Top 5 Fat Loss Tips

Top 5 Fat Loss Tips

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Men's Fitness magazine recently asked me for 3 of my best fat loss secrets. Since most times the magazines just don't have enough space to run my full tips, I thought I'd give you a more detailed explanation of my secrets here (plus a few extra bonus tips that I didn't send to the magazine).

Secret #1 - Focus on burning carbohydrate, not fat, during your
fat-loss workouts.

Sounds backwards, right? But not when you look at how I structure my workouts. Remember that Turbulence Training focuses on resistance training and interval training. Both of these use carbohydrate as the main source of energy. So it's obvious the workout is designed to burn carbohydrates during the training session.

I have no interest in you trying to train in your "target heart
rate zone" for fat burning (aka - the fat burning zone). The whole idea of a fat-burning zone is an over-simplified idea of how the body works during exercise.

Leave the inefficient fat burning zone to the mis-educated
trainers in the commercial gyms (that not surprisingly, also want to sell you a heart rate monitor so you can stay in your "fat
burning heart rate zone").

If you want to get the most results in the least amount of time,
focus on burning carbohydrates, not fat.

Why do my fat loss workouts focus on burning carbohydrate rather than fat? In order to burn more calories after the workout, that's why. When you exercise with intervals and heavy resistance training, your body uses more calories in the hours after exercise than it would if you did traditional cardio and lifted lighter weights.

Alwyn Cosgrove calls this 'afterburn', and I call it 'Turbulence'.
By any name it gives you the same results - maximum
improvements in your body composition (helping you lose fat while gaining muscle).

Secret #2 - Use a range of repetitions in your strength training
workouts.

In order to train more muscle fibers and burn more carbohydrates, I have clients use a range of repetitions within the same workout. My workouts now use 6, 8, and 12 reps per set in order to work the muscle the most effectively.

This will burn more carbohydrates and promote as much muscle growth as possible when you are keeping the calories low.

Secret #3 - Use the stationary cycle for interval training.

I choose the stationary bike for intervals whenever possible
because cycling against a resistance can help maintain muscle mass.

Cycling against a resistance also allows you to perform a large
amount of mechanical work, and that is a key determinant of the Turbulence in my training.

But please note: I don't use low-intensity, fast pedaling
'spinning' intervals as I'm convinced that the hard, resistance
based intervals are more effective for fat loss. My clients only
cycle against a strong resistance in their intervals.

I really like the bike, but there are many other ways to do
intervals. Use what works for you, but if you are at a plateau, try the bike.

Secret #4 - Increase meal frequency

Okay, so this isn't really a secret to anyone that has read about
fat loss. But a 2005 study from the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition showed that eating 6 times per day was associated with eating fewer calories per day, lowering cholesterol levels, and lowering post-meal insulin levels.

Combine an increased meal frequency with an increased protein and fiber intake, and you'll see your body composition improve rapidly.

If you need more nutrition help, then you'll love the new
Turbulence Training Nutrition Guide for Men & Women - written by Dr. Chris Mohr, Ph.D.

See below for more details...

Secret #5 - My Synergistic Turbulence Training Workouts

My Turbulence Training Fat Loss workouts are fast becoming the most effective way to burn fat, build muscle, and get lean. The synergistic strength training-interval training workouts are
efficient and effective - getting you in and out of the gym in
under an hour.

Here are some tips that you can use for an advanced training phase

- use these tips for 2 weeks then return to your normal training
schedule:

a) Add 10 seconds to each interval but maintain the intensity

b) Add in some bodyweight circuits (10-20 minutes per day) done in the morning or evening (if you do your regular workout in the AM, do your bodyweight circuits after dinner; otherwise, do the bw circuits first thing in the AM, and then do your regular workout at lunch or later in the afternoon or evening)

If you are advanced, you can use squats, push ups, and bodyweight rows for your circuit.

If you are a beginner, you could use lying hip extensions, modified push ups, and stick-ups.

c) Add an extra set to each exercise in the first superset you do
in each workout.

Again, use these three tips for an advanced fat loss period of two
weeks, then return to a normal training schedule.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit

www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Wanna See Your Abs!???

"When inspiration does not come to me, I go halfway to meet it." - Dr. Sigmund Freud

Hey Everybody!

Do you find it hard to exercise around this time? The weather is getting colder and your house is just so nice and warm....Snap out of it! If you need the motivation to hit the gym you have to find reasons and ways to motivate yourself especially on those days you are feeling lazy. Need motivation? Well how about that family or work Christmas party that is coming up in 9 weeks? I know some women who actually buy a dress a size smaller and work their butts off to fit into it just in time for their big party. 9 weeks gives you a good amount of time to change your body. Now if you are a guy obviously this won't relate to you but you get the idea ;)

Find ways to motivate yourself, keep your goal in mind and put in the work to achieve it. I want you to be that person in the slinky black dress getting all the compliments this year. You can do it!

Now this weeks article is by Tom Venuto who is a personal training expert out of Virginia. The headline of the article speaks for itself but when you read it you will be surprised at what you find out..

"How to see your lower abs"

By Tom Venuto
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Seeing your abs, or any other muscle group, for that matter - is almost entirely the result of having low body fat levels. You get low body fat from proper diet (as well as cardio and strength training), not from doing hundreds of ab exercises every day.

My guess is that it may seem like your lower ab muscles are "hard to develop,"but it's not really an issue of "muscle development" at all, you simply have too much body fat and are storing it in your lower abdominal region more readily than other parts of your body and you can't see the muscles through the fat.

Most people don't have their fat distributed evenly throughout their bodies. Each of us inherits a genetically determined and hormonally-influenced pattern of fat storage just as we inherit our eye or hair color. In other words, the fat seems to "stick" to certain areas more than others.

MEN often tend to store fat more readily in the lower abdominal region (the "pot belly", "spare tire", "beer gut", or "love handles").

In WOMEN, the "stubborn" areas are usually the hips, thighs ("saddlebags") and the triceps ("grandmother arms").

You could focus on more "lower ab" exercises like hanging leg raises, reverse crunches and hip lifts ("toes to sky"), but even these won't help as long as you still have body fat covering the muscles.

You can't "spot reduce" with abdominal exercise.

The lower ab area is often the first place the fat goes when you gain it, and the last place it comes off when you're losing it.

Think of ab fat like the deep end of the swimming pool. No matter how much you protest, there is no way you can drain the deep end before the shallow end.

I would suggest cutting back the volume on your ab training and spending that time on more cardio work instead. Personally, I only do about 15 minutes of ab work two times per week. (About two to four exercises with reps usually ranging from 10-25 reps).

As far as nutrition goes, here are a few fat-burning nutrition guidelines in a nutshell:

- Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level. If you use
a more aggressive calorie deficit of 25-30%, then do not keep
calories too low for too long; increase calories to maintenance or
maintenance +10-15% 1-2 days per week.

- Spread your calories into 5-6 smaller meals instead of 2-3 big
ones. Be very conscious of portion size. eat too much of anything
and you can say goodbye to your abs. Period.

- Eat a source of complete, high quality lean protein with each meal
(egg whites, lean meat, fish, protein powder, etc). Choose natural,
complex carbs such as vegetables, oatmeal, yams, potatoes, beans,
brown rice and whole grains. Start with aprox. 50% of your calories
from natural carbs and reduce carbs slightly (esp. late in the day)
if you are not losing fat.

- Avoid refined, simple carbs that contain white flour or white
sugar.

- Keep total fats low and saturated fats low. Aim for 20% of your
total calories from fat (and no more than 30%). A little bit of
"good fat" like flax oil, fish fat, nuts & seeds, etc is better
than a no fat diet.

- Drink plenty of water - a gallon is a good ballpark to shoot for
if you are physically active.

So while doing 1000+ reps of ab work four days a week is an amazing feat of endurance, but thats not how you get visible, rock hard, 6-pack abs!

You might have outstanding development in your abdominal muscles, but if your abs are covered up with a layer of fat, you won't be able to see them even if you do 10,000 reps a day!

You "get abs" from reducing your body fat and you reduce body fat mostly through diet and cardio.

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Expert at Global Health & Fitness (GHF)

Read more about this article @ http://www.burnthefat.com/

If you want that cover model body to show off in the summer time NOW is the time to start working towards it. Watch your nutrition, be consistent with exercise and always have goals to motivate you into better realities. Have a great week everybody!

DG

--
GO Fitness
Dan Go, Elite fitness trainer
www.GoPersonalFitness.com


"Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." - Marcus Aurelius