Jan 25 2010

Turbulence Training Workout Program: Bodyweight Cardio v 2.0

Turbulence Training is a high intensity fitness program developed by trainer Craig Ballantyne. The program teaches you how to train with minimal equipment in the comfort of your own home.

One of his many bodyweight-only programs is the Bodyweight Cardio v 2.0 program. This is the program you use if you’re absolutely bored with your current cardio program.

Lets take a look at some of the benefits of this program:

  • Replaces your Regular Boring, Cardio Routine - I personally hate cardio because it’s boring. So I’m always looking for fun ways to do my cardio. Craig’s program is the perfect solution for super boring cardio programs.
  • You can Do it at Home - No need to go to the gym. No need to run around the neighborhood. I know I was extremely embarrassed to be running around the neighborhood with my flab bouncing around all over the place.
  • Saves you Money - Once you try Craig’s bodyweight routines, there’s no need to purchase additional equipment or join a gym. He has so many exercises to choose from, that you’ll always be challenged.
  • The Workout are Short – A couple of my friends used to lift weights for about 2 hours in the gym each day. The moment they got jobs, they could no longer get to the gym, and are now fat. Craig’s workouts are short, intense, and they work. No need to spend 2 hours a day working out.
  • Simple – Even if you’ve never trained in your entire life, you could get started. His workouts are perfect for the complete beginner, or the advanced trainee.

Craig Ballantyne has developed hundreds of fitness programs that revolve around the basic concepts of Turbulence Training.

To get an overall introduction to Turbulence Training, you should grab the original Turbulence Training manual. The manual includes everything you need to get started on your fat loss journey. There are workouts for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees. If you go through each program separately, in a few months you’d have literally transformed your health and physique. Click here for more information.

For individuals who have had some experience with exercise or even Turbulence Training, then Craig has numerous other workouts specifically designed for women, muscle mass, bodyweight only, abs training, and more.

You need to make the decision today: Are you going to continue to follow pointless, boring workouts and never get any impressive results, or you going to take a chance and try some trully unique ideas using Craig Ballantyne’s workouts? Start today with either one of the Turbulence Training workouts:


Jan 21 2010

Top Ways to Get Started with a Cardio Beginner Program

Beginners are at a crucial juncture: they’ve made the decision to get into shape and realize they have a myriad of options in front of them. Make the wrong decision, and you’ll potentially derail your progress for months (or sometimes even years).

Learn from someone with experience with fat loss and stay away from long duration, steady state cardio. Here are some key issues I have with long duration, steady state cardio:

  • It’s boring. If your training program is boring, it’s going to be tough for you to follow the program. Try and find something exciting. Something that you will look forward to doing each week.
  • Jogging hurts. Jogging was my form of outdoor cardio. I used to jog for 3-4 miles at least 4 days per week. Of course it worked, but I soon found myself in pain.
    • The pain could have also be caused by overuse injuries, which comes from too much repetition of the same activity. Professional runner andcyclers often complain about knee problems later in life.
    • The pain started with my shins and traveled to my knees. The uneven outdoor surface, and the constant pounding on the knees does a lot of damage to your joints.
    • The bigger you are, the more you should stay away from jogging long distance. One or two miles is fine at a frequency of 2-3 days per week.
  • Higher intensity distance cardio causes losses in strength, power, and muscle mass. You may not care about strength or power, but you should care about muscle mass.
    • Muscle mass will be your long-term fight against fat. This is because muscle is more metabolically active than fat. It takes more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than a pound of fat.
    • Hence, the more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolic rate. A fast metabolism will help you burn more calories throughout the day without performing more exercise or eating less.

  • Aerobic exercise is an impractical method of burning lots of calories. The bigger you are, the more fat you will burn with aerobic exercise. But, as you get leaner and fitter, you will need to perform more aerobic exercise in order to burn the same amount of fat.
    • For example, if in the beginning you were able to burn 100 calories in 20 minutes, 6 months from now it may take you up to an hour to burn the same amount of calories.
    • Of course, this is just an example, but that is what happens. Your body becomes efficient at using energy to perform a task. Hence, it takes more work to burn more calories.

Now that you know why I don’t like long distance cardio, lets look at some of the forms of cardio that I do like:

Bodyweight Cardio

Bodyweight cardio is simply performing high intensity bodyweight exercises that are relatively easy in a cardio format. Cardio is basically raising your heart rate and increasing the demand for energy (calories).

The greater your demand for energy, the more calories and fat you will burn. Bodyweight cardio is often more fun than regular, steady state cardio. Plus, you can perform it anywhere and anytime you want.

You can perform bodyweight cardio in your hotel room, at the park, in your backyard, or your friends house. Hence, it is one of best, no-nonsense and no-excuses method to burn fat.

Hard Cardio

Hard cardio consists of any sort of higher intensity, moderate duration cardio. My favorite forms are sledgehammer swings, jump roping, and shadowboxing. This form of cardio is not only exciting and gets your heart rate up, but also prevents overuse injuries.

You can choose 2-3 forms of hard cardio, or even combine hard cardio with bodyweight cardio. This way, you prevent boredom and conserve your joints. Hard cardio helps develop power and speed.

For example, sledgehammer swings are used by many athletes to improve explosive power. Jump roping is also used by boxers to improveagility. Hence, you’ll be improving your athletic abilities while burning fat.

Interval Cardio

Interval training is where you perform an activity for a high intensity level, then take a short rest. Alternate between high intensity and lower intensity training. You can do this form of training with hard cardio or bodyweight exercises.

As mentioned earlier, distance cardio is an impractical form of burning fat as your body becomes more efficient at burning calories. They key to solving this is to use increase the intensity level.

Interval cardio is one way to increase the level of intensity. Sprinters perform this kind of cardio all the time. They sprint on the track, and follow up with a period of rest to return their heart rate to normal.

Kettlebell Cardio

Kettlebells are a training implement that have seen a resurgence in popularity. They’ve been around for many years, but it’s just recently that they’re starting to show up with commercial gyms.

Their effectiveness comes from the unique shape of the Kettlebell. A Kettlebell has a thick handle attached to a cannonball shaped weight. Hence, every single movement you perform engages a large amount of muscle in order to properly perform the movement.

If you have never heard of Kettlebells, it’s certainly something to look into. Kettlebell cardio workouts can be performed with either circuits or interval training. But make sure you start off light.

Dumbbell Cardio

If you don’t have access to Kettlebells, then you can try Dumbbell cardio. Dumbbell cardio simply allows you to combine cardio and weight training into one. After Kettlebell workouts, Dumbbell cardio workouts are the most challenging forms of training.

Adding resistance to your cardio workouts allows you to train your strength endurance as well as your cardio endurance. Sports such as martial arts, where you are constantly moving around (cardio) and fighting off an opponent (resistance), need a combination of resistance and cardio endurance training.

But, for the regular folks, combining strength and cardio workouts can help you get leaner while maintaining and even increasing your lean muscle mass and strength.


Dec 30 2009

How to Set up a Bodyweight Cardio Workout

Bodyweight Cardio is a new buzzword which basically means replacing your cardio workouts with bodyweight workouts. There are multiple ways to set up a Bodyweight Cardio workout.

However, most bodyweight cardio workouts are meant to be more cardio-type workouts rather than muscular endurance or strength workouts (obviously). So, you want to choose exercises that do not stress your muscles as hard aspushups or pullups (unless pushups and pullups are easy for you).

The best way to set up a bodyweight cardio workout is to use Calisthenics Movements, such as jumping jacks and running in place. Here is a sample Bodyweight Cardio I’ve created:

Perform 8 rounds of:

* Steam Engine, 20 seconds
* 10 Seconds Rest
* Bear Crawls, 20 seconds
* 10 Seconds Rest
* Inch Work, 20 seconds
* 10 Seconds Rest
* Ice Skater Hops, 20 seconds
* 10 seconds Rest

As you can see, the movement I used in this workout do require some muscular endurance, but are not as tough as a pushup or pullup. Beginners should stick to movements such as jumping jacks and running in place.

In fact, here’s a list of beginner calisthenics exercises that you can use:

* Split Jump
* Jumping Jacks
* Simulated Jump Rope
* Standing Twist
* Reach and Bend
* The Windmill
* High Knees
* Jogging in Place
* Marching

That should be more than enough exercises to use to create your own bodyweight cardio workout. Organize these movements into a circuit, or use an interval scheme like the one in the sample I provided.

An interval training scheme often works better with calisthenics movements, since sometimes you can’t count how many repetitions you performed. For example, in apushup, 10 pushups is 10 pushups.

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

However, with a Jumping Jacks, performing 10, 50, or even 100 jumping jacks might be too easy. Hence, it’s a good idea to use time as a measure instead of repetitions.

For more ideas on how to set up a bodyweight workout and more unique exercises, check out Workout Without Weights. Click here for more information.


Dec 23 2009

It’s time to Throw your Cardio Plans out the Window!

For years I performed traditional cardio workouts. I didn’t enjoy them, but I thought they were a necessity to drop fat and improve endurance for sports. But then I came across high intensity training.

I know realize that you can get a great cardio workout using high intensity interval training and performing bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. There are many great workouts out there, but CraigBallantyne’s high intensity home workouts are the only ones that combine bodyweight, dumbbell, and interval training to help you drop fat and build lean muscle mass.

Craig Ballantyne shows you a lot of different ways you can replace your traditional, boring cardio. Here’s his demonstration of Bodyweight Cardio:

Try that circuit and tell me you need to go on a treadmill to workout. The Turbulence Training workouts will completely transform your view of traditional cardio.

The second, and more important, method that Craig Ballantyne suggests is something known as Interval Training. Here’s how you do interval training:

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.These high intensity bodyweight circuits and interval training is often combined with strength training exercises organized into supersets. Craig will use a variety of implements to create these workouts, but the most common are dumbbells and bodyweight exercises.

Almost all Turbulence Training workouts can be done with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and your bodyweight. Craig Ballantyne explains what supersets are:

You should definitely grab one of Craig’s many home fitness workouts. Click here to access all of his workouts.


Dec 11 2009

Top 3 Turbulence Training Bodyweight Workouts

Turbulence Training is an effective home fitness system which incorporates a variety of cheap, in home fitness equipment to design high intensity workouts to help you burn fat and build lean muscle mass.

Author Craig Ballantyne has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals all over the world to reduce stubborn body fat and literally change their lives. He has done this solely through his main Turbulence TrainingeBook.

Well, in addition to his main fat loss manual, he also has hundreds of other workouts which he sells separately. Most cost as low as $10. So, if you do not wish to spend $40 on a full program, you may interested in an individual workout that gives you even more results but costs much less.

Turbulence Training Bodyweight Workout

Craig has developed a lot of bodyweight-only workouts. This is because he realizes that one of the main excuses people use to not working out is the fact that they are unable to afford a gym.

An average gym may cost up to $400 per year. Most people would rather spend that $400 paying the bills, or investing in education for their children. Well, Craig says, save your $400 and just train with your bodyweight in the comfort of your own home.

Before Turbulence Training, bodyweight exercises ere only used properly with a few, handful of people. These individuals were usually athletes who had been training with their bodyweight for many years.

Well, Craig has taken what he knows about bodyweight training, developed a program, and has helped made bodyweight workouts available to the general public. So lets take a look at three of his best bodyweight workouts:

Workout #1: Bodyweight Cardio 2.0

Bodyweight cardio is recent “buzz word” that basically means that you’re replacing your regular cardio exercises with bodyweight exercises. So instead of spending 30 minutes on a treadmill, you’ll spend 15 minutes doing a bodyweight circuit designed to get your heart rate up.

You’ll need to spend less time performing bodyweight cardio then regular cardio since the workouts will be done at a higher intensity level. The question here isn’t whatseparates Bodyweight Cardio from regular Cardio, but instead what separates Bodyweight Cardio from regular Bodyweight Training.

The answer to this question is….I don’t know. In terms of Turbulence Training, Craig tends to refer to Bodyweight Circuits as Bodyweight Cardio. And his regular bodyweight workouts are usually in the format of supersets.

Here’s a sample bodyweight cardio workout:

Click here to learn more about Bodyweight Cardio 2.0

Workout #2: 30 Minute Bodyweight Circuit Training

As you can see, I love bodyweight circuits. This particular workout is formatted a bit differently. Craig gives you a set of exercises to perform in a circuit. You set a timer for 30 minutes, then do as many circuits as you can, nonstop within a time frame of 30 minutes.

This sort of training is extremely beneficial, since it pushes you to try to complete more rounds within the 30 minutes. What I like to do is record how many rounds and total repetitions I completed within the workout, then try to beat my performance the following week.

Here’s a sample bodyweight circuit using this method:


Click here to learn more about the 30 Minute Bodyweight Circuit

Workout #3: Advanced Bodyweight Training

Bodyweight Cardio is a great program for beginners. 30 minute Bodyweight Circuit is more of an intermediate workout. The following workout is an advanced routine. It’s known as the Bodyweight 1000, and it’s hard core:

Click here to Learn more about the Bodyweight 1000

Ultimate Bodyweight Package

There are two ways you can approach purchasing all these workouts. You can buy each workout one by one (which I prefer), or you can buy all the workouts at once. The benefits of buying a workout one by one is lack of confusion.

In other words, when you have access to hundreds of workouts all at once, you just don’t know where to start. Instead, it would be better for you to buy a workout, go through the full 4-week program, then move onto the next routine.

However, in the long run this strategy would cost you a lot of money. $10 each month is $120. Instead, you can grab all the turbulence training workouts for less than $60.

It’s known as the Turbulence Training Bodyweight Deluxe Package, and it’s basically a package of a whole bunch of bodyweight workouts. Click here to learn more.


Aug 18 2009

3 Techniques to Help you Sculpt an Amazing Body at Home with Dumbbell and Bodyweight Cardio

I hate steady state cardio. It’s just plain boring. It may or may not work, but the bottom line is if something is boring, I won’t to do it. So the key to achieving your goals – whether they be fat loss or general heart and lung health – is to find something that is exciting and challenging.

A more exciting, challenging, and effective workout is to perform fast paced bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. The key is to keep your heart rate up during your workouts. After all, isn’t that what cardio is supposed to be?
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