.

Oh yeah, don’t you wish.  I know my kids would love it. But, you know me this is just a dream. You didn’t really see that title. It was all an illusion. Oh, so now that you know there isn’t a marshmallow and hot dog diet lets use those two food byproducts for a different analogy.

Marshmallow’s are soft and squishy right. Now if you poke various parts of your body and they are soft and squishy don’t think of yourself as a campfire food.  Because we are going to turn you into a hot dog. Once you get a little heated up, you are going to be nice and firm. But instead of throwing you in to the fire, we need to slow roast you.

So here is my story. A few years ago I was feeling a little marshmallowy. So I decided to get hot doggy. So I worked out hard and guess what? I got really sore. Not too smart. So try and hold back.

Getting a harder more toned body takes time, so don’t rush. Rushing it won’t get you anywhere but sore. But if you want it you can have it. There is only one secret to remember.

Be consistent

Yes, even if you do just a little exercise every day or even every other day, you’ll start to see changes in time. Many of you probably remember me talking about my wife and her fabulous weight loss. Nothing exotic, just hard core basics. But, for one month she saw no visible improvement, but she didn’t quit.

The holidays are coming and now is an awesome time to start and keep good fitness habits. Even if you lift some dumbbells for 5 minutes it will start making changes. The key is do something every day.  Do some push-ups, swing some kettlebells. I’d suggest the most bang for your buck is any form of lifting weights, especially if you are strapped for time.

Exercise for many people is a chore, either in remembering to do it or because their muscles haven’t been used in awhile.  Muscles need regular work to make them strong and healthy.  If you watched the videos of Jack Lalanne you can see what exercise can give you as you get older.   Muscles need concentric contractions (getting shorter), eccentric contractions (getting longer), and static (stationary) contractions to stay healthy.  Here are some great static contractions and positional holds.

Here is an easy way to start your day or get a mid-afternoon exercise break.

Just do some static holds.  They can be an easy warm-up for other things or just another way to add some exercise to your day.

Straight arm side hold:

Try and hold it for 20 seconds.  If it is too hard, drop down and do it on your elbow.  Do both sides.

Pistol hold:

Do this without the weight.  This was the best picture I had.  This will be good for balance.  Do this on one leg.  Keep your other heal and butt off the ground.  Try 20 seconds without tipping over.  Good luck.

Push-up hold:

Just like you are going to do a one arm push-up, except just hold that position for 20 seconds.  If it is too hard use both hands or drop down to your elbows.

There you have 3 fairly easy exercises that you can do anywhere, anytime.  Keep doing them regularly until your arms and legs stop shaking when you do them.  If that was easy, go through and start over and do them again.

Have you seen that movie “Run Fat Boy, Run”?  It is actually a pretty inspiring movie and very funny.

Make your running rock your body.

As many of you know, my wife and I just got back from a triathlon.  Nothing heavy, but a good little workout, that keeps life and health in perspective.  Now, for those of you who are running or training for other sports with endurance this will help you.

This is a modification of our high-intensity workouts, but for running.  If you exercise long enough you will eventually feel that heavy, non-responsive feeling in your legs.  You may even call it the “wall”.  For those of you that want a good running movie check out “Run fat boy, Run.  Funny “wall” scene.

It is a vague barrier that is known as your lactic acid threshold.  As you use your muscles you create lactic acid.  Normally if the activity is low enough the lactic acid is recycled back into more energy for you, but when you work harder than your body can recycle it, it builds up.

New research suggests the lactic acid build up actually helps you combat fatigue.  The fatigue comes from other chemicals, and even you nervous system to help protect the body.  But, like weight lifting, your body can learn to improve and adapt.  If you want to improve your endurance and performance you need to improve your lactic acid threshold.  And sprinting will do that.

Just like our weight lifting at high intensity, sprinting is the running way to go high intensity.  Plus, I like it, because it doesn’t take time like regular tempo running.

So if you are looking for a little more fat loss add this to your routine every once in awhile.

Researchers tested two groups of runners for fat loss and metabolism.  The regular running group (aerobic) burned 48 percent more calories than our Sprint interval group (H.I.T-High-Intensity-Training group).  Despite that huge calorie difference the H.I.T group had 9x greater subcutaneous fat loss.

Wow!

H.I.T. training doesn’t burn lots of calories while exercising but really shines by turning on enzymes that burn fat long after you are done working out.

On your treadmill use the interval settings.
As you get stronger or faster, just sprint longer or harder and start adding some incline.  But, when you are sprinting, SPRINT, don’t do it half-way.  Focus and move those legs as fast as you can without going out of control.