Josh Hillis' Fat Loss and Fitness

12 Weeks Until Memorial Day + Workouts are Like Seasons

If you want to look fit, athletic and hot by Memorial Day, it has to start now.

One of my clients, Dave, was joking that he saw an advertisement last June and July that said "Get fit for SUMMER!" 

He asked, "Which summer?  Summer 2008?"  (keep in mind this was 2007)

It's sad, if you start working on getting fit for summer...  and it's already June...  guess what?  You missed it!

You've got to start now.

On the flip side, if you've been following your fitness program since New Years, and you've been kicking ass, you've already seen some awesome results.

It's time to take it to the next level.

Your programs (long term workout structures) have to change.

What got you here, will not take you to the next level, even if it was awesome.

The body adapts, and it adapts really quickly. 

You adapt to a workout program in 4-8 weeks.

When your body adapts, you stop getting results.  Even if it was a good workout program.

Let me repeat:

The body adapts, and it adapts really quickly.  You adapt to a workout program in 4-8 weeks.

When your body adapts, you stop getting results.  Even if it was a good workout program.

 

Workouts have to be like seasons.  Winter must be followed by spring, which must be followed by summer.  After summer, you must have fall.  And after fall it's time to have winter again.

You can't fight it.  It doesn't matter how well your workouts used to work.  Your workouts must change.  And they must change in the right order and for the right reasons. 

Smart personal trainers call this "periodization".  It's just a technical term for the fact that your workouts have to change...  like seasons.

In a month, I'll be releasing a six month, 12 phase "periodized" training program - "Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss". 

In the meantime - if you've been doing my program The Stubborn 7 Pounds, then maybe you should try Turbulence Training, or The Fit Yummy Mummy Workout.  If you've been doing The Fit Yummy Mummy or Turbulence Training, maybe it's time to try The Stubborn 7 Pounds.

What ever you've been doing - it's time for a change.   

If you need a change immediately, and you want few workouts to tide you over until you start your next program - you can get six free Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss.

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 women and men lose stubborn fat.

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

© Joshua Hillis 2008

 

Horrible Kettlebell Swing Form on National TV

Did you hear the screaming last Tuesday night?

It was me.  I was watching The Biggest Loser.

Bob was having his clients do "kettlebell" swings with dumbbells.  (I almost always call them kettlebell swings, even if my clients are using dumbbells or gripper plates.  It's just habit.)

So these contestants on The Biggest Loser are doing dumbbell swings...  with their backs totally rounded.  Which is wrong.  Very wrong.

I like Bob.  I think he genuinely cares about his clients success.  And that's super important.  I think it's the core reason his clients get results.

But it wouldn't be the first time I saw contestants on The Biggest Loser use bad form.  I've seen trainers on The Biggest Loser let their clients deadlift with their backs rounded forward.  Their exercise that day was moving logs, and they were all totally totally rounded forward picking up the logs.

You're on TV bro, you should do it right.

I don't let my clients pick up a pencil with their back rounded.

I know it's hard for people who are seriously overweight to do swings with proper form if they are using dumbbells. 

So they should have used gripper plates or kettlebells, instead of just doing it wrong with dumbbells.

To explain the difference between your back being "arched back" and "rounded forward", here is a page from my book The Stubborn 7 Pounds:

Big movements like swings, deadlifts, and squats are absolutely essential for a fat loss program. 

Learning how to do them right is essential for not getting hurt.

I tweaked myself when I first started doing kettlebell workouts back in 1999.  My sports medicine doctor recommended something shocking - that I get some coaching from an expert.

I'm forever grateful to my coach Dave Werner for teaching me how to squat, deadlift, do kettlebell swings and kettlebell jerks.   It was the foundation for all of my adventures in fitness to come.

 

By Josh Hillis

Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar, and the upcoming Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss.

Josh is a fat loss expert, personal trainer, and kettlebell instructor in Denver, Colorado.
 

© Joshua Hillis 2008

Nobody likes doing squats

I'm in the gym yesterday taking one of my clients over to the squat rack.  There is a guy standing my the squat rack, stretching, and kind of eying the squat rack. 

Josh: "Are you using the squat rack?"

The guy: "Naw, I can go do something else."

I say, "Are you sure, it's ok if you were going to use it."

He says, "Well, I was going to use it, but I'm happy to do something else.  After all, no one likes to do squats."

I say, "Oh man, I love doing squats!"

He says, to my client, "Run away!  Get a new trainer!  This one is evil!"

True story!  Here is the thing, squats are really hard.  They are harder than most of the things people in the gym like to do.  Especially squatting heavy. 

My clients do some hard squatting workouts.  I'm not evil.  Well, maybe a little =)  But the truth is, I just like things that work.  Squats work.

A workout isn't fun to me if it's not going to produce any results.  Squats produce results.  I'll take a hard workout any day if it'll get the results we want.  And getting results is really, really fun.

Some people have other legitimate reasons for not wanting to squat - they've heard that if they squat incorrectly they can get hurt.  True.  This is a good reason to learn how to squat correctly, not avoid them altogether.

There is a rumor in the fitness world that people are lazy.  I think the problem isn't laziness.  The problem is that people have been doing crappy workouts and getting no results for so long that they are just cynical and resigned about working out.  They know they need to work out, but they don't really want to put in a ton of effort if it isn't going to yield results.

It's the really hard exercises that make a difference.  It's worth the effort to do 'em, 'cause they'll actually produce results.

It's also the slightly more technical exercises that make a difference.  It's worth the effort to learn how to do them right.

If you put in the effort, you'll get the results.  Do the big exercises.  Add weight to the bar.  Watch your body transform.

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 women and men lose stubborn fat.

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

© Joshua Hillis 2008

This Blew My Mind

Clearly the United States is getting fatter.  And fatter.  Every year.

Two kinds of people come to my blog - the people that are part of these statistics, and the people that aren't.

If you're going to the gym, lifting weights, and doing cardio - with consistency - even if you're doing a workout program that really sucks, this probably isn't you.

If you are keeping an honest food log, then there is NO WAY that this is you.

The United States is getting fatter and fatter.  There is a total disconnect between food and body.

Food is fuel.

You can look at food as entertainment, or you can look at food as fuel for the high performance, rockstar hot body that you want.

Everything you eat is either taking you closer to your goals, or away from your goals.

Everything you are eating is taking you one step closer to being Princess Leia...

Or it's taking you one step closer to being Jabba.

And don't kid yourself.  You already know exactly which foods are which.

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 women and men lose stubborn fat.

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

© Joshua Hillis 2008

Doing the Work: Gold is tempered through fire

Ok the theme for January was keeping it simple.  The problem with simple is that simple isn't easy.

When we keep it simple, we're left with the hard part:
Doing the work.

We pretend like we don't know what to do, because what we need to do is hard.

We pretend it's complicated.  It's not complicated, it's hard. 

Most of the time the game is not figuring out what to do. 

The real game is doing what we know to do.

You gotta want it. 

You've got to want it enough to do it.

It doesn't take a million hours in the gym.  Or in the kitchen.

But the things you do you've got to do them in a way that's going to produce results.

It's about intention.  Fire.  Passion.  Put in your blood, sweat and tears, and make it mean something.

Workout like you're transforming you're  there to transform your body.  And eat like you are fueling that transformation.

People only resist doing the work because they don't connect it to the results.

People hate doing squats.  I tell you, if you knew how good they are for your results, you'd beg to get under the bar.

It's the basics that are the most brutal and effective.

I tell you, when you are eating like Jessica Biel or Kelly Ripa, you'll have a body like Jessica Biel or Kelly Ripa.

If you do the right things, you'll see results.  And the results will get addictive.

It starts to become like a video game.  If you can lose 2lbs of fat this week, you'll want to lose 2lbs again next week.

Doing the work starts to get fun.

Getting consistant results is fun.

Fun and effective is even better than easy.

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 women and men lose stubborn fat.

© Joshua Hillis 2008

 

Working Out Should Be This Fun

Every time I hear this I'm rolling on the floor laughing.

Ok, I'm a big Kanye West fan.

What I love about this remix he did is 'cause he's just having fun and being himself.

This isn't going to sell him a million more records.

This isn't going to be his next big hit.

He's just playing.

He's just having fun.

Famous throwing coach Dan John once said:

"People think that creating world class athletes takes work. 
Actually, it takes play."

How many of your workouts do you play?

Do you enjoy your workout program?

If you are bored with your workouts, you aren't going to attack them with the intensity required to really make a change in the way your body looks and feels.

Some people love the way I put together workouts for my clients and in my books.  Some people, believe it or not, actually prefer the way other people put together their workouts. 

The important thing is to find a program that works, and that you enjoy.

In December I was doing a workout program by a very well known muscle gain expert.  Someone who is truly truly known for producing results.  Problem was, I didn't enjoy it the same way I've enjoyed other routines.  Next thing I knew I was missing workouts.

So I switched to Pavel's Kettlebell Fast Tens program.   I love it, it's just my style, and I'm on top of my workouts like never before.

On top of that, I give myself a play day.

My play day is pull ups and dips.  I love pull ups. 

And when I got micro-tears in a tendon in my elbow last year, I had to take some time off of my favorite movement.

Now that I can do 'em again, I make a point to do a workout with pull ups and dips at least once per week, just because it makes me happy.

Which workouts make you happy? 

Make a point to do a workout you absolutely love, at least once per week.

Life's too short not to have fun.

If you get bored with your workout program, find one that suits you better.
(assuming you don't just have workout ADD, and you've given it at least 4 weeks)

The more fun you have, the more intensity you'll bring to your workouts, and the more often you'll make it to the gym.

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.

© Joshua Hillis 2008

Hayden Panettiere Workout

This video is awesome because it highlights so much that I love and so much that I hate about celebrity workouts.

You'll notice that a lot of celebrity workouts have tons of squats and lunges (Yes! Awesome!) some elevated pushups (Bam! I love it!) and then some total fluff (Boo... are you kidding?).

What's up with the fluff?

My clients don't have time for any movement that has a low return on the time invested.  If it's not a "big bang" exercise (as boxing coach Steve Baccari calls it) it's usually not worth doing.

You may have heard me say that I like exercise that use a lot of muscles all at the same time. 

So you'd think I'd also like the bicep curl and press combination.

But I HATE combination exercises.  I think they're a fluff exercise.  Waste of time.

The Difference Between Combination Exercises and Really Kick Ass Full Body Exercises

-In a bicep curl to press, you're going to end up using a lot less weight than you could normally press.  I could make a case that it's actually a less intense exercise than a straight up shoulder press.

-In a really kick ass full body exercise, like an explosion (where you do a deep squat that goes into a push press - driving the weight off of your shoulders with your legs) you use nearly every muscle in your body to drive the weight through one big, powerful movement.

And One Last Thing

Why is the trainer guiding her elbows as she presses the weight up?

What's up with that?

Call me crazy, but my clients actually know which direction the weight should go and manage to push the weight up all by themselves.

All I'm saying is, I've never felt the need to spot my clients on a low skill exercise with 5lb dumbbells.

I think the dude is just copping a feel.

Actually, I don't think I've ever had a client that used 5lb dumbbells, for anything, unless they were a total beginner in their first two weeks of working out. 

I hope that's just because Hayden was answering questions at the same time.  And the trainer was just trying to justify being on camera.

On The Flip-Side...

If I'm training a girl who's just starting to do pull ups without the pull up assist machine, and I still have to assist by pushing on her feet a little bit, that's a totally different thing. 

That's getting someone started on an awesome, intense, big pulling movement.

And after a few weeks or a month, yep, she's doing pull ups all on her own.

Shouldn't your trainer be teaching you how to move?  And fostering independence?

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.

© Joshua Hillis 2008

7 Fat Loss Strategies For Busy Moms

By Holly Rigsby, CPT
www.TheFitYummyMummy.com

Would you like to "jump start" your metabolism and lose your ‘mommy belly' once and for all? If so, the following seven tips are exactly what you need to improve your workouts and ignite your metabolism. Try some or all of these tips, but beware, the result may be a number of admiring second glances and the need to pull your ‘skinny jeans' out of the closet.
                                                       
1. The majority of your workouts should be composed of free-weight, bodyweight  or cable exercises.

Compared to machines, free-weight, bodyweight and cable movements often require more skill, create muscular balance, and have a greater metabolic cost. For example, it is more difficult to balance the weights, and to coordinate muscles when performing free-weight exercises. Although this may sound like a disadvantage, it is actually a benefit. By balancing and stabilizing free-weights or cables you are working more muscles through a greater range of motion resulting in more muscles developed and more calories burned.

2. Use exercises that work more than one muscle at a time.

When focusing on fat loss, you can't worry about "shaping" exercises, instead you should use exercises that'll get you the biggest bang for your buck and work as many muscles as possible. Isolation exercises can be used at the end of a workout to work on a specific target area, but they just serve to supplement your core movements.

Virtually every savvy fitness professional is privy to the fact that compound exercises recruit the most muscle groups for any given body part.

If you seek lean, toned muscles and the increase in metabolism that comes with them, you must choose exercises that work as many different muscles as possible. One of the main reasons why squats are superior to leg extensions for improving your body is that they also work your butt, hamstrings and inner thighs in addition to toning your quadriceps while leg extensions focus on just the front of your thigh and don't really offer any other benefit. That same rationale hold true for arm exercises too. That's why dumbell presses and dips will are more valuable for your arms than triceps kickbacks and pushdowns.

A good rule of thumb is to use movements that will allow you to use the most weight. These will have a systemic effect on your body that'll help maintain or increase your lean muscle, and in turn ignite your metabolism.

3. Pair exercises.

Pair your exercises together so that you alternate between upper-body exercises and lower-body exercises or between exercises that target opposing muscle groups (e.g. chest and back).

This type of approach will keep your workouts short and efficient by eliminating much of the downtime that comes between sets of a single exercise since you are working on one movement while resting from another. This approach can also yield huge benefits in your mission to burn fat. Since you'll constantly be moving and keeping your heart rate elevated, you'll be burning far more calories than you would during a typical workout.

4. Keep your reps between 8 and 12.

Through research, it has been determined that the best range for building lean muscle is roughly between 8-12 reps. Since the main focus of your resistance training efforts is to gain lean body mass and stimulate your metabolism, this rep range fills the bill perfectly. "High reps for tone and fat loss" is one of the biggest (and most unproductive) training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilates' community have convinced us that when we perform bodyweight exercises or light resistance training for high reps, our muscles magically take on a beautiful shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you challenge yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body will take on a bulky, unflattering appearance. If you believe this, you probably still believe in the Tooth Fairy!

5. Rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets.

When you keep the rest periods under one minute, it's easier to stay focused on the task at hand and keeps your heart rate elevated. In addition, it forces your muscles to recover more quickly between sets, along with keeping your nervous system revved up.

If your first movement in an upper/lower body pair is squats, you might want to rest 60 seconds before attempting your second movement. However, if your first exercise is a fairly "easy" exercise, like lat pull downs, you might only wish to wait 30 seconds before doing the second part of the pair.

6. Perform total body workouts.

You must drop the notion that muscle groups work independently of one another. Muscles work together and should be trained that way. Besides, not only does this approach mean less time in the gym, but by working the whole body three times per week, you'll be maximizing the fat burning effect of your program.

7. Cardio is not the cure-all for fat loss.

Cardiovascular exercise aids in the creation of a caloric deficit, but the caloric expenditure during cardio is temporary. Strength training addresses the core of the problem by permanently increasing the rate at which the body burns calories by adding muscle. The best programs will include both strength training and cardiovascular training, but the core or the programs effectiveness is resistance training.

Take these strategies and incorporate them into your workout routine. Not only will you save a lot of time, but you'll also soon see a leaner and more toned body. Not to mention a few more turned heads and the re-emergence of your skinny jeans.

About the Author

Holly Rigsby is a nationally recognized women’s fitness coach, certified personal trainer (CPT) and the author of the internationally popular e-book – Fit Yummy Mummy - Burn Your Baby Fat & Get Your Body Back. Go to www.TheFitYummyMummy.com to get your FREE copy of her special report: "The Five Ways To Boost Your Metabolism."

If you purchase The Fit Yummy Mummy within the next 24 hours, it comes with a 21 day coaching program. 

I'm always talking about how important it is to have support and structure, the 21 day coaching program is an AWESOME structure for getting started and getting on track with the program.   If you're interested in getting this program, now is the time to do it.

-Josh

The Most Inherently Motivating Thing I Have Ever Seen

Just what I always wanted!  Today one of my clients brought in an anatomically correct replica of 5lbs of fat.  It was pretty much the grossest thing I've ever seen.  I set it by the keyboard so you can get a feel for how big it is, and then I took a picture with my phone.

I hope the picture gives you some sense of how gross it is.  I gotta tell you though, it's ten times more fun/gross to actually pick it up.

My client set it down in his kitchen, and then immediately threw away all the processed food in his house. 

I keep asking myself - what is so motivating about seeing 5lbs of gross fat on the table?  Well, the only thing I can think of more gross than 5lbs fat on the table is 5lbs of fat sitting inside me. 

It turns out that you can buy replica fat in all different sizes.  1lb, 5lbs, 1oz.  What ever you are in the mood for.

5lbs of Muscle vs. 5lbs of Fat

You've always heard that muscle weighs more than fat right?

Here is exactly what we mean:

Same scale weight, but the muscle takes up less space.

And the muscle jiggles less.

That's why you can lose fat, gain muscle, and have the same weight on the scale...

But be wearing two sizes smaller clothes and look 5x hotter.

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 women and men lose stubborn fat.

© Joshua Hillis 2007

New Years Fitness Quick Tip #3

People tend to complicate things.  They get confused by all of the different workout programs and conflicting advice.

All of January I want you to simplify your workouts.

The most important thing is to do four movments every workout:
1.) A pushing movement like standing dumbbell shoulder press or pushups.
2.) A pulling movement like pullups or inverted body rows.
3.) A squatting movement (any squat or lunge variation)
4.) A deadlift, kettlebell swing, or dumbbell swing.

Next thing is just to make sure you are stronger at the end of January than you are now.  Either more reps, more sets, or more weight on the bar.

Right now, don't make it any more complicated than that.

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 women and men 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 and the Z-Health R Phase certification course.

© Joshua Hillis 2007