» Nutrition

Preworkout nutrition and what to eat before you workout are two huge questions I get and today I’m going to give you the secret ingredient I use to get my work outs cranking.

A big rule of thumb is that you don’t want to starve yourself before you workout and you never want to workout on an empty stomach.

Fuel is the key to having a great workout and taking your training intensity and results to the next level.

If you’re body doesn’t have the energy it needs to keep your body ready to train, then you’re practically wasting your time and might as well just go home.

So what should you be eating to train to your maximum effectiveness during your workouts…

Watch the video below to find out the rest of my secrets on what you should eat before working out to get ripped.

Click Here to See What Supplements I Like to Use

I’m going to take a stand today against energy drinks and how badly they’ve taken over America.

For those who don’t know what energy drinks are (where have you been?) they defined as “soft drinks advertised as boosting energy. These drinks usually do not emphasize energy derived from the calories they contain, but rather through a choice of caffeine, vitamins, and herbal supplements the manufacturer has combined.”

You’ll see energy drinks virtually at any gym or even at the local high school as students drinks them after buying them at the local 7-Eleven with their parent’s lunch money.

I’m going to say this once and for all…energy drinks are a crock.

Energy drinks are nothing more than sugar and caffeine designed to give you a quick sugar rush and then leave your body crashing soon afterwards.

They also claim to have other ingredients that are meant to make you feel as though you have more energy such as B vitamins and taurine.

Well to be frank, energy drinks are nothing more than well marketed sugar water.

You’ll see the cans with their eye-grabbing logos and it’ll look really cool but you’ll be wasting your money on them.

Energy drinks can cost between $2-4 for a can smaller than a can of soda and the quick fix that it supposedly provides is nothing more than a rush of sugar.  You could do the same by eating some Skittles.

Their popularity as undoubtedly risen over the past two decades and are huge in the rave scene (where people stay up all night dancing).  In fact, many raves don’t even sell alcohol because it’s a depressant and they don’t want people to leave, instead they’ll focus on selling energy drinks to keep people in their clubs til the wee hours of the morning.

Another popular drink you’ll find people at the bar drinking is a mixture of an energy drink and alcohol such as the ever-so-popular Jägerbomb. This is a deadly combination as you’re mixing a depressant with an stimulant.

This has caused a few deaths and will undeniably give you a bad hangover the next morning.

They’ve also found people who mix energy drinks and alcohol have a weaker perception of how drunk they really are and are way more likely to keep drinking.  This has lead to more sexual assaults, drunk driving accidents and more overly-drunken people.

The vitamins that are in these energy drinks are B vitamins and they are water-soluble vitamins.  Meaning you’re body will only absorb as much as it needs and it will pee out the rest.  You’ll notice a bright yellow tint to your pee if you’ve been taking your multi-vitamin.

Energy drinks are a marketing machine getting people hyped up on caffeinated sugar water.  Athletes how use these drinks are much more likely to become dehydrated, suffered heat stroke, tremors and heart attacks.

Researchers have said that if you’re a teen or adolescent athlete that you should only be drinking water before, during, and after training.

So why doesn’t the FDA come in and do something about it?

Well it’s out of their jurisdiction they say. Since the FDA treats energy drinks as dietary supplements, as long as the manufactorer isn’t putting anything illegal in it’s drink they can’t tell them what to do.  The manufactorer decides how much caffeine, sugar, taurine, vitamins etc. they want to put in the drinks.

So I hope this helps with your decision to drink and promote energy drinks.  I think it’s pretty obvious my stance on the matter and if you’re looking for long term goals then I honestly suggest working on improving your nutrition, sleep, training and mental strengths.

And stay off the over-marketed caffeinated sugar water.

I get a lot of questions on what exactly to take before you go to sleep each night and in this post I’m going to give you an easy and simple recipe for creating your own night time protein shake that will keep you lean and skinny at night.

The real secret is going to be the use of casein protein instead of just the traditional whey protein shake.  And a great and readily accessible source of casein protein is cottage cheese and today I’m going to show you how to make a killer shake out of it.

Whey protein isolate is simply the best because it’s so quickly absorbed by your body and that is ideal after a great workout when you muscles are starving and they’re glycogen depleted.

But since we’re going to be asleep for hopefully 8 hours or so, we’re going to want to go with casein protein which won’t be quickly absorbed by the body, and instead is time-released.

What actually happens with casein protein is that it becomes a gel like clot inside your stomach allowing it to be digested slower and therefore supply a steady stream of amino acids (breakdowns of protein) into your blood.

This is an ideal situation because you won’t have access to any protein/amino acids while you’re asleep and in rapid eye movement.

This Sleep Skinny Protein Shake is kick ass for keeping your body lean and toned while you sleep after a hard day or work and training.  Now I wouldn’t slam this baby right after working out but if you’re about to be out like trout, then I would give this sleep shake a try.

The Sleep Skinny Protein Shake Recipe:

• 8-10oz. of water or skim milk (preferably RAW)
• 1 and 1/2 cups of fat free cottage cheese
• 1-2 scoops of your favorite whey protein powder
• 1/2 cup of fat free yogurt
• 1 cup of ice cubes
• Raw honey or Stevia for flavor
• Mix it up in a blender and drink before going to sleep

This shake is a great alternative for when you’re body is starving at night but you don’t want to eat a big meal because the calories will just hang out in your stomach and turn to fat.  Use this Sleep Skinny Protein Shake to build up your toned lean muscle while keeping the fat off.

Let me know how the drink tastes or what modifications you made to make it taste a little better…

Create Greatness,

Josh

Having a body cleansing once or twice a year can do wonders to your body and my Trainer Josh 21 day detox diet is a great way to lose weight and rid your body of toxins that are doing you harm.

First off, a detox is nothing to do half-ass, you have to go all in and don’t hold anything back because any little misstep will damage the cleansing outcome that you’re looking for.

Ok now that we got that out of the way, I want to give you a quick breakdown of what you’re going to be going through during the next 21 days after you start my detox program.

We all know that the detox isn’t going to be easy but I can guarantee you’ll be feeling 10x better at the end because you’ll be ridding your body of toxins and all the other crap that is making you feel weak and sluggish and at the same time holding you back from losing that fat.

Here are the rules for my 21 day body cleansing detox diet…

1.  Absolutely no sugar allowed, this means refined or even evaporated cane juice.  Sugar is the root of all evils as far as I’m concerned and is practically the devil in disguise.  So no sugar can be eaten at all during the 21 days.

2.  No dairy intake is allowed.  This means no milk, no cheese, no nothing that has to do with dairy.  More things then you think have dairy in them so be sure to make a list of what you eat every day and find substitutes for them.  A great substitute for cow milk is almond milk (sugar free of course!).

3.  No white flour.  This means no more pizza or those blueberry muffins.  Aim to have only sprouted grains such as rye and stay away from other white flour breads sugar as sourdough and such.

4.  No processed foods.  This means you can’t eat TV dinners or anything else that has been manufactured and processed.

5.  No artificial sweeteners.  This means no Splenda, Equal or any other fake sweeteners which are worse than plain old sugar.  Instead have only agave nectar or raw honey and fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth.

6.  Use a detox supplement. I personally use and recommend HealthForce Healing Cleanser which is what I’ve found through trial and error to have the best bang for you buck.

In fact if you buy the HealthForce Healing Cleanse Level 2 through the link below I’ll send you MP3s of my personal meditation CDs that are designed for Daily Neural Reconditioning that will imprint a vision of success onto your subconscious brain.  Click here or the picture below to get it now.

7.  Have two 24-hour fasts from Sunday 6pm to Monday at 6pm and follow it up with a healthy protein shake or super shake.  Fasting a couple times a month will help you sleep better, feel leaner, slim down and become more productive with clarity.

8.  If you have a juicer (if you don’t have one I highly recommend getting one) and have a daily detox drink of cucumbers, celery, asparagus and lemon.

9.  Eat whole foods only.  This is one of the most important steps right here and eating only foods that are closest to their original form possible will be nature’s way of feeding your body the proper nutrients it needs to build healthy muscle and get rid of the chunky monkey fat.

10.  Drink lots and lots of water.  Water is nature’s natural detox and for a very good reason, in fact I remember in my high school chemistry class that water is the universal solvent.  Water is natures way of cleansing the body from toxins and other junk you don’t want in your body.  Want to lose fat? Drink water…want your back pain to go away? Drink water.

Well that’s it guys and if you got the fortitude to accomplish this detox from start to finish then you will definitely earn my respect.  It’s not easy but it’s a great way to set yourself on the fast track to success and if you can accomplish this then you can do just about anything to direct your life into a healthy direction.

After these 21 days are up in this detox diet you’ll hopefully have some of these numbers engrained into your brains and they’ll become healthy habits to replace the bad ones that have been building up in your body for years.  Let’s get the ball rolling on this!