An Average Joe’s Point of View on Fitness, Nutrition, Exercise and Supplements

We’ve all been there, trying to lose some weight, and all the sudden the scale stops moving down. For a while now, we’ve seen it steadily move south, but all of the sudden it stops. After a while, we starting thinking to ourselves, what are we doing wrong?

We’re doing what brought us success before, but now it doesn’t seem to work. Seeing the weight drop make the struggles of a weight loss regimen feel worth it. Now that the most commonly accepted measurement of success stops changing, we start to feel that the struggles aren’t worth it anymore.

Well, before shooting yourself in the foot and going off your plan, take a look at this article at Men’s Health. It’ll give you some tips on other ways to measure the success of your weight loss plan other than the scale.

Some people will have you believe that in order to get fit you have to have a gym membership and spend large amounts of time of there. Now, depending on your goals, that may be necessary, but for the average person, maybe not. Just small little changes in your daily routine, over time can have a large impact on your health and fitness and overall well-being.

The article goes to show just that. These people, instead of driving to work, take public transportation and walk a portion of the distance. This means walking a mile or more twice a day. One person stated they lost 30 pounds over 9 months.

These people were not looking for huge, quick gains. The results of these small changes began to add up as time went on. Some decided to do it for other reasons, like to save money. It was when they felt changes, like clothes fitting better, did they realize the full impact of the changes of their habits.

In terms of money, a colleague of mine has gotten me very familiar with the saying, “Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.” In terms of nutrition and fitness, I believe something similar can apply. If you look after the small habits you have, you can see large gains over time.

Being the news junky that I am, while combing through CNN.com, I came across and article that discussed the results of a study off middle aged women that were presented at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans. The study was done by Dr. Amytis Towfighi from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The results of the study show that strokes in women between the ages of 35 and 54 have tripled in the last 16 years. A rate which experts call alarming. The research also shows that the waist size of women in the same group has also increased. The researchers say that there is a direct correlation between the increase in belly fat and the spike in the number of strokes.

At this point, it is no secret that this country is suffering from an obesity epidemic, and anyone who is surprised to hear that must have been living under a rock for the past 10 or so years. This is another study that shows that being obese increases other health risks.

As more and more of this information comes out, I’m still shocked to see the obesity rates still continue to rise. I’m shocked further by reading how some people want to pin it down to one single thing.

There is no one single thing that has created this massive problem. (No pun intended.) It’s a combination of several, several factors. One, we live in a society that constantly has somewhere else to be. So that means, quick and on the go meals. Well, the quickest and simplest meal isn’t always the healthiest. Many jobs are sedintary, with people sitting at a desk for eight to nine hours a day. The only movement is to get up to go hit the snack machine. And from many people I have observed, if there is any kind of effort or sacrifice involved with getting fit, they give up. This is also a result of the quick solution society. These people give up the moment there are signs that it is not quick and simple.

This is not a simple problem to fix. New fad, or quick and simple, diets are not the solution.

This past week we saw the continuing Major League Baseball steroid soap opera all over the headlines. This time you had Roger Clemens and his former trainer Brian McNamee meeting with Congress. Clemens was there to deny the accusations against him that he took steriods and HGH. McNamee was there to affirm his story that Clemens did. I don’t know who is telling the truth. I don’t know if Clemens took steriods. I’m not going to talk about that.

I was at the gym Wednesday afternoon after everything took place and, of course the topic was the Congressional Hearing. I heard one person ask, why is the government wasting so much time on this? Who cares if he took steroids? I think it is important that someone hold these athletes and the leagues accountable for steroid use.

Well speculated use of steroids by athletes and no one being held accountable sends the wrong message the youth of the country. It sends a message that there are shortcuts to better performance, fame and money. Students as young as high school are being caught taking illegal steroids in an attempt to increase their level of play.

The well documented dangers of steroid use are not talked about. These young athletes don’t always know the dangers of steroid use. And if they do, they think they are invincible, and it won’t happen to them.

More and more documentation is being released that shows that MLB officials and team owners were well aware of the steroid use of the past 15+ years and turned a blind eye to it. If the government doesn’t hold them accountable, who will?

Can Infomercials Sell More Than Just Promises?

If you’re like me, you’re a sucker for infomercials. Lazy Sunday mornings eating breakfast and flipping through the numerous infomercials that are on. One that caught my attention, besides the Magic Bullet and the 3 second omelet, was The Perfect Pushup. There were a few reasons for that.

I love to see and research the latest fitness fads. Actually, critique might be a better term. It seems that just about any fad can have an infomercial developed around it. But, when it comes to fitness fads, I really like to see if they can be for real or not. While many of these types of infomercials don’t really amount to much, there are a few that are serious products. Take Bowflex as an example. This is a company that puts a great amount of research in the mechanics of their home gyms and continuously update them with new technology to give you the ability to have a great workout. And they have had an infomercial for as long as I can remember.

And secondly, I’m always looking for something new to add to my workout routine. Doing the same routine over and over can quickly get stale. With something new, you actually get excited to workout and use it. And it seems that doing the same exercises predictably allows your body to adapt so after a while, you hit a plateau as far as gains go.

Push Ups That Don’t Hurt

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with doing push ups. It’s a great exercise that uses your own body weight as resistance. However, the pressure put on my wrists is a killer. I wasn’t able to do push ups on a very regular basis because my wrists would hurt too much. This was terrible because the pushup is not just a great stand alone exercise, but is also great in conjunction with other chest exercises, like the bench press.

I kept talking about it, and for Christmas I got it as a gift from my sister and brother-in-law. The Perfect Pushup seemed to have such a simple design, but yet at the same time put a new twist on an old exercise, literally. For those who haven’t see it, click here to see what the Perfect Pushup looks like.

Essentially, It is a handle that sits atop a circular disk that rotates 360 degrees. The package comes with two, one for each hand. You place the two handles opposite each other, and you can vary the distance for variations of the exercise. As you do the up and down motion of the exercise, you are also rotating the handle to workout your arms in addition to your chest and back.

For an “As Seen on TV” product I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality. These are very sturdy devices. The handles are magnificent. Doing pushups holding the handles takes away the pressure from my wrists. My wrists are no longer sore after doing the routine. The twisting motion is very smooth and is something I got used to very quickly. They are nice and small and can be stored easily under a bed or in a closet.

Because of the comfort, I am able to do push ups more frequently and do more reps per set. I am getting awesome results in my arms, chest, shoulders, and back. These results can be seen and felt.

Included in the package are instructions showing different variations you can do with The Perfect Pushup, this way the pushup routine doesn’t become stale. It also maps these variations out in what they call the “Get Ripped Plan.” It is a routine that maximizes your time and the exercise variations to get the best results. After two and a half months of being part of my regular workout, I can say that I am very happy with the results that I can feel and see as a result of the Perfect Pushup. If you are looking for something to mix up your fitness routine or a better way to do a great exercise, The Perfect Pushup is definitely something I would recommend using.

Big Fitness
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Bodytrends
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GNC
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