Natural Bodybuilding, Fitness, and Peak Performance

"Product Buyback Guarantee"; what to look for on the Internet

I must confess; I've gotten burned. I've had an Internet service company take me for a ride by not delivering half the value for which I'd paid them upfront. Imagine that.

What's more bothersome than anything else is the bad reputation for Internet marketing that these unscrupulous merchants create which makes for an uphill slogging for the honest ones. This is one of those immeasurable costs.

These guys convinced me (indirectly) to extend my 'product buyback guarantee'. You can call it a money-back guarantee, a generous refund policy, or a no-risk trial… whatever. I'm now giving my book customers a 12 MONTH 'product buyback guarantee'/money-back guarantee.

Regardless of terminology, it's what these people who took me for a ride were adamantly against having that should have been a red flag for me. Without mentioning names, they had it right on the bottom of their contract: 'No refunds'.

What is a company telling you when they offer no refund/'product buyback guarantee'? In my opinion, they're saying they don't have confidence. They don't have confidence in their products or services so they want you to "eat it" when they don't deliver. If they don't have the confidence to stand behind their proclaimed value with a guarantee - then that value will probably remain only a proclamation rather than an actuality.

Why would I offer such an unheard-of guarantee; a one-year 'product buyback guarantee'? Because I know I can deliver the fitness/bodybuilding value that I promise people.

I recommend that you only deal with online merchants who offer not only a guarantee - but a product buyback guarantee allowing a generous amount of time for you to judge the value delivered by the product or service.

"Bodybuilding Supplements Discounted": Here's a way to save money

Are food and gas prices putting the squeeze on your fitness budget? Is a can of protein powder or a few meal replacement packets a bit daunting to pay for? Are you finding yourself searching for 'bodybuilding supplements discounted'?

You're not alone. A rise in worldwide demand relative to supply has sent the price of protein powders up at many times the speed that anyone's muscles are growing from their use. It makes one seriously consider using the old 1950's recipe for homemade protein concoctions: low-fat milk mixed with powdered milk; lactose-intolerance be damned.

A good quality, price-discounted bodybuilding protein powder mixed with a few inexpensive grocery items can make for a tasty, nutritious, muscle-building MRE

If you're like I am, you're busy. We don't always have time to prepare bodybuilding meals. We need to eat nutrient-dense foods while flying by the seats of our pants. This often requires use of the ubiquitous MRE; Meal Ready to Eat. These are the bodybuilding meals in a packet that can be blended into a tasty smoothie and consumed within a few minutes.

The challenge: finding a decent MRE that isn't creeping up in price at the same rate as its protein sources. Discovering one would fall right at the top of the list in the context of 'bodybuilding supplements discounted.'

I spoke about this with a buddy of mine who owns a nutritional supplement store. We concluded that a person could easily put together a nutrient dense MRE that will help build muscle and break down body fat without breaking their bank account. The real key is finding a quality and tasty protein powder that's sold at a reasonable price - then blender mixing that with some low-cost, nutrient-dense food items.

I've seen a whey protein powder at one of the major discount stores here in the States for as low as $19.00 for 23 servings. Another acquaintance of mine, who's on a really tight bodybuilding budget, swears this stuff's got 'truth-in-labeling' as good as any. It touts about 36 grams of protein on the label - so assuming it's true, let's throw in some other ingredients and look at our costs:

• Protein Powder .83¢
• Low Fat Yogurt (1 cup .75¢)
• Olive Oil (1 Tablespoon) .21¢
• Cooked Oats (one cup dry) .27¢
• Frozen Strawberries (1 1/2 cups) $1.50
• Sucralose (2 packets) .06¢

For the 'bodybuilding supplements discounted' seekers, this entire meal replacement comes out to a money-sparing three dollars and sixty-two cents. In addition, it's 'muscle-friendly' and 'body-fat antagonistic.'

Amazingly, cooked oatmeal is not detectable by one's taste buds when blended with flavor-rich ingredients. You won't even know it's in the smoothie. Simply cook a huge container of it and keep it in your refrigerator - ready for the blender. This will add an awesome source of inexpensive, low glycemic, energy-extending carbohydrates. It's a 'bodybuilding supplements discounted' seeker's dream-come-true.

The low fat yogurt adds a little more protein, some consistency, and a few more low-glycemic carbs.

Olive Oil adds some good fat (monounsaturated) for better cholesterol ratios and building blocks for testosterone production.

The strawberries are low glycemic and vitamin rich - while the sucralose just sweetens things up a bit for palatability.

If you're looking for 'bodybuilding supplements discounted' and you can't find an MRE that suits your budget and your needs, simply get creative. You might come up with something your body likes better than what the manufacturers have to offer.

Are there "Exercises to Get in Shape Fast"?

Here’s a question I see quite often: Which are the “exercises to get in shape fast”?

Yet any honest self analysis by someone asking it would probably reveal that the question originated from emotion rather than level-headed thought. Thus, those who face a self generated deadline for shaping up (i.e. short-term notice of a class reunion, family reunion, wedding, award ceremony, etc) my advice doesn’t waver: stop and think about this rationally.

First rational question: How do you personally define “being in shape”?

Although there are objective measurements to assess the overall health of our bodies, the saying ‘beauty’s in the eye of the beholder’ is a relevant witticism to describe the subjectivity of “visual fitness”.  “Get in shape fast?”  How is being in shape defined by you and where are you in relation to that now?

If "get in shape fast" means shedding body fat as quickly as possible for you - exercise might need a back seat in importance to enhanced eating habits

Those are the first questions you need to ask. It’s only when we can clearly define the chasm between where we are and where we desire to be that we can determine the fastest and most efficient method to get there.

Realistically, the answer to that question may need to be formed with consideration of your deadline added to the equation. If you feel the desire to improve your appearance for an upcoming event, your “ideal you” might need to take a temporary back seat to the “best-you-in-short-notice” instead. If the difference between where you are and where you want to be is large in ratio to your time frame, this should factor heavily in your strategy.

For many people, being in shape in short notice is viewed as getting as lean as possible while reawakening muscle shape. The fastest way to do that is as follows:

•    Enhanced eating habits
•    Increased calorie-burning activity
•    Weight training directed at fat loss/muscle toning

Enhanced eating habits should center around increased eating frequency (5 to 6 small meals a day); overall calorie reduction; increased protein intake; reduction of starchy carbohydrates; decreased dietary fat intake.

Increased calorie-burning activity should include 40 minutes of low intensity aerobic exercise every day. A brisk walk can take care of that. Believe it or not – this falls under the ‘exercises to get in shape fast’ category.

The final bullet point item is the other ‘exercises to get in shape fast’ staple. It is weight training directed at fat loss and muscle toning. This type of training, in contrast to bodybuilding, involves using higher repetition exercise (25 reps and up) in order to stimulate the body to use glycerol from the fat stores as replenishment for muscle energy stores during recovery. In order for this to happen, the weight training needs to be frequent (twice a week per body part), low intensity, and utilize big compound movements (i.e. bench press, squats, military press, dead-lifts).

This type of training stands in contrast to the type I teach for ‘Creating Your Ultimate Body’. It’s for someone who has very little time to maximize fat loss; someone who has a somewhat ambiguous idea of what they want when they say “to get in shape”.

Upon returning from the event in which a client felt the need to find “exercises to get in shape fast”, I’ll steer them toward the formula for ‘Creating their Ultimate Body’. After all, the formula for the latter is a lot easier and less time consuming than the former.

Keep Training and Have Fun.