David Beckham’s New and Improved Cardio Workout!

Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 9:49 pm  
Leave your comment
cardio slow run
te fitness magazine, Men’s Health, recently featured an excellent article about David Beckham’s cardio workouts.

Of course, I wasn’t surprised that all of his cardio workouts incorporate some form of interval training because of the simple fact that interval training is scientifically proven to provide greater improvements in fitness and greater fat loss than the outdated and primitive aerobic training alternative.

But, while I was reading over the workout, I was struck with what I’d describe as THE MISSING LINK to most cardio routines for athletes AND for fat loss.

Typical cardio programs have you run in a straight line forever at a SLOW SPEED. Pretty easy…

And while the original Men’s Health program was much better because it uses intervals, it still recommends running in a straight line. Again, not that difficult…

It is critical to understand that your body operates in three fundamental planes of movement:

1.) Saggital Plane: Forward and Backward Movements

2.) Frontal Plane: Lateral Movements (Side-to-Side)
3.) Transverse Plane: Rotational Movements

So, Beckham’s current cardio program is only emphasizing the already overtrained saggital plane (forward running) without any attention to the very undertrained lateral and rotational movements that are critical to a soccer player’s success (and any field or court athlete’s success for that matter).

But the modified cardio program I created for YOU below uses intervals and shuttle runs in 10 yard increments that require constant stop-and-go and change of direction (you can modify the distance as desired) in all three planes of movement. Now this cranks the intensity up to a whole new level!

Your body’s ability to change direction, or decelerate, requires a great deal of body control and energy expenditure when compared to straight line running. Thus stop-and-go shuttles not only are much more sport-specific (read David Beckham is an international soccer star not a marathon runner) but it also leads to greater calorie burning and thus greater fat loss!

So, check out the NEW and IMPROVED David Beckham Cardio Workout for Rapid Fat Loss:

I. Warm-Up- 5 Minutes

II. Intervals- 20 Minutes

Rapid Fat Loss Interval: 60 s on, 60 s off

- Set-up 2 cones 10 yards apart to build the “shuttle”

- Perform one or any combination of the following cardio exercises as listed within the confines of the 10 yard shuttle:

Cardio Exercise#1- Sprint-Sprint Shuttle @ 60 s on, 60 s off

Cardio Exercise#2- Sprint-Backpedal Shuttle @ 60 s on, 60 s off

Cardio Exercise#3- Shuffle-Shuffle Shuttle @ 60 s on, 60 s off

Cardio Exercise#4- Shuffle-Crossover Run Shuttle @ 60 s on, 60 s off

III. Cool-Down- 5 Minutes

Remember, if you want to look like an athlete then you need to train like one. If you are sick of the same old boring “straight-ahead” cardio, then the time is now to break out of your comfort zone so you can harness the fat-burning power of stop and go, multi-directional, and multi-planar interval cardio.

Crank it!


Your Cardio Workout Routines are Wrong

Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm  
Leave your comment
cardio slow run
Below is an interview about cardio workouts done by Craig Ballantyne. This presents a great example of how cardio workouts are typically misused by exercise enthusiasts in their attempts to lose body fat. You’ll never get those six pack abs if all you keep doing are the same boring cardio routines over and over. Expand your thinking, and shrink your waistline!

Everybody assumes that you must do endless hours of cardio workouts to get ripped six pack abs. But this is simply not true. In fact, if you quit wasting so much time with boring slow cardio routines and change your workouts much more strategically, you will get those six pack abs much faster than you thought was possible!

Let’s look into how one female cardio workout fanatic finally lost her excess belly fat and revealed her six pack abs with the help of the innovative Turbulence-Training workouts!

Craig: C-J, let’s start with a bit of background on yourself and what your goals were when you discovered interval-training and strength training.

C-J:

Ok, I’m a female in my middle 30′s and your typical office professional who spends many long hours in front of the computer.

With regards to fitness and nutrition, I grew up realizing the importance of being active and staying healthy. So while I’ve stayed active for most of my life, I recently realized that I still had a lot to learn about both training and nutrition.

When I first discovered the Turbulence-Training Workouts, I was looking for an improvement in body composition. I had been introduced to weight training a year or so earlier and had made some really good progress, but had gone past that “new stimulus” effect, and really needed something different to kick my results up again and break the plateau.

Craig: How were you doing before?

C-J:

Well, during grad school and working full-time I let my fitness slip for the days and evenings tied to a computer, and the joys of eating at restaurants once or twice a day. I had gained about twenty pounds and was at my heaviest weight ever at about 160 pounds. Once I finished night school, I added exercise and nutrition back to my priority list and lost those twenty pounds, mostly from running five days a week.

The 2nd stage started when I discovered weight training. I was at about 142 pounds at the time and about 28% body fat. After about six months I lost another 8-10 pounds and 7% body fat.

So when I started the Turbulence-Training program, I had already made decent progress as I was down to about 133 pounds and 21-22% bodyfat.

Craig: What were your workouts like before Turbulence Training? Why did they not work as well? How have you since improved upon those workouts?

C-J:

Before Turbulence Training, I was a “same-pace” cardio fanatic, and I ran 3-5 miles three times a week and strength trained using a four day body part split routine. This plan worked ok for about six months or so, but then I just stalled out and the plateau set in. I’m not exactly sure what the culprit was, but I just knew that I needed a different type of workout program to try.

So when I first started strength training and interval workouts I was skeptical that such a short workout only three times per week would be good enough. I soon realized that strength training and intervals kept the intensity levels higher during EVERY workout, so the 3 days and 2 super sets were actually much more efficient than my four day body part split and three days of running. I also got on an interval training program and reduced my slower “same pace” cardio runs to about one day a week.

Craig: How have the interval workouts and strength training helped you improve your shape? What benefits and results have you achieved? What are your improvements compared to your before stats?

C-J:

I am definitely stronger, leaner, and faster than before.

Strength wise, I can finally do chin-ups and pull-ups, something I’ve always wanted to be able to achieve. I have also improved my 5k time by two minutes. I also finally have the muscle tone and athletic body shape that I have always wanted.

When compared to my before stats, I have had to throw the scales out the window and use the mirror and compliments I’ve received as my guide since I have gained a few pounds of lean (but sexy) muscle so the scale weight hasn’t changed much even though my body composition has improved. Also, my clothes have gotten looser and smaller and I’m also making fairly significant strength and speed gains. I can also actually see a visible six pack of abs now, which has always eluded me!

Craig: How do you feel in terms of energy and strength?

C-J:

My strength gains are most exciting to me, since I typically have high energy/endurance. I particularly like how my strength gains have transferred to improved running and biking.

The amount I can lift in the gym just sort of evolves, but when I can climb hills on my bike that I used to be foreced to walk, and finish 5k runs in times that were once way out of my reach, it feels pretty damn good!

Craig: What features do you like about TT-style strength and intervals?

C-J:

It is fun, time efficient, and intense. Plus it works like crazy! When I am in the gym, I know that I am making the most efficient use of my time.

Craig: Did you change your eating plan with the guidelines?

C-J:

Not a whole lot, but some. I was on a pretty good eating plan when I started TT strength and intervals, but I am constantly learning about making better food choices and looking to change things slightly here and there. Incorporating a post-workout recovery shake and getting as much variety as possible have been the biggest changes in my nutrition habits since I started the program.

Craig: What would you say to others that ask you about your workouts? Do you get a lot of comments from people?

C-J:

When people ask me about my workouts, I try to hold back some excitement so I don’t come off as a wild fanatic and overwhelm them.

I have had quite a few comments from others in my gym, either noticing how hard and smart that I am working out, or complimenting me on my progress. One woman even pointed me out and said “I want thighs like that!” to her friend. How cool is that!

It is always enjoyable to see friends or family or even co-workers that I haven’t seen in a while because they always remind me of the great progress I have made. It’s also exciting that I can show off my flat stomach now too with the sexy little six pack!

The best compliment I get now is in the form of imitation. Others want to know exactly what I do and ask me for tips to help them. They see that it works, want to know how I have done it, so they can try to apply it to themselves.

Craig: Thanks C-J! Keep up the great work with your time-saving Turbulence Training fat-loss workouts.

See below for a special free report on more effective cardio workout alternatives that will have you losing body fat much faster from now on.


Effective Cardio Workouts In Only 20 Minutes

Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 10:58 pm  
Comments (2)
cardio slow run
The perfect workout routine is one that combines strength training and some form of cardio. The problem is, most people hate doing cardio and will make up any excuse not to do it. A popular excuse is not having enough time. This article, however, will show you how you can spend only 20 minutes on a cardio workout and still reap the benefits.

So first of all, why is it necessary that you add cardio to your workouts? Most people understand the benefits of strength training because it adds muscle and muscle makes you healthier, more lean and stronger overall.

But what are the benefits of cardio? Here is a short list that names just a few:

- it helps reduce stress

- it burns calories which leads to weight loss

- it makes your heart and lungs stronger

- it reduces your risk of certain diseases

- it reduces depression and increases confidence

- it gives you more energy and helps you sleep better

To sum it up, adding cardio to your workout improves your health and well-being which leads to a better quality of life. Combine this with strength training and you’re on your way to feeling great, fast.

So how can you reap the benefits of cardio in only 20 minutes per workout? It’s called Interval Training and it can be applied to many different forms of cardio including boxing, running and biking.

The concept in a nutshell is shorter workouts, but higher intensity. This is accomplished by pushing hard for say two minutes and then slowing down for two minutes. If you repeat this cycle four more times then you have your 20 minutes. You could also do one minute hard, one minute easy and then repeat this nine more times.

Here is an example:

Interval training is perfect for running. If you’re working out on a treadmill or running outdoors, it’s the same routine. Start out with a warm up jog followed by two minutes of a challenging pace. This won’t be your all out because you have to maintain it for two minutes, but a pace that will be very hard for you. You then follow this with two minutes of either a walk or a very slow jog. Repeat four more times and you’ve got yourself an effective cardio workout in only 20 minutes.

This concept can be applied to many different forms of cardio: two minutes hard, two minutes easy, repeat four more times. Or one minute hard, one minute easy, repeat nine more times.

You’ll get your blood flowing, your heart pumping and reap all the benefits cardio has to offer…all in only 20 minutes.


Your Metabolism & Fat Loss

Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 12:07 am  
Leave your comment

One of the most common beliefs about why people don’t lose fat is that they don’t have the metabolism for it. That is, they think there is something wrong with their metabolism, preventing them from losing fat like other people do. This is a grave mistake.

While you may not have the same genetic and metabolic gifts that the world’s greatest athletes and models have, very few people have metabolic conditions that would prevent them from having a healthy body fat level. Some people can stay lean without any effort, while others have to work at it, but very few of us are doomed to fatness by our metabolisms.

That said, your baseline metabolism does tend to slow as you get older. This results in reduced energy and calorie needs, making it harder to keep active and keep the belly fat off. Our sedentary lifestyles contribute to this mess too.

You were almost surely more active when you were young than you are now. That means you almost surely burned more calories through activity each day when you were young than you do now. Combine a slowing baseline metabolism with less activity and you’ve got a formula for a big gut. To get rid of that gut, you need to rev up your metabolism and give it a reason to burn up some of that fat.

Cardio workouts are the most common way people try to rev up their metabolism. And they work to some extent, burning additional calories and using up fat as long as you stay on that machine or keep pounding the pavement. But step off the machine or stop striding along at speed and your metabolism quickly slows down again. You could try to keep your metabolism high by doing cardio longer, but at some point you either need to get on with the rest of your life, develop a repetitive stress injury, or bore yourself to tears. Fortunately, there’s a better way.

In recent years, many researchers have concluded that cardio workouts are not the best way to rev up your metabolism. Studies show that high-intensity, highly-variable exercise works better and faster for strengthening your body, protecting your heart, and revving up your metabolism. These kinds of exercises more realistically simulate the kind of activities our bodies were designed for.

Our ancestors didn’t jog for hours. No mammals do that. Instead, our ancestors lives were filled with short bursts of strenuous activity (like catching dinner) mixed with periods of rest. Their heart rates went way up then way down. Our bodies are made for that kind of activity and respond well to it.

These kinds of activities have an additional advantage when it comes to boosting your metabolism. When you engage in high-intensity activities like sprinting or lifting heavy weights, your metabolism speeds up. Your muscles also get damaged a bit. This is healthy and normal and not a problem as long as your body gets rest between intense periods.

Because your muscles get damaged by high-intensity workouts, your body needs to do repairs when you are resting. That requires energy, which boosts your metabolism. Studies have shown that your metabolic rate will be higher for as much as a day or two after a hard workout. Doing these kinds of workouts helps you burn the fat right off your belly, even when you aren’t in the gym or at the track.

Many of the newer workout programs include this kind of exercise, usually called high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. If you’re serious about burning fat, I strongly suggest that you look for a program that includes this kind of training in addition to, or in place of, traditional cardio workouts.