Fast Fat Loss Workouts

By jasonferruggia.com

“There aint no cure for the summertime blues.”

That’s what Eddie Cochran told us in 1958.

And a lot of people know all too well about that particular subject. I’m talking about when months from today the holidays rolls around and it’s officially time to start shedding layers for all to see.

Those who aren’t prepared will inevitably be stricken with a fierce case of the summertime blues. That’s because they will be forced to keep their shirts on or live in embarrassment over the next few months, regretting that they didn’t lean down like they wanted to.

Girls will start saying things like, “I hate all my clothes,” and guys will just start making excuses and avoiding pool and beach parties at all costs.

Don’t let it happen to you. It’s not too late to lose another 10-15 pounds of bodyfat before the holidays. But you’ve got to get started today. As in right now! Not tomorrow, not later on tonight, but right now!

Firstly, if your diet isn’t spot on there is no type of training you can do that will make much of a difference. So get that in check first. Lean, organic grass fed meats, wild caught fish, eggs and grass fed, raw whey protein powder should make up the bulk of your calories. Load up on the green veggies and get some healthy fats like coconut oil in on a daily basis.

To ensure that you’re getting adequate nutrition I recommend a serving per day of Athletic Greens, which is the best mixed greens product I’ve tried and eliminates the need for a bunch of other supplements.

One other good trick is to take a tablespoon of psyillium husks in water every night before bed. That helps clean you out and flatten your lower belly a bit.

Remember, getting lean is at least 85% nutrition, so don’t even think about starting a fat loss focused phase with a crappy diet. It just won’t happen.

Now For the Fast Fat Loss Workouts
The first thing I always tell people before they embark on a fat loss phase is to keep the heavy strength work in the program. Even if you train strictly with bodyweight that means you still need to keep high resistance, low rep (5-8) work in the program. If you immediately abandon strength work in favor of high reps you will lose muscle and strength. The end result is a small, soft physique. You definitely don’t want that.

The first thing to add in is high intensity, low duration conditioning like hill or sled sprints. If fat loss is your main focus right now you will only need two or three days of heavy training to maintain your muscle mass and strength. The other days should dedicated to more fat loss style training.

Let’s say you strength train on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you are currently doing zero conditioning start slow and add in two 15-20 minute sessions on Tuesday and Saturday. My first choice is hill sprints or sprints with a sled. Sand sprints on the beach are awesome as well. And you can never go wrong with the Prowler or a jump rope.

The intensity should be high and your heart rate should be higher. You don’t have to puke but it shouldn’t be comfortable by any means. So get comfortable being uncomfortable.

If you’re new to sprinting take it slow. A half dozen 20-30 yard sprints is a good start. Then, a few weeks later you can work up to ten 50’s. Six weeks later you could push it to somewhere around 1000 yards total for a good fat loss workout. In other words, ten one hundred yard sprints. Run the length of a football field up hill, on the beach or on flat ground with a sled then walk back and repeat.

Four hundred meter sprints are hard to beat for fat loss but that takes a long time to work up to and is definitely quite a bit riskier from an injury perspective. If you have a really long hill or a huge stretch of grass to run with a sled on you could work past 100 yards after about eight weeks of sprinting. If that’s not an option be very careful when working your way up to the 400 and make sure your sprint technique is spot on.

Two days of sprinting per week will be enough for most people. If you’re in shape and athletic there’s no reason you couldn’t get up to three or four, as long as least one of them is of lower intensity.

One option I really like is to bring a kettlebell to the beach and alternate sprints with a kettlebell exercise each set. So set the kettlebell down 50-75 yards away from your start position then sprint to it. When you get there do ten snatches per arm. The weight doesn’t have to be heavy. For most guys a 35 pound bell will be fine. It’s not really strength work, just conditioning. After the snatches walk back to the start line.

When you catch your breath hit the deck for ten Hindu or regular pushups. Again, this will be fairly easy, but in a winded state it will do the job. You don’t want to induce a lot of soreness or systemic fatigue but rather just keep moving and burning fat. After the pushups sprint back down to the kettlebell. Ideally you should launch out of your tenth rep and right into the sprint. Rest as needed and repeat for up to 10-12 sets. That’s a killer workout right there.

On top of your sprint workouts you could also add a 5-10 minute finisher to your strength training workouts. That would be something simple like sledgehammer swings, sled drags, Prowler pushes, battling ropes, jumping rope, hitting a heavy bag or kettlebell snatches. Just set a clock and get after it.

Another great option I use a lot is the following set up:

Monday- Upper Body Strength
Tuesday- Lower Body Strength
Thursday- Fat Loss Conditioning Circuit
Saturday- Fat Loss Conditioning Circuit

As a side note this is also a great template for combat athletes where the two days at the end of the week are more strength endurance/ conditioning days based on their specific needs. If you only have time for three days you could just do once circuit style workout on Friday.

A sample workout might look something like this:

1a) Low Box Jump- 15-20 seconds
1b) Spiderman Pushup- 10-20 reps
1c) Rope Slams- 15-20 seconds
1d) KB Overhead Squat- 5-10 reps per side
1e) Sled Rope Row- 10-20 seconds
1f) Mountain Climber- 25-50 reps per side
1g) Kettlebell Snatch- 10-25 reps per side

Repeat for three to five circuits with minimal rest periods. Set up a similar workout on Saturday. The exercise options are based on your strength levels and the impact that they will have on your heavy days. Keep that in mind.

So there you have a few fast fat loss workouts you can put to use immediately. Like I said, don’t wait til tomorrow. Get started on these today and let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you in any way.

Good luck.

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18 Health Tricks to Teach Your Body

1 Comment / Nutrition

By: Kate Dailey

Eating 10 hot dogs in 6 minutes and belching the national anthem may impress your friends, but neither of those feats will do much for your body—at least not much good.

Instead, why not train yourself to do something that may actually pay off?

We’re not talking bench presses and interval training (though those do help). You can teach your body to cure itself from everyday health ailments—side stitches, first-date jitters, even hands that have fallen asleep.

Just study this list, and the next time your friends challenge you to an ice cream eating contest, chow down: You know how to thaw a brain freeze—and 17 other tricks that’ll make everyone think you’re the next David Blaine. But without all that “hold your breath for 17 minutes” mess.

Do Them Right: To mazimize your workout, good form is a must. Men’s Health Personal Trainer features videos demos that you can download and take with you to the gym. Find out more.

Cure a Tickling Throat

When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, especially if it serves as a health remedy. Take that tickle in your throat: It’s not worth gagging over. Here’s a better way to scratch your itch: Scratch your ear. “When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”

Experience Supersonic Hearing

If you’re stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It’s better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

Overcome Your Most Primal Urge

Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won’t feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” video.

Feel No Pain

German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

Clear Your Stuffed Nose

Forget Sudafed. Here’s an easier, quicker, and cheaper remedy to relieve sinus pressure: Alternate thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you’ll feel your sinuses start to drain.

Fight Fire Without Water

Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? Try this preventive remedy: “Sleep on your left side,” says Anthony A. Starpoli, M.D., a New York City gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you’re on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity’s in your favor.

Cure Your Toothache

Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

Make Burns Disappear

When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natual method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.

Stop the World from Spinning

One too many drinks left you dizzy? Ah, luckily there’s a remedy. Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. “As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises,” says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.

Unstitch Your Side

If you’re like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

Stanch Blood with One Finger

Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed—if you don’t mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums—just behind that small dent below your nose—and press against it, hard. “Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose,” says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. “Pressing here helps stop them.”

Make Your Heart Stand Still

Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It’ll get your heart rate back to normal.

Thaw Your Brain

Too much Chipwich too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,” says Abo. “In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache.” The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

Prevent Near-Sightedness

Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. “It’s usually caused by near-point stress.” In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles—like the eyes—into relaxing as well.

Wake the Dead

If your hand falls asleep while you’re driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It’ll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don’t let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.

Impress Your Friends

Next time you’re at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He’ll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that’s a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will cave like the French. By misaligning his hips, you’ve offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body’s ability to resist.

Breathe Underwater

If you’re dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first—essentially, hyperventilate. When you’re underwater, it’s not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it’s the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin’ ain’t right. “When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity,” says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. “This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen.” It’ll buy you up to 10 seconds.

Read Minds

Your own! “If you’re giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep,” says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.

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7 Reasons You’re Still Hungry—Even After You Just Ate!

Nutrition

Do you sometimes feel ravenous, even though you just polished off a tasty lunch, a full dinner, or a midnight snack? Some food ingredients can trick our bodies into not recognizing when we’re full, causing “rebound hunger” that can add inches to our waistlines. But these simple tweaks from the authors of The New American Diet can help quiet your cravings.

You Drink Too Much Soda

Sodas, iced teas, and other sweetened beverages are our biggest source of high-fructose corn syrup—accounting for about two-thirds of our annual intake. New research from the University of California at San Francisco indicates that fructose can trick our brains into craving more food, even when we’re full. It works by impeding the body’s ability to use leptin, the “satiation hormone” that tells us when we’ve had enough to eat.

Your Dinner Came Out of a Can

Many canned foods are high in the chemical bisphenol-A, or BPA, which the Food and Drug Administration recently stated was a chemical “of some concern.” Exposure to BPA can cause abnormal surges in leptin that, according to Harvard University researchers, leads to food cravings and obesity.

Your Breakfast Wasn’t Big Enough

After following 6,764 healthy people for almost 4 years, researchers found that those who ate just 300 calories for breakfast gained almost twice as much weight as those who ate 500 calories or more for breakfast. The reason: Eating a big breakfast makes for smaller rises in blood sugar and insulin throughout the day, meaning fewer sudden food cravings.

You Skipped the Salad

Most Americans don’t eat enough leafy greens, which are rich in the essential B-vitamin folate and help protect against depression, fatigue, and weight gain. In one study, dieters with the highest levels of folate in their bodies lost 8.5 times as much weight as those with the lowest levels. Leafy greens are also high in vitamin K, another insulin-regulating nutrient that helps quash cravings. Best sources: Romaine lettuce, spinach, collard greens, radicchio.

You Don’t Stop for Tea Time

According to a study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, people who drank one cup of black tea after eating high-carb foods decreased their blood-sugar levels by 10 percent for 2 and a half hours after the meal, which means they stayed full longer and had fewer food cravings. Researchers credit the polyphenolic compounds in black tea for suppressing rebound hunger.

You’re Not Staying Fluid

Dehydration often mimics the feeling of hunger. If you’ve just eaten and still feel hungry, drink a glass of water before eating more, and see if your desires don’t diminish.

You’re Bored

Researchers at Flinders University in Australia found that visual distractions can help curb cravings. To test yourself, envision a huge, sizzling steak. If you’re truly hungry, the steak will seem appealing. But if that doesn’t seem tempting, chances are you’re in need of a distraction, not another meal.

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29 Simple Ways To Be Fit

Nutrition, Training

Far too often fitness is presented as complicated and confusing. Not with these 29 Simple Ways To Be Fit.

Being fit comes from living the following simple everyday practices.

1. Throw out your big dinner plates. Using small plates at home effortlessly reduces calorie intake and promotes weight loss.

2. Make exercise a regular part of your life. Create a network of accountability with workout partners or by working with your local fitness expert.

3. Know what you want to accomplish. Visualize the end result of your hard work.

4. Believe in you. I know that you CAN accomplish your goals.

5. Don’t be a wimp. Keep the intensity high during your workouts. Remember that you don’t want to kill time; you want to burn calories and strengthen your body through intense exercise.

6. Drink water all day long.

7. Know when to ask for help.

8. Incorporate High Intensity Interval Training into your routine by doing bursts of high intensity rather than exercising at a single steady pace.

9. Maintain your metabolism by eating a healthy snack or meal every three hours. This food should be unprocessed, low in fat and high in fiber.

10. Forget will-power; it’s about WANT-power. How badly do you want it.

11. Never eat processed foods. These items are high in empty calories and contain a plethora of chemicals that are harmful to your health.

12. Fat contains twice the caloric density of carbohydrates and protein, so limit the amount of it that you eat. Fill your diet with lean protein and carbohydrates from leafy plants and whole grains.

13. It’s OK to be a skeptic. Watch out for products that are labeled as ‘health food’. Always read the nutrition labels and make your own informed opinion.

14. Talk is cheap. Act now and get the job done.

15. Exercise with people that are in better shape than you. This will encourage you to push your limits.

16. Never indulge in negative self-talk.

17. Don’t drink calories.

18. Pay attention to everything that you eat.

19. Keep consistent. Exercise at least three or four times each week.

20. Expect more from yourself.

21. Never eat High Fructose Corn Syrup. It spikes your blood sugar levels and encourages your body to store fat.

22. Eat plenty of whole plant foods. Vegetables, fruits and whole grains are filled with fiber and antioxidants, great for good health and weight loss.

23. Do your cardiovascular exercise after weight training to encourage more fat burn. Your stored sugars will be depleted during the weight training then your body will rely on fat stores to get you through the cardio workout.

24. Breakfast should be a balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat to get your metabolism going strong.

25. If you know that you deserve better…then go get it.

26. Challenge yourself during each workout. Try something new and exciting.

27. Set specific, measurable goals and track your progress.

28. Even if they are whole grain, eat carbohydrates sparingly. Carbohydrates are quickly stored as fat.

29. Put an end to your struggle to get and stay fit. Check out The Alive Experience to get started on a proven fitness program that will change your life and body forever.

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3 Great Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting is a Good Idea

Nutrition, Training

You may not have heard of intermittent fasting, and so you may not know why it can and should be a part of your workout and fat loss plan. Intermittent fasting is the practice of abstaining from all but water for a period of usually 24 hours to help with the goals associated with fat loss and weight loss in general. The way in which it helps in this arena is by cutting out a full days caloric intake, while still being able to maintain a full workout schedule. Let’s look at three main reasons I believe that intermittent fasting is a good idea for anyone serious about fat loss and muscle building!

The primary reason I’m fond of a workout plan that involves intermittent fasting is that it promotes maximum fat loss. Most people employ these types of fasts two days a week while working out, and this means they are effectively cutting out a full two days caloric intake from their weekly consumption. This combined with your workout can and does have a dramatic effect on the pace at which you lose excess fat. By working out while doing these fasts, you are attacking your goals with a two-edged sword, slashing it from both ends of the spectrum.

The second reason would be that this type of fasting allows you to maintain a moderate to intense workout load while still maintaining your energy and metabolism. Many people think that fasting drains both of these aspects, and while that is true for other, particularly longer fasts, for intermittent fasting the opposite has proven to be the case. You often have more energy and a higher metabolism while engaged in this type of fasting, making it the best of both worlds. Many other fasts are so debilitating that you are left at the end of the day so drained you are unable to do anything. Intermittent fasting is not like that at all.

The third reason why I believe intermittent fasting is a good practice to include in your workout plan is that it has beneficial aspects to it that are a little less easy to see, but of great benefit all the same. There is a cleansing of your system that takes place with any fast, as your body adjusts to less content being put into it. There are also undeniable psychological benefits, such as a very affirming sense of accomplishment that can help you in many areas of your life. Knowing that you are not a slave to food is a major part of that.

I’m a firm advocate of intermittent fasting as a way of enhancing your fat loss and workout routines. There is in my mind no faster way of getting maximum fat loss while still being able to handle a full workout load. Investigate it today. I think you might be surprised at the results you’ll come up with!

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