I wanted to give a shout out to something I stumbled on to over the weekend.

I needed to get my bicycle fixed so I went to a bicycle shop, which was in a mini plaza next to a Harley Davidson dealership. 

I pull up and notice the bike shop had moved, but it didn’t say where.  There were also Harley motorcycles parked everywhere.  I figured there was a road rally or a charity ride going on, so I went over to find out, just because I was curious.

I then noticed the smell of grilled burgers and hot dogs in the air.  Since it was lunchtime, and I was hungry, I figured I’d go get a burger and find out if someone knew where the bicycle shop moved to.

I walk up the tent that had the grill and said “I don’t own a Harley, but was wondering if I could buy a burger?”

The big man, who was the cook, said, “You don’t have to own a Harley and there is no charge, we just ask for a donation for charity.” 

I thought that was cool, so I put a couple of bucks in the box, got a burger, and stood off to the side a bit.  I started a conversation with another person who was in the grilling area and asked if there was a special event going on today. 

I was told no special event, this was a weekly thing they do every Saturday for whoever wanted to come by and have a burger. I thought that was cool.

Then I asked which charity the donations were going to and was told, “We like to keep things local, usually to the Humane Society.”

That made me feel kind of good because I feel that’s a good cause, especially since it stays local. 

I then asked if the manager or owner was around as I would like to thank him/her for doing this.  Ends up, the cook was that person! 

I ask if there is anything I can do to help, all he asks was that I tell my friends, whether they ride motorcycles or not, to come on Saturdays and have with the crowd.  I told him no problem, I’ll do it!

So I’m telling everyone and also writing about it here.  If you’re ever in Port Charlotte, FL on a Saturday mid day, stop by the Harley Davidson shop (I think it’s called “The Black Widow”), the only one in Port Charlotte, and go have a burger or a dog!

Nice crowd, nice people and goes for a good cause!

This week’s “At-A-Boy” goes to the Harley Dealership in Port Charlotte!!  Thanks folks, it’s much appreciated!

P90X, IMHO, is designed to give maximum results to both men and women.  The beauty is, everyone goes at their own pace.  You do what YOU CAN DO.  You’re “competing” against yourself, if you will.   This workout program is for anyone, male or female.

I’ve read reviews for P90X that say “you should already be in shape before you start it” and “if you’ve never worked out before, don’t start with this program”.  I can somewhat agree to these statements, but I feel if someone were to purchase the program, they would do research on it to begin with.  Especially since finding info on the program is easy.

My Warning To All Is, if you have NEVER worked out before, this may not be a good starting point for you.  If you decided to disregard my warning, fine.  But don’t give up half way through it and say it was too tough because you are warned…THIS IS A TOUGH PROGRAM!

If you’re the type of person who gives up easily (you know who you are) this is NOT FOR YOU! Oh, and all you guys filled with “machismo”, check that attitude at the door.  Believe me, P90X will out “machismo” anything you have.

Any of you ladies who say “I don’t want to get bulky so I won’t do this program” really need to understand how workouts actually work.  This program is designed to give you the body you can show off in that new bikini, without the "Arnold" build you're assuming you end up with.

All that being said, P90X will give you what you put into it, plain and simple.  If you go about it half-ass, you’ll be disappointed.  If you choose to think this program is a joke, then it probably will be for you.

I said it before and I'll say it again, P90X is a tough program, regardless of your prior workout experience.  I for one LOVE IT!

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We hear all the time that in order to get fit, to get a rock hard body, to get that six pack ab, that you have to be consistent.

I'm here to tell you something a wee bit different.  Oh sure, you may have read something I've written or heard me say in the past that consistency is the key to getting fit, but there is a slight variation to this consistency stuff.

You see, most people feel if they do the same routine every day, then every week on the same day, they will get fit.   Now, let's be clear, doing something is ALWAYS better than doing nothing.  So, if you want to do the same routine week in and week out, then go for it my friend.   That's the consistency I'm talking about.  You're consistent, but your boring your body to death! 

Muscle confusion is the way to go to change your body.  Every couple of weeks you need to change your routine a bit.  Sure, be drastic if you want to, but not necessary. 

Being consistent with your working out is good, being consistent with WHAT you do is not as good as you would think. 

Remember what we're talking about here, we're talking about creating the Rock Hard Body you've always dreamed of.  Keep doing your workouts, keep doing your nutrition plan, BUT, change up WHAT you do.  Get it?  Do NOT be consistent with what your workout is all about.  Does that make sense?

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For many of us, the will to workout and get out and do it is not a problem.  That's because we've done it before.  Maybe back in High School, maybe in College, maybe working out with buddies in a garage, maybe taking spin classes at the local gym, etc.   The point is, that are the kind of people that know what to do, because they've done it before.

What about the people who have never worked out?  What do they do?  Where do they start?  What's good and what's bad for them to do?

If that's you, then I applaud you for the fact that you do want to start something.  You should feel good about taking the first step into the workout world.  BUT, that's just the first step and I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but that's the easiest step.

Now, if you're just starting out and never worked out before you have to be really careful about what you do.  You MUST learn to stretch before and after your workouts.

You have to be aware of how you body feels compared to how it should feel after your workouts. 

Also, I'm all for pushing your body to it's limits, but I'm also not a fan of being stupid with it either.  If you're new, you need to work up to doing a lot of harder stuff.  Doing basic workouts for now is what you want.

By basic I'm talking about NOT the advanced stuff.  Don't know what that means?  Good, you shouldn't.  You're job is to investigate what you should and shouldn't do.  BUT, once you make that decision to do whatever it is you want to do, stick with it and keep working it.  Eventually you'll get to harder and more advanced workouts. 

See, simple!

Everyone knows that good nutrition is essential for a good body.  But what does that mean? What exactly is "good nutrition"?

Now, before we get started, I want to make it perfectly clear I'm no nutrition expert, I do not have a degree in that stuff either.  For me, it's just good ol' fashion sense, got it?

In today's world, it's easy to say, "Ya know, if I cheat today and just eat something simple and fast and grab a soda, I'm good to go."  That would be fine if it were just for that day…..maybe.

You see, this one day thing could easily turn into two days and so on.  Before you know it, you'll be working out less and eating the wrong things more.

I'm not gonna tell you to eat 10 lbs of broccoli everyday or drink gallons of water everyday, but I will tell you to use some common sense when you do consume fuel for you body.

A friend of mine once said, "would you ever put kerosene into a Ferrari? Then why would you put junk in your body to fuel it?"

I'll ask you the same thing?  If you want to get fit and healthy, why would you want to put yucky stuff into your body?  By now, you know what's healthy and what isn't, so use some common sense when deciding what to eat and drink. 

You're right, it does sound simple.  The challenge is doing it!

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For the people that have never worked out and decided to start, they don't know what they are in for!  But, I will give some indication as to what to be ready for.

The main thing one has to realize is that when you work out, you use muscles in a way you probably don't do every day.  When this happens, the muscles say "hey, what in the world just happened?  I'm not used to doing that movement.  Guess I'll have to start adapting."

Yes, you'll feel tired when you're doing with the workout, but the real "soreness" may not happen for a day or two after you do the workout.  This "soreness" is commonly referred to as "DOMS", which stands for: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.  If you've experienced this, you'll know that it's a good soreness, as I like to call it.  This is what you WANT to feel after a workout.

Once a new person experiences this feeling, they don't like it (because it's so different) and therefore, they may feel they did something wrong with the exercise and decided to stop working out.

My advice is to NOT STOP working out!  The DOMS are what you WANT to feel!  Now, just so you know, one thing you do NOT want to do is repeat that exercise the next day.  Heck you may want to wait 3 or 4 days to repeat that exercise.  Instead, do something else, work out another part of the body or another muscle group. 

Your goal, as a new workout person, is to achieve this DOMS feeling with every workout.  No I'm not crazy, I'm just telling you like it is.  I personally like it what I get DOMS, it tells me I'm doing something right for my body.

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I learned something today that I can't believe I've never heard before.  Chances are, my VPT (Virtual Person Trainer) Coach Red has told me this, but truth be told, I'm not the best listener.

Anyway, if you've read my posts, you know I wrote about muscle confusion in the past.  Basically, that concept is to alter your workouts every couple of weeks to keep you muscles on edge so they don't become complacent and not grow or not get stronger.

Well, this same concept can work with your leptin hormone (that's the one that cause weight gain or weight loss)  In a nutshell, this hormone controls your metabolism (it's all funky scientific stuff which I won't get into here).

Well, this concept of muscle confusion to keep your muscles working is the same concept that keeps your metabolism working.  You see, if you eat the same foods day in and day out, you're metabolism won't work the way it's supposed to and it starts to become complacent and, therefore, not work the way it's designed to.

So, if you "confuse" your metabolism, it will constantly be working which, in turn, means it will run higher which means weight loss.  Are you understanding this?

For instance, if you eat less for three days, your metabolism will get used to this less food intake and will start to slow down.  If then, for a day or two, you eat more then you had the other three days, it will confuse your metabolism and keep it guessing, which means keep it working.  Then just repeat this eating routine and watch the weight come off.

Of course, you have to eat good quality, healthy food as well.  That's just common sense.

Hope this makes sense to you because is sure does with me.

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OK all you couch potatoes, I got something for you to do to get some exercise.  Now, it's an assumption that most couch potatoes sit around all day and do nothing but watch tv. 

If that's the case, then there isn't much exercise going on in a couch potato's life, right?  Well, I"m about to give all those folks something that can keep them watching TV and get them some exercise as well.  Pretty cool, eh?

As must people know, most tv shows have commercial breaks during them (unless it's a movie channel type of program).  One of the best things you can do is to do some sort of movements during these commercial breaks.

This gets the heart rate going, which means the blood starts flowing, which means muscles are getting used.  Folks, that's exercise!

Now, what kind of exercise can be done during these commercial breaks you ask?  Well, I'm gonna tell ya!

How about doing jumping jacks for one whole commercial?
How about marching in place?  Keeping your knees up as high as possible.
Walk around the house a couple of times.
More advanced would be doing push ups.

Any one of these exercises, if done consistently, should be the foundation for a couch potato to start working out.  Get it?

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Anyone that's a personal trainer, or a health expert, has heard this excuse time and time again:  "I just don't have time to work out." or "I can't find the time to shop at the grocery store for the healthy stuff." 

First of all, neither working out or shopping should take very long.  Shopping especially!  Heck, you have to eat, right?  Why not time a little bit of time NOW to learn about healthy foods, then take 1 hour a week and go shop for this stuff?  That way, you'll have it at home at your finger tips, ready to be consumed by you and your family.  

I don't know about you, but doing the shopping thing, at least to me, is WAY more pleasurable that stopping at a greasy spoon drive through on your way home in the evenings.  AND, believe it or not, it's a lot more inexpensive as well.

As far as working out goes, you really only need 1/2 hour to 1 hour a day to get yourself in shape.  Will you be able to go our and run a marathon with one hour a day training?  Probably not (although I'm sure there have been folks that did it).  But unless that's your goal….so what. 

I'll admit, for some, finding that 1 hour a day may be a bit of a challenge, but for those of you that watch tv, the 1 hour a day is not big deal.  Heck, even if you go out walking for an hour that's an awesome workout!

Yes, I can hear it now, "Andrew, that TV time is MY time!  It's for me to relax and unwind from the day."  I have no issues with that, if that's what you want to do.  I say go for it and do it often.  BUT, and this can turn into a huge BUTT (get the play on word spelling there?), don't EVER complain to me about not being healthy or in shape if watching TV is your excuse for getting there!

OK, I'll get off my soap box now.

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