In this weeks Newsletter!

The Every other Day Diet

Sarah's Introduction 

How many times this year have I already heard people tell me they want to lose weight? Too many. Too many, because it’s wrong. Really, it is, no one wants to lose weight, not really.

Rephrase please from "weight lost" to fat burned !

Right, if you want to know more about self-talk, pick up Jon Benson’s  M-Power Audio Series! It's incredible, full of information, and with Jon's quiet sense of understated humor (and more direct too) making it a really great audio series well worth the money! It’s interactive as well, which makes it even easier to follow.

I find that most audios are just something to let drone on in your ears while you in fact get distracted with and by other things. M-Power empowers YOU by having you participate. You have to pause the audios and think, write, draw match-stick men, and he makes it fun; you look forward to the next week’s audio-link to learn more!

Some audios are interviews, and you get some fabulous tips on training, nutrition and just tips in general. I discovered while listening to one of them, a much more efficient way to do the stomach vacuum for example, than the way I had been doing them. I was in the car at the time, driving another half hour home, and by that time my abs were tired!

Some audios are suitable for the car or a walk, others not as you need to pause and write; but once you have listened – studied really – once, you can re-listen without doing the exercises; you can also go back and totally do the series over, exercises and all.

I’ve had the M-Power series for about 3 years now, and I did the first round of 48 weeks by the schedule; since then I have listened to some specific audios from time to time, and I’m now giving myself a crash refresher course by listening to them in a stream. Once that’s done, I will take the course again – one by one with the exercises.

We change. Our ideas change. Our perception of things change. This is the reason I will do the course over, and then compare my notes with the ones from before!

Using M-Power in conjunction with 7 Minute Muscle and Every Other Day Diet is a sure-fire way to burn off those excess pounds/ kilos of body fat.

Have a great week!
Sarah, CPT
www.trainwithsarah.com

AtoZfitness Weekly featured Fitness Article

Something new today. Instead of a featured article here is a great video I uploaded to my blog .

Does Fat Make You Fat – Isabel De Los Rios Video <<< — Click this link .

If you would like to see my review of Isabel's Diet Solution program please click-here . Nice that so far 11,654 people on the web have checked out my review

Excess Stomach Fat

5 Facts You MUST Understand if You Are Ever Going to Lose Your Belly Fat and Get Six Pack Abs

1. Many so-called "health foods" are actually cleverly disguised junk foods that can actually stimulate you to gain more belly fat… yet the diet food marketing industry continues to lie to you so they can maximize their profits.

2. Ab exercises such as crunches, sit-ups, and ab machines are actually the LEAST effective method of getting flat six pack abs. We'll explore what types of exercises REALLY work in a minute.

3.3. Boring repetitive cardio exercise routines are NOT the best way to lose body fat and uncover those six pack abs. I'll tell you the exact types of unique workouts that produce 10x better results below.

4. You DON'T need to waste your money on expensive "extreme fat burner" pills or other bogus supplements. I'll show you how to use the power of natural foods in more detail below.

So, Click-Here and let's set the
record straight once and for all…

Nick Nilsson's Weekly Fitness Tips

By Nick Nilsson
http://betteru.atozfitness.com

How to Spot Reduce and Burn ONLY the Fat Off Your Stomach…

By Nick Nilsson

I'll share with you my top-secret technique for burning ONLY the fat off your
stomach. This is spot-reducing at its best…you can even apply
this technique to ANY other specific areas you want to tone up!

Yep, it's exciting and I know you're curious so I'll get right into it!

To perform this technique, you're going to need a roll of duct tape, 3 double cheeseburgers, a set of jumper cables and a housecat…

Ok, you're going to hate me for this…

The truth is there IS no top-secret technique for spot reducing and burning only the fat from your stomach. I made that headline up in hopes that you would at least read far enough into this article to learn the TRUTH about how your body burns fat and WHERE it burns fat from (and I'll try to keep it entertaining so you actually want to read the whole thing ).

And honestly, this type of question is one of THE most frequently asked questions I've gotten in all the years I've been answering questions online…

"How do I get rid of fat from just my [insert area here]?"

Bottom line is, you can't. And even those stupid creams and lotions won't do it (one of these days I swear I'm going to get one of those creams and put it only on the left side of my abs and not the right and see what happens…I'm sure I'll have a ripped 3 pack within days).

To lose fat from any one specific place in your body, you're going to have to lose it from EVERYWHERE ELSE, too. There's really no getting around it.

I like to use the analogy of a swimming pool (I "borrowed" this one from fat-loss guru Tom Venuto)…

When you're filling up a swimming pool (the pool is your total amount of body fat), the deep end fills up first, right? Then the shallow end fills up as the water level rises.

Generally speaking, the deep end can be compared to the areas where you put on fat FIRST. The shallow end is where you put on fat LAST.

When you go to lose fat, look at the swimming pool again…when you drain the swimming pool, you can't drain water from just the deep end! It drains from the whole pool at once…the shallow end shows it first, THEN the deep end last.

So basically (and fairly depressingly!), the fat you want to get rid of FIRST is the fat that's going to come off pretty much LAST. To burn just stomach fat (or thigh fat or back fat), you'd have to figure out a way to defeat the entire system your body uses to store fat.

Sticking a vacuum into your belly with surgery is one way to do it – taking useless pills like Acai Berry definitely WON'T do it, no matter how many "simple rules" you follow (in that case, the simple rule is "give us all your money so you can't afford food anymore" – I guess that one actually WILL work).

And that's not even all your options for losing stomach fat…

1. Starvation dieting – this is THE best way to lose weight…of course, it'll be mostly muscle, which will send your metabolism into a nosedive, which will make it harder to continue to lose weight, which will make it easier to REGAIN weight, which will keep that lovely stomach fat firmly where you left it, even though the precious scale shows a smaller number…oops, somebody changed the calibration on it…you actually weigh more now…never mind.

2. Diet pills – pretty much all of these will work for you, especially the ones that say you can eat anything you want and still lose weight (just make sure you're never more than 15 feet from a bathroom). You know the manufacturers are only interested in your success and well-being, after all! And don't forget, the heart is a muscle and the faster it goes, the more calories you burn, right! Who wouldn't want to have their heart-rate up in the "training zone" while they're sleeping…talk about efficiency!

3. High Impact Aerobics For Beginners – the good news is, soft tissue injuries require a LOT of calories to heal up, so bust out those Step Tae Bosu Dance tapes and go nuts!

Okay, let's move on to some of the more "radical, unproven" stuff …

1. Eating natural, wholesome foods – what a crock! The only thing anybody has ever lost from eating this garbage is fat. Oh wait…

2. Weight training – even more useless than good nutrition, weight training is something to stay away from. All it will do is build muscle and increase your metabolism. Total B.S. Same with interval training…it's the worst.

3. Supplementing with multivitamins, minerals, fish oil and protein – I know…I can't make this stuff up! Some people actually USE these things to support their nutrition while eating natural foods and training with weights for fat loss. I guess their quack doctors wouldn't write out a prescription for Orlistat or Xenical or Gottapoopital.

So bottom line, fat loss isn't rocket science…just don't eat anything, take a lot of pills and thrash around for hours on end until you hurt yourself.

Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss
by Nick Nilsson

Review

A marvelous book on fat loss, "Metabolic Surge" by Nick Nilsson makes very interesting reading as well. Not a book for the faint of heart, "Metabolic Surge" is loaded with the most intense and effective techniques for fat loss you’ll ever find.

"Metabolic Surge" is about losing fat quickly. Are you smirking? You don’t believe fat loss can be accomplished fast. No, I am not talking of losing ten pounds over the weekend. I am a bodybuilder and I am not interested in losing muscle and water.

I am talking about 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.

When Nick decided to write a book on fat loss he knew what he was doing. Why the words "fast" fat loss? If you are a bodybuilder with any experience in dieting and fat loss you should know that over a period of time the body adapts to anything. That means your best results will come mostly in the begining before your body realizes what you are doing!

I have tried ketonic diets that gave me great results for about two weeks. Then my metabolism slowed to a crawl and all my gains came to a screeching halt. I dropped my calories further only to realize that I had now slipped into muscle burning and fat storing mode!

My point is that if you want to keep your gains continuous, you are going to have to trick your body into letting the fat go, not fight a headlong battle against it. After all, you are up against thousands of years of evolution.

Hit, block, dodge, parry, sidestep, and duck. These are the guerilla techniques Nick will teach you in "Metabolic Surge" to keep your metabolism racing and switching in so many different directions, it will be an obvious victory for your fat loss battle. The key – and the part I like most about "Metabolic Surge" – is to keep the body guessing!

Now, if you have tried low intensity exercises for fat loss then you will know that they have their limitations too. Nick has included some amazing intensity training in the cardio section that will most definitely produce results. Complete down to the last detail, "Metabolic Surge" includes everything from nutrition, exercises, reps, to lesser known techniques like "Muscle Rounds," Lactic Acid Training and even overtraining in a controlled fashion.

The "Muscle Rounds" was a very interesting concept for me. Taking advantage of the body in a vulnerable stage, Nick uses "Muscle Rounds" to actually make quick muscle gains on a fat loss program. That’s evil Nick! You don’t need a major calorie deficit on this program. That is because Nick effectively manages to manipulate body hormones to keep the body in a permanent fat loss mode.

The only drawback to "Metabolic Surge" is that is a very intensive program. Though Nick has also included a preparatory section for the novice trainee I still don’t see no old ladies training on this program.

[Authors Note: a scaled-down version of the full Metabolic Surge program has been added since the review. This version is appropriate for a beginner to intermediate trainer.]

Also the low-carb approach makes an important feature in this program. I know from personal experience that the low-carb diet is a difficult act to follow. Some people may not even be able to do so for medical reasons. Nick has included a variation for the people who can’t follow the low-carb method, but I think this will still limit the results you might obtain compared to using the original program.

"Metabolic Surge" is the most excellent compilation of fat loss techniques I’ve ever come across. All the secrets jealously and unfairly guarded for decades by the best fat loss experts, namely bodybuilders, are now available in this one brilliant book. A must have for the bodybuilder who trains with intensity!

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," "Muscle Explosion,""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 here  !

Mike Geary Monthly Article

The Top Tips You Need to Know for Losing Stomach Fat & Getting Lean Abs

How to Get Flat 6-Pack Abs without Useless Crunches or Situps – Nutrition & Workout Secrets for a Lean Body and Flat Abs

Interview with Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

This is a recent interview that was done with me.  Pay close attention and you'll find TONS of useful info that will help you get lean sexy abs much faster and stop struggling with excess body fat.  Enjoy!

SN:  It's great to sit down and speak with you, Mike. To start off, how about telling our readers a little bit about yourself and your fitness background.

MG:   I've actually been involved in the fitness industry for about a decade now, as a Certified Nutrition Specialist and a Certified Personal Trainer. I'm also the founder of TruthAboutAbs.com and author of the #1 best selling abdominals ebook in the world currently, The Truth about Six Pack Abs, with over 250,000 readers in over 155 countries.

I started developing the Truth about Abs program about 5 years ago based on how much I saw most people struggle with this topic and the amount of confusion and scams / gimmicks that were out there regarding abs and belly fat. I just saw that it was time somebody laid out the TRUTH about what REALLY works to get ripped six pack abs.
 
SN:  Let's get right down to it. Everyone wants a flat set of 6-pack abs, yet very few people ever achieve that goal. Why do you think there's so much confusion on the subject? Is it really all that complicated of a process?

MG:  You know, it's really NOT that complicated… However, with that said, to get your body fat % low enough to really see a nice set of abs, it does take a decent amount of discipline with your food intake as well as a whole new level of intensity with your workouts than what most people are used to. The thing is, most of my clients always comment that the style of eating that I recommend is actually fun, and they feel more energy due to the more natural unprocessed healthy foods they're eating and more balanced blood sugar and hormone levels in their body.

The problem is that there's so much conflicting advice out there these days, it leads the average joe or jane to over-complicate things and end up totally confused about what's the best way to train and eat for six pack abs.

SN:  You've said before that abdominal exercises such as crunches and situps are extremely ineffective when it comes to achieving a flat stomach, and that they can actually make your stomach look WORSE. Can you elaborate on that?

MG:  Sure… First of all, let me make clear that I'm not saying that you shouldn't do any abs-specific exercises. Rather, my point of contention is that most people spend WAY too much time focusing all of their efforts on abs-specific exercises, instead of focusing their efforts on more effective full body exercises that stimulate a much greater fat-burning and muscle building hormonal response, burn more calories, stimulate the metabolism to a higher extent, and also indirectly work the abs to a decent degree anyway.

Let me give an example of how many people typically waste too much time on abs-specific exercises…

A lot of times I see the average joe or jane spending about 15-30 minutes of their total workout just doing tons of pointless repetitions of crunches, situps, leg raises, or some other "abs pumping" exercise. Many times this comes out to almost HALF of their entire time working out.

My point here is that this type of excessive abs training is really a waste of time training a relatively small muscle group such as the abs, when that time could have been better spent on full body exercises such as squats, deadlifts, clean & presses, lunges, upper body presses and pulls, dumbbell swings, snatches, etc, etc.  Compared to spending that time doing abs exercises, all of the above types of exercises will give you magnitudes more results in terms of hormonal response, metabolism increase, calorie burning, etc… all while indirectly working the abs to an extent anyway.

After focusing the majority of your workout efforts on those types of more effective full body exercises, then it's ok to spend about 5-7 minutes directly training the abs with abs-specific exercises… but the point I'd like to make is that abs training should only be a small portion of your training program as a whole, and not the majority of it.

Also, back to the topic of crunches and situps in particular… Once you've got a decent amount of abdominal training under your belt, crunches tend to be one of the least effective ab strengthening exercises since they are actually a fairly low-resistance exercise. An example of a higher resistance abs exercise would be a hanging leg raise with a proper pelvic curl-up (different than what you see most people doing in the gyms, where they only raise their knees up).

SN:  How often do you recommend an individual train their abdominals on a weekly basis? Is basic, straightforward training the best protocol, or are there advanced ab training techniques that will yield better results?

MG:  I usually recommend incorporating abs-specific training into your routines about twice/week, and 5-7 minutes per workout. Remember though that you're also getting indirect ab work through most of the full body exercises that should be comprising the majority of your workout time.

Beyond the typical leg raises, ab bicycles, hip thrusts, ab pikes, crunches, etc… there are definitely ways that you can take your abs to a new level that most people don't even think of.  For example, some of the best abs exercises aren't usually viewed as abs exercises at all…

A couple examples that come to mind are front squats, renegade dumbbell rows, mountain climbers, 1-arm snatches, and others. Front squats are typically viewed as just a leg exercise, but if you've ever learned to do a proper front squat, you'll feel a tremendous stabilization tension required in your abs due to the weight being shifting more to the front of your body compared to the back as in back squats. If you haven't done front squats in a while, or are just learning them, I guarantee if you do a few sets of them, your abs will be feeling it big time the next day!

Renegade rows are another example of an exercise that's typically just viewed as an upper back exercise. However, while you're rowing a dumbbell up from a pushup position while stabilizing your body with your other arm, there is an insane amount of tension and stabilization strength required in your entire abs/core area. This is another exercise that really surprises people at how much they feel it in their abs. 

SN:  The viewpoints on the effectiveness of cardiovascular exercise seem to be shifting among fitness experts recently, with some advocating no cardio whatsoever. What is your stance on cardio as it relates to achieving 6-pack abs?

MG:  Well, I know there's a lot of mixed views in the cardio area, and I'll proudly say that I'm pretty much totally against traditional cardio in the sense of just doing long duration, steady pace cardio. I feel that steady pace cardio is a very ineffective way to train and a waste of time in my opinion that could be better spent on variable intensity (interval) training, or more high intensity resistance training (weights, bodyweight training, etc). In general, I feel that anaerobic training gives you more bang for the buck compared to wasting time with lots of aerobic training.

Let me elaborate a little so I can make my point more clear…

Let's look at a typical cardio workout such as someone going out for a 45-minute steady pace jog, or going on the treadmill or elliptical for a long duration steady pace workout. While this steady pace workout is going on, you're only training your heart in one specific heart rate range… basically, you're keeping approximately the same heart rate throughout the entire workout… as an example, let's say that your heart rate stays at 125 beats/minute for most of the workout. In essence, you're only training your heart in a very limited range.

Now let's take a look at the mother of all interval training workouts…the highest intensity version of interval training… wind sprints or hill sprints… During a wind sprint or hill sprint workout (which based on higher intensity, generally can't last much longer than about 15-20 minutes at the most, saving you time), you're doing very high intensity "sprint" intervals of 10-20 seconds, followed by "recovery" intervals of walking back to your starting point for 40-60 seconds.

This type of highly variable training takes your heart rate screaming probably up to 150 or 160 beats/minute at the end of the sprint intervals, and then drops down to 100-110 beats/minute during your recovery intervals. This means that you're training your heart in a much higher range and making it MUCH stronger compared to traditional steady-pace cardio.

At the same time, the highly variable intensity training actually works your muscles in a more resistive fashion, stimulating a higher residual metabolic effect, hence burning more calories in the post-workout period compared with steady pace cardio.

I could go on with more reasons why I strongly believe that steady pace cardio is an ineffective method of training, but I'll make this point instead…

Look at the typical emaciated, sickly-looking body of a dedicated marathoner who has wasted most of their muscle away with long duration endurance cardio. Now compare that to the totally ripped, muscular, strong and healthy looking body of a world class sprinter, wide receiver, or other athlete that does mostly high intensity sprint work… which would you rather resemble? I rest my case!

 
SN:  I'm sure you literally cringe when hearing words like 'ab belt' or 'ab rocker'. What's the honest truth about all of these infomercial gadgets? How about dispelling the myths right here once and for all?

MG:  They're just about all complete junk! You can do more effective exercises just doing bodyweight exercises than all of this crap that they're hawking on the infomercials.  I mean, does anybody really think they can "melt off slabs of belly fat" by sitting on their couch and strapping on some useless electro-stim ab belt? Don't get me started!

And I hope everyone realizes that those perfectly ripped fitness models they use in the infomercials didn't get their awesome bodies by using their pointless contraption they're selling… they got their perfect body because they are a professional fitness model, and they work their butt off with REAL full body workouts and lots of dietary discipline.

 
SN:  How important is diet in relation to achieving a ripped stomach? Can you outline some common mistakes that you see people making with their nutritional approach?

MG:  Diet is VERY important… probably the MOST important aspect. I've seen plenty of people that workout like animals almost every day of the week, but they have horrendous eating habits, and guess what… THEY'RE FAT! What's the point of working that hard in the gym, if you're gonna be embarrassed to take your shirt off because you have a big sloppy belly?

I also think that diet is the area of the most confusion. Everybody seems to think that they must follow some sort of "dieting gimmick" such as a "low fat" diet, or a "low carb" diet, or high or low something. The thing is, we should NOT be restricting what our bodies need… we should be feeding our bodies what they need with a balanced approach instead of restriction of a certain macronutrient or food group. 

The only thing we need to restrict is processed junk food, sodas, deep fried food, and anything along those lines.  I would also recommend restricting wheat-based foods and soy-based foods as both of these can cause major problems in the body (despite the hefty billion dollar marketing budgets behind both of these claiming them to be "health foods").

It doesn't have to be as complicated as the "diet gurus" make it out to be. It can be a lot simpler. Focus on the following aspects and you'll be well on your way to a more enjoyable eating style that will last you for life and get you better results at the same time…

1. Choose whole, unprocessed organic foods, as close to their natural state as possible

2. Choose high nutrient density food choices instead of nutrient deficient processed foods

3. Fruits and vegetables (lots of vegetables) as your main source of carbohydrates instead of so much reliance on grains as is so prominent in our food supply these days. Small amounts of grains is ok, but try to focus more on veggies/fruits for your carb sources.

4. Make sure to get moderate amounts of high quality protein at each meal

5. High fiber intake to help appetite control and glycemic control (maintaining more balanced blood sugar)

6. Don't neglect an ample healthy fat intake from nuts, seeds, nut butters, organic free-range whole eggs, wild fish and/or fish oil, virgin coconut oil and olive oils, avocados, etc (helps appetite control and hormonal balance).

You can also take some daily Krill Oil for healthy fats that are even more powerful than fish oil.

Once you gain control over the aspects listed above, everything else usually works itself out in your diet… you no longer crave sweets or junk food because your body finally has all of the nutrients it needs and balanced hormone levels. Another important thing that this style of eating does is that it tends to bring people naturally back to the proper amount of calories they need each day without having to attempt to count calories or anything like that.

Hopefully that helps to simplify some things with this confusing topic..
 
 
SN:  Let's say you have an individual who knows absolutely nothing about how to properly train and eat for 6-pack abs. What are the top 3 pieces of advice you'd give them right off the bat?

MG:  Top 3 tips…

2. Focus your "cardio" efforts on shorter duration variable intensity interval training, wind sprints, hill sprints, stair sprints, jump rope, and other higher intensity (and variable intensity) forms of training instead of relying on long duration, steady-pace boring traditional cardio.

3. With your diet, don't try to be too restrictive on certain macronutrients or go too low on overall calories as this can lead to muscle loss and reduced metabolic rate. Instead, feed your body what it needs to perform optimally and build/maintain lean muscle mass… lots of whole unprocessed foods such as nuts, fruits, veggies, seeds, eggs, organic meats, etc..

Click-Here for some Weird Tips to Lose Your Stomach Fat .

The Diet Solution Program
By Isabel De Los Rios

Vince Delmonte Monthly Article

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About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://vincedelmontefitness.atozfitness.comm

Jeff Anderson Monthly Article

Best Abs Exercises Technique For 3-D Abs!
By Jeff Anderson
http://combatyourownfat.com

Combat The Fat

Fat Loss Secrets Of The U.S. Military!

Discover the once "classified" secrets of the U.S. military for burning fat and chiselling out a lean, muscular physique!

Both men and women will enjoy the challenging yet powerful workouts and a simple set of eating guidelines that will help you get in the best shape of your life while transforming your body into a real head-turner!

10 coaching modules take you by the hand and show you step-by-step how to burn the most fat in the shortest amount of time!

Click Here For More Information On
How To Start YOUR Fat Burning Battle Plan Now!