Consistency of action

How is it that some people can “easily” skip workouts or indulge in epic cheats? It’s not because they’re somehow special or fundamentally different to you. You’ve just got to realize that you’re not seeing the many months (and often years) of consistent hard work that led to that moment. Much like social media, it’s only the “highlight reel.” Substantially changing your body needs consistency...

Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith

People tweak their fat-loss diets WAY too often. ‘Cause provided your plan was sensible to begin with—and the issue isn't compliance—the best response to a week of "zero progress" is to repeat it another week. It’s an inconvenient truth, but sometimes results just take longer to manifest than we’d like. And frankly, your body doesn’t give a hoot about your personal timetable. But the main reason...

Training on Holiday

I'm sorta on vacation. I say sorta because it's been WAY too stressful to be considered a vacation! That's another story. Anyway, working out on vacation is a hot topic this time of year. It’s also a source of considerable anxiety. I've known people who stress so much about training on holiday that they turn vacations upside down just to find a gym. Or worse, just not go at all. So how do I...

4 simple to-do’s when fat loss stalls

Every fat-loss diet stalls. It's really just a case of when and why. Cause fat loss is seldom linear and will invariably fluctuate anywhere from a pound or two down to a few ounces, and sometimes nothing at all. Hell, "weight" can even go UP at times—even when you're seemingly doing everything right. The body really can be fickle. So WHEN you find that fat loss has genuinely stalled, here's what...

Losing fat is very simple. Just not easy.

The mechanics of fat loss can be taught in under an hour (sustaining a calorie deficit, eating enough protein, regular weight training), and yet it's still so damn hard for most people to pull off, consistently. The basics like figuring out your diet numbers and planning some meals isn't that tough. Nor is shopping, cooking, prepping, and especially TRACKING all those meals (family meals too)....

Before you go for more, go for better

Muscle needs an incentive to grow. You gotta ask for more to get your muscles to wake up and lay down new tissue: * Lift more weight * Complete more reps at the same weight * Add more working sets Otherwise, your triceps are perfectly content to sit back and relax as you fart around in front of the dumbbell rack doing 8 sets of kickbacks with 5 reps in reserve. However, there is more to...

Do the best you can

A big problem with the health & fitness industry is the need to strip nuance from everything to create easy to remember soundbites. (Preferably 140 characters or less, and if they can be turned into a handy infographic, even better). Take "progress" for example. Yes, you "should" try to lift more weight or do more reps each workout. And yes, you should try to nail the dietary process a...