Metabolic Surge and Fat Loss

Raise Your Metabolism For Rapid Fat Loss

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

July 3, 2009 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

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

June 30, 2009 Posted by jag252 | fat loss, weight loss | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

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

May 22, 2009 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

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”

May 12, 2009 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

For Fat Loss Follow The Path Of Most Resistance

Follow the Path of MOST Resistance!

By Nick Nilsson

Why weight training is the fast track to sculpting your body.


Resistance is NOT futile! When it comes to changing your body for the better quickly and permanently, nothing comes close to good old-fashioned weight training.

The shape of your body is determined by three things: muscle, bone and fat. While there’s really nothing you can do about changing your bone structure, there is a whole lot you can do about muscle and fat. This ratio of muscle to fat is commonly known as your body composition.

And what is the fastest way to change your body composition? Weight training. Why is it so effective? Because it builds muscle.

Muscle is the key to changing your body. While fat certainly gives your body shape, muscle is what gives you the shape you actually WANT!

One of the greatest things about muscle is that it burns calories all day long, even when you’re lying on the couch. What this means is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn during the day and the more you’ll be able to eat without gaining weight. Sound interesting? There’s more.

Weight training stimulates your metabolism more than aerobic training such as cycling or walking. This means that you’ll continue to burn calories long AFTER you’ve completed your weight training session. The calorie-burning effect of aerobic training generally declines rapidly once you stop the exercise.

Beginning trainers, who are just starting with exercise, are often under the impression that they should stay away from weight training because they might gain weight before they start losing it.

I like to use a car as an analogy. Imagine your body is a car, your muscles are the cylinders in the engine, and your bodyfat is the gas.

With a four-cylinder car, you only burn a minimum amount of gas/fat. Weight training and building more muscle is the equivalent of putting more cylinders into your engine. As you can imagine, you’ll burn a whole lot more gas even while idling! And, just like a car with more cylinders, you’ll be a lot more powerful too!

The bottom line to you is this…with more muscle, you’ll get greater fat loss with less effort.

While it certainly is a possibility that you could gain weight before losing it, if you gauge your success solely by numbers on a scale then you’re not getting an accurate picture of yourself. Measure your progress by how you feel, how you look and how well your clothes are fitting, not by which direction the needle on a measuring device is moving.

At the end of the day, I’m not suggesting for a moment that you should eliminate cardiovascular training from your exercise routine, but, if you are struggling to lose fat and keep it off, weight training may be just the thing you need to lose that fat and keep it off for good!


For more information on resistance exercises you can do at home, go to:

Metabolism Surge


April 30, 2009 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The One Arm Dumbbell Row To The Max

Learn how a simple change in body position can INSTANTLY increase the amount of weight you can use for this exercise AND make it safer. You’ll never go back to the old way again!


The One-Arm Dumbell Row is one of the best lat-building exercises you can do. If you knew of a way to be able to not only perform it with heavier weight but in a far safer manner for your lower back, would you be interested?

I have just what you’re looking for: a simple body-positioning trick that will INSTANTLY allow you to use much heavier weight with good form without compromising the health of your lower back.

The typical one-arm dumbell row is done on a bench with one knee placed on the end, one hand set forward on the bench to brace the upper body and the other foot planted solidly beside the bench. The lower back should be arched and tight and the head should be looking somewhat up and forward.


This position is absolutely fine for the back and body when you are in it without weight. Now let’s add a dumbell and see what happens.

Generally, you are taught to hold the dumbell in your hand, let it stretch forward a little then bring it up along the outside of your thigh and up towards your hip. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Wrong! Bringing the dumbell up along the outside of your thigh can not only greatly limit the amount of weight you’re able to use safely for this exercise, it can also compromise the safety of your lower back. The technique I’m about to show you will TOTALLY eliminate these problems, making the exercise safer and making your immediately stronger in it.

How can I go against the teachings of decades of exercise instruction? Easy, I do it every day. Quite often, it actually ends up being a lot better for you!

What’s the technique? Instead of placing your foot beside the bench and bringing the dumbell up along the outside of your thigh, set your foot out wide to the side and bring the dumbell up along the INSIDE of your thigh (your knee should be slightly bent when you do this).

It doesn’t sound earthshattering but you’ll notice an IMMEDIATE difference in how the exercise feels. You will feel stronger and more stable right away.

When you examine the standard performance of this exercise, you’ll see one glaring problem: the resistance is placed entirely OUTSIDE of your base of support during the movement. Your base of support is formed by your legs and your arm on the bench. When the resistance is outside of your base of support, i.e. the dumbell coming up the outside of your thigh, your body must attempt to counterbalance this torque with your lower back.

When you’re using lighter weights, it doesn’t matter so much as the resistance is not enough to really cause problems. Imagine, however, trying to do a one-arm dumbell row with a dumbell that weighs almost as much as you do. Think you’ll be able to hold that outside your thigh and not fall over or severely injure your back?

By setting your foot out wide (like an angled brace holding up a retaining wall), you immediately widen your base of support, making yourself far more stable and increasing your power. Bringing the resistance up INSIDE of your base of support allows you to instantly use much heavier weight without the dangerous, unbalanced torque on your lower back and body.

Using this technique allowed me to perform 3 reps (with good form) with a home-made 210 pound dumbell. This dumbell weighed 20 pounds more than I did at the time.

When you try this technique and are able to starting moving heavier weights, be absolutely sure you keep a tight arch in your lower back. DO NOT allow it to round over at all. Rounding your lower back not only decreases the effect of the exercise on the lats, it also immediately relaxes the muscles of the spine that work to stabilize the spine. The result: possible immediate injury. Keep it arched and keep it tight.

Give this positioning technique a try in your next back workout. You will notice an immediate difference in how the exercise feels and realize an immediate increase in the amount of weight you are able to handle with it.

Thanks to Nick Nilsson for this article

Jag252 click to return

November 16, 2008 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , | No Comments Yet

A Quick, “No B.S.” Guide To Muscle-Building and Fat-Loss Supplementation

In black and white…what you need, what you don’t and why. If you take supplements or even want to take supplements, this information is going save you PILES of money AND help you get the results you deserve.
 
One of the single most frequent questions I hear is “what supplements should I take to build muscle/burn fat?” To that question I always answer with a question: “what does your training and nutrition look like?”

The blank looks I often receive in response tell me all I need to know. Many people view supplementation as the sole key to results…the golden ticket, magically unlocking the door to the body they want. They feel without supplements, that door just won’t open!

My view is different…

I use training and nutrition to rip open the door and supplements to help me step through it AFTER it’s open. Because the bottom line is, without proper training and nutrition to start with, the door to results WON’T be open and using supplements to try and get through it is going to be like pushing on a door marked “Pull.” Not going to happen.

I’m not writing this to bash supplements, believe me. I use supplements every single day and always will. I just want to be sure that YOU are getting only the supplements you need and NOT getting stuck with the supplements that you don’t.

*** That being said, I want to be clear that I am NOT a doctor or nutritionist – this is NOT medical advice and DO NOT go against what your doctor or nutritionist has recommended to you! ***

So here’s my common-sense, totally unglamorous approach to effective supplementation…
1. Start with the basics, no matter what your goal

If want to build muscle and you weigh 147 lbs soaking wet, you don’t need some ground-up reindeer toenail fungus from Siberia or some chemical that was discovered 15 minutes ago and has 7 consonants in a row in its name. You need to get yourself under the squat bar and pile some weight on it. Then you need to feed your body NUTRIENTS.

And if you want to lose fat, let me put it this way…if the soundtrack of your life sounds like “Flight of the Bumblebee” because you’re so hopped up on herbal stimulants, you’re NOT going to get the results you want. But a completely shot nervous system, yes.

So let’s boil it right down. You need to start with a good multivitamin. Cripes, even take a Flintstone multivitamin if that’s all you can get your hands on! If you’re not taking a multi, you are NOT giving your body what it needs for health, muscle growth OR fat loss.

Here’s something to chew on…most obese people are actually very malnourished! Sounds strange but it’s true. They’re not lacking in calories…what they’re lacking in is nutrients (like vitamins and minerals). But the foods they eat don’t contain the nutrients that they need so their bodies tell them they need more food. And they eat more food. And they get fat.

If you want muscle, your body NEEDS those nutrients to even build muscle in the first place! Set the protein aside for a minute. Your body needs vitamins and minerals to actually USE that protein to build muscle.

Give your body a decent amount of nutrients in the form of a multivitamin and it’ll pay off. And don’t give me that garbage about having “expensive urine.” I think my urine is worth it. I’d rather have “expensive urine” now than have “astronomically expensive urine” later caused by the drugs needed to make up for the textbooks full of disorders caused by chronic malnutrition.

I ask you, what’s more expensive…a $10 bottle of Flintstone vitamins now or a $90 pill to make up for bone loss later.

In this category, I would also include a “greens” supplement. These are available at all health food and supplement stores. Basically, they take healthy foods (like barley and wheat grass) and turn them into a powder so you get all the nutrients without having to eat the food itself. This is concentrated nutrition and VERY good to take.
2. Protein is key but don’t get nuts about it

You need protein to build muscle. It’s just that simple. Protein is the basic building block of muscle tissue. I supplement with protein every day. But what I DON’T do is buy protein that’s full of isolated fractions of this and “enhanced” with micrograms of that.

Sure, those fancy protein powders are backed by research and all that, but in the real world, it comes back to training and nutrition. The people I see buying those expensive proteins are often the ones stopping off at McDonald’s on the way to supplement store or repping out on the pec deck machine for countless sets!

In order for your body to really make use of the extra protein you’re giving it, you have to give it a reason. And that reason is hard, effective training. Next, you give your body quality nutrition to fuel those workouts and help recovery. THEN you give it the extra protein.

I can promise, if you’re not training hard, it won’t matter a bit if you give your body $40 a pound whey protein isolate or a bag of powdered skim milk. You won’t get results.
3. Take your minerals

Here’s a newsflash…there is no such thing as a Nitric Oxide deficiency. But calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc.? You bet. By sheer weight alone, minerals account for a fair percentage of your bodyweight (your bones are made of minerals). They’re also absolutely CRITICAL for so many bodily functions and processes (including muscle building and fat loss), I can’t even begin to name them all.

Without minerals, you would die. And without adequate mineral intake, you won’t maximize your muscle gain OR your fat loss.

Taking that multivitamin I mentioned above is a great place to start. But even multivitamins don’t have enough of the “big” minerals to maximize your results. Calcium, for example, is a mineral you should get 1200 mg of per day. That makes for a BIG pill and it’s just not practical to put that much in a multivitamin. The same goes for magnesium.

My recommendation…take at least 1200 mg of calcium per day in supplemental form (citrate is well absorbed – don’t go higher than 2000 mg per day) and 600 mg per day of magnesium (again, citrate is good as is glycinate or aspartate).

** For zinc, the amount in a multivitamin may be enough for you but you can supplement with 15 to 50 mg per day (don’t go over 150 mg per day and be sure to take a day or two off of extra zinc at least once a week to avoid taking too much).

Just adding these three minerals to your supplement regimen will pay off with increased results and better overall health.
4. Protect your joints

Want to build huge muscles and maximum strength? You need to lift heavy weights. Makes sense, right? But what parts of your body take the brunt of all that pounding? Your joints!

And if you went to a gym and asked, by show of hands, how many people take joint-protective nutrients, I have a feeling there wouldn’t be many people reaching for the sky.

Joint-protective nutrients include glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, collagen, and Vitamin C. They are EXTREMELY important if you’re lifting heavy and want to keep your knees and shoulders for later in life.

The example I use for this category is myself. When I first started training, I didn’t have any idea that joint-protection was even necessary. As the years went by, I noticed whenever I lifted heavy for long stretches, my shoulders, knees and elbows would start to hurt and wouldn’t ease up until I stopped lifting heavy for awhile.

After a little research, I began using a lot of joint-protective nutrients like glucosamine and Vitamin C. Now I can do extremely heavy partial training (often with 2 to 4 times the amount of weight I could use for a full range of motion) and never have joint pain.

Sure, it doesn’t sound glamorous, but if joint pain stops you from lifting heavy, you’re not going to build maximum muscle and strength. And all the pickled jellyfish tentacle extract in the world isn’t going change that.
5. Take your fats

I’m talking about Essential Fatty Acids here (Omega 3 and Omega 6). Our food is notoriously low in essential fats yet they are critical for good health, muscle-building hormone production, and immune system function (among many other functions).

Flax oil, fish oil, krill oil, borage oil, olive oil…these are all good sources of Essential Fatty Acids. Taking these regularly can yield great benefits in your training – even 5 grams a day of any of those I mentioned will help.
6. Go with the research

Creatine has a TON of research proving its effectiveness. Glutamine also has plenty of research backing its use. But you can’t show me a scientific, peer-reviewed study published in a major journal that demonstrates the muscle-building properties of NO2 supplementation. The research just isn’t there, even though all the glossy pictures and fancy graphics plastered in the all the magazines claim otherwise.

So once you’ve got your training, nutrition and your basic supplementation in order (multivitamins, protein, minerals and joint protection), THEN you can start adding in the “fun” stuff. Creatine and glutamine are the best places to start.

And if you’ve still got money left over, definitely give some new stuff a try! I do the same thing myself on a regular basis. Do some research before buying and give some new supplements a try from time to time.

But here’s the key…don’t try everything at once. Rotate a new “treat” supplement in every month or so. See how your body responds. If you get greater results, you’ll know it’s a good one for you.

Stacking supplements (using a number of supplements in combination with each other) is often recommended and this can be a good way to go, especially because some supplements can be more effective when combined with others. But with all new supplements and with stacking, be absolutely sure you’re not compromising on your basic supplements and make sure you are careful about researching how different supplements interact with each other!

The Bottom Line:

Supplements are a tool in your toolbox. If you can’t get results WITHOUT supplements, i.e. your training and nutrition aren’t effective, adding exotic supplements is NOT going to fix a broken program.

So before you ask “what supplements should I take to build muscle or burn fat,” pick up the basics and get your training and eating sorted out.

Only THEN should you worry about what supplements will give you that extra 5% of results!

Thanks to Nick Nilsson for this article.

Nick has been weight training for 17 years, been a personal trainer for 10 years, a professional fitness writer for 6 years (published in Men’s Fitness, Reps Magazine, Muscle & Fitness and on hundreds of websites) and He’s got a degree in Physical Education, covering advanced biomechanics, physiology and kinesiology.

November 14, 2008 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

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.

November 11, 2008 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , | No Comments Yet

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.

November 8, 2008 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

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!

metabolic-surge-medium

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

November 6, 2008 Posted by jag252 | bodybuilding, cardio, fat loss, fitness, metabolism, muscle gain, weight loss | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment