The Benefits of Exercising Daily as a "Skinny Fat" Man.

Today you are going to learn the benefits that I have noticed from exercising daily over the past couple weeks.  Keep in mind while reading this, that as a skinny fat body type man, my current goal is to build as much muscle as I possibly can over the winter.  I am eating a lot more, so I am gaining fat, but enough about me lets talk about how exercising every single day can help you.

1.  Muscle Growth

This is pretty obvious, but by going to the gym 5 days per week and working out your abs twice per week you are going to notice more muscle everywhere on your body, even if it is only 1% more muscle.  What I have found to work great for putting on muscle growth is to do 3 exercises for each muscle group.  So you would be doing 3 exercises for biceps, 3 for triceps, 3 for your back, and so on.  This seems to be the right amount to really make your muscles look bigger and to progress with strength (I can go more in depth on this in a later post if you would like to hear the exact routine).

2.  You feel more alive each day.

We all have those days where we don't feel like working out, but what happens after you push yourself to workout?  You instantly feel better.  Not only that but you feel more alive, and more confident because you did something that seemed hard to do.  

This may vary from person to person, but working for me can put me in a state of meditation, it may be true for you and it may not, everyone is different.  If it does put you in a mindful place or helps you become more present that is another reason to do it!

3.  You will love the way you look.

Admit it, we all love to look in the mirror and flex our arms after a good workout.  And guess what?  The more you workout the more you can do just that!  Being comfortable with wherever you are is important though.  If you are someone who has never stepped foot in a gym, you may not even be close to where you want to be, but look at yourself after that first workout, 2 weeks, and 2 months later, you will be a totally different person (even if only you notice it).

When I first started being really serious about working out I had to accept that I wasn't the biggest or strongest guy there, but I also had to accept myself for where I was at and where I was going.  You must do the same in your journey, don't compare yourself to another guy 15 years ahead of you, but ask yourself "what will it take to get to where he is?"

Closing thoughts

Where are you in your fitness journey right now?  Did these benefits help you at all?  If they did please feel free to share in the comments below what helped you, or your experience so far, I would love to hear your comments!

Make the best of today,
Brian

Why Reading Every Day is Important, and How it Can Change Your Life.

Life has many obstacles, and no one is exempt from dealing with them.  Not you, not me.  There are things out there that are in this world to help each and every one of us with these obstacles we face.  These things are called books.

 Yes books, this may seem very boring to a lot of you, don't worry it was boring to me to for about 17 years of my life.  I used to be that person that would rather play some video game than sit down and read for even 5 minutes out of the day.  I believe the reason this was, is that in school we are pretty much forced to read books that we may not even like, and when you are forced to read a book you don't want to it makes you think all reading is boring.

Since 2015 I have been a pretty avid reader.  Most of the books I read were in 2015. 2016-2017 I probably have only read 20-30 books.

I did make a huge mistake in 2015.  I would read the books and fold the corner of a page to mark it, but I would never underline the lesson I found on that page.  In 2016-2017 I started to do both.  The reason for this is that so when I re-read each book I can go back and see what I thought was useful before, however while I am reading I am still looking for new things that I might have missed when reading the book previously.

I want to share how reading is important and then share the routine I am doing now to build back my momentum into reading, which I believe is a great path to follow if you want to read but never have the energy to or just want to read but think that reading is boring.

First off, you have to find the right kind of books for you.  I recommend non-fiction, but that is still pretty broad, since you may like history, auto-biographies, self improvement, or business books and so on.  It doesn't matter what you are into but rather what you can learn from these books. 

Second, once you have found the category of book you think will help you the most, invest in those kinds of books to help further your journey in life.  Most authors are there to help you and give you insight on what you are reading.  We can learn so much from someone years ahead of us, that are where we want to be.

My current routine for reading anyone can do to build up some momentum.  I am currently working to building back up to reading 50 pages a day.  Currently, I wake up and meditate for 15 minutes, and most days right after my meditation I will read 10 pages, some days I will wait till a little later to read, but most days it is directly after my mediation.  I do this so that no matter what I read 10 pages each and every day.  This gives me time if I want to read more before bed I can or even listen to an audiobook and learn as well.  I like doing it because it is a great way to start the day and allows me to read as much as I want or as little as I want to.

I hope this helped you start reading and helps you build momentum.  What is the first book you are going to read?  Or if you are already a reader what book are you currently reading?

Make the best of today,
Brian

How to Feel Less Tense and More Relaxed.

The other day I was doing my morning reading of the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.  During the reading I came across a point that I really loved and that has helped me tremendously since then.

I have been kind of tense and in my body lately but every single time I do what he says to do I automatically feel less tense and more in the moment.  And this is super simple and easy to do, literally anyone will have time to do this and it will benefit your day.  I understand some people may not have time to meditate every single day so this will also benefit you if you are one of those people.

As for being present, that is what this exercise was intended to help with, but I also found it to help with being relaxed and not as tense.

Eckhart says to try an exercise.  He says to "Close your eyes and say to yourself 'I wonder what my next thought is going to be.' Then become very alert and wait for the next thought."

You should notice that it takes a while for you to even have a thought.  Now this is useful because throughout your day you may be thinking so much into the future and for everything you have to get done that day.  But this exercise takes you into the now and helps you realize that the now is all you have.

It has helped me for the same reason.  Even before starting to write this, I was thinking of everything I have to do.  I have to write this today, go workout, read, make a video, and go to work.  Kind of a lot to focus on when right now I should be present while writing this, not focussed on those things.

And I am glad that I did that exercise before writing this because now I am able to focus solely on sharing this with you, not the other things I have to worry about today.  I can worry about those when I am done with what I am doing now, and so can you.

I hope this helped you get into the present and feel more relaxed.  Being relaxed is the one thing we all need, since we all get caught up in what we have to do, not what we are doing at this very moment.

Make the best of today,
Brian

Completing the 30 Day Muscle Building Challenge.

As of writing this I am already done with the 30 day muscle building challenge and have been for a couple of days now.  Here I would like to share my experience with it, the ups and downs and all that good stuff.

We will start with the good in today's post.  Over the past 30 days I have been able to find which workouts I enjoy the most and which ones build muscle the best for me.  Although I know there is a lot more experimenting to do to really get this down, I think in the time of these past 30 days I have gotten my body down pretty good on what type of workouts work the best for me as a hard gainer.

I have noticed tremendous amounts of chest and back muscle, and even ab muscle even though I am bulking and gaining some fat.  I believe that I have gotten my chest and back workouts down perfect, but those are the places of my body that grows the fastest.  My limbs grow a lot slower and I don't have a clue why.  Even though this is true I did notice small changes in my arms and legs, but not as much as I noticed the change in the depth of my chest and back.  That being said, I still do have chicken legs, and it is the thing I really need to change.  And for a warm up from now on I am going to use the stair stepper machine before I do my workout, no matter if its leg day or arm day.

As I am writing this, I just realized something that worked great for building muscle that I didn't even think about at all over the past 30 days.  One arm day in the past week I had so much energy and wanted to get a killer arm workout in.  I ended up doing 3 different workouts for the bicep and for the tricep.  This is something that I should've been doing every single day for every muscle group.  At least I know now for the future to do that and see if it works better for me.

As for being a hard gainer for my limbs, I will definitely give my arms and legs more of a workout than usual by adding another exercise or two to each muscle group.  I will also focus on time under tension instead of doing exercises with fast reps.  I was working out yesterday, it was leg day, and at first I was just doing each rep as fast as possible, while still doing the full range of motion.  This was still giving my legs a little bit of a burn, but the real burn didn't happen until I started to squeeze at the top of every rep to give my muscles time under tension.

Closing thoughts

From what I have come to realize over the past 30 days is that I have done some experimenting but I can always learn more.  For now I believe I have a pretty good road map to gain muscle for the next couple months and will keep you updated on what I am experiencing while working out and tips that can help you.

Make the best of today,
Brian

2018 Range Rover Velar P380.

Last week I had the opportunity to go and review the new 2018 Range Rover Velar.  My plan was to actually go and review a Jaguar F-Pace, but when I got to the Jaguar dealership I noticed they had some Range Rovers.  I guess they got a new owner at the dealership and he decided to bring in Range Rovers as well.

Anyways I saw the new Velar on the lot and I knew that it would be a way more interesting video than the F-Pace.  You probably would rather see the newest car than last years model right? Well today I am going to share my likes and dislikes about the car (I have to warn I am someone who likes to focus on looks and quality of the car's exterior and the interior and not as much electronics unless I really get to own the car and use it for a while, so here I will just mostly be focussing on the interior and exterior of the car.  This may also be a shorter post since it is harder for me to write about a car than talk about it on a camera and show you around).

I was reviewing the P380 version which comes with a suprecharged 3.0 liter V6 producing 380 horsepower.  This one came with real leather seats and a way better looking interior than the base model, with leather pretty much all around you, and if you know me you know that I love real leather, maybe a little bit too much, but it can really make a car feel and look that much more luxurious!



What I do like.

The car did feel very luxurious, it is the first Range Rover with door handles that pop out of the door (kind of like a Tesla or F-Type) when you unlock the car, which I think is a very cool feature for an off roading SUV.  Upon steeping inside the car you are surrounded with leather and wood almost everywhere.  And the second you sit in the seat it feels like you are sitting on a cloud, just like a Range Rover should!  Not to mention this huge panoramic sunroof that is exposed beautifully to you the second you start the car.

Everything on the car was easy to use.  Range Rover makes it easy to switch between your different off roading modes, and you can easily raise and lower the car, which surprising happens within a second or two.  To be honest I've never got to use the raising and lowering feature on a car, but this one was so fast that it almost felt like the car was shaking and scared me at first.  But once I noticed what the controls did I really learned to admire how fast they work.  Props to Range Rover on that.

The front of the car felt very spacious and filled with quality.  As I said before almost everything is wrapped in leather.  The front had a great feel for comfort, as well as being in an off roading SUV.  It even had the smallest detail not many people would car about but I think its kind of a neat and silly touch to the car, to open one of the cup holders you have to press a little button labeled "Land Rover".  I have no idea why they did this, maybe to remind you that you are sitting in a British luxury off roading vehicle and not a Jeep?  But I do like the attention to detail by that small little button in the car.


What I don't like.

When I hopped in the back seat of the car it felt kinda cramped for leg room.  Keep in mind I am about 5'6" or so and a luxury SUV of this size felt cramped in the back.  I did have the front seat pretty far back, but still it almost didn't feel right for a car that was priced over $80,000.  The car also had a plastic material on the inside of the B-pillar, which would be okay on the base model with no options, but this one had beautiful and comfortable leather all over, then they decided to put this cheap plastic on the interior as well, where they easily could've put alcantara instead of showing the plastic to everyone in the car.

The last thing I didn't like was another plastic on the car.  This plastic was actually on the door handles.  Sure the outside of the door handles are cool and look nice, but the second you go to pull on them you see and feel this cheap feeling plastic that I haven't seen on any car.  The F-Type's all have almost the same door handle style, although they do come out of the car a little different, Jaguar (which is the same brand) has the door handles come out but when you go to grab it you can tell they put detail into it, it even says "Jaguar" on it, and have a nice, well designed piece of aluminum that the word "Jaguar" is placed on. Not on the Range Rover though, it seems they just kind of said "Oh lets put the cool looking, pop out door handles on the car but make them feel cheap like they should be on a Ford Focus."

Closing thoughts.

All that being said, I really do love the car and the things I complained about aren't really the biggest problems but for the price you could spend a few thousand dollars more for the real Range Rover, if you are in the market for one.  I do love how they modernized the Velar with the pop out handles but still kept the classic Range Rover look and while still making a comfortable interior that looks and feels nice and good quality for the most part.  It is the first year they are making this car, so if you are looking to buy one I would wait a year or two so they can make it better and more reliable.

My Experience So Far With The 30 Day Muscle Building Challenge.

Today I am over 2/3 done with the 30 day muscle building challenge.  I have to admit there are some days where I have felt like just saying "fuck it" and not even exercise at all.  But I have barreled through that because I made a commitment to myself and to you that I would do some sort of exercise for 30 days in a row.

A lot of this has been trial and error and lots of experimenting with what works and what doesn't.  So far what I have learned for myself, and this may also work for you but I can't promise anything, is doing drop sets on secondary lifts.  This means to not do drop sets for exercises such as squats, pull ups, bench press and so on.  secondary lifts are ones like leg curls or extensions, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and so on.

Note this is just what I have noticed for my body, it may not be the same for you.  However if you are someone who is a hard gainer like myself, I would recommend focussing on drop sets for secondary lifts for a few weeks or few months and see where that gets you.  You can always tweak what you want to and make it your own for the best possible muscle growth for you.

I do have to admit, I am gaining fat because of the amount of food I am eating.  But I am eating to gain muscle not lean down.  Since gaining muscle has always been the hardest thing for me while working out it feels like I am gaining more fat than muscle but I am noticing the muscle I am gaining even if its only a little bit each day.

I am someone who believes in doing muscle building naturally.  Sure steroids would help but I just wouldn't feel like I'm the one putting in the sweat and effort and I'd be relying on something else for my gains.  I just think there is something cool to achieving success by doing it naturally with bodybuilding because you had to perceiver instead of take the easy route.  Myself I don't even take pre workout or anything.  Sometime I'll have a protein shake but thats about it.  Other than that I love to just eat food.  I admit, however that I might be doing this wrong.  Maybe I should be taking pre workout and other supplements for muscle growth.  But for me, where I am in life right now, that isn't what I want to do.

I want to put as much good food into my body as possible right now, and the least amount of processed food that I can afford right now.  I do this to help my body as much as possible.  However, just because I do things one way doesn't mean you have to as well.  There are many protein powders and drinks I will rarely drink just because they have way too many harmful ingredients.  But they would probably help with building muscle.  So if that is the one goal you have is to gain muscle, which it probably is since you are reading this, protein drinks are probably the easiest way.

Now I know there are protein powders that are pretty healthy and don't have all that processed crap in them, but myself I only spend money on them every few months because those can easily put a hole in your wallet compared to other protein powders.

But I have went way off topic.  To break it down I have been eating food mostly for the past 25 days or so instead of drinking protein shakes.  I have still been taking my cheat days once per week, and have noticed muscle growth, but there may be a time in the future where my goals switch and I start drinking more protein shakes just to put on muscle, but right now I am concerned with being healthy 6/7 days per week and gaining muscle.

Make the best of today,
Brian

The 10x Rule: How to Create Huge Amounts of Change in Your Life.

"The 10x Rule" by Grant Cardone was a really hard book to find 

only the top 5 best ideas from.  This book goes in depth on success,

and what the successful do more than most books I have read to this day.

I literally have about 100 ideas to choose from that I found useful

Today I would like to share with you the top 5 of those 100 ideas

that I highlighted while reading the book.

1. 10x your goals.

"You must set targets that are 10 times what you think you want and 

then do 10 times what you think it will take to accomplish 

those targets. Massive thoughts must be followed by massive actions."

The reason this is number one on the list is because it is the

framework and blueprint you need to know.

The hardest part of this rule is applying it to your life.

This framework is so powerful is because it takes you beyond the "realistic" 

goals you didn't even know you had.  Grant suggests that writing 

down a goal that is 10 times as big as you think you can achieve is best.

The reason he says this is because, lets say you have a goal to make 

$1,000,000 in 10 years.  That is a great goal!  But Grant suggests you 

should turn that goal instead to $10,000,000.

Yes this goal may seem impossible.  Although you may not 

make the $10,000,000 in 10 years, you will still be 

10x'ing the amount of work you will think it will take to 

accomplish this goal.  From Grant's experience he says
that if you put these 2 frameworks into practice and take
it seriously, even if you don't hit that $10,000,000 you will
still make that $1,000,000 at least.

"Never reduce a target. Instead increase actions." -Grant Cardone

2.  Move beyond the situation. 

Grant takes this to the extreme.  He says to take responsibly for
everything in life, and I mean everything!  Every action you take determines
what will happen.  He uses as an example, that you are
late to work because traffic was bad.  This may be true
but he states that you could've left earlier to be prepared
for the traffic

This boils down to taking responsibly in our lives, not
blaming what happens to us on some outside of us.

Tony Robbins always hammers on this subject as well.

I would say that this one mind shift has helped me in life
and can help you as well.  Being responsible for everything you
do will make or break you.
Don't be responsible for every action you take,
and good luck ever succeeding.

When you start to notice
when you are blaming an external force for your
hardships your life will change.You will start taking responsibly
and learning from mistakes instead
of blowing the mistakes off and never worrying about them
or even realizing them in the first place.

You are responsible for your actions, and what
happens "to you" not anyone or anything else!

3. Write down your goals down daily.

I am going to be honest, I have trouble with this but it is something
that really helps as motivation.  Whenever I record my goals
and write them down, I find that I am inspired
 right away to work toward those goals.

Grant says to do 2 things.  Write down your goals every single day,
 and choose objectives that are out of reach (which we talked about earlier).

This is now something I am going to commit to every single
day since I have trouble with it right now.  Lets start a 30 day
challenge together for writing down our goals every single day.
And don't forget to make sure they are unrealistic.

4. Middle class.

This whole section focusses on chapter 11, where Grant talks
about "breaking out of the middle class".  I have made a video on
this chapter along and I believe it to be a great start for many
people, and that is why I am including it here today.

He states that the middle class is based on how much you make
but also isn't.  It is mostly a mindset people adopt.  The middle
class is considered to be somewhere between $22,000-$65,000
per year.  However Grant states that anyone can have
the middle class mentality , even if they are making $1,000,000
per year.  This person can still be spending more
than they are making on more expensive things.

The middle class is what most of us are brought up to
believe to be normal.  But if there is one thing you will
learn in "The 10x Rule" it is to not be normal.

5. For successful people work is a passion.

Maybe you aren't passionate about the job you are in right now.
I know I am not, however some days I decide to make work a
sort of game.  I find ways to be the most talkative with
customers, and also how I can get more
done in the time I spend there.

What are some ways you can turn your job into a "game".
If your job sucks right now it can be beneficial to make it
more fun for yourself, find ways to getting more done
in your time there enjoyable,
or at least somewhat enjoyable.

This is something I am still working on at my job.
Like I said my job isn't my true passion, (and I am working towards
being able to quit) but I know that if I can
make it fun, I won't be completely miserable
while working.  What are some ways you can make your
job more of a game?  If you are in sales you could
play a game to compete with a friend to see who can sell
more.  Be creative with whatever your job is and
find a way to make it more enjoyable and productive.

You may also have some side stuff you are building
outside of work, which I hope you do.  Does this ever feel
like work to you?  Probably not, because it is something you created.

I can say for myself whenever I edit a Youtube video, I find that
I can be editing for an hour, a really productive hour, and
that'll feel like 5 minutes.  I even have the same passion for
writing these blog posts.  Even though I am not the best
writer I still strive to make these the best I can and find
the passion in sharing with others that
writing this right now is fun for me.

"Truly successful people don't even call it work; for them, it's a
passion.  Why?  Because they do enough to win."- Grant Cardone