Kettlebell

Jillian Michaels is well known in most fitness circles. She has been a trainer since her teen years and her image is attached to several well known exercise products including dvds. I imagine this is why they chose her for the show. This is where the probably lies as most of the so called fitness celebrities constantly have to maintain their “shine” to keep their spot in the public’s eye and maintain marketability. Who wouldn’t want to remain relevant? The difference between remaining relevant and disappearing can decide things such as driving a Mercedes Benz or a Ford. It might even mean having to cook yourself or hiring a personal chef. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for trainers making money doing something they are passionate about but I don’t think it should be at a client’s expense. In Ms. Michaels “microwave” approach to kettlebells dvd, many people have criticized her form and technique saying it can and will eventually lead to injury. I can attest to this as I took a kettlebell class and you definitely want to make sure your form is correct and it takes plenty of practice. Its not something you can “grab and go” without first practicing and getting some private instruction. It looks easy but it really isn’t. Its one of those things where image and perception can get blurred and this is what I wanted to talk about today.

Image and perception

Let’s say you venture into your local gym and you’re approached by two trainers with the following characteristics: Trainer A has muscles bulging everywhere and he talks the talk about the bodybuilding championships he’s won and who he knows in the fitness industry while Trainer B is a scrawny guy who doesn’t know anyone and looks like he can barely put one foot in front of the other. Who would most likely be your choice for a personal trainer? I can tell you from experience for most people it would probably be Trainer A. Why? Most people correlate bodybuilding with gym experience and this is not always the case. Bodybuilders body build….this is what they do. It doesn’t mean that person knows the correct way to train you, it just means they knew the correct way to train to achieve the look they wanted. Unfortunately, they’ll probably try to train you the same way and leave you injured. This happens all too often in the fitness world where image and perception becomes blurred leaving innocent bystanders standing in the crossfire. I am not just picking on bodybuilders as some of them know their stuff, because it can happen in a completely different way.

Used car salesmen or personal trainer? Maybe both!

Personal “Gym” Trainer

Here’s the scenario. You recently join the gym and you’re approached by a personal trainer for a free introductory session. He or she takes you on a tour of the facility and then puts you through the workout and its a “doozie”. They then try to sell you a bunch of  training sessions and since you want to lose weight, you sign up. Bad move or no? You figured you can’t go wrong because they work in a gym, right? I am going to make a safe assumption here and tell you only 10% of the trainers in your local gym are serious about training people and helping them with their weight loss goals. The other 90% are probably between jobs, just losers, or they thought personal training was cool so they wanted to give it a try. If you don’t believe me, take an inventory of the trainers the next time you go into your local gym and then do it again about a month from now. I can almost guarantee over half of the trainers there will be gone. They will have quit, gotten out of limbo, or were fired because they weren’t serious about the job. So what does that tell you?

Don’t be fooled

Never get caught up in image. It can deceive you. For instance, most people who may have bought Jillian Michaels dvd will look at her and think she’s a kettlebell expert when she isn’t. She does play the part well to those who don’t know any better and this happens all to often in the fitness industry. You have people giving advice or training people based on an image and how the image is perceived. Jillian might be a great personal trainer but she isn’t a great kettlebell instructor and shouldn’t pretend like she is one. On the other hand, no one should pretend to be a fitness trainer when they obviously aren’t one, leave that  to the trainer who is serious about touching people’s lives and making a difference. There comes a time when you have to value integrity over a fast dollar and all too often this isn’t the case. Until next time, see you on the lean side!

Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

- Chris Rock

Chris Rock, in my opinion, is one of the best comedians out there today. He can take real life situations and make them funny. He also gets you to “think” way after the laughter has stopped. So…why am I quoting a comedian today? What could this possibly have to do with fitness? I promise you there is a method to my madness, so buckle up and enjoy the ride! Before I begin, I wanted to give Rusty Moore from Fitness BlackBook credit for inspiring this post from a blog post he wrote called, “What the Heck is…  Inflammation” . In the article, Rusty explains Brad Pilon’s most recent edition of Eat Stop Eat in which he talks about the role inflammation plays in the body. You can check out both Rusty and Brad’s work at Fitness Black Book and Eat Stop Eat, respectively. The following excerpt is taken directly from Rusty’s post called, “What the Heck is Inflammation? Why Should You Care”? Please read carefully.

What the Head of A Major Pharmaceutical Company Told Me
Ten years ago, I was an executive recruiter who placed Ph.D. level medicinal chemists into pharmaceutical companies. These are the scientists who discover the lead compounds that eventually get turned into drugs that help people. It was kind of an intimidating job, because often times these high-level scientists would list CEO’s and VP’s of major pharmaceutical companies as their references. It was my job to contact these CEO’s and to conduct reference checks. Let me tell you, it is not easy to get a hold of a high level executive in companies that do tens of billions of dollars per year. I would always think to myself “who am I to talk to this ultra-smart super successful person”. One executive level chemist in particular told me something I will never forget…

“Never, Ever Allow Yourself to Become Overweight for an Extended Period of Time”
This guy spent a lifetime studying chronic disease and he spent close to 30 minutes drilling this point into my head. He said the number one thing that will drastically decrease your chances of getting any disease is to never allow yourself to become overweight. He wasn’t just talking heart disease and things we normally associate with being overweight either (obviously this isn’t a guarantee, there are countless examples of fit people who develop cancer and other life threatening diseases). He went on to tell me that the mass media understates the cause and effect of obesity and disease…and that if the general population wasn’t overweight, that the drug companies would lose billions.

If “they” say its important

Well, there you have it! It’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth. The media may understate the causes behind all the diseases out there, but the biggest cause is being overweight. It’s a known fact obesity is the gateway for heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. I wonder what other diseases might be directly related to being obese and why would a chemist spend 30 minutes drilling into someone’s head not to let yourself become overweight? He knows the direct relation to obesity and disease. I like to call it “the cycle”.

The Cycle

The Cycle

I use to be a pharmaceutical rep, so I am speaking directly from experience. Pharmaceutical companies care little about the individual and more about profits. For instance, when I first entered the industry I knew of a drug which had been proven to cause liver damage and physicians were still prescribing it. Hard to believe right? It may not be if I told you by the time a drug is placed in the pharmacy it has gone through countless tests and those tests can reveal side effects and the deaths the drug is going to cause. Yes…every drug has side effects and most of them are linked to deaths every year but you will rarely hear about them. I wonder why?  Pharmaceutical companies consider death as collateral damage and will do anything to protect their profits. If you’re overweight for an extended period of time, you’re not only opening yourself up to obesity related diseases such as hypertension and diabetes but now you’re at the mercy of the pharmaceutical companies. While the drug may cure one thing, chances are you’ll need another drug at some point. Why? The drug you took for your original ailment probably damaged something else in your body so now you need another drug to fix it. This is why I call it the cycle and as they say, “ the wheels on the bus go round and round.”

Joker on the Square

What are you doing now to lose weight? Are you counting points? Are you keeping frozen meals in your freezer at work? Have you fallen prey to eating a “cookie” to lose weight? The diet industry is a “joke” as they sell the illusion of losing weight. Diet companies just like the pharmaceutical industry will stand to lose millions if everyone became fit,  so why would they want you to lose weight? The degree to which you will lose weight will amount to the degree of  self control you can exercise from the countless opportunities you have to eat. There are plenty of them disguised as office meetings, sporting events, and birthday parties, etc. It’s up to you to seize control and stop being the “butt” of the diet/pharmaceutical companies’ joke.

Prophet of Profit

Don’t allow yourself to be overweight for an extended period of time. It not only leads to chronic disease but you fall prey to pharmaceutical companies and diet companies. They are the “evils” which appear in the form of angels to rescue you from your demise. It’s all profit at your expense. The real cure is to practice self control and look at exercise as a life giving oil to keep your engine humming for a lifetime. If you keep living with being overweight, you’re making someone else rich at your expense and why should they profit from your life’s worth?

PS… enjoy the clip from Chris Rock. The language may not be suitable for some but he makes a whole lotta sense!

Last week, I turned forty and I am proud to say I took it pretty well. I thought I would be running around like Chicken Little screaming,” the sky is falling.” Its amazing when you’re 20 how far away 40 seems to be. I thought it was really far away but those 20 years went by like zoom! I can tell you I am very different from 20 then 40 and I have some observations on going from “there” to here which I want to share with you. These are some of the things I have observed over the years, I guess you can call them “duffie- isms”, if you wish. Some of these might be fitness observations but some of them are just life lessons. Here goes:

1. Don’t get braces in your thirties. I did this at the age of 39 because I was always self conscious about my teeth and the spaces I had between them. These things hurt like hell and I can’t wait to get them off! They also take the fun out of  eating my favorite foods! I had no idea eggs would get stuck in your teeth with braces like they do.

2. It’s easy as hell to be in shape when you’re young because you have to do little if anything to maintain it. When you see someone over 35 who is in shape then you should be impressed because it takes real effort… just look at rest of the 35-40 population if you don’t believe it.

3. People spend to much time complaining and not enough time changing the situation so they won’t have to complain.

4. You can really tell when someone is serious about something because its only then that the excuses stop.

5. Time won’t wait for you but it will past you.

6. People fear one of two things either failure or success. Oh… I left out guns!

7. Sometimes you have to just learn when to let go. Life is too short to hold onto bad situations, people, etc.

8. People won’t value you unless you value yourself.

9. Your attitude determines your altitude. This is so so true!

10. If you’re going through constant pressure or stress its because you’re being prepared for something better. A lump of coal under goes pressure to become a diamond… get the connection?

11. You have to believe in yourself first. If you can’t believe in you, who else will?

12. Good friends are hard to find so hold on to them until the relationship becomes to stressful then decide if you need to let it go.

13. You need to change your thoughts first before anything else will change.

14. Its easy to be motivated in the beginning but to be truly successful you have to be motivated when you don’t feel like it.

15. You have to love yourself!

16. What you believe you’ll get, is what you”ll get.

17. You can’t tell if you have a true friend until they don’t need anything from you and you don’t need anything from them.

18. Love is unconditional and not based on perfect conditions and circumstances.

19. Negative people suck your energy like a vaccum. Stay away from them.

20. If you’re not happy at least 98% of the time its not anybody’s fault but your own. Find a way to be happy!

21. You can “give out” as there is no shame in resting, but don’t give up. Most people give up just before they reach success.

22. Don’t play victim all the time accept responsibility some time.

23. A year from now will  it really matter who was right?

24. People spend too much time waiting for their chance to talk instead of really listening.

25. Women communicate and hear things way different then men do. Trust me on this one!

Bonuses: All the stuff old folks tell you when you’re young will come true at some point in your life. It only takes a few seconds to be thankful for something in your life. Be grateful instead of worrying about what you don’t have.

Thanks for reading my blog!!!! I never knew that over a year and a half ago people would actually look forward to what I had to say about fitness or anything else. I truly thank you for visiting and commenting! Keep coming as it is going to get better and better.

Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

If you are from the “old school” like me, you know the lyrics to the song. Why am I quoting a song from Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock? I wanted to talk a little bit about exercising as a couple. Do you think this can help or hurt your fitness goals?

Play Together…Stay Together

I’m sure you heard this before, “couples that play together, stay together”? I have heard it many times and always wondered if it was true. I think it is true to a certain degree and I’ll explain my reasoning for saying it. It’s good for couples to spend time together but spending all their time together can be detrimental to the relationship. We all need our guy and girl’s night out to clear our heads and “shoot the breeze” with members of the same sex. It also gives you space and everyone needs it at one time or another, right? I have witnessed many couples who choose to exercise their “me” time when they go to the gym. You’re probably asking yourself, “what does he mean by that?” See if this sounds familiar: you enter the gym with your significant other and she/he goes to the treadmill section while you go to pump iron. You meet up when it’s time to leave. I see this all the time when I enter gyms and it’s very discouraging because you might be sabotaging your fitness goals! On a different note, if you don’t like your “sig” then you might be wise to separate when going to the gym just to keep the peace. So why don’t couples like to work out together?

Ego Trippin’

The couple who play together stay together!

I have heard male friends complain constantly about their girlfriend or wife and the gym. The guys complain the women don’t like lifting weights or they don’t know how to use the machines. From the perspective of a male, I can see these are valid points. There are hordes of women out there who still believe strength training makes them look bulky and muscular. A very small percentage of women who are genetic freaks build too much muscle when they lift, but as a whole this doesn’t happen. In addition, men have a distinct advantage in the weight machine category because we are a little bit more mechanically inclined than women. Guys look at the weight machine and it looks just like one whereas it may look like a contraption with gears and gizmos to women. I can see how women can get confused, can you? If you can’t, think about this. Most guys can’t cook and don’t know their way around the kitchen like a woman. This is exactly the way most women feel when they enter a gym for the first time and you don’t help them by “ego trippin”. I have seen some men load up the bar with heavy weights and then command their wife or girlfriend to “lift” and in that instant she is scarred for life. She never wants to lift weights again because the weight was too heavy for her and she failed on her first attempt. You have to start light before you can go heavy but the “ego trippin” boyfriend didn’t know this.

Toward a Common Goal

Its easy to achieve a goal if you have support and hard as hell if you don’t! If you want to eat right, but your wife wants you to buy cakes, cookies, and other junk food it defeats the purpose. I have read numerous articles on weight loss and the people who are successful are the ones who have a support system. It’s easy to reach your fitness goals if both of you are on the same page. This is why couples do great in weight loss transformation contests…both are moving toward the same goal.

Challenge Challenge

When I started working out with my girlfriend, it was a new experience with a new person. I had a bad experience in a past relationship working out as a couple and I didn’t want to repeat it. I quickly realized it had nothing to do with working out but it was the person I was working out with at the time. I no longer have the hesitation I had in the previous relationship because I really enjoy the person and that makes a big difference. If you work out with someone you really enjoy, it makes it easier and you can challenge each other to become better and more fit in the process. It also keeps you motivated as you are feeding off each other. If you have to spend time with the one you love, why not spend it getting fit and having fun ????

Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

How much you get for a slip and fall in a store?

If you have ever seen the movie Friday, you might remember a character called Ezal. In one of my favorite scenes, Ezal asks , “ how much you get for a slip and fall in a store?” The scene from the movie is funny, but what if this happens to someone for real? It can happen at anytime to anyone, but what about back pain which isn’t the result of an accident? Have you ever experienced that sort of pain? I have. I am approaching the ripe age of 40 this year and from time to time, I have what I like to call “old man pains”. These pains come out of nowhere and seem to leave as quick as they appear. I am glad they leave as fast as they come, but years ago I wasn’t so lucky.

What the hell is wrong with my back?

After my basketball career was over, I sat around and became a slob. I ate tons of food and exercise consisted of lifting the remote to change the tv channel. I was stilI an athlete in my mind, but my body was showing me something very different from my thoughts. I looked like hell from the excessive weight I picked up and my body started throwing me hints.    The hints consisted of back pain and knee pain which kept me in physical therapy for a couple of months. It took some time, but I finally realized my back and knee pain had a direct correlation to my weight gain. I immediately committed myself to dropping weight and soon after my back and knee pain vanished.

What is your ideal weight

I know what my ideal weight is now. How do I know? I can tell when I am gaining too much weight when I start feeling it in my weight bearing joints which are my back and knees. I make it a habit to consciously be aware of what I am eating and start to make adjustments. Are you having any back problems or knee problems which might be related to weight gain? I would like to hear about it. Please leave a comment on the blog!!! See you on the lean side… Darren

The idea of more is better

When I was kid, I would beg my grand mother to take me to McDonald’s. I would usually beg her on Friday because that was the only time she would take me. I would “hound” her countless times until she finally agreed. Once she agreed, we would pile into our big yellow car nicknamed the “yellow goose” and off we went to Mickey D’s. I can remember going through the drive thru and within minutes we had our food. In the words of my good friend Riley from the Boondocks, “it was the best thing ever,” or was it? As I think back, it may very well have been the worst thing to ever happen. Why do I say that? In the old school days the burgers were much smaller and there was no “supersize it”, go large, or buy one get one free. Did that make the food worse? The food was already bad for you but now you just have more of it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see if you eat more you gain more weight, right? Is the idea of more really better?

From a boy to a man

Some of our food choices are dictated by the money in our pockets. Do you think that’s true? I certainly do. If I had ten bucks in my pocket in high school or college, I would more than likely be at the latest fast food joint getting the cheap stuff. I had done this countless times in my evolution from a boy to man, until I realized you have to pay for quality. Quality is the nutritional dense food your body needs to heal itself and get rid of disease. I never looked at food in this manner, until I became passionate about fitness. I always thought food was something I just threw into my mouth because my stomach was growling, and I needed to satiate it. I realize most people still think this way and this is why there is an obesity problem in America. There are far too many of us who think cheap food is better food. Is that solely based on the lint in our pockets?

Food observations

Do you realize you always get more cheap food? You can go to any fast food spot to prove it to yourself. If you have ever dined at an expensive restaurant, you know you don’t get a whole lot of food, but it tastes much better. You enjoy the food more, but you might get hungrier a bit sooner. Why? If you noticed, you get less food and its balanced with healthy things like salads! This seems to be a hard idea for our society to understand and many of us are paying for it with our health. What do you think?

Welcome to the 3% rule!

I heard of the 3% rule some time ago, but it is just now hitting home with me.  I’ll tell you my experience with the “3”% and see if you can relate.  A long time ago, I bought one of those real estate courses from an informercial. It finally arrived in the mail and I was happy to get it because I thought this would make me a real estate millionaire! I had dreams of finally quitting my job, buying an expensive car, and “jetsetting” to a Caribbean Island. Sound familiar? “Yeah Mon,” I bet it does. I know I am not the only one who has had this dream, right? If I am, I’ll be very surprised. Anyway, after my daydreaming I jumped back into reality. I opened the course and began to read it. There was a ton of work involved before you made any money. The course expected you to negotiate with people and make deals to get the real estate with little or no money down. I thought to myself, “they made this look so easy on tv.” I didn’t know it was that much work involved to be successful with the course. I thought it had to be easy based on the testimonials and the number of people who succeeded with it. Was it believable or just a hoax?

What is 3%?

Do you know someone who’s an over achiever? You know what I am talking about, right. It is the person who graduated  at the top of their class or that nerd who spoiled the grade “curve” in your algebra class. Everybody had one of those people in their class. Some of you reading this might still be in school, and have someone in your class like this right now! Please don’t ridicule them because you can learn something from these folks. So what is 3% because I know you are wondering, right? It means 3% of the population will be successful with any endeavor they undertake. When you view weight loss informercials guess what you are looking at? You’re looking at the 3% who were able to complete the diet plan and now they have the results to show for it. When you buy various fitness dvds out there right now, they advertise the 3% who were able to complete the plan. They never advertise the guy/gal who buys it and uses it once or twice, then ends up quitting after a week.

How do you become the fitness 3%?

Here is how to become the 3% in fitness and in life:

• Be Committed— Too many people aren’t committed. At the first sign of adversity they are ready to quit. You need to jump in the pool and swim or get out of the pool. There is no halfway. You are either in or out.

• Beliefs–- Change your beliefs. Some people think it works for others but it won’t work for me. It will work for you but you first have to think it will.

• Be persistent— Results might be slow at first but keep on keeping on, and you’ll get there.

What has been your experience with the 3% rule? I would love to hear your comments.

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

The Answer and then what?

I can provide answers all day to fitness questions. I love to answer them, but why don’t people take action once their question is answered? It drives me crazy! I am under the impression most people are
‘in love” with the idea of being fit, but few want to be fit. I can tell people countless times, “eat this” to lose weight or concentrate on this amount of reps to build muscle, but many never do. Why is that? I’ll be the first to admit its hard to change and I think it is the deal breaker for some. Am I right? I think I’ll quit giving advice to people until they are ready for it.

How do you know when you are ready?

How do you when you are ready? I can tell you right now:

• Working out becomes priority

• Eating right becomes priority

• No more excuses

Here is the difference between the people you see on weight loss success stories and those you don’t: Successful people do the things failures don’t like to do.

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

Man, “She must workout!”

I can count on one finger the number of women I see who have kids, and are in shape. I  definitely take notice when I do see a MILF. I saw one just the other day, and she had three little kids in tow like duffle bags with her. The first thing came to my mind was, “she must workout!” You can really tell when someone puts an effort into their body, because it shows in their appearance and personality. She definitely had a “glow” about her and I don’t think it was from her being pregnant again! On the flip side, you can also tell when someone doesn’t take care of their body. I have seen the same type of woman, on the same day who instead of 30 looks 50 and is carrying around a ton of extra luggage and it ain’t kids! So, what makes one different from the other?

When Do I do Me?

I grew up amongst all women since my father was never around. I think this has helped me see things differently from the average male. One thing I noticed as a teenager was my mom was great at taking care of me, but bad at taking care of herself. She was at all my basketball games, band rehearsals, and awards ceremonies but she never took time to “do her”. I have spoken to many women regarding fitness and they neglect themselves for their kids and don’t take any “me time” and it shows.You have to dedicate time to yourself because the neglection you feel on the inside starts showing on the outside. What does that mean? You might be surprised, but whatever you are going through on the “inside” usually manifests itself on the “outside”. The majority of the time gaining weight is more of an emotional issue, than it is a physical one. Women seem to have more emotional issues as a result of the pressure placed on them in society to “be this or be that”, men just don’t seem to care or if they do, they let it roll off their backs like water on a duck. So why all the Emotion?

Emotional Rollercoasters

I read somewhere where men are more in their “heads” and women are more in their “hearts”. I think this is why women seem to be more susceptible to emotional eating. I am not saying men can’t do this, but because women are more emotional than men here in lies my theory. I’ll back that up by saying I have spoken to countless women who eat when they are worried, frustrated or having problems in their relationship. They rely on food for comfort. I am a guy, so I can tell you men just grab a six pack and watch the game. We say,” the hell with it” and life goes on. I guess it could be a curse but then again women are much better at expressing their emotions than men. I am certain this is why we are considered the Yin and Yang. If both sexes were the same in how we saw things and reacted to them, it would be screwed up! It’s nice having differences, but women go through some things a man will never experience.

I’m Preeeegggnant!

If you are married and have a spouse, these are words you might “wanna hear”. If you are getting ready to give birth to a child, but gave birth to a deadbeat dead also, then you have my sympathy. I won’t pretend to know anything about pregnancy, but what I do know is it changes your body. That is a fact. You can get your body back if you are willing to put in the time and effort to do it. This is the key. Are you willing to put in the time and effort? Many women seem to give up and accept the bodily change which comes along with pregnancy and before you know it, it gets way out of hand. I believe the saying goes like this,“ its easy to eat pieces of an elephant than eat the whole thing at one time”. I ‘ll put this in layman’s terms meaning its easier to deal with something before it gets out of hand. I have seen women who let it get way out of hand and then they are discouraged by the obstacle set before them. Nip it in the bud quick before it gets crazy.

The MILF on my terms

There isn’t any woman who is genetically gifted over another woman. There isn’t any woman who has more hormones or less hormones than any other. The women who takes consistent action such as eating right, exercise, and understanding nutrition can always get her “pre baby body” back. How bad do you want it? You need to make up your mind and then go for it. So are you a MOTHER I’D LIKE TO BE FIT?

Coming Soon —– FOURWOMENONLY.INFO

I will address the issues women go through in their quest to get fit such as pregnancy, diets, and crazy myths that just ain’t true!

Darren McDuffie

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist