6 days of the week - I eat healthy. What does that mean? Well, right now for me it means no carbs, no sweets etc. Some of those days, I work in an office. What do people in offices like to do? Well, when they’re not on facebook, they’re eating a cake for any number of reasons: birthday, new baby, new kidney stone etc. If its not cake, its pizza. Why? because its Friday, or because certain company goals were reached or because there is a pepperoni surplus and we’re doing our job to help the economy. The bottom line is, in many offices, your peers will find any excuse they can to shove crap down their gullets.

The first thing this directly relates to is will power. If you don’t have the will power to avoid these foods in your place of work - you probably shouldn’t be on the diet to begin with, as everytime you “cheat” its like taking a step backwards.

I understand that will power isn’t easy, so let me try to make an analogy that you can think about to make things easier for yourself next time:

When you’re driving a car, everytime you step on the gas - you make a purchasing decision. Equally so, everytime you step on the brake you’re also making a purchasing decision. With both motions you’re essentially spending money. Just like with your diet, when you eat healthy food you’re consciously making an exercise & body image decision - which says the same for eating unhealthy food. So its something to consider everytime you’re going have that cookie, slice of cake, etc.

I know what you’re probably thinking now. “Its just not that easy, if I don’t eat the cake or pizza like everyone else - they give me shit. Why aren’t you eating this cake? What you don’t eat cake? Who doesn’t eat cake? What are you a health nut? etc. etc.” Its really easy to fall into these traps and just give in to the shit food. The bottom line is this - nobody feels good about eating the cake if they’re concerned about their health or how its going to help them - but they certainly don’t want to be the only ones doing it. Could you imagine being the only one to eat cake if you were surrounded by health nuts? Of course not! If you and one other person decided to eat the cake, it would seem much more acceptable however.

From my experience, the best thing to do in these situations is just say you don’t like cake, or you’re allergic to something in it, or you can see you’re working towards a fitness goal. You might get some pokes here or there, but if you can’t stomach that level of commitment, maybe you shouldn’t be working out anyway.

One of my common theories about working out & diet is, if you’re going to do it - do it all the way. Half-assing anything doesn’t have the same effect. Do an exercise till failure, don’t cheat more than one day on your diet, and most importantly - don’t be a damn baby.

-Nash

Get ready to have your mind blown. There are about 3500 calories in one pound of fat. When it comes to losing weight, that is THE key factor in my opinion.

Whenever someone asks me, what can they do to lose weight, I always tell them the same thing, “sure, you can do cardio - but the only way you’re going to see a change is through changing your diet.” Not to say its impossible to lose weight with cardio (its certainly not) - its just a lot more work, and I know a lot of lazy people.

For someone who is just starting to try and get healthy, running 10 minutes a day would seem like a good start. But if that person is only burning around 100 calories, they’re going to lose about 1 pound per month. Which I have a feeling is less than most people will aim for when trying to lose weight.

This is why eating healthy is so important. But for it to be really effective, you can’t just eat as much healthy food as you’d like, you need to eat proper portions (think the size of your palm).

Our parent/sister/relative site Excycle, recently launch an entire section devoted to health food recipes, which you can find here.

Whats really great about the way excycle, is the way they’re going about displaying the recipes. You can browse by food (chicken, beef etc.), by category (high protein, low carb etc.), by goal (fat loss, muscle gain etc.) and even by course type (dinner, lunch, protein shakes etc.)! This can help anyone trying to find exact foods to fit their diet!

Check it out and feel free to add your own health food recipe!

Granted some people are consistent, motivated fitness oriented individuals(like Maverick and Iceman), the rest of the universe may not be ready to look their best for the coming summer season. Well fret not; this guide will whip you into shape in 4-6 weeks. This is part 1 of 3 part series to get you looking your finest for the summer ladies and gents. That strapping young gent in the photo is a 1980’s Val Kilmer in a little known cinema-gem known as Top Gun.

Let’s start simple; you need to modify your diet. I’m not talking about eating celery sticks and drinking crystal light and nothing else for 8 weeks.
Read the rest of this entry »

As per a couple of posts ago…I am on a diet. This is somewhat strange to me, because my whole life I’ve been trying to get huge-a-normous. I feel that I’ve gotten to an acceptable size and strength however, and now I want to see how far I can push my body and how shredded I can get…thus the diet.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to fully implement all of my dietary rules, but once I find the time to actually go out and shop for myself, I plan to really up the stakes. Until then, however, here’s an update on what I have been doing.

Read the rest of this entry »

After about a five month hiatus, I decided that it may in fact be time to start posting again. I must admit, however, that I had an outside source of inspiration. A good friend of mine started a video game blog, and posts on it just about every day while at work. I enjoyed reading his blog so much that it reinvigorated me to start writing again, and i figured if he can do it at work, then so can I.

Since it is so close to the new year, I figured I would touch on one of the most dreaded subjects known to man and woman kind (we don’t discriminate here at yogymbo)….the New Year’s Resolution. I’ve only really made joke resolutions in the past, because I figured I just didn’t have the desire or the willpower to make a serious attempt anyway, so why even try. Not this year though….this year….it’s personal (insert dramatic sound effect). Read the rest of this entry »

I was at hanging out with some family friends the other day and my friend’s dad found out about yogymbo, so of course we started talking about working out. We were going back and forth about exercises and supplements when he mentioned something that really caught me by surprise, he was talking about how much more energy he has and what a better workout he has if he takes some sort of bee pollen product beforehand. I had never heard of this, so initially I thought it might have just been mind over matter or a sugar high or something, but I did a little research and this stuff might just be the real deal. Read the rest of this entry »

Heres a new series I’ll be writing about fast food. I don’t know about you, but I’m a guy, and even though I workout and lift weights, and try to be careful with what I eat, I still love the occasional fast food meal.

Whenever I go out to eat, I always wonder what item on the menu has the most protein. It may be neurotic, but considering I’m always trying to consume more protein, its consistently on my mind. Getting a meal at a fast food restaurant, I generally assumed it was such complete crap that there wasn’t really much protein. Well, I was dead wrong.

In this article I’ll highlight the highest protein meals in each category (burgers, sides etc.) which the fast food chain offers.

This week I’m starting with Burger King, because the King is awesome. Continue reading for the stats! Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago, while Jimbo and I were at the gym, we were asked what type of supplements we’re currently taking. The person explained they were a vegetarian, and wanted some tips for putting on size. We figured it was a great topic to write about.

As we explained to the person in the gym, vegetarian or not, what it comes down to is a greater consumption than expulsion of calories.

Of course, if you’re looking to gain mass, you need to consume the right calories. What I mean by that, is the amount of protein you consume each day, should make up a high amount of your calories, if you’re looking to gain muscle.

The formula which body builders use, is 1 gram of protein, per lb you weigh, each day. Because most generally have 6 meals a day to keep a high metabolism, they separate this high amount of protein into those six meals (also for proper protein absorption). So my rule of thumb, is (your body weight/6)= protein per serving.

Continue reading for the full story Read the rest of this entry »

I often see people consistently working only on their abs, after limited cardio. They think to themselves, “I exercise my abs all day long, and yet, I still don’t have a six pack, or any definition.” The truth is, they do have abs. They probably have very strong abs. The fact is they’re just under layers of fat, which is why they can’t be seen.

What I’m really getting at, is the idea of “spot training.” Spot training is the idea that you can exercise a singular part of your body, to trim the fat in that area. Unfortunately, is doesn’t work that way. To successfully cut fat, you need to lose it equally over your entire body, which is a gradual process, as your body needs to burn that fat (a.k.a. stored energy).

As with abs, exercising any singular body part, will only make it bigger, under the fat. If the fat isn’t lost, it could make you look even bigger.

So if you’re goal is to let people see your abs, or you want more defined arms, or shoulders, or anything else, work on losing weight through cardio, and your diet.

This is a common misconception many people have. No matter how firmly you may believe it however, muscle will never ever turn to fat. Conversely, fat will also never turn to muscle.

I know what you’re going to ask.

Why do bodybuilders (or anyone with a lot of muscle) get so fat when they stop working out?

The answer is quite simple. To gain muscle, a person must consume more calories than they expend (or burn). People who have a lot of muscle, consume a lot of food. They must do this because their metabolism is higher (from the amount of muscle they have and exercise they perform), and therefore their caloric intake must also be higher.

When a person with a diet this large decides to stop working out, they often won’t modify their diet accordingly.

As day’s go by, and the metabolism begins to slow (due to lack of exercise), but the calories consumed stay constant at their high numbers, a person will begin to gain fat.

This isn’t to say the person will lose all their muscle (because they won’t), but it’ll be hard to see under the fat which is covering it.

The moral of the story: if you’re going to stop exercising, modify your diet accordingly, so you’re burning equal or less calories than you consume.