Fat Loss Cut Through The Lies And Get The Facts

There are certain things about fat loss that people have been taught to believe as fact which are, in reality, dead wrong. Even myself, until very recently, believed many of these to be facts that were set in stone.

Not anymore.

As a word of caution, some of these 7 things that I'm going to tell you about may go against everything you've been taught to believe about fat loss. However, sometimes going against convention is exactly what you need to do to get spectacular results!

Let's begin...

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MYTH #1: Successfully losing fat always means losing some muscle mass as well.

FACT: It is possible to actually GAIN muscle while losing fat, not just in beginners but even in advanced trainers. All it takes is the right program of training and nutrition.

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MYTH #2: Gaining muscle requires additional calories from food, therefore it's impossible to gain muscle under reduced-calorie conditions.

FACT: Under the right dietary and training conditions, your body can actually use your own bodyfat to provide energy for building muscle, practically doubling the speed of fat loss.

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MYTH #3: You must choose a consistently-strict diet of either low-carb or low-fat foods to lose fat rapidly.

FACT: Low-carb diets work. Low-fat diets work. But neither works forever. You can take the best features of both and combine them to actually FEED off each other with NO plateaus EVER.

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MYTH #4: To lose fat with weight training, you must use high-reps with light weights.

FACT: Training with high reps and isolation exercises for fat loss is a waste of time and energy. It will practically guarantee that you lose muscle.

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MYTH #5: You need to take fat-burning pills or supplements to maximize fat loss.

FACT: Your own natural metabolism is FAR more powerful for burning fat than any fat-loss pills or potions you could ever take IF you know how to stimulate it properly.

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MYTH #6: Gradually reducing your caloric intake over time is the best way to ensure steady fat loss.

FACT: Consistently reducing your caloric intake is a great way to lose muscle mass. However, precise manipulation of the nutrients in your diet (protein, fat and carbs) can have extraordinary anabolic (muscle-building) and lipolytic (fat-burning) hormonal effects on your body. It's all a matter of what you eat and when you eat it.

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MYTH #7: When you come off a fat-loss diet, there will always be some rebound weight gain.

FACT: When the metabolism is properly stimulated and the right combination of nutrients is eaten, rebound weight gain can not only be eliminated, it can be reversed. With the proper training and nutrition plan, you can actually CONTINUE to lose fat even when you go back to normal training and eating.

I would like to thank Nick Nilsson for contributing this article from his Metabolic Surge Rapid Fat Loss program.

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 15 years. Nick is the author of a number of
bodybuilding eBooks including "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "Specialization Training," All of which can be found at Fitness - EBooks.com

Cardio And Fat Burning Workouts

If you've been looking for a different training technique to break out of a rut in your muscle building or fat burning workouts, eliminate the boredom, and bring on new results, Complexes may be just what you've been looking for.

Doing complexes works a huge amount of muscle in a short amount of time, and takes your fat burning workouts to a whole new level of intensity. The conditioning benefits of doing complexes is amazing, as you'll find it will push your cardio capacity to the max. This type of workout releases natural growth hormone which is responsible for building muscle and burning fat.

A complex is made up of two or more exercises done one right after the other for a specific number of reps with minimal rest. As an example you do lets say 6 reps each of several exercises (usually anywhere from 2-8 exercises) one right after another and repeat the sequence several times.

You move through one exercise after the other, using the same number of reps for each. You can perform them with one or more barbells, dumbbells, body weight exercises, kettlebells or as a mixture of any combination (as I will show you in a minute).

Complexes can be done as total body workouts, or you can do a complex for the upper and lower body separately (all three are useful methods and should be cycled into your training, as fat loss and muscle building come faster by changing your workouts every 4-5 weeks).

Doing the exercises of your complex once would be considered 1 set. In the beginning you will have to judge for yourself (based on your fitness level) how many sets you can do. As you improve over the next few weeks, you’ll do more sets (I normally work up to 6). The total amount of sets should also be based on how many exercises you are doing.

Do not pick a weight that is too light where you can get a ton of reps and do not pick a weight that is too heavy where your form is horrible. Good exercise form is always important especially as you tire.

For a begginner I would suggest 2-3 exercises to start with.

You can also increase the intensity of a complex by reducing your rest time between sets or increasing the number of reps you perform on the exercises.

The following a short list of the many benefits of complex training:


SHORTER WORKOUTS

No workout should take more than 20 minutes(depending on your rest time).

Saying these workouts won’t take long is a big understament they may take only three and a half minutes! Lets check this out. We'll do 6 exercises 6 reps each in our complex we'll say 4 seconds per rep, 30 seconds rest(this is absolute max rest time) in between that's 54 seconds per exercise times 6 equals 5 minutes and 40 seconds to do one set. Run through the exercises once and go home.

However, don’t take this as a sign that complexes are easy they are anything but easy. You have to keep the pace of the workout, resting only as long as it takes to move to your next exercise, or else it won’t work. But whether you’re training half the body with a complex or the whole body at once, you’re going to work a ton of muscle very quickly and send your heart rate soaring. As you progress, you’ll do more sets and rest less between sets, making for extremely effective and intense workouts in a short time span.

FEWER WORKOUTS
Six weeks into the program, you’ll start doing complexes three days a week. Prior to that, we only ask that you hit them once or twice. For the rest of the days of the week, you can either continue with your current workout routine or, God forbid, do regular cardio (but it isn’t required).

We’re leaving it completely up to you. However, by Week 6, your body is going to need your undivided attention to perform these complexes and recover from them, and that means you must cease any other training. The last thing you want is to push yourself for eight weeks only to end up overtrained at the end, when you should be at your peak.

MORE CALORIES BURNED

You’ll be performing compound lifts (exercises that require the coordination of several muscle groups) without rest in between, and that can burn hundreds of calories. Not only that, but the recovery process your body will go through after each workout will raise your metabolism for a day or so afterward—yes, you keep burning calories at an higher rate long after your workout is over. Studies have shown that the calories burned in the hours after a workout come largely from stored fat, as opposed to muscle or carbohydrates.

MORE FUN
Hey, you’re lifting weights! Not only is that less monotonous than running in place for 45 minutes until you’ve ex-hausted your iPod, but it demands much more concentration. You have to support heavy loads and move quickly between exercises, so each run becomes more like a challenge to your resolve— rather than another run-of-the-mill workout you have to trudge through.

IMPROVED MUSCULAR BALANCE
Flip through the next few pages and look at the exercises in each complex workout. Think about how they work your body. You should notice that every time you’re asked to make a pushing motion (such as in a bench press), you follow it up at some point with a pulling motion. This isn’t by accident. Balancing the movement patterns in your workouts leads to balanced muscle development, and that results in better posture, more efficient movement, and more complete muscularity. We all have a tendency to favor one side or one exercise over another when we train— now you can even things out.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd have to say that this type of training probably elicits a good growth hormone response as well, due to the large amount of full body work completed in a given time period.

Now I'm going to show you a great kettlebell complex that really kicks my butt. I've been training with kettlebells for a little over a year now, and can definitely say that they've dramatically improved my strength, body composition, and overall physical capabilities. If you're not familiar with kettlebells, they are an old eastern European training secret that has just started to take the US by storm over the last few years. Many elite athletes are using kettlebells as their preferred training tool for serious results.

I'd recommend just starting off with one bell and learn all of the single kettlebell drills first, before delving into the double-bell drills. Just one kettlebell coupled with some bodyweight exercises can literally be enough to comprise your own home gym, without any other equipment necessary. Or a kettlebell can just be a great alternative workout to incorporate into your routines once or twice a week. Either way, it opens up a whole new world of training for you.

Example Kettlebell Complex

1. one arm swing

2. one arm snatch, keep the bell over head;

3. one arm overhead squat;

4. bell back down to bottom, then one arm high pull;

5. bell back down to bottom, then one arm clean & press

As with the barbell complex, repeat the sequence (without rest) 2-3 times with each arm. That's one set...and one hell of a killer set at that! Try increasing from 3 to 4 to 5 sets on subsequent workouts with a given weight before increasing your sequence reps. If you're not drenched in sweat with your heart beating out of your chest after that complex, you either went too light, or you are a mutant freak!

Since dumbbells are more accessible to most people than kettlebells, now I'll show you how to put together a good dumbbell complex.

Example Dumbbell Complex

1. upright row with each arm separately then both together

2. front lunge with one leg, then the other

3. back lunge with one leg, then the other

4. curl to overhead press

5. keep dumbbells at shoulders and squat

Again, the same type of sequencing and progressions explained with the barbell complexes work great with the dumbbell complexes. I think a great strategy is to alternate barbell complexes on one day with kettlebell or dumbbell complexes on alternative training days.

For example, you could do barbell complexes Monday, K-bell or D-bell complexes Wednesday, and back to barbell complexes on Friday. Maybe hit some sprints and bodyweight drills on Saturday; then Monday would be K-bell or D-bell complexes again, Wednesday would be barbells again, and so on. Give this program a try for a month (if you dare), and you will be one hardened individual!

Low Carb Diets Yes Or No?

You know, fitness and nutrition guy Jon Benson has a humorous way of putting things that we all need to hear. I received this email from him today and had to share it with you. It's not only funny, it's true.

Read on...

Jag252

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6 Strange Dietary Bedfellows

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What do these six things have in common?

--- McDonalds
--- Renee Zellweger
--- Epileptic children
--- Yours truly
--- Most bodybuilding and fitness competitors
--- Kiefer Sutherland

Give up?

All the above employ the strategies of the low-carb dietplan.

Recently researchers have found that low-carb nutrition plan reduced the number of seizures in epileptic children.

Most of the world's leanest physiques get that way on a regimen, limited or not, of low-carbs and higher protein.

Even McDonalds is getting into the act.

Even Renee Zellweger.

Even Kiefer Sutherland.

Even me.

Kinda.

Read on and I'll explain what I mean...

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Why Low-Carb Works

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When McDonalds starts counting carb grams in their food, you know someone is either jumping on a trend or finally seeing the light.

In this case, both -- but it is a good thing. Low-carb dietplans. They work.

For the masses, they work because they are the easiest nutrition plan to follow when you're busy.

McDonalds and stars like Kiefer Sutherland figured this out. The busy on-the-go guy or gal doesn't want to make the time to prepare six meals per day and carry them around in Tupperware.

When choosing my own lifestyle nutrition plan, time and convenience played a major role. I looked at role models who were very busy, formerly obese, and very lean.

Most of them rely in some form or fashion on a low-carb strategy.

Low-carb also works, much to the hem and haw of traditional doctors and nutritionists, due to the way the body processes fuel.

For those of us fortunate enough to grow up on whole grains and very low-sugar mealplans, a moderate to higher-carb nutrition plan may work just fine.

But most of us grew up eating junk.

Processed foods, fast foods, and downright junk was the cornerstone of our dietplans. That puts your body on the "carb defense."

After years of abuse the body becomes resistant to carbohydrates. The insulin they produce can cause all sorts of health issues, fat-burning problems, and more.

When carbs are removed, even healthy carbs like whole grains, the body has time to re-adjust.

In some cases, you can go back to a moderate-carb plan with whole grains and fruits after a period of time.

In others, you are a "low-carber" for life.

Guess which one I am?

Finally, low-carb works because you tend to eat less. Fat is very satiating, and most low-carb plans are fairly high in dietaryfat.

So, in recap:

--- Easy and convenient;
--- Metabolically important for carb recovery;
--- Lower in total food volume (eat less)

Do not make light of that first point. Any plan that is not simple is one very few people will stick to. Making your plan simple and tasty is key, even if that plan is not "perfect" by nutritional standards.

Now, by far, the best low-carb dietplan in the world (yes, I'm bias for good reason!) is this:

click.here ------> The Every Other Day Diet

EODD works so well because your carbs are low for "most" of the time. Not "all" of the time. And the times when your carbs are not low you can enjoy your favorite foods.

Personally I enjoy pizza and burgers on my non-low-carb days. You can enjoy whatever you want if you just keep it reasonable.

You see, there's no need to diet-perfect.

Progress always trumps perfection.

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Why Low-Carb Fails

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There are two primary reasons for the failure of the low-carb nutrition plans: boredom and media bashing.

One causes irritability. The other, doubt. Unless you're certain that your plan will work, you will eventually go off of it.

This is true of any plan, no matter how ideal it is. Certainty rules.

That's why I believe in having a flexible, tasty plan like EODD.

Then boredom is easily solved.

I share my own unique ideas about "cycling" carbs and fats in the presentation here.

Using my cycle strategy you will rarely if ever become bored. And your body will burn more bodyfat too. It's just a cheap metabolic trick...but boy, it works.

The second reason is media and medical bias. One study after another has proven that low-carb plans, even the Atkins plan, works and is safe to use for most people.

Check with your doctor first, of course.

I've seen researchers get down-right angry when the results come back. In one study, carried out for a full year, the low-carb plan out-performed the so-called "healthy" Dean Ornish plan.

Lower blood fats, more fatloss, and more energy were the results.

My preference always comes back to low-carb nutrition. I just cycle it in a way that allows me to get plenty of veggies, some grains, and ample fiber.

Even a slice of cheesecake here and there... : )

Hey...I said "low-carb", not "low-life!"

P.S. One of these days the mainstream medical community will wake up to the fact that 90% of the population will never eat 15 servings of veggies per day.

While this may be "optimal", it's not at all practical. I'd rather give you down-to- earth practical nutrition advice that you CAN and WILL follow -- and enjoy.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

click.here ------> Every Other Day Diet