With March just around the corner, I hear a lot of men at the gym talking about getting in shape for a trip down south to soak up some sun and escape our Canadian winter.

Many say their goal is to “get in shape” before their trip or to simply “lose some weight”

But most of these people are already doomed from the start because of how they setup their goals….

I remember meeting Dr. John Berardi (creator of Precision Nutrition) in Toronto a few years back and asking him what he thinks is the BIGGEST weight loss mistake people make?

Surprisingly, it wasn’t about protein, carbs or fat. Or even specific workouts.

It comes WAY before any of that he said…

The BIGGEST weight loss-mistake people make is in setting goals.

Don’t get me wrong, setting goals are good, but most people have it all WRONG! They don’t know the difference between a behavior goal and an outcome based goal…

Understanding this is a big eye-opener for a lot of people and it’s CRUCIAL for achieving your health and fitness goals.

A behavior goal is based on something you can directly control and do yourself; an outcome goal is based on the end product of a series of behaviors.

Most people set only outcome goals, such as the following:

* “I will lose ten pounds in ten weeks.”
* “I will bench press 250lbs this summer”

While these goals are specific and measurable and may be challenging and attainable, one problem is this: they’re outcomes. And outcomes are often beyond your control.

After all, you can’t control your fat cells and their rate of fat metabolism by just hoping they’ll shrink. And you can’t defy gravity by making 250lbs feel like 150lbs. What you can control, however, are your behaviors.

So how can you pick better goals, goals based on behaviors? Try these on for size:

Want to lose ten pounds in ten weeks? Then start by understanding what behaviors you can adopt immediately that’ll lead to this result. Make these your goals. Here are a few examples:

• I will exercise for at least 3 hours per week.
• I will eat three to five meals each day.
• I will eat vegetables with every meal.
• I will avoid alcohol this week

Hope this helps you take the actions you need to get the results you want.

Precision Nutrition is the only nutrition system I personally use and recommend to my clients to get lean and healthy once and for all because it works in the real-world…and it’s currently 33% off for TODAY ONLY!

Don’t procrastinate, don’t hesitate. Just take action. You can build the body you never thought you could have – if you make the choice to begin right now.

The Precision Nutrition System <==Try it Risk-Free for 45 Days

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Well, today I turn the big THREE TWO…

Nothing too crazy planned that I KNOW of anyway. My wife is taking the day off so we can all spend the day together.

(I am up early and letting her sleep in so I wanted to post this)

This makes for a great magazine headline on your nearest news stand but unfortunately you become disappointed and confused once you flip through the pages.

Wether it’s the magical Acai or Gogi berry one week, or the raw, cooked or frozen diet the next, it’s all a marketing illusion for companies to sell you more of their stuff.

So let’s breakdown the Diet Dogma.

The idea of a “Perfect” Diet is like chasing a moving target, and if you continue to chase this moving target you are setting yourself up for failure.

Even some of the most common advice you hear regarding healthy eating is contradictory and not always perfect or practical for everyone.

-Eat 6 small meals a day…
(quite the chore for us busy dads with families who work 12 hours a day)

-Don’t eat late at night…
(kinda sucks for us night-shift workers or culture’s in the Mediterranean who eat a late dinner)

-Eat lots of fruits and vegetables…
(tell that to the Inuit who hardly ate any and have the lowest rate of heart disease)

-Eat high protein…
(some of the longest living and highest performing athletes in the world get 75% of their calories from carbs)

-Eat low carbs…
(except first thing in the morning, before or after your workout, on Tuesday’s or during a full moon)

-High fat, low fat…
(high fat diets with healthy fats from fish and nuts is highly recommended these days…but not the best advice if you are going in for surgery or if you have a peanut allergy. As for low fat, you’ll have to fight with the French on that one)

-Chocolate is healthy
(but only if it’s from 87.625% organic dark Cacao beans that hasn’t seen the light of day in the northern mountains of Papua New Guinea)

-Alcohol is bad
(the healthy elders of Sardinia, Italy or Okinawa, Japan with their red wine and sake would disagree)

From only organic, to vegan vegetarians the list goes on between the battle of the perfect diet and more importantly for your dieting dollar.

As a fitness professional myself who has a passion for encouraging healthy lifestyle habits, I still believe all these methods are valid and do work but their long term success depends on the person’s personality and lifestyle, not shear will power.

Humans have healthily survived for millions of years without having to call Jenny. That’s because different cultures from different parts of the world evolved on what worked best for them.

The North American culture continues to feed the media it’s law of the land for healthy diets but ironically it is one of the biggest leader’s or maybe the biggest losers for preventing heart disease and obesity in the modern world.

Unfortunately, most of the food we now eat is being purchased not prepared. What used to be known as a meal has now become a snack that we eat in-between even bigger meals.

No longer is even food enough. According to every second page in a health and fitness magazine we also need pills and powders to supplement our already sub-standard diet.

The problem is when people believe the media’s messages on what is best for them and allow billion dollar companies to dictate what, when and how much we eat.

OCD has turned into OCE, Obsessive Compulsive Eating, and crossing the line between self-discipline because you ate GOOD and self-punishment because you ate BAD is where things go wrong. I always say that the food guilt is sometimes worse than the food itself.

Remember holistic health is mind AND body. So don’t beat yourself up the next time you have a slice of cake at a Birthday party.

Continue to move more, enjoy eating REAL food and stress less.

Eating healthy without obsessing over eating healthy, now that sounds like the Perfect Diet…

To celebrate my 32nd Birthday I am offering my entire Dad Fitness Workout and Nutrition System for 50% off the regular price!

You get over 10 workout and nutrition programs and bonuses for less than $20, for 24 hours only!

Help me celebrate and help yourself get fit fast while you enjoy life and eat REAL food with Dad Fitness…

Starting living the Dad Fitness Lifestyle TODAY

50% off discount==>http://www.DadFitness.com

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You probably read lots of articles by now on the BEST workout routines.

Heck, I am a fitness writer myself and after 15 years of studying health and fitness inside and outside the gym as well as earning lots of advanced certifications I am confident that the advice I give works and is also safe and helpful for a healthy person.

Unfortunately with the age of the internet everyone thinks that they are suddenly qualified in exercise science and advanced program design.

That’s why mechanics don’t do brain surgery and why your dentist don’t fix your plumbing, (although some of their tools do looks the same).

It’s because they SPECIALIZE in their field and when we want expert results we go to an expert.

But you still have to be careful who you consider an expert despite some fancy letters after their name.

After seeing a workout routine that was left in the gym the other day I am almost ASHAMED to be called a Personal Trainer in the same breath as the “personal trainer” who designed this exercise program below!

This has got to be the WORST weight training program I have EVER seen!

…and trust me I have seen it all and this even goes way beyond any of the over hyped bodybuilder routines found in the magazines.

I am sure my 2 year old daughter would come up with a better routine, as her squat technique is impeccable.

It’s no wonder guys at the gym are walking around with torn up shoulders and bad backs.  I would rather they stay home and did nothing, than follow stuff like this and breakdown their muscles and mobility with the overuse and redundant exercises found below.

95% of these exercises are not only a waste of anyone’s time for building muscle but the unnatural angles recommended for some of these movements make them go from bad to down right DANGEROUS!

So I hope the “trainer” who blindly slapped this workout routine together goes back to eating their Cracker Jacks and the personal trainer certification that came with it…

WARNING: Displaying this workout is for novelty purposes only and may cause a choking hazard if anyone with a brain reads it while eating or drinking.

The Worst Workout Routine EVER

3 sets of 10 for everything.
(wow, that’s creative)

Day 1

Wide Grip Bench Press
Wide Grip Incline Bench Press
Pullover
Decline DB Press
Bench Dip
Cable Flys
Cable Crossover
Pushup

Day 2

Lying Bicep Curl
Preacher Curl
EZ bar Concentration curl
Cable Bicep curl
Tricep Overhead DB Press
Skull Crusher
One arm Cable pushdown
Dip

Day 3

Pullup
Cable One Arm Pulldown
Lat Pulldown
Seated Cable Row
T Bar Row
Bent Over Db row
Reverse Fly
Back Ext.

As for lower body exercises I didn’t see any but was too disgusted to turn the page and waste my time reading any more of this garbage.

If you are a busy dad and is looking for professionally designed workout routines done for busy dads by a busy dad, check out www.DadFitness.com for safe and effective workouts and nutrition plans that give you maximum results in minimum time.

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Ever since I got interested in health and fitness in my early teens I began to realize how important it was to learn how to cook for myself and cook REAL food that also tastes great.

Even at a really young age I would rather watch a cooking show on TV than watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… But I do share the turtles love for pizza!

Basic cooking and learning what REAL food is should be a skill that EVERY kid is taught in school, right up there with math and science.

Now that I am a father I realize even more, how important it is to not only play a part in preparing healthy food for myself but also for my daughter.

Even at 20 months old her favorite snack is fresh fruit and berries and at dinner last night she asked for more broccoli!

Don’t get me wrong, I am no food Nazi!  I think it’s one of the greatest pleasures of life.  But I think most people live to eat instead of eating to live…

We still let her enjoy being a kid and let her eat some of the treats and sweets that we all have on occasion.  Mostly when she is out visiting family and friends we loosen up on the food rules but when she is home most of the time we try and feed her the healthy meals that we prepare as a family.

After stumbling onto Jamie Oliver on the Food Network a few years back I watched as this guy with the funny accent not only cooked quick great tasting food but also started a food revolution to combat the skyrocketing child obesity rates in the world today.

Plus Jamie is also a busy dad so he knows what works and what’s practical when it comes to feeding kids healthy meals.

It made me realize that as parents teaching kids about healthy eating can be the biggest contribution we can make to the next generation.

If you are a parent, I highly recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to watch this powerful video!

I REALLY want to hear what you think!

Let me know by leaving a comment below…

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I just spent an awesome 5 days in Tampa Florida attending fitness seminars with all the best fitness experts in the world.

No matter what level of fitness knowledge you think you may have, you always need to look and learn from other trainers and coaches to improve your mind and body. As the author of Dad Fitness, I still strive to learn and improve my knowledge to help others get the fastest results possible.

After spending 5 days hanging out with guys like Craig Ballantyne of Men’s Health and fitness icon Shawn Phillips, I started to pick up on some of the secrets these guys use to stay in awesome shape even while traveling.

So here are 5 Tips To Stay Fit While Traveling.

1. Workout No Matter What. After a busy 5 days of sitting on my butt in meetings and seminars I still managed to workout 4 out of the 5 days while in Florida. Which is even more than I workout at home!

The first day I got together with Rommel Acda of FitInAHurry.com, and Deb Froehlich of CelluiteCircuits.com and we trained together in the hotel gym. It wasn’t very big but had enough to get a great workout using our bodyweight and a few dumbbells.

Then the next day along with Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training we all headed to the local Powerhouse gym to get a great workout in a more upbeat gym atmosphere.

Wether it’s a quick hotel room bodyweight workout, a hotel gym workout or a Powerhouse gym workout, just make sure you do some exercise while traveling to offset all the sitting down on airplanes and in meetings.

2. All You Can Eat. The great thing about travelling to new cities is experiencing new places to eat. But if you’re not careful you could be paying the airlines extra weight on the way home, and I am not talking about your luggage…

So do what all the fit trainers did every morning to start their day off right; eat a nutritious breakfast. Even though our hotel served a FREE buffet breakfast every morning, most everyone who is in great shape skipped the bacon and breads and had a huge freshly prepared omelet stuffed with veggies with a little fruit on the side, me included. Keep lunch small with a salad or whole grain wrap so you don’t get sleepy during the afternoon meetings, and enjoy a nice dinner with some lean meat and veggies and even a glass of wine.

3. Drink Up. I don’t mean spend your nights at the hotel bar getting sloshed. I mean drink lots of cold refreshing water. It will keep you full and focused and your mind off the donuts and croissants sitting across the conference table.

It’s really easy to drink lots of H2O during these hotel conferences as they usually serve you pitchers of water in your meeting rooms and in the big conference rooms. Just to be sure you always have water on hand, pick up a couple of litres of spring water at the hotel gift shop and keep on ice in your room.

4. Ditch the Cab. If you are up for some sight seeing or heading to a nearby restaurant for dinner, ditch the cab fare, get some directions and walk there instead. Google Maps on your smart phone works great for this!  Walking is a great way to see a new city and burn some calories. Strolling back to the hotel after dinner is a great way to end the evening and ease the guilt from that decadent dessert.

You can also try to find a park or gym a couple miles away and walk or run there to get your heart pumping and your warmup out of the way.

5. Recharge. If you’re traveling solo, staying at a hotel is a great way to get some extra rest and relaxation. You get the bed to yourself, and you have no worries of the kids jumping in the bed at the wee hours of the morning.

It’s also a great time to catch up on some work or read that book you have been trying to get through. A dip in the hotel pool and a hot sauna afterwards might be just what you need to recharge your batteries before you get back on the road.

So there you have it, 5 Travel Tips To Stay Fit so you’re wife still recognizes you when you get home…

How do YOU stay fit on the road? Let me know and leave a comment below.

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