How LISS Cardio Changed My Life

Look, this is not going to be some post about the amazing amount of fat you can burn by doing this type of training. I still haven't changed my opinion on the vast majority of cardio as it relates to fat loss. I still thinks there are things that are much more important to changing your body other than hours of slaving away on the treadmill. In fact, this post isn't really going to be about the fat loss benefits of LISS at all, but the benefits I've received in other areas of my life since I started doing it.

Although that will be the case, I still want to give you some insight into what I've been doing. Low Intensity Steady State Cardio (LISS) is a form of cardiovascular training that is extremely beneficial but is very underrated. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like; maintaining a low heart rate for an extended period of time in an attempt to use as much body fat for fuel as possible. It's simple, it's boring, but it might be the best type of cardio to lose body fat. The other super important aspect of LISS from this perspective is to do it fasted, which is usually the easiest first things in the morning. Here is exactly what I've been doing for my fasted LISS every morning.

• Wake up.
• Drink a glass of water and a cup of black coffee.
• Go to the gym and walked 30-60 minutes while keeping my heart rate between 90-110 BPM.
• Walk at 3 mph and increase the incline to get my HR to where it needs to be. Typically I start at 5 incline and increase as needed.
• I cycle my time by day to prevent burnout. So Monday and Thursday is 60 minutes, Tuesday and Friday is 45 minutes, and Wednesday and Saturday is 30 minutes, Sunday I take off. 

So the first question you may have from this is "Why low intensity? Doesn't higher heart rate burn more calories?". Well yes, a higher heart rate will burn more calories but we need to look at where those calories are coming from. The higher your heart rate gets, your body uses a higher percentage of carbohydrates to fuel the exercise. In lower heart rates, your body uses a greater percentage of fat. So while you're still going to use some fat for fuel at higher heart rates, the total amount you use will be less. 

The second question you may have from this is "Why fasted?". Long story short, because of the lack of insulin present increases the amount of body fat you will use for fuel because it becomes the most available fuel source. When you pair this with lower intensity exercise like walking, you maximize the potential to use stored body fat as fuel. 

Question three is usually "Can I do something other than walk?". The answer to that is yes, but you need to be careful about keeping your heart rate down in the lower range. It's pretty easy to get your heart rate too high with something like a bike or an elliptical, but it is an option you can use if walking is not a option for you. I choose to walk because I can, and because I am a human being who was literally designed to walk (also it's really helped me build up my calves).

So that's a quick rundown on what I've been doing and why I'm doing it. It's definitely not the entire story so if you do have additional questions then please let me know. Although I have lost some body fat from everything I've been doing lately (check that out here), that is not even close to the best benefit I've gotten from doing this cardio. The best benefit has been so much more important but we need to switch gears really quick to explain. 

Raise your hand if you listen to music when you do cardio. Don't lie because I know most of you do! But guess what, you're wasting some unbelievable potential by listening to music and not using that time to improve yourself. I was introduced to personal development 6 years ago about the time I started Grad School and I really haven't taken a day off of it since them. Every day I either read a book, listen to a podcast, listen to an audiobook, or watch a video about something that I want to improve on in my life. This is usually related to exercise, business, marketing, or leadership and I can never fully explain to you how much this has changed my life. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that I've learned more about exercise and nutrition AFTER I graduated Grad School than I did when I was there. That's not meant to say anything bad about my education, but just to show how much info there really is out there to learn (usually for free).

This is where LISS comes back in. That 30-60 minutes every day is 30-60 minutes of time you could be learning, improving, thinking, or building your ideas, career or business. It is impossible to explain to you how many ideas I've come up with (including this post), how much clarity I've gotten in my goals, and how motivated I've become just from the this time spent every morning. It's actually crazy how your brain just start to go. You usually latch on to a topic or sentence from what you're listening to and your brain just goes on it's own. You zone out and crazy things happen. But here's the thing, I also listen to the same programs on my 60 minutes of driving every day, but I don't get anywhere near the same number and quality of ideas that I do when I walk. There is something about listening and moment together that helps you get into a flow state where the combination of the two is more powerful than either separately. This has lead me to not only tolerate cardio every day, but actually look forward to it! I promise you that's not something that I ever thought I would say!

To finish up, I just wanted to give you a quick list of some of the podcasts (my go to lately) that I've been listening too when I walk.

1. The MFCEO Project by Andy Frisella
2. Empire Podcast Show with Bedros Keuilin and Craig Ballantyne
3. Renegade Radio by Jason Ferruggia 
4. The Mike Dolce Show

Again, these are typically more in the area of fitness, nutrition, and business but I would still recommend them to anyone, as they are all created for the every day person. You can chose to take my advice or not, because I know there still may be a weird stigma around "personal development" that can push some people away. But I promise that it won't take very long for you to understand exactly what I mean if you just decide to give it a shot.

Influencing Your Subconscious 74/84

Wether you realize it or not, your subconscious is making tons of decisions for you every single day. It can be nothing more than just the smallest blip of a feeling when you're making a decision and all of the sudden your brain has made up your mind for you. You unconsciously make so many decisions every day that, if you can't control it, it can have a pretty devastating effect on your life.

Have you ever noticed how some people are just positive all of the time while some people are constantly negative? If you pay close enough attention, you'll realize that the positive people usually have more good things happen to them than the negative people do. They are usually more lucky and have more success. Do you ever wonder why that is? Part of the reason is that because they subconscious thoughts are more positive, leading them to more positive decisions and feelings, which in turn leads to even more positivity. Without them even needing to try, their brains automatically think happier thoughts and make them make more decisions that will make them happy. This, in turn, often attracts more luck and more success. No one wants to spend time with a negative person right?

So what can you do to become one of those people? How can you get your brain to automatically think positively? The biggest ways are to avoid negative things and people and to surround yourself with  positivity as often as possible. Even if you start off as someone who is always negatively thinking, enough positivity can start to switch your wiring a bit. The more often you do this, the more you can change your brain to default to positive.

The other half is to avoid negativity. Think of your brain as a glass of water. When you bring in negative stimulus like the news, tabloids, or you downer coworker, your water gets black and mucky. But when you constantly flush it with clean water from positive reading, thoughts, and people, the nasty water starts to clear out. The more often you can flush the black out with clean water the less effort it will take, and the less time you spend adding muck to your water the easier it is to flush as well.

Reading personal development books, inspirational videos of stories, and spending time with genuinely positive and upbeat people can really help your brain become and stay positive, and will be one of the most important decisions you make. Remember, you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with, so make sure you choose those people carefully and ditch anyone who's not going to the same heights as you.

Building New Habits Now 73/84

This post won't be as much of an informative post as it is a call to action. Even though most people don't want to hear it, Summer will be coming to an end soon. Today marks the first day of August which means the new school year and new schedules are right around the corner. Often times people use this period an excuse not to start to work out and get healthy because they need to take time to adjust to their new schedule.

Personally, I find it interesting that said people need so long to adjust when they could have already taken the time to build the good habits in he first place, meaning that they wouldn't need to wait because those good practices would already be instilled in them. What I'm trying to say is that NOW is the time to start working on building those habits, that way you are ready when schedules do change. If you try to wait until then, you're not going to do it. Start it right now so that you can be ready when you need to. All it takes is to make one healthy decision, get a gym membership, or higher a trainer to get you started on the road to a healthier life.

Needing to wait is just an excuse, plain and simple. If you want to make a change then don't wait. Start right now by doing something that you know will benefit you then build on that. If you need help getting started or are stuck and need something to break you out then let me know. I'll help you with whatever you need and guide you with whatever resources I can. Just make the decision to act and take that first step!

How to be Successful at Anything 71/84

What is your goal right now? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to get jacked? Do you have a goal that's not even fitness related? Whatever it is, there are certain things you can do to damn near guarantee that you hit it. No, that doesn't mean it will be easy, but it will make it easier. Try these things out and see how much progress you start making.

Ok so I shouldn't even have to say this because it should be super obvious but YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO IT! If you want to accomplish anything you have to believe in yourself enough to make it happen. I know that sounds super cheesy but it's true. Plenty of people will tell you what they want to do but don't actually think they can do it. When you have that negative mindset then guess what happens; you actually become your own biggest obstacle in hitting your goal. Self-sabotage kills more dreams than any other single thing, except maybe not even starting. So many people are their own worst enemy. I'm not sure why this is but I'm sure someone does. I would guess that it has something to do with assuming your going to fail and wanting to do it on your own terms. Regardless of why it happens it still does all of the time. If you can actually convince yourself that you can hit you goal, it makes it 1000x easier for you to do it. So how do you do this? It's as simple as telling yourself you can. The great thing about this is that you don't even need to believe it, not at first at least. But the crazy thing is that once you say it often enough your subconscious starts to change. All of these negative things you've been telling yourself for years start to go away and they start to get replaced by positive thoughts instead. When this happens you'll start to realize that you DO believe you can hit your goals and your whole outlook changes. At this point, your head is in the right spot to conquer anything.

Another way to guarantee success is to set massive goals. This is epitomized in the book "The 10x Rule" by Grant Cardone, which I would recommend to anyone. Basically, the objective is to set massive, maybe even unrealistic goals, then take the action necessary to hit that goal. Even if you fall short, you probably still did a hell of a lot more than you thought you could. Here's an example.

- Right now it's almost August 1st so let's say my goal is to make $100,000 by the end of the year. And let's say last year in the same timeframe I made $15,000 (all of these numbers are hypothetical). That means that I would have to make $20,000 per month each month to hit this goal. For most people in most jobs around the world that is rather unrealistic and that's ok. But now I work backward and see what kind of action I would need to take to hit that goal. I make 10 times as many calls and book way more appointments than normal. I start to use alternative means to find clients and work extra hours meeting people. At the end of the year I only made $70,000, well under my goal of $100,000, but guess what, that's still $55,000 more than I made in the same time the year before! I didn't hit my goal but that's still pretty amazing (again, all hypothetical).
In this situation, by setting myself such a huge goal I more than tripled the amount from the year before and, although I fell short of the goal, I still made massive improvements. How can you use this mindset with your goals?

The last thing I wanted to go over to guarantee success is to take massive action. This came up briefly in my hypothetical example so let's do more detail. If you want to be successful you have to work 10x harder than you think you do, period. You need to go out and take huge  action that can set a fire under your butt and start building you some momentum. Massive action is the only want to make any real difference without getting stuck in average and mediocre. Want to lose weight? Massive action. Want to get big? Massive action. Don't just just try to do the minimum, no one ever guaranteed success by doing the minimum. And the worst thing you can do the the expected amount of action. Again you don't want to be average so why do an average amount of work? You need to do the maximum and then do even more. Do tons of research, change you unhealthy lifestyle, higher a personal trainer (!), and be ready to take action!

If you start to do these things you'll be surprised at the differences you can make. Start to think about these points and figure out how you can use them to help you guarantee success in whatever goal you want.

The Importance of Progress Pictures 59/84

I've talked in the past about using different metrics to track progress outside of just looking at the scale. I love using body fat percentage and circumference measurements to see a little more concrete progress but there's a way that's usually more important to people.

If you ask most people what their goals are they will probably tell you a weight or a pants size they want to fit into. but when you dig a little deeper, you find out the weight doesn't actually matter as much as simply what they look like. They feel that if they hit a certain weight, they will like the way they look, instead of just focusing on the mirror and forgetting the scale. So if people really only care about what they look like why not just use the mirror as their guide? This can be pretty tough because you can't see that much progress that quick day to day, especially if you're not tracking in any way. But, if you're keeping a record of what you look like, it can be an effective way to track progress that actually matters to you.

Obviously, this is where progress pictures come in. Taking pictures often and in the same position can give you a reliable means of seeing whats going on. Have you ever talked to someone who's lost a bunch of weight but they feel like they don't look any different? It happens all the time, and it happens because when all you do is look at yourself each day it makes it much harder to see the small changes over time. For these people, once you show them a picture of them at the start they automatically see a huge difference in the way they look. This is the magic of visual progress, instead of seeing the small changes numerous times each day, you can look back and see massive progress all at once.

Here's what I recommend to my clients when they take their pictures

- Take one from the front, side, and back
- Avoid baggy clothes so you can see the differences, underwear is usually best and remember, no one else needs to see them if you don't want too
- Take a picture each week in each position
- Try to do it in the same place with the same lighting and the same time of day
- Just like the scale, morning is best because your appearance can change drastically throughout the day
- After a month, compare week 1 to week 4 and you might be surprised at the difference.

Again, this is something that I recommend everyone do. If you still do weight and measurements then you may not need to take pics every week. I do mine about once a month because I understand how to use the scale without overthinking it.

I know that this is going to feel weird and super uncomfortable for some people but I promise you're going to love that you had that "before" picture one six months when you love the way you look. If you need help getting started then please reach out to me. I have a number of free programs on my site but sometimes a personalized plan is the best thing for you. I am also on a mission to drastically increase my Instagram following so if you want to help me out please follow me on there. I will be posting there most often for a bit to try and increase that media. You can follow me @Greg.The.Trainer and I wold really appreciate it!

No One is Going to Do It For You 58/84

Losing weight is hard! We all know this by now, it's no secret. Sure gaining muscle can be hard too depending on who you are but it's different. Losing fat means you need to be hungry and that's uncomfortable, plus you have to eat salads and they're gross. But in all seriousness it really is a tough job, if it weren't then everyone would be skinny right? But there are a few things that you really need to understand that can make the process so much easier for you. These fall more on the mental side of things, which in most cases can be much more important. Once you really embrace these, it liberates you and allows you to do what you need to do to see results.

1. Realize that you are in 100% control.

This is your body and your life, no one can make you do anything that you truly don't want to. This can be magical for the fitness world because it allows you to realize that you control everything, and that gives you all of the power. If you don't want to eat something then don't eat it, no one can make you. If you want to go to the gym then go! No one has the right to stop you. Once you embrace this, and stop letting other people try to dictate what you do, you will hit your goals so much faster. Have that hard conversation with someone if you don't feel like they're helping you the way they should, it will be worth it in the end.

2. Start taking 100% responsibility.

This is similar but also the opposite. If you're not taking full responsibility for everything, the losses and the triumphs, then you need to start and see what a difference it can make. If you keep trying to pass the blame to other people then you're never going to get as far as you could. You ate bad because your friends wanted to go out to eat? It's totally fine to go with but did they put the food in your mouth? Of course not, you chose to do it and you need to take responsibility if you want to be truly successful. But, do you know what the great thing about this is? It still means you have all the control. Since you're taking responsibility, you don't to the rely on anyone else (not that that's bad) and can allow yourself to reach your full potential.

Here's the bottom line on these two; it's up to you and no one else. No one will do it for you and no one can stop you. You have to put in the work and you have to make the sacrifices. But you also can't blame other people when things aren't going the best. There will be hard times and when you are able to embrace these two things then it will help you get through them even faster!  Hopefully this didn't come off too harsh, I've never been that kind of trainer and I don't ever expect to be, but sometimes saying the right thing at the right time may be exactly what someone reading this needs to hear!

No, People At The Gym Are Not Judging You 57/84

What is your mentality when you get to the gym? Are you a stud who walks around like you own the place? Do you hide behind a cardio machine because you don't know how to use the weights? Do you just stick with classes because you like having someone tell you what do to? For most people reading this, I'd be willing to bet it isn't the first one. Most people are too afraid of being judged or stared at to venture out into the heart of the gym and start lifting some weights. But do people really care? Is anyone actually judging you for doing it? These are all questions I will be answering for you.

Hitting the gym can be scary, I get that. I have been going to different gyms for years but to be honest I still get uncomfortable when I go to one that I'm not a regular at. I'm definitely not worried about doing exercises wrong or doing a program that looks silly, but it's still hard for me to walk in somewhere and own it. This let's me realize how excruciatingly hard it must be for someone who doesn't have almost 15 of lifting under their belt. At Xperience, we try to do our best to make sure that new members feel comfortable and know basic exercises and how to use the machines, but it still takes some time for people to really get accustomed to a place without feeling self conscious about being there.

I'm just going to be up front about this, unless you're doing something that is inherently dangerous to others, most people really don't care what you're doing. I'll also let you in on this secret, people are probably not staring at you, and if they are, it's because they are uncomfortable and looking to see what other people are doing! Just like you. 90% of people at the gym are self conscious, even if they don't show it or look like they own the place. Every dude in there is looking at the guys who are bigger then them and every girl is looking at everyone they want to look like, but no one is judging anyone for being there, I promise you that.

Once we realize that everyone is uncomfortable, we can start to get over our fears and start getting stuff done. Everyone is willing to support you and help you, and anyone will give you advice if you ask, just don't be afraid. If you want to get a head start on this, come see me at Xperience Fitness in Appleton or shoot me a message about what program would be the best for you to do based on your goals. Just having a good workout that you can feel confident in can make a big difference in increasing your confidence in the gym. Don't be afraid to ask because I will help you! Also, don't forget to subscribe to my blog while you're hear. You'll get a ton of free stuff like my Top Fat Loss and Muscle Gain Tips, a free macros calculator, and a free 30 minute consultation call with me to make sure that you're on the right track!

Why You Should Meditate Daily 56/84

For fitness goals everyone always focuses on diet and exercise, which is obviously important. But there are other major factors that people fail to even think about that could make or break your progress. One of those is sleep, which is arguably more important than diet or exercise for fat loss. The other is stress which, when too high, can absolutely kill any progress no matter what your fitness goal.  Here I am referring to the bad type of stress, called distress. Distress can make you fat, kill your gains, and totally wreck your hormones. We want to keep distress down as low as possible and in today's fast paced world it's becoming harder and harder. But there is one thing that can work for you better than anything in reducing stress and increasing mental health.

Normally when people think of meditation they tend to either think yoga or something a little more other-worldly. Most people don't think of it as something you should do each day to make your waistline shrink. While daily meditation won't have a direct effect on your body fat, it can have a very powerful indirect effect.  Meditation has been shown to lower cortisol levels and almost instant reduce stress, with the effects lasting for a decent amount of time. And as I said, lower stress means less fat.

Deep breathing exercises can also have a profound effect on posture and even back pain when done correctly. When you practice deep breathing through your diaphragm (not your chest) you start to relax the other muscle that are connected to it. All of our muscles are connected by a layer of tissue called fascia, and when a muscle is tight, it's fascia can pull on other muscles as well. As it turns out, the fascia of the diaphragm is connected to that of the psoas. Your psoas, which is a main hip flexor, is also connected to your spine. When your psoas is tight it pulls on your spine and can cause back pain, which is actually a rather common cause. This means that if you can learn to relax your diaphragm with deep breathing, you can give some relief to you psoas and thus your back pain. This alone, in my opinion, is reason enough to at least give meditation a try.

So here's where to start. Take 5-10 minutes out of your morning each morning and practice deep diaphragmic breathing. Either lay flat on your back (don't fall asleep) or sit up tall in a comfy chair. I have started sitting on the floor to help with posture. Breath in and out through you stomach, letting your belly rise and fall, and try to focus only on your breathing. Guided meditation can be great too. There are some awesome 10 minute or less videos on YouTube that can guide you through the process depending on what your goals are. Try this and let me know what you think, and keep in mind that mental health is just as important as physical health

How Your Morning Can Guarantee Success 51/84

I'm currently in the middle of listening to the audio version of a great book that I know is going to make a huge difference in my life. Obviously, because I have no yet finished the book, let alone take any action from it, there are going to have to be a few follow-up posts in the future. The book is called "The Miracle Morning" written by Hal Elrod and it's basically about how he used a daily morning routine to bring him back from 1. literally dying and 2. losing everything he had when the economy crashed in 2008. He goes on to detail the things he did each morning and how he used personal development to bring himself back from near-suicide to being even more successful then he was before the recession.

I was first introduced the Hal 3 years ago when he did an audio interview for Success Magazine. In that interview, he not only talked about how he came back from rock bottom, but also how he relearned how to walk, and overcame massive brain damage from an insane car accident. He said that the most important thing that helped him regain his life was his positive outlook, and he proceeded to say one of my all time favorite quotes ever. Although I was already somewhat practicing this, it was amazing to hear someone say what a huge impact on their life. I'm going to paraphrase because it's been years since I've heard the actual quote (and I can't find it anywhere) but it goes something like 'why would you waste your time and energy trying to change things that are impossible to change.' I love this and it really makes sense to me. Yes, you should be trying to change things in your life that you don't like, but there are some things that are out of your control and you should not waste your time, energy, or emotion trying to change them. Instead, accept the fact that you can't and spend you time changing the things you can.

Having a genuinely positive outlook on life can have an amazing effect on your mental and physical health as well as your relationships. I know this can be hard for some people, as often times people are pretty negative, but there are some strategies you can use to help change you mindset (I'm going to keep talking about this a lot) and make you more positive.

One of the biggest ways you can influence your day is by how you start your morning. This is what "The Miracle Morning" details so I'll give you quick synopsis of what you can try, but I encourage you to check out the book for yourself. Hal recommends things like; prayer/meditation in silence, writing in a journal, exercise, reading, using a dream board, and saying affirmations each morning to set yourself up for success for the rest if the day. All you need to do is spend as little 1 and as much as 20 minutes on each one of these each morning to completely change your day and your life. He mentions many times how this gets people excited to wake up each morning and even people who say they're not morning people start to get up even earlier so that they have more time to spend on their morning routines. I know a lot of this can sound kind of far out and other-worldly but it ties in to a lot of concepts that I have come across from other areas of personal development that I have done over the years and it can definitely be worth a try.

Although this book is meant to be more about being successful, you can adjust all of these things to help you reach your physical goals as well. I'll show you how each one of those pieces of the routine can help get you to your goal.

Silent Meditation: This has been used for centuries to help with physical and mental stress. Not only does it help calm your mind but it reduces mental stress and even blood markers of stress like cortisol. Lower cortisol levels help you workout more, recover better, and prevent you from storing so much body fat.

Journaling: Writing in a journal each morning can help you track progress throughout years of your life and help you express things you may have trouble with any other way. Obviously, keeping a journal of your workouts is a must, but a personal journal can tell you a lot about how you're feeling that day and what to focus on the rest of the day.

Exercise: Getting blood flow in the morning can have tremendous health benefits that last all day. It doesn't need to be long. A couple minutes of jumping jacks or yoga is plenty to get blood pumping.

Dream Board: A dream board is a physical board that has pictures of what you dream of in life. It could be a nice car, a house on the beach, or the body that you've always wanted. Use this board with mental imagery to see yourself being in the body you want and living the life you want.

Affirmations: This is repeatedly saying things out loud that you want to think about yourself, because how you feel about yourself is almost always how you're actually going to end up. Pick something that relates to you goals like "I am lean and healthy" or "I am strong and athletic" and repeat it out loud a number of times. You need to make yourself believe these things are possible if you ever want them to be.

I know some or all of these things can make people uncomfortable but you're never going to change if you keep doing the same things you have been. I plan of starting this tomorrow morning when I wake and I'm going to get back to you guys on how it goes. Until then, I would pick up the book for yourself and start working on your own Miracle Morning.

How Your Mindset Can Guarantee Success 43/84

Before you've even started a new challenge you've usually already decided wether you're going to succeed or not, even before your first step. It doesn't matter if we're talking about health, fitness, business, relationships, or anything else: the attitude you have when you start is almost always going to decide if you're going to be successful or not. Do you want to lose weight? Then you need to have to mindset of weight loss from day 1. Do you want to make more sales for your job? Then you need to have the mindset of a successful salesmen each and every day. If you don't believe that you're going to be successful then you've already decided that you won't. Because if you have that negative mindset when you start then you're going to be your own biggest barrier preventing yourself from doing it. That might sounds crazy to some people, but it might sounds super familiar to others.

Think about a time you've tried something and failed. We've all been there before. At first, you're probably making good progress, but pretty soon progress starts to slow and you start to doubt yourself. As soon as you start doubting yourself you start to think of all of the reasons why you won't be successful. Or, you start to think of all of the reasons why you don't really NEED to be successful. You start to justify failure in you're mind, you come to peace with it, and you quite.

Not let's look at the same vague example with a success mindset. You start making quick progress and everything is great. Then, when progress starts to slow, you realize that success comes in waves and that you just need to hold out until the next wave comes. You survive through the down period, making slow progress, then BAM! The wave comes back in and you start making huge steps again. When everyone else would have quit, the fact that you decided on success from the very beginning got you through the tough times and allowed you to continue.

If you've ever had a successful sales based job you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sales are always based on momentum (like most success) and when you hit that momentum you need to ride it as long as you can and do whatever you need to go keep that momentum up as long as you can. This really goes for anything.

You need to check your mindset and see where your thought are taking you. Can you see yourself succeeding in all of your goals? Can you see yourself 50 pounds lighter with a new life? Can took see yourself making twice as much money as you are now, with a new house and car? If not then you need to work on it, because this can be the single most important factor in your success if you learn how to harness it.

The biggest thing that has helped me so far is to try and learn every single day. Whenever I'm driving I have my phone plugged in with an audiobook or podcast playing. Every single time. When I wake up I listen too or read a book while I'm getting ready in the morning because it helps me each day with the right mindset. For me it's usually something fitness based, but I also listen to a lot of business and success books since it is just as important for me to be a good business man as it is for me to be a good trainer.

Adopting daily disciplines like this can be absolutely life changing. Maybe not overnight, but maybe so. I've been doing this for a few years how and I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't, and you wouldn't been reading this right now.

So think about how you can take advantage of this. How can you change your mindset so that you guarantee yourself success? What books could you read or podcasts can you find that will make you better? We're about to start a new week of a brand new month, seems like there's not better time to start than right now, so go get after it!

See you tomorrow!

How to Get Started 33/84

Ok so I'll be honest, I probably should have put up a post like this at the very beginning of this endeavor, but I also didn't really have a plan or quite know what I was doing yet. Even now that I'm over a month in, this post is just as important because new people are seeing these posts every single day. Even people who have been following for a bit will be able to take away something from this. I'll break this post down into four part; resistance training, nutrition, cardio, and supplements and talk about where I recommend someone who is brand new start on each one. Even if you have been in the game for a while but don't do some of these things, I would take a step back and make sure you have the basics covered before you proceed much further.

Resistance Training

First off, resistance training covers a lot of different things; lifting weights, using machines, bodyweight exercises, and resistance bands, to name a few. The benefits of resistance training include building muscle on a bulk, maintaining muscle on a cut, increasing strength, increasing mobility, lowering blood pressure, decreased risk of mortality and a ton of other things. The idea that lifting is just for meathead bodybuilders or athletes is long gone. Everyone, and I mean everyone, can benefit from some form a resistance training.

When you're just starting, I would recommend you do mostly full body workouts and do them 2-3 times per week. You're going to be pretty sore that first week so don't go crazy. Start with the basics and learn some exercises to squat, hinge, push, pull, and carry. These are the fundamentals that everyone should be able to do. You can add couple exercises for biceps or pecs or whatever, but the majority of your program should revolve around those five basic movements.

I usually recommend free weights and bodyweight exercises to most people, but if you have no experience at all, then machines can have some benefit. Your muscles are still working and you can still get stronger. I would definitely not rely on machines for too long, but they can help you get started.

My normal recommendation for sets and reps is 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps on most exercises. This is the perfect place to beginners. 8 reps being the lowest makes it so you can go too heavy and 12 being the highest will reduce some of the total volume that you do. You also only need 1-2 exercises per muscle group, per workout to get great starting results.

Lastly, don't be afraid to go and use the equipment and the free weights! I'm dead serious when I say that no one is actually watching you or cares what you're doing. Don't be worried that you look silly or that people are judging you, they're really not. One way to help get over this fear is to have a good program that tells you what exercises to do, that way you know that you're doing exactly what you should be.

Nutrition

This is always such a tough one to start doing. Not only is it extremely important, but most people either already have a terrible relationship with food or have no idea what eating healthy really is. The first thing I would do is to just take some time and become more aware of what you're eating. Turn off the T.V,  put your phone down, and actually focus on your food. See how it tastes, see how it makes you feel, realize how much food really satisfies you. You also need to make a baseline of how much you're eating right now. This could be tracking macros or not, just have some reference point. I would also start consciously making healthier choices each day. You don't have to be 100% for each meal every single day, especially when just starting out, though. The point here is to build good, lifelong habits, not starve and deprive yourself.

Here's the basic food types to focus on; fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and healthy fats. If the majority of your meals consist of these things, you're way ahead of almost everyone. Try to eat these things as often as possible and you'll make great progress. You should also increase the protein you eat (via lean meats usually) because most people are not currently getting enough protein in their diet. For my meals, I eat my protein and my veggies first before I even touch my carbs or fats. If you can fill up mostly on those, you'll eat less total food and be less hungry throughout the day.

Cardio

Since I've began posting on this blog, I've been getting a few questions about whether I actually think cardio is a waste of time, so I want to set that straight here. Cardio and conditioning are both really important from the health perspective. They help with blood pressure, resting heart rate, heart and lung health, and help with recovery from sport and exercise. BUT, with that being said, no form of cardio really has much of an effect on fat loss. This has been proven time and time again by research, most recently in a meta analysis of hundreds of different studies on the topic. It's very clear that diet has, by far, the biggest effect on fat loss, but you still need to do some cardio and conditioning.

I would start by building your base with some basic workouts. I love a 2-mile walk at an incline as well as something easy like a 30 minute bike ride. Depending on where you're starting, a walk/jog interval workout can be a good starting point as well. Eventually, I like to work people into sprint intervals but you need to build that base first. 1-2 cardio sessions a week is all you need for that. Things like playing games and sports are another great way to get some cardio in as well,

Supplements

I'll start with this; you need to get you diet together, at least mostly, before you even worry about supplements. Supplements are exactly for that, supplementing your food, not replace it. With that being said, the two main purposes for supps are to fill in any nutritional gaps that are missing from your diet and for convenience in certain situations. I don't care how perfect you diet is, there is still an extremely high chance that you are deficient in something. The only way to really know is to get blood work done, but that is definitely NOT where I would start.

The basics I would recommend are a multivitamin or greens drink, fish oil or other Omega-3, and a protein powder for you intra/post workout. Some people talk down on multi-v's but I think they are a good place to start if you have one that's actually good. Fish oil, on the other hand, is well proven to be extremely good for joint, skin, heart, and brain health. It's seriously amazing and important. Protein powder fits in to the "convenience" category and it not essential. But it is easier and faster to drink a shake during your workout instead of eating a chicken breast. And yes, I do recommend sipping 1/2 your shake during your workout and drinking the rest after. I also mix mine with some carbohydrates to increase the speed that it is absorbed. I do 1 scoop of Gatorade powder and 2 scoops of protein.



Hopefully these tips can get you up and moving and give you a place to start.  I know a lot of this can be overwhelming so please reach out if you need help. I will help you, and if I can't I'll send you to someone who can.  Finally, My Free Fat Loss and Free Muscle Gaining Tips are done! And I have to say that they're looking pretty awesome and I'll be emailing the to all of my subscribers soon. Those will be free to anyone who subscribes here. Right now you'll also get a free copy of the Nutrition Template that I use for myself and my clients. Subscribing will also let you join the private Facebook group that I just opened (I fixed the link). This group will allow for much more engagement with each other than my Facebook page so I can make sure you guys are getting all of the info you need.

See you tomorrow!

Facebook: Greg Herceg - Personal Trainer
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