4 Must Know Tips to Get Your Six Pack

 I can honestly say (and maybe not the best training I have done) but I did not do any isolated ab work for my first few figure competitions and placed 1^st and 5^th (not too bad). The reality of it is your diet and weight training has a far greater impact on your washboard than any number of sit-ups, crunches, or hours on the “Ab blaster.”

 Let’s cut out the fluff and get to bottom of this…

1    Everyone has a six-pack. It;s true, you really do. If you were to strip away the layers of adipose tissue you would see a nice rectus abdominis (stomach muscle) that has that definition you hope to see in the mirror.

2 Sits ups will not get you a six-pack.Yes sit-ups will help strengthen your abdominus muscles (that is if you do them correctly – do not strain your neck!) but the reality is they aren’t doing anything to bring those muscles into visability. Think about it for a second. How many times have you seen the guy at the gym who has that tire around his waste doing sit ups everyday but nothing looks different? Sure hisstomach muscles might be in great shape endurance wise and utilize oxygen efficiently but do they look any different? Nope.  This is not to say you cannot do sit ups on your quest for your washboard, but it is saying if you only run and do sit-ups, you will not be washing your clothes anytime soon.

3 Abs are made in the kitchen. Okay, I know, I can be really cheesy but let’s face it, whoever coined this term was a genius in my eyes!  It’s true. Remember what we said about the tire?  In order to make this go away, we must alter our nutrition. Nutrition is about 80-90% of the task when it comes to optimizing our physique and performance. Start by replacing major starches such as bread, cereals, rice and pasta with vegetables, lean protein, and complex carbohydrates such as brown rice or quinoa.  To big of a jump? Cut out the soda, and stop drinking your calories!

4 A complete weight lifting routine will be  “bringin’ sexy “abs” back.” Yup, that’s it Justin Timberlake can help you get through a sweat sesh to get those abs. The reality of it is, you are training your core while you are training other body parts. This is especially when performing large movements such as squats, lunges, pull-ups, & push-ups. Of course like any fine-tuning you can do some isolation ab exercises to chisel them out a little bit, but the bulk of getting those ridges will be achieved through heavy total body lifting.

And there you have it, the quick and dirty on getting your six-pack to show. It’s not easy (let’s be serious if it was everyone would have one), but it’s not impossible! And next time you’re in the kitchen as yourself, will I be able to use my washboard if I eat this? J

Until next time, remember Abs are made in the kitchen and eat your lean protein!

Kel

Master Your Mind with Dr.Jump, Shawn Myszka

If you haven’t been able to pick up on the theme of these articles, they all tie in an element of the mind. Whether it’s making it a point to go to the gym, choosing a salad over a sandwich or doing one thing you fear a day, all of these endeavors involve the psyche. One man who has mastered his own mind, and now is consistently helping others master their own is Shawn Myszka. Former bodybuilder and now known as Dr. Jump, Shawn is a strength and conditioning expert working with NFL players in Minnesota.

Now you might be saying what does an NFL coach have in common with me? The truth is a lot. Not only are we interested in our health, but if we can take something away from Shawn about the power of the mind, we are closer to becoming our best. I am constantly motivated and inspired when speaking with Shawn and I hope after reading this article you are as well! Let’s talk to Shawn!

KV: Being an elite athlete takes a lot of work. Reflecting on your training and eating now vs when you were competing, how do they differ?

SM: My life and the day-to-day of it is drastically different these days. During my bodybuilding days, everything was laid-out. I ate the same things at the same times each day (no matter what day it was…Christmas, Thanksgiving, my b-day, etc). I napped from 1:30-2:30pm each day. I did cardio to start the day at 7am. I trained at night from 7-9pm. I meditated from 5:30-6:30pm. It’s just the way it all was. I was a machine. Now, there is not very much structure nor could there be. Depending on the time of the year (like during NFL training camp/season preparation), I may be working 14-16 hours days.

Because of this, even though I try to take care of myself and my body as much as possible, I only get to train 1-3 times a week. I honestly don’t do any resistance training anymore on a frequent basis. Instead, I perform movement-based training so I am fully and physically prepared to be able to sufficiently demonstrate exercises/drills to my NFL players. That said, I could still get under a squat bar loaded with 4 plates on each side and rep it out…the function of my training (movement-based) has allowed me to keep a great deal of my former structure (muscle and strength qualities). My nutrition has changed significantly as well. There are days where I am busy training athletes from very early in the morning till very late at night with little to no break all day long. So, on those days I may get to consume nothing but meal replacement shakes and energy drinks (sorry I am not sorry!). Then there are other days, like right now when I am traveling to go from training camp to training camp, where I have to eat a lot while on the road. None of that would’ve led to as successful of results when I was competing but it’s the nature of the beast now and it still allows me to achieve the goals for my lifestyle because those are much different now as well.

KV: How would you say your mindset has changed from your days of bodybuilding to where you are today?

SM: You know, most people find it odd when they hear that my mindset really hasn’t changed all that much from my bodybuilding days till now. There is good reason for this. Any success that I ever achieved in any aspect of my life can be traced back to the way that my mind ticks. When people find out that I used to be a pretty big dude (5’6” and 275lb in the offseason constitutes as big right?), they automatically think that I must really like the way that muscle looks, etc. That’s not what bodybuilding ever was for me.

Instead, I just always wanted to be the best at whatever I could. I just happened to have a high aptitude for the sport of bodybuilding from a very early age because of what it required from participants. But my mentality is what made me. It’s the reason I was able to go a handful of years without a single cheat meal and the reason I was able to gut-check through injuries that would’ve sidelined most human beings. Thus, it (i.e. the activity) could’ve been chess or knitting or whatever…I was just always committed to going all-in with it if I was going to do it. Thus, when I retired from the sport I just devoted the same type of passion and energy into different avenues. This is the reason why I now apply myself with deliberate effort and intention on a daily basis to my current craft of producing the most masterful athletes in the National Football League. 

KV: Now having the opportunity to work with professional athletes, what is a fundamental mental training component you instill in them in terms of a successful mindset? Are there any similarities between the average person and the professional athlete in terms of the mind?

SM: I have found that among the 1,696 athletes playing professional football (53 on each team among 32 teams), there really is very little difference in their physical characteristics compared to one another. Instead, the thing that often allows the best to be better than the rest is the substance that lies between the ears and inside the chest.

Unfortunately, pro athletes are as susceptible as the rest of us to the negative self-talk that can ensue if we choose to listen to the outside world or just look for short-term gratification from any initial achievement steps being taken. They (the pro athletes) just happen to be able hide it a little better than others through their supreme confidence (otherwise known as swag).

That all said there are definitely similarities between the average person and the pro athlete when it comes to mindset. At least there needs to be if we are all going to be able to fully realize our goals and aspirations. On the surface, the average pro athlete may appear to be wired completely different mentally. Though it is true that they hit the sperm lottery when it comes to their physical capabilities, they often have the same mental barriers that they must overcome (as I alluded to above). Fortunately, we can all do something about developing a champion mental set. I work to instill this in them from the start. Our very first training session isn’t typically physical at all. Instead, he and I sit down and talk through who it is that he wants to be…without limitation. We are trying to remove every SINGLE limit off of him and out of his mind. Being realistic is the fastest way to mediocrity. Thus, I want to know everything he wants to achieve in his life in the sport (and sometimes outside of the sport as well). This is where one’s passion and energy is going to come from…his (or her) purpose. People with that level of passion have the opportunity to change their world. So I encourage them to verbalize these sometimes outlandish goals for their lives. They are only outlandish for those that don’t have any business achieving greatness in the world.

KV: Can you tell us a little bit about your morning, when you wake up, what is the first thing you think and do?

SM: This is a great question because I firmly believe as though people can significantly impact the outcome of their entire day based on the outlook that they start their day with. I also believe that an attitude of gratitude is the only one to have if we want to appreciate our current life situation as well as attract more great things into our lives. Thus, it may sound odd, but I start each day by first being grateful for me waking for that day, everything that I am on this given day, and everything that the new day will bring. I notice that if I go without doing this, I won’t have the mindset required to keep things in perspective as the day unfolds in front of me. I then go to reminding myself who it is that I am and what it is that I want to achieve (not for that day but for my greater overall vision). I will go as far as telling myself, for example, “today I will make the best players in the NFL even better. I have a unique opportunity in front of me to impact the world.” This all happens before breakfast so by the time I hit the road I am ready to conquer the day.

KV: If you were to give us one piece of advice regarding the power of the mind, what would that be?

SM: No matter how I answer this question it is going to seem like it is filled with nothing but clichés of sunshine and rainbows. But I have found (not only in my own personal life but also with my athletes) that there really is no way to overestimate the power of our minds and what we are truly capable of if we tap into it by possessing the optimal mental attitude. Thus, my own piece of advice is to never underestimate what you are truly capable of! You will need to truly see with your unique vision what it is that you want and you can have anything that you foresee in this life. You will need extreme, unwavering faith and belief that this can come true no matter what the outside world is showing you or what others are telling you. You will need to continue following the path of your vision and belief with total commitment even if you may fail temporarily at times. And when you reach and achieve what it is that you set out for, you can and should be proud but never ungrateful as well as never content for you should realize that it is part of something bigger for not only your life but for others as well.

On that note, never underestimate yourself! Get out there an take a step toward your dream today!

Have an amazing day! See you tomorrow,

Kel

Is Work Sabotaging Your Diet?

Let’s face it, we’re all busy and it can be difficult making the best decisions for our health, especially when it comes to nutrition! Couple this with a hectic day at the office and it doesn’t seem so unrealistic that the meal plan you started on Monday has been forgotten by Wednesday. 

When I am at work I get the sense that I am the “food police.”  I never comment on things but I do stick to my game plan and others pick up on it. In turn, when I am around, whether on purpose or not, my colleagues seem to keep that candy drawer closed. How can we make this easier for ourselves and others? Below I list out 4 simple tricks to prevent falling of the wagon week after week!

1.     Plan. First things first, if we don’t plan ahead for the week or even the day, we are setting ourselves up to take the easy road. What does this mean? If the boss says we’re ordering Pizza, you eat the pizza. Instead, on Sunday evening, take a few minutes to think about your week. Will you be eating breakfast at home or at the office? If so what will it be? A protein packed shake and a piece of fruit is a convenient option to have on the go. Next move to snacks, and lunch. Any lunch meetings or special events? Think ahead to those and figure out now what you will eat.  Will you bring a healthy salad? Or choose that meal as your weekly reward me? The clearer you are about planning your week, the more likely you will stick to your eating agenda.

2.     Prepare. Set aside time during the week to go to the grocery store! Not only will it be forgiving on your waistline but on your checking account too. Think about how many $10 salads you buy at Sweet Green or Whole Foods! Don’t get me wrong, I love these places, but it adds up! Whether its ten minutes the night before, an hour on Sunday, or the day of, build time into your day to  prepare your snacks and meals. If the food is in the refrigerator or on the counter you be more likely to eat it than if it isn’t there at all.

3.     Stock. Stock up your office! Pick up some nuts, apples, cans of tuna, your favorite protein bars, a can opener, and plastic ware. Keep a water bottle there as well. I know it may sound silly, but seriously having these things around will help when hunger strikes. It can also save you from rummaging through your coworkers candy drawer. That’s the worst: mid- afternoon hunger pangs and the next thing you know you’ve downed a bag of Reese’s.  Walk past the candy bowl. Better yet, create your own “candy bowl” and fill it with Larabars or fruit.

4.     Decide. Decide ahead of time that you are committed to your healthy lifestyle. Do not be easily influenced by coworkers to indulge. It is easy to say, “Well, it’s just today.” But trust me, those “just today’s” and up to weeks, months, and before you know it, you’ve become another statistic: as of 2010 69.2% of Americans 20 and older were overweight or obese!

The next time your colleagues ask you to lunch, what will you do? You’re gonna stick to you game plan J!  Let me know what tools help you succeed with nutrition at the work place!

Sources: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.  20130. Obesity & Overweight. Retrieved on August 15, 2013 from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm.

Cardio with Jill Coleman

One of my best friends in the world jut happens to be one of the best fitness experts in the world J I may be biased, but Jill Coleman has opened up my eyes and heart to following my passion for fitness. We met back in 2004 at Wake Forest University where we would meet religiously at 6:30am to train. She still teases me for being the only college student to get up that early for “fun.” We would talk about our goals of competing and gracing fitness magazines. Jill has done that and so much more already and she’s barely in her thirties!

Jill is the owner of JillFit Physiques, a business partner with her husband of Metabolic Effect, a National Xfinitiy Fitness Personality, a professional figure athlete, and a great author. Today Jill spoke with me about cardio, something I think we all have a love/hate relationship with. Here’s what she had to say.

KV: A few days ago I wrote about high intensity training and an effective cardio workout in 20 minutes. Can you tell us your philosophy on interval training and its benefits for health and physique?

JC: The bottom line when you’re talking fat loss is intensity, not duration. And though it sounds counterintuitive, the only want to boost intensity is to build in rest to your workouts—hence interval training.

The more you rest, the harder you can push. This is the basis for Metabolic Effect’s Rest-based Training (RBT) concept and for fat loss, it works great. Push until you can’t; rest until you can. Because intensity is most important for results, I usually keep pushing segments to 60 seconds or less, and rests vary from 30-90 seconds. In general, shorter and harder is best!

KV: I know from our good old days at Wake Forest, we used to be Cardio Queens, you would have the Stairmill, I'd take the treadmill, we'd switch. I think we've both experienced the down side to hours upon hours of daily cardio. Can you elaborate on why endless cardio is not beneficial to overall health and optimal metabolism?

JC: Adding more and more minutes to your cardio routine is unsustainable and can definitely damage your metabolism in the long run (especially when paired with chronically low-cal or low-carb dieting).

When you use cardio as your primary tool for fat loss, the more you do, the more you have to continue to do to stay the same size. A study came out a couple years ago that showed that for distance runners, they had to increase their mileage by a certain percent each successive year just to maintain their weight. Ugh.

In short, that kind of volume is simply unsustainable, but at that point, you are caught up in a cycle where your body expects a certain amount (is operating at a certain volume) or else you gain. Not fun. Breaking the cycle takes time and strategy. Not to mention, your metabolism becomes less and less responsive the more up and down your weight fluctuates.

One other thing to remember, is that the more cardio you do, the more your hunger and cravings increase. So the cycle becomes: do more cardio, get hungrier, eat more and then need to do more cardio to “exercise off the extra cals”—not a great place to be.

KV: Ok, so people are probably asking, how do you lose weight if you are only doing 45-60 minutes of cardio. Can you share your secret with us?

JC: I actually do a lot less than that J I focus on weight training first and foremost. I train heavy with weights 5 days a week for 30-40 minutes each. I will usually do track sprints 1-2x/week and maybe 10-20 minutes of interval training 1-2x/day, plus lots of slow, restorative leisure walking.

I’m personally at the point now that I don’t need or want to lose weight, I simply want to enjoy my workouts, do the least amount of cardio possible in order to maintain my weight and muscle mass.

But for those who are trying to lose weight, focus your energy in the kitchen. You only have so much willpower and using it up by doing hours of cardio each day leaves you with very little to resist food temptations. For fat loss, nutrition is the gross control, while exercise is the fine control.

KV: What does a week of cardio in the world of Jill Coleman look like?

JC: Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday, I do the following:

10-15 minutes of interval training on either the stepmill or treadmill, followed by 30-40 minutes of heavy weight training, followed by 30-60 minutes of leisure walking (the last piece I don’t consider exercise because it’s restorative)

Wednesday: I train heavy legs by itself, plus leisure walking

Saturday: I do track sprints. Either 8 x 80m or 6 x 200m.

KV: Any advice for the annoying voice in our heads that says, you didn't do enough?

JC: The thing that always helps me maintain perspective is the fact that ultimately, I want a cardio routine that I could do forever. Two hours of cardio a day is simply unsustainable.

And if you find yourself having to clock more and more minutes to simply maintain your weight, you’re in a cardio cycle and can potentially be damaging your metabolism long term (not to mention be miserable!).

So instead, ask yourself, “Could I do this regimen forever?” and if the answer is no, then head back to the drawing board. Sustainable exercise will be a) time-conscious (not take hours), b) fun or enjoyable (you don’t dread it) and c) it will get results (remember those??). If you’re logging time on the tread, don’t forget to measure!

The right amount of cardio, in my opinion, will be the least amount you can get away with and still maintain your physique.

If you’re interested in trying my favorite INTENSE cardio interval and sprint workouts, I recently put out a workout workbook containing my tried-and-true routines: The Cardio Acceleration Workout Workbook. [link: http://jillfit.com/cardio]

Thank you Jill! Tweet at us and let us know your cardio regimen @kelleyvargo @jillfit #cardio

Have a great weekend everyone! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Xo,

Kel

How to Have a Healthy Happy Hour

I’ll never forget one of the biggest symptoms of culture shock I faced when moving to DC: HAPPY HOURS! Seriously! Coming off of competing in my third show, my happy hour(s) were spent at Urban Active getting in my second round of cardio. The idea that someone would forgo their evening hours at the gym to be social and drink was absurd to me (and sometimes I still think that way). I quickly learned though being in the politically driven city that one of the most common ways to network was by attending this early evening “drink fests” or at least that’s what I had imagined them being. But more seriously, although I am not a huge fan of happy hours, due to their association with drinking alcohol, I do see their benefits in terms of business and social life.

I think we often underestimate the impact alcohol has on our overall health and physique. At 7 calories per gram, as a society we aren’t reaping many nutritional benefits from this liquid.  There is some truth to be told in the nickname “beer belly” because excessive alcohol consumption is linked to abdominal adiposity. In fact, once in the body alcohol actually acts to prevent the breakdown of fat and increase the storage of fat (1).  Not only these, but often these calories we drink are in addition to our normal dietary patterns, thus resulting in a surplus of energy consumed, resulting in weight gain.  That’s one of the reasons I like to always say, “Don’t drink your calories” – we often forget about those when it comes to our nutrition. Now I am definitely not a calorie counter, but I do acknowledge that they matter and if we are consuming copious amounts of food and drink, especially junk, I will feel and see the impact of it.

If it is an occasion where I decide to drink, I try and stick to the least calorically dense drink or a glass of red wine. When deciding on a mixed drink I tend to go with Vodka and a diet soda or soda water with a squeeze of lime. I also stick to a two-drink max when I am drinking and save it for a special occasion or a weekend evening. It’s not to say that alcohol is inherently bad but consuming it often and in large quantities will not produce the fitness and health results that you desire. In fact research has demonstrated moderate drinking (1-2 drinks per day) can have preventative effects for cardiovascular disease (2).  

Another helpful hint I like to use when I am dining out is one I adapted from Jill Coleman, and that is “Booze or Bread, but not both.” If I am going to drink then I will forgo the calories I would have consumed from the bread and vice versa. It’s a balancing act.  Enjoy life, be healthy and practice the balancing act!

Again, moderation is key! Enjoy your weekend ahead!

Until Tomorrow,

Kelley

References:

Alcohol, Nutrition, and Health Consequences

Nutrition and Health 2013, pp 371-381Chapter 29. Alcohol, Overweight, & Obesity. Sasiwarang Goya Wannamethee.

Li Huige, Forstermann, Ulrich. Red Wine and Cardiovascular Health. Circulation Research.  September 2012. American Heart Association.  111 (8)  959-961.

Cardio: Is 20 minutes enough?

Is 20 minutes enough?  First and foremost keep in mind that all cardiovascular activity is better than zero.  The next question we need to answer is what is our goal? In order to reap the benefits of cardio on our cardiovascular functioning, we need to overload our heart. Just as in resistance training, we need to overload a muscle if we want it to become stronger. You wouldn’t become stronger lifting 5-pound weights day in and day out. However, if you throw in a few heavy lifting days a week, you would see improvement in your strength.  The same holds true for our hearts.

Now let’s think about this again, what if you tried to lift your max seven days a week? Chances are you wouldn’t be able to and you might even get hurt. The same idea holds true for cardiovascular activity. You might be able to train at close to max intensity multiple days in a row, but chances are your body is not recovering and you are likely preventing yourself from reaching your potential.

Ideally, the goal should be to strike a balance between over-load and not over-doing it.  The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 20-30 minutes of high intensity workouts at 77-90% of heart rate max to improve overall health and fitness (1). This time does not account for the time spent warming up or cooling down.  The number of times per week at this intensity depends on your goals and fitness level.  Elite athletes may train at this level daily where the average person should aim to train this way three times a week in an effort to improve cardiovascular activity.  If one is trying to lose weight, additional cardiovascular sessions will likely be needed, but not all have to be at an intensity of 77-90% of your heart rate max.  (insert link for heart rate max).

Remember, all exercise counts. If you are pressed for time, a high intensity workout may be the perfect workout to reap the maximal benefits.  Ideally, try to get in at least 3 good, intense sweat sessions a week that will overload your heart! Of course, make sure it is okay with your physician before you engage in intense exercise!

Segment	Minute	Speed
Warm Up	0-5	6.0
	5-10	6.5
Intervals	10-11	3.0
	11-12	9.1
	12-13	3.0
	13-14	9.2
	14-15	3.0
	Repeat until minute 40	Increase run speed by 0.1 each run
Cool Down	40-45	3.0

Here is an example of a high intensity morning treadmill workout I do three times per week. You can always shorten the intervals as well as the time spent running!  Let me know how it goes!

References: 1. ACSM’s Resources for the Personal Trainer, 2^nd Edition Lippincott Williams & Williams 

Give it a shot and let me know how it goes! Tweet me @kelleyvargo #HighIntensity

See you tomorrow,

Kel