Tag Archives: fatloss

Fat Loss Myths – Taken Apart – Part 2!

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Welcome Back!!

Here is part 2 of our look at persistent but Oh so wrong Fat loss myths…

Myth: You should do very high reps to failure for fat burning…

Whilst there is a certain faux logic to this  idea it is plain wrong. Research shows that weight lifting / resistance training burns calories through muscle fibre recruitment. The more fibres recruited, the more energy you burn. So the key to cranking up your metabolism is to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible with each set.

You don't get results like these using 'Barbie' weights

Lifting light weights, even for 100 reps, does NOT recruit many muscle fibres. When you do high rep training you’re only working the smallest, weakest muscle fibres – these will have  little appreciable impact on boosting your metabolism.

By the same token lifting for maximum muscle fibre recruitment is brutally hard and not sustainable for most people long term. The answer is to use a mix of high weight low rep (3 – 6) training with the body builder rep range of moderate to heavy weight for 8 -12 reps. This way you recruit lots of muscle fibres but don’t drive yourself into the ground every time you train.

You can go hard, or you can go long. Going hard burns fat & build strength.

Myth: You don’t need to get stronger to get leaner.
This is really a follow on from the myth above – the stronger you are, the more muscle fibres you can recruit when you exercise. Stimulating as many muscle fibres as is sustainable with each set will ramp up the metabolic cost of your workouts. (Metabolic cost is a measure exercise scientists use to determine how many calories you’re burning up through exercise. It is also called TEA – Thermic Effect of Activity)

The higher the metabolic cost, the better for fat loss. The stronger you are the faster you can move and research shows that fast movement with heavy to moderate weights really gets the fat fires burning. Anyway – ever seen a fat sprinter?

Myth: All calories are equal – so eat less and you’ll lose weight…

A week of this or a week of Steak & salad - what would make you fatter??

This is correct all calories are equal – if you are looking at them as measurement of energy. (a calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 litre of water 1 degree centigrade)

However if you are looking at them as food source types then – all calories are NOT equal. What is going to put more fat around your middle – eating steak & salad for a week or eating the same number of calories but as Hot Dogs, Fries & Ice cream? No prizes for guessing the answer here…

This is the kind of claptrap that far too many doctors & dieticians & nutritionists put out there – despite the mountains of peer reviewed, long term studies that all show that a calorie is not just a calorie. The source of the calories is important especially from a metabolic viewpoint.

Carbs, Fats & proteins are the macronutrient groupings (some folk add water to this list and I have friend who is convinced that alcohol belongs here – it doesn’t) and they all have a different effect on your metabolism.

The Thermic Effect of Food – how many calories your body has to use to process food – is different for each macronutrient. For Fat it is 2%, for carbs (depending upon type – fibrous or not) it is 4 – 6% and for protein it is a whopping 30%. That’s like getting a 30% discount on the calorie value of each piece of protein you eat.

It is the nutrients in the food we eat, not the calories, that stimulates (or slows) our metabolism. When you cut calories you slow your metabolism down because it is getting less of the nutrients it needs. Things like amino acids, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids  and so on. In all likelihood if you are eating the typical Western diet then your body is already slow metabolically because this diet is calorie dense but nutrient sparse.

If you eat less your body preserves fat and begins to burn muscle for food. Result – less muscle which means a slower metabolism. You can avoid this by simply choosing your calorie sources better. Replace low-quality foods like as bread, pasta, and rice with nutrient-dense foods such as berries, green vegetables, eggs and protein like fish.

Myth: You must eliminate entire food groups to see results.

In a word Bull!

A common misconception is that certain food groups should be avoided in order to lose weight. This is wrong and usually relates to either fat or carbs. The truth is that there are ‘good’ & ‘bad’ fats & carbs and the only elimination of foods that you indulge in should be to remove the ‘bad’ types of each.

Processed, denatured carbs like flour, cakes, cookie, commercial fruit juices, sweets, etc should be taken out of your diet or at least severely cut back. Any food that contains Trans fats (look for ‘partially hydrogenated oil’ on the food labels) has to be taken out of your diet and frankly anything you can identify as having High Fructose Corn Syrup (a cheap sugar but one which is processed differently in your body and leads to belly fat) should not even get into your trolley at the supermarket.

Elimination of some foods is good, of entire food groups is BAD!!

Eliminating all fats is also a furphy as excess calories from ANY nutrient source can and will be stored as fat by your body. So cutting out all fats just stops your body getting access to needed fats like Omega 3 fatty acids. This in turn has a number of anti-health effects. In truth every food group has its own benefits for example, carbohydrates are your body’s preferred energy source and fruit & veges deliver vitamins, minerals antioxidants, phytonutrients and more besides – all important for your well being. Protein provides the building blocks for your body – and the amino acids that make up protein is vital for bodily repair. Fats is important for joint lubrication, hormone creation and use, hair, nail & skin health.

It is very necessary to eat all macronutrients in proper proportion to promote weight loss.

Myth: You need to work out hard each day to see results.
Nope – fat burning, muscle growth and bodily repair all take place after you work out. The post-exercise period is when the benefits of working out accrue. This takes time and your body needs a mix of stress from exercise and periods of recovery so it come back fitter 7 stronger for the next round of exercise. Working out intensely every day does nothing more than drive you into the ground, reduce your recovery ability and slows your metabolism.

Knocking yourself out by overtraining will set you back...

Even worse, overtraining leads to your body releasing even more fat-storing hormones as a stress response. Cortisol has its uses but too much of it is a bad thing indeed if you are looking for fat loss….Lastly, being overtrained zaps your motivation and makes you more susceptible to illness and injury.

So train 4 – 5 times a week, no more.

Myth: There is a Magic Product that delivers Quick & Easy Fat Loss

Weight loss scams have been around forever and show no signs of going away. The sad but simple truth is that a strategically sound mix of diet and exercise is the only proven way to change your body composition and recondition your metabolism so it stays that way.

If you watch either late night or early morning TV you will see ads for all sorts of Pills, Powders, Potions, Fasts, Cleansing liquids, exercise tapes and miracle delivering fat loss machines that will completely transform your body in just a few weeks!

I like the 8 minute Abs one in particular – an abdominal 6-pack in only 8 minutes per day. Wow sounds great then I thought why 8 minutes? Why not 6 or 9 minutes or even 3? Although I have to say for sheer audacity and flimflam dressed up as pseudo science the Shake Weight and Toning Shoes come up close seconds…

The underlying message is that you can get in shape by being lazy and that if you don’t get the results they promise then it is your fault. It also appears that the money-back guarantee they offer is a safe bet for them – less than 2% of people return these useless gadgets for their refund. Either they can’t be

bothered packing it up or they are too embarrassed – after all most folk know that these things don’t work.

The supplement industry is even worse. In most countries – particularly the US of A, supplement companies are not regulated and don’t have to prove their claims. This is completely opposite for the pharmaceutical com

These don't work...

panies who have to prove the claims they make ( and we know how trustworthy they have proved to be despite government oversight and regulation…)

Pretty much supplement companies can tell you that their products will enable you to lose weight, get stronger, improve your heart health, think more clearly, perform better, reverse aging, get that loving feeling more often and their products don’t actually have to deliver a thing.

By feeding off people’s fears and vanity, by exploiting consumers and weak laws many of these companies are no more than clever marketers.

Folks, there is no easy way to get the body of your dreams if your idea of easy is just swallowing a pill in between handfuls of fries.  There is no easy way to work out if your idea of working out is to lie down on some machine looking for the ride of your life…and in 5 minutes a day.

In today’s society where the emphasis is I want it NOW!, the truth is too damn simple and too damn hard for most folk to follow – Work out hard and eat right  just doesn’t sound snappy enough. Thing is it is still the closest thing to the magic pill and machine we’ve got.

See you next time…tell your friends about us!!

Some Long Lasting Fatloss Exercise Myths – Taken Apart!!

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Hi & Welcome back!

A few of you have been in touch with some questions about exercise & conditioning and where the truth lies so I though that I’d work our way through a few of the more common ones…

Myth #1 – Lifting weights will make Women look like a male Body Builder You’ll get big, bulky & ugly…

I wish that I had a $ for everytime that I have heard this one! It is a common concern of everywoman who joins a gym or reads about the importance of muscle in keeping fat levels down and metabolism high. Many believe that lifting challenging weights ( the best & only way to get quick & lasting results) will see them looking like a male bodybuilder in a few workouts time…

Not without 'Roids you won't...

Even worse it is a myth constantly reinforced and perpetrated by Aerobics, Spin, Tai Chi,Yoga, Zumba & Pilates instructors who should know better. A lot better.

Ladies – you DON’T have to worry about ending up looking like the Hulk! Seriously you don’t.

She doesn't look like Arnold... Nor would you

Why??

Well the truth is not only have female bodybuilders been training at elite levels for years but they have also ingested a large amount of anabolic steroids in order to increase their muscle mass. Non-steroid using women simply don’t have enough natural testerone to develop huge masses of muscle. You DO have sufficient naturally occurring testerone so that if you train intelligently you will develop strength, and curves.

Similarly for men – if you are not using steroids and you are past your teen years (the only time in a male’s life when his body has the perfect anabolic environment)  then you will have to train for years to build a lot of muscle mass – even with a man’s naturally higher levels of testerone. (although men’s T-levels are dropping in the Western world – but that’s a topic for another blog…)

Men & Women who are not drug assisted have to work damn hard for every ounce, every gram of additional muscle they gain through exercise. You don’t get leaner, curvier and stronger without working for it.

The benefits of anyone using a strategically sound workout regime are many, here are a few for women to consider:

  • Weight training increases bone density and is still the best way to avoid osteoarthritis
  • You become & stay leaner because your metabolism becomes  reconditioned and functions at a higher rate.
  • You get stronger and this carries over in everyday life and benefits everything from carrying groceries, hugging your kids, wresting your loved ones, lugging a TV to another room or just doing the necessary household chores. Research has also shown that becoming stronger reduces the incidence of falls in older women…
  • If you are a female athlete strength training reduces the incidence of injuries.
  • Your posture improves because the ‘anchoring’ muscles & tendons get stronger. You look more confident & alive, not stoped and old…

    Lift weights and you won't need to use one of these...

  • You become more selfconfident – few people in our comunity take the steps necessary to get in charge of their appearence & health but if you do not only do you feel more in charge of your life but you know that you are capable of things most folk can’t. My (much) better half Lynne is a 5’2″ Blonde who can deadlift 90+ kilos for reps and leg press a 150kg for a 100 reps. Not many men can do that (and you should see the looks on the faces of the males in the gym when she does…priceless) Now I am not suggesting that you want ot or have to move weights like Lynne does (she is competitve by nature), just that by using an intelligent strength training regime you will be able to do things most folk can’t and this will give your confidence a real boost!!
  • You look better and have a better shape. The usual path to fat loss for many women is long slow cardio and starvation diets which destroy muscle and leave you a smaller fat person. Strength training gives you curves and transform the composition of your body
  • You just look better dammit!!

Myth #2:  Long steady cardio in the ‘fat buring zone’ is what you have to do to burn fat

Think about this – everyday 1000’s of folk get in their car & drive to the gym to ride a bike walk a treadmill or climb some stairs…

Driving to the gym for a treadmill session is like this...

The issue here is not with the idea of using your aerobic energy system to stimulate fat loss. Cardio as in moving your body using large numbers of muscles, is a credible way to burn fat. The problem is that if you live in the real world long slow steady cardio takes a lot of time and is not that efficient. Plus its boring. If you have a life to live outside the gym then tradional slow cardio is not the best way to lose fat and get leaner.

The main issues with traditional cardio, often referrred to as ‘Chronic’ cardio by enlightened trainers) are:

  • It is time consuming and offers a poor return in terms of fat loss and health benefits for the time invested.
  • To burn 3500 claories (the amount in a pound of fat) you’d have to run at a 6 minute mile pace for 5 hours. So slow cardio can & does burn claories – but to burn a lot of calories you have to do it for a long time.
  • Then because you have been going steady as soon as you stop your metabolism drops right back to where it was before you hopped on the treadmill and you can forget about there being any significant post-exercise calorie burn.
  • Your body adapts to exercise induced stress. Very quickly. Particularly with long steady exercise. Just like water always travels downhill, your body is always looking for ways to conserve energy and making movement as efficient as possible is one way it does this.
  • Unless you subject your body to exercise which carries a high metabolic cost your body adjusts and becomes more efficient at any exercise  in short order.
  • When we want to lose fat we don’t want efficiency we want chaos and steep learning curves and inefficient body action. The more efficient your body becomes at any exercise the less energy it requirs to perform it. Less energy burned equals more fat retained!
  • Even HIIT training has to be changed around every few weeks as your body will adjust to it. With strength training it takes just 6 weeks for adaption & energy efficiency to occur…
  • So with traditional cardio in order to get the same results from the same exercise, you have to invest more time for longer & longer periods.
  • It just makes sense to use more using challenging cardio like sprints, bodyweight circuits or exercising using the Tabata protocol all work to keep your body off balance and raise the metabolic cost of exercise meaning more fat is burned.

    For Fat Loss this is NOT the best use of your time...

  • High injury rates – especially to the ankles, shins and knees. Any runner can attest to this, but so can any treadmill, stationary bike or stairclimber user. Long slow cardio promotes repetitive strain injuries – particulary on the weight bearing parts of our anatomy.
  • Research has shown that every foot fall when running creates the equivalent of 2.5 to 3 times our bodyweight on thelanding foot, arch, ankle, shin & knee. A slightly deviated gait can result in hip injuries.
  • Our bodies are designed to either move slowly over longdistances (like walking) or move rapidly over short ones (sprinting) – our joints, in our current historical times, seem to not be built to handle long periods of repetive running – especially on roads, pavements or treadmills. If you are carrying too much weight, the potential for injury just increases.
  • Did I mention steadt traditional cardio is boring?

Okay – I have just junked the idea of chronic, long, slow steady cardio – so what works? Metabolic conditioning, more specifically metabolic conditioning using a HIIT protocol.

Try these HIIT style for a real cardio workout...

The HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. The metabolic conditioning refers to exercises that combine elements of strength training with cardio. Performed correctly this rsults in short, sharp & very time efficient workouts that burn fat and lots of it. The metabolic cost ( calories burnt)of HIITMC is huge and the ‘afterburn’ – where your body keeps burning calories for hours after exercise ceases –  is significantly high.

HIITMC when done properly will make your lungs  feel like they are on fire, your heart is trying to climb up your throat and your body will want to return to its ‘normal’ state ASAP. In order to do this your body has to clear the fatigue products, rebuild affected muscle, replenish glycogen stores and a lot more besides. The only way it can achieve this is by ramping your metabolism up. Way up. In fact studies have shown a significantly elevated metabolisn for up to 38+ hours after this type of exercise session.

This means a couple of things – greater fat loss in less time than traditional cardio with the added benefits of strength training. HIIT style metabolic conditioning results in overall fat loss up to 220% that of traditional cardio.

If HIITMC is so good then why isn’t everyone using it?

There are a number of reasons why more people are not using HIIT MC for their fat loss:

  • Most people still think that ‘Aerobics’ or traditional cardio is the best way to lose fat.
  • Many Gyms & Personal trainers are in the business of keeping you coming back and don’t want to either deliver results too quickly or to scare you off. (Plus once you know how to do it you don’t need them or even their machines any more except for a bit of variety…)
  • HIIT MC is hard work. Real hard work.
  • If you are using a HIIT protocol correctly you won’t be having a chat to your work out buddy, or be able to read a magazine or change the song on your iPod. usually with HIITMC your focus is on getting to the end of the current timed interval and trying to get enough breath into your lungs.

Using HIITMC – your lungs burn, your muscles strain and your will is challenged. You will sweat. A lot. More than a lot. These are all good things as they show that you are getting your body to do what you want not allowing it to take the path of least resistance (which it prefers!)

You don't need a gym for a HIITMC workout...

A HIITMC session can be a simple as:

  • Doing 5 rounds of 3 exercises with 1 minutes break between rounds – push ups followed by pull ups followed by bodyweight squats is the classic combo.
  • Using ‘Ladders’ for exercises like burpees – do 1, stop, do 2, stop, do 3, stop. do 4, stop, do 5 etc until you do 10 then reverse the process and do 9, stop, do 8, stop until you get back to zero.
  • Going to the beach, marking out 50 yards / metres and doing 10 sets of sprints with 1 minute (or less) break between sets.
  • Do 10 sets of hill runs, resting only as long as it takes to walk back down between each set.
  • Doing 200 kettlebell swings with a challenging weight only stopping long enough on the way to catch a few deep breaths.
  • Use a leg press machine with a challenging weight and stay on it until you have completed a 100 reps.
  • Do push presses with light dumb bells to a Tabata protocol (20 secs activity, 10 sec rest for 4 minutes straight – this is 1 set – do 3)
  • Do a barbell complex – a series of exercises with the one weight done  for set reps without putting the weight down or resting until completed. That is one set. Do 3 or 4sets . (eg 6 reps of each with a 20 kiol barbell – deadlift followed by clean followed by overhead press followed by rear squat followed by good morings. Rest 2 minutes repeat)

Stairs are just as good as hills...

All of these are simple to do but not easy to accomplish. You should start off slowy and work up to the times and numbers suggested above. With any running begin by just jogging a few sets as your warm up. Depending upon how fit you are even this can be challenging…Then do some hamstring & quadricep stretches, ankle & knee circle and some hip swings to ensure your legs are ready – then go for it. You’ll hate me for it during the session and the next day or 2 but after 4 or 5 sessions you’ll be seeing strong results.
The real key here is to start slow, get command of the movement(s) and then do what you can, striving to add reps or distance to timed intervals each session depending upon the activity you have chosen. But give each interval, each set, each round your all – go at it 100% once you have mastered the activity and the fat will go.

Because of the metabolic costs involved never use HIITMC for more than 20 to 25 minutes per session or do more than 4 sessions a week (2 is good, 3 ideal) – if you do, you will move into detrimental effects due to the demands that HIITMC puts on your body especially in the first 8 – 10 weeks.

Bottomline – to lose fat, recompose your body, to get lean, to look better naked – YOU’VE GOT TO EARN IT!!

For other myths & ideas – don’t forget to get your free report! It’s waiting at the top right hand side of the page…

I’ll be back next time with a couple of other myths that need a touch up.

Be well.

Sleep, Cortisol, Insulin Resistance & Fat Loss

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Hi & Welcome back!!

Today i want to look at how lack of sleep affects your fat loss.

It doesn’t matter who you are the suggested minimum amount of sleep for adults is 8 hours. (Teenagers need more as do babies & toddlers) Some adults need less some need more but the average requirement is for 8 hours.

Lack of sleep increases snacking...

However current research in Australia & the USA shows that as much as 37% of the adult population aged over 30  is getting 6 hours or less sleep on a regular basis. Not only is this no good for your overall health & energy levels but it is disasterous if you are trying to cut your body fat levels.
Research is showing that long term sleep loss is related to an increase in obesity and diabetes. In other words just as you can’t out-train a bad diet, you can’t reap the benefits of eating smart and exercising tactically if you don’t get enough sleep. A chronic lack of sleep wastes all of your other good fatloss focussed work.

Lack of sleep affects a number of metabolism influencing areas: your energy level, your resting metabolic rate, your appetite control and your insulin sensitivity. The research shows that even partial sleep deprivation can manipulate some of the key hormones that impact fat loss . In particular when key hormones are affected it predisposeyou to fat storage and obesity by causing insulin resistance.

A non-hormonal sleep loss efffect...

Not only can nsulin resistance  lead to Type 2 diabetes, but it has been proven to increase fat storage. Regular readers of this blog know that when you suffer from increased insulin resistance your body must produce extra insulin to rid your blood stream of glucose. The reason your body produces extra insulin is because the insulin receptors in your cells have become les sensitive to the effects of insulin requiring more to do the same job. In effect it creates an override and over storage situation. In extreme cases the situation becomes so bad that your body cannot produce suficient insulkin to clear glucose and you end up needing to start taking insulin medications. In any case you fat loss stops and fat gain is an almost certainty.

Sleep loss  increases both your appetite and your cravings for high GI carbs along with creating insulin resistance. Lack of sleep not only affects your insulin sensitivity but it also affects other hormones like  cortisol and ghrilin. This means that insufficinet sleep sees you battling an increase in appetite when your blood sugars are not in control.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that directly influences blood sugar levels and is associated with increases in  belly fat.  When cortisol levels rise, fat loss stops. Dead.  Some research has shown that even just 1 sleepless night can increase your cortisol levels.  A study has shown that 4 hours sleep results in a 37% cortisol rise above baseline.

Muscle is an important part of having an efficient, fat buning metabolism. At rest muscle is a voracious consumer of calories. The more muscle the higher your resting metabolic rate. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone – it breaks down muscle for fuel and by this action it also elevates blood glucose levles which results in insulin spikes and so the Merry Go Round turns leading to a slower metabolism and increased fat storage. In a sense muscle CAN turn into fat…

Not getting enough sleep can lead to this..

Ghrelin is another hormone that lack of sleep affects as is our old friend Leptin. Ghrelin basically makes you hungry, leptin tells your brain when you’ve eaten enough. Not getting enough sleep raises ghrelin levles so you get more hungry and lowers Leptin so you don’t stop eating when you should.

If you stay awake longer you also have more opportunity to eat more, and because your energy levles are lagging you tend to go for the quick sugar fix. Which leads to insulin spikes etc etc…

Studies have shown that people actually eat more on average when they get less sleep, and they eat less healthily.

So you’ve got to get more sleep, not just for your health, but for your fat loss and metabolism. If you know you lack sleep then you need to begin to taking saction to improve the amount of sleep that you are getting.

Don't drink this too close to Bed Time...

Try these: aim for a regular bedtime, avoid alcohol for at least several hours before bed, ditto for coffee or tea, have a low GI snack with some protein close to bed time, try to keep your bedroom cooler rather than hot, read fiction if you are bed reader not non-fiction,  make your to-do list in the early evening rather than late at night, exercise sometime during the day – just not close to bed time, have a bath or long hot shower and lastly avoid watching TV when lying in bed.

Sleep Tight!!

A Beginners Workout to Help You Sculpt an Incredible Body with Bodyweight Training

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Welcome Back!

Here is a simple and intense 2 -part workout, each of which you can perform 3 times a week in the comfort of your own home, at the park or beach using just your bodyweight.

It combines strength with intense cardio and uses the interval / HIIT protocol. This means that it has a high metabolic cost, will burn fat during the workout and more importantly for hours afterwards.

Background Information:

  • A circuit is when you move from one exercise to the next without resting in between.
  • Then rest for no more than 2 minutes before doing the next circuit.
  • All rest should be ‘active’ rest where you do not stand still but just keep moving by walking around. Not only will you get your breath back more quickly, but you will add the overall metabolic cost.
  • Reps are a guide only – if you can do more reps then do so, if less then that’s okay – match your efforts to your capability.
  • If push ups are too difficult substitute them with push ups from your knees.
  • Chin / Pull ups:  if you can’t do the reps then use one leg on a secure (ie won’t slip or tip) chair to assist in pushing you to the top of the movement.
    • Once there ‘lock’ your arms & back and fight your weight all the way down. This called an eccentric contraction and will give you sore muscles but will also help you develop strength more quickly.
    • Concentrate on bringing your elbows to your ribs rather than your chin over the bar. This activates your back .

      Like a squat for your upper body...

  • Rope Jumping (skipping) count every second step. If 100 is too many aim for 50 & then work up from there.
  • Add 1 more round each week until you are doing 8 rounds, and then try another workout.
  • Try to add at least 1 rep each workout to your push ups, lunges & squats. Aim for 10 reps with the Chin / pull ups. (When you get here you will be stronger than just about everyone else you’ll come across in your life!)

Work out #1:

Three (3) rounds of:

  • Rope Jumping, 100 Count
  • Push Ups, 10 reps
  • Forward Lunges, 10 reps each leg
  • Rope Jumping 100 Count
  • Chin / Pull ups, 5-10 reps
  • Squats, 20 reps
  • Rope Jumping, 100 count

Complete 1 circuit and rest for 2 minutes and then go again until you finish all 3 rounds. Do this 3 days a week.

Work Out #2

Do this work out the days in between the body weight workout above – 3 days a week.

Go to the park (or if you are feeling particularly adventurous) the beach and do some sprints.

Why sprint? Well ever seen a fat sprinter?

Not everyone wants to look like this - but the point is, sprinters are not fat!

Sprinting fits into the HIIT protocol, is challenging, has a high metabolic cost and will help you burn fat. It also gives your workouts balance. It should take no more than 20 minutes.

  • Gently jog around the park / along the beach to make sure that your hips, knees & ankles are loose and your leg muscles are warmed up.
  • Step out 50 metres
  • Run the 50 metres as fast as you can
  • Don’t stop moving at the 50 metre mark but drop to walking / jogging speed and take a 2 minute period whilst still moving.
    • This ‘active rest’ is important as it helps move lactic acid out of the working muscles and stops them from tightening up.
    • Keeping moving also adds to the overall metabolic cost and post workout ‘Afterburn’.
  • Repeat until you have done 3 rounds.
  • Work up to 10 rounds by adding 1 round every second work out.

Do some hamstring & quad stretching afterwards when the muscles are loose & pliable and stretching will do the most good.

Upping the Ante:

Body Weight Work out:

Once you are able to hit or exceed the rep targets in the body weight work out you can add intensity a number of ways.

  • You can do more reps
  • You can do more rounds
  • You can add exercises into each round (add a set of burpees /  squat thrusts after the push ups and after the Chin ups for example)
  • You can vary your exercises (try spiderman push ups instead of regular ones, or jumping lunges instead of split ones for example.)
  • You can add weight via a vest.

    Great way to up the ante for working out at home!

NB weighted vests are NOT recommended for chin ups – This is for 2 reasons – firstly using your own bodyweight on this exercise is challenging enough by itself and it will take some time for you to work up to doing 10 reps a time. Secondly, and depending upon the type of home chinning bar you are using, you will find that most home chinning bars are not strong enough to handle added weight  – I weigh 100KG and if I added even the lightest vest I own I will be close to its top rating of 110 kg.

However if you are using a chinning bar that is part of another, stronger set up feel free to add weight once you can do 10 reps. Adding weight before then will be counterproductive.

Sprint Intervals:

  • Take note of your time and try to get faster over the same distance.
  • Increase the number of rounds.
  • Increase the distance from 50 to 75 metres and then from 75 to 100.
  • Try doing your sprints uphill
  • If at the beach try doing using the dunes (super tough!!)
  • Set a timed protocol where you sprint for 20 seconds, jog / walk for 40 and then repeat for a period of 5 minutes initially working up from there.

  • Go long or go hard...

    Use Tabata intervals – 8 rounds of sprinting for 10 seconds followed by 20 seconds of active rest.

  • You can add weight via vest – again be careful – the vest must not only fit snug enough so that the weights don’t beat you half to death by moving around whilst you are running but also allow your chest to move freely so you can breathe. NOT recommended except for those looking to become superhuman.

Well there you have it a simple, do-it-in-the-comfort-of-your-own-home work out that fits into my philosophy of reconditioning & improving the efficiency of your metabolism through interval / HIIT training.

You will burn fat and become leaner just with the body weight training – adding in the sprinting will increase your fat burn and metabolic efficiency but is not an absolute necessity.

However your results will be greater if you do both.

Let me know what you think and don’t forget to ‘Like’ use on Face Book below…

Strength Training & Metabolic Boosting

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Welcome back!!

A few posts ago I wrote about Interval training, particularly HIIT – high intensity interval training and why it is the best exercise protocol to use to lose fat – and it is.

Great for HIIT or 'normal' strength training...

Especially when you combine it with some form of resistance (ie strength) training. Thing is combining HIIT with strength training is VERY intense and can lead to burn out very quickly if you are properly familiar with how to use them correctly.

So what do you do if you can’y do HIIT everyday?

As you know if you have been a regular reader – you can’t out run or out lift a bad diet. But you can recondition your metabolism through a variety of means.

My choice is to keep eating the right way (low processed carbs, high protein, high fruit & vegetable intake) and to use strength training when I want either a break from HIIT or just as an alternative.

Resistance / Strength training, involves using weights, bands, kettlebells, body weight, weighted vests or other forms of resistance to force your body to move differently and work harder than it does in everyday life.

By working differently from our everyday activity and challenging our bodies at the same time we can increase our metabolic rate.

Going for a run, performing a HIIT session or doing a strength training workout and the way they affect your metabolic rate is quite different.Previously we have seen that HIIT (Interval) training has the greatest efffect on overal metabolism.

Remember it is how long for and by how much any activity boosts your metabolism that really has an impact on your ability to lose body fat when your diet is under control.

Let’s talk about the components of our metabolism:

First we have our resting metabolic rate, or RMR. This is the energy needed (counted in calories or kilojoules) to keep our bodies alive – our heart beating, our lungs breathing, etc.This is the ‘lying on the couch & not doing anything’ measurement.

Our RMR makes up about 60 to 80 percent of our total metabolic rate, so the more we can boost this the more fat we will be burning. To raise our RMR we need to recondition and boost our overall metabolism. Increasing physical activity, especially by using HIIT & strength training can directly change RMR.

Next there is the Thermic Effect of Activity, or TEA. Basically this is a measurement of how many calories are burnt by our bodies through movement. This includes walking, mowing the lawn, bringing in the groceries and so on. So your TEA is higher on the days you play touch football than the ones where you watch DVDs all day because it covers all of the activities that we engage in every day to live our lives. .

The more active you are, the more your total metabolic rate increases.

The easy way to view Metabolism

Third, we have the Thermic Effect of Food, or TEF. This is the amount of energy that your body expends to consume and digest food and then put the nuturients in the food to use to create more energy, repair the body etc. As you know you can increase your metabolism simply my eating more protein, more fibrous fruit & vegetables and less processed carbs & fat. Why? Because protein & fibrous fruit & vegetables can use up to 22% more energy to process than processed crap. As for fat – our bodies are the utimate fat storage devices so fat processing (&storage) requires virtually no energy at all.

So we can view our metabolism as the total number of calories (or kilojoules) our bodies use each day for each metabolic component.

This total energy expenditure  can be derived by using this simple formula: (TEE) = RMR + TEA + TEF.

Because we are all different the enrgy used by each metabolic component is different for each person, resulting in unique metabolic rates.

But why Strength Training?

Strength training increases our TEE by elevating the amount of calories expended in activity (TEA). The harder you strength train, the greater the amount of calories you burn through exercise. This in turn leads to the creation of more lean tissue (which is more metabolically active) which burns more calories at rest.

So strength training not only raises your TEA but also your RMR. Next to HIIT it is the best way to do this.

In turn, if you keep eating clean and also watch that your calorie / kilojoule intake does not exceed your TEE then you will lose body fat.

If you conduct your training session with intensity then they all – strength training , HIIT or running – will increase your energy expenditure both at the time of activity, and for a few hours afterwards. This elevation of your RMR that follows on in the hours after exercise is often called the ‘Afterburn’ and for fat loss it is essential. It can also only be gained by either using a HIIT protocol or through strength training.

By using multiple sets of a challenging weight, scientists have shown that the energy expended afterwards, known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) can be elevated for 24-36 hours.

Isn't this what we want to achieve?

Strength training can boost your metabolism, but it has to be more challenging than activities you do every day. two or three pound dumbells won’t make much of a difference if the groceries you carry or the child you hug weigh more than this. The key to an elevated metabolism is to challenge your existing strength boundaries.

Otherwise your body won’t  get the challenge it needs to build muscle, lose fat and look better in your clothes – or out of them….and that’s what we’re all looking for, isn’t it?

Interval Training – the #1, not so secret fat loss tool…

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Welcome back!

Today I want to look at interval training and what is one better!!

Interval training has been around for a long, long time. Supposedly even the Gladiators used a type of interval training in their preparations for the arena.

You can do intervals by running...

What is interval training? – the classic interval is that used by runners – sprint 100 metres and then walk the remaining 300 metres back to the start. Repeat. And again and again. Really interval is a mix of high intensity, short bursts of effort followed by a lower intensity, longer period of effort and then repeated as often as required or possible for the work out session.

Intervals are back in fashion and are really a research-proven tool to have in your body shape shifting arsenal. They are so good that I recommend that they be a key part of your overall fat loss & general health program.

Regular readers know by now that in order to lose fat there has to be a caloric deficit, a low level of insulin, and there has to be high levels of certain chemicals in the body so that the fat is released from the cells so it can be transported to the working muscles and burned as fuel.

Research has conclusively proven that this all important chemical release is easily achieved through the use of high intensity exercise protocols like Intervals.

But – hang on aren’t intervals just aerobics or cardio dressed up a bit differently? In a word – No! Traditional cardio or aerobics (think treadmills, aerobics classes, recumbent bikes etc etc), require low to moderate intensity over a long period of time. The effect on metabolism tends to be limited to exercise period and does not really recondition it.

Chronic cardio just is not as efficient as Intervals...

It’s true that traditional Cardio / Aerobic work actually burns more fat as a percentage of calories during the activity period than interval training does. But don’t get too excited however – it still burns fewer overall calories.

Interval and NOT aerobic training is by far the best form of exercise for this purpose.

Compared to aerobic training, Interval training:
• Releases more fat burning chemicals
• Burns more calories minute for minute than aerobic exercise and
• Elevates your metabolism during and AFTER the exercise session
The thing is not only are Intervals very demanding, but when used in the classic style they get boring and really hard to stick with. How do we deal with this by moving into what is called metabolic conditioning.

The other exercise protocol that elevates your metabolism and burns fat is resistance training – weight lifting, body weight exercise etc – so why not combine the two?

This is where the fat burning can really take off – doing resistance exercises as a circuit in an interval fashion!

For example you could use pure bodyweight exercises like this:
• Squats x 30
• Push ups x 15
• Pull ups x 5

Do each exercise one after the other without rest. This is one circuit. After each circuit rest for 2 minutes. Repeat 5 times.

You get the idea – you can do this in the gym with barbell or machine exercises, or anywhere using a variety of body weight exercise.

The thing is the fat burn during & after the exercise session is massive. The reconditioning effect on your metabolism is strong and it is hard to get bored…

If you do not have variety in your workout program you are more likely to end up at a fat loss plateau soon rather than later. Variety, changing the positive stress that exercise provides, is one of the keys to keeping that fat loss coming.

Body weight exercises are great for metabolic conditioning...

Smart body shape shifters use 2 different metabolic conditioning workouts each week (done on alternate days 4 – 6 times a week) and change these every 4 – 6 weeks.This keeps the challenge fresh and stops your body becoming too efficient at doing the workout. Remeber homeostasis – your body gets stressed, becomes efficient at the exercise stressor and then starts to use less energy to perform the exercise. This means less fat burning. By changing things around you can stop your body reaching this peak efficiency whilst still burning fat and getting fitter.

Other ways that you modify your metabolic training:
• Switch exercise methods – go from bodyweight exercises to machine, to dumb bells, kettle bells or bands.
• Up the intensity by adding a weighted vest or hand weights
• Increase or decrease the length of the circuit by adding or subtracting exercises respectively
• Increase or decrease the number of circuits per workout
• Increase or decrease the rest time between circuits

In your quest for variety don’t ignore the classic interval exercises like sprinting (great on the beach, up stairs or hills), bike riding, skipping rope or swimming. The trick is to go flat out and then use active rest (keep moving – walk after a sprint, breaststroke after free style for example) to recover before going flat out again.

I like doing kettle bells on one day and mixing a Body weight circuit with some running at the local park on the next. So I use metabolic conditioning and classic intervals…

Whilst there is a clear advantage to using metabolic conditioning workouts over both classic intervals and cardio / aerobics, you can still get a great work out by utilising the interval training circuits on machines.

For example Spin classes often use an interval training approach, you can alternate high intensity with low intensity of stationary bikes, elliptical trainers of even treadmills.

Okay, so how long should you do metabolic condition circuits or intervals for?

There is NO “best” metabolic conditioning or interval training program – no best number of “sets and reps” for fat loss. It depends upon what you like doing, what gives you the best results. The only thing I’d say is that whatever you choose to do has to be challenging and make you work!

I am about efficient time use – the higher the intensity the greater the effect during & after the exercise session. You can, as they say, go hard or go long – you can’t do both. This is why I am against what they now call ‘chronic cardio’ – Why spend an hour on a treadmill when you can better results in 20 minutes with a metabolic conditioning circuit or running intervals in the local park?

However the lack of a ‘Best’ set is a good thing as it allows us to use the all important variety in our approach.

One of these helps...

The time you perform each circuit for has a wide range. There is a thing called the Tabata protocol named after the Japanese researcher who discovered it. Using it you do 20 seconds of an exercise, completing as many reps as possible, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat 8 or 16 times for a total workout time of 4 or 8 minutes. Doesn’t sound like much but if you are doing kettle bell swings, or prisoner squats, or burpees – it really gets your metabolism running!!

At the other end of the scale is the 3, 4 or 5 minute interval circuits where you go hard for several minutes and then rest for the same period of time. Soccer players use these a lot and they are generally referred to as ‘Aerobic intervals’. They are also not, in my opinion, the most efficient for fat loss, but they are good for football players to develop ‘burst endurance’.

Short time circuits enable you to work at near maximum intensity and back up to repeat this effort again & again. This type of training is very taxing! It makes enormous demands of your body and really shakes up your metabolism. They have a downside if you are using most machines though – it is very difficult to do sub 45 second circuits on machines because of their “build up” and “bring down” times.

This is particularly true of treadmills and a number of bikes. Apart from treadmills, you can overcome this by using the machine on the ‘Manual’ setting instead of a programmed one.
If you decide to use short, high-intensity circuits, you need to understand that they require a high level of fitness and that you will have to work up to them. Short rest intervals (like the Tabata protocol) tend to lead to a dramatic drop-off in performance with each successive circuit.

Using a longer (relatively speaking) rest period will allow you to work harder in each successive circuit. This means that your performance in each circuit will be more consistent with less drop off in performance circuit to circuit.

Even these can used in an interval fashion...

Don’t think that intervals or metabolic conditioning workouts are too intense for you – they really are all relative to the individual. You don’t have to go 100% flat out in each type of circuit instead, just work at a bit harder than normal pace. Aim to be tired and a little out of breath at the end of each circuit. Don’t be gasping for breath – if you are you’ve worked too intensely and as we are using these for fat loss this means that you are pushing your fitness level to far too fast. Start conservatively and you will get the hang of it.

Here are some of the more popular timing variations:

8 seconds on, 12 seconds off
This duration was the one used by Australian researchers in the now famous “intervals vs. cardio” study from 2007. The results found that interval circuits helped subjects lose belly fat, but chronic cardio didn’t. It can be extremely difficult to control 8 seconds on, 12 seconds off unless you have a timer like a Gym Boss timer – look them up online, at about $20 they are great!

15 seconds
This is a killer = 15 seconds at max effort followed by a rest period. The truly fit can go 15 on , 15 off – but mere mortals are more likely to need at least 60 seconds recovery time as a minimum after each max effort.

20 seconds on, 10 seconds off
The previously mentioned Tabata method. Short, intense and challenging.

30 seconds on / 90 seconds off / 60 seconds off / 45 seconds off / 30 seconds off
Body weight metabolic conditioning or machine based workouts tend to use a lot of 30 second intervals. Beginners will rest up to 90 seconds between intervals, and as you get fitter you drop your rest period down the more advanced you become.

45 seconds on / 90 seconds off / 60 seconds off / 45 seconds off / 30 seconds off
These intervals are proven for fat loss, will these tax your muscles, and challenge your will to complete each circuit at high intensity.

60 second on / 60 seconds off / 90 seconds off
Similar to the 45 second intervals in terms of benefits and toughness. Use 60-120 seconds of recovery between each.

So there you have it – the best way to drop body fat through exercise.
That’s all until next time -Tweet or Facebook us or

Vitamin B & Fat Loss

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Welcome back:

This week we’re going to look at three special B-Group Vitamins that compliment your fat-loss quest, while keeping you healthy and strong.

Losing body fat is a bit like fighting a war – you need the right strategy the right weapons and the right troops plus the will to overcome if you are going to win.

To win the war against excess body fat, the B-Group Vitamins should be amongst your best friends and a part of your arsenal. They’re a vital component of nutrition that enables your body to turn food into energy.

It is easier to work out and to exercise your will power when you are full of energy – without the B-group Vitamins your energy levels will be low and your ability to recondition your metabolism and to withstand temptation will fall. This in turn will make your fat-shedding efforts so much the harder…

There are three (3) main B vitamins that I want focus on. Individually they are important to your health – when used together they keep you strong, healthy, energised and compliment your fat loss efforts.

But first – What are B-Group vitamins exactly?

The B-Group Vitamins

The B-Group Vitamins are water-soluble vitamins. This simply means that they once they are processed by your body any excess is excreted in your urine.

Overdosing on B-Group is rarely an issue…

This also means that they are quickly depleted in situations of high sweat loss and activity. Because water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body in appreciable amounts and are used up and depleted rapidly, it’s important that you ensure that you are getting enough of them by eating foods that are rich in these vitamins or by taking a supplement to make sure that you have adequate levels in your system.

I recommend that you do both.

Drinking alcohol also increases the need for the B-Group Vitamins so after a heavy session of ‘glass raising’ taking a B supplement before hitting the sack is always a good idea. It’s even better if sleep is followed by another Vitamin B Group tab or 2 upon rising the next morning.

There are eight B-vitamins, which include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), cyanocobalamin (B12), pantothenic acid and biotin.
These vitamins act as coenzymes and as catalysts in the chemical reactions that transfer energy from the food we eat to our body systems.

They are essential for the breakdown of the macronutrients(Carbs to glucose,

Hangover – alcohol increases your Vitamin B needs – a lot!!

proteins & fats to a number of elements essential for the repair and maintenance, growth, normal functioning of our nervous system and healthy hair, skin and nails. You need to be getting B-group Vitamins everyday – without them you’ll ail.

Several of these B-Group Vitamins are especially important to having a fast (ie fat burning) metabolism and by extension a leaner, fitter body.

Pyridoxine: Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 has three chemical forms (as pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine) and is the B-group Vitamin most necessary for proper protein metabolism. The coenzyme form of B6 is associated with more than 100 other enzymes which are critical for amino acid breakdown from protein foods and the conversion of certain amino acids from one type to another.

Amino acids as you know are essentially the body’s building blocks and are a necessary part of tissue repair, muscle growth, nerve sheaths, nails, hair etc etc.

B6 also helps your body to access and use the glycogen in your muscle cells for energy when you are moving and especially when you are working out. No glycogen = no movement.

If you’re not sleeping then your B-Group needs go up!!

Also the breakdown of glycogen plays an important part in the regulation of blood sugar levels (blood sugar is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver but once these areas are full the excess is stored as body fat!).

Another important function of B6 is its ability to diminish the actions of hormones such as cortisol – the stress hormone. As we’ve previously explored on this blog when you’re under stress your body releases lots of cortisol which does a number of negative things primarily for our discussion – it promotes the storage of belly fat. It also promotes the breakdown & use of muscle tissue as fuel.

Great double whammy – you store more fat and lose muscle so your metabolism slows even further…

Adequate B6 levels are critical in times of stress (bad stress like job, money or relationship worries or even good stress like exercise) so your body does not store extra body fat and use precious muscle protein for energy.

Because B6 is so important for protein metabolism, it’s requirement depends on the

B-group helps you feel like this!!

amount of protein you consume on a daily basis. An intake of about 1.6 mg of B6 for every 100 g of protein is considered by the National Academy of Sciences to meet the needs of adults under normal conditions .

However, for athletes and people that exercise regularly (and often eat more protein), their vitamin B6 requirements will be higher given the greater need for energy and protein metabolism. Scientific studies have shown that exercise greatly depletes B6 levels in the body and needs to be kept in check through supplementation.

As you can see, when you’re an active person consuming more protein than the” Average Westerner”, your needs for vitamin B6 are increased, and it’s critical you get at least the minimum amount in each day.

Some of your best food sources of B6 include fortified cereals, potatoes, bananas, chickpeas and chicken (contains ~ 0.5-0.7 mg), but even if you are eating those foods you’d be wise to take a B-Group supplement.

Cobalamins: Vitamin B12.
What we call Vitamin B12 is actually a collection of compounds that are different molecules all containing the element cobalt. The most common form is the B12 vitamin known as cyanocobalamin.

The various forms of B12 work in the body to maintain normal brain and nervous system development and function, and play a role in influencing DNA synthesis and regulation.

B12 also plays an important role in the metabolism of fatty acids and creation of energy from foods containing fats.

You’ll hit the wall without enough B-Group Vitamins in your system… 

People with insufficient B12 in their diet suffer fatigue, depression, and can develop poor memory. In severe cases cracks may form in the corner of their mouth ( a condition known as angular cheilitis).

The cause of this tiredness and skin damage is related in part to B12’s role in red blood cell production which is necessary to carry oxygen and iron through the body. Because of this B12 is important in assisting the prevention of anaemia.

Athletes and hard exercisers may have low body B12 status, due to their increased metabolism and the raised demand for this vitamin to be used repair damaged blood cells and injured muscle tissue; and to carry more oxygen around in the blood while exercising.

This means that if you are working out regularly and hard then you will need more than the average daily allowance of ~2.4 mcg/day.

Vitamin B12 is only found in animal based foods so vegetarians – especially vegans – are

Good B6 Source – Chicken!!

at risk of developing the above mentioned symptoms of deficiency unless they supplement their dietary income.

The foods highest in B12 are shellfish (mussels, lobster), oily fish (trout, salmon, tuna), and organ meats (liver).

Biotin
Biotin is an essential cofactor for several key enzymes in the production of glucose (& glycogen) and the metabolism of fats and proteins. For example, in order for the liver to make glucose (through a process called gluconeogenesis), an enzyme essential to this process called pyruvate carboxylase requires biotin in order to function correctly. No biotin no liver produced glucose…

Biotin is also needed for the breakdown of the branch chain amino acids from protein (leucine, isoleucine and valine), and some fatty acids from fat-containing foods.

B-Group Vitamins help when you’re stressed…

People who exercise often have an increased need for biotin for several reasons:

• Increased metabolism resulting in the loss of this vitamin in urine or sweat
• Increased mitochondrial enzymes that require more biotin for cofactors
• Increased need for tissue repair and maintenance
• Increased food intake requiring biotin for metabolism

The richest source of Biotin is cooked eggs (Forget the ‘Rocky’ raw egg eating – raw egg whites bind biotin due to the protein avidin). Although the average daily allowance is set at least 30 mcg of biotin each day, there is no toxicity associated from higher intakes, especially in people who are active.

B-Group Vitamins = Good Health

As you can see, ideal intake of these B-Group Vitamins helps gives your body the energy

B-Group Vitamins help you look like this…

to exercise hard, so that you can burn more fat and build more lean muscle. If you’re constantly tired because your metabolism is sluggish, if you can’t create the right energy from the food you eat then you’ll be unable to rid your body of excess body fat or achieve a lean, strong physique. So, make sure that you get plenty of these simple but potent vitamins via eating unprocessed foods and topping up with a supplement.

If you do so then your body will lose fat, your metabolism will run better and your overall health will improve.

See you next week.

 

Three Ways to Shape Shift

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Welcome back!!

Hi folks – just a quick one today – here are 3 ways to shape shift…

Shifting you shape is all about altering the composition of your body so you have a greater proportion of lean tissue and less fat.

Shape Shifting deals with complex biochemical processes, metabolism, mental attitude and hormones. It is not a simple thing to do. But the actions you can take to achieve greater leanness and less body fat can start off simply enough.

1) Try to eat “single ingredient” foods as much as possible

Diet accounts for over 80% of your efforts to recondition your metabolism and alter your shape so it is important to begin to get it under control.

Learn to read these - the fewer ingredients the better...

If you are buying packaged food check your labels. The fewer ingredients listed (especially the fewer chemical names & numbers & different sugar types) the better. Avoid anything with Transfats listed as more than 1% ( zero is better) or anything that screams Low fat but is full of sugar – if fact if any food you buy is over 10% sugar you probably should give it a miss.

Even better try to increase the fresh component so that you are buyibng the majority of your food so fresh that it has NO labels! Think Lamb & Letuce, Beef & broccoli etc etc.

Our bodies just run better on whole foods and the less procesing involved the better for us & our health. These foods are typically more nutrient dense, usually calorie sparser and give us feelings of satiety more quickly and for a longer period of time.

The exception to this is canned & frozen foods like vegetables and beans. Nutritionally these are usually as good for you as fresh food (in some cases even better).

Again check the labels for high suagr or sodium – avoid any with these in high proportions. Use the Single Ingredient rule – the fewer items listed on the label the closer to nature and less processing that has taken place.

2) To Shape it you’ve got to Move it!! – Move more…

An effective metabolism is your greatest tool for fat loss and better health. If you don’t move your metabolism slows down.

The more you move the happier you are...

This does not mean that you have to live in the gym but that you should incorporate a range of physical activity into your daily life. So go to the gym (3 times a week no more than 1 hour at a time) to lift heavy weights, walk every day, climb hills, go padddle Boarding, ride a bike, do dance classes (even Zumba), wrestle your kids, throw the ball for the dog, re-arrange the furniture – whatever hits your switch, If they stop swimming sharks diejust move!!

If you work in an office download this free little timer (http://www.harmonyhollow.net/cool_timer.shtml) set it for 45 minutes and when it goes off stand up and go for a quick walk, do a few squats – anything but get out of the chair! Then reset it for another 45 and get back to work. Your metabolism & back will thank you.

Studies have shown that people who walk 10,000 steps or more a day are happier, less stressed and have higher energy levels…

Your metabolism slows down if you don’t move and you fat goes up. Remember our bodies were designed to move…

3)Sleep on it…

Studies have shown clear links between lack of sleep and fat gain. We live in times of long work days, meals on the run and watching late night television to ‘wind down’. The net effect is that we are sleeping less and our bodies, in particular our metabolisms are paying for it.
The biological rhythm of sleeping and waking is called our circadian rhythm. And this is intricately tied to our metabolism.

If you wake up like this you need more sleep...

This 24-hour circadian rhythm governs just about all of our fundamental physiological functions.
Researchers have discovered (Science 1 May 2009: Vol. 324 no. 5927 pp. 654-657 DOI: 10.1126/science.1170803) that an enzyme protein called SIRT1 interacts with a protein nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD for short) that senses cell energy levels and modulates metabolism and aging. In other words there is a tightly regulated co-dependency between your circadian clock and your metabolism and cellular performance.

This also suggests that proper sleep and diet may help maintain or rebuild the balance between your circadian clock and your metabolism, and could also help explain why lack of rest or disruption of normal sleep patterns can increase hunger, leading to obesity-related illnesses and accelerated aging.

So if you regularly deprive yourself of sleep, you’re effectively disrupting your biological processes, including those regulating your metabolism. The news gets worse – lack of sleep has been shown to affect levels of leptin and ghrelin, the two major hormones linked with appetite and eating behaviours. When you are sleep deprived, your body decreases production of leptin, the hormone that tells your brain there is no need for more food. At the same time it increases levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger.

The end result is decreased satiety, hunger pangs, and a sluggish metabolism…

So what is the right number of hours of sleep to get? Truth is there is no one-size-fits-all number of prescribed hours, although there’s some evidence indicating that somewhere around seven hours a night is ideal from a general health perspective.

If you are waking up feeling sluggish you need more.

So there you have simple ways to begin to ‘Shift your Shape’

Let me know how you go with them.

That’s it. And it really can be that simple. No gimmicks. No fads. Just small, proven life changes that have a lasting impact.

And that’s what Body Shape Shifters is all about — permanent long term change based on skills you take with you. Knowledge is power, and we’re sitting on top of fuel grade uranium!

Real Training for Real Fat Loss

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Welcome Back!!

Today’s blog is about laying out the facts of how to train for real fat loss. Regular readers will know that I believe you should focus on fat loss, not weight loss. (If you don’t have a copy of my free report on fat loss myths you can get one from the box to the right of this post)

Simply put, after over a decade of my own ups, downs & failures to achieve lasting fat loss I have developed some fairly strong opinions on this issue.

Lots & lots of reading these last 10 or so years...

I have come to hold theses opinions through a combination of educating myself by reading articles, chasing down scientific papers, following an ever changing cast of fitness ‘gurus’ and by trying just about every program there has been. Like famous author Tim Ferriss, I have used myself as guinea pig, and I have arrived at some convictions about fat loss.

The biggest mistake I made and the one I still see the most people making is this belief that low intensity, high volume cardio is the best way to lose fat.

Let me tell you this is a crock – not true at all!!

They have their place, but not the one you've been told!

Short sharp cardio (think Tabata’s or sprints) will burn more fat for longer than hours on a treadmill, a stationary bike, stepper, strider or slider. There is a heap of research out there on this. Trouble is many Personal Training organisations, many medicos and other ‘health’ professionals are either using information from textbooks that were old when they did their degrees or else they are playing politics to gain more mainstream acceptance. Doesn’t really matter – high volume low intensity cardio is a mug’s game. Period.

Second in line is the belief that doing high volumes of circuit training exclusively is the best means of burning fat.

When I first started coming across the research on the effect of high volume circuit training on fat loss I thought that I had found the Holy Grail. The more I looked the more research I found to support this, the more of the Gurus I found who supported this – it seemed like a no-brainer.
Again – this is not right!!

One of the benefits of being your own guinea pig is that you can judge what actually works and what the effects are.

The truth is that no one exercise modality can or should be used exclusively when fat loss is the goal. What you need is a mix of exercise types that hits different energy systems in your body and works to drive your metabolism.

Using circuit training exclusively I found:

1) That the perception of effort was right up there – these were hard & challenging workouts!! So hard in fact, that I started to collect niggling injuries from too many repetitions.

2) This came about from the high volume of exercises were giving my joints, tendons & ligaments a real beating. I developed overuse injuries and these required me to stop & heal – no fat burning happens when you can’t work out!!

Injuries mean no fat loss

3) The type of exercise done in these ‘fat loss’ circuits did not allow for much weight to be used 9nor could it be safely used) so my strength began to drop off. Rapidly. A beginner may have gotten stronger (if they avoided overuse injuries) but anyone with any time using weights just seems to get weaker.

4) A drop in strength and a lack of challenging weight coupled with high volumes = Muscle loss. High volume circuits when used exclusively as a fat loss modality leads to lean tissue loss which leads to a slower metabolism which leads to shifting any fat just gets harder & harder to do.

5) High Volume Circuits also cause physical stress out of proportion to their benefits which increases your levels of cortisol (everyone’s favourite ‘fat to the belly’ stress hormone) and decreases both Growth Hormone & testosterone release. Certainly not what you want for fat loss.
However this does not mean circuits are bad. Nope they just become bad when they are used exclusively for fat loss and other exercise types & protocols are not used.

An effective, metabolic reconditioning program needs to contain most if not all of the following key factors:

1) Lift weights, heavy weights using compound (multi-joint) exercises. Think Deadlifts, chin / pull ups, squats, overhead presses, clean & jerks or even one-armed push ups. Think 4 – 6 reps and no more than 3 or 4 sets.
Not only does this preserve lean tissue, it promotes strength and better fat utilisation as fuel

2) Train fast but safe. In other words perform your exercises as fast as you can whilst maintaining good form. This engages your nervous system and leads to a faster metabolism.

3) Perform some size work – use weights that you can move for 6 – 10 reps and again no more than 4 sets. Again try for compound moves or bodyweight exercises where you are at a mechanical disadvantage. NB these sets should always come after your heavy sets.

4) Circuit training – no more than 3 stations, no more than 15 – 20 reps a time and only 3 – 4 rounds.

5) Sprint. Great for fat loss, great for your legs, do wonders for your cardiovascular & aerobic systems. Best done either later in the day or the day after your weight / circuit training.

Move your body through space - the faster the better!!

So there you have it – the best way to achieve maximum fat loss via exercise.

Give this style of training a try, and see for yourself!

The Top Current Weight Loss Scams

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Firstly let’s be clear – you want to look for fat loss not weight loss. You can lose weight through water loss, muscle loss or even bone mass loss – none of which will do anything except make you into a smaller ‘skinny’ fat person with a lousy metabolism and a host of health problems.

Secondly let’s take a look at what passes as the latest & greatest solutions to being ‘overweight’… Some are new, some are old timers dressed up in new clothes…

Everyday there seems to be a new miracle cure or miracle machine available everytime you turn on the TV. Each one promises 6-pack abs, and the body of your dreams ( also notice how most of them miraculously seem to give you a tan, whiter teeth, and big hair…)

But it is not just TV – every newspaper or magazine you pass on the newsstand or open has more miracles waiting for you to try – Pills, secret herbal formulas, tibetan fruits, extracts from the South Sea islands, Nepalese diets or yet other machines.

Radio has it as well, and so does the internet – especially the health & Lifestyle sections of on-line news… we are bombarded by the patently untrue mesage that there is amagic bullet, pill, potion, herb, diet or machine that will transform our bodies with minimal effort and virtually overnight.

Scam machines have been around for long, long time...

Emotionally we go “Well it sounds plausible, those people look a lot better and they couldn’t advertisie it if it didn’t work could they…’ This drowns out the logical part of us that goes ‘Hang on – None of this stuff I’ve tried has worked in the past, people get paid for these ads, this just can’t be right – it all seems too good to be true’

Marketing is an art that uses advertising to excite the emotional part of us and shut down the logical part. They do this by appealing to our vanity, our wants & desires; by having celebrities endorsing the latest machine / potion / pill and by using incredibly good looking people as demonstrators.

The truth is that far too often we fall into the artful marketing trap and end up buying a machine that does not do as it promises or else has a restrction on how heavy you can be to use it (and this is always not a level that enable males in particular to use them); or with pills / potions or lotions that just don’t work. Even worse is the diet plans that wreck your metabolism even further by encouraging poor nutrition or is impossible for an adult with a job or a family to keep to..

yep - that'll work...

Then if we do lose weight on the miracle program we put it all back on in short order and usually add a few pounds more than when we started.

Worst of all we waste our hopes, our time and our money things that just don’t work. Remember the old marketing adage – ‘Sell the sizzle, not the steak.’In short we waste time, energy and most of all hope on these scams.

I have personally beeen caught out by these things many times over the years and I want to help you avoid making the same mistakes that many of us make by getting involved in these rip offs.

Here are some of the curent ones:

Scam#1: The you-beaut, fantastic, proven by thermal imaging amazing 6-pack machine / gadget / device

Everyone wants a flat stomach. Every male (and quite a few females) want 6-pack abs and every year there are at least 7 or 8 new machines put out on the market. Each one promises that it is / uses the latest tchnology and will transform your body in only minutes a day or week.
(to be fair some of them also – usually passed over or in the fine print – mention that you have to use the machine AND their special diet as well to achieve results)

Of course we know that to lose fat we have to:

  • Create a calorie deficit
  • Manipulate your hormones through diet, food choice, frequency of meals
  • Exercise
  • Recondition & fire up your metabolism through all of the above.

Not only can you NOT lose fat by sitting / lying/ twisting / jumping on the latest machine for 7 or 10 minutes a day (or what ever the latest claim is ), you CAN’T spot reduce. No machine short of the ones plastic surgeons use for liposuction can deliver spot reduction. Not a one.

Oh yeah and doing 100’s of crunches doen’t reduce your fat or weight either.

Fat loss results happen due to reductions in the fat carrried by your entire body. Physiologically you can’t just burn the fat from a selected area. (although there is some research out about BAT – brown adipose tissue, a type of body fat designed for quick burning – that may support spot reduction in very specific areas 9 upper back – and under very specific conditions – just wait until the marketing guys get their hands on that!!)

What they promise...

The models using the machines were already in shape and were hired for the ads because they were in shape and could use the machine without falling off!! They shure did not get into shape using the machine they are smiling about on TV.

None of us should fall for the fiction that by by rocking back and fort or by circling or twist stepping that we will end up looking like the models. We let hope (or despair) overrule commonsense.

Still literally millions of these useless devices / machines are sold every year. I have a friend who has a collection fo them – all were flavour of the month for about 2 weeks – all ended up in the basement, the closet or under the bed. Not a few have made appearences on EBay.

All failed and yet my friend like others just keeps falling for the marketing again. And again. (By machines & devices I include sliders, treaders, walkers, gliders, swings, bean, roll ups twisters, circlers etc etc)

My personal favourite is the one that ‘works’ your abs by giving you small electric shocks. Comedian Robin Williams has got it 100% correct when he says: ‘You’d be better off wrapping it around your head, turning it on and saying ‘I will not buy stupid s*it like this again!!”

Scam #2: Special Super Weight Loss diet plans.

This one is easy to spot – it either involves diet plans that totally cut out an entire food group or it is based on using an exotic fruit / vitamin, extract or juice.

Another scam easy to spot is those diets that require you to eat only 1 type of food for an extended period of time – no-carb, low-carb, no meat, no cheese, no fish, lemon juice only, high protein, watermelon, no fruit, fruit only, cabbage soup, chicken fruit, Israeli Army diets, food combining, lemon pepper, grapefruit diets banana diets, bean diets, French diets, Hollywood diets, Beach diets, fat diets – etc etc

Not for the long term & most are a scam...

A hallmark of these types of diets is their lack of nutritional balance, their rebound weight gain after you go of them and a further slowing of your metabolism.

These all have several things in common – they do work (for a short while) for weight loss, they wreck your fat metabolism and they are a waste of time. Any severe alteration to food ingestion and reduction in calories will result in some weight loss, even, in some cases, some fat loss – but most of them cause weight loss by fluid loss and as these are often poor in terms of protein you also lose lean tissue. Result – an even more compromised metablism and rapid weight gain.

It may be necessary to recondition your metabolism and refresh your food habits by using a short term more restrictive program (like Lose 20 in 30) but unless such programs are nutritionally balanced and based around better dietary choices they will not work.

Of course once your metabolism is reconditioned then you can move to a lifestyle program that ensures you stay lean & fit & healthy.

Scam #3:  The ‘Unbelievable Body Transformation with a side of Miracle results in a short period of time’ Products

It is possible to lose 30 pounds or more of fat in a month – but this requires a strategic and holistic program covering diet, hormone manipulation, food choices, feeding frequency metabolic reconditioning and not a small measure of discipline. Fat loss of this magnitude cannot be continued on and on either – mentally & physically you will need a rest. My point is that to lose fat rapidly requires a structured, strategic program that covers a lot of ground.

If you see a diet plan that tells you you are going to see rapid, overnight results – you know the type ‘lose 10 pounds in 3 days!! – just walk away. If you see an ad for the latest fat burning / blocking / destroying pills – walk away. Because they don’t work in nearly all cases and the few that do only work for a short time.

If people are not trying to recondition their metabolism and are taking the long view, then losing up to 4 pounds (2 kilos) a week is about the average healthy fat loss. Most people who are watching their food choices, eating less processed crap and moving more tend to lose fat at this rate. Nearly everyone loses more weight in their first few weeks than later on. This is because of a number of factors. The main factor is homeostasis – your body does not like change and tries to stay the way it was before you began to alter your habits. The other reason is that a lot of the initial weight loss (not fat loss) can be fluid that is freed up as your body adjusts to new food choices and calorie limits.

It is also true that less fat you have to lose the slower you’ll lose it – see homeostasis above…

The miracle results scams usually require you to go a liquid / shake only diet, buy their special calorie controlled diet food or use special pills or / patches. All in all just a way to part you from your money. Again the results of these types of programs tend to be short term and when the pills run out (if not before), the last shake has been taken then the weight comes back. With a vengeance.

(I should point out that there are some Doctor prescribed medicines that do indeed speed metabolism and assist in fat loss, but these are not the ones you see with celebrity endorsements or on TV. Nor are they the ones you can buy over the internet, proper medically supervised liquid only diets do exist and they are used in life threatening circumstances and are administered in medical facilities – not your kitchen.)

But real fat loss, lasting leanness comes from what; when; & how much you eat and how often and how much & often you move. That’s it. No magic potions, pills, patches, foods or bullets exist to do the job for you. None.

Save your money and your emotional well being.

Scam #4: ‘Diet Foods & Foods that cry out ‘Fat Free’!!

My favourite – ‘Fat Free’ they scream from the packaging as if all fat was the enemy (its not) and yet they fail to mention the amount of sugar they have put in to the products to replace the fat, or the amount of indigestable gums they have added to replace the mouth feel of food that has had the fat removed.

Nutritionally these foods are a disaster area and they can actually add to a tendency to put on fat. Most of these pre-packaged, processed ‘fat-free’ foods contain a wide array of additives, such as high fructose corn syrup, refined sugars, MSG, sodium and saturated fats. Yes fat.

You see current US law requires that fat content of greater than five grams be listed in one gram increments, less than five grams be listed in .5 gram increments, and lower than .5 grams as containing zero grams of fat. Thius means that if a product has .49 grams of (any including trans) fat, the label can list the fat content as zero. In the case of trans fats this amount (.49 grams) is way over the recommended daily allowance and could contribute to various adverse health effects.

Moreover most of these foods are low in protein, which as regular readers of this blog know is needed to stimulate your metabolism, maintain and build muscle tone.

In theory, I like the idea of pre-packaged meals to assist in weight loss. They make it easier to control portion sizes but the truth is that they too are examples more of the marketer’s art than of any real fat loss benefit. Plus they tend to be more expensive than real food.

Then there is the issue of dependence – what happens if someone stops using these foods and has not learnt about proper food choices? They return to old habits and the cycle begins again…

So if you’re thinking about using pre-packaged foods because of the convenience factor, just be sure to look at the ingredients and if you see a high amount of sugars and gums put them back on the shelf. After all, many pre-packaged diet foods are stuffed with additives that encourage rather detract from obesity.

Scam #5: Celebrity or fake doctor-endorsed diets.

Celebrities are paid big bucks to endorse products – famously many Hollywood types go to Japan and make millions by endorsing products that have not and never will use.

But they wouldn't use it if it didn't work...

It is not so different in the West. Celebrity endorsement works – people want to be ‘Like Mike,’ they want to be able to identify with their heros – whether from sports or entertainment.

Look use commonsense – if a celebrity is promoting a product the chances are they did not use it to get the way they look, or to gain the effect of the product they are promoting. (I think that Chuck Norris is one of the few who actually used a product they promoted – the body weight gym thing.) Even if the celebrity actually used the product does not mean that it is safe, effective or works – just that the celebrity involved has a bit more integrity than others…

Look don’t trust celebrity advice on weight loss. Particularly if you know they’re being paid to say what the company wants them to say. Just because an actor used to star in your favorite TV show, doesn’t mean they’re suitable to, or qualified to, give you cogent weight loss advice. Remember, most celebs, even the Bor D grade ones, have a whole behind-the-scenes team helping them get, look and stay slim.

Worse still are the Doctors for hire. In Australia we see few medicos endorsing weight loss products, but we do see an endless stream of nutritionists, dieticians and personal trainers doing so. This is not the case in other countries where you can add Doctors for Hire to the advertising mix.

In these cases it is usually some Doctor (often a Dentist, a Chiropractor, Doctor of Philosophy or from some non-medico type) you have never heard of touting some miracle pill / potion / device that is a breakthrough you’ve also never heard of. Just remember he is being paid for his time & endorsement. Many of these Docs for hire hail from fields of study that have as much to do with fat loss as a mechanic has to do with flower arranging.

Scam #6: Toning Shoes & Shake Weights

It seems that everyone has their own version of ‘toning shoes’ out now. Target & K Mart carry in-house brands, and many international footwear companies have their own versions. Does this proliferation mean that they work? Do the celebrity endorsements mean that these are one of the ‘secret’ tricks used by the celebs in question to stay in shape?

No – it just means that the idea behind them is logical enough that a whole lot of people are buying them.

By stimulating various muscle groups through an unstable platform, these shoes supposedly increase both muscle tone and weight loss. Unfortunately testing by various consumer groups have conclusively proven that this is not the case and that the shoes could in fact cause you injury.

Just because a celeb says they use them doesn’t make it true. And even if they do, it doesn’t mean that they work…

Just like Shake Weights.

Apparently there are hundreds of fit, chiselled, lean men & women who shake weights for 15 minutes a day to get in and stay in shape. Entire armies of closet weight shakers…

If you look at the weights involved and how they are supposed to used youn will see that they are closer in concept & performance to those Ab belts of the 70’s & 80’s. or take a look at your local bar tender – he is unlikely to show a musclar physique from all of those cocktails he has shaken and served…

Sorry – they don’t work – the idea that the vibration they provide stimulates your muscles enough to burn significant calories and stimulate muscle growth is laughable.

Stay away from them.

Scam #7: Performance enhancing hologram embedded braclets.

Seriously a piece of silicon rubber with a ‘hologram’ embedded in it is supposed to enhance your athletic ability and therfore assist in developing the body & sport’s perfomance of your dreams. And this piece of ‘technology’ only costs $60 (unless you go to EBay & buy from China where this fashion accessory will cost you about $2)

In Australia they have had to withdraw their claims and offer refunds...

I really don’t have to go any further with this one do I??

So there you have it – some of the top weight loss scams to avoid.

Be well, I’ll be back soon, and focussing on foods you can add to your diet to help you drop the fat..