Building Muscle 5 Training Techniques

The 5 Most Effective Exercises and Training Techniques That Will Get You Kicked Out Of A “Normal” Gym! By Nick Nilsson of Better U Fitness For building maximum muscle and ripping the fat off your body, conventional training is NOT where it’s at. I’m going to teach you 5 of THE most effective exercises and techniques that will have “management” pulling their hair out!

 

The most effective exercises and training techniques are the ones that push your body to the limit…they activate more muscle fibers, challenge your balance and determination, and push your strength to the limit! Oddly enough, they can also get you kicked out some gyms! (Not that I know this from personal experience or anything…) These top 5 techniques are among THE very best for achieving the goals they’re targeted for. Use them wisely! 1. Lockout Partial Squats This exercise will draw the ire of any self-respecting gym owner, especially one that hasn’t invested in good-quality, high weight-rated Olympic bars. Why? Because, when you do this exercise with REALLY heavy weight (as you should for maximum effectiveness), your standard “el-cheapo” Olympic bar is going to BEND and bend PERMANENTLY. If and when the gym management sees bent bars and you’re the only one using really substantial weight on them…well, you get my drift. So how do you do Lockout Partial Squats? They’re quite simple – basically, you set the safety rails in the power rack to just below the very top position of your squat. Then you set a bar on those rails. Then you pile a LOT of weight on (you can warm-up with what you would normally do for a one-rep max). When the bar is set up, step underneath, get it set on your back then finish the lockout. Simple as that! You can see this technique in action here (I’ve also got a picture below): In this example, I’m using the lockout squat as a static hold, standing up with it then just supporting the weight at the top – I’m using 950 lbs on the bar (10 plates on either side) using a bar rated to 1500 lbs. As you can tell, I’ve learned my bar-bending lesson!   2. Fat-Loss Circuit Training This is a training technique that is downright AMAZING for fat loss. It’ll kick your metabolism into overdrive like nothing else. So why will it get you kicked out of a gym? Let me tell you how it works first… At its simplest, you’re doing a regular weight workout, but instead of taking complete rest in between sets (e.g. do a set of 8 reps than sit on the bench for a minute doing nothing), you’ll be doing 30 to 40 seconds of moderate intensity cardio training. Here’s what it would look like: 1 set of 8 reps bench press 40 seconds jogging on the treadmill 1 set of 8 reps bench press 40 seconds jogging on the treadmill 1 set of 8 reps bench press 40 seconds jogging on the treadmill 1 set of 8 reps bench press 40 seconds jogging on the treadmill And so on, for the rest of the workout… It is actually deceptively simple and seems relatively easy…but let me tell you, when you do this in a regular workout, it will AMAZE you with how strongly it revs up your metabolism. You can read a more in-depth description of this technique in this article: Fat-Loss Circuit Training – a revolutionary fat-burning, metabolism-boosting training technique It’s a technique I use in my “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss” program So why will this technique get you kicked out of the gym? Well, as great as this technique is, it DOES require you to go back and forth between weights and cardio equipment. To do this (and this is normally only a problem if you train at a busy gym) you have to claim both a weight training area and a cardio machine. Most gyms frown on this type of thing, especially at a busy time. Chances are, your stations will be gone the moment you step away from them. Fortunately, it’s easy to remedy with a simple modification! Instead of using a machine for cardio, you can skip rope, step up and down on a bench or on stairs, or you can jog in place. 3. Power Cleans or Any Olympic Lifting In General If you go to a Bally’s, or another similar type of machine-oriented commercial gym, and start doing Power Cleans (or any Olympic lifts) in eyeshot of any of the “supervisors” or trainers, chances are good that you will be asked to stop (been there!). Why? Liability. You see, if YOU know what you’re doing and you know how to perform the exercise safely, that’s one thing. But the other person WATCHING you do that exercise (who is probably not experienced enough to perform it safely) might just decide to try it out and hurt themselves. And, of course, when that person does drop that barbell on their foot or wrench their back, they’ll sue Bally’s, which is what Bally’s is REALLY worried about here. The thing is, Power Cleans and Olympic lifts are GREAT for building explosive power. They’re NOT dangerous at all when taught correctly and under knowledgeable supervision. In fact, injury rates in competitive weightlifting are actually much LESS than even something as simple as running! It’s all in proper instruction. 4. Backwards Treadmill Running And Walking For TORCHING The Quads You may now know this but the treadmill can actually be a GREAT muscle-building tool…it’s just not immediately obvious HOW. You see, if you’ve got stubborn quads, part of the problem is probably blood supply. Most lagging muscle groups correlate with poor blood supply. Think of it this way…which of your bodyparts pump up most easily? Which ones are the hardest to pump up? Now which ones develop the most easily? I can tell you with near certainty, your muscles that pump most easily also develop most easily. Back to the treadmill. Most people face forwards when using the treadmill, which is fine…even encouraged, if you will. But turn yourself around and run or walk on the treamill facing BACKWARDS (and set the machine to a high incline) and you’ve got yourself an exercise that will quite simply TORCH the quads more than you will believe. And in the process of this torching, you are going RAM more blood into your quads than you can with pretty much any other exercise. This dramatic increase in blood flow will actually help improve overall circulation to the quads, which will help with future muscle growth. Very effective stuff…you can read more about it and see it on video here:   So why could this training technique get you kicked out of a gym? Well, standing backwards on a treadmill does increase the overall general risk of even using a treadmill in the first place. This is why you MUST hold solidly onto the rails as you’re running or walking on it. You should, at any given moment, be able to instantly support yourself on the rails and step off the belt. But most gyms don’t have this level of trust in their members. Even a perfectly safe and effective technique like this may fall within the reasoning of “different = bad.” Here’s the thing…when you hold the rails solidly while using this technique (and you can step off at any given moment), I think it’s actually SAFER than running FORWARDS on the treadmill! 5. Deadlifts The deadlift is one of my favorite exercises…there’s just something so satisfying about grabbing a really heavy bar and lifting it off the ground. There’s no middle ground…you either lift it or you don’t. And the crazy thing is, I HAVE almost gotten kicked out of more than one gym for doing plain old deadlifts! The first time was at a gym in Ft. Lauderdale. I was doing deadlifts, minding my own business, not slamming the bar to the ground or dropping it or anything like that, when the attendant came over and said: “I’m sorry. We don’t allow deadlifts in this gym. They make too much noise.” And I actually felt sorry for the poor guy who had to come up and tell me this…I could tell by the look in his face he knew what a stupid rule and stupid reason it was but he had no choice but to enforce it. (Apparently the coffee shop on the first floor below didn’t realize there was a GYM upstairs when they opened up and would complain constantly about noise…) So I asked him “How about if I just do deadlifts but don’t set the weight on the ground in between reps AND I’ll be very gentle when I DO set it down at the end of the set. You won’t hear a peep.” I demonstrated a set of continuous-tension deadlifts (which are a GREAT variation of the deadlift, by the way…you do the exercise but never let the weight plates touch the ground between reps…VERY tough to do with heavy weight). He looked suspicious but said that was okay and I was able to finish my training for the day without getting tossed out. The second time was at Gold’s Gym in Nassau, Bahamas. On this occasion, I was doing heavy singles – still not slamming the weight down or dropping it. Then, in between sets over the loudspeaker, I hear… “Please do not drop weights on the floor…it distracts other gym members.“ So I keep going thinking, hey, I’m not dropping weights on the floor. I’m just setting the bar down doing heavy singles. So I keep going and AGAIN over the loudspeaker I hear (in an EXTREMELY snotty voice now)… “Gym users who drop weights on the floor will be asked to leave the premises.” Disgusted, I unloaded the bar, set the safety rails on the nearest rack to just below lockout position, put 10 plates on either side then proceeded to bend the ever-lovin’ CR@P out of that bar with the lockout partial squats from example #1 in this article… I’m just kidding! I really only used 9 plates… Nick Nilsson been weight training for 17 years, been a personal trainer for 10 years, a professional fitness writer for 7 years (published in Men’s Fitness, Reps Magazine, Muscle & Fitness and on hundreds of websites) and I’ve got a degree in Physical Education, covering advanced biomechanics, physiology and kinesiology. Nick has published 7 weight training books: “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss” “Muscle Explosion – 28 Days to Maximum Mass” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” “Specialization Training” “Hybrid Training” Nick is in my opinion is one of the most innovative trainers around today. if you read my blogs and articles you know I like variety in my workouts. When it comes to taking an exercise and making it better Nick is the man. Check out Nick’s site at Better U fitness

Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plans PT 3

Hi,  just wanted to give you a quick reminder about the Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plan. The price will be going up so if you think it will work for you get in before the increase.

Here is some info I took of Vince’s site.

Nutrition Reality #1 You Can’t Out Train A Bad Diet

You could run two marathons a day and still get fat.

Even if you resorted to a bodybuilders diet of chicken, broccoli and brown rice six-times a day, you can still get fat.

How?

Eat too much of it.  The excess has to get stored somewhere and unfortunately that is known as your belly-bulge.

It doesn’t matter how many hours a day you workout, what kind of supplements you take or how “healthy” you eat if you consumed too much of it.

You probably learned that back in high school science class.

It’s amazing how marketing geniuses can get us to underestimate this simple nutrition fact.

Nutrition Reality #2 Diet Is 90% of the Equation

Think about it.

It takes about 3-minutes to consume a delicious muffin or donut and wash it down with a glass of juice or your favorite mocha drink.  3-minutes later you’ve consumed almost 1000 calories, 50 grams of fat and 120 grams of sugar.

Bam!  So much for that flat stomach…

You just cancelled out 2 days worth of working out! That’s called one step forward, two steps back.  I don’t’ have to tell you how hard you have to work your butt off to burn those 1000 calories, right?

You got to bust your ass sprinting up some stairs for an hour just to cancel out the damage you inflicted on your belly.

So it takes 3-minutes of mouth-watering delight to lose your six pack and it takes 60-minutes of heart-pounding, muscle-screaming workouts to get your six-pack.

Now you see why all the cover-models and bodybuilders say, “It’s all diet, diet, diet…”

Nutrition Reality #3 “Eating healthy” Without a Plan Is Guaranteed Failure

My clients protested, “But I eat healthy…” or “I don’t eat bad though…” while I confronted them with this truth.

 “Eating healthy” is a relative phrase.  You may be in fact eating “the top super foods” every day or a “variety” of proteins and fats or avoiding the “bad carbs” but still crippling your success.

Why?

How do you know if you’ve eaten too much or too little?

What do you modify at the end of the week when you jump on the scale and nothing has changed? What do you do?

Eat “healthier?”

Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plans

I bet you can relate to the three C’s…

Confusing, Challenging and Consuming

#1 Diets are CONFUSING

Just like you, I agree that nutrition advice has become overwhelmingly confusing.  One best-selling book says no carbs, another book says no fat.  This expert says to skip the protein and the other expert says to ignore that advice.

Maybe I should eat according to my ancestors or my blood type?  Maybe I should go with the instinct diet?  That one sounds interesting…

It’s at the point now that every single food is on some guru’s “bad list.”

If I followed all of their advice, my plate would be empty every meal!

Bottom line, it’s impossible to escape the confusion, especially since every diet promises to be better than the last.

Aren’t you dreaming of the day you can stroll into a grocery store and not be terrified or torture yourself with guilt, no matter what you eat?
#2 Diets are CHALLENGING

Just like you, I can’t possibly keep up with all the “breakthrough” diets that rain in from the sky each-and-every-day.

It doesn’t help when at least 10 of these diets get national publicity and make the best-sellers list.  What if the next one is actually the real thing?

You would be making a horrible mistake passing up this new diet opportunity even though the diet will force you to shell-out more money, make you feel miserable, overanalyze, is outrageously unpractical, and impossible to follow long term.

Bottom line, the diet mafia is seducing you, again, to abandon your better judgment and eat like you’ve never eaten before.

#3 Diets are CONSUMING

Did you ever realize that the countries (a.k.a. United States and Canada) that are most obsessed about nutrition, dieting and diet foods are the fattest and most out of shape?

Go figure.

Being consumed with food is affecting your mood and self-worth!

It’s one thing to be a little upset because you over ate in a meal, it’s another thing to be downright depressed because you ate some garlic toast for lunch!

Our society has never been so consumed with diet and nutrition as it has in the past 50 years and yet our physiques and health are going right down the tubes.

If food is consuming your life and leaving you emotionally drained, guilt-stricken, literally afraid of eating and straining your personal relationships, then keep reading to discover a simple-fix that defies common sense!

It’s the exact simple-fix that will help you lose the last 10 pounds or the first 100 pounds like a bad habit and obliterate even the most stubborn fat from any body part.

Fact: More than ANYTHING else, you’re diet is holding you back and here is what you can do to fix it, once and for all…

Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plans

Get lean, or stay fat.  It’s your decision.

Why do I say that?  Because this is your absolute LAST chance to get the program that is going to put your results over the edge, while being
maintainable and livable, and DOABLE, before the price DOUBLES Friday night.

You want to talk about why people fail?  It’s because 99% of the diet programs out there aren’t realistic.  They aren’t practical, and believe me, I feel your pain.

But that’s NOT this program, This one is special.  This one is going to be a GAME CHANGER for you–and I guarantee it–because it’s just so incredibly livable.

Not only that, but you get to EAT NORMALLY to get you the head-turning physique you’ve always wanted–FASTER.

Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plan

Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plans

Confusing, Challenging and Consuming

#1 Diets are CONFUSING 

#2 Diets are CHALLENGING

#3 Diets are CONSUMING

What do you modify at the end of the week when you jump on the scale and nothing has changed? What do you do?

Eat “healthier?”

What could buying a wedding suit have to do with losing body fat?

A lot more than you think.

Especially when it comes to *Fat Loss Nutrition.*

I was just chatting with muscle and six-pack author, Vince DelMonte and he discovered some interesting similarities to help you BLAST YOUR FAT FASTER while he was shopping for a wedding suit.

Here’s what Vince had to share:

“I always believed that creating a custom tailored wedding suit was an extremely complex, ultra expensive and required an overly experienced and skilled tailor. Yet, I found a tailor who made the process SIMPLE.

I discovered that every custom suit begins with a SINGLE TEMPLATE. Over time the and multiple fitting and modifications, eventually the suit becomes exquisitely tailored.

=============================
My revelation can be plainly put,
the perfect suit begins as NOTHING
MORE than a one-size-fits all template.
==============================

Nutritional perfection (fat loss and muscle building), requires the same.

You need to begin with a simple, basic nutritional template and test it out; tweaking it according to the results you experience, and only you.

Only by beginning here can you arrive at the final destination – a perfect nutrition and eventually a perfect body.

=====================
There is NO magic diet plan
=====================

As you have learned the past 2-weeks, there is no magic diet book or test or “eat right for your blood type” kind of solution.

In our combined 20-years of experience in the nutrition field, the best way you can get your best body ever is to follow a meal plan that is based on concrete nutritional principles plus your own informed trial-and-error.

In other words, you begin with a BASIC NUTRITIONAL PLAN, based on the best nutrition information available, test it and modify the nutritional plan based on if you’re gaining muscle or losing fat.

The problem is that the 90% of the nutrition info available is CONFUSING, CONTRADICTING and CONSUMING.

Which is completely unnecessary and ridiculous.

============================
Getting the perfect body and perfect
meal plan must begin with an ORIGIN
============================

If you’re not prepared to put in some time, effort, discipline and pay attention to a few details, then getting and keeping a rock hard body (forever) may NOT be in the cards for you.

Sorry.

But if you agree that you need a BASIC TEMPLATE that you can begin with from which to depart, a simple “done-for-you” template that start, test and modify (if even necessary).

Today I want to DIRECT YOU to the best FAT LOSS MEAL PLANS I’ve ever seen. Vince DelMonte and Empowered Nutrition want to give you a complete 3-phase system called, “Done-For-You” Fat Loss Meal Plans.

Every caloric amount is included. 84-days of variety for each plan. Grocery lists, delicious recipes and more.

Click here for more information:
Done For You Fat Loss Meal Plans

Today is the first day of a 72-hour HALF-PRICE special because these plans just went LIVE today. I highly recommend you pick up your 84-day meal plans if you’re ready to lose your gut and love handles and get ripped!

Talk soon,

Jag252

P.S. Hurry! The half-price sale ends Friday night, July 3rd, at midnight and I know Vince, John and Pat have some cool fast-action bonuses to nail down your fat loss nutrition and perfect your body even faster.

Click here to join
Done For You Fat Loss Diets

Fat Loss Circuit Training From Metabolism Surge

 

Fat Loss Circuit Training Sample Program

Bodypart Exercise Sets Reps Notes Back Barbell Bent-Over Rows or Seated Cable Rows 6 6-8 Be sure to keep your lower back arched and tight when performing either of these exercises. Chest Flat Barbell or Dumbell Bench Press 6 6-8 Don’t bounce the bar off your chest as you lower it down. As well, don’t bang the dumbells together at the top. Biceps Standing Barbell Curls or Dumbell Curls 4 6-8 Squeeze your biceps hard at the top and don’t swing the weight. Use a shoulder-width grip on the bar for best biceps contraction. Calves Standing Calf Raises or Seated Calf Raises 4 10-12 Perform this movement under control. Don’t bounce out of the bottom and be sure to give your calves a good squeeze at the top. Cardiovascular Training Activity Comments Fat Loss Circuit Training Take no rest as you move between 40 seconds of cardio work and your weight training sets. Have everything set up and ready to go with your exercises as much as possible. If you are in a crowded gym and must wait for equipment or are unable to pre-set, just do the best you can. General Comments: Choose a weight that allows you to hit the top of the listed rep range on the first set and keep to that weight. As you fatigue, your reps will drop. When two exercises are listed here, select from one or the other and do all your sets with it. Your Written Notes:

Copyright 2008 BetterU, Inc. ©

Click here to order Metabolic Surge now!

Remember, this amazing program is available
to you immediately for only $29.95!

If you’ve come to this page through a means other than the free “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss” course, you
can read more about the program and sign up for the free course by clicking here

Corn Dogs, Cheeseburgers, Custard and Other Diet Foods

In my years as a trainer, I’ve found that it’s simply not fair that we should be limited and made to feel guilty about what what we eat by such horribly judgemental and negative-sounding terms like “junk food,” “sugary snack,” “quadruple bypass” or “colon cancer.”

This is especially true since I’ve also found that a person can lose as much fat as they want eating foods that most “experts” (like doctors, physicians, cardiologists, podiatrists, dieticians and sometimes even nutritionists) would consider a heart attack on a plate. My theories will prove that these colon-stoppers can be instantly transformed into health foods!

In this article, I delve deep into the theories that can take the greasiest pile of food and make it into fat-shredding diet fodder.

1. Eat foods that are so greasy that they are constantly slipping out of your hands or out of the back of the bread.

The simple act of picking your food up after it’s slid out of your hands burns a tremendous amount of calories both in activity and in frustration. The greasier it is, the more often it’ll slip and the more calories you’ll burn. This espcially true of greasy hamburgers that have 3 or more patties stacked one on top of another (1 or 2 patties is not enough to get the greatest results so be sure to get the largest hamburger available – and no lettuce or tomato…they’ll just slow the meat down). When each bite slides half the sandwich out the back end, you know you’ve got prime diet food. Stuff it back in and feel the burn (from the hot grease, that is!).

2. Foods that are served on a stick are a good source of fiber

The humble corn dog is a prime example of a high fiber food because it’s usually served on a wooden stick. In theory, the fiber found in the wood makes its way into the mush of the dog inside the corn, dramatically increasing the useful splinter, I mean, fiber content of the dog. Even a Fudgesicle, following this to its logical conclusion, is packed with fiber. Chewing on the stick when you’re done is even MORE effective.

3. Do most of your grocery shopping in the “impulse buy” areas of the grocery store

These “impulse buy” areas are the racks by the register and the end-caps at the end of each aisle. Large grocery store chains have nothing but our best health in mind. They would NEVER put anything unhealthy for us on prominent display where we would be most likely to buy it. They simply don’t think that way. Profit is secondary to good health, therefore all foods that are on end-caps and set by the register are there to ensure that we have the best access to the healthiest foods possible. That’s why the fruits and vegetables are always tucked away against the wall in the back corner of the store. All those things do is fill you up and provide essential nutrients that can be better gotten as additives to low-carb chocolate puff cookies.

4. Our friend, the cheeseburger

The perfect diet food, the cheeseburger combines the slippage advantage that I mentioned above with the abundant calcium found in the cheese. Calcium has been shown to help increase fat loss, especially when served on white bread. The high fat content also helps keep you feeling full for long periods of time so you don’t feel hungry (or “regular”) for a long time after. When eaten at lunch, this saves precious calories that you might later in the day be tempted to throw away on fish or salad.

5. Whole grain kids cereals are a step in the wrong direction

No child has ever gotten fat from eating 6 bowls of Sugar Crisp with sugar scooped on top? I have yet to have somebody give me the gist of a study that says that sugary cereals will do anything but reduce attention span and cause diabetes and chronic hyperactivity. Whole grain kids cereal is just a tease.

Cap’n Crunch is crunchy. Vegetables are crunchy. I rest my case.

6. No-calorie custard is all in your mind

Custard rhymes with mustard. Mustard has no calories. When you eat custard, tell your body that you’re eating mustard. The calories will simply evaporate.

7. Preservatives and antibiotics in food are good for you

I would be remiss if I overlooked the amazing anti-aging properties of a good nitrate-filled package of mystery lunchmeat. Preservatives have been proven in several studies that I forget the names of to prolong life and increase health and prevent some other stuff. Heck, I wipe my counter with a handful of baloney – the antibiotics in the meat kill everything on it better than Lysol!

In conclusion, let me just finish by saying “don’t believe a word I just said.”

 

Author Resource:

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of BetterU, Inc. and has been inventing new training techniques and exercises for 17+ years. Nick has written many training books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass” & “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss”

Is Calorie-Counting Truly Necessary For Fat Loss?

Is Calorie-Counting Truly Necessary For Fat Loss?
By Nick Nilsson Fitness-e books.com

This is the million-dollar question…do you REALLY have to
count calories to lose fat? It’s something very few people
LIKE to do but is it something that everybody SHOULD
be doing to maximize fat-loss results?
And without further ado, the answer is yes…and no!

Allow me to explain…

Calorie-counting is one of those things that you either love or hate. You either feel like you HAVE to do it in order to get results or you feel like there’s NO WAY you’ll ever be caught dead doing it. It’s rare you find somebody who sits on the middle ground in this one.

As most people know, in order to lose fat, you’ve got to have a caloric deficit, taking in fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis. No surprises there.

Now here’s the thing…in order to consistently achieve that caloric deficit and lose fat, you must be AWARE of your calorie intake.

I believe the REAL question we should be asking here should not be “Is calorie-COUNTING necessary?” but “Is calorie-AWARENESS necessary?”
So if, in order to be aware of how many calories you’re taking in, you need to specifically COUNT them (by weighing food and referencing food charts), then THAT will be what you have to do to get results.

And that is totally fine!

But if you’ve already GOT a good awareness of how many calories you’re eating in a day and you know what you need to eat (or not eat) in order to achieve that caloric deficit, then calorie counting is NOT necessary for you.

The key here, again, is awareness.

You see, the big problem with not counting calories arises when a person THINKS they’re aware of their caloric intake but they really are NOT.

It’s a fact that most people dramatically under-report their caloric intake when they are asked to estimate how much they eat in a day. When they keep a food diary and have to write down every little thing that goes in their mouth, in some cases their TRUE caloric intake nearly DOUBLES.

So even if you don’t want to count calories, it may be time for a quick compromise. It’s a temporary calorie count/reality check!

If you’re not losing fat right now and you feel like you’re not really eating much, here’s something you can try in order to test your “caloric awareness”:

First, write down how many calories you THINK you’re eating every day.

Now for the next full week, write down everything you eat. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Every little taste and every little snack. EVERYTHING. Just write down foods and portion sizes – don’t try and look up how many calories each thing has and don’t suddenly change your diet because you want to make yourself look good – just keep doing what you’ve been doing.

At the end of the week, go to a food chart and research everything you ate. Add it up and divide by 7. This will give you your average daily caloric intake.

If you’re within a few hundred calories of your original estimation, congratulations! You’ve got good “calorie awareness!”

But if you’re off by a significant margin, this will give you some VERY useful feedback on what you need to do to get fat loss rolling again.

So there’s a vote FOR calorie counting…let’s look at the other side of the coin.

And I’ll be blunt here…calorie counting, no matter how careful you are, is simply NOT all that accurate.

Think of it this way…no two pieces of food are alike. When you buy a steak at the grocery store, they don’t charge you per steak, they charge by the pound. And even when they charge by the pound, two steaks of the same cut can have DRAMATICALLY different composition – one could be lean and one could be fatty!

But if you look at a calorie chart, you’ll see “3 oz sirloin steak – 100 calories”…or something to that effect.

So even if you weigh and chart every single piece of food you put in your mouth, you’re STILL going to be off by a fair margin. That’s just a fact.

And while how MUCH you eat has an impact on fat loss, WHEN you eat it and what foods you eat together makes a HUGE impact on your results. “Calories are calories” is true only up to a point.

For example, if you eat a big meal after a workout, most of that will get used for recovery purposes. But if you eat that same big meal late at night, nowhere near a workout, a good portion of that will just be stored as fat.

Another example is eating sugary carbs with fatty foods – the insulin response you get from sugary foods will jam that fat right into your fat cells with very little trouble!

So now that you have absolutely no idea WHAT the heck to do now, here’s my step-by-step solution…

1. If you like to count calories and it gets you results…keep it up!

2. If you like to count calories but you’re NOT getting results, either eat less or make sure you’re writing down EVERYTHING you’re eating AND are being as accurate as possible with your charting.

3. If you DON’T like to count calories and you ARE getting results…keep it up! Calorie counting is NOT necessary if you’re aware of how many you’re taking in AND you’re getting results.

4. If you DON’T like to count calories and you’re NOT getting results, it’s time to take one week to count your calories and improve your caloric awareness. It’s only a week and it’ll give you a MUCH better idea of what you’re actually taking in. This will pay off BIG in the long run because once you get a feel for your TRUE intake, you can very easily keep yourself honest and ADJUST on the fly.
To my mind, the bottom line is results. If you’re NOT losing fat, then you’re not getting the results you want…simple as that. Your approach should be focused on doing what you need to do to get those results.

Developing your caloric awareness is the key to long-term success with fat loss. And if you have to count calories to do it, then that’s what you’ve gotta do!
FAT LOSS BOOKS
“Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss” – By Nick Nilsson

“Burn The Fat – Feed The Muscle” – By Tom Venuto

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 17 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “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). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter

How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter

By Nick Nilsson

What the diet industry doesn’t want you to know can have
serious long-term effects on your health and bodyfat
levels.

There are many good supplements on the market today that are extremely effective for fat loss. Fat loss is big business and this has fueled tremendous developments in technology. There are more high-quality fat burning products out there now than ever before.

Properly used, these supplements can make a big difference in your fat loss efforts, helping you reach your goals far quicker.

Improperly used, however, fat burning supplements can actually make you fatter, no matter how effective they are! In fact, the more effective a supplement is, the worse off you could be!!

To be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using supplements to help lose fat. I’m all for it. The main problem with fat loss supplements lies with how people use them (and how they are told and encouraged to use them).

Armed with the knowledge in this article, you will learn exactly what you can do to break the diet pill cycle and keep the fat off for good.

The Big Secret

The diet pill and fat loss drug industry is built on ignorance: not theirs, yours.

Many of these companies bank on that fact that people generally don’t know a whole lot about fat loss or supplements. They are in the business of selling shortcuts to you so that you don’t have to know anything about fat loss. The reason for this is simple: if people knew a lot about fat loss, they wouldn’t need fat loss products anymore and the companies would go out of business.

As backwards as it seems, the diet industry can only stay profitable by keeping people fat.

Look at the typical business. They do their best to keep customers coming back to them. That’s how they make money. Why would the diet industry be any different? If you lose fat and maintain that fat loss you won’t need to lose fat anymore. You won’t be their customer anymore!

As little business sense as it makes, the ideal situation would be to have companies that are dedicated to the goal of losing customers. If they do their job, you will lose fat and keep it off and never need them again! As a personal trainer, my goal has always been to train people so thoroughly that they don’t need me anymore.

Is this sort of reform going to happen in the diet industry? Not likely. But there is something you can do to stop the cycle (you are doing it right now): LEARN!

How Fat Loss Pills Can Make You Fatter

The bottom line is…fat loss pills work. This is both the best thing about them and the worst thing about them.

When you take a good fat burning supplement, you lose a lot of fat, you feel better about yourself and you are happy, right? This is the best thing about fat loss supplements.

The worst thing about these supplements is that because they work so well, you don’t have to change your eating or exercise habits to accomplish your goals. You get results simply by taking a little pill.

Does this phrase sound familiar: “Eat whatever you want and still lose weight!”

Here’s the scenario: you take the pills and you lose all the weight you want. What happens when you stop taking the supplement once you’ve reached your goals? Since you haven’t had to change your eating or exercise habits, you regain the weight. Then you buy their pills again and start the same cycle again! It is very similar to the yo-yo diet syndrome of weight loss and regain.

How do you break this cycle? The solution is very simple though it may not be glamorous or easy: you learn to eat properly and you exercise regularly.

When you remove your dependence on fat loss pills to lose fat (through education, nutrition and exercise), you free yourself to use them to enhance your efforts, not anchor them. You will be able to lose your extra fat and keep it off without having to depend on fat loss pills to make it happen.

 

——————

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” He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

Protein And Fat Loss Part 2

How to Maximize The Results You Get From Your Protein Powder. Timing Is Everything!

By Nick Nilsson

Whether it be for fat loss or muscle gain, I always recommend taking a good protein supplement. The reason for this is simple: it is a convenient way to get high-quality protein without excess calories.

Be aware, however, that in no way am I advocating that you live on protein powder (like the dangerous Liquid Protein diets that used to be popular) alone. The key point to understand here is that a protein supplement is exactly what the name suggests: a supplement. It should be taken in addition to a nutritious diet in order to achieve a certain purpose, in this case increased protein intake.

Protein powders and protein bars can also be used as meal replacements on occasion, especially when you are on the go. They are far more nutritious than a fast food meal and more convenient.

The most popular and highest quality protein powder is whey protein. Whey is very digestable and is used efficiently in the body.

You can maximize the effects you get from your protein supplement simply by knowing exactly when to take it. Here is a list of the when, why and how of effective protein supplementation, ranked in order of importance.

1. Immediately After A Workout

If you only take protein once per day, this is the absolute best time to take it. Immediately after you finish your workout, your body needs raw materials to rebuild and recover with. If you don’t supply the raw materials through eating, your body will break down muscle from elsewhere in your body in order to rebuild the damaged areas. This is very counterproductive as you can well imagine.

By taking in some protein (20 to 30 grams or so) within minutes after exercise, you provide your body with the raw materials it needs to recover without breaking down it’s own muscle tissue.

2. An Hour After A Workout

About an hour following a workout, your body has settled down from the excitement and is ready to really start rebuilding. The protein that you took in immediately following the workout has been metabolized and your body is looking for more. Another protein shake at this time is a good way to help speed recovery. Try to take in another 20 to 30 grams about an hour after working out.

3. First Thing In The Morning

Immediately upon waking, or as soon after that as you can manage, take a scoop of protein powder. Your body has just been through an (approximately) 8 hour fast and is hungry for nutrients. Feed your body!

Protein powder is more quickly assimilated than solid food and gets into your muscles faster. This protein shot gives your metabolism a boost, which can help with fat loss. Be sure to follow it with a good breakfast, of course.

4. Last Thing At Night

Prepare your body for the long overnight fast by giving it a little something to work with. A good combination for this purpose is to mix a scoop of whey protein in with a small glass of milk.

Whey is what’s known as a “fast” protein, meaning that it’s digested quickly, while milk protein (casein) is what’s known as a “slow” protein, meaning it’s digested relatively slowly. At night, you want your protein to be metabolized slowly so that your body gets a more even supply over the course of the night. By mixing “fast” and “slow” proteins, you get the benefits of the higher-quality whey with the slower digestion time of the milk.

5. In-between Meals

A quick protein shake can be a great snack in between meals. It helps keep your body supplied with protein all day long. This is especially useful if you tend to have long periods of time in-between meals. It could mean the difference between losing muscle and building or keeping muscle!

6. With Meals

Taking a protein supplement with meals is a handy way to increase the protein content of a meal. This is perfect for when you ake
a meal that is somewhat low in protein.

7. In The Middle Of The Night

This is a trick that bodybuilders sometimes use in order to keep their muscles supplied with protein throughout the night. Keep a pre-mixed protein shake right beside your bed. Although some trainers have been known to set alarms to wake up to drink it, I prefer to have it there waiting just in case I wake up, but I don’t try to wake up on purpose. If I don’t wake up, it’s right there ready for me to drink first thing in the morning! This strategy is more targeted for muscle growth rather than fat loss.

WARNING!

Never drink a protein supplement immediately before working out!

Some people do this thinking that it will give them an energy boost or give them a head-start for post-workout recovery. Basically, all it does is sit in their stomach and bloat them up. Valuable blood that should be going to working muscles gets sent to the digestive system to try and digest it. The same warning goes for taking protein during a workout. Don’t do it!

 

By following these protein-intake recommendations, you will increase the effectiveness of your supplementation. Even if you choose to take advantage of only one or two of these timing techniques, you will certainly see an improvement in your recovery ability.

 

 

 

 

Nick Nilsson, author of the powerful eBooks “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, “Gluteus to the Maximus” and “Metabolic Surge” Has been weight training for 16 years and have a degree in Physical Education, encompassing physiology, nutrition, biomechanics, kinesiology and anatomy.

Nick has many training articles published widely on the Internet, including sites such as Bodybuilding.com, AtoZFitness.com Ironmagazine.com, and many others.

“Metabolic Surge” is about losing fat quickly hardcore results in thirty six days. I am talking about training with techniques so powerful you will be left spellbound as you watch your fat melt away into nothingness.

Jag252

Metabolic Surge For Rapid Fat Loss

Fat-Loss Circuit Training

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   program available at “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss program.

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 link:

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:

Your Free Sample Workout

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 (BetterU). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

Hey Jag252 here Nick Nilsson is one of the most knowledgeable trainers in the fitness industries today. The other thing I like about Nick is he always comes up with new versions of old exercises and workouts and how to get more from them. I highly recommend you take a look at what he has to offer you will not be sorry.

Protein for Fat Loss And Muscle Gain by Nick Nilsson

Protein is an extremely important nutrient whether your goal is to lose fat, gain muscle or just tone yourself up. It is the main structural nutrient in your body, making up the bulk of your muscles and organs. Protein is essential for proper hormone function and immune system health. Most importantly, for our purposes, protein is used for building and repairing muscle tissue.

When you are trying to lose fat, you reduce your calories. Unfortunately, your body views fat stores as more precious than your muscle tissue and will tend to eat up muscle tissue before it goes to fat for energy. This physiological adaptation used to protect our ancestors from famine but works against us now.

This is very unfortunate because muscle tissue is a great calorie-burner. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you’re doing absolutely nothing! Protecting your muscle tissue makes fat loss so much easier, it will amaze you. Not only that, it will help you keep that fat off permanently!

What can you do to protect your muscle tissue?

The first thing you can do is exercise. Exercise, especially resistance training, provides a stimulus for your body that sends it a signal saying “keep this muscle, you’re going to need it.”

The second thing you can do is provide your body with enough protein. This can be in the form of food or supplements.

Good food sources of protein include chicken, fish, eggs, lean meats, legumes (beans), soy, and dairy products. Protein supplements are derived from food sources but are concentrated for convenience and effectiveness.

How much protein do you need?

The standard recommendation for athletes is between 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (or 0.5 to 0.7 grams per pound of bodyweight per day), though some research indicates a ratio as high as 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (0.9 grams per pound) is beneficial. This means if you weigh 150 pounds, you should try to eat between 75 and 105 grams and up to around 135 grams of protein per day.

Essentially, you should experiment with your protein intake to find out what works best for you. As far as importance in your supplement program goes, I would rank protein as next in importance to a good multi-vitamin.

When I made my first grand attempt at fat loss, I made the mistake of neglecting protein and it cost me. Don’t make the same mistake I did!

Metabolic Surge For Rapid Fat Loss  by Nick Nilsson