If you’re familliar with any of my past fitness articles in the past, you know how I feel about Swiss balls, stability balls, bosu balls, and other similar devices when it comes to effective and safe exercise.

Trainers don’t know what they’re doing, the balls are popping, and people are getting hurt!  Go check out my recent guest post on Super-Trainer about 3,000,000 exercise balls being recalled.

Here’s a video I took in the car on the way from Dickinson, ND to Atlanta, Georgia at the end this past March ‘09.

I know you may be thinking this is a no brainer, and in hindsight it was an easy decision. But this was a BIG DEAL - especially at the time. It’s not easy to make an uncomfortable and drastic change like this - leaving a reliable paycheck with no concrete plan in place to a new area, new apartment, no “real” job..

Since I had JUST dumped the gym, I was still riding on that high, as you can tell in the video - Watching this video again, I noticed I said something like, “I don’t know what’s going to  happen, but I think it’ll be just fine.”

Haha, I couldn’t have been more right - It’s one of the BIGGEST and BEST decisions I’ve made, and I’m not looking back.

If you’re on the fence about making the change, just DO IT - Since this video, I’ve traveled to LA, New York, have made several contacts with successful trainers and internet marketers, and have gotten a nice tan, have received my first big online paycheck, and have got to meet with some college friends I haven’t seen in a couple years.

As my buddy Kaiser once said, “If you haven’t dumped the gym yet, you need to get on that ASAP!”

Anybody have any similar life-altering experiences or thinking about making one?  Leave your comments below.

Technorati Tags: career, life, marketing, moving, personal training

Everyone warned me about it, but it’s true - I’m already missing college. Yes, even the grueling Biomechanics Lab days where our professor would set up 40 stations where we’d have 30 seconds a piece to give the correct muscle, muscle attachment, or bony landmark on the body…

Anyway, my buddy Mike over at AskTheTrainer.com is creating a database of Kinesiology and Exercise Science degree reviews from trainers across the country.

I recently did my college degree review of the Georgia Southern University Exercise Science program.

You can find it by clicking the link above. You can probably sense my own bias in the review, but can you blame me? I happen to like my school. Lots of good memories there. Read the rest of My Georgia Southern College Degree Review on AskTheTrainer!

Technorati Tags: askthetrainer, georgia southern degree-review, kinesiology degree, personal training degree

Click play above for audio

Question:

I’m a 16, male, have been lifting for about 2 years, i weight about 160lbs and my wrestling season just got over. Before wrestling, started I had about 12% body fat, then I dropped about 8lbs for wrestling. Anyway, I will be a junior in high school next year and I started varsity as a sophomore at linebacker. I hope to play college football at a linebacker, but I need to gain some weight, and I was wondering: -What is the best way to gain a lot of muscle fast? -What muscle will give you best success on the field? -Which ones to work on the most, and are there any supplement’s you would recommend?

Now I feel where you’re coming from because I was in a similar situation in high school. My primary sport was baseball, and it was the sport I wanted to focus on. But, I wrestled from the 6^th grade through my sophomore year in because I liked the sport and the competition. Read the rest of Gain Fast Muscle for football: What to do, what to eat?

Technorati Tags: audio, diet, exercise philosophy, exercise selection, football, hypertrophy, Nutrition, Performance, strength training, supplements, wrestling

Question:

Doug I’m, 39 years, female, 5′ 2″, 224lbs - I started exercising and eating right about 1 month ago and I’ve lost 5lbs. I have a weight loss goal of 100lbs and that could take a year or more to achieve. So I thought that I could also have a fitness level goal as well. Do you think that participating (actually running) in a 5K in June 2009 is too much of a lofty goal? Thanks

Answer:

First, Happy New Year, and congrats on losing 5 pounds on your own in your first month of change!

And I want to commend you on:

1) Actually taking ACTION, in changing your eating and beginning some form of exercise – and sticking to it for an entire month.

I read somewhere recently that it takes between 30 – 90 days to cement a habit and lifestyle change. What’s even more interesting is that it takes the MOST willpower during the initial 30 days, while it actually becomes EASIER to keep a routine going, the longer you go. This means that on days 1-10, you really have to just grit your teeth and make yourself prepare salads, get to your workouts, avoid sweets, etc. But the longer you go, the more the habits become AUTOMATIC, so you do them without thinking.

2) The second thing I’d like to comment on is your use of the deadline – This is a concept I’ve yet to mention on this blog. The use of deadlines is a very effective tool in your goal-setting arsenal.

For example, have you ever had a project, test, or other chore that just HAD to be done by in a certain time period? We humans are pretty good about getting things accomplished when this is the case. Think about it – how many bills would get paid if there wasn’t an actual due date and the company just told you to send the money in when it’s convenient? If it were me, I’d probably be in debt with a credit score in the 300’s.. – Somehow the deadline makes you get off your butt and get stuff accomplished.

On the other side of the coin, have you ever had something that you know you needed to do, but just never seemed to get done? It’s sort something that’s always on your mind, but you never seem to be able to get it off your to do list?

Well the same thing applies to making LASTING OVERHAULS to your diet and exercise. (Which, by the way are the two keys to losing fat - despite what some late night infomercials want you to think).

Here, you’re using June 2009 for a specific 5K event – Make sure you know the exact date of the event and mark it in bold on your calendar. Somehow having this deadline for a time where we HAVE to be ready to run seems to have a profound effect on allowing us to accomplish our goals.

Now to answer your question..

YES!!

Okay, so you’ve probably figured out that weighing less makes it easier to run – It’s easy to see that with less weight on your body, it takes less energy to move. Also, it’s much easier on your joints, making it a more realistic option when choosing appropriate exercises.

So..

Traditionally, us trainers are taught in our certifications and textbooks that a realistic and safe rate of fat loss is approximately 1-2 pounds a week. Although I personally believe it is very realistic and perfectly healthy to lose weight even faster.

For the sake of this question, we’ll say your goal is to lose 2 pounds per week.

Now, to see how whether it’s realistic to make your goal, we just take the number of weeks until your race and multiply it by 2.

I don’t know the exact date of your race, but we’ll say June 20^th (a Saturday).

Starting next Monday, you have 21 weeks until your race.

So here’s what you do..

Set a 21 week goal to lose 42 pounds, and plan on weighing 179 by June 20th 2009. Unless you have some kind of injury, 179 should be plenty light enough to run in your 5K!!

Make sure to take this main goal, and break it up into a series of mini-goals along the way so that you make sure you’re staying on track. For example, after 11 weeks, you’d want to be down to 202 – After 6 weeks, 212, and so on.

If you’re not hitting your mini-goals, you know that you need to change something in order to get there.

So way to go in making a change for a month – Be sure to look around this website and others for tips on what changes you can make to your diet and exercise today in order to get you the fastest rate of fat loss.

More people are writing in, which is good, and I’d like to see some more comments – That will help me address the stuff that you need on here. So use the Ask Doug section and the comments section, and I’ll talk to you soon.

Technorati Tags: 5k, deadlines, fat loss, goal-setting, lifestyle change, running

I ate a few too much heavenly chocolate (my Grandmother’s secret recipe) and pumpkin pie over the holidays - I’ll admit it -

So I figured…

Why wait until 2009 to work off a few of the fat pounds I put on?

Here’s a glimpse into my 30 minute fat loss session that I just returned from (My heart is STILL beating fast). It doesn’t seem like much, but I kept the rest periods short and believe me, the intensity was high - I refuse to be fat - haha -

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The Workout - Quad Dominant, Vertical Push, Vertical Pull

A1. Neutral Grip Dumbell Push Press, 35’s - 12, 12

A2. Close Grip Chinups, BW - 10, 7

A3. Bulgarian Split Squats, 35’s - 10, 10 / leg

B1. Walking Lunges holding a 35 lb plate overhead - 10, 10 / leg

B2. 1 Arm Dumbell Swing, 30 lb dumbell - 15, 15 / arm

B3. Triceps Duck Unders (I needed this rest station, the swings killed me), 12, 10

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I tried to keep the rest to under 1 minute between sets, and I think I was in and out of the gym before some of the other people switched exercises!!

Happy New Year, and I’ll talk to you in 2009!

Technorati Tags: fat loss, Program Design, quick workouts

Question:

I’m a high school football player and have a potential college career. i want to burn fat and gain muscle. how do i do this. should i take protein shakes concidering i workout 5 days a week. or should i just do tons of cardio. etc. any advice is welcomed. also if i pack on 5 pounds i dont care. as long as its good weight. how do i go about this and would protein shakes help?

Answer:

Before I answer your question I’m going to get a couple of thoughts out of my system.

First of all, if your goal is to play football at the next level, your only concerns should be what you should do in order to get there. One thing I can say without even knowing you is that one of your goals in training is to get stronger (if not, it should be). I’ll assume this is what you mean by gaining muscle, so you’re on the right track here.

As far as losing fat, be careful. Are you looking to lose fat in order to look good for the ladies? Or do you have a weight issue that can hinder your performance on the field? Make sure that if you’re trying to lose any fat, it’s the latter reason.

I’m not sure what your position is, but if you’re a lineman of some type, forget about the 6 pack! Really. Look at your favorite linemen in the NFL. If you get them to take their jerseys off, I guarantee you won’t see any rippling abs. Why not? Because it’s all about PERFORMANCE.

Trust me, I wasn’t in high school all that long ago, and I have to admit that I wanted my mirror muscles to show - chest, abs, and biceps were all that really mattered at times.. But wouldn’t you rather to have the body that allows you to DOMINATE on the field? That’s what’ll really impress the ladies…

Anyway..

If you’re at a skill position, that ripped type of physique is more realistic and should come along with proper training and nutrition, so don’t worry too much about it if you’re a wideout, corner, or even a safety - it’ll come.

Now about your training regimen and nutrition..

Training Regimen

Every time you do something in your training regimen, you need to ask yourself the following question:

“Is this going to make me a better football player?”

Is doing “tons of cardio” going to make you a better football player? Since football is an anaerobic sport (I think the average play is around 7 seconds or so), then the answer is NO. Why train your body like a marathon runner? It makes no sense. You want to be able to perform explosive, powerful movements for short periods of time - And then be able to repeat it over and over throughout the course of the game. So this is how you should train!

Explode. Rest. Explode Rest. Explode Rest… You get the point..

If you find a high level football player running in any 5K races or jogging on the treadmill, let me know, and I’ll give you 20 bucks (it can’t be a kicker).

Right now, you should be just beginning your off season for football. If you’re not playing any other sports, the off season is the perfect time to get stronger, as you don’t have to worry about any grueling practices or important games - It’s your chance to put in your work and show up to practice next summer with a new body.

If you work hard in the off season, you should have build so much muscle, there won’t be much room for fat on your body.

But..

If you still have too much body fat at the end of the day, the problem isn’t in your training–you may want to look at your nutrition–are you eating junk?? If so, stop it.

Nutrition

You are on the right track in knowing that protein is important to build muscle. Before worrying about a protein shake or supplement, make sure you’re eating healthy, staying away from soft drinks, eating vegetables, and including a source of protein in every meal. If you’re already doing all this, a protein supplement can help in that it’s an easy way to fuel your body between meals.

Say you’re between meals, and don’t really have time to cook up a chicken breast or cook up some ground beef. Now’s when a shake comes in handy as it allows you to supply your body with the protein it needs between meals.

It’s not that using the powder is better than eating real food (it’s not). The reason to use the powder is that it’s fast and convenient. It’s a way to get your 40-60 grams in without having to cook up 7 complete meals every day.

If you train hard and eat well consistently, you’ll have a true advantage over your competition.

I hope this information helps, and I wish you the best of luck in your career!

Technorati Tags: fat loss, football training, Nutrition, Performance, sport specific training, strength training, training-philosophy

Hey! Sit tight, I have some more content and answers to some questions on the way.

In the mean time, would you take a quick 30 second survey for me? In exchange for taking my survey, using the honor system, I’ll give you some personal coaching on your current program, or whatever you’d like. Just send me an e-mail with your question to:

dg (at) douggroce (dot) com and put “survey” in the subject line.

I’m thinking something like 3-5 e-mail exchanges to get you started on your program.. Maybe more if that’s what it takes..

Thanks a ton - You can go take the quick survey here.