I believe body transformation requires developing healthy habits to replace unhealthy habits. You may feel overwhelmed with all the suggestions I make on this website to improve your health and achieve a leaner body. My advice: Divide and Conquer. Let me explain…

As I’ve followed the entrepreneurial path the last couple years, at times I feel completely overwhelmed by all the various tasks and projects I need to complete. But when I break apart the tasks by prioritizing (divide), then complete them over time (conquer), managing a business becomes a lot more well, manageable. If you apply this same “divide and conquer” approach to improving your health, then changing your habits and striving for optimal health is far more achievable.

Here are three examples of people I know who (1) focused on their unhealthiest habits (prioritized), (2) then made small changes over time that added up to impressive results:

Continue Reading Divide & Conquer: Small Changes Add Up

If you’ve been following BuiltLean.com, you know losing fat WITHOUT losing muscle is the only way to get lean. So how do you track if you are losing fat, or muscle, or both? The first place to start is by measuring your body fat percentage.

I have an overview of the 5 most common methods of measuring body fat percentage below, along with the ONLY method to perfectly measure body fat percentage (I’ll bet you don’t want to use this method). While these 5 methods vary in accuracy, the key to assessing body fat levels is consistent measurements over time (repeatability) so that you can effectively track your progress.

1) Skin Fold Caliper

The “skin fold” method measures your body fat percentage by pinching your fat with your fingers then measuring the thickness with a body fat caliper. The reading is given in millimeters, which you compare to a chart with age and gender to arrive at your body fat percentage. There are many different types of caliper tests, which range from only one site like with the Accumeasure Body Fat Caliper to a 7 site Jackson Pollack Method (some are as high as 12 sites).

Continue Reading 5 Ways to Measure Body Fat Percentage

How do you structure the order of exercises for your workouts? I want to offer you 3 compelling reasons why you should complete the most challenging, intense exercises in the beginning of your workout, then move on to less strenuous exercises.

When I say “challenging” exercises, I mean you are focusing on the most challenging compound exercises that require multiple joints and a lot of effort, such as Squats, Lunges, Bench Press, or Pullups for example. These exercises give you the most bang for your buck, as I described in Part 3 of my Efficient Strength Training 101 article series: How to Choose Effective Exercises.

So here are 3 reasons to complete the most challenging exercises in the beginning of your workout:

1) You have the most energy

At the beginning of the workout after a light warm up, your muscles are likely filled with sufficient glycogen (energy for your body), your muscles are fresh, and your cardiovascular capacity is the highest. You are ready to hit the weights hard and you might as well use this energy on the most important exercises that you get the best results. Starting out with shoulder raises or a biceps curl is not a great use of your energy.

Continue Reading 3 Reasons to Complete Challenging Exercises First

In the first two parts of this food journal article series, I described the 7 Reasons Why You Should Keep a Food Journal and my favorite Free Online Calorie Tracker and App to make keeping a food journal easier. In this last part of the series, I have a Free Printable Food Journal for those of you who expressed you would prefer keeping a written journal.

I wasn’t planning on creating this food journal template myself, but instead linking to a printable food journal that I could find on the internet. It turns out, they were all either missing important parts, or simply inadequate! I want you to have the best information, so I created a food journal report below:

Continue Reading Part 3: Free Printable Food Journal Template

In the first part of this food journal article series, I described the 7 Reasons Why You Should Keep a Food Journal, even for only a couple days. In Part 2, I want to describe the types of metrics you should consider tracking, along with the best online calorie trackers and Smartphone apps to make the process of keeping a food journal much easier.

What Should You Track?

There are a bunch of different metrics you may consider tracking in your food journal, so I included the big one’s below. These metrics may sound complicated, but in just a second you’ll learn of software that make these calculations a snap:

Continue Reading Part 2: Best Free Online Calorie Tracker and App

While I’m really passionate about eating healthy, my eating habits weren’t always great. In fact, they were absolutely terrible for most of my life. For the longest time I really didn’t understand the quality of the foods I was putting in my body, how they effected me, and why sometimes I would go on massive eating binges.

My eating habits soon changed the one week I kept a food journal using an online tracker and tracked my calories for every meal, every snack, and recorded any food that entered my body. It was an eye opening experience for me and if you have not tracked your calories, or kept a food journal before, it can be a very positive experience for you as well.

This food journal series will teach you the basics so you can get the most out tracking your eating habits. To start, here are 7 compelling reasons why you should try to keep a journal, even for only a couple days:

1) Learn how to control your calories

Continue Reading Part 1: 7 Reasons to Keep a Food Journal

It can be very challenging finding a heart rate monitor that fits your budget and your needs because there are thousands to choose from. I created a 7 step checklist you can follow to make the process MUCH easier. I also give you my top pick for a great heart rate monitor that doesn’t break your wallet.

1) Heart Rate Reading Should Be Easily Visible

Believe it or not, most heart rate monitors don’t make the heart rate reading easily visible on the display. I know, it’s crazy. Polar heart rate monitors, which are considered “best of breed” are notorious for making the heart rate reading extremely small and even worse, hard to find!

Continue Reading How to Choose a Heart Rate Monitor

When I first meet a training, or coaching client, I normally ask, “How much would you like to change your weight?” Most of them pause, shrug their shoulders, and then reply, “I’m not sure, maybe…” then take a guess at how much weight they want to lose.

The amount of weight you want to lose (or gain) doesn’t have to be a guessing game. There’s a formula to calculate your goal weight more precisely so you can have that magic number in your head that motivates you to eat well and train hard.

Old Ideal Body Weight Formula: BMI

The most common method of measuring your ideal weight is using the Body Mass Index (BMI), which measures the relationship between your weight and your height.

Continue Reading Ideal Body Weight Formula: How to Calculate Your Ideal Weight

In my free Get Lean Guide report, I wrote that eating less calories than you burn is one of the 4 pillars of effective fat loss nutrition. Calorie control is so important because if you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight, and if you eat less calories than you burn, you lose weight.

So how do you accurately measure your calorie burn? Is a simple calculation really good enough?

What Is Your Calorie Burn?

Your calorie burn is the sum of three components:

1) Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – This is how many calories your body burns at rest. Even while you rest, your respiratory system is operating, digestive system, and other body processes that require energy (i.e. burn calories). Your BMR represents roughly 65% of your total calorie burn.

2) Activity Level – This is how many calories you burn that requires physical movement, or when your body is in motion. The more active you are, the more calories you will burn. Activity level represents roughly 20% of calorie burn, which depends on how active you are of course.

Continue Reading How to Calculate Your Calorie Burn