Rog Law Fitness

     When Michael Boyle took to the stage, his message was simple: want to reduce ACL injuries? All you need to do is commit yourself to a sound training program because in the end, that’s all ACL reduction is – good training. All presenters touched on the fact that training in itself is great from a corrective exercise standpoint, and Mike’s talk just hammered the point home even further. To take the words from his mouth, ACL injury “prevention” programs often consist more of packaging than new concepts, and is a way into the head of the AT, PT or female coach.

     While its true that females are at a greater risk of injuring their ACL, it is by no means a gender specific injury. Out of 100,000+ ACL tears every year, 30,000 of them are experienced by high school age females. Since changing an athletes gender isn’t going to do diddly hoo ha in terms in injury prevention, the only sensible thing to do is focus on the one thing that is in your control – good training strategies to reduce the likelihood of injury.

 ACL Injury Reduction Strategies

• Active Warm-Up

• Power & Stability/Eccentric Strength (Landing Skills)

• Strength Development – 1 Leg

• Change of Direction Concepts

• Change of Direction Conditioning

• Nutrition

      Mike made a point to mention that you can’t just pick one of these strategies and hope to reap the benefits – you must incorporate them all. Since he does a better job than I ever could of explaining his logic behind these steps, be sure to check out some of his products here.

An example of single leg strength.

     Having been privileged enough to work with Eric and the rest of the Cressey Performance crew as an intern for 3 months last year, a lot of his presentation was a welcome refresher to what goes on at their facility on a daily basis. With that said, I was also able take away a host of new coaching cues as well as a better understand of the sweet science behind medicine ball programming.

            Eric kicked off his presentation by highlighting which populations could benefit from including medicine balls into their overall training program, which included rotational sport athletes, unicorns, The Hulk, and wacky wavy inflatable men. While the inclusion of this type of training can be extremely beneficial for the aforementioned rotational athletes, the point that I’m trying to make here is that almost everyone has something to gain from tossing a heavy rubber ball around, especially the general fitness population.

            As a trainer, keeping things interesting for your clients while at the same time keeping them healthy and moving towards their goals is essential, and the medicine ball helps accomplish all of these goals. Looking for a low impact alternative to include in your fat loss training? Give a medicine ball medley at the end of your session a try. Could I interest you in a fun and exciting way to improve your mobility while simultaneously releasing the ever-growing rage that has been festering in your soul? Find a non jagged wall (preferably not in your home), a ball and go nuts. Eric highlighted many of the areas that can be improved upon by implementing a soundly designed medicine ball session into your day, including ankle, hip and thoracic spine mobility as well as scapular, glenohumeral, and core stability – all of which everyone should be concerned with.

In dire need of core stability!

            Now, for rotational sport athletes such baseball pitchers, the when and how often to incorporate medicine ball works depends on several variables, one of which is the time of year (I.E. – early off-season, mid off-season, late off-season, and in-season). For instance, Eric conveyed that during the early off-season, the total volume of throws is kept between 120 and 160 spread over 2 or 3 sessions, but during the mid off-season when it’s time to get down to business that number increases anywhere from 240 to 360 throws before tapering off again in the late off-season.

            The most interesting “bwahahaha” moment that I took away from his presentation was the concept of using medicine ball work as a means to bridge the gap between absolute speed and absolute strength. Eric used himself as an example – his sport is power lifting in which he has spent his time on mainly on the maximal strength side of the spectrum, but if he wanted to try and transition to being a professional pitcher, he knows that he would have to start moving towards the speed side of things. Well, that and throwing a lot of balls. For pitchers, who usually spend all their time on the absolute speed end, Eric did a fantastic job of showing how incorporating medicine ball training into their program can serve as an efficient bridge in terms of reaping the benefits of not only being fast, but fast and strong.

            Eric’s presentation was very video heavy, so sadly this is one of those “you would’ve had to have been there” sort of things. For those of you who missed out, be sure to check out his website (especially this article) as well as his Youtube page for medicine ball videos. I didn’t dub him the Magnificent Massachusetts Medicine Ball Magician for nothing!

Greetings and salutations, my faithful readers! On Saturday, thanks to the graciousness of Kevin Larrabee of The Fitcast fame, I was able to attend Michael Boyle’s 4^th annual winter seminar. Having attended last years, I can honestly say that this was a major step up in terms of both presentation, location, and general atmosphere. Every day this week I will share with you what I took away from one of the presenters at this years seminar.

Brijesh Patel – It’s Not All About The Sets and Reps

In the fitness industry people tend to be head over heels obsessed with manipulating program variables; drop sets, pyramid sets, Chinese triad triplification macrocycles. You name it, there is someone out there who swears by it. However, Brijesh’s argued in his presentation that in order for an athlete to maximize his or her potential, they must not only develop their body, but the mindset that plays a critical role in creating it as well. Think about it this way: would you rather have a client who is determined to be the best that can be despite having the worst training program known to man, or one who has access to the best training program and facility in the world but who gives you half-donkey effort at all times? Simply put, it is not enough to have one or the other – both must be trained in conjunction in order to take advantage of the synergistic relationship of mind and body.

As head strength and conditioning coach at Quinnipiac University, Brijesh constantly strives to get the best out of his athletes, and he was kind enough to share with us the tools that he uses to accomplish this task:

• Goal setting is imperative, whether it is individual, team oriented, or a combination of both.
• Clearly defined rules and expectations must spearhead the development of the mind.
• Mental toughness must be developed by taking your athletes and clients outside of their comfort zones (Brijesh shared a story about forcing his men’s basketball team to practice with country music blaring over the speakers as one example).
• Accountability for themselves as individual athletes and for the action of the team as a whole – I.E. infractions against one athlete are taken out on the entire team. For instance, every infraction equals 5 burpees for the entire team.
• Hold everyone to a higher standard – “Give a dog a good name and watch what happens!”

He also showed video clips of how he had his athletes compete against one another using a variety of circuits, with one example being a sled push circuit with the seniors being pitted against the freshmen, with another being a simple push up competition. Outside of different training modalities that can be used to develop mental toughness, my biggest “ah ha” moment was that mental toughness, like any other skill, can be developed with enough time and effort dedicated towards its pursuit. To highlight this point even further, Brijesh highlighted the fact that the military uses these same strategies to transform a group of diverse individuals into one cohesive, mentally fortified unit, and while the different protocols used in the military can’t be used in a coaching or training setting, the same principles can be applied successfully.

Today’s guest post comes from the god father of the strength and conditioning field, Michael Boyle. Having seen him speak at seminars, I enjoy his ability to take complex subject matter and break it down in such a way that everyone can take something away from it. If nothing else, he also encourages you to think about a topic in a different light. This post from his blog falls into that latter category.

Most People are Dead at 35
By Michael Boyle

A few years ago I listened to a Paul Chek nutrition CD and Chek used the following quote from a nutritionist.

“Most people are dead at thirty-five, they just walk around for another thirty to forty more years.”

The quote was intended to apply to most adults from a nutritional standpoint. I find the point both amusing and accurate from a physical standpoint also. By thirty-five most of the damage is done and without an intensive program of exercise, the damage is difficult to reverse.

The truth is that quality of life begins to deteriorate after thirty for many people due to lack of exercise. Activities that were once simple and normal become increasingly difficult. The sad part is that the deterioration doesn’t become readily apparent until the fifties or sixties and at this point, it gets much harder to change. The baby boomers are fueling the personal training business in an attempt to improve not only the length of their life but the quality. However, the time to fight back is right now. Don’t wait until you are fifty and try to undo 20 years of damage. One of my favorite quotes is

“the best time to plant a tree was three years ago. The next best time is today”.

Don’t wait another day to begin an exercise program, start today.

The truth is that obesity, neck pain, back pain, and so many of the debilitating conditions that we suffer from in adulthood are entirely preventable but, the earlier we start the better. Don’t make excuses. You only need about 30 minutes three days a week. Try to get 5 minutes of warm-up, 10 minutes of total body strength training and 15 minutes of cardiovascular work.

The bottom line. Don’t walk around in a dying body. We would never treat our cars the way we treat our bodies. Imagine never changing the oil, using the cheapest possible gas, and driving until the tires are bald. Unfortunately this is the way we treat our bodies. The only problem is that we can’t buy a new body after we ruin the old one. The damage may be irreversible. If the damage is reversible, we need to reverse it with exercise instead of with drugs. Exercise is the most powerful wellness drug on the planet. It’s just difficult to take. Try taking a good dose of exercise three times a week and you might be able to throw away the Lipitor and the blood pressure medicine and all the other junk.

http://mboyle1959.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/most-people-are-dead-at-35/

Also, be sure to check out the great resource of strength and conditioning information that Mike has put together over at http://strengthcoach.com/

I was at a gathering last weekend and I ran into an acquaintance of mine who I hadn’t seen since I graduated from high school. We briefly caught up, finding out what the other had been up to since back in the day, so I let her know that I was actually a personal trainer now. After a series of unimpressed Carl Winslowian glances, we part ways for what I presume will be the last time.

Then, suddenly, it happened…

Its dinner time. I’m at the food table, loading up my plate with copious amounts of meat and fruit, when I notice out the corner of my eye the most precious looking piece of cake I have ever seen. As a fan of all things precious (shout out to Gollum), I consider it not only my right but my duty to devour said piece of cake with reckless abandon. As I load heaven on Earth onto my plate and prepare for action, I hear a familiar voice from behind me, filled with much admonishment, and I know that I’m about to get a tongue lashing of epic proportions.

“Cake?! Is that cake?! As a personal trainer I thought you would know better than to eat that.”

By the look of sheer horror on her face, you would have thought that I rappelled into her home, kidnapped her dog, and strategically hid raw meat all over the house. At this point I viewed her as an obstacle between me and my grub, so the only reply that I was able to muster was that one had to simply live their life; then I peaced out, leaving her to struggle under the gravity of such a profound statement.

It always amazes me how much you can tell about where a person is coming from by hearing statements like this. From what I gathered, I got a feeling that she was under the impression that in order to get and stay lean there are certain foods that you can never eat again. Having been in the same position as for several years, I can certainly relate. I went from the Abs diet to the Atkins diet to pretty much bathing myself in fat on the anabolic diet wondering why I couldn’t defeat the chub monster in mortal kombat…all while eating entire packs of chicken thighs every day. Let me say this loud and clear as to hopefully save at least one person from the pain and frustration that senselessly spinning ones wheels can cause: in the pursuit of the kind of body that you desire, no foods are off limits.

I think this point needs to be hammered home again and again until it sticks because a lot of people fail in achieving their fat loss or muscle gaining goals due to the fact that they’re stuck in this good vs bad food dichotomy and end up binging on foods that they’ve attached this mythical, grail-like status to. Luckily for us, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want some of the best advice you’ll ever receive on fat loss, look no further than Jay’s sage wisdom to Steve Carell in The 40 Year Old Virgin – don’t put the food on a pedestal. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t food he was talking about, but the point remains just as valid.

After such a severe restriction of the foods that one loves, there tends to be a huge rebound (gorge-o-mania if you will) and then feelings of weakness and discontent rear their ugly heads, only prolonging the situation. How many of you out there have turned a cheat meal into a cheat day, week, month or even year? Maybe it’s just me then! By drop kicking the pedestal that you’ve put all of your favorite foods on, you’re one step closer to gaining the psychological edge in the fat loss battle. You certainly can have the foods you love as long as you stick to the following stipulations – they are both infrequent (I.E. once a week, month, etc) and portion size is controlled. Take me for instance: I love Cinnabons. Heck, I might even fight a silverback gorilla or 1990s Mike Tyson if there is a box of them waiting for me on the other side of defeat. So, every other weekend after my Saturday training session, I stand in line to acquire my large, guilt free Cinnabon and I am no less lean because of it.

I am by no means suggesting that you substitute your standard food staples for delicious treats; rather I am saying that you should include them into your overall plan. Yes, you should get your necessary amounts of protein, essential fatty acids, fruits and veggies, but after that anything else is simply discretionary calories. If you are training and creating a caloric deficit via movement, diet or both, then success is eminent, even if you have cake while doing so.

I haven’t been into the gym in almost two months. I seem to have an irrational fear of going back. I have gained back a little weight since i was going regularly and I keep thinking about how I was once a regular and how everyone who knew me (from my frequency) would only notice my lack of attendance and my weight gain and it’s kind of scary, yet I know it shouldn’t matter at all! Any tips on overcoming stupid psychological blocks? Have you ever had any problems with consistency yourself?

First of all, thank you for stopping by and dropping a great question on me.

You’re certainly right when you say that it shouldn’t matter at all! The first thing that you should do is stop being so down on yourself and simply ease your way back into a regular training routine. For whatever reason, life gets in the way and we find ourselves drawn away from the gym for more time than we’d like it. When I first started lifting, I had a big problem with consistency. I’d train for like a week and think I was the baddest man on the planet and take 3 weeks off and achieve absolutely nothing. Once it clicked in my big head that consistency was the key to my results, that problem took care of itself. It happens to the best of us, so don’t dwell on it and get back in there with a vengeance!

The second thing that will help you get back into the swing of things is simply changing your mindset. I’m not sure where I heard this quote at, but it definitely rings true in all cases – when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change as well. Instead of feeling and worse and worse the more time you spend away from the gym, try and put a positive spin on it to get your mind right. You’ve been out for 2 months? Well then, you’re raring and ready to go, so there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t go in there and tear sh*t up! Of course after being gone so long you shouldn’t try and pick up where you left off as that may increase the likelihood of injury, but mentally and physically you are rested and are capable of great gains, so take advantage of them.

The easiest way to solve your problem is to stop thinking about getting in the gym and just get back in there, even if it’s just to do some cardio at first. By just being in that atmosphere again, it will remind you of your past success and will motivate you to get back on the horse and ride into the sunset of awesomeness. I remember when I took an extended break from the gym, to the tune of about a month, and upon my return I most definitely caught some lip from the regular crew, but I just laughed it off and got back to the business at hand. Some flak is expected, so just take it in stride and if anything use it to light the fire under your butt cheeks and light some heavy weight!

The time you lost is already gone, so to continuing to reflect on it and using it as an excuse to extend your gym break helps the situation 0.0%. Think 2 months into the future – the time will pass regardless of what you do with it, so wouldn’t you rather get back into the gym now and cut your losses instead of racking up 4 total months of inactivity?

Hope that helped!

- Rog

I came across a fantastic post on Charles Poliquin’s site that I felt a strong need to share with as many people as I could.

The Myth of Discipline

by Charles Poliquin

There is no such thing as discipline. There is only love. Love is the most powerful creative force in the universe. You are the result of what you love most. You either love finely etched muscular abs more than donuts or you love donuts more than wash board abs you could do your laundry on. It is as simple as that. Don’t beat yourself up that you have no discipline or further drown yourself in a sea of refined carbs. Admit that you like crappy food more than you love strength. Or ask yourself this, what do you really love? Self-esteem is the reflection of self-judgment. One of the best ways to raise self-esteem is to make truly loving choices that lead to increased strength of body and mind. For example, if you truly love yourself in the gym, you choose the full squat with chains over the leg extension machine. At the restaurant, if you truly love yourself, you pass on the heavenly smelling basket of bread and creamy butter, and ask for some more limes for the water. Limes alkalize your body which in turn helps your bones, muscles and your ability to deal with stress.

When you are faced with difficult choices, ask yourself, in context of course, what would a loving expert recommend? For example, when working chest, would a loving strength coach recommend the pec deck, or full range dumbbell presses. When choosing desserts, would the loving nutritionist recommend a bowl of berries or the triple decker brownie submerged under melting vanilla ice cream.

How to free yourself from the outdated concept of discipline:

1. Accept that all your choices are reflections of what you truly love.
2. Love is the greatest creative force of the Universe. Use it wisely.
3. Choose to love yourself more than external things.
4. Treating yourself well accelerates the growth of your self-esteem.
5. When people comment on your results and say things like “Wow you have a lot disciple” answer “No, I just make loving choices for myself”. Reinforcing your own positive behavior will help you grow in strength.
6. What you appreciate appreciates. Whenever you make a truly loving choice, say to yourself ‘Thank you for taking care of me in a loving way”. The more you talk to yourself like a loving parent, the faster you will grow. Let’s say, for example, you just did a single on the squat with a load you didn’t feel like doing. Say: “Wow! I am impressed with your strength of mind, that’s why you are a champion”. By documenting and rewarding your successes, they will grow in magnitude and frequency. Whenever I meet a goal, I reward myself with positive things like a vacation or a new piece of equipment. When I get something better, I make the choice of giving away the old piece to someone who will appreciate it. Living a clutter free life allows for more growth.
7. The more you believe in yourself, the more objectively you will be able to take the advice of authority figures.
8. “Use your faults” was French singer Edith Piaf’s motto. I don’t like to stretch athletes. It is too time consuming and requires too much energy. Using that fault, I developed the Poliquin Instant Muscle Strengthening Technique (P.I.M.S.T.),  which is a system that uses a myriad of body work techniques such as acupressure points that instantly give increases in flexibility. No wonder it’s always the fastest selling course we offer in the PICP!

There is an old Hindhu saying: “The World is as we are”. Are you tired of seeing the condition of the world around you? Start by changing yourself- be the change you want to see in the world.

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article.aspx?ID=161

Now that I have your attention.

I have a few things that I want to share with you all, so set your optical sensors to intake mode.

1) With the start of a new year fast upon us, many people are looking forward to getting busy with their obligatory “get in shape” resolutions. To that end, I want to help provide some focus. I will be giving away 2 copies of Eric Cressey’s Maximum Strength and Cassandra Forsythe’s New Rules of Lifting for Women.

There are two ways that you can win a copy:

A) Share your fitness related new years resolution(s) and how you plan on achieving them. I would prefer if this were done in the comment section, but if you’d like to do it via facebook message or email (roger@roglawfitness.com), that’s fine too.

And the end of the contest, I will pick 2 winners.

B) Reach out to your family and friends and get them to join my facebook fan page. Keep track of who you recruited and who joined and send that list of names to me via email, or simply have them shoot me a message/wall post when they join saying who referred them.

As much as I hate to admit it, I spend a lot of time on the internet. Much more time than I will ever admit to myself. So, as a frequent e-roamer, it always brings a smile to my face when I can find a new, fun website to add to my daily rotation. Enter Yum Yucky and the picture that started it all:

After seeing this awesome photo of food domination, my interest was piqued – I had to find out more! Luckily for you, I’ve decided to open the vault and share the interview that I did with Josie Maurer of Yum Yucky fame. Prepare to be rocked.

Rog Law: So Josie, could you tell my readers a little bit about yourself, what got you so interested in food, and how you got to where you are today?

Josie Maurer: Ahhh, my lovely food. I’m eating a sammich right now as I type this. I’ve always been a hungry woman. I used to eat whole pizzas by myself back in Junior High, but it never mattered until I started eating that daily bag of Cheetoes from the snack shop when I was 27. I packed on about 10 pounds that year and rose to 145 pounds.

From there on out the pounds just kept packing, especially after the 3rd child. I used pregnancy as a free pass to grub on whatever – fried shrimp, 16 ounce steaks, endless Chinese food, sodas (ick!) – all great famous crap. It was fun, but it turned me lazy and lethargic. I felt real ugly too.

So I started exercising (my highest weight was 182), but I still didn’t change my eating habits too much. I loved food and consider it my reward for working out, yet food intimidated me at the same time. It tried to boss me around and insist I couldn’t say “no” to it.

Then I got tired of the bossing. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I decided to take control with a lighthearted approach to food. Joking about food and being silly. Teasing myself about being greedy – it took the fear out of it.

I don’t know if this really makes any sense, but that’s how it went for me.

As for Yum Yucky. It took the same turn. It started out as a serious blog back in January 2009 that was supposed to help educate people about food and fitness through what I learned, but my ridiculous side came out and now the blog is silly fun too. Much better that way.

As for that sammich I just ate. It was nasty. But I ate the whole thing anyway. Why? I have no idea. So you see, I still have issues. And I tend to make them public on the blog and not pretend to be perfect.

The Yum Yucky motto is, “Find Balance Between Fitness and Your Greedy Side”. I’ll never have perfect balance (will any of us?), but I’ll always keep improving.

RL: That’s an interesting way of attacking the situation, and it highlights a great point that a lot of people miss: you don’t have to be perfect to have a dope body and a healthy relationship with food. Was there a “defining moment” that made you turn things around?

JM: My “defining moment” was paving by me looking in the mirror, knowing I’m pushing the next size up, but convincing myself I didn’t look that bad. My family white-lied to me and said I looked great, but after I lost all the weight, they admitted to patronizing me.

Then the moment came with a few cruel pics of me on Memorial Day in 2006. Horrific (to me anyway). Fat hanging over pants. Face bloated. Thighs thickened. (and my hair was a hot mess too).

Pictures tell a more accurate story than looking in the mirror.

RL: Despite having to wear the different hats of a mom, wife and entrepreneur, it looks like you do a good job of balancing between fitness and your greedy side. Do you have any tips for those who swear up and down that they just don’t have time to get started?

JM: I am a big believer in:

1) Staying Organized. It’s so important with my wacky house of 4 kids and a goofy husband. If I’m not organized, everything is out of whack, including laundry, dinner, a clean home, and my “me time” suffers. If I’m trying to do damage control due to lack of organization, there’s no time for exercise and I’m stressed. It’s a downward spiral, so I do my best to avoid lack of organization. It requires diligence and the surgical removal of the lazy bone.

2) You have to want it. There’s nothing worse than being wishy-washy. I used to be that way, but I got to a point where I was sick and tired of a squishy body, large clothes, stomach hanging over my pants, lack of energy, inability to run and play with my kids. It was a whole laundry list. I lived like that before I had that defining moment I spoke of.

3) Don’t blame others. Namely, my husband. There was a lot of eye rolling going on (on my part) because he supposedly was not helping me create an easy atmosphere for getting in shape. But that’s a bunch of crap. Which goes back to #2. When you want it, you find a way. There are no obstacles.

I don’t blame lack of time, because I get up earlier.

I don’t blame my job, because I workout during lunch.

I don’t blame my kids, because I incorporate them into the workouts if they’re bothering me. (yes, my kids get on my nerves sometimes. that’s the truth)

I don’t blame not having a gym membership because I get creative, like going outdoors and running hills, jumping rope, using free weights, plyometrics.

Lately my time has been severely crunched. I admit my workouts have been a bit sporadic, but I make it up by eating right 90% of the time. But this is just a cycle. The workouts will amp up again and become more frequent. I just don’t freak out when they’re not. It’s counterproductive and causes me to stress, which leads to a disorganized mind. And then I’d have to revisit point #1 again!

RL: How does the Yum Yucky clan feel about your website madness? How do you get them involved with everything (I.E. the food & exercise)?

JM: When I first decided on the blog, I went ’round the house saying, “YumYucky.com! YuckyYucky.com!” like all day long. I got weird looks. They thought I was insane. They thought the name was stupid. But I went on and launched it anyway.

The family has been involved from the very beginning and still are today as the Taste Test Crew. But cooperation is semi-forced when I’m testing out healthy foods.

My 16-year-old (Greedy Kid #1) is also the Grocery Girl food model, but she started complaining about posing with food at the store (even though I pay her to do it). She barely comes shopping with me anymore. I do wonder if store security will ever try to stop me from taking pictures in the aisle.

As for exercise. It’s pretty much solo. Unless I’m using Baby as a human weight. I tend to do that.

RL: Alright, now that we got all these joke questions out of the way, its time to get down to some serious bidness. When I say these words, tell me the first think you think of.

Banana:

Gumby:

Pancake:

Chuck-E-Cheese:

Diapers:

Hyperbolic Time Chamber:

Cake:

Hedgehog:

Barney:

Cinnabon:

JM: Banana: ….nut muffins, with no nuts.

Gumby: Slanted brain

Pancake: …with sausage.

Chuck-E-Cheese: never EVER again…

Diapers: Poopermint Patties.

Hyperbolic Time Chamber: Huh?

Cake: Extra large slices….

Hedgehog: Scary dirt digger

Barney: Rubble

Cinnabon: Cheap thrill

RL: And there you have it, folks! Any final chicken nuggets of wisdom that you would like to pass on to billions of potential readers out there?

JM: “Chicken nuggets” and “wisdom” in the same sentence is illegal in all 75 states. It just doesn’t go together.

AND this: I don’t strive for perfection. That’s way too much pressure. I do what works for me, which may be totally opposite or a minor spin on the experts say I should do. I listen to my body and take it’s cues.

For example, the standard recommended 8 cups of water per day (64 ounces) doesn’t work for me. It’s too dang much. I tried it do this. Many, many times. It interfered with my life. You get the picture? So I listened to my body and adjusted.

I don’t want to be a slave to health and fitness. I tried that too and it was a boring chore. My goal is to find ways to live healthy and fit (and be a little greedy) in a way that’s fun. This still takes discipline, but if I’m having fun by eating foods that I enjoy and exercising in a way thats right for me instead of taking a cookie cutter approach, I’m more apt to succeed. And I am.

Weight: 205.6

This was after a major refeed filled with copious amounts of cake, cookies and beef on Saturday. Goes to show you don’t have to go all Leonidus on your diet 100% of the time to continue having great results. Eat food, live life!