By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

If you depend on classic aerobic cardio for fat loss, you probably spend 30 minutes on a machine trying to burn a set number of calories.

But does that work?

Does burning 500 calories per day cause you to lose 1 pound of fat per week?

Well, according to science, it should. But if it did, you probably wouldn’t still be reading this article.

Back in the day, I used to write a column on fat loss myths for Men’s Fitness magazine. Here’s a classic weight loss topic I covered.

Myth: I need to burn 500 calories each workout to lose fat.

Truth: Possibly one of the worst inventions for fat loss was the calorie-counting monitor on treadmills, elliptical machines, and stairmasters.

Because of these, millions of men and women now obsess about the number of calories burned per session. You’ve probably even been one of those people, watching it creep up ever so slowly during a slow-cardio session. All the while knowing that you can wipe out a 30-minute, 300-calorie treadmill session with one fell swoop of the Krispy Kreme hand.

Too many people are brainwashed into thinking that if they don’t burn 300-500 calories per session, then they won’t lose fat. After all, that is what you’ve been told time and time again in those fluffy fitness/fashion magazines.

The problems with this approach to fat loss are numerous. First off, it’s difficult to say if the calorie counters are even accurate. A story on CBS news showed that cardio machines overestimate calorie burning by up to 20%.

Next, depending on slow cardio for advanced fat loss is relatively useless and at the very least, inefficient. It takes a long time for you to burn a lot of calories and one study showed that men who only used cardio training for weight loss ended up with a reduced resting metabolism. You are basically undoing the calorie burning by depending only on cardio. On the other hand, guys in the same study that used strength training didn’t suffer a reduced metabolic rate.

So what is the solution to burning fat in a faster, more efficient method? The answer is to use strength and interval training to burn fewer calories in less exercise time, but with a more intense form of exercise.

Your body will burn more calories after exercise (when you use intervals) than it does after you do slow cardio and your metabolism will stay high. Some experts refer to this as the afterburn effect. How do you do intervals? Well, you could sprint for 30 seconds and rest for 90 seconds and repeat that for 6 sets – using the bike preferably or treadmill if you are experienced with it.

Within that short time frame the intervals will cause your muscles to go crazy with activity (I call it a metabolic turbulence). This crazy metabolism boost causes lots of calorie burning after exercise to get your body back to normal. The result is you would end up burning more fat and more calories in the post-exercise period as your body tries to get things under control.

Now there is one time where you’d want to count calories, but that is when you are counting up and determining how many calories you eat per day. Again, you can wipe out an entire workout’s work in less than a minute simply by eating garbage. Without some structure and discipline to your nutrition, there is nothing that even my programs can do to help you lose fat.

So exercise nutrition control and interval training. These are the two anti-calorie counting methods that will help you lose fat and get lean.

For some great, high intensity bodyweight-only workouts proven to help you lose fat, check out Craig’s Bodyweight workouts. Click here for more information.

Obese individuals can still follow typical Turbulence Training workouts. However, they just need to lower the intensity and change around some of the exercise selection.

The main Turbulence Training principles remain the same:

• Use Multi-Muscle Exercises
• Organize them into Supersets
• Use Interval Training for Cardio

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.

According to Craig Ballantyne, as long as your doctor approves you for exercise, you’re ready to go. In fact, he’s trained men over 300lbs and women over 225lbs using Turbulence Training principles.

If you are obese, you want to start off with the Introductory and Beginner level workouts included in the original Turbulence Training Manual. In these workouts, 90% of the exercises have you lying down on the ground.

Hence, the workouts will be easier than other TT workouts for obese individuals. But, they’ll still be intense, and they’ll still provide results. If anything, they’ll build up your body so that you can perform tougher workouts.

Obese individuals need to get stronger, and learn how to use and move their bodies again. The best way to accomplish this is to use bodyweight-only movements.

However, many people can barely move. So performing pushups or squats is out of the question. A better alternative would be to use dumbbells to improve overall strength and mobility.

Most people work backwards. They do a lot of cardio to try an melt the fat off, and then try to build up their muscles with weight training. This will only lead to injury.

Craig Ballantyne warns of is steady state cardio. This is especially dangerous for obese individuals. Too much jogging, cycling, or aerobic exercise will lead to overuse injuries.

On top of that, assuming that the Cardio does help an individual lose weight. They’ll be much weaker after the cardio, then before doing the cardio. Instead, do your strength training first, then try and lose the fat with the cardio.

Most likely, if you stick to Turbulence Training guidelines, you won’t need to do too much cardio. Craig’s workouts help boost your metabolic rate. Your metabolic rate is a measure of how many calories your body burns through out the day.

Most obese individuals have very slow metabolic rates. And fat is not very metabolically active. In fact, it takes more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than it does to maintain a pound of fat.

So, putting on muscle will help you lose fat in the long term. There are three things that boost your metabolic rate with regards to exercise:

• The workout itself
• The post-training oxygen consumption following the workout
• The addition of lean muscle mass

I already mentioned how adding lean muscle mass helps you boost your metabolic rate. Now lets take a look at the other two methods:

When you train, your body needs energy. They also produce heat, which is a by product of muscular contraction. The more muscle tissue involved in the exercise that your performing, the more energy is needed and more heat is produced.

This is why Craig Ballantyne sticks to compound, multi-joint movements. After your training, your metabolism will be elevated to help your body recover from the intense workout.

Some studies state that your metabolism stays elevated for up to 48 hours after an intense workout. Regardless of the number, if you train with a Turbulence Training workouts 3 days a week, you’ll be leaner in no time.

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:

• Click here for Turbulence Training Original workout Review
• Click here for Turbulence Training ab Workouts
• Click here for Turbulence Training for Muscle Mass
• Click here for Turbulence Training Bodyweight Only Workouts
• Click here for Turbulence Training for Women

When I was just starting out with bodyweight training, I thought that all I needed to do was pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats. So I did them, got good at these workouts, and then hit a plateau.

I went through many free bodyweight programs and most of them were relatively the same. I needed something new, and something more complete. It wasn’t until I purchased Coach EddieLomax’s Workout Without Weights manual that my bodyweight training journey really began.

In a previous article, I mentioned that there were actually 7 different forms of bodyweight training. Coach Lomax’s eBook covers 4 out of the 7 methods: basic bodyweight training, calisthenics, plyometrics, and animal training. Click here to read more about the 7 methods.

What is Calisthenics Training?

It is very important to make a distinction between all the various forms of bodyweight exercise because each method can be used for a specific purpose. Basic bodyweight exercises such aspushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats can be used for overall strength and conditioning.

Calisthenics training, on the other hand, is more of a cardio-type form of exercise. I go much deeper into the difference between bodyweight and calisthenics training in a previous article. Click here to read that article.

Because I personally despise steady state cardio, I tend to use bodyweight and other training methods to replace the necessity for cardio. But besides my personal distaste for steady state cardio, there are other very important benefits to using high intensity calisthenics training as a form of cardio:

The Benefits of Calisthenics

One of the biggest benefits of Calisthenics is improved cardiorespiratory endurance, which is the ability of your body to gather, process, deliver, and sustain oxygen to produce the energy needed for the successful completion of a particular activity.

• It is characterized by a healthy and efficient heart and lung. Cardiorespiratory (cardio) endurance is probably more important than fat loss or muscle gain, but is one of the least talked about aspects of fitness.

• If you have greater cardio endurance, then you can simply do more for a longer period of time. This improves your ability to perform in sports, work, and life activities. If you combine basic calisthenics movements with bodyweight training, then you will be able train your muscles while training your heart and lungs
• This will help you perform other physical activities better. Most people get winded and exhausted trying to perform simply tasks such as lifting boxes up the stairs or trying to catch a bus.
• Well, these activities require both physical fitness and cardio endurance. Many gym rats will often face injury because they fatigue easily. When your body fatigues from heavy weight training, it is actually a sign of poor recovery.
• Your muscles are not being delivered the proper amount of oxygen for full recovery. Fatigue leads to poor form, which in turn leads to injury. Overall, you’ll be much healthier if your heart and lungs are healthier.
• Cardio conditioning basically allows you to improve your ability to live life to the fullest. On the flip side, many people are brainwashed into believing that there is a specific “target heart rate zone,” which effectively helps you burn fat and improve cardio endurance.
• This is false and no such zone exists. Athletes with the best cardio endurance – a balance of healthy heart and lung function along with good physical fitness – are ones that engage in high intensity exercise, such as sprinters.
• In short, train hard to last longer. But be warned, bodyweight calisthenics workouts are very intense and difficult. You should steadily build yourself up to it, especially if you’ve been spending most of your time following the easy, bring cardio workouts published in most magazines.

Sample Calisthenics Exercises

Coach Lomax covers a good number of calisthenics movements. Some of them you have heard of and perhaps have even performed before. But many will be completely new to you.

Here’s a list of the Calisthenic movements that Coach Lomax will teach you:

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

Calisthenics movements will seem easy to you, however the key is to perform them for time. You can start off by performing each exercise for 60 seconds, then moving straight to the next movement.

This circuit style workout will be much more fun and exiting then a traditional sort of cardio workout. Once you get good at these basic calisthenics movements, you can start to learn Animal Calisthenics movements which places greater stress on your heart, lungs, and muscles.

To learn all of these incredible bodyweight exercises, check out Coach Lomax’s Workout Without Weights manual. Click here for more information.

Metabolic Training – Stop Doing Ineffective Cardio

Metabolic Training – Stop Doing Ineffective Cardio
By William Coulter

Metabolic training has been making waves with fitness pros for a few years now and with good reason; it works. Yet it still hasn’t become mainstream. A quick look around a commercial gym will prove that most people are still slugging away on the cardio machines looking to lose weight. This article will hopefully encourage you to move away from the old style of training involving hours upon hours of cardio combined with starving yourself. Firstly we need to dispel the myth of cardio and starving yourself being optimal for fat loss.

Old Style Weight Loss

The old style of training still being overused today goes along the lines of; Performing steady state cardio either on the gym machines or by yourself; Eat lower calories so that you burn more than your eating to burn fat. In theory there isn’t anything wrong with this but it’s not optimal. It relies on the most basic form of weight loss: calories in versus calories out. Roughly 3500 calories represents a pound of fat. If your body burns 3500 calories with exercise and diet you will lose 1 pound of fat and vice versa with eating more.

Ineffective Weight Loss

The problem with this program is that it doesn’t work well in the real world. Many people do not have the will power, time and/or money to constantly eat lower calories, or exercise more to burn of those extra calories. It’s a constant struggle to lose weight. Also considering that if you starve yourself for too long your body goes into ’starvation mode’ and slows your metabolism. Because your body is always thinking about your survival and thinks that a famine is on the way so slows down your bodily functions.

Click here for a Great High Intensity Metabolic Workout

Ineffective Training

Traditional steady state cardiovascular training doesn’t cut it either. Firstly referring back to your body’s survival instincts; your body adapts to constant training in as little as six weeks. Therefore the body finds it easier to perform and burns less calories in the process. Also bear in mind that when performing steady state cardio you only burn (extra) calories during the exercise. After you’ve finished your metabolism returns to normal fairly quickly. Paying attention now?

Metabolic Training

Metabolic training is a modern form of training where by, you do not just worry about how many calories you burn during training. But how many calories you burn throughout the entire week, by ramping up your metabolism with training. Basically your training effect has your body burning more calories after you’ve finished working out and your sitting around doing nothing. In fact studies have shown that this type of training raises your metabolism for up to 38 hours after your workout.

The complete scientific reasoning behind this is beyond the scope of this article. But for reference this is down to many factors along the lines of Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) and the production of fat burning hormones like testosterone (even in females) and growth hormone.

Types Of Metabolic Training

There are many types of metabolic training and far to many to write about. However for the purposes of getting you started, I will try to explain a little. To be doing proper metabolic training you need to be thinking along the lines of resistance training. That doesn’t have to mean lifting massive weights. Body weight exercises, bands, medicine balls and traditional weights are different examples of what can be used. Although the resistance has to be challenging, lifting the lightest weights on the rack for the sake of using weights won’t work.

A good starting routine is to pair exercises together such as squat and bench press or dead-lift and lat pull downs. Perform one exercise (ie squat) then with no rest perform another (ie bench). Rest for a minute and repeat until you have performed all your sets before moving onto the next pair of exercises. Aim to work every body part either during the workout, or at least once throughout the week, if you are doing different body parts at different times of the week. You could finish of your workout with a timed body weight circuit performing say burpees, star jumps, bodyweight squats etc. Or some interval training of your preference.

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.

While the metabolic training explanation wasn’t exhaustive, I hope you are beginning to see the benefits of metabolic training and how it can help you. This form of training can also be more enjoyable if your constantly mixing things up to stop your body adapting. It can be harder to perform especially if you’ve never tried it before. Therefore always consult with your doctor before attempting any new training regime. Give it a go and you could be surprised with the results.

Click here for a Great High Intensity Metabolic Workout

William Coulter has over 10 years experience in the gym and at home doing countless hours of research. If you would like to know more to stop wasting time in the gym and start getting the results you deserve; feel free to check out his website for more info: http://www.burningfattraining.com/

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Overlooked Secrets to Building Rock Hard Six-Pack Abs

Overlooked Secrets to Building Rock Hard Six-Pack Abs
By John Leotardo

If you’re like many people out there who want to lose their belly fat and gain those amazing looking six-pack abs, then there are some things you should know before you begin your journey. Neither diet or exercise alone will help you achieve your goals. You will need to incorporate a combination of both in order to keep the fat off and the muscle showing!

People who do hundreds of sit-ups or crunches per week are often stumped as to why they are not getting any results. The answer is simple; you absolutely cannot spot reduce fat on your body! Just because you are targeting your abdominal muscles with exercises doesn’t mean you will reduce any amount of fat there. You can build up muscle anywhere on your body at any time, but if there is a layer of fat covering it, you’ll never even see it. The key to getting those new muscles to show is to lose fat all throughout the body. Cardio, such as jogging, is probably one of the most effective and easy ways to lower your overall body fat.

Since muscle burns the most amount of calories, increasing the general muscle mass of your body through weight training will help to speed your metabolism up and help you burn fat, even while you are sleeping. You don’t need to lift 100 or 200 pound weights to achieve this, either. Start small, but keep a consistent schedule and you will soon notice that your body fat is slowly being replace by lean muscle. Before long, you’ll see that crunches and sit-ups will actually start to produce results because you have lowered your overall body fat.

Click Here to Learn about One of the Best Ab Workout Programs Ever!

If you are interested in learning more secrets about getting rock hard abdominals, then check out the truth about abs. This site has sections for both men and women, so anyone seeking the truth on how to get that awesome six-pack can get started right away. Get more info by visiting http://www.ab-truth.info. Check it out today!

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This article links out to a product. If you purchase this product, I recieve a percentage of the sale. Click here to read my disclaimer.

The word “Cardio” or cardiovascular means “relating to, or involving the heart and blood vessels,” according to the Merriam-Webster medical dictionary. In other words, “Cardio” has nothing to do with spending countless hours on a treadmill, or watching a video of an anorexic woman doing aerobics.

Cardio basically refers to training the heart. And the best way to train the heart is not with boring jogging or aerobics, but instead high intensity bodyweight and dumbbell exercises. This is because I prefer to have fun while I workout.

The following is a list of 24 bodyweight and dumbbell exercises that you can use to develop your own fun cardio workout:

1. Dumbbell Push Press
2. Dumbbell Jump Shrugs
3. Bodyweight Split Jump
4. Bodyweight Knee Raise to Side Push Up
5. Bodyweight Free Squat
6. Dumbbell Sumo Deadlift
7. Bodyweight Hindu Pushups
8. Dumbbell Alternating Hanging High Pull
9. Dumbbell Front Squat
10. Dumbbell Two Handed Swing
11. Bodyweight Squat Thrust
12. Bodyweight Step Ups
13. Bodyweight Squat Jumps
14. Dumbbell Squat Clean
15. Bodyweight Rest Pause Pull Ups
16. Bodyweight Butt Raises
17. Bodyweight Ice Skater Hops
18. Bodyweight Dive Bomber Push Ups
19. Dumbbell Renegade Row
20. Bodyweight Classic Push Up
21. Dumbbell Bent Over Row
22. Dumbbell Twisting Military Press
23. Dumbbell Split Jerk
24. Dumbbell Golf Squat

To learn how to perform these exercises, along with high intensity workouts and intensity techniques, check out the Gladiator Body Workout. Click here for more information.

I first realized how big a role metabolism played in fat loss when I read Alwyn Cosgrove’s article on T-mag, titled the Hierarchy of Fat Loss. Cosgrove stated that the most important factor in a fat loss routine is metabolic resistance training. This includes workouts such as complexes, circuits, trisets, and supersets. The idea is to get your heart rate up and keep it up while lifting moderate to heavy weights.

I liked this approach to training much better than doing steady state cardio, and so I gave it a try. By the time I had lost 15 lbs, I had developed four methods vital to fat loss: heavy training, metabolic resistance training, aerobic training, and anaerobic interval training. Then than list was refined to include only metabolic resistance training, heavy training, and eating a lot to maximize your resting metabolic rate. Continue reading

It’s time to throw your gym membership out the door. In a bad economy, you need to cut back where you can. Exercising at home is probably the best way to save a whole bunch of money and get into great shape!

What are my Cardio Options?

Performing cardio at home is very easy. You don’t need to purchase any fancy equipment at all. The following are some cardio activities you can perform with limited to no equipment:

Shadowboxing

This is an activity that professional boxers use to train for their fights. It requires standing in front of a mirror and basically boxing yourself. They usually practice footwork and punching. However, you can shadowbox practically anywhere just by throwing some punches in the air while bouncing side to side.

Jump roping

A jump rope shouldn’t cost you more than $15. Just the way you were when you were little, just start skipping rope. Eventually, you want to learn some techniques such as doubleunders and crossovers. These techniques will really get your heart rate up and give you a great cardio workout.

Running

Running is the basic cardio choice for most people. Now, I’m talking about running, not jogging. This shouldn’t be an easy run. If you’re only going to run a while, then really run a mile. Try to run that mile as fast as possible.

Calisthenics

Calisthenics are those exercises you used to do in your school gym class. They include jumping jacks, windmills, and a variety of other heart pumping movements. You can do circuits of jump roping and running in place for an intense cardio workout.

Sprinting

Sprinting is running all out within a short distance. You can start out by just sprinting from one end of the block to the other. Repeat this 10-12 times for a great fat burning workout. Steadily increase the distance until you can do an all out sprint for approximately 400 meters.

In-Home Cardio Workouts for Beginners

Beginners should ease into their in home cardio workouts. You can set up a very basic 3 days per week, 20 minutes per day routine that will help you lose weight. And because I do not want you to become bored with the routine, I want you to choose 3 separate activities for each day.

Make your Cardio Workouts Harder

After a while, basic cardio will become very boring. You can only shadowbox for so long until your body becomes used to the movement. I am against increasing the time of the movement and prefer increase the intensity of the workout.

The following are some of my favorite cardio intensity techniques:

Descending Reps

This technique works great with shadowboxing, jump roping, and calisthenics. Choose two exercises such as jump roping and jumping jacks. What you want to do is create a workout where the repetitions are steadily decreasing after each round.

Tabata

Tabata intervals are where you perform 20 seconds of high intensity training followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is performed best with sprinting, but can also be performed with high intensity jump roping or shadowboxing.

Traditional Tabata is performed for a total of 8 intervals, so the workout lasts 4 minutes long. You can perform just one exercise per day, or include other exercises. Beginners should start off by just performing one exercise per day.

If Tabata Intervals are too hard for you, then you can start off with easier intervals such as 30/60, or 30/30. Start off slow, because Tabata intervals are one of the most brutal exercises out there.

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.

Alternate with Strength Training

Performing cardio movements in a superset fashion with bodyweight or free weight exercises is another great method to help you drop fat really quickly. You get both the cardio and strength benefit with these workouts.

Setting up this workout is very easily. All you need to do is choose one cardio movement, and one bodyweight or dumbbell exercise and alternate between them the way you would perform regular supersets.

Doing Cardio without Doing Cardio

Now it’s time change your mind set. That last technique there, alternating with strength training and cardio is only scratching the surface when it comes to creating cardio workouts without doing cardio. The thing that most people don’t realize is that Cardio is short for the word “Cardiorespiratory.”

In short, you’re training your heart. So as long as you keep your heart rate up, in a way, you’re performing cardio. The cardio effect disappears when you rest too long and let your heart rate return to normal. If you rest for a very short time between two or more strength training exercises, then you will never need to do actual cardio ever again!

Remember one thing: no matter how great a fitness program is, you will never get results from it if it’s not fun. You workouts need to be exciting and challenging. So you need to choose something that you truly enjoy doing.

Image by abbyjane Here is a really great bodyweight workout using simple, basic movements that’ll take just 15 minutes of your time:

Perform 5 rounds of:

2 minute interval:

• Pullups, 5 reps
• Pushups, 10 reps
• Bodyweight Squat, 20 reps

1 minute rest

Here’s how to do it:

1. Set the timer for 2 minutes, and perform as many rounds as you can of each of the exercises listed for the suggested repetitions
2. After the 2 minutes, rest for 1 minute
3. Repeat four more times

Some ideas on how to make this workout harder:

1. Increase the time interval. You can perform 3 rounds at a 3 or 4 minute interval, or 2 rounds with a 5 or 6 minute interval, followed by a minute rest.
2. You can replace the exercise for difficult ones. For example, perform Side to Side Pullups instead of regular pullups, hindu pushups instead of regular pushups, and squat jumps for bodyweight squats.

Some ideas on how to make this workout shorter:

1. Shorten the rest period to 30 seconds
2. Use alternative interval schemes such as Tabata – 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest.

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.