I’ve been on the keto diet for just over two years now, and I’ve realized that it’s largely misunderstood. There are a lot of misconceptions about fat in general and the mechanisms of weight gain and loss. I’m going to attempt to demystify things for you and explain how and why it works. I’m going to do this in plain English without resorting to scientific jargon. Once you see what it is and how it works, you can decide if you want to give it a go.

I lost 55 pounds (and kept it off!) after going keto. I’d tried…

Even the Stubborn Ones

Who doesn’t love dogs? I’ll assume nobody who’s reading this article. As much as dogs can bring us joy, a disobedient dog can be a nightmare. I’ve got two: a Cane Corso and a Dachshund. Both can be willful. After years of living with them, I’ve found that two tricks are the key to correcting bad behavior and bringing headstrong dogs into the fold.

There are many ways to train a dog, but the methods mentioned here are for those that can be a handful. You know: digging in the yard, not wanting to come when called, barking at anything…

Perhaps the biggest problem lifters run into is hitting a plateau. We make great gains at first, but eventually, we get stuck. Progress comes to a screeching halt, and nothing seems to help. Nothing is more irritating than lifting and getting nowhere! Well, there’s a simple method for dealing with it.

The mistake most of us make is continuing to do the same thing over and over and over and… I’m not talking about the same workout. That’s not the problem. The problem is that we keep trying to force our way past a plateau using the same weight. That…

I turned 48 today. Am I over the hill? I don’t feel like it. Age 40 is often pegged as over the hill. At that point, it’s all downhill from there! I myself used to believe that, and most people under 35 would probably agree. Even just a couple of years ago I believed it. I thought that at age 45, my best years were behind me, and there was little I could do about it. I had gotten out of shape and gained weight over the years. I really didn’t think there was much I could do about it…

I see a lot of articles about exercising every day for 30 days (Try the blah-blah 30-day challenge!). Or how to exercise when you’re tired or feeling sluggish. And the absolute craziest is the 6-day weightlifting split. Who the hell can keep up a lifting program like that for very long? What all these articles have in common is a lack of respect for a very important component of any exercise program: recovery.

So, let’s start by asking ourselves: what drives people to exercise too much? I think the answer is superstition. No, I’m not talking about witchcraft or broken…

When I was in college (too many years ago to mention), I had free access to gym equipment. I could go in, show my ID, and work out to my heart’s content. There was no shortage of equipment: benches for pressing, a seat/rack combo for overhead presses, lat pulldown machines, leg press and curl machines, etc. For every exercise, there was a machine or other aid.

Well, after grad school, I tried to keep at it for a while, but I eventually got away from lifting. It wasn’t until almost twenty years later that I went back to it. I…

If you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for new movements to add to your exercise regimen. I use kettlebells, and I’d gotten to the point where my current menagerie of movements was feeling a bit stale. I recently wrote up a new program for myself and decided to have a go at something I’d been mildly curious about just to see what it was like. I was beyond pleasantly surprised; I was completely floored. If you haven’t been doing bottoms-up cleans and presses, you don’t know what you’ve been missing.

The Bottoms-up Position

Normally, in the racked position (holding the kettlebell…

I see a lot of articles about the keto diet. People saying this or that about it. Maybe they even tried it for a week or month before deciding to share their wisdom with the world. I’ve been leading a keto lifestyle since July 4, 2019, and have read numerous books and articles on the subject written by researchers in the field (yes, ‘low carbohydrate diet’ is a topic of scientific research and not just something the average Joe bangs on about). …