The two main reasons people give for avoiding exercise are lack of time and lack of motivation. But those are really just politically correct answers. The truth is, most people just don’t like to do it.

If you “hate” exercise, here are three ways to stay motivated and stick to your plan:

1. Work out with a partner or in a group. Bootcamp exercise classes are becoming more popular every year – mostly because they are a million times more fun than jogging on a treadmill by yourself. If you get a good high-energy trainer, and a few friends to join you, you’ll have a grand old time while you burn belly fat.

2. Play the right music. Whether your bootcamp trainer brings it or you create a kick-butt mix on your iPod, working out to peppy music will make the time fly by.

3. Turn your exercise program into a golf game. In other words, keep challenging yourself to do better. That’s what golfers do. They get hooked on the game because they always want to beat their last score. And by giving yourself a “score” to beat every time you work out, the competitive streak deep within you will come to the surface and you’ll work harder and more consistently.

It’s all about making it fun. That’s why workouts like my Bodyweight 500 have become so popular that more than 5,100 readers of Men’s Health magazine used it to burn up to 41 pounds of belly fat in just 8 weeks.

You, too, could see results like that.

[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training for Fat Loss program is the ultimate in fat burning. Not only are the exercises high-energy and high-intensity - which means they blast fat away - they are also quick and fun to do. Better yet, you can build a lean, toned body with just three 45-minute workouts a week. Learn the details here.

For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

One of the side effects of aging is that you lose the ability to burn fat at the drop of a hat. So if you’re over 40 and want to lose belly fat, here’s what you have to do:

Rule #1: Eat a low-calorie diet, focusing on whole, natural foods.

Everyone needs to be eating more fruits and vegetables, no matter how old they are. So try to add one extra serving every day – starting tomorrow – until you are up to 10 total servings per day. The fiber will help fill you up. And by reducing processed foods in your diet at the same time, you will have more energy and you will lose weight. It’s that easy.

Rule #2: Use resistance training to sculpt your muscles.

As you get older, strength becomes more and more important to your health and well-being. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. So make sure your exercise program includes total-body strength training at least twice per week, preferably three times.

Rule #3: Do interval training instead of long, slow cardio.

Researchers from Australia found that women who did only 20 minutes of interval training three times per week were able to lose more belly fat than women who did 40 minutes of long, slow cardio. So switch your program to short-burst exercise and you’ll get more results in less time!

[Ed. Note: If you're not sure of the best fat-burning exercises to try, fitness expert Craig Ballantyne can help. In his Turbulence Training program, he'll reveal how you can burn fat and build muscle with three 45-minute workouts a week. Get the details here.

For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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Surprise! The best energy bar isn’t one you can eat. (And, no, it’s not one where you can order a beer either.)

The best energy bar is the barbell.

Researchers from the University of Georgia studied the effects of exercise on fatigue in sedentary college women. Fourteen subjects did 2 workouts and 1 control session, and then filled out some “profile of mood state” forms. The results showed that the exercise made them feel more energetic.

So if you are in a low-energy slump, slip in for a quick workout. Heck, you can even do a bodyweight workout in your office mid-afternoon to get yourself going. Do bodyweight squats, push-ups, lunges, and planks to energize your body in just a few short minutes.

[Ed. Note: For a mood- and energy-boosting exercise routine that can help you burn fat and build muscle, try fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Get the details here.

For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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One of the main reasons men and women fail with their diets is a lack of education about what – and how much – to eat. And it doesn’t take much to get yourself up to speed.

1. For one week, record everything you eat on the Fitday.com website. I know it sounds tedious, but I’m only asking you to do it for seven days.

2. Use Fitday and Google to calculate how many calories you’re eating.

3. Start reading food labels. Eventually, you should move to a diet that doesn’t involve many food labels at all – a diet based on whole, natural foods, including fruits, vegetables, raw nuts, and meat. Meanwhile, reading labels will give you a good idea of what’s in the food you’re eating.

4. Write down how you feel after every meal. This will help you discover which foods make you tired and which ones give you energy.

Very simple, but very powerful! Within two weeks, you’ll be a walking nutrition encyclopedia – and will spend the rest of your life knowing exactly how much and what to eat.

[Ed. Note: Eating the right foods is only one aspect of losing fat and staying healthy. You also need to exercise regularly. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne can help you burn fat and build muscle with three 45-minute workouts a week. Learn how right here.
For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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Here at ETR, we don’t advocate following traditional “diets.” But we do recommend that, to stay lean and healthy, you avoid certain foods – and stick to fresh fruits and veggies, lean protein, and low-glycemic carbs.

Of course, it’s not always easy.

One of the biggest roadblocks to losing weight is the temptation to cheat on your healthy eating program and indulge in those oh-so-delicious but oh-so-dangerous goodies – like sugary snacks, pizza, and French fries. But if you plan ahead, you won’t be trapped into succumbing to temptation. Here are six simple secrets to losing fat… without cheating.

Stop Cheating Secret #1: Script your week.

Set aside 15 minutes on Sunday to plan out your entire week. Write down what time you need to get up each day, what you’ll eat for breakfast, when you’ll do your workout, what foods you’ll have for snacks, lunches, and dinners.

By planning ahead, you’ll know exactly what you should be doing for fat loss at every minute of the day. That way you won’t have to make snap decisions on the spot, and you won’t give into temptation.

Make a plan and stick to it and you will lose fat fast!

Stop Cheating Secret #2: Identify – in advance – potential obstacles to your healthy eating plan… and come up with two ways to overcome each one.

For example, if you know you have meetings most of the day on Wednesday, and then a business dinner after work, you also know that you’re going to be hungry before you get a chance to eat a proper meal… and sorely tempted to hit the snack machine.

How can you overcome that obstacle? Maybe you’ll eat before the meeting and then have a healthy snack ready to go in the car.

Stop Cheating Secret #3: Shop once.

The more trips you make to the grocery store, the more chances you have to give in to the call of the pastry counter. Since you’ve already planned out your week, you’ll know exactly what to buy. Stick to your list, and buy it all in one go.

Stop Cheating Secret #4: Prepare your food in advance.

This ties in with Secret #1. You need to set aside time once a week to plan your meals, do your shopping, and prepare as much of your food as possible. (Cut up vegetables, batch-cook chicken breasts, etc.)

Planning the entire week, scripting out the meals, doing the shopping and some of the food prep is an essential part of sticking to a diet. If you want to have great results, you have to get into that mindset.

Stop Cheating Secret #5: Get social support.

I can’t recommend social support enough. You can’t stick to your fat-loss diet on your own. You need help from others. At the very least, you need a nutrition buddy who will encourage you to stick to your eating plan and also hold you accountable when you “fall off the wagon.”

People you work with can be supportive, but they’re also going to be the source of many of your obstacles. There are those who, trying to be nice, will bring in donuts and homemade cookies and shove them in your face. Then there are those who will tease you about your diet, though they should know better. You just have to plan for those people.

It goes back to Secret #2 – identifying potential obstacles to your healthy eating plan and coming up with ways to overcome them. That means being prepared for the donuts and cookies, and knowing, ahead of time, that you’re not going to eat them. It also means staying away from the jerks who treat your fat-loss goals like a joke. Instead, seek out a nutrition buddy – one who is supportive of your goals – and eat lunch with him.

You also need social support at the gym – somebody who seems to be knowledgeable about diet and exercise. People like that are usually happy to help you stick with your plan.

Finally, get your family behind you. Without support at home, you’re going to have a tough time – especially if you’re the only one with a weight “problem” and everyone else can eat whatever they want. So don’t be shy. They’re not going to know you need their support unless you tell them.

Stop Cheating Secret #6: Brush your teeth after every meal… and whenever you might be tempted to cheat.

Eating right after you brush your teeth isn’t very pleasant, so it helps you control your cravings.

Most people are good about sticking to their diet till about 4:00 p.m. That’s a good time to have a healthy snack… and brush your teeth. Another time to watch out for is after dinner. To keep from cheating, brush your teeth… or chew a piece of gum… or have a cup of green tea.

It’s all a matter of developing routines to build your power over food, rather than allowing food to control you.

Implement these six ideas and you’re practically guaranteed to stop cheating on your diet and lose fat fast. But remember, it doesn’t happen overnight. Just take it day by day, enjoying every small victory. Make tomorrow better than today. And don’t beat yourself up if you stumble.

Day by day. That is how you stop cheating on your diet… and lose fat for life.

[Ed. Note: Eating the right foods is only one aspect of losing fat and staying healthy. You also need to exercise regularly. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne can help you burn fat and build muscle with three 45-minute workouts a week. Learn how right here.

For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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Sleeping in… Barbecues… Dinners out with friends. Weekends can be rough! At least, as far as your body is concerned.

But it’s easy to prevent weekend weight gain. Just make sure you work out regularly. (Doing it early in the day is best, and you’ll get a more powerful workout if you combine short-burst exercises with multi-muscle techniques.) And watch what you eat.  

That said, here are three easy “eating strategies” to keep the fat off.

Weekend Strategy #1: Avoid all liquid calories.

Much of what you drink is full of sugar – which can lead to excess fat. Plus, research shows that liquid calories don’t “register” in the brain and, thus, do not satisfy the appetite. Cut out the soda, the booze, the booze mix, and even the orange juice at breakfast. There’s just no room for liquid sugar in your diet if you want to lose belly fat.

Weekend Strategy #2: Get outside with your family and away from food.

We sometimes eat too much because we are bored. So if you’re finding it hard to keep your hand out of the candy bowl, get your hand (and your butt) out of that room!

Go play with the youngsters outside. Get together with some buddies in the neighborhood for a game of pick-up basketball. Take the dog for a run. Go for a really long walk. Just do something!

Weekend Strategy #3: Treat yourself.

Say you’re visiting family and you know Aunt Sue is going to make her amazing lemon meringue pie for dessert. Simply schedule that “treat” into your eating plan. To make up for it, set limits on all the other goodies you get offered.

And remember, if you can’t keep treats in the house without eating them, get RID of the junk.

[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices - like consuming less sugar and fewer high-glycemic carbs. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.

Want to burn more fat? Follow Craig's Turbulence Training exercise program.]

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Another weekend, another two or three pounds of fat? No way! Doesn’t have to work like that.

Here are two “real life” fitness techniques that can help you just say “NO” to gaining weight.

Weekend Fitness Strategy #1: Work out first thing in the morning.

There’s nothing magical about training first thing in the morning. I don’t believe it will help you lose fat faster than exercising at any other time of the day.

HOWEVER…

Exercising first thing in the morning gets it out of the way. And if you have a busy weekend coming up, complete with family visits and household chores, the truth is that the morning may be the only time you’ll get a chance to burn belly fat.

Weekend Fitness Strategy #2: Do short-burst workouts with multi-muscle exercises.

You can train your entire body with just two exercises. For example, you could perform a quick, powerful workout just by doing dumbbell squats and push-ups.

The dumbbell squat trains your upper back and your lower body. The push-ups obviously train your chest and arms, but your torso (abs) as well. That’s a complete workout right there.

Do 8-12 reps for squats and 15-30 reps for push-ups. Don’t rest between exercises and keep going for 10 or 20 minutes, whatever you have time for. That’ll hit all of your body’s hot zones.

[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices - like making sure you exercise even on the weekends. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.

Want to burn more fat? Follow Craig's Turbulence Training exercise program. ]

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It’s hard to believe that so many folks are still overweight. Though the media has covered the risks of obesity (diabetes, heart disease, and even death) in great detail, the sad truth is that people just don’t seem to be aware of the danger. And British researcher Dr. Judy Ann Swift from the University of Nottingham is concerned.

The 104 overweight men and women who participated in Dr. Swift’s study started by taking a survey on how much they knew about the dangers of obesity. Amazingly, most knew very little. And it turned out that the more educated a participant was about the dangers and health costs of obesity, the better chance they had of losing weight.

This is important news for trainers and health professionals, but also for anyone who wants to lose weight. Discover the dangers of obesity and you’ll have more motivation to succeed!

[Ed. Note: Don't know much about the dangers that come with being overweight? Take a look through ETR's health archive for more information, plus get easy nutritional advice and useful weight-loss techniques.

Beat obesity by burning fat with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. ]

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When Carrie showed up for her first weight-loss workout with me, she was injured. Only three weeks earlier, she had made up her mind to lose weight. So she started running for 45 minutes per day. But doing so much, so soon was a bad idea for her body, given that she was 20 pounds overweight and hadn’t gone running in years.

It was no surprise that Carrie had developed a muscle strain in her upper thigh, which required weeks of rehabilitation to heal. This made our fat-burning workouts more difficult, because she couldn’t do interval training or many of the bodyweight exercises I use with my clients.

Over time, Carrie was able to heal her injury while losing fat with short-burst workouts. However, she should not have gotten hurt in the first place.

The first thing to remember about keeping your workouts safe is to avoid doing too much cardio.

I don’t understand why so many personal trainers still recommend long, slow cardio workouts for fat loss, when research has shown them to be relatively ineffective and experience tells me that cardio often just lands folks in the doctor’s office.

If I had met Carrie before she started running, here’s what I would have told her to help her lose fat fast… without getting hurt.

Top 10 Rules for Safe Workouts

1. It is important to train conservatively and not overdo things. If you are doing resistance training (and everyone should), don’t do any exercise that you aren’t sure how to do. Always get personal instruction from a certified trainer.

2. Don’t do anything that hurts or “doesn’t feel right.” There are plenty of alternate exercises for any exercise in any workout program. Just ask a qualified trainer for help.

3. Whenever you start a new resistance-training program, use lighter weights than normal and perform only one set per exercise. This will minimize the muscle soreness that you can expect with any new program.

4. If you need extra recovery time within the workout or between workouts, don’t hesitate to take it. Most beginners only think about how they can do more and more exercise to help them lose weight faster. But everyone (from beginners to pro athletes) needs some days of light exercise to allow the muscles to repair. And don’t worry. If you do the right type of exercise, you’ll still lose fat even when you are not working out at the gym.

5. Check your ego at the gym door and start with the easier alternate exercises, even if you have exercised in the past. New movements – even those that “look easy” – will cause muscle soreness. This goes for yoga too. Many beginners overstretch and end up with the same kind of injuries often associated with weight training. So no matter what you do, be conservative.

6. Do not do interval training or hard cardio more than four times per week. Even pro athletes don’t play hard every day. Doing too much cardio is the biggest reason beginners end up hurt, frustrated, and in the doctor’s office. Research shows that all you need to lose belly fat is three interval-training workouts per week.

When you do cardio, you’re doing the same movement thousands and thousands of times in the same workout. If you have even the smallest injury, it will be magnified by this repetition.

7. Never skip a warm-up. Instead of using the treadmill to warm up (which is pointless), do a general bodyweight circuit of easy squats, easy push-ups, and ab planks to prepare your body for resistance training.

8. If you decide to use running as your form of interval training, make sure you have good running shoes, always do an extra-thorough warm-up, and choose a safe running surface (grass or trails rather than pavement/concrete). If you use a treadmill, please operate it safely.

9. If you have any type of injury at all, get medical attention and have a professional therapist rehabilitate the injury before you start an exercise program. You are better off committing three weeks to rehab now, before the injury becomes serious, than to neglect your body and be forced to stop exercising for three months (or more).

10. All together now: “Safety first!” Check with your doctor before starting any new exercise or diet program. There is no need to get hurt, no matter how serious you are about losing weight fast.

Don’t Let Your Workouts Be the Reason You Can’t Work Out

Those are the top 10 safety tips to keep in mind before you start your new fat-burning workout. Don’t make the classic beginner mistake of doing too much exercise too soon.

The great news is that, as a beginner, your diet will have a much greater impact on your weight loss results – so there’s no reason to over-exercise. Your program should include resistance training and interval training to help you burn fat, but you only need to exercise three times per week with total-body workouts.

Take your body seriously! Train safe!

[Ed. Note: No matter where you are in your weight-loss efforts, you don't need hours of cardio to get into tip-top shape. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training for Fat Loss program right here.

For more easy-to-follow advice on how to stay fit, lose weight, and eat right, sign up for ETR's FREE natural health e-newsletter.]

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I’m no economics genius, so I can’t help solve the recession. But I do know that times of stress cause some folks to eat more than they need – and that means weight gain for many.

Japanese scientists studied 122 workers between the ages of 21 and 60. They found that work stress (in the form of tension, anxiety, and depression) was associated with an increase in what they called “eating to satiety” (meaning eating until they were completely full). Unfortunately, eating to satiety was also associated with weight gain.

The researchers concluded that work stress can negatively impact your eating patterns, causing you to gain weight. And in today’s stressful world, that is not good news.

So here’s what you need to do. If stress is making you eat more, make sure you keep high-calorie, energy-dense processed carbohydrates (chips, cookies, baked goods, etc.) out of your house and office. Load up on whole, natural foods – fruits, vegetables, and raw nuts. (Yes, nuts!) These foods will fill you up before you can eat too many calories, and you’ll limit your risk of gaining weight, even if you eat to satiety due to stress.

[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices - like limiting your stress and adding whole, natural foods to your diet. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here. ]

In addition to eating better, you can stay fit and burn fat by following fitness expert Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training exercise program.]

A “burpee” is a tough, advanced bodyweight exercise – strength and endurance packed into one – that you can do without any equipment. There are all sorts of variations, but my favorite is to add a push-up in the middle and a jump at the end. Here’s how to do it:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.

• Squat down, place your hands on the floor, and thrust your feet back into push-up position.

• Do a push-up, and bring your knees back up to your chest.

• Jump up as high as you can, landing with your knees slightly bent.

• Repeat for 6-10 repetitions.

Make sure you wear proper shoes and do this on a soft surface (not concrete or pavement).

[Ed. Note: You don't need fancy equipment, hours of cardio training, or even a gym membership to build muscle and burn fat. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program right here.

For more easy-to-follow advice on how to stay fit, lose weight, and eat right, sign up for ETR's FREE natural health newsletter.]

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Back when I trained clients full-time, I always wondered what possessed them to get up at 5:00 a.m. and work out. Couldn’t they at least wait till 7:00 or 8:00?

But now that I’ve grown older, and busier, it’s easy to see why. First, it gets the workout done before other people and problems can get in the way. Plus, recent research shows that you will have a better workout when you are “mentally fresh.”

In a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers put subjects through a cardio workout to exhaustion after performing one of two mental tasks. The first task was cognitively demanding. The second task simply required them to watch a documentary.

Results showed that the mentally fatiguing task significantly reduced the amount of exercise the subjects could do. They tired out much more quickly if their minds were already fatigued.

[Ed. Note: No matter when you exercise, you don't need hours of cardio to get into tip-top shape. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week with Craig's Turbulence Training program right here. For more easy-to-follow advice on how to stay fit, lose weight, and eat right, sign up for ETR's FREE natural health newsletter. ]

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If you want to lose weight, don’t bother with cardio machines. As I’ve shown in past issues of ETR, long-duration cardio exercise is not only overrated for fat loss, it just plain doesn’t work.

The best way to sculpt your body is to focus on your diet and do a short resistance training and interval training workout three times a week. That doesn’t mean you do nothing the other four days. You need to stay active with what I call “off-day exercise.”

The main goal of off-day activity is to do something enjoyable that keeps your butt off a chair for at least 30 minutes. You don’t want to exercise so hard that you impair recovery from your previous “real” workout or get sore, which could end up ruining your next “real” workout.

Be conservative. When in doubt, do less than you think you should.

Beginners and intermediates could do 30 minutes of light cardio, walking, house/yard work, or a combination of bodyweight exercises (easy ones) and light cardio. Even dancing is fine. Dog walks are good. Do a little exploring! Playing sports would probably be too much.

The heavier you are, the more you should focus on non-weight-bearing activities – like swimming, the elliptical trainer, and the stationary bike – until you lose a significant amount of weight.

Yoga, Pilates, and other methods of “mobility training” are acceptable off-day forms of exercise. Plus, they are highly beneficial for stress reduction.

If you insist on “machine cardio” for your off-day exercise, it’s best to do “cross-training.” That means doing a different exercise with each 30-minute workout or doing 10 minutes each of three different exercises in the same workout. This will help avoid overuse injuries, which is one of the main downfalls of cardio (along with its inefficiency).

[Ed. Note: As fitness expert Craig Ballantyne points out, you don't need to do hard-core exercise every day to see real results. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week with Craig's Turbulence Training program right here.

For more easy-to-follow advice on how to stay fit, lose weight, and eat right, sign up for ETR's FREE natural health newsletter.]

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You know what you need to do in order to lose fat: Eat less and exercise more.

But that’s easier said than done, especially when you’re surrounded by friends who want to drag you to another movie or high-calorie restaurant meal when you should be working out.

Researchers from Regis University in Denver have found that “individuals with similar body fat levels will cluster together into groups, and if left unchecked, current social forces will drive these groups toward increasing obesity.”

To break the cycle, you have to hunt out people who share your weight-loss goals. And you don’t have to stick to your friends. In fact, the researchers suggest that “social networks” may be a key to halting the obesity epidemic.

Building a Facebook group that includes strangers who have already lost fat is one way to go. But I prefer to have my clients get social support from people they know through Twitter.com. You could also get involved in the ETR forums or an online weight-loss club.

The bottom line is that you need social support for fat-loss success. Start associating with positive people who share similar goals, and you’ll soon be losing all the weight you want.

[Ed. Note: It can be tough to lose weight on your own. Make sure you have plenty of support from your loved ones. Or join an online support group. You can join ETR's free SpeakOut Forum and exchange exercise techniques, healthy recipes, and motivation right here.

For an exercise routine that builds muscle and burns fat, try fitness expert Craig Ballatyne's Turbulence Training program.]

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Most aspiring marathon runners are smart enough not to buy a beat-up used car for $300 and try to drive it across America non-stop. But they have no problem taking their overweight, used up, beat-up, weak bodies and trying to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours.

Does that make any sense?

If you are overweight and running marathons, you are going to get injured. It’s not a question of “if.” It’s a question of how soon and how badly.

The reason I’m so hard on running is because too many people do it who shouldn’t do it.

What they should do instead is run less, do more resistance training, and decrease the carbohydrates in their diet.

If you are an overweight runner focused on a marathon, the most important thing you can do is lose body fat. Your diet is probably the main problem. So fix it. Running 6 miles per day while you’re “training” is not a license to eat whatever you want.

Any general strength-training program will help you improve your body composition and strengthen your muscles so that you’ll have a reduced risk of overuse injury (from long-duration running). All you need are two quick, total-body strength workouts per week, doing 1-2 sets of a couple of multi-muscle exercises. Just be careful not to do so much strength training that you get sore muscles.  

I like to see runners do stability ball leg curls, 1-leg hip extensions, step-ups, and split squats. Those are the basics to start with. Pick two exercises per workout, and do 1-2 challenging sets.

[Ed. Note: Building muscle and burning fat doesn't have to take hours of work. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne has put together a Turbulence Training program that can help you get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week.

For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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The other day, while I was completing my Turbulence Training workout, I noticed that the folks sweating it out on the cardio machines were going through some interesting rituals. After watching them for a while, it was clear to me why they were doing it: They were doing too darn much cardio!

This got me thinking. And to keep you from falling into the same trap, I came up with the following ” 7 signs that you are doing too much cardio.”

#1. You have to spend 5 minutes before your workout flipping through all the magazines in the gym to find one you haven’t read before.

#2. You know the other cardio addicts on the machines (the guys you talk to every day) better than you know your own friends.

#3. You know exactly how many calories you burn per minute on every machine in the gym. (And you use that information to justify every calorie you eat.)

#4. You dread your workouts more than a trip to the dentist.

#5. The only thing you are losing is precious time – not belly fat.

#6. You go to the gym to watch your favorite television shows while doing cardio.

#7. You’re getting overuse injuries because you keep doing the same activity over and over again every day.

Listen, cardio is not the be all and end all exercise for fat loss. In fact, as I’ve written in previous ETR articles, cardio just doesn’t work.

A big part of your results are going to come from your nutrition. So focus on whole, natural foods, and avoid foods that come from a bag or a box.

Once you’ve taken care of your nutrition, look for workouts that you enjoy and that allow you to build strength, mobility, and fitness. You’ll save time, have more fun, and see a big difference in your waistline. 

[Ed. Note: If you think long, slow cardio is the best way to get fit, you've fallen victim to one of the most common myths around. Discover 5 more myths about exercise - and how to combat them - right here.

For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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