eBook | 5 Health & Fitness Mistakes


5 Health & Fitness Mistakes

That You Need to Stop Making

by Will Owen

Disclaimer:

You're smart and you KNOW this, but...

I offer no representations, warranties or guarantees verbally, in writing or otherwise regarding specific results. Results for each

person may significantly vary. None of the individuals represented have been paid or otherwise compensated. None of the case studies, testimonials or reviews have been scripted and

are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

Published by Travel Strong © 2015 Travel Strong


Why You Must Fix Each of These Mistakes Today

I'm Will Owen, and I'm the founder of Travel Strong. You're here because you heard that I can help you lose weight, build muscle and get healthy without letting this fitness thing take over your entire life. And I can. But the first step is to avoid making each of these five mistakes that prevent people from ever getting in shape. These are the mistakes I made when I was starting out and they sabotaged all of my efforts for close to 2 years. But as soon I fixed them I was quickly able to turn it all around. And fixing them has worked wonders for others too… I offer coaching to men and women who want to lose weight and get an amazing physique. I don’t have any open spots right now, but here are the exact words from people who I have worked with:


“After following Will’s recommendations and making some small changes to my diet, I lost 10lbs in just a few weeks” – Joe Taylor “Will’s workouts challenged me in a way that I didn’t think bodyweight exercises could, and when I did eventually get back in the gym I was even stronger than before!” – Stephanie Dobay I’m sharing these stories because I want you to know that you are not alone. Everybody tries and fails many times over before finally breaking through and getting results. And it’s not until they’ve fixed mistakes that they make any real progress. So let’s jump in…

Mistake #1

Program Hopping

(aka ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’) When I first started out, I was on the hunt for the ‘perfect’ workout routine and diet.


I wanted to find a program that would give me the endurance to run a marathon, make me strong like a powerlifter, fast like an Olympic sprinter and look like the cover models that you see on the front of magazines. I would start a program and stick with it for a few weeks, and sometimes I would see some progress. But even when I did, I would switch to a new program before I ever gave it chance to really start working. I had a bad case of ‘shiny object syndrome’. But at the time I believed there was a ‘perfect’ program out there that was better than the one I was currently doing – one that would make it a cinch to reach all those goals I mentioned. It was made worse by the fact that every day I would see a ‘hottest new workout’ or ‘workout of the day’ in magazines and online. I was sucked in by the promise of amazing results in a short amount of time. So instead of sticking to a program for a few months and then re-evaluating, I was switching programs week-to-week. And guess what? I made no real progress whatsoever.


But then, after almost 2 years of spinning my wheels, a friend and I decided to follow a program we both liked the look of and see what happened. The results were incredible. In just under 6 months I got leaner and stronger than I had in the entire 2 years before. What made all the difference? That I stuck to the plan. The real reason that so many people fail to reach their goals is that they lack consistency. I was program hopping because I believed that a ‘perfect’ workout existed. It was like chasing a carrot on a stick. Other people lose motivation when they don’t see immediate results. While some end up program hopping because doing the same workouts for months on end sounds boring. Maybe it does to you too. But here’s the thing: It won’t seem boring when you’re steadily getting leaner and stronger, while everybody else is going round in circles. It won’t seem boring when you experience the confidence boost you get from looking your best and feeling fit.


And it won’t seem boring when, rather than wasting your time and money on the latest trends, gimmicks and fads, you’re avoiding stress and getting your life back. Obviously, for all that to happen you need a good plan. Being consistent is one thing, but without the right plan you will be wasting your time. How do you get the right plan? Well, I’ll talk more about that later (hint: generic, cookie-cutter workouts and meal plans that you find online and in magazines aren’t the answer). For now, let’s take a look at the second mistake…

Mistake #2

Doing ‘Toning’ Exercises (aka ‘Spot Reduction’)

For a lot of people, this is going to be a tough pill to swallow, but here goes: ‘Toning exercises’ don’t exist.


Of course, you can look ‘toned’. But targeting a particular muscle with ‘toning exercises’ is a waste of time. In other words: doing ab exercises like crunches and sit-ups won’t help you get a flat stomach. Nor will special arm exercises get rid of a set of jiggly bingo wings. Now, I know that might come as a shock. But don’t beat yourself up; I used to believe it too. But it just doesn’t work that way. Why not? Simply put, you can’t turn fat into muscle. Fat and muscle are two completely different tissue types and exist independently of each other. One can’t magically turn into the other. So while doing hundreds of sit-ups each day can strengthen your abs, if they’re covered by a layer of fat they still won’t be visible. And that fat isn’t going anywhere: the idea that you can remove fat from a particular area of your body with toning exercises – often called ‘spot reduction’ – is a myth.

http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/04/targeted-fat-loss-myth-or-reality/




Research has shown that you can only lose fat if you burn more calories than you consume. Unfortunately, you can’t choose where the fat you lose comes from. On a side note: the last place men lose fat from is their belly and lower back, and for women it’s the hips and thighs. Now of course, you can look ‘toned’. But the process of getting that look is very different to what you might think. To shed some light on the matter, let’s take a look at the next mistake…

Mistake #3

Believing That Lifting Weights Will Make You Bulky

I did a lot of running when I started out. I figured that it would definitely help me lose weight and probably help me build some muscle too.


But running doesn’t build muscle. You only need to look as far as marathon runner to see what I mean. So while I did lose weight, I still didn’t look the way I wanted to. I was skinny, but somehow still wasn’t lean. This is a look that is sometimes called ‘skinny-fat’. Side note: I’m still a fan of running. But, from an aesthetic standpoint, it isn’t the most efficient form of exercise. It was only when I started lifting weights that I started to see real progress. ‘Lifting weights’ is sort of an umbrella term for anything that involves barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, or anything else that has mass, including your own body. And I’m not talking about pink dumbbells or so-called ‘girl push-ups’ here, either. I’m talking about using substantial weights or doing bodyweight exercises that are genuinely challenging. It’s this type of exercise that people usually associate with getting big and bulky – not with getting slender and toned. It’s a line of thinking that originates with the myth that ‘lifting weights will make you bulky’. Unfortunately, this is one of


the most pervasive myths in the health & fitness industry, and it couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is that muscle grows incredibly slowly. To give you an idea of just how slowly, check out this table that Lyle McDonald (one of the smartest trainers in the industry), put together. Look at the absolute maximum amount of muscle you can build a month: Years of Training Potential Rate of Muscle Growth Per Year

1 20-25 pounds (2 pounds per month) 2 10-12 pounds (1 pound per month) 3 5-6 pounds (0.5 pounds per month)

4+ 2-3 pounds (not worth calculating) So while it doesn’t take long to see a significant difference in your physique (providing you are a beginner following a smart training plan), you are never going to wake up one day looking like The Incredible Hulk. It just isn’t going to happen. Now, you may be thinking, “if that’s true then what’s the deal with bodybuilders?” The answer is simple: both male and female bodybuilders openly use performance-enhancing drugs (aka steroids) that


make it possible for them to build unnatural amounts of muscle. To put the level of steroid usage into perspective, there are special ‘natural’ bodybuilding competitions for people who don’t want to use steroids. In the ‘normal’ bodybuilding competitions, steroid usage is permitted. Moving on… Not only can resistance training build muscle, giving you the shape your muscles need to appear strong and toned, but it also burns fat. In fact, the right kind of resistance training (the kind I use with my coaching clients) burns up to 35% more fat than traditional methods of cardio. And that’s not even the best part… Muscle needs energy to survive. So the more muscle you build, the more calories you can (and need to) consume. That means that – done right – resistance training builds muscle, burns fat and lets you eat more of the foods you love, all at the same time. If you’re wondering what sort of workouts and exercises you should be doing, don’t fret. I’ll talk about that more later.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9280173

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9280173


In the meantime let’s take a look at mistake #4…

Mistake #4

Trying to Outrun your Fork

This is a mistake that most people know about and yet one that I see people making all the time. People decide they want to change something about their physique so they start working out. Maybe they go to the gym, go running, or start doing fitness classes. They might start out slowly, but before long they are exercising almost every day, often for hours at a time. Assuming they don’t burn out or lose motivation first, they’ll start asking questions like: “What’s the best exercise to get rid of love handles?” “Should I do interval training at the end of my workouts?” “How can I tone my thighs?”


They keep adding more and more to their workouts, but they aren’t fixing the underlying problem: their diet. It’s like trying to build a house on an unstable foundation. Hopefully, you remember from Mistake #3 that targeted exercises to remove fat from a certain part of your body don’t work. They are a myth. To reiterate: you can only lose fat if you burn more calories than you consume. Likewise, if you consume more calories than you burn then you will gain weight. This is a deceptively simple rule. Have you ever really stopped to think about how easy it is to eat 100 calories and how hard it is to burn 100? Take a look at this chart…


Let’s look at an example: You eat two donuts for breakfast, hit up Domino’s for lunch, grab some fries and a drink from McDonald’s on the way home, and then eat a Taco Bell Fiesta Salad before bed. That adds up to roughly 3500 calories. Factoring in your BMR (which is how many calories your body burns just to stay alive) – let’s say 2000 calories a day –you would need to run a half marathon to even things out. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time or desire to run a half-marathon every day just to prevent excess weight gain. And fortunately, I don’t have to. It’s much easier to simply focus on my diet instead. Yes, exercise is important and certain workouts (like those myself and my clients do) will dramatically speed up the process and allow you to eat more. But, if your diet isn’t on point, then you will never reach your goals (whether that’s to lose fat or build muscle). Of course, knowing that you need to clean up your diet and knowing how to do it are two very different matters…


But when you know the system that has worked for myself and countless others you won’t have to guess. It’s something I go over in detail with my clients and something I’ll touch on again later in this series, but for now, let’s take a look at the final mistake…

Mistake #5

Making it Harder than it Needs to be

If anybody ever tells you that getting in shape is easy, you should run in the opposite direction. Not only are they wrong, but they are lying to you… …because the truth is that getting in shape is hard. If you’ve ever wondered why it’s so difficult, it’s because the world is set up to make you fail. It might sound like I’m exaggerating, but think about it:


All the most convenient and delicious food is bad for us. Our bodies are hardwired to want high-calorie foods and manufacturers capitalize on that fact. Friends and family (the very people who should be supporting us) criticize our healthy choices because they themselves feel guilty. The health and fitness industry – the place we turn to for advice – couldn’t be more confusing. It’s filled with ‘gurus’ and companies whose priority is to make a quick buck, not to help us reach our goals (there are of course also good people in the industry, but they are a minority). With so much working against us, the last thing we want to do is make things even more difficult... …and yet, that’s what 99% of people do. They go from doing absolutely nothing, to doing everything. One day you’re sitting on the couch eating chocolate and watching TV. The next you’re trying to run 5 miles, eating carrot sticks, and preparing a salad for lunch the next day. I get it. You want results, and you want them now. The logic is that the more you do the sooner they will come. I used to think that way too.


But you are setting yourself up to fail. Sooner or later, you will get injured, lose motivation, or get so hungry that you end up going on a massive binge. And eventually, you end up right back where you started. I’m not saying this just to be mean (I’ve been there myself), but I do want to highlight the fact that short-term, all-or-nothing approaches don’t work. Instead, you need to focus on creating change that lasts. Not just for a few weeks, but for months, years… your entire life. After all, aren’t you always going to want to be fit, healthy and in great shape? We all know that change isn’t easy. It takes time, dedication, and hard work. But with the right system and continued support, it suddenly seems much easier. And that’s exactly what I give my clients. Now, I don’t currently have any coaching spots available… But if you want to get fit and healthy, you need to stop wasting time and money on fads and gimmicks, and instead commit to long-term change.


What to do Instead

Most health and fitness plans focus on long, boring workouts, restrictive dieting, and short-term solutions. And people buy into them because they believe that punishing themselves by spending hours in the gym or going for long, boring runs is the only way to get the body of their dreams. That’s why these mistakes are so easy to make. But the truth is that you can lose weight and build muscle with short, intense workouts that you can do just about anywhere. Not only that, but you don’t need to give up the foods you love either. So, get started by eliminating each of the health & fitness mistakes I revealed in this ebook... ...and look out for more emails from me in the coming days. I’m going to show you how to do quick, fun workouts anywhere, lose weight while eating the foods you already love, and get an amazing physique in the process.


And of course, I'm going to open up a few spots on my coaching program. Talk soon, Will

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