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I’ll keep this as
simple as possible for you. The best exercises for fat loss are also the best
exercises for muscle gain and visa versa. These exercises all have one thing in
common: they provide a UNIQUE challenge to your body AND involve as many
muscles in your body as possible.
Both the scientific
research and the real world case studies have shown that total body workouts
are superior for maximal fat loss and muscle gain. But let’s take this one step
further…
Let’s dramatically
accelerate results by preferentially selecting TOTAL BODY EXERCISES within each
TOTAL BODY WORKOUT! For example, squats are well known for being one of the
best muscle-builders with a serious a fat-shredding effect. However, the squat
goes from great to UNSTOPPABLE for changing your body for the better when you
make it a combination movement by adding a row or press to each squat rep. It’s
obvious that you can reap more benefits this way since you have now involved
your upper body into the king of lower body exercises.
It’s as simple as the
Dream Body Equation below:
Performing Total Body Exercises
Within Each Total Body Workout à
More Muscles Involved =
More Calories Burnt + Greater
Muscle-Building Stimulus =
Greater Fat Lost + Greater Muscle
Gain
I must be honest in
that I have a true love-hate relationship with the following movements I am
about to share with you. Love because of the unparalleled fat-melting,
muscle-building results they provide to help maximize my sexy. Hate because
they break me every single workout by leaving me in tears while in a pool of my
own sweat.In other words, these are not
for the weak of mind, body, or soul!
Without further adieu, here is the official top 10 list of
my favorite exercises in the world for fat loss and lean muscle gain:
Exercise#1- Swing, Flip and Squat or any
Squatting Combination Exercise- Squat Thrust/Burpee Variations, Squat to
Overhead Press, squat thrust to snatch etc.
Exercise#2- The
Swing- Kettlebells, Med Balls, or Sandbags
Exercise#3- Any Lunge
Combination Exercise- Alternating Lunge and clean to Press, Alternating Lunge
plus Twist, etc.
Exercise#4- Any
Push-Up Combination Exercise- Push-ups plus Knee-Ins, Push-up Rows, Spiderman Push-ups, Burpees, staggered, walking etc.
Exercise#5- The Chop-
Med Balls, Bands, or Sandbags
Exercise#6- Olympic
Lifting Variations: Kettlebell Cleans, Snatches, High Pulls and Jerks
Exercise#7- Renegade Rows and combination such as a pushup a Renegade row to a double clean
Exercise#8- 1/2 kneeling overhead press or Windmills for core activation
Exercise#9- Turkish Getups for total body control, ab work, leg work, shoulder stabilization and strength
Exercise#10- one leg deadlift with kettlebell or barbell. Try it with the weight on the same side as the working leg (ipsi-lateral) and with the opposite hand (contra-lateral)
Well I hope you take
my expert advice and jack up your training with these 10 deadly total body
combination exercises. I guarantee you better results in less time by regularly
employing these movements into your workouts. Of course it’s now up to you to
take your workouts, and your body, to the next level.
I’ll be sharing some more great exercises for those
specific trouble spot areas (e.g. legs, butt, abs, chest, arms, etc.) that are
holding your sexy back in the days to come ;)
In the past, the basis of most weight training programs has been performing the lifts in sets of 3, 5,8,10 or more repetitions. This means you perform a certain number of reps for a given exercise or you perform as many reps as possible for a given exercise and then you rest anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes based on your training goals before repeating. How many sets you do is dependent upon your. For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain focus shorter rest periods are what works best. For more of a strength or power emphasis, longer rest periods are prescribed.
So what’s the problem with this format? Although straight sets are extremely easy to understand for fitness neophytes, they are also an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for let’s say the bench press. They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on ESPN, and then gingerly walk back to the bench area to knock out their second set. In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one movement pattern (a horizontal push). That means you’d need at least an hour to perform four different exercises!
A much more effective and time-efficient approach to ordering your exercises is utilizing the alternating or Super-set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Super-sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Supersets give one area of your body a chance to rest while a different part is being worked. The result is improved training economy and density: more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program. There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:
Cycle your workouts - vary the intensity, volume, exercises and tools
Work for time not reps - :20 sec work :10 sec of rest for 4 minutes
(Tabata Protocol) is very effective in burning fat and increasing work
capacity
Learn new lifts or movements and practice them
Try to do something everyday, even if it is just a brisk walk for active recovery
Here's a sample:
Day 1 - lift something heavy (very heavy) for a few reps and do a
lot of sets with adequare rest between sets. Focus on strength, don't
get the heart rate elevated, it isn't supposed to be cardio.
Day 2 - Crank it up a notch or 5. This is high intensity, your HR
should come close to maxing out, you should be sweating bullets, you
should be breathing hard.
Day 3 - Active Recovery - joint mobility, a nice easy walk, Tai Chi.
Day 4 - Moderate day, kind of in between days 1 and 2. Some yoga or
moderate intensity body-weight stuff or easy kettlebells lifting such
as snatches for 20 minutes with a very light bell
You can follow this plan indefinitely. Pick a goal and follow the
about structure to get there. For a more in-depth look at this, the 4x7
Protocol check out Scott Sonnon's excellent DVD on the subject. It goes
into the theory of the 4x7 and gives specific workouts for each day.
Drink a lot of water before you eat or if you feel hungry
Use a smaller plate
Exercise more intensely
If you are only doing cardio, lifts weights
Train EVERY day, even if you are just doing joint mobility or walking
Avoid the mashed potatoes and gravy or have very small portions
Eat your veggies as raw as you can stand them and eat them first
Don't eat ALL the pies, cakes etc., one piece is ok, but not one piece of each thing
Avoid alcohol - it has a lot of calories
Of course these apply all year round, but at this time of year it becomes especially important not to over-indulge. I'm not saying don't enjoy the food and drink, just do so in moderation.
The start of another year is fast approaching and soon everyone will be talking about their New Years resolutions and how they are going to start losing weight and getting “in shape”. That’s great but it has always made me wonder why everyone waits until January 1st.
Does the calendar rolling to a new year make you a different person, more likely to make losing fat a priority? Why not start now?
When setting goals you should keep in mind that in order to be successful your goals need to be measurable and realistic. It is not enough to say “I’m going to lose weight” you must be specific,
the more so the better. “I’m going to drop 45lbs of fat and drop 2 sizes”.
Why is being specific better? Because it gives you precise, measurable goals, you can tell if you are making progress or not. If you set a goal to lose 45lbs of fat in one year, by the half-way point you can tell how close you are to meeting that goal by getting on the scale. If you have only lost 10lbs out the total of 45 then you have some serious work to do or you will fail.
Breaking your goals down in to smaller chunks will provide meaningful and measurable milestones, which gives you a feeling of achievement along the way. If your overall goal is to drop 45lbs of fat over 12 months then divide that up into four 3 month chunks. Each quarter you have a mini-goal of losing 11 lbs or so. You can further sub-divide that into monthly goals. Losing 3 to 4 lbs per month is very doable and much less daunting than thinking about 45lbs. And the positive feedback you get from knowing you are meeting these
mini-goals provides you with even more incentive to stay on track.
So don’t wait for January, set your goals now and start
working towards them today!
If you need help in setting your goals in figuring out how to meet them contact us for a consultation.
I hear that a lot and many people tell me they don't eat dinner after 7 or 8pm thinking that their body doesn't process foods the same when they are asleep as when they are awake.
That is a myth! Your digestive system works the same awake or asleep. Eating a "normal" meal an hour or 2 before hitting the sack will NOT make you fat. Now you may not want to eat a huge meal and then go to bed, because you probably will be so uncomfortable that you won't be able to sleep.
Haven't you ever eaten a decent dinner and been full, gone to bed and awakened the next morning starving?? They don't call it BREAK-fast for nothing. This happens routinely for me.
Many of my kung-fu students wonder about this because their class doesn't end until 8:30 or 9:00pm which means a late dinner for them and some won't eat thinking the food will turn to fat. But, it is even more important to eat a nutrious meal of proteins, fats & veggies after a vigorous workout. Your body needs to refuel, not starve. By making not eating after a workout a habit your body will go into starvation mode and then it WILL start storing food as fat!
So go ahead and eat a sensible dinner, it isn't going to make you fat unless you pig out or make poor food choices (and that goes for any meal or snack) - that means no BigMac and stay away fromhigh carb foods and desserts.
Ugg. Jeez, Come on Nikolai, you gotta take better pictures than this.
Me on the 3rd day of the CST certification
I passed the written exam and was informed the other day I'm a Certified CST Instructor. That is basically level 1. My next goal is CST Coach, then Head Coach and eventually Faculty Coach.
This is an open fun match. If you are interested let me know it iis Dec 6th. The location depends on the number of people competeing.
The names mentioned below are those who frequent a forum I administer.
Events:
10 Min Snatch Set (SSST) - Unlimited switches set the bell down when you like, drop to the shoulder, whatever.
Immediately followed by:
10 Min LCC&J Set (UJT) - Unlimited switches set the bell down when you like
No rest between Events.
Categories. There are no defined categories. Randy and I decided to let folks use whatever weight they would like.
Guidelines:
Elite Men 32kg
Elite women 20kg
Men 24kg
Women 16kg
Beginners
Men 20kg, 16kg
Women 12kg, or even 8kg
If
a man or woman wants to use a relatively very heavy weight, i.e. 40kg
or 24kg for one or both lifts respectively, that is cool and you will
certainly be regarded as a bad ass.
You can mix and match. For
example, if you aren't comfortable snatching the the 32kg, but want to
do LCC&J with the 32kg you can use the 24kg snatches.
Judging:
Snatches must be overhead. No 10'oclock snatching. If you've seen Fuglevs 270 video, that's how fixed we want them.
Overhead
anyhow. Must fix the weight overhead and should wait for the judges
count. Jerk is not required, but if you push press, the arm must still
be locked out. Belts, wrist wraps, and of course, chalk is allowed.
We also ask participants to please finish the last 15 seconds of the set. Don't quit or rest on the platform until it is over!
Special Awards:
Tazzy
(After our friend Trebuchet from Down Under!). Tazzy will be awarded to
any man going the full 20 min without setting the bell down (32kg, or
24kg)
Lopa (Named after our Dearly Beloved IGxer). Lopa will be
awarded to any woman going the full 20 min without setting the bell
down (20kg or 16kg).
The exception is if you are changing
bells at 10 min 32kg->24kg, ect. But, you cannot rest during this
change. Know in advance that you are going to switch and have the bell
sitting close to you.
Once the results are tallied at the meet location, please send them to your Team Captain.
"As an Official Sponsor of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team
and a proud sponsor of Phelps, it is only fitting that Kellogg Company feature this world-class athlete on its iconic boxes
of Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereals," said Marta Cyhan, Vice President, Global Promotions, Kellogg
Company. "Michael embodies the values behind our Frosted Flakes Earn Your Stripes(TM: 85.80, +2.24, +2.68%) program. He knows that winning is not
just about the glory that comes with gold medals, but about good sportsmanship, working hard and being your best." http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/retail/hes-gr-r-r-olympian-michael-phelps-featured-packages-kelloggs-frosted-flakesr/
Michael Phelps, America's sports hero after the Beijing Olympics has gotten millions in endorsements since winning all those gold medals and setting so many World's record. He has been endorsing Visa since the 2000 Olympics has no telling how much he has made from them.
So why would a person like Phelps, an elite athlete promote crappy food? No only oes his face appear on Frosted Flakes but he is also endorsing McDonald's. We all know how healthy and nutritious there food is.
Phelps has a reportedly terrible diet and was consuming 12000 calories a day 12 THOUSAND, now he is going to promote cereals that are mostly sugar to kids and adults that are already fat or obese and terribly out of shape. All for the mighty $$.
Michael Phelps' eight gold medals could be worth eight figures in endorsements and earnings, experts say.
"If he's handled properly over the next four years, he should generate in excess of $40 million," said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago-based sports business consulting firm.
Why couldnt he endorse healthy foods, organics and places like Whole Foods that sell healthy products. He could endorse Laura's Lean Beef or other organic food producers. Sure he would make as much but he is already pulling down big bucks from Visa and Speedo. If he were really interested in the health and well-being of Americans he wouldn't be pimping for companies like McDonald's.
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