Fitness Success News - Issue 54

Wednesday June 11th, 2003

(C)2003 http://www.achieve-fitness.com 
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Table of Contents
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1. Fitness Q + A

2. New Links Between Hormones And Breast Cancer

3. Book Review: Flatten Your Abs

4. Success Quote

5. Test Your Fitness Knowledge - Part 2

6. Healthy + Tasty Recipes

7. Article: Don't Be a Fitness Drop-Out! 
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Fitness Q + A
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Since starting the Fitness Q + A I have been flooded with 
hundreds of emails - so if you sent me a question and I 
have answered it yet, please hang in there. I will try to
get to all the questions over the next few issues.

Here's a question I received just the other day:

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Q. You mentioned doing only 1-2 sets per exercise- is this 
really enough? I'm a little confused as many instructors 
at gyms or fitness VDO programs such as The Firm tell you 
to do at least 3 sets of 12-15? 
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A. the reason people say 3 sets is because they don’t know 
what they are doing and they just say what everyone else 
says. If you understand the human body and how exercise 
affects it, you’ll learn that it isn’t the number of sets 
or reps you perform – it’s the stress or stimulus you 
provide. therefore, what really matters is how hard you 
can push yourself and challenge the muscles. 

You need to provide a level of stress the muscles are not 
used in order for the body to make improvements. I 
recommend you read as many of my articles as you can here: 
http://www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm  and 
consider getting a copy of my Burn Fat FAST! program here: 
http://www.burn-fat-fast.com  

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That's all for todays Fitness Q + A - read on for more
great health and fitness info.

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New Links Between Hormones And Breast Cancer 
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Postmenopausal women taking combined estrogen and 
progesterone hormone repalcement therapy for six months 
had a significantly increased risk of lobular breast 
cancer, researchers from Fred Hutchison Cancer Research 
Center in Seattle report. The sample size of 4.575 
women between the ages of 35 to 64 with breast cancer and 
4,682 healthy postmenopausal women, analyzed information 
on menstrual, contraceptive, and reproductive histories, 
tobacco and alcohol use, family history, and hormone usage. 

Women taking combined hormone therapy for more for more 
than six months were twice as likely to have lobular breast 
cancer. Lobular breast cancer has increased dramatically 
since the mid-1980's along with the increased use of 
combined therapy. Cancer 2002; 95:2455-64. 

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Flatten Your Abs!
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As you may have noticed, we recently added a great new 
e-book to the site titled 'Secrets Steps to Rock Hard Abs'. 
After getting this book I was so impressed I asked the 
author if I could offer it to my clients and customers.

If you are interested in targetting the mid-section, you 
MUST check out this book! It's full of tons of training 
tips and routines with detailed photos and descriptions. 
You can check it out here: 
http://www.achieve-fitness.com/fitness_books.htm 

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Success Quote
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'In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape 
ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And 
the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.' 

- Eleanor Roosevelt 

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Test Your Fitness Knowledge - Part 2 
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So how do you think you did? Are you ready to see the 
answers? Good, here we go…

Question 1 – What nutritional breakdown is best for 
fat loss?

Answer: c – moderate protein, carbs, and fats

It’s funny how it used to be a low or not fat diet was 
the way to go and it just caused thousands and thousands 
of deaths and diseases due to nutritional deficiencies. 
Now it’s low carbs and high protein that’s the latest 
craze and it too is off the mark. High protein and low 
carb diets don’t make sense because the brain needs 
carbohydrate to function properly and active people 
feel like crap because their muscle glycogen is always 
low or depleted.

It seems it always has to be one extreme or the other. 
The BEST approach is a balance of carbs, proteins, and 
fats. Two popular examples of this approach are “The Zone” 
and “Balance”. 

This approach not only makes the most sense as far as fat 
loss goes, but it also offers more stable energy levels 
and far more healthy. The carbs should come from vegetables 
and whole grains. The proteins should come from meats, 
chicken, seafood, eggs, dairy, beans, and vegetables. Your 
dietary fats should come from sources like olive oil, fish, 
nuts and seeds, dairy, and avocado to name a few.

For more information on why a balance of fats, proteins, 
and carbs is the best nutritional breakdown, check out 
the following resources:

http://www.mercola.com  
http://www.gunnarlindgren.com/nutritionx.pdf  
http://www.drsears.com/  


Question 2 - Which exercise or activity is best for fat 
loss?

Answer: d – strength training

Many people are mistakenly led to believe that an activity 
like walking will really help to shed those excess pounds. 
The problem is, walking is not very stressful and therefore, 
it does NOT burn a lot of calories, it does NOT give you a 
large increase in metabolism, and it does NOT deplete muscle 
glycogen which means if you overeat later that day, it is 
likely to be stored as fat and not be used to replenish muscle 
glycogen.

Strength training on the other hand, burns far more calories 
per unit of time, causes a greater increase in metabolism, 
depletes muscle glycogen, and if done progressively, will 
build and maintain muscle tissue which is the key to a fast 
metabolism.

Question 3 – What type of workout should you do if your goal 
is muscle toning?

Answer: d – strength training

Pilates, yoga, tai chi… these are some of the popular fitness 
trends and many people are wasting their time with these 
activities. Let me first say that I am NOT saying that these 
activities have no benefit, just that many people are misled 
to believe they will deliver the results they want.

For example, none of the activities mentioned above will 
deliver long term physical changes (muscle tone and definition, 
strength, etc) because they are not progressive in nature.

If you want to see noticeable improvements in muscle strength, 
tone, and definition, you need to do some form of progressive 
resistance training. The workouts must not only be progressive 
but they must also provide sufficient stimulus. This means the 
exercises need to be hard and your goal is to force the body 
to make improvements.

Activities like pilates and yoga can be great additions to a 
progressive strength training program but the can NOT replace 
it! For more detailed information on progressive strength 
training please take advantage of the free articles on my website 
here: www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm 

Question 4 – Which foods should one avoid when trying to lose 
weight?

Answer: d – sugars

The firsts thing to go from your diet should be sugars (soda, 
juice, ice cream, cookies, candy, high-sugar cereals, etc). 
Not only do sugars cause spikes in blood sugar which result 
in the excess being stored as fat, but they also do the most 
damage to your health.

Since about 1960, people have again been misled to believe that 
fat is not only bad for your health, but also that it makes you 
fat. It’s the most ridiculous thing and it drives me mad when I 
hear “fitness and nutrition experts” tell people to follow a 
low-fat diet when trying to lose weight. 

Once you understand how the human body metabolizes food, you’ll 
realize that not only does fat not make you fat, but that 
anything that results in excess blood sugar can be stored as 
fat. So those nice and healthy salads with your fat-free 
dressing CAN be stored as fat just like anything else. The 
confusion stems from the fact that fats contain more calories 
than proteins or carbs, BUT that does not mean they are 
automatically going to be stored as fat.

Look at how obesity and diabetes have continued to sky-rocket 
in the US and it all started when they started telling everyone 
to follow a low-fat diet. I strongly recommend you do some 
research and learn not only about dietary fats but also about 
human metabolism.

Here are some more great resources:

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/know_your_fats.html  
http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/lowfatcapitalism.html  
http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/guidelines.html  
http://www.mercola.com/2001/sep/8/omega_3.htm  
http://www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm  


Question 5 – You shouldn’t eat after 7pm

Answer: b – false

Why not? Why can’t you eat after 7pm? It’s ridiculous! Again, 
people misunderstanding human metabolism. The clock doesn’t 
strike 7pm and then your metabolism shuts off.

Your body burns fuel 24 hours a day and therefore you should 
eat after 7pm but you need to just give your body the right 
amount. So if you’re not highly active after 7pm you still 
eat, but you eat something light and preferably a snack 
consisting of fat and proteins because they are slower burning 
than carbs and they results in less of a spike in blood sugar. 
So forget the “don’t eat after 7pm” and stabilize your blood 
sugar by giving your body just what it needs.

For more info on this please read my article, “How to Maximize 
Fat Loss With Little or NO Exercise” which can be found here: www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm   

Question 6 – If your goal is to build muscle, how often should 
you strength train?

Answer: b – 3-4 x per week

While most bodybuilders will disagree, 3-4 strength workouts 
would be the most you would want to perform if your goal was 
to build muscle. Working out more will likely lead to 
over-training and then your workouts are just a waste of your 
time.

The keys to building muscle:

1. provide a stimulus or reason for the body to add muscle
2. train in a progressive nature
3. allow enough recovery between workouts
4. do it again – but with a stronger stimulus than before

For more information on progressive strength training please 
read my articles “Success with Strength Training” and “Real 
Muscle… Real FAST” which can be found here: 
http://www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm  

Well, how did you do? Did my answers surprise you? If not, great. 
If they did, I recommend you do some reading, and not of fitness 
magazines. Look for another fitness quiz in the coming weeks.

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The ONLY Way to Measure Your Progress! 
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We are now carrying Accu-Measure Personal Body Fat Calipers. 
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Don't leave your fitness goals to chance - monitoring your
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of you who know me and have worked with myslef or one of our 
trainers, you know how important tracking your body fat is.

So order your personal body fat calipers now: 
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Healthy + Tasty Recipes
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Honey-Dijon Vegetable Kabobs

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

- 3 medium zucchini, cut in 3/4-inch slices
- 1 large green bell pepper, cut in 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, stemmed
- 1 medium onion, cut in 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 3/4 cup fat-free honey-mustard salad dressing
- 1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

- Prepare a medium-hot grill and lightly spray with nonfat 
cooking spray.
- Arrange vegetables on 6 metal skewers, alternating 
zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and onions; sprinkle kabobs 
with garlic powder and brush with dressing.
- Place kabobs on grill, cover and cook 10-15 minutes.
- Turn and baste kabobs 2-3 times while grilling. Serve over 
cooked rice and pasta.

Nutritional Information:

- Calories: 75
- Carbohydrate: 16 grams
- Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
- Dietary Fiber: 3 grams
- Fat: 1 gram
- Protein: 4 grams
- Sodium: 300 milligrams

You can find more great recipes in our Low-Fat Cook Book. You can 
check it out here: http://www.achieve-fitness.com/fitness_books.htm 

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Don't Be a Fitness Drop-Out!

By Ginny Porter and Jack Holleman 
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Somewhere in your 2003 New Year's resolution list was losing 
weight and getting fit. Well, after a short spurt of dedicated 
effort and sore muscles you're not as motivated. If this 
describes you, you are no different than millions of Americans 
who annually take a short ride on the fitness bus after the 
holidays only to get off in the first 3 - 4 months!

How do you keep that enthusiasm? Here are 10 proven ideas to 
help overcome being just another fitness drop-out.

1. Hire a good personal trainer - even for just one tune-up 
session! A personal trainer - whether face-to-face or online 
- will examine your goals and progress and make suggestions 
about your fitness routine. He/she will direct you to 
activities that are appropriate for your current level and 
goals, and make sure you are executing each exercise correctly. 
You may find new and better ways to exercise - and a more 
efficient and productive routine.

2. Consider joining a health club. Join a YMCA or a local 
gym where the atmosphere is conducive to good hard exercise, 
and where you will find inspiration in any number of ways; 
music, classes, friends, environment. It is much easier to 
complete your exercise program if the doorbell and phone are 
not calling to you! When you can't get to the gym, go home 
and use your videos, equipment, or just walk the neighborhood. 
But strive for the gym regularly!

3. Make a reasonable plan. Consider your goals - do they 
make sense? Set a series of small goals that you can 
reasonably accomplish in the next 2 - 3 months. These goals 
must be attainable, measurable and very personal. For example; 
'Lose a pound a week for 8 weeks' or ' Go to class at they 
gym three times a week' or 'Walk two miles everyday.'

4. Add variety and excitement to your workout. Your body 
adapts to any program that remains constant. Cross-training 
or altering your program will accelerate your progress. Make 
subtle changes to your workout ever 3 - 4 weeks. You might 
consider changing cardio machines from bike to treadmill or 
from running to elliptical trainer. Learn a new sport like 
racquetball or swimming. Buy a new fitness video for days 
at home, or take a new class.

5. Keep a food diary. Create a diary of the foods that 
you eat an know what you eat, when and how much. Then 
improve one thing each week to move towards a healthier diet.

6. Water, water, water and more water. Carry water along - 
take it to work and drink before, during and after a workout. 
Muscle movement is a chemical reaction. Water is essential 
for your body to function well. A 5% loss in water to your 
body can translate into a 20 - 25% drop in performance. 

And - water is great for your diet and gives skin that healthy 
glow!

7. Recruit a friend. Find someone to share your experiences. 
Work with a friend or family member with similar goals to 
offset that predictable mental slump.

8. Do something - everyday! Your gym workout takes time 
and we know that isn't always possible. On busier days take 
a brisk 15 - 20 minute walk at lunch or at the end of the 
day. This may be all your schedule permits - but it is 
better than nothing!

9. Reward yourself.. But not with chocolate cake! When 
you are doing well, buy new shoes, go to a movie, get a 
manicure or pedicure, or even a massage. Find things 
besides food that make you feel appropriately self-indulgent!

10. Most important... keep going. If you miss one day, stop 
punishing yourself, and go the next day. Never give up. 
Remember, this is a lifestyle - your new level of fitness 
will provide more energy for you to pursue your dreams 
(hiking, traveling, skating with the kids, running, going 
places) while feeling strong and fit.

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2 FREE Personal Training Sessions 
Just For Telling Your Friends 
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Just a reminder - for every person you refer that signs up you'll 
get 2 free personal training sessions! Plus, even if they don't 
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Please visit the Refer-A-Friend page on my website at 
www.achieve-fitness.com/refer_a_friend.htm or give me a call at 
888-872-7961 to claim your free gifts! 
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Thanks again for your time and I hope you have a great week!

Until next time,

Jesse Cannone