Thursday 31 December 2009

The Top 3 Fat Burning Foods

In many years as a professional Nutrition Specialist, I've noticed that most people are surprised to learn about my picks for the top fat burning foods that are best for weight loss and overall good health.

I won't lecture you with all of the typical "healthy foods" that you already know about such as fruits and veggies. Instead, I'm going to talk about some shockers that most people don't realize are super healthy foods for fat loss.

1. Egg Yolks - yes, you read that right... full fatty egg yolks with all of their fat and cholesterol. Actually, you've been mislead about the cholesterol in egg yolks -- it actually raises your GOOD cholesterol and helps balance proper ratios, so don't be afraid of the fat and cholesterol in these little nutrition power packed gems. And if you choose cage-free eggs from free roaming hens, the omega-3 content is higher with a more balanced fat profile.

Egg yolks are also one of the most nutrient dense foods in existence in terms of vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. Trying to list all of the vital nutrients in egg yolks would take too much time, so I won't even try that here. Just realize that egg yolks should NOT be avoided in favor of egg whites.

So don't be afraid to eat those delicious and healthy eggs and start burning belly fat faster.

2. Avocados - This is yet another "fatty food" that is also one of the best fat burning foods! Not only that, but avocados make just about everything taste better. They are also power-packed with healthy fats, fiber, and antioxidants, as well as vitamins and minerals. The healthy fat in avocados also helps control appetite and fat burning hormones in your body.

Add some avocado slices or guacamole to everything from morning eggs, salads, sandwiches, and burgers, and starting burning body fat much faster! I would definitely consider avocados one of the best healthy super foods.

3. Grass-fed beef - While most beef you see at the grocery store is grain fed beef from cattle that are in poor health and has lower nutrition values and omega-6 to omega-3 fat ratios that are far out of whack, there is a better option... and that is Grass-Fed Beef!

Grass-fed beef is known to have much higher levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and lower omega-6 fats (which most people get too much of anyway). Grass-fed beef also contains higher levels of many vitamins and minerals, as well as containing high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is a healthy fat that is known to help muscle building and fat burning.

So don't worry about eating more beef, as long as you choose healthy grass-fed beef instead of grain fed beef. Enjoy and start burning more body fat with these so called "fatty" foods!


Enjoy, and good luck with your fitness endeavors!
Mike Geary
Author - The Truth about Six Pack Abs

Sunday 11 October 2009

3 Veggies That Fight Abdominal Fat

Did you didn't know that there is a special class of vegetables that contain very specific phytonutrients that actually help to fight against abdominal fat?

Let me explain what they are and why...

Okay, if you've already grabbed a copy of my new Fat Burning Kitchen Program then you may already know about how certain chemicals in our food supply and our environment, such as pesticides, herbicides, and certain petrochemicals from household cleaners, cosmetics, etc can act as xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens are chemicals that you are exposed to that have an estrogenic effect and excess exposure can cause hormone balance disruptions for both men and women. So these can wreak havoc in the body for both guys and gals.

These estrogenic chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis can stimulate your body to store belly fat, along with many other problems.

So here's where this specific class of vegetables comes in handy...

One of those cool tricks that I teach in my Fat Burning Kitchen program is that cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, etc. contain specific and unique phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help to fight against these estrogenic compounds...

And by fighting against these belly fat stimulating estrogenic chemicals, this can help you fight against abdominal fat!

So there you go... just another excuse to do what mom always told you and eat more broccoli!

I've really learned to like brussell sprouts in the last year too... Melt a little grass-fed cheese on them and some garlic and they're great!

In case you haven't picked up your copy yet, I give away at least 12 other specific foods, teas, spices, etc that help to combat the xenoestrogens and can help you to burn abdominal fat faster in my new program...

make sure to grab your copy before the price doubles tomorrow:

Fat Burning Kitchen Program

Pass this email onto your friends... I bet you'll shock them with this article about xenoestrogens and how broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts can help to fight the battle against abdominal fat.

Enjoy!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

Tuesday 29 September 2009

A type of Trans Fat that makes you leaner?

A type of Trans Fat that makes you leaner?

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
co-Author - The Fat Burning Kitchen


We all know that trans fats are bad for your health right?  But what if I told you that there is a certain type of trans fat that's natural (not synthetic) and actually helps you to lose fat faster and build lean muscle?

Well, check out the excerpt from my new program that I co-wrote called "The Fat Burning Kitchen"  below:


"...Not many people know this fact, but CLA is actually a natural form of trans fat, but it is FAR different than the artificial trans fats from hydrogenated oils that are so deadly and that you hear all of the negative information about. CLA is actually one of the only healthy trans fats in existence.

CLA is a natural form of healthy trans fat that occurs in the fat on the meat, and in the dairy from ruminant animals such as cattle, bison, deer, goats, sheep, kangaroo, etc.  CLA in natural form has been shown to help in burning off abdominal fat and also maintaining or even building lean muscle.

Warning: do NOT use CLA supplements as they contain an artificially created form of CLA that is a different CLA isomer compared to the natural CLA isomer that's found in meats and dairy from ruminant animals. The CLA isomer found in CLA supplements can have negative effects in the body and is more similar to an artificial trans fat. The only form of CLA is that going to benefit your health and help you to reduce body fat is the natural CLA isomers from grass-fed beef, bison, venison, etc or from grass-fed raw milk or cheeses.

Also, grass-fed meats and dairy contain 3-5x the CLA of grain fed meats, so avoid your typical grain-fed grocery store meats.

So that is the reason why I focused more on red meats such as grass-fed beef and bison during this 23-day cutting cycle instead of chicken, turkey, or fish -- because the extra CLA can really help in accelerating fat loss and preserving lean muscle..."


There you have it... there actually IS such a thing as a healthy trans fat... bet that's news to you!

This was an excerpt from my brand new program I just co-wrote with an extremely knowledgeable nutrition expert called Catherine Ebeling.

The program is "The Fat Burning Kitchen".

Since this is our launch week... you can grab the program for half price, but this week only. The price will double in a few days at the end of the week.

Also, I wanted to really impress you with this program, so if you grab a copy this week, I have decided to throw in a special bonus section that gives you every single nitty gritty detail of how I just went from 10.2% bodyfat down to 6.9% bodyfat in only 23 days while I prepped for a photo shoot recently.

This is advanced stuff for when you might have an important event like a wedding or a beach vacation coming up and you need to knock off some significant bodyfat in only 3-4 weeks time frame.  There's nothing unhealthy here... but these techniques are definitely "amped up" from the norm.

When I say nitty gritty details... I'm talking everything, including specific spices, teas, nutrients, exactly what I ate, carb/protein/fat ratios and how I manipulated timing of nutrients to accelerate fat loss.

Seriously, we did the body comp tests and I went from 10.2% BF to 6.9% BF in only 23 days.  I'll be sharing the pics on my blog in a week or 2, when I get the finals back from the photographer.

You'll find out all of those details of how I did this in the bonus chapter if you grab a copy this week.

check it out:

The Fat Burning Kitchen


Get your copy today so you don't miss out on the half price special.

Enjoy!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

Friday 14 August 2009

Firmer Sexier Butt and Tight Thighs

Try these unique exercises and tips to get a tighter, firmer butt fast

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), Certified Nutrition Specialist


exercises for a sexy firm buttLadies, is your butt tight and firm, or saggy? Too big or too small? Every woman wants to know the secret to getting a firm tight butt and slim sexy thighs, right. With a little hard work and choosing the correct exercises, that firm sexy butt may not be that far off!

The answer to your quest for the best butt exercise is not in some fancy machine or butt blaster. In fact, most of your best butt exercises are simply done with bodyweight or free weights. Of course, various forms of squats, deadlifts, lunges, and stepups will always be some of the best for a tight butt.

However, I'll cover one of the most effective exercises (and a unique one at that!) for tightening your buttocks in this article. I'll reveal some of the other top butt exercises in future articles.

You can even do this exercise at home or in your office at various times throughout the day (so there's no lack of time excuse!). Combine this exercise with some of the others I mentioned, and you'll have a tighter, firmer butt in just weeks.

The topic of this article is the single-legged Romanian Deadlift. It's a great exercise for firming both the butt and the back of the thighs (hamstrings). Also, because this is a single-leg exercise, it really helps strengthen your ankles and other stabilizer muscles throughout your legs. Here's how to do it:

1. Looking straight ahead, stand and balance on one leg, and kick the other leg out slightly behind you.

2. Maintain a very slight bend in the knee throughout this exercise.

3. Now start to bend forward while simultaneously pushing the butt and hips back and keeping a flat (not rounded) back.

4. While bending over and pushing the hips back, kick your other leg out behind you and reach down with your hands towards the toe of your foot that's planted on the ground and try to touch it. You should feel a stretch in the hamstrings as you get to the deepest part where your back is parallel to the floor.

5. Then, focus on squeezing the butt muscle hard while you reverse the movement and bring yourself back to upright (all the while maintaining that flat back)

Alright, that was one rep! Now do 5-10 reps with each leg for 2-3 sets mixing this exercise into one of your normal workouts (or even just try this at home in your living room). At the end of a couple sets, I guarantee you'll be feeling this big-time in your buttocks and the back of your thighs!

I know it may sound a little complicated, and the first time you try this butt exercise, you may really need to concentrate on your balance. But after a couple sessions of practicing these one-legged romanian deadlifts, you'll start to get the hang of them and be able to focus more concentration on keeping the butt tight throughout the range of motion.

butt hip and thigh exercise programOnce you get this down and practice this killer butt and thigh exercise regularly, you'll be well on your way to showing off a tighter, sexier butt!

If you want to discover an even better exercise to tighten and tone your butt and thighs, check this out:

Sexy Butt Exercises

For those of you that want a flat and sexy stomach with more toned abdominals, be sure to Flatten Your Stomach Fast with my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program

Tuesday 3 March 2009

The Truth About Abdominal Exercises

Ab exercises are one of the most popular, and yet, most controversial topics in the fitness and exercise industry. Hundreds of ab devices, gimmicks, and exercise machines have flooded the market for people looking for sexier and flatter abdominals... that sexy six-pack abs appearance that everyone is after.

The problem is that most of the recommended abdominal exercises are not necessarily the best method to get that six-pack abs appearance. First of all, the most important ingredient for great looking six pack abdominals is losing the extra belly fat that is covering them up. To be fair, most people already have decent abdominals underneath, yet the six-pack abs are simply covered up by all of that extra flabby stomach fat.

Instead of focusing so much on abdominal exercises to make your stomach flatter and more like a six-pack, you will lose much more body fat by focusing the majority of your training time with special combinations of high intensity full-body, multi-joint exercises. The best exercises for losing that abdominal fat are the exercises that work the largest portions of the body at once.

Exercises that work the large muscle groups of the legs, upper and lower back, and chest give you the biggest metabolic bang for your buck in terms of abdominal fat loss. Combining these types of big multi-joint exercises in high intensity super-set, tri-set, or circuit fashion gives you the biggest fat-burning and metabolism boosting response from your workouts.

And that is one of the best kept secrets for flat sexy abdominals that are actually visible as a six-pack!

Now when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, another mistake most people make is mindlessly pumping away with hundreds of crunches and other meaningless abs exercises that barely give your abdominals much resistance to work against. If you want to actually develop your abdominals to the best extent possible, don't waste your time with exercises that you can do more than 20 or 25 reps... that means you are definitely not doing an exercise that provides enough resistance to the abs. Exercises that give you enough resistance to get you down into the 6-15 rep range per set works great for the abs.

Generally, higher resistance abdominal exercises that provide a much larger stimulus to the abs come in the form of exercises that involve raising/curling the legs and pelvis either upward or inward closer to the trunk. A couple great examples of these higher resistance abdominal exercises are hanging leg raises or knee raises using a "pelvic curl up", or an exercise like lying hip thrusts. Many times, the same people that can do 50 or 100 crunches, can't even complete more than 2 or 3 properly executed hanging leg raises.

If you really want tighter flatter abdominals that look like a six-pack, remember that losing that extra belly fat is the MOST important factor. Also, when it comes to abdominal-specific exercises, always remember higher resistance exercises that involve curling/raising the legs and pelvis upward or inward are what develops the abs to the best extent possible.

Michael Geary (CPT) is an International Fitness Expert with clients in over 150 countries world-wide, contributing writer for Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine, and author of the internationally-popular book, The Truth about 6-Pack Abs

Monday 2 March 2009

Diet Tips for Abs- Fat Loss for a Six Pack

There has never been a more confusing time regarding proper nutrition for consumers. Every so called "expert" out there seems to disagree and contradict each other on what's the best way to eat for fat loss and overall good health.

One of the most important messages I try to teach my readers in this world of mixed messages, is that your diet doesn't need to conform to any of the fad diets... you don't need to go "low carb" or "low fat", or high or low anything for that matter to be successful in losing enough body fat to get lean enough to be able to see your abs. It's not that complicated. I think that balance is the key to success along with eating a diet that is made up of nutrient dense foods in their natural state (as unprocessed as possible).

In general, it is the heavy processing of foods that makes it wreak havoc inside our bodies. Most foods in their natural unprocessed state are inherently good for us. Of course there are always exceptions... a salad of poison ivy leaves is "natural and unprocessed" but certainly would not be good for us!

I'll leave your readers with a couple of the most important aspects of nutrition and diet that help to get you lean for life (and have any chance of getting those abs to show)...

1. Get enough quality protein in the daily diet - not only does it have a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat (so you burn more calories digesting it), but it also creates satiety so your hunger is satisfied longer. Plus it's a building block for maintaining and building lean muscle... And remember that the amount of lean muscle you carry is one of the main factors for controlling your metabolism.

2. Think fiber! When it comes to carbs, make sure that almost all of your carbohydrate intake is from higher fiber sources like vegetables, fruits, and high fiber unrefined grains. Try to avoid refined sugars and refined grains as that is one of the main reasons so many people struggle with body fat. I personally don't eat many grains as I prefer to get most of my carbs from veggies and fruits, but I am a bit of a fan of sprouted grains. I generally recommend looking for carbohydrate sources that have at least 2-3 grams of fiber per each 10 grams of total carbs. Remember that fiber helps fill you up and also slows down the glycemic response of the foods you eat, all beneficial for getting lean.

3. Don't be afraid to eat fat! Many people try to go way too low on their fat intake in their diet and this can negatively affect hormone levels in your body as well as causing more cravings. Try to eat enough healthy fats daily. Good sources are all nuts and seeds, nut butters, avocados, olive oil, organic meats and eggs, coconuts and virgin coconut oil. On that note, saturated fats from tropical oils are VERY misunderstood, even by many nutritionists and other health professionals. Yes they are composed highly of saturated fats, but are actually beneficial (but that's way beyond the scope of this article).

4. Avoid the two worst things in our food supply at ALL COSTS:

*artificial trans fats from margarines, shortening, and hydrogenated oils that are in most processed foods

*high fructose corn syrup, which is in almost all sweetened products on the market

Again, if you avoid processed foods, it becomes easy to avoid these two worst offenders in our food supply.

I always contend that once you get a handle on these 4 main points of your diet detailed above, the rest starts to take care of itself as you gain control over your appetite, blood sugar levels, hormone levels, etc. It all falls into place, and you eventually gain total control over how lean you want to get. Gain control of this part of your life, and those abs may be showing in no time!

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Top 10 Healthiest Superfoods You NEED to Know About

Superfood #10. Garlic, onion, leeks, and shallots - In a study of centenarians (people living over 100 years of age), it was found that high garlic and onion consumption was one of the factors that surveys revealed may have partial involvement in their longevity. Garlic and onions are a couple of the best sources of uniquely powerful antioxidants.

Garlic health benefits and medicinal properties have long been known. Garlic has long been considered a herbal "wonder drug", with a reputation in folklore for preventing everything from the common cold and flu to the plague! It has been used extensively in herbal medicine. Raw garlic is used by some to treat the symptoms of acne, and the common cold, and there is some evidence that it can assist in managing high cholesterol levels. It can even be effective as a natural mosquito repellent.

A stronger tasting clove of garlic has more sulphur content and hence more medicinal value. Some people prefer to take garlic supplements. These pills and capsules have the advantage of avoiding garlic breath.

Modern science has shown that garlic is a powerful antibiotic, albeit broad-spectrum rather than targeted. The body does not appear to build up resistance to the garlic, so its positive health benefits continue over time.

Studies have shown that garlic - especially aged garlic - can have a powerful antioxidant effect. Raw garlic is very strong, so eating too much could produce problems, for example irritation of or even damage to the digestive tract.

There are two main medical ingredients, which produce the garlic health benefits: allicin and diallyl sulphides.

Allicin is the most powerful medicinal compound derived from garlic and provides the greatest reputed health benefits.

It is produced when garlic is finely chopped or crushed. The finer the chopping and the more intensive the crushing, the more allicin is generated and the stronger the medicinal effect.

As well as having antibiotic properties, allicin is an excellent anti-fungal and has been used to treat skin infections such as athlete's foot.


Monday 23 February 2009

Super-food #9. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a rich source of several nutrients. They are well known for their high vitamin C content, but also contain significant amount of vitamin A, B vitamins including niacin and riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorous, and calcium. Tomatoes are also a good source of chromium, folate, and fiber.

In recent years a particular nutrient found in abundance in tomatoes, lycopene, has made many headlines for its disease fighting abilities. Lycopene is well known as a preventer of prostate cancer, which makes tomatoes high on the healthy food list for men.

Lycopene is not just important for men though. It is a powerful antioxidant and as such helps to protect the cells in our bodies from damage. Studies in humans have shown that lycopene is protective against a variety of cancers including prostate of course, but also colorectal, breast, lung, endometrial, pancreatic, bladder, cervical and skin cancers.

Lycopene has also been shown to help prevent heart disease and may slow the development of cataracts and macular degeneration, an age related vision problem that can lead to blindness.

The vitamin B6, niacin, potassium, and folate found in abundance in tomatoes are potent protectors against heart disease. Niacin can lower high cholesterol levels and potassium has been shown to lower high blood pressure and to reduce the risk of heart disease. Vitamin B6 and folate also work to convert the homocysteine in our bodies into harmless molecules. High levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

The fiber in tomatoes also helps lower cholesterol levels, helps prevent colon cancer, and helps to keep blood sugars at a low level. Tomatoes are a source of riboflavin, which has been shown to be helpful for migraine sufferers by reducing the frequency of their headaches.

A helpful note about tomato nutrition is that lycopene is actually more available to the body when tomatoes are cooked, so cooked or canned tomatoes are just as nutritious for you as raw. The facts about tomatoes definitely point to this fruit/vegetable as a nutrient powerhouse and a super food to be enjoyed as often as possible.

Friday 20 February 2009

Top 10 Healthiest Superfoods You NEED to Know About

Superfood #8. Sprouts -Sprouts are one of the most complete and nutritionally beneficial of all foods. Their nutritional value was discovered by the Chinese thousands of years ago. Recently, in the USA, numerous scientific studies suggest the importance of sprouts in a healthy diet.

As an example, a sprouted Mung Bean has the carbohydrate content of a melon, vitamin A of a lemon, thiamin of an avocado, riboflavin of a dry apple, niacin of a banana, and ascorbic acid of a loganberry. Other studies have shown sprouts to be a powerful antioxidant and may assist in preventing some types of cancer.

Sprouts are the most reliable year-round source of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and many B vitamins (such as folacin). Sprouting seeds, grains, and legumes greatly increases their content of those vitamins. For example, the vitamin A content (per calorie) of sprouted Mung beans is two-and-a-half times higher than the dry bean, and some beans have more than eight times more vitamin A after being sprouted.

Sprouts preserve our body's enzymes, which is extremely important. How do they do this? Sprouted beans, grains, nuts, and seeds are extremely easy to digest. Sprouting essentially pre-digests the food for us by breaking down the concentrated starch into simpler carbohydrates and the protein into free amino acids, so our own enzymes don't have to work so hard. Sprouting also removes anti-nutrients such as enzyme inhibitors, and that makes sprouts even easier to digest, further sparing enzymes.

Another anti-nutrient is phytates, which is what stops some people from enjoying grains such as wheat. Many people who can't eat unsprouted wheat find they can eat all the sprouted wheat they want with no problem.

Almost any vegetable or grain can be consumed from sprouts. Broccoli, canola, cauliflower, and mustard greens sprouts are loaded with vitamins, minerals, protein, enzymes, and chlorophyll. In a recent study, 1 oz. of broccoli sprouts had the same cancer-fighting power as over 11⁄2 pounds of fully-grown broccoli.

Thursday 19 February 2009

Superfood #7. Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, and Other Nuts

A high-fat food that's good for your health? You betcha!

Almonds and walnuts sit at the top of the heap for nutrition, but other nuts are healthy, too, including pistachios, pecans, and cashews. Nuts are high in monounsaturated fats, the same type of health-promoting fats as are found in olive oil, which have been associated with reduced risk of heart disease. Five large human epidemiological studies, including the Nurses Health Study, the Iowa Health Study, the Adventist Health Study, and the Physicians Health Study, all found that nut consumption is linked to a lower risk for heart disease.

Researchers who studied data from the Nurses Health Study estimated that substituting nuts for an equivalent amount of carbohydrate in an average diet resulted in a 30% reduction in heart disease risk.

A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition indicates that when foods independently known to lower cholesterol, such as almonds, are combined in a healthy way of eating, the beneficial effects are additive. In this study of 12 patients with elevated LDL cholesterol levels, a diet containing almonds and other nuts, plant sterols (also found in nuts), soy protein, and soluble fiber (in high amounts in beans, oats, pears) reduced blood levels of all LDL fractions including small dense LDL (the type that most increases risk for cardiovascular disease) with near maximal reductions seen after only 2 weeks.

In addition to their cholesterol-lowering effects, nuts' ability to reduce heart disease risk may also be partly due to the antioxidant action of the vitamin E found, as well as to the LDL-lowering effect of monounsaturated fats. In addition to healthy fats and vitamin E, a quarter-cup of almonds contains almost 99 mg of magnesium (that's 24.7% of the daily value for this important mineral), plus 257 mg of potassium.

Magnesium is Nature's own calcium channel blocker. When there is enough magnesium around, veins and arteries breathe a sigh of relief and relax, which lessens resistance and improves the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Studies show that a deficiency of magnesium is not only associated with heart attack but that immediately following a heart attack, lack of sufficient magnesium promotes free radical injury to the heart.

Potassium, an important electrolyte involved in nerve transmission and the contraction of all muscles including the heart, is another mineral that is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. Nuts promote your cardiovascular health by providing 257 mg of potassium and only 0.3 mg of sodium, making them an especially good choice to in protecting against high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.

Walnuts, pecans, and chestnuts have the highest antioxidant content of the tree nuts, with walnuts topping out the others in antioxidant content. And, peanuts (although technically, a legume) also contribute significantly to our dietary intake of antioxidants.

Even more impressive were the results of a review study of the evidence linking nuts and lower risk of coronary heart disease. Subjects consuming nuts at least 4 times a week showed a 37% reduced risk of coronary heart disease compared to those who never or seldom ate nuts. Each additional serving of nuts per week was associated with an average 8.3% reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Top 10 Healthiest Superfoods You NEED to Know About

Superfood #6. Avocados - Avocados contain oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that may help to lower cholesterol. In one study of people with moderately high cholesterol levels, individuals who ate a diet high in avocados showed clear health improvements. After seven days on the diet that included avocados, they had significant decreases in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, along with an 11% increase in health promoting HDL cholesterol.

Avocados are a good source of potassium, a mineral that helps regulate blood pressure. Adequate intake of potassium can help to guard against circulatory diseases, like high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke.

One cup of avocado has 23% of the Daily Value for folate, a nutrient important for heart health. One study showed that individuals who consume folate-rich diets have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke than those who do not consume as much of this vital nutrient.

Not only are avocados a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid, which has recently been shown to offer significant protection against breast cancer, but it is also a very concentrated dietary source of the carotenoid lutein; it also contains measurable amounts of related carotenoids (zeaxanthin, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene) plus significant quantities of tocopherols (vitamin E).

In a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, an extract of avocado containing these carotenoids and tocopherols inhibited the growth of both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells.

Enjoying a few slices of avocado in your tossed salad, or mixing some chopped avocado into your favorite salsa will not only add a rich, creamy flavor, but will greatly increase your body's ability to absorb the health-promoting carotenoids that vegetables provide.

Since avocados contain a large variety of nutrients including vitamins, minerals, as well as heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, eating a little avocado along with carotenoid-rich vegetables and fruits is an excellent way to improve your body's ability to absorb carotenoids while also receiving other nutritional-and taste-benefits.

Oral cancer is even more likely to result in death than breast, skin, or cervical cancer, with a mortality rate of about 50% due to late detection. Avocados may offer a delicious dietary strategy for the prevention of oral cancer.

Phytonutrients in Hass avocados, the most readily available variety, target multiple signaling pathways, increasing the amount of free radicals (reactive oxygen species) within pre-cancerous and cancerous human oral cell lines, that leads to their death, but cause no harm to normal cells. Hass avocados may inhibit the growth of prostate cancer as well. When analyzed, Hass avocados were found to contain the highest content of lutein among commonly eaten fruits, as well as measurable amounts of related carotenoids (zeaxanthin, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene).

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Superfood #5. Grass Fed Raw Dairy Cheeses and Butter

Few people are aware that clean, raw milk from grass-fed cows was actually used as a medicine in the early part of the last century. That's right. Milk straight from the udder, the "stem cell" of foods, was used as medicine to treat, and frequently cure some serious chronic diseases. From the time of Hippocrates to until just after World War II, this "white blood" nourished and healed uncounted millions.

Clean raw milk, cheeses, and butter from grass-fed cows are a complete and properly balanced food. You could live on it exclusively if you had to. Raw dairy contains a wealth of healthy substances including: amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats such as CLA.

Amino acids are building blocks for protein. Depending on whom you ask, we need 20-22 of them for this task. Raw dairy products have all 20 of the standard amino acids. About 80% of the proteins in milk are caseins- reasonably heat stable but easy to digest. The remaining 20% or so fall into the class of whey proteins, many of which have important physiological effects (bioactivity). Also easy to digest, but very heat sensitive-and lost in the pasteurization process, these include key enzymes and enzyme inhibitors, immunoglobulins, metal-binding proteins, vitamin binding proteins and several growth factors.

Lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein, has numerous beneficial properties including (as you might guess) improved absorption and assimilation of iron, anti-cancer properties and anti-microbial action against several species of bacteria responsible for dental cavities. Recent studies also reveal that it has powerful antiviral properties as well.

Two other players in raw milk's antibiotic protein/enzyme arsenal are lysozyme and lactoperoxidase. Lysozyme can actually break apart cell walls of certain undesirable bacteria, while lactoperoxidase teams up with other substances to help knock out unwanted microbes too. The immunoglobulins, provide resistance to many viruses, bacteria and bacterial toxins and may help reduce the severity of asthma symptoms.

Two thirds of the fat in milk is saturated. Is saturated fat good or bad for you? Saturated fats play a number of key roles in our bodies: from construction of cell membranes and key hormones to providing energy storage and padding for delicate organs, to serving as a vehicle for important fat-soluble vitamins.

All fats cause the stomach lining to secrete a hormone (cholecystokinin or CCK), which, aside from boosting production and secretion of digestive enzymes, signals the brain that we've eaten enough. With that trigger removed, non-fat dairy products and other fat-free foods can potentially help contribute to over-eating. Full-fat raw dairy is the ONLY healthy dairy... NOT fat-free pasteurized dairy, which is basically a food with it's nutrition destroyed.

CLA, short for conjugated linoleic acid and abundant in milk from grass-fed cows, is a heavily studied, polyunsaturated Omega-6 fatty acid with promising health benefits. Among CLA's many potential benefits: it raises metabolic rate, helps remove abdominal fat, boosts muscle growth, reduces resistance to insulin, strengthens the immune system and lowers food allergy reactions. Grass-fed raw dairy has from 3-5 times the amount found in the milk from feedlot (grain fed) cows.

Discussions of minerals, or any nutrients for that matter, must deal with ranges rather than specific amounts, since individual needs vary. Raw milk contains a broad selection of completely available vitamins and minerals, ranging from the familiar calcium and phosphorus, to Vitamins A and D, and on down to trace elements. Raw grass-fed dairy also has a missing nutrient called 'K2', which is extremely valuable in helping the body absorb calcium, and therefore rebuilding bone, repairing cavities, and keeping the blood vessels clean.

The 60 plus (known) fully intact and functional enzymes in raw milk have an amazing array of tasks to perform, each one of them essential for one key task or another. The most significant health benefit derived from food enzymes is the burden they take off the body.

The amylase, bacterially-produced lactase, lipase and phosphatase in raw milk, break down starch, lactose, fat (triglycerides) and phosphate compounds respectively, making milk more digestible and freeing up key minerals. Other enzymes, like catalase, lysozyme and lactoperoxidase help to protect milk from unwanted bacterial infection, making it safer to drink.

Raw dairy contains about 3mg of cholesterol per gram - a decent amount. Our bodies make most of what we need, that amount fluctuating by what we get from our food. Cholesterol is a protective/repair substance. A waxy plant steroid (often lumped in with the fats), our body uses it as a form of waterproofing, and as a building block for a number of key hormones.

It's natural, normal, and essential to find it in our brain, liver, nerves, blood, bile, indeed, every cell membrane. Unfortunately, pasteurization allows for sloppy farm practices and unhealthy cows. You will find it hard to find raw milk in most areas, but you can find a co-op or local farm at www.realmilk.com

Monday 16 February 2009

Top 10 Healthiest Superfoods You NEED to Know About

Super-food #4. Grass Fed Meats and Wild Caught Salmon - Grass-fed beef and wild caught salmon have more beta-carotene, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids than beef produced using conventional cattle-feeding strategies.

Three ounces of ground beef from cattle fed conventional diets contain about 41 micrograms of beta-carotene and a typical rib eye steak has 36 micrograms. In contrast, meat from cattle fattened predominately on ryegrass has almost double the beta-carotene, 87 micrograms in 3.5 ounces of ground beef and 64 micrograms in a steak.

Beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A is a critical fat-soluble vitamin that is important for normal vision, bone growth, reproduction, cell division and cell differentiation.

In addition, grass fed meats are much higher in Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin with powerful antioxidant activity. Grass fed cattle exhibit about 3 times as much vitamin E per serving as grain fed beef.

The primary factor in both wild caught fish and grass fed meats is the fat content and the fat ratios. Both have significantly high levels of the essential fatty acid omega 3, which has powerfully positive health effects.

Grazing animals fed an exclusive grass fed diet, as well as wild caught salmon eating their natural diet, significantly alters the fatty acid composition. Cattle fed primarily grass have 60 percent more omega-3 fatty acids and a more favorable omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Likewise for salmon raised on their natural diet. Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and help prevent heart disease and arthritis. The essential fatty acids are also highly concentrated in the brain and appear to be particularly important for cognitive and behavioral function.

The meat and milk from grass-fed ruminants are the richest known source of another type of good fat called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. When ruminants are raised on fresh pasture alone, their milk and meat contain as much as five times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets.

CLA may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer. Also, natural CLA from grass-fed meat and milk has been shown in studies to help build muscle and increase fat loss.

Friday 13 February 2009

Top 10 Healthiest Superfoods You NEED to Know About

Superfood #3. Fermented Foods - Lacto-fermented foods have been around for a very long time. Common in Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and North and Central European cuisine, fermentation has been used to enhance the flavor of food, create food, and help food having a longer shelf life. Fermented foods are delicious and nutritious. These traditional foods are key to our health.

Fermentation allows the bacteria, yeasts and molds to "predigest" and therefore break down the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins to create probiotics which offer friendly bacteria into the digestive tract. This helps keep our immune system strong and supports overall digestive health.

Keep your digestive flora healthy and strong by regularly eating fermented foods.

Fermented foods are enzyme rich foods that are alive with micro-organisms. These foods allow beneficial microflora to "colonize" in the intestines (and for moms-to-be, also in the birth canal). This "inner ecosystem" helps support our health and fight infection. A healthy gastrointestinal tract is critical to a strong immune system. Diets rich in fermented foods, as well as fruits and vegetables, are best for us to in order to maintain a strong healthy body.

Fermented foods aid in digestion, promote healthy flora in the digestive tract, produce beneficial enzymes, offer better nutrition and allow the body to absorb vitamins (in particular C, and B12), minerals, nutritional value and omega 3s more effectively from foods. They regulate the level of acidity in the digestive tract and act as anti-oxidants. Fermented foods contain the same isothiocyanates found in cruciferous vegetables and therefore fight and prevent cancer.

Many fermented foods on the market today are not true fermented foods because they are created to maximize profits and shelf life instead of health. They are not as beneficial. It's important that we eat foods that are fermented with "Active" or "Live" Cultures.

Pasteurization kills off the living bacteria so look for unpasteurized and fresh fermented foods (in the grocery refrigerator section). Since fermentation is a way to keep the living enzymes alive, it goes against the theory to use pasteurized (or dead) milk, for example, but you can make yogurt and kefir with pasteurized milk, it just won't be as robust and beneficial.

Fermented Foods include: Acidophilus milk, amasake, beer, bleu cheese, chocolate, cider, coffee, cultured vegetables, kefir, kimchi, kombucha, marinated artichokes, miso, olives, pickles, saurkraut, soy sauce, tea, tempeh, umeboshi plums, vinegar, yogurt.

Wednesday 11 February 2009

The Top 10 Superfoods You NEED to Know About

As promised, here is.....

Super-food #2. Acai Berry - The fruit is a small, round, black-purple fruit about 1 inch in diameter, similar in appearance and size to a grape, and the newest wonder food.

Acai is particularly rich in fatty acids, feeling oily to the touch. It contains high levels of the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid. It is also rich in palmitic acid, and the polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid. β-sitosterol (beta-sitosterol), a phytosterol that competes with dietary cholesterol for absorption and so may reduce blood cholesterol levels, is also unusually rich.

A recent study found 19 amino acids, with especially high contents of aspartic acid and glutamic acid. The dense pigmentation of acai has led to several experimental studies of its anthocyanins, a group of polyphenols that give the deep color to berries and other fruits, and are high in antioxidant value.

Twelve other flavonoid-like compounds were additionally found, including homoorientin, orientin, taxifolin deoxyhexose, isovitexin and scoparin, as well as several unknown flavonoids. Proanthocyanidins, another group of polyphenolic compounds high in antioxidant value are present, with a profile similar to that of blueberries.

A number of studies have measured the antioxidant strength of acai. A recent report using a standardized oxygen radical absorbance capacity or ORAC analysis on a freeze-dried acai powder found that this powder showed a high antioxidant effect against peroxyl radical. This is approximately 10 times more than blueberries or cranberries.

Only 10% of acai's high antioxidant effects could be explained by its anthocyanin content, indicating that other polyphenols contribute most of the antioxidant activity.

Acai was found to have a higher amount of "slow-acting" antioxidant components, suggesting a more sustained antioxidant effect compared to "fast-acting" components.

Acai containing polyphenolics could reduce proliferation of HL-60 leukemia cells in vitro. The acai berry contains similar properties as red wine in controlling fats in the blood and is a fair contributor to go up against the wine diets of the Mediterranean people. In addition, Acai contains anti-inflammatory agents that inhibit COX 1 and 2 enzymes, thereby making it effective against arthritis, allergies, and other inflammatory diseases.

Please note: Beware that recently, unscrupulous marketers are currently trying to deceive you into thinking that acai pills are some sort of "miracle weight loss cure"... They are even making up fake blogs about people supposedly losing ridiculous amounts of weight simply by popping an acai pill daily (and then they try to sell you these supplements)... These are FAKE stories, and you should realize that although acai is a very healthy antioxidant food, it is NOT a miracle weight loss cure!

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Top 10 Healthiest Superfoods You NEED to Know About

These are, without a doubt, some of the best foods you can eat for your health... Full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and good fats; they help to fix the damage we do every day with diets, environmental stressors, chemical additives and physical stress. If you can include a few servings of these foods in your weekly diet, you will be adding a lot to your good health, and preventing many diseases that could be coming your way otherwise.

Superfood #1. Goji Berries - Goji or wolfberries have long played important roles in Chinese medicine where they are believed to enhance immune system function, improve eyesight, protect the liver, boost sperm production and improve circulation, among other things. They can be eaten raw, consumed as juice or wine, brewed into an herbal tea, or prepared as a tincture.

Goji polysaccharides show antioxidant activity in vitro. As a source of dietary fiber, however, polysaccharides would yield products from bacterial fermentation in the colon, such as several short-chain fatty acids, e.g., butyric acid, which may provide health benefits.

Goji berry fruits also contain zeaxanthin, an important dietary carotenoid selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea where it is thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering roles.

Several published studies, mostly from China, have also reported possible medicinal benefits of Lycium barbarum, especially due to its antioxidant properties, including potential benefits against cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, vision-related diseases (such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, having neuroprotective properties, or as an anticancer and immunomodulatory agent. Without a doubt, goji berries are one of the best antioxidant rich foods you can eat.


# 2 tomorrow!




Friday 6 February 2009

Are all of the Wu-Tea ads a Scam? Does Tea Really Help You Lose Weight?

You've probably seen tons of really clever ads all over the internet for all of these "Wu-tea" products claiming to be the miracle cure to fat loss.

I must admit, there's some savvy marketing behind these sites... they even claim things like "as seen on oprah" and try to claim all sorts of celebrity endorsements.

Here's the deal...

Most of these new tea products on the internet claiming to be a miracle cure for fat loss are nothing but plain old oolong tea. Some brands may have other teas mixed in too, but most I've seen are just oolong tea.

The "Wu" in their names is just their clever way of making you think this is some new secret tea discovery.

Basically they just sell you oolong tea for outrageous prices, when you can go to your local grocery store or health food store and get a whole box of oolong tea for about $2 bucks.

But beyond the outrageously marked up price, does oolong tea actually help with fat loss?

Well, the answer is... slightly.

If you've read my Truth about Abs manual, then you know that I do recommend including a mixture of green tea, white tea, oolong tea, and black tea in your daily schedule to possibly help a slight bit with fat loss.

The fact of it is that drinking tea is not going to miraculously transform your body or "melt off body fat". It CAN have a slight thermogenic effect and possibly help you burn a few extra calories. Plus, there are tons of other benefits too, many of which are due to the high antioxidant content of teas.

However, let's get real... whether you drink tea or not isn't one of those major factors in how fast you're going to burn off body fat... it's just a very minor detail. The real factors are your lifestyle as a whole, your type of exercise program and intensity, the quality of your diet, and your mindset... all of which we focus on regularly in this newsletter and in my Truth about Abs program.

So what I'd recommend is...

Don't waste your money on the overpriced, overhyped Wu-teas that claim to be a miracle fat loss cure. I do recommend including white, green, black, and oolong teas in your diet for their numerous health benefits, but you can get them MUCH cheaper (sometimes at least 10x cheaper!) at your local grocery store instead.


Til next time,
Don't be lazy... be lean.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Fat Loss for Visible Abs

Fat Loss for Visible Abs -- Workouts, Nutrition, and Lifestyle for Success

Craig Ballantyne, Men's Health Training Advisor interviews Mike Geary

CB: Mike, let's start off with some background on the types of people you train, and your training background.

MG: Craig, I've been a Certified Personal Trainer for almost a decade now, and in recent years, I've become certified as a Nutrition Specialist as well. As for the types of people I train... I've trained everybody from skinny teenagers looking to add some bulk to their frame, to middle-aged housewives and businessmen looking to lose body fat, to senior citizens looking to get stronger and leaner in their golden years.

CB: You have a site, The Truth About Abs. So...what the heck is the truth?

MG: Well Craig, from what I see on a daily basis, one of the most common fitness goals people have is to get a flatter stomach and if possible, achieve some sort of a "six pack abs" appearance to their midsection. Unfortunately, most people struggle for years without ever achieving this goal.

Instead, I see so many people waste so much of their time on worthless abs exercises, and falling for every gimmick product that comes onto their TV screen promising them a 6-pack in only 2 minutes a day while sitting on their couch.

To be honest, seeing so many people over the years waste their hard earned money on all of these worthless ab gadgets, machines, and bogus fat loss pills was really getting under my skin.

That's why I developed my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program. Over the last couple years, this program I developed has gained popularity worldwide, and has now recently become the most popular abs program on the internet with 10's of thousands of people in over 100 countries using my system.

So what's the truth? The truth is that people are looking in the wrong direction to achieve this goal... abs exercises are NOT the answer to six pack abs! Sounds counterintuitive I know. In fact, ab-specific exercises are the LEAST important training aspect in getting a six pack.

Most people think there must be some magical "underground" abs exercise that is going to finally get them their six-pack after years of struggling.

The fact is, the real solution to seeing a visible six-pack is bringing your body fat % down to a low enough level to where the abs become visible. Most people already have them hiding under there and don't know it. This is generally about 10% body fat or lower for men, and about 16-18% for women from my experience.

Heck, even my 7-year old nephew has a six pack... do you think he got that by doing "abs exercises"? No way! He has a six pack because his body fat % is extremely low since he's so active running around playing all day at his age.

So the most important aspect to getting visible abs is actually a properly designed full body training program, combined with good nutrition that can be maintained for life (instead of a short-term gimmick diet).

CB: For a beginner, how much focus needs to be on abs? What other exercises would you give them for fat loss?

MG: For beginners, I generally start them off with the most basic bodyweight exercises such as bw squats, bw lunges, bw step-ups, pushups, inverted body rows, along with basic dumbbell exercises like overhead presses, rows, etc. We also work on body stabilizing exercises like planks and side planks and a few stability ball exercises to make sure they've learned to properly engage their entire "core" area in stablizing the body.

CB: What type of cardio/interval training do you use for fat loss?

MG:The programs I design are almost entirely based on high intensity resistance training instead of cardio. In fact, my resistance training workouts get people sweating and huffing and puffing much more than any boring cardio workout ever will.

The bottom line based on research as well as my personal experience... cardio is NOT necessary for fat loss! In fact, some of the leanest people I know NEVER do traditional cardio. Personally, I haven't stepped foot on a treadmill, elliptical machine, or stationary bike in about 8 years and I maintain single digit body fat year round.

Now don't get me wrong about the cardio thing... in reality, I actually work on exercises that are much tougher and more intense than traditional cardio... I prefer wind sprints, hill sprints, swimming sprints, speed rope jumping, etc to complement my resistance training... all of which are more anaerobic in nature than aerobic.

This type of training stimulates a vastly higher metabolic response in the body than steady pace cardio.

Of course, most people can't just jump right into doing wind sprints without injury until they've gotten themselves into pretty good shape first. I use various resistance training methods and interval training for most people before they are ever ready to even attempt any type of sprinting.

CB: Tell us about your favorite bodyweight exercises and how you use them in a fat loss program.

MG: I like to combine bodyweight exercises and free weight exercises into what I call "tri-sets" or "quad-sets" (aka - mini circuits). Basically, I pick 3 or 4 exercises that don't work the same body movements (non-competing) and combine them into high intensity mini-circuits for my clients.

A great example would be:

1. mountain climbers for 20-30 seconds
2. dumbbell squat & presses (combination squat then press overhead)
3. stability ball leg curl-ins
4. stability ball plank holds (a little harder than a floor plank)

This type of circuit can be done without much rest at all between exercises and we would repeat the circuit several times before moving to a new circuit. This creates a high intensity fat burning workout that works almost every muscle in the entire body.

CB: Let's turn to nutrition. What is your fat loss nutrition philosophy?

MG: I could talk about nutrition for hours and it's such a controversial subject, so I'll keep this brief...

It doesn't have to be as complicated as the "diet gurus" make it out to be. It can be a lot simpler...

1. whole, unprocessed organic foods, as close to their natural state as possible
2. High nutrient density food choices instead of nutrient deficient processed foods
3. Fruits and vegetables (lots of vegetables) as your main source of carbohydrates instead of so much reliance on grains as is so prominent in our food supply these days
4. Moderate amounts of high quality protein at each meal
5. High fiber intake to help appetite control and glycemic control (maintaining more balanced blood sugar)
6. Don't neglect healthy fat intake from nuts, seeds, organic eggs, wild fish or fish oil, virgin coconut oil and olive oils, avocados, etc (helps appetite control and hormonal balance)

Once you gain control over the aspects listed above, everything else usually works itself out in your diet... you no longer crave sweets or junk food because your body finally has all of the nutrients it needs. Another important thing that this style of eating does is that it tends to bring people naturally back to the proper amount of calories they need each day without having to attempt to count calories or anything like that.

CB: How do you address "lifestyle" with your clients to help them lose fat?

MG: One of the most important things I try to instill in my clients is that this has to become part of their lifestyle if it is ever going to work long-term. They need to make their health and fitness a priority in their life, and they must enjoy it...whether it's because they actually enjoy the actual exercise and healthy eating, or because they enjoy the feeling of strength or energy or confidence that it gives them.

CB: Give us some of your unique fat loss stories. For example, have you ever made one small change to a client's program that helped them get through a plateau? Or has a client ever responded to one form of training that surprised you? Stuff like that...

MG: I had one client a couple years ago... a guy in his early 30's...a classic case in reality. He'd been doing the same routine for years... about an hour of cardio 5 days/week while reading the newspaper, and then he'd finish it off with a few weight machines.

He finally came to me because his body was actually getting worse despite his long workouts. I asked him to put his trust in me, and asked if he'd be willing to try something drastically different...

I asked if he would fully give up his cardio for 6 weeks and follow one of my free weight training routines instead. I actually insisted that he didn't do any cardio at all during this experimental 6 weeks of change...only weights would be allowed. This was hard for him at first as he was so accustomed to just doing all of this boring cardio because it was easy. But easy workouts don't create a better body!

The results were incredible... I think his strength improved about 30-40 lbs on almost all of his lifts during that 6 weeks while simulataneously losing about 15 lbs of body weight, and his beer belly shrunk down considerably to the point where he had to go out and buy some new pants with smaller waists.

Another story... As far as clients getting new results from just a small tweak...

A few people that have been stuck at a fat loss plateau have come to me and I gave them a simple nutrition trick to try. This simple change was to start basing their last full meal of the day around just meats with lots of veggies and salad... basically, no starches with dinner, just meat and veggies.

As simple as that sounds, I've seen many people break their fat loss plateau just by implementing that into their diet. So many people think that their meals need to be based on starch like pasta or rice, but I think it's so much easier to lose fat when your meals are based around meat and vegetables instead of starch.

I could go on, but I hope that gives your readers some useful ideas for now.

CB: Thanks Mike!


Click here to find out more on The Truth About SIX PACK ABS

Monday 2 February 2009

The 3 Best Abdominal Exercises that Are Not Traditional Ab Exercises

Today, I'm going to explain to you an example today of one of my favorite "ab workouts" that doesn't include any direct "ab exercises" at all. It's in a tri-set format (similar to a super-set but alternating between 3 exercises).

Here goes:

1a. Renegade Dumbbell Rows
1b. Front Squats with Barbell
1c. Mountain Climbers on Floor

A good rep scheme to use with this could be 3-4 sets of 8 reps for each exercise, or more sets for less reps, such as 5 sets of 5 reps of each exercise. Mountain climbers can be done for a time interval (such as 30 seconds) instead of "reps".

Exercise Pics & Descriptions:

Renegade dumbbell rows are done starting in a pushup position with the hands on 2 dumbbells. You then row one dumbbell up while stabilizing your body with the other arm. Bring the dumbbell back to the ground and alternate the rowing arm while stabilizing with the opposite arm. This stabilizing effect during the rows creates incredible work for your entire midsection core area. Trust me... you'll feel it in the abs!

renegade rows start position for solid core

renegade rows - great ab & core exercise
Renegade Rows shown above

Front squats are done similar to back squats, however with the barbell in front of your body on the front of your shoulders instead of resting on the upper back as in back squats. You stabilize the barbell on your shoulders by crossing your arms and pushing your fists into the bar against your shoulders while keeping your elbows out in front of the body.

This takes a little practice at first, so you will want to seek a professional trainer at your gym to help you with the form. Front squats require extreme stabilization strength from the abs due to the barbell weight being shifted to the front of the body instead of the back. Even though this is mostly a leg exercise, you'll feel this one in the abs big time!

front squats start position for rock hard abs

front squats - surprisingly good abdominal exercise
Front squats shown above

Mountain climbers are done by starting in a pushup position and then shuffling your feet in and out so that your knees are moving in under your chest and then back out to starting position. It sort of resembles climbing a mountain but flat on the floor. If you want an advanced version, you can also shuffle your hands 8-10 inches forward and backward in addition to the leg movements. This really makes it a full body exercise and MUCH more difficult than standard mountain climbers.

mountain climbers ab exercise start

mountain climbers - great ab exercise
Mountain Climbers shown above

After finishing each exercise, rest about 30 seconds before starting the next exercise. Rest about 1-2 minutes after completing each "tri-set" before repeating.

This will give you one of the best ab workouts you've ever had without even doing any direct ab exercises. You'll see what I mean after you try it!

best ab exercises manualThis is just a sampling of some of the killer ideas you'll discover in my internationally best-selling ebook program, The Truth about Six Pack Abs, currently the #1 most popular abs program on the internet (as ranked by clickbank.com) with 10's of thousands of users in over 150 countries. If you don't already have a copy be sure to pick one up today...

Not only will you receive a complete blue-print for challenging full-body workouts that will thoroughly define your entire body in addition to your abs (can be adjusted to beginners or advanced levels), but you'll also gain a thorough understanding of what types of nutritional strategies and other lifestyle aspects that it takes to reduce your belly fat to the level where your abs are visible.

Check out what other users are saying about their results with the Truth about Six Pack Abs program

Don't be lazy... Be lean.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

Friday 30 January 2009

Strategies You MUST Know if You Want a Flat Stomach with 6-Pack Abs

by Mike Geary, author - The Truth about Six Pack Abs, interviewed by Craig Ballantyne - CSCS, Men's Health Magazine Training Advisor

Below is an interview that I did with world-famous trainer and Men's Health Magazine Training Advisor, Craig Ballantyne as he grilled me on the top secrets for fat loss and six pack abs. Check it out...

CB: Mike, give us a brief background about yourself

MG: Sure Craig. Well, I'm currently a Certified Nutrition Specialist and a Certified Personal Trainer. I've been dedicated to improving my knowledge of fitness, both training techniques and nutrition aspects, for over 15 years now, and I never stop trying to learn more each and every day. I've also been a contributing writer for Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine, and I'm the author of the popular internationally-selling book, "The Truth about Six Pack Abs" which has had tens of thousands of readers in over 150 countries currently.

I just love helping people with this area of their lives, as not only does it improve their outward appearance and confidence, but more importantly, improves how they feel and their internal health, helping them to live longer and healthier lives. It's something I'm very passionate about.

CB: Okay, so where does the average man or woman go wrong when it comes to training abs?

MG: Ok, most people are probably going to be surprised with this answer. In their quest for 'six pack abs', the biggest mistake I see people making is wasting WAY too much of their time training their abs directly... pumping away with all kinds of different abs-specific exercises.

I'm sure you know what I'm referring to. The person is trying so hard to get those abs to show, that they're spending almost all of their time in the gym with hundreds of reps of various crunches, leg raises, twisting exercises, etc. Meanwhile, all of that wasted time directly training the abs could have been better spent on a properly designed full body workout program that would elicit a much better metabolic response and increase the fat-burning hormone levels in their body as well.

After all, losing the stomach fat that is covering the abs is the MOST important aspect for most people to finally be able to make their abs visible. Unfortunately, pumping away with hundreds of crunches and leg raises does NOT cause much of a metabolic or fat burning hormonal response. This is the main focus of my Truth about Six Pack Abs book... full body training programs and proper nutrition to strip off that stubborn belly fat and reveal the six pack that's hiding underneath!

Of course it wouldn't be an abs book if I didn't focus on ab development too, but I make sure firstly that the most important concepts for lasting body fat reduction are understood.

CB: Do you see any gender differences in mistakes they make? And more importantly, do you see any gender differences in the response to various types of ab training?

MG: To be honest, I don't really see any need for men or women to train differently. Bottom line... the best exercises are the best exercises regardless of gender.

However, in regards to mistakes I see between genders... Yes, I tend to see women more often are deathly afraid to use weight training with anything but really light weights. That is a shame, because THE most effective way to gain control over your body fat for life, is to maximize your lean muscle that your body carries, as well as working that muscle hard through intense resistance exercise regularly.

It's important for women to realize that regular strength training using heavier resistance will NOT "bulk them up" (as long as caloric intake is controlled), but rather is one of the key secrets for losing body fat and staying lean year-round. As a matter of fact, some of the leanest females that I've trained over the years are the ones that aren't afraid to work hard with the weights.

I also notice that most women (and a lot of guys too) spend way too much time with slow cardio exercise. This is simply not necessary, and the way I combine high intensity resistance training into full body routines provides enough of a "cardio" workout in itself usually. We'll get back to this in a minute though.

CB: What about ol' school sit-ups? Do you use these? Are they good, bad, or does it "depend"?

MG: Sit-ups are a controversial topic. I don't think they're good or bad per se, but rather "in between". I didn't include them in my program. I simply don't feel they are necessary, and I think there are much more effective abs exercises to focus on. Personally, I almost never do sit-ups except occasionally for a little variety every now and then.

CB: Give us a weekly sample ab training program. How many days per week? What are a couple of the best exercises you'd pick? How many sets? Reps? Rest?

MG: Well, first I'd like to point out that the full body movements that make up the majority of my programs indirectly work the abs and the entire "core" area to a fairly decent extent. However, I do include abs-specific exercises into the routines generally about twice per week. The "abs-specific" portion of the workouts generally only take about 5 minutes at most with very little rest between exercises.

Once people are past the beginning phase of gaining some initial ab strength, I try to get them away from the exercises that are too easy, where someone can do 50 or 100 reps, as is frequently common with standard crunches. Instead, I like to focus on higher resistance exercises that actually stimulate the muscle fibers to a much greater degree. One example of a higher resistance abs exercise is hanging leg raises with a proper "pelvic curl up".

It's funny but usually someone that has been wasting so much time with hundreds of reps of crunches can usually only do a few solid reps when they first attempt some of these higher resistance exercises. We also make sure not to neglect some rotational movements, as well as some work for the deeper muscles like the transversus abdominis.

CB: What do you use for burning fat, intervals or slow cardio? Or both? Any gender differences here? Or differences between fitness levels (beginner vs. advanced)?

MG: In most cases, my answer is definitely intervals... or as I like to call it "variable intensity training". In general, I think slow steady pace cardio is a waste of time, especially if the goal is lasting fat loss.

I think people need to get away from this thinking about "fat burning zones" and calories burned during the actual workout, and look at the bigger picture of what you're doing in your workout to stimulate the greatest metabolic response in your body... and the best metabolic and hormonal response is achieved through variable intensity training and strength training, not slow steady-pace cardio.

Now I will say that if someone is really deconditioned and can't handle higher intensity exercise routines just yet, this still doesn't mean that they can't simply use lower intensity routines, but still use it in a "variable intensity" fashion, by alternating between higher and lower exertion levels throughout the workout.

CB: And finally Mike, 1 or 2 of your top secret nutrition tips for carving out those abs. Open your vault of info!

MG: Well Craig, I think you'd agree that there has never been a more confusing time regarding proper nutrition for consumers. Every so called "expert" out there seems to disagree and contradict each other on what's the best way to eat for fat loss and overall good health.

One of the most important messages I try to teach my readers in this world of heavy confusion is that your diet doesn't need to conform to any of the fad diets... you don't need to go "low carb" or "low fat", or high or low anything for that matter to be successful in losing enough body fat to get lean enough to be able to see your abs. I like to try to simplify things for my readers. I think that balance is the key to success along with eating a diet that is made up of nutrient dense foods in their natural state (as unprocessed as possible).

In general, it is the heavy processing of foods that makes it wreak havoc inside our bodies. Most foods in their natural unprocessed state are inherently good for us. Of course there are always exceptions... a salad of poison ivy leaves is "natural and unprocessed" but certainly would not be good for us!

I'll leave your readers with a couple of the most important aspects of nutrition that help to get you lean for life...

1. Get enough quality protein in the daily diet - not only does it have a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat (so you burn more calories digesting it), but it also creates satiety so your hunger is satisfied longer. Plus it's a building block for maintaining and building lean muscle... And remember that the amount of lean muscle you carry is one of the main factors for controlling your metabolism.

2. Think fiber! When it comes to carbs, make sure that almost all of your carbohydrate intake is from higher fiber sources like vegetables, fruits, and high fiber unrefined grains. Try to avoid refined sugars and refined grains as that is one of the main reasons so many people struggle with body fat. I personally don't eat many grains as I prefer to get most of my carbs from veggies and fruits, but I do use sprouted grain breads fairly regularly too.

I generally recommend looking for carbohydrate sources that have at least 2-3 grams of fiber per each 10 grams of total carbs. Remember that fiber helps fill you up and also slows down the glycemic response of the foods you eat, all beneficial for getting lean.

3. Don't be afraid to eat fat! Many people try to go way too low on their fat intake and this can negatively affect hormone levels in your body as well as causing more cravings. Try to eat enough healthy fats daily.

Good sources are all nuts and seeds, nut butters, avocados, olive oil, organic meats and eggs, coconuts and virgin coconut oil. On that note, saturated fats from tropical oils are VERY misunderstood, even by many nutritionists and other health professionals. Yes they are composed highly of saturated fats, but are actually beneficial (but that's way beyond the scope of this article).

4. Avoid the two worst things in our food supply at ALL COSTS:

  • artificial trans fats from margarines, shortening, and hydrogenated oils that are in most processed foods and deep fried foods
  • high fructose corn syrup, which is in almost all sweetened products on the market

Again, if you avoid processed foods, it becomes easy to avoid these two worst offenders in our food supply.

I always contend that once you get a handle on these 4 main points of your diet detailed above, the rest starts to take care of itself as you gain control over your appetite, blood sugar levels, hormone levels, etc. It all falls into place, and you eventually gain total control over how lean you want to get.

CB: Thanks Mike! Check out Mike's book The Truth About SIX PACK ABS

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