LOOOOOONNNG Overdue, I know!  It’s been 8 days since I told you about all those crazy hormones that help to regulate your weight and body fat.

Now … It’s time to talk about Part 3: Doing the RIGHT type of workouts, at the RIGHT time of day.

Let me start off by saying, “no type of exercise can really be considered the wrong type of exercise” simply because if you’re doing SOMETHING, it’s better than doing NOTHING (which, unfortunately, most people do very well).

But you … you, you, you … you’re different.  You already do “something”.  You do a lot of “something” and you want to know exactly what it is you need to be doing to be experiencing your absolute best fat loss results possible.

So what is it???  When should you do it???  Why should you do it???

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “HIIT” or “High Intensity Interval Training” somewhere over the past couple years,

HIIT Can Also Help to Battle Type 2 Diabetes

whether it be on the news, from a friend or from another trainer.

Basically, HIIT is a form of exercise (which can be either cardio training, strength training or both) in which you pair short, intense bursts of effort with either a rest period or an “active rest” period, going back and forth between the two for a specified period of time.

HIIT can take on many different forms, including

• HIIT strength circuits
• HIIT cardio workouts (elliptical, treadmill, cross trainer, stair climber … anything really)
• Tabata training routine (my FAVORITE!)

And while this just a short list, there are several other forms as well.

You may have also heard HIIT referred to as “Metabolic Training” or “Metabolic Circuits” … It’s basically the same thing.  HIIT is Metabolic Training and Metabolic Training is HIIT.

Both achieve the same goal: creating an “afterburn” effect that raises your metabolism so that you burn excess calories for up to 36 hours AFTER you complete the actual workout.  Sounds pretty sweet, right?  I think so too

The “technical” term is Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), but for our purposes we just need to know that when we kick ass in our workouts and leave drenched in sweat and we’re sore as hell the next day … It means we’ve created an awesome “afterburn” effect that will help us to burn extra calories for almost another day and a half.

Good shit.  I know.

So now you know what type of training you should be doing and you know why you should be doing it.  The last question is, what time of day should you be doing it?

Ideally, the best time to perform your HIIT workouts is first thing in the morning.  And the reasoning isn’t because you haven’t eaten for an extended period of time, it’s because your body’s metabolism is primed for fat loss first thing in the morning.

This is especially true for men because testosterone levels are at their peak early in the day, making it the optimal time for strength workouts.

In terms of weight loss, the morning has been proven to be the best time to workout because of it’s link to improved sleep patterns.  Your quality of sleep is directly related to weight loss. If you aren’t getting good sleep (which is the case for many people who exercise in the evening or at night), those hormones that I talked about in Part 2 of this series are thrown off, making it more difficult to lose fat.

BUT … Some people just can’t get up to workout in the morning.  To those people, I say, “SUCK IT UP!” … Just kidding

Seriously, though, the best time of day to exercise is, first and foremost, going to be the time of day that works best for you schedule.  When it all boils down, if you can’t realistically fit it into your schedule at a time that you are likely to do it, you’re probably not going to maintain it for any period of time.

The end result is going to be falling off your training program, not reaching your goals, feelings of disappointment, extra bowls of mac and cheese, bigger muffin tops.

And that would just suck.

If you ever have questions about putting together a specific HIIT workout, feel free to email me and I’ll hook you up!

LOL …

Check back soon (I promise this time!) for Part 4: Essential Elements of Fat Loss

Committed to Your Health & Fitness,

Corey

In my last post, I talked a lot about the first essential element of fat loss: creating a considerable calorie deficit. Just to refresh your memory, in order for us to create that massive calorie deficit, we need to attack it in two different ways:

• eat a strategically-planned diet that will keep you below your basal metabolic rate, and
• perform high-intensity interval training workouts, as well as dynamic, lactic acid and strength training workouts that will make us burn upwards of 1,000 calories in EACH WORKOUT

This is basically the “blue print” for the construction of our multi-million dollar, lean, mean & sexy bod … Believe it!

So now that we’ve solidified the plans to build our sleek physique … We’re ready to start chipping away at the details – installing the shiny stainless steel appliances, the marble counter tops and crown molding, if you will

In this post, the detail that I’d like to talk about is hormones that contribute to the regulation of your weight.  There are actually several hormones that play at least some small role in this, including:

• Leptin
• Ghrelin
• Adiponectin
• Cortisol
• Neuropeptide Y
• Anandamide

For our purposes, the hormone that I want to focus on most is Leptin, derived from leptos, the Greek term for thin.  Leptin’s tie to human weight gain was only just recently discovered about 10 – 15 years ago, and it’s contribution to the regulation of weight is both enlightening and confusing.

Most people have never heard of Leptin, and I have to admit that I hadn’t heard anything about it either up until a little over a year ago.

Shame on me!!!

So What Is Leptin???

Leptin is a hormone that is secreted by our fat cells and acts as a “messenger” to let our brain and our body know what

Leptin

our nutritional status is.  When leptin concentration levels are “normal”, it will act on receptors of the hypothalamus of the brain to inhibit appetite.  This is the time when our bodies are “primed” for fat loss and fat burning!

When leptin concentration levels dip too low, though, those same receptors don’t receive leptin, and thus aren’t able to counteract the effects of neuropeptide Y (a potent feeding stimulant secreted by the gut and hypothalamus) or counteract the effects of anandamide (another potent feeding stimulant).

At the same time that leptin levels are crashing, the hormone ghrelin is released by the stomach, increasing hunger, further slowing down our metabolism and also decreasing our body’s ability to burn fat.

AND … To make things worse, cortisol (a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland) levels begin to skyrocket, resulting in the storage of fat right in your belly.

Wow! … What a TERRIBLE situation, right?!?!?

I mean … That sounds like a recipe for disaster for someone who’s trying to lose weight, wouldn’t you agree?

Unfortunately, when leptin concentration levels skyrocket, it doesn’t work in the opposite manner

What this means is that while low leptin levels = massive appetite & weight gain (and more specifically “fat” gain), high leptin levels do NOT = weight loss.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, my friend.

So How Is Leptin Regulated By Our Bodies?

Leptin levels are regulated by two separate factors:

1. the amount of body fat we have on our bodies (direct correlation), and
2. our calorie intake (also a direct correlation)

I know, I know … Right now you’re thinking, “so if someone has a lot of body fat, then they must have high levels of leptin … So why aren’t they able to lose all that fat???”

The reason for this is twofold:

1. People with high levels of body fat DO have high concentrations of leptin circulating, but research has also shown that these people also have a resistance to leptin, meaning the receptors in their brain aren’t receiving the message leptin is sending, and
2. In order to lose weight (and ultimately fat), we know that there needs to be a considerable calorie deficit.  This is optimally achieved through exercise AND diet.  The problem in relation to leptin levels is that when anyone goes on a hypocaloric diet (calorie-restrcited or low-calorie diet), the response is a HUGE drop in leptin concentration levels.  In fact, leptin levels will drop 50% or more in about a week!!!

So How Do We Keep Leptin Levels From Falling Too Low, While Still Burning Fat???

In order to prevent our bodies from being sent into “starvation” mode, having our metabolism take a nose dive and having the belly fat-storing hormone cortisol skyrocket, we need to keep leptin concentration levels from dipping too low … All while simultaneously taking advantage of this time when leptin levels are primed for optimal fat burning!

This is my favorite part

We implement strategic “High Carbohydrate Cheat Days” that bump our leptin levels back up where they should be so that our bodies are primed for fat burning.

While research has shown that it takes only about a week for leptin levels to drop 50% or more … It only takes 12 – 24 hours to bump it back up!

That’s why having a “Cheat Meal” is essentially useless.  It only gives us the mental and/or emotional satisfaction of being able to eat our favorite foods.  Metabolically, it does almost nothing for our fat loss goals.

What we need to do is enjoy a full day of our favorite foods.  I’m talking pizza, burgers, ice cream, wings, fries … You name it!  And when you follow this day up with a strategically planned no- or low-calorie day that’s coupled with high-intensity interval training and strength training … The results are AMAZING!

Now that you know exactly how to regulate those raging hormones, our next job is going to be to do some landscaping on this “Hot Body Construction Project” …

Be sure to check back for my next post (Part 3: Essential Elements of Fat Loss) when I talk about doing the right type of workouts at the right time to help you take advantage of when your body is “primed” for fat loss

Committed to Your Health & Fitness,

Corey

As someone who’s worked with hundreds of people, it always blows my mind that people will go to great lengths to make sure they’ve got the most up-to-date phone, their car is in tip-top shape or they’re wearing the latest and most hip clothes … Yet they sacrifice giving their bodies the nutrition it needs in order to achieve and/or maintain a healthy weight.

Some people will even work their butts off in the gym, for hours at a time, to try to shed their unwanted pounds.

Weight loss and, more specifically, fat loss are by and large, directly related to what you put into your body.  Excuse the phrase, but if you eat like shit … You’re going to feel like shit … And you ARE going to look like shit.  Period.

It doesn’t matter how many workouts you do per week, how many hours you spend pretending you’re a gerbil on the treadmill/elliptical or how many Zumba classes you take.  You’ll NEVER out-train a bad diet.

True fat loss is about 4 essential elements:

1. Creating a considerable calorie deficit
2. Controlling the hormones that help regulate weight through how, what and when you eat
3. Doing the right type of workouts, at the right time of day
4. Creating an “after-burn” from highly-metabolic exercise

It sounds pretty simple, right?  Just do those 4 things and you’re golden!  I wish it was that easy … I wish anything was that easy

The problem is that when you try any one of these things without implementing the other 4, you’re setting yourself up for catastrophic failure.  Over.  And.  Over.   Again.

Success is NOT going to come until you are able to put together a program that brings all of these elements to create the “holy grail” of fat loss.

Not quite as religious as the holy grail …. But still very, very important, none the less.

Today I’m going to talk about the first of these elements, the calorie deficit.  Consider this the “blue print” or “overview” for your fat loss, before you start the actual construction process:

Creating a Considerably Negative Calorie Deficit (so I’m redundent, I know)

You’ve probably heard it before on the news, from another personal trainer or even from your doctor (I hope).  In order to lose fat, you must create a calorie deficit.  The larger the deficit, the more weight you’ll lose, and vice versa.

HOLD ON! … Before I go on, I want you to understand that I’m talking about “fat loss” and NOT “weight loss”.  This is important because fat loss is just that – the loss of unwanted, unhealthy fat.  Weight loss on the other hand can be more than just fat loss.  It can be loss of fat, loss of muscle mass and loss of water and while a little water loss is inevitable with fat loss … Muscle loss should NEVER happen, and is actually detrimental to fat loss.

More on that in Part 3 of this series

So moving on … We’re talking about fat loss by first creating a huge calorie deficit.  How are we going to accomplish this???

We’re going to create a two-pronged attack that’s going to include these two weapons:

1. Consuming  500 – 1,000 calories LESS THAN your basal metabolic rate, and
2. Performing high-intensity, full-body circuit workouts that will burn upwards of 1,000 calories per session

Easy, right?  Well, think again because not quite …

An effective fat loss nutrition program is NOT going to require you to consume very few calories every single day.  A

Did Someone Say It's Cheat Day?!?!

truly effective fat loss program will include days where you’ll be eating very few calories, but it will also include days where you get to enjoy ALL of your favorite foods and eat whatever you want …

Say it with me … Hip, Hip Hooray!

An example of this type of a nutrition program would be:

• Day 1: Cheat day    
• Day 2: VERY low calorie, protein only day
• Day 3: Moderate calorie consumption, mostly high GI foods
• Day 4: Same as Day 3
• Day 5: Moderate calorie consumption, mostly low GI foods
• Day 6: Low calorie consumption, mostly low GI foods
• Day 7: Carbohydrate depletion day, only proteins

I’ll explain more about this in Part 2 of this series.

So now you’ve got your STRATEGIC fat loss meal plan and you’re ready to rope in your super dooper (Sarah Palin isn’t the only person who can invent words) exercise program.

Now this program is NOT going to involve going to the gym and pretending you’re a hamster on the treadmill or elliptical machine.  Honestly … You could go WITHOUT setting foot on another cardio machine for the rest of your life and be in better shape than 95% of the people you see on those things racing all the way to … nowhere!

Anyway … Bashing the cardio machines is for another day.

YOUR effective fat loss exercise program is going to include performing full-body, high-intensity metabolic circuits.  And one of the greatest parts of this is that you can actually do any circuit with NO EQUIPMENT whatsoever.

In fact, some of the best workouts I’ve ever done with my clients & boot camp members have required little or no equipment.  The good lord gave you everything you need

So WHY do we need to BOTH of these things to create our huge calorie deficit?

Just reducing our calorie consumption without including it’s good-looking brother, exercise, will create a calorie deficit, but it’s also going to lead to your metabolism slowing down to compensate for the decreased calorie intake.

Ever hit a “plateau” in your fat loss efforts???  Now you may know why.  Your body adjusted to what you were doing to it, and because you were boring enough to keep doing the exact same thing day after day, you allowed it to happen.

Shame on you!

Seriously, though … “Dieting” without an effective exercise program is going to result in two things:

• slower metabolism (this will make losing fat almost impossible)
• loss of muscle mass (this is another reason why your metabolism slows down)

So now you’ve got your “blue print” and you’re ready to begin construction on building a lean, mean and sexy body.

Don’t forget to check back for Part 2: Controlling the hormones that help regulate weight …

Committed to Your Health & Fitness (NO MATTER WHAT!),

Corey