The Mind Over Body Matter Letter

As we’ve discussed in prior engagements, the mind only truly reacts to either intense pleasure or intense pain. Feeling one of these two emotions will get you to make a change in your life instantly.

Think about it, are you in a “comfort zone”? Have you though about making some changes but life is too comfortable right now?

We see it in many instances but the most prevalent, I think, revolve around relationships and personal growth. How many people do you know that are in stale relationships but won’t move on because of the comfort level? How many have talked about new business ventures or making more money only to stave off because of the comfortable life they have at the moment.

Remember, growth only occurs when our mental boundaries expand. If something you haven’t done makes you a little uncomfortable (not scares the heck out of you), just think about the positive impact on life the new thing brings to you. Try to push yourself each day. Try to conquer, yes conquer, something new everyday.

The easiest way to accomplish this is through visualization.

What are some of your personal hot buttons? What is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you?

Let’s suppose that being “a loser” is high on your totem pole of worst possible things. If you want to lose weight, just say to yourself when you need an extra push, “Only LOSERS are overweight. I am not a loser; therefore, I’ll go to the gym today.”

Of course, this represents a generic example. Other examples could be instances where you’ve seen something very disturbing (like a ruined heart on TV). You can then use that to “influence” you. You obviously don’t want your heart to look like that, do you?

You can also use positive experiences to help.

Suppose you were in the best shape of your life in college and there was one particular spring break trip that you remember vividly. Let’s just say you had a “great time.” If you are looking to get back into that type of shape, just continually reflect on that particular time of your life whenever your motivation subsides.

These examples are completely fabricated but you can definitely understand where I’m coming from.

The “Comfort Zone” may be the worst place to be. Some may argue, in the case of personal growth, that rock bottom may be a better place. The pain that a person can feel when they are this low will push many people to go places they’ve never dreamed, simply because now they feel like they have nothing to lose.

In order to break out of your “Comfort Zone” and see some meaningful changes, employ the pleasure-pain technique. If the pleasure or pain you associate with the situation is great enough – the results are only a thought away.

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35 Pieces of Interesting Training Trivia to Make You The Life of the Party

By Nick Nilsson

Impress your friends! Impress your family! These unique
training tidbits will improve your training, health and
nutrition knowledge instantly!

1. Fit people tend to sweat more and sooner than unfit people. Their bodies are more efficient at cooling.

2. When people start training as a result of a New Year’s Resolution, 60% have quit by Valentine’s Day.

3. If your workout clothes smell like ammonia after a workout, you’re burning a lot of protein for fuel. Ammonia is a byproduct of protein metabolism. This is not a good thing, as burning protein means you may be burning your muscle tissue for energy instead of carbohydrates or bodyfat.

4. Men tend to overestimate their strength while women tend to underestimate their strength.

5. To determine if your scale is correct, set a dumbell or a weight plate on it. If the numbers don’t match, try another weight and see if it’s off by the same amount. Adjust your scale accordingly.

6. Sometimes a barbell exercise causes pain while the dumbell version doesn’t. This occurs most often with the bench press and the shoulder press. Dumbell don’t lock your joints into a certain pattern of movement.

7. There is no evidence to support the argument that machines are safer than free weights, according to studies.

8. More bodyparts overlap in upper body training than lower body training, giving legs more recovery time. That’s why you may continue to progress in leg training while your upper body plateaus.

9. High-level endurance training (e.g. marathon training) reduces testosterone levels by 15 - 40%.

10. Eating post-workout carbohydrates and protein increases Growth Hormone levels.

11. Acclimation to exercising in the heat can take about 10 to 14 days. For each two days of not exercising in heat, one day of acclimation is lost.

12. There is an indirect effect on other muscles when you work a muscle. The bigger the muscle, the greater the carryover. This is one reason you should not neglect leg training as the largest muscles in the body are found in the legs and will have the greatest impact on the rest of your body.

13. The initial adaptation to weight training is neuromuscular (in the nervous system). Your muscles are basically learning how to fire efficiently. This is why beginning trainers are often very shaky when they first start lifting weights. Their muscles haven’t learned how to activate properly.

14. Holding your breath during an exercise to temporarily increase intra-abdominal pressure is called the Valsalva maneuver. While it can be effective in temporarily increasing strength and stability, it can be very dangerous, especially if you have high blood pressure. It is, with few exceptions, better to breathe while lifting.

15. Training intensity is properly measured as a percentage of a person’s One Rep Max (the most weight they can lift for a single rep). A high intensity means a high percentage. It is technically not a subjective measure of effort or facial expression.

16. The best performances in strength competitions are seen in the afternoon and early evening. This may be due to increased muscle temperature later in the day. A lower temperature may increase endurance however. Endurance training may therefore be more effective when done in the morning.

17. Shorter rest periods (less than 1 minute) will result in an increase in the hormones related to muscle growth. However, lower rest periods will result in decreased strength during your workout. You will get hypertrophy (muscle growth) at the expense of strength.

18. The intestine is the single largest receptor of Growth Hormone in the body. This is why people who take frequent Growth Hormone injections often have distended (bloated) abdomens. Natural levels of Growth Hormone don’t result in this effect.

19. After a high volume of aerobic work, fast-twitch muscle fibers (the larger more powerful fibers) can act like slow-twitch muscle fibers (the smaller, more endurance-oriented fibers). This doesn’t work the other way, though. If your goal is to gain muscle, decrease the frequency of your aerobic work. The converted fast-twitch muscles can revert to their original form after about 4 to 8 months of aerobic detraining.

20. The hormone Insulin signals the body that there is enough sugar in the blood to be burned for energy. This prevents the fat cells from releasing fat. The hormone Glucagon, which unlocks fat stores, can’t be released when insulin is present.

21. The number of fat cells in our body is predetermined by genetics, however, prolonged overfeeding can cause fat cells to split into more cells, especially during the teen years. The more you have, the more you have available to fill up and the greater your potential for obesity.

22. Men have about 18 times higher levels of testosterone than women. Men with higher natural testosterone levels gain muscle faster. People who have a harder time gaining muscle have lower testosterone levels.

23. The more deficient you are in vitamins and minerals the more of an effect you will notice from supplementation. Be careful not to overdo it and take too much though.

24. Strenuous exercise can double mineral loss. Increased sweating is a major cause of this.

25. Vitamin capsules are generally better than tablets as tablets can be compressed so hard as to be indigestible.

26. Minerals that enhance sleep, recovery, healing, regeneration and growth like zinc and magnesium should be taken on an empty stomach before bed. The body’s maximum daily release of Growth Hormone occurs 90 minutes into sleep. Zinc and magnesium may increase the effects of G.H. and peak absorption of these minerals occurs after 90 minutes. Take 20-30 mg of zinc and 400-500mg of magnesium.

27. Sodium and calcium are removed via the same mechanism in the body therefore when you increase your sodium intake, your body strives to maintain balance by excreting more sodium. When 1 molecule of sodium goes, it takes a molecule of calcium with it. This can decrease bone mass in the long term. If you have osteoporosis or wish to prevent it, decrease your sodium intake.

28. Be careful what you eat grapefruit with. Naringin (an enzyme found in grapefruits - also called naringenin) may increase the power of some drugs. It deactivates enzymes in your stomach that normally break down drugs. When mixed with alcohol, test subjects ended up with four times more alcohol in the blood.

29. Canned grapefruit juice contains twice the naringin (see above) of fresh grapefruit.

30. Many people are overweight because they are malnourished. Their body craves nutrients so they are hungry. What they eat doesn’t supply the nutrients they need so they are still hungry. Empty-calorie food is the culprit.

31. 20% of the calories in protein are used for digestion and assimilation. 8% of the calories of carbs are used. The number is only 2% for fat.

32. Alcohol acts as a direct toxin to type 2 fast-twitch fibers, though it doesn’t affect slow twitch fibers much. It increases protein breakdown and decreases IGF-1 levels in blood and muscles.

33. Alcohol (even a little) before sleep inhibits Growth Hormone secretion by up to 75%.

34. Reduce your alcohol intake if you are interested in weight loss. One bottle of wine equals one six pack of beer. It can add 625 to 1100 calories to your diet. It is also very easily stored as fat.

35. Two bananas a day for a week can reduce blood pressure 10%, due to their high potassium content.

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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at (http://www.fitness-ebooks.com/). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

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The Absolute Worst, Most Incredibly Terrible Workout I’ve Ever Witnessed In My Entire Life!

By Nick Nilsson

You have never seen exercise techniques this bad…

This is a story about a workout that I witnessed somebody perform about 10 years ago in a university gym in Canada. It’s a true story (just ask the ambulance driver!).

Now, if you’ve spent any time in a gym, you’ve probably seen people using exercise form that is less than perfect. What I was about to watch, however, was the most atrocious exercise technique I’ve ever seen in all my years of training.

Let’s begin…

It was about 1 in the afternoon and I was just starting into my workout when I noticed “Dave” (not his real name) lay down on the bench adjacent to the one I was on. Like me, he was doing flat barbell bench press that day.

He was fairly short, medium build, wearing a tank top to show off what he plainly thought was a magnificent physique. It wasn’t, let me tell you that right now.

“Dave” proceeded, without an ounce of warm-up, to load 225 pounds on the bar. He convinced some poor sap to spot for him then took the weight off the rack. It dropped straight down onto his chest like a stone. His spotter freaked out and pulled desperately to get the bar off his chest while “Dave” struggled and kicked to get the weight up. It was a titanic struggle. He looked like a fish out of water with a tomato stuck on his head. That’s how red in the face he was.

Finally, they got the weight up and his spotter attempted to put the bar back on the rack.

“Dave” said “What are you doing? I’ve got 5 more reps!”

I almost choked. This was going to be an interesting workout…

“Dave” finished off by struggling out 2 more reps, then did 2 more sets just like that (with a new spotter each time, of course - nobody in their right mind would go through that twice!). “Dave” must have learned his lesson though, because instead of letting the bar drop and stop like on his first set, this time he actually bounced the thing off his rib cage like a trampoline, arching his back like he was being electrocuted.

It was time for squats. Now, I wasn’t supposed to do legs that day but I just had to see this spectacle so I did legs anyway, just to be in the area.

“Dave” put 315 pounds on the bar right away. I watched him wrap his knees and cinch his lifting belt so tight he looked like a toothpaste tube that had been squeezed in the middle.

He recruited another sucker… I mean spotter, for his first set. He stepped under the bar, unracked it, stepped back and started to lower it.

It was like putting a bowling ball on a celery stick. His legs were shaking like Elvis on 10 cups of coffee. His back was so rounded over, you could have set a dinner plate between his shoulder plates without dropping a potato. He lowered the bar exactly three inches then held his breath and began to try and come back up. No luck. His spotter stepped in, helped him back up and tried to guide him to the racks. No dice. He immediately dropped back down again. Two inches this time. I swear his knees didn’t shake this time simply because they bowed in so much, they were braced up against each other!

He made his spotter do one more rep after that one, dropping only an inch on the last rep. Two more sets just like that followed.

By this time I had pretty much scrapped my workout for the day, completely out of morbid curiosity. I told the weight room attendant to dial “9″ and “1″ and keep their finger on the “1.” His workout wasn’t over yet!

“Dave” unloaded the bar then set up in the same rack for barbell curls. He put a pair of 35’s on the bar, which he had no business even doing for the “squats” he had just finished with, much less for barbell curls.

Luckily, he hadn’t yet uncinched his lifting belt from the previous exercise, thereby saving precious seconds of time and, also, evidently cutting off the flow of blood to his brain.

He stepped up to the bar, took as wide a grip as I’ve ever seen anyone take on a bar, then lifted it to the start position. He took a deep breath and held it. Then, with totally straight and locked legs, he thrust his rear end backwards then forcefully thrust his hips forward, catapulting the bar up and off his thighs. He looked like he was trying to ring a doorbell with his hip bone.

The bar made it about halfway up before he locked his elbows and leaned back about 45 degrees to keep it moving.

Finally, the weight made it to the top. He held it there for a microsecond then dropped it heavily to his thighs.

Then he did it again. And again. And again.

The only good thing I can say about it is at least he had the decency not to subject a spotter to it this time.

I sat there wondering what he could possibly come up with for a finale and I was not disappointed.

He walked, or rather, strutted over to the pec deck and set the pin to the bottom of the weight stack.

I motioned at a few nearby people to watch this as I felt something special was coming.

He sat on the machine, arms covered in sweat. He wrestled one arm pad up to the center position. Impressive. He turned and, with Herculanean effort, wrestled the other one to the center position. Veins starting popping out and his face was beet red.

I had a feeling this was it.

I was right.

With the loudest bang I’ve ever heard, both his arms slipped off the pads, the weight came crashing down, and “Dave” was shot 6 feet straight out of the machine across the floor, skidding on his face right at somebody’s feet.

Now, as an adult, I have never wet my pants, but I have to tell you, that moment was the closest I’ve ever come. That’s how hard I was laughing.

I didn’t see “Dave” back in that gym ever again.

The moral of the story? Big weights only look cool if you can lift them without getting shot 6 feet across the floor on your face.

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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at (http://www.fitness-ebooks.com/). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.