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Have a goal for every workout: Fat Cells respond to progressive resistance by getting smaller!

What is the goal of this workout today?

We all come into the workout room with different needs, strengths, and expectations. To some, not having a specific goal for every workout is actually unfathomable.

My goal for this workout

Keep track of specific exercises that have been done in the past and perform in more progressively challenging ways. These techniques help you to burn more fat:

  • Perform the exercise faster on the concentric, and slower on the eccentric
  • Use more resistance than before
  • Greater amount of reps using the same weight
  • Decrease rest intervals without sacrificing heavy weight
  • Using heavy weights in a larger range of motion
  • Improving your form and technique with weights that you struggled with before
  • Combination of the above
Time constraints can be motivating, as is some healthy Orangetheory Fitness competition

Time constraints can be motivating, as is some healthy Orangetheory Fitness competition

I don’t often speak to these accomplishments even if it is noticeable it helps me stay motivated in fitness.

Examples of a good goal to have

Let’s talk about a treadmill goal to begin with. Of course we’re following a HIIT program and the ideal length for a treadmill workout is between 20-30 minutes.

You can try to improve your times in the following ways:

  1. Your one-mile time
  2. Your half-mile time
  3. Your quarter mile time
  4. Your tenth of a mile time
Kyle Anderson from Seattle on the right running hard

Kyle Anderson from Seattle on the right running hard

You can further improve fat loss by:

  1. Your .25 mile run at 3% incline
  2. Your .25 mile run at 5% incline
  3. Your .25 mile run at 7% incline

Then on a later workout once you have recovered, do your .25 mile run at 1% incline and you will likely be able to run faster than you did before at that particular incline!

Thus progress! Fat cells should get smaller due to this physical and neural progression in muscular contraction.

Once you have accomplished it, nobody can take that away from you!

It’s yours.

Now believe in it and go with it

Orangetheory Fitness Seattle Orangetheory Seattle Physical Fitness by Dre Weightloss Now
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5 Insights from Holistic Health for FAT LOSS

Want to burn more fat?

The goal seems simple yet our bodies respond in curious ways. Lets look at body composition.

Runners, explosiveness/strength vs endurance/distance

Differences in body comp, maybe its okay to be heavier than runway model standard or ultra endurance runner (r)

Think about body composition for a moment. You may notice an individual who is exceptionally lean no matter what they are wearing. Their body composition would indicate low levels of body fat.

How do we burn more body fat?

Focus on the gut

I think fat gets way too much attention, probably because you can see it. We can’t kill the fat cells, but we can make them smaller. The fat cells must receive hormonal signals in order to begin the burn of energy from fat cells. In other words, it’s the fat cells themselves that burn the fat, yet it’s the internal system that must first produce the signal.

Once you have a certain amount of fat cells, they can only shrink in size -- never disappear.

Once you have a certain amount of fat cells, they can only shrink in size — never disappear.

To signal fat cells to burn fat, the most common way is to workout. High intensity exercise can be short and still burn a ton of fat. The HIIT workout (example: Orangetheory) will burn fat mostly due to the hormonal release post-workout. These are the signalers that tell the fat cells to use energy and therefore get smaller.

The gut is complicated

Take a moment to think about all of the organs in your torso. There is much life within my human digestive system, it’s like totally ecological. There are so many billions of non-human life inside my body, it’s a biotic fiesta in my stomach. I like to celebrate with my gut and with my friends.

TBT may'n, back at LP Athletics trying to have healthy gut micro-flora

TBT may’n, back at LP Athletics focusing on strength and having healthy gut micro-flora

Aside from the fact that the digestive system is the biggest key to human immunity, the gut is ground zero for so many metabolic processes. The nutrients we consume from food contain catalysts for physiological, biological, and hormonal elements that life would be impossible without it. Therefore pure fat loss is impossible without nutrients.

Nutrients are the most valuable

Don’t leave it to scientists to discover everything, but it’s pretty amazing the advances in nutrient science with the last few decades. It’s unlikely we’ll understand everything about nutrition, but we can go on these ideas:

  • Nutrients come in many forms, for example: 
    • vitamins, minerals, water
    • dietary fats, carbohydrates, proteins
    • antioxidants, phytonutrients, fiber
  • Doing it right

    Doing it right

    • enzymes, pre-biotics, pro-biotics
    • curcumin, gingerols, dietary nitrates
    • etc
  • The goal is to improve symbiosis within the gut and surrounding organ systems between human cells and colonies of bacteria
    • Lactobacillus acidophilus is a commonly mentioned pro-biotic in our guts
  • A calorie is probably still a calorie, but most of us don’t really appreciate the depth at which food impacts our metabolic lives  24/7 including how fast the cells age!
    • Anti-aging strategies always involve exercise and nutrition
  • You can’t beat real food and herbal sources
    • Fresh, green food provides many catalysts for fat loss, and also for systemic health
    • High quality herbal extracts have benefited human health for thousands of years
  • It’s less about what you don’t eat, than what you do eat
    • Even if you restrict calories, you may be restricting nutrients as well
    • A low calorie poor diet is still a poor diet — dieters may become nutrient deficient if their food is not nutrient-dense.
    • The nutrients contain catalysts — cellular processes – sending signals to fat cells
    • Give your body a reason to burn fat, for example: antioxidants

You always knew it was about the gut anyway

If you’ve ever had a gut feeling, you may have experienced a range of feelings, emotions, and experiences from within the gut; Some pleasant, some anxious, others perhaps made you feel compelled to action.

Listen to the gut. Focus on nutrients. Simplify your life by consuming fresh vegetables.

And if you have a sweet tooth like me, you could be eating berries almost every day of the year. Blueberries are loaded in antioxidants. Give your body a reason to burn fat. Nutrients. Antioxidants. A reason.

You'll be excited about this when your eating window is only 8 hours long

YEEEE!!

Good luck my readership. May you eat mindfully and enjoy your existence inside and out.

and Digestion Immunity Nutrition Orangetheory Fitness Seattle Orangetheory Seattle
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Thoughts on Cyclical Nature of health and wellness

Most of what we know about life.

Is Cyclical

occurring in cycles; recurrent.

The cycles which effect life are mostly out of our control. Therefore, just as you can imagine people going through harsh winters, we must adapt (or move the heck outta there!).

Adaptation occurs through cycles

Sleep. Wake. Eat. Move. Rest. Eat. Sleep

Image

By eating certain foods, we add stimulus into the systems — the cycles become enhanced by antioxidants and energizing nutrients.

Cycle your fruits and vegetables, especially your supplements

Variety of beneficial nutrients is key. Focus on one goal at a time. Such as: Consume kale three times per week.

The following week you will be able to experiment with other fruits and vegetables. Listen to how your body feels when you eat these foods. If you are eating “enough” fruits and vegetables, then you should look very lean in the midsection.

Power of the Mind
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How are You with E. Coli beef and Salmonella eggs?

Food is life.

Life is like energy, incorporating food.

My fellow reader. We are the energy from nourishment — the nutrients of life. But something is taking away from that.

Sick eggs.

Bad bacteria in food is a serious issue. Half a billion eggs — taken off the market due to health risks.

Beef has it too

Bacteria are simple living organisms — constantly recycling basic nutrients for higher life.

Think of the bad bacteria that steal nutrients from cells. The good guys help you when you help them.

For now, this is about avoiding the bad bacteria. Half a billion egg recalls and now big beef comes into question. What isn’t in doubt is the importance of prevention.

How cows get E. coli.

  1. Diet
  2. Lack of nutrition
  3. Unfavorable touch and/or abuse (handling conditions)
  4. Dangerously unhygienic habitat grow space

Coming to a plate near you…

How to Protect yourself from E. Coli and Salmonella in Beef and Eggs:

Since you have heard the news, you’re already in the game.

1. Consumer education

What are you actually eating?  Where does it come from?  When was it grown or created?

Know your food.

Feed 'em right, so they're like angels.

2. Choose healthy options

Building from the first step, seek the good stuff.

Intuitively, you probably already know what it is. Whole foods, fresh foods, and real foods.

3. Prepare food at home to avoid standard restaurant fare.

Sure, if you forget to pack a lunch one day a week, you can get some Mexican food that day.

But for the rest of the days, prepare food ahead of time and pack it for lunch.

Ice pack + lunchbox = meal on the go.

IronMan2 drinks his Greens

4. If in doubt, cook the life out of it.

It’s known that heat kills bacteria. For example, some egg companies pasteurize the product before sale. So the bacteria is pre-cooked — you know it is pasteurized by the marking on the egg.

When at home, you can cook meat and eggs to kill bacteria. But if you verify that your meat was from healthy animals, then you can even leave some raw in the middle.

5. Buy local organic

Aside from the nutritional benefits of well-treated cows, there are greater health benefits as well.

Healthy is something that contributes positively to behavior and self-thought. Even though each cow must be ended, the healthiest cows feed us mind-body-everything nourishment.

Go for the beef, and make it grass fed. Chew thoroughly for optimal digestion, and rock on.

Your GUT is the Last Stand against Bad Bacteria

Anything that cant survive in a certain place, won’t survive for long.

The healthy immune system promotes a digestive environment in which E. Coli and Salmonella do not survive.

Bad Digestion is a warning signal!

If you hear other people talk more about digestion, you aren’t alone.

It’s common for people to have horrible digestion from the highly processed diets found in America.

For most, the intestinal flora is out of balance.

Too much acid, not enough alkaline.

Eat more vegetables. Green is known as the color of peace and ecology. Make it green, keep it clean.

To clean up the gut, consume Probiotics

Probiotics are non-human cells that are beneficial to the system.

Probiotic foods prevent disease and promote healing.

The best probiotic foods have this in common:

  • it is abundant with beneficial living cells
  • promotes positive enzyme potential

These probiotic foods contain beneficial lactic acid producing bacteria. In the gut, lactic acid acts as an environmental regulator for other strains of other bacteria. Healthy bacteria that has been with you since birth will thrive in this environment.

For example, from Probiotic Kefir I can easily consume over a hundred billion bacteria from one large serving. Now, most, of this bacteria will continue traveling on through my system.

A serving of Kefir

One serving of Kefir can:

  1. Promote assimilation of nutrients
  2. Relax the central nervous system
  3. Reduce the ratio of harmful bacteria in your gut
  4. Provide all eight essential amino acids
  5. Good source of Tryptophan — precursor to serotonin and a good mood.
  6. Excellent source of calcium
  7. Contains some Vitamin-K (MK7) which promotes constructive metabolism of bone tissue.
  8. Regulate blood sugar levels (great for diabetic)
  9. Gives you energy
  10. Aid in the development of lean muscle tissue
  11. Boost the immune system against bacteria, virus, and more.
  12. Contribute active enzymes

When it comes down to it, this food changed my life. I don’t go more than a day or two without it.

Let food be the answer.

Mass produced food is one of the greatest causes of disease, but it is also one of the greatest causes of human life.

Without massive globalized agriculture, billions of people on this planet would not subsist. But we have to find a balance. Our food is our life — by choosing your food, you choose your life.

So you have two choices. Cook the life out of all of your food, OR… make probiotic food a priority.

This is the difference between less than potential versus wellbeing.

WARNING: Healthy food may produce long lasting results

You are the answer.

Eat with confidence, my friends.

Nutrition, Immunity, and Digestion
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Supplement Uses

Digestive –

  • Enzymes (absorb nutrients from food, reduce bloating)
  • Apple Cider Vinegar (stimulates digestive function, among other benefits)

Immunity –

  • Probiotics (mutually beneficial relationship between human and bacteria)
  • Greens (powdered greens equaling five servings of vegetables in one scoop)

Vitality –

  • Bee Pollen Granules (nature’s most complete food, full of enzymes, vitamins, minerals, amino acids)

Stamina –

  • Whey Protein (extremely pure form of protein that feeds muscle, organ, and human tissue)
  • Rhodiola Rosea (a favorite herbal adaptogen to reduce stress and boost livelihood)

Heart –

  • Fish Oil, Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acid (one of nature’s most essential oils that your cells probably aren’t getting enough of)


Nutrition, Immunity, and Digestion