 

Inability to fire the glutes during the “hip hinge” movement pattern is a huge contributor to lower back pain.

 

The hinge is basically just pushing your hips backwards as you allow the knees to bend, and then returning ‘em forward.

 

Problem is, if your glutes aren’t firing from the back of your hinge, other muscles are going to take over. Usually it’s your low back muscles that get overloaded by much of the work that your glutes should be doing. And thus we have back pain, strains, etc.

 

So learning how to fire your glutes when needed is huge.

 

If you’re super quad dominant, it’s gonna take some work to be able to really activate your booty. Right now, you probably have a hard time “feeling” your glutes in any movement. So let’s take the hip hinge back to its simplest form, the glute bridge.

 

Be super mindful of the form here. Doing it incorrectly can make back pain worse. Focus on the “push your low back flat to the floor” cue.

 

Glute bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OATtp-DsQxo

 

Once you have the glute bridge mastered (no low back pain/tightness during movement, glutes burning, minimal hamstring burn) move on to single leg glute bridges.

 

Single leg glute bridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFNjwkUNIao

 

By the time you can perform ten good reps per leg of a single leg glute bridge (no low back pain/tightness during movement, glutes burning, minimal hamstring burn, hips are kept stable) your glutes are in a good place.

 

 

Back pain doesn’t have to be a part of your life forever. Work on these consistently. You’ll be pain-free before ya know it.

 

Trying to build amazing shoulders? Choosing the right exercises is a must.

 

First, let’s talk some anatomy. The shoulder muscle, known as the deltoid, has three “heads”: the anterior, lateral, and posterior heads. For simplicity, we’ll call ‘em the front, middle, and rear delts. Located, obviously on the front, side, and back of the shoulder.

 

To get shoulders that look amazing and are work well, you need to train all three heads properly.

 

 

Overhead presses

 

The biggest “bang-for-your-buck” exercises. If you wanna grow great shoulders, overhead presses should be you first priority.

 

When you press overhead, you work primarily the front and middle delts.

 

You’re able to move much more weight with overhead presses than any other shoulder focused movements. This makes it much easier to overload the delts and create growth,

 

Lots of different variations here. Seated and standing barbell and dumbbell presses, Arnold presses, push presses. They’re all solid.

 

Focus on getting stronger at these in the 6-12 rep range.

 

Problem is, presses are a very taxing movement on your body. Doing endless presses in your quest for great shoulders is a surefire way to get aches and injuries.

 

This is where isolation work comes into play.

 

 

Lateral raises

 

Lateral raises work primarily the middle delt (the muscle group on the side of the shoulder).

 

They’re a super effective way to continue to build the shoulder. Unlike overhead presses, they’re not super taxing on your body. You can do lots of raises to continue building your shoulders, even on days you’re not doing heavy presses. 4-5 times per week if ya want. Anywhere from 10-20+ reps. Focus on feeling the burn.

 

My personal favorites are: dumbbell lateral raises, and leaning cable lateral raises.

 

 

Rear delt flys

 

The rear delt is oft neglected in shoulder training. Not only does this makes your shoulders less stable, which means more prone to injury, it also makes them look much worse aesthetically.

 

Training the rear delt makes your shoulders look balanced and proportionate.

 

These are often performed incorrectly. Check out this video for the best way to do rear delt flys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPt0GqwaqEw

 

Same rules apply as lateral raises. You can train ‘em often. Anywhere from 10-20+ reps. Focus on feeling the burn.

 

 

Face pulls

 

Everyone should be doing face pulls. Not only do they work the rear delts super effectively, they’re also great for your posture and shoulder health.

 

If you’re not focusing on the muscles of the upper back and rotator cuffs, doing lots of pressing movements will eventually jack up your shoulders. Face pulls are a great preventative measure.

 

Face pulls strengthen the rear delts and the rotator cuffs at the same time. These are a must for anyone doing lots of pressing type movements.

 

Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75wrQMEeRMs

 

Once again, train ‘em often, in moderate to high rep ranges. Feel the burn.

 

Nothing is more empowering than getting your first chin-up in the gym.

 

The problem? Chin-ups are a super hard movement.

 

Feel like you’re a long ways away from your first? Not to worry, I got you.

 

 

Step 1: Build that back

 

Chin-ups use primarily the muscles of your back and biceps. This means by the time you can do a few reps, your back is gonna look amazing.

 

But this also means your back is going to need a lot of work to get your chin over the bar.

 

To build a strong, healthy, and good looking back, you need to focus on two movement patterns:

 

Vertical pulls: Pulling down from overhead. Obviously, you need to be strong at these to pull yourself up over the bar.

 

Horizontal pulls: Pulling back from in front of you. The “rowing” movement. These are super important to keeping your shoulders healthy, good posture, etc.

 

Prescription: Add/substitute for your typical back work. 3 days per week. Repeat 3-4 weeks.

 

Day 1:

Dumbbell rows 3 sets of 8-12/side. 90 sec rest.

Close neutral grip pull down 3 sets of 6-10. 90 sec rest.

 

Day 2:

Barbell rows 3 sets of 6-10. 2 min rest.

Face pulls 3 sets of 15-20. 60 sec rest.

 

Day 3:

Medium grip lat pull downs 3 sets of 8-12. 90 sec rest.

Cable row 3 sets of 8-12. 90 sec rest.

 

 

Step 2: Work The Negatives

 

You’ve put in the work on your back. You’re ready for the next step: negative chin-ups.

 

Personally, I’ve seen dozens upon dozens of my clients progress their chin-ups from “not even close” to “I really did it!” in a short period of time using negative chin-ups.

 

Why? The negative works the exacts same muscle groups an actual chin-up does (and extremely hard at that).

 

Stand on a box, gripping the chin-up bar with palms facing you. Jump up to where your chin is over the bar. Hold your chin above the bar for a 5 count, before lower yourself as slowly as possible, until the arms are fully extended. When done correctly, these should be brutal.

 

How to do a negative chin up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx740NIKX94

 

Prescription: Add/substitute for your typical back work. 3 days per week. Repeat 3-4 weeks.

 

Day 1:

Negative chin-ups 3 sets of 3. 2 min rest.

T-bar rows 3 sets of 8-10. 90 sec rest.

 

Day 2:

Pendlay rows 4 sets of 5. 2 min rest.

Band pull aparts 3 sets of 15-20. 60 sec rest.

 

Day 3:

Negative chin-ups 3 sets of 3. 2 min rest.

Dumbbell row 3 sets of 6-8. 2 min rest.

 

Start every Monday by attempting a full chin-up to test how close you are.

 

Repeat this weekly. The biggest key to getting your first chin-up is simply working on it consistently. Stick to the program. Promise you’ll be surprised how quickly it happens.

 

We all hate stepping on the scale.

 

No matter your goals, losing or gaining weight, the scale most always pisses ya off.

 

Why though?

 

Because the number you’re looking at isn’t the number you want to see.

 

You correlate a specific number (your goal weight) with looking and feeling a certain way. And right now you’re not getting any closer to that number.

 

But wait. If you’re associating a number with a specific look or feeling, then your real goal is the look, right? So If you look better and feel better, does the scale really matter?

 

Hmmmmm…

 

Thing is, the scale isn’t always a great way to measure progress.

 

This is especially true if you haven’t spent a lot of time in the gym.

 

If you’re new to working out, you’re going to build muscle quickly. Pounds of it.

 

You’ll most likely be losing fat at the same time, but due to the increase in muscle, your weight could stay the same. Or even go up.

 

But regardless of weight, your body composition will have improved. You have more muscle and less fat. You’ll look and feel better. That's a very positive change.

 

So does the weight being the same mean that you didn’t make progress? Not at all.

 

To illustrate this point, I often show this picture of my client Cristina.

 

 

 

 

Guess the weight difference from left to right.

 

Ready?

 

Cristina is only five pounds lighter in the right picture.

 

But her transformation is drastic. She lost eight inches off her waist. She also went from having very little muscle, to being able to squat and deadlift hundreds of pounds.

 

Crazy changes. She’s clearly lost a lot of body fat, and built a lot of muscle.

 

But if the scale was her measure of progress, she’d believe she’s barely changed.

 

Muscle building aside, body weight fluctuates quite a bit over the course of a day. You’re a few pounds heavier most evenings, due to what you’ve eaten, drank, exercise, etc.

 

For women, hormonal fluctuations also cause you to hold on to more water, in turn making your weight rise.

 

What To Focus On Instead

 

Measurements: Measuring tape or various body fat assessments. Taking regular body measurements is a better way to determine if you’re losing fat. If measurements are moving in the right direction, don’t worry about the scale.

 

Visual changes: Take progress photos. Is there visual progress? Do you look better in the mirror?

 

Biofeedback: Are you sleeping better? Fewer changes? Better energy? You’re making progress.

 

Behavior changes: Honestly, progress will rarely be as quick as you want it to be.

 

Key in on behaviors, not outcomes. If you’re always fixated on where you want to be, you’ll never be happy with where you’re at. You can’t force your body to lose weight any quicker. You can focus on hitting your calorie goal for today, or being more active.

 

Focus on behaviors, the things you can control. The outcomes you want will come in time.

 

 

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating where your day is split up into "fasted" and "feeding" windows.

 

The most popular intermittent fasting style is the 16/8. Sixteen hours in a fasted state, followed by an eight hour “feeding” window. All calories must be eaten in this window, before the fast resumes again.

 

Example: From 8 PM to Noon, you don't eat. This is your "fasted" period. From Noon to 8 PM, you eat all your daily calories. This is your "feeding" window.

 

There’s been some pushback to (IF), because it goes against the old myth of needing to eat six meals a day to stoke your metabolism. If you’re still forcing down six meals a day, check out this blog.

 

Intermittent Fasting Has Been Shown To Have Many Health Benefits.

 

It induces autophagy. Autophagy is the process of the body destroying unnecessary or unhealthy cells, and replacing them with new, healthier cells. (1)(2)

 

Autophagy is necessary for maintaining muscle mass. (3) There is also evidence that it plays a role in slowing the deterioration of the body and mind that comes with aging. (8)

 

It can also boost cognitive function, decrease inflammation, and increase insulin sensitivity, among other benefits. (4)(5)(6)

 

For more on the benefits of fasting, check out:

 

https://www.muscleforlife.com/the-definitive-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/

 

https://www.mindpumpmedia.com/blog/Is-Fasting-Effective

 

 

But let’s get down to what you really came here for....

 

 

Is Intermittent Fasting The Best Method For Fat Loss?

 

That’s how everyone’s been hyping it up. The magical fat loss elixir.

 

Does it live up to the hype? Well, yes and no.

 

Intermittent fasting makes fat loss easier for some, because it makes it easier to eat less calories.

 

Fat loss boils down to: eat fewer calories than ya burn in a day and you’ll lose fat.

 

If the window of time you’re eating every day is shortened from sixteen hours to eight hours, odds are you’ll be eating a lot fewer calories in a day, right?

 

So eating less means easier fat loss.

 

When dieting, spreading poverty calories over an entire day means each meal will be small. For many, it’s easy to fast until noon, and eat a few large meals. This also provides the opportunity to work in higher calorie foods you may enjoy more.

 

All these factors make fasting an effective strategy for those who don’t mind skipping a meal.*

*You don’t have to skip breakfast. Start your feeding window whenever you like.

 

So basically, fasting can be more effective for some, because it’s an easier way to structure your eating.

 

That being said, calorie deficit being the same, you’ll lose about the same amount of fat following a traditional diet protocol as you would following IF. (6)(7)

 

So is fasting a must do to enhance your fat loss? No. But for some, it’ll make process a lot easier.

 

Personally, I used fasting paired with a calorie deficit to lose quite a bit of weight.

 

And it worked great, buuut.....

 

As time went on, I started to associate not eating with weight loss. So I pushed my fasted periods longer and longer, while eating fewer calories.

 

That wasn’t healthy. As a result, I lost a large amount of muscle. I also had a terrible relationship with food for a long time.

 

Fasting can be a great tool. But of it as something you use for its health benefits. Not a way to lose weight quicker.

 

Sources:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21106691

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19945408

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5608558/

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17374948

6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26384657

7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27338458

8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3674854/

 

 

The gym is a scary, intimidating place. Huge dudes grunting. That girl you follow on Insta doing some kind of banded hop.

 

All this makes going to the gym hard enough in itself. You gravitate towards the machines, cables, and bicep curls. They’re comfortable, and pretty self-explanatory.

 

Problem is, sticking to comfortable movements is far from an effective training strategy.

 

Let break things down into two types of exercises:

 

Isolation exercises: Primarily work a single muscle group. Think: Bicep curls, shoulder flys, most machines. You really feel a single muscle group burning. Not that tiring.

 

Compound Exercises: Work lots of muscle groups at once. Think: Squats, lunges, chin-ups, deadlifts. Lots of things burn. These are exhausting. Harder to motivate yourself to do.

 

To build a lean, toned or muscular physique, you need to focus on compound exercises.

 

They’re more effective. Let’s compare:

A) three sets per week of leg extensions, a classic go to for those who aren’t really sure where to go in the gym. Isolate the quads for the most part. Burners for sure.

 

B) barbell back squat. Also work your quads. As well as: booty, hamstrings, back, core.

 

So a lot more “bang for your buck” doing three sets of squats. Many more muscle groups worked, in the same amount of sets.

 

Quicker workouts. The entire body can be trained with four compound movements. (Example: Deadlifts, lunges, barbell rows, incline bench press).

 

Studies show that for optimal muscle growth, you need to train a muscle at least twice a week. Check out this blog on the topic: Why Can't I Gain More Muscle? 

 

For Fat Loss: You’re doing a lot more work with the squats. Burning through a lot more calories. To lose fat: daily calories burned must be more than daily calories consumed. So compound movements help with this.

 

The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be. You’ll build much more muscle when ya focus on compound movements. More muscle means quicker fat loss.

 

 

 

If your goal is fat loss, you’re doing yourself a disservice spending an entire training day focusing on a single muscle group.

 

Arm day is the last thing that’ll help ya get rid of flabby arms. Know what will? Focusing on training the largest muscle groups, and in turn building a faster metabolism.

 

Now, don’t let the above convince ya isolation exercises are worthless. They’re actually super beneficial, and should be included in your training program.

 

The mistake most people make is prioritizing isolation exercises over compound exercises.

 

Isolation exercises are great for mind-muscle connection. Being able to “feel” the muscle you want working. Pre-exhaust techniques with machines are solid for this. Wanna feel your glutes more in your squat? Bust out 20 glute bridges immediately before squatting. Your booty will be lit.

 

 

 

On the same note, I like to use isolation exercises to activate specific muscle groups before my compound lifts.

 

Example: The muscles of the upper back are extremely important to keeping the shoulders injury free. Before any type of pressing, I go through the following routine I picked up from Cody “Boom Boom” McBroom (https://boomboomperformance.com) to activate my upper back musculature.

 

A1) Straight arm pull down 2x10

A2) Cable row 2x10

A3) Facepulls 2x10

 

Isolation exercises are a great way to add more work to muscle groups you want to focus on. You get a lot out of compound exercises, but they’re taxing on your body. Do to many, and ya want be able to recover.

 

Say ya want to build your shoulders. You do 4 sets of barbell overhead presses + 3 sets of dumbbell overhead press + 3 sets of heavy Arnold Presses. Too much. Keep this up and you’re on your way to a shoulder injury

 

But if ya did: 4 sets of barbell overhead presses + 3 sets of lateral raises + 3 sets of facepulls, you’re golden. You’ll be able to recover, and the extra isolation work will speed up your shoulder gains.

 

Are your goals are any combination of: look better, feel better, move better, build muscle, lose body fat? You should prioritizing compound movements.

 

Start your workouts with 3 to 4 compound movements. 3 to 5 sets. Focus on getting stronger in the 5 to 15 rep range. Rest 90 seconds to 3 minutes between sets.

 

After this, add in 2 to 4 isolation exercise. Focus these on weakness, lagging muscle groups, or whatever you want to build more. 2 to 4 sets. 10 to 20 reps. Focus on “feeling the burn” in the desired muscle group. 30 to 60 seconds rest.

 

Want a great body? I have two options for ya:

 

 

#1:

*Go to the gym four to five times per week.

*Start counting your calories.

*Sleep 7-8 hours per night.

*Track your weights, focus on increasing ‘em over time.

*Do the same movements a lot.  

*Manage stress.

*Accept that getting the body you want is going to be hard. It’s going to take hard work.

*Repeat this. Over and over again. Be extremely consistent, and you’ll look good a few years from now.

 

Or

 

#2:

Take this supplement. It’s guaranteed to get you six pack abs in two weeks!

 

Obviously choose B right?

 

This is the issue with the fitness industry.

 

The truth to building a good body: consistency and hard work, compounded over years. It’s not complicated.

 

It’s also not at all sexy. It’s intangible. Selling someone the idea of what they’ll look like a few years down the road. Hard to do.

 

Quick fixes. They’re sexy. Easy to sell.

 

“Lose 15 lbs in ONE WEEK with our juice cleanse”.

 

Anybody that’s actually lost 15 lbs knows it takes a lot of work. And time.

 

But you’re telling me this cleanse will somehow allow me to bypass all that work. And only a week?

 

Sold. Easy money.

 

The key to the body you want: lots of hard work. Nobody wants to hear that. Or buy that.

 

It’s easier to believe that the missing piece of the puzzle is some special workout program, supplement, or diet.

 

It’s easier to believe that this workout, diet, etc. contains the magic elixir you’ve been looking for. The one that allows you to skip all the work and get right to the results. It’s a quick fix.

 

Quick fixes are easy to market. And easy to sell.

 

Hence the fitness industry being flooded with quick fixes. Workouts, supplements, diets, cleanses, etc. promising less work, more results, quick. This is where the money is, because this is what people want to hear.

 

Problem is, there are no quick fixes in fitness. It takes a long time to build a great body.

 

Everything being sold as an easy shortcut to get the body you want is a scam.

 

You can’t skip the work.

 

Lots of lies in the fitness industry. But luckily, there are lots of amazing people out there giving out incredible, informative content.

 

Some of my favorites:

 

• The entire 3D Muscle Journey Team: http://3dmusclejourney.com/

• Bret Contreras: https://bretcontreras.com/

• Brad Schoenfeld: http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/index.php

• Mike Vacanti: http://www.ontheregimen.com/

• Cody McBroom: https://boomboomperformance.com/

• Jason Phillips & the in3 Nutrition Team: https://in3nutrition.com/

• Layne Norton: https://www.biolayne.com/

• Alan Aragorn: https://alanaragon.com/

• Eric Bach: http://bachperformance.com/

• John Romaniello: http://romanfitnesssystems.com/

• Precision Nutrition: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/

• Jordan Shallow: https://themuscledoc.com/

• Greg Nuckols: http://gregnuckols.com/

• Stronger By Science: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/

• Lyle Mcdonald: https://bodyrecomposition.com/

• Andy Galpin: http://www.andygalpin.com/

• Sohee Lee: http://soheefit.com/

• Paul Chek: https://chekinstitute.com/

 

And many, many more. There are tons of positive, honest voices in the fitness industry. The above list is a good place to start.