Why Cleanse?

This week i started a 7 day cleanse and I cut drastically back on my refined carbs for the simple reason that a cleanse is designed to rid your body of toxins and waste left behind by bad carbs and sugars that your body can't normally rid itself of during the digestive process. These toxins often times lead to ailments such as heart disease, resulting from clogged arteries, gastrointestinal problems from an unclean colon and even constipation from stopped up intestines. What type of cleanse should you use? Well most people take cleanses that come in the form of pills, some juice, and some people cleanse by just fasting. I would recommend the pill formula because it's the most simple type to do, you just take your pills with your meals like you would vitamins. I have a couple examples of the types i use.

 And it's also a way to avoid having to do one the hard way at the doctor's office by way of an enema. So at least once a year you should do one and if these reasons i gave aren't reason enough, then try this. You can lose up to 10 lbs. after doing it. That's it. OK until next week, train inside, work hard and DREAM STRONG!

Starting Over: Back To The Basics

Well over the past few months i've been trying new things to improve my strength, endurance and overall athletic ability by adding a few things and trying some new things, started adding plyo and track & field training to my routine on non lifting days but on lifting days i had been trying different things as well, most recently, Powerbuilding, which is in a nutshell a combination of strength, power and endurance techniques with reps ranging from 3 to 40 reps. The problem was for me is that it just wasn't something that worked for me. It didn't cover a variety of exercises that i personally like because they work for me. So i've decided to go back to what i know. Heavy lifting and lots of volume....i'm talking at least 4 exercises each workout for 4 sets and at least 10 reps per set. It's what works for me. I'm a hard gainer in spots like legs and back but even when doing what i know, they see growth that i don't see trying other things. Sometimes you just have to stop trying to fix what's not broken so i'm no longer gonna tweak a system that's just fine. So until next week peeps, work hard, train insane and DREAM STRONG!!!

5 Reasons People Give Up Too Soon On Their Fitness Goals

We have seen it before, people who say they are tired of being overweight, out of shape and not liking the way they look. They line up at the front door of the gym, usually on New Year's Day and loudly proclaim "THIS IS THE YEAR", they get off to a relatively good start and then suddenly after a short while, some after only a few weeks. You scratch your head and wonder why, or you just basically dismiss them as not wanting it badly enough. While that is a good explanation i don't think it's totally accurate so I've basically have derived a list of things from my own personal observations why people give up so soon.

1. It's Not Easy:
 All too often people want to take the path of least resistance to reaching a goal. If the workload seems to be too much for them or causes them discomfort, they want to try something else because they feel it's too hard. In other words, they just would rather be lazy than make the sacrifice and step out of their comfort zone to reach their goals. They can't differentiate the difference between soreness from buildup of lactic acid and pain from an injury or accident. What they fail to realize is that this type of soreness only comes around usually after the first week of workouts because the body's adjusting to something new.

2. Don't Get Quick Results:
There are those who want the athletic or toned body or ripped physique in weeks as opposed to months or even years of training. The truth is that they didn't get in bad shape or put on all that weight overnight, it happened over TIME, and it will take just as long to take it back off as it was to put it back on, maybe even longer. When they get so enamored with these TV ads claiming they can drop 50 lbs in 10 days, they believe the hype, not realizing that the body does not operate like that. Metabolism, genetics, and proper nutrition all play a role in your body changing.

3. Lack Of Support:
You would think many people would have the support of family and close friends while on their mission to change their lifestyle, yet they end getting little or NO support from them. i have found out that my biggest support system in my change have been people i have met in the heatlh, fitness and bodybuilding industry. They have been through the fire and know what it's like to have to take on this dream for the most part alone so they usually become great friends, even greater than the friends you had before your journey began.

4. Loss of Motivation: Sometimes people feel like they are putting way to much time into doing what needs to be done to reach their goal so at times they take a day off, which at times leads to 2 day, then 3 and before you know it a week or month off. And once they lose it, it's hard to get it back for lots of people.

5. Time Away Due To Unforeseen Circumstances:
Sometimes when things are really going good in your process, this little thing called life rears it's ugly side. Tragedies, Illness, Injury, Job change or Family Issues take us out of the gym for a while and before we know it so much time has passed by that we are worse off than we were before.

For all of these reasons, I have my own bit of advice on how to handle them

1. Nothing that comes in life that's good comes easy. As i stated earlier, only the first week of training is generally where you will experience the most soreness and no as you go along it doesn't get easier, but when you press forward you will get through it. Most of the time it isn't the fact that the work is hard, it's that you have to be willing to work hard at it.

2. Nothing worthwhile comes overnight. Remember this is a lifestyle, not a hobby Some people i know have been on their journeys for up to 5 years to reach the results they want, but just learn to get proper rest, nutrition, and continue to work and be patient, you will see the results soon enough.

3. Let the lack of support of friends or family motivate you to show them that you don't need their support they don't offer it. Go out there and befriend people in the gym if you have to. Join FB groups where people who have similar interest in changing their lifestyle and will encourage you and keep you accountable

4. Motivation is the key to staying in it for the long run. Always look at visuals of people transforming their bodies and put up motivational posts about not giving up around the hours and look in the mirror everyday to remind yourself why you are doing this in the first place and if need be, hire a personal trainer to help keep you focused. Remember the end result will be worth all that time you put in and the sacrifices you made.

5. Remember that when life rears it's ugly side, that regardless of what emotional state it leaves you in, it still goes on so you have to. Time heals all wounds and there is not a better way to deal with these circumstances by burying yourself into your workouts because , they take your mind off of it if just for a little while and it relieves stress which is caused by these unforeseen circumstances. If need be take the time you need to reflect, but regain your focus as soon as possible.

I hope this helps those who may have a problem with hanging in there and staying with it. Until next week, DREAM STRONG!

Got Juice??? NOPE!!!

A few days ago someone asked me if i used steriods. Now most people that train for bodybuillding, sports performance or overall good looks would normally go off on someone for asking that question. But i calmly asked, the guy why would he think that? And he actually said he knows guys that do because he has seen them shoot them up. I simply answered with  no and then he asked wny not? Aren't you trying to build muscle fast so you can compete? Again you would think I would go off on the guy but he was relatively young and i could tell he was on the fence about doing them because of what he saw in the rapid growth of his friends as he was just beginning to start working out. That was my opportunity to educate him on why i didn't use them. As we all know this weekend, The bodybuilding world lost a HUGE name in the business, well 2 HUGE names, Joe Weider, the father of modern bodybuilding and Nasser El Sonbaty. May they both R.I.P. but when i think of Nasser he was only 47, 3 years older than me but seeminlgly looked like he was in the best shape of his life. But stories have it that the cause of death was kidney failure. Now i'm not one to be accusatory but i just had to wonder what would cause kidney failure in a man that young and seemingly that healthy? Well it's no secret that seroid use over long periods and cycles can lead to kidney disease and it's no secret that Nasser tested positive at lease once for steriods at major events and evan no secret that a lot of juicing goes on. And i'm certainly not perfect but i'm also in this lifestyle to make a career not so much out of competing but for overall health and being an example as a personal trainer/sports performance coach to people of all ages and i can't honestly be an example of good health and wellness if i put these toxic things in my body. I told the young man that i do plan to compete in a men's physique and possibly a bodybuilding show in the future but not if it means doing something that will cut my life short at an early age or dealing with health problems later in life and for what? A trophy? For who? Some big name in the bodybuilding industry to be impressed? Which is why i chose to put it on the back burner right now to look at all-natural organizations. I realize that these organizations are not the big time like NPC and IFBB but if not taking shortcuts means not being on the same level as the big names in the business, then so be it. I have come too far in my life from being a skinny weakling growing up to being an almost 300 lb guy who was close to death from raucous partying and because i am a devout Christian who believes his body is God's temple, Why would i work so hard and so long to see the results i have only to mess it up. So I made the commitment to keep anything toxic out of it, and that even includes binging on junk food, smoking, and drinking except for an occasional cigar or light beer. So when people ask if I roid, i don't get mad, I just simply tell them Nope and I never will and neither should you. I don't no whether the guy chose to do what his friends are doing and i guess time will tell but i hope he took my words to heart and will make the right decision. Peace out and until next time, DREAM STRONG!!!

Where Did You Start?

Everyone has a starting point in their fitness journey. There is something that motivated you to get to where you are today. It wasn't just something that said, "You need to go workout" and BOOM here you are. It usually comes from some kind of circumstance that probably wasn't positive. Mine was the fact that my blood pressure had gotten sky-high and my doctor told me that if I didn't do something about it, I would die. Motivation enough huh? I also decided that i just was sick and tired of sitting on the couch with a remote feeling miserable and not being able to get from point A to point B without needing an oxygen tank, even if point A to point B was from my living room to the bathroom. Then I woke up one day, looked at some old pictures of a slimmer and younger guy that i didn't recognize when i looked in the mirror. Partying, smoking(not cigarettes either) and drinking and chasing anything with boobs, a nice butt and long hair was the order of the day for me. Then it finally happened, i took a pic at a party and when i looked at it, I almost cried, yes big boys cry, lol. That's when i got up, said i'm not gonna let myself fall into being a pitiful couch potato living in denial, saying that it happens to everybody eventually or using some excuse like, " it's part of living in the south, we just love this down home cooking". So my motivation came from being an unhappy soul, smiling to everyone in public but crying myself to sleep at night over what all that hard living, not eating right and laziness had done to me. After I started, i remembered what it was like to feel good after a workout like i did in high school as a football and baseball player. As i was getting stronger, eating better and feeling better, i challenged myself more and more with each week. I've fallen sown but unlike before, i not only pick myself back up, i hop right back up and now, some 5 years later I feel better at nearly 45 than i did at 25 and i'm constanly looking for different ways to challenge myself and i love living this lifestyle a whole lot more than i did living what i thought was a great life. I am now planning to do a Tough Mudder, a Men's Physique show, starting my own personal training and sports performance business, but mainly living a healthy lifestyle and using my experience to help change other people's lives from unhappy to healthy. I've made many friends including in the fitness industry and look forward to making many more, especially the Juggernauts. We all have a starting point. I hope we all get to a place where we never want to see the finish line but just keep going further and reaching higher.