3 reasons you can’t get rid of belly fat

Ever wonder why you haven't been able to burn belly flab in the past NO MATTER what you've tried?

I’ve got a special guest article below from my buddy and Nutritionist “Coach Josh” that will reveal these flat-belly roadblocks.

The 3 Reason You Can’t Kill Belly Flab

Doctors agree that internal belly flab is the most deadly kind of body fat there is. Studies show it dramatically increases the chance of illness such as heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s, stroke, and even depression (suicide).

And if that wasn’t bad enough, that dreaded belly bulge makes us look unattractive and it can demolish our self-esteem and confidence to boot.

But, what makes this situation even more frustrating is the fact that belly flab is considered by many to be the most stubborn and impossible weight to penetrate and burn. It’s like the “Fort Knox” of body fat. Here’s why:

PROBLEM #1: Your Hormones Are Out of Whack: Chronic stress causes your body to release a fat-storing hormone called cortisol. The more cortisol your body releases, the more belly flab you store. Plus, eating the wrong foods causes the fat-storing hormone insulin to skyrocket, while a fat-burning hormone called glucagon gets turned off. (Hello, belly flab!)

PROBLEM #2: Your Belly-Burning Furnace Is Busted: When you want to lose a lot of weight, you should cut calories for long periods of time, right?

WRONG.

Cutting calories magnifies nutrient deficiencies in your body. This results in severe cravings as your brain sends emergency “low nutrient signals” to your stomach to eat more food.

Problem is, most people end up eating more “nutrient-dead food” which causes cravings to completely spiral out of control. (If you feel hungry all the time, now you know why.)

After about a week of dieting, your body is genetically programmed to fight back by lowering the hormones responsible for keeping your metabolism humming along (like the calorie-burning thyroid hormones). At the same time, it will increase the “hunger hormone” leptin. (Double whammy.)

As a result, your weight loss will come to a screeching halt, lickity split.

At this point, to keep burning fat you’ll be forced to reduce your calories even lower, and/or do MORE exercise. (Not fun… I’ve been there.)

PROBLEM #3: Your Food Is Laced with Obesity Additives: GIANT food manufacturers make BIG bucks creating “Frankenstein foods” that are stripped of belly-burning nutrients and stuffed full of dirt-cheap, artificial preservatives that make your belly bulge.

I call these chemicals Obesity Additives and studies show:
They cause a mineral imbalance that results in bloating and excess water weight.
They addict us by altering brain chemicals called neurotransmitters – just like the street drugs cocaine, morphine and nicotine do!

They cause pounds of “toxic waste” to accumulate in our digestive tracks. (Believe me, that belly bulge or “pooch” is not all belly flab.)

Those are the 3 BIG obstacles keeping you from EVER getting a flat belly. But don’t worry: there are 3 SNEAKY TRICKS you can use to quickly overcome these MAMMOTH problems.

Here is the first one

SNEAKY TRICK #1: The Calorie Confusion Method^™: We’ve already established that severely cutting calories causes massive cravings along with a sudden drop in belly-burning hormones (if done longer than a week).

But, if you don’t diet, how can you lose weight? Good question. The solution is to simply change the number of calories you eat every 7 days just before your body “catches on” to what you’re doing and adjusts your fat-burning hormones. 

Now, I’m not talking about indulging in a few “cheat meals,” I’m talking about actually changing the number of calories you eat every 7 days in a row. 

This is my Calorie Confusion Method^™ and if you do it the rightway (and there is a wrong way to do this), you will fix your broken metabolism and trick your body into continuously burning excess calories and unattractive belly fat, WITHOUT hitting a plateau or igniting a tidal wave of hunger and cravings in the process.

15 Foods that Kill Belly Fat Fast < ====== CLICK HERE

Who Else Wants a More Firm Butt & Lean Legs

Want to know the best exercises to firm up your butt?

Want the best interval training programs to burn fat from your legs?

Thanks to Women's Health magazine contributor, Craig Ballantyne and my friend I have just the perfect program for you.

Oh by the way my friend Craig =, you my have seen him in Shape magazine, Prevention, and Muscle n Fitness Hers. He does women's workouts in all those magazines.

In 04 Craig created a program called "Booty for Life" for apersonal training client. And while that program was awesome, he spent an entire week last month improving the workouts AND adding a brand new 4-week fat burning, butt-firming phase to the program...

...and he renamed it, "Booty for Wife (and all the single ladies!)".

Why did he rename and redo the program?

Well, the original name was bit of a joke, and it was a little too close to "Body for Life", and Craig didn't want anyone (i.e. Bill Phillips) to get upset when his Booty program got really popular.

So he made a simple little name change...

now he just has to hope that Beyonce doesn't sue him!

But seriously, and more importantly, Craig updated the original program and added 3 new workouts and some booty-building exercises to the plan, including:

- Lateral lunges
- 1-leg bodyweight deadlifts
- dumbbell lunges
- kettlebell swings
- dumbbell deep step-ups
- 1-leg bodyweight bench squats

Those go with all of the other booty exercises in the program, including split squats, 1-leg hip extensions, regular step-ups, and reverse lunges.

And Craig subbed in more bodyweight exercises so you don't need to use dumbbells as much for the rest of the workouts. Some of the new exercises you'll get are:

- Stability Ball Cross-Body Mountain Climber (great for abs/obliques)
- Close-Grip 3/4 Rep Pushups (awesome for sculpting your triceps)
- Stability Ball Pike (for hard-core abs)

Plus, you'll get SIX different fat burning interval training
programs, and interval training has been shown to reduce thigh fat
in research studies.

Whew. There's a lot in there for you, and to celebrate the re-release of Booty for Wife, I've asked Craig to put together an amazing special offer just for you.

You'll get all of these for free...

1) The TT Booty for Wife (all the single ladies) 12-Week Program
2) The TT Female Bodysculpting 4-Week Workout
3) 30-Days in the TT Member's Website & Forum
4) The TT for Hot Chicks 4-Week Workout
5) The NEW "TT Bodyweight Cardio 3" Workout

...when you get your half-price copy of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss Program for only $19.95.

(That's $10 less than if you were to buy Booty for Wife on its own!)

So you could get Booty for Wife for $29.95 or you could get Booty for Wife plus Turbulence Training plus all of those other bonuses all for only $19.95.

I think that's an easy choice, don't you?

Click here to get this amazing special offer today:

Firm But and Sexy Legs Program

Plenty of time to sculpt that booty before you hit the beach on your next holiday.

By the way, just listen to this incredible feedback on the program:

"I just finished section 2 of the Booty for Wife series. I feel
strong and super fit and I've gotten so many compliments lately
that I know it has to be the program! I start the 3rd section
tomorrow and it looks tough and I can't wait. I know that in 4
weeks I'm going to be amazed at myself. And, I am so looking
forward to doing the chin ups. I hoping I can do at least one to
start and by 4 weeks I want to be doing 5 or more. This is a really
great 3 month program and if you haven't tried it you really
should."
- Debbie D., TT Member

If you are in Atlanta and looking for private training feel free to Contact me here

A Flat Stomach And Situps - Is This the Best Approach

Working out takes lots of time and effort, especially if you're trying to lose fat and get lean. I think everyone wants a six pack or at least a nice flat stomach, so they spend endless hours in the gym working out to achieve these goals.

But are you going about it the wrong way...

• are you spending half your workout doing core exercises in effort to lose belly fat.

• have you been doing situps and crunches but are not seeing a great set of abs

Check out my latest post on losing belly fat for strong sexy core.

Click the Link below

http://www.mensfitnessandmore.com/2010/want-to-lose-belly-fat-stop-the-ab-workouts/04/12/

 Core work is essential to a strong, healthy, and fit you. But will all this work result in a flat stomach you can be proud of and want. To find out be sure to...

click the link below
click here --- Belly Fat and Core Work

Contact me here

Number One Mistake All Women Make

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author of Turbulence Training

Following the cardio mentality and depending on the cardio confessional is the biggest mistake that all women make when it comes to fat loss.

Let me explain...

The other morning I was on my way back from my workout when I passed by a young women, who I would say was around 28. she was on the phone chatting to a friend and I overheard her saying that she was out for a walk getting some exercise, because she was going out for a bad dinner later that night.

And I just wanted to stop her and say, "No - no - no! it doesn't work that way. It never has, it never will."

You'll never out exercise a bad diet!

Every woman I've ever met has made this mistake. They all have had that "cardio confessional mindset" at one time or another, guys are not excluded either.

If lucky this young lady will probably burn around 300-500 calories from her walk, now that is if it is a long walk. On the other hand she's likely to eat an extra 400-700 calories at supper, that may just be the appetizer or drinks. quick side note, I'm assuming you had dinner refers to the meal and not a miserable dinner at the in-laws or something along those lines.

It is crucial that everybody understand, one cardio session cannot make up for bad meal choices.

Now you might be thinking, "At least it's better than nothing."

But is it?

Remember, as I've mentioned in the past, one British study found that some people OVEREAT in response to cardio exercise.

So when dinner comes around, this poor girl might think, "Oh, I did that long walk today, so I can treat myself to a bigger dinner or dessert."

The only thing that comes close to beating a bad diet is interval training and resistance training.

Back in 2007, an Australian research study on interval training was getting a LOT of press for the surprising results. In the study, women who did interval training were able to lose belly fat without changing their diet.

In fact, one subject, named Louise, said this: "My diet was pretty bad back then, with lots of sweets, lots of junk food...doughnuts and sugar -- it was awful."

And yet by the end of this study, interval training helped Louise burn 8kg of fat in just 15 weeks - WITHOUT changing her diet.

Perhaps it IS POSSIBLE for you to out-train a bad diet - but only if you use interval training.

And that's just another reason the best short, burst fat burning workouts are based on this specific type of fat burning exercise.

So here's what you need to do:

1. Give up the notion that cardio will fix a bad diet, and understand that you can't out jog a bad diet.
2. Stick to your simple lifestyle nutrition plan 90% of the time and then enjoy your 10% reward meals GUILT-FREE.
3. Use interval training to burn the fat and resistance training to sculpt your body.
   

It's that simple - a 3-step system for fat loss success that is guaranteed to work every time.

Click the link below to try out a proven program that shows you EXACTLY what to do:

click here => Try Turbulence Training

Enjoy guilt-free eating and fat loss with this mindset.

Contact me here

Pizza as diet food

About a month ago friend and fat loss nutrition guru Joel Marion released a program called “Cheat Your Way Thin.” It is a system that scientifically teaches you how to use your favorite foods such as pizza, ice cream, pancakes, burgers and the likes to accelerate fat loss. His program works by overriding your body’s starvation protection mechanisms. So when done strategically you can actually lose fast FASTER by CHEATING.

As crazy a claim that may sound, let me assure you, it’s not!

Joel has done his homework. After 6 years and 308 research papers on the regulation of human body weight and metabolism plus years of working with “real life” clients Joel has developed the complete Cheat Your Way Thin system.

Now, when Joel first released the full 7-component package (including manuals, audios, video, workbooks, and checklists) last month, he also ran a special 3-day promotion in which people were able to get the entire package at less than half price.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to thoroughly review the product until just a couple weeks ago, now that I have had the chance to I can say that he has put together a great package.

BUT, check this out:

I just spoke to Joel and he’s agreed to open up that same less than half price 3-day sale again for my readers since we missed it the first time around!

Pretty sweet, huh?

if you want to learn that full system that Joel's clients use to literally eat whatever they want while stripping away fat faster than most "dieters" ever could, you CAN--but don’t pay full price.

In fact, don’t even pay HALF price.

As my subscriber, for the next three days you have the opportunity to grab hold of this ground-breaking fat loss information at LESS THAN HALF PRICE.

Just use the below special link to access the “hidden” page on Joel’s site:

back door to Joels site

Again, do NOT go to CheatYourWayThin.com and pay DOUBLE like everyone else is doing right now. Instead, use this special link:

back door entrance

[[firstname]], if you've ever hit a diet plateau, if you've ever struggled to see the number on the scale change, or if you've ever felt guilty after eating something you "shouldn't have" while dieting, then you owe it to yourself to check out this powerful, game-changing information.

Frankly, I’m excited to share Joel's program with you because I know it’s going to help so many people finally "click" with dieting and fat loss.

Here’s to your upcoming success!


Jason, CSCS

P.S. Get ready to see some powerful testimonials and before and after pictures when you visit the site. Not only is this program scientifically based, but it’s been proven to work in the REAL world with real people time and time again.

Eat Pizza and Lose Weight Diet

P.P.S. One last thing: Attached to the "Add to Cart" Button on the site is a little icon that I want to specifically point out to you--it's a 60 Day, Money-back Guarantee. This way, you KNOW when you click “Add to Cart”, you're protected.

Essentially, you can try Joel’s entire system for a full 60 days completely risk-free. With that kind of guarantee, the only thing you’ve got to lose is your stubborn body fat!

Atlanta Personal Training - Contact me here

The "Great" Nutrition Debates part 2

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The Top 6 Displacing Debates

Part 2

Article By:Dr John M Berardi, CSCS
This is part 2, for the rest of the article visit Part 1

4. Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

Speaking of beverage consumption, people are dehydrated because they drink too little water while drinking too many caffeinated, diuretic drinks (coffee, soda, and alcohol). Dehydration leads to all sorts of health problems for the inactive, not to mention the decrements in athletic performance seen in dehydrated athletes.

But rather than simply promoting the heck out of water consumption, experts will bicker on and on about tap water vs. bottled water. Sure, good quality bottled water is usually a better choice, but don’t be one of these people who stay away from tap water, forget to pick up their bottled water, and simply remain dehydrated.

What to do? Drink sufficient water first; worry about the source later. (Of course, you may want to avoid drinking out of puddles next to pig farms in Uganda.) Put a water filter on your tap or buy one of those filter jugs you store in your fridge and be done with it.

5. Glass vs. Plastic
And how about the bottles the water comes in? That’s right, the glass vs. plastic debate. Just the other day, I was recommending that a group of my athletes pick up some Tupperware so they could whip up all of their meals and shakes in the morning. It’s easy to make a good food choice during the day when you’ve got all your good food with you, pre-cooked, pre-wrapped, and ready to be eaten.

After the talk, one of the athletes came up to me and told me he avoids Tupperware altogether because of the potential leeching of xenoestrogens into his food. When I asked what he uses to store his food in, he told me he doesn’t even preplan his meals. He also told me he needed to lose fifteen pounds and that he was overweight because his nutrition sucked!

Buddy, I agree that glass containers may be marginally better than plastic, but for the love of God, pick up some plastic if it'll help you plan your meals! And this was a world-class athlete! You can imagine how the average guy fares!

What to do? Plan your meals in advance, storing them in woven baskets if necessary. Buy the best containers you can afford. If you can get the glass versions, great; if not, the generic plastic ones will do just fine.

6 . Free Range vs. Extremely Limited Range Meat
Most weightlifters eat lots of protein and that’s no mistake. One of the best ways to get all that protein is by eating a lot of protein and micronutrient-rich lean meat. Protein supplements are okay to supplement your diet, but real food should be your nutritional mainstay and there’s nothing better than good ol’ fashioned lean meat.

Since eating more protein can increase metabolic rate, improve your weight loss profile, increase protein turnover, accelerate exercise adaptation, and (when replacing dietary carbohydrate) decrease the chance of cardiovascular disease, it should be clear that most people would do well to increase their consumption of lean meat.

So imagine the dismay someone might experience when hearing that the experts are now bickering about the type of meat we consume. Many experts muddy the waters when discussing free range vs. grain fed meat, telling people that grain fed meat (the only kind you can find in many grocery stores in North America) is full of toxins, bad fats, and hormones.

Sure, free-range meat is probably a better choice, although there’s little proof the supposed toxins and hormones actually get passed on to us. But again, imagine you’re someone with a lifetime of eating habits that are less than optimal and you’re exposed to all this bickering about lean protein. What do you do? Well, when you’re afraid of the meat you have access to, you shy away from all types of lean meat and reach for another bagel. Bad choice!

What to do? Find the best meat you can by going around to various grocery shops and butchers. Owners of health food stores may also be able to help you locate the best stuff. But don’t be afraid to eat the meat you find in your grocery store — the reports of your impending death are greatly exaggerated.

These are just a few of the displacing debates gaining momentum in the nutrition world. Do your best to get past the marginalia, to get past the differences between all the new programs, and try to discover for yourself the basic principles all the successful programs seem to be built upon. Most importantly, when faced with a choice between two good options, one of which may be marginally better than the other, but both of which would be an improvement over what you're currently doing, just pick one and go with it. You can optimize later, as long as you make an improvement now.

There's no debating that.

SEE ALSO:
For more great training and nutrition wisdom, check out our complete system, Precision Nutrition. Containing system manuals, gourmet cookbook, digital audio/video library, online membership, and more, Precision Nutrition will teach you everything you need to know to get the body you want -- guaranteed.

And what's more, your online access allows you to talk exercise and nutrition 24/7 with thousands of fellow members and the Precision Nutrition coaches.

Atlanta area personal and group training.
Weight Loss and Performance Training In the Atlanta area?

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jason@inthegym.info

Follow the Path of MOST Resistance!

Training and Looking for a Personal Fitness Coach In Atlanta

Why weight training is the fast track to sculpting your body.

Resistance is NOT futile! When it comes to changing your body for the better quickly and permanently, nothing comes close to good old-fashioned weight training.

The shape of your body is determined by three things: muscle, bone and fat. While there's really nothing you can do about changing your bone structure, there is a whole lot you can do about muscle and fat. This ratio of muscle to fat is commonly known as your body composition.

And what is the fastest way to change your body composition? Weight training. Why is it so effective? Because it builds muscle.

Muscle is the key to changing your body. While fat certainly gives your body shape, muscle is what gives you the shape you actually WANT!

One of the greatest things about muscle is that it burns calories all day long, even when you're lying on the couch. What this means is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn during the day and the more you'll be able to eat without gaining weight. Sound interesting? There's more.

Weight training stimulates your metabolism more than aerobic training such as cycling or walking. This means that you'll continue to burn calories long AFTER you've completed your weight training session. The calorie-burning effect of aerobic training generally declines rapidly once you stop the exercise.

Beginning trainers, who are just starting with exercise, are often under the impression that they should stay away from weight training because they might gain weight before they start losing it.

I like to use a car as an analogy. Imagine your body is a car, your muscles are the cylinders in the engine, and your bodyfat is the gas.

With a four-cylinder car, you only burn a minimum amount of gas/fat. Weight training and building more muscle is the equivalent of putting more cylinders into your engine. As you can imagine, you'll burn a whole lot more gas even while idling! And, just like a car with more cylinders, you'll be a lot more powerful too!

The bottom line to you is this...with more muscle, you'll get greater fat loss with less effort.

While it certainly is a possibility that you could gain weight before losing it, if you gauge your success solely by numbers on a scale then you're not getting an accurate picture of yourself. Measure your progress by how you feel, how you look and how well your clothes are fitting, not by which direction the needle on a measuring device is moving.

At the end of the day, I'm not suggesting for a moment that you should eliminate cardiovascular training from your exercise routine, but, if you are struggling to lose fat and keep it off, weight training may be just the thing you need to lose that fat and keep it off for good!

For more information on resistance exercises you can do at home, go to:

http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Begin/exercises.htm

For more information on weight training exercises you can do at the gym, including optimized exercise technique, tricks for improving the exercise and common errors, go to:

http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Exercises.htm

------------------

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at (http://www.fitness-ebooks.com). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

Atlanta area personal fitness coach that comes to you.
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Sample Workout

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Full Body Workout

The workout below is an example of what a full body workout looks like. No equipment or gym is needed so you can do it while traveling for business or vacation. The workout is easy to modify for all fitness levels. A beginner can take their time as they go through the workout, resting 30 - 60 seconds between each exercise. An advanced person could do 50 reps of each, go through the circuit multiple times. At the advanced level, no matter what they decide to do, the circuit will always be done as fast as possible. For those past the beginner stage but not yet advanced can a mixture of things. Reps can be increased allowing rest between exercise, repeat the circuit multiple time with a short rest between circuits, or see how fast the circuit can be completed.

The variables are endless allowing a different workout each time and that progresses as you do. Just because you are traveling or do not have access to a gym there is no excuse not to get a great workout in. Have fun and burn some fat.

5 Bodyweight Rows

10 Bodyweight Sumo Squats
15 bodyweight squats
15 Pushups
50 jumping jacks
10 spiderman climbs
10 reverse lunges, per leg
25 bicycle crunches

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Atlanta area personal fitness coach that comes to you.
Weight Loss In the Atlanta area?

Email: weightworkout@yahoo.ca
Internationally Certified Strength Coach

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Get in Shape the Tabata Way

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Tabata, Short Bursts to Big Results

Tabata is the name of a Japanese researcher who discovered a way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It's an excellent training program that seems to fit across all training disciplines for athletes looking to increase their VO₂max and lose fat quickly.

What is it? It's simple: after warming up, take one exercise and perform it in the following manner:

1. For twenty seconds, do as many reps as possible, or run, bike as hard as you can
2. Rest for ten seconds
3. Repeat seven more times!

Eight sets of "as many reps as you can get done," followed with a brief ten second rest— simple and effective. This isn't "eight sets of eight," although the goal of doing eight reps in each of the twenty second clusters is about right. Instead it's "as many reps as I can get in" during the twenty seconds, followed by ten seconds rest. If running, biking, or rowing, go as hard as you can.

The best exercise options for the Tabata method are exercises that use a large number of muscles such as, squats, front squats, dead lifts, thrusters, sprints, stationary bike, rowing machine,

Use the "lowest rep number" of any of the eight sets as your measurement to compare workout to workout. If you go too heavy, that last set may be two. If you go too light, you might get around 15 reps or more.

And by the way, ten seconds is not getting a drink, looking in the mirror, talking to the cute girl on the bike, looking at the clock, walking back to the bar, chalking up, adjusting the belt, talking to a friend, then doing the next set. Ten second is ten seconds! No cheating!

Why should you do this workout? The Tabata program might be the single best "fat burning workout" that I know, not to mention the increase in VO₂max. It might only be four minutes, but you seem to keep sweating and breathing hard for a long time afterwards. Tabata truly teaches a person the mental focus needed to push and to help reach their athletic goals.

Using a GYMBOSS makes timing Tabata intervals easy, simply set timer to a work interval of 20 seconds followed by rest interval of 10 seconds alarming with your choice of beep, vibrate or both! Timer continues these intervals until you stop! Or drop!

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The Atkins Diet

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Separating Fact From Fiction

Have you ever wished for a diet where you ate bacon, eggs,
red meat, butter and sausage all day? Surprise!
It's not the Atkins Diet.

The Atkins Diet has been in existence for over 30 years and has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last few years.

Pioneered by Dr. Robert Atkins, the theory behind the Atkins Diet is simple. Your body prefers to utilize carbohydrates (such as in grains, cereals, breads, etc.) for energy and will burn them first prior to body fat. By cutting down dramatically on carbohydrates in your diet, you force your body to burn fat for energy.

Reducing the carbohydrates in your diet puts your body into a state called "ketosis." This word is derived from the "ketones" that are used by your body for energy when sugars/carbs aren't available. When you are in this state of ketosis, your body is producing ketones from your fat that is being burned for energy. Ketones are essentially the leftovers from this process and are used in place of sugar in the body.

One of the major misconceptions about the Atkins Diet that has been widely reported is that you can or should eat extremely unhealthy, fatty foods all the time. This is not actually true. Dr. Atkins recommends that you limit your intake of these types of foods (e.g. butter, sausage, bacon, etc.) and instead focus on healthy fats such as olive oil, fish oil, nuts, etc.

The Atkins Diet has many positives and negatives that have been associated with it. Some of the positives include:

• Rapid Weight Loss - though the first couple of days the majority of weight lost is water, your body does become more efficient at fat burning and you do lose fat.
  
  
• Reduced Mood or Energy Swings - eating carbohydrates (especially sugary ones) can lead to mood and energy swings. This is often seen as the post-lunchtime or afternoon energy crash. When you eliminate the carbs, you eliminate the source of this problem.
  
  
• Reduced Consumption of Refined Foods - highly refined foods are the source of many health problems. The more processed a food is, the less nutrients are generally in it. The Atkins Diet encourages a focus on the consumption of more natural state foods such as vegetables, lean meats, fish, eggs and healthy oils.

Some of the negatives that have been associated with the Atkins Diet include:

• Rapid Regaining of Lost Weight - this can happen when a person comes off the Atkins Diet. They regain all the weight they lost. One of the major reasons for this is that when you eliminate the carbs from your diet for a long period of time, your body becomes more sensitive to them. When you go back to your regular eating habits (which may not have been great to begin with), your body reacts more strongly to the sugar and carbs in foods, leading to weight gain. This weight gain can be reduced by easing off the Atkins Diet gradually rather than by feasting on carbohydrates.
  
  
• Lack of Food Choices - it can be difficult to find things to eat that are low carb. Most grocery stores are primarily stocked with carbohydrate-laden foods and it can get boring eating the same things over and over again. Luckily, with the popularity of the Atkins diet and other low carb diets, there are many delicious recipes available to help alleviate this boredom.

The Atkins Diet may not be for you but by incorporating some of the principles in it, such as lowering your carbohydrate intake and eating more natural-state foods, you may find that you can achieve great results without ever having to restrict yourself. It may take a little longer but the results will be more permanent as it is more of a lifestyle change than a diet.

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Weight Loss In the Atlanta area?

Email: weightworkout@yahoo.ca
Certified Strength Coach

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Fat-Loss Circuit Training

fat-burning, metabolism-boosting training technique

Want to burn off that holiday weight gain as quickly as humanly possible? Fat-Loss Circuit Training is the BEST place to start.

Fat-Loss Circuit Training is a program of my own invention. I developed it for losing fat quickly. It's challenging but very effective!

Fat-Loss Circuit Training is very simple once you get the hang of it, but it can be one of the most demanding (and most extraordinarily effective) styles of training you can do.

If you're familiar with normal circuit training (with timed, light-weight intervals), please put aside any notions you might have of how this program works. You will not only be harnessing the muscle-building and metabolism-stimulating power of intense, full-set weight training (NOT the typical light-weight, timed intervals of normal circuit training), you will also be incorporating the great calorie-burning effects of cardiovascular training.

The proper combination of the two styles (weights and cardio) into one workout is, quite simply, phenomenal for fat burning.

In order to use Fat-Loss Circuit Training, you will need access to both weight equipment and cardio equipment (and/or benches or stairs), preferably located in fairly close proximity to each other.

This type of training is harder to do in a crowded gym as it will involve you moving back and forth quickly between different pieces of equipment. If someone is waiting to use your cardio machine the moment you step off, it will defeat the purpose of the workout. This technique is best used in a fairly uncrowded gym where you have more freedom to use equipment or, better yet, in a home gym with weights and cardio equipment and no one waiting for anything!

If you do work out in a crowded gym, I will tell you exactly how to get around it.

How The Training Works:

- Essentially, this is combined circuit/interval training.

- You will be going back and forth between your weight training exercises and one cardio exercise for the duration of the workout.

- Your rest period for weights will be your cardio and your rest period for cardio will be your weights.

- You will be doing some sort of activity for your entire workout without any break!

This combination is very effective for a number of reasons:

- It forces your body to burn calories continuously during the workout.

- It utilizes resistance training and cardio training so you get all the benefits of both in one workout.

- By forcing your body to work like this, you dramatically increase your metabolism leading to increased fat burning long after the workout (more so than either weights or cardio alone).

- It saves time - you get both your weights and cardio in the same amount of time as your regular workout.

- You will still be able to use heavy weights in your weight training, helping to preserve muscle mass.

How To Do It:

Step 1 - Set Up

For the most efficient workout possible, try to have most or all of your exercises pre-set and ready to go. The less time you spend on preparation during your workout itself, the more effective that workout will be, especially since you want to be continually active throughout the workout. You can use any type of cardio that is convenient and enjoyable to you, be it a machine, stair stepping, or even a skipping rope.

If you are working out in a crowded gym, try to claim an area for yourself and focus on dumbbell exercises. You won't have to wait in line to use any weight machines that way.

If you don't have access to convenient cardio machines, you're going to have to go low-tech. You'll need to do stair-stepping (stepping up two stairs then back down works well), bench-stepping (step up onto a flat bench or Step platform then back down) or rope-jumping (be sure you're not close to anyone if you choose this). These approaches work just as well as cardio machines and allow you to perform this training style in a busier setting.

If the stair-stepping method is what you need to use, have a look at the stepping pattern demonstrated here

Step 2 - Warm-up

Do a few minutes of low-intensity cardio as a warm-up. You may wish to do a few light sets of a few of the exercises you'll be working with before you start into it though. Don't tire yourself out, just get a light sweat going.

Step 3 - Start with 30 - 40 seconds of moderate intensity cardio.

This could be setting a stair machine to a level that is not easy but is not so challenging that you're going to exhaust yourself right away. Watch the timer on your machine and go for approximately 40 seconds (I say approximately because there will generally be a slight lag time when you step on and off).

Many cardio machines have a "rest period" feature where you can leave the machine on and it will not erase your program while you have stepped off. Normally, this is about 2 minutes. This should be enough time to complete your weight set.

If you are using a machine such as a treadmill or stair machine that you will leave on with the timer running, just watch the time counter on the machine and keep track of when you get on it to get the designated period. It may require a little mental math! You can also use the GYMBOSS timer, this is easier. Start the timer when you start the cardio.

Many machines also have a feature that runs through a series of time periods. I've found on the StairMaster, if you set the length of the session to 20 minutes, this results in a 40 second time period making it perfect for judging your cardio periods.

Step 4 - Do a set of weights.

Go as quickly as you can to your first exercise. Do a set of the first exercise on your program for the day. Do this with no rest, going from the cardio immediately to the weights. Do all your reps until you start to approach muscular failure.

While this is definitely still intense weight training, don't push yourself to muscular failure as you would in your regular training. Due to the high training volume we'll be doing in this program, pushing to failure on every set will compromise muscle recovery.

Also, be very sure to use proper form and tempo when lifting the weights. Don't rush your weight sets - perform them with the same form and speed as you would if you were doing a regular set in your training. Fast, light or sloppy weight sets are NOT what we're looking for here.

Step 5 - Go right back to the cardio.

Get back to the cardio and do another 40 seconds of moderate-intensity cardio.

Step 6 - Repeat the cycle for the duration of the workout.

You will be going back and forth continuously between cardio and your weight training exercises, using the cardio as the rest period between your weight sets. What this means is that over the course of your workout, you'll be burning calories via cardio and weights AND you'll be working your muscles with intense, heavy weight training as well. It's tough training but very effective!

Notes:

- As you improve your cardio ability, you can choose to increase the intensity of your cardio training between sets. You may wish to start at a lower level and gradually increase the resistance over the course of the workout or start at a higher level and keep it there. It is perfectly acceptable to keep it at a steady, moderate level, however.

- This Fat-Loss Circuit technique can be used with nearly any form of cardio exercise as long as it is convenient to go back and forth with the weights. The real key here is to maintain activity for the entire workout.

- Keep your workouts to no more than 45 minutes at the very most when doing this type of training. Any more than that and you will be breaking yourself down too much. It's an extremely demanding form of training as you'll be working every major energy system in your body. You will also find it will crank your metabolism up pretty seriously!

For a sample workout to follow, taken directly from "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss" ebook,

You will be able to print this workout and take it to the gym with you to try out.

Want to order "Metabolic Surge" right now for the low price of only $29.95?
Your new body is waiting for you!

------------------

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of". He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

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Unconventional Fat Loss - Hybrid Training

Hybrid Training for Fat Loss

Adapting to the strength curve of an exercise is not a new concept - some do it through machines designed for the job...some do it by working on partial movements.

But literally COMBINING two different forms of resistance into one exercise? THIS is not something you see every day. And, strictly speaking, even the concept of combining two different forms of resistance itself isn't new - band training is a TREMENDOUSLY effective way to increase bench press, squats and deadlifts. Powerflifters do this all the time.

The idea I had was to not only ADD another form of resistance but also change the DIRECTION that secondary form of resistance was coming from.

This idea first occurred to me when I was doing dumbbell presses. I thought to myself, "hmmm...I'm getting great tension at the bottom of the exercise...I wonder if there's a way that I can increase the tension at the top, too?"

So I went over to the cable cross-over machine and set the two handles on the low pulleys. I set the bench in the very center then reached over and grabbed the one pulley handle, then reached over and grabbed the other. After sitting back up on the bench, I then leaned forward and picked up the dumbbells.

What followed was one of THE most eye-opening sets of bench press I had EVER done...

Picture this...when you're doing a dumbbell bench press, you get maximum tension at the bottom of the exercise. But as you press up to the top, the leverage changes and you lose most of that tension. By the time you're at the top of the exercise, you've lost pretty much all of it unless you're actively squeezing the muscles.

Now picture this...when you're doing a flat bench cable flye exercise (which is same as dumbbell flyes but with cables), you get practically NO tension at the bottom, but, as you bring your hands together above, you get MAXIMUM tension at the top, with the cables pulling directly out to the sides.

Got those two exercises visualized in your head? Good. Now mash them together...

Imagine the cable handles AND dumbbells in your hands AT THE SAME TIME.

This time, when you do the press, you're going to get maximum tension from the dumbbells at the bottom and almost no tension from the cables.

But, as you press up and lose tension in the dumbbell press, the CABLE tension starts kicking in. By the time you've hit the top, the cables are at MAXIMUM tension.

The result? A dumbbell bench press where your pecs get NO BREAK WHATSOEVER. The tension is just INCREDIBLE. I would say that one of these sets is worth THREE normal sets.

When I did this exercise for the very first time (and naturally, because it felt so good, I did too many sets!), I couldn't bring my arms across my body without them starting to shake.

And, of course, I couldn't stop there. I went ahead and came up with exercises like this for the ENTIRE body.

The Verdict:

A definite winner! This training technique has tremendous potential for increasing strength and muscle mass fast. I train with this technique regularly and, let me tell you, I KNOW there's a difference in how these exercises affect muscle growth and strength compared to standard exercises.

If you're interested in checking out a bicep exercise using this technique, check out this article:

Cable-Barbell Curls - "Hybrid Training" For Incredible Biceps!

And if you're interested in learning more about the rest of these "Hybrid" exercises I mentioned, check out the e-book "Hybrid Training."

It has ALL the exercises I've come up with using this technique, covering the ENTIRE body. This is POWERFUL stuff.

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Unconventional Fat Loss

Cold Water Immersion

With this technique, the basic idea is this: submerge your body in cold water and let it bring your body temperature down enough to cause shivering. Shivering is almost completely fueled by fat, specifically the brown fat of the body (this is fat that is more metabolically active - the stuff that makes you look fat is known as white fat).

Also, the hormone release in response to the stress of cold water immersion may lead to an increase in metabolic rate.

I came across this cold water immersion idea in a past issue of Muscle & Fitness and the research they presented to back up the idea looked interesting so I decided to give it a try!

The exact study they quoted involved performing activity while in cold water but since I didn't have a big cold water tank, I decided to try it out with just the shivering in a tub.

Three times a week for a month, I filled a tub up with cold water and went in and started shivering. Now when I say cold water, there wasn't a hint of warmth in it - it wasn't ice water but was probably about 50 degrees F.

Let me tell you, you can really find out what you're made of when you're faced with a tub full of cold water that you have to get into! You step in, lay down up to your neck then just stay there for 20 minutes. You'll start shivering pretty quickly!

** Naturally, watch out for signs that you're getting TOO cold - we don't want hypothermia here! If you start breathing rapidly or you can't touch your index finger to your thumb, stand up out of the tub and turn on a warm shower to heat yourself back up.

The Verdict:

I DID actually notice some results over and above what I've experienced with standard fat-loss programs. It wasn't a HUGE difference but I definitely did see a difference. If you want to burn fat while lying down, this is about the only way to do it!

The cold water also has an AMAZING diuretic effect on the body - it flushes subcutaneous (under the skin) water out of your body FAST. I think (and this is just my theory) this is another survival mechanism of the body - when your body starts losing heat rapidly (as it does in cold water), it immediately tries to flush out the best conductor of that heat (which is water). I noticed a major difference in muscle definition immediately after getting out of the cold water.

This MAY be a good technique if you have some stubborn fat you'd like to get rid of AND you're willing to sit in a cold tub 3 times a week for 20 to 30 minutes. The hormones released (specifically norepinephrine is one that has been mentioned in conjunction with cold water immersion) have the ability to unlock those stubborn fat cells.

You'll have to weigh these factors to decide if you want to try it.

One other bonus...you'll develop GREAT resistance to cold weather by doing this regularly. Your body will be better able to maintain core temperature because you're training it to adapt to cold.

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How To Take Full Advantage Of Holiday

How To Take Full Advantage Of Holiday Eating and Weight Gain

'Tis the season to stuff yourself full of food! Find out
how to turn the tables and turn your holiday weight gain
into holiday muscle gain.

You know you're going to do it. You know you want to do it. It's what makes the holidays the holidays. What is it? Eating piles of holiday food.

This article is not about how to minimize holiday weight gain. That topic has been addressed many times before and will no doubt be addressed many more times to come. What I'm talking about here is how to use your increased holiday eating to your advantage in your training.

For many trainers (myself included), it's just no fun being good at the buffet table all the time. It's very easy to take the joy out of the holidays by restricting yourself too much.

I propose something different. Rather than forcing yourself to eat plain potatoes and dry turkey when your whole family is sitting down to a big holiday dinner, join in. I'm going to tell you how to make it work for you, not against you.

#1 - Forgive yourself in advance

If you're the type who feels guilty when you eat foods that aren't the greatest for you, try to set that aside. This is going to be a positive, guilt-free experience.

#2 - Reduce your calories BEFORE your big meals

By reducing your caloric intake before the big meals, it's much more likely that your body will use those excess calories to rebuild depleted stores rather than add to the ones that are already there. Don't starve yourself or your body will panic and try to store everything it gets as fat - just reduce.

#3 - Do a hard, heavy workout as close to mealtime as you can

Immediately after a hard workout, your body is desperate for raw materials to rebuild with. This effect lasts for about 3 to 4 hours. During this time, your body is primed for muscle growth. By doing your workout just before a big holiday dinner, all that food is going to go towards helping your body rebuild and recover from the workout. Very little, if any, of the excess calories you eat will be stored as fat under these conditions.

#4 - Try to focus on foods with some nutritional value

Feel free to load your plate with turkey and mashed potatoes. These foods have a great deal of nutritional value to a trainer. Don't hold back on them.

#5 - Increase your training volume

What this basically means is do more sets for each muscle group. You may have to decrease your rest periods or perhaps increase the number of training sessions you do in order to increase the volume but doing more sets (at least temporarily) will give your metabolism a kick-start. It will be especially effective if you're doing a fairly low volume training program before switching. Your body will be desperate for food to rebuild with and a big holiday meal is just what the doctor ordered.

#6 - Don't go to sleep after you eat

I know it's going to be hard but you're better off not napping after a big holiday meal. If you sleep, your body is more likely to store excess calories as fat, not muscle. It will also slow your metabolism down and you'll digest your food a lot slower. Relax, but if you can help it, don't sleep right away.

#7 - Schedule another heavy workout for the day after a big holiday meal

After loading yourself up with carbs, fat and protein, your body is a nutrient-filled growth machine. Take advantage of your loading by doing another high-volume, heavy workout the day after.

#8 - Take all the leftovers people are willing to give you

Stick to the more nutritious foods when you do this, such as meat, potatoes and vegetables. It beats cooking big meals for yourself for the next three days.

#9 - If you bring home desserts, save them for post-workout meals

Like I mentioned before, your body is primed for growth after a workout. Most desserts are filled with sugar. After a workout, your body will suck up this sugar just like any other carb and not store it as fat. In fact, it will increase your insulin levels and help you store protein in your muscles!

Putting these tips to work won't necessarily mean you won't gain some fat over the holidays but they can certainly help to minimize fat gain and maximize your muscle mass gains. Putting your overeating to work for you may not be pretty but it can be very effective!

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Article from ~ Nick Nilsson online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks. He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

For more information send an email: weightworkout@yahoo.ca

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