High Octane Body » Podcast

Your mental jar is full, your day has been loaded with nothing but stress and havoc, so you hit the gym after work hoping against hope that it will make you feel better. Because right now you feel like crap. This workout is supposed to be the highlight of your day. It is supposed to fix everything.Unfortunately ... it is the opposite. Everything goes wrong. You feel weaker than normal, the weights aren't moving like they "should", and you break down.You cry, you simply can't take it anymore, it's not fair, you DESERVE to have a good workout! You channel all of your frustration into your foot and you kick the barbell as hard as you can, sending it flying across the gym and it slams into the only disco ball in the room shattering it into 50 pieces. "Screw you disco ball!" you yell, as though it was the embodiment of everything that has gone wrong today. And somehow ... you start to feel better.Losing your mind is going to happen. We're here to help it happen a little less often.In this episode we discuss how to keep your mental jar of stress tolerance full of glitter and rainbows and prevent it (and you) from hitting rock bottom ... 

There may not being crying in baseball. But there is plenty of crying in fat loss. And that is totally fine by us. The reality is that losing a lot of weight is harder psychologically than it is physically. Physically, it's actually rather easy. But mentally ... it can drain your mental jar of stamina to empty rather fast.In this episode we discuss something called, "The Dark Times" when your jar is empty and you are at your wits end ... and then the waters works come! We dive into some key strategies to deal with this, and why it is OK to have these emotions. What matters is that you don't believe the hype the emotions are feeding you.High Octane Quote: "What you might have is a Lion eat your butt ... then you're dead" - Peter CurcioAudio:

It's a strange turn of events when Peter and I switch from criticizing the methods on the Biggest Loser TV show to defending it. But that's exactly what we do in this episode. The problem was with a new study that came out suggesting that the programs and routines used by shows like The Biggest Loser (and by extension, "rapid" fat loss in general) will destroy your metabolism.(I put that last part in italics and bold for a reason ... because it's false.We argue against this worry on two grounds:1. The study just flat out doesn't claim what some people might think it does. And doesn't in any way prove what people are thinking it is proving.2. Even if the study DID show metabolism slowdowns ... that wouldn't matter in the long run. Don't worry, we explain it all in detail in the show ... Links mentioned in the show:Blog article about the studyThe study itself

In this episode Peter and I get a little nit-picky with Doctor Oz who recently put out little video called the "7 habits of slim people". While we applaud the guy for getting out there and trying to help people, we disagree with him on a few of his major points. The underlying reason is that we believe he's conflating correlation with causation. (Did you like all that alliteration?) Something that happens FAR too often in the fitness and health arenas. Here's the link to his video. 

 Humans are dumb. We all are. Our primate brains have a hard time truly understanding some very basic things about how the universe and our bodies actually work. In this episode, Peter and I discuss the fact that without a solid grasp of reality you will forever fail at your goals of losing weight AND keeping it off!Key Points:Life is not linearThe exponential function, e, is everything (see what I did there?)The importance of The Voltron EffectNever lose sight of the melodyDeveloping the Beginners Mind 

How to embrace failure and succeed at a faster rate. And ...Why Nick dreams of skipping through tulips with bunnies The 6th Stage of Change: Failure... and why you shouldn't be afraid of it.If you're not failing, you're not tryingExternal motivation vs Internal motivationHow your alarm clock is like Jillian MichaelsWhy Peter dreams of angry bunnies ...The 7th Stage of Change: Picking Your Ass Back UpWhy daily practice is the key to mastery AND chilling outHow adding stress is NOT the goal (duh!)... and yet that's what most of us do when we start a new fitness programAuto-Regulation should be your ultimate goal (Auto=self in Greek, by the way)"It's so low stress, you'll squat in your jeans." - Peter CurcioLinks mentioned:- Nick's article on squatting everyday- Facebook group

We shift gears slightly this week away from the focus on losing the fat toward keeping yourself lean once you get there. And ...Why Dinner means Breakfast ... figure that one out.What the 5 stages of change areWhy Nick is jealous that his name isn't more like a super hero'sWhy weight loss just isn't the hard part ... it's baloneyThe reasons why you need to OWN your own journeyThe Psychological roadblocks to keeping the weight off are the real dealHow you need to learn, after you've lost the  weight, to live with the new you... and why that is so hard to doWhy Peter and Nick are so obsessed with "skill building"How the skills you learn in the beginning need to be discarded laterWhy we can't tell you what to eatHow to become a fitness artistRidiculous quote, "I reasoned that 'reasonable reason' was a reasonable thing to say." - NickLinks Mentioned:Here's the series by Muata Kamdibe: Part 1 and Part 2.Chikara Weightlifting in Los Angeles 

Peter and I (Nick!) hate dieting, hate giving up our favorite foods, and hate feeling contrained by external rules on what we are "supposed" to eat to be "healthy". So ...We don't bother. Instead, we use something called "Intermittent Fasting", or IF for short, which is really not a diet, per se, but a lifestyle design choice.In this review you'll learn ...That the number 7 has a cool sound effectWhy fasting is not unhealthy, in fact, it may prolong your lifeWhat Sasquatch eat ...Why fasting is not "weird", it's part of many cultures and has been for milleniaThat fasting is NOT necessary, but we like itThat Athletes need to eat all day because they have a hard time getting in ENOUGH caloriesYou will NOT die if you miss a meal ... even though we were both convinced of this for yearsHow Nick lost 15 pounds in 1 month before his wedding by eating burgers, bacon, and vodkaWhy Fasting is often EASIER psychologically than most forms of dieting - as odd as that soundsWhy making decisions can be bad for youThat implementation is where it's at ...Why Coaches often have coachesWhy you'll save money on TupperwareHow fasting can accelerate fatloss because of hormonal response reasonsHow stress is not always bad, and might help you fight disease and live longerNick's entire write up of his own fat loss experience using Intermittent Fasting can be read on his blog here.Mark's Daily Apple on Intermittent Fasting and Cancer 

The Holy Grail of Fat Loss is to be able to be as in control as you can be of the 3 most important factors affecting your progress: Your body, your mind, and your environment. Easier said than done ... Should you meditate before you eat beef? Peter misses sunny Phoenix now that he's back here in the Portland rain forest How "trying harder" doesn't always work ... despite what Nick's T-Shirt says The moon is not only made of cheese but also of John Cleese. The major environmental factors you must deal with to lose weight How big is your motivation jar? Can you make your jar bigger? At 9pm, Nick can't say no ... Why Failure is the Foundation of Success Care Less, Win More Why you MUST do your best to get  your family (or roomates) on board with you How you can control your environment more than you think you can Peter can't have a house full of pancakes ... Why young/new personal trainers over-coach and see less success because of it HOHAW (High Octane Homework Assignment of the Week): What are your biggest triggers that cause you to slip up on your diet during the week? Just write them down. AND ... assess the size of your jar (we explain what that means in the episode!) Links mentioned: Bret Contreras Blog Portlandia TV Show John Cleese, the comic genius