Questioning Cardio for Weight Loss?

Q: I've heard you mention that you don't need tons of cardio to burn stubborn abdominal fat. Okay, I can live with that, but you've also said that it isn't absolutely necessary to perform direct ab work either. What gives?

A: If you want to build a serious set of abdominals, routinely perform the following exercises and their variations: squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, and standing military presses. These multi-joint movements require a strong contribution from the abdominals to stabilize the core, particularly when heavy loads are used. It is not uncommon to hear clients complain of abdominal soreness a day or two after performing multiple sets with a decent weight of the chin-up or standing military press exercise - the ab prestretch will tap into fibers you never thought existed! And remember, your abdominals act as a natural girdle, or weight belt if you will, when performing all exercises, particularly squats and deadlifts. These muscles act as a bridge between your upper and lower body and are heavily recruited as stabilizers.

Sure, isolation exercises like pullovers, curls, and even triceps pressdowns also require a good degree of core stability; however, the loads used are relatively low compared to the big 4 mentioned above. In fact, according to Siff & Verkhoshansky, isolation becomes virtually impossible if large loads are used, and in many cases, the tension developed in the stabilizers will equal or even exceed that of the prime movers!* So, you see, the abdominals can be trained quite effectively as stabilizers - the physiques of top Olympic weightlifters will attest to that.

*Siff, MC, Verkhoshansky, YV. "Supertraining (4th Edition)." Denver, CO: Supertraining International, 1999. (pg. 241)

Q: I am still very much confused regarding cardio intensity. One book says keep it low intensity (i.e. 60% of MHR) and go for distance; another keep it high intensity (80% or more) and go for as long and hard as you can. The goal is to burn fat. Each book has great arguments for their approach. Which is accurate?

A: The second approach is far more effective for burning fat. Without getting into a huge discussion about this, here's how things work in a nutshell.

At a lower intensity, your body prefers fat for fuel. Yes, this is true, but two things generally happen:

1. After awhile of doing this type of activity, your body adapts by actually laying down fat (you heard me right) to become more efficient at the given task and this usually occurs in the lower body, and

2. A higher relative amount of fat is burned during low intensity cardio but a greater absolute amount is burned with higher intensity cardio and in less time.

Other things to consider are: a) the EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) is greater for a longer duration following higher intensity work; in other words, you're metabolism is much higher for a longer period of time post-workout with high intensity cardio, and b) higher lactate levels exist with high intensity cardio. So what you may ask? Well there is a direct correlation with lactate and GH (Growth Hormone) and GH is a potent fat-burner.

Bottom line: with regards to burning fat, do higher intensity work in the form of interval training and you'll get great results.

John Paul Catanzaro is a certified kinesiologist and professional fitness and lifestyle consultant with a specialized honours Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and Health Science. He owns and operates a private gym in Toronto, Ontario providing training and nutritional consulting services. For additional information, visit his website at http://www.BodyEssence.ca or call 416-292-4356.

Check out John Paul's new DVD, Warm-Up to Strength Training, for some powerful techniques to increase strength and improve performance! Discover some unique, cutting-edge methods like how to increase arm strength by up to 10% instantly! It has been recommended by many experts including Drs. Eric Serrano, Mark Lindsay, and Ken Kinakin as well as Olympic strength coach, Charles Poliquin. Visit http://www.StrengthWarmup.com for more information.

Rev Up Your Metabolism For Faster Weight Loss

One you first start watching what you eat, the weight starts coming off easily. Then after a few weeks, the scale stops moving downward and you hit a plateau. Whats happening? Your metabolism is slowing down.

As you eat less to lose weight, your body goes into survival mode and your metabolism slows down. A slowed down metabolism means you are burning less calories. Yikes! Not exactly what you were trying to accomplish, right. After all the idea behing losing weight is to burn more calories to get rid of all that unwanted body fat.

Lets talk a bout some simple things you can start doing every day to speed your metabolism up. One of the first things you should do is to get some exercise. Any type of exercise that gets your heart rate up will also speeds up your metabolism not only while you exercise, but for hours afterwards. Find something you enjoy and can stick with for the long run. Go for a walk, chase your kids around the yard, get an exercise DVD, or join a local gym. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week.

The other strategy that seems to work really well for me in combination with walking every day is to eat several small meals throughout the day. My body doesn't feel starved so my metabolism doesn't slow down. This works best if you include some sort of protein with each meal. Lean meats, hardboiled eggs, protein shakes and lowfat cottage cheese are all great sources of protein. Combine them with some whole grain products or a piece of fruit for a small meal or snack.

Give these strategies a try and speed up your metabolism. Youll lose weight faster and youll feel better with all this extra energy. Once you get in the habit of exercising and eating smaller, more frequent meals, it will become easy to stick with and the benefit is obvious. You feel better and have a smaller waistline.

Susanne has been losing weight by eating well and walking more. Visit http://www.walkingofftheweight.com to find out how you can start walking off the weight today and visit http://www.healthymenumailer.com for meal ideas that are healthy and low in calories.

The Real Secret To Losing Weight The Weight Loss Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

If you have had trouble losing weight or you keep hitting a plateau in your weight loss efforts, you will want to read this article.

I am going to discuss THE most important factor involved in our weight struggles. You probably haven't heard it before because there is not a lot of profit to be made from it. You see, you can be on the most advanced weight loss program ever created but it doesn't matter one iota if you have blocks in your subconscious mind to losing the weight you want to lose. It simply won't happen.

Simply put, if you are having trouble reaching your weight loss goals, you can be sure there are subconscious blocks that are standing in your way. Many of us have subconscious advantages or reasons to keeping our current weight and disadvantages for achieving our ideal weight.

I know it sounds silly but a good example would be someone who has been really hurt by someone they were romantically involved with and they subconsciously keep the extra weight knowing that they won't put themselves in that situation again. It is a protection mechanism.

They may have thoughts under their awareness that says "if I achieve my ideal weight, I may be more attractive which will put me in situations that I can get hurt" Again, this is all under the awareness. This example may or may not resonate with you but there are several programs out there that teach you how to pull up whatever blocks are in the way that are keeping you at your current weight and preventing weight loss from becoming effortless.

That is where it's at. Affirmations, visualization, The Law Of Attraction etc will not work if there are counter intentions in your subconscious mind. In fact, what I have found is that when you release the subconscious blocks to losing the weight you want, affirmations and visualizing what you want all the time becomes unnecessary and heading towards your ideal weight becomes much more natural rather than something you have to force to make happen.

Here's another scenario: Have you ever made a New Years Resolution to lose weight only to get back to your current habits six weeks later? So have I. We make a goal to lose X amt of pounds and then we find it really hard to keep going.

That wall that we hit upon is called subconscious resistance. It is like driving with the brake on. In any area of your life that requires will power and effort and struggle, you are coming up against a wall of resistance. Unfortunately, the movie The Secret didn't talk about this. Dissolving subconscious blocks, especially resistance, is paramount to losing the weight or for anything you want in life for that matter.

There are various methods that teach you how to let go of resistance on the spot. Once we let go of our resistance to eating well, to exercising etc., doing these things become effortless. Obviously, action is required, but that action becomes effortless in the sense that we are taking off the brake and just hitting the gas so we easily move in the direction we want.

Letting go of the garbage in your subconscious mind is the real secret to losing weight...or anything else for that matter. This may be the first time you have heard this because if everyone knew this secret, the multimillion-dollar weight loss industry would go bankrupt!

Thank you for taking time to read my article. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it

-Brian

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Colon Cleanse and Weight Loss - The Key To Losing Weight Fast

If you want to lose weight you may tempted to grab a fad type diet or the latest diet pill.

As a weight loss health coach I don't recommend that.

If you want a real method that will give you successful weight loss and a body you are thrilled to live in, then listen up.

Being skinny cannot be your only goal.

Now there is nothing wrong with getting slim - I know because I used to be clinically obese and thanks to following my program the fat uncomfortable unhealthy me is a distant memory.

What you want it is to be at a healthy weight that is slim and comfortable for you.

So what I am saying is don't do fad stuff that can hurt your health.

Let me share with you the first step for all the students I coach to successful weight loss. My students love the results with this step and you will too!

The first thing you want to do is when you begin your weight loss is to re-establish your good health and clean up your digestive system.

When you have an efficient digestive system, your body weight will much more quickly and easily reach its most healthy and natural range.

To restore your digestive system to optimum health and achieve the resulting weight loss you are striving for - I recommend beginning with a safe natural colon cleansing.

A thorough colon cleanse (like the one I recommend to my students) can remove from five to fifteen pounds on average of impacted waste in your colon. This waste jammed up in your colon has been constricting your body's ability to get the nutrition from the food you consume.

And if you have been eating junk foods for a long time your colon is really in a state of disarray and needs the assistance of a natural colon cleanse to get on a healthy track again.

My students love the effects of the weight loss colon cleansing - it gets them off to a super weight loss start so they stay motivated to continue.

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Weight Loss Camps For Adults

Weight loss camps for adults first materialised during the early 1980s and were based on the familiar summer camp experience. These camps, not only for adults, but teenagers alike, are an excellent choice for those looking to find healthy ways to lose weight, gain motivation, and with the added benefit of meeting and making new friends along the way. Weight loss camps for adults, or fitness holidays, are now becoming as popular as following well known diet plans.

In the early days, such activities were known as "fat farms" or "boot camp" weight loss programs. These early programs failed to address essential behavioural and emotional experiences, such as body image and body acceptance issues. True effective weight loss management is about understanding the patients emotional experiences as well as the physical problems to be overcome.

Many experts would agree that results are short-lived because true behavioural change can only occur with the understanding of healthy living principles, and how to deal with related emotions and stresses the patient may well be experiencing in everyday life. A good weight loss camp should not just be about diet and exercise but about tailoring a programme to meet individual needs.

Thankfully, weight loss camps for adults have come a long way since those early days of the 1980's. The key to successful weight loss is making changes in your eating and physical activity habits that you can keep up for the rest of your life. A good weight loss camp will develop an exercise and nutrition program specific to each individual needs and capabilities that can be continued long after leaving the camp. The staff of a good camp should include qualified counsellors, nutritionists, registered dieticians, psychologists and exercise physiologists. Each plays a very important role in providing a complete programme to promote healthy living.

For families wanting to work together, there are weight loss and fitness camps consisting of communities of parents, children and staff working together to achieve the same fitness goals. These camps are designed to help adults and children alike embrace a healthy lifestyle, and discover just how fun and rewarding it can be for the family to get fit and stay fit together. Many families who enrol on these programs lose weight and return home feeling fitter and more motivated to continue a more healthy active lifestyle.

If you are looking for a fun but hard work way of finding much needed motivation to lose weight and get fit, then weight loss camps for adults can be an excellent starting point for losing excess body fat and starting a new healthy and fitter lifestyle.

To learn more about effective weight loss secrets and to receive a FREE weight loss secrets report please visit http://www.stuarts-ebooks.com/WeightLossSecrets.html.

The Simple Truth Behind How To Successfully Lose Weight

Now I hate to do this but you need to hear the truth, there will be no more messing about as the time has come for you to lose weight. Yes I know you have tried before but that did not work did it? All of those half hearted efforts are in the past, now we are going to lose weight the successful, there will be no stones left unturned, we will achieve our goals. It may not be pretty but it will ultimately prove to be successful.

How many times have you attempted to lose weight simply by eating less food? This would be a superb plan if only you could keep to it. I have attempted to lose weight in this way a number of times. I start really well, can even go two weeks hardly eating anything but then it all goes down hill. Let's face it this form of weight loss plan does not work.

Let us now cut to the chase, what is required is exercise. Why? This is how the concept works had has worked for me. About a year ago I decided to give it a real go, I was going to definitely lose weight this time. The plan was to cut down on my food consumption but to also exercise. Every day I did one hundred sit ups, one hundred press ups, spent half an hour on the exercise bike and did some weights (dumb bells). This is hard graft and takes a real effort and determination to keep it up each and every day.

After doing all of that exercise there was absolutely no way I was then going to start eating fatty types of food. What I am trying to say is that the exercise gave me the will power to cut down on what I was eating.

Progress it has to be said was slow, but progress there was. After around three months of exercising in this way, I was looking and feeling superb. I have to admit that I did miss the odd day of exercising, but boy did I feel guilty for it.

In conclusion the hard truth of the matter is, if you want to lose weight, you will need to exercise.

Steve Hill is a webmaster from Birmingham, he has interests in a number of websites including: stuttering, stress relief info and depression

Fat Loss 4 Idiots Review

What is the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet plan and does Fat Loss 4 Idiots Work? The Fat Loss 4 Idiots is a web based diet program that does not require the purchase of any meal plans nor supplements. The diet plan works like this; you enter a list of preferred foods in the lean proteins, fruits and vegetables, and carbohydrates family and the Fat Loss 4 Idiots program will generate a 11 day diet meal plan for you.

You will have 4 meals a day; each meal being at least 2.5 hours apart. There is no calorie counting nor strict portion control; you are given the guidance to eat until you feel just short of full. At the end of 11 days, you get 3 cheat days when you can eat whatever you want. The meal plans are rotated and changed on an 11 day cycle. The reasoning behind this is that your body's metabolism may adapt to your previous diet and slow down; Fat Loss 4 Idiots aims to trick the body's metabolism by varying the diet plan every 11 days.

Does the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet program work? Yes...but not because of any "calorie shifting". The Discriminating Consumer could find no scientific evidence supporting "calorie shifting". The Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet works because it is essentially a low carb, high protein diet; even though it doesn't advertise itself as so. Any time you drastically cut your calorie intake, you are bound to lose weight. Those with more weight to lose will, of course, lose more weight than those who had less to lose to begin with.

All in all, the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet program is an affordable and simple, almost idiot proof, diet program. It is worth a buy for those searching for rapid weight loss, looking to lose a considerable amount of weight in a short period of time. The Discriminating Consumer does not recommend crash diets, but sometimes that is exactly what someone is searching for. Those looking for longer term weight management or those who need more human support to be motivated should look elsewhere.

Please visit http://www.thediscriminatingconsumer.com for more Fat Loss 4 Idiots Reviews and fast weight loss program reviews.