Bill Hartman

Author: Bill

  • Simple Rules Repeated

    Simple Rules Repeated

    The outward appearance of anything in a nature or making any kind of change in our behavior or our bodies tends to seem overwhelmingly complex.

    But remember this… Complexity arises from simple rules repeated (See Mandelbrot).

    In nature, one only need to appreciate the branching of a tree. The simple rule of growth for a tree is to split one branch into two branches. Rinse and repeat. Over time, the result is what appears to be this incredibly complex structure reaching upward and spreading out in all directions.

    When nature finds a simple rule that works, it uses it over and over. In humans, we actually use the same “tree” rule in regard to how we form the vast network of blood vessels in the body. One artery splits into two and so on to such a degree that direct blood flow is never more than 5 cells away from any one cell.

    The dendrites emanating from your nerves to allow communication with other nerves follow this rule too. One branch splitting into two and so on. In fact, this process is called dendritic arborizaiton (arbor = tree).

    The Parsimony Principle in regard to science tells us that the best explanation for any phenomenon is usually the simplest one based on the evidence. Complexity often hides the simple explanation.

    Human movement follows simple rules.

  • How do you know you’re testing effectively

    How do you know you’re testing effectively

    It’s The Intensive Week!

    I’ve been busy behind the scenes getting things ready for The Intensive.

    Be sure to get signed up for the Mentorship mailing list below to assure that you don’t miss your opportunity for the next one and also get information for the ongoing mentorship opportunities.

    In the video below, I talk a little about how you’ll know when you’re accurate with your assessment testing.

    Is inter-rater reliability of a test important?


     

     

  • Eat to Support Your Goal

    Eat to Support Your Goal

    A brief recap…

    You’ve hit The Dip.

    That point where you feel an increase in resistance to doing what is best to support your weight loss or fitness goals.

    Remember, The Dip is there to get your attention. To make sure you’re on the right path. To make sure that your plan is sustainable.

    You’re ready for The Push. The Push will get you past The Dip.

    The Push is your plan made up of three parts:
    1. The supportive eating plan
    2. The right exercise program
    3. Your support team

    The Supportive Eating Plan

    Let’s define a supportive eating plan.

    Quite simply, it’s a way of eating to support your appearance, fitness, and health-related goals.

    There’s a lot of options and opinions as to what way of eating is best for weight loss/fat loss, general appearance, muscle gain, and health.

    I will save you from listing out all the possible diets, but believe it or not, there’s a Wikipedia page of every diet known to man if you’re interested in giving up an hour of your lifetime.

    Considering something…

    If all these diets have worked at some point in time, it is not indicating that one is better than another.

    It only shows how adaptable the human system is to what you feed it.

    What you need is something that supports your goal and is sustainable.

    Chances are you already know the rules. Let’s take a quick test.

    Let’s say your goal is to lose 20 pounds of body fat.

    Question 1: True or False. To lose 20 pounds of body fat, you should eat more calories than what your body needs on a daily basis.
    Answer: False. Eating more calories than what you need on a daily basis results in the excess calories being stored as fat. That is like buying so much stuff that you no longer have enough room in your house for it, so you rent a storage unit (aka rent more house that you don’t live in) to store your excess stuff. Buy (aka eat) less stuff, and you won’t need a storage unit (aka carry around excess body fat).

    Question 2: Which is better on a fat loss diet: A Twix Bar or a grilled chicken breast?
    Answer: Clearly a trick question, but I know that you know a grilled chicken breast is typically a better choice when fat loss is the goal.

    Yes, I’m being bit silly, but my point is that many people do nothing to help themselves because they think they need special knowledge when what they really need is a change in their behavior and then be consistent with those behaviors that support success.

    You don’t need to avoid certain foods.
    You don’t need a special diet.
    You don’t need to fast.

    You do need to eat to support your weight loss goal. That means eating enough but not more than your body needs if your goal is to lose weight (even if you ate McDonalds every day).
    You need to eat real food (if it grew from the ground or used to have a face, it’s probably food [exception being other humans… sorry zombies]) if your health is a concern.

    Plan and pay attention to what you’re eating.
    Do it for 2 weeks.
    Reassess your status in comparison to your goals.
    Make adjustments in quantity and quality of food.
    Repeat.

    Yes, it is that simple. Yes, it may be difficult at times.

    I know having a more detailed plan can help. Sometimes it’s easier to have someone else help make the decisions, so we can conserve energy.

    That’s why I got advice from the best nutritional strategist in the world, Dr. Mike Roussell. Thankfully, he was nice enough to contribute a chapter to All Gain, No Pain (Chapter 11). It turns out that Dr. Mike’s advice was really quite simple too. You’ll see how easy it is when you read it.

    If you’d like to see an even more detailed plan like the one I used to get into All Gain, No Pain shape (still there 2 years later), the pick up Dr. Mike’s book Meta-Shred. I recommend this book to my all my clients. It answers all the questions you could possibly have about food and nutrition and lays out a step-by-step strategy to support your health and fitness goals.

    It doesn’t whether your goal is to lose fat or gain muscle or both. You need an eating plan to support your goals first and foremost. You cannot out-exercise an eating plan that does not support your goals.

    Speaking of exercise. I’ll discuss that next…

     

     

  • Exercise and Your Brain

    Exercise and Your Brain

    Every once and a while some good stuff shows up in my newsfeed.  Give this a watch.

     

     

  • Why You Were Right To Quit Dieting and Exercising to Lose Weight

    Why You Were Right To Quit Dieting and Exercising to Lose Weight

    The smartest thing you’ve ever done to help you lose weight was to quit that last diet and exercise program.

    If that seems a little contrary to what you expected from a fitness guy, I can certainly understand. After all, don’t we preach dieting and exercising to lose weight?

    Of course we do.

    So how can I possibly make such a seemingly absurd statement?

    Simple. I really think you did the right thing when you quit dieting and exercising. You’re a genius. (No, I’m not sucking up. Stick with me here because I have answers that you’re going to want to read that will change your perspective and if you follow-through, they’ll change your weight loss outcome for the better).

    Maybe it is because from your perspective you think you failed.

    You think you failed because you started a diet and exercise program, and maybe even lost some weight, but you quit.

    You didn’t fail. You simply recognized that the path you were on was unsustainable… and you quit.

    Most programs are like that. They are designed to take advantage of your enthusiasm and emotions that are associated with novelty and a new beginning. Our energy and efforts are always greatest whenever we start something new that promises us the future we imagine.

    We set out with excitement and vigor, ready to take on the new challenge because this time ITS going to work. It’s actually fun. It’s easy. This time you’ll lose weight and keep it off forever.

    And you lose weight. In most cases, you lose weight rather quickly at first. Every week, the scale tells you that you’re on track as you see the numbers getting smaller.

    But then something happens. When it’s no longer new, it seems that the level of energy required just to decide which vegetable you want to have for dinner increases ten-fold.

    You’ve just hit what author Seth Godin calls The Dip.

    The Dip is where progress seems to slow. Effort seems to increase. Everything is now harder.

    What happened?

    Actually, you know exactly what happened because the same thing happens with every other important aspect of our lives.

    Every relationship has a Dip. Every job we’ve had has a Dip. Every home improvement project has a Dip.

    You just didn’t recognize it before.

    The Dip is that key moment where you decide if the direction you’re heading is the right one or if you’re headed for a dead end.

    The relationship Dip let’s us know when we’ve found the person we’ll spend the rest of our lives with or if it’s time to split up.

    The job Dip tells us whether we commit to doing our best work to make a company more successful or to get the promotion.

    The home improvement Dip tells us we can really do it ourselves to our satisfaction or that it’s time to call in the professional contractor.

    The Dip is there to tell us to dig in harder or get out and minimize the damage.

    The Dip is the moment that you need to treasure and embrace because on the other side of the Dip is success.

    Tactics of The Push

    Remember the Dip is there to get your attention. To make sure you have everything in place for The Push through to reach your weight loss goal and beyond.

    The Dip gets you ready for the long-term. The healthy lifestyle you envision.

    Your Tactical Weight Loss Plan and The Push

    Think about your weight loss for second. Whenever you weigh yourself, you’re actually measuring history.

    Everything that goes into that number on your bathroom scale is the result of what happened in the past. There’s NOTHING you can do you change the scale measure in that moment.

    If scale weight is a measure of the past, then it cannot be the best thing way to measure your progress.

    The better way to measure progress is how well you execute your tactics.

    To make The Push, you need a tactical plan in three parts:

    1. The supportive eating plan

    2. The right exercise program

    3. Your support team

    In the next blog, we’ll look at your supportive eating plan as the first step in your tactical weight loss plan. Until then make sure to download All Gain, No Pain and start reading. Your comeback starts today!