Are you a gym guy?

I was actually working on book stuff the other day and ESPN was on in the background. I couldn’t help but notice this segment from Jim Rome. I thought it was pretty funny, so here’s a YouTube of the clip:

A friend of mine is starting a business and I thought it sounds pretty cool. I think the gist of it is that you get in a big air-filled ball and roll down a hill. Maybe they’ll let you roll the ball back up the hill and you can call that your cardio for the day Anyway - take a look:

Downhill Ruckus

I joined a new gym recently that gave me some free assessments for joining. Even though I know a lot about working out and lifting weights, it is alway nice to have a refresher and get a different perspective. This morning I had a great session with a trainer. We did a lower-body workout and I felt really good afterword. While he didn’t necessarily show me anything new, he had me do things that were outside my normal routine and pushed me a little harder than I probably push myself. It was a good experience.

Most gyms will offer some kind of free training opportunity, whether it is complimentary session or trial offer or whatever. If those kinds of situations ever present themselves, take ‘em! Sure the trainer will probably try to sell to you, but I think it is always worth it to get a little kick in the pants and see some new and fresh stuff.

If you’re not in a position to hire a trainer, it is also worth it to ‘invest’ every 6-12 weeks in a session to help stay on track. Most reasonable training sessions are going to be $70 or less for a one time shot. (The price typically jumps way down the more sessions you commit to purchasing.)

Tags: personal trainer, complimentary

I went skiing with my wife, 2 1/2 year old, and sister today. It was a great time. It was my son’s first time skiing. He had a great time, but he is probably a bit too young to really get the hang of it. My sister is a ski instructor and did great with him. He seemed a little more interested in using my ski poles and rolling around in the snow than actually skiing

Anyway, it was a long day and it reminds me how it is nice to be in the position to go skiing once in a while and not be knocked out the next few days. Add ‘minimal soreness after skiing’ to the laundry list of positives that come from getting and being in shape.

p.s. Ski Utah’s slogan - “The Greatest Snow on Earth” isn’t just a slogan - it’s true!

Tags: skiing

I did a bike ride for cardio today and it was a good time. It was about 50º outside, so I couldn’t help but get out. I live at the base of a little mountain in the Salt Lake valley called Steep Mountain with about 1000 foot vertical change, so it is about 30 minutes up and 7 minutes down.

Anyway, I wasn’t on my ride too far before an uncomfortable side cramp hit me. I did my best to just work through it, but was curious if there was anything knew I could learn about cramps when I got back. So, I turned to the proverbial source of knowledge... Wikipedia

Here’s a link to the page, but I thought I’d list the things I did wrong (according to Wikipedia) before my ride to possibly complicate the benign side cramp:

• I ate a snack just before I left.
• I probably haven’t had enough water intake today.
• I didn’t warm-up as much as I could have.
• I didn’t gradually increase the intensity of the ride (I got right into going up the hill.)

Tags: biking, running

I had Archer Farms Instant Oatmeal for breakfast this morning and I tweeted about it on Twitter. Wasn’t sure if they spell it “Strawberry Creme” or “Strawberry Cream” so I did a quick search for it at Target.com (it’s a Target brand). As it turns out, it is called “Strawberry Créme”.

Anyway, while I think the food is good and tasty, I was thinking about how Target does a great job with their image. We are big Walmart shoppers in our house (to the chagrin of some of my college buddies) but we love Target. This Archer Farms store brand is a great example of how they do just the little bit extra to give the perception of higher quality. They also have the “lower quality” brand of Market Pantry, which is imaged in a way to give the perception that it is good quality, but not quite as much because of its packaging.

Walmart actually knows exactly what they’re doing with their image (I think). Their discount brand “Great Value” looks like it should be the least expensive and it is (typically). If it was packaged the way Archer Farms is, I think many of its purchasers would feel alienated in the sense that they couldn’t “afford” something that was so “nice”.

It brings out the point that while there certainly are advantages to purchasing the “higher quality/more expensive” brand from time to time, a lot of it is just positioning and marketing to different audiences. Take a few minutes to get to know the products you buy frequently. Read the nutrition label and the ingredients list. These are the best clue as to the real quality of products.

p.s. Walmart does have a higher quality brand called “Sams Choice” that is packaged and positioned to compete against the name brands with more unique product offerings.

Here are some images from Google Image search of some of the brands listed above:

Tags: target, walmart, marketing, packaging

Have you ever played the Wii? If not, you should find a friend who has one. I haven’t played a lot of games, but I can say that the Wii Fit it a super fun game. Not only is it mentally challenging, but it actually can give you a bit of a workout.

If you haven’t seen it yet, it comes with a small platform that you stand on. It senses how you’re shifting your weight and balance and the little Mii’s on the game respond accordingly.

It has cardio, strength, yoga, and balance games. It is pretty fun. Try it out.

Here’s one of Nintendo’s promotional video’s:

and a hilarious parody I found too:

Tags: video games

I’ve set aside a bunch of time next week to really hash out some good work for the book next week. It is a lot of fun to do the website, blog, tweets, and other things, but now that a lot of that is up and going I can sit down and focus on the getting the book together.

I think one of the hardest things is getting all of my thoughts organized and put on paper. I am excited to see if I can get it written by the end of the week. This will allow for editing and formatting to be done the week after. If you haven’t noticed, the book is scheduled to be released before March 31.

Check back or subscribe to the RSS feed to see how the book is coming. I’ll try to keep things updated here.

Tags: writing

To get over a plateau or to just change things up in the weight-room, try a SuperSet. Instead of resting in-between each set of your work-out, perform your repetitions for the set of one lift then move straightaway into the repetitions of another lift. The two most common ways to perform this is by either working the same muscle group back-to-back or by working opposing groups back-to-back. E.g. perform a set of bench press, then move right into a pec fly or to a bench press and move right into a row.

Tags: reps

I was just thinking today about an ad that has been showing recently supporting HIgh Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). While it is almost impossible to eat food that doesn’t have HFCS in it, we rarely eat the altered sweetener. Originally, I was just going to mention how well structured the campaign is. Take a look at this ad:

While I completely disagree with how the ad minimizes the effects of HFCS, I think it is very well crafted. This is because it gives the uniformed viewer the impression that HFCS is really no different from natural sugar and that any hype that is going around has no foundation. It says that we have no idea why HFCS is bad for you so therefore it isn’t.

But, as I was looking for the above ad on YouTube, I found a video response. It does a great job at answering why to avoid HFCS. Enjoy:

Tags: hfcs, marketing

Let me know if you have any issues with posting comments. I’m using RapidWeaver to make this site, and while I love RW, the comment function is just fine.... Just drop me a line if you need any help, comments, suggestions.

Thanks.

Tags: blogging

My sister told me that an acquaintance of hers said that after a workout it is better (nutritionally) to drink chocolate milk than a protein shake. While I have no problem with drinking chocolate milk as a post work-out energy refill, I don't think you can beat a well designed protein shake for nutritional power.

For example, a common concoction found in my mug is:

• Whey
• Raspberries
• Banana
• Low-fat vanilla yogurt
• Skim milk
• Natural Peanut Butter
• Flax seed
• Plain oatmeal
• Ice

Now, of course you can't have huge portions of this (it's not just nutritionally high, but also calorically too), but I don't think chocolate milk can match the vitamins, phytonutrients, and overall good fats, proteins, fibers, and carbs.

Tags: chocolate milk, whey, protein

I was looking through a running magazine the other day (Runners World?) and saw an ad for Newton Running shoes. I thought it’d be pretty cool to have a shoe with my name on it (unlike NikeID), so I looked them up. Take a look... they’ve got a pretty cool and unique technology that allegedly helps runners move with a more natural motion. They claim that too many of us run with a heal strike first whereas we should be running with a forefoot strike.

I’d like to try them out, but am mid-cycle with my current shoes and haven’t budgeted for their $150+ price tag. But I’ll post about them if I get a chance to learn more.

Here’s a (YouTube) video from their website:

Tags: running, shoes

I haven’t decided how or when I’m going to do it exactly, but there are a few things I’d like to do to expand the offering for The Fat Trainer.

For example, I would like to do an audio-book version, Kindle format, iPhone format and offer the book in printed format too. I know how to make the audio part, although it’d be best to get it into the iTunes store. I need to do more research on Kindle and iPhone eBooks. Physical copies also can be done at a handful of places. I’ve taken a gander at blurb and lulu.

I’m excited to see where this goes.

Tags: marketing, formats

I designed my first version of the cover today. It features different shades of red (which happens to be my favorite color).

I didn’t brainstorm too long on it (although I think I’ve had the concept in my head for a while now) so I am pretty happy with it. It’ll be interesting to see how much I change it before the book is released.

Also - I’m wondering about the sub title. It is a pretty good summary of what is going on in the book, but does it have sticking power? I guess we’ll see

Tags: design

Well, it is official. I am making a website, writing a book and am doing the marketing myself. And I’m actually blogging. It is pretty cool actually. Hopefully I can pull this all together and give the world a high quality product at a respectable price. I probably wouldn’t be doing a blog, but I watched this video and decided that he is probably right.

(It’s actually a pretty good video - but in case you don’t wanna watch it - the guy says you should do a blog because it helps you think, it helps you work through processes. I’ll give it a go.)

Tags: marketing, blogging