This was orignially posted on my Martha Stewart Whole Living page.  I know most on this site are much more advanced in thier fitness routines.  I thought it would be not only fun to re-post but a reminder that for many this is a time of new beginnings.  I remember Frank Zane once saying that even though he hasn’t competed in years that he was still peaking in Sept as if he was doing the Olympia.  If you aren’t ready to peak maybe it is time to reignite your fitness plan.

We all have different strategies to distract ourselves from things we don’t like and sometimes these are very counter productive.

Many times these counter productive behaviours are simply you running away from something you need to face head on so you can live the life you deserve.  Hard times in our lives don’t ruin our lives they just make us complete beings.

Many people who would never dream of doing drugs will use food as a drug when emotions run high.  In fact food is the most common and one of the most powerful drugs readly available to everyone.

Here are some others:

• Overeating
• Overspending
• Constantly arguing
• Obsessing over dieting
• Obsessively exercising
• Staying online for hours
• Addiction to pornography or gambling
• Cigarettes, alcohol or drugs

These are just a way of running away from the very things we need to face in order to be victors in live vs victoms.

It is time to put these things down and live an empowered lifestyle.

Are you ready to start anew today?  Good!

Your experience of life will always be the reflection of what you focus on.

Focus on the bad economy, the annoying neighbor or the jerk in the gym and you will have one experience in life.

In most areas of life, there’s an awful lot of work that goes into the last ten percent..

Getting your body fat from 11% to 8% is much more difficult then going from 14% to 11%.

How much protein?
The rule of thumb is at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. For example, a 100 pound person would take at least 100 grams of protein. This is a unisex rule. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. It is still 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. You are going to use your current weight, not your goal weight! It’s that simple. Don’t worry. I will give you an easy way to measure your protein out in a minute.  If you are an avid reader of this blog you already know this but I think this will still help simplify it for you.

Your road map to success

“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.” - Ronald Reagan

The world seems to just work with the person who knows what his or her goals in life are.  A goal is a success magnet.  Once you set a goal worthy of your life, you will some how be pulled toward that objective.  People, circumstances and events will all seem to be working for you and for your good.  This is true of any goal and bodybuilding is no exception.

The word discipline can have a very negative meaning.  After all, growing up we got “disciplined” when we did something wrong.  But discipline is simply training.

Add the word self in front of discipline and it takes on a powerful new meaning.   Self discipline is training yourself.  So you can improve.  So you can get better and grow into the person you were meant to be.

I began my serious weight training and education at R&J Health Studio in Brooklyn.  R&J was made famous by all the incredible bodybuilders who called R&J home, including my good friends Dennis Tinerino, Jerry Brainum and Lou Ferrigno.  Scenes from the movie Pumping Iron were filmed there documenting Lou’s preparations for his clash with Arnold in Pretoria South Africa.  This was the golden age of bodybuilding and what attracted me to this hard core dungeon of a gym.  Several years after joining, I ended up buying R&J.

Gyms like R&J were the laboratories for our current fitness revolution.  Even though many don’t realize it, the bodybuilding community has been leading the pack with regards to developments in the wellness, weight loss, and fitness arenas since the beginning.  If you want to know what the next diet frenzy will be, just look at what the bodybuilders are doing today.  If you are an avid reader of the Labrada Nutrition site you know all this!

Whether you have been reading my blog, books or articles, listened to me on the radio or seen me on TV, you know I encourage protein intake.  Intake is just a different word for eating.  I was trying to WOW you with my enormous vocabulary. 

I love chicken and eat a lot of it…almost every day but eating chicken breasts, tuna and egg whites all day long can get boring.  I thought I would share just a few tips on how to spice up your protein intake.    I’m not suggesting you give up chicken, just sharing options to make eating more interesting, so you chicken activists can put your focus somewhere else.

Monday is very important because it sets the tone for your week.

Skip your workout on Monday and it is easy to skip Tuesday.  By the time Wednesday rolls around you think to yourself, “already missed Monday and Tuesday may as well wait until Monday!”