After reviewing many other celebrity workout routines and being totally bummed by the generic, outdated and ridiculous excuses for workout plans they were using to get lean and sexy for the camera...I finally found one that is "advanced fat loss approved."

I'm talking about action movie bad ass, Jason Statham, who reportedly performed his own stunts and fight scenes in The Transporter, Crank, The Bank Job, War, Death Race and Snatch.  If you've seen any of those adrenaline-filled flicks, I'm sure you just gained massive respect for Jason Statham.

Okay, now that you know about those two killer body transformation resources, let's take a look at the Jason Statham workout and diet plan that helped him to lose 17 lbs of fat in just 6 weeks...

Jason Statham's Workout Routine:

--> You know it's an effective workout regimen when the actor himself uses words such as:  brutal, nauseating, nightmare and horrible to describe the training sessions...of course, all of these words were preceded by an f-bomb in the interview I was listening to.

--> Apparently, Statham trained with a former Navy Seal named Logan Hood, who concocted this comprehensive workout routine.  They hit it hard 6 days per week for about 35 minutes per session and rested on Sundays.

--> Statham religiously followed two main principles:  1) every workout was at least slightly different from the previous one and 2) everything was recorded in detail, including weights used, times for active and recovery periods, etc.

--> Each workout consisted of 3 primary stages that progressively increased in 'suckiness':

1) a 10-minute warm-up using the Concept 2 Rowing Machine, which is easy on the joints, raises core temperature and prepares all muscle groups for the upcoming work ahead.

2) next is 10-minutes of moderate intensity work that is always varied and may include:  medicine ball throws, kettlebell circuits, 'farmer walk' type of exercises (carrying heavy shit while walking, like sandbags or dumbbells), circuit weight training or heavy compound strength training lifts.

3) the last phase is interval training, which again varies slightly every workout, but would look something like this:  8 pull-ups, 20 medicine ball slams, 20 weighted step-ups, 20 hanging knee raises, 20 barbell squats and 20 burpees.  All 6 exercises are performed back-to-back without rest, until you complete each movement in the circuit.  Rest briefly and repeat for up to 5 circuits total.

My thoughts on Jason Statham's Workout:

Finally...I found a celebrity who followed a top notch workout routine to lose fat and get ripped.  I'm guessing his trainer was forced to give him a REAL workout, because he actually needed to lose 17 lbs of fat that had crept up on him...as opposed to most celebs, who are already lean and tone to begin with and therefore can get away with using half-ass workout programs to look great (assuming their diet is dialed in).

Jason's workout was super successful in sculpting his body because it was based around some outstanding fat loss principles.  For example, his workouts were kept short and intense (unlike the marathon sessions we saw with other celebrities, such as Megan Fox's Workout or LL Cool J's Workout) to maximize the post-workout fat burning effects.

Statham relied entirely on heavy, compound weight training, grueling circuits and intense intervals to pack on lean muscle mass and turn his body into a fat-melting machine.  These strategies are on point with my advanced fat loss tips I discussed in this post:  7 Ways to Torch Body Fat Faster.  Sweetness...now that we've found a celebrity workout worth following, let's check out his diet plan...

Jason Statham's Diet Plan:

--> Jason credits his rapid weight loss success mainly to his strict diet plan, which ended up being around 2,000 calories per day.

--> He avoided refined sugars, flour, breads, pastas and booze like they were incurable STD's =)

--> Just like with his workout routine, Statham recorded everything he put into his mouth.  This makes it literally impossible to screw it up...and if he wasn't losing enough fat, it'd be easy to figure out why.

--> He drank a boatload of water and consumed 6 small meals per day, focusing on the typical lean body foods, like egg whites, veggies, lean meats, whey protein shakes, raw nuts and fish.  Desert would often include fat free yogurt with mixed fruit added for flavor.

My thoughts on Jason Statham's Diet Plan:

Proven to be effective time and time again, the typical bodybuilder's diet is definitely the safe way to go when you're serious about losing weight and/or adding lean muscle.  Every single celeb I've reviewed so far has reported following these exact guidelines...so do you think it's a coincidence that they all look fantastic?  I think not.

Statham's diet plan is clearly going to be low enough in calories to create a caloric deficit, but high enough in protein to support muscle growth...this is a key step in building a lean and tone body.  Again, my only beef with this nutrition strategy is that it might be too consistent and a lil strict.

Most of us would slip up after eating this clean for too long because we don't have million dollar movie deals providing us with crazy motivation levels.  Also, there's a risk of entering starvation mode and slowing your fat loss progress, as the body becomes too accustomed to this lower caloric intake.

I suggest eating clean and sensible like Statham does for 5 days out of the week (here's an example:  Fat Loss Diet Plan) and then rewarding yourself and resetting your fat burning hormone and enzyme levels by taking one entire cheat day each week.  Follow this cheat day up with a fasting day to round out the week and put your metabolism into overdrive.

I hope you enjoyed this review of Jason Statham's diet and workout routine... you can definitely take away more from his style of training than you can from the other celebrities I've posted about.  Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.  See ya on the flip side...

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

*Build Muscle, Get Ripped -- FREE Video Shows You How*

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What's up fat-haters?  Hope everyone is having a great Halloween weekend.  I know I am - my Iowa Hawkeyes came back from a miserable first 3 quarters to beat Indiana and remain unbeaten...also, I think the cheerleaders have shortened up their uniforms since I graduated (see below).  Plus, I just put the finishing touches on my Halloween costume for tonight's party.

I'm not going to reveal who or what I'm going as, but let's just say you'll appreciate it if you're a Big Lebowski fan.  I'll try to post some pics tomorrow...should be a pretty crazy night and that's okay because I worked my butt off all week long to burn off a couple more pounds of fat (trying to get down to around 4% body fat for the membership site launch).

Anyways, I wanted to hook you up with a quick post here before I go get ready for the big party...oh, and before that I'm going to hand out whey protein shakes to all the trick-or-treaters.  Kidding, I don't want to be known as the creepy health freak in the neighborhood...it's bad enough that my neighbors asked me if my parents were home when I first moved in...guess I have a pretty youthful look thanks to the fitness lifestyle :)

So I spend a lot of time coaching you on advanced fat loss techniques that you should start implementing to help you lose fat and build lean muscle faster than traditional methods that 99% of people are using.  Today, let's focus on what you shouldn't be doing.  Here's a list of 4 common mistakes I see almost everyone making when they're trying to lose fat and get tone.

Avoid these 4 mistakes if you want a lean and tone body:

1) Overdoing the slow, steady-state cardio.  It's been embedded in our brains since we first knew what body fat was, that you have to do lots of cardio to lose stubborn fat.  Although standard cardio sessions do burn a fair amount of calories during the session, they don't do much for burning calories (and therefore extra body fat) the next 12-72 hours.  Hardcore interval training will do a much better job of fighting fat around the clock, plus it takes a lot less time to do.

The only case where I use moderate intensity cardio is if I want to add a lil extra calorie burning to my weight training and interval sessions for the week, but my legs are shot from the weights and intervals.  This is an easy way to expand your caloric deficit, while letting your muscles (legs, especially) recover from the more demanding workouts...which should of course be the foundation of your fat loss plan.

2) Doing your cardio BEFORE weight training.  I can see where people get confused - it sounds like good reasoning to assume that if fat loss is your primary goal, you should place the greatest emphasis on cardio, right?

Nope and here's why...strength training requires maximum energy and intensity to produce significant results.  Therefore, it's important that you attack your weight training workouts when you're fresh and able to put in maximum effort.

Also, studies have shown that doing cardio AFTER weight training results in significantly more fat burning.  The main reason for this is most likely due to the fact that weight training eats up stored glycogen...so when you hit up your cardio session, the only 'fuel' left to burn is fat.  This is a good thing.

3) Lifting light weights for high reps.  Again, it's easy to see why people come to the conclusion that heavy weights will make you look bulky and light weights will help you look tone.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no such thing as 'toning a muscle.'  You can either build muscle, maintain muscle or lose muscle...but 'toning' doesn't exist.

*You can do certain things to promote greater muscle tension/tightness, especially while at rest, and I'll be doing a post about this in the future...but it's my general understanding that most people who talk about lifting to get "toned muscles" are referring to the low body fat, fitness model look...in which case you generally still need to increase muscle size and decrease body fat.

I still use the term once in a while because it's been used inappropriately for so long that people who are going for the lean and tone look don't want to hear that we're going to be 'adding muscle.'  They don't understand that looking lean and tone is just a matter of adding the right amount of muscle mass (not overdoing it), combined with achieving a low body fat percentage.

To add lean muscle - which most of us NEED to do - you must challenge the muscles by lifting heavy weights or by lifting moderate weights and mixing in advanced training techniques, like my explosive eccentric training tactic.  I recommend going both heavy and advanced for maximum muscle building and fat burning effects.

4) Skipping protein or amino acids before workouts.  The goal of working our butts off to burn body fat is so that we'll look lean, tone and sexy - not skinny, weak, soft and lacking symmetry.  For this reason, it's muy importante (I think that's Spanish for 'very important') to prevent muscle breakdown as much as possible, both during cardio and weight training.

By feeding your body amino acids before your workouts, you'll be effectively 'hating' on potential muscle breakdown for energy (also a good thing).  I recommend taking 4-6 grams of amino acids or slamming a 20-30 gram whey protein shake within 15 minutes prior to any cardio or strength training workout.

*If you're a mesomorph or could care less about potentially losing muscle mass, however, then you're free to rock the morning cardio sessions on an empty stomach.

The post-workout meal/snack is even more important and should contain a carb:protein mix to maximize skeletal muscle synthesis (building bigger muscles), while preventing muscle catabolism (the breakdown of muscle tissue).  This post-workout nutrition is certainly worthy of an entire post itself, so stay tuned for that bad boy in the near future.

There are many more mistakes that people make unknowingly when they're trying to to tone-up and shed body fat...but these 4 are among the most common and most detrimental mistakes that could be holding you back.  If any of these apply to you...you know what to do :)

Let's wrap this baby up with a lil bit of humor.  I heard this joke the other day and cracked up...it's so true.

A woman walks up to a lil old man rocking in a chair on his porch.  She says:  "I couldn't help but notice how happy you look."  "What's your secret for a long, happy life?"

"I smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day he says."  "I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise."

"That's amazing," the woman says.  "How old are you?"

"Twenty-six," he said.

Haha, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.  In the comments section below, be sure to drop me a line and let me know if you're making any of these mistakes.  Talk soon...

Your Fat Loss Coach,

Brad Campbell

PS - Check out these blog posts as well:  Tacfit Commando Review and Xtreme Fat Loss Diet Review

This first video is a 10 minute challenge workout that you can use to blast your pushing muscles. Because this isn't a total body workout, you can use this more frequently (as often as once a week) than the 300 workout I listed the other day.

Like I said, we'll be hitting all of your pushing muscles with two body weight movements - push-ups and squats.  The goal is to complete as many reps as possible in 5 minutes for each exercise.  You can take breaks when needed, but remember this is a challenge workout and you should be kicking all sorts of ass during this 10 minutes of pure lactic acid hell.

Oh, and there's a catch - instead of completing normal reps of push-ups and squats, you'll be exploding through the eccentric (lowering) phase of the movements.  Some of you have probably heard of (or tried) using explosive training throughout the concentric (lifting) phase of the exercise...and this is an awesome tactic as well, but for today we're going to get crazy with it, go against the grain and focus on exploding through the eccentric part of the lift.

I guarantee you've never seen this type of training before and you may even be questioning my sanity on this.  After all, we've been taught from day 1 that all weight training should be done slow and controlled so you can 'feel' the lift, right?

Well, I've got news for ya... this is an ADVANCED fat loss site and I'm giving you some of my cutting-edge secret weapons...my body transformation ninja tactics...to help you burn fat and sculpt a lean body at a much faster rate than you'd see following all the politically correct, generic-as-hell fitness information out there.

Enjoy the first of two explosive eccentric challenge workout videos I've included for you in this post (warning:  if you're a complete beginner or if you have underlying conditions or injuries, this advanced challenge workout is not for you):

So how does going against conventional strength training wisdom and actually exploding through the lowering phase of the movement help us produce greater results?  Well, let's go back to the basics quick...

In order to increase lean muscle mass, we have to increase our intensity or amount of work performed during each workout.  I doubt anyone wants to workout for 10 hours per week...and most of us want to do at least some of our workouts at home, where equipment is limited.  Therefore, we have to find a way to up the intensity without working out longer and without having to lift heavier and heavier weights every single workout.

Enter high speed training, or explosive training.  If we move the same weight at a faster speed, this translates to more power and greater intensity.  Using this advanced training principle, we can keep our workouts short, increase the intensity and make better use of limited equipment (in other words, you can now get a better workout, even if you're doing body-weight-only training or have limited weights available).

Another important benefit of using explosive weight training is the greater involvement of Tye II (fast twitch) muscle fibers.  This is HUGE because Type II muscle fibers have the greatest potential for muscle hypertrophy (increase in size) and yet, these fibers are usually the last to be used during normal, slower weight training sessions, which recruit mainly Type I (slow twitch) fibers.

It's hilarious (and sad at the same time) that most people spend their whole lives weight training in a way that is basically targeting only slow twitch muscle fibers that don't have much potential at all to hypertrophy.  I don't know about you, but I'd rather take the shortcut and target Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers that have the greatest ability to increase in size.

Remember, to achieve the lean and ripped look, we want to add as much lean muscle as possible to turn our bodies into fat-burning machines.  Adding large amounts of muscle mass is extremely difficult and will depend mainly on total calorie and protein intake, so don't think just because you're shooting for the Cam Gigandet body that this advanced muscle building strategy doesn't apply.

Trust me, I don't like the bulky look either and I'm not going to turn you into a 'roided-out freak.'  Truth is, even to get the lean and athletic look, you need to act a lot more like a bodybuilder than you'd think...especially in terms of finding out ways to maximize your muscle building efforts...because more lean muscle means more fat loss around the clock.

Now here's another 10 minute challenge workout video for you to try out.  This one focuses on the pulling muscles and will also use just 2 movements - lying hip extensions and bent over dumbbell rows.  The same principles apply - complete as many reps of each exercise as possible in 5 minutes and focus on exploding through the eccentric (lowering) phase of each movement, while performing the concentric (lifting) portion slow and under control.

Record the total number of reps you completed for each exercise and be sure to set a personal best each time you repeat the challenge.  Enjoy the video:

I'd like you to try both of these challenge workouts this week and let me know how many reps of each exercise you were able to get in 5 minutes.  Also, what are your thoughts on my advanced and 'ass-backwards' explosive eccentric training technique?

I bet after trying these workouts you'll feel a whole new level of soreness that you haven't experienced before - this is evidence that explosive training has resulted in more damage to Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers ---> leading to an increase in lean muscle size (hypertrophy), a favorable release of fat-burning hormones and more calorie burning firepower in the weeks and months to come.

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

For top level challenge-type workouts, try doing what elite military personnel do for their training... see it here: Navy SEAL Workout

LL Cool J

What's even more impressive is that Big L has managed to peak and actually look his best after turning 40 years old.  LL Cool J is also the first person to make the cover of Men's Fitness magazine more than once.

Hmm, I wonder if his image has anything to do with his ability to stay on top of the music biz for so long...

... and if being lean and muscular has allowed him to grow as an entertainer into other lucrative industries, such as TV, commercials and movies.  I'd say HELL YES (just another example of how People In Great Shape Live Better).

Let's take an in-depth look at LL Cool J's workout routine to see how he's built such a show-stopping body.

I just hope he can break away from the mediocre garbage that most celebrities are calling workouts (for example, see my review of Nelly's workout plan or worse yet, Megan Fox's workout).

LL Cool J's Workout Routine:

--> LL Cool J works out 5 times per week with his trainer and his workouts go a lil something like this...

--> 3 sets of 5-6 reps seated dumbbell presses, followed by 10 push-ups with a 45 pound plate on his back

--> Immediately goes into an ab circuit (what's up with celebrities and their damn ab routines?)

--> 20-30 juggle crunches, 15 sledge-abbers, 10 weighted crunches, 10-20 standing sit-ups, 30 elevated crunches, then jump rope for 1 minute

--> This is one set.  He then rests for one minute and repeats for 6 total ab circuits

--> Next, LL's cardio workout begins with boxing drills, transitions into resistance sprints (trainer holds elastic band attached to harness) and finishes with 45 minutes of interval training (thank god) on a treadmill

--> LL Cool J's diet consists of 6-7 small meals per day, with emphasis placed on boosting metabolism

--> Popular food choices include chicken, oatmeal, fish and asparagus

There you have it...that's how LL Cool J sculpts and maintains his magazine-cover-worthy physique.  I'm shocked to say that this is one of the first celebrity workouts I've reviewed that didn't totally suck.  He's actually doing a lot of things right with his workout regimen.

The first and most important thing that sticks out is that his diet plan is ideal for getting lean.  This accounts for as much as 85% of your fat loss and toning results...and it's clear LL knows this.  He's also got great consistency with his workouts, training 5 days per week.  This helps keep his metabolism in fat burning mode and promotes the building of lean muscle mass.

LL uses heavy weights, lower reps and attacks the shoulders first in his workout.  This is a great strategy for improving his v-taper, which in turn makes his abs and overall frame look even more bad a*s.  Although slightly excessive, doing explosive sprint intervals with added resistance and finishing off with a grueling 45 minutes of treadmill intervals, is truly hardcore and gets my advanced fat loss approval.

The only real beef I have with LL Cool J's workout is the ridiculous ab circuit.  Maybe he's just trying to fit in with all the other celebrities, who seem to think it's mandatory to do 30 minutes of ab training every day if you want to have a good stomach.  I personally hardly ever do any direct ab training and have no problem sporting a 6 pack.

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After all, it's all about having a low enough body fat percentage to let those babies show through.  In fact, too much ab training will only build the abdominal muscles and make your waist look thicker and more pushed out.  If you're doing the right kinds of weight training and cardio, trust me, you're already doing enough ab work...and this type of ab training is more practical to everyday life...so please, quit with all the damn crunches and fancy ab circuits, people.

In the comments section below, I want to know your favorite LL Cool J song of all time... dude's got a lot to pick from.  Pretty tough to beat Momma Said Knock You Out... that's such a classic old school song.

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

**************************************

FREE Video: Build Muscle & Get "Hollywood" Ripped Like LL Cool J...

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This plyometric workout shows you how to incorporate several of my top fat loss strategies into one bomb-ass body weight cardio session that you can do anytime, anywhere, with no equipment and in just 10 minutes.  Watch me suffer through the heat, boost my metabolism and take this workout to school.

10-Minute Fat Burning Plyometric Workout:

[Content protected for Inner Circle members only]

Notice the advanced fat loss techniques that are mixed into this plyometric cardio workout:

--> Shorter duration, but much higher intensity, which leads to a greater post-workout fat burning effect

--> Using explosive movements, which targets fast twitch (type II muscle fibers) - this leads to more lean muscle and greater fat loss

--> Replacing standard cardio exercises, such as using the elliptical machine, with nontraditional movements (plyometrics and body weight exercises) - this keeps things refreshing and acts as a secondary form of weight training to prevent muscle loss and promote a lean body

--> Interval cardio training - although it's more disguised than usual, this is actually an interval workout, where I have you recovering with a light jog in place, followed by a period of intense work

--> Short rest periods that force your body to work hard even though it's not fully recovered

--> Hybrid training - meaning I've combined a standard interval cardio workout with plyometrics, body weight strength training and calisthenics

So what may appear to be just some random 10 minute workout to the untrained eye, is actually a highly thought out regimen that is built based on advanced fat loss principles.  In the end you get 10 minutes of fat burning fun (aka hell) that gives you more results in much less time.

Don't worry, I've got your back...and your belly, for that matter.  Give this fat burning plyometric workout a shot this week and let me know how it goes by leaving your comments below.

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

Post related to Fat-Burning Plyometric Workout:  Dwight Freeney Workout

Here's another easy lean body recipe for all my fat-haters.  Today we're doing up some Simple Chicken With Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Here's what you need:

--> 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

--> 1 tbsp chopped parsley

--> 2 tbsp olive oil

--> 2 cloves garlic, chopped

--> 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

--> 2 tbsp Dijon mustard

--> 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Here's how to make it:

--> Whisk the mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil together in a bowl.

--> Grab a large Ziploc bag and place the chicken breasts and vinaigrette inside, seal and toss it around a few times to coat the chicken breasts.  Place in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

--> Preheat over to 400 degrees, place chicken breasts on large greased baking dish and cook 20-30 minutes until thoroughly done.

--> Cut up thin slices of chicken breast, throw some parsley and extra vinaigrette on top and now you have yourself a tender, tasty, lean body dish.  Serve with steamed veggies and enjoy.

Simple Chicken With Balsamic Vinaigrette per-serving stats:

--> serves 4 people as outlined above - go ahead and adjust accordingly, but I like to have leftovers

--> 236 calories

--> 28 g protein

--> 8.5 g carbs

--> 2.8 g fat

--> 0 g fiber (you'll get this with your side of veggies)

Everything you put in your mouth is either going to take  you one step closer, or one step farther away from your fitness goals.  This lean body recipe will definitely take one step closer to your 6 pack abs.

It's tough to beat chicken and veggies when you're trying to create a meal that doesn't taste like cardboard and yet, will still bring you closer to the lean body you're working towards.

Remember, if you want to lose fat and get ripped...you need to start living like someone who's lean and ripped...and I can guarantee you these people have eaten a boatload of chicken and veggies throughout their journey to "Leanville."

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

PS - Here is a comprehensive list of the very best diet programs available today: DIETS...

Burning fat, getting lean and ultimately transforming your physique to resemble that of a fitness model requires hard workouts and even harder effort in the kitchen.  We'll want to really tighten up our nutrition and focus on high protein sources mixed with a moderate amount of healthy fats and slightly lower amounts of complex carbohydrates.

When I have the time, I like to start my mornings out right with a huge breakfast omelet.  Sometimes I get crazy and want to live dangerously, so I even make omelets for lunch or supper.  Evel Knievel doesn't have anything on me.

Anyways, try making this Spanish Omelet a few times during the week.  It tastes amazing and still gets you lean and ripped at the same time.

Here's what you need:

--> 10 egg whites

--> 3/4 cup salsa

--> 1/2 cup spinach

--> 1/4 cup fat-free cheese, shredded

--> Nonstick cooking spray

Tell your personal chef to cook it like this:

Coat your skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat.  Beat those egg whites up in a bowl and pour them into the skillet.  Allow to cook for a few minutes until eggs begin to set.  I like to lift up around the outside edge of the eggs and tilt the pan to allow the uncooked whites to run under...just so everything cooks evenly.  Throw on your fat free cheese, spinach and salsa, carefully fold that bad boy in half and allow to finish cooking.

Have your personal chef bring it to you with some green tea, dry wheat toast and a couple pieces of fruit.  Now that's a tasty breakfast that gets you one step closer to sculpting your lean body.

Here's what you're getting with the Spanish Omelet:

--> 256 calories

--> 47 g protein

--> 12 g carbs

--> 0 g fat

--> 2 g fiber

Enjoy this fat burning breakfast (well, meal I should say...in case you're crazy like me) and the tight waistline that comes with it.  Now tell you chef to get busy on those dishes.

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

View all the top-ranked diet programs for both muscle building and weight loss here: diets

Simply put, your metabolism refers to the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis to maintain life.  Whether you're sleeping, sitting on the couch watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta (don't judge me), surfing the web or staring at a wall, your body is burning calories to keep you going.

Of course, not everyone burns calories at the same rate.

Your metabolism is affected by aging (duh), gender (men have the upper hand) and body composition (more muscle burns more calories).   There can also be some hereditary factors that make a difference, such as thyroid problems, which can usually be corrected fairly easily with proper medication.  Sorry, but I'm not going to let you play the  "bad genes card" this time.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to stop the aging process and females can't just snap their fingers and adopt a male's higher metabolic rate...so let's focus on what we CAN control, which is lean muscle mass.

Here's a super-duper important stat:  each pound of lean muscle you put on requires about 50 calories per day just to maintain.  This doesn't even account for the calories burned during the workouts that stimulated this new muscle growth...we're talking just for this one pound of lean muscle to sit there and do nothing, your body will burn 50 calories per day.

At this rate, just one extra pound of muscle will burn 18,250 calories in a year.  This would be equal to 5.2 pounds of fat.  If we add five pounds of muscle to your frame, this will assist in burning off about 26 pounds of fat over the next year.  That's huge.

Q:  Is strength training important for fat loss?

A:  Does a one-legged duck swim in circles? (YES...haha)

Clearly, the best way to boost your metabolism so that it attacks body fat 24/7, is to add lean muscle to your frame.  This won't be accomplished with hours of jogging on the treadmill.  You need to perform intense strength training a minimum of 3 times per week, focusing on total body workouts, compound movements, using HEAVY weights (or difficult body weight exercises that really challenge your muscles) and high volume.

Here's the dilemma, or "catch-22" if you will:  theoretically, to gain muscle mass, we would need to take in more calories than we burn off daily.  This is kind of counterproductive, as I pointed out in Fat Loss 101, where I said fat loss is simply a matter of creating a calorie deficit (burn off more calories than you eat each day).

So which is it, Brad...if our ultimate goal is to Burn Fat Faster, should we be focusing on building lean muscle by creating a slight caloric surplus, losing fat by creating a large calorie deficit...or should we try to do both at the same time?

I always recommend torching the body fat first, until we achieve the desired level of leanness.  From there, we can easily add extra lean muscle back to your body.  But, that doesn't mean that we can't TRY to defy logic and do both (add lean muscle AND lose fat) at the same time...which is exactly what I do with much success.

Here's the steps you'll want to take to add (or at least maintain) lean muscle, so that we can boost metabolism and maximize fat loss:

-->  use strength training sessions as the cornerstone of your fat loss workout plan

--> go as heavy as possible during these strength training sessions to promote a ton of muscle damage (remember, muscle fibers need to be damaged to build back stronger)

--> strategically use a super high calorie cheat day on one of those strength training days and lift like your life depends on it (all those carbs will go straight to building more lean muscle, rather than being stored as fat)

--> cardio workouts should be performed with weight bearing exercises that also challenge your muscles, such as plyometrics and other explosive activities (acts as a secondary form of strength training)

--> all workouts should be kept short, but very intense, especially cardio sessions (this way we won't break down lean muscle for energy)

--> consume a sugary carb and protein liquid drink with all workouts (this provides fuel for the workouts and spikes insulin, which shuttles protein to the muscles...thus, we're already 'feeding' the muscles to promote repair and new muscle growth)

--> on cardio workout days, focus on creating even more of a calorie deficit by eating super clean (I like to use 1 'pseudo-fasting' day after my cheat day, where I basically only consume the carb/protein liquid drink with my cardio workout and maybe a few small protein snacks throughout the day...this is essentially a 'fast' and it really throws a curve ball at your body and helps speed up fat loss if used correctly)

--> all days of the week (including the cheat day and 'pseudo-fasting' day) must be filled with high protein sources eaten with each and every meal or snack

That's a basic, mile-high view of how you can add (or at least maintain) lean muscle mass to effectively boost your metabolism and burn even MORE fat, while you're already working to put your fat-burning on blast by creating a calorie deficit through proper nutrition and intense workouts...if that makes sense.

Basically, I've developed an Advanced Fat Loss Plan that sort of 'cheats the system' and allows you to lose fat AND build lean muscle at the same time...which leads to an even higher metabolism and more fat-burning mojo, baby.  I hope this is okay with you.   :)

Your Fat Loss Coach,

Dr. Brad Campbell CFT, PharmD

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This isn't your typical cardio workout - and that's what makes it so effective at burning fat faster and giving you more bang for your fitness buck.  In just 10 minutes of working out from home, with only a light pair of dumbbells and your body weight, you'll accomplish more than 99.9% of gym-goers that are spending up to 10 times that long working out.

The secret to burning body fat faster has almost nothing to do with how many calories we can burn during the workout and almost everything to do with how many calories we can burn after the workout.  By shortening the workout substantially, we can attack it with much greater intensity.

This intensity will ultimately lead to the hormonal and cellular responses required to boost metabolism for the next couple of days.  This is where pharmacy school pays off - understanding how the body works internally allows me to design ultra-short (but intense) fat burning workouts that save a ton of time and give better results.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner :)

Burn fat faster with this advanced interval cardio workout:

After a 3-5 minute warm-up, perform 20 seconds of the following 3 exercises back-to-back with no rest in between (you'll probably need this:  Gymboss Interval Timer):

--> Explosive Burpees - focus on quickness and be sure to add a push-up in the bottom plank position, as well as a jump from the top position.

--> Dumbbell Boxing - using a light pair of dumbbells, get your box on using explosive punches at an all-out pace.

--> Tuck Jumps - again, focus on exploding into the air and bringing knees up to the chest, performing as many jumps as possible within the interval.

This is one round.  Rest 20 seconds and repeat nonstop for 10 minutes total, then puke.

Your Fat Loss Coach,

Dr. Brad Campbell CFT, PharmD