25 tips to Christmas-

Christmas is right around the corner so as a gift to my readers I wanted to give you 25 tips to apply into your life and training this holiday and new year.

1. Dont just eat the whites, consume yolks-the whole cholesterol thing gets over blown and most of those studies were done by cereal companies anyways. Eating whole eggs will give you those essential nutrients that just the yolks wont. My suggestion is to do 2 whites to 1 yolk or just do whole eggs every other day.

2. If you are not happy with your current results than something must change! Eat better, workout better, sleep better, stress less and re-focus. Change your path and get better results now!

3. Nutrient timing is everything. Carbs in the morning and post workout are your prime spots to consume them. The leaner you are the more carbs you can eat generally.

4. It is not the quantity of your workouts but the quality.

5. Don't make your workouts too complex, less is better.

6. Have no clue on a goal for yourself? Try and add more weight to the bar or move it faster or both!

7. At the end of the day it is all about commitment to yourself and your goals. If what you want to achieve is really that important than you need to make it important in your life. No excuses!

8. Don't be afraid of high reps for your quads. High rep training can help the legs grow. 25-40 reps is totally fine.

9. If your looking to put on more size on your arms try lifting biceps and triceps on the same day. Break away from the traditional chest/tri and back/bi days and do some pure arm workouts and see what happens.

10. If you don't eat breakfast I cant help you get better results.

11. Some of my clients have seen great results in terms of dropping body fat by doing different waves of workouts. First waive could be 3-4 weeks of high rep, light weight limited to no rest periods. Then we switch things up to heavier weight, moderate to low reps and higher rest periods in order to help maintain that muscle mass. You can keep cycling this or take a week or two and mess the two into one workout.

12. Drink water!

13. Start on your 2012 goals now! No need to wait til after Jan 1 like the rest of the world. Be better than everyone else.

14. If you see people who don't get results, well do the opposite of those people! When you see those you get results, do the same!

15. Hour workout is great, but so is 45min and so is 25min.......whatever time you have make it work for you.

16. Just do cardio and you will look ok, do weights and you will look really good, do cardio and weights and damn you will look wow.

17. If you are trying to put on muscle mass and you are having trouble its most likely a calorie thing. Eat more than you are because chances are you need to be!

18. Make your workouts hard and intense but don't beat yourself into the ground because that will cost you the next day. You want to get as many quality workouts as you can during the week so don't beat yourself into submission. Ever now and then however....go ahead and destroy yourself in a workout.

19. Range of motion is important for any exercise you perform. If you are doing full pullups don't do 3/4 pullups.

20. Take responsibility-YOU are the reason that YOU are not seeing results. No need to pass the blame plate, suck it up and realize you need to do something about it.

21. Having trouble thinking of what to eat for dinner? Veggies and protein to the rescue every time!

22. There is no best way to do anything! Certain methods work better for some more than others. Find what works for you.

23. Do ab work everyday. Your abdominals don't get as much muscular damage as other muscles therefore allowing you to train them more frequently.

24. Listen to your body. Your body will tell you when you need to change things, increase weight or take a step back. Ignorance will put you behind.

25. At the end of the day just move. MOVE!

Go Dominate! Happy Holidays! Thanks to everyone who continues to read my posts!

Random thoughts....

• I will give you the biggest secret to getting the best results you have ever seen.....ready..........here it is- WORK HARD, STAY FOCUSED AND KEEP MENTALLY STRONG. That's it, seems really simple and it is, just hard to execute it and that is were people fail.

• Fix your own oatmeal-More and more people seem to be getting their oatmeal from fast food joints and restaurants when it is super simple to do themselves. Buy a quality brand from Whole Foods/Trader Joe's and cook it in the microwave briefly ( I know microwaves are awful but just deal ) and then add sliced almond,dried natural cranberries and top it with some cinnamon. BOOM DONE!

• 2 things to focus on for losing weight and getting lean-VEGGIES and PROTEIN.
  

• Take a break from deadlifting and squatting and start doing single leg versions of both. Start off with body weight of each and work on form. Benefits are less stress on the lumbar spine, improves the musculature around the knee and stability.

• Check out this motivational video-

5 exercises to avoid

Here are some exercises that most of you know you should be avoiding but you don't really know why you should be. I don't personally believe in saying "never" do exercise A, or exercise B but the following are just some exercises you should avoid or find a better alternative for. Remember almost every exercise has a potential risk to it, so just do the exercises with the greater reward relative to its risk.

1) Upright row-This is a fairly common exercise you see people doing in every gym across America to develop/strengthen their shoulder. The issue with this exercise has to do with that very muscle, the shoulder and the shoulder joint. Upright rows can cause shoulder impingement over time for many people especially if done with a narrow grip. If you are going to do this exercise try and switch to a wider grip.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Military press, dumbbell press

2) Behind the neck pulldowns-Pull downs to the front of the body are a great exercise, this variation not so much. Just like the upright row this exercise can cause issues with the shoulder and shoulder joint. Also, since most people lack good shoulder flexibility, they will tend to compensate by bending their neck forward and causing issues with the neck and C spine.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Normal lat pulldown, Pull ups

3) Behind the neck shoulder press-Are you noticing a trend here? Most of these exercise have to do with a movement in which the weight is going behind the head. This exercise has the issues as the above exercises. Shoulder problems and rotator cuff issues can arise as well as problems with your neck.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Shoulder press in front of the head, military press

4) Stiff leg deadlift with legs elevated-The stiff leg deadlift, done right, actually is a great exercise and should be done to improve the hamstrings, back and glutes. However, when you try and get more extreme range of motion by elevating your legs off the ground and standing on a box or step you can cause issues. What tends to happen with this approach is once you get to a certain depth on the lift you lose the arch in your back. By losing the arch in your back you shift the tension from the musculature of the back to the connective tissue and bones of the spinal column. End result is you increase your risk to hurt the low back.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Regular deadlift, hamstring curl

5) The basic sit up-If you like having a healthy low back then I would avoid/minimize doing floor sit ups. This old exercise ends up doing more harm than good. This exercise causes you to flex at the spine over and over and eventually can lead to damage to your discs and low back. Now I do think here and there you should toss in some sit ups because the last thing you want to lose is the ability to sit up from a bench press after pressing 300 plus pounds, that would not be good. But for the majority of your time I would use other exercises that have a higher reward than risk.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Planks, side planks, med ball chops and lifts

Random thoughts

• There are a bunch of programs that work for a while but then eventually everything becomes stale. You need to make sure you are changing your workouts. Change exercises, programs, and methods.

• If your trying to get faster then work your hamstrings and glutes. If your trying to better your vertical then work on your quads.
  

• I love beets. They are low in calories and fat, but are high in fiber and vitamins and minerals. So Eat some!
  

• If you have no specific training goal in mind try to mix up your routine every4-6 weeks. Do weeks of strength, metabolic ( fat loss ) and hypertrophy to get the benefits of every type of training.

• Plyometric training and lifting with heavy heavy loads is hard on your central nervous system and can really beat down your body. Limit these types of workouts to 1-2x a week.