Continue reading →]]> We are more wired today then ever. Smart phones, laptops and tablet computers have the majority of us super connected but also super anxious.Throw in the mix all the other challenges of modern day living such as the inflating cost of living, the economy and our ever-increasing workweek and the result is a stressed out society. These stress levels may have more effect on your waistline then you think due to the hormone cortisol. As stress heightens, cortisol is released. While cortisol has beneficial effects on the body, the constantly high levels of it are problematic.

Theadrenal glands are not judgmental of the type of stress we encounter, any kind of stress will do. The stress can be physical, environmental, chemical or mental.Chronically Elevated cortisol levels contribute to the accumulation of abdominal fat and make it very difficult to get rid of it. The immune system is suppressed and the individual becomes more susceptible to infections, both minor and major.

So how do we reduce our stress and therefore our cortisol levels and give our body the best chance of fat loss?

1)   Switch off: Have some time every day and if you can 1 day every week when you are technology free. No phone, Internet, anything. Your status update can wait

2)   Bend and stretch: Take a yoga class. Great for the body and the mind. Teaches you how to breathe and be present in your body. Yoga is no longer just a herbal pursuit. It is now in favor of some of the worlds best athletes, such as Lebron James, Cadell Evans and Sam Stosur

3)   R & R: Rest up. Sleep in, catch a movie. This may sound obvious but rest must be managed and scheduled as a deliberate strategy, choice and course of action. Otherwise it gets forgotten in the busyness of life.

4)   Go low, Low Glycemic that is. Sugar handling stress increases cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol, in turn, aggravates the sugar handling situation contributing to the development of high insulin levels and ultimately diabetes

5)   Join the train (ing): Exercise can cause release of chemicals called endorphins into your blood stream. These give you a feeling of happiness and positively affect your overall sense of well-being.

6)   Meditation. Finding the time and patience to relax can be tough. But meditation doesn’t have to be complicated–simply stopping to breathe for a few minutes can be your own meditation. Or try guided meditation if you’re like me and need some direction.

The path to the body you desire isn’t always about working ever harder. Not only is ok sometimes to relax, your body down right needs it.

Chill out,

Benjamin

Continue reading →]]> After taking in the 3 days of seminars at the Australian Fitness expo last week, some of the most interesting information I was presented was around that of the link between a gut flora and fat loss

Current research suggests that healthy gut bacteria are crucial to maintaining normal weight and metabolism.
The human gut is home to 100 trillion microorganisms, 10 times more bacteria then the rest of the entire body.When the ratio of bad to good bacteria is out your body finds it hard to break down and digest the nutrients in the food you eat, so you wont feel full, often you will consume 30% more calories to achieve the a feeling of fullness.

Several features of the modern lifestyle directly contribute to unhealthy gut flora:

•   Antibiotics and other medications like birth control
• Diets high in refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods
• Diets low in fermentable fibers
•   Dietary toxins like wheat and industrial seed oils that cause leaky gut
• Chronic stress

If you’ve been exposed to some of these factors, there are still steps you can take to restore your gut flora:

•                 Remove  all food toxins from your diet
•                 Eat plenty of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potato,)
•                Take a high-quality probiotic,
•                Treat any intestinal pathogens (such as parasites) that may be
•                Take steps to manage your stress

A healthy gut is a happy gut, and a happy gut is one that is easier to shrink..

Eat clean, train hard,

Ben

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Many times over the years I have had friends, clients and staff ask me how they will know what to do with their lives.. (For some reason they think I have a idea what I’m doing with my own?). In my opinion I don’t think you are ever going to get a shining ray down from heaven, illuminating the path to a desirable, successful future. At least I never have had this experience and I’m pretty sure its not coming. I then share the story of the Rabbit on the freeway. I have been telling this story for years and I’m not sure where I picked it up. Sometimes I even throw actions in too, it depends on the crowd. I couldn’t find the story in any books in my library and when I Google “Rabbit  stories” most are straight out of penthouse forum, so its not from there. I don’t think I made it up, but I have had plenty of knocks to the head over the years, so who knows?

Late one winters evening a rabbit scampering through the scrub on the outskirts of the city lost it’s bearings and hopped out onto the middle of a 6 lane highway. The rabbit looked up from this precarious position to a massive 16 wheeler mack truck bearing down on him… The lights, the noise, the vibration, everything was moving a light speed and something had to be done quick. Mr rabbit thought to himself: hmm to scurry left?? Do I scurry right?? Maybe a try to jump the truck, I am a rabbit after all.. Maybe I just try to duck and let the truck go over the top of me? What to do?? What do do?? Thinking.. Pondering… Contemplating… SPLAT!!!!

In the end it didn’t matter which way the rabbit went, all could have been the right decision, just as long as he pinned his ears back and gave it everything he had.

Life can be like this too. There is not necessarily a definitive way to go or path to follow; there may be many options  that could  provide happiness and success you are after with the necessary effort. Though some hang out, waiting for the ‘Right’ opportunity. Waiting , contemplating and SPLAT! Not appreciating that there is no right opportunity. Its about molding yourself to create the right opportunity, or even just making the best with whatever the current opportunities happen to be and who knows where it will lead. Sometimes where you finish up is a far distance from where you started, but various people and paths materialize as you work your ass off. You might not even realized that was what you wanted at the beginning of your journey, but if you didn’t stop waiting and thinking and start working at it, you would have never found out.

Don’t be the bunny stuck in the headlights, pick a direction, give it all you got and see where it leads.

Get running,

Ben

Continue reading →]]> I had one of my best trainers come to a little me perplexed . His client had lost 3kgs the week prior and only a couple of hundred grams this week, after being just as conscientious. Having seen this many times over the years I chatted with him about reasons this might be the case.

So here are 6 reasons you are not losing weight..:

*Eating too little carbohydrate
Whilst it is true that we need to be conscious of our carbohydrate intake to maximize fat loss, we still want to make sure we are getting enough. In fact individual fat molecules can actually not enter the fat burning cycle without having a little glucose molecule to take them there. Indeed, this may be the very reason that even though you are eating a low fat, low carb diet and training hard, you are not losing any more weight. People get excited when they drop their carbs and instantly lose weight. This is more of a factor of storing less water then fat loss.

*Eating too little fiber
When we are eating for weight loss we sometimes restrict are carb intake and also to our intake of fiber, this is a mistake. Fiber is an essential factor for maintaining health. It helps you feel more full and therefore eat less, it binds with acids in the body and help carry out excess fat and it acts as a bulking agent and speeds the transit time of the food we eat, keeping the intestines in good order.

*Too little sleep
When we are constantly sleep deprived the body secretes a hormone named ghrelin. Higher ghrelin levels have been shown to reduce energy expenditure, stimulate hunger and food intake, promote retention of fat

*Not  eating enough fat
Too little fat may actually make it harder for us to lose weight as essential fats a help burn fat by assisting in the transport of oxygen to the body’s tissues. As well as the transport of essential vitamins and nutrients and supporting hormone production.

*The GI of carbs youre eating
You might be eating the right amount of carbohydrates, but the type of carbs you are eating has a significant effect on weight loss. The amount of insulin released after a meal is usually proportional to the meals blood glucose response. High GI foods produce a larger rise in blood glucose and therefore insulin levels, than low – moderate GI foods. Consequently diets based on lower GI foods have been found to promote greater weight (body fat) loss than the high GI diets with a similar energy intake

*Dehydration:
If you want to have steady fat loss, and high energy, it is necessary to keep your body and liver hydrated every day. Our liver converts the fat soluble toxic chemicals that we consume, breathe in, and absorb through our skin, into water soluble chemicals which helps the kidneys to flush the toxins through urine. With limited water supply, the kidneys cannot completely flush out metabolic and foreign waste. Our muscles are a high percentage water too. Dehydration leads to muscles of smaller volume and therefore less energy expenditure.

These are just a few factors that may be associated with the struggles of weight loss. There are many more which I will aim to address in further posts. Never give up, the body of your dreams is achievable..

Train hard, eat clean.

Ben

Continue reading →]]> A funny thing happens when you put crabs in a bucket. One left on its own in there will surely find a way to escape; however when many share the same bucket none can get out. Why you may ask? Surely it would be easier to vacate their tin prison with a little team in there? No so. If one crab makes a break for the wide blue yonder the others will grab and drag this crab back down into the pit with the others, to share the groups collective fate.

The term ‘Crab mentality’ refers to the line of thinking that ‘If I cant have it, neither can anyone else’. I’m sure many times in life we have felt like the crab making a break for it, only to have our ‘Friends’, colleagues and associates attempt to pull us back down in the bucket. And whether we like to admit it or not, I am sure there has been other occasions when we have been the nasty crab doing the pulling.

The irony of this situation is that if the crabs worked together the whole group would surely live to see another day. So next time you feel yourself being the ‘Nasty Crab’ fight against your evil urges and help your peer in their attempts to elevate themselves… You may just get a pleasant surprise next time you make a break from the bucket..

Continue reading →]]> Over the years I have been a 70 kg teenager trying desperately to put on size, a 105 kg footballer trying to stay fit, an 80 kg body builder trying to get lean, a 85 kg ultra marathon runner trying to be fast, and through almost all of it a personal trainer advising clients on how to lose weight.

Through my career I have acquired knowledge through study and the experimentation on my own body and that of those I have trained. From that knowledge I have put together some ‘Top weight loss tips’ which I turned into a workshop that I recently ran for my teams. Here is a summary of the workshop:

*Have a big goal: You actually have a greater chance of achieving a bigger goal than a smaller one. Small goals are not exciting, they do require as much focus or action, they do not stir the soul and really your life wouldn’t be to much different if you knocked it off. However big goals are scary. They require commitment, hard work and discipline. They evoke fear and inspiration. Few people conquer such lofty ambitions, but those who do are forever changed. If you need to lose 10kgs set your goal at 10kgs, not 2kgs. 2kgs is uninspiring and too achievable to be motivating.

*Planning: Is a crucial part of success. Plan out your week and when and where you are going to fit in all our exercise sessions. Plan your nutrition for the next day. What you are going to eat, when you are going to eat it and where it is going to come form. Failing to plan is planning to fail.. and with weight loss this is never more true..

*Regular weigh in/ accountability: Whether your goal is weight loss, fat loss, fitness increase, whatever it is. It is essential you have regular check ins of an objective measurement. For weight loss a weekly weigh in at the same day and time on the same scales. NO EXCUSES. It is only human nature to want to live in denial. ‘I had a bad weekend, can we push the weigh in back a day or two?’. But before you know it, a day or two, turns into a week, a month, then 2 years and 15 kgs later the cycle continues..

*Eating frequency: I love it when I meet a new client for the first time and they tell me they that their goal is weight loss and they are only eating 2 – 3 times a day. I KNOW I can get their metabolism churning in a matter of days by increasing their eating frequency. Optimally we want to eat 5 -6 times a day for maximum energy consumption. Many feel this is counter intuitive, eating more to lose weight? But through a process called dietary thermogenesis the body has an increase  in energy burnt every time we eat. More meals consumed equals more spikes. It doesn’t have to be a large meal as such, just a few nuts, a little bit of yoghurt, something,  throwing a little bit of kindling on the fire and get your metabolism pumping!

*Go for low GI carbs: Years ago I had a client that was hitting her Carb/Protein/Fat gram per day goal perfectly as well as training the house down, but the scales were barely budging… Even though she was hitting her carbohydrate goal perfectly we changed the carbs that she was eating to all very low Glycemic index carbs and Boom.. 3 kgs fell off her.Eg: She swapped the cereal she was eating to All Bran, white bread to Burgen Soy and Linseed, Swapped normal potato to sweet potato.. So she was eating the same total volume of carbohydrate, but with a Much Lower GI, much less of an effect on her blood sugar and therefore much less insulin produced and amazing results achieved
See www.glycemicindex.com for more info

*Planning around meals: I never tell someone they cannot have a certain type of food or meal, because as soon as it is banned, there will be an automatic insatiable craving. Solution, be smart and plan around it. If you love banana’s eat one, and if your husband is taking you out to your favorite Italian restaurant, don’t skip it, go there and have the lasagna you love just be smart about it. Plan your meals and snacks around your nutritional deviation to lessen the damage. Maybe have eggs for breakfast instead of cereal., and a salad for lunch instead of a sandwich to prepare for the carb explosion in your evening meal. Eat the foods you love in moderation just be smart with how it fits it with your days total macro nutrient consumption.

*Eat slow:  While you are slowing down, you might find that you learn to stop eating sooner. You might notice that you are full and don’t need that extra bite. Studies show that “fullness” is a complex concept that combines the number of times you chew, the time you spend eating, the look of the food on the plate, as well as the actual amount of food you eat. Slow down and you may feel full with less.

*Eat protein with carbs: When you mix protein and carbohydrates together in the same meal you minimize the chance of the carbohydrates being stored as fat. Protein is harder for the body to process, so it increases your metabolism. Also, carbohydrates help transport the nutrients from protein to the muscle cells which aids in muscle growth.

*Avoid the empty calories. Fruit juice, milk and sugar in coffee and dried fruit, try to limit or avoid.  When I started out in personal training I had great challenges with one of my first ever clients. Lets call him Jerry (Because Jerry is not on Facebook). Jerry was training 3 hours a week with me, plus training another 3 hours a week on his own. Keeping a food diary and to my knowledge eating very well. After a month of getting no results I was nearly at my wits end and my personal training career was nearly over before it began, when out of desperation I asked him.. ‘What are you drinking in a day?, Any coffee?’. As it turns out he was having 6 lattes a day with 2 sugars each. So with the lactose in the milk and the carbs from the sugar each latte had 35-40gm of simple carbs each. X 6 lattes over at least 6 days is 1.5kgs of Very high GI carbs a week. BINGO was his name! Jerry cut the milk and sugar from the coffee and kept up his great eating and training and the weight fell off him.
Also to be aware of the high GI carbs in juices and dry fruits. Many boost juices have more sugar then coca cola and with dried fruits as a snack you may as well be eating gummy bears for fat loss. I will leave alcohol for a whole other blog..

*Stock cupboards/ food prep: You cant eat good food if its not there! Most people don’t intend to eat rubbish, but they don’t make the effort or take the time and effort to eat well so they have to consume whatever is available. Shopping so your cupboards at home and work are always stocked with fresh fruit and veg,  nuts, cans of tuna, low fat yoghurts, protein bars. Quick simple snacks that can prevent poorer choices. Also to making sure that the poor choices are NOT readily available. Not having chocolate, lollies, ice cream at easy reach in a moment of weakness, because we all have those moments, but if those foods are NOT there you cant eat it.  A second on the lips a lifetime on the hips

*Fiber: High fiber foods help you feel fuller for a longer period of time. High fiber foods provide fewer calories per volume of food which makes you feel fuller without eating as much . Just because you feel fuller by eating fiber doesn’t mean you’ll gain weight. Fiber isn’t absorbed or digested by your body very well; much of the fiber you eat ends up being excreted. Foods that are high in fiber also tend to be high in nutrients but lower in calories. High fiber foods make you feel full without having to eat lots of extra calories. Foods that are high in fiber, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and cereals, beans, and legumes, are all recommended for healthy weight maintenance and to keep your body in good health.

* Eat more fish: Fish contains fewer calories per 100gm then either beef or chicken and more beneficial fat

*Don’t under eat carbs. Under eating carbs can be as bad as overeating them for fat loss. Your metabolism does decrease over the years, particularly when meals are skipped or calorie restrictive diets are implemented. The body adapts to this stress with a biological protective mechanism; the metabolism decreases. Once more carbs are reintroduced, more body fat may be gained than was originally lost. This attributes to what is known as yo-yo dieting. The body gains back more fat that what was originally lost, ultimately with fewer carbs consumed.

*More muscle: Consistent resistance training and the consumption of protein leads to an increase of muscle mass. With a greater volume a muscle mass you have an increased metabolism which means your body is burning more calories 24 hours a day. With the greater muscle mass the body also has a greater storage capacity for carbohydrates before the excess carbs are stored as body fat.

*Sleep to lose weight: When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food. 6.5-7 hrs is the bare minimum to keep this hormonal response at bay. Turn off the tele sleep your way to a leaner body!

Well that is a few steps on the path to weight loss success
So many more tips to add, will definitely write follow up posts to this blog.

Stay Hungry, (literally and metaphorically)

Ben

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No matter what the team at Apple comes up with next, or who wins the tablet wars, your brain is always going to be the most powerful computer you will ever use. Scientists estimate the processing power of a average brain to be about 100 million MIPS (Million computer Instructions Per Second ), Which means the brain is like a 1,680,000 MHz Pentium computer.
And like a computer our brain has hardware, an operating system and applications. The hardware being our physical self, the operating system being how we execute and how we organize what we have to do and the applications being ALL the things we are doing and thinking about at any given time.
Too many applications open slow down our operating system causing our hardware to crash. Which is like when we try to do to many things on the one time or have a whole lot on our mind, this leads to stress and eventually breakdown

The new research out is that multitasking doesn’t work. Txting, whilst sending an email in the middle of a Skype session may sound like your ultra productive, but in reality it probably means you are doing 3 things poorly. But it’s more then that. Challenging conversations that we need to have playing over in our head is another application that could be open, being conscience about our body is another application often run, so to is that of unhappiness in ones career. Again the more applications we have open at any given time, the more chance our hardware is heading for trouble.

So why shut down applications?.  There are many that we run all day every day that do not serve us. Taking our time and processing power away from running the applications that lead us to success and happiness. Close down the useless and spend more time and energy on the useful.

 How to get your hardware running optimally

Write a list of all the applications you have open.
For many this can be a big list, but it is quite a cathartic process. Write down everything on your mind.eg: Need to pay parking ticket, haven’t done groceries, should call Dad, do I need a career change? Am I ready to have baby or should I get a fish? I need to start a budget, I’ve got to demand a raise from my boss, Who’s been stealing my lunch from the fridge at work, Gee I’m tired, Must get pitch done for meeting Monday morning, need to go for a run feeling fat, Would love a beer right now.

Shut down the programs that are adding the least value.
Believe or not all these applications (or quite similar ones) and many more are running currently in your head, slowing down your operating system, leading your hardware to a big crash. So lets stop procrastinating and start shutting down some now. Have that conversation with your boss, with your neighbor, with your partner with your best friend. Whoever the conversation is with that you keep replaying in your head. Chances are it will go much better then the program you have been running, and even if it doesn’t, its done and you can focus on the productive apps. Use the Internet as a time saving tool and not a life waster. Get off Facebook and pay your parking ticket, order groceries online and buy Gold Class movie tickets for you and your partner with a matter of minutes. 3 more programs shut down. Now we are cooking with gas!

 Focus on the programs that are adding the most value.
When you get back to your desk and you have a big presentation to write, yet all you can think about it how rude the barrista was at the coffee shop, stop it. And when you get up for a jog in the morning, but you get distracted by reorganizing your shoe closet, stop that too. Deep down we all know what are the important applications to run, and be it by fear or laziness we choose to focus on an inferior app. Just cut the shit and get started on what’s important, you will feel much better for it.

Spend time in sleep mode
Running that machine of ours hard all day everyday and we will overheat. Be sure to spend some time in sleep mode. Yes by sleeping. But other holistic fashions as well. Proper nutrition, Yoga, exercise, doing whatever it is for you personally that is good for your mind and body and nourishes your soul. Cooking, movies, beach time, whatever your preference. Chop hard at length with an axe and the blade is surely to blunt. Make sure you take regular time out to sharpen the blade.

Stay away from Viruses
We all have them. For some it’s a person, for others a place and many a thing. So whether your poison is a Cadbury creme egg, beer, an ex or the tab stay away, its called poison for a reason. It might lead to a short lived fix of pleasure, but ultimately a whole world of pain..

Keeping your operating system running virus free and at optimum speed should be a goal for all. Choose the right applications and use them well for longevity (and happiness) of your hardware..

Continue reading →]]> I you wait until you feel completely confident about a given situation before you act you will never do anything. No matter how much research, study and contemplation you do if you have never done something (and often even often if you have) you wont have overwhelming belief before jumping off the cliff.

Act first and then you get confident. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but the only way to feel confident is by taking action. Whether the action is approaching a girl in a bar, or starting a business, the mindset is still the same. If you succeed, well that’s sensational, if you do not, you realize your failure is not fatal, you learn from your attempt and with that learning you are better equipped to take on future challenges

So next time you are in a situation where you are a little scared, stop waiting for a shining light from heaven to give you the gusto to take it on, because its not coming. Act now, the biggest challenges are in your own head..

Continue reading →]]> Leonardo  da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist,mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal.

Leonardo is renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time

He conceptualized a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator,[5] the double hull, and he outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tetonics. Pretty solid work for the pre-google days…

Most people today struggle today to hold down a job, keep a goldfish alive, and update their facebook profile..

So was Da Vinci born that far a superior genius to the minds of today? Would he have amassed as many achievements if he was preoccupied with Facebook, twitter and Pinterest?

I personally believe the main challenge for our generation to live the greatness they have inside of them, is that many are not giving themselves the time and space to think. Back in the Mid 1400’s there wasn’t a whole lot going on for old Leo, outside of his work so he had ample time to think, explore, be curious and create. Now pretty much every waking second for many is filled by something. Facebook on waking and on the toilet, TXTing in movies, meetings and meals, spending more time trying to take good profile pics at concerts and on holidays then actually enjoying the experience itself, retweeting another’s opinion instead of coming up with one of your own.

So when does your brain work most effectively and creatively? Its when you are just being and not doing. When you are going for a walk on the beach, when you are doing a yoga class, when you are reading a book, whenever you are focused, present and relaxed, not worrying about your next status update or how many likes the instagram pic of your new shoes got. We are not allowing ourselves that time to think, create and just be anymore.
So spend more time logged out and more time tuned in. Experience life first hand and not just through a news reel. Wherever you are be there and be present who you are with.  Tap into your own brilliance, its in there, you just need to allow yourself the time and space to be and for your genius to surface..

Continue reading →]]> Today I was a part of a successful world record attempt. Well by part, I was the time keeper .I would have liked to be an athlete in the attempt, but as I cant currently run 3 minute kms I didn’t score a jersey, but it was still great to be involved.

Damien and Nicholas Chapman, Directors of Shift 60, a successful fitness studio in Bondi assembled a team of 12 elite athletes led by current and three time Triathlon World Champion Craig Alexander with Australian marathon legend Steve Moneghetti, 2011 50-55 age group Triathlon World Champion John Mergler, current Australian record holder over a mile Lisa Corrigan, elite lifeguards Stephen Madden and Clint Kimmins with Bondi Rescue’s Andrew ‘Reidy’ Reid and Adriel ‘Bacon’ Young . This crack squad was brought together in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record of the “Treadmill, Fastest Time to Run 100 km (TEAM)” .This record had been held by a 12 man team from the Twin City Track Club in North Carolina USA with a time of 5 hrs, 42 mins and 32 secs.

In the 12 person relay, the Shift 60 team, which had many doubters, took an early lead on the record and never let go. In fact many of the runners who had 4 intervals each on the treadmill were getting stronger with each blistering session, with speeds on the Woodway treadmills reaching up to 23 kms / hr and beyond.

In the end the 12 courageous Aussies had brought down the Yanks record by an astonishing 18 ½ minutes, with a time for the 100km of 5 hrs 24 min 10 sec. The big winner for the day however was ‘The Kids Foundation’. This organization works to both educate about injury prevention as well as to support seriously injured children. Sensationally at last count $70,000+ had been raised.

3 of the learning’s that stood out from todays effort for me were:

*You can have enormous success if nobody cares who gets the credit: Even though Nick and Damien had put in hundreds of man hours to get this day off the ground, and some of the Athletes such as Steve Moneghetti and Craig Alexander are world class, everyone today was part of a team,. No one there was doing it for themself, they were all gunning for the team goal to break the record and to help the kids.

*You’re only good as your last interval: The athlete’s had 4 runs each on the treadmill. They each came out very hard in their first effort, and got a good lead on the record. They could have rested on their laurels and taken it easy as the record attempt continued but the squad continued to push harder, breaking the record by a huge margin

*With a big enough why, you can overcome any how: The team’s why was to raise funds for the Kids foundation. And even though there could have been other easier records attempted like

: The most spoons balanced on the face is 17 and was achieved by Aaron Caissie (Canada) on the set of Lo Show dei Record, in Milan, Italy, on 18 April 2009.
Or even
The most hotdogs eaten in 3 minutes was 6 and was achieved by Takeru Kobayashi (Japan) for Bikkuri Chojin 100 Special #2 (Fuji TV) at Kashiwanohakoen Sogokyogijo, Kashiwa, Japan, on 25 August 2009.

No, the team chose to take on something huge, something grueling with their underrated squad. They took on a huge challenge armed with a close knit team and a good cause and won..

BL