In this post, I would like to share with you my thoughts and my values – basically, what I believe is important in this world, and how I see things.

==> I believe that walking around planning for the future and pension is a waste of time and effort. Why talk about all the things you are going to do and all the money you are going to have in 10-20 years, when you could live your life at this very moment?

We live right here, right now. Enjoy each day as it was your last!

==> I believe that Mark Twain’s famous quote – “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – is as right as it gets.

If you are trying to make a change in your life and all you hear are negative comments and reactions, then these people should not deserve your attention.

“The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great” – and these are the type of friends to hold on to!

==> I believe you should treat other people the same way you want them to treat you. Respect and helping others is something I truly value, and it makes me furious to see people who only think about themselves and only focuses on what they need!

==> I believe that in order to succeed in life you need to come across roadblocks and obstacles. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, and if you never try – you’ll never succeed!

==> I believe that Michael Jordan is one of the biggest role models to human kind. Over and over again he has shown that he was no different then you and I. He stated that he missed more than 9000 shots, he lost almost 300 games and 26 times he was trusted to take the game winning shot, and he missed.

Michael Jordan’s examples and statements does not only relate to basketball, it also relates to life in general. He said that he has always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.

Worth mentioning, I have never seen one full game with Michael Jordan, I can’t play basketball and I rarely watch it, but I know that people like Michael Jordan is one of the biggest role models to human kind!

==> I believe you can divide people into the following 2 groups:

• Those who envy other people with money and success, and walks around dreaming of having the life of the rich and famous, and

• Then there are those who get tired of hearing people talk about how successful this or that person is, and how perfect his/her life must be, etc.

People from the second group don’t go around dreaming their whole life – they take action, they learn from the best and they make it happen!

==> I believe that health and fitness has turned into something complicated, when it in the beginning was made to be easy for people to understand. Today health and fitness is like a difficult math course with tons of calculations that needs to be done.

People are being told to buy all different types of equipment, work out on machines in the gym, calculate their BMI – while they could ignore all the nonsense, get back to basics, and use their own bodyweight.

Keeping it fun and easy!

==> I believe that people don’t really appreciate what they have until it’s gone. People don’t appreciate being healthy until they get sick, people don’t appreciate love until they have no one to love, people don’t appreciate small things like taking a hot shower until the warm water is gone, etc.

Appreciate what you have and take care of it. Don’t take everything for granted!

==> I believe there is no coincidence that the biggest athletes and the most successful entrepreneurs in the world come from a tough childhood without anything to fall back on.

==> I believe it’s better to look back and regret the things you did then the things you didn’t do! There are so many things I wish I did when I had the chance, and now that it’s gone, I can never have it back.

Those are some of my beliefs here in life. Feel free to interpret them the way you want.

Got any comments? Want to share your beliefs?

Please do so by comment on this post, or send me an email at:  jonas@theswedishtrainer.com

I wish you all the best,
Jonas

The program, called ’12 days of fitness’ initially began when the UK’s leading fitness professional, Dax Moy, wanted to express his gratitude to his clients and offered them a gift a day for 12 consecutive days as his twist of the 12 Days of Christmas.

Last year Moy shared this idea with fellow fitness professional Pat Rigsby and they expanded the 12 Days of Fitness to include not only their own clients but to the world at large and gave fitness gifts to over 200,000 people who signed up at the site at www.12daysoffitness.com.

This year, with the help of 250 of the world’s top personal trainers, nutritionists, therapists and specialist fitness experts, the 12 days of fitness is set to become the biggest fitness gift giveaway in history with expected downloads of over 500,000 between the 10th and 22nd of December. “There’s never been another health event like this, where so many people stand to benefit from the expertise of true professionals for free” says Moy who has been working flat out to make this year’s 12 days a success.

“Fitness professionals from around the globe have contributed hundreds of e-books, reports, videos, meal plans and other free gifts in their hope of making 2009 the year that anyone, regardless or their location, financial situation or past failures, can finally reach their fitness goals and make those New Year’s Resolutions a reality once and for all.”

Perhaps the best part of the 12 Days of Fitness giveaway is that regardless of a persons health or fitness goals, there are going to be gifts specifically designed to help them achieve success.

“We’ve received gifts designed for busy mom’s, elite athletes, bodybuilders, back pain sufferers and pretty much anyone else you can imagine covering everything from fat loss to rehabilitation and everything in between.

There literally will be something for everyone this year and all of it free, making it, without a doubt, one of the most important gifts anyone will receive this year. After all, what’s more important than health?”

The 12 days of gift giving starts December 10th but those interested are urged to visit www.12daysoffitness.com right away to sign up for their free gifts.

Once enrolled, participants will get a daily email telling them how to access each of the new gifts that are being added each day as well as a reminder on how to access previous gifts.

To guarantee a healthy start to 2009, simply visit www.12daysoffitness.com today.

Stay tuned for more info!

Cheers,
Jonas

As of right now, we have almost gone through the first season, and I gotta tell you – it’s awesome. The guys were funny even back then. However, when looking at an episode where Monica had been exposed to fraud and there was someone else using here credit card, a very important lesson was being told.

The character who has taken Monica’s credit card says something in the middle of the episode I reacted to. She said: “Now that’s 2 hours of my life that I am never getting back”.

Okay, here I am sitting and watching a TV show and giving you a lesson about how valuable your time actually is. Well, me and my buddy have this as an “once-a-week-type-of-thing”, and I believe it’s really important to have something that helps you relax and really forget about challenging things you have in front of you!

My point with the actual quote is: don’t waste time on unnecessary things, such as working out for several hours a day. Why spend an hour in the gym when you can spend at least 40 min of those with “Friends” and family?

Make sure to be prepared for my big launch of Burn Fat at Home. It will be released within a few weeks and the program is filled with tips and exercises that will get you done in no time, and I promise you – you’ll see amazing results! If your goal is to get that ripped, athletic physique; in as little time as possible and with as limited amount of equipment as possible, then this is the program you don’t want to miss!

Until next time,
Jonas

What I noticed was that I really enjoyed taking the bus. I took a pretty long walk to the bus stop, waited there for about 15 min and when I got off the bus a few hundred meters from home, I walked so slow people must have thought I was a maniac or something.

When I walked in through my front door, it took me about 10 min until I had the iPod in my ears and went for a short and super-intense workout.

Guess what I am doing tomorrow? Probably the exact same thing. To really get the most out of yourself, you need to find those moments where you are able to relax and breath in the moment. Find your special moment/routine and stick to it, even if it’s just for 15 min a day. Believe me – you need it!

Cheers,
Jonas

Maybe you are in your car from work and either have had a,

• Bad day where nothing worked or,

• A great day where you made a huge amount of sales

Whether your answer is option 1 or 2, or something somewhere in between, that sugar rush can still be present.

That is simply because we tend to eat sugar (I’ll use chocolate as an example) as for comfort (bad day) or as a reward (great day).

Well, now you probably recognize what I am saying and your first question is: How do I get rid of that sugar rush?

The answer is pretty simply and involves a few useful steps you could take:

• Add exercise to your daily schedule. Physical activity put us in a mood where we after a few times won’t feel that sugar rush since we are actually doing exercise, something healthy, meaning we want to have something healthy to eat as well!

• Always bring a water bottle and a fruit with you in the car. Water have a fullness quality and may prevent you from getting that sugar rush. If not, grab a fruit (which contains sugar) to get a more healthy and natural snack than a chocolate bar.

• Eat more small meals throughout the day instead of a few big meals. A small lunch often results in you indulging when it’s time for dinner (if you haven’t had a good snack altnernative in between). Keep eating something every 2-3 hour and you will be able to avoid cheating and indulging, meaning you are messing up your metabolism (NOT GOOD).

After reading this, you should have some tips to how to avoid that sugar rush and overeating!

Stay tuned for next time!

Your friend,
Jonas

The Olympics is coming to an end and there are a few things we should take notice from! I found especially 3 lessons from the athletes, which could (and should) be implemented into YOUR lifestyle if your goal is either to burn fat, build muscles or just getting an overall healthy and functional body.

1. Gymnasts
A few days ago I was sitting watching the finals for men in parallell bars. I noticed a few stuff I just have to tell you about. First and foremost, their overall physique is insane! Their arms are incredibly powerful and well-defined. So the question is, how do they train to get those arms? What do you think, maybe some bicep curls or some tricep extensions? Of course not, their training consists mainly (and almost exclusively) of bodyweight exercises. They to strap pushups and pullups, they do bar dips, and so on. My advice for you is to go for exercises such as pullups, chinups, dips and pushups if you want to build powerful arms and an overall impressive physique!

2. Track & Field runners (100-400 yard dash) I guess some of you would like a pair of muscular and powerful legs, guns for arms and six pack abs, or am I wrong? Probably not. Even if you don’t want to look like a weightlifter, my guess is that you wouldn’t say no to a flat stomach, visible calf and quad muscles as well as a pair of powerful arms, which you without a problem could show off every now and then.

There’s not a coincident that Usain Bolt got all of these qualities while the marathon runners don’t. The reason behind that is that long distance running break down your muscles and use them for energy after your other energy sources have been depleted. Short, high-intensity training such as sprinting and interval training spare your muscle tissue as well as it increases your metabolism and allows your body to burn more fat throughout the day, in comparison to long distance running, which only burn fat during the actual workout!

3. Michael Phelps
Those of you who read the newspaper every now and then or at least watch the news may have noticed that Michael Phelps now is the best athlete ever to compete in the Olympics with his 8 gold medals. His recipe for success? Food, and lots of food.

During the Olympics he ate 12000 calories on a daily basis (that’s about 5-6 times as much the average requirement for you and me). How come he still has a fat percentage level of 8%?First of all, he works out as hell (about 5 hours a day), but most important, his metabolism is working like crazy due to his huge amount of muscle tissue and those “sprint races” (100 m freestyle, etc) he performs frequently. The more lean muscle tissue you have, the more fat your body burns throughout the day.

So if your goal is fat loss and a more fit and muscular body, the only way to get there is through good exercise habits and nutrition. Sure, you might lose weight and fat by not eating, but fact is you are only messing up your metabolism and putting your body and health into danger. And more of a rule than an exception; you get those pounds back sooner or later if your way to fat loss is through starvation!

To sum it up, I’d like to say: Use your own bodyweight and free weights for a more functional and well-defined body. Go for short and intense workouts, preferably under 45 min (forget the 2 hour workout). Eat right and eat often, however, I would not recommend eating 12000 calories a day unless your name is Michael Phelps. Calculate your recommended caloric intake on the Internet, there are a bunch of sites out there where you can do this!

For more info on how to burn fat and build muscle fast and effectively, get a copy of my ebook “Burn Fat at Home” from BurnFatAtHome.com!

Until next time,
Jonas

Before the Olympics started, we had especially one race where people liked to bet and discuss the winner – 100 m-dash for men. Would Asafa Powell step up and show his speed during a BIG event against his biggest rivals or would Usain Bolt show the world he was the number one? Some people also put out a warning for Tyson Gay. The end result? Usain Bolt kicked ass! The world was shocked that he sat the World Record with a untied shoe and a “showing off” gesture in the end. A few days later, it was time for the unbeatable record, probably THE MOST perfect record ever – Michael Johnson’s World Record on 200 m from Olympics in Atlanta 1996.

Just as asual, you had “experts” saying he wouldn’t be able to bet the record because Michael Johnson’s race was THE PERFECT race and Usain Bolt just did not have the technique and power to go for 200 m. Guess what? He kicked ass once again and set another World Record in 0.9 head wind. Amazing!

So what is the lesson learned from this post? Well, nothing is unbeatable my friend. If you deep down just believe you can do it and if you keep trying hard enough, you will get there.

“They can because they think they can.”
- 
Virgil

Keep it up,
Jonas