Fitness QnA and August Success Story of the Month
Oh baby…just filmed two 40-minute follow-along MRT workouts for a program coming out in November. Finished with timed bodyweight squats…could barely move my legs when I finished – felt like concrete.
You’re going to get a good laugh watching me do this…payback for every tough workout I’ve put you through. Before we get to today’s QnA, I want to address an important topic.
Our 12th Contest kicks off on Sunday, Sept 4th. The last day to enter is Saturday, Sept. 17th.
No purchase is necessary. You can use the Turbulence Training workouts you can find on my blog at www.TTFatLoss.com or on my Youtube channel at www.Youtube.com/cbathletics
But here’s the problem…
I failed in our goal of 500 lbs of fat loss…we only hit 228lbs.
There are three problems that hold us back.
a) Not enough people entering
b) Not enough people finishing
c) And not enough people who finish are going through and submitting their entries
So anything you can do to help me out here is greatly appreciated.
I’m on a mission to help 1,000,000 people transform their bodies and lives by 2020 and the only way we can do it is with your help.
Here are the details about the contest (where you could win up to $1000)
=> http://www.TransformationContest.com (click on the rules in top right)
Thank you so much.
Now to this week’s Fitness QnA
The first question needs a bit of background. After my recent trip to Europe, I mentioned I had lost 5 pounds, and I knew not all of it was fat.
In fact, I KNEW that I lost some muscle – and it had to be lower body muscle.
That raised this question…
Question: How do you know you lost lower body muscle? – Andrea
Answer: Andrea, the only resistance training I did was for my upper body. All lower body exercise was biking, walking, hiking and running…those do not promote muscle growth or maintenance in ol’ Craiggy. And I came back weaker in my squat. Should be back to normal soon and then I’ll start making progress again.
The next question was about the TT Summit bootcamp workout I posted here:
=> http://www.WorkoutManuals.com
Question: Great looking bootcamp workout. My question is: do you do any of the supersets or trisets more than once? Or are then one time only? I know the bodyweight squats with 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest are good on multiple rounds. Thanks – Jim
Answer: Yes, we did a few of these for multiple sets, but we were limited by time.
It really depends on the fitness level of the attendee as well. The people I was training were all fit trainers, so we pushed hard. But even then, just two rounds of the BW squats (20/10) was enough by the time we got to them.
It was good times, and the workout got a big round of applause.
Question: Craig, what do you suggest for abdominal work? I have a TRX station at my gym, do you think that I should do TRX planks instead?
Answer: I recommend 5-10 minutes twice per week of the best total body abdominal exercises, such as stability ball rollouts, cable abs, hanging knee or leg raises, stability ball planks, stability ball jackknives, TRX fallouts, and barbell rollouts.
If you aren’t using a TT workout program (which will have the ab exercises in the program design), then simply set aside 5-10 minutes after 2 of your weekly workouts. No need for 30 minute ab sessions or any crazy infomercial products (ab wheel excluded, of course).
Question: I’m 6’3 and weigh about 106 kg at 30 years and interested in your bodyweight programs but I need help deciding which ones fit my goals the best. I want to lose 16kg and add a little muscle. Have a nice day and thank you for taking the time to read this email.
Answer: Happy to help. Thank you for your email and interest in the bodyweight workouts. I recommend taking advantage of this great deal here:
=> http://www.turbulencetraining.com/101BodyweightExercises/
It will keep you going for months and months with bodyweight workouts.
Specifically, follow this plan to reach your goals: Start with Phase 1 of the 6-month manual. You will lose fat through phase 3. Then you will be ready to build muscle in phase 4, 5, and 6.
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Finally, it’s been a tremendous week here in the Turbulence Training world, from the TT Summit to the 11th Contest Winners announcement, and the anticipation of the upcoming 12th contest starting this Sunday.
But I also received this great feedback earlier in August from a TT Facebook reader. I really dig this stuff. Great to hear how people take our info and go off and quietly apply the info to get results.
In fact, this story earned Jewels the TT Success Story of the Month and a 1-year Platinum TT Membership. If you have a success story, please reply to this email and let us know about how TT has helped you.
Looking forward to it, and hopefully our contest winners and Jewels’ story below will inspire you to reach your goals.
The Success Story of the Month
“Just over 12 weeks ago, you had a Q&A on Facebook and I asked you a couple of questions in relation to the bosu ball and a nutrition question – I had asked about whether having a small treat like a little chocolate Freddo Frog would make that much of a difference to someone’s physique.
Your response was “there’s only one way to find out” and I decided that I would ditch the nightly treat and switch to the cheat meal/chocolate on a Saturday (I figured if it didn’t really matter you would have said so!).
I have kept it up for just over 12 weeks now and I also made a couple of other slight changes to my daily diet (eg. switching my morning tea of corn puffs/sunflower seeds to sweet potato, egg and celery).
I honestly didn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but I have actually had results from making the change. It’s been a positive mindset change for me rather than a negative to feel that I have to “deprive” myself of chocolate.
I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to you – for something so small to a person who you’ve never met from Down Under in Sydney Australia, I am very grateful to you for responding to my question and giving me something to hold onto that has made this journey a very different one to the negative mindset I’ve held for such a long time.
I have enjoyed resistance training for years now as a way to stay healthy and have a great interest in learning about nutrition (your response has also increased my interest in understanding the nutrient timing, glucose and the insulin response). In any case – Thank you so much!” – Jewels L.
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That’s the feedback that makes my job – and life – so great.
Thank you everyone. I really appreciate you.
Till next week,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Certified Turbulence Trainer
PS – You’d make my day…
…by entering the 12th TT Transformation Contest and helping Turbulence Training on the 500 pound fat loss mission.
Drop by the contest page to find out the 3 simple steps you need to take in order to be a part of this transformation contest:
=> http://www.TransformationContest.com
PPS – The 3 steps are:
1) Take a before photo
2) Use Turbulence Training for 12 weeks
3) Take an after photo and submit a 300-word letter on the changes you achieved.
That’s it.