The Single Best Exercise For Toning Up

PREFACE: If you're a girl reading this blog, and you think you shouldn't lift weights or do this exercise because "you're a girl" ...here's a helpful article about weight lifting in WOMENS HEALTH that you should probably read first :)

SQUATS - I’ve spent ten years working out to only in the last year realize how much a difference this one exercise could change the make-up of my entire body. Experts had told me this before, but for some reason it just never quite sank in …until I did it.

When you run you don’t break down very much muscle. It’s good for your heart, but doesn’t have much of a long term effect on your ability to burn fat or keep “toned” unless you run like a maniac for hours a day, …we’re talking MILES of running fast (not walking) at least 5 days a week. Of course, some people want to run three miles a day five days a week in order to try and stay thin ...not me. Unfortunately a few hours after you stop running your metabolism slows down to it’s usual rate and you are no longer burning any more calories than normal …so the maximum gain you make when running basically equals the amount of minutes you actually spend running.

When you lift heavy weights and break down the muscles in your body (to the point that you’re sore the next day) your metabolism kicks into overdrive for DAYS afterword working to repair the muscles that you’ve broken down. So by lifting heavy weight you’re in effect getting a workout even when you’re not working out. Sounds great right …it gets better.

When you break down the muscles in your body those same muscles build themselves back up creating new “lean muscle”. Lean muscle constantly burns fat even when you’re doing NOTHING because it needs calories to survive.

The best way to create the most lean muscles is to do exercises that work the biggest "muscles" in your body. The largest muscle in your body is your quadriceps. The number one exercise you can do for “quads” is SQUATS. But not only do squats work your quadriceps they also work your ABS (squats is the best exercise for your abs in my opinion because the abs are doing what they are intended to …which is stabilize your back).

Also, when you workout such a large muscle as the quadriceps your body actually releases special “rebuilding” hormones that in tern help you rebuild the other muscles in your body that you’re also working out such as biceps, triceps, shoulders …etc. FASTER. …which in tern means even more lean muscle and lean muscle = fat burning to the extreme ☺

(DISCLAIMER: You should squat between 5 – 10 “reps” of the most weight you can possibly manage using correct form. WARM UP first though. Squats are also one of the most dangerous exercises when not done using correct form. Get an expert to help you your first time if you’ve never done them before …or read up on them extensively first. Here’s a helpful ARTICLE about squats. …here’s a video link on how to do them correctly. Lastly, I don't suggest using squat "machines" because you will not receive the full benefits of doing squats if you use one.

Things I Never Eat...

I was asked by a music fan of mine named Josh to write some blogs on exercising and maintaining one's physique. I’ve been working out regularly for the last 13 years and I really hope the principals I've learned will help you on your journey to having the body that you want. This will be a regular blog with new tips introduced every week or so. Let's get started! :)

DIET: I easily get addicted to things …playing guitar, exercising, restaurants …you name it I can be addicted to it. What I mean by addicted is that things easily become habitual for me. We are a habitual species and this principal vastly pertains to our diet since most of us eat at least three times EVERY day. You might not eat the same thing everyday, but you probably eat the same things at least once a month. For that reason I never diet, but I always diet. I realized 6 years ago that it was much easier to not eat food that was clearly bad for me if I NEVER ate it …I just cut it out of my diet completely …as if it was poisonous …which in some way most of this food is. Plenty of poisons don’t kill you instantly, but they still harm you. Eventually I did this with drinking as well …but one thing at a time.

THINGS I NO LONGER EAT ARE…

1. PIG (a meat that is most often served in ways that are horrible for you such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs …etc.)
2. BOTTOM FEEDERS, which include Catfish, crab, lobster, shrimp (all shellfish, most of which are extremely high in cholesterol and who’s job it is to clean the “trash” off the ocean floor so in effect we are “eating the trash”)
3. RED MEAT (meaning Cow mainly, and the most difficult one for me, also I think the least important, though still a very good lifestyle choice!)
4. FRENCH FRIES (WAY too available all the time, deep fried, and containing virtually no nutritional value)
5. POTATO CHIPS (though I do eat many kinds of chips, the standard style potato chip I don’t eat)
6. DEEP FRIED ANYTHING!

7. ICE CREAM (I still eat sorbet, and yogurt, but not cow’s milk based ice cream)

Other than these couple of foods I eat ANYTHING else. I don’t believe in “dieting” and I don’t believe in “calorie counting”, but I’ve found by just cutting out these couple of available foods my daily intake has been vastly altered. I’ve also found that after a while I no longer craved any of these things and especially with pig and bottom feeders even the smell turns me off now.

My challenge to you is to cut something that you know is bad for you, but you eat regularly (french fries, ice cream …etc.) out of your diet …but not for a week, a month, or a year, …but forever. This isn’t a dieting plan, it’s a lifestyle change. We are habitual people and we don’t react well to diets because diets are temporary, but one food item at a time we have the opportunity to positively affect our entire lifestyle! :)