Archive for the ‘goal setting’ Category

It’s hard to believe, but 2009 is slowly coming to an end.

The weather is changing.

Kids are back in school.

The bad news is that many people have long since forgotten the goals they set for themselves way back on January 1…you know “I’ll lose weight this year.”  “This year will be different – I’ll finally get rid of this stomach fat.”, etc., etc.

The good news is there are still 4 months left to achieve your weight loss and fitness goals.

So let me ask you… Read the rest of this entry »

Do you like Physics?

I used to hate it.  I had to take it in high school and in college because of my original major – a major that didn’t last very long, largely because of all the Physics courses.

I didn’t get it. It was supposed to be ‘simple’…the stuff that makes the universe work and all that, but something about it didn’t click.

I like to blame it on my teachers, as all students do.  One we used to call “The Silver Fox” and the other liked to talk about space – as in outer space.  Why would I care about outer space when I need to learn about computers?

Now I kind of enjoy it.   I don’t know why, but as the years have passed I kinda dig it.

One law of physics in particular has been bothering me lately.  Not me personally, but its effect on clients, both offline and online.

That law of physics is inertia.

I’ll spare you the real definition and give you the fitness version. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you know what important date is coming up?

Is it my birthday?

Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about…although if you’d like to get me a gift please feel free.

Actually my birthday, my wife’s birthday, and my daughter’s birthday are all within a week of each other.  I’m turning 30, my daughter’s turning 2 and if I told you my wife’s age she just might kill me…isn’t that how you ladies react to people talking about age or am I just being a sexist man?

Before I get off on a tangent and make every single woman reading this want to reach through the computer and strangle me maybe I should get to the point.

There is a very important date for all you folks looking to lose weight coming up pretty soon.

Actually it’s only around 8 weeks away.

What is that magical date? Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve got a newfound love for fast workouts.

Why?

Well besides the fact that you can get  A LOT done in a short period of time, which is paramount for a busy dad, busy business owner…and a guy who just doesn’t want to spend every waking moment doing fat loss workouts.

Who’d a thought? A personal trainer who doesn’t want to spend all his time doing workouts!

But it’s true.  I’ve got better things to do than spend hours doing fat loss workouts and I’m willing to bet you do too.

You’ve got work requirements.  You’ve got kids that need to get ready for school, lunches packed, homework that needs to be done, after school sports and activities like band or dance…man kids take up a lot of free time!

But on top of that you probably just don’t like to spend a lot of time working out.  The people who enjoy doing long fat loss workouts are few and far between, so it’s probably music to your ears when I tell you that you can get fast workouts in that are just as, if not more, effective than longer workouts.

It’s just a matter of cutting out all the “isolation” movements like triceps kickbacks, crunches, torso twists, etc. and stick to movements that move a lot of muscle which means they burn a lot of fat.

That is the true key to fast workouts.  Sticking with big movements and combination exercises, and cutting out the frivolous movements that do little to nothing in terms of fat loss.

But what do fast workouts look like?  Do fast workouts have to look like some sort of new-age aerobics class? Read the rest of this entry »

“Why in God’s name do you create some of the workouts that you do?”

“Are you trying to kill me with this workout?”

“You’re a no good [insert naughty word here] for making me do this you know that right.”

Those are just a few of the questions and colorful comments I get from clients, both in my studio and people who have bought my Fat Loss To Go program, about some of the workouts I create and some of the exercises I make them do.

Yes, I do get cussed at and yes I like it!

But those are good questions, even with the colorful language.

Why do I create some of the workouts I do?

Is there a method to my madness?  Do I just pick exercises out of thin air and group them together or is there a reason that certain exercises are grouped together in supersets or in workouts?

Believe it or not, there is a method to my madness and each and every exercise and workout has a purpose and a reason for being included.

As do the repetition numbers, number of sets and the reason I keep the rest periods so low.

Do you want to know the answer?

Too bad because it’s my personal secret…kind of like Kentucky Fried Chicken’s secret blend of herbs and spices, only without all the hormone injected chickens and deep fat fried goodness.

Kidding.

One of the reasons I create my workouts can be done so quickly is because the exercises done are big exercises.  Meaning that they work lots of muscles at once, rather than one group like the machines do at health clubs.

That means that you burn a lot more calories doing it my way than you do with the health club machines.  If you burn more calories doing it my way, then you also burn a lot more fat, plus you get done with your workout a lot faster.

Those are all good things in my book and I’m sure that anything that burns more fat in less time is good in your book too.

Take for instance when I pair push-ups with squats.

The push-ups, work not only your chest, but also your shoulders, triceps (back of your arms), a little bit of your upper back as well as your core/stomach/low back.  Pretty good amount of muscle worked there which means a good number of calories get burned.

The squats work the front of your thighs, back of your thighs, butt, core/low back/abs.  Again, a pretty good amount of muscle worked, plus those are big muscles which means you burn a lot of calories.

Plus when those two exercises are paired together you work pretty much your entire body, and when you do that for a few sets you’ve worked your entire body in around 3 or 4 minutes.  Not bad, huh?

The same can be said when I pair an exercise like bent over rows which works your upper back, low back, biceps (front of your arms) and core/abs with an exercise like lunges which, just like the squats, works your entire leg, butt, and core.

Again, you work your entire body in just a few minutes, use a lot of muscle, which means you burn a lot of calories, which means you’ll burn a lot of fat.

Put those two supersets together and you have just worked just about every single muscle in your body and have burned a lot of calories and a lot of fat.

Not bad for around 10 minutes of work, huh?

Remember, muscle is the only tissue in your body that burns fat.  If you work your muscles, you burn fat…period, end of discussion.

If you work a lot of muscle, you burn a lot of fat.  That is exactly why exercises like crunches are almost worthless when it comes to burning stomach fat.  They work very little muscle (the abs are pretty thin even though they cover a lot of space), which means they burn very few calories.  Sure they strengthen your abs, but that doesn’t mean they burn a lot of fat.

If you want to burn stomach fat you’re much better off doing the full body workouts I give you in these newsletters, in my YouTube videos, and in my Fat Loss To Go program.  They all focus on full body workouts, utilize full body exercises and full body abs exercises which means you get done VERY fast and burn A LOT of fat in that short period of time.

So does that explain a little why some of my workouts are so devilish?

Have a great day!

Ed

P.S. – Like I said, the workouts I design are fat burning juggernauts and will burn a lot of fat off you in a short period of time.  Just stick with them and follow my nutrition advice and you’ll be well on your way to accomplishing your fat burning goals.  Check out my Fat Loss To Go program here www.fatlosstogo.com