Fitness & Wellness

365 days.

That’s how long you’ve been waiting.

Tomorrow turned into next week. Next week into next month. Next month is now next year.

It’s been going on much longer than that. Probably your entire life.

You’ve told yourself you have a goal, but how seriously did you take it?

Did you make the time? Did you prioritize? Or did you bullshit?

Did you lie to yourself?

I don’t have time.

I don’t have money.

It will be better when…

The lies piled up and you got worse.

Now you’re here.

365 days later, even worse than you were a year ago.

Your eating sucks, your sleep sucks, your job sucks, your fitness sucks, and you said you were going to change it all. But it didn’t happen.

Why not?

Is it the moon? The sun? The ocean? Your spouse? Chinese New Year? The new baby? The wedding?

No.

It’s because of YOU.

Yeah, I know, you’re busy. You can save that fuckin’ excuse. I know you have 15 minutes somewhere. And no one is busy enough to have to squeeze in a 15 minute workout, but if that’s what you say ya got well, find 15 minutes.

You want to change? You want to say “New year, new me” and all that bullshit? Then you need to be honest with yourself.

Stop fucking lying.

Take a long hard look in the mirror. That’s who’s responsible for your failures. That’s who’s responsible for all of your success. That’s who’s responsible. Period.

The president has nothing to do with your choices. Nor does your spouse. You are the reason why you succeed or why you fail.

Own up to that. That’s step one.

Step two: Have a specific goal.

If you say “I want to lose weight this year” you’ve already failed. Be as specific as possible.

“I want to lose 37 lbs. by April 1, 2019 and fit into a 32 jeans” is more like it. The more specific the better.

Write that shit down and read it every single day. If you don’t know exactly what you want then you won’t know how to achieve it.

Step three: Create a detailed plan.

When will you train? How many days per week? For how long? What does your training routine look like?

What time will you go to sleep? What time will you wake up?

What will your diet look like? When will you food shop? When will you cook? How will you deal with work, events, parties etc? Plan for these events.

You know the old cliché. “If you fail to plan you plan to fail”.

Create a plan.

Step four: Work your fucking ass off.

There are no shortcuts.

No magic diets.

No magic programs.

Unrelenting hard fucking work, commitment and discipline are what it will take. If you don’t succeed accept the fact that you are lazy, lack commitment, undisciplined or all of the above. If that pisses you off, please revert back to the mirror.

Take ownership.

This isn’t only about fitness.

The same four steps can and should be applied to every area of your life.

Relationship not going so great? See above.

Hate your job? See above,

Not happy with who you are… you get the point.

2019 can be the best year of your life. It can include incredible transformation inside and out. But just because some silly ball drops doesn’t mean everything is going to be different.

If you want a different result then YOU have to change.

Because YOU can change ANYTHING you want about yourself. You can change your life and live the life you’ve always imagined.

But it doesn’t just happen with the same old routine.

It’s time to man the fuck up.

It’s time to put on your hard hat and go to fucking work.

It’s time to become the YOU that YOU have the potential to become.

But it’s up to you and you only.

That doesn’t mean you won’t need help. I highly recommend you seek out the experts in whatever it is you want to change and have them help you get there.

But we can’t do the work for you.

Only you can do that.

And that doesn’t start on January 1^st.

That starts right fucking now.

So Happy Fucking New Year.

It’s time to go to work.

If you do and stay consistent, then I promise that you will be a different creature 365 days from now.

It’s possible. But it’s up to you.

Be safe today and always. Here’s to the best year of your life.

You’re probably aware that the food you eat effects the way you feel in the short term. You know that if you eat pizza and ice cream you’re going to feel bloated and lethargic shortly after.

But what you probably don’t know is that the food you eat plays a major role in your brain health, mood and the function of your immune system.

Say what? WHAT! Check this…

Your gut (the tunnel that runs from your esophagus to your anus) is made up of hundreds of trillions of bacteria.

This bacteria has many benefits. For one, it fights off the overgrowth of fungus like candida. It also supports your immune system by reinforcing the barrier of the intestinal lining and lowers the chances of the “bad” bacteria getting into your blood stream.

In addition to immune support and fighting off nasty fungal infections, your gut microbiome plays a major role in brain health.

Check this out…

Your gut is  known as your “second brain” due to the fact that your intestines actually have their own nervous system consisting of about 100 million neurons which are typically associated with the brain. That said, the bacteria in your gut has direct communication with the brain. Within your intestines, there are more than 100 trillion microbes (microorganism like bacteria) which make up our gut microbiome.

Your diet, lifestyle and antibiotic use have a huge impact on the health of your gut microbiome. Science has shown that the gut microbiome will impact our behaviors, thinking, and predisposition to a variety of brain disorders. A healthy gut ratio should be about 85% good bacteria to 15% bad. When this ratio gets out of whack our gut microbiome can become dysfunctional, which has shown to be a root cause in anxiety, depression,  ADHD and even play a role in personality traits.

Eating too much sugar, processed foods and frequently taking antibiotics when they’re not absolutely needed wreak havoc on your gut microbiome. Shit foods will allow for the bad bacteria to thrive and take over the bad to good bacteria ratio.

Antibiotics will destroy ALL bacteria, which can allow for fungal overgrowth AND the bad bacteria to again, eventually take over your gut. Of course there are times where we absolutely need antibiotics to survive, or to kick a nasty infection. Those are the times where we need them. However, there are many people who pop antibiotics for any little cold they come down with (and unfortunately doctors who overprescribe them). That’s where it gets bad.

Another thing that many people don’t realize is how bad ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen pain relievers wreck your gut. These pain relievers have been found to disrupt your digestive flora and intestinal mucus. So if you’re one of those people who pop an ibuprofen for every little headache, ya gotta knock that shit off ASAP!

With all of that said, you must improve the health of your gut through the foods that you eat. The first step is cutting out all of the crap like sugar, flour and other inflammatory foods, and beverages like alcohol.

Then, you can add in a variety of fermented foods that will actually improve your gut and add more good bacteria to your army for gut health. They are, Greek yogurt, Kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut and kombucha to name a few that I personally eat and drink. I also suggest supplementing daily with a quality probiotic.

The foods you eat (and don’t eat) and beverages you drink play a major role in your health and longevity. I want you to understand that good nutrition isn’t only about improving the way you look. It is necessary to improve your life.

Be very mindful of everything that you consume and be conscious of the effect it will have on the health of your gut.

Thanks for reading.

On the second episode of TTS Talk Ruben and I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into helping you achieve your goals.

One of the best ways to do that is by understanding why you set that particular goal in the first place.

One of the biggest reasons why New Year’s resolutions are such bullshit is because most people don’t have a WHY behind their goal.

So CLICK HERE to find out the power of the WHY and how you can find yours as well.

Enjoy the show!

If you found this video to be helpful than do us a solid and click the share button or send it to someone close to you. Our goal is to make an impact on one million people world-wide and we can only do that with YOUR HELP!

Thanks in advance.

If you want to accomplish anything of significance in life then you’re going to need to forget about balance.

Balance is bullshit.

Although it’s what most fitness gurus talk about these days.

They say that balance is “the key” to better fitness results, lifestyle, etc.

So, they’re saying that if you want abs, eat clean 50% of the time and dog shit the other 50%.

Want to start a business? Work on it 50% of your workday and spend the other 50% on milfhunter.com. It’s about balance, right?!

If you want to be great at anything, then you gotta be fuckin’ relentless. Forget balance.

I’ll be the first to tell you that you need to enjoy your life. You need to have work and play. In fact, I’m a huge believer in that. However, the time you put into work is going to be considerably more than the time you spend with your friends. If you want to be successful that is.

If you want to lose body fat the ratio of eating clean to eating Pop-Tarts certainly should NOT be 1:1. The truth is you’ll need to eat clean (or eat real food) 90-95% of the time if you want to look and feel better. But these clowns don’t want to tell you that because it’s not what you want to hear.

I am going to tell you that because it’s the truth, and it’s what is necessary for success.

It’s important to enjoy yourself. It’s important to indulge. It’s absolutely important to spend quality time with your close friends and family. But most of the time you should be working on you, working on your business or work and eating well.

If you’re spending an equal amount of time playing X-Box with your boys as you are working on your business then I will assure you that failure is inevitable.

Fuck balance. That shit is weak.

Telling yourself that life is about balance sets you up for mediocrity. And who the fuck wants that?

Do you want to have a mediocre life? Mediocre relationship? Mediocre business?

Hell no!

You want to be great, and balance does not lead to greatness.

Greatness takes discipline, structure, focus, planning and a relentless work ethic so you can then create the time for leisure. But it’s not going to be a 50/50 split.

The same goes for training. If you want to be strong and lean then you’re not going to train only half of the year.

I’m not suggesting that you need to constantly go, go, go all the time. That will lead to burnout.

What I am suggesting is that if you really want something you’re not going to be completely balanced. Your goal, whatever that is, should take up the majority of your time. Then you can schedule cheat meals, play time… whatever.

So forget balance. Forget the gurus.

Decide on what you want, and then go fucking get it.

Thanks for reading.

The fitness industry is a very dark and deceiving place these days. To someone like me who’s truly in love with fitness and has spent 13 years in the trenches studying, taking courses and seminars,coaching, experimenting and obsessing over this shit, that’s extremely frustrating.

It’s not frustrating because these trendy fitness places are making money. Good for them! It’s frustrating because they’re lying to you. And unless you’ve studied in the fields of strength, conditioning, nutrition, and all things related, you have no idea. This opens up the doors for sub-par coaches and trainers telling you that they can help you reach your goals, without having a clue on how to actually get you there safely and efficiently.

And here’s why that’s happening more often.

Useful tools like sleds, TRX’s, battle ropes and kettlebells have become mainstream. These tools (although effective when used properly) alone aren’t what produces results. It’s HOW and WHY you’re using that specific tool in the first place. Simply creating a circuit of exercises with no rhyme or reason isn’t going to do shit for long haul progress. Sure, you might drop a few pounds of body fat early on because of the new stimulus created, especially if you weren’t doing anything prior. But typically those results are unsustainable due to the fact that you never learned how to truly build lean muscle mass.

That mask and those ropes are what got this dude so jacked! Right?

The amount of lean muscle mass that you possess will dictate your metabolic rate, since muscle is highly metabolic. The more muscle you have on your frame, the faster your metabolic rate will be. So what’s the key to sustainable fat loss? Well that will always start with your nutrition, but second is building more lean muscle mass.

Ok so how the f*ck to we build more muscle mass?

That all depends on the individual and how far along you are in your training, but let’s assume you’re a beginner or intermediate lifter. Here’s a sample of how you could pack on some size.

1. Learn to move properly in each major movement pattern

You have to learn how to execute each movement properly. Since you’re not an expert in the field you’re going to need a qualified coach to teach you how to do that.

2. Create a plan/periodization

Periodization is a fancy term for having a plan, which is necessary if you want real results. This is where your coach will develop a program based on your training level, age, goals and injury/medical history.

3. Monitoring weights, sets and reps

If you’re not tracking your weights then progress will be very hard to make. Keeping a notebook with detailed notes of your training sessions is a necessary step to packing on muscle and strength, so don’t neglect this vital step.

4. Progress and/or regress

Progressions and regressions should be a part of your plan. Everything you do should be done for a reason, with small goals in each training phase.

5. Execute and stay consistent

If you aren’t executing your plan with enough effort, or aren’t consistent enough in your training, your results will suffer. That means you’re going to need an intelligent prehab plan as well as a thorough dynamic warm-up to drive mobility so you can stay healthy. Because if you’re injured you aren’t making any progress.

Feel overwhelmed? Well, that’s normal. Because this is a lot of shit that you haven’t really learned. But that’s exactly why it’s important to hire real coaches to help you get there.

I would never subject myself to jumping on board with the whole “fun, quick and easy results” bullshit just to try and convince you to train at my facility. That’s because the people who train with us want to be here, and always show up ready to work.

And the results speak for themselves.

Those who train at TTS get exactly what I mentioned above. More importantly, they get the truth. I don’t make false promises or try to make my life easy by avoiding optimal programming. I could easily say “YAY, train 7 days a week and every workout will be different and fun!” and pay no mind to programming. I could save plenty of time that way.

Instead, I fucking obsess over it.

Because I know that’s what it takes to help you get stronger, healthier and better.

What I do promise is that when you train with us you’ll see the difference between a real strength and conditioning program with real qualified coaches, and the best results you’ve ever achieved; if you put the work in that is.

Because your effort will dictate your results.

Some may try a program and notice that it’s difficult. That might lead you to believe that it’s effective. First let me preface this by saying that I am all about hard work. If you want to get strong and jacked it’s going to take hard fucking work. Period.

But HARD does not necessarily mean EFFECTIVE.

I could make a workout really hard and have you do some mindless circuit of burpees, battle ropes and mountain climbers for an hour. But that ain’t doin’ shit for building muscle and strength.

And if all you’re doing is a different circuit every time you train for no rhyme or reason you will not build muscle. In fact, you’ll surely lose it. And now you know what needs to be done to actually lose fat and keep it off so be aware of what you’re doing.

Unfortunately there is no standard set for trainers and coaches. Anyone can open up a gym anywhere, regardless of their qualifications. They can tell you they’re an expert because they got a certification over a weekend, and they can tell you that their program is awesome because of this or that. And maybe what they’re doing looks cool so you give it a try. But after time passes you realize that your results are stagnant or worse, you’re injured. That sadly happens more often than you think.

I set my own standard for myself and for my coaches and have trustworthy mentors holding me accountable.

I pay respect to the coaches who have come before me, and those who are out there making an impact right now. Guys like my mentors John Alvino, Jay Ferruggia, Jim Smith and Joe DeFranco. The great Charlie Francis, Charles Poliquin, Buddy Morris and Louie Simmons. Guys who I’ve studied and some whom I’ve worked alongside to better myself.

Once you train at Tutela Training Systems I guarantee that you’ll see that difference immediately. We are different than any other place out there and I will stand behind what we do until the day I die. Because I and my team work tirelessly to truly help others improve and constantly evolve and improve our program.

We ain’t in this to create some bullshit fad or gimmick.

We’re in this because we love it, and it is our passion to help you become your best self, through strength and fitness.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

Here’s to all that are real out there.