Your Choice - Achieve Your Fitness/Weight Loss Targets This Year OR Fail Miserably (This Tip Could Make the Difference)

Every so often, I stumble on a fitness-related tip that makes a BIG difference. This difference-maker tip will determine whether you meet serious fitness/weight loss goals or bomb out totally. It's about correcting the most common mistake made by well-meaning people getting started in a fitness program. It's called the goal snowball and if you use it properly, you will get fit in spite of yourself.

The origin of the goal snowball information is an email sent to Alwyn Cosgrove's list. I know him best as the co-author of the New Rules of Lifting book series (see the books listed to the right). He has taught fitness principles to thousands of clients and clearly knows what he's talking about.

If I paraphrase his email, it will likely lose something in the translation. Here is Alwyn's goal snowball email. Please read carefully and pay attention to his example.

Goal setting is still hard for some people. I'll often meet clients who are interested in losing fat and decide that they will start daily cardio, weight train four times per week, eat six small meals, cut calories by 20% and reduce their carb intake.

These are great goals -- but most people are trying to do too much at once. John Berardi has said that studies show that if you want to make one change in your life, you have an 85% chance of success. However if you try to change two things at once, your chances of success drop to around 35%. Three things at once? Almost zero.

The solution to this is to use the goal snowball, an idea I first heard of from Chris Shugart. 

Here's how to do it:
1) List five or six behaviors you need to improve or change to reach your goals. What do you need to be doing that you're not doing? What bad habits do you need to kick? What good habits do you need to instill?
2) List these things from easiest to hardest.
3) "Maintain" all your other goals and focus your attention on the first thing on your list (the easiest one.) Spend two weeks just focusing on achieving that goal so that it becomes a habit.
4) Once that change has been made and ingrained, move up to the next item on your list and focus your efforts there.
5) One by one, knock out these changes and/or goals.

For example: Maybe you sleep late. First goal might be to get up 30 mins earlier every day.Second goal might be to go to the gym as soon as you wake upThird goal may be to go to the gym four times a week instead of three.Fourth goal may be to make sure you always eat breakfast.Fifth goal? Reduce portion sizes at 3 out of 5 meals...and so on.

So in 10 weeks or so - you're getting up earlier - never missing a workout, have done an extra ten workouts, and eaten breakfast everyday,  while consuming less calories overall. These goals would "snowball" into a bigger overall effect with long-term success whereas trying to do all things at once would likely result in short term failure.

Busting Common Fitness Myths - Forbes Article

I stumbled on a very important article from Forbes.com about fitness myths. I thought I would add my 2 cents based on my experience boosting my fitness levels.

See what you think about these myths:

Myth #1  Exercise Can Erase A Bad Diet
This is a no-brainer. A bad diet is just not conducive to personal fitness, just as smoking is the antithesis of good health. If you think you can erase the effects of those 3 morning doughnuts with some afternoon cardio, think again!

Myth #2  You Just Need To Tone
There is no such thing as toning. Challenge your muscles with strength training if you want to look better.

Myth #3  Men And Women Need To Exercise Differently
Why? Muscles are muscles regardless of whether you're male or female. Men can grow them much bigger than women because of the hormonal differences.

Myth #4  Women Should Do Low Weights, High Reps
Smell the Roses, Ladies! Barbie Weights accomplish absolutely nothing!

Myth #5  Always Stretch Before Exercising
According to the Forbes article, "While this is the traditional advice, (personal trainer) Wiedenbach says stretching before a workout weakens the muscles and may increase the risk of injury." Alwyn Cosgrove's workouts (New Rules of Lifting for Women and New Rules of Lifting for Life) start with warmups and finish with stretching and foam-rolling exercises.

Myth #6  You Can Spot Reduce Fat
Just as it is impossible to tone your body, spot reducing will not work.

Myth #7  You'll Burn Only Fat At Your Target Heart Rate
The best exercise to burn fat is interval training. For example, you maintain a high stationary bicycle speed for 20 seconds and slow down to a low speed to recover for 40 seconds to complete an interval. You can work up to 10 intervals for a solid fat-burning session.

Myth #8  You'll Burn More Fat On An Empty Stomach
Without energy, it makes sense that you'll burn fat. But Wiedenbach claims that you'll also burn muscle, something you do not want to lose.

Myth #9  Shakes Are Great For Weight Loss
Protein shakes are perfect for expediting muscle repair (building muscle) after a strength training workout, not losing weight.

Myth #10 Eat Only The Egg Whites
This only applies if you happen to be allergic to egg yolks!

How A Core Strength Training Program Can Help You Lose Weight

Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove, the authors of The New Rules of Lifting For Abs: A Myth-Busting Fitness Plan for Men and Women who Want a Strong Core and a Pain-Free Back promise the readers who execute their workouts and follow their diet plan a fat-burning body with an improved and strong core (lower back, hips and abdominals).

Cosgrove is a fitness trainer with a track record of effective fitness programs IF you follow his workouts and eating plans. Schuler is an entertaining journalist who will debunk some very common beliefs; for example, restricting calories will help you lose weight. Yes, you will lose weight, but it's not the type  you want to lose - fat AND muscle. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to lose muscle. In fact, I'm about gaining muscle. Especially if you're over 50.

The following is a reviewer's take on Cosgrove's programs:

Alwyn's programs have several advantages:
1. They are eminently do-able regardless of your expertise or the shape you are in.
2. The workouts are compact.
3. The workouts are safe.
4. You don't have to know what you are doing.
5. The program adds mobility exercises and metabolic exercises to the mix. This allows you to get stronger while getting more agile as well. This carries over to every other sport you may engage, and is a prime consideration in not getting injured while increasing your performance.
6. The program addresses an appropriate fitness diet and lifestyle, and how to "think" about a fitness diet. The point of lifting weights is to get stronger. Poor nutrition, poor lifestyle and poor sleep will kill this goal dead in its tracks.

Here's the book - buy it and use it wisely:

P.S. When you do strength training, your body needs more protein for muscle growth. Use this Protein Calculator to help you select the proper nutrition for your program aimed at increasing the muscle mass of your body.