Trainer's Blog

An Argument for Weight Lifting

Cardio is difficult, but weightlifting is impossible. That’s what many believe, and yet every year lots of people purchase gym memberships and then never go to the gym. Something in the back of these people’s minds must be telling them that there’s something to this whole weightlifting thing. That or they want to be able to watch a 46” TV while pedaling on a recumbent bike that has a computer screen on it with web access.

The truth is, of all athletes, weight lifters are the lazy ones. They do as little as possible to get the job done, and it’s less than you might think. If they don’t feel like running, they don’t run. You don’t really have that choice in sports like football or soccer. Weightlifters often don’t even do any cardio if their diet is okay. As for a weightlifter’s weekly exercise regimen, it’s laughable compared to what pretty much any other kind of athlete does. In football you train every day, sometimes two or three times a day. Triathletes train everyday too, running, bike riding, swimming, as long and as hard as they can, and wearing their iPod for as much of it as possible because they’re so insanely bored by it all.

Weightlifters don’t need iPods. They don’t get bored. Their workouts are short, intense, fun and constantly changing because of the highly adaptive nature of the body. There are so many different ways to lift that, if you...

Sleep is the best meditation - Dali Lama
Are you lazy? Do you abhor physical activity? Do you despise diets and calorie counting? Do you think pizza delivery isn’t enough? Would you, if you could, have the pizza guy come in, set the pie next to the couch and feed it to you? Well my friend, you’re in luck.

Science has found a weight management technique that is SO easy, you don’t even need to be conscious to pull it off. Matter of fact, you have to be unconscious. That’s right, I'm talking about sleep. Research has shown that getting enough Zs will not only cause you to be less hungry throughout your day but will decrease your desire for harmful simple carbs and sugars by up to 40%! This in turn will help you control your weight and keep you bright eyed and bushy tailed to boot!

This effect is accomplished via the regulation of the hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin sends signals to the brain telling it you are full while ghrelin stimulates appetite. Dr Michael Breus tells WebMD, “"When you don't get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don't feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food."

In another study, it was found that sleeping 8.5 hours per night (in comparison to 5.5) led to the loss of TWICE as much fat and the maintenance of TWICE as much muscle! By the end of this study, the...

Sun Tzu, legendary Chinese General and author of The Art of War, wrote, “To win wars, you must know yourself and your enemy. If you don’t know one or either, expect to lose.” In the battle of the bulge, you are the aggressor and fat is the enemy. If you are to beat this enemy, you must first understand it AND yourself. At FastTwitch, we help you learn to understand and consequently control both.

Know Yourself

The biggest and most common mistakes I see people making in the gym every day are the following: 1) They depend too much on will power and 2) they train without first learning and/or knowing how to train safely and effectively. At FastTwitch, we have a simple belief – Will power is crap. Don’t believe me? Are you a millionaire? Are you built like a Greek god? No? How’s that will power thing workin out for ya? It’s not, is it? Systems lessen the need for will power by providing a set of rules that are clear and simple to follow. Follow the rules, you succeed. Fail to follow the rules, you fail. Simple as that. This form of governing one’s self via systems developed by people that are more experienced and know better and/or more than you do is the reason the Bible and the US Constitution are, have been and always will be so incredibly effective and popular. At FastTwitch, we’re simply doing our best to follow good examples…

Know Your Enemy

If you’re like 95% of the people that approach...