the contemporary shopping lifestyle

Stocks are down, the banking industry is in peril, and many industries are suffering the brunt of Wall Street’s greedy ways. I don’t know much about finance, but I do know one thing: The Health Industry is Still Making Money!

I’m talking about all those people that tell you high fructose corn syrup is healthy for you and that dairy is the key to losing weight. I’m talking about all those people selling electronic weight belts and claiming that the latest aerobic dance video is what gave them their huge bodybuilder physiques. I’m talking about all those people that lie through their teeth and make you believe they hold the secret to your health.

I’m really concerned about the way the health industry is treating all of us. America spends the most money on health insurance, but is also one of the sickest. Why? Because we complicate things. We keep putting what I like to call “barriers” to our goals. Exercise and nutrition really isn’t as complicated as all these so-called fitness experts claim to be.

Simplify your Fitness

You think I’m kidding? You think you need to really go to a four-year college and get a $1000 fitness certification in order to figure out how to drop weight and build muscle? Well, I’m going to prove your wrong. I’m going to teach you guys one exercise that you can do for the rest of your life that’ll help do just what I mentioned earlier. Ok, lemme repeat: Drop Weight and Build Muscle.

The Burpee is a funny name for an amazing exercise. This exercise alone works your chest, shoulders, arms, legs, and abs. The Burpee is basically a combination of a push-up and a squat jump. Here’s how you perform a Burpee:

• Stand straight up with feet shoulder-width apart, chest up, and back straight.
• Squat down and place your hands on either side of your body, palms down on the floor.
• Now kick out your legs so that you are now in a push up position.
• Perform a pushup, then bring your leg back in so that your knees touch your chest.
• Lift your palms off the floor and explode into a squat jump.
• When you land, quickly drop down into a squat position, and repeat.

The 50-Burpee Challenge

I ran my client Dheeraj through the 50-Burpee challenge because currently his primary goal is to improve his lower body strength and size. I thought it would take him 7 or 8 minutes to perform 50 burpees, but instead he was able to complete them in 4:52.88. That’s under five minutes! He could barely walk back to his car after that workout.

So, if 1) you no longer want to buy into all the infomercial products and false information in the media, 2) need help adding strength and size to your legs, or 3) want to try something new, then try out the 50-burpee challenge and let me know your time.

About the Author

Parth Shah is a Strength and Fitness Consultant specializing in developing practical, sustainable fitness solutions for his clients. He is currently going through his own personal physical transformation. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)

Here are just 10 reasons why it is dangerous to be obese:

1. For every 11 to 18 pounds of fat gain, a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes is twice as high of individuals who are of normal weight and have not gained any weight.
2. Obesity during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of death in both the baby and the mother.
3. Individuals who are obese (BMI greater than 30) have a 50 to 100 percent increased risk of premature death from all causes, compared to individuals with a healthy weight.
4. High blood pressure is twice as common in adults who are obese than in those who are at a healthy weight.
5. Atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, which may lead to the formation of an arterial blood clot, is an important pre-condition of many strokes and is associated with a high-fat diet, raised blood pressure and lack of exercise. Thus, obesity is now considered to be an important secondary risk factor for strokes.
6. Over 80 percent of people with diabetes are overweight or obese.
7. Women who have gained more than 20 pounds between the ages of 18 to midlife double their risk of developing post-menopausal breast cancer, compared to women whose weight remains stable.
8. Studies show that obesity is an important risk factor in liver disease, and show a strong correlation between body mass index (BMI) and the degree of liver damage.
9. The risk of gallstones is approximately 3 times greater for obese patients than in non-obese people.
10. Studies show that obesity is a strong predictor of symptoms of osteoarthritis, and show that the risk of developing osteoarthritis increases with every 2-pound gain in weight.

I’m hoping those are enough reasons for you to finally do something about your lifestyle and start losing some weight.

About the Author

Parth Shah is a Strength and Fitness Consultant specializing in developing practical, sustainable fitness solutions for his clients. He is currently going through his own personal physical transformation. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)

References:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/consequences.htm
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/calltoaction/fact_consequences.htm
http://www.annecollins.com/obesity/risks-of-obesity.htm

As athletic individuals, there is one word that strikes fear into all of us…The Rut!!! Even writing it makes me shiver. We’ve all been there and if I’m truthful with myself, I’d admit that I’m in a bit of one now. Let’s me start by telling you how I ended up in mine.

Rewind a few months ago. I was gaining weight and was much heavier than I am used to being. I was very inconsistent with the gym and just not motivated. It was when I was shopping for new a new suit and I was going to need a pants size that was bigger than I ever needed before that did it to me. Tipping in at 218 (18lbs heavier than I’m used to) I was ready for a change.

First thing I worked on was the diet. No more fast food Dunkin Doughnut or McDonalds breakfast. Instead I was eating fruit and had an All the Whey protein shake. Second, I cut my lunch from 2 slices of pizza to one on most days (I know pizza isn’t the best thing for me, but I love it and am not ready to give it up!) Lastly, dinner went from eating out on most days to another All The Whey shake and something sensible.

The second thing I changed was my routine at the gym. I had been getting to the gym twice a week, this changed to four to five times per week by doing one simple thing; packing a gym bag before heading off to work in the morning. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when you force yourself to go right to the gym, versus catching the end of PTI while getting ready to head to the gym. I jumped my cardio from 15 to 20 minutes to 30 to 40 minutes and then followed the cardio with 30-45 minutes of free weights. I usually would work on 2 muscle groups per day.

Before long, I was seeing some great results. In two months I was back down to 200lbs. Everything was fitting me again and I was feeling great. I was feeling really confident, felt like I was in great shape, and best of all, I met an amazing girl along the way. To sum it up, I met the goals I set for myself. Excellent!!! Now what?

Indeed, now what? What do you do once you’ve accomplished what you set out to achieve? At first, if you’re me, you try to maintain. Keep the routine in tact and just keep going like I was when I started. However I’ve noticed my motivation level decline a bit and I’m noticing that I’m doing some things that I was avoiding before (The egg and cheese sandwich from Dunkin was definitely not worth it).

Before I travel too far down the road and end up in the center of Rutville, I’m going to make some changes to my current program, routine and diet. I will also be setting some new goals because striving towards something is the key to staying motivated. I will be making and implementing these changes over the next couple weeks and I will let you all know how it goes.

About the Author

Gary Weinlein is the Director of Development at the Hall Agency of Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. He has worked around investments and financial services since graduating from RPI in 2003. Some of his hobbies include weight training, running, cross training, tennis, and racquetball, as well as watching the Mets and Redskins and spending too much time and money at Starbucks. View Gary’s posts

Often times I will find myself saying the following two phrases while trying to motivate someone: “Turn on that Mental Switch,” and “Unleash that Animal within you.”

If you didn’t already know it, we are all animals. Yes, human beings are sentient beings, but that does not mean that we let our minds and bodies go to waste. We as a race have been able to accomplish amazing things with our body and mind, however the “layman” or the average guy still goes to a 9-5 job, does what his boss tells him to, and is amazingly unhappy.

This unhappiness (in my view) is directly linked to a lack of challenge. We are always “fed up” with life’s problems, and “fed up” with our inability to pursue our dreams. But in reality, we are afraid of pursuing our dreams. I am at a very delicate age in my life where I’m supposed to be pursuing a position in a large company where I perform some sort of grunt work for a high salary and stay there for five years “just for the experience.” Well, I won’t have any of that. I’m not doing anything “just because everyone else does it.”

Yesterday, I was talking to a certified personal trainer and we were disagreeing on training methodologies. He kept talking and talking and talking about things I already knew about but did not agree with it. At one point I said: “But just like with the rest of my life, I always ask myself, do I really believe in what I’m doing or am I just doing it because it’s a system that’s been in place and works.”

To that statement, my friend responded, “But what does belief have to do with anything? Working out is a tool, nothing more or less, to what your goals are.”

That is exactly where I disagree. In reality, any program will work for you if you believe in it enough and are consistent with it. You will get your six pack if you stay on that machine long enough and actually work hard as opposed to talking on your cell phone and complaining how you are unable to achieve your results.

That is why I spent 6 months bodybuilding with nothing to show for it. I did not believe in the routine and so I was bored and was probably doing half the things wrong. Something like Crossfit, on the other hand, makes perfect sense to me because of my martial arts background. I bet you if I walked into the dojo right now, my Sensei would be blown away with my level of conditioning. If I were doing bodybuilding for the past two years, then I would go in there and get my butt kicked by a complete beginner.

What are you doing with your life?

So, yes the phrase “different strokes for different folks,” holds water. But if that’s true, then why the hell are all of us doing the same exact things? Why are we all going out and getting internships in companies we don’t want to work in and are unhappy? Why are we all working at restaurants waiting tables when our real passion is acting? Why are we all listening to our bosses when we have better ideas than he has?

The other day one of my friends had a very interesting note on Facebook. She listed out all the things that she wanted to do growing up. Here was my response to her note:

Hey, you can certainly follow through with all of those, but you don’t need to hit them one by one. For example, here are some of the skills I use with Shah Training:

1. Writing - Writing my posts
2. Film - Filming and editing my videos
3. Marketing - Marketing and promoting the website
4. Business - Expanding and developing Shah Training into a brand and business
5. Acting - As a brand, I need to develop and show off a personality. I’m just not another “gym” I’m a person with a message
6. Athlete - All my workouts are athletic in nature
7. Teaching - Personal trainer, speeches, and writing
8. Fighter - Although at this point i do not want to be a pro fighter, I do incorporate a lot of fight training into my workouts and see it as a great way of getting n shape
9. Psychologist - There is an element of “fear” in my workouts, and so my trainees go through a lot of psychological s**t that helps them break through to a whole different level of living. Also, I consult my friends with problems.

So yeah, basically I’ve combined a whole bunch of skills into one. When starting this site, I just wanted to incorporate writing, my love of fitness, and marketing into a project. All the other skills just sort of came into effect as time went on.

Good luck!

So my point to my friend was that you CAN do everything you want in life. You just have to be creative, have an action plan, and hang in there when things get tough.

About the Author

Parth Shah is a Strength and Fitness Consultant specializing in developing practical, sustainable fitness solutions for his clients. He is currently going through his own personal physical transformation. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)

We know America’s fat. What are you going to do about it? You can start by being in shape. Then people will come up to you and ask you how you got in shape. You can either teach them the right way, or tell them to go to Tastefully Driven and read all the posts by Parth Shah.

Or, if you decide to teach them, you can tell them to SWING!

No, I’m not crazy. I’m serious. I was thinking about this a lot the other day. I thought to myself, ok, so the basics are pushups, pull-ups, situps, and running, but what if people are not able to perform those movements?

Go out on the streets and look around you. Count up all the people you see who look like they can do a push-up. You won’t see many people.

So what can extremely obese people do? They can swing a kettlebell, dumbbell, a paint can, a milk jug, or their hands. Seriously. The implement doesn’t matter. It’s the movement that matters. Before I continue, please watch this video:

Ok, so in the first part of the video, we saw my first trainee and good friend Dominic (Dom) performing the kettlebell swing. When he first started, his form was worse than the guy in the second half of the video, Deeraj (D-Raj). But he soon became an expert himself and was able to teach his friend, and my second trainee, D-raj.

Why You Should be Doing Swings

The Swing is a movement that has the greatest carry over to daily life, especially for those that have mobility issues. Anyone who is more than 30 pounds overweight will have a difficult time performing the basics: pushups, pull-ups, running, and sit-ups (with the exception of Bud Jeffries and athletes in general).

So what can we do as a collective, health-minded community, for the sedentary, 30+ pound overweight person looking to drop some weight? Help them with their daily mobility. Get them to use the muscles they use in daily life: the posterior chain.

The posterior chain is composed of the hamstrings, hips, and lower back. This collective group of muscles are important for not only athletes who need them for explosive movements, but also for the lay person who needs to lift things off the ground, walk from one place to another, sit down and get up, and climb up the stairs. You have no idea how often you use the muscles of posterior chain in your daily life.

Here is an activity for you right now. For a 24 hour period, go about your daily life, and jot down all the activities you do. If you’ve sat down on the couch, then have gotten up, write that down. If you’ve lifted boxes out of the trunk of you car and have carried them up a flight of stairs, then write that down as well.

Recently, my grandparents came back from India. The thing with Indian grandparents is that they pack everything they can possibly pack into their suitcases. The weight limit right now is 50lbs, and so my grandparents packed 50lbs of useless garbage into three heavy duty suitcases that were double the size of my torso. Not that I’m trying to show off my strength here, but I scaled all three of those suitcases up a flight of stairs (I live on the second floor of two-family house), in less than five minutes.

Lets try to figure out what muscle groups I was working here:

1.Pulling the suitcases out of the trunk: lats, lower back, hamstrings, core
2.Carrying suitcases up to stair steps (because wheels were broken): Shoulders, core, lower back
3.Carrying suitcases up the steps: shoulders, core, lower back, hips/glutes, hamstrings

What is the one bodypart you see most there: lower back.

What is the one bodypart people don’t work in the gym as much as they should be: lower back.

What kind of injuries are most common in overweight and obese people: lower back.

Do not tell me you still don’t know why you should be performing swings.

Practicing the Swing

You can use any implement you want with the swings, but start off with just the movement. Go back and study the first half of the video in which Dom is performing the swing. Notice how low the hips are at the starting position, and how he straighten out his entire torso as he swings the kettlebell as far as the momentum will take it. Then notice how straight his back is throughout the entire movement. Notice the role his knees and lower legs play in stabilizing his body. Finally notice the hip thrust he uses. That is what will give him power and explosiveness for sports and pulling heavy suitcases out of trunks.

Once you’ve mastered the movement without any weights, go ahead and fill a milk carton with water and practice the movement. Once you get comfortable with that, search for heavier implements that come with a handle. I found a whole bunch of small weight cans in my garage that weigh 3-5 lbs. Practice with those. Finally move on to dumbbells, and progress to kettlebells.

Advanced Training Routines

Here are some advanced routines for working with the swing:

Routine One: (This is the routine that was filmed in the video you saw earlier).

• Bodyweight Squats - 50 reps
• Kettlebell Swings (each arm) - 20 reps
• Push-ups - 15 reps
• Kettlebell Push Press (each arm) - 10 reps

I challenge you to beat Dominic’s time on this workout – 10:14.35

Routine Two:

• Paint Bucket Carry to the end of the Driveway (These were full-sized cans. Heavy).
• Medicine Ball Throws and Sprint Back to front of the Driveway (Or end, depends on where you started)
• 10 Alternating KB Swings (Switch hands on top)
• 10 Pushups + Power Clean (Perform a pushup with both hands on barbell, then perform a power clean on the way back up)
• Run With Medicine Ball to end of driveway
• Walk back with Paint Buckets

Dominic’s time – 3:22.96

Good luck! And if you actually do beat Dominic’s time, send me a video of the workout to shah@shahtraining.com

About the Author

Parth Shah is a Strength and Fitness Consultant specializing in developing practical, sustainable fitness solutions for his clients. He is currently going through his own personal physical transformation. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)