I’m Fit, Right?

What does it mean to “Be Fit”?

To assess “being fit” we view overall health as three legs of the same stool; Health Markers, Fitness Performance Markers and Body Composition Markers. Without each of those being taken into consideration, overall health and fitness is compromised. Two legged stools are pretty hard to sit on!

For instance we have seen members in the first responder community who can pass a base line fitness test which is all about numbers, but who are overweight, have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels out the roof. They could hardly be considered fit. Not picking on first responders, as many of us are in the same boat. Just saying there is more to it than “passing the test”.

At Get Fit NH Bootcamp we also perform a physical fitness test, but this is not a test you can fail. During a one minute time frame each client will do a certain exercise to the best of their ability. We do this with five different exercises in order to get a good judge of overall physical fitness abilities. (Some might be great at squats but have a difficult time with push ups, so one exercise will not be an overall judge) We repeat this test every four to six weeks, with the goal being to see improvement.

This improvement might come in way of the amount of the exercises being done or how they are done. But in real life most will not give two hoots how many pushups and situps they can do or how fast they can run, but they will care that they are improving.

We use these tests to demonstrate the efficacy of the program as well as show our members how much their hard work is paying off. If you have a women who could do no pushups the first time around but 8 weeks later can do 5 rock solid pushups, that is more important than being able to push an arbitrary number just to pass a test. We can then set goals for the next phase of training.

But fitness tests are just one leg of the stool. We also need to consider health markers such as blood pressure and cholesterol. It is more critical from a health standpoint for these numbers to be in line, as they are predictors of health challenges such as diabetes and heart disease.

Here are the baselines we use.

Blood Pressure: <120/80

Cholesterol:
Recommended Total: <200 mg/dl
Recommended LDL: <100 mg/dl
Recommended HDL: >50 mg/dl
Fasting Blood Glucose: <100 mg/dl

Triglycerides: Recommended: <150 mg/dl

Finally Body Composition Markers. We need to know a bit about how our body is put together- The ratio of our lean body mass to fat percentage. An easy way you can do this at home is with a quick trip around our middle.

Waist Circumference:
Women: <35″
Men: <40″

So don’t just look at one set of numbers. When we are looking for accurate predictors of overall health, all these factors should be considered. 

So what do you think now? Do you know all your “numbers”?

Do they tell you that you are “Fit”?

To your overall health,
Nancy and Dean

To be sore or not to be sore, that is the question?

I think I was dropped on my head as a child! What was I thinking?!

After Tuesdays arm workout, I come home and have the ‘brilliant’ idea to go out snowmobiling. Around this area you have to muscle the machine around trees, around turns, and over waterholes… (plus, riding without kids on the back we tend to ride a little harder). Lets just say that it was another arm workout that lasted 3 hours. After we were done I was thinking ‘I’m not gonna be able to move my arms tomorrow, good thing it’s Wednesday to recover’.

snowmobileWell, Wednesday came and my arms felt great! I could not say the same for my lower back, around my kidneys, both sides, what’s up with that? Was it the Tuesday highpulls? I mention this to my husband and he feels my pain… literally, he feels the same pain in his back. Duh! it’s from bouncing and jouncing over all the bumps from snowmobiling.  I spent the day trying to stretch my aches and pains on Wednesday. I woke this morning feeling even worse. I was trying to back out of going to Bootcamp until my husband told me to ‘suck it up’, so off I went.

I’m finally to the point of my story… when is it a good sore versus a bad sore? For me personally, a good sore is one that hurts before I enter Bootcamp and by the end of class, the soreness is gone. When it’s a sore that takes my breathe away and brings tears to my eyes… that would be a bad sore. Today was a bad sore day and surprise ‘Testing… I mean, Achievement Day’.

I started class making sure Nancy knew my dilemna and just took it one exercise at a time. It was an ‘easy’ day for me as I gingerly went through the exercises to make sure I didn’t put more strain on the muscles in my back. I was able to do most of the exercises, pushups, squats, situps weren’t too bad, mountain climbers were one step at a time, squat thrusts pulled but didn’t hurt-much. However, by the time we got to chinups it was uncomfortable so I stopped, and the 100reps were ok until the starjumps so I stopped there too.

So why am I telling you all this… besides letting me whine?… I just want to remind everyone to listen to your body when you are sore. Determine if its a good sore or a bad sore. But to stress that if you have bad soreness make sure you tell Nancy and Dean so they can help you assess how to proceed in your workout, or to take the day off.

I’ll be back for more tomorrow… I don’t want to miss Fun Friday! (now do you see why I think I was dropped on my head as a child?!)

Blog you later
gretchen

The Great Balancing Act

Yvonne BalancesYesterday in our bootcamp classes we worked on our balance. It’s a lot harder to stand on one foot with our eyes closed than we may have thought!

I thought about how that “balance practice” is a metaphor for our lives. Life is full of balancing acts. We juggle family, work, duties around the home, extra activities like hobbies, and getting together with friends. When do we fit training in? Is there a way to do it all?

Your health and fitness is important to us, but it needs to be more important to you. Putting training aside, eating foods that are empty in value (or “not a food group” at Yvonn puts it) are damaging your chances of reaching those goals. Seek to balance life out. Focus on your goals. Too often we put aside what we know to be right in health because it is just too hard to do it all. Or is it?

Balance in life is conquered with planning. After all we plan for things like vacations – we know in advance where we are going, what we will be doing there, and how we will get to each point of interest. We also plan out each week. We know when we have to be at work, when our kids have soccer games, and whose turn it is to feed the dog.

Tammy BalancesBreak that down to daily planning as well.  When are you going to get up? What are you going to do first, second, and third? Do you waste time standing in front of the closet staring into the clean laundry hanging there wondering what you will wear? Do you do the same thing with the fridge? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to take some of that wasted time and make some plans in order to accomplish it all?

Take 10-20 minutes each Sunday and plan out the week’s menu. Include all your meals and snacks. Remember the balancing act? Would you rather stand in front of the fridge trying to grab something – anything – in order to feed your hungry stomach or would you like to reach inside each morning for the container that holds your breakfast and be out the door? What a sense of accomplishment, when you know you’ve attained your goals. You’ve found that balance between utter confusion leading to unhealthy choices, and the calmness that comes from knowing you made great choices in order to eat for a healthy life.

Rachel BalancesTake that principle to your training schedule. Are you always thinking of what needs to be done first? Does that include your training? Does it get shifted to last on the “To Do” list and usually remain undone at the end of the day? You need to seek balance. Your health and your fitness can’t be bottom of the list if you want to reach your goals. If one of your reasons for becoming/staying healthy is for your family, is there balance if they become the reason you can’t make it to class? Plan your training schedule like it is an appointment with your doctor. You have to be there. Looking at it any other way is less than optimal.

Planning is the key to a balanced life.  We plan for so many areas of our life until that planning is a habit. We rarely even realize we are planning any more. To obtain balance in your eating and personal training you have to plan. Don’t try to juggle life and let some of the balls fall on the ground. Plan, practice and succeed.

Thanks for letting us be a part of your life,

Nancy

Rest, Recover, Regenerate…it’s NOT optional!

Your body is a machine. You work it hard. You train hard every time you walk into the gym. You attack the weights, you complete every rep. Nothing is going to stop you.

And then, in the middle of making tremendous progress, we nasty trainers tell you it’s time to take a week off. WHAT?!

Actually I love the reaction I get from you when it is time to take a scheduled week off from training. You are dedicated, determined and get downright ornery!

So why do we do it? A fair question, and one we are going to answer in this article. Now there are a few of you out there (you know who I am talking about Danno) that will resist taking time off for restoration and recovery. But it is for your own good, like it or not.

You see, your body does not get stronger, faster, leaner…better…from just training. Your body adapts to the training stimulus ONLY when you properly recover. This recovery includes rest between workouts, flexibility work, proper nutrition, and periodically pretty much doing nothing.

That’s what our recovery weeks are all about. To give you body and mind a break from your hard training, in order to come back refreshed and better than ever.

So without further adieu…


The Maintenance Manifesto

 

Learn How to MAINTAIN Your Overall Health, Performance, and Body Composition During Off Weeks

Congratulations! For the last 8-12 weeks you have done a phenomenal job of improving your overall health, body composition, and performance. You have been introduced to a lifelong eating plan, and have been building healthy habits that will serve you for a lifetime.


However, your body can only be pushed so hard for so long before it needs time to recover and regenerate before unwanted chronic overuse injuries present themselves. In addition, you can only follow aggressive fat loss plans for so long before the mental and physical grind begins to wear you down and your results begin to plateau as your body enters survival mode to hold on to as much body fat as possible. This is why it is paramount that we accomplish the following things during the transition week between the various phases of Get Fit NH Boot Camps:

 

Moving to Maintenance Mode

 

1.) Physical Rest and Regeneration


–        Our bodies must rest and recover to prevent overtraining issues so that we can come back 100% healthy and energized for the next phase of the program

–        Focus on maintaining and/or increasing flexibility and tissue health by stretching and foam rolling daily. 15-30 minutes is fantastic!

–        Daily restorative walks are beneficial during this week. 30-60 minutes briskly walking (not jogging/running) will keep your body refreshed and active, without negating the purpose of this week. Don’t overdo it!


2.) Physiological and Psychological Rest and Regeneration

–        We must normalize key anabolic hormones, refill muscle glycogen, increase caloric intake, and prevent any diet induced catabolism (losses of lean body mass) so that we can enjoy greater fat loss for the next phase of the program

–        We have taken the road less traveled by being flexible eaters with a long-term approach to success and thus we will take a break from our aggressive fat loss nutrition plans. This is not a free for all, so stay away from your “trigger foods” (junk foods and sweets) that open the door to excessive calorie intake.

–        Instead plan (key word) and enjoy 1-2 controlled free meals to reward yourself for all of your hard work, but do not overdo it!


3.) Celebrate the Fruits of Your Labor

–        Take some time to reflect on how far you have come since you joined this program in terms of improving your overall health, body composition, and performance

–        Enjoy your results!

4.) Track your Progress from this Last Phase and/or the Start of the Progra

Step#1— Answer the Following Questions

–        How much progress did you make this past phase?

–        Did you meet your goal(s)?

Step#2— Use Outcome-Based Decision Making

If you met or exceeded your goals:

– You are on the right track so keep doing what you are doing


If you fell short of your goals:

–        Assess your compliance to our training and the nutrition program you are following. Be honest in evaluating compliance. 90% is what it takes to make realistic progress toward your goals

–        If compliance was not an issue, plan to speak with Dean or Nancy so that we can monitor and adjusts your plans if need be

Step#3— Re-Assess Your Goals

 

–        Were your goals S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Trackable)? If not, talk to one of us to re-assess your goals for the next phase of the program.

–        Use outcome-based decision making to determine if you need to adjust your goals for the next phase of the program:


If you met or exceeded your goals:

–        Your goals for the next phase may change based on your progress over this past phase

–        If you have reached your ideal bodyweight, clothing size, or “look”, your goal may now be to maintain it, or maybe these results have motivated you to try to take it to the next level?

–        If your results were better than you were expecting, maybe we should set more aggressive goals for the next phase of the program?


If you fell short of your goals:

–        If your results fell short of what you were expecting, maybe we should set more conservative goals for the next phase of the program?


5.) Take Advantage of Your Free Time

–        This is a perfect time to get things done that you otherwise could not during the last phase of the program (e.g. household chores, doctor’s appointment, travel/vacations, quality time with friends and/or family, etc.)


THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We would just like to take the time to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your hard work and dedication to improving your health and fitness… keep Making It Happen!

You will never know how much this means to us and how much this is appreciated. It has been a total team effort from the start and though we provided you with all of the necessary programs to get the results that you were seeking, YOU DID ALL OF THE WORK! We cannot wait to get even better results during the next phase of the program!

Get Fit NH!

Dean and Nancy

Get Fit NH Bootcamp Foam Rolling Video

As part of our 6 Pack 6 transformation contest, points are received for doing “off day” restorative techniques such as flexibility training and foam rolling.

This short video explains the benefits of foam rolling, and Nancy demonstrates positioning and technique for some lower body work.

The foam roller used in the demonstration is from Perform Better, and I have been very pleased with the durability.

Check out the video, then do your body a favor, and get on a roll!




No More Thunder Thighs!

As a fitness trainer, I get a lot of questions regarding “What exercises are best for ______” fill in the blank. For my female clients, the thighs and glutes are the most common concern. Well today I’m going to share my personal favorite lower body exercise and all of its awesome variations. It’s called the Rear-Foot Elevated Lunge Variation (a.k.a. Bulgarian Split Squat). This exercise is so effective that you’ll pretty much make your body thunder-thigh proof once you master it!

Before we get into this, one thing I definitely don’t want to do is feed into the idea of individual body part training and spot reduction on certain areas of the body.  There is no such thing! You can’t do situps to get the flab off your gut, and there’s no single exercise to get the fat of your butt! Total body training is the key to effectively eliminate the body fat that is hiding those areas that people are having trouble seeing – the stubborn fat areas that prevent a good body from becoming a great body. Plus, a diet high in lean protein, fiber, and green veggies and low in unnatural fats and refined sugars and starches is absolutely necessary to bring out your best.  It is also important to know that you lose fat in a genetically predetermined way.  You can do all the crunches you want but without total body training, proper eating habits, and enough time to get to those stubborn fat areas you will never get rid of your gut, jiggly arms, or the unnatural desire to get out the thighmaster.

Alright so here we go – my favorite family of  lower body exercises. The Lunge – pretty exciting huh? Actually – Yes! Lunge variations are my favorite because I prefer single leg exercise in lieu of their double leg counterparts for a lot of reasons. For people with back issues, single leg exercises allow them to safely perform lower body exercises without putting their lower lumbar spine in jeopardy of hyper flexion or excessive rounding that can injure. It is also very common to have strength and flexibility imbalances between the right and left side, so it’s important to address one leg at a time to really shore up the weak links from the start.

My favorite lunge variation is called the rear foot elevated lunge.  So basically we’re going to elevate the back foot on a chair, bench, box, or any other sturdy foot support, usually about 12-18 inches high.  You’ll put your front leg well in front of you in order to make sure that your front knee and ankle are lined up. In general, I tell people to exaggerate how far you put your front leg forward so that the front knee is almost slightly behind the ankle as this really helps reduce sheer force on the knees. Initiate the exercise by loading the front heel and dropping your hips as low as you can in a pain-free range of motion while staying really tall up top with a proud chest and shoulders down and back. Finish the rep by explosively driving through your front heel to return to the top of the movement. You can start with body weight only in search of front thigh parallel to the floor or lower depth and then progress by adding speed of movement or by adding dumbbells. You can even incorporate some very cool combination movements with this lower body exercise like adding a curl to press at the top of the movement or even by raising dumbbells overhead to really challenge your core and single-leg balance and stability.

I have yet to find an exercise that hits the legs as hard as this baby does.  In particular, it really helps strengthen your vastus medialis muscle, that inner quad muscle that looks like a teardrop, that’s heavily responsible for tracking your patella and keeping your knee caps in line.  So if you have a history of overtraining or patella-femoral issues this exercise is phenomenal for keeping your knees as bulletproof as possible.

Also, what’s great about it too is that it provides a very good stretch for the hip flexor of your back leg, an area that is often very tight, especially for guys. Any exercise that allows you to simultaneously stretch and strengthen your body is a real keeper.  So get off the fancy machines, and start cranking it with something that really works, and start today!

Get It Done!

Nancy

I Hate Shoveling Snow!

We’re officially in the midst of another winter season here in New Hampshire. Now I know some people have snowplows and snowblowers, but there are a ton of people who still break out the shovels to get rid of the white stuff. I can’t tell you how many clients of mine have tweaked their backs in their zealous attempts to keep a clear driveway.

Today I am going to reveal my top safe shoveling secrets. For those of you who do not live in New Hampshire like me, you still need to know this information too. This global warming stuff is a weird thing :).  It recently snowed in Vegas for the first time in like 25 years!

So, without further adieu, here are my top five safe shoveling tips:

1.) Perform a Proper 5-Minute Warm-up Before Shoveling

Yeah, right! Who’s actually going to do THAT? Well if you want to save yourself some pain, take 5 minutes and give it a try.

Just as very few people properly warm-up before intense exercise, so do many people fail to get their bodies ready for the rigors of shoveling snow. Let’s face it, snow, especially when it’s wet, is a real beast to move around. And if your body is tight and cold then you will dramatically increase your chances of short or long-term injury.

Here’s a great shoveling specific five-minute warm-up to get your body ready to go. There is a special emphasis on opening up the hips and chest to save your back and shoulders, the two most commonly injured areas of broken down shovelers:

Perform each exercise in the following warm-up circuit at a slow, controlled tempo for 50 seconds with a 10 second rest and transition between exercises. Do this warm-up indoors to better increase core temperature and total body blood flow:

Exercise#1- Stationary High Knee Run
Exercise#2- Jumping Claps (modified jumping jacks with arms moving across chest level, palms facing)
Exercise#3- Alternating Forward Lunge, Overhead Reach, and Twist
Exercise#4- Alternating Lateral Lunge with Opposite Hand to Toe Touch
Exercise#5- Prisoner Squats (hands behind head with finger interlocked)

2.) Split Your Stance When Shoveling

Back pain is probably the biggest complaint for those who shovel a lot. In most cases, a sore or tight back stems from restriction at the hips (see the warm-up above to best remedy this). If you shovel with a parallel stance (one leg right next to the other one) you are setting yourself up for some pain However, the simple switch to shoveling with a split stance, where one leg is forward and the other leg is back, will not only help prevent hyper flexion while bending over and moving snow, but will also actively stretch and open up those tight hips at the same time.

3.) Point Your Toes In Same Direction You Are Shoveling

This is a continuation of the last tip. Even when you split your stance, you can be susceptible to injury whenever you perform a rotating back extension (e.g. a shovel toss over your shoulder). So, to further bolster your body, be sure to always shovel snow in the direction that your toes point to minimize excessive spinal rotation that can literally wrench your back.

4.) Shovel EQUALLY to BOTH Sides

This is a further continuation on the last two tips. Another big mistake people make is that they always shovel to their strong sides causing further strength and flexibility imbalances that can put your body at greater risk for injury. Those of you who train with me know that imbalances between the left and right side can cause real problems in your training, and it is no different in every day life. So, we now know you want to split your stance and shovel in the direction your toes are pointing, but you should also be sure do an equal amount of shovel tosses to your left AND right. Do 10 shovel tosses to your left with your left leg forward and then do 10 shovel tosses to your right with your right leg forward. Repeat until your driveway or sidewalk is crystal clear.

5.) Buy a Condo

Or have teenagers around – this is helpful too! Ok, I am joking, if only because shoveling snow is the only activity some people I know get!

Back to reality: The aforementioned tips will go a long way in keeping your body as bulletproof as possible during the next blizzard. Seriously, it’s not really cool to get hurt shoveling. It’s a sign of an even bigger problem: being overweight and/or highly de-conditioned. And if you do get hurt shoveling, be sure to lie when some asks why you’re in a wheelchair. Just tell them you got hit by a snow plow truck, it makes for a better story and your co-workers or friends won’t bust on you for the next six months!

4 Quick Fitness Tips To Help Keep The “Santa Belly” Away

We all know how busy the holidays can be. A thousand  things to do and so little time to get them all done. Will it really matter if I miss a few workouts? Just start up again in January?

Don’t do it!

It’s a big mistake to risk losing the lean muscle mass and strength that you have worked so hard to build and maintain. What’s the big deal? Losses in lean muscle mass will lower your resting metabolic rate, which accounts for the vast majority (about 60-75%) of your total daily calorie burning. This means that everyday you will be burning less and less calories which will put you at a much greater risk of putting on ugly, unwanted body fat during the holidays.

Here’s another thing to consider – remember when you first started training again? The soreness? Shortness of breath? Lack of strength? Do you really want all that to start over again?

Look, if you are on a good plan -stay on it! The time you take for yourself to train is an important part of being healthy and feeling great. Is another trip to the mall really worth it?

For those of you who have let your training, shall we say…slip… there are many ways to maintain or increase the number of calories you burn per day, both from exercise and from your normal daily activities, to stay fat-free this holiday season. Use these strategies to maintain and/or increase your current amount of lean muscle mass and maximize your daily calorie burn. Leave the “Santa Belly” to the professionals!

1.) Perform at least one intense strength training session per week

Studies show that only a single strength training workout per week during times when you cannot train as frequently as you normally do is an effective way to maintain your current levels of strength and lean muscle mass.  Anyone can get in at least one good strength training session a week to stay buff during the holidays and to prevent unwanted regressions in fitness. If you are serious about preventing weight gain, three total body strength workouts per week should do the trick . To maximize fat burning, perform three total body strength workouts per week and also perform three cardio interval workouts per week on non strength-training days.

2.) Add it all up.

Can’t spare the 60 minutes? (I’ll bet you could if you tried). When you honestly cannot find a five to 20-minute time slot to complete an effective total body workout, look for hidden chunks of time during the day to get in a certain number of daily repetitions for a certain number of exercises that work your entire body. Got a free moment from now until you need to take the turkey out of the oven? Then, bang out 10 push-ups, 10 rows, and 20 squats. Using this method throughout the day will lead to big numbers by the end of the day that will help maintain your strength and overall fitness.

It is important to note that this “Hit Your Totals” routine is merely a back-up option to the ideal 20-minute interval training workouts which are scientifically proven to burn nine times more fat than ordinary exercise (see my article How You Can Build the Ultimate Circuit Training Workout For Rapid Fat Loss for more info). Short rest periods between exercises create the optimal hormonal environment for rapid fat loss and lean muscle gain, which the long rest periods of “normal” training just don’t.

Make sure to pick multi-joint, compound movements (the BIG exercises) that hit as much of your body’s major muscle groups in the shortest amount of time possible (e.g. squats, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups, rows, etc.). Use the plan below as guide to build your own “Hit Your Totals” workout. Adjust the repetition ranges accordingly based on your current strength levels. The only thing you need is your body weight and adjustable dumbbells and/or resistance bands. Train using this plan up to three times per week, resting a day between workouts. Make sure to alternate between Plan A and Plan B in order to work more of your body. You can either hit your total by doing straight sets (e.g. perform push-ups rest-pausing as needed until you get 100 total), or by simply employ circuit style training (e.g. 20 squats, 10 push-ups, 10 rows, repeat 10x throughout the day to hit your totals).

The Hit Your Total Workout For The Holidays

Plan A-

Body weight Squats: 100-200 total
Push-ups: 50-100 total
DB/Band Rows: 50-100 total

Plan B-

2-Leg Hip Extensions: 50-100/total
Off Chair/Couch Dips: 50-100 total
DB/Band Curls: 50-100 total (feel free to swap pull-ups or pull-downs here if you have access to the equipment)

3.) Rage Against The Machines

Machines have made us an incredibly out of shape and overweight society. This holiday season make it a point to not use them! Now I don’t mean to say that you cannot drive to the mall during the holidays. However, when you get to the mall, don’t drive around for 10 minutes looking for the closest space. A little walk will do you some good! Don’t wait in line for the elevator, the stairs will more than likely have plenty of room, and all those steps truly do add up. Stay on your feet as much as possible and resist the temptation to let a robot or machine do the work for you.

4.) Engage in more outdoor holiday activities

I have been in some pretty incredible snowball fights in my day. Though I was always having a blast while pelting my friends behind cleverly built igloos, I was never aware of how exhausting a good snowball fight can truly be until I came indoors afterwards. We never used to notice how cold it was outside because we were moving around and having a blast! Talk about an awesome way to burn calories without even thinking about it! Get outdoors this holidays season and throw around the pigskin or have your very own “Ice Bowl.” Once again, all these calories here and there truly do add up and could make a difference between you fitting in your pants or ripping your pants by the time the clock strikes midnight this New Year!

Now get out there and do it!


Killer Exercises for Rapid Fat Loss and Lean Muscle Gain

As a former fat kid and a current real world fat loss specialist who has helped tons of people lose the pounds, I know a thing or two about exercise selection. Because of this I am often asked what the best exercises are to lose fat AND gain muscle fast.

Let’s keep it simple. The most effective exercises for fat loss are also the most effective exercises for muscle gain and visa versa. These exercises all have one thing in common: they provide a UNIQUE challenge to your body AND involve as many muscles in your body as possible.

Both the scientific research and the real world case studies have shown that total body workouts are superior for maximal fat loss and muscle gain. But that’s not all…

We can dramatically accelerate results by preferentially selecting TOTAL BODY EXERCISES within each TOTAL BODY WORKOUT! For example, squats are well known for being one of the best muscle-builders with a serious a fat-shredding effect. However, the squat goes from great to UNSTOPPABLE for changing your body for the better when you make it a combination movement by adding a row or press to each repetition. You can absolutely reap more benefits this way since you have now involved your upper body into the king of lower body exercises.

It’s as simple as the Best Body Equation below:

Performing Total Body Exercises Within Each Total Body Workout:

More Muscles Involved =

More Calories Burnt + Greater Muscle-Building Stimulus =

Greater Fat Lost + Greater Muscle Gain

I must be honest in that I have a true love-hate relationship with the following movements I am about to share with you. Love because of the unparalleled fat-melting, muscle-building results they provide to help get that lean, strong body. Hate because they break me every single workout by leaving me in tears while in a pool of my own sweat. In other words, these are not for the weak of mind, body, or soul!

Alright, enough jabbering already! Here is the official top 10 list of my favorite exercises in the world for fat loss and lean muscle gain:

Exercise#1- Any Squatting Combination Exercise- Squat Thrust/Burpee Variations, Squat to Overhead Press, Squat to Row, Squat to Chest Press, Braced Core Squat, Single-Leg Squat plus Curl to Press, etc.

Exercise#2- The Swing- Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, or Sandbags

Exercise#3- Any Lunge Combination Exercise- Alternating Lunge plus Curl to Press, Alternating Lunge plus Twist, Alternating Lunge plus Chest Press, Alternating Reverse Lunge plus Row, Split Jump plus Jerk, Split Jump plus Curl etc.

Exercise#4- Any Push-Up Combination Exercise- Push-ups plus Knee-Ins, Push-up Rows, T-Push-Ups, Spiderman Push-ups, Squat Thrust Push-Ups, Four-Way Push-up Crawl, etc.

Exercise#5- The Chop- Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, Bands, or Sandbags

Exercise#6- Olympic Lifting Variations: Dumbbell or Kettlebell Cleans, Snatches, High Pulls

Exercise#7- Dynamic Back Pillar plus 1-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press

Exercise#8- Rear Foot Elevated Deadlift plus Curl to Press

Exercise#9- Med Ball Snatch-Slam Combo

Exercise#10- Dumbbell or Kettlebell Single-Leg RDL plus Row

I’ll be sharing some more great exercises for those specific trouble spot areas (e.g. legs, butt, abs, chest, arms, etc.) in the days to come.

To your best health,
Dean

http://GetFitNHbootcamp.com