Woof Woof!

Bally the Dog here, and since my Human is away on holiday, I thought I’d email you with 3 fitness tips to help you lose fat.

After all, I finally figured out how to use the “Human’s” computer, but if you see any spelling mistakes, please furgive me, but my big paws aren’t meant for these small computerz.

Oh, and if you’re a cat, please stop reading. Because I don’t like you and I will chase you down if I find out you are reading this.

Okay, woof woof?

Good.

Here we go…

Tip #1 – Get your exercise in the morning

After my morning walk, I usually get a rawhide treat, and then I just lie on the ground waiting for my next walk. And while I do that, I get to listen to my Human do fitness interviews for magazines and radio stations…

…and he keeps on saying:

“It doesn’t matter when you exercise for fat loss, all that matters is that you are consistent. And when you exercise first thing in the morning, that means you will be more consistent. And being consistent is one of the most important things in your fat loss program.”

Woof, woof, maybe that’s why I get a long walk and some sprints  first thing in the morning? Bark bark!

That is probably why the vet once said to my human, “Wow, your dog has six pack abs!”

Woof woof!

So if you are struggling to be consistent, get up a little earlier and do your workout before life/work/family gets in the way and stops you from getting your workout.

Woof.

Tip #2 – Eat 3 medium sized meals and some very healthy snacks

Since I’m a dog, I’ll eat just about anything. And that is good news, because that means I love to snack on apples, blueberries, broccoli, red peppers, and bananas.

Woof, I probably eat more fruits and vegetables than most humans, not including my Human. He eats a lot of fruits and vegetables every day, even while traveling.

And he has six pack abs too. Woof, woof, woof.

Tip #3 – Stay active on your off days with fun & playful activity

Even though I’m almost 5 human years old, I still get anxious when my Human leaves me alone at home and goes to the gym.

Woof, woof, woof! Bark, bark, bark! Whine. Bark Bark! WOOF!

I am sure am glad that he only goes 3-4 times per week, instead of 6-7 times per week like some folks.

On his days off, we go to the beach and parks and have fun. No long, slow, boring cardio for him. I won’t allow it.

Grrrrrrrrr. That’s what I say to cardio machines. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I’d rather chase squirrels any day than get on a treadmill or one of those silly elliptical machines.

So bottom line:

1) Do short, burst workouts CONSISTENTLY.

2) Eat 3 mid-size meals and lots of whole, natural food snacks in between meals.

3) Train 3-4 times per week and stay active on your off-days.

Woof.

It’s that simple.

Let me know what you think.

Bark Bark!

Your favorite doggy,

Bally the Dog
Guard Dog, Turbulence Training

PS – If you thought this was stupid…

…let me make it up to you by recommending this $1 trial of Turbulence Training.

Here are my top 11 inspirational tips to help motivate you to stick to your fat loss plan and transform your body & life forever.

11. Never Give Up

If you fall off the wagon, cut your losses. Don’t let it weigh on your mind and hold you back because it’s only minor damage that can be dealt with. The important thing is to get back on track, immediately. Never, ever, EVER give up. I believe in you.

10.Don’t Procrastinate

Do it now. Whether you’re thinking of cleaning out the pantry or finally starting to exercise, STOP procrastinating and DO IT now!

9. Identify Exactly What It Is You Want…

…then don’t let anything stand in your way of getting it. By setting specific goals along with deadlines you are providing yourself with a measuring stick.

8. Do Your Best With Everything You Have Control Over

Most people fail to control themselves, and end up only with regrets. We trade minutes of pleasure (i.e. fast food) for days, weeks, months, and years of regret.

Remember that the pleasure of eating lasts for only minutes, but you inhabit your body 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for life.

Rather than trying to “out-cardio” your bad diet, you must PLAN ahead to overcome obstacles. Otherwise, you’ll never succeed.

7. Replace Bad Habits

Everyday you will be tempted to fall back on old bad habits. To make a lasting change in your health and appearance you must do everything you can to resist that. Try adding a new healthy habit each day to replace an old unhealthy habit.

6. Be Consistent With Baby Steps

The best approach is to build your life one positive step at a time and the way to do this is by taking baby steps to improvement each and every single day. Be a little better than yesterday.

5. Test

There are no failures, only good and bad tests.

You should always be trying something new, monitoring your body’s response, and deciding whether or not that food or exercise belongs in your “tool box”. Do everything you can to learn more about your body. The more you know, the faster your success will be.

4. Social Support & Role Modeling

You can’t soar with eagles if you’re hanging around turkeys.

By hanging around others who want to lose weight, you can leverage their knowledge, commitment, support, and success to push yourself harder than you otherwise would be able to.

3. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

People will do almost anything to stay in their comfort zones.

If you want to accomplish anything, get out of your comfort zone and strive to increase order and discipline in your life.

Discipline means doing the opposite of what you feel like doing. Setting goals and deadlines are the easy roads to discipline.

2. Plan

Planning is the ultimate key to fat loss success.

With a weekly plan of meals and workouts in place, you will be much less likely to hit a road bump that takes you down the wrong path. Try setting aside one day a week to map out your weekly itinerary and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your body transforms itself.

1. Realize YOU Are In Charge of Your Success

Og Mandino once said, “I shall shape my future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me. Or I can be lost in the maze. My choice. My responsibility. Win or lose; only I hold the key to my destiny.”

Translation - Everyone can succeed and reach their goals. It’s a just a matter of how badly you want it.

I know you want it. And I know you can do it. And I’m really looking forward to your success.

In my next expert interview series, Scott Cobly, the Texan owner and manager of SC Fitness, asked me some popular fat loss questions his clients were having, and so I am going to reveal a few tips that I know will drastically help speed up your results.

Colby, a University of Virginia Master’s degree holder, specializing in Biomechanics, currently conducts research in the Movement Science Laboratory at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children

Okay, let’s dive in…

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Scott Colby: Hello, everybody. My name is Scott Colby, and you’re in for a real treat. We’ve got a special guest, Craig Ballantyne.

He is the creator of Turbulence Training, as well as his new Turbulence Training Home Abdominal Workout DVDs. We’ll mention a little about those later.

I titled this HOW TO GET A FLAT STOMACH and SIX PACK ABS just because Craig did just come out with these DVDs. These are really the types of questions that Craig and I get the most, how to lose belly fat, how to get six pack abs, how to firm your lower abdominal section. So, we’re going to answer as many of those questions as we can on.

As I said at the beginning, Craig has just released his Turbulence Training Home Abdominal Workouts on DVD. I actually have been going through some of these workouts myself. I just finished one of his intermediate workouts and it worked up a great sweat, so I can share with you MY experience with his workouts.

He’s gotten some great results with a lot of his online coaching clients.

Craig Ballantyne: Thanks, Scott.

Scott Colby: I appreciate you being here. We got a lot of questions that have come in, so let’s get started.

The FIRST QUESTION came from Adel in Egypt, Cairo. Adel said,

“I can’t overcome the belly fat although I’m doing the suitable nutrition and working out from two to three times weekly.”

So, that’s not much information, Craig, but maybe you can kind of share some of your nutrition and workout philosophy to help Adel out.

Craig Ballantyne: Sure. The number one thing is we have to be very honest with ourselves as to what we’re really doing, how great the nutrition is and how effective our workouts are.

Let’s talk about the workouts first, because that’s what I’m known for the most. We want to do what I call SHORT BURST workout. Three workouts per week, STRUCTURED workouts, that’s very important.

So, with your structured workouts you’re going in and you know what you’re doing.

That’s very important, because a lot of people make the mistake of not having a workout when they go into the gym or even when they go into their basement or wherever they’re working out and that’s where the trouble starts because they just don’t have enough to go with. So, that’s a big thing.

AGAIN, short burst workouts and not long slow cardio workouts…

… We’re talking about body sculpting resistance training and fat burning interval training.

I talk about that quite a bit in my articles, because I’m always looking at the LATEST RESEARCH on short burst interval training and different ways you can do it without any equipment.

So, the most important thing is to get those three structured workouts in.

Then we want to also make sure that we’re staying ACTIVE on our off days. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to go and do cardio, it simply means you have to keep yourself off the couch.

If you’re staying active for 30 minutes to an hour per day, that’s 30 minutes to an hour you’re not going to be snacking.

To be honest with you, that’s one of the HIDDEN BUT IMPORTANT components of the off day activity. In addition to health and mobility, it helps you keep your hand out of the cookie jar, which is often a big problem for people at night.

So, if you work all day and you come home and you want to sit down on the couch for a couple hours I understand the draw, but I also want you guys to be aware of the problem that you run into.

So, just 30 minutes of activity, whether it’s yoga or walking with a friend, it’s very important, again to keep you out of trouble with the nutrition aspect.

That’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to do three structured total body workouts and those are going to increase your lean mass metabolism. 

Those are really the only things that can INCREASE your metabolism is increasing your lean mass. It’s nice to say that eating a lot of protein is going to significantly increase your metabolism, but I don’t really think it’s going to make a huge difference, so that type of stuff is important.

Also, pushing yourself with the right intensity in the workouts is also very important. Make sure that you’re not just staying within your comfort zone.

So, it’s important that you’re doing something that’s going to push you all the time. That’s the other component of the workouts.

I’ll share with you my simple nutrition plan that includes REAL foods that will help out when working towards you’re a leaner and Tone body in part 2.

By now you should be familiar with my journey and the story behind Turbulence Training. For those of you who are not stopover to part 2 to discover why my method produces fat burning results.

Seeking an activity that you enjoy will help you to stay motivated with our weight loss program. So, no matter what level you are you can shrink your fat away.

Let’s find out how to get there…

Q: If someone were to say, “Craig, if I started Turbulence Training today, how much weight can I lose on this system and in how much time?” What’s a realistic mindset that someone should have going into this in terms of results?

Craig: Clearly, it depends on where the person is, but we’re going to look at one percent body fat every two weeks. So, if someone is 10 percent and wants to get to eight percent, that’s going to take them four weeks.

In addition, someone who has more body fat to lose, we’ve had people in our transformation contests lose up to 34 pounds in 12 weeks.

Most guys come in at about 20 pounds in 12 weeks in the contest, and women about 12 to 15 pounds in the contest. That’s weight loss total and then obviously they’re losing more fat and maintaining their lean mass.

Those are certainly not Biggest Loser type results, but those are real world, “I’m not training eight hours per day on TV,” type results. So, they’re very significant and incredible transformations. If people get a chance to see our transformation contest winners you’ll be very impressed.

Q: Now, is this for someone who is kind of in shape, and they’ve been working out a little already? Or is it for the beginner? Can it work for just about anybody?

Craig: We have everything built in to take someone from beginner to the advanced workouts.  Of course, if someone is more advanced, as 53 percent indicated they are in a recent survey we performed, they just want to lose 10 percent. So, they’re going to start right in our advanced programs.

We have dozens and dozens of advanced follow-up programs that people can use to continue that variety. But, again, we have the beginner programs built off clients I had that were 310 pounds.

Q: Then if someone is sitting there saying, “You know what? I’ve tried other things. Why would Turbulence Training work for me when I’ve tried all these programs, and they really haven’t worked for me?” How do you address that?

Craig: Again, it comes down to that INTENSITY and, CHANGE and VARIETY that we have built into the program. We are the ORIGINAL at doing this, and we have the kind of SECRET SAUCE.

People may have copied the program, they may have tried something similar, but it comes down to the research that we’ve done, the experience that we have that people just can’t copy that type of stuff.

So, we’ve seen everything that exactly works, and we’ve modified the program for when it hasn’t worked as well.We have a variety within the workouts, so you’re NOT doing the same thing all the time. The intensity of the workouts, that’s where most people are struggling with results in their program right now. They’re probably not getting the results because they don’t have the right intensity.

Then changing the program every four weeks in beginners, and we change the program sometimes even three weeks for more advanced people. You would change the program because people will get MORE RESULTS when that happens.

Q: Right. So, I guess the take home at the end of the day is if you just do it, you’ll see the results, but if you don’t do it, it will be just like everything else.

Craig: Yes. That comes back to the very first thing that we talked about…

Make sure that you find something that you LIKE.

If you enjoy getting things done very quickly, if you enjoy a nice little workout sweat at home, you’re going to enjoy this, and you’re going to get great results and it’s going to be so much better than spending any time on a treadmill reading a magazine.

Q: As we’re coming short on time here we just want to wrap this thing up. What would you say is the most important thing that a listener can do right now?

By that I mean if there’s someone listening on the call and he or she is saying, “Craig, here are the facts. I’m overweight; I’m struggling to lose it. I’ve tried a few things, I just want results.” Right when they get off the phone. What would you suggest to be the first thing they do that can get them immediate results or at least get them pointed in the right direction to start getting the body that they desire?

Craig: Absolutely start with your nutrition.…

Start changing baby steps first, being better tomorrow than you were today. Try to eat more FRUITS and VEGETABLES every day. Add one serving every couple of days to build that up. There’s absolutely nothing better that you can do for yourself than to start with a better nutrition program immediately.

Q: Would you request any resources that people might be able to look into or read up on with regards to nutrition?

Craig: Yes. The stuff from Chris Mohr and Isabel are really important. I have a podcast on iTunes, so you can definitely listen to the podcast. I have interviews there with nutrition people. My Facebook page, check me out on Facebook, we talk about nutrition there all the time.

But, just to have it all set out for you is the kind of resources that you get with Turbulence Training from Isabel and Dr. Mohr’s nutrition reports. They’ll just show you exactly, you don’t have to go searching around.

Q: Craig, do you have any other tips before we finish?

Craig: Just make this something that you’re going to love doing. Really look forward to it. Just start slowly, don’t go overboard on the exercise at first, because you’ll end up sore.

At the start…

…NUTRITION is going to give you the MOST RESULTS, so really focus on that and make it an enjoyable part of your life. Be active, get back into some activities that you did when you were younger. Again, with Turbulence Training you’re not going to the gym six days per week, but we do want you to stay active on off days.

Have some fun. Go back to dancing or softball, anything that gets you out and active again. Also, just look to find people who are also going for the same type of results, who are positive people, who are going to build you up and not bring you down. Just those three things are going to make your life better in general, not to mention how you’re going to change your body with the nutrition and exercise.

Hey folks! Last day I answered one of the most popular questions women have when it comes to working out. These 3 simple tips I gave out will apply to anyone, but women in particular tend to stress about it more so than men.  So, if you missed it then head back to part 1.

Today, I want to take a look at the history behind Turbulence Training – how I came up with the name, for whom it was initially created for, and how TT’s unique concept can help you burn fat fast. So stick around to find out these answers and more….

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Q: Okay, let’s talk about Turbulence Training. You are the creator of this phenomenal fat loss program called Turbulence Training. First off, why is it called Turbulence Training, what does that mean and what does the name have to do with how you train?

Craig: We use it as an analogy of being in an airplane….

An airplane going through turbulence requires more energy to get back into normal flight patterns. So, with the workouts what we’re doing is putting turbulence on the body by INCREASING the intensity of the training in comparison to what most people do on a regular basis.

After training you will burn MORE energy during recovery to repair from those workouts. So, the people that get the most results with my program are those who are at a plateau with stubborn fat, not getting results, and have been using the same kind of moderate or low intensity workout for a long time. When they switch over, that’s when they get really FAST RESULTS.

Q: It will blast them right through the plateaus there.

Craig: Yes.

Q: Now, why specifically did you create Turbulence Training, despite everything else that’s out there and all the different methods? Why specifically did you create it and who did you create it for?

Craig: Well, I created it a long time ago, so a lot of people kind of copied Turbulence Training over the years. There really was a hole in the marketplace for this type of workout back when I started putting it together.

Really, it was a culmination of experience and scientific research that I was doing as a graduate student. So, I was studying interval training, I was studying short burst resistance training, and also using those methods with ATHLETES and clients in the gym.

So, it was a culmination of all that and again, going to my time as a graduate student when I was working 12 to 16 hours per day and there wasn’t a lot of time for me to continue my previous leisurely lifestyle as a University student training 90 minutes…

I had to take that information and apply it.

That was the first time I did it, and then I started doing stuff for Men’s Health Magazine and many other magazines and we started getting the requests in for short workouts.

Over time, it evolved a little to have even more bodyweight exercises because a lot of people were asking for exercises they could do WITHOUT any equipment at home, while they travel, etcetera.

Q: Right. That’s actually the next question. You mention that a lot of the workouts can be done using bodyweight exercise, so is Turbulence training something that can be done from home or does someone actually need to go out and get a gym membership and use heavy equipment?

Craig: Even when it was built the first time it was built for people working out at home JUST with a set of dumbbells, an exercise ball, and a bench.

Obviously, as you move to even more bodyweight exercises and no equipment, then you can clearly do it anywhere, anytime – That was the GOAL.  You can even do most of the workouts in a hotel room without a single piece of additional equipment.  The only problem is when you’re getting into bodyweight exercises the TOUGH place to train is your back and your upper back.

If you don’t have a pull up bar or chin up bar and dumbbells, there’s almost nothing you can do for those. So, you do have to MAKE SURE you have some access to something, whether it’s cable row, even resistance bands are okay, I’m not a big fan of them, or dumbbells, or some type of bar….

Q: Now, you touched upon a bunch of things so far. You talked about nutrition being a key point, and I guess a combination of short burst workouts, which is resistance with some interval. What exactly is Turbulence Training then as a program?
Do you talk about diet, is it a workout routine? What are the specifics that you include in the program?

Craig: We keep nutrition very SIMPLE…We have a nutrition program from Dr. Chris Mohr, who is also very straightforward, nothing crazy, nothing extreme, and a very simple whole natural food approach. They get that.

They also get a more ADVANCED nutrition program from my friend Isabel De Los Rios; she is a little more holistic. When I say that, it’s a real emphasis on the ORGANIC stuff. Chris recommends it; she’s almost militant about it. So, those are the two nutrition aspects you get with Turbulence Training.

Then you get the workouts, and our online forum and social support.

Q: How important would you say that social element or that community of like-minded people is to the overall program?

Craig: It’s VERY important …

… because if you don’t do anything you can have all the great information. A lot of people don’t do anything because they don’t have the social support. So, it is the CATALYST. In some ways, you could say it’s the most important thing, because without it people wouldn’t do any of the other things.

Q: I’m sure you’ve heard every excuse why someone can’t or doesn’t want to workout. The person who is saying, “I just have a really busy schedule. I don’t know how to schedule this workout program in to my life. ” How long is Turbulence Training? How often is someone doing one of the workout programs? For how long does the actual program last?

Craig: The workouts originally were designed for three times per week for 45 minutes. Now, of course those can be broken up if someone wants to go every day for 20 minutes. So, that’s another option there and there’s no real difference in results.

In addition to that, they’re going to start with the 12-week program we put together, and then we have more advanced programs along from that. What we tell people, again, is just to stay active on off days.

You DON’T have to go to the gym every day. I can’t believe the number of people that still email me and say they’re going six days per week for 90 minutes.

Even if you’re only able to do half of the Turbulence Training workout you’re going to get a lot of results, because nutrition when it comes to fat loss is the most important thing. You have to make sure that your nutrition is good.

If you do that you can get away with very little exercise in terms of fat loss. It just doesn’t take as much exercise as people think. We certainly INSIST upon two strength training sessions per week AND two interval training sessions per week just for general fitness health and bone mass and strength, all that type of stuff, because you need to get that much TRAINING in your life.

Q: I guess when you’re talking about that, we’re not just talking about fat loss per say, but just overall general health. That’s what the nutrition and the exercise will do for you.

Craig: Yes, absolutely.

If you want to be taking care of yourself at age 85 and not requiring someone to lift you up out of every chair, then you need to do some type of training twice a week.

So, by now you’re getting the idea. You’ve got the master plan so let’s jump forward to part 3 where we share a few more guidelines on how it all comes together.