Post Vacation “Detox”

Ever since our vacation posts we’ve been fielding a bunch of questions about ‘detoxing’. Ugh – first off, detoxification is an ugly, ugly word. The word ‘detox’ insinuates that there is something in your body that needs to be removed. This begs the question, how did that something get there in the first place?

massive cheat day

“I dunno, I just blacked out.”

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Gym Etiquette 101: 5 Fashion Faux Pas

 
This may seem trite, but high up on my list of pet peeves concerning gym etiquette is what people wear at the gym.

What does what I wear to the gym have to do with exercise?

A lot. Not only does what you wear at the gym tell me oodles about who you are as a person, it tells me even more about how you are going to conduct yourself on the gym floor.

When implements weighing as much as 3x my bodyweight are being pushed, pulled, thrown and dropped on the floor around me and my clients, I’m always overly cautious and judgmental of people who wear (or don’t wear) the following items:

 
#1 Jeans

3 jeans working outCasual Friday?

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How We Lost 10 lbs Last Week: The Return of Lean

 
Last week we regaled you with stories about how we crudely debauched our way to 10 lbs of weight gain in a week.

sumo suit

Through our cautionary tale you should have gleaned some ideas about what not to do, and some ideas about how to live a healthier life whilst partying like it’s 1999.

Now we’re going to tell you how we peeled all that weight off in a week. This installment will be a bit more technical, but all the juicy secrets to weight gain, weight loss, and avoiding weight gain are in here, so stay with us and take home some weight loss life lessons.
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For the love of all that is healthy, wash your f*!king produce.

Hooray! It’s Friday, which means today is the day the Bergmanns get in the Charger and bust a move to the grocery store!

This is what food shopping looks like for us these days:

In all seriousness, now that you eat a cup of veggies with every meal (you are doing this right?), and have a stockpile of delectable produce in your fridge, you MUST MUST MUST learn the zen of bathing your produce.

“What the hell? Why do I have to give my produce a bath?”

First of all, the life cycle of produce has MANY stages. It doesn’t just appear in the supermarket direct from the tree/plant/vine (whatever). That apple you ate on the way home from the shop has also been man handled by every Tom, Dick and Harry in the system and, statistically speaking, one of them (probably Dick) came to work with the flu.

Actually, one of the most common contaminants found on store bound fruit and vegetables is human perspiration.

Sexy Farmer

Yummo!
(Picture is a dramatization of how actual produce is farmed.)

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8 Epiphanies from 2013, Part II

If you’re looking for Part I you can check it out here.

6) The gap between fitness and rehab is closing rapidly.

Some are happy about this. Some are not. But, the fact of the matter is that the gap is closing.

That said, the vast majority of fitness professionals know nothing about successful rehab… or fitness. Terrifyingly, the same is true for medical professionals. Too many people are waiving around pieces of paper they got in a classroom while rocking a terrifying 80% failure rate (if they even know what their failure rate is).

More fitness pros are learning to get and keep people out of pain, and more medical pros are using better techniques and discharge criteria. We need this. But we also need more cooperation between the fields and less complaining about who is stepping on whose toes. Hopefully we got into these fields to improve the lives of those we work with, not to line our pockets (and if you got into fitness or rehab to line your pocket, you have dubious math skills).

gansta fail
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8 Epiphanies from 2013, Part I

I learned a lot this year. These are the things that are most likely to haunt my nightmares:

1) People still choose exercises that are useless or injurious, or perform exercises such that they become useless or injurious. Many of those people are fitness “professionals.”

Beth and I moved recently. As a result, we had to give up our beloved rusty barbell club and join a big box gym. It… is… terrifying.

Sit-ups, crunches, supermans, rounded back deadlifts, squats with valgus knee position… people do these things?

His chiropractor must be on speed dial.

His chiropractor must be on speed dial


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Three Things I learned in 2013

1) 3 Reasons Beauty Kills

poison beauty
Allergies, hives, headaches, dry skin, eczema, irregular menses, brittle nails, acne, irritated eyes, thyroid issues, trouble conceiving… These are just a few of the side effects a person can experience by using commonplace personal care products and cosmetics. After years of chasing some of my own symptoms I recently discovered a major contributor could be the chemical exposure from daily use of my bath and beauty products. Continue reading

The Lazy Man’s Guide to Fat Loss: 7 Steps to Absolute Greatness

I’d rather work smarter than work harder. Some people will say that that makes me lazy. Preposterous. No lazy man has ever devoted so much effort to applying so little effort.

I can go on forever about fat loss — tactics, training programs, eating strategies, and so forth. But, because everyone keeps asking for a short version, below is my super-secret primer for lazy fat loss.
Top Secret Cow
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