Dec

3

How Much Protein Should You Take In?

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Protein has long been hailed as the “super nutrient” amongst athletes and lifters.

Dr. John Berardi recently sent out an email presenting a few new studies have sparked up a lot of conversation about whether athletes do have a higher protein requirement than non-athletes and if the additional protein actually contributes to improved performance or training results.

I’m a huge fan of high protein diets (in most cases), so when I caught wind of these studies I had to check out what Dr. Berardi had to say about them.

Click here to read why you should limit your protein to 20g per meal.

-Kevin Neeld

Sep

10

A Fun Strategy to Keep you on Track

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A great post from John Berardi on how pictures/photoshoots can help keep you motivated and on-track.
If you’re skeptical, read the article to see how this strategy was effective for Precision Nutrition’s Amanda Graydon!

Click here to read the article now!

- Kevin Neeld

Sep

4

Guarantee Your Success

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Several years ago I came across a recommendation to read Million Dollar Habits by Brian Tracy. Brian is a self-made multi-millionaire. He also never went to college.

One of the fundamental habits of his success was goal setting.
Setting long-term goals, then breaking them down into smaller chunks.

As an example, you might say I want to lose 30 pounds by August, 2010. 30 pounds in 52 weeks is about 2.5 pounds a month, a little over ½ pound a week.

Not only does goal setting help hold you accountable, but it also makes big goals seem more attainable.

Losing 30 pounds sounds awful. Losing ½ pound doesn’t seem so bad.

It’s amazing how simple this is, and how few people do it.

It’s amazing how many people say “I don’t need to do that.”

Maybe some people can get away with not writing out their goals, but why risk it.

The most successful people in EVERY industry have clearly written out goals.

If you’re not reaching your goals try writing them down.

Write them every morning.

You’ll be amazed at how much this helps.

- Kevin Neeld

May

22

The Secret to Accidental Fitness

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This week I’ve shared with you two blog posts in which Dr John Berardi talks about losing body weight (and body fat).

The first one talks about how important incentives are for changing your body.  And it goes on to incentivize you with a

whopping $10,000.

Could The Chance To Win $10,000 Help You Get In Shape?

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

The second one shows you how to coerce yourself into sticking to the plan, even when the motivation wanes.

Enter “the best kept secret in weight loss.”

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=bm

Finally, today, I have one last post to share.  In this one, Dr Berardi talks about something called ”accidental success.”

For most people fitness is a struggle.  Others, however, seem to sail through life; they’re lean, fit, and strong, and they

seem to do it effortlessly.  Almost…by accident.

No, it’s not genetics.  It’s something else.  Something you too can use to get into the best shape of your life.

Learn the secret to accidental fitness

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=ss

 

- Kevin Neeld

May

21

The Best Kept Secret in Weight (and Fat) Loss

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The other day I sent out an email link to a video of Dr John Berardi talking about his two latest programs – Lean Eating For Men and Lean Eating For Women.

 

Far and away, the most frequent questions had to do with his $20,000 prize – $10,000 to the top female winner and $10,000 to the top male winner.

Click here to check out the blog post announcing this amazing prize:

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

 

Now, today, I want to share with you a post covering the flip side of the 10K prize.  In other words, if the prize is the carrot, today’s video talks about the stick.

 

You see, Dr. Berardi’s a coaching expert.  In fact, he’s probably the most successful nutrition coach in the health and fitness business.

And after speaking with him, I realized that there’s something powerful to this idea.

You see, the biggest transformations – body transformations or otherwise – are accomplished when people have big incentives.

And I’d say 10 thousand bucks qualifies as a big incentive all right.

But big inspiring goals also need some potential punishment. Or, some risk.

And in today’s video, Dr Berardi shows you how to coerce yourself into sticking to the plan, even when the motivation wanes.

Enter “the best kept secret in weight loss.”

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=bm

So, if you’re REALLY interested in changing your body and you’d like a little extra incentive for doing so, this is definitely a program you need to check out.

Again, this message is time sensitive.  From what I hear there are A LOT of people clamoring to get in on the program.

So check out these posts below.  I know you won’t be disappointed.

Could The Chance To Win $10,000 Help You Get In Shape?

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

The Best Kept Secret In Weight Loss

>>http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=bm

- Kevin Neeld

May

18

Could the Chance to Win $10,000 Help You Get in Shape?

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When Dr. John Berardi dropped me a line the other day,
telling me all about his new program, I thought for a second
the guy had lost his mind.

http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

Now, don’t get me wrong. I respect Dr Berardi. He’s
recognized as one of the top nutrition coaches in the world.
And his programs get people results. Fast.

However, when I watched this video he sent over, and learned
that he’s giving away $20,000 of his own money, he definitely
got my attention.

Check it out for yourself.

http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

Now, to qualify for this reward, you have to participate in
the Lean Eating program. But that’s a no brainer. You should
want to do that ANYWAY if you’re interested in body
transformation because there is nothing else like it.

You get 6 months of world class coaching, the type of coaching
you can’t find, well, anywhere. And, during these 6 months,
if you achieve the best body transformation, you’ll win 10K.

http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

Worst case scenario, you come out with the best body of your
life. Best case scenario, you come out with the best body of your life, and 10 GRAND.

His program has my full support. I’ve had success myself using Dr. Berardi’s programs, and following a specific program (especially with a coach!) will definitely help you stay on track.

So, I highly encourage you to check out this post below. In
it, Dr Berardi shares with you two critical components for
body transformation success.

And then he tells you exactly how one man and one woman are
going to swoop in and claim $10 G’s of his own money.

http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

Now, this message is time sensitive. No, it’s not gonna self-
destruct or anything. However, spots are limited in this
program. And LOTS of people want in.

So, if you’re interested in finding out exactly how to eat to
get in the best shape of your life, click the link below. 10
grand may be waiting for you on the other side:

http://precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?pageid=721284&u=20k

- Kevin Neeld

Mar

5

Like Reeses?

Filed Under Fat Loss Training, Recipes | 2 Comments

This may look like dog food, but it tastes delicious.  If you don’t like the texture of cottage cheese, just throw this all in a blender or food processor-it’ll turn it into a creamy, chunk-free treat.  I eat this as a regular meal sometimes; although it makes for a great dessert.  Great for people trying to watch their carb intake (which should be most non-athletes).  I, contrary to normal, even measured out serving sizes and calculated some basic nutrition information.  Give it a shot.

Reese's Cottage Cheese 

Ingredients (Makes 4 servings)

  1. 4 cups 1% Cottage Cheese
  2. 8 tablespoons milled flax seed
  3. 4 tablespoons natural peanut butter
  4. 3 scoops Peanut Butter Chocolate (or regular Chocolate) Muscle Milk

Nutrition Info (per serving)

  1. Calories: 450
  2. Total Fat: 20.5 g (about 185 calories)
  3. Saturated Fat: 5 g
  4. Cholesterol: 25 mg
  5. Sodium: 195 mg
  6. Potassium: 615 mg
  7. Total Carbs: 23.5 g
  8. Dietary Fiber: 7 g
  9. Sugar: 10 g
  10. Protein: 45 g

Enjoy!

Feb

15

Top 5 Reasons to Quit a Low-Calorie Diet

Filed Under Athletic Development, Fat Loss Training | 1 Comment

That’s it.  I quit!  After 6 weeks of low calorie eating, I’ve had enough.  A lot of people asked why I was on a low calorie diet to begin with.  I think it’s important to cycle calories, as well as macronutrient (carb, protein, fat) sources periodically.  In other words, if you usually eat a low calorie diet, cycle in periods of higher caloric intake.  If you usually eat a high calorie diet (me), cycle in periods of low caloric intake.  There are also additional health benefits to dropping body fat, notably that toxins are stored in fat tissue, so shedding some fat periodically will help release some of these toxins and clear them from your body.  

Those are the reasons I usually gave people, but to be honest, that had nothing to do with why I went on a the diet.  The real reason: It sucked.  It was hard.  With my hockey career officially over, opportunities to really challenge myself physically and mentally are somewhat limited.  Going on a very strict, severely limiting diet was one way to see if I still had it, to test my mettle.  Overall, I’m happy with how I was able to stick through it.  

                Before (180.5 lbs)                                                                                     After (166.0 lbs)
           1/6/09: Front-Close                    2/14/09: Front

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So why give up after 6 weeks?  My original thought was to try this out for 6-10 weeks, so I’m not really bailing out early.  Having said that, I have 5 great reasons to start eating a more “normal” diet (more calories and slightly more carbs):

5) No matter how lean I get, my skin will still be impressively pale, verging on translucent, and dangerous for other people to look at.  

4) I miss smoothies and ketchup.  I put ketchup on everything.  So should you.  But when you’re only afforded 50 g of carbs per day, you can’t use them haphazardly.  No ketchup for the last 6 weeks.  It’s been rough.  On the same note, I usually throw back two smoothies a day.  I showed my friend Mike how I make them.  After his mockery (apparently smoothies aren’t a manly meal choice), he agreed they were delicious and began making his own…with a modified recipe.  The “recipe” looks something like:

  • 16 oz 1% Milk
  • 6 Tablespoons Teddy’s All Natural Peanut Butter
  • 2 Bananas
  • 2 Cups Frozen Mixed Berries
  • 3 Scoops Chocolate Muscle Milk
  • 10 g SAN BCAAs
  • 5 g SAN Creatine
  • A rack of lamb

What does this have to do with my diet?  Mike managed to take my entire day’s worth of calories, and blend them into one delicious smoothie.  Diet out.  Smoothies in.    

3) I’m too performance-oriented to several restrict my calories.  Despite an intelligent supplement menu throughout my low calorie eating, my training has still taken a pretty big hit.  I haven’t lost too much strength, considering the amount of weight I lost, but I haven’t gained any either.  A little more carbohydrates (more than the 50g/day I’ve been eating) and a few hundred more calories/day will go a long way in helping me get back on track in improving my strength and speed, while maintaing my body weight.  I also want to add more conditioning into my training.  More conditioning equates to more fat burning and more calorie burning.  In a nutshell, I can eat a lot more calories and not gain any fat if I offset it when an intelligent conditioning program. My new motto: Smaller, stronger, faster.

2) Undersupplying your mind and body with energy isn’t really conducive to training hard, running a business, coaching a hockey team, training clients, reading and analyzing research, writing articles, taking graduate classes, and teaching undergraduate classes.

And finally….

1) My lovely girlfriend saw me at 166 lbs and told me I look like a “scrawny little bitch”.  Ha!  I have to admit, as much as I don’t typically care about what other people think about how I look (I’d be more offended if someone called me weak than if someone called me fat), I found it hilariously ironic that I lost body fat and she, of all people, made fun of me.  For some reason I thought leaner was better in the female eye.  6 weeks of low calorie dieting taught me two important lessons: (1) I love food too much to do something like this consistently (although I did gain a whole new respect for bodybuilders that do this sort of thing on a fairly regular basis to prepare for competitions); and (2) I still know nothing about women.

Back to hockey content tomorrow…

 

Feb

14

Fat Loss Training…The End!

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This was the last week of my 6-week fat loss experiment.  My training won’t significantly change, but my diet will.  More on this in the days to come.  Training results for the last week are posted below.  

Valentine’s Day Words of Wisdom

George Costanza once said, “If you can’t say anything bad about a relationship, you shouldn’t say anything at all.”

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you in relationships.

For the rest of you, nothing says “People in happy relationships make me sick” like heavy deadlifting.

Feb 8, 2009: Weigh-In 168.5 (Water Loading Begins!)
A1) Back Squat: 135 x 5; 225 x 3; 315 x 4; 335 x 2 sets of 4; 335 x 3; 315 x 4
A2) Bird Dog Hold: 3 x 15s each
B1) Stiff-Legged Deadlift: 225 x 4; 295 x 4 sets of 6
B2) Front Plank March: 4 x 20s
C1) 1-Leg Squat:3s Negative: 3 x 6 each 
C2) Glute Ham Raise: 3 x 12
CON) Overhead Side-Side MB Floor Slams 10lb Ball, 8 x 6 slams each side (12 total per set); 30s rest between each set

Feb 10, 2009: Weigh-In: 167
A1) Standing Shoulder Press: 95 x 4; 135 x 6 sets of 3
A2) Scap Wall Slides (Back to Wall): 4 x 8
B1) Weighted Chin-Up: BW x 5; BW+45 x 3; BW+55 x 3; BW+65 x 3 BW+55 x  2 sets of 3
B2) DB Triceps Extension Ecc-to-Close Grip Con: 2 x 45DB x 5 sets of 6
C1) 1/2 Kneeling Chop: To Right Only; 50 lbs x 3 x 8
C2) Face Pull w/ External Rotation: 110 x 3 x 12

Feb 12, 2009
A1) Front Squat: 135 x 5; 225 x 3; 185 x 3 sets of 8
A2) Side Plank w/ Abduction Hold: 3 x 15s each
B1) DB Back Leg Raised Split Squat: 2 x 70DB; 4 x 4
B2) 1-Arm DB 1-Leg SLDL: 1 x 40 DB; 4 x 6 each
B3) Bar Rollout: 4 x 10
B4) Stability Ball Hamstring Curl: 4 x 12

Feb 13, 2009: 7am Lift!
A1) Bench Press: 135 x 6; 225 x 2 sets of 6; 225 x 5; 205 x 6
A2) I, Y, T Holds: 1 x 30s each
B1) 1-Arm DB Row: 85 DB; 3 x 8 each
B2) Standing Cable Chop: To Right Only; 50 lbs x 3 x 10
B3) 1-Arm DB Push Press: 50 DB; 3 x 8 each
B4) DB Hang Clean-to-Curl Eccentric: 2 x 45DB; 3 x 6
B5) Bird Dog: 3 x 10 each
CON) 10 x 10 Medicine Ball Overhead Floor Slams; 8lb Med Ball; 30s rest between sets

Feb

7

Fat Loss Program: Week 5 Results

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5 weeks of relatively severe calorie restriction and intense training…

On Thursday I was down almost 20 pounds from when I started.  Lucky for me, it was time for my second schedule refeed day, which I celebrated with, among other things, a Trader Joe’s Pizza for breakfast and a hefty dinner at P.F. Chang’s with my girlfriend Emily.  The two of us took down what looked like a 2 pound piece of chocolate cake, a la mode of course, in about 3 minutes.  I guess you could say we’re growing kids.  Replenishing all my carb stores and with the accompanying water, I put on 10 pounds that day!  I’ve been riding the extra energy wave ever since.  It feels great!  

I’m ending this twisted experiment after this week.  That’ll be 6 weeks since I started.  At the end of this week, I’ll stick with a similar diet, tons of high quality protein and fat and essentially NO carbohydrates from sources other than fruits and vegetables, but I’ll be upping my caloric intake considerably.  I’m also starting to add in some regular conditioning, which should help maintain the fat loss I’ve experienced in the last few weeks despite eating more.  I have to go get ready for a hockey game.  This week’s training program below for those of you that are interested.  Enjoy your weekend.     

Feb 2, 2009
A1) Back Squat: 3s Negative: 135 x 5; 225 x 3: 315 x 2: 335 x 2: 345 x 4 sets of 2
A2) Bird Dog Hold: 3 x 15s each
B1) Stiff-Legged Deadlift: 225 x 4; 315 x 4; 325 x 4; 335 x 4; 345 x 4
B2) Front Plank March: 4 x 20s
C1) 1-Leg Squat:3s Negative: 3 x 5 each
C2) Glute Ham Raise: 3 x 10

Feb 3, 2009: 165 lbs weigh-in
A1) Standing Shoulder Press: 45 x 4; 95 x 4; 135 x 4; 135 x 4; 125 x 4; 125 x 4
A2) Scap Wall Slides (Back to Wall): 3 x 8
B1) Weighted Chin-Up: BW x 5; BW+35 x 3 sets of 6; BW+35 x 5.5
B2) DB Triceps Extension Ecc-to-Close Grip Con: 2 x 45 DB 4 x 8
C1) 1/2 Kneeling Chop: 1 set to Left; 3 sets to Right 50 lbs  x 8 reps
C2) Face Pull w/ External Rotation: 100 lbs x 3 x 10

Feb 4, 2009: 163 lbs weigh-in
 A1) Front Squat: 135 x 5; 185 x 3; 225 x 3; 245 x 3; 265 x 3
A2) Side Plank w/ Abduction Hold: 3 x 15s each
B1) DB Back Leg Raised Split Squat: 2 x 65 DB x 1 x 6each 2 x 70 DB x 2 x 6each
B2) 1-Arm DB 1-Leg SLDL: 1 x 40 DB x 3 x 6 each
B3) Bar Rollout: 3 x 10
B4) Stability Ball Hamstring Curl: 3 x 12
CON 1 x 25min Med-High Intensity Bike Ride 7.75 miles, 215 calories, HR about 170

Feb 5, 2009: 163 lbs weigh-in…173 lbs weigh-out Best Refeed Day Ever!
CON Interval Bike Ride: 8 x :20/:40

Feb 6, 2009: 170.5 lbs weigh-in
A1) Bench Press: Medium Grip 135 x 5; 225 x 3; 245 x 1; 215 x 8; 215 x 7.5+Help; 205 x 6+2Help
A2) I, Y, T Holds: 1 x 30s each
B1) 1-Arm DB Row: 1 x 90 DB x 3 x 6 each
B2) Standing Cable Chop: To Right Only 50 lbs x 3 x 8
B3) 1-Arm DB Push Press: 1 x 50 DB x 2 x 6 each; 1 x 55 DB x 1 x 6 each
B4) DB Hang Clean-to-Curl Eccentric: 2 x 40 DB x 3 x 6
B5) Bird Dog: 3 x 8 each
CON 10 x 10 Medicine Ball Overhead Floor Slams 30s rest between sets

Feb 7, 2009: 169.5 lbs weigh-in
CON KB Swings: 16kg x 20; 20kg x 20; 20kg x 4 x 15 16kg x 4 x 15 30s rest between sets


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