Feeding Tube Diet...Seriously?

 The latest weight loss craze is as follows: ‘brides sign up now to lose ten pounds in two weeks!’ That’s not too crazy on its own but it is the method that is insane. Here comes that magic bullet again. These brides are going on the feeding tube diet. Yes, you read that correctly. Women are having tubes filled with some sort of protein-type cocktail fed into their bodies via a tube. One would think that this takes place in a hospital or doctor’s office. Au contraire; it may begin that way but this contraption is portable, baby.

 If you’re not embarrassed by the appearance of a thin white tube crawling around the back of your ear, snaking across your face and then having it dive into your nostril well, I must give you props for that. But that’s where the ‘props’ end. Because if you are the type to wait until the last minute prior to-the best day of your life-to partake of the magic pill then I guarantee that the minute the wedding photos are done you’ll be running not walking to that wedding cake. Furthermore, this new over-hearty appetite will no doubt carry on into the honeymoon stage until within one week you will have put back the original ten pounds that you lost. Not only that I bet you’ll put on more than the original ten, as is often the case.

And what about you so-called doctors? You cats will truly do anything for a buck won't you. You need to take a good long look at your diploma and ask yourselves, "Doc, dude, what am I doing?' You should be encouraging these people to live healthily not, "Hold still sweetheart while I jam this tube up your nose, that-a-girl." Has the pursuit of the almighty dollar clouded the part of your memory where the Hippocratic oath resides?

Come on America stop these silly gimmicks. Put an end to these fly by night schemes. Just because some doctors say its safe doesn't meant its wise. There ain’t nothing like the real thing people and the real thing is proper diet and exercise. Come train with me and we’ll bury this feeding tube nonsense forever. jbthefitnessguy.com

Baby's Got Back...chin ups and pull ups

Occasionally I'm asked what the difference between a pull up and a chin up is. I'm also asked which exercise is better. Let me start by saying that in my opinion both versions of lifting that body of yours off the ground is one of the best exercises ever invented. As far as the origin no doubt it goes back to the days when some vagabond attempted thievery from some rich lord only to have the hounds released on him. In fleeing the scene he probably needed some way to get over that wall. But I digress. And as far as which is better; they're both great.

Here's how the difference breaks down. It comes down to grip and muscles used. If you grab the bar with your palms facing you, you're doing a chin up. If your palms face away from you then it's pull up time. Most people find that the chin up is easier, meaning you can do more reps. This is because even though both exercises primarily hit the back, the chin up uses more bicep.

If you don't have access to a chin up bar you can use the lat pull down machine at your local gym. It's not the same as literally lifting your body weight but it is darn close. Plus, many out there may not be able to do even one chin up or pull up. Don't feel bad if this is you especially if you're a grown up and you haven't done this since childhood. These are hard, plain and simple. Not only that, there are a lot of big dudes out there that struggle with these. You'll often see people built like rock climbers (strong and lean) or actual rock climbers ripping these things off like butter. (That is if you can imagine a lot of pull ups being like butter...hmm I need to work on that one).
Allow me to offer one caveat. If you do a pull up to the point of ducking your head and putting the bar behind you to the back of your neck; don't. Many people can do this and they have no problems. But many others, develop shoulder pain because it puts the rotator cuff at an odd angle and/or they experience neck pain. So stick to the regular pull/chin ups and live happily ever after with a gorgeous back. You do want 'back'...don't ya baby!?!

Come check me out at www.jbthefitnessguy.com