You Need To Constantly Remind Yourself

Posting things like this around anywhere you may look is a good way to stay focused. This is something my wife posted all over the house. I guess this is what's important to her.

The Better Science Of Sleep

There is a thing out there that is harder to deal with than any weight issue. It's worse than any food addiction. It's poor sleep, insomnia, and a host of other sleep problems. Having had several clients with this issue, more than anything else, this common thing has hampered more training, created more cancellations than anything else.

Basically before work is a hard time to train because they were up all night, they can't get out of bed to come and train. Forget about after work, because they are so tired from their day because they never got to recover the night before, they are a useless zombie.

It makes you irritable in the morning, you can't be alert, you're not pleasant to be around, and most of all, you lack any amount of energy to do anything. This is also a common issue of why people burn out at their jobs and turn to other stimulants.

So how can we get anyone to their goals before they resolve this common but major issue?

The most important thing anyone needs to succeed at anything isn't time. Its energy. And its miserable and depressing to have no energy. Instead of masking the problem, its better to resolve the underlying issue.

So here are my tips:

Make sleep a routine. Meaning you actually have a body clock. Its called your circadian rhythm. You set it every night you go to sleep. If you sleep at the same time every night but change it up one night or on weekends, it disrupts the whole pattern. So if you sleep at 11PM every night then all of a sudden go to bed at 3AM, you will disrupt all your subsequent sleep cycles, you may fall asleep at 3 but your body will wake up over and over throughout the night. Also your body knows when the sun rises and sets, we have been evolved to sleep according to that and so if you don't, even if you get 8 hours you will still be tired.

Avoid excess alcohol or chemical use. Meaning drinks, caffeine, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, or recreational drugs. They may make you fall asleep but it will be a restless sleep cycle where your body may wake up, up to 20 times.

Avoid naps unless they are part of a routine. Remember it's not about falling asleep only. Its also about your body staying asleep.

Have a worry book and light by your bed. People's minds can't stop thinking. Keep the notebook by your bed, every time you think about something, write it down and forget about it. Your body won't let go of thoughts because it is afraid you will forget. So have a light and notebook ready.

Exercise. It helps you sleep. It does. Just don't do it too close to bed time.



Use this alarm. It has helped me with overall mood and energy. I used to hate my alarm because no matter what setting I used, it startled me every morning and I would start the day with an adrenaline dump. Also it didn't really wake me up, it just surprised me. After I turn it off I am sleepy, groggy, and tired. With this it slowly gets brighter over a 30 minute period acting like the sun, not only waking you up but resetting your sleep cycle and making your body think its rising to the sun. It also makes bird sounds that get pretty loud as well. Once you turn it off the light stays on. Key is after this point to not allow yourself to be in darkness again. This will improve your energy.



This you can keep by your computer or on your kitchen table as you eat. 30 minutes or so on and it will recharge you as if you were outside on a bright day. There are things we have been evolved to respond to, water, fire, light, and darkness. This will also help reset your circadian rhythm so you can create that sleep routine I mentioned earlier.

We are big on self optimization with our clients and sleep is a key area to improve overall health. In studies where they took twin sisters, and worked them out the same and fed them the same, but deprived one of sleep, the one deprived of sleep gained weight.

I recently wrote about Michelle who lost 13lbs in 2 weeks. One of her key strategies was eating dinner early and going to bed early.

About the Author:

Coach Sam Y. is a Master Personal Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Coach, Certified Nutritionist, Performance Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, Pilates and Yoga instructor, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook and Pinterests.

Caity Dinner

Spaghetti squash, salmon, onions, cucumbers.

Client Athlete

Congrats to our very own Charles S. for taking first at the NABJJF Los Angeles Open.

He proves that it's not about age but dedication.

The Final Match

Shout Outs

This Does Not Work

Common myths I see people post as their status, "I exercise so I can eat more!"

What Is Too Manly

This is poignant. For people who think girls shouldn't be strong. For people who think girls should just starve themselves, or just do yoga, pilates, spinning, or running and never do any resistance training. To those who think being feminine means having to ask someone to always help with their luggage.

Also poignant to all the guys who look at a girl who is toned and says she is manly. First of all than what does a real man look like? Secondly if you don't like what you see why do you keep staring?

Father of AOE

My father turned 87 years young today!

Honey On Rice

I saw someone pour honey all over their rice. Whenever something like that happens it triggers the health advocate in me and I need to see whats going on.

This was an older gentleman. Had a cane. Obese. And he pour so much honey, that it was basically soup. He told the server that he missed the food. She asked where he's been? He said he was hospitalized and put in a nursing facility for a bit until he got better. Now he's out and can eat normal food again, according to his words. She asked how the food at the nursing facility was? He said it was terrible and was glad to be eating normal food. He then poured honey onto his other items.

On my way out, I saw him outside. He asked me if I had a cigarette.

1 Girl 13 Pounds 2 Weeks

Read Michelle's journal and see exactly how she did it ===> http://www.allouteffort.com/2012/11/how-my-wife-lost-13lbs-in-2-weeks.html

They say you gain weight after you get married. I think it's true. Ask my wife Michelle. She gained about 10lbs. She still looked great but she wasn't comfortable with herself.

Now being a trainer and a husband, I can't do both. I can only do one. So I was her husband, being her trainer and husband with be a terrible idea and I WOULD NOT recommend it. 

Then at her work, they started a contest. A fitness contest. Who could get the most fit in 6 weeks. Actually her boss is one of my clients so he is always running contests like these to motivate his employees to stay in shape. How this one ran was that, everyone had to set their own personal goal. Not who could lose the most compared to others, but you set your own goal and people bet against you. If your goal was really hard people bet more money, if it was easy they bet less or none at all. And if you didn't hit your goal, you would be the person paying everyone out. If you made it, they would pay you what they bet. And you can bet on others as well. Michelle picked a really hard one. 12lbs in 6 weeks and lowering her body fat down to 20%.

6 weeks was a long time so I thought she would be fine. Then she got sick! Not just sick, she had a staph infection! She wasn't supposed to sweat at all. She was on really strong anti-biotics for weeks. When she was finally rid of her staph infection and cleared to work out, she had 2 weeks left. And if she lost she would be forking out 300 dollars!

So we created a plan. It was pretty basic. We changed her diet to mostly raw vegetables and grilled meats. We timed some of her meals and as we got closer to the weigh in day, we kept changing her meal times. We eliminated certain foods as we progressed. Lots of water then even with the water intake we started to time it. At the beginning we zero cardio but then increased it to really intense cardio in the middle and then very light cardio at the end. She did 12 day strength progression series. Very similar to what we did for Shaya.

I didn't actually train her, I just told her what I would do if I was her. She knew all the exercises already so she didn't need coaching for that. She was already good on how to eat, she just needed it to be stricter. I just wrote up a plan and she did it.

But she took photos of herself every day, she wrote down everything she ate, she wrote down all her workouts including her numbers and rests between sets, and she tracked her measurements daily. That was all her. I asked her why she was doing it, and she said it helps her stay focused. So it might be something other people might use as well. At AOE we track all the client progress but it might be good for people training at home.

These were her stats on Day 1 of the last 14 days:

Age: 25

Height: 5'6

Weight: 130

Body Fat: 27%

BMI: 21

Muscle Mass: 31.3%

These were her stats on Day 14 of 14:

Age: 25

Height: 5'6

Weight: 117

Body Fat: 19.7%

BMI: 18.9

Muscle Mass: 34.3%

She actually ended up losing 13lbs not 12 and lowered her body fat below the 20% goal. She also in the meanwhile increased her muscle mass and found some abs while she was at it!

I know people will read this trying to figure out what the magic secret was. And people will sell DVDs and books and pills and supplements saying that was the magic. The real magic in all those situations was the diligence of the person. It's what we work on at All Out Effort and keep hammering into everyone's head. Its not something we can create a DVD or supplement or even sell. It's not glamorous but that's always the difference between the person wanting to make change and the person who does make change.

They aren't doing those workouts or on some diet because it has some magic power to it. Them doing it is just a testament to their diligence and unless you can't replicate that diligence, you will never replicate those results. Writing down everything you eat and do? That's diligence. Working out on vacations? Diligence. Saying no thank you on special occasions? Those are the differences. Every success story is a story about someone doing something everyone else was unwilling to do. Start with your mindset before trying to fix your body.

Why Work Is Fun

The nice thing about what we do is we get to train people like professional athletes without dealing with the egos of professional athletes.

Prax's Journey: A Client Experience

Source: http://www.yelp.com/biz/all-out-effort-sam-y-personal-training-los-angeles#hrid:20PYXevC9q7OGr4Muun8uQ


I have been in the US for 6 years now and had a sedentary lifestyle for the first 5-1/2 years. Before that, I was never FIT at any point of time but, at the very least, I used to play cricket for several hours every week. Being a south-indian, veggies and fruits were part of my diet. Excessive cheese, oil or salt were NOT, it was all good stuff (lentils, veggies, diverse spices, etc ). On the downside, I used to eat a lot of rice, yoghurt, savories and drank coffee quite a bit (coffee diluted heavily with milk).

When I came to LA, there were a few subtle but important changes. I started eating out more (indian fast food and otherwise). So, more cheese, salt and oil than I was ever used to. Due to anxiety of grad studies or work or what not, I started drinking even more coffee. Plus, absolutely NO exercise. Fast forward 5-1/2 years later, I couldn't do easy hikes without taking breaks to catch my breath when everyone around seemed fine (they are not super-fit, just not as bad as I was). Advice from friends, family, doctor and lot of internet research led to prioritizing health as an important goal in my life.

Sam's experience and his blog was an important factor. It has a lot of information on how to improve the diet, what are the kind of exercises to incorporate in training to achieve fitness goals. Another factor is his emphasis that safety comes first. I know people who had severe injuries trying to work out or lift weights without proper training. So, having read client reviews and being convinced in a FREE session, I decided to give AOE a shot.

IMPROVEMENTS
1. Safety comes first and Sam is critical about perfecting the posture before moving on to more reps or heavier weights. When I started, I was asked to run on the treadmill. Soon, he noted that I had an incorrect running form. After a while of running, I had shin splints due to the way I was striking my feet and my shoes. He promptly asked me to try running barefoot, corrected my form and suggested particular type of barefoot shoes. Hours of practice later, I can run faster (7-8 mph), longer (9-10 minutes) and no shin splints yet.

2. Strength training: I didn't know most of the exercises, had poor form for the rest and the weights I used were small. So, Sam suggested that I start with small weights and lower reps. But he made sure that I was pushing myself to the next level and over time, improvements were apparent. Earlier, I could probably squat with 15 lbs kettle bell for few reps. Now, I can squat with 35 lbs for more reps or even do a complex with two 25 lbs (50 lbs effectively). Still have a long way to go compared to other clients.

3. IMO, one of the best advices that Sam gave (see: What Are The Best Exercises For Beginners) is the notion of proper form in body-weight exercises. Some exercises (squats, dead lifts, getting up, etc.) are basic movements that we do everyday. It is crucial to maintain proper form while doing them as well. I felt that was insightful and made it a point to apply it everyday. Whenever I reach down to pick up stuff or lift heavy packages in mail, I make sure that I apply the same techniques as if I were in a gym working with free weights. His method is to teach techniques that go beyond the confines of a gym and intended to be incorporated into daily activities.

4. Sam asked to make significant changes to my diet. Basically, cut down on grains, eat raw and cooked veggies and fruits, healthy fats, nuts and egg whites. The changes have had a profound impact. It is difficult to explain here, but I wrote an article about it, posted on his blog, A Letter From A Vegetarian to Vegetarians.

5. The results speak for themselves. After 5 months of training, I can hike for several hours on moderate to steep inclines; last month, I hiked with a 30-40 lbs backpack on a steep incline for 10 hours in one day and I did fine. And for the readers interested solely in numbers, I've lost 16 lbs (10% body weight) since I started and am at less than 10% body fat (I started at 20%).

6. So far, I've talked about improvements on my end. But that's just part of the story. I had recommended his blog to friends and relatives and it seems, that's had a positive impact as well. For instance, two of my younger cousins, aunt and uncle have already made changes to their diet and fitness methods. Also, it has brought about changes in what my room mates eat everyday. One of them has cut down on rice significantly and has started eating more raw veggies. Now, only if I can convince her and the other room mate to start exercising.

There are several positive things that I could go on and on about Sam but this review has reached its limit. So, I'm gonna end by saying that I completely recommend Sam to anyone looking to prioritize their health, learn the fundamentals of fitness and the effective methods to make it work to attain your goals.

Shaya's Story

"I CLIMB MOUNTAINS!"

All our clients write a declaration on their first day. This defines why they are training. Everyone wants to look good in a bathing suit, that's what they want. Why they want it is what will drive them to the end. For Shaya it's to climb mountains.

She wanted to be physically strong enough to climb mountains as if it were no big deal. She also wanted to be mentally strong enough to deal with life's mountains. Meaning she didn't want to see any issue as a mountain, she wanted to see everything as a hurdle. She wants to become a big time theatre/stage director, and being the only person in her family involved with entertainment and the arts, she wanted to create her own destiny and be strong enough to pursue it.

This was Shaya on Day 1

Stats:

Age: 19
Height: 5'8
Weight: 144
Body Fat: 23%
BMI: 21.9
Waist: 29

On day 1, she was nervous and shy. Not what you would expect from someone who wanted to direct a whole stage full of people. We did our standard assessment that we put all clients through. Nothing strenuous and designed to spot weaknesses and something almost everyone can do without issue. So the clients who know Shaya who think she is in much better shape than them will be surprised that Shaya on her first day after the assessments nearly fainted!

She had to lie down for over 10 minutes. Cindy who also happens to be an EMT was especially worried and wanted her to get some blood work done. She lost all the color to her face. The test basically consists of walking on a treadmill, grading ranges of movement and flexibility, assessing posture, etc.

Shaya said to us, "this is bull!" And was determined to be in the kind of shape and be the type of person she envisioned herself to be. She said she wants to be strong. She didn't want to feel weak. In talking with her, one could sense she had been through a lot and when she said strong, she didn't necessarily mean a physical thing, she meant a feeling. She played sports, did yoga, surfed, hiked, ran, but none of those things necessarily ever made her feel "strong."

I think what she meant and what a lot of people mean by strong is, being able to go outside and live your life without feeling vulnerable. She wanted to create a habit and lifestyle of being strong. Part of her mantra.

This was Shaya on Day 30



She was in much better shape after 30 days. She was even sporting a new hairdo. Her confidence better, and her belief in herself stronger. You ask her to do something and she will either say she can do it now, or she will be able to accomplish it very soon.

But watching that video, though she had improved, she still could be stronger. At first she could barely hold a 15lb kettlebell with two hands. And she had to start the kettlebell swings with a 15. By day 30 she could do multipe triple crushers with a 15lb kettlebell and swings with a 25 without issue...

At Day 50



She was cleaning 50lbs, pressing 50, and front squatting 50 in a very tough kettlebell complex. Complex meaning you never put the weight down, which is much more difficult than a regular circuit. You are constantly dealing with load. That video was just her demonstrating after a tough workout but she in her normal workouts can do multiples of (3x3x3)x3. Which means 3 sets of 3 cleans 3 presses and 3 squats in a row.

She can also do multiple Turkish Get Ups with a 25lb kettlebell. One of our signature moves.

The Get Up represents a culmination of a mind and body in balance with, strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination. It's everything yoga and weight training strives to be all in one. It's also symbolic of the mindset we try to cultivate. A mind that can get up over and over under duress, that is always stable, and can take any form of impact.



To go from barely being able to lift 15lbs over her head to pressing 50lbs multiple times? Especially in a world where girls aren't expecting to be strong, she is creating a different path from girls who just do pilates, yoga, spinning, running, or a ballet fitness bar class. Why can't girls be strong too? Sometimes there is a lot of  sexism in fitness. Like girls should be skinny or at best look fit, but shouldn't BE fit.

We incorporate lots of yoga, pilates, and different training modalities, even those borrowed from ballet. But its just to lengthen, and lengthening is just the precursor to strengthening, not the replacement of it. Flexible muscles without the ability to apply power are useless muscles.

We had put Shaya on a pretty specific diet plan but she wanted to take it up a notch to prove her own self discipline and possibly finally get the 6-pack she never got. She was toying with going vegan (which wasn't a big leap for a former vegetarian) or doing some form of detox.

I challenged her to try something else, and instead of doing it 30 days like she planned, I told her to try it for a week and see what happens. Run it like an experiment. 7 days of only raw vegetables, meaning if the vegetable was inedible or too hard to chew raw, don't eat it (like sweet potatoes, or legumes.) Only thing she could drink was water. No juices or dairy. And grilled meats. Not even supplements or a multivitamin. There were other things we did, we timed certain things, eliminated things at different times, and structured a training plan around the diet.

And at Day 60 she found her abs!

Stats:

Age: 19 - 20
Height: 5'8
Weight: 144 - 137
Body Fat: 23% - 19%
BMI: 21.9 - 20.8
Waist: 29 - 27

Normally people only want to see before and after photos of people who lost a lot of weight, not someone normal looking who got fitter. Well these photos are for inspiration not a form of exploitation. That anyone should be able to want to strive for better for their own personal reasons and get some recognition for it.

Her goal wasn't weight loss, it was about being and feeling strong. And you could sense through her new picture, her new found confidence in herself. Or maybe its more self belief than confidence. She impresses herself every time she shows up to train. On a superficial note, she was also really happy at her stomach.

As being one of our youngest athletes, I look forward to posting more updates on what this mountain climber has achieved in her life.

Melissa's Dinner

Jacky's Declaration

Breaking Stereotypes About Health

I don't juice, I don't detox, I don't take supplements, I don't think yoga will cure your addictions, I don't think going vegan will cure cancer, and I don't work out 5 hours a day to be healthy. I eat and train like a human being.

Father's Day Yoga And Kettlebell Workshop

Happy Father's Day

Melissa And Friends Finishing Their First Mud Run

Our Beautiful AOE Athlete/Bride Rebecca

Congratulations!!!

Are We An Omnivore Or Nomnomnomnivore

Client Excuses

Client - "I can't make it in today at 6AM. I gotta go into work early."

Me - "It's Friday. You aren't going into no work early."

Client - "You're right."

Me - "See you at 6AM."

The Best Adjustable Kettlebell

I didn't invent this product. I wish I did though. I don't work for Cap and I ordered these through Amazon. But these are by far the best adjustable kettlebell out in the market bar none.

It's the only one that is a real kettlebell that's just been hollowed out to put in the extra weights. It's shaped like a competition bell so no matter what the weight it will feel the same, so its more comfortable to hold for cleans, Turkish get ups, snatches, or anything where the ball is resting on your forearm. So it swings and acts and feels like a kettlebell. You can do everything with it, except drop it because it has a dial you can break. If you do break it, it will just be a 20lb kettlebell. Still not bad.

I own two of these. In the long run it will save you lots of money and space. And it's easy to change weights. With any adjustable product, the whole reason it sucks is because it takes too long to change the weights. It's why they are not popular. This one takes literally a second. You place it back on the base turn the dial and use again. All the other ones you gotta switch out or slide in weights. That's BS and slows down your workouts.



Anyways I own some. Love them. Thought you guys should be aware if you were in the market for kettlebells.

Beyond Personal Training

It's hard to explain to people what exactly we do here, but its BEYOND personal training.

Steak, Salad, Cherries, Spaghetti Squash

Picture from Caity

We All Have A Fit Friend

Please never never tell me how "fit" your friend is because they do some combination of running, spinning, pilates, and yoga. They may look great, be a wonderful person, but "fitness" should be defined as an ability to athletically save your own life if the need arises. Meaning jump high enough, far enough, run fast enough, far enough, be able to lift, pull, push, press your own body weight around, cling and climb, and do this in multi-directions without getting tired. As advanced as this sounds, its something most kids of a certain era used to be able to do. It's something we should have accomplished in PE. And in some countries they still do.

There is a difference between being fit and being attractive to look at.

But It's A Special Occasion!

Vince's Declaration

"I am supported by the universe for every decision that I make. As long as I ask and I will move forward."

Ivana And Gavril's Meals

You Are Not Special Commencement Speech

The greatest commencement speech given. It's talking about how we all want to feel special. How we celebrate everything and nothing. How we reward ourselves for every minor achievement. He's talking about success in life.

I see the same issues with health. A culture of reward eating, celebrating anything just to get together and eat. I'll start my diet on Monday because I have a graduation, an office party, an ice cream social. When we look at pictures of ourselves now, and our parents at the same age, you can see who truly rewarded themselves more. Our parents generation were too busy to reward or celebrate so much because they were busy industrializing the world. Now instead of doing we just reward. Cake usually comes with special occasions, that usually meant once a year. Now it means once a week.

Ultimately it's about not being mediocre. Not comparing yourself to your friends or people around you. That's not enough. You have to do the best of your potential. As he puts it, seize the hell out of the day. It starts today, don't wait until next Monday.

Caity and Sandra's Dinners

After School

Saw a middle school get out and all the (over 50) kids walk across the street to Fatburger and El Pollo Loco.

Which leads me to two questions:

1.) Did they not eat lunch at school?

2.) And secondly do they not have any food at home?

I was speaking to one of my clients daughters who he had brought to training. She goes to a prestigious private school. I asked her about the food there. She said its really good, salmon, tri tips, tossed salads, fresh fruits, etc. She hasn't had french fries in years.

Private schools have their own problems but the gap between foods from a good private school to a good public school is too large.

Health shouldn't be one of the problems of being middle class.

Former Client Update

A former client sent me a random message updating me on her progress. She sent me a picture of her completing her first half marathon. She is still exercising and putting in the effort! This is when you know you are changing lifestyles, not just burning calories.

Sandra's Declaration

"I am positive thoughts. I am healthy and strong body. I am a refreshed spirit that grieves no more!"

Kirsten's Dinner

With a little AOE goodie.

How Did Our Food Make Us Human?

I have discussed in length how we humans were designed and evolved to eat. One of our clients friends happens to be an anthropologist, and she read the article and agreed with it wholeheartedly. She said that that's probably the view of most anthropologists.

She also sent me this documentary that gives an anthropological view to my same argument. It's about how food, hunting, and cooking were keys to human evolution. It interviews many noted anthropologists and scholars. The natural diet of humans seems to be a mix of raw vegetables, some cooked vegetables, cooked meats, nuts, and fruits when available.

One of the things worth mentioning was the scientists work on calories. They ran an experiment with rats, one set of rats were fed raw sweet potatoes. The other cooked sweet potatoes. Same portions. The ones who ate the raw potatoes statyed the same size. The ones who ate the cooked potatoes got fat. This is the main problem of counting calories. It assumes you will net the same amount. You can eat a carrot or a piece of candy, both may be equal in calories, but you will net far less of the calories of the carrot (but more of the nutrients) whereas with the candy you will gain all the calories with no nutrients. So the key isn't calorie counting. That doesn't work, its more a question of ingredients, quality, and preparation. If we focus on calories, we can keep processing foods that are lower in calories, but that are more processed so that we net even more of it. The reason the rats gain more calories when the sweet potato is cooked is because cooking is a form of pre-digestion, so it's ready to be absorbed. Now if you process it, grind it, refine it, and cook it, it doesn't even need to be digested at all. It's ready to spike your blood sugar the moment it hits your system. With less processed foods, a lot of it will leave your system undigested as insoluble fiber. Even the things they sell as high fiber are products that are processed and can't be eaten in it's raw state. Which defeats the purpose.

This causes the problems with blood sugar, insulin, storage of fat, metabolic damage, fat around the liver, hormonal responses, adrenal responses, pancreatic responses, obesity, sickness, and premature death.

A lot of people have opinons on what we ate, this is what the people who do it for a living have discovered.

Kirsten's First Meal

On the All Out Effort wall. Welcome to the team. Looks like you are having mixed vegetables and chicken breast with lemon water for dinner. Nice knife!

Focus On Your Goals

And not on what you used to be.

AOE Self Defense Clinic Highlights

Thanks to everyone who came out. It was a lot of fun.

Too Big For Biggest Loser?

So it's true. You CAN be too big for The Biggest Loser.

This Is Who I Am!

A new declaration from a new client, Kirsten:

"I am a toned, athletic, slim, happy person on the outside because this is who I am on the inside. This is what I believe and this is how I believe the world perceives me. This is who I am."

Sacrifices

I have a client who suffers from a certain condition. Because of her disease she needs to avoid caffeine and dairy which is hard for a girl who loves coffee with milk and cheese. She whined and complained and we talked about it a lot. I didn't tell her but because of how hard of a time she was having, I gave up caffeine and dairy as well. I felt so bad, how can I tell her to avoid something if I wasn't doing the same thing?

It's not easy to be healthy. You have to make sacrifices. But whenever you sacrifice, inherently you are gaining something. You are gaining your health back.

End Of May Results

End of May was full of great results for some, and a learning experience for a lot of new clients.

Some highlights:

Art lost 3lbs and 10% body fat.
Gavril lost 3lbs
Glenn lost 3 more pounds.
Ashley lost 2.4 more pounds
Simon lost 3.2
Kevin lost 5 (BRINGING HIS TOTAL TO 43LBS!)
Amanda lost 5lbs and 5% body fat.
Michelle lost 1lb
Whitney lost 3.6lbs
Angela lost 1lb
Laraine lost 3lbs and 3.4% body fat.
Anita lost 11.2lbs!!!


This month we ended up weighing in after a long weekend and holiday, Memorial Day. How much does a long weekend affect you when you are taking it easy on your diet?

Glenn had lost 6lbs on Friday, right before the weekend. On the following Tuesday he had gained 3 of those pounds back. Michelle had lost 5lbs on Thursday before Memorial. After Memorial she had gained 3 of those pounds back. Dana was down 3 more pounds on Friday, almost at her personal goal! By Tuesday she had gained 4lbs, so she was up a WHOLE pound.

Everyone had it rough this month, with people coming back from Hawaii, actually several people, Napa, and endless BBQs. Listen, it's never easy. It's tough. I know, I get it. Almost every one of my clients had much higher projected numbers the week before Memorial. They didn't think 3 days could make much of a difference. That's why I weighed them in after the long weekend. It's a hard lesson. I didn't have to share it with the internet but I did, it's a learning experience everyone can learn from. One bad weekend can ruin a months worth of work. Is it worth it? Actually let me answer that for you. NO!

To the clients who were able to overcome the weekend and get one step closer to the goal, it is even more admirable. There is nothing glamorous about how we get to our goals here at All Out Effort. We peck away at it. Kevin never had a crazy month where he lost 10lbs. He just pecked away at it every month, and never had one month where he gained any of his weight back. He still has a way to go, but when he said to me, "so probably for the next 20lbs, I have to go harder than the first 40 huh?" I nodded my head.

He already set his expectations, I didn't have to say anything to him. He gets it done and does it quietly. Believe it or not it's harder to lose weight slowly than quickly? What do I mean? A lot of people lose weight really quickly in the first 2 months. Maybe they are down 30lbs! After a year, they are back up plus 10 more pounds. Let's say we have another person who took a whole year to lose 40. So the person who lost it quickly after a year is up 10, the person who lost it slowly is down 40 and still going, little by little every month. It's not a race. In a race it's impossible to go backwards. In weight loss you can so it's not an accurate comparison. Weight loss is like any strategy game, its okay to gain territory inch by inch, the most important part is not to lose any ground that you've gained. That is the key to strategy and believe me there is strategy to weight loss.

Why Did You Start Your Sport?

My martial arts coach Rubens "Cobrinha" Charles who also happens to be a 4 time world champion in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu made a great point to his athletes today. He talked about how athletes after an event will pig out and eat poorly, maybe drink, party, or any other series of unhealthy activities. And then he asked, why did you start the martial arts? I thought it was to become a winner, a better person, a stronger person, a healthier person? So why aren't you living your life like that? You dieted and got as healthy as possible, as soon as the event why would you start eating poorly now? Because you think you can? That's not how a champion thinks.

Same could be said for any athlete, runners, tennis players, basketball players, etc. Or maybe your friend who is an avid runner, trains and does marathons, yet eats poorly all the other times. Why did they get into their sport? Wasn't it to become healthy and active and do something else in their life other than being sedentary? Does this describe you? Weekend warrior, weekday health nut?

Not many of us can call ourselves a world champion, especially something as competitive as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I guess it's why many of us will never be a champion or a winner, because we only live healthy part time, or for an event. We aren't living healthy, we just try to live healthy enough. The thing I always hear from my people, "well you should see how my friends eat?"

I don't care how your friends eat. They aren't my clients.

Self Defense Clinic

The Sunday Self Defense Clinic was a huge success. Thanks for all the AOE clients and guests for coming out and sharing your Sunday with us. Everyone loves free!

Updating Files.

Been updating client files all week and going over progress with Coach Cindy. And will probably continue updating all weekend with their improvements and where they are and new stats. Looking over my notes from day one, they have grown so much in this time. Can't imagine them any other way now.

All The Ways We Hurt Our Back

Couldn't sleep last night. Coach Cindy and I were discussing a client who's back seemed to be regressing and we couldn't figure out why. I got up and looked up all the ways to try and improve her back. I was diving back into all my corrective exercise training, yoga tricks, FMS stuff, everything. And then I was getting ahead of myself. We are dealing with humans here who can communicate and sometimes we get so caught up in improving our clients and using our training, we forget that the client can talk. So I texted her and asked why one of our best athlete's back looks so weak lately?

She said she thinks she needs a new mattress. She's been meaning to get a new one... I asked if its old and squishy and sunken down in the middle. She said yes... If she notices problems with her back and thinks she needs a new bed, and her coaches notice something is up, I think it's time for a new bed. It's crazy how we would have tried all these therapies if we didn't just ask her what was going on. Sometimes solutions are simple. So if you've been meaning to get a new bed because it's hurting your back, go get one!

We can try to resolve any issue as much as we can, but if we don't remove the thing that's causing the issue in the first place, we become like everyone else, we treat the symptom. There's so many things out there for trainers to get certified in to deal with mobility issues and limitations and chronic pain. We forget that our best ally is common sense, curiosity, and dedication.

A lot of times its things like bad posture throughout the day, sitting at a desk, your shoes, the way you walk, holding your wallet in your back pocket, your purse, driving too much or how you have adjusted your seat (slightly leaning the seat back alleviates a lot of pressure), or your activities like golf, tennis, basketball, or even yoga. I know people think yoga is good for your back, and it can be. But a lot of it was never intended for people who had sedentary lives. You have to regress yoga back as much as you can, back injuries in yoga are quite common.

Fix your bad habits, then fix your back. And always be mindful of what you are doing before you play guessing games to what's going on with your back. Especially when you exercise, people think, oh the workout hurt my back. More often than not, back problems are a chronic issue, meaning it built up over time so it's something you did all the time and continue to do outside of training.

Even Former Clients Cannot Escape

Since I am friends with a majority of my clients on Facebook, even the former clients, I tend to check on them a lot. I saw a bit too many unhealthy food habits one former client was posting and had to send her a message to remind her of her original goals. Former shmormer. Once a client, always a client. Even if you no longer train with us, we are still ever vigilant! And maybe a bit obsessive as well...

Is More Exposure Better?

I always get contacted by random TV shows. This time a show on Bravo. I always turn them down. I hope one day though there will come an opportunity that will be uplifting and positive and not all sensational.

Approximately The Same Age

This picture might scare you. It's not that the person on the left is that sickly for her age. It's that the person on the right is very healthy for her age. Whenever I see people in their late 60s, to 70s, and 80s, who are no longer physically capable, I hear someone say, well that's normal for their age. Or they are just old...

It reminds me of my dad who's almost 90. Being diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago, he still seems in better health than most people 30 years younger.

Sometimes What We Call A Fast Metabolism

Is really IBS.

The Sum Of Training

Your training is more than the sum of one workout. Its the emails, the texts, the social media, the talks, the encouragements, the reminders, the accountability, listening to you whine, holding you up when you cry, answering all your questions, holding you accountable, always being there. The time spent not just on the lifts but time spent on mobility, correct form, and balance.

It may take 5-10 minutes to make people feel like vomiting. It could take up to half an hour to correct form or get people to memorize certain stretches or drills. But it's an investment that will pay off exponentially down the line.

There are people who have been working out all their lives but can't touch their toes, control their eating, control their emotions, or pull their own body weight.

Teaching Kids About Obesity

It starts with children.

The Riddle Of French Eating

This is an interesting topic. People who have been to France often wonder how the French (or actually all of Europe for that matter) can eat the way they do and for the most part stay so much leaner than Americans.

I didn't want to say lean overall because France has its problems with obesity as well. I think also as tourists, you spend more time in the nicer more affluent areas and the affluent areas of every country is skinnier than the rest.

With that said, the riddle lies in the fact that a lot of people, if they ate the same foods as their counterparts do in France, they would gain weight. Actually a lot of Americans eat very similarly to the French but gain weight doing this. There are several diet books about how to eat like a French person. Even when the French come to the US, they eat the same and begin to gain weight. So what gives?

Fortunately I have several French clients and have met a lot of French immigrants in different social circles. So I decided to ask them. So what gives? How come you can eat so much pastry and sweets and be skinnier than the Americans? I could say the same about Italians in Italy compared to Italians in the US.

They all stop to think about this then they gave some answers. There is no one thing, it's not simple black and white but they gave some of their own impressions.

1. Spend more time outside. From eating to walking to going out on dates, they spend more time outside. This is good for hormones that regulate weight, you don't eat the same way outside, and being outside means you are more active. Something New Yorkers also have over Angelenos.

2. Eat slower. I don't know if Europeans eat that much slower or Americans eat fast, but even compared to Asians, Americans eat fast. And in Europe it is normal to sit and eat for hours in a restaurant, and the server won't give you any dirty looks.

3. Quality, they have better ingredients. It's why a lot of native cultures who cook the same foods, once they start to use the cheaper American brands, they begin to gain weight. It's often why Europeans also shop more often at farmer's markets. One of my good Russian friends said, the first thing his family complained about when they came to the US was the taste of produce. One of my doctor clients who is also an online health expert said, if you ever want to see where they have the best, freshest, and most organic produce is, follow where all the old European ladies go.

4. In France they eat French food. In the US, we eat... Actually no one really knows what American food is. In Japan they eat Japanese food. In India, they eat Indian. In the US, it's a free for all. Eating the most popular and most fattening foods of all the different cultures. And of course the fast food versions of every culture. Its why people from other countries gain weight in the US. They want to try all the different foods because in their home country, they ate at home or ate their own regional foods that they were used to.

5. Because obesity isn't as common, when they notice weight gain, they are much more quick to act on it.

6. This was their main answer and most common one: Don't have so much corn, soy, hormones, and GMO in their foods. Basically Americans don't really eat food. They eat things that represent food, things that are present as food, the promise of food, whether if its bread or ground meat, but often times its mostly corn or soy.

It will be interesting to see if we learn from the Europeans or they learn from the Americans. Everyone wants convenience. Including food to be convenient. No one does convenient food better than the US. It is also our chief export.

Note: A reader pointed out that smoking is much more common in France and in Europe. If true, this could also factor in, but will of course lead to other health problems.

About the Author:

Coach Sam Y. is a Master Personal Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Coach, Certified Nutritionist, Performance Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Enhancement Specialist, Pilates and Yoga instructor, and holds multiple certifications. He is also an avid Martial Artist, training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Boxing, and MMA. He is also the author of the popular fitness blog All Out Effort as well as the popular martial arts blog Inner BJJ. You can find him in the Los Angeles area personal training his clients, or at home annoying his wife, or on Facebook and Pinterests.

Strength Gains

People have all kinds of notions about how to get stronger. A lot of it is based around getting bigger to get stronger. Then you are dealing with absolute strength, being as strong as possible at any size. And you can only get so big, then at some point you still have to be strong for your size. Which we call relative strength. Strength relative to your size.

I had an athlete come to me a few months ago. Coming off a serious knee and neck injury, he was very weak, but his sport demanded he was strong.

His sport was BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). In that particular sport, there are weight divisions, so there is no reason to try to get this athlete bigger. Actually that would be a bad thing. You need this athlete as strong as possible for his size. He walked around at 135.

We had to start slow. The strength training should not hinder the athlete's ability to train his sport, which is often forgotten. So he needs to get stronger without getting fatigued or sore for his later afternoon sessions. Especially if the athlete is training twice a day in his sport and once a day in strength.

So we made it really simple. We broke it down to 15 minutes of strength a day every day 7 days a week. Working out like this will never get you huge but it will set personal records in lifts. We also took 5 lifts that would be most essential to his sport, and worked on strengthening only those 5 lifts. Trying to set PR (personal record) in each lift over a 40 day span. Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John call this Easy Strength. Building strength in an easy manner, slowly, and over time so as to not traumatize the body and also not hinder athlete's skill sets in their sport. This athlete had never lifted before so it would be a waste of time trying to have him do circus type work outs that he would not benefit from. Simple and easy.

The 5 lifts were: The press, deadlift, pull up, goblet squat, and the clean.

Doing it every day for 40 days. Took around 15 minutes a day. Easy. And it was. This is also weight that the athlete should be able to do with minimal warm up. Not his maximum or his best effort. Something he could lift at any moment. The idea was to increase his normal lifts to increase overall strength.

Day 1 numbers:

The press: 2 25lb kb (kettlebells) 3 sets of 3
Deadlift:  60lb 3x3
Pull up: 4 first set. 3 second set. 3 last set. (note this was done all the way down to deadhang, and no sway was allowed or it was considered performance failure. Tough)
KB front squat: 2 30lb kb 3 sets of 3
Clean: 45lb 3x3

Day 1 was really easy, actually the athlete thought too easy. Doing the same work out again day 2, kind of tough. Day 7, a bit of soreness because there was no off day. By day 9 we were ready to increase squats to 5 reps 2 sets.

It was hard to increase more than one lift at a time because it was too taxing for the body. We started everything with 3x3, then 5x2, then 10x1. When they could do 10 reps in 1 set, it was time to make things heavier. Never totaling more than 10 reps total.

Overtime we switched the squats to pistols and the kb press to dumbbell presses to keep up with his gains without having to stack so much weight on top of the athlete.

Towards the last 20 days, something was going up almost every day.

By day 40:

The press: 2 35lb db (dumbbell) 10x1
Deadlift:  135lbs 10x1
Pull up: 10 reps. (Pull ups are historically the hardest to increase)
Pistol: (5x2)x2 (took a while to increase range of motion to sit down all the way to the heel)
Clean: 75lbs 10x1

He could easily do more than this, but these are lifts he could now do with no warm up, anytime, easily. If he was trying to set a max, the numbers would be much higher. He would also not be able to train for a week. Also looking at where he started to where he ended, its some pretty insane increases in a short span.

Increasing strength also increases his endurance in his sport because he exerts himself less doing any of the sportive movements. Which means he can conserve more energy. Training cardio isn't the only way to increase endurance. If you have an athlete who is really weak but has strong cardio, he will still tire out and exert himself because he has to use create that much more effort to make up for his lack of strength.

Cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory strength is created in the sport. No strength training move can mimic the type of cardio an athlete needs. The strength training CAN increase overall strength and condition the athletes muscles to conserve more energy by exerting less by increase overall potential. The idea is strength and conditioning, not cardio and sport mimicry.

Do You Eat Bones?

I get some of the weirdest questions when I tell people that I try to eat like our ancestors. Like how we were evolved to eat. Especially when its from people who have never heard of this type of eating and if they haven't heard of it yet, it must not be popular. "So uhhh does that mean you only eat meat?", "Does that mean you eat only bones","Do you eat the insides of bones?","Do you only eat raw meat?", "Do you only eat meat that you kill?"

Food has become like dogma. You can't bring up food and a different way of eating without making people defensive. It's emotional. Eating like our ancestors and how we were evolved to eat, is the opposite of dogma. It's running towards science. In science you have no loyalty, you only run towards the truth. Eating this way is against everything most people are taught and believe in. But its what anthropologists, doctors, nutritionists, and even statisticians are coming to. The thing raw vegans, juicers, and paleo people have in common is that they all avoid grains and don't eat things with added sugar or corn based sugars. Even Weightwatchers to Lindora and almost every weight loss center has been turning away from calorie counting and moving towards how our body really absorbs food.

One thing this does say though, questions like the ones posed above does give you an idea of what people think our ancestors ate. Which is meat (which isn't the complete truth, they mostly ate vegetation and meat when they could get it and so most of my diet is also vegetables). One of the people asking me these questions was a vegan. Which makes me wonder, if even he thought that our ancestors ate meat and we evolved doing so, what is so natural about avoiding meat?

And to answer the question, yes I eat bone. But that's only because I am Korean and that is common in the culture.

What I Heard During Brunch

Sitting for brunch with my wife, overheard two budding actors talking about their personal trainers and what machines they put them on. This machine for their chest, that machine for their quads. I looked over at them to see if they were in wheel chairs and wondered why they train so much as if they were physically incapable? Machines serve two purposes. Because you have some physical limitation, or you are a body builder.