Weight Loss for Women At Home
Weight Loss for Women At Home
By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com
A woman’s workout should consist of leg raises, biceps curls with
soup cans, and triceps kickbacks with water bottles.
Can you believe that silliness?
Neither can I, but that is what passes for “professional fitness
advice for women” these days.
I could see this info being accepted in the 1930’s (maybe?), but in the year 2007? Please…
Does anyone really believe that biceps curls with water bottles is going to prepare women to carry their children to bed, a bag of heavy groceries in from the car, or swing a sledgehammer during home reno’s?
No way. You need real-world workouts and fat loss advice. Not fluff.
Am I the only one that finds those types of recommendations
disrespectful to the physical capabilities of women? You’d think
that Linda Hamilton’s chin-up scene in Terminator 2 would have turned the tide of female fitness, or perhaps Demi Moore’s GI Jane.
I’ve watched women get fit fast at almost any age with Turbulence Training. In fact, we’ve had girls from 18 to 82 years young kickin’ butt with Turbulence Training.
Today, I want to share the story of a classic “supermom”, you know the mom with 3 active kids that has to drive them everywhere, eat on the run, and still find room for workouts. Her name is Brandy Kirton, and she’ll show you how real women train, eat, and find the time to do it all with proper planning.
CB: Brandy, tell us about your past exercise and nutrition experiences. At what point did you find out about Turbulence Training and what persuaded you to start using it?
BK:
I started working out back on high school. I’m 30 now.
I became a personal trainer for a few years in my early 20’s. So I learned a lot about nutrition and weight training. I have been in great shape and not so great shape in the last 10 years. I think I found Turbulence Training just surfing the web and decided to give it a try. I was desperate to lose weight after my 3rd kid.
CB: And how was this a change from what you had done in the past?
BK:
I was doing 30 minutes of cardio and then lifted for 30 mins
3 to 4 times a week. That was if I actually could make time.
I would not work out if I knew I couldnt get it all in. I would
think, “What’s the point of 20 mins?”.
CB: What kind of results have you achieved with Turbulence Training? And is there anything else, besides the results, you love about the Turbulence Training programs?
BK:
I love how it changes every month so I never get bored. I also love that I have no excuse about not having time to fit it in.
My results have been great. I am getting toned up and consistently loosing inches. I also have a lot more energy.
CB: Do you workout at home or in a gym?
BK:
I have to work out at home. No time to get to a gym.
CB: Has Turbulence Training had a positive impact on your lifestyle?
BK:
Turbulence Training has made a huge impact on me. I dont feel like it takes up my whole day or get bored of the same thing day in and day out.
I feel strong and love the daily emails. It helps me stay motivated.
I work full time, have three kids 9, 5, and 11 months, and a
husband. My older two kids play every sports so there really
is no extra time.
I have to get up at 5:30 to work out before they wake up but its
worth it. I feel great after I am done and no matter what happens that day I have already got my work out in which feels great.
CB: Do you have any social support? If so, how has this helped
you?
BK:
My mom comes over in the mornings to work out with me. I need that accountability so that I don’t sleep instead. Its hard to get up but I always feel so much better when I do.
CB: What are your daily obstacles and temptations that you have to avoid with respect to nutrition and training? And what
strategies do you use?
BK:
With all the practices, games and running around I have to do its hard not to grab McDonald’s with the kids.
I try to either bring food with me or wait until I get home. If I
have to eat out I do try and find grilled chicken or subway.
CB: How do you plan your nutrition?
BK:
I have to go shopping on Sunday to stock up on all my healthy
food. Otherwise I will eat whatever I can find which usually is not good for me.
CB: Thanks Brandy, keep up the great work.
****
The message is clear. Plan, prepare, commit, and be consistent.
Brandy didn’t use any magic pills or potions to succeed, she simply found a great workout plan, and did what she had to do.
As a supermom, Brandy practically has to create time out of thin air in order to do her workout, but again, she knows what she has to do and she does it. She’s committed. She has social support. She knows the correct options for eating on the run.
She has made the effort to plan for the obstacles (lack of time,
workout motivation) that we all come across. And by doing that,
she’s cleared a simple path to success.
And she doesn’t waste time in the gym with slow, boring cardio
workouts. Instead, she sculpts her body in half the time with the
Turbulence Training workouts.
Sincerely,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit TurbulenceTraining
Is Your Exercise Routine Keeping You Fat & Unhealthy?
Is Your Exercise Routine Keeping You Fat & Unhealthy?
by Rob Poulos, founder of Fat-Burning-Furnace.
The majority of fitness enthusiasts and exercisers today still rely on long duration moderate paced aerobic exercise as their primary routine to attempt to burn fat fast. But recent studies have shown that this is a big, I mean big mistake.
In fact, you could say that the whole aerobics explosion of a few decades past was one of the biggest mistakes in the health and fitness industry. Why?
There are several reasons, but I’ll focus on the two main issues here. When you exercise at a moderate pace for extended periods of time (as in the typically recommended percent of your target heart rate), your body is burning fat during the exercise.
While this may sound good, it’s actually bad news. This sends a signal to your body to keep a certain amount of stored fat available for your next workout. You’re essentially telling it that it needs fat available to burn, ‘because you’ll be doing this exercise again.
So while we may be burning some calories during this exercise, after the exercise is over, our body begins storing up some fat for the next workout. Obviously not what we’re looking for in terms of maximum ability to burn fat fast.
The other big concern with moderately paced aerobic exercise performed several times per week is that it trains your body (heart, lungs, muscles, etc.) to become efficient. Again, this may sound good, but what is actually happening is bad for long term health.
You are working only within your existing aerobic limits, without improving your aerobic capacity. This is important because your aerobic capacity is what determines how your body responds in times of physical, emotional, and mental stress.
If you reduce your capacity for work, as you do in this type of exercise, you’re reducing your long term health, no to mention a poor chance of burning fat.
The good news is, you can reverse these effects by instead focusing your workouts on high intensity resistance training, with workouts that last 15-20 minutes on average, and can only be performed 2-3 times per week. These workouts will burn carbohydrates instead of fat during the workout, and will cause your body to use its fat stores to replenish the burned carbs over the next 24 hours, after the workout is done!
This type of work will also increase your reserve capacity and thus your ability to handle all types of stress, leading to lasting health and fitness…and 24/7 fat burning. Nice!
But the exercise must be performed correctly to be effective, and that means using sufficient intensity, and keeping your rest periods between exercises and sets down to 60 seconds or less.
The students of my Fat Burning Furnace method know this, and are reaping the benefits. When you think about how little time you have to spend compared to the typically recommended methods to get these fat burning and health creating results, it’s almost magical.
Thanks Rob for that article. That about it for today. Hope you’re having a great one!
Stay lean,
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder – TruthAboutAbs.com
Circuit Training Workouts
By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Long, slow, boring aerobic exercise may get all the glory in the media,
but you can get a lot more bang for your fitness buck with circuit training.
In fact, it’s one of the best ways to burn fat and build muscle at the same
time, while getting your workouts done in very little time. So forget about
doing an hour of cardio and then an hour of weights. Instead, do shorter
circuit training or superset workouts followed by interval training.
Research proves circuit training works. Brazilian researchers assigned
subjects to a 12-week program of either cardio or total-body circuit
training. Both groups exercised for 35 minutes three times per week.
At the end of the study, both groups had increased their aerobic fitness by
four percent. In addition, both groups had increased their leg strength by
six percent. However, only the circuit-training group experienced benefits
such as increased their upper-body strength too.
Even if you’re a beginner, your best bet for maximum gains is a total-body
circuit-training program: strength training done with short rest periods
between exercises.
This is especially true if the amount of time you can commit to a workout
program is limited.
Let’s go over what a bodyweight circuit is. You can use a bodyweight
circuit instead of interval training. Not everyone has the time or space to
sprint so this can be a good substitute to burn fat.
We use about 6 exercises, 3 upper body, and 3 lower body exercises and
alternate between the upper body exercises and the lower body exercises.
Beginning with two basic upper and lower body exercises we will go through a
bodyweight circuit. Perform a Y squat for 15 repetitions, and immediately go
into a push up for 15 repetitions. The goal here is to fatigue ourselves,
but the exercises should not leave you sore the next day so go with more
reps at less challenging exercises.
Next do a lunge for 12-15 reps per leg, followed by and decline push up for
15 repetitions. Do 60 jumping jacks and finish with mountain climbers for 15
reps a side. This is a good way to do interval training anywhere anytime.
Keeping in mind that the goal here is not to strain the muscles but to get a
good sweat going. So use circuit training instead of long slow cardio to get
more results in less time.
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com
Weight Loss With Circuit Training – A Fast Alternative to Interval Training
Weight Loss With Circuit Training – A Fast Alternative to Interval Training
by: Aaron Ivey ATC, CSCS
Though circuit training has been given a different name, it is much the same as interval training. Both combine bouts of high intensity exercise with rest periods. Circuit training is great for busy people because, like interval training, it takes much less time than traditional cardio workouts and can be performed with minimal yet inexpensive equipment.
A typical circuit training routine involves selecting 5 – 10 exercises, I prefer total body exercises, and perform them without rest consecutively. I like to use the following formula for my workouts:
1. A push exercise
Try Circuit Training Workouts Here
2. A pull exercise
3. A leg exercise
4. A core exercise
5. Another push
6. Pull
7. Legs
8. Core
I think you get the picture. Now perform each exercise in order for either a certain period of time, say 30 seconds, with as many reps as you can. You can measure your progress over time by keeping track of how many reps you are able to do in the circuit. You may also perform a certain number of repetitions and time how long it takes you to complete the circuit. Follow each circuit with a 1 – 2 minute rest and repeat up to 4 times (1-2 for beginners 2-3 for intermediate and 3-4 for advanced).
It should take you between 4 – 5 minutes to complete the circuit depending on how much transition time you need between exercises. Try to make it as short as possible for maximum effect. If you do the circuit 3 times you have a total of around 15 minutes of workout. That beats 60 minutes on the treadmill any day.
Watch for more specific examples of circuit training workouts in the “workouts” category.
Avoid Holiday Weight Gain With These 8 Tricks
Avoid Holiday Weight Gain With These 8 Tricks
by Aaron Ivey ATC, CSCS
Most everyone has concerns about gaining weight during the holiday season. It’s so easy to eat a couple hundred extra calories with all of the guilty pleasures that we enjoy. Gifts of candies, cookies, pies, brownies, egg nog… What do you do to make sure you don’t pack on the extra pounds you have been working so hard to burn? Here are a few tricks.
1. Be Fair With Yourself
It’s not realistic to think that you are not going to indulge a little in the holiday sweets. That would be setting yourself up for failure. We are supposed to have fun and enjoy family and friends this time of year. Allow yourself to cheat once in a while. But remember, moderation is the key. Don’t over-indulge.
2. Workout Before Your Gathering
A good interval training workout or circuit training workout the morning of your bash will help to rev up your metabolism for the day and maybe even make up for some of your “small” indulgences. You will also feel better about having worked out and know that you stuck with your weight loss plan.
3. Eat Before You Go
That doesn’t mean you get full before leaving the house. Eat a nutrient rich healthy snack before you leave the house. That way you won’t arrive starving and will be less tempted to overdue the appetizers, which usually are worst part for your weight loss efforts.
4. Serving Size Matters
Remember your portion sizes. Choose a variety of foods but don’t let your Aunt Betsy pressure you into putting more on your plate than you need because she says you are getting too skinny. Start out small. You can always go back for more vegetables later.
5. Start With the Vegetable Tray First
Load your plate up with vegetables, green salad and an appropriate dressing. If your plate is at least half full of healthy foods then you will have less room for the pound packing gravy.
6. Eat Slowly
It takes some time, about 20 minutes, before your stomach will get the signal to your brain that it has had enough. So don’t rush. Enjoy the time talking with family and friends that you may not have seen for a while or help some of your older relatives get their plate. That will buy you some time for your stomach to catch up.
7. Drink Plenty of Water
Be sure to drink a large glass of water well before it’s time to dish up your plate. This will help you start off with the feeling of being full and be less tempted to fill your plate with blood sugar spiking foods that you crave. You should also drink plenty during your meal. Take some time every few bites to take a few big swallows. Again, fill your stomach with water and vegetables and you won’t crave the sweet stuff as much.
8. Enough is Enough
Know when to say “I’ve had enough.” Stick to it and don’t let anyone else pressure you into eating more because they need to feel better about how many times they’ve been to the buffet table.
Following these simple but effective tips will help you stay on track and feel good about yourself. It doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in moderation. Just make sure that moderation is not out of your control. Good luck and happy holidays.
