I decided to film a short interval cardio workout video the other day with one of my personal training clients.  You’ve heard me preach over and over about the benefits of using interval-based cardio workouts in place of longer, slower cardio workouts.

Again, the primary reason for this is because of the additional boost in metabolism you will experience over the next 12-72 hours after completing an intense interval workout.

When it comes to fat loss, we want to focus on a given workout’s ability to burn the absolute most calories possible both during the workout AND after the workout has finished.  If you want to cash in on the ‘afterburn’ effect, start using interval workouts immediately.  You’ll save time and get greater results when you’re not even working out…sounds like a win-win situation to me.

The only downside to using interval cardio workouts is that they are very challenging and uncomfortable to get through…you’ll have to suck it up and learn to deal with the lactic acid.

And speaking of uncomfortable (yet very effective), check out the video below to see an example of a challenging interval cardiovascular workout.  Jon is one of my personal training clients who is kicking major ass…he was nice enough to let me film this dumbbell boxing interval workout, which puts your body through total chaos and forces a higher metabolism to ‘restore normalcy.’

It started pouring (random for Arizona) after our first set…so this is short and sweet, but you’ll get the idea.

Interval Cardio Workout:  Dumbbell Boxing Intervals

Let me know what you think of this brutal dumbbell boxing interval workout.  Thanks again to Jon for showing us how it’s done.

Your Online Personal Trainer,

Brad Campbell

PS – Want more advanced workout videos you can do from the comfort of your own home? Just enter your name and email in the blue box below, then check  your email for the hook-ups.  This is ONLY for people who want a lean, ripped physique…we don’t ‘do’ big and bulky at TopFatLossTrainer.

PPS – These challenge workouts are pretty kick ass too:  Challenge Workout Videos <— try these out too

I have to admit that I’m just as guilty as most when it comes to slipping up on the flexibility training…but I’m now forcing myself to practice what I preach and have scheduled this into my day.  It really makes ya feel a thousand times better…and like I talked about in the last post…increasing flexibility is BIG when it comes to sculpting that total body.

Speaking of building a total body…nothing will get you there faster than a solid nutrition plan.  I want to remind you that you might as well forget about working out and stretching if you’re going to go ruin it with a poor diet.

I always say: “I’d much rater have a great day of eating than I would a great workout for a given day.”

If you think about it like this…a really intense workout may burn 600 calories, give or take.  To achieve this, you had to totally kick butt and work harder than you thought you could, pushing through a ton of pain and lactic acid.

You spend nearly 45 minutes (well, much less if you follow my advice) trying your hardest to burn off that belly flab.  Now consider the fact that most people go and “reward” themselves later in the day by going out to eat or having a desert or treat of some sort. 

In just a few MINUTES of devouring that “treat” you’ve now totally canceled out those 600 calories…and if you’re an all-star eater like me, you can wipe out several workouts worth of calories in any given splurge.

Do you see why nutrition plays such a big role?  You can do so much damage in such a small amount of time….and totally eliminate all of your workout efforts.

The good news is that you can still go out to eat and even indulge…it just has to be kept to that ONE DAY per week.  On the other 6 days, I want you eating as clean as possible.

Being a Tuesday, this unfortunately isn’t my 1 cheat day for the week (generally do this on Saturday or Sunday)…so I’m ‘getting my lean on’ by eating mostly protein, veggies and healthy fats.

In fact…here’s how I sculpt my 6-pack abs in just a couple of weeks when I really want to look lean for an upcoming event…it’s all about eating the right foods…in the right combination…at the right times…to promote building lean muscle and boosting metabolism.

Here’s an insider’s look at the exact meal plan I’m following today:

6 am (Breakfast)- plain oatmeal made with skim milk, added blackberries, almonds and 2 teaspoons of natural peanut butter; 2 scoops of Isopure protein (Chocolate flavored) mixed with water; 1 multivitamin; 1 fish oil capsule; water

8 am (Snack 1)- another protein shake mixed with water

10:30 am (Lunch)- huge bowl of fresh green beans, topped with lemon-cilantro chicken strips, almonds and mango salsa; water; 1 multivitamin; 1 fish oil capsule

1:30 pm (Snack 2)- yet another protein shake mixed with water; 1 Rock Star (love those damn things…my heart and wallet aren’t so fond, however)

4:00 pm (Dinner)- same as lunch…I made a huge container of this mixture (green beans, chicken, almonds and salsa) and eat out of it several times a day…this is a HUGE time saver.

6:30 pm (Snack 3)- 1 large apple with about 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter (love me some PB…I could just take a spoon and eat this stuff by the jar)

8:45 pm (Snack 4)- same as lunch and dinner, but a smaller serving size (wasn’t much left)

10:30 pm (Snack 5)- 3 cups of fat free cottage cheese; 1 handful of walnuts; water; 1 multivitamin; 1 fish oil capsule

Notice how many times I eat in a given day…8 TIMES. This is huge because eating so often helps prevent me from ever really getting hungry…therefore I never have the cravings to deal with and it’s easy to make healthy choices.

Of course, eating smaller meals frequently also helps to raise your metabolism in itself.  Lastly, eating often is important to feed your starving muscles and allow them to build back leaner and stronger…if you go too long without eating…OR, if you don’t have wuss out on your protein intake (and weight training), you’ll never get that tone and ripped look.

Something else I should point out…notice how you didn’t see hardly any traditional carbs that most people like to live off of….you didn’t see any bread, bagels or pasta.  This isn’t because I preach no carbs, or even low carbs…but I do recommend trying to sub veggies for those more traditional carbs that tend to promote fat storage, especially when we eat them in excess.

I do still eat those things, but I always use whole wheat and try to watch the serving size.  If I am going to have them, I’ll try to do it earlier in the day so I can burn them off with my workout.

I DO recommend trying to eliminate or greatly reduce carbs later at night.  Remember, timing is almost as important as the actual food choices you make.

Many people would lose a moderate amount of fat simply by eating their carb-heavy dinner earlier in the day around their workout time (and having something lighter like veggies and protein for dinner)…so the excess carbs could be burned off for energy and used to repair muscles.

Another thing to point out is this…don’t go crazy with the fruit.  A super-annoying myth (that I constantly have to correct) is that fruit is so good for you and people try to take that and run with it, eating fruit around the clock…like it’s heroin and they need a fix or something.

Fruit is only touted to be good for you because it tends to be loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  If you can get these vitamins, minerals and antioxidants from an assortment of lower-calorie (and no-sugar) vegetables, combined with a daily multivitamin…then what do YOU think is the better choice?

Fruit is almost solid sugar and all of that sugar is absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream upon ingestion (guess it’s more heroin-like than I thought).  This causes insulin to spike and guess what happens when your body realizes you aren’t currently doing anything that requires this sugar for energy?

Caution:  Curves ahead…have some jiggle with that wiggle, because it’s going straight to the hips and belly…not cool at all.

I’m not saying to avoid fruit like the plague…I’m just saying to use moderation and time your intake wisely (breakfast, pre- and post-workout is best).

Also, for the average person, I would recommend a daily multivitamin along with 2-3 fish oil capsules.

As you can see I basically only take in water for my liquids (when it’s cooler outside, I’ll have green tea once in a while)…I also mix my protein shakes with water to cut down on unnecessary calories and sugar (yes, skim milk has quite a bit of sugar in it).

I did have a Diet Rock Star, which has no calories…but I’m not really going to recommend that to everyone because ‘my’ jury is still out on the effects of artificial sweeteners.

Anyways, that’s pretty much my M.O. when it comes to getting a lean body with low body fat percentage and still building/maintaining a fair amount of muscle tissue.

If you want to follow suit, I’d suggest following a similar nutrition plan, cash in on a cheat day and even toss in a fasting day (immediately after your cheat day) for quicker fat loss results.

Your Coach,

Dr. Brad Campbell, CFT, PharmD

Would you show up to work all week long, work your butt off, do everything your boss asks…and then “hope” to get a paycheck at the end of the week?  Only to have payday come and see the ole bank account barely hovering above insufficient funds for the sixth consecutive month?  HELL NO – that’s crazy, right?

Then why do so many people put in the blood, sweat and tears (okay, maybe blood is a lil exaggerated) day after day, month after month with their grueling workouts…

…and then not take any credit for these workouts, or have any results to show for this hard work, simply because they failed to follow a sound nutrition plan?

I say:  “Pay me, I’ll take my check in hundreds please and I’d like to go ahead and skip paying taxes if that’s cool.”

Don’t be a fool…go to all extremes to pick up that check and cash in on the hard work you’ve been putting in.

Even if you have to walk a mile to get that check and drive to 6 banks before you can get it cashed….I assure you, it will be worth the hassle.

And if you aren’t willing to go out of your way to get that check each week…then my advice is QUIT WORKING.

So let’s get at it and learn some basic principles to ensure we’re all getting paid.

First off, you must understand that nutrition is about 85% responsible for your total fitness results. In other words, even if you follow my fat loss workouts exactly as prescribed…your ability to transform your body into a lean, mean, younger and more energetic version of your current self will be minimal at best.

However, if you start doing the exercises AND start eating healthier TOGETHER….you will see amazing results very fast.  Just how quickly you start losing weight, toning up and turning heads depends on how closely you follow the exercises, nutrition tips, mental training AND lifestyle modifications I outline in this blog.

You could have a sweet car, but how far would you get and how much good would it be to you without gas, oil and the front right tire? I’m just full of amazing analogies today, (wink)…

Having said that, here are some super easy tips that you can incorporate immediately to start seeing the fruits of your workout labor…and ensure you have the sexiest car in your city.

- Make sure you’re creating a large caloric deficit (read Fat Loss 101 – Don’t Overthink It, Stupid)

- Eat 6-8 “snacks” spaced every 2-3 hours throughout the day (stop thinking “meals” and learn to graze like an animal)

- Drink more water and green tea (not sugary green tea drinks, but the real deal)

- Never skip breakfast and always eat within 20 minutes of waking up

- Switch your “heavier” carbs around so that you eat the majority of them for breakfast and lunch (not at dinner…or even worse, right before bed)

- Go through your cupboards and fridge right now and throw out all the crap (better yet, give it to a neighbor you don’t like…so they get fat instead of you)

- Don’t bring crap into your house. If it’s not there, you can’t eat it (and I don’t want to hear the “But I have kids” excuse…why do you think our society looks the way it does?)

- Drink a tall glass of water before every single meal/snack so you feel full faster

- Start your meals out by eating a large serving of vegetables and protein FIRST…then have some carbs

- Consume lots of olive oil, almonds, walnuts, salmon and avocado (healthy fats)

- Make routine trips to the grocery store if possible (ie twice weekly to buy fresh veggies and lean protein)

- Do all your cooking, preparation, planning and packaging on Sunday so you’re ready for the busy week ahead (make your significant other help out…they should jump on board anyways…if you’re flying solo, just suck it up)

- Carry around an inspirational picture and get it out when you eat…maybe one of you when you looked your hottest or some celeb who’s got it going on

- Stay off the scale…real change takes at least a month (probably longer), and most times people confuse themselves by jumping on the dumb thing multiple times per day

- Chew your food at least 10 bites longer than you would like to

- Eat with people who are more fit than you…or with those who have a lean body

- Eat out less and have a gameplan for when you do go out to eat (look at the menu online in advance)

- Use smaller plates, bowls, etc

- Brush your teeth and grab a piece of gum or mint immediately after eating….this will tell your brain you’re done eating and prevent you from going back for seconds and then desert

- Go for a walk or do some chores after eating to help burn up some of the extra calories

- Avoid carbs before bed (veggies are fine though)

- Eat protein with each and every meal

- Stop believing this “politically correct” crap that says it’s okay to eat the 100-calorie pack of cookies…or that all of your favorite treats are okay to eat if you get the reduced-fat versions

- Cut down on sugars and all processed foods (when was the last time you saw a bagel tree?)

- Look at the ingredients information on food labels…if it looks like a short novel written in Japanese (ie has lots of ingredients that you can’t pronounce…then don’t eat it)

- Learn to live without condiments (seriously, suck it up…I can’t remember the last time I consumed mayo…and I’m not looking for a pat on the back…I’m just telling you it’s pathetic if you think you can’t live without mayo on your Subway)

- Stop looking for the next magical DIET.  In fact, remove that term from your vocabulary…I’ve never found a diet that worked long term

(“But Brad, I have a friend who lost 37 lbs on the grapefruit diet.” Spare me.  Your friend is lying, they probably lost all of their muscle and lots of water weight, meaning they just killed their chances of losing more weight or keeping the weight off.  Plus, give me an update in a year and let me know if your friend is still eating nothing but grapefruit and having amazing results.  Doubtful, to say the least…)

You’re thinking this sounds ridiculously difficult and you may never enjoy another meal again, right?

Wrong…these last two tips are biggies, so keep reading…

- Don’t try to jump right into all of these tips immediately. You will fail.

Instead, try to make just 1 or 2 goals per week and do what it takes to accomplish this. For example, week 1 might be to eat out one less time than normal.  Week 2 might be to eat out one less time (again) and so on until you’re down to only once or twice per week of eating out.

The next week might be drinking 8 glasses of water per day…and so on until you’re close to that “ideal” plan, which will be:  LOTS of veggies, healthy fats and lean protein eaten every 2-3 hours throughout the day…smaller servings of HEALTHY carbs eaten earlier in the day…and tons of water and green tea to wash everything down and promote major fat loss.

Now for my favorite weight loss nutrition tip…

- Take 1 day per week (1 WHOLE day…not 1 “meal”) and indulge on anything and everything you want. This resets the metabolism and helps you to really burn fat on the other 6 healthier days. I swear, this is backed by very legit research and I personally use this “cheat day” myself with great success.  This way you can have your cake and eat it too…all day long…one day each week.  For best results, follow this cheat day up with a 24-hour fast day.

It has to be done like this, though – don’t eat bad things every single day and think this will help boost metabolic rate.  The cheat day is actually very strategic and has to be used under the perfect circumstances to work for you and not against you.  Read the detailed article I wrote on using a cheat day by clicking the link above.

And there you have it…29 (if I counted correctly) awesome tips that will surely have you GETTIN’ PAID for your weight loss workouts.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I hafta go make it rain…

To your next FAT paycheck (and therefore ROCKIN’ body),

Dr. Brad Campbell CFT, PharmD

PS – Want a phenomenal diet program that allows you to use these 29 killer nutrition tips, in an easy-to-follow, comprehensive system that guarantees faster fat loss results?  Of course you do.  Take a look at my affiliate partner’s Cheat Your Way to Rapid Fat Loss <— Warning:  “Xtreme” Fat Loss Ahead…

Here are 5 awesome reasons interval cardio will change your body fast and make you colder than a polar bear’s toenails (now that’s cool)….

1) It’s quicker. If you are constantly reassuring yourself you’re too busy to workout…and if 45 minutes sounds like an eternity to commit to exercise, then start working out for 7 minutes using high intensity intervals.

I won’t bore you with technical research that backs up this recommendation. Instead, I’ll just say I’ve maintained a single digit body fat percentage working out as little as 7-11 minutes 3-4 times per week using interval-based training!

If you think this sounds too good to be true and there has to be a catch, let me say that this will be pretty much the most uncomfortable 7ish minutes of your life.

The key is INTENSITY and extremely short rest periods, which force you to repeat these demanding ’rounds’ over and over again when you’re nowhere near ready to be doing them. The bright side is as soon as you start, you only have a few minutes left

2) Mental toughness.  You’re probably starting to see a theme to my workouts- challenging, intense, efficient, effective and confidence-building! It’s hard to explain until you’ve actually done it….but, pushing yourself way past your comfort level really changes the way you view life.

All of a sudden that annoying phone call you have to make Monday afternoon is a piece of cake because your brain becomes programmed to conquer these challenges that are thrown at you.

You realize that nothing you do in a given day is near as hard as the workout you put your body through and this really opens you up to becoming more productive and positive in other aspects of life.  That’s a pretty sweet secondary effect to working out if you ask me….

3) More fat loss. Again, intervals do a nice job of burning calories and fat during a workout, but the really cool thing is the calories and fat this type of training burns up after you finish the workout.

I compare this to making money while you’re not actually at work. Wouldn’t you like to lose body fat while you’re at home hanging out with the fam, watching a movie? Intervals done the right way will grant you this luxury.

4) Won’t STRIP lean muscle. Because interval training is generally performed in short, intense spurts of 30 sec to a couple of minutes….you are actually working your body in a way that favors muscle growth.

This type of anaerobic training is very similar to weight training. Also, because the duration is much shorter, you will be less likely to burn valuable muscle tissue for energy. On the other hand, long, slow-paced cardio workouts can strip your body of metabolism boosting muscle mass (think marathon runners) if you overdo it.

5) Keeps things refreshing. Intervals can be performed in so many different ways, making it ideal for anyone who is bored with their standard exercise regimen.

My favorites include sprinting, explosive jumps, shadow boxing with dumbbells and using the ‘old-school’ exercise bikes (the ones with moving handles to work the upper body as well).  Any activity you can think to do HARD for a short duration, follow with a rest period and repeat several times…works great.

If you’re new to interval training, start slow and perform the ‘working’ part of the interval workout at about 60% effort. After 2 weeks, increase this to 70%, and so on until you can perform the intervals at near 100% effort.

I recommend using intense intervals in conjunction with total body (highly metabolic) weight training workouts and 1 or 2 standard (slow and steady) cardio sessions for a comprehensive, “body fat can kiss your new and improved skinny butt goodbye” exercise program.

For an exact outline of how to schedule your weekly workouts for best results, just check out this video:  weight loss workouts.

Okay, so having said all of that…is high intensity interval training the ONLY way to go for EVERYONE out there?  Absolutely not.  There are still major benefits associated with long, slow cardio workouts that cannot be matched with interval training.

On top of that, intense interval training is just not practical for everyone.  True beginners, extremely overweight people, those with certain injuries and others who really enjoy the more traditional (long and slow) cardio workouts….all would be best suited to stay with the slow-go cardio.

For everyone else, however, make sure interval training becomes a staple in your overall exercise program!

Dr. Brad Campbell

P.S. BE COOL!