Exercise Update » fat loss

Review and Special Offer: Holy Grail of Fat Loss Transformation E-Book

ExerciseUpdate — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:53:17 +0000

Through May 13th, 2010 Tom Venuto is offering his new Holy Grail of Fat Loss E-Book for FREE ($47 value) when purchase his original E-Book Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.

Tom Venuto is a Lifetime-Natural Bodybuilder, Personal Trainer, Nutritionist and Success Coach as well as the author of the very successful E-Book “Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle”

I’ve had a chance to take look at this new 74 page E-Book and I can tell you that it is jam packed with information. This books takes you from A-Z starting with the theory and science behind the training and then gives you a complete nutrition and lifestyle program. The bonus workout program is included at the end of the book.

The nutrition program is made up of days of under and over eating in a specific manner to enhance your fat loss and muscle gain. The workout program is a 4 week cycle bodybuilding style workout. Tom suggests that you can use this workout effectively for 12 weeks before needing to drastically change the exercises or workout parameters.

Learn more about why this transformation system works…

Considerations:

I like Tom’s books because they are complete and backed by good science. He helps you through some complex subjects and calculations so that you can have a great workout plan.

I would still suggest that this book is not for the faint of heart. If you are not inclined to spending more than a couple of hours reading and studying the methods in this book then your success will be limited. The nutrition plan also requires dedication to stick to days of specific Calorie intakes. You will need to be prepared to follow Tom’s food suggestions or be willing to count Calories if you make any food substitutions. Most of the exercises in the workout are free weight exercise which is good but you should feel comfortable with these exercises before starting on this plan. I wouldn’t suggest this book if you don’t know how to do a squat or have never heard the term deadlift. The equipment needed for the workout would be found in most any gym, but I doubt most people will have the needed equipment at home so a gym membership is required. There are no pictures included with exercises but you should be able to find them in Tom’s original book which is also included or on the internet if needed.

Here is the link to the Holy Grail of Fat Loss E-Book

Also, If you joins Tom’s Burn the Fat Inner Circle then you also get this book with your membership.

How To Gain Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time

Tom Venuto — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:06:39 +0000

“How can I gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?” That’s right up there with “How do I get six pack abs” as one of the most frequently asked fitness questions of all time. The problem is, when you ask it, you get all kinds of conflicting answers – even from experts who are supposed to know these things. So what’s the deal? Is it really possible to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously?

Short answer: Yes, you can gain muscle and lose fat at the “same time.”

Long answer: It’s difficult and it’s complicated. Allow me to explain….

First we have the issue of whether you really lose fat and gain muscle at the “same time.”

Well, yes, if your definition of the “same time” is say, a month or 12 weeks. But in that case, you’re probably not gaining muscle at the “same time” literally speaking, as in, right now this very moment you are reading this, or 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for months in a row.

The best explanation for what’s really happening is that you alternate between periods of caloric surplus (anabolism) and caloric deficit (catabolism) and the net result is a gain in muscle and a loss in body fat.

You see, if you stay in a calorie surplus, it’s the body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go up together. And if you stay in a calorie deficit, it’s your body’s natural tendency for body fat and lean body mass to go down together.

There may be exceptions, but the general rule is that it is very difficult to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time – the mechanisms are mostly antagonistic to one another. When it does happen, it’s almost always the result of “unusual conditions” – I call them X factors.

The 4 X-Factors

The first X-factor is “training age” . Ever hear of “newbie gains?” The less trained your body is and the further you are from your genetic potential, the easier it is to gain muscle. The reverse is also true – an advanced bodybuilder with 20 years experience would be thrilled just to gain a few pounds of solid dry muscle in a year!

The second x factor is muscle memory. It’s easier to regain muscle you’ve lost than it is to gain new muscle in the first place (ergo, the fat out of shape semi retired bodybuilder who starts training again and blows up and gets ripped “overnight”).

The third X factor is genetics (or somatotype). Ever heard of the “genetic freak?” That’s the dude who sprouts muscle like weeds even when he’s on the “50-50 diet” (50% McDonald’s and 50% pizza)… and he never gets fat. (That dude chose the right parents!)

The fourth X factor is drugs. It would stun (or sadden) you if you knew how many people take performance and physique-enhancing drugs. I’m not just talking about pro bodybuilders, I’m talking about “Joe six pack” in the gym – not to mention those fitness models you idolize in the magazines. How did they get large muscle gains with concurrent fat loss? Chemicals.

I’m not a gambling man, but I’ll place a wager on this any day: I’ll bet that in 99% of the cases of large muscle gains with concurrent large fat losses, one or more of these x factors were present.

That’s not all! There are actually 5 more X factors related to your body composition and diet status (the X2 factors). But I’ll have to talk about those later.

So you’re not a beginner, you don’t take roids, you’re not a genetic freak and you have no muscle memory to take advantage of. Are you S.O.L? Well, I do want you to be realistic about your goals, but…

There IS a way for the average person to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

The Secret: You have to change your “temporal perspective!”

Traditionally nutritionists and fitness pros have only looked at calorie balance in terms of 24 hour periods. At midnight, you could tally up the calories like a shopkeeper closing out his register, and if the balance were positive, you’d say you were in a surplus for the day. If the balance were negative, you’d say you were in a deficit for the day.

But it’s entirely possible that you might pass through periods of “within-day” surplus where you were in a highly anabolic state (for example, you eat the biggest, highest carb meal of the day after your workout), and you were in a deficit the rest of the day.

If you did intense weight training, and you timed your nutrient intake appropriately, Isn’t it possible that you could gain a small amount of muscle during those anabolic hours, while losing fat the rest of the day? Granted it might only be grams or ounces – but what if you kept that up for a week? A month? Three months?

As you pan out and look at the bigger picture, what if most days of the week you were in a deficit for the entire day, and on some days you were in a surplus? If so, then isn’t it possible that over the course of the week, you’d have a small net gain of muscle and loss of body fat a a result of the caloric fluctuation?

These within-day and within-week phases are called microcycles and mesocycles. If you also had a primary goal with a longer term focus of several months, say 12 weeks or 16 weeks, that would be a macrocycle.

What I’ve just described is nutritional periodization. Some people call it cyclical dieting. it’s where you manipulate your calories (primarily by fluctuating carbohydrate intake, hence “carb cycling”) in order to intentionally zig zag your way through periods of surplus and deficit and create specific hormonal responses.

The end result: muscle gain and fat loss during the same time period!

I know that someone out there is having a hissy fit because I’ve only talked about calories: deficits and surpluses. Rightfully so. Calories matter but there’s more to it than calories – most importantly, hormones and “nutrient partitioning.”

If you’re in a calorie deficit you are going to pull energy from your body.The question is: From WHERE? If your hormones are out of whack and you’re eating crap, you could lose more muscle than fat in a deficit and gain almost pure fat, not muscle, in a surplus!

But WHAT IF you could manipulate within day energy balance, use nutritional periodization AND control your hormones with food and lifestyle strategies?

AHA! NOW you can see how concurrent muscle gain and fat loss are starting to look possible!

Make no mistake – concurrent muscle gain and fat loss is a difficult goal to achieve. The good news: difficult does not mean impossible. Or as George Santayana said, “The difficult is that which can be done immediately, the impossible, that which takes a little longer.”

The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program: How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at The Same Time

You can learn more about gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time in Tom Venuto’s new e-book called, “The Holy Grail Body Transformation System.”

You’ll learn all about nutritional periodization, cyclical dieting, hormonal manipulation, within day energy balance, nutrient partitioning, AND the all the X factors, including the 5 “X2-Factors” – which are the keys to gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time.

You’ll also get Tom’s new “TNB” training system, as seen in Men’s Fitness magazine (the complete, expanded version that Men’s Fitness didn’t have room to print).

At the moment, The Holy Grail ebook is not for sale separately and there are only two ways you can get it.

From now until Midnight (PST), May 13th, 2010, you can get a copy of the Holy Grail Body Transformation program ebook for FREE when you purchase the Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle e-book from this web page:
www.BurnTheFat.com

The other way you can a a copy is by joining the Burn the Fat Inner Circle at:
www.BurnTheFat.com/innercircle

After May 13th, 2010 at midnight PST The Holy Grail will be taken off the market for a period of time while Tom is collecting case studies and getting feedback from users, to include in the final edition – which WILL be released for sale separately later this year.

Visit the Burn The Fat website now and jump on this deal while you still can.

Smart Cardio For Strength, Mass, And Fat Loss

CharlesStaley — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:23:14 +0000

A great guest post by Coach Charles Staley. Too many people, with the exception of endurance athletes, often avoid cardio because either they like the resistance training better or they fear that cardio will cause them to lose too much muscle. I love these methods for properly implementing cardiovascular exercise in a way that will enhance your fat loss or muscle gain.

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

use a running track for 400 meter sprints

If you’re a typical guy who loves to lift big weights, but considers anything over 3 reps to be “endurance” training, you might not be interested in this article. However, if you can bench press a Buick but get winded when you bend down to tie your shoes, maybe I have an audience.

Look, we all do what we LIKE to do, but only the most successful among us find a way to also do what we NEED to do. If you think you’re in the latter category, listen up. I’ve got a quiver full of fun, challenging, cardio workouts that help you lose fat without losing strength or muscle.

Why You Need Cardio

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that cardio will turn you into a wispy, estrogen-soaked shadow of your former self – too many guys use this mindset as an excuse to avoid what they know they should be doing. In fact, the benefits of smart cardio training are too numerous to ignore. They include:

Cardiovascular Health: This might not sound so exciting, but believe me, a heart attack or stroke won’t help you lift bigger weights, will it? Good health is the foundation of everything else, including your weight workouts.

Think back to the parable of the farmer who discovered a goose who laid golden eggs – after a while, the farmer lost patience, and killed the goose to get all of the eggs all at once. Of course, when he opened the goose, there were no eggs inside. Don’t kill the goose (your health) that lays golden eggs (a lifetime of productive workouts).

Fat Loss: If I still haven’t convinced you by using the health argument, then this benefit should catch your attention. While it’s POSSIBLE to get super lean by lifting alone, it’s a lot easier if you add a cardiovascular component to your program.

Cardio workouts create a greater energy deficit, elevate metabolism, and initiate the secretion of important fat-mobilizing hormones. Don’t worry, you won’t lose muscle or strength, if you follow my suggestions in this article.

Active Recovery: We’ve known for a long time that ANY form of “contrasting” stress promotes a faster recovery from your primary training activity. For guys who primarily lift weights, that means cardio. Now if you’ve tried this approach before and it didn’t work, it’s almost certainly because you failed to carefully integrate the cardio into your existing program. More on that later.

Injury Prevention: Cardiovascular exercise mobilizes joints, increases blood flow to various tissues, and generally improves overall functioning. Really. Just trust me.

Everyday Function: I hate to be the one to clue you into this, but there are some very important everyday functions that require more than the ability to exert maximum force for 1-2 seconds. Things like walking across the street, playing with your kids, taking a shower, stuff like that.

Now, you might not have terrible endurance capacity now, but after a few decades of cardio avoidance, you will. So don’t even go there – you really CAN have it all – impressive muscularity, scary levels of maximum strength, and a healthy heart to boot. Follow along…

Four Principles Of Effective Cardio Training

Before I introduce you to my favorite cardio tricks, I’d like to share a few general principles that will make your cardiovascular sessions a lot more fun and rewarding:

1) Variation Prevents Injury, Boredom, and Dropout:

Here’s a little analogy that I use with my athletes: unfurl a paper clip into a straight piece of wire, and then start bending it back and forth, eventually you’ll break it. Think of your body that way.

There’s no need to use a single activity (such as running or biking) for your cardio workouts. After all, your heart, lungs, and circulatory system don’t know what exercise activity is taking place – but your joints sure do. If you use running for all your cardio workouts for example, your knees and feet take a heavy beating. But if you distribute the workout among 2-3 activities, such as running, swimming, and cycling, you’ll be less prone to overuse injury, and you’ll have more fun to boot.

2) Quality Before Quantity:

We all pay lip service to this principle, but how few of us actually employ it! Make sure your exercise technique is consistent at all times, no matter what. Know your best times for the various distances you cover and then, in your workouts, always stay close to those times. Finally, a quality performance is a pain-free performance. If you’re experiencing elbow pain during a swim for example, change gears until you determine what’s wrong.

3) Challenge Yourself And Have Fun:

I have a neighbor who’s simultaneously fascinated and disturbed by my devotion to physical training. He’ll often walk past my garage while I’m lifting and exclaim “Better you than me” or words to that effect. I always respond that I only train because I love it.

Look – if you can’t find some fun in your training, you’ll never last. So if you hate cardio, you’ll need to play some games with yourself to get in the mood. I think the best way to accomplish this is to challenge yourself. Keep a detailed training journal and record your PR’s for everything you do. This adds purpose and excitement to your training.

4) No Fuss Gets The Job Done:

I think the reason that a lot of people find exercise so tedious is because of all the pre-workout preparations – getting dressed in your “workout gear,” waiting for the perfect weather conditions, and taking your pre-workout supplements, just to name a few.

Try to adopt a “no preparation” attitude toward training. Don’t worry what your hair looks like, if it’s raining out, if you’ve got your running shorts on, or if you’ll be sweaty while you’re at the grocery store afterwards.

People often tell me that they dread the thought of doing cardio, but once they’re doing it, it’s not so bad. If you can relate, try to minimize the pre-workout gyrations. Just get out and do it.

Lose The Fat, Keep The Muscle: My Favorite Cardio Training Methods.

The following 8 training methods have a few things in common: They’re efficient, fun, challenging, time-efficient, practical, and most of all, they deliver.

1) Out & Back:

This is both a training method and an assessment tool, especially for beginners or lifters who haven’t done any cardio in a while. The idea is to cover a measured distance (you can run, bike, swim, skate, or whatever form of locomotion you happen to like) such that the “return” trip is performed in the same time (or less) than the “out” trip.

Let’s say you decide you’re going to go out for a jog for example. Your goal is to jog to a nearby park and then turn around and come back. With the out and back method, your goal is to establish a pace that enables you to complete your return trip in the same time as your out trip. If the return trip takes longer than the out trip, it indicates that you’re fatiguing faster than you should be – in other words, you’re running beyond your current abilities.

You can even use the out and back method with cardio machines in your gym – if, for example, you plan to use the elliptical trainer for 20 minutes, notice how much work you do in the first 10 minutes (usually this will be displayed as distance, or, alternatively, in watts). Then strive to equal or surpass this workload in the remaining 10 minutes.

2) Timed Miles:

If you haven’t done any running in a while, you might be surprised at how much you suck at it. In fact, if you go out and try to run one mile, chance are you won’t be able to finish at all. So don’t even try. Instead, measure a one mile course (maybe 1/2 mile out, and 1/2 mile back), and go out and cover that course, through a combination of walking, running, jogging, whatever.

The main thing is to record your time, no matter how bad it might be. Then, the next time you go out, simply beat that time. And you will. Gradually, workout by workout, you’ll be running more and walking less. And you’ll experience a steady stream of PR’s to keep your motivation flying.

3) 400’s:

400’s are one of the best fat-loss workouts you can ever do – just look at the physiques of top 400-meter sprinters if you still need convincing! Get on out to your local high school track (if it’s close to home, walk instead of drive – that’ll be your warm-up). Once around is 400 meters.

The current men’s World record is less than 44 seconds, which will soon strike you as un-Godly as you try your hand at this simple but punitive track & field event! So first time out, go VERY easy for the first 200 meters, and then pick up the pace for the final kick if you still have anything left in the tank.

Record your time. After about 4-5 minutes rest, run one more and try to beat your PR. That’s it for the first workout. You can run 400’s about twice a week, but start small and increase your reps very gradually. After several months, you’ll find you can do maybe 5 repeats per workout.

4) Hills:

Running hills is a fun but intense cardiovascular workout with important strength-enhancing benefits to boot. Best of all, the inclined surface minimizes impact and spares your joints.

Find a moderate slope that tapes you about 10-20 seconds to climb at maximum effort. First time out, limit yourself to 3-5 reps. Gradually increase to 10-12 reps after several weeks. And of course, time every sprint and always seek to beat your PR’s!

5) Tabata Protocol:

Recently, Dr. Tabata in Japan conducted a study in which he investigated the benefits of high intensity anaerobic exercise. Tabata discovered that a protocol consisting of 20 seconds of all-out cycling followed by 10 seconds of moderate cycling for a total of four minutes (8 repeats) was just as effective as forty-five minutes of aerobic exercise.

Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly to some, the Tabata Protocol increases aerobic fitness in addition to its anaerobic benefits. This finding is consistent with my “ladder” paradigm that states that higher intensity training develops a wider spectrum of fitness benefits than lower-intensity exercise.

Clearly, the hallmark of this method is it’s time-efficiency, but there is a price to pay in pain and sweat – choose your poison!

6) Dot Drill:

I realize that most weight-trainers think they own the market on pain-tolerance, but the dot drill makes 20-rep squats look like a trip to Baskin Robbins by comparison. Particularly insidious is the fact that, unlike resistance training, repeated exposures to the dots will not make subsequent exposures any easier.

First conceived by basketball coach Adolph Rupp in the 1940’s, and then later popularized by Bigger Faster Stronger Inc. a few decades later, the dot drill is both a remarkable agility, foot strength, and anaerobic conditioning exercise, as well as a superb and easy-to-administer testing tool.

It is unique in that it creates not only a high level of fatigue, but also a high quality of fatigue- fighters in particular will be able to relate to the feeling of panic that ensues when your heart rate soars to about 120% of age-predicted maximum.

The dot drill is a battery of 5 separate drills, performed in rapid succession, with each drill performed six times in a row before proceeding to the next drill (please refer to the diagram as you read the description).

Dot Drill Schematic

D E

A B

The dot drill features (5), five-inch diameter dots orientated in a pattern similar to the five dots on a pair of dice, expect that the “square” is three feet by two feet. Use a solid surface such as weight room matting, and tie your shoelaces. Tight.

Begin the drill as follows:

1) First drill: Starting position: your left foot is on “A” and your right foot on “B.” Hop forward and touch “C” with both feet simultaneously, then continue forward so that your left foot lands on “D” at the same instant your right foot lands on “E.” (a total of 2 hops). Now go back to the starting position by reversing what you just did (hopping backward). That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

2) Second drill: From the starting position, lift your left foot in the air and with right foot only, hop to “C,” “E,” “D,” “C,” “A,” and back to “B.” That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

3) Third drill: Repeat the last drill but using the left foot only (hop to “C,” “E,” “D,” “C,” “A,” and back to “B.”) That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

4) Fourth drill: Repeat the last drill but using both feet, keeping the feet together- this looks somewhat like a skiing drill. Repeat for a total of six reps.

5) Fifth drill: This is very similar to drill number one, with a slight variation: When you reach the top of the pattern (left foot on “D” and your right foot on “E.”), instead of hopping backward to get back to the starting position, you instead jump-spin and land on the same two dots (only now your left foot will be on “E” and your right foot on “D.”), facing the opposite direction. Then hop forward and touch “C” with both feet simultaneously, then continue forward so that your left foot lands on “B” and your right foot on “A.” Lastly, jump-spin again to assume the starting position. That’s one rep. Repeat for a total of six reps.

Errors: Subtract .10 seconds for every missed dot from the total time.

Once you’ve done the drill a few times, you’ll notice that you can’t help but be competitive once you start. Even if you don’t feel terribly motivated, you’ll bust a gut trying to get a good time. Or maybe it’s just that you want to get it over with. Either way, the dot drill brings out your best (and I’m not referring to your last meal).

Implementing the Dot Drill

The five dots of death (as my athletes refer to it) can be used as a warm-up for a strength training session (one drill will bring your heart rate to 100% and will get you sweating big-time), as anaerobic conditioning, and/or as a fantastic foot and calf strengthening tool. One precaution however: I suggest never doing more than 4 repetitions of the dot drill on any given day, and not more than 12 dot drills on any given week.

Dot Drill Standards

OK, you’ve done the dot drill a handful of times and you think you’re a stud (or studette) because you finally broke the two minute barrier? According to Bigger Faster Stronger, you’ll need to break the 60 second barrier to be considered fast.

7) Tethered Pool Sprints:

I live in Phoenix and hot weather is fast approaching. It often becomes tedious to get out there for sprints when the temperature is well over 100 degrees. If you’ve got a pool, and it’s never occurred to you that you can use it for exercise because it’s too small, try this: call around to some pool supply and/or diving shops and find an elastic cord with a nylon waist-belt. You attach the band to one side of the pool, and attach the band to your waist.

Attach the band in such a way that you can just barely reach the other side of the pool through an all-out sprint. Once you touch the other end, relax as the band pulls you back. Then repeat for the desired numbers of reps. This is a brutally tough and effective form of anaerobic exercise that delivers the fat loss goods in spades.

Fast High Repetition Overhead Lifting:

I’ve added this last option for those of you who still have a hard time stomaching any “non-lifting” form of cardio. In this case we’re talking about various forms of snatches – a fast lift where the weight is “snatched” to an overhead position.

Of course, the snatch is one of the two Olympic lifting events, but there are several one-arm variants as well, including the one-arm dumbbell snatch, the kettlebell snatch, and the one-arm barbell snatch. All of these lifts create high levels of cardio-respiratory fatigue, in addition to the obvious speed strength and shoulder-function benefits. On top of that, snatches are actually fun!

Integrating Cardio With Weights

One final note – as you begin to initiate some of these cardio workouts, realize that you’re significantly increasing the demands on your body. I strongly suggest cutting back on the volume of your weight training exercises to make way for these new workouts.

The simplest way to do this is to cut your sets in halfó in other words, if you normally do 4 sets of 8, cut it back to 2 sets of 8 – at least for the first few months. You’ll find that this approach will allow you to maintain both your strength and orthopedic health as you begin to address your cardiovascular fitness needs.

Following the suggestions I’ve presented here, you’ll enjoy the health and fat loss benefits of a cardiovascular exercise program, and, who knows, you might even become a “former” cardio hater.

About The Author

Charles Staley…world-class strength/performance coach…his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Click here to visit Charles’ site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with “Escalating Density Training,” Charles’ revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.

The 5 Laws of New School Fat Loss

CraigBallantyne — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:13:07 +0000

pay attention to these lessons

I’ve just spent another weekend explaining what Turbulence Training is to new potential clients. By the end of the day I had my speech memorized, and decided to turn it into a new article for you called, ”The 5 Laws of New School Fat Loss”.

Here goes…

Turbulence Training is a structured routine that I came up with that allows you to get the most results in the least amount of time, no matter what your goals.

This revolutionary new workout system evolved from both scientific principles as well as personal experience.

And it originally came to me in a dream in University. (Just kidding.)

The truth is that during my graduate years at University, I was searching for an efficient and effective way to stay lean while I was stuck in the lab for up to 16 hours a day doing my thesis.

Obviously, I didn’t have a lot of time to exercise…

So I based a new program on what I had read in hundreds of fat loss research studies, as well as my countless past workouts that I had recorded faithfully over the years.

And from that research and from my own personal workouts and results, Turbulence Training was invented and have given rise to the 5 Laws of New School Fat Loss.

Law #1) Use intense resistance training

NOTE: This doesn’t just mean lifting heavy weights…it could also mean doing difficult bodyweight exercises or even explosive exercises (like I use in the TT circuits).

Here’s why…

Intense resistance training stimulates what is called muscle protein turnover. This is important for two reasons:

a) It causes your body to burn extra calories and belly fat when you are not training (so while you recover, etc.).

b) It stimulates muscle re-modeling.

That means it will help you maintain your muscle (and sculpt your body) even while you are eating fewer calories and burning fat.

However, if you rely only on light weight & high reps, you won’t keep that muscle and your metabolism will decrease.

Law #2) Switch from slow cardio to interval training.

Research shows that interval training is more effective for burning belly fat than regular cardio – even when you don’t change your diet!

Interval training is what separates people with 20% fat from those men and women with the lean, athletic, sexy abs body type.

Interval training also builds better sport conditioning and ”everyday fitness” that is more practical in life.

For example, how often do you ever need to run 5 miles? Pretty much never, right?

But how often do you need to climb a few flights of stairs or chase one of your kids? Those are every day demands…and will be best improved by interval training, not 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Law #3) Use non-competing supersets to do more work in less time.

By using the Turbulence Training system of non-competing supersets, where you do 2 unrelated exercises back to back, you’ll avoid muscle fatigue and get more work done in less time.

Therefore, you’ll burn more calories compared to traditional workouts.

This is one of the major reasons Turbulence Training is so efficient and effective.

Law #4) Use Total Body Workouts

Skip the classic steroid-bodybuilder method of doing one body part per day. That will only give you overuse injuries and a big body set up for more injuries & chronic pain in the future.

Not what you want, right?

Of course not. So switch to three total-body workouts per week, using a variety of exercises, and when possible, using a variety of training methods – from dumbbells to kettlebells to bodyweight exercises. That’s what you’ll get in the latest TT workouts here:

Turbulence Training Adrenaline Program

Rule #5) Change Your Workout Every 4 Weeks

The Turbulence Training workouts are changed every 4 weeks, and sometimes every 3 weeks for advanced results.

Why?

To avoid the dreaded fat loss plateau. If you’ve been doing the same workout over and over for more than 4 weeks, your results will slow down and eventually come to a complete stop.

You MUST change your program…and that’s why I create not just one, but TWO new Turbulence Training workouts every month for TT Members, so that they will always have a new program to keep their fat loss results moving along.

In fact, the Turbulence Training System is simple to adapt and easy to modify for the creation of an endless number of workouts – a great thing to know if you are a personal trainer or simply someone that loves the body transformation results of a fast workout.

Whew!

Now a lot of this info was new – and even shocking – to the people I spoke too yesterday. They were still a little skeptical. And that’s fine, it’s totally natural.

So I suggested they try out the program for a few weeks, and you can do that too with the 21-day trial here:

Turbulence Training 21 Day Trial

For less than 5 bucks (that’s less than the price of an apple, a banana, and a water here at the hotel!), you can try out the 5 Laws of Fat Loss and the Turbulence Training program for 3 weeks.

I promise you’ll love the program and the fast fat loss results you are getting. And if for any reason you don’t, just let me know and you won’t pay a penny more.

Say goodbye to the old-school workouts and fat loss plateaus and use these 5 laws of new school fat loss to finally get results.

Now you know what really works,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

Burning Calories Is Easy…

CharlesStaley — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:31:23 +0000

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Whenever you perform a “workout,” there are a number of possible objectives that you might be trying to achieve.

You might wish to become stronger, faster, more flexible, more agile, more muscular, or a better technician in your chosen sport. You might be rehabiliting an injury or “prehabbing” to avoid a future injury. You might even use a workout as a stress-buster after a hectic day at work.

burning Calories is a basic element of all workouts

But of all the possible outcomes you might be seeking, burning calories is the easiest.

After all, all you’ve got to do is move until you become tired, and then move some more.

It doesn’t really matter what the movement entails, although difficult movement will make you tired faster.

Nor does it matter how many exercises you do, how you do them, or in what order they appear in the workout.

It makes no differnce how many reps you do, or how many sets, or how long you rest between sets (although if you rest too long, your caloric burn will gradually diminish)

No need to worry about knee alignment, scapular control, lumbar posture, or breathing technique. As long as you keep moving, you’ll be burning calories

When you’re only concerned about burning calories, programming is a snap. In fact, periodization becomes a non-concern. Paralysis by analysis? Not in your case! It’s literally impossible to make an error, as long as what you’re doing makes you tired, and preferrably as fast as possible. Here are a few quick examples written off-the-cuff:

Workout #1:

1) Run 3 miles
2) Do 50 pushups
3) Curl a pair of dumbbells until failure
4) Leg Press some weight until failure

Workout #2:

1) Swim 50 meters for (5) all-out sprints with 1 minute rest between sprints
2) Towel off and do 100 squat thrusts
3) Do 10 sets of 10 chins, or as close to it as you can

Workout #3:

1) Bench Press 100 pounds for 10 reps, 90 pounds for 9 reps, 80 pounds for 8 reps, 70 pounds for 7 reps, etc, until you get to 10 pounds x 1 rep
2) 10 sets of 10 pushups
3) 10 sets of 10 clapping pushups
4) Static pushup for 1 minute. Repeat 10 times

Workout #4:

1) 100 sit-ups
2) Bike for 30 minutes as hard as you can
3) Squat your bodyweight for as many reps as possible
4) Crab-walk 100 yards. Repeat 4 times

Workout #5: (I Like to call this the “Infomercial workout”)

1) Do 7 minutes of 6 Minute Abs
2) Do 1000 reps with the Thighmaster
3) Do 30 minutes of P90X
4) Do 30 Minutes of Tae Bo

I could go on and on here, but I’m sure the point has been made. No need to stress the details. If it makes you tired, it was a good workout. How eay is that?!?!

Trouble-Shooting

Q: How do I know if my workout was effective?

A: If it made you tired, it was a good workout. If you didn’t get tired it wasn’t a good workout.

Q: Is that it?

A: Yup, that’s it!

Q: Well, what if I was tired but I didn’t sweat a lot?

A: Some people sweat more than others. Sweating is a good sign, but if you’re REALLY tired and only sweat a little, it’s all good.

Q: Here’s my question: My workouts are gassing me to the max, but I have shoulder pain and I have numbness all down my arm. Is that cool?

A: It’s cool. If you can’t feel your arm, just do lower body stuff instead.

Q: I really love super-setting trap-bar reverse curls and rope climbs, but I also wanna work on my six-pack. But how?

A: Easy- Just add crunches to your superset

Q: What if I sweat a lot, but I’m not tired?

A: If you’re sweating profusely, it’ll at least LOOK like you’re tired. But if you’re NOT tired, either do more exercises, more sets, more reps, and reduce rests between sets. At some point you WILL get tired.

Q: I’ve noticed that after several months of doing 20-rep bench presses that I can bench 145 pounds x10, but my max is only 155 pounds. WTF?!?!

A: Do the 20-rep bench workouts make you tired?

Q: Yeah, usually I puke afterwards.

A: OK then, you’re burning calories, PLUS puking out the calories you already ate- it’s like a bonus!

Q: Should I do 2-a-day’s?

A: Yes.

Q: What about 3-a-day’s?

A: That too

Q: What about…

A: Look, I know where this is going. Stop.

About The Author

5 Big Fat Burning Tips

CraigBallantyne — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:14:11 +0000

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

I was just reviewing a big file of all the new exercise, diet, and research proven fat burning tips I wrote down for 2009, and I wanted to share 5 BIGGIES that can help your clients get more results AND make your awesome workers even better.

So here we go:

#5 – Recent research shows shuttle-running is tougher than running intervals in a straight line…

…so if you want to burn fat faster than ever, make sure you incorporate old-school shuttle runs (i.e. classic suicide type drills) into your fat burning interval programs.

You’ll find these new shuttle runs in the latest TT programs, including the new TT Bootcamps 2.0 System.

#4 – Use a food log.

“According to Men’s Health (Feb 2009, p 38), keeping a food log helped subjects lose 3.5 more pounds than subjects that didn’t keep the log.”

#3 – Hit a personal best in each workout.

This is an oldie, but a goodie. There are a few reasons you need to do this:

a) First of all, everyone loves progress, and if you can achieve a personal record in each workout (i.e. could be # of pushups, plank time, etc.), then you will feel a HUGE sense of accomplishment.

b) More personal bests = more results. Plain and simple.

c) You will get addicted to the workouts, and always want to come back for more attempts at breaking records.

#2 – Get a trainer or join a bootcamp.

“According to Men’s Health magazine, (Dec, 2009), beginners who work with trainers get more results than beginners who workout by themselves”. Guaranteed.

#1 – Read a motivational quote every morning.

I promise you that it will elevate your motivation and inspire you to reach your fat loss goals.

Here’s the first motivational quote you can read tomorrow morning:

“Be loud and proud of the healthy changes you are making in your life. There are many more folks secretly wishing someone will take charge and be a healthy role model for them. It might not happen overnight, but if you continue to lead by healthy example – without preaching or being condescending – you can build an entourage that will help you reach the next level.” – Craig Ballantyne

Those are 5 unique tips to help you lose fat.

Elliptical Machines Don’t Work for Fat Loss

CraigBallantyne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:52:37 +0000

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Author, Turbulence Training

Just over a year ago I was in Tampa, Florida, at another fitness seminar.

Between sessions, a physician from Georgia stopped me in the hall and said, “Hey Craig, you were right about those crosstrainer machines. I’ve had your program for a few months now and I’m getting better results with metabolic resistance training.”

It’s always great to meet clients, and I was curious to find out how he heard of me. Turns out, he found me through Google, landing on an article I wrote about “how elliptical machines
(crosstrainers) suck for fat loss”.

That’s right, I think those crosstrainer-elliptical machine doohickeys are almost a complete waste of time.

“I was using one of those machines for a long time and wondering why I wasn’t getting any results,” the physician continued, “I’m so glad I found your program”, he added.

I told him how I wasn’t surprised.

In fact, I’ve never known anyone to get great results with one of those crosstrainer machines. Nope, it’s diet and metabolic resistance training that really gets people results.

Now I know some people will be angry with what I have to say because they like exercising on the crosstrainer, but the truth is that they just don’t work as well as metabolic resistance training.

To me, the crosstrainer is just the easy way out.

You’ll get dozens of metabolic resistance training supersets – using my unique non-competing turbulence method – when you grab your copy of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss program.

And you can get Turbulence Training for Fat Loss for less than the cost of a one month gym membership. That also beats shelling out $1000 or more for a crappy crosstrainer for your home gym.

Click here to get started with Turbulence Training for less than 5 bucks

Does Cold Weather Make You Store Body Fat?

Tom Venuto — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:15:08 +0000

does this help lose fat?

Do you get fatter in the cold weather? It’s a good question right now, considering that this year’s farmer’s almanac is predicting a frigid winter and true to the prediction, the Huffington Post just ran a story, “Cold Temperatures Greet The New Year.” It’s FREEZING here in New Jersey and it’s not like this is the Yukon territory.

Some of my friends up in the great white yonder think that temps in the 20’s are balmy. Yeah right. With the wind chill, even my bones had goose bumps today. I can’t even fathom the sub zero stuff those guys live in. Adding insult, my friends in LA and South Florida have been more than happy to share their local January weather reports with me. 80 degrees and sunny. Thanks guys –you suck.

Back to the question. I just got an email from a burn the fat reader who asked, “Tom, is there any evidence that during cold winter weather it gets harder to lose body fat? For me, it seems easier to drop fat during the hot weather.”

Yes, there is.

First there’s the psychological explanation: in warm climates, people are wearing less clothes and enjoying the outdoors and people want to look good when they’re exposing more flesh! In the cold, you’re covered up, so there’s less self-consciousness and no public accountability. Therefore, most people tend to stay on a diet more diligently and train harder when summer rolls around.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) has been studied at length by psychologists. Often more than just the “winter blues” but an actual type of depression, SAD occurs during the short days and long nights of winter and fall, when there’s less sunlight and colder temperatures. Symptoms include depression, cravings for specific foods, loss of energy, hopelessness and oversleeping. Obviously, these types of symptoms can contribute to weight gain.

Because of their tendency for fall and winter weight gain, many people have suspected that cold temperatures influence weight gain on a metabolic level, not just eating more. Exposure to cold temperatures can cause a shivering thermogenesis which means there’s an increase in metabolism to produce more heat (heat production = calories burned).

However, if you just got the bright idea of turning off the heat in your house, or going for a swim in the cold surf every day to “burn more fat”, I wouldn’t recommend it. Deliberate exposure to the cold, either cold air or cold water doesn’t pan out into real world fat loss results, even though there are actually “fat loss gurus” who recommend it.

Here’s why:

If your body uses some energy for shivering or heat production, it can compensate later for that energy loss by increasing your appetite. Not only that, research at the hyperbaric environmental adaptation program at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda Maryland reported that, “The combination of exercise and cold exposure does NOT act to enhance metabolism of fats… Cold-induced vasoconstriction of peripheral adipose tissue may account, in part, for the decrease in lipid mobilization.”

It’s just not practical to freeze your butt off in an attempt to speed up your metabolism a tiny little bit, so your fat loss scheme wouldn’t last long if you tried.

A great example of how cold temperatures affect energy balance is in the case of swimming. For years, people thought swimming actually made you fat. There were all kinds of theories, like, “it makes you retain a layer of fat for insulation, like seals.” Actually, the most recent research shows that swimming is a perfectly good fat burning exercise, except for one thing: Swimming, especially in cold water, increases appetite dramatically.

The seasons affect your activity levels too. Pedometer research published in the journal Medicine and Science and Sports And Exercise uncovered a huge difference in the number of steps taken between the summer and winter:

7616 steps per day in summer

6293 steps per day in fall

5304 steps per day in winter

5850 steps in spring

Most people blame winter weight gain on the food, but it’s not just the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebration feasts, it’s less winter activity that also contributes to the holiday pounds.

You have to keep up with your training and nutrition program in the winter, or else. (Need a program? Here’s a tip: visit www.BurnTheFat.com)

Although studies have found that seasonal weight gain is usually very small, it’s the type of slow weight creep that goes unnoticed. Over a period of 10, 15 or 20 years, it’s enough to accumulate into becoming overweight or obese.

Thus many men and women wake up one morning at age 40 or 45, look in the mirror and ask themselves, “How did I get so heavy?” Answer: just a pound or two a year, after each winter season, left unchecked.

To stay lean all year round, you have to remain alert about increases in your appetite and decreases in your activity. This is a YEAR-ROUND LIFESTYLE! Stay active, stay diligent about nutrition, stay accountable, and if you start to experience weight gain, nip it in the bud – fast!

Train hard and expect success,

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: www.BurnTheFat.com or http://www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com

About the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet

ExerciseUpdate — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:30:20 +0000

So what is all the fuss about the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet? Here is a well written article that appeared in the L.A. Times Health Section

The mystery of Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet

With any food choices you make the big picture always comes down to Calories in vs Calories out. If you are taking in less Calories than you are burning then you will lose weight.

Taco Bell goes to great lengths to explain that the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet is not a weight loss plan and Christine’s results are not typical.

Check out this article from the L.A. Times and decide for yourself.

Top 10 Worst Weight Loss Resolutions

Stefan Pinto — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:30:17 +0000

Thanks Stefan for these great fitness tips to bring us into the new year. We couldn’t have said it better.

The beginning of a new year is like having a clean slate. It is our mindful opportunity to start fresh. Here are ten common weight loss New Year’s resolutions, that although promising in their intention, can quickly fall by the wayside — unless you remain vigilant.

10. I will start exercising – Wonderful. Did you write it down? I mean, did you write it down in your daily planner or whatever else it is you use to schedule your appointments? See, the fact is, unless you write down your goals, and schedule a time to meet with yourself, we seldom do it. Don’t expect that you can go from never to forever. And keep in mind, if you’ve never exercised, you might need someone to show you how.

9. I’m buying the “Flabby Arms Buster” ‘cause Angelina Jolie uses it – Don’t do what Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton (is she still around?), or any other celebrity is doing. You don’t know these people, you don’t know their schedules, lives, budgets, routines, diets or anything else that affects their inner and outer selves. Do your own research. Has anyone you’ve known lost weight on any one of these weight loss, fitness devices? And, FYI: don’t believe infomercials, I was a model for one. Never used the thing.

8. I’m cutting out carbs – Complex carbs, too? Do yourself a favor and research carbohydrates before biting off your nose to spite your face. Without carbs, you will lack valuable energy, will become irritable and may even become constipated and no one wants to be around someone who is full of it. Besides, new research is showing that low-carb diets can affect your cognitive behavior. Eat a sweet potato, it provides essential vitamins and minerals and is one of the most effective, nutrient dense complex carbohydrates.

7. To have a six pack by summer – With six months to spare, this is indeed possible! But you need to be ready to change how you eat. Six pack abs are 90% diet and 10% exercise. After all, what you eat, goes straight to your stomach the organ that covers your abs. Everyone has abs; this is not true of big biceps and wide calves (notice how skinny… excuse me, “lean” male models have abs?). Eat lean and your abs will begin to show.

6. No more eating out – If you’re referring to restaurants, then be sure you have a back up plan as America’s social experience is built on eating out. Brown bagging is not “cool” and let’s face it, not that convenient. So do yourself a great, big, practical favor; don’t ditch the invites, just cut your portions in half and substitute, substitute, substitute. Did you know “half-portions/smaller portion for a smaller price” is one of the top restaurant trends of 2010?

5. I’ll join a gym – This one is tricky. The intention is indeed sound, but the practice requires work and effort — especially if you’ve never been to a gym. Do this instead, get a free pass — a week pass. If the gym won’t offer it, thank them and find one that does (make sure to let them know you’re doing this). By familiarizing yourself with a gym, before you commit (to at least a year), you will be doing yourself a tremendous service — enjoying your workout in a place where you are comfortable. If you live in Miami or Los Angeles, contact me; I will get you a free pass to some wonderful gyms.

4. I’ll hire a trainer – Quite possibly the most ambitious new year’s resolution and one likely to most frequently disappoint. Trainers are people, they have schedules, they have their own routines and they have specific personalities. Get to know them before hiring them. This is a relationship and like all solid relationships, you had better like the person. Oh, if the trainer doesn’t remind you to eat and neglects to ask “what did you eat today?” they’re not doing a good job. This might be useful.

3. I’ll detox after the holidays – Although I completely endorse a detox, you need to know what you are doing. I recommend consulting a doctor. Otherwise, you can either fail miserably or you could very well harm yourself. A detox requires considerable self-control and will make you cranky. It is quite easy to quit before you are even through with the detox. Know what you are getting into. Find out more about losing weight on a detox.

2. I want a body like Taylor Lautner – This one gets my idiosyncratic “hmmm” because you will have to either hire Taylor Lautner’s trainer or become Taylor Lautner (let me know if either of those happen. I remain curious). You can’t have a body like anyone, because their genes are different than yours, not to mention their lives. Understand your own — unique — body before choosing someone else’s.

1. It worked for Oprah – Did you know that most dubious “it worked for Oprah” solutions, Oprah never really tried? Unless you actually met Oprah Winfrey and discussed how it worked — even if it did work — and attempted to find out if Oprah used it in conjunction with something else, chances are, it’s a lie. See, the fact is, most “new” diet pills and solutions are gimmicks. Because everyone else (and by “everyone else,” I mean Oprah) is doing it, doesn’t mean it’s right for you. See my prediction for the next weight loss fad ingredient.

Here are some helpful, practical and encouraging tips that will help you to stay motivated, focused and realistic about your diet and weight loss intentions.

About the Author:
Fitness model, Stefan Pinto was once 50lbs overweight. His motivation to lose weight manifested by doing something different and persevering through informed dieting and exercise. Stefan Pinto advocates weight loss with a combination of proper nutrition and effective, daily exercise. He can be reached at http://www.pintofactory.com/stefanpinto.