Stop comparing yourself to cover models on the front of fitness magazines. They are genetically gifted individuals, who I can assure you don’t look like that year round. To accomplish this level of leanness and muscularity, the amount of rigidity, discipline and social withdrawal required is not worth the price. If your goal is to achieve a significant amount of fat loss, do it for your health and well-being. Looking good should be a by-product of taking care of yourself. As soon as aesthetics become the primary goal of a fat loss program, our psychology changes. Achieving our goals becomes a mandate, with extreme pressure accompanied by significant amounts of anxiety. Speak to any fitness model and they will share with you first-hand how mentally and emotionally draining it is to get ready for a shoot. When you are taking positive action and doing it out of love and support for yourself, it becomes a mindset and the extreme behaviour that accompanies these goals is no longer necessary. Here are 5 important thinking processes you need to adopt to achieve long term fat loss.

Look at fat loss as a marathon and not a sprint. We have enough pressure in our lives with our jobs and our families. Do you really need the added pressure of dropping 15 lbs of fat in 6 weeks? I certainly don’t. That type of thinking promotes unnecessary anxiety and eventual eating disorders. While it is extremely important to have clear cut goals, it is equally important that they be realistic and achievable. I want you to pick a number whether it be 15 lbs, 30 lbs or even 50 lbs and then give yourself between 4 and 8 months to achieve that goal, which adds up to 1 to 2 lbs a week. Any more than that and you are no longer losing fat—you are either dehydrated, breaking down muscle or both. Think fat loss, not weight loss.

Seek out social support. This is something you need not do alone. Study after study has shown how crucial social support is in achieving fat loss. Go out and find a mentor. Whether that means hiring a personal trainer or a nutritionist, what is important is that you find someone who has done it before and can guide you in the right direction. Tell all of your friends what you are doing too. Accountability is huge. Once you put it out there, it becomes that much harder to stop.

Perfection does not exist. Expect and plan for failure. No matter how hard you to try to eat properly and get all your workouts in, sooner or later you are going to eat a slice of pizza or miss a workout. If you have the right psychology, you know that you are in this for the long haul and that one small setback is just that. It becomes that much easier to jump back on the horse and move forward.

Avoid extremes. Severe calorie restriction and excessive exercise are not going to help you reach your goals any faster. Your body knows when it is being deprived of food and will automatically slow down your metabolism to hold on to what it has. Instead, make small incremental changes from week to week. Add in a little more activity, replace a glass of orange juice with a glass of water, or a piece of cake with a handful of grapes. If you try doing too much too soon, you will end up falling flat on your face, literally.

Enjoy the process. If it seems too much like work, the chances are that you will eventually give up. So find modes of exercise that you enjoy. I love weight training and performing sprints. It almost never feels like work to me. But ask me to train for a marathon or try some hot yoga, the chances are that I won’t make it through the first week. The same goes for what you are eating. Eating healthy should be enjoyable. I don’t eat anything that I don’t like. There is so much variety to choose from; nobody should be stuck eating boiled chicken breasts and steamed broccoli day in and day out. Try different cuts of meat and buy seasonal fruits and vegetables, so you don’t get bored eating the same foods over and over. Try cooking with an assortment of herbs and spices to give your foods different flavours.

Not everyone who hires a personal trainer gets the results they are looking for. If they did, we would all be paid like heart surgeons. When I perform an initial consultation with a client I ask if they have used a trainer before and whether or not they were happy with the results. The common response I get is, “He or she was very nice and the workouts were pretty good, but I didn’t lose very much weight.” I hear this quite a bit and it leads to my next question, “What was your part in it?” This often results in a long perplexing stare. Then I say, “Let’s look at it this way, there are 168 hours in a week and you are spending 2 or 3 of those hours with your trainer. What are you doing during the rest of those hours?” The responses are what will make or break how successful you are.  You are forming a partnership with your trainer, and you are both equally responsible for your results. If one of you isn’t holding up his or her end of the bargain, chances are you won’t get the results you want. Below are 5 suggestions I recommend you employ if you are going to hire a trainer for in-home personal training.

Be very clear on your goals. Far too often I see trainers giving their clients generic programs that aren’t geared to any specific goal. It is a bunch of unrelated exercises that get changed sporadically with no beginning or end. Telling your trainer you want to lose 10 lbs of fat and gain 5 lbs of muscle is a goal. Telling your trainer you just want to tone, is not. Be specific and have him or her design a program that will get you there the quickest.

Ask your trainer for some assistance with your diet. Most trainers will have taken some courses and have a working knowledge of proper nutrition. If they don’t, ask for a referral to a licensed nutritionist or a dietitian. You cannot out-train a bad diet. I don’t care how many calories you burn or how much weight you are pushing, if your nutrition is off, you are spinning your wheels. I cannot stress this enough. Before I start with anybody, I ask them to keep a log of what they are eating and the first week I see them we make the appropriate changes. A number of my clients have sought out advice from registered professionals. If you have the means, a combination of the two gets the best results.

Do your homework. Being entirely dependent on your trainer’s presence is a big mistake. You need to be self sufficient and do supplementary workouts on your own. I make it a point to stay in touch with my clients throughout the week. Workouts that they need to do on their own are provided and they report back to me when they are done. Accountability on both ends is extremely important.

Stay consistent. That means keeping your appointments. We all have things that come up in our lives that are beyond our control. When you miss an appointment, make a concerted effort to rebook within 24 to 48 hours. Don’t wait until the following week. My clients with the best results are invariably the ones who are the most consistent. They don’t overdo it either, they just make it a priority.

Don’t resist changes to your program. If you truly want results, you need to get out of your comfort zone. When your trainer suggests adding more weight or repetitions to your exercises, or to try newer and more challenging exercises, make a point of being receptive.  This is the only way to grow and get stronger. If you have a previous injury or an exercise legitimately causes you pain, that is a different story, but refusing to do an exercise because it is too hard is not a valid excuse.

Do you train at home? Are you getting sick of your regular routine? I understand. After a while, doing basic squats, lunges, planks and push ups will no longer challenge your body enough to elicit further growth. So you need more advanced variations of these exercises that you can continue to do at home. Who needs a gym when there’s the living room floor? Bodyweight exercises are a simple, effective way to improve strength and flexibility if you don’t have access to any equipment other than a stability ball, table and chairs. You can cover every part of your body from head to toe and get stronger with body resistance alone.

For a beginner, developing the co-ordination required to perform a properly executed prisoner squat (hands behind the neck) can be quite challenging. But through daily repetition your mind will become more efficient at sending the appropriate messages to the working muscles and eventually it is no longer a challenge. The next logical step would be to place a weighted dumbbell under your chin for added resistance, but what if you don’t have one? If that is the case, I recommend trying the Bulgarian Split Squat. It is a one-legged squat where your back leg provides the balance necessary to work the front leg only. In the video below, I am using a bench, but you can improvise. A chair seat, a sofa arm or the edge of a coffee table will do just fine as long as you have something sturdy to rest your back leg on. This exercise is a lot harder than it looks. Start with 2 sets of 10 repetitions per leg and add more volume as you go along. If you are doing it right, your thighs, glutes and hamstrings will be burning.

If you weigh a lot, the chances are that you can bench press a lot of weight because your excess mass can provide the force to move the weight. It is simple physics. On the other hand, the push up is a true indicator of relative upper body strength and endurance. I know guys who can bench press 200 lbs, but they can’t perform one proper push up. They don’t have the strength and endurance in their core and stabilizer muscles to support and balance their bodyweight. For arguments sake, let’s assume that you can perform 15 picture-perfect push ups. It is not elite, but it is pretty good. Once you can perform 15 repetitions, you need something more challenging to force further muscle growth. That is where the plyometric push up comes in. It is a variation used by athletes to become more explosive for their chosen sport. At the beginning, your upper body will quickly become fatigued. As soon as you notice your form starting to slip, stop. I would start with 2 sets of 8 repetitions and progress from there.

When I first started training, crunches were the primary exercise performed to build up the abdominal wall. Today we know better. Flexing the trunk of your spine over and over again puts a tremendous amount of stress on your discs. Over the last several years, back experts like Dr. Stuart McGill have been recommending exercises that hold the spine in a neutral position while still placing enough resistance on the working muscles to force growth. This can be achieved with plank variations (front and side). If you haven’t done planks before, they can be quite challenging. At first, most people find that they can’t hold these positions for more than 30 seconds. Through daily repetition, you will get to the point where you can hold them for as long as 2 minutes and they no longer present a challenge. You need to create more instability. The exercise video below is called ‘stir the pot’. All that is required is a stability ball and some flat ground. Perform this  exercise as directed in the video for a minimum of 30 seconds and your abs will be screaming.

The majority of us want to live a long and vital life. There are a small few who are content with 50 or 60 years of debauchery, but if you are reading this blog, chances are that isn’t you.

There is nothing worse than dragging your ass around all day in a fog. Just barely getting by until your head hits the pillow. You want to live a long life, but more importantly you want lots of energy and a clear head so you can be as effective in your job and in your relationships as possible. Most of us rely on copious amounts of caffeine and refined carbohydrates to get us through the day. They provide immediate, but unsustainable energy. We rush around all day trying to get as much done in as little time as possible and don’t make the time to buy and prepare nutrient-dense foods. Let’s face it, they require more work, and they are not as accessible as a Starbucks coffee and a bagel on the run. Here are 5 nutrient-dense foods that are accessible, easy to prepare, and you can take them anywhere. No more guess work and no more excuses.

1. Beans (lentils and other legumes). There are so many different families to choose from. Garbonzo, kidney, black, lima and they are all easy to prepare and fit in a small portable container. Beans are great, they act like an anti-diabetes and weight-loss food because they are digested slowly, which stabilizes blood sugar, reducing hunger and caloric drive, and helps to prevent food cravings.  Beans are unique, because of their very high levels of fibre and resistant starch. The fibre and resistant starch in beans reduce the total number of calories absorbed from beans (about a third of the carbohydrate calories contained in beans do not get absorbed). They also reduce cholesterol levels, and are converted by healthy gut bacteria into substances that help to prevent colon cancer; eating beans, peas, or lentils at least twice a week has been found to decrease colon cancer risk by 50%. I recommend you use canned beans for convenience. They provide all the same nutrients as dried beans, but are fully cooked, so they save a lot of time. The only drawback is their sodium content—about 400 to 600 milligrams per 1⁄2 cup. Try putting them in a strainer and rinse under cold water and that should lower the sodium content quite a bit. Put them in a resealable container and go.

2. Leafy greens have the highest nutrient density of all foods and need to be a part of your daily food arsenal. They contain only 100 calories per pound and can be consumed in virtually unlimited quantities. They contain anti-cancer compounds and substances that protect blood vessels; they also promote healthy vision and reduce diabetes risk. They go great with chicken, turkey, cheese, hard boiled eggs. Make a Cobb salad and take it to work with you or eat it in the car if you are mobile for much of the day.

3. Start eating berries of all kinds. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries. They are low in sugar, high in fibre and high in taste. Berries are linked to reduced risk of diabetes, cancers and cognitive decline. Their high antioxidant content helps to reduce blood pressure and inflammation, prevent DNA damage that leads to cancer, and stimulates the body’s own antioxidant enzymes.  Berries are rich in protective polyphenols, they do not raise insulin levels, and they have angiogenesis inhibitors, which protect against cancer and reduce body fat. Mix them up with some Greek yogurt for dessert or a snack and throw them in a cooler bag to take to work.

4. Nuts and seeds are extremely healthy fat sources. They increase the absorption of nutrients in vegetables, in addition to supplying their own spectrum of micro-nutrients including plant sterols (which help to reduce cholesterol), minerals and antioxidants. A number of studies have demonstrated the cardiovascular benefits of nuts. Several seeds and nuts (flax, hemp, chia, walnuts) are rich in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for heart and brain health. Seeds and nuts act like a fat sponge in the digestive tract, preventing fat calories from being absorbed.The only preparation required is removing the shells. Grab a handful and stick them in a Ziploc bag before you head to work.

5. Cocoa. Yes, not all chocolate is bad for you. Dark chocolate that is at least 70 percent cocoa is quite healthy. Cocoa has both high antioxidant and flavanol levels which help lower your blood pressure and reduce your stress levels.  According to a study conducted at Cornell University, the antioxidant concentration in hot cocoa is nearly twice as strong as that of red wine. Cocoa’s concentration was two to three times stronger than that of green tea and four to five times stronger than that of black tea. You can find it in many forms. I like to eat cacao nibs. Grab a handful and throw them in your mouth or you can sprinkle them on cereal or yogurt. Either way, the fibre and antioxidant content is off the charts.

No one wants to waste time. You are in the gym 3 to 5 days a week, training hard, eating right, getting adequate rest, but you are not getting the results you want. Could your expectations be a bit too high? Certainly. Gains don’t come overnight, but you can probably get faster muscle growth following these 5 shortcuts.

1. Start performing drop sets. Continue an exercise with a lower weight once muscle fatigue starts with the original weight. So if you are performing a set of barbell squats with 150 lbs and you complete 10 reps, immediately strip off 10 lbs from each side of the barbell and crank out as many reps as you can. Then strip down another 10 lbs from each side and repeat. When you are struggling to get stronger, this is a great way to break through a plateau. It is extremely challenging and very hard on the nervous system, but it works. I don’t recommend doing this for every exercise you perform in a session. The body will adapt to any stimulus you place upon it over time. Start by performing this protocol on the last set of a chest exercise (bench press) and then the next session you might try it with a leg exercise (squat). Make a point of rotating exercises, so you are always hitting a different set of muscle fibres.

2. Make sure you are getting the best muscle fuel. Not all protein sources are the same. Some are higher quality than others. Whey protein that is found in dairy has a higher biological value (over 100) than any other source, while beans only list at a 58. Biological value is a measure of the amount of protein absorbed from a food which becomes incorporated into the proteins of one’s body. It captures how readily the digested protein can be used in protein synthesis in the cells. Look to get the vast majority of your protein from sources such as dairy, eggs, beef, fish and poultry. They are all at the top of the list.

3. Stop performing so much cardio. Pick your poison. After 20 minutes on a stationary bike, treadmill or elliptical trainer, your body starts to break down muscle for fuel, reversing all your hard work. Next time the Olympics are on, take a look at the sprinters, both the way they look and the way they train. They do their cardio in short, explosive bursts of 100 m or less, then they rest/recover and do it again. They have more muscle and less body fat than a marathon runner because of the way they train. More muscle means a faster metabolism. Place 80 to 90% of your effort on lifting weights and save the cardio for the end of your workout and keep it short and sweet, 20 minutes or less.

4. Increase your time under tension. This is one of the most important variables you can manipulate to achieve rapid muscle growth.  The longer you can keep your muscles under tension, the more muscle fibres you will break down. To do this, start focusing on the lowering phase of your lifts. This is referred to as the “eccentric phase” which is often ignored. The lowering phase is when your muscles undergo the most damage. Whether you are pushing, pulling or squatting, take a full 4 seconds to lower the weight and then explode back up through the lifting portion or the “concentric phase” as fast as you can. Try about a 4:1 tempo. If you are performing a set of 10 repetitions, that is a full 50 seconds that your muscles will be under tension which is more than enough time to get the job done.

5.  Take a full week off. I’m not advocating that you sit on the couch and do nothing for an entire week. Do some low grade activity like walking, bike riding, or swimming, all at a leisurely pace. I recommend you do this 4 or 5 times a year. Your tendons and joints can take quite a beating over time. After 8 to 12 weeks of straight training you will start to feel stale, lacking focus and motivation. By taking a step back, you give your nervous system an opportunity to repair and recover. By the time the week is up, you will be itching to get back into the gym. This will lead to more focused training sessions and better results.

Being in a public environment, gyms can be pretty hectic. Especially during peak hours when everyone has just gotten off work. You often have to queue up for equipment and you lose your rhythm waiting. The hour you set aside before you leave for home can be over before you do everything you planned. It sounds stressful, but it shouldn’t be. The time you set aside to train shouldn’t be rushed or spent coordinating with the clock to cram in a few extra sets before you blast out of the parking lot. This scenario happens far too frequently and has led a number of my clients to opt for in-home personal training.

So where do you start? How do you find the right trainer and what qualities and characteristics should you be looking for? I have compiled a list of considerations and questions you should be asking to find the right trainer.

1. One of the most important things to determine is a trainer’s credentials. Your trainer should have a reputable certification and preferably, a degree in kinesiology or exercise science.  The National Strength and Conditioning Association, the American Council on Exercise and Can Fit Pro are the most common, reputable certifications that trainers seek out to learn their trade. Your trainer should also have current CPR and First Aid certifications. Don’t be afraid to ask to see a copy of their certification cards to be sure that they have kept current.

2. Any reputable trainer will offer a free consultation. You should have the opportunity to spend 30 to 60 minutes with a prospective trainer to find out if their approach and personal style are a fit for you. And you should not have to pay a fee for it because this is your trainer’s opportunity to sell him or herself to you.

3. Find out about the financial details. Typically, the fewer sessions you buy, the more each will cost. If you decide to use the trainer, you are generally better to buy more sessions, saving as much as 25% in some cases. Find out about their refund policy. If you happen to get sick or injured, will you be able to get a refund for the sessions you purchased? Can you use them when you are healthy again? Ask how long you have to use the package you purchased. Make sure that it doesn’t expire before you have the opportunity to use all the sessions you paid for and that the hours both of you have available to train are congruent. A reasonable time frame is 6 months. If it’s any less than that, be wary.

4. Can they provide you with references? A credible trainer should be able to provide at least two references from current customers. I would recommend you get the contact info for one male and one female customer. Make a point of calling those people and have your questions ready to ask before you make the calls.

5. Your trainer should look the part. It is not imperative that they look like a fitness cover model, but he or she should exercise regularly and practice a healthy lifestyle. If I’m looking for a trainer, I am certainly not going to trust the advice of someone who isn’t in better shape than I am.

6. Certifications, degrees and book smarts will only take you so far, regardless of your field. Ideally your trainer should have a minimum of 2 years experience in the field. There is no substitute for practical, on-the-job experience. A personal trainer should be in the industry because of a passion for helping others live healthy active lives. If you are new to exercise, it is only natural to be out of your element when you start a training program. An experienced personal trainer will put you at ease and provide a nurturing environment you can train in.

You don’t need to join a gym to build muscle and lose fat. If you are short on time and low on patience I highly recommend that you don’t. You can effectively provide resistance to every muscle and joint in your body without using a single machine—all you need is 30 square feet of space, a yoga mat, dumbbells (optional) and your own bodyweight. Whenever I develop a program for a client, I try to stick with the basics to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible. The goal is to get stronger with each workout and activate as much muscle as possible. There are a number of ways this can be accomplished: add more repetitions to an exercise, add more weight, take shorter breaks or change the angle to make the movement more challenging. There is no end to what you can do to continually challenge your body.

When it comes to performing exercises at home that challenge the body and work a lot of muscle, nothing beats the classic pushup. It activates the chest, shoulders, triceps, rhomboids (upper back) and abdominals. I recommend that you become as efficient as possible at performing this movement. It is a foundational exercise that transfers extremely well to other movements. In the two videos below I have illustrated both a beginner version (the knee assisted pushup) and an intermediate version of this exercise. You need to determine your current strength level and then decide which one to start with.

The squat is the most basic human movement. It also activates a ton of muscle. The quadriceps (thighs), hamstrings, glutes (butt) and erector spinae (lower back) are the primary movers. Watch how a young child squats to pick up a toy off the ground. This is instinctual. Somewhere along the line we have managed to unlearn this movement and prefer to bend over at the spine with minimal knee and glute activation. It is a back injury waiting to happen. If that sounds like you, you need to start squatting. There are dozens of squatting variations that you can perform, but for now we’ll keep it simple. Watch the video of a goblet squat below  (I have a dumbbell tucked under my chin for added resistance, but your bodyweight will suffice if you are a beginner). The squat appears simple, but there are a number of moving parts that must be synchronized for proper execution.

From a postural standpoint, nothing beats a properly performed row. Next time you walk down the street, take notice of how many people you see with poor posture. They are hunched over, shoulders rolled in and necks jutting out. They probably have desk jobs and suffer from “sitting disease“. To combat this you need to start performing exercises that pull back your shoulder blades. Watch the single arm version of this exercise below. If you don’t have a bench, feel free to improvise. You can use a sofa arm as the basis of support with bent knees in a partial standing position.

The push up, the squat and the row need to be the foundation of any strength training program whether you are training at home or in a commercial gym. As you get better at performing each one, look for ways to make them more challenging. The possibilities are endless.

I grew up on Kraft dinner, hot dogs and frozen pizza. I don’t blame my mother for any of it; nutrient-dense food was available to me and I was having none of it. I paid the price for it. My attention span was low and my grades were even lower. If we are not getting enough nutrients from the food we eat it, it is impossible to function optimally.

The problem with low quality food is that it is cheap. You can feed a family of 5 on less than $40 a day if you do it right and that can be very appealing when money is scarce, but that is not what your aim should be. Even if you are on a budget, there is no reason whatsoever that you can’t feed your family high quality, nutrient-dense meals without breaking the bank. Some of the most inexpensive foods you can buy are the best for you. You just have to know what to buy and where to find it. Here is a list of foods that should meet all of your nutrient needs without putting you in the poor house.

1. Oats – They are loaded with fibre and slow burning complex carbohydrates. You can get a whopping 8 grams of fibre in one cup of oatmeal. For most people, that is a third of their daily fibre requirements.  Oats have been shown in study after study to lower LDL cholesterol. They stick to the walls of your stomach keeping you fuller for longer. They provide 6 grams of protein per cup and they are also very cheap. A dollar will buy you more than a week’s worth of breakfasts.

2. Beans – When it comes to beans you will always get your money’s worth and then some. Not only are they a great source of protein, but garbanzo beans in particular are extremely high in fibre, iron, folate, and manganese, and may help reduce cholesterol levels. If you don’t care for one particular type of bean, there are many others to choose from: black, brown, lima, kidney and lentils. They can require some soaking and cooking, but the most inexpensive way to purchase beans is in dried form; a precooked can will cost you no more than a dollar.

3. Eggs – You can buy half a dozen eggs for just over a dollar if you look hard enough. Eggs are one of the most versatile and cheapest sources of protein that you can find. They are nature’s perfect food.  Look into buying pastured eggs from a farmer if you have access to one. I have done this in the past and they are much cheaper than buying eggs from the store and their nutrition is far superior in terms of anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.

4. Liver – I know that the thought of eating liver is hard to fathom, but it is one of the most nutrient-rich meats that you can find. Organ meats provide a ton of vital nutrients and in much higher amounts than the typical cuts you will buy in the store. It is also a lot cheaper per pound than any other cuts that you will find. The cost is no more than $2.00 per lb. So with liver you are getting more nutrition for half the price.

5. Apples are a great choice as a snack. They are inexpensive, easy to find, loaded with fibre (5 grams on average) and they taste really good. They are a great source of pectin—a fibre that may help reduce cholesterol—and they have the antioxidant, vitamin C, which keeps your blood vessels healthy. When they are in season, you can buy organic apples (a dozen or more) for $5.00 a bag. Individually they can cost as much as $1.00 each.

6. Nuts – Many people are put off by nuts due to their high fat content. Don’t be. They are packed with healthy fats both—unsaturated and monounsaturated. They are an excellent source of essential fatty acids, vitamin E and protein. If you are still concerned about the fat and calorie count, nuts are so nutrient-dense that you only need to eat a small handful to reap the benefits. Pistachios, cashews, pecans and macadamias can be rather pricey. Almonds, peanuts and walnuts are much more reasonably priced at under $5.00 per 8 ounces and if you don’t mind shelling them yourself, the price comes down even more.

7. Broccoli – Greens are important and this vegetable is the most inexpensive way to get to them. Broccoli contains tons of nutrients—calcium, vitamins A and C, potassium, folate, and fibre. It is also packed with phytonutrients and compounds that help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. You can purchase a large head of broccoli that serves a family of 5 for under $2.00.

In order to stimulate muscle growth, you are going to need to eat a lot of food. But more importantly, you need to eat the right kind of food—food that is nutrient dense, calorie dense and helps raise testosterone levels.

To figure out how much food you will need, take your current bodyweight, multiply it by 15 and eat that many calories daily. For some hardgainers that may not be enough. Some will need to increase that number to 17 times their current bodyweight. The goal should be to gain 1 to 2 lbs a week. If you are putting on more weight than that, you are just getting fat and that is not the goal; you are looking for muscle growth, not weight gain. Use your bathroom scale, a tape measure and the mirror as your guide.

Next, you need to figure out what you should be eating. You want foods that are nutrient dense, calorie dense and are adept at raising testosterone levels so you will be eating a lot of protein, a lot of fat and a moderate amount of carbohydrates. If you are really lean (i.e., under 10% bodyfat), you can keep the carbohydrates high too. Make a point of eating the majority of your carbs in and around your training sessions. Stick with oatmeal, potatoes and brown rice.

Don’t be concerned about your cholesterol and triglycerides going sky high from the extra fat that you will be taking  in. The foods I recommend will likely improve those numbers. In the 1950’s a well known practitioner came out with a paper demonizing saturated fat and since then the majority of the population has become deathly afraid of eating it. Ironically, since that paper came out, the incidence of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer has gone up threefold. Fat is the primary component of cell membranes and 70% of our brain is made up of fat. So without fat we would be in big trouble.

1. Whole Milk – Up until 30 to 40 years ago, whole milk was consumed by thousands of men in their quests for more muscle mass. It provides a lot of easily consumed calories, a nice blend of whey and casein (both fast and slow absorbing proteins), as well as a good dose of electrolytes including calcium, potassium, magnesium and some sodium. It also offers a good source of vitamin A, vitamin D, and a few B vitamins to boot. Try drinking a litre of  whole unhomogenized organic milk at the end of your workouts. In Ontario, Harmony Organic offers whole milk in litre jugs with the cream still on top for just under $3.

2. Grass Fed Beef – As somebody who loves to throw around weights, I can’t think of a better food to aid in my recovery. The prevailing belief is that red meat is responsible for heart disease, diabetes, cancer. None of this is true. When you buy beef from a cow that was pasture-raised on grass, hay, silage, etc, the nutrient profile is off the charts compared to a cow that was raised on genetically modified corn on a feed lot farm. Grass fed beef is loaded with heart-healthy and fat-loss-aiding conjugated linoleic acid, the correct omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio, and fat soluble vitamin E that plays a huge role in fighting off cancer cells. It also has an exceptional amino acid profile that you won’t find from a steak bought at the local grocery store. Grass fed beef has become much easier to find in the last 5 years. You can buy it at your local Whole Foods or go online and look under www.grassfedbeef.com. There is no shortage of farmers who are raising their beef the right way.

3. Tuna – When I was growing up everyone ate tuna. No one talks about it anymore, and even less people seem to eat it. Salmon is all the rage now. Salmon does have more omega-3’s, and a powerful antioxidant called astaxanthin, but tuna should not be ignored if muscle growth is your goal. It’s a much higher protein source, gram for gram, compared to salmon and it has over 1 gram of omega-3’s per can. It contains 7 essential sources of vitamins and minerals and is an extremely high source of selenium which is a mineral that we don’t get enough of. If you are on a budget, it is easily the cheapest protein source you will find. Look for the lighter varieties due to the marked decrease in mercury content. You can find cans of tuna that state on the container that the fish was sourced from areas with lower mercury levels. You will just have to pay a bit more.

4. Whole Chickens – Yes, I am talking about the dark meat too, skin and all. Arnold ate whole chickens daily. Have you ever asked yourself why we eat skinless, boneless chicken breasts? I don’t have an answer for you. We are missing out on the vitamins, minerals and nutrients that dark chicken meat and chicken skin offers that you won’t find in a chicken breast. For the purpose of building muscle, the price per calorie of whole chickens is extremely low. They provide more total calories and taste much better than a plain old chicken breast ever will.

5. Whole Eggs – I can’t begin to tell you the number of guys I have known who have tried to gain weight by eating egg whites. 10 egg whites don’t even come close to the amount of nutrition and calories that you will find in 5 whole eggs. A colleague of mine has said for years that “Egg whites are for dorks”.  The earth didn’t provide us with this nutritional powerhouse so that we would throw three quarters of it away. Whole eggs are one of nature’s greatest foods. We have to dispell the myth that saturated fat and cholesterol contribute to heart disease. Whole eggs contain brain-boosting and anti-inflammatory choline, lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health, vitamin A, vitamin D, B vitamins, selenium, iodine for proper thyroid function. If you can procure pasture-raised eggs from a local farmer, their nutrient content is vastly superior, with 4-6 times the vitamin D content, 3 times the omega-3 content, and 8 times the beta-carotene content. If not, choose organic free-range eggs in the grocery store.

So there you have it.  You need not be a slave to egg whites, skim milk and chicken breasts when in search of new muscle.  There are plenty of tasty, nutritious foods that will provide nutrient dense calories so your palate need not suffer.

Are you working hard in the gym and eating properly but not getting the results you desire? The problem for the majority of trainees is not a matter of effort. Most gym goers want to work hard and they want to get results. They train earnestly, but have little to show for it. If you are not aware of the subtleties that make up an effective training program, you will have difficulty achieving the results you want. Below are the most common mistakes I find that even the most experienced trainees tend to make.

1. You are very passionate about fitness and as a result you are performing random workouts with everything from a kettlebell to a bosu ball. Or perhaps you get bored easily and when a program doesn’t pay off in the first week, you hop along to the next one. If your goal is to get lean and add muscle mass, the solution is to find a program to perform in 4-6 week phases that adds progressive resistance and primarily contains multi-joint exercises that train the entire body.

2. You are lifting light weights and performing way too many reps. Your focus needs to be on getting stronger. When you are training with low to moderate weights you leave out a whole section of muscle fibres that are not getting trained. Within a muscle there are a number of motor units–some respond to lighter loads and others to near maximal loads. The heavier the weight, the more motor units get called upon, so more muscle ends up being worked. If you are trying to improve your body composition, lifting near maximal loads in the 1 to 5 repetition range from time to time is imperative.

3. You are not recovering from one session to the next. In order to get the results that you desire, you need to put in a lot of hard work. You also need to work equally hard at your recovery. That means getting adequate sleep (a minimum of 7 hours and preferably more), stress reduction, proper nutrition and believing that what you are doing will pay off. Protein shakes, stretching, meditation, hot and cold baths are all proven modes of recovery and they require time and patience. Make the effort, be strong in your convictions and your hard work will pay off.

4. You are using cardiovascular activity as your primary mode of calorie burning. Cardio is an aerobic form of activity that uses different pathways in the cells than lifting weights, and this will directly interfere with muscle growth. Trainees who perform long steady state cardiovascular activity in concert with weight training don’t get the results that they expect. Instead, try performing a heavy weight training session with loads at 75% of your 1 rep maximum and throw in some interval training for 10 to 20 minutes at the end of your session. You can perform intervals on a treadmill, stationary bike, use body weight exercises like jumping jacks, mountain climbers, etc. Try performing 30 seconds at an all out sprint, followed by 30 seconds of recovery for 8 intervals and I think you will like the results.

5. You are comparing yourself to others. There will always be people who are leaner, stronger and more muscular than you, no matter how hard you work. When we continually compare ourselves to others we are setting ourselves up for failure. Make it a competition with yourself. Keep a log book of your progress and try to beat the numbers you hit from your previous session. Follow this approach and I think you will be pleased by how quickly you progress.