Belly Fat Loser

Hey, that's one sexy lookin' corn ear! It'd be great with butter and a grilled chicken burger. Unfortunately, it's probably most of what that chicken burger ate while it was alive and cluckin'.

We’ve all heard the phrase “You are what you eat.”. Many of us had this tidbit of nutritional advice drilled into our heads from an early age. Did you ever stop to think that this also applies to what you are eating as well?

It’s true. If the cows that supply your beef eat a steady diet of corn feed, they’ll have a much different nutritional profile that will cows that spent their lives leisurely dining on a luscious mix of different grasses out in the field. This difference is even more pronounced for chicken. You’ve heard about the life of your basic commercially produced chicken. They live in giant chicken apartments, all stacked up and a’ poopin on each other. Pretty disgusting, really!

In many cases, chickens are not really stacked up this way. They are allowed to roam freely throughout 10,000 – 15,000 square foot grow houses, with about 15,000 of their closest friends. Their job is to grow into the plump birds we enjoy at mealtime. Roasting chickens are bread primarily to grow as fast as possible, so they can make their way to market ASAP. This they do, growing from those cute, little yellow balls of fluff to a 4lb package of juicy delight in only about 6 weeks.

What Does Your Food Eat?

Of greater concern to you than their living conditions, is the diet of your average commercially farmed chicken. What does said bird enjoy at mealtime? Well, chicken feed, naturally! Commercial chicken feed is designed to fatten chickens for market, at the lowest possible cost, of course. Every dime they spend on feed is one less dime the farm has available to spend on overhead or more chickens. There is a fine balance between giving the chickens the proper nutrition so that they stay disease free and grow fast, and letting them dine on the avian equivalent of caviar and truffles.

Commercial chicken feed is roughly 70% corn, 20% soy, and 10% vitamins, minerals and fillers. That means that you’re really eating more corn and soy than you ever suspected, especially when you consider the beef that you eat too (more on that in a second). Remember, chicken feed at commercial chicken farms is designed to do one thing, get the bird to market size as fast as possible. They are not really concerned with the nutrition content of most birds when you grill  them up.

In addition, the eggs you buy at the supermarket are produced in a similar fashion. It’s all about production efficiency, with little thought given to the egg’s nutritional content. In fact, there is a huge variation between eggs, depending upon what the laying chicken’s diet. Chickens that eat a wide variety of nutritious foods, such as they would if left to roam about a large meadow, lay more nutritious eggs than the average eggs you’ll buy at your large food stores.

In nature, chickens eat just about anything; grasses, grains, seeds, grubs, bugs, and more. That means their eggs contain a wide variety of nutrients; more so than if they are fed a steady diet of commercial chicken feed. That means the eggs give you the nutrition you need to lose fat and gain muscle.

Should I Eat Egg Whites only?
No, eat the whole egg. The yolks are power packed with nutritional goodness you won’t want to miss. Not only that, but the nutrition in the yolk helps make the protein in the white more bio-available, so your body gets to use more of it, faster. Even though the yolks are high in fat, free range egg yolks are actually good for you fats that your body needs to function at peak efficiency, and especially to burn fat!

OMEGA-3s?
You’ve been bombarded in the news media for a few years now about the importance of omega-3 fatty acids, and it is true that these are very important to optimum health. Did you know that there are also Omega-6 fatty acids as well? It’s true, and it is important to keep the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 in balance. In many foods, there is a much higher percentage of omega-6 than omega-3.

Were you aware that you can get these omega-3s in more than just salmon and other kinds of cold water fish? If you listen to the news, you’ll be completely oblivious to the fact that Salmon aren’t born with these vital fatty acids, they get them from their diet. That’s one reason that farmed fish isn’t nearly as nutritious as wild caught.

Wild caught fish, like free range fowl, eats wide variety of different things. Mainly the bigger eat smaller fish that eats even smaller ones. The food chain extends down  to the point where the smallest fish eat marine plants that are rich in omega-3s. Farmed fish eats commercial fish food that contains things like soy and cornmeal. Fish in nature doesn’t cultivate much corn as a food source, I would guess. I have a commercial fisherman friend who’ll go about the nutritional differences between farmed and wild caught fish for hours if you let him.

Lo and behold, it is the plant sources that originally deliver the omega-3 to the fish. One thing that few people are aware of is that grass fed  land meats also contain relatively large amounts of omega-3s, and their omega-3 to  omega-6 balance is much more favorable than with grain fed meats. That is another advantage to eating meats, whether it be pork, chicken, goat, or beef, that is grass fed and free range grazed. You’ll be getting your healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and at a better omega-3 / omega-6 balance .

So, it really makes a difference not only what you eat, but what your food eats too. Whether you’re eating eggs, drinking milk, or eating any of a number of different meats, the grass fed, free range grazed and wild fed varieties deliver high quality nutrition profiles to your body, where it counts. The nutrition is more bio-available as well, so you can eat less, and develop more. All in all, not only do the the more natural fed foods have better nutrition, they have fewer nutritional problem areas to worry about.

That means that be aware of what your food eats. You’ll live longer, burn fat faster, and build muscle quicker eating food that eats the good stuff, because that means you are too. In most cases they even taste better, to boot! Have you tried free range foods? What did you think?

How can your own, personal body fat monitor help you lose fat faster? Let me count the ways!

Everybody’s always talking about losing weight, but really it’s fat they want to lose. The problem with simply jumping on the scale and checking out the three digits of doom is that it really doesn’t give you a very complete picture of what’s going on. A better idea is to find out your body composition; then you can tell if you’re really losing the right kind of weight.

What if there was a tool that you can use to spy on your body and find out how much of the weight you lost was actually fat? 10 years ago, you could buy a simple set of calipers to do a skin fold test. While relatively quick, it wasn’t nearly as accurate or as easy as the average consumer would want. After all, who wants to have to use charts, and possibly, gasp, math, to find out their body fat percentage?

Of course, you could always hop into the dunk tank for a hydrostatic test. While that is definitely accurate, few of us have a 1,000 gallon water tank to jump in for a quick body fat measurement.

Thankfully, modern technology has once again come to the rescue. Now you can do a plethora of things that were once either too expensive, too complicated, or both, to do at home. Included in that is getting quick and accurate body fat measurements from the privacy of your bathroom. It’s as simple as standing on your bathroom scale in bare feet.

It’s true. You can get a regular bathroom scale with an accurate body fat monitor built right in. You can now get not only your weight, but your body composition reading, in a few seconds. Just like you can now get the computing power that formerly filled a room at the pentagon for a few hundred dollars, or a device the size of a credit card that carries thousands of songs, hundreds of pictures, and tells you where you’re going and how to get there, you can now get accurate body fat measurements from a bathroom scale.

The icing on the cake is that not only are these things readily available, they won’t cost you a fortune. In fact, you can put one on your wish list without feeling guilty, because nice ones are available for less than $100, and in many cases you’ll get change back from a 50.

How Can A Body Fat Monitor Help Me Lose Fat Faster?
Okay, so how can these wonders of modern technology help you lose fat faster? They work partially because they let you see exactly what kind of weight you’re losing. If you’ve heard me balther on about not losing muscle because it will slow your metabolism and kill your fat burning potential, now you can know exactly how much fat you’ve lost as opposed to just weight.

That is extremely powerful, because it lets you adjust your diet and exercise routine to ensure you’re not losing valuable muscle. In fact, you can use this to fine tune your program so that you actually gain muscle while you’re losing fat. Talk about a shortcut to fat loss!

But Wait, There’s More……
The other way that one of these body fat monitors helps you lose fat faster is by unleashing the power of competition. Competing with yourself every day to see that body fat percentage number go lower and lower is compelling. There’s something about it that makes you want to do better each day, even more so than just watching the scale numbers go down.

If you’re in this with a friend (and that is a great idea) then you can compete with them to see who’s body fat percentage is dropping faster. Anyone who has worked out with a lifting partner can tell you how heated competition like this can be. I have made more progress trying to get to that next milestone faster than my lifting partner than I could have ever done if I was working out alone, even if I had someone spot me so that I could squeeze out those last few reps that help you really make progress in the weight room. You can use your body fat monitor the same way. Start a competition with a friend to see who can improve their body fat percentage the fastest (without doing any thing crazy). You’ll be amazed how much competition can help.

If you don’t already have one, grab one of those scales that have a built in monitor. And watch the fat start to drop away.

How Do These Things Measure Body Fat Percentage?
Most of them work by passing a small, electric current through your body and measuring the resistance presented by your tissues. Fat and lean body tissue have different characteristics, so the software in the machine is able to calculate the relative amount of each. This is called the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) method.

What Should I Look For in a Body Fat Monitor?
If you are going to shop for one, what should you look for? Luckily, there is a wide variety of models available these days, most with all the features you’ll need.

Popular Body Fat Monitor Features -
Memory – Unless you love to write things down, why not let those little, silicon chips do the remembering? It will track your progress for you, automatically. You can get units that have multi-user memories, which is great if more than person will be using it.

Capacity – Make sure the unit you’re considering has a capacity over your current body weight.

Large, Legible Display – I know that I sure can’t see small numbers as well as I could a few years ago, so this is a feature I’m pretty adamant about. No squinting, thank you!

Accuracy – Obviously, you want a device that will give you accurate readings. However, without access to expensive calibration equipment, or independent lab tests, you are a bit on your own here. You have to rely on the reputation of the manufacturer. Perhaps even more important than absolute accuracy is consistency. For example, it doesn’t really matter if it is always 2 percentage points too high, if it always reads that way. That enables you to still track your progress accurately. If it is high one day and low the next however, it is almost useless.

Who Makes Good Body Fat Monitors?
Some of the most trusted manufacturers of these machines for home use are Omron, Tanita, and Ozeri.
These consistently receive high customer reviews on Amazon.com, and many of those receiving the best reviews are not the most expensive (Joy!)

My picks are below. Check out what customers are saying about them on Amazon
Omron HBF-306C Fat Loss Monitor, Black
Inexpensive and effective.

Omron Full Body Sensor Body Fat and Body Composition Monitor
Adds features such as water percentage that are helpful for staying properly hydrated.

Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor with Athletic Mode and Body Water
This one is great, with body composition and water percentage, but only has a 300lb capacity.

Hopefully, this will give you one more tool to use in your fight against fat. If you are using one of these let me know how it’s helped you so far. If you are about to start, please keep me posted.

If you're trying to squeeze out that last rep or two when your quads are already on freakin' fire, there's nothing better than having your favorite music just blasting to help you get them.

There’s just something about having great music when you workout that can make or break your workout. It drives you, and keeps you going when you want to do nothing more than pull off, have a cold drink and relax. With the right music, you can get that one, last rep at the end of your set that really helps your muscles grow, or that last 500 meters on the bike at 100%.

If you’re like most people, you know the feeling. You probably feel like without music you just can’t get in a decent workout. It turns out you’re not alone. There’s scientific basis for your sentiment. A new study out of England performed by Waterhouse, Hudson, and Edwards at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University discovered that muesic tempo can definitely influence your exercise.

The study looked at cycling, and found that music tempo controlled exercise speed. The cyclists listened to music while on their bikes. Unknown to the bike dudes, the researchers played a bit of a trick on them, randomly changing the speed of the music to be either 10% too slow, normal, or 10% too fast.

Not surprisingly, the cyclists speed corresponded to the music tempo. Speed up the music tempo and they rode faster, slow it down, and they took it easy. Since they were oblivious to the tempo change, the conclusion was that they subconsciously changed their workout speed because of the tempo change.

In case you might think that this study was all wet, another study published this February in the journal Perception and Motor Skills, looked at how hard people exercised when listening to music they liked, vs either no music, or music they didn’t like. The exercise used in the test was high intensity cycling. Scientists measured the critical power intensity produced by the cyclists during the workout using an ergonometer. They also measured perceived exertion and heart rate.

Surprisingly, although the study participant’s heart rate didn’t change during the workout, the ones listening to the music they liked actually rode 20% farther than the ones listening to music they didn’t! The researchers concluded that “listening to Preferred Music during continuous cycling exercise at high intensity can increase the exercise distance, and individuals listening to Nonpreferred Music can perceive more discomfort caused by the exercise. “

What it all means is simple; listen to your favorite music when you workout. You always thought that you got a better workout when you did that, now it’s been scientifically proven.

Here are my top 10 picks (in no particular order) for the best workout music. There are a million other great workout singles, but these are my picks for entire albums that you can workout to from beginning to end. Put these in your iPOD on random, and you’ll have the ultimate workout play list:

AC/DC – Back in Black

This classic seems like it was released only yesterday (really dating myself), but Brian Johnson’s first album with the kings of power rock from down under was a classic from the day it was released.

The Offspring – Smash

If you can’t get a good, high powered workout while listening to this album, you’re probably deaf, or maybe you should work for your local PD as a bomb disposal tech, since nothing will probably get your heart rate elevated. One of the consummate pure rock albums ever produced, especially when it comes to workout, skiing, or skating music.

Get it at iTunes here Smash – The Offspring

Ted Nugent – Ted Nugent

Yeah, the recording quality isn’t all it could be, but it’s what they record that counts. Terrible Ted, the Motor City Madman, a hollow body man in a solid body world, lays down some great, high energy workout tracks, laden with the nuclear powered guitar riffs that made him famous. If you can’t get fired up by listening to this album, you’re probably still trying to get your bong cleaned out. Funny, because Uncle Ted eschews drugs in favor of soaking up all life has to offer the natural way.

Get it at iTunes here Ted Nugent – Ted Nugent

The Cult – Love

A workout fav since college. Still remember waling up the complex one fall morning after cranking this one up for the morning cardio. Another reason to have an iPOD.  Kids!

Get it at iTunes here Love (Remastered) – The Cult

Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape

Dave Grohl is one of the most talented musician / songwriter combinations in rock music.  The Foo Fighter’s second album remains my favorite of theirs, and one my favorites from band to power a great workout. I got to see them live in Seattle in 1997 as part of a fantastic Bumbershoot lineup, which also included Smashmouth, Sugar ray, Sneaker Pimps, Beck, Tenacious D, Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveler, Los Lobos, and David Byrne. Those Bumbershoots in the late ’90′s were really something to behold.

Get it at iTunes here The Colour And The Shape – Foo Fighters

Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction

One of the fastest selling debut albums of all time, and with damn good reason. The energy in this one can get you to turn that last rep into 3 or 4.

Get it at iTunes here Appetite for Destruction – Guns N’ Roses

Van Halen – 5150

From the first track of Sammy Hagar’s debut album with this So. Cal band of rock hooligans, you get one song after another of power chords, driving rhythms, screaming vocals, and wild guitar work; just as a great workout album should be. A couple of songs are a little slow, but you need a couple minutes of rest in there somewhere. Remember, interval training!

Get it at iTunes here 5150 – Van Halen

Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic

This is a true classic. With the exception of “You See Me Crying”, great workout songs all. That one is a bit slow for really getting you going on the last mile.

ZZ Top -Afterburner

Those boys from Tejas ROCK, and have been at it for longer than just about anyone. This album has been one of my favorite workout soundtracks since college, and still is. Funny how the one without the beard is Beard!

Get it at iTunes here Afterburner – ZZ Top

Screaming Trees – Sweet Oblivion

Screaming Trees prove that Ellensburg, WA can be the nexus for one of the great rock bands of the ’90′s. Overshadowed by some of the other obvious talent to come out of the Seattle area in the early 1990s, such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Alice and Chains, their most popular album is nonetheless one of the best to be released during the decade that proved to be the pinnacle of rock. If you’ve never heard it, you’ve got to hear this one.

Get it at iTunes here Sweet Oblivion – Screaming Trees

Well, those are my picks for the top 10 best workout albums ever produced. If there’s one thing that’s great about music, it’s that no one has the same musical taste, so you may think mine sucks. Leave me your favorites in the comments, I’m looking forward to hearing some great, new workout music.

Yoplait Light, MMM, MMM Good. It tastes great, but is it really good for you? As it is with so many foods labeled "light" or "Diet" the answer requires a bit closer examination.

We’re always looking for ways to eat better, since diet is one of the cornerstones to fat loss. You know, we have this thought, often a misconception, that just because a package proclaims something is “light” , “diet”, or “healthy” it actually is. Ah, the power of marketing. What’s really going on here?

On a trip to the market last night, I was looking to pick up some yogurt, among other things. Yogurt is one of the fat loss and muscle building power foods. I’ve even named it to my Top 15 Healthy Foods List last year for it’s prowess in battling fat and promoting muscle.

I like light yogurt. It’s low in calories and tastes great, yet is packed with nutrition. If you find those little cups of joy lightly sweetened with fruit juice, you’ve struck gold. Often these are from small regional producers, or you can easily make delicious yogurt yourself, at home, for pennies. For more on how to do that, see the post I did a few months back on How to Choose the Best Yogurt Maker. You’ll note that, since I was shopping for yogurt, I obviously haven’t gotten around to making my own yet.

What the Heck is Going On Here??

In any case, there I was, checking out the label on a cup of Yoplait Light. Imagine my surprise when I noticed the second item on the list was…..are you sitting down?…..high fructose corn sweetener. In A Diet Product? High fructose corn sweetener? Really? Well, I was damn glad I checked. The cups were only 100 calories each, but I’d rather get my 100 calories somewhere else, thanks.

It all goes to the necessity to read that fine print on the nutrition label. You never know what you’ll find in there. Protien bars are another diet food that can sometimes contain all manner of garbage you wouldn’t expect to find in a diet product. Then again, “food “and “product” shouldn’t really be used together, should they? If you eschew all that prepackaged stuff you find out there claiming to be good for you, and follow the single ingredient food plan, you’ll be far down the road to a healthier life and a lower fat body, just make sure you read the label.

Have you found some of those food contradictions in your shopping adventures? Let me know, and always be looking for them.

Have a great weekend!

So, just why can't you stop eating so much? Maybe your weakness is one of these foods? Heaven knows there are about a zillion folks that just can't resist a Top Pot or Crispy Creme when given the chance. Just ask Golden Tate!

Everybody knows why you gain weight. You eat more calories than you use. It’s pretty simple, yet it is a perfect demonstration of the difference between simple and easy. It is a very simple concept. Fewer calories in that you use equals weight loss, while more calories in than you use equals weight gain. A third grader would have no trouble understanding it.

Implementing it however, is rarely so easy. Overeating, for whatever reason, is one of the most difficult behavior patterns to break. There are groups, drugs, supplements, websites, and books dedicated to stopping it, yet many people just can’t seem to. Well, there are some ways you may be able to stop eating so much, or at least implement some strategies that will make overeating less likely or not as harmful.

Eating can become an addictive behavior, much like drinking alcohol, smoking, or doing drugs. The big problem with eating is that it is something you have to do everyday. Unlike the other behaviors people become addicted  to, you can’t just swear it off, or stop it cold turkey. You have to eat, and not just once, but several times throughout the day. That means you’ll have to confront the demons of overeating every day, again and again. An alcoholic, once they stop drinking can avoid their nemesis. An over eater has no such ability. They need to be able to stare it in the face each and every day, and win.

If you can’t stop eating so much, you know exactly what I’m talking about. My biggest problem is eating late at night, when the food sits in your stomach as you sleep and creates an adipose bonanza around your belly. Whether you have a problem with certain foods, at certain times of the day, or in response to emotional conditions, you know all too well what it means, don’t you?

Perhaps you are always confronted with uncontrollable food cravings. You just feel ravenous and need to eat. Maybe it only happens after you’ve dealt with certain situations. You’re using food as a coping mechanism. Some folks just can’t resist certain foods, and indulge uncontrollably in them. You’re insatiable when it comes to these foods. Eating them only makes you want them that much more, and so goes the vicious cycle you just can’t seem to break.

How Can I Stop My Overeating?
If this all sounds familiar, you’re probably desperate for only one thing; a way to stop your overeating. What causes it, and more importantly, what can you do to stop it? You may overeat for spiritual, emotional or physical reasons. Part of your problem is likely physiological. It’s just the way your particular body and brain are built. We are all different and all respond to things differently.

Food is no exception. Different foods cause a different physiological response in different individuals. That’s why you can walk by a plate of cookies, but your friend can’t. She’ll eat them until they’re gone. (I understand that one all too well. For me it’s hot and  gooey oatmeal raisin ones) On the other hand, put a pizza down in front of you and the whole thing vanishes as if by magic.

It’s All About Chemistry, or it Can Be
While you may think that you just like those certain foods more than others and have a bit of a weakness for them, the reality is somewhat more difficult. Since 1985 the scientific community has recognized that some foods are actually physiological addictive to certain individuals. That year doctors Herzog and Copeland released a study, published in the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine detailing the physiologically addictive nature of certain foods.

It has to do with the way these foods interact with your brain chemistry. The doctors pointed to studies done on animals that demonstrated some foods altered brain chemistry to the point that the test subjects had trouble resisting certain foods. Not all individuals exhibited this behavior. Just as with humans it is a complex problem. Different individuals react to certain foods differently.

What is the Biggest Danger?
This food is a double whammy. It’s not only one of the most physiologically addictive foods, it is one of the foods that has shown the greatest propensity to make you fat. As you may have guessed, it’s sugar. Sugar is one of the hardest to resist for many people, and medical studies have revealed that it is at least partially due to its’ chemical makeup.

The way some people’s bodies respond to sugar make it a virtual certainty that they’ll eat it uncontrollably. This is troubling. If that’s you, you know that eating too much sugar is bad for you and contributes to obesity, yet you do it anyway. That causes severe stress, which in itself is a contributing factor to overeating.

To make matters worse, most packaged foods contain added sugar, often in tremendous amounts. This includes food that you wouldn’t expect to have much sugar, yet when you examine the ingredients label, you’ll see ti there, plain as day. In addition, there are often several kinds of sugar. It’s common to see high fructose corn sweetener, sugar, and various other sweeteners, which you can spot by looking for the ending “ose” If an ingredient ends in those three letters, it likely means sugar of one type or another. Sadly, it is almost more rare to find packaged and processed foods that contain no sugar than ones that have the stuff.

As I’ve posted on before, going low fat isn’t a panacea either, although there was a time a few years ago when we all thought low fat was a ticket to eat as much as we wanted to. If you read the ingredients list on those low fat foods however, you’ll typically notice high quantities of added sugar. How we ever thought that just because they were low fat, we could eat cookies and coffee cake with impunity, I’ll never know. It just doesn’t pass the smell test (although they do smell great!)

Another food that can be physiologically addictive for some people is white flour. I’ve posted on the evils of the powdery substance on many occasions here before. Part of the reason for it’s addictive properties is that it reacts very similarly to sugar in the body. Many foods contain white flour, so this can be difficult to avoid.

So, What Can I Do To Help Me Stop Eating So Much?
Unfortunately just knowing some foods are physiologically addictive is no cure in itself. At least now you know that there is a reason behind the whole thing. In some ways however it is even worse. Now it’s common to feel like you can never beat the problem because it’s due to biochemistry that’s beyond your control.

One thing that can help is to eat more meals each day, but make sure they are smaller. That is great fat loss advice in general, but can really help here, because it allows you to go only a few hours between meals, not the 5 or 6 hours that can lead to your wanting to eat everything in sight. James I. Hudson, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School points to the fact that binge eating can make you feel shameful and depressed, which ironically can lead to more of the behavior.

The key here is to try and avoid those physiological trigger foods that can cause your overeating. Recognize your condition and identify those foods which trigger your overeating. You will probably have to journal your eating for a while to pinpoint the exact causes. That journal has a double benefit, however. Research has shown that keeping a food journal is one of the most effective weight loss strategies around.

One you’ve discovered your overeating trigger foods, make sure that you don’t keep them around the house. It is much easier to avoid eating them if you’re not confronted by them every time you open the cupboard or refrigerator. Your family may have to help out on this one, too. After all, they may want to keep a package of cookies laying around. It’s important for your health that this not happen, so discuss the gravity of the situation with them, and find some other alternatives for healthy snacking they can turn to.

Some people have found success by substituting their unhealthy, danger foods with foods less likely to lead to obesity or other health problems. Typically those foods are lower in calories or higher i nutrition. After all, you can eat a heck of a lot of broccoli with no problems. For other folks, however that strategy is easier said than done.

There is no question that you can be upset over the prospect of giving up foods that you love. You’ll probably be a bit pissed off by the whole thing. It is much like giving up cigarettes. It’s difficult, your body will experience cravings for them, and you may be no pleasure to be around for a while.

Turn to exercise, which in itself can be an addictive behavior for some people. When you feel like eating, jump on the bike or hit the weights. In some cases this will release the same endorphins that are set forth by eating the foods that you crave, thus blunting the desire to scarf down some grub. Of course exercise has a double benefit, it can help take the place of eating, and also burn off some of the calories and fat you’re trying to get rid of.

You may have to visit your health care professional, or even a specialist, to help you beat your desire to keep eating. Recognizing the problem can be triggered by certain foods is certainly a big help, though. Have you recognized some foods that you can’t stop eating, no matter how hard you try, and they seem to contribute to your weight problem out of all proportion to other foods? If you have, you’re at least one step ahead of the game. Have you found anything that’s helped you avoid overeating that could possibly help others? If you have, leave it in the comments so they can benefit from your discovery.

Wow! She looks well rested! Not too much extra fat to be found either. Does that mean there is a connection between sleep and fat. This woman's appearance notwithstanding, it turns out there is, and it may be more powerful more than you could have guessed.

A few weeks ago I posted on whether or not your sleep patterns had any correlation with your fat loss efforts in the post Does Lack of Sleep Make You Fat. In that post I wrote that one thing you can do to help yourself lose fat is to get  good quality sleep for at least 7 – 8 hours a night. Heaven knows that’s easier said than done sometimes.

Let’s see……..Get the kids to bed, make sure their lunches are made, homework’s done, and clothes are ready for school, go over the presentation for your big client tomorrow, fix that running faucet in the back bathroom, and go to the store for duct tape, spaghetti sauce, paper towels, light bulbs, eggs, and peanut butter. Add all that to cramming an hour or so for a set or two of tennis and maybe a few sets of dumbbell work, and who has the time for sleep?

With all of that stuff going on in most of our lives, cramming in the requisite sleep the experts tell us we need can, indeed, be just about impossible, or at least it feels that way. You may have to find a way to get it dome though, as more evidence is released seemingly every day that corroborates the fact that it is easier to lose fat with enough quality shut eye.

Here is some more….a brand new study conducted by the University of Chicago Sleep Research Laboratory for the National Institutes of Health by researchers Arlet V. Nedeltcheva, MD; Jennifer M. Kilkus, MS; Jacqueline Imperial, RN; Dale A. Schoeller, PhD; and Plamen D. Penev, MD, PhD backs up the findings of previous studies that demonstrate the need for sleep when you’re trying to lose fat.

What the study revealed was stunning. Fist of all, sleep not only had a huge effect on weight loss, but it was the kind of weight that subjects lost that was so exciting. It turns out that sleep had a positively huge effect on how much fat was lost, in addition to overall weight. They study found that reducing sleep from 8.5 hours per night to 5.5 hours (Gee, that number sounds all too familiar!) resulted in test subjects increasing the percentage of fat lost by 55%!

If you’re trying to lose fat, I’d say there can’t be a much easier way that sleeping it off. Of course you just can’t start a snoring program and watch the pounds drop away, as if by magic. Although that would be nice, some sort of calorie and/or activity adjustment to ensure a caloric deficit is still necessary. What the proper level of sleep can do for you though, is make sure that your dietary and exercise efforts aren’t all for naught.

How much sleep do you get every night? Do you think it would be tough to get the 8 and a half hours the study found optimum for fat loss? I know I’d sure find it difficult. What would you cut out of your life to get the extra sleep you need? One option would be to try and operate more efficiently, but again….easier said than done. If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Until next time…lose your belly fat.

Do you have to while away your hours on an elliptical trainer to burn off your fat and lose weight? Well a spot of exercise never hurts, but combining healthy eating with a few high intensity resistance training sessions is my favorite recipe for success.

Here are the first answers to some of your fat loss questions that you submitted in response to my post last week. I’ll answer more in upcoming posts. Thanks for the comments, everyone. Remember, the fact that you’re committed enough to your goal of losing fat to keep trying and ask questions is worth big points. Great work!

Jason -
I’m a 25 year old man. I work at a desk job behind a computer all day. It seems like my weight just crept up on me. In high school and college I was really lean and fit, but I am so out of shape now.

Whats the one single best thing I can do to lose weight and get back into shape the fastest? I don’t have a lot of money. I jus tstarted a family and some of my relatives live with me too. I buy the food for all of us. it is about all I can do to keep food on the table that every one likes. I just can’t afford to eat a totally different diet than they do. What should I do?

Steve’s Answer: Jason, the economy has touched all of us in some way or another. Kudos on providing for your extended family. Remember though, that your health is paramount. If you have health problems it’s going to be difficult for you to keep providing them with what they need.

You don’t have to make any huge changes. Start with getting plenty of fresh vegetables like broccoli, green peppers, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes (keep the skin on!) and tomatoes (Yeah, I know they are really a fruit!). These are fairly inexpensive and you can eat lots of them without taking in too many calories, while keeping your nutrition intake high.

Your biggest challenge may be getting enough source of high quality, affordable protein. Lean, ground turkey is great for this. It’s cheap and high in protein. Make sure you check though, because not all ground turkey is lean. Get the ground breast if you can, and aim for under 10% fat.

When the money is tight there is a temptation to turn to inexpensive foods such as white rice, but that is one which you must avoid. Also, try to steer clear of white bread. Keep your consumption of other grains fairly low as well, and when you do eat them, make sure you eat whole grains, which are released into your blood stream as sugar slower than more refined ones.

Keep to single ingredient foods with no processing and you’ll do fine. The single ingredient rule is a fantastic way to make sure you’re eating nutrient rich foods, and it’s a heck of a lot faster than reading the fine print on all those labels at the market!

Jenny SD -
How do I lose weight if I don’t have any money? The economy has left me really strapped. It seems like all the weight loss programs and supplements cost so much. Can I lose weight without them?

Heck, yes, you can lose weight without them! When I lost weight, I did it with none of that stuff. I do use some basic supplements now, but none of the exotic stuff, just the basics, like protein powder and vitamins.

Stick to plenty of vegetables. They are comparatively low in calories, yet packed with nutrition. To make it even better, most of them are pretty cheap, too. Green peppers are loaded with vitamin C, yet have almost no calories. Broccoli has more calories, but it is a real nutritional powerhouse, it even has some protein. Although it has more calories, 4 oz of it has only about 35, so it is still very low cal.

Eat most of your carbs (as a % of your calories) earlier in the day. For your late meal, make sure that most of the carbs come from low glycemic and low load carb sources, like the aforementioned veggies. Be sure you get enough protein, about  1 gram per kilo of body weight, unless you are in a high intensity resistance training program, in which case you’d eat about twice that.

Don’t neglect the fat intake, either. Low fat in the mouth does not equal low fat on your body, like we all thought in the ’80′s.

One last nutritional tip – make sure you eat about 5 – 6 meals per day. Determine your optimum caloric intake (find your basal metabolic rate, then go about 2 – 5% under that), then divide that into 6 roughly equal parts. Don’t kill yourself over the math on this one, close enough is fine.

Aim for losing about 2 pounds of fat per week. It’s just too easy to drop your hard earned muscle along with your fat when you lose too quickly. There is also the danger of becoming dehydrated when losing weight quickly, so be sure you drink about 96oz of cool, clean water per day, more if you are exercising, it is hot, or both. The bottom line is that with common sense nutrition and a small increase in your daily activity level, you can easily lose 1 – 3 pounds per week. Losing weight any faster than that is not altogether healthy, and tends to come back with a vengeance, anyway.

Another great tip is to moderately increase your activity level by doing things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, pacing around your cubicle at work, or pushing the lawnmower instead of letting it pull itself along. Park on the far side of the lot or down the street a bit, unless you work in an area where that might not be the best idea, and walk a bit farther every day.

None of this has to cost any more money than you’d ordinarily spend doing whatever it is that you do.

Have you found the keys to fat loss yet? What is it that seems to be holding you back the most. What ois that one problem that is standing in your way more than any other? Do you feel like you could be making great progress if only......? Welcome to the party! Send in your biggest obsticle standing in your way, and we'll try and get you past it.

I get many questions about how to lose fat, weight loss, and physical fitness. It is a complicated and often confusing subject. Heck, it often confuses me and and I’ve been involved in it for 20 years! It is constantly evolving, and new studies are being done constantly on this supplement or that, new workout protocols are being evaluated, and different diets are always being examined.

With that being said it would be great to know what your biggest challenges are. What are you having the most problems with when it comes to losing fat or getting in shape? Are you totally flummoxed? Are you generally making good progress, but having a nagging problem that seems to be holding you back?

Send in you biggest challenges in your comments and I’ll see if we can get you past them and on to the progress you’re looking for.

Until next time…..lose your belly fat!

My new Fast Fat Loss book is now available for the Amazon Kindle. If you're looking for a comprehensive fat loss guide (without crazy diets, pills, or spending hours in the gym) with some motivation thrown in for good measure, check it out now.

This is an exciting milestone for me. I have been wanting to publish a new fat loss book for Amazon’s Kindle platform so people can have an easy to carry fat loss reference. The kindle is getting more and more popular, and people really seem to love the ability to have a multitude of books with them where ever they happen to be. The recent price drops from Amazon haven’t seem to hurt either.

If you’re struggling to lose fat, you know all too well that your busy home and family life makes it extra tough. This book reveals how you can lose fat fast (but not too fast), without any crazy diets, spending hours in the gym doing brutal cardio workouts, or emptying your bank account on expensive supplements.

There is a better way!
You can get the results you’ve been chasing for years, without turning your life upside down to get them.

Inside this book, you’ll discover:

-How Test Subjects in a Recent Major University Study Increased Their Strength an average of 30% WITHOUT EXERCISE – and How You Can Too!

-How You Can Improve Your Physical Endurance Over 20% – Again, Without Any Exercise

-The Answers to 22 of the Top Fat Loss Questions and How Knowing Them Will Help You Melt Away Fat Like Butter in the Hot Sun.

-Something that Causes Many People in the U.S. and around the world to Pack on Large Amounts of Body Fat, Year After Year. Hint: It’s not how many calories you eat, your exercise regimen (or lack of one), or your metabolism. You’ve Just Got to Hear About This!

- Many Small Changes You Can Make in Your Everyday Life That Will Knock Those Stubborn Pounds Off and Keep Them Away Forever. You Won’t Even Notice That You’re Doing Anything Different, But Everyone Else Sure Will!

- The 10 Delicious Foods You Can Eat As Much of as You Want To. Don’t Worry, They’ll Never Make You Fat!

- The One Key to Effective fat Loss That Will Literally Force Your Body to Burn Fat, Even While You’re Asleep. It Works So Well, You Wouldn’t Be Able to Stop it, Even If You Wanted To. No, You Won’t Have to Take Any Pills or Drugs to Make This Work, Either.

- Why So Many People Are Going About Burning Fat the Absolute Wrong Way, and How You Can Avoid Their Fate.

- Why Conventional Wisdom About Getting Rid of Fat is So Often Wrong, and What You Can Do About It

- Why Spending Hours Running, on The Treadmill, or on the Bike Is NOT The Best Way to Get Rid of Your Fat, and More Importantly, What Is!

- The Best and Worst Foods to Eat When You’re Losing Your Fat, and How to Eat More Delicious Food Than You Ever Thought Possible.

- Why Very Low Calorie Diets Are The Wrong Way to Lose Fat, and How You Can Never Go On a Diet Again – Without Getting Fat!

- The 5 Foods You Can Eat That Are Clinically Proven to Help You Burn Fat and Lose Weight – And They’re Delicious! You don’t have to eat slop or rabbit food to lose weight.

- New Foods That Help You Stay Healthy, Lose Weight and Keep Fit.

- The Key Nutrient that’s Been Proven to Help You Burn Fat. You’re probably getting some every day, but according to most recent studies, not nearly enough. The proper level of this key fat loss nutrient will increase your basal metabolic rate, help you metabolize your fat, and increase your overall health.

- How to Tell Which Foods Are More Likely to Make You Gain Fat and How to Avoid Them – Without Going on a Diet.

- Why Some Fat is Healthy, but Other Fat Can Kill You. You need fat in your diet and it is absolutely essential to lose fat and operate at your peak….but how much and what kind? You’ll discover that too!

- The One Thing You Can Do in Your Kitchen That Will Help You Melt Away That Fat Forever. It Will Even Make You Live Longer, But It’s Not What You Think!

You really can lose your fat, and this book shows you how!

If you have a Kindle, or are thinking of getting one, you can see the book at Amazon now. Kindle Fast Fat Loss Book.

Thank you for your support!

Hey! Look, don't touch. A donut is perhaps the most perfect food imaginable if you're trying to gain fat. Plenty of white flour, all deep fried in lard (mmm,mmm, good!), then coated in one or more kinds of sugar for good measure. You couldn't design a better fat pill if Cal Tech loaned you one of their labs for a few years. If you're trying to lose fat, a more low carb approach is called for. Here are some delicious, low carbohydrate foods to get you started.

As a nation, we are addicted to carbohydrates. Think about many of the most popular foods and you’ll realize that it’s true. Of course, there are the obvious snack foods such as chips, crackers, and cookies. Then, you have the deserts like cookies (again), cakes and pies, all loaded with carbs. Last, it is the side dishes, like mashed potatoes, French fries and bread. High carbs , all. Most people can pick these usual suspects out of a lineup without a problem.

Where the problem comes in is other foods that aren’t typically though of as high carbohydrate fare, yet is packed with carbohydrates. Anything that is breaded will deliver you a nice bolus of carbs, because breading is almost always made of white flour. In many cases, the breading on things such as battered shrimp accounts for a large percentage of the calories. People tend to not realize this, and concentrate on the fat that deep fried foods add to their diet. Unfortunately, many of these foods are a carb lover’s dream as well.

Other foods loaded with carbohydrates include such things typically thought of as part of a health diet, such as bagels. Bagels come in a stunning variety of different types, and some are far more healthy than others. Although they are all loaded with carbs, the ones made with predominantly white flour are the ones that you should avoid like smoking at the gas station.

Before I go any further, it would be a great idea to differentiate between “good” carbs and “bad” carbs. Now, the term good and bad isn’t an absolute, but rather meant to indicate which carbs are more predisposed to pack the fat around your thighs and midsection. Your body needs carbs. They power your brain, among other things, so simply cutting all the carbs out of your diet is probably not the best solution long term. Like many other things, it is mostly about being selective.

In a word, it mostly comes down to glycemic index. You’ve probably heard this before, especially if you’ve spent any time on this blog, but glycemic index is a measure of how fast a carbohydrate raises your blood sugar levels. While two servings of different foods can have the same amount of carbohydrates, it is the speed at which they get into your bloodstream that has a terrific impact on how much of the carbohydrate derived calories end up getting stored for later use by your body. Much to everyone’s chagrin, they tend to get stored primarily as fat. (Low glycemic index = slower carbohydrate absorbtion into the bloodstream)

Eating low carbohydrate diets is one sure way to cut out the high GI carbohydrates foods. Of course, you’ll eliminate the low glycemic index ones as well, but no strategy is perfect. That is one reason why eating a very low carb diet for a while is a great way to lose fat, but you don’t want to continue doing it for any length of time.

An Important Carbohydrate Consideration You Should Be Aware Of
There is another carb consideration you should make here, and that is the one between low absolute carbohydrate foods, and low carbohydrate load foods. A low carbohydrate load food on the other hand, may have get a relatively large percentage of it’s calories from carbohydrates, yet contribute a tiny amount to your overall carbohydrate intake.

Many vegetables are excellent examples of low carbohydrate load foods. Overall, they may be mostly carbohydrates, as opposed to fats and protien, yet they are so low in calories overall that they still only contribute a few grams of carbohydrate to your diet. In addition, the carbs that they do add are typically of the low glycemic index variety. These type of foods also give you many valuable nutrients, so are a highly important part of your diet, and should definitely be included, even if you are on a low carb diet.

Low Carbohydrate Food List
If you are embarking on a diet to lose fat, and using the low carb method to do so, here is a list of low carbohydrate foods you can choose form that will fit the bill, while tasting great.

** Low Glycemic Load Foods

If you are going to be on a low carbohydrate diet, use this list of low carb foods for some inspiration. You can eat low carb without having to sacrifice taste. Remember that seasoning has no calories or carbs, so use it! Remember too that it is the overall number of calories you eat that ultimately determines how much weight you gain or lose (hopefully lose!), so don’t go all low carb crazy and think that you can still eat everything under the sun, 24 hours a day, and still lose that fat.

Speaking of eating 24 hours a day, a very important fat loss tip is to skew your carbohydrate intake toward the beginning of the day. Try to avoid carbs later in the day. The exception to this is if you are on a high intensity weight training program, having a protein / carb drink before bed can deliver your muscles the nutrients they need to grow.

So, cut those carbs, especially the high glycemic variety, it is one of the most powerful fat loss strategies you can use. Let me know how it works.

Until next time, lose your belly fat!

If you're looking for a compact exercise solution, the new for 2011 Smooth CE3.0DS may be the answer you've been looking for.

Smooth Fitness, one of the leaders in elliptical trainers, has introduced a new, lower priced elliptical trainer that still encompasses all of the rugged build quality that has made them famous. The new 2011  Smooth CE 3.0DS Elliptical offers some interesting features.

For example, it converts into a stair climber for those of you that get bored doing the same, old, workouts day in and day out. If that is you, and I am certainly one who falls into that camp, it also has 16 different electronic programs that not only help fend off exercise boredom, but can help you target different results. Want to primarily increase cardio vascular endurance? Maybe you are chiefly trying to burn fat.

Whatever your fitness goals, the Smooth CE 3.0DS Elliptical can be a valuable partner in your quest. One of the problems frequently cited when looking at elliptical trainers is that they take up a huge amount of space. Indeed, my wife made me give my space hog Precor elliptical trainer to some friends, because it took up more than it’s share of space in our rec room. Too bad, because it was one of their spiffy, commercial units made for health clubs. I wouldn’t have had to worry with this new piece though, because it is dwarfed by the old beast.

For those of you living in smaller homes, apartments, and condos, that can be just the ticket to getting a multifunction trainer into your life. This is especially true if you live in a locale where the weather discourages you from getting any roadwork in outdoors in the winter months (and they are approaching fast). With an elliptical, you can spend a half hour watching Sports Center and get your cardio workout, while staying comfortably out of the rain, wind, sleet, and snow.

New Smooth CE 3.0DS Elliptical Features-

Earlier, I mentioned 16 different electronic programs that allow you to target specific fitness goals. Well, here are what this machine includes:

- Manual mode, where you just set the resistance and time you want, and get going.

- 6 preset programs that are tailor made for burning fat or increasing your cario endurance.

- 4 different heart rate control programs too. These allow you to keep your heart rate at the target level for exactly what you are trying to achieve. The fact that it can do that means that the machine has heart rate monitoring, another valuable feature that aids in meeting your fitness goals. The really cool thing is that the heart rate monitoring is wireless, so that you don’t have to keep gripping the handles to get accurate heart rate monitoring.

- 4 Custom courses. You can start with a nice warm up, then go for 20 minutes of radical, up and down hill climbs, or maybe have 45 minutes of steadily increasing resistance, followed by 5 minutes of steadily decreasing resistance for a cool down period. It is totally up to you with the machine’s custom programs.

- Body fat calculator. You know what a fanatic I am about losing boy fat, vs just losing weight. Just jumping on the scale gives only part of the picture. You really need to know your body fat percentage to take the true measure of your progress. I am also a big fan of resistance training, and you could easily be gaining muscle, while losing fat, causing your overall body weight to change less than you would expect from your improved body composition. Of course, you can also get this functionality in a bathroom scale these days, but if you don’t have one of those, this will definitely do the trick.

- Magnetic braking gives really smooth resistance, unlike friction based resistance.

- 21 inch stride length – Although the unit has a compact footprint, it has a full, 21inch length, just like the aforementioned commercial elliptical units. That means you don’t have to compromise your workout to save space.

- Large, multi color LCD display screen – This gives a detailed, almost entertaining view of your workout progress an parameters. There is no built-in TV like you get with some more expensive units, but if you bought one of those before the transition to digital rendered the old analog TV tuner in it worthless, you’ll probably be glad you saved the additional money. For the money you saved, you could get a nice 24in flat screen TV at Costco or Sam’s Club, and a wall mount to go with it. It would be much better than the skimpy, 6” screen you’d get on the display of any gym machine.

- Cup holder – Hey, it’s just like your minivan, only it has one, not 12!

What’s not there?

There are a few things the new Smooth CE 3.0DS Elliptical is missing, like the built-in TV, but on the whole that is probably a plus, because it allows them to keep the price down to a level where mere mortals can afford to own one, even if your bonus isn’t what it used to be. For example, you can’t plug in your iPOD, but you can always use the headphones you already have, so no big loss there. It only has a 2 color LCD display, not a full color one, but those things cost money too, and how much time do you really want to spend staring at that thing anyway?

On the whole, the Smooth CE 3.0DS Elliptical is a very solid entry in the high quality elliptical trainer market, letting you get into a full featured, yet compact trainer from one of the industry leaders for not much more than you’d spend for one of the off shore, bargain basement brands.

Warranty: The Smooth has anindustry leading warranty with a lifetime on frame, 2 years on braking system, 2 years all parts and 2 years of in-home service

Click here now to check it out. As an added bonus, Smooth Fitness is having a whopping 45% off introductory special for this new, 2011 trainer.

Been trying to get no fat around the ole' midsection for years now, with no luck? Well get off the same old cardio workout, and try this one. It has nothing to do with cardio, whcih may be just the change you've been looking for. That, and great results on less than 3 hours a week!

Every once in a while a new workout comes along that gets me really fired up. I was turned on to this new muscle building workout workout by a personal trainer friend of mine. It promises to pack on new muscle and help you lose fat. “So what?” you may be asking. After all, many workouts do that. What is so special about this one?

Here’s what’s so special; 3 hrs. No, not a 3 hour workout, but only 3 hours a week! Unless you are there to scope out prospects for this weekend instead of training, you should be in and out of the gym that fast. That’s right, if you can find a measly 3 extra hours a week, you pack pounds of new lean muscle on your frame, while losing that fat you’ve been dragging around for years now. You’ll be lookin’  gooood! If you can spare that extra ½ hour to make it happen, read on…..

What Makes it Work?
This workout is a testament to the power of compound movements. Compound movements involve more than one joint at a time, so they harness  the power of more muscle groups simultaneously. That helps you for two reasons; it burns more calories while you’re exercising, and it works more muscle groups in less time, which is just the ticket for the time constrained  individual (and who isn’t these days).

What are the 3 Keys to Success for this Workout?
As with many of the workouts I love and admire, it’s all about intensity. High intensity train cuts right to the chase, and kicks the middle man to the curb. Your muscles get more stimulus in less time, and more of the fibers are activated, so growth is all but assured. For those of you that don’t envision spending the next 5 years struggling for results, put away the cell phone, stop texting in the gym, ramp up the intensity, and watch your body change for the better.

The other key that makes this workout work for you, rather than the other way around, is using good form (naturally) and explosive power on the contraction (lifting) phase, while using slower movement on the lowering phase of the exercises. That principle has been used by successful trainers, athletes and bodybuilders for years, so it’s really nothing new, but it practiced by far too few regular folks. It’s all too bad, because the results of such a lifting strategy speak for themselves.

The third important key to success is taking advantage of the progressive overload principle. That is the only thing that makes your muscles grow both larger and stronger; adapting to change. You have to force them to constantly do more work and lift heavier weights. Try and add at least a little more weight every workout.

If you have never lifted before, you may want to use the same weights for a few workouts in a row until your muscles get used to things. After that, it’s business as usual, and you’ll want to start adding the weight every time.

So, what is this new, magic workout that will pack on tons of new muscle while stripping off all your unwanted body fat in just days? I don’t know, but when you find it, make sure and drop me a quick email and let me know.

This workout will give you fantastic results if you concentrate on doing it correctly, and stick with it for at least a few weeks. Once you pass that point, you’ll be so excited that your results will motivate you to keep going. Your friends will wonder how the heck you got a hold of Clemens’ personal pharmacist and what he gave you. Of course, there’ll be nothing of the kind going on; just good old fashioned hard work, but in a new way.

The workout (finally!):

So, lets cut to the chase. Just what is this new workout, and  how can you get started? Well, you can actually do this at home with just a dumbbell series or set of adjustable dumbbells, a dip station, and a pull-up bar, but you’ll probably want to start at a gym that has one of those machines that lets you dips and pull ups with less than your body weight, until you are strong enough to do them without the machine’s help.

One last note; make sure you give your body the nutrition and rest you need to make this whole thing work. There’s no sense in committing yourself to something like this, only to shoot yourself in the foot by with insufficient rest and poor nutrition.

This workout employs a 2 on, 2 off cycle. That means you’ll workout 2 days on, and then take two days off. It’s pretty important that you follow that timing. Too short an interval and the lack of recovery time will lead to over training. Too long and you’ll cheat yourself out of the growth you are working for.

Day 1

Warm up first with 5 minutes on a bike and a few quick sets of weighted arm swings.  Wait 60 – 90 seconds between each set. You should finish the entire workout in ½ hour or less each day.

dumbbell flat bench press
1 set X 12 reps
1 set x 10 reps
2 sets x 6 – 8 reps

steep incline dumbbell  bench press
1 set X 12 reps
1 set x 10 reps
2 sets x 6 – 8 reps

Dips
4 sets

Day 2
Dumbbell dead lifts
1 set X 12 reps
1 set x 10 reps
2 sets x 6 – 8 reps

Power cleans
1 set X 12 reps
1 set x 10 reps
2 sets x 6 – 8 reps

Pull Ups
4 sets
Day 3 – no resistance training
Day 4 – no resistance training

That’s it! Now go forth and hit the gym! Man or woman, this really works great for everyone. Gals, don’t worry about getting that bulging muscle look, for 98% of you, it doesn’t work that way without a bit of chemical help. Guys, you may see results like that, though. Think Marky Mark in the early ’90′s. Use this workout to help you finally get where you’ve been wanting to go for years now, but never had the time. Let me know how it works.