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For most of us who work 9-5 it is next to impossible to have any sort of set calorie diet. That being said its not IMPOSSIBLE. I often find myself at the office surrounded by many goodies and treats and through the years have learned to minimize and ignore their existence. A while back I had a conversation with a friend and was astonished to find out that this guy could care less about what he puts in his body. That being said I started to think of the millions of people throughout North America that feel the same way.

The question …Living Health is it possible??? And the answer is……..drumroll…………YES! It breaks down to choices by us the individual. Choices like working out, or monitoring bad fats and sugar intake. More often you will find North Americans filling up on things like specialty coffee’s or pastries in the morning because its quick and easy. The reality is that most will end up clinically obese or with heart attacks.

If you are reading this article there are a few simple things that you can do to ensure a healthier lifestyle. For example:
Eat Breakfast! Studies have shown that people who eat breakfast lose weight and are more active at work. I know for some of you, breakfast is some word in Pig Latin that is hard to understand. The first meal of the morning should have some form of clean protein and a whole grain carbohydrate. Please do not kid yourselves and go to your local Dunkin Donuts to load up on garbage. Its just as easy to make something like instant oatmeal mixed with flax oil and scramble up some egg whites.

Go to the gym and workout. This one almost baffles me. As most people are content to sit around and waste an hour of their day going for lunch or hanging out by the water cooler in the office gossiping. I hate to break it to you folks all the dieting in the world is not going to get you to your target weight. And even if you do hit your target weight sooner or later you will balloon up again like James the Peach if you don’t have some sort of exercise regimen. I know some of you out there are probably saying “I dont want to get bulky lifting weights”. DON’T KID YOURSELVES.  You could lift hard for the next 3 years I promise you, you’re not going to look like Arnold. For most people its genetically impossible without some major sports enhancement drugs.

Monitor your carb intake. OK I have always been a firm believer in eating a balanced meal. Look up zone diets if you don’t know what I am talking about. Monitoring your carb intake does not mean dont eat carbs. It just means eat what it takes to keep enough energy to burn in the gym. Carbohydrates raise your glycemic index forcing your body to produce insulin. If you dont burn them they turn to fat. That simple dont eat more carbs than you can burn.

Get clean sources of protein. For all the vegetarians or vegans I feel sorry for you. Say what you will about your body not needing meat. But here is the reality….if you ever plan on building lean muscle mass (which helps your body burn fat) your body needs clean sources of protein, like iso whey or chicken or fish. These are all animal products. Sure you can get your daily needs to survive from beans and lentils but good luck trying to get 1 g of protein for every pound you weigh from eating beans. Its just not going to happen. There are some alternatives like drinking soy based protein powders. But for guys, here is the warning, the by product of soy when ingested turns to estrogen. Doctors often reccomend soy based products to women going through menopause. Not something that my body needs so for me I will pass.

Good luck to all of you that are looking to make the right choices and changes in your lifestyle. Write back to us or leave a comment with some of your success stories so other people can get some ideas on how to make appropriate changes.

This is a question that often comes up between Gym rats and newbies. I decided to write the article since I noticed a majority of people at the gym doing this exercise incorrect. Everyone has a bit of variation to this depending on who you speak with. In this article I will explain the way it was taught to me and how to execute the movement. I also want to stress that I am not a professional body builder nor personal trainer.

Deadlifts are a compound exercise that works your whole body. When done properly the next day your whole body will feel soar. I want to let you know that there is a difference in between your body feeling muscle soarness and pain. If you end up feeling pain then chances are you have not done the movement properly and should visit your family doctor.

Start by getting a olympic bar from the bench press. Place the bar on the ground and put a 45 pound plate on each side. Now stand directly behind the bar with both feet shoulder width apart and pointing forward. The bar should be touching your shins. Take a squating position where by your stance is makes your kneews bend just past 90 degrees. Grab the bar with a over under hold. This means that one hand should be plam up while the other remains palm down. Now here comes the trick, when you lift the weight off the ground you need to start the movement by pushing with the heels of your feet. As you push with your heels, slowly drag the bar up your shins making sure your shoulders are not rolled forward. You absolutely must make sure that you keep PERFECT posture! This means keeping core muscles tight and making sure that your lower back is not hunched over. Once the bar reaches mid thigh you will notice that your upper body is slightly bent at a 45 degree angle, at this point you want to start leaning back by pushing your pelvis forward and ending up standing straight while holding the weight.

Descending the weight back to the ground is also crucuial in terms of finishing the exercise. Often times you will see people concentrating on lifting the weight but most do not concentrate on controlling the negative movement. When you start the descending movement of the deadlift you want to start with the barbell running down your thighs. Once the barbell reaches 2-3 inches above your knees you will notice that your upper body is almost back to that 45 degree bent position. From here you want to lower your butt and let the weight slowly drag down your shins back to the starting position of this exercise.

Deadlifts are a strength exercise. If you so choose to do this exercise you want to keep the reps between 5-8 and set of 4 are recommended. Remember to keep perfect posture while lifting and not to pull the weight off the fround using your lower back to start the movement. I strongly suggest using only the bar to get use to the movement.