Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Get That Belly Fat Off !



The following article includes excerpts from Adam Bornstein, a contributor to Men's Health magazine.

Losing belly fat does not result from counting calories alone.  Steady state cardio is also not the way to target belly fat.  Here are the best ways to help you uncover your abs.

Exercise three times a week but it should be intense, breathless work that includes intervals and weight lifting.  The best methods are the type of work outs that I post on this site.  Weights mixed with plyometrics or sprint work is a super effective workout.

As for diet, place a greater priority on fat and protein and fill in the rest with non-starchy carbs. 'For years this nutrient was considered a dietary demon.  However, recent studies clearly show that it's not fat that inflates your belly' writes Bornstein. In fact fat may actually keep you from overeating because it makes you feel full longer. You probably already know the importance of protein.  When you workout you actually create micro tears in your muscles and you need protein to repair those tears.  When it does you grow stronger.  Active muscle creates a higher metabolism. Bornstein advises your to 'build your diet around whole foods - those you'd find in nature.  You should choose mainly meat, eggs, dairy, fruits, vegetable, nuts and legumes'.  Keep grain products to a minimum but if you must eat them choose whole grain over other types.

The simple formula is protein and vegetable with whole grains in moderation.  Oh, and don't worry about fat content.


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Workout Of the Week August 22, 2012 + More

First I am going to post the WOW and then I am going to write a little bit about nutrition.  More and more information is coming out about lower carbohydrate eating.  Again, not severely restricted but moderately restricted.  You can read the facts below written by Laura Dolson who has ten years experience teaching and living low carb.


This is a gym-based workout for biceps, triceps and legs.

Warm Up


Biceps


These two exercises are performed back to back for 3 sets, rest between sets:








Negative Chins X10
If your strong enough
do dead weight chins



Incline bicep curls X10
Hammer curls 3X15





Wall ball or medicine ball slams 3X20 with 1 minute recovering between sets



Triceps


These two exercises are performed back to back for 3 sets, rest between sets:










Bar tricep push ups X10.  On this one make sure your elbows point straight back, staying close to your body.




 French press X8       





Kick backs 3X15



 Full burpee 3X20 with 1 minute recovering between sets





Legs


These two exercises are performed back to back for 3 sets,
rest between sets: 







Walking lunges X10 steps in each direction


     Back squats X8



 Overhead lunges 3X15/side

 Split jump (scissor jump) 3X20 (R/L counts as 1) with 1 minute recovery between sets





 Perform full jackknife with a 2 count pause at the top 3X20



The following is from Laura Dolson's low carb diet guide.  It outlines some of the main concerns that people have for living low carb.

Low Carb = No Carb

This misconception is the idea that a “low”-carb diet must be really really low in carbohydrates.  You will read that low carb diets attempt to 'eliminate carbohydrates'. For example;

Fact: Not one low-carb diet author advocates this. Even Atkins Induction, which is very low in carbohydrates, is not “no carb,” is only meant to last two weeks, and actually can be skipped altogether, according to the Atkins Web site.

Fact: Diet authors who recommend reducing carbs have all sorts of different ideas about carb levels.

Fact: The carbohydrate level should be adjusted to the individual.

Fact: Over the years, the “nutritional establishment” has been gradually lowering the range of recommended carbohydrate in the diet, at the same time condemning reduced-carb diets, some of which may be recommending the lower end of the new “accepted range,” or close to it. Example: Dr. Dean Edell, a prominent media physician, once stated that the Zone Diet, a 40% carbohydrate, low saturated fat diet, “could be dangerous” because it is too low in carbohydrates. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that 45% to 65% of the diet be carbohydrate, depending upon the individual. 


Low-Carb Diets Will Damage the Kidneys

The reasoning here is that because people with kidney disease are usually encouraged to eat LOW protein diets, a diet that is higher in protein will CAUSE kidney disease.

Fact: This has never been shown to be the case, and, in fact, a low-carb diet is often not higher in protein than the latest recommended levels. 
 

People Eating Low Carb Are Courting Heart Disease 

Fact: In study after study, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and other markers for heart disease risk decline on low-carb diets. Also, in one large long term study, even low-carb diets with a lot of animal fat and protein did not raise the risk of heart disease.

Low-Carb Diets Have Inadequate Fiber

The reasoning goes that since fiber IS carbohydrate, a low-carb diet MUST be low in fiber.

Fact: Since fiber remains undigested (in fact, it lessens the impact of other carbohydrates on blood sugar), it is encouraged on low-carb diets. Lots of low-carb foods are high in fiber, and on diets that encourage carb counting, fiber does not enter into the calculation. 

Because vegetables and fruits are mainly carbohydrate, people believe that they are not allowed on low-carb diets.

Fact: The opposite is true –- non-starchy vegetables are usually at the bottom of the low carb pyramids meaning they are the “staff of life” of the diet (replacing grains in that role) and people who follow a low-carb way of eating almost always eat more vegetables than the general population. For the most part, vegetables and fruits ARE the carbs eaten when following a low-carb way of eating.





Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Workout Of The Week August 8, 2012

The WOW this week is a shoulder workout.  I love working shoulders because the pay off is huge.  Beautifull shoulders look great and slim the waist because they balance out your hips.

You will a couple of sets of dumbbell and a barbell.

Warm Up

Clean and Press - 5 sets of 10.  This weight needs to be heavy enough that you are struggling on reps 9 and 10. Take adequate rest between sets so that you can complete each one as best as possible.




Rear lateral raise - 4 sets of 8




Arnold Presses - 3 sets of 8



Wide plank row - alt for a total of 20, or 10 on each side for 3 sets



Finish with a 3-4 mile run on treadmill or outside.  After a jogging warm up surge forward (run faster) for 4 minutes and then jog for 1 minute.  Try to adjust the  intensity of your surge so that you  don't have to stop completely.  It may take a couple rounds to figure that out.  Repeat the  surge/jog combination for 4 or 5 rounds, if you are runnning outside the amount  of rounds will depend on how far you are running.

After you are done with your run cool down and then perform 3 sets of 20 sit ups.