3 Unusual Tips to Build Bigger Arms

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author of best seller:  The Truth About Six Pack Abs

1.  Do more heavy squats and deadlifts!
Yes, I know this sounds crazy since squats and deadlifts don't directly work your arms (except for the grip and forearm strength needed to deadlift heavy weights)... but it's true that regularly performing heavy squats and deadlifts can indirectly help to make your arms bigger and stronger.
The reason is that heavy squatting and/or deadlifting forces the body to release muscle building hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone depending on the resistance level, rep range, rest period, etc.
Generally, heavy weights, lower reps, and longer rest periods stimulate testosterone release, whereas moderate weights, higher rep ranges, and shorter rest periods help to stimulate Growth Hormone release.  Therefore, combining both styles of training into your routines on either different days of the week or different cycles, can help to maximize both of these important muscle building hormones.
2.  Try my arm-blasting, hormone-maximizing combo sets!
In theory, I think this style of combo I'm going to show you can work well to stimulate some new growth in your arms if you've been stuck at a plateau.  In practice, I've actually SEEN it produce results!
My technique involves combining a heavy squat or deadlift (in a very heavy weight and low rep range) with a single-joint exercise for the biceps or triceps (in a higher-rep "pump" style fashion).
So here are 2 ways this could work in separate workouts for example:
Alternating sets (exercise 1a, rest 30-60 seconds, exercise 1b, rest 30-60 seconds, repeat for all sets)
1a. Barbell back squats -- heavy challenging weight - 5 sets of 3-4 reps/set
1b. Barbell or dumbbell curls (or any bicep single-joint exercise) -- 5 sets of 12-15 reps/set; going for "pump"
So you can see how this unusual style of supersetting (or rather, alternating sets), actually combines a testosterone stimulating full body exercise done at a heavy weight with a single joint (isolation) exercise that has the intention of creating more of a bodybuilding "pump".
The other reason this style of alternating sets works is that the single-joint exercise is almost like an "active rest" while your entire body and CNS recovers from the demands of doing heavy, heavy squats.
The same style can work with deadlifts combined with a triceps exercise...  for example:
1a. Barbell deadlifts -- heavy challenging weight - 5 sets of 3-4 reps/set
1b. Triceps single-joint exercise (lying dumbbell extensions, cable pressdowns, etc) -- 5 sets of 12-15 reps/set; going for "pump"
Again, this seems like an unusual combo for alternating sets, but actually works out quite well, because after deadlifting very heavy weights, performing a high rep "pump" exercise for the triceps is a welcome relief for your body and your mind to help recover and get ready for the next set of heavy deads.
3.  Food, food, food!
Remember that the title of this article meant that your goal was to add more muscle SIZE to your arms, and in order to add muscle to your body, you need to be in a slight caloric surplus.
Ok... so the first 2 tips might have been a little unusual, but this one should be obvious.
Although it is possible for some people (especially beginners) to add muscle mass while reducing calories below their maintenance levels, it is extremely hard for any type of hardgainer to build any muscle at all if your calories aren't high enough.  Remember, we weren't talking about a fat loss routine here... we were talking about gaining muscle and getting bigger arms... so that is going to require some extra calories above your maintenance.
Don't go crazy and think this means eating tons of junk food... you should still stick to clean healthy foods.
I wouldn't obsess over exact ratios of carbs, protein, or fats either... your body needs all 3 for different reasons... protein as the building blocks of muscle; carbs for muscle glycogen, energy during the workouts, and insulin response post-workout; and healthy fats to help maximize your muscle building hormones.
This is more than just about arms and pecs though... if you're dedicated to building a ripped, strong, powerful body from head to toe, I HIGHLY recommend my good friend and colleague Kyle's new website here:

Hope you enjoyed the article and have fun with the training!
Feel free to email (or facebook it, tweet it, etc) this link to any of your friends that might want to build bigger arms or more muscle overall.

Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-selling program:  The Truth about Six Pack Abs

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5 Tips to Eat Healthier, Exercise Smarter, and Get in the Best Shape of Your Life

by M. Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
1.  Consider eliminating grain-based foods from your diet, and focus more on fruits and vegetables for your carbohydrate sources.  Despite the fact that most so-called "health professionals" tell you to eat 6-9 servings of "whole grains" daily, they may be inadvertently leading you down the wrong path, and causing digestion problems, reduced energy, and even weight gain.
The truth is that the human digestive system has developed over almost 100,000 years to process a "hunter gatherer" type of diet most efficiently -- this means fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, and meat (from healthy animals, a far cry from today's factory farmed animals).
Grains, on the other hand, were not introduced to the human diet until more recent times with the invention of agriculture (only a couple thousand years ago), and therefore, our digestive systems are still not designed optimally for grain foods.  It's no surprise that it's estimated that the majority of the world's population has at least some degree of problem digesting gluten, a protein which is common to most grains (wheat being the biggest problem for most people).
My advice -- test out giving up grain foods for 1-2 weeks and see if you have more energy, feel better overall, and start losing weight.  I have another article here that talks about 2 foods worth doing a test for eliminating from your diet, and see if you notice improvements in energy and health.

2.  When it comes to eating meat, you MUST choose organic and grass-fed (or free range). Grass-fed meats (such as grass fed bison or beef) have as much as 2-5 times more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than do conventional grain-fed meats.  CLA is a natural healthy fat that can help to reduce cancer risks as well as help to burn off body fat and build muscle (according to some studies).
Also, grass-fed meats contain a healthier, more balanced profile of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids, which helps to reduce inflammation in your body.  On the other hand, typical commerical grain-fed meats contain fat profiles that are far out of whack and way too high on the omega-6 fatty acids, and too low on the healthy omega-3's.
My advice -- forget about conventional meats and stick to only grass-fed or free range on the labels.  It may cost slightly more, but isn't your body and health worth it?  The same goes for wild fish vs farmed fish... Farmed fish are never fed a healthy diet, and are instead fattened up with grain-based meal pellets, which are not the natural diet of fish.  Wild fish that ate their natural diet will have much healthier ratios of omega-6 fats to omega-3s.  Also beware of this issue with toxic fish that you can get at grocery stores.
3.  For exercise, most people think that cardio exercise is the best way to lose fat.  What most people don't realize is that high intensity weight training (when done in a specific fashion) increases your metabolic rate to a higher degree than typical "same-pace" cardio exercise routines.  Not only that, but weight training done at high intensity has also been shown to have powerful effects on your body with reducing blood pressure and increasing your body's efficiency at processing blood sugar.
If you're not already making high intensity resistance training (weight training) the foundation of your exercise routines, start putting more focus on this, and less focus on the boring cardio exercise routines.
4.  You MUST ENJOY your workouts if you are ever going to be consistent with them for long term results.  Although sports are great (and the type of exercise that most people consider fun), and I highly recommend getting involved in sports to keep yourself in great shape, you also still need to incorporate weight training (or some form of resistance training) into your regular routines for many reasons.
The bottom line is... you need resistance training to keep maximum bone density as well as to keep your metabolism as high as possible.  Most sports typically won't give you the same benefit as the best basic full body weight training exercises.  If you want a lean strong body for life, resistance training on a regular basis is a must!
5.  Diet Pills are a TOTAL WASTE of your money!
Although you may have been duped in the past with flashy ads showing fitness models with perfect bodies, I guarantee you that they did NOT get their perfect bodies from taking any ridiculous diet pills (or so-called fat-burner pills)... they achieved their high levels of fitness and sexy lean bodies through dedicated exercise routines and smart healthy nutrition... after all, their career revolves around eating extremely healthy and working out hard on a regular basis!

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Unique Lean-Body Workouts for Time-Crunched People: Super-Fast "Multi-Workouts" to do at Home or the Office

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author - The Truth About Six Pack Abs

Warning: this style of workout is WAY different than anything you've ever tried before and may result in a dramatically leaner, stronger body so that your friends no longer recognize you in a matter of weeks!
Alright, I exaggerated about your friends recognizing you, but this workout is still great for busy people that always use the excuse that they don't have time to go to the gym, or even for the normal gym rat to try out for a few weeks to break out of a plateau.
Please keep an open-mind and don't worry so much about what other people think, because this is quite different and you may get some funny looks, but you'll get the last laugh with your new rock hard body! To be honest, most people are too self conscious to try something like this. If that's the case for you, then that's your loss.
Here's how it works (these workouts can be done at home or even in your office):
Instead of doing your traditional workouts of going to the gym 3-4 times a week and doing your normal weight training and cardio routines for 45-60 minutes at a shot... with this program, you will be working out for just a couple minutes at a time, several times throughout each day, 5 days/week.
The program will consist of only bodyweight exercises done for about 2-3 minutes, 6-8 times per day, throughout each day. Now obviously if you work a normal office job, you are going to have to not be shy about doing a few exercises in your office and having your cube-mates watch you. Actually, I've found that some people that have tried this have actually gotten their co-workers to join them!
If you have a private office, then you don't have to worry about anybody watching you. If you work from home, or are a stay at home mom, there's no reason you can't fit these in throughout the day while at home. If you end up having a busy day with meetings and so forth, and can only fit a couple of these 2-minute workouts in, then so be it, but try to get as many done each day as you can.
If you're on a normal 9-5 office schedule, I recommend doing your 2-minute workouts every hour, on the hour, with the exception of lunch. For example, you could try 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.
Some of the bodyweight exercises that are the best to focus on are:

• bodyweight squats (and variations)
• pushups (and variations)
• forward, reverse, or walking lunges
• up & down a staircase if one is available
• floor planks (holding the plank position from forearms and feet)
• floor abs exercises such as lying leg thrusts, ab bicycles, etc.
• one-legged bodyweight Romanian deadlifts

This list is not fully comprehensive, but I wanted to keep it relatively simple. If you know other good bodyweight exercises, you can add those to your routine also. If you want to keep it real simple and don't want to get down on the floor for anything, you can stick to squats, lunges, and pushups and still get great results.
The good thing about these workouts is that you do enough in 2-3 minutes to get your blood pumping, heart rate up a bit, a large portion of your body's muscles worked, and body temperature raised. However, it's usually not enough to break a sweat in only 2 or 3 minutes, so you don't have to worry about sweating in the office or where ever you may be. At most, you might just get a little moist on the skin.
Here's an example workout routine at home or the office (adjust the reps up or down based on your capabilities):
Mon/Wed/Fri9 am - 10 pushups/15 bodyweight squats, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - plank holds (hold the planks as long as you can taking short rest breaks for a total of 3 minutes)
11 am - 5 pushups/10 bodyweight squats, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
2 pm - 8 pushups/12 bodyweight squats, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - plank holds (hold as long as possible in 3 minutes)
4 pm - max pushups/max bodyweight squats in one set (no repeat)
Tues/Thurs
9 am - 6 fwd lunges each leg/6 rev lunges, repeat 1X for 2 sets
10 am - one legged bw Romanian deadlifts (RDL) 6 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat 1X for 2 sets
11 am - 3 fwd lunges each leg/3 rev lunges, repeat for 4 sets
1 pm - one legged bw RDL 3 each leg/floor abs for 20 sec, repeat for 4 sets
2 pm - 5 fwd lunges each leg/5 rev lunges, repeat for 3 sets
3 pm - one legged bw RDL 10 each leg/floor abs for 30 sec (no repeat)
4 pm - max fwd lunges each leg/max rev lunges in one set (no repeat)
In order to progress on these workouts, you could either add 1 or 2 reps to each set per week, or you could progress to more difficult versions of each exercise each week (for example, close grip pushups, one leg raised pushups, squats with arms raised straight over head, etc.).
The above routines are just a couple examples of how you can use this very unique style of training. Use your creativity and come up with your own. Think about what you've accomplished with these "mini" workouts completed throughout each day... You've increased your heart rate and pumped up your muscles 6-8 different times throughout each day, burning a lot of extra calories and stimulating your metabolism.
Even though each "mini" workout was a very short duration, you've accumulated lots of repetitions for almost every muscle throughout your entire body, and you didn't even have to break a sweat during any of the "mini" workouts. And there's hardly any excuse for not being able to take a 2-minute break once per hour and do a couple of exercises.
Another benefit of this style of training is that now you don't have to devote any time before or after work to going to the gym because you already got your workouts little by little throughout the day. You've now got some extra free time on your hands!
Try this type of time-efficient workout routine out for 3-4 weeks and then go back to your normal gym routines. I think you'll find that it was a great way to break out of a plateau and stimulate new results in your body. You can try mixing in a cycle of these "mini" workouts every couple of months to keep things fresh.
Keep in mind that this is only one method of training and doesn't mean that you should only stick to this method for eternity. You will hit a plateau on any given training method, so I'd recommend just rotating it into your arsenal of various training methods. And by all means, don't worry so much about what other people think...have the courage to try something a little different. In the end, you'll be the one laughing back at all of the "blubber-bellies" at your office that are giving you funny looks while they eat their donuts!
Feel free to email this link on to any friends or coworkers that you think would like to try these types of unique quick daily workouts.  Heck, try to get your co-workers to do these with you if you can!
If you liked the ideas in this article, please feel free to share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc:


If you liked these training ideas, my internationally best-selling ebook The Truth about Six Pack Abs contains hundreds of more innovative training and nutrition ideas to lose stubborn body fat and carve out a rock hard set of abs and a flat stomach.
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3 Random Fitness and Nutrition Tips

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author - The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I just had a few sort of "random" workout and nutrition tips for you on my mind today, so here they are:
Tip #1. Onions = Amazing Superfood... Eat onions daily if possible.
Not only do I love onions, but I recently read a longevity study that surveyed a large amount of people who had lived over 100 years of age. One of the common threads they noticed from the survey of these amazing people that lived to ages exceeding 100 was that they ate a lot of onions.
Kind of weird huh... but not a surprise to me. In fact, onions are definitely an important super-food as they contain unique organosulphur compounds and potent antioxidants that are rare in other foods.
I've also read dozens of studies that correlated onions (and garlic too) with pretty impressive reductions in cancer risk.
I like to add onions to almost any meals I can think of... added to salads, in my morning eggs, in veggie mixtures with lunch or dinner, and more.

Tip #2. Mix up your workouts with "5-minute bodyweight exercise challenges"
This is a unique way to add some variety to your workouts and maybe even get a friend in a little competition with you.
You can throw one of these in at the end of a workout as a high intensity finish, or even just do at home on non-gym days.
Basically, all you do is choose 1 specific bodyweight exercise such as bodyweight squats, pushups, lunges, etc and try to do as many reps of that exercise as you can in exactly 5 minutes (timed).  I've also used dumbbell swings or kettlebell swings for these 5-minute drills and they work great.
This works best by trying to do 20 or 25 reps at a time and then taking short breathers of about 10 seconds before continuing on your next round of reps.
We've even made this a little competition between a couple people at my gym in the past where we all line up and get timed for 5 minutes and see who can do the most bodyweight squats or pushups or whatever it may be in that 5 minute time period.
From what I've seen, if you can do 100 or more pushups in 5 minutes, or 200 or more bodyweight squats in 5 minutes, those are pretty impressive numbers. I think my record was somewhere around 225 bodyweight squats in 5 minutes (which was an improvement on the 160 bw squats I got the first time I tried this 5-min challenge)
If you try dumbbell or kettlebell swings for 5-minutes, I've found that anything over about 130 swings is pretty good for 5-minutes.
Whatever exercise you choose, keep track of your numbers that you get, and try to improve on them each week.  By the way, if you're new to kettlebells, read this article.

Tip #3. Example of the Glycemic Index (GI) being fairly useless
In several of my newsletters in the past, I've given examples of how choosing your foods based on the glycemic index can be misleading and even useless in many cases.
Case in point...
Watermelon has one of the highest measured GI's of all foods (much higher than even cake and ice cream).  However, a normal serving of cake and ice cream may give you a whopping 600 to 800 calories, whereas a typical serving of watermelon may give you 50 to 70 calories max!  You'd have to eat a massive quantity of watermelon to rack up any significant grams of carbs.
Trust me... watermelon isn't making anyone fat... But cake and ice cream are!
The lesson... GI is almost useless when you're not considering "Glycemic Load", which also factors in the quantity of carbohydrates ingested in a typical serving.
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How do you know if you're getting scammed by supplement companies?

Problems you need to know about fat-burner pills, muscle-building supplements, antioxidant pills, acai, vitamins, protein bars, and more...

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Did you ever wonder if those vitamins or supplements that you buy actually contain in the bottle what they say is in the bottle? You should! Because here's a shocker...
They don't have to put what they claim in the bottle! There's no regulations on supplements to assure integrity or quality.
I'm sure you've noticed from many of my writings that in general, I tend to be anti-supplements. The supplement industry is loaded with fraudulent claims, bogus products that sometimes aren't even what they claim to be, and lots of ineffective products (even when they ARE what they claim to be).  The biggest problems in the supplement industry are with overhyped "fat-burner" pills, and with muscle-building supplements that have vastly inflated claims (and prices).
Despite these problems, I've always contended that there are a handful of useful products out there, and certainly some honest companies mixed in with the abundant scam artists. One company I've found that is actually honest and sells only research-proven products is http://natuaral.getprograde.com/
This company has been in the making for about 3 years now, and was built by a group of fitness professionals whose main goal was to try to fight against the problems in the supplement industry and offer an honest solution without the hype and without the loads of products that have no research behind them and don't work.
If you choose the right products from a reputable company, there are certainly a few winners out there that can help you acheive a higher level of health and faster results with fat loss, muscle building, energy levels, etc.
Let me show you below some of the typical problems with supplements, and how to avoid them and choose the right products that will actually get you results.
Problem #1 with supplements:
Ever since the passing of the 1994 Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA) in the US, supplements have been excluded from federal regulation. One of the negative aspects of this is that certain unscrupulous companies could now pretty much get away with putting anything they wanted in the bottle because it did not have to undergo quality control testing to make it to market. Their label didn't even have to match what was in the bottle, since nobody is policing them.
The only way to catch these companies was for independent testing firms to run tests on their own dime to find out which companies are honest and which are fraudulent.
The founders of http://Natural.getprograde.com/ solved this problem by requiring that all of their products go through High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) testing to guarantee what they say is in the bottle is TRULY in the bottle, and delivers the desired results.
Their manufacturing plant is also a GMP certified manufacturer - "A" rated facility to assure quality.
Problem #2 with supplements:
One of the other major problems I've had with the supplement industry are falsely hyped up claims about "miraculous" results with their products giving you the false hope that your body will turn into a fitness model's within a couple weeks of using their "miracle pill".
Well, we all know by now that most of these products do very little, if anything to actually create results in the body. Even if some of them have minor positive effects, it does not address the underlying cause of the problem in the first place, and results will never last in the long run without lifestyle changes to both your exercise and nutrition habits as a whole.
In response to this, the founders of http://losebellyfat.getprograde.com/ made sure there was absolutely no hype or ridiculous claims... only a very limited line of the most effective research-backed products without any BS or confusing "stacks".
Problem #3 with supplements:
Most people overlook this problem when buying vitamins and supplements. The fact is that your body does not properly absorb nutrients from artificial vitamin sources as is common with many supplements and vitamins.
Once again, I asked the founders of http://losebellyfat.getprograde.com/ to respond to this. I was happy to find that their products are actually extracted from whole-food sources instead of artificial sources, meaning better absorption in your body.
They even purchased a 2500-acre farm in mineral rich soils in sunny Florida where all of their raw materials are grown. I must say...I'm impressed!
Problem #4 with supplements:
Another problem I have with typical supplements is this...
The normal scenario when someone buys supplements is that they may go to their local supplement/vitamin store and they are given advice by some high school kid making $7/hr who has no education whatsoever in nutrition.
Do you really want to put your health in the hands of some kid who is simply telling you that you need to get such and such supplement because he saw something about how great it was in a magazine advertisement?
Once again, the founders of http://natural.getprograde.com/ solved this problem by assuring that all of their products were designed by nutrition professionals in the industry -- dieticians and nutritionists who carefully analyzed which products actually are beneficial and which are a waste of time and money. They then narrowed their line of products down to only a handful of the most effective.
They also have dedided that their products will never be sold in stores because they don't want unqualified store clerks with no education in nutrition to recommend products for your health. That's why you can only obtain them from their website, so you know you're getting them from qualified professionals in the industry.
Problem #5 with supplements:
This problem is quite simply this... YOU DON'T NEED supplements for optimal health, IF you're eating right.
The fact is, you don't need supplements as long as you eat a well rounded diet full of unprocessed whole natural foods, lots of variety, high nutrient density... lots of fruits, veggies, whole unrefined grains, eggs, beans, nuts, seeds, organic meats, fish, etc, etc.
The problem is that most people don't have time (or think they don't have the time) or don't make enough of an effort to eat this type of optimal diet with proper balance and super-high nutrient density.
In this case, I concede that supplementation has many benefits for people who struggle to eat right all of time and may be missing many essential nutrients.
To solve this problem, the founders of http:/natural.getprograde.com/ have actually formulated their men's and women's formulas with extracts of natural whole foods instead of synthetic sources. They even use whole food extracts from cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrot, wheat grass, alfalfa, artichoke, chorella, kale, collard greens, papaya, grapefruit, tomato, omega-3's, and dozens more.
Here are my recommendations as a Nutrition Specialist myself... The only supplements I recommend are those that replicate the benefits of real food.
For this reason, be sure to check out their EFA Icon (essential fatty acid) which uses a unique Krill oil which has been measured as having 47 times more antioxidant value than standard fish oil. I've always been a big fan of fish oil, but when I found this krill oil, I had to make the switch based on the higher quality.
Also, I highly recommend the brand new Prograde Longevity Super-Antioxidant formula.
This is my favorite product, which contains a unique blend of 6 of the most powerful antioxidants available: 
1. coffee berry,
2. Acai berry,
3. wolf-berry,
4. pomegrante,
5. green tea,
6. Biovin grape (the same source of powerful antioxidants in red wine).
And lastly, my other recommendation is to try the Prograde Cravers, which are a delicious organic snack bar made with organic ingredients rich in antioxidants and nutrition. My favorite is the Peanut-Butter Chocolate!  Mmmm.

That's it for today. Til next Lean-Body Secrets Ezine... Stay lean and healthy,

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

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The 1 food my Dad reduced to eliminate his love handles

My dad has always been in pretty good shape most of his life right into his 60's.  He's always been a hard worker (he built our house that I grew up in with his own 2 hands) and very active with outdoor activities most of his life.

And he's also always eaten a pretty healthy diet with a lot of wild game meats, wild caught fish (he's a super fisherman), and lots of home grown produce that he grew himself in his huge garden.  But in addition to those super healthy foods, he's also had a lifelong addiction to cereals, breads, pasta, and ice cream (we'll talk more in an upcoming newsletter about what we found out about what all these grains have been doing to his health over the years)

About a year ago, my pops and I were talking about one of my clients that had great results and had lost a good amount of fat.  So he asked me,

"Mike, I've always been in good shape, but I've had these love handles my entire adult life for at least 40-50 years now" (he's 66 currently)

My response to him was something like this,

"Dad, you eat healthier than 90% of the population because of all of your wild game, fish, and garden produce, but I honestly think that you eat far too many grain-based foods with your daily bowl of cereal for breakfast, the bread you have during lunch, and the pasta or noodles you have several times a week at dinner... oh, and all that sugar from the ice cream every night for dessert. I think if you reduce the grains and sugars, you'll have no problem getting rid of those love handles that you've had your entire life"

My pops nodded and stored the advice away, but didn't change his daily eating habits yet at this point.  Fast forward another 6 months or so, and I gave him a copy of the book Wheat Belly, which talks not only about the effects of wheat in your body on blood sugar and body fat, but also the numerous health effects of eating too much wheat.  It was some of those health effects of eating too much wheat, such as the increased risk of heart disease, that finally got my pops to drastically reduce his wheat intake.

He went from eating cereal 7 mornings a week, bread 7 days a week, and pasta 2-3 days a week, to basically only having 1 day a week now that he eats these types of wheat based foods.

Fast forward another 6 months, and we just went back to visit my parents for the holidays last week.  After 6 months of dramatically reducing his wheat intake (and replacing those calories with healthy fats from more nuts, avocados, grass-fed dairy, etc), he looked noticeably slimmer...

In his own words, "Mike, I took your advice and cut down my cereals and breads to only 1 day a week, and those love handles I've had for 50 years... GONE... completely GONE!"

Not only that, but he also told me this surprising side benefit, "Surprisingly, once I stopped eating so much wheat, all the joint pain I've had for years is almost 100% GONE!"

Pretty cool huh!  This doesn't surprise me, and I've heard similar results with other clients of mine that have dramatically reduced their grain foods.

I'm not saying reducing grains is the miraculous cure for everything under the sun, but as you'll see in this article, there are at least 11 reasons why too much wheat in your diet can be harming your body.

I think my dads results with reducing wheat in his diet prove some pretty powerful benefits to his body!  He didn't even fully eliminate wheat... he just drastically reduced his intake from 7 days a week to 1 day a week.  And his love handles and joint pain he's had for as long as he can remember are completely GONE!

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The Ultimate Hard-Body Exercise

Get a rock-hard body from head to toe, and ripped abs with this exercise!by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
author of best-selling program - The Truth about Six Pack Abs

A Look at the "Front Squat" (a surprising exercise not only for legs, but also rock hard abs!)
As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of the heap (along with other greats like deadlifts and clean and presses) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss). 
This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man.  Squats and deadlifts use hundreds of muscles throughout your entire body to move the load and also to stabilize your body while doing the drill.
Hence, these exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (increasing fat-burning & muscle building growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises. 
Another weird fact:  University research studies have even proven that inclusion of weighted squats into a training program increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development, even though upper body specific joint movements are not performed during the squat. Whether your goal is gaining lean muscle mass, losing body fat, building a strong and functional body, or improving athletic performance, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations) are a couple of the ultimate exercises to accomplish this. 
If you don’t believe me that squats and deadlifts are THE basis for a lean and powerful body, then go ahead and join all of the other overweight people pumping away mindlessly for hours on boring cardio equipment and getting zero results!
Squats can be done with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or even just body weight. Squats should only be done with free weights – NEVER with a Smith machine!  (This article shows why smith machine squats are a horrendous exercise for your body)
Side note:  My program, The Truth About Six Pack Abs contains the full story on why machines are so inferior and even potentially DANGEROUS compared to free weights.
The type of squat that people are most familiar with is the barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the trapezius muscles of the upper back.  Many professional strength coaches believe that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are more functional to athletic performance than back squats with less risk of lower back injury. 
I feel that a combination of all three (not necessarily during the same phase of your workouts) will yield the best results for overall muscular development, body fat loss, and athletic performance.  Front squats are moderately more difficult than back squats, while overhead squats are considerably more difficult than either back squats or front squats. I'll cover overhead squats in a future newsletter issue.
If you are only accustomed to performing back squats, it will take you a few sessions to become comfortable with front squats, so start out light. After a couple sessions of practice, you will start to feel the groove and be able to increase the poundage.
To perform front squats:
The front squat recruits the abdominals to a MUCH higher degree for stability due to the more upright position compared with back squats. It is mostly a lower body exercise, but is great for functionally incorporating core strength and stability into the squatting movement. If you're doing front squats right, you'll feel a hard contraction in your abs during these.
It can also be slightly difficult to learn how to properly rest the bar on your shoulders. There are two ways to rest the bar on the front of the shoulders.
In the first method, you step under the bar and cross your forearms into an “X” position while resting the bar on the dimple that is created by the shoulder muscle near the bone, keeping your elbows up high so that your arms are parallel to the ground. You then hold the bar in place by pressing the thumb side of your fists against the bar for support.  This technique is a bit tricky and you want to make sure to have the weight resting on muscle and not bone!
Alternatively, you can hold the bar by placing your palms face up and the bar resting on your fingers against your shoulders. For both methods, your elbows must stay up high to prevent the weight from falling. Your upper arms should stay parallel to the ground throughout the squat. Find out which bar support method is more comfortable for you.
Then, initiate the squat from your hips by sitting back and down keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the balls of your feet. Squat down to a position where your thighs are approximately parallel to the ground, then press back up to the starting position. Keeping your weight more towards your heels is the key factor in squatting to protect your knees from injury and develop strong injury resistant knee joints.
Keep in mind – squats done correctly actually strengthen the knees; squats done incorrectly can damage the knees. Practice first with an un-weighted bar or a relatively light weight to learn the movement.  Most people are surprised how hard this exercise works your abs once you learn the correct form.
You also need to use a good bit lighter weight on front squats compared to back squats.  For example, personally, I use about 250 lbs for 8 reps on the back squat, but on the front squat, I need to be around 175 lbs for 8 reps, so a good bit lighter.


START/FINISH

MIDPOINT
So there you have it... one the best exercises for both rock hard abs, and a rock hard body from head to toe!  I could list a LOT more, but wanted to focus on front squats today as they are one of the most under-utilized.

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Tired of the Old 3 Sets of 10-12? Well, So is Your Body!

Break Through Your Plateau by Training Drastically Different… a Look at Training Variables.
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another.  You’re cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you’ve gained back a couple of pounds.  It happens to everyone.
Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine.  Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!
There are many ways that you can strategically modify your training variables to assure that you maximize your fat loss and/or muscle building response to exercise. Most people only think about changing their sets and reps performed, if they even think about changing their routine at all.
However, other variables that can dramatically affect your results are changing the order of exercises (sequence), exercise grouping (super-setting, circuit training, tri-sets, etc.), exercise type (multi-joint or single joint, free-weight or machine based), the number of exercises per workout, the amount of resistance, the base of stability (standing, seated, on stability ball, one-legged, etc.), the volume of work (sets x reps x distance moved), rest periods between sets, repetition speed, range of motion, exercise angle (inclined, flat, declined, bent over, upright, etc), training duration per workout, and training frequency per week.
Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to get the best results from your workouts, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn’t get stale.  Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.
Most people stick to workouts where they do something along the lines of 3 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise, with 2-3 minutes rest between sets.  Booooorrrrring!!!!  Here are a few examples of different methods to spice up your routine.

• Try 10 sets of 3 with a medium weight, resting only 20 seconds between sets.
• Try using a heavier weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.
• Try using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.
• Try using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise
• Try a workout based on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes.
• Try a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.
• Try that same 12 exercise circuit on your subsequent workout, but do the entire circuit in the reverse order.
• Try your usual exercises at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.
• Try completing five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.
• Try doing drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).

Want more ideas? There are many more ways to continue to change your training variables.
This was just a taste of your possibilities.  In order to see how to incorporate various strategies into effective routines, give the programs in my internationally best-selling ebook
The Truth about Six Pack Abs a try.

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Is Your Protein Bar, Energy Bar, or Nutrition Bar Actually Healthy, or Are They Just Candy Bars in Disguise? 

The Truth May Surprise You...

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

There are so many types of "health bars" on the market today, how do you know if you're actually buying something healthy or junk food in disguise?
Again, just as I've talked about grocery store food choices, you really need to know how to read labels if you're going to stand a chance at finding a truly healthy food bar.
To be quite honest, most of the nutrition bars out there are pure junk food... candy bars disguised through labeling as a health food bar.
Just recently, I was going on a mountain bike ride and needed a quick nutrition bar to make sure I had enough energy for the ride.
Well, I didn't have any of my usual healthy food bars on me, so my friend gave me an extra Slimfast bar he had.
Keep in mind that this Slimfast bar is marketed as a "health food", that is supposedly appropriate for someone trying to lose weight.
What a freakin joke these bars are!  In my opinion, these Slimfast bars are WORSE for you than a candy bar!
The 1st ingredient in these "weight loss" bars is corn syrup! Then the 2nd ingredient is sugar (yay more sugar!), followed by hydrogenated oils (trans fats), and then the list went on with nothing but junk such as artificial flavors, colors, more hydrogenated oils, nasty artificial sweeteners, and rounded out with some highly processed soy protein isolate just to give your body some more junk.
*By the way, you should stay away from processed soy products like the plague if you care about your health... I can't go into detail on this today, but this was a previous article on the dangers of eating too much processed soy. Just remember when it comes to soy that this is a HUGE multi-billion dollar industry, so they have a lot of power in trying to portray soy as a "health food" so that most people are eager to devour this fake food in almost every form... in reality, it couldn't be further from the truth.
Back to these "worse for you than candy bars" Slimfast bars... not only are they a disaster nutritionally, but the bar tasted horrible... it tasted like chemicals and was way too overly sweet (not a surprise with all of the corn syrup, sugar, sugar alcohols, AND artificial sweeteners). This is a prime example of "over-engineering" of food.
So how do you determine a healthy nutrition bar?
I look for simplicity in a good bar.  Many of the healthiest and tastiest bars I've found have only a couple basic ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. I also look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if possible.
A couple of my favorite truly healthy bars:

1. Organic Food Bars - This is actually the brand name.
Depending on which flavor, these are usually a base of organic almond butter (or cashew butter) with a certain type of fruit, organic seeds, organic biosprouts (quinoa, etc), and some organic rice protein. Some flavors include an organic dark chocolate as well. They also have a line of bars that use exclusively raw ingredients.
Not only are these food bars extremely nutritious, but I think they are delicious as well and have a lot of flavors to choose from such as blueberry, cranberry, chocolate chip, high protein, and more.
You won't find these bars at your local grocery store, but I have found them at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and several health food markets.

2. Lara-bars - These are even simpler in ingredients than organic food bars. Usually larabars are just 2 or 3 ingredients, and mostly raw... a blend of crushed nuts along with a type of fruit is the usual combination, but they have a lot of different flavors so it can vary.
These are also delicious and you will NEVER see a list of chemicals a mile long in their ingredient list... usually just nuts and fruit, and that's it! Simple IS better. I don't know who this Lara is, but she made a great product.
Again, I've found these bars at various health food markets.

3. Prograde Cravers - These are made by Prograde Nutrition. I know the founders of this company personally and am good friends with them, so I have a high level of trust in their nutritional products.
These are definitely some of the tastiest nutrition bars I've ever had (especially the peanut butter flavor!)... and they are also made with all organic ingredients using nut butters, rice protein, organic dark chocolate, etc.
You actually can't get these in any stores, but you can get these online at the following site:
Prograde Cravers - a Healthy Snack Bar
When you actually find truly healthy nutrition bars like these examples above, they make great quick snacks while you're traveling or while you're at work or just need a quick pick-me-up energy bar at any time.
I carry some on me almost at all times, just to make sure I have healthy options to eat whenever I need a snack, so that I'm not tempted by fast food joints or junk food vending machines.


That's it for today. Please feel free to copy/paste this link and email this article to your friends, family, and coworkers if you think it would help them make healthier food and nutrition bar choices.

23 foods that are causing weight gain- Click Here

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10 Second Trick Spikes Fat Loss 9x

This 10 second exercise trick is something you can easily implement and lose fat up to 9x faster.  Most people mess this up!
by Dr. Kareem Samhouri - CSCS, HFS
Neuro Metabolic Fitness & Rehab Expert
Author of the popular program:  Abs Strength Guide

You need to know how long to rest when exercising, or you might lose most of the effect.  This drives me crazy; make sure you read to the bottom of this page so you can avoid hurting your own results.

My name is Dr. Kareem and I’m here to help you lose fat as fast as possible. 

Rest intervals are equally, if not more important, than work intervals when it comes to working out for fat loss.  This is where most people either ruin their results or risk injury while working out.  If you think about ‘intensity’ like ‘sprinting’, than you’ll realize you can only be so intense for a short period of time. 

Do you keep the same speed for an entire 100 meter dash? 

No, actually, you slow down before/around halfway.  Isn’t that crazy to think about?  In less than just 10 seconds, Olympic athletes have already started to decelerate. 

As it turns out, your fat loss workouts yield the greatest results when you stop and rest at the precise moment you notice yourself slowing down.  After this point, there are diminishing fat loss returns and increasing risk of injury. 

Rest is a suggestion when you see it in a program, not a recipe.  You need to monitor your own body in order to best understand when to rest.  Likewise, it’s equally important that you know when to return to exercise. 

Fundamentally, returning to exercise should be when your muscles feel loose again and your breathing has returned to normal.  Expect your heart rate to continue to be elevated slightly, as you’re probably still walking or moving around during your rest breaks.  Plus, you’re in a hyper-stimulated environment if you’re working out in a gym, so the increased sensory input tends to increase heart rate slightly, as well.
You see, the key to fat loss is rest. 

Think about it this way... if you don’t rest properly, you’ll never have the intensity you need to truly ‘shock’ your body into losing fat.  It’s all about hitting your body with an intensity it’s never felt before, and forcing it to change.  That’s what fat loss is all about:  evolution. 

Evolve your body into a stronger, more capable being.  Evolve your lungs into greater capacity, and evolve your heart to no longer respond to what was once ‘intense.’ 

It’s amazing to see what your body is capable of if you just push it a bit harder each time you work out.  Endurance isn’t about pushing a bit harder each time; it’s about pushing a bit longer. 

Endurance and fat loss are not the same thing.

The good news is that you can actually improve endurance by doing this form of fat loss training, but not the other way around.  In fact, it’s been suggested in various resources that 20 minutes of high-intensity physical activity can yield up to 2 hours of cardiovascular effect. 

However, 2 hours of cardio does not stand a chance of putting on muscle or burning fat rapidly.  Instead, in cardio, you’re doing wonderful things for your body, but you’re teaching it how to adapt to an increased demand over time.  In other words, you’re increasing your efficiency with exercise.  This is not necessarily good for fat loss per se...

Fat loss is NOT about increasing your efficiency with exercise; it’s about ‘shocking’ your body with exercise.  Scare the fat away :-)

Think about fat loss as exercise intensity tolerance training.  We’re increasing your VO2 max, or your maximum oxygen uptake.  By constantly pushing the envelope and going a bit harder each time, your body will adapt and let you go a level beyond.  Instead of your body adapting to keeping the same low level muscle contraction going for awhile, we’re asking it to adapt to repeated, intense demands, that are interrupted by precise rest breaks. 

Sprinters are lean.  Marathon runners are thin and in shape.  If you want to get rid of fat, be the sprinter.  Learn how to rest, and you shall gain much more intensity from your workout program.

I’ve been testing rest periods and work intervals, program sequencing of exercises to allow your body to go just a bit harder each time, and overall workout timing in order to provide you with the greatest result with the least effort.  I’ve figured out a formula that has allowed me to lose 1 pound for every 11.86 minutes of exercise I did, and it only takes 10 minutes per day. 

I’d like to share this plan with you, so I’ve prepared a video that explains everything, and it's yours FREE:

Lose 1 Pound with 12 Minutes of Exercise?  <---- [FAT LOSS FORMULA]

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