Tag: build muscle fast

Posted on

3 Easy Tips To Lose Fat

Fat loss does not have to be difficult, especially if you have a few tricks up your sleeve.  By this I don’t mean I would ever want you to take a dangerous, radical approach to your fat loss but only one that would be healthy and prove great results at the same time.

I have had many clients, friends and family members ask me, “Isabel, is there a way I can drop my first few pounds of fat quickly and easily?”  Yes, there is.  It will require a few dietary changes on your part, but the results are incredible.  I have had hundreds of people use these tips with great success, easily losing their first 10-15lbs of unwanted fat.

Here are my 3 Simple and Easy Fat Loss Rules:

1. Don’t eat anything that is white. Name every single food that is white and chances are you shouldn’t be eating it: bread, pasta, crackers, most cereals, flour based products, white potatoes, white rice, and pasteurized dairy and cheese are all no-no’s during this time.  (Healthy foods like cauliflower, chicken, turkey, fish, white pork are all exceptions to this rule).

2. Only drink water, NOTHING else! How about coffee? Just to keep any possible withdrawal headaches at bay, one small cup of organic black coffee. Can you add half and half?…Well is it white?  Drink a minimum of 1/2 of your bodyweight in ounces of water each day (ex. If you weigh 200 lbs, you need to drink 100 ounces) to really see the fat fall off.

3. Don’t eat anything with the word wheat in the ingredients list. What if it’s whole wheat? Look, if the word starts with W and ends in T and has the letters h e a in between, you can’t eat it.  This includes bread, pasta, crackers and cereal.  Many packaged snack foods also contain wheat so be sure to read the ingredients list carefully.

Are you up for this challenge?  Apply these easy fat loss rules to your own eating plan for the next 2 weeks and I know you will be seeing some amazing fat loss results in no time.

Receive your free diet and nutrition tips in your email inbox every week by signing up for our Free Nutrition Report.

Get started on your own personal fat burning meal plans right away with The Diet Solution Program.

Posted on

Get Big Muscles In 3 Simple Steps

Do you know what it really takes to build big muscles? Do you think it’s as simple as buying a gym membership, training each body once per week, slamming back some protein shakes and trying to eat as much chicken and tuna possible? Viola, you are big enough to enter a bodybuilding contest. Can you imagine it was that easy to build big muscles? Unfortunately, your monthly gym membership, regular weight training workouts and casual eating habits, isn’t going to cut it. Here are five simple steps to getting big muscles fast :

Squat and Deadlift

Squatting and Deadlifting are known as two of the Big Three exercises that are responsible for power and mass muscle building. Consider these two animal exercises the kings of the jungle! Without them, you do not have a chance of survival. These two exercises alone, work out about 75% of your entire musculature, including your traps, shoulders, arms, back. Gluts, hams, calves and core muscles.

Not to mention the degree of intensity, squats and dead lifts force your body to release greater volumes of growth hormone, which results in bigger muscles all over your body. This spillover effect results in strength gains in all you other lifts which translates into a more muscular you! Squatting and dead lifting are especially critical for hard gainers because of the hormonal spikes affecting the entire body.

Stick to Compound Exercises

What is going to isolate more muscle fibers? A bench press or cable cross over? A military press or lateral raise? A chin up or bicep curl? A dip or tricep kickback? If you ever hope to get big muscles than compound lifts are not optional, they are mandatory. Stick to squats, leg presses, deadlifts, bench preses, barbell rows, pull ups, chin ups, over head presses, and dips.

If all you do is concentrate on building your puny muscles like arms and calves, then you will end up with exactly what you focus on – puny muscles!

Keep Your Rest Periods Honest

When was the last time you were in the gym and you watched the average guy time his recovery with a stop watch? Stop watches are not just for endurance athletes but should be used by every person who is serious about building big muscles.

Generally, the closer you lift to your one rep max, the longer the rest period and the higher the number of reps, the shorter the rest period. This is a crucial variable, which is often overlooked, yet will determine whether you create the correct training response.

For example, if you are training for maximal strength which requires at least 3-5 minutes rest between sets and you are only taking 2 minutes, you are not giving your nervous system an honest workout. If you are training for muscle size which requires shorter 30-90 second style recoveries but are gazing at the cute girl on the elliptical letting your rest periods carry over these ranges, you are not giving your metabolic system an honest workout.

Lastly, how do you know if you are truly stronger if you do not monitor your rest period? For example, let’s say last week you bench pressed 135 pounds for four sets of ten. This week you bench pressed 145 pounds for four sets of ten. Assuming the rest period was identical for both workouts, this is a tremendous improvement and a measurable sign of improvement! However, what if you took an extra minute or two between each set on the recent workout? This means that you did not actually become stronger. You just had a longer rest period!

Conclusion

You now know that building big muscles is not easy as showing up at the gym and throwing back a few protein shakes. Apply these three simple steps in your next program and I promise that you will start building brand new muscle all over your body!

Everything you need to know about muscle building

Posted on

9 Easy-To-Make Muscle Building Growth Recipes

Think putting yourself on a muscle building diet has to be a painful process?  Whether your goal is fat loss or muscle building, getting proper nutrition is at least 80% of the game. If you don’t have that figured out, you are going to be a long time away from seeing results.

The good news is that your tastebuds don’t have to suffer if you don’t want them to. There are plenty of ways to get in your proper nutrition while keeping things interesting. If you think gaining muscle means suffering through can of tuna after can of tuna or pounding back a protein shake as fast as humanly possible, you need to think again.

Give one of these recipes a try and you’ll be surprised just how easy it is to eat right, achieve your goals and actually ENJOY your food at the same time.

Protein Fudge Nuggets

These are great to take to the gym as a post-workout treat or just for a snack to eat between meals. When you are trying to gain weight many of you really need to packing in the calories so you need calorie dense foods. These chocolate treats have it all. 

8 scoops chocolate protein powder

1 cup oatmeal (can be ground depending on the consistency you’d like)

1/3 cup natural peanut butter

3 tbsp honey

½ cup milk

3 tbsp crushed peanuts

First mix together the protein powder, oatmeal, peanut butter, honey and milk. Form into small balls and then roll in the crushed peanuts to finish.  Note that these can easily be frozen in plastic bags and consumed on a later date.

Nutritional Info (1/10 of the recipe)

234 calories

6.7 grams fat

18 grams carbohydrates

25 grams protein

Pumpkin Pancakes
When you’re craving a good home-made pancake breakfast, give these a try. They are filled with slow digesting carbohydrates that will keep your blood sugar steady throughout the morning.

¼ cup oats

1/3 cup canned pumpkin

5 egg whites

1 tbsp ground flax

½ tbsp cinnamon

Splenda to taste

First heat a frying pan until hot and then reduce to medium temperature. After mixing together all the ingredients drop by spoonful onto the plan, flipping when bubbles start to form.

Makes about 5 – 4″ pancakes.

Nutritional Info (per recipe)

217 calories

23 grams protein

26 grams carbohydrates

4 grams fat

Protein Jell-O
When you’re craving something sweet but are on a very low carb diet, there often is not a lot of options. This recipe is the perfect dessert that will give you plenty of protein and not much else.  Great for those on a very strict diet.

1 package sugar-free Jell-O (any flavour)

1 scoop Syntrax Nectar protein powder (any flavour – to match Jell-O)

Mix 1 cup boiling water with the Jell-O powder then stir in one scoop of the protein powder until dissolved.  Once that’s finished, mix in one cup of cold water and allow to set. Serve with low fat Cool Whip if desired.

Blueberry Cookies
Everyone needs a good cookie now and then but not everyone needs the damage to their diet. Luckily with these not only will you be getting a great dose of protein, you will be getting plenty of antioxidants from the blueberries.

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

4 egg whites

½ cup oats

1 cup blueberries

First combine all three ingredients so they are blended well. Then mix in blueberries and drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degree Celsius for approximately thirteen minutes.  Makes 10 cookies.

Nutritional Info (per cookie)

54 calories

6.5 grams protein

0.7 grams fat

5.5 grams carbs

More healthy food recipes here

Intramuscular Buffering Capacity

Finally, the last adaptation that’s seen with sprint training is the buffering capacity of the muscle. During glycoglysis, various byproducts are created such as lactic acid, and when these accumulate, it causes the extreme feelings of fatigue in the muscle tissues.

This then forces you to stop exercising as the fatigue sets in and often will be the end of your workout.

Overtime, sprint training will increase your ability to buffer these byproducts so that you can then workout for a longer period of time while maintaining that intensity.

So, next time you’re debating about whether to do a sprint training session or a moderate paced cardio session lasting for 40 minutes or so, opt for the sprint session.

The benefits you’ll receive are far more numerous and fat loss will be kicked up a notch as an added benefit. Keep in mind that for these type of benefits to occur, you want your sprints to last somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 seconds to 40 seconds, with a work to rest ration of about 1:2. Repeat this process a total of 6 to 8 times and begin and end with a five minute warm-up and cool-down.

For more tips on healthy eating read here

Posted on

How to Avoid Over-training to Maximize Muscle Growth

Almost anyone that’s picked up a set of weights has or will experience symptoms of over-training at one point in there muscle building program. Over-training can lead to serious injury, chronic fatigue, and even muscle loss.

Over-training is very common amongst athletes and particularly bodybuilders, since they figure that training as much as possible is the fastest way to massive muscle gains.

This couldn’t be any further from the truth however…

Training too much, or at too high of an intensity will lead to over-training.

Now this doesn’t mean you don’t have to put plenty of effort in to see some decent results… Whether you are a bodybuilder, athlete, or just someone that wants to add some additional mass to your frame, you need to train hard and be consistent-that’s a given. In order to get the most out of your genetics, you have to progressively overload the muscles by increasing the weight and / or intensity of each weight training workout.

The problem is however, that many of us increase the intensity of our workouts or get insufficient amounts of rest, or even worse, a combination of both. The trick is finding the right balance between workout volume and intensity, and rest and recovery. And that is exactly what I’ll cover in this article.
The Effects of Over-Training on Bodybuilders

First, let’s take a look at some of the effects of over-training and how one can prevent over-training from happening in the first place.

The Effects of Over-training on the Nervous System

Over-training effects both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in the following negative ways:

  • Higher resting heart rate
  • Weak appetite
  • High blood pressure
  • Weight loss
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Increased metabolic rate
  • Irritability
  • Early onset of fatigue

If you are experiencing more than one of the symptoms outlined above, you may be in a state of over-training, and should evaluate your routine as soon as possible.

The Effects of Over-training on Hormone Levels

Many studies have indicated that over-training negatively effects the levels of hormones, as well as the hormone response in the body.  Since hormones play such an important role in the muscle building process, this can have a detrimental effect on your training progress.

Over-training has been show to:

  • Decrease testosterone levels
  • Decrease thyroxine levels
  • Increase cortisol levels
The increase in cortisol levels along with the decrease in testosterone levels is a deadly combination, since this leads to protein tissue break down. This will ultimately lead to a loss of muscle tissue.  

The Effects of Over-training on the Immune System

perhaps one of the most alarming repercussions of over-training is it’s negative impact on the immune system-you’re bodies first defense against harmful viruses and bacteria.

Over-training can drastically decrease the levels of antibodies and lymphocytes in your body, making you much more susceptible to illness.  Simply put, this means that if you are in a state of over-training, you are much more likely to get sick.  Since you will have to skip workouts while you are sick, your muscle building progress will slow considerably.

The Effects of Over-training on the Metabolic System

Here is a list of how over-training can  effect the metabolic system.  These symptoms are the ones that are most commonly discussed, and are ones we can’t ignore:

  • Micro tears in the muscle
  • Chronically depleted glycogen levels
  • Slow, weak muscle contractions
  • Depleted creatine phosphate stores
  • Excessive accumulation of lactic acid
  • Extreme DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
  • Tendon and connective tissue damage

So you must get the point by now… Over-training effects the entire body, and can seriously impact the results of your muscle building program.  

Now let’s take a look at the different types of over-training, and what we can do to prevent it.

Is it Worse to Over-Train With Cardio or Weight Training?

Any form of over-training is a bad thing, however, I’ve personally experienced both types of over-training and can honestly say that over-training in the weight room is much worse, and much more prevalent than over-training through cardiovascular training.

Here are some of the reasons why: 

  • In order to grow, muscles must fully recover from their last workout, every workout.  If you are over-training and work the muscles before they have fully recovered, you will break down the muscle tissue before it has rebuilt-making it impossible to build muscle!
  • Over-training with weights makes you more susceptible to nervous systems hormone and immune system issues, which all pose serious health risks.
  • It can lead beginners down the wrong path, perhaps wasting money on unnecessary supplements, or even worse, steroids.

I personally believe that only competitive athletes such as swimmers, runners and bikers run a serious risk of reaching a state of cardiovascular over-training, since there are often training for two or more hours daily. 

The bottom line is that it is much easier for the average person to over-train while weight training than while cardiovascular training, and I think the effects can be more serious.

How do I Determine if I’m Over-training?

Determining if you’re currently over-training is fairly simple.   If you’re in tune with your body, you can often see the signs of over-training before they get serious.  If you are losing interest in workouts, are having trouble sleeping, and feel weak and irritable, you may be in a state of over-training and should take a week or more off.

If you are experiencing two or more of the symptoms outlined earlier in the article, this should raise a red flag. 

Another variable you can use to determine if you are over-training is by tracking the performance of your workouts. 

Has your physical performance improved compared to your last workout?

For example, let’s say last workout you were able to perform 8 pull-ups using your body-weight, but were only able to perform 6 pull-ups the following week.  This means that you have not “out done” your previous workout, have not fully recovered, and therefore are likely over-training.  You nave to re-asses your program and make modifications so that you see progress every workout. 

How Can I Prevent Over-training?

n order to avoid over-training, you need to take a multi-facited approach.  Determining the correct training volume and intensity, eating the right foods, and getting the right amount of rest and recovery must all be taken in to consideration.  Now let’s take a look at each of those factors in more detail.

Correct Training Volume 

Determining the correct training volume can be difficult, especially when you are first starting out.  You have to determine how much weight to lift, how many repetitions and set to perform for every single workout.

You need to use your own judgment in this case, based on your recovery ability and your recovery methods.  Remember that the goal is that you improve every single workout, and if this isn’t happening, you have to decrease the intensity of your workouts.

This is where many people go wrong though.  You begin your workout and realize that you have not fully recovered.  You can either continue to train at a lower intensity than the previous workout, or skip the workout entirely.

As hard as it may be, skipping the workout is the right way to go.  Just turn around and go home!  Your body is telling you that it needs more rest, and you must listen to it! 

There is no point in training at a lower intensity, further breaking down the muscle tissue.   By doing this you will increase your risk of injury, and make it harder for your body to fully recovery for your next training session.

Proper Nutrition

Your diet plays a huge role in your muscle building program.  It helps regulate hormone levels, provides energy, and provides the raw building blocks that are used to create new tissue.

Here are some dietary recommendations that will limit the chance of over-training: 

  • Do not skip breakfast.  This is one of the most important meals of the day.  Skipping breakfast is very catabolic, and can promote muscle loss.
  • Never let yourself get hungry.  If you’re trying to build muscle mass, you have to constantly feed your body quality foods so that it never has the chance catabolize muscle tissue.
  • Unless you are trying to build muscle and lose fat, make sure you have eaten prior to your training session and are not hungry.
  • Have the largest meal of the day within an hour after your workout.  Do this every single workout!
  • Consider taking proven supplements like creatine, and antioxidants to increase performance and fight free radicals.
  • Eat every 2-3 hours to ensure that your body remains in an anabolic state.
  • Keep glycogen levels at full capacity to inhibit muscle tissue breakdown. 

Rest & Recovery

Rest and recovery is essential when it comes to avoiding over-training.  Make sure that you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night, and that you are on a consistent schedule.  As for recovery time, it’s important that you have days off between weight training workouts.  Try to have one rest day between weight training workouts, and never train the same muscle groups on consecutive days. 

Everything you need to know about muscle building

Posted on

Weight Training Tips

Weight training properly is known by few. If it was easy then you would see a lot more muscular and lean physiques on the streets. Before you learn how to weight train properly, it is critical that you learn these five weight training tips before you even step foot in the gym.

1. Write down a realistic short term and long term goal.

2. Make a commitment to stick to one program for at least 12 weeks.

3. Educate yourself prior to starting.

4. Hire a trainer to teach you proper technique.

5. Focus on gradual progression.
Weight Training Tip #1: Goal Setting

Inch-by-inch life is a sinch. Yard-by-yard life is hard. Treat your goal setting the same way. Do not expect to be on the cover of Men’s Health by next summer. Decide how much muscle weight you wish to achieve in three months. Six months and one year. Decide where you wish to finish and work backwards. If you wish to gain 50 pounds by the end of the year, than create a game plan that allows to gain at least one pound per week.

Weight Training Tip #2: Commitment

The only reason you will fail is if you are not truly committed to your goals. Do your homework and find a weight training program ideal for your specific goals and situation. Study the program fully prior to commencing. Comprehend every detail of the program and if you don’t, contact the author of the program to ensure you have no excuse to misunderstand or perform the workout incorrectly. After you chosen a program, take responsibility for your decision and follow it to it’s full completion. Do not try it out for three weeks and than say, “It’s not working…” and try another program. This will create a failures attitude and begin the deadly bad habit of program hopping

Weight Training Tip #3: Education

How much do you really know about building muscle? Let’s put it this way, if you had to teach someone else how to transform their body in the next twelve weeks, could you help them? Never mind, could you transform your body in the next twelve weeks? If not, you probably do not know enough about how your body works from a training, nutrition and recovery stand point. Order a book, visit a reputable website and find out everything you must know, about proper weight training, before you start the guessing game.

Weight Training Tip #4: Proper Technique

You wouldn’t try and drill your teeth? You wouldn’t try and do your own taxes? You wouldn’t try and fix your own car? Assuming you have no expertise in dentistry, accounting or automotive repairs. So why would you try and teach yourself proper weight training technique? It boggles my mind why so many people across North America sign up for a gym membership and jeopardize the health of their tendons, ligaments and joints with the attitude of “I think I’ll try it on my own,” or “My friend is going to teach me,” or “I am self taught from watching others…” Do not be cheap and leave your ego at the door and hire a reputable fitness trainer who can teach you proper weight training technique.

Weight Training Tip #5: Progression

I’ll say this again. Inch-by-inch life is a sinch. Yard-by-yard life is hard. Approach each workout with this attitude. Your bench press does not need to go up twenty pounds in the first week. But just imagine your bench press went up consistently 2.5-5 pounds every week for the next year? That would some serious muscular and strength gains! Your goal is to simply out do yourself from workout-to-workout, week-to-week. Whether you do one extra rep, one extra set, a extra 2.5 pounds or a shorter rest period, these are are measurable signs of weight training progress.

Conclusion

Make your weight training life easy by starting with the the above weight training tips and look forward to a rewarding and fruitful adventure in the gym.

Posted on

How To Look Like A Female Fitness Model

Do you pass by the magazine stands in the
store and envy the bodies of the cover models? More and more women today are
coveting this body type; strong and muscular while still being feminine. Gone
are the days where strong women are seen as too masculine and unattractive.
The female fitness body is here to stay.

Now, curves are back so long as they are created with muscle mass and have a softer appearance. Hot celebrities such as Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba are now gracing the covers showing off their new curves. What’s more is that these women are garnering a great deal of male attraction – much more than their thinner counterparts such as Lindsay Lohan or Victoria Beckham.

Luckily, if you make some smart changes to your workout program you can get yourself on the road to looking like the next female fitness model, maybe even covermodel!
First things first. Pink Weights.

If you want to add sexy curves to your body, you need not be afraid of heavier weights. Don’t worry, you are not going to bulk up and begin bearing resemblance to Vin Diesel, as women simply do not have the testosterone in their bodies to be able to do this. In fact, in a very good situation, assuming sound training and great nutrition, a woman would be lucky to put on about half a pound of muscle mass per month. Not quite as scary as you thought right? And that is assuming everything is done right… many will experience a slower rate yet.

The problem with pink weights is that for most of you, they aren’t challenging! You’d be surprised at how strong you already are if you’d just push yourself that little extra bit. So next time you’re in the gym, pick up a ten pound dumbbell or if you’re really ambitious, go for fifteen. You’ll start noticing your body changing more in the next few weeks than in the last few years you’ve spent slaying away on the stairmaster.

Weights have the power to completely transform your body. They will make you a smaller, yet curvier version of your body now.

Don’t be alarmed at your scale weight though as upon weight training your body weight may go up. Relax however, because one pound of muscle takes up much less space on your body than one pound of bodyfat does, therefore you may weigh more, but you will look smaller.
Next comes cardio.

Women have this tendency to just gravitate towards the cardio section of the gym. Whether it is the best place to check out the men lifting or it feels safer to them, whatever the reason, they go there and stay there – for hours at a time.

This is something that has to change. Think about how many hours of your life you’ve spent on that treadmill, stairmaster or elliptical machine. Do you really look that much different because of it? I’m guessing probably not.

Not only that, but how many of you put in your hour while watching TV or reading your favourite magazine? This is probably a good indicator that you aren’t quite working as hard as you could be.

The truth of the matter is that your body will quickly adapt to all that cardio training that you are doing. So while before you might have burned a hundred calories running a mile, now you are only burning 80. Unless you continually add more and more time to get the same calorie burn, it is going to stop being an effective fat loss tool. And when you’re already doing six hours a week, who really wants to spend MORE time doing cardio?

The secret is changing the format of your cardio from that of a comfortable steady-state session to one that’s composed of high intensity intervals that will really kick you out of your comfort zone – and blast away body fat as well.

This is by far a more productive form of cardio to be doing so rather than wasting another hour of your life not really getting anywhere, next time you’re in the gym for cardio, do twenty minutes, alternating thirty seconds going as hard as you possibly can with a minute and a half at a much easier pace to recover. It will be hard – I warn you. Stick with it for one month however and you will be extremely happy you did.

Now. Bring on the carbs.

Have you grown a love-hate relationship with carbohydrates? You love the way they taste but don’t like the number they’re doing to your waist. Understandable – many women feel this way.

The key thing to remember with carbohydrates is that they are not necessarily ‘evil’, so long as the portion size you eat remains under control and you are timing them properly. To have carbohydrates working most effectively for you, it is critical that you time them before and after your workouts. This is when your muscles are going to need the energy and will rapidly soak them up!

So if you’re craving a bagel, have at it, but enjoy it right after you’ve finished a hard lifting session, as described above.

Get rid of your fat phobia.

One critical thing that many women do not understand is that in order to lose fat, they must eat fat. Women in particular actually tend to do better on a higher fat diet than males do. This has to do with their hormonal make-up and the way their body functions and responds to various macronutrient levels.

How many times have you reached for the cookies on the shelves, solely because they were ‘fat-free’ so you thought they’d be a safe dieting food? This was a terrible mistake.

When you remove the fat out of products, often times manufacturers will begin to add in extra sugar to make up for the taste. Newsflash. Extra sugar sends insulin levels skyrocketing and guess what insulin is? The fat storage hormone. So, what you need to do is try and minimize the amount of insulin surges you create throughout the day, while staying within your total calorie budget. Do this and you will have your best defence against warding off both hunger and fat gain.

Now, guess which macronutrient has the least effect on insulin levels? That’s right – dietary fat.

So do not be so scared of consuming fat in your diet. It will help you deal with hunger and help your food taste better. Ideally you should be aiming to get no less than 25-30% of your calories coming from a combination of healthy fats (fish oil is particularly important).

Work Those Glutes

Finally, the one body part that most women usually will say they want to improve upon is their glutes. That curvy, sexy backside appearance tops the list of many gymgoers and in order to achieve this you are going to have to be doing the right exercises.

Concentrate on adding heavy-weight lunges, one legged squats, hamstring curls and ass-to-the-ground squats into your program. These are your fast track to a great behind. You can do all the cardio you want to try and get it, but unfortunately, all that might do is make you a smaller version of your exact same self. If you want to change the way you look, then you need to change the way you train.

So next time you pass by one of those covermodels and start dreaming about what it would be like to have that body – make it a reality for you. Many women are capable of making great improvements to their bodies if they would just stop with the training methods they are currently using and get on ones that are much more in tune with their goals.

Everything you need to know about body shaping

Posted on

Lose Belly Fat – How To Lose Belly Fat

Almost everyone wants to lose some excess fat on their body somewhere. For the vast majority, they’re looking to lose belly fat and they want to lose belly fat fast! Whether you want to admit it or not, most of us spend far too many months of the year overeating and then scramble at the first sign of warm weather in order to remove what’s accumulated over the time. Unfortunately, if you’re trying to learn how to lose belly fat, it’s not exactly a quick fix.

The problem most individuals run into is they overlook how difficult it can be to lose belly fat off their body. If the truth be told, a fat belly is probably one of the hardest areas to successfully remove because it’s made up what is known as ‘stubborn’ fat.

You’re body is actually physiologically slightly different when it comes to fat around the abdominal region. What’s the reason for this? Primarily, it’s the first place we tend to store fat and where body fat is needed for protection the most – to protect the organs and internal structures.

As such, your fat belly is going to do everything it can to hold onto it. Not a good situation in your quest to lose belly fat.

In order to outsmart this, you’re going to have to work really hard. That’s not to say it can’t be done – it most certainly can, you just have to have realistic expectations about the time line you will achieve this goal over and how much effort you’ll have to put in.

First things first, lets talk about exercise to lose belly fat. First, hit the weights. When lifting, be sure you are lifting as heavy as you possibly can, as this is what will ramp up your metabolism the highest. You want to shoot for the 6-10 rep range, as this is most appropriate for metabolic effects.

Second, get that cardio up there. Don’t do hours on end though, focus on doing sprints. In fact, better yet is to sprint first, then do more steady state cardio afterwards. This will help to release the fatty acids from the tissue (mobilize them) and then burn them off during the steady state cardio. This type of set-up can be far more effective at getting that stubborn fat off your body than doing a typical cardio session is.

Lastly, check over that belly fat diet. Too many fat or carbohydrates calories will slow your progress, while protein, generally speaking will help due to the fact the body burns more calories just digesting it.

This can be taken too far though – there is no need to exceed 1.5 grams per pound of body weight, but keeping it up around that level is your best approach. Then, fill in the remainder of your calories with carbohydrates around the workout period and fat during the other times.

As long as you are patient with the process and continually push yourself in the gym, there is no reason why within time, you can’t be sporting your own set of six-pack abs.

For more tips on how to lose belly fat read here