12 Days of Fitness - Free Fitness Gifts!

"Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both." - Ecclesiastes 11:6

I know that I haven't posted on my blog since last month when I reported my trip to the hospital. Since that time, I have been swamped and have hardly found a free moment to post on my blog.

I do apologize to anyone following my blog on a regular basis, and I will begin posting more frequently very soon as I have some ideas and things I want to share.

In the meantime, I have something that is absolutely free and may help you with your health and fitness goals.

Take a moment to check out the site 12 Days of Fitness. More than 200 of the world's leading fitness experts are GIVING AWAY diet plans, workouts, videos, audios and reports about practically every aspect of getting and staying in great shape.

Since it's all free, I thought you might like to check it out at 12 Days of Fitness. Be sure to get your name on the list to take advantage of all these free tips!

My Trip to the Hospital!

"O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health." - Psalm 30:2

I apologize for not posting more frequently on my blog lately. I've found myself extremely busy with work and under a lot of stress with all the things going on in my life on a daily basis. In fact, the stress from the past month finally caught up to me recently.

Beginning around September 20, I began to notice that I was having an irregular heartbeat that felt like a skipped beat or extra beat. I didn't think anything of it because I have had this happen every now and then, but it was never consistent. However, over the course of the next several weeks, I noticed that it was happening more frequently.

As of this past Friday, the irregular heartbeats began happening throughout the day and that evening. It was becoming more intense to the point that I could feel a tightening of my chest with each irregular beat as well as a feeling of shortness of breath. I began to wonder what was causing it, but I figured it would go away in time.

Unfortunately, as the weekend went on, it increased in frequency and intensity to the point that almost every heartbeat was an irregular beat on Sunday. That evening, I finally told Stacey that I was having some issues with my heart but that I wasn't too concerned about it and would make an appointment with my primary doctor to have it checked out. However, I awoke at 3am in a pool of sweat with my heart beating much harder and more frequently than before. I was beginning to worry, so I awakened Stacey and said, "I think we need to go to the Emergency Room."

We arrived shortly before 4am and I was admitted to the ER where they performed an EKG, took a chest X-ray, listened to my heart, monitored my heartbeat and other vitals and drew some blood. I have no risk factors for heart issues since I don't drink or smoke, I don't use drugs, I'm not overweight or diabetic, I don't use caffeine, I'm very fit and in shape and have no history of heart problems.

The doctor said I was having premature ventricular complexes (PVCs). PVCs are extra electrical impulses arising from one of the cardiac ventricles, usually the left ventricle causing an irregular heartbeat or "skipped beat." Many people have PVCs, however, they rarely notice them or they don't happen often enough to warrant any concern. In my case, I was able to feel them, and they were happening so often that I thought I was having serious heart problems.

After all the testing, they said that I was in perfect health (which I would have thought!). My blood pressure was great throughout the testing, my resting heart rate was perfect (in the 40's), all my blood work came back favorable, my chest X-ray was clear, my EKG was normal (except for the PVCs), and I passed the Stress Test with flying colors.

The cardiologist explained that stress was the cause of the PVCs as I had no other health or risks that would indicate any problems with my heart. I have to admit that I have been under a tremendous amount of stress with work during the last few weeks in addition to many everyday stresses (good and bad). These PVCs began right around the time my stress began to increase at work.

Upon returning home from the hospital on Monday, I relaxed for most of the afternoon and took a nap. I wanted to workout, as that is one way I de-stress each day. It took a little while to get myself motivated and ready to go (without using caffeine as a pick-me-up), but once I began to warm-up, I felt good and had a great workout.

My goal now is to find ways to help de-stress and not worry about so many things with work and life. I work at an advertising agency, and there are many stressful days from deadlines, client requests, etc. So I just need to find other ways to deal with those stressors in addition to other stress from finances, daily responsibilities, finding time for various pursuits, etc.

Besides my weekly workouts (which are a great way to deal with stress), I have set aside some personal time each evening for bible study and prayer. I have found that this greatly calms me and helps ease my stress. I will also need to readjust the way I approach stress in my life so I don't have more instances of PVCs in the future.

Vacation!

"On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work." - Genesis 2:2

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted a blog since last Saturday. I was on vacation this past week, and I also didn't get online very much (which was actually a nice break since I'm always online!).

Although I didn't go anywhere, I did enjoy the rest at home. It gave me a chance to work on a few projects around the house and yard, read some books, watch some DVD's and movies, take care of some doctor appointments, visit family during the Fourth of July weekend and also sleep in each day.

Stacey and I spent time together and continued to strengthen our relationship during the week away from work and the computer.

It was nice to not have any pressure or stress of places to go or things to do. We took one day at a time and did what we wanted.

I managed to fit in all my workouts during the week even though I didn't do them on my normal training days and times. My diet wasn't as good as usual because I wasn't following a daily routine. Instead of 5-6 meals each day, I ate 3-4 meals most days. I made healthy choices, but we did go out to eat several times (M'mmm sushi!!!!).

Even though I enjoyed dessert a couple times during the week, it reinforced that I don't have much of a sweet tooth and don't enjoy the way I feel after eating something sweet. My body craves good, whole, fresh foods. My cravings for sweet foods is usually only a result of me not eating properly (not eating enough protein and healthy fats - I'll talk about this in a future blog as well).

I also believe that you should treat yourself (in moderation) if you really want something (ice cream, cake, pie, pizza, etc.). But you have to be willing to deal with the consequences (sugar crash, irritability, low energy levels, digestion problems, etc.). If you eat healthy 80-90% of the time, the consequences are much more noticeable. It serves as a deterrant to eating unhealthy foods because the body reacts negatively when you consume something sugary, fried or processed. This is a good thing!

Despite a few meals eaten away from home and a couple desserts, the week went well, and I felt good coming back to work today. I have plenty of energy, I feel rested, I'm catching up on a few small projects while also getting back to my daily routine of healthy eating.

In tomorrow's blog, I'll post about my visit to the chiropractor last week where I found out something I had not known and how it explains a few issues I've had!

Warp Speed Fat Loss Part 3 - Free Sample Workout!

"Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him."

- Psalm 105:4

The Warp Speed Fat Loss training plan will be released on Tuesday. In the meantime, you can try the first workout for free by going here - CLICK ME!

Download the PDF file and give this workout a try this weekend. This is not a beginner's training program, so I highly recommend this workout to those who have trained with free weights for at least one year and know how to perform the exercises listed.

If you want to jump start your fat loss, then the Warp Speed Fat Loss program may be just the program for you!

My Training Continued!

"So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy...." - Ecclesiastes 11:10

I have been extremely busy this week with work and other commitments, so I haven't had a chance to finish updating my workouts this week.

I did test my front squat and bench press 1RM on Monday, and I tested my deadlift and power clean 1RM tonight. I decided to break up tonight's workout into two days, so I will test my overhead press and weighted chin-up strength tomorrow (Friday).

Once I finish tomorrow's workout, I will post all 1RM's for the week along with my daily bodyweight measures.

So far, I've either come close to meeting the strength standards I posted in an earlier blog, met those strength standards or exceeded them. Stay tuned....

Working Girls!

*UPDATE* - I was training two 25-year-old women. Unfortunately, they have both dropped out for various reasons. I've edited the info in the blog below.


They were training with me twice a week using full-body exercises for strength, explosive strength and metabolic conditioning.

On the days they were not training with me, I asked them to perform some sort of activity that they enjoyed for about 20-30 minutes to help facilitate recovery from our full-body sessions and to also help burn some extra calories and get some additional cardiovascular benefits. This included jogging, biking, fast walking, basketball or any other sport or activity they enjoyed at a moderate pace.

The schedule looked like this:

Monday - Full-body Session with Nate focusing on strength, explosive strength and metabolic conditioning
Tuesday - Active rest (bike, jog, swim, etc. for 20-30 minutes)
Wednesday - Active rest (or if our schedules allow - Metabolic Conditioning)
Thursday - Full-body Session with Nate focusing on strength, explosive strength and metabolic conditioning
Friday - Active rest (bike, jog, swim, etc. for 20-30 minutes)
Saturday - Active rest (or if our schedules allow - Metabolic Conditioning)
Sunday - OFF

Although they had limited weightlifting experience (and Lola had never used free weights - only machines), they progressed very quickly. They only had 5-6 sessions with me. This means, that in only 4-5 sessions over three weeks, they improved their strength, balance, coordination, form and fluidness of movement.

I told them from the very beginning that the workouts would be simple, but hard. I let them know that we focused on athletic movements and full-body, compound, multi-joint exercises such as front squats, bench presses, barbell rows, Romanian deadlifts, dumbbell overhead presses and assisted chin-ups. In addition, we trained explosive strength and metabolic conditioning through the use of box jumps, squat jumps, burpees, medicine ball woodchoppers and a few other exercises. We also used bodyweight exercises for metabolic conditioning, strength endurance and strength.

I was amazed at how quickly they progressed in just 5-6 workouts. Everything seemed to click. As their bodies adapted to the exercises, they were able to add weight or increase their reps each workout. They also reinforced proper form with each rep and learned how to move quickly and efficiently from one exercise to the next while pushing themselves when their legs began to burn.

I expected Becky and Lola to make fantastic progress during the next several weeks. Unforunately, they both dropped out and will tackle their training and nutrition on their own and hopefully by continuing to follow this blog.