Ready to crush some fat loss nutrition myths?

I get extreme nutrition questions all the time. In fact, just yesterday I was asked about whether it was bad to eat carbohydrates and protein at the same time. I can’t stand that type of obsessive- compulsive thinking. There’s no reason to be worried about that kind of tiny detail.

So here are two nutrition myths I crushed while down in California hanging out with friends and celebrating my buddy Bedros Keuilian’s birthday down over the weekend. (By the way, by ignoring these myths, I ate amazing meals and still didn’t gain any fat!)

Myth #1) You can’t eat late at night

I blew that one out of the water on the first night I arrived. My flight from Toronto to Orange County was at 6pm Thursday. I ate before I went to the airport, and then aside from a few almonds on the plane, I didn’t eat until I arrived at 8pm California time.

So that’s 5 hours past my normal dinner time.

But “nutrition experts” are going to tell me I can’t eat now?

They are going to send me to bed without any supper?

Who do they think they are, some kind of evil villain from a Mother Goose nursery rhyme?

Some type of wicked step-mother nutrition witch, or something?

Well, I’ll have my dinner whenever I want, thank you very much. And if that means eating at 9pm, then that’s when I’ll eat.

The bottom line: It’s not WHEN you eat, it’s HOW MUCH you eat.

By the way, just to horrify these so-called nutrition experts even more, I even ordered a pizza when I ate at 9pm last Thursday. Then again, I ate dinner with Mr. Cheat Diet, Joel Marion…

Myth #2) You must use protein shakes if you want to lose fat/gain muscle

Survey says, “Wrong!”

There has never been a scientific study showing that you’ll build muscle or burn fat better if you eat more than 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight.

That translates to LESS than one gram of protein per pound of body weight.

So yes, it’s fine to round up to one gram per pound, BUT that ONLY works if you are relatively lean.

If you are more than 20% fat, you do NOT need anywhere near one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

Let’s say you’re a 175 pound guy or a 145 pound woman with 20% fat.

At most, you’ll need one gram per pound of LEAN body mass (that’s your total weight minus your fat weight).

So our man would need 140 grams of protein and our female would need 115 grams of protein per day.

That is SO EASY to get through REAL FOOD that you don’t need to suck down the “swill” that nutrition stores sell you (aka – protein powder).

Just check out how much protein you get from REAL food:

* One cup of any dairy product = 8-10 grams of protein
* One ounce of meat = 7-10 grams of protein
* One ounce of fish = 6 grams of protein
* One egg = 7 grams of protein
* One cup of kidney beans or black beans = 15 grams of protein
* One tbspn peanut butter = 4 grams of protein
* One slice of bread = 5 grams of protein (!)

So you see, you don’t need bad-tasting powders when you can eat real, delicious foods for all your protein needs.

Instead, keep your nutrition SIMPLE. Focus on whole, natural foods and limit high-calorie, high-sugar foods to just a couple of treats per week. Combine that with your favorite Turbulence Training workouts and you’ll lose fat fast.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

Every day I receive an email or Facebook message asking me for the best cardio program for fat loss.

The answer is a bit complex, so I’m going to cover it all in this one article.

Now a lot of people make a big mistake with cardio, thinking that they can eat whatever they want and then just “hit the gym extra hard on Monday to burn this off.”

I find it ridiculous…because first, it’s not healthy thinking, and second, it is not accurate thinking.

Seriously, let’s look at this for a second.

Take a look at the meal I had recently at my friend Vince Del Monte’s wedding.

It began with the post-ceremony celebratory drink, right through to the anti-pasta buffet, followed by the main dinner (I had eggplant parmigiana), and then dessert, PLUS the late night sweets spread (the Del Montes know how to host a party!) would EASILY result in over 2400 calories.

And how long would it take you to burn that many calories doing your average cardio workout?

You’d need to do cardio for just a little less time than it would take you to run a marathon.

So 3 hours for the fittest TT readers, 4-5 hours for the average TT reader, and more than 6-8 hours for beginner TT readers.

Does that sound like a “regular cardio session” to you?

Heck no!

So FORGET the “I’m going to burn off this big meal with cardio”
mentality.

It’s WRONG thinking.

Plus, as I’ve mentioned time and time again, research shows that regular cardio doesn’t really help with fat loss.

1) One study showed interval training was better than cardio at burning belly fat (and cut the workout time in half).

2) A second study found that 300 hours of cardio per year helped men lose only 6 pounds (and women lost only 4 pounds). So that’s about 50 hours of cardio per pound of weight lost – at BEST!

(Obesity 15:1496-1512 (2007). Exercise Effect on Weight and Body Fat in Men and Women. Anne McTiernan*, et al.)

3) A third study found SOME folks start eating MORE when they start a cardio program. These folks end up gaining weight on aerobics.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

So if long, slow, boring cardio doesn’t work, what’s left for to burn fat?

Well first, I will acknowledge that high-intensity cardio seems to work better. In one study, subjects who burned 400 calories doing high-intensity cardio ended up losing fat while subjects who did only low-intensity cardio did not lose ANY fat at all!

(Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Oct 8. Effect of Exercise Training Intensity on Abdominal Visceral Fat and Body Composition.)

But the best way, the fastest way, and the most enjoyable way to burn fat is with interval training.

And soon I’ll be revealing over 31 different interval training methods for fat loss. And it won’t just be sprinting on a treadmill for 1 minute straight. Trust me, there are a lot of unique ways to burn fat with interval training.

In the meantime, FORGET about slow, boring cardio. It is a generally a big waste of time for fat loss. Sure, it’s good for running marathons, but not for busy people who only have 2-3 hours per week to burn fat.

More interval training secrets coming soon!

Stay strong,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to lose body fat and get into shape is failing to properly track their progress.

They simply carry on with their program each week without taking any concrete measurements in the hopes that they’re on the right track.

If it’s serious results that you’re after, this is an obvious and costly error.

After all, if you don’t have an objective way to measure your overall changes in body composition and appearance, how will you know for sure if your program is even working?

Accurately tracking your progress will allow you to see if your program is being carried out as efficiently as it could be, and will help you to identify areas of your fat burning approach that could possibly be improved.

Here is a very basic overview of 5 progress tracking methods that every serious fat loss trainee should be integrating into their program…

1) Changes In Bodyweight

This is the most common method of fat loss progress tracking that is used, and while it should definitely be included in your box of tools, relying on it as the sole means of analyzing your results is an obvious mistake.

The reason is simple: tracking your overall body weight does not take into account your body composition.

When it all comes down to it, changing your body composition is the ultimate goal of any effective fat loss program. Your goal is not merely to lose body weight, but rather to lose body fat while maintaining muscle.

For this reason, overall bodyweight is better used as a variable to accurately determine the following two changes…

2) Changes In Body Fat Percentage
3) Changes In Lean Body Mass

Since your ultimate goal is to lose body fat while maintaining muscle, measuring your body fat percentage and lean body mass is easily the most tell-tale sign as to whether or not your program is taking you in the right direction.

There are a ton of different methods that can be used to measure body fat, but for the majority of individuals, skin-fold measurements are going to be the most practical and accurate procedure.

Most of the body fat that you’re concerned with losing is located directly underneath your skin. By pinching and measuring the thickness on different sites of your body with a caliper, you can get a pretty reliable reading as to your overall body fat levels.

Once you have determined your body fat percentage, you can then combine it with your overall bodyweight to determine your body’s overall fat mass and lean body mass.

The formula to calculate this is simple…

1) Multiply your bodyweight by your body fat percentage. (This will give you your fat mass in pounds)

2) Subtract your fat mass from your bodyweight. (This will give you your lean body mass in pounds)

Here’s an example…

We’ll use an individual who weighs 200 pounds at 16% body fat.

200 X 0.16 = 32
200 – 32 = 168

This individual has 32 pounds of fat mass and 168 pounds of lean body mass.

This is definitely the most important method of progress tracking as it will show you exactly how much body fat you are losing and how this is affecting your lean body mass from week to week.

4) Bodypart Measurements.

If you’re trying to lose body fat, then most likely you’re aiming to decrease your overall body size as well. In order to determine if your body shape is actually changing, you can use a basic measuring tape once per week to check on all of your major body parts.

These are the bodyparts I would recommend measuring:

- Chest
- Waist
- Hips
- Upper arm
- Thigh

If you want to get really detailed you can also measure your forearm, calf and neck, but these bodyparts will most likely not show any significant change in measurement from week to week.

As an overall guideline I’d stick to the 5 body parts listed above.

5) Overall Appearance.

If you’re like most individuals, then your ultimate bottom line goal in losing body fat is to change the way you look. For this reason, you should certainly use your changes in appearance as a gauge for our progress.

There are 3 ways I would recommend using this tool…

a) Appearance in the mirror
b) Before/after pictures
c) Objective opinions from friends and family

I would recommend making use of the majority of these progress tracking methods on a once-per-week basis, first thing in the morning before any meals or workout sessions. It’s important that you keep the same conditions each time you measure, as your activity level and diet can affect the readings quite significantly.

If you haven’t been tracking your progress up to this point, I would strongly suggest getting started on it. If you don’t have an objective way to measure your results each week, you can never know for sure if your program is working as well as it could be.

I’ve made the whole process easier on you by providing an exclusive collection of printable booklets that you can use to track your progress with. These booklets are just one small component of my full-blown “Real Deal Body Transformation System”, which you can gain instant download access to by visiting here: The Real Deal Body Transformation System.

By Sean Nalewanyj
Fat Loss Expert & Best-Selling Fitness Author

About The Author
Once an awkward, out-of-shape “social outcast”, Sean Nalewanyj is now a renowned fat loss and muscle building expert, best-selling fitness author, and creator of the wildly popular online fat loss program: “The Real Deal Body Transformation System“. Learn how to burn fat and lose weight quickly, safely and permanently by visiting: HowToBurnFat.com

Quickstart Nutrition Guide To Fat Loss

As I’ve said many times, nutrition is more important than exercise. No matter how hard or how often you work out, you simply cannot OUT-TRAIN a bad diet.  This leads to one very simple fat loss formula; calories in must be LESS than calories out.

With that being said, below you’ll find a simple set of guidelines to determining the RIGHT number of calories to help you burn fat fast along with a few suggested ways of cleaning up your diet.

Nutritional Plan:

If your current nutritional plan is preventing you from losing fat, then it’s time for you to start working on building better eating habits.

This can be as simple as committing to one small nutritional improvement per day (such as replacing your lunchtime soda with water) and one large change per week (such as setting aside time on a Sunday to shop and prepare for your weekly meals).

Once you have established good nutrition habits, you’ll find yourself making BETTER CHOICES on a daily basis. But you have to worknutrition for fat loss on consistent improvement, and if you mess up, don’t worry about it, just get right back to eating right.

Even if you start making only one change per day you will start to see improvements.

Make this a GOAL that you will start today: to choose one healthier food option per day that will get you one step closer to your lean body. You need to have a plan to make this work, just like you need a plan for your workouts.

Calorie Calculator:

Let’s start your meal planning by using Coach Alan Aragon’s “Calorie Calculator” to determine how many calories you should eat each day. According to Aragon, to determine the number of calories you should eat each day, you need this equation:calorie calculator Quickstart Nutrition Guide To Fat Loss

Daily calories = Goal weight x (workout hours per week + 9.5)
•    Protein grams = goal weight in pounds
•    Fat grams = half goal weight in pounds
•    Carbohydrate grams = [Daily calories – (protein calories + fat calories)]/4
NOTE:
o    1 gram of protein provides 4 calories
o    1 gram of carbohydrates provides 4 calories
o    1 gram of fat provides 9 calories
•    By the way, Aragon said it doesn’t matter if you eat 6 or 3 meals per day

Female Example:

You are a 160 pound woman who wants to weigh 140 pounds, and you exercise for a total of 3 hours per week:

Daily Calories = 140 x (3+9.5)
Daily Calories = 1750
Protein = 140grams (560 calories)
Fat = 70grams (630 calories)
Carbohydrates = [1750 – (560+630)]/4
Carbohydrates = 140grams

Male Example:

You are a 220 pound man who wants to weigh 180 pounds, and you exercise for a total of 3 hours per week:

Daily Calories = 180 x (3+9.5)
Daily Calories = 2250
Protein = 180grams (720 calories)
Fat = 90grams (810 calories)
Carbohydrates = [2250 – (720+810)]/4
Carbohydrates = 180grams

If you follow these calorie guidelines, along with implementing daily healthy changes to your diet, then you will be well on your way to reaching your fat loss goals.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

Two of the more dreaded post-holiday tasks are assembling new electronics and planning your New Year’s resolution workouts – especially when you have no instruction booklet for the latter.

For beginners, getting into fitness can be intimidating and confusing. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, getting fit is one of the most straightforward tasks you’ll attempt in the New Year. Fortunately, reaching your fitness goals requires only two things; discipline (that’s up to you) and a set of simple guidelines (which I’m happy to provide).

First, you should arrange for a full physical examination from your physician. This is mandatory for people that have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, or are obese. Once you have your doctor’s approval to begin a fitness program, you should schedule a fitness assessment with a health professional at your gym.

While both of these are incredibly annoying, they are essential to your success and well-being. The benefits of a doctor’s visit are obvious, particularly if you have one or more of the previously mentioned conditions but it also allows you and your doctor to discuss your lifestyle. Preventative medicine is far better than reactive medicine. Make your doctor part of your fat loss and health-building team along with the health professionals at your gym.

The real benefits of the fitness assessment aren’t finding out how much body fat you have or how many minutes you can last on the treadmill, but rather getting a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.

According to Tim Irvine, President of Totum Life Science, “First and foremost we need to identify what works and does not work mechanically for an individual. We do this from an injury prevention standpoint and also to determine what the limitations are for an individual. Much more appropriate programs can be set from this information.” If you want to avoid injury and actually achieve your goals this year, get to know your strengths and weaknesses.

The next secret is to walk, don’t run, to fitness success. If you want to pick up your University running workouts where you left them 10 years ago, that’s fine. But I guarantee you won’t last 10 days. And then it’ll be a dreary 355 days until you’re ready to try exercise again.

The hidden benefit of a good fitness assessment is that it will actually serve as a nice introductory workout to your return to fitness. It will buffer your delusions of fitness grandeur from the reality of what your body actually can do. After the fitness assessment teaches your body a lesson and awakens your muscles from their winter slumber, only then will you realize your limits that you must respect in subsequent workouts.

Goal-setting is the fourth secret to success (and not just in fitness, but in any area of life). It is much more effective to commit to a set of specific short-term and long-term goals than it is to routinely hope for weight loss each year.

Set realistic goals and remember to train within your limits. If you are currently sedentary and haven’t exercised in months (or years), don’t begin an advanced training program. Start with a conservative beginner program. Your belly wasn’t built in a day, and neither will be lost overnight.

Limit your initial workouts to 1 set per muscle group. In week 2, you should be ready to add another set. And if you want to build up to 3 sets, then do so in week 3. Slowly increase the weight and stay within your desired repetition range. At no time should you be too sore to function. And runners should also heed this advice. Too much running will guarantee shin splints in the early going. Avoid running on back to back days for the first two weeks and keep the distance short. Sore muscles are guaranteed when you lift. So keep the volume low.

And now for the two super secrets that will help keep you committed and consistent with your workouts and will finally help you lose fat for good.

First, build your social support team. Social support is the #1 factor for success for women in fitness programs, and is important for men as well. Support can come from your spouse, brother or sister, child, mom or dad, friend, neighbor, co-worker, personal trainer, or lifestyle coach. Don’t try to go it alone. As Dr. Eric Serrano says about his weight loss patients, “Patients respond better when they report to a person instead of a machine. No one wants to disappoint a real person.”

You also need to know that nutrition is the second most important factor for success in fat loss programs. That’s why you don’t need to train like a world-class athlete when you are starting to lose fat. Most of the fat you’ll lose in the early going is because you have chosen to make better nutritional choices. And if you don’t make better nutritional choices, even the best exercise program in the world isn’t going to help you achieve your fat loss goals.

Nutrition is a lot simpler than you think. Don’t over think things. See a nutritionist or listen to what your mother told you as a kid. Food choices should contain a large nutrient-to-calorie ratio. Dr. Phil (yes that Dr. Phil) calls this “High-Response Cost, High-Yield Nutrition”. And follow this rule: Don’t eat foods with added sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or fruit syrup,” says Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD. Log your nutritional intake on www.Fitday.com. This is a free website that allows you to track your calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

The consistent use of these 6 secrets will help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions. Make this year’s fitness plan a strategic investment in your future health. The most efficient and effective way to lose fat this year is with my Turbulence Training workouts – the choice of fitness professionals.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines.

Consistency equals results. While running a marathon will not make you lean in one day, a consistent, a dedicated approach to fat loss will help you reach your goals.

Unfortunately, Americans have been getting consistently worse with their diets. The latest research from Tufts University shows that sugar-containing drinks are now the main source of calories in the average American’s diet (Bermudez, O., et al. Abstract, Experimental Biology 2005).

This would have been unimaginable 50 years ago back when people were much leaner on average.

On the other hand, there are many habits which have been shown to help people get lean and stay lean more than other actions. Here are 8 Simple Rules that will help you lose fat and get lean in conjunction with Turbulence Training.

1) Replace sugary beverages with Green Tea. That can reduce your energy intake by several hundred calories per day

2) Eat at least one midday snack to decrease your risk of obesity by 39%.

3) Remember that a good snack is focused on lean protein and a high-fiber fruit or vegetable. Nuts are also an option

4) Don’t eat dinner as your biggest meal of the day. If you do, you increase your risk of obesity by 6%. You should be eating several mini-meals all day long so that you are not starving at dinner.

5) Don’t wait more than 3 hours after waking up to eat breakfast or you increase your risk of obesity by 43%

6) Don’t eat more than a third of your meals in restaurants or you increase your risk of obesity by 69%. It is too hard to control the food contents at a restaurant. Pack your own meals and snacks as often as you can

7) Don’t go to bed hungry (3 or more hours after your last meal or snack) or you increase your risk of obesity by 101%. Again, think high-protein, high- fiber mini-meals to keep hunger at bay and to control your energy levels

Don’t eat breakfast away from home or you increase your risk of obesity by 137%. And don’t skip breakfast or you increase your risk of obesity by 450%. This is the most important time of day to start with a protein-based, high fiber meal as it will set the tone for your blood sugar and energy levels for the day.

Keep on improving everyday.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines.

Turbulence Training is a structured routine that I came up with that allows you to get the most results in the least amount of time, no matter what your goals. That’s why I am able to create Turbulence Training for Fat Loss Program and Turbulence Training for Mass.

Turbulence Training has evolved from both scientific principles as well as personal experience. And it originally came to me in a dream in University. Just kidding. The truth is that during my graduate years at University, I was searching for an efficient and effective way to stay lean while keeping my strength and mass even when I did not have time to train as often as I would like.

So I based the program on what I had read in hundreds of strength training and fat loss studies, as well as my countless past workouts that I had logged faithfully over the years. From that research and my results, Turbulence Training was invented. The principles of Turbulence Training are:

1) Lift heavy weights.

Heavy strength training stimulates what is called muscle protein turnover. This is important for two reasons:

a) It causes extra calorie burning outside of training.

b) It stimulates muscle re-modeling (it will help keep muscle while in a state of reduced calories, whereas lighter reps and a lesser stimulus to the muscle won’t have the same muscle maintenance effect).

For most people, 8 reps is often lower than what they regularly use, therefore they build strength and muscle while reducing calories and burning calories with intervals. It works great even for advanced guys, but the results are almost magical for the average person because they tend to train with high reps and light weights. Thankfully, because so many people are using such poor programs, they make me look like a genius when they switch to my Turbulence Training routines.

2) Interval training is more effective for burning body fat and maintaining muscle mass than regular cardio.

I think this is most true when it comes to the last couple of pounds of body fat. Interval training is what separates people with 15% body fat from those people with the lean, athletic look. If you want to lose that last ten pounds, you will do it best with interval training in your workouts. Interval training also builds better sport conditioning and “everyday fitness” that is more practical to life (i.e. how often do you have to run more than 20 minutes at a slow pace vs. how often do you sprint up 3 flights of stairs?).

3) Non-competing supersets allow you to do more work, with less fatigue, than supersets of similar muscle groups or even traditional antagonist groups.

This allows most people to continue making strength gains even when they reduce calories. It also allows you to get more work done in a shorter amount of time. That’s why Turbulence Training is so efficient and effective.

4) Variety.

The Turbulence Training workouts are changed every 4 weeks, and sometimes every 2 or 3 weeks. My training template is simple to adapt and easy to modify for the creation of an endless number of workouts – a great thing to know if you are a personal trainer or simply someone that loves to workout to improve their body.

How is Turbulence Training different from other programs?

I found that most fat loss programs were deviating from the main goal. Some programs tried to be so hardcore that all they were concerned with was making someone puke. That will help you lose your lunch weight, but if you can’t complete the workout, how good could it be? Making someone puke doesn’t accomplish as much as my structured programs that actually stimulate the body to change.

Other fluffy fat-loss programs however, are all about high reps and slow cardio. That might give you some muscle endurance, but it doesn’t’t help you keep your strength and muscle, or really shed your fat. The programs that really get on my nerves are the ones that promise a toned body by doing a few sets of curls with soup cans. Get real! That will never work. You have to train hard to get the body of your dreams.

And I won’t lie, with Turbulence Training, you have to work hard, but the results are worth it. You have to lift heavy enough to stimulate muscle growth & muscle turnover and you have to do intervals at a level that you will find uncomfortable, but tolerable. With the heavy lifting and intervals, you will burn more calories outside of the training session than you would with any other program. And that is the magic behind Turbulence Training.

I call this effect, “Turbulence”, and use the analogy of the turbulence that a plane must fight against to right itself in the air. The harder your body has to work to return to normal, the more calories and fat it will burn and the more changes your body will make (i.e. you will build muscle and lose fat). It’s all about adaptation. And you’ll adapt to the TT workouts by getting leaner, fitter, and stronger.

Craig Ballantyne trains athletes and executives in Toronto, and writes for Men’s Fitness magazine. His trademarked Turbulence Training workouts and his comprehensive workout manuals (including “The Ultimate Bodyweight Workout”) are featured on his website Turbulence Training.

So many people are talking about how slow their metabolism is and why they need to start taking the latest diet supplement scam yet they don’t even understand how the human metabolism works. So before I even go into how to speed yours up, I want to first go over some of the basics.

What is metabolism?

Although there are many scientific ways for me explain it, and I could make it seem really confusing like most of the so-called experts do, but I won’t. I’m going to give you my extremely simple and easy to understand definition… metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories to sustain life

I should also note that your body, yes yours, burns calories 24 hours a day, everyday – regardless of whether or not you workout. Remember that your body needs energy all the time, even while you’re asleep and that is why skipping meals is the absolute worst thing you can do if your goal is to lose weight (body fat).

Before we go any further let’s talk about what affects metabolism…

What affects metabolism?

What do you think has the biggest impact on your metabolism? Activity levels? Your Thyroid? Age?

WRONG! WRONG! and WRONG! Activity levels, Thyroid function, and age do affect metabolism but not nearly as much as…

Any idea? It’s muscle tissue! The more muscle you have the more calories you burn regardless of how active you are, how old you are, etc. It’s live tissue and it’s there working for you and burning calories 24 hours a day – each and every day!

Here’s a list of some of the factors affecting metabolism in order of greatest impact to least:

• muscle tissue (you already know why this is on the top of the list)
• meal frequency (the longer you go between meals the more your metabolism slows down to conserve energy)
• activity level (important but doesn’t make any difference if you don’t match your eating to your expenditure)
• food choices (ex. low-fat diets tend to result in poor hormone production which leads to a slower metabolism)
• hydration (over 70% of bodily functions take place in water – not enough water causes all your systems to slow down and unnecessary stress)
• genetics (some people have higher metabolisms than others – you can’t change genetics but you can still win the battle!)
• hormone production and function (think you have a slow thyroid? it’s not likely – before you go blame it on the thyroid first stabilize your blood sugar and throw in some progressive exercise 2-3 times each week)
• stress (stress also can slow metabolism by placing extra stress and strain on numerous systems. plus, many people tend to overeat when “stressed out”)

Why does it slow down?

How many times have you heard someone say, “as soon as you hit 30 your metabolism slows down”? Maybe you’ve said it. I know I hear it all the time and I got tired of hearing it so I did a little research and found that the metabolism does NOT slow down significantly due to aging but DOES due to a lack of muscle. And, you don’t lose muscle quickly due to aging either but due to a decrease or lack of physical stress.

So, the major cause of a slowing metabolism is three fold…

1. you lose muscle due to the lack of physical stress
2. your body cannibalizes muscle when it needs energy but you won’t supply any because you are “dieting” and skipping meals
3. your activity levels tend to decrease as you get older

So now that we know the problem… what’s the solution? Address those 3 issues! I’ve found through years of experience helping hundreds of people, that increasing your metabolism and getting rid of that excess body fat can often times be quite easy! Yet you’ll hear of all these experts telling you how hard it is and why you need to buy their new diet program, supplement, or fitness contraption.

It’s not that hard, it doesn’t have to be confusing, and you don’t need any of that crap! All you need is an understanding of how your body works and the willingness to make some small changes.

Here’s my basic formula for jump starting your metabolism:

Step 1 – Stop the storage of new fat

It doesn’t make any sense to start an exercise program if you just end up adding new fat later that day. This is a problem that is very common among people who start an exercise in an attempt to lose weight.

See the problem is this…

We don’t get fat due to a lack of exercise – we get fat because we supply the body with more calories than it needs at a given time. So the solution has nothing to do with exercise – it’s all about your eating! And I’m not saying you have to eat low-fat, super clean and healthy diet consisting of salad and tofu only. You can still eat the foods you like IF you can give the body just the amount it needs.

The key is to give the body the energy it needs, but just that amount and not a bunch extra because extra is extra is extra, it doesn’t matter what it’s from. Salad can be stored as fat, celery can be stored as fat – if it results in extra it can be stored as fat. I should also note that not all extra energy is stored in the fat cells and I will touch on that later.

So forget about trying to burn off any fat unless you can first stop storing new fat! Again, you do that by matching your eating to your activity level. This means small, balanced meals or snacks every 2-3 hours and the amount of calories in each feeding should depend on how active you are at that time of day.

Step 2 – Attack the existing fat

This requires a combination approach consisting of stable blood sugar/energy levels, and progressive cardiovascular/aerobic exercise and strength training.

We already talked about how important stable blood sugar and energy levels are and how to match your eating to your activity level so now I’d like to cover the exercise part of the equation.

In order for the exercise to even be worth your time you must be sure it’s progressive. Just because you run on the treadmill for 30 minutes three times a week, that doesn’t mean your body has to burn off that unwanted body fat! You have to force the body to make changes and improvements and the ONLY way to do that is to consistently provide a stimulus or stress that is greater than what the body is used to.

Here are some general guidelines on how you can make your exercise progressive and productive:

Strength training

• Change exercises frequently (every 2-4 weeks)
• Increase resistance
• Perform more reps
• Slower reps
• Advanced techniques

Cardiovascular training

• Increase speed/resistance
• Perform intervals
• Increase distance traveled
• Cross train by performing numerous activities

I should also say that it is extremely important that you have a well thought out and detailed plan to follow. You can’t just say “ok, now I know what to do” and then try a little of this here and little of that there. You need a roadmap. If you are serious about achieving your weight loss and fitness goals I highly recommend you get the help of a professional. Whether that means one on one, personal fitness training or just a do-it-yourself fitness plan – your chances of success are much greater.

In closing, please remember, it doesn’t have to be confusing. Hopefully this information has shown you how easy it can be if you know what you are doing.

Jesse Cannone, from the Healthy Back Institute is a certified personal fitness trainer, post-rehab specialist, nutritionist, and a national fitness presenter.

You don’t have to go through life with man boobs (otherwise known as male breasts). In fact, you can burn away chest fat and get rid of your manboobs forever with just three short, but intense workouts per week.

Getting rid of manboobs is as simple as getting rid of any other fat. You need to cut back on the junk, and fill up on the intensity. Turbulence Training is the fastest fat loss workout you can do at home. You don’t need fancy equipment or a gym membership (where you’ll be too embarrassed by your man boobs to go anyway).

Listen, women love a chiseled chest, but are turned off by the site of manboobs poking through a sweatshirt. That’s why I’ve put together a fat burning program that focuses on building muscle and blasting fat with all sorts of push-ups, chest exercises, and intervals. In fact, even the Turbulence Training abdominal workouts work the chest and help convert those man boobs back into a real man’s chest in just weeks.

You can gain muscle and lose fat with short workouts. You don’t need to be training 6 days per week or spending hundreds of dollars each month on fancy (but worthless) supplements.

Soon you’ll be the guy who is first to take his shirt off at the beach. No more hiding under sweats in the middle of July, or avoiding the water because you don’t want anyone to see your manboobs.

And no matter what anyone says, you don’t have to rely on surgery. Besides, that will leave ugly scars that will leave you just as self-conscious as when you had man boobs. The only fix is a permanent lifestyle change, thanks to the 3 short workouts per week of Turbulence Training. You’ll see changes in your man boobs, love handles, and arm definition within weeks, going from male breasts to ripped abs in the process.

Turbulence Training is not like all those other aerobic, slow cardio programs you’ve tried in the past that didn’t work. And it’s not a wimpy machine circuit that just ends up being a waste of your time. Instead, Turbulence Training is a unique exercise system that you can do in the comfort of your own home, so that no one at the gym can point or stare at your chest – at least not until they are staring with respect.

The fastest way, the safest way, and the only way to get rid of man boobs is with strength training and interval training. Combine that with Dr. Chris Mohr’s sensible nutrition guidelines, and you’ll have a new body, and a new chest in just weeks.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines.

Gyms are busy. Too busy. And it is always busiest when you settle in for your fat loss workout with its awesome fat-blasting supersets.

I know it drives you nuts when you are trying to pair lunges and presses while someone is taking up valuable workout space chatting or doing some pointless fluff exercise. Why can’t they just get out of your way and let you finish your super effective TT workout?

Crowded gyms are such a big problem that I designed the following TT workout that helps you perform my trademark “noncompeting” supersets – the most effective way to lift for fat loss – without letting anyone get in your way. This new version of TT lets you get it done right, even in a busy gym.

The secret to this workout is the pairing of two exercises that can be done at the same bench and often with the same weights. So you won’t lose your spot between exercises. Camp out in your little area, work hard, and you’ll get lean and lose fat faster than ever.

NOTE: This workout originally ran in Men’s Fitness magazine, but I’ve actually improved the workout just for you!

Workout Guidelines

· Workout 3 days per week alternating between workouts A & B. Rest 1 day between sessions.

· In week 1, you will follow an A, B, A schedule. In week 2, a B, A, B schedule. In week 3, an A, B, A schedule, and in week 4, a B, A, B schedule.

· Each pair of exercises constitutes a “Superset”. In each Superset, do one set of the first exercise followed immediately by the next (1A & 1B) and then repeat.

· Rest 1 minute after completing the exercises in the Superset (i.e. after 1A & 1B).

· Repeat each Superset until you’ve completed a total of three sets of each exercise in the pair, then move on to the next pair.

· Use a 2-0-1 lifting tempo for all exercises (except for any holding exercises like the plank). Take 2 seconds to lower the weight, pause briefly, and then take 1 second to lift the weight.

· Finish each workout with stretching for the tight muscle groups only.

· For full exercise descriptions and photos, see the Turbulence Training manual.

Warm-up

· If you are limited by time, reduce the number of sets in the workout, but always perform the full warm-up.

· Never skip a warm-up.

o Perform this circuit 2x’s using a 2-0-1 tempo:

- 10 reps of bodyweight squats or step-ups

- 20 seconds for the plank

- 8 reps of kneeling pushups or regular pushups

- 10 reps of inverted bodyweight rowing exercise or band pull

- Perform 2 warm-up sets for each exercise in the first Superset.

- 1 set of 8 reps with 50% of the weight you will use in your “real” sets.

- 1 set of 8 reps with 75% of the weight you will use in your “real” sets.

Turbulence Training Interval Training Guidelines

· Research has shown that interval training is very effective for fat loss.

· It is recommended that the stationary cycle be used for interval training because it allows for an easy transition between work and recovery.

· Finish each interval workout with stretching for the tight muscle groups only.

Beginner Interval Workout:

· Warm-up for 5-minutes.

· Perform an interval by exercising for 30 seconds at a hard pace (at a subjective 7/10 level of intensity) – i.e. fast walking.

· Follow that with “active rest” for 90 seconds by exercising at a slow pace (at a subjective 3/10 level of intensity) – i.e. slow walking.

· Repeat for 3-6 interval repetitions. Finish with 5-10 minutes of moderate intensity exercise for a cool-down at a 4/10 level of intensity.

Advanced Interval Workout

· Warm-up for 5-10 minutes.

· Perform an interval by exercising for 30 seconds at a very hard pace (at a subjective 9/10 level of intensity).

· Follow that with “active rest” for 60 seconds by exercising at a slow pace (at a subjective 3/10 level of intensity).

· Repeat for 3-6 interval repetitions. Finish with 5-10 minutes of moderate intensity exercise for a cool-down at a 4/10 level of intensity.

Workout A

1A) Wide-stance Squat (8 reps)

- Set your feet 4-6 inches wider than shoulder width, your toes pointed forward.

- This superset works best if performed in a squat rack that also has a chin-up bar.

1B) Chin-ups (6 reps)

- If this is too hard, perform a Reverse-grip Lat Pulldown.

- Rest 1 minute and then go back to Squats.

- Do this Superset 3 times and then move on to the next Superset.

2A) Barbell Step-ups (8 reps per leg)

- Use a step that’s high enough so that your knee is bent 90 degrees.

- If you have to use DB’s for the step-ups, take an extra 30 seconds rest when going from the step-ups to the rows.

2B) DB or Barbell Row (8 reps)

- Keep your lower back naturally arched.

- Rest 1 minute and then go back to Step-ups.

- Do this Superset 3 times and then move on to the next Superset.

3A) Side Plank (5 reps per side)

- Contract and brace your abs for 10 seconds per repetition while keeping your body in a straight line.

3B) Stability Ball Jackknife (12 reps)

- Rest 30 seconds and then go back to Side Plank.

- Do this Superset 3 times and then go to the Intervals.

Workout B

1A) Low-Incline DB Chest Press (8 reps)

- Set the incline to one notch above the flat-bench position.

1B) DB or Barbell Romanian Deadlift (8 reps)

- Keep your lower back naturally arched for the entire movement.

- Rest 1 minute and then go back to 1A.

- Do this Superset 3 times and then move on to the next Superset.

2A) DB Close-grip Chest Press (8 reps)

- Push the dumbbells straight up, not together.

2B) DB Rear-deltoid Lateral Raise (8 reps)

- Keep a tight arch in lower back and lean forward as far as possible.

- Perform this exercise extra slowly so that you don’t use momentum.

- Rest 1 minute and then go back to 2A.

- Do this Superset 3 times and then move on to the next Superset.

3A) Elevated Push-up (12 reps per side)

- Place one hand on a 4-inch step or box and lower your body as far as possible.

3B) Stability Ball Rollout (15 reps)

- Keep your body in a straight line at all times–don’t allow your back to round or bend backward.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines.