Resveratrol in Peanuts?

Here's a quick nutrition tip for you.

Resveratrol is a interesting chemical found in several plant species that is currently being studied for its possible anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects.

While Resveratrol is commonly known to be found in red grapes, blueberries, cranberries and red wine, you can also find high sources in peanuts.

An ounce of peanuts can contain as much as 70 micrograms of Resveratrol, about the same amount as in a half ounce of red wine.

Since many people associate the Red colour of red wines and grapes with their Resveratrol content you may be wondering why peanuts aren't red (since they contain so much Resveratrol).

It turns out Resveratrol is only red at certain pH's (acidic environments), otherwise it has a neutral color!

BP

Don't do Lunges If...

I must be out of my mind because today I'm going to tell you not to do lunges - one of the most commonly recommended multi-muscle movements - an exercise that is in every fat loss program for women.

But there are times when lunges are not appropriate.

Today I witnessed a perfect example of someone that should not be doing lunges. As I was in the gym doing Prisoner Forward Lunges and warming up for a 20 minute Upper Body TT workout, along came a lady and lunged down beside me, falling all over along the way.

With each repetition she would fall to one side or the other, twisting her body viciously over her knee (which I'm surprised she didn't injure). She simply had no co-ordination to be doing the exercise, let alone to be doing it holding the dumbbells she had in each hand.

That my friend, is the perfect example of someone who shouldn't do lunges.

And I know that many of you can't do lunges because of sore knees and weak muscles, as you've emailed me for replacement exercises. So let's run through my progression of lower body exercises that will help you get better results from more appropriate exercises and without hurting your knees.

We'll start on the mat and work our way up to standing exercises - just like you will in the different stages of the Bodyweight Manual from grrlAthlete.

Here's our list of lower body exercise progressions:

2-Leg Hip Bridge/Extension
2-Leg Stability Ball Curl
2-Leg Hip Bridge/Extension on Ball
1-Leg Hip Extension
Wall Ball Squat
Bodyweight Squat
Prisoner Bodyweight Squat
Y-Squat
Split Squat
Reverse Lunge
Forward Lunge

NOTE; Here's the key...Everyone should master the split squat first before doing lunges.
Because your feet never leave the floor, the exercise is less difficult. Do this instead of lunges if you have balance problems. This will help you avoid sticky situations like the woman in the gym today.

And if you can't do the exercise with only your bodyweight, then don't add dumbbells!
Once you've mastered the basic split squats and lunges, you can then move onto 1-Leg Deadlifts, Bulgarian Split Squats, and 1-Leg Squats and so on.

Get strong with your bodyweight for athletic performance AND fat loss,

CB

P.S. Get the bodyweight workout for free...

Don't forget, the bodyweight workout comes as a free bonus when you order the Ultimate Female Training Package that includes: ShapeShift, Turbulence Training for Women, and the Bodyweight Workout.

Our ShapeShift & Turbulence Training Programs were written to challenge women to get stronger, leaner, and fitter. And the workouts comes with a free nutrition plan and bodyweight workout - So you can have the best workout imaginable whether you are in the gym or at home, and you can get some great nutritional pointers.

"After 3wks of that program, I could already see results and I liked how the workouts were fun, intense, and efficient. At 34, I'm leaner and stronger than I've ever been. Thanks Craig!"Christine Johnston, Little Rock, AK

Learn more about Fasting for Weight Loss

The Truth About Morning Cardio

I currently write for about 4 magazines on a regular basis, and I'm now on the Training Advisory Board for Oxygen magazine.

Fitness magazines have changed a lot since I first picked up my first issues of Muscle & Fiction or MuscleMag (the Arnold collector's edition!) way back in 1992 or '93.

Slowly, they are getting better info in the magazines, although some still sacrifice quality of info just to put in "new" moves (even though these exercises suck in comparison to the basics).
Here's one of the questions I was recently asked for Oxygen...

"I've been told to do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach for more fat loss. but one trainer told me I'll lose muscle mass this way. What should I do?"

Answer:Take a deep breath, and don't worry about it.

The bottom line: Fat loss is all about the BIG picture. What happens over the course of a 24 hour period determines your results, not what happens in a 30 minute exercise session.

Just as bodybuilders know that muscle doesn't grow during a workout, we also need to understand that most fat isn't lost during training, but rather as a result of what goes on for the entire 24 hour period.

If someone wants to get lean, they will achieve most of their results from SUCCESSFUL DIETING, not because they do their cardio in the morning.

And as long as they apply some type of resistance training stimulus to their muscles and eat enough protein over the course of the day, they won't lose muscle - even if they do empty stomach cardio.

****So I finished with this note to the editor at Oxygen...

I know its not great copy when an expert says, "it doesn't matter either way", but most of the time, thats the truth!

Anyways, those are the types of boring answers you'll get from me regarding controversial issues like morning cardio on an empty stomach.

Let common sense be your guide,

CB

PS - Do you want access to un-censored interviews with the top fat loss experts in the business?
Recently, I published an interview that didn't agree with my point of view on intervals. A reader asked why I would do that...and I said, my membership interviews & discussion forums are uncensored!

I am giving you ALL of the best fat loss info, and I'm not holding anything back just because it doesn't make me look good! This fat loss site is all about your results, not my ego!

Take a look at these interviews you'll get for only $9.95 per month...

Stubborn Fat Secrets - Alwyn Cosgrove Explains the Need for Extra Workouts & Recovery for Maximum Fat LossCB How can I get rid of stubborn fat? Can I add more workouts? Why did I lose weight when I had a week off? And what is the best interval program? All questions that Alwyn Cosgrove was happy to answer...you'll improve your fat loss program simply by reading this interview. . . . keep reading

What Does Your Community Have to Do with Fat Loss? FitForce Bootcamp Fat Loss Success with Jerry HillCB If you think that you can lose fat on your own, you might be right, but it's likely your results will be slower, if at all. Having a supportive community is key. But that doesn't mean sitting around, holding hands, and singing Kumbaya. Heck no, Jerry Hill shows us how you can train hard and harness the power of the community to get even greater gains in fat loss and fitness. . . . keep reading

Nutritional Myths & Landmines - Do's and Don'ts for Healthy, Fat Loss Nutrition with Mike RoussellCraig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Everyday a new nutrition myth pops up. It's enough to drive you crazy. What is true and what is false about some of these 'alternative' health nutrition tips? Are these "nutrition experts" really helping us or just trying to sell us something. . . . keep reading

Kettlebells & Fat Loss - Dirty South Styles - with Kenneth JohnsonCraig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSI met Kenny Johnson in Sept. 2006 at Ryan Lee's bootcamp for the top personal trainers in the world. Kenny has been a fan of Turbulence Training for years, and told me how he was applying the TT princ . . . keep reading

Overcoming the Fat Loss Catch-22 with Legendary Coach, Charles StaleyCraig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSHis colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him "The Secret Weapon" for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a geek who struggle . . . keep reading

Busting Plateaus: Getting Inside Your Head - The Key to Successful Weight ManagementCraig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSFinally, mental help! We all know the basics for fat loss TT-style (strength, intervals, & nutrition), but how do we deal with mental roadblocks? Find out from Kara Gallagher, Ph.D. . . . keep reading

TT Nutrition for Fat Loss Guidelines - More from Dr. Chris Mohr...Dr. Chris Mohr, Ph.D.This is the next level of nutrition information for TT users. . . . keep reading

The Other Side of Slow Cardio...To use or not to use slow cardio for advanced fat lossCraig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSIs TT wrong? Is slow cardio the best way to lose fat? Let's hear what fat loss expert Tom Venuto has to say about using slow cardio to get to single-digit body fat... . . . keep reading

Legendary Fat Loss Expert Tom Venuto Shows You How to Lose Fat Fast in Your 30's and Beyond...Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSIf you think that losing fat gets harder with age, then listen to Tom Venuto's tips. From beginners to advanced bodybuilders, everyone will benefit from his fat loss expertise. Tom lives the fat loss lifestyle. . . . keep reading

Can You Build Muscle & Burn Fat at the Same Time - Dr. Stuart Phillips Explains the ScienceCraig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSAll across the Internet, men and women are claiming incredible gains in muscle and huge losses in body fat. Can this really be done? Is it healthy? Dr. Stuart Phillips, Ph.D., discusses the science of building muscle and losing fat, high protein diets, slow cardio, intervals, and more! . . . keep reading


Is there such thing as a One Day Diet?

Is There a Conspiracy to Make us Fat?

Thanks to some very frustrating airport delays yesterday, I managed to finish off "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink.

This book did not disappoint me. Almost every page had great facts about the way food is marketed and the factors that make us decide to eat.

This book is definitely in my list of top-ten must-read nutrition books.

I've been racking my brains trying to figure out the top lesson I learnt from this book so that I could share it with you, and I think I have it.

You know how everybody these days seems to be blaming the food companies for our obesity problem? - As if it's some giant conspiracy?

Well the number one thing I learnt from "Mindless Eating" is that there is no "fat conspiracy".
Food companies do not care if you EAT their foods. They only care if you BUY their foods and continue to BUY their foods.

The people at McBurger don't care if you buy a happy meal, turn around and throw it in the garbage, just as long as you buy the happy meal.

Also, food isn't designed to be "fattening" (Whatever that means). Food is designed to be inexpensive for the companies to make and desirable enough for you to repeatedly purchase.
This is the great conspiracy. Yes food companies, restaurants and shopping centers go to great lengths to figure out how to make us BUY there food, but we are the ones making the decision to EAT the food.

And this is where some of the great ideas from "Mindless Eating" come into play.

Do you remember the picture of the four glasses I posted on my blog on Monday? Every glass in the picture contains 1 and a half cups of fluid, except for the small squat one, it has 2 cups.

This is referred to as the "horizontal-vertical illusion". If you picture an upside-down capital "T" where both the horizontal line and the vertical line are the same length, we will always see the vertical line as being longer. (I'll post a picture on my blog)

So if you were to fill the small cup to almost the top, like most of us do, it would contain a little over 2 and a half cups of fluid.

So a morning cup of orange juice could actually be a morning 2-and-a-half cups of orange juice. This could account for an extra 33 grams of sugar and 165 Calories!

This is just one great example of how our assumptions combined with some excellent marketing get us to buy more and consume more. If we can become more aware of these "overeating ques" that are around us every day, then we can be more aware of ways to avoid them.

BP

PS- I'll tell you about some more marketing techniques that cause us to over-buy and over-eat in next weeks email.

PPS- What do you get when you combine Circuit Training with Hardcore Athletic Training? Why you get Fusion Training of Course!

Why Starbucks is like Godzilla

On Monday I had a chance to catch up with one of my good friends who has spent the last five years living in Japan. He was back in Canada for a wedding, and since I haven't seen him in years it was definitely time to catch up.

Of course, the conversation eventually turned to Nutrition, and I learnt an eye-opening fact about some disturbing trends in Japan.

According to my friend, Starbucks is making a push to get a foot-hold in the Japanese market. Kind of like Godzilla, only without the death and destruction.

While this shouldn't be shocking to any of us (after all, while visiting China I saw a Starbucks INSIDE the forbidden city!), what is shocking is the effect that Starbucks is having on some of the Japanese nutrition customs.

In Japan it is a centuries-old tradition that you don't drink while walking.

And this poses a huge dilemma for the Starbucks crowd.

Since space is very hard to come by in Japan, many of the Starbucks shops are walk-up "express" versions with little to no seating. Basically, if you want your Starbucks, you are going to have to walk with it.

And guess what - People are walking with their Starbucks. Starbucks is single-handedly destroying centuries of Japanese tradition.

This is a perfect example of a soon-to-be extinct custom that once prevented people from eating while they are distracted. And it fits perfectly with the stories I have been telling you from the book,"Mindless Eating".

In this incredible book, there are examples of many other mindless eating methods that have replaced our own nutrition customs. (i.e. If you read it you'll find out what eating in front of the TeeVee has done to us, rather than eating around the dinner table).

So not only are these eating customs "sacred", but they also serve a purpose. In fact, I believe that the disappearance of traditional eating customs is one of the largest factors in our current obesity problem.

If you don't already have your own set of "nutrition customs" perhaps it's time you thought about adopting some.

Here is an easy one for all of you commuters out there. For the rest of this week, do not eat in your car. You can drink, just no food. This rule will help you keep your car clean AND save you from some mindless distracted eating.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Brad and the team at grrlAhlete.com

PS- Summer is here so...

...strength coach John Barban is back running his summer conditioning camp. You can read about the first day of camp HERE.

How to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle

No matter what anybody tells you, there are only 4 ways that you can change the way your body looks.

You can gain or lose fat, or you can gain or lose muscle. That's it.

Despite what some "gurus" say, you can't lengthen a muscle, you can't tone a muscle, you certainly can't turn fat into muscle and if your an adult you definitely can't grow any taller!

Now, if you are interested in changing the way your body looks, I'm assuming that you don't want to put on fat, and you don't want to lose muscle, so let's concentrate on the other two methods.

Losing Fat

Losing fat takes a combination of diet and exercise.

Simply - you have to burn more calories then you eat, and you need to lift weights to preserve muscle.

I know many people make it out to be more complicated then this, but it really isn't.
The proper workout routine will tell your body that it needs to keep all of its hard working muscle. And since you are burning more calories then you are eating your body needs to use something else as a fuel, so it ultimately turns to your fat stores.

The right workout program can do wonders to rev up this fat burning process.

Building Muscle

I'm not talking about steroid induced Ms Olympia type muscle, I'm talking about the type of muscle that effects your posture, makes you stand taller and straighter, and evens out your proportions - it's what we at grrlAthlete call the athletic look.

If you are looking for this type of muscle then your workout is everything. Far too many people worry about the effects that their nutrition has on their muscle - it's minimal at best.
Your workouts dictate what type of muscle you have.

So if you are getting ready for summer, but aren't getting the results you'd like to see, stop agonizing over counting calories, or grams of protein, or about the glycemic index of your carbs, and look at your workout program.

A well designed program should help you burn fat and develop the muscles that count.
If you've never had a professionally designed work-out program then perhaps its time you treated yourself. Our ShapeShift Package gives you get 3 unique exercise programs. Each program is designed to increase your metabolism, increase your fat loss and build strong muscles in the right places.

You can check out the program HERE

Take it from me, when the "nutrition guy" is telling you to concentrate less on what you eat, and more on making sure your workout is working for you, it must be important!

Brad and the Team at grrlAthlete.com

A circuit training program designed for women

How to Boost Your Energy in Ten Minutes

Energy. Everyone wants it. Needs more of it. Drinks coffee to get it (and sometimes that devil water, Red Bull, too).

So that's why the May issue of Women's Health went over 10-minute solutions for getting more energy, and CB contributed a little workout you can do in your office to overcome the mid-afternoon slump...

Find out how your biological clock influence your daily energy here...

Here's more info from WH...

"According to the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, a 2006 report examining 158 studies over 26 years found that workouts as brief as 10 minutes can spark energy levels for up to 4 hours..." Get CB's Energy Boosting 4-exercise routine here - that you can do without equipment

Get more work done in less time with more energy,

Craig and the team at grrlAthlete.com

PS - For more bodyweight exercises...

Pick up any grrlAthlete training manual and get the BONUS TT Bodyweight program for beginner, intermediate, and advanced fitness levels.

As a busy second year teacher in a new school, I knew I had to find a workout that fit my needs and my schedule. Enter Shape Shift. Not only was Shape Shift quick and flexible, it allowed me to feel some of that adrenaline that I had thrived on while playing sports in high school. Although I could definitely feel the improvement in my energy level, I didn't realize the improvement in my body composition until I had to go shopping for an outfit for a good friend's wedding. The sales person actually had to grab me the smaller sizes off the mannequin in the window display! You know, I'm glad my friend had a great wedding, but the highlight for me was the look of shock on a friend's face after he poked my tummy and said, "Wow, someone's been working out!" JJ Hodgson, Saskatoon, SK
Click here to start training to "turn heads" today!

PPS - Not sure what a Y-squat is?

Watch the Youtube video on the grrlathlete.com homepage HERE

Intense Fat Burning Circuit

Just wrote up a workout for Women's Health magazine, and decided I'd give you an advance look at a slightly different version of the workout.

We put this together because the 300 workout from MH was super popular, the main reason being the challenge it put out there. The workout was measurable and comparable. Let's do the same here...with some fun exercises that will push you to the limit. Do this circuit at the end of a short strength workout. In week 1, do the circuit only once in a single workout. In week 2, you can do it twice in a single workout. Repeat the circuit twice without any rest between exercises. Rest 1 minute between circuits when you do 2 in a single workout.

NOTE: This is for advanced fitness levels only.Let me know how it goes.

1) Medicine Ball Slams Take a 4-6lbs medicine ball and hold it in both hands at your belly button. Step forward with one foot and lift the ball up over your head. As you plant your foot down, slam the ball into the ground (set up a couple of mats if you are doing this in a gym to dampen the sound). It will look like you are doing a soccer throw-in, but slamming it straight down instead of throwing for distance. After you've done this, race and retrieve the ball and repeat for a total of 8 slams.

2) Squat Jumps Stand with your hands clasped behind your head and feet shoulder width apart. Drop your hips and do a quarter squat then jump up as high as possible. Land with your knees bent and hips back to help your muscles absorb the force. Straighten up and repeat for 6 total jumps.

3) Inverted Row Set a bar just below hip height in a squat rack or smith machine. Lie on the ground with your chest under the bar. Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your body in a straight line and row yourself up to the top position. Squeeze your shoulder blades together. Repeat for 15 repetitions. You won't be able to do 15 in one set (most likely), so rest 10 seconds and do some more. Continue in this fashion till you hit 15 reps. You can do the beginner version with bent knees if you want.

4) Decline Pushups, Regular pushups, or kneeling pushups Place your feet on a bench and hands on the ground, just wider than shoulder width apart. Keep your abs braced and do 20 decline pushups, taking your forehead within 2 inches of the floor. Use the same rest pause routine as with the inverted rows. If you can't do decline, do regular pushups, or kneeling if you can't do regular. Don't do it if its too hard for you,

CB

PS - Do you want access to un-censored interviews with the top fat loss experts in the business?
Recently, I published an interview that didn't agree with my point of view on intervals. A reader asked why I would do that...and I said, my membership interviews & discussion forums are uncensored! I am giving you ALL of the best fat loss info, and I'm not holding anything back just because it doesn't make me look good!

This fat loss site is all about your results!

Take a look at these interviews you'll get for only $9.95 per month...(BUT NOTE: The price is increasing to $19.95 per month in June, but if you subscribe by May 31st at only $9.95, you will save ten dollars each month).

Take a look at the latest news to hit the members site...

The Precision Nutrition Fat Loss ProgramAn interview with Carter Schoffer, from JohnBerardi.com, Carter shares with us his knowledge on training, and how to be effective with your workouts. He also takes time to share with us how he likes to formulate his routines. . . .

keep reading6 Fat Burning Hormones & How They Influence Your Weight LossAre you an ovarian body type? Do you have the classic men's belly? How can you control your hormones to lose weight? All of this and more... . . .

keep readingFat Loss Teleseminar #1The first TT Member's teleseminar featuring Craig Ballantyne explaining Turbulence Training for Fat Loss, how to do interval training and how to use Turbulence Training for bootcamps. . . .

keep readingOptimal Hormone Health for Weight LossAre your hormones holding you back from burning fat? This interview is for both men and women, who can learn about how hormones can put your fat loss on hold. So learn how to optimize your hormones for fat burning. . . .

keep readingIssue #6 - The Toughest Leg Exercise EverCast your vote...the world's toughest leg exercise...and the new TT "300" workout...all in the latest edition of the free TTMembers.com newsletter. . . . keep reading

The Lindsay Lohan Workout

I found this quote from Ms. Lohan in the most recent issue of Famous Magazine:

"I like doing push-ups. I'll just drop and do them. People think I'm a bit crazy, but I've gotten pretty good."

People may think she's 'a bit crazy', but its not because she does push-ups. Push-ups are a great exercise that works your chest, arms, shoulders and maybe most importantly your abs. Best of all, as Lindsay says you can drop and do them anywhere.

Brad and the team at grrlAthlete.com

PS- Can't do a full push-up? Don't worry. In honour of the woman that Maxim Magazine recently crowned 'Hottest woman of 2006', we have put together an easy 4 step program to becoming a push-up expert.

Click here to check out the program.

How to lose fat by fasting

The Dark Side of Cardio

Cardio is over-rated, over-done, and leads to over-use injuries. That's one of the dark sides of cardio. I was recently asked...

Q: Craig, could you explain to me why long slow cardio doesn't really work for fat loss and how your system of training has helped thousands of people shed fat and gain lean muscle?

CB:First, let me clarify my opinion of "cardio" and "aerobics". I know slow cardio can work for fat loss, but those who get the most benefit are often young, heavily muscled males with time on their hands and genetics on their sides.

They can workout 6 or 8 hours per week and have lots of muscle so even if they lose a bit, it won't matter.

But for people that only have 2-3 hours total exercise per week and want a buff body, rather than a skinny, weak physique, I have found that slow, traditional cardio is not the way to go.
Slow cardio is just not efficient for overweight women (i.e. those that use it most!), and slow cardio works less the longer you use it. You'll hit a plateau pretty fast with a cardio-only approach.

Those are my observations.

And realize when I talk about fat loss, I'm talking about getting the most results in the least amount of training time - because that is the population I deal with. I don't train fitness models that have 8-10 hours per week to train. Things might be different there, especially as you get closer to competition.

But for real life, slow cardio is one of the last places I would turn for fat loss help.
And because there are millions of men and women out there with little time to train but a real need to lose fat.

Because there are so many of these people out there that have relied on slow cardio in the past, when they switch to the Turbulence Training approach, it's an almost overnight success story. Hence the high volume of great feedback we have on the program.

******Craig Ballantyne is the author of Turbulence Training, a website devoted to helping women get more fat loss results in less workout time with a variety of free weight and
bodyweight exercises. Visit his site to get your Dark Side of Cardio

Can Fish Oil Make You Thin

If you've read the news in the last couple of days then you've probably read all the headlines about a new study that shows that the combination fish oils and exercise can help you lose fat.
To summarize the study, researchers randomly assigned 75 overweight men and women to one of four groups:

Group One took 6 grams of fish oil per day,
Group Two took 6 grams of fish oil per day and exercised 3 days per week;
Group Three took 6 grams of sunflower oil (the placebo), and
Group Four took 6 grams of sunflower oil and exercised 3 days per week.

After 12 weeks, the results showed the subjects in Group Two (The people taking fish oil and exercising) lost body fat.

The subjects in this group lost a little over 3 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. Definitely not extraordinary, but significant nonetheless.

So people who exercised lost some fat. In my opinion this was expected. What was not expected was that the sunflower plus exercise group did not lose any fat.

Now, these people also added exercise to their lifestyle, so you would expect them to also lose fat. So either the combination of fish oil and exercise somehow 'created' this extra fat loss, or, pardon the pun, something is fishy with this study.

On closer inspection of the data I noticed something that may account for these results.
While the fish oil plus exercise group reported that their daily calorie intake pretty much remained the same for the 12 weeks of the study, the sunflower plus exercise group saw their daily caloric intake increase by 327 Kcals per day by week 6 of the trial, and stay elevated by 230 Kcals at week 12.

While the researchers make no mention of this as being significant, it may help explain the lack of fat loss in the sunflower plus exercise group.

At the end of the day, caloric restriction and exercise are the only way to lose fat. The better your exercise program and the better your diet, the more fat you will lose. Plain and simple.
However, don't rule out fish oils. Most fish oil research finds that they can benefit blood lipids and your cholesterol profile.

Bottom line, Fish oils are good for you, just don't get your hopes up about them making you lose weight.

Brad and the Team at grrlAthlete.com


PPS- The other day I was asked the following question about our ShapeShift work-out program:
"I'm almost 5'9" and about 120 lbs, so I'd much rather prefer to put on about 10 lbs of muscle. My food habits are quite good and I've always eaten every couple of hours. My workouts are okay i guess, i just need a change and a proper program. Do you think Shapeshift would be a good idea?"

Here is my answer:

ShapeShift was designed to not only help women burn fat, but to also develop strong, lean muscle.How much fat we burn is generally dictated by our diets, so if you are interested in building muscle I would suggest using the ShapeShift program, but not reducing your calorie intake.

While the ShapeShift program is very effective at helping people lose fat, making this one small change will allow you use ShapeShift to increase your muscle mass.If while using the ShapeShift program you are still having trouble increasing your muscle, I would reduce the amount of intervals you do down to twice a week.I hope this answer helps.

BP

You can get your own copy of ShapeShift by clicking HERE

Become a Chin Up Pro Today

I hope your weekend is going well.

We're still receiving lots of great feedback about our Lindsay Lohan push-up email (For those of you who might have missed the email click HERE).

Many people were interested in the progression for other body weight exercises. Like Jen, who asked, "How about doing a full chin-up or pull up? What's the progression for that?"
Well we've put together the grrlAthlete "5 steps to Becoming a Chin-Up Pro", and you can see all the exercises by clicking HERE.

I hope you enjoy the process of becoming a Chin-Up Pro!

Brad and the team at grrlAthlete.com

PS- As always, if you have any questions about your work-outs or nutrition, feel free to contact us at grrl at grrlathlete dot com.

3 Best BodyWeight Exercises

Here are 3 kick-butt bodyweight exercises you can do on to burn fat, stay energized, and avoid overeating.

Bodyweight exercises help you burn fat shockingly fast, without any fancy equipment.

1) Any Single-Leg Exercise - The pistol (single-leg squat to the floor) is the most advanced1-leg exercise. But you can also do assisted single-leg squats with a band, or onto a bench, or even with a Stability Ball between your back and the wall.

If you aren't ready for single-leg squats, you can use Bulgarian Split Squats, Reverse Lunges, regular split squats, or lying 1-leg hip bridges if you are a beginner.

2) Decline Push-ups - These are harder than normal pushups, thanks to your elevated feet. And in this position, you can still use a close-grip to fatigue your triceps, a "piked-hip position" to build your shoulders, or even the Spiderman leg motion to work on your abs.

3) Bodyweight Inverted Rows - I choose these over chinups and pullups because bodyweight rows let your chest rest, while your back is strengthened. It's the perfect compliment to a pushup.

Do 8-12 repetitions per exercise. Don't rest between exercises. Go through the circuit up to 3 times, resting 1 minute after each circuit.

For a once-per-month challenge, do each exercise to failure in your final round through the circuit.

Get in shape for summer fast with bodyweight workouts,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

PS - Get the grrlAthlete.com bodyweight workout...

as a bonus when you order ShapeShift and start building your lean, athletic body with our fast workouts.

ShapeShift was made to challenge women to get stronger, leaner, and fitter, and it comes with the TT bodyweight workout as a bonus! So you can have the best workout imaginable whether you are in the gym or at home, and you can get some great nutritional pointers.

"After 3wks of that program, I could already see results and I liked how the workouts were fun, intense, and efficient. At 34, I'm leaner and stronger than I've ever been!"

Christine Johnston, Little Rock, AK

PPS- You can get ShapeShift today and start building your athletic body in your first workout tonite!

Click HERE to learn more about ShapeShift

4 Factor Fat Loss

What are the keys to fat loss?

Well, the three physical keys are nutrition, that is number one and you know, I'm a guy who makes my living selling training programs, but I still admit that nutrition is more important than the training program.

One way to look at it is that you cannot out train a poor diet.

It doesn't matter how good your training program is unless you're an 18 year old guy, your nutrition can totally screw up a great program.

On the other hand, if you eat really well and stick to the right nutrition program, then you can,
then you can have a less than optimal workout program and still get great results.

So, I believe that nutrition trumps training. That makes nutrition is number one and then strength training is number two and then interval training for me is number three.

But I also wanna add a fourth factor which is not necessarily physical, but more mental
and that is social support. A lot of people neglect having a social support group.

If anyone is having a hard time staying motivated, or sticking to a program,
maybe they still have the motivation but they just can't stick to the program, a social
support is incredibly important.

If they can find anybody in any facet of their life that is supportive, whether it's on the
Internet in fat loss forums, whether it's in person as a workout partner, whether it's
their spouse, whether it's their doctor, trainer or nutritionist, you can't do this all by
yourself.

So look for a form of social support. The best two sources are professional or
someone that is also successfully losing weight. So, if you hang around people that are
losing weight, you have a better chance of losing weight.

And when I say losing weight, that's interchangeable with body fat because that's what
we're worried about.

CB

PS- You can get The 6 Minute Circuits Workout today and start building your toned, athletic body in your first workout!

PPS- You can learn more about a great new way of fasting for weight loss by checking out Eat Stop Eat. It is a specific method on using one day fasts to increase weight loss without losing muscle or slowing your metabolism.

Shocking Food Discovery

13! - this is the amount of different foods I have eaten since last Wednesday.

13 different types of food in 7 days! Now this doesn't include beverages, and I've lumped green, red, and yellow peppers together as 'peppers' but still, this is not what I would call 'variety'.
To tell you the truth, I was shocked by the fact this number was not higher.

Whenever I'm asked the question "How can I improve my diet?" I try to always answer, "Eat a larger variety of foods"

It doesn't matter if you are an elite athlete, someone trying to lose a few pounds, or just trying to improve your overall health, the key to optimizing your nutrition is to eat as many different foods as possible.

Eating with variety creates what I call the 'Rainbow Effect'. Basically, you eat such a variety of foods that your diet ends up containing foods of every color imaginable.

Color is a good predictor of the nutrients in a food. Typically, the more color a food has, the more healthy nutrients it will contain (Skittles are exempt from this rule!).

Furthermore, each color has its own set of associated nutrients. So a red pepper will have slightly different nutrients than a blueberry would.

Because most of us are creatures of habit, we tend to eat the same foods day in and day out. When we get into this 'nutritional rut' we run the risk of not eating enough of the more obsure nutrients in foods, like flavonols and phenols.

An easy way to correct this is to try and increase the variety of foods we eat to at least 20 different foods in any given week, and to try AT LEAST one new food a month.

It doesn't have to be anything drastic, even a different spice will do (I tried a light dusting of cinnamon on my steak the other day and was pleasently suprised with the results).

Concentrating on variety is an easy nutritional custom that can drastically improve overall nutrition.

Brad and the team at grrlAthlete.com

PS- I had a chance to catch up with one of the athletes who is testing John Barban's new advanced circuit training program 'The 6 Minute Circuits Workout', and this is what she told me...

"Trying to fit in workouts around sports practices, classes and social life is always a challenge for University athletes. The best thing about Six Minute Circuits is that I get a complete workout in less than an hour. I didn't feel the need to supplement the workout with anything extra and by the end of the routine, I felt like I had given my entire body a good, hard workout."