2 Secrets Revealed

Psst… Can you keep a secret?

I’ve got two I want to reveal. As they used to say on one of my favorite shows, Seinfield, “It’s going in the vault”. George would tell his best friend Jerry that to get him to share a secret, only to tell it to his fiancee within minutes of leaving.

I’m actually okay with you sharing these two secrets to anyone who will listen. In fact, I want the whole world to know the truth.

Ready?

Secret #1 – Having a glass of wine at night WILL make you fat. I don’t care what the studies show about heart health and red wine being good for you. If you consume a glass or two of red wine most every night you are going to have excess body-fat. Think about what wine is made of, FRUIT, what does fruit have in it, SUGAR, and what does sugar do to your body? I’ll answer for you, it makes you store fat at a much higher rate (and about a million other things).

If you want to drop 6-10lbs really quick, just stop having the wine for a couple of weeks and watch what happens.

Secret #2 – Crunches don’t give you a “six-pack”, COMPOUND MOVEMENTS do that. Unless you are just genetically gifted or under the age of 21, it’s not as simple as going in for a few crunches 2-3x per week and suddenly you have those washboard abs you dream about. Compound movements done correctly, with the right intensity and frequently enough will challenge your core more than doing 10,000 crunches ever will.

If you don’t believe me, try getting under 300 or 400lbs and perform a squat and tell me your core wasn’t working just as much as your legs.

If you are new to the weight training scene or are unsure of what the heck a “compound move” is, here is a basic rundown:

  • Squats
  • Push-ups
  • Pull-ups
  • Swings
  • Snatches
  • Clean and Press
  • Lunge and Curl

It basically means a move that demands more than one muscle group to be engaged. Or as I sometimes say, “a real humbling experience”. Anytime you can maximize your time and perform compound movements you will not only burn more calories, you will build more muscle (which in turn helps you burn more calories), look a heck of a lot better than doing isolation moves like bicep curls and yes… start you on your journey to “six-pack abs”. (That and balanced nutrition of course)

Here is my challenge to each of you. Next time you lift, do ten reps of the above moves, rest then do 10 reps of things like Bicep Curls, Crunches, Tricep Kickbacks, Calf Raises, etc and you tell me which ones are more challenging.

Not sure how to perform these compound moves? Email me back for a FREE Discovery Week of our Classes (Kettlebell, Boot Camp or Semi-Private) and we can show you how effective this style of training can be. jeremy@grittonstraining.com

Your Coach

Jeremy

P.S. If you haven’t heard yet, the summer athlete program begins Monday June 8th (there was an error in the original flyer). We have just a few spots remaining, where our goal is to help your child make varsity, gain more confidence, earn more playing time and or begin on their journey towards a college scholarship. AND GOOD NEWS, I just found out I can accept athletes starting at age 12 now… Email me if you want one of the remaining spots: jeremy@grittonstraining.com

How to Shed a Ton of Fat Without Dieting

kettlebell “I lift things up, I put them down” … “I lift things up, I put them down” (said in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger accent possible)

Have you seen any of the Planet Fitness commercials over the past couple of years? Most of them are hilarious, but the one I’m referring to is one of my favorites. If you don’t know, Planet Fitness has this policy of no meat heads in their gyms. Or as they call them, lunk heads.

The commercial is following a membership guy and a huge 6 foot 5 inch meat head around the gym, and after every scene or area of the gym the big guy says, “I lift things up, I put them down”. This goes on throughout the commercial until finally the staff member tells him that outside this door is the outdoor swimming area and then he shuts the door behind him. The meat head, with his string tank top, spandex shorts, fanny pack and huge jug of water is standing outside the building now and says the same thing one more time – “I lift things up, I put them down”.

Funny commercial, but I swear what that guy is saying is 100% accurate when it comes to shedding a bunch of fat without having to diet. Possibly the simplest explanation of how to burn fat ever.

Last week we discussed how every time you turn a pound of fat into a pound of muscle you will burn an extra 50 calories per day. How do you do that… You “lift things up”!

Seriously, if you want to shed fat or turn fat into muscle you’ve got to lift weights. You’ve got to lift a lot of weights, and I don’t mean standing in front of a mirror doing a set of 30 curls using 8lb dumbbells. I’m talking about lifting weights that demand your body to WORK and strain and then recover and get stronger.

Just last week I saw a guy in the gym doing bicep curls while holding his cell phone between his ear and shoulder… I’m not kidding you, I watched this guy do several sets without ever putting down the phone or strain a single bit to improve his body.

You Need to do Things Like:

  • Squats
  • Kettlebell Swings
  • Pushups
  • Pullups
  • Dead-lifts

My philosophy is, if you are coming to the gym be efficient with your time and maximize everything you do. No more 3 sets of 25 bicep curls, resting 3 minutes in-between each set, while talking on the phone, while reading a magazine, while basically wasting your time.

To shed that fat, lift things up! Challenge yourself (safely) to become stronger, healthier and in turn shed a lot of fat without having to “diet”.

Speaking of safety, I know that often times we need assistance and direction on “how” to do things correctly. To maximize your time and be able to push yourself without fear of injury, I would like to offer you a Free Discovery Session where we can discuss your goals and if one of the GTS services can help you achieve those goals. If you would like to reserve one of these sessions, email me first chance you get: jeremy@grittonstraining.com

Every time I offer these sessions they fill up quick, so let me know.

In the meantime… go lift something up.

Your Coach,

Jeremy

 

P.S. The winner of last weeks free bottle of Catalyst is Jennifer P. Jennifer, let me know when you are coming in next week and I will get it to you.

The Crimes We Commit Against Our Metabolism

Here’s a little story about a man named Jed, the poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed. Then one day he was shooting at some food and up from the ground came a bubbling…

Yes, that’s the intro to the Beverly Hillbillys. One of my favorite shows from the 90’s. Probably because the day my family and I moved from Eastern Kentucky, to Augusta Georgia I swear I heard that song playing as we pulled out.

What I’d really like to tell you is the story of the crimes we commit against our metabolisms on a daily basis. I want to give you the THREE biggest mistakes I see and hear every day, that devastate our bodies ability to burn fat.

Mistake #1 – We don’t eat enough. Yes, that is a major crime and I see it all the time when someone decides they want to lose some weight. They usually always lose weight in the beginning, but then what happens? Their metabolism goes in the tank because the body says, “I’m not getting enough calories so I’m going to slow down my burn rate to protect myself”

Mistake #2 – We don’t do enough strength training and we do too much cardio. I talk about this one all the time and I’ll tell you it’s an easy mistake to make. Heck, when I was training for Ironman 2008 I found myself skipping my strength training for more cardio. I know it’s exciting to see those calories tick away quickly when you do cardio, but remember that once you stop, the calorie burn returns to normal within an hour. When you strength train you turn fat into muscle, you burn calories at a higher rate for up to 24 hours. Best of all, when you turn 1lb of fat into muscle it means you need an extra 50 calories every day. That means 10lbs of lean muscle, that can only come from strength training, will give you an extra 500 calories every day!

Mistake #3 – We don’t have the right nutrients around and during our workout. When you train, you’ve got to have the right stuff in your body. Specifically you need amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein-protein is the building blocks of muscle-muscle is the building blocks for a higher metabolism.

I want to share with you, what I believe the #1 thing you must have to enable your body to protect muscle and speed up your metabolism. Its something that every time I workout I take this product, have been for over 8 years and I believe in it so much that if I don’t have these three little pills I will actually skip my workout.

The product is called Catalyst and it is 5 of the 8 essential amino acids that your body needs while you train. Without these nutrients in your body you can end up burning lean muscle for energy. Sound good?

It also helps you repair your muscles after your training is over. Which is also vital to keep your metabolism up. The goal of strength training is to do damage to your muscles and then let them repair so they get bigger and stronger and eventually turn your body into a fat burning machine.

To hopefully help you see how important I think this is, if you would like to try Catalyst or get back on Catalyst for a month… If you order a bottle within the next 48 hours, then I will put your name into a drawing for a second bottle for free. Visit my website for your orders: www.advocare.com/08034059

If you have concerns, I understand, but know that Advocare is above reproach when it comes to testing products. That is part of the reason I can confidently put it in my body and then share it with you to help you speed up your metabolism.

Here’s to a faster metabolism and a leaner stronger you!

Your Coach

Jeremy

1-2-3-4 Workout

Kettlebell2Ready set GO. I’ve got a great workout you can do outside with just one piece of equipment.

It’s what I call my “Travel Kettlebell”. It’s a light KB that’s rusted, getting holes in it, paint is all chipped off and I swear, it’s my favorite one, other than the two kettlebells that were gifts from two of my staff and I absolutely treasure them). Going to throw out a chance for someone to Win a box of Spark if they can guess the names,  of the two Kettlebells not the staff. You have to read the entire blog though…

May I present the 1-2-3-4 Workout: (perfect for doing at the track or anywhere you can take off for a short run)

  1. It’s 1 Mile Runs (could be reduced to 1 lap of any distance, or even a sprint or jog if that works better)
  2. With 2 Minute Rests
  3. Repeating the cycle 3 Times
  4. Completing 4 Strength Moves (below)

Here are your directions:

Complete 25 Swings, Squats, Pushups and Crunches – Immediately Get-up and Run 1 Mile as fast as you can (here’s a little tip…do the squats and swings first so your legs have a chance to recover while you do pushups and crunches). I did my first set in the wrong order and those first couple minutes trying to run was rough!

Once you get back from the run, rest 2 minutes then repeat it again.

Then, after you’ve done it for the 3rd time go right into a final set of the 4 strength moves and then you’re done.

I’ll tell you what was amazing, I was able to be outside and got this done in a really short amount of time. I got home before Brandy and the kids even thought – “Where is Dad and why is he so late?”

Give it a try, get outside this weekend and be active and healthy. It’s one of those things you will NEVER regret!

Back to my two favorite Kettlebells, can anyone guess their names? First person to answer correctly will WIN a box of Advocare Spark.

Here’s a little hint: GTS Kettlebell Instructor Kim Day gave me the first one (at which time we realized he had lost that exact same amount of weight since he began training with GTS – 106lbs). The second one came from my Lead Trainer Kathy – it’s slightly lighter.  1-2-3-4 begin the guessing!

Okay, one more hint – Both names begin with B.

Your Coach,

Jeremy

 

 

Best Treadmill Interval Workout Ever

best treadmill workout everBecause it’s Aerobic April here at GTS, this weeks blog is an actual treadmill workout. I know the weather is absolutely spectacular right now, so maybe save this routine for a rainy day when you are forced to be inside.

Here it is, my favorite and best-of-all-time Treadmill Interval Workout. It’s one we created last summer during one of  our running programs. I hope you have the same endorphin producing, fat burning, calorie slashing, puddle of sweat creating workout that I have every time I do it.

Here it is;

  • Minutes 0-7: Jogging Warm-up
  • 30 Seconds: All Out Effort at 4.0 Incline
  • 30 Seconds: Recovery at 1.0 Incline
  • 60 Seconds: All Out Effort at 3.5 Incline
  • 60 Seconds: Recovery at 1.0 Incline
  • 90 Seconds: All Out Effort at 3.0 Incline
  • 90 Seconds: Recovery at 1.0 Incline
  • 2 Minutes: All Out Effort at 2.5 Incline
  • 2 Minutes: Recovery at 1.0 Incline
  • 90 Seconds: All Out Effort at 3.0 Incline
  • 90 Seconds: Recovery at 1.0 Incline
  • 60 Seconds: All Out Effort at 3.5 Incline
  • 60 Seconds: Recovery at 1.0 Incline
  • 30 Seconds: All Out Effort at 4.0 Incline
  • 4-5 Minutes: Cool-Down at 0.0 Incline

Do not attempt this workout unless you have been exercising for a decent amount of time and you are confident that you are healthy enough to do so. With that in mind, you could always make the all out efforts walking and just utilize the times of higher incline as a built in interval and don’t worry about increasing your speed.

Keep in mind that All Out Effort is relative for each of you. Your speed may be much lower than one person, but if you are really pushing yourself, then it is all out and that is perfect.

When it says Recovery, that could mean a slow jog, walk or even standing on the side of the treadmill. It’s important that you allow your heart rate to come back down and if that requires you to stop during the allotted recovery time please do so.

As we’ve been discussing all month, each time you exercise you need a specific purpose. Every workout should either be designed to focus on your strength, flexibility, endurance, fat burning, or whatever specific goals you have for yourself.

The biggest mistake I see people make is that they come into the gym, do the same workout on the elliptical then wander around do a few moves of some random exercises then head home.

Be intentional with what you want to accomplish, have an idea of what you want to get done and then go in and focus on it. This will not only give you better results, but it will make you really efficient with your time as well. Having a week’s worth planned out in advance is one was to stay focused on the day’s task.

As an added bonus, I’d like to give away 15 laminated copies of this workout. It’s heavy duty so you can throw it in your workout bag, then lean it up on the treadmill screen so you can remember the sequence of times and inclines.

If you would like one of these, be one of the first 15 people who post a comment on this blog post or on our Facebook Page. Just make sure you give us your name and address and I’ll get that out to you ASAP.

Your Coach,

Jeremy

P.S.If you feel like you could benefit from Personal Training and some Professional Coaching I would like to invite you to schedule a time to sit down and discuss your goals one on one. I will also take the first FOUR of you who have interest in doing so. It’s 45 minutes of my time and a $60 Value so let me know if you would like to take advantage of this goal setting session.

I’m Getting Better, Maybe I Should Do More…

Ever had this happen? You start doing something, maybe its running, and pretty quickly you start seeing improvement and think to yourself “If I do more I’ll see even more results.“.

Let me tell you, I’m probably the worst about this. So much so that my mom calls me the “man of the moment” because whatever I’m into I become consumed with it.

When I was playing basketball in high school and college, I lived and breathed the sport. When I was training for Ironman, my world (and my poor wife and kids) revolved around my training. Then when I got into Kettlebells I literally spent hours every day learning, practicing it and coaching it.

Most recently I began what we call the GTS 10k club for all active clients. The premise is that you complete 100 cardio sessions, 100 strength sessions and 10,000 reps on a specific move over the course of one year. It’s an amazing program and if you see any of 20 of our clients walking around with those red hooded jackets it means they completed these requirements. Options are Swings, Pushups or Squats and if anyone did all three moves for 30,000 total reps they received an additional prize.

Sounds like a lot, but the premise is all about balance. By doing just 28 or 29 reps per day you would reach the 10,000 total needed for the year. By averaging approximately two strength and two cardio sessions per week you will have a well balanced year of exercise.

Here’s where the story goes off course and it’s the reason I’m sharing this with you today. Being the “man of the moment” each year my goals have increased.

  • Year one (to practice the concept before sharing with clients) I did exactly the 100, 100 and 10,000.
  • Year two (in typical Jeremy practice) I did the 100 each and then all 3 moves for 30,000.
  • Year three (our current year) I was attempting to add Pull-ups, Full Get-ups and changed regular push-ups to one arm or handstand push-ups… (Yeah, seemed like a good idea at the time)

We’ll, after about 8 weeks of shoulder issues from the push-ups and 12 weeks of issues with my biceps from the pull-ups I realized… Too Much Of Anything is TOO MUCH!

I don’t care if it’s eating a ton of protein, doing cardio, strength training or spending time with the new love in your life… if you become consumed with it, it’s too much.

We need balance! 

The next time you are tempted to add more distance to your running, or reduce your calories your consuming because your getting faster or your losing a lot of weight, DON’T. Don’t be a “man of the moment”. Instead strive for balance.

I believe with all my heart we were meant to be able to run, jump, push, pull and everything in-between. Some things better than others, but its how we were made and it’s how we avoid injury and eventual burnout. Consistency and staying the course, focusing on a balanced life is where you’ll fond continued success.

Your Coach,

Jeremy

P.S. Last call for our “balanced” Cardio Kettlebell workshop tomorrow morning at 9:00am. We have a few spots remaining so if you want to attend Email Kathy – kathy@grittonstraining.com