It might be the holiday season but that doesn’t mean you can let bad eating habits slip in, use these 7 diet tips to keep you fat free this Xmas.

There are many things you can do to control your waistline at Xmas time, use the 7 strategies below to prevent over indulgence.

1. Fill up on good food first.
Just because it’s Xmas that doesn’t mean you can gorge yourself on anything at the table, begin every meal by eating wholesome nutritious food such as fruits, veggies, fish and nuts. This way by the time the dangerous high calorie foods come out youll be to full to do too much damage.

2. Intense workouts before or after a big meal.
This doesn’t really fall into the category of diet tips but definitely needs special mention. Within 30 minutes before, or up to 3 hours of intense activity your body craves higher calorie/carbohydrate meals. Look to fit some high intensity activity into this time, even a 20-30 minute steady walk will help limit the damage.

3. More water please!
Drinking water limits the amount of space in your stomach and can help reduce your appetite. For every plate of food you eat, drink between 1 and 2 glasses of water. With 1 liter of water and a plate full of food in your stomach you might just pass on desert.

4. Please sir can I have some more!
Eat slow and chew your food more, research shows that after 20 minutes of eating a signal goes off in the brain telling you you’re full. Try eating only half of any unhealthy foods on you plate, half the potion means half the calories.

5. Never eat junk first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
Eating sweet food first thing in the morning will send your blood sugar levels loopy for the rest of the day resulting in more sweet food cravings and uncontrollable hunger. On the other end of the scale eating a high calorie meal just before you go to bed will result in a ton of unused energy which will end up being stored as body fat.

6. Stay away from empty liquid calories and Alcohol.
One of the fastest ways you can put on weight is through drinking empty calories. It’s possible to consume over 1000 calories per day just from liquid calories alone. This means that in just one week you will gain 1kg of body fat just from fluids. Stay away from juices and soft drinks and opt to eat wholesome solid foods that will fill you up and provide your body with the nutrients it needs. Alcohol is full of empty calories and with no real nutritional value which will therefore increase fat storage. Drinking too much alcohol reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy and while the liver is metabolizing alcohol you’re unable to metabolize fat.

7. Don’t starve yourself before a big meal.
Starving yourself before a big meal will lead to overeating. Not only that but you will crave foods that are high in sugar, fat or both. Starving yourself forces your body into survival mode, your body will anticipate a famine state so much of the incoming food will be stored as body fat (survival energy) in anticipation that it won’t see food again for another long period of time. Eat every 2 to 4 hours just as you normally would and stop yourself from becoming a human garbage disposal.

Till next time.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Sydney Personal Training
Sydney Fitness Boot Camps
Sydney Corporate Fitness

Here is part 2 of your 3 part mini series ‘16 Fat Loss Tips You Can Use Today, by applying these strategies to your lifestyle you will instantly look better, feel better and be on your way to reaching your full potential.

If you missed part 1 you can view it here… Fat Loss Tips

If you have any questions please feel free to comment below.

Fitness tip # 6 - Calorie deficit. Through proper diet and regular exercise create a calorie deficit. This simply means burning more calories than you’re consuming. Keep a journal and get a calorie counter, you can record your diet for free at www.fitday.com. How are you supposed to know how many calories you’re putting into your body if you’re not keeping track of what you’re eating and drinking? By creating a calorie deficit you’ll be using energy from your energy stores (body fat). The trick is not to create a calorie deficit that’s too high or your body will think its starving and will begin too slow your metabolism down, your focus should be on losing fat, not necessarily weight. A too high calorie deficit can also cause a reduction in lean muscle mass making it harder for you to lose weight.

Fitness tip # 7 – Weight training. Muscle is the only tissue that is metabolically expensive. Therefore increasing muscle mass will elevate your metabolism at rest, you’ll burn more calories sitting behind your desk and whilst you’re asleep, you will also burn a considerable more amount of energy whilst you’re exercising through greater energy demand from the increase in lean muscle. Perform exercises that will give you the biggest return, compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats, pushing and pulling exercises and use a variety of combination lifts and circuits. Use drop sets and superset’s and keep the rest period in between exercises to a minimum.

Fitness tip # 8 - Consume more protein. Eating protein will keep you fuller for longer, meaning you’ll consume less overall calories in a day. Eating protein also makes your digestive system work twice as hard as eating carbohydrates and fat, so by eating more protein you’ll be burning more calories through digestion (this is known as the thermic effect). One of the biggest mistakes people make when dieting is that they lose muscle as well as fat, which will in turn slow down their metabolism. By eating plenty of protein and following a suitable weights program this will ensure you maintain your muscle tissue. If you have trouble consuming adequate amounts of protein, try supplementing with a ‘whole food based’ protein drink.

Fitness tip # 9 - Interval Training. Interval training is the #1 cardiovascular exercise for weight loss. It includes high intensity exercise (for10-60 seconds) broken up with periods of low intensity exercise. The good thing with interval training is that you burn more calories in a shorter amount of time. So there’s no need to spend hrs pounding away on a treadmill, you can be done in 20-25 mins and that’s including your warm up and cool down! This form of training will keep your metabolism elevated for up to 24 hrs after you’ve finished training, through E.P.O.C (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), so you’ll be burning calories even while you’re sleeping.

Fitness tip # 10 - Include a cheat day once a week! Keep your body guessing and have a cheat day once a week. This will stop your body from hitting a plateau and stop your metabolism from slowing down. A cheat day is a good time to eat the foods you’ve been craving throughout the week. No-one can eat perfectly 100% of the time without cracking, so hold off any foods that aren’t in your nutrition plan until this day. Having a cheat day will allow you to be good for the other 6 day’s of the week, (just don’t go too mad)!

Be sure to check back in a few days for part 3 of this mini series.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Sydney Personal Training
Sydney Fitness Boot Camps
Sydney Corporate Fitness

In this three part series I’m gonna give you some great tips that will help kick start your weight loss regimen and put you on the road to living a healthier life. Obviously these are just are a few of the many things that you can do to help you lose weight, but if you apply and make these changes to your daily lifestyle, you can be free from the hype and B.S and be on your way to a new you.

Fitness tip # 1 – Eat low GI foods. Eat foods that are low on the GI index. Put Simply, The Glycemic Impact Index (GI) of a food tells you whether the carbohydrate in the food is fast or slow releasing. Eating foods that have a high GI rating causes your insulin levels to rise, it’s a known scientific fact that your body has trouble burning fat when your insulin levels are elevated. Foods that are low GI will give you longer lasting energy whereas high GI foods will give you a short burst of energy, leaving you feeling hungry shortly afterwards. Avoid simple sugars which are found in sweets, soft drinks, cakes, bread, bagels, white pasta/rice and juices. Limit alcohol consumption. Instead get the majority of your carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, beans and brown rice.

Fitness tip # 2 – Healthy Fats. Not all fats are bad for you, the right kind of fats are essential for optimal health and help reduce the risk cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and a host of other illnesses. Foods that are high in saturated fat, which are found in animal based foods and Trans fats which are in processed foods should be kept to minimum. Totally eliminate fatty meats from your diet (bacon, sausages etc). If you do eat meat, make sure it’s a lean cut. Make sure you eat plenty of seeds, nuts, avocado’s and fish and be sure to take an omega 3 supplement.

Fitness tip # 3 - Drink plenty of water. Two thirds of the human body consists of water, which makes it our most vital nutrient. Water is necessary for the transportation of essential vitamins and minerals as well as carbohydrates. If your water intake is low you lose the ability to transport nutrients through your body and substances such as urea, uric acid, ammonia and other nasty matter begin to accumulate, leaving you feeling lethargic. If you don’t drink enough water your body will actually store more water because it’s not sure how long it will have to wait for you to drink again. So by drinking more water it’s actually possible to lose 1-2 kg of bodyweight of stored fluid. Drinking a glass of water before your meal can also help control your appetite and stop you from overeating.

Fitness tip # 4 - Eat 5-6 meals times a day. Eating at regular intervals will keep your metabolism burning strong throughout the day. You’re also less likely to binge eat, will have stable energy levels and will burn more calories through increased meal consumption (digestion burns calories). If you have trouble eating 5-6 meals a day, try adding a meal replacement to your diet, make sure its ‘whole food based’ so it has genuine nutritional value.

Fitness tip # 5 - Eat more fiber. A diet that is high in fiber will aid in fat loss whether you’re eating less calories or not. Fiber assists weight loss by releasing sugar into the bloodstream slowly. High levels of sugar in the bloodstream cause an insulin spike which will slow fat burning. Good sources of fiber are found in whole grains, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit and vegetables. Avoid refined and overcooked foods.

Be sure to check back in a few days for part 2.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Sydney Personal Trainers
Sydney Boot Camps
Sydney Corporate Personal Training

As a personal trainer and boot camp owner I’ve helped countless people with their weight loss goals. I’m going to share with you some of my favourite exercises that you can use in your own workouts to breakthrough any training plateau. They are the same exercises I have used to help hundreds of people lose thousands of kilos of fat.

I’ll try and keep this simple, the best exercises for increasing muscle are also the best exercises for losing fat. All these exercises have one thing in common: they work many muscles at once and are very challenging to the body.

Scientific research and real world experience shows that total body workouts are the most effective form of training for fat loss and muscle gain. But lets go one step further…

Your results can be substantially increased by using total body exercises within a total body workout! For example, squats are one of the best exercises for building lean muscle whilst shedding unwanted fat.

So what if we took the squat and combined it with an upper body movement like a shoulder press. Now this exercise becomes unstoppable for getting you the great results. Its plain to see that by incorporating your upper and lower body into one movement youll reap even greater rewards.

Heres The Fantasy Body Equation:

more muscles worked = more calories burned + more lean muscle = more fat loss + more muscle gained

To be totally honest I have a big love hate relationship with the exercise Im about to show you. Firstly I love them because of their ability to burn unparalleled amounts of fat and secondly for their muscle building properties that keep me in great shape. On the other hand I hate them because they break me every workout (but in a good way), be warned these exercises are not for the weak minded.

So without delay, let me present my top 7 exercises for shedding fat and building lean muscle.

1. Olympic Lifts: Dumbbell or Kettlebell Cleans, Snatches, High Pulls or a combination of all.

2. Wood Chopping exercises: Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, Bands, or Sandbags

4. Press Up Combination Exercises: Press ups with knee raise, Push up with Row, Push up with burpee etc..

6. Med Ball Snatch with Slam Combination

7. Squat combination exercises: Squat and press, Squat and row, Squat and curl etc.

If you incorporate these exercises into your workouts I guarantee you’ll see better results faster.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Trainers Sydney
Boot Camp Sydney
Corporate Personal Training Sydney

With all the Xmas parties, shopping and catching up with friends and family the holiday season can be a busy time, don’t let yourself get into bad habits and fall into the trap of missing workouts.

Missing workouts and losing the lean muscle mass you worked so hard to develop is a big mistake.

The reason…

Less lean muscle equals lower metabolism, muscle accounts for the bulk of your daily calorie burning (between 65-75%).

This means that you’ll be burning less and less calories 24/7 putting you in grave danger of piling on unwanted body fat through the holiday season.

It gets worse…

The loss of strength will mean your training has regressed - a rude awakening on your first day back to training.

But…

There are a few clever strategies you can use to maintain or even increase the number of calories you burn everyday.

Use the strategies below to avoid stacking on the holiday kilos…

1. Reach Your Totals. Your body cannot differentiate between 100 squats all at once versus 100 squats performed in a day. If you honestly can’t fit in a 10-20 minute workout during the day, look for little chunks of time where you can get in a certain number of reps a day that will work your entire body.

Got a spare few minutes before the turkey has to come out of the oven, then crank out 12 press ups, 12 bodyweight rows and 15 squats. Using this system will soon add up to large number of reps by the end of the day that will burn just as many calories as if you did all the exercises at once.

Its important to recognize that this system should only be used as a backup to performing your usual exercise routine of total body workouts and interval training which are scientifically proven to burn 9 times as much fat as traditional exercise (click here for fat burning workout).

High intensity exercise and short rest periods provide the body with the best hormonal environment for muscle gain and quick fat loss.

Be sure to choose large compound exercises that work as many of your bodies major muscles in the shortest amount of time i.e press ups, chin ups, bodwight rows, squats, lunges etc.

Use the routines below to “reach your totals”, adjust the rep range according to your current level of fitness.

There’s no need for any fancy pieces of equipment, just use your bodyweight and if you have them dumbbells or barbells.

Perform the program every other day ensuring you rotate between routine 1 and routine 2, you can either reach your totals by performing one exercise at a time i.e 100 squats (with rest breaks until you reach your total) or by performing the exercises as a circuit i.e 20 press ups, 20 bodyweight rows and repeat 5 times throughout the day until you reach your total.

Reach Your Totals Holiday Program

Routine A

Press ups: 50-100 total
Body weight Squats or reverse lunges: 100-200 total
Bodyweight Rows: 50-100 total

Routines B

Walking Lunges or Hip Extensions: 100 total
Bodyweight Dips: 50-100 total
Dumbbell or Barbell rows

2. Be More Active. Technology has made us a lazy and overweight society, during these holidays be more active. If you need to go to the shops and it’s 15-20 minute walk then leave the car at home, take the stairs instead on the escalators and elevators. All these small steps add up to burning more calories at the end of the day.

3. Perform a minimum of one strength training session per week. Studies show that by performing just one strength session per week you can maintain your current level of lean muscle mass. So to be certain of maintaining your muscle mass perform at least one intense strength workout per week to avoid the dreaded regressions in fitness levels. For optimum results try to perform 3-4 total body workouts per week with interval training.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Trainers Sydney
Boot Camp Sydney
Corporate Personal Training Sydney

Below is a video of the outdoor training session my friend Richie and I had on Saturday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

This workout was especially tough as it was 35 degrees with very high humidity, every set was a battle and by the end of the workout I felt like I’d gone 10 rounds with Lennox Lewis.

Nevertheless it was a fun workout, I enjoy the Saturday training session more than any other because I love training outdoors and I get to play with many of the training tools I use with my boot camp clients.

The training session was a total body workout working all the major movement patterns using the following tools;

Tornado ball
Olympic rings
Kettlebells

Movement patterns…

1.Vertical pull – Chin ups
2.Core rotation – Tornado ball Russian twist
3.Horizontal pull – Kettlebell high pulls
4.Quad dominant – Squat jumps
5.Core stabilization – Olympic ring planche
6.Hip dominant – Kettlebell alternating swings
7.Vertical push – Hand stand push ups
8.Horizontal push – Olympic ring fly’s

2 sets of each exercise – 10 to 12 reps per exercise with a 45 second rest between sets.

Some of these exercises are advanced and not for beginners so exercise with caution.

Let me know how you go.

Enjoy!

Dan Clay
Outdoor Personal Training
Personal Trainers Sydney
Boot Camp Sydney
Corporate Personal Training Sydney

Go to any commercial gym and you see it all the time.

People performing set after set of one exercise before moving onto the next exercise, it just takes forever!

I know, I used to be the same meathead who’d take 15 minutes to do 3 sets of 10 on the bench press…

What a waste of time!

Such diminished results!

And so…boring!

What’s the answer?

Fitness Boot Camps

Check out the video below to see some of the circuits we use (for advanced campers).

For a FREE 1 week trial to one of our Sydney Boot Camps and a FREE Quick start Fat Loss Kit, please visit www.bootcampsydney.com.au

Train hard!

Dan

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

If your goal is to lose fat and build lean muscle alternating exercises between different body parts and keeping the rest periods short is the best way to go.

Performing straight sets of a strength exercise one after another with long rest periods is a thing of the past (unless your body builder or power lifter).

The problem with performing straight sets one after another is it’s an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises.

In the majority of commercial gyms you’ll often see someone perform a set of 10 reps of an exercise – let’s say bench press. They crank out a set of 10, have a chat with a mate, go to the water bubbler, watch some MTV, stretch, have a wipe down with a towel and then moll back to the bench for the 2nd set. They could spend up to 15 minutes just to perform 3 sets of one exercise! 4 exercises will take an hour.

A much more efficient way to train is utilizing the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform an exercise, have a short rest, perform another non competing exercise, have a short rest, perform another non competing exercise and so forth.

Using this format allows you to train more than one area of the body, gives each muscle more time to recover between sets and allows you to fit more exercises in per workout, the result – more fat loss.

There are several different ways to perform alternating sets…

Tri-sets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though all these options are good, I believe circuit training is by far the best option.

Here’s one of my favourite circuits to help demonstrate why this template is so efficient.

It’s called the 50-10 Five bodyweight Circuit: Alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for all five exercises in the following 5 minute circuit:

1. Push ups

2. Squats

3. Step ups

4. Chin-ups

5. Reverse crunches

Perform this bodyweight circuit up to four times for a 20 minute total body fat-melting workout.

As you can see in the same 15 minutes it would have taken to perform 3 sets of bench press you would have fitted in a staggering 15 different exercises.

Circuit training is an excellent way to simultaneously burn fat and build lean muscle.

This style of training also creates the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss by exercising at maximal intensity separated with short rest periods.

In the upcoming weeks Ill be showing you some great videos of circuits we use at our boot camps.

Train hard!

Dan

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

Q. Dan,

Before boot camp this morning I was going to have either an up and go or a piece of fruit about 30 minutes before training – any views?

A. Before training have a banana which is a good source of energy before training, bananas are quickly digested and have a high GI which means they’re broken down into sugar quickly.

Have the up and go after training or even better have a JP+ complete shake (made from plant protein). The carbs will replenish energy stores while the protein will help build lean muscle tissue.

Q. Dan is the sample nutrition plan you sent to us aimed at losing weight or maintaining? I’m aiming for the former.

A. The nutrition plan is for weight loss, multiply your bodyweight (in kilos) by 28 - this is the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight.

Take 20% off this number and you’ll cause a calorie deficit, meaning you’ll burn more calories than you consume and will therefore lose weight.

Add this to the training that you’re doing at our boot camp which is aimed at increasing lean muscle (muscle burns more calories than any other tissue).

Plus the high intensity cardio part of the boot camp program will increase your metabolism and therefore burn more calories and create an even higher calorie deficit so you’ll lose weight at a much quicker rate.

Remember to re-calculate your new calorie maintenance every week as your weight starts to decrease.

Train hard!

Dan Clay

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

I’m often asked what’s the most important factor when losing weight - is it exercise or is it diet?

Although both are essential for losing weight I don’t think either are the most important factor.

Personally I believe mindset is by far the most important tool for losing weight.

Mindset is the thing that will bring everything together, it gives you the imagination, focus and belief to become what you’re capable of.

It doesn’t matter how good a nutrition or exercise program is if you continually slip up and miss workouts or eat garbage, the program simply won’t work.

If you have the right mindset losing weight becomes much easier, you’ll be more focused in your workouts and you’ll find it much easier to avoid pizza hut.

To learn more about mindset and I’d definitely recommend you grab yourself a copy of the pycho cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz.

Train Hard and Eat Well!

Dan Clay
Dangerously Fit Personal Training
www.dangerouslyfitpersonaltraining.com
www.personaltrainersydney.com
www.bootcampsydney.com.au