Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work
so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has
tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn't add up.
After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more
per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it
works just fine for others.
British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox,
and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren't previously
exercising.
(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).
Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That's a lot of
exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds,
which is great - I was positively surprised by the results.
So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it
works best in young men, who need the help the least!
Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was
huge. Check this out...
The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while
the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.
The scientists think they know where things went sour. They
classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the "Compensators"
and the "Non-compensators".
The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra
268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.
Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and
scientists believe that was due to the huge "compensatory" increase
in appetite experienced by this group.
Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does,
research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.
So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your
appetite and calorie intake to see if you are "compensating" for
your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program
of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence
Training) for your weight loss efforts.
As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research,
interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And
increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-
burning benefits.
In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of
cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds
with aerobic exercise.
So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity
exercise a go for your next workout program.
Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.
Click here to get started:
=> http://www.turbulencetraining.com/
If you want to know how to lose stomach fat and get 6-pack abs, I
can tell you in about 30 seconds. You don't need complex six pack ab
workouts containing hundreds of crunches and dozens of exercises
each week.
The best way to burn belly fat and start seeing your 6-pack is to
spend less time focusing on it! In my opinion, all you need to do
to get 6-pack abs is this...
Lose belly fat with nutrition, intervals, and resistance training.
More specifically...
First, start by improving the quality of the food you eat. No more
processed carbohydrates, no more sugar, no more deep-fried foods,
no more fast food, and no more sodas or juices. Simply making these
changes will help you lose stomach fat fast, and you'll drop your
body fat percentage in just days.
Next, you need to spend more time on the basic workout methods,
such as total body strength training and interval training, and
less time on boring, ineffective ab training exercises. Doing
hundreds of crunches won't get you results. And doing long, slow
boring cardio is also an inefficient way to burn belly fat and see
your 6-pack abs.
According to researchers from Australia, including Professor Steve
Boucher, the only way to spot reduce belly fat is to use interval
training. This exercise method burns more belly fat than slow
cardio workouts.
Once you've taken care of your nutrition, resistance training, and
interval training, you can start with basic abdominal workouts.
Here's what you need to know, and this will surprise you!
1) Beginners should stay the heck away from situps and crunch-type
movements until they master the Plank, Side Plank, and Bird Dog.
You have to take care of your back before you can start pounding it
with traditional ab exercises.
2) Here are some my favorite no-crunch ab movements for
intermediate levels...
a) Stability Ball Rollout (also can be done with the Ab Wheel or as
a Barbell Rollout)
b) Stability Ball Jackknife
c) Plank with Your Arms on the Ball (according to research quoted
in Mens Health, this exercise works your abs 30% harder than the
regular Plank).
Okay, so I've given my controversial advice about what beginners
and intermediate fitness levels should do for abs...now for my more
advanced 6-pack ab recommendations.
But first, I want to mention some "unknown" ab builders...
a) The Elevated Pushup
b) Straight Arm Cable Pullover
c) Front Squat
d) DB Pullover & even DB Triceps Extensions with extra stretch
All great total body moves to have in your program to burn calories
and build abs at the same time.
Now what do you really need to do to bring out your abs once you
have your body fat low?
My favorite advanced ab exercise is Cable Crunches, which are
without a doubt, the best resistance exercise for building abs.
The big message I like to get across to clients is that they can
build 6-pack abs without ever doing a single crunch while lying on
their backs.
It shocks people, but it is true. If you want to lose stomach fat
fast and see your six pack abs, focus on your nutrition, total body
strength training, and interval training before you even consider
adding more reps to your current ab workout.
Get started on getting your 6-pack abs today from:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com
No need for long ab workouts
I fly a lot, so I have my pre-flight and in-flight routines down to
a science. I pack almonds and apples for the airport, get a window
seat for each flight, bring 2 big books to read, and use my own
headphones for the in-flight movie.
Doing this helps me keep my sanity and my abs while traveling,
because eating in an airport is a fat burning nightmare.
Earlier this month, we were at the airport again, flying from snowy
Toronto to beautiful Hawaii. With a stopover in Dallas, this was a
17-hour door to door journey, but it didn't bother me since I stuck
to my diet plan.
And we continued to live the Turbulence Training lifestyle while
in Hawaii, doing 3 short burst workouts and staying active by
surfing and walking the beach.
(Get your own short burst workouts here:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com)
Here are 7 tips to help you stay fit, not fat when it comes time for
your spring break or next work trip.
1. It's up to you to pack good nutrition options for the road since
it's almost impossible to eat right when you are stuck in airports.
Healthy, road-worthy snacks that you can pack in your bag include
raw nuts, apples, pears, protein bars, and organic beef jerky.
2. Plan your business travel meals in advance if possible so that
you can stick to daily nutrition totals. Airlines and hotels are
more accommodating in meeting the special nutrition requirements of
customers these days. Ask and you shall receive.
3. Find an adequate hotel gym or nearby fitness establishment so
you can continue with your regular workouts. I hit the Honolulu
24-Hour Fitness location and didn't miss a workout. (Plus, I filmed
a few new TT workout videos around the Island).
4. While your best option is to purchase a day-pass and go to a
local gym for your TT workout, if there is no time, then hit the
hotel gym or do a bodyweight TT workout in your room.
5. Schedule your workouts with as much dedication as you schedule
your business meetings. Take advantage of whatever time slot is
available during your travels for exercise. Training is another
appointment that can also be used as an excuse to skip the
unnecessary post-meeting cocktails and calories.
6. Travel with a "maintenance mindset". Stick to your plan and
you'll return home without gaining any fat or losing any fitness.
Minimize the nutrition dangers of food, booze, and inactivity with
a positive mindset. Holidays are not a license to binge.
7. Spend waiting time walking. If you are enduring a layover in an
airport, walk around the airport if your schedule and surroundings
permit. Don't be lazy!
For more travel workout options, get the Turbulence Training fat
burning workouts:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com
So we had a great trip, and while I'm now in the less exotic locale
of Baltimore today, I'm still sticking to my plan - short, burst
workouts and whole, natural food nutrition. Stay strong!
Travel is no excuse to stop burning fat!
I truly believe that nutrition is the biggest, by far, component of
a good fat loss program.
There's a saying in the fitness industry, "you can't out-train a
bad diet", and that hold's true almost 100% of the time (and
especially as you get older).
Fortunately, I also believe that good nutrition for fat loss is
very simple. And here are my 5 steps to building a fast fat burning
diet.
1) Find out how much you are eating now. Use fitday.com.
2) If you are not losing weight, eat less.
3) Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, and good protein sources. Don't eat
junk from a bag or a box.
4) Give yourself one treat meal per week to look forward to - not a
treat day, just a treat meal.
5) Plan ahead. Prepare your meals (spend 1-2 hours on the weekend
getting your meals and meal plan ready for the week). Identify
obstacles and come up with solutions to avoid them.
That is it.
Very simple. Most people do pretty well on 1-3 and even 5, but mess
up on number 4. I often hear how well someone did all day long, but
then while making dinner they snack on upwards of 500 calories of
their kid's treats, or other processed carbohydrates they have lying
around the house.
The little things can add up to big time problems. So take a good
long look at everything you eat.
And all of this can be avoided if you follow rule #5.
Combine my five simple nutrition rules with three short workouts
per week of resistance training and interval training, and you have
a very manageable fat loss plan that can fit any busy lifestyle.
Get started with the fast Turbulence Training fat burning workouts:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com
There are NO negative calorie foods,
I'm always amazed by people who tell me that Turbulence Training is
too easy for them.
Actually, shocked is a better word.
Each Turbulence Training workout has left me sweating and feeling
tired (but a "good" tired), and I've never finished any TT workout
and thought it was too easy or ineffective.
So if you think it's too easy, or if you've done this Intermediate
TT workout and said, "no problem", take a look at how I would do it,
and then ask yourself if you are training hard enough.
Now you might not be able to use the same weights as I do, but maybe
you could be using more intensity in your own workouts. And that's
all that is necessary to make your workouts better for fat burning.
So let's examine Workout A, from the Intermediate Phase of the
Turbulence Training for Fat Loss manual...
Warm-up: I'd use this to get mobile and warmup my muscles. I'd even
be starting to sweat a bit. Now onto the supersets...
1A) DB Split Squat (8 reps) - I would use at least 60 if not 70
pound dumbells for this. It would be really hard - there's no other
way to put it.
1B) DB Incline Press (8 reps) - I'd use 80-90 pound dumbells for
this. Combined, this superset would soak my shirt on its own.
2A) Stability Ball Leg Curl (15) - Granted, I could do this exercise
without a problem, so I'd either increase the number of reps per
set to 25, or I would do the 1-Leg Stability Ball Leg Curl.
2B) Pushup (15 reps) - I would increase the reps to 35 pushups per
set, or I would use a more difficult version such as close-grip
pushups, or even decline close-grip pushups.
3A) Stability Ball Jackknife (10) - I'd increase the reps to 20 per
set or I'd do 1-Leg Stability Ball Jackknives.
3B) DB Rear-Delt Raise (10 reps) - This would be tough, and I'd use
15 or 20 pound dumbells.
After this intense strength training session, I'd rest 1-2 minutes
and then get on the treadmill for intervals.
Interval Workout A
Intervals can't be easy for anyone. For me, I'd run at top speed on
the treadmill (12mph), or I'd run the intervals outside.
A beginner might use 3.8mph for walking intervals. Either way, we'd
both make it as tough as possible for our own personal fitness
levels.
Overall, this workout would be tough. And someone who is fitter than
I am would just increase the intensity up to his or her level so
they would boost their metabolism to the max and burn fat fast.
Turbulence Training isn't easy, but it works.
Get started on a fat burning workout today from:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com
It all comes down to you.
There will be days (everyday?) when you don't feel like doing your
workout.
Somedays you don't want to get out of bed.
Sometimes you don't want to leave your office because you feel like
there are too many deadlines (but this is when you need a workout
the most!).
Some nights you don't want to end story time with the kids only to
head down to the basement gym.
It even happens to me.
For example, just yesterday I was scheduled to do a final test run
through the February TT Workout of the Month (it's a TT circuit!)
and frankly, I wasn't up for it.
But I knew I'd feel like a million bucks after the workout. And in
the end, I know I can't let myself become "soft" and start skipping
workouts. I have to lead by example.
So if you are set on achieving a goal, then when it's workout time,
come heck or high water you've got to bear down and do the job.
Here are 7 tips for you to get inspired to get through your workout.
1) Reward yourself. Finish your workout and treat yourself to a
magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new
songs for your IPOD, or even a little extra time for yourself.
2) Or set up a punishment for missing workouts. Skip the workout,
put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. Just make sure your
spouse controls the money!
3) Review your goals everyday and every night. Keeping your goals
fresh in your mind will help you stay on track.
4) Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting
your butt to the gym. Once you get 5 minutes into the workout, you
will be over the hump. So tell yourself, "I'll just go in and do 1
set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go". Next thing you know,
you'll have done the entire workout.
5) Visualize yourself doing a great workout and finishing strong.
Get yourself mentally prepared and you will literally have better
workouts each time.
6) Crank the tunes. Seriously, nothing motivates like music. I'd
love to hear what tunes get you motivated for workouts and help you
jack up the intensity. Let me know on the TT forums.
7) Get social support. If you have a workout partner, you'll feel
like crap if you let them down. Or become accountable to everyone
in the Turbulence Training workout forums...if you don't post your
workouts, they'll track you down and demand to know why you've
fallen off track! So online or offline, get everyone on your side!
Get started...
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com
Here we are, 3 weeks into January, and there are lots of men and
women thinking about quitting their fat loss programs. In fact, some
of them may have abandoned them already...often only days before
the results were about to appear in the mirror and on the scale.
I realize we are long past the first week of the year when everyone
is "gung-ho" about diet and exercise, and I'm very worried some of
you might be back to your old bad habits or are frustrated and ready
to pack it in.
Why?
Because maybe you just haven't had the results you expected, right?
You've strayed from the diet plan a little more often than you
should have, you missed a couple of workouts because you got sick,
or the kids were sick. Or you worked late. Or it was too cold to go
to the gym. Or maybe it is closed today for the Martin Luther King
holiday. Yes, those are all excuses we make from time to time.
But don't give up. Don't quit!
And there's no better day to pass along that message than today, as
many states in the USA are honoring Martin Luther King. There
was a man who did not quit.
So I hope he can serve as an inspiration to you not only in how to
treat others, but also how to persevere in hard times in order to
reach all of your goals, including your burning desire to lose fat
and finally change your body.
Don't let this be like other years, where your good intentions were
gone before you had a chance to reap the benefits of eating right
and doing the short TT workouts.
Don't give in because you lost 3 pounds in week 1 and nothing since.
Don't quit just because everyone else in the gym is dropping out.
Don't stop even if you ate too much last week, because you can
still get back on track today!
Whatever you do, don't quit!
You owe it to yourself, your spouse, your kids, your co-workers,
and everyone else who is depending on you to be the healthy role
model in their lives.
And if you still need to get started, use the Turbulence Training
for Fat Loss program:
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com
You can still enter the TT Transformation Contest if you get your
photos up in the member's area today.
Forget about quitting and focus on re-starting. You have the rest of
your life to be lean and fit, don't give up now.
Stay strong,
With all the talk about obesity, you may be wondering what your
child should actually weigh. While adults can use the Body Mass
Index to determine their ideal weight, the scale for children is
different. It's based on percentages.
If your child weighs more than children in the 95th percentile, he
or she is considered overweight. Above the 85th percentile and
your child is considered to be at risk of becoming overweight.
You can see the growth charts for boys and girls age 2-20 by going
to www.cdc.gov/growthcharts.
It's important to remember that this is just a general guideline.
You shouldn't become too obsessed with making your child's weight
fit into a specific category. Instead, worry about his or her
overall health.
If your child is approaching the 85th percentile, you'll want to
look at your family's lifestyle and see where you can make
improvements. You should also talk to your pediatrician before you
make the determination that your child is overweight.
It's important to help your child maintain a healthy weight because
that will contribute to a healthy adult weight. However, it's also
important that you take things in moderation. Constantly weighing
your child and becoming fanatical about keeping his weight on
target can do more harm than good.
Use your common sense to monitor your child's weight. Help your
child to have a healthy lifestyle by providing her with a
nutritious diet and plenty of opportunities to exercise. It's also
critical for you to be a good role model.
You can't expect for your child to change her lifestyle while you
keep the same unhealthy one. When you work to keep the whole
family healthy, your child will be more likely to have a healthy
weight.
Rachel at YAYFood gives lots of tips on how to change our lifestyle and that it not just about us but also our childred. Visit her site here: http://www.YAYFood.com/
Just a quick one today...giving you three of the most important
things you need to be doing to burn fat.
1) Use www.fitday.com to figure out your food intake.
You can't just "wing it". You can't "eyeball" your food intake, as
research shows that even nutritionists underestimate how much food
they are eating.
So find out exactly how many calories you are eating each day. If
you aren't losing fat, it's a simple numbers game. You are eating
too much. And if you know your numbers, its easy to make the
necessary changes.
As one TT client said on the message boards...
"Ok, I input all my meals on Fitday yesterday, including 2 cheats
that I didn't think were a big deal. One was a handful of trail mix
and the other was a handful of goldfish crackers. (yes, I have kids
:-) ) I can't believe how just those two seemingly harmless snacks
added up!! No wonder I have a muffin top! Yikes! So thanks for the
tip about Fitday because that's going to keep me accountable."
Use it and lose it!
2) Use the right recovery pace in your interval training
The biggest mistake people make in interval training is working too
hard during the recovery period.
But if you work too hard in the recovery period, you end up turning
your interval training back into a normal cardio session.
So lose the cardio mentality and be sure to alternate between
periods of harder than normal exercise, and very easy exercise.
Use the recovery period to recover!
3) Plan your food intake on the weekend
Set aside time to plan, shop, and prepare several days worth of
meals. Use a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to cook some chicken
breasts, prepare some raw vegetables, wash your fruit, and pack up
your nuts.
Plan ahead and you won't succumb to vending machine follies, or gas
station sabotage on your diet.
Click here to get started with Turbulence Training for Fat Loss:
==>http://www.turbulencetraining.com
Tis' the season for cardio horror stories.
One woman wrote, "I started out doing 5 hours of cardio per week. No
results. So I upped it to 7 hours per week. Still nothing. Do you
suggest I do more? I'm worried if I use your program, I won't get
any results because you don't even have an hour of interval cardio
per week. Please help!"
And from a gentleman on the Men's Health forum, "I took up running
and didn't take up stretching until it was almost to late and
almost destroyed a knee. What happened was that my IT bands got
really tight and my inner quads didn't gain any strength so my knee
cap got pulled out of place. I had an MRI done on my knee and have
found that my knee cap has bruised my femur. "
Cardio horror stories are a dime-a-dozen. So here's the bottom line
on cardio...
Long slow aerobic training remains the biggest practical joke in
fitness. Marathon running for the average overweight person? Why
don't you just tell someone to go play in traffic...oh wait, that's
exactly what they are doing - all while crushing their joints with
excess weight and repetitive pounding.
If you do long, slow cardio, its only a matter of time before you
end up in a physiotherapist's office with all the others that do
too much of the same thing...whether its running or spin classes,
overuse injuries are far too common in the cardio world.
After all, what's easier to overdo, total body strength training
done 3 times per week for 20 minutes, or the same cardio activity
done for 6-9 hours per week?
Heck, I once knew a physiotherapist who was so addicted to spin
classes that she had overuse injuries that prevented her from
walking normally! Physio, heal thyself!
What a joke that cardio is...
But cardio fits our "more is better" mentality, doesn't it? We go
right from a 3000 calorie meal at the Outback Steakhouse to our 60
minute cardio confessional sessions on the elliptical. More, more,
more, more. And yet get less results?
There is a better way.
Take a peek at the weight room when you are in a gym. Then compare
the bodies there to the bodies on the elliptical. You'll find the
sculpted, toned physiques lifting dumbells and doing pushups, and
the plump, "never changing physiques" spinning their tires over on
the cardio equipment.
No matter what the city, no matter where the gym, its the same old
story.
Burn fat, get lean, and boost your metabolism with resistance
training. Finish with short interval training or even bodyweight
circuits (described in my DB-BW Fusion TT Workout Bonus) and you
are off to the fat burning races.
Or get left behind on the cardio equipment that is getting you
nowhere!
Visit http://www.turbulencetraining.com/ to get the program today!
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