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I just purchased your fat to fit program this weekend!!! I need a fresh approach to get the last of the body fat off of my lower body. I have been training for a number of years but some of my hard work is hidden under that damn fat!!!!

I am adjusting my diet according to your plan. I pretty much eat the foods that you suggest, it’s just that my fat was still a bit high and I have to stick to 5-6 meals per day. I’m also paying attention the protein, carb and fat grams per meal. I know that this is going to make a big difference. I do have some questions about the phase 2 workout plan.

I have a gym in my apartment complex that has plenty of free weights (power block), elliptical trainer, treamill and recumbent bike and an Apollo weight system. When I work my legs I do different types of lunges and squats with dumbells. I do work my hamstrings with the weight machine but that is only one excercise. Do you have any suggestions for another excercise?

Also, can I do the standing calf raise effectively on the floor holding dumbells? I did experience a problem with both of my legs recently. Both of my knees felt the same way, it wasn’t pain but an extreme tightness on the medial and lateral aspects of my knees. I thought maybe it was from over training so I laid off the weights for a couple of weeks but I did do alot of walking with hills. I went to Italy for 2 weeks and I walked my butt off, it was very cool by the way!!!! I came back from by trip and I did a couple of light workouts last week and today my legs are feeling fine so I want to get back to it. Do you think that maybe I wasn’t stretching enough? I know that I haven’t been, so I’m going to pay more attention to that. Any suggestions would be helpful, and believe me I don’t mind your direct approach!!!!! Have a great day!!

Susan

Hi Susan, I am more than happy to see if I can come up with some suggestions for you.

First for the hamstrings there are a couple of things you can do. The first is stiff leg deadlifts. There is a description about half way down the page here: Leg exercises

You can also do step ups like I included in this leg program (as well as some other exercises that target the back of the legs): Glute exercise workout

One of my favourites is a little complicated to set up but it is a kneeling hamstring curl. The link I show you here is a little differant but you can do it from the floor if you can anchor your heels. http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/BBHamstringRaise.html

As for the calf raises, when I cant find a step to do them off, I use another dumbbell. The effort you use to stabalize yourself on the thin handle will only add to the stimulus your calves get.

And lastly for the knee tightness, you nailed it on the head. The stability factor was engaged with the large amount of hiking you did and it was just a little more work than you were used to. Stretching has to be in the program. If you dont stretch by choice now, you will stretch to get rid of pain later.

Looking forward to hearing about your progress,
Ray Burton
Author of fat to fit

When is the last time someone told you that a low intensity cardio workout was the best way of achieving maximum weight loss in the shortest time possible? I hear it from clients everyday. Its about 5 minutes later I go into this little routine in one form or another.

Now lets see why the leading sports conditioning trainers and fat loss coaches in the world recommend a quicker approach to leaning out your midsection.

Could you really have been steered wrong all this time? Everything you’ve read over the last ten years has said that when you want to lose weight fast that slow and low intensity cardio workouts are the rule. If you dare to buck the trend and do that new high intensity interval training all you will do is burn of carbs and not experience fat loss. Right? Wrong!

If you have come this far I know I have you interested in the possibility that there must be a better approach. There is. High Intensity Interval Training may be the next big thing. I can promise you that if you keep reading you will never look at a treadmill the same way again!

First, what is “normal” slow, static, weight loss orientated cardio workout defined as? A low intensity cardio workout is when you exercise at 60-65% of your max heart rate. Your max heart rate can be most easily figured out by subtracting your age from 220. For a person that is 35 the equation would look like this. 220-35= 185 max heart rate. Take the 60-65% fat burning recommendation and you would be shooting for a sustained heart rate of 120 beats per minute.

If that is a low intensity workout, then what is high intensity cardio workout?

High intensity cardio is defined as exercise that gets your heart rate into the 75% and up range. This can be done in a sustained fashion but not for very long and that is where the interval training part comes in. Intervals of high intensity combined with a downshift in gears to rest for 30 seconds to a minute before ramping it back up. You go fast then slower to catch your breath a little.

So how exactly does H.I.I.T. burn more fat then the slow and low method? Again, another great question! Let me explain.

Low intensity cardio training burns about 50% fat for energy while a high intensity workout burns about 40% fat for energy. So the low intensity method is best right? Just wait.

Lets take the average walker doing cardio on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Once they have finished they have racked up a calorie burn of 160 calories. If 50% of those calories are fueled by fat then they have burned 80 fat calories

Then over on treadmill number two, you have a mixed martial arts fighter doing wind sprints in the high intensity cardio style. He is doing one minute high and 30 seconds at a jog or a walk. He keeps this up for 20 minutes, is drenched in sweat and breathing like a freight train. In those 20 minutes of HIIT he has burned 350 calories. If you take the lower fat burning percentage of 40%, what do you have? What you have is 140 fat calories burned and in less time then the low intensity person. As a matter of fact, our HIIT person is in the showers as we speak while the slow cardio workout person is getting bored out of their mind looking for something to read on the treadmill.

The bottom line is that you almost doubled your fat burning with the high intensity cardio workout, and less time to boot.

Now you can see that in the long run you actually burn more fat calories in total with HIIT then the regular style while you are doing it. What about the rest of the day? The fact of the matter is that slow-low cardio workout only helps weight loss while you do it. Once you get off the treadmill that’s all you get as far as weight loss goes after a couple of minutes rest.

Here is the clincher on HIIT. It burns calories long after you stop! It sounds too good to be true but even after you stop your interval training your body will continue to rev its metabolism for up to 24 hours depending on how intensely you did your intervals. This is a great thing for weight loss wouldn’t you say?

The fact of the matter is that even after you hit the showers and are sitting on the couch, HIIT is still working towards your weight loss goals for you. Now that’s efficient. Less time spent working and longer lasting effects.

Small changes like this to your workout make all the difference when you really want to lose that weight fast. I hope that helps you out!

I hope you are doing really well! I had been following your fat loss program for three months and got great results. So first of all, I wanted to start off by saying “thank you very much from the bottom of my heart Ray”. Since October of last year, I am down 18 inches (only counting my bust, hips, waist, and abdomen)! Yippee! (I have attached two after pictures from a couple of weeks ago, though one is just a head shot. You requested this a month or two ago and here it finally is! Now you have a face to my name as well as more context to work with).

However, for these past two months, I have really lacked motivation to go further, and I wanted to hear your thoughts about this. I mean, I want it, I visualize myself more fit and toned from where I am now, and everyday I try to get back on “the wagon” only to fall off again four days later. So though I have not gained any inches or weight, I have not progressed any further, and I find it very difficult to both stay positive about myself and my potential to achieve the body that I want, and also to stay within my calorie limit for weight loss.

Another side note is I am constantly craving fruit! Fruit, fruit, fruit all the time I have a difficult time not eating it past 12:00 noon. It’s like the sugars in it or something. Do you know what causes this? Or do you have any suggestions?

Anyway, do you have any words of wisdom to help me regain motivation and get to where I want to be? You know because I have gone down quite a few inches and I like my body so much more now than I did before I think I am scared to go any further. Perhaps the fear of the unknown and the lack of confidence in myself is preventing me from committing myself further?

Have you or your clients had experience with this? Thankyou so much. I really appreciate it. I know this is past my one month trial period so I don’t know if you are willing to answer my questions, but I would love to hire you as an internet coach or online trainer for one on one coaching over email. Thanks so much and have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,
Annie

You know its so funny. You watch the movies and you see the physiologist just sit there and listen to the question from the patient. Hey Doc, ” I just don’t have the motivation to go further. Can you help me with some tips?”. Then the Doc sits there and rephrases the question right back at them, “Why is it do you think that you lack the motivation to go further?”

This is where the music starts out lightly and then builds up a little. The client says..”I don’t know, I guess I’m just a little scared of the unknown and lack the confidence that I can do this.” Ah Hah! We have the problem and the answer and the Doc never really offered any guru like advice. The answer is that in order to go to the next level of development, the area where most people never go, we need to work on confidence and getting rid of the fear of failure.

So, the drama aside, sometimes its tuff to gear up for another run of discipline and hard work. That’s why athletes and bodybuilders have off and in season training schedules. You just really can’t expect to go full bore day in and day out. We all need a rest. Then once you take it and decide that you are ready to achieve your next batch of goals, you go for and go for it with all you have. You EXPECT success because you are taking the right actions. You know you are taking the right actions because someone that is experienced in the area you want to succeed in has given you directions.

As for fearing failure. What would that really be in your case? Would it be that you don’t lose 30 pounds? In what time frame? What is the worst case scenario? I guess that it would be you loose absolutely no weight at all. Now that wont happen I can guarantee that because I know the experiences of others on the program, but it raises a great point. The point is that if you are not enjoying the journey or the path that leads you to the goal, you are on the wrong path. There is more than one way to achieve any goal.

When you enjoy what you are doing, the achieving of the goal is a bonus. Not something that you fear not achieving. When you find a means of getting to a goal that you enjoy, you will do it day in and day out simply because you enjoy doing it. You love being in the process. You can’t wait to wake up and get the blood flowing and feel that extra energy all day long. The funny thing is, the people that adapt this approach to anything, fitness included seem to be the ones that stick to it long term and achieve the highest standard of accomplishments. Even more funny, it happened in the background as they enjoyed themselves each day.

I hope this helps you out and FANTASTIC job on coming this far.

P.S. If you enjoy fruit, then have some. Keep it to a cup a serving. Something like strawberries or grapefruit. I don’t allow this in the beginning stages of the program after noon because I want people to see a little drop in the scale right away even if it does include some water weight.

Your coach
Ray Burton
http://www.fattofitprogram.com