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 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.

Fat Loss Circuit Training Have A Firm Butt Slender Thighs Tight Abs

Fat-Loss Circuit Training - Now is the time to try this revolutionary fat-burning, metabolism-boosting training technique!
By Nick Nilsson

Experience a training technique so powerful you can literally
FEEL your metabolism firing up and burning fat!


Want to burn off that holiday weight gain as quickly as humanly possible? Fat-Loss Circuit Training is the BEST place to start.

Fat-Loss Circuit Training is a program of my own invention. I developed it for losing fat quickly. It's challenging but very effective!

It's also one of the core components of my extremely powerful "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss" program available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com.

Fat-Loss Circuit Training is very simple once you get the hang of it, but it can be one of the most demanding (and most extraordinarily effective) styles of training you can do.

If you're familiar with normal circuit training (with timed, light-weight intervals), please put aside any notions you might have of how this program works. You will not only be harnessing the muscle-building and metabolism-stimulating power of intense, full-set weight training (NOT the typical light-weight, timed intervals of normal circuit training), you will also be incorporating the great calorie-burning effects of cardiovascular training.

The proper combination of the two styles (weights and cardio) into one workout is, quite simply, phenomenal for fat burning.

In order to use Fat-Loss Circuit Training, you will need access to both weight equipment and cardio equipment (and/or benches or stairs), preferably located in fairly close proximity to each other.

This type of training is harder to do in a crowded gym as it will involve you moving back and forth quickly between different pieces of equipment. If someone is waiting to use your cardio machine the moment you step off, it will defeat the purpose of the workout. This technique is best used in a fairly uncrowded gym where you have more freedom to use equipment or, better yet, in a home gym with weights and cardio equipment and no one waiting for anything!

If you do work out in a crowded gym, I will tell you exactly how to get around it.

How The Training Works:

- Essentially, this is combined circuit/interval training.

- You will be going back and forth between your weight training exercises and one cardio exercise for the duration of the workout.

- Your rest period for weights will be your cardio and your rest period for cardio will be your weights.

- You will be doing some sort of activity for your entire workout without any break!

This combination is very effective for a number of reasons:

- It forces your body to burn calories continuously during the workout.

- It utilizes resistance training and cardio training so you get all the benefits of both in one workout.

- By forcing your body to work like this, you dramatically increase your metabolism leading to increased fat burning long after the workout (more so than either weights or cardio alone).

- It saves time - you get both your weights and cardio in the same amount of time as your regular workout.

- You will still be able to use heavy weights in your weight training, helping to preserve muscle mass.


How To Do It:

Step 1 - Set Up

For the most efficient workout possible, try to have most or all of your exercises pre-set and ready to go. The less time you spend on preparation during your workout itself, the more effective that workout will be, especially since you want to be continually active throughout the workout. You can use any type of cardio that is convenient and enjoyable to you, be it a machine, stair stepping, or even a skipping rope.

If you are working out in a crowded gym, try to claim an area for yourself and focus on dumbell exercises. You won't have to wait in line to use any weight machines that way.

If you don't have access to convenient cardio machines, you're going to have to go low-tech. You'll need to do stair-stepping (stepping up two stairs then back down works well), bench-stepping (step up onto a flat bench or Step platform then back down) or rope-jumping (be sure you're not close to anyone if you choose this). These approaches work just as well as cardio machines and allow you to perform this training style in a busier setting.

Step 2 - Warm-up

Do a few minutes of low-intensity cardio as a warm-up. You may wish to do a few light sets of a few of the exercises you'll be working with before you start into it though. Don't tire yourself out, just get a light sweat going.


Step 3 - Start with 30 - 40 seconds of moderate intensity cardio.

This could be setting a stair machine to a level that is not easy but is not so challenging that you're going to exhaust yourself right away. Watch the timer on your machine and go for approximately 40 seconds (I say approximately because there will generally be a slight lag time when you step on and off).

Many cardio machines have a "rest period" feature where you can leave the machine on and it will not erase your program while you have stepped off. Normally, this is about 2 minutes. This should be enough time to complete your weight set.

If you are using a machine such as a treadmill or stair machine that you will leave on with the timer running, just watch the time counter on the machine and keep track of when you get on it to get the designated period. It may require a little mental math! You can also use your own stopwatch or timer on your watch to keep track (this is easier). Start the timer when you start the cardio.

Many machines also have a feature that runs through a series of time periods. I've found on the StairMaster, if you set the length of the session to 20 minutes, this results in a 40 second time period making it perfect for judging your cardio periods.


Step 4 - Do a set of weights.

Go as quickly as you can to your first exercise. Do a set of the first exercise on your program for the day. Do this with no rest, going from the cardio immediately to the weights. Do all your reps until you start to approach muscular failure.

While this is definitely still intense weight training, don't push yourself to muscular failure as you would in your regular training. Due to the high training volume we'll be doing in this program, pushing to failure on every set will compromise muscle recovery.

Also, be very sure to use proper form and tempo when lifting the weights. Don't rush your weight sets - perform them with the same form and speed as you would if you were doing a regular set in your training. Fast, light or sloppy weight sets are NOT what we're looking for here.


Step 5 - Go right back to the cardio.

Get back to the cardio and do another 40 seconds of moderate-intensity cardio.


Step 6 - Repeat the cycle for the duration of the workout.

You will be going back and forth continuously between cardio and your weight training exercises, using the cardio as the rest period between your weight sets. What this means is that over the course of your workout, you'll be burning calories via cardio and weights AND you'll be working your muscles with intense, heavy weight training as well. It's tough training but very effective!


Notes:

- As you improve your cardio ability, you can choose to increase the intensity of your cardio training between sets. You may wish to start at a lower level and gradually increase the resistance over the course of the workout or start at a higher level and keep it there. It is perfectly acceptable to keep it at a steady, moderate level, however.

- This Fat-Loss Circuit technique can be used with nearly any form of cardio exercise as long as it is convenient to go back and forth with the weights. The real key here is to maintain activity for the entire workout.

- Keep your workouts to no more than 45 minutes at the very most when doing this type of training. Any more than that and you will be breaking yourself down too much. It's an extremely demanding form of training as you'll be working every major energy system in your body. You will also find it will crank your metabolism up pretty seriously!


For a sample workout to follow, taken directly from my "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss" ebook, please click on the following link:

http://www.fitstep.com/metabolic-surge/course/day1.htm
You will be able to print this workout and take it to the gym with you to try out.


Want to order "Metabolic Surge" right now for the low price of only $29.95? Click on the following link to order:

metabolic-surge
Your new body is waiting for you!

------------------

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 16 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 "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com.

How To Get Tight Abs A Firm Butt And Slender Thighs

'Sexy thin thighs' - it's an elusive goals amongst so many women in the world. Elusive, not because it's an unachievable goal - but because just about every women doesn't know the true way to get attractively slim and toned, sexy thighs.

Here's how to do it.

I recently had a chance to catch up with one of my favorite fitness colleagues at a womens' fitness conference in South Florida. We got into a conversation about the 2 ways women try to get sexy thin thighs...

Those 2 ways are:
1 - The Easy Way
2 - The Hard Way

The Hard Way actually was a long list of the many wrong and self-destructive ways of 'attempting' to get nice thin thighs, ranging from unrealistic heavy weights and uncomfortable machine type exercise programs to bogus 'spa' treatments (like body wraps) to 'slimming pills' to crazy 'diets' to ridiculous 'cleansing' juice fasts to 'miracle' thigh lotions and creams...

Of course, there was a whole lot more than that, but you get the idea of our candid conversation - that eventually came to the subject of The Easy Way to get attractively thin thighs.

This, of course, first assumes that a woman has flabby, fat, thick and heavy thighs - that she is unhappy, maybe even depressed with and wants to slim them down and firm them up.
Both of us wholeheartedly agreed that the easiest way for a woman to get sexy thin thighs is by:

Rule One - following a properly structured, and targeted exercise routine, that focuses on the problem areas (in this case - the fat thighs).

Rule Two - combining that program with the right type and amount of cardiovascular exercise for calorie burning.

Rule Three - following a healthy, simple, and 'calorically correct' eating plan with foods that are readily available at any modern supermarket and taste good!

Rule Four - [Most Important] Committing to a lifestyle of 'fitness' habits that naturally result in a woman having 'those eye catching thighs' and a body to match, for the rest of her fun life.

Please make note that 'thin thighs' is a relative term - and most often can be replaced by 'thinner thighs' - because let's face it - 'too thin' is not sexy or desirable either.

Which takes us back to my philosophy on fitness and life:

"It's all about balance. Proper balance, that is." In other words - you can balance the wrongs things and that won't bring you the results you want. You must balance the right elements for to get the desired outcome.

My fitness colleague and dear friend, Victoria, agrees about finding balance in your fitness journey - as she will be the first to admit that her life used to be way out of balance until she decided it was time to change her body and her life for the better.

'The Womens' Trainer' - Joey Atlas, Exercise Physiologist, is the genius behind the Top Thigh Slimming Butt Lifting Home Exercise Program for Women.

Get A Firm Butt Slender Thighs And Tight Abs

95% of Women Make These Same Weight Loss Mistakes Over and Over

Stephanie and Margo are 27 and 59 years old respectively. I use them as examples because of their age differences, yet both of them achieving very similar results... and inspiring results at that! When they first came to me, they were spewing a lot of the same old negative beliefs about their body that I see so many women have... they would say things such as:

"Oh, I'll never lose weight... my metabolism is shot and just way too slow!"

or"I'll just have to accept my flabby body the way it is because with my genetics, I'll never get a flat stomach."or

"I've tried everything and nothing works... I'm doomed to have this pooch-belly and love handle rolls for life!"or

"I just don't have time to get in shape... it's just impossible for me with my busy schedule... I should just give up."

The fact is... they both proved ALL of these beliefs DEAD WRONG! And so have thousands of other women that changed their mindset, their workout techniques, and their nutrition habits drastically from their old habits that weren't working.


Over the last 10 years of training and consulting hundreds of women on nutrition, quite a few patterns started to emerge and I noticed most women were falling into many of the same traps. Some of them I mentioned above with the excess cardio, the time wasted doing crunches & situps, the bogus fat-burner pills, the worthless ab gadgets, the grocery store mistakes, and the failed diets time and time again.

Stephanie and Margo had also fallen into the same traps and struggled with their fitness for years due to these mistakes. But something changed immediately when they starting using the workout and dietary techniques that I revealed to them.

They finally started getting results and losing layer upon layer of ugly body fat after years of struggling to lose even a couple of pounds!

Change Your Methods Drasticallyand Your Body Will Change Drastically... Get Out That Bikini!

After finally changing her ways and adopting a new way of thinking about food, working out, and what she can achieve, Stephanie has lost over 70 lbs and literally made herself an entirely new person. She feels more energetic, looks about 10 years younger now, and is finally confident to wear whatever she wants out of the house now, after years of being self conscious.

Margo also lost 23 lbs so far and is feeling the best she has in over 2 decades after implementing these techniques that she learned in my system. She's actually enjoying food more now than ever before, yet still losing weight and firming up her entire body.

So What are Stephanie & Margo Doing DifferentlyThat Has Kick-Started Them Into a Whole New Lifestyle of Feeling Good & Looking Sexy?

Well, what they are doing is a uniquely designed full body program I put together called The Truth about Six Pack Abs.

After years of seeing so many frustrated people struggling with excess body fat and flabby abs and literally wasting their hard-earned money on worthless fat-loss products and six-pack abs gimmicks... I decided it was time to put together my own unique system to solve this problem.
Time and time again I even saw my friends and family just being flat-out scammed by the unscrupulous marketers in the fitness industry selling you all of this garbage that isn't going to do anything at all to change your body for the better... It's only going to make their wallets fatter!

What I did was put together an innovative scientifically-based fitness program that has finally revealed the truth about abdominals, stomach fat & love handles, and is helping tens of thousands of people around the world to finally conquer their struggle.

If you too can relate to this weight loss struggle you owe it to yourself to find out exactly what The Truth About Abs can do for you.

Kettlebell Training For The Busy Woman (And Man)

Kettlebells will improve your quality of life. They will increase your energy level, reshape your body, increase your strength, relieve stress, increase your metabolism and take up less time.

Women often complain about how a slow metabolism contributes to their inability to lose weight. Increasing your metabolism is easy. High rep ballistic exercises and circuit training with kettlebells really boost your metabolism. You can include ballistic exercises in every workout. Swings, snatches, and cleans can be performed in numbers from one to hundreds.

That is what working out with kettlebells is all about and results come quickly. In as little as a week you can decrease body fat and see more muscle tone and definition. Kettlebells deliver on the promises. When you get the proper form down for the exercises your strength and flexibility will increase rapidly.

Kettlebell exercise workouts were made for busy women (Guys this is for you to).

Fast Efficient and Result Producing Workouts. And they can be done at home with minimal equipment.

Q: Is kettlebell training the ultimate way to train?

A: No one system is the ultimate way to train. Do not kid yourself as training is not a black and white world. Is kettlebell training effective for fat loss, strength training, and building muscle? Yes and it is a super fun way to train. In order to keep training interesting, you have to keep it fun and kettlebells are a great fit. You can benefit from kettlebell focused programs or you can incorporate kettlebell training into your current regimen. There is something for everyone.

Q: Is kettlebell training effective for fat loss?

A: Yes however pushing yourself away from the table more often and cutting krispy creme out of your diet is even more effective. Fat loss is 70% diet and 30% training. Unless you are a professional athlete where training is your job. Do not kid yourself into thinking that you train like a professional athlete unless you are one. Kettlebell training can be a very effective way to ramp up your metabolism. However, anyone that tells you that you can lose fat with kettlebell training and a crappy diet is doing you a disservice.

Kettlebell Training works plain and simple Lean Muscle Gains, Lose Body Fat Increase Your Energy and be more fit and healthier than you thought you would ever be.