Time is tight over the holidays…
Scratch that, time is tight all the time, but especially over the holidays.
And, there’s usually double to triple the amount of opportunity to indulge in excess calories during the holiday season.
I’ve talked about the main thing that makes you fat (insulin) and how to avoid it and now I want to point out the BEST form or exercise to get and keep you lean.
First off, you’re going to need resistance training. This is the biggest surprise of all to those women interested in fat loss. Increase your lean muscle tone and increase your metabolism. Fat is dead weight and doesn’t take many calories to maintain. Muscle, beautiful shapely muscle, on the other hand, takes more calories to maintain so that you’re actually burning more calories at rest when you add a bit of muscle to your frame.
Resistance training doesn’t mean you need to ‘join a gym’. You’d be surprised at how much muscle you can build with body weight exercises. For example, how many push ups can you do? Many ladies interested in women’s fat loss workouts can barely squeak out one push up. Don’t tell me that body weight exercises aren’t challenging. Many people avoid them because, in fact, they are too challenging.
How many of you have a treadmill? Many people will get on a treadmill and barely break a sweat. They take twice to four times as long to burn half the calories. Who has time for that?
The second thing that you need to is to add HIIT, or ‘high intensity interval training’. This is the MOST effective way to do ‘cardio’.
An example of HIIT may be as simple as doing a jog/sprint interval instead of going for a power walk or easy jog. You could do a minute of a jog followed by 30 seconds of a ‘sprint’ for 15-20 minutes. This would increase your metabolism for a period even after you’re done your workout so that you’re actually burning calories AFTER your workout.
It’s unlikely that you would be able to burn the same amount of calories doing long slow boring cardio in even double the time. How much time do you really want to devote to this endeavor? Aside from eating up your time, long slow cardio tends to get painfully BORING.
So, your best bet for fat loss then is to do resistance training and HIIT in combination. Jessica, my coaching client that just finished my program had awesome results using these principles. I wanted to share with you some questions she answered (unedited) regarding the program.
1. Why did you try the Shawna24/7 program?
I decided to try the 24/7 program because after having my second baby, I wanted to challenge myself and jump start my fitness. I had taken your Boot Camps before having my kids and knew first hand how great your fitness program was. I went to your website to check it out and discovered your new 24/7 program and thought it would be perfect for me ~ the fact that I could work out at home and get advice on my nutrition in order to optimize my training and weight-loss goals really appealed to me.
2. What was the biggest benefit?
The biggest benefit was getting into a routine with my fitness. By the midway point, I really started to think everyday “when am I going to get my work out in today” ~ it became a priority. Other benefits where that I lost pounds and inches, gained muscle and feel great.
3. What did you enjoy the most?
I really enjoyed and relied on the fact that you were my main support system for the 6 weeks. Even though I was doing a “virtual” program, I felt connected through our daily emails and texting. You were always quick to respond and if you didn’t hear from me you made sure to check in that day ~ even on Sundays!
I also really enjoyed the variety in the workouts, with a new one everyday there was no time to get bored. Another awesome part of the program was that the workouts were surprisingly quite short usually ranging from 25-50 minutes, however, very intense and so I always felt like I worked really hard. And one final thing was that very quickly, even after the first week, I started seeing results, this was extremely motivating for me.
4. What did you learn?
I learned that getting fit is actually pretty simple, it’s not rocket science. It’s about self discipline, motivation and hard work. But it’s also about having the right trainer, program and guidance.
5. What lifestyle changes do you feel you learned and will be able to maintain on your own?
The nutrition changes were really big for me and what I was missing in my past attempts at weight loss and training. I will definitely continue with the dietary changes. Things like eating frequent small meals, cutting back on “white” carbs (especially later in the day), eating more protein (especially with every meal), and allowing myself a cheat meal once a week. The other big thing is being active – daily – and it doesn’t have to be a long drawn out cardio workout.
6. What would you change about the program?
The program is awesome. One suggestion would be a little more instruction on some of the exercises. There were some exercises that did not have links to the exercise video file. Ensuring that every exercise can be viewed and found in one location would be helpful. (This has been addressed, I’ve added an exercise library page in the program, as well, it’s available in the member section on this blog, not sure Jess saw this…)
7. How could I help you more?
I really don’t think you could have helped me more than you did.
8. Would you recommend the program and why?
Yes, and I already have recommended your program because it’s super effective. As long as a person commits to the program and does the work (and it is hard work!), they will see results. And they will have a super supportive trainer who will be there to coach them along the way, answer questions and ensure they are accountable!
If you think that you’re ready to commit to such a program, you can apply here.
