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By TJ, January 4, 2010 1:17 pm

I recently found a program that’ll help you not only lose weight, but tone some 6 pack abs.  Check this out.

1. Is this program more for muscle building or fat loss?

The answer is that the concepts taught within the program can be applied to either fat loss or muscle building with some slight modifications and tweaks. However, I developed most of the details within this program to address the MAIN PROBLEM that 99% of people are facing as to why they cannot see their abdominals, and that is… losing the stubborn stomach fat that is covering up the abs.

Click here to learn more!

2.What types of training ideas will I learn in this program? Is it only about abs exercises or full body training as well?

As I mention in my letter on the home page, I do provide full descriptions and photos of all of the most effective abdominal exercises in existance (as well as which ones to avoid), but one of the main points I try to drive home within the program is that the abs-specific exercises are actually the LEAST important part of the program to actually get rid of the belly fat that is covering up your abs.

The majority of the program focuses on full-body training programs as well as strategic exercise combinations and sequencing that increases the metabolic rate and stimulates a fat-burning hormonal response in your body. I also detail a full-blown section on nutritional strategies and a fully comprehensive dietary plan that will actually have you enjoying food again and getting and staying lean for life.

Now these are the 2 most important aspects of the program that make it one of the most successful abdominal fat loss programs on the internet today with customers in over 100 countries around the world.

Click here to learn more!

3. Is this program designed for men or women?

Who says that men and women need to train or eat differently to get lean? The truth is that they DON’T. The bottom line is that the best exercises for increasing the metabolism and stimulating the fat-burning hormones are the best exercises regardless of gender. The only thing that is going to change is that in general, the females will require fewer calories, and usually use lighter weights than the men, but the fact remains that the best training and nutrition strategies apply equally to both genders.

To be honest (and I explain this in more detail within the program), one of the main reasons that so many women struggle to make progress is that they aren’t training the right way to increase their metabolic rate and trigger the proper hormonal response from exercise. The majority of women spend WAY too much time with monotonous endless cardio routines, and tiny little 3-lb barbie weights.  This kind of training will get you NOWHERE!

In the program, I teach you ladies how to do this right without having to worry about “bulking up” as it seems that almost all women are afraid of this.

Click here to learn more!

4. Am I too old? I’m older, heavily overweight, and out of shape. I also haven’t worked out in years. Is this program going to be too hard for me to follow?

I developed the program with beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of progressions. All of the training and dietary strategies can be used by everybody from teenagers looking to get stronger and leaner, all the way up to overweight grandmoms that simply want to feel and look better.

Even the most out of shape individuals will usually even be able to do most of the advanced exercises, except just with lighter weights or slower movements. Heck, even if you are so out of shape that you have to really go slow and start with the bare minimum of exercises, most readers have told me that the nutrition section of the book alone was well worth the investment and opened their eyes to dozens of things that they had never realized they were doing wrong in their dietary habits.

So there…even if you can’t jump right in with guns blazing into the full blown advanced training routines, simply start to use the dietary strategies to get a head start on losing some of that extra body fat, and then slowly increase your workout intensity until you can work up to all of the advanced exercises.

Click here to learn more!

5. Am I too young? I’m only 16, and I really want to get in better shape and get a flatter more defined stomach. Am I too young to start on a program like this?

This program can be applied to all ages. Keep in mind though that a portion of the program involves weight training. If you’re younger than approximately 15, you probably shouldn’t get into any extremely heavy weight training just yet. However, in the younger teen years, starting with bodyweight-only exercises is a great way to get started into fitness and get in great shape. In addition to the weight training routines, this program also involves a large variety of bodyweight based exercises which you will benefit greatly from.

You’ll also learn the TRUTH about what a truly nutritious diet really is and learn to decipher all of the misconceptions in the world of food advertising and in the media. The nutrition aspect alone of this program is well worth the investment for both younger and older readers to achieve the lean strong body that everyone wants.

Personally, looking back to my teen years when I was just starting to get interested in fitness and exercising, I wish that I understood all of the powerful training and nutrition secrets that I do today, 15 or so years later. It would have saved me years of frustration when I was training and eating in ALL the wrong ways. That’s where this guide will set you straight for life, so that you don’t have to struggle to try to figure everything out on your own for years like I did.

Click here to learn more!

6. Do I need to join a gym or can I do these workouts at home?

Either. It’s really up to you. In fact, at a bare minimum, you can even get decent results simply by doing many of the bodyweight exercises featured in the program. However, please realize that if you really want to step it up and get maximum fat loss and full body strengthening results, having access to free weights (barbells and dumbbells) and some of the cable equipment at a gym will give you a lot more options to work with.

Alternatively, if you’d rather work out at home, I usually recommend a mix of bodyweight exercises as well as at least picking up a set of adjustable dumbbells such asPowerBlock Dumbbells, and maybe a stability ball and a medicine ball. The Power Block Dumbbells are probably the best investment you can ever make if you’re going to decide to work out at home instead of being a member at a gym.

To be honest, you don’t really need anything fancier than that to get the best results possible. The most important thing is that you have a means for improving over time, and that’s why I recommend the adjustable PowerBlock dumbbells if you’re not going to join a gym.

Click here to learn more!

7.  Does this program include any diet tips and meal plans to help lose body fat, or is it only about workouts?

Yes, that is actually the MOST important part of the program. Gaining a thorough understanding of diet and nutrition is absolutely critical if you ever want to stand a chance at truly flattening your stomach and seeing visible abs on yourself.

An entire portion of the program is devoted to helping you to understand the confusing world of nutrition, especially considering all of the marketing hype that is thrown at you daily by overly aggressive supplement companies, food manufacturing companies, and gimmick diet fads that keep popping up daily.

Since I don’t sell supplements or diet fads, I give you the straight honest research-based answers and thoroughly explain such topics as:

• The true story about dietary fats and why the food manufacturers and media have confused you
• The widespread myths about saturated fats and what you need to know
• The shocking facts about trans fats in our food supply
• The truth about carbs and why you’ve been deceived by money hungry companies
• The facts about how much protein you really need
• A thorough understanding of the blood sugar and insulin process in your body and how this affects your ability to lose body fat
• Specific food types and little known tricks that will significantly help increase fat burning within your body
• The most effective method of meal and nutrient timing to best stimulate fat loss and muscle recovery
• Over 84 specific healthy fat burning meal plans to give you ideas for your own successful nutrition plan

Click here to learn more!

8.  Does this program require me to buy any expensive supplements, powders, or diet pills?

Absolutely NOT!  Approximately 95% of all supplements and diet pills are a complete waste of money anyway. They are simply luring you in with their devious marketing ploys to try and get you to believe that there is a “magic pill in a bottle” that will solve all of your body fat and muscle issues and have you looking like the fitness model on the bottle in a couple days.

The fact is that you don’t need supplements to develop the body of your dreams!  All you need is the most effective style of training, the right mindset, as well as good quality wholesome food in the right combinations and proportions, at the right times, and in the right quantities to achieve whatever your goals are… whether they are fat burning or muscle building goals.

Click here to learn more!

9.  What if I’m a vegetarian. Will I still be able to use the fat loss nutritional guidance in this program?

Yes, you can still use the principles of the fat loss nutritional strategies section and get great results even if you choose to be vegetarian. You will simply need to modify some of the examples to your vegetarian needs.  However, since you’ve chosen to eliminate animal based products from your diet, you’ll need to be extra careful to obtain sufficient quality protein and other nutrients to keep your body healthy and functioning properly.

Click here to learn more!

10.  How much time do the workouts in your programs take and how often?

The full body workouts within the Truth about Six Pack Abs Program generally take between 30-50 minutes/day and are recommended 3-4 days/week. Depending on which route you choose will determine how long your workouts are.

Click here to learn more!

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By TJ, July 30, 2009 7:53 pm

About 2 months ago I splurged and spent 20 bucks on a Nathan Stainless Steel 700 mL Flip Straw Bottle.  It was absolutely the best investment of $20 I’ve ever made.  I’ll be honest, I wanted to buy one about a year ago, but I delayed because $20 seemed like too much for a simple bottle.

I could not have been more wrong.  Here are 6 reasons why this bottle rocks:

1. It saves money.  If you buy water or any other drinks, it gets expensive.  As Benjamin Franklin said: beware of small expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.  I was spending $1.50 on coffee every morning, $1.25 on diet mountain dew ever afternoon, and $1.50 on a bottle of Gatorade after my evening run.  Every Day!  That means I’m saving $4.25 every day.  I realize you all won’t stop buying your daily fix of caffeine, but this bottle helped me do that.

2. It got me off my regular caffeine and diet soda fixation.  I wouldn’t classify myself as a caffeine addict, I could skip caffeine any time, but I did drink it regularly.  I have mostly eliminated it now, except for an occasional coffee.  Also, when I drank water before it was usually a 16 oz. bottle, now I’m drinking free water from the faucet.

3. It keeps you hydrated. When you drink lots of water, I drink about 5 bottles a day, you are hydrated.  This gives you vital energy, which means more performance at work, more energy for your workout, and more energy when you’re at home with your family.

4. You can drink it laying down.  This probably sounds like a prettyt strange benefit, but hear me out…  I like a drink by my bedside because I often wake up in the middle of the night needing a drink.  With the straw aspect of the Nathan flip straw bottle, I just reach over, suck it, and put it back.  I don’t get up, and I don’t spill.

5. It’s unbreakable.  My kid is 18 months old and likes to take it and run with it.  And on hard surfaces like the concrete in my garage, he likes to throw it. It slams down and makes a lot of noise (which he loves), but there’s no damage to the bottle.

6. The QuickClip allows you to easily attach it to anything.  I’ll clip it to my book bag when my hands are full going into work, or to my belt straps when I have my kid in one hand and all his crap in the other.

So there you have it.  It makes you healthier, livelier, it’s convenient to use, and it pays for itself in weeks if not days.  It’s the best $20 you can spend.  So go get one, try it out, and let me know what you think.

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By TJ, July 29, 2009 2:29 pm

I’m often asked how I’m able to train for my running as hard as I do.  And I always answer the same way, “Man, I haven’t trained in years!”  But how can that be true for someone that goes out and runs 30-40 mile “training” runs?

It’s simple, I just go out and play.  It’s how I get my exercise, how I relax, how I escape, how I go deep into thought.  It’s whatever I need it to be.  For other’s it’s yoga, and other’s it golf or pick-up basketball.  The idea of running longer is simple for me,  it’s fun so why wouldn’t I want to do it all day?  Heck, the only reason I don’t do it more is because I have to go to work, and I want to spend time with my family.

This weekend I took my son to a sprinkler park.  For those that aren’t aware of sprinkler parks, the concept is that there are spinklers and fountains all over a concrete covered area, and you just run through the sprinklers and get soaking wet.   My son is 18 months old, and he’s a happy kid.  But I’ve never seen him running around with such a smile on his face as I did that day.  For 30 straight minutes he ran non-stop, smiling from ear to ear, completely unaware that I was still around.  By the end he was completely exhausted.  That is what we all should strive for.  Finding an activity that is not exercise or working out, rather it’s playing.  When was the last time you played like this?

I firmly believe that exercise lost it’s charm when it was bolted to the floor in a gym.  TV’s were put in front of you, padded mats were placed on the floor, and Britney Spears was blasted through the loud speakers.  It turned from play to work when all the laughing  and playing stopped, and the “workouts” began.

For those that go to a gym regularly, and actually enjoy it, that’s great.  But I think the “gym” concept has absolutely hurt our culture’s physical fitness on average.  The reason: It puts a preconcieved notion in people’s minds that they should belong to a gym, go to it regulalry even if they don’t enjoy it, and just suck it up.  Those people then join for a year, go for a month, and feel guilty for the remainder.

So my challenge to you is to figure out what physical activity you love to do, and do more of it.  Sure, you can supplement the sport (or activity) with gym workouts or other more restrictive programs, but focus on what you love.  For me it’s running.  What is it for you?

If you want to read more on this topic by someone far more eloquent than me, check out the late George Sheehan’s book Running & Being: The Total Experience.  It’s a life altering book.  It’s not just about running, it’s about making exercise fun again, playing like a kid.

photo by mikebaird

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By TJ, July 27, 2009 12:05 pm

In my post from this morning, I decided to try an experiment.  My goal coming into the day was to be the ideal person that I want to be so that at the end of the day I could analyze it.  Making no compromises, I stepped into the day knowing that it was just a single day.  Every decision I made, every action I took, I asked myself “Does this action represent the person you desire to be?”

I learned 2 things:

1. It aint easy. This wasn’t an exercise to be the perfect person, or to be like someone else that I admire, both of those would be feeble attempts at something unmanagable in the long run.  No, this was an attempt to be a better version of myself.  The person I should be if I don’t let negative influences and weak will-power take me down.

The day started off simple enough, I woke up at 6am like usual. After writing this post, I went outside for a workout in the back yard.  I took in some fresh air and got my blood pumping.  Soon my son woke up, and I made him some breakfast, we sang songs and we danced in the living room.  Exactly the dad I want to be (at least while he’s an innocent 18-month old).  I cleaned and did laundry so that when my wife comes home from her out-0f-town trip to Vegas, she doesn’t have to worry about cleaning.  Exactly the kind of husband I want to be.  By noon I had eaten well, exercised, taken good care of my kid, and did chores to help out my wife.  All was good.

When I put MJ down for a nap, I logged on and did some work for my family business.  By 3 o’clock when my son woke up, I was worn down but had accomplished a lot.  The rest of the day I kelpt at my goal, but it got tougher.  I lost some of my will and made some mistakes.  As a long distance runner, I would compare this journey to running 100 miles.  You don’t just go run it, you train and build up.  You finish your first marathon and think that’s the longest distance you can ever do.  Yesterday was that marathon, and I limped to the finish line.  Now I start my training for longer distances.

2. It’s totally worth it. I love my family and myself, and I want the best for us.  I want to make their lives better, I want to be a role model to my son and dependaable to my wife.  Too many of us live in a selfish world.  And we think that when we do something for someone it’s a big deal, and we deserve a reward.  My grand experiment showed me that (cliche alert!) the journey is the reward.

Spend the next few minutes thinking about the person that you want to be.  Then go out and be it.  Every opportunity, go out and ask yourself what the ideal you would do, then do it.  Try it out for 24 hours and let me know what you find!

Related Articles:

If You Want To Be A Better Person, You Have To Be A Better Person

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By TJ, July 26, 2009 11:37 am

Three frogs sit on a log.  One of them makes a decision to jump into the lake.  How many frogs are now sitting on the log?

The answer is three.  Making a decision to jump into the lake is not the same as jumping.  If that frog is one of us, he’s probably preparing for the jump now.  He’s dipping his toes in to check the temperature.  He’s checking the depth, worrying about how long he’ll be in there, how he might get out, what kind of fly he had for dinner last night. And soon the opportunity will pass, it will get dark and he will decide that it’s best to go for a swim tomorrow when he’s not so tired.

The thing is, if you want to do something you have to just do it.  Preparation is great, but not everything needs preparation.  We’re not talking about climbing Everest or swimming across the English Channel, we’re talking about making steps towards being a better person.   And there’s no better time than now.

Today I will being doing a little social experiment.  I’m going to make the entire day about being who I want to be.  This means I will focus on being a better husband and dad, being more healthy, and being more engaging.  All day I will ask myself what I should be doing to be a better person, then I will just do it.   It’s 6:30 AM, I’m going to start by drinking some more water and getting in my workout before my kid wakes up.

I’ll be checking back in periodically today to document my findings.  You can check back here or follow me on Twitter.

Update: Here’s the follow-up article

Subscribe to my rss feed to make sure you don’t miss the follow up on this or any other experiment!

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By TJ, July 25, 2009 7:58 pm

We’re so busy all the time, we barely have time to breathe.  It sounds cliche, but I mean it literally. We are so busy doing stuff, so busy worrying, so focused on what’s next that we never stop to just breathe.

Breathing is a cool thing, actually.  It’s one of the few bodily functions that can be controlled both consciously and unconsciously.  Unconscious breathing is controlled by the brainstem, which regulates the rate and depth of your breathing.  It’s the reason that you’re breathing softly and slowly right now, and why you breathe fast and hard when you’re exercising.  It keeps us alive and we don’t even have to think about it.

Interesting fact: People have survived over two hours without breathing when submerged in freezing cold water.  But just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Conscious breathing has an astounding physical and mental effect.  It calms us down when we’re stressed about money, angry that some jerk just cut us off on the highway, or excited that our team just won the Super Bowl.  Regardless of the emotions we’re feeling, taking a deep breathe will bring us back to reality when we’re ready.

Focused breathing, or pranayama, is one of the five principles of yoga.  The Yogis realized the importance of an adequate oxygen supply thousands of years ago, and that is why they developed and perfected various breathing techniques that will help to revitalize the mind and body.  This controlled breathing delivers oxygen to our blood and our brains, giving us vital energy.

For me, the very best time to take a deep breath is right now.  Anytime I think of it, I do it.  It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s healthy!  So do it with me.  First, exhale completely, pushing every last drop of carbon dioxide from your lungs.  Pause for a moment.  Now breathe in slowly, filling your lungs with life’s free and guiltless treasure.  Take the time to taste the sweetness of the air, imagine the oxygen saturating your blood stream enabling stronger muscles and a faster brain.  Take it all in that one deep breath.  Once your lungs are full, pause for a moment. Don’t think about where you’ve been or where you’re going, think about how good life is at this moment.  Now relax and exhale.

Did you do it?  Go ahead, I’ll wait.  :)

What did you think?  What did breathing do for you?

photo by LunaDiRimmel