The
Secret To Getting The Body Of Your Dreams
Article by Dianne Villano ,
MExPhys, NASM certified ,
Your Personal Body Sculpting
Expert
Author Of "How
To Lose Fat & Reshape Your Body in 21 Days" & "The
Ultimate Belly Blast & Detox Program"
Americans
are getting fatter and fatter by the year . Nearly 70% are over a
healthy weight and 33% are classified as "obese"
by the American Heart Association yet the diet/fitness industry made
$2.4 BILLION last year. Something is NOT adding up.
I'm hear to tell you that you did not fail on your last diet or fitness
program, IT FAILED YOU.
Slick marketing campaigns and great sales pitches are powerful and
promises of "weight loss" by taking a pill or using a piece of
equipment 10 minutes a day are tough to resist so don't blame yourself. The amazing
"transformations" seen in many programs are even more spectacular and
it's not your fault for falling prey to them or for not being able to
conform to the crazy, all consuming schedules and/or diets most of them
require.
With all of the hype and misinformation surrounding "weight loss" and
"achieving a XXX body" , it's no wonder the only thing getting smaller
are your wallets.
Everybody is so focused on the newest diet or the latest exercise
trend that most people (if not all) have absolutely no conception of the
How's and Why's of a successful weight loss or fitness plan.
If
you are sick and tired of wasting money and lining the
pockets of those behind the slick marketing
ads and sales pitches and are tired of losing the same weight over and over
and feeling like a failure because your last "program" didn't work, read
on because I'm going to share the secrets of not only creating the
body of your dreams but of KEEPING IT once and for all.
You CAN make drastic, long lasting changes to your body and it
doesn't involve the 1-2 lb a week myth, starving yourself, taking
pills or crazy 5 or 6 day a week fitness programs.
It involves science and the utilization of these 6
components (all at the same time). I only cited a few
research studies out of the thousands I've read over the
year because I wanted to give you facts not overwhelm you with
research. Lord knows I had enough of that while earning my
MExPhys.
PROPER MACRONUTRIENT INTAKE - Stop Counting Calories
- EFFECTIVE CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING - Burn More
Fat In Less Time & Stop training your body to store fat
- EFFECTIVE RESISTANCE TRAINING - Sculpt and shape
your body while you turn it into a 24/7 fat burning machine
- PROPER NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENTATION - Give Your Body
What It Needs To THRIVE not just Survive
- BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION - A healthy body starts
with healthy habits
- Social SUPPORT & MOTIVATION - To never let you
give up on your goals
1.
Proper Macronutrient Intake - The thermic effect of food tells us that all calories are NOT
created equal.
While it is important to have a basic idea what you are putting into
your body, what's MORE important are the TYPE of calories you
are putting into your body.
"Counting Calories" or "Eating
Healthy" without having a proper conception of the correct macro
nutrient break down for your daily intake is one of the biggest
mistakes I see people make.
Protein burn more calories being digested than carbohydrates and
fats (all 3 of which are needed in the proper amounts for optimum
fat loss)
Calories from processed foods are more apt to be stored as fat
because your body isn't sure how to process them. You can read a
more detailed description of TEF
HERE
2. Effective
Cardiovascular Training -
Burn More Fat in Less Time
If you want to lose stubborn fat from your butt, thighs and arms and
lose those last 10 -15 lbs, STOP with the steady state cardio
immediately. Conventional aerobic exercises are not a very effective
way to lose weight, will age you (because of the increase in free
radicals) will damage your joints (because of repetitive motions)
and will train your body to STORE fat on top of messing up your fat
burning hormones.
According to A study conducted by Wilson et al. From the University
of Tampa, FL, "when you add in low intensity steady state cardio you
get a temporary boost in weight loss. Subjects lost a couple of
pounds the first week and after that they lost nothing. This
happened because their metabolism completely adjusted to that and
that became their new set point to what they had to do just to
maintain. Steady state cardio with a low calorie diet is terrible
for fat loss and could cause muscle loss. During a low calorie diet,
steady state cardio is more catabolic (muscle wasting) towards
muscle as opposed to High Intensity Interval training being much
more muscle sparing."
Wilson, et al. Concurrent Training: A Meta Analysis Examining
Interference of Aerobic and Resistance Exercise. University of
Tampa, FL. J Strength Conditioning.
If you MUST do cardio, Sprint Interval Training is what you want to
do.
A study in International Journal Sport Nutrition and Exercise
Metabolism divided two groups of male students and assigned them to
do either 30 minutes of steady jogging, or 2 minutes of intensive
sprint interval training – 3 times a week for 6 weeks. Researchers
found that the interval spring training actually boosted the
student’s metabolism the same amount as those who jogged, even
though the joggers
exercised for 28 minutes more than the sprinters each session.
Another great study from
ncbi explains why we ONLY do interval type training with
most of our clients. In our case, body weight and resistance
exercises take the place of the slower paced cardio which gives us
more bang for our time adding metabolism boosting, butt lifting,
strength building, looking better naked resistance training.
Considering all of the research that's come out in the past 10
years, I'd be just as happy if our clients never did any actual
"cardio" instead, substituting full body exercises and compound
joint movements for maximum calorie burn and EPOC. That having been
said, if you MUST do cardio, HIIT and Sprint Intervals are the way
to go if you want to blast maximum fat during your workout and
throughout the day.
If you are new and don't know what HIIT and SIT are, you can
read my blog post
HERE
3. Effective
Resistance Training -
If you want to blast fat, STOP doing
machines and isolation exercises
The days of the "body building" isolation exercises are gone except
among the few who are hell bent on hanging onto outdated modalities.
"Isolation exercises" to tone an area area and machines which
work only one muscle group are completely ineffective except for the
very few who are doing sport specific training, those who may not
want to lose weight or who just having unlimited time to exercise.
That having been said, they should only be used as a part of a well
rounded program to avoid a myriad of problems.
There is no one "best" way for everyone however, research
continuously points
to MRT as single
most effective way for most people to reach their goals with the
least amount of time.
Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) is HIIT with added
resistance training for more benefits .MRT is completing structural
and compound exercises with little rest in between exercises in an
effort to maximize calorie burn and increase metabolic rate during
and after the workout. MRT, uses both strength and cardio exercises
that are done as a circuit. For example, a squat with an overhead
press is a great metabolic exercise because it simultaneously works
your upper and lower body which also becomes a cardio workout since
your heart rate goes up while doing the exercise. Several studies
have shown that hormones that promote “lipolysis” (the technical
term for fat loss) increase as a results of high intensity strength
training.
“Structural and compound exercises” is just a fancy way of
saying exercises that require a maximum amount of energy because
multiple joints and large muscle groups are involved.
Working muscles require energy (calories) . The more muscles your
work, the more calories you burn, it's pretty simple.
Research shows that your calorie burn following MRT (EPOC) is
significantly higher than taking a jog or traditional weight
training. While calorie burn studies come to different
conclusions as to the total calorie burn of metabolic training, it
certainly burns a ton of calories. The calorie burn during a workout
is easily around 500 calories for a 30 minute workout, but it also
increases metabolic rate from anywhere between 10% to 25% for up to
48 hours, with some studies showing an increase in metabolic rate
for up to even 72 hours. This equates to hundreds of extra calories,
which over the course of a few workouts can become significant.
The extreme of metabolic training is Crossfit, where a few
intense exercises will be repeated in a circuit with little to no
rest to push the body to its absolute limit. This training is
usually reserved for seasoned athletes and the military, but more
recently has been taken up by average fitness enthusiasts for
better, or worse.
One of the biggest issues I see with clients coming in from
other camps or programs are one set of muscles over developed to
it's opposing muscle and right to left side strength disparities.
For example, most cross fitters I meet have quads over developed to
their hamstrings, pectorals over developed to their upper back
stabilizers and abdominals over developed to their lower backs.
One study published in the Journal of Obesity reported that 12 weeks of HIIT not only can result in significant
reductions in total abdominal, trunk, and visceral fat, but also can
give you significant increases in fat-free mass and aerobic power.
In this study, in which young overweight males were randomly
assigned to either HIIT exercise or a control group, the following
health benefits were achieved by the exercising group doing just 20
minutes of high-intensity exercises (only a fraction of the 20
minutes is done at high intensity, the rest is recovery) three times
a week for three months:
- Aerobic power increased by 15 percent
- Reduction of total fat mass: Nearly 4.5 pounds
- Visceral fat reduced by 17 percent
A Canadian research team gathered several groups of volunteers,
including sedentary but generally healthy middle-aged men and women,
and patients of a similar age who had been diagnosed with
cardiovascular disease.
The participants were asked to undertake a program of cycling
intervals as their exclusive form of exercise. The results were that
healthy middle-aged adults were able to improve their insulin
sensitivity and blood sugar regulation after just two weeks of
interval training (three sessions per week). A follow-up study also
found that interval training positively impacted insulin
sensitivity. In fact, the study involved people with full-blown type
2 diabetes, and just ONE interval training session was able to
improve blood sugar regulation for the next 24 hours!
4.
PROPER NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENTATION -
Give Your Body What It Needs To THRIVE not just Survive - you must
nourish your 4 trillion cells
The topic of nutrients and vitamin supplementation is one
about which many volumes have been written and is a source of quite a bit
of misinformation these days. I will touch briefly upon the basics. This is not meant to be prescriptive or to encourage maga doses but to stress the importance of nutrient
supplementation to enhance your fitness program and ensure that your body
functions optimally. Your individual needs will vary based on medications, diet,
exercise program and environmental conditions.
With few exceptions, the body is unable to synthesize
vitamins. They must be supplied in the diet or through supplements. There
are 17 minerals essential to human nutrition which are important
for maintaining physiological processes, strengthening skeletal
structures, preserving the heart, brain, muscle and nervous systems.
While there are many out there who would dispute the value of
nutrient supplementation, most researchers
(including the AMA in their
latest position paper) agree that it is a good idea to
supplement your diet with vitamin and mineral supplements. Research has
continually proven that food alone is not able to satisfy all the body’s
nutritional needs and insure optimal functioning.
As a society, our dependence on highly processed foods, as
well as the stress of our daily lives has a direct effect on our bodies’
nutrient supplies. Nutrient-depleted soil, the 15,000 (yes 15,000) known
chemicals found in our foods, pollutants, exposure to ultraviolet light
and frequent calorie restricted dieting are also contributing to our
bodies’ inner decay.
Add to that things like
alcohol, tobacco, antibiotics, coffee, sugar, corn, carbohydrates in excessive
amounts
and heat can all inhibit absorption and the need is clear.
With the addition of good,
quality nutrient supplementation, I've literally seen children come
off
of ADD and ADHD meds, adults come off of blood pressure,
cholesterol, sugar , pain and anxiety meds and folks of all ages
with fewer carb cravings, increased energy , mental focus and better
skin, hair and nails.
Sadly, One of the other things I see during consults are over
zealous folks with cabinets full of what amounts to very expensive
urine or a crap shoot because "herbs" are not regulated and you
really have no idea exactly what you are putting into your body or
how it will effect it. Adding vitamins or other supplements to your
daily diet in random amounts because "this one" is good for burning
fat and "that one" helps with anti aging is a recipe for very
expensive urine and could be getting you the exact opposite of the
result you seek.
Always remember, vitamins work synergistically meaning
they work to help each other (be absorbed or produce results),
Random vitamins or other supplements thrown together like a
hail mary of health isn't only a waste of money but could actually
be inhibiting your utilization. Once you have added a good, quality
multi vitamin/mineral (and most likely a B complex and calcium for
women) and let your body chemistry balance out and detox, THEN and
only then should you consider adding targeted products.
5. Behavior Modification -
A fit, healthy body starts with healthy habits
Simply put, dieting, eliminating entire food groups, starving
yourself, living off of packaged foods, bars and drinks, taking
pills and working out 5 days a week for a few months only to quit
are NOT healthy habits.
Eating a well balanced diet that includes mostly whole foods with a
touch of your favorite "junk food" , working out 2 or 3 hours a week
for life, taking quality supplements and drinking water more and
soda or sugared drinks less, scheduling workouts in your planner
along with other important activities, hitting the outside aisles of
the grocery store and pre planning/preparing your food are healthy
habits.
The key to success here is to go slow. This is where most "diets"
and "programs" fail. They expect you to change every aspect of
your life, all at once.
If you drink 0 water, haven't worked out in months (or years) and
drink a gallon of soda a day and eat a fruit or vegetable a few
times a week, start slow and aim for moderate changes doing a little
more each week.
6. Social Support &
Motivation - Never
underestimate the power of your support network.
We all need accountability and friends to keep us motivated
to show up when we don't want to, to give that little bit extra even
when we think we can't or to just make that one, single healthy
choice. I'm even a member of a running and triathlon training group
to keep me focused and push me to be my best.
Be it
online or in a boot camp or
group fitness
setting the power of being part of a social group has a
large impact on our weight loss and fitness success.
Our group fitness clients and
"How To Lose Weight &
Reshape Your Body in 21 Days" customers who are a part
of our facebook community get far superior results than our one on
one clients (unless their social network is also comprised of
healthy, fit minded people.)
According to Deborah F. Tate of the Brown
Medical School, "the Internet appears to be a viable method for
delivery of structured behavioral weight loss program
"
I hope
this article has given you some insight as to why your past attempts
at achieving the body of your dreams have failed and some tips and
tools to FINALLY have the body you deserve.
If you want to
take all of the guess workout out of
achieving the body of your
dreams with 21 done
for you menu plans, Fat Blasting
Cookbook,
cutting edge workout, shopping
list,
supplement protocol,
step by step plan for fixing your fat kitchen and a
day
by day guide to fat loss success,
The Solution
is
HERE
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