Fitness Pro Live

This article is from my friend Tom Venuto. I am fascinated by hypnosis anyway so he said I could use this here on my site for you. Very cool!

P.S. Visit a cool website about  Hypnosis Here

Does Hypnosis Work For Weight Loss?  

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Hypnosis conjures up images of a bearded man with piercing black eyes and a mesmerizing deep voice swinging a pendulum back and forth, chanting, “You are getting very sleeeeepy.”

Hypnosis is terribly misunderstood and the only exposure to hypnosis most people will ever have is a Las Vegas stage show. But stage hypnosis for entertainment and hypnotherapy for behavior change are completely different animals. Could “real” hypnotherapy help you get leaner?

I’ve wondered the same thing myself for decades, since I first started bodybuilding.

In the late 1980’s, Dr. Judd Biasiotto published numerous books about the mind in sports including one called, “Hypnotize Me And Make Me Great.”

That 70-page book, which has long since gone out of print (but still holds a hallowed place on my shelf), was one of the books that sparked my interest in mind power and hypnosis.

In case you’re not familiar with strength sports, Dr. Judd is the guy who squatted 605 pounds at a body weight of 132 pounds – a staggering feat, as any powerlifter will tell you. When a world class lifter who also holds a PhD in sports psychology says there’s something to hypnosis, and that his mental training regimen was instrumental in his success, a teenage wannabe bodybuilder, desperate for muscle, listens!

All these years later, my interest in hypnosis and the powers of the mind have never waned. I’ve used self hypnosis as well as hypnosis CD’s, which were directed at improving performance in the gym, generating maximum intensity during workouts and pushing through the pain barrier. While I don’t see hypnosis as anything magical, I do believe it has been helpful. I also believe that a comprehensive mental training program, which may include hypnosis, can make or break your weight loss program success and give athletes a competitive advantage.

Any seasoned coach can tell you that which diet or training program you follow is irrelevant if you can’t follow it consistently. Many of the problems such as non-compliance, self-sabotage, inconsistency and lack of motivation are mind problems, not body problems.

One misconception about hypnosis is the fear that you’ll lose command of your faculties during a session or that it’s some kind of “mind control.” This is not true to any greater degree than your family, friends, peers or culture have “controlled” your mind.

The fact is, the mind is amenable to suggestion, (especially the mind of a very young child), and in that sense everything is hypnosis. Reading the newspaper or watching TV is hypnosis or “mental programming” in one sense. You get “programmed” by societal norms to become one of the masses, unless you make a choice to be different and become what you want to be.

Another source of misconceptions about hypnosis comes from stage hypnosis, which has virtually nothing to do with hypnotherapy for personal change. The stage hypnotist intentionally ferrets out the most susceptible individuals in his audience – who happen to be willing participants – and then induces some hypnotic phenomenon for entertainment value.

Hypnosis, as used in personal change work, is simply a relaxed state of altered consciousness and heightened focus where the conscious mind gets out of the way, allowing a message from the hypnotherapist to reach your subconscious more easily. When your subconscious gets the message, it stimulates positive behaviors, so hypnosis is simply a tool for behavior change.

Self hypnosis (by yourself), is as simple as taking long, deep breaths, getting relaxed (sometimes using progressive muscle relaxation techniques), then doing your visualization or repeating affirmations, or even listening to your own home-made affirmations tape.

Many people report great success with hypnosis, but others do not. The mixed results probably have to do with the practitioner, and some with the subject. What kind of results can you expect from hypnosis? Could hypnosis help you lose weight or change your body in other ways?

I believe that there is a mind-body link and that it’s entirely possible that the brain, central nervous system and subconscious mind can literally “talk” to the various cells of your body and that this may be a factor in healing from illnesses. I believe that the body is a remarkable self-healing machine and its own natural pharmacy.

I think it’s pretty difficult to prove, but being that a legitimate science exists on this subject (it’s called psychoneuroimmunology), the scientific community seems to think enough of the mind-body connection to spend time, money and resources to formally investigate it. There are many exciting and plausible theories. We also have the placebo effect to consider, where a belief can affect biology in truly amazing ways.

That said, when it comes to hypnosis, I think you should view it with an eye of caution as well as interest. First and foremost, and perhaps exclusively, you should see hypnosis as a tool to change behavior. When you look at a claim made for hypnosis, you should ask yourself whether that claim is a result that can be achieved through a change in your behavior.

For example, if someone promotes hypnosis for muscle growth, is it possible that your behavior might change in a way that you gain more muscle? The answer is yes. The hypnosis might help you change your eating habits, and you might just push yourself harder in the gym. Therefore, the muscle growth occurs as a result of behavior change – eating better and training harder – rather than the hypnosis itself.

It’s the same with body fat reduction: Will hypnosis magically increase your metabolism from a mind body connection? While I like to keep an open mind, I seriously doubt it and I’m not too enthused about hypnotherapists who say they will hypnotize you and your metabolism will speed up. If it can happen, I’m not sure it will ever be provable using the scientific method, so it may ultimately come down to your will to believe the claims.

So, could hypnosis help with breast enlargement? Well, maybe. A thought might bubble up from your subconscious mind that it’s a good idea to save up your money, go visit the doctor, and fork over the three grand for implants (sarcasm intended).

Guys, I could give the same warning about hypnosis for enlargement of your…. uh… your amount of hair… yeah, hair growth, that’s it… watch out for those hair growth hypnosis claims. I’m not so sure I believe them (grin).

What About Weight Loss?

Although the results are not definitive, there’s some clinical psychology research that’s been published in peer reviewed journals which shows successful results from hypnosis for weight loss. In part 2 of this series, you’ll hear more about what those studies found.

Even more eye-opening in my view are some of the documented cases of medical hypnosis, which range from simple pain relief from dental work to surgery without anesthesia (which is pretty freaky if you think about it). The mind does affect the body.

** For a great program visit:  Zero Resistance Weight Release  **

In my opinion, hypnosis sessions or hypnosis CD’s can be a valuable adjunct to a comprehensive fitness, nutrition and lifestyle program for some people, if you get them from a reputable and skilled hypnotherapist.

Even better, I believe the ideal type of session would include conscious coaching and education as well as traditional hypnosis, not just a passive situation where you listen and expect your mind to be positively “programmed.”

Then again, I think this is why weight loss hypnosis CDs sell like gangbusters, because they’re often sold under the pretense that you do absolutely nothing. Just listen and get slim – the perfect “quick fix.”

I don’t think it’s that simple or easy. You have to accept responsibility for change, take an active role in creating change and have a bias for action if you really want to be successful. You have to work on the physical and mental plane simultaneously not just “think positive” or rely on self help CD’s of any kind.

So while I DO believe hypnosis can be a valuable tool, at the end of the day, programming your mind for success all boils down to what you say to yourself (and see/read/listen to), most of the time. You can’t work with a hypnotherapist every day for the rest of your life, but you do talk to yourself non stop every single day, and repetition is a proven way to condition the mind.

The way you talk to yourself, most of the time, IS “hypnosis” if you think about it… it’s self-hypnosis.

If you already have a structured training and nutrition plan, Like  Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle,  but you’re having challenges with the behavior change side of things, I believe hypnosis or positive mental programming CD’s might be worth trying as an additional tool in your “mental training” took kit.

Just remember that in the long run, you are your own best hypnotherapist and when it comes to the claims, let the buyer beware.

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
 

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting:  BurnTheFat.com  or  BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com

Editors Note: My friend Nick Nilsson wrote this article and gave me permission to share it with you. I think it’s great because so many times when we injure ourselves, we think we are unable to continue our workouts.

This article blows that right out of the water!  Enjoy!

How I’ve Trained Around Injuries

By Nick Nilsson

Being injured doesn’t have to mean total rest and a loss of muscle, strength and results.

There ARE good ways to train around injuries, as long as it’s done SMART.

So here’s the deal…an injury isn’t the end of the world! They happen to the best of us, sometimes no matter how careful you are. And THAT is what this article is all about…I’m going to give you examples of how I’VE trained around a few injuries I’ve had over the 18+ years I’ve been training.

Getting these injuries didn’t mean I had to completely stop every aspect of my training until I was fully recovered. In fact, continuing to train actually helped with recovery!

** Before we go any further, let me be VERY clear right up front** The examples I’m using here are from MY own experience and used only on myself. I’m not recommending you do ANY of these techniques.

I’m not a doctor (and especially I’m not YOUR doctor). I’m not a physiotherapist. This should NOT be considered medical advice. When you read this article, PLEASE use your own common sense and PLEASE consult with your doctor and get the all-clear to train if you decide to train around any injury.

Injury #1 – Twisted Ankle

The first injury I want to talk about is a twisted ankle. I was playing soccer and got my foot stuck in a hole in the field and at the same moment got spun around by another player. So basically, I tore up most of the ligaments in my left ankle.

I did all the rest, ice, elevation, etc and I went to the doctor the next day. He told me I had two choices…because the sprain was so severe I could either put it in a cast and it would get weaker, or I could just keep icing and elevating it.

I asked him if I could do other things in the gym while it was healing and he not only said “absolutely,” he actually encouraged me to start using it as soon as I felt I could put weight on it.

I was back in the gym that same evening, hobbling around and doing upper body training without any problems. The next day, I was doing one-legged squats on my RIGHT leg (the uninjured side).

By working the non-injured side, you can prevent a lot of the strength loss and atrophy that you often see when a limb is immobilized. This happens because of nervous system activation.

When the right leg is used and activated, the nervous system also activates the corresponding motor units of the OTHER side. This can help prevent a lot of the muscle-wasting you see with people who are in casts – if only they would have trained their uninjured side!

The key thing to note is that even though I was working my right leg, I wasn’t putting pressure on my injured side while I still had pain on it. As it healed and I was able to put pressure on it without pain, then I gradually worked it back into my training, with no loss of performance.

Injury #2 – Wrist Pain

This happened to me my very first year of training and I very quickly figured out exactly what the cause was: too much barbell curling.

Every time I picked up the straight bar to do curls, I would get sharp pains in my wrists. I even got to the point where I got a couple of wrist wraps to help ease the pain (which worked briefly).

How did I train around that injury? Easy. Dumbell Curls.

Once I figured it out, I immediately stopped all barbell training…curls, benching, rows, machines, everything that locked my wrists into position while training.

I still had some pain in my wrists while I was doing dumbbell work for several weeks after I got off barbells, but the wrist pain gradually went completely away on its own.

The key thing to note here – I had an injury as a result of getting “locked in” on barbells (especially straight barbell curls, which put a lot of pressure on the wrists, which in itself is the reason the EZ Curl bar was invented), and I immediately trained around that by switching to dumbells.

Problem solved, and I actually saw increased growth and strength because I changed things up.

Injury #3 – Pulled Tricep Muscle

This one will seem like a strange injury…I pulled the long head of my left tricep doing heavy SHRUGS. Yep, you read that right. Shrugs.

The reason I pulled the long head is because it’s the only head of the three-headed tricep muscle that crosses the shoulder joint. I had been doing high training volume (shrugs every session) and heavy weight (about 600 lbs) for a number of weeks and it caught up to me.

Because of the nature of the injury, it meant some changes to my program. It meant no more deadlifts, shrugs or stiff-legged deadlifts. Also, I was off all rowing, chinning and pull-down movements. Ironically enough, I could actually do close-grip bench pressing and dips without any problem at all, which is strange for a tricep injury.

My tricep was injured but I could hardly do any BACK training because of it!

Training around it was relatively simple. I just avoided those exercises I mentioned. But that left me without many options for back training. For back, I used a bench press machine backwards, sitting with my chest towards the back pad. I then put my elbows against the bench handles and pushed back against them to get the back activated. This took the injured tricep completely out of the movement but allowed me to get in some decent back training.

Injury #4 – Strained Pectoral Muscle

This one happened to me doing VERY heavy weighted dips. I had 170 lbs hanging off my waist, had just done several sets with that weight and decided to finish with some high-rep, top-range partials to really overload the muscle.

It’s a technique I’ll never use again, because looking back on it, I was totally setting myself up for this injury. Very heavy weight on a stretch-focused exercise (which in and of itself wasn’t so bad) but then when I did the high-rep partials, it was like tearing the muscle repeatedly until it ripped even more.

The good thing is, the moment I felt the start of the strain, I dropped to ground immediately, so I didn’t get an actual muscle tear, thought I thought was pretty much done with chest training for at least a month.

Not even close…after swearing about it for awhile, I began doing one-arm dumbbell bench press (on the Swiss ball) on my right side to help keep the strength up on both sides. I avoided all exercises that caused any pain or stretch on the left pec (to give you an idea, I couldn’t bench press even a 10 lb dumbbell without pain on that side).

I kept up with the one-side pressing and within a month, I was back pressing 100 lb dumbells with both sides with no pain and no real loss of strength in the injured side.

The key here is that I focused on what I COULD do and not what I couldn’t. This allowed me to keep up with regular training and not see any drop in strength or mass, even on the injured side.

Injury #5 – Pulled Muscle in my Lower Back

This one I wanted to use as an example of an injury that I COULDN’T train around. I did this one to myself trying to stretch out my lower back with a twisting stretch. BAD idea. I was about do some incline barbell bench and I was sitting on the bench, rotating my torso and pushing with my right elbow against the outside of my left knee.

And then I felt and heard a “POP.”

And that was that. I was doubled over on the floor and could hardly breathe. No workout that day!

It took me about 4 times as long to walk home because I could hardly hold myself upright. Sleeping was no fun at all. Luckily at that point, I still owned a weight belt. I had to wrap it tight around myself and sleep with it on in order to not be in excruciating pain.

There was simply NO way for me to train around that one. Breathing, let alone training, was painful. I couldn’t support any weight. To this day, when I get lean enough, I can still see where the muscle popped through the fascia in my lower back.

A few days later, I was able to get back in the gym and do some light training but that was definitely something not to be trained around.

Conclusion:

The key to remember here is to pick your battles. I’ve had injuries I could easily train around and which were more inconvenience than injury. I’ve also had injuries where discretion is the better part of valor and have had to take time off.

In all things, if YOU decide you want to try and train around an injury, PLEASE check with your doctor first. The last thing you want to happen is to self-diagnose and find out later there was more going on with the injured area than you thought.

Yeah, it stinks to have to take time off training, but the alternative could be a MUCH longer recovery time or even chronic re-injury and weakness.

——————————————————————————————————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day

“Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST”