But back to your fat loss and muscle building. Something that my TT Meatheads programs will help you with. And you can get them all as a bonus when you get Ben Pakulski’s new muscle building program here this week.

(Just send your receipt to TurbulenceTrainingHelp@gmail.com and we’ll hook you up with all the bonus TT Meatheads programs.)

Now to that exercise tip…

I’ve been playing around with some techniques recently that will add a little ‘boo-yah’ to your workout so you’ll burn more calories and stimulate more muscle building. In fact, in 2 hours and 30 minutes, I’ll be using this technique when I go to do my squat workout.

Here’s what you’re going to do.

Oh, and big damaging confession/admission: “I stole this from bodybuilders…guys like Ben Pakulski, who I used to train beside down in the dungeon of System Fitness here in Toronto.”

So yes, this is a BB-technique added to TT. But you’ll thank him. Or you can thank me and I’ll thank him.

The tip is to maximize muscle tension.

There are several ways to do this.

First, in the squat, you’ll use a narrow stance with your feet directly under your hips. You can use this for both barbell and goblet squats. Push your hips back but maintain that narrow stance and you will dramatically increase the overload on your quadriceps while maintaining the overload on your glutes. You’re going to build a nice butt, boys and girls, while also burning more calories.

Control the descent, and then squeeze like heck on the way up. That’s the ticket. Squeeze like heck on the way up.

Now let’s use that squeeze like heck tip on all other exercises too. For pushups, squeeze your chest like heck on the way up. On dumbbell rows, squeeze like heck as you pull that dumbbell up. For bulgarian split squats, squeeze your quadriceps and butt as you drive up to the top position.

You can even use less weight – much less weight – than normal to achieve great results – when you squeeze like heck.

So dedicated your next training session to the “squeeze like heck” principle. It will totally change your TT workout, and you’ll know that your workout has been supercharged.

If you like this tip, you’re going to love the TT Meatheads training programs. And I’m giving these away when you get Ben’s program here.

But hurry, this special offer is only available this week.

And now here’s 4 bonus tips from Ben on how to build your arms:

3) ARMS REQUIRE A LOT OF STIMULUS ON A REGULAR BASIS

4) YOU MUST ENGAGE THE TARGET MUSCLE FIRST IN ANY MOVEMENT

Just send an email to TurbulenceTrainingHelp@gmail.com with your receipt for Ben’s program and we’ll send you the Eight TT Meatheads program as a free gift.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Certified Turbulence Trainer

Click here to listen to this week’s call

Or just read below for all of the details…

Monday

Transformation Tip of the Week:

The harsh reality is that most people do not want to see you succeed. People will try to hold you down. You must make an effort to hang around others who share your goals to lose weight, and so that you can leverage their knowledge, commitment, support, and success. It’s research proven that when you hang around others who succeed that you will also succeed.

Workout A – Turbulence Training Bodyweight Phase 5

Advanced Upper Body Strength & Lower Body Circuit Conditioning

1A) T-Squat (15 reps)
1B) Feet on Ball Pushup (12 reps)
2A) Chin-up (Max-1)
2B) Hands on Bench, Feet on Ball Pushup (15 reps)
3A) Pushups with Hands on Ball  (15 reps)
3B) 1-Leg Deadlift (12 reps)
4A) Inverted Row – Feet on Ball (12 reps)
4B) Spiderman Pushup (8 reps)
5A) Side Plank Leg Lift (10 reps)
5B) Split Squat with Front Foot Elevated (12 reps)
5C) Spiderman Climb (12 reps)
5D) Plank with Arms on Ball (30 seconds)

Tuesday
30 minutes of fun activity…and now for :

3 favorite muscle building tips from Vince Del Monte

1) Begin with 3 full body weight training workouts every 48-hours.

2) Take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 15 to determine your daily caloric intake if you want to gain weight.

3) Use a training journal and track your progress and have a training program. Never go to the gym without a plan.

Wednesday

Men’s Health (Dec 2009) says that an hour of lifting burns 500 calories as will 40 minutes of running…but of course, that depends on your fitness level.

I say…”Don’t get focused on calories burned…just focus on workout intensity and performance to sculpt your muscles and let your diet of whole, natural foods burn the belly fat.”

Workout B – TT Bodyweight Phase 5

1A) Prisoner Squat (10 reps)
1B) Prisoner Lunge (8 reps)
1C) Inverted Row (10 reps)
2A) Pull-up (Max-1)
2B) Elbow-to-Instep Lunge (8 reps) =>
3A) Hands on Ball, Feet on Bench Pushup (15 reps)
3B) 1-Leg RDL (10 reps)
4A) Shoulder Press Pushup (15 reps)
4B) Stability Ball 1-Leg Curl (10 reps)
5A) Jumping Jacks (60 reps)
5B) Chop (15 reps)
5C) Stability Ball Rollout (10 reps)
5D) Chin-up (6 reps)
Interval Workout B

Thursday
30 minutes of fun activity and now to clear the air about fish oil…

Last week’s message simply meant, “Do NOT mega-dose fish oil unless you are under the care of a physician.”

It did not mean, don’t ever use fish oil.

The American Heart Association “recommends those people with coronary artery disease (CAD), should consume about 1 gram (1000 mg) of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids daily, preferably from eating fish.”

But to get the recommended 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids, you would need to eat one to two servings of salmon, four to seven servings of cod, or four servings of shrimp per day – and a lot of the fish on the market is NOT quality fish.

In that case, you may choose to use a supplement…but in order to be conservative, talk to your doc first, especially if you have blood clotting issues or low blood pressure.

Friday

Workout C – TT Bodyweight Phase 5

1A) Y-Squat (10 reps)
1B) Cross Crawl (12 reps)
1C) Elevated Pushup (12 reps) =>
2A) Towel Row (Max-1)
2B) Rotate Lunge (10 reps)
3A) Chin-up (Max-1)
3B) Pushups with Hands on Ball  (15 reps)
4A) Spiderman Pushup (10 reps)
4B) Stability Ball Jackknife Rotation (8 reps)
5A) Siff Squat (25 reps)
5B) Multi-Direction Lunge (12 reps)
5C) Side Plank

Social Support Saturday!
Get 30 minutes of fun activity, and then…

“Figure yourself out; spend some time in introspection” – Frank McKinney.

That’s a brilliant idea for today…

…so take 10-15 minutes for yourself to write down where you’re headed for the rest of the year, and what plans you want you to accomplish in 2010 and then put in some action steps you need to follow to reach those goals.

Keep it simple and clear.

Answer these questions:

1) Is the life you’re living worth what you are giving up to have it?
2) Are you doing what you want in life?
3) Are you living the personal life that you want?
4) Are you doing enough of the little things that make you happy?
5) Are you spending enough time with the people that make you happy?
6) Are you making the best use of the limited time you have in your one lifetime?

Simple questions. Simple answers.
Make a simple plan.
Develop simple solutions.

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare
30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare for the week ahead…

Now for the TRUTH about fruit and fat loss…

Danish researchers reviewed all the fruit and weight loss studies they could find (Obesity Reviews, Volume 10 Issue 6, Pages 639 – 647)…

And studies showed:

- fruit intake reduced body weight
- fruit consumption reduced the risk of developing overweight and obesity
- an inverse association between fruit intake and body weight

Bottom line: Fruit does NOT make you fat.

Duh!

Alright, that’s it for this week, stay tuned for Bodyweight Bodybuilding, and:

Next week!
1) Another TT Workout dissected…
2) The 6th TT Transformation Contest ends – voting starts Dec 14th…
3) A nutrition tip on choosing the right number of calories for weight loss
4) Very Interestink Kettlebell Research!

Talk to you soon!

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

I’ve written so much about fat loss that a bunch of readers have emailed me to say, “Hey, what if I just want to gain some muscle?”

So,  today I wanted to share with you this skinny guy’s secrets to insane muscle gain.

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CRAIG BALLANTYNE: Vince, how do you convince guys that the high-volume, 5-day per week programs aren’t as good as the bodybuilding magazines make them out to be? What’s a better way to train for muscle building?

VINCE DEL MONTE: I will even go as far as to say that bodybuilding workouts tailor to wimps…

but first, there are 3 reasons I believe bodybuilding programs are ridiculous…

1. Bodybuilding has no transfer to reality.

Legs one day, back one day, chest one day, arms one day…why don’t we have another day allocated to face muscles and another day for just finger muscles?! You’ve probably heard the saying. “Form follows function.”

The way you train will determine the way you look, but it will also determine the way you perform and live life.

2. Total body workouts have a better hormonal response for muscle.

Science has shown that the more muscle one use during a training session, the greater the amount of testosterone and growth hormone that is released into your body.

These are the two MAJOR hormones responsible for building muscle mass.

Doing exercises like squats, presses, and rows is like shooting testosterone and HGH through a powerful fire hose into your body – burning fat while building muscle.

Bodypart taining just doesn’t do the same. So you get more bang for your buck with my type of training.

3. Bodybuilding workouts are too long and boring.

Bodybuilding programs usually prescribe 12-24 sets for ONE muscle group. That’s insane! Bodybuilding programs are like saying, “Go sprint a marathon!” It’s impossible.

If I’m doing 12-24 sets on one muscle group then I can only train at 60-70% of my one rep max. Do you think that’s actually intense?

No! Where are the gains coming from?

That’s why people can do these marathon body part workouts for up to 2 hours. And when you train longer then (about) 60 minutes, HGH and testosterone hormones drop and cortisol, a hormone that destroys muscle, begins to rise.

I will even go as far as to say that bodybuilding workouts tailor to wimps because the workouts are easy. How can a 60-90 minute workout be “intense” if you’re only working out at 70% of your one rep max?

For me, bodybuilding workouts are the equivalent of a walk in the park.

CRAIG BALLANTYNE: What are the best exercises for building muscle?

VINCE DEL MONTE: Multi-joint exercises that use the maximal amount of muscle to create the greatest hormonal response and that recruit the greatest amount of muscle fiber and that allow you to make consistent strength gains. This includes…

…..Deadlifts, squats, snatches, clean and presses, bent over rows, pull ups, and dips.

CRAIG BALLANTYNE: How would you structure a day of eating to gain muscle mass?

VINCE DEL MONTE: A number of things:

1. Any meals that would require me to eat on the road would already be in Tupperware containers from preparation the night before.

2. My first meal would be consumed within 15 minutes of waking up.

3. My stop watch will beep every 3 or 4 hours (by setting the countdown timer) to remind me that it’s time to eat again.

4. I would reach into my (big) lunch bag and eat the meal assigned on my “Healthy Mass Meal Plan” that day.

5. Before leaving for the day, I would note if I am low on any food so that I can stop at the market or grocery store to keep my fridge and cupboards stocked.

6. I would prepare all my food for the day before while making phone calls to friends with my head set on so I kill two birds with one stone and actually look forward to my meal prep.

Developing and executing these habits consistently took me about half a year before they actually became a lifestyle.

CRAIG BALLANTYNE: Very interesting tips. Do you have a female version of your program?

VINCE DEL MONTE: I do and it IS different than the male version. It was co-authored by Shannon Clark, one the top bodybuilding authors on the net.

We’ve called the program No Nonsense Female Bodyshaping, and she had a huge role in representing a few sections of a muscle building program that should be tailored for females.

That’s all for today.

To your fitness success!!

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

When I was at my strongest (310 bench, 225 for 14 reps at 190lbs), I benched twice per week. Heavy, low reps on Monday and 5×5 with 225 on Thursday (along with a lot of upper back and assistance work). That system worked AWESOME for me…BUT of course, it is rough on the shoulder. However, it was still my best bench program – total Meatheads style workout.

And that system should help any guy struggling to go from 275 to 300. I also used a lot of board pressing, often in place of regular flat bench.

Allowed me to use more weight with a reduced range of motion and built up strength that was assisted by the full ROM 5×5 later in the week. That was with a training partner. Whenever I trained by myself, I simply used my foam roller and stuck it under my shirt to simulate a 3-board press.

The key is to train smart. That’s a lot of benching, but I built up over time.

The 3rd and final tip is to simply plan your program. For me, there were 4 workouts per week. I started with the heavy bench workout plus lots of rowing and one more pressing exercise (either dumbbell chest press or shoulder press).

The second workout was dedicated to squats, followed by a day off. Then came the 5×5 bench day, along with more upper back exercises, along with triceps extensions. And finally, I finished the week with deadlifts and abs.

That program was a good example of training smarter. I wasn’t doing 5 sets of chest once per week and wondering why my bench press was not increasing.

Here’s how you can use “smarter training” for results:

Look at your body like a science experiment. Add a stimulus. Measure response. Adjust as needed. One variable at a time when possible. Find out what is working. Don’t just “do more for the sake of doing more”.

Blend persistence with experimentation. Stay with your goal but don’t beat your head against a stone wall. Try new approaches. Experiment. And never, ever, EVER give up on something that is important to you.

That’s how you increase your bench press to over 300 pounds.

…and that is, “You are making the WRONG choice!”

Brother, you need muscle.

In fact, in my infamous “abs photo” online (including the one recently STOLEN by GQ magazine – April 2010, page 66), I weigh180 pounds at 5’9″. And I still look small!

So listen, the #1 rule for men is this:

When in doubt, a guy should focus on BUILDING muscle, not losing fat.

(Believe me, he’s “marrying up” BIG time!)

I’m talking about my friend and mentor, Jason Ferruggia. Yes, the original Renegade trainer, who I fly down to Jersey twice a year to learn from, is getting married to the wonderful Jen Grasso.

And Jay is celebrating with a sale on his Triple Threat Muscle program here.

She’s a sweetheart, a great cook, and can do 10 chinups and can squat 135 pounds.  Yet I guarantee you the last thing you’d ever call her is, “bulky”. She’s proof that weight training doesn’t cause women to bulk up.

Jen’s going to have her own blog soon showing women what they can do with good nutrition and training, but in the meantime, I have a NEW interview with Jason Ferruggia about the hottest workout and diet tips coming out of his gym these days.

CB: Jay, what’s new in the workouts you are giving folks down at the Renegade Gym in Jersey?

Jay:
Well, since I am almost unhealthily obsessed with strength training I am always trying to improve upon our systems and find better ways to get faster results. What’s weird is that often times the programs that will elicit the  fastest results are not the programs that make people happiest.

What I mean by that is that if someone comes to me and says they want to get bigger and stronger, the program automatically has to be low volume, has to consist of a limited number of exercises and probably won’t be exhausting in the least.

In other words it will be the complete opposite of something like CrossFit or a typical bootcamp style workout that is so in vogue these days.

A lot of people can’t mentally accept that.

They have been brainwashed into thinking that all workouts must be as tough as going five rounds with Georges St. Pierre.

Conditioning workouts should be, but size, strength and power workouts should not be.

So when you own a gym and are working with the general public on a daily basis you have to take all these things into account and write productive workouts while still making them fun.

What’s fun for me might be very boring for the average guy because he wants to do what he sees Tito Ortiz doing on YouTube. So I try to always stick with what I know will get results while adding a tiny bit of entertainment value in here and there to keep people that aren’t as into training as I am interested.

Some of the things I have been experimenting with lately are an upper/lower/full body split on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. It’s been years since I had tried that so I wanted to go back and play with it a bit. I like it a lot.

Monday will be maximal strength upper body work and Wednesday will be maximal strength lower body work. Both days include barbell lifts and some lower rep assistance work.

The Friday workout is predominantly upper body based but does include some lower body work that doesn’t stress the knee or the spine. So glute hams, back extensions, swings, glute bridges, sled, prowler, farmers walks, stuff like that.

There are typically no barbell lifts on this day; just bodyweight, dumbbell and strongman. And most of the stuff is in a bit of a higher rep range.

We’ve gotten great results with this split and it nicely blends the best of both worlds.

The other thing I have been experimenting with is using percentages more frequently for some of the big lifts. Typically, in the past I would pick a number and have the guys work up to one maximal set of eight or five or three or whatever.

When working with large groups, percentages definitely make things easier and keep the workouts moving a lot faster and more smoothly.

It also helps guys to not pick a weight that is too heavy; which is often a problem when I am trying to oversee everyone at once and can’t always watch each and every set.

However, percentage based workouts are a long term plan based on improving certain lifts. While this type of thing definitely works very well, I’m not a big fan of having guys constantly do the exact same lifts over and over for months on end. And more so with the upper body than the lower body.

You can’t beat squats so they could stay in the program forever. But I really don’t want guys benching fifty two weeks a year. Or doing any form of pressing for that matter. Simply because it’s not good for your shoulders.

I just like to get guys strong overall and have them moving heavy weights on a regular basis, but I prefer to rotate the upper body lifts to keep the shoulders healthy and avoid overuse injuries.

So when we finish up this current percentage based program I will go back to rotating the maximal strength work for the upper body where we just work up to a max for the day of somewhere between one and five (or even as high as 8-10 on occasion) reps.

For the squats, we may stick with the percentages, though. I haven’t decided just yet.

CB: Nice. Now I read on your blog that you are now a self-confessed health nut. So what’s new in healthy choices in your life?

Jay:
Man, I am so obsessed with being super healthy these days. More so than ever before. I completely stopped using a microwave. The last few years I barely used it at all but now it’s gone completely. I got rid of all plastic and Tupperware food containers. I only eat or drink out of glass or stainless steel containers.

I threw out any soaps or lotions or sunscreens I had that weren’t 100% natural and organic. I even put a shower filter on my shower head. I figured, why have one to drink out of and then go shower in that polluted water, which also gets into your system. That might seem a little obsessive to some people but I’m not taking any risks anymore.

Even though I have always recommended that people get to bed by 10:30 I was never really able to do it myself. I have always had trouble getting to bed on time because I’m usually up reading about training and nutrition. And sleeping well has always been a challenge for me.

But the last few months I have ritualistically forced myself to be in bed by 10:30 every single night. Making smarter food choices at night and cutting off my food intake earlier has helped as well.

I also make sure I get my twenty minutes of sun each day, without sunscreen, for optimal Vitamin D production. And if I want to go swimming I try to avoid harmful, chlorinated pools and opt instead for oceans or lakes.

Because I know how dangerous excessive cortisol production can be I have even been more relaxed and on cruise control than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still intense and a little wacked, but I’m working on it.

Jen and I have been consciously trying to eliminate any complaining we may do; no matter how trivial the complaints may be. We’re even thinking of doing a thing where if one of us complains about something we have to put money in a jar or something.

Now we just cut each other off, like if I were to say, “I can’t believe my entire website just crashed,” and then start getting all ticked off and cursing about it, her job is to cut me off, tell me she doesn’t want to hear it and tell me to get it fixed as soon as possible and move on.

We’ve been working on that system, keeping each other and check and trying to always remain positive and never focus on the negative. It may seem silly or trite but I believe it’s important.

CB: Very nice. Jen is awesome. She’s been a great influence on you. Let’s finish by having you tell us what’s new in your diet?

Jay:
Diet wise I have completely eliminated all fake foods and am really cutting down on grains of all kinds. Many grains cause inflammation and digestive problems so I have been limiting my consumption of them and have definitely experienced improved digestion and recovery from training.

We used to have cheat meals on the weekends where we would eat some
vegetarian meatballs or burgers or ribs, but I can no longer bring myself to put anything fake or processed in my mouth. I only eat food that is 100% natural and organic.

We got a guide to all of the farmers markets in the state and are constantly visiting one of them every few days. Instead of doing a huge shopping load for the week I like to go more frequently and get only the freshest foods.

I’ve been reading and studying a ton about nutrition lately and really believe that eating only natural foods is of critical importance.

I have also consciously bumped up my saturated fat intake through the consumption of a lot more coconut oil on a daily basis and have noticed symptoms of improved testosterone levels.

And I’m sure Jen would agree

As far as cooking and recipes go we have been on a big raw foods kick, making a lot of wacky, unusual recipes that are all 100% raw.

Some of this stuff is quite time consuming to make but the taste is amazing. Unfortunately, I can’t really share any of the recipes since Jen makes most of them. I’m just lucky enough to get to eat them. But we’ll definitely try to post some in the near future.

***************************

Thanks Jay.

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Here are my thoughts…

1) It really depends on…

- why are you sore from yesteday’s workout
- what type of workout are you doing today
- what is your training goal

2) If someone’s goal is simply fat loss, they should be able to do some other activity to burn calories and sculpt their body without putting too much tension on the sore muscles.

3) If the muscles are extremely sore, there is no reason to exercise them again. Soreness means there is damage, and you put more stress on them, you will end up altering your form and that could injure a different muscle group.

And that final point might be the most important…

If you are quite sore, you will compensate and change your form to avoid working the sore muscles, and that will put a new stress on possibly unprepared muscles, and you could hurt yourself.

4) Light activity for sore muscles has been shown to increase the rate of recovery…but very light…loads of less than 10%. I would suggest gentle stretching for sore muscle groups and focus on the non sore muscle groups for the workout part.

5) A day off is not going to make anyone overweight. A day off is not going to cause someone to lose their fitness. A day off from hard training and replacement with stretching and a few different exercises will help people stay active and overcome that “mental fear of missing a workout”.

But really, its all common sense. Why do you really need to work a muscle group that is sore? Is it for a training effect or is it obsessive compulsive exercise addiction?