More random thoughts...

• Great routine for the biceps-Grab a heavy pair of dumbbells that you can rep for 5 reps. Once you finish take 30 seconds of rest before grabbing the next lightest dumbbells and do at least 1 more rep than you did with the first weight. Take 30 seconds rest and then use the next lightest pair of dumbbells and aim for more reps then the second set. Keep doing this until you get do 4-5 drops.

• Work your rear delts. Generally the posterior delts are often neglected which can lead to shoulder issues. To best work your rear delts do any version of rear delt flys or bent over lateral raises.

• Have you tried doing farmers walks before? They are considered the standing plank exercise by some and are great for the core and just about everything. Its simple, pick up a pair of heavy, heavy dumbbells and walk around the gym. Make sure you keep your shoulder blades pulled together and chest out and posture tall.
  

• If you are having trouble dropping inches and losing fat then bump up your weight training days. If you currently only do 1-2x a week with weights then go up to 3 and watch what happens!

• Tell everybody and anybody about your goals. Let it be known that you are on a mission to drop the fat, gain the muscle or get stronger. The more people known the more support you will have and the more people can keep you accountable.

• Stress gets over looked most often when it comes to training. Too much stress in your life will lead to limited fat loss due to the release of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol causes the body to store body fat particularly in the abdominal area. Not good!

• Quick change to your fat loss workouts- Do the first half of your workout with low reps in the 5-8 range and heavy weights and then the second half of your workout go to the opposite end of the spectrum. Shoot for 15-25 reps using lighter weights and bands.
  

Monday Madness-Fat loss edition

• You don't want to worry about total calories or how many calories from fat you are burning, but instead about boosting 24 hour energy expenditure and increasing metabolism





• Carbs- Good in the AM, pre/post workout periods





• Move more! You might be working out hard in the gym but what are you doing outside the gym? 5 Hours of gym time leaves 163 hours left in the week. That is the time that will decide your fate in terms of getting results or not.
  
  



• Order of importance- 1) Cut out sugars/starches and eat more veggies! You cant out train a bad diet as they say. 2) Exercise and exercise with intensity and a purpose!




• Be committed! Those hips, that butt and gut didn't get the way it is overnight and you wont lose it overnight either!





• There is a thing called volumetrics. The principal is to get full on lower calorie foods. What does this mean to you? Eat lots of green leafy veggies and proteins!






• Some people say a cheat day is fine, I think a cheat meal is better. 90% clean and 10% not is a great thing to follow. But look at yourself as an individual and see what works for you.
  
  



• Lifting heavy weights on a fat loss program needs to happen. You need to keep muscle mass if you want the best metabolic burning engine you can get. Guys have no issue here, but ladies make sure it gets done. Lifting heavy doesn't need to be every week but it should be cycled into your program.

• Some other great options are any of my H4 fat burner workouts which you can search on here or my PHA format post.

Get Hot, Get Fit-

Go Dominate!

Quick 3 considerations for fat loss

1) Your workouts need to be frequent- I realize this is obvious but it needs to happen if you want the best results. Working out more frequently will give you a more elevated metabolic rate therefore you will burn more calories.

2) Training sessions need to be under 45 minutes-You have to remember that you will be starting each workout in a energy deficit since you will be cutting your calories on a fat loss plan. The fact that your energy levels will be lower wont allow you to keep up a high intensity workout for anything over 45 minutes or so. I by no means am saying not to push it however! If your workouts are designed well enough then by the 45 minute mark you should be gassed anyways.

3) Center your workouts around exercises that are the most effective for fat loss-Some exercises are just better suited for fat loss more than others are. Any multi-joint exercise will usually reign supreme. Below are some of the money exercises that should be included in any stud fat loss program.

Any variations of the below exercises works of course
*Deadlifts
*Pull-ups ( or any full body pull like inverted rows, chins )
* Push presses, presses in general
* Squats
*Step-ups
* Cleans

GO DOMINATE!

Why weekends are killing your fat loss

Friday through Sunday seems to always create such havoc to ones personal fat loss goals. You work so hard during the week not only in the gym but in the kitchen and you seem to have the train running, but then comes the weekend. What happens, major derailment, and you let yourself fall off the cliff.

It is common for me to hear all the time from my clients: "I was doing so well during the week and then the weekend came and its like everything went down hill." Lets face it most peoples weekends are filled with social gatherings, sports games, nights out at restaurants, late night eating and drinking and anything else that you can imagine. All of these things are not in the best interest in helping you eat healthy and maintain your fat loss goals.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Lets say that during the week your totally dominating the workouts and your eating and you have put yourself in a 3,500 calorie deficit. This equates to about a 700 calorie deficit a day and will turn into one pound of fat loss a week. Now the weekend comes around. You tell yourself you are going to stay on track but you don't and you end up eating like garbage and drinking too much. So now you end up eating 500 extra calories than you should on both Saturday and Sunday which leaves your calorie deficit to only 2500 which equals not even a full pound of fat loss for the week.

STRATEGIES TO COMBAT THIS

1) Damage control- If you know the weekend will be rough than avoid complete destruction. You can do this by eating 1 slice of pizza with a salad as the filler, instead of 4-5 slices. This can keep a really bad situation from becoming really really bad.

2) Plan ahead-If you know that Saturday night you are going out for a friends birthday dinner and drinks think about what you can do before this takes place. You can eat a good amount of veggies and lean protein before heading to the dinner which will cause you to eat a smaller portion at the restaurant. If Sunday is a morning out for brunch then limit your Saturday calories so that Sunday doesn't put you to far behind.

3) Own the weekdays! Make sure you are on your game 100% during this part of the week. Having a so so week plus a bad weekend is a recipe for disaster.

4) Weekend workouts-If you can add some exercise into your weekend the more success you will have. This doesn't just have to be an actual workout but just adding more physical activity period in any way is better than nothing. Walk the stairs at the mall when shopping instead of the elevator or escalator. Walk your dogs, take a bike ride, walk or run to the store etc.

In the end remember that YOU AND ONLY YOU HAS CONTROL ON THE RESULTS YOU GET so don't complain just make it happen!