Feeding the wrong appetite

The secret to fat loss is simple: have a specific desire that you write down with a deadline for it's completion and work on it daily.

We usually call them goals, and they are very effective if the proper action is taken toward their attainment on a consistent basis.

However, when you are tempted by an opportunity, such as eating a "trigger" food, feeding that temptation once may bring struggles for days, weeks or months to come.

Here's a little story: "Every morning in Africa a gazelle awakens and knows he has to run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion awakens and knows it must outrun the swiftest gazelle or it will starve to death. So you see, it matters not if you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up you better be ready to run."

Lose focus, even for a day, and it may cost you in terms of overall success, personal satisfaction and goal attainment.

The principles for fat loss are very simple:

1. Change your eating patterns so that you eat fewer calories than you expend.
2. Engage in activities that build muscle and help you expend calories.

That's really all there is to it, with a few million other things thrown in. However, consistency and effort to these two key factors will take you further than almost anything else.

God bless,

Steve

Mushroom Crusted Venison Loin

I am a hunter. I don't apologize for it as it is a way for me to harvest clean, drug free, range fed meat. Fortunately for me, my wife loves it as well.

I fixed this meal for her recently (along with a nice bottle of Chianti) and it was heavenly. I even cleaned the dishes afterward. Give it a shot and see what you think. You can substitute pork loin or beef, and I believe it would taste just as divinely.

Mushroom Crusted Venison Loin
3 1/4 oz Shiitake mushrooms
8 oz Fresh cremini mushrooms
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 c Olive oil
1 ts Sea salt
1/2 ts Pepper
1 lb Skinned chicken breasts
1/4 c Parsley leaves
20 oz Boneless venison loin

Garnishes: grilled purple onion strips, asparagus spears, sweet red pepper strips.

Wash mushroom thoroughly; remove and discard shiitake stems.

Place oil in a large skillet; add mushrooms and garlic, salt & pepper. Cover & cook until mushrooms are tender. Drain & set aside the mushrooms & garlic mixture.

Position knife blade in food processor bowl; add raw chicken & process until finely chopped, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides. Add mushrooms & parsley; process until mix is thoroughly blended, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides.

On a greased baking sheet, make a thin layer of the chicken mixture about the size of the Venison loin and approximately 1/4 inch thick. Place the venison loin in the center of the mix. Cover the venison with the remaining portion of the mixture.

Bake at 350 until a meat thermometer gets to 150. Check the temp after first 10 mins.

Garnish if desired. Yields 8 servings.

Give it a shot. I believe you will like it.

God bless,
Steve

Team Hoyt - I CAN

From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons.

Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life." Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."

But the Hoyt's weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told.

"There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate.

First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyt's weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway.

Then they found a way to get into the race officially - in 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?" How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe-sized smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters.

Their best time - Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992-- only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years go."

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston , and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland , Mass, always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

Now that's love.

God bless you,
Steve

And now for something completely different...

Here are some common fat burning mistakes I see folks make way too often:

1) Spending too much energy trying to figure out and fretting over how many calories are counted on your cardio machine.

Who cares? This “how much did I lose” breakdown in mindset bothers me. I encourage folks to focus on increasing their metabolism. That way you get the EPOC (Extended Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) we’re really after, which lasts for hours and hours, and can forget about the possible 300 calories burned during a boring, steady state, slow aerobic training session. Plus, it’s a much better boon to your mindset to think about the rocket propelled metabolism boost you'll get all day from harder, more effective, shorter workout.

2) Overlooking sound eating as the #1 fat burning solution.

I've probably stated this a thousand times, and for some reason people still don’t get it: No amount of hard work can or will overcome a crappy diet.

The bottom line is that without good nutrition, you’re wasting your time working out. It’s just that simple; with respect to fat loss, your nutrition is more significant than your workout. If you want to see beneficial and long lasting results, you must place emphasis on following a program whereby you ingest fewer calories than you need. You also got to consistently eat sound nutrition, like top-quality, nutrient dense foods and avoid energy dense foods.

What is a nutrient dense food? An apple. A banana. A steak.

What is an energy dense food? How about cake? Or maybe everyone’s favorite breakfast cake, the muffin!

My advice...pick the apple and give the cake/muffin the old heave, ho!

When you travel, just plan ahead. Take foods with you, or purchase them after you get to your destination. Travel with nuts, fruit and the like so you don’t get tempted to chow down on junk while you’re stuck at the airport. It’s the most expensive restaurant in town, you know!

3) Performing the same workout routine over, and over, and over and...

There’s a lady who comes to the gym everyday at the same time. She signs in, goes into the ladies room and changes clothes and from that point on everything is the same; day in and day out.

She wears the same workout gear, does the same sets and reps of exercises in the same order using the same ridiculous amount of weight. She finishes her routine with several of the same fruitless and useless ab routines, collects her belongings and scurries out.

Guess how much her body’s composition has changed over the years?

I’ll give you three, and the first two don’t count.

Cruise-control and auto-pilot are for use on cars and planes, not the human form. The body will adapt to any routine, no matter how much you just love it. So don’t do the same thing again and again and expect to see measurable results.

It ain’t-a gonna happen.

Switch interval training programs every 4 weeks. Do something different on your off-days every month. Incorporate a variety of lifting programs every 4 weeks - never let a more than 6 weeks pass before you change your training routine.

We all know the definition of insanity, right? So don’t be insane. Change is good!

4) People who don’t take notes or track their progress.

A journal is a wonderful tool, both for personal reflection and accountability, in keeping track of your training output and eating input. Every computer type knows that “garbage in equals garbage out.” Keeping track of what goes in keeps what goes out in line.

This also allows you to track what works optimally for you and is in your best interest. By doing so, you can hit a plateau, see what worked before and do what it takes to blast through it.

God bless,
Steve

AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM

A medical doctor provides a physical description:

The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought iron nail through the wrist deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place. The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now crucified.

As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists,excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain -- the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.

As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them into a deep relentless and throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath.

Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.

Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-renting cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against rough timber. Then another agony begins: an acute, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues.

Finally, he allows his body to die.

All of this the Bible records with these simple words, "and they crucified Him" (Mark 15:24).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I cry every time I read this.

Steve

It ain't about a rabbit...

Easter Sunday...or as I like to call it, Resurrection Sunday, is this coming weekend.

People confuse this Most Holy of holidays (much like Christmas) with events that have nothing to do with the origination of said holiday.

A rabbit that delivers colored eggs? What's that about?

Believe me, with respect to this particular Sunday, it ain't about a rabbit.











He is Risen.

God bless you,
SP

The Difference Between Success and Failure

Why is it that some individuals can make great gains from a training program while others on the same program struggle to make gains? They may have the same training age, fiber make-up, have the same eating and recovery patterns, but yet do not see similar progress or gains in training. What, pray-tell, could be the missing link in their training regime?

I believe it is an insidious culprit that I have discussed several times: It’s their quality and commitment to effort and consistency.

In group training, like the Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps, most every individual within the group receives the same training program. For certain individuals there are the minor tweaks here and there based on injury history and/or body type. Even though everybody has virtually the same training program, how come the improvements aren't seen the same across the board?

The variables I mentioned before obviously play a large role in how an individual responds to training, but I often see that the major issue is that the people who don't improve as much simply just don't work hard enough. Consistent hard work and effort are extremely vital to making physical and mental improvements in training, as well as in life. If these components are missing in my clients and athletes, it is my job to encourage them to strive for more so as get this out of them.

I'll be the first to admit, that can be a challenging and mentally taxing endeavor for the “coach.” It simply may be that I have clients who just don't know how to put out effort. This is where the art of coaching comes into play as I must find out what motivates and drives that particular person to train consistently harder and to eventually succeed.

I know quite a few trainers that are in the money collection business. They bring a client on board and simply go through the motions with that individual, all the while collecting a pay check from them.

I’m not like that. I just can’t, and won’t, do it.

I feel guilty when the people under my tutelage and guidance don’t receive more than their money’s worth. I feel bad when people don’t make progress, or obtain the results they deserve. People who know me know that I often don’t sleep well at night. This is one of the reasons: when my clients don’t experience success, I feel compelled to find out why and correct it. There may be a psychological explanation for it, or maybe it’s “syndrome” that has yet to be graced with a name but whatever “it” is, I’ve got it.

And here’s why: In my mind there’s a difference between a client and customer. With a customer, the transaction is over with the exchange of funds. With a client, that’s just the beginning. A client is someone under the care of another.

I take that translation very seriously. It resonates to the core of my being.

My reputation, integrity and credibility are on the line with each and every individual I am blessed to call a client. When they succeed, I succeed. When they do not, at some level I have failed them. It’s that simple.

Let’s get back to my original comments: I have found that there are two types of individuals when it comes to showing effort:

First are the ones that are easy to coach because they give everything they have in everything they do.

They give their maximum effort on every rep, set and exercise.

They are the folks who are very special and easy to coach.

They make my job easy and are natural leaders.

The other type of individual is the one who gives an all out effort…occasionally.

They either don't understand or know how to push their limits and thresholds and actually hold themselves back.

They see hard work ahead and their mind and body begins to shut down.

They don't allow themselves to be fully engaged in what they are doing.

From a training and performance standpoint, they are the folks who can be fantastic one second and absolutely garbage the next. If an athlete performs like this, they will need to be taught to give maximum effort at all times, both in training and practice. If they can’t do it in those arenas, what makes a coach feel they can perform on the field of play?

For the individual seeking to achieve a goal, the same rules apply. If you give maximum effort at all times, you're only going to know one way to show effort and will lead to great results. If you give maximum effort sometimes, then you'll have marginal results.

As Bill Murray said in the movie “Stripes”, “That’s the fact, Jack!”

Please ponder this: the quality of your effort will determine your success in any endeavor that you engage yourself in. Strive to reach your full potential by giving consistently high quality effort at all times and your health and fitness goals will be a short distance away.

Crazy Upper Body Strength

I think the title pretty well sums up this video.

And I'll bet these folks don't eat junk food often, don't drink much, if any, of wine or beer, don't train with wimpy weights and certainly don't engage in long, boring bouts of steady state aerobic activity.

Wanna take me up on my bet?

What does your training regimen look like? Does your physique resemble anything close to what these athletes look like?

Steve

Partner Equilibristic

Strength, power and muscular control exemplified.

I'll wager that these two do not eat junk food often, do not train with wimpy weights and do not engage in long, boring bouts of steady state aerobic exercise.

Care to bet me?

God bless,
Steve

What's wrong with your training?, Pt. 2

So you want to slim down, but you just can't seem to make it happen.

Are you lifting enough weight and training with enough intensity?

Yes? O.K., then. What's next?

Are you placing emphasis on your efforts and practicing consistency? Yes?

In all your dealings?

My guess is that you're exercising regularly and hard, but you ain't seeing results...your diet sucks!

How do I know this? Well, besides my 28 years of experience in the field with hundreds of people, not much.

You see, it really ain't rocket science. In fact, I'll even go so far as to say:

No amount of hard work will overcome crappy eating habits!

It's just that simple. If you're not seeing the fat loss results you want, always look to your eating habits first.

Most good trainers know that overweight people always think the reason they aren't losing fat is due to the exercise they're doing, or not doing, at the time.

Conversely, about 50% of the skinny folks who are trying to add weight believe the reason they aren't succeeding is because of exercises they aren't incorporating as well. The other's believe it's due to some facet of their diet (or supplements) being weak, when in fact they usually have a weak lifting plan.

The bottom line: If you're serious about losing fat, be honest with yourself and get rid of the crap in your diet. Magic happens when you do that.

God bless,
Steve

What's wrong with your training?

The weight slammed to the floor with a loud “BANG!” and Ben turned to his training partner and sighed heavily.

“I just don’t get it John; I work out four days per week. I think I eat right. I’m doing cardio three times per week for thirty minutes at a stretch. I mean...WHAT MORE DO I HAVE TO DO TO LOSE THIS %$&* GUT?”

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by your training in that you’re not seeing the results you desire, I can bet it’s due to one of three things:

1. You aren’t training with enough intensity. And what exactly is intensity? My 1968 Funk & Wagnall’s dictionary defines intensity as: n. 1. The state or quality of being intense; extreme force, brightness, concentration, etc. 2. The strength or degree of some action, quality, feeling, etc. 3. Power and vehemence of thought or feeling; also, extreme effort and concentration.

What does that mean exactly? If, when you go to the gym, you are simply “going through the motions” or just getting by, you aren’t training with intensity. If you’re talking when you should be lifting or working, then you’re not training with intensity. If you’re resting for ten minutes between sets of exercises, you ain’t training with intensity.

Get serious, step up to the plate and tackle each and every set, and then go home.

2. You’re not lifting enough weight. This one really sticks in my craw. Men, as we get older we simply have to do something to keep a muscular physique to burn fat as well as stave off the aging process and radically reduce the inevitable effects of it by lifting weights. God made us to work, and to work hard. Lifting heavy objects is as natural and necessary as breathing if we are to stay lean and to maintain muscle mass into our later (latter) years.

And ladies, this applies to you as well. Lifting wimpy weights will do you no good. You must stress your muscles in order to radically change your metabolic rate and keep the “hips monster” at bay.

And please, do not attempt to justify your fear of lifting heavier weights with that tired old, weak and ineffective excuse that you “don’t want to get bulky.” I dare you to try bulk up.

In fact the only way you're going to bulk up is if you fall off of a clean eating regimen and start gourging yourself on more calories than your body can expend.

You see, lifting weights doesn’t make you big; eating a lot makes you big. O.K.?

3. You’re training with a crappy program. If you’re training on your own and you aren’t seeing the results you want, it’s probably because your training program stinks.

Stop reading “Muscle and Fiction” or any other bodybuilding magazine look into a real training program that incorporates total body workouts, real world guidelines and results.

And if you’re currently working out with a personal trainer and you aren’t losing fat, size, shape, transforming your shape or any of the other criteria that you and they agreed to (or should have) in the beginning, FIRE YOUR TRAINER because they suck!

Most fitness trainers don’t have a clue as to what it takes to see to it that their clients achieve the results they so desperately want, desire, pay handsomely for and therefore deserve.

In fact, I would go so far as to say most trainers stink!

I offer a full, 100% money back guarantee on all of my services. I have never had to pay back anyone because they have all received true value for what they've paid. I’ve even bet some trainers the title to my house that I could achieve results where they couldn’t because I have confidence in my ability produce results. They did not take me up and I can only conclude they knew they would lose because they didn’t know if their methods really worked or not.

I know mine work and I have the testimonials and satisfied clients to back it up.

If you’re ready to fire your trainer and finally see the results you deserve, please write me at steve@firestormfitness.com.

God bless,
Steve

Would you believe...

As much as it pains me to say, the "average" American eats this per year:

-100 pounds of refined sugar
-45 pounds of processed carbohydrates
-300 cans of soda pop
-200 sticks of gum
-10 pounds of candies
-10 pounds of potato chips
-63 dozen donuts
-20 gallons of ice cream

I wonder if this could be a HUGE reason why 30+% of us are obese?

We're supposed to have the best healthcare system in the world, with technological advancements all around us, and yet we're seemingly in worse shape than we were just 30 years ago and healthcare costs are still sky rocketing.

If you haven't picked up a copy of Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto", may I humbly suggest doing so today. It could change your life.

And if you're serious about finally getting into shape, here's a few things you can do:

1. Stop eating junk and start eating "real" food. Here's a good rule of thumb - if what you're considering eating has been altered in any way from its original form (in other words "processed"), don't eat it. Find the more natural form.
2. Eat smaller portions more frequently. This helps to regulate insulin and control the hunger response.
3. Lift weights. Heavy and with intensity. Fear not ladies, you will not "bulk up", unless you ignore rules #1 & 2.
4. Stop doing aerobics and cardio. Useless, if your goal is to lose body fat. If you wanna know why, e-mail me and I'll tell you.
5. Find a partner, or several to train with. This is one of the key components of my Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps.

God bless,

SP

We Are Marshall

If you've not seen this movie yet I highly recommend doing so. Keep a good supply of tissues handy. You will need them.

But it's a "manly" cry.

God bless,
SP

There simply HAS to be a better way

So you go to a doctor and he eyeballs you, pokes and prods you and maybe sticks a couple of instruments into your mouth or ears. He leaves the room for a few minutes and upon his return announces, "Mr Schmedlap, you have high blood pressure." (or diabetes, or high cholesterol or you're suffering from a depressed state)

If you're like most folks, you'd probably sigh heavily and reply, "Wow! Well doc, what medications should I take?"

What?

If that is even remotely what you would say, please take a few minutes and reconsider.

Understand this: Drugs don't "cure" illness. They don't heal.

They just mask symptoms.

The typical style of medicine practiced in this nation (alopathic) is to treat symptoms, which is exactly what drugs do. They relieve symptoms. But they do not get to the "root" or cause of the issue.

It's a form of madness akin to cutting leaves from the weeds that may grow in your garden.

Initially, each and every drug on the market, and especially those which may be purchased OTC (over the counter) have potentially lethal side effects.

Quick quiz: Which OTC medication causes more deaths and acute liver failure than any other available today? I'll tell you in a minute.

The good news is that practically all drugs have a safe, natural and affordable nutritional or exercise related counterpart.

God put a lot of thought into our bodies and made them with an innate intelligence for self healing. When we give them the right amount of nutritional reinforcements (water, supplements), a nourishing diet, a little sun exposure, and exercise, there's no drug on the planet that can keep up in terms of health production and long term positive results.

Why not start right now to make the necessary changes to your daily habits and activities. If they include exercise, whole foods and drink and some sunshine keep them in your agenda. If they don't, get rid of them.

And if you're looking down the throat of a menacing potential health emergency, make yourself a promise to look to the foods, natural supplements, sunlight, and exercise that will give your body every advantage it needs to heal itself.

Steve
P.S. The answer to the question from earlier is Tylenol. Good old, "harmless" Tylenol.

Surprised?