Like most Americans all I really know is the bottom line:  We get Monday off.

Yes, it all boils down to a 3 day weekend.

So in an effort to be more patriotic, conscientious and to honor the TRUE meaning of Labor Day I have decided to take action.

I am putting the “Labor” back in Labor Day – bootcamp style.

Monday morning at 9:30am I will be coaching a FREE bootcamp for any and all who wish to attend.

Bring your friends, your mom, hell even bring your kids (min age 16). 

Here are the details:

Time:  Monday September 6th, 9:30am
(30-45minutes)
Place:  8300 Valley Circle Blvd. West Hills Ca, 91304

Just show up a few minutes early and be ready to workout!

I can’t wait to see you there!

Here is an example of fiction:  It is too late for you to change your body and your health because you are (pick any) too old, too tired, too busy, too many kids, work weird hours, too much of a giant wuss etc.

But here is a truth:  Nothing is more powerful than the human mind.  If you believe it, you can make it happen.  I have seen it more times than I can count.

And to that end I say be the pig.

Not be “A” pig, be “THE” pig.

You see, in the standard breakfast of bacon and eggs (mmm, bacon…), the chicken was involved but the pig was committed.

In fact, the pig was damn committed.

And that is EXACTLY how you should not only attack your fat loss and health goals, but how you should attack life itself:

With unwavering, steadfast and unshakeable commitment.

Make a decision and stick to it.  Let nothing and no one stand in your way.

In my 20 years experience in working with people who want to make a change in their lives I have found that one simple concept (commitment, for those not paying attention) separates those who achieve their goals and those who do not.

Those who fail will always find an excuse (it’s too hard, it takes too long, it costs too much, I’m too busy…)

Those who succeed always find a way. 

So are you a chicken?  Or are you the pig?

And with that there is only one appropriate way to sign off…

Big article, sorry.  I’ll use less words next time.

Too many trainees I see miss the forest for the trees. They are approaching their fat loss programs all wrong, and stagnating as a result.  A big thanks goes to the mainstream media for all the crap advice on ”cardio” being best for fat loss, ,ore on that in a minute.

Assuming the goal is fat loss, then metabolic optimization should be our primary focus.  Some of you might be shocked by my use of big words in that last sentence, so let me explain.

Your metabolic rate, or "metabolism" is the rate at which you burn calories in a given day.  From a fat loss perspective, the more calories we expend per day, the better.  So your training should be focused on precisely that – burning more calories per 24 hours – not just burning more calories during a workout.  Far too many people I see in average gyms look the absolute same after months of “cardio” training as the day the walked in the door.

If they were to follow some basic principles, all that could change.

Big Moves – Big Results
To increase your metabolism working out with resistance is a must.  Where the weight comes from is less important.  For instance I can create a routine that would set your metabolism on fire using just your bodyweight and nothing else.  (But working out with weights can be damn fun.)

One critical piece of information we must remember is the more muscle you carry on your frame, the higher your metabolism.  (Side Note: this does NOT mean you need to look like the Hulk.)  You should want to stimulate as much of that muscle as you can.  This is because muscle is metabolically active, and it requires energy to exist.  So the goal when working out should be to cause as big a "metabolic disruption" as possible.  The more muscle you stimulate, the bigger the disruption and thus the bigger the metabolic increase.

For example as session of 10 sets of deadlifts would cause a greater metabolic shift then a session of 10 sets of bicep curls. Deadlfits use almost your entire body, while curls only use the bicep muscle (give or take).  The net effect will be increased calorie utilization over the long term as the metabolic increase from resistance sessions can last 48 hours.

From a metabolic perspective, the bigger the move the better off you are. This is critical especially since most of us are under a time cruch and need to get the biggest bang for our buck time wise.

Munch a Bunch
Eating regularly increases your metabolism, while skipping meals actually lowers it.   Eating multiple times per day is an easy way to keep your metabolism humming along.  For example, you will increase you metabolism more if you consume your daily allotment of calories over 5 meals than you would if it were only on 1 or 2 meals.  Here’s food for thought: Sumo wrestlers only eat one meal per day.

Do Not Drop Calories Too Low
Your body is extremely smart, or exceptionally stupid depending on how you look at it.  Your body probably does not know that you would like to drop a few pounds.  If it did, it would not create so many road blocks making that endeavor so difficult.  As you drop your calories, your body responds by lowering the rate at which your body uses those calories.  It is a survival mechanism preventing you from starving to death.

Let’s say your metabolic maintenance level is 3000 cals, and you drop your intake to 1500 cals in a effort to drop some weight. Your body will soon respond by lowering your maintenance level to meet the new lower calorie intake level. Now what do you do? Drop your calories again?

Well that sucks. 

The better way is to not drastically drop your calories and take some of the other measures in this article to make certain your metabolic rate stays nice and high.

Do Not Over-Do Cardio
We have had it beaten in to our heads that cardio is the be all and end all of fat loss. But I am here to tell you it ain’t so.  The people I refereed to earlier in the article, that look the same as the day they walked in my gym-  they are the ones who come in and do nothing but extended cardio work.  Well those treadmills do look spiffy – but they aren’t doing much for your fat loss in most instances.

Here’s my beef with cardio- it does NOTHING to increase metabolism- get that? NOTHING. 

It’s only saving grace is that is burns calories while you are performing it  – but big deal really, so does brushing your teeth.  How many calories you expend during a workout session (whether it be a cardio or weight session) is almost irrelevant. What matters is how many calories it expends in the long run. 

When you complete a traditional cardio session you are done burning calories the second you step off the treadmill.  This is not the case with resistance training.  You continue to burn calories as a result of the workout for days and days (no joke).

Intervals to the Rescue
So what do you do instead of traditional cardio? Interval training.  Interval training simulates the same metabolic response as a weight training session, and revs up the metabolic rate.

What is interval training?  In it’s most basic form it is big moves (squats, burprees, sit ups push ups etc.), with very short rest.  So something like…

Squats for 45 seconds
Rest 15seconds
Push Ups for 45 seconds
Rest for 15 seconds
etc…

It is hard and kicks your ass quick.  The good news is it doesn’t take very long (4-10 minutes in some cases) and as previously stated it can increase your metabolism for up to 48 hours.

EFA’s
It seems I cannot write an article without espousing the benefits of fish oils (EFA’s).  Well here is another one to add to the list.  Recent studies have shown that steady intake of EFA’s can increase metabolic rate by 400 cals per day.  That is just freaking amazing.  If you are not already taking EFA’s what is it going to take? Do they need to do your laundry or cook dinner too? Just take them and stop whining.

That’s it for this time. Be well and I will talk to you all next time.

PS:  I use all of these tricks in my latest “14 Day Fat Flush” program.  If you still haven’t secured your spot today is your last chance… Go here===>>> http://the14dayfatflush.com and reserve your slot now.

I’m not sure if you have noticed, but I have been quiet (email wise) of late.  That’s because I have been working on a bunch of super-secret projects.  2 projects are for other trainers, to help them get better results with their clients (ala my 6 week transformation.)

I have a MASSIVE project I can’t tell you about yet BUT…

ONE thing I have been working on is just for you.

Now you know me, never satisfied (insert “that’s what she said” joke.)  So I am always tweaking and testing to try to get better results.

I have done the tweaking – now it is time to do the testing…

You see I’ve stumbled upon something pretty significant recently while working with several of my clients who wanted to achieve faster fat loss.

This new discovery I made proved to be pretty amazing at melting fat off the body. I was truly impressed. It’s a combination of working out in a short burst, high intensity kind of way and a manipulation (for a lack of a better word) of your eating program – NOT A DIET (let’s call it a tweak).

But here’s the coolest part of this thing… the results come FAST. In fact the entire program lasts 14 days and the results are amazing.

I’m considering offering this program to a small group of people who are interested in burning a lot of fat in 14 days.

So I’m calling it my “14 Day Fat Flush System," but before I commit to doing a program like this, I wanted to see how many people on my email list would be interested in a 14 day rapid fat loss program like this.

If you think you’d be interested in joining my small group of “beta testers” and getting fast fat loss results in 14 days, then post below and let me know and I’ll let you know if and when I plan to launch this 14 Day Fat Flush system.

Thanks guys,

Joshua Carter, CPT The Body Transformation Expert Carter Fitness http://carterfitness.com / http://thefitbodybootcamp.com 818-337-6175

]]> http://gettwicetheresults.com/2010/08/fatloss/i-discovered-faster-fat-loss/feed/ 0 http://gettwicetheresults.com/2010/07/fatloss/are-you-as-strong-as-a-2nd-grader/ http://gettwicetheresults.com/2010/07/fatloss/are-you-as-strong-as-a-2nd-grader/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:58:52 +0000 Joshua Carter http://gettwicetheresults.com/2010/07/fatloss/are-you-as-strong-as-a-2nd-grader/ Here is my son Gabriel.  He is 7 years old and tips the scale at a whopping 50 pounds.  Below is a photo I snapped of Gabe deadlifting 70 lbs.  That’s just shy of 1.5 x his bodyweight.

I know that you think that it is only due to him being gifted with superhuman strength due to his superior genetic line.   Yup, that’s it. 

Just kidding.

It is just because kids are (relatively) strong and strength is something we lose as we sit on our fat butts as we get older.

Shocking I know.

Can you dead lift 1.5 x your bodyweight?  Well you should be able to.  Plus push ups. And a couple sit ups.  Maybe some other stuff too.

I know – Gabe can be your strength coach

PS:  Parents, don’t freak out  – its not like I let him do this on a regular basis, and I only let him do it  when he is directly supervised by me (and oh yeah, I am an expert.) 

PPS:  Those with a discerning eye will notice that picture was not taken at my gym.  It was shot at my buddy John Thompson’s place in Bakersfield Ca., Thompson Fitness.

Yeah, that would be a really bad way to get good news.  The good news about that bad blow is that that particular story is completely made up.  (Although I would have to give serious consideration to a million dollars vs. a kick to my boys. I mean, I am done having kids…)

But I digest.

So here is an absolutely true story of a REALLY bad way to get good news.

About two weeks ago I am heading to my Carter Fitness studio right about 8am.  I would normally expect to find the standard parking lot full of cars from my clients getting their morning sessions in.  But this time as I rounded the corner to my facility I saw something I was not expecting.

Two ambulances.

Yes, I near dropped a load in my shorts.  Like any fitness studio owner my first thought was “Did I pay my insurance this month?” and the answer was yes. 

So then I moved on to more appropriate and empathetic thoughts:  Who was hurt and are they OK?

I quickly parked the Carter Fitness Mobile and ran inside to find one of my clients strapped in one of those gurney things.  It had been positioned more like a chair so my client (let’s call her Joan) was sitting up.  Joan was alert, talking and seemingly ok (by my untrained eye.)

She looked at me and said she was ok, so I promptly told her to stop being so dramatic.  I mean she doesn’t ALWAYS need to be the center of attention. 

She smiled as they hauled her off to the hospital to get checked out.

Joan had been training with us for about 2 months or so, and on this morning she was giving it her all (as she normally did) but something was different.

Apparently as the workout progressed she began to feel (unusually) weak and light headed.  She leaned against the counter and then hit the floor.  At which point I am told she turned a lovely shade of grey.

That’s when my quick thinking trainer Casey thought better safe than sorry and dialed 911.

The paramedics showed up and gave her the once over, then a few minutes later I arrived.

Thankfully, like I said she seemed ok.  I was confident she was fine, but was anxious to make sure so I called her later in the day and then spoke to her in person later.

You see Joan was on blood pressure medication (to lower her blood pressure), and as a direct results of her changing her eating habits and starting to workout she did not need it anymore.  I mean she REALLY did not need it anymore.

Within 8 weeks she was able to make such a positive change in the way her body functioned (including but not limited to almost 20lbs gone and reduced blood pressure) she got to ditch the meds, and all it took was a nasty fainting spell, a call to 911 and a trip the ER to find out.

So on that fateful morning the medication she had been on for years had pushed her blood pressure down too low, and thus hello floor. (I am told the firemen paramedics were hot so there’s that too.)

So if you ask me, that is a REALLY bad way to get good news. 

She is back at the gym already and kicking ass like usual, but now when she comes in I pick up the phone and dial a 9 and a 1 and just to be on the safe side.

I guess the moral of this story is be careful when you train with me because I can get you too fit too fast.  Well, not really.  But if you are on medication and you have truly made significant changes to your lifestyle (working out and eating right) you need to visit your doc regularly to make adjustments to your meds (do not self medicate, or un-medicate). 

That way you can get good news in a good way.

It has been my experience that clients who fully commit to a new lifestyle have been able to completely eliminate medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes  and even asthma. Not always, but I can say “most of the time” with confidence.

So ask yourself are you sick of taking medications to correct diseases created by bad lifestyle choices? (Not always the case, so don’t freak out).  But aren’t you tired of taking a pill as a Band-Aid and not addressing the underlying issue?

When you are you should give me a call.  When you truly make your health a priority in your life know this: I can help. 

And I can probably do it without any trips to the ER.

Good news in a good way.

Yes indeed, my kind of group.

At one point early on in the weekend there was a crowd gathering around one of my trainer buddies, Steve, and laughing hysterically.   Steve is usually a pretty funny guy anyway, but I had to see what was going on.

Turns out he had found a new iPhone App: FatBooth.

FatBooth instantly lets you see what you’d look like fat- I mean really fat.

The app page says…

Tired of diets?! Get fat instantly with FatBooth. What would you look like with a "few" extra pounds? And what about your friends?

Yeah, just a few pounds alright.

So Steve was taking pictures of some of the fittest people in the county and transforming them within seconds to Jabba the Hut.

It became the on going joke of the weekend – who looked the most ridiculous.  I can safely say it was not me – others looked far more ridiculous.

Here is what my 4 year old son Nate looks like transformed through Fatbooth’s fattening filter:

And here is his slightly older father…

Not stellar pictures of either of us to begin with, but the “afters" are, well, yikes.

So here’s the thing:  Is this a harmless little app or is it an offensive electronic joke aimed at fat people?

I will confess that I am not opposed to offensive jokes- I think they tend to be the funniest.  My humor has often times been labeled as offensive – and I’m fine with that.  In my defense I will say I try to make fun of everyone equally.  Yes, I’m an equal opportunity offender.

But what I am opposed to is being mean.

And there is a line.  So does Fatbooth cross that line?  Weigh in below (get it?) Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

PS: To my knowledge there is no “ThinBooth” but I am working on a beta version.

Did you know there are 168 hours in a week?  Well I didn’t.

But the other day I was watching the Today Show (Matt Lauer is simply dreamy) and they were doing a segment on a new book by Laura Vanderkam entitled 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think. (Click Here to watch the clip).

As the title suggests it is about maximizing your time.

I have yet to read the book, but Vanderkam made some really interesting points during the interview.  One suggestion she had was to log how you are spending your time, which she equated to logging your food when your are trying to lose weight.  It keeps you accountable.

I know just what she means and I beat this point into my clients heads daily.

One particular point she made really struck a chord with me. Differentiating between a true time deficit and an excuse can be illustrated with simple semantics.  It’s not that we do not have time to do something, it is just that we have not made it a priority.

We have not made it a PRIORITY.

She says to change your language from “I don’t have the time” to “It is not a priority” and see what happens.

This gets harder to do given the situation.  She gives the example of telling our kids,  “I’m not going to read to you sweetie because it is not a priority.”

This rings so true when it comes to the biggest and I mean BIGGEST reason (i.e. excuse) I hear from people regarding health and fitness: that they do not have the time.

And now thanks to Laura Vanderkam  I can say with some certainty that this is complete and total bullsh!t. 

Yes you do have time, sadly it is just not a priority.

You have 168 hours every week to get shiz done, the same as every other person on the planet. Even if you work 40 and sleep 8 hours a night you still have 72 hours for other stuff.

If you are not prioritizing your health you will soon be spending many of those spare 72 hours in the care of a physician.

Take a moment to take stock.  What is important to you? What is truly a priority and what is not?

You have 168 opportunities every week to change your life for the better.  You can no longer say “I don’t have time”, because now you know you do.

Drew was one of 18 people who kicked serious ass during our last 6 Week Body Transformation.    The funny thing is Drew’s scale hardly moved during the whole 6 weeks.   He actually GAINED a couple  pounds.  But when we ran the numbers he dropped around 11 pounds and gained 12 pounds of muscle. TRULY AWESOME.

I wanted to say a personal congrats to Drew, and to all the 6WBT participants, you all did GREAT!!!

PS:  We are transforming bodies every day at my West Hills Personal Training Studio.  If you have any questions on how I can help you transform your body and life drop me a line.

As you probably already know 16 participants lost a total of 242 pounds, plus 61 inches off their waists.  That AVERAGES out to over 15 lbs lost each, and 4 inches GONE from their waists.

EACH PERSON!!!

Here are just 2 examples, Karen and Perry.  Each lost over 20 pounds and 5 inches from their waist in only 28 days.

Yes, that is only 28 days later…

(my web guy is working on getting me the other insane C-Diet transformations)

So as of this email I have 3 slots left- 2 for women and only 1 guy.  If you want to completely transform the way you look AND feel in only 28 days here is your chance BUT…

Because these fat loss methods are so unique  you will be sworn to secrecy.

So… You want in? This is it…

***MANDATORY***
Send an email that includes:

• Current “before” photo
• Body stats (age, height, weight, waist measurement & bodyfat percentage if you know)
• The city where you live and work
• WHY I SHOULD CHOOOSE YOU

DO NOT EMAIL WITHOUT THE ABOVE INFO!!!

Again, for the first time this beta test is open for both local residents and online clients.

I will be making final decisions of who is accepted and who is not within the next few days (I have some restrictions) so get me that email fast.

C-DIET 2.0 starts Monday the 28th, but registration closes when I accept the 18 "final" BETA testers.

That’s it, grab your spot while you can. ==>> EMAIL ME NOW <<== (Special Email Address)

PS:  If you missed the video I posted yesterday with the exclusive “inner workings” of the C-Diet you can Check It Out Here <<==

PPS:  Email me at cdiet@carterfitness.com NOW as I am sending this out to over 6000 people across the country (and world, yeah last time I had testers in England and Australia). I will close up shop when I get my 18 action takers.

PPPS: Current clients can get on on this super pimped out program too, just EMAIL ME.