You may not recognize him with his shirt on -- it's "fitness expert" John Basedow. If you watch TV, you've seen his TV commercials promoting his and your own development of "Six-Pack Abs"
Fitness Made Simple: The Top 10
John Basedow shares his Top 10 Tips to get and stay fit.
- Baby Steps
The words “Baby Steps” refer to the mindset you should have when following a fitness lifestyle. Too many people try to do too much too soon…exercise every day, go from fast food burgers and fries to chicken breast and vegetables overnight. It’s overwhelming. Instead, look at fitness as a lifelong journey and make an effort to improve 1 thing fitness-wise each day…just 1 thing…every morning when you wake-up and by the end of a month you’ll be 30 times better. This becomes self motivating…you see the positive changes and you want more…and things that would have seemed impossible at the beginning of the month will now seem easy and natural.
2. Eat Until You’re No Longer Hungry…Not Full
There is a very fine distinction between these two sensations. To avoid overeating you want to leave the table when you’re no longer feel hungry…when the food is beginning to not taste as good as it did originally and you’re just continuing to eat it because it’s there. You don’t want to wait until you feel full. There’s a biological reason for this. It takes the brain about 15-20 min before it realizes that the stomach is full and then it sends the message to stop eating. That 15-20 min lag time is what keeps a lot of extra pounds on our troubleprone areas, the belly and lower back in men and the waist, hips, and thighs in women.
3. Don’t Starve & Stuff
Starving ourselves or depriving our bodies of food sends them into fat storage mode, which is something no one wants. Our bodies are designed not to care how we look but to preserve our lives. When we starve them they try to hold onto every last bit of fat reserves they have and fat burning just about stops. When we do finally eat again we usually overeat and stuff ourselves, which really defeats our weight loss efforts since our bodies are now primed to store as much of that feast as fat as they can get away with…much more than they would have stored if we just continued eating normally. Instead…practice Portion Control and aim to eat 4-6 small means a day to keep your body happy as well as looking and feeling better.
4. A.M. Cardio
Doing cardio first thing in the AM is your fat cells' worst nightmare. It’s the best time for burning body fat. In the morning, after a good night sleep and before we eat, our bodies are going to burn a greater % of stored body fat for energy rather than relying on energy from food we’ve just eaten. Our blood sugar and our insulin levels are low and stable and that’s the perfect environment for fat burning to occur. After we eat, especially after we eat meals high in carbs, our blood sugar and insulin levels rise and fat burning stops.
5. Drink Water
Water is a magical drink. It helps transport vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients throughout our bodies and it flushes out toxins and other waste products. In addition to the health benefits, drinking lots of water can also keep you looking lean. It curbs appetite and decreases cravings.
6. Smart Shopping…Be a smart shopper.
* First off, Don’t Ever Go Food Shopping When You’re Hungry. Your stomach will always override your brain. Cravings kick common sense to the curb and you’ll end up with a cart full of sugar and saturated fat filled garbage that you bought on impulse rather than planning.
* Second…Don’t Ever Enter The Supermarket Without A List…and don’t buy anything other than what’s on that list especially when you’re first starting a new fitness program or nutrition plan. Think before you put something on your list about whether or not it will help you in achieving your fitness goals.
* And third…Try To Shop In The Outer Isles Of The Supermarket. Along the periphery of the store is where you’ll find more of the natural foods…vegetables, fruits, and protein sources like chicken/turkey breasts and egg whites. It’s when you venture into those inner isles that you get into trouble. That’s where all of the highly processed, high calorie/high sugar nasties are. In general, the more highly processed a food is the bigger the blood sugar reaction it’s going to give you and the further it’s going to put you from attaining your fitness goals. Stick with natural choices. If it’s made by man you don’t necessarily want to put it in your mouth.
7. Make Better “Bad” Choices
Our bodies crave what they’re used to…the stuff we’ve been feeding them over time. The problem is that it usually takes 4-8 wks for our bodies to get over old cravings and start craving the new, hopefully better foods. It’s like lag time. We might want to look and feel better now but our bodies want the sugar and saturated fat they’ve gotten used to living on and they don’t react as quickly as we might like. During that time it helps to make better “BAD” choices. For example, if you crave ice cream, don’t make yourself miserable by eliminating it altogether; instead eat it a little less frequently or have a smaller portion than you normally would…or choose a more waistline friendly alternative like fat-free/sugar-free frozen yogurt.
8. Keep “Cheat” Foods Out Of The House
“Cheating” can be a good thing. It’s fun and it can also be guilt-free. As long as we exercise regularly and eat clean the majority of the day having a bite or two of something we’ve been craving is generally going to have no noticeable or visible impact on the lean physique we’re trying to build…plus it will help us keep our sanity. There’s only 1 rule when it comes to cheating…Keep Cheat Foods Out Of The House. A craving is generally an impulse thing…it’s usually satisfied without much thought and then we feel guilty later. If you have to go out to satisfy a craving it gives you a moment to think if it’s really worth the trip. Keeping cheat foods at home within arms reach is just too tempting and sets us up for failure.
9. Vary Exercise Choices
To keep your body guessing and continue to stimulate growth vary your exercise choices. As with anything done over time our bodies and minds get used to certain workouts and then we reach a plateau where we stop seeing benefits from our exercise investments. To avoid getting stuck in an exercise rut, keep things fresh both mentally and physically, and maximize results change workouts on a weekly or monthly basis.
10. Think & Think Positively
The one common thread that ties the mental, physical, and nutritional aspects together when we’re trying to improve our fitness is thought…conscious thought…not acting on impulse or out of habit. A large part of how you look and feel today is a sum total of what you’ve been doing up to this point…so if you don’t change what you’re doing you’ll keep looking and feeling how you do right now. If you’re happy with how you are now then that’s great; otherwise it’s time to start taking control of your life…and your body…and think about everything you do each day…what you eat, how much activity you get, etc…and start making changes for the better…no excuses. Believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything. If you can’t envision yourself with a great body living a great life you’ll probably never get there…but if you keep that image in your head every day and work hard to achieve it you’ll probably be surprised how quickly it turns into reality.
John Basedow is host of the videos Fitness Made Simple, Awesome Hour Upper Body Workout, Six-Pack Abs, AM/PM Workouts, 45Min Fat Burning Workout, & FMS Basics. These programs offer time conserving workouts and fat-burning meal plans. For more information visit FitnessMadeSimple.com.
