INSANITY can be described as doing the same thing over and over again…expecting different results.

In the United States one example of this is repeatedly continuing to disrespect and attack Governor Sarah Palin by personally attacking her – thinking somehow it will change the fact that she has more executive experience and real life qualifications than the Presidential candidate on the opposing ticket.  (It also does not change the fact that Sarah Palin is NOT running for President).  Insane.

What behavior do you engage in everyday while expecting a different outcome?

What self defeating eating habits do we continue to with while believing if we just do some extra cardio we can justify it.  Hmmm….I’m still gaining weight though.  Insane.

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In the United States, today is the 7th anniversary of the worst attack on U.S. soil in history.  There was a collective wonderment as thoughts of confusion and “how could this happen” reigned through the minds of all of us.

Prior to that day, if you asked most people they would say “that could never happen”, “not here” and “not in MY backyard”.  Well it did.  Then, shortly after, planning began on how to prevent this from every happening again.  Thankfully it has not happened again.  I pray it never does.

This story is so familiar in our individual lives when it comes to our health.  No one thinks a health challenge will invade their lives or the life of someone they love – until it does.  When that challenge is dealt with and hopefully eradicated…many people will change gears, adopt a healthier lifestyle and fight to not let it happen again.

In both cases there can be debate about prevention.

Could we have prevented the events of September 11, 2001?  Can health challenges be prevented by

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The great thing about tracking your own progress during your journey to a leaner, healthier body is that it is inherently valuable.  You are tracking your victories, your speed bumps, your consistency…your success!  In order to get a complete picture of where you are now with your diet and where you need to go – one of the most powerful tools that can be utilized is that of journaling everything you eat.

Write everything down.  Water, snacks, mints, fruit…EVERYTHING!  Most people will immediately see,

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When designing your workout program try thinking about things from a different perspective.  The days of split routines and isolation exercises have long since past outside of the realm of bodybuilding and/or specific weakness in a particular muscle group that is causing other issues ie., injury.

Training individual body parts is a time consuming and ineffective fitness model for fat loss.  Split routines are very inefficient and many times the root of common repetitive motion injuries.  Here is a short list reasons a split routine is not the best option for fat loss.

• Less effect on EPOC (Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption)
• Less overall Calorie burn during the workout
• Lends itself to inconsistency
• Time Consuming
• Repetitive Motion injuries due to overtraining and emphasis on one muscle group
• Encourages isolation of muscle groups when performing a complex movement in life
• Neuro-muscular confusion as to role play within a particular movement (the wrong muscles are taking over during a movement or exercise)

To train effectively and efficiently shift your thinking to the following movements and then perform movements that produce them.

1. Up and down
2. Push and Pull 
3. Bend and Twist
4. Ambulate (move forward, back, side to side etc.)

These are, in a nut shell, how we move.  We get up and down; we push things away or pull them to us; we bend and twist and we move by walking, running, etc.  Setting up your workout like this can result in the following 4 exercises:

1. Squats
2. Push ups
3. Sit ups
4. Walk or run

Or

1. Lunges
2. Rows
3. V – sits
4. Side shuffle

The combinations are endless and to be more efficient you can combine two or more movement patterns like a lunge walk or a medicine ball squat and press.

Whether you perform the exercises as a circuit (which I highly recommend) or as individual sets with rest in between them – you will burn more calories as you utilize more muscle groups.  You also don’t have to worry about missing a workout as you would with a split routine.  When you miss a day with a split routine, and that day turns into more of a week – those particular muscle groups have not been worked in quite some time.  If you miss a week training the way I have described you know you have still exercised every muscle group in the previous week. 

Consistency is your biggest advocate…especially over the long run and training movements instead of muscles gives you the BEST chance to do that.

Train movements.  Train hard.  Win.

Dave
www.homeofficeworkouts.com