Archive for the ‘Local Flair’ Category

For the past couple of years I’ve had the privilege of being a columnist for L Magazine.  I love writing that article every month and I’m very pleased that the good folks down at the Journal Star continue letting me do it.

In case you missed it, here’s my article from the March, 2010 issue…

Everybody Needs Rules!

One bad meal, one bad snack, one bad weekend – even one bad week – doesn’t ruin anything…so never give up.

I want you to keep that last sentence fresh in your mind the next time you find yourself mentally beating yourself up for eating poorly or skipping a workout…one minor set-back doesn’t matter.

Making those mistakes still stings a bit and I’m sure you’d like to stop making those mistakes.

Lucky for you, I’ve got a list of “sneaky tricks” that I fall back on whenever I find myself in a situation where I know I’ll mess up – parties, date night, family gatherings, etc.

If I know there’s a very good chance of my screwing up, I’ll dip into my bag of sneaky tricks and they help me from having the worthless feelings of guilt.

Remember last month we talked about sabotage, well these are more ways to keep you from sabotaging yourself.

1.    Eat a fiber-rich snack before a meal or going to a social event, along with a glass of water.

This trick is all about getting something filling in your stomach before your eyes and stomach do the thinking and you gorge on spinach dip.

If you eat something high in fiber before leaving the house, the fiber will fill you up a bit and mute your hunger alarm.

2.    Always have a “go to” food when you crave something bad, or for those times when you will turn to food for comfort.

This has to be a food(s) that is very simple, and healthy, and you will always have in your house.

For me, it’s pineapple and almonds – although not necessarily at the same time.

Those two foods are my crutch whenever I’m stressed and feel like eating something nasty.

More often than not, the craving is gone within a few short minutes of eating those foods.

3.    Learn to say NO!  Not so much a “trick” as it is a mentality, but it fits.

For some reason we have this mentality that if someone offers us dessert, we have to have it.

You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, so don’t let someone guilt you into eating their junk.

Saying “no” doesn’t mean you’re a jerk, so don’t allow yourself to feel that way.  Learn to politely decline and your body will be much happier.

4.    Have a couple rules you always stick to.

This one might sound a bit weird, but it does help.

For example, I don’t eat past a certain time.  Not because it’s magical, it’s because I understand my behavior and the type of food I normally eat at night.  But this is a rule I have and don’t break it.  I also have to start my day off with a homemade smoothie.  That’s a rule and I stick to it.

What rules can you come up with?  It doesn’t have to be something big, just a couple little things you know won’t be a problem, no matter the situation.

If you have anything special you’d like to share with everyone leave a comment below.

Have an awesome day!

Ed

I don’t know whether you receive “L Magazine” with your paper, or open it up to see my pretty face (with short hair) and read my articles but if you don’t, here’s my article from February.

The Saboteurs…

I love a good spy novel.   They shoot my heart rate through the roof, which usually means I stay up way past my bedtime.

The great books from that genre involve more or less the same thing – good guy must stop bad guy(s) before something very bad happens, BUT…

…There’s always a twist and it usually involves sabotage.

We’re not so different from those storylines, especially when it comes to sabotage when trying to accomplish something great.

Don’t believe me?

Think about the last time you’ve tried to make better choices with your diet and exercise and then think about some of the reasons you’ve failed.

More often than not you have either sabotaged yourself or let someone else sabotage you and the worst part is you may not even realize it.

Where’s Jason Bourne when you need him?!

The sabotage stops here and now and I’m going to help you by giving you a few of the most common saboteurs.

The most obvious saboteur is the social event.  When you’re at a party, the host usually does everything in their power to help you enjoy yourself and all too often that means drinks and lots of food.

If you are trying to avoid the fatness, you won’t have a plate in one hand and a drink in the other and the problem is the host and/or other party-goers will take that to mean you’re not having a good time and will pressure you into eating and drinking.

They think they’re helping you, when in actuality they’re sabotaging all your hard work.

The best action is to have a response already prepared and I’ll even let you lie if necessary.

Tell them the food was wonderful and you just put your plate down or that you have plans after the party and you don’t want to ruin your appetite.

Or if you really want to make some enemies, tell them you’re trying to lose weight and not be so fat…like them!  I don’t recommend that course of action if you fear the person or value your nose, lest they punch you.

One of my favorite saboteurs is the attempt to be perfect.  Being perfect with your workouts and diet won’t happen.  Never has and never will, so stop trying.

Plus everyone around you will hate you and that’s no fun.

My all-time favorite saboteur is the spouse who either knowingly or unknowingly sabotages all your hard work.

Sometimes when you set out to better yourself, your spouse isn’t on board or may think your route is silly.  Hopefully this only leads to a lack of support (which is pretty crappy in itself) but it can lead to that person making it nearly impossible for you to succeed.

I’ve known husbands who make it extremely difficult for their wives to come to boot camp.

I’ve known wives who stock the cupboards and refrigerator with their husband’s favorite junk foods – the foods he’s trying to avoid.

It’s pretty sad, but all you need to do to fix it is sit down and have a conversation about why your goals are important and ask for their support.  If they love you, they’ll give it.

Don’t let yourself become the prey of those common saboteurs.  Prepare yourself and you will succeed and maybe take out some bad guys along the way.

Have an awesome day!

Ed

http://www.vimeo.com/9501369

Incase you didn’t watch the video (I highly recommend you do because…well, just because) here’s a quick snapshot of what I’m so dang excited about.

I’m excited about the inaugural launch of “Superhero School”…

…”Superhero School” is the latest program to pop out of my mushy thing I call a brain and it was born for a couple reasons.

1.  I wanted to be able to reach out to more people, but in a different way.

There are so many people in this city who don’t like to workout in front of others, don’t know what to do, are confused as h-e-double-hockey-sticks, or who can’t afford a personal trainer or boot camp and I understand that.

Plus there’s so much more to be taught than just exercise and workout information, but I’m limited in the amount of time I can teach it in a training session, in a boot camp or here on my blog.

2.  I have been receiving A LOT more questions over the past year about diet, exercise, workouts and health in general that I saw a need and a want for this type of program.

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So what the heck is “Superhero School?”

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It’s a 6-week diet, fitness and healthy lifestyle program done from a classroom setting.

I didn’t call it a weight loss program because it’s so much more than just a weight loss program.  However, if you need to lose weight, you will lose weight with Superhero School…it’s just not THE primary goal – it’s about living a healthy, vibrant and happy lifestyle.

It’s going to be a classroom setting which means that a small group of people (10-15) will meet with me at my training studio once a week for 6 weeks for around an hour (sometimes more, sometimes a little less).

In those 6 weekly classes, we will cover a range of topics that include diet, exercise, general health, supplements (good and bad), myths, lies and misconceptions and everything in between.

These classes will be interactive, which is why I am capping the number of enrollees at 10-15 – I want interaction. I want questions, I want conversation.  If the number is too large, no one will talk and it’ll be ungodly boring.

Then, at the end of each class you will receive a 2-part assignment.

You’ll receive a nutrition assignment and a workout assignment for the week.

The nutrition assignment will change every week and will include 1-3 items I want you to put all your emphasis on.

For example, I may give you an assignment of “Eating 5 fruits per day, cutting out liquid calories and not eating after 7pm.”

I want you to put all your energy into those 3 things for one week.

Then, the next week you’ll get a new assignment.

Make sense?

The workouts will also change every week and they will rock your socks.

They will be completely unique (I design all my own workout programs…unlike some other folks) and they will all be filmed and uploaded to a private website that will be password protected and can only be accessed by Superhero School attendees.

The videos will not be short – they will be filmed “follow-along” style so you can see the flow of the workout, tempo of the exercises and answer any questions you may have about the workout itself.  I’ll also give you tips and pointers so it’s just like having me in the room teaching you.

The workouts will not require gym memberships or expensive home gyms.

They will all be done from the comfort of home with limited equipment.

All I’ll require are dumbbells, resistance tubing and a stability ball – all of which are very inexpensive.

Oh yeah, on the first day of Superhero School, you’ll receive a binder preloaded with reports on exercise, diet and foods.  You’ll also receive a bunch of eBooks with sample meal plans, healthy desserts, smoothie recipes and additional workouts.

Your assignments will also be 3-hole punched so that at the end of the 6 weeks you’ll have a binder FULL of information that you can always rely on.

To say that I’m excited about this is an understatement.  I’m so unbelievably stoked about it and I hope it shows!

And I want you to be a part of my inaugural class in Superhero School!

To sign up all you have to do is either call me at 304-7858 or shoot me an email at trainer@elswellness.com and put “Superhero School” in the subject line.

The first class is set to start Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 5:15pm (or 5:30pm).

Will you join me?

Here’s the article I ran in the January 2010 issue of L Magazine…

What’s the old saying?  Rules are made to be broken?  I like that wise old adage.  In fact, I can remember breaking many a rule many years ago (and I’m sure you can too!).

Weight loss has some “rules” as well.  I don’t like some of these rules and I’m sure you don’t either so let’s break a few.  Scratch that, let’s smash these rules into teeny tiny bits so they’re never allowed to return and mess with your head.

By the way this list is for ladies only.  Sorry fellas.

The first rule to be smashed is that you need to weigh yourself…ever.

I hate scales.   All they do is make you depressed.  Some days it doesn’t budge, others it moves down a couple pounds and still others it jumps a couple pounds.

But the reason I included this rule is because it really misses the mark in determining whether or not you’re succeeding with your program.

What do you really want?  For instance, if I told you your waist would shrink by 4 inches but the scale wouldn’t budge would you care?

Absolutely not!  All you care about is what you look like, and more specifically what you look like naked while standing in front of a full-length mirror.

The second rule that should be smashed to smithereens is cardio is the best way to lose weight and get in shape.

It’s not.

The way most ladies do cardio takes too long and is incredibly boring plus your body gets used to it quickly and stops making progress.

If burning calories is the way you mark a good workout, you should know that you can burn just as many calories with a good resistance training workout as you can with cardio.  If it’s an awesome resistance training workout, you’ll burn a ton of calories during the workout AND for hours after you’ve completed the workout.

The catch is that you have to have the right program and you have to work the workout.  You can’t go through the motions and expect to see results.

Please don’t misunderstand.  Cardio can work and if you’d like to run for over an hour a day, be my guest.  But I’d rather give you a way to burn just as much, if not more fat in a fraction of the time and save your joints in the process.

The final rule to smash is resting.  I’m not a big fan of resting if your goal is weight loss.

This rule has always seemed a bit silly to me.  Do an exercise, then rest.  Do it again, then rest, etc.

Boring!

Let’s say I give you 3 exercises – Push-ups, Lunges and Burpees.  Do them one after the other for 5-7 minutes.  Then pick another group of 3 “big” exercises and repeat.

You’ve worked your entire body, you’re sweating and breathing heavy (just like cardio) and you’ll feel awesome.

It’s not as boring and you’ll be done much quicker.

See, it’s okay to break some rules of weight loss.  As a matter of fact, I highly encourage it!

If you have any questions or comments, let me know!

Talk to you soon,

Ed

http://www.vimeo.com/7523418

This program has been in the works for months, which is why I have been a bit flaky over the past several weeks.  I haven’t been good about giving you new workout programs, nutrition tips, videos and weekly assignments (for clients only) and that’s because all of my attention has been put into this program.  I apologize for my flakiness, but I hope you understand

Watch the video above to get all the info.  It’s an awesome program (if I do say so myself) and will help you get the fit, strong and sexy physique you deserve!

As a benefit for being a valued client and reader, you’re getting first crack at this awesome program and you’re getting it for $30, which is 1/2 Off.  But that deal only lasts this week.

Next week, it’ll be up to regular price.

This makes a great compliment to coming to boot camp in my studio, as well as a stand-alone program from home.  The only equipment you’ll need are a couple different sets of dumbbells, resistance tubing and a stability ball.  All cheap and easily accessible stuff.

Shoot me an email or give me a call at 304-7858 if you’d like to reserve your copy for only $30 today!

And remember…

Be A Superhero Today!

Ed, aka “The Fit Dad”