Alright, so everyone knows how great antioxidants are right? You see antioxidant supplements and the health benefits advertised all over the place. Fortunately, unlike the majority of “trendy” health products, this one actually has some truth behind it.

You can check out some antioxidant supplements here or if you prefer you can check out some antioxidant drinks. Much better than pills.

Good for you, yes?
Absolutely. Antioxidants are extremely good for you in a number of ways.
They fight free-radicals, slow the aging process, make you feel younger, prevent cancer, heart disease and many other diseases. Now if you still do not think that antioxidants are cool then check this out, they will also help your body recover faster and more efficiently from that intense workout you just had.

Now why is that a good thing?
Well the faster you recover from your workout, the quicker you can get back into the gym, the harder you can exercise, the faster you will see results.

So how do they aid in recovery?
When you exercise, your body produces all sorts of free-radicals that can start to damage your muscle tissue. Antioxidants help to stop the production of those free-radicals during your workout. Now for this to have the greatest effect you should aim at getting a boost in antioxidants about an hour or so before your workout. This will greatly reduce any damage done to the muscles from those nasty free-radicals, your muscles will recover mush better, and in turn, you will see better results. That’s got to be a good thing.

Now there are no scare tactics at play here. You don’t have to rush to the green grocer right now to grab a bag full of blueberries because you won’t tone up if you don’t. Not at all.
What I am saying however, is that it can help.

Muscle Recovery
Most of us know the effects of over working your muscles. It can be detrimental if you do not give your body enough time to recover. Think of recovery as the growing stage, your muscle fibres repair themselves and grow bigger and stronger. If your aim is muscle growth, then recovery is one of the most important parts, and if you can not stay away from the gym for very long, then any extra help with recovery is essential. Antioxidants can help.

Yes, there are a number of post-workout supplements on the market that aid in recovery, some are good, many are not. I’ve always been a strong believer that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is why I like to get some antioxidants into me about an hour or so before my workout. Obviously this can be a bit of a hassle if you are an early riser and early exerciser, and if you are like me and your memory is not so hot, you can simply forget. But for all those times where you do get some extra antioxidants into you pre-workout, you will start to notice better muscle recovery, and better overall results, regardless of your fitness goals.

Antioxidants from Whole Foods
Some of the greatest antioxidants can be found in some yummy whole foods which could be ideal to snack on before your big workout. The usual ones are berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, cranberries, and cherries. Acai fruit is really good, and also green tea sweetened with a little raw honey, yum! Some of the less well know foods are nuts and seeds, beans, grapes, cinnamon, purple potatoes, and of course dark chocolate and red wine. Although the last one might not be such a great idea before your workout.
So there are certainly plenty of pre-workout snacks to choose from.

You also get plenty of antioxidants from eating fruit and vegetables, so if your diet is packed full of both, as it should be, then the majority or your meals will be packed with antioxidants anyway. Also, most multi-vitamins have a good source of antioxidants in them, so if you take them, again you may already have a healthy level of antioxidants in the system.
Still, every little bit helps, so planning a quick “antioxidant packed” snack before your workout will add an extra boost to your workout and recovery.

While I do prefer eating raw whole foods rather than taking supplements, there are a few good quality supplements around. Unfortunately though, it can sometimes be a case of trial and error. Find one that works for you and stick with it. Even if you are taking an antioxidant supplement once a day, a quick “whole foods” boost before your workout can top it off nicely.

So to conclude our little article on antioxidants and muscle recovery…

• Antioxidants help fight free-radicals during and after exercise and a little boost before your workout will aid in faster and more efficient muscle recovery
• Continue eating plenty of the good stuff (fruits, vegetables, antioxidant rich foods like berries and green teas)
• If you feel your diet is lacking a little in the antioxidant area, and you are interested in supplements, find one that works for you and stick with it
• Have an antioxidant rich snack an hour or so before each workout to really boost your recovery

Obviously antioxidants are only a piece of the health and nutritional pie. To find out some more interesting ways to boost your metabolism, burn the body fat, and build the muscle, check out AbTrainingSecret.com

Also, if you feel you need an instant boost of antioxidants and you are interested in some supplements, why not check out this Free Acai Berry Offer

If you’re looking for the most effective exercises to achieve your fitness goals, be they muscle gain, fat loss, to improve athletic performance, or simply to stay in shape, the squat and deadlift are two of the most effective overall exercises. This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under heavier loads than almost any other weight bearing exercise, and because of this, they generate the greatest results.

In this article we will look at the barbell squat, and why it can be beneficial to try a couple of alternatives to the normal barbell back squat.

University studies have proven that squats can increase development of the upper body as well as the lower body, even though there are no specific upper body joint movements performed during the squat. There are a number of ways to perform squats, for instance, barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, or just body weight. These are all forms of free weighted squats and are far more beneficial than the Smith Machines you often find in your local gym. Smith Machines or any other squat machines do not allow your body to follow its natural movements. They also stabilize the weight for you, which means you perform less work, and in turn get weaker results.

There are many ways you can perform free weighted squats but the squat that most people are familiar with is the barbell back squat, where the barbell rests on the back of the shoulders. There are two other types of squats that many training and strength coaches believe are more useful to athletic performance, and offer less risk of lower back injuries compared with the back squat. They are the front squat and the overhead squat.

The two names really describe themselves, as in the front squat, the barbell rests on the shoulders in front of the head, and in an overhead squat, the barbell is in a snatch grip above your head. Not the most exciting names in the world, but they do the job I suppose.

Whether your goal is weight loss, muscle development or athletic performance, for best results, you could try adding all three squats to your workout program, spread across your routine of course.

Front squats are a little more difficult than back squats and overhead squats are much more difficult than both front and back squats. If you have never tried the front or overhead squats before, it could take a couple of sessions before you feel comfortable with them, so you should definitely start out light. Once you get the feel for things you can start adding weights and building intensity.

The Front Squat

The really good thing about the front squat is that in order to perform it properly, you have to really engage your abdominals. Obviously the squat is more of a lower body exercise, but you engage several other areas at the same time, especially when you are performing free weighted squats, which is why I tend to shy away from Smith Machines.

One of the more tricky parts of the front squat is learning how to rest the bar on the front of your shoulders. There are two ways you can do this. The first is to cross your forearms like an X while resting the bar on the dimples in your shoulders, which are created when you cross your forearms and lift your elbows. Ensure you keep you elbows up high so that your upper arms are parallel to the ground. From there you simply hold the bar in place with the thumb side of your fists against the bar.

The second way is to hold the bar by placing your palms face up while resting the bar on your fingers against your shoulders. Again, ensure that your elbows are up high enough that your upper arms are parallel with the ground.

Find out which method works for you by practising with the bar only, and perform a couple of reps to see which one you feel comfortable with. Once you’re comfortable with the grip, start the squat from your hips by sitting back and down, and place the weight on your heels rather than the front of you feet. You should squat down to a position where your thighs are roughly parallel to the ground, then move back to the starting position. By keeping the weight on your heels, you protect your knees and there is less chance of injury.

Front Squat with “X” Grip

Alternative Palm Grip

The Overhead Squat

This is by far the hardest of the three basic squats, and it can take a while before you become comfortable with it, so starting out with an un-weighted bar is the best way to go.

To perform the squat, you first need to get the bar above your head and your hands in a wide snatch grip. When you are starting out with lighter weights, you can snatch it, and when you get much better at them and move up to heavier weights, you can clean and press it over your head, then adjust your hands to a wider snatch grip.

When your barbell is up and stable, you need to ensure your arms are locked really tight and that the weight is positioned slightly towards the back of your head. You must keep your entire body extremely tense or the weight could fall forward or back. Keep your head up, keep the weight on your heels, and sit into the squat until your thighs are roughly parallel with the ground then move back to the starting position.

As I say, this squat is quite hard and it does take a few sessions to really feel comfortable with it, so it is really important that you get your grip and movements nailed down first using an un-weighted bar, before you start to increase weight and intensity.

Overhead Squat

You will be quite surprised at how hard these two new squats will workout your abdominals when you nail down the correct form. This is because you need more of an upright posture to perform them compared with the back squats.

Again, I stress that with any new exercises, try them out first without weights, until you feel comfortable with the exercise and are performing it correctly, and then you can start thinking about adding weights and increasing intensity.

If you are interested in finding out more about hard body workouts like the squat or deadlift, as well as many other fat burning and muscle building strategies, check out these Ab and Muscle Training Secrets.

Also, grab a free copy of Training and Nutrition: Inside Secrets for a Lean Body by Mike Geary, for 27 specific metabolism-boosting and muscle building secrets.

Building muscle might seem as simple as going to the gym and exercising, but unfortunately for many, myself included, the gains do not come as easily or as quickly as we would like.

This is not because we workout with any less intensity than those that do have muscle. If anything, we scrawnier folk probably workout harder and more often than those that have more muscle, simply because we do not see the gains and think we need to workout more. This is probably one of the main reasons for not seeing any real gains, because over working your body can be just as bad as not working out at all.

The reasons for little or no muscle gains can be as varying as the people themselves; testosterone levels, metabolism, over working the body and not giving yourself enough recovery time, wrong training routines for your particular body frame etc…  
But fortunately there are a number of important things that we can do that really make the difference between no gains and large gains, and the best thing is, it does not involve any supplements or drug. Simply adjusting the way in which you exercise and eat will change your reflection in the mirror very quickly.

1.    Large multi-joint compound exercises

Regardless of whether you are trying to lose body fat or are trying to gain muscle mass, you should focus the bulk of your training time on big multi-joint exercises, and treat targeted isolation exercises secondary to the rest. It is the large multi-joint exercises that should make up the majority of your workout if your goal is to get lean, build muscle, get ripped and become powerful and strong. You should think of these multi-joint exercises as the major movement patterns such as those below.

• Upper body horizontal rows (1-arm dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, bent over barbell rows)
• Upper body horizontal press (dips, push ups, bench press)
• upper body vertical pull (pullups, chinups, lat pulldowns)
• upper body vertical press (overhead barbell and dumbbell presses, barbell or kettlebell clean & presses)
• lower body squatting (bodyweight squats, back squats, overhead squats, front squats, etc)
• lower body deadlifting (sumo deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, regular deadlifts)
• lower body single leg (step-ups, lunges, jump lunges, etc)

This could also include abdominal and core exercises, but these are still second priority to the major upper and lower body multi-joint exercises. Your abs will get a solid workout anyway from most major multi-joint exercises.

Some of the single-joint exercises that you might frequently focus on to build muscle, such as tricep presses, bicep curls, calf presses, shoulder lateral raises, etc… should again be 2nd priority to the major multi-joint routine. You can add these to your main workout, but always remember that these should be treated as additions and should not be your main focus.

2.    Keep your workouts short and to the point

The goal should be high intensity workouts, 3-4 days a week, 45-60 minutes per training workout.
You probably don’t need to be told that you should workout at a high intensity rate, that’s something you know already, and have likely been doing since day one in the gym. But maybe it should be mentioned that you should not workout any longer than 60 minutes, as training too much beyond this point can start to trigger excess catabolism, where your body starts to use its own proteins (which are found in cells), as a substitute energy source. Basically if you workout too long, your body can start to burn tissue as fuel, and that can’t be a good thing. There are supplements around that can help counter excess catabolism and protect muscle tissue, but a more efficient 45-60 minute, high intensity workout is going to give you the greatest results.

If you tend to train longer than 60 minutes in any one session, you could try a super-set style of workout program, which will help to condense training time and greatly increase intensity. The super-set is a very simple concept… you simply do two exercises back-to-back, with no rest break in between.

You can make them any combinations you like, for example you could combine pullups with squats, or bench press with deadlifts. The choice is yours. Your super-sets could consist of a combination between upper body and lower body workouts, or two consecutive upper body workouts, or lower body workouts. To mix it up even further you could play around with varying sets and reps and heavier weights. Remember, your workout routines should be fun so mix it up until you find some combinations that you enjoy.

You will quickly find that you will experience significant muscle mass gains when you start adding super-sets to your workout program, and of course you can simply adjust your calorie intake to suit your goals, whether it be to lose body fat or to gain muscle. Super-sets are very effective at doing both.

3.    Eat quality whole foods

Once again, we can not escape how important nutrition is to your dieting or weight training. You should eat healthy whole foods and do your best to stay away from highly processed foods and even some of those over hyped supplements, bars and meal replacements. More often than not, a healthy, whole food diet will beat supplements hands down. Sure they have their place, but they could never be a substitute for real whole foods.

Whole foods such as eggs, meats, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, and dairy, provided it is raw whole dairy, offer the best quality protein, as well as extra nutrition you get from vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The body absorbs these best when they come from whole foods. The more greener, organic and grass fed this whole food, the better. This is much better than processed bars, meal replacements and protein powders.

I will go out on a limb here and make an assumption that many people who either find it difficult to pack on the muscle or find it hard to lose the excess stomach fat, will have a heap of over hyped supplements in their cupboards. Yes? Sure some of them are really helpful and do make a difference, but the majority are not.

My advice, give whole foods another try. Rather than spend the money on five different supplements a week, start seeking out the whole, organic and grass fed food. You will notice a huge difference.

So in conclusion, change what exercises you focus on in the gym and spend the bulk of your training time on large multi-joint exercises, which will get you lean and ripped.
Cut back the time you are in the gym, and lift the intensity by adding different super-set combinations to your training program. This will fire up the muscle gains in no time flat.
Last but not least, cut back on all the over hyped meal replacements, protein bars, and supplements. Instead seek out raw, whole, grass fed food and start giving your body what it actually wants.

If you are interested in finding out more about the multi-joint exercises listed above, as well as many other fat burning and muscle building strategies, check out these Ab and Muscle Training Secrets.

Also, grab a free copy of Training and Nutrition: Inside Secrets for a Lean Body by Mike Geary, for 27 specific metabolism-boosting and muscle building secrets.

Nowadays, there are so many weight loss products on the market it can be difficult to determine whether it works to help you lose weight. One such category of weight loss supplements is carb blockers.

So do carb blockers really work?

Carb blockers are really gaining momentum as people are now ready to give them a try to combat with their weight problems. However, the question that most of these people do ask is about the functionality of these carb blockers.

Carb blockers work by blocking carbohydrates from being absorbed by your body. Carbohydrates are one of the important components that our body needs to perform optimally. It is found in starchy products such as flour, rice, bread and cakes.

Our body converts these carbohydrates in sugar or glucose. However, foods containing starch are considered to be complex carbohydrates and when they are not being used, it is stored in your body as fat deposits.

These days, we consume far more carbohydrates than we expend so there’s the reason why so many people are obese or overweight. Carb Blockers such as Dietrine phrase 2 carb blocker pills will stop carbohydrates from being turned into fat. It helps to neutralize the digestive enzyme alpha amylase that is responsible for converting starch into glucose.

The carbohydrates are then safely pass out of your body as waste. Recently studies have shown that phrase 2 carb blockers can help obese or overweight patients lose nearly half a pound per week or 200% more than those on placebo.

Another important advantage is that phrase 2 blockers are natural and dervived from white kidney beans, so they have very little side effects compared to traditional weight loss medicine.

If you have a sweet tooth and likes to eat cakes and pasta, a phrase 2 carb blocker can help you stay healthy and still enjoy the great foods.
Click here to check out my Dietrine carb blocker review and learn whether is dietrine carb blocker scam.
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You’ve been deceived into thinking that saturated fats are bad for you, but let’s look at some facts below…

by Mike Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

I’ll preface this article by saying that it will help if you have an open mind and accept that some of these facts are a slap in the face to politically correct nutrition in this day and age where fats are admonished by many doctors, health “experts”, and the mass media.

To start, eating an adequate supply of healthy dietary fats is vitally important to your overall health. Fats are one of the main components in all of the cell membranes throughout your entire body. If you eat enough healthy natural fats, your cellular processes will proceed normally.

On the other hand, if you eat man-made, heavily processed, chemically altered fats (damaged fats) that are found in most processed foods, your cellular function will be impaired as these damaged fats become part of your cell membranes, the body will have to work harder to operate correctly, and degenerative diseases can develop.

In addition, healthy dietary fats are necessary for optimal hormone production and balance within the body and are therefore essential for the muscle building and fat burning processes.  Other important functions that dietary fats play in a healthy body are aiding vitamin and mineral utilization, enzyme regulation, energy, etc.

I cringe every time I hear so called “health experts” recommend restriction of dietary fat, claiming that a low-fat diet is the key to good health, weight loss, and prevention of degenerative diseases.  Restriction of any one macronutrient (protein, carbs, or fat) in your diet works against what your body needs and can only lead to problems.

All three basic macronutrients serve important functions for a lean, healthy, and disease-free body.  As Dr. Mary Enig, Ph.D, and one of the leading fats researchers in the world, notes in several of her books and articles, there is very little true scientific evidence supporting the assertion that a high fat diet is bad for us.

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For example, if these so called "health experts" that admonish fat are correct, and a low-fat diet is the solution to good health, then why did traditional Pacific Islanders who typically obtained 2/3 to 3/4 of their total daily calories from fat (mostly from coconut fat), remain virtually free from heart disease, obesity, and other modern degenerative diseases (that is, until Western dietary influences invaded)?

Also, why did traditional Eskimo populations, consuming up to 75% of their total caloric intake from fat (mostly from whale blubber, seal fat, organ meats, and cold water fish), display superior health and longevity without heart disease or obesity?

Why did members of the Masai tribe in Africa remain free from degenerative diseases and maintain low body fat percentages on diets consisting of large quantities of raw whole milk, blood, and meat? What about the Samburu tribe of Africa, which eats an average of 5 times the quantity of dietary fat (mostly from raw whole milk and meat) as overweight, disease-ridden Americans, yet Samburu members are lean, healthy, and free of degenerative diseases? What about traditional Mediterranean diets, which are known to be very high in fat in some cases (sometimes up to 50-70% fat), and are also well known to be very healthy?

These examples of high fat diets and the associated excellent health of traditional populations around the world go on and on, yet it seems that many doctors, nutritionists, and media outlets still ignore these facts and continue to promote a diet that restricts fat intake.

Well, the problem is that the good fats (the natural unprocessed health promoting fats) have gotten mistakenly lumped together in nutritional advice with the deadly processed fats and oils that make up a large percentage of almost all processed food that is sold at your local grocery store, restaurant, deli, fast food joint, etc. These deadly processed fats are literally everywhere and almost impossible to avoid unless you know what to look for and make smart choices in what you feed your body with.

Take note that I’m not recommending following a super high fat diet. Active individuals that exercise on a regular basis certainly also need adequate supplies of healthy carbohydrates for energy and muscle glycogen replenishment as well as good sources of protein for muscle repair. The above examples of the high fat diets of traditional populations and their corresponding excellent health were simply to prove the point that you don’t need to be afraid of dietary fats as long as you make healthy natural choices and stay within your daily caloric range to maintain or lose weight (depending on your goals).

Following is a list of some of the healthiest fatty foods (some will surprise you!) as well as some of the deadliest fatty foods to try to avoid at all costs:

The Healthy Fatty Food Choices:

• Coconut fat: Coconut fat is approximately 92% saturated fat, yet surprisingly to most people, is considered a very healthy natural fat. The health benefits of coconut fat lie in its composition of approximately 65% medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). Specifically, about 50% of coconut fat is a MCT called lauric acid, which has very potent anti-microbial properties helping to enhance the immune system. Also, MCTs are more easily utilized for immediate energy instead of being stored as body fat.  Coconut oil is also an excellent cooking oil for stir-frying, etc. since saturated fats are much more stable and do not oxidize like polyunsaturated oils when exposed to heat and light, which creates damaging free radicals. The best sources of healthy coconut fat are organic coconut milk, virgin coconut oil (available at http://coconut-info.com), or fresh coconut.
• Extra virgin olive oil:  Olive oil is approximately 71% monounsaturated, 16% saturated, and 13% polyunsaturated. Choose “extra virgin” olive oil, which comes from the first pressing of the olives and has higher quantities of antioxidants. Unlike most other oils on supermarket shelves, extra virgin olive oil is not extracted with the use of harmful industrial solvents and is one of your healthiest choices for liquid oils. Try making your own salad dressing by mixing a small amount of olive oil with vinegar. This is healthier than most store bought salad dressings, which are usually made with highly processed and refined (chemically damaged) soybean oil extracted with industrial solvents.
• Dark, bittersweet chocolate (>70% cocoa):  The cocoa bean is a very concentrated source of antioxidants and responsible for part of the health benefit of dark chocolate. The fat portion of the cocoa bean (cocoa butter) is a healthy natural fat, composed of approximately 59% saturated fat (mostly healthy stearic acid), 38% monounsaturated fat, and 3% polyunsaturated fat. I’ll limit the description of healthy chocolate to ONLY dark bittersweet chocolate with >70% cocoa content. Most milk chocolates are only about 30% cocoa, and even most dark chocolates are only about 55% cocoa, leaving the remainder of those products composed of high amounts of sugar, milk fat, corn sweeteners, etc. Look for a quality dark chocolate that lists its cocoa content like Chocolove Extra Dark (77%) or Dagoba New Moon (74%), which contain mostly cocoa and very little sugar. Keep in mind that although dark chocolate can be a healthy treat, it is still calorie dense, so keeping it to just a square or two is a good idea.
• Avocados or guacamole:  The fat in avocados (depending on where they’re grown) is approximately 60% monounsaturated, 25% saturated, and 15% polyunsaturated. Avocados are a very healthy natural food that provides many nutrients, fiber, and healthful fats, while adding a rich flavor to any meal. Try sliced avocado on sandwiches or in salads or use guacamole in wraps, sandwiches, or quesadillas.
• High fat fish such as wild salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring, trout, etc.:  Just about any fish or seafood are good sources of natural omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, but the higher fat fish listed above are the best sources of omega-3’s. Due to the radical switch to a higher proportion of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats like soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, etc. in our food supply during the middle of the 20th century, the average western diet is currently way too high in omega-6’s compared to omega-3’s, which wreaks havoc in your body. This is where good omega-3 sources like high fat fish, walnuts, and flax seeds can help bring you back to a better ratio of omega-6/omega-3.
• Nuts (any and all – walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, macadamias, etc.): Nuts are great sources of healthy unprocessed fats as well as minerals and other trace nutrients. Macadamias, almonds, and cashews are great sources of monounsaturated fats, while walnuts are a good source of unprocessed polyunsaturated fats (including omega-3’s). Try to avoid nuts that are cooked in oil. Instead , choose raw or dry roasted nuts.
• Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds):  All of these seeds are great sources of natural unprocessed healthy fats. In particular, flax seeds have received a lot of attention lately due to their high omega-3 content. However, keep in mind that omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly reactive to heat and light, and prone to oxidation and free radical production. Therefore, freshly ground flax seed is the only way to go. Instead of using the store bought ground flax seed, you can buy whole flax seed and use one of those miniature coffee grinders to grind your own flax seed. Try grinding fresh flax seed into your yogurt, cereal, or even your salad.  If you’re using a flax oil, make sure it’s a cold-pressed oil in a light-proof refrigerated container, and use it up within a few weeks to prevent it from going rancid. NEVER cook with flax oil!
• The fat in organically raised, free-range animals:  This is where most people have been misinformed by the mass media. Animal fat is inherently good for us, that is, if it came from a healthy animal. Human beings have thrived on animal fats for thousands of years. The problem is, most mass produced animal products today do not come from healthy animals. They come from animals given loads of antibiotics and fattened up with hormones and fed un-natural feed. The solution is to choose organically raised, free-range meats, eggs, and dairy. At this time, the price is still a little higher, but as demand grows, the prices will come down. I’ve found an incredible website that actually offers free-range grass-fed meats delivered right to your doorstep at very reasonable prices. Believe me, it’s very hard to find grass fed meats at any grocery stores, so I was pleased to find this site.

The Deadly Fatty Foods:

• Hydrogenated oils (trans fats):  These are industrially produced chemically altered oils subjected to extremely high pressure and temperature, with added industrial solvents such as hexane for extraction, and have a metal catalyst added to promote the artificial hydrogenation, followed by bleaching and deodorizing agents…..and somehow the FDA still allows this crap to pass as food. These oils aren’t even worthy of your lawnmower, much less your body! They’ve been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. Even small quantities have been shown in studies to be dangerous. If you care about your health, check the ingredients of everything you buy, and if you see partially hydrogenated oils of any kind, margarine, or shortening, protect yourself and your family by choosing something else.
• Refined oils:  Even if the oils are not hydrogenated, most oils on your supermarket shelves are refined, even most of the so called “healthy” canola oils. Most refined oils still undergo the high temperature, high pressure, solvent extraction, bleaching, and deodorizing processes. Anything labeled vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, and even many canola oils have been damaged by this refining process (unless they say “virgin” or “cold expeller pressed”). This damages the natural structure of the fats, destroys natural antioxidants, creates free radicals, and produces a generally unhealthy product. Take note that the explosion of heart disease in the middle of the 20th century coincides quite nicely with the rapid increase in the use of hydrogenated and refined oils in the food supply.
• Anything deep fried: including tortilla chips, potato chips, French fries, donuts, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, etc. All of this crap shouldn’t even pass as real food in my opinion!
• Homogenized milk fat – Milk fat is a very healthy fat in its natural raw state. Milk and beef from grass fed organically raised cows is known to have higher quantities of healthy fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids compared with grain fed cows. Traditional populations around the world have thrived in perfect health while consuming huge quantities of raw, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized, full fat dairy products.  Once again, food processing ruins a good thing by pasteurizing and homogenizing milk fat, rendering it potentially dangerous inside the human body. Unfortunately, you will find it almost impossible to find raw milk in the US unless you personally know a farmer. Check out http://www.realmilk.com for more info on the benefits of raw milk and to find out if it’s available near you. As an alternative, cultured dairy products like yogurt have at least had beneficial microorganisms added back to them making them better for you.  Realistically, since you probably won’t find raw milk, sticking to skim milk is the best option to avoid the homogenized milk fat. If you use butter for cooking, your best option is grass-fed butter.

I hope this article has shed some light on the truth about dietary fats and made you realize their importance in a healthy diet.

A fully comprehensive analysis on dietary protein, carbohydrates, and fat, and how to compile all of this information into a diet that promotes a lean healthy body with a low body fat percentage is provided in my book “The Truth About Six Pack Abs”.  Give it a try and you won’t be disappointed!

Your Cardio Workouts may not be helping you unless you incorporate a high range of heart rate shifts in your training

By Mike Geary – Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Are you a cardio junkie? Everyone seems to think that “cardio” is the best way to get in shape and lose body fat.  I’m going to show you with this article why I disagree!

It is quite common to hear fitness pros, doctors, and other health professionals prescribe low to moderate intensity aerobic training (cardio) to people who are trying to prevent heart disease or lose weight. Most often, the recommendations go something like this:

“Perform 30-60 minutes of steady pace cardio 3-5 times/week maintaining your heart rate at a moderate level”

Before you just give in to this popular belief and become the “hamster on the wheel” doing endless hours of boring cardio exercise, I’d like you to consider some recent scientific research that indicates that steady pace endurance cardio work may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

First, realize that our bodies are designed to perform physical activity in bursts of exertion followed by recovery, or stop-and-go movement instead of steady state movement. Recent research is suggesting that physical variability is one of the most important aspects to consider in your training.

This tendency can be seen throughout nature as most animals demonstrate stop-and-go motion instead of steady state motion. In fact, humans are the only creatures in nature that attempt to do “endurance” type physical activities. Most competitive sports (with the exception of endurance running or cycling) are also based on stop-and-go movement or short bursts of exertion followed by recovery.

To examine an example of the different effects of endurance or steady state training versus stop-and-go training, consider the physiques of marathoners versus sprinters. Most sprinters carry a physique that is very lean, muscular, and powerful looking, while the typical dedicated marathoner is more often emaciated and sickly looking. Now which would you rather resemble?

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Another factor to keep in mind regarding the benefits of physical variability is the internal effect of various forms of exercise on our body. Scientists have known that excessive steady state endurance exercise (different for everyone, but sometimes defined as greater than 60 minutes per session most days of the week) increases free radical production in the body, can degenerate joints, reduces immune function, causes muscle wasting, and can cause a pro-inflammatory response in the body that can potentially lead to chronic diseases.

Highly variable cyclic training

On the other hand, highly variable cyclic training has been linked to increased anti-oxidant production in the body and an anti-inflammatory response, a more efficient nitric oxide response (which can encourage a healthy cardiovascular system), and an increased metabolic rate response (which can assist with weight loss). Furthermore, steady state endurance training only trains the heart at one specific heart rate range and doesn’t train it to respond to various every day stressors.

On the other hand, highly variable cyclic training teaches the heart to respond to and recover from a variety of demands making it less likely to fail when you need it.  Think about it this way… Exercise that trains your heart to rapidly increase and rapidly decrease will make your heart more capable of handling everyday stress. Stress can cause your blood pressure and heart rate to increase rapidly. Steady state jogging and other endurance training does not train your heart to be able to handle rapid changes in heart rate or blood pressure.

The important aspect of variable cyclic training that makes it superior over steady state cardio exercise is the recovery period in between bursts of exertion. That recovery period is crucially important for the body to elicit a healthy response to an exercise stimulus. Another benefit of variable cyclic training is that it is much more interesting and has lower drop-out rates than long boring steady state cardio programs.

To summarize, some of the potential benefits of variable cyclic training compared to steady state endurance training are as follows: improved cardiovascular health, increased anti-oxidant protection, improved immune function, reduced risk for joint wear and tear, increased muscularity (versus decreased muscularity with endurance training), increased residual metabolic rate following exercise, and an increased capacity for the heart to handle life’s every day stressors.

Sports Workouts and Sprinting

There are many ways you can reap the benefits of stop-and-go or variable intensity physical training. Most competitive sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, tennis, hockey, etc. are naturally comprised of highly variable stop-and-go motion which trains the heart through a higher range than just steady walking or jogging.

Doing swimming workouts in a variable intensity fashion may also be more beneficial than just swimming for a long duration at the same speed.  Same goes for bicycling — that is why mountain biking, which involves extreme ups and downs at various intensity levels may also be more beneficial than just a long flat steady pace bike ride.

One of the absolute most effective forms of variable intensity training to really reduce body fat and bring out serious muscular definition is performing wind sprints.  Wind sprints can be done by sprinting at near max speed for 10-30 seconds, and then taking 60 seconds to walk for recovery before your next sprint. 6-12 total sprint intervals is usually a very challenging workout for most people.

In addition, weight training naturally incorporates short bursts of exertion followed by recovery periods. High intensity interval training (varying between high and low intensity intervals on any piece of cardio equipment) is yet another training method that utilizes exertion and recovery periods. For example, an interval training session on the treadmill could look something like this:

Warm-up for 3-4 minutes at a fast walk or light jog

Interval 1 – run at 8.0 mi/hr for 1 minute
Interval 2 – walk at 4.0 mi/hr for 1.5 minutes
Interval 3 – run at 10.0 mi/hr for 1 minute
Interval 4 – walk at 4.0 mi/hr for 1.5 minutes

Repeat those 4 intervals 4 times for a very intense 20-minute workout.

Also, don’t overlook other great ways to incorporate variable intensity cardio training by using a jump rope, a rowing machine, or even outdoor hill running.

The take-away message from this article is to try to train your body at highly variable intensity rates for the majority of your workouts to get the most beneficial response in terms of heart health, fat loss, and muscle maintenance.

Full-body strategically-designed resistance training programs along with high intensity cardiovascular training programs guaranteed to strip off body fat when combined with a healthy diet are included in my book The Truth About Six Pack Abs. If you’re serious about getting lean for good, this book is a must-read.

Are cardio workouts or weight training more effective for losing fat…

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

In this article, I have an intriguing discussion about cardio workouts, which will hopefully get you thinking differently, and trying new things.

You may know I’ve been called the anti-cardio guy before, but this week I’m back posing the question to you… Do you really need cardio training to get lean and in great shape? By the way, you’ll see in a minute that I’m not really “anti-cardio”, just “anti traditional cardio”.

Most fitness buffs, weekend warriors, or anyone trying to get in shape or lose body fat, consider it a fact that they need “cardio” exercise to accomplish these goals. They would never even question it.

However, I’m not only questioning it, I’m going to refute it! In fact, you may be surprised to know that some of the leanest and meanest people I know (men and women), NEVER do any type of normal or traditional cardio. And I’ve spent over 15 years working out in various gyms, and hanging out with athletes of all sorts, so I’ve seen it all.

I will say that there can be a place for low-moderate level cardio for really overweight or deconditioned people, but even in those cases, there can be more effective methods.

But what exactly is “cardio”?

Most people would consider cardio to be pumping away mindlessly on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, or coasting on an elliptical machine, while watching the TV screen at their state of the art gym. This is what I call “traditional cardio”. Hmmm, no wonder the majority of people get bored with their workouts and give up after a couple months without seeing results.

But if you look closer, “cardio” exercise can be considered any type of exercise or activity that strengthens the cardiovascular system. I’m not going to get into anything technical like increasing your VO2 max or anything like that. To keep it simple, if it gets your heart pumpin, and gets you huffin and puffin, it’s cardio. I don’t care if you’re holding dumbbells or a barbell and everyone calls it a weight training exercise…it’s still conditioning your heart.

Let’s take a look at a couple examples. Take a barbell (or dumbbell, or kettlebell) clean & press for example, which involves lifting a barbell from the floor up to shoulders, then push pressing overhead. And listen up ladies, because even though this is usually seen as a manly exercise, it doesn’t matter if you’re not lifting 250 lbs; if 45 lbs is challenging to you, then you will still benefit just as much.

At first glance, most people think of the barbell C&P only as a weight training exercise or strength exercise. However, I challenge you to do a hard set of around 10-15 reps on the C&P. If you used a challenging enough weight, what you’ll find is that your heart rate is probably up to about 80-90% of your recommended max, and you are huffing and puffing like you just ran a 100-meter sprint (which by the way, sprinting kicks the crap out of jogging any day if you want the easiest way to lose the flab).

Try the same thing for a set of 20 reps of one-arm snatches or swings with each arm with a kettlebell or dumbbell, and tell me your legs aren’t burning, heart racing, and you’re gasping for breath. How about trying 5 minutes straight of bodyweight squats, lunges, and pushups with very little rest. Again, notice your heart pounding, sweat pouring off of you, and chest heaving for breaths!

Try and tell me you’re not conditioning your heart with this style of training! Conventional thinking says that these are weight training or strength training exercises. However, they are fulfilling your cardio workout needs as well (saving you time!).

Not only do you save time, but you strengthen and condition almost every muscle in your entire body with these full body exercises if you do them with enough intensity…something that can’t be said for that boring stationary bike ride or treadmill jaunt while reading or watching TV.

Reading or watching TV while you workout is a joke!

Seriously, if you can read or watch TV while doing any exercise, you’re not concentrating enough on what you’re doing, plus you’re probably not working out hard enough to see any real results.

I challenge you to give the “traditional cardio” a rest for a month or two, and start training the way I explain in my internationally-selling Truth about Six pack Abs Program, and see how you start getting leaner, more defined, and your six pack starting to show through what used to be stubborn stomach fat deposits.

If you’re interested in more reading about the topic of cardio training and better alternatives, here’s an interesting cardio article I wrote previously.

What you need to know about Weight Training for a strong lean body that both looks good and is injury resistant

by Mike Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Working as a personal trainer & fitness professional, there is one type of question I get all the time that shows that many people are missing the big picture regarding the benefits of strength training. This popular question usually goes something like this:

“What exercise can I do to isolate my _______ (insert your muscle of choice – abs, quads, biceps, triceps, etc)?”

It doesn’t matter which muscle someone is asking about, they always seem to be asking how to ‘isolate’ it. My first response to this question is always – “Why in the world would you want to isolate it?”

The first thing I try to teach my clients is that the body does not work well in muscle isolation. Rather, it works better in movements along a kinetic chain; that is, large portions of the body assist other portions of the body in completing a complex movement. In fact, there really is no such thing as true muscle isolation. There is almost always a nearby muscle group that will assist in some way with whatever movement you are doing. However, this article compares attempting to ‘isolate’ body parts via single-joint exercises to the much more effective strategy of performing multi-joint complex movements.

When you attempt to ‘isolate’ muscles by performing single-joint exercises, you are actually creating a body that is non-functional and will be more prone to injury. Essentially, you are creating a body that is a compilation of body parts, instead of a powerful, functional unit that works together.

Now if you really want to end up hobbling around in a body bandaged up with joint problems, tendonitis, and excess body fat, then by all means, continue trying to ‘isolate’ body parts. On the other hand, if you would rather have a lean, muscular, injury-free, functional body that works as a complete powerful unit to perform complex movements (in athletics or even everyday tasks), then you need to shift your focus away from muscle isolation.

Believe me, focusing on how well your body functions will give you the side effect of a body that looks even better than it would have if you focused on muscle isolation. For example, take a look at the physiques of any NFL running backs, wide receivers, or even world class sprinters. Trust me when I say that these guys pretty much NEVER train for muscle isolation (their strength coaches wouldn’t be crazy enough to let them), yet they are absolutely ripped to shreds! Just look at guys like Maurice Green or Terrell Owens and tell me who wouldn’t want a physique like those guys.

Another benefit to moving away from the ‘muscle isolation’ mindset in weight training to a more ‘complex movement’ mindset is that you will find it much easier to lose body fat. The reason is that by focusing more on multi-joint complex movements as opposed to single-joint muscle isolation lifts, you not only burn a lot more calories during each workout, but you also increase your metabolic rate, and stimulate production of more fat burning and muscle building hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone.

Let’s look at an example. The machine leg extension is a single joint exercise that works mainly the quadriceps, can potentially cause knee joint instability in the long run, and doesn’t even burn that many calories. On the other hand, exercises like squats, lunges, step-ups, and deadlifts are all multi-joint complex movements that work hundreds of muscles in the body (including the quadriceps) as a functional unit, create more stable and strong joints in the long run (when done properly), and also burn massive quantities of calories compared to the single-joint exercises.

Now although I do feel that multi-joint exercises should comprise the majority of your weight training workouts, I also think that there can be some benefits with just minor inclusions of single-joint exercises for variety, etc.  I choose to build my training programs with about 90-95% multi-joint exercises and about 5-10% single-joint exercises at most.

If you’re interested in discovering more ways to create a body that looks as good as it functions, pick up a copy of my innovative book The Truth About Six Pack Abs

by Michael Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

In most of my Lean-Body Secrets Newsletters, I like to provide a healthy snack or meal recipe that not only is delicious and healthy, but also helps to get you closer to that hard-body appearance that everyone is looking for, while also more importantly, improving your health for life. In this article, I’d like to give you healthy food ideas in a different way. This time, I figured I’d just give you some ideas of what I stock my fridge and cabinets with.Lose fat.

Remember, if you don’t have junk around the house, you’re less likely to eat junk. If all you have is healthy food around the house, you’re forced to make smart choices. Basically, it all starts with making smart choices and avoiding temptations when you make your grocery store trip. Now these are just some of my personal preferences, but perhaps they will give you some good ideas that you’ll enjoy.

Alright, so let’s start with the fridge. Each week, I try to make sure I’m loaded up with lots of varieties of fresh vegetables. During the growing season, I only get local produce, but obviously in winter, I have to resort to the produce at the grocery store. Most of the time, I make sure I have plenty of vegetables like onions, zucchini,  spinach, fresh mushrooms, red peppers, broccoli, etc. to use in my morning eggs.  I also like to dice up some lean chicken or turkey sausage into the eggs, along with some swiss, jack, or goat cheeses (preferably raw grass-fed cheeses when I can find them).

By the way I’m talking about whole eggs, NOT egg whites.  Always remember that the yolk is the most nutritious and nutrient dense part of the egg, so only eating egg whites is like throwing away the best part… and no, it’s NOT bad for you because of the cholesterol… eggs actually raise your GOOD cholesterol.  Try to get free range organic eggs for the best quality. Here’s an entire article I did on the topic of whole eggs vs egg whites.

Coconut milk is another staple in my fridge. I like to use it to mix in with smoothies, oatmeal, or yogurt for a rich, creamy taste. Not only does coconut milk add a rich, creamy taste to lots of dishes, but it’s also full of healthy saturated fats. Yeah, you heard me…I said healthy saturated fats! Healthy saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, specifically an MCT called lauric acid. If the idea of healthy saturated fats is foreign to you, check out my healthy fats article

Back to the fridge, some other staples:

• Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds – delicious and great sources of healthy fats.
• Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and yogurt – I like to mix cottage or ricotta cheese and yogurt together with chopped nuts and berries for a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal.
• Whole flax seeds or chia seeds - I grind these in a mini coffee grinder and add to yogurt or salads. Always grind them fresh because the omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation, creating high levels of free radicals in pre-ground flax.
• Whole eggs – one of natures richest sources of nutrients (and remember, they increase your GOOD cholesterol so stop fearing them).
• Salsa – I try to get creative and try some of the exotic varieties of salsas.
• Avocados – love them…plus a great source of healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients. Try adding them to wraps, salads, or sandwiches.
• Butter – don’t believe the naysayers; butter adds great flavor to anything and can be part of a healthy diet (just keep the quantity small because it is calorie dense…and NEVER use margarine, unless you want to assure yourself a heart attack).
• Nut butters – Plain old peanut butter has gotten a little old for me, so I get creative and mix together almond butter with sesame seed butter, or even cashew butter with macadamia butter…delicious and unbeatable nutrition!
• Leaf lettuce and spinach along with shredded carrots – for salads with dinner.
• Home-made salad dressing – using balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and Udo’s Choice oil blend. This is much better than store bought salad dressing which mostly use highly refined soybean oil (full of inflammation-causing free radicals).
• Whole grain wraps and whole grain bread (look for wraps and bread with at least 3-4 grams of fiber per 20 grams of total carbs).
• Rice bran and wheat germ – these may sound way too healthy for some, but they actually add a nice little nutty, crunchy taste to yogurt or smoothies, or can be added when baking muffins or breads to add nutrients and fiber.

Some of the staples in the freezer:

• Frozen berries – during the local growing season, I only get fresh berries, but during the other 10 months of the year, I always keep a supply of frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, etc. to add to high fiber cereal, oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, or smoothies
• Frozen fish – I like to try a couple different kinds of fish each week. There are so many varieties out there, you never have to get bored.
• Frozen chicken breasts – very convenient for a quick addition to wraps or chicken sandwiches for quick meals.
• Grass-fed steaks, burgers, and ground beef – Grassfed meats have been shown to have as high as, or even higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than salmon (without the mercury). Also, grass-fed meats have much higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to typical grain-fed beef.  I recently found an excellent on-line store where I buy all of my grass-fed meats now (they even deliver right to your door in a sealed cooler) – www.healthygrassfed.com
• Frozen buffalo, ostrich, venison, and other “exotic” lean meats – Yeah, I know…I’m weird, but I can tell you that these are some of the healthiest meats around, and if you’re serious about a lean healthy body, these types of meats are much better for you than the mass produced, hormone-pumped beef and pork that’s sold at most grocery stores.
• Frozen veggies – again, when the growing season is over and I can no longer get local fresh produce, frozen veggies are the best option, since they often have higher nutrient contents compared to the fresh produce that has been shipped thousands of miles, sitting around for weeks before making it to your dinner table.

Alright, now the staples in my cabinets:

• Various antioxidant rich teas – green, oolong, white, rooibos are some of the best.
• Whole wheat or whole grain spelt pasta – much higher fiber than normal pastas
• Oat bran and steel cut oats – higher fiber than those little packs of instant oats.
• Cans of coconut milk – to be transferred to a container in the fridge after opening.
• Brown rice and other higher fiber rice – NEVER white rice
• Tomato sauces – delicious, and as I’m sure you’ve heard a million times, they are a great source of lycopene. Just watch out for the brands that are loaded with nasty high fructose corn syrup.
• Stevia – a natural non-caloric sweetener, which is an excellent alternative to the nasty chemical-laden artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.
• Raw honey – better than processed honey… higher quantities of beneficial nutrients and enzymes. Honey has even been proven in studies to improve glucose metabolism (how you process carbs). I use a teaspoon or so every morning in my teas. Yes, it is pure sugar, but at least it has some nutritional benefits… and let’s be real, a teaspoon of healthier raw honey is only 5 grams of carbs… certainly nothing to worry about.
• Organic maple syrup – none of that high fructose corn syrup Aunt Jemima crap…only real maple syrup can be considered real food. The only time I really use this (because of the high sugar load) is added to my post-workout smoothies to sweeten things up and also elicit an insulin surge to push nutrients into your muscles.
• Organic unsweetened cocoa powder – I like to mix this into my smoothies for an extra jolt of antioxidants or make my own low-sugar hot cocoa by mixing cocoa powder into hot milk with stevia and a couple melted dark chocolate chunks.
• Cans of black or kidney beans – I like to add a couple scoops to my Mexican wraps for the fiber and high nutrition content. Also, beans are surprisingly one of the best sources of youth promoting antioxidants!
• Dark chocolate (as dark as possible) – This is one of my treats that satisfies my sweet tooth, plus provides loads of antioxidants at the same time. It’s still calorie dense, so I keep it to just a couple squares; but that is enough to do the trick, so I don’t feel like I need to go out and get cake and ice cream to satisfy my dessert urges.

Lastly, another thing that’s hard to go wrong with is a good variety of fresh fruits and berries. The staples such as bananas, apples, oranges, pears, peaches are good, but I like to also be a little more adventurous and include things like yellow (aka – mexican or champagne) mangoes, pomegranates, kumquats, papaya, star fruit, pineapples, and others. Also, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries are some of the most nutrient and antioxidant-dense fruits you can eat.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this special look into my favorite lean body meals and how I stock my cabinets and fridge. Your tastes are probably quite different than mine, but hopefully this gave you some good ideas you can use next time you’re at the grocery store looking to stock up a healthy and delicious pile of groceries.

Be sure to pick up a copy of my book The Truth about Six Pack Abs, which introduces you to the entire comprehensive training and nutritional program that will turn your body into a lean, sexy specimen that others will envy!

Tired of the Old 3 Sets of 10-12? Well, So is Your Body! Break Through Your Plateau by Training Drastically Different… a Look at Training Variables.

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Everyone will inadvertently hit a frustrating plateau in their training at one time or another.  You’re cruising along for a while, gaining strength, losing fat, looking better, and then all of the sudden it hits. Suddenly, you find yourself even weaker than before on your lifts, or you find that you’ve gained back a couple of pounds.  It happens to everyone.

Most of the time, these plateaus occur because people rarely change their training variables over time. Many people stick to the same types of exercises for the same basic sets and reps and rest periods with the same boring cardio routine.  Well, I hope to open your mind and bring some creativity to your workouts with this article!

There are many ways that you can strategically modify your training variables to assure that you maximize your fat loss and/or muscle building response to exercise. Most people only think about changing their sets and reps performed, if they even think about changing their routine at all.

However, other variables that can dramatically affect your results are changing the order of exercises (sequence), exercise grouping (super-setting, circuit training, tri-sets, etc.), exercise type (multi-joint or single joint, free-weight or machine based), the number of exercises per workout, the amount of resistance, the base of stability (standing, seated, on stability ball, one-legged, etc.), the volume of work (sets x reps x distance moved), rest periods between sets, repetition speed, range of motion, exercise angle (inclined, flat, declined, bent over, upright, etc), training duration per workout, and training frequency per week.

Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to get the best results from your workouts, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn’t get stale.  Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.

Most people stick to workouts where they do something along the lines of 3 sets of 10-12 reps per exercise, with 2-3 minutes rest between sets.  Booooorrrrring!!!!  Here are a few examples of different methods to spice up your routine.

• Try 10 sets of 3 with a medium weight, resting only 20 seconds between sets.
• Try using a heavier weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.
• Try using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.
• Try using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise
• Try a workout based on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes.
• Try a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.
• Try that same 12 exercise circuit on your subsequent workout, but do the entire circuit in the reverse order.
• Try your usual exercises at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.
• Try completing five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.
• Try doing drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).

Want more ideas? There are many more ways to continue to change your training variables. This was just a taste of your possibilities.  In order to see how to incorporate various strategies into effective routines, give the programs in my internationally best-selling ebook The Truth about Six Pack Abs a try.