I do not get paid by anyone to recommend supplements. I am a person who lives in the real world. Power Eating requires many meals throughout the day and I sometimes don’t have the ability to eat all my meals. When this occurs, I turn to Lee Labrada’s Meal Replacement Bars and Shakes. They aren’t magic as so many supplement companies promise, but they are the best products available when you just can’t get to a good meal.

The true reason I use these supplements is trust. According to Lee Labrada’s website: Every shipment of LABRADA® products are lab tested by an independent third party lab for purity and potency before they earn Lee Labrada’s personal Quality Seal Guarantee: “If it’s on the label, it’s in the product.” You can trust what you see on the label. With LABRADA®, you have the peace of mind that you are getting what you paid for! That’s why LABRADA is known as “The Most Trusted Name in Sports Nutrition.”

I respect a person who goes above and beyond other supplement companies.

Luckily, http://www.bodybuilding.com usually has the best price on these products. I am going to show you the products I have used and where to get them. Click on the names of the products to go to bodybuilding.com’s website if you want to order it.

Rockin’ Roll Bars

They taste like Paydays, but you get a high amount of protein, very low sugar, and a decent amount of fiber. This is a favorite for most of my clients.

Sweet and Salty Granola Bars

The closest thing that tastes like a granola bar I have found. It tastes sweet and a little salty. They’re a little high in sugar, but have good quality protein to make up for it.

Gold Bars

Gold Bars pack 30 grams of protein in one bar and it comes in three flavors: Almond Fudge, Cookie Twist, and Caramel Peanut. They have a pretty good taste and they really fill you up.

Instant Breakfast Shake

As Americans, we are usually too busy to make a full breakfast. Lee thought of that and made a shake that not only taste like your favorite breakfast meals, it actually IS made from real food. The Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal has real oatmeal in it. It is a great first meal of the day.

Lean Body Shakes

The BEST protein shake available. It comes in nice packets for individual servings with vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate peanut butter.

So, if you ever want to know what I use, here it is.

Be Better,

Dexter

Best for Fitness?

I was recently taken aback by a client’s statement. While discussing the option of reopening a permanent location, she informed me that when people go into a fitness studio, they have a minimum expectation of exercise equipment. However, as fitness knowledge has advanced we have learned that stationary equipment is not only unnecessary but can be a hindrance.

In the 1970s, Nautilus came out with their first exercise line of machinery. The intention was to use each piece of equipment for a specific type of training called HIT (High Intensity Training). The cams on the machine allowed bodybuilders to hold the static position safely. So, an example of HIT training using Nautilus equipment is the leg extension. You can extend the leg while sitting and hold that position statically for a period of time. Also, Nautilus figured out that they could make a profit by selling a whole line of equipment to gyms. This would, theoretically, allow clients who go to the gym exercise “safely” without the fear of dropping weights or getting injured.

The pinnacle of success for exercise machines occurred from the 1980s thru the 1990s. Every gym had to have at least one line of equipment in order to be considered a proper gym. However, around 2000, fitness experts began to come out and criticize the sole use of exercise machines. They had three main concerns: active injury, passive injury, and limited ability.

Since the machines are “stuck” using the same exact motion every time there is an increased chance for overuse injuries. Imagine a biceps curl machine moving up and down only. This could create an injury similar to tennis elbow since the tennis player must perfect the same exact stroke every time.

Because the person must sit in order to use the machine, the core muscles of the body are not activated (at least not very much!). The best example is the upright, seated chest press machine. The person pushes the weight in front of their chest while having a fairly relaxed core. The sitting position deactivates the hip flexors (the muscles in the front of the hips) and abdominal muscles. If the person is rounding their back, this can increase the chance for injury as well.

Life is full of movement and muscle isolation alone is not functional. Functional training is simply exercising in a way the body was meant to move, not force your body into unnatural positions. Machines can only work a few body parts at a time. When a person uses more functional equipment like dumbbells, bands, kettle-bells, etc. they are able to imitate real life movements and work on the kinetic chain of movement.

You can visualize the kinetic chain this way: imagine you want to lift a box and put it on a shelf above you. This requires you to reach above your head. You pick up the item from the floor and your legs and core are activated in order for you to lift. As you move to stand upright, muscle activation changes from your legs and core to your upper body and arms. When you begin to place the item over your head, the shoulder, arm, and core muscles are activated in order to allow you to complete your lift. This movement simply cannot be replicated with traditional resistance machines.

The observation of the obvious limitations in resistance machines has created a paradigm shift in the way we think of health and fitness. A return to “old school” techniques arose and post-modern functional training emerged. The beautiful thing about functional training is that you need very little equipment in order to achieve outstanding results. This equipment can be considered “low technology” because they are simple pieces of equipment, very similar to what the Greeks and Spartans might have used when preparing for battle or the Olympic games. Dumbbells, tires, jump ropes, stability balls, rubber tubing or ropes are really all a person needs to get into the best shape of their life! Plus, they are all easily stored or transported.

The paradigm shift takes the emphasis away from the machines and puts it towards the knowledge of functional movement. However, returning to my concerned client, since the masses have been exposed to the “machine era” of fitness they have been conditioned to think that only the machine will give them the desired result. I am here to tell you it is not the machine that will give you the desired result. All you need is simply the correct knowledge to transform your body and health! If you only have some free weights that challenge your body, you have the ability to do great things.

Be Better,

Dexter