Workout Tips from Roman and Nutrition Switches from Craig

I’m off to California this weekend to speak to personal trainers about Internet Independence.com and share with them how I built up Turbulence Training and run Transformation Contests. Speaking of which, we have entries are coming in for the 12-week TT Transformation COntest…our 10th…and we’ll soon have finalists online.

Click here to listen to the call…

Let’s get started with…

Monday – March 21st – SPRING

Transformation Tip of the Week

Kekich Credo #82. “Question everything. Don’t believe it’s true or right just because it’s conventional.”…..If what you are doing now is not working, then you must change. Don’t rely on doing “normal” things to get extraordinary results…it doesn’t work that way. Normal and average behaviors only get you normal and average results…which aren’t very good these days.

You don’t find time, you MAKE time. So stop trying to find time for things that are really important to you…and sit down and MAKE time in your schedule for them. That’s the only way you are going to get them done.

Training Tips

I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone over the last 2 weeks with my friend John Romaniello…and I’ll make sure to get more of these in future TT workouts.

•    Specific warm-up: Do one set of 5 reps for each exercise with 50% of your working weight.
•    For your working weight, use a weight that you could do at least 12 times for each exercise.
•    If you can’t do Power Cleans, do vertical jumps instead.
•    Choose ONE of the following repetition schemes for your workout.
•    A = 5 sets of 5 reps per set with 120 seconds rest between sets. (non-ladder)
•    B = Descending Ladder (6-5-4-3-2-1) with 75 seconds rest between sets.
•    C = Descending-Ascending Ladder (4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4). Rest periods are 45seconds, 30s, 20s, 5s, 5s, 20s, 30s.

1) Power Clean
2) Front Squat
3) Barbell Row
4) Push Press
5) Romanian Deadlift

Romanz and I are also creating a new program called the “TT SuperChargerz Challenge Workout” and will feature:
1) Five exercises you have NEVER used before
2) The Romanz 500-Rep Challenge
3) The Romanz Bodyweight Cardio Program
4) Romanz “NYC Fitness Model Abs Circuit”
5) And the new SuperChargerz Depletion bonus routine
Look for that in 2 weeks.

Tuesday
Get 30 minutes of fun activity – now grab a Green Tea and do this week’s research review.

Reference:
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 Feb 10. The Comparison of a Technology-Based System and an In-Person Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention.

American researchers studied a technology-based weight loss system and an in-person behavioral weight loss intervention.

51 obese subjects (age: 44) entered a 6-month behavioral weight loss program and were put into one of three groups:

a)    standard behavioral weight loss (SBWL)
b)    SBWL plus technology-based system (SBWL+TECH)
c)    technology-based system only (TECH).

All groups reduced caloric intake and progressively increased moderate intensity physical activity.

SBWL and SBWL+TECH attended weekly meetings.

SBWL+TECH also received a TECH that included an energy monitoring armband and website to monitor energy intake and expenditure.

TECH used the technology system and received monthly telephone calls.

Results:
Retention at 6 months was significantly different (P = 0.005) between groups (SBWL: 53%, SBWL+TECH: 100%, and TECH: 77%).

Intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis revealed significant weight losses at 6 months in SBWL+TECH (-8.8 ± 5.0 kg, -8.7 ± 4.7%), SBWL (-3.7 ± 5.7 kg, -4.1 ± 6.3%), and TECH (-5.8 ± 6.6 kg, -6.3 ± 7.1%) (P < 0.001).

Self-report physical activity increased significantly in SBWL (473.9 ± 800.7 kcal/week), SBWL+TECH (713.9 ± 1,278.8 kcal/week), and TECH (1,066.2 ± 1,371 kcal/week) (P < 0.001), with no differences between groups (P = 0.25).

The TECH used in conjunction with monthly telephone calls, produced similar, if not greater weight losses and changes in physical activity than the standard in-person behavioral program at 6 months.

The use of this technology may provide an effective short-term clinical alternative to standard in-person behavioral weight loss interventions, with the longer term effects warranting investigation.

Wednesday Workout Tip

Roman uses density training to cram in more sets and reps and volume so that you get more work done and therefore – say it with me – more “super-ultra-mega” fat burning.

How do we do this?

– Choose 2 mega-awesome exercises (like squats and push presses)
– For each exercise, select a weight you can lift ~12 times.
– The goal is to perform as many reps as possible in 5 minutes.
– DO NOT lift the weight for 12 reps on your first set.
– Instead, perform 6 reps of squats, then 6 reps of push presses.
– Alternate back and forth for the entire 5 minute period.
– Rest as little as possible between sets.
– At end of 5 minutes, record the TOTAL reps you did for each.

Better performance. More muscle. More fat loss. Sexier body.

Trainer Thursday
•    Do 30 minutes of fun activity…

Trainers, you’ll want to use the “Grease-The-Groove” strength training tip that Roman gave me to help my Push Press exercise strength. This will help your clients improve with BW exercises like pushups.

He has me doing Push Presses 4 days per week, doing 3 sets of 8 repetitions each time with a weight that I can do for about 12 reps.

Over time, I’ll have improved my skill in this exercise, and therefore will be able to lift ridiculously more weight.

Facebook Friday

I’m doing a lot of QnA sessions over on Facebook at www.TurbulenceTrainingFanpage.com

Q: Is there a big difference in how you would train women and men??

Answer:
No, not really.

There are some mental blocks I have to work around with women, so I’ll use more bodyweight exercises, but the principles are the same, and eventually after I have convinced the female client of my superior methods, then the fat loss workouts for men and women will look almost identical. Of course, I always try to make things as individual as possible.

But everyone does the bodyweight warmup, the resistance supersets, and the intervals at the end.

Q from Mike: What are the 2 best types of curls?

Answer:
Curls and a different kind of curls. Both types should challenge you for 3-4 sets of 8-12. Lift basic, lift heavy, recover and eat. There are no Magic Muscle and Fiction exercises.

Great question…please ask yours at: www.TurbulenceTrainingFanpage.com

Social Support Saturday!
•    30 minutes of fun activity…

“Fat loss is simple once you realize how hard it is.” Then you know how much effort, honesty, responsibility, long-range planning, creativity, intensity, discipline, thought and control the process is going to take. It is not easy. It is not going to happen from any magic pill. Only once you accept that will you succeed.

If you are stressed by something, ask yourself this question and then moderate your mindset appropriately: “Ask yourself this question: Will this matter a year from now?” – Richard Carlson. Too many people get too stressed out by things that don’t really matter. Don’t be one of them

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare
•    30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare

Controversial nutrition switches

Nutrition SWITCH for Fat Loss – When possible, switch out a processed or “altered” carbohydrate and replace it with a fruit, vegetable, or nut. For example, instead of whole-grain toast with eggs, have an apple and add spinach to the eggs. Instead of a processed carbohydrate with your morning coffee, have 1oz of raw nuts (almonds or walnuts). With steak, eat broccoli, not bread or mashed potatoes, etc.

SWITCH Nutrition Tip of the Day – If you find that you often “binge snack” at night, try having a bigger late afternoon healthy snack, and then having a later healthy dinner. There’s no magic to not eating after a certain time. I often eat a big healthy dinner and go to sleep within 30 minutes. It won’t make you fat. Eating a pint of ice cream & bag of chips while you watch TV makes you fat.

Nutrition SWITCH – If you’re focused specifically on fat loss, you do NOT need to add sugar (or any variations of sugar) to your after training drink. I interviewed Dr. John Berardi, Isabel De Los Rios, and Brad Pilon about this in 2010, and they all agreed…for fat loss, you don’t need to force post-workout sugar into your body. So take it out.

Next week!
•    Training Tips – Deadlifting & Bench Press Tips
•    Research Review – Crazy Aerobic Fitness and New Intervals Research
•    Nutrition – Green Tea & Fat Loss/Calorie Burning