POOR DIET IN COLLEGE? HOW DO I OVERCOME?

Answer: Realize that you’re in college and not at home. Focus on your actions outside of the dining hall. Keep in account that your diet outside the dining hall is causing you to lose, gain, or maintain at the weight you are at now. It is maybe the drinking?

First, do university dining halls put laxatives in the food?

Fuck no. First off, that’s illegal. Second, that’s illegal. Third, it’s VERY ILLEGAL. Come on you’re smart, you’re in college. If you were given laxatives, you would know.

I have heard many complaints that the food in the dining hall sucks. OK, you’re spoiled if you think so. Food is food. Be grateful to have the ability to choose whenever you want to eat with the swipe of a card (not your credit card). What do you expect from a university dining hall? Here are some of my thoughts why you are losing, gaining, or maintaining the weight you are at now. All of these tips and hints come from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. I have had problems of losing, gaining, and maintaing weight from my diet in the dining hall.

Why am I losing weight?

1) You are not eating enough at the dining hall because you don’t like the main entrees they are serving. Carb up. Grab some pizza. There is always pasta. Eat cereal. Make a hefty sandwich.

2) Make sure you are eating three or more meals a day. Are you only eating two big meals a day? Are you waking up late and eating lunch first then dinner at night?

3) Make sure you are eating large portioned meals, and not a bowl of cereal.

What am I gaining weight?

1) The food in the dining hall is greasy. Every main entree is going to be greasy. Some people have a different metabolic rate. You may have a slow metabolic rate. See how you can quicken your metabolic rate.

2) You may be drinking a lot of alcohol on the weekends. Alcohol is very unhealthy because of the amount of calories it has. I’m not going to sit here and write about how you should not drink, but keep that in mind.

3) What are you eating outside of the dining hall? If you want to lose weight, keep eating meals at the dining hall rather than take out. Restaurants will make your food as tasty as possible. In other words, they are adding a lot of oil and grease to your meal so you will order from them again in the future.

4) You should be working out because a key factor to lose weight is working out. You need to eat in order to survive and have energy to go about the day. However, if you are not working out and just studying, you are not burning enough calories. Those calories just become sitting ducks. Also, if you aren’t working out, the fat is going to stick onto your muscles therefore making them heavier.

5) Balance the amount of desserts you eat. When the food being served in the dining hall does not attract us, we tend to be attracted to the desserts. I am a victim of this temptation. Try not to be tempted.

6) If the food doesn’t interest you, don’t just eat carbs. Carbs fill you up.

Why am I maintaining the weight I am at now?

1) Your sleep schedule is off. I bet you are sleeping for a couple hours one night, five hours another night, and 12 hours Friday night. This fluctuating sleep cycle is really throwing your metabolism off. Your metabolism is going fast to slow, fast to slow.

2) If you are trying to lose weight, stick to salad and protein. Stay away from the carbs. If you are trying to gain weight, eat carbs and less salad. You’re either not intaking enough weight or you’re intaking too much weight in the food you are consuming.

ADVICE FOR A HEALTHY COLLEGE DIET

1) Depending on your goal, make sure you have a balance diet and consume certain foods accordingly.

2) Have a consistent sleep cycle. Consistency in sleep does not mean eight hours every night. It’s okay to have six hours one night, seven another, and eight on the weekend. It’s inconsistent if you are sleeping for two hours one night, 10 hours the next night, and four the third night.

3) Regulate the amount of alcohol you drink on the weekends. In other words, try not to blackout every weekend and consume massive amounts of alcohol. Not only will this be the cause for your large increase in weight or bad health, it will detrimentally affect your digestive system.

4) Stress plays a huge factor in diet. If you are really stressed out, you barely or don’t eat. If you are not stressed, you will have a healthy diet.

5) Stick to the dining hall. Even though the food is low quality, you know what you are eating. You see where the food is coming from. You see what the chefs are doing with your food. You don’t know what the chefs are doing with your take out/delivery food. You also have a HUGE selection.

Your lifestyle in college is much different than your lifestyle at home. Back to the idea of consistency, your schedule in college is going to be inconsistent time and you need to realize that. This is why we lose, gain, or maintain weight. Try to maintain a consistent schedule, but if you can’t, just stick to my advice for a healthy college diet.

WHAT IS CROSSFIT?

A conversation with a person who has no knowledge on Crossfit and a Crossfit athlete

Average Joe: (Walks into a Crossfit gym) Where are the machines?

Crossfit Athlete: We are the machines.

Crossfit is a style of specialized cardiovascular fitness that puts endurance, strength, agility, and flexibility altogether. Crossfit has recently become very popular for its culture and different approach to becoming physically and mentally tough compared to your standard workout at the gym. This peculiar style of fitness has become so popular that it is now considered a sport called, the Crossfit Games.

The difference between a standard workout and Crossfit

Standard workout at the gym

1. Shoulder Press (3 sets 5 reps)

2. Squat (3 sets 5 reps)

3. Leg Press (2 sets 10 reps)

4. Shoulder Raises (3 sets 8 reps)

5. Abdominal Crunches (5 sets 15 reps)

Standard Crossfit workout

For time

1. 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats, 1 mile run.

There is no 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th workout. A standard Crossfit workout is comprised of numerous workouts back to back. The way I would attack this workout is to break it into 8 rounds. Each round would be one lap around the track, 12-15 pull ups, 25  pushups, and 35-40 air squats.

Here is a list of crossfit WOD workouts that we do in ROTC. WOD stands for Workout Of the Day.

Crossfit takes a lot of physical strength, but what attracts people the most to this style of fitness is the mental strength. There is no time for rest in a Crossfit workout. You are constantly working and maximizing effort.

Advantages of Crossfit

1. The workout is intense and you are constantly doing something whereas at the gym, it’s easier to find yourself being lazy because of rest periods.

2. Have you ever wanted to try gymnastics? Gymnastics centralizes around the idea of balance. Crossfit trains and improves ones balance the most.

3. You burn more calories and sweat much more in a Crossfit workout than a standard workout at the gym.

Disadvantages of Crossfit

1. It takes a while to get into Crossfit. Crossfit workouts entails Olympic power lifts, body weight exercises such as pull ups, rope climbing, and much more that you probably haven’t done before with your standard gym workout. For the first month of Crossfit, you will need to be taught all the lifts before you get to really execute a proper Crossfit workout. If you are interested in Crossfit, keep in mind of this.

2. The workout is extremely intensive and asks for speed/time. Since there is no time for rest, you are more vulnerable to injuries. When you workout at such a quick pace, sloppiness occurs. Crossfit athletes get injured because of how sloppy they get with form and movement when they are fatigue. This is one reason why Crossfit hasn’t become everyone’s lifestyle. It takes time to be good at Crossfit.

3. You will rarely ever do a workout in Crossfit that focuses on one body part. For example, at the gym you workout legs, back, arms, shoulders, or chest on different days. A Crossfit workout is full body and you don’t specialize just one body part.

Crossfit trains you to be a combat athlete.When I train with the Marines every week, we only do Crossfit workouts or circuit training. We do this because we want to become professionals in real world fitness. Fitness that centralizes around hardcore, cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength. Fitness that requires max effort for a short period of time. Fitness that requires more mental strength than your average bench press workout at the gym. Fitness that is operational. Workouts at the gym are exceptionally beneficial if you want to focus on a certain body part, but Crossfit is a full body operation.

Women in Crossfit

Professional female crossfitters don’t look like your typical professional female bodybuilder. Even though the high vulnerability for injuries is at stake, I truly believe females should approach Crossfit with an open mind. I have asked many of my female friends for feedback on their workouts. They tell me they do the same thing everyday: 20 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the treadmill, and some abdominal workouts. Another piece of feedback I get from girls about their workouts is that they don’t know how to do many of the weight training workouts. At a Crossfit gym, every session you do is with a coach. Coaches will train you to perfect training exercises with weights. It’s badass!

Men in Crossfit

Brothers. I understand we want to get massive and look good in that way. Believe me, I want to be massive too. I aspire to look like Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson one day. However, don’t let the idea of Crossfit fool you. Do you know Rich Froning, the “fittest man on earth”?

 

This guy will beat Vin Diesel and the Rock in a foot race, pushup, pull up, and any strength concerning contest any day. In addition, I’m pretty sure this guy can actually perform daily tasks without his arms getting in the way! A Crossfit workout will smoke you and make you look silly. At the end day bros, we need to realize that there is more to life than just looking big. It’s about total body perfection and being able to do things faster than our enemy.

Crossfit is never dull. It’s exciting and fierce. It will improve your mental strength and raise your perceived limitations after every workout. In 2012, after my Freshman year in college, I adopted Crossfit into my own physical fitness schedule. After doing this, I placed in a competitive Crossfit race called the Spartan Race. Crossfit has truly changed me to step up my workouts and focus on total body perfection. My job in college as a ROTC Marine Option is to become a combat athlete, but at the end of the day, everyone should want to be a combat athlete. It’s a man eat man, woman eat woman world out there. What are you going to do to be better than the person on your left and right?

 

Wouldn’t you want to be titled as the “Fittest Man on Earth”?

WHAT TO EAT WHEN YOU ARE DRUNK!?

…or shouldn’t eat.

It’s two A.M., party’s over. You’re wasted. You’re looking to fulfill your mental and insatiable hunger. You can go three ways: Pizza, Chinese, or the super market. What would you choose?

Go to the super market or convenience store! You want a carb loaded meal for the sensation you are experiencing. When you are drunk, your decision making and self control abilities are absolutely impaired! Long story short, our mind is geared towards fatty foods because it is the tastiest to us. We all have had an experience of drunk eating. The next morning I guarantee we all say, “Fuck, I should not have eaten that last night.”

When you get to the supermarket or convenience store, immediately go to the bread section. You want carbohydrates because carbohydrates actually fill you up more than fatty foods. In addition, carbs will help your body absorb the alcohol and carbs also produce seratonin which will make you more tired. Alcohol triggers our brains to be more attracted to salts and fat. Keep that in mind.

Cereal. Cereal is much healthier to eat than pizza. The amount of time it takes your drunken body to feel content from eating pizza compared to cereal is about the same because when eating cereal, you are consuming protein, fluids, and carbohydrates. Fluids make us feel fuller as well. When I wake up the next morning, I would much rather know that I had three bowls of Frosted Mini Wheats than a full pie of pepperoni pizza.

Grilled cheese. If you decided to not listen to my supermarket option and end up at a pizzeria, get a grilled cheese. You’re going to be pressured to a get a couple slices with your friends, but look into getting a grilled cheese. Grilled cheese is a great alternative to pizza because it is almost the same thing, but pizza is loaded with a larger amount of oil.

OK, so if you decided to not listen to my supermarket option, or grilled cheese alternative and end up at a Chinese restaurant, just treat yourself. I personally like the fried rice with sesame chicken.

Remember, next time you are wasted and looking for food, go to the supermarket. Find food that is rich in carbohydrates such as fruit, bread, potatoes, cereal, pasta, and nuts. Yes, these options may not sound realistic, HOWEVER the overlying theme should be noted.

We don’t find these alternatives attractive because they are healthy! 

When we are drunk, we want the tastiest foods because we think they are the most filling. Binge eating healthier sources of carbohydrates and fluids when we are drunk is not popular at the time, but is much more understandable in the morning.

Check out this post on how to avoid eating when you are drunk.

WHAT SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I BE TAKING?

I wish I could tell you that I don’t take anything to improve my physical fitness and body physique, but than I would be lying. I wish I could also tell you that I have a consistent diet plan. I do take supplements. I do take a lot of vitamins. I do drink whey protein in the morning and after my workouts.

Being in college, it’s understandable that we can’t be consistent all the time because of our academics and extracurriculars. As a college student, I don’t have a consistent schedule and I can assume the same for you. Some nights you have to stay up later. Some days you have more meetings than usual. One day your team will want to meet, another day your team wants to take a break. Some weeks you have a paper due. Some weeks you have a test to study for. Some weeks you have three papers due. This inconsistency is in every student’s life and we adapt by a poorer diet, refusal to go to the gym, and more caffeine than usual. A lot of students also celebrate on the weekends…hard.

A common question my friends ask me is if I take supplements and what kind of whey protein do I take? I take B-12 and multi vitamins, Fish Oil, Glutamine, and whey protein. However, these are not the only supplements you should take, but college students should stay natural and increase our intake of natural assets that our body needs such as glutamine, B-12, vitamins, Omega-3, and protein. Increasing the natural vitamins will help our immune system grow stronger. This is important because the last thing you want is to get sick during finals.

Synthetic supplements such as creatine, nitridic oxide, and pre-workout can be dangerous and not even beneficial because of the inconsistent lifestyle we live. Bodybuilders use synthetic vitamins and supplements for their extreme gains and personal goals. I use the word extreme because advertisements will hone on that idea. As consumers, we buy products off of a professional’s experience with a certain synthetic supplement that he or she gained extreme results from. Bodybuilders make extreme results because of their consistent diet. Their consistent workout schedule. Their consistent nature to hydrate. On top of all this, they rarely eat unhealthy on the weekends or drink alcohol. Their job is to look good and perform well. Our job as a student is a little different.

Go natural. I recommend you to not fall in the trap of physical fitness advertising.

Don’t cheat, go natural

Weight Loss

When I need to cut weight for training, I drink more Green Tea and a lot more water. Water and Green Tea have natural substances that will trigger the digestion system. I don’t take weight loss pills sold in CVS because I don’t want to risk feeling sick throughout the day. Ingredients in Green Tea is 100% natural whereas many weight loss brands have synetic ingredients that try to quickly trigger and than rush the digestion system. That idea of an ingredient that boosts your digestion system faster shouldn’t appeal to you…

Hydroxycut works. Green Tea works. Hyrdroxycut has synthetic ingredients such as hydroxycitric acid. Green tea has antioxidants. If weight loss pills are not used right (there’s a complex system to weight loss pills) and not enough water is consumed using it, there can be dramatic side effects such as liver damage and dizziness. Weight loss pills are designed to dehydrate your body and disintegrate as much food in your body possible into your digestive system.

Are weight loss pills dangerous?

Yeah, I’ll pass!

Gaining energy to go to the gym

Two pieces of advice for this dilemma.

1. Drink an energy drink or a coffee an hour before. Even though energy drinks are not exactly the healthiest of all caffeine, it is much better than pre-workout. Pre-workout has much more caffeine than energy drinks. You should not rely on caffeine, but when you have those days of restlessness, don’t be afraid to drink an energy drink or cup of coffee to increase your motivation to go to the gym.

2. Workout with a buddy. It is motivating to workout with a friend to push each other/show off to your partner. In addition, conversations will wake you up.

Building your physique

1) Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein. I have experimented with a lot of protein within the past eight years of working out and realized that 100% Whey Protein from Gold Standard was the best protein for me. There are no synthetic ingredients, but just standard protein to help with recovery.

Important Note: When you drink a protein shake, you don’t actually use all the protein. Almost half of the amount of protein you intake goes straight to your digestive system. Therefore, consuming natural protein from meats and fish is the best way to fully utilize all the protein.

2)

For males: Stop thinking about your abs and eat more than you usually would. When you eat and workout more, you are burning more calories while keeping more. Think about it.

Eat less+Workout more=More calories burned < Eat more+Workout more=More calories burned AND keeping more calories.

By increasing your nutrient intake, your body will slowly get bigger. You can still get abs if you constantly do ab workouts, but if you want to look bigger, you need to eat.

For females: Check out the benefits of women and weight training.  It takes a long time for females to get big compared to the rate it takes men to get bigger SO STOP BEING AFRAID TO GET “JACKED.” There is a tendency in a lot of females to not lift weights because they are afraid they will get too big. Weight training is critical to chisel your muscles. All cardiovascular workouts do are burn calories. It is important to also strengthen your body parts using weight so there is less room in your body for food to hide such as your stomach, obliques, lower arms, and neck.

I can’t stress this enough, but I’ll say it again. Be natural. Don’t be a cheater and rely on expensive drugs or tools in the weightlifting market. Especially as a college student on a low budget, there are numerous of ways to weight loss, energy, and body physique that are free or much cheaper. The only supplements I advise you should be taking are whey protein and supplements that will strengthen your immune system. Stay healthy. Don’t get sick during finals.

10 STRENGTH WORKOUTS FOR MEN

Brothers,

Our main purpose in life is to be able to take care of our loved ones such as our wife (or husband), kids, old parents, and each other. Being “yoked” in college is obviously an asset to our confidence and social status, but at the end of the day we are still men. We should want to be stronger than our opponent. You should want to be physically stronger to instill confidence in our peers that if anything bad were to happen, he or she knows they are safe around you. Men, let’s not forget that.

There is an awful stereotype on men that the bigger you are, the stronger you are (or maybe the dumber you are). This blog will show you the more underrated workouts out there to strengthen the upper and lower back, legs, core, and arms. These are my most favorite workouts that I do on a weekly basis because they all focus on the idea of explosion. Body builders are obviously massive, but they would receive poor grades in strength. Strength should be considered as the speed in the force upon an object. Being strong means you are able to do physical tasks much faster.  For example, if you are pushing someone in a fight, the push should be explosive. Or, when you are moving into your new apartment or dorm room, are you going to pick the box off the ground at a slow or fast speed? If you pick it up at a slow speed, you are prone to injury. Catch my drift? Strength is explosive.

The workouts below should be explosive. Explode off your feet in the squat. Explode off your heels in the lunge. Explode the pulling movement in the bicep curl and pulldown. Explode the pick up. Explode the push off. Explode! Explode! Explode!

DROP SET

If you look behind my legs, there are additional dumbbells. Drop sets mean more reps in your first set, but going down to lower weight. For example, I am doing the most common bicep workout, the curl. My first set would be 3 reps of 50 pounds, second set would be 5 reps of 40 pounds, and my last set would be until failure with 30 pounds. The purpose of the drop set is to “warm up” the respective body part. Drop sets stress your muscles which basically means muscle mass. However, it is dangerous and counterproductive to do two drop sets in a row. If you are really looking for mass, do a drop set in the beginning of each workout, for the next two, three, or four sets, make sure you are really focusing on explosion and strength. Click this hyperlink to watch this workout! There are hyperlinks after each workout.

BACK SQUAT

5 reps, 5 sets, 60 second rest in between sets

PURPOSE

The back squat workout focuses on hamstrings, calves, and the butt. You won’t see your typical meathead in the gym doing the back squat because he probably is more focused on getting bigger arms, chest, and shoulders. Let me tell you something, it takes longer for meatheads to get bigger because they don’t do legs. A leg workout releases testosterone in your body which is the growth hormone. If there is more testosterone in your body, you are likely to feel stronger which really means you will be able to gain mass much quicker than if you weren’t to workout legs.

Back to the idea of explosion and strength, squatting is beneficial because if you are able to explode with heavy weight on your shoulders, you will have the ability to pick things up or run faster. You are strengthening the muscles in your legs that help you walk, stand up, and execute daily tasks that require “picking up.”

Advice for the back squat

1. Chin up, eyes up. Don’t look ahead of you in the mirror. Look at a target about three feet above your head on the wall in front of you. Doing this, your spinal cord and back will naturally straighten. If your back isn’t straight, you will get back injuries!

2. The harder you grip the bar, the stronger your core and lower back will be. Try it. Stand up. Make two fists. Release your fists. Do you feel the difference?

3. Position the inside of your feet to the outside of your shoulders.

4. When you squat, stop when your butt parallel to the ground and then EXPLODE up!

5. Hold your breath going down than exhale when you explode up.

Check out my squat!

Backward/Forward Lunges

10 reps per leg, 5 sets, 60 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

Lunges strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps as well as improving your hip flexibility. Lunges are also beneficial because the workout itself is geared to strengthen one leg at at time. Since this workout is unilateral, balance is key and a large focus. Lunges are a great workout after the back squat movement because of spinal deload. Your spinal cord is stressed after the back squat so think of lunges as a great way to distress your spinal cord. When you become an expert on the lunging movement, your balance will improve immensely which also means your core has made improvement and since most workouts we do require balance, you will get a lot more out of your workouts because your body will be more stable.

Advice for the backward and forward lunge

1. Keep the front of the two dumbbells aligned with your hip. Try to prevent the dumbbell from swinging back and forth.

2. Keeping your chest up will assist your balance.

3. Go at a slow pace and as you lunge, explode back up and bring your feet together.

4. With regards of the front lunge, stretch your lunging leg as far in front as possible and gently touch your back knee on the ground. With the back lunge, your simply doing the opposite. Stretch your leg back as far as possible until your knee gently touches the ground. Remember, explode back up.

The upper half of the clip is me doing the backward lunge and the lower half is an example of the frontward lunge.

DUMBBELL ROWS

10 reps per arm, 4 sets, 45 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

This workout strengthens your upper back while advancing the ability to pull much faster. Dumbbell rows are difficult because gravity is bringing your body down as well as the attached weight. Since your pulling a weight off the ground with only one arm, this unilateral workout is very challenging, but one of the best workouts to increase size and strength in your upper back and neck.

Advice for dumbbell rows

1. Pull the dumbbell to your shoulder as fast you can.

2. Keep your back parallel to the bench and only move the arm with the dumbbell.

3. Position your foot on the ground that is on the same side as the working arm about 4-6 inches away from your shoulder. This is assisting your balance.

4. The only body part that is moving is your working arm. Try not to use your body to pull the weight up. Look down or to the side, but don’t let your back or hip assist you.

I like to look to the side when I do this. Watch me perform this exercise! 

DUMBBELL FLAT/INCLINE BENCH PRESS

6 reps, 5 sets, 45 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

This workout will tear those muscle fibers in your chest. The reason we do bench press is to strengthen our pushing motion. Our chests or pectorals work with our triceps. The triceps are a pushing mechanism in our arms. A strong chest would prelude to stronger triceps meaning a much stronger push. Remember, EXPLODE up with these dumbbells.

Advice for dumbbell flat bench and incline bench press

1. The reason why people choose to do dumbbells over barbells is because when you workout with dumbbells, you have a much bigger range of motion. If you choose to bench press with dumbbells, bring the dumbbells back down so it is almost aligned with your chest.

2. Breathe in when the dumbbells come down and breathe out when you EXPLODE up.

3. When you bring the dumbbells up, make sure the two dumbbells come together and are aligned with the center of your chest.

Watch me do the incline and/or flat bench dumbbell press!

ARNOLD PRESS

6 reps, 4 sets, 45 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

This is one of my more favorite workouts because in ROTC training, we do a lot of ammo can presses and overhead lifts. This workout has really helped me become stronger in the vertical push motion.  We are usually always lifting something above our head and this workout really strengthens your traps (neck), upper back, and shoulders. These body parts are all essential to the vertical push motion. The Arnold Press is very controlled because you must sit down in a 90 degree angle and just push the dumbbells up using all upper body while your lower body is resting.

Advice for the arnold press

1) Keep your back and tailbone in contact with the back of the seat.

2) Only move your arms. Don’t move anything else in your upper body region.

3) As soon as you bring the dumbbells down, stop when the dumbbells touch your shoulders and then rotate your elbows in.

MOST FAVORITE WORKOUT

LATERAL PULLDOWNS 

5 reps bar to chest, 5 reps bar to neck is 1 set, 4 sets, 45 seconds of rest in between sets

                                                                                               

PURPOSE

The lateral pulldown is awesome for  back formation. The first half of this workout  strengthens the central part of your back where your lats are. The other half of the workout toughens your upper back and neck area. Realistically, you won’t ever be pulling something down from above your head, however the lateral pulldown is good for strengthening that pulling motion. A  back workout involves pulling and this workout is a personal favorite because for the first half I’m focusing on my central/lower back and the second half I’m focusing on my upper back. No other workout benefits both parts of the back from just simply moving your head!

Advice for the lateral pulldown

1. Pull the bar until it hits your chest. Explode with the pulling motion and release until your arms are fully straightened.

2. Look up, chest up.

3. When you are bringing the bar to your neck for the second half of the workout, make sure you are looking down.

Check out the lateral pulldown!

UPRIGHT ROWS

5 reps, 5 sets, 30 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

The upright row movement builds strength in your lower and central back. This workout also stretches your hamstrings very nicely. I find this workout better than the low row machine because you have to use your balance, core strength, and this pulling motion is more realistic because this workout is identical to when we pick objects off the ground.

Advice for the upright row

1) Grip the bar like you are doing a chin up; Palms facing out.

2) Bring the bar as fast as you can until it hits the bottom of your chest.

3) Keep your legs straight and try to maintain your back at a parallel position to the ground.

4) The only body parts that should be moving are your two arms.

If you see closely, my back is coming together as I pull the barbell up to my upper stomach. Check it out!

6 SECOND NEGATIVES

6 reps, 3 sets, 60 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

This workout is a great example of “increasing time under tension.” Increasing time under tension is a phrase used by a lot of athletes for mass building. When we spend more time under tension, more muscle fibers are being ripped because it is stressed out much longer. The 6 second negatives are very good for building endurance in your arms. Endurance in your arms are key because we use our biceps all day!

Advice for the “negative” bicep curls

1. When you curl the dumbbell, bring your pinkies out as much as possible. Take a look at what I mean in the video. This simple trick changes the way your bicep forms.

2) Try not to spend too much time bringing the dumbbell up because you want to save your energy and effort when your bringing the dumbbell down.

3) When you’re bringing the dumbbells down, keep your palms facing up until you reset again.

Again, watch the way my pinkies face outwards more when I bring the weights up.

TOE TO BAR/KNEE TO ELBOW CRUNCHES

10 reps, 5 sets, 45 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

I’m going to go ahead and make an assumption that these two workouts are one of the hardest ab workouts out there. Depending on how you are feeling, try five sets of each movement or just do one of them a day. This workout is tough because you are holding yourself up the whole time while activating your abdominals. This abdominal workout is a great bicep and back workout because we are stretching our muscles doing this crunch.

Let’s talk about stretching for a second. Long story short, when you stretch a muscle, microfibers (little tissues) are tearing. Many people drink protein shakes because we just think of it as a great recovery tool. Protein shakes are a great source for recovery, but do you know why? So, when these microfibers are tearing from stretching or stressing out these muscles, protein will fill in the gaps of the torn tissues. For visual purposes, lock your hands together with your palms facing your body (put your fingers in between each other so there are no gaps). Next, slightly pull your hands away from each other. Use your hands as a model of microfibers. The gaps you make after pulling your hands together symbolize the tear from stretching. The purpose of protein is to fill in those gaps and this is how we gain mass over time. We constantly tear tissues and fill in those gaps with protein. We feel recovery after drinking protein because if we don’t drink or eat protein, many torn microfibers can result sore muscles over time.

Advice for the hanging knees to elbows/toes to bar

1) Prevent the pendulum movement. After pulling your knees or toes up, slowly come down, tighten your core, and try not to swing back so much. When you come down, don’t go back up until you are set and still.

2) Tighten your grip on the bar and prepare for a great bicep workout! Hanging on the bar is going to hurt your arms, but just remember this is another way of building mass in your arms.

3) The only body parts that should be moving are your legs. In order to do that, your abs are going to be the main element that will be doing the most work.

When watching this example, keep in mind of the stretching I previously talked about. The top example is the toe to bar and the bottom video is the knees to elbow one.

DECLINE WEIGHTED CRUNCHES/OBLIQUE TWISTS

10 crunches, 10 oblique twists, 3 sets, 60 seconds of rest in between sets

PURPOSE

The decline weighted crunch brings the standard sit up workout to a whole different level. The standard sit up is okay, but the range of motion is limited to 90 degrees. The decline crunch goes about 140 degrees and you are activating both upper and lower abdominals. The standard sit up only activates the lower abs. The purpose of holding a weight during this workout is to add resistance to the sit up movement. Again, time under tension is a key element in this workout.

Love handles are hard to get rid of. Cardiovascular in general is good to cut weight in the lower part of your stomach, but oblique twists are great to fortify those muscles on the side of your stomach (obliques). Your obliques fire up whenever you twist your body. The weighted oblique twist will strengthen that twisting motion we make every day.

Advice for the oblique twist and decline sit up

1) When going up and down with the weight, keep your elbows bent, but try not to move your elbows too much. Keep your elbows in one angle the whole time.

2) When you sit up after your decline, try to come up as fast as you can.

3) As you go down, stop when the center of your back hits the bench and then come back up.

4) For the oblique twists, sit at an angle. You should basically be holding yourself up.

5) For the oblique twists, your eyes should follow the plate as you fully twist to the left and right.

Watch this dual workout in action!

TOP TEN WORKOUTS FOR WOMEN

There is a harsh social norm these days where women feel as if having a six pack and doing cardio everyday are the only important body workouts to focus on. Having a six pack is nice and cutting weight using cardiovascular workouts feels great too. However, due to society and its pressures within it, we tend to forget that confidence should be everything, not looks. Good posture will naturally boost confidence. Unconfident people spend too much time slouching and looking down! The full body workout below focuses on posture.

If you complete all ten workouts with the right amount of rest, this should take just about an hour. This workout focuses on the back, quads, hamstrings, abs, and the butt. These are all important factors to improving one’s posture. Please copy and paste each link for a video example of my two present clients. 

Ladies, posture is everything, not looks. 

Cecilia Blanco (Health Science 14′) and Amy Stimets (Advertising 14′)

Both Cecilia and Amy approached me this year complaining their workouts were too simple and ineffective to their goals. They told me they wanted to tone their arms, butt, shoulders, and back. Amy also complained to me that the front of her legs weren’t defined (her quadricep). The problem I really saw was their lack of exposure to weighted workouts. You don’t really see females do weighted workouts because they lack experience around weights and never even think about approaching a trainer for tips and guidance. I’ve coached Cecilia and Amy for a couple months now and they seem to really enjoy the workouts I’ve laid out in this blog.

“They are tough, but doable.” -Cecilia

“I feel sore after these workouts which is a good thing.” -Amy

BACK SQUAT

5 sets 8 reps with forty five seconds of rest in between each set

Squatting is extremely beneficial for your everyday tasks. As humans, we are constantly squatting to either pick something up, sitting up and down, or moving something on the ground. Practicing the back squat makes your everyday tasks much easier and SAFER. In addition to practicing the squat movement, it works on toning your lower back and front parts of your leg while gaining a bigger yet stronger butt.

Advice for the back squat

1. The inside of your feet should line up with the outside of your shoulder blades. The further your feet are, the better your balance will be.                                    

2. Chin up, look up. When looking up, your spine will naturally straighten. As you squat, you want your back to be as straight as possible rather than be bent. This simple factor will prevent back injuries.                                          

                                                 

                                                                                                                               

3. The tighter you grip the bar, the tighter your core will be.

Take a look at Cecilia perform the back squat movement. She believ

es her squat to be much better when looking up instead of looking forward.

http://www.coachseye.com/9rxa

CABLE LEG EXTENSION

3 sets 10 reps with forty five seconds of rest in between each set

This workout is great for chiseling down the front portion of your leg. This workout takes balance and if you need assistance, feel free to hold on to something.

Advice to the cable leg extension

1. Lift your leg up and keep the concentrated leg at an 80 degree angle to 

the ground. Try not to move your knee in the air.                                                                    

2. Kick slowly and reset slower. You burn more calories when a body part spends more time under tension.                                                                                                  

3. Tighten your core as you do this.

Take a look at Amy as she does this workout. The red circle in this video show

s whe

re the focus is.  This workout is great for knee, core, and quad stability.

http://www.coachseye.com/olvH

Dumbbell Swing Backs  

3 sets 10 reps with forty five seconds of rest in between sets

Give your legs a little break! Let’s move on to the upper back. Big thing with posture is the formation of your back. This workout will train your upper back muscles to be closer together. The picture below should be considered as a strong back for posture because her upper back muscles on the left and right come closer together. This workout will allow your back to start forming a “half-pipe” on the back. If you look closely at the picture, the female’s back has an indent from the top to bottom. This is the reason why some people have a good posture and som

e people don’t.

You can do the “Dumbbell Swings Backs” either standing up or lying down. Standing up is good to stretch your hamstrings while the lying down position is a more concentrated upper back workout.

Advice for the lying down position

http://www.coachseye.com/N3aR

The above link, Amy is performing the Swing Backs in a lying position.

1. Turn your head either to the left and right. Doing this, your body will naturally stick closer to the bench.                                                                                                      

2. Swings your arms back as far as possible. Don’t move your back and only move your arms. The purpose of this workout is to stretch your upper back muscles.

Advice for the standing up position

http://www.coachseye.com/L6Gj

The above link, Cecilia is performing the Swing Backs in a standing up position. Her back and legs should be in a 90 degree angle to the floor. The white rectangle in this video symbolizes the most concentrated body part in this wo

rkout.

1. Look directly to the ground and keep your legs straight. With all the weight in front of your legs, this workout serves as a great stretch.                                        

2. Keep your back stable and use lower weight if you have to. The only body part

s that should be moving are your arms.

Front Barbell Raises

3 sets 10 reps and forty five seconds of rest in between sets

This is an excellent workout for your front deltoids and core. Bui

lding your core will help with posture as well. Think of your core as a belt. The tighter the belt, the more stable your back will be. 

Advice for the front barbell raise

1. Align the inside of your feet to the outside of your shoulders. This feet position is going to be slightly closer than the squat position.                                              

2. Tighten your core and only move your arms. Your arms should be locked out the whole time. This workout is going to feel more of an abdominal workout than a shoulder workout.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

3. Bring the barbell just above your eyes and come back down. Lift the bar at a slower speed than you would as you descend down.

http://www.coachseye.com/8XGR

Check out Cecilia as she performs this workout. Pay close attentio

n to how still her body is while she only lifts the bar.

Forward and Reverse Lunges with Dumbbells

2 sets 8 reps going forward (30 second rest)

2 sets 8 reps going backwards (30 second rest)

The forward lunge workout is extremely beneficial for the quads and hip. The reverse lunges are good for the hamstrings and butt. The reverse lunges are proved to really cut weight underneath you butt and hamstrings.

Advice for the lunging movement

1. Chest out and keep the dumbbells aligned to your hips.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

2. Start with your feet together. Reset after each lunge.

http://www.coachseye.com/mgtG

On the left, Amy is performing the reverse lunge. On the right, Cecilia is executing the forward lunge.

Hanging Abdominal Curls 

3 sets 15 reps with thirty seconds of rest in between sets

This is a workout that really focuses on lower abdominals as well as strengthening your core.

Advice for the hanging abdominal curls

1. Keep your knees and feet close together as you curl up.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

2. Bring your knees up to your chest and slowly descend down with your legs straightening out.                                                                                                                          

3. As you come down, prevent the pendulum like movement. You can prevent the swinging movement by tightening your stomach and descending as slow as possible.

http://www.coachseye.com/4fbg

Watch Cecilia execute this movement. The yellow circle shows the most concentrated body part in this workout. Pay close attention to Cecilia as she brings her knees up as high as possible and then fully straightening out as she comes down.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 sets 8 reps and forty five second rests in between sets

This workout is  good for trimming your traps and shoulders. A good trapezius workout helps with posture because it develops a stronger neck. The trapezius is the muscle that leads to the start of your neck on the sides and upper back. A strong neck prevents your shoulders from slouching.

Advice for the dumbbell shoulder press

1. Make sure your lower back and tailbone is attached to the back of the seat.  Remember, these workouts are meant to fix your posture.                                      

2. Make sure you sit up, your legs should be almost 90 degrees with the floor, push your chest out, and keep your chin up.                                                                      

3. Keep your elbows parallel with your legs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

4. After fully extending the dumbbells above your head, bring your elbows back to 90 degrees and bring your elbows in together until the dumbbells touch each other.

http://www.coachseye.com/lS9V

Cecilia does a great job extending her arms and bringing her elbows together in one fluid motion.

Decline Russian Twists

3 sets 15 reps and rest 30 seconds in between sets

This workout is great to start trimming  those love handles and be able to turn to the left and right much faster than usual. We talked about core before and your obliques (side muscles on your lower abs) are part of this imaginary belt. If you can trim your obliques and get them to be stronger, your core will be much stronger as well.

The only important factor to remember about this workout

1. Look at the ball at all times. As you twist all the way to your left and right, your eyes should be looking all the way to your left and right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgZiv44jTk

Planks

30 seconds with both forearms on the ground, 30 seconds with the right forearm on the ground only, 30 seconds with your left forearm, and 30 seconds with both forearms on the ground

3 Rounds

From what I have heard, the plank workout is underrated because “it’s boring and too long.” Yes, this workout does get boring, but when done correctly, it could really shred some fat and water weight in your stomach and back. One round is two minutes long so you are looking at six minutes of plank for a full workout.

Advice for the ab plank

1. Squeeze your butt as hard as you can when doing this.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

2. Your friend should be able to place a wooden plank on your butt to the top of your head and the piece of wood should be flat and not on an angle.                

3. Squeeze your butt!

Death Rope

30 seconds of work, 45 seconds of rest (3 rounds)

There are not many cardio workouts for arms, however the Death Rope workout is awesome for your butt, back, hamstrings, trapezius, and arms. This workout should be done last because of the intensity necessary for it. LAST WORKOUT, BE EXCITED!

Advice for the Death Rope

1. Spread your feet wider apart than a squat position and sit down on an imaginary chair. Your butt should be parallel with the ground.                                          

2. When swinging your arms, your movements should be constant and fluid.

http://www.coachseye.com/llWY

Take a look at Amy’s stance and how low she sits. Also, pay close attention to the three movements Amy would do in a typical 30 second round.

                                           

HIDDEN TRICKS TO LOSE WEIGHT!

Stop eating the crust. Stop eating the top bun of your burgers. 

There you are already. Losing weight can be easy. We are SURROUNDED by temptations that prevent us to lose weight. Losing weight can be easy if you just take a minute and ask yourself these three questions…

1) Do I really need it?

2) Should I really be sitting down right now doing nothing?

3) Do I really need it?

Overweight victims get too caught up on all these different kinds of diet plans and weight loss supplements out on the web and market. Of course this approach is fine, but make your life easier and try natural weight loss first. Natural is the best way to lose weight because you are not intaking unnecessary chemicals and your body will adapt to the change much quicker than the change from diet plans or supplements. Here are the simplest, yet most natural ways to gain extreme results as a college student.

First, calculate the amount of calories you should intake a day. 

Every caloric calculator will give you around the same range of calories you should intake a day. This calculator takes in account your age, gender, amount of times you workout a week, weight, and height.

Subtract 200-500 calories from the total you just calculated.

This is the amount of calories you should intake a day to lose weight. If you actually commit to doing this diet plan without any workouts, you will lose weight.                HINT HINT: Drink two cups of water before each meal and at the end of the day and you will prevent yourself from eating an extra 200-300 calories (WOAH, NO WAY).

Here are the five simple, everyday tasks to lose weight.

1. First thing you do when you wake up… Drink ICE COLD water and a cup of Green Tea. There’s actually a difference between drinking cold and warm water. When drinking cold water, your body needs to heat the water to burn calories. When your body needs to heat anything, it needs to use more energy and therefore, your metabolic rate is increasing. When your metabolic rate is high, you are able to consume more food and your digestive system will quicken as well. When your metabolic rate is high, your body is constantly burning calories quicker than a person who has slow metabolism. Drinking cold Green Tea is very good for morning digestion.

2. Workout in the morning instead. You and I both know that the gym is the worst place to go to after class because it’s so packed!  To some people, working out in the morning is an awful idea because you have to wake up earlier. Working out before breakfast is actually more beneficial for weight loss. When you work out, endorphins and adrenaline are pumping into your body which are the chemical reactions that increase energy throughout the day. These chemical reactions also lessen the negative hormones that make you stressed. When working out in the morning before breakfast, our body will naturally burn more calories and lose more weight because of the empty stomach you are working out with. In addition, when working out, your metabolic rate has increased. making all consumptions throughout the day burn much quicker than if you were to not work in the morning.

3. Drinking water all day. Invest in a water bottle, maybe a Brita bottle so you can fill up anytime, anywhere. Have you ever realized when you pee, your urine feels extremely heavy? That’s because you are extracting the most negative chemicals in your body that just want to sleep in your stomach. The water is also dissolving body fat which also is another reason why your urine is heavy. When you constantly hydrate, your body is constantly burning calories.

Picture this… When you pour water onto any piece of food, it starts to gets soggy or dissolve, right? When you drink water, picture the water getting extremely hot (due to metabolism). Then, picture the heated water burning the food you have consumed into fuel to make energy. The more energy you have, the quicker this water heating process will be to burn MORE food at a much quicker speed. Get it now? Water is your best friend to losing weight.

You know why people think U.S. Marines are so built and in shape? You will rarely ever see an overweight U.S. Marine because he/she is constantly hydrating throughout the day.

4. Eat slowly and stay occupied after you eat. When you eat fast, you are not allowing your digestive system to relax or take a breather. Therefore, the faster you eat, the more you will eat. On the other hand, if you were to eat slower, your digestive system is able to perform it’s natural duty and consume food in increments. Eating slower is also good to prevent cramps and stomach aches after consumption.

It takes about twenty minutes for your digestive system and brain to connectedly feel full. Try this next time, eat a couple dishes and not eat. For the first 10-15 minutes, you will feel like you are still hungry, but if you wait another ten minutes, you’re going to feel full. So my advice here is to eat slowly, have smaller portions, and remember that  you are going to still feel hungry after you eat. Stay occupied after you consume and sooner or later you’re going to feel full.

5. Step on the scale everyday. This is a mental tip that many people tend to forget to do! How can you want to lose weight, but rarely ever check the scale? Check the scale daily. Gaining a pound or losing a pound everyday is fine. However, gaining three pounds after a couple days is not good. Checking the scale everyday is mentally reassuring because you will mentally prepare yourself on what to decide later on the day when it comes to making weight related decisions.

Be simple, be natural, be hardcore! These tips work for me and my friends. Sooner or later, these five easy tasks will become second nature and you will find yourself doing this without even thinking about it!

Did you know adding lemon or cucumber slices into your water will help you lose more weight?

COLLEGE, DRINKING, FITNESS, HEALTH

This is me, Paul Kim. A Junior in the College of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University. I’m working towards a dual degree in Advertising and International Relations. I’m a brother in the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Vice President of the Boston University Sports Management Association, and a Marine Option in the Naval ROTC program. I like to eat. I kind of sleep. I work out a lot. I study a lot. I never miss class. I love to drink. I love to dance. I work hard. I play hard. I will admit this. Staying healthy in college is tough, however I think I have figured out most of the secrets. Through experience, I have found ways to look great, but feel greater in college.

There is one goal that all college students have in common and it’s to get a bachelor’s degree, but as busy as we are, many of us tend to forget about our bodies: the drinking, late night munchies, night trips to Chinese or pizza, and the gruesome final’s diet. These are all events that may obviously never change in your college career, but I believe to know the alternatives to each of these typical college student distractions to a healthier body.  Many of us look at the idea of being physically fit as a far fetched goal because of our schedules during the week and weekends. Well, I’m going to tell you, it’s easy to stay fit and prevent unnecessary weight!

The first step to looking great and feeling better is to change the way you look at yourself. Motivate yourself and motivate your friends. Boost your confidence and set the example.

There are tons of diet plans and better workouts out there, but I’m here to share with you what has and is still working for me. Follow my blog and I’ll explain to you how easy it is to lose weight as a college student. How to work out faster, better, and more effectively. Why working out is the most simple way to increase your confidence and how it improves our mind, body, and spirit. I’m a realistic kind of guy. I’m a guy who gives realistic advice.

Did you know drinking cold water as soon as you wake up will jumpstart your metabolism for the day?