newsletter 14

1. Lessons On Life: "On Your Death Bed!"
2. Training Tip: "Misconceptions In Training Methods"
3. Nutrition Tip: "Are You Eating Enough Food?"
4. Hall of Achievements:
5. Personalized Program Design: "Tired of Not Reaching Your Goals?"
6. Charity in Focus: "Precious Ones Outreach International"

Friends! New things are happening at Copeland's Core Fitness kettlebell training studio. I'm not telling so you will just have to drop by and find out!
- Brian

1. Lessons On Life: "On Your Death Bed!"

You've all heard this before, so repeat after me... No one on their deathbed ever said, "I wish I spent more time at work."

No, likely you will wish you spent more time with your kids, friends, pets, smiling, laughing, helping others, reading, learning another language, spiritual life, whatever.

You will probably wish that you had asked that one guy or gal out on a date.

You will regret all of the stress that you let get to you. All of the times you snapped at your family or friends because you were stressed and in a bad mood.

You will regret all of the binge eating that you did and how you never got to walk down the beach or in the park or by the pool with a 6-pack or with a slender toned body.

You will regret skipping workouts because you were too mentally drained from putting up with crap from people you don't give a damn about anyway.

People who's own miserable lives are taken out on you because they don't know how to deal with their own dissatisfaction in life.

Friends, don't go through life with regrets. Decide today, make the change. Find a source of encouragement. Eliminate as much stress as you can. Of course you can't get rid of it all but get rid of all that you can.

Leave mental energy in the bank for enjoying life. Smile. Enjoy. Exercise hard. Rest hard.

As strength coach Dan John says, "Divide life into 4 equal parts:"
• Work
• Play
• Rest
• Pray

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may all die!
- Old Klingon Proverb

Hollywood, magazines and good marketing have really thrown us all for a loop. It is kind of like the theory of evolution, it has yet to be proven scientifically (hence why it is called "The Theory") yet it has a really good PR system behind it; since we are bombarded with it in school, movies, etc. we absolutely believe it.

Fitness is the same, there are some really good PR machines that have shaped our conceptions on fitness.

I'll try and bust a few of these in the limited space of this brief article.

First off let's start with the SAID Principle: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. Your body doesn't know what you want, it only adapts to the demands you place on it. If you do high reps with low weights you will get endurance. If you lift heavy weights for low reps you will get stronger. If you don't push yourself hard you will get no results at all. This is perhaps an oversimplification but I'm trying to keep this brief.

Misunderstanding #1: Jogging will get you fit

Look at the following pictures... You may want any children under the age of 14 leave the room for this one!

No accounting for taste... The three individuals above all run. So why such a stark difference in builds?

Subject #1 is a marathon runner. He runs long distances at a very slow pace. This requires very little muscle and a body as light as possible. The body responds by burning off any unneeded muscle tissue, and very little is needed by the way. Not to mention that marathon running is all a mind-game, if you have the heart and will to keep running you will, the body doesn't break before the mind does. So when Subject #1 runs out of energy in his muscles (glycogen) it needs to find a quickly converted energy source (muscle tissue). Hence the athlete experiences muscle catabolism (the muscle breaks down and is used for fuel).

Subject #2 is basically in the same boat as Subject #1. He runs, swims and bikes for very long distances at a very low intensity, perhaps a little higher than the marathon runner. The body responds by eliminating any unneeded muscle tissue just like before. I'm not sure if his body forces him to dress like that or not? I'd rather not know!

Subject #3 is in the exact opposite of the spectrum. He runs yes, but he runs a very short distance as fast as he possibly can. To move a body through space quickly requires a lot of strength, thus muscle is needed. He not only retains his muscle by not wasting it away through mindless repetitive effort but his body must build new muscle to adapt to the imposed demand of running faster.

Who am I to judge, you choose the body type that you want and the appropriate method of exercise.

Misunderstanding #2: Powerlifting (or any heavy lifting) will make you fat and/or bulky, don't do their style of training if you want to be ripped
...
Look, no type of training will "make you fat" except 12oz can curls. I know of no physiological stimulus you can do to your body using exercise that develops fat. You can over train your body and under eat which encourages fat storage (survival mode), this is typically found in endurance type athletes.

So why are powerlifters usually bulky?

Well because most powerlifters I know frankly don't give a damn how they look. They do care how strong they are. They train heavy and hard, which does not make you bulky. However, they then go and eat like kings to help their body recover as fast as possible for their next workout.

The problem usually comes in the choice and quantity of foods. If you took a powerlifter and had them only eat as much as they needed, and then those calories would be from really clean food... what you would have is a ripped, toned, bad-arse looking athlete who is strong as heck.

Oh by the way, there are powerlifters out there who fit this description.

Bodybuilders on the other hand by the very nature of their sport must watch what they eat to stay super lean and cut. They haven't found a better way of training, they found a better way of eating!

Bottom line, train like a powerlifter and eat like a bodybuilder and you will have the best advantages of both, the strength of the powerlifter and the muscle and leanness of the bodybuilder.

Misunderstanding #3: Kettlebells are scary, dangerous hunks of iron

Yes they are now let's move to the next subject... just kidding.

Don't let the shape fool you, that scary kettlebell usually weighs less than the child that you mothers out there are picking up with bad form out of the back of a car.

I train grandparents with kettlebells and elite athletes all the same. Some will lift more weight or push themselves harder, but for crying out loud more people get hurt using sissified machines in the gyms than using kettlebells from a qualified and certified kettlebell instructor. Truthfully more people hurt themselves picking up a bag of cat litter. In a study I've read and long forgotten already, elite level athletes in all sports were rated in terms of the most and least injuries. The sport of kettlebell lifting (yes there is a sport) had the lowest injury rate of any other sport including tennis, golf and underwater basket weaving... probably due to the man-eating jelly fish but the facts speak for themselves.

Misunderstanding #4: The biggest most ripped guy is a great athlete, super strong and can kick butt!

Oh you poor poor misguided chap. Looks do not equal performance. Some of the strongest guys I have ever met were smaller than me. In case you think I don't get around much I know World's Strongest Man competitors.

I can still remember many years ago in a commercial gym I was training next to a pair of big and ripped bodybuilders. These guys were almost double my weight despite being about 5 inches shorter than my tall lanky arse. For all appearance these guys should have been WAY stronger than me. Well let's just say that they weren't even half as strong, much to their embarrassment.

Have you ever wondered why in real life you almost never see big buff soldiers, especially in the elite units like the Navy Seals? They just don't have the agility, speed, endurance to lug their heavy butts around.

By the way quite possibly the hardest hitter that the world has ever seen weighed 135 lbs... Bruce Lee.

Now before you go around challenging the first big ripped guy you see to an underwater arm wrestling contest, Speedos optional, I didn't say that ALL big ripped guys were weak. Some actually train to be quite strong, and some train to be pumped up and weak. Can you tell the difference by looking? I doubt it. Likewise a thin wiry man or woman may be weak or strong as heck! Once again I doubt you can tell the difference by looking.

Misunderstanding #5: A 6-pack equals fitness

I know guys who are... well... fat who are in WAY better physical condition than you or me and would smoke us in strength, power, endurance, speed, flexibility, etc. So here is what looks are good for... attracting the opposite sex and that is pretty much it. Not that that is a bad thing mind you.

Misunderstanding #6: Pilates and yoga are more feminine types of training and better for women

More feminine... well perhaps. Better for women... well once again that depends on your goals.

Do yoga and you will get better at yoga, do Pilates and you will get better at Pilates. The question is does getting better at either of those activities get you to your goals?

Frankly neither will burn even half as many calories in a full hour as 15 minutes of kettlebell swings will.

Now before you label me a "yoga-hater" and instant message Shiva to tangle me up with half a dozen arms or whatever, I do find some pros and cons to both yoga and Pilates. Heck you can find pros and cons to any form of exercise, even kettlebell training depending on the circumstances and the training methodology. Not all kettlebell training is the same for darn sure.

In both yoga and Pilates, which both say that you will get core strength and a healthy back, neither have you pick up heavy objects off of the floor. Instead you control your own body weight or in some cases use a machine (in Pilates).

The problem is that in the real world we pick things up and put them somewhere. Groceries, kids, suitcases, boxes, furniture, the dead body... I mean... furniture, etc. If you don't learn how to brace (not hollow) your midsection/core then you are willfully putting yourself at risk for real world activities and have no one to blame but yourself when you get hurt!

I can't tell you how many back pain, shoulder pain and knee pain issues I have seen completely healed from lifting things off of the floor and learning to brace the body in "REAL WORLD" scenarios.

Oh there is a side effect of lifting things, you may or may not like this... YOU WILL GET TONED AND DEAD SEXXXY!

Well I hope my little rant has opened some eyes to the realities of the fitness world. Perhaps I've created more unanswered questions than not?

My clients don't have to know everything that I know, if they do what I say they get the results they want.

Until next time, train like an athlete not a hamster!

PS. If you are watching late-night infomercials and are thinking of buying the "Ab Gizmo 3000" or "Dance Your Way to a Super Six-Pack" don't bother. Save yourself some hard earned deblunes and instead purchase my Personalized Program Design. I'll get you better results with your own body weight and you won't have to make installments on an expensive piece of crap that sits in the corner collecting dust for the next 10 years for crying out loud!

3. Nutrition Tip: "Are You Eating Enough Food?"

Kettlebells Aurora Colorado Denver Greenwood Village nutrition

Much has been said about the types of food you should eat, but what about how much you should eat?

Whether you want to gain muscle, lose body fat, do both, be healthy enough to avoid getting sick, avoid diseases, etc. you must eat and consume enough nutrients for your body.

I like to use the scurvy analogy with my clients; scurvy of course was the disease many sailors used to get back in the days when Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't just a movie.

Scurvy is basically caused when the body does not get enough vitamin C and the cells of the body can't hold themselves together anymore and start falling apart. If taken to the extreme people can die of scurvy although normally it just makes you really sick.

What does scurvy have to do with the price of tea in China, Brian?

Well if the tea was cheaper people could afford to drink it and not get scurvy... ok seriously.

Well you may be getting enough calories, nutrients, water, etc.

"to not die"

but are you getting enough to be optimally healthy? Are you getting enough to recover from your workouts? To keep from getting sick? To keep your testosterone high?

Here is a guide to help you determine your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Basically how many calories you burn each day. By knowing this information you will know how many calories you need to sustain your current weight, if your goal is to gain weight or lose weight then you simply eat a little more or a little less... A little more or less not a 1,000 calories more or less people!

Men's Formula:

MEN: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)

Women's Formula:

WOMEN: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.7 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)

So let's take a man, 6'2" tall and weighs 190 lbs, he is 31 years old.

His formula would look like this: 66 + 1,178 + 940 - 211 = 1,973

So he needs 1,973 calories to sustain his body weight and health if all he does all day is sit on the couch watching TV.

But what if he has a physically demanding job or trains with kettlebells 4 days per week or both?

Then we need to add one more formula to this mix.

Your actual Daily Energy Expenditure, the amount of calories you burn in a day, will vary of course. We can estimate this amount by multiplying your BMR by an "activity" factor.

1.0 = sedentary (do nothing all day but sit on your butt and watch TV)

1.2 = very light activity (desk job, no exercise, some walking)

1.4 = light activity (no exercise, job might require some light physical labor, you don't look for the closest parking spot at the grocery)

1.6 = moderate activity (most of us "I hope": a physically undemanding job, but exercising on a regular basis)

1.8 = high activity (daily exercise plus a somewhat physically active job or lifestyle)

2.0 = very high activity (twice-a-day training, sports + training. or training + a very demanding job)

So taking our same gentleman from earlier at 1,973 calories per day. If he is a total couch potato and has a desk job then multiply the BMR or calorie needs by 1.0. 1,973 x 1.0 = 1,973. Pretty simple.

Now let's assume he has a desk job but exercises several days per week (3 - 4 times for 1 hour per session). Take his BMR and multiply it now by 1.6. 1,973 x 1.6 = 3,157. He needs 3,157 calories +/- to maintain his weight.

Kettlebell Training Aurora Denver Colorado Greenwood Village DTC nutrition

Now this isn't an exact science but it is a good guide to get you started.

If you want to increase muscle then start with this number eating clean foods. If you don't gain any muscle and you are sure your training is in order (think of my Personalized Program Design if it isn't) then increase the calories by just a little until muscle and not fat start increasing.

Likewise if you want to lose body fat. Don't just drop the calories by 1,000 or your body will go into starvation mode and store calories as fat because it thinks it is dying and needs the calories. Simply decrease your number buy a small amount of calories. If the fat starts dropping cool. If not, decrease by a little more and make sure you are eating clean and your training is in order.

Until next time, eat like an Athlete, not a couch potato!

4. Hall of Achievements:

Our newest updates:

Everett Harcourt - Pistol with a 53 lb kettlebell for reps!
This won't last long this guy is taking off like wild-fire!
..
Doug Stump - Renegade Row with the "The Beast" a 106 lb kettlebell!
CRAZY!

See all achievements on the "Achievements" link at the left navigation bar at the top of the page or click here

5. Personalized Program Design: "Tired of Not Reaching Your Goals?"

One of my recent female clients went down 2 belt sizes in a month! She did it in just 15 minutes 3 - 5 nights per week and from the privacy of her own home using just her own bodyweight!

What are you waiting for?

Let's face it, we are our own worst trainers! We are great at telling other people what to do with their exercise programs but we can't seem to figure our's out to meet our goals.

Whether you are an athlete who needs to perform better at their sport, a guy or gal who wants to look better at the beach, maybe you just want a healthy heart and joints or you want a combination of all three; I can help you get there.

What is Personalized Program Design?

A custom "personalized" training program for created just for you. I take into consideration your goals, time, lifestyle, equipment you have access to, etc. You follow this on your own at home, the gym or where ever. Have kettlebells? Barbells? Dumbbells? Just your bodyweight? No problem!

Who needs Personalized Program Design?

New to Exercise:
- You know you want to get 'in-shape' but you have no idea of how to do it. Let me show you exactly what to do and how to progress.
Wants to Work Out at Home:
- Custom made training program based on your lifestyle, time, equipment or lack there of.
Hates Gyms:
- Join the club, or rather don't, I can't stand them either. Train at home with whatever equipment you have access to. You would be amazed what you can do with just your body weight if that's all you have.
Short on Time:

You CAN exercise for 15-20 minutes per day 3-6 days per week easy! If not you are making excuses. I'll show you how, and yes this is effective. But don't kid yourself, you will be working your butt off!

Been Training for Years But Haven't Reached YOUR Goals:
- You need a fresh outside perspective on your training. You also need an experienced professional coach to show you the way. I am both of those. All you need to provide is the elbow grease and sweat!

Quit making excuses and treat yourself, you deserve it!

Learn more about my Personalized Program Design here

6. Charity in Focus: "Precious Ones Outreach International"

My friend Janet "Ama" Annan has a special place in her heart for orphaned and abused children all over the world. She is the founder of Precious Ones of God Outreach International a non-profit organization that takes in orphaned and neglected children and gives them clothes, housing, food and schooling. I have volunteered my time and talents with this organization and can tell you that they are legitimate and make a real difference in the lives of hurting children. In fact, Janet and her husband both work full-time jobs just so they can provide more money to help the children. She can use all of the support she can get. No guilt trip but if you are moved in your heart then please visit her at her website here.

Until next time, train and eat like ATHLETES not hamsters and reap the rewards of a healthy, lean, sexy/studly body!

Brian Copeland, RKC

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Brian Copeland's Core Fitness Newsletter

Brian Copeland's
Core Fitness Newsletter