Let’s be honest, its that 800 pound gorilla in the room that everyone knows is either helping or hindering your performance and results but seems all too often to get ignored.  And its not because we all think it isn’t important…its because we all know it is!

It’s pretty black and white when we say nutrition is 80% of your results and exercise is 20%, but that is pretty conservative in my mind.  I think its more like 95% of your results and exercise is 5%.  I mean, think about it, if you eat for fat loss and perform any exercise (almost) you will get results.  Even if you don’t exercise at all, you will get results from eating the way the body was meant to.

I used to run nutrition classes on teaching people how to eat ‘supportively’ to promote an environment in their bodies for fat loss to occur.  Now I’ve transitioned to more of a support group helping people with accountability and responsibility of answering to someone other than themselves on a regular basis.  So many want to know ‘what’ to eat, but the what isn’t nearly as difficult as the ‘why’.

Why we need to eat the foods are just as important as the ‘what’ if not more important.  History has told us if we know ‘why’ we need to or not to perform a task, we are always more likely to do it or not do it.  It also evokes more learning and habit forming tendencies than the ‘what’ does.  In terms of nutrition the ‘what’ is great and gives you instant gratification, but won’t stay with you and more often than not will eventually get boring and you will not have formed a habit.  Not to mention the ‘what’ is pretty simple, I can tell you what to eat in one line:

lean meats and other proteins, vegetables, fruits, healthy and natural fats.

Eat in priority of that list with most abundant being lean meats.

If you stick to that list 90% of the time or better, you are in excellent shape.  When you start asking ‘what about _____?’ , you start to veer away from this list.  The list is pretty simple, ‘what abouts’ are very likely not on this list for a reason, and if you have a question about it, you are guaranteed to not be asking about something that would fit on this list

No secrets, nothing you haven’t heard before here, just discipline and understanding why before applying the what

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By the way ladies, tip #4 is not for you, but the rest are fair game, especially number 2 which you ladies often overlook

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If you can’t kill it, pick it or pull it, don’t eat it

I don’t know the actual origin of this quote but I’ve seen it many times before and I gotta admit, it just plain makes sense.

If you follow those guidelines, you will get the body you want.

Now I know many will complain and say, its too hard or impossible to do.

Or, what about protein powder, or yogurt, or cottage cheese, or bread?

You don’t need them.  You want them, it makes your nutrition easier, but you don’t need them to be successful.

No foods are magical, mysterious or hidden wonder pills.

You eat the food, it does its job in the body (repair, grow muscle, provide vitamins and minerals to your body in order to perform daily functions, and so much more), and you exercise effectively and you will see results.

Any food outside this rule, will most likely compromise your results. They may slow your results, or, depending on the severity of the deviance, may produce zero results all together.

No nutrition labels, no comparing foods, no middle aisles, and actually you could skip the grocery store all together and head to your local farmer’s market to get all the foods you need.  An added benefit to shopping at your local farmers market is that you are getting locally grown, most likely non hormone induced or pesticide sprinkled food.

I’m sure I’m going to hear that a ‘diet’ like this is impossible and not something that can be done effectively. Well, I’ll tell you that there are places on this planet that societies do just that.  They eat fruits, vegetables, and lean meats with fats sprinkled in.  And you know what?  They do NOT have an obesity problem.

Foods such as corn, breads, pastas, and refined foods (and I use that term loosely) are used sparingly rather than the ‘foundation’ of their food pyramid, or eating plan.

They get it, why don’t we?

True its much, much more prevalent in our society, but aren’t we strong enough to resist temptation?  Aren’t we ‘tough enough’ to say no to foods we know can kill  us or cause major health problems and lower our quality of life?

Well if we are, we haven’t shown it yet.

We work so hard on exercise which unfortunately is only 20% of the solution.  Nutrition is 80%.  Let me say that again, Nutrition is 80%.

If you make just small changes to your nutrition, you will see much more dramatic changes than if you worked out an extra session per week.

That’s what I mean when I say Nutrition is nothing but attitude. Those that want it will do it, no questions asked.  There are no excuses, no what ifs, but, what about...

Nothing like that, it just gets done.

So if you are looking for a magical potion to help you lose fat, good luck and happy looking.  You won’t find it here.

I’ve come to realize that fat loss takes about 90% discipline and 10% method.  Those that have the discipline will make huge changes no matter what they do for exercise and nutrition.  Now its the speed that matters, and that’s when the right method comes into play.  But losing fat can happen in many ways.

Lifting heavy is the missing link in so many of people’s fat loss programs.  Picking 4-5 movements and getting real strong with them will go a long way to achieving fat loss but also a lean healthy physique (think olympic athlete)

I don’t believe there is a ‘king’ of all exercises.  But if I had to do just one exercise for the rest of my life for the greatest results, it would be Kettlebell Snatches

Number two would be a tie between Deadlifts and Turkish Get ups

I believe the body was meant to pull.  However, way too many of us are much stronger at pushing.  We like the muscles we can see.  However, the ones everyone else can see are what build strength, ignites metabolism, and produces the amazing lean look we are all striving for.

To follow up on the last point, if you work on your weaknesses everything else will fall into place.  And guess what?  They no longer are weaknesses

Yesterday I pulled my jeep (strongman style).  I’ve always wanted to do that.  I do believe I am now addicted.

Nutrition isn’t nearly has hard as its made up to be.  Protein and produce with healthy fats sprinkled in is a good rule to follow.  The difficulty lies in discipline and in the preparation of the food.  Too often food is cooked bland and thought to taste bland.  Since the creation of LeanKitchen I now know that is no longer the case.

There are so many people that need help, it makes my head hurt on a daily basis.  Sometimes I think I need help with what goes through my head

Lately I’ve noticed a little battle going on between bootcamps and bootcamp style training and Cross Fit.  I run a bootcamp and I know many other high level bootcamp fitness professionals.  I know some very high quality Cross Fit owners who are great coaches.  I also know some very bad bootcamp instructors and very bad Cross Fit coaches.  To say one training style is far better than the other is near sighted and only for publicity purposes.  Coaches train differently and will vary from one instructor to the next.

In addition to my previous statement, fitness is not a game.  I believe competition is a great thing, and I do believe it definitely has a place on occasion, not to mention its a lot of fun.  However there are exercises that have no place in a ‘get as many reps as you can and screw form’ format.  It is then that fitness becomes compromised and plain stupidity steps in.  There are bootcamps and Cross Fits that are guilty of this.

Women collectively can do Kettlebell Swings better than Men

Warm ups are essential for a complete workout, but I hate doing them

I’ve run a successful business for almost 5 years.  I’ve been successful doing it in a very rural part of the country.  In my profession that is unheard of and extremely rare.  I like that.  However, I’m not done, there are more people that need help and more ways I can provide for them.

I don’t think I”m going to expand beyond my three bootcamp locations, I’ve done some reflecting and I believe cultivating our culture that we have created by offering different services and diversifying ourselves is the best course of action.

To continue from two thoughts ago…I’ve run a successful business, am a best selling author, am a sought after coach internationally, and am, dare I say, a local celebrity.  However, my single most greatest accomplishment will be that I”m a great dad to my son and someone my family looks up to and is proud of.

There are less than a handful of people on this planet that ‘get’ me

I love dogs.  If I had a secondary career, it would be to have a dog sanctuary where stray, abused, and neglected dogs could come and be…well dogs.  I haven’t let go of this dream.

There are days where I forget how lucky I am.  Then there are days I remember how lucky I am.  I truly am lucky and can never forget that.  There are so many people who are living their life doing something they hate doing.  I started off that way, and will never go back.  That is no way to live.

I think the only thing in life you can predict is math.

I’ve always been able to read people.  I’ve become very good at it.  I’ve also become very good at hiding the fact I’m reading them.  Sounds maniacal but I think it’s funny that sometimes people will think they are being sneaky, when in fact I know exactly what they are doing.

To elaborate on the above statement…I may be just a tad paranoid

95% of my best ideas come when I’m driving.

When I was young I tried to visualize what I would look like and be doing by age 33.  I was way off!  I actually couldn’t picture myself at this age.  For that reason I came to the conclusion that I would be dead

I think I’m a very funny person and have a great sense of humor.  Sadly, too few people agree.

The very moment when a camper says they can’t do it or the look of doubt flashes in their eyes, I step in, look into their eyes and tell them, yes  you can and you will do this.  99% of the time, I’m right.

Part of the reason I chose this career, was that I wouldn’t have to dress up every day.

I don’t read enough.  I may never read enough.  Not because I don’t like reading, but because there is so much information out there, I’ll run out of time.

Some of the most controversial people in the world I have found to be the most brilliant.

There are some who think I’m all about money.  I find that humorous, ridiculous, and ignorant all at once.  I could go on, but this post would then become a rant, so I’ll spare you and leave it at that.

There may be no truer statement than, ‘half assed effort leads to half assed results’.

Pain (injury) is not weakness leaving the body.  Shaking muscles, fatigue, sweat, out of breath, collapsing on the floor after a killer workout is weakness leaving the body.

All those things are also doubt leaving the body

If you’re not getting stronger, you’re getting weaker.  There is no middle ground here.

Fat Loss = Effort + Intensity + Discipline – Whining – Excuses x Consistency

I just realized I could do this all day!  This was a lot of fun and I hope you have as much fun reading as  I did posting

The truth is muscle soreness does not dictate how effective a workout is.  Muscle soreness produces itself when the body has been stressed in a different way than it has become used to.  So, in other words, muscle soreness is the result of choosing different exercises, lifting heavier weight, performing more reps, or applying a different stress to the body that is hasn’t gotten accustomed to.  Muscle soreness does NOT indicate an effective, muscle building, fat loss workout.  However, muscle soreness is necessary from time to time so that the body doesn’t adapt to select stresses and decrease the training effect.

What about the workouts that don’t produce soreness?  Well, that depends.  A lot of quality work has to be done for a workout to be effective.  Training all three energy systems in the body must also occur.  As long as high intensity work is being performed and the body is working at a high level, results will occur (provided nutritional components are being followed), regardless of muscle soreness.

Another component that helps tremendously in regards to the amount and degree of muscle soreness is nutrition.  Nutrition plays a vital role in muscle recovery, efficiency of movement and in results.  And nutrition will reduce the amount of time that you will feel muscle soreness.  If your nutrition is not up to par and you continue to train hard, you are more likely to have muscle soreness more often which will further give the belief of an effective workout.  However, it’s the nutrition that needs work and not the belief the workout was effective.

In conclusion, muscle soreness will happen periodically during your training but should not be the goal of each workout.  Execute effective training principles