Try different approaches to get the best results!
Clocking in at the gym and putting the time in doesn’t mean you are going to end up with the body of your dreams. Forget marathon type workouts where they only allow you to exercise half-heartedly. It is time to stop guessing and living your life in hope of waking up one day and miraculously discovering the abs you have always wanted. You must try different approaches to get the best results. You are expecting too much if you think the same exercise routine will give you everything you want. It is important to modify and experiment with different exercise routines as you go along or you will never reach your goal.
Here are some of the best ways to stop your body adapting to what you are doing and keep progress running smoothly.
#1 Assess strengths and weaknesses
Before you start do you know which muscles are tight in your body and need stretching? Do you know if other muscles are compensating when you perform a movement because of a weakness in the chain? Do you know which exercises will make your posture or pain worse? How do you know you are doing the right exercises that are right for your body? These are just some of the questions that need answering before embarking on a regular exercise programme.
#2 Train intense but keep it real
This means training within your capabilities that allows a minimum of a good technique on everything you do. This mainly points to lifting a weight that is too heavy, doing part of the range of movement or doing more reps than you can manage resulting in quick and poorly performed reps. Good reps are real reps; you can either work the body part the exercise is designed for or take the stress away from the body part by performing a poor rep, it’s as simple as that.
#3 Include big movements in your workout
Multi joint exercises work more muscles and burn more calories. Most pieces of gym equipment cater for working only one or two muscles at a time. Performing multi joint exercises like squats and bent over rows correctly have the best carry over effect that helps you in work, sports and many of life’s tasks.
#4 Use gravity
Have you noticed the physiques of gymnasts? You will never see overweight or out of shape gymnast, that’s because training against gravity is one of the best things you can do to look your best. The feedback I get from clients that do bodyweight exercises within their exercise routines report how challenging and how much effort they take to perform. Make sure to include gravity-based exercises in your exercise programme. You can start off basic by doing floor exercises and work up to more demanding exercises where you push or pull your bodyweight with your feet off the ground.
Try different approaches to get the best results!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Challenging Fat Burning Workout You Can Do At Home
How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells!
There is a way of achieving muscle fatigue if all you have are a pair of light dumbbells kicking around in your spare room. As long as you stick to some guidelines you will be able to feel the burn with all your workouts.
Here are the rules for a fat burning workout:
#1 Choose isolation exercises
#2 Perform high repetitions
#3 Use a short rest between each set
If you have a pair of adjustable dumbbells, ones where you are able to make one heavy dumbbell from the two opt for single limb exercises to achieve more intensity when possible.
Example exercises using dumbbells:
Legs
Squats, progress to split squat or lunges. Advanced option is to squat, curl and overhead press or squat holding the dumbbells overhead.
Chest
Dumbbell Chest fly - with back on the floor.
Press ups – no weights required.
Back
Bent over rowing holding the body in static bent over position and bringing the dumbbells to the side of the chest.
Upright rowing – row the dumbbells as high as the collarbone.
Shoulders
Side raises followed by overhead pressing.
Bent over side raise.
Biceps
Curls and hammer curls.
Triceps
Triceps extension - with back on the floor.
Close grip press ups. No weights required.
Abs
Seated reverse wood chops.
Abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest.
Repetition range:
Don’t be afraid to try anything up to 50 repetitions per exercise. Just because you are lifting light dumbbells doesn’t mean you can rush the set. Never sacrifice proper training technique no matter what the circumstances are. A strict training technique makes the targeted muscle group work harder and brings quicker results.
Recommended sets and rest:
If you choose to work on one exercise at a time and you are doing over 15 repetitions because of the light dumbbells it is recommended to rest no more than 60 seconds before you repeat the set. Depending on how difficult the next sets are will determine if you can afford to shave seconds from your rest time in between sets.
For best results at least 2-3 sets per exercises is required to create a training response.
An example legs, chest and abs fat burning workout using light dumbbells:
50 bodyweight squats
No rest and immediately followed by
25 dumbbell squats
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
25-50 Chest flies
No rest and immediately followed by
Press-ups to failure
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
Seated reverse wood chops – up to 30 each side
No rest and immediately followed by
Up to 30 abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells!
There is a way of achieving muscle fatigue if all you have are a pair of light dumbbells kicking around in your spare room. As long as you stick to some guidelines you will be able to feel the burn with all your workouts.
Here are the rules for a fat burning workout:
#1 Choose isolation exercises
#2 Perform high repetitions
#3 Use a short rest between each set
If you have a pair of adjustable dumbbells, ones where you are able to make one heavy dumbbell from the two opt for single limb exercises to achieve more intensity when possible.
Example exercises using dumbbells:
Legs
Squats, progress to split squat or lunges. Advanced option is to squat, curl and overhead press or squat holding the dumbbells overhead.
Chest
Dumbbell Chest fly - with back on the floor.
Press ups – no weights required.
Back
Bent over rowing holding the body in static bent over position and bringing the dumbbells to the side of the chest.
Upright rowing – row the dumbbells as high as the collarbone.
Shoulders
Side raises followed by overhead pressing.
Bent over side raise.
Biceps
Curls and hammer curls.
Triceps
Triceps extension - with back on the floor.
Close grip press ups. No weights required.
Abs
Seated reverse wood chops.
Abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest.
Repetition range:
Don’t be afraid to try anything up to 50 repetitions per exercise. Just because you are lifting light dumbbells doesn’t mean you can rush the set. Never sacrifice proper training technique no matter what the circumstances are. A strict training technique makes the targeted muscle group work harder and brings quicker results.
Recommended sets and rest:
If you choose to work on one exercise at a time and you are doing over 15 repetitions because of the light dumbbells it is recommended to rest no more than 60 seconds before you repeat the set. Depending on how difficult the next sets are will determine if you can afford to shave seconds from your rest time in between sets.
For best results at least 2-3 sets per exercises is required to create a training response.
An example legs, chest and abs fat burning workout using light dumbbells:
50 bodyweight squats
No rest and immediately followed by
25 dumbbell squats
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
25-50 Chest flies
No rest and immediately followed by
Press-ups to failure
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
Seated reverse wood chops – up to 30 each side
No rest and immediately followed by
Up to 30 abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
How To Write A Fat Loss Plan & Stop Yourself Eating Foods That Contribute to More Fat on Your Body
This diet system is ridiculously easy and straightforward!
Are you sick and tired of wasting your time on diets that never work? I am going to teach you how to write a simple fat loss plan and show you an example of how it should look.
I know time is precious for many of you so I will keep this short and as brief as possible.
In order to progress it is very important to set goals. Without goals you are on a road to nowhere. You should have an end goal in mind and little goals leading up to it. The way forward is to achieve each little goal until you accomplish them all and end up where you want to be. This system is ridiculously easy and straightforward but how many people set goals properly and put effort into achieving them?
Don’t make the mistake of being over ambitious with each goal you set because that will only knock you back if you fail to reach them.
The next step then is to set a time frame for each goal. The reason for doing this is to turn on a little pressure and is also a great way to make you try harder. Only you know what results you want so it is critical you write down your own goals and plan a time frame that you think you are capable of achieving.
In my example I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body. Lets look at Mr X; Mr X wants to lose weight and fat but the biggest obstacle that stands in his way is that he likes to eat a lot when he gets in from work and enjoys a Beer or three after dinner. This is what his last meal of the day looks like:
Pringles and different flavoured dips
Pizza or flavoured pasta or chicken pie with baked beans or jacket potato with baked beans
Ice cream
Beer
To stop eating all those foods straight away and change to healthier alternatives would be too much of a struggle for most people. People fail with diets because they try too hard too soon. Trying to do everything at once nearly always results in packing it in altogether and resorting back to old habits.
The following method is the best way for Mr X to turn his eating habits around for his last meal of the day.
He’s got a beach holiday booked in 12 weeks time; this not only is a massive incentive for him but can also be used as a deadline for his goals. Already we have a fat loss plan unfolding in front of us.
1. The end goal is to lose weight and fat
2. The time frame is 12 weeks
3. The first goal is to change his last meal of the day to a healthier alternative, hoping it will give him the ambition to change his other meals in the same way.
This is how to breakdown the goal:
The best place to start would be to trim down the meal i.e. stop having the Pringles, ice cream and the Beers.
The second step then would be to replace the main meal for something healthier. But without getting too carried away too soon lets look at the little goals.
Week 1 – either have the Pringles or the ice cream but not both! Don’t have more than one Beer. Make sure to drink enough pure water everyday.
Week 2 – have the Pringles or the ice cream every other night but not every night and don’t have both! Have a Beer every other night but not every night!
Week 3 – have the Pringles or the ice cream just 2 nights per week preferably at the weekend. Have a Beer just 2 nights a week also preferably at the weekend. Begin to look at healthier options for the main meal and introduce at least one vegetable everyday to your diet.
Week 4 - have the Pringles or the ice cream just 1 night per week and don’t have both! Have a Beer just one night per week. Introduce another vegetable to your diet so you are eating 2 different types of vegetables a day with your main meal. Eat non-processed foods with your main meal i.e. fish or meat.
Week 5 – Stick to the above guidelines if you are finding it tough going. If you aren’t then introduce the above methods to other meals. The guidelines are to change processed foods to non-processed foods, increase protein intake from natural sources and eat mainly vegetables in place of grains.
It may be necessary to make little goals for the other meals too. In which case by the time the 12-week deadline comes around the diet will be cleaned up dramatically and all the effort will be evident when on the beach.
This diet system is ridiculously easy and straightforward!
Are you sick and tired of wasting your time on diets that never work? I am going to teach you how to write a simple fat loss plan and show you an example of how it should look.
I know time is precious for many of you so I will keep this short and as brief as possible.
In order to progress it is very important to set goals. Without goals you are on a road to nowhere. You should have an end goal in mind and little goals leading up to it. The way forward is to achieve each little goal until you accomplish them all and end up where you want to be. This system is ridiculously easy and straightforward but how many people set goals properly and put effort into achieving them?
Don’t make the mistake of being over ambitious with each goal you set because that will only knock you back if you fail to reach them.
The next step then is to set a time frame for each goal. The reason for doing this is to turn on a little pressure and is also a great way to make you try harder. Only you know what results you want so it is critical you write down your own goals and plan a time frame that you think you are capable of achieving.
In my example I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body. Lets look at Mr X; Mr X wants to lose weight and fat but the biggest obstacle that stands in his way is that he likes to eat a lot when he gets in from work and enjoys a Beer or three after dinner. This is what his last meal of the day looks like:
Pringles and different flavoured dips
Pizza or flavoured pasta or chicken pie with baked beans or jacket potato with baked beans
Ice cream
Beer
To stop eating all those foods straight away and change to healthier alternatives would be too much of a struggle for most people. People fail with diets because they try too hard too soon. Trying to do everything at once nearly always results in packing it in altogether and resorting back to old habits.
The following method is the best way for Mr X to turn his eating habits around for his last meal of the day.
He’s got a beach holiday booked in 12 weeks time; this not only is a massive incentive for him but can also be used as a deadline for his goals. Already we have a fat loss plan unfolding in front of us.
1. The end goal is to lose weight and fat
2. The time frame is 12 weeks
3. The first goal is to change his last meal of the day to a healthier alternative, hoping it will give him the ambition to change his other meals in the same way.
This is how to breakdown the goal:
The best place to start would be to trim down the meal i.e. stop having the Pringles, ice cream and the Beers.
The second step then would be to replace the main meal for something healthier. But without getting too carried away too soon lets look at the little goals.
Week 1 – either have the Pringles or the ice cream but not both! Don’t have more than one Beer. Make sure to drink enough pure water everyday.
Week 2 – have the Pringles or the ice cream every other night but not every night and don’t have both! Have a Beer every other night but not every night!
Week 3 – have the Pringles or the ice cream just 2 nights per week preferably at the weekend. Have a Beer just 2 nights a week also preferably at the weekend. Begin to look at healthier options for the main meal and introduce at least one vegetable everyday to your diet.
Week 4 - have the Pringles or the ice cream just 1 night per week and don’t have both! Have a Beer just one night per week. Introduce another vegetable to your diet so you are eating 2 different types of vegetables a day with your main meal. Eat non-processed foods with your main meal i.e. fish or meat.
Week 5 – Stick to the above guidelines if you are finding it tough going. If you aren’t then introduce the above methods to other meals. The guidelines are to change processed foods to non-processed foods, increase protein intake from natural sources and eat mainly vegetables in place of grains.
It may be necessary to make little goals for the other meals too. In which case by the time the 12-week deadline comes around the diet will be cleaned up dramatically and all the effort will be evident when on the beach.
This diet system is ridiculously easy and straightforward!
Friday, June 18, 2010
How to Keep Dropping Weight & Help Make Body Fat Fall Every Week
Why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of!
Sometimes people look in the wrong places when they are trying to lose their last few pounds of fat. Granted, it gets harder to keep progressing with fat loss as the weeks and months go on but it is important not to allow standards to slip. There are two main reasons why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of. One is going back to your old ways and the other is not pushing hard enough.
If your results have slowed down recently then you need to take a good look at what you have been doing.
Are you partying until late at the weekends?
Are you having too many Beers?
Are you eating a takeaway too many?
Are you drinking enough water everyday?
Do you Skip breakfast or lunch?
Are you eating late at night?
Are you eating non-processed foods every meal?
Do you frequently miss workouts?
Are you training hard enough or just going through the motions to get it over and done with?
Is stressful situations getting on the top of you and distracting you?
Are you enjoying a work/life balance?
Are you exercising too much?
Are you focused on your goals?
Do you have a strategy in place that you follow or are you guessing?
The quicker you can organise yourself and put a plan in place the sooner you will achieve your fat loss goal. I have never met anyone who has achieved his or her fat loss goal without some sort of direction to follow. It is not only quicker to achieve results but also a lot easier.
This is what you could do if you are trying to lose those last few pounds of fat. Keep a food diary and assess your strengths and weaknesses. Take action to replace your bad habits so you can move forwards with your goals. Keep an exercise journal and let a professional take a look at it to see if you are doing the right kind of program to suit your goals.
Once you have done that you could write down anything that may be stopping you from achieving your goal. Whenever I hear the words from a frustrated dieter “I can’t lose fat because of such and such”… it reminds me of all the choices we have when making decisions about health and fitness. If you want something bad enough you have to be willing to pay the price for it, no quibbles about it. It comes down to you. Whatever you think may be stopping you with progressing further you will need to write it down and then come up with a solution. It doesn’t matter if it is a long-term solution all that matters is you are taking a step forward and making a battle plan.
Wouldn’t you rather do that and one day be sat where you are now a lot happier and with a body shape you want?
Why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of!
Sometimes people look in the wrong places when they are trying to lose their last few pounds of fat. Granted, it gets harder to keep progressing with fat loss as the weeks and months go on but it is important not to allow standards to slip. There are two main reasons why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of. One is going back to your old ways and the other is not pushing hard enough.
If your results have slowed down recently then you need to take a good look at what you have been doing.
Are you partying until late at the weekends?
Are you having too many Beers?
Are you eating a takeaway too many?
Are you drinking enough water everyday?
Do you Skip breakfast or lunch?
Are you eating late at night?
Are you eating non-processed foods every meal?
Do you frequently miss workouts?
Are you training hard enough or just going through the motions to get it over and done with?
Is stressful situations getting on the top of you and distracting you?
Are you enjoying a work/life balance?
Are you exercising too much?
Are you focused on your goals?
Do you have a strategy in place that you follow or are you guessing?
The quicker you can organise yourself and put a plan in place the sooner you will achieve your fat loss goal. I have never met anyone who has achieved his or her fat loss goal without some sort of direction to follow. It is not only quicker to achieve results but also a lot easier.
This is what you could do if you are trying to lose those last few pounds of fat. Keep a food diary and assess your strengths and weaknesses. Take action to replace your bad habits so you can move forwards with your goals. Keep an exercise journal and let a professional take a look at it to see if you are doing the right kind of program to suit your goals.
Once you have done that you could write down anything that may be stopping you from achieving your goal. Whenever I hear the words from a frustrated dieter “I can’t lose fat because of such and such”… it reminds me of all the choices we have when making decisions about health and fitness. If you want something bad enough you have to be willing to pay the price for it, no quibbles about it. It comes down to you. Whatever you think may be stopping you with progressing further you will need to write it down and then come up with a solution. It doesn’t matter if it is a long-term solution all that matters is you are taking a step forward and making a battle plan.
Wouldn’t you rather do that and one day be sat where you are now a lot happier and with a body shape you want?
Why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of!
Monday, June 14, 2010
3-Minute Posture - The Best Exercise for Perfect Posture
By performing preventative exercises a future of pain and injury can be avoided!
Improving the strength of the postural muscles in the back helps bring the body into balance and away from poor posture and potential pain. This is very important for both sedentary and active people especially for those that follow unbalanced exercise programmes. If you spend a lot of time exercising your abs you are training the muscles that flex your body forward. Exercising the back musculature, the muscles that extend the body backwards and away from poor posture will make your posture look normal. Postural muscles become lengthened and weak due to holding poor posture in repetitive lifestyle situations and following unbalanced training programmes, which is why a change in posture normally follows.
Examples that can lead to a poor posture:
Lack of exercise
Being overweight or obese
Sedentary lifestyle
Stress
Bad work practises
Picking up objects with a round back
Driving long distances
Performing exercises using the wrong technique
These are just a few examples from many everyday activities that can put you at risk of developing a poor posture. Many sports can also cause bad postures, as many are one side dominant and repetitive.
You only have to look around to see people’s poor postures with their round backs and forward head and shoulders to appreciate how common this problem is. By paying attention and aware of postural issues and performing preventative exercises a future of pain and injury can be avoided and better aesthetics achieved.
An excellent exercise for the posture is to lie face down on the floor keeping the chin tucked.
Toes should remain on the ground.
If you have a large curve in the low back when standing tense the backside muscles together throughout the exercise.
As you bring the head and upper body off the floor simultaneously bring the shoulder blades together. Your arms should be out by your side with palms facing away from the body with thumbs pointing up towards the ceiling.
The extended position should be held for a total of 3 minutes, hold for as long as possible without losing technique. Your toes should remain touching the floor throughout the exercise.
The holding position may be broken down into less time followed by a brief rest until 3 minutes total time has been reached in the extended position. For example, 30-second hold followed by a 30 second rest and repeated 6 times or 10 seconds hold followed by 10-second rest repeated 18 times.
If your posture isn’t as good as it should be then this exercise could be done everyday preferably at the end of the day or at the end of your regular workout. The reason for this is if you have poor posture and were to perform this kind of exercise before your workout or at the beginning of the day then the postural muscles would be in an even more of a weakened state. This would make poor posture persistent and possibly worse than normal.
By performing preventative exercises a future of pain and injury can be avoided!
Improving the strength of the postural muscles in the back helps bring the body into balance and away from poor posture and potential pain. This is very important for both sedentary and active people especially for those that follow unbalanced exercise programmes. If you spend a lot of time exercising your abs you are training the muscles that flex your body forward. Exercising the back musculature, the muscles that extend the body backwards and away from poor posture will make your posture look normal. Postural muscles become lengthened and weak due to holding poor posture in repetitive lifestyle situations and following unbalanced training programmes, which is why a change in posture normally follows.
Examples that can lead to a poor posture:
Lack of exercise
Being overweight or obese
Sedentary lifestyle
Stress
Bad work practises
Picking up objects with a round back
Driving long distances
Performing exercises using the wrong technique
These are just a few examples from many everyday activities that can put you at risk of developing a poor posture. Many sports can also cause bad postures, as many are one side dominant and repetitive.
You only have to look around to see people’s poor postures with their round backs and forward head and shoulders to appreciate how common this problem is. By paying attention and aware of postural issues and performing preventative exercises a future of pain and injury can be avoided and better aesthetics achieved.
An excellent exercise for the posture is to lie face down on the floor keeping the chin tucked.
Toes should remain on the ground.
If you have a large curve in the low back when standing tense the backside muscles together throughout the exercise.
As you bring the head and upper body off the floor simultaneously bring the shoulder blades together. Your arms should be out by your side with palms facing away from the body with thumbs pointing up towards the ceiling.
The extended position should be held for a total of 3 minutes, hold for as long as possible without losing technique. Your toes should remain touching the floor throughout the exercise.
The holding position may be broken down into less time followed by a brief rest until 3 minutes total time has been reached in the extended position. For example, 30-second hold followed by a 30 second rest and repeated 6 times or 10 seconds hold followed by 10-second rest repeated 18 times.
If your posture isn’t as good as it should be then this exercise could be done everyday preferably at the end of the day or at the end of your regular workout. The reason for this is if you have poor posture and were to perform this kind of exercise before your workout or at the beginning of the day then the postural muscles would be in an even more of a weakened state. This would make poor posture persistent and possibly worse than normal.
By performing preventative exercises a future of pain and injury can be avoided!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Cardio & Fat Loss – The Truth
Which type of exercise is the best for burning unwanted body fat?
If you asked any group of people including doctors, physical therapist and most personal trainers which type of exercise is the best for burning unwanted body fat 99% would say cardiovascular training or cardio for short. Cardio training are exercises like jogging, running, bike riding, rowing and other repetitive movements you see people doing on pieces of fancy looking gym equipment. I have years of experience witnessing the lack of results people achieve doing cardio workouts for fat loss goals. I also have dozens of opinions through research and personal experience to back it up.
I have personally done cardio training in the past under strict conditions whilst keeping my calorie intake and non-cardio training frequency consistent. The cardio workouts I have tried and tested were training at 60% of my maximum heart rate, training at 80% of my maximum heart rate and interval training. All the cardio workouts lasted for at least 20 minutes. I need to emphasise that I gave each type of workout a chance by giving them ample time by doing them for months at a time rather than for weeks. I did this to see if I got any sort of response and waited to see if my body fat levels or body weight would change but it never did. In other words I spent years wasting my time and effort on different kinds of cardiovascular workouts when all I needed was strength training and quality nutrition rather than focus on calories and miles.
What does this tell you about cardio training for your goals? If someone with a calorie controlled and healthy diet exercising six times a week can’t achieve any kind of results with cardio workouts how do you think you will do?
Just to prove I was working hard enough all the cardio workouts I did always made me sweat giving me a false sense of security that something positive was happening to me. The interval training workouts were extremely challenging and always leaved me in a state of heavy and out of controlled breathing halfway through the workout till the end. But unfortunately for me I never saw any results for all the hard work I was putting in.
You have to ask yourself where the cardio myth originated and who perpetuated it. Cardio training is actually out of date science, it works to a degree in theory but when you study it carefully it is only marginally successful for weight and fat loss and for many of us can have a reverse effect on body fat levels.
Health clubs and gyms have helped to add fuel to the cardio myth for years and even decades. When you walk into any gym in the world all you will see are rows and rows of cardio training equipment neatly presented. These are there for the clubs benefit and not yours. They give an image that the gym has an answer to your goals and all you have to do is use them. If all they had were dumbbells, Swiss balls and other functional equipment on the gym floor no one would want to join the gym because they wouldn’t have a clue what to do with them. It is in the gyms best interest to encourage its members to use the cardio equipment because they are easy to use and they can spend as little time as possible on customer service. This works a treat for keeping gyms and health clubs overheads down with staffing and makes their job a lot easier. But it also has an advantage on a psychological level too, gyms know if their members spend their visit using cardio equipment they will feel like they have done something strenuous just like I used to feel after a cardio workout.
Maybe the fitness industry ended up like this because of pressure from the equipment manufacturers. The manufacturers could be behind the biggest fat loss myth in history. To name just a few different pieces of cardio kit like the treadmills, bikes and stairmaster they all have one thing in common, they all have moving parts and eventually need replacements giving the manufactures recurring revenue. The recurring revenue from barbells, weight plates and functional equipment is much more infrequent then that of cardio equipment. New and updated models of cardio equipment are released every year and the once new treadmill with the TV screen can very quickly look outdated a bit like used cars. No up and coming gym wants to show a potential member around their facilities with old-fashioned looking cardio equipment or equipment showing a lot of wear and tear. They want the latest brand new hi tech designs to give the impression they are more modern and more effective than their rivals.
I hope you can now see how this vicious circle will be hard to break and how the cardio myth gets perpetuated in the industry. In part 2 of this article I will compare the effectiveness of cardio training versus strength training for weight and fat loss goals.
Which type of exercise is the best for burning unwanted body fat?
If you asked any group of people including doctors, physical therapist and most personal trainers which type of exercise is the best for burning unwanted body fat 99% would say cardiovascular training or cardio for short. Cardio training are exercises like jogging, running, bike riding, rowing and other repetitive movements you see people doing on pieces of fancy looking gym equipment. I have years of experience witnessing the lack of results people achieve doing cardio workouts for fat loss goals. I also have dozens of opinions through research and personal experience to back it up.
I have personally done cardio training in the past under strict conditions whilst keeping my calorie intake and non-cardio training frequency consistent. The cardio workouts I have tried and tested were training at 60% of my maximum heart rate, training at 80% of my maximum heart rate and interval training. All the cardio workouts lasted for at least 20 minutes. I need to emphasise that I gave each type of workout a chance by giving them ample time by doing them for months at a time rather than for weeks. I did this to see if I got any sort of response and waited to see if my body fat levels or body weight would change but it never did. In other words I spent years wasting my time and effort on different kinds of cardiovascular workouts when all I needed was strength training and quality nutrition rather than focus on calories and miles.
What does this tell you about cardio training for your goals? If someone with a calorie controlled and healthy diet exercising six times a week can’t achieve any kind of results with cardio workouts how do you think you will do?
Just to prove I was working hard enough all the cardio workouts I did always made me sweat giving me a false sense of security that something positive was happening to me. The interval training workouts were extremely challenging and always leaved me in a state of heavy and out of controlled breathing halfway through the workout till the end. But unfortunately for me I never saw any results for all the hard work I was putting in.
You have to ask yourself where the cardio myth originated and who perpetuated it. Cardio training is actually out of date science, it works to a degree in theory but when you study it carefully it is only marginally successful for weight and fat loss and for many of us can have a reverse effect on body fat levels.
Health clubs and gyms have helped to add fuel to the cardio myth for years and even decades. When you walk into any gym in the world all you will see are rows and rows of cardio training equipment neatly presented. These are there for the clubs benefit and not yours. They give an image that the gym has an answer to your goals and all you have to do is use them. If all they had were dumbbells, Swiss balls and other functional equipment on the gym floor no one would want to join the gym because they wouldn’t have a clue what to do with them. It is in the gyms best interest to encourage its members to use the cardio equipment because they are easy to use and they can spend as little time as possible on customer service. This works a treat for keeping gyms and health clubs overheads down with staffing and makes their job a lot easier. But it also has an advantage on a psychological level too, gyms know if their members spend their visit using cardio equipment they will feel like they have done something strenuous just like I used to feel after a cardio workout.
Maybe the fitness industry ended up like this because of pressure from the equipment manufacturers. The manufacturers could be behind the biggest fat loss myth in history. To name just a few different pieces of cardio kit like the treadmills, bikes and stairmaster they all have one thing in common, they all have moving parts and eventually need replacements giving the manufactures recurring revenue. The recurring revenue from barbells, weight plates and functional equipment is much more infrequent then that of cardio equipment. New and updated models of cardio equipment are released every year and the once new treadmill with the TV screen can very quickly look outdated a bit like used cars. No up and coming gym wants to show a potential member around their facilities with old-fashioned looking cardio equipment or equipment showing a lot of wear and tear. They want the latest brand new hi tech designs to give the impression they are more modern and more effective than their rivals.
I hope you can now see how this vicious circle will be hard to break and how the cardio myth gets perpetuated in the industry. In part 2 of this article I will compare the effectiveness of cardio training versus strength training for weight and fat loss goals.
Which type of exercise is the best for burning unwanted body fat?
Sunday, June 6, 2010
How to Tone Your Legs, Arms & Abs at Home
Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes!
Time constraints used to leave me feeling I had no time for exercise. It is only natural to think in order to be fit and healthy you have to spend hours sweating it out in the gym. I discovered a way to make the most of what little time I had and designed a way to exercise intensely in a fraction of the time I used to spend in the gym.
The approach consists of just two exercises for the workout and involves exercises that train the whole body. The style of the workout forces the metabolism to speed up and depending on the resistance you use will develop as well as tone the overall body head to toe.
I start workout with a warm up for about 5 minutes, sometimes this is fast walking, skipping, jogging on the spot or some movements with light dumbbells. As long as the body temperature is elevated it doesn’t matter how you warm up. What does matter is to remember to stretch any tight muscles before the start of the workout. The last thing you want is a muscle injury to keep you away from exercise.
The rules for the workout is to do 10-12 reps on both exercises straight after each other followed by a rest of no more than 30 seconds. The aim is to strive for as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes without breaking form and dropping below 8 reps.
With exercises using resistance the same resistance must be used on all the sets for the workout. Opt for a weight that allows you to achieve 12 reps on the first set, if you can only manage 2 or 3 rounds before dropping below 8 reps stop the workout and continue to progress the next time with a little less weight. For intermediates and advanced trainers a 10-20-rep window is an option. Whichever rep window you choose make sure you select the correct weight that allows you to perform the target reps with safe and proper technique.
Exercise #1 Squat and Curl to Overhead Press
Before you begin, a warm up set for the first exercise is recommended, this should be around 50% of the weight you will be using for all your sets. Strong individuals using heavy weights should do a staggered warm up, for example 50%, 65%, and 75% of the working weight.
Begin the starting position standing with a good posture holding the dumbbells at the sides with the palms facing the thighs. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and initiate the squat by bending the hips and knees keeping the shoulder blades down and together. Squat down as far as you can without breaking form. Slowly rise back to the standing position breathing out slowly. When in the standing position curl the dumbbells towards the shoulders and press the dumbbells above the head turning the palms forward. Reverse the arm action until the dumbbells are by the side of your thighs. This completes one rep.
Exercise #2 Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl
Start by lying on your back on the floor with the arms at the sides with palms facing up; place the heels on top of the ball with toes pointing up. Squeeze the glutes and draw the tummy in as you bring the hips of the floor. Bend your knees to bring the heels towards the glutes and slowly return to the starting position. Don’t allow your hips to drop and maintain the level of your hips throughout the set. Also keep the toes pointing up when bending the knees.
The options to progress on this type of workout would be to either shorten the rest time in between rounds enabling you to achieve more rounds in the 15 minute window or to increase the resistance so the desired reps are more challenging to reach on every round. It is best to swap and change training principles as often as possible to keep the workout demanding. Work as hard as you can on every workout to force the body to change and burn body fat.
Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes!
Time constraints used to leave me feeling I had no time for exercise. It is only natural to think in order to be fit and healthy you have to spend hours sweating it out in the gym. I discovered a way to make the most of what little time I had and designed a way to exercise intensely in a fraction of the time I used to spend in the gym.
The approach consists of just two exercises for the workout and involves exercises that train the whole body. The style of the workout forces the metabolism to speed up and depending on the resistance you use will develop as well as tone the overall body head to toe.
I start workout with a warm up for about 5 minutes, sometimes this is fast walking, skipping, jogging on the spot or some movements with light dumbbells. As long as the body temperature is elevated it doesn’t matter how you warm up. What does matter is to remember to stretch any tight muscles before the start of the workout. The last thing you want is a muscle injury to keep you away from exercise.
The rules for the workout is to do 10-12 reps on both exercises straight after each other followed by a rest of no more than 30 seconds. The aim is to strive for as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes without breaking form and dropping below 8 reps.
With exercises using resistance the same resistance must be used on all the sets for the workout. Opt for a weight that allows you to achieve 12 reps on the first set, if you can only manage 2 or 3 rounds before dropping below 8 reps stop the workout and continue to progress the next time with a little less weight. For intermediates and advanced trainers a 10-20-rep window is an option. Whichever rep window you choose make sure you select the correct weight that allows you to perform the target reps with safe and proper technique.
Exercise #1 Squat and Curl to Overhead Press
Before you begin, a warm up set for the first exercise is recommended, this should be around 50% of the weight you will be using for all your sets. Strong individuals using heavy weights should do a staggered warm up, for example 50%, 65%, and 75% of the working weight.
Begin the starting position standing with a good posture holding the dumbbells at the sides with the palms facing the thighs. Take a deep diaphragmatic breath and initiate the squat by bending the hips and knees keeping the shoulder blades down and together. Squat down as far as you can without breaking form. Slowly rise back to the standing position breathing out slowly. When in the standing position curl the dumbbells towards the shoulders and press the dumbbells above the head turning the palms forward. Reverse the arm action until the dumbbells are by the side of your thighs. This completes one rep.
Exercise #2 Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl
Start by lying on your back on the floor with the arms at the sides with palms facing up; place the heels on top of the ball with toes pointing up. Squeeze the glutes and draw the tummy in as you bring the hips of the floor. Bend your knees to bring the heels towards the glutes and slowly return to the starting position. Don’t allow your hips to drop and maintain the level of your hips throughout the set. Also keep the toes pointing up when bending the knees.
The options to progress on this type of workout would be to either shorten the rest time in between rounds enabling you to achieve more rounds in the 15 minute window or to increase the resistance so the desired reps are more challenging to reach on every round. It is best to swap and change training principles as often as possible to keep the workout demanding. Work as hard as you can on every workout to force the body to change and burn body fat.
Do as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Are You Eating GM Foods? – Get to Know The Food You Eat
Do you want to be a guinea pig in an ongoing experiment?
When a food is genetically modified it is for the benefit of resistance against insects, herbicides or to make it taste better. No research or studies have ever been done with humans to show what genetically modified foods can do to our health so you could say humans are the guinea pigs in an ongoing experiment.
The genetic engineering that takes place can introduce allergens to the food and lower the nutritional value, for example some soybeans are genetically engineered with the genes from a brazil nut to improve the taste. It doesn’t take a scientist or doctor to realise that someone with a nut allergy could end up in serious trouble consuming this particular kind of food.
According to the book ‘Total Health Programme’ by Dr Mercola- corn is only second to soybeans for the most genetically modified crop in the U.S. This is alarming news for people with poor eating habits, as they tend to over consume corn especially as it is present in many processed foods. Processed corn products such as corn syrup, fructose, corn oil, corn meal, corn starch, dextrose, monosodium glutamate, xanthan gum and maltodextrin are widely used and commonly used as sweeteners in everyday products like soft drinks, fruit drinks, cookies, confectionary and tons of other processed foods.
Did you know commercially raised cows are fed high amounts of corn as part of their diet? Depending which country you live in will determine whether the beef on your plate lived on a diet of genetically modified corn or not. If it did you are unknowingly allowing genetically modified food to creep into your diet. This is one reason why organic and grass fed meats are much healthier and more nutritionally dense opposed to the commercially fed variety.
Some people are sceptical about the organic food movement and think it is a rip off paying more money for the same food. Always remember with organic foods you are paying for your health and not for a brand name. Organic food has always been here. There was once a time when all food was organic before modern farming practises involving chemicals, antibiotics and drugs were introduced to the food chain. It is important for you to adopt the idea of thinking about the food on your plate and whether you prefer eating natural organic food the way Mother Nature intended it to be or if you want to eat food that has been manipulated in some sort of way and can be potentially detrimental to your health.
Do you want to be a guinea pig in an ongoing experiment?
When a food is genetically modified it is for the benefit of resistance against insects, herbicides or to make it taste better. No research or studies have ever been done with humans to show what genetically modified foods can do to our health so you could say humans are the guinea pigs in an ongoing experiment.
The genetic engineering that takes place can introduce allergens to the food and lower the nutritional value, for example some soybeans are genetically engineered with the genes from a brazil nut to improve the taste. It doesn’t take a scientist or doctor to realise that someone with a nut allergy could end up in serious trouble consuming this particular kind of food.
According to the book ‘Total Health Programme’ by Dr Mercola- corn is only second to soybeans for the most genetically modified crop in the U.S. This is alarming news for people with poor eating habits, as they tend to over consume corn especially as it is present in many processed foods. Processed corn products such as corn syrup, fructose, corn oil, corn meal, corn starch, dextrose, monosodium glutamate, xanthan gum and maltodextrin are widely used and commonly used as sweeteners in everyday products like soft drinks, fruit drinks, cookies, confectionary and tons of other processed foods.
Did you know commercially raised cows are fed high amounts of corn as part of their diet? Depending which country you live in will determine whether the beef on your plate lived on a diet of genetically modified corn or not. If it did you are unknowingly allowing genetically modified food to creep into your diet. This is one reason why organic and grass fed meats are much healthier and more nutritionally dense opposed to the commercially fed variety.
Some people are sceptical about the organic food movement and think it is a rip off paying more money for the same food. Always remember with organic foods you are paying for your health and not for a brand name. Organic food has always been here. There was once a time when all food was organic before modern farming practises involving chemicals, antibiotics and drugs were introduced to the food chain. It is important for you to adopt the idea of thinking about the food on your plate and whether you prefer eating natural organic food the way Mother Nature intended it to be or if you want to eat food that has been manipulated in some sort of way and can be potentially detrimental to your health.
Do you want to be a guinea pig in an ongoing experiment?
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