Want to Stay Overweight? Do this!

So, you're tired of trying to lose weight. You realize you'll never look like Brooklyn Decker or that dude from Thor. Plus, working out and eating right are just to difficult. Exercising makes you tired. Sometimes, you even feel like throwing up after. You feel like you should be able to reward yourself with ice cream after your many accomplishments. You are who you are and people should just accept you.

Well, I'm here to help. Below are some tips to help you stay overweight.

First, make sure the most exercise you get is getting on and off the couch. If you have an older couch, getting off may be to difficult, so make sure you ask for some assistance. Plus, while you're on the coach you can watch the newest season of "Big Brother."

Getting to the gym and scheduling time to workout is so hard. Your day is probably already full of things like eating, sleeping, watching tv, playing on the internet, and reading your "friends" Facebook updates. You need to have your priorities. Exercise or taking a nap. If you want to stay overweight, go with taking a nap.

Second, if you have to exercise and go to the gym (you know, to make your spouse think you really do want to get into shape), just do a couple sets of bicep curls and leg extensions. Isolation exercises will do little if nothing to help you drop the pounds.

Third, it is important that you eat whenever you feel like it. If you are the slightest bit hungry or bored eat. Also, make sure you frequent fast foot establishments, and always "biggie size" it. I understand. A lot of healthy food just doesn't taste as good as chips, cookies, sugary cereal, soda and white bread.

Finally, make sure you blame your weight on your "thyroid problem". I have heard this excuse so often. The great thing about this excuse is people will probably buy it and not even think of questioning you.

An added benefit of being overweight is the great example you set for your kids. Just think, by you being overweight there is a greater likelihood your kids will be overweight (sorry, stocky). Doesn't he look happy?

If you want to be overweight, it's easy. Just keep doing what your doing. Don't exercise. Or, if you must, make sure you get a good bicep pump with those pink dumbbells. Eat a lot and often. Remember your thyroid. And make sure you tell your kids its not so bad being overweight.

Setting a Positive Example for our Children

Guest Post by Bryan Childers:


We get into the fitness industry because of our desire to teach, promote, and educate our chosen craft. I've been very fortunate over the past decade to meet with and network with several influential individuals that are involved in the "Business". One of them, Greg Nielsen, asked me to contribute a blog for his web site and I considered it an honor. Besides our interest in health and fitness, we both share an extreme love and dedication to our children. That is what I want to talk about today. Promoting a healthy lifestyle for our children.

Let's examine some alarming facts. There are nine million youth between the ages of six and nineteen that are considered overweight. Our children spend over four hours a day on computers, cell phones, and watching television. Over twenty-five percent of our youth today have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In the past several decades, the likelihood for children to be obese has over doubled and almost tripled. Eye opening isn't it? We, as parents, have the ability to stop this trend. Our most important attribute to our children is to provide valuable information and be positive role models. We should educate our children on proper nutrition. Todays' diet, especially among youth, is over-loaded with calories, refined sugars, processed carbohydrates, and saturated fats. We can halt this by offering fruits, vegetables, and other healthier alternatives, all while teaching our children about nutrition, nutrition labels, and how to understand them.


Parents need to take a more head strong approach in being involved with their children, and not promote an unhealthy lifestyle. Instead of buying them a game system, which I like to call an "Electronic Babysitter", plan a family outing that includes a hike. Go to the park for a game of basketball. Ride your bikes together. Anything to promote physical activity. Instead of time consuming sedentary toys, buy a jump rope, hula hoop, or roller blades. All of these promote healthy habits.

The point I'm trying to drive home is this. Be an active part of the solution, not a major contributor to the problem. Ninety percent of active adults will have active children. Have a "Family Meal" where everyone is all together. Introduce an environment without electronic interruptions. Remember when families enjoyed dinner together?

I've seen firsthand what being overweight can do. I grew up an overweight child thanks to an early sports injury. Being overweight caused me to be shy, depressed, and forced me to avoid certain social situations. It was a battle that took me over ten years to claim victory over. It is a situation no child should have to go through.

We, as parents, are a vital link. Exercise and nutrition should be taught to our children. We should emphasize fun and physical activity. Please join me in my personal battle against childhood obesity by education and promoting a healthy lifestyle to the youth of America. Remember, low parental concern about the weight problems in out children will increase their chances of growing up overweight. Take the first step today! Promote a healthy lifestyle...For our childrens' sake!

Bryan Childers CFT, SSC, SFN Elite Fitness Center
Evansville, Indiana
Bryanchilders.com
bryan@bryanchilders.com
Friend me up on Facebook...look for Bryan Childers or Bryan Childers, Personal Training

Why I Train

Iron is in my blood. It's become part of me. I cannot imagine a day when I will not lift weights and train. I look forward to hitting the gym. Setting PRs drives me. There are several reasons why training has become part of my life. I want to share of few of those reasons.

My Family

I train for my family. As a husband and father, I am a protector. I will do anything in my power to prevent anyone from harming my wife or kids. Strength and size helps me to fulfill my role. My wife and kids know that I am strong. They feel safe when they are with me.

The other night I was reading a nighttime story to my two year old daughter. My daughter is my girl. She's my princess. When I started reading her the story, she wrapped her cute little arms around my arm and laid her head on my shoulder. My heart melted. As silly as it may sound, it meant something to me that I have a strong arm my girl (or any of my kids for that matter) can grab a hold of. With my strong arms I can shelter, protect, and support my wife and kids.

Also, my wife and kids have come to love fitness. Just last night, while I was training some guys, my five year old son came out to the gym and started "working out". My kids love to hang out with me when I train. They follow my example. Instead of sitting around playing X-Box, they are doing push-ups.

Service
I train to give service. I truly believe that one of the greatest things we can do is to give service. There have been several times when people have called me over to lift the "heavy" object, such as a tree stump, rock, flag pool, etc. Because of my level of fitness, I can do more work and work for longer periods of time. In short, I can help more people.

Myself
I train for myself. Let's be honest, who doesn't like to look good. Who doesn't like to feel strong. Training is good for my self-esteem. Growing up I really did not have a good self-esteem. I lacked confidence. In High School, I weighed 160 lbs (I'm 6'3") and had a mullet (yes, a mullet). Besides cutting my mullet off (thanks honey) lifting weights has been great for my confidence. In many ways, it has given me what I lacked growing up. I like how I look in the mirror. And I like that I still catch my wife's eye.

Training also relieves my stress. I have a stressful day job. I'm a lawyer. A lawyer's life is filled with contention and deadlines. This stress can get to you. Add on top of that the stress that comes from being a husband and father. Training is a way that I can relieve life's stresses. I feel great after a training session. I feel like I can conquer the world.

I hope I don't sound conceited or superficial. Instead, I hope you can relate to some of the things I've said. Training is part of me. It's become part of my family. I'm sure, many of you feel the same way.

Training Child Athletes

This is my first post. I've decided to start with one of my favorite subjects, training child-athletes. This subject is important to me not only because I'm a father of four kids, but also because the benefits kids receive from exercising can last throughout their lives.

Research clearly shows that exercise has numerous benefits for children. First, exercise has been shown to increase a child's strength, power, muscular endurance and flexibility. Second, children who exercise are less likely to be or become obese. Third, exercise has been shown helpful to treat such disorders as attention deficit disorder. Fourth, children who exercise are generally happier and optimistic. Finally, in a recent study, children who regularly exercise were shown to perform better in school. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26207599/.

What are some things to keep in mind when training children? First, remember that children are not adults. The exercise or program must be tailored to a child's abilities and strengths, while recognizing that children are physically less mature than adults. Children should not lift heavy weights or perform exercises that risk personal injury. A major concern when training children is injury to the epiphyseal plate or soft tissue injuries, particularly to the back and shoulders. These concerns must be kept in mind when training a child.

Second, any program you design for a child must be fun. I have seen from my own experience that exercise programs for children should contain a variety of exercises and lots of movement. Additionally, kids love to hear encouraging words. Do all you can to motivate the child to do his or her best.

Third, emphasis must be placed upon teaching the child the proper form for performing the exercise and the child should have ample recovery time.

My personal belief is that you do not need to incorporate weights into an exercise program for a child. Instead, I prefer to use objects such as tires, ropes and rocks to develop strength and muscle endurance. My personal favorites are tire flipping, tug-of-war, sled drags (forward and backward), and different movements with rocks (such as deadlifts, squats and presses). Children seem to love playing with tires and rocks.

I also like to implement sprints, body movements, and speed and agility work on the agility ladder or with the use of cones. A recommendation I have is to set up different drills for the child, time each drill, and encourage them to try to beat the time it took them to finish the previous drill.

I would encourage you also to check out what Joe DeFranco recommended as an exercise routine for children. You can find his recommendation at http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_03-10-24.htm.

The benefits of training children are great. Not only will it enhance the health of the child, encourage them to have a healthy lifestyle, but it will also increase the possibility that the child will be active for the remainder of his or her life.

My next posts will focus on another mentor of mine, Zach Even-Esh, as well as training programs that I have found to produce great results.