A Lesson from Ip Man

Are you a Martial Artist enthusiast? Maybe you just like action films with good fight sequences, I know I do.

Either way, you need to watch the biography about Bruce Lee's Master Ip Man, it is a unbelievable story and I dare to say one of the best martial arts film I have watched. I wasn't about glamour moves that have a ton of wires and crazy moves that you know is just for the movies (although I believe there is a little) but in fact about how a man mastered martial arts through practice and diligence. The movie doesn't even make it clear on what he does for a living, but whatever it is allowed him the life of freedom that made practice a convenience. 

Check out a movie cover

In the photograph you see is Donnie Yen practicing on the famous Wing Chun dummy, something I have never seen in real life. But I know Bruce Lee (I am the biggest fan) used it religiously.

What I took from the movie was simple, Ip Man never cared about theory, he cared about results. He made it very clear in a practice bout between himself and a young man that was a restaurant owner. The kid asks to practice because he learned some new moves from his master that he wanted to try out (although it was more of a way to get Ip Mans opinion). Well soon into Ip beating him to a practice pulp, he turned to the young man and said, "stop reciting theory and just hit your target."

Man did that statement resonate with me, have you ever felt like you will get started with something after you learn just one more thing? Or maybe that you can not start your new mission for fear that you may screw something up?

 I know I do, in fact until recently I found myself in what I have heard to be paralysis by analysis for over 2 years. See I have always been athletic (top tier athlete on every team I have played on) but never the very best on the team or at any one thing. Just a well rounded athlete. I liked to challenge myself with exercises and goals that were totally out of my realm (except dancing :) I have to left feet lol).

I always loved the challenge of something new but more importantly I would never stop because someone said so. Well I have been making the transition from the life of a student, child, adolescent into the man that has emerged on the other side. A gym owner, recreational athlete, hobby seller dweller....

But during the course of what we will sum up as my quarter life crisis I changed. I stopped challenging myself to keep working hard and trying new things. Instead I got stuck in the educational bubble that sucks you in like the most powerful vacuum. I forgot that you only get good at what you practice, and learned education is only as good as what is put to use. Simply put, actions speak louder than words.

Thanks for the lesson Ip Man, you have set me on the path to trail blaze my way back to the "Action Taking" trail my life's journey started on. 


If you haven't seen the movie it is definately worthy of your movie collection. Check out Amazon they have it for a great price.

Fitness Vacation

So over the weekend Ginger (on the left) and I headed up to Conway, New Hampshire to hangout with two of my college friends. They were awesome hosts and there dog Sedona gave Ginger more attention than she wanted, lol.

It was absolutely hilarious how Sedona would nip and Gingers back legs (what a instigator) but she had awesome patients and although Megan didn't like the growling noises, Alex and I assured her that in was all in good fun ;)....

So minus the fact that I was in the mountains of New Hampshire and clearing my mind from the last 3 months of hard work. I still managed to get my workout in! I stuck to what we have been talking about with body weight calisthenics and got a great pump and good sweat going. The workout was simple, I started off with a warm up of 150 jumping jacks and 20 up/downs then proceeded to 3 core exercises that will target pretty much every muscle you have. They were, push ups, inverted rows (off there porch since there was no pull up bar), and squats.

Since there was no external load I had to increase the intensity by lowering the rest time and increasing the number of repetitions. I have used this convenient vacation strategy for over 10 years now and would rank them up with any other routine I use in the gym. I am just a sucker when it comes to incorporating variety, after all it is the spice of life.

Fitness Hierarchy

So your asking the question what is the best way to train, exercise to perform, reps, sets, weight, etc...

In my opinion it will always be and always has been, body weight calisthenics. Why? Because if you master your body then you can train anywhere at any time while having the body of your dreams. We are here for over all health and wellness, which means we must first be able to use what we have been given.

For the sake of time and getting you started in a timely manner I want to direct you to one of the most educational sites on the web when it comes to living a healthier lifestyle, over time I will tell you my favorite sites that are a must read, but for go to Marks Daily Apple and download his free primal blueprint ebook. It is filled with knowledge that will build upon your foundation.

We will start will the primal blueprints progressions for push ups, pull ups, squats, over head presses, and planks.

For those of you following along but have exercises in mind that you are comfortable with or want to perform instead feel free but remember that you must have a minimum of 1 exercise per muscle group, so a push, pull, squat, press and core all have to be covered.

Lets Exercise :)

Yesterday we covered how you should start to implement your meals into your daily routine and we touched in very vague detail on the nutrition you should strive to feed your body. As you may have noticed I have been feeding you very light details in a step by step action oriented way. 

I want you to stop reading and start performing, as you follow my website and this community of fitness families you will have no choice but to continue learning. As we start the steam engine rolling and start incorporating a healthier lifestyle I can then start to get you to improve upon more things that may in fact have a bigger benefit to you. 

Proper form during exercises, better nutritional strategies developed for specific goals or maybe a understanding how certain supplements, herbs, and natural remedies can in fact make a positive impact on your health. But if I don't get you started we fall into the crowd of "Conventional Wisdom" thinkers and get rapped up in a state of Paralysis by Analyses.

Now that you can visually see what your day looks like and understand when you have time to yourself lets add in sometimes that we can exercise at. The minimum amount of time you must open up in your schedule will be two days and the maximum will be six days. I like to leave at least one day for full recovery, my actual training   habits lean toward three days a week of HIIT met con (cross fit style) followed with a less intense full body circuit that allows for more of a aerobic training zone. For now don't get stuck on making the right choices I just want you to chose what just seems to fit your preferences, we will fill in the gaps later. 

If I was starting out from scratch and wanted to condition by with the best foundation I would go back to the best basic movements our bodies know. Come on, I know you know what they are! 

Thats right. Push ups, Squats, Pull ups, Presses, and Planks, I call them "The Fit Five" lol.... I know it may sound elementary to some of you, but I learned this lesson when I was 12, reading a book about the famous Bo Jackson (my favorite athlete of all time) who avoided the weight room like the plague because he hated how it effected him for days after the workouts (DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness). He made a deal with his coaches while growing up, that he would workout on his own and for whatever reason if his conditioning was not up to par with what they felt was needed for the team, then he would hit the gym. HE was able to run a 4.1 forty ,lighting speed and still considered to this day one of the fastest verifiable times at the NFL combine, and did I mention he weighed 225 lbs of solid muscle, so needless to say Bo never made it to the gym and went on to win the Heisman trophy at Alabama and become the first major athlete to play both professional football and baseball.

Should I go onto to talk about Hershel Walker? Who was well known for setting out to perform 100,000 push ups, crunches and sprinted thousands of miles in a year. Oh, did I mention he was 12 years old when he started out on his mission? Can you even imagine a 12 year old considering this feat as a New Years Resolution? I sure can't!  I personally read about both these stars when I was young and I have to say with regret that I didn't have what it took to do what they were able to.  They possessed sheer dedication and determination in my opinion. But one thing these two Greats shared was a incredible work ethic and a love for keeping things simple, using only there body weight and surroundings to accomplish unheard of feats.

So again, if I were to start over and build a solid foundation then "The Fit Five" is where I would start for strength training exercises. In fact, lets do this right. For those of you who have not purchased a routine you are looking to use during your transformation and are looking to incorporate the best alternative to spending money on one or a gym membership. 

Lets start at ground zero, using our own weight to get fit. We have the rest of our lives to purchase programs that I have personally reviewed and found true to there word. I know the holidays are coming so lets work on perfecting our blueprints for the next two weeks. Since December is my B-day month and we are all over achievers, will begin our "life style makeover" December 1st, 2010. Why not? I dunno about you but I feel a sense of excitement while finishing this post, ants in my pants, I think I have just lit a torch to a trail ahead that I can't wait to travel along. Lets get ready.

You have two HW assignments this weekend. 1) Every time you eat this weekend, don't worry about what it is yet, I want you to be aware of how long it takes you to feel satisfied. 2) Take a walk and see how long you can last (for time, or distance) and then write it down.

Monday we will talk about the progressions to "The Fit Five" and how to figure out what exercise is the right exercise to start with. 

Enjoy your weekend :)

Nutrition Blue Print

OK, yesterday we got started by mapping out your day to a typical work week and I am sure you did great :) I mean who knows your schedule better than you do. If you need a reminder on how it should look, take a peek at my Google calendar example right here to the left (the image will display larger if you click on it). Well lets get back to our planner or calendar that you are using to write your schedule on. Now that you have your day planned with when you wake up, go to work, when you get your breaks, get off work, typical errands needed to be done throughout the week, and when you go to sleep.

I want you to now plug in when you will be eating. Now I know you want to start asking all the typical questions like, Shawn but what should I eat, how much, how often, whats best, whats the worst, blah blah blah... Listen, we will get to all of that just relax, and be open and honest with yourself, it wasn't the last few weeks that caused you to be where you are at was it? "Conventional Wisdom" will cause you to second guess all of this planning you are doing and when that happens just remember that there are over 18,000 diets available today and yet 66% of America is overweight, half of whom are considered obese.

See, if we make a blueprint the right way this plan will last us for the rest of our life because it will always be able to transform to our life's current circumstances. Don't fall for one of those cheap well marketed headlines saying, "Lose 10 lbs in 7 days, Guaranteed". It just simply won't happen and if your anything like me and my family you will just keep the product without ever returning it, then it becomes a fancy paper weight with a new title called-Good Intentions to Get Back In Shape. You don't want that, do you?

With that being settled, let's start to understand how our nutrition dictates your well being. It all starts with the building blocks of our body, macro nutrients and micro nutrients, which is simply what you know as protein, fat, and carbohydrates (macro), then you have vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (micro). Now over the next couple weeks we will get into great detail about nutrition and roles it plays, but for today and simplicity purposes on getting you started with your plan lets just say your body needs over 40 nutrients to support life, and that's just the ones we know about so far.

There are many foods that are good sources of these various nutrients, but no single food provides everything! Let me say that again, there is no single food that stands above the rest. This is precisely why Variety is the Spice of Life. Eating a Variety of foods, preferably in their whole form, is the best way to get all the nutrients your body needs. Some of these nutrients require others for optimal absorption (we will cover this later), but excessive amounts may result in health problems. What does that mean? I like to think of that old saying, to much of any one thing can be bad.

So lets get back on track. In order to rev up our metabolism so that we are consistently in calorie burning mode and staying away from fat storing we must incorporate two things into our lives. 1) We must eat small regular meals so that our body feels satisfied and safe which translates into burning fat. The body won't hold onto access weight unless it feels it needs it, simply because the more weight you hold on your frame the harder your body has to work. 2) We need to workout regularly so that we activate muscle tissue so that we raise the metabolism which translates into more energy needed to survive, making the body pull energy from fat.

Everything we have just talked about doesn't make sense until right now, I want you to take your calendar and write down the time you eat breakfast in the morning, if you don't then start too, remember we need the metabolism to stay high which means after 6-10 hours of sleep with no food we really need a pick me up in order to rev it back up to fat burning mode. Now that you wrote down when you eat breakfast, write down when you eat lunch and dinner on a regular basis (the two most commonly eaten meals).

Done? Great.

So now we have a regular schedule of 3 square meals, thats awesome. We want to aim to get in 4-6 small meals a day (5 seems to work best for me, 3 meals 2 snacks), so take those times your wrote down for breakfast, lunch, dinner and add in a snack between breakfast and lunch, then between lunch and dinner. This will give you 5 times to eat throughout the day and ensuring that our metabolism stays high. Make sure to only eat until satisfied which takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to let you know, so just be conscious of what and how much you are eating.

Here is a rough example of what my day may look like (underlined when my meals and snacks are):

Stay tuned tomorrow where I show you how to implement and schedule in your workouts, whether you want to workout twice a week or six times, it wont matter how often.

Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success | Video on TED.com

The 8 secrets to success is a video you can't miss while striving to reach new goals and dreams!! Enjoy :)

Richard St. John's 8 secrets of success | Video on TED.com

Mapping out our Blue Print

So lets start to build our blue print to a healthier life, shall we?
First you need a calendar, so you can do what I do which is use Google calendar (I use Google for everything :) or run off to your local Staples or Office Depot and grab a appointment book.

Now that we have our calendar in front of us all I want you to do is look at one day, your average day, something that will replicate our weekly life (work runs us all so your work week tends to work perfect).

Lets start with when you go to bed and when you wake up shall we. So if you typically go to sleep at 9pm then write 9p, if it is 3 am because you work in the restaurant industry (like I did for 9 years) then that is fine too. remember this is a blue print that will help you control your life, not your neighbors, not your familys, and def not your favorite movie star. Represent sleep time with Zzz if you want, or be a little more creative :) just have fun with it, it is your plan and I don't think anyone likes being boring.

So during your work week you tend to have daily habits (we are all creatures of habit, especially me), that means you tend to wake up at the same time daily, follow the same tasks (brush your teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast, etc.) in the morning. That will be our first step, take the time you wake up and right that down next to the time that your alarm goes off. Some find that writing side notes can help but for now you can be as general or as detailed as you would like.

After you have woken up a bit I want you to write down when you leave your house for work and when your work day starts. Remember your schedule is your schedule and it is a part of your life, so don't think what your writing down is wrong, it is not, only you can know what your typical day looks like.

Now from here I want you to add in your Lunch break and any other breaks you may get (cigarette breaks don't count, we are here to get in shape) and the when you get out for the day. If your break varies then thats fine, just put a time that it will be sooner or later, this blue print can be a floating plan if you have a floating schedule.

After work we all get time to enjoy what we call life (lol, that's funny right) whether it is totally full of adventure (like scaling the Statue of Liberty) or whether you like to keep to your self and stay at home and relax. We all go to the grocery store (I hope, please no fast food) and we all shop for our necessities, whatever that may b so write down the time you would typically do this as well.

If you are hesitant on what you should right down don't be, this is your personal calendar and I don't know many people that go around showing others. Just as a example I'll show you a rough copy of mine. Just click on the image to see it.

Tomorrow we will talk about when and how we should eat in order to maximize our metabolism, stay tuned and keep your daily calendar handy.

Start with a Plan!

Reducing what you eat takes a little planning! These are my recommended first steps!

Firstly work out a pattern of meals that suits. 

Some find that a big healthy breakfast reduces big meals later in the day. Most people find three balanced meals, two smaller ones and one main meal is usually enough. Decide what works best for you, you may be very close to a routine that will work already.

Reduce your calorie intake by reducing fats and alcohol. Both are energy dense (high in calories) and they simply fail to keep hunger away for long. Choose complex carbohydrates particularly fiber like beans, peas, lentils, starchy vegetables and fruits, instead of simple carbohydrates like refined sugars in soft drinks, candy, baked goods, jams, jelly, and especially fast food.

Reduce your portion size by choosing a smaller plate, it tends to give you the impression that you are eating more. Start by always adding your fresh foods first like, fruits vegetables, lean protein, nuts and seeds before grabbing any grains, breads, cereals, pastas and baked goods. By doing this you assure your body has a nutrient dense meal and will help in any spike in insulin you may get from the man made carbohydrates that taste so good.


Eating 5 helpings of fruit and veggies a day really does help to keep your weight under control and healthy. They hold most of the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that our bodies need to fight off disease so remember to provide enough of them to eat. I like keeping fruits for my snacks throughout the day and having my vegetables with my meals, it assures my body the nutrition it needs while taking care of my sweet tooth (yes, I am a sucker for sweets too).

Don't think that you can’t eat out or have celebration meals. In Fact I encourage them! They keep you sane and allow you to celebrate a goal that’s been accomplished.  Just plan ahead to allow for some calorie indulgence. When you’re there carefully select your meal and eat small portions, it’ll help to avoid any problems of guilt.  Always remember, food chains give bigger and bigger servings now a days, and are packed with calories, so you can always have half of your meal boxed and save it for later.

Any changes aren’t for just days or weeks but for life, a longer and healthier life.

Eating healthier and changing your lifestyle.

Start thinking about the whole picture, don't just say 'I should do something!' ACT NOW and do something small today! Planning.

Majority of dietitians and fitness experts all agree that planning is VITAL to success!

• You should plan in advance how changes can be achieved, think about the structure of your life and your preferred lifestyle.
• If it is not compatible with a realistic lifestyle, experience shows us that you simply won’t sustain the changes.
• It’s usually possible to find a solution that’ll work well for you with pre-planning. We’re all creatures of habit, make sure the habits are good ones! 

Keep a regular monthly check on your weight. By adjusting exercise and eating levels you can maintain your weight within the 3-5 lb range. 


Increasing your energy output

• Experience tells us that regular exercise is a vital component of any healthy lifestyle. Very few of us manage to keep to our lower weight unless we take part in regular exercise. 
  Exercise helps the energy balance, improves heart and lung function, and reduces self-pity, boredom and snacking time. 
• The higher the exercise level the better, but when it comes to starting out even walking or cycling rather than using cars or motorbikes, and using the stairs instead of lifts helps. I believe any adjustment is better than none.

 How to keep to a healthier diet

The first thing we need is to think about is that the change is not for just days or weeks but for life, a longer healthier life. Making small positive changes over time will help you achieve a much healthier life, it'll also be easier to maintain a good weight and keep fit and active.

Step 1: have a plan 
Plan in advance how it can be achieved within the framework of the preferred lifestyle. 
If it is not compatible with a realistic lifestyle, experience shows it will not be sustained. It is usually possible to find a compatible solution with pre-planning. We are all creatures of habit, right? So, evaluate yours and then hold onto your good habits and throw out the bad ones. Be realistic and never be too hard on yourself, stress is the leading free radical builder in your body and that will only make your job harder.

Tomorrow we will talk about making a Blue Print that will be Personalized to your life that can be used as soon as that day.

Don't Wait for New Years

Did you know the average person gains 7-10 lbs during the holidays?

Astonishing huh? I bet when I said that you thought about it real quick, snickered and said,"that sounds about right." lol

Well why exactly is that? Because who doesn't like stuffing themselves until there pants need to be unzipped, while surrounded by there loved ones.

I can already taste the warm mouth watering turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, candy yams, biscuits, man oh man the list can go on and on and we haven't even talked about the dessert and beverages, like pumpkin pie and eggnog..

Well did you know you can eat to enjoy every last one of these foods during the holidays, without the weight gain?

Well you can! And all you have to do is avoid the pressure of stuffing yourself until you hit the red line on your tummy pressure gage. See I am the first to say the holidays are a fantastic time of the year, I love them. But when it comes to eating, I always spread out the food. I will go up for small to medium size plates instead of that over loaded large one you see uncle Earl grab on your right.

I think of the the holidays as the ultimate snack fest and you know what happens, I have noticed that people don't measure how much you eat with just the amount of food on a plate but also (and maybe more importantly) how many times you walk through the buffet line, people always make the statement to me, your going up for more? See, I can down my fair share of food (I commonly get told I have the appetite of a horse) but what is weird is that all I do is graze throughout the day and typically thats how I always am even on holidays, I just eat a little bit more of everything :)

So if you are looking to make it through the holidays then do what I do, start off with a small to medium size plate of your main course what ever that is, turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mash potatoes. Then when your done sit and relax, have some conversation with a loved one, so that the digestion can start to take place. It may take about 20 minutes for your stomach to relay the message to your mind that you are totally satisfied, so take your time.

Now this is where it gets fun, see once those 20 min go by your body makes you aware of how full you are. You will most likely say to yourself, "I feel totally satisfied, man that food was good, but I could eat like 2 more plates easy." See thats not a bad thing, remember we want to enjoy the holidays not regret them after words. That feeling of satisfaction is your key to success, it puts you on the right path to knowing how full your gas tank (stomach) is. Your body will store fat sooner and more often when you have that amount of access food in your system.

Now that we know what it feels like to be satisfied, now all we want to do is graze and graze a lot, as much as you want but never to the point of total fullness, where you may feel like sleeping or unbuckling your pants. Make the conscious effort to spend a little more time talking and having fun and less time at the buffet line and you will find that the holidays can be a blast without the weight gain.

Stay Nutritionally "Informed"

Be Informed!
Make a habit of reading nutrition labels while grocery
shopping. Many foods seem similar to one another, but a quick
comparison of nutritional content will show otherwise.

There will always be debate on whether going organic is best because research studies are divided. However, without a doubt, lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds can skyrocket your success in your weight loss journey.

I personally try to eat organically for a couple of reasons.

1. I feel it means a healthier ecosystem

2. It helps to avoid eating to much pesticides, chemicals ect.

3. I can make a better effort at supporting the local farmers of my area

I guess I may be deceiving myself by supporting my beliefs but at the same time our country as a majority is made up of entrepreneurs and if we don't support the hard working "blue collar workers" of America, then who will?

So with this belief, I try to live a active, green, eco-friendly, healthy life the best way I possibly can. Can you say the same?