It’s a simple fact–muscle burns fat. It makes sense, therefore, that stronger muscles burn fat more quickly. These muscles continue to burn calories whether we are working out or sleeping. The more lean muscle mass a person has, the more calories their body burns, even at rest. Improving lean muscle mass can have a great effect on weight loss and body fat reduction programs.

Because muscle burns more calories than fat, increasing our lean muscle mass can have a positive impact on our metabolism. As we age, our body slows down its metabolic rate, and this process starts around age 30. A big reason this slow down occurs is unless we are actively strength training, our bodies lose about 1/2 pound of muscle every year. Working on your own or with a personal trainer, you can help stop this process.

In addition to the many benefits to our health, strength training helps improve our overall appearance. A lean, toned body is obviously more appealing than a flabby body, and can help people feel more confident. Toned muscles also help you maintain better posture.

There are several reasons why people are not strength training. One reason may be that they lack the equipment, however there are simple exercises that can be done at home with inexpensive hand weights. Some people may belong to a gym, but feel uncomfortable and unsure of how to utilize the equipment. Personal trainers are available to help you maximize your workout time, and they can teach you how to use weights in your fitness program. A personal trainer is also able to tailor a program specifically to you and your body type.

Strength training just may be the most important part of your workout.

If any of those problems have your training regimen at a standstill, or if motivation, lack of accountability, or simply knowing where to start has you in a training rut, a personal trainer may be your answer. A qualified personal trainer has the expertise to guide you in the direction you need to go to accomplish your goals. As your trainer becomes more involved in your training, he can suggest changes that may be slowing your progress, such as dietary or rest habits. In addition, if your present routines do not fit your goals he can adjust your program. He knows different routes to the same destination, thus you won’t be bored. The two of you can devise routines that include short and long-term goals in order to motivate you. Your mutual interest in your progress makes you accountable to him.

The training agenda she plans for you will challenge you, as she urges you to set higher standards for yourself on a regular basis. If you enjoy working out at home, she will teach you the art of exercising alone. In addition, if you have an old injury, or present health problem, she can adjust your regimen to compensate for them. Your personal trainer will be well-versed in programs that produce the best results, in the least time, with the lowest risk of injury. Thus, he will be familiar with high intensity strength training, which meets that criteria, and was developed in the 1970’s for professional athletes. You will find access to more information about high intensity strength training, and other physical fitness questions at excellenceinfitness.com.

Dear Friend,

The huge companies stealing your money by promising impossible results if you just drink their shake, take their pill, or do 10 minutes of exercise on their wiz-bang machines are abusing your trust in the name of profits and market share.

The real truth is that most, if not all, the products they’re peddling are worthless – to you, that is. To them, the products are incredibly valuable – because they’re raking in huge profits at your expense.

• Are you sick of the hype and outright deception being fed to you by the weight loss and fitness industries?
• Are you tired of being led to believe it’s your fault when the junk they push on you doesn’t work?
• Do you want someone you can trust to tell you the truth about real, lasting weight loss and fitness, and show you how to quickly and easily adapt your eating and exercising habits so you can achieve the results you want and deserve?

If you answered “YES!” to any of these questions,then this may be the most important letter you ever read.

What I have to tell you addresses the most important issue you face – your health.  From my years of experience as a certified personal trainer and fitness coach, one critical point has been hammered home countless times: our health is the most valuable asset we have… and if it goes south, we will spend everything we have, financially and emotionally, to get it back!

Special Health & Fitness Report From:
Joseph G. Aben, CCS, CPT, MES
Owner, EIF Personal Training Studio
(410) 544-5780
www.excellenceinfitness.com

WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS MYTH #1:
Dieting will eliminate fat.

Your body can’t discriminate between intentional calorie deprivation (as in a diet), and starvation.  When you dramatically reduce your caloric intake, your body shifts into a protective mode by slowing your metabolism down and holding onto fat (an important energy source) and burning muscle instead.  In the beginning of a diet you WILL lose weight by dramatically cutting calories.  But it won’t be fat loss, it will be water weight and lean muscle tissue – the exact OPPOSITE of what you want to get rid of.

Not only will harsh diets slow your metabolism down to a crawl, causing your initial weight loss to come to a gradual halt, they will also inevitably bring about a “rebound” effect.  This rebound will make you even fatter than you were before starting the diet.  When you rebound, not only do you generally put on more weight than you actually lost with the diet, your percentage of body fat generally increases because your body cannibalized muscle tissue as an energy source during the dieting process.  Thus the “yo-yo” effect that almost all dieters experience.

To permanently lose the fat stores in your body, you’ve got to burn more calories and increase your metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns fuel throughout the day – even when you’re NOT exercising) with a precise exercise routine and proper nutrient ratio adaptations (that means eating the right stuff at regular intervals).  Even if you don’t exercise (but I recommend you do), just eating 5-6 small, high quality meals each day (and by a meal, I mean anything from a nutritious snack to a sit-down dinner) will substantially increase your metabolism – and you’ll burn more calories!

WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS MYTH #2:
Pills, powders and shakes can make you skinny.

Fat burners, diet pills, nutritional supplements – you know who gets the most out of these products? The manufacturers and sellers.  Some of this stuff is extracted from foods and has a role in nutrition, but it’s not a substitute for eating right.  And much of the “miracle” drugs you see advertised are exceedingly dangerous to you.  Don’t believe me?  The next time you see an advertisement in a weight loss magazine for one of these “miracle” products – or if you see a commercial on TV for one – read or listen to the DISCLAIMERS AND WARNINGS that accompany these ads.  A lot of this stuff is dangerous and it has no place in a healthy, permanent weight loss and fitness lifestyle.

Sure, if you’re willing to risk exposing your body to these drugs, you might be able to lose some weight – at first.  But you will experience no long-term benefits – none!  In fact, it’s really much worse than that.  “Dieting” in any form that denies your body the essential nutrients and calories it needs to function efficiently can cause you to lose weight…until you stop the diet.  And anyone who has “dieted” knows you cannot sustain the diet indefinitely.  Your body screams out for nourishment and eventually you give in.  That’s when the rebound effect begins.  You will inevitably regain all the weight you lost – PLUS SOME.  And the regained weight is predominantly fat.  During your diet your body cannibalized some of your lean muscle to use as fuel.  After the diet, your regained weight does not come back in the form of lean muscle plus some fat – it comes back almost exclusively as fat.

WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS MYTH #3:
A regimen of aerobic exercise will burn the most fat.

I see women who spend 4 days a week, 40 minutes at a time, on the stair-stepper, treadmill or bicycle who don’t lose weight!  I know men who run 6 miles a day who have no muscle tone and rolls of fat around their waists.  You’ve been led to believe that if you want to lose fat, all you have to do is regular aerobic exercise.  There’s more to it than that.

You must be able to monitor and control your cardiovascular intensity to maximize the number of calories you burn.  And, if aerobic exercise is not supplemented with resistance training (lifting weights) to at least maintain muscle mass, you cannot effectively accelerate the fat loss process.  Each pound of lean muscle tissue burns 35-50 calories a day while your body is at rest.  Whereas body fat is not metabolically active, so little to no fat is burned for each pound of body fat.

Therefore, a combination of properly monitored aerobic exercise and resistance training enables you to rapidly burn the maximum amount of fat. SPECIAL NOTE: This may sound like it’s involved and time consuming.  It’s not!  With the proper fitness and nutrition system in place, you can quickly burn fat, lose weight and get fit in as little as 40 minutes per session.  And in 12 weeks you can dramatically transform your body.

WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS MYTH #4:
Resistance training (weight lifting) doesn’t burn fat.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Muscle is metabolically active tissue.  Fat is not.  Fat is an energy source for the body, but most people have much more than they need.  Fat does not use energy – it is used as energy.  Muscle uses energy.  Lots of it.  The more lean muscle you have, the more fat you burn.  And here’s the biggest benefit, and why everyone needs to incorporate resistance training in their exercise program: the more lean muscle you have, the more fat you burn – WHILE YOU ARE AT REST!

You see, that’s really the ultimate weight loss and fitness secret.  Looking great is not just a function of how much fat you burn when you’re working out, because you can only exercise so much in a given week.  The real secret is how metabolically active your body is the other 95% of the time.  People with more lean muscle burn fat at a much greater rate than do those with less lean muscle.  That doesn’t mean you have to look like Arnold or Madonna to be an efficient fat-burning machine.  But you do have to at least maintain – and preferably increase – your lean muscle tissue.  It’s easy with the proper resistance training program.

SPECIAL NOTE: women will NOT become “bulky” or “musclebound” by incorporating resistance training into their exercise routine.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  Lean muscle is more compact and firmer than fat.  Resistance training will make women smaller, firmer and sexier.  Women are not genetically predisposed to adding muscle “mass.”  Men, on the other hand, will gain mass and see exciting muscle growth through the proper use of nutrition and resistance training.

WEIGHT LOSS AND FITNESS MYTH #5:
Thigh reducers, tummy trimmers and body part shapers can “spot” reduce.

All over the country people are falling for infomercials touting muscle-specific exercisers for body fat reduction.  You cannot reduce your waist size by working the abdominal muscles, nor can you reduce your thighs with a thigh exerciser.  It’s a scam.  A total rip-off.  The only way to reduce body fat is by combining a precise program of supportive nutrition with the right balance of aerobic and resistance exercise.  If it sounds hard, it’s not.  It’s just hard to cut through all the lies, misinformation and total nonsense being shoved down your throat by these big, mega-buck companies attempting to further line their pockets at your expense.