Fat Loss | How to Build Muscle, Gain Strength & Become a Better Athlete

Archive | Fat Loss

Muscle Building Cardio?

01. Apr, 2009 9 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

Many people live in constant fear that too much cardio will cause them to lose muscular size and strength. Therefore they just decide to spend their lives fat, out of shape and unhealthy. They’d rather have one foot in the grave at all times than walk around any smaller or weaker.

Growing up a skinny maggot I certainly understand this fear as it dominated many years of my life.

These fears are not unfounded as too much cardio will, indeed, eat away muscle tissue and cause strength losses.

But that’s traditional, steady state, [...]

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Battling Ropes of Death

01. Apr, 2009 6 Comments Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning, Videos

Great workout tonight. Did some rowing, squatting, shrugging, etc. and finished with the battling ropes of death. I have gained back about 20 of the 48lbs that I lost and am feeling pretty good. The shoulder is coming along and I am happy at this weight. Gaining another 30 pounds on top of this is probably something that I won’t be doing. I’ll see how I feel as I progress but I feel very good being lighter. My natural adult weight is only about 165 at an even six [...]

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Schedules, Off Weeks, Overrated Exercises & Exercise Order

27. Mar, 2009 3 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Strength & Conditioning

Question: If you train four days a week using an upper/lower split, what is the optimal way to schedule the days? Should I do lower body first followed by an upper-body day, or vice versa? Does it matter?

Answer: The traditional way of answering this question is that you should train whatever needs the greatest attention earlier in the week. Sometimes I follow these guidelines and sometimes I don’t. In most cases, I actually prefer to do an upper-body day first, followed by a lower-body day. The [...]

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3 Foods to Eliminate From Your Plant Based Fat Loss Diet

05. Mar, 2009 4 Comments Fat Loss, Nutrition

A plant based diet is obviously far healthier than a meat based diet. And it’s easy to get absolutely ripped while following a plant based diet. Unless, of course, you eat like a lot of uneducated vegetarians. Just removing meat and dairy from your diet doesn’t make you any healthier if you are still eating excessive amounts of junk food. Eating more fruits and vegetables does. My colleague, John Alvino has just created an entire set of plant based meal plans (that are only available until Midnight, tonight) that [...]

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Can You Lose Fat & Gain Muscle Simultaneously?

17. Feb, 2009 0 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle

It has often been said that you can’t lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously. That statement is actually incorrect. Beginners can do it. Even guys who have been training for a long time who make drastic changes to their diet and their workout programs can do it. You can’t do it for extended periods of time, but it can be done.

For example, if you are currently doing traditional steady state cardio, switch to sprints. Sprints have an anabolic effect and do not produce cortisol at [...]

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Walk This Way

25. Jan, 2009 6 Comments Fat Loss

At least four mornings a week I get up and go for a half hour walk before breakfast. I do this for a few reasons. First of all, I do it for cardiovascular health. Too many people simply lift weights and ignore all the other components of fitness. I do it first thing in the morning because I know that if I start my day by checking email or doing some other sort of work the likelihood of me walking later in the day is very low. I get [...]

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You Don’t Have to Be Young to be an Athlete

08. Dec, 2008 16 Comments Fat Loss, How to Build Muscle, Motivation, Strength & Conditioning

Written in 2006 For Todays Man magazine

Remember when exercise used to be fun; when you used to get endless hours of physical activity each week without ever dreading the thought of it? Remember when you used to be able to break out into a full sprint without the fear of pulling a hamstring? How about when you could stand up from your chair without your lower back hurting?

Oh, to be young.

Or maybe it’s actually what we were when we were young…athletes.

Sure as we get older we lose muscle mass and [...]

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How to Naturally Flood Your Body With Fat Burning Hormones

29. Nov, 2008 3 Comments Fat Loss

By John Alvino

If your goal is to lose fat and build muscle as fast as possible, it is absolutely crucial that you focus your efforts on maximizing your production of the powerful fat burning hormone known as growth hormone (GH). GH is released by the pituitary, and GH levels in the body tend to peak during puberty, and then slowly (yet steadily) decline with age. GH plays a key role in the building and/or maintenance of muscle, as well as the burning of body fat.

Recent studies have confirmed that [...]

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High Powered Fat Loss

30. Oct, 2008 2 Comments Fat Loss

By John Alvino

During my entire 16 year career as a professional fitness coach, I have experimented with every imaginable exercise protocol on myself and my many clients. This tireless journey has helped me to perfect a fat loss system that delivers unparalleled results.

My fat loss subjects have included young and old, men and women, obese and those who just want to lose “the last 10 pounds”. Actually, the only group that I never worked with was identical twins. That is, until now.

Just recently, I had two twin brothers (Angelo and [...]

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Killer Ab Workouts You Can Do At Home

15. Oct, 2008 3 Comments Fat Loss

By John Alvino

When most people attempt to perform ab workouts at home, they usually just lie on the floor and engage in a marathon of crunch repetitions. This all too common approach will never lead to a well-balanced set of six pack abs.
First of all, the basic crunch will only provide a marginally positive training effect for beginners. Once you get strong enough to crank out sets of 50-100 or more, the resistance the crunch provides is simply too little to provide a training effect.

And secondly, the crunch only works [...]

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