Super Simple Batch Cooked Chicken For Lazy People

By Steve 7
Super Simple Batch Cooked Chicken For Lazy People

I’m lazy.

Given the choice between doing something and doing nothing, I’d probably choose nothing.

And yet, every day I have to find a way to feed myself. At the end of a busy day, that usually comes down to the simplest, fastest, laziest option.

Unfortunately, more often than not, that simple/fast/lazy option is also SUPER unhealthy and/or expensive: fast food, take-out, or delivery.

How can “home cooked healthy food” even compete with this convenience?

Great question.

If you’re somebody that’s more familiar with fast food than your oven, and like the IDEA of cooking for yourself but have no clue what you’re doing, fear not!

I’ve created this stupidly simple “Batch Cooked Chicken” video and resource for you.

This article and video assumes you know literally nothing about cooking.

Like, “never opened my oven” level of kitchen knowledge.

I considered calling this article “Batch Cooking for Idiots” but that’s not very nice. And I think you’re pretty smart.

So by the end of today’s article, you’re going to know EXACTLY how to prepare your food for an entire week’s worth of lunch and dinner!

Note: this is a simple chicken option with the laziest ingredients possible. If you know your way around the kitchen, consider checking out some of our more advanced recipes!

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3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

By Steve 202
3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

  • Is it running?
  • Sprinting?
  • Why is it so popular?
  • What are the positives and negatives I should consider?
  • What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

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The Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet – 2018 Update

By Steve 2,883
The Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet – 2018 Update

So you wanna learn about the Paleo Diet, eh?

Here’s the ENTIRE diet in a nutshell:

If a caveperson didn’t eat it, neither should you.

Now, obviously there’s more to it than that, and that’s what I’m going to cover in great detail with this article today.

When you are following the Paleo Diet, you can eat anything we could hunt or gather way back in the day – things like meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional veggies, and seeds.

Sorry, the pasta, cereal, and candy will have to go! Anything that didn’t exist in caveman times will not be existing on your plate or in your stomach.

And instead of counting calories and perfectly partitioned portions (say THAT three times fast), you’ll be focusing on eating the right foods instead.

And that makes me happy, because I hate counting calories. Maybe you do too.

I don’t like keeping track of how much I’ve eaten or obsessing over how many grams of a particular nutrient I’ve had. Not only do I hate counting calories, but I know that calories are really only half of the battle, as they’re not all created equal – 400 calories of Doritos do NOT have the same effect on your body as 400 calories of high-quality vegetables and protein.

Fortunately, if you can expand your horizons and remove certain types of food from your diet, you can stop worrying about counting calories FOREVER and instead focus on fixing your relationship with food.

If you are interested in learning more about the diet, and want to learn how to successfully implement it, we got you covered!This diet does have a ton of pitfalls and challenges that you’ll encounter as you start to change your life, and most people give up on the Paleo Diet within a few days!

So let’s dig in.

The Paleo Diet doesn’t require counting a single calorie AND it allows you to eat until you’re full and happy.

Oh, and it can help you lose weight, build muscle, and get in the best shape of your life.

I know, that sounds like an ad for some really shady supplement or diet book that you’d see on TV at 4 AM.

But if you can actually apply the rules of the Paleo lifestyle, you can get some pretty solid results.

It’s helped many people achieve jaw-dropping transformations, including my friend Saint, (whose story you can read here):

Or Staci from Team NF.

(she’s actually our lead Coach in our 1-on-1 Coaching Program):

But you need to do it right. You need to have the right mindset, you need to focus on the right foods, and structure your environment so that you’re not tempted to backslide and abandon the Diet after a few days.

Ready? LET’S GOOOOOOO!

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Tabata Training: A Four Minute Full Body Workout

By Steve 46
Tabata Training: A Four Minute Full Body Workout

You hear a lot of outlandish claims in the fitness world.

  • Drink beet juice to lose weight.
  • Electrocute your abs for a six pack.
  • Do this four minute workout to “get shredded.”

Hold the phone, that last one could really be true. It’s known as Tabata training, and the exercise can actually improve one’s physical endurance and increase muscle power[1].

Boom! That’s a 2-for-1 special right there

Of course, a brutal Tabata workout can also result in you passing out in a pile of your own drool and sweat at the end. Gross.

So what’s the dealio?

Should you be implementing this four minute workout strategy into your routines?

Or is it something best left to Olympic athletes and Spartan Race champions?

Grab your headband and let’s explore!  

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15 Free Circuit Training Routines: Build Strength and Stamina

By Steve 57
15 Free Circuit Training Routines: Build Strength and Stamina

I hear two common excuses every day from people who don’t work out.

  • “I don’t have time.”
  • “I get bored.”

Well there Rebel, you’re in luck (unless you love excuses).

Today we are going to talk about circuit training! It’s fast, varied, and effective. If you find yourself with no time to get sweaty or getting bored on a treadmill, a circuit training workout could be just what the doctor ordered.

Or not.

But if you have a doctor prescribe you circuit training, that doctor is awesome.

Consider this the ultimate guide for circuit training! I’ll explain the benefits below, but if you’re just looking for routines to follow, click each below to take you to that workout:

Some of the workouts will have multiple circuit choices for you to pick, depending on your fitness level. If I did the math right, there’s 15 total.

Let’s go!

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Most people go about habit change backwards. Here’s how to flip it.

By Steve 34
Most people go about habit change backwards. Here’s how to flip it.

“I’m on a diet, I shouldn’t eat that cake.”

“I’m going to try to exercise more this year.”

“I’m trying to lose weight, so I can only have a little.”

If you have ever said anything like the above, you’re in good company. Weight loss is freaking hard. As my friend Adam once said to me: “Steve I hope all of this exercise stuff is worth it for you – do you KNOW how good cake is!?”

The challenge is often never in what we need to do: it’s getting ourselves to ACTUALLY do it.

We all know we should eat less and move more. We know we should eat more veggies. We know we should hit the gym more frequently.

And yet, the scale never seems to budge.

Or worse, we get a few weeks into a workout routine or diet, life gets busy, and we fall apart. We see some progress only to backslide and realize months later we’re no better off.

This is demoralizing as hell, and it seems like nobody can make weight loss stick.

Well, not everybody.

SOME people manage to build new habits they actually sustain. Some people can build a new habit and make it become part of their new routine.

What do they do differently?

They take two very specific steps, and they ask themselves one question every day.

If you struggle with making new habits stick, this article is going to give you a strategy to implement TODAY. Backed by science, written by a nerd, with LEGO photos.

Let’s get weird.

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The 20 Minute Beginner Kettlebell Workout: Build Muscle and Burn Fat

By Steve 10
The 20 Minute Beginner Kettlebell Workout: Build Muscle and Burn Fat

Everyone, at every fitness level, can use a kettlebell.

Yup, even you. And your mom. She’s cool.

When used properly, this funky piece of equipment can help you build muscle, burn fat, and feel like a badass.

Those are three great things in my book!

So you don’t have to be afraid of this cannonball with a handle. It’s not actually explosive.

However, I can understand if you feel intimidated by a kettlebell. It’s awkward and if you don’t know how to use one, you’re just going to use it as a doorstop.

So fear not!

Team Nerd Fitness has designed a kettlebell workout specifically for beginners that you can do TODAY.

The routine will help build muscle and burn fat, two key components of any exercise program. We’ll also make sure you know how to handle a kettlebell safely and effectively. If you couple this with a solid nutrition plan (don’t worry, I got you covered here too), you’ll have a great strategy for many different fitness goals.

So let’s rap about the following:

  • What kettlebell workout you should start with.
  • Why kettlebells are great.
  • Mistakes with the kettlebell we want to make sure you avoid.
  • If you want to purchase one, what kettlebell you should get.

Let’s go! Once you watch the video below, feel free to download our Beginner Kettlebell Worksheet that you can print out and use when you do your next workout! You can get yours free when you sign up in the box below:

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How Joe Lost 50 Pounds, Ran a Half-Marathon, Passed the Bar, and Got Engaged!

By Steve 4
How Joe Lost 50 Pounds, Ran a Half-Marathon, Passed the Bar, and Got Engaged!

Talk about a life level up!

Meet Joe, an attorney from Minnesota who has been reading Nerd Fitness for the past 5-6 years. He attempted to get in shape 6-8 times in that span with various levels of temporary success, only to give back all of his progress each time.

However, over the past 10 months, Joe has become a man possessed – in a good way.

He’s gone from not being able to run for 60 seconds and plowing through fast food to losing 50 pounds, running a half-marathon on trails, passing the bar exam, and even getting engaged!

I LOVE Joe’s new mentality, and the insight he shared with me about all of the things that he surprised himself with since he began his this transformative journey.

I’m proud to say that Joe has been in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching program since January, and I’d love for you to check it out to see if it’s the right fit for you (and beat the January rush – we expect a long waiting list by then).

So why is today’s article is so important?

Because it was some brutal realizations and a specific decision that Joe made around this time last year that made him realize something needed to change!

I want you to be honest with yourself: It’s almost November. Are you 80+% of the way towards the goals you set for yourself back in January? Or are you already saying, “Meh, 2018 is a lost cause. I’ll try again next year.”

No! Wrong! Full stop!

There are still 2.5 months left in the year!

If you fell off the wagon or got stuck or never got started, Joe’s story will resonate with you.

Below, I’ll share Joe’s insights and lessons learned along with the way, along with key steps you can take starting today to break out of a rut and level up!

Go Joe!

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How to Use A Foam Roller: Step-by-Step Guide

By Steve 2
How to Use A Foam Roller: Step-by-Step Guide

In the last few years, the foam roller has become a staple in commercial gyms. 10% of every piece of equipment in a modern fitness facility is now some type of foam roller.

Not true, but they are indeed everywhere.

And with good reason: you can essentially give yourself a deep tissue massage with one of these bad boys. And if you fork out $20 bucks, you don’t even have to leave your home to do it!

So today we’ll chat about these new toys:

  • The benefits of using a foam roller
  • Some simple exercises you can do from home
  • Common pitfalls we want to make sure you avoid
  • What to buy should you want one
  • Whether or not you should put a cat in one

That last one is definitely a hard “no.”

Let’s get rolling (the puns are only going to get worse from here)

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The Truth About Acai Bowls: Read this first!

By Steve 7
The Truth About Acai Bowls: Read this first!

These days, Acai bowls are the hottest thing on the streets.

It’s been called “the healthiest breakfast on the planet” by some news outlets.

The hype machine is operating at full capacity for this South American berry. It’s a superfood that will help you lose weight, extend your lifespan, and help defend your body against aging!

Are these claims true?

Clearly the people marketing acai berries and bowls don’t care – as long as they can hype the crap out of it, there’s money to be made.

Hell, I walked down the street the other day and saw a place named “Acai Ya Later.”

If you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness for a while, it’s no secret I’m a fan of a well done pun, even if they need to mispronounce “acai” to make it work.

Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of bogus health claims, even if there are puns involved!

So today I’m gonna dig into the facts about acai berries, acai bowls, and eternal life from fruit.

No hype.

No acai supplement to sell you. No “superfood” claims.

Just the truth. And funny gifs. Always gifs.

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Does the Military Diet Actually Work?

By Steve 2
Does the Military Diet Actually Work?

There are a million and one diets out there.

A million and two if you count your mom cutting the crust off your sandwiches as a kid. Or as an adult. I’m not judging.

With all these available options, picking the right diet is tough.

And at some point in your search, you stumbled upon the Military Diet….which HAS to be amazing.

Come on. It’s a diet, so it helps people lose weight. And folks in the military are super fit, which means the Military Diet must be great for quick weight loss.

Even better, the whole diet only lasts a week!

Surely this is a recipe for success, right?

Not so fast there, cadet!

Although this diet is crazy popular thanks to, sigh, the Kardashians (I promise this is the last time you’ll ever hear their name on Nerd Fitness), we’re here to offer a very different opinion than what you’ll find out there on the internet.

Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness (if today is your first day, welcome!), We’ll give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on this trending diet.

And of course, gifs and jokes.

So let’s dig into the Military Diet:

  • What the #$%! is it?
  • Should you drop everything and try it?
  • Are there any better recommendations out there?

Now step in line!

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The Beginner’s Guide to the Mediterranean Diet. Opa!

By Steve 13
The Beginner’s Guide to the Mediterranean Diet. Opa!

If there was a high school yearbook of diets, The Mediterranean Diet would certainly win “most popular:”

U.S. News tied it #1 in their “Best Overall Diet” category.[1].

Fitness Magazine calls it the “The World’s Healthiest Diet.” [2]

WebMD flat out said they “love” the Mediterranean Diet. [3]

As far as mainstream media goes, you can’t get much better coverage than that.

Impressive? Absolutely.

Accurate? Maybe.

Here at Nerd Fitness, we love nothing better than digging into popular trends to give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And LEGO photos and cute animal gifs.

So you’re here full of questions, which I bet go something like:

  • Steve, what is the Mediterranean Diet?
  • Can I lose weight on the Mediterranean Diet?
  • Why is this diet so popular?
  • Can I do the Mediterranean Diet wrong?
  • Can I eat pasta and pizza on the Mediterranean Diet?
  • Will you buy me a plane ticket to Santorini?

These are all great questions (though maybe not the last one), and I have no doubt I can help you make sense of this and start changing your nutrition today.

Let’s get weird.

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The Beginner’s Guide to Handstands: Journey to the Upside-Down

By Steve 33
The Beginner’s Guide to Handstands: Journey to the Upside-Down

I bet you’ve always wanted to do a handstand.

It’s okay, you can admit it.

It demonstrates balance and control over your body, something we happen to put great importance upon here at Nerd Fitness. It’s also one HELL of a party trick, something you can work on without a single piece of equipment, builds functional strength and muscular endurance, and it’s a skill you can work on in just a few minutes every single day.

How do I know this? Because I’m typing this while in a handstand RIGHT NOW. Okay, I can’t do that. But Jim, Master of the NF Fitness Universe, and our lead trainer for our 1-on-1 coaching program) can:

jim typing

I love working with gymnastic rings, because they have such a great tutorial level. Handstands are exactly the same way: it’s a great skill to work on as a beginner, but also is infinitely challenging depending on your skill level.

Plus, in addition to Jim, Luke Skywalker does them. It’s time to stop looking at other people doing cool things and start today saying “hey, I can do that too!”

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6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

By Steve 10
6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). Or, we try new things specifically because we’re told we can’t!

We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing….” We just DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

  • Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.
  • Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.
  • Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.
  • Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy (you heard me) in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started with weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

  • Doing pull-ups.
  • Going on hikes.
  • Getting back to martial arts.
  • Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

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Couch to 5K: 5 Crucial Things to Know Before You Start Training

By Steve 13
Couch to 5K: 5 Crucial Things to Know Before You Start Training

Running.

Some people live for it, chasing faster times and that unbelievable “runners high.”

Others despise it with the passion of a thousand suns (which is an excessive number of suns).

As somebody who used to run cross country in high school, and will probably never run a mile again, I have strong opinions on this stuff.

Today we’re going to cover it all: running your first 5K, if you even SHOULD run a 5k, and all the details of the famous Couch to 5K program.

After all, Couch to 5K is the most popular 5K running program since “run for your life” invented by a human like 150,000 years ago.

“Don’t run for your life” was equally popular, it just…didn’t last long.

Quiet, I know. This was a way better gif than a human being chased by a wild animal.

Plus, dinosaurs.

Anyways!

You’re here because you wanna know if you can build up to running a 5k without losing your breath or having to stop.

So here’s what we’re gonna cover in this article:

  • What is it about Couch to 5K that makes it so dang popular?
  • Does Couch to 5K actually work?
  • Will I lose weight training for a 5K?
  • How do I not hurt myself running a 5K?
  • What if I own a futon, but like, it’s a nice one. Can I still do Couch to 5k?

If you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness for longer than this article, you know my thoughts about running for weight loss (spoiler: I think it’s an awful way to lose weight).

HOWEVER…

I also think running can be a fantastic activity (for the right person if they do it the right way)!

So, are you that person?

And what is the right way?

Keep reading and I’ll tell ya.

In exchange, I can promise hilarious gifs.

And maybe also Michael Jackson.

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