» 2010 » January

Last March I completed my the full 26.2 mile Napa Valley Marathon and being my first marathon the training was intense.

I think marathons are a great way to get motivated towards training but I don't think it's a great long-term way of burning fat and looking great.

If you see a lot of big time marathon runners you'll notice that they look like they haven't eaten in weeks and they're bodies aren't very attractive. Read this post to learn more about this.

Since I live in the Napa Valley I thought it would be great to have home field advantage for my first (and maybe my last) marathon and it didn't disappoint.

I got first got inspired to train for the Napa Valley Marathon after my Mom passed away the previous summer from battling cancer and really needed an outlet and a change in my training.

A marathon seemed ideal and it totally pushed me to my limits and got me out of my training "comfort zone."

Maybe I should've done the half marathon (13.2 miles) before doing the full thing but I'm a big believer in the saying, "go big or go home."

I can still feel my legs aching after I crossed the finish line at Vintage High School and it felt like somebody had dipped my legs in gasoline and lit them on fire. It was hard walking the rest of the day but tomorrow I was ready to go back to work.

But I have to tell you it was all worth it when I crossed the finish line and the feeling of accomplishment you have is indescribable. While body is beat up but you have such a high from crossing the finish line that you can't help but smile and feel great about yourself.

I'm not doing the marathon this year but that doesn't mean I'm gone for good. Maybe I'll take my game up to the next level and go for a triathlon!

Some tips I would give to those runners wanting to run the Napa Valley Marathon or any marathon for that matter would be to…

1. Start your training AT LEAST 3 months before the actual marathon and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending up to 6 months for those who aren't very active and out of shape.

2. Have a battle plan with your training, do some 20 mile runs every other week to give your body a taste of what a REAL long run feels like. Also be sure to start tapering off your runs in the last couple weeks before the big day.

3. Have an amazing support team behind you. If you don't have any friends then join a local Team In Training program to help inspire you and to raise money for those who need it.

4. Make sure you're taking care of your body. Many first time runners get plagued with injuries from all the impact of running. Make sure you're doing some resistance training, getting enough rest and eating the right stuff with ample amounts of calories.

5. HAVE FUN. This is what it's really all about! Motivate a friend to join you in training for the marathon and join that Team In Training program. Whatever it takes for you to have a good time and to inspire others to lead an active life will be the best thing you get out of doing a marathon.

Please share your marathon stories too or if you want to know more on how to get started for your first marathon!

Getting rid of your belly fat can be one of the most frustrating parts of your body transformation.  In this post I'm giving you a great workout circuit that will show you how to really hit your abdominals hard and burn away your stubborn belly fat.

I like to call it the Chub Blaster 4000!

A lot of people are lost when it comes to losing area around their belly fat but this stuff is great for getting rid of it.

Now you can't just do this workout and expect it to work miracles, it's just a way to increase your results so you can get what you're looking for faster than the normal process.  This exercise circuit should be done with a great nutrition and training program.

I would also recommend trying to de-stress your life as much as possible.  This can be a lot harder than it sounds as bad stress can have some bad results on the body and fat gain.

Stress releases a hormone called cortisol which is our "fight or flight" hormone which stores body fat in the areas that are really troubled for weight gain such as the midsection, as well as the hips and thighs.

So kick back and read a nice book every once in a while, do your meditations and give yourself a little bit of quiet time everyday.  It won't just heal your mind but will also burn your belly fat.

Here's the complete workout:

A1:  Cable Woodchoppers (3×10/side)

A2:  Bicycle & Rotates (3×24)

A3:  Ball Squirms (3×12)

Don't get discouraged just yet.  Even I, Trainer Josh, can still fall for the occasional supplement that is all the rage.  I remember back when I was in high school and was trying to build muscle, I looked long and hard for the best supplements on the planet to help me do just that.

Unfortunately I was looking for a quick fix and it took me a while before I realized how much I was wasting my hard earned money.  I asked around on the internet and friends what they recommended and even went into the local GNC shop for their input.

Long story short, I left the building with a bottle of "Ripped Fuel." The first time I took them I went to the gym thinking I finally had the secret weapon that would take me past everybody else and put me into another level.  But soon after the placebo effect wore off I realized I had just sunk $30 down the drain.

And since the last 10 years I've slowly discovered what really worked and what was worth occasionally giving my money to and what was a complete waste of my dough.

What supplements I recommend to my clients is another story completely.  Now I'm a big believer in choosing the right course of action when it comes to achieving your weight loss goals and getting too focused on supplements can derail your journey and can set yourself up for long term failure.

There is a double edge sword that comes with taking any supplement that actually might just work.  Even if the supplement does give you results you can only take it for so long before you run out or you get sick of paying up every month for it.  And your body will eventually become used to what your taking and you'll have to take more and more to get the same results you used to get.

Also don't forget how badly we get ripped off by the companies that sell us these supplements, it takes them only a few dollars to actually make them and through clever and seductive marketing suck us into buying their stuff for $60+ bucks.   Watch the video below from the movie "Bigger Faster Stronger" to see what I'm talking about (I also recommend watching that movie too, it gives a great inside look on American culture and the desire to be the biggest baddest mofo's on the planet).

Ok, so what supplements do I do recommend?  Well the only supplement that I actually do recommend people take are all naturally and scientifically researched to give results.  Some of them include green tea, omega-3 fish oil, coconut oil, Green Vibrance and a gender specific multi-vitamin.

Even taking all of those together can become a bit much.  To get the best long-term weight loss results you will want to stick to a healthy and kickass nutrition plan as well as having a damn good workout plan that has you pushing yourself in every workout.

I just opened my coaching program for those looking for something that will really work and those looking for great results.  Click here to learn more about my web-based coaching program.

In this workout I'm giving you a perfect recipe that will help get your biceps bigger and so we're not hanging out with the turtles I'm going to show you how to do it fast.

Having a great pair of biceps is often coveted by a lot of guys who want to get rid of their skinny spaghetti arms and instead have a pair of rock hard arms.

The key with training your arms and more specifically your biceps is that you can only train them so hard and so far before your doing more damage than good.  You don't have to train your arms 3+ times a week to have a great pair of guns.

We're also going to be focusing much more on quality over quantity. So just because you're stacking plates on your barbell curls doesn't mean your getting as good as results as a guy going half that weight but has great form.

Remember to keep your arms and your biceps strict so they aren't swinging and be sure to leave your ego at the door.  Practically all the growth that occurs in your biceps will happen while you're resting and not while your in the gym training your biceps for 2 hours.

In this biceps training program I'm recommending you only do this workout 2 times a week and if you're just training your biceps than it should take more than a half hour tops.  And to be completely honest then I wouldn't just train arms on any particular day but since I know you want the best results than training them on your "off" days would be the best course of action.

You can also easily incorporate parts of this workout into your regular training program to add more size to your biceps.  If you want bigger arms overall be sure to train all three heads of the triceps as they take up around 2/3rds of you arms circumference.

Ok and now here's the workout….

A1:  Barbell Eccentric Curls (1 second up / 3 seconds coming down) 3×12

A2:  Barbell Cheat Curls 3×10

B1:  Half-Way Dumbbell Curls (3×7,7,7)

B2: Chins (3×10)

B3: SuperBand Quick Curls (3×30)

Today I'm launching my Platinum Web-based Coaching Program, to learn more about the program click this link => http://trainerjosh.com/vip-body-transformation-coaching/

If ninja's were still around today how do you think they would train?

Tabata training has quickly gotten more and more popular with people looking for fast fat loss results.  But there's a price that has to be paid if you want those quick weight loss results and that will do more than the typical 60+ minute snoozefest at the gym.

These methods have been working for a long time now and if you're just catching on to this method of training then you're getting lucky because I've found that it can rapidly increase your training results.

So what exactly is tabata ninja training?

If you've been reading my blog before you'll know that I'm not a fan of steady state cardio as the driving force to burn fat and am a big fan of the scientifically researched high intensity interval training as a much better way to burn fat.  Tabata training is another form of HIIT training developed in Japan by Dr. Izumi Tabata and this is it's basic form…

Tabata training is 20 seconds of hardcore training followed by 10 seconds of rest and then going back to 20 seconds of incredible effort and back to 10 seconds of rest, etc.  You do this cycle for 8 rounds or for 4 minutes total time.

Researched studies found those who did the tabata training had a much higher improved VO2 max than the groups who did the traditional steady state cardio training.  Which means you'll burn more fat doing tabata training than you would running on a treadmill for 45 minutes.

And the best part unlike cardio training is that tabata and high intensity interval training will keep burning calories 38 hours AFTER you workout.

Huh?

What happens when we do tabata training is that it causes a metabolic disturbance in the body referred by the pros as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption aka EPOC.  This metabolic disturbance is one of the driving forces behind HIIT and tabata training which is responsible for it's crazy great fat burning results.

Now I wouldn't JUST do this tabata workout but instead do a few different routines in a workout with 100% effort.  I usually incorporate tabata training after my strength training workouts as what I like to call an "afterburner."  This will crank my heart rate up and finish the workout on a high note ensuring I keep burning calories after my workout and keep my metabolism cranked.

Watch the video below for a quick tabata workout routine that can be done virtually anywhere…

1. Jump Squats (20 seconds)

2. Push-Up Spider Crawls (20 seconds)

3.  Skater Plyos (20 seconds)

4.  Cross Body Mountain Climbers (20 seconds)