Tips to Reduce Back Pain or Neck Pain

I'm not sure if you saw this recently or not, but I just wanted you to know that as a subscriber of this Ezine, I have a good friend in the publishing business that has offered their 7-Day Back Pain Cure book FREE if you want to grab it now!

This is a physical softcover book, not an Ebook, so there is a very small shipping fee, but $2 of that fee goes towards your choice of charity -- either Habitat for Humanity or Kiva.

So who is the author of this book and is he reputable?

Well, yes I know Jesse personally as we're both members of a private group of fitness professionals that all network together on a regular basis.

Jesse Cannone is the author of the 7-Day Back Pain Cure book. Jesse is recognized as one of the leading back pain relief experts in the world and co-founder of The Healthy Back Institute.

This book is great because it gives you dozens of useful tips for eliminating back pain... everything from tips on how to sit, specific foods that can help, unique exercises, and even 7-day "action plans" so you can start getting results in the first week.

For example, if you have a herniated or bulging disc, then use that action plan.... Neck pain? page 172... Sciatica? page 178

So, if you suffer from any type of back pain, I highly recommend you go grab yourself a free copy of his book now.

The Ugly Truth About Back Pain

Here's a little-known fact. The real cause of back pain is almost always overlooked. Most doctors only treat the symptoms. They use "band-aid" treatments like:

• Cortisone shots
• Dangerous drugs
• Physical therapy
• Surgery
• Chiropractic manipulation

 These may work sometimes. When they do, it's almost never long-term.

 It's not until you treat the "hidden" underlying causes that you get lasting pain relief. Back pain is almost always caused by muscle imbalances which are a result of hip-dysfunctions.

 What are "hip-dysfunctions"? In short, they're the combination of tight and loose muscles in your upper legs, buttocks and hips that pull your pelvis and spine out of their natural alignment over the years.

 This makes your back muscles work against the grain so they get hurt ... it puts pressure on your spine, discs and nerves and causes all kinds of back, neck, sciatic related pain.

 The good news is, it's VERY FIXABLE - without expensive and never-ending trips to a chiropractor, without dangerous prescription drugs and without surgery.
 

Fixing the imbalances causing these dysfunctions returns your body to the natural, balance structure it was when you were young and didn't have back-pain.

 Medical doctors and Chiropractors are finally catching on and using this method as a treatment with their back pain patients. The results are nothing short of impressive.

 My good friend Jesse Cannone, co-founder of the Healthy Back Institute, and his colleagues, are at the forefront of this revolutionary treatment.

Jerry Talisman of Carlsbad California claims: "50 Years of Chronic Back Pain and Sciatica Gone in Just Days!"

 And tens of thousands of others are reporting similar success using this "formula"...

 In Jesse's new book "The 7 Day Back Pain Cure" he does what no one else in the medical community does, and that is put together all of the pieces... see, most people when they have back pain usually get treatments that only mask the pain... and even then, the treatments only address the physical symptoms...

 In his new book, he shows you:

• Why traditional treatments always FAIL to deliver lasting relief
• The 7 mistakes that most people make that keep them in pain
• How to identify the real, underlying causes of your pain
• Which treatments work, which ones don't and how to know which is right for you

 Now here's the best part. Right now he is actually giving his new book away for free... you can also buy it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble for full price, but if you grab one of the free copies from their website, he is donating $2 of the tiny shipping fee to Habitat for Humanity or Kiva.org - you even get to choose the charity!

Go here to grab your copy today and eliminate back pain

Other TAA articles you may have missed recently:

 Top 5 Fat Burning Foods

The Truth About Carbohydrates

Enjoy!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

13 Healthy and Tasty Fat Burning Snacks

I've got a great article today for you with 13 tasty fat-burning snack ideas.

But just one reminder first... this is the last day that you can get the special discounted TacFit Commando program with those wild bodyweight workouts... Go here to check it out before the deal expires:

http://www.tacfitcommando.com/blog/thetruth

I also have another article further below that shows some cool examples of how this system works.

But first, here's today's article --

13 Healthy (and Tasty) Fat-Burning Snack Ideas



~~~~~~~~~
Now here's a little more info about that unusual Tacfit Commando program.

Tacfit is a bodyweight exercise approach that will help you get lean, condition your heart, and leave you gasping for breath. Here's just one example of many of the concepts that Tacfit teaches:

The trick is to do your exercise routine with a full-body matrix of bodyweight exercises.

You're probably asking, "What the heck is a full-body matrix?"

It's based on a 6-D movement model from aviation. It's useful because it describes how your body moves through space:

Heaving: moving up and down
Swaying: moving right and left
Surging: moving forward and backward
Pitching: bending forward and backward
Yawing: twisting right and left
Rolling: turning right and left

Most programs focus on just three of these essential elements: Moving front/back (think of lunges or pushups), moving up/down (think bodyweight squats), and moving side to side (think of jumping jacks or side lunges).

But you’re leaving a lot of potential fat loss on the table if you ignore all the rotational movements. The magic comes when you combine all these movements into one bodyweight circuit.

Putting all 6 together will kick your butt faster than any other method. You'll get in incredible shape fast, and you'll get your training out of the way sooner so you can spend more of your hard earned vacation time playing on the beach or hanging out with your family.

Here's a very simple example to get you started. Do the 6 exercises below for 30 seconds each, no rest between exercises. Then rest one minute and start again. Do 5 rounds for a total of 20 minutes. With your warm up and cool down you're done in half an hour.

1. Push up (Surge)
2. Crunch (Pitch)
3. Side Lunge (Sway)
4. Alternating Side Plank (Roll)
5. Russian Twist (Yaw)
6. Bodyweight Jump Squat (Heave)

Training in a full-body matrix like that also makes sure your body stays balanced. You won't waste time dealing with overuse injuries caused by doing the same repetitive movements in the same planes day after day, because you’re moving your body through full ranges of motion.

This is one of the unique approaches of TACFIT Commando. They've built an entire 3 month program around exactly this kind of bodyweight exercise approach, except with some seriously cool and unique exercises you've probably never seen before.

The whole program is based on actual training methods they use with military special ops and police types around the world, but it is made for everyday folks like you and me. Check it out here for the last day of the special:

http://www.tacfitcommando.com/blog/thetruth

Have fun with it!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

Tactics to win the war on belly fat

If you wanted more info regarding yesterday's email about the new wild bodyweight workouts in the Tacfit Commando program, I've got it for you today. We've put together an interview below.

If you missed it, check out the video and watch into the 2nd minute for some super cool bodyweight drills inspired by Scott's Spec Ops training.

To give you some more info about this very unique program, we put together a little Q & A below...

Mike: I've been watching the videos that come with your program and trying out some of the exercises. They are very unique. Where did you come up with these funky bodyweight exercises?

Scott: Great question. All the exercises we use in the TACFIT program actually come from the body's natural movement patterns. They only look unusual because mainstream fitness has forgotten many of the ranges of motion we're capable of moving in.

When our bodies are tuned in to high levels of performance, they naturally thrive on the kinds of movements you describe as funky - movements that are full-range, sophisticated, and coordinated.

The real challenge - and one of the things I'm most proud of - is breaking these funky movements down so they're accessible to anyone, even people who are currently living sedentary lives. Each "movement family" in the TACFIT system builds through several levels of complexity, so the program is totally accessible to people new to fitness, while the higher levels challenge even elite athletes.

I've actually got 80 year old ladies doing variations of the same movements that are currently being trained by elite Navy SEAL operators!

This progressive motor sophistication is obviously of direct benefit to the special ops types. But the other great benefit to this type of training is that it's just so much fun to do. Your mind is fully engaged in the challenge. You look forward to the next session. You're always excited about it, and so you stick to the program. There's a lot to be said for consistency when it comes to meeting your body transformation goals.

Mike: You were telling me that your elite clients were initially interested more in the performance benefits of your training methods, but that they experienced rapid fat loss and muscle gain. Any idea why this stuff works so fast for body composition changes?

Scott: There are a lot of factors at play here. But in the end it comes down to developing the ability to generate high intensity bursts of exercise. And as I learned from training national level martial arts teams and professional athletes, most people - even elite athletes, believe it or not - don't know how to tap true high intensity training.

People think getting to that level is a question of will, or mind over matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. You have to orchestrate high intensity. And to do that you must coordinate several training elements.

I won't go too deeply into the science geek stuff. Basically, you have to take into consideration a range of complex issues like technique, self awareness, exercise selection, arrangement of exercises, and program periodization. We've woven all of those details into the TACFIT system. And because the program is also being delivered to special ops units around the globe, we've had to make "delivery" as simple and error-free as possible. We've had to weave in these complex elements so seamlessly that our clients don't even realize how much is under the hood. They just follow the plan and reap the rewards.

Most people would also be surprised to learn that one of the most important elements in tapping high intensity is recovery. I don't mean rest. I'm talking about systematic and aggressive recovery methods.

Mike: Actually, I've been reading some of the comments on your blog this week, and I was struck by how much people appreciate the active recovery aspect of your program. Can you talk a little about why it's so different than anything else out there right now?

Scott: Active recovery involves two key things: joint mobility and compensatory movement.

Joint mobility is important because it literally feeds your body. If you don't move your joints systematically through their full range of motion on a daily basis, they become compressed. In the short term this means you can push less weight through a shorter range of motion at that joint. And that means less fat burned and reduced potential for muscle growth. In the long term it means reduced range of motion, joint aches and pains, and eventual injury - all of the hallmarks we associate with aging.

Compensatory movement is important because it removes the parking brake from your performance. The thing most people miss, the flipside of the SAID (Specific Adaptation To Imposed Demand) principle, is that everything we do causes adaptations in the body, whether we want it to or not - it doesn't just happen with weight training.

I'll give you a simple example. If you sit at a desk all day, it becomes easier and easier to stay that way. The muscles and connective tissues adapt and the fascia becomes thick and leathery until your body actually becomes chair-shaped. You've seen that, right? No, it isn't normal or inevitable. You just have to release the tissues in the opposite direction to restore balance and maintain good health. If you don't, aches and pains are only the beginning of your problems.

TACFIT addresses this in two ways. We include specific joint mobility corresponding to each exercise circuit. And we also include specific fascial stretching designed to compensate for the work in the program, to release these tensed tissues and restore their natural resting length so overcompensations don't develop.

People talk about the recovery stuff so much because it simply makes them feel so damned good! They initially come to TACFIT for the workouts - the really hardcore stuff -but what blows them away is the fact that the aches and pains they've had for years are fading away, and they're almost moving like a kid again. It puts the run on aging, I can tell you that!

Mike: I've always been a bit skeptical about bodyweight-only exercise and it's ability to get the same results as weights. But this program definitely has me convinced. Can you talk about how this is different than typical bodyweight programs?

Scott: Most people think of bodyweight training as endless series of push ups, sit ups and lunges. Not only is that incredibly boring, it's not going to get you the body you want either.

To change your physique you must constantly up the ante by providing your body with more and newer stimuli. In the weight room we do this by adding more weight. But bodyweight training is a different beast.

We can't increase the weight, so we have to find other ways to provide new stimuli. And the most effective way I've found is through increasing motor sophistication while staying within the same exercise "family."

So instead of just doing push ups until we can do a hundred of them, we'll build from push ups to screwing presses to plyometric screwing presses to scorpion presses and so on. The names of the exercises aren't important. It's all in the program. What is important is the concept of adding motor sophistication. That constant incremental increase in challenge is what keeps muscles growing and fat burning.

Mike: Rumor has it that you trained in the former Soviet Union. Is that true? If so, what was that like?

It opened me up to possibilities I'd never dreamed of. They put us in a big sports complex, a sort of sport science think-tank, where they exposed us to experts from a wide range of fields. We had Special Forces trainers, intelligence officers, people in the cosmonaut program, doctors and medical scientists, as well as an array of coaches from all different sports, from the Russian National Boxing coach to the Russian National Hockey coach, the Russian National Fencing coach, the gymnastics coach, and even a world famous dance instructor, Alexander Medved. The Russians placed a very high value on the science of movement, and it was reflected across all these disciplines. Everything was monitored and tested. The Soviets saw sport as a political tool, and nothing was left to chance.

I came out of there with an entirely new perspective on training. It infuses everything I do with my clients, and every product I develop for the general public. All of this formerly "secret" stuff is in there, tempered by the years of testing and American know-how we applied to it on this side of the pond.

Mike: Right now you're giving a special discount on your TACFIT Commando product to celebrate summer and independence from the gym. How is this program different than what you do with your special operations clients?

It's not. The principles, the protocols and even the movement families are the same. You're getting exactly the same benefits. The only difference is your starting point. The special ops guys tend to be very highly trained when I meet them, and so they usually jump into more advanced portions of the TACFIT program. But you have access to those levels too. You just have to work up to them - and you can.

Like I said earlier, I've worked hard to make sure anyone can use this program. The interesting thing is that 10 people of completely different conditioning, strength and skill levels can all work out together and feel linked, part of a team. They're all doing the same program, but at their own personal level of development. Everyone is challenged.

Everyone gets the same performance benefits. And everyone gets the same accelerated fat burning and muscle building effects. Whether you're a Navy SEAL or a desk jockey, the program is the same.

Grab it today before the 51%-off deal ends:

http://www.tacfitcommando.com/blog/thetruth

Mike: Thanks Scott... this program looks great!

Enjoy!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Author - The Truth About Six Pack Abs

Wildly unusual bodyweight workouts

I pride myself on knowing pretty much all of the most effective tools, techniques and weapons in the war on belly fat. But I recently found something new that's going to turn the tides of the battle!

I was introduced to a guy called Scott Sonnon who trains special ops and law enforcement agents around the world. These guys call him in because he's so great at getting them in top shape to perform on the job.

But they also noticed a crazy side effect to his stuff. They got so lean their skin looked like it was shrink-wrapped over muscle. They weren't really training for this, but it kept happening so much that Scott finally couldn't ignore it any longer.

He's put his methods together into a system that works for regular folks like you and me. And it's one of the coolest and most unique workout programs I've ever seen.

There's some unusual bodyweight exercises in here that are REALLY out of the ordinary!

In fact, it's so cool that I want you to take a look at the quick 3-minute video on his website (watch into the 2nd minute and you'll see some cool drills)

Check out this cool video clip


The other thing about Scott's program is that these workouts don't require ANY equipment. I asked him about it, and he said the pro guys he trains never know where they're going to be, or for how long.

They've gotta be able to train anywhere, on a moment's notice. Scott had to be pretty innovative and come up with unique ways of using bodyweight training to make sure his program provides constant stimulus for fat loss and muscle gain.

To be honest, I was skeptical. How could you get the same results with bodyweight as you can with weights? Well, I have to admit, now that I've seen the progressions in these crazy workouts, I'm sold. This stuff is seriously tough, and I can see how effective it's going to be.

Scott and his team have revamped their declassified product based on the feedback of their first few thousand test subjects. To celebrate the re-release of the program, they're offering 51%-off for the next 3 days. It is definitely a good time to enlist...

http://www.tacfitcommando.com/blog/thetruth

Cool stuff. I think you'll like it.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

Article - 3 back pain relief exercises

2 New food tricks to reduce cravings and control calories

I have a couple new "food tricks" today to help you control calories, cravings, and appetite...

#1. About 20 minutes before every meal, eat one handful of nuts such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc...preferrably raw nuts (as this reduces the oxidation of polyunsaturated fats), but any nuts will still do the trick.

This is a trick I've used myself and I've used with many of my clients in the past that ALWAYS helps people to control their appetite and get lean FAST!

The reason it works is because the healthy fats, fiber, protein, and density of micronutrients (antioxidants, vitamins, minerals) in nuts help to satisfy a lot of the nutrition needs of your body, thereby greatly reducing your appetite before eating full meals.

We add the handful of nuts about 20 minutes before each meal because this allows enough time for your body to signal to the brain that it received this nutrition and thereby reduce your appetite.

Also, this basically substitutes a healthy super nutrient-dense source of calories into your diet multiple times per day, and increasing your % of your calorie intake from nuts as opposed to other types of foods aids your body in decreasing body fat.

#2. The 2nd "food trick" comes from my good friend and nutrition author Jon Benson of http://favoritefoodsdiet.com/

This is a trick I didn't know about until recently, and it involves food scent.

Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten.

A recent study found that those who inhaled peppermint in scent form every 2 hours ate (get this) 2700 calories LESS per week than they normally did.

Let me put that in perspective: That's a fatloss of more than half a pound a week... from sniffing peppermint!

Vanilla also works. You can keep vanilla-scented drops or even candles around the office and take a wiff every few hours.

How easy is that?

Thanks to Jon for finding that pretty cool study! You can check out Jon's site at: http://favoritefoodsdiet.com/


Other cool articles that you might have missed:

1. Does Microwaved food negatively affect your health?
2. Are you inadvertently buying Tainted Fish with weird chemicals?
3. The truth about organic food


Til next newsletter,
Eat clean and be lean.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

Is Your Protein Powder TOXIC?

Before we get into today's discussion about the massive news story recently about toxic protein powders... I have an announcement...

Due to popular demand, I'm going to be working closely with a couple Certified Trainers on my team to offer you our first ever Personalized Online Coaching Program!

We've had a lot of requests for personalized fitness/nutrition coaching, but this business has just been so overwhelmingly busy, I've never had the time to put this offer out there.

So what we've decided to do is offer this coaching program to the first 20 people that sign up for it and are accepted into the program. We can only handle 20 people for the time-being, so I'll be taking down the order button after we have filled this program.

Check it out here:

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/personalized-fitness-coaching.html


Now for today's protein powder topic...

Is Your Protein Powder Toxic?

As you may have seen lately, there has been an uproar in the health/fitness community about a recent Consumer Reports story that indicated certain protein powders on the market contained toxic levels of heavy metals, etc in their products.

Here is a quick 5-minute video produced by Registered Dietician Jayson Hunter explaining more details about this report and what it means to you:

Toxic Protein?

Til next newsletter,
Eat clean and be lean!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer