Here’s my latest column at The Soko.

Be on the lookout for Inside Fitness Magazine if you’re in Canada. I have a 20 minute workout in there for ya.

 Just Want To Live A Little?

Human beings have fascinating psychological views and actions, in my opinion.  The food we know is not good for us, we still eat.  The workouts we know would help us get back into shape, we decide to not be consistent with them.

Some people realize that their health is what actually keeps them alive, but they’d rather spend their money on a monster television rather than a gym membership or a personal training service.

Why, though?

The typical answer I seem to get when I point out to someone that a chocolate bar isn’t exactly the best kind of snack in the world is this: “Why can’t I just live a little?”

Can We Break That Train of Thought?

I’m guilty of this at times too.  I mean, I’ve already confessed to you my love for hot dogs in a previous article.

My job as a fitness coach is to solve people’s fitness problems.  This whole ‘living a little’ philosophy is a rampant problem with many people, so I have to try and help them with it.

Just to make it clear right now, I’m not going to be telling you to never eat a bad thing ever again in your life.  That’s just stupid.  It’s okay to have cheat meals; you just need to be smarter and more organized about your choices.

I have here a list of a few possible solutions that may help you make better choices more consistently.

Understanding Your Top Priority

If you don’t have your health, you really don’t have anything.  If you’re sick from being drunk the night before, your health suffers, and it’s really hard to enjoy the next day with all the headaches and potential vomiting.  But in today’s society, that’s apparently the ultimate symbol of living a little.

Of course, that’s an example, and yes, I do drink alcohol on some occasions, but never like that.  I’ve realized my priorities on it.  In college I would drink.  When I tore my hamstring that threatened my baseball career, I actually started to drink fairly heavily.  The only priority I had was having fun and trying to run away from my circumstances.  Obviously that kind of attitude didn’t exactly help my recovery from the injury very much, because my health wasn’t my number one priority.

When I finally realized what my top priority should be, I quit drinking for a while.  And it was easy to do, because I had a new set of rules governing my life.

What’s your top priority?  It could be the difference between you buying that monster television or taking the steps to actually getting the body you want.

Surround Yourself With Your Goals

Put them everywhere.  Put them in your bedroom, in your wallet, in your car, on your mirrors, on the fridge, on the television and on your favourite junk food.  Get a bunch of those yellow post-it notes and write your goals on them.

Put them everywhere – literally.  Make sure your goals are always going to be fresh in your mind.  That will help when those ‘live a little’ decisions come your way.

Just ask yourself, “Will this decision HELP me towards my goals, or push me AWAY from my goals?”

Keep Visiting

Keep visiting sites like The Soko to try and find advice or tips that will work for you.  Maybe my stuff makes more sense to you than others, maybe not.

Organize your day so that you can read at least one article that relates to your fitness goals, so that you can learn along the way too.

This strategy can motivate you to keep working hard on your goals and not let those annoying decoys (the living a little decoys) get in the way of your goals and dreams.

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living a little or dying a little?

When you buy into the living a little philosophy, which I think we all should do sometimes, are you actually living a little or are you dying a little?  I mean, eating tons of sugary food isn’t good for you, and if you do it enough, you might be on your way to a shorter life when you think about it.

But the key thing here is doing it consistently.  Organize your diet or your life to the point that you can enjoy some cheat meals during the week, or if you really want that monster television, make sure you’ve accomplished conquering your top priority first.  Hell, you might not even want the television anymore with your new body and new-found energy.

Have a great one,

Dan Grant

SORRY! I’ve been on the road for what seems to be forever so posts have been limited.

Here’s my soon to be released article at The Soko:

There’s a lot of people out there who have used the information and programs that I have made for them and used them to great success. Yet, there as some that have gotten the same information and programs designed specifically for them but didn’t ‘believe’ in the program and got nowhere with it.

Those people, for whatever reason, now don’t like my ‘stuff’.

Some Success…

And that’s fine. I had a client who overcame double knee replacement surgery to lose over 20 pounds of fat in 2 months with only 60 minutes TOTAL of exercise per week. I’ve also helped a lady going off to Police College who couldn’t do a regular pushup to do 25 perfect pushups in 10 days.

And A Little Bit Of Failure…

I had a lady who paid me quite a bit of money for me to analyze her current program and then have me create a newer revised program because she wasn’t getting any results with her current program. The problem was that she never followed my program the way I wrote it out for her.

Why? Because it was ‘different’ from what she was used too. No kidding…

Anyways, this isn’t really a popularity contest for me, I just try to solve people’s fitness problem. So in this column we’re going to discuss a little bit of that.

I Don’t Hate Jogging…I Just Don’t Recommend It…Actually, I Do Hate Jogging

People who read my articles or decide they want to actually listen to me ramble on with fat loss advice often wonder out load, “Why don’t you like jogging? I thought that was how you lose weight?”

Yep, you can lose weight jogging and you can also lose weight by not eating for a week. Does that mean not eating for week should be recommended as fat loss protocol?

I used to work at a chiropractors office doing rehab work with people. I lost count at how many people came in with really bad knee, ankle, and/or ITB injuries. I probably don’t have to ask you why they kept coming in with these injuries, but I will just for fun anyways.

Do you know what the number one factor was that caused all of these injuries? Yep, you got it…jogging.

Do you know how many people came in to get treated for injury because they did sprint intervals (which many of the clients there did after talking to me)? NONE, a big ole’ goose egg.

I can keep bringing up examples and can continue to keep ranting but it would end up getting out of hand and I would probably never be allowed to write on here again. Well, that might happen anyway if this article gets a lot of people angry, but I’m willing to take that risk for the good of successful fat loss training.

Now, before I get totally anti-cardio on you, I will tell you that I do advise certain clients to do long cardio. And yes, doing something it better than nothing.

Interval training is just better for fat loss. It’s been proven in both clinical and real world studies. Plain and simple, you just burn A LOT more fat doing intervals then you do jogging for hours on end.

For more information on interval training check out one of my earlier articles, ‘3 Steps To Losing Belly Fat’.

“Yep, We Aren’t Touching The BOSU Ball”

You know what my new clients are usually most surprised about when they start training with me. That I don’t recommend using the BOSU ball (the half stability ball).

Why is the BOSU ball so friggin’ popular?

I know most people’s answer would be because it helps you ‘work’ your core too, but that just seems to be non-sense in my eyes.

For one thing, I see a lot of people doing a lot of bicep and tricep exercises on them, which if you read my articles you now know that’s not going to help your fat loss very much.

Secondly, this whole ‘working’ your core thing has gotten a little out of control in my eyes. Yes, you should do some ab exercise but you don’t need to bring in a BOSU ball to do it.

Squats, deadlifts, lunges, pushups, planks, ab wheel rollouts, sprinting, skipping, ‘work’ your core…just to name a few off the top of my head.

And i realize if you do a squat on a BOSU ball it will challenge your balance and you’ll feel a good ‘burn’, but it’s not going to have an optimal effect on your fat loss. Why? Because you aren’t really building any lean muscle…you’re just maybe improving your balance a little bit.

Now, remember we’re not talking about balance or performance type training here. But if you want to improve those things then the BOSU ball may be a good option.

I’m just saying lift some weight and stop worrying about this whole ‘work’ the core thing that comes along with stability equipment.

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different can be a good thing

Being different and not following the pack is almost always a good thing. You can realize that just by walking into a commercial gym. Typically, you can tell the difference between a fit person’s workout and an out of shape person’s. Here’s a hint, a lot of the people who are really fit with good looking bodies are the ones doing full body lifts and aren’t reading a magazine while doing their cardio training.

I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts on this column post…and if you still like me or not.

Have a great one,

Dan Grant

For years and years we’ve all been told that spot reduction is not possible. Recent research might be telling us something different, however.

As a body transformation coach, one of the number one areas that people want to ‘lose’ is the stomach. The problem is, though, that most of those people are trying to get rid of their belly fat by doing an endless amount of crunches and abdominal exercises.

Unfortunately that doesn’t work. Another way people are trying to lose their belly fat is by doing a long, steady state aerobic cardio. This is what the fitness industry has taught since the Arnold days and especially in the 80’s and 90’s. Long cardio, however, hasn’t really proven to be totally efficient at bringing everybody shredded six-packs.

Over the last few years the tide has been shifting to a training protocol called High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT. HIIT is performing a short burst of high intense activity at about 80-90% of your maximum effort (100% is as hard as you can possibly go) and then ‘resting’ for a longer period of time at about 30% of your maximum effort.

Keep in mind that your 100% intensity might not be what mine is, for example. Mine is a full out sprint. Yours might be a fasted pace walk.

Another thing you need to know about how to perform interval training properly is taking into consideration the length of the ‘work’ interval. If the ‘work’ interval is 30 seconds long then your 80% intensity should be able to handle the 30 seconds, but you should not be able too much longer than that.

Steve Boucher, a fitness professional in Australia, came out with some interesting findings in a research study he performed about HIIT.

During a 15 week study he had women perform either HIIT or steady state cardio for 45 minutes 3 times a week. The HIIT group performed a 5 minute warm-up, did 8 seconds of bike sprints at 90% intensity with 12 seconds of ‘rest’ at 30% intensity for 20 minutes, and then finished with a 5 minute cool-down.

At first the HIIT group only did 5 minutes of HIIT and built up to 20 minutes by the sixth session (2 weeks).

Here’s what he found:

• The HIIT group lost 3 times MORE fat then the steady cardio group
• The HIIT group worked out HALF as much then the steady state cardio group
• The HIIT groups aerobic fitness actually increased MORE than the steady state cardio group (26% and 19% respectively)
• The HIIT group lost a SIGNIFICANT amount of fat off of their stomach

If you are currently performing long, steady state cardio you could be holding yourself back from maximum fat loss. And if you’re trying to shed that ugly belly fat from your body then interval training is the way to go.

Here’s what I do with my clients.

If you are a beginner you should shorten up the length of your high intensity intervals. Generally, most of my beginning clients do 15-20 second intervals at 80-90% of their max with 90-120 seconds ‘rest’ at 30% of their max intensity. Typically 5-6 intervals are sufficient to begin with.

Remember to always do a 5 minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool-down.

As you progress all you have to do is make the intervals longer. Perform anywhere from 30-60 second hard intervals with 30-120 ‘rest’ intervals. Perform anywhere from 6-8 intervals and you’ll be shedding belly fat in no time.

Let me know what you think below or by sending me an email.

Have a great one,

Dan Grant

PS - There is an UNANNOUNCED sale happening right now for readers of THIS blog only. The Degrees of Change Fat Loss Plan with 10 of the top fat loss experts in the world told me their secrets on what they do with their clients. Plus there are some pretty amazing bonuses I’ve picked up for you too.

PPS - You can find out all about it at www.degreesofchangefatlossplan.com

PPPS - This unannounced sale ends Tuesday, March 18 at good ole midnight.

It’s been a few weeks since you’ve heard from me consistantly for a couple
reasons. First my computer had a MAJOR meltdown and I lost quite
a bit of ’stuff’ so it’s been very time consuming getting everything
re-set up.

Another reason is that I’m currently in West Palm Beach, Fl on a
little mini vacation. It’s been a lot of fun so far and from a
combo of beach time and just walking around I’ve gotten a pretty
sweet sunglasses burn, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, sitting on the beach and looking at the ocean sure gave me
some good thinking time about a lot of things.

I LOVE to think…way too much according to some people, but
non the less I did some thinking.

One was about the fitness industry and how a lot of people are just
flat out tired of paying lots of money for fitness information.

A lot of my mentors tell me to raise my prices so I can make more
in less time…but I have a really hard time with that because that
would mean I would have less people to help.

So I’m actually LOWERING my prices. I’m not taking on new one on
one clients right now, but I do have time blocked off for phone
consults and program consults. If you’re interested at all in any
of them you can check those out here: http://tinyurl.com/2l5u8l

But let’s talk exercise now.

I’ve been getting great feedback on my previous emails about
critical thinking for fat loss so here’s another one.

The heavier weight you lift will give you a greater amount of lean
muscle gain, which will therefore boost up your metabolism.

So my question is this then.

Why is the BOSU ball (the half stability ball) so friggin’ popular?

I know most people’s answer would be because it helps you work your
core too, but that just seems to be non-sense in my eyes.

For one thing, I see a lot of people doing a lot of bicep and tricep
exercises on them, which if you read my last email you now know that
that’s not going to help your fat loss very much.

Secondly, this whole ‘working’ your core thing has gotten a little
out of control in my eyes. Yes, you should do some ab exercise but
you don’t need to bring in a BOSU ball to do it.

Squats, dealifts, lunges, pushups, sprinting, skipping, ‘work’ your
core…just to name a few off the top of my head.

And i realize if you do a squat on a BOSU ball it will challenge
your balance and you’ll feel a good ‘burn’, but it’s not going to
have an optimal effect on your fat loss.

Why? Because you aren’t really building any lean muscle…you’re
just maybe improving your balance a little bit.

Now, remember we’re not talking about balance or performance type
training here. But if you want to improve those things then the BOSU
ball may be a good option.

I’m just saying lift some weight and stop worrying about this whole
‘work’ the core thing that comes along with stability equipment.

I hope that made sense…

I’d love to know your thoughts on it. And if you’d like me to
expand my thoughts a bit just let me know.

I’m off to walk around the city a little bit and maybe try to work
on blending my permanent white skin sunglasses look to match the
rest of my burnt face :).

Have a great one,

Dan Grant

PS - If you do want to get a consult with me, you can sign up now,
and I will contact you by email or phone by this Friday or Saturday.
I’ll be giving a copy of my ebook True Weight Loss Revealed along
with some special audios as well to sign ups. http://tinyurl.com/2l5u8l

PPS - I’ve been getting a lot of questions about supplementation
lately. I’m assuming from all the commercials that I’m seeing on
TV. I will try and cover them next time and if you have any
specific questions about supplements and supplementation just
email me at admin (at) dangrantfitness.com.

Have you ever had those days, weeks or even months that just seem to be so out of control that getting a workout in is the last thing on your mind?

Just because you feel that way, does not necessarily mean that there is not time for a solid, fat burning workout. Here are some ideas I use with my clients that will help you out, even if you only have 15 minutes to spare. As a bonus, you won’t need any of your own equipment to do these workouts, although they can be done in a gym too.

There are many ways to incorporate these short workouts into your day. If you are feeling tired and need an energy boost during the day, the 4-minute workout below will get your blood pumping and your energy high in no time.

The Fastest Workout Ever

Got 4 minutes? The following workout is based on research done by a man called Dr. Izumi Tabata. It’s called the Tabata Protocol.

What you do is pick 2 to 4 bodyweight exercises. For this example, we will choose bodyweight squats and pushups.

For 20 seconds, perform as many bodyweight squats as possible, safely. Then rest for 10 seconds. Once the 10 seconds is up, immediately do 20 seconds of pushups. Then rest for 10 seconds and then go back to 20 seconds of squats, and so on, until you have completed 4 minutes (or 8 intervals).

If you repeat that process 2 to 3 times you are going to be shedding fat in no time.

Here are a couple pointers for performing this style of workout. If you have weights that you would like to use, then set your intervals up so that you are doing an upper body exercise immediately after a lower body exercise, and vise versa.

If you are only using just your bodyweight, add in full body calisthenics movements, such as jumping jacks, running on the spot, burpees, etc.

The Race to 100, 200, 300 and Beyond

If you are super short on time, but need to get your workout in, then my advice is to race yourself. Pick a challenging amount of pushups, squats and an abdominal exercise of your choice. See how many of each you can do in one minute and then multiply that number by 2 or 3 depending on how much time you are going to have or depending on your experience level.

Let’s say you can perform 25 pushups in 1 minute, 50 squats in 1 minute and 30 crunches in 1 minute. If you are a beginner or really crammed for time, multiply those numbers by two.

So your goal is to perform 50 pushups, 100 squats and 60 crunches as fast as you can. This will be how the race works. Perform as many pushups as you can. Then immediately try and perform as many squats as you can. Then try and complete as many crunches as you can. Then repeat the cycle until you have reached your desired target number of each exercise.

You can take as many breaks as you like. Keep track of your time so you can observe your progress.

Fun at the Playground

If you find some of your time is spent with the kids at a playground then why not join in on some of the fun yourself. If you are a little shy about getting out there, then hold a race with your kids. Make it a game.

Include pushups, pull-ups (courtesy of the monkey bars), sprints or laps around the playground, etc. Be creative and have some fun. You can also create an exercise game in your backyard. It’s great fun and it will keep everybody healthy and happy.

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short doesn’t mean easy

Just because you are strapped for time doesn’t mean that you can’t get an intense and challenging fat burning workout in. Remember to perform the exercises with proper form the whole time to ensure you remain injury free.

Have a great workout!

Cheers,

Dan Grant
www.degreesofchangefatlossplan.com