THREE STEPS TO MAKE YOUR NEW YEAR’S FITNESS RESOLUTION STICK

Most people make the same fitness resolutions every year, just to repeat a very discouraging failure. They tell themselves, “This time it will be different because I really mean it”, but then the same thing happens and no one can figure out why. Recent research in exercise science and psychology has uncovered the real reason for these repeated failures and it can all be summed up in the following three step plan.

1.) Rewire your brain for permanent physical change. The fundamental reason people yo-yo with their weight or fail in their New Year’s fitness resolutions is because they never change their mind’s eye. The weight might come off, but they still think of themselves the same way, so it comes right back on.
No one ever talks about this but recent science has found that the brain really is the main reason for failure. Only if you think of yourself a certain way, will you become that way. The body always follows the mind, so changing your mind will change your body.

Thin people stay that way because they think of themselves that way. The same goes for fat people. This is also why poor people quickly become poor again after winning the lottery. They never changed their mindset, and because they thought of themselves a certain way, they made conscious and unconscious decisions every day to make sure that happened.

The way you think of yourself can be changed. It has to be a daily exercise to make this change permanent, and to form new nerve pathways that change your brain wiring. This rewiring process will make sure your brain is ready to stay thin when you become thin, and that will control your body and actions to make sure that happens.
Visualize how you want to look. See yourself in that body and practice it daily. Once you become that person, you will already be comfortable with it, and will be able to stay that way because you have already formed your new identity.

Change your self-talk by phrasing everything in a positive way and emphasize your goal the same way. A good example of this is to say, “I’m going to get leaner today” instead of saying, “I’m going to lose some fat today”. They might sound the same, but they are very different.

2.) Consider a cleanse routine to get you started right. This process is meant to detoxify the body of harmful chemicals stored in the digestive system and organs. It is also meant to clean out the intestines of harmful flora that prevent you from absorbing key nutrients.

It is important to remember that once you have done your cleanse, you are starting over with a clean digestive system and proper intestinal flora, so stick with your new and good nutrition habits to continue to reap the benefits of the process.
A cleanse is a great way to start healthy eating, but the intestines will rapidly repopulate with the bad flora if you go back to poor nutrition habits, and then you have lost all the benefits of what you accomplished with the cleanse. It takes 3-4 weeks to get rid of the bad flora but less than a week to get it back!

I don't recommend any particular cleanse system because they are all pretty much a waste of money. If you want a cleanse that actually works, eat only these things for 3 weeks:

Wild fish
Organic chicken
Organic grass-fed beef
Organic broccoli, spinach, kale and collard greens
1 gallon of water per day

Take a probiotic every day and continue it after you are done with the cleanse. You can get a good one at SuperSupplements (but don’t let them talk you into their cleanse systems).

This is better than any cleanse out there and will prevent the muscle loss cleanses often cause as well. Get a deep tissue massage 2-3 times a week and take an Epsom salt bath every night on massage days.
After your cleanse, continue to eat organic and emphasize lots of dark greens, lean meats and water as your first priority. Make this your new lifestyle habit and adopt it permanently. Make your resolution for life, not just for this year. Think of each change you make as a new permanent step to your new permanent you.

3.) Workout harder and train less. High intensity training is the best way to build muscle and burn fat. Strength training to complete muscle failure is the best way to build muscle and increase your metabolism. This metabolic increase helps you burn more fat even when you sleep, so muscle really is the key.

This doesn’t mean you have to bulk up, it just means that a little tone and shape will go a long way towards burning the fat off and keeping it off. Pound for pound, muscle takes up about half the space as fat so trading muscle for fat will make you smaller and improve your shape, even if the scale doesn’t show anything!

The same high intensity principle goes for your cardio exercise. Interval sprint training is the way to go for the best combination of fat burning and cardio fitness improvement. These workouts only take 20 minutes so it is a great time saver as well.
A new minds eye, a cleanse routine followed by continued good nutrition, and high intensity exercise is a sure fire way to reach the resolution goals that have eluded you for so many years by doing things the hard way and the wrong way. Ben Franklin once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. This year it is time to try something different that actually works instead of the same old thing that has failed you year after year!

I couldn't have said it better myself

I was planning on writing an article for New Year's resolution folks, and then got this from Dr. Sears. It's so great to see other progressive professionals preaching what I do. His article was so good, I just cut and pasted it here. I will post a blog entry soon about specific tips for brain training to help with your fitness resolution, so stay tuned! -PJ



Al Sears, MD
11903 Southern Blvd. Ste. 208
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
January 01, 2009

Dear PJ ,

Losing weight is probably at the forefront of your mind this time of year. So here’s a “doctor-recommended” resolution for you to take into the New Year: work out less and eat more.

I’m not kidding. One of the discoveries I’ve made in my years of working with people on fitness and weight loss is what I believe to be the nature of “true” exercise—short bursts of high-intensity workouts.

The reason’s simple: your body wasn’t designed for long, repetitive exercise. What your physiology really evolved to handle is short, intense periods of exertion, followed by rest.

Think about it: is there any circumstance you can picture that would have led our ancestors—early caveman—to run seven miles three days a week or isolate their biceps and work them until they couldn’t lift a one-pound rock?

I can’t think of one.

Same goes for diet. There’s a right way and a wrong way. The bulk of the calories in the pre-agricultural diet came from lean, wild-caught meats, fat from the kill, and above-ground edibles, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

This is what you were meant to survive on. Millions of years of evolution created a digestive system optimally suited to processing protein and fat.

What’s more, if you over-consume protein, your native physiology interprets it as “the hunting is good” and starts to shed excess fat stores, since they’re then seen as inefficient drags on speed and energy levels by the body.

Modern medicine is finally waking up to the health benefits of this approach. Diabetes experts just this year found that high-protein dieting really does lead to lower fat stores and more lean muscle. They’re looking at it as a way to prevent or even reverse the effects of diabetes.1

Another study published late last year found the same thing: the authors concluded that low-carb dieting promotes weight loss, brings soluble fat levels in the blood into balance, and “can be simply incorporated into a person’s lifestyle.”2

The most up-to-date research on high-intensity, low-duration workouts also supports my point about exercise.3

Scientists at McMaster University in Canada took 20 healthy men and women with an average age of 23 and put them on a weekly workout schedule using stationary bikes. Some exercised five days a week, doing 40 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling. Others did four to six sets of 30-second sprints on the cycle, allowing 4.5 minutes of recovery time between sets; their total exercise time was about 15 to 25 minutes—for only three days a week.

After six weeks, the researchers found that the intense sprint interval training improved the structure and function of arteries just as much as traditional, longer endurance exercise—without all the wear and tear.

So start eating more protein—ideally from grass-fed, organic, or wild caught meats—and go for shorter, high-intensity workouts!

Best wishes for the New Year from all of us here at the Center for Health and Wellness.

To Your Good Health,


Al Sears, MD


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1. Brehm BJ, D’Alessio DA. “Benefits of high-protein weight loss diets: enough evidence for practice?” Current Opinions in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity. 2008. 15(5):416-21.
2. Thomas DE, Elliott EJ. “Low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load diets for overweight and obesity.” The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007. (3):CD005105.
3. Rakobowchuk M et al. “Sprint interval and traditional endurance training induce similar improvements in peripheral arterial stiffness and flow-mediated dilation in healthy humans.” American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology. 2008. 295(1):R236-42.

Interesting research I found this week

Most pediatricians under-diagnose overweight kids.

A new study published in the January issue of the Journal Pediatrics shows just one-third of children who are overweight or obese actually receive that diagnosis by their pediatrician. Researchers reviewed BMI measurements recorded for 60,711 2-18 year olds which showed that 19% of the children were overweight, 23% obese, and 8% severely obese. While 76% of severely obese children and 54% of obese children were diagnosed – just 10% of the overweight children received a proper diagnosis. “Despite having set pediatric BMI guidelines, this is a bit of a wake-up call to pediatricians that as many as 90% of overweight children are not being properly diagnosed,” said David C. Kaelber, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., lead author of the study. “Better identification of this group of children who have just crossed into the ‘unhealthy’ weight category is essential for early intervention which will hopefully prevent not only a childhood of increased health problems, but also what now often becomes an ongoing battle through adulthood with life-long issues.”

Speed circulation to your brain to fight Alzheimer's

LONDON (Reuters) - A slow, chronic reduction of blood sugar to the brain could trigger some forms of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The study of human and mice brains suggests a reduction of blood flow deprives energy to the brain, setting off a process that ultimately produces the sticky clumps of protein researchers believe is a cause of the disease. Scientists found that a protein called elF2alpha is altered when the brain does not get enough energy. This boosts production of an enzyme that in turn flips a switch to produce the sticky protein clumps. The finding could lead to strategies such as exercise, reducing cholesterol and managing blood pressure to keep Alzheimer's at bay.

Another study shows importance of protein after exercise.

Recovery from exercise is enhanced with carbohydrate-protein drink vs. a carbohydrate only drink. Adding protein to the formula immediately after exercise dramatically increases fat oxidation and speeds recovery. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2008, 5:24doi:10.1186/1550-2783-5-24

Interesting Research

I found some interesting research this week! I'll talk about a lot of it tonight on the X Gym radio show on KVI AM 570 at 5 pm.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gave some support to past studies finding that breakfast eaters are less likely to be overweight -- and that eating a high-quality breakfast (especially protein), rather than grabbing a pastry, is the key.

The Food and Drug Administration has finally approved the use of two new zero-calorie sweeteners made from the stevia plant. Coca-Cola and other companies plan to introduce drinks sweetened with stevia-based products. Coca-Cola Co. is expected to launch a drink in the U.S. this week containing a natural, calorie-free sweetener, intensifying a race with PepsiCo Inc. to dominate a new generation of noncarbonated beverages. Stevia has been used in Paraguay for centuries and in Japan for decades, and until now, it has been available in the United States only as a nutritional supplement.

People tend to either love or loathe yoga poses like Pigeon. Regardless of which camp you inhabit, keep in mind that Pigeon can help safeguard your precious knees and low back and make myriad poses infinitely more pleasant. Here's a look at the tremendous benefits of hip openers. Open hips can mean less back pain. Tight hip flexors pull your pelvis forward and exaggerate the curve in your lower back. Picture your entire pelvis as a bowl of water spilling toward your toes, with the back side of the bowl raised up. When your lumbar becomes shortened, you're likely to feel compression and discomfort over time. You'll notice it in your poses, too. If your hip flexors are short in a pose like Warrior I or Camel, your lower back will overdo the arch, and you'll feel pain. Open hip flexors help bring the pelvis back to neutral and mitigate pain.

Exercise only (without dieting) shows fat loss comes mostly from dangerous belly fat. Women who increased their activity by 3,500 steps a day lost five pounds. Men doing the same lost 8 1/2 pounds. Participants who exercised the most decreased their belly fat by 10 percent to 20 percent. The study points up the good news: Belly fat is actually quite sensitive to exercise. “That’s where you’re most likely to lose the weight,” said David Robbins, endocrinologist and professor of medicine at KU Med in Kansas City. “These fat cells shut off very quickly.” But even a small weight loss shuts down some very dangerous signals from belly fat cells, the kind that put people at risk of disease, Robbins said. “So even losing five to 10 pounds can have a disproportionate benefit to your health,” he said.

Phenol Power
Cinnamon and cinnamon sticks were clear standouts for healthy spices in a recent test, not only because of their total antioxidant ranking but also because they scored high marks for phenolics -- health-protective compounds credited with thwarting cell-damaging processes in the body. Cinnamon phenols in particular may also help bring down blood sugar. Ground or stick, sprinkled or stirred -- cinnamon packs an antioxidant wallop. Cinnamon is used in many of the recipes on the X Gym website at www.xgym.com/hardbodcafe.htm so check it out!

High blood levels of vitamin C could cut stroke risk by as much as 42 percent and reduce your odds of developing type 2 diabetes by a whopping 62 percent. That’s exactly what happened in two recent studies involving middle-aged and older adults. As blood levels of C went up, risks went down. Researchers suspect that the vitamin’s strong antioxidant qualities may be the reason for its protective effects. And there’s no better way to raise your blood levels of C than to start filling your body with C-rich winter foods like broccoli and other dark greens!

A new study found that overweight men and women burned more post-meal fat when they ate a high-protein breakfast and lunch than when they had lower-protein meals. The added protein seemed to modify the fat-burning deficit seen in heavy individuals.
This isn't the only study to show the metabolic benefits of high protein. A large number of other studies have also suggested that high-protein diets may help people shed weight more easily. [Nutrition & Dietetics June 5, 2008; 65(4): 246-52]

Turns out people who regularly quench their thirsts with water consume a whopping 9 percent fewer daily calories than non-water drinkers. Not only do water drinkers seem to drink fewer sugary and calorie-heavy beverages (like eggnog, mulled wine, and champagne), but they also have healthier eating habits overall, according to a recent study. [Water and food consumption patterns of U.S. adults from 1999 to 2001. Popkin, B.M., et al., Obesity Research 2005 Dec;13(12):2146-2152]

In a study, people who ate at least 27 grams of fiber per day had better lung capacity than people who got less than 10 grams. The high-fiber eaters were also 15 percent less likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an irreversible lung condition that makes it hard to breathe. Fiber may protect lungs by reducing tissue-damaging inflammation. The antioxidants in fiber probably help protect lung cells, too. [Dietary fiber, lung function, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the atherosclerosis risk in communities study. Kan, H., et al., American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 Mar 1;167(5):570-578]

Remember to filter your water! Tap water has too much fluoride, and now researchers are finding this chemical may be partly responsible for early onset puberty in girls.
Up until the 1990s, no research had ever been conducted to determine the impact of fluoride on the pineal gland -- a small gland located between the two hemispheres of the brain that regulates the production of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the onset of puberty and helps protect the body from cell damage caused by free radicals. It is now known -- thanks to the meticulous research of Dr. Jennifer Luke from the University of Surrey in England -- that the pineal gland is the primary target of fluoride accumulation within your body. After finding that the pineal gland is a major target for fluoride accumulation in humans, Dr. Luke conducted animal experiments to determine if the accumulated fluoride could impact the functioning of the gland -- particularly the gland's regulation of melatonin. Luke found that animals treated with fluoride had lower levels of circulating melatonin, as reflected by reduced levels of melatonin metabolites in the animals' urine. This reduced level of circulating melatonin was accompanied -- as might be expected -- by an earlier onset of puberty in the fluoride-treated female animals.

According to neuroscientists, obesity gradually numbs the taste sensation of rats to sweet foods, and drives them to consume larger and sweeter meals. There is apparently a critical link between taste and body weight. The researchers implanted electrodes in the rodents' brains to record the firing of nerve cells when the rats' tongues were exposed to various tastes. The obese rats had about 50 percent fewer neurons firing when their tongues were exposed to sucrose, suggesting that they have become desensitized to sucrose.

Would You Listen To a Chubby Trainer?

One of my pet peeves is seeing an overweight personal trainer or deconditioned aerobics instructor telling other people how to get in shape. Would you take investment advice from someone who is broke, or hire a chain smoker as your running coach?
It makes about as much sense to hire an out of shape fitness expert, but they are everywhere! Educationally deficient trainers abound as well. In this state, a license is required to cut your hair, but to treat your back pain and guide you in correct exercise form, all it takes is the ability to sweet talk you out of your hard-earned money.
Believe it or not, in economic downturns, people turn to exercise and local fitness experts more often than in strong economies. People look to invest their money in themselves instead of an unpredictable market. They also need to burn off the stress that comes with uncertainly and they seem to instinctively know that exercise is the best antidote.
If you are looking for a personal trainer or someone to get fitness advice from, first make sure they walk what they talk. If they can’t convince themselves to follow proper nutrition and exercise habits, they will suck even more at motivating you.
Looking good isn’t enough however. Make sure they have some classroom time in fitness and nutrition and not just a certification. Most “certified” personal trainers just ordered a text book, read it over the weekend, and then showed up in some hotel conference room to sit for the test when that agency happened to be in town.
This is better than nothing, but the next step up is a trade school or an organized program that offers an actual course with hands-on training. These usually take 4 months to a year and include lectures, teachers, videos, and practical experience. The next step up from there is a college degree, but trainers with those are pretty rare.
Most X Gym trainers do in fact have a college degree in an exercise field, so we are a very safe bet. I don’t want to brag or turn this into an infomercial either, but we are also in fantastic shape. We even won 12 of the 14 medals presented at the WAMU tower stair climb for Cystic Fibrosis on December 4th and reset many records that stood for years prior. Our members got in on it too, helping to win some of those medals, and when all was said and done, 14 of our 19 team members placed in their top 10 for their age groups.
If your trainer doesn’t inspire you to do crazy stuff like run up 56 floor buildings in under 8 minutes, or can’t motivate you to just get moving again, you need to find one who does. Look up local trainers and interview them. Get a free workout and try as many as you want before you make your decision, because it’s an important one and it’s your money.
Their personality and teaching style should be a match too. If you don’t like them on your first impression, you probably won’t grow to like them later, and then might be stuck in a “package deal” with a bunch of workouts to finish up. If you find one who you respond to and produces constant results, you have found a gold mine! If you plateau however, or find yourself spinning your wheels, you might as well put that money back into the market. At least there you will have some unpredictability and something positive might happen!

Go Bonkers For Breakfast

Research shows that our capacity to feel satisfaction from our food is stronger in the morning and grows progressively weaker throughout the day. If you eat more in the morning you can trick your body into eating less at night.

One study showed that when obese dieters ate a big breakfast starting with healthy protein, they lost significantly more weight than dieters who ate only half that much. The dieters who ate a big breakfast naturally ate less at night. Those who ate a smaller breakfast got the munchies and ate more of the bad stuff before bed.
Scientists now believe that circadian and diurnal rhythms -- the body’s natural daily patterns -- determine this effect. When we eat a good breakfast, especially with high amounts of protein, our rhythms are set correctly for the day and late night snacking is not as much of an issue.

Most people skip breakfast or eat fast carbs like donuts, rolls, bagels, and the like which create a spike in blood sugar. This in turn causes cravings and hunger to increase through the rest of the day and peak at night. Coffee makes this effect even worse, so you can see how most Americans are sabotaging themselves every day without even knowing it.

Those who eat mostly protein for breakfast don’t have the resulting blood sugar spike, and their hunger stays more level instead of the drastic swings from the coffee and carbs. They effectively “set” their body rhythm clock and keep it ticking on pace by starting their day with the right type of calorie.

Another good reason for protein in the morning is that it burns more fat off your body than other types of calories. We all wake up in a fat burning state because we have been fasting all night. Eating protein keeps us in this state, while carbs and coffee shut it down. Protein effectively extends this fat burning window and even bumps it up a level as it causes a natural metabolism increases.

Most Americans eat lots of carbs and little protein before bed, so their fat burning won’t start until all those carbs are burned off. This can take 4-7 hours, so they have a very short fat burning window before they shut it back down with their coffee and croissant the next morning.

Since protein for breakfast will also cause you to eat less in the evening, and therefore start your fat burning window sooner, it’s a double whammy for fat loss! You are stretching your fat burning window out longer in the morning and starting it sooner in the evening and are therefore attacking it from both sides.

Try to get clean protein to optimize your fat burning metabolism. This means eating organic scramblers, omelets, or protein shakes for breakfast, and organic white meat, wild fish, or grass fed red meat for dinner. Organic cheese and plain Greek yogurt are other good sources. You can mix Greek yogurt with berries and liquid Stevia to make it taste like the full sugar stuff and double the protein while slashing the sugar at the same time. Use this same formula for organic cottage cheese and you have a treat rivaling many deserts.

The calorie in-calorie out theory has been debunked for many years. Those still preaching it simply haven’t kept up with the research. It’s about the timing and the type of calorie that dictates whether you lose fat or not. My book “Cracking Your Calorie Code” discusses this and other calorie strategies and can be ordered through our website at www.xgym.com.

If You Have a Big But, You Probably Have a Big Butt

Excuses are often the biggest reason for the size of your butt. I have heard them all, ranging from “I’d like to exercise, but I just don’t have the time” to, “I have tried it all, but nothing ever works.” There is always a “but” stuck in there somewhere when folks with big butts are trying to explain why their butts are so big.

Your “but” is based on your personality and how you were raised. You learned somewhere that excuses get you out of uncomfortable stuff and make life easier, but in the end, excuses just grow your hind end.

Using “buts” are just a way to keep you within your comfort zone. Staying within your comfort zone often means staying within the parameters of your “minds eye”. Everyone has a certain way they see themselves, and when their fitness progress exceeds that visual picture programmed into their subconscious, sabotage and “buts” take over so everything goes back to normal and within the comfort zone.

No one got fit by staying comfortable, and if that is your goal, you will never be fit either. Real fitness means stretching your comfort zone and pushing your envelope to expand it and make it bigger. It means doing workouts that aren’t comfortable and addressing the mental roadblocks that cause your “buts”.

It also means changing your minds eye by regularly picturing yourself the way you want to look and feel, and feeling that sensation in the present tense. This practice actually changes the wiring in your brain and will not only help you reach your goals faster, but will also help you stay there once you reach them.

You simply cannot have both comfort and fitness. You must pick one and fully commit to it. The X Gym workout takes only 20 minutes twice a week, and it is the most intense workout there is. Nutritional commitment is also required, and that takes some stretching of the comfort zone as well.

Stretching your comfort zone causes growth. The more you stretch it, the faster you grow, and as with all living creatures, you are either growing or dying. There is no in between. Comfort will kill you. Pushing your envelope will save you.
People tell me I look younger every year. They say that I now look like I am in my 20’s, and I do feel that young, but my driver’s license says I’m 42. I am in the best shape of my life, I eat the most calories I ever have, I’m the leanest I have ever been, and I’m the strongest too. My cardio fitness is also the highest of my life, and you can bet I don’t try to stay comfortable!

Other X Gym trainers tell the same tale. Zach just placed 2nd in the Fireman Combat Challenge and earned a trip to the world championships in Vegas. Jenn just won the Fall City run, and then a month later, took 2nd in her first ever sprint triathlon. Scott qualified to compete in the World Ironman competition in Canada recently, and earned the title “All American” for his efforts.

All of us have small butts because we don’t use the word “but!” We are no different than you either. If we can do it, so can you. It’s just a matter of deciding between comfort or fitness and then committing fully to your decision. If you do decide to get rid of your “but” you will also find that you will get rid of your “butt!”