Fitness

Avoid the Skinny Fat Syndrome

April 20, 2012
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If you’ve been browsing the net for fitness tips for a while or follow some fitness guru or other, you might have heard of the term “skinny fat person”. This expression refers to people who have a low body weight but still have a relatively high body fat percentage. This is where the distinction comes in between “weighing less” and “being lean”. Weighing less is just that, to have a lower weight. To be lean is to have a low body fat percentage, which typically translates to someone looking strong, with good muscle tone. Being “skinny fat” isn’t a...

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Priorities are Priorities

February 18, 2012
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Priorities are Priorities

I am currently sitting in Starbucks, having a delicious lactose-free hot chocolate in one of the busiest streets in Mexico City: Avenida Insurgentes. World Trade Center, Mexico City My wife is next door in the World Trade Center attending the “Expo tu Boda” Trade Show (… on everything related to weddings) with her friend who is getting married this fall. While they are looking at wedding dresses and stuff, I am taking it easy, sipping on my drink, hearing the honking of cars and busy-ness of the street in the background as I reflect on how my week came...

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I was doing so well

February 9, 2012
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I had a fantastic three days so far… Until this afternoon when I simply “went for sugar”. My old mindset sprung out and I start to get angry at myself. I was feeling so good for 3 days, no bloated, no uncomfortable feeling in the stomach, I felt light and energectic and now… THIS!! I started beating myself up until a new thought kicked in… I thought to myself: “What happened? What changed that made me go for sugar?” After some good thought, it helps when you’re stuck in traffic to not get bored, and I realized that my...

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Slow and Steady Indeed

February 3, 2012
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As I mentioned in my previous post, knowing my body, I know that it takes me about 6 weeks to see results and indeed, it’s the end of week 5 and I’ve seen a significant drop in my weight and bodyfat percentage. I was 73.4 kgs (161.8 lbs) at 17.4% bodyfat. This morning’s weigh-in is at 72.1 kgs (159 lbs) at 16.6% bodyfat, a loss of 2.8 lbs and 1.9 lbs of which is fat, which is excellent. No significant loss in my waist, but knowing from past transformations, before seeing my waist budge, I need to reach below...

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Being Motivated, A Simple State of Mind

February 1, 2012
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It’s the beginning of February! It seems that only yesterday we were celebrating the holidays, setting new goals and aiming for gold. No matter what our goals were, we felt a sense of drive and purpose towards achieving it and we told ourselves that no matter what, this year… Yes, this year we’ll get there. Now, January flew by and February has already begun. Do you still have this drive and sense of purpose? Do you even remember your goals? If not, why not? What happened? Did the rut of everyday life got “in the way” or were your...

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There must something I could do

January 15, 2012
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I find myself thinking that all the time: “there must something else I could to lose this weight…” These thoughts are dangerous and can become very destructive. We are already 2 weeks in the new year and this morning, I woke up, weighed in and found myself a bit heavier than usual and the first thought that comes to mind is: “there must be something I could do more…” In reality, no there isn’t it. When faced with self-doubt, go back to your plan and review it. Are you keeping track of what you are doing? Are doing everything...

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My goals for 2012

January 7, 2012
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Alright, on our last post, we discussed some strategies for goal setting and how to achieve them. So, to shed some light on how to do this, I will share some of my own fitness goals that I want to achieve this year. My main fitness goal is to reach a waist circumference of 80 cm (31.5 inches), and gain 5 pounds of lean muscle. I am not what this will translate to in terms of weight and bodyfat percentage. I am currently at 89 cm and my first step is to reach below 85 cm before Easter holidays...

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New Year, New Attitude

January 1, 2012
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Happy New Year to all of our readers! We do hope that you had an excellent holiday and that you had time to recharge and get ready for this upcoming new year. Fortunately for me, the holidays were hectic, full of family compromises and work, which didn’t leave me much time to rest. However, I did take the time to do one important task and that is: to set my goals for the year. I took the list I made for 2011 and looked it over. Many of these goals were not completed because, well, they weren’t specific enough...

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Shoulder Pain? I think Not

August 3, 2011
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Our colleagues Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock created this video to help Desk Jockeys, like you and me, get rid of shoulder pain. Both Adam and Ryan excellent coaches and are extremely creative when it comes to do bodyweight exercise, but when they come up with these videos like these, I take a moment and listen and then, apply. I can honestly say that this particular exercise has been extremely beneficial to me and has helped me with my posture and additional to solving the hunchback effect from working on a computer all day, it has also helped me...

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Burn, Burn, Burn

July 31, 2011
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Continuing our mini-course of fat loss, today, we will focus on the second part of the energy balance equation: Energy Out – Energy Burned The only way for our body to release energy is in the form of heat and that is done by the consumption the energy coming inside our body (food). Our body naturally does this automatically for normal bodily functions (heart pumping, breathing, walking, standing up, etc.) and this minimum amount of energy required for our body to function is called Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). It’s a simplistic way to define BMR but for now, it...

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