You know I’ve been doing the Combat The Fat challenge from Jeff Anderson alongside Lewis for the past 11 weeks. We’re in the final days now, and he’s doing really well, I’m totally proud of him for his commitment to the program and his results.

However, I plateaued after 6 weeks and although I tried all the tricks in the book, I just couldn’t break it. Time to refocus, big time, and fast! Week 10, I read Jon Benson’s Fit Over 40 again, this time getting through the entire book, including the third part by Tom Venuto that I’d never even read before! There was one phrase in there that caught my eye: “you can only change your body by changing your mental blueprint”. Food for thought if ever there was one!  I then moved on to The Secret, you know, the book. Not the movie, it’s too fast; I prefer being able to linger on a page, a phrase, an idea; so the book was much better in that respect. I only got to page 23, but I certainly will finish the rest!

I then went back to Fit Over 40. To section two, with the role models. One of the role-models’ nutrition plan had caught my eye as I read through the book, and I had decided to go over her chapter one more time once I’d read the whole book. I contacted her. Said … “help!” … which is not something I do easily, never have. Even as a kid, I’d work through issues alone, even if it meant failing a test at school or not “getting it” in a subject, not to mention being the last one to ever be picked for any team in PE class. But yesterday I did it. For the first time in my life, I dared say the word. Help.

Well, guess what? Georgette Pann was there for me, immediately! I was touched, grateful, humbled – not feelings I’m too used to either I might add J probably because I never asked for anyone’s help before I suppose.

Together, we worked out a plan. The plateau will be broken and my results will be better than they look at the moment (June 13^th) on the 27^th – which is the last day of the contest and “after” picture day. Incidentally, I hope you’ll all go to the voting page and vote for me J

Now, you have all seen the e-books and programs we have on AtoZ Fitness dot com, right? Predominantly male authors, some catering only to men in that they keep talking about testosterone levels and the like, something that’s not really applicable to us ladies. Sure we have that hormone too, but not in the amount that the men do.

So what about us? Of course, there is Karen Session’s Iron Dolls books, and they are great. So is Karen J a really sweet person.  However, I felt that just one “gal” against that many guys wasn’t fair competition. And you, our faithful lady readers, deserve to have a choice of lady trainers, just like our faithful gentlemen readers have their large choice. We asked Georgette if she would join us with an e-book, and she was delighted to.

I’m sitting here with a review copy of her Woman’s Guide Fat Combat Workout, and as soon as I’ve had lunch I’ll let you know what you can expect from this book, all you need to do is click here but I can already tell you a little bit of what you get:  a 95-page e-book,  nutritional tools, fitness tools, goal tools, eating checklist (I haven’t had time to look at these yet, but you’ll read about them in connection with the review). In addition, there are 7 bonuses and a two-week free Members Only access to her Just Fitness And Exercise portal (which is then a mere 9.95 per month after those 2 weeks). 

Have a great week, train hard and eat clean!

Sarah, CPT
www.trainwithsarah.com My online training website.
www.trainwithsarah.com/support new fitness forum

 

by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)

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. 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.

5. Ab belts, ab-rockers, ab-loungers, and other infomercial ab-gimmicks... they're all a complete waste of your time and money. Despite the misleading infomercials, the perfectly chiseled fitness models in the commercials did NOT get their perfect body by using that "ab contraption"... they got their perfect body through REAL workouts and REAL nutrition strategies. Again, you'll learn some of their secrets and what really works below.  

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

 I just don’t have time to lose weight!
 By: Isabel De Los Rios
 http://yourdietsolution.com

I must get this call and this statement from busy moms, executives, students, all the time “I just don’t have time to eat right and exercise” No one seems to be able to find the time to lose weight. With all of the responsibilities and events packed into our busy days how are we to keep ourselves healthy and maintain an optimal weight?

When people think weight loss, they think diet and exercise, both of which already sound time consuming. Well after 10 years of seeing clients I will tell you with 100% certainty that if a client follows their nutrition plan without exercise they always lose weight but if they don’t follow their nutrition plan but are consistent with their workouts, there is no weight loss. Anyone who has ever attempted to lose weight without changing to healthier eating alternatives knows this is true. Trust me, I’ll be the first one to tell you all the reasons why exercise is so important but following a healthy eating regimen must be priority number 1!

So if nothing else, the following easy adjustments in your nutrition plan will help to take off, at the very least, an initial 5-10 lbs to get you well on your way to your health and weight loss goals:

1. Only drink water as your beverage (with the occasional unsweetened tea or black coffee). Eliminating all sugar drinks, “diet” drinks and sodas will automatically cause a dramatic weight loss. Studies have shown, when all else is kept constant, people l.ose up to 10lbs just by giving up diet coke. But it has no calories you say? Equal (Aspartame) and all other artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Sweet and Low are toxins to your body and cause weight gain, even more so than sugar!

Squeeze fresh lemon in your water or make flavored herbal teas and cool them to make ice tea to make water drinking much easier. Always consume ½ of your body weight in ounces of water per day to experience adequate hydration and weight loss (ex. If you weigh 150lbs, you must drink 75 ounces of water each day).

2. Eliminate the 4 white devils : White Flour, Refined Salt, White Sugar, and Dairy. If you just stay away from these 4 things, you will automatically see a drastic drop in weight and will instantly feel more energetic throughout the day. Most people are well aware of the harmful effects of flour, refined salt and sugar but dairy? Doesn’t it do a body good? Definitely not! Dairy is one of the number 1 reasons people have such a hard time losing weight. It causes inflammation in the body, digestive problems, clogged arteries, and weight gain. Get your calcium from leafy greens and avoid dairy at all costs. When moms bring in their children to see me with weight and health problems one of the first things I do is take them off dairy. The results are miraculous! Chronically sick kids are now automatically better. And those who have had such a hard time losing weight experience automatic weight loss without dairy.

3. Know exactly where to find the healthy food! It is honestly just as easy to run in to Kings and get a bag of carrots and some almonds than it is to run into Quick Chek and buy some harmful processed food. You can go absolutely anywhere now and find healthy meal options but you must know what you are looking for. Stay away from most packaged foods as the label indicates more of a science experiment than anything that would be close to food. No one needs all of those toxins in their body. Labels should have 2 – 3 items, at most. And the best foods don’t have labels.

Don’t let time be your excuse. If you stop to eat 2-3 times per day and snack in between it is just as easy to find something healthy as it is to find something harmful. Don’t let your body come to a shrieking halt before you decide to do anything about your weight and your health. You know what will be a huge impediment on your time? If you or a family member becomes ill due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits. So tackle the problem now before it really does begin to affect your time and your life! You can replace cars, homes and all material items, but you only get one body! Take good care of it.

About the author:

Isabel is a nutrition, exercise and lifestyle coach who has helped hundreds of people lose their unwanted weight and take complete control of their health. She is the author of The Diet Solution Program, a complete and comprehensive nutrition program that is helping people all over the world finally reach their ideal weight. For more information on The Diet Solution Program and how it can help to change your life, visit http://yourdietsolution.com.

Learn “The Top 5 Essential Truths You Must Know Before You Go on Any Diet Ever Again” from Isabel De Los Rios at http://yourdietsolution.com.

Cardio Training For Fat Loss - Should I Do It BEFORE or AFTER My Weight Training For Best Results?

By Nick Nilsson

Training for fat loss is not easy and proper cardio training is an important part of the
process. But if you're doing your cardio at the WRONG time, you could be
shooting yourself in the foot! Find out the best time to do it and why.

When it comes to fat loss, one of THE most frequently-asked questions I get is "to maximize fat loss, should I do my cardio before or after my weight training?"

I know there are times when I like to be kept in suspense…

But I'm not going to do that to you here…

Physiologically speaking, if maximum fat loss is your goal and you want to incorporate cardio into your training schedule, you're better off doing your cardio training immediately AFTER your weight training.

Here's why:

1. When you do weight training first, you have more energy and strength for that weight training.

I know cardio junkies won't want to hear this, but intense, QUALITY weight training is actually MORE effective for fat loss than cardio training. Why the emphasis on quality? Well, if you go to the gym and just flail around with light weights for 30 minutes, it's not really going to be very effective for fat loss.

However, if you really put some effort into it and train hard, the metabolic boost you get from weight training (in terms of not only calories burned while doing it but the increase in metabolism after AND the increase in muscle mass you get from weight training) is greater than the boost you get from cardio training. And, when compared to slow, long-duration cardio training, that boost is MUCH greater.

So by performing your weight training FIRST, while you're fresh, you're going to have more energy to put into it and you're going to be stronger. This will increase metabolic and muscle mass stimulation and therefore overall fat loss. It's a win-win situation!

That's not to say you can't do a couple of minutes of cardio as a general warm-up before starting into the weights...just don't do an entire cardio session before weight training. Always keep in mind that the weight training is the REAL engine behind your fat loss efforts.

And if THAT isn't enough to convince you to do cardio after weights, I've got another reason for you…

2. Performing weight training first decreases available blood sugar and puts the body in "fat burning" mode.

When you train with weights, you're performing short, intense muscle contractions. Glucose (blood sugar) is the preferred fuel for driving these intense contractions. As you go through your workout, your body gradually uses up its readily-available supply of sugars and starts mobilizing fat for energy.

Here's the key…mobilizing bodyfat for energy is a process that takes time. If you do your cardio first, your body will be initially working on that blood sugar before getting started on the bodyfat. By the time you're done with cardio and move to weights, THAT is when you're in the optimal fat-burning mode.

But the problem is, fat is NOT an efficient fuel for weight training. By doing cardio first, you use up all the "good" stuff for weight training and force your body to make do with a less powerful fuel source. Your weight training workouts will decrease in quality and your cardio efforts won't be as effective for achieving fat-burning, which is your primary goal!

So basically, you're shooting yourself in the foot TWICE!

Think of your body as a hybrid gas-electric car. This car uses gas to provide more power for acceleration and electricity to provide long-term power for maintaining speed.

Now think of blood sugar as gas and weight training as powerful acceleration. When you press the pedal (performing weight training), you're going to get much better acceleration when you're using the proper fuel (i.e. gas).

If you try and power the acceleration with electricity, you'll go forward but not nearly as quickly as if you were using gas.

The bottom line is this…perform your weight training first so you use up the "fast" energy first. Then, by the time you hit the cardio, you're ALREADY in fat-burning mode and every single second you're doing that cardio is going to be burning more fat than if you did it first.

---

These two reasons apply no matter if you're doing slower, long-duration cardio or high-intensity interval training (which I recommend). The key thing to keep in mind is that WEIGHT TRAINING is what's going to help you change your body FAST…cardio is a useful tool for improving your results but it's NOT what drives your fat-loss results.

And that being said, if you absolutely feel you MUST do your cardio first, I'm NOT going to tell you it's the worst thing in the world…the fact that you're doing SOMETHING trumps doing nothing ANY day of the week!

But if you're looking for maximum impact for the time and effort you're putting your training, DEFINITELY hit the weights first and cardio after.

If you're interested in more articles and information on fat-loss, interval training and programs, check out the following links:

How To Lose Fat NOW - A Basic Fat-Loss Program That You Can Put To Work Today!

BASIC Nutrition - A Quick, Common-Sense Guide To What You Should Be Eating to Stay Healthy and Get Results Right Now

What Do You Mean Low-Intensity Training Isn't The Best For Fat Burning?

The Insider Secrets of Interval Training - Learn How Now!

8 Week Cardio Interval Training Blast! Get Increased Fat Loss AND Take Your Cardio Fitness To A Whole New Level

Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss
------------------

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 by here 

He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

The newsletter now features inspiring and motivational photos of some of today's top bodybuilders and leading fitness models.  Provided by : www.zazzle.com/photos_by_jae*

Hardgainer - How To Determine If You Are a Hardgainer

By Hugo Rivera CFT, SPN, BSCE.
 www.losefatandgainmuscle.com
 

Definition of a Hardgainer

The popular definition of a hardgainer is a person that works out hard with weights but has a hard time putting on muscle. Six weeks of working out can go by and no significant changes in muscle size are noted other than perhaps a bit of an increase in muscle tone.

According to this popular definition of a hardgainer, all of us are "hardgainers" because for the most part, putting on muscle is not an easy endeavor. The easiest period to gain muscle is during puberty. After that, gaining muscle becomes progressively harder as we age due to the fact that hormonal production starts declining between the ages of 25 and 30.

Ectomorph Somatypes

My definition of a hardgainer is the naturally skinny person, who no matter what he or she eats, always seem to remain the same body weight.

This is what Dr. William H. Sheldon referred to as an "ectomorph" somatotype when he came up with the theory sometime in the 1940’s. Sheldon’s theory states that human bodies are divided into three main somatotypes; the ectomorph, the endomorph and the mesomorph.

In a nutshell...

The ectomorph is the naturally skinny person who has trouble gaining weight, whether in the form of muscle or fat.

The endomorph on the other hand has the opposite problem, it is too easy for a person with this body type to gain weight.While endomorphs are easy muscle gainers, provided they diet and train correctly, they are cursed with a slow metabolism, which makes it imperative that they be strict with their diet year round if they wish to have any abdominal definition.

The mesomorph, however, is the naturally muscular person, who also has a higher metabolism than the endomorph. Mesomorphs make excellent bodybuilders and for them, gains in muscle and reduction in body fat come rather easily provided they maintain a great training and nutrition program; life is not fair.

So You Have Determined That You Are A Hardgainer - Now what?!

Now, having said this, is a hardgainer doomed to stay looking the same way forever?

Not at all. Basically, all the hardgainer has to do is modify the training and nutrition program to suit his/her unique metabolism.

While most people will do best on a diet consisting of 40% carbohydrates, 40% proteins and 20% fats, the hardgainer will benefit most from a diet consisting of 50% carbs, 25 % proteins and 25% good fats.

While the typical person will do best on a caloric intake that equals their lean body mass times 12, the hardgainer is better served by taking in as much as 24 calories per pound of total bodyweight (as opposed to lean body mass). Therefore, if you are a hardgainer and weigh 150 lbs, your caloric intake will be 3600 calories (150 x 24). Your total amounts of carbohydrates per day will be in the order of 450 grams of carbs, your protein will be 225 grams and your fats will be 100 grams of good fats per day.

You can take all of this in 6, 7 or even 8 meals. The key thing for a hardgainer to be successful is to minimize their caloric expenditures and maximize their caloric intake. This is necessary as the hardgainer metabolism is a furnace that burns calories at all times and if not enough are supplied at one time or the other, then muscle will be consumed by the body for energy purposes. After all, this metabolic issue is what makes a person a hardgainer.

Hardgainer Training

Three to four sessions per week of periodized weight training, lasting for 60 minutes at the most, is all a hardgainer can get away with. Cardiovascular exercise should be limited to a couple of light walks on the days off lasting no more than 20 minutes. Remember that the hardgainer needs to limit caloric expenditure. Because of this, he/she needs to get in the gym, stimulate the muscle and get out.

The Benefit of Being a Hardgainer

If you are a hardgainer that does not mean it's the end of the world. Many determined hardgainers that have achieved their bodybuilding goals (and even won competitions) through a ton of determination and very hard work. The beauty of hardgainers is the fact that it is very hard for them to gain body fat, so therefore, any muscle gains that they make are highly visible due to the amount of muscle definition that the hardgainer has.

If you are a hardgainer, plan your meals ahead of time, pack them in a cooler and ensure that you never run out of food. When in the gym, get in, and get out. At night, get plenty of rest, and if you follow all of this day in and day out, then get ready to grow!

If your interested in more information about my complete Body Body Building & Fat Loss Program check out www.losefatandgainmuscle.com

About the Author::

Hugo Rivera CFT, SPN, BSCE. is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, multi certified personal trainer, industry consultant and fitness expert who not only knows training and nutrition theory, but also applies it on a daily basis as evidenced by the fact that he’s always in shape and by his awards and high placings at numerous national level bodybuilding competitions. He is also an internationally known best selling fitness author with a very successful franchise of books called "The Body Sculpting Bibles" who collectively have sold over a million copies. Hugo is also author of the very popular “Body Re-Engineering” e-book, which teaches you how to gain lean muscle mass and get lean without drugs, or fancy expensive supplements, using the secrets he devised after many years of weight problems as a child.

For more information on Hugo’s Body Re-Engineering Program please visit http://hrfitness.atozfitness.com