What should your body fat percentage be?

Body fat percentage is talked about a lot in the fitness industry these days.  Here is my way, and the best way to find a body fat percentage you will be happy with!

This is one of the most common questions, I get asked. What should my body fat percentage be?  Does this question concern you?  Do you think you should be at 10%, maybe 12% or even lower than, say 7%.

A lot of people ask me this question. They also ask me what my body fat was when I did my first show on the picture below. Do you know what my body fat is in this picture? No?  Me either! Do you know why? When I was training for my first show (the Natural Caribbean Grand Prix) in the Cayman Islands and before I become a personal trainer, I met the president of the Natural Bodybuilding Federation of the Cayman Islands.  I asked what my body fat should be for the show.  I knew at that time that I asked the right guy because the year before he had won the Natural Federation Mr. Universe competition.

His answer to my question was a big “I don’t know”! I was shocked.  How come he doesn’t know? He is Mr. Universe! My second question was, “What was your body fat when you won Mr. Universe?” His answer: “I don’t know.” Wow, I almost fainted!  He simply told me, “This is all ‘BS’. Do you know how to check if your body fat is right for you? It’s when you look in the mirror and you are happy with what you see.”

Wow, that is simple! I have a member at the gym ask me almost every 2 weeks if his six pack is good enough. He lifts his t-shirt every time and asks me, “So what do you think? Do you think it is good enough?” I told him what I learned in Cayman and asked him if he was happy with what he saw? If yes, just maintain it, if no keep working on it.

For all of you who are trying to reach a number for your body fat, forget it and look in the mirror. See how you look. Some people look great at 15%, others don’t.  You don’t need fancy equipment. Look in the mirror and keep track of your measurements on a regular basis (every 4 to 6 weeks). This is the best way to look good and be happy with what you see.

But remember, you need the 4 wheels of the Express Fat Loss Program to be able to reduce your body fat and to keep the weight off for good. If you miss one wheel, you may lose your chance to ever be happy with what you see.

To read more on the express fat loss program visit: www.expressfatloss.com

Why am I sometimes weaker during my workout?

I received an interesting question by email this week – from Dave in Tennessee, USA.  Dave asked about how I design my clients’ programs, or even my own. Yes  I am still working out too!  Honestly if I don’t train at least 3 or 4 times a week I don’t feel good. It’s my lifestyle now for more than 20 years, and I feel great!

Dave’s question is:

I would like to know why sometime I feel very strong for my chest workout and the next program I’m not able to lift the same weight. This thing happened almost for every body part (chest, back, shoulders and arms).

My answer:

You have to take a few factors into consideration when you design your own program.

First, make sure you have enough rest in between workouts. You cannot train the same muscles group two days in a row. Your muscles need to rest at least 48 hours to be able to fully work the same muscle again. This is why if you like to do circuit training for a full-body workout, you are better off training every other day. On the days you do not do any strength training, you can do your cardio.

Now that you understand the importance of rest, we can take a look at how you introduce each body part into your program. Here’s an example.

If you train your chest on Monday,  and Tuesday – the next day- you are planning to train your shoulders, this is not a good program design.

Do you know why?  When you work your chest, your shoulders and triceps are also involved and getting a workout. Trust me, you will not be able to push too much weight with your shoulders the next day with this program because your shoulders don’t have enough time to recuperate from the chest workout. It’s that simple.

So you really need to understand body anatomy, and when you perform an exercise you need to know and understand which muscles are involved with the exercise.

To help you with your program design, here’s a few recommendations for you:

• Ÿ  When you perform a chest workout you also target your triceps and your shoulders.
• Ÿ  When you perform a back workout you also target your biceps.
• Ÿ  When you work your shoulders you also work your triceps.

Next time you design your program make sure to pay attention to those muscle groups, and really think about how the muscles work together.

For your program design, try to follow these different split workouts for 3, 4 or 5 workouts per week.

5-Day Split

Monday: Chest & Abs (Hit Shoulders and Triceps indirectly)

Tuesday: Back (Hit Biceps indirectly)

Wednesday: Shoulders & Abs (Hit Triceps indirectly)

Thursday: Quads, Hamstring & Calf

Friday: Arms & Abs

4-Day Split

Monday: Back, Biceps & Abs

Tuesday: Shoulders & Hamstring (Hit your Triceps indirectly)

Wednesday: Off – Give a break at your Triceps for the next workout

Thursday: Chest, Triceps & Abs (Hit your shoulders indirectly)

Friday: Quads & Calf

3-Day Split

Monday: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps & Abs

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Back, Biceps & Abs

Thursday: Off

Friday: Quads, Hamstring & Calf

Try out one of these plans, and I bet you’ll see a difference.  With enough rest in between, and alternating muscle groups, you’ll be more energetic, able to lift more weight or do more reps, and your technique will be better.  It all adds up to a better workout and better results!

Your Fitness Routine should continue after 12 weeks

Where are you with your program to get back into shape? When you decided to get back into shape, that was probably when you requested your F.ree E-Book or when you purchased the Express Fat Loss program.

A lot of people decide they want to make a body transformation for a special event like a New Year’s resolution, a wedding, a trip to the beach, a family reunion etc. But what happens after this is over?  Are you going to give up everything you achieved? Give up all your good work and go back to your old habits, feeling sluggish with no energy, increasing your body fat and then starting the same pattern over again for another event in a few months or next year?

Are you like that?  Can you recognize your behavior in that scenario?

Now that you have been in your routine for a few months, the trick is to keep going. So many people work hard to pass the 12 week point and after that, if something happens, they cancel their exercise time at the gym.  They think it’s probably not a big issue.  It’s only one time, but next week the same situation will come up again, and again the following week, and they end up missing more workouts.  I’m sorry to tell you that this usually signals the beginning of the end.

I have been in this business for so long that I know that at some point you will probably feel bored with your exercise program.  Maybe you will reach a plateau, and you may not see any obvious improvement in weight loss or muscle gain. You might start to lose your focus.

The other day, I read something by Mark Joyner. Mark Joyner is a 4 times best-selling author, and this phrase made a lot of sense to me. Make sure you apply this to your goals: he said, “Hit it until you hit it”. Whatever your goals are, apply this to your focus and you will ‘Hit It’ for sure.

If you have lost focus lately with your fat loss program, make sure you are still doing what you need to do to be successful. Here’s a few ways to get back on track:

Ÿ  Establish a routine – Make exercise part of your daily lifestyle. Exercise should come naturally like eating, sleeping or brushing your teeth.

Ÿ  Schedule – Make sure you set up some time in your agenda for time at the gym. Choose the best time for you and KEEP IT! This time slot is yours. It’s your time to think about your health.

Ÿ  Pay attention to your nutrition – Without monitoring your nutrition closely, it will be very difficult to achieve what you want. It’s a package deal: you need all of ‘wheels’ (Nutrition, Strength Training, Cardio/Flexibility and Rest)

Ÿ  Goals- Look back to the goal setting you did a few months ago and see if your goals were realistic.

Ÿ  Start keeping your nutrition and exercise journal again – Make sure you stay on track with both.

Ÿ  Push yourself little bit more at each workout session, perform maybe one extra rep or increase the weight of your lift.

Ÿ  Change your routine every 4 to 6 weeks to keep you interested and your muscles learning and getting fit.

Your fitness program should go beyond the first 12 weeks. First make a commitment for the first 12 weeks and then re-assess and make another commitment for another 3 months. Use a small time frame (12 weeks at a time) and aim to get fitter and stronger every time you set up fresh 12 weeks goals.  Remember what you learned about goal setting – keep it realistic, and measure your progress regularly to stay motivated!

15 Reasons to try the Express Fat Loss Program

Are you still debating if you should invest the equivalent of the price of a few coffees to be in best shape of your life? Well, if it were me, the answer would be simple.  I do everything I can to stay in good shape. Even when I was diagnosed with throat cancer, and during my chemotherapy and radiation treatment, I would still take a walk every day.  At that time it was the only thing I could do, but I still did it.

What about you?

I’ll give you 15 good reasons to adopt the Express Fat Loss Program. I’m sure after you see what my program can offer you, it will be an easy choice and you will be closer to achieving the new YOU!

15 great reasons to get your jump start with the Express Fat Loss Program

1.    Speed up your metabolism: you will burn more calories and maintain a better lean mass/body fat ratio.

2.    Improve self image and your self esteem.

3.    Increase the good cholesterol (HDL) in your blood. HDL helps to protect you against the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

4.    Increase your aerobic capacity.

5.    Develop more muscle mass. With more muscle, you will burn more calories.

6.    Decrease and control your blood pressure, reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease.

7.    Help to control your blood sugar and your insulin level. This will reduce your risk of diabetes.

8.    Improve the blood flow in your body, helping your skin to look healthier.

9.    Increase your bone density, helping to prevent osteoporosis.

10.    Improve the quality of sleep.

11.    Make your heart fitter.  Don’t forget your heart is a muscle: you need to train the most important muscle in your body! Your heart will be more efficient, increasing the volume of blood flow.

12.    Increase energy

13.    Improve your posture with a stronger core.

14.    Strengthen your immune system, helping you to fight illness and disease.

15.    You will get a real program with all the information you need.  Experience shows that the Express Fat Loss Program works.

And here’s one more reason: I will personally guarantee that this book will change your life. Accept my 60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee and get your money back if you are not completely satisfied!!!

To Start Your Program Today visit: www.ExpressFatLoss.com

Diet don’t work!

A few days ago I started working with a new client. She wants to lose weight. After a brief chat with her, she told me she’s tried almost every popular diet. She found with all those diets, the only results she’d get is a slower metabolism and all the weight back, even with some extra pounds!

I’m going to tell you once again, just in case you’ve missed it in my blog when I talked about diets…

Diets DON’ T  work. Period!

Get it?

Don’t try to diet to lose weight. Chances are, you will gain all your weight back – and probably more – after your diet.

So what is the solution? It’s simple. Change your lifestyle. Notice I didn’t say change your diet. I said lifestyle. What do I mean by lifestyle? Changing your habits and your behaviors. This is the only way to lose weight and keep it off for a lifetime.

Start with a few simple tips:

- Eat breakfast every day – Your most important meal of the day!

- Eat every 3 hours – Keep your blood sugar more stable.

- Eat small portions – Eat more often but small portion

- Establish a good balance between carbohydrates, protein and fat. (40%-40%-20%)

- Consume healthy fats from good sources – Extra Virgin Coconut  or Olive oil, Flax seed oil, Avocado, Salmon

- Set aside a time for your favorite meal or snack

To get a complete guide for your weight loss and building lean muscle, I highly recommended the Ultimate Guide to Express Fat Loss. In there, you’ll find all the information you need for successful weight loss. Including 18 different meal plan with grocery list to give you all what you need to be another success story on weight loss.

Once you discover how to  change your lifestyle, you’ll see it’s easy to keep the weight off. Stop the yo-yo dieting. It’s not working. When you know what to do, you will see it’s much easier to lose weight and keep it off.

Keep Moving, Stay Fit!

How to lose weight fast with Strength Training Exercises?

Strength training basically means to work against the force coming from your body or different machines & equipments like free weights, weight machines, barbells etc.
In Strength training exercises muscles are overload by using different combinations of type, intensity, frequency and duration of workouts. Remember progression and frequency is two key elements in strength training exercises.

Muscles grow in size when your body is at rest. You can train on alternating days but it’s also ok if you train like five-days in a row without training the same muscle groups on two-successive days.
Women can also do strength training exercises. They have  less muscle hypertrophy hormones as compared to man and therefore doing strength training exercises will not build muscles in them as depicted in several woman in magazines.

Benefits of Strength Training Exercises:

•    Corrected Muscular Imbalance
•    Strong Heart
•    Better Energy Level
•    Fast weight loss
•    Increased bone density
•    Better cholesterol level
•    Increased muscle growth
•    And many more…

Key Rules of Strength training Exercises:

• Always start your workout with large muscle groups (compound exercises) and end with small muscle groups.
• Start workouts with strength training exercises and then do cardio.
• Use right technique, right posture.
• Maintain proper breathing and exhale at exertion times.
• Use eight to twelve reps per set. Also change the number of sets & reps after every four to six weeks.
• Use resistance that is challenging to be lifted at least 8-reps-per-set.
• Attend 2-to-3 strength training sessions per week.
• Do strength training exercises before taking meal. Never do exercise just after taking meal.
• Drink water before, during and after your training session.

To know more about the Express Fat Loss Program

Win the Battle Against Fat Cells

As a fitness expert, you know I’ll never promise you a pill is going to be the answer to that “jiggle in your wiggle.” If you want six pack abs you’re going to have to work for them.

BUT…

There is some very promising research out there in regards to a dietary supplement you’ve probably been hearing a lot about.

Yes, I’m talking about Essential Fatty Acids. You probably have heard them called something like Fish Oil pills.

How’s this for good news?!

*University of Georgia researchers have found something pretty amazing about  Essential Fatty Acid supplements containing DHA. Get this: The actually help STOP the conversion of pre-fat cells into fat cells by causing them to die out before they can mature.

Once a pre-fat cell becomes a fat cell, well, there’s no turning back. You’ve got that fat cell for life. Imagine, actually decreasing the accumulation of fat by taking an Essential Fatty Acid supplement containing DHA!

Now let me do my best infomercial voice for you…

But wait, there’s more!

Seriously, that’s not the only benefit of Essential Fatty Acid supplements containing DHA.

According to studies** done at the University of South Australia people that combined exercise with Essential Fatty Acid supplements containing DHA saw greater fat loss than the test group that only exercised and did not take the supplement.

How can you not be excited by these research studies??

Now, personally, I don’t like Fish Oil pills because they cause you to burp like crazy. If you’ve ever taken them you know exactly what I mean. And they aren’t always the highest quality.

I prefer EFA Icon from Prograde Nutrition because they use Krill Oil. It’s been found to be a superior source of Essential Fatty Acids containing DHA. Plus, with EFA Icon there are NO fish burps. And I haven’t even mentioned all the amazing health benefits from this dietary supplement.

If you’re looking to accelerate your fat loss results than I really recommend you go with Prograde Nutrition’s EFA Icon. You can get it here: Prograde Nutrition

PS – Remember, EFA Icon is NOT a miracle solution. You will need sound nutrition and exercise. BUT the research is there. It’s definitely a supplement with powerful fat loss properties.  Prograde Nutrition

* Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 136:2965-2969

** American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85:1267-1274

The Truth – Calorie In VS Calorie Out

Losing weight should be an easy calculation between calories IN and calories OUT right?  Wrong!  For weight loss success, follow the Golden Rule of Nutrition from the Express Fat Loss Program.

For many years we have read that in order to lose weight, we need to burn more calories than we eat. This is a real fact, and it is easy to understand: to be able to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume.

But hold on for one minute! I will explain something that seems very important in theory, but might not actually work in practice.

Imagine someone who needs around 2500 calories per day to maintain his basal metabolic rate. As you know, in order to lose 1 pound a week, you need to create a deficit of 500 calories per day. In fact, 1 pound of fat equals 3500 calories. If you need 2500 calories per day and you only take 2000 calories, you should lose your pound a week easily right? Not necessary, and let me show you why.

People who don’t follow the Golden Rule of Nutrition from the Express Fat Loss Program may not succeed with the calorie deficit theory.

Imagine you never eat breakfast and you only have 2 meals a day. A big lunch around noon and a big dinner around 7:00 pm. For you lunch, if you grab some kind of fast food, it can easily be around 700 calories. Now for your dinner, it’s the carbohydrate fiesta – pasta with creamy sauce, garlic bread, why not a glass of wine and to make the perfect finish, a piece of chocolate cake. That is probably around 1200 to 1300 thousand calories and maybe more.

If you calculate the calories from those two meals, you have around 2000 calories. If this is all you eat you should still be in sufficient calorie deficit to lose weight right? Not at all my friend! Even if you are in calorie deficit by 500 calories a day, I will promise you, you will gain weight, not lose it.

The theory of calorie IN vs calorie OUT only works if your nutrition follows the Golden Rule of Nutrition from the Express Fat Loss program.
The next time you grab your lunch or dinner, remember this article. And please don’t forget to take your breakfast EVERY DAY!  This is the golden rule #1.

To order your Ultimate Guide to Express Fat Loss – CLICK HERE

Best Ways to Lose your Belly Fat

The first step towards the ultimate perfect body shape is to lose belly fat.

Everyone wants to look smart and fit but almost everyone faces a critical situation in some span of life when one is not satisfied with his or her physique. If a person is healthy and in a well maintained shape then self confidence and trust in one’s own personality comes automatically. Majority of the people don’t give much attention to this issue till the matter gets out of control and then one has to start considering to lose belly fat.

To lose belly fat, a good deal of patience and devotion is required. Belly is the initial position of body fats’ accumulation. So the motive of any one who wants to reduce weight should be to lose belly fat. At times even when a person’s in a suitable shape, to lose belly fat is a definite concern. By simply getting rid of the belly fat one can always stay in a fit shape and maintain an ideal weight.

Balanced Nutrition:

To lose belly fat, a number of nutritional tips and techniques are provided. These diet plans offers balanced nutrition that stops the further accumulation of fats and help to lose belly fat. The “Express Fat Loss Program” recommends using balanced nutrition that includes

·    Fresh fruits
·    Fresh Vegetables
·    Lean Proteins
·    Whole Grains

Physical Exercises:

The second step that anyone ought to take is physical training. The physical exercises play a very important role in helping one lose belly fat in a short time period. The various physical training sessions include cardio sessions, extensive power trainings and functional core training. These exercises allow a person to reduce weight in a quick speed and in a healthy manner.

Four Wheels of Express Fat Loss Program:

The Four Wheels of Express Fat Loss Program (Cardio, Strength Training, Nutrition and Flexibility) help you attain the goal to lose belly fat and acquire a fit and healthy body. Moreover they have no side effects and are easily achievable with the right determination and devotion.

To order your Express Fat Loss Program, CLICK HERE

HIIT for Quick Fat Burning

Many people assume that the only solution to attain quick weight loss is doing extensive exercises on cardio machines for hours and hours. Many spend hours on fitness machines while reading books and magazines or hearing music on the mp3 or iPod but still unable to achieve the aim of quick weight loss.

Fitness Machines:

Fitness machines such as treadmills, elliptical, rowers and stationary bikes are on the top of the list of many people for attaining quick weight loss. The fact is that these slow cardio machines do burn calories but are not that much competent in getting good results and many times you get bore of them after a week a so.

Pulse Rate:

Steady State Cardio Exercises are also not that efficient for quick weight loss. These slow exercises do not let your pulse rate increase to the extent that is favorable for burning fats. Moreover your body gets adaptable to them quickly. The key to quick weight loss is not to spend hours in gym, but to exercise with proper techniques and pace so that your pulse rate is high.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT):

HIIT is a simple and effective way for achieving guaranteed quick weight loss. American College of Sport Medicine has proved that short but high intensity workout sessions are more effective in fat burning as compared to steady state exercises. You can easily achieve quick weight loss by applying HIIT while jogging/walking on track/treadmills, swimming or on spinning bike.

Keep a stopwatch with you and follow below HIIT steps for achieving the aim of quick weight loss:
1.    Warm up for 5-10min.
2.    Increase your speed for next 30sec until you start losing breath.
3.    Slow down for about 45 to 60 sec
4.    Repeat step 1 to 3.
The whole session should take 20-30min of exercise including warm up and cool down. Do this cardio program and I’m sure you will start to get some great result in your weight loss program