Craig Ballantyne Bodyweight Exercise Expert
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc., created the first ever supersets-interval fat loss workout you can do at home. His Turbulence Training fat loss workouts use dumbells and unique bodyweight exercises you can do at home.
Craig Ballantyne is a Strength & Conditioning coach in Toronto, author of Turbulence Training, a contributing author to Men’s Health magazine, and a member of the Training Advisory Board for Maximum Fitness and Oxygen magazines. Craig Ballantyne is a world-renowned expert in fat loss training, and is known as a trainer to the trainers.
Craig Ballantyne’s best-selling fat loss, muscle-building Turbulence Training workouts can be done at home by men and women, beginners and advanced, and by people with 10 lbs of fat to lose or 100 lbs of fat to lose.
Craig Ballantyne also has an advanced research background, completing a Master’s of Science Degree in Exercise Physiology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
It was during his research on sports supplements that Craig Ballantyne invented Turbulence Training. He combined his training experience with research to come up with the fastest fat loss workouts in the world, and modified them for men and women to do at home. Craig Ballantyne has been using these workouts with thousands of men and women all over the world for the last 8 years.
Today, Craig Ballantyne continues to study the latest training, supplementation, and nutrition research that will help improve client’s health and wellness as well as their physical and mental performance.
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95
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High-Rep. Low-Weight & Toning Workouts Don't Work
The old “high reps get you cut” myth is probably one of the most common misconceptions in the fat loss workout world. Spot reducing with high-reps and light weights doesn’t work. It won’t work for your abs, and it won’t work for your arms or chest, or your butt or thighs.
However, that doesn’t mean strength training is a waste of time for fat loss and body sculpting.
There are two very important reasons to include strength training in a fat loss program, but it’s not because high reps get you cut. Instead, lifting moderately heavy weights for a lower number of repetitions will help you gain muscle at the same time as you lose body fat, and it will also help you burn a lot more calories during training and after.
This goes for both men AND women. A study of women showed that when they used heavier weights and lower reps they burned more calories in the hours after training. And that’s the key. You have to put “Turbulence” on your body so that your muscles will increase their metabolism. By doing that, you burn fat and calories all day long, even while you sleep!
And as if the high-reps belief wasn’t enough, I can’t believe it when I read a fitness article misleading women that they can get “toned triceps” by lifting soup cans or water bottles. This will never happen!
It doesn’t matter how many photos the magazines show you of your favorite exercise instructor doing triceps kickbacks with water bottles in her hand, you will not get her body by doing that type of program. On the other hand, the bodyweight exercises in the Turbulence Training workouts will help you get sleek, sexy, defined arms.
So let’s leave it at this: For men and women looking to get lean and lose fat, you should go for efficient exercises – obviously the more muscles used per exercise the better. By doing pushups for example, you can train your triceps, chest, shoulders and abs all at once - literally cutting your workout in half (or more). And that’s what Turbulence Training is all about – more results in less time.
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
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Busy Woman Workout
You can get an incredible weight loss workout at home without any equipment. That’s right, you can burn fat and lose fat in the comfort of your own home. Your a busy woman, you don’t need fancy machines or expensive mega-gym memberships, and you don’t have to deal with line-ups or sweaty, stinky fellow gym-members. Ewww!
Okay, here’s the first thing you need. About a 8×8 open area. And your bodyweight. That’s it. Don’t rest between any of these exercises.
First exercise: Prisoner Squat
Place your hands behind your head, keep your elbows back, and squat down halfway to the ground. Keep your shoulder blades together to work your upper back and push your hips back as you squat to work your back of your legs.
Do that 10-20 times depending on your strength levels.
Second exercise: Push-up Plus
Do a regular pushup, but at the top, add a little extra push to round your upper back and make your shoulder blades move away from one another. Do 4-12 reps depending on your strength.
Third exercise: Plank
Support yourself on your forearms and toes and keep your body in a straight line from ankles to shoulders. You’ll be “hovering” just above the ground. Keep your abs braced and hold for 10-60 seconds depending on your endurance.
Fourth exercise: Split squat
Stand with one foot 2 feet in front of your body and the other foot 1 foot behind your body. This is a stationary lunge position. Bend your back knee and drop your hips to the floor. Then push up using the muscles of the lead leg. Use a wall for balance or support if needed. Do 5-12 reps per side depending on strength.
Rest 1 minute then repeat the circuit up to 4 times.
Have fun, and burn fat,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
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Buns of Steel
Here are my top 5 exercises for building buns of steel that you can do at home or at the gym, and with nothing more than your bodyweight or a set of dumbbells. You’ll build your butt fast with these moves. No wasting time. Do 1 circuit every other day, doing 10 repetitions for each exercise. Don’t rest between exercises.
1 – Squats
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Keep your chest up, push your hips back, and squat to parallel. Squeeze your butt and push back up to the start position.
2 – Split Squats
Take a step forward with one leg, bend the front knee, and keep your torso upright. Keep your front foot flat on the floor, but rise up onto the ball of your back foot. Drop your hips straight down and push through the front leg to return to the standing position. Stay in the “split” position for the entire exercise.
3 – Forward Lunges
Take a step forward with one leg, bend the front knee, and keep your torso upright. Keep your front foot flat on the floor, but rise up onto the ball of your back foot. Drop your hips straight down and push through the front leg to return to the start position where both feet are together again.
4 – Step-ups
Stand in front of a bench. Place one foot on the bench. Use that leg to pull yourself up onto the bench. Slowly lower yourself back to the floor.
5 – 1-Leg Hip Extensions
Lie on the ground with your knees bent. Point one leg straight up in the air. Squeeze your butt on the opposite side, and bridge your hips up to the ceiling so that your body is in a straight line. Slowly lower your hips back down, keeping them one inch off the ground at the bottom position.
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
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Fat Burning Workout Social Support
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.
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
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Craig Ballantyne Does The Body Weight 500 Workout
I remember the day I completed the Bodyweight 500 for the first time. It was a warm, muggy afternoon in September, and I started by taking a few deep breaths, rubbing my hands together, and mentally preparing myself for the challenge ahead.
And then I launched into it, not 100% sure what to expect. After all, not only was it my first time doing this workout, it was the first time anyone had ever completed the 500 workout. So I was my own guinea pig. What if it turned out to be too easy? What if it was too hard? What if I couldn’t even finish my own workout?
Fortunately, I started strong. I did all 50 Prisoner Squats without rest, and felt pretty good. I get nice and deep on the squats, but I don’t go as fast as some other people. But overall, I know I’ve done a lot of work already when I get through this exercise. Plus, I focus on keeping my elbows up and shoulder blades together so that I work my upper back muscles.
For the pushups, I did the same. I cranked out all 50 in a row. Now let me just say, you don’t have to do it that way. Feel free to do 30, rest, and then finish 20 more. Or do 10, rest, and repeat that 4 more times. Or do 10 sets of 5. Whatever gets you to 50.
Then I moved on to the 25 squat jumps. I put everything I had into the jumps, and didn’t hold anything back. And that’s how you have to be when you are in a challenge against yourself. Land with bent knees and explode back up as quickly as possible.
At this point, your quadriceps are tired from the squats and the jumps, so you move onto Stability Ball Leg Curls and crank out 25 of those. Your abs have to work for body control, and your hamstrings will be under a lot of tension. Don’t let your legs cramp up. I must admit, I slightly lost my balance here, and had to break my set up into 17 reps, a small break, and then 8 final reps.
Next up, 50 Stability Ball Jackknives. And I must say, I was very surprised to complete all 50 without rest. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Great! Onto the next exercise…
…which was step-ups. I did 25 reps per side. Nothing crazy here, just good old fashioned leg work. Now onto the 2nd half of the work, where you do a lot of pulling exercises, starting with 25 pullups. This is where you slow down the pace a bit, after all, there are not many people that can do 25 straigth pullups. I did a couple of sets of 8, then some sets of 4, and then a single to finish off my 25.
Then I moved to 50 forward lunges, doing 25 for each side. Not too bad, but my legs were getting tired. Time to fry the upper body. First, 50 close grip pushups. I did 30, 10, and then a final 10 reps. Tired! But I had to do 50 inverted rows next. So I did a set of 15, 10, 10, 10, and then 5. Your upper back muscles will be working.
Now we are on the home stretch. Up next, I did 50 regular bodyweight squats, and then moved to the final exercise, which slows you down again. This time, it was 25 chinups. I did 4 sets of 5, a set of 3, and then a final set of 2 reps to finish it all off.
And so endeth the initial Bodyweight 500 workout. All of that was done in 27:30. So far, quite a few people have beat me, and I know I could do better now that I have this benchmark to work against. Overall, the top time from any TT user is 22:03. Can you beat that?
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
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Body Weight 500 Workout 12 Exercises
There are 12 exercises in the Turbulence Training Bodyweight 500 Workout. You’ll do each from 25 to 50 reps before moving to the next exercise in the series. You can take a rest within an exercise, but don’t move to the next exercise until you have completed all of the reps for that exercise.
For example, when it calls for 50 pushups, you could do 25 pushups, rest, then another 15 pushups, rest, and then finish with 10 more pushups. Then you’d move to the 25 jumps.
Let’s take a look at each exercise and the form for all movements.
First up, you start with 50 Prisoner Squats. In this exercise, place your hands behind your head, squeeze your shoulder blades together, keep your chest up, and do regular bodyweight squats. To squat, push your hips back first, then bend your knees and squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Squeeze your glutes, and push yourself back up to the start position.
The second exercise is the classic pushup for 50 reps. Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart on the floor, squeeze your abs and keep your body in a straight line from head to feet. Lower your chest to the ground, keeping your body in a straight line, and then press up to the start position.
Twenty-five jumps are next. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart, quickly drop your hips and then jump up. Land softly and bend your knees to absorb the impact, then explode up into another jump as quickly as possible. Repeat for all 25 jumps.
Next, move to Stability Ball Leg Curls for 25 repetitions. Lie on your back and place your feet on top of a ball. Squeeze your butt and bridge your hips up so your body is in a straight line from heels to shoulders. Bend your knees, contract your hamstrings, and curl the ball toward your butt while keep your butt up in the air. Return to the start position and do that 24 more times.
Keep the ball handy, and get ready for 50 Stability Ball Jackknifes. Place your elbows on a bench and the laces of your shoes on the ball. Your body will be suspended in a straight line between the ball and the bench. Squeeze your abs and keep your body in a straight line as you tuck your knees into your chest by bringing the ball forward.
Use the bench for the next exercise as well, where you’ll do 50 step-ups (25 for each leg). Place one foot on the bench, and use that leg to pull you up to the standing position. Step back down, return the foot to the floor, and then repeat. Do all reps for one side and then switch.
Time for some upper body exercises. This time, you’ll do 25 pullups. Grab the bar with an overhand grip and hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Pull your chest up to the bar with each rep. This is one exercise where almost everyone will have to split up the 25 reps into smaller chunks. Do whatever you can, but there’s no doubt your workout will slow down here.
Then move into forward lunges for 50 reps, doing 25 for each side. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and step forward (with a slightly exaggerated step), place your foot on the ground, bend the knee and drop your hips straight down. Push through the lead leg to return to the start position. Do all reps for one side and then switch.
Next up is 50 Close-grip Pushups. These are the same as regular pushups, but with your hands placed only shoulder-width apart, no wider. Keep your elbows tucked into your sides to emphasize your triceps.
Move back to the bar to do 50 Inverted Rows. Set the bar at hip height in a squat rack or smith machine, lie on the ground underneath it, and grab the bar 3 inches wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your body in a straight line and row your chest to the bar while supporting your weight on your heels. Squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
Now its back to 50 bodyweight squats, regular style, with your hands in front of you or at your sides.
Then finish off with 25 chinups. Grab the bar with a shoulder-width, underhand grip and pull your chest up to the bar. After 24 more reps, you are done.
Congratulations, you’ve completed the Bodyweight 500 workout!
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
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Fat Burning Bodyweight Exercises
By using only dumbell and bodyweight exercises, you can burn fat and get lean at home. You don’t need fancy machines or pricey equipment to lose stomach fat.
If you have dumbells, you can do even more fat burning bodyweight exercises, and increase the challenge of your bodyweight exercises. If you don’t want to go to a workout center anymore, then don’t worry, you can burn fat at home.
Plus, by exercising at home, you’ll get your workouts done in the same amount of time as it would take to drive to the gym and back. Talk about a time saver!
Here are 27 exercises you can do at home to lose fat and build muscle, helping you burn belly fat and get 6-pack abs.
By putting these exercises together into supersets, you can get a total body resistance training workout done in only 20 minutes. Follow that up with 15-20 minutes of interval training, and you’ll have the best belly fat burning workout you can do in only 45 minutes.
Boring aerobic exercise is not necessary for fat loss. Let’s take a look at these fat burning, minimal equipment exercises you can do in a small space in your own home.
Here are the lower body exercises you can do to boost your metabolism and build a better butt and legs.
1. Squats
2. Stability Ball Leg Curls (don’t worry, these stability balls are super cheap, and you can get them for only $20 at almost any department store)
3. Lying hip extensions
4. Lying single leg hip extensions
5. Split Squats (aka. the stationary lunge)
6. Split Squats with your back foot elevated 6 inches
7. Reverse Lunges
8. Forward Lunges
9. Stepups
10. 1-Leg Squats
Many of those calorie-burning exercises can be done with dumbells as well, if you need to increase the challenge. If you want to build muscle, you’ll need to use dumbells as well.
There are many more lower body exercises you can do without machines. And its the same story with upper body exercises as well.
To work your arms and your chest, you can do all sorts of pushups.
1. Regular pushups
2. Close-grip pushups
3. Pushups with your feet elevated
4. Pushups with one hand elevated
5. My favorite, most difficult pushup, “Spiderman Pushups”
6. And beginners can start with either Incline Pushups or Kneeling Pushups.
If you have a bench and a set of dumbells, you can do…
1. Dumbell chest presses
2. Dumbell incline presses
3. Dumbell shoulder presses
And there are many variations of those you can do as well.
Training your back is trickier when exercising at home. If you have an adjustable pullup bar, you can do:
1. Inverted Bodyweight Rows (aka. Reverse Pushups)
2. Chinups
3. Pullups (these are overhand grip and harder than chinups)
Of course, I’m leaving out many variations of these fantastic exercises.
If you don’t have a bar, you need to use dumbells, and can do:
1. Dumbell Rows (there are probably a dozen different ways to do dumbell rows)
2. Dumbell Rear-Deltoid Raises
Finally, we’ll finish with ab training exercises you can do at home. Let’s ignore situps and crunches, since they aren’t the best use of your time, and can damage the low back.
I avoid crunching type ab exercises in my programs and use static endurance exercises, like:
1. Planks (and side planks)
2. Mountain Climbers
3. Stability Ball Jackknives
4. Stability Ball Rollouts
5. The Ab Wheel (yes, this infomercial gadget is actually useful!)
So that’s at least 29 fat burning bodyweight exercises you can do at home. But in fact, simple variations in technique, or adding dumbells, or changing hand position can actually give you 101 exercises you can with this list to help you burn belly fat and sculpt your body.
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95
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7 Ways To Get Motivated For Your Workout
There will be days (everyday?) when you don’t feel like doing your workout.
Sometimes you don’t want to get out of bed.
Sometimes you don’t want to leave your office because you feel like there are too many deadlines (but this is when you need a workout the most!).
Sometimes you don’t want to end story time with the kids only to head down to the basement gym.
It even happens to me.
But I knew how I’d feel like a million bucks after the workout.
And in the end, I know I can’t let myself become “soft” and start skipping workouts. I have to lead by example.
But if you are set on achieving a goal, then when it’s workouttime, come heck or high water you’ve got to bear down and do the job.
So here are 7 ways to get motivated for your workout and to get you inspired to get through your workout.
- Reward yourself. Finish your workout and treat yourself to a magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new songs for your IPOD, or even a little extra time for yourself.
- Or set up a punishment for missing workouts. Skip the workout, put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. Make sure your spouse controls the jar.
- Review your goals everyday and every night. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind will help you stay on track.
- Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting your butt to the gym. Once you get 5 minutes into the workout, you will be over the hump. So tell yourself, “I’ll just go in and do 1 set of the first 2 exercises, then I can go”. Next thing you know, you’ll have done the entire workout.
- Visualize yourself doing a great workout and finishing strong. Get yourself mentally prepared and you will literally have better workouts each time.
- Crank the tunes. Seriously, nothing motivates like music.
- Get social support. If you have a workout partner, you’ll feel like crap if you let them down. Or become accountable to everyone in the Turbulence Training workout forums…if you don’t post your workouts, they’ll track you down and demand to know why you’ve fallen off track! So online or offline, get everyone on your side!
Now get out there and kick the fat to the curb,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95
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Bodybuilding Cutting Exercises Don't Work For Getting Ripped
If you do a lot of cardio trying to get ripped, you are wasting your time. Same with high repetition sets. High repetition sets do not get you cut or ripped.
This is a myth, and there’s a much better way to sculpt your body, get ripped, and finally achieve the elusive 6-pack.
But again, let me repeat, you won’t succeed with high-repetition sets using light weights. And don’t even worry about the “pump”, but that’s another article for another day.
Getting ripped is all about nutrition and intensity. We want to be able to see our well-earned muscles and our 6-pack abs.
And that’s why we get lured into the belief of the cutting exercises. Because it causes a burn in our muscles, we generally think, hey, this must be burning fat. But it’s not! It’s just a fatiguing sensation.
If you are using a high-rep, cutting program, I doubt you are getting the results you want. You don’t need to be in the gym too long.
There is a better way to burn fat. A faster way. And a smarter way. It doesn’t involve “toning” workouts or “Cutting exercises”. What you need to do for fat loss, and getting cut, is to focus on the same exercises that helped you build muscle in the first place.
So forget the pec-dec, and stick with dumbell presses. Say goodbye to leg extensions, and keep using squats and lunges. Next up is the shocker! Use intervals to cut fat fast!
Instead, we’ll use interval training to burn fat and boost our metabolism in less than half the time as a normal cardio workout. Only 20 minutes of interval training done 3 times per week resulted in weight loss in one Australian study.
On the other hand, three 40-minute cardio sessions did not cause any weight loss in the same study. Shocking results, but it just goes to show you the power of intensity.
No more slow boring aerobics. That means saying goodbye to light weights and high reps and long slow cardio. Goodbye, nice to know you! If you want to get ripped muscles, diet hard?
First, you need the proper dietary changes to promote muscle gains and body fat reductions. Nutrition is the most important factor for fat burning and getting cut.
If your nutrition sucks, and you eat fast food or skip meals, you are in big trouble. There is no workout good enough to overcome bad nutrition. Next, focus on multi-muscle strength exercises and finish with interval training to burn more calories out of the gym.
Basic exercises such as squats, pushes, rows, and pulls done for 3-4 sets of 8 repetitions. If you did a squat, a press, and a row in each workout, and then did intervals, you’d get ripped if your nutrition was good. Work hard! Diet harder.
Forget about slow boring cardio. You need to do short burst exercise instead. Consistency is key for getting cut.
Work hard, and diet harder!
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.
Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95
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