The Best Diet Tips

January is a time for change!
A brand New Year dawns upon us and has no doubt cast the reality of the past year before our eyes. The binging, the lack of exercise and the lack of trying have come to light in the shape of fat. January is a time for change, the pinnacle for searching for the answer to zap the fat away in one easy solution.

What follows are some of the best tips to answer the questions almost all dieters will be wanting to know.

Do you drink enough water?
Water is your daily detox Doctor. Aim to drink mineral water daily, in-between meals at room temperature is the best way in my opinion. This will help improve overall health. Always start your day with 2-3 glasses of water. Try and have 2 glasses of water 20 minutes before each meal. Generally most people do best on between 2-3 litres a day.

It is important to point out that it is better to listen to your body to tell you how much you need rather than follow someone else’s advice. There is no magic number but too little will likely be detrimental to fat loss goals and maintaining good health.

Do you eat carbohydrates by themselves?
Just think how common and easy it is to eat carbohydrates by themselves. Vending machine snacks, sandwiches and fruit are readily available and overly consumed in today’s fast paced world. They are all carbohydrate rich foods and don’t contain anywhere near enough protein for most people to keep their blood sugar levels balanced afterwards.

Poor blood sugar management is the culprit for fat gain and it also speeds up the aging process.

Are you overloading on gluten?
Wheat and foods containing gluten can be very hard to digest and intolerance to this can cause gut inflammation as well as other allergy troubles.

Try eliminating gluten for 30 days to see what difference it makes to the way you feel and look.

Avoid sugar
Avoid sugar especially artificial sweeteners found in processed foods and drinks, always check the labels. Eating sugar creates a never-ending roller coaster ride for hormones such as insulin and cortisol, both fat storing hormones.

To help wean off sugar try natural alternatives like stevia, a natural herb you can find in health food shops.

Are you drinking yourself fat?
Drinking alcohol has some of the same traits has eating sugar, it is rapidly absorbed and effects blood sugar levels. You are drinking empty calories that have no nutritional benefit whatsoever to your body, and if consumed near meal times can serve as a blocking agent to certain vitamins and minerals.

If you want the best results and quick then you must stay away from alcohol. Otherwise eat fat and protein with alcohol to slow down the absorption and balance the ratio of carbohydrates (the alcohol) to proteins and fats.
January is a time for change!

Is Sleep The Missing Link to Fat Loss?

Information about one of the most important hormones for dieters!
Are you committed to a six-pack workout at the gym or at home? Is your dream of achieving perfect abs and a trim waist evaporating together with any sign of progress? Did you know a good night sleep is one of the most important issues for losing body fat? Fail to get enough sleep and go to bed on time and you will be doomed with battling with your fat levels forever. Taking the steps with changing your habitual sleep patterns over the next few days and weeks can have immediate effects on dropping fat from your body.

Sleep is one of the factors behind controlling one of the body’s most important hormones for dieters. The hormone is called cortisol and happens to be a fat storing hormone. Cortisol is influenced by light, which means you should aim to wind down before bed avoiding all bright lights. Cortisol is also connected to our natural body clock. Going to bed late will prolong the release of cortisol and keep it elevated at a time when it should be low.

This important information shouldn’t be dismissed from your arsenal of fat fighting strategies and quest for six-pack abs. It can seem like a lot of dedication going to bed early especially when the ideal time is 10-10.30pm. In this day and age of late night TV and the Internet there are plenty of reasons to keep us occupied into the small hours. Watching bright TV screens and staring at the computer just before bed is the worst thing you could do to wind down, the light from both is enough to keep cortisol levels high.

You should aim for 8 hours sleep every night if you are struggling with losing body fat and getting your abs to make an appearance. Going to bed at midnight and getting 8 hours sleep isn’t the same as going to bed at 10.30pm and getting 8 hours sleep. We have a natural body clock built in to us with the times set for certain hormones to peak and dip throughout the day. Staying up late will send your natural rhythm of hormone secretion out of balance.

I hope it is clear that keeping cortisol levels high at bedtime is your worst enemy for fighting the bulge and achieving perfect abs. Putting together and applying an action plan to get you in bed earlier each night until you reach the ideal bedtime is the easiest way to accomplish the next step in your fat loss programme. Especially if you are a die-hard night owl like I once were.
Information about one of the most important hormones for dieters!

Exercises to Lose Muffin Tops and Love Handles

Drop body fat and change the shape of your midsection!
Muffin tops is a slang word to describe the overhanging flesh over waistbands. The unsightly look has become more noticeable in recent years due to fashions and the increase in obesity levels. The biggest part to losing the muffin top look and reducing the size of your love handles is the diet. If you make the right changes to your diet it will speed up fat loss and shrink the muffin top quicker than any stand-alone exercise.

When exercising, in order to drop body fat and change the shape of your midsection the best types of exercises are those that involve using as many muscles at once as possible. If you are unfamiliar with exercises there are different types of exercises, some work just one muscle group at once (isolation exercises) and others work multiple muscle groups. If you are moving just one joint in an exercise it is most likely going to be an isolation exercise.

You may be wondering why exercising using all of your body at once is going to work at reducing your muffin top. The more muscle groups involved in an exercise the greater the calorie demand. This has a knock on effect to speeding up your metabolism. That means after you have finished your exercises you will be burning more calories at rest.

Once you begin to reduce fat from around the waist there are some abdominal exercises that work better than others for toning the sides of the waist. These exercise involve you bending sideways. The muscles beneath the love handles are responsible for bending the body sideways. With this information in mind it is important to note that the popular abdominal exercises where you crunch your body forwards and back again will do very little to tone the muscles on the side of your waist.
Drop body fat and change the shape of your midsection!

Another 3-Minute Abs Workout

It doesn’t get quicker than this for training Abs!
In my previous article about 3 minute abs I introduced you to the concept of training your abs as hard as possible in only 3 minutes. Just to recap, choose 2 abdominal exercises and work them for 30 seconds each with no gaps of rest between any of them. When you have done the 2 exercises repeat them all immediately until you have exercised for 3 minutes.

Today I will show you another way to blast your abs in only 3 minutes.

This is what to do:
Exercise #1 for 30 seconds
Exercise #2 for 30 seconds

Repeat three times with no rest between any of the exercises.

This time you are only doing 2 exercises for the 3-minute circuit. The same principles apply as before where you go from one exercise to the other without any rest.

The 2 exercises I have found to work very well are:

Exercise #1 The V Sit Up
Lie face up on the floor with your head touching the floor. Place your arms straight by the side of your head and straighten your legs so they are touching each other.

The aim of the exercise is to bring your legs, arms and head off the floor at the same time. Ideally you should come up so your body imitates a V shape. I have found bringing your head a few inches off the floor and arms and legs around 12 inches off the ground works just as hard for most people. Make sure you start each rep with your head; arms and legs touching the floor so you work in the full range and prevent your neck from hurting.

The tempo should be 2 seconds each way and try and focus on recruiting the abdominal muscles every time you lift off the ground. In other words don’t force your body up by throwing your arms and legs upwards.

Exercise #2 The Plank
Begin lying face down on the floor with your feet together and forearms on the ground; hands should be clenched in a fist. Draw the abs inward, squeeze your backside muscles and lift the entire body off the ground until it forms a straight line from head to toe, remember you are resting on your forearms and toes.

Forearms should be parallel and elbows directly below the shoulders. Keep the back flat throughout your set and chin tucked. Hold this position until you can maintain good form and slowly return to the ground.

Remember when you have done the 2 exercises in a row for 30 seconds each go back to the first and repeat them so you get a 3-minute workout.

What makes this circuit popular is the fact that you can do it absolutely anywhere and it only takes 3 minutes.
It doesn’t get quicker than this for training Abs!

3-Minute Abs Circuit For a Better Six Pack

You get an unbelievable burn feeling in your six-pack during this circuit!
I have found a way of training the abs as hard as possible in only 3 minutes. You could try different abdominal exercises with the following method but my favourite way to do this circuit is to do 3 lower abdominal type exercises back to back. You get an unbelievable burn feeling in your six-pack during this circuit, it is more difficult and beneficial for working the abs then the standard approach of doing a set and resting and repeating.

This is what to do:
Exercise #1 for 30 seconds
Exercise #2 for 30 seconds
Exercise #3 for 30 seconds

Repeat once with no rest between any of the exercises.

Move immediately from exercise 1, 2 and 3 and repeat them all making sure there are no gaps of rest. This will give you 3 minutes of hard work. A great way to get the most from exercising your abs whether you want to get ripped or shred body fat.

The 3 exercises I like to use are:

Exercise #1 Leg Lowering
Lie face up on the floor and place your hands underneath your low back. Rest on your elbows and forearms so your head is off the floor, your upper body remains in this position during the set. Now straighten you legs and begin to lift your legs off the floor. Aim to bring your legs around 2 feet high above the floor and return them towards the floor but don’t touch the floor on the descent with your legs. The idea is to lift your straight legs up and down without touching the floor for 30 seconds.

It is important to keep pressure on your hands throughout the set, make sure your low back stays in contact with your hands at all times. If you feel your back arching bring your tummy in towards your spine. If you find it difficult to keep pressure on your hands try bending your legs a little.

Exercise #2 Reverse Crunch
Lie on your back with your head on the floor and arms by your side. Bend your knees so your feet are as close to your butt as possible. Now lift your feet off the floor so your thighs are vertical. This position is your start position for every rep; don’t start each rep with your feet on the floor.

From the start position gently roll your low back off the floor and bring your knees towards your chest. When you reach the furthest position you are capable of achieving pause for a second before returning to the start position. Repeat for 30 seconds.

Exercise #3 Knee Push
For this exercise you need to be in the same position as the start position for the reverse crunch exercise. Lie on your back with your head in contact with the floor during the set. Keep the feet off the floor and thighs in a vertical position.

The aim of the exercise is to push your knees up towards the ceiling. Depending on the strength of your abs will determine whether your butt leaves the floor or not. You are striving to push your knees around one inch upwards, that is enough distance to work the exercise properly.

Keep the head and upper body as relaxed as possible during the exercise, this will make your abs work more. The tempo should be moderate and there shouldn’t be any bouncing. Repeat for 30 seconds.

Don’t forget when you have done the 3 exercises in a row go back to the first and repeat them all so you get a 3 minute workout.

You could do this workout at home, at the gym, in the office, hotel room, on the balcony, on the beach or outside in the park. There are no limitations with this workout.
You get an unbelievable burn feeling in your six-pack during this circuit!

The Most Effective Healthy Eating Guidelines If You Want To Be Slim

A very powerful way to lose weight and reduce fat!
I have tried all sorts of diets in the past but I was never impressed by any of them. After years of experimenting I discovered a very powerful way to lose weight and reduce fat. This could be the most important article you ever read about dieting so do yourself a favour and spend a minute to discover exactly what this diet is all about.

After years of trying different types of diets on my clients and myself I came across the best and quickest way to lose inches and drop body fat that I had ever witnessed. It is worth mentioning before I go any further that I recommend avoiding fad diets of any kind especially if a celebrity endorses it. Those types of diets will cost you in future weight loss and fat loss attempts. The more you put your body through extreme dieting the more you screw up your metabolism in terms of it slowing down. Metabolism is the rate your body burns calories and it can take your metabolism a very long time to recover from a diet and get back to normal speed again. Famine type diets that restrict nutrients from the body help kick start a life long obsession to achieve your ideal body shape. All this does is encourages you to try different diets that are equally as bad as the last one you tried.

The most effective diet I have found to lose a lot of pounds and reduce fat fast involves controlling the types of carbohydrates in the diet and making sure to eat good quality proteins with every meal.

This diet will force extreme weight loss and fat loss simply because it is based on balancing blood sugar levels throughout the day. This alone is the secret to achieving your ideal body shape and keeping hunger pangs at bay.

The action steps required to make this diet work at its optimum level is to modify the ratios between the carbohydrate foods and the protein foods until you are happy with the speed of progress.
A very powerful way to lose weight and reduce fat!

8 Tips To Lose Fat Fast

Diet advice for quick weight loss results!
If you want to achieve fat loss and get six pack abs you need to follow certain steps like anything else in life. There is a way and a system for just about everything and dieting and exercising is no exception. Below is my list of essential things to do to lose stubborn body fat fast.

1. Drink plenty of mineral water
Water is the best drink you can have without a doubt. Water helps to cleanse the body and supports good health.

2. Only eat non-processed foods
The next time you pick up a packet of food, look at the ingredients and see if you can pronounce the ingredients, chances are you can’t. This is common with processed foods today, they contain artificial ingredients and additives that can make you toxic and give your digestive system a hard time. The last thing you want if you want to be healthy and have low body fat levels. You can’t beat natural foods found in nature.

3. Don’t drink pasteurised milk
Commercial milk contains antibiotics and growth hormones. The pasteurisation process kills the important enzymes as well as destroying vitamins and amino acids. Lactose intolerance, which is common food intolerance, prevents the body from digesting milk sugars. There is no real value to drinking pasteurised milk and has no place in a fat loss programme.

4. Avoid sugar
Avoid sugar especially artificial sweeteners found in processed foods and drinks. Eating sugar creates a never-ending roller coaster ride for hormones such as insulin and cortisol, both fat storing hormones.

5. Cut out all wheat
Wheat and foods containing gluten can be very hard to digest and intolerance to this can cause gut inflammation as well as other allergy troubles. Try eliminating gluten for 30 days to see what difference it makes to the way you look and feel.

6. Don’t drink alcohol
Drinking alcohol has some of the same traits has eating sugar, it is rapidly absorbed and effects blood sugar levels. Alcohol is empty calories that have no nutritional benefit whatsoever to your body. If you drink alcohol near meal times it can serve as a blocking agent to certain vitamins and minerals.

7. Eliminate all caffeine
It is not only your morning coffee that contains caffeine but sports drinks too. Caffeine has an effect on blood sugar levels and can cause cravings and the release of fat storing hormones. Decaffeinated coffee isn’t any better either, decaf drinks tend to have more pesticides than regular coffee.

8. Eat organic whenever possible
Organic food is natural, the way it should be without any interference from mankind. When food is organic it is clean and full of nutrients without the chemicals or drugs used in conventional farming. Our bodies can digest and assimilate organic food easier and it doesn’t pollute our insides at the same time.
Diet advice for quick weight loss results!

Do You Want to Achieve Fat Loss Before Christmas?

How to achieve your natural body shape!
No one I know is immune to the following:

Processed food
Junk food
Consuming excessive calories
Eating the wrong kind of calories
Leading a sedentary lifestyle
Not managing stress levels

Very few of us can get away with contributing zero time to regular exercise and eat any type of calories and still look good. I would say less than 1% of the population but bear in mind that this lucky 1% won’t have the health benefits of someone who exercises and eats healthily. If you want to look your best it is absolutely essential you know which foods to eat and apply it to your lifestyle in order to be able to enjoy all the benefits.

On the other side of the coin you could still be unhealthy if you follow eating guidelines that are wrong for your body type no matter who tells you otherwise. In some cases you could even be worse off for exercising by doing too much than someone who doesn’t do any at all. What I am trying to get across is that the answer is always in front of your eyes, if you are not happy with the way you look it is highly likely that your current eating plan or lifestyle is wrong for you. If it works for someone else it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Many people spend years doing the same thing over and over again without getting the results they want, in my mind this is madness. There are always reasons for not achieving results and there will always be alternatives to try.

But how many people actually try different approaches before quitting?

Exercising or eating a certain way and not changing in anyway, shape or form is a sign to wake up and time to take a reality check. See if any of the actions below are familiar to you.

Deprived sleep
Living on stimulants
Skipping breakfast
Eating processed food
Eating junk food
Smoking
Not drinking enough water
Consuming excessive calories
Consuming the wrong calories
Extreme dieting
High stress levels
Leading a sedentary lifestyle
Not doing any resistance type movements
Binge eating
Binge drinking
Prioritising the wrong kind of exercises
Doing too much exercise with not enough rest

Any of the above can lead to a poor body image and a negative state of mind. The sooner you can change your lifestyle the sooner you will achieve fat loss.
How to achieve your natural body shape!

Are Glossy Magazines Preventing You From Losing Weight & Fat?

Put the magazines down if you want to shift stubborn weight and fat!
The kind of magazines I am talking about is the kind that heavily feature celebrities. In these magazines you can find unattainable body shapes and unhealthy diet crazes. One look at these magazines is enough to throw anyone off course and feel inferior. Just how healthy do you think these stick insect celebrities actually are?

The media is responsible for distorting and cherry picking health and fitness related information in order to gain your attention so they can stay in business by selling more copies. It is very important to be cautious when reading and using advice in these publications. The full picture is seldom discussed in the magazine or newspaper article. It is best for you and your fat loss goals if you steer away from these publications for your own good. If a diet sounds too good to be true it normally means it isn’t true and is just made up to make it sound interesting.
Put the magazines down if you want to shift stubborn weight and fat!

How to Lose a Third of Your Body Fat in Just Four Weeks Without Starving

This is how a professional footballer lost a third of his body fat in four weeks!
When a professional footballer approached me for help one of the first things he told me was how ultra professional he had always been throughout his career with the way he looked after himself. Alcohol was limited to a glass of wine with a meal now and again and he never spent any time in smoky clubs or bars, he also told me he always went to bed before midnight to make sure he got his eight hours sleep every night. He went on to say he had always accepted that certain people are naturally fitter than others but it had always struck him that despite his healthy lifestyle he never felt as fit as he thought he should have been.

Having felt this way for quite a long time he had finally had enough and decided to get his diet checked to find out if he was missing anything out or doing something wrong to explain the way he felt. As well as leading a healthy lifestyle he had always followed what is widely regarded as a very healthy diet. Plenty of pasta, potatoes, salad and vegetables, a little red meat, chicken and the odd helping of fish. On shopping trips to the supermarket he would always go for the low fat versions of everything he saw. He was taking the advice of the health magazines and most of the other sources of media that said fat is bad for you and should be avoided at all costs.

As soon as I started explaining about the myths surrounding nutrition he was surprised and got a lot more than he expected. I introduced him to how to identify the foods that made him feel lethargic, hungry or irritable and helped him to recognise the foods that made him feel the total opposite. If certain foods make you feel terrible and do nothing to quench your appetite then it makes perfect sense to eliminate that food from your diet especially if you want to excel at your sport.

One of the keys to success with eating for optimal sports performance is to learn which foods belong to which food group. As soon as you are able to identify different food groups you have a better chance of controlling hunger. This is because different food groups will give you different responses. Once you become familiar with the foods that leave you feeling a certain way you will be able to prepare meals that work for the body and not against it. All this requires is modification with the portion sizes. In other words you may need less carbohydrates and more protein with each meal in order to satisfy your hunger and prevent your energy levels dipping.

The good thing is that it isn’t even dieting; it is all about feeding the body the correct nutrients in the proper ratios so you don’t suffer any negative effects after a meal.

Since my first meeting with the professional footballer he has changed his diet in a big way and adopted the principles above. He has not needed to rely on pasta, bread and potatoes for his energy needs because he felt he didn’t need them. He has never felt fitter and has lost a third of his body fat levels in just four weeks without changing his exercise regime.
This is how a professional footballer lost a third of his body fat in four weeks!

Reasons Not to Get Weighed If You Are on a Diet

What do you want to achieve from your diet?
If you are following a diet and want to lose weight then it is only natural to think you need to weigh yourself frequently to see if you are losing weight. You have to ask yourself what do you want to achieve from your diet, is it to look slimmer or is it to reach a number on the scales? Think very carefully before you answer that question because they are completely different things.

You don’t need to get weighed to see if you are getting slimmer, all you need is a mirror and a tape measure. To be completely honest you don’t even need a tape measure because if you are sticking to the right kind of diet you will be able to see results without the confirmation of a few measurements to satisfy your mind.

If you follow the right kind of diet you should be able to see changes through the mirror every ten days and should feel energised and look healthy. The weighing scales can’t tell you how you look or how you feel. Are you prepared to allow the scales to tell you otherwise with a number?

The real reason dieters like to go through the mental torture of routinely getting weighed is because they are looking for something to make them feel better for their lack of effort. They simply aren’t trying hard enough and allowing too many banned foods into their diets. They rely on the scales to tell them a number they want to see to make everything all right even though they know deep inside everything isn’t as it should be.

Getting weighed everyday or even every week simply isn’t necessary for you to reach your goal. You are going to get results if you follow the right kind of diet regardless of whether you get weighed or not. Achieving results with a diet begins inside your mind. Cheating yourself won’t get you very far and turning to the scales in the hope they will make you feel better is a never ending waste of time which will help you fail.

Any success with dieting always shows on the outside of your body with the way you look. The biggest achievement with progress is how you feel inside, if you feel healthy and have loads of energy then you know you are on to a winner. Remember you don’t need weighing scales; a tape measure or even a mirror to achieve results, all you need is to just stick to a proper diet.
What do you want to achieve from your diet?

Some of The Best Ways to Transform Body Shape

Free exercise tips!
Clocking in at the gym and putting the time in doesn’t mean you are going to end up with the body of your dreams. Forget marathon type workouts where they only allow you to exercise half-heartedly. It is time to stop guessing and living your life in hope of waking up one day and miraculously discovering the abs you have always wanted. You must try different approaches to get the best results. You are expecting too much if you think the same exercise routine will give you everything you want. It is important to modify and experiment with different exercise routines as you go along or you will never reach your goal.

Here are some of the best ways to stop your body adapting to exercise and keep progress running smoothly.

#1 Assess strengths and weaknesses
Before you start do you know which muscles are tight in your body and need stretching? Do you know if other muscles are compensating when you perform a movement because of a weakness in the chain? Do you know which exercises will make your posture or pain worse? How do you know you are doing the right exercises that are right for your body? These are just some of the questions that need answering before embarking on a regular exercise programme.

#2 Train intense but keep it real
This means training within your capabilities that allows a minimum of a good technique on everything you do. This mainly points to lifting a weight that is too heavy, doing part of the range of movement or doing more reps than you can manage resulting in quick and poorly performed reps. Good reps are real reps; you can either work the body part the exercise is designed for or take the stress away from the body part by performing a poor rep, it’s as simple as that.

#3 Include big movements in your workout
Multi joint exercises work more muscles and burn more calories than isolation exercises. Most pieces of gym equipment cater for working only one or two muscles at a time. Performing multi joint exercises like squats and bent over rows correctly have the best carry over effect that helps you in work, sports and many of life’s tasks.

#4 Use gravity
Have you noticed the physiques of gymnasts? You will never see overweight or out of shape gymnast, that’s because training against gravity is one of the best things you can do to look your best. The feedback I get from clients that do bodyweight exercises within their exercise routines report how challenging and how much effort they take to perform. Make sure to include gravity-based exercises in your exercise programme. You can start off basic by doing floor exercises and work up to more demanding exercises where you push or pull your bodyweight with your feet off the ground.
Free exercise tips!

How To Get Lean Using Dumbbells

How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells at home!
There is a way of achieving muscle fatigue if all you have are a pair of light dumbbells kicking around in your spare room. As long as you stick to some guidelines you will be able to feel the burn with all your workouts.

Here are the rules:

#1 Choose isolation exercises
#2 Perform high repetitions
#3 Use a short rest between each set

If you have a pair of adjustable dumbbells, ones where you are able to make one heavy dumbbell from the two opt for single limb exercises to achieve more intensity when possible.

Example exercises using dumbbells:

Legs
Squats, progress to split squat or lunges. Advanced option is to squat, curl and overhead press or squat holding the dumbbells overhead.

Chest
Dumbbell Chest fly - with back on the floor.
Press ups – no weights required.

Back
Bent over rowing holding the body in static bent over position and bringing the dumbbells to the side of the chest.
Upright rowing – row the dumbbells as high as the collarbone.

Shoulders
Side raises followed by overhead pressing.
Bent over side raise.

Biceps
Curls and hammer curls.

Triceps
Triceps extension - with back on the floor.
Close grip press ups. No weights required.

Abs
Seated reverse wood chops.
Abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest.

Repetition range:
Don’t be afraid to try anything up to 50 repetitions per exercise. Just because you are lifting light dumbbells doesn’t mean you can rush the set. Never sacrifice proper training technique no matter what the circumstances are. A strict training technique makes the targeted muscle group work harder and brings quicker results.

Recommended sets and rest:
If you choose to work on one exercise at a time and you are doing over 15 repetitions because of the light dumbbells it is recommended to rest no more than 60 seconds before you repeat the set. Depending on how difficult the next sets are will determine if you can afford to shave seconds from your rest time in between sets.

For best results at least 2-3 sets per exercises is required to create a training response.

An example legs, chest and abs workout using light dumbbells:

50 bodyweight squats
No rest and immediately followed by
25 dumbbell squats
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.

25-50 Chest flies
No rest and immediately followed by
Press-ups to failure
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.

Seated reverse wood chops – up to 30 each side
No rest and immediately followed by
Up to 30 abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells at home!

How to Write A Personalised Diet Plan - Achieve Fat Loss Over Your Abs!

I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body!
Are you sick and tired of wasting your time on diets that never work? I am going to teach you how to write a simple fat loss plan and show you an example of how it should look.

I know time is precious for many of you so I will keep this short and as brief as possible.

In order to progress it is very important to set goals. Without goals you are on a road to nowhere. You should have an end goal in mind and little goals leading up to it. The way forward is to achieve each little goal until you accomplish them all and end up where you want to be. This system is ridiculously easy and straightforward but how many people set goals properly and put effort into achieving them?

Don’t make the mistake of being over ambitious with each goal you set because that will only knock you back if you fail to reach them.

The next step then is to set a time frame for each goal. The reason for doing this is to turn on a little pressure and is also a great way to make you try harder. Only you know what results you want so it is critical you write down your own goals and plan a time frame that you think you are capable of achieving.

In my example I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body. Lets look at Mr X; Mr X wants to lose weight and fat but the biggest obstacle that stands in his way is that he likes to eat a lot when he gets in from work and enjoys a Beer or three after dinner. This is what his last meal of the day looks like:

Pringles and different flavoured dips
Pizza or flavoured pasta or chicken pie with baked beans or jacket potato with baked beans
Ice cream
Beer

To stop eating all those foods straight away and change to healthier alternatives would be too much of a struggle for most people. People fail with diets because they try too hard too soon. Trying to do everything at once nearly always results in packing it in altogether and resorting back to old habits.

The following method is the best way for Mr X to turn his eating habits around for his last meal of the day.

He’s got a beach holiday booked in 12 weeks time; this not only is a massive incentive for him but can also be used as a deadline for his goals. Already we have a fat loss plan unfolding in front of us.

1. The end goal is to lose weight and fat
2. The time frame is 12 weeks
3. The first goal is to change his last meal of the day to a healthier alternative, hoping it will give him the ambition to change his other meals in the same way.

This is how to breakdown the goal:
The best place to start would be to trim down the meal i.e. stop having the Pringles, ice cream and the Beers.

The second step then would be to replace the main meal for something healthier. But without getting too carried away too soon lets look at the little goals.

Week 1 – either have the Pringles or the ice cream but not both! Don’t have more than one Beer. Make sure to drink enough pure water everyday.

Week 2 – have the Pringles or the ice cream every other night but not every night and don’t have both! Have a Beer every other night but not every night!

Week 3 – have the Pringles or the ice cream just 2 nights per week preferably at the weekend. Have a Beer just 2 nights a week also preferably at the weekend. Begin to look at healthier options for the main meal and introduce at least one vegetable everyday to your diet.

Week 4 - have the Pringles or the ice cream just 1 night per week and don’t have both! Have a Beer just one night per week. Introduce another vegetable to your diet so you are eating 2 different types of vegetables a day with your main meal. Eat non-processed foods with your main meal i.e. fish or meat.

Week 5 – Stick to the above guidelines if you are finding it tough going. If you aren’t then introduce the above methods to other meals. The guidelines are to change processed foods to non-processed foods, increase protein intake from natural sources and eat mainly vegetables in place of grains.

It may be necessary to make little goals for the other meals too. In which case by the time the 12-week deadline comes around the diet will be cleaned up dramatically and all the effort will be evident when on the beach.
I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body!

How to Lose The Last Few Pounds of Fat When You’re Dieting

The two main reasons why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of!
Sometimes people look in the wrong places when they are trying to lose their last few pounds of fat. Granted, it gets harder to keep progressing with fat loss as the weeks and months go on but it is important not to allow standards to slip. There are two main reasons why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of. One is going back to your old ways and the other is not pushing hard enough.

If your results have slowed down recently then you need to take a good look at what you have been doing.

Are you partying until late at the weekends?
Are you having too many Beers?
Are you eating a takeaway too many?
Are you drinking enough water everyday?
Do you Skip breakfast or lunch?
Are you eating late at night?
Are you eating non-processed foods every meal?
Do you frequently miss workouts?
Are you training hard enough or just going through the motions to get it over and done with?
Is stressful situations getting on the top of you and distracting you?
Are you enjoying a work/life balance?
Are you exercising too much?
Are you focused on your goals?
Do you have a strategy in place that you follow or are you guessing?

The quicker you can organise yourself and put a plan in place the sooner you will achieve your fat loss goal. I have never met anyone who has achieved his or her fat loss goal without some sort of direction to follow. It is not only quicker to achieve results but also a lot easier.

This is what you could do if you are trying to lose those last few pounds of fat. Keep a food diary and assess your strengths and weaknesses. Take action to replace your bad habits so you can move forwards with your goals. Keep an exercise journal and let a professional take a look at it to see if you are doing the right kind of program to suit your goals.

Once you have done that you could write down anything that may be stopping you from achieving your goal. Whenever I hear the words from a frustrated dieter “I can’t lose fat because of such and such”… it reminds me of all the choices we have when making decisions about health and fitness. If you want something bad enough you have to be willing to pay the price for it, no quibbles about it. It comes down to you. Whatever you think may be stopping you with progressing further you will need to write it down and then come up with a solution. It doesn’t matter if it is a long-term solution all that matters is you are taking a step forward and making a battle plan.

Wouldn’t you rather do that and one day be sat where you are now a lot happier and with a body shape you want?
The two main reasons why the last few pounds of fat can be difficult to get rid of!

Fat Burning Cardio Myths

A must read blog if you are serious about achieving fat loss!
Within this blog about the cardio fat burning myth I hope to compare the difference between cardiovascular type exercises and strength training for their effectiveness in favour of achieving fat loss results quickly and permanently. Just to quickly recap cardiovascular exercises otherwise known as cardio are activities including brisk walking, jogging, bike riding, rowing and swimming. Strength training or resistance training as I prefer to call it is a type of exercise that requires the muscles to move an apposing force.

If you read part 1 of this article on http://blog.fatlossevery10days.com you will know that most people believe cardio training to be the best fat burning activity. This assumption and undying myth continues to live on because the general public aren’t aware of the negative reactions cardio exercises can have on the body. Most people also have little knowledge of the many benefits strength training can have for burning fat.

You only burn calories whilst you are brisk walking, jogging and bike riding, rowing or swimming. The more cardio you do and better you become, the more fuel-efficient you become resulting in fewer calories used.

When you exercise using cardio exercises as your choice of workout it influences fat storing hormones in your body. Doing cardio type exercise can stop you losing fat. If that isn’t bad enough for your fat loss goals what about cardio training making you age quicker because anti aging hormones are lowered when fat storing hormones rise.

Sticking to just doing cardio training can make you lose muscle tone and make you look flabby. Although you may be fit you will never achieve the same toned look as someone that trains with weights. If you find this hard to believe just look at any endurance athlete, especially marathon runners. They may have low body fat levels but may still look flabby for their size.

There is some good news though because strength training lowers the stress hormones and rises anti aging hormones.

Weight training is the opposite of cardio with calorie expenditure because you burn calories long after the workout unlike cardio training. This means you burn fat when you are sat at home in front of the TV. This is because strength training is more demanding on the body and takes a number of days to recover from a session. Did you know the metabolism, the rate your body burns calories can be raised up to 72 hours after a weight-training workout?

If the above comparisons don’t put you off cardio exercises for your first choice for fat loss exercise selection then consider how much more fun and diverse strength training can be. There are many different types of functional training equipment available to make strength training workouts challenging and different every time without the risk of being repetitive and boring like cardio training can be.
A must read blog if you are serious about achieving fat loss!

The Massive Six Pack Workout That Takes Just a Little Time

How to train your Abs at home!
The following method for exercising your abs in only 15 minutes involves a warm up for about 5 minutes, this could be skipping, jogging on the spot or walking. Once the body temperature is elevated gentle stretches for the tightest muscles in your body are recommended.

The aim of the workout is to:

Step 1. Perform exercise #1 - for 30 seconds
Step 2. Immediately followed by exercise #2 - for 30 seconds
Step 3. Rest for 30 seconds before repeating steps 1 to 3

Ten rounds of the above will equal a 15-minute workout.

Exercise #1 – Leg Raise

Key Points: Lie down on your back; both feet should be flat with the knees bent. From this position the pelvis is rolled back pressing on your fingers or on a rolled up towel. If using a towel it should be the same thickness of your hand. The position needs to be directly at the belly button level flat against the floor.

From here both legs are raised and lowered while always keeping the back stable and stationary maintaining pressure on your fingers or towel. The knees should be kept bent and the angle shouldn’t change throughout the 30 seconds of work.

Progression: Open the angle of the knees, that will makes the leg longer and increase the workload on the lower abdominal muscles.

Exercise #2 – The Plank

Key Points: Begin lying face down on the floor with feet together and forearms on the ground, your hands should be clenched in a fist. Draw the abs inward towards your spine and squeeze the glutes (backside muscles). Lift entire body off the ground until it forms a straight line from head to toe, resting on forearms and toes. Forearms should be parallel and elbows directly below the shoulders.

Keeping the back flat and chin tucked hold the position for 30 seconds maintaining good form and slowly return to the ground.

Progression: Can be done on one leg.

People in today’s society want quick fixes and want to see results instantly. In my opinion most people have forgotten the old fashioned way of what it takes to change body shape. All the health aspects that once went hand in hand with exercise have been lost in the tide of the celebrity culture. Celebrity dominant publications are not the place to get your health and fitness information from if you want real results. Quick fixes are a waste of time because they never work for anyone apart from the people making money from them. Starving the body of essential nutrients by following the latest fad diet will only end up in a big disappointment and put you off from future attempts.

There is no excuse with time constraints with the "how to train your Abs at home" workout. It is a simple straightforward routine that will challenge you if done correctly. It can be modified in any which way you deem necessary to achieve the response you want. Don’t forget with exercise and nutrition, it is the quality and not quantity that matters. It has always been like this and always will be so you can forget searching for a quick fix and wasting your time reading about what your favourite celebrity is doing or in some cases not doing.
How to train your Abs at home!

The 15-Minute Workout to Help Tone Chest Muscles - A Two Exercise Plan

There is a way to make the most of what little time you have!
Time constraints for most people in today’s fast living world often leave little time for exercise. The huge misunderstandings people have about the length of time required for exercise to make it worthwhile are usually a long way from accurate. These misconceptions gives the weaker disciplined individual an excuse and discourages those who want to exercise because they feel like they don’t have enough time.

There is a way to make the most of what little time you have and profit in health and fitness whilst changing the shape of your body. At my Personal Training Gym in Barnsley I came up with a way to train more efficiently in less time.

This approach consists of just two exercises for each workout and involves exercises that will train the core and challenge the nervous system and elevate the metabolism. When the resistance is challenging enough this approach to exercise can add lean muscle mass too.

The method of the following workout requires a warm up of about 5 minutes followed by gentle stretches for the tightest muscles in the body. These are commonly leg and chest stretches. A shoulder girdle warm-up with light dumbbells is done after the warm up with two rounds of ten reps for each exercise of side raises, bicep curls and shoulder presses. This should be enough to get the body ready for the workout ahead.

The aim of the workout is to do 10-12 reps on both exercises straight after each other followed by a rest of no more than 30 seconds. The plan is to strive for as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes without breaking form and dropping below 8 reps.

The same resistance must be used on all the sets for the workout. You need to select a weight that allows you to perform 12 reps on the first round of exercises. If you can only manage 2 or 3 rounds before dropping below 8 reps stop the workout and continue to progress the next time with a little less starting weight. For intermediates and advanced trainers a 10-20-rep window maybe preferred.

Before you begin, a warm up set for the first exercise is recommended, this should be around 50% of the weight you will be using for all your sets. Strong individuals using heavy weights should do a staggered warm up, for example 50%, 65%, and 75% of the working weight.

Exercise #1 Swiss Ball Dumbbell Chest Fly
Place the head and shoulders on a Swiss Ball, look up to the ceiling keeping the chin up so the neck stays in a neutral position. Place the feet apart for a good base of support and bring the belly button towards the spine and hold it there to keep the core muscles activated throughout the set.

Starting with the dumbbells above the chest, slowly allow both arms to slightly bend and lower to roughly shoulder height or when you reach a position where you feel a stretch in the chest muscles. Once they have reached this point return to the start position in a smooth tempo. Keep the dumbbells above the chest and not above the head in the start position. Maintain a straight body on the ball throughout the set by keeping the hips held high and backside muscles tensed.

Exercise #2 Swiss Ball Push Jack Knife
Begin with your feet on top of the Swiss Ball and hands on the floor in a push up position, holding a neutral spine and with the head in line with the spine begin to extend the arms pushing the body away from the floor keeping the tummy drawn in at all times.

When the arms are fully extended smoothly flex the hips until the thighs are vertical making sure not to round the back then immediately return the legs to the straight position as smoothly as possible.

Bend the elbows and drop into the push up starting position and continue the set. There shouldn’t be any breaks in the tempo and each rep should be moderate in speed. Beginners can place more shins on the ball or just do the leg movement part of the exercise. If it is still too difficult you could place a small Swiss Ball under your chest for support or if you don’t have a small Swiss Ball you could use a slightly deflated ball there instead.

The options to progress on this way of training would be to either shorten the rest time in between rounds enabling you to achieve more rounds in the 15 minute window or to increase the resistance so the desired reps are more challenging to reach on every round.
There is a way to make the most of what little time you have!

Tips To Get A Six Pack

How to make it easier to melt body fat!
“Fail to plan and plan to fail”. You can’t get truer words when it comes to achieving a goal but it’s especially true when it comes to fat loss and achieving an impressive midsection. If you don’t know how to flatten the barriers that can stand in between you and your goal then you will never be able flatten your belly and see your six-pack. The key to reaching your target is to begin with a day at a time and build upon your foundation a tier at a time.

The ingredients you need for a perfect day not only starts with the ingredients that go in your mouth but with work, life, movement and sleep balance within a 24-hour period. Some will swear that there isn’t enough time in a day to follow a healthy lifestyle while others will blame work or family commitments for their lack of commitment. Well I’ve heard every excuse and its time to face up to your responsibilities and accept that you are the master of your destiny. There will always be someone with a busier life than yours that achieves the results you dream about, the only difference is they take action. Lets take a look at what action needs to be implemented for the best results.

#1- Time Management
Time management is one of the most important steps you must become good at if you want to shift stubborn body fat. For example, if you don’t have time to eat a proper breakfast every morning then you need to get up early. If you can’t do that because you need more sleep then you need to go to bed earlier and so on. I’ve heard every excuse and there is always an answer if you want something bad enough. The more organised you are the more addictive it becomes and the more energy it gives you. There is no better feeling than having free time to do the things you love and no worse feeling than wasting your time.

#2- Shopping
Decide what foods you need and how you are going to shop for them. You could either shop every few days or even once a month. The Internet is a brilliant option and convenient for a lot of people because it can save heaps of time. For a lot of your shopping such as non-fresh items you could get away with shopping once a month. For other items like organic fruit, vegetables and meats you could have them delivered to your door, check with your local farm shop to see if they deliver. All it takes is one click of a mouse button or at most one visit per week.

#3- Making The Kitchen Work For You
Make sure you have all the useful appliances in your kitchen to help you with food preparation. Store food in glass or ceramic containers, toxins can leach into the food when using plastic or cans. You may decide to freeze leftovers to be used for a weeknight after work, don’t forget to label meals that you freeze for future reference.

#4- Meal Planning
Decide what you are going to eat for the week ahead, use pen and paper once a week to plan and rotate your meals. You may only need to do this once before establishing a routine. By doing this you will know what to shop for and there will be less chance of rubbish finding its way into your cupboards and fridge. You will also be able to prevent yourself from eating the same meals everyday.

#5- Exercising Smart
The wrong training routine for your goal is still going to be unproductive even with the right nutrition and healthy lifestyle. Seek professional help to make sure you are making the most of your time and effort by doing the right kind of exercises to help you with your goals. Putting together a routine and fitting it into your week is something that can be flexible and doesn’t necessarily need to be carved in stone. All that matters is making sure you train intense doing the right workout 3 times a week.

#6- Resting
People overlook the importance of sleep in their quest for better aesthetics and health. I was guilty of this up to a few years ago; I would always go to bed after midnight regardless of what time I had to be up the next morning. The more I studied about health & lifestyle the more I learnt about the body and its sleep/wake cycle called the circadian rhythm. Before the invention of light bulbs our bodies didn’t know any different other than falling asleep at sunset and waking at sunrise, this is the way Mother Nature intended our bodies to operate and the reason why our hormones are naturally released at certain times throughout the day. If we disrupt this cycle by going to bed late, watching TV or staring at a computer screen late at night we stimulate awakening hormones that rob the body of repairing itself and eventually leading to health problems.
How to make it easier to melt body fat!

The Foods The Stars Cut Out – Look Like Your Favourite Celebrity

The clean diet approach helps you lose pounds and inches in less time!
The quickest way to a healthy, slim figure just like your favourite celebrity is to eliminate certain foods from your diet. The clean diet approach helps you lose pounds and inches in less time with the added benefit of detoxifying the body and rejuvenating your complexion.

To achieve maximum results with dieting and fat loss it's essential to follow the eight guidelines below.

1. Drink plenty of mineral water
2. Eat only natural fresh, non-processed foods
3. Cut out all dairy products apart from natural- live yoghurt, organic butter & eggs
4. Cut out all sugar
5. Cut out all wheat
6. Cut out all alcohol
7. Cut out all caffeine
8. Eat organic whenever possible

I'm not saying you have to stick to these guidelines forever and everyday for the rest of your life but if you did you would be guaranteed a higher level of health than someone who didn't.

The point I want to get across is if you eliminate the foods on the list for at least 30 days and implement the guidelines into your day-to-day lifestyle then you will achieve quick fat loss results. It may be the only way to get the ball rolling.

When you are happy with your results you may gradually reintroduce the banned foods on the list back into your diet. When you begin to reintroduce the banned foods into your diet you will be able to monitor your response to see which foods have an adverse effect on your health and body fat. If a food from the banned list doesn't agree with your digestion, complexion or reverses your body shape then you know to say goodbye to it. Also recording your response to each meal in a food diary will help you quickly establish which foods react differently to your body.

Eliminating processed foods and most dairy products; sugar, wheat, alcohol and caffeine will help speed up fat and weight loss without a shadow of a doubt. It will also help your skin, hair, nails look better, and your physical strength and mental clarity will improve along with your internal health.

It can seem like a burden and great effort to put this in to motion but is worth every single ounce of trouble it may seem. It can go a little like this, if you follow anything blindly you trip up and give up. On the other hand if you plan and set out what you are going to do you have less chance of failing because your course is already set out for you to follow, it really is that simple.
The clean diet approach helps you lose pounds and inches in less time!

Do You Want Your Abs to Stand Out? How to Work Out How Much Weight to Lose

Why it is necessary to lose weight if you want a six-pack that looks great from all angles!
Beginners and in particularly men who take up training with weights normally need to gain weight and bulk up. Once this has been achieved the individual can end up being well over 30 pounds heavier from when they first began training. When the time comes to be leaner and more defined with a six-pack the individual can be confused about what approach to take.

This is when some people look towards fancy training principles for the answer. Many think they will be able to achieve a well-defined and lean physique and stay the same body weight without losing overall size and shape. It is almost as if they have a fear of losing weight in case they return to their former body image previous to training with weights.

Let me explain why it is necessary to lose weight if you want a six-pack that looks great from all angles. Hypothetically speaking lets say you are a 200-pound male and want six-pack abs. You have no idea what your body fat percentage is but you carry some fat around your waist hence the lack of a six-pack showing. If you pinch the fat around your waist with your thumb and index finger you will either be able to grab a thin layer of fat between your fingers or a thick layer resembling the spare tyre look.

Hypothetically speaking one more time lets say you know your body fat percentage and have a reading of 20 percent. That will work out you having 40 pounds of body fat on your body. That means you have a lean body mass weight of 160 pounds. To be able to see your six-pack you will need to get your body fat percentage in to the single figure territory. So in this case that would mean a drop of 22 pounds of body weight. That would take you to a new body weight of 178 pounds with a lean waist and an awesome six-pack.

A lot of men can’t get their heads around this because they are scared of losing muscle size and strength. Once you are lean and look more defined your muscles will look a lot bigger than they were with more body fat surrounding them. Also if you eat a proper balanced diet with plenty of good fats your strength shouldn’t decrease either.

In summary getting lean to show off your six-pack without losing weight is impossible unless you have the gift of gaining muscle at the same time. In the example above our friend would have to lose 22 pounds of fat and gain 22 pounds of muscle at the same time in order to remain the same body weight and achieve six-pack abs.
Why it is necessary to lose weight if you want a six-pack that looks great from all angles!

The Sugar Foods That Six Pack Abs Can’t Tolerate – You May Be Surprised!

Excess sugar consumption will eventually affect every organ in the body!
Anything containing sugar needs to be avoided, it is highly addictive and highly detrimental to health and fat loss goals. It is important to teach yourself to become a sugar detective by knowing how to read food labels.

Some foods will have half a dozen different types of sugar in the ingredients to help disguise the content; look out for words listed on the label ending in “ose” this means it is sugar, examples are sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, glucose and so on.

Beware of so-called healthy drinks that are hyped up to make them look natural and good for you; they are still sugar, natural sugar on a label means it is still sugar and doesn’t make it any better.

People typically start their day with store bought fruit juices that are high in sugar, they have very little health benefits linked to them because they have been pasteurised. Even if you drink freshly squeezed fruit it is still a high sugar drink, if you want to lose weight you could be making it very difficult for yourself because of the blood sugar response and the release of fat storing hormones associated with consuming sugar. All types of carbohydrate foods once eaten are sugar in the body. Carbohydrate rich foods are mainly non-animal foods.

Excess sugar consumption will eventually affect every organ in the body; it creates an acidic environment within the body and minerals from teeth and bones are used to rectify the imbalance. Long-term abuse leads to decay and weakening of teeth and bones because of all the calcium being taken out of them to protect the blood from the acid state.

If you want a six-pack and reduce fat avoid sugar especially artificial sweeteners found in processed foods and drinks. Always check the labels. Eating sugar creates a never-ending roller coaster ride for hormones such as insulin and cortisol, both fat storing hormones. To help wean off sugar try natural alternatives like stevia, a natural herb you can find in health food shops.

One type of food that people could greatly benefit from not eating is breakfast cereal, the run of the mill breakfast cereals are not health foods. When you take a closer look and see what they consist of a full picture emerges. Most cereals are processed junk food covered in nothing but sugar. If you want six pack abs avoid processed carbohydrates. Eating non-animal foods you find in nature and not those that have been processed will help you reduce fat fast. But don’t forget to include protein foods with every meal.
Excess sugar consumption will eventually affect every organ in the body!

What to Avoid if You Want Toned & Ripped Abs – Mistakes to Avoid in the Gym

The most common exercise myths that never die!
I get endless amounts of questions from people asking me what type of workout works best and how much needs to be done to achieve fat loss. Lets face it, most gym members participate in unproductive exercise programmes that they endlessly seem to do year after year without achieving results. They hope of waking one day with the body of their dreams. They put their heart and soul into the same programme without ever changing it one iota. The absence of learning or trying different training principles will never work in the long run. Also copying what the latest celebrity is doing or puts their name to won’t work either.

The most common myth that never dies is that lengthy cardio training will shift unwanted body fat. I have years of experience witnessing the lack of results people achieve doing such workouts. I also have dozens of opinions through research and personal experience to back it up. People often turn to me for advice after wasting years doing similar programmes. If you go into any gym in the world you are guaranteed to see members beating themselves up on the cardio equipment, now if you were to go back a year later you would likely see the same members on the same machines doing the same workout with still the same body shape. But this time they will look even more tired and stressed if they haven’t already quit through a lack of results.

People don't understand that exercise is a stress to the body and doing more exercise than the body can cope with breaks the body down together with health. The body needs to be in a stress free state to build muscle or lose body fat effectively. There isn’t any relationship between training duration and achieving results. The type of exercises you perform and the intensity of the workout will also determine if you get results or not.

The advantage of resistance training for fat loss over traditional cardio training out weighs the other by far. Done a certain way resistance training will create a cardiovascular response, killing two birds with one stone and saving heaps of time. One of the numerous benefits includes the functional benefit, which has a carry over effect to daily living and most sports. More importantly it will shape the body making it more aesthetically pleasing at the same time as building lean muscle tissue and strength.

Traditional cardio exercises don’t have enough resistance to create an increase in lean muscle. Anything that increases lean muscle tissue is good news for both men and women; more muscle means a faster metabolism and a lower body fat percentage. You can get very strong and lean without looking like a bodybuilder. One more thing worth mentioning is that resistance training will elevate the metabolism for longer after a workout compared to traditional cardio exercise.

Workouts should be intense and short; whatever method you use it should keep your heart rate elevated and breathing increased whilst resting between exercises or circuits. Workouts should also be structured and directed towards your goals. Neglecting rest outside the gym can have a negative side effect to fat loss too. It is just as important as the workout in order to progress and reach your goal. Rushing around stressed all day will do you no good especially if you are training the same day. How can you train hard if your body hasn’t rested from the last workout or your mind is focused on stressful issues?

Finally don’t reward workouts with a treat, could you imagine giving a recovering alcoholic a bar job and paying them with free drinks from behind the bar, it wouldn’t work, neither does eating junk food after a workout for someone on a fat loss programme. Exercise doesn’t turn bad calories into good calories. The body needs the best nutrition at frequent times throughout the day for optimum fat loss. Yes there is room for a cheat here and there even if you do want to look your best, but going for a pizza on the way home from the gym is a recipe for getting nowhere.
The most common exercise myths that never die!

The TV Fat Loss Workout

Exercises fit for a Couch Potato!
Finally there is a way to achieve fat loss without missing your favourite television show. I'm going to show you a way to exercise without leaving the house. No more excuses, this is the ultimate exercise plan for the couch potato.

You have always wanted a six-pack but there is just one problem that stands in your way, you are a self-confessed television addict. We are all aware that sitting on our backsides from dawn till dusk isn't what our bodies are designed to do. What follows is a system to break that habit without breaking your favourite lifestyle trend. The next time you get in from work and park yourself in front of the TV set until bedtime you have to promise to yourself to do the following exercise recommendations as described below. Remember there is nothing wrong with watching the TV if that's what you want to do, watching TV doesn't make people obese it is overeating and a lack of exercise.

The following recommendations can help jumpstart the metabolism and increase enthusiasm to help you want to create a stronger, healthier body without it interfering with your current lifestyle. This is what you need to do, choose a two-hour window you want to work in, typically the most watched programmes are half an hour long on an evening. There is nothing wrong with doing this exercise plan at anytime of the day as long as you stick to the following guidelines.


1. Perform a circuit before the first TV show of your 2-hour window begins.
2. Perform a circuit when the Ad break is on.
3. Perform a circuit when the TV show is ending.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for 2 hours.

This should work out so you are moving every fifteen minutes or so. You need to do enough exercise for about three minutes work on each of the circuits. The aim is to achieve between five and ten circuits in each two-hour window. Do these 5 days a week and you will burn more calories and tone the muscles whilst doing the same thing as you would normally be doing. In case you forgot what that is it’s sitting in front of the TV, whilst probably feeding your face with the wrong type of calories.

Here are some sample circuits

Circuit 1. Bodyweight squats for 30 seconds immediately followed by press-ups for 30 seconds
(Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 2. Static wall sit, hold for 30 seconds immediately followed by alternating lunges 30 seconds. (Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 3. Alternating Step Ups on to a Chair for 30 seconds immediately followed by chair dips for 30 seconds. (Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 4. Static wall sit, hold for 30 seconds immediately followed by a plank, hold for 30 seconds.
(Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 5. Bent leg raise with a pelvic tilt for 30 seconds work immediately followed by reverse crunches for 30 seconds. (Repeat 3 times).

Remember to stretch any tight muscles for around 20 seconds before and after your circuits. This could be done whilst watching the TV show so it doesn't interfere with any of the circuits. When designing an exercise programme there are millions of circuit options to choose from and more than one right way to do it. The best way is always the simplest way. If you opt for the simple way i.e. fewer exercises it will give you more focus on getting the technique correct.

After doing this for a few weeks your body's demand for proper nutrition to supply the energy needed for the extra work will be overpowering. Make sure you don’t neglect the most important ingredient for fat loss or you will never achieve the results you want.
Exercises fit for a Couch Potato!

The Main Drawback with Fat Loss Dieting

If something sounds too good to be true then it normally is!
The main drawback with someone on a diet is the mind; the mind can stand in the way of progress. At the front of a dieters’ mental consciousness is their relationship with calories and the bathroom scales. This can become a vicious circle and a recipe for failure.

Dieters imprison themselves at all levels so they can reach a constant flow of progress on the scales. This is tunnel vision dieting without any concern for anything but numbers. Clever marketing has tricked and got inside the heads of the venerable dieters to the extreme where nutritional health isn’t the priority anymore.

For years the dieting industry has used the low calorie approach to answer the obesity problem leaving the public with a very shallow understanding about nutrition. This has left a very sour taste in the mouth of many dieters whose progress has vanished in thin air instead of seeing excess body weight and fat disappear.

So what can potentially go wrong for a typical dieter? If the desired bodyweight is reached it is likely to be only temporary due to the unnatural dieting methods followed. This normally leads to a lifetime of yoyo dieting with body weight fluctuations and malnutrition.

The run of the mill low calorie dieting advice has led people to do things on gut feeling rather than on actual proven formulas. For example, if someone is not losing at a rate they desire they will either cut their calories to a dangerously low level and/or increase their exercise volume to compensate for a lack of progress. It becomes a battle that can’t be won resulting in more vulnerability towards worthless quick fixes.

If something sounds too good to be true then it normally is. It is essential to approach dieting with an open mind and great care must be taken when choosing whose advice to follow. Once a basic understanding about nutrition is achieved it is easy to pick out the proper advice from the ridiculous scams. The shelves of supermarkets and health food shops are full of diet foods connected to the biggest companies in the diet industry. No matter what it reads on the label if it contains ingredients you can’t pronounce or high amounts of sugar or sodium then it cant’ be helping you fight the fat can it? Remember knowing the basics can save you years of frustration and loads of money in the process.

I will finish this article by saying using the mirror or using a tape measure is far more better then getting weighed and living by numbers. What you see is what you get.
If something sounds too good to be true then it normally is!

Breakfast Guidelines for Dieters - Don’t Skip or Rush Breakfast

The reasons why breakfast is important for fat loss!
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for fat loss and weight loss. You should never miss this essential feeding time slot if you want to get rid of man boobs and achieve a six-pack or improve muscle tone or build lean body mass. It is equally as important for dieters as it is for the above goals; especially women who want to reduce fat from the belly and arms.

Breakfast means to break the fast from the nights sleep, why is this important? During sleep the metabolism (the rate the body burns calories) slows down because of the lack of demand needed for calories. The worst thing you can do is to prolong the fasting and keep the metabolism running slow (the rate the body burns calories) by skipping breakfast. If you do this what chance do you have achieving fat loss results?

Proven by research
Research after research has proven time and time again that eating breakfast will help achieve more fat loss and weight loss for dieters, but it doesn’t stop there. The sooner you feed the muscles with quality nutrients the better, you need regular feeds to fuel and maintain as much lean body mass as possible to help keep the metabolism fire burning.

Why is this important?
Muscle has a greater calorie demand than body fat. Skipping breakfast will teach your body to store fat and rob fuel from the muscles causing them to break down and lower the rate your body burns calories. Some women get scared with any mention of muscle or maintaining muscle mass through eating smart and resistance training because of the misconceptions attached to it. It is easily achievable to get very strong and eat loads of clean calories and still lose fat if done correctly.

Setting your appetite
What if you haven’t got an appetite first thing on a morning? Don’t worry, I teach my clients to break it down if this is the case. You could start with setting your first goal so you eat breakfast before 10am every morning. Then during the weeks ahead try and bring the time closer to a more convenient time soon after rising. You should aim to get 25% of your daily calories at breakfast. It may seem like a lot at first but it is the best and only way to jump-start the metabolism for quicker fat loss results.
The reasons why breakfast is important for fat loss!

The Consequences Associated with Low Calorie Diets

7 Reasons why low calorie diets don’t work!
Did you know you have to eat to lose weight? You need calories to burn calories or your metabolism will slow down (metabolism is the rate your body burns calories). Following are consequences associated with skipping meals and not eating enough calories.

1. You don’t learn anything from dieting. All you learn is how to imprison yourself for months and even years. Nutrition is a lifestyle that needs to be taught so it can be applied for a lifetime!
2. You increase the number of fat storing enzymes each time you diet.
3. You decrease the number of fat burning enzymes each time you diet and create an increase in the size of fat cells.
4. You decrease lean body mass and basal metabolic rate. Each diet makes it harder to restore normal basal metabolic rate.
5. You create insulin and blood sugar handling problems, which most of the time creates fat storage and hypoglycemic symptoms = cravings!
6. With dieting which is a stress, more cortisol is released. When cortisol goes up, insulin goes up to protect the body. Both of these are converted to glucose and into fat = fat storing hormones.
7. Most people decrease the amount of good fat when dieting. Fat deficiency causes fat cravings, the kinds of fat you find in junk food.

The 7 reasons above are pretty scary. You can’t influence Mother Nature, in other words no matter how hard you try to drop a dress size or transform the way you look you can’t do it by reducing calories because evolution didn’t build us this way.

Low calorie diets also cause many people to be MAL-nourished, even obese people. If you are MAL-nourished how can you expect to be healthy and look good? Even when on low calorie diets, if you live on processed foods it can cause toxic overload for the liver and make it difficult if not impossible to digest essential nutrients when you do finally put them in your mouth.

It is essential to detox and eliminate processed foods from your diet. The body needs nutrients from a cross section of natural foods to be healthy and work at an optimum level. Once your body begins to assimilate nutrients you need less food because the body is sending signals telling your brain that you are satisfied. Failing this you will get hungry even whilst eating large amounts if it’s the wrong food. If you get hungry you eat even more, if you eat more food you won’t lose weight and reduce fat from the places you want.
7 Reasons why low calorie diets don’t work!

How to Write a Food Diary for Dieting

Easy & quick fat loss solutions!
The reason for keeping a food diary is to let yourself know what goes in your mouth every day of the week. People adopt unhealthy habits that they become accustomed to and forget how much bad food they actually consume. Its time to be honest with yourself, without keeping a food diary you are likely to miss some vital information about yourself. It may seem like a tedious task but it will only take you a couple of minutes each day at the most.

Doing so will uncover your strengths and weaknesses.

Be patient and fill in your food diary a day at a time. The more accurate it is the more you will get from it.

Carry your food diary around with you everywhere you go for the next seven days and fill it in as you go about your business.

Below are some tips of how to describe how you feel after each meal. The window is from a few minutes to a few hours after each meal.

Different responses
Feel satisfied
Feel full but comfortable
Have renewed energy

If you get any of the above responses and you are progressing with weight loss and reducing fat you are on to a winner.

But on the other hand if you are experiencing any of the descriptions below:

Feel full but still hungry
Have cravings
Feel tired
Feel bloated

You will need to adjust your ratios or eliminate problem foods.

Even if you are progressing with fat loss and your weight is coming down your body obviously is not running at its optimum level.

It is advisable to keep experimenting and see what works best for you. Referring to your food diary for feedback and guidance is the easiest way to tweak your diet for fat loss results and for achieving good health.
Easy & quick fat loss solutions!

FAT – Gone in 60 Seconds! Quick Guide to Achieving FAT LOSS

7 Big reasons why you may be fat!
Below is a 60 second guide to what to avoid for quick fat loss. It doesn’t cover the A to Z of fat loss but there are some very important reasons why people gain fat.

1. Did you know eating processed food and junk food will make you fatter no matter how much exercise you do!?!

2. Eating processed foods makes you want to eat excessive calories because your body searches for nutrients that isn’t in the food and this makes you feel hungry soon after.

3. Eating the wrong kind of calories in the wrong combination makes you pile on fat. Combining proteins with the correct types of carbohydrates in the correct ratio is the only way to stop your body becoming a fat magnet.

4. Our bodies aren’t designed for sedentary lifestyles therefore exercise is an important factor for fat loss. But the wrong kind can be counterproductive.

5. Not managing stress levels causes hormones to switch from repair mode to breakdown mode. In other words different kinds of stresses helps you to store fat.

6. Deprived sleep causes hormones to be out of flux. Get to bed on time or you risk stalling any fat loss attempts. If you find it difficult to sleep try meditation before bed or stretching, yoga or tai Chi, all are great ways to wind down and help prepares the body and mind for a sound sleep.

7. Stimulants such as coffee and alcohol must be avoided if you want quick fat loss, they both cause fat storing hormones to be released into the blood. As soon as you consume them they have a sugar effect inside the body.
7 Big reasons why you may be fat!

The Truth About Soy Products

Is soy good for your fat loss diet?
There are many people on diets or healthy eating plans and in particularly vegetarians that consume large quantities of soy products because of their conception those soy products is a healthy alternative to other foods.

If soy is part of your day-to-day diet then I want you to watch the video below before you continue eating soy products.



An opportunity has come up for a Physiotherapist or Sports Therapist to start a clinic here at Pro Active Studio. For more information contact me. I’ve put a video of the treatment room below.


Is soy good for your fat loss diet?

How Often Do You Need to Snack For Fat Loss?

What works best for your body?
The chances of you achieving fat loss or other diet and fitness related goals depend on the types of food you choose to eat. Not just your main meals but for snacks too. Your success is determined by food quality, quantity and frequency of each meal and snack. It is important to find the right balance for your body and discover what works best for you.

Some people do great eating snacks between meals and others not so great. It doesn’t take an expert to tell you that you would instantly take a u-turn in your rate of progress if you snacked erratically.

My advice is this; if snacking is something new to you and you are keen to speed up the metabolism, try eating frequently. I would recommend trying a mid morning snack first. This is a safer way to introduce you to eating frequently because it will help speed up the metabolism for the day ahead better than just having a mid afternoon snack. Remember consuming most of your calories in the first of the day will do more for your metabolism than putting off eating till the back end of the day.

It is also important to remember that eating good quality foods and nutrients for your main meals doesn’t give you the right to snack on bad calories. I’m talking about the kind you find in processed foods and most convenient food outlets. Don’t think for a minute that good meals will cancel out bad snacks, maybe now and again but definitely not everyday!

I know as much as anyone else that easily available junk food can be testing on our temptations even at the best of times. It is easy to feel helpless and our willpower torn to shreds as we go about our daily business.

Don’t worry because there is some good news. All you need to be is organised and follow some simple guidelines.

1. Plan what foods you are going to use for snacks.

Tip: Choose just two foods, a protein food and a carbohydrate food and always carry them around with you so you don’t get stuck when you need something to eat.

2. Only eat natural foods.

Tip: Try not to eat anything with multiple ingredients i.e. processed bars etc. For example try fruits and nuts/seeds or nut butter.

3. Keep your eye on the clock.

Tip: Do not eat snacks sooner than 2 hours before your last meal. If it is approaching 4 hours since your last meal you will need to eat something to keep the metabolism ticking optimally.

Experiment with what works best for your body in regards to how often you need to snack and the response it has to the rate of your progress. For instance are you making progress with just a mid morning snack or do you need a mid afternoon snack as well?
What works best for your body?

The Effortless Way to Get Slim

Fail to get enough sleep and go to bed on time and you could be doomed with battling with your fat levels forever!
Are you committed to a six-pack workout at the gym or at home? Is your dream of achieving perfect abs and a trim waist evaporating together with any sign of progress? Did you know a good night sleep is one of the most important issues for losing body fat? Fail to get enough sleep and go to bed on time and you will be doomed with battling with your fat levels forever. Taking the steps with changing your habitual sleep patterns over the next few days and weeks can have immediate effects on dropping fat from your body.

Sleep is one of the factors behind controlling one of the body’s most important hormones for dieters. The hormone is called cortisol and happens to be a fat storing hormone. Cortisol is influenced by light, which means you should aim to wind down before bed avoiding all bright lights. Cortisol is also connected to our natural body clock. Going to bed late will prolong the release of cortisol and keep it elevated at a time when it should be low.

This important information shouldn’t be dismissed from your arsenal of fat fighting strategies and quest for six-pack abs. It can seem like a lot of dedication going to bed early especially when the ideal time is 10-10.30pm. In this day and age of late night TV and the Internet there are plenty of reasons to keep us occupied into the small hours. Watching bright TV screens and staring at the computer just before bed is the worst thing you could do to wind down, the light from both is enough to keep cortisol levels high.

You should aim for 8 hours sleep every night if you are struggling with losing body fat and getting your abs to make an appearance. Going to bed at midnight and getting 8 hours sleep isn’t the same as going to bed at 10.30pm and getting 8 hours sleep. We have a natural body clock built in to us with the times set for certain hormones to peak and dip throughout the day. Staying up late will send your natural rhythm of hormone secretion out of balance.

I hope it is clear that keeping cortisol levels high at bedtime is your worst enemy for fighting the bulge and achieving perfect abs. Putting together and applying an action plan to get you in bed earlier each night until you reach the ideal bedtime is the easiest way to accomplish the next step in your fat loss programme. Especially if you are a die-hard night owl like I once were.
Fail to get enough sleep and go to bed on time and you could be doomed with battling with your fat levels forever!

How Do You Review Fat Loss Results?

Anybody who wants to reduce fat, lose weight or improve the way they look needs to implement some sort of review system!
The quickest way to get slim and lose tons of fat doesn’t need to involve scientific jargon or a calculator. Many people jump on the calories in and calories out bandwagon only to be left disappointed with the lack of results they get from that approach. Dieters simply fail to manage their diets properly and this is the number one reason why there are so many unsuccessful dieters around.

Anybody who wants to reduce fat, lose weight or improve the way they look needs to implement some sort of review system into their calendar. If your goal is fat loss then there should be regular review dates to see if you are progressing or not.

Applying some attention to the level of progress every ten days is exactly what any dieter could do at home. There is more you can do then to step on the bathroom scales to see if you are achieving results or not.

Below are two ways to review your progress.

Tracking Body Fat Levels
Stepping on the scales can be convenient and give you instant feedback but they only give you limited information. Scale weight tells you nothing about body fat percentage and the areas where body fat is dropping quicker than others. It is possible to be overweight but not over fat especially if you are an athlete.

Skin fold callipers are the easiest method and most reliable way to measure body fat. A good set of skin fold callipers should come with instructions and formulas for working out body fat percentages.

The way I do it is by keeping it simple, I choose certain areas of the body I wish to keep an eye on and take the measurements. I record the skin fold measurement in millimetres and write it down in my diary. I repeat this process every 10 days to see if I am making progress. The benefit of doing this over the scales is that it tells me where on the body I am responding and making progress.

Taking Body Measurements
This is another useful method that tells you much more than just getting weighed. Taking regular measurements around the largest area of different body parts is a consistent way of tracking changes. The most popular areas to measure are thighs, hips, bum, tummy, bust/chest and arms.

Once again record measurements and changes in some sort of journal or calendar to track your progress.

Once you have the information at hand and still not progressing at the speed you wish you have a strong advantage because you can modify your diet to influence the next set of measurements on the next review date. A simple enough strategy that many dieters fail to put into practice.
Anybody who wants to reduce fat, lose weight or improve the way they look needs to implement some sort of review system!

The Easiest and Quickest Way to Get Rid of a Beer Belly

If you don’t drink beer and still have what looks like a beer belly then you will need to lose the visceral fat!
Pints of beer drunk frequently are going to swell up and distend the stomach regardless of an individual’s body fat levels. Some men regularly drink at least half a dozen pints in one drinking session. The pressure of retaining pints of high calorie fluids is going to swell even the leanest person’s belly.

High levels of visceral fat also cause the beer belly look. Visceral fat is internal fat. It is actually underneath your six-pack muscles and covers your organs. People who have high levels of visceral fat are also insulin resistant and need to avoid sugary, processed and starchy foods.

Obviously the best way to lose a beer belly is to stop drinking beer!

If you don’t drink beer and still have what looks like a beer belly then you will need to lose the visceral fat. Given that visceral fat is an indication of severe insulin resistance then the first step is to manage insulin levels by limiting certain carbohydrates in the diet and sugary processed foods.

Eliminating breads, pastas, ready-made meals and basically anything that comes in a fancy packaging with unpronounceable ingredients including so called healthy cereals is the fastest way to drop fat. Then it can take as little as a couple of weeks to see a major change in the size of your beer belly.

Beer is a terrible choice of drink for someone who wants to lose body fat. Beer has empty calories and has an estrogenic effect. Hops are highly estrogenic and are considered the main causes for beer bellies and man boobs on men.

Exercise recommendations for beer bellies and man boobs should be something that gets your heart rate high and panting like a dog. Resistance type training is the most effective way to exercise for someone wanting to burn fat. Weights burn more calories than cardiovascular exercises such as the treadmill and rowing machine. You need to approach resistance training with a view to sweat and work hard in order to get the best results.
If you don’t drink beer and still have what looks like a beer belly then you will need to lose the visceral fat!