Remember, it started easy, but got tougher towards the end. How you did on the last few questions says a lot about how your over all fitness program is structured - it's the difference between being in the top 5% of people in the gym and the top 1% of people in the gym. It's about working out hard and smart.
1.) People who are lean typically get there food from:
b.) Farmer's Market - This one should be a no-brainer. It's amazing how much easier it is to hit all of your fat loss goals when you are eating good, whole food. Also, going to get some good food at the farmer's market is always fun - I get ten times more excited about my food when I get it fresh.
2.) People who are lean usually spend their time:
b.) Working out at the gym
3.) People who are lean do cardio that is:
b.) short and hard - Intensity is the key. Recent studies have shown that interval training burns 3-9 times more fat than steady cardio, even though people in the steady cardio group "burned more calories in the workout". This is where we start talking about cranking up your metabolism - you burn more over the course of the day, and it adds up to burning more than you could in a long slow cardio session.
Long story short - interval training burns more fat. If you don't know what interval training is - it's alternating sprints and rest, and it's harder, faster, and more intense.
4.) The kinds of foods you need to avoid are:
c.) processed - processed food is evil.
I hope everyone is way past the whole "low carb" thing, it was almost as bad as the "low fat" thing. Look, you need proteins, carbs and fats. You just need to get it from good whole food.
5.) The best workout movements for fat loss are:
b.) free weights, because it uses more muscles - Free weights are your friend. Bigger more intense movements = bigger results.
Machines are like training wheels. They're fine for a little while... but eventually you want to start working out like the big kids.
6.) The fastest way to get visible abs is:
c.) count calories - Most people need to lose some fat before they can see their abs.
The problem is rarely that you don't have "strong enough abs".
Look, if you are a girl under 19% bodyfat, you can see your abs. If you are a guy at or under 8% bodyfat, you can see your abs. If you can't see your abs, you just aren't that lean, period.
Crunches and situps do nothing to burn fat around your stomach. You cannot spot reduce fat.
Crunches and situps are really low intensity exercises, and pretty useless for burning fat. People have trouble grasping this point in the beginning, so for reference, grab a heavy pair of dumbbells and do lunges for 50 feet. Compare the difference in feeling between the lunges and doing crunches.
7.) Most people trying to lose weight are not doing enough:
c.) weight lifting - Weight lifting is the neglected missing link in weight loss. Most people spend all their time doing cardio, which will make you a little smaller, but won't change your shape. Lifting will change your shape, make you leaner, and boost your metabolism.
8.) Smart ways to really jack up the intensity of your workouts are: (check all that apply)
a.) use big multi-joint, multi-muscle movements, like squats and lunges - Bigger movements = bigger results. The first thing to change in your workout routine to get better results is to use better movements. Squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, pushups, dumbbell press, pullups, body rows, seated rows, renegade rows, step ups, deadlifts, ect.
b.) Do timed circuits and keep score - Doing timed circuits and keeping score jacks up the workout's intensity considerably. Anyone remember the 300 workout? Has anyone heard what Jason Statham is doing to workout now? Timed circuits work for fat loss, and I have my clients do timed, scored circuits every other month.
* Trick question answers - f.) always do bodyweight exercises only & i.) always do kettlebell workouts only - You can build great fat loss workouts using only kettlebells or only bodyweight, but if I have other tools available, I'll use them. I like to mix up kettlebell workouts, bodyweight workouts, dumbbell workouts and barbell workouts.
* Completely wrong answers that totally suck -
c.) do everything on a swiss ball or unstable surface - I'm not totally against using a swiss ball once in a while, but I think it's crazy when trainers say the ultimate progression is doing everything on one leg on a balance board. it's fine once and a while, but alot of times you just reduce the intensity of the workout because you have to use weights that are so much lighter.
What is the point of a one legged bicep curl? It's a crappy bicep exercise and it's a crappy single leg exercise.
Ok, that being said, here are a few "stability" exercises that don't suck - swiss ball dumbbell chest press, one legged squats, one legged deadlifts.
d.) focus on one muscle group per workout - Are you really getting anything out of that 8th set? Or that third exercise? Really? Not from a fat loss perspective you aren't. Full body workouts are much more effective for fat loss - they are just plain more intense.
e.) always do cardio first - Doing cardio first will make your lifting workout suck. You always want to do what's most important first. I've got news for you - cardio is not what's most important.
g.) always do biceps and triceps in alternating sets - Wouldn't help with fat loss at all. Too small of movements.
h.) always do machine circuits, with sets of 10 reps on every machine - Machines reduce intensity. Machine circuits are fine for total beginners, but you should graduate to free weight circuit workouts in a couple months.
9.) fat loss workouts should use:
a.) light weights at high reps
b.) medium weights for medium reps
c.) heavy weights at low reps
d.) all of the above - Your workout program needs to change every four to six weeks. If you did light weights and high reps last month, you need to go heavy and low rep this month.
The biggest, hugest mistake I see people make doing fat loss workouts is to only do light weights. This is on level with doing nothing but long slow cardio. If you want to be lean, you need to build some real strength.
10.) How many weeks will it take for you to adapt to your workout program (the number of sets and reps)? In other words, how many weeks will it take for your workout to start being less effective?
c.) 4 - You adapt to your program about every four weeks. That means you've milked that program for most of the results that you can get out of it. Past that, you will get diminished returns for the same amount of effort.
The answer is to switch up your program. Your body adapts to the sets and reps fairly quickly, but it adapts to movements very slowly. That means that you don't necessarily need to change up the movements you are doing, but you totally need to change the sets and reps.
So how did you do?
If you missed more than 3, you could make some changes to your program that would cause you to get drastically better results. This is a really good thing.
If you missed 3 or under, you should be more fit than most people you know, and most people in the gym (that is, if you are doing what you know to do). I'm guessing you are someone that works hard in the gym, and studies fitness. You are probably pretty happy with your body composition, but you might have plataued "right at the end", or with the "stubborn fat". The difference between being all the way to your goal and getting stuck 90% of the way to your goal is tuning up those last few things. Sometimes it's only a few small changes between you and your goal.
If you got 100% - I've got good news and bad news: The good news is, you probably know everything you need to know to hit your goals. That means that you should be dropping bodyfat every week, you should be stronger and fitter this month than you were last month, and you should be pretty used to seeing results. OR, you've already hit your goals.
The bad news if you got 100% - If you got 100% right and you aren't hitting your goals, then the problem probably isn't that you don't know enough. The problem is that you know what to do and you just aren't doing it. You need to look for structures you can put in place to keep you doing what you need to do. You need accountability. Make a list right now of five people you could ask to keep you accountable. Then take a look to see if there is someone you could hire to keep you accountable. Choose at least one person, and ask them to be your accountability buddy. Accountability may be THE difference between hitting your goals and not.
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I just emailed out another update to my book, The Stubborn 7 Pounds! The program keeps getting better, clearer, and more effective. I have a few more updates planned, and even at least one un-advertised bonus I'm going to mail out to everyone who purchased the book. That bonus is an interview with a nutrion expert so good you'll be shocked. But I'll let that be a surprise.
I don't anyone to miss out. If you purchased the book, but missed the box to sign up on the purchaser only email list, drop me an email at joshsgarage@gmail.com.
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By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES), and currently studying the Corective Exercise Specialist (NASM-CES) course.
Josh is a kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in Denver, Colorado.
© Joshua Hillis 2007
