If you’ve not really realised your potential and always feel that you could do better but never seems to get ahead despite putting your best effort then these blog post contributed by my long time personal training client might be able to provide some tips and inspiration for you to push on.

Why hear it from this client of mine? First, this client named Anant Sandhu has been overweight most of his childhood life and had struggled to lose the excess weight despite trying many things. He could have easily given up and say that he would never lose the weight due to bad genetics. But he did not and lose 23 kilograms of fat and almost seeing his abs in the last 2 years despite been on and off the program. Sure it is nothing compared to what you see in The Biggest Loser Show but he never gives up despite a schedule of frequent travelling and other personal commitment. He gets right into his fat loss regime when he can. BTW, he also went from being an amateur golfer to a Pro amateur golfer travelling around the world competing in golfing tournaments. Seriously, it is much easier to achieve fat loss success in an artificial environment seen in The Biggest Loser Show. Everything is so much more controlled.

Personally, I believe if you want to achieve success in the real world you got to study what the successful people have done, see which strategies apply to you and take action. So I decided to ask Anant what are the strategies he used that he felt have the most impact on his body shape and health.

[Hey Anant when you think back about what you have achieved in the last 2 years and through Get Results Personal Training transformation program, what do you think were the most effective strategies in each of the areas listed below]

Mindset:

After many years of struggling with being overweight, I knew no matter what I just got to shed the extra weight if I want to pursue a successful golf career. And it is important to admit to myself that I’m overweight and needed to do something about it. Unfortunately, it is not always a perfect start. Going to just any personal trainer is not always going to work as I found out from having seen numerous personal trainers, used many gyms, got trained by friends and even saw a nutritionist with limited success. To be honest, I was not lazy and very sure I had put in my best effort but just did not work.

But I remained positive despite my limited success. Luckily, I found Get Results Personal Training and trained with TC. After 2 weeks, I knew this is going to work as I seen the best results to date. BTW, TC was very encouraging, positive and always challenged me to do my best in my training.

As I was training to be a Pro golfer at the same time, I introduced the mental training that I learn from Golf into my fitness training. I learnt very quickly that a positive mind gives you positive results and this was what drove me to lose as much weight as I can. I never looked back and to be honest I think both TC and I were shocked at the results I was achieving. The support I received from my family and friends were second to none. At the end of the day, it really was my family and my friends who pushed me to keep going and to not stop. When you received such brilliant results that surprised me til these days, it will just give you that massive boost to push on. Yes, there are times when you get sick of the training or when you hear your alarm go off at 4:30am in the morning and you really can’t be bothered to drive 40 minutes to go train, but I had a goal and that was to improve my overall lifestyle in order for me to be better at playing Golf and obviously staying in bed is not going to help me at all.

Nutrition:

When I started off training with Get Results Personal Training, we went on a sort of experiment trying out different amount of calorie intake and stick with the amount that triggered weight loss. This worked really well because we will always measure my body weight every week until we figured the right amount of calories intake that will cause the weight loss. Although, my body shape was changing we did not feel that I was getting the kind of results I should be getting with the quality of physical training I was getting. And I was aware that alcohol was my problem then. Even though I trained hard and followed my food plan during the week and weekends, I didn’t stop drinking alcohol when I was out socialising, and realised that going out and getting drunk on the weekends not only made me feel like crap but also increased my weight. I must say that I hated Monday! TC would always get me on the scale and the effects of the alcohol would immediately show up on the scale.

TC was very upfront and advised that I have to give up alcohol to experience any major breakthrough and I followed his advice and gave up alcohol for a number of months. I must admit that this was one of the best decisions I had made and certainly compliment my training very well. BTW, I thought you might want to know that TC did a great blogpost about the negative effects of alcohol and how to manage it on this blogpost: Truth About The Fat Storing Effects of Alcohol

Fat loss almost will hit a plateau after awhile and it did happen to me. Then I was switched to eating protein-based breakfast in the mornings. Now this isn’t your usual eggs, beans type of protein. This was actual meat. At first, I was abit reluctant to eat meat in the mornings because let’s face it, it’s not the type of food you want to consume for breakfast, but I soon got use to it. And it sure helps me get off the fat loss roadblock.

As TC mentioned, I later took some break training with Get Results Personal Training and when we got back together I went on the Intermittent Fasting (IF). The reason we started on IF was my schedule got busier and I needed something easier to follow and require minimal hassle dealing with food. And this IF fits my lifestyle perfectly. This is currently what I’m on and I’ve never feel low in energy or starving when I was the fasting phase. In fact, I feel very energised. After experiencing different level success with different types of diet, I became more aware of my eating and understanding of how my body deal with food.

Training:

When I met TC for the first time he explained to me that his training will not be using the conventional fitness equipments such as treadmill, dumbbells or barbells commonly seen in a fitness club. Instead, I’ll be using low tech and yet highly-effective fitness tools such as sandbags, pull-up bar and kettlebells that will help improve my core strength, overall functional strength and drop body fat fast. Now I was totally confused and didn’t even know what kettlebells were and how low tech equipments can get me good results. However, I trusted that TC knows what he is doing and I stuck with his training.

To start off with, my training started off with Metabolic Resistance Training using a mixed of kettlebells, sandbags, chin up bars and bodyweights emphasizing on high volume of repetitions and short rest. Body fat was coming off my body fast then.

As mentioned by TC, I took a break training with Get Results Personal Training. When I returned to training with TC, he was certified as a Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) Instructor and he put me on a full on Hardstyle Kettlebell Training. This specialised training has taught me about how to tense up my muscles at the right moment and has enhanced my performance in the training. It is a very interesting way of training with the kettlebells as I’m feeling a lot stronger than before. Also, the training has given me a lot of improvement in my core strength, balance, overall stability in my golf game and seems to boost my fat loss even further. I’m very convinced and sold on the fat burning effects of kettlebell training.

Bulk of the kettlebell exercises that we have been doing are Hardstyle kettlebell swings, presses, double kettlebell cleans and Turkish Get Ups. And we always emphasised on practising perfect form, not trained to failure and getting stronger with the same exercises. As I get stronger on the same exercises, it seems to make me stronger and helped me even more in my golf game.

In my honest opinion, the Hardstyle Kettlebell Training has made an impact on my golf game and I would recommend learning it from the right sources. To me, I’m glad TC is always learning and decided to earn his RKC badge and obviously I’m glad I’m learning from someone who is so willing to learn more.

 Hey this TC back here! Thanks for reading this blogpost and I wanna thanks Anant for sharing his fat loss tips here. If you wanna ask us any questions or leave a comment, please feel free to do so in the comment section below. 

When it comes to strength training, many people especially the ladies did not realise the impact on how it affect how one’s self esteem, confidence and the body shape. If you had read my last blogpost, you would realised the impact of strength training. Recently, I have been training a really awesome female client who have made tremendous headways in her fitness. And she is cool enough to share with us how all this strength training has affected her in terms of body shape and fitness  in an interview in this blogpost here.

She is the real life proof that a woman can become very strong, lose fat and still look like a woman doing heavy strength training. Just recently, she had just nailed her 3 chin ups and she has never ever thought she could do even one at all.  Have a look at what she has achieved in terms of her physiques with the strength training between last October and this year March with about one to one half month break in between as I was away.

And here’s the video below that show her she getting her first 3 Chin ups!

Ok without further ado, here goes the interview….

TC – Can I ask what is the feeling  when you can do your 1st chin up and be able to deadlift more than your bodyweight?

I’ve surprised myself because I didn’t think either was possible, especially because I’ve grown up being uncoordinated, clumsy, and pretty weak. The moment I achieved these, I felt so strong I wanted to pick up a table over my head and roar like a caveman/woman. I was really happy!

TC – Is this your best shape in your life in terms of fitness, health and how you look?

Yes, this is the first time where I’ve really looked after myself properly. I feel great about my health and fitness. I’ve never been this strong or fit before – especially not in such a short amount of time.

TC – What were you not happy about in regards to your fitness goals? Did you think it was possible to get to the shape you’re in right now?

I don’t think I really had any meaningful fitness goals that were long lasting. I wanted to be more toned, and lose a bit of weight, but I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing and why. I would come up with goals like wanting to be able to run 12 km or swim 2 km, thinking that they would make a huge difference in my fitness. I’d achieve them, but then there were no noticeable differences in my weight or body shape. I also didn’t know where to go once I achieved the goal. I didn’t think I was physically able to do the things I do now.

TC – What were you doing before training with us at Get Results Personal Training? Could you briefly describe your approach to training and did it work for you? And what was the aim of the training then?

My approach to training was all over the place. I would read fitness magazines and follow the “beach body”, “firm abs”, “tone up fast” workouts without thinking about how or why I was doing them. I was getting frustrated because my body looked nothing like the bodies in the magazines demonstrating the workouts. I would go to the gym and see all of the buff people doing fancy things with weights, and try to copy them in hope that I could get some results. But there was no purpose with what I was doing. I knew I wanted to tone up and did everything that I thought would help to get there. So I did a bit of this and a bit of that. It wasn’t structured or properly planned and I didn’t understand what my body needed to get me there.

My eating habits were also terrible – If I felt like something, I would have it. My diet was full of carbs, and I had completely the wrong idea about what was healthy. I also fell in the trap of eating like others (e.g.,”oh she’s having another piece of chocolate cake and she looks hot, so that means I can too”) and counting calories rather than thinking about the nutritional value of what was going into my body. I would give myself a little fist palm because I hadn’t consumed much calories for the day, when in actual fact the food I had eaten was full of hidden sugar.

TC – Why did you decide to change your approach and seek help from a personal trainer?

I had spent 10 years trying different ways to tone up, and had sustained some injuries along the way. I had also been through some pretty rough patches in life and gained weight as a result. I refused to buy bigger clothes and made the decision to invest in help from a trainer because I didn’t want to waste any more time flaffing about – I wanted to get it right this time.

TC – How did you find our training approach at Get Results Personal Training? How different was it from others if you have any other experience?

I’ve had personal training in the past as part of my gym membership, where the personal trainer would go through the motions and get me to do the same things as their other clients – lots of crunches, isolated body workouts, and cardio each session. My nutrition was not addressed either, and I felt disheartened. TC actually assessed where I was, along with what I wanted to achieve, and developed a program to help me get there in the shortest period of time. I really enjoy the training especially because it’s functional and simple. I’ve learnt how to move properly to avoid injury and build strength, and how to use my body and look after it effectively to get the results I want. I also appreciate how the training is evidence based, and is based on up to date literature and research. Most importantly though I have lots of fun during training, even if I’ve had a horrendous day at work, I always look forward to coming. TC is really positive and makes sure that at the end of the session I’m feeling pumped because I’ve achieved something great, rather than feeling like I’m about to die.

TC – Could you briefly describe the training approach you’re undergoing right now?

The focus of my training now is to build strength, and lose fat. I mainly use kettlebells, and they are the best tools that have ever been introduced to me. I really like how the program is so simple yet challenging and effective, and has also lead to me being able to do things that I didn’t particularly practice, such as incline push ups. What I find fantastic is that I can go to the gym, grab the kettlebells I need, find a spot on the floor that’s large enough for me to do a turkish get up or swing without knocking anyone out, and I’m outta there in 30 minutes having trained my whole body effectively.

TC – I know you lost about 5 kilos with us even though I think you should not be losing anymore as you’re in the healthy range. Did you find it easy to maintain the loss?

I’ve found it pretty easy to maintain because the training and eating plan have become part of my lifestyle now. It’s straightforward with no nonsense. I enjoy training now because there is a clear purpose to it. I love food and am still able to enjoy eating what I want because my attitude has changed, and I am attuned to my body. I enjoy my cake, potato chips, burgers, chocolate, wine, and other rich foods once or twice a week in moderation, and they taste even better now.

TC – Also, do you think the number on the scale justified the way the body shape is changing?

No, I used to be so focused on my weight and get obsessed and frantic like a mad woman by fluctuations of a few hundred grams. I’ve gotten over that now, and my focus has shifted to enjoyable goals based on getting stronger, lifting even heavier, and being able to perform cool things such as multiple chin ups. I’ve found that my body and fat measurements are more accurate indicators. I also look at how I fit into my clothes as a sign of whether I’m on the right track.

TC – In your opinion, what are the most important factors that have help you lose the extra fat and achieve such improvement in your strength & fitness? BTW, did you bulk up when you got stronger? Instead, what did you think about the new found strength has done to your life?

Self worth, determination, and discipline are the most important factors for me. Like all things in life, if it means something to you, you have to work hard for it. It’s hard work, and you need to be prepared for that. You need to believe that you’re worth the effort. It’s about getting those voices in your head to be supportive rather than sabotaging your work. My mind was saying all sorts of things to me like “I can’t do this, it’s too hard”, “I really need carbs, I’m going to die”, “this hurts I need to stop”, and initially I found both the training and eating plan really challenging. It was important that I didn’t get hooked into that, and stayed focused because at the end of the day I was accountable, and I don’t like giving up on things. I was determined to listen and follow everything to a tee. I haven’t bulked up at all – I’m lifting heavier and I’m still the same body shape. I feel really strong and healthy and I’m the happiest I’ve been for a long time.

TC- What will be your suggestion to anyone especially women who wants to get leaner and become stronger?

If you’ve made the decision to become leaner and stronger, commit to it and do something about it. Set some realistic and meaningful goals. If you want something bad enough, you’ll get it in the end. It’s normal for your mind to make excuses for you to avoid the discomfort of doing something challenging, and you need to find a way to get over that. There’s no point wasting your time and energy with excuses when you can put this towards just doing what needs to be done. Once you find your groove, it will be so much fun, and its rewarding when you see your body change shape. I know some women are put off by strength training because they don’t want to bulk up and end up looking like men. This won’t happen. You’ll lose fat at a quicker rate, your body will look great, and you’ll feel fantastic because you’re so bloody strong! It’s onwards and upwards from there!

Ok this is TC back again! Can’t really thank Jessie enough for the interview she did and I want to thank her for taking the time to read this blog. Hopefully, it does give you an idea how important the strength training is. If you want to know more about the benefits of strength training, you may want to check out my previous blogpost on this link.

And BTW, Jessie and her training buddy are always looking for people to join her in her strength training workout. If you’re keen to get stronger and leaner and join her in her training, please feel free to email us by going this link. 

You never know that you may be the next one on this blog as one of our success stories.

To find out more about our services, you can visit our webpage at this link http://www.tcpersonaltraining.com or go to our Facebook page by clicking on the banner below:

BTW, please feel free to leave a comment or your feedback in the comment section below. (: 

Why You Should Train for Strength

Strength, which is one of the key component of fitness, seems to be the most neglected in comparison to muscular and cardiovascular endurance.When it comes to exercise, most people seems to see improving their aerobic fitness as a priority. Types of cardiovascular activities include distance running, cycling or swim done at moderate intensity over an extended period. Before you think that I have a problem with that, I must clarify that I don’t and certainly they’re not something I like to do to be honest. But it’s a fact that your strength is not gonna improve if you only spend time doing those types of activities and nothing else. And I would never dispute the importance of doing cardiovascular activities for overall health and fitness and certainly had its place. But what I think is most people think that strength training is reserved for meatheads or people who wants to get buff and underestimate the importance of training for strength in terms of its impact on health and human performance.

Importance of Strength Training

Exercise, Sports Performance and Preventing Injuries

Whether you’re playing sports such as basketball, soccer or netball and doing exercises such as running or swimming, you got to have some level of strength to perform all these physical task. Imagine trying to jump in a basketball game and you constantly go jelly in your legs because you don’t have enough strength in your legs. Obviously, that sort of problem is going to affect anyone’s game performance. The worst thing is not having enough strength to sustain good enough techniques or form when you run or play your sports and as a results hurt yourself from bad techniques. On the other hand, if you build an excellent level of strength you won’t have to be using your near maximal level of strength to perform your task and worry about muscular fatigue. And that’s a good situation to be in because you can constantly perform at your best without worrying about muscular fatigue as you’re never at your threshold. Furthermore, strength training also increase bone strength and develops stronger connective tissue around the joint to enhance joint stability that will certainly help prevent injuries.

Fat Loss

When it comes to fat loss, the most common mistake is spending all the available time doing cardiovascular activities. Sure you need to get your cardiovascular fitness and burn the calories but doing strength training can help increase lean body mass that has a positive impact on your metabolism. A study published in Eur J Appl Physiol titled “Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: implications for body mass management” shows that performing intense strength training elevates EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) well beyond 16 hours. That’s a great boost to your post exercise metabolism. I mean who would mind having their body burning the extra fat after the workout. In fact, studies also seem to show that women who lifted heavy lose more fat. To find out about the studies, go to this link.

Health & Aging

In terms of health, strength training for women is very important in terms of increasing bone strength, preventing osteoporosis and sarcopenia in older age. According to a book titled “Science and Practice of Strength Training”, strength training can help enhance the self-esteem and confidence in women. I don’t know how it was measured but personally I believe that. I seen it in my personal training female clients who seem to feel some kind of empowerment when they can do chin ups or get up with a 20kg kettlebells. Strength training obviously increased lean muscle mass and reduced body fat which is without a doubt reduced any potential health risk such as diabetes, cancer and heart related diseases associated with high level body fat.

As one gets older, one will experience loss of muscle fibers and particularly the high-threshold fast motor units (type II muscle fiber). Especially for women who start off with less muscle fiber, the loss of muscle fibers is more severe. Obviously, this leads to loss of strength that will affect functionality for daily activities or your quality of  life. Imagine not able to perform simple task such as getting up the stairs. Also, the loss of type II muscle fiber type can affect the muscle’s ability to exert force rapidly. This is crucial as it can serve as a protective mechanism to deal with falling seen in old age. Fortunately, strength training can help fight all these aging process, improve functional strength and one’s health profile.

Myth of Strength Training

The most common beliefs among many females is that lifting heavy weights will make them bulky. The worst thing is that there are personal trainers and fitness clubs running classes that have people believe that lifting light weights for high number of repetitions  is best for toning and will avoid any chances of getting thicker. This is obviously not true. Studies sure did show that weight training stimulates follistatin messenger to promote muscle growth and retards the activity of myostatin that will prevent muscle growth but this is only seem in men. A study published in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research titled “Exercise Does Not Influence Myostatin and Follistatin Messenger RNA Expression in Young Women“ found that maximal muscle eccentric and concentric contraction performed by female has no impact on the myostatin and follistatin messenger which are responsible for building muscles. Furthermore, women only have about 10% of the testosterone level found in guys and the male hormone is a huge factor in bulking up muscle size. Plus, females to start off with generally have less muscle fibers that men. Therefore, there is no fear for bulking up for women to lift heavy. And in fact, you can get far better fat loss results if you lift heavy as mentioned previously.

Benefits of Strength Training

To summarise, strength training should be an essential part of your workout programme based on the following:

• Improve exercise & sports performance
• Improved metabolism & fat loss
• Improved joint and bone health
• Prevent injuries & loss of functional strength
• Improve quality of life (To me, this is a big thing.)

Let me know if you have any questions. Please feel free to leave a comment or your feedback in the comment section below. (: 

When it comes to choosing the exercises for an effective fat loss workout, there is plenty to choose from. As a Perth personal trainer, I personally like to keep things simple and effective. The last thing you want is end up being too complicated, become more confused about what you should do and end up with nothing done at all. Remember, the bottomline is to lose fat in a fat loss workout NOT to become too complicated. This is usually a common problem with many people going to big fancy gym alone where there is no lack of sophisticated equipments to keep you more clueless about where to start.

Below are my top 5 picks of exercises that I would use in my personal training clients’ fat loss workout. They required very minimal equipments and offer you the biggest bang for your buck. If you want to look great, become more functional and stronger, then I recommend these 5 exercises.

Hardstyle Kettlebell Swings

The Russian Hardstyle Kettlebell Swing is one of the first few exercises that comes to my mind when someone wants to get a lean and toned body fast. According to a scientific study titled “Effect of Explosive versus Slow Contractions and Exercise Intensity on Energy Expenditure”, explosive muscle contraction with moderate intensity burned more calories and causes more of a metabolic boost than slow muscle contraction. Also, there is a preferential activation of fast-twitch muscle fiber in explosive muscle contraction that used 3 to 4 times more energy than slow muscle contraction. If you are planning a fat loss workout, an exercise like the Hardstyle kettlebell swing that requires explosive type muscle contraction is certainly a strong consideration. The Hardstyle Kettlebell Swings are unlike any other form of swings in terms of how it works the core, glutes and burn calories. It is done with a strong and powerful  hip drive that causes the kettlebell to swing up that makes it such an inefficient movement. Because of this hip drive, it does not conserve energy and instead burn energy at high gear which is what you want in a fat loss workout. When done with one arm, the core muscles have to work harder to ensure that there is no rotation in the trunk. To learn how to do a Hardstyle Kettlebell Swing, go to this link.

Squats

If you don’t do squats, you have not really worked your legs. The squats seem to be the kind of exercises that many people tend to stay away from because it is not easy to do them. There are many variations of squats and some examples of them are bodyweight squats, Zercher squats, back squats, front squats, Globlet Squats and double kettlebell front squats. The choice to do any of them depends on your fitness, skill and strength level. Two of the misperceptions of doing the squats are that it is bad for the knees if you squat too low and it is bad for the low back. The truth is most people who hurt their knees or back doing squats do not have the proper squatting techniques. Deep squats done with proper techniques can enhance the strength in the knee joints and engaged more muscles than half squats. Because squats can be considered as a full body exercise it is not only physically more demanding than most other exercises it is metabolically more demanding as well. BTW, you should do the squats even if you are doing running. Running does not work the legs like the squats do and certainly do not have the same functional benefits.

Push Up

Push up is not only a great upper body exercise that works the chest, shoulders and triceps it is also an excellent core strengthening exercises. When I do personal training, I often come across clients making the mistake of not bracing the abs muscles hard enough to maintain the neutral spinal alignment in the spine. In some cases, the abs muscles were completely switched off. In a perfectly executed push up, you will actually need to stiffen up the abs muscles, lower the whole body and push it up in a controlled manner with no arch on the low back. If can’t do the full push up, you can always do it from the knee down position. The big plus about doing push ups is you can do it anywhere with no equipments and only a small space is needed.

Pull Ups/Body Weight Row

When you have a “push exercise”, you got to have a “pull exercise” to ensure that you don’t create any imbalances in the body. Pull ups or bodyweight inverted row is an excellent “pull exercise” that not only work the upper back muscles it also works the arms pretty well too. In fact, you can get a really great arm workout if you do enough pull ups or bodyweight inverted row.  The choice of doing pull-ups or bodyweight inverted row depends on your strength level. If you can’t do the pull-ups at all or can’t perform perfect form without kicking, the bodyweight inverted row will be a better choice.

Deadlift

Deadlift is a very functional movement that everyone should be able to do or learn to do. Doing the deadlift teaches the body to bend over safely without putting too much strain on the low back. It is an important movement to learn to avoid hurting your back when you bend over to pick up stuff. Very often, it is one exercise that has been accused of causing back pain. Like the squats, the truth is people who hurt their back doing this exercise probably did it wrong. Deadlifting is a whole body exercise that requires precise activation of the hamstring, glutes, lats, core muscles and full body tension if you use enough weight. It can be done using dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells. To learn how to do a deadlift, check out this link.

Lastly, I can’t stress enough about executing perfect form. If you decide to do any of those recommended exercises, be sure that you know what you’re doing. If not, get help from a qualified personal trainer.

BTW, feel free to leave me a comment below if there is any exercise that you like to add.

Tips to Go From Flab to Flatter Tummy

Losing the flab in the tummy seems to be one of the most popular aims that I have come across as a personal trainer. I thought that might be the case with you. Therefore, I decided that I will share with you some of my proven tummy fat loss strategies with you here that have worked for my personal training clients.

Tummy Fat Loss Tip #1 – Train Whole Body

I often meet clients who have the misconceptions that to lose fat in an area you need to do site specific exercises to lose the flab in that area. So they thought to lose the stomach fat you need to do hundreds of crunches or sit-ups. It may sounds logical after all the cramp you get in the tummy but scientific research seems to show that it is not the case. To find out why sit-ups and crunches don’t help you lose fat , go to this link: Sit-ups and Crunches -The Most Useless Exercises

Instead, the best way to lose the tummy fat is to train the whole body. To train the whole body, a workout programme should include exercises that are compound movement and trains the upper and lower parts of your body.  Examples of compound exercises are deadlift, squats, kettlebell swings, pull ups  and push ups.

Tummy Fat Loss Tip #2 -Train with Enough Intensity

Research shows that intensity is one of the key factors to effective fat loss. What do I meant by effective?  I mean it is time-efficient and quick results. In a 15 weeks study conducted in University of new South Wales, the female subjects who did the shorter intense stationary bike sessions lost 9.5% stomach fat, and lost more overall body and thigh fat than the female subjects who exercised at light and steady pace and did twice as much exercise. So next time you are doing a cardio session, be sure to step up on the intensity by going faster. Also, when you do your weight training session, be sure to increase the intensity by lifting heavier weights. Scientific studies found that women who lifted heavier weight lose more fat. For the ladies, there is no fear of gaining bulk muscles because of lifting heavy. You just cannot due to the hormonal make up. In fact, you can lose more tummy fat if you lift heavier according to scientific study titled “Strength training and adiposity in premenopausal women: strong, healthy, and empowered study”

Tummy Fat Loss Tip #3 - More Protein and Less Sugar

Very often, most people have trouble losing the gut probably because they have too much sugar in their diet. If you have more sugar in your diet, your body will constantly release insulin to deal with the sugar and left with no time for dealing with your fat. The results is fat-storage switch is ON. Bad news if you want to lose your stomach fat. Be sure to avoid food having processed sugars such as coke, cordial and cookies. Instead, having more high quality lean protein such as deep water fish, chicken and beef in most of your meals will help you lose more fat and ensure that fat-storage switch is OFF.

Tummy Fat Loss Tip #4 - Cut Out Alcohol

Alcohol seems to be the most common cause why many people fail to lose the flab in the tummy. Alcohol basically stops your body from burning fat and actually makes fat for your body. If you like to read more about how alcohol can ruin your weight loss pursue, go to this link: Truth About The Fat Storing Effects of Alcohol. I know my clients who went off alcohol are the most successful in weight loss. The ones that just can’t give up and are overweight will find it hard to lose fat. Seriously, if you give alcohol a miss for some weeks and change nothing else you are still gonna see a difference.

Tummy Fat Loss Tip #5 - Have an Aim

When it comes to achieving anything in life, it is important to have an aim. Without an aim, it is hard to focus the task on hand and achieve the kind of results you want. In the case of losing the belly bulge, it is the same you need to set a target. For example, you might want to go from pant size 40 to 35 you got to watch what you eat and do enough exercises. Otherwise, it is just not going to happen. With a clear aim or goal, you will make a consistent effort to do whatever needed to achieve the goal. To learn more about effective goal settings, go to this link.

Tummy Fat Loss Tip #6 - Be Consistent

Consistency is definitely a big key in getting the belly fat off. You can’t expect anything amazing to happen if you decide to blow your diet every now and then and miss your workout whenever you want. To be successful in losing your tummy fat, you got to be at least about 80 to 90% on your diet and perform at least 3 to 4 sessions of high quality intense workout per week.

To learn more about how many of our clients at Get Results Personal Training achieve a flatter tummy, you can go to this link here: ==>> SUCCESS STORIES<<==

BTW, feel Free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below. 

Squat is one of those exercises that gives you the biggest bang for your buck whether it is for fat loss or strength development. When it comes to the depth of the squats, it can be a very debatable topic not just among the personal trainers, physiotherapists and exercise physiologists but also many experienced exercisers. As a Perth personal trainer, I often come across people who think that full squats are bad for the knees and some even think that it’s bad for the low back. Usually, these sort of information could comes from their well-meaning friends, personal trainers or physiotherapists. According to a study published in 1961 by Karl Klein from University of Texas, deep squats are bad for knees due to the high level of shear force on the knee joint. Since then, there were recommendations made in certain health and fitness organizations that full squats should never be attempted in exercise program and only half or parallel squats should be performed. Parallel squat is when you get down to the level where your thighs are parallel to the ground.

What’s a Deep Squat?

A deep squat can be defined as a squat performed with the hips going below the knee joint when at the bottom position of the exercise.

Is Deep Squat Really Bad For Your Knees & Low Back?

According to a paper called Biomechanics of Squat Depth written by Brad Schoenfeld, it does not seem to be true that deep knee squats can be proven high risk for knee injuries. In fact, he not only found several studies that did not support the findings he also pointed out that the greatest shear force happened in the posterior crucial ligaments (PCL) when in the parallel squat position although the shear force measured is well below the level of the strength capacity of normal healthy knees can handle. The late Mel Siff, an internationally renowned sports scientist, said in his book Facts & Fallacies of Fitness that Klein’s research has been proven to be flawed and modern studies have failed to confirm his findings.

According to NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association) Position Stand on Squats, performing full squat is great for strengthening the knee joint and it does not hurt the low back if appropriate techniques and supervision are applied. Also, O’Shea and Wegner were quoted that avoiding the full squats will retard the overall physical development and prevent achievement of optimal performance.

Personally, I do full squats and think it’s safe and have been teaching clients to do full squats if they have no major knee joint problems. And never experience any bad knee and back pain. Very often, I see people hurting their low back when doing squat because they were rounding their back when performing the exercise. People with tight calf muscles, hamstring and stiff back usually find it almost impossible to perform full squats due to their limited range of motion in their hip and ankle joints and should avoid full squats until they have developed adequate mobility in the joint. If you have developed strong core muscles and acquired the range of motion in your hip and ankle joint, the chances of hurting your back and knee would be a lot lower when attempting the full squats.

Is Full Squat a Safe Exercise?

Full squat is definitely a safe exercise and would be top of the exercise-to-do list for anyone who wants to get into awesome shape. But to be able to perform a safe and effective full squat, you do need adequate mobility in the hip and ankle joints and good amount of core muscle strength. Without any of them, attempting the full squat not only be unsafe and also a great likelihood of developing faulty squat pattern.

 Full Squat is Great for the Butt

Doing half squat is like getting the job half done. When you do half squat also known as parallel squat, you will be recruiting mostly the quadriceps group muscles which is the top part of your upper thighs and very little of the muscles in your butt. If you want to work the buttocks and give the butt a lift and get into great shape, performing full squat with strict form is essential. As said, squat gives you the biggest bang for your buck and can be a full body exercise if you do it right. And I believed a full squat is metabolically more demanding than parallel squats.

6 Tips for You to Work Your Bottom Harder and Squat Safer

1. Keep your feet rooted to the ground and never attempt to raise your heels at all time
2. Avoid rotating or tilting the knee joints inwards
3. Avoid relaxing at the bottom of the squats
4. Stiffened up the abdominal muscles when performing the squats
5. Pull the shoulder back and increase the distance between your shoulder joint and your ears
6. Squeeze your bottom together at the top of the squats

So when performing the squats, be sure to get your butt down below your knee joint if you want to give your bottom a big lift.

When it comes to weight loss, many people think that doing everything under the sun is the way to go. It’s not hard to understand why everyone get so confused how to go about losing weight when practically every week there is a new fad or idea that pops up that says this is going to be the breakthrough of weight loss. Honestly, weight loss can’t more be more confusing and there is so much we can do in the given amount of time at our disposal. If weight loss is your priority, then avoid the following pitfalls.

Pitfalls #1 – Focusing on Fat-Burning Zone Aerobic

This is the most common thing inactive people do when the New Year start is get into long slow distance aerobics such as walk, slow jog or cycling and stay in the fat-burning zone. The belief is that you burn more fat in the fat-burning zone therefore it’s great for weight loss. Although it sounds logical, it seldom work in practical sense. To learn why, go to this link: Fat-Burning Zone the Overrated Weight Loss Approach

Pitfalls #2 – Focusing on Functional “Core” Training

What I meant here is performing balancing  act on a Bosu Ball or fitball while doing an exercise. Unfortunately, there are people who think that doing exercise on a fitball equals to functional training. The truth is if you’re performing a kettlebell swing on a bosu ball your muscles won’t fire hard enough. This may mean you’re probably not going to burn as much calories or cause an enhanced metabolic effect as compared to doing it on a stable surface. If you want to lose weight, you definitely want to fire up your muscles hard and not be busy trying to find your balance. BTW, those balancing act of “functional” training definitely do not have a huge impact on weight loss.

Pitfalls #3 – Doing Sit-Ups and Crunches

Most people think that by feeling the burn in the tummy while doing the sit-ups would mean that the fats are melting away. In fact, doing tons of sit-ups and crunches definitely don’t make you slimmer in the stomach and help you lose weight as most believed. It certainly strengthened the muscles but may not mean that you have a functional upper torso. And research don’t seen to support that sit-up/crunches of any form help reduce gut size. If you’re interested about the research in sit-ups affecting trunk size, go to this link: Sit-Ups the Most Useless Exercise

Pitfalls #4 – Lifting Small Sized Pink Dumbbells

When it comes to weight loss, many people fall into the thinking that lifting light weights for many reps help tone the body better. Well, it is not true. In fact, research have not found that women lifting light for reps lose weight better. To find out more about the research on lifting for reps for weight loss, go to this link: Lift Heavier Weights for Better Weight Loss

Thanks for reading this blogpost! Be sure to leave me a quick comment below:

With the year new just started, many people would look at the options they have to get in shape. One of the most popular options I would think is signing up for a gym membership in a local fitness centre. Can a gym membership alone be the solution to helping lose the extra weight, lean and tone and completely transformed their body shape. It seem like a gym filled with stockpile of sophisticated equipment is the place to get in shape. Now, before you think that I’m trying to bash up the idea of signing up for a gym membership I must tell you that I’m not. The idea of this blog post is to give you an overall opinion of everyone I spoke to on Facebook and anyone who is cool enough to leave a comment on this blog to about his or her opinion and experiences with a gym membership. Back in July last year I think, I post a question on my personal facebook page asking everyone’s opinion about the gym membership and it is right in this blog below.

My opinion is that a gym membership is great if you know what your fitness goals are and you know how to achieve them using the gym equipments in the fitness centres. However, I must also say that a gym membership is just one way but not the only way to get in shape. Anyway, have a read and let me know what you think by posting a comment in this blog. Will be happy for you to ask questions if you like.

It seems like fat loss season is here. After all the Christmas and New Year party celebration and most people would have put on a little pudge on the tummy. If you’re one of them, this blog post is for you. Here is 3 things you want to focus on to have less fat hanging off the body:

#1 – Make a Commitment to Your Goals

Forget about New Year Resolution. New Year Resolution don’t work if you don’t get out of your comfort zone and make a commitment. To make a commitment, you need to know what you want to achieve. Just saying you want to lose weight with no specific numbers have no real meaning and you will never be able to commit. Therefore, it is important to set goal and it has to be as specific as possible. To learn how to set goals, go to How to Set Unstoppable Fat Loss Goals. So be sure to set goals and then make a commitment to it.

Focus #2 – Eating

The truth is getting the diet right is more important than exercise in terms of fat loss. Unfortunately, most people don’t realized this and think that workout itself is gonna fix those excess fat hanging off the body. So how can you eat better and lose weight with minimum fuss? Very easy. Just follow the 8 Eating Rules below:

Rule #1 – No more fast food

Rule #2 - No more sugary beverages and alcohol (replace with plain water)

Rule #3 - No more bread and pasta

Rule #4 - Don’t eat food from boxes (meaning no process food)

Rule #6 - Focus on fresh food such as lean meat and vegetables

Rule #7 - Take fish Oil

Rule #8 – Have one cheap day a week but no buffet

Focus #3 – Perform Metabolically Demanding Workout

What are metabolically demanding workouts? It is about doing exercises that give you the biggest bang for your buck in terms of giving you the metabolic boost. These kind of workouts not only burn high amount of calories, they would boost your metabolism and get you to burn fat while you’re at rest. The big plus is you don’t have to spend long hours doing them. A metabolically workout would consist of the 3 following elements:

Element #1 – Compound Movement With High Intensity

What are the compound movements? They’re movements that required multiple-jointed movement such as burpees, hardstyle kettlebell swings, Turkish Get Up or push ups. Bicep curl is definitely not because it requires only one joint in the elbow to perform it. OK what is high intensity? It means it has to be heavy and not a weight that it you do it for more than 15 strict reps.

Element #2 – Short Rest

If you want get that metabolic boost, you got to keep your rest time short between 10 seconds to 60 seconds depending on your fitness level.

Element #3 – High Volume

High volume means multiple sets of repetitions of exercises you choose to do to accumulate high reps. Obviously, more reps more calories burnt.

Hey there! This is T.C. here.

Hope your Christmas was great! Personally, I’m enjoying my holiday break in Singapore but I think I’m eating too much. So my turn to jump back into the wagon of fat loss. But I did not forget about you. Thought you might need some ideas on how you can kickstart your New Year for a better fat loss. Here is your 10 things you can do for a better fat loss in 2012.

Better Fat Loss #1 - Go Hardstyle Kettlebell Training

It is no secret that Hardstyle Kettlebell Training is my favourite thing now and it is for a good reason. It is not only a fantastic way of training for fat loss it teaches your body to strengthen the core muscles and move better. BTW, if you don’t know what is kettlebell training, go to this previous blog post on What is Kettlebell Training. In my current Perth kettlebell training class, I have seen people dropping as much as 12kg of fat in 12 weeks. To see the proof, just click on the big banner below:

BTW, here’s the 3 kettlebell exercises that I recommend, just click on the links below:

To learn Kettlebell Swing <<===CLICK HERE

To learn Turkish Get Up <<===CLICK HERE

Better Fat Loss #2 – Train Along Side a Hardcore Training Partner

Training with someone who is fitter, better shape and more discipline than you is pure gold. If he or she is in good shape, the chances are that person is most likely to be doing something right in fat loss. If you know anyone, go grab that person and ask to train along side.

Better Fat Loss #3 - Go Faster

If you doing some kind of cardiovascular type of activities, then I recommend go faster. Research has found time and time again faster is better for fat loss. So don’t waste more time with distance training if your goal is pure fat loss. Don’t believe me, go to this link: Steady State Cardio Sucks

Better Fat Loss #4 - Go Heavier

Lift heavier weights to boost your metabolism and fat loss. BTW, lifting light weight for better toning concept is rubbish and lifting heavier will NOT make a girl bulky. In my personal training career, I haven’t seen anyone that includes both genders that lift light pink dumbbells got any toner and effectively lose weight. It is shown in research as well that ladies who lift heavier weights experienced better fat loss. To find out more about the Lift More Weight for Better Fat Loss Research, click here.

Better Fat Loss #5 - Control Portion Size

No great fat loss workout plan can win overeating in the long run.

Better Fat Loss #6 - Replace All Sugary Beverages With Plain Water

Having sugary drinks is actually putting your body in fat storing mood. Cutting out those useless calories from those sugary beverages and replace with plain water not only save you from storing fat it also saves lots of calories over the course of 2012.

Better Fat Loss #7 - Get Yourself a Great Fitness Coach

It is not just about getting a Perth personal trainer, it is about getting a fitness coach that keeps you accountable. If you hire a coach, the chances of fat loss success is higher because a great coach or personal trainer will ensure that you train hard enough, train the right way for fat loss and eat the right things.

Better Fat Loss #8 - Cut Back on Alcohol

Losing fat and drinking alcohol are not great friends. Alcohol totally disrupt your metabolism and cause weight gain. The worst kind of drink to have is alcoholic cocktail. Imagine the fat -storing effect triggered by sugar intake plus alcohol slowing down your metabolism. That’s a great combo for great fat gain. To find out how alcohol affects your fat loss, go to Truth About Fat Storing Effects of Alcohol.

Better Fat Loss #9 – Join a Boot Camp

If you can’t find a Hardcore Training partner to kick your butt, signing up for a boot camp should do the trick. Honestly speaking, not all boot camps are the same. With the coupon deals coming up everywhere, it seems that there are many more low quality boot camps coming up. So what are the good quality ones? The ones that will ensure you get nutritional support, measurement done and get the basic exercise moves right such as squats, lunges and push ups. In fact, 8 factors to a great boot camp. To find out more, go to this link.  If you live in Perth, looking for a Perth boot camp and need a hardcore training buddy you can find one here by clicking on the banner below:

Better Fat Loss #10 – Take Action NOW

Nothing will happen unless you take action now. So if you’re wanting a better fat loss year in 2012, then it’s time to take action now. Don’t wait til tomorrow.

BTW, thanks for following my blog and I like to wish you a Happy New Year!!!

Feel free to leave a comment below. Please be sure to hit the FaceBook Like button for me. Thanks in advance! (: