Tuesday, March 22, 2011

ANGELA’S WORKOUT CHALLENGE – STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING (VIDEO)

ANGELA’S WORKOUT CHALLENGE

Angela (my fiancée) created this monstrous program as a way to combine your 5 km run (which you should be doing 4-5 times per day) with strength training (which you should be implementing, 2-3 days rep week).

All you need is a treadmill, kettlebell, dumbbells and barbell.. You will complete 3 full sets with no rest in between. The sets consist of a 1 mile run and circuit of exercises with specified reps. Now, you can break up the reps in the circuit however you want, for example 25 step up – 25 push ups – 25 spring up and repeat until you reach the prescribes reps.










Combine these and you have Angela’s workout modality. I love it because it has the run for cardio and resistance training targets the entire body, implementing plyometrics, power, muscular endurance, abs and core.

The workout will take you about an hour or less, but make sure you time it, so you can try to beat it the following week.

Angela has four pro Muay Thai fights (4-0) and was a champion bodybuilder so training hard is nothing new for her. Angela helped kick my conditioning through the roof and we had to find inventive ways to get me run because I HATE RUNNING. This is a great workout for those of us who hate long runs.

Anyways, try this workout at home, gym or your MMA training facility.

Stay tuned for more of Angela’s MMA workouts!


ANGELA’S "KILL YOU" FIGHTER WORKOUT

Perform the below workout with no rest in between set (just the time it takes you to get from the treadmill to the exercise area). You can also break up the reps and exercises within each set but complete all reps for all exercises


WORKOUT TIP: YOU CAN BREAK UP THE REPS OF THE EXERCISES 25-25-25 OR 33-33-33


SET 1

1 MILE RUN

100 REPS EACH

KETTLEBELL SWINGS

ABS SPRING UPS

PUSH UPS



SET 2

1 MILE RUN

100 REPS EACH

SEATED DUMBBELL PRESS\

DEADLIFTS

LEG LIFTS



SET 3

1 MILE RUN

STATIONARY GOBLET LUNGE

RUSSIAN TWISTS (ROW BOATS)

SPIDER CLIMBERS

DONE

Saturday, March 19, 2011

HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS WITH ROB RICHES - PART 3 OF 4

Here is Part 3 of my 4 Part Series How to Get six Pack Abs with my man Rob Riches. If you missed Part 1 of this series, please CLICK HERE first before you watch Part 2 or 3. I worked with Rob on the Battle Bag Workout DVD Shoot and was truly amazed at his abs and knowledge so listen and apply his techniques.

In part 6 of this 9 part video short series, Rob demonstrates a variations of how to strengthen and condition the muscles that help assist and support in rotation and lateral flexion – the obliques









Learn how to do each exercise properly, and feel muscles that you’ve never felt worked before. If you only take away half of what is in this DVD, then you will end up with a six-pack like never before!




You can order the full 60 minute DVD showing all the exercises in full here: http://www.robrichesstore.com/abssession.html

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

FIGHT FAT FROM YOU HIPS, BUTT, THIGHS, STOMACH, LOVE HANDLES AND MAN BOOBS WITH FINAL PHASE FAT LOSS 2.0

Do you suffer from "regional" fat storage? You know, "problem area" fat deposits -- like on your hips, butt, thighs, stomach, "love handles", or god forbid, the dreaded "man boobs"?


Over the past few days NY Super Trainer John Romaniello's has taught us that you can fight these problem areas by producing good hormones. Here is an overview:

Problem Area: "love handles"

Hormone to Blame: Insulin

Solution Hormone: IGF-1

How to stimulate IGF-1 release: "Dynamic" Training



Problem Area: hips, butt, thighs and/or "man boobs"

Hormone to Blame: Estrogen

Solution Hormone: Testosterone

How to stimulate Testosterone release: "Density" Training



Problem Area: "belly/stomach"

Hormone to Blame: Cortisol

Solution Hormone: Growth Hormone

How to stimulate IGF-1 release: "Lactic Acid" Training


So the good thing is it doesn’t stop here, John’s newly launched Final Phase Fat Loss 2.0 is the answer.  Fighting these problem areas is essentially the foundation of John Romaniello's program. This has been the most talked about program in the industry.


I have picked up a copy myself and will be implementing some of it into my Spartacus and MMA workouts.

If you are ready to kiss your problem area fat goodbye, then you NEED to check out John's program, and by the way until tomorrow, it's 52% OFF to celebrate its release.

GET YOUR COPY OF FINAL PHASE FAT LOSS 2.0 HERE

Not only will you learn methods to tackle any problem area or areas you might have, but if you're someone who is getting tired of your current program, this stuff will be brand new, refreshing, and I guarantee it will renew your zeal for hitting the gym on a regular basis (as will the results).

If you haven't grabbed your copy yet and are still wondering if this program could work for you, John let me share the following article with you that may help get you "get off the fence"
In the article, John will show you:
1) The exact hormone most responsible for stubborn belly fat
2) The "secret" hormone no one talks about that you NEED more of to fight off the hormone from #1

3) A new, unusual training style that has been show to increase the hormone from #2

I GUARANTEE you'll learn something new! Check it out below:

----------------------------------------


Suffering from Belly Fat?

By John Romaniello

Like many people, you probably suffer from regional fat storage issues. That is, while you store fat over your entire body, it’s probably most noticeable in certain areas, and it's from these areas in which we struggle most to lose fat. You know--the problem areas.

These problem areas are influenced heavily by your hormonal environment, and where you store that last bit of fat is determined by which of your hormones are most out of whack (and yes, sometimes it's quite a few of them).

Today I’m going to talk to you about belly fat specifically.

One of the things that has been talked about quite a bit in fitness media lately is the relationship between belly fat and a hormone called “cortisol.” To put it simply, the higher your cortisol levels, the more belly fat you’re likely to have.

By the same token, if you have a good deal of belly fat, it’s reasonable to assume that you have high cortisol.

Having high cortisol is detrimental for other reasons, but for our purposes, let’s focus on the fact that cortisol is keeping you not-so-little in the middle.

Rather than just suffer through this, the obvious solution is to try to lower cortisol levels and resultantly lower belly fat. And I'll tell you, lowering cortisol is a LOT trickier than you might think.

I’m sure you’ve seen the late night TV ads trying to sell you anti-cortisol pills. Even if they worked (they don’t), it’s a hormone like cortisol can’t be fooled by a little pill.

Besides, wouldn’t it be much more effective to find a solution without taking expensive pills? Something that is also going to help you burn fat overall?

Well, that’s actually possible.

You see, I’m big on using certain hormones to tame other hormones. Essentially, you CAN actually fight hormones WITH hormones. Clever, I know. It’s just a matter of finding which hormones work well against one another. When it comes to cortisol (and belly fat), you need look no further than Growth Hormone.

Also known as Human Growth Hormone or simply GH, growth hormones is produced in the pituitary gland and is responsible for growth (obviously) among other things. More specific to this writing, growth hormones is actually one of the most effective things in the world to offset cortisol.

Put simply, if you want less cortisol, just make more growth hormone.

Just tell your body to do it. Make a few calls.

Okay okay, it’s not that simple...but I have some really good news.

Did you know that there are certain types of training that are actually exceedingly effective at producing growth hormone?

It’s true--indirectly.

You see, growth hormone is normally produced and released in response to something, and in the case of training, GH is released as a response to the production of something called lactic acid. Lactic acid is a waste by-product of some of the chemical and metabolic processes that happen during exercise.

So, if you do exercise in a specific way, you can produce MORE lactic acid, which will then produce tremendous amounts of growth hormone as a result. That growth hormone surge will also help to work against your high cortisol levels. And as we’ve established, that will absolutely assist you in getting rid of your stubborn belly fat.



Of course, you’re wondering: how to I do it!? It’s easy. While lactic acid is produced in most forms of intense exercise, there is an unusual style of exercise that can actually produce even MORE lactic acid than is generally possible with other types of exercise. Appropriately (and not-so-cleverly) called “lactic acid training,” this type of training uses slow lifting speeds and fast lowering speeds.


The reason for the structure is that lactic acid is primarily produced during the “concentric” or positive/lifting phase of an exercise, and not so much during the “eccentric” or negative/lowering phase. To take advantage of this and produce more lactic acid, we simply--with apologies to Bing Crosby--accentuate the positive and (almost but not quite) eliminate the negative of each rep on all of our exercises.

To quantify it a bit, for each rep, you’d lift it over a period of about 4 seconds, and lower the weight extremely quickly, but safely.

If you were squatting, you’d drop down to the bottom position relatively quickly, and push slowly back to the top. In an overhead press, you’d lower the dumbbells quickly but safely, and press them back over your head over a period of 4-6 seconds.

Performing exercises with these extended concentric movements is going to create a tremendous amount of lactic acid, which in turn is going to prompt your body to produce fantastic amounts of growth hormone. And that growth hormone is going to help you manage cortisol and fight belly fat.


And if all THAT wasn’t enough, lactic acid training is also just a great fat loss training methods, so you’ll lose fat overall.

If you want to fight your cortisol issues, you need growth hormone. And for that you need lactic acid training. Utilizing this method, you’re one step closer to fighting off your belly fat for good.

---------------------------------------------


Awesome right? You see, John is a MASTER at pinning "good" hormones and specific exercise up against the "bad" hormones that cause regional fat storage.

And in his new program (which is available at a full 52% OFF until tomorrow), Final Phase Fat Loss 2.0, provides you with specific types of exercises and workouts to combat:


1. Estrogen, "man boobs" and lower-body fat (combatted with "Density" training and Testosterone)

2. Insulin, and your "love handles (combatted with "Dynamic" training and IGF-1)

3. And of course, Cortisol and belly fat (combatted with specific "Lactic Acid" training and Growth Hormone)

WINNINGGGGGG!

Look, if you struggle with annoying "problem area" fat storage, you simply won't find a better program to FIX this problem. And right now, it's still 52% OFF (but only until tomorrow).


GET YOUR COPY OF FINAL PHASE FAT LOSS 2.0 PROGRAM


I hope you enjoyed today's article, and I hope you choose to invest in yourself and your physique before the Grand Opening Special closes tomorrow.

Good Luck


Your Coach and Friend

Funk Roberts




DISCLAIMER:

In accordance with the FTC guidelines I am required to inform you that some of the links within this email or the links on pages it refers you may be affiliate links. When this is the case, if you purchase products through these links then we receive a commission. The amount of commission varies from product to product and in these cases we only ever recommend a product that we fully stand behind.

SPARTACUS ABS AND CORE WORKOUT

Finally after hundreds of requests, I have finally created the first Spartacus Abs and Core Workout. This is an awesome 10 exercise workout that focuses on core and abs strength.








Perform one set of each exercise in succession. Each exercise is timed for 30 seconds. You will do as many reps as you can, in that duration, then move on to the next exercise. You get 5 seconds to transition between stations, and then move onto the next exercise.


Take 2 minute break and finish 3 rounds on your abs day or do 1 set after a workout


SPARTACUS ABS AND CORE WORKOUT

SWISSS BALL ROLL UPS

SWISS BALL SIT UPS

SWISS BALL ROLL OUTS

SWISS BALL TWISTS (CHARLIE’S ANGELS)

AB SPRING UPS

AB BICYCLES

AB FLOOR CRUNCHES

AB SCISSORS

HIP THRUSTS

PLANK THRUST (BRIDGES)

Try this workout and please leave comments

GET YOUR FREE 4 WEEK SPARTACUS WORKOUT PROGRAM AT http://www.spartacusworkout.com/

GET YOUR GYMBOSS TIMER FOR 19.95 - http://tinyurl.com/yllwjdt


GET 20% OFF KIMURAWEAR FIGHT GEAR AT http://www.kimurawear.com/
 PUT "FUNKMMA" in when you are checking out...our gift to you

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

How To Fight “Bad” Hormones with “Good” Hormones

How To Fight “Bad” Hormones with “Good” Hormones


By John Romaniello – Creator of Final Phase Fat Loss

NOTE: If you have not yet read yesterday’s article CLICK LINK, Three Hormones You MUST Address To Target Stubborn Body Parts, You first need to fully understand the information in that article to fully grasp today’s content.

Once you’ve got that done, proceed below:

______________________________________________________________________

CLICK THE LINK TO WATCH JOHN’S VIDEO INSTEAD -

As I’ve covered previously, when you are breaking through a fat loss plateau or trying to get to the Final Phase of leanness, things get a bit murkier than they do with traditional fat loss.


Rather than dieting excessively in order to create a Calorie deficit, we seek to enter into energy debt by way of intelligently designed training protocols.

In addition, keeping energy intake high ensures that leptin levels don’t drop and throw another hormonal monkey wrench into the machinery.

Because, as we know from yesterday’s article, when you’re getting very lean or you’ve hit a plateau, fat loss is not just about Calories in vs Calories out–it’s about your hormonal environment and the way that affects fat storage, and thereby fat loss.

When you’ve lost the first 20 or 30 or whatever pounds, you’ve lost the “easy” fat. What you’ll notice about your body is that you’re now holding fat specifically in your trouble areas; and those trouble areas are determined by your specific hormonal environment.

If you’ve been following along, by now you know that it’s not just about energy debt or cardio or to a lesser extent diet (although all of those things do factor in quite a bit, obviously).

When your fat loss has stalled and you’re trying to break through that wall, or when you’re trying to rid yourself of those last stubborn 5-10 pounds, it’s a hormonal battle.

And there is only one way to win: fight hormones with hormones.


We’ve established that there are three specific hormones that cause the three most common types of regional fat storage.

As a quick recap:

1. Estrogen - the female sex hormone responsible for lower body fat storage patterns.

2. Insulin - Or rather, insulin resistance; this nasty little dude heavily influences fat storage in the love handle and lower back area.

3. Cortisol - the appropriately dubbed stress hormone is part of the reason you’ve got more flab than ab.

Those are your enemies.

Now, I want to talk to you about how you can actually increase the production of other hormones that offset the above “bad” hormones–through the manipulation of training methods.



In this corner…


Estrogen vs. Testosterone

Now that we’ve established (again, with apologies to the ladies) that estrogen is the main reason lower body fat storage occurs, we need to know how to work around that.

Well, how else would you combat estrogen but with testosterone? In all honesty, when if comes to fat loss and muscle gain, testosterone good, estrogen bad.

It’s for that reason that professional athlete, bodybuilders and the juicers down at the Jersey Shore use illicit steroids that are derivatives of testosterone.

Of course, that’s not an option for us–and certainly not desirable.

Instead, we are going to increase testosterone levels naturally, through training. Not only will this increase the net fat-burning effect of all exercises, but more appropriate to our purposes here, it will also facilitate in getting rid of lower body fat.

I should mention something here to alleviate any concerns: it is NOT possible to produce a detrimental amount of testosterone through training. So ladies, you don’t have to worry about any masculinizing effects.

Instead, training produces what we would term a ‘high’ amount of testosterone from a physiological perspective, relative to what your body normally produces. For the guys, this means that such training

will help you put on a bit more muscle–just not steroid muscle.

Got it?

Okay, moving on.

At this point, I know you’re thinking, ‘all right Roman, get to the point, what do I do?”

Great question! And the answer is Density Training.

Training in a way that seeks to increase training density is one of the best ways to spur your body to produce and release more testosterone, which will (obviously) help you lose that estrogen related fat storage.

Training density can be defined as the amount of work you do in a given amount of time during a training session. If you want to increase density, you can do more work (sets, reps, or both) in the same amount of time, or do the same amount of work and decrease the time in which you do it.

However, I’ve come up with a method of density training that is specific to radical fat loss, and this means that not only will you produce the testosterone necessary to mitigate your regional fat issue, but you’ll also lose more fat on the whole.

Pretty cool, eh?

So here is how we do it. As an example, let’s pick 3 exercises: the overhead press, the dumbbell row, and the squat.

Setting these up in a circuit fashion, you perform them one after another with little rest in between.

Sounds like just about any circuit training protocol, right?

WRONG.

Instead of having a set number of reps, we’re going to be forming each of these exercises for TIME–you simply have to do as many as you can in a given time period.

To make it easy, let’s say you did each of the above exercises for 30 seconds. In performing such a circuit, your results might look like this:

Overhead Press: 25 pound dumbbells for 20 reps


DB Row: 40 pound dumbbells for 18 reps


Squat: 100 pound barbell for 22 reps

Not too shabby. Now, HERE is where it gets crazy.

We’re going to take advantage of some cool things that happen in the body; triggers that happen which will make you more efficient and more capable.

To do that, we’re going to INCREASE the weight by 10-20% and try to do MORE reps.

Does that seem impossible? It isn’t. Due to neuromuscular junction and neural activation, in almost ALL cases, you’ll be able to do just that.

Your second attempt at that circuit might look like this:

Overhead Press: 30 pound dumbbells for 23 reps

DB Row: 50 pound dumbbells for 20 reps

Squat: 120 pound barbell for 25 reps

I know you’re having trouble believing that outcome is even possible, much less common, but I implore you–try it for yourself!

Density training is fun, challenge-based, burns a heck of a lot of fat, and–most importantly–is one of the best training modalities around for increasing testosterone production and release.

Training for increased workout density will help you shed stubborn lower body fat, and as we’ve mentioned more fat on the whole.


Insulin Resistance vs. IGF-1


As I mentioned in the video above, insulin resistance is combatted very nicely by a hormones called IGF-1, or Insulin-like Growth Factor one.

Producing extra IGF-1 via training will help you (and me!) improve insulin sensitivity and begin to rid ourselves of love handle and lower back fat.

We established yesterday that insulin resistance is very common, particular in people who were previously overweight; so if you have lost some fat and you’re now struggling to lose a bit more, and that fat happens to be in your love handles, I’m willing to bet you’re suffering from some degree of insulin resistance.

In order to get rid of that fat, we have to do fat burning workouts (obviously) and increase insulin sensitivity to the greatest degree that we can through the training effect. To that end, we need to employ what I call Dynamic Training.

Dynamic training is pretty much the over-arching concept of how I design fat loss training programs–it consists of using fast-paced movements to teach the body how to move more efficiently. Combination movements, like the squat-to-press I demonstrated in the above video are also brought to bare.

Because this style of training is extremely expensive in terms of energy (Calorie) demand, by and large dynamic training is excellent as a general fat loss modality.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is the fact that utilizing these types exercises and setting them up in a non-competing circuit fashion under the dynamic training umbrella is an incredible way to produce IGF-1–and that is one of the most effective methods to mitigate insulin sensitivity.

Take it from someone who knows; nothing is better for combating love handle fat than increasing insulin sensitivity–and one of the most effective ways to do that is to produce more IGF-1 through dynamic training.


Cortisol vs. Growth Hormone


And now we come to our final bout of the evening–the main event, as it were.

We have touched on cortisol a bit, so I won’t rehash that too much. Suffice it to say that the higher your cortisol levels are, the more fat you’re going to be storing on your belly. Given that fact, it stands to reason that if you store fat primarily in the abdominal region, you’re a victim of high cortisol.

Never fear, though: Growth Hormone is here.

Also known as the “fountain of youth”, growth hormone is the single most effective compound your body can produce to affect both fat loss and muscle gain. The more you produce, the faster you’ll lose fat and build muscle. It’s just as simple as that.

Now, in addition to that awesome little fact, growth hormone is going to whoop cortisol’s ass and help you burn belly fat.

Also, you’ve probably heard that one of the ways to reduce your cortisol levels is to get more sleep. That’s something you hear on nearly all the medical TV shows. What you don’t hear is the reason.

You see, sleeping is one of the main ways by which your body produces growth hormone. Or, saying

it another way, while you’re asleep is your body’s primary opportunity to produce growth hormone.

And, as I stated previously, growth hormone is one of the main hormones that reduces the effects of cortisol.

Sleep more and you’ll produce more GH.

Produce more GH and you’ll have less cortisol.

Therefore, sleeping more results in lower cortisol levels. Got it?

Of course, I’m not suggesting you can just sleep your way past a fat loss plateau; although getting more sleep does help.

I’m merely illustrating the relationship between cortisol and growth hormone.

Which leads us to the production of growth hormone as it relates to training.

While nearly all forms of exercise produce both growth hormone and cortisol, some types are better than others. Cortisol, as I mentioned in the previous article, is produced heavily in long duration cardio sessions–so let’s not do that.

Instead, we’re going to utilize a style of training that produces more growth hormone.

To do that, we’re going to employ a training method known as Lactic Acid Training.

In order to get to the growth hormone, you must first produce lactic acid.

Lactic acid, by way of a definition, is a byproduct of the chemical reactions that take place during exercise. This substance is wildly irritating to the nerves, and your body responds.

Think of lactic acid as sort of a type of oil igniting fires as it flows through you–your body will call the fire department to put those fires out. And your body will do that by dousing them with soothing, cooling growth hormone.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little simplistic with my metaphor, but it gives you a general idea.

In any event, we must structure training to produce the most lactic acid possible. And, because lactic acid is primarily produce in the concentric (positive) phase of anaerobic exercise, we extend that period, and decrease the eccentric period.

What that means is that we lift the weight very very slowly, and lower it very very quickly so that we can have a fast turn around.

As an example, if you’re doing a squat, you’ll descend to the bottom the squat very quickly (drop down fast, but still controlling the weight somewhat) and then lift the weight sloooowly, oh so sloooowly–over a period of 4-6 seconds.

This will create tremendous amounts of lactic acid, which will intern send GH production into overdrive.

I must mention that training in this way necessitates the use of lighter weights than you normally would on any given exercise.

Therefore, if you’re interested in lactic acid training, I suggest you reduce the weight you’d use on any exercise by about 30% in order to be both safe and effective.

With traditional training methods, you’d lift the weight pretty quickly and lower it slowly. Here, we’re doing the opposite, in order to produce the most lactic acid possible, which will then lead to a corresponding increase in the production of growth hormone.

This will result in not only reducing cortisol, but also reducing cortisol related fat storage in your belly.

On top of it all, it’s great for fat loss in general!


Closing Thoughts


Although the battle against hormone-related fat storage can be a tough one, it’s certainly easier when you yourself have hormones on your side–tougher, stronger, better looking hormones!

Say goodbye to cortisol and belly fat with increase growth hormone production via lactic acid training.

Make lower-body fat (and man boobs) along with estrogen issues history through density training.

And combat the ol’ love handles and insulin resistance with dynamic training and IGF-1 production.

With Final Phase Fat Loss, stubborn becomes easy. Slow becomes fast. And it’s all because every single workout within the Final Phase systems has been specifically created to combat the hormonal reasons you’re NOT losing fat.

Are you ready to start losing fat again?

Are you ready to finally see your abs?

The finish line is just around the corner…

Keep going strong,

John Romaniello

FinalPhaseFatLoss.com

Monday, March 14, 2011

Three Hormones You MUST Address To Target Stubborn Body Part Fat

If you have a problem storing body fat in a specific area of your body; then listen up?


I bet you have ONE of three problems when it comes to fat storage...

You either:

a) Carry your body fat in your lower abdomen?

b) Carry your body fat in your lower half?

c) Carry your body fat on your lower back?

Whatever the case, it's because of ONE of these three hormones and once you learn how to control each one, you will literally see the last few pounds of stubborn fat FALL OFF.

Whatever the case, it is because of one of three specific hormones that are not being controlled, but no worries it can be.

Today I want to bring to you the three hormones you must address to target stubborn body part fat, so you can lose the final 10-15 pounds of body fat. Energy in vs Energy out can only help for so long.


My friend John Romaniello, one the top fat loss experts in the industry and fitness model, who has been getting a lot of media attention lately, (he was just on ABC News), has been talking on the subject and put together an informative article and video for you.

Read it below, understand it and relate which hormone is related to which problem are on your body and tomorrow, we can talk about the solution to these problems.

Watch the video click link => Three Hormones You MUST Address To Target Stubborn Body Part Fat or http://finalphasefatloss.com/2.0/main/problem.html

Three Hormones You MUST Address To Target Stubborn Body Part Fat


By guest contributor, John Romaniello, New York City’s Premier Fat Loss Expert


It seems like most fat loss programs focus on one main thing: to burn fat you have to expend more energy than you take in.

Such a focus makes sense, of course, because if there is a universal truth to fat loss, that’s it.

This is what we call “energy balance.” In order to lose fat, you have to create what we call “energy debt” or“energy deficit” –that is, eliminate the balance and instead be on the negative side of the balance scales.

That works very well for “beginning” fat, of course. However, success doesn’t last forever.

As anyone who’s ever been on a diet and exercise program of any kind can tell you, at first it’s pretty smooth sailing.

Eat less, do more, lose fat.

And then it stops—and usually, stops suddenly, as those same people can also tell you.

Of course, the first instinct people have is a very natural one: to simply do more of what was bringing them success in the first place.

So they eat even less and do even more.

And…have no results.

You see, what these people fail to realize (and what most fat loss programs fail to address) is that:

After a certain point, simple energy deficit no longer covers the tab.
It becomes more about what type of deficit. Speaking generally, you actually have to eat closer to maintenance calorie levels (instead of far below) and expend more Calories through exercise.


Even then, things don’t always happen as quickly as you want.

You see, once you’ve hit a fat loss plateau—or when you’re trying to lose the last few pounds, like I was when I was dieting for the beach house—fat loss becomes a bit less about energy balance a lot more about hormones.


Some hormones, such as leptin, actually control the majority of your general fat loss efforts and all the factors thereof: appetite, satiety, “starvation mode.” However, assuming you’re eating enough and trying to create an energy deficit through training, leptin isn’t the issue.

In Final Phase Fat Loss, you’re never on a severe diet, so you don’t have to worry about leptin.

There are other hormones which are a bit more insidious in their effects on your physique. They don’t just determine IF you gain fat—they determine where you gain it, and whether you’re able to lose it from those areas.

Those “problem” areas on your body are there for a reason.

“Problem areas” are created by your hormonal environment, and it’s your hormones that force your body to have particular fat storage patterns.

In this article, we’re going to talk about the three most common types of regional fat storage, and the hormones that cause them.


Baby Got Back: Low Body Fat Storage

One of the most common types of fat storage that we see in women is the “pear shape” –fairly thin on top but heavy on the bottom (and IN the bottom, if you know what I mean).


This is so common that we often refer to a “pear shape” as a body type. This is true to an extent, but this type of fat storage is also heavily dependent on the female sex hormone estrogen. This is one reason why you see this type of fat storage primarily in women.

High levels of estrogen are awesome for enjoying Grey’s Anatomy and makin’ babies, but terrible for fat loss, which makes it obvious that women usually have more trouble losing fat  than men.

However, anyone—male or female—with high estrogen levels will have trouble losing fat, especially from the lower body. In essence, the higher your estrogen levels, the greater the likelihood you’ll store fat in your lower body; mainly in the hips and thighs.

And yes, it IS possible for men to have high estrogen levels. Unfortunately, outside of having to deal with a declined rate of fat loss and lower body fat, these guys ALSO have to deal with the ignominy of man-boobs.

On the whole, estrogen related fat storage is a pain in the ass (get it!?) but it is not completely unmanageable. You see, you can offset this phenomenon with certain types of training.

In addition to helping you lose fat stored in the lower body, these specifically designed workouts will also be great for fat loss in general. Essentially, they’re great for burning calories and for shedding lower body fat through estrogen management—combine the two and the result is rapid fat loss, with a heavy concentration on lower body fat stores.

No worries, ladies (and gents!), I’m here to help.



Muffin Tops: No Love for the Love Handles


Probably my least favorite incarnation of regional fat storage is love handle and lower back fat. This is, of course, because I personally suffer from such.

Even when I am in lean condition—I’m talking shredded pretty much everywhere else— I store some fat in my love handles and lower back. It used to take me an extra 3 weeks to get rid of it.

The reason I tend to store fat this way is because of how my body reacts to certain hormones, and because of the effect those hormones have on fat storage.

When I was a fat kid and ate lots and lots of goodies, I screwed by my endocrine system a wee bit. Nothing too serious, but a decade of eating rapidly digesting carbs followed by…well, followed by more rapidly digesting carbs made my insulin spike and crash and spike and crash all over the place.

On top of making me fat in that immediacy, it also completely had a pretty negative effect on the way my body processes and handles insulin period.

The degree to which you are able to process and respond to glucose (sugar) in your body is called insulin sensitivity. The higher this is, the easier and more efficiently your body utilizes carbohydrates for energy, and the less like you are to store carbs as fat.

On the other hand, insulin resistance is the opposite: you don’t deal well with carbs, and anything other than a low carb diet pretty much means you’re gonna hang on to some fat.

And, to make matters worse, as I mentioned previously, there are regional effects. It’s been shown that people who store fat in the love handles are generally very insulin resistant—and therefore it can be reasoned that insulin resistance leads to love handle and lower back fat storage.

Which means, of course, that insulin resistance makes it very hard to lose fat from that area as well.

I’m sure many of you out there who have been heavy before are experiencing much the same problems that I used to have.

The good news is that insulin resistance (and the resulting regional fatness) can be mitigated with certain types of training. For example, with careful planning and selection of exercises, you can start to whittle away at love handle and lower back fat while you increase insulin sensitivity.

The better news is that I’ve figured out a specific series of training sessions that will do just that.


The One, The Only: Belly Fat


Without question, the most common type of regional fat storage is belly fat. If this isn’t you, it’s someone you know.

Abdominal fat storage obviously has a lot to do with your diet and overall body fat level; that should be obvious but it never hurts to touch on it.

Outside of that, it’s hormones baby, hormones.

The one we’re talking about here is cortisol. This hormone has been in the media a lot the past few years, and I’ve talked about it a bit, so by now you know that cortisol is sometimes called a “stress” hormone.

That moniker is more appropriate than you know.

Basically, that means your body will produce cortisol (and encourage belly fat storage) under conditions of nearly any type of stress—both emotional and physical. So to combat cortisol, it’s not enough to just get more sleep or stop drunk dialing your ex-girlfriend. (Although that helps, I’ve heard.)

Instead, it is of far greater effect to combat cortisol through resistance training.

Now, if you’re observant, you may have noticed what seems to be a contradiction.

As I said, cortisol is also produced through physical stress. In fact, training is actually one of the primary means through which your body will produce this sneaky little hormone. Additionally, because cortisol has been linked to overtraining and has a catabolic (muscle wasting) effect, producing too much of it through training is certainly counterproductive.

It’s important to note, however, that long duration cardio and extended lifting sessions are what produce the most cortisol, and I always recommend against those.

Instead, short, intense training sessions using a particular type of training modality will help to counteract the effects of cortisol; both the muscle-wasting effect, and the cortisol related belly fat storage.

I’ll share that with you tomorrow.

In fact, tomorrow I’ll be sharing another entire article with you. In that article, I’ll teach you how to fight hormones with hormones. I’ll show you how to use specific types of training to combat the nefarious three hormonal nemeses by producing hormones that offset the effects of estrogen, insulin and cortisol.

Keep going strong,

John Romaniello

FinalPhaseFatLoss.com

Saturday, March 12, 2011

SPARTACUS FAT BURNING WORKOUT #1

You will perform the Spartacus Workout as a circuit, doing one set of each exercise in succession. Each exercise is timed for 45 seconds. You will do as many reps as you can, in that duration (with perfect form), then move on to the next station in the circuit. You'll get 15 seconds to transition between stations, and then move onto the next exercise.


After you complete all 10 exercises or one circuit in succession you will rest for 1 minute. Then repeat 1 to 2 more times. That is what is called a 45-15 Interval workout (45 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest).




EXERCISE LIST

ALTERNATE KETTLEBELL SWINGS


SIDE TO SIDE PUSH UPS

SUMO SQUAT JACKS

AB KNEE IN AND OUTS

BENT OVER ALT DUMBELL ROWS

GOBLET SQUAT

SWISS BALL V- UPS

KB HAND TO HAND SUMO DEADLIFTS

WIDE LEG RUNS

BURPEES WITH SIDE PLANK RAISE


GET YOUR FREE 4 WEEK SPARTACUS WORKOUT PROGRAM AT http://www.spartacusworkout.com/


GET YOUR GYMBOSS TIMER FOR 19.95 - http://tinyurl.com/yllwjdt

Friday, March 11, 2011

HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS WITH ROB RICHES PART 2 OF 4

Here is Part 2 of my 4 Part SeriesHow to Get six Pack Abs with my man Rob Riches.  If you missed Part 1 of this series, please CLICK HERE first before you watch Part 2. I worked with Rob on the Battle Bag Workout DVD Shoot and was truly amazed at his abs and knowledge so listen and apply his techniques

In part 6 of this 9 part video short series, Rob demonstrates a variations of how to strengthen and condition the muscles that help assist and support in rotation and lateral flexion - the obliques




Tuesday, March 8, 2011

FUNK'S OATMEAL PROTEIN BLUEBERRY PANCAKES

This  recipe was a weekly staple in my nutrition while training and dropping weight.  Great protien rich rich, trasty blueberry pancakes




FUNK'S OATMEAL PROTEIN BLUEBERRY PANCAKES


• 1 Cup Large Flake Oatmeal (real stuff)

• 1 Carton of Egg Whites

• 1 Scoop Vanilla Milky Whey Protein

• 1 Cup (Serving) Blueberry Sauce (Apple Sauce)

• Cinnamon for flavour

• 1 Cup Blueberries -- Frozen or Fresh



Mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and let sit overnight so the flakes soften and the flavours seep together.

In the morning, or whenever you want to eat the pancakes, use your ladle to scoop up the mixture to make 1 pancake.

Heat the stove to medium and cook mixture for approx 5 minutes or to your liking.

VOILA!

Eat this for your breakfast, lunch, dinner or for your mid morning or afternoon snack.

Monday, March 7, 2011

BURN MORE FAT DOING LESS CARDIO WITH INTERVAL TRAINING

BEST CARDIO WORKOUT FOR FAT LOSS

There is nothing more frustrating than watching countless people at the gym wasting their time doing 45-60 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike or stair climber.


It’s amazing how many people think they are actually burning fat and calories by doing something that is so ineffective. Let me start by letting you know that there is a way ou can achieve 9x more effective at burning fat results by changing up your cardio and intensity.

The key is doing a workout that allows you to burn calories and fat hours after you have finished.

Imagine being able to burn fat 36 hours after your workout by cutting your cardio workout in half?

Well you can by using the HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training method. This method of training, when done correctly, produces what is called EPOC (Excess Post Workout Oxygen Consumption) which oxygen (EPOC) used in the processes that restore the body to a resting state and adapt it to the exercise just performed. These include: hormone balancing, replenishment of fuel stores, cellular repair, innervations and anabolism.






FUNK INTERVAL CARDIO WORKOUT


During our training, Angela and I would do the following workout on our cardio and conditioning days which was twice per week. We still had to do the regular runs 5-6 times per week, but these were the interval training days.


Warm Up

3-5 km runs on the treadmill

10 rounds of interval training on the Stationary Bike:

5 Minutes: Level 1-4: Warm Up
30 seconds: Level 8 at above100 rpm
1:00 minutes: Level 1 at above 80 rpm
30 seconds: Level 9 at above100 rpm
1:00 minutes: Level 1 at above 80 rpm
30 seconds: Level 10 at above 100 rpm
1:00 minutes: Level 1 at above 80 rpm
30 seconds: Level 11 at above100 rpm
1:00 minutes: Level 1 at above 80 rpm
30 seconds: Level 12 at above 100 rpm
1:00 minutes: Level 1 at above 80 rpm
Repeat 5 more times for 10 total

Stretch

Add this workout two times per week when you are training for a fight or three times a week if you want to burn fat and lose weight

Below I have posted the “7 Signs You Are Doing Too Much Cardio” or useless anyway, so check out if you qualify



THE 7 SIGNS YOU ARE DOING TOO MUCH CARDIO

I hate long bouts of cardio on machines in the gym. I see people on those things for 60 minutes and they barely break a sweat and those that do sweat, just don’t seem to ever burn the fat fast enough.



My friend Craig Ballantyne of http://www.turbulencetraining.com/ couldn’t have said it better when he described the "THE 7 SIGNS YOU ARE DOING TOO MUCH CARDIO"

You know you wasting your time doing too much useless cardio when:

#1 - You have to spend 5 minutes before your workout flipping through all the magazines in the gym to find one you haven’t read before.

#2 - You know the other cardio addicts on the machines beside you (that you talk to everyday) better than you know your own friends.

#3 - You know exactly how many calories you burn per minute on every machine in the gym (and you use that information to justify every calorie you eat.)

#4 - You hate doing it and dread your workouts more than a trip to the dentist.

#5 - The only thing you are losing is precious time - and not belly fat.

#6 - You go to the gym to watch your favourite television shows while doing cardio.

#7 - You’re getting overuse injuries from repetitive motion because you keep doing the same activity over and over again everyday.

Funk

SPARTACUS WORKOUT FOR MMA AND FAT LOSS

Awesome 10 exercise workout that focuses on conditioning, cardio, explosiveness, strength, muscular endurance, plyometrics, core and abs strength, lower body, power and all out fat burning!



Perform one set of each exercise in succession. Each exercise is timed for 45 seconds. You will do as many reps as you can, in that duration, then move on to the next exercise. You get 15 seconds to transition between stations, and then move onto the next exercise.


Take 2 minute break and finish 3 rounds

SPARTACUS MMA WORKOUT 

1. ALTERNATE KETTLEBELL CLEANS (do not break you wrist like I did during your cleans – keep them straight – I had wrist problems)


2. DIVE BOMBERS


3. ADVANCED TUCK JUMPS – ARMS FOLDED ON CHEST


4. ABS SCISSORS


5. DUMBBELL CLEAN AND PRESS


6. SIDE LUNGES


7. SWISS/STABILITY BALL AB ROLL UPS


8. MEDICINE BALL SLAMS


9. RUN AND GUN WITH SPRAWL


10.BOSU BALL ALTERNATE KNEE STRIKES

Get your free 4 week Spartacus workout program at http://www.spartacusworkout.com
Get your Gymboss timer at – http://tinyurl.com/funk-gymboss
FunkMMA Strength and Conditioning Videos Website – http://www.funkmma.com
Funk Roberts Fitness – http://www.funkrobertsfitness.com

Thursday, March 3, 2011

HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS - ROB RICHES PART 1 OF 4

It's with great pleasure to bring you WBFF World champion fitness model, competitor and magazine cover model Rob Riches.  Rob and I worked together on the Battle Bag DVD Shoot this past weekend.

With March being Funk's Fat Loss Month, I bring to you a 4 Part - How to Get Six Pack Abs Series taken from Rob Riches 9 Part DVD. Learn how to do each exercise properly, and feel muscles that you've never felt worked before.

Today I am posting 4 videos to introduce Rob Riches, his ab workout series and the first ab exercise to help you get those six pack abs. Make sure you watch all of the videos. There is some incredible information.

FUNK AND ROB RICHES AT THE BATTLE BAG SHOOT

Funk introduces you to Rob Riches while at the Battle Bag DVD Shoot. Rob tells you about the five "S" to be a successful MMA Athlete.







OVERVIEW OF THE HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS DVD PROGRAM


For the first time, champion fitness model and competitor, Rob Riches, reveals his entire ab workout in full detail, showing the top exercises to strengthen and condition the entire core and abdominal region. Learn how to do each exercise properly, and feel muscles that you've never felt worked before.






HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS - PART 1


In part 1 of this 9 part video short Rob shows the different muscle groups that make up the elusive six pack, and explains why some people may find it easier to show them than others.









HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS - CRUNCHES


In part 5 of this 9 part video short Rob demonstrates a few variations on one of the most effective and easiest exercises to perform to work and develop the entire abdominal region.







STAY TUNED NEXT WEEK FOR MORE AB EXERCISES




Learn how to do each exercise properly, and feel muscles that you've never felt worked before. If you only take away half of what is in this DVD, then you will end up with a six-pack like never before!

You can order the full 60 minute DVD showing all the exercises in full here: http://www.robrichesstore.com/abssession.html

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

FUNK'S GET RIPPED AND LOSE WEIGHT NUTRITION PLAN

FUNK'S SAMPLE NUTRITION PLAN TO LOSE WEIGHT

In the quest to lose weight, get ripped, make weight for a fight or lean out, nutrition is 75% to reaching that goal. Don’t get me wrong, the more metabolic resistance training you do, the healthier your heart will be, your bones will be stronger, you will burn way more fat and you will actually have muscles.


So, during my training for my Muay Thai fight, I thought I would shoot this video of a typical nutrition day for me, but also wanted to show you that for under $31.00 per day, you can eat incredibly healthy.

This video is RAW, but I am sure you will get the picture. If you are an active male or female that trains with high intensity then you will have NO PROBLEM getting ripped and losing weight with a typical nutrition day as I show you.

Believe me it works, I actually went from 196lbs-178lbs in just over 7 weeks and maintained muscularity and strength…I was ripped! The healthy nutrition fuelled my workouts and training but also helped me to recover as well.

In this post, you get a sample 3 day meal plan, I have giving you my nutrition strategies and what NOT to eat so check it out!







SAMPLE 3 DAY GET RIPPED NUTRITION PLAN


• AFTER EACH TRAINING SESSION I HAVE A PROTIEN SMOOTHIE

• DRINK WATER WITH EVER MEAL AND IN BETWEEN



DAY 1

MEAL 1 OATMEAL AND PROTIEN POWDER WITH FRUIT

MEAL 2 EGG WHITES AND EGG NOODLES (MIXED) - CHEESE

MEAL 3 CHICKEN AND SALAD

MEAL 4 LIBERTE GREEK YOGURT WITH FRUIT AND ALMONDS

MEAL 5 RICE AND CHICKEN WITH VEGGIES

MEAL 6 COTTAGE CHEESE and STRAWBERRIES



DAY 2

MEAL 1 ENGLISH MUFFINS WITH EGG WHITES AND CREAM CHEESE - TOMATOES

MEAL 2 VEGGIE PLATE WITH 3 CABALSO SAUSAGE SLICES

MEAL 3 TURKEY SANDWHICH

MEAL 4 FRUIT PLATE WITH PROTEIN POWDER

MEAL 5 POTATO (SWEET POTATO) SPINACH SALAD

MEAL 6 LIBERTE GREEK YOGURT WITH ALMONDS AND BANANA



DAY 3

MEAL 1 PROTEIN SMOOTHIE - MADE WITH WATER MIXED WITH FRUIT

MEAL 2 RICE AND EGG WHITES

MEAL 3 PASTA WITH RED SUACE AND BROCOLLI

MEAL 4 TUNA WITH RED KIDNEY BEANS

MEAL 5 LEAN RED MEAT - SWEET POTATO - VEGGIES

MEAL 6 PROTEIN POWDER MIXED WITH WATER - CHOCOLATE




FUNK’S NUTRITION STRATEGIES

There are so many different diets out there that ell you so many things. They try to complicate it for you, Low carb, low fat, high protein, high fibre, Chinese tea secrets, 2 day fasts, detox diets…. It’s all WAY too confusing for new dieters when in fact it is very easy once you understand it.

They key to nutrition is to “Keep it Simple”. Eat clean, raw, real healthy foods as much as possible. More vegetable, fruits, lean meat and fish, quality fats, grains and drink the hell out of water!

Obviously if you are a women you are serving size will be much smaller. Even my Fiancé Angela would eat like this and she is as fit as a fiddle.

This is NOT a nutrition sample for a man or woman who does not work out or is not highly active.

So how does it work, or what are the rules…I can simplify it by giving you Funk’s Nutrition Commandments



FUNK’S 10 NUTRITION STRATEGIES

1. Every meal must have PROTEIN and CARB!

2. EAT A MEAL AFTER YOU TRAIN - You must eat a meal within an hour after your training

3. PROTEIN SHAKE - Try to get protein shake/smoothie immediately after training

4. PREPARE YOUR MEALS – You have to have food ready to eat at all times, especially if you are on the road, bring food with you.

5. DRINK WATER with all meals, in between and during training

6. Eat as much REAL FOODS as possible – eat real fruits, veggies, lean meats, grains and healthy fats

7. EAT EVERY 3 HOURS – Try to eat every 3 hours. Don’t be afraid to add another small healthy meal/snack if you feel like you have no energy or if you have a long day.

8. EAT YOUR CARBS - Carbs gives you energy, so you need to use them to get you through your workouts – don’t be afraid of carbs but make sure you earn them!

9. DO NOT STARVE - When you starve your body will hold onto every last bit of fat so that it is protected – It’s the opposite of what you want

10. GIVE YOURSELF A CHEAT DAY - Give yourself one day each week to eat what you want – ONLY ONE DAY! The rest of the week, EAT CLEAN!



WHAT NOT TO EAT LIST IF YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT, GET RIPPED OR CUT TO MAKE WEIGHT

Foods and Drinks you MUST stay away from if you want to lose weight

1. Soda, Diet Sodas and Fruit Juices (tons of sugar and lots of empty calories)

2. Processed Foods

3. Packaged or Frozen Foods

4. Alcohol (empty calories and usually leads to bad food choices when drinking)

5. Sugar

6. Fast Food (McDonalds)

7. Creamy salad dressings (Ranch, 1000 Island, etc.)

8. Muffins

Cut all these foods out of your nutrition plan and diet and you will forever be FREE of FAT!