Most Recent

So let’s do a flash back to about 5 years ago.  I’m studying to take my personal training exam and I come across a section that completely dumbfounded me. It was the fat burning zone.

The book, which was written by prestigious doctors and that such, said that to optimally burn fat you want to train the in the “fat burning zone” which is about 60-65% your maximum heart rate.  And after I read this I was like “what the frick?”

And I even remember seeing the little signs on the cardio equipment at the gym that had the same thing on them — I was confused if this was real or a fat burning zone myth?

Because when I train at only 65% of my maximum heart rate, I’ll BARELY be sweating and then when they tell me that when I work my butt off (getting up to 90% my maximum heart rate) I’m not burning as much fat?  Hogwash!

So I wanted to dig a little deeper and find out what REALLY is going on with this fat burning heart rate zone.  It turns out that it’s completely true…with a HUGE BUT.  The “but” is that even though you are burning more calories from fat as a percentage at that heart rate zone you’re actually not burning nearly as many overall calories that you would be from doing higher intensity workouts, and therefore you’ll burn more calories from fat. (more…)

The Carb Cycling Diet For Fast Fat Loss by Josh Schlottman

Scientific research proving the effectiveness of the carb cycling diets has been around for a few years now but most people have never even heard of it.  If you’re looking for fast fat loss then doing a carb cycling diet plan for 30 days will help you get in great shape quick.  If you’re looking for a proven carb cycling diet that works, check out my Xtreme Fat Loss Diet review.

Most people LIVE off of carbs and most will go crazy if they completely eliminate all carbohydrates.  What we want to do is combine these methods to produce the ultimate fat burning diet, carb cycling.

Carb cycling is a great way to lose fat fast and bust through any fat loss plateaus that you may have been stuck in.

There are quite a few ways to do a carb cycling diet but the way that I usually use and recommend is the simplest.

First Day = High Carb Day, Second Day = Low Carb Day, Third Day = Zero Carb Day…Repeat.

Simple, right?

The reason carb cycling works so well is because of a hormonal response in the body.  Most typical low carb diets only work so well because they drastically lower the hormones leptin and insulin in the body.  Once these hormones get too low, the body fat burning process automatically shuts off.

Why does it do this?

Looking back at the history of human existence, food was pretty hard to come by until the last hundred years or so.  We rarely had immediate access to all the foods that we have today (You never saw the pilgrims rolling over to the McDonalds when they were hungry…).

So when we didn’t eat enough for a few days our bodies thought we were starving, and in order to survive your body is going to hang onto all the fat it possibly can.

And this is why we can’t drop fat when we’re starving (despite what Paris Hilton will have you think).

When I was studying nutrition in college the standard carbohydrate intake was around 55% of your total calorie intake for the day.  This is kinda crazy for me to hear now after reading all the recent scientific studies that have show you can lose fat so much faster by implementing these methods.

During your carb cycling diet you’re also going to want to be taking in moderate to high levels of protein while your fat intake is going to be moderate to low.  A lot of people get scared of fats and think that’s what is going to make them fat, but taking in the RIGHT fats will be crucial to your rapid fat loss results.

If you’re unsure how many calories you should be taking in to lose weight, I went ahead and saved you the trouble of calculating it, click the link below to download my free calorie fat loss calculator (you need to use Excel or a similar program to use it).

The Trainer Josh Fat Loss Calorie Calculator

***The Trainer Josh Fat Loss Calorie Calculator***

When you’re on the high carb days, be sure to resist all temptation to consume white flour or sugary foods.  Any time you do this you’ll spike your insulin levels through the roof and the fat gaining chaos will begin.

So how much carbohydrates should you be eating on these days?

On the high carbohydrates you simply eat as much as you can handle, on the medium days you take in your bodyweight in grams of carbs.  So if you weight 150 lbs. then you’ll take in 150 grams of carbohydrates spread out over your meals for the day.  And as you probably guessed, you won’t want to be taking in any kind of carbohydrates on the days you have zero carbs.

In all honesty, I wouldn’t do this carb cycling until the end of time but if you’re looking to fast fat loss then go for a carb cycling diet at least for 30 days.  Hopefully after that you’ll be on the right track for nutrition and you can even start with my 5 simple nutrition tips.

Good luck and be sure to plan ahead when it comes to nutrition, it’ll be the key to your success and your CRAZY fat loss results.

Create Greatness,

Josh

P.S. – If you liked or have a question about this post be sure to leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to get back to you!

I know we all get a little busy and flat out don’t have the time to workout…but does this mean we should never workout?

This is the problem I want to solve with my 4 minute fat loss tabata workout.

What you say Josh!?

Tabatas are basically this really cool and fast way to get an awesome fat loss workout in just about 4 minutes and have more results than you would if you spent an hour running on the treadmill.

And I’m not making this guy up, he was a real researcher in Japan and made a HUGE contribution to the fat loss world when he introduced tabatas into our repertoires.

The Tabata Protocol, which it’s officially referred to was used by the Japanese speed skating teams and they found that those who used this training program actually increased their aerobic and anaerobic thresholds, meaning they could quickly increase how hard and how long they could skate.

Tabatas are also a great for conditioning as well.  If you’re playing sports or if you’re into MMA then doing the Tabata Protocol will be a fast and efficient way for you to take your game to the next level.  But one thing I have to stress, even though they only take 4-minutes to complete they are performed with MAXIMUM all-out effort.  This isn’t the time to grab your juicebox and take a nap.

But to be honest and up-front with you, you’re also going to have to have some consistent diet changes if you plan on losing actual weight, you can’t out-train a bad diet and even though you’re becoming better conditioned through tabatas, it’ll be hard to see the scale go down when you’re slamming Taco Bell at night.

That being said, if you haven’t worked out since Alf was on TV then I suggest progressing your way up until you can handle these Tabata Protocols because they’re no joke.  The idea is simple enough that a 10 year old can do them but if you’re out of shape like a 4-sided triangle then you’re going to find yourself hanging on to dear life.

Dr. Tabata was a fat loss Godfather

One more excuse I’m going to knock from your list is having to go to the gym or needing a giant Boflex to do your workouts.  Well this 4 minute tabata workout uses only your bodyweight and will have you losing fat fast.  I’ve always been a huge fan of the bodyweight-only type of training, and if you don’t have any injuries to deal with, then it’ll totally be a great way to burn fat and build muscle.

So how does this whole tabata thing work you may ask?  Well it’s basically a 4-exercise circuit and you perform 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest.  After you complete all 4 exercises you then repeat it one more time.  Simple enough?

I’ve also included various level progressions for you hardcore guys out there who need that extra push.  You can also do this 4 minute tabata workout at the end of your regular workout for an awesome metabolic finisher that will put you over the edge.  Just keep a puke bucket nearby if you can’t take the HEAT.

And if you’re heart rate isn’t racing by the time you finish this fast 4-minute workout then let me know and I’ll literally do 100 pushups for wasting your time.  Do we have a deal?

Enjoy the bodyweight tabata workout and let me know if you make it through!

I remember in elementary school when we would create collages in class with all the stuff that we liked and represented.  The teacher would bring in stacks and stacks of magazines and we would go away cutting out all the cool stuff and organizing it on a huge piece of poster paper.

I wish I knew more about why we were creating these vision boards but at the time it seemed like a lot of fun and got us out of doing math for a couple hours.  I wish I still had the same vision board I made back in my school days but at least I never forgot the concept.

Having a great vision board will not only be a natural fat loss tool but it will also allow you to take a step back and see what you actually want to do with your life.  It doesn’t all have to be about losing weight and looking fabulous.

Maybe you also want to find your soul mate, travel, buy shiny and cool things, learn to play the guitar, have a family, find happiness, own your own business, etc.  All of these dreams can be made into a vision board, and this will help keep you motivated to reach your goals.

All you really need to do is get a huge piece of paper and start checking out magazines or online images of stuff you want to achieve.  Make a list beforehand so you know what you’re looking for.

Hang your vision board somewhere you’ll see it everyday, especially in the morning and times of temptations (such as the refrigerator!).

When you get up in the morning just stare at your vision board for a few minutes and picture yourself doing these things.  This will help get your inspirational engines going and it will also remind you of why you’re getting out of bed to get your hustle on.

If you feel comfortable enough, be sure to share your vision board with somebody close and you can even encourage them to do a vision board too.

When you start to visualize yourself actually doing these things your mind will automatically believe that it’s real.  Your mind can’t tell the difference between a thought and reality so choose your thoughts wisely.  Most people think about negative stuff all day and wonder why they’re depressed and not going anywhere with their lives.  Be different.

Doing this has helped give me a much more positive outlook on life, along with taking my natural fat loss journey to another level.  But don’t think just staring at it everyday is going to do all the work for you, you still have to work your butt off to get there, but at least you’ll have the motivation to do it.  Which is what 97% of people in the world lack.

Also going along with vision boards I would recommend getting going on a consistent mediation program.  Meditating can do wonders for your stress levels and can help you refocus on the things you really want to achieve in life.

The biggest problem with meditating I’ve found is being consistent with it.  It’s great at the beginning when you’re really fired up and you’ve meditated a few days in a row, but when you start getting a little lazy and would rather sleep that extra 10 minutes is where you get in trouble.

I really recommend meditating first thing in the morning and right before you go to bed.  This will help you get your day started right and not filled with a bunch of negative stuff and you’ll sleep a lot better when you’re not dumping all the days junk into your thoughts.  Ever lay in your bed for hours with your mind constantly talking to you?  This is where meditating comes in.

All I do is mediate for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night.  It doesn’t have to be a huge thing, just make the extra 20 minutes in the day to do this and the rest of your day will reap the benefits.

If you’re looking to burn fat naturally then these are two awesome techniques that don’t use any fancy schmancy supplements that don’t even work.  When you do these 2 things consistently you’ll find yourself losing more fat, happier and with much more success than before.

To your success,

Josh

P.S. if you need some extra help detoxing from all the negative junk in your head and want to change your outlook on life then check out this book, it changed mine!