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Are cardio workouts actually restricting your progress?

When I say cardio, I mean traditional cardio. You know, the kind where you are on a stationary bike or treadmill for an hour or more. Counter to popular belief, long cardio workouts don’t burn fat efficiently.  Cardio machines do build endurance, they but don’t build muscle.

In fact, prolonged cardio causes muscle loss. This is because your body will start to burn muscle for energy after about an hour, and since it is your muscles that burn fat, the less muscle you have the less fat you will burn. On the flip side the more muscle you have, the more calories you can burn in the same workout time frame. This does not mean you need lots of bulk. Lean muscle burns fat just fine, you don’t need to look like a bodybuilder.

Now,lets get back on topic. What I mean by cardio is anything that works the cardiovascular system (duh). Personally, I am all for doing resistance cardio. One way to do resistance cardio is to use weights (a sandbag, dumbbells, resistance bands, etc.) and do your reps fastas you can and with as little rest time as possible between exercises.

Go through all your exercises as quick as you can (while maintaining good form), take a very short break (less than 5 min) and go repeat the cycle again. This is called circuit training. To stay off plateaus, up the number of times you go through your workout.

If you are breathing heavy, panting, your heart rate it way up, etc. you are working your cardiovascular system. That’s resistance cardio for you!

Below is an article contributed by Mike Geary, the founder of TruthAboutAbs.com. I thought this was an important topic to share with you because the reality is that most people simply don’t realize how dangerous their excess abdominal fat really is to their health.

The Hidden Dangers of Your Excess Abdominal Fat – It’s More Serious Than a Vanity Issue!

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Did you know that the vast majority of people in this day and age have excess abdominal fat? The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.

However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a consistent basis.

If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat should be one of your TOP priorities! There’s just no way around it. Besides, a side-effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive ugly abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see those sexy six pack abs that everyone wants.

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat? Is there actually a REAL solution beyond all of the gimmicks and hype that you see in ads and on commercials for “miracle” fat loss products?

The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicky ab rockers, rollers, or ab belts will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any of these worthless contraptions. It simply doesn’t work that way.

The ONLY solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed strategic exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program are important if you are to get this right.

I’ve actually even seen a particular study that divided thousands of participants into a diet-only group and an exercise/diet group. While both groups in this study made good progress, the diet-only group lost significantly LESS abdominal fat than the diet & exercise combined group.

Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are NOT working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat. I see this everyday at the gym.

Most people will do your typical boring ineffective cardio routines, throw in a little outdated body-part style weight training, and pump away with some crunches and side bends, and think that they are doing something useful for reducing their abdominal fat. Then they become frustrated after weeks or months of no results and wonder where they went wrong.

Well, the good news is that I’ve spent over a decade researching this topic, analyzing the science, and applying it “in the trenches” with myself as well as thousands of my clients from all over the world to see what works to really stimulate abdominal fat loss.

The entire solution… all of the nutritional strategies, as well as training sequences, exercise combinations, and more have all been compiled in my Truth About Six Pack Abs Program.
Keep in mind that the point of this whole program is NOT abdominal exercises (that is only a very small portion of it). The main point of this program is showing you the absolute most effective strategies for losing your stubborn abdominal fat, so you can get rid of that dangerous health risk, as well as get a flatter more defined midsection.

If you follow the guidelines, you WILL lose your belly fat that has been plaguing you for years. This is not guesswork… it is a proven system that works time and time again for all of my clients on every corner of the globe that actually apply the information I teach. If you apply it, the results will come. It’s really that simple.

The only reason most people fail in their fitness goals is that they have good intentions at first to adopt a new lifestyle, yet after a few weeks or months, they abandon their good intentions and slip right back into their old bad habits that gave them the excess body fat in the first place.

I want to help you succeed in finally getting rid of that extra abdominal fat that is not only UGLY, but also DANGEROUS.

Don’t waste another day allowing that nasty abdominal fat to kill your confidence as well as contribute to your risk for MAJOR diseases.

Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this problem at…

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/

Train hard, eat right, and enjoy life!

Article By Craig Ballantyne, Reprinted With Permission:

Turbulence Training Workouts…

With Turbulence Training for Fat Loss, there are a lot of workouts to choose from.

So why did I create so many fat burning programs?

Because you need to have variety in your workouts to keep on
boosting your metabolism, and burning fat month after month.

If you did the same workout program for 3 months straight, your results would screech to a halt after 5 or 6 weeks.

With the Turbulence Training fat loss program, you will be able to change your workouts every 4 weeks. Each time you do that, you’ll kickstart your fat burning and your metabolism to a new level.

You must change your workout every 3-4 weeks.

Unfortunately, with so many Turbulence Training workouts, people often ask, “Which program should I start with?”. So here are the fat burning guidelines you need to get the most out of
Turbulence Training no matter what your fitness level…

1) The Best Program for a Total BEGINNER

Overweight, sedentary beginners should start with the Introductory Program in the main Turbulence Training for Fat Loss manual.

If you haven’t been doing any exercise, you must start there. No
exceptions.

The bodyweight exercises will prepare your muscles for all future workouts, and will prevent the overuse injuries people usually get when they start a high-volume cardio program (which is the worst thing an overweight person can do for weight loss).

2) The Best Program for an Experienced Lifter Who Has NOT Exercised in the Last 4 Weeks

Please start with the Intermediate Workout from the main Turbulence Training for Fat Loss program.

BUT NOTE: Do only ONE SET per exercise in each workout in the first week.

This will prevent you from being excessively sore from the
exercises, which can occur when you have been away from exercise for so long.

3) The Best Program For ADVANCED Fitness & Fat Loss

I suggest you start with the “Original Turbulence Training
Workout” from the main Turbulence Training for Fat Loss manual.

Work your way through each following three advanced workouts in the manual.

Upon completion of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss workouts from the main manual, you can move onto the bonus workouts in this order:

A) If you are a women that wants to put the final touches on
a female physique, use the Turbulence Training for Women
workout.

B) If you are a man that wants to build muscle, use the TT
for Muscle program.

C) If you want to keep burning fat, move to the DB-BW Fusion
Workout.

D) Follow that with the 30-Day Advanced Fat Loss program.

E) And finally, finish with the Advanced Fusion Fat Loss
4-Week Program.

At any time you are traveling or want a break from the dumbell
workouts, you can use the beginner, intermediate, or advanced
bodyweight program from the Original Bodyweight 4-Week TT workout.

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment,

visit:  www.TurbulenceTraining.com