How Will YOU Burn 300 Calories?

1 Comment / Nutrition, Training

If you’re looking to shed body fat, there’s simply no getting around the fact that you absolutely must create some sort of caloric deficit. Any way you look at it, you MUST burn more calories than you consume. Now, it can get quite a bit more complicated than simple math would have us believe, but the fact remains–a deficit must be in place for fat loss to occur. But, there are many different ways to create a deficit, some more effective than others.

For example, if you’d like to create an additional 300 calorie deficit per day, you could simply skip your morning bagel (approx 300 calories). Fairly simple to do, unless you have some weird affinity toward bagels like I do. OR, you could walk for an HOUR on the treadmill and create the same 300 calorie deficit. OR, you could do a 10 minute high intensity interval training workout and create the same 300 calorie deficit. And here’s where things get a little more complicated than the numbers suggest.

In all three instances, you are essentially creating an additional 300 calorie deficit each day. BUT, scenario 1 sucks, scenario 2 really sucks, and scenario 3 trumps them all–bigtime. Why? Well, first, let’s say that you decide to create your caloric deficit soley by eliminating calories in your diet. By now, if you’ve been a follower of anything I’ve taught, you know that this will only result in some nasty hormonal consequences, leading to slowed metabolism and your body more or less canceling out the very deficit you are trying to create. As far as scenario #2 goes, there are several issues. First, 60 friggin’ minutes to burn 300 calories??? That’s a LONG time to invest to burn less than a tenth of a single pound of fat (assuming that all calories burned are from fat, which they won’t be). At that rate, if you wanted to burn a pound of fat, you’d have to walk for close to 15 hours.

Wow.

Count. Me. Out.

The second problem with scenario #2 is that there is virtually no “afterburn” effect, so once the session is over, so is your calorie burn–metabolism goes right on back to it’s slow ways. Now, with the third scenario, you’re investing much, much less time, but have the added benefit of the “afterburn” or elevated metabolism for the entire day (and sometimes even into the next day). Which brings me to the question — how are you burning your calories?

Are you trying to “diet” the pounds away? Are you hoping to walk away 5, 10, or even 20 lbs — that will probably take you a few years (of walking). Or have you embraced the power of intense exercise?

If you haven’t figured out the answer, hit me up…..

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Blast Fat with Exercise Machines

1 Comment / Training

By: Matt Fitzgerald

Exercise machines weren’t created to punish guys who eat too much. That’s what diets are for. But men spend hours, day after day, churning their arms and legs and waiting for the StairMaster or treadmill to make their bellies vanish. The result: They make it about as far as the average rat.

But your machine workout doesn’t have to be a road—or row—to nowhere. “By decreasing the duration and varying the intensity of your exercise sessions, you’ll get better results in less time,” says Chris Carmichael, founder of Carmichael Training Systems and coach to Lance Armstrong.

Try our guide to the five most popular exercise machines, with a high-intensity 20-minute workout geared for each. Your goals: Bust your exercise rut, and your gut, in record time.

Elliptical Trainer

The Knee Saver

Burn rate: 13 calories per minute

The benefit: Researchers at the University of Mississippi found that elliptical trainers provide the same cardiovascular benefits as treadmill running, without the impact on your joints. So they’re a perfect solution if you’re a runner who wants to stay in race shape without excessive pounding to your ankles, knees and hips.

Do it right: “Instead of holding on to handles, pump your arms as if you were running,” says Kerri O’Brien, C.S.C.S., a trainer in Phoenix. It improves your balance, which will help you whether you’re running 2.6 miles or 26.2.

The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this “alternating interval” fat burning exercise workout from Lance Watson, a coach of Canada’s Olympic triathlon team. By alternating between levels of high resistance and those of high speed, you’ll be able to work at a higher relative intensity for a longer time. Warm up, then increase the machine’s resistance level until you’re striding at 80 percent of your full effort. After 2 minutes, lower the resistance to the level you used during your warmup, but increase your stride rate so that you’re still exercising at 80 percent of your full effort. Continue alternating between a high resistance and a fast stride every 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes.

Rowing Machine

The Total-Body Builder

Burn rate: 11 calories per minute

The benefit: “Rowing machines provide the best total-body workout of any cardio machine,” says U.S. Olympic rowing coach Mike Teti. This is because they require equal effort from both your lower and your upper body, which could lead to greater gains in overall cardiovascular fitness.

Do it right: On the back stroke, your knees should be almost completely straight before you squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the handle to your sternum. Your back should stay in its naturally arched position during the entire movement. Got it? Now sign up with the Million Meter Club at www.conceptII.com. Record your distance online after every rowing session and see how you rank against more than 3,700 other club members. (Stay motivated by finishing your second million in less time.)

The 20-minute fat-burner: Try Teti’s routine. It’s designed to max out your muscles during each interval, while the recovery periods help increase the efficiency of this fat burning exercise routine. Set the rowing machine at a resistance of four. Then perform sets of 10, 15, and 20 power strokes—pulling the handle to your torso as fast and as hard as you can. Separate the power strokes with 60 seconds of easy rowing at about 50 percent of your full effort. Repeat the cycle until you’ve rowed for 20 minutes.

Stairclimber

The Health Master

Burn rate: 12 calories per minute

The benefit: Yale researchers found that men with insulin resistance—a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease—who exercised on a stairclimber for 15 minutes 4 days a week improved their sensitivity to insulin by 43 percent in just 6 weeks.

Do it right: The obvious: “Leaning on the handles can cut your caloric expenditure by 20 percent or more,” warns Mike Merk, C.S.C.S., director of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland. So, for a better calorie burn, pump your arms as if you were walking or running briskly. Or you can just turn around. A study in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that the retrograde version—facing away from the console—burned more calories than the traditional method.

The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this “escalating intensity” workout from Edmund Burke, Ph.D., author of The Complete Home Fitness Handbook. After you warm up, increase the resistance level by one unit while maintaining a pace of 60 to 80 steps per minute for 2 minutes. Then increase the resistance by one unit every 2 minutes until you reach your 20-minute goal. You’ll gradually work harder as your workout progresses, so you’ll be maxed out at the end of the session—which trains your body to finish hard.

Stationary Bike

The Mood Lifter

Burn rate: 14 calories per minute

The benefit: Researchers at the University of Northern Arizona found that cycling on a stationary bike for as little as 10 minutes reduced fatigue and negative moods, while improving energy levels. The stationary bike is also the perfect vehicle to prevent chunky guys from hurting themselves as they lose the chunks. That’s because cycling is not a load-bearing exercise, says Kate Heelan, Ph.D., an exercise researcher at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Do it right: Many cyclists develop lower-back pain because of their semifetal posture. “Stand up every 5 minutes and pedal as if you were climbing a hill for 60 seconds,” says Robert Morea, C.S.C.S., a trainer in New York City. “It’ll take the pressure off your lower back, force you to use different muscles and break up the monotony of your workout.”

The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this workout from Carmichael. It varies your sprints to challenge your cardiovascular system and muscles in different ways. Following your warmup, start cycling at an intensity that’s about 95 percent of your full effort for 90 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery interval at about 40 percent of your full effort. Then, using the same intensities, perform 60-second and 30-second intervals. After the final 30-second recovery period, cycle at 70 percent of your full effort for 4 minutes, then repeat the entire set of intervals.

Treadmill

The Energy Guzzler

Burn rate: 17 calories per minute

The benefit: A 2001 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise determined that the treadmill burns calories at the highest rate of any exercise machine.

Do it right: If you want to mimic road running, raise the incline of the treadmill to 1 percent before starting your run. Researchers in England found that that’s the degree of treadmill elevation that most closely approximates outdoor running.

The 20-minute fat-burner: Try this “up the incline” interval method from Liz Neporent, coauthor of Fitness for Dummies. It’ll build your leg strength and prepare you for the toughest road courses around, while helping you shed fat fast. Pick a speed that’s about 2 minutes per mile slower than your average outdoor pace. Run at that speed for 2 minutes at an incline of 1 percent. Then raise the incline to 4 percent for another 2 minutes. Continue to raise the elevation of the treadmill by 2 percent every 2 minutes until you reach a 10 percent grade. Then step it back down 1 percent at a time—in 2-minute intervals—until you complete your 20 minutes.

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How To Burn A Pound Of Pure Fat In One Day

Nutrition, Training

by Joel Marion – CISSN, NSCA-CPT

A pound of fat is 3,500 calories.

So, to lose 10 pounds of pure fat, you need to create a 35,000 calorie deficit.

(please realize that 10 pounds of *fat loss* will probably equate to somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds of actual “wt loss” due to the simultaneous water loss that occurs any time you lose fat).

So, a 35,000 calorie deficit, huh? That’s easy. In fact, if you didn’t eat anything for 15 days, combined with exercise, you’d probably burn even more than that and finish up absolutely ripped after only 2 weeks of sacrifice, right?

WRONG.

Your body does *not* like long-term, drastic reductions in calorie intake and simply responds by 1) shutting down metabolism and 2) holding on to body fat, both as a starvation protection mechanism. Therefore, should you ever decide to try something akin to the above, you’d only end up wasting a heck of a lot of time and sacrifice for some pretty crappy results.

In fact, you’d probably end up looking “sick” and still fat. Probably *not* the look you’re going for…

Simply put, creating massive calorie deficits (by not eating, or eating very little) does NOT work for optimal fat loss and physique transformation, and those looking for a quick fix all too often fall victim to trying something so silly in attempt to wake up next week with the body of their dreams.

Bottom line: your body is smarter than these elementary methods, and will very quickly put the breaks on your fat burning efforts in favor of protecting you from starving to death.

So does that mean that the “slow and steady” road is the only path to fat loss, or that rapid fat loss is a dead dream?

Nope! It just requires “smarter” methods that keep you one step ahead of your body, always in “good standing”, instead of repeatedly aggravating it by denying it the nutrients and energy it needs to function.

So how can we be smart about rapid fat loss?

Well, there are a number of ways (that when combined in the most strategic fashion can equate to some incredibly fast fat loss results), but one of the pieces of the puzzle is to create a massive calorie deficit that *actually works* because it’s timed appropriately in conjunction with a time in which your body is very receptive to fat burning.

If you’ve read any of my past writings then you know that I’m a strong believer in utilizing Cheat Days to upregulate metabolism and important fat burning hormones, particularly leptin, while dieting. After all, it only takes one day of overfeeding or “cheating” to bring these hormones back to baseline and put the body back into an optimized fat burning state (while it takes about a week for them to substantially drop off again).

The end result is greater net fat loss week after week while still being able to enjoy your favorite foods on a regular basis. I’ll take that deal.

Given that information, let me ask you a question:

When do you think might be the ideal time to introduce a massive calorie deficit to a diet cycle in order to burn the most fat?

I’ll let you think about that for a minute…

Okay, got your answer?

Well, if you said after a Cheat Day, then you are 100% correct! Fact is, after a Cheat Day, your body is *massively* primed to burn fat. Leptin levels are at their peak, in addition to other important fat burning hormones, and your body is READY and WILLING to use fat for energy.

So, it’s after a high calorie day that you’ll want to create a massive calorie deficit via:

1. minimal calorie intake (i.e. strategic fasting)

2. massive energy expenditure through optimized exercise

Essentially, you’re creating a huge calorie deficit (through both diet and exercise) on a day in which your body is extremely primed to burn those calories as fat AND when metabolism is at its highest point.

Make sense?

The truth is, through proper timing and proper strategy, you really CAN burn a pound of pure fat (and lose even more on the scale) in one day, without silly fat loss gimmicks or fads.

The secret, my friends, is all in the strategy.

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My new morning ritual to get ripped abs

3 Comments / Training

By Mike Geary

Instead of an in-depth article for you to read today, I just wanted to share a few fitness techniques I’ve been using myself lately, and my new “morning ritual” which has been getting killer results!

In fact, just doing this morning ritual for the last 7 mornings in a row, I can already see that my lower abs are getting more defined by the day (indicating that this is lowering my body fat % a bit more).

This involves both exercise AND nutrition tricks, so read this whole post, even if you can’t do the exact same type of exercise.

Ok, here’s the method I’ve been using that is getting crazy results…

We just started getting really warm spring weather here in the Rockies, so the last 7 mornings in a row, I’ve walked 15 minutes over to the local soccer field and done about 20 minutes or so of all-out wind sprints (50-100 yard wind sprints with full out intensity), and then I do the 15 minute walk back home.

Even if you can’t do wind sprints, keep in mind that you can still do something similar that is a higher intensity for you personally (perhaps hill walking instead of wind sprints, for example).

By the way, outdoor sprints are where the action is… sprints on a treadmill don’t have the same effect as there’s more force production involved in accelerating a sprint outdoors compared to on a treadmill. Plus, the max speed on a treadmill is not high enough usually for an “all-out” sprint. In my mind, it’s a world of difference. Personally I never step foot on a treadmill.

How wind sprints raise your fat melting hormones:

One of the reasons that wind sprints are so effective at chiseling your body and reducing body fat to “ripped” levels (have you ever seen the bodies of some competitive sprinters? ripped!) is that sprints are one of the specific exercises that are known to have a great effect on increasing Growth Hormone (GH) naturally in your body…

…and we all know that GH production in your body is one of the key secrets to getting lean, strong, and also staying youthful!

For the wind sprints, what I’ve been doing is increasing distance on each sprint from 50 meters to 60 meters, 70, 80, 90, and finally 100 meters. Then I repeat the cycle. Usually just 2 cycles of this is enough to get me fully whooped (about 12 all-out sprints)! But as time goes on this summer, I will try to increase distance, the number of sprints, or the intensity to keep progressing.

Now for the morning nutrition trick I’ve been using…

I’ve tried “morning empty stomach exercise” in the past, and here’s the deal… I usually don’t have the energy to do anything intense first thing in the morning without eating, so for these sprints, I’ve found a nice little concoction I came up with that gives me the energy to do these high intensity sprints without weighing me down, and without many calories. It’s just enough to do the trick!

What I’ve been doing is mixing Athletic Greens (which is lightly sweetened with stevia, nothing artificial, and with only 40 calories per serving, but 76 superfoods mixed in) with unsweetened iced tea (green, white, oolong, and yerba mate mixture) first thing in the morning. I usually have a big batch of unsweetened iced tea in a gallon container in the fridge that has at least these 4 teas mixed for taste and diversity of antioxidants.

I also mix in about a half scoop (12 grams) of raw grass-fed whey protein, and I have a couple grams of BCAA’s (to help minimize muscle catabolism), and a few caps of krill oil.

This entire concoction is only about 120 calories total (with only 3 grams of carbs from the Athletic Greens), so it’s just enough to give me energy to do the high intensity sprints, but not too much to weigh me down.

I also take one capsule of an oolong tea extract (in capsules) that I’ve been experimenting with lately. This has about 50 mg of naturally occuring caffeine, and oolong tea is shown in some studies to increase the % of fat calories burned if taken before exercise.

I get about 15-20 minutes to digest this mixture a little (the walk to the soccer field takes about 15 min) and then I start to rock out the 20-25 minutes of all-out wind sprints. The 15 minute walk back home is a nice cool down.

It feels amazing, and I end up getting an insane workout with plenty of energy, as opposed to the no energy feeling I have if I try to do “empty stomach” exercise first thing in the morning. This also makes me feel really energetic for the rest of the day too, and I’m sure boosts my metabolism!

When I come back from the sprinting, I then make my full breakfast, which lately has been my fairly low-carb healthy breakfast of 4 whole eggs (free range from a local farmers market), grass-fed bison sausage, lots of veggies mixed in to the eggs (mushrooms, onions, spinach, kale, and red peppers), and a half of an avocado on the side. And I have a cup of unsweetened green tea or yerba mate.

The fat loss results so far:

Keep in mind, I’ve only been doing this morning ritual for about 7 mornings so far… but even with only a week of this method, I’ve already had noticeably more definition in the lower abs doing this every morning for the last 7 days or so!

So if you’re up for a challenge and a great training and nutrition combo method, this seems to be working wonders for me so far! Let’s get ripped and ready for summer! Perhaps you can find a way to do something similar in your routine.

I hope this post has given you some good ideas to use. Have fun!

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Fast Fat Loss Workouts

3 Comments / Nutrition, Training

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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