Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Use Small Victories to Fuel Success


Small victories are all that are needed to get to big success. I know that this may make sense from the outside but if we dig in it makes ever more sense.

Use Small Victories to Fuel SuccessI heard a story yesterday about the swimmer Michael Phelps. Phelps when he was training for year would have a very meticulous schedule. He would wake up and have a certain meal for breakfast. He would warm up doing the exact same warmup for the exact same time. Then it was time to get ready to swim and he would listen to an unchanging playlist on his ipod to get him ready. He would step up on the starting block, then step down, and then step up again, and get ready to race. The race itself is just the end of the whole process.

All of these little bits of very scheduled routine are actually building small victories, the schedule that has these little things involved will help your mind see them as victories which will give you the courage and belief that you can make bigger wins.

We all like to have a routine. A routine means that you don’t have to think about what is next because it is but if you think about the way you start the say. Get up, get showered, breakfast, brush teeth, leave the house, go to work. This routine is all a way to look at the easy and routine way to start your day. Why not make little changes that will start little victories yourself first thing in the morning.

Here are a couple of Small Victories to Try Now

As soon as you wake up, instead of dread or thoughts of tiredness, just think of five things that you are thankful for from yesterday or that you will have today. Start on the positive.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
burn the fat feed the muscle is an exercise and diet program. My review of Burn the Fat shows that it is designed and written by an ex-pro natural bodybuilder but is a system that was written for regular guys and gals. Teaching you how to workout and eat to lose weight.

Or while standing at the kitchen counter and pulling out a piece of paper while you are getting breakfast ready. spend 60 seconds making a list of the most important things to get done today.

And one habit I have really made over the last few months in my morning routine is to listen to podcasts instead of the news on the radio. We get hit by news all the time but I learn in the car on the way to work instead and it gets my mind flowing.

Small Changes Can Have a Giant Effect

When you make these little changes in the morning, these small victories then when bigger things happen, like having to really push your workout, turn down cake or going out for lunch in the office, then these positive small victories are going to have made a big difference to your willpower and success

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on Belief That
  • Related Blogs on Brush Teeth
Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

High Intensity Interval Training Research


High intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, has become immensely popular in the last decade. HIIT involves alternating brief bursts of very high intensity exercise (work intervals) with brief segments of lower intensity exercise (recovery intervals). One problem with some types of HIIT is that they call for such high intensity bursts – literally all out sprints – that they’re not practical for everyone, and possibly not even safe for older or overweight individuals.

A recent study out of McMaster University has tested a protocol for HIIT that produces impressive results in a short period of time without the need for “all-out” sprints…

Many of the previous studies on high intensity interval training used ALL-OUT intervals on a specialized cycle ergometer, pedaling against a high resistance.

Results of High Intensity Interval Training Study

High Intensity Interval Training Research

High Intensity Interval Training

This type of training takes a high level of commitment and motivation and can result in feelings of severe discomfort and even nausea.

One of my colleagues mentioned in our Burn the Fat Forums that he remembers exercise physiology class in college where they did all out cycle ergometer interval sprint testing and nearly everyone either puked or passed out.

The Tabata protocol for example, is a brief but brutal 4 minute HIIT workout often spoken of by trainers and trainees alike with both appreciation and dread. It’s no walk in the park.

The truth is, some high intensity interval training protocols which have been tested in the lab to produce big improvements in cardiovascular function and conditioning in a short period of time, may not be practical or safe, especially for beginners, obese or older adults.

In this new study out of McMaster University, a HIIT protocol that was more practical and attainable for the general population was tested to see how the results would compare to the more “brutal” very short, but extremely intense types of HIIT.

Here’s what the new HIIT protocol looked like:

  • Study duration: 2 weeks
  • Frequency: 3 sessions per week (mon, wed, fri)
  • Work intervals: 60 seconds @ constant load
  • Intensity Work intervals: “high intensity cycling at a workload that corresponded to the peak power achieved at the end of the ramp VO2peak test (355 +/- 10W)”
  • Recovery intervals: 75 seconds
  • Intensity Recovery Intervals: Low intensity cycling at 30W”
  • Rounds: 8-12 intervals
  • Progression: 8 intervals 1st two workouts, 10 intervals second two workouts, 12 intervals last 2 workouts.
  • Warm up: 3 min:
  • Duration of work intervals: 8-12 minutes
  • Total time spent: 21-29 minutes.

Results: In just 2 weeks, there were significant improvements in functional exercise performance and skeletal muscle adaptations (mitochondrial biogenesis). Subjects did not report any dizziness, nausea, light headedness that is often reported with all-out intervals.

They concluded that HIIT does not have to be all-out to produce significant fitness improvements and yet the total weekly time investment could remain under 1 hour.

On a personal note, I REALLY like this kind of interval training: 60 second work intervals repeated 8-12 times. Here’s why:

Body composition was not measured in this study, but I believe that enough energy expenditure can be achieved with 20-30 minutes of this style of interval training to make significant body comp improvements in addition to all the cardiovascular conditioning improvements.

That’s another problem with super-brief and super intense high intensity interval training programs: The cardio and heart benefits are amazing, but you can only burn so many calories per minute, no matter how intensely you work. To call a 4-minute workout a “good fat burner” in the absolute sense is ridiculous.

Somewhere in between long duration slow/moderate steady state cardio and super short super-intense HIIT lies a sweet spot for fat-burning benefits… a place where intensity X duration yield an optimal total calorie expenditure at a reasonable time investment. Perhaps this 20-30 minute HIIT workout is it?

If you’ve read any of my other articles on cardio, you’ll know that I’m not against steady state cardio, walking or even light recreational exercise and miscellaneous activity as part of a fat loss program. All activity counts towards your total daily energy expenditure, and in fact, the little things often add up during the day more than you would imagine (just look up N.E.A.T. and see what you find).

But for your formal “cardio training” sessions, if you’re going to use traditional cardio modes (stationary cycle, etc.) and if your goal includes fat burning, and if your time is limited, then this type of high intensity interval training is a great choice and you can now say it is research proven…

Not to mention… the excuse, “I don’t have enough time” has been officially busted!

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

How to Handle Quit Smoking Withdrawal Symptoms


The thing that most people dread about quitting smoking is the withdrawal. The side effects of quit smoking withdrawals are different for each person, but they can be very uncomfortable and disruptive. In fact, the symptoms can be so painful and annoying that people will often lose their resolve and go back to smoking, even though they know perfectly well how dangerous their bad habit is.

However, there are ways to make the quit smoking withdrawals easier to cope with. You don’t have to struggle with the withdrawal side effects on your own. Before you quit smoking, it’s helpful to know what symptoms to expect and why your body reacts in this way. Most importantly, you must realize that the symptoms are short-lived and there are many treatments available to ease the discomfort you may feel.

Some of the most common withdrawal symptoms include cravings, restlessness, headaches, and dizziness. Feelings of anxiety, depression, irritability, and anger are possible. You may have trouble concentrating and feel very fatigued. You might also experience constipation, weight gain, and other physical symptoms.

If you happen to have any of these side effects, keep in mind that they will only last a short time. There are ways to treat the quit smoking withdrawals so that the discomfort is less intense. If you can just tolerate the withdrawal symptoms for a little while, you will succeed in quitting smoking and you will be a happy non-smoker for the rest of your life.

The longer you are able to go without a cigarette, the more likely you will stay smoke-free forever. You will find that the withdrawal symptoms usually strike within the first 48 hours of quitting and can last for anywhere from two days to a week. If you can tough it out for the first week after quitting, you will find it fairly easy to continue to stay away from smoking. But if the withdrawal symptoms defeat you and you succumb to the urge to smoke, you will have to go through the entire quitting and withdrawal process again.

The trick to getting through the quit smoking withdrawals is to know what symptoms to expect and to find ways to deal with those symptoms. It’s not a bad idea to talk to your doctor about treatments. He or she may be able to prescribe a medication that will relieve your unpleasant symptoms.

How to Handle Quit Smoking Withdrawal Symptoms

So what if it is really that easy? What if all your beliefs about how hard it is going to be to quit are completely false? What if, after just one session of hypnotherapy or NLP you find it incredibly easy to become and remain a happy, confident non-smoker for life? The reason why hypnotherapy NLP are so successful is because both our beliefs about smoking and our habitual smoking behaviours reside within your unconscious mind. So whilst consciously we may wish to quit, all too often our all powerful unconscious mind simply would not let us.

Check out Quit Smoking Today now.

When you’re trying to stop smoking, don’t be afraid to ask for support from others if you need it. Most of all be sure to have a plan in place to deal with quit smoking withdrawals. Then you are likely to succeed in breaking the smoking habit.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on Anxiety