Dad Fitness » Weight Training

How an Entire Year Can Go By With No Results

Sean Barker — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:26:00 +0000

GUEST POST:
By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

If you’ve been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio, same weight training and the same intensity for the entire past year with no changes, then you shouldn’t be suprised if you’ve continued to get the SAME results (very little).

If you do more of the same, you usually get more of the same.

Caloric intake, for example is not something you calculate once and then never pay attention to again. Calories have to be calculated and customized for each individual in the beginning and then adjusted continuously in “real time” during the course of a fat loss program, based on actual results.

Just because you start at 1800, for example, doesn’t mean your caloric intake should stay there. Calories may need to be increased or decreased depending on whether your goals, your body weight and your activity levels change and based on your weekly progress (or lack of).

Which brings me to another point. I am a huge fan of using progress charts. There is a saying in business management and sports coaching:

“What gets measured gets done.”

When you start “keeping score” and tracking performance right down to the numbers, it’s almost miraculous how this awareness of how you’re doing translates into improved results.

When you track your body composition results every week, if a week or two goes by with no results, then you don’t continue with more of what got you no results, you change some variable in your program immediately!

An old Turkish proverb that says,

“No matter how far you’ve traveled down the wrong road, always turn back!”

Of course, you don’t have to throw out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two variables within the same program.

Also, when you measure, track and analyze muscle versus fat (body composition), instead of just scale weight, you might even discover you’ve gained some lean body mass and this offsets the drop on the scale (which means it’s possible you made more progress than you thought).

Now, back to the calories. To break a plateau, you can take a reduction in calories, or an increase in activity, either of which will create a deficit if you are currently in energy balance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.

At the end of the day, fat loss boils down to calories in versus calories out, so if you plateau, you may need a simple calorie reduction, provided you don’t restrict too low for too long (which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation response.”)

As for your cardio program, 3 days a week of cardio works for many people, but usually, I would consider three weekly cardio sesssions a maintenenance workout or at best a starting point for beginners, NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.

Example: this week, you could increase your cardio from 3 sessions to 4 sessions (or 4-5). If you combine the decrease in food intake with an increase in calories burned through activity, that will almost certainly get you burning fat again.

If it does, then stay with that cardio plan. If not, the next week go up to 5 days a week. Repeat this simple “feedback loop” process as many times and for as long as necessary.

Also remember that more (often) is not always better. You can also increase the intensity and get more calories burned in same amount of time. This feedback loop process can be used to make decisions about your training intensity, duration and type, as well as frequency.

Whichever strategy you choose to break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity:

“Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Although this seems like common sense to some people, what happens is really quite common because it does appear that you’re doing everything you’re “supposed to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.

You may have all the key elements there: You’re exercising (weights and cardio). You’re watching your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplined and consistent in following it.

The trouble with many popular programs – even good ones – is that they are too dogmatic. Their entire program may revolve around “X” number of calories, “X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of weights….

And you’re not allowed to “tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.

I can understand the rationale for a simple diet and exercise prescription for a beginner in order to not confuse them with too many choices, but what if it doesnt work after a month, three months, six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there are no options, what then?

In NLP, there’s a principle, (borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety, which says,

“The person with the most flexibility is the person with the most power and the greatest chance for success.”

You need to know what to do when you’re not getting results… you need options and choices for breaking plateaus, and that’s important because plateaus happen to everyone – including me.

Some people think that hitting a fat loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at it this way:

Hitting a plateau means your body is healthy and your body is functioning normally, because normal function of the body is to adapt effectively to stress, to protect you and to maintain homeostasis.

Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a stress. It’s natural for your body to adapt to them. When you adapt, you must place a new “positive stress” on the body if you want continued improvement.

If you want to learn more details about how to change your program to break plateaus and make continuous progress as fast as safely possible, then I recommend you take a look at Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM).

BFFM has flexibility, feedback and performance tracking built right into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches the “BFFM feedback loop method”, and shows you how to chart progress and adjust your diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to keep you making progress or get you back on track if your progress stalls out.

There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing more of what’s not working.

Keep after it! Be persistent… but also be flexible!

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, BurnTheFat which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com

18 Reasons Why You MUST Weight Train

smbarker — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:37:00 +0000

I have got to get something off my chest and I hope it doesn’t offend you…

Forrest Gump movies It seems almost on a daily basis I continue to hear from busy dads who are trying to slim down and get in shape but are only doing long boring cardio like walking on a treadmill or even knee numbing long distance running to burn fat.

First, if this sounds familiar…I applaud you for doing SOMETHING, but if you are putting in some effort I want YOU to get results.

Walking and running are still good ways to stay active but they must not be your only source of exercise if you want to change the shape of your body.

So if you are trying to lose a few pounds and you are NOT doing some type of resistance training like weight training or bodyweight workouts you will NOT be happy with your results!

Weight Training increases your body’s metabolism 24 hours a day, not just for a hour, like when you do long duration cardio like running.

More specifically it is referred to as E.P.O.C. otherwise known as “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.”

Without getting to technical, EPOC represents the process your body goes through in which energy is used to recover from exercise.

When you finish exercising, it takes time and energy for your muscle cells to return to resting levels.

Energy is also needed to replenish depleted glucose, protein and fat stores, and to remove accumulated cell waste.

The more rebuilding that needs to be done, the greater the rate of EPOC, which in turn, means more calories from your body’s fat stores are being burned after your workout.

While the primary factor in determining EPOC is exercise intensity, there is also duration to consider — just not to the same extent.

Just visualize spinning one of those Tops you used to have as a kid, as your metabolism. You want to spin it really hard so it will continue to spin on its own when you let go of it.

Studies show your metabolism remains elevated to such a level up to 48 hours after high intensity exercise like weight training.

When intense weight training exercises using your entire body are combined with intervals in the same workout, like are found in the Dad Fitness Workouts, the positive effects it will have on reshaping your body is astonishing!

Still don’t believe me? Here are 18 more reasons to weight train…

1. Weight training tones your muscles, which looks great and raises your basal metabolism, which causes you to burn more calories 24 hours a day. You’ll even burn more calories while you’re sleeping!

2. Weight training can *reverse* the natural decline in your metabolism which begins around age 30.

3. Weight training energizes you.

4. Weight training has a positive affect on almost all of your 650+ muscles.

5. Weight training strengthens your bones reducing your risk of developing osteoporosis.

6. Weight training improves your muscular endurance.

7. Weight training will NOT develop big bulky muscles; just hard toned muscles!

8. Weight training makes you strong. Strength gives you confidence and makes daily activities easier.

9. Weight training makes you less prone to low-back injuries.

10. Weight training decreases your resting blood pressure.

11. Weight training decreases your risk of developing adult onset diabetes.

12. Weight training decreases your gastrointestinal transit time, reducing your risk for developing colon cancer.

13. Weight training increases your blood level of HDL cholesterol (the good type).

14. Weight training improves your posture.

15. Weight training improves the functioning of your immune system.

16. Weight training lowers your resting heart rate, a sign of a more efficient heart.

17. Weight training improves your balance and coordination.

18. Weight training elevates your mood.

If you have some other good reasons of your own why YOU should weight train please share it and post a comment below!

…and if you want a quick and easy recipe for my Mmmmmm Meatloaf, watch my latest cooking video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

The Barbell Belly Blaster Workout

smbarker — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:36:00 +0000

Are you a busy dad who likes to go to the gym for a quick fat burning workout but hate encountering a crowd of regular gym goers who hog workout equipment while yapping on their cell phone?

If so, The Barbell Belly Blaster Workout is for you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are lucky enough to have an Olympic Barbell in your home gym, you can also do this workout without ever leaving your house.

Lock Up dvdrip This is primarily a fat loss workout as it elevates your heart rate while supersetting exercises using your bodies major muscles.

But by using your major muscles you are building strength and endurance in those muscles which will also help to build lean muscle in beginners to intermediate lifters.

This is also a great alternative to long boring cardio and can be done at the end of your regular weight training workout to burn extra calories and lose bodyfat.

To increase the muscle building effects of this workout you can add additional weight to the bar but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a few years of training under your belt.

For absolute beginners who find that the 45lb bar is too much, you can use a lighter bar like the EZ curl bar which is around 25lbs or even a broomstick.

This workout only requires the empty 45lb Olympic Barbell for the entire workout so you can grab a barbell and head off to an empty corner in the gym so you can get a great fat burning workout and be free of any distractions.

You will be using the barbell to complete a Complex, which is just a series of barbell free weight exercises that you will do without rest while keeping the bar in your hands the entire time.

Perform 10-15 reps for each exercise. Complete all exercises without rest, then rest 60 seconds and repeat the circuit 2 more times.

*Warmup with 12 Burpees.

Jump down onto the floor in the bottom of the pushup position and jump back up with hands in the air reaching for the ceiling.

1A Barbell Pushup

Perform regular pushup with hands on the barbell. Brace your abs hard so that you do not roll the bar on the floor.

2A Barbell Squat

Pick barbell off the floor and press overhead and rest the bar across your shoulders. Pushing hips back squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground.

3A Barbell Shoulder Press

After squats, press the bar back overhead and in front of your shoulders with shoulder width grip press the bar straight up overhead.

4A Barbell Bent-Over Row

After shoulder presses, bend over with bar hanging straight down. Using your elbows pull or row the bar up to your belly button.

5A Barbell Mountain Climber

Place bar back on the floor and get in top part of the pushups position. With abs tight hold that position while you bring one knee to towards your elbow and alternate each leg

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

The Couch Workout

smbarker — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:48:00 +0000

Today was my first day back in the gym after my recovery week from weight training.

I felt recharged mentally and physically to start a new Dad Fitness workout routine for another 8 weeks or so.

Sirène rouge, La After my wife and I completed a 4 hour recertification for CPR this morning I headed off to the gym to ease back into training.

Word of advice: never go all out in your first few workouts back after a layoff!

If you do you will be sore and moving around like a zombie for the rest of the week.

Here is Day 1 of my new workout program.

Max Effort Upper Body

Incline Barbell Bench Press, 1 max set of 3- 5 reps
Flat DB Bench Press, 4 sets of 6-10 reps
One Arm DB Rows, 4 sets of 10-15 reps
Rope Cable Upright Rows, 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Hanging Leg Raises, 3 sets of 8-12 reps

I kept the weights conservative and had a good start back to the gym.

For you busy dads who find it hard to get off the couch and go workout.

Well, I got a solution just for you!

Give The Couch Workout a try.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

5 New Ways to Workout

smbarker — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:23:00 +0000

The idea of these workout tips came to me while watching one of the classic episodes of Seinfeld, “The Bizarro Jerry” episode.

The concept behind this episode was of having a world made up of everyone’s total opposite, which is based on the Bizarro World stories featured in the Superman comic books.

The Bizarro versions of Jerry, George, Kramer and Newman were called Kevin, Gene, Feldman and Vargas.

So if you are not getting results from your workouts, maybe it’s time you do the opposite of what you see most people doing in the gym.

A lot of regular gym goers continue to look the same year after year despite how often they make an appearance and I am sure you don’t want to look like “most” people, as over 60% of people today are obese.

For the first time, the number of overweight individuals around the world rivals the number who are underweight.

In fact a new word – “globesity” has now been coined to reflect the escalation of global obesity and the overweight!

Remember, Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

Think about this quote for a second and ask yourself, does this quote apply to the way I workout?

If so, it’s time to stop being a workout slave to your old school workout routines and time to break away from the crowd by doing the opposite of what they are doing.

The results just might surprise you.

1. Quality, not Quantity- Don’t fall for the cardio confusion where you think the more time you punch on a cardio machine the more fat you burn. You don’t need to spend hours working out everyday to get those rock hard abs or bulging biceps. The key to effective workouts is intensity. With shorter weight training and interval cardio workouts you spend less time working and more time burning fat. High intensity workouts elevate your metabolism up to 36 hours after your workout.

2. Mirror Muscles- Most guys love training the muscles they can see in the mirror like their chest and biceps. But 50% of your muscles are on the back of your body. Muscles of your upper and lower back, hamstrings and even your triceps on the back of your arm are often neglected in favor of pumping up those mirror muscles. This contributes to overuse and imbalances in the shoulders and spine making you more susceptible to shoulder and back injuries. Do more pulling than pushing when you are in the gym and you will really be glad with what you see in the mirror.

3. Bet on Low- Betting on high might be the smart choice in a game of poker, but for better workouts, go low. Instead of following the classic “3 sets of 10 reps” routine, go bizarro and do the opposite with “10 sets of 3″. This will allow you to focus on the performance and quality of your repetitions instead of fatiguing your muscles with higher reps. Most people train to improve appearance; you should train to improve performance and your appearance will improve as a result.

4. Step Away From the Machine- You don’t need to workout on expensive equipment that isolates small muscles and put your body in unnatural positions all while you sit down. When you perform an exercise using machines you force your body to follow the range of motion dictated by the machine, when it should be the other way around allowing your body to control your range of motion. Besides some cable movements. which are actually closer to free weight movements than machines, stick with barbells, dumbbells and bodyweight exercises so you build functional muscles that you can use in the real world.

5. Be Flexible- I am still amazed at how many people still don’t pay proper attention to warming up before their workout and stretching at the end of their workout. If you want to have healthy joints and pain free flexibility, follow a proper warmup and cooldown. Get your body primed for training with dynamic movements like bodyweight squats and pushups, then help to lower your heart rate and relax your muscles with some stretches after your workout is over. This is not something that you can afford to ignore if you want a healthy body for many years to come.

Follow these 5 tips in your next workout and if anyone asks you “what your doing?” tell them the opposite!

Apparently you can learn a lot from comic books

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

Get Some R&R- Rest and Recovery

smbarker — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:57:00 +0000

Despite suffering from some pain in my right shoulder I still managed to get to the gym today.

With my wife working I dropped Matea off to my moms for an hour. She loves to have her visit and with my Dad Fitness workouts only being an hour, 3 times a week it isn’t a big hassle.

My right shoulder has been acting up the last few days. I haven’t had any shoulder pain in a long time. I don’t remember doing anything specific. I just think it soon maybe time for a week off from the gym.

I usually try to take a recovery week off from the gym every 8-10 weeks just to give my mind and body a little rest from a couple months of hard training.

You can still do some light bodyweight workouts and stay active during your week off from weight training, just stay away from intense workouts.

I also find this a great time to try some different activities during my would-be workout time or even catch up on some reading as well as plan my next phase of Dad Fitness Workouts.

Today I started a new set of workouts and plan on doing them for the next 3 weeks if my shoulder don’t get any worse.

Day 1 is Max Effort Upper Body

Day 2 is Max Effort Lower Body

Day 3 is High Rep Day Upper Body

Here was my workout for today. I was able to do these exercises without much discomfort.

Max Effort Upper Body

Barbell Floor Press, 1 max set of 3-5 reps
Decline DB Press, 4 sets of 6-10 reps
Chest Supported Barbell Row, 4 sets of 10-15 reps
Bent Over Lateral Raise, 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Cable Crunch, 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Here is a fitting article for today’s post.

Get Some R&R- Rest and Recovery
By Sean Barker,CPT

It happens to us all every now and then, even the most passionate of trainers. We reach a point in our workout when we lack motivation to train, eat right and we feel tired or come down with the flu.

These are usually the symptoms of over training or lack of recovery. But it is not always solely based on “over training”. It’s usually a combination of a lot of things. This is mostly based on the “Training Triangle”. Training, Nutrition, Recovery.

You’re probably training too much, too often. Not getting enough of the proper nutrients your bodies needs to recover from hard training. Then recovery is short changed by the lack of the first two. Also, doing the same routine for a long period of time will make you mentally stale as well as physically. Most experts agree that you should change your workout routines after every 4-8 weeks. Then you should also take an entire week off from hard training every 8-10 weeks.

When this happens it’s time for change. Usually this means taking some time off from the gym. You will need more than a couple days; usually a week or two is needed. This will give your mind and body time away from the gym to regroup. After a week or two away you will be anxious to get back into the gym and hit it hard for another couple months. But, before you do you should change up your workout program. Whether it’s exercises, or the days of the week, this will keep you mentally fresh to attack your training.

So when your body starts to tell you it wants a break from your weightlifting workout, listen to it!

It’s the only body you will ever get…

Someone likes her R&R

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

The Best Way To Fix Diet Damage After The Super Bowl

smbarker — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:36:00 +0000

Don’t watch the Super Bowl and avoid the foods that go with it!

That’s what I did yesterday mainly because I am not a big fan of football.

But for you guys who sat back to enjoy the game and consumed an extra 1200 calories (which is the average excess calories consumed during this day!) here is what you should do to get over that football food hangover.

“Forgetta bout’ it!”

One meal won’t make you fat. Even one day of downing beer and chicken wings won’t do it. You might feel bloated from all the salt and fat but that is only water weight which will go away in a day or so ONLY if you get back on track with your workouts and healthy eating right away.

Start the next day off with a healthy high protein breakfast and get in a high intensity workout of weight training and interval cardio that will help to jumpstart that metabolism and sweat out all the excess water you are holding from eating that Super Bowl full of artery clogging potato chips.

Most diet plans actually recommend a cheat day once a week to eat what you want without sabotaging your weight loss goals. I like to look at it as a “reward” meal opposed to cheating which sounds like you are doing something bad. This gives you a mental break from your weekly planned meals as well as there are some biological benefits to consuming excess calories every so often when you are following a weight loss plan. The excess calories convinces your body that you are not starving and it will continue to burn bodyfat as you return to your healthy eating patterns.

But you can only benefit from your reward meals if you follow a structured workout and diet plan 90% of the time. This is what makes The Dad Fitness System so effective for busy dads and how you can lose that beer belly while still enjoying some of your favorite foods without the guilt.

Whether it’s the Sunday football game with the guys or wing night at your local pub, enjoying a reward meal once a week while following your fat loss plan will keep you burning fat long after those other guys following those starvation diets give up before the next big game rolls around.

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

7 Secrets to Better Workouts

smbarker — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:00:00 +0000

My wife and I are getting ready to get away for the night and head down to the cabin with my parents and some friends.

My 3 short Dad Fitness Workouts are done for this week so I have the freedom to enjoy my weekend with my family.

I will be putting my snowmobile in the back of my truck and we will make the 45 minute drive down into the snowy northern wilderness of Labrador to enjoy the great outdoors.

I hope we get a clear night because you haven’t seen nothing until you seen the Northern Lights up here in Labrador on a cold, clear, winter night!

But before I go I have a new article for you.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

7 Secrets to Better Workouts
by Sean Barker, CPT

If your workouts seem to be getting you nowhere, read on to get the 7 Secrets To Better Workouts.

1. Start your engines

As your old high school gym teacher might have led you to believe, stretching before weight training is not the best way to warm-up. Recent reports show that static stretching before exercise can reduce muscle strength. Stretching relaxes your muscles, so why would you want to relax your muscles when you need to lift explosively during weight training? The proper warm-up for weight training should involve 5-10 minutes of Dynamic mobility movements. These drills help improve active range of motion and activate the nervous system. Exercise like bodyweight squats, pushups and lunges help to fire up the nervous system, increase blood flow and fluid to the surrounding joints in preparation for intense lifting. In addition, a couple acclimation sets of the first exercise in your workout will get you prepared to train with your maximal weights.

2. Train What You Don’t See

One of the most common complaints you hear from long time lifters is a chronic shoulder problem. This is mainly due to imbalances in their exercise selection where they perform more pressing exercises like bench presses than pulling exercise like bent over rows. You should be doing equal exercise volume in the horizontal push and pulls as well as the vertical push and pulls such as shoulder presses and chin-up variations. This will ensure proper balance for the muscles you don’t see in your back to prevent tight upper back muscles, which contribute to most shoulder problems. Including some old school traditional pushups in place of bench presses also allow your scapula muscles in your upper back to move freely enhancing shoulder health unlike any lying bench press movements. Pushups are referred to as a “close-chain” exercise because during these movements, your hands or feet are in a constant, fixed position (usually on the ground) during the exercise.

3. The New Cardio

High intensity interval training has been proven to be nine times more effective than steady-state cardio for burning fat. You don’t have to do cardio in the traditional form of what most people think. People were burning fat long before treadmills and stationary bikes with old-fashioned manual labor. You need to be doing high intensity exercise that revs up your metabolism each and every workout. You could run, sprint, swim, lift weights, do supersets with weights. Remember you don’t really burn much fat when you are actually exercising, except for a small amount of fatty acids that are in your bloodstream. It’s the calories your body burns during the other 23 hours of the day that count. With exercise and a clean diet you will put your body in a caloric deficit, which is still the ONLY proven way to melt off that unwanted fat.

4. Times Up

Standing around chatting about the news of the week for 5 minutes in between sets is not the most effective way to get a great workout. Keeping track and shortening your rest periods between exercises is an awesome away to burn calories and increase your conditioning. There is a BIG difference in “keeping track” of your time in your head and actually using your watch. Most people don’t realize how short a 60 second rest period is once they start watching the clock. Increasing training density by shortening or eliminating some rest periods in between sets is a great way to get a lot of workout volume done in a short amount of time. Keep your headphones on to avoid unwelcome distractions and keep your eye on your watch!

5. Be Cool

You started your workout off right with a dynamic warm-up, now its time to call it a day with a proper cool down. This is when you should be doing some old school Static stretching, which basically consists of stretching a muscle as far as your flexibility will allow and then holding that position for 10-15 seconds. Static stretching is of value primarily for preventing or correcting excessive muscle tension and establishing proper muscle length at the joints, both of which will improve movement efficiency. This type of stretching is best performed post-workout or several hours after the exercise session. Always easy into a stretch while gradually increasing the range of motion as your flexibility improves.

6. Spice it Up

Most training research shows that your body begins to adapt to a training program after 6 weeks. More specifically, you adapt to the rep range before everything else. Like the saying goes, “variety is the spice of life”. The same holds true for weight training. Ten reps might sound like a nice even number to aim for during each sets but that doesn’t mean it’s the most effective. For strength gains stick to the 1-3 rep range. For muscle growth work in the 4-6 rep range. For fat loss keep reps higher in the 10-12 rep range. Vary your workouts to prevent your body to adapting to the same training stress.

7. Failing To Plan

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. This rings true with a proper workout program as well. All of these workout secrets should be part of a long-term training plan. Certified personal trainers spend years learning proper methods for kinetics and exercise design. So why do everyone think they can just slap together a bunch of exercises and think it’s going to get them the results they are after? Plan your workouts based on your goals. Are you looking to lose fat, build muscle or get stronger. It’s better to focus on one in each training phase. The most common method most gym rats might use wither they know it or not is Linear periodization. This is when the reps are decreased and the loads are increased over a period of time.

Recent training research has shown that a method of structuring your workouts called undulating periodization – has proven to be more effective in inducing maximum muscle gains when compared to traditional linear periodization models. Rotating from heavy (4-6 reps), to medium (8-10 reps) to light (12-15 reps) all in the same week will ensure your make steady progress and prevent that dreaded training plateau.

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

The Dad Fitness Top 10 Tips to Change Your Body

smbarker — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:17:00 +0000

Things are quiet in the house this weekend with my wife and baby daughter gone out of town to visit family.

So I headed to the gym bright and early on this Saturday morning.

Today was Workout B or lower body from the book Built For Show.

It was a high rep day of all 12 reps of front squats, step ups and abs.

Even though the weights were light, the short 45 sec rest periods were hardly enough time to catch my breath.

This was definitely a short and intense fat burning workout!

That’s it for today, gotta go get ready to pack for my business trip to Toronto.

But before I go I will leave you with the what I like to call the

The Dad Fitness Top 10 Tips to Change Your Body

If you just followed these 10 tips on a consistent basis, you can transform your body to tip-top shape.

1. Perform cardiovascular/aerobic exercise 3-5 times a week

(To get a lean physique you need to be doing some cardiovascular exercise, shorts intervals work best to increase your metabolism and burn fat)

2. Exercise at a high intensity

(If you can read a magazine while your doing cardio, you are not working hard enough! Imagine how fast you would run if you were being chased by a bear, thats how fast you should run.)

3. Perform weight-training 3 times a week

(Every 2nd day works great for weight training to allow for rest and recovery)

4. Exercise for 30-60 minutes per session

(The shorter your workouts are the more compound movements you should be doing. Supersets are also great to get a good workout done in a short amount of time)

5. Keep it real! Eat natural foods, avoid processed foods

(If it comes in a box or package don’t eat it. Even if it says healthy on the package its still not great for you. Real healthy foods don’t need to have those labels, ever see an apple with low fat marked on it? Just think if a caveman had access to it you can eat it. ex. meats, berries, nuts, fruits and vegetables

6. Don’t skip breakfast

(It’s called break-fast for a reason. Its breaking the fast your body undergoes during sleep. Start the day off right with a good breakfast.)

7. Eat 3 nutrient dense meals and two small snacks each day

(Most people don’t even eat 3 meals a day. Start working on 3 meals first, then add two snacks in between the morning meals and afternoon meals.)

8. Eat at least 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables each day

(Again most people don’t eat this much, so make this your minimum, you can’t eat enough fruits and veggies)

9. Drink at least 1 liter of water each day

(Have a glass of water with every meal and snack, as well as first in the morning and last at night)

10. Organize your time (exercise, work, family, friends,)

(Organize and prioritize your workout, work and family obligations to achieve those goals you have written down. You did write them down right?)

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

3 Steps To Building Lean Muscle

smbarker — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:55:00 +0000

The Weight Training Triangle
-The Secret to Building Maximum Muscle
by Sean Barker,CPT
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The process of building muscle is pretty simple. It’s so simple actually; that people have a hard time believing how they can train less and grow more.

Find out the secret to building maximum muscle in minimum time.

I like to refer to the whole process of building muscle as the Training Triangle. It is basically the 24 hour a day process that your body will be undergoing when you begin weight training. It has three components, Training, Nutrition, and Recovery, each one no more important than the other. If one of these is not given 100%, the Training Triangle begins to crumble.

Weight Training is about stimulating muscle growth, plain and simple. It only provides the stimulus for your muscles to grow. Muscles DO NOT grow when you are in the gym. The other two corners of the Training Triangle take care of that. Weight Training exercise provides overload to the muscles, breaking down the muscle tissue on a microscopic level. It responds when subjected to levels of exercise beyond what it is accustomed to in order for an adaptation process to occur. The human body then attempts to adapt to this stimulus by getting stronger and growing more muscle tissue. This is where the next corner of the Triangle takes over.

Nutrition is the next vital step in the Training Triangle. Through eating the proper foods you supply your body with the nutrients it needs for energy replenishment, cell growth and repair, as well as the basic metabolic functions your body undergoes on a daily basis. Back in 400 B.C., Hippocrates said, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” Today, good nutrition is more important than ever. At least four of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S.–heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes–are directly related to way we eat. Focus on eating lean proteins such as chicken, beef, pork and fish. Get lots of of fiber and antioxidants through fruits, veggies and 100% whole grains. Consume healthy omega 3 fats daily such as olive oil, flaxseed oil and fish oil. The key components to good nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle are balance, variety and moderation.

Recovery is probably the most neglected step in the Training Triangle. It is a fantastic feeling to be motivated and have a gung-ho attitude when beginning a weight training program, but some control and moderation must be included with that eagerness in order to see results. Remember the story of the tortuous and the hare? The lesson was that slow and steady, wins the race. Society has conditioned us to think more is better. But, in terms of weight training and building muscle, training too often can bring any gains to a screeching halt, as well as increase chance of injury and adrenal burnout. Rest and recovery is essential for maximum muscle growth. During recovery we build muscle in response to the stimulus we created while training. If you fail to take adequate recovery time into consideration, you will be greatly limiting your results.

The Training Triangle is the foundation of any successful weight-training program. Understanding each element and its importance, will directly dictate the results you will achieve.

…As for me, it looks like I am finally kicking this cold to the curb and had a great workout today.

Today I continued with my buddy Nate Green’s Built For Show workouts.

I am rotating through upper body and lower body workouts found in his “Fall Season” workouts.

Workout A- Upper Body
Workout B- Lower Body

I felt strong and focused today in the gym as I pumped out rows, db bench presses, chinups, shoulder presses and some abs work.

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com