By: Kevin Larrabee

I love turkey. I eat it almost everyday. This great white meat provides high quality protein in a low-fat and no-carb environment. It just makes sense that at least one holiday per year evolves around it.

Of course, Thanksgiving is about more than turkey, pumpkin pie, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It is about giving thanks (hence “Thanksgiving”) for what you have, be it family, friends, a husband/wife, kids, that new car in the driveway or streaming of shows via Netflix like Quantum Leap, and the just added Macgyver.  I think it is important that you reflect over the past 366 days (yes, it was a leap year).

Here are a couple things that I am personally thankful for:

1. The listeners- I would be no where without the dedication and support of each and every person that listens to The FitCast. Thank you so very much and have a save and enjoyable holiday, whether you celebrate it or not.
2. My Family- Who doesn’t get into little arguments with their family? My parents, brother and sister, and other relatives have been kind and loving as long as I can remember. Remember, when you have nothing left, you still have your family.
3. Convincing Myself to Not Bench for One Month- I have been having some pretty had elbow issues. After debating back and forth with myself I have decided to do a full body routine until I can get my elbow and right hip back to 100%.
4. My internship at Cressey Performance- Over the past four months I have learned so many things from the guys at CP. When performing most exercises you should keep a few things in mind. First, chest up. Second, hips through. Third, knees out. Forth, Shoulders down and back. From the individual staff members I have leaned the following:

• Eric: You must love what you do to truly succeed at it. Also, don’t be a bitch, lets go heavier)
• Tony: Elves and giant walking trees are cool, Stargates are not (I still disagree, greatly)
• Brian: Spike is a great thing. Kevin takes it too far, and benches too much. Also no matter how much I say Brian is still stronger than me.
• Pete: I am a combination of Dwight and Michael from The Office. I have A.D.D.
• Danny (Bonus): You can be a great father and look like a complete badass at the same time. Danny has taught me that if you aren’t giving 110% then you are wasting your time, no matter what you do.

That is all from me today. I have the day off. I am going to enjoy it. 6am wake-up call to lift at CP. Should be fun!

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Last week I helped Men’s Health magazine on a piece about getting workouts done fast. Personally, I think you can get a great body-changing workout done in minutes.

How fast?

I’m talking 10-minutes.

By now, I’m sure you’re asking…

How do you lose fat in only ten minutes?

or

What about the rule that it takes 20 minutes of cardio before you start burning fat?

Well, first of all, as I have said before, the whole idea of a
fat-burning zone or a magical fat-burning time period just doesn’t fit with the common sense approach to fat loss.

People can lose fat without doing any cardio at all – so its clear
that you don’t have to workout for at least 20-minutes with your heart rate at 60% of your maximum heart rate. Fat loss is far simpler than that – and I’ll show you some basic workouts below that crank your metabolism and help you burn calories when you are not exercising.

Second, the results of your training occur outside of the gym
rather than during the workout. That’s why the before-mentioned “increased metabolism” is so important. If you put the right “turbulence” on your muscles in 10-minutes, you can change your body – without even thinking about doing cardio.

So let’s look at the first fat loss in a hurry workout – a
10-minute bodysculpting workout. Let’s say you only have 10 minutes to do your workout today – what should you do?

In this case, you need to combine a warm-up, strength
training, and interval training all into one. So our efforts are
best put forward on bodyweight training.

And you don’t have time for isolation work. Instead, you need to
hit three “hot zones” on the body for maximum metabolism boosting: push muscles, pull muscles, and legs.

By doing so, you’ll hit all the other muscle groups at the same
time. So you’ll do a circuit of soemthing like:

1A) Prisoner Squats (advanced option: 1-Leg Squats)
1B) Pushups (advanced option: Spiderman Pushups)
1C) Inverted Rows (advanced option: Pull-ups; easy option:
Stick-ups)

In the first round of this circuit, you’ll go through it easy.
Perform 25% of the maximum number of reps you can do for each exercise. So if you can do 20 pushups, do only 5 in the first
warm-up circuit. That’s a warm-up circuit.

Then you’ll do as many circuits as you can in the remainder of the 10 minutes. Just go back-to-back-to-back on these 3 exercises. You can rest after the rows/pull-ups for 30 seconds if necessary, but that’s it.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised with how you feel at the end of the 10-minutes. And your metabolism will be elevated for a much longer period than if you trained in the fat-burn zone for 10-minutes.

Okay, now here’s another option, moving into some dumbbell work. The following superset trains the entire body, and focuses on the 3 hot zones.

1A) DB Squat (8 reps per set)
1B) DB Chest Press (8 reps per set)

Use light weights for one warm-up set, and then do as many sets as possible in 10 minutes for the rest of the workout.

In any case, if you find yourself with another 10 minutes, you can up the fat-burning ante by doing 10 minutes of intervals. This too is far more effective for fat loss and fitness than 10 more minutes in the “so-called” fat-burning zone.

Do 3-5 minutes of exercise-specific warm-up.

Then do your intervals for 30 seconds followed by 30-60 seconds of rest. Repeat 3-6 times. Then cooldown.

Okay, now let’s get greedy and assume we have 30 minutes for our workout. We’ll be close to getting maximum results with this
“marathon” duration workout.

First, hit up the bodyweight circuit mentioned above. Do this
twice, nice and easy. That will take 5 minutes off the clock.

Then move into your strength supersets. Following the lead above, you’ll look to train the entire body with only 2 moves. It’s not always easy, but fortunately you can do 2 supersets in this
workout. The strength training will take about 15 minutes as you’ll do 3 sets of 8 per exercise with no extra rest between sets – just long enough to switch exercises.

1A) DB Split Squat (If you have a barbell, use it instead of DB’s)
1B) DB Row

2A) DB Romanian Deadlift
2B) DB Incline Press

Then finish with intervals. For this workout, try another program. Start with a warm-up, then do each “work” interval for 45 seconds, and rest 60 seconds between each interval. Do 4-6 rounds and finish with a cool-down, of course.

I could go on and on with these fast fat loss workouts…and of
course I do, in the Turbulence Training e-book.

I’ll follow up on this article in the future, passing along some of
the exact Turbulence Training workouts that I use with my clients to get the most results in the least amount of time.

Until then, train hard, train safe, and train better than everyone
else in the gym.

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

P.S. Is a lack of time stressing you out?

“No time to exercise” is the #1 reason most people don’t exercise consistently. In fact, a lack of time stresses most people out for many reasons – whether it’s a lack of time to prepare good food, exercise, or be with your family.

That’s why I created Turbulence Training to be the most efficient and effective fat loss program out there.

The warm-up is applicable to your workout, not some 5-minute waste of time on the treadmill.

The strength training supersets shave minutes off your wait time.

And the intervals cut your cardio in half, or more.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Get this Week’s Episode:

MP3 Download/iTunes/RSS/Odeo

Hosts:

Kevin Larrabee (Twitter), Tony Gentilcore, and Leigh Peele (Twitter)

Sponsors:

• TurbulenceTraining.com- Boost Muscle Growth and Blowtorch Bodyfat!!!
  
• BlackStarLabs.com (Save 10% with “FIT10″ code in Coupons section at checkout)
  
• RobertsonTrainingSystems.com - High Octane Corrective Exercise and Performance Enhancement

FitCast News

• CSCS
• FitCast Forums
• Mid-week shows coming to itunes
• T-nation article
• Holiday Gift of the week: Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Colored Water Bottles

Mailbag

• What are your opinions on consuming sprouts? Is it best to eat every two to three hours or is the eat when you are hungry intuitive eating claims have just as much legs?
  Listening on as always, -Jamie
• I have heard that you should have protein with every meal? Is that a myth? For example, If i have an apple as a snack, should I have a hardboiled egg with it?-Rudy
• Question #1 I have found that paying attention to recovery and de-load weeks are very beneficial to me because I tend to push myself too much in training. As far as diet goes during a de-load week, how much should a persons calorie intake drop? I know this is kinda individual, but should I drop back close to maintinence levels during a de-load phase? I find that I have to eat around 3600-3700 cals a day to slowing gain weight. I will also not be using a pwo shake…just a meal afterwards during a deload week. In other words, do you vary your diet with your training or keep your intake relatively high to aid in recovery? -Paul

• Hey guys.  I just started listening to the Fitcast and I really like it.  This question is coming to you from Prague.   My knees are always cracking.  Whenever  I bend my knees whether it be during squats or just when I bend them throughout the day they pop loudly (like when I tie my shoes for example).  They have been like this for years now and although they never give me any pain I am afraid that it is a sign of pain to come in the future.  Is this an accurate assumption to make?  Also, if it is is there anything I can do to stop the cracking and improve the health of my knees?  I am 25 and played soccer all the way through high school and I was a goalie.  I banged up my knees pretty badly and I hypothesize that the cause of the cracking is from that.  To my knowledge there is no history of knee problems in my family.So basically my question is, is this something I should be concerned about even though I don’t experience any pain and if it is what can I do to help it?  I am tired of sounding like an 80 year old man at the gym.  Thanks

  Dan

• Hey Guys, great show. I have listened to almost all of the previous episodes and have heard Trader Joes mentioned many times. I am jealous everytime I hear it because I live in Central Florida and I dont think we will be getting one anytime soon… So my question is what kind of alternative store is best in the absence of Trader Joes? Sometimes its hard to shop at the local supermarket packed full of delicius “yet fattening” foods. I havent been able to find any ‘”Greens” products available in my area and I was just wondering if y’all had any tips for me regarding this. Thanks and keep up the great work! -Hunter

Roundtable

• Whatcha been listening to? (Gym Music)

Check out our first episode of the mid-week show here:

TheFitCastUpdate001.mp3 (Right Click and save-as to download)

This edition we talk about Trader Joe’s Greens product, getting your CSCS, nutrition for athletes and more.

Check out Brian’s Site here.

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

If you don’t have social support, you won’t lose fat. Having social support is the biggest missing factor in most weight loss programs, and that is why people fail.

It’s that simple.

So here’s what “Fat Burning Social Support” means, and how to get it.

Social support is probably one of the missing ingredients that people don’t realize how important that is to achieve. Not only fitness goals, but really any goals in life. For example, to achieve your business goals you have to have support of other business minded people to help you.

If you want to stop drinking you’ve got to hang around people that don’t drink. In this day and age, our social groups are a lot different now. There’s a lot more internet based, for better or for worse, but the positive power of these internet based groups can be huge, especially now as they get more specific.

Before there just used to be fitness forums. Now, there are specific fat loss forums, and female only forums. There are forums specific for moms that are trying to lose body fat.

So, we’re able to get more specific now and that way you don’t have to go through a lot of various stuff to get to the specific stuff. You just go right to the specific stuff that’s helping you with your specific problem. So there’s all sorts of good stuff out there on the internet so hopefully people will be able to find it. But these networking sites and forums and that type of stuff are very, very helpful.

Social support means getting at least one person, and preferably a lot more people, to encourage you, check up on you, motivate you, keep you in line, and keep you on track. You need to be accountable to these people. You need to state your goals to these people.

By doing this, you will have a greater chance of success. You can also workout with someone to get the maximum benefits of social support.

According to research published in 2006, working out with someone else who loses fat significantly increases your chance of losing fat.

So stick with winners. Partner up with someone to get help and get their success to rub off on you.

If you can’t do that, then get a doctor, trainer, nutritionist, or some professional on your support team. Research shows that being accountable to an authoritative figure also increases your chance for success.

And finally, although there isn’t a research study to support me, I know that hanging around the right people will help you lose fat, while spending time with the wrong people will stop you from reaching your goals.

For example, if you continue to hang around beer-drinking, wing-eating friends 4 days of the week, expect to have a beer drinker’s body.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t have one special night out per week, but I am saying keep it to one night out, and limit the beer and wing intake.

Sacrifices have to be made, but it is a lot easier to make them when you have a social support team that is there helping you choose the right foods and do the right workouts.

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne,
Author, Turbulence Training – The Fastest Fat Burning Workout Routines

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Hey everyone,

No show this week. It was a crazy week and when it came to Sunday to record I spent the majority of the day raking and just did not have the energy or time to record, edit, and post the show. I didn’t want to give you  a mediocre 30 minute show.I am working on a guest for this week so stay tuned to the website.

New Forum

Forums.thefitcast.com is live! I have slowly been inviting people to the forum via Twitter and Facebook. Now it is open to everyone. We have a bunch of experts including Jonanthan Fass, Tony Gentilcore, Jen Heath, Leigh Peele, Brian St. Pierre, and Leigh Peele should be dropping by from time to time. Head over there now and sign up!

This is the first of two huge projects we are working on. But to be fair, the other project makes the forum look minuscule.  Look for an announcement around December 1st, I can not wait to tell you guys about this!!!

By: Kevin Larrabee

Check out my latest T-Nation artilce at http://t-Nation.com

Get this Week’s Episode:

MP3 Download/iTunes/RSS/Odeo

Hosts:

Kevin Larrabee (Twitter), Tony Gentilcore, Jonathan Fass, Leigh Peele (Twitter), and Mike Boyle

Sponsors:

• TurbulenceTraining.com- Boost Muscle Growth and Blowtorch Bodyfat!!!
  
• BlackStarLabs.com (Save 10% with “FIT10″ code in Coupons section at checkout)
  
• RobertsonTrainingSystems.com - High Octane Corrective Exercise and Performance Enhancement

FitCast NEWS

• Tease project…
• FitCast Insider extended until this Friday due to e-mail from Dave.

Mailbag

• Two voicemails
• Hey Kevin,
  I am a big fan of the show and have been listening since episode 50. Between this podcast and T-Nation I no longer want to read any body building/health magazines anymore.
  I have a few info shots for you guys before I get to my question.
  1. Tony was talking about how people look at him wierd when he orders a 6 egg omlete. Well I lift weights and work at a restaurant that does breakfast that are about a mile away from each other. I talk to the regulars at the gym and tell them what we have on the menu and what I can do to make it better for them. So now I am getting a lot more “body builder” breakfasts  in the morning. For example I made a 4 egg/ 4 egg white omlete with spinach, onions, tomatoes, and a side order of turkey links.
  2. Amy Jo Johnson (the pink Power Ranger) is on t.v. again. She is on a show called “Flashpoint”. It is on during the summer but you can watch the episodes on cbs.com. And yes, she still looks good.
  Now to my question, like I said earlier I work in a restaurant for 40 hours a week. I also walk to and from there which is about a mile round trip. I don’t get a chance to take breaks unless it is really slow so I am on my feet all day. I try to get to the gym 3 days a week if I am not too tired. Upper body workouts are fine but legs are another story. They are usually tired or sore after work. I hit them on my day(s) off, but it is usually once a week. Nutrition may be a factor. Since I can’t stop and eat during the rush I make a big smoothie, and I drink half 3 hours after I start my shift and half 3-3.5 hours later. It is usually made of whey protein, cottage cheese, low carb yogurt, nat. peanut butter and whatever fruit is cheap.
  I was wondering if you and the Scooby Gang have any routines/tips for people like me? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and keep going off topic. They are funny.
  Carl Schanz
• Hi Kevin and company,
  I am a masters’ student in engineering and my tenure is coming to completion. Yet I am growing pretty damn sick of engineering and my real passion lies in fitness and nutrition. I read a lot (I have EC’s book, among others) and was wondering what can I do to get into the fitness game. At this point it is doubtful that I would get a degree in phys but what about certifications? Any ideas. Thanks -Brandon
• Hey Kevin. I am currently training to run a marathon. I want to incorporate more weight training to lose some more body fat, but I don’t want to get huge arms or anything right now since any extra weight is weight that im going to have to carry for 26 miles. What are some things I can do to focus on fat loss without weight gain. Thanks -Paul

Interview with Brad Pilon