WARNING: Before starting any new diet or exercise routine you should first consult with your physician and seek their input on diet and lifestyle changes taking into consideration your current physical condition, age, and health background. The information on this page is for your reference and I take no responsibility for ANY personal injury resulting from this advise.

Can you help me gain lean muscle mass and looses fat even if I'm not active right now?

Yes but it requires some leg work by you first. 

Start by visiting your doctor.

Once you have their permission to begin a diet and exercise routine to gain lean muscle mass and loose body fat you can begin to make changes to your lifestyle that help you avoid the risks your current lifestyle may have put you in.

These risks include, but are not limited to:

• Heart Disease/Attack

• Stroke

• Hypertension

• Diabetes

• Joint and cartilage issues

Any lifestyle change takes time to become the norm for your body.  Think of it as a transplanted tree in the backyard of your lifestyle landscape.  For the first 90 days you must check on the tree every day, water it well and make sure the tree is being feed correct amounts of nutrients.

After 90 days the tree is settled and starts to grow and shade and protect you from the heat of the old lifestyle.  In a year you forget that the tree was ever transplanted at all because its part of your landscape.

Your landscape includes aspects from three areas of human existence, the human spirit, the power of your own mind, and of course the physical body - The Triad.

O-Kay

Once your ready to start the program we need to learn your current diet.  Many people think they know what they eat but when it comes time to actually document it they are shocked by the amount of food, the size proportions and content they actually eat on a given day.

Start by writing down everything you eat for the first two weeks. Note the size and time you ate the items.  Also note was it satisfying and curbed your hunger.

Weight yourself each seventh day at the same time, and same manor. (if you did it the first time at 6 am before eating do it again 6 am before eating.)

You will analyze your current diet for carbs, proteins, and fats, and chart your Base Metabolic Rate - B.M.R. and then plan a new balanced healthy diet and exercise routine to help you make the lifestyle changes you need to reach your goals.

You will also be setting REALISTIC short term and long term goals. These landmarks on the lifestyle landscape will help you to remain focused and motivated to continue your healthy lifestyle changes.

Can you help me tone up, or increase my results from my current routine?

Great you are already doing some form of exercise routine.  But most likely your not seeing results due to a real lack of resistance in the program, lack of intensity in your sessions, or diet issues.

The body needs some form of resistance in order to grow muscle.  MUSCLE burns more fat just by being there then fat does.  Lean muscle mass needs energy to exist.  Fat does not.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO BECOME ARNOLD - ALL MUSCLE BOUND.  But you will have some tightening and toning of the muscle you have in order to increase your lean muscle mass to fat ratio.   

Start by doing the same diet tracking as described above. Also if your not recording your weight training / cardio  routine in a daily journal start doing so.  Sample log sheets are included in the Tools section.

Record exercise, weight used, number of reps attempted, and successful reps completed.  Also record your general mental feelings (cranky, happy, etc.)  and the amount and quality of sleep you got the night before.

Also test your current Body Mass Index - BMI. This determines your body fat percentage.  I have included in the tools section methods for calculating your own BMI, but Skin Fold Calipers offer the best measurement and the least margin of error. The best site location and testing method is the USCG/USN specs to take skin fold measurements.  Developed by the US Coast Guard and Navy in order to predict survivability in cold ocean waters, theses are the most accurate measurements you can achieve without the use of a special chamber that will remove all the air from the test chamber and then measure density, or the hanging scale under water testing methods where the subject is required to exhale all air and remain calm for 30 seconds under water or inside a vacuum chamber which are both hard to do for the normal person.

We can review your journal entries or track a few workouts then change the routine to get past plateaus and dead ends.

Diet overview - Click on the Foods page for details

My First Simple Rule: All things in moderation food wise, and you need to eat less more often during the day.

Simple Rule Number Two: Keep the portions small and eat it slow. The protein portion of any given meal should not be more than your fist in size.  The other components of that meal combined also should not be bigger than your fist.  This includes salads!

Finally Water is the essential element Humans need in order to survive. It hydrates, and cleanses toxins from our bodies. So work your way up to 8 glasses a day slowly since you can drink too much water and cause your brain to swell.

How Much of What

You need to balance the exercise, diet, sleep and cardio activities in your new lifestyle.  Each person will respond differently to the same diet and routines.  Also once you find the right combination, you need to mix it up ever 90 days or so because as animals we adapt and conform to environmental changes.  So if the routine has bench presses for chest, after 90 days change to incline presses, after 90 more days you can switch back or try a new exercise for chest.  The goal is to keep your body guessing.

What about supplementation?

What about over the counter supplements and diet pills, and fat burners?  In my opinion a well balanced diet limits the need for any supplementation. The supplement industry in the USA is a Billion dollar plus per year machine. Peddling what used to be called Patent Medicine, or snake oil, 99% of the supplements on the market are unregulated, and their long term effects are unknown. I have tried my share of the latest supplements over my early years and found all or them with the exception of two to wastes of my hard earned money.

The two that weren't in my opinion were branch chain amino acids in pill form, or liquid form (used as a soy sauce replacement) and Creatine which worked for me ONLY because at the time I ate almost no red meat.  If you do eat meat then just put your cash in the toilet and flush it since that's what your doing anyways.

Fat burners are just out of the spotlight they once were as the darling solution to unwanted pounds due to a recent ban by the FDA after a string of deaths due to abuse and overdose. If you need a buzz drink caffeine. If you need to loose a few pounds do cardio.

As to vitamins I use a multi vitamin in the winter just to make sure I get everything I need.  All vitamins are the same, the difference is the extra trace elements they add to them. Again a well rounded diet should eliminate the need for these unproven elements.  I keep it simple and I'm in no way indorsing one brand over another, but when I use them I use Flintstones chewable. The price is right and they taste great. Don't be suckered into buying high priced brands, marketed for men with this condition, or women of this group. Only your doctor after a blood test or consultation can determine if you need a particular vitamin, or mineral.

To Juice or not to Juice

In a recent survey of High School Athletes, over 300,000 said they had used Steroids and or other performance enhancement drugs.

Buying black market or veterinary grade Steroids is dangerous and illegal! Don't think you won't get caught buying from some off shore web site. What your buying may not be what it was said to be. Students a few years ago here in Hartford  bought drugs on-line through a web site that turned out to be nothing more than Armor All. So much for the quick Beach / Spring break body. Imagine injecting that into your butt, cause some poor guy had twice before the area became infected and surgery was required to repair the damage. 

Steroids have their place as legitimate medical treatments for many health issues.  Healthy people taking them for quick gains or so called instant beach bodies are playing Russian roulette with their life, risking sterility, kidney and liver disease, and cancer. If your body is not producing the right amount of male hormone (testosterone) then you are a candidate for replacement therapy. Only your Doctor can prescribe legal steroids.

The human body is a great balancing machine, Ying and Yang like.  If your body is creating the right amount of testosterone and you flood your body with more of it, two things happen. First the body tries to reestablish the natural balance and increases the amount of estrogen, the female hormone, you produce, causing your male pectorals to develop into breast like nipples.  Painful and ugly to see, these so called "bitch tits" if left untreated can in time become cancerous. Male breast cancer is on the increase in the united states.

Secondly your body attempts to shut down your own natural testosterone factory. Most visible as a shrinkage of the actual testicles, and a reduction in libido. If your testicles shut down for a period of time your body may never be able to restart the production cycle.

Precursor OTC supplements such as Noranderstien can cause the same side effects as above since they increase the supply of testosterone by going around the natural factory in your pants.

The Brain / Body Connection

Your Brain is your best workout partner / motivator. A positive mental attitude will allow you to reach your goals and have the body you want, and be very happy with it. A negative mental attitude  will run you down and defeat you.  Use a full length mirror and really look at yourself, then visualize yourself wearing that new bathing suit, dress, or suit. See yourself bigger, stronger, leaner, better at your sport or winning that Bodybuilding competition. Plan your meals ahead and plan on eating right, don't leave it to Wendy's to plan your meal. Enjoy your workouts, no matter how grueling they seem at the moment. Having a good time making changes to your lifestyle can be challenging at times, but if you see it in your mind sooner than later you will see it in the mirror. You will feel better, have more energy, and reach your goals.