Nutrition and Health

Nutrition, Health and Diet.

Nutrition and Health header image 2

Nutrition Or Training

December 31st, 2007 by Brian Dickey



skyrocket your weight loss
Get Your Free Copy Now

Nutrition Or Training - Which Is More Important?
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.burnthefat.com

Legendary bodybuilding trainer Vince, “The Iron Guru” Gironda was famous for saying, “Bodybuilding is 80% nutrition!” But is this really true or is it just another fitness and bodybuilding myth passed down like gospel without ever being questioned? Which is really more important, nutrition or training? This IS an interesting question and I believe there is a definite answer:

The first thing I would say is that you cannot separate nutrition and training. The two work together synergistically. Regardless of your goals - gaining muscle, losing fat, athletic conditioning, whatever -you will get less than-optimal or even non-existent results without paying attention paid to both.

In fact, I like to look at gaining muscle or losing fat in three parts - weight training, cardio training and nutrition - with each part like a leg of a three legged stool. pull ANY one of the legs off the stool, and guess what happens?

In reality, it’s impossible to put a specific percentage on which is more important - how could we possibly know such a number to the digit?

Nutrition and training are both important, but at certain stages of your training progress, I do believe placing more attention on one component over the other can create larger improvements. Let me explain:

If you’re a beginner and you don’t posses nutritional knowledge, then mastering nutrition is far more important than training and should become your number one priority. I say this because improving a poor diet can create rapid, quantum leaps in fat loss and muscle building progress.

For example, if you’ve been skipping meals and only eating 2 times per day, jumping your meal frequency up to 5 or 6 smaller meals a day will transform your physique very rapidly.

If you’re still eating lots of processed fats and refined sugars, cutting them out and replacing them with good fats like the omega threes found in fish and unrefined foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains will make an enormous and noticeable difference in your physique very quickly.

If your diet is low in protein, simply adding a complete protein food like chicken breast, fish or egg whites at each meal will muscle you up fast.

No matter how hard you train or what type of training routine you’re on, it’s all in vain if you don’t provide yourself with the right nutritional support.

In beginners (or in advanced trainees who are still eating poorly), these changes in diet are more likely to result in great improvements than a change in training.

The muscular and nervous systems of a beginner are unaccustomed to exercise. Therefore, just about any training program can cause muscle growth and strength development to occur because it’s all a “shock” to the untrained body.

You can almost always find ways to tweak your nutrition to higher and higher levels, but once you’ve mastered all the nutritional basics, then further improvements in your diet don’t have as great of an impact as those initial important changes…

Eating more than six meals will have minimal effect. Eating more protein ad infinitum won’t help. Once you’re eating low fat, going to zero fat won’t help more - it will probably hurt. If you’re eating a wide variety of foods and taking a good multi vitamin/mineral, then more supplements probably wont help much either. If you’re already eating natural complex carbs and lean proteins every three hours, there’s not too much more you can do other than continue to be consistent day after day…

At this point, as an intermediate or advanced trainee who has the nutrition in place, changes in your training become much more important, relatively speaking. Your training must become downright scientific.

Except for the changes that need to be made between an “off season” muscle growth diet and a “precontest” cutting diet, the diet won’t and can’t change much - it will remain fairly constant.

But you can continue to pump up the intensity of your training and improve the efficiency of your workouts almost without limit. In fact, the more advanced you become, the more crucial training progression and variation becomes because the well-trained body adapts so quickly.

According to powerlifter Dave Tate, an advanced lifter may adapt to a routine within 1-2 weeks. That’s why elite lifters rotate exercises constantly and use as many as 300 different variations on exercises.

Strength coach Ian King says that unless you’re a beginner, you’ll adapt to any training routine within 3-4 weeks. Coach Charles Poliquin says that you’ll adapt within 5-6 workouts.

So, to answer the question, while nutrition is ALWAYS critically important, it’s more important to emphasize for the beginner (or the person whose diet is still a “mess”), while training is more important for the advanced person… (in my opinion).

It’s not that nutrition ever ceases to be important, the point is, further improvements in nutrition won’t have as much impact once you already have all the fundamentals in place.

Once you’ve mastered nutrition, then it’s all about keeping that nutrition consistent and progressively increasing the efficiency and intensity of your workouts, and mastering the art of planned workout variation, which is also known as “periodization.”

The bottom line: There’s a saying among strength coaches and personal trainers…

“You can’t out-train a lousy diet!”

If your nutrition program is your weakest area, either because you’re just starting out or you simply don’t have the nutritional knowledge you know you need to get results, then be sure to take a look at the Burn The Fat program at: www.burnthefat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.burnthefat.com

If you liked this post, buy me a beer. (Suggested: $3 a beer or $7.5 for a pitcher)

Book Mark it-> del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Window Live | Tailrank | Furl | Netscape | Yahoo | BlinkList

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!


Add to Google

Stumble it!

Tags:   · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 3 Comments

Leave A Comment

3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Diet Foods » Nutrition Or Training Jan 1, 2008 at 9:17 am

    [...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by admin [...]

  • 2 Peter Jan 2, 2008 at 6:37 am

    Hi , A fitness trainer can assist you by discussing what you want to achieve from your efforts. Some people want to loose weight, some want to gain and some others want to build their muscles. There are specific exercise programs only a Fitness Trainer can give you correct training.

  • 3 Exercise Physique Jan 2, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    [...] Nutrition Or Training [...]

  • Mission Abdominals

      • In this candid and revealing interview, David Grisaffi, an in-the-trenches fat loss and abdominal training expert and author of the best-selling ebook Firm and Flatten Your Abs, interviews fat loss expert and best selling author Tom Venuto. These fat loss pros discuss what it really takes to uncover your abdominals, and the reasons why it takes more than hundreds of situps and crunches to succeed. Some of the facts Tom reveals will surprise you because you won’t hear them from most other experts in the weight loss and fitness industry. Why? Because they either don’t know or they have a vested interest in keeping the truth hidden from you. In this revealing discussion you'll learn top secret ab training techniques and the truth about diet scams and rip offs! To download and save onto your hard drive - Right click the link below and 'save target as.' Mission Abdominals

  • How To Repair A Damaged Metabolism

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com If you've caused metabolic damage as a result of following starvation diets or losing weight too rapidly in the past, it can be extremely difficult to achieve any further fat loss at all. The good news is, metabolic damage can be repaired. All it takes is the right combination of metabolism stimulating exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition (NOT just a diet), all done consistently over time. The big irony is that most of the diet programs that claim to help you get rid of excess weight, only end up making it harder for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing diets and not enough exercise (almost never any weight training). It may take a little longer if you have really messed things up with severe starvation dieting in the past, especially if you've lost a lot of lean body mass, but it is never hopeless. Anyone can increase their metabolism. Most people get an almost immediate boost in metabolic rate when they start the Burn The Fat program. However, the results are not going to be "overnight." Give it a little time... Within 3 weeks your metabolism will already be more efficient. Within 6-8 weeks, it's burning hot. Give me 12 weeks of consistent diligent effort, sticking with all the metabolism boosting strategies I teach, and your metabolism really will become like a turbo charged engine, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. What’s most important for upping your metabolism is CONSISTENCY in applying the Burn The Fat nutrition and training principles every single day. That includes: Meal frequency: eat 5-6 small meals per day Meal timing: eat approximately every 3 hours, with a substantial breakfast and a substantial post workout meal. Sufficient Caloric Intake: maintain a small calorie deficit and avoid starvation-level diets (suggested safe levels for fat

  • 2 Cardio Mistakes You’re Still Making

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com The controversies over cardio for fat loss are endless: steady state versus intervals, fed versus fasted, long and easy versus short and intense, and so on. Obviously there is a lot of interest in cardio training and how to do it right. Sadly, most people are still doing 2 things terribly wrong and it’s killing their results…… As best as I can figure, there are two major reasons why people are still mucking up their cardio programs for fat loss. REASON #1: NOT ENOUGH FOCUS ON TOTAL CALORIES BURNED Most people aren’t burning enough darn calories. Why? Well, I guess they are too busy worrying about the “proper” type of exercise (which machine or activity), the mode (steady state or intervals), the “optimal” ratio of intervals, or the “best” duration. Some people coast along on the treadmill at 2.3 miles per hour or some similar sloth-like pace and they think that just by hitting a TIME goal, such as 45 or 60 minutes, that with “X” duration completed, they are assured to get the results they want. On the other extreme, we have folks who have found or created some mega-intense, super-duper short training protocol like the “4-minute wonder workout from Japan.” Just because the workout is high in intensity and it is performed in intervals, they too think they are assured to get the results they want. What’s missing in both cases is the realization that total fat loss over time is a function of total calories burned over time (assuming you don’t blow your diet, of course). AND… Total calories burned is a product of INTENSITY times DURATION, not intensity OR duration. Too much focus on one variable at the exclusion of the other can lead to a less than optimal total calorie burn and disappointing results.

  • Post Workout Drinks And fat Loss

      • QUESTION: Dear Tom: I came across a piece of muscle-building advice written on a white board at a Bally's fitness club, posted outside the "advanced" personal training station. I took a picture and attached it to this email. As you can see, it said to ingest whey protein and 60-70 grams of *simple sugars* 30-45 minutes after your workout. Is there any truth at all to this advice? I take particular exception to point #1... I can't believe eating 60-70 grams of simple sugar at any time can be good for you! If this is indeed bad advice, I will write Bally's corporate and tell them to stop hurting the public with bad advice from their personal trainers. What do you think? thanks, Doug ANSWER: It does seem counter intuitive, but believe it or not, that is standard, and science-based advice for post workout nutrition. Post workout nutrition has been well researched and there is evidence that taking in simple carbs - usually glucose or dextrose with maltodextrin (plus whey protein) in the form of a post workout drink - is an ideal post workout recovery "meal." The part about "waiting" 30-45 minutes is the part that is questionable, but that may have been a simple oversight... I think what they meant was to ingest it "within" 30-45 minutes. Most of the research says that the sooner after the workout you take post workout nutrition, the better (which is why you see so many people these days chugging down workout drinks while still at the gym... in the locker room, etc.) That said, here is where I will get controversial, because almost everything you read and everyone you talk to these days tries to convince you that if you're not drinking a post workout

  • Steady State Cardio 5 X More Effective Than HIIT????

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT for short, has been promoted as one of the most effective training methods ever to come down the pike, both for fat loss and for cardiovascular fitness. One of the most popular claims for HIIT is that it burns “9 times more fat” than conventional (steady state) cardio. This figure was extracted from a study performed by Angelo Tremblay at Laval University in 1994. But what if I told you that HIIT has never been proven to be 9 times more effective than regular cardio… What if I told you that the same study actually shows that HIIT is 5 times less effective than steady state cardio??? Read on and see the proof for yourself. “There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.” - Mark Twain In 1994, a study was published in the scientific journal Metabolism by Angelo Tremblay and his team from the Physical Activity Sciences Laboratory at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. Based on the results of this study, you hear personal trainers across the globe claiming that “HIIT burns 9 times more fat than steady state cardio.” This claim has often been interpreted by the not so scientifically literate public as meaning something like this: If you burned 3 pounds of fat in 15 weeks on steady state cardio, you would now burn 27 pounds of fat in 15 weeks (3 lbs X 9 times better = 27 lbs). Although it’s usually not stated as such, frankly, I think this is what some trainers want you to believe, because the programs that some trainers promote are based on convincing you of the vast superiority of HIIT and the “uselessness” of low intensity exercise. Indeed, higher intensity exercise is more effective and time efficient than lower intensity exercise. The question

  • Abdominal Training Secrets - The Interview David Grisaffi’s BIG 5 For Abs And Core

      • Abdominal Training Secrets - The Interview David Grisaffi's BIG 5 For Abs And Core Click Here To Go To The Interview Prone Ball Roll Place your breast bone or sternum on the apex of the Swiss ball and wrap your arms around the ball. Slowly roll side to side, holding your end position. As you gain more strength and stability you will be able to roll farther out and hold the position longer. Supine Lateral Ball Roll This exercise improves many things in your body at one time. Lie on your back on a Swiss ball. Position your body so that your head is comfortably supported on the ball, as well as the area between your shoulder blades. Extend you hip upward until your knees , hips and shoulders are all in the same horizontal plane. Place your tongue on the roof of you mouth just behind your front teeth, a position that can be found by swallowing. Extend your arms outward and turn the hands so the palms are facing upwards. Place a dowel rod in your hands Begin to roll laterally. Throughout the exercise, hold the alignment of you body exactly as it was before moving, with the exception that you may move you feet in a small shuffle keep them in alignment with the body as you shift laterally. Go only to the point that you can hold the alignment for the count of "one thousand and One", then return to the opposite side, repeating the sequence. Swiss Ball Side Flexion The Side Sit requires simultaneous contraction of the internal and external Obliques, as well as the quadratus lumborum. This exercise is used to improve core strength and your back. Place a Swiss ball under your hip and anchor one or

  • 1,000 Sit Ups And Crunches A Day And Still No Abs

      • QUESTION: Dear Tom: I have been working out for around a year now and I cannot get my lower abs into any type of shape. Despite doing 900 various crunches, ab roller, and 100 sit-ups four days a week, along with running and my regular workout on the weights, I still have a tire around my waist. What else can I do? ANSWER: "What should I do to get abs?" is still one of the most frequently asked questions I receive out of the 7,000+ emails that come into my office every week. Although the question is often phrased differently, my answer is always the same: Seeing your abs, or any other muscle group, for that matter - is almost entirely the result of having low body fat levels. You get low body fat from proper diet (as well as cardio and strength training), not from doing hundreds of ab exercises every day. You didn't mention whether you knew your body fat level or not. My guess is that it may seem like your lower ab muscles are "hard to develop," but it's not really an issue of "muscle development" at all, you simply have too much body fat and are storing it in your lower abdominal region more readily than other parts of your body and you can't see the muscles through the fat. Most people don't have their fat distributed evenly throughout their bodies. Each of us inherits a genetically determined and hormonally-influenced pattern of fat storage just as we inherit our eye or hair color. In other words, the fat seems to "stick" to certain areas more than others. Men often tend to store fat more readily in the lower abdominal region (the "pot belly", "spare tire", "beer

  • Your Fitness Future Foretold: 20 Predictions for the New Year

      • By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com Happy New Year! In this article, I'm going to predict your future and forecast exactly what kind of results you're going to get in the next 12 months. Sylvia Browne, step aside... I'm pretty good at this. Several years ago, a public relations firm in New York City asked me to write an article for one of their publications about fitness trends and predictions for the coming year. It turned out that my "crystal ball" was pretty darn accurate. I nailed most of the predictions I made about aerobics classes, yoga, core training, "holistic" approaches, online personal training technology, the baby boomer market, increasing obesity and many other subjects. I do confess, it wasn't that difficult, because instead of just guessing, I actually did some research on industry statistics and I also had some "inside insights" because I'd been a health club manager for so many years and was privy to fitness business trends. This year, instead of making predictions for the whole fitness industry, what if I could take out my crystal ball again and predict with 99% precision exactly what kind of results you will achieve with your body by the end of the year? Well, no problem, I can do that too! I would claim that I have some kind of "gift" for this, but to be honest, you and I don't need to be psychic to make predictions like these. There are two things you can always count on: (1) Nature's laws of cause and effect, and (2) human nature. On that basis, here are my 20 fitness predictions for the new year: I PREDICT that if you can reach into your pocket on any day this year and pull out a card or piece of paper with all your body and fitness goals written on it in vivid detail, the odds

  • How Do Bodybuilders And Fitness Models Get So Lean?

      • QUESTION: "Tom, on your www.burnthefat.com website, you wrote: 'Who better to model than bodybuilders and fitness competitors? No athletes in the world get as lean as quickly as bodybuilders and fitness competitors. The transformations they undergo in 12 weeks prior to competition would boggle your mind! Only ultra-endurance athletes come close in terms of low body fat levels, but endurance athletes like triathaletes and marathoners often get lean at the expense of chewing up all their muscle. Some of them are nothing but skin and bone.’" "There seems to be a contradiction unless I'm missing something. Why do bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to go through a 12 week 'transformation' prior to every event instead of staying 'lean and mean' all the time? If they practice the secrets exposed in your book, they should be staying in shape all the time instead of having to work at losing fat prior to every competitive event, correct?" ANSWER: There's a logical explanation for why bodybuilders and other physique athletes (fitness and figure competitors), don’t remain completely ripped all year round, and it’s the very reason they are able to get so ripped on the day of a contest… You can’t hold a peak forever or it’s not a "peak", right? What is the definition of a peak? It’s a high point surrounded by two lower points isn’t it? Therefore, any shape you can stay in all year round is NOT your “peak” condition. The intelligent approach to nutrition and training (which almost all bodybuilders and fitness/figure competitors use), is to train and diet in a seasonal or cyclical fashion and build up to a peak, then ease off to a maintenance or growth phase. I am NOT talking about bulking up and getting fat and out of shape every year, then dieting it all off every year. What

  • Mental Training Tactics For Health And Fitness Success

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com Understanding the mind's role in motivation and behavior is one of the most critical elements in fitness success. If you struggle with changing habits and behaviors or if you can’t get motivated, then even the best training and nutrition program is not much help. A fascinating fact about your subconscious mind is that it's completely deductive in nature. In other words, it’s fully capable of working backwards from the end to the means. You don't need to know how to reach a goal at the time you set the goal. If you "program" only the desired outcome successfully into your "mental computer," then your subconscious will take over and help you find the information and means and carry out the actions necessary to reach it. Many people are familiar with affirmations and goal-setting as ways to give instructions to your subconscious mind. But perhaps the ultimate mental training” technique is visualization. In one respect, affirmation and visualization are the same, because when you speak or think an affirmation first, that triggers a mental image, being as the human brain "thinks" in pictures. You can use visualization to plant goals into your subconscious mind. You simply close your eyes, use your imagination and mentally create pictures and run movies of your desired results. For example, in your mind's eye, you can see the "body of your dreams". If repeated consistently with emotion, mental images are accepted by your subconscious as commands and this helps with changing habits, behavior and performance. Although there are some new and creative ways to use visualization, (which you are about to learn), this is not a new technique. Visualization has been used formally in the fields of sports psychology and personal development for decades and philosophers have discussed it for centuries: “If you want to reach your

  • THE GREAT ABS MISTAKE “He Was Doing One Thousand Crunches And Sit Ups A Day… But Still NO Abs!!!

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com After 18 years in the fitness business, “How do I get great abs” is still BY FAR the most frequently asked question I receive out of the 30,000+ emails that come into my office every month. No doubt, it's because abs are the one body part that most people are the most frustrated with. Although their questions are often phrased differently and each person’s situation seems unique, my answer to “how do I get great abs” is almost always the same… and you’re about to hear it... "1,000 Sit-Ups And Crunches A Day and Still No Abs!" One question I received recently REALLY got my attention because a young guy told me he was doing 1,000 crunches and sit ups a day and said he still couldn’t see his abdominals. He wrote: “Tom: I have been working out for around a year now and I cannot get my lower abs into any type of shape. I'm starting to see my upper abs a little bit, which is great, but despite doing 900 various crunches, ab roller, and 100 sit-ups four days a week, along with my regular workout on the weights, I still have a tire around my waist. What else can I do?” What did I tell him? Well, I gave him the same answer I’ve given thousands of people over the years, which is the only true “Secret” to great abs... It takes training to increase strength, build endurance and DEVELOP the abdominals, but to SEE the definition in your abdominals - or any other muscle group for that matter - is almost entirely the result of low body fat levels. This may sound counter-intuitive, but if you can't see your abs, it's not an issue

  • How To Lose Ab Flab

      • How To Lose The Last Few Pounds Of Ab Flab By Tom Venuto www.burnthefat.com "Stubborn Fat." You know what I'm talking about - the kind of flab that sticks to you in those hard-to-lose places: The lower abs, the lower back, the "love handles," the back of the arms, the upper-thigh/butt area - yeah, THAT fat! How do the bodybuilders and fitness models do it? I mean, how do they get that hyper-ripped, thin-skinned look that reveals every ripple and sinew and mound of chiseled muscle definition? I can tell you this- the answer is NOT drugs. I've never taken a steroid or physique-enhancing drug in my life, and I routinely hit 3-4% body fat for bodybuilding contests without difficulty. Some drugs work, but they are NEVER more than a temporary solution, and the nasty side effects just aren't worth it. The answer is NOT fad diets. It's a FACT - 95% of all diets fail. If you diet the way most people are doing it, you might even be slowing down your metabolism and making yourself FATTER! The answer is definitely NOT supplements, either. Some of my protégés were spending $300.00 or even $400.00 a month on worthless supplements and they now get BETTER results, FASTER with my new system - with absolutely no supplements whatsoever (or just the bare basics like multi vitamins, protein powder, etc). After 14 years of trial, error and experimentation, I finally discovered the answer and developed a fool-proof system to reach outrageously low body fat levels the natural way - no drugs, no crash diets and no supplements necessary. And now I'm finally revealing my secrets in this new "Bible of fat loss" called, BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE (BFFM) These advanced, mega-powerful fat burning secrets do not appear to you magically just because you started working out. These insider

  • The Low Body Fat Secret Of Bodybuilders And Fitness Models

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com The secret to getting super lean – I’m talking about being RIPPED, not just “average body fat” – is all about mastering the art of "peaking." Most people do not have a clue about what it takes to reach the type of low body fat levels that reveal ripped six-pack abs, muscle striations, vascularity and extreme muscular definition, so they go about it completely the wrong way. Here’s a case in point: One of my newsletter subscribers recently sent me this question: Tom, on your www.burnthefat.com website, you wrote: ‘Who better to model than bodybuilders and fitness competitors? No athletes in the world get as lean as quickly as bodybuilders and fitness competitors. The transformations they undergo in 12 weeks prior to competition would boggle your mind! Only ultra-endurance athletes come close in terms of low body fat levels, but endurance athletes like triathaletes and marathoners often get lean at the expense of chewing up all their muscle. Some of them are nothing but skin and bone.’ "There seems to be a contradiction unless I'm missing something. Why do bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to go through a 12 week 'transformation' prior to every event instead of staying 'lean and mean' all the time? If they practice the secrets exposed in your book, they should be staying in shape all the time instead of having to work at losing fat prior to every competitive event, correct?" There is a logical explanation for why bodybuilders and other physique athletes (fitness and figure competitors), don’t remain completely ripped all year round, and it’s the very reason they are able to get so ripped on the day of a contest… You can’t hold a peak forever or it’s not a "peak", right? What is the definition of a peak? It’s

  • Top 10 Travel Fitness Tips

      • Tom Venuto's Top 10 Travel Fitness Tips By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com I recently read two articles about travel fitness. One said that while you're traveling, you should keep up with 50% of your normal training and the other said you should keep up with only one-third. Both were written by well known fitness professionals and both said that you should NOT expect to keep up your regular exercise program while you are traveling. That struck me as kind of "lame" and I said to myself, “Why the heck not? Why do people have such low standards and demand so little of themselves? Why do they let themselves off the hook and scale back?” Sometimes, of course, traveling is purely for a vacation – including a vacation from training. Occasional time off from intense training is beneficial and necessary to let your body recover and rejuvenate completely from chronic training stress, just as time off from the office is needed to disengage your mind for a while. It’s also true that it really doesn’t take much to maintain fitness once it is developed, and an abbreviated, but still effective, workout routine could certainly be used, if you choose, when you’re on the road. However, you still have healthy eating to think about and just because you’re traveling doesn’t mean you can’t follow your regular exercise regimen. Why settle? If you want to continue to improve your physique while on the road, you can! Here are 10 ways that I did it on my last extended business trip that you may find helpful as well. It begins with a simple decision. 1. Decide to improve while you’re traveling and to come home in better shape than when you left Nearly every time I travel (the exception being if it’s a complete rest and relaxation vacation), I set a

  • How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss

      • QUESTION: Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the gym for the past year now, but I have only lost 2 pounds. I eat about 1800 calories a day and I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training sessions a week. I am 5 feet 5 inches and 128 lbs. I would like to be at 120 lbs. To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m really frustrated. I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat except once each weekend, but at this rate, it will take me another 4 years for me to reach my goal! Please help! ANSWER: Don't worry, it won't take another 4 years! In fact, you can reach your target wt. within the next month if you start getting feedback, charting results and making some strategic changes to your program. First, it's important that you understand how a year could go by with almost no progress. Have you been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio and same workout for the entire past year with no changes? If so, 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 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

  • The Abdominal Training Secrets Interview

      • With Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com And David Grisaffi, CHEK, CFT, PN www.FlattenYourAbs.net TV: Hi David, thanks for taking the time for this interview because I know how busy you are and that, among other projects, you run a training studio in Tacoma, you’re a wrestling coach and you keep a full client load. I’ve known you for a couple years now through the Internet and the emails we’ve sent to each other and you’re very well known within the fitness industry - especially in the sports training field. But on the off chance that some of the people listening to this interview don’t know who you are, would you give us a quick introduction and tell us little bit about your background, how you got started in this field and how you spend your time now? DG: Well I was always a sports enthusiast my entire life. I can remember I was the only 9-year-old watching Monday night football and taking stats. I did all the usual sports - football, soccer, wrestling, swimming, baseball and tennis. Never did much with basketball. Being a genetically "blessed" Italian, I didn't think the height requirement was going to be on my side. I excelled at wrestling. That sport alone taught me about nutrition, supplements, work ethic etc. I really have to thank wrestling for getting me into this field. I now coach high school wrestling, baseball and youth football. I keep really busy with my 3 children, Addision (13) Garrison (10) and my little man Carson (7). I taught school for a couple of years and then decided to go into personal training. TV: You have quite a few certifications, one of them is certified personal trainer, one is certified golf trainer – or “golf “biomechanic” to be exact - but what is a “Corrective High Performance Exercise

  • The Abdominal Training Secrets Interview

      • With Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com And David Grisaffi, CHEK, CFT, PN www.FlattenYourAbs.net TV: Hi David, thanks for taking the time for this interview because I know how busy you are and that, among other projects, you run a training studio in Tacoma, you’re a wrestling coach and you keep a full client load. I’ve known you for a couple years now through the Internet and the emails we’ve sent to each other and you’re very well known within the fitness industry - especially in the sports training field. But on the off chance that some of the people listening to this interview don’t know who you are, would you give us a quick introduction and tell us little bit about your background, how you got started in this field and how you spend your time now? DG: Well I was always a sports enthusiast my entire life. I can remember I was the only 9-year-old watching Monday night football and taking stats. I did all the usual sports - football, soccer, wrestling, swimming, baseball and tennis. Never did much with basketball. Being a genetically "blessed" Italian, I didn't think the height requirement was going to be on my side. I excelled at wrestling. That sport alone taught me about nutrition, supplements, work ethic etc. I really have to thank wrestling for getting me into this field. I now coach high school wrestling, baseball and youth football. I keep really busy with my 3 children, Addision (13) Garrison (10) and my little man Carson (7). I taught school for a couple of years and then decided to go into personal training. TV: You have quite a few certifications, one of them is certified personal trainer, one is certified golf trainer – or “golf “biomechanic” to be exact - but what is a “Corrective High Performance Exercise

  • Listen to Maintainers, Not to Losers: 5 secrets to keeping the weight off for good

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com I have very little interest these days in all the media-hyped stories of dramatic, rapid losses of body weight. “Big losers” don’t impress me, for numerous reasons. For example, weight is not fat. “Weight” could be composed of mostly lean tissue, or it could be mostly water weight. In fact, I would go a step further and point out that rapid loss of bodyweight correlates very highly with a greater chance of relapse, weight re-gain and long term failure. So what does impress me? What gets my attention? I pay attention to what the “long term maintainers” have to say - those are the people who have maintained an ideal weight for over a year… preferably even 2-5 years or more. The difference between losers and maintainers As I was researching the subject of long term weight maintenance recently, I was surprised at the huge amount of research that's already been done in this area. One paper that caught my interest was published by Judy Kruger and colleagues in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, titled, “Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weight loss maintenance.” This was not an experimental study, but a compilation of data from the “Styles Survey” which was representative of the U.S. population and asked respondants questions about strategies to aid with maintaining an ideal weight. In this particular survey, only one-third (30.96%) of the respondents said they were successful at keeping their weight off. The researchers wanted to know the difference between the small group that was successful and the majority that were not. Both groups reduced the amount of food they consumed, they ate smaller portions, more fruits and vegetables, fewer fatty foods and fewer sweetened beverages. Not really any surprises there, but what we want to know most is not what losers

  • 3500 Calories To Lose A Pound - Is This Formula All Wrong?

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast… Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea. Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, "3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?" His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet. Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program: Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course). But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification. The amount of lean body

  • How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com I’ll never forget the very first time I got ripped, how I did it and how it felt. I’ve never told this entire story before or widely published my early photos either. Winning first place and seeing my abs the first time was sweet redemption. But before that, it was a story of desperation… I started lifting weights for bodybuilding when I was 14 years old, but I never had ripped abs until I was 20. I endured six years of frustration and embarrassment. Being a teenager is hard enough, but imagine how I felt being a self-proclaimed bodybuilder, with no abs or muscle definition to show for it. Imagine what it was like in swimming class or when we played basketball in gym class and I prayed to be called out for “shirts” and not ‘”skins” because I didn’t want any one seeing my “man-boobs” and ab flab jiggling all over the court. Oh, I had muscle. I started gaining muscle from the moment I picked up a barbell. I got strong too. I was benching 315 at age 18. But even after four years of successful strength training, I still hadn’t figured out this getting ripped thing. Muscle isn’t very attractive if it’s covered up with a layer of fat. That’s where the phrase “bulky” really comes from – fat on top of muscle. It can look worse than just fat. I read every book. I read every magazine. I tried every exercise. I took every supplement in vogue back in the 80’s (remember bee pollen, octacosanol, lipotropics and dessicated liver?) I tried not eating for entire days at a time. I went on a rope skipping kick. I did hundreds of crunches and ab exercises. I rode the Lifecycle. I wore rubber waist belts. The results

  • Can You Think Yourself Thin?

      • The Law Of Attraction And Weight Loss: Can You Think Yourself Thin? By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com -------------------------------------------------- Metaphysics & Brain science merge and prove that positive thinking and goal setting literally create your body and your entire life experience --------------------------------------------------- On recently broadcast special edition of CNN's Larry King Live, Mr. King interviewed a panel of "mind experts" about how the thoughts you think literally turn into the events you experience, the material things you possess... AND even the health of your body. For years, "positive thinking" and goal-setting were often criticized as "pollyanna" and "the law of attraction" was relegated into the category of "new age" fluff. On the recent Larry King show, panel experts Bob Proctor, John Assaraf and others who were featured in the movie 'The Secret' explained that recent breakthroughs in neuroscience along with understanding mental laws, reveal why goal setting, the "law of attraction" and "positive thinking" all work, regardless of whether you look at them from a metaphysical or a scientific perspective. Scientists have even identified specific parts of the brain, such as the reticular activating system (RAS), which works with the visual parts of our brain to call our conscious attention to things that are important to reaching our goals and to filter out those things that are unimportant. The RAS is activated by "programming" goals into our sub-conscious minds. Our sub concscious mind is the "power center" and THIS is the mechanism that explains why goal setting and positive thinking are now being accepted as scientific methods for change. We are discovering that our brain is cybernetic in nature, which means that it is literally like a computer, waiting for a program to be installed. Here's the kicker - the subconcsious is completely neutral and impartial

  • INTERVIEW WITH A WEIGHT LOSS EXPERT & MORE!

      • Introduction We will approach this interview as if we have someone who wants to lose weight. Our guest expert has a diverse background. His credentials include personal trainer certification, 26 years of fitness experience as well as several awards as a body builder and owner of his own gym. Using the experience and expertise of our guest, we are going to explore the different things that our client needs to do to get started. We will use a Q (Question) and A (Answer) format.   Goal Setting Q - What is the average weight that people want to lose in your health club? A -For most people it’s anywhere from 10 to 50 pounds.   Q - How important is the reason or motivation when someone decides to lose weight? A - The reason or motivation could be their health or their health situation or just the way they feel.   Q - I guess what I am asking is that the reason that will get them to start with a weight loss plan and stick to it? A - I would say so.   Q - What do you think our client should do to set realistic goals? A - Well the first thing, you have to do is what I say. That is really the bottom line they have to stick to good nutritional guidelines.   Q - Do you find that clients set unrealistic goals based on a certain time frame? A - Not really, they are pretty realistic weight loss because that is one of the questions that I have on the data acquisition form that I use to evaluate my client.   Q - Would you share some of those questions? A – Well, one of them would be how much weight do you want to lose and in a certain amount of time and I have

  • 10 Bonehead Workout Mistakes

      • The Top 10 Bonehead Workout Mistakes By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com “Common workout mistakes” has always been a very popular topic in fitness publications. But no matter how many times this subject is re-hashed, you almost always hear about the same half a dozen or so mistakes, including poor form, overtraining, going too heavy, not stretching, not warming up, yadda, yadda yadda. Ironically, you seldom hear about the biggest mistakes of all. I call these humongous bloopers “bonehead mistakes” because once you start to analyze and think about them, they’re really just common sense and they all seem so obvious… except of course to the person doing it… who is often quite oblivious until someone else points it out to them... then the light goes on and it's like... "Doh!" Before I begin the countdown, (in no particular order), there’s one more gripe I have about the treatment this subject has been given in the past: Most of the attention has been put on the mistakes, but very little on the solutions. It’s all too easy to point fingers and say, “Don’t do that” and “Shame on you, dummy” but only 1% of your time should be spent on problems. 99% should be spent on solutions. So in that spirit, after I bring each mistake to your attention, I’ll give you a solution-oriented training tip to help you avoid boneheadedness and join the elite group who “kick butt” in the gym at every workout… Bonehead workout mistake #1: "Winging it" “Winging it” means having no written goals or plans, no training journal and no way of “keeping score.” It’s when you just show up at the gym day after day and do whatever strikes your fancy, whatever machine happens to be available, or whatever you’ve become habitually accustomed to doing. Winging it is when you

  • Cortisol, Stress And Body Fat

      • Cortisol, Stress And Body Fat: Straight Answers To The Top 20 Questions About The Stress Hormone By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com It seems that every time science uncovers some type of association between body fat and anything, opportunistic entrepreneurs are waiting in the shadows to create a product and a marketing campaign around it. They ride the wave into the multi millions, until the buzz dies down or until the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sues and slaps a padlock on their warehouse doors. Then, it’s on to the “next big thing in weight loss,” because they know there will always be a gullible crowd eagerly waiting for the next quick fix. The most recent example is when researchers discovered a correlation between cortisol and abdominal body fat. Cortisol was then blamed as the latest culprit in the obesity problem, and cortisol-suppressing pills were touted as the “miracle solution.” Big Claims, Little Proof After a web search on the subject of cortisol, here are some of the claims you may find: Stress makes you fat Cortisol is what makes you fat Cortisol reducing supplements control stress Cortisol reducing supplements reduce belly fat Cortisol reducing supplements get rid of “stress fat” Cortisol reducing supplements balance hormone levels that cause stress Cortisol reducing supplements increase muscle growth Cortisol supplements suppress appetite Cortisol supplements speed up metabolism The advertising claims include just enough scientific fact to make even the savviest consumers say, “That makes sense, I think I’ll try that.” They also hit home emotionally by focusing on common hot buttons such as stress (who isn’t at least a little stressed in this day and age?) Brilliant marketing. Convincing. Unfortunately, most of the claims being made are completely false, with only a tiny thread of truth woven in. Cortisol is a very important hormone that you must understand if you want to get maximum results from

  • The Best Selling E-Book In Internet History

      • Why Is Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle The Best Selling E-Book In Internet History, With Thousands Of Satisfied (And Now Fat-Free) Users In 133 Countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe? Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is the #1 best selling diet and fitness ebook in the history of the Internet. In fact, it's one of the best selling e-books on ANY subject in the history of the Internet -... And there's a reason why... It's because thousands of women and men of every age are burning off BODY FAT - not muscle or water weight - and they're doing it naturally, without supplements, pills or "magic potions," simply by using the proven, scientifically-accurate and common-sense advice found inside this amazing diet and fitness guidebook. Tom Venuto, a respected fat loss expert, natural bodybuilder, and personal trainer, has not just pumped out yet another "diet program" into an already over-saturated market. Tom's Burn the Fat can be more accurately described as a "Fat Loss Bible." It is quite simply one of the most complete, detailed, and precise guides to fat loss you will ever read. What makes it so much different than other weight loss publications on the market? Well first of all, it's not a "weight loss" program, it's a "fat" loss program. This may seem like semantics or wordplay at first, but once you've read just the first three chapters, there will be no doubt in your mind that pursuing "weight loss" is not only the wrong goal, it may be the reason that you've failed to reach and maintain your ideal body weight. Burn The Fat shows you exactly why it's fat you must lose, not "weight" (which includes muscle, water and other lean tissue) and then goes on to show you

  • Body Wraps and Waist Wraps

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com "Body wraps" have been around for ages in the weight loss and spa industry. Claims include loss of body weight, loss of body fat, and loss of inches. Infomercials for rubber “waist belts" are also back on TV and similar claims are made for these types of wraps as well. What few people realize is that there is a huge difference between losing fat and losing inches. When your body fat decreases, your circumference measurements will usually also decrease, but “fat” loss and “inch” loss are not one in the same. If you don’t know how to tell the difference, you could be falling for one of the oldest, most notorious fitness and weight loss scams in the book. The truth is, body wraps and waist belts do not shrink fat cells or burn body fat - no matter what type of wrap is used: bandages, plastic, foil, vinyl, or rubber and regardless of what you are wrapped in: herbs, minerals, enzymes, seaweed, clay, or mud - it doesn't matter. Fat can only be lost with a caloric deficit from a reduction in food intake, an increase in activity or ideally, a combination of both. Whenever you see fat loss claims for wraps or any other product which doesn't involve a caloric deficit created though nutrition or exercise, the “scam alarm” should go off in your head, and you should always stay away, no matter how compelling the sales pitch. Furthermore, the companies making fat loss claims would be in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) if they were investigated and caught because claims for body fat reduction from wraps cannot be supported with scientific evidence. The FTC as well as numerous state attorney general's offices have already taken action against body wrap companies in the

  • Brain Science And New Year’s Resolutions

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, "I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps it's because escape is easier than change." Success psychologists say that 95% - 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goals and succeed. If these statistics are correct, then Mr Rohn's observation really IS quite fascinating isn't it? Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success are actually even lower, because out of the few people who do set goals, most don't take goal setting seriously, they don't do it scientifically and they only do it once a year. Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal setting and mind dynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach nutrition and training second. It doesnt matter how much you know about nutrition or exercise. Until specialized fitness knowledge is linked with goals and directions, the knowledge is useless and you won't accomplish very much or keep the changes long term. In fact, I devoted the entire first chapter of my book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (www.burnthefat.com) to the subject of goals and constructive "mind programming" for successful, permanent behavior change. I've also studied neuro linguistic programming (NLP) for many years and more recently spent many months researching the latest information about neuroscience to see just how much of the traditional self help and goal setting wisdom is actually backed by brain research. As you start thinking about your goals for 2007 right Now, I'd like to help you start the year off right by sharing two very valuable, science based tips on acheiving your goals: SCIENTIFIC GOAL SETTING TIP #1:

  • Don’t Be A Big Loser

      • Don't Be A Big Loser - Why You Should Say No To Quick Weight Loss By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com Patience. It’s the one thing you never seem to have when you’ve got a body fat problem. You want the fat gone and you want it gone now! And why not? It seems so do-able. Everywhere you look, you read and hear promises of quick weight loss and you even see people losing weight quickly. We have reality TV shows that actually encourage people to attempt “extreme” body makeovers or see who can lose weight the fastest, and the winners (or shall we say, the losers), are rewarded generously with fortune, fame and congratulations. Let’s face it. Everyone wants to get the fat off as quickly as possible - and having that desire is not wrong – it’s simply human nature. However, you must become aware of some serious problems that can occur if you try to force it and lose weight too quickly. The faster you lose weight, the more muscle you will lose with the fat, and that can really mess up your metabolism. An even bigger problem with fast weight loss is that the loss just won’t last. The faster you lose, the more likely you are to gain it back. Think about it: We don’t have a weight loss problem today, we have a “keeping the weight off” problem. Weight loss will be the healthiest, safest and most likely to be permanent if you set your goal for about two pounds per week (and even if you lose only a single pound each week, that is healthy progress). This is the recommendation of almost every legitimate and respected dietician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and personal trainer, as well as exercise organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the

  • Your Home Fitness Program!

      • Table of Contents First Things First How Much Exercise Do You Need? Basics of Fitness Resistance Training How to Combat Fatigue Walking Costs Nothing Beginner Fitness Program Intermediate Fitness Program Advanced Fitness Program Workout Gear Exercise Guide Fitness and Nutrition Exercise and Your Health Sport Training Inexpensive Equipment First Things First First things first: Motivation for a home fitness program The modern lifestyle each person has to contend with has resulted in quite a number of problems affecting both mental and physical health. People live their lives with only one goal in mind and that is to produce more, earn more and consume more. This has resulted in serious problems with the way people live their lives including the way they choose the food that they eat as well as their daily physical activities. People are so busy that they find it more practical to eat frozen food or fast food instead of cooking sumptuous and healthy meals. People are so caught up with their jobs that they no longer have much time for walking or for simple physical activities like a game of tennis or riding a bike. A person who has weight problems should consider incorporating his physical activities with his work or schedule. It is not easy to maintain a good fitness program but he has to prioritize first things first. And talking about first things first means knowing his priorities in life and what he has to do to address and achieve those priorities. Once the priorities have been listed or known then it would be easy to look for time to do those things despite a hectic schedule. A person can start a feasible home fitness program if he has the proper motivation for doing so. Knowing the target and how important the target is makes a good start for any person. A person should consider the negative and positive consequences

  • Protein - Amino Acids

      • Protein is used by the body to build, repair, and maintain muscle and organ tissues by repairing and building cells, aid in the formation of antibodies, they work in conjunction with enzymes and the hormonal system, help transport oxygen and participate in muscle activities. When Protein is digested it is broken down into a number of amino acids (Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine, Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic Acid, Cysteine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Histidine, Lyrosine, Proline, Serine, Taurine and Tyrosine), These amino acids are divided by definition into two main groups. The first group is termed essential amino acids and are required by the body to make the second group called non-essential amino acids. Don't be fooled by the term non-essential these proteins are very important to sustaining a healthy and vital life. A deficiency of any one essential amino acid can cause a corresponding deficiency in some or all of the non essential amino acids. Essential Amino Acids Non Essential Amino Acids Isoleucine Alanine Leucine Arginine Lysine Aspartic Acid Methionine Cysteine Phenylalanine Glutamic Acid Threonine Glutamine Tryptophan Glycine Valine Histidine   Lyrosine   Proline   Serine   Taurine   Tyrosine Some foods contain what is called complete protein, that is, they provide all the amino acids necessary to produce usable protein. Examples of these foods would be milk, eggs, meat, fish, and various vegetable products, such as soybeans. But even these foods contain differing amounts of usable protein per weight. The suggested RDA for Proteins and Amino Acids varies from 0.8 to 1.5 grams per Kilogram body weight per day. I would like to point out to the reader that the RDA of any Nutrient is based on the absolute minimum to sustain life. I have not been introduced to any research documents that proves conclusively that over consuming proteins can adversely effect a persons health (with the exception of weight gain). I have read and heard from many so called professionals that the over consumption of protein can

  • Induction Destruction

      • Induction Destruction: The Perils Of Diving Into Strict Diets Headfirst By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com Every so often you read a sad story in the newspaper about someone who dove headfirst into a river or lake, without checking to see how deep the water was beforehand. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a shallow 18 inches and the consequence of this miscalculated plunge was a broken neck and a wheelchair. This reminds me of the way most people impatiently dive into strict, extreme, or unbalanced crash diets, without thinking about the long term consequences, invariably crippling any chance they had for keeping the fat off in the long run. One thing that almost all mainstream popular diets have in common is an “induction phase” (or the equivalent). This is often done under the scientific-sounding auspices of “making the metabolic switch” from “carb burner” to “fat burner.” Another common way that popular diets begin is with a “liquid fast” or “internal cleansing” phase. This is often suggested as necessary for clearing out all the gunk that has accumulated on your insides which (says them), is the reason you feel like “blah” and can’t lose any weight. Larrian Gillespie, the About.com guide to low carb diets, made a keen observation in a recent article. Writing about the Induction plan on programs such as the Atkins diet, she noted: "Frankly, the only thing I object to is the induction plan concept...for ANY diet. It's a cheap trick approach to weight management, since we as Americans are fixated on quick fixes or we toss a plan and go onto the next marketing promise." Not only do I agree – I would take it a step further. I believe that this radical beginning phase actually increases the chances of failure in the long term. Gillespie continues with advice about what to do if you

  • How Liquid Calories May Be Making You Fat… Even Your Favorite Protein Drinks!

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com At least 7 scientific studies have provided strong evidence that energy containing beverages (i.e., “liquid calories”) do not properly activate the satiety mechanisms in the body and brain and do not satisfy the appetite as well as food in solid form. Epidemiological research also supports a positive association between calorie-containing beverage consumption and increased body weight or body mass index. New research now suggests that soda may not be the only culprit... The primary source of liquid calories in the United States Diet is carbohydrate, namely soda. Now running a close second are specialty and dessert coffees. Did you know that a 16 ounce Frappucino can contain 500 calories or even more! That’s one-third of a typical female’s daily calorie intake while on a fat loss program. A recent study at Purdue University published in the International Journal of Obesity set out to learn even more about this bodyfat - liquid calories relationship. Researchers compared solid and beverage forms of foods composed primarily of carbohydrate, fat or protein in order to document the independent effect of food form in foods with different dominant macronutrient sources. Based on previous research, some experts have recommended targeting specific beverages as being “worse” than others. High fructose corn syrup and soda has been singled out the most and you’ve probably seen that yourself in the news. There’s no question that soda has been on top of the “hit list” for some time now, by virtue of the amounts and frequency of consumption alone. However, this recent study says that from a pure energy balance perspective, we should be cautious about ALL liquid calories, not just soda and not just carbohydrates! Fruit juice for example, appears to be an obvious improvement over soda, so many people have swapped out their soda for fruit juice. However, when fruit juice

  • Protein Supplements Vs. Protein Foods?

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com Are protein supplements really better than protein foods? Before attempting to answer this question, I should first preface it by mentioning that I do not sell supplements, nor am I associated with any supplement company, so you’re getting an honest and unbiased opinion. Don't get me wrong; I am not anti-supplement by any means. It would simply be more accurate to say that I am "pro-food." There are a lot of good supplements on the market, and I've used many of them, including a multi vitamin, creatine and essential fatty acid (EFA) supplements such as Flaxseed oil. Protein powders and meal replacements can also be indispensable if you don't have time to eat every three hours. However, protein supplements are not the master key to your success, real food is! Did you ever notice how articles about protein in certain bodybuilding magazines are seldom objective? Instead, they all seem to be slanted towards hyping some "revolutionary" new product. Did you ever wonder why? In my opinion, most articles on protein supplements are nothing more than thinly disguised advertisements (some very thinly). Sometimes they give you a very persuasive-sounding argument, replete with dozens of references from scientific studies (mostly done on rodents, of course). They even give you an 800 number at the end of the article to order. (How convenient!) When protein manufacturers throw around fancy words like cross flow microfiltration, oligopeptides, ion-exchange, protein efficiency ratio, biological value, nitrogen retention and glycomacropeptides, it sure sounds convincing, especially when scores of scientific references are cited. But don't forget that the supplement industry is big business and most magazines are the supplement industry. Lyle McDonald, author of "The Ketogenic Diet," hit the nail on the head when he wrote "Unfortunately, the obsession that bodybuilders have with protein has

  • Muscle Building Mania

      •   Table of Contents Introduction to Body Building History of Body Building Basics of Building Muscle Body Building Facilities Building A Home Gym Body Building Routine Diet and Body Building + Recipes Dietary Supplements What About Steroids? Body Builder Beware Charting Your BMI Body Building Tips Resources INTRODUCTION TO BODY BUILDING This book is an exploration. We will explore the fascinating history of body building, which can be traced as far back as the 11th Century, up to the 19th Century when it arrived on the North American scene. We will explore how to build your body and muscles, body building and weight lifting equipment, the “right” and the “dark” side of dietary supplements as well as the importance of proper nutrition for the serious body builder. No discussion of body and muscle building would be complete without covering consumer health fraud. Bogus claims and promises of unrealistic results have been around for decades. The explosion of marketing on the internet has, unfortunately, created an exponential increase in unsavory providers ready and willing to bilk unsuspecting consumers. Muscle Mania will explore package labeling and what you should know about before you buy. The content we cover presents a broad outline rather than substantive personal recommendations. Nothing within should be construed as anything more than educational and should never replace medical advice from a professional physician. We will take a look at the different types of exercise equipment that is available to bodybuilders and what considerations you need to keep in mind when shopping for your own equipment or using the services of a gym. What could be more important than your diet and nutrition? It’s critical to your success when bodybuilding. We’ll give you several recipes that are not only prepared specifically for bodybuilders, but that provide you with a breakdown of calories, grams of protein, grams of carbohydrates, grams of fat

  • Fat Burners: The Unadulterated Truth

      • By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com Fat burner supplements are advertised everywhere these days - on the internet, in magazines and even on TV. The ads almost always feature a very lean fitness model or bodybuilder and claim that these products, usually pills, were the secret to their six pack abs and very low body fat levels. Some of these ads suggest that the only way to get as lean as the "hot bodies" you see in the ads is by taking their "miracle pills" and that proper nutrition and exercise alone is not enough. While I won't dismiss the fact that there are ingredients in some fat "burner" products that might help a little bit, I take great displeasure in seeing misleading advertising claims as well as the misleading use of models who are often paid to endorse the product even though they may never have even used it (they're just models!) Many “fat burner” companies have been sued by the Federal Trade Commission for false advertising, false claims and falsifying before and after photos. The best you get is a slight thermogenic effect and possibly some slight appetite suppression. A few products might work through other mechanisms like improving thyroid, but if you forgive me the generalization, I consider the effects of all these “fat burner” products to be minutia. In one of my previous newsletters, I said that in my opinion, 97% of your results come from nutrition and training and maybe you get an extra 3% advantage from supplements. Just so you know those numbers arent something I just pulled out of thin air, lets take an example: I have reviewed scientific data that EGCG, the active ingredient in green tea extract, if consumed in enough quantity, could increase thermogenesis / metabolic

  • Organic Food

      • What A "Muscle Head" Says About Organic Food By Tom Venuto, Natural Bodybuilder www.burnthefat.com Last week I was talking about nutrition with one of my workout buddies and when I mentioned grass fed beef and "organic food” he asked, "Do you mean like what you get at Whole Foods Market?" I said, "Yes, exactly... that's a natural food and organic supermarket." He said, "Yeah well, that place costs so much, I call it Whole Paycheck!" I was rolling on the floor laughing, but the truth is, organic food really is expensive and so is grass fed beef and free range chicken, so it's a valid question to ask, “Is it worth it?” After researching the subject and doing some personal experiments with my own diet, let me offer you my take on it from a bodybuilder’s viewpoint. This is a perspective on organics you may not have heard before. First, look at it this way - if you put the cheapest fuel in your luxury car, how well is it going to run and how many miles are you going to get out of it? While I'm on car analogies, health and fitness author and educator Paul Chek once wrote about how ridiculous it is to watch how many $75,000 + cars pull up to the Mcdonald's or Burger King drive through window to buy $1.99 hamburgers. I would say that's a serious case of screwed up priorities, wouldn't you? The driver has no problem shelling out the $1,100 monthly car payment, but it's too much to ask him to put premium fuel into his own "bodily vehicle." How can you put ANY price tag on your body and your health? You can buy another car, but you've only got one body. Now, as for the grass fed beef and organic foods question…. For best results in body composition improvement, which I

  • How To Lose 20 Pounds Really, Really Fast

      • How To Lose 20 Pounds Really, Really Fast By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com Back “in the day” when I was a full time personal trainer and I met with weight loss clients in person at my New Jersey Health Club, the first thing I would always ask during the initial consultation was: "Tell me what you want... and I'll show you how to get it." Typical reply from client: "I want to lose 20 pounds fast." My reply: "Are you SURE that's what you want? ...If I can show you how to lose 20 pounds REALLY fast, will that make you happy?" They nodded their head affirmatively as their eyes lit up in anticipation of the rapid weight loss secrets I was about to reveal... Their face went white when - with a totally straight face – I pulled out a hacksaw and started walking towards them.... menacingly. Not sure whether to laugh or run in sheer terror, they said, "What the heck are you doing?" "You said you wanted to lose 20 pounds fast. This is the easiest, surest, most effective way I know to take 20 pounds off you FAST! In fact, I figure that right leg of yours might even weigh 25 pounds!" I kept walking closer and started to get into sawing position, wielding my fast, effective and guaranteed weight loss tool... "Bear with me because this IS quick, but sometimes it takes a few minutes for me to cut through the bone." By this time, my client (and I) are either completely cracking up, I have seriously scared the living you know what out of them, or they just think I'm a complete lunatic... (depends on whether I was able to keep a straight face or not) Finally, the light bulb goes on, and my client would see where I was going with this: "Okay, smart alec," I get it... I don't

  • Biology And Body Fat

      • Did You Inherit Fat Genes? The Truth About Biology And Body Fat By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com "Battle Your Biology? Fat Chance," proclaimed a headline recently in the health section of the New York Post newspaper. Quoting new research and citing psychologists, dietitians and physicians, the article says that more and more evidence proves that your weight is genetically determined, and if you're fat, "it's not your fault." "We've known for a while that genes - more than environment and behavior - explain obesity" argues Dr. James Rosen, an eating disorder specialist and professor at the University of Vermont. While genetics are definitely a factor, believing you are destined to be overweight for life because you've inherited "fat genes" is the most disempowering and self-defeating attitude you could ever adopt. The only way you’ll lose weight permanently is to accept total responsibility for yourself and acknowledge the fact that you have the power to change, regardless what mother nature has given you to work with. There's no denying that heredity plays a major role in how difficult it will be for you to lose fat. You inherited a body type, a predetermined number of fat cells, a metabolic rate and body chemistry just as you inherited your eye color and hair color. In the 1930's, Harvard psychologist Dr. William H. Sheldon developed a classification system for these different body types called "somatotyping." While there are no absolutes, Sheldon identified three basic somatotypes: ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs. Ectomorphs are the lean, lanky types. They are usually very thin and bony, with fast metabolisms and extremely low body fat. An ectomorph can eat like a horse without gaining an ounce. Mesomorphs are the "genetically gifted." They are lean, muscular and naturally athletic. Mesomorphs lose fat and gain muscle with ease. Endomorphs are the "fat retainers." Characterized by

  • Health And Fitness Is Not

      • Health And Fitness Is Not A 12-Week Program By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.burnthefat.com Not long ago, one of the members of my health club poked her head in my office for some advice. Linda was a 46 year old mother of two, and she had been a member for over a year. She had been working out sporadically, with (not surprisingly), sporadic results. On that particular day, she seemed to have enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye that I hadn’t seen before. "I want to enter a before and after fitness contest called the “12 week body transformation challenge." I could win money and prizes and even get my picture in a magazine." “I want to lose THIS”, she continued, as she grabbed the body fat on her stomach. “Do you think it’s a good idea?” Linda was not “obese,” she just had the typical “moderate roll” of abdominal body fat and a little bit of thigh/hip fat that many forty-something females struggle with. “I think it’s a great idea,” I reassured her. “Competitions are great for motivation. When you have a deadline and you dangle a “carrot” like that prize money in front of you, it can keep you focused and more motivated than ever.” Linda was eager and rarin’ to go. “Will you help me? I have this enrollment kit and I need my body fat measured.” “No problem,” I said as I pulled out my Skyndex fat caliper, which is used to measure body fat percentage with a “pinch an inch” test. When I finished, I read the results to her from the caliper display: “Twenty-seven percent. Room for improvement, but not bad; it’s about average for your age group.” She wasn’t overjoyed at being ‘average’. “Yeah, but it's not good either. Look at THIS,” she complained as again she grabbed a handful of stomach fat.

  • Muscle Building Supplements

      • Table of Contents Why Use Body Building Supplements Body Building and Ephedra Using Nitric Oxide for Body Building All About Creatine Body Building Energy Drinks Protein Supplements Meal Replacement Supplements Maltodextrin Supplement to Degrade Enzymatic Process Glutamine Vanadyl for Nitrogen Retention Leucine to Promote Anticatabolic Metabolism Essential Fatty Acids Glucosamine Special Supplements for Women The Dangers of Steroids Why Use Body Building Supplements Why Use Bodybuilding Supplements? Bodybuilding supplements have risen in prominence in the past few decades. They offer the advantages of both convenience and affordability. Since bodybuilders need to get more nutrition than the average individual, it will be much easier for them to achieve their goals through supplements. Keep in mind that these are not magic bullets that you can take and expect to become big overnight. Everything needs to be included in a sound and systematic strategy. A Brief Description of Bodybuilding Supplements Bodybuilding supplements are used by many gym enthusiasts with the hope of gaining more lean muscle while losing extra fat. At present, there are so many choices to choose from compared to many years ago. During the 1970s, protein supplements were the only staple that helped bodybuilders reach their target protein intake per day without having to devour huge amounts of food. 20 years later, manufacturers and laboratories started creating more products that promise to create anabolic responses to boost the body’s recovery for tissue repair as well as improve metabolism to keep unwanted fat off. Now, there are protein supplements of different kinds like creatine, branch chain amino acids, nitric oxide, fat burners and energy enhancers which will support the aspiring bodybuilder in a variety of ways. Sometimes two or more of these products can be taken for better results since some products are known to compliment the effects of others. People however, should know that bodybuilding supplements only comprise a small portion of the entire picture. People think that the products have

  • Lowering Your Cholestrol

      • TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION WHAT IS CHOLESTROL, LDL & HDL? DIAGNOSING CHOLESTEROL CAUSES CHOLESTEROL MEDICATIONS NATURAL TREATMENTS HERBAL REMEDIES LIVING HEALTHY INTRODUCTION Cholesterol has been around for thousands of years. It’s a natural function of the human body. The modern story of cholesterol and how it affects us today, actually began during a government study in 1951. The Pentagon sent pathologists to Korea to examine the bodies of servicemen who lost their lives during the war. Autopsies were conducted on 2,000 soldiers. The results were astounding to the medical community of that time. Normally, no one under 35 dies of coronary heart disease. Remember, this was 1951! More than 75 percent of the soldier had yellow deposits of atherosclerotic plaque on their artery walls. The average age of these soldiers was 21 contradicting the assumption that such artery clogging deposits were only prevalent in older men. The results of the Army pathologists rocked the medical community. Prior to these autopsies, doctors had no idea how early the process of heart disease began. Not long after this discovery, a name was given to the major contributor to the buildup of plaque and to heart disease risk – cholesterol. More recent studies have shown that for every 1 percent drop in cholesterol levels, there is a 2 percent decrease in the risk of a heart attack. Since those original studies, the risk of heart disease stemming from cholesterol has exploded. In 2002 it was estimated that 107 million American adults now have a blood cholesterol level high enough to require medical advice. Unfortunately, the numbers keep rising. Despite this epidemic problem, there is good news. You can do something about the problem and that’s what this guide is all about. In plain English, we will take a laymen’s look at cholesterol, the causes, effects

  • SECRETS TO LOOKING AND FEELING YOUNGER

      • INTRODUCTION   The truth is we begin the aging process just as soon as we pop out of the womb. Every day of our lives our bodies slough off and regenerate new cells. The speed at which that process takes place when we are children is vastly different as we get older. For years explorers searched for the illusive “fountain of youth.” Unfortunately, it does not exist or you wouldn’t be reading this. Every day you are bombarded daily with commercial messages that attempt to lure you into believing that the most recent miracle drug is just what you need to fight off the ravages of Mother Nature. At times it seems as though there are more miracle methods than ever being flashed in front of your eyes each day. . .and there are. Ask any advertising executive and they will admit that there are more advertisements than ever touting everything designed to cash in on a huge market. What is that market? It’s the aging Baby Boomers. We are living longer as a whole. Singularly, that can be a curse or a blessing depending on your perspective. In this book we will explore low and no cost methods you can use to help in the anti-aging process. Some of our material may be new and some serve as reminders of things we may have forgotten. We may not have had much say in how we arrived on this earth, but we can certainly determine how and when we will depart. Just remember, YOU are in control.   LIFESTYLE We have to discuss it. You’ve heard it before but it must be repeated. You ARE what you eat. There are over 13.5 million Americans alive today who have a history of heart


    Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle <-- click Here