PJ's Fitness Blog
A blog about a fitter you. Come find out what is on the cutting edge of fitness science and be a part of the ongoing conversation.
Did you know that your brain burns 15-25% of your daily calories? Even though your brain makes up only about 3% of your weight, it accounts for a very big part of your metabolic rate! Most people think of muscles as their only calorie burner, and while they are the main engine for that, the huge amount of energy the brain requires is hardly ever discussed.
The reason this is important is because a healthy brain uses more energy and therefore contributes more to your metabolic rate. Keeping your brain healthy is pretty easy too if you know how. Some of the ways are: (more…)
I always find it interesting that the drug commercials on TV seem to spend much more time listing the side effects of their medicine than its benefits. Well, if one of those commercials listed only the top 20 side effects of extra body fat, it would have to read somewhat like this blog below (this article is largely adapted from the Scientific Laboratory of Food Intolerance, so I wanted to be sure to give them their props right off the bat).
Carrying around excess weight is becoming an epidemic in North America. While one of the initial concerns with obesity is usually all about how you look and how you feel about yourself as a person, the longer the problem exists for you, the more medical problems are going to arise, some of which can be fatal.
Obesity is a growing concern especially because overweight rates have doubled among children and tripled among adolescents. This increases the number of years that they are exposing themselves to dangerous health risks associated with obesity. While it is difficult to truly predict the future impact of obesity, there is strong scientific agreement that (more…)
Seattle personal trainers really are the best in the country. X Gym personal trainers are the best of the best, so when X Gym members have to move out of the area, they always ask me how to find a good personal trainer in their new town. This doesn’t have to be as tough as most people make it, and I’m going to walk you through the 7 easy steps in finding just the right trainer who will help you reach your goals as fast as possible.
1.) Look online and see if any show up in a local search. Just type in your city and “personal trainer”. Don’t bother looking past the first 3 pages on the search results. If they aren’t creative and motivated enough to figure out how to get ranked well, they probably won’t be creative or motivated enough as your exercise coach either. A good rank means they are popular too. They might have a website or a blog. Look for YouTube videos of them or other things they might have done. Once you learn their name, do a separate search that way. Find out their education and/or certifications. See if their body looks like you would want yours to look – which brings me to my second point: (more…)
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 “buts” are based largely how you were raised. You learned somewhere that excuses make life easier for the moment, but in the end, they just grow your hind end. You also learned that buts are a handy way of passing the blame onto external factors instead of accepting the responsibility for your own butt. Until you get rid of your buts, your butt won’t get any smaller.
Using “buts” are also a way to keep you within your comfort zone. Staying within your comfort zone often means staying within the parameters of your identity. Everyone has a certain way they see themselves, and and this mental picture or “mind’s eye” controls all your conscious and unconscious actions, keeping you that way. Even if you do get results with a diet or fitness program, but your mind’s eye hasn’t changed, the “buts” come back and so does your butt. This is the reason for the diet yo-yo. Change your mind’s eye and you will stop this yo-yo once and for all.
There are many techniques I teach to my X Gym members about changing their minds eye, and some of the best ones are in my book, Cracking Your Calorie Code. One of these techniques is (more…)
