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Why is it most fitness experts tell you to eat egg white omelets or don’t eat the egg yolk. One would think the yellow of the egg is too fattening. When in most part they say it has too much cholesterol and is not good for you. While it may be high in cholesterol and saturated fat it is a virtual multi-vitamin store. Even those that do tell you that the yellow has healthy zinc for your body still recommend one egg yolk to three egg whites for an egg white omelet.

The whole egg itself when eaten in it’s entirety is one of the most complete foods going. One gets the protein, minerals and vitamins necessary in todays diet. The egg white has slightly more protein than the yolk only because there is more white than yellow by volume. On the other hand the yolk contains in addition to protein, iron, calcium, zinc, copper, phosphorous,manganese,potassium, selenium, thiamin, riboflavin and most all the B vitamins. Let’s not forget it also contains Vitamins A, D, E, K and the Carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. To get a better break down o n the nutrients go here.

Besides making most foods taste better that have egg as an ingredient together with the white you get a much more complete nutritional source. One other thing to consider and that’s the fact that the yolk also contains a excellent source of essential fatty acids the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid DHA, which aids in proper brain function.

Eat healthy and enjoy breakfast more, just leave out the home fries and white toast.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

It seems that 4 minute exercises are all the rage these days. But in actuality have been around since 1996. That’s when research scientist Tabata, for who the Tabata method is named after, discovered that by doing eight sets of high intensity exercise for twenty second durations with ten second rest intervals would put you in both aerobic and anaerobic states at the same time.

Now every fitness guru promotes some variation of it. To be honest it does fit the bill for the majority of people interested in either staying fit or losing weight. Specially in today’s hectic pace everyone keeps. This bill of sell targets most every-one’s needs, desires and wants.

• Time:  One of the chief attributes, can be done in four minutes.
• Effectiveness:  Done right this will increase your metabolic rate and get you in shape.
• Cost: You can do this in your own home with the equipment god gave you.
• Variety:  Although one should focus on whole body exercises there are plenty of  combination’s that work

However due to the intense depletion by the end of the four minutes you won’t be able to do this everyday or even five days a week. Chances are even if you do the recommended maximum times a week, three, you probably are not going to look forward to doing this too often. And that’s the one draw back. When done right and at the end of four minute you are huffing and puffing like a chain smoker finishing a marathon race. In addition to that you’ll likely feel like heaving your guts out and wish you could.

I can attest to all this and it’s effectiveness. Even though it’s rough on you and your pride, the four minute exercise is a great one to have in your arsenal and one of my favorites. That being said you’re not going to build a lot of muscle with this exercise regimen. Not that everyone needs or wants to be a bodybuilder. But increasing some muscle mass will definitely hike your metabolism and make you look healthier. Even with the use of weights and going as heavy as you can, provided you can complete the eight sets within four minutes, you’re not going to increase muscle mass or strength. It’s just that to do that you need to lift heavy to your max in eight reps to three or four reps, even one maxed out rep to gain muscle mass. And to do this you need a minimum of sixty seconds rest between sets.

That being said every one should incorporate this into their exercise plan. Obviously a disclaimer is needed here, if you have heart or lung problems, or any health issues consult your physician first and make sure they approve it.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

Another aspect to diet is quality of carbohydrates. Technically there are two types, simple and complex. Some definitions have fruits as a simple carbohydrate and vegetables are the complex. Another version is that all refined and processed carbohydrate sources are simple and both fruits and vegetables are the complex carbs.

While it tends to be a blend of the two. Simple carbohydrates are both fruit and the processed variety. Complex carbohydrates are found in the vegetable groups and refined processed foods as well. You have refined whole wheats and wheats in general, plus other processed grains such as those found in breads and pasta’s.

The best rule of thumb is to consume natural complex and simple carbs. For the simple carbs sources like apples, blackberries, blueberries, grapefruit, oranges, peaches and strawberries are all low in simple sugars as well.

For your complex carbs try broccoli, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes(technically a fruit) and sweet potato to name a few. Natural complex carbs provide the essential vitamins and minerals needed for energy production. Simple, refined carbs found in many processed, convenient foods tend to be devoid of these natural nutrients. Who wants the additives any ways.

When choosing your veggies and fruits, as mentioned previously, opt to go organic if at all possible. This way you get a higher quality nutritional source. Also choosing natural, aids in your goal to lose weight. These sources tend to be utilized more efficiently by the body.
All carbohydrates are broken down in the body to become glucose to  produce the energy molecule ATP (adenosinetriphosphate). Complex carbs tend to be processed slower than simple carbs and this is why you use it to load up on to store energy for your workouts. Since the simple carbs break down faster they can be beneficial in getting a quick energy source just before a workout.

However you need to be careful for those of you that may be diabetic as this can be dangerous to your glucose levels first thing in the morning. It’s recommended to eat a small bit of complex carbs in those situations.

It is recommended that one eats at least five helpings a day of veggies and two to three of fruits. I like to start my day with either half a grapefruit or whole banana and a small portion of some protein source.

Then into my workout drinking plenty of water. Post workout I drink a quality protein drink that has some carbs as well. Here a good choice also would be to eat half a sweet potato, as you know you want to carbo-load the muscles. That’s two to three meals down, lunch would be something like grilled chicken and mixed veggies.

While I’m thinking of it you should also try to eat as many veggies that are a spectrum of colors. Such as red bell pepper, yellow squash, purple eggplant and green leafy veggies etc. etc. Reason being that they all have a different variety of essential nutrients we all need.
Back to meal or snack four, a piece of fruit or two. Dinner could be a nice fresh piece of fish with broccoli and sweet potato. The last snack and also as a bed time snack a protein drink.

Good night all.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness
PowerFitnessSecrets.com

There are many opinions on how to work up to your first pull up. If your out of shape, haven’t worked out in ages, plain over weight or a complete newbie to exercise let me help.

First off for the most part your ability to perform pull-ups is pretty much proportional to your body-fat to muscle ratio. Hence the more you weigh the harder it is to do one. That is taking into consideration that you have average muscle tone.

Lets say that your weight challenged. Lets say by twenty pounds. We are also going to say it has been a while since you set foot in a gym.

One method and probably the best is the old stick with it method. This is every time you are working your back muscles and are going to do pull-ups you have to try as hard as you can to do as many complete reps as possible. Recommended, break your routine up into sets and reps as you would any other exercise.

Start with one complete rep, all the way up, all the way down. If you can only do one rep thats fine if you can do more do as many as you can for your first set. Now you will do five more sets for a total of six sets times as many reps as you can for each set. So if you could do only one rep each set then thats a total of six reps. Rest any where from thirty seconds to a minute between sets.

Now you can do this for a couple of weeks then add either after the first two weeks or from the get go static reps. So what your going to do after each set before you drop down from the bar is to pull up to your sticking point and hold that position for as long as you can, until failure, then rest for the next set.

My third technique is actually away from the pull-up bar. You can do it after you have done your pull-ups or on a off day. Go to the lat pull down cable machine, many gyms have them as part of a cable combo set. Make sure it’s the seated one and sit. adjust the weights to approximately one third to half your body weight, here you will have to gauge for yourself.

Grab the lat bar about shoulder length as you would for a pull-up. Pull the bar down along the front of your torso mimicking a pull-up motion, stop when the bar reaches your lap. Then back up for one full rep. Do five more sets with incremental weight adjustments until you reach the point where you can not bring the bar below your chest. Of course your reps will decrease proportionately to the increase in poundage.

So that’s ten reps the first three sets then eight, six and four. Add one last max rep with the most weight you can handle to the point mentioned before(just below the chest). When you can do say twenty pounds more than your body weight at the time for ten reps, I’ll bet you will have no problem ripping off pull-ups.

All along while your working on this improvement if you lose weight at the same time those reps will get easier and easier.

This should take you a long way in dominating the pull-up bar.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

With all the supplements, diet restrictions and exercises we tend to overlook the quality of our diet. In quality I mean not just the type of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, but the quality in wholeness and pureness of the food.

For instance any vegetable you buy in the traditional supermarket like … err, I won’t mention names, are mass produced, and over farmed. Which means less nutrients in the soil and even less nutrition in the vegetable or fruit. But it’s still better to eat an apple before a workout than to grab a snickers bar. Oops I did anyways.

The same goes with animal foods. The supply chain here is even longer. Since the land is over produced, the grains fed to the animals is lacking in nutrients thus the nutritional quality of the meat is less than what it use to be.

Now with fish you have a different angle. Most fish caught out at sea and away from the reefs tend to be every bit as quality nutrition as it always was. Provided it’s fresh, within a few days from being caught and/or hasn’t gone bad for whatever. If it smells like the ocean it’s good to consume. If it smells like the proverbial “fishy” smell it is past it’s prime.

The one caveat with fish is farmed fish. In which they are fed inferior feed to keep cost down, which puts this type of meat in the same category as the rest of the farmed animal products.

The best way to go even though it will hit your wallet to almost the cost of twice as much is Organic.

In most cases buying organic produce will guarantee complete quality nutrition and flavor. The same holds true for the animal products. If you buy beef opt out to go organic and make sure it is grass fed. Most other meat products follow the same rule, like free range chicken. Beware free range chicken doesn’t mean that it is organic, nor their eggs.

With fish you have only one choice for high quality, fresh off the boat from a deep sea fishing expedition. Now the seas don’t have to be in the middle of the ocean. A mile or two off shore is fine. I n many coastal areas dolphin, swordfish, tuna and other tasty varieties can be found. Salmon, make sure its wild not farmed and preferably pacific coast or Alaskan.

I almost forgot seafood and shell fish. But you get the picture on the fresh catch theme. In some cases try to stay updated as to any environmental conditions that may pollute certain areas like lakes and rivers.

Now you will not only enjoy your food more, but you will also be the healthier for it.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

If I had to recommend supplements for exercising, whether for muscle building or weight loss, I have a starter kit so to speak that I would list. Let me say right now that for the majority of people getting started a good nutrition plan and exercise plan are more than enough to reach most levels of fitness.

But for those that are slightly more advanced(not bodybuilders) and those that want an accelerated path these products can help. I always follow the motto if it’s good enough for the “pro” it’s good enough for me. I stop at the point of steroids though.

Most everything I would suggest centers around the workout itself. At least three products alone, each for each of the phases of your workout. That being said I in no way am endorsing these products for monetary gain.

I feel that they are quality products that are produced through quality methods and geared around the pro fitness athletes. There may be other products that perform as well or almost as well, but it is extremely difficult to personally test every brand. Due to time constraints, at least a month or two for each product and cost. My choices for now are:

• For pre-workout Gaspari Nutrition’s SuperPump250
• For during the workout session Gaspari Nutrition’s SizeOn
• Post work out & meal replacement, Gaspari Nutrition’s MyoFusion.
• PrimaForce’s Max CLA for the antioxident, fat burning and lean muscle mass increase.

Pretty much this is a great start up kit for those into fitness and want to create that “hot bod” ripped look.

There are a lot of products in these categories and most of them are good. But there are those that are a waste of money because they are nothing but filler. One has to do the research, not just on the product but the company too. That’s why I chose Gaspari Nutrition, there products are designed around bodybuilders and pro athletes who need that best quality for the best productivity.

Of course if I come across equal or better I’ll be the first to post.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

Fish offers many benefits, from easy-to-digest amino acids on par with whey protein to an array of minerals that support testosterone and thyroid functions. Fish are also  a healthy option because they contain a wealth of vitamins and minerals. Here are some of the most important nutrients found in fish:

* Zinc  is an important mineral for bodybuilders because it supports testosterone and insulin like growth-factor levels, also found in egg yolk. One great source of zinc is oysters. You need at least 15 milligrams a day. Many types of seafood are a great source of zinc.

* Chromium This trace mineral helps encourage your muscle store carbs as muscle glycogen rather than as body fat. Increased glycogen stores help keep your muscles full and growing. All fish are great for adding this

mineral to your diet.

* Selenium  is on par with vitamins C and E as an antioxidant. Fish remains one of the top sources of this sometimes-hard-to-get mineral.

*Omega-3 fatty acids help upgrade insulin sensitivity, helping to keep your body in an anabolic state. Salmon, mackerel, sardines and other fatty fish are great sources for this. This helps you reduce body fat without risking muscle loss. One should consume at least one six-ounce serving daily of fish rich in omega-3s. A lack of omega-3 fatty acids tends to put stress on the body’s glutamine levels and causes a drop in the water content in muscles. Omega-3s also help the body store carbohydrates within muscles.

In addition to these there are  orange roughy, trout and tuna  that tend to produce a lot of oil during cooking.  These yield far greater amounts of dietary fat, the essential fatty acids that provide the Omega-3 benefits. They also slow down the digestion rate of the amino acids. Which you want for your later meals as it releases the aminos slowly thus staying with you till your next meal and keeping you anabolic around the clock.

In the morning for breakfast and  pre-workout and post workout you want a protein source that gets into your system quick and fills your blood with amino acids. While eggs are mainly the staple for most  in some of these meals  adding  seafood and some fish sources  can enhance  and add variety to your diet. Equally easy to digest are scallops, shrimp, crab, haddock, cod,  snapper and halibut. One might consider a crab and shrimp omelet for breakfast.

So try a little variety in your diet and GO FISH.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

One of my favorite exercise routines is to do six sets of each exercise for ten reps at a reduced weight. Roughly anywhere from one third to two thirds the poundage of my max one rep for that particular exercise. This with a rest period of fifteen breaths in between sets.

So if I were doing bench press, my max one rep is at 265lb. I lower the total weight to 135 lb. I do six sets with roughly fifteen to twenty seconds rest non stop. What I do is count out fifteen breaths and start lifting.

I train one body part per day and my workout last about forty five minutes. I do as many different exercises as it takes to hit that particular muscle group from all angles, between five to seven different exercises.

Here’s an example of my chest routine for this method:

Exercises                    Sets           Reps          Rest          Weight

• Bench Press           6             10        15 Breaths        135lb.
• Incline Bench         6              10       15 Breaths          90lb.
• Decline Bench        6              10       15 Breaths        135lb.
• Military Press         6              10       15 Breaths          95lb.
• Cross Cables         6              10       15 Breaths          25lb.
• Dumbbell Flyes      6              10       15 Breaths          35lb.

In the case of the last two the weight is for each dumbbell and selector.

Now about Cycling your routine. I brought up one of my favorite routines because you can’t just do the same routine all the time. Your body begins to adapt to it and even when you increase the poundage it adapts as quickly. Thus your gains body composition wise diminish.

Recently I posted about another great routine the Tabata Method(see “The Four Minute Exercise” below). This method is great for revving up your metabolism and breaking down fat.

By alternating routines you keep the body from getting bored and adapting too quickly. This is what as meant by “cycling”. Just like the seasons go through there “cycles” so do you cycle through your routines.

The best advise is to do no more than a month of any one routine before switching. I would also recommend to do at least two weeks of any routine before switching also.

The exception to the rule would definitely be the Tabata method. You may want to do this only two or three times a week and maybe only a week. Its that rough that you won’t welcome the days you schedule to do it. But it really produces results.

Here’s a good example of a routine cycle for those that want to get ripped and fit using the two methods mentioned here.

First two weeks train heavy, four sets per exercise, four to six exercises to cover all the angles, one body part per day. First set very light to warm up. Increase weights so that it is a challenge to do eight reps. Third set the same to six reps and your fourth set max out for four reps. If your feeling gung ho and can do so safely do one final set/rep at your one rep max.

Next two weeks do the routine I introduced at six sets per body part, one body part per day, with fifteen breath rest between sets. again five to seven exercises or whatever needed to hit all the muscle angles.

Finally do one week doing only Tabata method, say three times that week. Remember that’s one exercise like the “Thruster” for twenty seconds as fast as possible non stop then rest for ten seconds, repeat for total of eight sets.

So to recap thats two weeks heavy, two weeks moderate and one weeks four minute exercise. By changing up the order as well you can create more muscle confusion.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

Beta-hydroxyl beta-metylbutyrate other wise known as HMB is a metabolite of the Branched chained amino acid leucine. Your body breaks down the leucine into HMB. You can also get it from catfish, alfalfa and my favorite grapefruit. HMB is believed to help with the growth and repair of muscle tissue.

Researchers have measured greater gains in muscle mass and strength after taking HMB supplements for 3-7 weeks. This may be due to HMB’s ability to prevent muscle breakdown during intense training. Researchers also found that HMB helps to reduce body-fat levels and improve body composition, although it’s not clear exactly how. Several researchers believe that HMB may work even better when combined with creatine and protein-carbohydrate supplements.

While it’s a supplement that one doesn’t absolutely need to include it in their regimen. If you want to go that extra step and have the extra cash then it is effective. It’s recommended to use 3 grams per day for men and 2 grams per day for women. It might also be better to take HMB with a meal replacement product or at meal times. Studies found that muscle mass gains were greater when HMB was taken with a carbohydrate-protein supplement.

Since HMB is a water ­soluble substance, any excess is excreted in the urine.There has been no side effects reported by athletes using higher-than ­recommended doses. I like to start my day of with half a grapefruit to get the benefits of HMB and as light carbohydrate load for fuel for my morning workout. Choose wisely.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com

CLA short for Conjugated Linoleic Acid. CLA to regulate your metabolism and body composition. As as being an anti-carcenogenic. CLA also helps lose weight when combined with resistance training. Just What about it makes it so useful for us?

Research conducted in Norway shows that CLA reduces fat storage and increases the body’s fat burning capabilities. It does this by increasing the activity of an enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase that releases the fat from fat cells into the blood. While simultaneously reducing the activity of another enzyme called lipoprotein lipase which transports fat into the fat cells. So what happens is more fat is burned as fuel and less fat is stored. It was found that those taking 3,000 mg of CLA daily for three months reduced their body fat by 20%.

When used along with strength training it reduces muscle breakdown, increases muscle circumference and increases strength. By using CLA it practically doubles your gains in the gym, compared to if you were to strength train without it.

Studies have shown that the fat burning benefits as well as those other muscle benefits kick in when you take CLA in amounts of up to 3000mg. While you can get this supplement naturally in milk and beef, you won’t be able to consume enough of either to reach the quantity necessary for our purposes.

So stick with a quality supplement and experiment with the amount you may need. There has been some instances where individuals complained of upset stomach. Otherwise there has not yet been found any other negative side effects for CLA. The newer forms of CLA (mi cellar CLA) seem to have eliminated the upset stomach issue.

James Bolduc

MrPowerFitness

PowerFitnessSecrets.com