It’s been a busy summer of adventure. What have you been up to?
I took my son, Sam whitewater rafting (that’s us at the front of the raft).
We also did the Via Ferrata at Mount Norquay in Banff, AB.
Being able to do things like this is one of the REAL reasons I’m a little bit of a training fanatic.
I mean what’s the point of all the sweat if I don’t get to use all the hard work to enjoy life? As crazy as it sounds, I DO enjoy burpees and squats, jump rope and complexes, etc, all the things I tell you about, but I REALLY enjoy the fact that I can still do cool things with my kids.
When we were rafting, our raft was full of really nice 20-30 somethings, our guide Alexis and Sam (17) and me (51). The young one, (Sam) and the ‘old one’, (me), took every opportunity to do something daring. Our guide, Alexis was a fun nutter and had us standing up through rapids (not everyone did), jumping over board and even climbing a bridge and jumping into the river. At one point, I had to do a near muscle up on that bridge, but I was able to because I’m strong and fit. There were several rafts below watching me scramble out of the raft and do an unlikely pull up with the rest of the young people onto the lower rafter of the bridge, they actually cheered as I made my way to the top. Damn, I wasn’t going to miss out on any fun.
My Challenge Workout series and this blog are really about taking life by the balls and swinging it around. I don’t mean to offend or sound crass.
I’m not suggesting being wild or crazy. I take calculated risks and consider safety first. However, stepping out of my comfort zone is something I try to do daily. This can be for a workout, for an adventure, in my business or personal life.
It may sound crazy, but challenging workouts help me prepare and pretty much take on ANY adventure that I want. I hope that doing challenging workouts helps you feel empowered to take on the world too.
Get Uncomfortable with THIS! 
This is a sample workout from my upcoming Bodyweight Burpee Challenge Workout Bonus:
Workout #6 FUW Burpee
Set your timer for 1 minutes of work repeats:
- 10 Prisoner squats FUW Burpee roll – Do a regular burpee like this: hands up, hands down, feet out, push up, partial back roll, forward roll to feet, jump up.
- 10 Push up shoulder touch (R/L is one) FUW Five Jacks and a Burpee – Do 5 jumping jacks and then a burpee, repeat pattern
- Spider crawl 5 each side FUW Double Jump Burpee – Hands up, hands down, feet out, push up, feet in, jump twice.
- Plank
Repeat circuit 3-4 times
It’s been while since I’ve posted a Q and A, so here are a few of your questions and my answers. Feel free to keep the questions coming, I’m more than happy to help you out. I’ll typically email you a reply and then take your full name off and add your question to the blog so everyone can benefit from the answer. Here goes…
Question: I’ve heard you mention you ‘can’t trouble spot train’. Has your believe about spot training changed? Thanks for your time. La Verne
Answer: For the most part, you can’t spot reduce. Fat will come off your body where it wants to first and you can’t really control it entirely.But there are some studies that show that working certain areas can increase thermogenisis and metabolism in those areas to help burn fat and more impo
rtantly build and tone muscles in the area. Whenever you can build and tone muscle, your body becomes more effective at fat burning. More muscle means a higher metabolism. Also thru higher metabolism, when you do lose the fat, your body will have some sexy shape. I hope that helps clear this up.I don’t want to mis-inform and lead folks to believe that they can pick the EXACT spot where fat will come off. It doesn’t work quite that way, but we can coax it off in specific areas by building and toning muscles in those areas.If YOU have some trouble spots, check this out.
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Question: When is the BEST time to train to get the most out of my workouts? Leslie
Answer: One study suggests that we’re most limber and physiologically ready for maximum performance at about 4pm. We’ve been moving and warming up all day, so in theory, that would be a great time to exercise.
However, the BEST time of day to train is the time of day YOU feel the most energized and can give the most to your workout.
Some people are morning people, others are night owls.
There’s no one size fits all.
Whenever you feel you have the time and energy to consistently train, that’s the best time for you.
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Question: I am keen to try one of your programs and have looked at the Lean Body Revolution and the New Total Marine Body workout. I have just finished your Challenge Fat Loss workout and am keen to maintain my progression.
I have reached quite a good level of fitness but would like to lose about 4 pounds more. Please could you advise me which of your programs would be more suitable? Many thanks, David S
Answer: David, Thank you for the question.
I’m happy that you’ve made good progress with my Challenge Fat Loss workouts. It’s always good to hear that people are using them successfully. The point is that my programs work, but only when they’re used with intensity! So good for you.
As for what to do next, if you like follow along workouts, Jason’s Marine Body is his latest program and has follow along workouts so that would be a good choice.
Not to discount the need for intense and challenging workouts, but for you to lose 4 pounds, have you addressed your nutrition? Once you’re exercising, you really need to clean up your eating (I know that may not sound like great news), but the fact is, nutrition is 80% of the battle (once you’re working out).
So if you’re looking to drop weight and you’re happy with the Challenge Fat Loss workouts, you could grab the 21 Day Challenge Diet to help with the nutrition piece. You get more workouts with that plan and the support of a community where the average weight loss in 21 days is about 12-15 lbs.
You’ll get amazing results, eat well and you won’t be hungry as you change your lifestyle with the 21 Day Challenge Diet. Take a look at what Challenge Diet has done for a few folks:
Then again, Jason’s program is very affordable, so you’re probably wise to grab it as well. Online programs (when you use them!) are the best way to get knowledge from top trainers. You get their BEST workouts at a fraction of the cost it would be to train with them (which is probably unlikely anyway).
I hope this helps, all the best to you and your fitness.
What excitement do you have planned this week?
Yesterday we took some time to take our dogs to the park and run their sillie’s out.
Sam is taking the selfie, you’ll also see my God-daughter, me, Sam’s dog Libby and of course (the Pirate) Sev.
I even make Sev step out of his comfort zone 😉
It was an adventure for him and Libby to ride in the back of the truck with me. (He was not digging getting in the first time, but hopped up on the return trip.) We decided to take the 2 minute drive to the dog park since it was too hot to walk the extra 15 minutes both ways. The dogs were ready to collapse after their run.