Hey guys,

So I know Monday is usually the day I post a new article, but I’ve been on a boat for the past four days and due to some freak weather issues, I didn’t have any free time to finish up the post I was working on.

If you’re curious about how The Rock Boat went, check out the lastest posts on Sixthman’s Blog.  I thought about rushing to finish an article, but I figured it was better to wait and post something actually worth reading and sharing.

I want to thank you all for the comments and emails about the message board.  I have another cruise coming up in a few weeks and I have some paper work to fill out about getting my LLC set up, but I’ll be reaching out to most of you as soon as possible when I get one set up.

Thanks for your patience guys!

-Steve

I’m constantly amazed at the stupidity of some people.

I laugh/cringe when I see the three products created below.  Think of how many people have to approve such a thing and go: “yes, let’s manufacture thousands of these.”  Unfortunately, these marketers looking to cash in on the get-fit-quick hopes of most people, and because people keep buying these things…companies will keep making them.  It’s hilarious to watch these things, and it’s also really sad to think how many people actually get suckered in.

Hawaii Chair: fat-asses, fear not! You can sit in this chair while eating ho-hos at work and the pounds will just shed off. I mean, look at the beautiful people in the infomercial! This might be my favorite product of all-time:

Hawaii Chair Infomercial

Want to see how ridiculous these things truly are?  Check out Olivia Munn from G4TV sitting in one on Attack of the Show.

AromaTrim: Want to stop eating that cookie? Want to only eat half a pan of brownies instead of all of them? Just smell this piece of plastic! Sounds f***ing ridiculous right? Because it is!

AromaTrim Infomercial

Ab Circle Pro - Want to get six pack abs but don’t actually want to work for it?  In only 3 minutes a day you can develop those washboard abs, get rid of your love handles, and make you look like Ryan Reynolds!  What they don’t tell you is unless you drastically overhaul your diet, you’ll never see those abs.  In fact, you probably have abs right now, even if your beer gut resembles a keg…they’re just buried under 35% of body fat.

Ab Circle Pro Video

Rejuvenique Face Mask: Always wanted to live out your Friday the 13th or Man in the Iron Mask fantasy?  Want to scare the **** out of the neighborhood children!?  Just put on this creepy facemask, send shockwaves through it, and BAM all your wrinkles are gone.  This is awesome on so many levels:

Rejuvenique Face Mask

Guys, if it seems too good to be true, it’s because it is.  You don’t get results quick and easy.  It takes a healthy diet and steady exercise (your diet being the most important aspect) to get any sort of significant results, so don’t bother wasting your money on any product unless you’ve done legitimate research on how valid its success really is.

Be smart.

What’s your favorite infomercial?

-Steve

Nerd Fitness is growing, which makes me happy.  I really feel like a proud parent.

Which is good, because I don’t have kids, I’m not married; hell, I don’t even have a girlfriend (which is also good, because I couldn’t afford one if I did).  Might as well be proud of something, right?

As this site gets bigger, I want to make sure it’s getting better as well, which means I could really use your help by filling out the survey that I link to here.  It’s only 7 questions long, and 4 of them are multiple choice.  The quiz will literally take you 5 minutes, and you’re just watching YouTube videos anyway. After the link I talk about why I ask the questions I did.

Nerd Fitness General Survey

What do you want to read?

As I plan out the week for what I’m going to write about, I try to stick with a mix of diet, motivation, humor (shut up, I’m funny), and success stories.  Are there certain kinds of posts that you enjoy reading more than others?  Did you seriously get anything out of my post last week on squats, or would you rather just hear more about the workout routines and success of actors who prepare for movies like Ryan Reynolds in Blade Trinity or Gerard Butler in 300?

If I know what you’re looking for, it’s much easier for me to write what you want to read.

Message Boards

If Nerd Fitness had a website, would you join it?  I’ve seen a few really great message boards, and I’ve seen message boards where everybody yelled at each other, discounted each others’ opinions, and generally made it a hostile environment.  If I were to create a Nerd Fitness board, I envision a place where NF readers interact with each other, I answer questions that will in turn help others who might have a similar question, and the community motivates each other to become better people.  I’d rather have 10-15 legitimate posters actively contributing than thousands who just trash each other and run everybody else out.

Message boards can be scary, so I want to make sure you guys would actually get use out of it before moving forward with creating one.

My First E-Book

I’d like to put together a free e-book for loyal Nerd Fitness readers, I just want to know what you guys want in it: specific diet and exercise instruction, general tips, a compilation of Nerd Fitness success stories, or maybe even two books: one for skinny nerds looking to bulk up, and one for big nerds looking to trim down.

Let me know what you want in the book, and I’ll start writing it tomorrow.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.  Here’s the link again to the survey.

-Steve

I spent the past weekend at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV for a bachelor party (yes I’ve seen The Hangover; we booked this trip way before we heard about the movie). Anyways, we managed to book a room coincidentally in the very hotel where the 100th Ultimate Fighting Championship was taking place.  I’ve never seen a single UFC event (because I’m too cheap to pay 55 bucks to watch it on TV), so I had no idea what to expect when my friends convinced me to head over to the MGM Grand and watch it on a massive TV with hundreds of other fans.  The only guy I had heard of prior to watching the event was Brock Lesnar, a terrifying beast of a man who probably eats bullets for lunch and punches grizzly bears when he’s bored.

By the end of the three hour event, I left even more terrified of Lesnar, but far more impressed with the guys in the middle weight classes. These fighters all hover around the 180-190 weight and are built like absolute machines with zero body fat and incredible skills.  Because I’m in that exact weight class, I realized what’s possible as far as athleticism and strength if I’m willing to work for it.  One guy in particular stood out above the rest: Canadian mixed martial artist Georges St. Pierre. (GSP as he is known among fans). This guy rules.  For those of you who have been following UFC for years and want to yell at me for being late to the party, last one on the bandwagon, etc., shut it!  Better late than never, right?

GSP has black belts in both Kyokushin karate and Brazilian jiu jitsu. At age 7, he decided to learn karate to defend himself against a school bully, but it was watching Royce Gracie fight in 1993 at UFC 1 that inspired him to one day become a UFC champion.  Since then, he’s gone on to study all kinds of other fighting styles (boxing, wrestling, etc.) to ‘diversify his portfolio’ and make sure his opponents would always have to guess how he’d attack next.  On Saturday, fighting against a guy 20 lbs heavier than him (who used far stronger dehydration techniques to get down to the right weight class for the weigh-in), GSP put on a clinic and in five rounds managed to keep his championship title by dismantling Thiago Alves.  GSP actually pulled his groin halfway through the 3rd round and proceeded to fight for two additional five-minute rounds.

The thing I loved about watching GSP fight was both his technical style (not a single weakness) and the sheer amount of strength, endurance, and muscle he can pack into 185 lbs. The guy has tree trunks for legs.  Actual tree trunks!  When I watched GSP fight, all I could think of was efficiency.  There is no wasted fat on his body, and no wasted movement in the ring; every strike, punch, kick, tackle, or grapple is done because it’s the most efficient and productive move at that precise moment.  Other than his pulled groin, GSP looked only slightly tired after going five rounds; his opponent on the other hand looked like he had just been run over by a train.  You know my stance on efficiency, and Georges St. Pierre has buckets of it.

You can call me a GSP disciple and a converted UFC fan.  That doesn’t mean I’m going to start taking steroids, buy a Tapout t-shirt, and get a terrible tattoo.  No offense to you normal UFC fans out there…but to the rest of you, COME ON!  I figure if I look like GSP and have his endurance, I’m doing something right, so expect a blog post in the future with his training and diet techniques.  “That’s a crazy goal to have” you might say.  Why not try to model yourself after the best, right?  Other than training and eating right to look like GSP, but as soon as I can afford it, I plan on taking Capeoira classes (read about why here) as well.

Don’t worry Mom, I won’t be fighting anybody anytime soon – I like my face the way it is.  Now, even if you don’t like UFC, hopefully you can appreciate this guy’s dedication to his art and the way he has completely transformed his body into a lethal weapon.

GSP! GSP! GSP!

-Steve

This past week was the busiest week in the history of Nerd Fitness!

This makes me happy; not because the numbers are up, but because there are more people interested with getting in shape.  With traffic increasing and new people stumbling across the site each day, I just want to make sure everybody is here for the right reasons.

First and foremost: I’m no bodybuilder.  I have no desire to be a bodybuilder.  I don’t even want to look like a bodybuilder!  I don’t have extensive knowledge of every supplement out there, and I don’t have time to spend three hours in the gym every day.  There are certainly plenty of sites out there dedicated to bodybuilders and how to become one; if that’s your passion you can find all the information you need there.  Some of the posts here might help you, but most will be too basic for you and you’ll want to find more hardcore instruction elsewhere (which is fine).

If you want to get skinny quick or get huge quick, this isn’t the site for you. Any site that promises fast results for only five payments of $59.99 is only after your money and will make these promises to get you to impulse-buy their product.  Life doesn’t work this way, and neither does fitness.  There’s no miracle plan: it takes hard work, strong will, and determination.

If you want controversial diet suggestions, three- hour gym routines, and advice on which crazy supplements will cut corners for you, this site isn’t for you. I don’t take a lot of supplements, I try to get in and out of the gym as quickly as possible, and I won’t promote a diet or practice unless it’s something I’ve actually done myself or has been proven by scientific research.

I have a full time job, I have a great group of friends, I have a lot of hobbies and passions, and I have this blog.  I’m really just a guy who wants to stay in shape and help others do the same.

Let me tell you what Nerd Fitness is:

• A site for people who want to get in shape but don’t know where to begin.
• A site for people already in shape who want to better themselves in all aspects of life.
• A site for people who don’t have all day to dedicate to fitness.
• A site that preaches personal responsibility and accountability.
• A site for those who want to get in shape the safe, fun, and healthy way.
• A site for people who want to help others reach their goals.
  

There’s a lot of bad fitness sites out there, and a lot of sites that are only after your wallet.  Most of them look like terrible infomercials with unrealistic promises and “buy now!” schemes, followed by endless “but wait there’s more” pop up windows.  They drive me nuts, and make me think that the site could care less about me as a person.  I won’t make these promises because I know fitness isn’t an overnight success.   I take a lot of pride in being honest and having integrity; I won’t compromise either on this site because it’s not worth it to me.

What do you get out of this site? What do you want to get out of this site? Shoot me an email at steve@nerdfitness.com and let me know how I can help you.  As traffic picks up, it will certainly take longer to get back to my readers (due to also having the full time job), but I promise I’ll respond as quickly as possible with the level of attention you deserve.

Thanks for reading!

-Steve

Check out the new look!

I finally buckled down and got Nerd Fitness 2.0 off the ground. Sure most of the changes are cosmetic, but what’s wrong with looking good, right? Plus, now you can see my face on the home page, so you can tell who the hell is writing these things every day.

• I added some survey functionality so I can add a poll at the end of posts to get your thoughts on the article.
• For those of you on Twitter, it’s now really easy to tweet a post you like. Just click the retweet button at the bottom of the post and there you have it!
• At the top of the page, I’ll be working on posting the best articles in each category, followed by a whole section just for newbies trying to get started.

I’ve finally recovered from the Olympic workout from last Thursday, so I’m ready to get back in the gym this morning and bust my ass.

Other than being freaking tired, it’s nice when you actually feel good on a Monday.

-Steve

Happy Friday everybody!

I’ve spent most of this week out of town for my day job, and you can see why the updates haven’t been consistent if you read the blog I wrote for Sixthman today.  I know, how terrible, I had to hang out with a bunch of musicians and watch them create songs for three days, poor Steve.  Anyways, it’s made me realize that there will often be weeks where I won’t be able to update every single day. Because of this, I’ve decided there needs to be a better way for this community to grow even if I haven’t written a blog for that day.

This weekend in Atlanta is expected to be pretty crappy unfortunately, which means I’ll have plenty of time to move Nerd Fitness over to a new platform.  Instead of having just the blog, I’ll be making NF more of a full-scale website with easier access to previous articles so you can read about exactly what you want to learn.  I’ll also be expanding the more technical part of the website, providing descriptions of specific workouts and exercises for those of you getting started and in search of guidance.  Once I can get things squared away, I’m going to look into developing a Nerd Fitness message board that will allow you guys to interact and help each other out.  I’ve been on a few message boards, and understand that they can be both a pain in the ass and detrimental if people use them for the wrong reason.  I envision a board where healthy discussions, tips, funny stories, and motivational advice exist; I’m even considering making the board invitation-only so that only people who REALLY want to be there will have access.

What do you guys think?  Would you use a message board?  Would you be more/less likely to use it if it was exclusive?  Personally, I’d rather have five dedicated posters who are actually getting something out of it than 1000 people who spam and flame each other.  Eventually, I’d like to create a Nerd Fitness starter-kit for guys who want to get in shape but don’t know where to begin and aren’t ready for a gym membership.  Rather than making something and hope it’s what you’d want, I’d rather build it with your help and make it as beneficial as possible.

-Steve

Damn you ANT!

Sorry about no update yesterday.  The day job has been hectic in a really good way.

Earlier this week, I spent two days writing about running and running shoes, and I’ve manged to get two of my toes infected…which means I won’t be running for quite a while.  Last weekend while my friends were in town, I walked through an ant pile down at our pool.  While my friend Sarah was busy saying, “oh they won’t bother anybody,” the ants were busy attacking my feet with the firey passion of a thousand suns (I don’t know what that means, but it sounds like a lot).  They bit a few of my toes which then swelled up like crazy.  Being an idiot, I wore sneakers all day on Saturday while helping out at Pet-a-palooza – think music festival except with way more dog poop than normal – which gave me crazy blisters, which then became infected over the past two days.  AWESOME.

Now that I’m back from Augusta, I plan on heading to that pool tomorrow afternoon and absolutely GOING TO TOWN on that ant hill with a big-ass can of Raid.  I will end them.  Ants aside, I’m realizing that I’m going to have to get creative if I’m going to stay on my fitness routine.  Being out of town for four days, not sleeping much, eating sporadically, and not being able to wear shoes has certainly thrown a wrench in my workout.  As I’ve stated in a previous blog, it’s important to find a way to get exercise in there even if it it has to be in an unconventional way.  I won’t be able to run for probably two weeks, so I’m going to have to find other ways to get cardio.

Here are some thoughts:  Split up my workouts so I hit up the gym more often – five days a week instead of  three days a week- and supercharge my workouts (minimal rest between sets, lots of supersets, etc.) so I get an aerobic workout too while lifting weights.  Also, I’m thinking of maybe swimming to get my heart race pumping without needing to use these feet!  Other options would be to do a boot camp style thing in my house in the morning without shoes on, maybe running in place, jumping rope, jumping jacks, etc. etc. etc.

It’s a setback, but it’s no excuse to start slacking and take some days off.  I’ll find a way around it, because I know that I need to stay on track.  I’m very close to hitting my goal weight, and I only have ten more days to get there.

Stay on target!

-Steve

I realize this has nothing to do with nerds or fitness, but it’s relevant I swear. I was going to write a  post last night, but I got sucked into watching the Red Sox, NBA Playoffs, and NHL playoffs, and it ended up being the worst case scenario:

• The Red Sox lost in 12 innings, and David Ortiz went 0-7, stranding 15 runners in scoring position.
• The Celtics lost game 6, which means game 7 will now be played on Sunday night, when I’ll be on a plane headed to Miami.
• The Bruins lost game 7 in overtime, and the goal was scored by the same jerk who sucker-punched our player two days ago and didn’t get a rightfully-deserved suspension.

Talk about a rough night. Yes, I realize as a Boston fan, I have absolutely nothing to complain about this decade (3 Super Bowls, 2 World Series, and an NBA Championship).   However, losing in such a fashion still destroys me.  My friends even tell me that it’s more fun watching me watch a game than it is to watch the game itself.  After these games ended and I tried to pull my night together, I just couldn’t.  I don’t know why I get so emotionally involved.  I mean, I never met these guys, I don’t live in Boston anymore, and none of them are actually from Boston…and yet every night I scream at my television, get way too excited over a win, and far too depressed over a loss.

I remember a few years back when the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in extra innings in the playoffs (Aaron f***ing Boone) and I had an Econ mid-term the next day – I was so crushed that I just went to bed and BOMBED the test.  That’s not the right way to go about life!  I’m alive! I have a job! I have my health and a good group of friends!  I have nothing to complain about!

I gotta relax.  It’s not the end of the world.  Growing up playing sports gave me an outlet for my competitive nature.  Now, I’m reduced to watching people making millions of dollars and having my night hang on the outcome of a game thousands of miles away.

I gotta join some league or something that will allow me to get competitive. Maybe it’s time to join a tennis league, or start playing pick-up basketball again.  All my friends are playing Ultimate Frisbee, but I can’t join their league due to timing conflicts.

Any suggestions?

-Steve

I recently took a personality test that told me I’m a “green-line quick start,” which means I”m easily excited and great with coming up with ideas…and terrible with following through with them.  I often come up with new ideas that excite me more than the ones I’m currently working on, so I’ll just leave the process just half-done.  You should see me play the piano – I know the first 4 lines to probably 50 songs and only two or three songs all the way through.  As I stated in a previous blog about motivation, the reason that gets you started exercising might not be the same thing that keeps you exercising, and I’m hitting that point in my new routine right now.

Before I started this fitness blog, I started probably three blogs that quickly faded out after a few weeks.  The fact that I’ve written in this blog nearly every weekday for the past three months is a surprise even to myself.  I think one of the main reasons that I’ve stuck with it is because this is something I truly feel passionate about, and I’m so excited to impact people’s lives and make this world a better place.  I realize there are probably millions of blogs about fitness.  I’m not only writing this blog for you guys, but for myself as well.  It’s easier to give up when you’re the only one accountable.  However, when I know that over 1000 unique visitors have read this blog in the past 30 days, I need to make sure I practice what I preach.  Why would you guys listen to me if I’m skipping my routine or diet every time I’m too tired or lazy?   That’s crap, and you deserve better.

This week, I spent three days up in Augusta, GA for a company retreat.  Even though the house was filled with co-workers who don’t share my passion with fitness, I made sure I did everything in my power to stay on the right track.  I even brought a small blender and a Tupperware container full of my meal replacement powder so I could make sure I was getting enough calories, carbs, and protein every day.  I got a few funny looks from the other people in the house when I set up my blender a few times a day, but it didn’t bother me.  I made a promise to myself, to this blog, and to you guys to stay consistent with my fitness routine and my diet, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.

It’s Friday morning, and I’m exhausted. If you’ve seen the latest New Balance ad campaign, running is compared to a love/hate relationship; there are always warm comfy sheets begging you to go back to sleep instead of getting up and running.  I’m the same way with lifting weights.  Every morning I know all it takes is one extra “maybe just today” and my head will hit that pillow faster than Rosie O’Donnell hits a Chinese buffet line.

If it was just for me, I’d probably consider skipping today’s workout.  However, as soon as I post this article I’ll be heading to the gym because I don’t want to let down this site or the people that read it.  If you’re exercising and having trouble staying motivated, find a way to make yourself accountable.  Tell your friend Rambo that you’ll pay him five dollars for every workout you skip.  I have some great ideas for Nerd Fitness 2.0 and how we’ll all be able to help keep each other motivated.  This should all happen by the end of the summer, but I’m hoping I can get it going much sooner than that.

I now have all the motivation I need.  See you in the gym.

-Steve