Carbohydrates doesn’t contribute to fat gain the way some people think—-that is DIRECT conversion to fat (a process called De Novo Lipogenesis). The 2 times this RARE occurrence happens is

1) Total dietry fat is under 10%

2) 700-900 grams of carbs per day for 3 straight days from a carb depleted state (so the time would be shorter if you were not carb depleted).

CHEAT: A lot of people make the mistake of NOT cheating during their diet. Cheating (going back to maintenance level calories or above briefly  ) allows you to raise the hormones that are surpressed during dieting , raise your metabolism and go back to an anabolic state thus mitigating muscle loss —all of which adds up to increased rate of fat loss.

There’s a lot of hype in regards to salt (ref: New York) being the cause of high blood pressure.  This is certainly true with people who are salt sensitive, however this can be remedied by simply increasing the amount of potassium you take in daily. You see, its really the balance of sodium(salt) and potassium that matters so if the ratio of one is way higher than the other you are going to get high blood pressure regardless.  For instance if you consume more potassium than sodium you will have high blood pressure.  Since you usually find more sodium in a lot of food more times than you do potassium,  people generally assume what New York is assuming right now.  Thus If you are the type that like a lot of salt with their food, make sure you are consuming foods with ample amounts of potassium such as

Avocado

Banana

Cantaloupe

Honeydew

Kiwi

Lima beans

Milk

Oranges and orange juice

Potatoes

Prunes

Spinach

Tomatoes

Vegetable juice

Winter squash

Its been a minute since I have done tips I have been busy getting ready for a shoot among other things.

3 things happen when you eat all dependent on your metabolic state.

1)  You store the food in your muscle

2)  You store the food in the adipose tissue (fat)

3)  You convert the food into energy

This is why nutrient timing…particularly carbohydrate timing is important if you are trying to lose weight  quick-fast- and in a hurry —or if you are trying to gain weight while minimizing fat gain. This means depending on what time you eat carbohydrates (carbohydrates  are not bad by the way)  determines what’s going to happen  to it.  

To break this down shot gun style, If you want to expedite the process of weight loss :

Carbs in the morning = Yay!  =)

Carbs before workout (60-90 mins before work out or during with a shake)  = Yay! =)

Carbs after workout (best within 60 min up to within 4 hours) = Yay!  =)

Carbs  at rest ( 4 or more hours pre or post workout) = no! booooo :(

Beans

I love beans!  Its almost perfect,  it contains  protein, carbohydrates, fiber and essential B vitamins.  One of the best part is beans as a carbohydrate has such a low glycemic index that it isn’t enough to cause  much of an insulin response. If you recall, insulin blunts the body’s ability to burn fat since its a storage hormone——> so beans is great  if you’re on a low carbohydrate diet trying to shed fat fast. However,   beans  is an incomplete protein because it doesn’t have certain essential amino acids (the building block of proteins).  The good news is combining beans and rice form a complete protein.

One of the reasons I can get away without doing much cardio and ab exercises is that I do a lot of squats.  It is arguably the best exercise period (dead lifts advocates might have something to say about it).   However without argument its the best exercise for the lower body.  Every muscle on your body is involved ESPECIALLY YOUR CORE —>obliques, abdominals, erector spinae, multifidus and the glutes. The core is central to all your strength and physical activities.   A good core will do wonders for the overall strength of your body and translates to excellent equilibrium, stability and posture whenever you are moving or exercising.

Squats is also an excellent exercise for the quadriceps, Hamstrings and as I mentioned already Glutes

Quadriceps

Even if you are new to squats, avoid using the machine because it forces your body to one plane of motion (potential for  injury).  Avoid using the belt because it robs your core of the benefit of getting stronger.  Instead use no weight or light weight to learn how to perform this great exercise the correct way. Depending on the amount of weight and rep/set scheme,  its a great exercise for losing weight or gaining muscle or just conditioning/endurance because it involves pretty much every muscle you have—-yes even the upper body is used for assistance.  This is why squats is called the king of all exercises!!!

Performing a high rep with light weight (12,15,or even 20) plus minimum rest  will cause your body to utilize a lot of fat for energy and build your stamina.  A low rep (6-8), heavy weight will add strength and muscle gain.

Here are the  Ten tips to get you to do it the correct way.

1) Hands in Bring hands close to your shoulders gives a nice shelf for the bar because upper back and traps bunches up.

2) Pull shoulder blades back and together (squeezing as hard as possible)  This will help give you the shelf for the back

3)Stance Assume a comfortable stance with toes slightly out –feet hip width apart.  If you are assuming a narrow stance the toes should be pointing forward

4)Weight balance You should feel the weight from mid foot to/or slightly toward the heel

5)Chest up , Low back tight —this is very very important.  Before you squat puff the chest up like the superman/superwoman you are (after all it takes one to squat) and elevate rib cage.  It will help you set a nice arch in you lower back

6)Focus on a spot Find a spot slightly above eye level (45 degrees) and focus on it

7)Big breath Core tight Take a big breath and get all your core muscle tight -Abs, Obliques, lower back brace your abs as if you were going to be punched in the stomach–I can’t stress how important this is in preventing injuries

8)Sit back To perform a squat properly you need to sit back (as in sitting on a chair).  This means you  don’t start off bending your knees.  You start off with your hips (remember brace your stomach for that punch)  and your knees will follow

9)Knees out knees out to the side as you are sitting back force your knees out-  This activates muscles of the hips and it works to keep the femur, knee and ankle in proper alignment.

10)Speed When moving with a heavy weight speed is key–come down with a tight and controlled speed. When you hit the bottom of the movement (90 degrees of below) with speed, you are going to come out of the bottom with speed.  An example would be a vertical jump.  You wouldn’t lower yourself very slowly and expect to jump very high would you?  When you’re coming up remember you are still looking at that spot mentioned earlier and your chest is still puffed out with your rib cage elevated and stomach tight like your bracing yourself for a punch…

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****When you squat, Never let your knees go past your toes this means you are leading with your knees instead of your hips—remember you sit back—start with your hip and your knees will follow.  Put a bench/chair  behind you to make this stick in your mind and as you squat touch your glutes on the bench/chair.

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Even if you squat with no weight for now its a great exercise.  Don’t be concerned with  how much weight you are squatting.

Note:  An often over looked exercise is hyper extensions  and Romanian dead lifts .   These two exercises also strengthens your lower back and hamstrings and will help you with your squats.

Ps……hmmmm now that I think about it should I put a video demonstrating it ??

Never let yourself go hungry or take in too few calories per day to lose weight. All you end up doing is slowing you metabolism down which will catch up with you .  Always have snack or food every 3 to 4 hours…something with ample protein is HIGHLY recommended.

Everybody some of us indulge in  some alcohol now and again  the best alcohol to indulge in  and remain relatively “healthy”  is Vodka….Try Vodka with soda water, vodka with diet tonic or may be vodka with diet cranberry juice. Vodka straight is also an option.  Also if you are going to eat late at night go ALL PRO….meaning all protein no carbs

Did you ever notice sprinters always seem to have a six pack?  Did you know Ab exercises are on the lowest priority of exercises to do on their list meaning they don’t devote hardly any attention as you would think on their abs— yet they still have a six pack or wash board abs.  Have you ever wondered the reason why?  These are 3 concepts that might shed some light and  help  if your goal is getting a six pack or wash board abs. Its actually better than regular cardio when It comes to shedding fat.

1)  Abs—-the main job for the abdominals is to stabilize the spine.  You will notice anytime your arms and legs are out of alignment with your body—for instance your arms extended over head or extended to your side, your abdominals tenses/flexes automatically.  The same goes for your legs — stand next to a wall hold it one hand -to brace yourself- now raise one leg straight out in front of you and hold it.  Use your other hand to feel how hard your abs just got….(you can actually do abs like this raising one leg at a time 10 to 15 per  side 3 sets or more …let me know how you feel the next day hehehe).  Anytime you perform an explosive movement, by explosive I mean a movement that is done very fast/a bust of speed, the abdominals will be recruited  to stabilize the spine.

2) Fuel economy…everybody knows if you have a car with a  big engine its going to use more fuel than a car with a small engine.   Well the same concept applies to your body. When you use your largest muscles specifically your legs, you are going to burn more fuel..the fuel being fat (glycogen/carbs goes first usually).  We can go further and say  you use more fuel when you drive at 80 mph than you would at 55 mph.

3)Muscle fibers type and explosive movements.  You have 3 muscle fibers type

• Type 1-> slow twitch muscle fibers- built for slow and enduring movements.  This is what you would use when you are running slow. This is mainly what marathoners use
• Type 2a—> slow twitch muscle fibers the middle ground its still use for aerobic/endurance much like type 1.
• Type 2b—>Fast twitch muscle fibers->The Big dawg! The largest of the 3.  Its used for explosive movements so they are able to burn energy at a higher rate. The tire quickly because of this.  Sprinters would be a good example of people who utilizes type 2b muscle fibers .

Ok right now you have 3 concepts you can use to fight fat and get that abs in for summer, but how do you apply this ?  After all, knowledge is useless if  you can’t apply it.

sprints is by far the most efficient  and one of the fastest way to get a six pack.  Yes sprint will melt that abdominal fat away.  Sprints not only works on your legs it works directly on your abs.   When you sprint, the motion forces your obliques (pic below) and your rectus abdominis (six pack, pic below) to get involved.  This occurs because the obliques and  rectus abdominis are stabilizing the spine during sprints.

Obliques

Rectus Abdominis

This is why doing abs is usually on the bottom of a sprinter’s list.  I can attest to this because I only do abs once a week on average If I can get to it.

Sprints makes you use your big engine.

When you sprint, you are using your biggest engine—>your legs.  Not only are you using your legs, you’re using the type 2b muscle fibers—>your largest muscle fibers.   So in effect,  you are using your biggest muscle (engine) and you’re firing on all cylinders.  Bigger engine + all 8 cylinders(explosive movement) = more fuel (FAT) being burned.  A reason why sprints is better than regular cardio (steady state cardio ) when it comes to shedding fat.  It actually builds up  as good of an endurance, if not better.

It doesn’t matter if you are an olympic sprinter all you have to do is this

1) Hop on a thread mill

2) walk a full loop to get warmed up

3) increase speed to a point where you can jog

4) Gradually go up to sprint speed —this is where you are running as fast as you can (safely) until you get tired which doesn’t take long if you are sprinting like you should

5) Reduce speed to where you’re able to jog or walk, catch  your breath then repeat    Do this for 10 15 to 20 mins (depending on your level of fitness) 3 times a week.

Note: If you feel you’re losing control i.e. in danger of falling off grab the handle/rails put both feet on each side of the thread mill that’s not moving . Or just hit the emergency stop button.

Bonus

If you had to do one exercise for Abs-the best movement is Leg raises and its other variations. Also remember the simple movement I mentioned in the beginning easy to do can be done anywhere and effective when done right.

Remember if you don’t eat clean no amount of exercise is going to get you where you want.  Eating clean and sprints will get you the abs you want in a flash…pun intended ;)

One of the  most  under rated fat loss supplement is CLA (conjugated linoleic acid).  Found mainly in red meats and dairy products,  It blunts the body’s tendency to store fat.  In a nutshell You eat  carbs your pancreas secrets insulin, which calls up LPL (lipoprotein lipase ) especially when  insulin is high.  Part of their job is to store food as fat, well CLA helps blunt that action.  Besides its incredible fat  blocking  ability, it also speeds up the metabolism, reduces inflammation, fight cancer ( it was first known for its ability to fight cancer back in ‘79), enhance the immune system, enhance you insulin sensitivity (important factor in losing weight)  and get this builds muscle too…say whaaaat?!?    People usually take too low a dose not knowing what dose  that  actually worked in  trials  so here’s the scoop:

3.2 grams to help reduce body fat (take with meal)

6 grams to build muscle (take with meal)

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

I have never seen a personal trainer who is obese be good at training other people…not to say they lack knowledge

Its one of the reason’s that I’m a big believer in the aforementioned quote especially when it comes to trainers.  There’s no excuse for a trainer to be obese NONE.   Its a disservice to your client and your industry when a trainer is obese.  Chances are the  client will have little to no motivation to do what you’re telling them to do? I know I would be thinking —-“why the hell should I do what s/he is asking me to do, it obviously didn’t work for her/him”—- Its not enough that you know more than the person you’re training if you are not putting what you know to practice and actually know the little ins and outs that comes with experience.  With this experience, you will know what the person you are training is feeling and what s/he might find difficult so you can properly guide them through a routine.

This is what I have noticed over the years people do wrong when they try to loose weight and end up failing. It is no particular order.  If you want me to give you the most important aspect let me know =)

1.  They skip breakfast the most important meal of the day.  This sets the tone on   how active your metabolism is going to be.  Skip it consistently it slows to a crawl hellooo fat!

2.   They pick a diet (I hate that word) plan that’s a one size fits all….i.e. the zone diet I always hear about. Besides the fact that the particular diet plan uses an outdated formula, like most one size fits all diet plans it doesn’t take into account peoples life styles

3. They don’t have a plan at all.  Remember any worth while endeavor   needs planning - 90% is preparation 10% is execution.   People mistakenly go and just do it (no pun intended) they end up falling on their butts and get discouraged.  This doesn’t mean over planning (trying to get it perfect) and not taking actions.

4.  They underestimate the concept of eating frequently —smalls meal and snacks through out the day (every 3 hours ).

• This stabilizes blood sugar so your insulin level (insulin blunts the body’s ability to burn fat) isn’t being wrecked
• You benefit from the TEF- Thermic effect of Food…meaning the body has to expend energy just to breakdown food 15 % on avg
• It speeds up your metabolism.

5. They think its as simple as calories in, calories burned that’s it.  Carbohydrates and protein both initiates different response in the body.  Carbohydrate stimulates the production of insulin —a useful hormone (anabolic properties) but impedes your ability to burn fat .  Protein for the most part stimulates the production of glucagon, a hormone whose characteristics is opposite of insulin-it mobilizes fat to be used.

6.  Protein isn’t included in every meal or snack.  Because of reason #5 its never a good idea to have a meal or snack of just carbohydrates always include protein. In addition the TEF thermic effect of protein is the highest at 30 %.  Its hard for the body to process process protein so it has to expend more energy.  This aids with the break down of carbohydrates since speeds up the metabolism.

7.  They treat all carbohydrates the same way.  Not all carbohydrates are created equal. You have simple carbohydrates which breaks down in your body so fast that it slows your metabolism down (when  consumed often) because of the chronic insulin spike and you have complex carbohydrates which breaks down slowly and gives your body time to process it.  This more often than not you will store simple carbohydrates as when you consume it.

8.  Nutrient timing— timing when you take in carbohydrates.  NEVER EVER take in carbohydrates late at night or right before you go to sleep.  The best time to take in carbohydrates is very early on during the day.  Also before and after working out, your insulin sensitivity in the morning and right after working out (within 60 mins) is high. This means there’s less of a chance that your body will store the carbohydrates as fat.

9. Picking the Wrong exercises—-Nothing is more disappointing than seeing someone at the gym who’s trying to lose weight but all they do at the gym is biceps—cable curls etc  or chest— bench press.  You should be concentrating on your largest muscle groups, namely your back and legs.  This is your biggest engine.  Remember the larger the engine the more fuel (fat) you will be burn.  So work your legs and back more, every other muscle should be supplementary.  Do multi-joint  movements (compound movements)…i.e. squat, lunges, pull ups (use the pull up assist if you can’t do one on your own) and sprints (yes sprints is the best for losing fat when it comes to running).

10.Stagnation -  Your body not only adapt to an exercise if you do it repeatedly over a period of time, it adapts to the way you eat.  So  if you picked the right plan for dieting and exercise that works, you will eventually hit a plateau most times sooner than later.  Switch up your exercise routine every 4 to 6 weeks and your nutrition every 2 weeks.

11.Consistency-They are not consistent.  They jump from plan to plan or they start then stop only to resume again.  You have to be consistent if you want to see results.

12. The calorie they take in is too little.  When you do this your body goes into fight or flight mode which causes the build up of coristol (stress hormones) and your metabolism to slow down all of this leads to your body storing more fat

All the knowledge or help in the world is nothing if you don’t believe in yourself. Belief in yourself leads to perseverance which leads to consistency.  All obstacles fall in the presence of perseverance!