Brian Copeland's
Core Fitness Newsletter

3. Nutrition Tip: "Yo Yo Dieting"

Yo Yo dieting is responsible for more fat people than fast food. The fact is that when you go on a starvation diet you are depleting your body of the nutrients that it needs. What does the body do in response? Well it protects itself from dying by lowering the amount of calories it needs to function on a daily basis. How does it do that? By lowering your metabolism and by wasting away muscle tissue.

This causes three major problems.

1. You now carry less muscle so you look worse. Even if you are initially "losing weight" you don't have a nice look because you are now thinner but flabbier. Sure you may initially look better with your clothes on since you are slimmer but the consequences of this will come back and bite you in the butt later.

2. Since you have less muscle and a lowered metabolism your body has now learned to live off of less calories. That means that when you finally go back to eating more food (since you can't starve forever before you crack) your body will put on the pounds like crazy.

3. Even worse. What happens when we think we don't have enough of something? When we get it, we horde it right? Think of the old science fiction movie Dune. In the movie they lived on a desert planet and water was the most important thing you could have. So they hoarded water.

What the heck does an old science fiction movie/book have to do with losing weight Brian? Well the body works the same way. If you starve it, it goes into emergency mode. The next time it gets food it has 2 priorities. 1. Fuel the necessary functions of the body. 2. Store the excess for later since we don't know when we will get more food.

How does it store the extra food or energy? As FAT!

The body will store the extra energy as fat the way we store excess energy in oil barrels for the day when the apocalypse happens and Mad Max is out looking for gas for his car.

We don't need another hero.

So what is the alternative?

First off don't get into the Yo Yo crash dieting so you don't ruin your metabolism in the first place.

Your best bet for progression is as follows:

Step 1: Clean up the types of food you eat
- Get away from processed junk and eat natural food, allow some cheat food from time to time to stay sane

Step 2: Evaluate the fat loss you have made just from cleaning up the types of food you eat
- If you haven't lost body fat just by cleaning up your diet then you are lying to yourself and are still eating too much junk

Step 3: Make sure you are following an effective exercise program
- This will kick the fat burning into high gear and strengthen and tone your body and build back lost muscle tissue. Have me work up a Personalized Training Program for you to follow.

Do you need to get a diet book? Maybe it all depends on your current knowledge and personality. Some of you need the discipline and structure of a nutrition program in a book. Some of you can wing it. If you get my Personalized Training Program I will provide nutrition advice, not a full blown program with day-to-day menu items.

Bottom Line:

• Quit the starvation Yo Yo crash diet cycle
• Clean up the types of food you eat
• Get on a daily exercise program
• Get the body you want

Eat like an athlete!

4. ABC Fitness & Yoga News: "Pictures from ADC Kettlebell Workshop"

The Andrea DuCane Kettlebell Workshop was a smashing success! My little gym was packed to the gills.

Here are a few pictures I snapped last Friday night.

By this time these guys were smoked but had to keep going.

Men and women should train along side each other!

Learning to safely lift a weight off of the floor, very functional!

You can't see the looks of pain on their faces but trust me they are there!

Andrea and I

Sorry to those of you who's picture wasn't posted. I may be a good kettlebell instructor but I'm a lousy photographer ;-)

5. Personalized Program Design: "Tired of Not Reaching Your Goals?"

One of my recent female clients went down 2 belt sizes in a month! She did it in just 15 minutes 3 - 5 nights per week and from the privacy of her own home using just her own bodyweight!

What are you waiting for?

Let's face it, we are our own worst strength and conditioning coaches. We are great at telling other people what to do with their exercise programs but we can't seem to figure our's out to meet our goals.

Whether you are an athlete who needs to perform better at their sport, a guy or gal who wants to look better at the beach, maybe you just want a healthy heart and joints or you want a combination of all three; I can help you get there.

What is Personalized Program Design?

A custom "personalized" training program for created just for you. I take into consideration your goals, time, lifestyle, equipment you have access to, etc. You follow this on your own at home, the gym or where ever. Have kettlebells? Barbells? Dumbbells? Just your bodyweight? No problem!

Who needs Personalized Program Design?

• New to Exercise:
  • You know you want to get 'in-shape' but you have no idea of how to do it. Let me show you exactly what to do and how to progress.
• Wants to Work Out at Home:
  • Custom made training program based on your lifestyle, time, equipment or lack there of.
• Hates Gyms:
  • Join the club, or rather don't, I can't stand them either. Train at home with whatever equipment you have access to. You would be amazed what you can do with just your body weight if that's all you have.
• Short on Time:
• You CAN exercise for 15-20 minutes per day 3-6 days per week easy! If not you are making excuses. I'll show you how, and yes this is effective. But don't kid yourself, you will be working your butt off!
• Been Training for Years But Haven't Reached YOUR Goals:
  • You need a fresh outside perspective on your training. You also need an experienced professional coach to show you the way. I am both of those. All you need to provide is the elbow grease and sweat!

Quit making excuses and treat yourself, you deserve it!

Learn more about my Personalized Program Design here

6. Bonus Training Tip:
"Lesson On Progress "

One of the worst training "sins" in that people commit is pushing themselves as hard as they can every single training session.

Oh sure we must make constant progress and can never back down right? WRONG!

Some might call me a little thick headed but I have had to learn this principle multiple times with my own training. For instance, I can remember several years back when I would train the deadlift and the pullup, among other lifts. I would make constant progress in my deadlift while my pullup had stalled and would not budge. I am a very analytical person and after analyzing the situation I realized that I didn't always push myself as hard on the deadlift, in fact I would never go near failure. My pullups on the other hand I absolutely cranked every single ounce of strength I had each time I trained it but got nowhere. I decided to back off on my pullups and stay 1-2 reps away from failure and sometimes to only do 50 to 60% of what I could do. Well that is when I started hitting new personal bests in the pullups. I worked my way to doing pullups with 100 lbs extra weight or doing pullups with just my pinky fingers.

Now with my new-found knowledge I will easily conquer the world and never be so dumb as to push an exercise as hard as possible each training session right? WRONG!

Even as recent as this last winter after I was inspired to take up tearing decks of cards, after seeing Senior RKC Brett Jones rip several decks in any way we wanted him to, I made the mistake again.

I began my card tearing journey with the right perspective. I started off tearing half a deck, then I would add 2 to 5 cards each week to my tear. Once I the tearing got really hard I would cycle back down to fewer cards and work my way back up 2 to 5 cards at a time. Each time I did this cycle I would hit a new personal best. After just a few months I ripped my first full deck, 52 cards sideways!

I was ecstatic to say the least. Not wanting to relent I went on to rip 56 cars sideways and long ways. Each week I would rip 56 cards (deck plus 4 jokers) twice per week. Now mind you this wasn't an easy effort to do the full 56 cards. It was a 1-rep max type effort.

Sentimental value.

Doing a 1-rep max effort twice per week every week with no break caused me to hit one of those plateaus that I had hit with pullups in the past. I didn't back down though cuz I'm tough! Tough enough that I ended up getting some tendonitis from it. I also burnt out my central nervous system and subsequently lost a lot of strength in my hands.

I had simultaneously been using some heavy duty hand grippers to work my hand strength and had gone up to 10 reps in my peak. But now I could only eek out 1 rep with the same gripper, and sometimes I couldn't even get 1 rep!!!!!!!!!

Lesson Learned... Again

So now I had to make a tough decision... drop the intensity of my training down low... REALLY LOW.

I went back to 30 cards, which was way easy but right now I needed easy work to let my central nervous system recover. I also went down a size in grippers.

I spent the next several weeks working back up slowly, never working very hard and always being mindful of the tendonitis. After a short time I was up to tearing full decks again but I took a different approach. I would tear twice per week. 1 day would be a medium/hard day, not a max effort but challenging. The other day would be an easy back-off day. This would allow me to practice the technique and work the groove and allow my central nervous system (CNS) to rest. I did the same thing with the grippers.

Results... I now am back up to tearing full decks. When it gets tough I drop back several cards and work back up. Soon 56 cards will be easy. I also finally worked my gripper back up to 10 reps with the hard gripper. I can now train for a stronger gripper.

Take Aways:
• Don't ever train to "failure", have a training max that is less than your normal max (90% of your real 1-rep max is good)
• A training max is a hard challenging effort that allows you to complete 1 or 2 repetitions with perfect clean technique
• Only train your training max weight once per week, the other days use less weight and train for perfect technique.
• For that matter, don't train your training max once per week always. Some weeks back off to 70-80% of your training max to let your CNS recover.
• You are not wasting your time with less weight, you are doing what we call "greasing the groove" for future strength gains
• This principle applies to any, ANY exercise you do. Grip work, bench press, sprinting, cardio, stretching/flexibility, etc.

A great program I'm doing now for my Kettlebell Military Press, Weighted Pullup and 1 Leg Squat (Pistol) is to train all of them 5 days per week. I have one "training max" day where I use a heavy challenging weight and get 1 or 2 hard but clean reps. Then the other days I will vary from medium/hard to a medium/easy days using less weight and staying sometimes 3 to 4 reps away from failure each set. Total repetitions per exercise per training session are typically between 5 to 15 in sets of low reps. By having easier days and harder days with the same exercise I am really able to practice the skill of the lift, teach my CNS to be more efficient and stay rested all at the same time. (Read: get stronger and not burn out)

Train smart, progress is a marathon not a race!

7. Charity in Focus: "Precious Ones Outreach International"

My friend Janet "Ama" Annan has a special place in her heart for orphaned and abused children all over the world. She is the founder of Precious Ones of God Outreach International a non-profit organization that takes in orphaned and neglected children and gives them clothes, housing, food and schooling. I have volunteered my time and talents with this organization and can tell you that they are legitimate and make a real difference in the lives of hurting children. In fact, Janet and her husband both work full-time jobs just so they can provide more money to help the children. She can use all of the support she can get. No guilt trip but if you are moved in your heart then please visit her at her website here.

Until next time, train and eat like ATHLETES not hamsters and reap the rewards of a healthy, lean, sexy/studly body!

Brian Copeland, RKC