Question:

I am professional dancer and I have recently change my eating and exercising habits and dropped 20 lbs. I do 40 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning 5 days a week and I do the ab wheel every night and some push ups pull ups and dips 3x a week. I still have a little bit of fat around my lower abdominal area. I know diet is 80% of the battle and I eat fruits and vegetables everyday along with lean protein and a little bit of carbs. Are there any little tricks I can do to lose the last little bit of fat? Otherwise I am quite happy with my body… Thanks Doug!

Congrats on your weight loss and getting a body you’re happy with. And props for addressing the major issues like exercise and nutrition and for realizing their importance before worrying yourself with the smaller details.

Here is what I noticed you’re doing right:

• Nutrition–eating lean protein, fruits, and vegetables every day-keeping carbs to a minimum.
• Exercise
  • Frequency- This is how many times per week you exercise. I haven’t stressed this very much on this blog, but frequency is crucial. You’ve built a lifestyle that incorporates exercise so you can get your work in 5+ days a week–way to go!
  • Strength Training- You’re doing 3 days/week of some sort of strength work with your dips, pushups, and pull-ups.
  • Cardio- You’re also incorporating cardio 5 days per week (though I recommend interval training).
  • Core-Training-Keep it up with the pushups and ab wheel exercises.
• Mindset–You realize the importance of nutrition and consistent exercise, are not looking for shortcuts, and you’re obviously willing to put in the necessary work.

That being said, there is one thing I noticed from what you told me about your program that jumped out at me.

Where’s the lower body strength training?!!!!!

Ya know, for your ass and legs—You missed a few BIG muscles here.

Remember, you want to build muscle so that your body burns fat more efficiently. And believe me-if you’re not yet incorporating resistance training with your lower body, you still have a lot of room to grow.

I know you’re doing cardio (and a lot of it), but you’d be better off replacing 20 minutes of cardio with some squat, deadlift, and lunge variations on your three strength training days. This will allow you to keep the ball rolling with your results.

This will ensure that every part of your body will be constantly in a state of building new muscle and burning Calories, (which is what you want in order to lose that last bit of fat.)

So go do some squats and let me know how it goes!!!

Technorati Tags: ab roller, abs, calories, cardio, Core Training, fat loss, lower-body-training, meal frequency, Nutrition, Program Design, strength training, weight loss

I just read a great post over on Mike Robertson’s blog, titled Metabolic Momentum.

Have you ever noticed that there are some people who are in great shape and have low body fat, but don’t exactly strike you as perfect eaters?

I know I have..

You may see someone who likely has a six pack out at a sports bar having beer and wings on the weekend.. or munching on a few fries. Heck, I know some people with great physiques who seem to have a terrible sweet tooth on occasion.

So what’s the difference between this person and the person who is frustrated and fed up, having troubling reaching their goals, even when they try to eat healthy?

The answer (or at least part of the answer), as Mike pointed out, is that the fit person has Metabolic Momentum working in their favor.

What do I mean by this?

While you may see someone with a killer body treating themselves to something sweet or greasy on the weekend, what you may not see is that they have been disciplined in their eating for a decent period of time before this “cheat meal”. They are exercising and working their butt off in their training sessions and are consistently eating high quality foods–and often enough to keep that metabolism churning like a madman.

Their metabolism is at such a high level from having a healthy routine of exercise and proper nutrition, that a couple of fries or wings isn’t that big a deal–their body has become a super calorie-burning machine and sure as heck won’t be stopped by a couple of pieces of fried grease.

It’s because of MOMENTUM..

Think about when you ride a bicycle.

If you start off from a stop, you have to pedal really hard in order to get the bike moving. As you keep pedaling hard and putting in the necessary work, the bike begins to move faster and pedaling gets easier until you’re at a relatively high speed.

So what would happen if you came across a small incline in the road that lasted a few yards?

Well if you had enough momentum, it wouldn’t be that big a deal–you’ll coast up the hill, not have to pedal much harder, and keep moving relatively quickly and easily once you’re over.

The same principle applies when burning Calories. You’ve worked hard all week, have eaten the right foods with the right frequency, and you have been busting your hump during the week at the gym.

With all that momentum you’ve built up, do you really think a couple of chicken wings and a beer is gonna slow you down?

Hell no.

So ask yourself a question. When I eat garbage, is it the norm? If it is, you need to stop it.

Your thought process should go something like this: “I know this is not a great thing to put in my body, but I can get away with it because it’s not something I eat very often and I know I’ll get back on track with my diet right away.”

So get on track with your diet, and get your hard exercise in during the week.

Start building yourself some momentum!

Technorati Tags: Discipline, fat loss, meal frequency, metabolic-momentum, metabolism, Momentum, Nutrition