The following true story is an admissions from a gym regular, me. My weight training routine is a six-day split which means that I hit each muscle group once a week and split them up between six days. On the seventh day I either do cardio only or sometimes take a day off to fully recover. Friday is arm day, biceps and triceps, my favorite. Great mirror muscles, bi’s and tri’s are fun to get jacked up. My usual workout partner has been unable to train with me the last four weeks so I’ve been going it alone. I thought I’d been working my arms pretty hard but then I realized this morning I was wrong.

                  Washing my hair in the shower after today’s killer arm workout, I could barely reach the top of my head. What was different about today’s arm workout? Every exercise we did was fresh, exercises we'd not done in several weeks. I’d become complacent, allowing my routine to get stale, forgetting about one of the most important resistance training principles. Muscle confusion.

                  Get Fit, Lean and Keep Your Day Job is not only a proven fat loss and conditioning guide. My program also breaks resistance training down into its fundamental components; muscle isolation, training to failure, muscle confusion, and recovery. Training alone the last month, I became guilty of one of the most common workout routine fails. Pressed for time every morning to get my workout in, shower, catch the ferry, and get to work, I had been conveniently following the same routine. Doing the same exercises each week for each muscle group became part of that routine.

                  Today however, was different. After traveling the last month, my training partner made it in today and wanted to hit arms hard. His enthusiasm inspired me to do entirely different exercise than I’d done in several weeks. Let’s be clear, I train hard every day, every week. I walk out of the gym every morning feeling like I’ve gotten a good workout in. But I’d forgotten what it feels like to activate dormant muscle fibers.

                  Biologically speaking, muscle development is simply an adaptive response to stress. We semi advanced apes are able to adapt to our environment. Weight training triggers an adaptive growth response. We develop and maintain muscle. Conversely, we adapt to sitting at a desk all day by losing muscle mass and getting weaker. When we do the same routine using the same exercises week in and week out there is no new stress for our muscles to adapt to thus no growth response. We may be able to maintain what you’ve got but you’re not going to make a lot of gains. By changing up our routine and doing different exercise every week we are engaging, activating, recruiting, and ultimately stressing different muscle fibers. Changing up your routine by doing different exercise each time you hit the same muscle group is the optimum method of triggering our inherent adaptive growth response.

                    Muscle confusion is an important principle. Learn it, live it, follow it, and you will get results.

Yours in Fitness,

J. D. Griffin

Author, Get Fit, Lean and Keep Your Day Job

Certified Sports Nutrition Coach

The road to a fit, lean you is paved with challenges. Your success will depend on how you deal with those challenges. Today I want to talk about taking control of your nutritional environment. And by doing so, you will avoid unhealthy meals, junk food, and snacks.

There are three key times that often lead to unhealthy or detrimental eating:

1.     At mealtime, when you’re rushed and need to eat something fast

2.     Anytime during the day when your office is filled with lots of sugary and flour-laden snacks

3.     When you’re traveling and have to eat at airports, restaurants or at your hotel

In order to set yourself up for success at losing fat by eating according to the Get Fit, Lean program, you need to control your nutritional environment. That means that you have to plan your nutrition ahead of time, take your own meals and/or snacks to work, and make smart choices about food when you’re traveling.

What do I mean by all this? Well let’s go over the 3 scenarios I listed above.

1. Mealtimes When You’re In a Hurry

How many times have you been in this situation:

You’re in a rush because you need to get to work but you’re starving and didn’t have time to make breakfast. So you duck into Starbucks and grab a Mega Giganta-Muffin and a Carmel Macchiato. Or you cruise the McDonald’s drive through for a McGriddle and hash browns. Or it’s lunchtime and you’ve only got 30 minutes so you hit the sub shop on the corner for a foot-long turkey and cheese mayo bomb and a bag of salt & vinegar potato chips. Congratulations, you’ve just consumed a ton of sugar, flour and calories, and spiked your insulin, putting your body in fat-storage mode. This reaction to flour and sugar is explained in detail in the Get Fit, Lean and Keep Your Day Job book.

Situations like this can be avoided by planning your meals ahead of time (I like to do it the day before) and pack and take your breakfast, and/or lunch with you. I also keep ready-to-drink protein drinks in the fridge at home and at work so that if I’m rushed but need some food, I can slug down 30-40 grams of protein instantaneously without having to prepare a meal or even stop to eat. You can also take your own protein drinks in a shaker bottle. If you buy off-the-shelf ready-to-drink shakes, be sure to read the label and pick one that doesn’t have added sugar. I like Muscle Milk and Muscle Milk Pro 40 for that reason. Now I’m not saying to replace all your meals with protein drinks; what I’m saying is this is a way to have something that fits your nutrition plan when you’re in a pinch. Whenever possible, pack and take a balanced meal (like a broiled chicken breast, some whole grain rice, and a vegetable packed in an easily microwavable container).

Fast food joints aren’t the only places peddling sugar and flour laden crap – stop into any gas station, convenience store, grocery store, or retail store such as Home Depot or Bed Bath and Beyond, and you’ll find a huge selection of candy and junk right by the checkout lanes. Don’t let a sudden craving, coupled with the fact that you don’t have something healthy nearby to eat, derail your nutrition planning.

The bottom line is that you have to be the master of your domain, to quote Jerry Seinfeld. You control what goes in your mouth at meal times, and so you must ensure you have the healthy food and snacks at hand to stay on track with your nutrition.

2. Office Snack Bonanzas

As JD wrote in his previous post, the holiday season is here. If your workplace is anything like mine, that means a lot of people will be bringing in treats to share. And as kind and thoughtful as that is, the snack foods that populate office lunchrooms and communal work areas are typically the absolute opposite of what you should be eating to get fit and lean.

So just like I advised in point #1, it’s imperative that take your own snacks to work. A handful of raw almonds or a healthy nut mix is a great way to get some protein and healthy fats without sugar or starchy carbs. Protein drinks or on occasion protein bars (again, check labels for added sugar and avoid them if they have too many carbs/sugar grams) can be filling and help you reach your protein macro target for the day. A whole-grain unsweetened granola is a complex carb option that’s easy to keep in your desk drawer. You get the idea – the bottom line is that you need to pass up the Krispy Kremes, home-made cookies, bacon pretzel bites, and chips & salsa that takes over the lunch room, and stick to foods that will fuel your body and help you lose fat and stay fit.

3. Eating on the Road

I travel a fair amount for work. And when I was pushing 190 it was partly because I was making poor food choices when I was sitting in an airport, out at business dinners or eating at hotel restaurants.

So first off, I always travel with my own snacks (see above). Nuts, granola, a shaker bottle with protein powder (I can mix water in it later and shake it up), and low carb protein bars are my faves. They easily fit in my carry on and I can eat something when I’m hungry.  I also make a point of only drinking water, rather than one of the soda or juice options offered during a flight.

If I’m going to be staying somewhere for a few days, when I get to the hotel, I find a nearby store where I can get healthy food. I was recently in Austin for a week-long conference. I googled grocery stores and located a nearby market that carried my favorite ready-to-drink protein drinks and stocked up for the week. They were a life saver multiple times during the week because there were almost no healthy food options at the convention center.

Eating out at restaurants can pose challenges to your nutritional sticktuitiveness, but there are a few things you can do to minimize the impact. First of all, if possible start off with a good dark greens salad (kale, spinach, etc – not iceberg lettuce – and go easy on the dressing, oil/vinegar or just vinegar is best) or some sort of protein as your appetizer. Avoid fried appetizers and starchy items, and don’t eat the bread that’s sitting on the table. Next, order a sound protein source as your main course. Broiled or baked fish, chicken breast, lean beef, or sashimi are examples. Ask them to swap any starchy side (mashed potatoes, pasta, risotto, etc) with roasted vegetables. And drink water or tea instead of soda or lemonade. And of course, don’t have the Great Wall O’ Cake for dessert. If alcohol is being served, I strongly recommend that you avoid it if possible, or limit the quantity if you must imbibe. You can ingest a ton of calories in alcoholic formats, and it can cause you to crave carbs. It also can weaken your resolve to avoid dessert. Let’s face it, after a few glasses of wine that chocolate lava cake seems like a great idea, just like calling your Ex.  

I know some of you are saying to themselves “Duh, who doesn’t know this” but I’ll tell you that in talking to people in my travels, and after observing my colleagues and friends at various meetings and functions, I’m amazed at how many people don’t even think about what they are eating, have whatever is offered to them, and then wonder why they are 30, 40 or more pounds overweight even though they exercise regularly. I also know this from personal experience, because that describes me 9 months ago before I began the Get Fit, Lean program. But once I started taking control of my nutritional environments and got in the habit of making good choices, it was amazing how quickly I lost the gut and unwanted bodyfat, and started feeling better than I had in decades.

Make Sunday your food prep day for the week – start today! Plan your meals, pack your food, and you’ll pulverize your body fat levels no matter how much temptation surrounds you.

About the author:

Steve Welch is a medical publishing professional who Got Fit, Lean and Kept His Day Job at the ripe old age of 50. If he can do it, so can you. So get on it! 

                The holiday eating season is nearly upon us again. For many of us, the festivities revolve around traditional feasts. Most people will kick it off by celebrating with a Thanksgiving meal fit for a king. I know I will. But this doesn’t mean that you have to gain several unwanted pounds and then find yourself struggling to lose the extra mass in January. With the right strategy, you can indulge and enjoy the seasonal feasts without adding unwanted inches to your waistline.

                Thanksgiving Day wouldn’t seem right if I didn’t stuff myself with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. If you believe in the idea of an occasional cheat meal then T-Day is it, the granddaddy of all cheat meals. Throughout most of the year I follow a fairly strict nutrition plan, but I admit to chucking it out the window for Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner. If a turkey dinner with all the fixings is part of your holiday tradition, then go for it. Enjoy it guilt free, just don’t continue the over indulgence straight through to New Year’s Day. You can avoid plumping up over the holidays by developing a smart game plan now.

                  Frame your strategy like this. You’ve got three weeks until the start of the holiday season. If we define the season of overindulgence as Thanksgiving through New Year’s, then it’s a five week long minefield of continuous calorie bomb loaded meals that you’ll have to navigate. You could wear a blindfold, avoid all social gatherings and lock yourself in your house alone for five weeks, but that wouldn’t be very fun. You don’t have to be a hermit; get out and attend all the holiday dinners, parties, and shindigs -- but DO have a strategy in hand.

                 You’re going to eat a lot, probably more calories than you do the rest of the year. Your strategy should be twofold. First, think about total calories on the day of the event and total calories for the week. Second, decide carefully from what foods those calories will come from. Tighten up your nutrition plan now and eat super clean between now and Thanksgiving. If you’re not familiar with my program, it’s outlined in my book; Get Fit, Lean and Keep Your Day Job. Following a disciplined plan between now and the big feast in three weeks means that you’ll enjoy it even more. Eat super clean the week of the event and then on the day of the event, save the majority of your calorie intake for the big meal. Three weeks of self-control and the big dinner will be all the more special.

                When you do sit down to indulge, choose wisely. Pile the turkey on your plate, it’s a great source of protein. Pile the green vegetables and salad on your plate because you can never really eat too much green vegetables. Your strategy should be to fill up on the reasonably healthy items as much as possible. Next, if you’re a potato fan then take a reasonable portion of mashed potatoes. Your strategy for dealing with the decadent offerings should be to think of them as samplings. The smell of the stuffing is intoxicating so have a single portion then pass the platter on. The delicious smell of the gravy is also intoxicating. Have one ladle then stop, you don’t have to drown your plate in gravy. The cranberry sauce taste amazing but its pretty much candy so have one or two spoon fulls then pass it on. Use the same strategy with pie and other deserts. Pick the one you like best and have one reasonably sized portion then stop. You get the picture.

                Holiday cocktail parties usually mean a spread of appetizers and other finger foods. Again, choose wisely. Scope out the offerings and pick the meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Avoid the crackers and breads. Think of it as a microcosm of your healthy daily nutrition plan and avoid any refined carbohydrates. Instead, snack on the proteins, fats and any complex carbs there may be. Of course if you choose to drink alcohol then you’re consuming a lot of empty calories not to mention you’ll be much more likely to use bad judgment. If you do drink, try to do so in moderation.

                  Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, company holiday parties, and other holiday events are prime temptations to overindulge. I recommend marking on your calendar the three to five meal events that you’re going to attend over the five week holiday season then eating super clean in between and ramp up your cardio exercise. Earn it. This strategy will enable you to take part in all your favorite holiday festivities and stride into January with minimal scale and waistline damage. Make the indulgent meal events special, not everyday affairs.

                There’s no reason you have to spend January and February wrestling with fat loss and crash diets trying to make good on your New Year’s resolution to lose weight. Follow my survival plan and you can get through the holidays with your body intact.