I enjoy cooking and recommend others learn to cook as well, particularly when going through a body transformation program.  For one thing, cooking gives you power because you are in control of what you put into your body which is very helpful for body transformation.  When you depend on others to cook for you, you are at the mercy of what they cook which may or may not be in line with what your goals are.

“But my mommy/wife/whoever doesn’t cook that so I can’t lose weight.”

Yes, I hear that excuse, and of the excuses I hear, this one probably annoys me the most because it is whining defers responsibility.  Well, maybe the one of “but I can’t give up xyz.”

Recently I picked up The Bobby Flay Fit book (which I do recommend).  The way I see it, I want my family to eat well and having good tasting healthful recipes can pay dividends long term.  Pick a recipe, practice it with the intent of mastering it, eventually you’ll have a delicious healthful dish that your daughter turns down in favor of chicken nuggets that are shaped like dinosaurs.

Of the recipes I’ve made, 2 out of 3 were successes.  The rest have a lot of ingredients that I didn’t have readily available.  So I guess the recipes are good, but some of the fitness advice I take a bit of issue with.

Here is a piece of advice I take issue with;

Once you’ve hit a groove, mix things up. Not only can doing the same thing day in and day out get boring, but your body needs to be challenged in new ways or it can become used to a workout. There’s no better feeling than being sore from a new workout and knowing you’re flexing new muscles.

Uhm, no. Admittedly, this is an opinion of mine but there is no better feeling than actually hitting a new personal record and accomplishing a goal. That’s the part that lets you know that what you are doing is actually working, not being sore.

And the way you do that is you fluctuate the intensity (percentage of your max weight), your sets and your reps…not your exercise selection. Do something similar, but not the same. There are many different ways to do this.

You probably won’t be sore, but that’s not a bad thing because soreness is not an indicator of progress.  It’s just soreness.  Progress is in actually getting closer to your goal, and it’s measurable.

Second, and this part is fact, you won’t be flexing “new muscles”.  You already have all the muscles you’ll ever have and in fact already have muscles capable of lifting a car.  They just don’t know it yet.  Gaining muscle is actually developing muscle fibers that are already there and you can train them faster but doing it the smart way.

If you need help with this and you happen to be anywhere near Boonton Township, give my personal training one week trial membership a go. We will know quickly whether or not we are a good fit to work together.  Text me at 973 476 5328.

Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.