"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better."
Jim Rohn
This is the blog of Pivotal Points, where you an catch up on all the resources that have been coming through the website, blogs and ezines, and all the rest of the action.
See you soon!
"The real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all your money."
(Unknown source)
"We can either watch life from the sidelines, or actively participate ... Either we let self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy prevent us from realizing our potential, or embrace the fact that when we turn our attention away from ourselves, our potential is limitless."
Christopher Reeve
When Jon Benson wrote "7 Minute Muscle" and "7 Minute Body" (the in-home version; both books come in the same package) I thought he was doing the muscle-mass crowd a huge favor.
I was right... and I was wrong.
I was right because the 7MM-style training has put serious muscle shape, tone, and size on people from all ages.
I was WRONG because it did more than just add lean muscle:
THIS makes people THINNER...
http://bit.ly/aejNTs <--close-out-SALE
The short version of the science behind why this happens and a sample workout routine is included in this post.
Yep: the workout Jon intended people to use for building muscle turned into one of the fastest ways to melt body fat.
Weird.
The secret is density training.
Density is basically getting the most amount of work done in the least amount of time. More work in less time = more energy.
More energy spent = greater fatloss.
Fatloss (and muscle-shaping) is not an issue of length of time as much as it is an issue of work divided by time.
The body was made to perform in bursts, not in long bouts. This is why our immediate fuel sources (which come mostly from carbohydrates) are WAY too efficient... so much so that we store incredible amounts of fat from consuming too many of the "fast-fuel" foods.
The best way to combat this fat-storing problem is to use your body the way it was designed to be used: In bursts of fat-burning power that are intense, short, and highly focused.
That's the basics behind density training.
More here:
http://bit.ly/aejNTs <--close-out-SALE
Want a practical example? Great... let's look at a 7 Minute Muscle chest workout followed by a 7 Minute Muscle "GXP" Cardio workout.
Your total workout time: A whopping 16 minutes.
That's "TOTAL" workout and cardio time, minus a short warm-up.
After your warm-up, you would start with the first of two "Phases":
The first 5 minutes is called The Power Phase.
This is followed by The Mass Phase (Mass is for adding lean muscle) which last only 2 minutes.
During the Power Phase, your weight you select for any movement (from a bench press to a push-up) stays the same. This makes it very easy to shorten your rest intervals between sets.
Your repetitions will be a maximum of 5 for your Power Phase using a weight that's about 60% of your normal 5-rep max. You will rest as little as possible between sets.
The first few sets will feel light, but as time progresses this "light" weight will become more and more challenging. In fact you will drop your repetitions down quite low in order to complete the 5-minute Phase... and that's GOOD.
That's what we want: As many repetitions as you can get during 5 minutes, but never exceeding FIVE repetitions, during your Power Phase.
Your rest intervals are up to YOU... you can rest a short or as long as you need.
This is a very creative and personal workout!
Your goal is simple: Get more TOTAL reps (called "Aggregate Repetitions", or "AR") than your previous workout.
This is what makes 7 Minute Muscle so unique: The progression is built-in.
Most people fail to progress in the gym because they simply do not track their workouts carefully enough.
With 7 Minute Muscle you don't have to track an entire workout: Only ONE number. The total number of repetitions, or your "AR".
Simple!
Your Power Phase for a chest workout may look like this:
EXERCISE:
Incline Machine Press (upper chest)
5 reps (rest 20 seconds)
5 reps (rest 15 seconds)
4 reps (rest 20 seconds)
3 reps (rest 30 seconds)
3 reps (rest 30 seconds)
1 rep (rest 20 seconds)
1 rep (end)
]Total AR: 22 reps
Total Time: 5 minutes
Your goal next time is to get 23 repetitions using the same weight. Once you can get 5 repetitions every set it's time to increase the weight for this movement.
You would then move to your Mass Phase (2 minutes) which would be a different chest exercise for TEN repetitions.
Same goal, same principles apply... beat your previous AR.
The end result is a 7-minute workout that shapes your chest AND burns a lot of fat due to the principles of time/energy expenditure and the fact that muscle burns calories.
More details here:
http://bit.ly/aejNTs <--close-out-SALE
You end your 7 minute workout with "GXP" Cardio. This is 9 minutes long... that's it! But your body is primed to melt off a lot of fat after your 7 minutes of intense weight training... and you will drop the fat if you do this workout right.
You start with 3 minutes on the exercise device of your choice (I prefer the treadmill.)
You work your way up to 85-90% of your maximum heart rate, or a perceived exertion rate on a scale of 1-10 of 7 to 8. No more is needed to get the desired results.
You stay at this level for just 3 minutes.
Then you cool down for 3 minutes.
That's IT.
That's your entire cardio workout and weight-training workout... all in 16 minutes (about 20 with a warm-up.)
And you will progress faster, burn a lot more fat, and save SO much time you may have to take up a new hobby!
Get more info here:
http://bit.ly/aejNTs <--close-out-SALE
Enjoy the time you save!
P.S. Jon's System just got bought out by a publishing company. He has a few days left before he loses control over the pricing of the product...
... SO he cut the price WAY DOWN for the next few days to give my readers a shot at everything... the book, the intro videos, the in-home "7 Minute Body" ... and even the optional ADVANCED 14-minute workout videos!
It's all here... but hurry:
http://bit.ly/aejNTs <--close-out-SALE
The House at Riverton: A Novel
~Kate Morton
This debut page-turner from Australian Morton recounts the crumbling of a prominent British family as seen through the eyes of one of its servants.
At 14, Grace Reeves leaves home to work for her mother's former employers at Riverton House. She is the same age as Hannah, the headstrong middle child who visits her uncle, Lord Ashbury, at Riverton House with her siblings Emmeline and David. Fascinated, Grace observes their comings and goings and, as an invisible maid, is privy to the secrets she will spend a lifetime pretending to forget.
But when a filmmaker working on a movie about the family contacts a 98-year-old Grace to fact-check particulars, the memories come swirling back.
The plot largely revolves around sisters Hannah and Emmeline, who were present when a family friend, the young poet R.S. Hunter, allegedly committed suicide at Riverton. Grace hints throughout the narrative that no one knows the real story, and as she chronicles Hannah's schemes to have her own life and the curdling of younger Emmeline's jealousy, the truth about the poet's death is revealed.
Morton triumphs with a riveting plot, a touching but tense love story and a haunting ending.
Amazon stocks the book
Tony Robbins explains how to unlock your true potential, and asks the audience (including former Vice President Al Gore) for a bit of high-level interaction. Robbins is a leading expert in leadership psychology, and one of America's most popular public speakers.
Life lessons and inspiration
(This is a PowerPoint download - beautiful images and thoughts)
In case you were thinking of just getting on with it, here are three really good reasons why you should think carefully about your voice and how to make full use of it when you speak in public:
1. Audiences are more inclined to listen to an interesting voice, hence the use of actors in voiceovers. And they will stop listening if they struggle with the audibility of a presenter.
2. Just as with visual stimulation, auditory stimulation has a huge influence, much of it subconscious, on how an audience responds to the speaker and interprets the meaning in the message.
3. Public speaking is a physical pastime just like sport. The more you do it the better you should be. The more coaching and practice you have the better you will definitely be....and with greater power and stamina. And if you fail to warm up first you may well strain yourself!
Coaching your voice
o Sing in the shower. Give your lungs and larynx a good work out it will also add power to your voice.
o Practice your scales. Go through each of the vowels moving up and down to retain comfortable use at high and low levels. Humming will get you to feel your comfortable vocal range
o Read out loud. Children's story books are great to practice dramatised delivery of words and comfortable regulated breathing.
Posture
o Correct posture will result in a relaxed upper body which will mean better breathing and better voice power. It is that simple.
o Stand upright and straight with shoulders back and chin gently lifted.
o Centre yourself and turn from the hips 45%s left and right.
o Practice lifting and rolling the shoulders to relax them.
o Imagine you are balancing a book on top of your head
o Tilt the head up it helps relax the jaw
o Relax yourself physically, loosen the jaw to relax the throat, and release the tension from your shoulders and neck and improve resonance.
Breathing Control
o Good breathing creates resonance which creates vocal power. Trying to squeeze power from the throat or unnaturally lowering the voice in a growl will strain your voice.
o Practice breathing evenly from the diaphragm and not the chest. It frees up the chest to add sound capacity and resonance. And it gives greater stamina.
o As a breathing stamina exercise, inhale counting to 5, hold and exhale counting to 5, and repeat increasing the count up to 10
o Practice speaking within your vocal range and diaphragm capacity to develop a powerful voice not a strained voice that is forced from the throat. When you speak, leave something in reserve on the out-breath.
Nurturing your voice
o The dreaded "gruffness" is nearly always due to digestive mucous in the tubes caused by eating too late or food that is too rich. So avoid both.
o Avoid coffee and chocolate, these dehydrate you.
o Lubricate your throat. Warm water with lemon is highly recommended.
o If you need to clear your throat cough quietly rather than "slap" the vocal chords
Projecting your voice
o Enunciate. Open your mouth and project the words. Speak as if you want to be lip read.
o Smile as you speak!
o Aim your voice to the last row in the audience. Keep your chin up.
Emphasise through Pace
o Maintain attention and emphasise meaning by increasing pace when talking about up-beat, new, exciting things.
o Encourage the audience to agree and to accept your point by increasing pace.
o Slow down when emphasising seriousness, concerns, or when asking the audience to think hard about something
Emphasise through Pitch and Modulation
o Add interest and meaning with high pitch to emphasise excitement, surprise, belief in what you are saying.
o Use low pitch to emphasise seriousness and concern, and when you are being reflective.
o Move from low and high pitch to stress changes in mood and lead audience thinking.
o Questions end on a high pitch and statements end on a low pitch.
o Use following silence to dramatically emphasise the point just made. Use it to encourage the audience to reflect and consider. Use it to indicate a change in direction in a presentation. And use it to take a sip of water!
All of these tips will add power and impact to your presentation delivery. Practice them regularly so that they become natural habits and the more powerfully persuasive you will be.
Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For more advice and free tips on how to present your messages with persuasive language and compelling images please visit us at http://persuadability.co.uk.
Ash and Benjamin are teenage mercenaries. They find stolen artifacts and return them to the owners - for a fee.
But when they are hired to rescue an imprisoned girl, they realise they're in over their heads. Because there are others looking for the girl too. Corrupt governments. Ruthless corporations. Rogue assassins.
As these forces converge on the place where the girl is trapped - the headquarters of the world's biggest intelligence agency - Ash realises she's made a terrible mistake; one that may cost her and Benjamin their lives...
You can get an autographed copy here
