Burning Fat - The Biggest Myth

If there's one myth about burning fat that I see acted upon the most in the gym it's that "one can burn fat off a certain area by working out that individual area" This is NOT TRUE.

If you want to burn fat off your stomach don't workout your stomach! The fact is your body burns fat off of itself PROPORTIONALLY ...spread out over it's entire system NOT from a specific area …no matter how hard you work out that specific area.

I've seen countless fat dudes in the gym everyday doing hundreds of crunches and not getting anywhere. The reason being that doing crunches doesn't break down very much muscle (just the tiny little muscles in your stomach), and therefore doesn't greatly speed up your metabolism …which in turn doesn't burn much fat.

Crunches are one of the most useless exercises for burning fat and having great abs. Most people that have great abs don't spend much of their time in the gym doing crunches. Personally I never do crunches …I'm not bragging, it's just that you get good abs by having very little body fat, and you don't get a low body fat percentage by doing crunches.

If want a low body fat percentage you should be lifting heavy weights doing exercises that work your largest muscle groups …legs and back most importantly …and lastly chest.

In my next exercise blog I will tell you about two exercises that if done will change the make up of your entire body in the most effective and fastest way possible. No, not bulky …TONED :)

Naiisip Mo Ba & Radio

I'm sitting at a coffee shop nearby where I'm staying at the moment in Makati. I've asked the cashier to tune the radio to WoW FM 103.5 Manila because today I've been told by the program director of WoW FM that today my song "Naiisip Mo Ba" will premier on their station in heavy rotation (approx 6 times daily). This will be my first time to have regular play on a radio station in a major city. I'm almost a little stressed out sitting here waiting for it to come on.

I went all the way around the globe to the Philippines and back only to write my "Taglish" single in the same place as I'd already spent the last 5 years …Nashville, TN.

It just so happens that one of the Philippines greatest songwriters, Jimmy Borja, now lives in Nashville, TN. He moved there a few years back to further pursue his craft of in the songwriting capital of the world. Jimmy and I had never met while I was living in Nashville, but we were introduced through mutual friends in the Philippines.

I told Jimmy that I wanted us to write a "Taglish" song together. Half English/Half Tagalog. I've always liked the idea of combining different languages in the same song and with Jimmy's knack for writing great Tagalog lyrics I thought we would make a great team. Jimmy started strumming a few chords and the lyrics for the verse started flowing out of me …I really wanted our song to be a "missing you song". I'd heard a band in a club a few weeks before hand playing the song "Anytime" by Brian McKnight and I remembered how much that song had meant to me growing up …wondering if the person that you love and have feelings for still remembers you in the same light …or ever even thinks of you and the good times you had together has been a very strong theme and feeling in my life.

I wrote the lyrics and Jimmy and I worked together on the melody. Within the first few lines I knew we were onto something good…

Staring up through the trees at a blackened sky
Wondering if God placed the stars just to watch me cry
Or maybe that’s why he lets them shine 

The chorus I wanted to be in straight Tagalog but have an "American" style melody so I told Jimmy what I wanted it to say in English and then crafted the melody using the Tagalog lyrics he threw back at me.

We parted ways that day feeling that we both created something unique and heartfelt, but only missing a bridge. I don't speak fluent Tagalog by any means but I know enough basic phrases to have some input into the Tagalog lyrics and I wrote the one simple line of "Naaalala kita lagi" with the bridge key change going from the 6 major to the 4 minor chord about a week later while jamming the song in my apartment. Using 6 major and 4 minor chords (for you music theory geeks, lol) has been a signature part of my songwriting recently …especially using a 4 minor chord in my bridges.

What an insane 5 months this year has been so far. I think I'm going to need a vacation for all of 2012 once 2011 is over, lol. Still going strong at the moment though.

I called my manager in the US (Rick) yesterday and told him about a couple "enemies" I've made in the Philippines. Rick knows how out of my way I go to be nice, thoughtful, and accommodating to others, especially fellow musicians, and his response after I told him about the situations was "You don't find success at anything without making a few enemies along the way …look at how many people hate Justin Beiber". I really liked that. Thanks Rick!

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! :)