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

I wanted to announce the winner of the Kick Start the Summer Giveaway! The winner is….. (drum roll) Shari Goss. I’ll be sending Shari a pair of Pumas. I’ll be having another giveaway soon so keep your eyes to the blog for it. Thanks again to all the subscribers who entered the contest.

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

The Honey Bun Bandit

In South Florida, they have these stores I like to call “bread houses.” A bread house is where bread companies send their surplus to be sold at cheap prices. I would go there and buy 3 to 4 loaves of bread at a time. I had a sandwich fetish, and I needed the bread to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, if you’re wondering about it. Yup, I had a bad habit! I don’t eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches anymore and I certainly don’t eat white bread now…yuck! I am going to finally “come clean” here, so pay attention. The bread was not the main reason I went to the bread house. I don’t think you’ll ever guess what my first reason was for going, so I’ll tell you. It was for honeybuns! Yes, I loved honeybuns and the bread house just happened to have them 3 for a $1.00. I started off buying three then six, and my habit grew out of control to 9! I was buying 9 of these things at a time and I would go home and eat three at one sitting!

Can you feel it?

I would sit down with a tall glass of milk, juice or koolaid and devour 3 honeybuns in no time at all. These honeybuns were not your normal honey buns, they were huge! At 6’7, I have pretty big hands and if you placed the “bun” in my hand it would cover it. I can’t believe I ate 3 of those darn things in one sitting. I continued to do this until one day I took note of how I felt after eating them. I didn’t know food could change your mood, but I experienced it myself with my honeybun habit. I would feel great after and right before eating the honeybuns. My mood would then suddenly change within an hour after eating them. I would go from being happy to slightly depressed and tired. Have you ever felt that way after eating something? I took notice of the way I felt after eating the “buns,” and started to pay attention to other foods as I ate them. I can tell you “honeybuns” weren’t the only thing that made me feel that way. I now know the foods I need to stay away from by using my “feeling” method.

The Missing Link

Years after I made my self discovery, I came across an article in a magazine which talked about foods and how they altered your mood. Did you know pasta and white sugar are linked to depression? I have also heard certain foods can trigger migraine headaches. Most people don’t make a conscious effort to “feel” their food. They just stuff their faces. Your body knows what is good for it, you just have to be still and listen. If you pay attention to the food and how you “fell” after eating it, it would make it easier to resist the foods that make you gain weight. Start to “feel” your food and see what happens.

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

Kevin Williams

I heard this quote from my friend a while ago and I laughed at it. I didn’t give it any thought past the conversation we had that day until now. Read the quote again, do you know what it means? I’ll explain it to you because it hit me like a baseball bat the other day.

Have you seen the commercial for the Shake Weight? If you don’t know what it is, its a weight you shake (hence shake weight) which works on the idea of dynamic inertia. What the hell is dynamic inertia? Is that even a word? I had to laugh, as I sat down and watched the commercial. I thought,”who the heck is going to fall for this?” I would be willing to bet alot of people are falling for this, especially women! I am not saying women are any different from anyone else out there, but the commercial was geared towards women to tone up their flabby arms. It came complete with testimonials and the guarantee of only 6 minutes a day. I watched how they held the weight and what they were doing and it didn’t make any sense. Ok, let me let you in on something…women by predisposed genetics carry more fat on the back of their arms than men. So from the date of birth, women are at a disadvantage when it comes to toning the back of the arms. Did you know that? I bet the person marketing the Shake Weight, did. Marketers play on our fears and worries and convince us we need something even when we don’t really need it. Everyone, and I do mean everyone falls for it at sometime or another because its based on emotion. We rarely buy on need, but always buy on emotion. Don’t believe me, check this out. All of us were kids at one time, and begged our parents to buy us a toy because the commercial persuaded us by appealing to our emotion. I know some adults who are still buying on emotion not to mention eating on emotion. But, do you remember getting the toy you begged for and most of the time it didn’t even amount to what you saw in the commercial. Most of us played with it for a minute and after the “shine” wore off so did our need for it.

I wonder if we get caught up in the “marketing” of the product versus the product itself? I remember when I first started training I wanted to get my six pack back, so I bought some fat burners. I used them religiously for the first couple of weeks and now they are sitting in my pantry gathering dust. I didn’t even finish them. I have done that many times thinking that this time the “answer” was finally coming. How about you? Have you ever had that experience? The fitness industry will always give you the “answer” if you are looking for it. I bet at any given time you can go on your computer and get several different answers to your question, but only one will be the truth. Please realize this if you haven’t already… there are basics to everything and those things always work. Don’t get caught up in the marketing because marketers are only trying to, “ find a fool and hit them up side the head and keep them dizzy”. Be smart and buy on reality and not the “promise” of reality. 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

Many people walk around everyday with tight muscles wondering why there joints hurt. Most of the time it can directly be contributed to being inflexible. As we age, our muscles become increasingly tight if not used, and for many of us we never recover. Have you ever seen the little old lady hunched over or the old man who can hardly walk? This is related to tight muscles . If you take the time to stretch, you’ll become limber and prevent tight muscles. One of the best ways to combine stretching with strength exercise is Yoga. Yoga can also be a very relaxing method of exercise. If you have not tried Yoga, I encourage you to give it a try. Now, for a final word on stretching.

Is it good to stretch before exercising? I have recently given up stretching my clients before exercising. Why? I always go through a warm up with them, and I find warming up properly makes the body pliable for exercise. So why would we need to stretch? I have also seen studies where it has not been proven that stretching prevents injuries before exercise, but it does weaken the muscles. Why would I want to weaken their muscles before a workout? This is just my opinion and I know there are many out there.  What is yours? Leave it on the blog. 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

The year was 1995 and two years prior, I had just finished up my college basketball career. I had been playing basketball since I was 10 years old and never thought the “air” would go out of the ball and I would stop playing. Basketball had been a part of me for most of my life and it took me to some wonderful places and introduced me to some great people. I couldn’t believe it was all gone. I knew I could still play for fun, but it is something about playing competively that brings out the best in you. I still liked to play, but I noticed after time my interest in playing became less and then something happened.

When I was in high school and college, I was significantly underweight for someone my size. I was 6’6 and weighed a whopping 170lbs and that was on a good day. I remember how I got pushed around under the basket, because I didn’t have any strength. It was through that experience, that I became obsessed with gaining weight. That’s right, gaining weight! I would consume weight gain shakes and eat loads of food just to put on pounds, and none of it ever worked. It just succeeded in giving me “gas” and frequent bathroom trips. I know too much info, right? ( smile) I finally gave up my quest to gain weight and just chalked it up to a fast metabolism, but one thing always sticks out in my mind. What was it? I remember people telling me as I got older I would gain weight easily and I thought, “nah that could never happen to me!”

Ok… fast forward to 1998 and the kid who couldn’t gain weight was almost 240lbs! I am 6’7 now but 240lbs was alot of weight for my frame and it took its toll on me. I had frequent back and knee problems and couldn’t understand why this was happening. I could only guess it had something to do with giving up the gym and exercise all together. I had this notion I would be forever young. Have you ever had the same thought? I remember my turning point vividly and it came during a pickup basketball game at the local “Y” in my hometown during a vacation. I use to dominate the court and not to brag or boast, but I had great leaping ability. I started playing and living on a memory of “ what was”, but here was the truth. I was overweight, slow, and could barely get down the court. I can remember all the comments from the guys I grew up with and all of them said, “ you are living the good life down there in Florida”. They were really telling me I had gotten fat but in a round about way. It hit me to my heart while I was sitting there with ice on knees and my heart beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings. What could I do?

I drove back to Florida a couple of days later, and I knew things had to change. How was I going to change them? I was determined to change and this was coming from a guy who stopped at just about every Burger King from South Carolina to the Florida border. I didn’t know it at the time but that would be my last fast food binge. I got home and started to do some research on the internet and came across the “Body for Life” website and dove into it. I wanted to buy the book and I remember it being 20 bucks, at the local book store. I was on a budget at the time, and couldn’t afford it, but I didn’t give up. I went to a flea market in South Florida and I remember going to a booth and saw the “Body for Life” book. I asked the guy in charge of the booth how much he wanted for the book and he replied, “a dollar”. I bought the book and went home and immediately dove into it. This was a Saturday and by Monday I was at the gym starting the program. I stuck with the program and got down to 205lbs and never felt better. I noticed my knee pain and back pain disappeared and I felt better than I ever did. I felt athletic again and it showed when I ventured back to playing “pickup” basketball. I guess you might be feeling that I’m “tooting” my own horn, but that is not the point. The point is to take action and quit waiting on the perfect time, the perfect day, the perfect training program, or even the perfect trainer because perfection doesn’t really exist. The important thing is to start where you are and expect help along the way. There is power in a made up mind. See you on lean side.

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

It was disturbing to see how Chickens were full grown within 49 days using antibiotics and growth hormones. In one scene, a contractor for one of the chicken processors was walking through the place where the chickens were raised, and you could see numerous dead chickens. Do you think these dead chickens, which might be full of disease, might end up on your plate? I encourage you to buy organic food if possible, you’ll be glad you did! Check out the trailer for Food Inc. below. See you on the lean side…Dee

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

What do you believe is possible? I asked myself that very question two years ago when I saw Les Brown speak at an expo in Fort Lauderdale. For those who do not know,  Les Brown is a motivational speaker who overcame overwhelming odds to be a success and is stil very successful today as he does speaking engagements throughout the world. I remember sitting in the audience and hanging on every word he spoke. He talked about many things and they all seemed to be relevant to my situation at the time, but one thing he said really stuck with me long after I left the expo. He kept repeating the phrase ,” It’s possible!” I remember him saying people give up on their dreams because they don’t believe its possible. Are you one of those people? If you are, please change your thinking to, It’s possible” because in reality anything truly is! You just gotta believe! Do you think its possible to get a “flat stomach” in only two months? Guess what?  It’s possible and I have the photos to prove it. I purposely ate what I wanted to and eased up on my exercise during the month of August.  In September, I changed my eating habits and began to exercise and guess what… my stomach is now flat. It may take a bit longer for some of you or it could be a shorter amount of time but “its possible”… you just gotta believe. Do you think you could do what I did? Leave me a comment on my blog and let me know. See you on the lean side…Dee

Before

After

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

I came across this quote, while I was looking for a product on the Internet the other day. It was in a tagline and I thought to myself, “how true!”. I have conversations with people all the time wanting to get back into shape or lose a few pounds but more often than not they never do, why? I guess its because most folks concentrate on why they “cannot” do something moreso than why they “can” do something. Hmmm.. I wonder if I am making a fair assessment?

I happened to be surfin’ the net and saw an article where Tameka Foster Raymond (singer Usher’s now ex wife) nearly died from cosmetic surgery. She traveled over to Brazil to have liposuction performed and suffered complications which landed her in a coma! What was her reason for wanting to go through this procedure? She says she wanted to lose her baby weight after having a child. What the hell? I wonder if someone could have told her that she could attain the same thing if she only changed her eating habits and started to exercise. Why put yourself through a procedure that could potentially take your life?

If you recall, a few years back Kanye West’s mom died of complications from cosmetic surgery. She went to several doctors who wouldn’t perform the surgery on her because she had several factors that would have made the surgery risky. Guess what? She found one surgeon that agreed to perform the operation and now she’s dead. Could she have had a doctor examine her and recommend a personal trainer to work with her to lose the weight safely? Probably so! These are just two high profile people, but I wonder how many other “average” people out there have had complications from liposuction or died because of it?

I know it gets tempting to buy into the ” I want it now” way of thinking. Hell… we have fast food, email, faxes, etc. We don’t have to wait on anything, but have you ever heard the saying, “good things come to those who wait”? There are no shortcuts to fitness, if you want to do it the healthy way. I know it takes time to plan meals and exercise and there are days when you just don’t want to do it, but what is the alternative? You can go to a doctor have them stick a tube in you to “suck” out the fat, but it doesn’t mean the fat won’t come to visit you again! I guess people get suckered into the “quick fix” and become blinded when it comes to a long term solution. My momma use to say, “sometimes its hard to see the forest for the trees”. What do you think? I welcome your comments. See you on the lean side…Dee

Darren McDuffie

Certified Fitness Testing Specialist

Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist

Certified Nutrition Education and Weight Management Specialist