California Fitness Expert Reveals Fat Burning Secrets

If you want to lose fat and save time, you need to discover one of the most famous fitness experts and fat loss trainers in California, Alwyn Cosgrove. I recently saw Alwyn speak at a seminar, and Alwyn showed study after study supporting his fat loss programs.

In this article, Alwyn will reveal his fat burning secrets in greater detail. This is Part 1 of a 3-part series. Parts 2 and 3 will deal with nutrition and the psychology of weight loss.

First, a little more about Alwyn (pronounced Allan!)…

Alwyn Cosgrove is a superstar in the world of physique transformation for men and women. He’s trained champions in multiple sports and winners of multiple 12-week body transformation contests. Alwyn owns and operates a training facility in Santa Clarita, California and he’s also written his own fat burning secrets book called “Afterburn”.

CB: What is the significance of adding circuits as you sometimes do? Are you always using total body sessions or do you sometimes use upper-lower splits?

AC: I tend to use split routines from the get-go, however I split the work based on movement patterns not on muscle group.

If the goal is fat loss I don’t use upper and lower body splits – although regardless of goal I tend to favor the non-competing supersets system that we both use.

As the client progresses I feel that they start to increase their loads in their exercise and need more rest between sets of the same exercise.

e.g. originally:

1a: Squat: one minute of work (e.g. 10 reps) with one minute of rest
1b: Push ups: one minute of work (e.g. 10 reps) with one minute of rest.

Between sets of squats I have 3 mins of rest (rest + push up time + rest) but if I’m doing three sets of each I’m still getting all the work done in 12 mins – one set every two minutes. My ACTUAL rest time is short – but my practical rest time is 3 mins, and my work density is one set every two minutes.

Eventually though we use heavier loads and need more rest – but here’s how we do it:

1a: Squat: one minute of work (e.g. 10 reps) with 45s of rest
1b: Push ups: one minute of work (e.g. 10 reps) with 45s of rest.
1c: Seated Row: one minute of work (e.g. 10 reps) with 45s of rest

So now I have 4 min 15s of rest between squats (45s rest + push ups + 45s rest + row +45s of rest). I can definitely go heavier with my legs having that much longer of a rest.

If I do three sets of each it takes me 15 mins and 45s. But I’m now getting NINE sets done in that time or one set in 1 min 45s. I’ve increased my practical rest time but I’ve also increased my work density. So I can go heavier AND get more work done in the same time when compared to the original program.

And just a reminder – we’re talking about fat loss training here – I’m not talking about optimal hypertrophy or strength routines.

CB: You talk about the “Afterburn” being a massive metabolic disturbance (aka – what I call “turbulence”) being applied to the muscle. Can you explain why this metabolic disturbance matters and simply, what it is?

AC: Quite simply if you work out every day for an hour – you’ll do seven hours of work.

But there are 168 hours in a week. 7 hours (a significant commitment that few people have time for) is actually only 4% of your week. Do you really think that you’ll make a difference with fat loss based on a 4% investment?
No way.

So we have to focus on the OTHER 23 hours of each day – the entire 168 hours
in the week.

The bulk of the calories your body burns comes from your resting metabolic rate (RMR). If we can turn that number up slightly – then we can make a big difference in total fat lost.

Now if we took that hour of exercise that we spend every day and could create a disturbance in RMR that would last (and as I mentioned earlier – studies have shown increased EPOC from a single workout 38 hours later) – then we are affecting the bigger picture.

Just by doing the math – forget about the workouts and the diet for now – if I could increase RMR only 25 calories per hour, every hour that would end up being 600 additional calories per day – or 4200 calories burned per week. That should result in over a pound of fat loss per week before we ven talk about the calories burned during the workout, the caloric deficit from the diet, the thermic effect of feeding, etc etc.

For fat loss – what you do in the workout is irrelevant – we are looking solely at a stimulus to drive EPOC up. Interval training and resistance training do that very well.

Steady state aerobic work, particularly at low intensities doesn’t do that as well – so it’s not the first tool we turn to.

Look at this study…

“Fat loss following 15 weeks of high intensity, intermittent cycle ergometer training”

Authors:
Trapp EG and Boutcher SH
University of New South Wales , Sydney , Australia

The study found 3 x 20 mins of intervals for 15 weeks resulted in more fat loss than 3 x 30-40 min of aerobics at 60% V02 max.

The interval training group lost about 3 times as much fat.

CB: Without spending too much time going over your thoughts on aerobic training for fat loss, is there a time you would ever use aerobic training?

AC:
Of course. I use it with deconditioned people – I’ve used it heavily myself since my transplant, and I use it with athletes needing to develop their aerobic system.

Aerobic exercise is very beneficial – please don’t misinterpret my thoughts on the matter – it’s just been overemphasized for fat loss. Does it work? Of course. Is it the BEST program (which is what people pay me for)? No.

For fat loss – I don’t use it too much. It doesn’t burn very many calories when compared to interval training and does little to increase EPOC – which is the biggest key in fat loss programming.

I do use aerobic training as part of a “stubborn fat” protocol that Lyle McDonald introduced me too, but realistically that type of training only applies to a small percentage of people. I don’t believe most people have stubborn body fat as much as they need a longer period of fat loss training and dieting.

Additionally – very occasionally you can have a client eating well, doing metabolic resistance work 3-4 days per week and intervals 3-4 times per week, and because of time constraints (e.g. a show/photo shoot/ movie is coming up) – you need to burn some more calories.

Under circumstances like that, it’s impractical to add another weight training session or another interval session – so we add 1-2 steady state aerobic sessions.

CB: What’s your favorite interval method and duration – has anything stood out in your experience as being more effective than other methods? And do you have any uniquely effective interval methods?

AC:
I think the Tabata Protocol holds some merit (20s on 10s off for 8 rounds) to just crank metabolism – but it is better for conditioning and athletic performance than for fat loss. But as with most things – it’s a useful tool in your arsenal.

Last year I experimented with a bunch of different work to rest intervals. Basically what I found is that the best fat loss results seem to come with 30 to 60s of work and 60-120s of rest. As much as I played around with it – I couldn’t really come up with anything that stood out as being superior.

As far as uniquely effective intervals – I think the future of fat loss training is going to move away from traditional cardiovascular based intervals and move towards, tabata stuff, bodyweight circuits, complexes, and strongman type medley’s with the same loading parameters.

CB: What’s more important – exercise fat oxidation or 24-hour energy
expenditure? Why?

AC: 24 hour energy expenditure.

If I take a workout and burn 300 calories from fat (ie very low intensity work), that’s 300 calories burned.

If I take a 30 min workout and create enough metabolic disruption so that you burn even  a calorie extra per minute, (and studies are showing an elevated EPOC for 38 hours), – then I’m looking at another 720 calories for the next 24 hours PLUS the calories burned in the original workout.

Focusing on what is burned DURING the exercise session is massively short sighted. That type of thinking has its roots in the mythical fat burning zone. I hope we don’t have to go into that.

CB: Look for part 2 where Alwyn discusses where most nutrition plans go wrong….and whether or not low-carb diets work…

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.

Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95

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Men Vs. Women - The Top 5 Reasons Why It's Hard for Women & Men to Burn Body Fat | Reasons Why It's Hard for Women & Men to Burn Body Fat

Here are 5 reasons men and women struggle with weight loss and have a hard time with they try to burn body fat. Plus, you’ll discover the 3 essential techniques everyone must follow in order to burn fat and boost their metabolism.

#1) The number one reason men and women have a hard time losing weight is because of poor nutrition.

Advantage: Women

Most women are better educated on food choices, but men continue to eat as if they were still playing college football. As a result, men will have a harder time losing weight because no matter how much they exercise, they are still eating too many calories. You can’t “out-train a bad diet”.

#2) The second reason men and women struggle with weight loss is because their metabolism decreases over time due to muscle loss and reduced activity.

Advantage: Men

Most men have more muscle mass and get more exercise than women. Plus, more men do strength training while women neglect this key element of the fat burning equation. In fact, a recent study showed that both men and women can lose fat and gain muscle (http://www.workoutmanuals.com) at the same time with strength training – even at age 60!

Without strenght training and interval training, women will continue to burn fewer calories per day with each passing year and will have a harder and harder time with fat loss.

#3) Men and women will struggle with weight loss if they only rely on slow, boring cardio.

Advantage: Men

More men do interval training, and that is better than slow cardio for fat loss.

In a recent study, men and women on a year-long cardio program lost only 6-8 pounds, even though they exercised 6 days per week. In another study, a group of women did not lose weight after 15 weeks of cardio (3x’s per week). In contrast, a group of women in the same study that did interval training were able to lose belly fat.

#4) Men and women have a hard time with weight loss if they don’t have social support.

Advantage: Women

Most men try to do everything on their own, but weight loss is easier if you have social support. On the other hand, most women are more willing to recruit help from friends and family when on a weight loss program. Men and women can get social support from friends at work, from their family, from people at the gym, or even in an online fat loss forum such as the Turbulence Training Members Forum.

#5) Men and women struggle with weight loss because of poor execise choices.

Advantage: Tie.

Most guys and gals just show up at the gym without a plan – or they just go for a jog and do some crunches. But without a professional plan, both men and women will not lose weight, but only waste time.

To lose the most amount of fat in the least amount of time, both men and women should follow a program containing the following three essential elements…

A) A reduced-calorie diet of whole, natural foods.

No one needs an extreme eating plan. Just focus on eating 10-20% fewer calories than you need, focusing on vegetables, fruits, nuts, and sources of protein and healthy fats. Stay away from anything in a bag or a box.

B) Resistance training (Strength training)

Resistance training, using dumbells, bodyweight exercises, or barbells help men and women burn fat and build muscle.

C) Interval training

Short bursts of exercise, as done in interval training, work better than slow, boring cardio, and get results in half the time.

In a recent transformation contest, both men and women using a fat loss program of resistance training and interval training were able to lose up to 33 pounds of fat in only 12 weeks.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.

Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95

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5 Secrets to Burning Stubborn Female Fat

5 Secrets to Burn Stubborn Female Fat & Lose Inches from Your Tummy & Thighs.

If you are sick of not losing fat but doing endless hours of cardio, “classes”, and light weight exercises, then you are in the right place.

Some of my favorite clients have been burnt out moms and busy businesswomen who still made time to exercise but weren’t getting any results. The scale wasn’t budging, their pants were still tight, and none of the body parts seemed to be tightening up.

In fact, I still remember one conversation I had with my number one client of all time, Annie, a mom who did lots of cardio and light weights before she came to train with me.

After one of our first sessions, we sat down at the Starbucks across the street from the gym on a beautiful spring morning, her with a coffee and me with a Green Tea, and I shared with her the 5 secrets to burning stubborn female fat and losing inches from her tummy and thighs.

Annie couldn’t believe that there was any “secrets” about burning fat. She’d been reading all the workout magazines and talked to all her running gal pals about losing weight, and they all said the same thing – Do more cardio and eat less fat. So Annie was calling me out, and saying I wouldn’t be able to tell her anything she didn’t know.

Of course, she didn’t realize who she was talking to.

So I told her straight up, depending on cardio only to lose inches is a dead-end game. It just won’t happen. And then I let her in on my 5 secrets.

You ready?

Secret #1 – Use Interval Training, Not Cardio

At the time of our discussion, the Australian research study showing interval training to be more effective than cardio for fat loss in women had not yet been published. However, I knew from another study (from back in the 1990’s) and from experience that nothing beats interval training for maximum results in minimum time.

Annie was skeptical. She had been doing cardio for years, and at first she lost some weight, but then she hit a plateau.

Her assumption was that she simply needed to do more. But she was already running 4 hours per week. Where was there time to do more?

So I turned her on to Interval Training.

And that was the start of her love affair with short burst exercise. Within weeks her arms were sculpted, just in time for a party where she wore a sleeveless dress. She came in on Monday morning after the party weekend and told me that all the women were talking about her and her arms! All thanks to interval training, and this next little secret…

Secret #2 – Nutrition is the #1 Factor for Fat Loss

Annie liked Starbucks, not only for the coffee, but for the carbohydrates they had behind the counter. But once I told her how many calories and sugar were in those snacks, she knew she was in trouble.

“But Craig,” she said in her sweet Southern drawl (she was originally from down south but moved to Toronto with her family), “I need a lot of carbohydrates for my running.”

A classic excuse!

Now I can’t be too hard on Annie, because ALL runners love to use running to justify their excessive sugar, carbohydrate, and calorie intake. But that doesn’t help you lose inches. In fact, all these carbohydrates and extra calories are keeping the inches glued to your waist, hips, and thighs.

The fastest way to get them off is to limit your carbohydrate intake to almost entirely fruits and vegetables, and to eliminate processed carbohydrates from a bag or a box.

If you want more fat burning carbohydrate ideas, you’ll be thrilled with Dr. Chris Mohr’s ideas in the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss Nutrition Guidelines.

So addressing Annie’s “cardio and diet” issues were two of the biggest factors in getting her inches off, but the next tip was the real key behind her sculpted arms.

Secret #3 – Use Bodyweight Exercise to Boost Metabolism and Sculpt Your Body

Before Annie came to me, she was doing light dumbbell exercises, but none of her efforts were making an impact on her body. It was a waste of her time.

Until I showed her the power of bodyweight exercises. And not just the same old, same old, either. I showed her dozens of different pushups, total body ab exercises, and leg sculpting moves that she had never tried before. And even though we worked out at a gym, she could have done all of these workouts at home.

And thanks to her ability to do 15 close grip pushups, she was the one turning heads in her sleeveless dress at that party. But I bet you want to know more about the total body ab exercises I just mentioned. Annie sure did when I first mentioned them.

Secret #4 – Crunches Are Useless – But Total Body Ab Exercises Work!

At the end of our first workout, Annie was experiencing simultaneous fatigue and exhilaration. She’d never performed over half of the exercises in her workout before, and she loved that no little pink dumbbells were involved.

And as we moved into the abdominal exercise portion, she looked at me as if I had two heads while I rhymed off some of our options.

Mountain Climbers, Spiderman Climbs, Stability Ball Jackknives, Side Planks, Cross-Body Mountain Climbers, Chops, and Stability Ball Rollouts were all knew to her. And knew to her abs too! And that’s why she made so much progress.

No more 500-crunch workouts for Annie. Instead, she would get more results in much less time, and with less than 50 repetitions of her new total body ab exercises.

Secret #5 – When You Use Weights, Do Less Reps

I get really fired up about this one, as Annie would agree from first hand experience. As we sat on the patio at that Starbucks, well after we finished our drinks, I was still quoting research studies and success stories to her, telling her why it’s a downright shame that women have been mislead about how to do strength training.

For decades, women were told to use light weights and high reps to tone their muscles. But do you know anyone who has had success with that? And none of the women I’ve trained ever had a trainer show them how to do pushups or chinups. It was so sad that they had wasted thousands of dollars on trainers who did not respect their physical ability.

Ooops, I told you this gets me fired up. So I convinced Annie that in future sessions we’d use dumbbells, and do only 8 reps per set to get the biggest metabolism boost in the least amount of time. And that’s what we did. In fact, she eventually worked up to 35 pound dumbbells in the dumbbell chest press exercise, and still had TINY, TONED arms.

No woman gets big and bulky on Turbulence Training. Not if she follows my 5 secrets.

My Turbulence Training workouts are based on proven scientific methods for burning belly fat and increasing your metabolism, PLUS…the Turbulence Training Workout have been used by thousands of women and I’ll share some of the most powerful success stories later in this report.

But for now, let’s look at a sample Turbulence Training bodyweight workout you can do in the comfort of your own home to burn stubborn female body fat…

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training.

Try Turbulence Training today with the Trial Version for only $4.95

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