Josh Hillis' Fat Loss and Fitness

How To Repair A Damaged Metabolism

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.burnthefat.com

If you've caused metabolic damage as a result of following starvation diets or losing weight too rapidly in the past, it can be extremely difficult to achieve any further fat loss at all. The good news is, metabolic damage can be repaired. All it takes is the right combination of metabolism stimulating exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition (NOT just a diet), all done consistently over time.

The big irony is that most of the diet programs that claim to help you get rid of excess weight, only end up making it harder for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing diets and not enough exercise (almost never any weight training).

It may take a little longer if you have really messed things up with severe starvation dieting in the past, especially if you've lost a lot of lean body mass, but it is never hopeless. Anyone can increase their metabolism.

Most people get an almost immediate boost in metabolic rate when they start the Burn The Fat program. However, the results are not going to be "overnight." Give it a little time...

Within 3 weeks your metabolism will already be more efficient. Within 6-8 weeks, it's burning hot. Give me 12 weeks of consistent diligent effort, sticking with all the metabolism boosting strategies I teach, and your metabolism really will become like a turbo charged engine, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that.

What’s most important for upping your metabolism is CONSISTENCY in applying the Burn The Fat nutrition and training principles every single day.

That includes:

• Meal frequency: eat 5-6 small meals per day
• Meal timing: eat approximately every 3 hours, with a substantial breakfast and a substantial post workout meal.
• Sufficient Caloric Intake: maintain a small calorie deficit and avoid starvation-level diets (suggested safe levels for fat loss: 2100-2500 calories per day for men, 1400-1800 calories per day for women; adjust as needed)
• Food choices: Select natural, unprocessed foods with high thermic effect (lean proteins like chicken, turkey, egg whites and fish are highly thermic, as are all green vegetables, salad vegetables and other fibrous carbs)
• Cardio training: Push up the intensity a bit if you really want to get a metabolic boost. Walking and low intensity cardio is fine, but higher intensity is more metabolism-stimulating
• Weight training: The basic exercises that include the largest muscle groups or even call into play the entire body as a unit (squats, front squats, split squats, deadlifts, stiff legged deadlifts, overhead presses, all kinds of rows and core-activation exercises) will have a much greater metabolism stimulating effect than isolation exercises (concentration curls, calf raises, etc)

The weight training is extremely important in cases of "metabolic damage" because this is the stimulus to keep the muscle you have and begin rebuilding new muscle tissue, which is the engine that drives your metabolism.

The men don't usually have a problem with the weight training, but I still hear women say they don't want to lift weights as part of their fat loss programs. Well, people who wont lift weights can expect a very, very long metabolism "repair process" if they achieve it at all.

Consistency is the key.

Nothing will undermine the "re-building" of your metabolism like inconsistency. If you stop and start, or skip meals and workouts often, you will not even get off the ground.

After your metabolism is back up where it should be, it takes continued "stoking" of the metabolic furnace to keep it there. Once you get your metabolic engine running, you've got to keep feeding it fuel or the fire will die down.

Picture an old fashioned wood burning stove...

Imagine you're in a cabin up in the mountains in the winter. It's cold in there and you want to keep the cabin warm. Can you achieve this by feeding the fire once or twice per day? Nope. Not enough fuel to burn, so not much heat is generated.

What if you just toss an entire pile of wood in the stove all at once? Will that work? Nope. Lots of fuel, but can't all be used at once... it just smothers the fire and the excess just sits there.

How about if you throw some tissue paper or crumpled newspaper in the stove, will that work? Nope - too quickly burning.

You have to keep putting small amounts of wood (the right type of fuel) on the fire at regular intervals or the fire burns out.

It's also difficult to get the fire lit again. In the case of metabolism, it's like going through that initial few weeks of overcoming inertia all over again.

Your goal is to get your metabolism burning hot and keep it burning and this cannot be achieved by missing meals, missing workouts or with sporadic, infrequent training.

I have only seen a handful of cases where all these things were done properly and there was still a longer "repair" process.

For example, one case was former ballet dancer. At 5' 5", she was previously 110 lbs and had increased to about 145 or so. She didn’t want to reach her previous 110, but find a happy medium of about 125 lbs.

I figured with 20 lbs to cut, this would be a simple and predictable process, but she had a challenging time (and I didn't know why at first).

I later found out that she had been anorexic and bulimic for many years. This had caused a lot of damage, and although she did reach her goal, it took about twice as long as we had anticipated.

The good news is, even in this extreme case, the same nutrition and training principles worked! It just took a little longer. And by the way her program included some serious training with free weights and she ate a lot more (clean) food than she had ever eaten before. No "starvation!"

That’s the power of burning the fat and feeding the muscles... Trying to starve the fat with crash diets is what causes the metabolic damage in the first place!

If you’re interested in the healthy, sensible way to take off the fat, while keeping all your muscle and actually increasing your metabolism in the process, then my Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program can teach you how. No gimmicks or false promises. Just the truth - you have to work at it and you have to be patient. www.burnthefat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to burn fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com.

Losing Fat Is The Simplest Thing In The World

All of the stories in the media make fat loss sound more complicated than it is.  The way certain diets are marketed often complicates weight loss also.  Sometimes searching for more information online and running into a million different opinions can complicate weight loss.

Let's take a step back and simplify.  Take a deep breath, here comes reality: Most of the time, if someone isn't getting results, they are simply eating too many calories.  Eating too many calories will ruin the results of even the best workout program.

One of my favorite people to listen to when it comes to fat loss, Neal Spruce founder of Apex Fitness Group, said this -

Calories in, Calories out
You must come to accept the factual calories in and out aspect of weight management; otherwise, there’s no point in trying to solve for the motivation aspect. Repeat after me: if you’re overweight, it’s not because of your age, it’s not your thyroid, it’s not menopause, it’s not because you don’t eat enough, it’s not your parents’ fault, it’s not the number of fat cells you were born with, it’s not that you don’t do your aerobic work in your target heart range, it’s not high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), it’s not that you weren’t breast fed, it’s not your medication, it’s not your hormones, it’s not sugar, it’s not trans fat, it’s not saturated fats, it’s not carbohydrates, it’s not because you eat after 7:00PM, it’s not because you had a baby, it’s not because you eat the wrong glycemic foods, and, no, it’s not the fast food industry’s fault if you are overweight and don’t like it...

...So let’s get past the calorie piece and all the misinformation and boil it down to one simple sentence you can apply to your life right now: “I won’t think about anything else except eating fewer calories than I burn until I reach my goal.”  Say it again! “I won’t think about anything else except eating fewer calories than I burn until I reach my goal”.

That's what I like about Neal, he doesn't mess around. 

It's really a pretty simple game we are playing. 
Here is your four step plan to get you 99% of the way to your goal:

1.) Eat less calories.  Keep an online food log.   Trust your scale and how you fit in your clothes to tell you how accurate your food log is.

2.) Eat good food.  You know what is good food, and you know what is bad food.  Eat less bad food.

3.) Do short, high intensity cardio.

4.) Do an intelligent strength training workout a few times per week.

5.) Drink lots of water.  Don't drink anything that isn't water.

If you are a girl just doing those four things will take you from 30% bodyfat (below average) all the way to 21% bodyfat (pretty damn hot).  For a guy that would be like going from 20% bodyfat down to 12% bodyfat.

Getting lower than that it gets a little more interesting.  If you want to get really rockstar lean, you'll have to periodize your workouts (your workout goes through different cycles, like seasons) and you'll have to eat even cleaner.  But that's it.  It's not rocket science.

Don't over complicate things.

Here is some wisdom from one of the best workout articles of all time, written by my friend Dan John:

"When things go wrong, simplify."

Usually, when we aren't getting the results we want, we complicate things to the point of insanity.  That, of course, makes it worse.

When things go wrong, that's actually the time to get back to basics. 

Focus on the few simple keys that make everything work.  (steps 1-5 above)  Ignore everything else.

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds

Josh is one of the five fat loss experts in The Ultimate Fat Loss Answers

Josh is a fat loss expert, a kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in Denver, Colorado.  Josh helps fit women lose stubborn fat.

Josh is a 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.

© Joshua Hillis 2007

Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss

Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss video demo!

The workout is 3 rounds.

Each round is five minutes long:
1.) One minute kettlebell swings
2.) One minute pushups
3.) One minute kettlebell swings
4.) One minute pushups
5.) One minute kettlebell swings

After each round, rest for 3 minutes.

If you don't have a kettlebell, you can use a dumbbell or gripper plate.

Kendra is using a 36lb kettlebell, which is pretty advanced for a woman. 

Most of women start off with a 26lb kettlebell.  Or if you're like 5 feet tall, an 18lb kettlebell.

Most guys start off with a 36lb kettlebell.  Guys should be looking to work up to a 53lb kettlebell.  Advanced kettlebell lifters will use a 70lb kettlebell.

Pushups should fit your ability level.  Here are pushup variations, from easiest to hardest:
1.) Knee pushups
2.) Pushups with hands elevated (table height)
3.) Pushups with hands elevated (low bench)
4.) Pushups
5.) Pushups with elbows tucked in to (but not touching) sides
6.) Pushups with feet elevated
7.) Pushups with hands on a stability ball
8.) Handstand Pushups - you know, if you're a gymnast or Spartan Warrior or something

Keep track of your total reps per round, the weight of the kettlebell/dumbbell you use, and what kind of pushups you did.

Ideally, you should be in the 15-25 reps range, for each exercise, for each minute.  Adjust your pushup type and kettlebell weight accordingly.

This is the kind of workout I used to do back when I was doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  For those that don't know, I met my wife back in 2005 when I went to study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Rio De Janeiro.  I make no claims to be good at Jiu Jitsu, I'm still a white belt.  But it was fun to do, fun to train for, and even the conditioning workouts I did (similar to this workout) were fun. 

I've been amazed at how effective these workouts have been, with some adaptation, for my fat loss clients.

Lots and lots of stuff to look forward to!

I'm finishing up the Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss Ultimate 16 week Program just in time for New Years.

I'm going to give away six free Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss at www.fw4fl.com, starting in a few days.

Stay tuned for one of the biggest giveaways in the fitness industry, including a free 4 week program from me.  I'll keep you posted.

I'm stoked, I'm attending a really big fitness/online conference this week.  I'll be interviewing some fat loss experts and posting that on the blog in the coming weeks.

I'm gearing up for a big 2008.  You can expect more products coming down the pike.  You'll get to see what I've been up to lately - the workouts that have been getting my clients even better results.  The new ways I look at teaching nutrition for fat loss.  And there will be a lot more media on this blog - audio and video, along with more of the fitness and fat loss articles that you came here for in the first place.

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds and Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss

Josh is one of the five fat loss experts in The Ultimate Fat Loss Answers

Josh is a fat loss expert, a kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in Denver, Colorado.  Josh helps fit women lose stubborn fat.

Josh has been featured in The Denver Post and USA Today.

© Joshua Hillis 2007

Intervals Cause Spot Reduction of Belly Fat

by Craig Ballentyne

According to Professor Steve Boucher, the Australian co-author of the latest interval training study to show intervals work better than slow cardio, "high intensity intermittent exercise may result in greater fat loss in the abdomen".

Basically, intervals burn stomach fat first, over all other sources of fat on the body.

Now we all have heard that spot reduction doesn't work. If you haven't, here is the story. For some reason, many people think that by doing tons of crunches, they will burn stomach fat. Unfortunately, that just isn't true.

In fact, Boucher quotes the following example...

"...researchers have examined the fat content of elite tennis players' racket arm. The logic here is that if a tennis player uses his racket arm much more than his other arm then the fat content should be less. Racket arms of tennis players usually possess greater muscle and bone mass but similar fat levels."

So here's the odd thing about Boucher's theory...Notice that he's not claiming sprint interval training done on a bike will burn more fat around your legs. Instead, he's claiming that interval work done by your legs will lead to a spot reduction of fat from around the belly. Completely backwards to what the beginner exerciser thinks.

Let's examine the study* Boucher is involved with...he and his colleagues put young women into two groups.

*Trapp, E.G. (2006). Effect of high intensity exercise on fat loss in young overweight women. PhD thesis.

Group 1: Three workouts per week of 20 minutes of intervals (8s sprint followed by 12s recovery) for 15 weeks

Group 2: Three cardio workouts per week of 40 minutes for 15 weeks

Group 1, the interval group, lost a signficant amount of abdominal fat.

Boucher and his group thinks this interval program will work really well in men with lots of abdominal fat.

So why do the intervals work so well?

Boucher believes it has something to do with the increase in hormones called "catecholamines" (adrenaline is a catecholamine hormone). These increase after intervals, but not after slow cardio. Catecholamines are a fat burning hormone and there are a lot of catecholamine receptors in belly fat...so he seems to think the elevated fat burning hormones from intervals ends up leading to targeted belly fat burning.

Interesting theory...we'll see if they do more research and are able to confirm that belly fat burning hypothesis. Regardless, its great to see studies showing intervals to be more effective for losing stomach fat than slow cardio workouts.

Surprisingly, Boucher recommends stationary cycling as one of the best ways to burn fat with intervals. Seems like another fat loss expert has been saying that for years now...oh yeah, it was me! The Turbulence Training for Fat Loss manual recommends stationary cycling against resistance...because I know it works.

Boucher also recommends a Mediterranean diet (lots of fruits and vegetables)...another commonality with Turbulence Training (that is, the emphasis on fruits and vegetables).

So there you go...Turbulence Training years ahead of this study, but supported by the latest scientific research and the expert's hypothesis. And don't forget, Boucher and his group didn't even throw in the Turbulence Training resistance training exercises...that probably would have resulted in even more belly fat burning and loss of stomach fat.

Keep your eyes on this blog for more fat loss research and the best fat burning programs you can get,

by Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
Contributing Author to Men's Health Magazine
Bodyweight Training for Intervals