Proper Timing to Burn More Fat

Proper timing of your cardio exercise will yield even better results.  By scheduling your cardio exercise after you have completed your resistance training or before you have your breakfast, you can burn more fat. 

 

Here’s what I mean:  Perform 45-60 minutes of resistance training exercises, and then do another 45-60 minutes of cardio exercise – fast walking, bicycling, or jogging.  During your resistance training workout, your body energized itself on the glycogen in your muscle (stored carbohydrates).  Once that is depleted, your body will switch to stored fat for fuel.  So, by the time you’re ready to do your cardio training, your body is ready to use and burn stored fat.  Normally, if you just do cardio training for your workout, it takes your body 20-30 minutes to shift from burning mostly stored carbohydrates to burning mostly stored fat.  With this exercise strategy, you can get into a fat burning mode quicker.

 

You can also burn more fat by doing pre-breakfast cardio training.  It works on a similar principle.  Your body depleted most of its carbohydrates while you were sleeping and must switch to mostly stored fat for fuel during your pre-breakfast cardio training.   With this strategy, resistance training is not included during the exercise session.  If you want to do resistance training, do it later in the day, and 90 minutes after you have fed your body with a balanced meal.

 

To effectively apply resistance training, cardio and sensible diet to your fat loss program, I can offer Personal Training or Fitness Consulting Services to help you.  Check out my two websites for these two services:

 

www.resultzpersonaltraining.com    for Personal Training Services

 

AND

 

www.resultzfitnessconsulting.com   for Fitness Consulting Services

 

 © 2009 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

Belly Fat Can Kill You!!!

 

 

 

 

Most people just hate having belly fat.  I certainly hate it.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that it’s pretty easy to accumulate belly fat.  Fortunately, I’ve been able to keep it in check through good diet and exercise.  Besides being unsightly and causing your clothes to fit improperly, it’s just not healthy to have belly fat.  In fact, we now know that too much belly fat can kill you.  

 

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have determined that too much fat in your belly or abdominal area can have serious effects to your long-term health.  Fat cells in the abdominal area produce inflammatory proteins that have damaging effects on the blood vessels and other cells in the body. 

 

These inflammatory proteins are responsible for the development of coronary artery disease and a condition called Metabolic Syndrome.  Metabolic Syndrome is a health condition that is characterized by high blood fats, high blood pressure, abdominal fat deposits, insulin resistance, blood clotting and cellular inflammation.  Cellular inflammation is a serious condition and a symptom of declining metabolic health.

 

This is just one more very significant finding that tells us: “If at all possible, you must reduce, or eliminate, or prevent accumulation of fat around our midsection”.   Failure to do this will have serious consequences to your health.

 

The only effective way to reduce belly or abdominal fat is to employ weight training, high-intensity cardio and a sensible diet.  For more information on how my “Inches Away” Fat Loss Program can effective effectively help you lose belly fat and other fat on your body, go to my website:   www.resultzpersonaltraining.com

 

 

© 2009 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

Beware of Food Commercials: They Could Make You Fat

I get so frustrated while watching TV during many of the food commercials.  We’re constantly bombarded by slick and clever marketing techniques that try to convince us to eat certain foods and beverages.  Food and beverage companies are pushing their latest and greatest products on us by tempting us with cues that appeal to our emotions.  In addition to the usual cue of our sense of taste, other emotional cues appeal to our desire to be happy, achieve status, feel good, be cool, and achieve success by using their product. 

 

In most cases, nothing could be further from the truth.  Many of the food and beverage products advertised on TV are unhealthy for us. There is big money in the sale of processed foods and beverages.  This is why so much advertising is done to sell them.  You don’t see heavy TV advertising for healthy, natural foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, and eggs.  In addition, TV ads don’t spend time telling you to buy fish, chicken, and other meats found at our local food store. 

 

Although there are a few exceptions, by and large, the foods that are the healthiest for us are not advertised and the foods that are the unhealthiest are heavily advertised.  This is one reason why our population is getting fatter each year.  We are being “brain washed” to eat foods that are processed and refined, while healthier food options are being ignored because it’s not profitable to spend advertising dollars on them. 

 

The emphasis on buying processed and refined foods distracts us from the benefits of more natural foods.  The advertisements for processed and refined foods raise our consciousness about the foods marketed.  As a result, we tend to forget about the benefits of natural foods. 

 

Processed and refined foods are laden with preservatives, salt, fats, sugars, and refined carbohydrates.  Our bodies do not handle large quantities of sugars, fats and refined carbohydrates efficiently.  Unless we’re exercising very intensely every day, sugars and refined carbohydrates are processed by our bodies into body fat.  In addition, many of the refined and processed foods are empty of vital nutrients such as: vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytochemicals.  These nutrients are necessary to maintain our bodies at peak efficiency, sustain a strong immune system and reduce the effects of the aging process.

 

Don’t be seduced by the slick advertising and deceptive marketing practices that tells you to buy and consume foods they’re advertising.  Change your mindset and your diet to more natural foods.  Choose foods that are as close to nature as possible.  Select fresh produce, frozen vegetables, and fresh fruit in place of foods that come in a can or package.  Your body will thank you for it. 

 

© 2009 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

Use Proper Timing to Burn More Fat

Proper timing of your aerobic exercise will yield even better results.  By scheduling your aerobic exercise after you have completed your resistance training or before you have your breakfast, you can burn more fat. 

 

Here’s what I mean:  Perform 45-60 minutes of resistance training exercises, and then do another 45-60 minutes of aerobic exercise – fast walking, bicycling, or jogging.  During your resistance training workout, your body energized itself on the glycogen in your muscle (stored carbohydrates).  Once that is depleted, your body will switch to stored fat for fuel.  So, by the time you’re ready to do your aerobic training, your body is ready to use and burn stored fat.  Normally, if you just do aerobic training for your workout, it takes your body 20-30 minutes to shift from burning mostly stored carbohydrates to burning mostly stored fat.  With this exercise strategy, you can get into a fat burning mode quicker.

 

You can also burn more fat by doing pre-breakfast aerobic training.  It works on a similar principle.  Your body depleted most of its carbohydrates while you were sleeping and must switch to mostly stored fat for fuel during your pre-breakfast aerobic training.   With this strategy, resistance training is not included during the exercise session.  If you want to do resistance training, do it later in the day, and 90 minutes after you have fed your body with a balanced meal.

 

To effectively apply resistance training, cardio and sensible diet to your fat loss program, I can offer Personal Training or Fitness Consulting Services to help you.  Check out my two websites for these two services:

 

www.resultzpersonaltraining.com    for Personal Training Services

 

AND

 

www.resultzfitnessconsulting.com   for Fitness Consulting Services

 

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

Don’t Do These Things If You Want To Lose Fat

In my many travels to several gyms that I frequent, I see some behaviors that are unproductive to losing fat. Many of the exercisers are doing things that are a waste of time or ineffective. As a result, they won’t achieve the fat loss results that they’re expecting.

Before I discuss these behaviors, I’ll apologize in advance if you’re also doing some of these behaviors and I hurt your feelings. I don’t intend to be mean spirited. I only want the best for anyone who is trying to improve their body, health and fitness. So, let’s take a tour of my gym.

The Stroller - When I first enter my gym, I see a lot of people on the treadmills. While most of them are moving at a pretty good speed, I see a few that are “strollers”. Their walking speed is around 2 – 2½ miles per hour. They’re obviously in reasonable health (maybe a little overweight) and, therefore, they should have no medical reason for walking at a slow pace. The purpose for cardio training in a fat loss program is to create an energy deficit. The faster you walk, jog or run on the treadmill…the more energy you’ll burn…and the more energy deficit you’ll create. This energy deficit will elicit more fat burning. So, check your cardio training speeds and ‘kick it up’ a notch or two to achieve more fat burning.

The Bench Warmer - While I work my way to the free weight area, I see the “Bench Warmer”. The “Bench Warmer” sits on the bench and takes 3-5 minutes between sets of each exercise. Weight training can be a powerful tool in your arsenal of fat loss weapons, but only if you engage each set and each exercise with intensity. One way to achieve intensity is to keep your rest periods between sets short. The normal rest period between sets is 30-60 seconds if you’re on a fat loss program. Powerlifters and Olympic Lifters will usually take up to 3 minutes between sets. Any longer than 3 minutes rest will not benefit the trainer.

The Socialite – During my first exercise, I am encountered by the gym “Socialite”. While I’m a fairly friendly person, I can become annoyed by someone who wants to talk excessively while I’m trying to train. Of course, the real tragedy is that the “Socialite” can never be intense during the workout while talking incessantly to others. To make progress in your workout, you must be intense and focused in each and every set of every exercise.

The Cruncher - Looking across the gym, I see the abdominal training area. On one of the abdominal machines, I see the “Cruncher”. The “Cruncher” does endless sets of abdominal work in the fruitless effort to trim blubber off the midsection and attain that much coveted “six-pack abs” look. News flash….spot reducing doesn’t work! The abdominal muscles should be worked hard like any other muscle. However, five to ten sets of 50-100 repetitions for ab exercises is a waste of time and will most likely cause serious lower back problems in the future. Performing a few sets of 8-20 repetitions for 1 or 2 abdominal exercises is an appropriate abdominal exercise regimen.

If you know of someone doing some of these “unproductive” behaviors please help them understand the error of their ways and give them proper guidance. If you’re doing any of these behaviors, then you need to re-direct your focus to more productive practices so you can achieve your fitness and fat loss goals.

If you need coaching and guidance on more productive exercise techniques in your quest for fat loss, check out my two websites to see if my services can help you:

www.resultzpersonaltraining.com for personal training services

or

www.resultzfitnessconsulting.com for fitness consulting services

 

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Resistance Training: A Major Contributor to Fat Loss

Resistance training is one of the best ways to burn off excess body fat. Let me explain why.  Resistance training (also called weight training) uses the anaerobic energy system to provide energy during the workout. Anaerobic means “without oxygen”. This means that primarily carbohydrates are used for energy and burned without the use of oxygen.

These carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen, are stored in the liver and muscle and can only supply energy to the muscle in an anaerobic state for a short time – usually 1-2 minutes for each exercise set. During a resistance training workout you expend a sizeable quantity of carbohydrate energy.  Depending upon your exercise intensity, bodyweight and muscle mass, this energy expenditure can range from 150 to 800 calories per workout.

Besides the energy expended during the workout, there are additional energy expenditures occurring after the workout.  After the Resistance Training workout, you’re in a recovery mode.  During this recovery, the body delivers glycogen, enzymes, and amino acids to the muscle.  Now your body is in an aerobic state and burns mostly fat.  This process has been nicknamed the “afterburn”.  Depending on the duration and intensity of the workout, this “afterburn” can last several hours.  

Studies have reported a 4-7% increase in metabolic rate over a 24-hr period following a resistance training workout.  So, if you have a daily caloric expenditure of 2,500/day, you could expend 100-175 calories of fat after resistance training – this in addition to the 150 to 800 carbohydrate calories you’ve used during the workout.  Again, your actual energy expenditure depends upon your bodyweight, muscle mass, daily caloric expenditure and exercise intensity. 

To maximize the benefits of the “afterburn”, studies have shown that higher fat burning rates are achieved if you exercise to “near failure” or “failure” on the last set of each Resistance Training exercise.  Reaching “failure” means that you’re not able to finish an attempted repetition.  “Near Failure” means that you’re barely able to finish the last attempted repetition.  Both of these conditions mean that you pushed the muscle to its limit during the last repetition of the last set of the exercise. 

In Resistance Training, “failure is good”, because you exhausted the muscle during a maximum effort.  This “near failure or failure” maximum effort will increase the “afterburn” or post-exercise fat burning rate higher.  After your initial conditioning phase, progressively increase your resistance in the last set of each exercise to achieve your maximum fat burning capacity.

Check out my website www.resultzpersonaltraining.com for more information on my “Inches Away” Fat Loss Program, which uses resistance training to help you burn excess body fat.

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

 

Think Fat Loss…Not Weight Loss

If you’re considering going on a weight loss program, it can be confusing and even a little scary. Questions come to mind and you aren’t sure of the answers. Which products really work? Are they safe? Do they really get the results that they claim? Shall I use supplements or diets or exercise? What’s the best program for me? Well, I’m going to give you some guidance in this area. I’ll be discussing why you should be focusing on fat loss not weight loss. When you focus on fat loss, instead of weight loss, you’re headed in the right direction toward a sensible and effective fat loss program. Let me explain.

The weight loss industry is a $55 billion a year business. The marketing of diets, diet foods, supplements, weight loss products, and exercise systems to help people lose weight is a very competitive business. As such, many misleading and false claims are offered by some companies to gain the sales advantage in this lucrative market.

For instance, many weight management or diet programs entice you to use their program with claims such as “you will lose 30 pounds in 30 days”. The most ridiculous claim I’ve seen was made by a diet supplement company who claimed that their product could “blast up to 49 pounds off user in only 29 days, obliterate 5 inches from waistlines, and zap 3 inches from thighs, without dieting or exercising”. Needless to say, the FTC slapped a restraining order against this company for their obviously false claims.

There are many weight loss or diet programs that claim that you can lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. Some of these claims are false. Also, some of them are true, but the fast weight loss is unsafe and unhealthy for you. If you’re in the “market place” looking for solutions to reducing your weight, then you need to be discerning and educated about which approach is the most effective, healthiest and safest for you.

The ultimate goal in losing weight is to lose body fat exclusively. Many weight loss programs will help you to lose weight fast. However, many of the fast weight loss programs cause you to lose muscle along with the fat. Any fast weight loss program that claims you can “lose 30 pounds in 30 days” will most likely cause you to lose muscle along with the fat loss. This is self-defeating since muscle uses energy to function and the additional muscle loss will cause your metabolism to drop which reduces your fat burning capacity. This why you must participate in a program that focuses on fat loss instead of weight loss.

Losing body fat is all about creating an energy deficit. To lose body fat, you must expend more energy than you ingest (in food and drink). This situation creates an energy deficit that must be made up from stored carbohydrates, stored fat or muscle tissue. The trick is to create an energy deficit in a manner that spares the muscle and uses primarily fat to make up the deficit. “Crash” or starvation diets cause an excessive energy deficit which results in consuming fat and muscle to satisfy the deficit.

I developed my “Inches Away” Fat Loss Program to specifically remove body fat in a sensible, effective and safe manner with the main focus on losing body fat and losing inches not just pounds. For this reason, my program is designed with three key components:

Resistance Training – to create an energy deficit while sparing the muscle from being used to satisfy the deficit and also building muscle to increase the metabolism.

Cardio Training – to create an energy deficit while improving endurance, energy and cardiovascular health.

Sensible Diet – to create a moderate caloric intake deficit through proper food selection and portion control.

My “Inches Away” Fat Loss Program is designed to induce a bodyweight loss of about 1-2 pounds per week (or 1% of your bodyweight per week). Weight management experts, weight loss doctors, and obesity experts recommend these guidelines for any sensible, safe and effective weight/fat loss program. Higher weight losses per week can result in muscle loss.

Check out my website for more detailed information on the results of my “Inches Away” Fat Loss Program.

I hope this “sheds some light” on the confusing and complex subject of weight loss. If you want more information, please feel free to email me.  We can also arrange a free initial consultation to determine if my services can help you meet your fitness and health goals.

 

ã2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc. All Rights Reserved 

 

 

 

 

Excess Body Fat Has Huge Consequences

As I go to the supermarket or to the malls, I am greatly saddened when I see very overweight and obese people.  I can tell that their condition is a burden for them.  Some of them have difficulty walking, climbing steps and getting into their vehicles.  Also, many of these very overweight or obese individuals will become more un-healthy if they continue to carry their excess body fat.  Their medical problems are just beginning! It’s all so very sad.

 

There’s no escaping the fact that the more body fat you have and the longer you carry it, the more you increase your risk of developing debilitating and, possibly, fatal diseases.  Many of the diseases are very serious.  Being obese or overweight is the second leading cause of preventable death in America today.  It’s a national epidemic!

 

Excess body fat has huge consequences to your health by increasing the risk of the following conditions and diseases:

 

Cardiovascular Diseases: High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Elevated Triglycerides (blood fats), Atherosclerosis/Coronary Artery Disease, Stroke, Angina, Myocardial Infarction/Heart Attack

 

Metabolic Diseases: Elevated Blood Sugar, High Insulin Levels (Hyperinsulinemia), Insulin Resistance Syndrome (also called Syndrome X), Type 2 Diabetes, Gall Bladder Disease/Gallstones

 

Cancers: Breast Cancer, Uterine Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Colon Cancer, Prostate Cancer

 

Orthopedic Conditions and Diseases: Osteoarthritis of knees and hips, Lower Back Pain, Disc Degeneration in Lumbar Spine region, Foot and ankle pain

 

Other Conditions and Diseases: Sleep Apnea, Gout, Impaired mobility, stability and flexibility

 

One of the most common diseases is Insulin Resistance Syndrome (Syndrome X).  Approximately 60-75 million Americans have Insulin Resistance Syndrome.  Insulin Resistance Syndrome is a precursor to Coronary Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes. 

 

When you have Insulin Resistance Syndrome, your insulin has difficulty shuttling glucose (blood sugar) into the glycogen (stored glucose) storage sites in your liver and muscles.  When this happens, the pancreas secretes more insulin to help the process.  The excess insulin in the bloodstream damages the arteries, eventually leading to Coronary Heart Disease and heart failure.

 

About 5-10% of people who have Insulin Resistance Syndrome eventually develop Type 2 Diabetes.  This happens because the body becomes so insulin resistant that the pancreas cannot supply enough insulin to reduce the high levels of glucose in the blood stream. 

 

Type 2 Diabetes is a degenerative disease because it causes further damage to the blood vessels.  In some cases, this blood vessel damage results in blocked capillaries resulting in the amputation of parts of your arms and legs.  And, of course, Type 2 Diabetes also increases the probability of Coronary Heart Disease.

 

Also, Type 2 Diabetes will cause similar problems in the blood vessels in the retinas in your eyes.  If untreated by an ophthalmologist, then this blood vessel damage can lead to impaired vision or blindness.  Most people that are being treated for this condition still experience impaired vision.

 

Excess belly fat in men and women increases the risk of cancer.  Visceral fat around the stomach organs and subcutaneous fat over the abdominal muscles promotes an inflammatory response in the body which is believed to increase the risk of developing such cancers as: breast cancer, colon cancer, uterine and cervical cancer, and prostate cancer.

 

Being overweight or obese for long periods of time greatly deteriorates the hip and knee joints.  Increased body fat levels and higher bodyweights contribute to the development of osteoarthritis – a degenerative disease of the joint.  Eventually, hip and/or knee replacements become necessary if a person wants to be mobile and pain free.

 

Research done at the Robert Stempel School of Public Health at Florida International University found that hip replacements have increased 71% from 1997 to 2004 and knee replacements have increased 83% for the same time period.  When you compare this data with the fact that adults have been getting increasingly heavier in the last several decades, it’s no surprise.    

 

Clearly, excess body fat ages and deteriorates your body at an accelerated rate.  With excess body fat, you become “old before your time” and this eventually results in a greatly diminished quality of life.  If you want to be active and healthy, then you must do everything possible to reduce the body fat or prevent any accumulation of body fat.  If you don’t, then you risk the dire consequences discussed above.

 

To lose body fat and reduce your risk of the diseases mentioned above, you must employ three key strategies: resistance training, cardio exercise and a sensible diet. These strategies are the foundation of a successful fat loss program.  If you’re overweight or obese – you don’t have to be.  There is a solution.

 

If you want to know more about how my “Inches Away” Fat Loss Program will help you get a better looking body, visit my website at:

 

www.resultzpersonaltraining.com

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

Concentrate on Fat Loss, Not Weight Loss

Through TV, radio, and newsprint media, we’re constantly bombarded by the latest weight loss programs.  Some of these programs promise that you can “lose 30 pounds in 30 days”, or “10 pounds loss in 10 days without exercise”.  Many of these programs will get you results in weight loss as they claim. Unfortunately, these programs fail to tell you that the weight loss can come at the expense of dehydration and losing valuable muscle mass.  In other words, the weight loss is the combination of fat loss, muscle tissue loss, and water weight loss.  You do not want to be losing muscle tissue!  Muscle loss results in a reduced metabolism.  You need to be increasing metabolism. The decrease in weight due to water loss can cause de-hydration.  You need water to aid in burning fat.

 

You should focus on diet and exercise programs designed to lose body fat and not just total body weight.  The goal in a fat loss program is to make sure that a large majority of the weight loss is due to fat loss and not water loss or muscle tissue loss.  One rule of thumb is to design your program to lose only 1-2 pounds per week.  For very overweight or obese individuals, the loss per week guideline is 1% of their bodyweight.  For an individual weighing 300 pounds, 3 pounds per week loss would be reasonable. 

 

Why is this guideline important?  If you exceed these guidelines, you risk putting your body in a starvation mode that will “cannibalize” your muscle tissue for use as energy during this starvation period. 

 

So, how can you achieve these fat loss guidelines and minimize the risk of muscle loss and dehydration?  Your fat loss program should be based on one very simple concept: Energy output must exceed energy input to lose weight.  The food and drink that you consume is your energy input.  Your daily activity and exercise is your energy output.  It takes 3,500 calories to consume one pound of fat.  So, to lose 1-2 pounds per week you must burn 3,500-7,000 calories per week (or 500-1,000 calories per day) more than you consume.

 

Obsessing on purely bodyweight loss does not consider the fact that if you are in a resistance training program, you could be adding much needed and valuable muscle tissue.  For instance, over a one month period you may have lost 8 pounds of fat and gained 2 pounds of muscle for net bodyweight loss of 6 pounds.  Focusing on just on bodyweight doesn’t tell the whole story.

 

How do you monitor a fat reducing program without depending on the scale?  Use the mirror and the tape. At the beginning of your program, you should take girth measurements.  Measure your waist, hip, chest, shoulder, arm and leg girths.  Write them down.  Every month or so, re-measure the same girth measurements.  If you are losing fat, you will see a significant difference in these girth dimensions and your overall appearance in the mirror.  Even if you lose 1 pound of fat and gain 1 pound of muscle, your girth dimensions will still be smaller because muscle is denser and takes up less volume.

 

You can still use the scale as a measure of your progress and to verify that you’re staying within the 1-2 pounds of fat loss per week (or 1% of body weight fat loss per week) guidelines.  The scale is still a valuable measurement tool, but not your only measurement tool.  Keep the tape handy and check yourself out in the mirror.

 

I can help you with your fat loss program and make sure that you lose body fat, not valuable muscle tissue.  My personal training and fitness consulting services can be found at my two websites:

 

www.resultzpersonaltraining.com    for Personal Training Services

 

AND

 

www.resultzfitnessconsulting.com   for Fitness Consulting Services

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

Five Steps To A Flat Stomach

Most people would like to have a flat stomach. How about you? Do you want a flat stomach? If you already have a flat stomach, you probably want to keep it flat. Well, if your goal is to obtain or maintain a flat stomach, follow these five steps.

 

Step One – Get Pumping!  A full body resistance training routine should be started to increase your total muscle mass. Extra muscle will raise your metabolism and help you burn more body fat.  By training to “near failure” or “failure”, you’ll cause your body to burn fat after your workout.  I call this the “afterburn”. When you burn more fat, you will most likely lose inches around your waist.

 

Step Two – Get Moving!  Cardio training is an effective way to reduce fat in the abdominal area and keep it off. One recommended cardio method is Long, Slow Distance (LSD) training. With LSD, you perform walking, cycling or jogging pace for 45-60 minutes per training session, three to five times per week. Your exercise intensity is measured by the “talk test”. Using the talk test, you walk, cycle or jog at a speed up to the point where you are not able to talk in a full sentence without heavy breathing.  

 

For advanced trainers, you should employ High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to induce fat burning for several hours after your HIIT session.   To perform HIIT, begin with a 5-minute warm-up, then start to walk, jog or run as fast as you can go for 1-minute, then slow down to a 3.5-4.0 mph walk for 2 minutes.  Repeat this cycle eight times.  Finish off with a 5-minute cool-down.

 

Step Three – Get Crunching!  In addition to cardio and full body resistance training, specific resistance training of the abdominal muscles is a necessary step to develop strength and tone in the midsection area. Train your abdominal muscles three times per week. Recommended exercises are crunches, reverse crunches, and hanging knee raises. The abdominal muscles require one to three sets of 8-20 repetitions for strength and development.

 

Step Four – Get Straight!  Improved posture will make your stomach look flatter. If you stand tall, arch your lower back, pull your shoulders back and raise your ribcage, your stomach area will become flatter. By strengthening your back and abdominal muscles and concentrating on sitting, standing and walking taller, you will improve your posture and help flatten the stomach area.  In addition, you’ll improve your lower back alignment.

 

Step Five – Get Clean!  Clean up your diet. Eliminate simple sugars and reduce highly processed, refined carbohydrate foods from you diet. Also, lower the fat in your diet and moderate your alcohol intake. Practice portion control and make sure you eat a clean, healthy and balanced diet of 4-6 small meals per day.

 

There you have it. Follow these five simple steps and you can obtain or maintain that much desired flat stomach.  It takes patience and persistence, but the effort will be well worth it.

 

If you want to know more about how my Fat Loss Program will help you get a flat stomach and a better looking body, visit my website at:  www.resultzpersonaltraining.com

 

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved

 

Train With Intensity and Lose Body Fat

I workout at my gym 5-6 days a week and see a lot of people training to lose body fat.  Some of them truly understand how to train effectively to lose excess body fat. 

 

Unfortunately, there are some that don’t.  It appears that they are “going through the motions” and hoping that a miracle will happen and their fat will just melt off.  I’m saddened when I see this.  I hate to see people not get results.  It doesn’t have to be that way for them.  There’s a way to train and get good results.  So, how should they do it?

 

You can effectively lose body fat and raise your metabolism through Weight Training. This has been proven in scientific studies.  In one such study, researchers at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, have reported that intense weight training sessions boost your metabolism for two days after the workout.  Weight training (or resistance training) raises the post-workout metabolism by increasing the muscle temperature and stimulating chemicals that promote calorie burning and fat loss.  I call this the “after-burn”. This is why weight training (or resistance training) is absolutely vital during a fat-burning/weight loss fitness program.

 

For the “after-burn” effect to take place, each weight training workout must be intense.  This means that the workout must consist of 8-10 exercises, 2-4 sets per exercise for 8-12 reps per set.  The weights used must challenge the muscle by making it difficult to perform the last few repetitions in each set.  The workout must take each muscle to failure or near-failure.  Failure occurs when you’re unable to complete the final repetition with the weight. 

 

By continually attempting more repetitions and/or more weight, you force the muscle to work harder and push it to “failure”.  When this happens, you’ve achieved the sufficient level of intensity to stimulate the post-workout increase in metabolism.

 

As a result of this post-workout metabolism increase, you can burn more fat and help control your weight.  For more information, please checkout my website:

 

www.resultzpersonaltraining.com

 

© 2008 ResultZ Personal Training, Inc.  All Rights Reserved