6 Reasons your New Years Resolution will Fail Hard

1. You're Fasting

I don't recall Ghandi on the cover of Muscle and Fitness

When you fast, it's not a long term thing. It's an amazing amount of effort that can only last so long, that doesn't teach you any long term skills. On top of that, the only weight you're losing is water weight and muscle weight. Even worse is you'll probably want to gorge afterwards as you're starving and want to reward yourself for your misplaced discipline.


Note: Fasting is dumb. Your body does not need a detox. There has never, ever, ever, been any scientific data to prove that it works. Your body naturally detoxes all the time, or you'd be dead. It's called having a liver.

2. You're doing some trendy Fad Diet

Pretty similar to what we just talked about. A lot of effort used to eat very trace amounts of foods, never allow yourself to eat foods you like, etc.

You know you've been dieting too long when this reminds you of pizza.

Are you really going to go the rest of your life on raw food, or never eat a carb again?


I'm sure you've heard it's not a race, it's a marathon.


Do you want to lose (water)weight for a few weeks, or be lean for life?


Exhibit A of Water Weight loss

3. You're relying off of a Supplement

Thrive, Herbalife, Isagenix,, Body wrap companies such as It Works...I'm sure you can name more.


I once fell victim to SELLING some of this stuff just because I wanted supplements I could sell from my gym and purchase at wholesale. But they were so pushy with their selling I felt sick and apologize for selling a product that I din't believe was the best out there. I won't say which product or anymore about them to not offend anyone.




I now have a supplement that I USE ON MYSELF and have it at the gym. But I'm going off tangent now.

QUEST IS THE BEST!!!!!!!

They tell you how to lose weight, but you need to use their product to attain it. And they want you to sell the product as well. Which is how they really make the money. Notice that they want you to sell it much more than they want you to buy it?

4. You don't have measurable goals

How much weight, or how inches do you plan to lose? When is the deadline? Are you measuring weekly and hitting your short term goals? If not, how do you know if you're diet and work out are working so that you can adjust it to fix the goals.

5. You have no support system

Don't hang around the wrong ELEMENT...get it??? Bad guys from the 5th Element...forget it.

Let's be honest. No one wants you to succeed. When you lose fat, you make your friends and family feel guilty about themselves.


When you don't, and give up. It makes them feel better about themselves.

Ever hear about the crab mentality. When crabs are caught in a bucket, they could easily escape. But when one starts to get away the others pull it back down.


A recovering alcoholic doesn't keep hanging out with his drinking buddies.

The best way to get somewhere, is to talk to someone that's already been there.

What about accountability?


What happens this week if you don't meet your goals. Do you have anyone pushing you. Keeping you on track, helping you when everything seems to be going wrong.

When you miss a workout do you make it up. When personal and business problems happen do you let it effect your workout?



6. Your workout sucks


What are you doing? Running? Do you run properly? Ever noticed how many ads in running magazines are for injuries? Do you really want a runners body, which is usually skinny fat.




Do you know how to periodize your programming? Do you know how to lift correctly? Are you putting enough compound exercises together which will help you burn the most calories, and build the most muscle and strength?


Are you doing a fad workout that makes you feel tired but is only getting you limited results?






You want to get the most out of the least. Doesn't mean you won't work hard for it. But it does mean you'll get what you put into it. And that will give you more motivation than anything else when you actually see the fruits of your labor.

3 Don'ts, 3 Do's of the Holidays

3 Don'ts

1. "If I'm gonna eat bad, I may as well go all the way" Excuse

I see this all the time. Somebody messed up with their diet so they decided to just go all out and eat completely horrible for the rest of the day, weekend, or even week!

I don't stub my toe and then go, well might as well break my ankle and slam it into a wall. I don't overspend by $50 on presents then decide to drain my entire savings since I'm already off budget. Hopefully those were good analogies.


Not to mention you're going to set yourself up for more weight gain, feel depressed, lose your momentum, and a downward spiral continues ever ...downward.

Seriously, you're just making excuses to overeat. Know that so that the next time your brain tries to talk you into cheating you know what's happening and don't let yourself be fooled. Because the easiest person for you to fool is yourself.

How about, I've been dieting, working out hard, might as well not ruin it over a few seconds of taste.

 2. Don't be that GUY/GIRL

You know who. The one that brings a protein shake and some celery while everyone else is eating as a family.

Just don't. I don't care if you got all your food in Tupperware that you can eat with the rest of the family. Just be normal and eat like a human for one meal. One meal won't ruin everything unless you just go crazy.

3. Don't weigh yourself immediately after

Of course you gained weight. You'll gain weight from a glass of water. You'll lose weight when you pee. Why weight yourself right after a huge meal and ruin your holiday moment with instant guilt.

Know that you'll gain weight and most of it will be from water. Lost of carb sources combined with lots of sodium will make you look and feel pudgier, but it's fake.

You'll lose it easy. No harm done.

3 Do's

1. Save your calories for the Big Meal

Intermittent fasting has proven that you don't have to eat every 2-3 hours, so if you can go most of the day without eating, then you can get most of you calories done while eating that big Christmas dinner.

I'm not saying you have to starve yourself all day. You can have very lean protein sources with fibrous carbs. That way you'll be full but still have lots of room for calories that night.

Which brings me to...

2. High Protein

Attack the turkey first, or whatever protein source you have. If you're vegetarian go after that tofurkey. Get all those pees as well. If you're filling up on protein and carbs first, then you'll be getting full of low calorie tasty food. Then with the little room you have left you can attack those pies and pudding without having to worry about self control. You simply won't have room for bad food. But you will be full, and have a good time doing it.

3. Be Prepared

I like to do the reverse of Fat Tuesday. A day where everyone knows they're going to be bad for Ash Wednesday that beings Lent.

So they get all the bad out of them.

You know you're going to be bad so get all the good out of you. Workout with lot's of intensity and volume. Get a good diet going before Christmas. And bring lower calorie desserts(that still taste great) to the event for everyone. 

I'd like to give Lyle McDonald credit for putting out a lot of good info on this as I took a lot of his ideas for this as well.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/

https://www.farmerfitness.blogspot.com 
https://www.getfarmerfit.com 
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https://www.facebook.com/FarmerFitness 
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https://www.youtube.com/farmerfitness

5 Most Popular Fat Loss Myths

1st  Myth:

You can't eat late at night

Truth:

This isn't Cinderella where carbs turn into a Pumpkin after midnight. You're body doesn't have a digital clock strapped to it. It doesn't care what time it is.

By this logic, should we worry about time zone changes and daylight savings time?

What about someone who works at night and sleeps during the day? Will celery and oatmeal make them fat because it was eaten when the moon was out?

How it Started:

People snack and gorge the most at night. So when people stopped eating at night they lost weight. They then thought it was science.

I had someone recently tell me they lost weight because they started going to bed early and it stops the urge to eat bad.

It's definitely a good rule to follow if you have issues with eating at night. But if not, don't worry about it. Eat whenever you want.

2nd Myth:

You have to eat multiple meals a day

Truth:

A little thing called Intermittent Fasting has proved this false. People who follow IF eat only once or twice a day and get very lean.

If you're a woman dieting on only 1200 calories and were supposed eat multiple meals it would be impossible. 6 meals at 200 calories?  4 meals at 300 calories? That's rediculous.

It doesn't matter how you eat it, just as long as you get the correct amount before the end of the day.

How it Started:

Most people go long periods without eating. So just when they do eat, they gorge. Which has a lot to do with the previous Myth we just discussed.

Eating often controls your appetite. You ever heard the advice "Never shop while hungry".

If you're really hungry you'll overeat before your brain realizes you're full. Or maybe eat a lot high calorie food that aren't filling because of how hungry you are.

But people use this as an excuse saying they don't have time to eat right. I call B.S. Eat 2-3 times a day and do it right.

Others use this for marketing and sell six pack lunch boxes.

Again, it's a good philosophy to follow, but not truth. Eat whatever size and amount works for you.

3rd Myth:

You must eat Breakfast

Truth:

Why? Because you told me to? Because you lost weight when you ate breakfast, therefor it must make everyone lsoe weight?

That's not how science works.

Is breakfast food lower in calories? No, the opposite.

Does breakfast food have fat fighting ingredients? No again.

I was going to do some fasted cardio but I'm not allowed now?

What if I eat lunch food for breakfast? What if I eat breakfast but I woke up late?

Again, where is the logic in this?

Where it Started:

Breakfast is a good time to load up on carbs because you'll be busy all day and you'll need it to power through your workout as well.

Fruits, Oatmeal, Protien, Fats, etc. all found in a good well rounded breakfast is definitely not a bad thing.

In fact it may curb you from bad decisions during the day.

But it won't fight off fat if you eat it, and won't make you fat if you skip it

4th Myth

Cavemen didn't eat carbs, that's why you're Fat

Truth:

For some reason Cavemen are now the authority on Car Insurance and How to Get Abs.

Carbs don't make you fat. Overeating Carbs make you fat.

By this logic fruit, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, are all bad for you.

If a person has a total maintenance level of 2000 calories, and eats 2400 calories from too many carbs then they will become fat.

But if a person eats 2400 calories (like my current diet) and has a maintenance of 3000 (Like me) they will lose weight even though they will be eating around 300 carbs a day...and I do and I am.

Where it Started:

First of all Carbs retain water, so cutting carbs instantly makes you look leaner. But it's just water weight.

Second of all, Carbs are the easiest thing to over eat. How often does someone overeat grilled chicken and flank steak.

Which is why dumbed down diets such as Paleo and Keto exploit this tactic. The amount of calories you'll eat from lots of fat and protein most often don't match up to all the calories you would obtain from the extraneous carbs people often munch on.

So it definitely works a lot of the time. Though getting all your calories from mostly meat means a lot of saturated fat. But we won't open that can of worms right now.

If you just eat in moderation and/or track your calories you can eat carbs like a real human being. Because cutting carbs completely is not practical for a long term solution. A very miserable existence indeed. Much like living in cave.

5th Myth:

Starvation diets work

Truth: 

While feeling your stomach rumble is normal in the beginning of most diets, it's not something to strive towards achieving.

In fact, I strive for small caloric deficits. Only 15-30% of a deficit from your maintenance is necessary for fat loss. Any more, and your body will get used to it and stop burning off calories as quickly and you'll be stuck in a Metabolic Slowdown.

Why starve yourself if not necessary?

Where it Started:

Massive crash diets are a trend that will never end. You will lose lots of weight quickly, but it will also plateau quickly.

When you're only eating 800 calories and the weight loss stops. Where do you go from there? 500 calories?  Then what?  300 calories?  Then what, live off the air and water?

Meanwhile, if you cut only 300 calories from 2000, you can then cut another 100-200 when you plateau. A reasonable rate of calorie cutting is both more long term beneficial and less miserable.

Plus most weight you lose off a crash diet is water weight, as we covered in the previous myth.

So think about that before you instantly join some one size fits all 500 calorie deduction, or all men should eat 1800 calories diet.

The only crash diet I know that works is miserable and requires a lot of effort but here's a link if you want to try it.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/the-rapid-fat-loss-handbook/

There are many other Myths out there as well but I'll get to them another time.

Can only do so much at once.

-Steven Farmer

http://www.getfarmerfit.com

The Main Exercises

Most people reading this will be beginners to intermediate, so why worry about accessory exercises when you should just worry about the main core workouts.

Plus these compound or multi-joint exercises burn way more calories, build way more strength, and get you way more real world results than you will working out one single muscle.



Also, almost all photos are female because many women are scared of weights. I wanted to highlight that not only they can do it, but they won't look like some jacked up roid freak from doing them often.

All photos are from people I deem natural, and shows how lifting heavy makes your strong, and lean. Not bulky like Chyna from the WWF.



Also, reps and sets listed vary because there's so many different ways to train based on what your goal is.

Most of you are going for fat loss with some strength building so I based it off of a broad range for what you want. More reps with less weight for fat loss. Less reps and more weight for more muscle and strength. Somewhere in the middle for building muscle size, and burning fat.

Too much to get into in a beginner's blog.

Anyway, just read ahead and learn ya a thing or two about a thing or two.

Squats



Everybody's all over the squats now. Strength coaches, bodybuilders and even cross-fitters will all give you shit if you're not doing squats. Which I guess is a good thing since we had years of people skipping legs before.



Squats are possibly the most important workout. You will build larger, stronger legs, and as well as strengthen your core.

So many people skip squats and the next workout because they're hard work.

Keep your chest up, toes 30 degrees out, knees out, and go to parallel or a llittle below for the stretch reflex, and then pop back up.

Legs. Quads, Hhamstrings, Glutes,

3-5 sets of 3-12 reps.

Deadlift



A great workout for not only your back but your hamstrings and grip as well. Some people live by the deadlift...but you can also die by the deadlift. Well at least get injured easily. Trust me and others on that one.

Make sure you have your technique down before you start going heavy. Once you're good at these you'll definitely see why they're important. They will ststrengthen muscle in your back, lower posterior, and your grip.

Start with bar over middle of foot, knees past the bar, glutes, hams, lats, arms all tight, back arched, chest up, slack pulled out, then lift.

Drop quickly and don't let knees extend infront of bar on way down.

back, hamstrings, glutes, forearms.

1-3 sets of 3-6 reps.

Bench Press



Every guys favrorite workout and bragging right. Even women should do this. Hear that you crossfitters!?

Make sure elbows are 70 degrees to keep your shoulders safe.

Arch your back, and keep your scapula retracted, and aim the bar for your nipple line.

Make contact with chest, the explode back up.

You'll build your chest, shoulders, and triceps.

3-5 sets of 5-12 reps.
Bent Over Row



While most people say deadlift is the best overall back exercise, and other proclaim pullups and chinups, I believe the bent over row is the king of back exercises.

It works lats, rhomboids, rear delts, traps, and biceps. It's a much safer a workout than deadlifts, and t's easier for beginners to do than pullups.

You'll build your overall back with this exercise, plus your rear delts and biceps.

3-5 sets of 5-12 reps


Overhead Press



Works more of your body than bench press. Very important workout.

Unlike bench press that injures shoulders via building big delts but not rotator cuffs. This also works the rotator cuff by actually using them to ROTATE.

You'll also have more bragging rights by pressing you own bodyweight over benching your own bodyweight.

Grip a barbell tight around shoulder width and press overhead while keeping body straight. Aim for your nose on the way up, once the bar is past your face, push your head forward, lock out, aim the bar for your nose on the way down as well. Don't actually hit it!

Shoulders, upper chest, triceps, upper back

3-5 sets of 5-12 reps.


Pull Ups/Chinups


These work a large amount of back muscles as well. Lats, trapezius, rhomboids, biceps, detloids, just to name a few.

Plus you impress people when you can do a bunch of them.

The challenge is being able to do them. For beginners the best way is to use a jump stretch band to build the strenth.

You should feel your core working at the bottom, arms at the top, and back all the way through.

3-4 sets of 6-12 reps.

Skull Crushers


The one photo of a guy, because none of the female photos were done correctly.

The way to properly do it is to not actually crush your skull, or even get near it. Go behind your head and go down to a nice stretch, then come up. Come all the way up and contract your triceps for full range of motion.

This will bring in more muscles such as lats and stop you from hurting your elbows.

Make sure to flare out elbows on the way down as well to prevent tendentious.

Triceps, Lats, Core

2-3 sets of 6-12 reps.

Biecep Curls



Start at the top instead of the bottom. Keep elbows by the ribs come down almost all the way, use stretch reflex and come up. You can even cheat a little bit as there is a workout known as Cheat curls.
Just don't get dumb and cheat too much, as in catch the bar bar from underneath.

Aim for 2-3 sets of 6-12 reps.

Cable Crunches


I usually don't have people do ab workouts as you're working your abs already with all these workouts. But it makes people feel better to do so, as if they're actually flattening their abs so I comply. Plus some people could use a little extra core work to help with their other lifts so I'll give you one.

So many core workouts but this is one of the best.

Get on your knees, usually put a pad underneath unlike the girl in the photo. Grab the rope, keep around your head, use core to bring head to the floor, then come back up.

Your hands may hurt and need some adjusting, so be prepared for that. Go for around 20 reps.

Standing Calf Raises



Just kidding. Those are Donkey Calf Raises, and are a legitamate exercise but that's for people who are far ahead of you. Very advanced stuff.

Dumbbell, Kettlebell, whatever. Hold something if necessary to give you more tension. Hold something else to balance off of and be on top of something to where you can have full range of motion as in go down further than where your weight is balanced.

Once again aim for 20 reps, as calves need lots of reps and weight to grow. They're worked all day from you walking so need lots of extra stress to grow.