Full Movement for Fat Loss

Here’s a secret to your success for building quality muscle and shedding fat from your body: use full body movement exercises in your workouts.

Using full movement exercises, like squats rather than leg extensions for example, allow you to use more muscles, build balance and coordination, and expend more calories during your workouts. Full movement exercises will also give you more quality muscles which mean having the strength to complete physically challenging tasks with more ease.

Why waste your time doing isolation exercises that target one specific muscle like biceps when you can do a biceps curl with shoulder press combination exercise (also called a Hybrid exercise) and still build your biceps along with strong and shapely shoulders. You’ll also be strengthening your body for a typical task of curling and then lifting an object up and overhead like lifting a box to put on a top shelf.

Here’s a quick, yet challenging, 300 Workout you can do with your own bodyweight and dumbbells to develop usable muscle while burning more calories, and thus, fat, from your body.

Key: Bodyweight (BW), Dumbbell (DB)

20 Mountain Climbers
20 BW Push-ups
20 DB Single arm clean and press (10 reps each arm)
20 DB bent over row (10 reps each arm)
20 Bodyweight squats
20 DB curl and press
30 Jumping Jacks

For a visual of this routine with moving animation CLICK HERE.

Use a weight that you can handle for 10-12 repetitions and repeat these 7 exercises for 2 rounds which will get your 300 total reps. For recovery, rest only 20 seconds between the exercises and a full 90 seconds between the rounds.

You’ll be on your way to building quality muscle, losing unwanted body fat, and burning calories for hours after your workout is completed.

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

www.xpressworkouts.com

Losing Fat During the Holidays

With holidays such as Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years’ coming up fast we all should be preparing our bodies ahead of time to prepare for the onslaught of foods coming our way. Therefore, the key to stay lean – or, even shed a few pounds during the holidays – is to plan and act ahead of time.

I am not suggesting you totally banish all holiday foods, but rather, choose to moderate your food intake and plan your workout accordingly.

Why suffer and watch others eat heartily at Thanksgiving dinner while you eat sparingly and then blow your diet on some insignificant Tuesday? I say eat that Thanksgiving meal but be careful with your eating habits the weeks before and the weeks following up to the next winter holiday.

As for your workouts, do them short, intense, and with a strategic purpose. By that I mean to choose full body movements and use full range of motion with each exercise. This will burn more calories, strengthen your muscles functionally, and save you valuable time.

Here are a few workouts for beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercisers:

Beginner Holiday Fat Loss Circuit

20 Jumping Jacks
20 Bodyweight Squats
15 Kneeling Push-ups
20 Mountain Climbers

*Repeat 2-3 times resting 20 seconds between exercises and 60-90 seconds between each circuit. 2 circuits = 150 reps, 3 circuits = 225 reps.

Intermediate Holiday Fat Loss Circuit

20 Mountain Climbers
20 Push-ups
20 Stationary Lunges (20 each leg)
40 Shadow boxing (40 each arm punches)

*Repeat 3 times resting 20 seconds between exercises and 60-90 seconds between each circuit. 3 circuits = 300 reps.

Advanced Holiday Fat Loss Circuit

20 Mountain Climbers
20 push-ups
20 Front Step Lunges
20 Jumping Jacks
10 Clapping Push-ups
10 Squat Jumps

*Repeat 3 times resting 20 seconds between exercises and 60-90 seconds between each circuit. 3 circuits = 300 reps.

The Fastest Way to Burn off Belly Fat

According to Australian fat loss expert, Professor Steve Boucher, "High intensity intermittent exercise (i.e. intervals) may result in greater fat loss in the abdomen."

Basically, intervals burn stomach fat FIRST, over all other sources of fat on the body. Nothing else, not crunches, nor cardio has ever been shown to result in stomach fat spot reduction. The best news is that this type of exercise takes less than 20 minutes to complete!

Other research finds that for fat loss the best kind of interval training is the 45 second burst. That is, you do 60-90 seconds of a low intensity cardiovascular activity (like fast walking or a slow jog) followed immediately by 45 seconds of a high intensity burst, like a sprint. You do this interval exchange about 6 times.

If you are a beginner or new to this type of training you might do 60-120 seconds of a low intensity activity followed by only a 30 second burst of high intensity. This will first acclimate yourself to this more demanding type of workout. However, you'll still find the results astonishing!

It's harder to do interval training on a machine like a treadmill because you have to wait for it to slow down and gradually pick up speed. But, go ahead and use a machine if there happens to be inclement weather outside.

You can even do bodyweight interval training for fat loss in the belly area. Just like with the walk/sprint mode you can do a high/low intensity bodyweight circuit. Here is an example:

Start by doing a dynamic warm up:

Standing high knee drill
Standing Butt kicks

Then, the bodyweight circuit:

Squats (15 reps)
Standing calf raises (15 reps)
Jump Squats (10 reps)
Push-ups (15 reps)
Triceps dips (15 reps)
Burpees (10 reps)

Repeat this circuit 3 times with 20 seconds rest between the exercises and 60 seconds rest between the circuits.

For more exercises designed to burn body fat and belly fat go to: www.xpressworkouts.com.

How to Rapidly Improve Your Exercise Capacity

Public health guidelines suggest 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most days of the week. However, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that regular activity is effective in the prevention of chronic diseases and premature death, most adults fail to meet even the minimum physical activity requirement.

Countless studies have shown that the most commonly cited reason for not exercising is a “lack of time” (Godin et al., 1994). This finding is universal; regardless of age, ethnicity, sex, or health status, people report lack of time is the primary reason for their failure to exercise on a regular basis.

Given that lack of time is such a common barrier to exercise participation is why I developed our Xpress Workouts program.

I recently read a study on the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) website by Martin J. Gibala, PhD. on “High Intensity Interval Training (HIT): New Insights.” It reads,

“...From a practical perspective, one of the most striking findings from our recent studies was the dramatic improvement in exercise performance during tasks that rely mainly on aerobic energy metabolism, despite the very low training volume (Burgomaster et al., 2005; 2006; 2007; Gibala et al., 2006). In our initial study (Burgomaster et al., 2005) subject doubled the length of time that exercise could be maintained at a fixed submaximal workload - ~26 min to 51 min during cycling at 80% of pre-training VO2peak – after only six HIT sessions!”

Click here to read the full report

Once again more positive evidence mounts for high intensity short duration exercise such as with our Xpress Workouts program.

Robert Garza CPT, RTS

300 Workout for Everyday People

The Xpress Workouts 300 workout program is featured in our local Daily Herald. I was excited to take a couple of my best clients through the 300 Workout while journalist Robert McCoppin wrote a piece on it for his paper. Here is an excerpt:

"...The exercises are designed to work the body from one end to the other. They use primitive tools like medicine balls and body weight, and compound movements to involve more than one set of muscles, rather than using a machine to isolate one muscle at a time.

This type of training is a variation of what exercise geeks call peripheral heart action, a high-intensity form of circuit training. Instead of doing three sets at a time on each body part, participants go from one exercise to the next, promoting overall circulation.

The beauty of such a workout, personal trainer Robert Garza said, is that it combines cardiovascular exercise with resistance training, so you're gaining muscle at the same time you're burning calories and improving endurance.

Instead of just looking muscular, you should end up with "usable" strength and fitness that also looks ripped.

Best of all, you can get a more intense workout in a shorter amount of time."

Click Here to read the full article in the Daily Herald with additional photos.

Click Here to see the slideshow with audio

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

New Release: Ryan Lee's Millionaire Workout!

The Millionaire Workout (hardcopy) book isn't just a book about working out and getting in shape. It's an accelerated success system. Actually, it's a "Warp-speed 21 day accelerated step-by-step program that ANYONE can follow."

Author and fitness coach, Ryan Lee, has taken all his high powered success strategies and condensed them down into a straight-forward 21 day accelerated success system that will dramatically improve your life.

I actually spoke with Ryan Lee a couple of years ago when we were both lecturers in the fitness industry. We were both at the same income level and had ideas and dreams of expanding our business into huge successful enterprises.

Well, we've both become successful, however, Ryan soared light-years ahead of me becomming a Millionaire in a few short years!

How did he do it? Well, his Millionaire Workout book shows you how. I bought it so I can discover what separated us in our business game plans where he was able to grow way beyond where I am now (although, I am happy with how far I have come in a few short years as well).

Now, this book isn't only about becomming financially successful. It has loads of workouts and strategies to become a fitness powerhouse! I know what you're thinking...,"Doesn't this book compete with your Xpress Workouts website?" No, it actually doesn't - not in the way that I see it, that is.

Although Ryan's Millionaire Workout book has workouts and fitness strategies within it I see it as more of a supplement to the Xpress Workouts website. I feel the business and life success system Ryan has to offer will consume more of your thoughts while reading his book.

Another thing...Ryan has put together a HUGE bonus package that comes along with the purchase of his Millionaire Workout book. There are too many to list here but I received access to over 80 bonuses! You read that right, 80 bonuses from e-books to free success magazine subscriptions, to FitExpo tickets.

All of this for a mere $20 bucks is an incredible value! Please CLICK HERE to check it out NOW!

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

Which Workout Scenario Do You Prefer?

Scenario 1:
You decide to go workout first thing in the morning. You roll out of bed, put on your workout clothes, and pack your work clothes along with your toiletry bag all of which has taken you 15 minutes.

Now, you dash out of your home and jump into your car to rush over to the local gym. Another fifteen later minutes you arrive at the gym - and if it’s like most health clubs in the morning you can expect to search for a parking space which takes more of your valuable time.

You go through your typical bodybuilding style workout which may or may not be suitable for your goal of fat loss. That’ll be another hour of your time, please.

Now that you are finished you run to the locker room to get ready for work. You undress, shower, change into your work clothes and primp yourself up while knocking elbows into the person next to you sharing the same mirror space.

You now sprint out of the club and go straight to work because you ran out of time to eat breakfast. It has taken you about 2 hours to complete your morning workout ritual.

Scenario 2:

You decide to go workout first thing in the morning. You roll out of bed, put on your workout clothes, and drop to the floor to begin your bodyweight workout of pushing, pulling and squatting exercises that strengthen your whole body in all of 10 minutes.

You now climb on your treadmill and do a 15 minute interval workout to specifically shed fat and strengthen your heart and lungs. You follow that with a cool down of light stretching and your workout is done – all in 30 minutes time!

Now, you can take your time showering and having a post-workout breakfast meal and head off to work.

*******************************

Which workout scenario do you prefer? Or, more importantly for some, which is a more efficient way of spending your morning?

Oh, and scenario 2 will get you in better physical condition much quicker, too!

That’s what our Xpress Workouts are all about: quick and efficient workouts that get you in better condition than most one-hour (or longer) workouts.

Improve Your Rotation to Improve Your Sport

This past Sunday we hosted a awesome seminar for fitness professionals at our personal training studio, FPC/Beyond Fitness.

Dr. Evan Osar, a Chiropractic Physician, Massage Therapist, and Muscle Activation Techniques practitioner, conducted a seminar on, “Complete Rotary Conditioning.”

He spoke about how while we think about playing golf or tennis the body is really “thinking” about performing rotation. After all, every movement we perform in golf and tennis are rotary movements – and that goes for all sports!

All us trainers here at FPC/Beyond Fitness (who are also contributors to the Xpress Workouts website) all spent 8 hours furthering our education by learning both the theoretical and practical applications of conditioning for sports. We spent many hours practicing and playing in the gym with rotational body assessments and exercises to strengthen and improve rotational abilities.

We look forward to applying our current knowledge of sports conditioning along with some new and exciting concepts learned this weekend to design workouts for all our clients and website members.

Fitness Professionals interested in continuing education seminars can check out Dr. Evan Osar’s website, www.fitnesseducationseminars.com or can email him at: evan@fitnesseducationseminars.com

Free Exercise Tip of the Month

We now offer everyone a FREE exercise tip of the month featured on the main page of our Xpress Workouts membership site!

Care to know where you should be placing your hand grip when performing a Biceps barbell curl? Everyone has their own unique grip called a "Carrying Angle."

GO HERE to see how you should be gripping the bar for maximum results for your Biceps.

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

Fat Loss Techniques for Your Workouts: Cardio-Resistance

To continue your goal of losing fat and building muscle with your workouts you need to add in forms of exercise variety. Variety simply means to make a change that modifies your existing workout to keep it working for you.

This article will cover a form of variety called, cardio-resistance. Cardio-resistance means to incorporate short bouts of high intensity cardio exercise within your resistance exercise workouts.

By incorporating short bouts of high intensity cardio in your workout you’ll be throwing in some great calorie and fat burning strategies. One way you can do this is in the form of a mini-circuit. That is, you’ll do 3-4 resistance exercises one-after-another followed by a 30-90 second cardio burst exercise. Here is an example:

1) Push-ups for 12 repetitions

2) Pull-ups for 12 repetitions

3) Alternating leg lunges for 12 repetitions

4) Cardio-burst: boxing punches (either using a heavy bag or shadow boxing)

You can do this mini-circuit for 3-4 sets resting only 30-60 seconds between the circuits.

*For more of these workout tips and strategies check out our Xpress Workouts website!

Fat Loss Techniques for Your Workouts: Exercise Order

If you want to continue losing fat and building muscle with your workouts you need to add in some exercise variety. Variety simply means to make a change that modifies your existing workout to keep it working for you.

This article will cover a form of variety called, “exercise order.” Usually, the basic rule with exercise order is to do your large muscle groups before the smaller ones. For example, you would do your chest exercises before your triceps exercises. But, it is not etched in stone to do it this way.

A good example of changing your exercise order is to focus your attention on your weaker areas first. Say on a chest and back workout day you always do your chest exercises first then your back (Lats) second. If you have weakness in your back muscles you may want to choose to do your back exercise first while you have the most energy and strength.

Or, if you do a full body workout and always start with your upper body exercises first do your lower body exercises first instead. This simple rearranging of your exercises in your workout will add the necessary component of variety that will keep your progress moving forward.

*For more of these workout tips and strategies check out our Xpress Workouts website!

Fat Loss Techniques for Your Workouts: Unaccustomed Exercise

If you want to continue losing fat and building muscle with your workouts you need to add in some exercise variety. Variety simply means to make a change that modifies your existing workout to keep it working for you.

Exercise variation (variety) comes in many forms which is why there is no reason you should be stuck at a plateau for very long. One such type of variety we can add to your workout is called, “unaccustomed exercise.” Unaccustomed exercise is placing in your workout an exercise that you haven’t done before or that you haven’t done in awhile.

The body will become “accustomed” to an exercise after about 4-6 weeks of consistent workouts and then your progress will begin to slow down. Therefore, by tossing in an exercise that you haven’t done in awhile, or a new exercise, it will shock your body into continued progress.

Here are some new and/or replacement exercise examples you can use to add in some unaccustomed exercise into your existing workout.

New and/or Replacement Exercises:

Push ups in place of bench presses

Chin ups in place of lat pulldowns

Dumbbell rows in place of seated cable rows

Leg press in place of barbell squats

Back-step lunges in place of forward step lunges

*For more of these workout tips and strategies check out our Xpress Workouts website!

What the Experts Say About Short-Duration Workouts

Both the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Heart Association (AHA) has released their updated “Physical Activity Guidelines” and both support short duration exercise just like all our workouts in our Xpress Workouts Website!

Here’s a segment straight from their website, www.ascm.org:

"With busy work schedules, family obligations, and packed weekends, it can often be difficult to get the recommended amount of physical activity. Try these tips for incorporating exercise into your life:

• Do it in short bouts. Research shows that moderate-intensity physical activity can be accumulated throughout the day in 10-minute bouts, which can be just as effective as exercising for 30 minutes straight. This can be useful when trying to fit physical activity into a busy schedule.
  

• Mix it up. Combinations of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity can be used to meet the guidelines. For example, you can walk briskly for 30 minutes twice per week and jog at a higher intensity on two other days.
  

• Set your schedule. Maybe it’s easier for you to walk during your lunch hour, or perhaps hitting the pavement right after dinner is best for you. The key is to set aside specific days and times for exercise, making it just as much a regular part of your schedule as everything else.
  

• The gym isn’t a necessity. It doesn’t take an expensive gym membership to get the daily recommended amount of physical activity. A pair of athletic shoes and a little motivation are all you need to live a more active, healthier life.
  

• Make it a family affair. Take your spouse, your children, or a friend with you during exercise to add some fun to your routine. This is also a good way to encourage your kids to be physically active and get them committed early to a lifetime of health."
  

*Even the leading health and wellness organizations support and recommend short bouts of exercise, like our Xpress Workouts, have a positive impact on your fitness and well being.

My 10 Minute Circuit

Today I did a circuit consisting of pulldowns/rows, heavy bag flips, and push-up variations. Here's how I organized the circuit.

Set-up: At one end of my studio's walkway I have a Lat pulldown/Row machine. I also station a 90 lb. heavy bag lying on the floor (long way) at the beginning of the walkway.

1) I begin by doing a set of Lat pulldowns for 20 repetitions at 100 lbs.
2) I quickly go over to the lying heavy bag and after 10 seconds rest I flip the bag over down the walkway (10 times to the end).
3) After 10 seconds rest I do a set of push-ups with my hands on the heavy bag and my feet on the floor for 20 repetitions.
4) Another 10 seconds rest I then flip the bag back down to the other end again.
5) 10 seconds goes by and I now do a set of 20 Lat rows with the same 100 lbs.
6) Back to the heavy bag flipping it down to the other end.
7) Complete the circuit with 20 close hand position push-ups on the heavy bag.

Finished and revitalized!

10 Minute Dumbbell Circuit

Time Limit:
This workout circuit should take less than 10 minutes to complete.

Goal:
To go through the circuit twice resting only 20-30 seconds between exercises and a full 60 seconds between the 2 circuits.

Weight/Resistance:
Use a weight that you can do for 15-20 reps for the first set and then adjust a bit heavier to challenge you for 10 reps on the second set.

Exercise
1 Arm Clean and Press 1. Start by straddling the dumbell and grab it with one hand. 2. Clean the bar to the shoulder. Then slight squat down and press the dumbell overhead. 3. Return to the starting position and repeat. Trainer's comments: Use a weight that you can do with good form for 15 reps each arm. On your second circuit do 10 reps moving up in weight accordingly.	Sets Reps 1 15 ea. 2 10 ea.
Standing Bent Over Row (dumbbell) 1) Stand with feet hip width and knees slightly bent. 2) Start position: Bend at hips with back straight. Hold DB in each hand with neutral grip (palms facing each other) and let arms straight down (perpendicular to floor). 3) Keeping elbows close to body, pull DB’s up to body and squeeze shoulder blades together at top of movement. 4) Return to start position. Remember to keep back and head straight - hyperextension or flexion may cause injury Trainer's comments: Use a weight that you can do with good form for 15 reps. On your second circuit do 10 reps moving up in weight accordingly.	Sets Reps 1 15 2 10
DB curl with shoulder press 1. Start by holding the dumbells at your side with a neutral grip. 2. Curl the dumbells up to shoulder level and then proceed into a shoulder press. 3. Keep your abs tight throughout the movement. 4. Return to the starting position and repeat. Trainer's comments: Use a weight that you can do with good form for 15 reps. On your second circuit do 10 reps moving up in weight accordingly.	Sets Reps 1 15 2 10
Dynamic Lunge and Curl 1. Start by holding the dumbells at your side. 2. Lunge forward and down with your left foot. 3. As you stand up curl the dumbells up to shoulder height. Return to the starting position with the dumbells. 4. Repeat with the opposite leg until all recommended repetitions are completed. Trainer's comments: Alternate the legs for 20 reps on the first circuit set and 10 for the second circuit set.	Sets Reps 1 20 total 2 10 total