Happy Father's Day!

I posted this last year but a reminder is always good.



Three 3 tips to help dads get healthier...

1. Forget about how you worked out in the past. You're not on the high school football team anymore. You're not a professional bodybuilder- steroid infused or not.




You're a busy dad. You've probably got at least a few pounds to lose and you don't have hours to waste at the gym. Forget "chest day" or "leg day" (if you even worked your legs :-) ). Train your entire body 2-3 times a week. Drop the isolation work. Concentrate on compound exercises - Presses, Deadlifts, Pushups, Squats, Rows, Lunges, etc.

2. Clean up your diet. You're not a teenager with a metabolism that allows you to eat and drink all kinds of garbage and never gain unwanted flab.

Good nutrition does not have to be complicated. Eat as much fresh, unprocessed food as possible. Focus on fruits, vegetables and lean meats. Keep your carb intake lower (especially refined carbs - candy, pretzels, baked goods, white bread and rice, pasta, snack foods, etc.). Ditch the liquid calories including booze, soda and fruit juice.

3. Turn off the TV and computer and spend that time with your family. Be a role model for an active lifestyle. Your kids look up to you. I'm sure you don't want them to end up as overweight, unfit, coach potatoes. Go for a bike ride, play some ball, go hiking. There may be some whining at first (probably from you :-) ) but your family will become closer and you'll all benefit physically.


Don't hesitate to get professional advice on your workouts. In the end, getting a properly designed program and making sure your technique is solid will save you time and aggravation and get you better results. Why waste time wading through all the online B.S. trying to figure out what type of workout will work best for you?

You don't need to spend hours exercising to lose weight and get fit; you just need to know how to optimize your workouts. If you're in the Lancaster PA area, call me at (717) 509-7777. I work with both men and women, including busy business owners and husbands of Body & Soul members. If you prefer a group atmosphere, my co-ed "No Pink Dumbbells" boot camp is a great option. You can get more info on that at No Pink Dumbbells Fitness Boot Camp

If you're not in Lancaster I highly recommend Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training. Craig specializes in challenging total body workouts that will help you get strong and lean in 45 minutes (or less) 3 times a week. Check it out here ==> www.TurbulenceTraining.com.

The Hierarchy of Fat Loss by Alwyn Cosgrove

If you are interested in dropping fat and have never read Alwyn Cosgrove's The Hierarchy of Fat Loss, do yourself a favor and do so.

The Hierarchy of Fat Loss

Cardio Intervals for Improved Fat Loss

Are you still doing long bouts of aerobic exercise for the purpose of losing weight? Many of the experts in the field have moved away from using this type of exercise with their weight loss clients. Alwyn Cosgrove has said, “aerobic training for fat loss is the most overrated and overemphasized method in use today. It's completely outdated as a fat loss modality.”

So, what should you do instead? Interval training. After a warmup, increase the intensity to a level that’s higher than what you normally do. As you get acclimated to this method of training, you want the hard part of the interval to rank about 8 or 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. Maintain that level for 1 minute and then lower the intensity to about 3 out of 10 and recover for 1 minute. If after a minute, you don’t feel prepared to increase the intensity again, simply extend your recovery time. You can do 60 seconds hard paired with 60, 90 or 120 seconds recovery. As you progress, you can increase your intensity even more and perform 30 seconds hard and then recover. Personally, I found that 30 seconds easy is not long enough for adequate recovery at that intensity so I use a 60 or 90 second recovery time on those. Listen to your body.

There are no magic intervals lengths; I simply chose those above because they are easier to keep track of when using equipment. One interval consists of the intense portion and the recovery time. Try this at your next workout: warmup, perform 4 or 5 intervals, then cooldown. If you are going to do this type of workout on a day when you strength train, always do it after your lifting. Change interval times and equipment regularly. Work up to 6 intervals total per session and do not do more than 3 (4, if you're an advanced exerciser) interval workouts per week.

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Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain

You can find tons of information online about weight management over the holidays, most repeating the same old tips. Here's a no-nonsense article on that topic from Craig Ballantyne, creator of Turbulence Training. Just my second day and I'm already passing off my responsibility to someone else. :-) Actually, I'm a big fan of Craig's and my goal is to present the most up to date and useful information I can find, so that's what I'm doing.

Politically Incorrect Secrets to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc.

I was at a big family gathering last week and was reminded how important it is to have strategies for this season of high-calorie parties and busy schedules. But I get ticked off by the tired old suggestions you find on the Internet or in magazines like Woman's World.

Often the suggestions are lack any substance, because the writers don't want to imply you actually have to make a sacrifice to succeed. They make fat loss sound easy, as if all you had to do was park at the far end of the parking lot and you'd burn all the calories from 5 shortbread cookies.

Well it doesn't work that way... So here are my politically incorrect, unique Turbulence Training strategies to help you keep off the holiday pounds.

By the way, I "borrowed" a few ideas from contestants in my Turbulence Training Transformation Contest. The Transformation is rocking with social support and success stories right now, even while the rest of the world struggles with weight gain, these TT users are losing fat over the holidays.

Click here to get started with Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.

Strategy #1 - Green Tea & Almonds

One of the most common tips you'll hear is to "fill up" before you go to a party where there will be lots of goodies.

Unfortunately, most people I talk to have no luck with this tip. Most people still go to a party and eat everything in sight. But recently TT users have told me that having a cup of Green Tea and one ounce of almonds has helped them avoid holiday cravings better than anything ever before. The fiber from the almonds reduces appetite while the small amount of caffeine from the Green Tea seems to increase mental alertness and keep you "energized" at the party.

Hopefully that might work for you...

Strategy #2 - Don't waste your time on any fancy cardio programs

Listen, the bottom line over the holiday season is that your success depends almost entirely on your nutrition. You can't expect to hit the cardio confessional and burn off last night's 2000 calorie smorgasboard. That's a 4-hour workout. Instead, don't get into that situation in the first place.

Here are more nutrition tips:
- Focus on portion control (and if you have no discipline, forget even trying to eat just one)
- Nix all drinks mixed with calorie-containing beverages, or better yet, just stop getting drunk. Period.
- Write down everything you eat to identify your problem spots. Then do whatever you need to do to eliminate your weaknesses. If you don't record your nutrition, chances are you'll miss big opportunities to change your diet and lose fat.

Strategy #3 - Take care of yourself first. My friend Holly Rigsby (of http://www.fityummymummy.com/) is always reminding busy moms to take care of themselves first, and I think that suggestion applies at this time of year to everyone.

So take a deep breath. Ask yourself as you're running around to please everyone else, "Have you set aside time for yourself" Be selfish. Make sure you have had some exercise time, some good nutrition, and some rest before overextending yourself and doing too much for other people when you haven't taken care of yourself and your goals first.

Strategy #4 - Get on a roll This one comes from a TT Transformation contestant who is too busy losing fat to get off track over the holidays. Don't procrastinate till January 1st. Get started now. Dozens of men and women are doing their Turbulence Training Transformations right now - through the heart of the holiday season. They aren't waiting for Jan. 1st to show up. They are taking control now, and getting on a roll, and not letting anything (from work parties to peer pressure) get in their way.

Strategy #5 - Exercise in short bursts whenever you can Don't be afraid to dance at your Christmas party. Don't worry, there is bound to be at least one worse dancer than you out on the floor. Have fun and get down!

On a more serious note, here's how to avoid falling off the fitness program during the busy holiday season. Get your butt out of bed 15 minutes early so you can have 3 minutes to wake up and 12 minutes to do the December 2007 Turbulence Training 12-Minute Workouts. Get this workout as part of your bonuses when you start using Turbulence Training.

Stay healthy and fit over the holidays, Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Author, Turbulence Training

PS - We have some big bonuses coming up on Dec. 31st...These will go out to all clients, past and present, so keep your eye out for a TT bonus email.

About the Author
Learn about the "Dark Side of Cardio" in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at www.TurbulenceTraining.com. Craig 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 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.