Reasons for Doing Movemeber- Get Fit Over 40 Video Requests

This Video Request is another one from Chris who seems to have a bit of an interest in facial hair... That's OK,we all have that one thing :)

Here is Chris's original email request:

"Hey Mike,

I have another questions for you:

What is your main motivation and drive to do a charity event like Movember each year?

Do you like doing Movember? and having a mustache?

What do other people think about you doing movember?

Thanks,
Chris."

If you have a Video Request question you would like to ask me, I will do my best to give you an answers, just send me an email using this link...

Watch my YouTube video below for my answer to Chris's question:

Build Wide Shoulders - Muscle Target Zones

Another new video series I am starting that will be named "Muscle Target Zones". These fitness videos will focus on individual muscle groups and I would consider them to be more advanced videos, although people doing basic workouts that want to target a weak or problem area can also benefit from these video.

In this first Muscle Target Zones video, I'm featuring Shoulders, for me shoulders have always been an area that I need to do extra work as I do not naturally have broad shoulders. To offset my shoulder deficiencies I make sure to do a few more exercises and a few more sets. In this video I show you some of my favorite shoulder exercises that have helped me to overcome my naturally narrower frame.

Some of the exercises I show in this Muscle Target Zones video are:

• How to properly warm up your shoulders and prevent and correct shoulder injuries.
• Shoulder Press using a straight bar and dumbbells.
• Shoulder Raises or "flies" in the rear, side and forward positions.
• Upright Rows using a pulley system and also dumbbells.
• Shoulder Shrugs using dumbbells.

Watch my Targeted Shoulder YouTube Workout Video:

April 2014 Update Video - Gained 16 Pounds - Time to Lose the Fat

Back in early January I made a video where I talked about my 2014 New Years goal to gain some more muscle. I even did some "before" posing photos so I would have something to compare to once I had put the muscle on.

Up until now I have never tried to see how much muscle I could put on, I have been more into keeping leaner and not so worried about being bulky, not that I want to be bulky now but a bit more muscle would be kind of nice. In the past I have been keeping my calories low and mixing together cardio with some weight training which is a great way to maintain weight and even build some strength over time, but it is a very slow and round about way to actually gaining serious muscle.

My new approach for the "muscle bulk" was to eat a bit more than I needed, but not too much as I didn't want to get fat! I also cut down my cardio by limiting my CrossFit workouts to 2-3 days per week and I increased my weight training days to 3-4 days per week. My weight training was geared towards very intense workouts with a lot of workload to really trigger muscle growth.

So here we are now, about three month later and so I thought it was time to show you the results of all this very hard work and I have to say I am very pleased. I started out at 182 pounds (8% body fat) and I am currently right around 198 pounds (10.5% body fat), I was even up to 204 pounds at one point but cut the food back just a bit as I was feeling a bit too fat at that weight.

Now it's time to get back down to a leaner body weight but not lose all the muscle I worked so hard to gain, I plan to do this by limiting my calories to around 2500 per day. I currently burn anywhere from 3000-3500 calories per day so I should lose at least 1 pound per week if not a bit more. I will add in one Intermittent Fast day per week that should balance off a planned cheat day I will allow myself each week so I can limit my food cravings.

This weight cut of around 8-10 pounds should take me around 2 months and if all goes well I may even put on a pound or two of additional muscle.

So stay posted for my update in early June when I should be the leanest and most muscular I have even been :)

Enjoy the rest of my Before and After photos followed by my YouTube Video...

Back to the Basics - Importance of the 80% Diet and 20% Fitness Rule

In this Back to the Basics YouTube Video I talk about the importance of diet over fitness, obviously both are important to your overall health but you simply can not exercise enough to overcome bad eating habits! I would go so far as to say if you could only do one and not the other than start with your diet first and get that under control because you will get the quickest and best results from eating healthy.

It's kind of like having a high performance race car and putting the worst gas you can find in it, that car will run like crap. Take an average car and put top end gas in it and it will run like a champ all day long.

People need to stop making excuses about why they can not eat healthy or find time for exercise, I think most people could easily give up one PVR'd TV show a day and do a quick workout for their improved health. When it comes to the garbage food we all think is so tasty, get off it for a few weeks and you will find that lard and sugar filled snack you used to think was so yummy won't taste as good as you remember. Your body knows what is good for it, you just need to help it remember by jogging it's memory.

You have two choices, keep doing what you're doing which is thinking about what you should be doing, or you can stopping thinking about it and do something about it! You don't have to start big, start small and take baby steps, each day take bigger and bigger steps till soon you are running and never looking back!

Checkout these two videos that will help you with some of the first steps it takes to change and improve your life! 

• The Most Important Workout Technique You'll Ever Learn
  
  
• Back to the Basics - Body Weight Only Full Body Workout

What is My Optimal Body Look or Physique Goals - Get Fit Over 40 Video Requests

Another Video Request for you, hey, if you ask the questions I will do my best to give you the answers, just send me an email using this link...

This Video Request comes from Devon and he asks me the question - What is My Optimal Body Look or Physique Goals. We have all looked at other people and perhaps wished we had their arms or legs or abs or shoulders or maybe even their entire body ;) And this motivates us to make goals to achieve perhaps similar results with out own bodies.

Anyways, here is Devon's original Question:

"Hey Mike,

 My name is Deven Wagner and I wanted to get your personal opinion on physique. I know when I was younger and training I always had a goal in my mind of how I wanted to look as far as proportions and overall mass. At first I would look at other peoples physiques and say "that's how I want to look", but then instead of imagining my head on their body so to speak, I started imagining how good my own body could look. Did you ever have a specific way you wanted your body to look when you were younger? Do you feel you achieved this goal?

Thanks,
Deven"

Watch my YouTube video below for my answer to Devon's question: