#1 The Riders Edge : Garmin

Check Out the Entire GARMIN Line Here

#2 The New Standard in Athletic Bags

Check Out the Awesome LINE up Here

#3 The NEW Standard in Active Release Rollers

Roll On a Rumble-r HERE… You’re Gonna Love How it Makes you FEEL… After! Ha…

#4 Any Other Blender… I just a Blend’a

Check out the WILD SIDE Line Up HERE

#5 The ONLY Smart-Bell You’ll Ever Need at Home

Grab a Set of Smart-Power-Blocks Here

#6 The ONLY True Premium Nutrition Shake for…

Grab Your January Supply and Get the Starter Kit Shaker FREE

#7 Scott’s Metabolic Masterpiece Program

If you’ve a will (if not borrow Scott’s) This is A Way! ($7 Trial NOW!)

#8 Will You Be the NEXT SUCCESS?

This is EXTREMELY LIMITED : So Act Fast to Get in in 2013

#9 What Could Be Cooler (and Hotter)???

I may have to Join You for This one! Ahhhhh….some! And then SOME!

#10 Simple Simple and Refreshing

They May not be CrossFit Cool but They FEEL and MOVE Like Magic!

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays to You and Yours!

May you get all that you really, really want this year and a whole lot more!

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2. The Perfect Diet
3. The Perfect 8

• 1 Ride on
• 2 In Bag
• 3 Roll On
• 4 Will It
• 5 Smart!
• 6 Strength
• 7 Master
• 8 Bill Time
• 9 GoPro!
• 10 BeFREE

The Riders Edge : Garmin

If You're GOING Anywhere, Run, Ride or Walk… Get What the Pros Use

Check Out the Entire GARMIN Line Here

The New Standard in Athletic Bags

The NEW Ferrari of Sport Bags! APERA (These are AMAZING!)

Check Out the Awesome LINE up Here

 The NEW Standard in Active Release Rollers

The Elite Roller for True Release for the Real Athlete (You'll Feel It!)

Roll On a Rumble-r HERE… You’re Gonna Love How it Makes you FEEL… After! Ha…

Any Other Blender… I just a Blend’a

The Full Strength Blender for All Needs and The Some!

Check out the WILD SIDE Line Up HERE

The ONLY Smart-Bell You’ll Ever Need at Home

The ONLY Home Dumbbell You Will Ever Need (or Want)

Grab a Set of Smart-Power-Blocks Here

The ONLY True Premium Nutrition Shake for…

The Serious Man's 2013 Rocket Fuel for Change!

Grab Your January Supply and Get the Starter Kit Shaker FREE

Scott’s Metabolic Masterpiece Program

The Master of Body Recomposition (with special $7 Trial)

If you’ve a will (if not borrow Scott’s) This is A Way! ($7 Trial NOW!)

Will You Be the NEXT SUCCESS?

Bill Phillips Transformation Camp | The Ultimate Transformation Experience That WORKS!

This is EXTREMELY LIMITED : So Act Fast to Get in in 2013

 What Could Be Cooler (and Hotter)???

When You Absolutely, Positively Need to GET AWAY… in your bike… AWESOME!!!

I may have to Join You for This one! Ahhhhh….some! And then SOME!

Simple Simple and Refreshing

The NIKE FREE is the stylish, flexible, versatile shoe this is in without being "TOO IN"

They May not be CrossFit Cool but They FEEL and MOVE Like Magic!

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays to You and Yours!

May you get all that you really, really want this year and a whole lot more!

Related posts:

1. When a Pterodactyl Flys in Your House
2. The Perfect 8
3. The Perfect Diet

Overwhelming volumes of research indicate that creatine supplementation improves exercise performance and lean muscle mass. Now research is showing potential benefits on cognitive function.Research suggests that in addition to creatine accumulation in skeletal muscle, the brain may also take up creatine.

This study had healthy men and women load with 20 grams of creatine per day or placebo for one week.After this supplementation period, subjects were tested intermittently over a 24-hour period that involved exercise and sleep deprivation on a variety of cognitive tests.

At 24 hours, the group that supplemented with creatine had significantly better performance in respect to random movement generation, choice reaction time, balance, and mood state.

Thus, the results indicate that creatine supplementation would limit the negative effects of 24 hours of sleep deprivation on cognitive and psychomotor performance and mood state.

Creatine not only aids muscles, it may also overcome brain fatigue.

by Jeff S. Volek, Ph.D., R.D.

Reference:
McMorris T, Harris RC, Swain J, Corbett J, et al. Effect of creatine supplementation and sleep deprivation, with mild exercise, on cognitive and psychomotor performance, mood state, and plasma concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Jan;17:1-11 [Epub ahead of print].

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It was the perfect storm. The pinnacle moment we had to suffer to bring an end to the madness.

You, I and millions of football loving fans witness the Green Bay Packers intercept a pass on the last play of the game, only to have a “good enough” replacement ref signal touchdown for the Seattle Seahawks.

What a way to win a game. What a way to lose.

And you know the good news, in this bad situation, is something this obvious, this unbelievable, had to happen before the NFL was going to be forced to wake up and see the travesty, the betrayal.

Like so many of us do on a daily basis, the NFL was making the mistake of “good enough.” Of thinking that it’s all about money. Completely missing the high price this attempt at a low-cost solution was having.

It’s easy to point fingers at the NFL, to scream at their greed and ignorance. But you know the ol’ saying, when you’re pointing a finger there’s always four pointing back at you.

Really. You’ve done it. I’ve done it. We’ve tried to save a buck or two in the wrong places. Only to regret it later. Be it in clothes, car repair, even something like a haircut. One place it’s always prevalent is in food. I mean, when was the last time you went for discount sushi? Ha… if you ever do, it’ll be the only time!

Good Enough?

Now there might be places where “good enough” simply is.

But…There are places in life where paying a buck more for 10 times better is the right value proposition. And that’s what I’m talking about here: Finding the apex of value vs. the sole focus on price and savings.

I am for the REAL REFS because I love the game of football and it was being hurt. Sure, costs a few dollars more but in the scheme of things, it’s not a lot of money for a WHOLE LOT BETTER.

And I know something about a WHOLE LOT BETTER because this is a discussion we have with NEW clients at FULL STRENGTH often. We don’t pretend to be the cheapest “protein shake” but when you need real nutrition that you can trust to do what it says and more, we are the best SOLUTION.

Full Strength, when you work it all out, runs about a dollar more than the meal-replacement competition. That is, “if” you see that as the competition. I get that’s where we’re going to be compared most the time. But it’s not how I see the competition.

Because Full Strength isn’t designed to be an enhanced protein delivery mechanism, like most meal-replacements. It’s really much more a complete meal. Or as we call it, the World’s First Performance Fast-Food. It is carefully and skillfully designed to function in the body like a food–a food that can up-regulate your body in key metabolic ways igniting energy, fat loss and muscle while it turns your mind on.

So, does it cost more? Yes…. but the question isn’t one of price it’s one of value. And for it to be of value you have to have a need.

If your need is recovery from a workout after football practice in high-school, Full Strength may be your best bet, but certainly not your most economical. You can do damned well at 18 years old with a lower grade, higher cheap carb, fat-laced Muscle Milk. Or something. You see, your 18 year-old body works differently, uses the nutrition differently and has a much wider margin for error.

Tricks are for Kids

But you get to 35, and beyond, and try that same trick…not so much.

Say you need to get your life back, your body strong again or you’re just loving staying leaner, stronger and younger looking and feeling than all your aging friends–you simply want your body to respond like you’re in your 20′s again–I’d strongly suggest you stop shopping the discount aisles and ante up that extra dollar for a Full Strength.

Fact is you can price shop and settle for a cheap, but less-satisfying alternative. Or you can get on board with investing a little more in a WHOLE LOT BETTER solution and go with that.

It’s the truth of life. You get what you pay for. And I know you don’t want to be no replacement ref.

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2. Oh, to be a boy… Again?
3. The Fruit-Smoothie and Other Health Food Myths

Do you see it too? “affected by”… People are affected by the recession, by terrorism, by cancer… but to slip this message into the subconscious serves to…”

1. Create rapport with the large group who struggle with obesity. There’s some affinity in the relief implied. The news likes this.
2. To absolve people of accountability as “it” becomes a disease out there and we, it’s victim.

I’m sensitive to use or language that seems to make “us” victims. For the victim position usually lacks the power to change and is often stuck.

What’s your thought?

I do get that obesity is not a victimless condition. That is to say, that it’s not ALL about a personal failure… at all. So people do suffer with and from it.

I’m not one of those hard ass, “you brought this on yourself you sack of %$*#” motivational a-holes.

Not at all… I think it’s just (just, that’s a word, huh?) another addiction of which there are many levels, flavors and colors.

And as such, an addiction, it’s not a moral failing but a systemic issue that involves all quadrants… (AQAL) — the brain, the body, the thinking (mind), the emotions, the environment, the community, the culture… you name it. It’s all there…

But the path out is available only when the ONE says, “I’ve got a problem.” And chooses to take some action from their center… making a “strong reach” vs. a flailing grab.

Another question… arguably a better one, might be:

Have You Been Affected By Fitness?

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What's the Truth about Michelob Ultra's Claim of 2.6 carbs

Yes, yes…You are one swell beast of a guy. A regular Jack Kerouac in khakis no doubt.

And for only 2.6 grams of carbs and 95 calories you can show everyone just what a stud you are by slugging back one of these superior light brewkauskies.

Hell, even if you’re not quite this cool, a cool brewski with only 2.6 grams of carbs has got to earn some style points, right?

Wait! Did I just hear “2.6 grams of carbs and 95 calories,” ? WTF?

Does this seem a little too good to be true? You know what that means, right?

Yes, something is certainly a miss here. So, let’s take a closer look at this dream brewski.

2.6 grams of carbs sounds great. Compare that to the 39 grams of sugar in a Coke it does seems like we should all be drunk and slender, for sure.

What we know is a grams of carbs clocks in at 4 calories, so 2.6 grams of carbs is 10.4 calories.

Yet, the commercial said 95 calories!  That leaves 85 mystery calories are unaccounted for. Shall we locate them?

Simple logic (and the label) tells us it’s not in protein (.6 grams = 2 calories) nor fat (0). So, where the hell is that phantom 85 calories coming from? Guesses?

Ah! Perhaps the ever popular labeling loop hole—the same one that’s been widely abused in the “Low Carb Protein bars” for a decade and some.

Yep! It’s in the alcohol.

For bars, it’s the sugar alcohols which are technically not really carbs so they don’t have to be listed as carbs. In the Michelob case it’s just alcohol.

So, what you’ve really got here is 85 calories of alcohol which is a carb—a uniquely special carb in that it is mainlined straight into your blood stream much faster that sugar—because alcohol does not have to be ingested through the normal way. It doesn’t pass through the stomach to be brought in through the intestine. Alcohol passes straight through the stomach lining into the blood stream, effectively making it many times more glucose spiking than even High Fructose Corn Syrup.

What’s this all mean?

Well, it means that you might not be as debonair and all around brilliant as the commercial suggests if you’re believing this 2.6 carb story.

It’s also a reminder that companies are not on your side. They’re on theirs. They are in the business of getting you to behave the way they want you to and don’t think twice about leveraging any and every loophole they can find.

I mean, hey, 95 calories is pretty good for a beer. You could just be a great tasting, well made, light beer and be honest about it. But no… that’s too much to ask or expect.

If you wanna have a beer, 95 calories is still pretty good but I’m out on this one for principle alone. Plus, I’d rather have a real beer with some body and deal with a few more calories than get sucked into sucking down four of these in hopes of an ounce of satisfaction.

For Your Viewing Entertainment, Enjoy the Commercial that
Frustrated the heck out of me.

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Why the price you’re really paying for the convenient “twist off top” protein shakes may be your life—at least your health.

You’ve likely heard the saying, “If a tree falls in the forest does anyone hear it?”

It’s a oft used, well travel thought experiment that questions the nature of reality.

One I like to leverage when pointing to the fundamental flaw of the ready-to-drink, twist off top, protein shakes / drinks. Yes, like the ever popular Muscle Milk which now comes in convenient plastic bottle in nearly every store.

The fundamental flaw pertains to the nature not of reality—well sort of—but of your awareness. For convenience, the ease with which you can easily—without thinking or even experiencing it—shove a shake down your throat, comes with a price.

The price? The very health, strength and vitality you are seeking to support.

Dieting Practices

The most popular and lasting practices for supporting dieters (and diets) most all point back to awareness—a way to alter or awaken your attention. For example, the popular smaller plate, smaller cup, approach which helps you “trick your mind” into thinking you are eating more and eating slower.

And a top nearly every list of “diet don’ts” is the mindless snacking—while you’re doing anything else, especially when watching TV. When you do eat, it’s universally agreed that you should take some time, sit down, and eat with focus and intention.

Mindless snacking and eating is one of the most destructive habits known to promote weight gain and obesity. And while most will nod their heads in vigilant agreement to this logic, they completely miss that eating a “health food” mindlessly is still eating mindlessly.

(I’ll spare my rant on Ready-to-Drinks and Muscle Milk for the moment.)

So, as you reach for the twist-off protein drink, know that while you may succeed in feeding your stomach, and quieting hunger for a short time, you’re leaving your mind and soul in the dark.  And face it, eating is as much about feeding your mind and soul as your body. That’s the essence of nourishment.

And I don’t just mean that your missing some magic in some esoteric way. It’s an absolute fact that the necessary satisfaction (aka satiety) of eating requires vital elements of the experience of eating. Just getting calories down your throat is not enough.

Satiety is a complex event with a very tangible yet complex set of triggers, all which are effectively (and intentionally) triggered with Full Strength—making it an even more impressive one of a kind experience.

Same Failure For Bars

Yes, this same logic applies to bars. Even to reasonably good bars. If you’re stuffing them in your face, while running from office to soccer, or whatever—you’re feeding weakness. You’re teaching your body bad habits and reacting to the mind.

You deserve the time to feed yourself. You deserve to be present and your body deserves you too.

My advice is to make eating, be it a nutrition shake or a four course meal, a ritual—a mindful, present and attended to state. Be there—or be “here” to experience, to appreciate, to receive nourishment.

Treat yourself to a few moments of space, of calm, centered “me time.” You deserve it. Think before you eat. Consider the advanced practice of Intentional Eating. That is eating for purpose. To start this, you simply and relentlessly, without fail, ask yourself before every meal, “To what higher purpose do I intend this food?”

Of course, now you must answer. It needn’t be complex but it must be authentic. To what purpose are you intending this meal? “To my vital strength and energy.” That’s complex enough. It’s like saying, “I eat for the strength to carry out my purpose.”

You may also choose to dedicate your meal using a mantra like, “I eat for the Strength and Energy to bring my gifts to the world.”

One of my favorite and more enthusiastically recommended practices is The Shake Break.

The Shake Break is the standard, recommended way to enjoy your Full Strength Nutrition. It’s a daily nourishment ritual I’ve been sharing with people for over 6 years.

You can read more about it here. The Shake Break 

It’s not complex, I promise.

It’s the simple act of taking the time to mindfully, and intentionally create your Full Strength Shake. (one of the other powerful benefits of the powder formula is this chance to engage with your creation.) Whether your blend it or shake it, make it how you want, your way.

Then take your shake and you to a place—preferably a quiet space—where you can take 5 minutes for yourself. Give yourself those few seemingly short minutes, which are much more than most people will daily. Know this is your time, your space.

Focus on the three points of light—bright spots of gratitude in your life at this moment. Feel the positive flow of the energy as you gradually and with great patience, enjoy your delicious shake.

As the minutes pass, your body and mind both invigorated by the nutrition and the flow of energy, rise back to full strength. And you are once again, on top.

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I used to believe my beliefs were the truth so I didn’t believe I could change them. Then I did. Now I know the truth about beliefs.

Damn thing is they’re also pretty darn tricky for some of the very reasons you can recognize in the quote above.  For because our beliefs are ours, we tend not to see them as beliefs but as truths.

For example, you might not “believe” that Democrats are socialists, you know it to be true. Or you might not believe abortion in wrong, you know it.

Here’s a helpful way to get out of the trap of beliefs (and believe me, it is a limiting, mind-numbing, thought stifling trap even if you are “right”). Accept that there are no absolute truths. Don’t question it, challenge it but just go that way. Just accept that all truths, no matter how absolutely certain are relative. That means they may be absolutely 100% true on earth but perhaps not so on another planet.

You don’t have to know why, or understand an exception. No reason is involved.

By accepting this basic “truth” that all truth is relative, you force open your mind. You now have to–or better yet, get to–make a decision about your beliefs. You get to choose. You may choose the same but at least you chose it and it wasn’t the result of conditioning or assumption or a closed mind.

But know that this is only the opening of the door. When it comes to that which is limiting us most, the beliefs that block close our hearts, block our success or happiness experience matters. You must go beyond your mind.

You can no more out think a belief than we can argue yourself fit. You must use action and motion to “physically” alter a limiting belief. For they’re less in the head than in the body / self.

For example, it’s the experience of jumping out of a plane with a parachute that alters your belief and fear about it. It’s not watching it or thinking about it.

First, open your mind and challenge your beliefs. Next, experience the new reality in and through your body-mind.

Good hunting.

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Thought I’d share this mornings bit of humor with ya… imagine there’s a block of guys out there who might actually “get” a few of them.

1. Damn, wish I’d drank more last night.

2. Sleep is overrated! I’m so gonna get up earlier tomorrow.

3. So glad I don’t have to deal with that morning “wood” any longer. (An all to common issue that’s easily curable, by the way.)

4. I can’t wait to read the morning newspaper on my computer!

5. I miss waking up with some strange woman that I need to get the hell out of the house, once a year.

6. I wish I had more to do… just feeling bored.

7. I’m so totally going to bust out another two-hour workout this morning!

What’s on your list?

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Given the choice between carbohydrates and adipose tissue (stored fat) as the fuel/energy source during your exercise, there is no choice. Your body chooses carbohydrates, this day, all day, every day. It’s the way we’re built to optimally operate.

When your aim is ever greater performance and carbs made readily available, the system works the way it should, freely burning carbs as you go stronger. But when you’re a rung or two below world class athlete and you’d to burn more fat per rep, per step, as your pounding the pavement or pumping the iron; a different approach is in order

Here’s why: 

Astudy was recently conducted to determine if training under carbohydrate restriction would stimulate fat oxidation (burning) for necessary fuel. The results provide both guidance and a boost for those who training preference is fat-loss, over performance.

The researchers found that training with low initial glycogen level due to dietary carbohydrate restriction resulted in beneficial effects fat oxidation rate during moderate-intensity exercise.

The low circulating insulin level, vs. elevated plasma epinephrine concentration stimulates rate of adipose tissue lipolysis (fat utilization) and peripheral fat oxidation.

This finding is consistent with the prevailing opinion that exercise in a carbohydrate-restricted state eventually causes adaptations in muscle cells to upregulate the capacity for energy production via fat oxidation

How The 21-Day Summer SuperCharger Applies This Science

The understanding of how to coerce your body to selectively burn fat for fuel over Twinkies and Red Vines is at the foundation of the 21-Day Summer SuperCharger Fast-Fat-Loss Challenge.

The goal of the 21-Day SSC was really for me, for my own “get in shape for summer” program. And when it comes to turning my fat-loss on, I know what works and what I can take.

I realize that to get your body in a carb-depleted state it’s not necessary to fast or to suffer the mental melt down that happens in the absence of carbs to run your brain. But what you must do it eliminate the fast-acting carbs, the sugars and crap that keep fat from ever being called to the front for processing.

I also know you’ve got to get your insulin levels down, for elevated insulin will ensure fat stays put and carbs are being used. This is where the simple, protein rich, carb restricted meals come in and the Full Strength shake. Full Strength is most potent at stabilizing blood sugar and insulin levels. Hence the hours of energy and satiety, the absolute lack of cravings. Nothing works like it. I call it “insulin momentum” for it supports the steady levels of “I” that encourage the utilization of fat.

The training, both the HIIT cardio style and the Metabolic-Strength training are potent at depleting the muscles of excess glycogen and calling on fat reserves.

Together, the 21-Day SSC System is an ideal way to activate fat loss, while still stimulating muscle and cardiovascular gains—without leaving you starving, suffering, depleted or in a staggering carb-depleted stupor.

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