So, this will not just be random, but spontaneous as well. No advanced planning,  just wriiting ... and not all about fitness-type stuff either.

1. Darn it, I already forgot what I was going to write here. What the heck? It was not related to fitness and it's just outside of reach of my memory now ...

This is really going to bug me now. Fantastic start.

Oh well, onto more important things.

2. I'm doing some research on all the intricacies of importing a car into Canada; that is, going down to the US and buying it, and then bringing it back over the border. It seems like there's a lot of paper work and red tape involved but other than just getting it all done, it seems pretty straight forward. Reason I'm looking to the US is that with the strength of the Canadian dollar, buying in the US has some great advantages right now. Of course I'd prefer a weaker Canadian dollar/stronger American dollar since then I make more money. LOL

So with the car I'm looking at, the difference is looking to be in the $20000 neighbourhood. I'd say some paperwork and red tape is worth it. Of course I'm still going to get dinged with the beloved HST when I cross the border (dumb/new tax for my American friends). That's a whopping 13% by the way. Ouch.

This also means I would have to part with my beloved Infiniti G35 that I've had for the last few years. I do love this car, although it goes away in the winter since it's all but useless in 2 millimetres of snow. But it's not even in the same class as what I am looking at.

So what am I looking at? They call it Godzilla! The Super Car Killer! Otherwise known as the Nissan GT-R. One of the neat things is that this will as far as I know be the only one where I live as I've only ever seen one as it is and that was on the highway.

3. I've now been in business and operating Lean Bodies Consulting for five incorporated business years. It's sometimes still hard to believe that I've been blessed with the opportunity to do something I love and make a healthy living doing so, all while working from the comfort of my home. The flexibility has been great and the lack of commute even better, especially in winter months. Man that was awful.

I have two little ones now, Alyssa going on 2 in December and little Christian who just hit 7 months. My business has allowed my wife to stay home and raise them full time which is something you just can't trade in. Day care versus mom? That's a pretty easy decision for us to make. And as successful and blessed as I've been to date with Lean Bodies Consulting, October of 2010 was my best ever month, so I'm pleased to see things continue to get better and better. Thank you to each of you who puts, and has put, your trust in me as a coach.

4. My long-time close friend, Amy Perez, (who does the Recipe blog on the LBC site) is finally putting the pedal to the medal with her business projects. I'm pleased to mention the rapidly approaching launch of Amy Perez's new cookbook, cleverly called, Curls and Whey. This will be the first in a series of recipe book projects that Amy has planned to put under the Curls and Whey brand. Curls and Whey also has a rapidly growing Facebook page here.

In addition if you're in the Virginia Beach area, Amy is in the process of launching what is going to prove to be THE Virginia Beach bootcamp ... appropriately named Metabolic Mayhem. Cool name eh? And quite telling for what's in store. I told her she should go by Sergeant Slaughter or Major Mayhem (haha). Of course, while this is going to be known to be an intermediate-to-advanced bootcamp, a good instructor knows how and when to regress movements when it's needed. It's all about individual attention and progression from there.

5. So I did a program update the other day for a client of mine who is getting ready to do a photoshoot soon. Part of the udpate was my decreasing her cardio – yes decreasing, not increasing. That's not a typo. Said client posted on my wall saying the following:

“... i rejoiced upon reading that i had less cardio! At the end of the day, i'm still very glad that I'm not working with an idiot trainer who prescribes double cardio and gives me a fish & asparagus diet.”

Shortly thereafter someone pops on by and says in response:

“I love fish/asparagus + have had a trainer who gave me that for every meal!! and we always did double cardio! There are many ways to get to the same goal!”

To which I said:

“Brilliant expertise - fish and asparagus for every meal. And people pay for this advice? Why make it unnecessarily harder than it has to be? Sorry but I think that's just retarded - dieting on TWO foods?”

I was then told that supposedly the trainers that subscribe to this have a scientific and biological justification for this dietary strategy ... right.

I am still just completely flabbergasted when I read comments like this. People actually PAY people to give them a diet of two foods – the same two foods for every meal, every day? You PAY for this? This is the expertise you're PAYING for? Seriously, you couldn't have put this together yourself? Throw in two hours of cardio a day, every day? So the program is essentially two foods, fish and asparagus and 14 hours of cardio a week.

Please tell me you're shaking your head with me!!

This is a good time to direct you to an old rant of mine – A Rant About Figure Contest Prep NONSENSE!

I get that some of the industry big-wigs have made this 'strategy' popular or common, but that doesn't make it right, or optimal. I wonder what happens when that contest diet is over and they no longer have to survive on TWO foods. Can you say, all hell breaks loose in the kitchen? Heck, I'd eat everything in site too after eating fish and asparagus 42 times per week.

The good thing is that we're seeing more and more people wise up to the fact that this simply is not necessary to being in great shape. More importantly you can diet down to contest-ready condition and do it in a much healhier and more balanced way. The more competitors that stand up and show it can be done, and this is happening, the better. At that point, those that still stick with nonsensical and unnecessarily hard protocols like this, well, choose the behaviour, choose the consequences.

I have another thought to post about, but I'm going to save it. This is getting long enough.

Posted Nov 05, 2010 by Erik Ledin.
This entry is filed under Off Topic, Contest Prep, Rants, Fat Loss, and