Using Fitspiration As Motivation

Fitspiration is a term used to describe the inspiration behind someone getting up and working toward their physique goals.

Most of these supposedly motivational memes and pictures portray men and women working out or posing to show off their physiques. They are traditionally in spandex or cut off shirts. They are typically drenched in sweat and sport an amazing six pack or a great pair of legs and butt. They will have some slogan that encourages pushing through pain, exhaustion, and hunger. Some of them sound like this. 

"Suck it up now so you don’t have to suck it in later."
"The only bad workout is the workout that didn't happen."
"No Pain, No Gain."

Is this a good form of motivation?

My answer: NO!

There is no research confirming fitspiration’s role in helping people maintain a healthy, sustainable level of physical activity.

A desire to workout because you want to emulate the toned, muscular individual on a fitspiration meme can be a source of short term motivation. The issue with this type of motivation is that is has a short life span. You may enter the 'grind harder' mentality but lose your stamina after learning how much exercise and time it takes to acquire that physique. It sounds good in theory but what's wrong with staying in your own lane?

A huge component of your success in improving your fitness is for you to develop a good relationship with exercise. If you don’t actually enjoy the gym or exercise in general, your interest in engaging in exercise to lose weight or gain muscle will peter out pretty quickly. 

I see a lot of disordered thinking from people looking at fitspiration as a vehicle to to get to there goals. In most cases it actually fosters the motivation to exercise less because it makes most feel worse about themselves. That ultra-fit ideal may seem so far away from where you are now that it is just easier to stay in the same place and resist change.

Fitspiration could alienate people from engaging in exercise, since they’re led to believe that the only way to do so is some over the top program. Most of those memes portray some high intensity boot-camp program, a workout dvd that looks impossible to complete, or a body builder’s weight training routine from his hay day. These memes make a leisurely stroll, bike ride, or a easy swim look like a waste of time. But they aren't because they can help you improve your health and fitness too.

Let me explain something real plain and simple to you.
Real fitness isn’t about having a ridiculously low body-fat percentage.
Real fitness isn't about being able to run a mile in under six minutes.
Real fitness isn't about being the biggest or the most buff person around.

Fitness involves being active enough to get your blood flowing at least once a day.
Fitness is about maintaining your heart, lung, brain, bone health, and emotional well being.
Fitness is about taking pleasure in the ability your body has to move rather than sitting in front of a computer screen or television.

Small Progress Is Still Progress {Video}

Writing feels like my own personal library of information I've learned through the years. I love to share the lessons, thoughts, research, and experiences I've been through. I hope you find it useful for whatever place you're in on your own healthy lifestyle journey. I have begun to dive into recording videos so I can document some of these same principles also. There is a lot of people telling you how to get in shape in 7 days. Tons of content pointing you to a 21- day or 30-day challenges. If that is what you are looking for then it is definitely out there. A healthy lifestyle is one made up of very small daily decisions that add up over time.

You are supposed to fail sometimes.

You should be frustrated at times. 

But as long as you continue to make good decisions then small progress is still progress. 

Why You Need A Coach

The word “coach” is an old French word meaning, a vehicle to transport people from one place to another. In some cultures the word is even used to describe a type of carriage that conveys a valued person from where he or she was to where he or she wanted to be.

Imagine trying to get someplace you have never been without the help of a map, GPS or someone to show you the way. You would be driving around aimlessly and likely never reach your destination.

When it comes getting healthy or more physically fit most people have no clue where to turn. They have little, if any, knowledge of how to program their training or plan their meals to reach their goals.

When I first began working out I didn’t know how to use the equipment or perform the exercises properly. I often eavesdropped in on other people’s training sessions and watched their trainer demonstrate exercises, asked questions, watched YouTube videos, and joined every class I could to get a wide range of experiences.

Even today, as I am make a living training people I am continuously asking questions, learning more, and surrounding myself with people who have valuable knowledge to share. There is so much information out there it’s impossible to be an expert on it all.

The best athletes in the world, CEO’s of fortune 500 companies, lawyers, doctors, ect. All hire other people to help them improve their skills. Often times we’re too close to the situation to see objectively what the issue is and how we can fix it. Don’t be too proud to ask for help. I ask other people for guidance and help all the time. I know I don’t have all the answers.

If you are ready to get your health back by improving both your physical fitness and nutrition I highly recommend you hire someone to pick you up from where you are and take you to your destination. The likelihood of you reaching your goals will increase tenfold.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re not alone.

Know that there will still be a lot of hard work and dedication to earn that better body or healthier state of being. But with having a coach your setbacks will be few and far between, you will have a friend and a confidant to lead the way, and the sense of direction will get you to your destination much more efficiently.

If you’re someone searching for answers to get a better body, improve your health, or optimize your results we would love to be the person who picks you up and takes you there.

5 Tips For Improving Sleep Quality

We can all agree that sleep is important. Well I hope we can at least. The benefits of sleep are unquestionable. But an increasing amount of research indicates that when we don’t focus on sleep we lose out on other parts of our life. When we routinely get enough quality sleep good things happen. We’re much more likely to make healthy food choices, we eat more vegetables, and we experience far fewer cravings. When we don't get enough sleep our appetites are out of control, cravings run wild, our inflammation increases, and our will power tank decreases. 

In short, when we get enough sleep, everything else has a tendency to fall into place.  And getting enough good sleep may be the single best thing we can do to help ourselves keep up with nutrition, fitness, and weight goals.

Through personal experience and reading through tons of research I've rounded up 5 small tips that will help you improve your sleep quality.  

1. Make A Bedtime
I feel like captain obvious by saying this. But it needs to be number one despite how easy it seems. Adults need a bedtime just like children do. That might mean committing to an hour less of television, coming home earlier from a social gathering or simply telling our partner that you are calling it a night! Aim for 6 to 8 hours a sleep. The formula to do that is pretty simple. Set a bed time 6 to 8 hours before you need to wake up. That may wind up being an early bed time. But your rest should be a priority. 

2. Turn Off The Gadgets
The rise of electronic screens means that it’s almost impossible to imagine an evening without a phone, television, iPad, e-reader, etc. Screens emit too much blue light, which harms our dim-light melatonin production. Either turn off screens to protect this sleep promoting hormone or switch your gadgets to night mode. Most new devices have this feature. 

3. Don't Forget To Exercise
Inactivity causes poor sleep. By exercising, we unleash a hormone-regulating effect throughout our bodies. Regulated hormones equal better sleep. This does not mean you should go outside and run miles on end. Neither should you try to punish your body in the gym with hard workouts. In fact, there’s evidence to support the idea that less-strenuous exercise is actually more beneficial for hormones. 30 minutes of walking each day can improve your sleep!

4. Keep Your Home Cool
Sleeping in a cool environment is an easy way to improve sleep. Ever notice that you wake up sweating during the night? Our bodies are designed to sleep best in an ideally cool environment. Try turning the temperature down to about 65-68°F and see how your sleep improves! If you are too cold then add blankets.

5. Wind Down
Taking 30 minutes each evening to wind down by reading, stretching or taking a relaxing bath can help your body transition from the hustle and bustle to sleep-sleep-sleep. This might mean cutting out 30 minutes of television every evening, or pushing your bedtime back by just a bit. But the peace of your evening routine will pay off!

Commit to one of these today and watch how your sleep improves.

Train Smarter And Harder

You know what I think is crazy. The "more is better" phenomenon. I had a conversation with some clients of mine that thought if one workout a day is good, then two workouts a day is even better. It just makes sense right? Absolutely not!

This is one of the most common things I see in the gym every day. Most people are overwhelmed with the concept that “more is better” when it comes to exercise.

The thinking tends to go somewhat like this: If strength training is getting me results then if I combine it with cardio then I will double my results.

As a result, many people end up spending hours in the gym several days a week. And if that doesn’t work, they do even more in an effort to get their body to respond.

And do you know what usually happens? They get so burned out after a while that they disappear all together. They wonder why all that work hasn’t paid off. I mean, they have been working out for hours a week!

Then all the doubts set in.

"I have bad genetics."

"My body likes to hold weight."

"I'm stuck at this weight forever."

The correct answer is you are doing too much. The focus should be on working out harder and smarter.

I have trained people who used to strength train five or more days every week, and they did hours worth of cardio on top of that. When they come to train with me, they only strength train three days per week with some slight twist to their workouts. We greatly reduced the amount of cardio they performed and used different methods to elevate heart rate.

They end up doing half the work they used to do but are much more productive.

At first, they are incredibly skeptical and worried they are going to gain weight or not get results. However, the exact opposite happens.

They start losing weight. Their body responds to the workouts. They have more energy throughout the day. They have a lot more free time to invest in other activities.

It’s not about how long you workout, but the quality and intensity of your workouts.

If you work hard doing basic compound exercises for 30-45 minutes three times per week, you are going to get great results.

Transforming your body is not complicated, and it doesn’t take near the amount of time that people think.

You have to train hard, and train smart.

Soreness Does Not Equal Results

If you are reading this then you have experienced soreness at some point and time after a hard workout. Do you remember those times when your legs were so sore that you made a stink face getting out of the car? Or when it was hard to sit in a chair? What about the time your arms hurt so bad that doing anything to your hair was just pure agony? 

This soreness is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). If you’ve been exercising long enough, you’ve probably felt it. Some lifters relish this pain as an indicator of success, but is that really true?

What is DOMS?

DOMS happens to me after a hard leg day. It can also occur in experienced lifters when they are getting back in the groove after taking a few weeks off. Research shows that it’s not restricted to any particular muscle group, but some people tend to experience it more in certain muscles.

Technically speaking, DOMS is pretty much a muscle strain. It's nothing too serious but it happens as a result of movements you perform that your body is unaccustomed to. As you may have experienced, DOMS can range from slight muscle discomfort to severe pain that limits range of motion. Generally, muscle soreness becomes noticeable ~8 hours post-workout and peaks 48-72 hours later, although the exact time course can vary.

One thing that I do want to make clear is that muscle soreness is not directly correlated to exercise-induced muscle damage. It is possible for severe DOMS to develop with little or no indication of muscle damage, and for severe damage to occur without DOMS. You need exercise-induced muscle damage to occur for your muscle fibers to hypertrophy or grow. 

Some studies show the presence of DOMS after long-distance running, which indicates it doesn’t just occur during resistance training. This should be an indicator that DOMS isn’t a good gauge of muscle growth since running causes minimal hypertrophy in your muscles.

People who are new to working out often have the most pronounced DOMS. This is due to the new stimulus that exercise provides. Again, they get sore because they aren’t accustomed to exercising, not because they are growing like monsters. 

I don't like being sore. It hinders my performance and can negatively affect my lifestyle. When you are sore you want to move less in general. Because you know that every time you have to move will suck. There is some scientific evidence to show DOMS may negatively affect workouts by altering motor patterns in later workouts. This could cause reduced activation of the desired muscle. Hence, DOMS could actually hinder your next workout. 

Exercising while having DOMS does not seem to make muscle damage worse, but it may interfere with the recovery process. 

The “No pain, No gain” theory is wrong! At least when it comes to muscle growth. 

Soreness can provide some insight, but don’t use it as a marker for a good workout. High levels of soreness show that you have exceeded the capacity for the muscle to undergo repair. Soreness can alter the ability to train safely, and it may decrease motivation. DOMS is the main cause of reduced exercise performance. This includes decreased muscle strength and range of motion for both athletes and non-athletes. 

So be careful next time you think it is a good idea to push it to your maximum potential just because you think being sore is a great notion. 

Your P.E. teacher lied to you. 

Why Does Your Weight Fluctuate

I enjoy weighing myself everyday. I am also probably an exception to the rule because weighing yourself can lead to a lot of negative emotions as well.

I like to see how the previous days food, water, stress, and digestion effects my weight from day to day. It gives me a snapshot of what is going on. The more data points I get the more information I can piece together. I don't place my value on the scale or let whatever the number is affect my self confidence in any way. But I know there is a long road for others to get to that point. It is key for you to understand what causes your weight to fluctuate. I'm not asking you to weigh yourself everyday like I do. But if weight loss is something you are trying to accomplish then you have to learn how to separate your feelings from the number on the scale.

If your goal is weight loss, it can be easy to celebrate when you see the number on the scale fall by a few pounds one day, then worry when the scale jumps by a pound or two the next day. But what do these fluctuations in weight tell you?

Short-term fluctuations in weight are normal and generally reflect changes in your body’s level of water. It’s not possible under typical circumstances for your body to gain or lose several pounds of fat over the course of just a few days. Components like diet, exercise, weather, and your bathroom habits are all factors that can change the level of water in your body and cause the number on the scale to change, too. So you freaking out is the last thing you should be doing.

For example, eating salty food causes your body to hold on to extra water. Until your body clears out the excess salt and the water that comes with it, your weight will increase by a few pounds. An intense, sweaty workout can cause your weight to decrease by several pounds from the fluids you lose as sweat. Once you are fully hydrated and your level of body water is back to normal your weight will increase again.

Your metabolism can also influence your body’s water balance and cause fluctuations in weight.

How your body handles carbohydrates gives us the best example of this. As part of normal metabolism, your body stores a small amount of carbohydrate that is used to maintain steady blood sugar levels between meals and to power muscles during exercise. This reserve of stored carbohydrate, called glycogen, attracts and holds extra water. When your body’s glycogen reserves are full, your level of body water will be much higher than when your reserves are depleted. This is why your nutrition and exercise habits are so important. They both can lead to changes in the body's level of stored glycogen. Because normal variations in your body’s glycogen stores affect your level of body water, weight fluctuations are part of normal metabolism.

It is normal for your body weight to fluctuate by several pounds over the course of a day and even in a week. This doesn't mean that weighing yourself isn't helpful. You just need to keep things in perspective when doing so. Tracking body weight is still a good tool as long as your mindset is in a place to take it the right way. If stepping on a scale makes you feel frustrated, hopeless, or sparks other negative emotions then staying off the scale might be the best action to take for now.

If you want to teach yourself how to approach weighing yourself the right way then you should have a few things in order first.
1. Be discipline in preparing your meals or have some consistency in your nutritional regimen.
2. Have consistent exercise habits. It doesn't matter if it is one day or a week or seven. It could be 30 minutes per session or 60. You need to have some solidity in your program.
3. Don't place your self worth into a number on the scale. You are amazing already.

Start by checking your weight less often. Once a week or once a month for example. That way you will have a good idea of your progress while limiting the distracting influence of short-term fluctuations in weight and less mind games.

Some things you should consider if you are going to weigh yourself is:
Weighing yourself on the same scale all the time.
Weigh on same day of the week.
Weigh at the same time of day.

The goal is to get the most consistent measurement as best as you can.

Watching the scale drop by a few pounds only to see it rise again by the end of the week can feel discouraging. But when you know what your scale is really telling you, it’s easy to avoid being distracted by short-term weight fluctuations and stay focused on your long-term goals.

The scale is a tool. That's it. Stay away from it until you can view it that way.

Don't Skip Your Warm-Up Routine

How do you feel about warming up prior to exercise? Most people see it as a waste of time. You will see people stretch there legs out before a run or stretch out there chest before they do a chest press. But rarely do you see people go through a full warm up routine before they start there weight training routine for the day.

How important is warming up before a workout?

Warming up and stretching correctly are fundamental, yet often overlooked parts of any training program. While these components to training are very basic, many people tend to skip over a proper warm-up, stretch and cool down program and wonder why they do not feel ready to work out. I call these aspects of training the forgotten elements of training. They are techniques that you never see much of in gyms.

Warming up has many benefits. The main benefit to warming up is injury prevention because the blood will be pumping to an area, lowering the chance of a muscle pull or joint injury. Warming up also has positive effects because afterward strength and focus should be peaked. Warming up has many physical and mental benefits.

A younger lifter rarely thinks about joint health when getting started with lifting. A large percentage of lifters are forced to stop performing certain exercises, work around pain, or quit training altogether because they never paid attention to joint health from the beginning. If they had stopped and focused on taking care of there body before they began a workout they could have trained pain free for life and gotten much more results.

Joints require mobility, stability, and motor control. In other words, joints need flexible muscles and soft tissue to surround them. Joints stay healthier when you have a strong and stabilizing musculature to prevent wasted movement. Joints require coordination to move properly. Joints also need balanced levels of strength in the surrounding musculature in order to track properly.

Joint health is highly correlated with good habits in terms of warming up and good form while lifting. Performing some sort of a dynamic warm-up before you start lifting can pay of big time. Things such as foam rolling, mobility drills, and activation drills can get your joints and muscles ready to perform to there highest capability. Once you are done with that you should conduct a more specific warm-up consisting of several progressively heavier sets prior to your first compound lift of the day. Use a full range of motion when you lift weights, and make sure you use sound form. These things are vital for you to have healthier joints 5, 10 and 15 plus years from now.

An injury is the last thing any person that has a weight training routine wants. You can miss a meal here and there if you absolutely must and still reach your goals over time. You can skip the last 5 minutes of your cardio session if you need to be somewhere and your body won't hate you. But if you skip your warm-up and end up with a muscle pull, you're not gaining optimally for the next month or even longer in some cases.

Warming up is injury preventative in many ways. It increases flexibility and blood flow which limits the chance of a muscle pull and joint pain. A proper warm-up also gets the you in a groove for a good lifting session.

Don't skip out on this very basic principal. Your body will thank you later.

8 Tips For Eating Out

Should you avoid eating out?

Most trainers would take a stance on this and tell you whether or not eating out is detrimental or beneficial to you reaching your goal.

There is nothing wrong with eating out. There is no bad food. There are portion sizes that are too big you and foods with little micronutrient value.

This doesn't mean you need to avoid going to all restaurants, disown your family and miss celebrations just to meet your health and fitness goal.

There are a few great things you can implement to keep you headed down the right path though.

I call it the going out to eat checklist.

1. Don't skip meals just so you can binge when you go out to eat.

Poor decisions stem from the fact that you are starving and foods you typically would avoid become foods you give into. If you arrive hungry, most likely you will be tempted to fall off track. Not to mention, by the time you get to your destination, get seated, order and eat, it can take hours. That is a set up for failure.

Have some nutritiously dense food prior to you going out to eat. If you have dinner plans then don't skip lunch and that mid day snack so you can load up on chips and salsa because chances are you will over do it once you start.

2. Take a look at the menu prior to you getting to the restaurant.

You can find pretty much any menu of any restaurant online now. This serves you because now you can plan before hand. Check the menu online so you can plan your meal using healthier options. It is smart to show up at the restaurant well prepared and knowing what it is you are going to order. You can make a healthy choice almost anywhere. But the major key is you must know what to ask for and how to manipulate the menu options.

3. Don't be afraid to ask for food substitutions.

You need to be aware of your eating. There is a reason why the foods that you eat at a restaurant taste so good. They may tell you what comes with a meal but you aren't aware how it is prepared. For example, often an entree will not list “butter” or “cheese” in the description, but you can bet that most meals are doused with butter or dusted with cheese. Butter and cheese can easily add an additional few hundred calories to a meal! The oils that are another culprit. Peanut oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil and various others are used in your meals so they have a superb flavor and leave you begging for more.

Know what you are eating. Ask the server how the food is prepared and don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you need to ensure you are ordering your meal as you want it. Don’t assume the meal you order will be prepared exactly as the description states. Menus tend to give an overview of the meal but not offer the specifics that can easily prevent a meal from being healthy. It is okay for you to ask the server for your meal not to be dipped in butter prior to being prepared.

4. Make sure you get your veggies.

You can't go wrong with vegetables. Well unless they are drowned in butter. Vegetables at a restaurant tastes ten times better than those steamed vegetables you made at home last week. That is because restaurants drench their veggies in butter. So be careful when you are under the assumption that you are making a healthy choice. Salads are tricky as well. Some healthy salads can have more calories from fat than a cheeseburger! Ask for your cheese on the side, dressing on the side and be cautious of the amount of nuts that are on your salad. It is okay for you to modify your meals. Little things like dressing can defeat your purpose of making a good choice and double your calorie intake for that meal. Some great additions to salads that don't bring the unwanted fat calories include honey mustard, salsa, light italian, and various balsamic dressings.

5. When in doubt, choose grilled options.

Grilled options are a safer bet than fried. Anything that has the word “crunchy,” “fried” or “breaded” you want to cautious of. You would be surprised how many meals can be made “grilled with no butter or sauce.” But if you want the sauce then ask for it on the side for dipping. That way you can be in control of the consumption.

6. Order water.

It is fine if you want an adult beverage. That is your personal choice. But make sure to order a water as well. Water will help you stay hydrated and also help you keep full so you don't overeat. Restaurant meals typically have more sodium in them than a meal you will make at home because they want to boost that great flavor. If you stay hydrated you can combat the extra sodium in restaurant meals.

7. Get a to go box immediately..

The plates at restaurants are humongous. The food that comes out on them can feed a small village. You get full half way through and force yourself to eat the rest because you don't want to 'waste food'. That is a bad mindset to be in. Rather than setting yourself up for that, ask for a to go box and put half away as soon as the meal comes out. Out of sight, out of mind. You can eat the left overs for lunch the next day.

8. Share a dessert.

I know you want one and so does your partner. But that is cruising down weight gain island. I know it will taste so good going down but you will be kicking yourself tomorrow. Just air on the side of caution and choose one dessert that both of you can enjoy.

The more you are aware of how to navigate a menu, the easier eating out will be. Eating out doesn’t have to be so daunting. The more you eat out and learn to ask for what you want, you will see how accommodating most places can be. There is no reason why you can’t go out to eat with friends and family, while continuing to stay on track with your goals. I hope these tips help and prove how realistic it really can be.

Why Variety Is The Perfect Plan

In today's society driven by social media, filtered selfies, never ending marketing, and contradicting dogmatic beliefs it's no wonder people get lost in the world of nutrition in hope to look like the model from [fill in the blank with your favorite instagram account].

People everywhere are telling you they have found the perfect plan or cure all to get rid of stubborn belly fat. Paleo, vegan, ketogenic, as well as all the pharmaceuticals you're being advertised to buy... The list goes on and on.

I don't like to speak in absolutes. There are many factors, variables and exceptions to every rule. The fact of the matter is there is no plan or quick fix that works the the entire human population. Period. If someone is telling you this they're likely are trying to sell you something.

All this chaos started about half a century ago with the low or no fat diets based off anecdotal evidence. We've since come to realize these claims hold little merit. There is little evidence actually proving fats or cholesterol derived from our diets translate to body fat or cholesterol levels in our blood. In fact, we need fats for a ton of daily functions such as fuel our brain, create cell membranes, sex hormones, and more.

Then we came to the conclusion carbohydrates were the root of all evil. And though you may lose weight for a few weeks or months by cutting back, it can actually cause a ton of long term damage, especially for women.

This is when many people simply say the hell with it. I'll just eat as little calories as I can stand and I will lose weight and be healthier. Right? Not so fast, that causes a whole other host of problems.

The fact of the matter is the human body is very adaptive and can survive in some of the most extreme conditions but doesn't mean your body is healthy. Not sick and healthy are not interchangeable terms. Fitness and health is not black and white, it's a spectrum.

Do not risk your health in pursuit of the abs seen on the cover of the magazines. A lot of the times the models you see do a ton of harm to their bodies to reach that point and only look that way for a few days a year.

Next time you find yourself reaching for magic pills, powders, or potentially poisonous potions. Ask yourself a simple question, " will this make me healthier?" If you're even considering it, the answer is likely no. Aim for longevity by eating real, earth grown nutrient dense whole foods.

Having well balanced nutrition includes eating lean meats, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and fruit. Highly refined foods aren't bad but should be consumed in moderation.

Be careful with all the extremes you see today. Always air on the side of BALANCE.

What is the perfect plan? Variety.

Lose Fat Not Muscle

Losing weight can be very motivating. Every pound loss is closer to your goal right? But while you’re celebrating little victories on the scale, you might be losing more than just unwanted weight.

In order for you to have effective weight loss you have to consume a lower energy amount than total energy expenditure for a prolonged period of time. So the old adage of calories in versus calories out holds truth. As a result of this energy imbalance, your body can use multiple options for fuel. And you don't want one of those options to be muscle.

During normal weight loss, it’s generally expected that you lose fat and lean body mass in a ratio of about 3 to 1, meaning 25 percent of the loss is not from body fat, but from tissues like muscle. If you decide to be more aggressive with your weight-loss program, the amount of lean body mass loss can increase even more drastically.

You do not want this to happen.

Muscle is something you want to keep around. Muscle plays an important role in the regulation of resting energy expenditure. Which means the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism is when you aren't moving. This explains why you would be hungrier when you are following a resistance training program. The amount of calories you burn every day just resting is strongly correlated with the amount of lean body mass you have. Resting energy expenditure represents 60 to 70 percent of the calories you burn in a day so clearly the amount of muscle you have is important.

Muscle is also the body’s primary site of glucose uptake. Muscle stores carbohydrates for energy. This is important because it could help offset diseases like diabetes.

Muscle tissue acts as a fuel source and stores some fat and carbohydrates, but it’s mostly made up of proteins. Proteins are responsible for nearly every cellular task in the body. They function to form enzymes, hormones, and tissues. Protein is essential to life and, if needed, muscle can be broken down to be used in other processes.

How do you protect muscle during weight loss?

Exercise will help you keep muscle during weight loss, but what you eat and when you eat can make a large impact as well. One key component is making sure your protein consumption is adequate for your body. A general requirement for protein is in the range of 0.8 to 09 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. This comes out to be 70 to 90 grams of protein per day for a person that weighs 200 pounds. Those requirements are minimal intakes to sustain normal function for the body. Those who are looking to optimize their lean body mass during weight loss will be at a loss if those minimal requirements aren't increased. Those upper limits could be in the range of 1.2 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. This comes out to be about 109 to 200 grams of protein day for a person that weighs 200 pounds.

Research has shown that higher protein intakes of 25 to 35 percent of total daily calories from protein can offset the muscle loss and also promote greater reductions of fat and total body mass compared with normal protein intakes of 12 to 15 percent of total daily calories from protein.

We have established that an adequate protein consumption helps lean mass retention during weight loss. But sufficient protein consumption also gives the body a greater thermogenic effect upon consumption compared with carbohydrate and fat. Your body doesn't just burn calories during exercise, it does it during digestion too. The thermic effect of food is the caloric cost of digesting and processing different macronutrients in your diet. Protein also offers a greater satiety response. When you consume a suitable amount of protein from your diet you feel fuller longer. This helps you not to feel terribly hunger during the day and gives the potential for greater weight loss and to be more specific, fat loss.

For better quality weight loss you want to preserve your muscle. weight. Losing too fast and not getting enough protein daily can lead to substantial muscle loss. But through consuming enough protein, and eating multiple high quality protein meals per day you’ll more effectively lose fat, not muscle.

Fitness Doesn't Define You

You’re not your diet or nutritional plan.

You’re not your workout program.

You’re not the size of your bra, shirt or jeans.

You're not the number on the scale or your body fat percentage. Health and fitness habits should not define you.

The ultimate goal for any health and fitness goal should be to create the best version of yourself that you possibly can. Exercise and nutrition are the vehicles to get you there but they are just that. Tools that give you the ability to live a more awesome life with no restrictions. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look better. I’ve built my career off helping people lose fat, improve fitness, and gain muscle. Everyone wants to feel confident and like how they look. But how we eat and work out should not consume our lives and dictate our every move.

Fitness shouldn't stress you out.

Fitness shouldn't overwhelm you.

Fitness shouldn't make you feel bad about yourself.

Fitness shouldn't be always be about chasing a lower body fat percentage or new personal best on bench press.

Fitness shouldn't be about arriving at some state of “perfection”.

If you feel any of those things then it is time for a change. The outcome isn't pretty if you continue down that path. It can lead to disordered eating habits, and uncontrollable binge eating. You could experience exhaustion from long and grueling workouts, a terrible obsession over a number on the scale, and constant dissatisfaction with your body. This is not a good road to travel down.

Your happiness shouldn't be predicated on you reaching your health and fitness goals.

Fitness should enrich your life. It makes your life better. Improving your fitness should build you up and help you to reduce your stress. It should make you appreciate your body for how it looks, but also the amazing things it’s capable of doing. Think about something for me. When's the last time you stopped to appreciate that you are better today than you were yesterday? Or the last time you stopped to think the amazing things your body can do instead of trying to change how it looks?

It is easy to look at what you lack. Make a different choice. Things could always be worse. If you have the ability to exercise in order to improve your lifestyle then you are fortunate. So to place your happiness based on the number on the scale is disastrous. 

When your health and fitness becomes a lifestyle it will no longer consume you. There is a learning curve because you have to gain all the skills necessary to make that transition but it will happen if you are consistent.

This won’t resonate with everyone, and I don’t expect it to. To some working out and eating well is only about, and will only ever be about looking good. That’s fine and completely understandable. But as you dig deeper in to this lifestyle you will notice that there is great carryover from your fitness routine that will impact everything you choose to do in this life. You will see that your relationships improve, your financial discipline sharpens, and you will start to have revamped look on life. A healthy lifestyle is much bigger than most give it credit for.

Gary Keller states in his book The ONE Thing, “Your body is an amazing machine, but it doesn’t come with a warranty, you can’t trade it in, and repairs can be costly. It’s important to manage your energy so you can do what you must do, achieve what you want to achieve, and live the life you want to live.

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Have you ever felt like making a change was hard unless you were forced to make it. It seems the more we need to make a significant change, the harder it is to get going on it may be. 

Striving to do things differently is energizing and difficult at the same time.  An idea for a fresh start occurs to us and we revel in excitement at first. The commitment to it can even feel good too. But then comes the difficulty of following through. And this is where the rubber hits the road. Quitting a smoking habit is going to be hard. But improving your lifestyle so you can see your kids grow old is something that you are passionate about. But that won't be enough. It's a lifelong commitment and you have to have all your ducks in a row. In order for you to be successful at quitting you have to manage stress a different way, and approach your day to day with some flexibility. Because initial excitement will wear off. 

Some people do not like to make health and fitness goals because it makes them have to step outside of their comfort zone. It's easier to stay the same. The effort to lose weight, change a unhealthy addiction, or be discipline about going to the gym can be challenging. 

What makes us change then?

It turns out that some people make changes when they have to, not when they want to. Of course this isn't always true. But making the uncomfortable decisions on a daily basis to bring about change can be a daunting task. It’s just that the changes we most desire are hard, involving emotional responses that can be tricky to identify and challenging to unseat. We often need urgency to bring about change. For example, let's say you had a doctors appointment to get blood work done. The results came back showing that you now have Type II Diabetes. Your doctor informs you of all the health implications that come along with the illness and you are now scared straight. You immediately go home and start to examine what you haven’t wanted to see.  You realize all the mindless snacking you partake in, the liters of soda you consume daily, and the unhealthy choices you make on a consistent basis. You immediately start to put forth the effort to bring about change. A crisis often supplies the right kind of push and readiness. Necessity is a more powerful motivator than preference, willpower, or even a loved one’s begging. That is a sad truth. 

My father would always tell me to do things that make me uncomfortable until they become easy or comfortable to do. Some people may have the capacity to force themselves over the hump of deep hesitancy, but most of us take the path of least resistance day by day.

Everyone has the capacity to become mentally stronger.  And everyone has room for improvement. Changing the way you think, feel, and behave isn't an easy task. It takes dedication and commitment.

Just like going to the gym a few times won't make you physically strong, developing your mental muscle is also a lifelong process. Mental strength takes years to build and a lifetime to maintain.

Not everyone wants to improve their lives. And that's OK. Some people are afraid of the hard work, and others doubt their ability to create positive change. But if you want to challenge yourself to become the best you can, increasing your mental muscle will take you to the next level. I've seen it early in my career of 1 on 1 personal training, through virtual coaching with my clients through WebFit, and in my own life.

Your mind can be your biggest asset or your worst enemy. When you learn how to train it well, you can accomplish incredible feats. But it starts with doing what is hard on a regular basis. 

Philosopher William James said, “Do at least two things every day that you don’t want to do, for the very reason that you don’t want to do them.” 

Practice being uncomfortable. 

The Importance of Vitamin D

I always see vitamin D supplements being advertised but not enough quality information being put out about the benefits of it. 

It’s well known that vitamin D (along with calcium) is important for bone health for both adults and kids. A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasized the importance of kids getting enough calcium and vitamin D rich foods. Foods that have a rich source of vitamin D include milk, eggs, fish, vegetables, and whole grain cereal. Receiving vitamin D from a nutritious diet is key to establish a foundation for healthy bone development and maintenance.

There's a lot more to Vitamin D than meets the eye. It serves a variety of functions in the body. Unfortunately, most of us don't get enough vitamin D on a daily basis, with a reported one billion people worldwide having a deficiency.

Here are three benefits of having optimal vitamin D levels in your body:

1. Vitamin D supports your skeletal system.

When you think of strong bones, calcium often comes to mind. Calcium is the major player when it comes to bone health and increasing bone mineral density, but don't overlook the importance of vitamin D.

Previous research has shown that vitamin D is a strong simulator of calcium deposition in bones, making them stronger and healthier. If you're not getting enough vitamin D, your body begins to slow or stop depositing calcium into bones, eventually drawing calcium out from your bones back into the bloodstream. Over time, this constant cycle of deposit and withdrawal will make your bones weak and at high risk for fractures as you age. 

2. Vitamin D helps you recover faster after exercise. 

The day after a good workout can make sitting a little difficult or washing your hair a challenge. Feelings of soreness, stiffness, and fatigue will affect performing the days following too. Vitamin D definitely helps this situation. Studies show that having adequate levels of vitamin D levels helps recovery after exercise. 

Additionally, vitamin D deficiency is relatively common in athletes and is associated with muscle weakness and atrophy, specifically Type 2 muscle fiber atrophy. Skipping out on this vitamin is just as bad as skipping out on leg day.

3. Vitamin D aids in keeping your arteries healthy. 

Arterial health effects heart health along with other factors such as diet, weight, and stress. Scientific literature supports the link between vitamin D inadequacy and poor arterial health.

One of the reasons may be that vitamin D is necessary for blood vessels to maintain their normal function and flexibility. Arteries are blood vessels that act like highways in our bodies, delivering oxygen and vital nutrients to various organs. Aging as well as lifestyle and dietary factors can cause arteries to stiffen, lose their flexibility, and even harden. This could lead to an increase risk of  cardiovascular disease.

A simple way to help avoid this is by getting enough vitamin D. 

When looking for a vitamin D supplement, choose the D3 form. Gel caps are a great option. Liquids are good too. How much you take depends on many factors. How much sunlight you get, ethnicity, where you live and the type of clothing you wear. If you really want to dial it in, get your levels tested. 

How much of this overlooked vitamin should you be getting a day? Currently, the Institute of Medicine Food and Nutrition Board is the governing body that sets guidelines for intakes of all kinds of nutrients, including vitamin and minerals. The recommended daily allowance (or RDA) for vitamin D is currently 600 IU per day for men and women between the ages of 9 and 70.

However, it is likely that this value is an underestimation. The currently established upper intake level is 4,000 IU per day, but research has reported no adverse health effects to taking 6,000 IU per day.

Keep in mind that the RDA value is primarily based off of outcomes centered around bone health, without taking all of the other beneficial things that vitamin D does into account. The take home point is that you should be much more worried about getting too little vitamin D than too much.

Are You Getting Enough Fiber?

Did you know fiber is also known as roughage? Fiber is the indigestible part of plant foods that travel through our digestive system. Fiber absorbs water along the way and helps to ease bowel movements.

Fiber is a very important conversation that I have with clients all the time. Do you get enough fiber? The odds are pretty good that you don’t get the recommended daily amount. Studies show that only five percent of adults consume adequate dietary fiber. The Institute of Medicine recommends at least 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men every day.

The majority of us are missing out on the health benefits from fiber including support for heart health, digestive health, and weight management.

Many nutritionally dense foods have much less fiber than you think. For example, an apple has about 3 grams and a slice of whole grain bread contains about 2 grams. So you can see that it takes some planning to make sure that your daily fiber content needs are met.

Don't try to fix your fiber needs in a day. Gradually improve. Any time you make a major change to your diet your body will need some time to adjust. Increasing fiber is best done in small increments because drastic change can lead to gastrointestinal upset. Attempting to improve it too fast can cause digestive upsets such as intestinal gas, cramping, or diarrhea. One approach may be to add one serving of fiber-rich foods every day for a week. See how your body feels and maybe increase to two servings the next week. You could repeat that as long as you listen to your body until you reached the desired fiber content level. Your best choice is a slow, gradual increase over time to help your system adapt and avoid any uncomfortable symptoms.

A key component to increasing fiber content is to also increase water as well.

Hydration levels and digestive comfort are closely related. The large intestine plays an important role in maintaining the body’s water balance so monitoring water becomes even more important. On a day when you don’t drink as much water as your body needs, the large intestine will compensate by absorbing more water than usual from the materials entering the large intestine. The end result can often leading to constipation. One of the benefits of getting an adequate amount of dietary fiber is to increase both the volume and moisture content of the material in the large intestine. This is beneficial because it supports the body’s ability to eliminate waste and promote regularity. However, increasing dietary fiber can only support regularity if you are well hydrated.

Exploring many different sources of dietary fiber is a major key.

There are a many different types of dietary fiber and each type has unique benefits. Some types of fiber can dissolve and thicken when mixed with water. This is a property that helps you to feel satisfied for a longer period of time after a meal. Oats, for example, are a a type of fiber that helps keep your appetite in check and can have benefits for heart health. Other types of fiber are called prebiotics and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the large intestine. You can maximize the benefits for your body by choosing a variety of fiber-rich foods.

Almost everyone can help their bodies by getting more fiber. Fiber rich foods support both healthy intestinal function and overall health in many ways. By keeping the tips in mind that I laid out, you can receive maximum benefits from getting the right amount of fiber for your body every day.

You Need To Take A Diet Break

Dieting is when you lower calories to create an energy deficit so you can lose unwanted body weight. This creates an imbalance. It disrupts homeostasis. Remaining in a state of imbalance for prolonged periods of time is not healthy. If you have more than 15 pounds to lose and you try to do it all in one ultra marathon stretch, you risk failure, injury, and weight rebound. 

Dieting is mentally stressful in part because of the body’s physiological response to caloric restriction. On the surface eating less doesn't seem that harmful. Have you ever wondered what happens to your body during calorie restriction? In an attempt to keep you from taking body fat, your body will make you feel tired, hungry, and lethargic. This is so you burn less calories through the day and conserve energy. That feeling will make pushing through your daily workouts harder and harder. When your calories are low you can feel like you are missing out on fun foods and experiences. It can wear on you mentally and you can begin to feel deprived and depressed. Hunger and fatigue are  normal when calories are restricted but it should only be a temporary state. 

Weight loss is best done in moderate spurts spread out with diet breaks in between. After about 3 to 4 months of dieting, the amount of calorie restriction needed to continue losing weight becomes brutal. You begin to risk injury from working out with increasing mental and physical fatigue. The body’s protective mechanisms are in full force to make more weight loss harder and harder. You need a break to allow your body to recover from this stress, ramp metabolism back up, and bring hormones back into balance. 

Most people think the journey is over once they hit there goal weight from being in a caloric restriction. But the truth is, the journey just began. To make fat loss a permanent change, a good maintenance phase is important.The number one goal during a diet break is to improve your set point. Data suggests that your body establishes a set point weight. This means that your body has a weight that it becomes accustomed to and likes to maintain. The good news is that this set point can be changed. The bad news is that it takes time and care to move this point. 

The changing of the set point actually occurs during the maintenance phase. You need to give your body some time to grieve over the lost fat and accept its new weight. The amount of time this takes varies from person to person. Over this period the goal is to slowly increase food intake. This will enable your metabolism to ramp back up, mental and physical fatigue to dissipate, and all your body to get comfortable t at your lighter weight. During this time you will feel less hungry and fatigued. By the end of a good maintenance you should be in that healthy state of balance where you enjoy good food, training hard and not excessively worried about what the scale says.

Another benefit for having this maintenance phase is you have time to build up your caloric ceiling. Through your efforts in your workouts and adding calories back in your metabolism will be in a healthier state. Therefore if you have to go back into a caloric restriction to lose more body fat you will not have to cut as many calories to lose weight. 

Dieting is not a lifestyle. It is a temporary state of imbalance. It works best that way. Make sure you spend as much time in the maintenance phases as you do in the dieting phases. 

4 Benefits Of Having A Pet

The day Tiffany told me that she wanted a dog I was a little apprehensive. I hadn't had a dog since childhood so I wasn't sure I had what it took to be a good dog owner. But I wanted to be supportive and I was willing to study, learn and try my best to embrace the opportunity. I knew I had the raw ingredients to provide a good home for any pet. Patience, a kind heart, and the mindset to set proper rules, boundaries and limitations. We did our research and found the perfect match for our family. We decided on a lilac Miniature Chinese Shar-Pei. We traveled to Bonaparte, IA and picked up Mr. Sylas who was just a little over 8 weeks old. He rode home in my lap and from that day forward I knew everything was going to be okay. 

I was surprised that this creature was capable of so much empathy and love. It was like he could read the thoughts of me and Tiffany and wanted us to know we were loved in the midst of whatever is going on.

He continues to be a supportive presence in my life and helps balance Tiffany's stress levels. 

A substantial amount of evidence shows that pets improve our mental health and well-being. I've read great stories of pets improving the lives of many almost on a daily basis. 

Here are 3 ways pets improve our health that can be backed up with significant research. 

1. Pets can alter behavior. 
I can spend my entire day sometimes talking to clients about the ups and downs of the healthy lifestyle journey. You would think all my conversations would be sunshine and rainbows. But it isn't. Anytime someone is trying to change their lifestyle things can be dark sometimes. But when my Sylas walks up to me and pats at me for some attention things suddenly start to shift. So I kneel down and pet him. He licks my face, and I smile. He altered my behavior. I am no longer thinking about anything else but being in that moment with him. We calm down when we are with our pets. We slow our breath, our speech, and our minds. Pets take us out of our heads and into another reality. There reality is one that only involves food, water, affection, and maybe an animal butt. It’s tough to sit in negative feelings when your dog is breathing in your face.

2. Pets need routine and consistency.
Your healthy lifestyle journey is about establishing a solid routine and maintaining consistency over time. Pets love routine. Taking care of a pet brings structure to our day. Sylas wakes up at the same time everyday. Sleeping until the sun comes up is no longer a possibility unless I want to spend an hour cleaning up the next day. Staying out for long periods takes proper planning and some forethought. For you to be successful at living a healthy lifestyle requires the same qualities. 

3. Pets offer a soothing presence and unconditional love. 
Studies show that watching fish lowers blood pressure and muscle tension in people about to undergo oral surgery. Other research shows that pet owners have lower blood pressure and heart rate both before and while performing stressful mental tasks. Individuals recovering from heart attacks recover faster and survive longer when there is a pet at home. The mere presence of a pet is beneficial.

As far as we know, pets are without opinions, critiques, and judgement. Even if you smell like you just got home from the gym, they will snuggle up next to you. And I know for a fact I can spill the beans to Sylas about what I am feeling and divulge my innermost thoughts and not be judged.

4. Pets promote touch.
The healing power of touch is irrefutable. Research shows a 45 minute massage can decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol and optimize your immune system by building white blood cells. Hugging floods our bodies with oxytocin, a hormone that reduces stress, and lowers blood pressure and heart rates. And, according to a University of Virginia study, holding hands can reduce the stress-related activity in the hypothalamus region of the brain, part of our emotional center. The touch can actually stop certain regions of the brain from responding to threat clues. It’s not surprising, then, that stroking a dog or cat can lower blood pressure and heart rate and boost levels of serotonin and dopamine.

There are no pitfalls to owning a pet. Just extreme commitment, love and sacrifice. You could say the same about living a healthy lifestyle. 

What Is A Metabolic Conditioning Workout?

Metabolic conditioning is a term that is increasingly thrown around more and more but what does it even mean? Metabolic conditioning is not new but is increasing in it's popularity. It is the ability to work at a high level of intensity for a prolonged period of time. It involves various types of either weight training, and or cardiovascular exercise.  This does not mean that any specific muscle is working at 100%, but that the body as a whole is working at its highest intensity for that extended period of time. The key concept is that the you move from exercise to exercise with minimal rest while maintaining a specific rep scheme and quality of movement.

One of the fun parts of metabolic conditioning is there is no right or wrong way to structure it. 

Here is an example of a great metabolic conditioning workout for a beginner:
5 Push-ups
10 Couch Squats
10 Jumping Jacks
30 second Plank

Here is an example of a great metabolic conditioning workout for anyone who has been training for 6 months to 2 years: 
5 Push-ups
10 Air Squats
15 Sit-ups
Run/jog/walk 100m

Here is an example of a great metabolic conditioning workout for an advanced individual: 
15 Minute AMRAP - As many rounds/reps as possible
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 Air Squats
Run 200 meters

So here you would complete all five pull-ups prescribed before moving to the push-ups, all ten push-ups before the squats so on and so forth. When you finish a cycle you immediately start back at the beginning of the list until the time runs out. It is to be completed at a high level of intensity but that is relative only to you current level of fitness. I may struggle to finish three rounds and the person next to me may finish five. The point is to be continuously be moving and continue doing so even as your heart rate rises.

The benefits of metabolic conditioning are undeniable. It burns a ton of calories in a short amount of time due to it's intensity. Another reason for these workouts is it increases EPOC, or excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption. After high intensity workouts, the body's metabolism is elevated as it is trying to return to homeostasis (balance). During this time the body burns additional calories. The research varies from two hours to 24 hours after your workout and depends on its intensity and duration. 

This type of training is much more efficient, achieving the effectiveness of a workout done at a lower steady state heart rate in a lot less time. 

You are working multiple energy systems at one time. Some workouts can even improve aerobic capacity and anaerobic capacity simultaneously. 

Metabolic conditioning workouts are great if you need to squeeze a workout in a short window of time because they can be done anywhere. You can design them solely of what you have available. These workouts allow you to get creative with both your sequence and paring of movements, number of reps, and times in which you will complete them. 

Try one of the workouts above and let us know how it goes.

Do You Need Protein Supplements

Cows are ruminants, and continuous grazers. Ruminants are mammals that are able to get nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion. Cows have a four compartment stomach and scientist define them by saying they have a miraculous gut.

On average, high quality milk is 27 percent protein, 37 percent lactose (milk sugar), and 30 percent fat.  The remaining 6 percent is calcium, and other minerals.

The high percentage of lactose has given some people digestive issues for a long time. Up to 30 percent of adults have varying degrees of allergic responses to lactose. This is because lactase, its digesting enzyme in the gut, declines during childhood.  

There at least 14 different proteins in milk split into two groups called casein proteins and whey proteins.

Casein represents about 80 percent of milk protein. Casein has poor results in producing lean mass in athletes, and in hospital studies of muscle loss. But it definitely has its use in some cases.

Whey represents about 20 percent of milk protein. Whey has superior results to any other protein, including eggs, meats, fish, soy, nut, pea, rice, and other plant proteins, in producing lean mass in athletes, and muscle in hospital studies. That is not to say that you should only consume whey protein if you want to gain lean muscle.

To legally call a product whey protein concentrate there has to be a lot of things at play. I won't bore you with the statistics but you will see a lot of cheap whey for sale in bulk stores and discount markets. If the individual selling the product does not say that the content of their product is between 30-90% whey protein then leave it on the shelf. The protein content should be on the label. Just because it says ‘Whey Protein Concentrate’ doesn’t mean it is something you should be consuming. They could be using low grade protein and that could be giving you the digestive issues. Near the top end of the whey scale (70 to 89 percent protein), only 10 to 25 percent of the mix is fat and lactose. That’s where you want your whey to be.

Whey protein concentrate can be further extracted to become whey protein isolate. The higher price of whey isolate can be money wasted in some cases as well.  High end concentrates and isolates are fast proteins. This means they absorb fast when compared to meat or other sources of protein. Isolates can contain less lactose but the variance is pretty small. Isolates and hydrolysates go through a heavier refining process which can benefit those who need more protein in their regimen but have a hard time digesting it.

Half the dry weight of your body is protein. The quality of your proteins determines both the quality and the quantity your individual DNA. Quality of the proteins in milk depends on the nutrition of the cows and the method of protein extraction.

So make sure you are not going cheap when it comes to protein supplementation. If you are going to put it into your body then make sure you are doing the research and asking the right questions prior to consumption.

Have You Reach Your Muscle Building Potential?

Have you ever seen someone advertise a 12 week muscle building program? I have no issue with these programs as long as trainers are honest about them. I love that it can help a person get started toward building lean muscle. But I dislike it when they make it seem like you are going to reach muscle building destination at the end of the 12 weeks.

You are never done!

If a trainer has told you that you can no longer gain muscle or that you can't make any more positive changes to your physique then they are misleading you. You can not max out your genetic potential.

Don’t get me wrong. There are upper limits to how much muscle you can build. There also limits to muscular strength and aerobic endurance. But I am sure you probably will never reach them. This phenomenon is known as the "genetic ceiling." How do you know if you’ve reached your genetic ceiling?

You don't. In fact, you can’t and never will.

How do you know when it is time to change things up?

You can gather enough data to tell if your training regimen is producing positive changes in your physique. This means that you need to keep notes on your workouts if you don't have a trainer doing it for you. Take measurements, write down your sets and reps so you can see if you are getting stronger over time. If you're not growing from your present routine then you could change a few variables and possibly see results. The number of possible ways to vary program design is virtually unlimited. Unless you try each and every alternative, there’s no way to know if another approach might be the ticket to further gains.

You have to put a lid on some of the false information you come across because most of it has an angle. They are trying to sell a supplement, a product, or some high dollar personal training fees.

Understand that the reason your muscles adapt to an exercise stimulus is a function of survival. Let me repeat that. Your muscles adapt because it is trying to maintain balance. Your body doesn’t realize the reason you hit the gym is to look jacked in a tank-top. That is a ridiculous thing to think. It senses a high degree of physical stress that it believes is a threat to survival. The response that your body takes is to coordinate a series of intracellular events to strengthen the muscles and supporting tissues so that they are better prepared the next time you lift. It could care less what you look like in a V-Neck T-shirt or bathing suit.

You stop making gains or I guess some people call it a plateau because the more you continue to provide similar stimuli, the less of a need for future adaptation. Further growth can only occur by subjecting your muscles to a different stimulus. This is why I love training. Because it forces you to find the comfort in the uncomfortable. 

A “ceiling” may exist in theory. But you never actually realize your full genetic potential. There is always the ability to further increase muscle mass. Muscular gains can be made even at the most advanced levels. It will just be at a slower pace than when you first started training.

Now the closer you get to your individual ceiling, the more essential it is to take a scientific approach to training and nutrition. From a training standpoint, this entails precise manipulation of resistance exercise variables. You may have to change how you load the muscle, and the types of loads you use in given rep ranges. I've covered this in depth in a previous blog post. 

Truth is, you’re only limited by your determination and base of knowledge.

If someone tells you that you’re done adding muscle, pay them no attention. It’s a self-limiting attitude that will keep you from achieving your full genetic potential.