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

Everyone wants to eat CHOCOLATE…especially today

(except our little daughter Matea who wanted her heart shaped candy lolipop for breakfast!)

But you can have your chocolate and abs too…here’s how…

PS. Hope you have a great VALENTINES Day with whoever you wish to spend it with. I am taking my wife out to dinner, then we are going to see The Goo Goo Dolls perform live here in town!

Enjoy your abs AND chocolate!

=> http://www.TTWorkoutDvds.com

I am not much of a football fan so my game of choice was watching the Pens vs Caps hockey game. The outcome wasn’t in the Pens favor though…

But I did enjoy the Greek Pita Pocket Pizzas I made for some gameday grub.

I am “flying solo” all week as my two favorite girls (wife and daughter;-) is gone back home to visit my parents…

But I can’t wait to use two of my favorite new training tools at the the gym this week!

One improves posture and balance and the other will increase grip strength and blow up your arms like you wouldn’t believe!

For a lot of us busy dads trying to stay fit it’s not that we can’t find time to squeeze in 3 or 4 workouts during the week but it’s trying to string together a consecutive hour or two during the work day to complete our workout.

Because let’s face it, most serious workouts usually take an hour to complete after you factor in a proper warmup, a few warmup sets for each exercise and then some cooldown stretching. Then if you prefer to train at a gym, you have to tack on time for commuting and hitting the showers.

But if you’re like me you love how better you feel on the days you DO workout; before, during and after, so recently I bumped my training up from 3 days a week to 4 but cut my workouts almost in half by hacking away the time wasters and focusing on just ONE lift a day during my workout. This took my workouts from 60 minutes to 30 minutes including warmup and cooldown; something you shouldn’t cut out of your workout.

By reducing the QUANTITY in your workouts you have to make up for it in QUALITY so the peck deck or bicep curl machine will not count as a lift in this program. You need to pick the big multi muscle movers, like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, standing overhead presses, chinups, pullups, and dips.

There is a reason why powerlifters and olympic lifters stick with these basic pushing and pulling exercises, because they make you bigger and stronger faster than “feeling the burn” on the leg curl machine.

Just knowing you have only ONE lift to do allows you to train more often, even up to 5 days a week if you prefer, and gives you laser like focus to follow the proven muscle building method of progressive overload by gradually breaking personal lifting records each and every week and adding a fews extra pounds to the bar or pushing out an extra rep.

So here is the One Lift a Day Template to build maximum muscle in minimum time. By sticking to the “3-5″ formula you get the results you want with the flexibility to fit any man’s schedule.

Choose one main lift 3-5 days during the work week, hit it hard for 3-5 reps of 3-5 sets and get on with your day knowing that no muscle will be left behind by the end of the week.

If you want to focus more on getting stronger in specific exercises stick with the same lift choices for 4 weeks. If strictly building bigger muscles is more your goal, choose a different exercise lift each week.

Monday- Standing Barbell or Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Tuesday- Barbell Deadlifts or Dumbbell Deadlifts, or *Chinups

*Wednesday OFF or – Chinups or Pullups

Thursday- Barbell Bench Press or Dumbbell Bench Press (flat, incline or decline) or Dips

Friday- Barbell Back Squat or Front Squat or Box Squat

*For a 4 day split you can choose chinups as a main lift on Day 2 or for a 5 day split choose only chinups or pullups on Day 5

But wait! No curls or crunches?

Don’t let the simplicity fool you, chinups and deadlifts will give you brawny biceps and forearms and standing overhead presses and squats will strengthen and stabilize your abs better than rolling around on the dirty gym floor.

So don’t worry about being a weekend warrior and keep your work and workouts for the workweek so you have the weekends to rest and recover with your family.

Because being a strong dad means more than just lifting weights…

I just finished making a ginger bread house with my daughter while my wife decorates the Christmas tree.

Last night I put up lights on the house Clark Griswold style!

But all the snow we had here in New Brunswick disappeared over night thanks to heavy rain. Hoping we get some back for the big day…

With all that’s going on this time of year I like to keep things simple with my workouts and after moving with just a couple weeks to get back to my workouts before the holidays I like to ditch the complicated program design and go with my “Simple Man’s Workout System”. Plus I am not running on all cylinders with this flu that’s slowing me down…so I will probably keep my training on cruise control until the New Year.

No specified rest periods, no fancy exercises, just plain old liftin’ designed in way that is easy to follow and requires only 3 hours a week.

Don’t underestimate the effectiveness as it’s all about QUALITY over quantity…

2-3 sets, 4-8 reps

Day 1, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

Flat BB Bench Press
Incline DB Press
Standing BB Shoulder Press
Side DB Raise
Lying EZ Tricep Extensions
Cable Tricep Pushdowns

Day 2, Legs and Abs

BB Back Squats
DB Lunges
DB Romanian Deadlifts
Standing Calf Raise
Hanging Leg Raise

Day 3, Back and Biceps

Deadlifts
Chinups
One Arm DB Rows
BB Curls
DB Curls
DB Shrugs

Use this workout system as your “standby” workout when you just want a simple program that gives you complex results!

I started a new muscle building Dad Fitness workout routine yesterday.

So here are 3 new fat loss strategies that I followed this summer that allowed me to get leaner and stronger without the effort of dieting or doing long boring cardio.

Fat For Fuel

This first one happens in the kitchen not the gym. Say goodbye to grains for your breakfast and start the day with a meal consisting of proteins and fats only. The protein and fat will help keep you full and more alert during the morning without the mid-morning carb crash. It also supplies muscle building protein and fat to fuel your workouts. Try some Omega 3 eggs scrambled with scallions and cheese or go classic with steak and eggs. Don’t be afraid of fat, it was around long before bread!

HIIT The Hills

You keep hearing that HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is the fastest and most effective cardio to burn fat. Now it’s also super convenient, thanks to Hill Sprints. Being outdoors it requires only you and a pair of running shoes. Sprinting up hill in short bursts of around 20 seconds seems to almost frighten the fat off your body and anyone can try it because the nature of sprinting uphill is more self regulating due to the increased resistance than sprinting on flat ground. The recovery is also built in as you walk back down the hill. This means there is less chance of injury and a greater chance of intensity, which is the real secret to burning fat.

Track Your Time

I might of mentioned this before but it bares repeating because I still hardly see anyone doing this in the gym. Track your time in between your working sets with your watch (not in your head). Most properly designed workout routines should dictate specific rest periods anyway, so follow them, they are there for a reason! Very rarely should you be resting more than 90 seconds in between sets, unless you are competing for the world’s strongest man. For fat loss the shorter the better. Resting only 30-60 seconds in between sets keeps your heart rate up and your mind on the muscle so you can be on the fast track to fat loss.

So follow these Laws of Leanness this summer so you are even fitter this fall…

Just opening up all the windows in your house after the long winter months will awaken your senses with fresh new energy…

So it’s time to spring ahead with your workouts as well and clean up some of the bad habits that you may have picked up during the winter.

1. Watch Your Watch

With summer just around the corner you are probably more concerned with getting light and lean than big and bulky so sitting around for 3-4 minutes chatting with the guys about last nights game in between sets isn’t going to do anything to awaken those abs. Rest no more than 2 minutes in between heavy squats or deadlifts and only 30-60 seconds for other lifts. Supersetting opposite muscles like chest and back or bicep and triceps without any rest is also a great way to build muscle AND burn fat.

2. Movements Not Muscles

Spending 20 minutes working a muscle the size of a baseball isn’t the best use of your time unless you have Mr. Olympia trophies on your mantle. But that’s just what most guys do to get arms like Arnold. Think movements, not muscles when you workout. To work your body and your biceps try combining exercises into one motion like a lunge, curl and press or a chin-up with a leg raise.

3. Complex Cardio

Despite what the name might say burning fat isn’t so complex when you use this form of cardio. Complexes are forms of high intensity cardio that continues to put those magazine reading sessions on the treadmill to shame when it comes to blow torching bodyfat. It only takes 5 minutes to add a complex to the end of your weight workout to convince you that this is the answer to maximum results in minimum time. Use just the empty barbell to perform a series of exercise circuits without rest such as a squat, clean, press, lunge and row. Pick yourself up off the floor and repeat 3-4 times.

4. Muscle Massage

Imagine how hard it must be on your car’s engine starting it over and over during those cold winter mornings. Well that’s just how you have been treating your body all winter. Wether it’s being rushed and skipping your workout warmup or jumping out of bed to shovel out your driveway so you can get to work, your muscles need time to wake up. Dynamic bodyweight movements are great to get the blood flowing but a little muscle massage will go a long way to break up those tight spots that build up over time with improper lifting and bad posture. Use a foam roller and tennis ball to roll out those tight trigger points like your mother rolled out dough. Doing this loosens up the tissue in and around your muscles to keep you strong and pain-free.

5. Goodbye Gym

Save a month’s worth of membership and take advantage of the extra daylight while getting some free vitamin D by bringing your workouts outside. Even if you love the atmosphere of training in a dark and dingy gym, the opportunities are endless for outdoor workouts. Take a set of dumbbells to the park or do a playground workout while the kids have their fun. Sprints, sports and strongman lifts are also better outdoors. There is just something primal about lifting heavy stuff off the ground under the mid day sun.

It’s unfortunate that some guys will spend more time washing their car this spring than taking care of their body!

Use these 5 Ways To Spring Clean Your Workout so you can take care of your body and the people who depend on it…

You might remember this from your old high school math class.

It was Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Despite Einstein’s well known brilliance, what amazes me even more was he was also a busy dad of 3 kids.

Einstein was known for challenging the status quo and I think if he was alive today he would tell us busy dads who continue to waste time on long boring workouts that leave us even more exhausted to smarten up and fly right!

Einstein doing his interval training

So let’s do the math…

A typical workout may look like this.

Pushups, 3 sets of 12-15 reps, rest 60 secs
Deadlifts, 3 sets of 6-8 reps, rest 60 secs
Bicep Curls, 3 sets of 8-10 reps, rest 60 secs
Shoulder Press, 3 sets of 8-10 reps, rest 60 secs

With each set taking almost a minute to complete and resting a minute in between sets this workout would take you about 30 minutes on paper.

But in reality, this workout would take even longer as you would have to move around the gym setting up each exercise and changing weights, not to mention actually getting to the gym.

Even a 40 minute workout is not bad compared to most endurance type workouts found in the muscle mags on your local newsstand.

What if I could show you how to get this same great workout using all the same exercises in half the time and without all the equipment?

Would you be interested? If your a busy dad, you should be.

Enter the Dad Fitness Theory of Efficiency, which is
E=Dad ^Fit

I am so smart…SMRT

Where E is Efficiency, Dad is well… you!, and Fit is what you will become using this workout routine

So it’s time we pulled a General Motors with our workouts by getting rid of the excess junk and focusing on what works…no offense Saturn owners.

Check out this video to see the same Dad Fitness workout using the exact same exercises done in all in one movement but without the wasted time.

Plus all you need is a simple set of dumbbells!

Click here to view the embedded video.

*Warmup with 10 reps of bodyweight burpees.

Dumbbell Pushup, no rest, go directly to
Dumbbell Deadlift, no rest, go directly to
Dumbell Bicep Curl, no rest, go directly to
Dumbbell Shoulder Press, rest 60 secs

Complete this circuit 8-10 times before resting, and repeat the circuit 3 times.

Total workout time is about 15 minutes. How’s that for efficiency?

So lets get smart with our time and put the “work” back into our workouts so we can spend less time with the dumbbells and more time being a dad…