Josh Hillis' Fat Loss and Fitness

Hard Manual Labor for Fat Burning

Ok, so I haven't tried it yet.  I haven't made my "shovelglove" yet (he uses a sledgehammer).  I just love the idea.

http://www.shovelglove.com/

While the shovelling looks pretty awesome, my gut feeling is that all of the hammering movements would be safer for your back if you had something to actually whack.  Like a used old tire in your backyard (you could prob get a used tire for free at the tirestore).

It's funny 'cause I talked to a lot of my clients this year about shovelling for a workout (snow, snow, more snow) 'cause it was the coldest winter in Denver since like 1830.  Most of the same rules as squatting, actually.  Keep your back arched.  Don't bend and twist at the same time.  Use your legs, drive off your heels.  Ect.

No one ever seems to deny that hard manual labor makes a pretty wicked fat burning workout.  And yet only a couple of my clients got really excited about shovelling workouts =)  I don't know why.

In his book Beyond Bodybuilding, Pavel Tsatsouline's answer to "cardio" is hard manual labor on a farm.  What ever you can find that needs doing would work - chopping wood, digging ditches, building a deck.

Right now a lot of my clients have a BodyBugg™ which tells us (with 97% accuracy) how many calories they are burning each minute of the day.  Now while I want most of their cardio to be based on high intensity interval training, I've been really amazed at how much some extra "work" can make a difference in their total calories for the day.  If you're not up for digging ditches, you'd be amazed what a difference mowing your lawn, washing your car, and riding your bike to work will do.

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES),
and currently studing the Corrective Exercise Specialist (NASM-CES)˚ credential.
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor (RKC)* and Combat Applications Specialist (RKC2/CAS)

*RKC certified 2004-2006, registered to recertify 2007
˚NASM-CES will be completed 2007

© Joshua Hillis 2007

3 Reasons Why Bodyweight is Better Than Cardio

By Craig Ballantyne

You don't need fancy cardio machines to help you lose fat. In fact, a good fat loss program can be done with bodyweight exercises only. You don't even need traditional "cardio" to do this...or an expensive gym membership.

Here are 3 reasons you can use bodyweight exercises to lose fat.

1) Bodyweight exercises are a total body interval cardio circuit workout.

You don't need any fancy machines for "cardio" when you have your own bodyweight to move around. For a great circuit, simply pick 3 lower body exercises and 3 upper body exercises that you can do with only your bodyweight.

Then alternate between upper and lower exercises, doing 10 reps per exercise, and don't take any rests between exercises. Rest 30 seconds at the end of the circuit and repeat up to 5 times. That will take you 20 minutes. See below for a great circuit.

2) Bodyweight exercises boost metabolism

Strength and interval training both boost metabolism more than slow cardio, so you burn more calories after exercise. And bodyweight training is the perfect "hybrid" of strength and interval exercise. So you'll benefit from calories burned during AND after exercise.

3) Bodyweight exercises build muscle

In addition to an increase in metabolism, muscle makes you look good. After all, who has better arms, Madonna or the skinny, starving young celebrities of today? Madonna of course, because she has built her arms in the gym and with bodyweight movements in yoga and other forms of exercise.

Think of bodyweight training as positive bodysculpting, and avoid that negative, cardio "body breakdown" mentality that too many runners have.

After all, what's the main thing that runners and other cardio addicts neglect? Strength. And that's one of the reasons they end up in the physio and doctor offices so often.

Get started on your bodyweight fat loss workouts today 

For example, here's a great circuit:

- Prisoner Squat
- Pushup (or incline pushup for beginners)
- Split Squat
- Elevated Pushup (or kneeling elevated pushup for beginners)
- Step-up
- Mountain Climber

10 reps per exercise (10 reps per side for the split squats, elevated pushups, stepups, and mountain climbers).

Whew! Better than cardio!

You only need 20-30 minutes per session to sculpt your body with exercise that is much better than traditional, slow, boring cardio.

CB

PS - How many things have I laughed at over the years only to end up doing them now?

My mistakes...
I'll be honest, 10 years ago when I was all about lifting and playing sports I never would have expected to be so "into" bodyweight training. But it fits an adult schedule perfectly, whether its off-day exercise or real training-with-limited-time for fat loss and bodysculpting.

By Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training.

More Interesting Cardio?

True Fat Loss Wisdom - "The SECRET to Losing Fat"

Alwyn Cosgrove's Fat Loss Rant -

http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/2007/01/alwyn-cosgrove-fat-loss-rant.html

This is why I love to read anything Alwyn writes.  It's dead on.

If you don't have Alwyn's book Afterburn, get it.

Video: All 300 Exercises Demonstrated

Demonstrations of all of the exercises in the 300 workout: Pullups, 135lb deadlifts, pushups, box jumps, floor wipers, 36lb kettlebell clean and presses.  Exercises demonstrated by craig ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training and writer for Men's Health.

Also check the other articles on the 300 workout in the 300 menu on the right.

Jenna Does Sparta

"Jenna Does Sparta"

25 Pullups @ 70lb assist
50 Deadlifts @ 70lbs
50 Pushups
50 Box Jumps @ 12" box
50 Situps
50 Clean and Press @ 20lb Dumbbell
25 Pullups @ 70lb assist

34 minutes

Just another example of how we scaled the workout to perfectly fit the level of the client.  I still get emails from people who are doing the workout, exactly as written, 3 times per week.  And other madness like that.   That isn't what the actors did, and that's not the most effective use of this kind of workout.

First you need to scale it to your level.  Every workout should not destroy you.  Not every workout should be at 100%.  Some should be at 70% or 80%.  Once in a while you should go 100%.  It's fun (an necessary) to go totally balls to the wall once in a while, to test yourself - but there is a difference between a test and a workout.

Next, you should have more variety than that.  You never want to do the same workout, over and over again, exactly the same way.  Your body adapts. 

The single workout isn't magic, it's the principles the workout is based on that are magic:
1.) Full body athletic movements like pullups, deadlifts, kettlebell cleans, presses, ect.
2.) Full body workouts - work everything at once.  Not "back and biceps" on monday and "chest and tricps" on wednesday.
3.) Train for performance and the body will follow..

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
I'm a specialist in getting my clients lean, fast.  I usually work the hardest clients to lean out - girls who are already in good shape. I like the challenge.  It's actually easier to lean out guys because guys naturally carry more muscle.  My book is about how anyone can get that that lean, rockstar body.

© Joshua Hillis 2007

Another example of how I've scaled

Coming Soon: The Grindhouse Movie Workout

The Busy Womens Fat Loss Series

Check this out!

The Busy Women's Fat Loss Series

It's a teleseminar series featuring some of the biggest names in the fat loss industry - Right now for the ridiculous price of FREE you can get in on the seminar series that features a one hour interview with each of these big name fitness experts:

Valery Waters who trains Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, and a million others. 
Rachel Cosgrove, co-author of Afterburn and contributor to Women's Health Magazine.
Chris Mohr, author of The Human Inferno, and contributor so Shape Magazine.
Holly Rigsby, author of The Secret Lives of Super Fit Moms.
Joey Atlas, author of The Hip, Butt and Thigh Makeover.
Craig Ballentyne, author of Turbulence Training and contributor to Shape Magazine and Men's Health.
Cathy Moxley, author of The Busy Mom's Fitness Solution and contributor to Oxygen Magazine.
and more...

Any ONE of those speakers would be worth paying to hear.  Getting to hear them speak for free is too good to be true.  I'm especially looking forward to hearing Valerie Waters.  Anyone who trains Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel is definately worth listening to.  Besides that, I haven't ever gotten to hear her strategies before.

Click Here to Register for the Busy Women's Fat Loss Series - IT'S FREAKIN FREE!

USA Today Photoshoot for 300 Workout Article

USA Today came out to the gym to get some pictures of one of my clients actually doing the 300 workout.  The article comes out today!  Note you can't see the picture on the web version of the article, but it looks awesome in the print version of the article.

Kendra deadlifting.  Me yelling "arch your back!"  USA Today is in the house taking pictures.

So far, Kendra is the only one of my clients to do 300 more than once.  She's always doing full body movements, lots of squats, lunges and deadlifts, kettlebell swings, pullups, pushups and dips, but also always in slightly different combinations.    It's also worth noting that we only train with this structure of workout every other month.  We cycle through different and progressive phases of training.

This time through we switched the 25 pullups @ 50lb assist with 10 pullups with no assistance.  Just a different way to scale the workout to her level. 

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
I'm a specialist in getting my clients lean, fast.  I usually work the hardest clients to lean out - girls who are already in good shape. I like the challenge.  It's actually easier to lean out guys because guys naturally carry more muscle.  My book is about how anyone can get that that lean, rockstar body.

© Joshua Hillis 2007