How Long Should I Workout?

Posted by Jeremy Nelms on January 31, 2009

Today’s Reader Question:

“Hi, can you please explain to me around how long a proper workout should be? I heard that spending hours in the gym is useless and you can get better results from just 20 minutes. Also, doesn’t your anabolic hormone production drop after a certain time, while cortisol begins to be produced?”

We hear this question (”How Long Should I Worktout?”) a lot. Before we delve into the answer, I’ll give you a hint: you are heading down the right path.

Your question brings up a number of points to cover.

1) Workout length or duration
2) Types of workouts
3) Quality of workouts
4) Hormone production

First, let’s tackle the first 3, since they are all directly related. (And technically, hormone production depends on the first 3.)

Your workout length will depend on…

WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

How to Stay Motivated

Posted by Jeremy Nelms on January 27, 2009

Today’s awesome reader question:

How do you stay motivated after January???? What keeps that fire going??? Also, how do stay motivated after you reach a plateau??? I seem to fall of the wagon again, at that point, and regain the weight!

Wow, what a great question!

I recently wrote a blog post about this in the old No Excuses Fat Loss blog. In it, I talked about having a strong enough reason “why”.

In fact, if your reason why doesn’t get your heart pumping a little faster, your breathing a little faster, and release a little adrenaline, it probably isn’t a strong enough reason why. Alternatively, some people’s reason why might cause them to shed a few tears or instill a little fear.

Frankly, either way, if your reason why doesn’t create a deep enough emotional response, then… WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

How to Conquer Elbow Tendonitis

Posted by Jeremy Nelms on January 26, 2009

Today’s question:

I have tendonitis in my elbow that flares up on a regular basis. This really hinders doing my best on upper body strength training. Any suggestions? I do wear a tennis elbow brace when I work out.

Before we answer this question, let me quickly say a couple of things:

1) Our answer will apply to any tendonitis-based joint problem, to include the knees and wrists.
2) At some point, after trying everything, you may need to see a doctor or rest the joint *completely* for a while.
3) I’m not a doctor and don’t play one on TV (yet). So, this is not medical advice, but simply some suggestions that have been proven to be beneficial for others.

So…with all of that out of the way!

The first thing that you absolutely must do to help ease tendonitis in the weight room is…

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Apple Shape Exercise and Diet

Posted by Jeremy Nelms on January 23, 2009

Alissa and I are excited to begin answering the 40+ questions we received from our email a few weeks ago that asked *you* what you wanted to learn more about.  We got a very wide variety of questions, and we decided to start with the very first one that came in, asking about apple body types and diet!

Here it is:

I’m a typical apple shape, what nutrition adive would you give me? Would cutting out bread be a good idea?

First, thanks for a great question!

Some quick background: the “apple shape” is characteristic of people that tend to store more fat around their abdomen, as opposed to their hips and thighs. There is good news and bad news about this.

The bad news is WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

4+ days and over 2500 miles

Posted by Jeremy Nelms on January 14, 2009

Hey, there!

I just wanted to let you know that Alissa and I will be out of touch for a few days while we drive from Palm Beach Gardens to Prescott, AZ. We are so excited to be heading back home!

We also get to see my son in College Station, so it is going to be a GREAT trip! Also, Alissa and I *love* to road trip and talk, so we’re pumped.

2 things, since we’ll be gone so long:

1) Our friend Becky Williamson in California is an excellent trainer…simply amazing. I will get in trouble for this, but she’s been training for over 25 years. Nearly *double* the amount of time that I have trained.

She specializes in the Baby Boomer generation, and she is _almost_ done with a fitness book written specifically for that age group. However, she needs a title for her book, so she is having a contest to help her out!

The winner gets about $160 worth of free stuff for their help, which is never a bad thing, right? To help her out, go to her blog at http://beckywilliamson.com/blog/?p=28 and leave a comment with your idea.

Becky is awesome and a very good friend of ours. “Thank you” for whatever help you can provide for her. Let those creative juices flow and put those thinking caps on tight!

2) We’ve actually had some people ask how in the world Alissa and I can handle a 4 day car ride together. The cool thing is we *love* it!

But, we DO have a “secret” that we use…

WAIT! There is more to read… read on »