Get Off Your Ass!: Everything You Need to Kickstart Your Fitness and Nutrition Journey

By Darren Bersuk

Get Off Your Ass is the kick in the behind necessary for anyone who is finally ready to prioritize their health and happiness. Cirque du Soleil veteran and health expert Darren Bersuk walks you through the fundamentals required to implement healthy yet delicious eating habits, and how to progressively move your body as part of your daily routine. Based on the latest science but written in easy-to-understand terms, the book simplifies complex issues and shows you how to best apply them to your new lifestyle. The very first step is the hardest: to get off your ass and begin.

If you're eager to finally lose the belly fat and turn back the clock, or are simply sick and tired of being sick and tired, Get Off Your Ass is your ideal launching pad. It will take you week by week through the pivotal first three months toward a healthier, stronger and more self-assured you, providing the tools to confidently continue your newfound vitality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Dec 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228858423

Darren Bersuk

Darren Bersuk's unique journey to the health arena began on stage with Cirque du Soleil. Darren has travelled the globe throughout his impressive twenty-year career as a performer and eventually as head coach. Darren was also a seven-time national gymnastics team member. His love for athletics has developed into a passion for helping others reach their health potential through personal training and nutrition coaching. Darren has an MBA, is a certified nutritionist, and holds numerous fitness certifications. His goal is to share his wealth of knowledge to help others implement and sustain positive lifestyle changes.

Book preview

Get Off Your Ass!

Everything You Need to Kickstart Your Fitness and Nutrition Journey

Darren Bersuk

Get Off Your Ass!

Copyright © 2022 by Darren Bersuk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-5841-6 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-5840-9 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-5842-3 (eBook)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Get Off Your Ass!

Chapter 2: The Covid-19 & Fitness Connection

Chapter 3: 10 Benefits Of Getting Off Your Ass

Chapter 4: Asses Are Made In The Gym, Abs Are Made In The Kitchen (Health Needs Both)

Chapter 5: Personality Traits & Pace Of Change In Your Lifestyle

Chapter 6: 10 Habits Of Fit People

Chapter 7: Our Nutrition Approach: Why High Protein, High Plant, Low Refined Carb?

Chapter 8: 10 Reasons Why We Overeat Shitty Food

Chapter 9: Sample Eating Days (And Their Nutritional Breakdowns)

Chapter 10: Our Workout Approach

Chapter 11: 10 Home Workouts

Chapter 12: Read Food Labels,

Know What You Are Eating

Chapter 13: Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

Chapter 14: Week 1 Goals – Nutrition & Workouts

Chapter 15: Listen To Your Gut

Chapter 16: 10 Reasons Refined Sugar Can Be Terrible

Chapter 17: Never Say, Fuck It.

Chapter 18: I Just Want To Be Lean. Why Weight Train?

Chapter 19: Week 2 Goals

Chapter 20: 10 Weight Loss Tips You Might

Not Have Heard Of

Chapter 21: Mostly For The Ladies: Don’t Worry About Getting ‘Bulky’ Lifting Weights

Chapter 22: 10 Reasons Sleep Should Be A Priority

Chapter 23: Goals For Weeks 3-4

Chapter 24: 10 Best Pasta Substitutes

Chapter 25: Now We’re Cooking With Oil (The Good, The Bad & The Oily)

Chapter 26: Top 10 Recipe Conversions (Simple Ways To Make Popular Meals Healthier)

Chapter 27: Artificial Sweeteners Explained

Chapter 28: Some Ideal Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, & Snacks

Chapter 29: The Pre- And Post-Workout Meals

Chapter 30: Goals For Month 2

Chapter 31: Should I Train While In A Fasted State?

Chapter 32: Introduce Yourself To Hormetic Stresses

Chapter 33: 10 Best Fast-Food Choices –

Damage Control

Chapter 34: What Should I Expect?

Low Hanging Fruit – Quick References And Food Chart

Chapter 1

Get Off Your Ass!

Getting fit is SIMPLE, but it’s NOT EASY. If you’re reading this, you’ve already decided that you’re ready to start hammering that chisel to sculpt a new you. Funny thing is, the diamond you’re about to mine has been in you the whole time. It’s time to start chipping away. You will uncover it. You just need to…

GET OFF YOUR ASS!

Does your non-existent fitness regimen and lame ass diet render your body more bloated than post-flight kankles? Do the long hours of your stressful job make the prospect of cooking a proper meal equate to a few quick clicks on the ‘Skip the Dishes’ app? Maybe your kids have commandeered your priorities to the point where the only thing keeping your soul from being sucked drier are the sweet, wet sips of sauvignon blanc during a Bachelorette episode (or maybe throwing back a few beers parked in your favourite chair watching Sportsdesk is your thing). Then, you realize that those hurdles which have been holding you back are simply that, hurdles, and hurdles are meant to leaped over! So, it’s time to…

GET OFF YOUR ASS!

Bring that spouse or a friend with you on your journey! Studies have shown that both your short- and long-term success rates improve when tackling fitness and nutrition with an equally motivated friend¹. The company you keep is so important when making a life change, so it’s great to get (and give) social support along the way. Just as important though is eradicating anything or anyone toxic to your inspiration. If you can get rid of any unwanted heavy baggage, do so. That’s not the type of weightlifting we’re aiming for here! If it’s an option though, grab an equally motivated friend, take a break from the toxic ones, and…

GET OFF YOUR ASS!

Clients often ask me what the best training regimen is, and what the best diet is. The answer is simple, but it’s not easy (which will be an ongoing theme of this book, a series of simple steps in concept, but not necessarily easy to implement). So, what’s the best? The best nutrition plan is the one that you’ll stick to. The best fitness regimen is the one that you don’t despise, or better yet the one that you look forward to, perhaps so much so that it changes your life forever. Fads come and go, and guess what? They’re all good! There are exceptions, of course, but most of them can work well – If you enjoy them enough! Adherence and perseverance are pillars of success, especially with fitness and nutrition. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, but more than a hundred ways to burn the fat! Remember the Shake Weight? That phallic fitness tool of absolute ridiculousness? If someone was overweight or just looking to get off their ass, and they asked me if they should try the Shake Weight, I’d say Hell ya! As a first step, absolutely! If it gets you off your ass and moving, provides you with that endorphin release that accompanies exercise and laughter (and you can’t train with the Shake Weight without laughing), then do it! My friend, you, reading this book, let me be your Shake Weight. Whatever helps you to smile, shake up your life, get some good feels, and…

GET OFF YOUR ASS!

You are going to get off your ass. You are going to look back on today as the day your life changed. You are going to hate it sometimes – So what! – Buck the fuck up, hit the gym and eat the damn salad. It doesn’t take long to love it, to need it! If you follow the simple (not easy) steps in this book, you are going to feel better. You will be healthier. You will find confidence in your own skin and slowly become the best version of you, but first you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Discomfort is a prerequisite to adaptation. Be proud of how hard it is. And when even a morsel of that inner diamond starts shining through, that glow will manifest into you being so damn confident, so hormonally high, sooooo f’n happy, that you’ll be annoying to your friends. That’s right, you’ll be the one whose happiness and success is annoying to others. And that’s really what it’s all about (wink) Kidding. There’s so much more.

References

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10028217/

Chapter 2

The Covid-19 & Fitness Connection

A book on health and fitness would be remiss not to include the statistical elephant in collective rooms across the world, summed up by, CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized for COVID were overweight or obese. The Center for Disease Control also states, Obesity is a recognized risk factor for severe COVID-19, possibly related to chronic inflammation that disrupts immune and thrombogenic responses to pathogens as well as to impaired lung function from excess weight.

For some reason, the media has sidestepped this potentially game-changing series of factors which are imperative to human existence, that obesity will kill you in more ways than just heart disease and clogged arteries. Healthful practices, intentional nutrition, and overall weight control will provide you with the armour necessary to protect against viruses, bacteria, germs and diseases.

If you ignore your health, or simply let it fall by the wayside, you leave yourself exposed to numerous preventable illnesses, without a protective shield against the various microscopic armies that our immune system is at war with. These are facts that should have been hammered into the social consciousness from the beginning of the pandemic by doctors, politicians, the media, and pushed by the scientific community.

The good news is that you are now in the know. The bad news is that there will be another pandemic, possibly worse than COVID-19. It’s time to get off your ass and start to (or continue to) forge that armour. Invaders beware. You will stockpile munitions and recruit your own army of immune system soldiers to fight off the next microscopic invasion. Hell, to fight off the common cold. To battle inflammation, the source of so many diseases, aches, pains, and life-threatening invaders, cancer included. Train and eat your way to the microbial equivalent of being bulletproof.

We in the field of nutrition are fans of saying that food is medicine, and this is absolutely true. A lesser known fact though is that food can be poisonous too. The truth is that the Standard American Diet (SAD) is littered with food-ish (but not quite real food) items that are toxic to your body. These will do damage in varying ways, not least of which are chronic inflammation and the storage of excess fat tissue.

A related topic of various other studies which I feel is important to mention is the link between vitamin D deficiency and hospitalized COVID-19 patients. One study found that 80% of hospitalized COVID patients had a vitamin D deficiency³, while another showed that supplementation may prevent the need for respirators or death in COVID patients⁴. Vitamin D has long been linked to increased immunity, and supplementing vitamin D when you don’t have access to daily sunlight (which the scientific community agrees is your best source of the almighty D) will serve as the boots-on-the-ground commander of your army against atomic-level tyrants like COVID, the common cold, and all bacterial and viral adversaries.

Does this mean you will never get sick? No, not necessarily, but staying fit, losing excess fat, eating nutritious food, and topping up on vitamin D will reduce your chances of falling ill, and improve your chances of staving off microscopic enemies.

References:

1. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-cdc-study-finds-roughly-78percent-of-people-hospitalized-were-overweight-or-obese.html

2. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7010e4.htm?s_cid=mm7010e4_x

3. https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/106/3/e1343/5934827

4. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/tes-smp031621.php

Chapter 3

10 Benefits Of Getting Off Your Ass

1.To Look Better – Let’s face it, getting into a smaller pair of jeans is why most people will be getting off their asses. No judgement here. There is nothing wrong with it. It’s an Instagram world and the selfie is a real damn thing. If vanity – and not relying on filters – is what lights the fire under your sagging booty, then vanity is no longer a deadly sin. It’s a lively one!

Sometimes you need less-than-perfect reasons to get [started], then you can discover your deeper ‘why’…Like building a foundation of strength, developing a resilient source of motivation takes time and energy.

– Mat Fraser, 5x CrossFit Games Champion

2.To Take Back Your Health – Perhaps you’ve been sat down by your doctor and told that your sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits make you a ticking time bomb. Perhaps you’re one Snickers away from being a Type 2 Diabetic or your blood pressure is intermittently stretching your arterial walls tighter than the skin of a water balloon.

According to the World Health Organization, Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and increases the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety.¹

Getting up off your ass – and sitting your ass down to plates of real, whole foods – will combat every one of these diseases and countless others.

3.To Lose Fat – We mentioned those jeans you used to rock which are now sitting in a bin of clothes you hope to one day to get back into. Perhaps you’ve always had a weight problem, but you’ve decided you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. Whether it’s an aesthetic reason (which translates into body positivity and confidence once you start getting results) or a physical health reason (you literally might die), losing excess fat is a step in the right direction when it comes to getting mobile, decreasing your risk of stroke, cancer, heart attack, sleep apnea, joint pain, back pain, and feeling more confident about yourself.

4.To Gain Muscle / Get Stronger – Ladies, I’m not talking bulk here! I’m talking about lean muscle tone, a tight ass and a healthy look. Men, you may be more hormonally inclined to gain a little muscle size, but fat loss is a natural by-product of muscle mass.

The initial aim is to get fitter, healthier and stronger. Cardio workouts are healthy and beneficial, but you really only burn calories during your run, bike, etc, as opposed to resistance training which can have a more lasting effect. Although you are using your muscles for cardio, the primary taxation is on your cardiovascular system, which is only one aspect of a complete fitness regimen. If we are specifically trying to maximize continuous calorie expenditure throughout your life, resistance training (lifting weights) will continue to burn calories for up to 72 hours after the workout. Hopefully, you will be jumping into another workout within those next couple days and so on. Although you are raising your heartrate slightly while lifting weights, the real taxation now takes place within the muscles worked that day, specifically the micro-tearing of the fibers and the metabolic/hormonal effect. This, and another process called Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), keeps your metabolism revved up while your body expends energy to recover.

After a short time, when muscle mass inevitably increases, so does your basal metabolic rate (the calories that you continue to burn at rest) because it takes more energy to simply fuel more muscle on your frame. So, you’re burning calories while just sitting at your work desk.² Bonus!

5.It’s a natural high (no, really!) – What will you gain today from getting your keister in gear? The natural high is a real damn thing! Chemicals like endorphins and dopamine are released when you exercise. They provide you with feelings of euphoria (Google ‘runner’s high’ for a more extreme example). Other goodies called norepinephrine and adrenaline are released under mental or physical stress to improve your awareness, focus, and energy output. Fitness is an anti-depressant that can be as strong as some pharmaceuticals. The HUNT cohort study³ found that even modest amounts of exercise, as little as one hour per week, would reduce depression cases by 12%. So, whether you’re into uppers like adrenaline, or the nice smooth buzz of endorphins, leave the pharmaceuticals in the cabinet and get your fix at the gym, or wherever you get your fitness high. If we throw in some breathing techniques, the high will leave you with a straight clean addiction to healthful practices.*

6.It Reduces Stress/Anxiety – The Anxiety and Depression Association of America states that there is a mind and body connection where your brain feels best when the body is primed. A Duke University study found that 30 minutes of exercise 3 times per week was as effective as drug therapy for major depression.⁴

Studies have shown that working out decreases overall levels of tension, elevates mood, improves sleep and your self-esteem.⁵ Once again, the simplicity is there: training right and eating well leads to positivity and anti-anxiety. As a personal anecdote, if I don’t get off my ass everyday, the stress starts closing in. Perhaps barring extreme clinical depression, the gym is the cheapest and possibly most effective psychiatrist to visit.

7.Longevity – You’re less likely to die! If a longer and healthier life was the only benefit of getting off your ass, I hope it would be enough. You have loved ones? They likely love you back, so don’t freaking die on them.

8.To Live a Better/Fuller Life - Don’t just work on your Lifespan, work on your Health-span. You are a dynamic organism, not a bump on a log. Take a walk through nature, go scuba diving, hike Machu Pichu, experience life. Do you have kids? Nieces and nephews who want to play? Do you have friends who want to play tennis or go golfing? You can have the energy and fitness to do all of that and more with a smile on your face. Don’t just exist. Live! Grab life by the nads and twist them. Have a blast. Allow your loved ones to have a blast with you.

9.To Boost Immunity – Moving your booty gets those white blood cell superheroes circulating faster and more efficiently around the body, preventing you from getting invaded by microscopic villains. Moving and sweating elevates body temperature. This helps stop bacterial or viral infections in its tracks, similar to the way your body fights off those little bastards with a fever.⁵ You don’t need to be sick to promote your body to ward off sickness. Simply Getting Off