Here's a clip to Part I : Exercises 1-5

(again, in no particular order)

If you are ready to make REAL progress, RIGHT now…keep reading.

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to never really struggle with severe weight gain and all the challenges it can bring. However, as a fitness professional, I do know a thing or two about maintaining a healthy weight and burning fat off your body. As a real world fitness expert, I am always asked what the best exercises are for losing the most fat in the shortest amount of time…oh, and building lean muscle tissue while you're at it.

Cool. No problemo.

I’ll keep this as simple as possible. The best exercises for fat loss are also the best 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 (known as compound movements).

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 let’s take this one step further…
Let’s 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 squat rep.

It’s obvious that you can reap more benefits this way since you have now involved your upper body into the king of lower body exercises. Also in that same amount of time you added in an extra exercise without making your workout longer. Remember our key here is to get the best bang for your buck in that busy schedule you have.

It’s as simple as the Dream 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 maximize my results. Hate because they are hard work, only meant for the determined. Not for the weak of heart, for sure.

Without further delay, here is the top 10 list of my favorite exercises for fat loss and lean muscle gain (in no particular order):

Exercise#1- Lunge to Curl to Overhead Press Combo

Exercise#2- Squat to Overhead Press

Exercise#3- The Alternating Dumbbell Swing

Exercise#4- Reverse Lunge plus Row to Press

Exercise#5- Push Up with Knee Ins

Exercise#6- The Alternating Dumbbell Chop

Exercise#7- High Pulls with Snatch & Press

Exercise#8- Squat with 1 Arm Dumbbell Press

Exercise#9- Rear Foot Elevated Deadlift plus Curl to Press

Exercise#10- Burpee with Double Pushup

Bonus exercise and one of my favorites - Spiderman Push Ups!

Well I hope you take my expert advice and shake up your training with these 10 deadly total body combination exercises. I guarantee you better results in less time by regularly employing these movements into your workouts. Of course it’s now up to you to take your workouts, and your body, to the next level.

In the coming days, I’ll be sharing some video examples and more great exercises for those specific trouble spot areas (e.g. legs, butt, abs, chest, arms, etc.) that might be holding you back from unleashing your hotness within! ;)

Fire it up!

Curtis Hoekstra
http://www.ArizonaFitnessBootCamp.com
623-486-6622

Yet ANOTHER reason to eat fresh, not processed chemical filled JUNK like this.

From the KTAR.com newsroom:

Nearly 1M Lean Cuisine meals recalled

November 18th, 2008 @ 1:38pm

Nearly 1 million pounds of Lean Cuisine chicken meals have been recalled after people reported finding small pieces of hard plastic in the frozen dishes.

One person was injured.

The flavors in question are the Lean Cuisine pesto chicken with bow tie pasta, chicken Mediterranean and chicken Tuscan. The meals were made between mid-August and late October of 2008.

For more information on the recall, visit www.fsis.usda.gov.

Alright everyone, yesterday I showed you a simple fat loss circuit using just your bodyweight.

We used a 50-10 Five Exercise routine. Using the same protocol, we are changing up the exercises and adding a pair of dumbbells.

Ladies, grab a pair 8-15 pounds...guys, you can grab some 15-30 pounders...

Let's fire it up!

You’ve seen it done like this for years…get in the gym, get on a machine and do a bunch of exercises in a “straight set” fashion. 3 sets of this, 3 sets of that…you know the routine.

In essence, what you would be doing is performing a certain number of repetitions for that exercise, do 3 sets of them, while taking a good long breather between the sets.

For the average person trying to lose body fat and get stronger, this means a tedious workout that will not produce rapid results…in other words, it’s going to take you a lot longer to get where you want to go with your fitness goals.

Here’s the breakdown…even though these straight lined sets which cushy little breaks between sets are extremely easy to comprehend for people new to fitness, they are also an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises. Stroll through your local commercial gym and take a look for yourself…you will most likely see someone doing a bench press set…take a break, get a drink of water, talk to the cute girl on the Stairmaster, then resume their bench press set.

Heck, back in the day…that would have been me! ;)

Little did I know how inefficient that “workout” was. Needless to say, this approach takes a loooooong time to complete and is hardly as effective as it could be for fat burning and muscle strength.

Try these and I promise you better results in half the time...

1.) Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and squats)

2.) Trisets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

3.) Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises.

Though supersets and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe circuit training is by the far the best option time and again.

The 50/10 Five Exercise Circuit is a favorite…you have a “work” portion of 50 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest and transition to the next exercise. Complete this circuit 1 to 4 times for an amazing, quick total body fat burning workout.

Exercise#1- Double-Leg (example: squat)

Exercise#2- Push (example: pushup)

Exercise#3- Single-Leg (example: single leg lunges)

Exercise#4- Pull (example: pull-up, assisted pull-up)

Exercise#5- Core (example: leg raises)

PS: There are a ton of variations you can do to accommodate any fitness level. Don’t think you can’t do something…yes, you can. There is always a variation to help you accomplish the exercise.

Here’s a workout video showing you a great circuit you can perform anytime:

I’ll be sharing some more great circuit training workouts from our “Rapid Fire Interval Fat Loss Training” boot camps in the weeks to come…stay tuned.

Fire it up!

Curtis

http://www.ArizonaFitnessBootCamp.com

I'm not a big fan of gimmicks…gimmicky diet pills, infomercial “ab belts” and the like.

The real results start when you get serious and lose the “miracle fixes”.

However, some of our camp members were featured on FOX 10 using a little workout gimmick, sort of…we changed things up a little and came up with this. Here’s the video clip from FOX:

Freaky Fat Loss Pumpkin Workout

So what’s the point?

First, effective exercise can be done most anywhere, using most anything (obviously, a pumpkin is being used like a medicine ball here. However, you can still grab a quick 4 minute workout using bodyweight only).

Second, I’m not talking about little walks around the neighborhood (although not bad, just not as effective for accelerated fat loss and strength gain). I am talking about full body movements to burn a lot of calories in a short period of time.

Look, I get it. You’re busy. I’m busy. Everyone is busy, but the bottom line is that excuses are becoming harder and harder to come by. Don't spend your energy trying to find an excuse, instead direct your energy to getting in a quick and intense workout in the pockets of your busy day.

Make the decision. Stop the excuses.

Remember, greater fitness and fat loss are possible with quick, intense calorie burners throughout your day.

Get moving and have a great day!

Horray for New York!

Check this out from http://www.KTAR.com:

NYC takes calorie-counting
campaign to the rails

October 7th, 2008

By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Craving a burrito with sour cream and guacamole? What if you knew it had more than half the calories you should eat in a day?

The city Health Department is expanding its healthy-eating campaign with subway ads that say most adults should limit themselves to 2,000 calories day.

Posters that appeared Monday in about 1,000 subway cars provide calorie counts for several menu items _ like 470 for a giant apple bran muffin or 1,170 for a chicken burrito with toppings.

The three-month ad campaign is intended to build on the city's new regulation requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus. Officials are betting people will eat fewer calories if they know how many they should consume.

"Small changes in your choices can make a big difference in your calorie intake," assistant health commissioner Dr. Lynn Silver said.

The ads are in 20 percent of city subway cars.

The calorie-posting rule applies to chain restaurants that have 15 or more locations nationwide. It took effect in May, but legal action delayed enforcement until July.

The 2,000-calorie figure is an average. Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations vary by age, gender and level of activity. Men can consume more calories than women without gaining weight, and 20-year-olds more than 60-year-olds.

New York City's calorie-count regulation has paved the way for similar laws elsewhere. California last week became the first state to require restaurant chains to reveal how many calories are in their standard menu items.

Natalia Kaplan, of Queens, said she hadn't noticed the poster directly behind her on an E train featuring that 1,170-calorie burrito, but she approved of the campaign.

"It makes you aware," said Kaplan, who said she pays close attention to the calorie information fast-food chains are now required to provide.

"If I go to Dunkin' Donuts, I look at the calories, and I try to take the least-calorie doughnut," she said.