I was asked by a friend about how good tone up shoes were, so I have looked into it a little and here is what I have found;

The whole theory behind these shoes (no matter the brand) is they create a unbalanced walking experience causing you to engage more muscles.  Now initially this is true and I am pretty sure (and I don’t even have to try wear them first) that you will start to feel muscular pains in the butt, calves and glutes.

But the way they are selling and marketing them, I find not so honest.

Lets look at the fit person, already at their target weight, I believe these shoes will give them results, but for how long will they see results I don’t know.  Remember muscles need to keep on being challenged to change.  So after a year will your muscles have gotten use to them and they are no longer a challenge, I am thinking the challenge for your muscles will have gone.

Now lets look at the person with that extra baggage.  I think these shoes will not give you the glamorous results that the advertisements show.  You will also feel the muscle changes and will be challenged but the slight tone and changes that you’ll have in muscle will be buried underneath….. dan dan dan…. the extra fat that’s rolling around!

Remember you can’t spot reduce; you can’t target a body-part and hope to reduce the fat in that particular area. You need to workout the whole body and then body-fat will gradually be reduced in the area that you also wish.

OUTCOME: I believe these tone up shoes are yet another fad that tell us “hey you can get the results but you don’t have to work hard for them!”  Remember there are no short cuts to total body fitness.  I truly believe these kind of shoes are not worth the big price tag. Why not use your money wisely and take a few sessions with a personal trainer, were you will learn proper ways to lose body fat and get real results.

Have have given you my opinion on these but here is also a video that you can watch.

Let’s talk supplements. It takes a lot of convincing me to take supplements, I have to really do my research and then I read up on mountains of reviews for the brands that are available.

Currently I am taking whey protein, the brand I currently use is Optimum Nutrition. Whey protein is a by product of cheese production.  Why do I take it? I take it because it is digested very quickly; and this is what assists my post-workout recovery.  I take my whey protein within 5 min after my workout, along with some carbs, normally a banana.

I also take Cod Liver and Omega 3 oils in capsule forms. The reason for the cod liver is for joint health, in the hope that this will keep my doggie hip as healthy and strong as possible.

I will be adding Creatine and a specifically designed sports recovery supplement to my list.

The creatine that I will be using is from Gold’s Gym. Creatine is an organic acid that occurs naturally in the body and it helps to supply energy to the muscles.  So I am hoping by adding this it will improve my strength and assist my muscle gains.  I will mix this with a whey protein shake (made with water) and take it as a pre-workout drink.

I will be replacing my current post workout shake with Gold’s Gym Sports Recovery.  This supplement is designed for recovery after training and contains a blend of carbohydrate, whey protein, creatine and amino acids. This balance will be better than my current whey shake and banana.

As this is the first time that I’ll be using Gold’s Gym so I will be reviewing these so check this space!

Ok it’s time for the Surge Workout Fuel review that I had promised you.  I have received a few comments with an interest in this review so let’s get started!

What is Surge Workout Fuel?

Surge Workout Fuel is a supplement that takes advantage of the “3rd Law” in muscle growth; giving your body the precise components to fuel, protect and reload muscles.

What Does it Do?

• Increases directly both skeletal-muscle protein synthesis and ATP production

• Combats muscle oxidation (burning) from intense exercise.

• Scavenges hydrogen ions to optimize intramuscular pH for maximum muscle function.

• Boosts anaerobic and aerobic performance during exercise.

• Jumpstarts the recovery process after intense training

• Allows the athlete to train harder and recover faster

This was taken from the t-nation.com site, click here for a more detailed outline about Surge Workout Fuel.

How Did I Use it?

I followed the recommended usage stated on the tub; 30 grams mixed in 10 oz of cold water, this is for 30 min. Each of my sessions while taking Surge Workout Fuel lasted one hour so I mixed 60 grams in 20 oz of cold water and started sipping it 15 min prior to my workouts, during and then sipped it for one-half hour after my workouts.

I also used Whey protein and amino acids during this time.

What Effects Did It Have on my Workouts?

The first time I tried it I was on a buzz and I blasted my way through some seriously intensive workouts, lifting heavy weights, I had to force myself to stop as I only had enough Surge for a one hour workout.

I felt good, like I could have worked out for another few hours!

As excited as I was I didn’t want to sell my self out to it as I was trying to remain objective and it was only the first session out of 30 sessions that I would have with Surge.

I was also wanting to get passed two weeks on Surge (before commenting) as I have heard that a placebo effect can last as long as two weeks.

I ordered the Fruit Punch flavor and it sure tasted nice, but after session 10 I was missing water with my workouts, and then by session 20 I hated the taste of the Surge, this is my taste buds, so you may enjoy the taste, it’s not too sweet, just right.

At about session 15 I was feeling a bit bored on Surge, sure I had made some good muscle gains, but (trying not to boast here) I was really getting into some seriously intensive workouts over the last 3 weeks.  These workouts had many variations, I changed my plans at the end of every week.

Was it me? Was it the Surge? Who knows?

I approached Surge Workout Fuel as a supplement, like an assistant, NOT a miracle worker. I put in about 85% to 90% into my tough workout programs and yes I experienced muscle gains.

Conclusion:

Price: Way too expensive! For the results, I don’t think I got my money’s worth.

Overall Outcome: I am not yet convinced that the muscle gains that I have made over the last 10 weeks could be awarded to using Surge Workout Fuel. All the things that Surge claims to be able to do, I don’t know because I am not a scientist, but I do know it that the results are the main thing and the deciding factor.

I have tried to be as objective and detailed as possible with this review, but if there is anything that you would like to ask please feel free to include it in a comment and I will relpy.

I was not successful to reach 220lbs by January 31st 2009, but I can’t say that I have failed anything.  I have accomplished something that I have never done before; I’ve lost 48lbs!

So it’s time to initiate the last part of the SMARTER Principle the R for REVISABLE!

Now I don’t suggest something to you guys without making it a part of my life first, so here is the same form that I provided you guys on writing your goals with the SMARTER Principle and you can see my goals written here.

Click on the image above to download a PDF file of my SMARTER Principle goal setting.

MY GOAL IN A NUT SHELL

If you don’t want to download see the details of my goal here it is, straight and to the point;

Get to 220lbs by the end of June 2009

I have the same objective but my journey there will be different and constantly changing. What I mean by this is my nutrition program and workouts (strength & cardiovascular) will be varied and constantly changing.

NEW WORKOUT

I have also put together a new workout for the next 5 weeks.  I usually plan my workouts every 4 weeks but this is for the sake of the trial of Biotest’s SURGE Workout Fuel that I am currently experimenting with.

Click on the image above to download my Five Week Workout Planner (Feb 9th – March 15th 2009.

I am going to be trying Biotest’s SURGE® Workout Fuel over the next 5 weeks.  I must say that I am a little skeptical about this kind of supplement. The only reason that I am giving it a go is that it’s not taking me off a healthy, nutritious diet, it still requires me to exercise and it’s not loaded with caffeine.

You can kind of guess what it supposedly does by the name ‘Workout Fuel’, if you want to check out the details of this then hop over to t-nation.com (owned by Biotest) to have a read up.

I tried it for the first time with last night’s workout.  Now I don’t yet know if this is a placebo affect but I did power through a really grilling leg workout.  From what I have found out the placebo affect lasts for about two weeks so we’ll see what happens after this time frame.

One thing that I was expecting that didn’t happen was rapid heart beat and maybe the shakes, but I had none of these.

So keep checking back and we’ll see this really does live up to what it says it can do, or are these kind of supplements just sugar and water!