Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Should Men & Women Train Differently? by Mike Geary
I received this e-mail a few days ago and wanted to pass it on. It's a must read for women who are afraid of "bulking up" and for guys who think that 1-rep maxes are the way to build muscle.
Should Men & Women Train Differently?
by Mike Geary
This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the fitness industry... So many men and women "think" they need to workout drastically different from one another.
For example, many women think they need to do 20 or 30 reps per set of every exercise with little pink 3 or 5 lb barbie weights, because if they actually lift heavier weights, they falsely believe they will "bulk up".
Also, many men think they need to do 1-rep maxes to build muscle... this is simply not true... overall training volume and a caloric surplus builds more muscle than does 1-rep maxes... although I'm not saying there isn't a time and place for 1-rep maxes.
One of my biggest frustrations over the years when I was training lots of females and I would show them the workout I wanted to take them through... they would say something like... "I don't want to do those exercises. That looks like a man's workout!"
And they would go back to their little pink 5 lb dumbbells and endless cardio routines and keep getting NO RESULTS at all for months or years.
However, the females I trained that were open-minded enough to trust me that if they used heavier weights they would not "bulk up" (as long as their caloric intake was in the correct range), always got tremendous results.
As a matter of fact, some of the leanest females I've trained over the years were the ones that actually trained with the heaviest weights. I had a few female athletes that could deadlift 175 lbs and they were VERY lean, and NOT overly-muscular. In fact, they had very feminine, but lean bodies.
They lifted HEAVY weights in relation to their size and they NEVER bulked up.
Another example is that the majority of females that I trained thought they couldn't use more than 5 or 8 lb dumbbells for an overhead dumbbell press or a dumbbell chest press. However, when they were open-minded enough to actually try to train their body under more resistance (and thereby create a REAL stimulis for change), most women were almost always able to press 20 or 30 lb dumbbells instead of the 5's or 8's they were used to using.
So my rant in this email is for us all to please stop with the insanity of thinking that we all need to train so radically different whether we're a man or a woman, but rather realize that we are all HUMAN BEINGS.
I don't care if you're a man or a woman... the laws of exercise physiology will always show that variations of squats, lunges, deadlifts, presses, and rows are some of the best exercises for humans, regardless of gender.
And this applies whether your goal is fat loss or muscle building!
Yes, even if your goal is just fat loss and not muscle building, you still need to train your body under progressively heavier resistance (relative to your current strength) to stimulate your body to actually want to change over time.
*Note - when I say "heavy training", I mean heavy resistance in relation to your individual strength level. For example, a heavy resistance in a particular exercise such as a deadlift or squat may be 300 lbs for one person, and only 60 or 70 lbs for another person. All that matters is if the weight that you use is challenging for you.
Now I will concede that I use slightly different styles of training whether the goal is fat loss or muscle building (notice I said different styles, not different exercises per se), but the bigger factor is actually your caloric balance...
Creating a caloric deficit for fat loss or creating a caloric surplus for muscle gain, while still training intensely for either goal.
So I say let's all stop training like men or training like women, and let's all start training like human beings in order to get RESULTS!
If you haven't already done so, you can gain access to my extremely effective training program for HUMANS for a special $4.95 trial offer at this page: http://truthaboutabs.com/trial-offer.html
And you will see why over 100,000 humans, both men and women, have gotten tremendous results by following this program.
Til next newsletter,
Don't be lazy... be lean.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - http://TruthAboutAbs.com
PS - if you liked todays article, feel free to fwd this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would enjoy it.
If you're looking for gimmicks or a bunch of traditional ab exercises, skip Mike's program. If you're serious about getting 6-pack abs through good nutrition and challenging exercises, check it out.
.
Should Men & Women Train Differently?
by Mike Geary
This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the fitness industry... So many men and women "think" they need to workout drastically different from one another.
For example, many women think they need to do 20 or 30 reps per set of every exercise with little pink 3 or 5 lb barbie weights, because if they actually lift heavier weights, they falsely believe they will "bulk up".
Also, many men think they need to do 1-rep maxes to build muscle... this is simply not true... overall training volume and a caloric surplus builds more muscle than does 1-rep maxes... although I'm not saying there isn't a time and place for 1-rep maxes.
One of my biggest frustrations over the years when I was training lots of females and I would show them the workout I wanted to take them through... they would say something like... "I don't want to do those exercises. That looks like a man's workout!"
And they would go back to their little pink 5 lb dumbbells and endless cardio routines and keep getting NO RESULTS at all for months or years.
However, the females I trained that were open-minded enough to trust me that if they used heavier weights they would not "bulk up" (as long as their caloric intake was in the correct range), always got tremendous results.
As a matter of fact, some of the leanest females I've trained over the years were the ones that actually trained with the heaviest weights. I had a few female athletes that could deadlift 175 lbs and they were VERY lean, and NOT overly-muscular. In fact, they had very feminine, but lean bodies.
They lifted HEAVY weights in relation to their size and they NEVER bulked up.
Another example is that the majority of females that I trained thought they couldn't use more than 5 or 8 lb dumbbells for an overhead dumbbell press or a dumbbell chest press. However, when they were open-minded enough to actually try to train their body under more resistance (and thereby create a REAL stimulis for change), most women were almost always able to press 20 or 30 lb dumbbells instead of the 5's or 8's they were used to using.
So my rant in this email is for us all to please stop with the insanity of thinking that we all need to train so radically different whether we're a man or a woman, but rather realize that we are all HUMAN BEINGS.
I don't care if you're a man or a woman... the laws of exercise physiology will always show that variations of squats, lunges, deadlifts, presses, and rows are some of the best exercises for humans, regardless of gender.
And this applies whether your goal is fat loss or muscle building!
Yes, even if your goal is just fat loss and not muscle building, you still need to train your body under progressively heavier resistance (relative to your current strength) to stimulate your body to actually want to change over time.
*Note - when I say "heavy training", I mean heavy resistance in relation to your individual strength level. For example, a heavy resistance in a particular exercise such as a deadlift or squat may be 300 lbs for one person, and only 60 or 70 lbs for another person. All that matters is if the weight that you use is challenging for you.
Now I will concede that I use slightly different styles of training whether the goal is fat loss or muscle building (notice I said different styles, not different exercises per se), but the bigger factor is actually your caloric balance...
Creating a caloric deficit for fat loss or creating a caloric surplus for muscle gain, while still training intensely for either goal.
So I say let's all stop training like men or training like women, and let's all start training like human beings in order to get RESULTS!
If you haven't already done so, you can gain access to my extremely effective training program for HUMANS for a special $4.95 trial offer at this page: http://truthaboutabs.com/trial-offer.html
Til next newsletter,
Don't be lazy... be lean.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - http://TruthAboutAbs.com
PS - if you liked todays article, feel free to fwd this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would enjoy it.
If you're looking for gimmicks or a bunch of traditional ab exercises, skip Mike's program. If you're serious about getting 6-pack abs through good nutrition and challenging exercises, check it out.
.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Find Out How Much Is Smoking Costing You
This interactive tool from WebMD calculates how much money you have spent on cigarettes in the past or how much you will spend on them in the future. (Actually, the real figure will be higher because their calculator does not factor in the rate of inflation, increasing taxes or the rising cost of cigarettes.)
Also keep in mind that the calculation does not take into account the financial or quality of life costs realted to medical problems resulting from smoking.
Click here to find out how much smoking is costing you
Also keep in mind that the calculation does not take into account the financial or quality of life costs realted to medical problems resulting from smoking.
Click here to find out how much smoking is costing you
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Life's Journey
Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Do not be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly.
Do not dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope.
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that your forget not only where you have been but also where you are going.
Life is not a race but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
-Author Unknown
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Do not be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly.
Do not dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope.
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that your forget not only where you have been but also where you are going.
Life is not a race but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
-Author Unknown
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Get The Body Of A Celebrity
I would hope that most people realize by now that celebrity photos in magazines are altered considerably. So, to get the body of a star, all you need is a talent with Photoshop.
Unfortunately, the effect on society is a totally unrealistic expectation of how women should look.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best but it's important to focus primarily on your health and not strive for some artificially manufactured, unattainable, standard of beauty.
Contrary to magazine images, none of us are perfect.
.
Unfortunately, the effect on society is a totally unrealistic expectation of how women should look.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best but it's important to focus primarily on your health and not strive for some artificially manufactured, unattainable, standard of beauty.
Contrary to magazine images, none of us are perfect.
.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
How To Burn Belly Fat by Craig Ballantyne, CSCS
Although it's definitely improving, I'm always surprised at how many exercise and weight loss websites, online forums, magazines, fitness gurus, etc. are still promoting 45-60 minutes of cardio for fat loss. Not only is that not the most effective method, it's certainly not the most efficient.
Check out Craig Ballantyne's article below about the best way to blast body fat. I use Craig's style of training with my clients and highly recommend it.
How To Burn Belly Fat
By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com
I often get asked, What's the best way to burn fat and lose my belly? People want to know if aerobics is better than strength training, or if traditional cardio exercise is better than intervals. Cardio is not the best way to burn fat. Intervals are a better fat burning workout to burn belly fat.
With over 15 years experience helping others, training myself, training for sports, spending countless hours in the gym, AND actually conducting laboratory research studies on different exercise methods, I'm pretty confident in knowing what works and what does not.
But first of all, I want to frame my responses. I'm going to talk about what works for people that have a limited amount of time to exercise, mostly because I expect your readers don't have 90 minutes per day to devote to a workout, unlike the typical audience of a fitness magazine.
That's why there is a huge disconnect between some of the information found in magazines and the ability of the reader to apply it to their lives.
We just don't have 6-8 hours per week for exercise, nor do we need it. If you're a triathlete, you might need that, but not someone that just wants to lose fat and gain muscle.
Having said all that, the bottom line for getting a better body is...
Use bodyweight exercises to warm-up, strength training supersets to build muscle, and then finish your workout with interval training to burn fat in a short amount of time. I've structured my system so that you are in and out of the gym in 45 minutes, three times per week.
You'll do 5 minutes of bodyweight exercises to warm-up. This is a much more efficient approach than spending 5 minutes walking on a treadmill, which really doesn't prepare you for anything except more walking on a treadmill.
Then we move into the strength training supersets, where we use two exercises performed back to back with minimum rest between each. This cuts our workout time, while still giving us maximum results. We only need 20 minutes for this, and we'll use basic exercises, and sometimes even more bodyweight exercises, depending on the client's goal for muscle building.
And finally, we'll do 18 minutes of interval training. A warm-up, followed by six short intervals at the appropriate fitness level for the client, interspersed with short periods of low-intensity recovery. Finish with a cool-down. And that's the workout. Again, about 45 minutes total.
Compare that to what most people do, which is run, jog, cycle or use the cardio machines for 45 minutes straight. Sure, that will burn calories, but it doesn't build a better body.
In fact, there are a few "dark sides" to long slow cardio, including less-than-optimal results, the potential for overuse injuries, and it is an inefficient form of exercise. If you only have 30-45 minutes for your workout and you spend it all on a cardio machine, when are you going to train the rest of your muscles and sculpt a better body?
So the best way to burn belly fat is with a combination of strength training and interval training. It’s fast, it works, and it’s fun!
Compare that to what most people do, which is run, jog, cycle or use the cardio machines for 45 minutes straight. Sure, that will burn calories, but it doesn't build a better body. It might even leave you hurt!
So if you want to burn belly fat fast, drop the slow cardio and try interval training. Use strength training to sculpt your body and boost your metabolism. You'll be shocked at the results from this new way of training to burn fat and lose that belly!
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com
Check out Craig Ballantyne's article below about the best way to blast body fat. I use Craig's style of training with my clients and highly recommend it.
How To Burn Belly Fat
By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com
I often get asked, What's the best way to burn fat and lose my belly? People want to know if aerobics is better than strength training, or if traditional cardio exercise is better than intervals. Cardio is not the best way to burn fat. Intervals are a better fat burning workout to burn belly fat.
With over 15 years experience helping others, training myself, training for sports, spending countless hours in the gym, AND actually conducting laboratory research studies on different exercise methods, I'm pretty confident in knowing what works and what does not.
But first of all, I want to frame my responses. I'm going to talk about what works for people that have a limited amount of time to exercise, mostly because I expect your readers don't have 90 minutes per day to devote to a workout, unlike the typical audience of a fitness magazine.
That's why there is a huge disconnect between some of the information found in magazines and the ability of the reader to apply it to their lives.
We just don't have 6-8 hours per week for exercise, nor do we need it. If you're a triathlete, you might need that, but not someone that just wants to lose fat and gain muscle.
Having said all that, the bottom line for getting a better body is...
Use bodyweight exercises to warm-up, strength training supersets to build muscle, and then finish your workout with interval training to burn fat in a short amount of time. I've structured my system so that you are in and out of the gym in 45 minutes, three times per week.
You'll do 5 minutes of bodyweight exercises to warm-up. This is a much more efficient approach than spending 5 minutes walking on a treadmill, which really doesn't prepare you for anything except more walking on a treadmill.
Then we move into the strength training supersets, where we use two exercises performed back to back with minimum rest between each. This cuts our workout time, while still giving us maximum results. We only need 20 minutes for this, and we'll use basic exercises, and sometimes even more bodyweight exercises, depending on the client's goal for muscle building.
And finally, we'll do 18 minutes of interval training. A warm-up, followed by six short intervals at the appropriate fitness level for the client, interspersed with short periods of low-intensity recovery. Finish with a cool-down. And that's the workout. Again, about 45 minutes total.
Compare that to what most people do, which is run, jog, cycle or use the cardio machines for 45 minutes straight. Sure, that will burn calories, but it doesn't build a better body.
In fact, there are a few "dark sides" to long slow cardio, including less-than-optimal results, the potential for overuse injuries, and it is an inefficient form of exercise. If you only have 30-45 minutes for your workout and you spend it all on a cardio machine, when are you going to train the rest of your muscles and sculpt a better body?
So the best way to burn belly fat is with a combination of strength training and interval training. It’s fast, it works, and it’s fun!
Compare that to what most people do, which is run, jog, cycle or use the cardio machines for 45 minutes straight. Sure, that will burn calories, but it doesn't build a better body. It might even leave you hurt!
So if you want to burn belly fat fast, drop the slow cardio and try interval training. Use strength training to sculpt your body and boost your metabolism. You'll be shocked at the results from this new way of training to burn fat and lose that belly!
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com
Monday, June 23, 2008
Fat Facts
* The cost of treating obesity-related health problems in the U.S. each year is $75 billion; $14 billion of that goes to treating overweight kids.
* 30% of gall bladder surgery is related to obesity.
* Because of continuing weight gain, people are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gas each year than they did in 1960.
* Children who are overweight or obese are 7 times more likely than their slimmer peers to have multiple heart disease risk factors by age 15.
* Overweight or obese post-menopausal women have, a greater risk of developing kidney cancer.
* People who are 40 or older and who carry excess fat in their abdominal area are 89% more likely to have dementia later in life than those with a low amount of fat around their midesection - even if both groups are at a normal weight.
.
* 30% of gall bladder surgery is related to obesity.
* Because of continuing weight gain, people are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gas each year than they did in 1960.
* Children who are overweight or obese are 7 times more likely than their slimmer peers to have multiple heart disease risk factors by age 15.
* Overweight or obese post-menopausal women have, a greater risk of developing kidney cancer.
* People who are 40 or older and who carry excess fat in their abdominal area are 89% more likely to have dementia later in life than those with a low amount of fat around their midesection - even if both groups are at a normal weight.
.
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