Adelaide Personal Training Blog

Great post here from Tom Venuto on adding interval training to your overall workouts, and in particular, stair sprints!

This is not for the faint hearted or beginner, but definitely something to aim towards if your fitness is not quite where you would like it to be.

Read the full article here.

For more information on Tom Venuto visit his famous Burn The Fat website.

Kickboxing for fitness is a great alternative to traditional gym or cardio workouts, and a serious form of exercise that can burn up to 700 calories per session when performed at high intensity.

One of the main concerns for people when doing any kickboxing classes is of course safety, which is why you need to select the training studio you use very carefully. Try and find one that has no contact and no sparring as if you are looking to lose weight or get into great shape, this is one form of training you should definitely add to your arsenal.

Some major benefits of kick boxing for fitness are:

• Improve your general fitness
• Improved cardiovascular conditioning
• More self confidence
• Learn basic self defense skills
• Higher energy burn when performed at high intensity

Adelaide kickboxing studio Fitness Habitat runs kick boxing classes for beginner to advanced level in a safe and encouraging enviroment.

If you are looking for kickboxing classes in Adelaide, contact 0433 043 676 or visit the website at www.fitnesshabitat.com.au.

Seeking out a personal trainer for the first time can be a little confusing if you are not sure where to start. Here are some tips to help smooth out the process.

You will need a checklist to help find the right personal trainer and also add these steps to your list:

• How to locate a good personal trainer
• Use the checklist to ask important questions and identify the good trainers
• Arrange your first session or trial workout
• Pay for some training sessions and being your training program
• Have a nutrition plan in place
• Follow your plan as outlined by your trainer

Read the full article by Adelaide Personal Trainers on getting started with a personal trainer.

Probably one of the most popular questions I hear from personal training clients and people in gyms in general is: "Should I eat late at night?"

Here is a great article by Metabolic Jumpstart's Matt O'Neill which explains in very simple terms when this could happen and why other times it is not such a big deal.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

If you have any questions on this topic or Metabolic Jumpstart leave me a comment, as I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic.

Just got this email from Vince DelMonte during the week that was titled "5 ways I INCREASED my stomach fat this past 8-days". He basically outlines all the mistakes he made while on a recent holiday and in doing so pretty much covers some of the most important tips for weight loss.

Below is the email in full and you can subscribe to Vince's blog here. Hope you enjoy and please take some time to read and consider these very important points.

5 Ways I INCREASED My Stomach Fat This Past 8-days

I don’t have any official numbers but based on the mirror, I’ve easily gained a few pounds of fat this past 8-days while in the Bahamas… I still have my muscle size but my abs have “disappeared” or went into hiding. I arrived with a solid 4-pack and left with a soft 2-pack. …and I’m going to tell you exactly how I did it so you can avoid 5 big mistakes I made while I was on vacation.

 1. No goal. I don’t have any dates on the calendar to be “camera-ready” so every time we were offered the dessert menu I had little motivation to say “No, thanks.” Instead, I introduced a surge of fat and sugar hours before going to bed each night. Not saying, “No thanks,” over the course of 8-days added up. The first thing I did when I boarded the plane was look at my calendar to schedule some filming days to get motivated for.

2. Late night 4-course dinners. The fastest way to get fat is eating a lot of carbs, calories and fats after 6pm. When I'm leaning down I always cut my carbs at 6pm and for the final 5-10 lbs I usually cut all my carbs at 3pm. It's my golden rule that works wonders. This past 8-days I followed the “See Food Diet.” See Food. Eat it. Even if meal times started at 9pm at night. I would devour the bread basket first, then a full course dinner, then I would finish Flavia’s left over’s and then always dessert. I gave into the, “I’ve already screwed up so far so what’s a little more damage going to do?” A lot!

3. Waking up late. Usually I get my first meal by 7am but on the Islands we rolled into the breakfast buffets around 11am. I don’t suspect too much damage occurred here because I stuck to my omelets, fruit, coffee and a few slices of French toast.

4. Not following a regular meal cadence. The majority of our days consisted of a huge buffet breakfast at 11am, mid afternoon snack of ice cream and a beer around 2-3pm and then heading to a late night 4-course dinner around 8-9pm, absolutely famished.

5. More alcohol than necessary. On a few occasions I would finish my beer or glass of wine or Bahama Mamma (island drink) and feel completely satisfied. When the waiter routinely returned, I would somehow justify, “Yeah, I’ll have one more…” which probably enforced more fat storage and hormonal assault.

Seriously, even though I only gained a few pounds of fat – based on how I ate – I feel like I should have gained 20 lbs of fat this past week! That’s the benefit of having a lot of muscle mass on your body – my metabolism is like a furnace so I probably incinerated a lot of the excess calories. I also headed into the week slightly “over trained” so my body probably spent the first few days super compensating and repairing damaged muscles and I probably made some muscle gains.

I know a lot of people reading this will probably say, “Vince, you’re too hard on yourself… live a little… you were on vacation…” Oh don’t worry, I lived more than a “little.” True, I’m super motivated to get back into my training routine and nutrition plan when I get home. Yes, even after 8-days, while walking through the airport, I’m still the fittest looking guy I’ve seen all day. Sure, I can battle the guilt with the fact that I have the tools and knowledge to zap the few pounds of fat I gained by this Friday so in the big picture, I’m okay. You bet I'm fasting all day to get my body back into discipline mode.

But here’s what really disturbed my thinking… How I ate for 8-days -- over 60% of the population does for 365-days a year – year in and year out! My instant thought – DISGUSTING!

As I flew home today I asked myself, “How do people let themselves go THAT far?” How do people get so fat that they look like they are going to give birth to triplets? How do people abuse their bodies and become unattractive, unhealthy and unfit? I answered my own question based on my own experience.

They have NO REASON not to. They have NO MOTIVATION not to. 

I can relate. I'm sure you've been there too? I did not have a GOOD reason to: - follow a meal cadence - find the local grocery store and keep my fridge stocked - go to bed a bit earlier and start my meals earlier - get a weekly gym membership and train early am - stop eating when my body was satisfied - pack my bag with fruits and nuts when we went to the beach.

So what’s your take home message? Zero in on what you’re training for. What is YOUR reason for eating clean and training hard? I know you have REASONS to stay healthy, fit and attractive.

Write down your TOP reason right now. 

Here is my complete Six-Pack in Six-Months training plan. http://www.YourSixPackQuest.com <- click here. It includes one of my all-time favorite programs, 5-Day Metabolic Overdrive program which is the plan I used to incinerate 23-lbs of fat in 10-weeks and compete at the World Fitness Model Champs last spring. Check it out, whether you have 10-lbs of fat to lose or 100-lbs of fat to lose.

Until we talk next time, Vince Del Monte

In no particular order, here a 5 of my favourite resources to help you in 2010 that I use in my own personal development and also in my Adelaide personal training business. Just click on any of the list below to visit the website:

1. Jim Rohn International (subscribe to his newsletter)
2. Burn The Fat Blog by Tom Venuto
   
3. Metabolic Jumpstart Program by Matt O'Neill
   
4. Google/YouTube - You can find some amazing information on here!
   
5. Adelaide Personal Trainers (my new website  - shamless plug! - where I will be posting articles, many of which may have come from 1-4)

Leave me a comment with your own suggestions.

5 Excuses That Won't Fly in 2010
By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

It’s 2010. Your old excuses for not getting in shape won’t work. As Dr. Evil (Austin Powers) said, ZIP IT! I don’t want to hear them anymore! Read em’, then haul your excuseless butt to the gym!

1. I have no time.

According to a story in a recent issue of Men’s Health magazine, Barack Obama works out for 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Obama doesn’t just play basketball either. Our new president stays fit to lead with cardio and weight lifting. He also says he wishes he could train 90 minutes a day. Have you ever seen what the daily schedule of a U.S. president looks like? If the busiest man in the world can train every day for 45 minutes a day, then what’s your excuse? ZIP IT! You ain’t got one!

2. It’s too expensive.

Getting in shape certainly is expensive… if you keep wasting hundreds of dollars, month after month on worthless “miracle” weight loss pills, internal cleansing gimmicks and “magic” potions that all claim to make you slim. Deceptive advertising and slick marketing for bogus diet aids is more rampant than ever. 2010 was the year of thewu-long tea scam, the acai berry scam, and, of course, the ubiquitous “cleansing” and “detox” gimmicks . Unless you put on your critical thinking cap and learn to investigate before you invest, then you’ll get scammed by 2010’s flavor of the year as well. Your quest for those elusive “6-pack” abs will not only continue to be expensive, you’ll go broke. Walking, jogging, calisthenics and body weight exercises are FREE. If you want to know what’s really expensive, tally up the cost of legitimate expenses like natural food, gym memberships, fitness education, dumbbells and so on, and compare that to your doctor’s bill when you’re sick.

3. No one will support me.

Experts on social influence say your income will be approximately equal to the average of your 5 closest friends. Not only do I think that’s pretty darn accurate, I also believe that your health is your greatest wealth, and your physical condition will be about equal to the average of your 5 closest friends. It’s a real challenge to stay positive, focused and active when you’re surrounded by critical people and negative influences. However, in 2010, lack of support is no longer a valid excuse. Online social networking is exploding (check out Twitter and Facebook ) and more IN PERSON friendships and associations are being made from an internet connection than ever before. Training buddies can be found online. Connect with them. Mentors and coaches are easily found online. Hire them. Support forums have been around for years. Use them. No support from your current friends? Stop whining, start reaching out and go make new ones. In 2010, support partners and new friends are just a click away.

4. I can’t lose weight because of my genetics.

The marvels of modern medical and biological research are astonishing. Our top scientists have mapped the human genome! In the past few years, numerous genes linked to obesity have been discovered. However, the obesity epidemic we’re facing today has only developed over the past 50 years and genetic mutations that lead to serious obesity are extremely rare. Genetic predisposition only means that you have a tendency. It’s when the genetics meet lifestyle and environment that the genes express themselves. If you have a family history of heart disease, is it smart to smoke, eat junk, be a stressed-out, type-A maniac and a couch potato? Well of course not, and it’s the same with obesity. If you have a tendency predisposing you towards obesity, you’d better be the person doing the MOST exercise, not the least. You’d better be the person paying the MOST attention to your nutrition. You’d better be the person with the healthiest lifestyle. But unfortunately, it’s usually the opposite. Most people throw up their arms in frustration saying, “what’s the use, I was dealt a bad hand.” Sorry. That won’t fly in 2010. The latest research says genetics are a factor, but a tendency is not a destiny!

5. I don’t know how.

The lamest excuse of them all in 2010 is “I don’t know how.” NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DO ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER THEY HAVE ACTUALLY DONE IT! Ponder that for a while. You don’t need to know how at first. To get started, you only need to know WHAT… what is the goal? Setting well-formed goals is the master skill of success. Not wishy-washy resolutions that have no resolve behind them, but real goals. In writing. With emotional ooompf! As you continue to affirm, visualize and focus on your goal with clarity, belief, and expectation, your new goal or intention will be received by your subconscious. Once a goal is accepted into your subconscious mind, your brain, being a goal-seeking mechanism, will turn on your attention filters to seek out all the information you will ever need to reach your goal. It will also turn on an infallible navigation system to guide you to your goal like a torpedo to its target. As your brain guides your attention, your direction and your behavior, you will discover that today, in 2010, there is more good information, coaching and instruction available than ever before. And when you’ve activated that “success radar” in your brain by setting goals effectively, it’s not as hard to find honest, accurate and helpful HOW-TO advice as you might think. In fact, you found this webpage, so you’re doing pretty good right now, aren’t you?

No more excuses. In 2010, remember my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Creed: You can either make excuses or get results, but you can’t do both!

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com

Great technique here from Tom Venuto's Burn The Fat Inner Circle website, on how to use a basic calendar to countdown to a specific weight loss or physique goal.

The article is titled The Contest Countdown Calendar: How to Peak Your Physique on a Deadline and there is downloadable pdf sample calendar and an excellent video showing how to use Google Calendar if you prefer an electronic tracking method.

Just posted a great body weight workout on my new Adelaide Personal Trainers website from Craig Ballantyne. There are six exercises and a great video to explain exactly how to perform each one, also how to modify for beginner and more advanced fitness levels.

View the body weight workout here.

Here is a quick YouTube video from Vince DelMonte titled "Get Back In Shape Plan", which is a great workout for anyone getting back into the gym or starting for the first time.

Vince has dozens of excellent videos on his YouTube channel for all levels of fitness, and also specialises in weight training and nautral bodybuilding. Visit his page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/VinceDelMonte.

He is also the author of several fitness packs including some of the best instructional dvd's I have seen, which will allow you to learn the correct technique for all of the workouts. As a personal trainer, I have used many of his workouts with my own personal training clients.

Watch the video below and please leave me a comment if you need any more information:

An excellent article below by Tom Venuto of www.BurnTheFat.com aimed predominantly at females, but there are also some excellent fundamentals on nutrition that can be applied by anyone. If you have any questions about anything mentioned, please leave me a comment.


An Explanation and Solution For Slow Female Fat Loss

You may have heard (or, heh, realized), that it's more difficult for women to lose fat than men. Immediately most people think it must be estrogen or hormonal issues. But perhaps the biggest factor is NOT hormones, but the simple fact that women are usually smaller and lighter than men.

When you have a smaller body, you have lower calorie needs. When you have lower calorie needs, your relative deficit (20%, 30% etc) gives you a smaller absolute deficit and therefore you lose fat more slowly than someone who is larger and can create a large deficit more easily.

For example, if my TDEE is 3300 calories a day (I’m 5' 8" and moderately to very active), then a 20% deficit is 660 calories, which brings me to 2640 calories a day. On paper, that will give me about 1.3 lbs of wt loss per week, rather painlessly, I might add.

If I bumped my calorie burn up or decreased my intake by another 340 a day, that's enough to give me a 2 lbs per week wt loss.

That's hardly a starvation diet (Ahhh, the joys of being a man). For smaller women, the math equation is very different.

If your total daily energy expenditure is only 1970 calories, even at a VERY high exercise level, then a 20% deficit for you is only 394 calories which would put you at 1576 calories a day for (on paper) only 8/10th of a lb of fat loss/wk.

If you pursued your plan to take a more aggressive calorie deficit of 30%, that puts you at a 591 calorie deficit which would now drop you down to only 1382 calories/day.

That's starting to get fairly low in calories. However, you would still have a fairly small calorie deficit. In fact, I would get to eat almost twice as many calories as you and I'd still get almost twice the weekly rate of fat loss!

What this all means is that women who are petite or have a small body size are going to lose fat more slowly than larger women and much more slowly than men, so you cannot compare yourself to them.

It's great to be inspired by our success stories, but if you're looking for someone to model yourself after, choose one of our success stories of someone your body size and wt, rather than the folks who started 100 lbs overweight and were therefore easily dropping 3 lbs a week.

ONE POUND a week of fat loss is much more in line with a realistic goal for someone of a smaller body size. Overweight people can lose it faster. The best thing you can do is to be extremely consistent with your nutrition over time.

Suggestion #1: Weigh and measure all your food any time you feel you are stuck at a plateau, just to be sure. When your calorie expenditure is on the low side, you don't have much margin for error.

Suggestion #2: Take your body comp measurements with a grain of salt, especially if you are using Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) scales (they are a bit wonky) and remember that body comp testing is seldom perfect. Pay attention to your circumference measurements, how your clothes fit and how you look in the mirror and in photos as well.

Suggestion #3: You might actually want to take fewer refeeds - once a week instead of every 4th day, or even just once every 10-14 days, so you can get a larger weekly deficit.

Suggestion #4: You may want to take 2 or 3 of your long cardio sessions on the treadmill and switch them to intense intervals or ANY other type of activity that has potential to burn more than 362 calories for an hour's investment of time, or perhaps that equivalent calorie burn in less time. No need to add more days of cardio or more time - get the most out of the time you are already spending.

Suggestion #5: If you do intervals, don't make the workout too brief (ignore the advertisements for those "4 minute miracle" workouts, etc.), or you may burn fewer calories than you were before! In fact, you might even try the method where you do HIIT
for 15-20 min, then continue for another 30-40 at slow to medium intensity. Increasing total calories burned should be your focus.

Dropping only ONE pound per week (or less) may seem excruciatingly slow, but it's actually the same type of thing I do. As a bodybuilder, I go from lean to extremely lean when I diet and I don't expect more than a pound a week during contest cuts.

You are in a similar situation, even if not competing. Even if you get a half a pound a week fat loss, if you get that progress every week, that’s what you’re looking for - steady progress – even if slow.

It's entirely possible that you HAVE been making progress, only very slowly. With the way water weight and glycogen levels can fluctuate (and lean mass may increase), a half a pound or pound fat loss in a week could have been easily masked... and therefore, missed. That's one of the drawbacks of going by the scale alone.

Understand the calorie math I explained above and be patient, watching for slow and steady progress, paying special attention to the trend over time on your progress chart.

Keep after it - the persistence will pay, I promise!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
http://www.BurnTheFat.com

PS. You can learn about more fat loss strategies (including the details about the carb cycling method) inside my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Learn more and see some of the inspiring before and after success stories at:
http://www.BurnThefat.com



About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Here's a couple of quick workouts you can do at home with no equipment required, other than a towel, and preferably something like a bath or beach towel.

These 2 workouts are ones which I have used with personal training clients at the Adelaide studio. I mentioned I would email them the workouts but rather than just email, I have put them up here for easy access and so other clients can use them too, if and when needed.

Workout #1

1. Knee Pushups
2. Bodyweight Squats
3. Towel Rows
4. Prone Hold
5. Supine Hip Raise

Perform as a circuit with no rest, or as little as possible between each movement, and perform each for 30 seconds. To make this harder, you can increase the time on each movement to 1 minute for example.

Follow these rest/repeat cycles:

• Rest 60 seconds, and repeat,
• Rest 45 seconds, and repeat,
• Rest 30 seconds, and repeat,
• Rest 15 seconds, and repeat (this last one is optional depending on your fitness level).

Workout #2

1. Bar/Bench Pushups
2. Alternate Lunges
3. Bridge
4. Towel Rows
5. Static Wall Squat

Perform as a circuit with no rest, or as little as possible between each movement, and perform each for 45 seconds. Do this for sets only with 1 minute rest in between.

To make this harder, you can increase the time on each movement to 1 minute for example, and add additional sets if required, and reduce the rest period as per Workout #1.

A quick explanation of Towel Rows - performed like a low row/seated row, but with a towel wrapped around a vertical pole/post, etc. with your feet at or close to the base. Then, without bouncing or momentum, retract the shoulders and perform just like a normal rowing movement.

Any suggestions or comments, please let me know.