Love Notes by Jari Love

Tips for Sticking to Your Health Plan

by Jari Love

Tips for Sticking to Your Health Plan 

When you are just starting a new diet and exchanging old habits for healthy eating patterns sticking to your health plan can be challenging. However, with a few tips you can make those changes last without succumbing to temptation.

 

1. Set Realistic Expectations

If you’ve been struggling with healthy eating for a while and decide to change too many things at once you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. For example, if you decide to cut out sugar from your diet, slash your calorie intake in half and drink nothing but kale juice all at once you’ll find yourself back in your old patterns fast. Similarly, if you expect to lose 30 pounds in a week the first time you decide to make a healthy change in your diet you are likely to be disappointed. Instead set realistic goals and expectations for yourself. Start by making one healthy change at a time, make it a habit, and then move on to your next goal. By setting achievable goals for yourself you set yourself up for success and making healthy choices will become easier and easier as you go along.

 

2. Don’t Starve Yourself

Healthy choices means knowing that you still need to eat—just make healthy choices. If you cut your calories too drastically or completely cut out an entire food group like carbs overnight your body will feel deprived and you are more likely to backslide. Avoid eating more than your body needs to fuel itself during the day and stick with healthy options.

 

3. Stay Committed and Don’t Make Exceptions

You can always find a reason to make poor eating choices: I need something fast, it’s the weekend, everyone else is having dessert etc. If you are going to stick to your plan you can’t make exceptions. Focus on your goals, and make healthy options easy for yourself. Always come home from work starving? Pre-prep cut veggies and fruit so you have something healthy on hand to grab when you get home to satisfy you until dinner. Find yourself making poor choices on the weekend? Don’t buy food you don’t want to eat—if it’s not in the house then chances are you’ll think twice about indulging yourself. Everyone else having dessert? Opt for fresh fruit—which brings us to the next point . . .

 

4. Avoid Cynics

Sometimes not everybody supports, or understands, your new health plan. Avoid those who compromise your health choices and surround yourself with people who will encourage you in your goals. Once your health plan starts to pay off and everyone sees how great you look and feel chances are they will hop on your band wagon. Who knows you may even inspire someone else to make healthier choices in their life.

 

5. Avoid Triggers

Pay attention to your body and your emotions and understand which circumstances trigger your desire to make poor health choices. Does your best friend always bake cookies when you visit? Invite her round to your place instead, or meet somewhere neutral. Do you crave sweets when you are tired or have had a bad day? Have a green tea, water with lemon, a piece of fruit or play with your dog, go for some light exercise to pick yourself up instead. Being self-aware of your triggers will help you recognize why you crave unhealthy foods and help you make better choices.

 

6. Stay Focused

The first few days of your health plan will probably be easy. However, after a few days it can be more difficult to remember why you made the decision to change your lifestyle. Help yourself stay focused on your decisions and goals. Write yourself notes and motivational sayings, stick pictures of where you want to end up or of apples and broccoli next to your fridge or pantry. Give yourself concrete reminders of why you are doing this and soon making healthy choices will become habit.

 

7. Get Over Mistakes

The goal is to eat healthfully and make good lifestyle choices every day. However, know that if you eat a brownie one day it’s not the end of your health plan. Forgive yourself and move on. Don’t give up because you made a mistake Get back to your routine and keep making healthy choices. Each time you decide to make a healthy choice the next one is easier. Start making the healthy choices you deserve.

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Exercises to Get Rid of Foot Pain

by Jari Love

Whether from running, non-stop errands, uncomfortable footwear, or some other culprit, we’ve all experienced foot pain at one point or another. With the holiday season coming up the pain is likely to reach a high, which is why we’ve opted to go on the offensive and enlisted the creator of the MELT Method, a self-treatment technique that helps people treat chronic pain, Sue Hitzmann, MS, CST, NMT, and asked her to show us some exercises that we can do to strengthen our feet.

1. Mini soft ball treatment

Assess

Stand with your feet side by side, hip-width apart. Close your eyes and notice your feet. Scan up your legs and notice your joints and muscles and whether there’s any tension in the body.

• Position point pressing: Step onto a large soft ball (part of the MELT Hand and Foot Treatment Kit) in the middle of the underside of your foot. With your feet side by side, hip-width apart, gently shift your weight on and off the ball 2-3 times to find tolerable pressure. Apply tolerable pressure to that point as you take a focused breath. Then place the ball just in front of your heel. Apply tolerable pressure as you take a focused breath.
• Glide: Keeping your toes on the floor, slowly move the ball from side to side in front of the heel. Glide from side to side as you work your way to the back of the heel and then back to where you started.
• Direct: Shear With the ball just in front of your heel, wiggle your foot left to right with a slightly heavier compression. The ball should barely move. Hold the compression and take 2 focused breaths.
• Rinse: Place the ball directly under the big toe knuckle. Apply tolerable compression to that point, then press the ball toward your heel in a continuous motion with consistent pressure. Lift your foot to move to the next knuckle. Repeat from each one.
• Friction: Finally, rub your foot and toes over the ball lightly in a quick, scribble-like motion for about 10-15 seconds.

Reassess

Close your eyes and notice whether you sense any changes in your leg. Repeat all of the techniques on the other foot.

2. Take a friction break: If you have less than a minute, use the large soft ball and rub your foot and toes over the ball lightly in a quick, scribble-like motion for 20 seconds, then switch feet. This wakes up the feet and stimulates the sensory nerves, the lymphatic system, and the superficial connective tissue.

3. Build your foot strength: Place your large soft ball on the floor and try to grab it with your big toe and second toe. Then move the ball under your second and third toes – then third and four toes, and fourth and fifth toes – and repeat the move.

4. Strengthen your arches: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip-width apart and in line with your sits bones. Keeping the soles of your feet on the floor, slowly open your knees as wide as you can without lifting the heels or the balls of the feet. Pause and take a focused breath, then slowly bring your knees back together. Do 5 repetitions.

For images, visit cheatsheet.com

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Stay Motivated to Lose Weight

by Jari Love

Losing weight is tough. Pounds don’t just fall off without reason. You must have a strict plan in place that includes a well-rounded, low calorie diet and an exercise regimen that helps you to burn calories. Sometimes, you may have trouble staying motivated to lose weight, especially if you don’t see the results in yourself. If you have recently embarked on a plan to lose weight and find yourself lacking motivation, keep these ideas in mind.

Have Fun with Your Workouts

It takes hard work to lose weight. However, that does not mean the activities you incorporate into your fitness plan can’t be fun. If you dread going to the gym every day, mix in some other activities you enjoy that will allow you keep moving, burn calories and give you a change of scenery. You can take a hike, walk your dog or go swimming to take your routine outdoors.

Additionally, by incorporating some level of competition to your workout, you are more likely to stick with it. Play basketball or tennis with friends, or challenge a workout buddy to a race on the treadmill or exercise bike. You can even compete with yourself by recording your workouts.

Make a New Goal 

I am not telling you to rethink the whole process. Instead, give yourself a new, intermediary goal that you can obtain somewhat quickly. Reaching a goal is a huge motivating factor, and you should make sure to include a few along the way to your overall goal. A few examples may be going to the gym for five consecutive days, staying under your calorie count all weekend or avoiding the scale altogether for three days. It should be something pretty simple.

Once you meet your new goal, reward yourself. Treat yourself to a movie, a massage, a new book, or something else that you have wanted to do for a while. Just make sure your reward is in line with your overall goal. Meaning, it probably should not be a trip to the all-you-can-eat dessert bar.

Seek Words of Wisdom

When trying to stay motivated to lose weight, one of the simplest ways to do so is to find a quote that means a lot to you. It may be related to weight loss or not, but it should be something that speaks to you and makes you want to be the best you can be. Post it by the mirror, the scale, the refrigerator or your desk at work – anywhere you may need a little motivation. A picture of a loved one may also do the trick.

Weight Is Just a Number

Do you go to the bathroom scale every morning and are just not happy with the number that you see? Keep in mind your weight is just a number. It is not the “be-all and end-all” to the way you look to others or the way you should feel about yourself. Sometimes, your body can make a nice transformation in the right direction and you may see little to no change in your weight. In fact, you could actually even gain weight if you are using a strength training program, since muscle weighs more than fat. The most important thing is to feel good about the work you are doing every day, to keep working hard and moving forward, and know that eventually the numbers will fall in line.

Sometimes we hit a wall in our workout routine or nutrition plan. There are many ways to get over the hump, but what is most important is to find what works for you when you must stay motivated to lose weight.

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Vegetables That Will Help You Lose Weight Now

by Jari Love

When you want to lose weight, there is no one thing that will do the trick. You must make healthy choices, exercise and eat well. Any healthy eating plan should include a wide range of vegetables and it is best to include many offerings. Or as some say, eat a rainbow of vegetables. Those looking to keep fit and trim have long coveted green leafy vegetables, but there are healthy vegetable options that are red, yellow and other colors as well. The following is a selection of vegetables that will help you lose weight now.

Broccoli

Broccoli has a great reputation for health, and at about 30 calories per serving is a great option for people that want to lose weight. There is no fat, but a healthy amount of carbohydrates that promote energy. Broccoli is packed with vitamins and nutrients, including more calcium than any other vegetable. Better yet, it has been known to help avoid cancer.

Cucumber 

Many people refer to cucumbers as a “negative calorie” food, meaning you actually burn more calories eating it than it offers. By that definition, a cucumber is certainly a vegetable that will help you lose weight now. Cucumbers are mostly water, which makes them very refreshing. Furthermore, there are many ways to incorporate cucumbers into meals. You can prepare them fresh, grilled or in many other ways, meaning you should always find a good way to enjoy them.

Carrots

There are many benefits to carrots, most notably the fiber and beta-carotene found within. You can lose weight eating carrots raw or cooked, but like most vegetables, raw is best to keep the maximum amount of nutrients. Also, carrot juice is among the best juices you can drink. Fruit juice, even if it is freshly squeezed, is packed with sugar, but carrot juice is sweet and delicious with much fewer calories.

Celery

Also consisting of primarily water, celery is also considered a vegetable that will help you lose weight as you eat it. Celery contains protein and fiber, a great combination for weight loss and can be enjoyed in many ways. Be careful though. You may be tempted to use celery with dips and other fatty spreads, which can actually do more harm than good.

Peppers

Going back to the note about eating a rainbow of vegetables, peppers offer many options in a wide variety of colors. Yellow peppers in particular are a great source of vitamin C as well as energy. Peppers are also sweet and can be great when your sweet tooth kicks in.

Onions

Onions fly under the radar a bit when it comes to vegetables that will help you lose weight. Of course, there are plenty of ways to make them less healthy, such as frying, but raw and cooked onions are both low calorie options that can be a nice addition to a salad or other dish. Red onions are best when it comes to weight loss.

Leafy Green Vegetables 

As previously stated, green leafy vegetables have a great reputation for helping people lose weight. Kale, spinach, watercress, Swiss chard, lettuce, and other greens are all terrific sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals with very few calories. Specifically, kale is currently one of the most popular vegetables that will help you lose weight and has moved up the list of healthiest foods on the planet.

One of the biggest points for losing weight with this list of vegetables is that they are all very flexible. It can be tough to get excited about eating the same old thing everyday, so look for fresh new recipes that feature these vegetables in a new way.

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Healthy Orange Chicken and Green Beans

by Jari Love

Healthy Orange Chicken?
Yes! Here’s a recipe that adds fruit to dinner and takes all the guilt out of orange-flavored chicken. There’s no sugar and no fryer involved. Just skinless, boneless chicken breast, marinated in orange juice, pan seared and then baked. Serve it up with orange-spiked green beans for a nutritious, protein-packed meal.
Servings: 4

Here’s what you need:
For the Chicken:
• 2 cups fresh orange juice
• 2 Tablespoons grated orange zest
• 4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
For the Green Beans:
• 10 oz fresh, organic, green beans
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

• dash of salt and pepper

For the Orange-Brandy Sauce:

• 2 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 3 shallots, minced
• 2 Tablespoons brandy
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 navel orange, peeled and each segment cut into 3 pieces
• 1 Tablespoon parsley, chopped

• Dash of salt and pepper

Cook the Chicken:

1. Place the orange juice and orange zest in a large ziplock bag. Season each side of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place the chicken breasts in the ziplock bag, coating each side with juice. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Grease a 12-inch, oven-proof skillet with the olive oil. Place over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts in a single layer, cooking for 3 minutes. Turn the chicken, season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Place the skillet in the oven for 15 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 165 degrees F in the center of the thickest breast.

4. Remove from oven and cover with foil as you make the sauce and cook the beans.

Cook the Green Beans:

1. Wash the beans, snap off and discard the stems. Place in a large ziplock bag with the orange juice and orange zest. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Grease with the olive oil. Remove beans from refrigerator, discarding the juice. Add to the skillet and cook, covered for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover, increase the heat and cook for an additional 3 minutes, until the beans are bright green.
Cook the Sauce:
1. In a medium skillet heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add the minced shallot, cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the brandy. Return to the heat and cook, scraping the bottom, until the brandy has almost evaporated, about 30 seconds. Increase the heat to high, add the orange juice. Boil for 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, boil for 3 minutes.

2. Add in the orange segments and the parsley. Turn off heat. Season with salt and pepper.

To Serve:

1. Cut the chicken on the diagonal into thin slices and arrange over a pile of green beans. Drizzle with the orange-brandy sauce.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 302 calories, 13g fat, 161mg sodium, 19g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, and 29g protein.

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

7 Health Foods You Should Stop Throwing Away

by Jari Love

You have no problem spending $20 every week on fresh fruits and vegetables. But when you pick off the “weird” parts of the produce and discard them before cooking, you aren’t just tossing a few bucks in the trash—you’re also throwing away some serious nutritional benefits. Also, just because a fruit or vegetable doesn’t look “perfect” doesn’t mean it’s not full of nutrition. It can save you lots of money in some grocery stores that offer “off” fruits and veggies.

These forgotten spare parts come jam-packed with vitamins and heart-saving amino acids, says Leslie Bonci, M.P.H., R.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Add them to your kitchen arsenal and reap the surprising rewards.

1. Cantaloupe Seeds – Their Hidden Powers: These seeds are usually the first to go when you crack open a melon, but they’re high in protein, fiber, vitamin E, and magnesium, says Bonci.

 How to Eat Them: Roast them in the oven and toss with olive oil for a nutrient-packed snack.

2. Onion Skins – Their Hidden Powers: These flaky exteriors are high in quercetin, a compound that can help lower your blood pressure and support a healthy immune system, says Bonci.

How to Eat Them: Add them to a stew or broth for extra flavor, then pick them out before serving.

3. Watermelon Rinds – Their Hidden Powers: These rinds contain the amino acid citrulline, which can help improve your blood flow, says Bonci.

How to Eat Them: Throw them in a quality blender with watermelon flesh (the red part you normally eat), strawberries, and a dash of orange juice for a refreshing smoothie.

4. Broccoli Leaves – Their Hidden Powers: These leafy greens are a triple threat with high levels of vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, says Bonci.

How to Eat Them: Cut them up and throw them into a stir-fry along with the rest of the broccoli. This is one simple way to make your diet better.

5. Celery Tops – Their Hidden Powers: They’re super flavorful and full of muscle-building magnesium, bone-strengthening calcium, and vitamin C, says Bonci.

How to Eat Them: Use them like an herb and add to a vegetable or chicken soup.

6. Orange Peels – Their Hidden Powers: You already knew they smell fantastic, but they’re also rich in digestive system-soothing fiber and immune-boosting vitamin C, says Bonci.

How to Eat Them: Use a cheese grater to sprinkle some on top of fish or chicken.

7. Swiss Chard Stalks – Their Hidden Powers: Their vibrant, reddish-purple color signals that they’re high in carotenoids, which act as disease-fighting antioxidants. They’re also full of Vitamin K, an important nutrient for boosting bone health, says Bonci.

How to Eat Them: Sauté them with mushrooms and onions for a tasty side dish. Via yahoo.com

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Quiz: Are You Addicted To Sugar?

by Jari Love

Is your relationship with sugar pretty much fine, totally out of whack, or somewhere in between (say, “it’s complicated”)? Our throwback-style quiz—devised with the help of registered dietitian Ilyse Schapiro—will help you figure out the answer.

1. How often do you eat or drink sugary foods or beverages (including ones made with no-calorie sweeteners)?

2. What’s your typical breakfast like?

3. How much sugar or sweetener do you usually add to your coffee?

4. How often do you go out of your way to get something sugary—like stopping at the store just to buy candy?

6. Do you hide sugary foods to eat later?

7. Do you ever feel powerless in front of sugary foods or foods made with refined flour, like white bread?

8. While indulging, do you ever tell yourself that this is the “last time” you’ll ever eat like this?

OK! Now it’s time to add up your score. If you got…

Mostly As: You may be immortal.

You’re definitely not addicted to sugar. In fact, it sounds like you’re practically immune to the sweet stuff altogether, which makes us wonder if you’re even human. What’s your secret?

Mostly Bs: You and sugar are a-OK.

Congratulations! It sounds like you have a healthy relationship with sugar. You enjoy sweet stuff when you’re in the mood, but dessert doesn’t rule your life. So don’t try to cut back—it might end up backfiring by making you feel deprived. “Treat yourself to one small thing per day. If you allow yourself that one treat, you won’t feel like you’re missing out and you’ll be less likely to binge,” says Schapiro.

Mostly Cs: You’re a sugar fiend.

Addiction might be a strong word, but it sounds like you have an unhealthy relationship with sugar. Instead of trying to quit cold turkey, try working with a dietitian to help you scale back on the sweet stuff gradually (like, by using just two packets in your coffee instead of three, or doing dessert three times a week instead of every night). “If you just cut it out, you’ll be thinking about it constantly and it will run your life,” says Schapiro.

via prevention.com

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Get Stronger Triceps

by Jari Love

5 Exercises for Stronger Triceps

To get seriously cut arms, you need to devote a fair amount of attention to the biggest muscle in the area, and it’s not what you think. Biceps get a lot of attention because they’re located on the front of our arms, the part we see when we look in the mirror. While keeping them strong is important for everyday activities and overall strength, your triceps actually make up a larger portion of your arm. Neglecting these muscles can lead to imbalance, injury, and even hinder your ability to get stronger as they assist in pushing motions.

Let’s do a brief anatomy lesson to understand your triceps a little better. Tri, meaning three, accurately describes the backsides of your arms. This muscle group comprises the long, lateral, and medial heads. They each connect to the scapula and humerus, then travel down the backside of the arm where they connect at the ulna on your forearm. Together, they work to enable extension at the elbow.

Though many guys target their triceps with weights, often heavy ones, this isn’t necessary. Going for a load that’s too heavy can also compromise your form and, ultimately, lead to an ineffective workout. With nothing more than a resistance band, you can get an effective tricep workout with these five moves. Your arms will thank you.

1. Close-Grip Pushup

Basic pushups do a decent job of targeting the triceps, though much of the work is also done by the chest and shoulder muscles. One of the benefits of this bodyweight exercise is the ability to change the target muscles by altering your position. To increase the load on your triceps, the close-grip, or diamond pushup, is one of the most effective moves; all you have to do is bring your hands closer together.

To perform this pushup variation, start in the standard position with your hands directly under your shoulders and your legs fully extended. Before you start moving, bring your hands close to each other and touch your thumbs and index fingers together. From this position, slowly lower yourself until your chest is just a few inches above the ground, making sure to keep your core tight during the move, then press yourself straight back up.

Even if you can crank out regular pushups at an astounding rate, you’ll likely need to reduce your number of repetitions for this challenging exercise. Men’s Fitness recommends four sets of as many repetitions as possible.

2. Crab Walk

Most strength training exercises move in one plane of motion. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it means you have to rely on a lot more exercises in order to reach all the muscles you want to target. Muscle & Fitness likes crab walks because they target your shoulders and triceps while forcing you to build stability. This means all three muscles in your triceps will be engaged as you work to maintain balance.

Get into position with your chest facing up, hands and feet flat on the floor. Your fingers should be pointed behind you and your knees should be bent. Next, crawl by simultaneously stepping your left leg and right hand forward, then you right leg and left hand forward. Try to keep yourself as stable as possible while you move.

For more of a challenge, you can also move to the side. Perhaps the best part about this exercise is it requires no equipment, which means you can do it in the privacy of your own home. Let’s be honest, it looks a little strange.

3. Plank-to-Triceps Extension

Plank-to-triceps extensions should be your replacement from tricep kickbacks, a move that involves extending your arm backwards with a dumbbell as you lean forward on a bench. In reality, this exercise just isn’t very effective.

Muscle For Life explains that kickbacks are far too easy and you often don’t feel any burn until you’re nearly finished. Additionally, it’s easy to get away with cheating since you can switch to a swinging motion. With the plank-to-triceps extension, you don’t have an opportunity to shortchange the move.

Start in a plank position with your weight resting on your forearms, your palms resting on the floor, and your legs extended as usual. Press your palms firmly into the ground and contract your triceps to raise your elbows off the ground until you’re in the pushup position, keeping your core tight the whole time. Men’s Health recommends aiming for 15 to 20 repetitions.

4. Bodyweight Dips

Everyone likes to load this exercise with tons of weight — without giving much thought to the correct form. It doesn’t matter that you’re holding 60 extra pounds of weight if you barely bend your elbows. For most guys, performing dips without adding any additional load will be sufficient when they cover a full range of motion.

For this move, you need two parallel bars that are spaced a few feet apart. The gym is full of equipment for this specific move, but you can find suitable choices in a lot of places, such a local park. Grasp a bar with each hand and begin with your arms fully extended and your feet raised off the ground. Lower yourself down until your elbows reach 90-degree angles, then push yourself up until your arms are fully extended again. Make sure to keep your elbows close to your body as you move up and down rather than allowing them to wing out to the side. ACE Fitness demonstrates the proper form and offers a more detailed outline if you need some guidance.

Though this move is great for strengthening triceps, it can be hard on shoulders, so you don’t want to dip past the point when your elbows are at 90-degree angles. If you’ve had shoulder injuries in the past, you may want to skip this one.

5. Band Skull Crushers

Of all the weighted exercises that target triceps, skull crushers might be the best. Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT, and creator of BuiltLean, even says that it’s his favorite exercise to target the area because it activates all three muscles. Unfortunately, you really shouldn’t perform this move without a spotter. If you swap the heavy barbell for a substantial resistance band, though, it’s much safer to do on your own.

There are a couple ways to set this move up, though the easiest is probably on the floor. Use something pretty heavy to weigh down the middle portion of a resistance band then get yourself into position lying on your back with the band fully extended and your arms pointed straight up at the ceiling. Slowly lower your hands towards your head, keeping your elbows steady, until they’re just a few inches above your forehead. Then, press your arms to extend the band until you’re back in the starting position.

via cheatsheet.com

 

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

8 Weight Loss Mistakes

by Jari Love

8 Common Weight Loss Mistakes You Should Avoid 

So, you’re about to embark on a new weight loss journey, or maybe you’re already into one. Before you get ahead of yourself, here are 8 common weight loss mistakes people tend to make that keep them from reaching their goals. Be prepared so that you know how to navigate through these typical problems.

1. Over-Exercising: I know you’re excited. Your motivation has probably never been higher. Why don’t we keep it that way by not burning yourself out in the first couple of weeks. Exercise is great, and you should be doing a combination of strength training and cardiovascular training, but that doesn’t mean that more is always better.

Make small changes to your exercise program just like you do with your diet. You don’t have to go from nothing to everything overnight. Build yourself up to 1, 2, and then 3 days of strength training a week. Do something you enjoy. Two hours every single day of high-intensity exercise for someone who hasn’t built up to that work load is either asking for injury, or will be burnt out in weeks.

2. Cutting Calories Too Low: Of course you need to eat less than you burn if you want to lose weight, but cutting calories too low will not get you to your goal any faster. In fact, it’s likely to slow down your progress.

Prolonged calorie restriction causes a down-regulation of important fat-burning hormones like thyroid, and appetite-controlling hormones like leptin and ghrelin. Lower your calories, but the smaller the deficit the better. Go too low and you’ll be wondering why you’re not losing any weight.

3. Becoming Obsessed With Your Weight and the Scale: Gotta lose weight. Gotta lose weight. Wrong! Gotta lose FAT. How often do you weigh yourself? Is it weekly? Daily? More than once a day? It’s a great feeling when you see that number on the scale go down, but how do you react when it goes up? I’m going to guess that reaction isn’t good.

The scale is not going to tell you everything you need to know about your progress. It’s only going to tell you how heavy you are. It won’t tell you how much muscle you’ve put on, or how much fat you’ve lost.

Obsessing over your weight can lead to frustrations, which can lead to you giving up on your lifestyle change. Do yourself a favor and only weigh yourself when it’s necessary, such as when you’re taking body fat readings.

4. Changing Up Your Routine Too Often: I’ve been guilty of this so many times I’ve lost track. I try out this eating style for a week or so and then I read somewhere else about another eating style that might be better. I start questioning whether I’m doing everything I can to reach my goals. So I end up changing up my routine, and in the process, I never give the original eating style a chance to work.

I know it’s a hard thing to do, but once you decide on a way to eat and exercise, stick with it. If it hasn’t even been a month, there’s no reason to even consider changing anything.

If after a month your body fat measurements haven’t changed, you can start looking into making small changes to your current routine. That doesn’t mean change every single thing. It means change 1 or 2 things and see if that gets the progress moving forward again.

5. Overdoing Your Cheat Meals: Cheat meals are a double-edged sword. On the one hand they can keep you sane and possibly even improve your fat loss progress. On the other hand, they can keep you in a never-ending binge/purge cycle where one cheat meal makes it hard to get back onto your healthy eating plan.

Cheat meals should not be binge fests. They should still be controlled. Eat what you want, but remain mindful of portion sizes. A bad day of binge eating can knock out a week’s worth of progress, or worse, can make you revert back to your old unhealthy lifestyle.

6. Having Unrealistic Expectations: Let’s see, you want to lose 50 pounds, so at 2 pounds per week, that would mean you will hit your weight loss goal in 25 weeks. Wrong. I’m not going to go so far as to say it can’t be done, but realistically, it’s not going to happen, and you’re going to get discouraged when you start falling behind that pace. So much so, that when your expectations aren’t met, you end up giving up because it just takes too long.

Set a goal of .5-1% body fat loss every 1-2 weeks, with the lower number being the most realistic. Take a bigger view of your timeline and remember that this is a lifestyle change and not a 2lb/week weight loss plan. The weight will come off, but you have to get out of the day to day weight loss mentality.

7. Obsessing Over Calories and Macronutrient Ratios: How many calories should you eat? How much protein, fat, and carbohydrates are optimal for weight loss? Don’t worry about it! At least don’t worry about it yet. For now, focus on improving the quality of your diet and getting active. Once your diet is 90% whole foods and you’re exercising consistently, you can start playing around with meal timing, carb cycling, or various macronutrient ratios.

In the beginning, it’s quality over quantity. At least that should be your main focus. Cutting calories to an already bad diet will further lower the amount of nutrients you get, and if you add exercise in at the same time, the nutrient deficiencies get even worse. Block out all that noise and focus your attention on one thing only – eating healthier food.

8. Only Focusing on External Appearance: It’s been a month of eating healthy food and being active, but you haven’t lost any weight, so you haven’t made any progress – or so you think. It’s hard to think about all the positive changes you’re making to the inside of your body and to your health because you can’t directly see them. However, all that hard work is changing your body from the inside out.

Even if your weight hasn’t moved in weeks, take solace in the fact that you are a healthier person than you were just weeks ago. It’s only a matter of time before those internal changes start reflecting on the outside. Be patient, smile, and love the new person you are becoming.

h/t coachcalorie.com

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.

Types of Foods to Avoid Late at Night

by Jari Love

There’s no need to deny yourself a late-night snack if you’re feeling hungry, but you still have to think smart when it comes to eating late. Eating the wrong foods will disrupt your sleep while also adding a lot of unneeded calories to your day. Instead of just diving into the nearest, tastiest-looking item in your fridge, here are five types of foods to avoid at night and why.

1. Greasy or fat-filled foods: Greasy, heavy, fatty foods not only make you feel sluggish the next morning, but they also make your stomach work overdrive to digest all that food. Stay away from things like fast food, nuts, ice cream, or super cheesy foods right before bed.

2. High-carb or sugary foods: A little bit of something sweet before bed may be just what you need to rest happy, but if you gobble a huge slice of chocolate cake, the spike in your blood-sugar levels could cause your energy levels to spike and plummet, disrupting your sleep in the process. Avoid cake, cookies, or other desserts as well as carby snacks like crackers or white bread and munch on an apple instead.

3. Red meat and other proteins: Like fatty foods, eating red meats late at night will sit in your stomach and make it hard for you to fall asleep while you’re digesting (red meat may affect you the worst, but eating a large portion of chicken or pork would have the same effect as well). You don’t have to avoid protein altogether, just make sure you go for lean and small portions, like deli-sliced turkey breast or a cup of yogurt.

4. Spicy foods: Spices may be a natural cure-all for a range of ailments, but when you’re craving something to eat late at night, step away from the hot sauce. Spicy, peppery foods may upset your stomach, and the chemicals in spicy food can also stimulate your senses, making it hard to fall asleep.

5. Big portions: Late-night snacking shouldn’t turn into a late-night meal. Keep the total amount of calories under 200 so you won’t have any problems going and staying asleep. You’ll also feel good knowing that you didn’t undo all your healthy eating habits of the day right before bedtime.

So what should you eat instead? Small, light portions that will also calm cravings and help you sleep. Try incorporating these sleep-inducing foods or these low-calorie late-night snacks that hit all your sweet or salty cravings. And remember to limit how much alcohol you drink as well, since too many drinks can keep you up at night.

via popsugar.com

Jari Love – original creator of Get RIPPED! DVD series and group exercise classes. The hot-selling and critically acclaimed Get RIPPED! series enables individuals of any fitness level to burn up to three times more calories than the traditional weight-training program, and has received rave reviews from fitness critics throughout North America since the first title debuted in late 2005.