I’m posting a few pages here today.  Her fears, her desires, and her private, innermost feelings will be revealed here.  I couldn’t help myself.  What am I gonna do when she finds out?

From the diary of Anonymous, 12-01-12:

Dear Diary,

I’ve been feeling really good lately.  Some days it’s really a challenge with my new exercise program, but I’m starting to notice the results, so that’s good. 

Jeff totally killed me today.  I didn’t think I was gonna be able to finish the workout.  Somehow I managed.  He says my form is really good and I’m “isolating the muscle” better, whatever that means!

I know the workouts are good for me, but some days I swear I’d like to just smack that smug little smile off his face!  He’s a nice guy though, and seems to be a great trainer.

The nutrition part is really tough.  I don’t know how I’m supposed to manage six days without having sugar.  Jeff said I can have a cheat day and I thought, “really?  Just one?”  Some days it’s really hard, but I’ve been applying myself and I think I’m doing really well.

Sometimes, during out training session, he’ll tell me to do something and I’ll just think, “you’ve got to be kidding.”  But I don’t want to look like a wimp so I do it anyway.  I might be impressed with myself if I didn’t also wonder “what the heck have I gotten myself into?”  I mean, I must be crazy! 

Oh well, I guess if it makes me thin, it might be worth it.   Is it?  Could this really be the price of beauty?

Does everybody go through this I wonder?  Some mornings I’ll wake up in pain and think, “this is supposed to be good for me?”  One day my legs were so sore that I fell trying to get out of bed! I guess I’ll just take it one day at a time and see what happens. 

All the trainers at the gym are very encouraging and they seem to think I’m doing really great.  I bet they say that to everybody though.  Anyway, I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes…

13-01-12

Dear Diary,

Today was not a good day.  My boss dropped all these papers on my desk at the last minute.  I had to stay late to work through everything.  Not only did I miss my workout, but I had a date square with my coffee!  I feel gross now.  Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this.  It was easier before.  I felt fat, but at least I could still enjoy a couple of glasses of wine and a few squares of chocolate with my dinner!  And after all of my hard work and sacrifice, at my first weigh-in I lost 6 pounds.  What the f**k?!  I am feeling a lot better though.

Now Jeff is gonna ask me and I’ll have to tell him the truth that I cheated.  He’s probably gonna kill me with the workout.  I mean I literally might not survive, this could be the last time I write to you, diary. 

Seriously though, maybe I should make up an excuse to not go?  I could say I have too much work or I’m tired, or I’m not feeling well, or something.  At least that way I could sneak in a few more days of good eating, do some cardio, and report good news.   That might work.

Does everybody go through this? 

Oh well, I guess I won’t quit just yet.  I need my training sessions.  On my own I’d probably just give up.  I’m scared and a bit overwhelmed, but I started this and I’m going to see it through!  I won’t give that cocky bastard the satisfaction.  You’ll never break me, asshole!

End of Diary Sample

***********************************************

This is the result of a thought experiment.  I’m having a little fun with it of course.  I’m not going for 100% accuracy.  But I asked myself, what would it feel like to walk a mile in the shoes of a new trainee?

I’m a huge fan of Dr. Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  The 5th habit is seek first to understand, then to be understood.

I work hard at understanding the people I train.  I strive to enter their minds and learn about their habitual thought processes.  What I’ve discovered through my many years of working with people is that I can’t respond to their problems by using my own filters.  They’re not me, and they don’t think like me. 

But if I can figure out how to think like they do, then I can speak to them in their own language.  I’m always working on this, but with the years I’m getting better at it, and it’s made me a more effective coach.

The question I’d like to leave you with is this: what relationships in your life, be they working relationships or personal relationships, could benefit from a little bit more empathic understanding on your part?  What would a page in your family member’s, your friend’s, or your coworker’s diary look like?

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

Since yesterday I’ve had the opportunity to contemplate on the significance of turning a year older.  It also gave me pause to look back.

I would say that most of the things I do on a daily basis would have seemed very far fetched to the me of ten years ago.  Although you probably wouldn’t guess it, I’m very introverted.  At one time I was extremely shy also.

One of the best things I think any person can do for themselves is learn to take more risks.

I know that the blessed life I enjoy today would not be possible had I not learned to take risks and expand my comfort zone.  I would never have quit my job at Extreme, I would never have met my amazing wife, I would never have become a public speaker.  These were all things that scared the s**t out of me at first!

Understand that everything you’ve ever wanted is right at the edge of your comfort zone.  Your comfort zone equals your life zone.  It equals your happiness zone.  The more you can expand your comfort zone the greater your quality of life will be.  I really believe that.

I understood instinctively that to overcome inhibition one must act uninhibited.

I’m always playing with this idea, it keeps me growing.  Yesterday at Starbucks I bought a complete stranger a cup of coffee, just like that.  He was speechless.  It was fun.

The day before that one of the members here smelled really bad.  The gym was filled with his pungent aroma.  As one of the trainers put it, “it was giving me a headache.”  I told him, “I don’t mean to be rude but you stink!”  While it’s true that he needed to be told, I spoke up mainly because it made me uncomfortable to do so. 

These daily forays to the edge of comfort have helped me tremendously. 

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

You’ll be amazed at the courage you develop.

A big step out of your comfort zone can be life-changing.  It was for Paul Potts, a former winner of Britain’s Got Talent.  The video of Paul’s audition for the show is one of the most watched YouTube videos of all time.  I show it occasionally in my seminars.  If you’ve already seen this, do yourself a favor and watch it again.

I’d like you to listen to him talk.  Notice the fear in his voice.  I mean the guy is a phone salesman!  Notice how the judges and the audience all thought he was going to be a joke.  And finally, recognize in yourself the same ability he used, and which we all possess, to step up when it really matters.

Click here to watch the video.

I tear up every time I watch this.  It’s a beautiful expression of the power of being human.  We can be more than we imagine.  We can touch greatness.

Risk something today.  You could ask out that person you’ve had your eye on, strike up a conversation with a stranger, or call someone you care about and tell them what they mean to you.  Don’t think about it, just do it.

“Leap, and grow your wings on the way down.”

Have a great Friday,

Conor Kelly

On this day some years ago, my journey from small to large to medium began.

Guess who?

Thanks for joining me on the ride!

Whether your goal is to be large, medium or small, I know you can get there too.

In yesterday’s blog I described Pareto’s principle as it pertains to your fitness program.  Today I’ll share some thoughts on what I believe to be the most high-leverage strategies for getting fast results.

How do you accomplish more with less?  To a large extent it depends on lifestyle factors that are specific to the individual.  One person’s 20% may not equal another’s.

However, if the goal is fat loss, here are some things for you to consider.  

1. You can’t out-train a bad diet.  Nutrition is numero uno, el capitane when it comes to fat loss.  Look there first.  Put your energy there first.  Too many people are trying to outrun their lousy eating habits and it doesn’t work.

Within the sphere of supportive nutrition, here’s what I believe the 20% to be:

(1) do enough to make small improvements each week.  If you never eat breakfast and you ate breakfast once this week, you can say you ate better this week.  That’s all you need to do.  Keep doing that and never stop.  You’ll eventually have much more supportive eating habits.

(2) Find a pattern that works for you and stick to it.  I more or less eat the same stuff every day for 5-6 days a week.  It’s simple, I don’t have to think about it much, and it’s easy to follow.  The other 1-2 days are when I get some variety.  If you think it’s boring, find new ways of preparing your food.  Do scrambled instead of boiled, add a new spice to your chicken or salmon or rice, try a healthy lunch counter. 

Many grocery stores now have a warm lunch counter where you can literally pick a protein, a starch, and veggies for less than $10.  Remember, you’re busy; you want it to be as automatic as possible for you to eat well.

(3) Lean protein, starchy carb, fibrous carb every 3 to 3 and half hours.  In other words, eat 4-5 times a day (meal or snack), just be sure to include some protein each time.  Avoid processed or packaged.  Drink lots of water in between meals.

(4) Watch those evenings.  Don’t do the Sumo thing.  Eat less when you need it less.  As I’ve explained, this made a huge impact for me.

2. Follow a plan.  Without a plan you’re like a ship without a rudder; floating around pointlessly.  A complete plan includes BOTH nutrition and exercise.  Hire a personal trainer, shorten the learning curve. 

I’ve seen miracle transformations in people who did nothing else but add structure to what they were already doing.  We’re purpose-driven beings.  Do the thinking up front, then put it in cruise control.

“The battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.”  Sun Tzu, Art of War

If you suffer from the whole “I workout a couple of times one week but then I miss a whole week,” there is a cure.  It’s called a plan.

3. Always find new ways of challenging yourself.  Try to set a personal best of somekind in every workout.  Try new training methods.  Use a periodized training program.  Keep the intensity as high as possible relative to your current level of conditioning. 

In other words, you’ve got to give your body a reason to change. 

Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result?  Insanity.  That’s what Einstein described.  Yet there are hundreds of people lining up in health clubs to do the same routines day in and day out.

What’s in the the 20% when it comes to exercise?  (1) Weight training, (2) Interval training, and (3) MRT, or cardio circuits using weights.

4. Work on you.  Your body can only change to the extent that you do.  The most productive thing you can do is work on your thoughts and feelings around this whole process.  Find things to like about yourself, and find ways to feel good in the process of getting fit.   

Learning to focus on the positive outcome you want and developing a healthier self-image are crucial to long term health.  To do this, nurture your mind daily.  Your mind needs supportive nutrition as much as your body does. 

Every day, read positive articles like this and listen to positive audios on success and personal development.  Venture out and try new things.  Most of all, practice being your own best friend.  Most of us with never put up with someone else speaking to us in the way we speak to ourselves!  Treat yourself as a caring and patient teacher would, and I promise you’ll find it much easier to take action on almost everything.

In my experience, working on yourself will have a even bigger impact on your results than your workout program. 

Attempt to view all decisions regarding your actions through the lens of the 80/20 rule.  Ask yourself, is what I’m doing really going to make a significant impact? 

It is said that the quality of the response is equal to the quality of the question.  Want better ideas or actions?  Ask better questions.

I’ll leave you with this: what’s one thing you can do today that will bring you closer to your goal?

Raya, Jeff, and myself are getting set to head up to Horseshoe Valley for a Birthday ski weekend.  Let’s hope there’s snow by the time we get there.

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

Sometimes referred to as Pareto’s principle, it is credited to an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto.  At the beginning of the 20th century, Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

You can spot this pattern everywhere.  In economics, they say 80% of the population controls 20% of the wealth.  In business, 80% of your revenues come from 20% of your customers.  In medecine, we have the concept of minimum effective dose, that point beyond which more of a particular treatment produces only negligible results.

Is it always exactly 80/20?  No.  It could be 90/10, or 70/30 sometimes.  The point is, in almost every arena we notice that a few of the causes are responsible for most of the effects.

In other words, very few things matter.

In fitness, it could be said that as a rule, about 20% of your activities produce 80% of your results.  Therefore, if you are able to identify what those 20% are, and focus on them, you can generate faster fitness results with less effort!

Know that 20% of the nutritional changes you’ll make will produce 80% of the fat loss, and the last 20% of repetitions closest to fatigue will cause 80% of the results you get from your exercise program.

There are many things you can do for your fitness, some of them just happen to count more.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to uncover that 20%.  When you do, your power to transform will increase exponentially because you will be focusing on the three or four things that have the most impact, and you won’t be wasting your time on things that have little or no impact.

How are you going to identify that 20%?

There are general rules, however, for the most part I find it’s specific to the individual.  At Evolution Fitness, one of our main goals with every new trainee is to help them understand what aspects of their program they should focus on.  What’s gonna be the biggest bang-for-your-buck?  What is it that, beyond everything else, is going to get you the results.

It’s usually something specific to your lifestyle.

Even though I know you’re probably going to hate me for saying this, in my experience it’s usually the exact thing you don’t want to do, or are avoiding doing. 

Whatever we resist is often what keeps us stuck.

For me, it was my evenings.  That was the hardest thing.  I looked forward to eating when I got home, it was how I rewarded myself for getting through another day.  I was pretty much willing to change anything except for that.  But this was the one thing which, when it finally changed, made all the difference to my results.

As I sign off for today, I’d ask you to consider, what is your 20%?  Perhaps you already know.  Then consider, what if I was willing to change this?  Would it be so bad?

When you know that everything you want is on the other side of one simple choice, it’s not much of a choice anymore.

Remember, effort is required, but struggle is optional.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my 80/20 analysis, and hopefully I can save you a lot of time and frustration.

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

By “epiphany” I mean a realization so powerful that it felt like you were thrust from the darkness of night into the clear light of day.

It was a moment in which everything you’d been missing became really obvious — all of a sudden.

That’s what I experienced in 2007.

I was working for Extreme Fitness near Yonge and Sheppard.

On this day, the gym was a zoo.  It took me two hours to do a forty five minute workout.   Don’t you just hate that?  I spent most of the workout looking for weights, because even though there’s plenty of rack space, 80% of the weights were lying on the floor.  Yargh!

Anyway, as I looked around, it was like I was seeing the whole scene for the first time…

“Is this a gym, or a singles bar?”

Many of the women were in full makeup, trying very hard NOT to break a sweat, actually.  Their ultra-tight workout gear leaves little to the imagination, and serves as a beacon — beep, beep, beep — to the balding business men who approach them, “can I help you with that miss?”

There’s a ridiculously tan guy in a wife beater flirting with one of the girls on treadmill.  In fact, it’s after work so you can’t get a treadmill to save your life!

Everybody’s lined up to the “cardio confessional”. Most of them never lose any weight, but they’ll feel a bit less guilty about the couple of beers they had at lunch!

The gym floor looks like a meat market.  There are people everywhere, except in a small radius around the guy who smells like he hasn’t bathed since Mulroney was Prime Minister.

The only mat I’ve found to stretch on has a huge sweat circle from the back of someone’s head.  Gross.

To my left, one of the fitness consultants is asking a forty-five year old woman who looks like she’s never worked out to do exercises on a stability ball. 

“Your stabilizers are weak,” he says.

Give – me – a – break!

That’s how they do it, you see. They book all new members an appointment for a fitness consultation.  They claim it’s for “insurance purposes”.  The consultation itself is not based on matching you with the right program for your goals, it’s designed to make you feel embarrassed, so you’ll commit to a long term personal training contract.

It was at that moment that I knew I couldn’t be a part of this dog and pony show any more.

By February of 2008 I had resigned from Extreme and founded Evolution Fitness.  I had a vision of creating a space where the average person would feel comfortable and have every chance to succeed with their fitness program.

I made a conscious decision to do things differently, to focus on what was best for my customer as opposed to whatever would make the cash register ring most often.

I recently had lunch with an old client of mine from Extreme.  During our conversation, a lot of facts about the industry came up.  Here are a few I’d like to share with you:

1. Most gyms pay their trainers a fraction of what you pay for the session.  When I started at Extreme, I had several years experience, yet they paid me $15 an hour.  While I did eventually and very slowly (ugh!) move up to a higher pay scale, the low wages are one reason big gyms have a hard time retaining talent.  If the trainer is good, and can sustain his/her own schedule, they’ll leave.

There are some great trainers in commercial health clubs, but many of them are either rookies or they’re not serious about doing personal training as a profession.  It’s a part-time gig while they study law or chiropractic, or whatever.  At Extreme they’d often approach members to become trainers!  “You look good, wanna be a trainer?” 

Hiring a personal trainer in a gym is a bit of a crapshoot.  The good ones are usually full.

2. There are tons of personal trainers, some are good.  I’ve interviewed many trainers over the years, whether it was working in management for gyms, or in looking for new team members at Evolution Fitness.  One thing I’ve learned is that while experience helps, it doesn’t guarantee quality.  I’ve met trainers with 10 years experience that I didn’t think were any good.

Education doesn’t count for much either.  A lot of Kinesiology grads are lousy.  They know a lot of facts about the body, but not how to work with it.  Also, it’s not that difficult to become certified as a trainer.  The course is usually pretty basic, and the testing is not that rigorous.  Phil Kaplan is famous for getting his cat certified as a personal trainer through a correspondance course!

3. Most trainers fail to get their clients results.  It’s nothing against them, I believe they’re well intentioned.  It’s just that no one’s taught them how to get results for their clients.  They’re taught all about the body, and how not to injure someone basically.

So much more goes into helping someone change their lives than simply understanding the science.  A person is so much more than just a body, they are a dynamic bundle of beliefs, habits, dreams, and fears.

It’s the ability to build a successful coaching relationship (and to know how to push the right buttons) that makes all the difference.

Please do not get me wrong.  I’m not down on this industry.  I’m passionate about it.  My vision is to elevate personal training to new levels of respect.  Why do you think my business is called Evolution?  The old ways will soon be extinct.

We have so much power as personal trainers to make an impact.  It’s a power I believe we’re beginning to acknowledge.  You heard it here first: we will soon be the go-to guys and gals of modern preventive medecine, an esteemed position which we’ll earn through demonstrating our capacity to heal.  I am working on some projects this year that will change the fitness industry forever.

In the meantime, if you need help, where should you turn?  Call us first.  If, for whatever reason that doesn’t work for you, here are a couple of things you should consider before hiring a trainer.

First, don’t be afraid to ask for credentials.  Is the person into professional development (reading, going to conferences)?  Usually a good sign.

Second, don’t be afraid to ask for references.  Can you talk to some of their clients to find out what kind of results they’ve had?

Finally, what’s the vibe?  Do you like this person, or are they annoying?  Can you listen to them?  Are they confident?  Are they enthusiatic?  And another great one to consider, do they look the part?

Start there, and trust your instincts.  If something doesn’t smell right, get the heck out of dodge!

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

P.S.  I’d love to hear about any past experiences you may have had with a personal trainer, especially if it’s funny!  Please leave a comment below.  If I get some interest, I might tell you some funny stories.

“What have you been doing?  Have you been training?”

“No.  It’s the diet, it just finally clicked.”

“How so?”

“Well, you’ve been telling me for the longest time I should have a cheat day, and I guess being ‘unlimited’ in that way finally helped me to realize I could do this.”

Two comments: (1) if your goal is fat loss, nutrition always comes first.  Figure that the average person sleeps about 7 hours per night, that leaves 17 hours per day.  Even if you worked out for an hour every day, you’d still have 16 hours left.  In other words, fully 2/3 of your “fat-burning” day is influenced solely by your food choices.  You can positively impact your metabolism, or sabotage its proper function.

Next, (2) any plan based on deprivation is destined to fail.  Most of us are just not wired that way.  You need to have room in your plan to relax and enjoy life.  The best way to do this is by having a pre-designated day each week reserved for eating what you feel like eating.  I’ve lived my life like this for years.  Sunday is my cheat day. 

That being said, you need to have the right belief system to make this realistic for you.

Foods are not “good” or “bad”, they just have more or less nutritive value.

This breakthrough alone might be worth the price of admission kids.  Let’s face it, food is already a very emotionally charged issue for most people.  Do we really have to turn into a moral issue as well?

The shift that needs to occur for most people is that food is neither “good”, nor “bad”.  It either nourishes your body well, or it doesn’t.  This is a subtle difference, but one that I’ve noticed people who have a healthy relationship with food understand.

There’s no question that eating is a great source of pleasure!  Nature intended it that way.  I personally love getting together with friends and relatives and enjoying a lot of food and drink, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But nature also intended it to be fuel.  Where the problem occurs is when the food becomes the main source of pleasure, or the main way we self-medicate.  A derivative of this problem is the myth that eating in a supportive manner means you can’t enjoy your food.

I’ll admit, these days, I eat very cleanly, most of the time.  I rarely overeat, and I almost always choose highly nutritious foods.  But I’ll tell you something else, I also really enjoy my food!  I most definitely do not feel deprived in any way, especially since following a healthy pattern affords me the option to let go of that pattern periodically and not pay a price for it!

Cheesecake, ice cream, pizza, burgers, and chocolate – I eat all that stuff!  I love it!  I just don’t eat it every day as my main source of nourishment because I’d feel awful most of the time. 

The problem is not eating whatever you want, it’s eating whatever you want, whenever you want.  That can add up to a bad combination.

When you learn to evaluate food based on “what is this doing to me?” as opposed to taste, it will instantly become easier to make better choices.  As for the taste issue, you’ll adjust.  Seriously.  One of the most common aspects of the programs we teach is that as a person learns to eat supportively, they begin to crave healthier choices, and their cravings for junk food gradually fade away.  It might just be a question of knowing how to prepare your best food options in a way that makes them more palatable.  Experiment, you’ll find out what you like.

Trust me, your body knows what’s up.  If you crave less supportive choices, you’ve trained it to crave these things.

I really do evaluate my food choices based on what’s good for me.  Will this allow me to feel good?  Will it support me in having the body and appearance I want to project?  Will I be energized or will I feel sluggish?  These are the types of questions that happen subconsciously.  But I had to train myself to be that way. 

At first, you may have to ask these questions consciously, almost every time when making a meal decision.  Does that sound like a lot of effort and discipline?  Only at first.  Before too long you’ll begin to reprogram your own thought process, and when that happens, you’re laughing.  Eating well becomes a part of you.

For each of these questions, the answer lies in the basic nutritive value of the food you are considering.  Choose low value, and you’ll end up feeling tired, sluggish, experience bloating and gas, as well as packing on the fat.  Choose high value, and it’ll produce a high value outcome for you.

If you had a high-performance sports car, would you use a low-grade fuel?  Not if you cared about the car.  Over time you’d muck up the incredibly well designed engine and ruin the car’s performance.  Here’s a news flash:  your body is that well designed, highly-sophisticated, high-performing machine.  You’re just not choosing to look at it that way.

Most people are fueling their bodies like a broken down Lada from the 70’s!  I used to!  Is it any surprise that a person would be unhappy with their health or their body at that point?

Your body is the one mode of transport you don’t get to choose.  You can choose what to fuel it with, however.  The right fuel will make for a better ride, I guarantee you that.  It was designed to serve you, but can only do so to the extent that you serve it first.

Learning to view your food choices as a source of fuel as opposed to mere pleasure is a shift, no doubt.  It’s one that can take time.  But it will pay huge dividends.

The end result is that you can begin to view food as a potential source of pleasure, AND fuel.  In so doing you are looking at the positive aspects of nourishing your body well, as opposed to the negative aspects of depriving yourself of pleasure.  In my experience, a positive focus on “what can I do for my body?” has a much better feel and stick-to-it-ness than “I’m not supposed to have that.”

Real contentment does not come from the fleeting satisfaction of a good meal.  It comes from challenging yourself, getting out of your comfort zone, and growing as a person.  One of your best opportunities for success with your nutrition plan is to look for new ways to enjoy yourself.  Take a dance class, join an affinity group of somekind, get out and meet new people, or discover a new hobby that you can be passionate about.

Finding ways to “fill the void” other than with food is probably one of the best things you can do for your nutrition plan.

And it’s ok to enjoy your favorite “cheat” foods too, just maybe not every day.  You’ll feel much better for it.

I like what Helen Keller said, “life is short, eat the dessert first.”

Get out there and enjoy life.  Enjoy food, and enjoy feeling great too!

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

If you’ve ever wondered how to get that stubborn fat off your belly, hips or upper body, you’ll want to check this out.

First, there’s a couple of concepts you should understand.  (1) Your body loses fat in genetically pre-determined patterns.  It’s the “first on, last off” rule, which basically states that the area in which you are most likely to put on fat will also be the last place you lose it from.  So if your hips are the first place you gain weight, they will also be the last place you lose weight.  Sucks, doesn’t it?

The general rule is that to get the fat off a particular area, you need to reduce your overall bodyfat percentage.  You’ll go through a process whereby everything else gets leaner first, until you ultimately lose fat from your trouble spot.  It just takes time.

(2) You can’t spot reduce an area by directly working that area.  In other words, you can’t make your belly smaller by targeting the abs.  That’s why the almost endless number of so called belly-reducing gizmos and devices you see on infomercials are such crap.  Don’t waste your money.

Once we’ve acknowledged the larger principles in (1) and (2), we can know look at what you can do to help the process along.  More specifically, we can chart a course of action based on your body type, or the general pattern of fat-distribution.

A small caveat: much of what I’m about to share is very scientifically based, yet some of it is purely my experience.  I’ve worked with so many different bodies over the years that I’ve just learned to recognize certain norms in terms of what each so called “body type” responds to. 

1. Heavy around the mid-section (belly fat).  People with stubborn belly fat generally do not respond well to doing lots of cardio.  I’ve met many runners, for example, that never lose the fat around their mid-section until they stop running.  My theory on it is that fat is a very important nutrient to a cardio-based exerciser, which means your body always likes to keep some in reserve.

The other factor in belly fat is cortisol.  Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone.  High levels of emotional stress, lack of sleep, and poor diet are all factors to consider where it concerns excessive cortisol levels in the body.

Sleep is a huge thing for belly fat.  Look there first.  Next, gear your training to eliciting a better lactic acid response.  That means you’re shooting for more of a localized muscle burn than an all out cardio assault.  Getting that burn creates a significant growth hormone response, which is helpful in combatting cortisol.

High repetitions with controlled movements as well as lower repetitions with a slower motion work well.  Interval training is preferable to long and steady paced cardio in this case.

2. Heavy on the hips.  Brace yourself for this.  A recent study proved that during extended periods of cardio a woman’s body can effectively shift it’s fat stores from the lower body to the upper body instead of burning them off!

Spending a lot of time on the treadmill or the elliptical is counter-productive to this particular type.  You’ll benefit more from doing intervals, or depletion type, high rep circuit training with weights.

3. Heavy upper body.  Some people have relatively lean legs but carry more fat in their upper body such as the arms, chest, and the midsection.  It’s a similar type to #1, but #1′s fat is usually much more localized in the belly.

This type can benefit from the same type of training as #1, except that there would be additional benefit to really focusing on the legs.  They’ll either have thin and weaker legs which will respond to the additional strength requirements of a heavy training regimen, or they’ll have strong, toned legs capable of a significant workload which we can then leverage to create a positive hormonal response in the body.

Either way, focusing on the lower body in this case seems to be the ticket to leaning out that upper body.  Go figure.

4. Very even fat-distribution.  This body type is both a blessing and a curse.  You’ll generally have better potential to get lean, but you’ll be losing from all areas so evenly that your progress will seem very slow at first.

A lot of weight training and some MRT style cardio circuits will get the job done for these guys and gals.

Here’s a great little interval training program I used during my summer 6-pack program, which will be effective for all four types, but even more so to #’ s (1) and (2):

• Warm up 5-10 minutes
• 5-minutes of 30 seconds fast and 30 seconds slow on a stationary bike (9 out of 10 effort on the “fast”, and 3 out of 10 on the “slow”)
• 5-minutes total rest
• 20-30 at 70% max heart rate (220 – your age)
• 5-minutes of intervals on the bike as above
• 2-3 minutes cool down

To be performed twice per week either first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, after resistance training, or allowing at least three hours after your most recent meal.  The former two would be my preferred choices.

If you have any questions, please include them in the comments.  I’d be happy to discuss this topic more.

Enjoy your Sunday,

Conor Kelly

When I was 16 I weighed 120 pounds.

What’s worse, I was pretty much afraid of everything.  I hated myself for that.  “Why can’t I be more confident?”

Try this mind technique!

I was high school swimmer, a decent one too.  For a small guy I was pretty explosive.  I could do a 50m freestyle in 27 seconds flat, and the 100m freestyle in just under 58 seconds.  At the high school level, I was pretty competitive, and won a lot of races.

At one point, my coach suggested I start working out with weights to get bigger and increase my strength.  He gave me a basic program and I went to work.  I still remember my first time ever doing weights, I could barely move the next day.  But I also remember it felt good, in a strange way.

Before too long, I was really into my weight training sessions.  So much so, in fact, that I eventually decided to drop the swimming and focus on doing weights instead.

I quickly became obsessed.  I wanted to get big.  I wanted to be strong because I thought it would help me overcome my insecurities.  I hated my weakness, and wanted to eradicate it.

I spent most of my free time either training, or reading and researching all about the science of working out, and nutrition.  But in my first six months I experienced very mediocre results.  I gained about ten pounds, and I’m not even sure if all of it was muscle!

It was then that I answered an add in a muscle magazine for a free report on building muscle.  The free report contained an excellent sales letter which hit all the right high-notes, and I was hooked.  I signed up for personal training by correspondance with my first ever fitness mentor, Mr. Leo Costa.

Leo Costa was an amateur bodybuilder and personal trainer who based his training methodology on top secret, “behind-the-iron-curtain” technologies revealed to him by Bulgarian scientists.

When I say he trained me by correspondance, I mean that literally.  Back then there was no Skype, no email, no Facebook.  Can you imagine?  He sent me a questionnaire — in the mail — regarding my goals and current measurements.  I then sent it back to him, and had to wait another three weeks for his next letter which described my program and meal plan!

It’s pretty amusing as I think back, and marvel at how the world has changed.  But every month I’d send my training and nutrition log, along with my updated measurements, so he could tell me what to tweak in my program

What I learned from Leo changed my life.  Some of the principles he taught me remain a big part of our training protocols today.  I followed his advice religiously, and it worked.  I got big and strong (a little too big actually, if you recall the second half of this story).

I didn’t realize until later that while his coaching was effective, I provided the major elements of success with my motivation, dedication, and desire.  I also supplied another key ingredient.  It’s a technique used by the world’s most successful athletes, sales people, and scientists.

It’s called visualization.

Many of us have not learned to harness the power of visualization, but it can completely reshape your experience.  It’s a form of mental rehearsal, during which you replay images in your mind of scenarios you’d like to enjoy.

An athlete might use visualization to see themselves turning in the perfect performance.

In fact, research has indicated that visualization can be just as helpful to athletic performance as real physical practice.

Research Quarterly once reported an experiment about the effects of visualization on the skill of shooting basketball free throws.

One group of students practiced throwing the ball for 20 days and were scored on the first and last day.  The second group did no practice of any kind.  A third group was instructed not to do any physical practice, but to spend 20 minutes a day picturing themselves successfully throwing free throws.

The first group, which practiced every day, improved scoring by 24 percent.  The second group that did nothing, showed no improvement.  And the third group, that used visualization only, improved scoring by 23 percent!

Anthony Robbins used visualization techniques with Andre Agassi when he made his big pro tennis comeback.

When I first started bodybuilding, I used quite a bit of visualization.  I just didn’t realize what I was doing at the time. 

I used to sit on the bus going to and returning from school every day, stare out the window, and just allow myself to daydream about what it would be like to have the muscles I wanted.  I’d imagine how I’d look in a t-shirt, I’d imagine what it would feel like to be able to wear shorts and not feel self-conscious about my skinny legs, and I’d see myself flexing my muscles in the mirror, all the while fully enjoying the experience as though I were already there.

When I turned to strength training, my daydreams were all about lifting heavy weights and objects easily, seeing myself dominating competitions, and feeling powerful.

When I was losing weight, I’d go for a run and picture myself with ripped abs, feeling fit, and admiring my new body.

In every successful transformation attempt, I thought about the thing I wanted a lot, in fact, almost constantly.

Napoleon Hill, in his “Laws of Success In 16 Lessons” called it having a “magnificent obsession” for what you want.  The key is, as I thought of what I wanted, I focused on and allowed myself to imagine what it would feel like to have it.  I felt the feelings as though I already had it.  I was never focused on the lack of what I wanted, or how far away I was from actually achieving it. 

I never allowed myself to think, “I’ll never get there.”

What thoughts do you entertain yourself with?  Great question to ask.  Are you daydreaming or visualizing feeling sorry for yourself, or all the things you hate about your body?

“I firmly believe it’s not the weights in your hands that make your body change, it’s your mind that does.” – Tom Platz, Pro Bodybuilder

Take 10 minutes per day to relax your entire body, close your eyes, and ask yourself, “how will it feel to live in my ideal body?”  What will you look like?  Picture it.  What will it feel like?  Imagine it.  How will people react to the way you look?  Envision it.  I believe 10 minutes of this type of training is worth an hour in the gym. 

“Conceive, believe, achieve.”  Bill Kazmaier, World’s Strongest Man

I’ve learned from experience that visualization is one of the most powerful tools we can use to change our bodies, or any aspect of our lives we wish to change.  Einstein did say that imagination is more important than knowledge.  In other words, it is more important for you to be able to see yourself achieving what you want than to actually know how to do it!

“Great living starts with a picture, held in your imagination, of what you would like to do or be.” – Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick

I truly hope that you’re picturing a great life for yourself, because I have no doubt that you deserve nothing less.

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

That’s why you should always want to be “even more” succesful, or to do an “even better” job of something.

With that in mind, here are three ways to make exercise “even more” fun:

1. Learn to do it correctly: knowing what to do can be very empowering.  Most of our success stories will tell you they developed a passion for working out when they finally discovered how to put the pieces together.  I’ve seen the most unmotivated exercisers become excited about their routines, simply because we added structure to what they were doing.

When you’ve got a plan, you’ve got a purpose.  We are goal striving beings.  Lack of purpose equals boredom.

Also, when you know how to properly target and isolate your various muscle groups, exercise takes on a whole new feel.  You develop a sense of creative control over your body that generally makes things fun.  It feels good to feel it where supposed to feel it.

2. Compete against yourself: strive to set a personal best of some kind in every single workout.  Run five minutes longer, or run the same distance in less time, do more weight or more repetitions, or add new sets and exercises within the same timeframe.

It’s fun to progress.  There’s a great sense of achievement that comes with hitting a personal best.  People always love the strength phase in our training protocol for that reason.

3. Mix it up: Try new things.  Join a walking group, check out a boot camp class, do pilates, swimming.  Find out what you like.  We generally change the program every 2-4 weeks.  One big reason for that is preventing your body from adapting to what you’re doing.  But it also keeps things interesting.  Variety is definitely the spice of your workout routine.

There are lots of ways to make exercise even more fun.  But probably the most significant one is to show up often enough, and for long enough to enjoy the results.  Make your workouts your “me” time, your sanctuary, an opportunity to focus on yourself, to clear your head and recharge.  Do that, and very quickly you’ll actually miss it if you don’t go.

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly

We used to invade UWO’s student community centre to train.

Not only was I fat back then, but I had long hair which I always tied back in a pony tail.  Not a good look, believe me.

Anyway, before our workout we used to draw a large, circular chalk outline on the floor around where our planned workout would be.  We’d call it our “circle of rage”, and if anyone had the misfortune of stepping inside the chalk outline we’d say, “careful, circle of rage here…we’ve got a rager of a workout going, you might want to watch out.”

After re-reading the above, it’s suddenly become painfully obvious to me why I didn’t have a girlfriend back then.  : )

It was all in good fun of course.  The point is, this type of play helped us to quickly adopt the aggressive mindset we needed to complete our heavy training sessions.

One of the confidence building tips I often share in my seminars is based on the concept of “act as if” or “fake it ’til you make it.”

Always act and speak in the direction of the things you want to achieve.

Your power to accomplish anything is equal to the quality of your language.  If you want a different outcome, try a different conversation.

No matter what you say, there’s always somebody listening, namely, you.  If your speech patterns and behavior patterns run counter to your intention of what you want, you’ve got a problem. 

When I was fat I’d say things like “why can’t I lose weight?”  Bad question.  Why?  Because your mind will work to come up with an answer!

The irony is that a lot of people ask me that question now.

I’ll often get my trainees to practice “singing a different tune” whenever they feel challenged by something.  If they say, “I’ll try”, I get them to say, “not only am I going to do it, but it’s going to be easy, and I’m going to enjoy the process,” or more simply, “losing weight is easy.”

To say “I’ll try” means you’re not really going to do it, and you’re giving me your excuse up front.

A word of warning: changing your language is going to feel very uncomfortable at first, mostly because you may not believe your own words.  Stick with it.  Say it often.  Remember, you are always listening.

I started saying things like, “losing fat is easy”.  I’d even look for opportunities to say it in casual conversation.  I’d act like I really believed it, even if I didn’t.

One of the fastest ways to change an emotion is to change your physical state.  Have you ever tried forcing yourself to smile, smile, smile?  You eventually start feeling happy!

When you want to implant a new habit of speech and thus a new belief, put your whole physiology behind the words.  Hold your head high, project your voice, and smile.

A belief is nothing more than a thought which has been repeated often.

You’ll find that if you speak the words “losing weight is easy” enough times with conviction (even if it’s fake conviction), you’ll eventually start to believe that it’s true.

Skeptical?  Try it.

If nothing else, you’ll entertain yourself, and you won’t have lost anything.  But if you are successful in implanting the new belief, you’re that much closer to what you want.  I guarantee you it’s easier to take positive action on your weight loss goal when you believe it’s easy to succeed.  Thinking it’s hard, on the other hand, can be a great excuse to procrastinate.

From now on, use a little bravado.  Get into the spirit of a prize fighter before a big fight.  “I’m going to win.”  Act as if achieving your goals and desires is a foregone conclusion.  It’s automatic…guaranteed, in fact.

Fake confidence long enough and you will become confident.

To Your Success,

Conor Kelly