You are SO Close!

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Do you feel like weight loss goals are hopeless and overwhelming? Are you struggling with that last 5 lbs of stubborn body fat? Working on melting the last of that spare tire or muffin top before summer?

The great news is that you are almost there. You are so close and you don’t even know it. We all know that to lose fat we need to eat less calories than we burn. That’s a fact. It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 lb of body fat. We either need to burn more fuel (calories) or take in less.

Guess what? If you are not currently gaining weight/fat, then you are eating a perfect balance of calories to maintain your current body composition. This means that it is only going to take some small changes in your habits to produce a calorie deficit. An extra workout or a few smaller than normal meals will put you in a calorie deficit and thus produce some level of fat loss. Obviously, the more habits that you change the greater your results, but any change will produce a positive outcome.

Instead of viewing your weight/fat loss goals as daunting and unattainable, think of them in this light. If you are currently not gaining weight, then you are SO close to losing it!


Rick Mayo

What I'm Reading

Surprisingly, given my writing skill and spelling ability, I do read quite a bit. Maxim has some of the most insightful articles!






















I usually have a few reads going at the same time. I find that too much business advice, self development, technical info or "fun' doesn't hold my attention, so I like to mix it up a bit.


1. Talent is Overrated- Geoff Colvin- this is a must read for coaches, business leaders or anyone who strives to be the best in their particular field. You think people are born with natural talent? Think again.

2. The Fighters Mind- Sam Sheridan- I loved Sheridan's first book, A Fighters Heart, and so far this one is just as good. In this book, Sheridan takes us into the minds of men who choose to step into the cage to face another man wearing nothing but his underwear and who would like to choke you into submission. More enlightening than it sounds.

3. Crazy Love- Francis Chan- This should be titled "tough love" as Chan gives us a different take on spiritual commitment. Regardless of your religious affiliation, it will make you think.

4. Advances in Functional Training- Mike Boyle- This is compilation of Mike's work in the strength and conditioning field. As usual, Mike makes complex training techniques and philosophies easy to understand. I highly recommend any of Mike's products to newbies or advanced coaches.

That's it! Between whipping the world into shape, trying to pump the pythons over 16 inches and keeping the wife and kids from killing me, that's all I have time for at the moment.

Wait- I lied. You should really take 75 seconds and watch the following. Gotta love the Shake Weight!

Enough About Fat Loss!

Nope. Sorry, but the reason that 80% of people exercise is to manipulate their body mass in one way or another. The number one reason- fat/weight loss.

So here ya go:

From Brad Pilon

Alright,

Here's the real truth about weight loss.

You don't need to understand hormones to lose weight.

It doesn't require that you understand HOW fat is oxidized.

In all honestly it doesn't even require you understand the
difference between protein, carbs, and fats...

You just need to find a comfortable way to eat less.

Learning about the newest discovery in weight loss science, whether
it's stuff like Leptin, FGF-21 or some other hormone...it doesn't
change the way your body loses fat.

Just because it's new to you, does not make it new to your body.

"New" hormones aren't new to your body. They've been there the
entire time.

In other words they are 'new' to us, but not to our bodies.

There are no secret weight loss techniques that cause you to burn
15,243% more fat.

In fact, there are no secrets at all. Your body has this whole
"weight loss" thing figured out.

There are no catches or tricks. It is a physiological process, just
like how your liver or kidney works...meaning the actual inner
processes are completely out of your control, but are running
perfectly.

The bottom line is this: Far too many people 'read' weight loss
research as a form of entertainment. Mostly, they're looking for
good marketing.

They end up spending way too much time theorizing about what MIGHT
work, instead of concentrating on what's BEEN working this whole
time.

Eating less, moving more.

Your body knows how to lose fat, you just need to give it the
opportunity to show you what it can do.

RM

Monthly Minute 2- Meal Frequency is NOT Important for Fat Loss!

What? Are you serious? But you told me 10 years ago that I needed 6 small deals a day. That my metabolism would decrease, if didn't eat several small meals.

Well, we've learned and as it turns out, meal frequency has no bearing on your fat loss success. Research comparing as many as 17 micro-meals a day vs just 1 large meal produce the same fat loss results, as long as the calorie intake is constant.

As matter of fact, in the latest Alan Aragon Research Review, Alan presents a study where not only were the fat loss results the same for the less frequent meal group, they were also more satisfied on the reduced calorie diet than those who ate 6 meals a day. Hmmm.



The take home message is that calorie intake is THE determining factor for fat loss.

RM

Exercises You Should Be Doing- Walk Over Push-ups

Let's face it- push ups are one of the best upper body conditioners that we can do. I know they seem old school and boring at times, but you can't deny the benefits. I like to "put some lipstick on the pig" and spice up our push up variations. Not only can you make push ups more challenging, but you can prevent clients from wanting to jump through the front window (drop and give me 20) with just a little variety.

Benefits: first, this variation is simply more challenging for your chest, shoulder and arms than a conventional push up. Also, this is a great scapular stabilizer, which means it is awesome for your shoulder health, your posture and your core.

Execution: Use a box that is 4-6 inches in height. When you walk over the box keep your body as still as possible. This may look easy, but you will be surprised at the core strength it takes to remain motionless through the middle of your body.

Progressions: the next progression with these is a plyo push up. Explode from the bottom position and essentially land on the other side and explode back.

Especially good for: anyone looking for an advanced push up variation. The plyo version is perfect for strikers, MMA fighters, football players or anyone who needs more explosive pushing strength. See below:





Enjoy!

RM

Gyms of the Future

Will NOT have a large chicken nugget platter in the middle of the room :)













Here is a piece I came across written by Andrew Heffernan. I remember first reading this several years ago and thinking, "He is talking about our gym!" fast forward a few years and more and more facilities are following suit....for good reason.

Check it out:

If you can look into the seeds of time
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favors nor your hate.

Macbeth, I.iii.59-62

I'm not in the business of prognostication, and I don't exactly want to imply that I'm one of Shakespeare's witches, but I think I know what the next big thing in fitness is going to be: playgrounds for adults.

Here's what I mean.

I enjoy going to gyms, but, with few exceptions, most of them give me a nagging feeling of claustrophobia. Gym owners seem to feel that unless their gyms are stuffed to stem to stern with equipment, they're wasting opportunities to appeal to still another demographic. 'We better have Hammer Strength, we'll lose out on the unilateral-machine training crowd. And we better have a half-dozen slide boards so that Rollerbladers will be able to get their off-season workout in. And Nautilus equipment, because there's still some of those guys around..." Pretty soon there's barely enough room to move between these clanking, rusting hulks called 'exercise machines' and you feel like you're exercising in a sardine can on the space shuttle.

What gym owners seem to be going for is a shotgun effect: shoot as many options as possible onto your membership and hope that something hits them. But my experience with new clients suggests that they don't want a million options. They want clarity. Faced with a seated leg curl machine, a standing leg curl machine, two different types of lying leg curl machines, a blub in SELF on the Swiss-ball leg curl, and a convenient "workout card" that says "Leg Curl, 3 X 10," is it any wonder how few gym members actually go to the gym, much less follow the workout plans outlined for them in their handy free hour with a trainer that they get when they sign up?

Half the reason that 'Curves' has lasted as long as it has MUST be that the workout programs are so simple. I'm not allowed there, but I understand it's a one-size fits all kind of place: everyone does the same circuit every time they come in. Hardcore types may scoff, but simplicity SELLS. It's APPEALING. Ever heard of a little device called the iPod? One button. ONE.

Let's face it, so few people achieve real results in a gym: real weight loss, real strength gain, real body reshaping, even significant improvements in how they feel, that clearly those criteria are NOT how we judge our gyms. We judge them on whether it's convenient, relatively inexpensive, and FUN. That's why we go.

The ubiquitousness of the current crop of gyms means they've got the first two things down pat. But aside from the occasional fitness freakzoidal triangle like me, your average Joe hates going to the gym. And I don't have to squint to hard to figure out why. They're too complicated. They're stuffed with imposing-looking equipment that's hard to figure out. It's hard to move around. They're not welcoming places.

So what's the remedy? Adult playgrounds. No, not the kind where paunchy middle-aged stockbrokers buy Mai Tais for girls in sarongs. I'm talking about gyms with a LOT of open space for things like sprinting, agility drills, sled pulling, medicine-ball throwing, tire flipping, sledgehammering. There'd be gymnastic-style equipment: maybe not a pommel horse or uneven bars, but perhaps a vaulting horse, a balance beam, some still rings, a high bar, maybe a trampoline? Sure, you'd have some machines around the edges for rehabbing injuries and working some hard-to-reach places. And there would be scads of Olympic bars, lifting platforms, and dumbells, along with the appropriate benches and racks to use with them. But the vast majority of the place would be empty space. So people could move their bodies around. Like they've been doing since the dawn of time.

For a period of time I took my daughter to a place called Gymboree, which is the toddler equivalent of what I'm describing above. I don't have to tell you what happened whenever she set foot in that place: she took one look at the wide-open room filled with padded climbing, jumping, and swinging equipment, and all but sprinted around the room at full tilt, laughing hysterically before she attacked the first piece of equipment that called out to her. And nearly every other kid had the same reaction. Okay, I had the same reaction, only I wasn't allowed on the stuff; I had to stand around spotting my daughter while she did a whole bunch of really cool things.

Now again, I'm weird, but I'd still wager that most adults would love this kind of gym, too. Sure, a client would need help creating a holistic, beneficial program out of all this new equipment, but new gym members need that right now anyway. But even without a program in place, something like a trampoline is so self-explanatory that someone new to the place could just sidle up and start jumping. It seems painfully obvious that if gym members are doing something challenging and fun, they're more likely to stick to it, and therefore more likely get the results they want.

A gym like this would almost give the lie to the phrase "working out." I think they would recapture something of the fun of vigorous play we used to do as kids.

Maybe we could even call it "The Recess Gym."

How about NPPT?

Whew! Back to normal randomness.

It is spring break in the ATL and it is arguably our slowest week of the year. Literally, everyone goes on vacation. It is a great week to catch up on stuff at the gym.

PS- Much to her delight, my daughter will never go on a spring break trip without me!



- The gym renovations are finally finished and cleaned up and I have to say, I love it. More space and some new toys to boot. I'll get some pics up in the next few days for you or you can check it out on our Facebook page.

- My consulting business has really increased over the last few months. It is such a strange market right now and facility owners are scrambling to figure out how to develop and keep business. One simple tip- provide the absolute best customer service possible every single day in your facility. Address members by their names, thank them for coming to your facility and care about their results. Just these few habits will place you ahead of 75% of other facilities.

- I am considering my first high tech phone now that I am traveling a bit and find the need to actually set/keep appointments and communicate outside of the gym. I am leaning towards the iphone, but some folks swear by the crackberry. So confusing! Any opinions?

- Speaking of traveling, I will be taking a 1 month motorcycle trip this summer! The first few weeks will be spent leap frogging my family for various family trips. Then I will be heading to Indy to visit Mike Robertson and attend the FMS certification. I usually take a week off in the fall to ride and camp with a few buddies (think Wild Hogs), but a full 30 days should be interesting. I have a great team that thrives when I am away. Hmm, kinda makes me wonder.

- I sometimes underestimate how much I value my workouts and health. I have been battling with a sore right shoulder and it has limited my ability to perform some of my favorite movements. Not a big deal as I can easily work around it while it heals, but a bummer nonetheless. I did my first "normal" workout in a while and it felt great. Not that it was physically any more beneficial than what my alternative workouts have been, but because it was just plain fun.

- Speaking of fun we have over 30 members and our entire team competing in The Warrior Challenge. It looks like a blast (you get to drink beer and eat turkey legs after) and a pretty good workout. We were planning on hosting some specific training sessions for the event, but I realized that our consistent clients will crush the event with the training that they already perform. They just need to jump in a few mud puddles on the weekends and they are good to go.

Technical info in the next few days!

RM