A quick request for help on my 500 Pound Fat Loss Goal for the 11th Turbulence Training Transformation Contest.

As I hope you know, we have just opened up the 11th TT Transformation Contest, and you can enter ANY time between today and May 30th (Memorial Day).

You then have 12 weeks to lose fat and transform your body, in hopes of winning one of four $1000 grand prizes in our categories (men and women over and under 40).

I’ve also added a personal goal to the contest.

I want to help TT users lose a cumulative total of over 500 lbs of fat.

So that means 50 people losing an average of 10 pounds, or 100 people averaging 5 pounds of fat loss.

I know WE can do this. But I need your help.

First, I hope you join the TT Transformation Contest.

It doesn’t cost anything to enter, and you can find all the rules here:

=> The Turbulence Training Transformation Contest

Second, if there’s any way you can help, such as by convincing a friend or family member to join the contest, it would be greatly, GREATLY appreciated.

I’ve never “counted” up the pounds before, but this time we’re going for 500.

The TT 500 – fat loss style.

Let’s do this,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Certified Turbulence Trainer

PS – If you have any questions about helping, please let me know.

PPS – Maybe we can even hit 750 or 1000. Wouldn’t that be great?

Let go of the past……

And let those 5 words change your life.

You are not your mistakes.

Focus on your future and what you can do now.

Listen, I know it’s not easy….

If you want something in life that you aren’t getting now, you have two choices:

1) Change your ways to behaviors that will move you to that goal.

2) Accept that nothing is going to change because you refuse to change…It’s that simple. Stop dreaming and start doing.

Focus on replacing your bad habits and thought patterns, one-by-one over time, with good habits and thought patterns.

One step at a time, done over time, leads to powerful changes in your life.

Get started today. There’s no risk. You don’t have to show anyone any photos, all you have to do is take your before photos in the privacy of your own home, then set your personal goals, pick your program, and start.

You don’t have to share anything publicly, although research shows that the more often you visit a weight loss forum – like TT – the better the results you’ll get.

And here’s something else very important for you to realize…

A 12-week Transformation period is only 0.3% of a 75-year life span. That’s just the blink of an eye in history. But the changes you’ll make will last a lifetime. The positive habits you build will keep you lean and sexy forever.

So let’s get started.

You’re the one in charge of your life. Make the right choice.

Join the TT Transformation Contest today here:

www.TransformationContest.com

After all…

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own.
And you know what you know. You are the guy, who’ll decide where to go.” ~Dr. Seuss

Looking forward to your success,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS – Let my friend Frank tell you something…

“Let me tell you something about YOU. YOU can do anything you want.
YOU are in control. YOU can achieve as much success as you want to.
YOU can and will pick yourself up when life knocks you down. I BELIEVE IN YOU. Look …if you’re struggling, I’ve been there…and I can tell you first hand that it’ll get better if you keep on trying. I believe in you. Go for it.” – Frank Kern (and Craig Ballantyne)

This set of body transformation photos is still funny, 5 years later.

NOTE: These photos were taken in 2005.

Just remember to read the entire article before you comment on the amazing transformation.

Stepping on the scale will not always indicate how fabulous your results are. Taking a before and after a picture is one of the best things you could do for motivation and inspiration as your starting your fat loss program.

Below I share a few tips that will help capture a winning photo.

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

Oh, the sad, gloomy before photo…a dopey look on the face, poor lighting, terrible posture, and a ‘poofed out’ belly!

Hmm, better posture, shoulders pulled back, muscles flexed a little more, and the light is a little brighter. This would be a great change in 2 weeks!

And now? Wow! A smiling face, a great overall transformation, better energy, and a big smile. I look like a new man!

Now…The TRUTH About Transformations

By now, I hope that you have already realized this was not a real transformation.

ALL of these photos were taken within minutes of one another.

But this just goes to show you that simply changing your posture, your lighting, and flexing your muscles, you can “achieve” a transformation physique in minutes.

Check the photos out again, and then see the tips below…

NOTE: We didn’t even do a good job on these photos…the lighting was terrible, and I’m not tanned at all. So you can imagine how much more dramatic my “before and after” would look if we had professional photographers involved.

Tips

1. Don’t trust every “before and after” ad that you see. Be critical, but understand you’ll also see a LOT of amazing transformations that are TRUE but hard to believe. You CAN achieve amazing results in less than 90 days.
2. Even though the content of this blog post has been humorous, I still believe it is very helpful and motivating for clients to do progress photos. Take a before photo, and then a progress photo every 4 weeks.
3. If you want to have good comparison photos, and photos that accurately portray your improvements, do the following:

• Take the photos in good lighting in front of a blank wall.
• Get a tan.
• Use good posture. Pull your shoulder blades back and together, flex your abs, and then suck in your gut.
• If you do a biceps pose, open up your chest and externally rotate your arms. Remember: Proud posture!

Now…

Having shown you all that, I know that you won’t “fake” your photos. That said, there are good tips there that help you make your after photos as good as they can be. Use these tips for good, not evil when you do the 10th Turbulence Training Transformation Contest.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc.
www.TurbulenceTraining.com – Gain muscle, lose fat

Hope you are ready for another great week of fat loss. We had a big week in the Turbulence Training World, as we filmed over 3 hours of content for our 1 Million Mission project. Powerful stuff. And exhausting.

I spoke for 3 hours straight…pretty intense content…it knocked me on my butt! I was beat…but we’re filming again this week…probably another 4 hours of content. Watch for that project in 2011.

Now let’s get into the TT Workout and tips…

Click here to listen to the call…

Starting with…

Monday – Dec 13

Transformation Tip of the Week
Compound learning: The more you learn and apply now, the easier it will be to maintain your weight and body fat for the rest of your life…Learn from as many experts as you can. Perform as many “experiments” on yourself as you can…Record and study the findings. This is your path to SIMPLE lean body success.

Workout A of My New 4-Week Workout Program
BB Squat Jumps – using the bar weight only (3×5)
Low Box Sqt (5 RM)
Glute-Ham Raise (3×8)
Ball Plank (2x45s)
DB High Step-up (3×8-12)

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

Reference:
No actual study today…just a discussion of “self-experimentation”.

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“What gets measured gets managed.” – Peter Drucker

Here’s what I want you to do: A 4-week experiment

Write down everything you eat for the next 6 weeks and record how you feel after you eat these meals. Make the connection between food and mood/energy. Do this short experiment to help you eat better for the rest of your life.

Also, this week the 4-Hour Body comes out. It’s a book written by NY Times Best-Selling Author, Tim Ferriss. Like myself, Tim has been recording his workouts for years and years. John Berardi has too, and so should you.

By the way, watch for a free one-hour interview where I ask Tim about the fat loss section of the book. Pretty interesting – and controversial – stuff.

Wednesday Workout Tip

If you want to train four times per week, you can switch to a 4-Day Meathead Style Program.

You can go directly to one of the TT Meathead 4 day programs (like 4×4), or you modify current 3 day programs by rearranging the exercises into an upper-lower split. Even the TT2K4 program could just be switched to an A-B-A-B system.

Workout B of My New 4-Week Workout Program
Foam Press (3×5)
DB Row (3×8)
Pushups (1-fail)
Pullup-up (3×9)
1-Arm OH Tri (3×8)
DB Alt Curl (3×8)

Foam Press? Check the video here.

Trainer Thursday
•    Do 30 minutes of fun activity…

A big mistake I see trainers making is using an ineffective warm-up. Trainers put their client on a treadmill or they have them run around a track for boot camps. I couldn’t imagine paying a trainer to tell me to jog around a track before my workout. That stuff is pointless and I would go insane if someone asked me to pay for that.

Trainers need to skip the generic warm up. The client doesn’t need to hop on the treadmill to “increase their heart rate and get a bit of a sweat on”. You should have prepared a proven total body warm up that focuses on mobility and on specifically addressing the hot zones of the body for the workout (the upper back, the torso, the pushing muscles, and the lower body).

Weight Training Warm-up Video

Facebook Friday

Time for another workout, and our question of the week:

Q: What’s your body fat?

Answer:

My body fat is 10%. A lean woman is 16%. But don’t get obsessed with actual numbers, because they are hard to measure accurately. Guys who tell me they are 8% fat or less make me roll my eyes and say “whatever”. Seriously, if you are 8% body fat then you are just 14 days away from stepping on stage at a bodybuilding show. Very, very, very few people walk around at 8% fat.

If you can’t measure your body fat accurately, just focus on hip & waist measures and progress in before and after photos (take these every 4 weeks).

Workout C of My New 4-Week Workout Program
Hang Clean (3×3)
Deadlift (2×2-3 or 2×20)
Rack Pull (3×5)
Stability Ball Rollout (1xMax-1)

Social Support Saturday!
•    30 minutes of fun activity…

I like this quote…and a lot of people on my motivational Facebook page did too.

“Lighten up. Most of the stuff you are upset about isn’t going to matter in the long run. In fact, most of it won’t matter in a half hour.” - Larry Winget

So stop arguing on the Internet and spend that time laughing and having with friends and family instead.

Workout D of My New 4-Week Workout Program
Band Shoulder Press (3×8)
DB CSR (3×8)
Foam Press (3×5)
EZ Bar Triceps Extension (3×8)
DB Incline Hammer Curl (3×8)

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare
•    30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare

Men’s Health, Dec 2010 provides a lot of nutritional info…But it is good, bad, and ugly.

The ugly?

Recommending these two drinks:

• Monster energy drink
• Naked drinks with 35+g sugar

The bad?

The info in this list of alcoholic drinks:

- 5oz wine — 100 calories
- 12oz lite beer —100
- 2oz martini — 119
- 12oz beer — 146
- 7oz gin and tonic — 189
- 7oz screwdriver — 208
- 6oz margarita — 327
- 12oz rum and coke — 361

But even though alcohol provides unnecessary calories, the food you eat is a LOT worse…

- chili’s bacon burger with ranch is 2140 (that’s 20 light beers)
- 48 ounce porterhouse at Shula’s probably contains 4000 calories

Now that’s U-G-L-Y!

By the way, I once watched my friend John Romaniello eat one of those 4000 calorie steaks in 4 minutes.  Crazy. 1000 calories per minute! He’ll need to do this workout for an hour to burn 1000 calories.

We’ll talk aboot some of the good advice next week.

Next week!
•    Training Tips – Abs Workout
•    Research Review – Abs Infomercial Gimmick
•    Nutrition – Counting Calories

This is a feedback form I’ve used with personal clients and Transformation Contest clients.

It tells me a lot about what might be causing plateaus, injuries, etc. And it helps me help them get results so much faster. If you are a Turbulence Training member, you can fill out this form in the forum and we can review your information together to help you get the right program and diet for your goals.

Now while I certainly can’t review everyone’s form here on the blog, I really believe that you’ll discover a LOT about yourself if you take about 10 minutes to fill out this form on your own.  Just copy it, print it, and sit down and fill out as much info as you can. If you don’t have all the health info, it probably means you need to see your doctor.

By the way, it would be a great idea for everyone who is entering a Transformation Contest or who trains with a trainer to fill out the form and give it to your trainer. Having this info will help them help you better.

Hope this helps,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

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HEALTH BACKGROUND

Forum Name:

Please take a “Before Photo” at this time and every 4 weeks from now on.

Age: ________________

Height: ______________

Weight: ______________

Resting heart rate: _______

Blood pressure: ______________

Body fat %: ____________

CIRCUMFERENCE MEASUREMENTS (inches) - Taken in relaxed state:

Waist (At navel): _____Mid-Upper Arm:_______Mid-Thigh: ________Hip Circumference (Widest point between legs & navel):____________

Last time you visited your doctor: ______________________________________________________
List any medical conditions that would/do prevent certain exercises: ______________________________
List any conditions/injuries that would/do prevent certain exercises: ______________________________
Do any exercises cause you pain or discomfort: _____________________________________________

Do you now experience, or in the past 6 months have you suffered from, any of the following conditions? Highlight where applicable, and indicate Right (R) or Left (L)

Neck Problems: ___________________________
Lower Back Problems: _______________________
High Blood Pressure: ________________________
Diabetes: _________________________________
Shoulder Problems: __________________________
Hip Problems: ______________________________
Asthma: __________________________________
High Cholesterol: ____________________________
Elbow Problems: ____________________________
Knee Problems: _____________________________
Heart Problems: _____________________________
Smoking History: ____________________________
Wrist Problems: _____________________________
Foot/Ankle Problems: _________________________
Food Allergies: ______________________________
Upper Back Problems: _________________________
Arthritis/Carpal TS: __________________________
Dizziness: _________________________________
Chronic Conditions (other): _____________________

Self-Assessment & Goal Setting -  Rate your current status on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = needs improvement & 10 = optimal)

Strength: ___________________  Endurance: __________________

Body composition:______________  Overall physical condition: __________

Athletic Mobility:__________________

List Your Performance Strengths & Weaknesses-Physical & Mental:

Strengths: _____________________________________________________________
Weaknesses: ___________________________________________________________

State your personal philosophy on life or source of motivation in life:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

TRAINING GOALS – Be very specific

Three Short term goals:
1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________

Three Long term goals:
1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________

WORKOUT QUESTIONS:

What past program has given you the best results: __________________________________________
What past program has NOT worked for you: _____________________________________________
Overall intensity level of current workouts on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high): ________________________
General physical feeling during exercise: ________________________________________________
What time of day do you workout? __________________________

OUTLINE  WEIGHT TRAINING SESSION

Number per week:____________________________
Volume per session (# of sets and reps): _____________
Exercises performed:___________________________
Length of rest interval between sets: ________________
Intensity level: _______________________________
Body parts trained:____________________________
Number of rest days:___________________________

AEROBIC EXERCISE SESSION

Mode of exercise:_______________
Duration of exercise: _____________
Intensity of exercise: _____________
Frequency of exercise: _____________

Please comment on your experiences with any of the following:

Body resistance strength training, exercise bands/surgical tubing:_______________________________
Yoga/breathing techniques, medicine ball training, Stability ball/balance training:____________________
Plyometrics, interval training: _______________________________________________________
What exercises do you like within your current routine: ______________________________________
What exercises do you dislike within your routine: __________________________________________
Are you willing to try new or unconventional exercise techniques in order to exercise more effectively: ______
Are there sports that you like/would like to play, train for, or add to your program: ____________________

HOW MUCH TIME WILL YOU COMMIT TO TRAINING?

Days per week: _____________________
Time per session: ____________________
Rate commitment level on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high): ___________

LIFESTYLE QUESTIONS:

What is your dominant hand: _____________________________________________
Do you swing and shoot right-handed or left-handed: _____________________________
What is your dominant leg (what leg do you support your bodyweight with): _____________
Do you stand or sit with your shoulders “shrugged up: _____________________________
Can you lift both hands straight overhead without difficulty or pain: _____________________
Are there any things in day to day life that irritate your body or joints? For example, does it hurt your shoulders or back to sit for prolonged periods of time: ______________________________________________________________________
Do you perform any activities with a rounded back: ___________________________________
Outline your sleeping schedule during the week & on the weekends:________________________
How many hours of sleep do you get on average:______________________________________
Rate the quality of your sleep (1 = poor, 10 = perfect): __________________________________

NUTRITION:

What past nutrition program has given you the best results:_________________________________________
What past nutrition program has NOT worked for you:____________________________________________

Complete a food log on www.fitday.com for 2 weekdays and 1 weekend day. Send me the login and password for the food log so that I can review it. In addition, fill out the following sheet outlining your daily food intake. Include detailed proportions, time of intake, reasons for eating (hungry, bored, social), water intake, caffeine use, supplement use, and alcohol intake (if applicable).

Weekday Breakfast (Time ___): _____________________________________
Weekday Snack (Time ___): ________________________________________
Weekday Lunch (Time ___): ________________________________________
Weekday Snack (Time ___): ________________________________________
Weekday Dinner (Time ___): ________________________________________
Weekday Snack (Time ___): _________________________________________
Weekend Breakfast (Time ___): _______________________________________
Weekend Snack (Time ___): _________________________________________
Weekend Lunch (Time ___): _________________________________________
Weekend Snack (Time ___): _________________________________________
Weekend Dinner (Time ___): _________________________________________
Weekend Snack (Time ___): __________________________________________

List all the obstacles that would get in the way of health eating: ____________________

List 2 solutions for each obstacle:

1)_________________________________________________________________

2)__________________________________________________________________

What foods do you like: ___________________________________________________
What foods do you dislike or do not agree with you: ________________________________
What foods do you not want to give up: _________________________________________
Do you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables: _________________________________________
How often do you eat fast food: _______________________________________________
How do you feel after you eat fast food: __________________________________________
Do any foods give you energy or cause a decrease in energy and make you tired: _______________
How do you feel after you eat foods containing a lot of sugar: _____________________________
How do you feel after you eat foods containing a lot of fat: _______________________________
How much caffeine do you consume per day? How do you feel after you have caffeine: ____________

ENERGY

Describe your present energy levels during a typical day: ___________________________________
How are your energy levels when you wake up:__________________________________________
How are your energy levels after lunch: _______________________________________________
How are your energy levels after school/work: __________________________________________
How are your energy levels in the evening: _____________________________________________
How are your energy levels on the weekend compared to the weekdays: __________________________
How are your energy levels on the day of competition (if applicable): ____________________________

Thanks for filling out this comprehensive data sheet to help me provide you with the best training program and lifestyle plan.

Sincerely,
__________________
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training for Fat Loss
CB Athletic Consulting, Inc.