Set A Realistic Goal Now

We are about to wrap up 2013, welcoming 2014 (like it or not) 😊. Many of us would have a clear direction. However, direction would remain a direction if it's not well planned & specified your goal as what, when and how you are gonna achieve it. That's why a deadline in achieving your goal is the utmost importance subject. Of course it has to be reasonable and within your reach. So what are your future fitness goal(s) quarterly, half yearly or the whole of 2014 having just ONE BIG FiTneSS GOAL?

Beside jotting down, If you share your GOAL(s) with more people, that would be a wise move and as an affirmative step you have taken. Nothing beats your subconscious minds.

Reconstruction of a body is like wealth building. You need to plan to execute it accordingly. I'm not talking about those born RICH (ala having MFK super genetics people) but general laymen. Therefore, having a good plan & strategy, chances of winning is HIGH, whereby those who don't, more of a bro-science strategy without a plan, likely are going down when they hit plateau.

So mind to share whats installed with everyone here? IF you haven't thought about it (like one of my quiet buddy, whereby another buddy wanted more bed cardio 😜) it's about time. Time waits for no men. 

 

Are You Hitting The Fitness Plateau aka The Great Wall?

How do you know WHEN you have hit the WALL?

Let's assume if you've kept to the same nutritional plan and the same exercise regime and at the end of a full week/month, there is no change in your weight or body fat? Is it best to stick with it for one more week or even longer to confirm that it's really a plateau in fat loss or is it safe to say you've definitely "hit the wall" after just a single week with no progress?

 

One of the most important and powerful concepts in ActivFit's Program is the idea of the feedback loop system. We wanna assure all members know exactly what they are doing at all times, be good or bad, it somehow influences the results. Like the saying goes "Let your results dictate your approach."

I always encourage members to be active in the feedback loop system so that the coaches are well informed your status and keep you stay motivated.

That's what makes this such a good question, because the feedback we use - body composition testing - is so open to human error and also because water weight alone can produce an output that is easily misinterpreted. For example, increased body water shows up as increased lean body mass and decreased water shows up as decreased lean body mass, but body water fluctuations - aka hydration - can and do swing wildly and often, producing misleading feedback all the time. That's also why we try to standardize the timing to get a better body composition readings.

So solution number one is to realize that one week's results (and especially one day's results) don't mean so much by themselves unless viewed inside a larger trend - the trend over time always tells you more than a single week's fluctuation.

A huge "gain" in LBM one week could just be a day with a few pounds of water retention right? You could get all excited over that result, only to have it go "poof" and (literally) evaporate before your eyes in the next day or two, but it wasn't muscle - just a normal body water fluctuation. In the other direction, "no loss of fat" in a week could make you frustrated and upset, but what if it turned out that it was due to a gain in LBM (Lean Body Mass)? If that were true, would you still be upset that the scale didn't drop or would you be celebrating? 

 

Over time, these kinds of fluctuations smooth out and a trend begins to emerge on your progress chart. Put more stock into the trend than any short term fluctuation. Don't invest much emotional energy in short term results. Let calm and cool heads prevail. Panic often produces very poor decisions.

But the way I see it, the fact that you shouldn't read too much into a single week's measurement (don't get overly upset or overly excited - whichever the case may be) doesn't mean you should wait weeks to see a trend before you change anything.

I like to get frequent feedback and make course corrections or tweaks the instant I know I'm not going in the direction I want to go. Otherwise you could deviate further and further off course or at the very least, waste a lot of time treading water.

So, "How do you REALLY know when you're not going in the right direction?" "How do you know you're really at a true plateau in body comp improvement progress?"

If you had 100% confidence in your weight and body fat measurement, that would be info enough. But given all the fluctuations that are possible in water weight, glycogen, LBM, GI tract contents, etc, not to mention human testing error, that makes you wonder whether you made progress and it's simply not registering on the scale or the body fat test results yet. That happens a lot.

 

Well, here's something to ask yourself: HOW DO YOU LOOK?

If you can't answer that definitively, then another path to exploit is to increase your sensory acuity so you can better notice how you look and better notice tiny little changes in your physique. Sensory acuity - the ability to notice details and little changes - is a skill - one you can acquire and enhance with practice. All physique pros have this in spades.

I always say that you need objective measurement. The famous quote from rear admiral Grace Hopper comes to mind: "A single measurement is worth a thousand opinions." That is true. However, when you get skilled at both: accurately measuring body fat /weight data and subjective self-assessment, that's more valuable than one or the other alone.

If I feel there is no change, I don't wait around - there is no time to waste - I tweak something.

Now, some people in my own discussion forums have mentioned how important it is to have faith in your plan. Naturally, that is true. What I'm saying is not contradicting that. I'm not talking about abandoning your plan - giving up your entire diet approach or entire training approach for something new - I'm simply talking about tweaking something within your existing plan and doing it immediately instead of waiting for weeks.

If you don't make the tweaks continuously when needed, this explains the phenomenon of a person who has been stuck at a plateau for a year. I mean, how does that even happen? Remember Einstein's definition of insanity: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result...

Multitasking Food?

 

These Multitasking Foods Build Your Bones, Cleanse Your Body, And Give You More Energy. Are You Eating Them?

In today’s world, we’re all multitasking. It seems like the only way to get anything done, and it’s become an integral part of society. Nonetheless, it can get aggravating and leave you feeling frazzled. Besides, multitasking is not always the most productive approach.

Foods, however, are natural multitaskers that get things done without any stress or aggravation on your part.

In fact, it’s just the opposite: multitasking foods build your bones, cleanse your body, and give you tons of energy. That’s a lot on your “plate,” so to speak!

The Best Multitasking Foods

All vegetables have something healthy to offer, and you’ll find a complete discussion of bone-healthy veggies in Chapter 11 of the Save Our Bones Program. But there’s one group of vegetables that deserves special recognition for their multitasking abilities. They are…

Cruciferous Vegetables: Foundation Foods That Provide Multiple Benefits

Cruciferous vegetables include foods you’re probably quite familiar with. They are readily available and many are coming into season this fall and winter. Here are the most common cruciferous vegetables:

• Arugula
• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chinese cabbage
• Collard greens
• Daikon radish
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Land cress
• Mustard greens
• Radish
• Rutabaga
• Shepherd’s purse
• Turnip
• Watercress

These are just some of the bone-healthy, delicious vegetables in this group, and they are all Foundation Foods in the Save Our Bones Program. You’ll find a complete Foundation Foods chart in Chapter 9 of the Program, including many more cruciferous veggies.

What Makes Cruciferous Vegetables So Good at Multitasking?

There are 3 major tasks that these vegetables perform, and they do so via special plant chemicals and bone-healthy nutrients. I’ll explain.

Task #1: They Build Your Bones

There’s no doubt that cruciferous vegetables are good for your bones. They are chock-full of Foundation Supplements, which are bone-healthy nutrients found in whole foods. For example:

• Cabbage is an excellent source of Vitamin C, calcium, silicon, and polyphenols.
• Broccoli offers calcium, boron, Vitamins K and C, and flavonoids.
• Brussels Sprouts provide Vitamins K and C.
• Cauliflower boasts Vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, and magnesium.
• Kale gives you Vitamin K and calcium.

All of these nutrients are Foundation Supplements because of their exceptional role in building and maintaining healthy bone. So when you eat these cruciferous vegetables, you can check task #1 off your list!

Task #2: They Cleanse Your System

One of the most important first steps you can take on your bone health journey is to cleanse your system. Why is this so important?

If you’ve taken osteoporosis drugs for any amount of time, it makes sense to get those toxic substances out of your system as soon as possible. And even if you’ve never taken osteoporosis drugs, you’ll greatly jump- start your bone-building success with a cleanse. And cruciferous vegetables are key players in this process. That’s because they contain…

D-Glucarate, a Crucial Phytochemical

D-glucarate works by suppressing an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase. This enzyme inhibits the detoxification process on a cellular level, but when it’s suppressed by d-glucarate, toxins are free to be flushed from the body and cells are protected from damage.

Amazingly, all cruciferous vegetables naturally contain this phytochemical. That takes care of task #2.

Task #3: They Give You More Energy

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables of any variety can boost energy and help you feel good. But cruciferous vegetables really shine in this area. Their energy boost comes from special plant compounds called isothiocyanates.

Isothiocyanates contain sulphur, and are responsible for that distinctive cruciferous flavor. They boost energy by activating a protein called Nrf2. This protein generates the cell’s powerhouse called mitochondria, which actually produce an energy transporter called adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Having lots of mitochondria is a good thing, because they convert glucose into a form of energy that your muscle cells can readily use. And if your muscles are performing well, it means less fatigue.
This is great news, but there’s more to muscles. You see, muscles need to be used for optimal performance – and so do your bones.

Muscles and Bones Work Together

Strong muscles put healthy pressure on bones. Bones increase in density when they are exposed to weight-bearing exercise. The more force you put on a bone, the more it responds with increased density. This concept is explained in Wolff’s Law, which states that bone is generated and changed in response to the forces of muscle and gravity.

A good workout program will help you build and tone your muscles so that they are more effective at building your bones.

Article contributed by V.Goldshmith, MA

What Should Be The Average Body Fat Loss?

What will be the average body fat percentage (%) loss in a week?

I recommend setting a fat reduction goal of about half a percent per week. Based on my personal experience with either skinfold caliper/bioelectric impedance body composition machine, I've concluded that this is about average. This is an honest number that reflects an average of everyone. That's what makes this figure a good realistic weekly goal.

If your body fat measured 23.8% on day one of week one, then 23.3% would be your goal for the end of that seven-day period. That will be an impressive 6% drop in your body fat if you keep that up over 12 weeks.

 

If you're more ambitious and you want to shed body fat even faster, it's certainly possible, although it does depend on body size. Larger people can often lose larger amounts of weight and body fat. When someone is already lean and wants to get even leaner, there is less fat remaining so it becomes more difficult to lose large amounts every week. One must understands that our bodies refuse to let us crush those fats but would love to maintain at it or store more.

Personally I have seen many people drop 0.6% or 0.7% body fat per week if they worked hard, usually doing multiple cardio sessions per week on top of their weight training, combined with excellent dietary compliance. 

If you lose less than 0.5% per week, as long as you made some forward progress, you should celebrate that as success. It's more normal for results to vary from one week to the next than to drop the same amount every week, so an occasional slow week is nothing to get upset about. It's just feedback.

After a below average week, to bring the rate of fat loss up to average or better for the next week, you'll need to: 

(1) re-establish compliance if you had a bad week (get back on the wagon! ... and start tracking food intake more meticulously if necessary) or

(2) make adjustments to your nutrition and training to increase your caloric deficit and optimize body composition changes.

Note! Please remember this: Above average results require above average effort. Extraordinary results require extraordinary effort. There are quick fixes for weight loss, but there are no quick fixes for fat loss