If you want to cut down the amount of time you spend in the gym without sacrificing your fat loss goals, then adding interval training to the right strength training program is the only way to go.

Imagine spending half the amount of time doing cardio, and getting way better results! Who doesn’t want that? For some of you though, the thought of giving up your usual cardio machine/routine is too painful.  But not to worry because you can still use your favorite machine, but you can just change things up a bit so that you get more out of your workout in half the time.

There are many ways to do interval training, but here is one example of a great fat-blasting interval training workout on any piece of cardio equipment you choose:

Let’s use the elliptical machine as an example, but you can do this on the treadmill, bike, arc trainer, stair stepper, etc.

• Warm-Up for 5 minutes at a moderate pace
• Bump up the resistance as high as you can and go as hard as you can for 30 seconds (a 9-10 out of a scale of 10)
• Take it down to a level of 6-7 for 60 seconds
• Repeat that 90 second interval 4-8 times
• Cool down for 5 minutes

The same intervals can be done with a 1 min on/2 min off time period. These can even be done with body weight exercises at home! Don’t limit yourself to the gym. This is a great way to challenge your body and can be done anywhere.

You will great a great fat-blasting workout in 15-20 minutes, and it won’t be boring either! Nothing quite challenges your heart, body, AND melts fat like interval training. The benefits are numerous. Try it-you will see results!

1) It is a functional movement. The squat movement is a daily part of life.  Every time you sit in a chair or stand back up, you are doing a variation of a squat.  When you get in or out of bed, down on or up off the floor, on or off the toilet, guess what you have to do…squat.  If you’re not able to squat, your mobility in life is very limited.

2) It burns a lot of calories. Caloric burn is the name of the game when it comes to weight loss and getting lean so why not do the exercises that are going to burn the most calories.  The squat is one of those.  You get a lot of ROI with this one (Return on Investment).  We call that “getting a lot of bang for your buck.”

3) It boosts your metabolism. Not only do you burn a lot of calories while doing them, squats have the ability to help you build a lot of muscle.  And the speed of your metabolism is a direct product of the amount of muscle you have.  This means you will burn more calories while you AREN’T working out.  Sounds like a pretty good deal huh?

Most people don’t like doing squats, though, because they aren’t a comfortable exercise to do.  I mean I even have a Love/Hate relationship with them. Love them for all the benefits but I’m not going to lie. They are tough and can cause some serious nausea when done with some intensity as well as a lot of soreness…Check back soon for more on the squat in Part 2.

Here are tips 3-5…

3. Get around the right people

You need people/friends around you who will encourage you in the process, it’s hard to do alone. Get a gym partner who is motivated and has goals. Find someone who will do home workouts and hold you accountable in your diet. If the only people you spend time with are unmotivated, and roll their eyes when you  order a salad instead of a cheeseburger, you are going to have to intentionally get some people around you who can help you and encourage you. I’m not saying to ditch your friends that don’t exercise, but make sure you do get around a few people who can share a common goal with you.

4. Routine!

You will most likely be successful when you create a regular exercise routine for yourself, as well as plan your meals ahead of time. Maybe that’s joining us at Bootcamp early in the morning, going to the gym the same time/days of the week, or working out at home before/after work. Get into a routine and stick with it. Read more about planning your nutrition here.

5. The Right Mindset

You’ve got to have the right mindset, if you don’t believe you can do it and don’t think like a healthy, lean person, then you will never be one. You can debate methods of fat loss/workouts all day, but if you don’t have the mindset of the person you want to be, then you’ll never change. Real, long term change comes from within. Make the decision today to become that person, and then get after it!

And then it’s time to binge. A whole lot of pizza, dessert and everything else you feel you’ve deprived yourself of all those months. And then, you’re right back to where you started. Or even worse than when you started. It’s time to stop the quick-fix, yo-yo lifestyle and make a life-long commitment to being healthy and looking great.

Here are the first 2 tips of 5 on staying motivated…

1. Find an INTERNAL desire to be healthy instead of an EXTERNAL reason to get fit.

Yes, short-term goals and events are helpful and motivating. Sometimes they are important in getting you started. But they will TYPICALLY (not always) only get you through that event, then you tend to fall off the wagon when they are your ONLY source of motivation. Finding your motivation to get in shape outside of yourself in something such as a big event, an article of clothing you want to fit into, or to impress friends or family is a recipe for crash and burn. Deep down you need to have a personal belief that caring for your body with proper nutrition, exercise, and rest is your own responsibility.

2. No more “victim” mentality.

Most people that have a problem with their weight or how their body looks usually have an irrational reason outside of themselves to blame for them being that way. Basically by not being where we want to be in life we justify it to ourselves by blaming our problem on something or someone else. That could be our genetics, our metabolism, our job, not having enough time, having kids, not having enough money, etc. etc. You know what I’m talking about…we all have excuses. Don’t let yourself be a victim. Admit to yourself that where you’re at with your fitness is because you let yourself get there. And then decide to make a change.

I’ll share tips 3-5 next…check back soon!

It’s a good idea to change your exercise routine at least every MONTH or so. This is about the time your body will adapt to what you have been doing and need a new challenge. Also, you will have something new to look forward to, and it will prevent you from both mentally and physically getting into a rut.

Benefits of changing your workout:

• Prevents plateaus-which will in turn help you keep moving toward your goals!
• Helps prevent injuries by constantly challenging muscles to adapt and not creating muscle imbalances or overtraining injuries
• Recruits more muscle fibers- which will help develop more tone & strength and increase your body’s ability to burn more fat

There are several ways you can mix it up, but here are a few:

• Exercises (there are MANY ways to work one muscle group-don’t get married to just one! Each time you increase the difficulty of an exercise, your body has to scramble to adapt and perform)
• Volume (how many reps & sets you lift)
• Intensity (how hard or how much weight you lift)

Don’t get in a rut-you will get discouraged and want to give up because you aren’t seeing results.  Change it up! You won’t be disappointed.

Interested in changing it up but don’t know how?  Or just not able to get the intensity you need b/c it’s hard to push yourself when you’re alone. If so, the BodyByBuck Bootcamp is a great solution for you!  Your body desires change…

Sodium causes retention of fluids in the body and increases blood pressure. There is no need to add sodium to any food-there is more than enough occurring naturally in food. You should avoid adding salt to food, and eliminate all processed foods.

Here are three quick Valentine’s Day Fat Burning Tips to help keep you on track:

1) Make sure you get a good workout in that day. Preferably strength training. It’ll have you blasting fat all day long.

2) Whatever you do, do NOT starve yourself all day long in anticipation of your big night out. That’s one of the worst things you can do.

3) If you’re having a chocolate craving – it is Valentine’s Day after all – you want to have some good dark chocolate on hand. (Note: I recommend Prograde Cravers. See the bottom of this email as they are on sale this week!)

4) Start Valentine’s Day off with 2 large cups of water when you wake up. You also want to drink 1-2 cups before each meal as it will help you from consuming WAY to many calories.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

PS – Here are all the details on Prograde Nutrition’s 14% off Prograde Cravers sale.

Organic Dark Chocolate Prograde Cravers have no preservatives, only 180 calories and they come in three delicious flavors: peanut butter, almond butter and spirulina.

The even better news is they are on sale all this week for Valentine’s Day. Here’s everything you need to know:

- Again, because it’s Valentine’s Day, the sale is 14% off all purcahses of Prograde Cravers
- When you checkout you will enter this coupon code to save the 14%:  vday0909
- Shipping will take 3-5 days, so while I HIGHLY recommend you jump all over this sale Buy them as a healthy gift for yourself or others.
- The offer cannot be combined with others from Prograde and it ends this Saturday, February 14th at 11:59pm EST.
- Prograde Cravers are NOT available in stores anywhere. You can only find them online here: Prograde Cravers.

Few questions:  How are your “New Year’s Resolutions” coming along?  Are you making progress toward your goals?  What progress have you made?  If not, what changes need to be made?  Not sure, then maybe readjust your goals.

• Not working out?  – Get an accountability/workout partner.
• Nutrition suffering? – Keep a nutrition log for a week.
• Not getting enough sleep?  – Map out your day (even to the minute) and do your best to stick to it (step away from the computer/turn off the TV).
• Not getting results from your exercise?  – Change up your workout.
• Hard time getting motivated? – Set goals with rewards for achieving and consequences for not for yourself.

A few reasons why lack of sleep can limit your fat loss is your body needs rest to adequately recover.  If you’re working out hard (which I hope you are), your body has to repair the damage you are doing to it in your workouts (a good thing), like building muscle.  A lot of this is done during sleep so if you’re not sleeping, you’re hindering your recovery.  This can not only limit gains and but make you less energized during workouts (which will me less intensity/effort and calories burned).  You see the pattern here?

Another reason is the longer we are awake, the more we tend to eat.  Lack of sleep can interfere with hormones that control apetite and promote nighttime snacking on junk food.  One study said we eat about an extra 120 calories for every hour we are awake.  For even one hour/day, do the math and 120 calories could add up to a pound of fat a month. 2 hours, even more.  Something to consider as you are planning your day out tomorrow so you can make time for adequate sleep!

*This is not an excuse to sleep all the time.  Too much sleep can be unhealthy as well.  Find the right balance for you.