In this week’s fat loss guide, you’ll get 10 interval training workouts from TT readers…plus a kettlebell workout,  some fat loss motivation, and the truth about measuring your body fat.

But first, a fat loss reality:

Everything you do either takes you closer to or further from your goals. Just remember that in everything you do this week.  I first heard this from Alwyn Cosgrove, and it’s so simple, yet so true.

Click here to listen to the call…

And now, our fat loss tips.

Monday – March 15th

Transformation Tip of the Week:
Everything we do has consequences…if we eat that pizza…if we decide to skip a workout…as my friend Simon Black said to me…”Bear in mind the single universal law of causality… there will be consequences from your actions, and you must be prepared to accept them.”

INTERVAL TRAINING

What have I been doing?

1) Adrenaline sprints – see the TT Adrenaline program for more details
2) Kettlebells – I just bought a 44lb, so now I have a 35, 44, 53, and 70
3) Treadmill intervals – Last workout was 6 intervals at 10.8mph (60s with 60s rest)

And now here are 10 of your favorite interval training workouts as posted on the TT Facebook Fanpage.

1. Sprints on the treadmill. 5 mins at 1min on 1min off.. 9.8 for the sprint then 3.8 for the rest
2. Bodyweight cardio TT style
3. 20-yard shuttles… throw five of them back-to-back for 100 yard total.
4. 30 on 30 off doing kettlebell swings, and tabata training for 4 minute rounds with the kettlebell or any other chosen exercise
5. Burpee pyramid.
6. 5-meter Interval shuttle runs
7. Stadiums- simple and effective. Motivating to see how many sections in front of me and how many I’ve completed
8. Prowler sled
9. We live on a hill, at the bottom of a dead-end. At least once a week we’ll do a dozen or so 50 yard uphill sprints. If I’m feeling frisky I’ll do Litvinov intervals: 30 heavy kettlebell swings, then the uphill sprint. You won’t see a dozen Litvinov’s however.
10. 1/4 mile sprints….90 seconds off in between.

Tuesday
Get 30 minutes of fun activity – now grab a Green Tea and let’s do this week’s research review

Reference:
Obes Res Clin Pract. 3(4):209, 2009. Assessing Body Fat Changes during Moderate Weight Loss with Anthropometry and Bioelectrical Impedance.

Researchers from Vanderbilt U studied the best way to measure body fat, including testing Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA). If you have a body fat scale at home, it uses BIA…and this study is bad news for that scale.

• Fat mass changes were assessed in 34 overweight adults (24 females, 10 males) after a 12-week supervised weight loss induced by caloric restriction (-30% of requirement) using BIA and DXA.
• Diet intervention resulted in a significant decrease in body weight (- 7.86 +/- 2.87 kg), body mass index (BMI – 2.69 +/- 0.98 kg/m(2)), total body fat (- 5.22 +/- 2.32 kg), truncal fat (- 2.80 +/- 1.94 kg) and waist circumference (- 5.52 +/- 3.57 cm).
• Compared to DXA, BIA underestimated total body fat changes in males (- 8.8 kg, p<0.001) and overestimated total body fat changes in females (+ 2.1 kg, p< 0.001).
• Body mass index, body weight, and waist circumference provide simple and more accurate than BIA estimates of relative changes in total and truncal fat during moderate weight loss in adults.

You’ll notice the diet caused a lot of lean body mass loss, since there was no resistance training.

Bottom line:
The body fat analyzers you use at home are inaccurate. Wildly inaccurate.

Wednesday

First tip: Here’s how to double the number of bodyweight exercise you know:

For many exercises, including legs, pushing and pulling exercises, you can play around with the 1&1/2 rep style – lowering to the bottom position, coming halfway back up, and then lowering again, and then coming all the way back up.) It makes any exercise harder.

Second tip: Some new exercise substitutions

What can you use to replace the deadlift?

Answer:
The only direct replacement is a dumbbell squat.

Otherwise, just replace with any lower body exercise paired with a row.

For example, do a barbell lunge and DB row.

Or pair a Stability Ball Leg Curl + DB Row.

Q: What exercises can I use to replace lunges if I have knee soreness?

Answer:
First, see a doctor and have them diagnose the problem. Second, see a therapist and have them treat the issue. Third, see a trainer and have them assess where you need to work on flexibility and how you can include some “knee-friendly” exercises in your workout program.

These exercises include:
Lying Hip Extensions (also known as Lying Hip Bridges)
Single-leg Hip Extensions (Used in the TT Bodyweight 4-week program)
Lying Hip Extensions with your feet on the ball
Lying Stability Ball Leg Curls (Used in the TT for Fat Loss program)

And remember, always talk to your doctor about the best possible exercise selection to help reduce your knee pain.

Thursday
Do 30 minutes of fun activity and then understand that the basics are what work the best…

You see, everyday I get so many weird/extreme/complex/technical fat loss questions…and the thing is, I don’t know anything about what you just asked me, but I just don’t see how it would change what you need to do.

To lose fat, you must:
Eat fewer calories than you need, avoid processed foods, do intervals, and resistance training.

That’s pretty much it. What could possibly change?

Friday

Here’s a list of kettlebell exercises I did last Saturday…

35lb 2-Hand Swing
35lb 1-Hand Swing
35lb 1-Hand Snatch
35lb 1-Hand C&P
53lb 2-Hand Swing
53lb 1-Hand Swing
53lb 1-Hand Snatch
53lb 1-Hand C&P

Click here for more info on Kettlebell Workouts

Social Support Saturday!
30 minutes of fun activity…

Research show that for 75% of people their biggest regrets in life are the things they didn’t do in life…not the things they did.

So…”Go to the effort. Invest the time. Write the letter. Make the apology. Take the trip. Purchase the gift. Do it. The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret.”
Max Lucado

Sunday
Plan, Shop & Prepare and do 30 minutes activity.

Earlier this week I wrote about whole grains and fat loss and I’ve found some gluten free, wheat free noodles…the brand is “King Soba” and the ingredients are:

1) brown rice + millet

2) brown rice + Wakame (a sea vegetable)

But I still think that all whole-grains are decent, as long as they are high fiber.

According to research from Penn State University, replacing processed carbs with whole grains will help you lose belly fat (probably by lowering insulin levels – insulin is a hormone that stores fat).

For most people, they simply need to worry about losing body fat and getting under 20 or 25% fat. So eating more whole grains will help.

Next week!
TT Workout – TT 2K10
Weekly Research Review – Hormone & Resistance Training Study
Nutrition – How to avoid night-time binges

When I first started doing interval training workouts back in 1995, I was running in circles. Literally. Using the track.

Of course, intervals weren’t new back then, my professors at University – Drs. Sale and MacDougall – had written about the importance of sport-specific interval training all the way back when Reagan was a president (in the early 80’s for those of you missing that cultural reference).

In fact, back then, they were already talking about at least one of the interval training workouts that I’m about to call “new”. So sit back, and check out how interval training will be done in 2K10.

First, thanks to the short attention spans we’ve developed, folks are already getting bored of interval training – even though it’s much less boring than cardio. So there is a pent-up demand for new, faster ways to do intervals rather than just alternating fast and slow on the treadmill or bike.

NOTE: A lot of these workouts fall under the category of “metabolic resistance training”, rather that cardio-like interval training, and that’s fine…its really a continuum that encompasses “getting a lot of high-intensity work done in a short amount of time“. And that’s good enough for the girls I date.

Unique Interval Training Method #1 – Sprints plus Abs

In this workout, you’re going to go through a lil’ mini-interval circuit:

- Start with a sprint (could be on a treadmill, bike, or outside, or with kettlebells, etc.)

- After the sprint interval is done, go immediately to an ab exercise for 30-45 seconds (could be a plank, side plank, rollout, etc.)

- Rest. Repeat up to 6 times.

I got this idea from a discussion I had with ab and low back expert, Dr. Stuart McGill.

Unique Interval Method #2 – Big 6 Bodyweight Circuits

In 2008 I told everyone about the Big 5 bodyweight circuits, but it’s since been upgraded to the Big 6, and now the order goes:

1) Jumps
2) Squat
3) Push
4) Pull
5) Single-Leg
6) Total body ab

That’s an easy way for a trainer or even moderately-experienced person to put together a unique bodyweight circuit. By adding the jumps, you get closer to the heart-pounding intensity of regular interval training, but with more of a total body workout.

Unique Interval Method #3 – Kettlebell Bodyweight Combos

By adding the kettlebell, you bump up the heart pounding effect that you will have a hard time getting from bodyweight exercises only (unless you use jumps).

But some folks just aren’t cut out for jumping, so using swings – or snatches if you’re technically able – combined with pushups, chinups, single-leg bodyweight exercises, etc., will put turbulence on your muscles and help you burn body fat.

NOTE: Yes, lots of “in the know” trainers have been using this approach for a long time, but I’m writing this article for the mass mainstream workout audience. And again, good enough for the girls I date.

Unique Interval Method #4 – Big Bodyweight Challenges

The TT Bodyweight 500 and Bodyweight 1000 challenges contain a lot more than just the big 6 bodyweight movements…and these can be used in place of interval training to burn a lot of calories and give a total body workout – WITHOUT causing massive amounts of soreness.

That’s the “fine line” you have to walk with these new interval training workouts…they can’t be so intense that they cause too much soreness, otherwise they will interfere with your strength training and/or you won’t be able to do them frequently enough for maximum results.

Unique Interval Method #5 – Shuttle  Runs

Yeah, I pretty much mean running suicides. That’s probably not what many people wanted to hear…but, listen to this.

A recent study from the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that shuttle runs resulted in a higher heart rate response, increased blood lactate concentration, and increased rating of perceived exertion.

Yaaaaaaaaaay. I’m sure you’re not too happy about this, but if there’s one thing I’ve noticed over the years of thousands of training sessions, it’s that “whatever exercise the client hated the most always gave them the best results”.

Sorry.

And hey, there’s nothing like a shuttle run rest period to mess with the space-time continuum where 30 seconds feels like 3.

So at least your workouts will feel like they are over faster – and you’ll get more results.

I’ll try and find some more interval training workouts for you,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

Ready for another NO equipment, desert-island, bodyweight bootcamp workout? Alright, let’s get started with this week’s 7-day fat loss plan…

Click here to listen to the fat loss call

First of all, our big news last week was the announcement of the June Diet Reconstruction Challenge…are you in? If not, go check out that blog post and tell me what ONE thing you are going to give up for the rest of June.

As I write this, I’m regretting having given up caffeine because I spent all day out in the sun and now I’m tired as I write this, trying to meet my Sunday morning deadline! Oh well, no cheating. Stay Strong!

Monday – June 8 – Top Transformation Tip: Test!

As usual, we start this week’s guide with our best transformation tip of the week. And this week I want you to focus on testing and measuring.

Every time you add something new to your plan, you need to test and measure and see if it works.

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.

And this week’s program review comes from www.TTBootcamp.com – Get the Done-For-You Bodyweight Bootcamp Workouts you can do anywhere, anytime.

Workout A – Turbulence Training Bootcamp Workout #3 – TT Intermediate Intensity

Make sure to listen to the call for more details on all of the exercises and why I put the workout together in this order…Each exercise is done for 30 seconds.

Five days in Vegas. That’s enough for anyone, including me. I was there from Saturday to Thursday morning, and had plenty of steak, poolside lounging, sports-car driving, and mediocre workouts in hotel gyms. I was ready to leave.

(Here’s a photo of me and my friend Mike Geary in front of the rented sports car we drove around Nevada one afternoon courtesy of our buddy, Vince DelMonte.)

After Vegas I had to go to New Jersey, where I was speaking at a fitness seminar, but more importantly, I was getting a chance to workout at the Legendary Renegade Gym with owner, Jay Ferruggia.

I arrived at Newark Airport around 3pm. Jay picked me up and we hit a Whole Foods store for some pre-workout grub.

About 3 years ago this might have consisted of meat-filled sandwiches, but Jay’s been a muscle-building vegan for several years now, and I’m cool with eating just about anything healthy.

We grabbed a couple of vegetable-hummus wraps and sat down to tell a few stupid stories and outline our workouts, but nothing can prepare you for the ultimate dream workout den that he’s put together at his gym. It has everything a guy or gal into hard training would want.

From sandbags to tires, from squat racks to the Prowler, from ropes to kettlebells, Jay’s gym has it all. And it also has the one secret ingredient missing from most gyms…Atmosphere. Here’s how it goes down at Jay’s Gym…

NOTE: Do NOT watch if you don’t like loud music…or just turn the music off…

I’ve trained at dozens of gyms on the road, and most of them suck the life out of you, rather then excite you for training. The exceptions are generally Gold’s Gyms, I love training at those places. But Jay’s gym was even better.

Five girls, seven guys, all there to train hardcore.

Tunes were pumping, and everyone did a group warm-up and then split up into groups. I went with Jay and one other guy to do an upper body workout, while another group of younger guys did deadlifts, split squats, get-ups, and sled pulls.

And the girls all trained together with deadlifts, get-ups, chinups, and prowler sprints. Heck, the girls were probably the hardest working group out of us all. Here’s Jen rocking the Prowler and the sled…

Our group went directly to Floor Press with the Log, and we supersetted that with chin-ups. After 3-4 sets of that, we went to Log Clean & Press supersetted with a sled row using the giant ropes. Then we did band pressdowns supersetted with bicep curl bodyweight rows, and then a couple rounds of the “battling ropes”

Most of that made no sense to you, right?

Okay, the “Log” is this thing (a souped up barbell) =>

The floor press with log is simply done lying on the floor.

A log clean and press is like a barbell clean and press but with the log bar.

And the giant rope row…well, Jay has these monster ropes that he uses for “battling” (see below) and we tied one to the sled and put a bunch of plates on it and rowed hand over hand. It was a good one.

Now for the battling ropes…this can make you sick in a hurry…

Good times. A great way to finish. After training Jay and his girlfriend made a huge vegan feast for dinner while we watched the Cavs-Magic game 5. Combined with the excess of Vegas, this amazing dinner inspired me to the June diet depletion program to fight diet creep. I hope you’ll join me if you need to get back on track.

Our vegan feast consisted of…

• All the raw vegetables and hummus you can eat
• A giant salad with black olives
• Grilled asparagus covered in olive oil
• A huge serving of rice (can’t remember the type) and beans, with sides of avocado, regular salsa, and mango salsa.

It was great. As good as any meal I had in Vegas (although that steak dinner we had a Nine Steakhouse at the Palms hotel was amazing…the sashimi there melts in your mouth). But again, this was great, just different.

So there you go. Quite a trip to Jersey. If you live within 30 minutes of Jay’s gym, you gotta train there…if you are serious about training hard in the right environment. No quitters.

As a sign in The Renegade Gym said, “You can’t always be the fastest or the strongest, but you can always try the hardest.”

Stay strong,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – If you want to build muscle…

…then go to one of the few strength coaches I take advice from, Jay Ferruggia.

Click here for the 5 Biggest Muscle Building Mistakes

Every month we award at least one Turbulence Training Success Story grand prize to the TT client who has made the most dramatic fat loss transformation. This month, there are THREE winners!

Today, we’ll hear from our first fat loss success story, Brad Blanks, the classic busy dad who has already lost 9 pounds of fat in just 2 weeks with Turbulence Training.

Also, make sure to note how he was progressive and conservative when he started the program…even though he was active he started with the BEGINNER program!