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How many people make a resolution to look good by the time the summer arrives, and then never come through? I know way too many people that will begin a program, with the goal of achieving the "ultimate" look by summer, and then are terribly disappointed when they look the same. Everyone loves the beach right? I mean, girls love to wear bikini's and show off their figure, while almost every guy loves to flex their muscles and show them off. It really comes down to showing off for the opposite sex, trying to attract them to yourself. You can have the body you always wanted, and others will like to look at you... If this sounds good, keep reading. It all starts with the commitment. I don't mean nonchalantly telling yourself that you will begin to get in shape, but I mean really setting goals, and picturing exactly what you want to look like, whether it be bigger muscles or lost fat to show the muscles you may or may not have been working to achieve. So, set a goal, and write it down on a piece of paper. Do everything you can to accomplish this goal by the summer, from eating, to your exact exercise regimen.

How many people know what is the main tool for losing fat? If you guessed aerobics, you are wrong! Running, biking and the like are useful, but think of the following... Many people achieve the body they want without doing ANY aerobics, whether your goal is to gain weight or lose it. Weight training builds muscle. Pretty much everyone knows that much. What they don't know, is that 1 hour of moderately intense lifting, burns 600 calories. In comparison to 1 hour of jogging, this is an extremely high amount of calories. 1 hour of aerobics, assuming a 10-12-minute mile, will burn only 500-550 calories! Plus, another reason lifting will help in fat loss, is that each pound of muscle burns an extra 50 calories a day! So, for each ONE POUND of muscle you gain, it's like running ½ a mile without even getting your ass up from the couch. So, a 10-pound gain of muscle will be like running 5 miles each day, yet you won't have to muster up the will power to get off the couch, or have to deal with the muscle-depleting effects of aerobic exercise.

So, we now know that a successful weight lifting program is an essential to get in shape. Next we will discuss aerobics, and the minimal benefits of such. No matter how much people dislike running the Burke mile or jogging a few miles to "stay in shape," it has one benefit. This is to further condition the cardiovascular system for sports (most of which will cost any normal person a decent amount of muscle). To achieve this advantage, one must work for short periods of time, but very intensely. Have you ever noticed how disgustingly skinny marathon runners and power walkers are? Then, look at the bodies of sprinters such as Michael Johnson. M.J., as a sprinter, does primarily short bursts of aerobic exercise, but with super high intensity. Hence, the invention of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT is meant for those wishing to lose fat while shaping the cardiovascular system for bursts of effort. These bursts of effort will primarily benefit basketball players, wrestlers, tennis players, track runners, softball players... well, pretty much every sport except long distance running.

Nutrition is the last, but most important, element of any fat loss program. In a weight gain program, nutrition is not nearly as important, but still vital to results. Nutrition is what tells your body whether you are trying to lose fat or gain muscle. Simply, if the body is in an excess of calories, then you are trying to gain weight, and if you are eating under maintenance calories, you are trying to lose weight. Since counting calories is way too hard for any normal person, there's an easier way to determine what to eat. We will get to this later, like we will to the actual weight lifting program, and the exact running program. But, just remember that protein is the most important part for fat loss, or weight gain. Protein is the building blocks for muscle, and while trying to lose fat, protein will allow you to keep as much muscle as possible, since on most diets, you'll lose as much muscle as you will fat. There's a saying that goes: "If you start out looking like a pear, and do just aerobic exercise, without weight training to shape the muscles, or lose muscle, like you would on a conventional diet, you'll just end up looking like a smaller pear." (That's paraphrased, since I forget where I read it, but it is really true!) So, are you all still following me? If you got this far, you must be. So, how exactly should one organize the weight training program for maximum results? It's actually very simple. ONE program will work for both fat loss and muscle gain, and it will take less than 30 minutes twice a week! Here it is:

Day 1
Squats 3 x 10
Bench Press 3 x 10
Chin-Ups (or lat pulldowns if one is not strong enough to do Chin-ups yet) 3 x 10

Day 2
Leg Press 3 x 10
Shoulder Press 3 x 10
Dumbbell Rows 3 x 10

Now, my bet is that most people don't know how to perform half these movements. Well, the Bench press, Shoulder Press and Leg Press are all on the Universal setup in the gym, and so are Lat Pulldowns. Chin-Ups are simple, and most know what these are. Dumbbell Rows are performed by placing one knee on a bench with the same hand as the knee on the bench, resting on the bench, too. Now, hold a dumbbell in the other hand, with that leg resting on the ground. Finally, row the dumbbell up to the middle of your back, and let it down slowly.

How many people know what 3 x 10 means? It simply means 3 sets of 10 reps. A set is the result of 10 reps (repetitions). So, in the bench press, you would lift the weight 10 times, and do that 3 times. It's really simple, and easy to follow! How should the workout be performed? Go from one exercise to the next with NO BREAK. This is why I say no aerobic exercise is necessary. If you complete a workout going from squats to bench press to chin-ups, without a rest between sets, and then repeat that 3 more times, you will be totally destroyed both muscularly and aerobically. Day 2 should be performed in the same manner.

I have a few words to say on the performance of these exercises. First, most of the people must be saying "but where are the bicep curls, for the arms, I mean, aren't you talking about the 'beach' here? The biceps are the best muscle for the beach!" Well, almost everyone thinks this, but you can't do a set of Chin-Ups without wrecking your biceps, and making them grow. Same goes for the triceps (back of the arm). In the Bench Press and Shoulder Press, your triceps will be fried, if... the "if" refers to recommendation number 2. Your triceps will be fried IF you take ALL sets to failure. I don't mean stopping the weight when it begins to get hard. I'm talking an ALL-OUT effort, sweating to get those last few repetitions. See, in any major compound movement, which is a lift which involves at least 3 muscle groups, the smaller muscle will fail before the larger one. Bench Press involves the chest, triceps, shoulders, and the latissimus Dorsi (lats-a muscle on your back). The triceps are the smallest muscle, and therefore will fail before the other muscles, and get the most stimulation. Same goes for Chin-Ups, which involve EVERY muscle in the upper body, making it the BEST exercise for building muscle. The biceps will fail way before the lats, rhomboids (upper back), pec minor (lower chest), and shoulders. Therefore, the biceps will get the most stimulation, and become the most developed from Chin-Ups. You probably can see a pattern. We choose the major muscle-building exercises, compound movements, and allow them to provide ample stimulation for the smaller muscle groups, hence, allowing the body as a UNIT to get stronger and bigger. Lesson number 3: I would hope that all girls will put the same effort forth as guys. Too many girls do Bench Presses, or Leg Presses with a weight where they can still talk and chat with there friends during the set. I haven't seem more than 2 or 3 girls lift more than 40 or 50 pounds on the bench press. Is this because you are scared to get "big muscles?" Don't be! Women contain less than 10% the muscle-building hormones as males, so they would have to work 10 times harder to get the same muscles as guys. Do you really think will get muscles that are too big if you push yourself? The only thing you will get is a toned body which you can be proud of, extra calories burned so you can pass on extra aerobic exercise, and some new found strength!

HIIT-this is the aerobic exercise I recommend from above, where you do short bursts to avoid looking like a long-distance runner. It is also very simple, and is as follows. This will take less than 10 minutes 2-4 times a week, depending on whether you want to gain weight or lose weight. All you have to do is take a stopwatch, and go running or biking or any other aerobic event. Just sprint for 30 seconds, and then rest, complete rest, for 20 seconds, and then 30 sprint, and 20 rest etc... For 5-10 minutes. If you are used to long-distance running, at a slow pace, or totally untrained, this will be really tough, and you will probably want to quit early. If you feel dizzy at all, just stop, but if it is just your body, physically telling you to stop, keep with it, and complete the session. Here are 2 secrets. One about aerobic exercise in general, and one about HIIT. HIIT is 9 times more effective at burning fat than slow aerobics, and 2.8 times more effective at increasing endurance than slow aerobics. (www.cbass.com, "Forget the Fat Burn Zone"). The second fact is that aerobic exercise is 300% more effective at burning fat when done in the morning before eating, because the body has no carbohydrates to burn. It HAS TO BURN FAT. Of course, this goes to waste if you don't wait exactly one hour after running to eat, because with HIIT, the metabolism continues to run at high speed, burning fat, for 3 hours after. But, it's only the first hour which burns fat at the rate as if we were still exercising.

Nutrition. There's so much about it, but I'll just cover the basics. If you are trying to lose weight, eat 6 meals a day. 6 meals you say? I'll get fat! No, 6 small meals will keep the metabolism running all day, burning fat. Every time you eat, the metabolism increases by 10% to burn the calories you just ate. So, you stay full, while eating less than normal calories, while still burning fat. A sample day for a person trying to lose fat would be as follows:

breakfast-eggs (or a protein shake) and some oatmeal or cereal snack-protein bar
lunch-chicken sandwich
snack-shake made in a blender of frozen strawberry's, frozen bananas, ice, 6oz apple juice, and a scoop of strawberry protein powder (this is my favorite meal of the day!!!)
Dinner-a protein (like chicken or fish or steak) and a carbohydrate like a potato or rice
snack-(if you are hungry)-fruit and some yogurt or milk

Of course, for any normal person, this is not easy. I guess I am not normal then, because I am currently on a fat loss diet after gaining 20 pounds of muscle in 5 weeks (with about 5 pounds of fat) and this is MY EXACT diet. Just do your best, and if you have to substitute a few meals with something not quite as healthy, it's ok. I don't expect you to give up all good food! That's where the infamous CHEAT DAY, comes in. Here, you can eat anything you want, all day long. There's a good scientific reason for this. It will convince your body you're not starving, and allow you to lose fat successfully the other 6 days of the week.

How did I gain 25 pounds in 5 weeks? By training with a similar routine to which I mention in here, and following a diet close to what I outline here.

Breakfast-2 bowls cereal, 1 cup milk, 2 scoops protein powder snack-protein bar and 16 ounces milk
lunch-2 chicken sandwiches, and 3 cookies, with a cup of lemonade (lots of calories)
snack-same as breakfast(only one bowl of cereal), candy bar
dinner-whole steak and a whole package of rice (3 bowls full)
snack-same as breakfast

This contains over 300 grams of protein in excess, and definitely produces results. It has A LOT of calories, and has gotten me to 160 pounds. I am certainly happy with these results. I plan to weigh 170 pounds by summer, but with the same level of bodyfat I currently have, which is low enough to still see my abs. I will be thrilled when this occurs, because anytime I achieve a goal I set I get psyched. It's not really that hard. Just run 2-4 times a week, lift 2 times a week, and eat a semi-strict diet, and you can achieve similar results. I am not trying to pass myself off as an expert in the least, but I have read a lot of books on the topic, and I have my own experience as a 1st degree experimentation. I am just trying to pass a little bit of knowledge onto others to experience similar effects as I have. I have a few articles published at www.physicalenhancement.com, and answer a lot of question at the Q&A board there if anyone wants to check them out as well. Lifting isn't rocket science. It's all laid out for you here, and all you gotta do is follow through. Now it's your turn to be thrilled with the results...