I’m pleased to post this guest article from David Haas who is an Advocacy Coordinator for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance on his insights about the benefits of fitness and eating healthy during and after a diagnosis of cancer. Each different cancer has its limitations but if one can keep a healthy body, they can have a better chance to overcome this disease. 

Fitness is for Every One

“One of the newer ways of thinking about physical fitness looks at physical activity in light of the way in which humans lived thousands of years ago.  Prior to the invention of agriculture, a relatively recent phenomenon in world history, humans were hunters and gatherers who constantly foraged for basic sustenance.  Much of our genetic code was developed in that era.  While our bodies have not changed significantly in thousands of years, our lifestyles are drastically different.

For the first time in human history, we are able to live relatively sedentary lives.  We can make a living while sitting at a desk, driving a truck or standing at a counter.  This inactivity may not be good for us.

A related development in physical fitness theory instructs us that physical activity, like moving our bodies, needs to be a part of our life for our entire life.  It is not something that we can do when we are younger, and that we can then abandon when we reach 40, 50 or 60.  Exercise and physical activity is a lifetime commitment.

Most days every week we should be engaging in some sort of activity that involves moving our bodies for at least 20 to 30 minutes or more; and we should expect to continue this level of activity throughout our lives.  This is the “use it or lose it” philosophy.  The evidence in support of it is mounting.

Additionally, the need to maintain our activity level does not change during either health or illness.  While physical fitness may protect our health and bolster our immune systems, the fact that frequent exercise improves our quality of life is widely accepted:  from increased energy and better sleep to weight management and stress reduction.

Just as physical activity must be pursued throughout our lives, even into old age, it is important to remember that continuing to pursue our fitness program is useful through periods of illness.

There is an increasing acceptance that individuals with cancer, including mesothelioma , will benefit from exercise and maintenance of their overall fitness level.  The benefits of physical fitness for people suffering from cancer, including those who are undergoing treatment or who are in remission, are largely the same as they are for people who have never received such a diagnosis.

Just as there is increasing evidence that we can maintain our quality of life our muscle mass and our aerobic capacity well into old age. It is apparent that we will benefit by continuing to exercise through periods of illness.  There are limitations, of course, and every exercise program should be discussed with a doctor.

Do not hesitate, however, to get moving and to keep moving if you have been diagnosed with a serious illness.  If you have not done so already, you should consult with your doctor and commence an exercise program today. Get out there and get active!”

Asbestos Cancer

Most people wouldn’t prefer the hard work option but it will last a life time and the benefits are numerous.

So you can choose either:

1. Purchase Clinically Proven Slimming Shorts 

Intensive Leg Exercises - Back Squats

and pretend that you are fit and healthy and only lasts while you are wearing them.
Any excess bulges would look like two ferrets wrestling in a sack.
(Remember Reebok’s $25 million fine for their “Toning Shoes”?)

OR

2. Do this 6 week Intense Leg Training Program 
(I can guarantee this works, I use it Shsshh)

This will make you feel better and healthier in lots ways, you don’t need to rely on any gimmicks, your whole lower area will become taut & toned and as importantly you will look HOT 24/7.

This program is designed to prioritize the leg shape and demand fat burning with upper body maintenance.

Six weeks are the maximum this workout should be used without the addition of upper body work or return to your normal training routine.

The workouts are fast-paced, sixty seconds maximum rest between sets, superset or tri-sets. This way of training with supersetting is also your cardio workout however you can add more cardio in if you feel you need it.

If a fourth day can be added, do your favorite upper body workout.

Alternating week 1, week 2

Warm-up legs and shoulders.

You can interchange using free weights with machines or kettle bells.

WEEK 1 – MONDAY/WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY
-Front Squats (5×15, 12, 10, 10, 10)
- Stiff Legged Deadlifts (3×12) tri-setted + Leg Curls (3×12) + Calf Raises (3×20)
- Incline DB Press (4×10) supersetted with Wide Grip Pulldowns (4×10)

WEEK 2 – MONDAY/WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY
- Wide Stance Squat (Sumo Squats) (5×10)
- Raised Lunges on block (3×10) supersetted with Leg Curls (3×10)
- DB Pullovers (3×12) supersetted with Seated Lat Rows (3×12)
- DB Shoulder Presses (3×12) tri-setted with DB Curls (3×12) and
Triceps Pushdowns (3×12)

Alternatively if can’t get to a gym the next best thing is to:
Walk wherever and whenever you can find steps and keep on climbing and your butt will be as tight as a trampoline.

I haven’t included nutrition with this, which is the most important factor in keeping low body fat.

So if hot sexy legs are the goal try this program out or modify it to suit you and it wont be long before you see the changes.

(This program was designed by Dave Draper .. www.davedraper.com)

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Raw Avocado-Lime Pie

If you want to try something a little different then try raw food.

You eat raw already by snacking on fruit but that can be extended to raw foods like lasagna and cheesecakes.

Here are some Benefits of a Raw Food Diet ( taken from About.com).

• Increased energy
• Clearer skin
• Weight loss
• Reduced risk of disease

The raw food diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet.

It is also low in sodium and sugar and high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber, vitamin A, and health-promoting antioxidants.

These properties are associated with a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

For example, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that consumption of a raw food diet lowered plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.

The raw food diet is also thought to have a favorable acid-alkaline balance, being low in acid-forming food.

Too much acidity in the body is thought to result in disease and inflammation.

Besides the immediate benefits, the raw food diet may theoretically slow the aging process and reduce inflammation, because it contains fewer advanced glycation end products and other potentially damaging compounds.

I eat raw cakes maybe 1-2 pieces a night plus a beer or two, ok that’s not raw but hey no one said go 100%.

You don’t have to everything raw but if you include your taste buds might be pleasantly surprised.

Here is one of my favourite recipes called RAW AVOCADO-LIME PIE

CRUST

- 1 ½ cups raw macadamia nuts or cashews ( soaked or not)
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- 2 cups pitted dates or figs ( I use sometimes figs)
- a good pinch Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt
FILLING
- 4 avocados probably Hass or Sheppards doesn’t matter
Juice of 5-7 limes
1/2 cup honey or agave nectar (to taste)
- ½ cup coconut oil (I think cold pressed virgin is the good stuff?)

For the Crust:
In a food processor, combine nuts, coconut, dates, and salt. Process the mixture until it is well combined, a little bit chunky, and sticky. When it is done, press the crust mixture evenly into a 9 inch pie pan. Stick it in the freezer while making the filling

For the Filling:
Using either a blender or the food processor, combine the avocados, limes, agave nectar, and coconut oil. Blend until smooth (this may take up to 5 minutes in a food processor) and pour the filling over the crust.
place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour and up to one day before serving. Use the freezer to speed it up I usually can’t wait.

If like more raw recipes here is a TV show that specialises in Raw food and I one of my recipes gets a brief mention at the 30 minute mark (self promotion yeah!)

Thanks for taking the time to read this ( and watching) and if you want to try it in the Raw let me know by leaving a comment!

It's Not All About Lifting Heavier and Heavier

There are a number of causes why plateaus happen and I will identify one of the most frequently occurring causes and offer 4 methods which helps me to break through this plateau.

I don’t like to change my current workout at a whim so by using these few simple tactics gives me enough ‘kick along’ to get out of a ‘rut’ and keep my progression moving forward, whilst still being able to use my existing program.

REASONS FOR PLATEAUS

Plateaus can occur for a number of reasons which can be complex or simply lack of:

1. Nutrition – In order to grow you need to be most times in a calorie surplus and having the right amount of energy available to do the workout.

2. Recovery – Rest is when the body repairs itself and muscles start to grow however if not adequately rested then you enter the gym in a fatigued state and overtrained.

To assist in recovery I like to add in a ‘Deload Week’ where you drop your workout volume down to about 60% on any big lifts (bench, deads, squats etc) for a week and at the same time drop down the weights on the smaller lifts (isolations) at every 4, 6 or 8 weeks intervals (I like doing every 4th week).

3. Stress – Causes cortisol throughout the body which is catabolic or rather breaks down the muscles.

4. Boredom – Lacking the drive in your workouts to hit the intensity levels required for a great workout.

5. Adaptation – Your body starts to adapt and becomes efficient at the workout so the stimulation is minimal.

6. Fear – You start to worry about the loads imposed on the body or simply getting stuck under a bar so you back off too earlier and not allow yourself to hit your maximal limits, this is where a spotter can help immensely.

So if all the above points are considered and taken care of; I find the issue that occurs most frequently with me and others is point (5) Adaption.

So what I can do now to minimise adaptation is to create a new means of stimulation for growth by modifying my lifting routine for a short period of time (over 2-4 weeks) then resume my normal program again.

There are many ways to shock the body and get it more out of your workouts here are my favorite 4:

PLATEAU BREAKING METHODS

Don't spend too long here

1. Drop Sets:

As I begin to fail at the end of a set I reduce the weight  by 10-15% so I can continue reaching my targeted repetitions. This is beneficial as at the end of a set where you can not do another rep you still might have muscle fibres not totally fatigued, so simply remove a plate and drop down in a size and continue lifting. Each time you are forcing more muscle recruitment for that exercise.

Don’t drop down too much in weight and use it on the last set only. I use these when I’m targeting 10-12 reps I don’t use these say for a 5 reps workout.

2. Rest Pause:

If I fail before hitting the number of repetitions (approx. 70% of target) rather than lower the weights or stop the set, I rest for 15 seconds and compete the remaining reps schemes or even rest pause again until I hit the rep range intended.

If I fail too early e.g 5 reps for a target of say 12 then the weight is too heavy and lighten up next set or use the drop set method instead.

3. Pre-exhaust

The aim is to exhaust all the targeted muscles with an isolation exercise then moving straight away to a compound movement.

This ensures larger muscles are exhausted at the same time as the smaller muscles where normally the smaller muscles are the first to fail before the larger muscles have fully been stimulated.

Using chest as an example:
I start with a set of flys to isolate and pre-exhaust the pectorals then move straight away to do a bench press so I can then finish stimulating the pectorals (larger muscle) along with the deltoids and triceps (smaller muscles).

Or for legs I would do leg extensions first then do squats.

Again I would only use this on the last 1 or 2 sets of the exercise.

4. Changing Lower or lifting Times

This is quite easy to do and you do require a  more intense effort on using it.

Simply change the time to lift or lower a weight in any exercise.

For instance in a bench press.

Lift explosively then lower in 3-4 seconds, or reverse that order or do both lift and lower in 3-4 seonds.

This creates variety and increases the effort.

I like using the first example the most and I receive very good results from it.

These methods I like to use because they don’t interfere too much with my existing routine.  I can simply add in every once and a while to help my progression or conversely you could use them as your normal routine but a danger is these become your new adaptation issue.

Further I could list out many more ways of lifting ( e.g 21s, Reverse Pyramid,  Ballistic, Forced, Negatives, Heavy Duty etc etc) but this article will get way too big so I hope this gives you some ideas on how to keep on obtaining progression in your workouts.

If you try it out please let me know what you think.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

It's not as bad as you think!

Sounds paradoxical eating snacks and still being able to get a defined 6 pack Abs but it’s true.

And I don’t mean as a cheat meal but you can eat these daily!

OK there is a punch line, I need to be doing these few things first to be able to eat like this, the ground rules are:   …. Read more of this article

Watchout your head is in the way!

You have to be fit to hold up your hands for 5 rounds with 1 minute rests while someone is trying to punch portholes into you.

If fat-loss is a goal and you are bored of doing endless “TV watching”  treadmills then mix it up and consider doing a good hard MMA workout as an alternative cardio routine for fatloss.

I’ll guarantee it will engage your mind rather than being placed in neutral, your athletic skills increase and you’ll find it more enjoyable and satisfying.

So Why MMA Workouts for Cardio?

  … read more at the musclehacker!

Stretching Complaints Department - Please Enter

Do you bother stretching at all? Does it really help or hinder? Can flexibility help improve your bodybuilding? … I say YES and here is why.

Firstly we are discussing static and dynamic stretching to improve flexibility. Don’t confuse stretching with warming up as they are two different animals and should be treated differently.

Poor flexibility prevents you from achieving a full range of motion. Having tight muscles gives you less muscle growth from the same strength-training effort.

How does it improve bodybuilding?

Over time we tend to become less flexible and stiffer. You might notice your range of motion start to become limited as compared to when you were younger. And performing heavy weighted exercises shorten and stiffen your muscles and connective tissues when the effort is imposed.

Find out the right way and when is it best to stretch. This is a Guest Post I did at Musclehacker.com please click here to read more

Me in Feb 2011

Checking with Google there are 5,600,000 results and this article makes 5,600,001 and when you finished reading this there will be 10 more!

There are plenty of articles that will tell you how to get a 6 pack abs but with this post I’ll simply stick to (1) objective  of real measurements … there are no magical 6 pack promises allowed on this!

If you are like me I hate spending too long at the gym (1 hour max.) so at the end I tend to rush through doing my ab routine so I can get home and do other things.

Rather than do my abs at the gym I want to identify what are the most effective exercises that can be done at home for developing a defined mid section.

Did I mention developing rock solid abdominals is quite easy but getting them to show is the hard part?

Well this article is about developing abdominal muscles so I wont cover dieting or nutrition which is the biggest factor for low body fat.

Just to start seeing your abdominals a male needs to be under 12% body fat which is another topic altogether or you can download free these instructions on  How to Shrink Wrap your Abs.

I’m sure most of us want a 6 pack and some more than others.

From my point of view it defines a level of fitness, health and an aura of sex appeal, that’s why you will never see GQ model walking down the runway with an oversized beer gut!

I hear you say “then what are the most effective ab exercises I should be doing at home?” … These ones listed below of course!

These are actual test results of Ab activations that measures the rectus abdominis during each exercise with an electromyography machine (EMG) hence no arguing, guess work or gym locker “Bro” science.

Try some of these exercises and “feel” them for yourself and see if you agree.

Objective Exercises

* taken from the 4 hour-body book

Starting reference: Standard crunch at 100%.

Bicycle Crunch 248%                   Crunch with heel push 107%
Captain’s Chair 212%                    Ab Roller 105%
Exercise ball 139 %                      Plank 100%
Vertical Leg crunch 129%         Traditional Crunch 100%
Torso Track 127%                         Exercise tubing pull 92%
Long arm Crunch 119%              Ab Rocker 21%
Reverse Crunch 109%

You can Google these exercises if you aren’t sure of how to do them.

A few basic necessities or become inventive

To try some of the equipment exercises at home you might need to do the following:

1. Buy a swiss ball
2. Buy a medicine ball or dumb bell or use a book. I sometimes use 20 litre (approx. 20 kgs) bottled water containers.
3. For the Captain’s Chair I wedge myself in the corner of the kitchen sink tabletop and rest my hands on top or I use two chairs facing away from each other.
4. The list didn’t include hanging leg raises (which should be at least equivalent to a Captain’s chair) if you haven’t a pullup bar at home go down to the children’s park or find a friendly tree branch to use.

What Does A Workout Look Like?

Either a traditional sets and reps or a combine exercises into a circuit if you like or even a combination.

Here is one example.

Example 1. Sets and Reps

Chooses any three or four exercises above and do 3 sets x 10-20 reps with a short rest period.

Example 2. Circuit 2-3 rounds

Round 1

First exercise x As Many As Possible in a controlled form for 30 seconds then a 15 second rest
Next exercise x AMAP 30 seconds then a 15 seconds rest
and so on until all 4 exercises are finished which is 1 round.

Exercises

1 – Toe Touch: lie on back with feet in air and crunch upwards right hand touching left toe then alternate
2- Stiff Leg Raise: lie horizontal on back and lift legs vertically up then down and repeat
3 – Hip Thrust: lie on back with feet in air and thrust hips and legs vertically up then down and repeat
4- V lift : lie horizontally on back and lift legs and arms up  vertically to meet in middle then lower and repeat

You can increase the exercise period from 30 seconds to 45 and decrease the rest from 15 sec to 5 seconds as it becomes easier.

Tips:

• Whenever you are doing abs exercises make sure you contract, hold and squeeze. Feel your abs working!
• Don’t do a high number of reps it’s not an endurance event. You become tired and the hip flexors and lower back starts to dominate rather than the abs.
• Speed should be controlled (slower than faster) i.e. not too fast otherwise you end up using your body weight’s momentum. At that point you might as well stop!
• Give your abs the respect they deserve and work them out separately and not as an after thought after weights or cardio.

Resistance exercises

The abdominals are like any other muscle and to increase size and depth they need to be challenged by using extra resistance.

So if you are going to the gym or do have weights at home these indirect exercises will toughen up your core and work your abs like no other.

They will create a foundation to help develop those 6 packs.

You must include some of these exercises in your routine regardless of using weights or not.

Any one of these lifts you will need to brace your core and the abdominal area works to stablise the load.

• Deadlifts – weighted or 1 Leg Bodyweight
• Front Squats, Back Squats, 1 leg Bodyweight Squats
• Dumb bell Renegade Rows or Pushups
• 1 arm Dumb bell Overhead Presses
• Hand or Head stand
• Turkish Get Up
• 1 Arm Snatch

Watch out for the Scam

If you ever do come across articles using words in their titles like “Hidden”, “Secret”, “Weird”, “Strange” etc. on tips for getting a 6 pack then be wary of them you might end up wasting money or more importantly your time.

There are good solid programs (and some do use those words above) but hopefully this article helps you identify the scammy ones.

Further if you see the author’s photo and they look like they have never see single digit body fat levels in their life then it’s fair enough to ask them, “how do they really know what it takes to get one or let alone tell you how to get one?”

I’ve seen too many “fitness products” sold by weight loss gurus who look like they need to take their own advice. They are on Facebook right now promoting their products.

Bottom line there are no secrets,  it’s about consistently working hard and being smart in your training and eating.

I hope this helps your workout at home.

Please ask any questions below if any of these points are not clear or you would like further details, in fact please leave a comment if you just simply agree or disagree.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article.

When do we start?

I have published a guest article over on musclehacker.com  about discovering what is the best type of cardio for fat loss!

I provide a definitive answer that will work for you guaranteed.

Maybe you have heard that before but if you haven’t then the answer is (drum roll please) ….  click here  to find out at the musclehacker.com!

How to Lose Weight Fast

Why? Just for the sake of curiosity and see what worked plus we are in Mid Winter and I always tend to put extra weight on over that period.

So I chose 3 methods but there are many more ways to lose fat however these were easy enough for me to do.

The 3 that I decided on for my weight loss experiment were:

1. Intermittent fasting during the day.

2. Eating mainly simple Carbohydrates during the day.

3. Eating mostly Proteins during the day.

But firstly I had decided on some simple rules:

Rules:

1. Make sure it would be practicable for myself or anyone else to follow at anytime without disrupting their lives too much.

2. Not to be in a severe calorie restriction – I wanted to eat when ever I liked, and not starve (OK I know its suppose to be losing weight) and even though it was for 7 day but I always fell hungry and miserable and keep on thinking about eating, so stuff that, there had to be a better way.

3. Eat normally at night – having a family I wanted to be able to eat at the dinner time with them and not be like some food ‘Alien’ from another planet.
So dinner was no holds barred: I could eat anything I liked and usually had a 1 or 2 glasses of wine or beer and always with desserts (And not only my healthy cheat desserts I love to make but some really bad-boy ones).

4. I would follow the diet strategy for 1 week then I would eat normally for 1 week to bring my weight back to normal and then do the next diet plan and so on.

So I guess I shall call it a diet although I hate the word immensely , I didn’t want to go hungry (that’s never good for long term) and stick to one type of macro-nutritent.

The Diet Strategy:

1. Intermittent Fasting;

I’ve spoken about this before and have used it to great effectiveness for fat loss. It really has helped me jump over some fat loss plateaus.

Using the Eat Stop Eat philosophy was to have a break from eating during the week e.g 1 or 2 days.

So the deal was I would eat a normal breakfast and eat again at dinner time 4 times per week.

I figured this was a near equivalent to 2 full day fast for the week.

Typical Eating during the day:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of oats, 1 piece of fruit, chocolate milk, coffee + 1 whey protein drink
Mid Morning: Nothing
Lunch: Nothing
Mid Afternoon: Nothing
Dinner: Normal plus desserts

My fruit bowl

2. Carbohydrates: Any fruits were acceptable apples, bananas, frozen fruits, oranges etc

From breakfast until Dinner I would only eat fruit when I felt hungry, then return to a normal meals at dinner and after.

Typical Eating during the day: (varied depending on my hunger)

Breakfast: 2 pieces of fruit + 1 whey protein drink
Mid Morning: 2 pieces of fruit
Lunch: 3 pieces
Mid Afternoon: 2 pieces+ 1 whey protein drink
Just before dinner: another piece, so about 10 pieces per day

3. Proteins: Egg whites, tuna (OK a bit boring and it varied depending on my hunger)

Same as above eating plan but instead of carbs I would only eat protein foods and then return to a normal dinner.

Typical Eating during the day:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup scammbled egg whites + 1 whey protein drink
Mid Morning: 1 can of tuna & handful of nuts + 1 whey protein drink
Lunch: 2 cans of tuna or 2 whole eggs+ 1 whey protein drink
Mid Afternoon: 1 can of tuna or 1 whole egg + 1 whey protein drink

4. Exercise Program:

Incase you were wondering what I did for exercise, I did exactly the same workout throughout so it should not have effected the results.

But for the record here is my routine I did over the whole dieting period.

Monday to Friday: I walked 40 minutes (find out why does walking help fat loss)

Every second day I lifted weights using Visual Impact – Phase 1  ( click here if you would like to read about my previous transformation using this program).

On Saturday and Sunday each day I would jog 6 kms plus 10 minutes of sprinting intervals.

One of my Chocolate Cakes

Here is what happened and it surprised me!

Before I started I would have thought fasting would have been my best bet then fruits and then protein! I didn’t expect that.

I wish I counted the calorie intake to make it more quatitative but I wanted to keep it fairly simple, i.e no counting calories and eating when I felt hungry with no hunger pains.

So the big surprise was I started to put on weight with fruit, I’m not sure why except the basic fact I was eating so much I was mostly in a calorie surplus.

I will say I tended to feel hungrier eating the fruit and I ate more as opposed to the protein where I did feel I ate less as I felt fuller.

So that is one big advantge in eating proteins with meals is that is does fill you up.

I know at least now what works for me and it’s something that I could frequently use but not all the time as a balanced diet will always better in the long term than anything extreme.

I probably could have dropped more weight if I my restricted calories by not eating dessert and alcohol every night but if I can drop some weight and still enjoy the foods I like then its all good!

So I’ll definitely use this every now and then to drop some weight in a week.

If you decide to try it let me know and what sort of results you get, I’d be interested to gather more data on it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have any questions that I can help out with please ask!