Average Guy Fitness

I am just a regular, fitness conscious guy, sharing what I learn in my efforts to reach my goals, so that others might reach theirs too!

[averageguyfitness]

Year of No Sugar (book review)

Hi all, just had to share with you a book I recently read, by the name "Year of No Sugar". The title is pretty self-explanatory. A family consisting of the author (Eve O. Schaub), her husband, and two girls, decide to embark on a no-sugar adventure for one whole year. Eve's inspiration came from a video that she watched on Youtube, created by a Dr. Robert Lustig, which showcased the sugar epidemic which has swept our nation and the world. I haven't watched the video yet, but it's on my to-do list. Basically, this ingredient which was quite scarce a hundred years ago, has slowly infiltrated its way into almost every food you can think of, and has been poisoning us ever since. The statistics are quite amazing. The average american consumes around 130 pounds of sugar a year! That's about 2 and a half pounds a week. 

Anyway, Eve and her family try their best to avoid sugar for the entire year, or more specifically, they avoid fructose for a year. Regular old sugar (or sucrose) is composed of about 50 percent fructose, and 50 percent glucose. Now glucose is used all over your body for essential functions, where fructose apparently has no use whatsoever, other than to interfere with pathways and damage your liver (and make you fat). I'm not going to get into the science too much (at least not in this post), but fructose is the real bad guy. So anyway, with few exceptions, they manage to make it through the year, and learn a ton about sugar, and just how widespread it is. 

I do have a few critical words to say about the book though. For one thing, the single exception food item each person got to choose that had sugar in it. Eve and the kids were reasonable, choosing wine and jam, but her husband chose... Dr Pepper... In my opinion, if you choose just one item to cut out, it should be soda! It shouldn't be the one item you keep consuming!!! Soda is like the number one source of sugar in the American diet, no? My one other criticism is their use of dextrose (read: glucose) to make sweet treats. Even though dextrose is the good part of sugar, too much of it can cause issues too, as it affects your blood-sugar levels. Heard of hyperglycemia? I'm still trying to research more into this aspect of the book, so let me know if my facts aren't straight. Otherwise, I think it was a very interesting, and fun to read book. Eve has a very humorous way of writing, and I really struggled to put the book down! It definitely gets you thinking. 

Image from Eve's website: http://eveschaub.com/

[averageguyfitness]

7 minute workout (science backed!)

In the fast-paced world we live in, we are often looking for the most efficient way to do something, be it commuting to work, cleaning our house/ apartment, or any number of tasks we have to do in the average day. When it comes to working out, however, quicker is never the answer, right? A quick workout can't possibly do as much as a long and tedious one, or can it? Well the latest workout I tried goes against everything we thought we knew about working out. 

Enter the scientifically backed 7 minute workout! Made by scientists, with science, this scientific workout was made by taking all the latest research on fitness, blending it together, and pouring out one of the most efficient workouts out there. Science science. 

I found the FitnessBlender.com version of this workout recently (http://youtu.be/Jru5B044HOs) and figured I'd give it a try to see if it's really that good. The basic layout of the workout involves doing 3 cycles of a total body, lower body, upper body, and finally a core exercise, in a 30 second on, 10 second off fashion. Each cycle has different exercises, but uses the same muscle group focus (total,lower,upper,core). What you get is 12 exercises that you do as many times as possible within each of their allotted 30 second intervals. Seems like this HIIT stuff is really the key to a good workout!

Anyway, my girlfriend and I did the workout together, and I must say, neither of us felt like it was that hard of a workout. Maybe we weren't pushing ourselves hard enough, but it seemed like we could have done the whole workout over again and still would have gotten through it just fine. I think we'll try it again in a couple of days and really push ourselves to our max and see if that makes a difference. 

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't try it. Depending on your fitness level, I'm sure this workout has the potential to really kick your ass, all in the span of 7 minutes. This is therefore the perfect workout for the person whose excuse is always "I just don't have the time". You all know someone like that. Send them over to FitnessBlender.com and tell them to give it a try!

Image from the New York Times "Well" blog (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&

[averageguyfitness]

Find an active hobby!

Hi all. Just got back from playing tennis with my girlfriend, and wanted to share this tip. Find a hobby that you enjoy, and that gets you moving!

Now, back in the day, I hated the idea of working out at a gym. Just the thought of sweating it out in a smelly room, lifting weights for no real reason, and running without getting anywhere, just sounded like a big waste of my time. I thought that I would much rather get my exercise by doing something outside, like hiking, or playing tennis, or kayaking. I have since re-evaluated my perceptions of gyms, seeing the benefits of these smelly places (though I'm still not a fan of Planet Fitness. All the ones I've been to are dark and dingy, not to mention overcrowded, warehouses. No thank you), but I still think it's important to get exercise by doing activities outside. 

Hobbies, like hiking, biking, tennis, or rock climbing, to name just a few, are a great way to get exercise, as well as see new places and hang out with friends and family. You're actually accomplishing something too, other than just improving your one-rep maximum. I hiked up a 14,000 footer (Mt Bierstadt) with my girlfriend about a month ago, and it felt great to be able to do that. That is something I could tell people for years to come, and it sounds a whole lot better than "I bench pressed blah weight blah many times!". Yes, it's great when you see improvements at the gym, but get out and use that extra strength to do something worthwhile! What's the point of being super fit if you don't make good use of that fitness?

Now go outside and do something fun! =) 

Image courtesy of Phaitoon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

[averageguyfitness]

The Power of Music

Hey all. So it seems like I've collected at least a couple of followers! I'm not sure if you're just robots that follow everything or people who actually find my posts informative, but I'll just assume the latter. On another note, I know, once again, that I haven't posted in a while. My original plan was to post every week or so. So much for that... Anyway, I'm not going to promise I'll start posting like crazy from now on, because that is most likely not going to be true! I honestly don't know what I spend all my time doing... 

Okay, now for the topic of this post: music. I would say that music is a super important part of my life. I've played instruments from very young (violin, guitar, and some dabblings with others), and I love cranking up the volume and getting lost in a new song, or enjoying an old favorite. Anyway, what I've found is that when a particularly powerful song is playing, I feel an energy surge through me that just makes me want to jump around! I often use this energy bequeathed to me by music to get through my exercise routine. I feel like I can push out more reps, and sometimes I break out into shadow boxing to the beat of the music between my reps. Kinda silly, but it gets my heart pumping!

So give it a go. If you're thinking you need to do a workout, but don't think you have the energy for it, put one of your favorite songs on (at least one with a strong and fast beat), and see if it'll get you off your ass and into workout mode! This might be why Zumba is so popular ;)

I've been trying to think of a good song for this purpose, but my taste in music is somewhat unique, so it might not appeal to most of you out there. I'll give it a go anyway. I like dubstep, which is pretty mainstream, and has crazy power to it! Here's a dubstep remix of a Massive Attack song which I love! Check it out: 

Hope you like it. Happy Exercising! 

[averageguyfitness]

Fell off The wagon... Time to get back on!

I'll admit, the last couple of weeks I let my health and fitness fall on the wayside... I haven't been eating right, or doing regular workouts. If this happens to you though, you just gotta get back on that wagon and keep going! Sure you might have taken a few steps backwards, and this might be a little frustrating, but you just have to push yourself to take even more steps forward this time around. That is what I plan to do. 

Yesterday I did a nice short routine on FitnessBlender.com with my girlfriend:

This was a nice quick workout which really got me sweating! You do need a warm-up and cool-down routine before and after the video, respectively, which you can also find on the FitnessBlender website. I'm starting to sound like a walking advertisement for that site, but it's really a great tool for your pursuit of fitness, at the low price of absolutely free!

So if you fell off the wagon like me, the time to get back on is now!

Stay healthy America.

[averageguyfitness]

Workout with a friend

Hey all. Today I want to talk about having a gym buddy. In my experience, having someone to go to the gym with makes things much more fun! I personally go with my girlfriend. Now you might think that going to the gym with your significant other might be like going shopping with them. You want to go to one set of stores, and they want to go to another, so either one of you compromises and does what the other wants, or you go your separate ways. This doesn't have to be the case though. We often get ideas of what to do next from each other. She knows of a certain set of exercises, and I know a different set, so together we can help each other get a more rounded workout. Often she just uses lighter weights than me, but we do a similar workout. The times that she comes with me are usually the better times at the gym, as we try to push each other to work a little harder than we would normally, and often we just have fun with it. We each have a subscription to mens/womens health, so often one or the other has a new move that they want to try, so we both try it out. Good fun! It would be fun to have someone to actually compete with, but I still don't really know too many people in Colorado, so it's still just my girlfriend and me! No biggie. 

Oh, speaking of couples, my girlfriend found this great website for free workout videos called fitnessblender.com. This site is completely run by one couple, but they have a ton of high quality videos up there. My girlfriend and I have only really used the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) videos, but they really kick our butts! They have more videos using equipment, but since I have no weights (sad but true) I haven't tried those out yet... I really should buy some weights...

You know, I once read this statistic that once you get married, both parties typically gain weight. The theory is that once you're married, you don't have to worry about attracting a mate anymore. I find this kind of sad, since it means that most people only stay fit to attract others, instead of staying fit for themselves. This must change! Work out with your significant other and get/stay healthy so you can enjoy life together for years to come! You'll both be happier for it.

[averageguyfitness]

My equipment

Hey all, so I just wanted to share a little bit about the tools I use for working out. I really don't have any fancy equipment or expensive machines, especially since I don't have the space in my little apartment! What I do have though, is the Total Gym. You might know it by the ads featuring the great and powerful Chuck Norris in them: 

(Enter obligatory Chuck Norris joke here)

Now I don't actually have the original Total Gym, which apparently costs thousands of dollars, but instead I have a cheaper knockoff called the Weider Ultimate Bodyworks. I bought it from Walmart for about $140, and for the money, this thing is pretty awesome!

I just checked, and there is an even cheaper machine at Walmart now (at least it wasn't there when I bought mine!) that looks exactly the same, called the Total Bodyworks 5000. My brother actually got that one through his work rewards program (wish my work had something like that...), and as far as I can tell it is the same, just with a different color scheme.

I haven't actually tried the original Total Gym, so I can't compare them directly, but I can't imagine the Total Gym being so much better that it warrants the extra zero on the price tag.

Here are the pros and cons of this machine, in my opinion:

Pros:

-Versatile.There are so many moves (apparently 50+, according to the Weider Site) to work every part of your body. I have been finding new moves to do quite regularly just by watching Youtube videos.

-Highly adjustable. I can go from almost no resistance at all, to a quoted 50 pounds of resistance above your body weight, using the four resistance bands. This means that I can use it for building muscle (Like Chuck Norris), and my girlfriend can use it for toning (like Chuck's wife).

-Compact. As I said before, I don't have a very big apartment, so space not something I can easily part with for a giant, obtrusive machine. I could easily fold this up and slide it under my bed, but I instead keep it in the corner of my living room so I'm more likely to use it! I actually brought it with when my girlfriend and I moved from Massachusetts and only had the space in our two cars for all of our possessions. It honestly took up next to no space in my car! 

Cons:

-Limited resistance. Although this machine has the addition of resistance bands to add to your body weight, I am already reaching the max for quite a few of the moves I do. I'm not the biggest guy, as I mentioned in my last post, so if you're bigger, you might max out very quickly. This is not the case for all exercises on this machine, but definitely the ones for larger muscle groups.

-Best for upper body. The lack of enough resistance definitely becomes a problem when trying to work out your leg muscles. I could easily do squats at the max resistance from the start. My remedy has been to do single leg squats instead, giving me a little more leeway in terms of resistance.

-No workout guide. My gym unfortunately didn't come with any sort of exercise guide, so I've had to search around the web for different moves to do. Luckily though, the internet knows all, and I managed to collect a large repertoire of moves to do. I want to make a Youtube video of all the exercises I've found so far, since although I've found many other videos about this machine, none of them have a summary all the different moves you can do.

-Unstable. I'm just adding this because I remember the first few times I used the gym, I felt a little unstable on it. This feeling quickly abated however, when I got used to using the machine. It definitely doesn't seem as solid as the total gym appears, but it's not going to fall over or anything like that. I have no issues with it now. 

So there you have it! I would say if you have a little extra cash, and have been looking for a cheap but effective exercise machine, give this one a try. You won't be disappointed. 

[averageguyfitness]

Average?

Hello and welcome to my newly created blog. I have been getting more and more into health and fitness over the last few years, and I want to use this as a means of recording my ideas about fitness, as well as sharing the latest scientific research in the field. Hopefully it won’t be as boring as it sounds!

So allow me to introduce myself. My name is Warren, and I’m in my upper 20s. I feel like since I crossed over to the wrong side of 25, I started thinking about age a little more often. I know I’m still young, but I decided that my goal is to stay as mentally and physically “young” as I am now. I have a degree in Biology, and I worked at the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. I recently resigned from that job and moved with my girlfriend to sunny Colorado! It has been a wonderful experience so far, especially being the outdoorsy couple that we are. Anyway, I didn’t mention the Harvard thing just to brag, but to show that I have some credentials for any nutritional suggestions I might have. I’ll be honest though, I only really did research on cholesterol while at Harvard, so I know a ton about it, but not too much about anything else unfortunately. I do have that scientific background at least, so I can almost understand half of what research articles are talking about instead of nothing at all!

I wanted to explain the title of my blog, specifically my use of the word “average”. Now unfortunately these days, the average guy in the US is actually overweight. According to the CDC, almost 70 percent of adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm). I am therefore not average in that sense, since I am 5’9 and at just under 150 pounds. I am not, however, one of those huge, muscle bound gym rats who obsesses about every calorie and bench-press they can do every hour of the day. In that sense I would like to say I’m average. I’m actually currently trying to workout to get a little bigger, so hopefully this will also be a means of tracking my progress and sharing what works and what doesn’t with you.

I think I’ve covered everything I wanted to for my maiden post. I plan to post something interesting and inspirational, or just fun and goofy, at least once a week. So ‘til next time, stay healthy America!