Posted by admin on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
After having a lot of dehydration issues last week I finally got around to getting a fuel belt. I ended up buying one from . I picked the .
I guess I like it. I haven't really put it through it's paces yet. I tried it on and it fits nice and snug. I walked around the house and swung my arms around like an idiot and I never hit one of the bottles. The bottles seem pretty secure in their holsters. It actually takes a little bit of force to get them out. It also takes quite a bit of force to pull the tops up. I'm not too thrilled with that. Maybe they'll loosen up with time and washing?
I've got four water bottles so I'm thinking of filling three with water and one with gatorade. I have no idea how much you're supposed to drink when you're out. I think I might take a few sips every 15 minutes or so. Maybe I'll drink the gatorade when I'm done.
I guess I'll figure all this out on Sunday when I do my next long run.
Posted by admin on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
Which is the best online fitness tool? Drop by tomorrow and find out which one gets the Total Transformation Test blog's stamp of approval. Keep in mind that unlike many other bloggers I don't get compensation of any kind to endorse products. BTW, that isn't because of moral qualms, I simply can't post ads on here so it just isn't possible. See you tomorrow.
Also, if you know of any online fitness sites similar to the three mentioned above, let me know.
Posted by admin on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
http://www.tinyurl.com/5m9xlj Hoodia review explains all the different types of hoodia.What works and what doesnt.Explores hydroxycut,alli,green tea & weight loss and the new latest products.
Posted by admin on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
33 minutes.
Awesome run. Probably the most enjoyable one I've had since I started marathon training.
I didn't think today would be that great because I walked a LOT more than usual. My legs were really tired when I went out for my run. Lucky for me the weather was almost perfect. Temps are in the high 80's but it was cloudy again.
I made it to my 20 minute mark with 20 seconds to spare. I'm happy with that since the weather was so good. When it starts getting really hot and the sun starts beating down on me I won't be upset if I'm a minute or two slower.
Posted by admin on July 15th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
by
A couple of years ago, a company came out with an exercise machine that guaranteed results in only four minutes a day. The main problem? The $12,000 price tag. My car doesn't cost that much. I'm not sure I've ever spent that much on anything, including my education.
Well, I'm going to save you a lot of money today because I'm going to show you how to do the same thing without an overpriced machine. This "top secret" training method may do more for you than all your other training combined and leave you with 23 hours and 56 minutes to live the rest of your day.
But there's a price to pay. Think exhaustion, vomit and pools of sweat.
Enter the Tabata Method
Tabata is the name of a Japanese researcher who discovered an interesting way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It's one of those strange training programs that seems to fit across disciplines: it's excellent for bicyclists, speed skaters, Olympic lifters, or the person looking to lose fat quickly.
This training method is so simple, yet so incredibly difficult, that athletes tend to try it once, acknowledge its greatness, and then vow to never speak its name again. What is it? It's simple: take one exercise and perform it in the following manner:
1) For twenty seconds, do as many repetitions as possible.
2) Rest for ten seconds
3) Repeat seven more times!
That's it! You're done in four minutes! Oh, and that thing you're trying to brush off your face? That would be the floor.
Eight sets of "as many reps as you can get done," followed with a brief ten-second rest — simple and effective. The two best exercise options for the Tabata method are the front squats and the "thruster," which I'll describe in a bit.
It helps to have someone record the reps of each set for you because, well, you won't remember after you pass out. I use the "lowest rep number" of any of the eight sets as my measurement to compare workout to workout. If you go too heavy, that number might be two. If you go too light, you might find yourself getting around 15 reps or more.
Before we talk about the exercises, let's take a moment to be perfectly clear about what we're doing. This isn't "eight sets of eight," although the goal of doing eight reps in each of the twenty second clusters is about right. Instead it's "as many reps as I can get in" during the twenty seconds, followed by ten seconds rest.
And by the way, ten seconds is notracking the bar, getting a drink, talking to a friend on the bike, looking at the clock, walking back to the bar, chalking up, adjusting the belt, then doing the next set. Ten seconds is ten seconds! No cheating!
Tabata Exercises
You need to choose an exercise that uses a large number of muscles. I suggest the front squat. Now, you may argue, why not the back squat? Well, it's hard to dump the bar quickly into the rack with back squats, while with front squats, you can simply fall into it and start your ten second rest.
With something like a military press, you won't be using enough muscles to allow you to survive in the last minute; you might only get one or two reps with your shoulders on fire. Deadlifts have been tried, but most people get a little worried about injuries doing them Tabata-style.
The front squat might be the single best Tabata lift. Having said that, if you don't know how to front squat correctly, the Tabata method might teach you to lift better than a thousand coaches. In the four minutes, it's easy to get 64 to 70 reps, which teaches the nervous system better than a PowerPoint presentation.
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The bar will be held in the "front" of the body, with the fingers relaxed and the bar resting on the clavicles with the elbows high. Sit down "between the legs." This actually gets easier in the third and fourth minute as you just start to "drop" back through. As you rise back up, you don't need to lock out the knees; in fact, don't even think about it. Just get up and go back down.
Weight on the bar? Generally, I urge people to go "light," like 35 to 65 pounds the first time.
The other great Tabata exercise is the "thruster." The thruster is one of the greatest lifts no one has ever heard of in the gym. Take two dumbbells and hold them at shoulder height. Squat down, keeping the dumbbells on the shoulders. As you rise up, press the bells to the overhead lockout position. You can either press as you rise or use the momentum to help "kick" the bells overhead. I find that I do a little bit of both in the four minutes.
Thrusters do things to your heart rate and breathing that I honestly can't describe. Go light! A 15-pound dumbbell in each hand is a very difficult thruster workout! Check your ego at the door for the first two minutes.
Tabata Tips
You need to be able to see a wall clock with a second hand during your four minutes of fun. Stop at twenty seconds, rack the bar (if you choose the front squat), rest ten seconds, grab the bar and go again. Watching the clock seems to help with the focus.
And remember this: you really shouldn't consider doing much after the Tabata workout. Your lungs will be going like a locomotive engine. Go ahead and plan anything you like, but don't be surprised if it just doesn't happen. I keep the family dog nearby to chase the carrion birds away while I rest on the sidewalk.
The hardest thing about this workout is staying focused for four minutes. Don't let your hands leave the bar or dumbbells, if you can help it. After you put the bar in the rack during the front squat, stay right there, an inch or two back from the bar, and stare at the second hand of the clock.
If you do thrusters, put the dumbbells on a bench and watch the clock with your hands ready. This little trick of staying with the weight seems to help make those ten seconds seem like, well, not much, really! But at least you don't have to move much to get the weights again.
I do either Tabata front squats or Tabata thrusters about twice a month. I'm sure someone will comment, "If it's so good, why don't you do it every day?" Go ahead, try it and report back after the second day.
240 Seconds of Pain
Why should you do this workout? The Tabata program might be the single best "fat burning workout" that I know. It might only be four minutes, but you seem to keep sweating and breathing hard for a long, long time afterwards. Moreover, it seems to teach the body the proper method of squatting far easier than all the instruction in the world.
One other thing: Tabata truly teaches a person the mental focus needed to push past pain and reach his body comp or athletic goals. It'll save you 12,000 bucks, too!
Posted by admin on July 15th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
Most women believe that in order to lose fat they must do long aerobic sessions. The truth is there is a much more effective way to lose fat that requires less time - which is a precious commodity for working or stay at home mothers. High intensity interval training (HIIT) can be done in only 20 minutes and will have a greater effect on your overall fat loss goals. HIIT is short bursts of intensity followed by short rest periods. HIIT cardio will help you lose 9 times more fat than those who train the traditional way of doing low - moderate intensity for 20-60 minutes.
Here are 5 reasons you should use HIIT's in your weight loss program:
1. Longer Fat Burning Effect (After burn)
There have been many scientific case studies that show that using high intensity short intervals for training results in EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption) levels remaining at a high level for several hours longer than regular low intensity aerobic activity. A higher EPOC level means you keep burning calories at an increased rate after a workout.
Regular low intensity cardio sessions only burn fat while you are doing the exercise. After you stop calorie burning stops. Steady state cardio just allows you to become more and more efficient at burning calories so you burn less and less each time for the same effort.
This is not going to be very effective in the long run because your body will adapt to this amount of physical activity very quickly. You will end up needing to increase the amount of time you are doing these sessions to continue to see results. This is not a very efficient means of weight loss.
2. No Loss of Hard Earned Muscle
Low intensity intervals for weight loss is synonomous with muscle loss. During high intensity exercise muscle is spared at the expense of other tissues if there is a need for it because it offers the stimulus necessary to tell the body it requires muscle. This is the bodies way to protect itself against stress, and exercise is a stressor.
When a muscle is taken to failure, an alarm goes off, telling the body it's in danger and it must do something to protect itself. Therefore, muscle will be protected at the expense of fat.
Low intensity intervals may cause weight loss. However, in addition to fat, muscle can be lost. The alarm system that signals the body to spare muscle is not present. Your resistance is often not intense enough to trigger the body's protective alarm.
Look at the bodies of marathon runners versus sprinters. Marathoners look almost emaciated while sprinters are lean and muscular. Which would you prefer to look like?
Losing muscle is the complete opposite of what you want to do to lose weight. Your focus should be on gaining more muscle because muscle will burn fat during our resting periods.
3. Less Chance of Injury
Doing long continuous cardio sessions day after day puts a lot of stress on our joints. Over time, you will find many people have problems with overuse injuries in their knees, ankles and backs. Continuous loss of muscle will also cause an increase in the risk of osteoporosis.
4. Takes Less Time - More Bang For Your Buck.
HIIT sessions take only 20 minutes. This is great for the time crunched person who needs to get in and out of the gym quickly. With all the benefits of high interval training, why would you waste your most valuable commodity - your precious time?
5. Can Be Done With a Variety of Equipment
High intensity intervals can be done on elliptical trainers, recumbent bikes, treadmills, stair climbers or even outside jogging and walking (for the very beginner). You can also use kettle bells, body weight squats, body weight lunges or jump ropes. You are limited only by your imagination.
Save wear and tear on your body and increase your fat loss engines with high intensity interval training. Not only will you begin to see significant changes in your body, you will have more time to spend with your family.
Sample HIIT Workout using your choice of exercise equipment:
5 minute warm-up at about 40% intensity level.
Follow with 3 rounds of the following: 1 min. at 70-80% intensity level 2 min. at 50% intensity level
Finish with 5 minute cool down at a leisurely pace.
Posted by admin on July 15th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
Fat Loss Must Be Fed
One of the greatest sources of confusion for my weight loss and fat loss clients is how to conceptualize fat loss. Many of my clients say, "I don't want to gain muscle, I just want to burn fat." That's like saying, "I don't want to make money, I just want to pay off debt." Good luck with that.
The reality is that gaining muscle and losing fat are two sides of the same coin. Most of the time our body is either burning fat to supply energy or burning muscle to supply energy. And breaking down muscle (also called being in the "catabolic state") is the energy source of choice for our body.
Here is the cool thing about our body: we cannot grow muscle and burn muscle at the same time. Another way to say this is, "If we are growing muscle we are forcing our body to burn fat." Ah ha! As long as we concentrate on muscle growth, our body will be forced to respond with fat loss (except in extreme cases of low body fat %, rare diabetes cases, etc.).
Here are three sure-fire ways to grow more muscle....I mean burn more fat...by concentrating on gaining muscle.
Burning Fat and Gaining Muscle Tip #1: Sprinkle Protein Throughout Your Day
Protein intake and digestion triggers a muscle tissue repair process in our body. The quicker the absortion of protein (whey protein is fastest, for example), the quicker muscles are fed and repaired. By consuming protein throughout the day (a whey protein shake here, a serving of cottage cheese there, a few handfuls of almonds now, a casein protein shake later), we constantly feed our muscles, which keeps them from being broken down for energy, which increases the body's fat burning mechanism to supply energy.
Burning Fat and Gaining Muscle Tip #2: Focus Workouts to Optimize Muscle Gain
Most "fat loss" workouts are long (40 minutes on treadmill, yikes!) with a weight-training focus on high repititions (you're killing me, Smalls!). There are several factors to implement for optimizing muscle gain (and hence fat loss). First, read my previous blog titled and apply fat loss tip#1 regarding the 10 sec/15 sec cardio interval (and hard-core interval cardio, as it turns out, majorly helps on the hormone side of fat loss/muscle gain...stick with me ladies and gentlemen...I'll get you where you want to go!). Second, stick mostly to 10 rep / 3 sets when weight training...and have the 10 be heavy. Third, fit your workouts into 40 minutes to optimize growth hormone (natural GH made by your body, that is). If you apply these three ideas to your workouts, you wil set yourself up for more muscle gain and a lot more fat loss!
Burning Fat and Gaining Muscle Tip #3: Do Anything and Everything to Fight Off Stress
When our minds are stressed our bodies are stressed. The more effectively you can handle stress, the more effectivley you will handle the fat-causing, stress-induced hormone called cortisol. I can't dive deeply into all of these stress fighting strategies right now, but here are some important ones: deep breathing at a 1:3:2 ratio (inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 15, exhale for 10...any 1:3:2 ratio), laughing as much as possible, getting a workout in during a stressful day, consuming a B-vitamin complex (time-released, preferably), get 8 quality hours of sleep, eat slowly, and be in control of your time (don't run late!).
If losing fat is your goal, make sure to focus on ways to gain muscle. If you focus on gaining muscle, I can guarantee your body will respond by burning fat.
Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to change their body now! Adam follows good weather, which means he is currently training clients in Minnesota…anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Wayzata, MN. When fall and winter arrive, Adam will be headed toward Florida, Arizona, Australia, Malaysia, and other warm climates. Visit to learn more about his work and how he can help you lose fat, keep muscle, and keep your better half.
Posted by admin on July 15th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
Section by section review on "Top Secret Fat Loss Secret" by Dr Suzanne Gudakunst. I have been asked to do a detailed personal one so I've just written what's in it and my personal opinion.
[caption id="attachment_12" align="alignnone" width="181" caption="Top secret fat loss secret"][/caption]
1. general information about weight loss principles.
These few pages are really basic but ok for 'beginner' fat loss people. lol
2. An interesting section on how to match your metabolic body type to the type of food you should eat. in other words, what foods does your particular body find easy to burn and get rid of ?
This gives a good idea of which foods you can eat which don't put on weight for you according to your own metabolic body type.
3. A section on how many of us have a large build-up of plaque and general gunk in our intestines due to our diets being high in sugar and refined foods and preservatives and additives.
This plaque or gunk builds up on the walls of the intestine and interferes with our ability to absorb nutrition from the food we eat. This, in turn ,makes us feel hungry all the time because we aren't getting the nutrients we need as we aren't absorbing properly.
This , she says ,is the ideal environment for the gut parasites to thrive on. They also make there own waste products which are toxic to us. This ,she explains ,all contributes to our fat gains and keeping fat on.
The best part of the book is this whole section on cleansing the gut out.
She explains it really well and then gives a very complete solution on how to cleanse your guts properly using natural herbs and targetted natural substances and supplements and foods to eat and where to get the supplements as well.
These flush everything out and leave you with a nice clean fresh intestinal wall which lets you absorb your food and give your body all the good nutrients it needs.
Also I felt really good about cleansing all the yuccky, horrible toxins out of my body . It's awful thinking that all this poisonous waste was just sitting in my poor body. It made me feel sorry for my little old bod :(.
I have been getting good results from my cleanse and from following the general principles of my metabolic body foods. I have lost a lot of my big tummy fat and some of my fat off my butt as well which is good!!
The doctor also offers a 'hardcore ' version of the ebook for $57.00:
The hardcore elite version of the ebook comes with really thorough extra sections on exercise and nutrition as a supplement.
Its really for those who are really keen to get right into the exercise part of it and who are as she says 'hardcore' about getting rid of fat and getting lean and mean. (For $20 bucks extra I personally thought the hardcore version was worth it but only if you are wanting to do the moderate exercise she recommends.) Otherwise the basic version is very adequate.
Posted by admin on July 15th, 2008 — Posted in Fat loss
Push ups - 9, 8, 6, 4, 13
Today's numbers are awesome. For me at least!
I got all the reps in the first four sets. The last set calls for a minimum of 7 and I got 13! I only managed 10 last time so that's an increase of 3 push ups today.
Thirteen push ups is the most I've ever done. To do them at the end of a workout feels good. I'm feeling pretty confident about my chances on the week 2 test right now.
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