10 Reasons Why Women Should Start Kettlebell Training

hello,

Have you started using Kettlebell Training yet? If not why not? kettlebells are a great solution for the busy woman looking for a quick butt firming, thigh slimming total body fat burning workout.

with one piece of equipment and 20 minutes at home you are well on your way to getting the fat loss, cardio conditioning and strength building (without the fear of developing too much muscle) body you want.

read this article then head on over to Kettlebell Workouts where I have some video demo's of how to do kettlebell exercises (it's a work in progress so I am adding new videos all the time)

10 Reasons Why Women Should Start Kettlebell Training

Kettlebell training has fast become the top choice of fitness training with many top strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers and elite athletes around the world. For the benefits and fast results that you can get from the traditional Russian fitness training tool, it is no surprise that many top female celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz, Kim Cattrall, Kim Basinger, and Angelina Jolin have also turned to kettlebell training. The following is the Top 10 Reasons why women should train with kettlebell.

1. Increase metabolism
Metabolism is the key to long-term weight management success and therefore it is very important in regards to achieving the lean, toned and athletic body. As kettlebell training is a form of weight training and utilizes mainly full-body movements, it helps to raise the metabolism of the body by increasing the lean muscle mass.

2. Improved tone in the Body
Because this training increase lean tissue mass, it would naturally improved the tone in the body that would help any women fit better into their clothes.

3. Postexercise Fat Burning Effects
Kettlebell training induced postexercise fat-burning effect in the body due to its compound movements and high-intensity nature. Unlike most aerobics exercise, the postexercise fat-burning effects allows the body to use more fat as energy at rest and during low-intensity physical activities. As such, more fat will be burned.

4. Shape the Butt
It is great for shaping up the butt because many of the exercises such as snatch, swing and clean are initiated from the hip movement. As a result, the glutes muscle which is the butt is engaged very often giving the behind a great workout.

5. Cardio Fitness
With high reps of kettlebell ballistic movement based exercises, it requires high level of effort and is great for improving cardio fitness.

6. Prevent Osteoporosis
Unfortunately, women are much more prone to osteoporosis than men. It is a loss of bone mass caused by reduction of estrogen after menopause. Fortunately, kettlebell training which is a form of resistance training that can prevent this situation.

7. Prevent Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia occurs when muscular strength declines with increasing age. It is caused by the loss of muscle tissue. Again, women are very much affected by this situation because they have less muscle fiber than men to begin with. However, strength training from kettlebell can prevent loss of strength and muscle mass. As a result, it prevents sarcopenia.

8. No Muscle Bulk
Kettlebell training do not build muscle bulk because the typical training program is made up of mostly ballistic movements. Unlike grinding moves, it does not isolate any muscles group that is essential in building muscle bulk. The truth is, women do not possess the level of muscle-building hormones like the men have to gain muscle bulk with any form of weight lifting.

9. Prevent Injuries
This form of exercise focuses on movements and it differs very much from the traditional bodybuilding type training that focuses on loading strains on target muscle group. Because movement efficiency is enhanced due to kettlebell training, injuries are greatly reduced by fixing the compensation and imbalances in the body.

10. Time-saving
Most important of all, you do not need to spend hours that you would with typical aerobics program to see the results. Kettlebell training is high-intensity strength and cardio workout that forces the body to burn fat fast.

In conclusion, kettlebell training is a great training tool for women not only in terms of improving physical appearance but also improving overall health and all-round fitness. Especially for women who hit a plateau with training progress, kettlebell training can be a solution to break out of it.

TC is a Perth kettlebell instructor who provides personal training and boot camp services in the Suburb of Nedlands, Subiaco, and Claremont. To learn to more about the proper techniques of kettlebell lifting and get a week of FREE kettlebell training, please visit http://www.kettlebellbootcamp.com.au

Do you see any reason why you Shouldn't be training with kettlebells? No i didn't think so.

Short total body workouts you can do at home. No more of the incredibly inefficient marathon treadmill workouts, no commuting to the gym and no more gym fees.

Don't forget head on over to Kettlebell Workouts for some video instruction.

Busy Women Need Weight Training

Here are 10 reasons why women NEED to do resistance training. Did I mention that you can do resistance training at home with very little or no equipment whatsoever?

Here are some of the reasons women need to do resistance training that I may have neglected to mention:

1. Burn more fat. When you do a resistance training program, your metabolism will stay elevated and you continue to burn fat for several hours afterward. During regular cardio exercise, you stop burning fat shortly after the workout.

2. Change your body shape. Resistance training can slim you down, create new curves, and help avoid the "middle-age spread".

3. Boost your metabolism. The less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism will be. As women age, they lose muscle at increasing rates, especially after the age of 40. When you diet without doing resistance training, up to 25% of the weight loss may be muscle loss. Resistance training while dieting can help you preserve and even rebuild muscle fibers. The more lean mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you'll burn all day long.

4. Increases strength and confidence. Resistance training increases functional fitness, which makes everyday tasks much easier. Being strong is also empowering. Not only does it improve your physical activities, it builds emotional strength by boosting self-esteem and confidence.

5. Build strong bones. Weight bearing exercise helps build and maintain bone mass, and prevents osteoporosis.

6. Fight depression. Endorphins are released during resistance training and can lessen depression symptoms substantially.

7. Improve sports fitness. Resistance training equals more strength which will equate to better sports performance whether that be your golf game or skiing or whatever sport you enjoy.

8. Reduce injuries and arthritis. Resistance training improves joint stability and builds stronger ligaments and tendons. Keeping joints strong and mobile is always beneficial.

9. Help your heart. Resistance training also benefits the heart by increasing your "good" (HDL) cholesterol and decreasing your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol. It also lowers your blood pressure.

10. Guard against diabetes. The more lean mass you have, the more efficient your body is at removing glucose from the blood,

I hope you're adding resistance training to your fitness program. If you need some support with this, go to how the busy woman gets and stays healthy.

To your health,

The Female Fat Loss Problem 5 Solutions

5 tips for Female Fat Loss:
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You may have heard (or realized!), that it's more difficult for women to lose fat than men. Differences in male and female hormones are certainly involved - both in the fat loss process as well as in the patterns of fat storage on the body. But the biggest obstacle is NOT hormonal issues, it's one little fat loss relativity factor that almost all women overlook...

That factor is the simple fact that women are usually smaller and lighter than men, yet they err by setting their goals and designing their nutrition plans like men or larger women.

Case in point: Last week I received an email from a female reader who told me she was doing 4 weight training and 6 cardio sessions per week and the cardio was 45 minutes at a clip.

She said she weighed 101 lbs (46 kg) at 4 feet 11 inches tall, but even though she was petite, she had "several pounds of flab" she wanted to lose and just felt kind of "mushy."

She had been really inspired by the success stories on the Burn the Fat websites, especially the finalists in our Burn the Fat transformation challenge.

But she said she was starting to get discouraged because she was losing so much slower than everyone else, it seemed. Some weeks the scale didn't move at all.



I told her that when you have a smaller body, you have lower calorie needs. When you have lower calorie needs, your relative deficit (20%, 30% etc) gives you a smaller absolute deficit and therefore you lose fat more slowly than someone who is larger and can create a larger deficit more easily.

For example, I'm a guy, 5' 8" 192 lbs and very active:

Daily calorie maintenance level: 3300 calories a day 20% calorie deficit = cut out 660 calories Optimal calorie intake for fat loss: 2640 calories a day On paper predicted fat loss: 1.3 lbs of wt loss per week

At 2640 calories per day, I'd drop fat rather painlessly. If I bumped up my calorie burn or decreased my intake by another 340 a day, that would be enough to give me 2 lbs per week wt loss. Either way, that's hardly a starvation diet (Ah, the joys of being a man).

For smaller women, the math equation is very different.

At only 4 foot 11 inches tall and 101 lbs, a female's numbers would look like this:

Daily maintenance level 1970 calories (even at a VERY active exercise level). 20% deficit would = 394 calories Optimal intake for fat loss 1576 calories a day On paper predicted fat loss only 8/10th of a lb of fat loss/wk.

If you took a more aggressive calorie deficit of 30%, that's a 591 calorie deficit which would now drop the calorie intake to 1382 calories/day.

That's pretty low in calories. However, you would still have a fairly small calorie deficit. In fact, I would get to eat almost twice as many calories (2600 vs 1300 per day) and I'd still get almost twice the weekly rate of fat loss!

I know, this isn't "fair," but it doesn't mean women can't get as lean as they want to be. It means that on average, women will drop fat slower than men. It also means women with small bodies will lose fat more slowly than larger women.

What to do about it?


#1: Set a goal that's realistic relative to your gender, body size and weight. ONE POUND a week of fat loss is much more in line with a realistic goal for a small-framed female. Overweight people can lose it faster. Men can drop it faster.

#2: Weigh and measure all your food any time you feel you're stuck at a plateau, just to be sure. When your calorie expenditure is on the low side, you don't have much margin for error. One extra pastry, muffin or handful of cookies and ZAP, your little 20% calorie deficit is GONE!

#3: Remember that body fat and body weight are NOT the same thing. Judge your progress on body composition. (I teach how to measure your body fat and lean body mass in the privacy of your own home in my burn the fat program at www.burnthefat.com)

#4: Keep a weekly progress chart for weight, body fat percentage, pounds of fat and pounds of lean body mass. Water weight and lean body mass gains can mask fat loss so it's possible to make progress even though the scale isn't moving. Pay special attention to the progress trend over time.

#5: Burn more calories from the time you already spend in the gym. Suggestions: Make 2 or 3 of your long cardio sessions higher in intensity so you burn more calories in the same or less time. Set up your weight training with big compound exercise and brief rest intervals so you burn more calories from strength training as well

Dropping only ONE pound per week (or less) may seem excruciatingly slow, but even if you get a HALF a pound a week fat loss, that's still progress. Celebrate it. Keep that up over time, and you will reach your goal. Persistence pays.

For further readin I suggest you take a look at my Burn the Fat Program. Not only was Burn the Fat developed based on male AND female "physique athlete" methods, Burn the Fat is the only program that targets the 5 areas above:

* Goal setting is taught in DETAIL, including how to customize the goal

* The calorie math is explained in depth for men and somen

* You learn how to measure body composition

* You learn how to track weekly results with a "feedback loop" system

* You learn how to apply cardio AND weight training to achieve maximum caloric burn while developing the kind of muscle you want: A little "tone" or actually adding some muscle right where you want it.

For more information go to www.burnthefat.com

Lean Sexy Tight Abs

You Have Six Pack Abs This Is How To See Them

Six Pack Abs let's start doing things the right way so you and everyone else can see them. The right combinations of fat burning exercises and a healthy eating program is what you need to see your six pack abs. So let's get to work.

I have a question for you to see your six pack abs would you do 1,000 crunches or work harder on your squats? If you have fallen for the myth of some of the internet and infomercial product pitches you probably said crunches (or some ab workout gadget). And I'm not going to get into the so called fat burning diets out there. It may come as a shock to you to learn that all those ab specific exercises you are doing month after month are not fat burning exercises. Hundreds of crunches will improve core strength and function 9to a small degree) as a hedge against injury. However, they aren't enough to get the job done.

For one thing, if you have a set of rock hard abs but they're buried under layers of fat, neither you nor anyone else will get a look at them. The place to start is with your fat burning diet. Slender men and women typically eat five or six small meals a day, roughly three hours apart. The instant effect will be to bump your metabolism throughout the day and that results in burning more calories on an ongoing basis.

In fact, if you were to take the large dinner meal you ordinarily have and divide the exact same amount of foods into several smaller meals, you would actually begin to lose weight. All of those who say, "I only eat one meal a day and yet I either stay the same or gain weight" aren't paying attention to the research. Research has shown that by skipping meals or filling up on one big meal your metabolism actually slows down. We want to speed it up not slow it down.

Eating a single, huge meal at any time of day, but especially in the evening, results in keeping virtually all of those calories onboard. What your body can't use right then gets converted to fat. It also creates problems for the overworked pancreas, which tries hard to provide enough insulin to counter the big meal sugar spike.

Instead, pare down the meals and spread them out. Then, once the muscles are all pumped and buffed, they will be visible. If you want to know how to get six pack abs – it's not complicated. In fact, yours are just waiting for you to discover them. Concentrate on total body fat burning exercises, stay away from processed foods, spread your meals over 5-6 a day (yes harder to do when you work but it can be done). Drink water and stay active.


To see your six pack abs, we need to be doing the right fat burning exercises (squats, deadlifts, pull-ups etc.). your fat burning diets should be spaced over 5-6 a day, cut out the junk food(don't worry once you lose that fat you can cheat on occassion) concentrate on non processed foods. Do something active everyday (it could be just going for a quick walk). So the are the key steps to fat burning success so let's get it done!

Fat Burning Exercises For The Busy Woman

Discover here the fat burning exercises to fast track your fat burning workouts(without doing marathon aerobic workouts)to get the permanent fat loss goals you want.

Imagine looking in the mirror in a few short weeks and you have not only lost__?__lbs of fat(fill in the blank) but you now have that six pack abs look!

Most of us tend to store fat, at least partially, in our abdominal area. This is one of the most stubborn places to lose fat from. But in trying to flatten your abs have you taken the best and fastest approach?

No I don't mean doing 1000's of crunches or spending hour after mindnumbing hour on a treadmill. yes you do want to do some abs specific exercises to tighten your ab muscles but keep in mind that is not what's going to burn off that excess stomach fat.

So what kind of workouts should you be doing to burn fat at the fastest possible rate? Let me show you.

Are you using total body fat burning exercises? Yeah I didn't think so.

Rule#1 If you want to flatten your abs, firm your butt, gain lean muscle, whatever, the most effective and efficient way is with total body fat burning exercises! Hands down.

What I am going to share with you here is not only the fast track approach to fat burning and to flatten your abs, but how to shape and tone your entire body.

Here are 3 total body fat burning exercises you can easily do at home to help flatten your abs and burn fat fast.

1) Mountain Climbers

Start in push-up position. Brace your abs bring on knee towards
your chest. Return the knee to the starting position and repeat
for the other knee. Do this in a swift tempo as though you are
running.

2) Burpees

Stand up in a normal position. squat down. Put your hands on
the floor and throw your feet back so you are in the push-up
position. Do a push-up(if your conditioning allows) return to
starting position. Yeah you got it the old squat thrust from
high school.

3) Kettlebell Swing (No kettlebell? Get one or use a dumbbell)

Stand up straight with your feet just slightly wider than your
shoulders while holding one kettlebell(we are doing a two handed
kettlebell swing). Flex at the hips as you swing the kettlebell
between your legs. Then quickly and explosively flex your butt
and swing the kettlebell up to chest level. Perform the
kettlebell swing for about 10 reps.

After you have finished with the kettlebell Swing, rest for about 20 to 30 seconds. Then start again and do the whole fat burning circuit as many times as you can in 15 minutes.

Do this circuit of total body fat burning exercises 2-3 times a week. On off days from your weight training workouts. You are weight training aren't you? No! Start!

Make this a regular workout and in a short amount of time(along with a healthy eating plan) and that six pack abs look will be yours.

Remember total body fat burning exercises like I have just showed you are the fast track to get that six pack abs look.


Picture this moment: In 30 short days from now you look in the mirror and there it is Or actually there it isn't. It's You with 8-10 lbs less body fat. Close your eyes
right now see it and focus on it. Imagine how you will feel with what you have accomplished.

For more fat burning exercises, healthy eating tips and more please check out my newest web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts

Fat Burning Workout Tips And Tricks

For a sexy female body,

1) Ditch the Lame Warm Up

Skipping rope and performing calisthenic exercises like jumping
jacks work the entire body, and prepare you neurologically for the
workout to come. This will allow you to get more out of each
workout.

2) Don't Be Afraid to Lift Heavy

I insist that all my female clients spend at least 2 days per month
dedicated to heavy lifting (75% of 1RM in certain cases).


3) Fight Hormones with Hormones

Use the power of lactic acid to locally attack stubborn
estrogen-based fat storage patterns.

4) Increase Training Density

Doing more work in less time has a number of incredible benefits:
increasing the rate of fat loss, aerobic and anaerobic training,
and an increase in work capacity.

5) Focus on your Assets

When it comes to squatting for your booty, go wide. For lunges, go
deep.


And for MEN,

1) Focus on Building an X-Shaped Physique

An X-shaped physique means: broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and
strong, well-developed calves.

2) Push Less, Pull More

We should focus more on the muscles of the upper back: latissimus
dorsi, teres major, trapezius, et al. These muscles, developed
correctly, will help pull your shoulders back, helping to create
the broad shouldered look that men find powerful and women find
attractive.

To prevent imbalances and help to create such a look, try to
maintain a 3:2 ratio of pulling exercises to pushing exercises.

3) Lift Heavy at Least 4 Days per Month

To achieve the increases, my clients all have at least 1 day per
week dedicated to lifting near maximal loads. In addition to the
aforementioned benefits, heavy training also leads to strength
increases, which has obvious implications for training in the
future.

4) Mix Up Your Training

For the purposes of getting lean, exposing yourself to consistently
changing stimulus is an excellent way to ramp up metabolism and
consistently increases the processes by which fat loss is made
possible.

5) Tame Your Hormones

To aid in shedding the love handles and creating a body worth
seeing naked, there are a few ways to improve insulin management
via supplementation and diet. More details on the blog...

A Kettlebell Workout For A Firm Butt And Slender Thighs

Good Morning,
I have a guest article for you today by Andrea Du Cane (better known as the Kettlebell Goddess). The workout she has for you concentrates on the lower body specfically the hips, butt and thighs.

If you have never used kettlebells before you should really give them a try. kettlebell training not only is a great workout for adding lean muscle and strength but is a tremendous cardio and fat loss workout.

If you don't own a kettlebell you can do this workout with a dumbbell. But if you can get yourself a kettlebell trust me it's worth it. Okay enough from me Andrea will take it from here enjoy.

The New Year is here and let's put the cookies and mince pies down and get back to work. I hope you are truly motivated to get your training back on track. One way to do that is have a GOAL, or pick an area where you'd like to see an increase in strength, endurance or flexibility. Or maybe it's just to lose those 10 pounds you gained over the holidays. Well… I'm here to help you set your goals and achieve them.

I'm going to start by making some assumptions. Whether or not you relate to them, if you follow my tips you'll get RESULTS. We're going to focus on the lower core, the hips and legs. No I'm not talking "Thigh Master", but REAL HARDCORE TRAINING that will get you the results you're looking for.

You may have heard that the swing is the FOUNDATION of Hardstyle Kettlebells. It is, and for good reason. Working the hips, butt, and legs dynamically with explosive power burns the fat and gives you an unparalleled cardio workout. Swings, simple and brutal should be your basic program. The swing workouts can be done on alternating days to really hit it hard or after your strength training. There is so much information out there on working your swings, take your pick but DO them.

KEEP IT SIMPLE, sets, ladders, time, whatever works, but make sure you get them done EACH week.

Now on to the other good stuff, lower body strength training. I'm going to focus on a superset of lower body drills. Here is a quick and simple lower body killer that doesn't take very long. Move from one exercise to the next with as little rest as possible.

Goblet or Front Squat 8-10 reps

One- Legged Dead Lift (Right-side only) 8-10 reps

Goblet or Front Squat 8-10 reps

One- Legged DL (Left-side only) 8-10 reps

Rest and repeat for a total of 2-3 super sets.

Finish with 10 Good Mornings (done very slow and tight)

This is just one example of a simple complex set of layering 2 drills to really target certain muscle groups. Moving from single leg to both legs gives the body a sense of a rest without really resting. You can use 1 kettlebell or 2 for either drill. If you're starting to fatigue, you can drop a rep from each set as you go.

Of course if you have the Goddess DVD, follow the Goddess workout Callipygos for a great leg and butt workout!

Here is a link to read more about Andrea's Kettlebell Goddess Program.

Your Fat Burning Workouts Using Variety For Success

Someone asked me the other day which workouts should she choose to do. She was a little confused because in my articles I talk about weight training, kettlebells, interval training and bodyweight exercises. So I could see how she was a little confused.

My answer to her and all of you is use them all. You know the whole variety is the spice of life thing. When it comes to fat loss, gaining lean muscle and improving your fitness and health variety is your best path. Now I mentioned 4 different ways to exercise above do you know the combination and workouts you could put together?

Using variety will keep you motivated and focused on getting to your fitness and fat burning goals. I don't know about you but I tend to get bored easily and let's face it exercise isn't always the most exciting thing in your life. If you keep challenging yourself with new and different workouts you will start to look forward to them. Especially once you start seeing the rewards in the mirror.

The one small problem with using exercise variety like I do is you have to really plan ahead. Back in the old day's of doing the basic bodybuilding splits you went to your garage or gym or wherever you worked out and were going to do the same workout over and over.

I tend to go by feel sometimes just for whatever reason I might feel like doing a particular exercise or exercises so I do it. I don't want it to sound like I just jump into a workout not knowing what I'll do that day. I do have it planned ahead of time but I will deviate from the plan also.

What I want to give you here is how to incorporate a variety of fat burning and muscle building exercise programs to use. You do need to plan this ahead on at least a weekly basis.

Commit to Weight training Monday and Thursday use total body exercises. As an example:

#1. Deadlifts

#2. Pushups

#3. Clean and Press

Again these exercises aren't written in stone maybe for whatever reason I don't have the feel to do pushups I'll do Incline dumbbell presses instead.

Use heavy weights, keep your reps in the 4-8 range, 4-5 sets each (best for lean muscle gains and losing fat). Yes it is only 3 exercises but with these 3 exercises you have also worked virtually every muscle group, Workout with intensity, haphazard workouts give haphazard results. You workout for a purpose, burn fat, gain lean muscle and improved fitness and health.

Tuesday and Friday do some Kettlebell exercises - Use timed sets

Set a timer for lets say 5 minutes (this will depend on your fitness level adjust time up or down)

#1. Kettlebell Swings - do as many reps as you can in your time frame

#2. Kettlebell Snatch - same as above

With timed sets every workout try to do more reps than the workout before. You don't need to do 10 more reps if you can't even 1 more than your last workout is progression.

Wednesday and Saturday could be Interval Training.

Do some bodyweight circuits, Jump Rope, go outside and do some sprint intervals.

This is just an example of how you could set up your exercise week. No you don't have to workout 6 days a week this is just an example. You should set up your workout to your conditioning level. Keep your workouts short 45 minutes(for weight training) 20 minutes and under(for kettlebells and Intervals).

Like I said sometimes I feel like doing something in particular so I do it.

I guess in a round about way what I'm saying is if you say to yourself I am weight training today but I really feel like doing Intervals than do Intervals that day. You are motivated to do intervals not weight train that day. Chances are if you say I have to (instead of I want to) weight train you probably won't even make it through your workout.

Use this article as your guide. As I mentioned change out exercises for variety. Keep the workouts short (not only saves time but also helps keep you motivated). At my new web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts we talk about all kinds of different exercises and workouts you can do. We also talk about nutrition and healthy eating, motivation and goal setting. Stop by and check it out.

Check out my new web site Fat Burning Diets And Workouts for more workout and diet articles. Thanks Joe

The Fat Burning Or Fat Storage Process Of Your Body

How Fat Loss Happens


The overweight and obesity problem in this country is running rampant, one problem you may have in trying to deal with it is information overload. The internet is full of the latest and greatest fad diets and quickie weight loss products. What you need is a basic understanding of how fat loss happens in your body. Learn the basics and you can in a safe and healthy way reach your fat loss goals.

Fat loss first and foremost is a hormonal event, the right hormones telling the body to release the stored “energy” in the fat cells to burn off. It is also important to know that there are also fat “storing” hormones that act in the opposite way, triggering the body to store “future energy” into the fat cells. The body triggers these hormones through many different stimulus like food, drink, exercise, stress and sleep.

Fat cells are just the body’s emergency storage tanks afterall. If we didn’t have fat cells, we wouldn’t have survived the famines of the past. It’s a built-in survival mechanism that is getting all the wrong signals today. The body wasn’t designed around constant intake of food, especially the processed and high in sugar kind. (as that is not something that naturally grows on trees!)

So we know that fat loss is hormonal. Also fat loss occurs when oxygen is present, what is known as aerobic. (which means with oxygen) The other stage is called anaerobic (without oxygen). Anaerobic training is also known more commonly as strength training.

This is the confusing part with exercise. Most people think that by doing aerobics you burn all the fat you want. Well if that was true we would all have single digit body fat levels from the 1980's aerobics craze. There is no guarantee for fat burning. What about stored glycogen? Plus if you can burn fat in an aerobic state, well aren’t you in an aerobic state all day long (minus brief times of anaerobic activity) including sleeping? So you have the ability to burn fat all day long! The only thing left is the hormones and whether they are emptying or storing.

Learning to empty the fat stores are the key!

The Fat loss hormones are insulin, glucagon, and growth hormone (GH). Insulin is a fat storing hormone, while glucagon and GH are fat burning hormones. If insulin is high, the other hormones go down (this is an important relationship to realize). Another hormone called cortisol (stress hormone) is a muscle breakdown hormone… not something we want in our fat loss quest.

Below are quick and easy points on how to maximize the fat burning hormones and minimize the muscle breakdown/fat storing hormones (not all muscle breakdown is bad, you need to break down and rebuild the cells it’s when you have excessive breakdown and minimal rebuilding that is the issue as that will lead to a loss of muscle).

Your #1 enemy, Sugar

Everything you put into your mouth counts! Why is sugar bad? Because sugar will be quickly absorbed into the blood which causes a spike in your blood sugar and with that spike the body releases insulin to take care of it (shuttle excessive blood sugar into the fat cells for storage!). Every time you put sugar into your mouth your telling your body let's store some fat and that is exactly the hormonal signal you are giving it. Remember also when insulin is high, glucagon and GH go down.

So for fat loss:

•Minimize insulin levels thoughout the day (no high levels/spikes except during the post workout window when the insulin sensitivity is maximum, it goes into muscle not fat)

•Maximize Glucagon (which is directly inversely proportional to insulin levels)

•Maximum GH (which is controlled by insulin, exercise response and sleep)

•Keep Cortisol in check (you will have some, but excessive will lead to muscle loss)
For Insulin control (and max Glucagon response):

•Keep levels low by not eating sugar or foods that quickly break down into the bloodstream (any processed foods)

•Have protein with every meal (as that will slow down the digestion of any sugars). Also protein intake stimulates the release of glucagon.

•Improve insulin sensitivity with glycogen draining exercise (weight training) which will in turn reduce your insulin resistance (which is one of the biggest reasons for obesity and a serious increase of risks for many other diseases including heart disease, cancers, diabetes, accelerated aging and more!)

For max GH response:

•Most of your daily GH is released in the first couple hours of sleep at night (75%) . Keep your insulin levels low (which means no big meals or sugar 2-3 hours before bed). So get your sleep, shorting yourself of sleep will hurt your fat loss efforts and may lead to weight gain from improper hormonal responses.

•Exercise with Intensity, whether it is weight training with short rest periods or doing interval training. Short burst of anaerobic intense exercise (lactic acid burn) will signal the body to release GH. Long aerobic activities (jogging, etc) will NOT. (The old argument of look at the body composition of a sprinter vs the marathon runner…the sprinter has more muscle and very low bf%, the marathon runner has little muscle and a higher bf% even if they look smaller).

•Exercise in a fasted state has also shown to increase GH levels (make sure you have enough energy to get through your workout, have a small meal 1-2 hours before).

Minimize excessive Cortisol:

•Keep all intense strength or cardio exercise under 45min (remember we want to increase the intensity in a short period, not the duration, less is more). Anything longer will just start wasting muscle as fuel.

•Relax, don’t stress the small stuff. Get perspective on things in your life, and detach from things that really don’t matter.

So if you can master these small steps, you will see tremendous changes. Remember that fat loss is an all day event! So eat and live your life that way! Don’t worry about how many calories you burn doing something, because that is not the point. Worry about what you eat all day and how your hormones are going to react to it. Eat the foods your body was meant to eat and live the active lifestyle your body was designed for….and you will have increased health, look great, feel great and hopefully live long and stay active. So….to sum up:

85% of fat loss is nutrition (not how many calories you can burn doing something) and you have the ability to burn fat all day long if your hormones tell your body to do so.

Eat whole natural foods (not processed), avoid all sugars (foods and drinks), have protein with every meal

Train your fast twitch muscles with weight training 2-3x a week and do interval training 2-3 times a week. Do something active everyday.

Stop stressing out, take some deep breaths, get outside to relax and get your sleep.