Answer: As we age we lose muscle mass which is our primary metabolic driver. If we lose muscle mass our resting metabolic rate (RMR) will decrease which will make you feel like a sluggish fat magnet to use your terminology. You have to build, tone or at least retain your muscle mass which is done through weight training. Your walks will have a modest effect and energize you for a short period but they are not intense enough to make a long term difference. You don't have to become a gym rat to build muscle just be consistent and work with intensity.

Training intensity is most important in affecting your RMR and is simply getting more work done in a short period of time. Weight training just two days a week will make a difference and is a good starting point. Do a full body workout covering each major body part with 2 to 3 exercises and get it done in an hour or less. More work in less time equals intensity which is the key to energizing your (RMR).

There have been several studies done recently which continually show that RMR is elevated after a workout whether it is weight training or cross training. The differences in the studies are how much RMR increases and for how long. We were curious so we used a BodyBugg metabolic system to do a small study on our own. The BodyBugg is the arm band which you can see being worn by contestants on The Biggest Loser that monitors and calculates how many calories are burned by an individual. The required "burn" for Biggest Loser competitors is 6000 calories a day. That's what they are told to shoot for as a minimum calorie expenditure or burn each day.

Our "subject" was 62 year old Mike Musselwhite who has won the Over 60 Heavyweight National Bodybuilding Championships so he knows how to train and how to train intensely. When he began his workout his estimated burn was 1.9 calories per minute. As he trained and he was only working his biceps and triceps, his burn rose to 6.9 cpm within 10 to 15 minutes. He completed his workout in about 50 minutes and during that time his burn remained at 6.9 cpm. His monitor revealed that 10 to 15 minutes after his session was over his burn dropped to just under 5 cpm and remained between 4 and 5 cpm for the next 4 hours. The next 2 to 3 hours was after that it slipped down between 3 and 4 cpm and remained above his original 1.9 cpm for over 8 hours.

What this again proved is how much RMR is affected by intensity in your workouts and how important maintaining muscle mass is for your metabolic rate. Get started with those 2 weekly weight training workouts and see for yourself how to change your RMR, energize your system and affect your attitude so you don't feel like a slug.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

If you can't get to a gym or get a trainer you can do these three exercises at home which will activate all the major muscle groups. Choose a sturdy door in your house. Straddle it with your feet on either side of the door about a foot or so in and away from the doorknobs holding your body against the door by grabbing the doorknobs on each side of the door. Extend your arms stretching them out fully but keep your body in a straight line as you stretch out and then pull your body back against the door. Your feet will keep the door from swinging so do 10 pulls to the door. Immediately go to 10 full squats with your feet shoulder width apart and your back straight. After the squats do 10 pushups in any way whether it is against the wall, on your knees or military style.

Perform at least 5 sets of each of these exercises without stopping with your goal to be able to do 10 sets in 20 minutes without stopping. Add in walking or another form of cardio on alternating days for 20 to 30 minutes. Mall walking does not count because it is flat and has no real resistance. Find a hilly route or track so you can get in some resistance and effort. This is a good starting point for about the first month which will yield definite results to get you on track this year to lose the 100 pounds you don't need to carry anymore.

Finally, you have to get your mind used to the fact that the things that you have done to your body are no longer acceptable and you have to change. It is your will that dominates and controls your choices and actions or your lack of will that can lead to your physical downfall. The choice isn't the easy way and you will have to make hard choices everyday to make this work. But you can make and live with the difficult choices and then you will realize that the choices are not so difficult after all as you see the results.

God Bless and keep training,
Daryl

Next have your long term goals and short term goals to get you to your final destination clearly written out. These include a timeline to keep you on track. If you have no idea how to get these plans worked out and need help hire a trainer to provide you an outline and give you an idea of what exercises are best for you, how to eat clean and the intensity required to see results quickly.

The final step on this "short list" is to realize that the most difficult part of this process is getting started especially with the food preparation and changing the patterns you follow through your day. Get a balanced breakfast, have a midmorning snack. Eat lunch, grab a quick snack in the mid-afternoon and have a lite dinner. You need to have food prepared to prevent you from getting really hungry and making a fast food run. If your food is coming to you from a hole in a wall while you are in your car, you're wrong. This food prep becomes second nature after a week or two

Whatever occurred or dod not occur that prevented your success is in the past so move forward. Change your mindset to a positive mode and make the things you want to become reality. See yourself being successful in the gym, preparing your food and looking like you want to look.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

P.S. Coming Soon: Our new monthly grocery shopping and label translation class!

Consider the habits you have that contributed to your current condition. Are you willing to change those destructive habits to reach your goals? How determined are you to completing your resolutions? You cannot change the results you get without changing your methods towards realizing those goals. Track your food and see where you are making mistakes or what you eat that you should not have. Are there triggers for these behaviors? Are you planning meals and cooking ahead to avoid the fast food crunch? Knowledge is power and the more you know about your habits the more you can regain control over them instead of them over you.

Make a plan to reach your goals. Without planning you can't determine a path to success. If you don't have the knowledge then hire a trainer for a short time to gain some understanding about how to be successful in the gym. If a trainer is not an option right now, then look in fitness magazines or on websites to get help with a plan. This time of year they are filled with info about how to start your training routines. They might work well for a while and it is a place to start. Just don't walk into a gym and expect it to all happen with a few sets on a machine or walk for a while on a treadmill. Make a plan and stick with it for at least 2 to 3 weeks until you can make exercise one of your healthy habits and see some success that will fuel your motivation to continue.

These are just a few ideas and helpful hints to make your resolutions successful and enjoy a healthier lifestyle in 2010.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

If your training is too ballistic, your rep speed is too fast and the explosiveness of the movement subjects the joints to a greater load than necessary. While explosive action is good for building muscle and strength, on occasion slow down the tempo and rep speed which will increase the load on the muscles being worked while decreasing the load on your joints. An alternate method is supersets which will overload muscles working them to exhaustion without being abusive to your joints. Supersets are a terrific way to overload muscles, especially when working isolation sets for a muscle and following it immediately with a compound set for the same muscle. Isolation exercises involve one joint for a movement and compound exercises utilize two or more joints and a greater variety of accessory muscles. For instance, use low incline dumbbell flyes followed by a bench press. Now neither exercise is to be done to complete failure. On the flyes use a weight you would reach failure at ten reps and stop at eight reps. Within 15 seconds begin your bench presses and utilize the accessory muscles, triceps and deltoids, to assist your already fatigued chest muscles to do more work for another 8 reps with a weight you would usually do 10 reps with. I promise you 8 reps will be challenge. There are several combinations of isolation/compound exercises to overload muscles and protect your joints.

When you do go heavy with your training try using volume training principles with heavier weights and give machines an opportunity to determine if they will work better for you than bench presses which can be abusive to shoulders and rotator cuffs. Some machines like the Hammer Incline Bench Press use a swing movement and it tends to feel better for some individuals than the regular bench. Whichever you use, choose a weight that your reach failure with at 6 reps but only do 2 to 3 reps. Rest 30 to 45 seconds and repeat the set. Continue doing this for 5 to 7 sets. If you need to reduce the weight during these sets drop about 10% when necessary. This way you can use a heavy weight and reduce some of the load on your joints.

Intense training tends to elevate both growth hormone levels and testosterone levels so train with intensity and get the rest and nutrition you need to promote growth from your workouts.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

Once every two weeks add this to your arm training. Use a tri-set for biceps consisting of incline dumbbell curls for ten reps with a weight that is not quite your maximum for those reps but close. You should feel a burn on the eighth rep and do two more. Move directly to a standing barbell curl with a curl bar using the outside grip on the bar. Do ten reps using a weight that is not quite your max for those ten reps. By this time you should be feeling a serious burn in your biceps. Now finish with a set of ten reps using a curl bar attached to a cable weight stack and use the inside grip on these. Finish with another ten reps. The first time you do this routine do two rounds of the three exercises. After that do three rounds of them.

For your triceps again you'll do three exercises in a sequence consisting of double dumbbell kickbacks, curl grip triceps pulldowns and regular triceps pressdowns. Take two dumbbells of a moderate weight and bend over until your upper torso is about parallel to the floor. Pull your elbows up to your sides until your upper arms are also parallel to the floor. Keeping your arms in that position extend your arm until it is straight back and fully extended contracting your triceps in both arms. Do ten reps. Move to the triceps pulldowns and grip a curl bar on the outside grip of the bar like you would if you were curling it. Pull the bar down to your sides and extend your arm until it is straight. These are like triceps pressdowns except you are pulling the bar with your triceps instead of pushing it. Do ten reps. Without changing anything but your hand position place your hands on the inside grip on top of the bar and do a set of ten triceps pressdowns. The first day you do these, do two sets each and after that do three sets of each.

For shoulders do a set of ten side laterals followed by ten seated dumbbell shoulders presses and ten dumbbell upright rows. Do two rounds of these on the first day you do them and three each time after. What these routines do is to focus on a specific muscle group and fatigue them, push them to change. If they are done well it creates an uncomfortable burn from the lactic acid during the sets but the rewards are in changes that can occur.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

Answer: Whatever workout schedule you have, you need to try to maintain it. Adjust your schedule whenever possible to get your training done when it is scheduled. If you have outside obligations on your training day then get in an abbreviated workout or change your time to still do a full session. You will save yourself a lot of guilt if you do. If missing a workout is absolutely unavoidable then do all you can to make it up within a day or so. This will keep you from losing the structure of your routine.

Before you go to a party or to a dinner you should have a light snack to prevent you from going into a situation hungry. Besides, you know theses functions rarely start on time which just makes you hungrier. If you go in hungry your normal safeties will not be engaged to prevent you from eating whatever you see and in large quantities. Then, the morning after you really feel like you completely blew it and can those emotions can direct you in one of two directions: get depressed about it and decide there's no reason to continue to fight it through the holidays. New Year's comes around and you make your resolution (again) and you will be even further behind in your quest to be a healthy hottie. Option two is to get back into your training immediately the following day to get the sludge out of your system and determine not to make that same mistake again.

Thanksgiving dinner is going to be a feast so choose your foods wisely. Eat larger quantities of of the healthiest foods available before you drool over the desserts. When you do have dessert have a modest portion, enough to satisfy but not too much. Sometimes foods or social situations trigger cravings. For some people having coffee requires more cake with each cup or sitting around talking requires more food. If you know grandma's chocolate cake is going to send you into a feeding frenzy eating larger portions then cut a slice and take it home where you won't have access to more. One final suggestion, don't eat dessert first.

Enjoy your family and friends during the holidays but focus on the time and relationships you have with them not your relationships with the food. Start new traditions like a walk in the brisk autumn air after eating or lending a helping hand to the host to get the place cleaned up instead of sitting around wondering what else you can eat. Be active instead of sedentary and play with the kids if you are lucky enough to have them around. For large functions where several people will be bringing food, plan healthy options instead of four different varieties of potatoes or stuffing. Look for tasty ways to prepare traditional dishes without the extra calories. Get other members of your party involved to get them healthy with you. Limit alcohol and avoid drinking on an empty stomach. Hopefully you can use these tips to stay with your game plan and if you have others send them to me.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

Answer: In the near future, exercise is going to be recognized as one of the major factors in prevention of diseases associated with aging and carrying excess body fat. Susan Steinbaum,MD, the spokeswoman for the American Heart Association flatly said, "You have to exercise. It's now an established fact and if you don't incorporate it into your lifestyle you're going to see the effects. You will get sicker sooner. Exercise is the most potent medicine around." After a lengthy study the American Heart Association and Social Security Administration came to the conclusion that exercise kept people younger. People who exercise were younger biologically than they were chronologically which means people who exercised and were eating healthier may have been on the planet 50 years but their bodies were like those 10 to 15 years younger. The study clearly pointed out that the effects of smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and poor food choices quickly robbed an individual of their capacity for work by eroding their aerobic capacity. In the average person this erosion occurs at a consistent curve until about 45 years old then the rate of loss of aerobic capacity nearly doubles in both men and women except in those who exercised.

Exercise changes the rate of the aerobic loss curve greatly and the rate of loss does not double at 45 but remains at that reduced rate of loss if the individual is exercising and healthy. Whenever you begin to exercise and change to a healthier lifestyle our bodies begin to reap the benefits immediately. Within one or two workouts you begin to feel stronger and better other than the initial muscle soreness. Every workout begins to undo some of the damage done by a sedentary lifestyle, smoking and poor eating habits. The reason Social Security was involved in this study is that if people age more quickly due to an unhealthy lifestyle they tend to get sick or disabled earlier adding people to an already overextended system.

If you tend to get side tracked easily and quit exercising because you just can't find the time or really just don't feel like eating the grilled chicken instead of the fried chicken with mashed potatoes get accountability with a trainer or an organization like Weight Watchers which will do all they can to keep you on track. If you don't think you need help, then make an excuse list and keep it handy at the refrigerator every time you decide to eat something unhealthy or break your workout rules. It could be like," I had a bowl of ice cream - I was bored and the commercial on television made me hungry." Hold yourself accountable and set higher standards for yourself. You can make definite changes in your health with small changes to your lifestyle and reap the benefits as you age more slowly.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

If you want to do it with only one break in the set choose a weight that is 30% to 40% of your best weight for 10 reps. Do 50 to 70 reps, rest 30 to 40 seconds and continue for another 30 to 40 reps. Power 100's involve using a weight that is 40% to 50% of your 10 rep max. Do 10 reps, rest 10 seconds and repeat until you have completed your 100 reps. 10 sets of 10 are a common method using 50% to 60% of your 10 reps max. Do 10 reps, rest 30 seconds and repeat that pattern until you complete 10 sets. Ladder or buddy sets involve timing or a partner. These also use a weight that is around 50% of your 10 rep max. Do one rep, rest the amount of time it took for you complete that rep and do two reps. Rest for the time it took to do the two reps, then do three reps and repeat the pattern until you reach 10 reps. Then go back down the ladder from 9 reps to 1 rep using the same rest/work pattern.

Some of the exercises used for 100 reps sets are for legs: squats, leg curls leg press and leg extensions. Back can be done with rows and pulldowns. Chest does well with bench press or incline dumbbells presses and even dumbbell flyes. Shoulders get murdered with overhead presses of any kind or dumbbell side laterals. Calves burn like they are ripping off the bone with either standing calf raises or the seated variety. Biceps get fried with curls of both the dumbbell and barbell variety. Finally triceps get a deep workout from skullcrushers, pressdowns or dips. You can even do supersets of 100 reps with opposing muscle groups like barbell rows and bench presses. Just alternate the exercises using one exercise as the rest period for the opposite exercise.

100 reps training workout and exercises are not for the beginner. Most just don't have the muscle endurance, mental pain capacity and recovery ability to utilize these without extreme soreness. As you progress with your training you can work them into your workouts effectively.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

How much weight you put on will be determined by your will to find a working solution and stick to it. The first step to achieving this growth is to train intensely. It's not how long you are in the gym it's how hard you train while you are there. Get in there, do the work and get out. Showing up day after day is the next step. Being consistent means to be there 4 or 5 days a week mentally prepared to train hard. Now the actual growth occurs while you are sleeping but it can't occur unless you are well fueled. You will need at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight to begin this growth. 1.2 to 1.5 grams would be even better. Carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta are another necessary part of the program. The carbs fuel the machine. How many carbs you need can also be determined by your weight and a good rule of thumb is to eat twice as many carbs as you do protein. 2 to 2.5 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight. Considering your muscles are mostly water and being dehydrates by 2% to 3% can affect your strength by as much as 10%, your water intake should be 96 to 128 ounces of water or approximately one ounce per pound of lean body mass. Your LBM can be determined by a body fat test. Sleep is the final factor. Get the standard 8 hours of sleep each night. It's during sleep that your body repairs itself and strengthens itself to be able to adapt to the continually increasing resistance training.

To recap: be disciplined, train intensely, train consistently, place as much importance in the quality of food as the quantity but both are necessary, drink water, your muscles are 68% water and sleep but not during class.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

A good spotter on the bench press will give you a "lift off" as you remove the weight from the rack and keep his hands in place until you are secure and ready to begin your reps. During high intensity training he should keep his hands in an area between the bar and your chest, not necessarily touching the bar but close. Once the bar speed begins to decrease, he should begin to apply pressure to keep the rep speed constant. By doing this he will prevent you from stalling on the rep, using accessory muscles to try to complete the lift or changing body position and form to finish the rep. Keeping the rep speed constant also makes his job easier since you are still doing the vast majority of the work.

When using dumbbells a good spotter should support from the elbows and keep the rep speed constant from there unless you appear to have the potential for the dumbbell to lose control and fall back towards the body. In those instances, support the lift from the wrist. For heavy squats, the spotter should position himself behind the lifter in a synchronized movement with the person squatting supporting along the outer pecs and shoulders when the upward movement slows as well. A really good spotter also know where your stall point is to insure that you don't get stuck there.

Good training partners sharpen each other and are aware of the other's strengths and weakness to help each other to maximize their potential keeping each other safe during potentially dangerous lifts.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

Research has shown that beginning your cardio at a higher level of intensity by raising your treadmill up to maximum incline then lowering the incline as needed during the duration of your workout burns a higher amount of calories than beginning at a low level and increasing the intensity as you go. The combination of weights followed by cardio seems to affect the metabolic rate by increasing it slightly over a period of time after you have completed your training. How much it is affected and for how long continues to be debated but the change does occur.

If you are short on time, combine up to five exercises, covering several body parts, into a sequence. Follow those five exercises with an intense 2 minute bout of cardio. Repeat that for three rounds. Combine another five exercises and intense cardio for another 3 rounds and you can successfully get out of the gym in a shorter span of time.

If you are really short on time and have the drive you can set up a 20 minute cycle of three to four exercises using exercises that are multi-joint and really maximize your time. This is an intense workout but it gets results.

Get a head start on your new body before the new year.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

If your food is dead on, then one other thing you can is to cycle, or yo-yo your carbohydrates. It sounds too simple but it works. Bodybuilders have used this technique for years to melt fat off. Determine your daily carbohydrates from what you have written down. This is your baseline and for your weight and age, 135 pounds and 29 years old, you should eat between 120 to 150 grams of carbohydrates a day and most of these should be high fiber, low-glycemic index crabs. Some can be from oatmeal and whole wheat products but most should be vegetables and some fruit. Your protein can fluctuate between .7 grams and 1 gram for every pound of body weight. Fats make up the remaining 15 to 20% of your total daily calorie consumption. That is how your carbohydrate loading day breaks down.

Now, reduce your carbs for two days. Drop your carbs down to 60 to 70 grams a day basically cutting them in half. You have to consider that you cut 240 to 280 calories out a day by reducing your carbs. These calories need to be replaced by increasing both your protein and healthy fats. Your macro-nutrient ratio changes from 40% carbs/ 40% protein/ 20% fats to 20% carbs/ 45% protein 35% fats. You can replace the carbs with protein gram per gram because they both produce 4 calories per gram while fats contain 9 calories per gram. To increase fats you can use raw almonds, walnut or even pecans or leave extra egg yolks in your egg whites. To add protein calories whip up a protein shake to help make up the caloric difference. You still eat between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. You will eliminate bread products and oatmeal for your low carb day and use more leafy green vegetables. Some of your carbs can come from dairy products as well.

What this does is to take you almost to ketosis, which occurs when your body uses fat for fuel instead of carbs because you have no stored carbs, glycogen, that is your regular source of energy. Usually you can reach a state of ketosis by the third day of low carbs when coupled with high intensity exercise. However, just as you approach ketosis, you restore carbohydrates back to your system which jump-starts your baseline metabolic rate. The process when repeated over a few weeks can make a dramatic difference in body fat especially when coupled with intense training. If you want to get ready for your winter wedding, lose some weight before the holiday feasts begin or just get a head start on your New Year's resolutions this is one great way to get results.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

You want the rep to go as deep as you can without allowing without allowing your hips to roll up off of the support. If your hips roll up very much you will get sore in your spinal erectors and medial gluteus. These are the muscles that surround your spine in your lower back. By dropping too deep they are forced to drive your back into the support to return your pelvis back to the proper lifting position to train your legs. Going too deep causes your spinal erectors and medial glutes tend to burn so much that you won't get much leg training done. Focus on keeping your back as flat as possible and pushing with your legs while doing the deeper reps. Continue to maintain this form as you increase the weight. Increasing your range can stimulate more muscle fibers in your legs. The slower reps reduce momentum and force your muscle to work harder. You may learn that you have to use a little less weight but the work will be more intense. As a final thought, when you reach your working weight, use the slower method for the first half of your set and on the last half of your reps, return to a quicker movement. The change in speed in the middle of the set is another way to shock your muscles into growth. These methods are uncomfortable so be mentally prepared for the shock.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl

If you prefer to check out early or live a medically complicated life then these are some ways to speed that process up...

Smoke. It doesn't matter how much you smoke or when you plan to quit, with each drag you are shortening your life by a few minutes and those minutes add up quickly to become years. If you do survive to reach a ripe old age, then you'll probably be the proud recipient of one of those little air tanks and a motorized chair because you won't be able to be get enough oxygen to walk around well.

Avoiding exercise is another way to age out quickly because these bodies weren't created to sit around. Being sedentary tends to amplify stressful conditions. The fight or flight trigger in our bodies is stifled because we are chained to our chairs behind computers. Granted, lots of jobs require physical inactivity so be active in other areas whenever you get the opportunity. Sedentary activities like Facebook, Twitter, the Internet, satellite television, inactive video games are all good tools for interaction but too much of them and not enough physical movement leads to weight gain and an inability to diffuse stress that affects our internal organs and systems. Exercise is also proven to be as effective as the current antidepressants on the market so it can help to change your outlook on life.

Another way you can decrease your lifespan and lifestyle potential is by consuming soft drinks and eating fast food on regular basis. These will clog your arteries and blow your blood sugar off the charts causing your pancreas and other organs to work overtime to deal with the pollutants and chemicals. Cooking meals with colorful fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and the social bonding that occurs around the family dinner table all go to benefit your health and extend your years. Replace the drinks with water which makes up a vast portion of our bodies. The soft drink companies tell us that they can quench your thirst but water is essential for proper filtration of the wastes in our bodies. Take it a step further and buy a filter which will remove many of the chemicals and metals that may be in your water and a filter is a lot cheaper than those plastic bottles polluting the planet.

Obesity is the number two cause of preventable death. Being overweight increases wear and tear on your joints and overworks your heart and other organs. Additionally, it can often lead to a depressed state which along with a pessimistic outlook are two other factors to shorten your lifespan.

Exercise is often prescribed as an antidepressant and is as effective as the current crop of pharmaceuticals on the market. These are only a few of the things that will make your biological age greater than your chronological age. Being healthy reverses the two. Exercising and eating clean can make a 50 year old person 10 to 20 years younger biologically and it really doesn't require a Spartan effort. Make some changes and extend your life.

God bless and keep training,
Daryl