Legendary Life | Transform Your Body, Upgrade Your Health & Live Your Best Life

de, Kamal talks about some of the cutting edge research about nutrition, and some of their "hot topics" like ketogenic diet, personalized nutrition, consumption of red meat, protein intake and much more. He also explains why you can't always trust the media about that new exciting medical study. Plus, he will share a trick he uses to beat your unhealthy eating habits. Listen now! Check out the full show here: http://bit.ly/2BmnXtn Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. If you have any questions (or would like answers to hear previously submitted voicemail questions!), head on over to the ASK TED section. Check out my video training, where I'll walk you through the 5 Mistakes that almost everyone makes when trying to lose weight. To get access to this video training, you just need to fill out our 3-Min Survey. >>Take The Survey Now! Until next time! Ted

Many fitness gurus talk about how hormones are the key to fat loss and also that calories don't matter. In this episode, we have endocrinologist and obesity doctor Dr. Karl Nadolsky, talking about all the weight loss and hormone myths and misconceptions that are holding you back. Also, he shares how to create a healthy lifestyle to get off meds and get you back on track. Listen now! Get the full show here: http://bit.ly/2A9LIXz Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. If you have any questions (or would like answers to hear previously submitted voicemail questions!), head on over to the ASK TED section. Check out my video training, where I'll walk you through the 5 Mistakes that almost everyone makes when trying to lose weight. To get access to this video training, you just need to fill out our 3-Min Survey. >>Take The Survey Now! Until next time! Ted

Leaner, bigger, stronger, sexier. That's what Hollywood celebrities, fitness magazines, and late night infomercials are selling to you. But are you willing to pay the price to achieve that lean, athletic body you've always dreamed of? What type of exercises do you have to do? What type of foods you have to kiss goodbye? Listen to this episode to find out what you need to do to finally get that body you've always wanted. Get the full show here: http://bit.ly/2AaHnU4 Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. If you have any questions (or would like answers to hear previously submitted voicemail questions!), head on over to the ASK TED section. Check out my video training, where I'll walk you through the 5 Mistakes that almost everyone makes when trying to lose weight. To get access to this video training, you just need to fill out our 3-Min Survey. >>Take The Survey Now! Until next time! Ted

You've been walking the straight and narrow—eating healthy, working out—and yet you're not dropping pounds or getting fitter. What gives? The answer may be hiding out amid the random things you do over the course of an average day—those little habits that have seemingly no connection to weight loss, but may in fact be sabotaging your best get-fit efforts. Listen to this episode to find out why and what to do about it. So you started out by making a decision to clean up your diet and to begin an exercise program. At first the results come fast. A few weeks go by and you're down a pounds on the scale. Your muscles feel much stronger and you 're starting to see a difference in the mirror. You think, "Wow, why didn't I do this before. In another few months, I'll be looking like one of those fitness magazine models!" Except, that never happens. A few months in and your results have stalled. You think, "I need to exercise more and eat 'cleaner'." So you start doing more exercise and only eat whole foods…with an occasional indulgence in some junky goodness. But you're STILL not seeing much of a difference. In fact, you're not sure if you see any difference at all even though you're doing more exercise than before. You, my friend, have hit the dreaded plateau. You think to yourself, "I'm doing everything right. Maybe I hit the limit of my genetic potential. Or maybe my metabolism isn't as fast as it used to be in my 20s. Maybe I'm just too old to get into great shape." Well, like the saying goes, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that your fat loss plateau is NOT due to a your 40-plus-year-old metabolism or hormone levels or endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment. Maybe those play a part but none of them are the reason you've hit a plateau. And the best news is that you definitely can break through your plateau and start getting results again. Now for the bad news… You're going to have to do things differently because you're program isn't good for you anymore. In fact, I'm wagering that you'll also have to change what you think you know about burning fat and getting lean. How do I know? Well, I've been in the health & fitness industry for over 18 years. I know how confusing it can be to weed through all the misinformation and B.S. to figure out what you actually need to do to get in shape. Hell, I've been in the industry for nearly two decades and studied pre-med/biology in university and I've still had a problem vetting all the claims and new findings to figure out what would give my clients (and myself) the best results. I've spent thousands of dollars and thousands of hours taking courses and attending seminars, hiring coaches and speaking 1-on-1 with some of the best and brightest researchers, nutritionists, strength coaches, medical doctors and more on my podcast Legendary Life. If you relate to any of the above statements then you're going to appreciate what I'm about to teach you about the #1 key to weight loss, why it's so hard to lose fat, your metabolism, how fat loss works and how to apply what you learn in this article to get results! Why It's So Hard To Lose Fat Most people hear about the skyrocketing rates of obesity and just assume that being overweight is some unexplainable phenomenon. My dad even asked me why being overweight is such a problem in America--especially since there are so many diet books, gyms, health blogs, etc. ALL about how lose weight. He was dumbfounded. In fact, the rate of obesity has doubled worldwide and more than doubled in the US since 1980. While some people argue that it's the sugar, endocrine disrupting chemicals, genetically modified foods or disrupted gut microbiomes that has caused us to get fatter, the more likely answer is much more simple. To answer this question, let's check out a graph from one of my favorite super scientists who are helping the fight against obesity. His name Stephan Guyenet and he is neurobiologist and obesity researcher. (And in case you're wondering what the heck a neurobiologist is doing studying obesity, I highly recommend you check out my interview with him on Legendary Life.) In the graph below, Stephan plotted calorie intake (green line) the prevalence of obesity (the blue and red lines) in the US from 1960 to 2009. As you can see, the amount of food we eat has steadily risen decade after decade as has our waistlines. Just to be clear, I'm also concerned about gut dysbiosis, endocrine disrupting chemicals, stress, poor quality sleep and other factors that are likely contributing to obesity and poor health. But I 'm always concerned with the most influential factor, the biggest bang for your buck, and it's clear that overeating and a sedentary lifestyle are the biggest culprits of the modern world's obesity crisis. Why Hunter-Gatherers Don't Have New Year's Resolutions One of my favorite studies to bring up is where researchers brought 24 overweight men and had them live under simulated Paleolithic conditions for 4 days and 4 nights. They lived outdoors without tents, walked about 25,000 steps per day, were active for 5-6 hours and ate around 1747 calories per day. What were the results? Every single one of them: Lost weight Lost body fat Lost visceral fat Increased their muscle mass Improved their blood biomarkers for metabolic health …In just 4 days! Do you think that the men in the study may have thought the same thing about their metabolism, hormones, age, etc. for being the reasons that they were getting fatter? I'd bet money on it. But they got impressive results in just 4 days. What going on? Modern Life Makes You Fat For the majority of human history, we have lived like hunter-gatherers. And it's been well documented that as people move from natural-living cultures to modernized lifestyles, the rates of common Western diseases start to increase. Obesity and weight gain also increase. We don't even have to go back that far to see how much life has changed here in the US. In 1890, more than 70% of the work force had jobs involving manual labor and 43% were farmers. Walmart, Costco, Whole Foods, refrigerators, electric ovens, washing machines, and HD televisions didn't exist. Owning a car was rare and reserved for the wealthy. Procuring and preparing our food took hard work and life itself was exercise. Fast forward to today where the majority of us have cars, TVs, cable subscriptions, a laundry list of shows we love to watch, most of us work at desks and many of us don't even cook our meals anymore. While the massive technological advancement has freed us of the hardships of our pre-industrial past, there has been a price to pay for progress. We don't move enough, we are surrounded by abundant sources of food and our brains are wired to eat like we're not sure if the food in the fridge will be there when we wake up in the morning. Scientists call this a gene-environment mismatch. That simply means that our bodies are programmed to survive in an environment that doesn't resemble our modern world. And our health and waistlines are paying the price. It's a lot to take in but there are plenty of things you can do to take charge of your health, lose fat and prevent disease without moving back into the woods and living like a hunter-gatherer. The #1 Key To Losing Weight I can sum this up in two words: energy balance. You need a certain amount of energy (in the form of calories) to stay alive and to move around. You get this energy from food or from the stored energy on your body (i.e. your body fat). Getting more energy out of the environment than you spend to get it is the story of survival for all animals—including us. The theory for applying energy balance to weight loss is simple: If you eat less energy than you burn, you will lose weight If you take in more energy than you burn, you gain weight Energy In – Energy Out = Changes in your body weight Scientists breakdown our body into 2 parts: Lean body mass (water, muscle, organs, bone, and everything else that isn't fat) Fat mass (stored energy) While the energy balance equation determines body weight, it doesn't tell us much about body fat levels and muscle mass which are influenced by things like your exercise habits (especially lifting weights), your macronutrient proportions (especially protein), sex hormone levels (especially testosterone), your genes (number of myosatellite cells) and age to name a few. Many people get frustrated with the energy balance equation (aka calories in/calories out) doesn't work out like they straightforward math they were expecting. And it's totally understandable because the numbers don't often add up—especially if some of the above details aren't taken into consideration. However, it doesn't mean that calories in/calories out is wrong. It means that it's misunderstood. And the equation is much more complicated than it seems. And as I've mentioned earlier, many factors affect energy balance. In addition to that, your metabolism is "adaptive". In the not-too-distant-past, people said, "to lose 1lb of fat you need to burn 3500 calories". But if it were that simple, it would be easy to starve to death—especially in the past where there wasn't a Whole Foods to go buy your non-GMO, organic, gluten-free granola and a food shortage or famine was just a matter of time. The 4 Parts Of Your Metabolism Although our metabolism is complex and in constant flux, there are four key parts to this complicated system. Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) RMR is the number of calories you burn each day at rest. That's right. Just staying alive is how you burn about 60 percent of your 'energy out' part of the equation. Your RMR also depends on your bodyweight, sex, age and more. Another fun fact is that your brain demands around 20 percent of your RMR—which has led to scientific inquiry as to whether 'thinking hard' burns more calories. A key player in why weigh loss stalls for many people is that, in general, a bigger body has higher RMR. When you lose weight, your RMR slows just because you're carrying around less mass. This goes counter to what most people think about fatter people having a slower metabolic rate. On top of that, RMR varies from person to person as much as 15%. So you and that person next to you doing dumbbell curls might be burning more (or less) calories while putting in the same effort. Thermic Effect Of Food (TEF) TEF is how many calories you burn by eating and digesting your food. It surprises many people when I tell them that eating food actually burns calories and that digestion is a metabolically intensive process. If you've ever felt hot after eating, you've experienced this firsthand. That's why eating right before bed can interfere with your sleep if you're one of those people (like me) who can't sleep when it's too hot. Another important fact to mention is that the TEF for protein (20-35%) is much higher than carbohydrates and fats (around 5-6% for each). This is another reason why higher protein diets are superior for fat loss. Thermic Effect of Exercise (TEE) Of course you knew this one. This is why people who work out have an easier time keeping the fat off than those who don't. To be clear, when we talk about TEE, we're referring to purposeful workouts and hard training. Not going for a light walk in the park. In general, the harder and longer you workout, the more calories you burn. That's why building strength and a high work capacity can help keep you lean. It's also important to keep in mind that overdoing exercise can lead to injuries and overtraining. That's why having an appropriate workout for your current fitness level is important. Long-term consistency beats two months of hard workouts that end up injuring you. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) NEAT is the calories you burn through all non-exercise activities. This includes everything from fidgeting, standing upright, and jumping up explosively from the couch when your favorite team scores a touchdown. NEAT can vary greatly from person to person. Some people seem more inclined to fidget and have a hard time staying still while others have a hard time doing anything but lounging around. Although NEAT isn't as sexy as a hard deadlift workout or HIIT session, it's really the greatest opportunity for burning more calories during the day without putting hard stress on your joints. Getting up from your seat every hour, using a treadmill or standing desk and other strategies can help you burn potentially many more calories than you could with a hard hour of exercise in the gym. So keep this in mind and find more opportunities to move around. Personally, I love to track my steps using the Steps app. It's free and simple to set up and use. And let's be real—you may forget your Fitbit but you'll always have your phone with you, won't you ;-) 5 Reasons You're Not Losing Fat (Even Though You Eat Right And Exercise) Now let's examine the reasons that you're not losing fat—even though you're working out in the gym and doing your best to eat well. You're eating too much Specifically, you're eating too many calories. Why don't I say you're eating too much food? I think this picture says it all. While it's not the size and calories aren't that accurate, the point is clear: different foods have different levels of calorie-density. Vegetables take up a lot of space but they're very low in calories. Fats like coconut oil or olive oil take up very little space but are very calorie-dense. I know you've probably been told that calories don't matter. But I'm here to tell you that 100 years of metabolic ward research are very clear that calories are the #1 thing that matters for weight/fat loss. If you want to learn more then I highly recommend my 7 Fat Loss Lies That You Need To Stop Believing article. What to do: So what should you do if you're eating too many calories? The first thing I recommend is that you keep a food journal. You can use an app like MyFitnessPal. It's free and will let you log your food while showing you the calorie and macronutrient breakdown of what you eat and track for 7 days. If you're not tech-savvy and want to do things old school, use a paper journal and record 7 days of what you eat. Make sure you get the amounts of what you eat as well as you'll use that to calculate your calorie intake. After you see how many calories you're eating per day, you can start to cut that by 10-15% to start to see some weight loss. And if you want me to take you through the entire process and save you hours of work and hassle, then sign up for my Legendary Lean body transformation group here. You're not eating enough protein Aside from making sure you're in a calorie deficit, your protein intake is the next most important factor. Why? Protein does amazing things including: - Helps you maintain lean body mass on a fat loss diet. - Helps you lose body fat - Burns more calories to digest (has a higher TEF) - Causes you to feel satisfied so you don't overeat So making sure your protein intake is on the high side or you'll miss out on all the fat burning and muscle-sparing benefits. What to do: "How much protein should I have?" should be your next question. The debate about this rages on and new research comes out regularly. The typical bodybuilding recommendation is to have 1 gram of protein per a pound of bodyweight. However, when you're eating in a caloric deficit, it's best to keep your protein intake a bit higher if you're on the lean side at 1.2g per lb. A systematic review out of AUT University found that: "Protein needs for energy-restricted resistance-trained athletes are likely 2.3-3.1g/kg of FFM [1 – 1.4 grams per pound of fat free mass] scaled upwards with severity of caloric restriction and leanness." If you're obese, then keep your protein and on the moderate side at 0.8g per lb. If you know your body fat percentage, because you've had it measured accurately, you can also eat 1g per lb of lean body mass. So if you're a 200lb person who is 40% body fat, then you have 120lbs of lean body mass. Therefore, you'd shoot for 120 grams of protein per day when you're on a calorie-restricted diet for fat loss. You're not working out as hard as you think This is especially for two types of people: 1) People who are lifting heavy (i.e. 5 reps and under per set) 2) People who are lifting too light (over 12 reps per set) What's the issue with these two approaches while you're trying to lose fat? Let's start with lifting heavy. Lifting in the 5 reps and under range means that your sets are short and you're taking long rest periods beneath them. That's NOT ideal for training for fat loss. You don't use up a significant amount of glycogen (stored carbohydrate in your muscles) while doing this type of training so you don't cause much metabolic stress i.e. you're burning less calories with this approach—unless you're spending 90-120 minutes in the gym. And that becomes difficult to do in a calorie deficit. Lifting in the lighter rep range—let's say over 125 reps—can also be an issue. Although you may feel like you're getting a great workout, pump and sweat with 15 or more reps per set, I find that it's not ideal for maintaining or building muscle for the majority of my clients. Although this type of training creates a lot of metabolic stress that makes your muscles burn, and there is research out of McMaster University saying that high reps work just fine for building muscle, I find the tension isn't optimal after experimenting with numerous clients on fat loss diets. What to do: The workouts I have my clients do while following fat loss diets are usually in the 6-12 rep range. I particularly like 6-8 reps per set as I find that range provides the optimal level of tension and metabolic stress in the muscles—while avoiding unnecessary systemic stress hat higher reps would cause. If you've been performing low reps (5 or under) or high reps (15 or more), try changing to either the 6-8 or 10-12 rep range for a month and see what happens. You don't move much unless you're at the gym One of the harshest realizations I had during my 18-year fitness career was that even though I went into the gym and crushed weights 4-6 times per week, I was still quite sedentary. Especially when compared to natural living cultures. Sure, I worked out hard for hours every week. But when I wasn't at the gym I was sitting on my butt. Even when I trained clients I would often sit during our sessions. And what I'm getting around to is that you're a lot more sedentary than you think. We all are. If you spend most of the day at work and home sitting, lying down, binging on Netflix, playing video games, surfing the web, reading and returning email, driving automobiles, and reading then you are living a predominantly sedentary lifestyle. And it's affecting your fat loss. Most people mistakenly think that they need to hit some HIIT or cardio sessions to burn fat. The reality is that we need to be more active in general. In other words, you need more NEAT—which stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. In fact, I'm here to tell you that you can burn many more calories with NEAT than hard HIIT training or standard cardio exercise. Declining levels of NEAT have played a major role in the obesity epidemic that the modernized world is experiencing. NEAT shows a wide range and can vary by up to 2000 calories per day between two individuals of similar size —all from activities that aren't all-out work or exercise. You see, before agriculture, industrial and digital revolutions we used to spend all our time procuring and preparing food—in addition to all the other physical tasks we had to perform just to survive. I want to again remind you of the study I mentioned above where the participants lived in simulated Paleolithic conditions for 4 days outdoors without tents. The daily hiking performance was about 24963 steps per day and were active for about 5.5 hours per day. They lost an average of 10% body fat, 13% of their visceral fat, gained some muscle and improved their biomarkers for metabolic health—in just four days! No HIIT. No steady state cardio. No lifting weights. What to do: No, you don't have to move into the wilderness or go to "Paleo Camp" to get more movement in. What I recommend that you do is download a free step-tracking app (Steps is the one I use) or get yourself a Fitbit and track how many steps you're getting in per a day. I recommend that you start with the free app as most of us wouldn't be caught dead without our phones but a wearable might be a pain to remember. The common recommendation is 10k per day. But I find that's a lot for most people. I have my coaching clients track a week to see what their weekly average steps are, then I have them make a goal to increase them to lose more fat. This works very well. Your metabolism has slowed down This is for the people who are reading who have lost a few pounds but have hit a plateau. If you haven't been on a diet recently then stick with the 4 reasons I mentioned above. So you lost a few pounds making some nutrition and exercise tweaks. But now you've hit the dreaded plateau where you just can't seem to lose any more weight. You've tried to push a little harder with your workouts or do a bit more but it's not working. You've tried "cleaning up" your diet and that's not working either. Or maybe you've tracked your calories and you don't understand why the calorie-restricted plan that got you to lose weight in the beginning has stopped working. And let's assume you've been doing everything right and you're not one of those people who are underestimating their snacking or overdoing their "cheat" meals. And you've been keeping track of your steps to make sure your NEAT hasn't declined. As I mentioned earlier, some studies have shown up to 60% of changes in your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) are due to NEAT in response to changes in energy balance. This can be huge in terms of fat loss. In this case, your metabolism may have slowed down. And it's completely normal. This happens because of two reasons: You weigh less and a lighter body burns less calories. Contrary to what most people think, heavier individuals have a higher metabolic rate compared to lighter individuals. And this makes perfect sense. Which vehicle would burn more gas idling? A Cadillac Escalade or a Mini Cooper? It goes without saying that the bigger vehicle, in general, with use more gas than the smaller one. The same goes for human beings. A lighter body burns less energy. Period. Metabolic Adaptation One reason why the calories in/calories out hypothesis drives people crazy is that the calories out side will change. You see, your body cares about one thing: survival. And it doesn't care about getting a swimsuit-ready body for summer. And this is a good thing. If you dropped your food intake but your metabolism stayed the same, it would be much easier to starve to death. It's hard to appreciate that if you're living in the modernized world of grocery store chains and food delivery but malnutrition is still big deal in other parts of the world. In fact, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 795 million people of the 7.3 billion people in the world were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016. So to protect you during times of less food (aka dieting in the modern world) your body adapts to protect you. This is called adaptive thermogenesis and it's responsible for the hormonal side of the slowed metabolism. It's understood that adaptive thermogenesis is caused by changes in energy expenditure, autonomic nervous system function, and neuroendocrine function. Here are a few of the things that happen: A decrease in the leptin, satiety hormone. A decrease in thyroid hormone levels (conversion of T4 to T3 is impaired on a calorie-restricted diet) . A drop in sympathetic nervous system activity It seems that leptin plays the biggest role here as many of the metabolic changes during dieting reversed when researchers injected participants with leptin replacement. Unfortunately, injecting pharmaceutical-grade leptin during dieting is expensive and comes with side effects. So it's not an option for many of us. I should also mention that the supplements on the market purporting to help maintain leptin levels during dieting haven't been proven to work so save your money. What to do: If leptin supplements don't work and injecting letpin is expensive and has side effects, then what should you do? The answer is simple: take a diet break. The next question should be how long of a diet break should you take. While the science isn't definitive on how long you should take a diet break to ramp up your metabolism after hitting a plateau, I use 1-2 weeks for my clients. This is partly determined by how they feel psychologically. Some people have a hard time being off a diet for 2 weeks and feel like they might lose their motivation and self-control. But I recommend at least taking a week off then tweaking from there. What should you eat on your diet break? This is another important question. The most important factor is to eat enough to allow your body to return to its normal metabolic state before you started your diet but not so much that you start gaining fat. I say fat specifically because when you start eating more food—particularly carbohydrates—you'll start to gain water weight as you begin storing carbs in your muscles as glycogen. For every gram of carbohydrate that you store, you'll also store around 3 grams of water. So it's normal when the scale goes up a few pounds when you begin eating more food. However, it's also necessary that you eat more—especially carbohydrates. Why? Because eating carbohydrates have the biggest impact on returning leptin levels to normal. Fat doesn't have any effect. I should also mention that drinking alcohol inhibits leptin so keep that in mind as well. Conclusion Notice how I didn't mention that it's your age, low testosterone, endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment or GMOs that are the reason that you're not getting results even though you're exercising and eating "clean"? And—unlike some bodybuilding idiots who say it's only about calories and macros—it's not that I don't care about those things either. But I like to focus on the big principles that give you big results. I've noticed this terrible trend in the fitness industry to make fat loss all about sexy sounding reasons like eating testosterone boosting foods or doing special workouts. However, the TRUTH is less sexy. And I write for the people who want to be told the truth—regardless of how unglamorous it is. So if you're finding yourself in a fat loss plateau even though you're working out regularly and making solid nutrition choices, go through this list of reasons and match them up to what you're doing. I guarantee that one of these reasons is behind your lack of progress. Here they are again: You're eating too many calories You're not eating enough protein You're not working out as hard as you think You're not moving much outside the gym Your metabolism has slowed down And make sure you follow my recommendations to fix the situation.

There's a lot of nutrition nonsense out there. The problem? With all these lies and bad ideas floating around, too many people are getting duped into ridiculous diets, absurd nutrition rules, and insane workouts that will ultimately leave them tired, frustrated, and hungry—but no leaner. Here are the biggest 7 fat loss lies and the nutritional realities behind them. Listen Now!

What are the most effective exercises to get abs? Listen to this episode to learn the 3 simple steps to get rid of stubborn belly fat and get you lean toned abs (even if you're over 40). Listen Now! If there's one question that I get the most, it's gotta be about how to "get abs. There's just something about being lean enough to see a well developed muscular mid-section that is seductive. It's easy to see people who've developed strength or built bigger muscles who don't have much definition. I call that "Muscle Fat". And it's common to see very skinny people with low body fat but unimpressive abdominal development. However, it's much more uncommon to see someone who's both very fit AND has an awesome set of abdominals to go with their physique. We view people who have great abs as sexier and in possession of something special and rare. It's like they've either been blessed with great genes or they've figured out a secret the rest of us haven't. And I understand. I've been skinny with low body fat but with very little abdominal development. I've also been bigger and more muscular but my abs weren't quite visible. And I've been lean, muscular where you could see a nice set of abdominals. When I was muscular and built with visible abdominal, I received many more looks and compliments. In fact, many people start off with the goal of seeing their abs as the reason why they started working out in the first place. That's usually when the confusion kicks in. Then that leads to frustration. Usually, people will start with hard workouts—until they realize that exercise has its limits when it comes to getting abs. Then they hear that "abs are made in the kitchen" and will start trying different diets. Ketogenic diet, paleo diet, South Beach Diet, Atkins, Bulletproof, and "clean eating". Yet, they still have no visible abs. There are also those poor souls who try all the fat burner supplements that are on the market—hoping that the secret to a six pack is in a bottle with some cool graphics on it promising to get you "cut." But they just end up with heart palpitations (if they take stimulants) or nothing at all (basically all the other non-stimulant fat burners). After months or even years of trying anything and everything, they still have no visible abs. Just a smooth covering of belly fat where their abs ought to be. If any of those sound familiar, then you've come to right place. Because in the next few minutes, you're going to learn exactly what you need to do to finally get that muscular and defined midsection you've been coveting. And it's a lot easier than the 20-year-old Instagram fitness gurus and internet nutrition experts have been telling you. When it comes to developing a physique with visible abdominals at any age, there are three basic things you need to do: Lose body fat Perform the right strength training exercises Perform the right abdominal and core exercises That's it. Pretty simple, right? No jacking up your heart with fat burner supplements or weird hard-to-follow diets needed. Let's dive a little deeper into each of these steps. 1-Lose Body Fat One thing to keep in mind about "getting abs" is that you already have them! Everyone has rectus abdominus as well as internal and external oblique muscles. You also have a transverse abdominus underneath your other abdominal muscles but it's not visible. However, it's an important muscle and can be trained so I'm adding it for completeness. The problem is that the majority of us can't see our abdominal muscles because they're hidden underneath our subcutaneous belly fat. As you can see in the picture below, our subcutaneous fat is in between our skin and our abdominal muscles. This is the fat that is in the way of you seeing those defined lines of a "six pack". It's also worth noting that there is also visceral fat—which is stored around the organs and underneath the abdominal muscles. If you have too much body fat and are sedentary, you are likely to quite a bit of visceral fat as well as subcutaneous fat. This contributes to that bulging belly look. By burning off the fat on your body with proper exercise and diet, you'll reveal those hidden abdominal muscles. Most of you—especially if you listen to my podcast—already know this. Even if you're not a listener, you probably suspect that you have to reduce the amount of fat on your belly to get your abs to show and you're right. But here's where most people go wrong. In fact, these are the two most common mistakes I see people make when they're on the quest for visible abs: 1. They try to spot reduce their belly fat with abdominal exercises. You may have even tried this yourself. You think "I want to see my abs so I'll do more abdominal exercises to burn off the fat in that area." Logically, that makes sense. Except, your body doesn't run on the rules of your logic. It's the rules of human physiology that we're dealing with here. Unfortunately, I've had to tell client after client this fact in my 18+ years of working in the health & fitness industry. Researchers even performed a study where they tested this hypothesis by having a group of people work their abs 5 days per week with 5 exercises done at 2 sets of 10 reps each for a total of 6 weeks. The results? No change in body fat or belly fat. That's right, ZERO change in belly fat after working their abs 5 days per week for 6 weeks. Let that sink in for a minute. 2. They try to burn off their belly fat through exercise This may confuse some of you. Many people, myself included, have talked about the important of exercise to maintain a healthy weight and body fat percentage. And that's 100% true. But when we're talking about getting lean enough to see your abdominal muscle definition, we're talking about getting your body fat percentage pretty low. As a general rule, men will start to see their abs around the 12-13% and women around 18-20% body fat. While there's nothing inherently unhealthy about getting your body fat level this low, it's a bit on the extreme side. In other words, it's going to take a smarter approach and a bit more work to get to those levels. There are some people who say getting abs is 80% diet and 20% exercise. However, that's a bit misleading in my opinion. The truth is that it's going to take some combination of working out and attention to your nutrition to get lean enough to see your abs. When I was in my late 20's and competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I ate good quality food regularly but I'd also drink and binge on junky goodness like ice cream. I was never on a diet but I was always able to see my abs because of the intense and frequent strength training and martial arts classes. However, as we get older and our responsibilities grow, we have less time to spend in the gym. Another important factor is that many people—like me—start to have chronic injuries from all the intense exercise. So it makes sense to pay more attention to your nutrition as you can accomplish quite a bit of fat loss simply with proper dieting. Why the gender difference? Men tend to store fat around their midsection and women tend to store fat around their hips and thighs. Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, women with PCOS will have a tendency to store fat around their midsection. And it's been said that men with higher estrogen levels will store fat around their butt and thighs. At the end of the day, it comes down to reducing your body fat enough to see your abdominals that lie underneath. And if you're a 40+ and too busy to spend hours in the gym, then dieting down properly is the way to go to lose your belly fat. 2-Perform The Right Strength Training Exercises Losing fat is enough to see your abdominal muscles underneath but not enough to have well-developed abdominal muscles. That's why very skinny individuals don't have impressive abdominals even though they have low body fat levels. For example, check out the photo below.Ryan Reynolds and that skinny dude on the right both have similar body fat percentages. However, Ryan is looking jacked and the skinny guy looks like he's a few years and many workouts away from looking even close to Ryan. Ryan Reynolds and that skinny dude on the right both have similar body fat percentages. However, Ryan is looking jacked and the skinny guy looks like he's a few years and many workouts away from looking even close to Ryan. So if you're looking for an impressive six-pack, then you'll have to perform the right strength training exercises. The reasons are two-fold: The right strength training exercises will help you build and strengthen your abdominal muscles. Many people don't realize that their abdominals work to stabilize their bodies during many strength training exercises. This helps to develop core muscles that are as strong as they look. The right strength training exercises will help shape the muscles around your abdominals Many people also don't realize that it's not always the abdominals that give a person their look. It's the v-taper of their upper body and the hip-to-waist ratio. So what are the best strength training exercises to build core muscles that are strong and aesthetically pleasing? – Upper body pushing exercises like overhead presses, bench presses, parallel bar dips, ring dips, handstand pushups, etc. are some of my favorites. – Upper body pulling exercises like pull ups, chin ups, lat pulldowns, seated rows, ring rows, etc. are all great examples. – Hip hinge exercises like deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, single leg deadlifts, hip thrusts, back extensions and reverse back extensions are some of my go-to hip hinge exercises. – Squat variations like barbell back squats, front squats, split squats, single leg squats are all great examples. – Ambulatory exercises like walking, running, sprinting and loaded carry variations like farmer's walks are some of my favorites. And what are some of the best exercises to shape the muscles around the abdominals to properly frame your physique? Most of the exercises mentioned above will do the trick. However, there may be cases where you'll want to do some isolation work for your medial deltoids, biceps, triceps and calves. That will help you develop the shape that you're after. For men in particular, having wide shoulders, bigger arms, developed thighs and calves will create the effect of making your waist look smaller 3-Perform The Right Abdominal and Core Exercises Although too many people seeking an impressive set of abs spend too much time and energy on abdominal and core exercises, there are benefits to working your abs directly. The most common mistake I see people make when training their abs is using high reps and low resistance. Doing long plank holds and hundreds of crunches won't build a great set of abdominal muscles. Sure, adding some isometric exercises like front and side planks can be a good way of building the endurance and coordination you need to safely do the harder core exercises but that's where their effectiveness stops. So what are some great core exercises? – Hanging leg raises – Dumbbell side bends – Cable Woodchops – Ab rollouts – Dragon Flags – Front levers But remember, the key to exercises is progressive overload. In other words, you have to continue to challenge yourself by making the exercise harder just like you would with a bench press or deadlift. So how many reps and sets should you do? Well, the number of sets will depend on numerous factors. But, like any other muscle group, doing more sets will most likely lead to better development regardless of the rep range. As far as reps are concerned, doing reps in the 6-12 rep range will lead to the best muscular development. Doing 5 reps and under will result in more strength gains and 15 reps and more will result in more muscular endurance as a general rule. Also, remember the concept of progressive overload applies to developing core muscles as well. Progressive overload is the exercise physiology concept that says you must continue to challenge the muscles with more weight, reps, sets, etc. to further develop strength and growth. You can and should periodize your workouts (i.e. change the rep ranges, number of sets, methods you use, etc.) if dramatically changing the look and function of your abdominal and core muscles is your goal. Conclusion There you have it. Now you know how to get abs in 3 simple steps: Lose body fat Perform the right strength training exercises Perform the right abdominal and core exercises Now is the time to do a little self-assessment and ask yourself which one of these do you need to work on the most? If you already have low body fat but you're on the skinny side, then working on your strength training and core/abdominal muscles will work best for you. If you have higher levels of body fat, like most people over 40, then losing fat is where you should start first. Keep these takeaways in mind. Those are the reasons I'm launching my Legendary Lean Coaching Group. It's designed to help you burn fat at the fastest possible rate for your body while maintaining every ounce of your hard-earned muscle. I even tested it on real people just like you. Want to learn more? Most people know that regular movement, eating well, sleep, and stress management are important for looking and feeling better. Yet they need help applying that knowledge in the context of their busy, sometimes stressful lives. That's why we work closely with Legendary Lean Coaching Clients to help them lose fat, get stronger, and improve their health… no matter what challenges they're dealing with. Interested in the Legendary Lean Program? It will open in a few days. In the meantime sign up for our FREE Training and learn how to lose 7 pounds in 2 weeks without starvation or insane workouts. >>Get FREE Access To The Training Now!

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Are you struggling to achieve success? In today's interview our guest, performance psychologist, Dr. Chris Friesen will be sharing the evidence-based side of personal development and the mindset behind high performance. We'll also discuss how to conquer anxiety and how to be mentally prepared to achieve your goals. Listen now for more! Brief Bio: Today's guest Dr. Chris Friesen, Ph.D. is a psychologist who has always been fascinated by what makes people successful. He is a licensed clinical, forensic, and neuropsychologist but now primarily helps professional, national/Olympic, and up-and-coming elite athletes, as well as other high achievers such as professionals, entrepreneurs, executives, academics, and writers, achieve their personal and professional potential. He is currently director of Friesen Sport & Performance Psychology, a contributor for Success Magazine, and author of ACHIEVE: Find Out Who You Are, What You Really Want, And How To Make It Happen. In this episode, you'll learn: Why you need to get Dr. Friesen's book (06:44) The science behind motivation (16:33) The 3 things successful people do differently (18:22) Dr. Friesen's top lifestyle and environment hacks (31:05) Understanding brain waves (28:15) The relationship between food and mood (38:50) 5 Reasons why willpower fails you, and what to do about it (42:30) Understanding panic attacks (49:34) 5 Ways to deal with anxiety (48:11) Signs your body needs rest (55:44) The chemistry of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (63:51) Ted's Takeaways Let your results be your guide– If you are following recommendations from persons that are into personal development and you are not having measurable success in your life, then consider following an expert like Chris Friesen. Feeling good is important but being excited about working out is not the same as actually working out. Feeling good doesn't change your bank account, your relationship, or whatever it is you are trying to improve in your life. Be careful with biohacking information– Be cautious of where and who you are getting your information from. Don't be fooled by good marketing and inaccurate information. Recommendations Day-Light Sky 10,000 LUX Bright Light Therapy Lamp Uvex S1933X Skyper Safety Eyewear Inner Balance Biofeedback Training MyCalmBeat Deep Breathing App Versus | Mobile Brain Sensing Technology for Providers Resources 139: Dr. Chris Friesen: 7 Behaviors Of High Achievers ACHIEVE: Find Out Who You Are, What You Really Want, And How To Make It Happen (The High Achievement Handbook Book 1) NutritionFacts.org Niagara Neuropsychology Connect with Chris Website Twitter Facebook Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us again this week. If you have any questions (or would like answers to hear previously submitted voicemail questions!), head on over to the ASK TED section. Check out my brand new video training series, where I'll walk you through the 3-Step formula to lose 7 pounds in 2 weeks (without starvation or insane workouts), you can learn the 7 fat loss strategies that will help you finally create that energetic, lean body you've always wanted. Until next time! Ted

Today Dr. John Rusin, "The Strength Doc", joins us on the Legendary Life Podcast! John is bridging the gap between high performance strength & conditioning and rehabilitation. He will share his top strategies to exercise smart and bulletproof your body against injuries, aches, and pains. Listen to this episode to learn how to stay in badass shape even after an injury. Brief Bio: In today's episode, Ted interviews physical therapist, strength and conditioning coach, Dr. John Rusin. With more than a decade of elite-level training experience and advanced degrees in both exercise science and physical therapy, Dr. Rusin has developed performance, regeneration, and aesthetics programs for some of the world's best strength, power, and endurance athletes. Dr. Rusin's present and past client list include MLB All-Stars, NFL All-Pros, Olympic Gold, Bronze and Silver Medalists, World-Record-Holding Powerlifters, Elite Bodybuilders and Figure Competitors, All-World IronMan Triathletes, and top professional athletes from eight of the major American professional sports leagues. He is also an internationally recognized strength coach, speaker, and writer, whose work has been popularized throughout the sports performance and fitness industries in some of the most prestigious media outlets in our industry such as Men's Fitness, Stack Magazine, and Muscle&Strength, to name a few. In this episode, you'll learn: How John started his strengthening and conditioning journey (6:31) What got him into physical therapy (8:00 ) Why most people start to exercise later in life (9:08) 3 Ways to stay motivated to exercise regularly (13:25) The secret of why the right movements are more important than lifting heavy weights (13:42) How to deadlift with proper form (15:23) The #1 Tip to prevent post-workout soreness (18:11) How to achieve muscle definition without overdoing it (25:14) Exercise, neurotransmitters and motivation to exercise (29:12) His favorite mobility and stretching routines (32:15) Is overstretching bad? (38:18) The most powerful and versatile training method (42:09) Final advice from John (56:24) Ted's Take-Aways 1.Make sure you're learning from the right people in the fitness industry. I know that can be tough because there are so many people out there and it's hard to tell when someone has great marketing but they're not good. Or they have poor quality marketing but they're really good. That's why I have guys like John on the show. He is a solid professional to learn things from although I follow a bit of a different perspective. 2. If you are chronically getting injured you are not doing things right. You should not be chronically injured or getting injured when you go to the gym. Now, if you're playing a sport, then okay, injuries happen in competition while pushing the limits. But if you're you're training in a controlled environment like the gym, you should not be getting injured. The only exception to that would probably be a method like CrossFit—where people treat exercise as a sport. Again, that is nothing against Crossfit--although I do have my thoughts about the good and bad aspects of that method-- but that's an example of where you're pushing the limits and getting hurt is likely. Powerlifting is another example of where exercise is treated like a sport and the injury rate is higher than casual exercise. But if you're in there for general fitness and you're getting hurt, you're doing yourself a huge disservice because once those little minor nagging injuries become chronic, they become constant obstacles to progress and consistency. 3. Make sure you're doing some mobility work; make sure you do some flexibility work. In the interview, we didn't talk about the distinction between mobility and flexibility. To me, mobility exercises are activation exercises—but that's just a semantic difference. That's when you're activating certain muscles so you achieve a greater control through a larger range of motion of the joint. Make sure you're doing something in the gym to prepare you to ramp up your nervous system, to warm up your joints and your muscles. That will help you if you are already injured. Or if you're not, it will help you prevent injuries. Injury prevention is a tough sell for most people because if you're not injured you just don't usually care. If you're currently uninjured, then try to be smart and learn from other people so you don't have to learn the hard way like many of us have had to with frustrating injuries. Connect with John: Website The Legendary Fat Loss Blueprint Keep these takeaways in mind. Those are the reasons I'm finishing the Legendary Fat Loss Blueprint. It's designed to help you burn fat at the fastest possible rate for your body while maintaining every ounce of your hard-earned muscle. I even tested it on real people just like you. Why you should buy the Legendary Rapid Fat Loss Blueprint? You've heard of low-carb diets. You know about high-protein diets. Both work, but neither is ideal. That's why we took the best parts of each diet and fused them into the ultimate rapid fat loss plan. The Legendary Rapid Fat Loss Blueprint helps easily control your calories — so you don't need to count them — and also creates the optimal hormonal environment to burn fat. This strategic combination takes the brakes off your fat loss and delivers the fast results you want. Don't confuse rapid weight loss with a starvation diet, which causes your muscles to waste away along with the fat. The Legendary Fat Loss Blueprint is nothing like that. If you want to start losing now, sign up for the Waiting List! Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. If you have any questions (or would like answers to hear previously submitted voicemail questions!), head on over to the ASK TED section. Check out my brand new video training series, where I'll walk you through the 3-Step formula to lose 7 pounds in 2 weeks (without starvation or insane workouts), you can learn the 7 fat loss strategies that will help you finally create that energetic, lean body you've always wanted. Until next time! Ted

How much time do we waste reading about ways to become more productive? Do you really need to read another article about the top 10 habits of a billionaire? Productivity requires deliberate action and today's interview with Jeff Sanders will tell you how to do just that — take action while staying motivated. Jeff will also be telling us about his new productivity academy, The Rockin' Productivity Academy and how you can be a part of it. Listen now! Brief Bio: In today's episode, Ted interviews keynote speaker, author of the best-selling and award-winning book on productivity, The 5 AM Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast, and founder of The Rockin' Productivity Academy, Jeff Sanders. Jeff is also the host of The 5 AM Miracle Podcast, which has ranked #1 in iTunes in the Self-Help and Business categories, been nominated for 4 Podcast Awards, and exceeded 4 million downloads. He is a 10-time marathon runner, personal development junkie, and passionate raw vegan. Every week you can find Jeff writing and speaking at JeffSanders.com. In this episode, you'll learn: What's driving your desire to become productive (06:12) Why productivity isn't about luck but about being intentional (09:58) Why do you fall off the productivity wagon (11:00) 3 Tips to be more productive (13:39) More on Jeff's Rocking Productivity Academy (25:08) The importance of having a community and coach to help you see results (16:31) When hacking your life becomes distracting (23:53) 5 Ways to build a habit of taking action (30:02) What to do when you're feeling unmotivated (32:42) Ted's Take-Aways Productivity is about removing not adding— If you are one of those people who keep adding things into your life to make you more productive; the reminder, the tracking devices and the constant "pings" from your notification —you are missing the point. Optimizing your life is supposed to simplify things. After a while, these gadgets become a distraction and you end up spending most of your time focusing on the gadgets and the preparatory steps but then you never take action. Try simplifying things to improve your productivity. You have to be fully committed to whatever you are doing —This is the biggest takeaway. If you are not fully committed to what you are doing, it will not work. Getting results take commitment. Find what motivates you and it will become easier to stay committed. Get a coach — If you believe you need help with staying motivated or you can't figure out what goals you need to prioritize, or if you have fitness goals that you're trying to achieve but you're having little or no results, it's time to get a coach. Having a coach will help you get over those obstacles that often causes you to stumble and give up on your goal. If you think you need help with being productive and you're ready to take your life and productivity to the next level check out Jeff's Rockin' Productivity Academy. Resources: The Rockin' Productivity Academy Connect with Jeff: Website Twitter Facebook The Legendary Fat Loss Blueprint Keep these takeaways in mind. Those are the reasons I'm finishing the Legendary Fat Loss Blueprint. It's designed to help you burn fat at the fastest possible rate for your body while maintaining every ounce of your hard-earned muscle. I even tested it on real people just like you. Why you should buy the Legendary Rapid Fat Loss Blueprint? You've heard of low-carb diets. You know about high-protein diets. Both work, but neither is ideal. That's why we took the best parts of each diet and fused them into the ultimate rapid fat loss plan. The Legendary Rapid Fat Loss Blueprint helps easily control your calories — so you don't need to count them — and also creates the optimal hormonal environment to burn fat. This strategic combination takes the brakes off your fat loss and delivers the fast results you want. Don't confuse rapid weight loss with a starvation diet, which causes your muscles to waste away along with the fat. The Legendary Fat Loss Blueprint is nothing like that. If you want to start losing now, sign up for the Waiting List! Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us again this week. If you have any questions (or would like answers to hear previously submitted voicemail questions!), head on over to the ASK TED section. Check out my brand new video training series, where I'll walk you through the 3-Step formula to lose 7 pounds in 2 weeks (without starvation or insane workouts), you can learn the 7 fat loss strategies that will help you finally create that energetic, lean body you've always wanted. Until next time! Ted