2009 Strongest Athlete competition

I just got off the phone a couple hours ago with Joe DeFranco. This year his Strongest Athlete competition will have a bonus division for Fire/Police/Military! Check out the video below and make sure you sign up early, he said the spots are pretty limited and will probably be gone in two weeks or less.

The secret to accidental fitness

This week I've shared with you two blog posts in which Dr JohnBerardi talks about losing body weight (and body fat).

The first one talks about how important incentives are forchanging your body. And it goes on to incentivize you with awhopping $10,000.

Could The Chance To Win $10,000 Help You Get In Shape?

The second one shows you how to coerce yourself into stickingto the plan, even when the motivation wanes.

Enter "the best kept secret in weight loss."

Finally, today, I have one last post to share.In this one, Dr Berardi talks about something called"accidental success."

For most people fitness is a struggle. Others, however, seemto sail through life; they're lean, fit, and strong, and theyseem to do it effortlessly. Almost...by accident.

No, it's not genetics. It's something else. Something you too can use to get into the best shape of your life.

Learn the secret to accidental fitness

The best kept secret in weight (and fat) loss

The other day I sent out an email link to a video of Dr JohnBerardi talking about his two latest programs - Lean EatingFor Men and Lean Eating For Women.Far and away, the most frequent questions had to do with his$20,000 prize - $10,000 to the top female winner and $10,000to the top male winner.
Click here to check out the blog post announcing this amazing prize: Lean Eating

Now, today, I want to share with you a post covering the flipside of the 10K prize. In other words, if the prize is the carrot, today's video talks about the stick.

You see, Dr. Berardi's a coaching expert. In fact, he'sprobably the most successful nutrition coach in the health andfitness business.

And after speaking with him, I realized that there's somethingpowerful to this idea.You see, the biggest transformations - body transformations orotherwise - are accomplished when people have big incentives.

And I'd say 10 thousand bucks qualifies as a big incentive allright.But big inspiring goals also need some potential punishment.

Or, some risk.And in today's video, Dr Berardi shows you how to coerceyourself into sticking to the plan, even when the motivationwanes.

Enter "the best kept secret in weight loss."

So, if you're REALLY interested in changing your body andyou'd like a little extra incentive for doing so, this isdefinitely a program you need to check out.

Again, this message is time sensitive. From what I hear thereare A LOT of people clamoring to get in on the program.

So check out these posts below. I know you won't bedisappointed.

Could The Chance To Win $10,000 Help You Get In Shape?

The Best Kept Secret In Weight Loss

Could the chance to win $10,000 help you get in shape?

When Dr. John Berardi dropped me a line the other day,telling me all about his new program, I thought for a secondthe guy had lost his mind.

Now, don't get me wrong. I respect Dr Berardi. He'srecognized as one of the top nutrition coaches in the world.

And his programs get people results. Fast.

However, when I watched this video he sent over, and learned that he's giving away $20,000 of his own money, he definitely got my attention.

Check out this blog post for yourself.

Now, to qualify for this reward, you have to participate in the Lean Eating program. But that's a no brainer. You shouldwant to do that ANYWAY if you're interested in body transformation because there is nothing else like it.

You get 6 months of world class coaching, the type of coachingyou can't find, well, anywhere. And, during these 6 months, if you achieve the best body transformation, you'll win 10K.

Worst case scenario, you come out with the best body of your life. Best case scenario, you come out with the best body ofyour life, and 10 GRAND.

So, I highly encourage you to check out this post below. In it, Dr Berardi shares with you two critical components for body transformation success.

And then he tells you exactly how one man and one woman are going to swoop in and claim $10 G's of his own money.

Now, this message is time sensitive. No, it's not gonna self-destruct or anything. However, spots are limited in thisprogram. And LOTS of people want in.

So, if you're interested in finding out exactly how to eat toget in the best shape of your life, click the link below.

10grand may be waiting for you on the other side: Lean Eating and $10k

Testing this out, guess we'll see if it works ;) www.redwhiteandbluefitness.com

Is your workout making you a liability on mission?!

Some of you have asked about the overall load of stress on the body and why it's imortant

Really when you dig into it, it's more than just the CNS. There's a whole flurry of hormones that are affected by stress as well. Head on over to RMAX International and click on 'Magazine' on the top menu, select Volume 7 Issue 3, then jump to page 27. There is an excellent article by Kathryn Woodall of the effects of stress related to exercise, health and diet. I've outlined some key points below.

"If there is Physical Stress that is high enough for you to be wondering if you need to compensate for it, you probably do.

If your diet is of poor quality greater than 15-20% of the time, your exercise and hormones are likely to suffer as a result.

If you're exercising at high intensity every single day, you are not giving your body a chance to rebuild and repair even if you're eating well and keeping the rest of the stress your life to a minimum. Do it for long enough and your hormones will no longer be able to compensate so that you will get injured and be sick more frequently. Add in extra stress and that is a recipe for trouble.

The glands[adrenal] go through three phases of functions beyound their typical day to day activities.

1. Alarm Phase
Cortisol and DHEA are high
Function is heightened
This has no negative side effects as long as it's short lived
Symtoms are considered good by most people because of the "high" associated with this phase
Exercise typically doesn't need to be adjusted for this phase as long as the stress is short lived."

I'm sure you can see where the deployed enviroment can make for some serious problems. Who has a diet that is high quality better than 15-20% of the time in a deployed status? No one. Exercise can also be interchangable with daily mission load, it's all physical. So high intensity exercise combined with daily missions pretty much guaruntee's an injury and feeling like crap. Phase 1 of adrenal fatigue can be stimulated by flight or fight response. Getting spooked once a tour is ok, all the time you will be in Phase One adrenal fatigue. Also the deployed enviroment eventually takes it's toll and even office jockeys can slowly start sliding into phase 1 after a long tour.


This has only explored the hormonal aspects. The CNS operates basically the same way. Too much stress and it starts to short circuit and stimulating the adrenals. Quite a conundrum!
So what's the fix? Adjust your exercise to mesh with mission load, regardless of whether it's a physical or mentally taxing mission, but especially the physical. Eat as best as possible. Even eating all the "healthy" things in the DFAC won't be good enough. Most the meat and imported products just aren't high quality enough, you'll need a good supplementation plan specifically directed towards providing nutrients. Feel your body, you know it best. Don't let competition in the gym destroy your health instead of improve it! Research and practice relaxation methods, something as simple as relaxing stretches before bed concentrating on hip flexors, neck and back.

Olympic weightlifting sophistication

Technical sophistication. These olympic lifts seem cool, but aren't they dangerous? No. Not when progressed properly and the actual lifts are coached. They are actually one of the safest sports injury wise. Safer than general lifting weights. There are over use injuries, but you are getting them, you are probably working with some world class coaches that will help negate them.

These are just the way I like to progress things. Taking somebody with no experience to technical lift. Some people may be able to skip and progress in a matter of hours. Others may take years. Find yourself an USAW Club Coach to teach you proper mechanics when you get to the dowel rod phase. They are much more common than you would think(I'm one) and your football coach in high school most likely taught you incorrectly.

-Deadlift and it's progressive variations(bodyweight, sandbag, kettlebell/dumbbell, etc)

-High pulls with various implements(bar, med balls, kettlebells, sandbags, etc)

-Kettlebell swings, this teaches the hip drive while using the arms as only attachments and not doing any of the work. Swings and high pulls may be taught at the same time.

-Overhead throws, these teach 75% of what an olympic lift is. Taking something off the ground and getting triple extension(ankles, kness, hips) Use various implements and odd objects.

-Kettlebell and sandbag clean and presses. Find a good kettlebell coach to show you these and you'll be very close to having the technical mastery needed for O-lifts.

-Dowel and PVC O-lift skills practice. I like to use this as a warmup prior to lower body work. Muscle snatches are excellent for warming up the shoulders prior to grappling or upper body work.-At this point you should get a coach to analyze form, at a minimum send a video in to a coach if you don't have one near by. Don't go past this point without professional coaching unless you can promise to never ever blame a single injury on olympic weightlifting. I love the sport and it is extremely safe, but there are millions of douches giving it a bad rap when they have never even bothered to take one hour out of their life to have someone teach them properly.

As a side note the actual bar lifts have only two advantages over other implements. Heavier weights and increased coordination skills. For the majority of people the kettlebell/sandbag and odd object(logs, kegs, etc) lifts will be enough. I view the actual olympic lifts as the very end goal after years of skills sophistication or as a hobby sport.

The sandbags used in the above exercises are the Ultimate Sandbags. A normal sandbag would not really allow this type of exercises efficiently. Ultimate Sandbags have properly placed handles while still maximizing the unknownness of sandbag training.