The Secret to Setting and Achieving Fitness Goals at Any Age
Dr. Tim Reynolds
 I don't like to brag (ok maybe I do a little bit) but sometimes you have to toot your own horn or nobody else will.
Last week I set a new personal best for bench press and leg press. Considering I am 45 years old, I thought that was pretty good. Most people I know quit increasing their max 10 years before that. I bench pressed 435 lbs for two reps and did over 1000 lbs on the leg press for a full set of eight!! That's pretty good by any standard and awesome for me. It is particularly good considering I weigh 210 pounds with less then 10% body fat and I have been decreasing my percent body fat simultaneously.
So how do I do it? Do I have a secret? There are a few fundamentals that everyone should know and take advantage of, but yet so few do. I will talk about four of those today and leave the rest for another essay.
First, get to the gym! This means quit waiting to "get motivated" to work out. So many people never start because they just cannot motivate themselves. I often ask them how they get motivated to go to work in the morning or to brush their teeth.
I cannot wait to get motivated, I simply do it. Day in and day out, you find the type of exercise to fit your goals, then you just do it!!! Make a decision that starting today you will work out every day, or 5 days a week, or whatever you decide, and then stick with it come hell or high water. Just make yourself do it.
Don't wait to get motivated. Don't wait until you have the right partner. Don't wait until they build a new gym, or you get a new bike, or whatever. Use the Ready, Fire, Aim philosophy Michael Masterson talks about in his new book and just start doing it. Figure out how to do it better as you go. The perfect day to start never comes, as it turns out. The best time to start is today, so what are you waiting for... go!
Personally I go to the gym (or its equivalent) 5 days a week. I work out for an hour each of these days. I vary my routines doing stretching, cardio, weight lifting, circuit training, or various other work outs. I get bored so I like to change things up, which also does not allow my muscles to get used to one thing.
I lift weights for each body part once a week. In other words, I do chest once a week, then arms, legs, back, and shoulders once a week. This allows me plenty of time for recuperation. It also enables me to lift harder and spend time doing other things such as stretching and cardio. When I do cardio, I like to do the stair master, or incline treadmill, or bike and do intervals for 20 to 30 minutes. Sometimes I will do my cardio at my ranch and do hills or sprints instead. The point is to find what YOU like to do and then focus on that. Change things up and see if it doesn't make it more fun.
The next secret to achieving your personal best, is high protein, low glycemic index (low carb) eating. I don't like to say diet because it is a four letter word and the first three letters are DIE! I prefer to think of healthy eating as simply that, the way I eat. I am not on a diet, I simply eat healthy to fuel my body with the nutrients and building blocks it needs to keep me lean and mean.
I eat every two to three hours for a total of six to eight meals a day. Each meal consists of protein and fresh fruits or vegetables with an occasional complex carbohydrate such as a sweet potato. I consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight in pounds. I drink plenty of water and I take supplements every day including creatine, glutamine, branched chain amino acids, a pre-workout drink, a multivitamin, and fish oil supplements.
I try to eat plenty of healthy fats including nuts, avocados, and fish. I do not avoid red meat; in fact I eat a rib eye steak just about everyday. I rarely eat processed foods although I do have a free day once a week from 5 pm on Saturday to 5 pm on Sunday and allow myself to eat whatever I want, although I don't usually "cheat" nearly as much as I think I will.
Another way I stay on track is to write down my fitness goals and constantly review them. I try and look at my goals every single day. It helps to keep them somewhere you will see them daily, like on your mirror in the bathroom. I even have a picture of some of my goals. For example, on my mirror right now I have a picture from Muscle and Fitness magazine that has the abs I am striving for. (I also have a picture of the Cirrus SR22 airplane I would love to own.)
I even like re-writing my goals frequently because it helps me to make and revise them all over again. Many people think that goals are static -- that once you write them down, then you either accomplish them or you don't. I tend to think of them as being more fluid than that. They are sort of living entities that change with time.
Part way through trying to reach a goal, it may change or take on new form depending on what else has happened, new information you now have, or a change of heart. That is ok. Last year I had a goal to do a 6-minute mile, running. I trained pretty hard but about half way through I realized that I did not care if I ran a 6-minute mile. What I wanted was to have better cardiac fitness and had mistakenly thought that was the best way to get there.
I changed my goal to increase my cardio fitness and then changed my workout. Some may say I failed at accomplishing my goal but I don't see it that way. I simply changed it for a better goal. Ultimately it does not matter whether or not we reach our goals. What is important is the better people we become in pursuit of them.
In summary, aging is no excuse for not being fit and healthy. There is so much information out there that sometimes it is difficult to figure out what you should or should not be doing. The best approach is to stick to the basics: exercise, eat healthy, keep adjusting your wellness goals, and get started today. But mainly, stop waiting for the perfect time to start. In fact, I'm feeling so good now, think I will head to the gym and do some legs!
[Ed. Note: Tim Reynolds, M.D., is a practicing physician and a health and lifestyle expert. For more information, click here.]
 Reverse Aging:
Are You Aging Faster than You Need To?
By Joseph McCaffrey, MD, FACS
Advanced Glycosylated end-products is a mouthful. It's a lot easier to remember the initials: AGE. Those initials are especially fitting since these compounds accelerate aging.
Under certain conditions, glucose combines abnormally with proteins. The result is called an advanced glycosylated end-product. These compounds are very reactive, so they then go on to combine with other proteins. That's when the damage starts.
AGE compounds have been extensively studied in diabetic patients because researchers suspect they initiate the major complications of diabetes -- blindness and kidney failure (diabetes is a leading cause of both). AGEs appear to bind to the membranes of the cells lining blood vessels, interfering with their normal functions.
AGEs also make LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) more prone to oxidize and then deposit in a vessel wall, ultimately leading to hardening of the arteries.
In short, to avoid aging, avoid AGEs.
AGEs develop in many ways. One, as you probably guessed from the association with diabetes, has to do with high blood sugars. A high level of blood sugar drives more glucose to combine with proteins, thereby making AGEs.
In fact, physicians use blood levels of one AGE -- hemoglobin A1C -- to judge how well diabetics are doing in controlling their blood sugars. But it's not only diabetics who need to be concerned about AGEs. They form in all of us when our blood sugar rises sharply, as it does after eating sugary or refined foods.
And elevated blood glucose isn't the only way AGEs get into our system. We get them from our diet as well. Many foods contain AGEs. Just how much depends on how the food is cooked.
Methods that cook food dry at high heats, like frying or broiling, increase AGEs. Cooking food in moisture and at low temperatures keeps AGEs low. The difference can be significant. For example, an uncooked chicken breast has 692 AGE kilounits. Cook it in a stew and it rises to 1010 kilounits. Broiling, on the other hand, raises it to 5245 and frying to 6651!1
We all know we should avoid sugars and refined foods and some of us have gotten the word that charred food contains cancer-promoting compounds. Now we have another good reason to pay attention to these dietary factors -- minimizing our AGE levels.
Reference
- Goldberg T, et al; J Am Diet Assoc 2004; 104:1287-1291.
[Ed. Note: Joseph F. McCaffrey, MD, FACS is a board-certified surgeon with extensive experience in alternative medicine, including certification as a HeartMath Trainer. His areas of expertise include mind-body interaction and cognitive restructuring. Dr. McCaffrey strives to help people attain their optimum level of vitality through attention to all aspects of wellness. For more information, click here.]
 Nutrients & Health:
Lessons Learned from Too Much Vitamin A
By Shane Ellison, M.Sc.
Too much of anything can kill you, even vitamins. Vitamin A serves as a good example. In the early 1960s, scientists found that vitamin A boosted immunity and prevented blindness in third world countries.
A study in Indonesia showed that vitamin A supplementation prevented up to a remarkable 50% of childhood deaths caused by disease.1 As people began to learn of its benefits, supplementation became common. That's when scientists discovered that it was possible to overdose on vitamin A at a mere 20 mg per day.
People who had overdosed on vitamin A had symptoms like water in the brain, vomiting, fatigue, constipation, bone pain, and severe headaches. Dry pale skin also occurred.
Scientists then began looking at vitamin A precursors as a means of preventing toxicity. (A vitamin precursor is a natural substance that can be transformed into the vitamin itself.)
They found that the human body uses beta-carotene to produce vitamin A, but surprisingly, only when it's needed! This means that utilizing its "natural intelligence," the body ensures that you have plenty of vitamin A courtesy of beta-carotene -- but won't let you overdose! Once again, Mother Nature proves to be our best teacher.
To ensure that your body safely gets plenty of disease-fighting vitamin A, eat a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene. The best sources are sweet potatoes, spinach and goji berries.
Reference
- Jennings, E. Apricots and Oncogenes. McGuire & Beckley Books, Cleveland, Ohio, 1993.
[Ed. Note: Shane Ellison is known as "The People's Chemist." He holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first-hand industry experience with drug research, design and synthesis. He is the author of Health Myths Exposed and The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs. To learn more, click here.]
 Weight Loss:
Why Some People Can Keep the Weight Off
By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS
Anyone who's ever lost weight knows that the biggest challenge is often keeping it off once you've lost it! Much research has been devoted to identifying the habits of successful people in the weight loss game. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control1 adds to this literature. It turns out that following a few very simple rules vastly increases your chance of keeping weight off once you've lost it.
Researchers examined data from a mailed survey of US adults aged 18 or older and analyzed data on:
- The number of daily fruit and vegetable servings
- Minutes per week of physical activity
- Dining out behavior
- Confidence in one's own ability to successfully follow healthy behavioral strategies.
Here's what they found: Eating at fast-food restaurants -- even as little as two times per week --was associated with significantly less success in weight maintenance. And adults who consumed five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a week and racked up 150 minutes a week of activity were more successful at keeping weight off than sedentary folks who ate less than 5 servings of vegetables and fruits.
Here's the take-home point. The combined approach of staying out of fast-food restaurants, consuming five or more fruit and vegetable servings per day, and attaining 150 minutes (or more) of some kind of physical activity per week was a common successful strategy among those keeping weight off.
That's a strategy that's doable, health supporting, and obviously -- eminently successful.
Reference
- Prev. Chronic Dis. 2008 Jan;5(1):A11. Epub 2007 Dec 15.
[Ed. note: Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He's a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master's degree in psychology. Dr. Bowden is also a life coach, motivational speaker, former personal trainer and author of the award-winning book, Living the Low Carb Life, as well as his new book, The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth. For more information, click here.]
 Exercise & Fitness:
It's Time to Drop the Exercises That Don't Work
By Craig Ballantyne
My parents have lived in the same house in the same small town for longer than I have been alive. And I leave the big city of Toronto to go visit them quite often. As a result, I go to a small town YMCA to do my workouts when I'm there.
It's at the Y where I come across exercises I thought had died off a long time ago. But to my surprise, I still see men and women doing useless, ineffective exercises while they try to burn off their belly fat, lose inches from their waists, and tone their muscles.
Here are 3 of the most ineffective techniques I've come across recently...
1. Broomstick Twists
You know this classic move. Put the broomstick across your shoulders and rotate side to side, with the hopes it will whittle your waist down inch by inch.
It should be no surprise to any one by now, but this doesn't work. All that twisting is a waste of time. If you really want to lose belly fat, you have to do a lot more than broomstick twists.
A better option: Interval training to burn off belly fat. For example, after a warm-up, do a 1-minute interval, working at a pace slightly harder than your normal cardio intensity. Then, significantly decrease the intensity for a 1-minute recovery period. Repeat 6 times and finish with a cool down.
2. Triceps Exercises
If you're a competitive bodybuilder, than triceps and biceps exercises are fine to have in your program. But if you are a busy man or woman who needs more results in less time, doing any type of isolation exercise (such as triceps kickbacks) is a waste of your precious time.
A better option: Any type of pushup -- including kneeling pushups or close-grip pushups (where your hands are about shoulder-width apart). Your triceps along with the rest of your body will benefit as you burn fat and sculpt your body.
3. Exercises Standing on a Ball or Other Gadget
Lots of trainers are asking their clients to perform traditional exercises while standing on balls, half-balls, and inflatable disks. This is not only a waste of time, but also dangerous! Imagine the consequences if someone fell off a ball while doing an exercise.
A better option: Traditional exercises performed standing on the floor. This will enable you to get stronger and even improve your balance. Strength is the key to any gains in balance, fat loss, and muscle mass. By doing exercises on a wobbly surface, you reduce the strength gains and therefore all the rest of the benefits.
[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine. If you're looking to burn fat, build muscle and quickly step into the body you have always wanted with just three workouts each week, check out Craig's fat-loss system, click here.]
 Recipes:
Citrus Soy Scallops with Soba Noodles
By Kelley Herring
This simple Asian meal provides an array of health promoting nutrients including magnesium -- a mineral essential for healthy metabolism and insulin balance. A recent study published in the journal Circulation (1) found those who developed metabolic syndrome had the lowest intake of magnesium. Just one serving of this sensational scallop dish provides more than 40% of the RDI for this essential mineral.
Serves: 6
Time to Table: 30 minutes
Healing Nutrient Spotlight
Excellent source of protein, vitamin B12, magnesium, selenium
Good source of vitamin B6, folate, thiamin, niacin, potassium, zinc
Ingredients
1 tbsp organic low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp fresh organic ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 cup fresh organic lime juice
2 pounds fresh sea scallops
8 ounces organic soba (buckwheat) noodles
2 tsp organic sesame oil
2 tsp grapeseed oil
1/4 cup fresh organic lemon juice
Preparation
Whisk together the soy sauce, lemon and lime juices, ginger, and sesame oil in a wide, shallow, nonreactive bowl. Boil the water for the soba noodles, add the noodles, and cook until al dente. Meanwhile, add the scallops to the lemon soy mixture and marinate, covered, at room temperature, for 5 minutes on each side. (Do not marinate longer or the scallops will become mushy when they're cooked.) Transfer the scallops to a plate and reserve the marinade. Heat ½ teaspoon grapeseed oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Then sauté the scallops, six to eight at a time, until golden brown and just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes on each of the flat sides, transferring them to a plate as they're cooked. Wipe out the skillet and add ½ teaspoon oil between batches. Wipe out the skillet again, then add the marinade, and boil until reduced, about 2 minutes. Place the scallops over the soba noodles, and drizzle with sauce.
Nutritional Information
300 calories, 5 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 1 g monounsaturated fats, 2 g polyunsaturated fats, 50 mg cholesterol, 717 mg sodium, 34 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 0 g sugars, 32 g protein
Reference
He, K. et al. Circulation 2006 Mar 27.
[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the Founder & CEO of Healing Gourmet, a multimedia company that educates on how foods promote health and protect against disease. She is also the creator of Healing Gourmet's Personalized Nutrition Software and Editor-in-Chief of the Healing Gourmet book series published by McGraw-Hill, including Eat to Fight Cancer, Eat to Beat Diabetes, Eat to Lower Cholesterol and Eat to Boost Fertility. For more information, click here.]
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