Dear Rocco,

I have been running on the treadmill and fast-walking on the beach. I weigh 197 pounds. When I first started the treadmill, I could only do 13 minutes, and now I can do 32 minutes. I will not give up, I will lose pounds and get toned up! My question is, when I start dropping some weight, will the cellulite on my thighs disappear?

—Patti

The problem with cellulite is that it has nothing to do with losing weight or losing fat. It has everything to do with the structural integrity of your fat cells.

We all have fat cells — actually we have a predetermined amount. Each fat cell is supposed to be strong and smooth, not lumpy and bumpy, and they certainly shouldn’t have that orange-peel look — gross! Most of the time, we actually get cellulite by doing the very thing we want to take it away … dieting.

Most diets are the restrictive kind, and when you restrict your body of nutrients, you begin to tear it down at the cellular level. When you weaken the walls of your fat cells, they begin to “sag” and take on a dimpled appearance. Usually, this occurs because your diet is lacking EFAs, or Essential Fatty Acids.

Although I’m not a nutritionist, I do know a little something about EFAs. I had to do tons of research when I decided to launch my nutritional product brand, askROCCO Balance, and wanted to include an omega-3 complex in my line.

EFAs are the primary building blocks of most of the cells in your body, especially fat cells. Just like a house or building needs a strong framework to maintain its shape and size, fat cells need a strong structure to maintain their shape and function. EFAs keep the cells flexible, rather than coarse and ridged, providing the smoothness and suppleness of healthy skin.

So when you’re training or dieting, make sure you’re maintaining a proper balance of fatty acids — omega-3s, omega-6s and omega-9s. Omega-3s are found in oily fish (like salmon), eggs and flaxseed. Omega-6s come from palm, soybean and vegetable oils, while omega-9s are found in olive oil. The appropriate balance is usually 4:1 omega-3s to omega-6s and -9s.

If you would like to try askROCCO BALANCE Omega-3 Complex go to askROCCO.com

This article was slated for Muscle & Fitness but was a little too long for what they needed so now it’s my blog entry for today.

Your triceps are what give your arms the appearance of being huge, not your biceps. If you want huge arms you need to train triceps and train them hard. Thickness comes from breaking down muscle fibers so they can adapt to being worked hard again and again. No one ever produced massive arms without massive triceps.

I get questions all the time on this blog, asking me the same thing. “I just can’t seem to bring up that outer horseshoe part of my triceps, even though my inner triceps are pretty meaty” or “I do plenty of extensions — lying, cables, dumbbells, overhead, kickbacks — but can’t seem to add any real size to my tri’s. Am I doing something wrong?…and it goes on forever. Here’s the best advice I can ever give you. In order to create mass you need to handle big weight. Not a hard concept to grasp but it does take some work and if you’re a wussy don’t expect to get massive. Stay in puneyville and have a nice day. If you’re willing to do the work, than I have an awesome tricep workout for you specifically designed for creating mass.

If you want to build crazy thick triceps you need to increase the weight and intensity of your workout. The simple formula: push as much weight with as much intensity as you can and muscle fibers will react. Again, not a hard concept to grasp. Want mass? Two words…Compound Movements, but compound movements need to be done in a process called “breakdowns” to increase the intensity or you’re just wasting your time.

One of the biggest mistakes bodybuilders make is trying to handle weight that will get them 6, 8, 10, 12 or 15 reps. Stop this because it’s hindering your growth. My favorite mass building exercise is “weighted dips”. If you have strong legs, it’s easy to place different size dumb bells between your legs. If you have trouble holding the dumb bells for some reason, grab a dip belt. What I like to do is see how many dips I can do with my bodyweight then I add 30% of my bodyweight to the belt. So, for the mathematically impaired, I weigh 225 lbs so I would load 68 lbs on the belt or grab a 70 lb dumb bell. Now this is where it gets tricky so pay attention. You need to get at least 20 reps out of your set. Yes, 20! Before you start your set, go grab 2 more sets of dumb bells or make it easy to take half of the weight off the dip belt. Push yourself to get as many reps with 30% of your bodyweight and when you can’t go anymore, drop the weight by half, in this case 35 lbs. Keep pushing until you hit 20. If you have a problem getting to 20, drop the weight again by half (15 lbs) and finish out the set. Rest for no longer than 30 seconds and do it all again. This same procedure can be used for any compound movement such as; Close Grip Bench Press, French Presses and Weighted Diamond Pushups.

One of my favorite exercises to hit all three heads of the triceps and one that no one does anymore or is rarely seen in the gym, is an exercise I learned from my friend and the “Father of American Bodybuilding”, Bill Pearl. It’s called the Reverse Grip Tricep Press. You can perform the movement any number of ways and with different equipment but the most basic is utilizing a barbell. Lie flat on your back (bench or not) and grip the bar the way you would if you were going to do bicep curls (supinated grip), start the exercise in the down position with the bar over the top of your head, keep your arms at an angle and raise the bar to a position just before lock out. Go through the same breakdown process as you did with weighted dips.

Anytime you push heavy weight you will increase the size of the outer head of the triceps, but I get many questions about fine tuning the horseshoe effect of all three heads that make up your triceps. This is not as easy as it seems because your arm’s leverages play an important role of how you exercise your arm at the elbow joint. What I have found is that you need to allow your body to make its own decision and not force undue stress on your joints, especially your elbow. I like ropes and cables as a finishing exercise because it allows your arm to be free to work in its natural plane. If you try to make your arms conform to a specific plane of movement you may miss the intended muscle completely. Not a good idea. Movements that work the inner and top head of the triceps are Tricep Press downs (independent cables or ropes), Lying Tricep Presses (Rope). On occasion I will use a towel to get the same effect as ropes and cables. When you train your triceps in this way you are creating an unstable environment at the joint, so all three heads are basically recruited to help move the arm to its intended position. Train hard, get huge!

Rocco Castellano is the founder of askROCCO Media, which provides boot camps, seminars, media content and online fitness services at askROCCO.com. He is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has written “askROCCO Uncensored v1,” available at bookstores everywhere.

I have read articles upon articles about the National Association for the Acceptance of Fat People. An organization that started out as a social group for chubby chasers and has now grown into a civil rights advocate group. I have always tried to help my fellow man in their quest for self improvement but I can never accept a mentality that is entitlistic and self destructive. One that this association has built its whole platform.

Right off the bat, don’t start sending hate mail because you read the headline and think I’m some sadistic radical that believes all fat people should die. That’s just not true. The reality is that I’m fed up with FAT people believing that America and American citizens owe them something… because we don’t. You owe yourself the self respect of not asking people who try hard every day to not be a burden on the health care system and live healthy and unselfish lives to accept the way you want to live. Why should I accept the fact that fat people in general have placed a huge burden on the health care system? Heart disease, Diabetes and Cancer are the three major causes of death in the United States and they are usually linked back to not just obesity but fatness. It’s amazing to me that I am told by Fat people every day that it isn’t their fault. I must have been punched in my head too many times when I boxed because I don’t know who else’s fault it could have been. I’m pretty sure that anyone who is fat can exercise, doesn’t have to eat like they are going to the chair.

Of course, the 2 big reasons I get that it isn’t their fault is 1) my genetics 2) a medical problem. I want to impart on you a little information: Genetics play a large role in weight and not fat. Most Americans are usually 20 lbs heavier than our European counterparts. Most of the weight is from muscle and bone not fat. You become fat because you store fuel. There is nothing in your DNA that provides for you to become fat. Lack of movement and over eating is why you get fat. Don’t blame your DNA. Certain thyroid conditions can cause weight gain but with the proper exercise programs and thyroxin treatment your fat gain can be managed. The percentage of this condition is 1% of 1%, so how can 65% of the population blame a faulty thyroid. Most of the problems with thyroid conditions are no one is willing to do the necessary work to keep their fat in check. They resign themselves to having a problem and let themselves stay fat. If you have broken your leg, do you need to do more work or less work to get your leg back to normal and what happens when you don’t do the necessary therapy? Exactly… nothing , and you walk with a limp the rest of your life.

The fatter you are the more work you need to do, not less. Anything that promises you quick results without work preys on your ignorance and more often stupidity. Gaining and losing fat is all a numbers game. That’s it…In a nutshell!

If you want to lose 30 lbs in thirty days don’t think you can sit around all day and do nothing. To burn one pound of fat per day you will need to expend 3500 calories during the course of that day over your basic caloric expenditure…and that takes work. You will need to change the way you look at food and they way you look at working out. You will need to learn how to burn as much fat as you can within the shortest amount of time. The answer is not “cardio”. The answer is teaching your body and it’s systems to burn fat (fuel) consistently and limit your portions to not exceed your daily caloric consumption. If you believe you have no time to implement a basic workout program to get you started than nothing will help you and you should die of a heart attack sooner than later. It is our decision to stay fat and accepting fat like accepting the fact that we are Black, female, male, Asian, and other reasons why there are laws against discrimination is not going to change the reality that fat is a condition we place on ourselves. No one can change that condition but us we need to look into our very being without excuses and change our attitudes and then begin the journey of self respect, self reliance and breath the freedom of self confidence.

A respected colleague of mine or someone whose blog I read frequently named Dr. Ed Zimney reported about a year ago how Airborne Tablets where nothing more than a diluted version of a multi-vitamin and that in his opinion it was a big scam and great marketing hoax. Well the company that makes Airborne Tablets has decided to settle a class action lawsuit for $22 million dollars. The Federal Trade Commission and Attorney Generals from 24 states have decided to conduct their own investigations involving this scam. For more information on Dr. Zimney’s Blog and the Airborne Scam go to http://blog.healthtalk.com