Burn Fat In Four Minutes

Burn fat with shorter, more intense workouts in as little as 4 minutes. Long, boring workouts are a thing of the past. The research and my experience with clients proves that short bursts of exercise, such as circuit weight training and interval cardio, will sculpt your body better and faster. Improve your body's composition (fat loss, more muscle) without your joints taking a pounding from lifting heavy weights with 2 hour workouts. Circuit workouts are a tried and true method to burn more fat, increase strength/endurance and improve heart health.The BodyBot delivers high-velocity weight loss results in as few as 4 minutes a day. The state-of-the-art BodyBot software is based on the exact same workout system developed by Ryan Lee that...

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Air Conditioning Helps Recovery

A study from the University of Montana in Missoula shows that athletes recover from hard workouts faster in room temperatures of 72 F than in 91 F (International Journal of Sports Medicine, August 2010). Nine male participants completed one- hour time trials at 91 degrees F, followed by recovery in rooms at 91 degrees F or 72 degrees F. They were given recovery carbohydrate beverages at zero and two hours. Four hours after the time trial, the athletes in the air conditioned room had much higher muscle glycogen levels (105 vs 88 mmol/kg).Intense exercise causes the soreness that signals muscle damage that is necessary for muscle growth. Intense exercise also depletes your muscles of glycogen. The faster you replace glycogen, the quicker you...

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Caloric Surplus Causes Weight Gain, Not High Glycemic Foods

You will gain weight and fat if you maintain a daily caloric surplus even if you eat low glycemic foods. This fact remains unchanged: A daily caloric surplus (consume more calories than you burn) will cause you to gain weight! Lose weight by maintaining a caloric deficit over time. That's right, you can still gain weight on a low-carb diet. Having said this, it is important to eat quality carbs, proteins and fats. But, how much you eat will determine if you gain weight or lose weight.Being aware of the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) of certain foods can help you control your glycemic response and body fat. The glycemic index is a numerical index that ranks carbohydrates based on their rate of glycemic response, or their...

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Training in Heat to Improve Performance

A paper from the University of Oregon shows that training in the heat can improve racing performance in the cold (Journal of Applied Physiology, October 2010). Twenty competitive cyclists continued their regular training. In addition, they completed ten 1.5-hour training sessions at 50 percent of their maximum effort (VO2max). However one group rode in a lab heated to 104 degrees, the other group rode in 55 degree lab.The cyclists who were heat acclimated improved their time-trial performance four to eight percent, while the cold-trained group did not improve.Training in the heat makes you a better athlete because it cools your body better. Since more than 70 percent of the energy used to drive your muscles is lost as heat, the harder you exercise,...

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Holiday Snacks To Control Weight Gain

The holiday season is long so eating the right snacks to control weight gain is important. What you eat between main meals can make or break your weight management. The snacks can really skyrocket your calorie count if you're not careful! First, a few common sense holiday eating rules:1. Use no more than a pat of butter on whole wheat bread or rolls.2. Use natural sweeteners like cinnamon instead of sugar.3. Use condiments like mustard instead of ketchup or mayonnaise.4. Drink only water or unsweetened drinks, like tea. Cranberry juice and pomegranite juice are not that healthy if they are loaded with sugar!5. Limit alcohol consumption which has 7 calories per gram.6. Sweet potatoes are very healthy (limit the butter and marshmallows)....

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Thanksgiving Day Workouts

If you get the chance, do a short Thanksgiving Day workout. It will help you burn calories, stay energized and alert the rest of the day.I like to get in workouts the night before and the morning of Thanksgiving day. I will enjoy the full Thanksgiving meal and desserts with no guilt at all! Here is my night before Thanksgiving workout:1) Chest press, 4 sets/10 repetitions2) Bentover DB Rows, 4 sets/10 repetitions3) Standing DB Shoulder Press 4 sets/ 10 repetitions4) Step Ups (knee high platform), 4 sets, 10 repetitions each leg5) 20-minute interval cardio on treadmillHere is my workout Thanksgiving morning:1) 20-minute interval cardio on treadmill2) Front Chops with 35 lb. plate, 6 sets/15 repetions3) 10-minute interval cardio on treadmillAnd...

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Ice Delays Recovery from Injuries

More than 30 years ago I coined the term RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the acute treatment of athletic injuries. Now a study from the Cleveland Clinic shows that one of these recommendations, applying ice to reduce swelling, actually delays healing by preventing the body from releasing IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor-1), a hormone that helps heal damaged tissue (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, November 2010).When germs get into your body, your immunity sends cells and proteins into the infected area to kill the germs. When muscles and other tissues are damaged, your immunity sends the same inflammatory cells to the damaged tissue to promote healing. The response to both infection and tissue damage...

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Burpees Burn Fat

The burpee exercise burns body fat like crazy and is great for conditioning! Always do burpees under control with good technique.If you need to change up your high intensity interval cardio routine, here is a great choice----do full speed burpees for 20 minutes.Trust me, it is a great full-body exercise that will increase your strength endurance, power and anaerobic conditioning (remember, aerobics is an exercise done for more than 2 straight minutes). Exercises like sprints and jumps are anaerobic. Research has proven that anaerobic conditioning will give you superior fat loss, conditioning...

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Functional Training Burns Fat, Improves Life

Functional training can help you burn more fat and help you live a quality life. You see, functional training prepares your body for how you want to live. For example, if you are a hiker, you should train your body with intense exercises to get you ready for hikes. Exercises like mountain climbers, bodyweight squats and pullups would be good to get you ready for hikes. Train movements and not just muscles. A major reason for exerciser (and every day life) injuries is a weak core area. Functional training would definitely include core stability, strength and power training. The...

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Soap Removes Vitamin D

Vitamin D deficiency is very common, even among athletes who spend a lot of time outdoors. Seventy-three percent of athletes tested in a private practice were vitamin D deficient (Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, September 2010). If you spend a lot of time in the sun and still have low vitamin D, you may have a genetic susceptibility to vitamin D deficiency, or you may just use too much soap (The Lancet, published online June 9, 2010).Your epidermis (outer layer of skin) makes cholesterol and converts it to 7-dehydrocholesterol. Some 7-dehydrocholesterol remains in the skin, but much of it is secreted in oil to the skin's surface. There exposure to ultraviolet light converts it to previtamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Since both skin oil and...

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The Twinkie Diet? Forget About It!

You can try the "Twinkie Diet" or any other diet you want. One fact remains unchanged: A caloric surplus (consume more calories than you burn) will cause you to gain weight! Doing the opposite will cause you to lose weight. There's no controversy about this. Professor Mark Haub, a nutrition professor from Kansas State University, lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks on a "Twinkie Diet." He basically ate junk food (with some veggies, protein drinks and vitamins thrown in) to prove a point. He lost weight because he created a caloric deficit by eating 1800 calories a day. His health markers, like cholesterol and triglycerides, improved. For short-term results, this is not that surprising to me. What about long-term results? Would you be...

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Caloric Deficits Work For Weight Loss, Severe Calorie Restriction Doesn't

Cut calories based on a healthy meal plan. With a good exercise program, you will burn fat and lose weight. Starve yourself on a fad diet with severe calorie restriction and it will not work long-term. That's the short story....read on....Cutting calories, eating healthy, burning fat and losing weight can be a confusing process for you. It doesn't have to be that way. You just need a plan and you need to make adjustments as you go.First, don't think you will have it all figured out in 2 weeks time! Experts agree that you are better off making manageable changes to your diet and workout routine. Some of your eating and workout (or no workouts) habits have been developed over a lifetime. For example, severely limiting sugars...

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Top Holiday Eating Tip

You will hear many holiday eating tips from now until the end of December. Here is a top holiday eating tip for any season of the year:Eat your calories! We tend to drink more of everything during the holidays. Drinking sugary drinks and alcohol can really pack on the pounds quickly. Drink mainly water and unsweetened drinks like tea. Eat your calories. Chew your food slower. One quick way to "blow a hole" through your meal plan is to drink too many empty calories contained in drinks like sodas, sugared fruit juices and designer coffees. These are empty calories because they do very little to keep you full (satiety) and you end up wanting and eating more!I have more holiday eating tips for you. Just download my FREE book, "Holiday Eating...

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Danger of Swimming in Warm Water

We don't yet know why US swimmer Fran Crippen died in Dubai, but the most likely cause is heatstroke. He disappeared in 86 degree water barely 400 meters from the finish of the six-mile World Cup race.You are far more likely to suffer heart stroke racing in water temperatures above 80 degrees than you are to suffer heat stroke at any temperature on land. During exercise, more than 70 percent of the energy used to drive your muscles is lost as heat, so your heart has to pump extra blood from your hot muscles to your skin where you sweat. When you exercise on land, sweat evaporates and cools your skin to dissipate the heat. You produce sweat when you swim, but the sweat cannot evaporate to cool your body.Almost all cases of heat stroke occur...

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Fat Loss For The Holidays?

Fat loss for the holiday season? Yes. Fat loss is for every season. And, you can still enjoy your holiday goodies---up to a point.Even during the holidays, try to comply with your meal plan 90% of the time. This leaves plenty of room to enjoy the holiday goodies. Also, your food journal really comes in handy during the holiday season. Tracking what you eat holds you accountable. Don't skip your workouts during the long holiday season. Good workouts can cover many eating mishaps! "My Fitness Hut's 10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips" will help you navigate through the holiday "food minefield." Below is a partial quote of tip #4:"You must change your body composition! You must increase muscle mass to become a “fat-burning machine.”...

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Is Eating Healthy Too Expensive?

Anyone ever tell you its too expensive to eat healthy? If you believed that story, I have some waterfront property to sell you in Arizona. Saying that, "its too expensive to eat healthy" is a built-in excuse to eat bad, fattening food. Have you seen how expensive fast food is these days? Or, try eating lunch every day at a restaurant. You could easily spend $70 to $80 dollars a week eating out at lunch and dinner. Now, have you seen how inexpensive fresh fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, eggs, low-fat yogurt, legumes, tuna, chicken and whole grains are for your pocket book....

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Tone Hips And Glutes With One-Legged Exercises

One-legged exercises will help to better tone your hips and glutes. The muscles that move your hip joint (mainly gluteus medius) are activated more with one-legged exercises. Many running injuries can also be traced to a weak gluteus medius.Sometimes, too much focus is placed on two-legged (bilateral) exercises. These two-legged exercises, like squats, are needed in your exercise program. But one-legged exercises improve your muscular balance in each leg. Having dynamic balance means that you are able to maintain your center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support. You cannot...

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Intervals to Improve Both Endurance and Speed

Cyclists, runners, and almost all other athletes have to move very fast in training to be at their best in competition. However, you can't move very fast over long distances, so athletes use a training technique called intervals in which they move very fast for a short period, move at a very slow pace until they recover their breathe, and then move very fast again and repeat these sprints a few times in a single workout. When you train intensely, you run low on oxygen to cause lactic acid to accumulate in your bloodstream. This makes your muscles more acidic to cause them to burn and you to slow down. We now know that increasing both speed and endurance for competition requires you to train so intensely that you build up lactic acid in practice...

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Cross Training Varies Your Workouts

Cardio cross training will burn more fat and keep you from getting bored! Cardio is a naturally monotonous exercise that can bore you to tears, unless you change it up and keep it short. This is where interval training comes in.The good thing about interval cardio cross training is that it doesn't require long sessions to be effective. And, it gives superior calorie-burn, fat-burn and heart-heart when compared to steady-state cardio. I usually do my interval cardio sessions in 20 minutes or 2 separate 10-minute sessions (about 5 minutes apart). Research has shown that 2 separate workouts will give you more calorie-burn and fat-burn. How do you do regular interval cardio? Here's an example: 1. Sprint for 30 seconds2. Walk for 1 minute3....

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Nutrition Basics For Health And Weight Loss

If you don't get the Nutrition Basics down, you are getting off on the wrong foot when trying to improve your health, burn fat and lose weight. What puts on weight? Consume more calories than you burn (caloric surplus). Want to lose weight? Create a caloric deficit (burn more calories than you consume). That is the law of thermodynamics. So what makes this such a complex process? Cutting calories to help reach your fat loss and weight loss goals is not as easy as “just doing the math.” You need a healthy meal plan to start the process. After that, you will make many adjustments...

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