Ripped to the Core Beach Ready Workout: Barbell, Dumbbell, Bodyweight Circuit Training



C. Carey Yang,  Certified Personal Trainer
Dream Body WorkoutXpert

It’s April 30 today – the last of April. Weather has been getting better for the spring. And we’re looking forward to summer beach and outdoor season.

Rome wasn’t built in one day, nor is your beach-ready body. It takes time, consistent training with supported nutrition and supplementation.

Instead of waiting until Memorial Day’s weekend to start summer shape-up fitness plan, I’m beginning to journal summer beach-ready workout, training, nutrition and strategies today.

Here is a 5-exercise circuit training workout routine that guarantees to boost your metabolism, challenge your whole body and core, blast calories and burn fat like crazy, because I did it this morning. And I was so pumped up, sweating and my legs were shaking.

I’m feeling good and looking great!

Here is the first summer beach ready workout routine. It’s a circuit training so do these exercises one after another with no or little break (15 seconds at most). Then rest for 2 minutes and repeat for a total of 3 to 5 circuits.

1. Forward Walking Lunges with 1-DB @ 35# Overhead Hold x 8 steps

2. 1-DB @ 35# clean and split jerk x 8 reps

Switch hand for the dumbbell. Repeat 1 and 2 for the other arm holding dumbbell.

3. Barbell Rotational Squat Press "Bus Driver" - Hold 45#Bar+25# with one hand, Squat down, Stand up, Rotate and Press the bar  x 10 reps

4. Barbell Woodchop Oblique Twist holding 45#Bar+25# with the same hand x 10 reps

Switch hand. Repeat 3 and 4 for the other side with the other hand.

5. Bodyweight Fingertip Pushup x 5 reps, then standard pushups x 25 reps.

Free Download - The Dark Side of Cardio and Sample Fat Burning Workout



5 Simple Changes to Break Your Fast Loss Plateau

If you're exercising and eating right but still aren't losing fat as fast as you'd like, your metabolism may be "broken".

But there's good news, it CAN be fixed:

5 "little known" tricks to FIX slow fat loss <------ read here

At the above link, my good friend and metabolism expert John Romaniello is GIVING AWAY his top five plateau-busting, metabolism-repairing strategies at no cost...100% freee, no strings attached:

Get the 31-page report here for F.REE:
http://bit.ly/FinalPhase

Get your free report for 5 "little known" tricks to FIX slow fat loss http://bit.ly/FinalPhase

Triple Superset Workouts to Re-ignite Your Fat Burning Metabolism

Get your beach-body ready for summer


Superset #1 (4 sets)
- Bulgarian Split Squat with 45#bar Shoulder Front Press x 10 + 10 reps
- 45#Plate Oblique side rotation x 10 + 10 reps

Superset #2 (3 sets)
- 1-DB Biceps Curls @ 30#x 5+5+5+5 reps
- 1-DB Swing @30# x 20 reps

Superset #3 (2 sets)
- Hanging Leg Raise @BWx 15 reps
- Decline Abs Curls @25#plate x 15 reps

How to Avoid Energy Slump and Boost Your Metabolism

Your energy management and weigh loss success are counting on insulin regulation. Cravings are all about blood sugar control. And it's about keep your metabolism up and high to burn fat all day.

How do you avoid energy slump, control your cravings and boost your metabolism?

Eat smart. Eat often. Eat and snack the right foods at strategically right times. You'll keep your energy levels all day long.

Here are three simple strategies:

1. Eat regularly - about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. This ensuresyour constant insulin level and energy level so that you won't get to the energy slump and trigger your cravings.

2. Have some lean protein and healthy fat in every meal. Protein has 10 to 15% thermic effect of foods. It helps slow the digestion of carbohydrates which minimizes spikes in blood sugar.

3. Eat whole grain for your carb. Choose complex whole grain carb sources in your bread, pasta or rice. The fiber helps your blood sugar regulation.

>>> Sign up for FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

How to Control Your Cravings

You Can't Stop the Cravings!

Controlling your cravings is probably one of the most difficult ordeal when you're on a diet. It's a true test on your will power. And the chances are that you will lose the "will power" game - another reason not to go on diet.

It's All About Blood Sugar

Cravings are all about blood sugar. If you eat consistently throughout the day, your blood sugar levels are like to be consistent as well. When you starve yourself for hours, your hunger and cravings will call. And you will answer by surrendering yourself to over eating and binge eating when you get that chance.

When you suddenly eat a lot, particularly simple carb or sugar, the fast-rising blood sugar triggers your pancreas to release a flood of insulin, a hormone that not only lowers blood sugar but also signals your body to store fat. Insulin tends to spike up and then sends blood sugar crashing. This reinforces the binge, because it makes you crave sugar and starch again.

How to Keep Your Blood Sugar in Check

The most effective way to keep you blood sugar in check is to avoid foods that are made with added sugar such as soda, some fruit juices, baked goods. In addition, minimize foods that contain high amounts of starch such as pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, or any other flour-based foods. You should limit yourself to 30 to 40 grams (g) of total carbohydrates at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and 10 to 20 g at any given snack.

More Effective Strategies ...

Here are 8 strategies to help you control your cravings:

1. Eat regularly
Eat approximately every 3 hours. This allows you to eat smaller meals without becoming hungry.

2. Have protein and fat at every meal
This slows down the digestion of carbohydrates, which helps prevent spikes in blood sugar.

3. Eat more whole grain
Shop carefully for carbs. Make sure any bread, pasta, or rice that you eat is 100 percent whole grain. Because whole grains contain fiber, their effect on your blood sugar is reduced.

4. Eat breakfast
Since you sleep for 6 to 8 hours without any food intake, your body is essentially running empty in the morning. Your body demands all sorts of vital nutrients to function normally. If you skip breakfast and by the time you get to work at 8 or 9 o'clock, you'll desperately seek sugar that is easy to find. The most convenient foods are often the same ones you should be avoiding. These convenient foods are in the vending machines or on your eye-level shelves in the supermarkets. They're usually packed with sugar (candy bars, soda), or other fast-digesting carbohydrates (cookies, chips).

5. Watch your food environment
In my earlier article on New Year's Resolutions, watching your environment is one of my TOP 10 strageties. If you want to stay healthy and fit, you really need to watch your food environment in your home, at work, and in your car. Clean out your cupboard and fridge. Restock them with healthy foods and snacks such as almonds and other nuts, cheese, fruit and vegetables, and canned tuna, chicken, and salmon. Keep healthy snacks at work and in your car. So when it's time to eat, you won't run to the vending machines for pricey sugary snacks. You won't drive through the fast-food joints when you're on the go.

6. Sense the hunger signal
Have a craving for sweets, even though you ate just an hour ago? When the hunger strikes, everything in sight is so tantalizing and irresistible. Your WILL POWER just doesn't do anyting good at all. You can replace your old habit of eating more sweets for a quick pick-me-up with a new healthy habit of doing 15 pushups, 15 squats and one-pint water.

7. Take a sensible approach
Before you put money in the vending machines or drive-thru, think about whether it's moving you one step closer to your goals or one step away from them. Think abut the consequences. Rethink about your goals and commitments. The changes are in 8 or 9 out of 10 times, you'll make a better and wiser decision.

8. Find more motivation
If your diet's only purpose is to help you finally achieve six-pack abs, it may be hard to stick with for the long haul. An easy fix is to find additional incentives to motivate yourself. Think about improving your overall health, reducing healthcare cost, better life quality.

8 1/2. Natural remedy
This tip cannot be counted as a full strategy. If you have tried all of the above strategies and still want something more or different, you can try sniffing peppermint essential oil to help you curb appetite. Click here to learn more about the science and research study.

>>> Sign up for FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

Strength Circuit Training - Upper Body on Cable Pulley Stations

Fast Workout. Effective Results.

Circuit training is one of the training systems that you perform at least 5 exercises back to back with no or little rest in between. You take the prescribed rest after finishing all exercises in a circuit or as a long set.

Circuit training has many benefits and advantages: saving workout time, reducing risk of injuries and breaking training plateau by cross training and changing up training routines. It can be used in the mesocycle as part of the whole periodization training program.

If organized and performed properly, circuit training can be effective in any programs for building muscles, losing fat and really shaping up your body. It is one of the most efficient training systems to help you tone up muscles, fire up your fat burning furnace, and reveal your six-pack abs.

In an earlier article, I have covered the concept of circuit training and explained what it is, what it's not for and how to do it. I also provide the guidelines for designing a circuit training program.
Several circuit training sample routines are demonstrated using bodyweight, strength machines, barbells and dumbbells. "Timed" strength machine and Smith-machine based circuit workout routines are also given.

In the following, I'll demonstrate a upper-body strength circuit training routine based on Cybex cable stations. There are many other fitness equipment manufacturers that market similar machines and systems. This strength circuit training routine can be used to complement other weight training or circuit training routines using other types of resistance.

It's a great principle of fitness training by mixing up mult-joint compound exercises with single-joint isolation exercises. Another tip is to work the full range of motion, all three planes (vertical, horizontal and rotational) and push/pull joint actions.

The Cybex Crossover Station has two vertical towers on two independent pulley systems. The pulleys are adjustable between high and low positions. One can perform various unilateral or bilateral exercises by pulling the cable(s) against the weight stacks. It normally has handles or grips on the top beam running across the two towers where you can do pullups, chinups or hanging leg/knee raises.

Cybex Modular System has several exercise stations centered around a tower or column. It may have a unit for weight-assisted pullup, chinup or dip, a unit for pressdown or pulldown exercises, a cable seated rowing unit, an adjustable bench for situp or reverse situp and a unit for back extension.


Cable Station Based Circuit Training Routine -
Upper Body Push/Pull
Cable Chest Press to Fly x 8 - 12 reps
Cable Overhead Shoulder Press x 8 -12 reps
Kneeling Cable Crunch x 15 - 20 reps
Dip (bodyweight) x 8 -15 reps
Triceps Pressdown x 8 - 12 reps
Biceps Curl x 8 -12 reps
Lat Pulldown x 8 -12 reps
Seated Low Row x 8 -12 reps

Rest for 90 seconds to 2 minutes.
Repeat for a total of 2 to 4 circuits.

You can also change the order of the exercises or vary the repetitions in subsequent circuits. The accumulated training effect is different. You'll feel different intensity of tension on your muscles.

Remember that circuit training is not meant for replacing your regular weight training program. This is not a complete upper-body weight training routine. The idea is to group the exercises and workout stations so that you can effectively train most upper-body muscles.

In addition, go to gym at a less crowded time when you're able to use different exercise units in a circuit fashion. If you're interrupted, it defeats the benefits of circuit training: time and efficiency.

At the end of your circuit training, you should feel racing heart beat and breathe heavier. You know your metabolism is firing up and your fat burning furnace is cranking hard.

This is the best time to finish up your workout by doing 15 minutes of high intensity interval training (H.I.I.T.) cardio exercise on any cardio machine to burn off your body fat!


>>> Sign up for FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

Free Download - The Dark Side of Cardio and Sample Fat Burning Workout



Super 4-minute Interval Workout for Fat Loss

Can you work out just 4 minutes a day to lose fat?

Yes, you can - but not by doing 4 minutes of crunches.
Here is how ...

Tabata is the name of a Japanese researcher who found a "magical" training protocol to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It's one of those strange training programs that seems to fit across disciplines, whether you're an athlete looking to improve your performance or just looking to lose fat quickly.

The Tabata training method is so simple, yet so incredibly difficult and effective.

What is it? It's very simple.


How To Do It

Just pick one exercise and perform it in the following manner:

For twenty seconds, do as many repetitions as possible.

Rest for ten seconds.

Repeat seven more times for a total of 8 sets.

That's it! You're done in four minutes!

It's simple and effective. In a way, it's similar to the high intensity interval training (H.I.I.T.) protocol where the work-to-recovery ratio is 20 seconds vs. 10 seconds (2:1) by time with a total of 8 intervals. The work phase is a full-out intensity of any weight training exercise. The recovery phase is a very brief period of resting for just catching your breath.

You can also compare the Tabata method to strength and cardio circuit training where the time intervals to work and rest are specified with a total of 8 sets.

To reap the maximum benefits of anaerobic conditioning and fat loss, you should pick an exercise that work a number of (large) muscles.

The best exercise options for the Tabata method are front squat and thruster. Dumbbell swing or Kettlebell Swing are also very good conditioning exercise.

Front squat engages your whole body, your core and central nervous system. You typically do front squat with a barbell bell or on a Smith Machine.

Watch a "front squat" demo video. >>

Thruster is a combination of front squat and shoulder overhead press in a continous moving fashion. You can do thruster with barbells, dumbbells or kettlebells.
Dumbbell Thruster >>





Dumbbell Swing >>





Why Should You Try Tabata Workout?

The Tabata method may be the single best fat burning workout. It's only four minutes. But the long 240 seconds seem to keep you sweating and breathing hard for a long, long time afterwards. Your metabolism is fired up! The Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) or after-burn effect in this anaerobic interval training will keep you in a fat burning mode for 24 to 48 hours.


Fat Loss in 4 Minutes

So yes, you can lose fat by doing 4 minutes of exercise a day by following the Tabata training method.

Want more challenges? Do 2 to 4 Tabata exercises in a workout session. The question is whether you'll be able to recover fully to doing another Tabata session on a second day.


>>> Sign up for FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

Can You Eat More and Still Lose Fat?

The simple quick answer is "Yes."

Don't get too excited yet!

You'll need to expend more energy than from your food intake so that there is a calorie deficit. It's all about energy balance.


How to expend more energy and burn more calories?

You know the answers --- just by increasing activities through high intensity weight training, cardio exercises and all sorts of activities, leisure activites, playing sports, etc.

But most people stay away from putting in hard work and commitment. Health and fitness is not some 12-week program, although it's a good start. It's all about long-term healthy lifestyle transformation.

The get-lean-and-lose-fat strategy couldn't be simpler than by exercising more so that you can eat more while increasing metabolism, building lean muscle mass and losing body fat.

Fat-loss is simple, but not easy.

In a recent interview, fat loss expert Tom Venuto and nutrition guru Dr. John Berardi have a long discussion about calorie and energy balance.

Read the interview Part 1 here. >>

Read the interview Part 2 here. >>

Read the interview Part 3 here. >>


Two of the top fitness experts shed the light as to how to create healthy optimal calorie deficit by increasing energy G-flux.

The best part ... you get to eat more!

>>> Sign up FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

The Secret to Weight Loss

Oh, no, another "secret"? You're kidding me!

I should say THE missing link to long-term weight managment and wellness.

So what is it?

You can guess:

• High intensity resistance training to build muscle and strength. No problem. I hit the gym 4 times a week.
• High intensity interval training H.I.I.T. cardio exercise to fire up metabolism. Got that. I "H.I.I.T." the treadmill 5 times a week.
• Balanced nutrition, 5 to 6 meals a day to refuel your body and keep your blood sugar level steady. I'm pretty good at eating well although sometimes I cheat and eat junk foods.
• Commitment to your health, be accountable for yourself. Yes, I resolved to lose weight 60 pounds this year.
• Mastermind group and support team to cheer you up. Yeah, I try to stay away from those negative people who think I cannot lose weight.
• Coach or mentor to guide you. Yup, I also have a tough personal trainer who kicks my butt and keeps me motivated.

What if you have tried all of above and are still struggling to achieve your goals?

Feeling frustrated? Tired? Depressed? Burnout? I feel for you. Learn the 7 keys to avoid burnout from an Intensive Self-care Coach.

Ask yourself again. Be honest to youself.

• Perhaps weight training 4 times a week is too much for you. Are you training at the "high" intensity you're thinking?
• On top of weigh training, H.I.I.T. cardio 5 times a week? Are you sure it's really "high" intensity? Are you overtrained?
• Is your nutrition really balanced to meet your training demand and goals? Good mix of complex carbohydrates, protein and fat? Are you counting calories and still eating junk?
• Do you really follow your plan? Skipping workout? Binge-eating? Is losing 60 pounds in a year realistic?
• Is your circle of support getting smaller and smaller. Is your energy draining, not charged?
• After the personal training sessions, do you follow the individualized workout plan designed by your trainer? Your trainer always know.

Then what is missing?

You may do good in some of these areas. But you may lose focus and balance in some other areas. Losing inch and pound is not a healthy goal. That's not a healthy, meaningful, enjoyable life to just worry about losing 10 pounds or dropping 6 dress sizes.

What's it?

What's THE secret to weight loss?

Isn't it obvious? It's

your lifestyle and overall wellness.

Weight loss is simple, but not easy. It's not even a secret.

Your lifestyle is the foundation to put all the above elements together. It's the key to your sucess for your health and fitness. Healthy lifestyle changes are foremost important in your overall wellness.

You build all these elements by doing these healthy behaviors and activities to achieve your desired lifestyle and wellness. Otherwise, you're like traveling without a destination and roadmap.

How do you go about healthy life changes without quitting on the yard line?

One of the best ways is to join a group coaching and intensive training for performance lifestyle. This type of coaching and mentoring program has many benefits:

• Learn how to get active again; the active lifestyle model for year round consistency.
• Clarify your goals, objectives and your vision.
• Bring it all together to accomplish what you really want, to look, feel and perform better.
• Go through each step with a qualified coach and develop a plan of action.
• Coordinate all aspects of your lifestyle so you can achieve your goals with the best use of your energy.
• Focus on personal energy management and achiever mindset in health, nutrition, weight loss and fitness. Learn how to effectively recharge your energy, eat for success by eating Nutrient Rich whole foods that are optimal for health and natual weight loss.
• Small mastermind group puts you with a group of like-minded achievement-oriented people to become your accountability partners.

>>> Sign up FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

Fire Up Your Metabolism to Burn off the Last 10 Pounds of Body Fat

The Forever Last 10 pounds, huh?

Many people have this question as to how to get rid of the perpetually stubborn 5 or 10 pounds of body fat. It's the most difficult and challenging 5 to 10 pounds to lose since your body wants to store fat for emergency use.

People all want to blame their genes, declining metabolism due to natural aging when they cannot lose weight.

These are just excuses.

You can still stay fit even if you're over 40!

I have a few strategies to help you boost your metabolism, kick-start your fat-burning furnace and move beyond your plateau. Follow these simple steps, you may be able to melt away the last pound of body fat and reveal your six pack abs in no time!


What Is Metabolism?

Metabolism is a scientific term that describes the rate of energy conversion - how your body process the foods and metabolize them into nutrients to fuel your body. This comes with a price at caloric expenditure. Although it's true that our metabolic rate drops by an average of 10% for every decade after age 25 to 30, it doesn't have to be this way. The decline is mostly due to reduced physical activities, poor diet and nutrition, bad habits and unhealthy lifestyle.

Our daily caloric intake is consumed through many pathways. Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) takes up approximately 60 to 70% of daily energy consumption. That is the energy consumed while your body is at rest, sitting or sleeping, doing nothing. A good chunk of calories is consumed to support normal brain and body functions. Physical activities and exercises use up about 20 to 25%. The thermic effect of foods is about 10 to 15%.

As you can see, it's most powerful to raise your resting metabolic rate since it takes up a majority of caloric consumption. Increasing physical activies and intensive exercises help consume more calories. A good combination of food intake helps complete the last piece of metabolic puzzle.


What Can You Do to Boost Your Metabolism?
Follow these 5 simple strategies . . .
1. Perform resistance training to build lean muscle. You need to engage in some types of resistance training (free weight, strength machine, tubing/band). You know that by building lean muscle mass, your body burns off more calories even if you're just sitting around, doing nothing. The difference could be 20 to 50 more calories burned for every extra pound of lean muscle mass you build up. In addition, when repairing the damaged muscle tissues from resistance training, your body consumes extra calories to complete the repair and recovery process. So you got additional calorie expenditure. Learn how to change up your training routine when you hit the plateau.

2. Perform High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) cardio exercise. I have covered this topic about H.I.I.T. cardio exercise to effectively enhance your cardiovascular fitness and help you burn fat all day. I have also shown many sample H.I.I.T. cardio routines. You can do H.I.I.T. cardio on the treadmill, elliptical trainer, stairmaster or stationary bike by alternating fast and slow speeds for long/short durations and several repeats. The concept can be applied to other types of cardio exercise and outdoor running - jump rope, cycling, kickboxing, hill running and distance repeat. You can do H.I.I.T. for 30 minutes as a separate workout on days that you don't lift weight. Or better yet, do a quick 15-minute H.I.I.T. at the end of your resistance training session. The "after-burn" will help you keep burning fat for at least 24 to 48 hours afterwards.

3. Add variation and variety to your training program. It's a standard training practice to periodize a training program throughout the year or season. You should at least evaluate and change up a training program every 4 to 6 weeks of mesocycle for many reasons. When you do new exercises, you're in the learning mode. Your body tries to guess how you can handle it. This "inefficiency" helps you burn more calories. After a period of consistent training, your body adapts to the new load and intensity level. Your progress starts to diminish. There are many ways to change up your weight training routine. By doing so, you'll progressively overload your body to make continual strength gain and muscle growth. Adding variety to your training program as a cross training helps you to prevent overtraining burnout and overuse injuries. You can also add different activities or choose your workouts by your personality.

4. Adjust protein intake. Without going into details about specific diet, nutrition and supplements, a higher protein intake will help you burn more calories because it just takes more energy to digest protein. This is the thermic effect of foods. Always eat a balanced meal. You know that you need protein to help build muscle. The idea here is not to overload your diet with protein and accidentally eat high-fat food. A good tip is always have some sources of protein in every meal or snack.

5. Plan your next week. Reserve one hour or two each week to review what you have done this week and plan your workout and nutrition for the coming week. Note any schedule conflict with your workout so that you plan around it. Then you plan your nutrition around your workout. It also helps with damage control for unforeseen social obligations or job demands. Be proactive about your training and nutrition schedule.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!


>>> Sign up for FREE 'Jump-Start Your Body!' Workout and Nutrition Program to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.


Copyright 2007 www.careyforfitness.com by C. Carey Yang and Beyond Fitness Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.

Free Download - The Dark Side of Cardio and Sample Fat Burning Workout



Exercise Is Good for Your Brain and Your Heart

More New Evidences about the Benefits of Exercise

The March 26, 2007 issue of Newsweek magazine covers a special Health for Life report.

Now scientists have more evidence to show that exercise helps build muscles, prevent heart disease, boost brainpower - and perhaps delay the development of Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders. Researchers also have found more evidence as to how physical activities affect brain functions and moods. These are more evidences to support that running is good for your brain.


Exercise for Your Body, Exercise for Your Brain

Exercise can make people smarter. A strong, active body is crucial for building a strong, active mind. Exercise is long believed to have mental health benefits. The mental effects of exericse is far more complex than orignially thought. When you work out with your muscles, your body releases a protein called IGF-1 that triggers production of several chemicals, including one called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This molecule is called "Miracle-Gro for the brain" by Ratey, author of a new book "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain." BDNF might transform stem cells into full-grown, functional brain neurons that help learning.


Exercise --- The Best Anti-depressant?

Exercise is a pretty good antidepressant - biologically equivalent to medications. They both appear to spur nerve growth in the hippocampus region in the temporal lobe of the brain that is involved in regulating mood and storing memories. Through this mechanism, exercise probably relieves and likely prevents depression.


Vigorous High-Intensity Exercise Is Even Better

A recent study by Brian Duscha and his coworkers in Exercise Physiology at the Duke University School of Medicine showed that moderate exercise is fine, but a more vigorous workout added benefits. "Almost all cardiovascular rish factors respond significantly better to vigorous exercise than moderate exercise," says Brian Duscha. Vigorous exercise also has extra benefits in sense of purpose, ambition and self-confidence to Jessica Kavoulakis, a New York City lawyer and marathon runner.

Another review paper published in The American Journal of Cardiology by David Swain and Barry Franklin showed that vigorous exercise had greater improvements in aerobic capacity and glucose control and greater reductions in blood pressure for controlled total energy expenditure.


High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) Cardio Exercise

These studies confirm that High intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) cardio exercise is better than the long, slow, boring aerobic exercise in improving cardiovasular fitness and overall health. H.I.I.T. cardio workout is very taxing to your body. Try to limit full H.I.I.T. cardio session no longer than 30 minutes each time, no more than 3 times a week, preferably on non-strength training days.

Want to lose body fat, sculpt your lean and strong body, and reveal your six pack abs faster? Add a short 10- to 15-minute H.I.I.T. cardio at the end of your strength training session to blast your body. You'll boost your metabolism and keep your body in fat burning mode for good 24 to 48 hours. You also save your cardio time in the gym.

Learn the secrets to perform H.I.I.T. cardio and lose unwanted body fat in no time. >>


Some Cautions Remain ...

Of course, vigorous high intensity workouts are not for everyone. Always see your doctor before starting an exercise program, particularly for adults with risk factors in heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure. Hiring a qualified personal trainer is a great idea to help you get started and monitor your progress. Too much too soon is a common mistake to cause injuries for deconditioned people or beginners. Start slow and work up exercise intensity gradually to a more vigorous program. Periodization is a fitness and sports training program to keep you on track and make continual progress.

Still not convinced or motivated to jump off your couch and start exercising? Don't forget. Regular exercises and physical activites have many health benefits.


Health Benefits of Exercise and Physical Activity:

• Reduce the risk of premature death


• Reduce the risk of developing and/or dying from heart disease


• Reduce high blood pressure or the risk of developing high blood pressure


• Reduce high cholesterol or the risk of developing high cholesterol


• Reduce the risk of developing colon cancer and breast cancer


• Reduce the risk of developing diabetes


• Reduce or maintain body weight or body fat


• Build and maintain healthy muscles, bones, and joints


• Reduce depression and anxiety


• Improve psychological well-being


• Enhanced work, recreation, and sport performance

>>> Sign up FREE monthly e-Newsletter to receive insider training tips, workout routines and check out your FREE bonus e-books to help you build muscles, lose fat and uncover your six pack abs.

Quick Tips to Stay Fit and Healthy

Strength Training: Try doing 3 sets of 12 reps for each major muscle group one to three times a week. Adding lean muscle mass is the best way to boost your metabolism and melt the fat. Every pound of muscle burns extra calories even if you're just sitting around doing nothing.

Cardio: Mix up your cardiovascular exercises with short/hard, moderate and long/easy sessions with various activities such as walking, jogging, running, swimming, biking, dancing and kickboxing or anything you like. Even house-cleaning and mall-walking count.

Nutrition: Eat 5 to 6 small meals and drink plenty of water throughout the day. Eat a balanced proportion of complex carbohydrates, lean proteins and essential fats in the three major meals while eating healthy snacks in between.

Rest: Fully rest one to two days each week from your busy workdays and hard workouts. It's not a luxury, but a necessity. We need proper rest for our body to recover and repair from daily wear and tear, mentally and physically.

Win the Holiday Party: Don't skip meals. You can actually snack a bit with protein sources before going to the party so that you feel satisfied and less likely to binge. Also control your alcohol consumption, particularly calorie-loaded beverages.