Exercise is a very important part of weight loss and no matter how most people who try to lose weight without exercising fail sooner or later. Diets do not work by themselves because they are only temporary solutions, so if you want to lose weight permanently, then changing your lifestyle and incorporating exercise to your life is essential.

What is the best best weight loss exercise?

Answering this question is really hard because people are all very different, so what works very well for one, may not work at all for another. You can´t compare a 350 pound overweight guy to a 185 pound single digit body fat guy.

So first of all you got to analyze yourself. Do you want to lose only a few pounds, are you a little overweight or seriously obese? The more you weigh and the more out of shape you are the easier your exercises should be.

If you want to lose fat effectively then your workout has to be at least 20 minutes long. If your workout is less than 20 minutes long, then it´s more anaerobic, meaning your body uses mostly sugar for fuel But the 20-45 minute range is the best for fat burning.

Rowing and cross country skiing burn the most calories but they are also the hardest exercises. You can´t expect a 350 pound guy to row on a indoor rowing machine for 20-25 minutes in a high tempo. So brisk walking or slight jogging would be much better. Or if you have bad knees then working out on a stationary exercise bike is a better option.

It is not important what exercise you are using to lose weight, what is important is that you are doing something. Some people worry too much about what and how they are suppose to do, that in the end they can´t get anything done. So take action and if you are constantly improving then you are in good shape.

For October’s workout of the month I would like to reintroduce body weight (BW) workouts. Body weight workouts are some of the most effective, time efficient, yet underrated workouts out there….until recently!

Using your own body weight as resistance in your conditioning program is highly effective. When you perform multi jointed, whole body movements, such as a squat, you increase the caloric expenditure of the activity and rev up your fat burning engine!

The other great benefit of BW exercise is that it can be done anywhere, anytime. Are you a busy Mom or Dad? Have a demanding full time job? Just don’t have hours to spend at the gym each day? Join the club.

BW routines can be done at home with absolutely no equipment. They can be performed in the morning before the rest of the family wakes up, after the kids go to bed, or any other small amount of time you can squeeze them in. There are virtually no excuses for not being able to fit activity in your life when you can do body weight workouts at home, anytime.

Do BW exercises in a circuit style fashion and you get a tremendous cardio workout, strength routine and fat loss workout all in one.

Give this routine a shot:

Warm up and stretch 5-10 minutes

Perform the following exercises with no rest in between each one:

Jumping jacks — 30 sec Prisoner squats — 12 Push ups or kneeling push ups — 8 Mountain climbers — 8 each side High knees running in place — 30 sec Reverse lunges — 8 each leg Close grip pushups — 8 Plank — 30 sec Squat thrusts — 10

Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat 1-2 x.

Try working up to performing this circuit for 20 minutes. Once you can achieve that time, try increasing the number of times you go through the circuit in 20 minutes.

If you have been thinking about purchasing the Truth About Six Pack Abs, then you have to read this review first.

The Truth About Abs is an eBook written by Michael Geary who is a certified nutrition expert and personal trainer, in his book he teaches dietary techniques and training advice to gain muscle and lose fat and of course to achieve that perfect flat stomach and ripped abs that we would all love.

The Truth About Abs is designed for anyone wanting to get into better shape, male or female, young or old and the techniques range from beginner to advanced, basically this will work for anyone and will just need tweaking accordingly.

The Truth About Six Pack Abs is broken up in to sections the first is a very detailed and informative section on diet and nutrition and the author Mike Geary stresses you do not skip this section, he also stresses that this is not a fad diet, what it is, is a way of eating correctly to lose weight, so for anyone out there after a magic potion or pill or some wonder supplement, unlucky guys you won’t find it here, in fact you probably won’t find that anywhere, not that actually works anyway.

The nutrition information is very detailed stuff and you will learn a good amount of great techniques to get fat levels lower and keep them low and none of it includes low carb diets, or low fat diets, you eat them both but it tells you when and how to get them.

After all this info you are given seven pages of example diets to get you going too, which I thought was great.

The next section of the Truth About Six Pack Abs looks specifically at your ab workouts, it gives examples of exercises to avoid and the best ones to concentrate on in order to gain the best six pack abs. Each exercises is accompanied with photos for all the exercises and the correct way to perform them, this is followed by 8 ab workout routines that increase in difficulty from levels 1-8, 8 obviously being the hardest.

The next section of the the Truth About Six Pack Abs looks at the whole body workout, in this section he again gives a lot of great advice, for example he gives tips on increasing the amount of calories you burn in your workouts, which was a part I particularly liked, he also stresses that even though the book is Truth about six abs the rest of your body is equally as important and not to devote all your time to your ab training routines, the ab training routines are in addition to the rest of your body. This section is also accompanied by photo instructions of all the individual exercises, which are followed by loads of training routines going from a beginner level to intermediate and advanced.

Basically if you are looking to get in good shape or need some new ideas or maybe you hit a plateau in your workouts the truth about six abs is 149 pages of pure excellent advice the best books I have purchased to date.

Before I get any hate mail or any rants and raves from people calling me an idiot, let me clarify. Cardio does work to lose fat. That’s obvious. Cardio is great for general health, heart health, and just getting you up off your butt. However, when it comes to losing fat quickly, especially for busy moms and dads, cardio workouts are very, very overrated. Is that sacrilegious for a personal trainer to say that cardio is overrated or doesn’t work?

I don’t think so. In my personal opinion, it’s lazy and uninformed personal trainers, nutritionists, medical professionals and any other health-related professional who are the ones who should be ashamed and feel stupid for not doing the work and actually help the people who come to them seeking assistance. Before I burn anymore bridges, let me go over a few of the reasons why cardio workouts for fat loss are the most overrated type of exercise known to man (followed closely by crunches).

1. Traditional cardio workouts for weight loss are a huge time waster.

When you think of cardio for weight loss, how long do you think you need to do it? Most people that I come across tend to think you need to do it for a minimum of 30 minutes and some even go so far as to say you need to do it for 60-90 minutes A DAY to get any sort of weight loss benefit. Do you really have 60 minutes of free time to devote to an ineffective cardio workout?

2. Adaptability.

Your body is very smart and it adapts to whatever form of exercise you throw at it. That’s one of the reasons you should change up your workout every few weeks, but this is especially true when it comes to cardio workouts for weight loss. Let me give you a few numbers to consider. Let’s say that you traditionally do a cardio workout for around 45 minutes 3-6 days a week and that burns roughly 400 calories. Sounds good, right? But the thing you don’t realize is that every time you do that workout, your body is adapting to that workout, which means you burn fewer and fewer calories every time you do it.

So after a few weeks time, instead of burning 400 calories, you’re burning 380. You can take that out further and say in a few months time you’re only burning around 300 calories. But how do you fix that problem? The goal is to burn more calories, not less right? To fix it, you’d either have to do your cardio for a longer period of time, or work harder in that 45 minutes. Sounds good. You can do that…but remember, you’re working harder and going longer to turn the same amount of calories you burned a few months ago, when you weren’t working as hard. Call me crazy, but I don’t think that’s the goal you’re looking for.

3. The ‘fat burning zone’ does not exist.

This is one of my favorite cardio workout for weight loss myths because it’s a pretty skewed way of looking at science. Yes, your body does burn a higher PERCENTAGE of fat in a certain heart rate, or working zone, but who cares. When I’m sitting on my butt in front of the TV, my body is burning a higher percentage of body fat than it is when I’m working my tail off doing a fat burning workout, but that doesn’t mean I’m burning more fat. The key word is ‘percentage’.

Do you want to burn a higher percentage of fat, or just more fat? If you’re like most people you just want to burn more fat and you couldn’t care less what the percentage of fat calories is to non-fat calories. To burn more fat, you have to stop doing so much low-to-moderate intensity cardio and start doing more resistance training and interval training. The resistance training shouldn’t take long and should involve lots of full body workouts and full body exercises. It should take you less than 20 minutes (hopefully around 10) so that you don’t hav any excuses for not doing it.

It should not focus on worthless exercises like triceps kickbacks, chest flies, leg extensions, biceps curls, etc. and should focus on exercises that give you more fat burning bang for your buck. So stop putting all your faith in the treadmill, elliptical trainer, stationary bike and stair-stepper and quit going right to the cardio area in the gym as soon as you walk in the door because that is not the best way to lose fat. There are far better ways than the traditional cardio workouts for weight loss that will burn fat much quicker and have you feeling better and healthier in a lot less time than most cardio addicts spend warming up.

A male ectomorph muscle building diet can be hard to stick to in a world full of instantly accessible, fast and cheap foods. The problem is that most of these foods are just junk and will not help the male body to produce the right hormones and chemicals for proper muscle building results. An ectomorph especially needs to watch what he eats because the high metabolism that categorizes this body type burns through calories so fats you need to eat a lot to have energy to build muscle. Too many take short cuts with junk food to achieve this calorie goal.

As such here are 4 great foods you should include in your diet as often as possible and 4 that should be avoided at all costs!

Good muscle building Foods

• Skinless Chicken Breast – This is a bodybuilder’s favorite food. Low in fat, high in protein and packed with calories with an inoffensive taste nearly everyone enjoys.
• Broccoli – While you should be eating a lot of vegetables broccoli is an important addition because it boosts testosterone levels. Male ectomorphs need as much of this hormone as they can for increased muscle building action.
• Dried Fruit and Unsalted Nuts – Both a great source of calories and are healthy for you. The nuts like almonds also contain omega 3 fatty acids which are helpful to muscle building. A good snack to keep around to avoid eating garbage!
• Egg Whites – Another bodybuilding favorite. Egg whites are full of protein and contain very little fat to boot. Using them in protein shakes and making omelets out of them is great.

Bad muscle building Foods

• Fast food – Most fast food chains use cheaper products to save costs including oils that are very fatty. Burgers, chips, pizza and others are also usually so processed all the goodness is gone leaving food that just converts to glucose quickly raising blood sugar which is not good for bodybuilding (or your health in general).
• Soda & Juice – You may realize that soda is just chock full of sugar which does nothing for you but did you know most fruit juices are just as sugary as a soda? If you want fruit juice eat the fresh fruit itself as it comes with natural sugars and fibers that regular them in your body.
• Leftovers – While it may seem to be a good idea to eat leftovers make sure you do it very quickly because if you eat something that has been sitting in the fridge for just a bit too long you can be ingestion toxins and poisons effectively.
• Processed Meat – Salami, bacon and many other meats like it are usually dull of sodium which offsets any benefits the meat can bring you. Stick with fresh cuts of lean meat only.

I’m sure there are a few cardio nuts out there that are offended by the tittle and what is to come. So if this is you, I suggest you close your eyes because I am about to let you and everyone else out there in on the secret why cardio workouts that burn fat do not involve elliptical machines or treadmills.

If you do continue to read you will discover effective fat burning methods that will melt away your stubborn belly fat.

Stop wasting your time exercising on the elliptical machine or treadmill. It is time to ditch the long slow boring cardio.

Before I get into things I will first say this. If you love your elliptical machine or treadmill workouts and that is the only exercise routine you are willing to do, then stay on it. That is at least better than nothing. They may not be all that effective but there is no question that it is better than watching TV.

Treadmills and elliptical machines are boring. Why would you want to run on the spot for an hour straight? That does not sound fun at all, especially when you have better options available to you. You could spend half the time doing something that will actually stimulate a fat-burning hormonal response and stimulate your metabolism to a greater extent.

When people are involved in some sort of steady state cardio exercise not much thought is needed. Take a look at any cardio are of any gym and you will see it lined with TVs, magazines, and other material to keep you engaged. Having your thoughts somewhere else while exercising creates a disconnect between the mind and body. When this happens workout performance decreases and your results dramatically decrease too.

If you are the type of person who like to workout from home, these machines are a big expense. If you are going to spend that kind of money on exercise equipment that are better options for that kind of money.

There are studies that suggest that indoor running on a treadmill is less effective. The treadmill belt offers some help by pulling your feet back underneath your body, so you are potentially exerting less energy to move your feet and legs than if you were not on a treadmill. Plus on the treadmill you do not have the wind resistance to contend with making it easier yet again.

Plain and simple, elliptical and treadmill workouts are just boring!

Like I mentioned before when you lose that mind body connection your results drop. And if you are bored your mind body connection is broke.

Here are a few alternatives to elliptical machine and treadmill workouts?

Interval runs or wind sprint workouts – There is no question how effective sprints are for weight loss. Sprinters are always lean and muscular.

Bodyweight exercises – jumping drills, squats, push-ups, mountain climbers, lunges, bear crawls, planks, etc…

Boxing – You do not have to get out the gloves for this. You can do some shadow boxing if you do not have the gear or a training partner. A heavy bag, mitts, or pads work well. Don’t limit yourself to punching, throw some knees and kicks in there too. Aside from burning fat and calories it is a great way to relieve some stress.

Jumping rope – or skipping as I call it is tough and effective. There are many variations here, all of which will keep your mind active.

That should give you a few ideas to get off the treadmill and elliptical machine and try some new things. Spice up your workouts, burn more fat and get better results.

Never expect miracles any time you start on the numerous muscle building workouts. One thing you have to note is that it is not the workouts that give the muscles. All that the workouts do is to give your muscles the stimulus it requires and the growth only comes with a lot of adequate rest. This will also not be very effective without the required nutrition and hydration conditions. However it will be very good if we examine the issue about muscle building workouts.

A lot of people have come to believe that in order to build your muscles, the only way is to use those numerous machines at the gym but this is not the case. If you want to build your muscles, you have to use the compound exercises that come with free weights. Some also call this kind of training the hardcore training.

The compound exercises are very effective and make use of movements of several groups of muscles at the same time. In fact, one of such is the bench press which makes use of the shoulder and the triceps muscles including others even though it targets the chest muscles. The free weights that accompany these exercises are weights that should not be supported by any other mechanical means like the use of barbells and dumbbells. You are required to do the lifting as well as the balancing.

In order to make your muscle building workouts very effective you have to do the training split. This will involve the training of one set of muscles for a day and then doing the same to another set the next day. It will help most of the muscles get a good rest so that they can grow well. It could also be possible to group two or more muscles and then train them on a single day. For instance you could easily train the shoulders and back today and then the thighs tomorrow. After this you could skip for a day and then train the legs and the chest. This way you would have offered an effective regime of training to the whole body in just a matter of three days. You could then take a rest for about one week.

All these muscle building workouts are very effective as well as helpful, but it will require some level of consistency in order to achieve the desired results.

So what is the best cardio workout for women? Well, that is a loaded question, but I am going to give you a series of cardio exercises to help you lose weight and incinerate fat quicker than anything out there. I want to introduce to you the kettlebell circuit!

Kettlebell circuits are a hard hitting cardio workout routine that I guarantee will help you to achieve mind blowing cardiovascular fitness and the rock hard body to match. As you know the kettlebell is an ancient strength training device that is so versatile that you can execute lifts that train your body from head to toe while conditioning your cardiovascular system better than anything. To begin, you must have some basic knowledge of some more of the basic kettlebell lifts in order to execute this workout. If you don’t no worries, because the types of exercises I am going to explain can be easily learned.

To start, you will want to execute a series of double arm kettlebell swings for 30 repetitions. As soon as, you complete this exercise move on to performing a series of kettlebell front squats with the kettlebell properly racked in the clean position at your chest. You will want to do 15 squats with the kettlebell cleaned in each arm. Once you complete the kettlebell front squats then you will want to perform 30 squat and presses (15 each arm) combining the two movements. This completes the first round of your cardio endurance workout. Permit yourself 3 to 3 1/2 minutes rest and repeat this process all over again. Attempt to execute three rounds of this to classify yourself a cardio queen!

This workout would challenge any guy! Once again if you are not familiar with these basic lifts that I mentioned you can learn them quickly. Feel free to access the rest of my articles here to learn more specifically how to do each one. Kettlebell circuits are the REAL fat loss cardio workout. Remember that anyone can train hard, but only the best train smart!

Who else wants advanced fat burning workout and nutrition tips? Here are two fat loss secrets to help you lose more fat fast.

Previously, I put together an extensive list of the most important things a beginner-to-fat-loss should do to get the ball rolling…

Now today, I’m going to discuss what you need to do if you are getting close to your goal and need some advanced fat loss tips.

1) Don’t cut calories too much.

This is something that happens a lot as people get closer to their goals, and especially when people hit a fat loss plateau.

But you can’t do it.

Here’s why.

Among other things, your food intake and energy balance help to control your metabolism (most likely by altering levels of various hormones in your body).

When you cut your calories too much, you probably knock your hormones levels for a loop, causing them to send a collective message to your body that you are not getting enough to energy in…and therefore, that shuts down your fat loss systems.

Here’s one reader’s account of the pitfalls of an excessively low calorie diet…

“I’m on the weight loss track again. I found I wasn’t eating enough calories (1000 kcal/day). Filling up on veggies is good (and I love them), but they don’t have the calories. Eating walnuts/almonds helped get me there. Eating 1500+ is where I need to stay to lose weight and keep my energy up. I’ve dropped about 3 pounds this week.” – Holly

With men, I generally cringe when I hear they are eating less than 1800 calories per day (and are trying to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time). And with women, anything less than 1500 calories per day. So you probably want to stay above those levels, and definitely avoid any sharp, sudden decreases in your energy intake.

2) Don’t exercise too much.

For very similar reasons to point #1.

Exercise intensity and frequency also help to control your hormone levels. If you over-exercise (i.e. tonnes of cardio everyday, weight training everyday, etc.), then your body doesn’t get a chance to recover and keep your hormones at the correct level.

After all, exercise is another form of stress on your body…and you all know how your body and mind can get messed up from too much stress.

Resist the urge to exercise for the sake of exercise. Don’t go adding 60 minute stairmaster sessions everyday before breakfast if you’re already on a well-designed, consistent workout schedule. That could be too much stress on your body.

Stick to structured, purposeful exercise.

I’ve been around the exercise block so to speak, and I often know how much is too much for most fitness levels.

A great way to accelerate your fat burning is by adding in some bodyweight circuits (starting at 10 minutes per day and working up to 20 minutes maximum) done in the morning or evening.

(If you do your regular workout in the AM, do your bodyweight circuits after dinner; otherwise, do the bw circuits first thing in the AM, and then do your regular workout at lunch or later in the afternoon or evening.)

After two weeks, take a break from this routine and allow your body to recover.

Two other things you can do during this two weeks of extra training…

a) Add 10 seconds to the length of each interval.

b) Add 1 set to each of the exercises in the first Superset of the workout.

So now you have more volume, performed at a high-intensity of course, but without over-taxing your hormonal system.

But remember, you should only do this increased training volume for 2 weeks. Then you need to take a break and reduce the training volume to normal – to allow your body to adapt and recover.

More fat burning workout and exercise tips to come.

Once you decide that you want to start working out at home, you need to figure out a fitness routine. Home gym fitness routines are essential if you are serious about working out. If you make a basic routine and stick to it you can get in shape and be healthier. Also, if you buy exercise machines but do not stick to any kind of routine you are less likely to use them, which would just be a waste of money.

Fitness routines can be simple, like walking on your treadmill for a certain amount of time everyday, or using your home gym machine on certain days of the week. If you want a more complex routine that involves different machines and exercises, but you are not sure where to start, you could talk to a fitness expert and figure out a good routine for you. There are also several websites that can help you figure out a workout that works with your abilities and needs. There are several home gym fitness routines online that vary in difficulty, machines used and exercises used. If you do not have any exercise machines, and just want to do exercises like sit ups and push ups, there are several workouts designed for those exercises and similar ones. If you own a home gym machine, but are not sure where to start with the several exercises that are available, you can figure out a routine with a fitness expert, or you could search for one for that specific home gym machine.