Effective Ab Exercises for Men and Women

In this week’s call, you’re going to get…

• The formula for the perfect workout
• 3 bootcamp fat loss workouts
• And the truth about social support from TT Body Transformation Contest Winners

This week we announced the winners of the 8th TT Transformation Contest. It was easily the best contest yet – amazing results…so many entries…and a success story for every walk of life.

Check out the winners…

www.transformationcontest.com

And details about the 9th contest coming very soon…

Click here to listen to the call…

Now let’s get into the TT Workout and tips…

Monday – Aug 30th

Transformation Tip of the Week:
Okay, this week marks Sept 1st…time to look back at what you wanted to accomplish in 2010, and if you aren’t there yet, to re-commit yourself to success. “Even the impossible can be broken down into possibilities.” Start with small goals. Achieve them and reward/reinforce your behavior. That will encourage you to continue with the right actions and will get you to keep moving closer and closer to your bigger goals.

TT Bootcamps Workout – TT Booty Bootcamp: Part 1

Warm-up (20 seconds per exercise) – 5 minutes
Jumping Jacks
Bodyweight Squat
Mountain Climbers
Arm Crosses
Leg Swings
Rest 1 minute and repeat 1 more time.

TT Strength Circuit (20 seconds per exercise) – 5 minutes
Split Squat (20 seconds per side)
Close-Grip Pushup
Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 1 minute

TT Big 5 Conditioning Circuit (20 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
Prisoner Squat or Kettlebell Swing
Elevated Pushup (20 seconds per side)
Band Row or DB Row or Stick-up
Reverse Lunge (20 seconds per side)
Stability Ball Plank
Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 1 minute

TT Booty Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
1-Leg Hip Extension (20 seconds per side)
Stability Ball Hip Extension
Stability Ball Leg Curl
Grasshopper Pushup
Side Plank Leg Raise (20 seconds per side)
Stability Ball WYT’s (20 seconds per movement)
Walking Lunges
Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

Cool-down, Stretching & Water Break – 5 minutes

Tuesday
Get 30 minutes of fun activity – now grab a Green Tea and do this week’s research review.

Reference:
Obesity. 2010 May 20. Regular Multicomponent Exercise Increases Physical Fitness and Muscle Protein Anabolism in Frail, Obese, Older Adults.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis…gave a 3-month multicomponent exercise training program in nine 65- to 80-
year-old, moderately frail, obese older adults.

After 3 months of training fat mass decreased (P < 0.05), fat-free mass (FFM), appendicular lean body mass, strength, and VO(2) peak increased (all P < 0.05).

The scientists concluded that a multicomponent exercise training program has beneficial effects on muscle mass and physical function and should therefore be recommended to frail and obese older adults

BOTTOM LINE: Older people, and I mean over 65, should get strength training into their life and should focus on maintaining muscle mass.

Wednesday

Partner towel assisted exercises – cool for bootcamps – check out travel report here.

The travel report was a labor of love, and it is free for you, and shows you how to get lean and stay lean while traveling.

TT Bootcamps Workout – TT 300 Challenge 2K10 Version 2.0

TT Warm-up (20 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
Prisoner Squat
Duck Unders
Arm Crosses
Pushup Plus
Waiter’s Bow
Elbow-to-Instep Lunge
Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 2 minute

TT Bodyweight Bootcamp 300 – 30 minutes
10 Vertical Jumps
50 Bodyweight Squats
10 Spiderman Pushups
10 Pullups or Inverted Rows
30 Stability Ball Jackknives
40 Walking Lunges (20 per side)
50 Close-Grip Pushups
20 Stability Ball Rollouts
40 Pushups
30 Stability Ball Leg Curls
10 Chinups or Underhand Bodyweight Rows
Rest as much as needed between exercises.

Water Break – 2 minutes

TT Adrenaline Abs Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 5 minutes
Stability Ball Plank
Cross-Body Mountain Climber
Get-up (30 seconds per side)
Shuttle Sprint

Cool-down, Stretching & Water Break – 10 minutes

Thursday
Do 30 minutes of fun activity…

FACEBOOK Q of the Week…

Q: What is the perfect workout?

Answer:
Well, here’s the perfect workout for building muscle, burning fat, and sculpting the body: Total body mobility warmup, strength superset, metabolic resistance training supersets or circuit, interval training (optional depending on whether you need more fat loss).

Friday

TT Bootcamps Workout – TT Beach Body Bootcamp: Part 1

TT Warm-up (20 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
Chops (20 seconds per side)
Bodyweight Squat
Elevated Pushup (20 seconds per side)
Stick-up
Waiter’s Bow
Shuffle
Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

TT Strength Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 12 minutes
1-Leg Hip Extension or 1-Leg Bench Squat or Reverse Lunge (30 seconds per side)
Close-Grip Pushup ¾ Reps
Underhand Inverted Row or DB Row
Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 2 minutes

TT Big 6 Circuit (20 seconds per exercise) – 10 minutes
Side-to-Side Jump or Kettlebell Swing
DB or KB Split Squat (20 seconds per side)
Pushup
DB Row or Inverted Row
Prisoner Forward Lunge
Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break – 2 minutes

TT Total Body Abs Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) – 5 minutes
Inchworm
Stability Ball Plank or Plank (60 seconds)
Side Plank (30 seconds per side)
Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

Cool-down, Stretching & Water Break – 10 minutes

Social Support Saturday!
30 minutes of fun activity…

Contest winner quote, from Ion, 2nd place, men under 40

“Social support- only now do I realize that Craig was 100% right: it’s the most important factor in a fat loss contest. I’ve ignored it completely in the other contests and failed without exception. So special thanks to everyone: the TT Forum members, my university colleagues, my parents (who really tried to help me and stayed away from unhealthy food in my presence), my training partner, who’s been a huge source of motivation, to my wonderful girlfriend.

What did I learn in this contest? There’s nothing we can’t achieve as long as we’re determined enough and we stick to it. This is why I’m so eager to join the 9th contest. That’s when I’m finally going to get my 6 pack abs!!!”

On the other hand, we hear from Mark, winner of over 40 men

“A big issue for me was the lack of a support base. My wife never supported me losing weight. She thought the training was excessive and the East Stop Eat lifestyle was insane. I had to just rely solely on my own motivation. To add to the problem, about half way through the contest my wife’s father became ill in the UK and she flew out leaving me with two kids to manage for 2 1⁄2 weeks! I handled it by taking some time off work and enlisting the help of my parents, but I still didn’t give up drinking several nights a week. I was just too stressed.

Anyway, I pushed through. All on my own. No support, no training partner.

The biggest success for me was not stopping, and pushing through no matter what happened. I also now have found a perfect exercise and diet combination that works for me and I can easily follow. I am leaner, fitter and more like the Karate Man that I want to be than I have been in many years. It feels great!”

And from Naomi…

“I have shared my journey with friends and family throughout, but it’s when I posted my Five Week Transformation contest results that the questions started pouring in. Many friends wrote just to tell me how inspired they were by my results. I, in turn, follow people who inspire me. I spent a ton of time on the TT forum reading old contest threads and have my own contest thread where everyone is so supportive! It’s so much fun to share workouts
with others who have been there and to learn from other workout journals. It’s wonderful to be able to share the hard bits too like the very bad day and how to deal with stress.”

Sunday – Plan, Shop & Prepare
30 minutes activity and plan, shop, & prepare

Does drinking water burn fat? No, but it can help you control your appetite. And personally I found drinking more water (4 liters per day) makes me feel better. I notice it when I don’t drink 2-3 liters.

Next week!
TT Workout – More TT Workouts
Research Review –  New info on the “1 vs 3 set” debate
Nutrition – How to avoid eating at night
3 Over-rated ab exercises

Hey folks, in part 5, TACFIT Commando Designer and Founder, Scott Sonno articulated the benefits of exercise as it can turn back “the Clock” reversing the aging process.

He has helped so many people discover pain free moment through his revolutionary approach to exercise. As we read on we’ll see how he brings it all together.

********************

Craig Ballantyne: We have a question from Raja in Bangalore. He wants to know how does someone integrate TACFIT into another training program?

How, are you going to recommend that they take a break from the other training program or can it be integrated into another type of training program?

Scott Sonnon: Good question. The answer that we have and the way of remembering it, you want to cycle or circuit, but not cocktail.

By a cocktail, unfortunately, what we tend to think is when we want to pick the best things from an array of different choices and put them together that will somehow be something better, be larger than the sum of its components, but it doesn’t work that way.

So, in order to do them “circuit style” you want to think of instead of pouring a bunch of drinks into a glass and mixing them together and hoping it tastes good, you create a circuit.

In this case, we have a formula for that, a four day circuit.

• NO intensity workout, that could a Tai Chi program, or a light Pilate’s work out.

• LOW intensity workout, which could be a heavy deep stretching session, myofascial stretching, it could be PNF; it could be good scientific yoga.

• MODERATE intensity workout, which is your strength training, so you could do your RKC kettle bell lifting, your power lifting, or some of your elliptic lifts on your moderate intensity day.

• HIGH intensity workout, your metabolic conditioning, and your conventional type of cross fit workouts.

Even if you were not to do TACFIT, and you followed that model you’re going to get the biochemical recovery from the types of workouts that you’re doing.

If you plug it into that formula, do it for three months following that four day wave.  What you’ll discover is that you’re performing better on your high intensity days, and you’re doing so without the pain that you typically associate from doing a high intensity workout.

Anybody over the age of 40, you tell them a high intensity workout,  and they’re not thinking about what it’s going to take, because at 40 or 50 years old, they know what it takes.

What they’re thinking about is the day or two afterwards of where they’re horizontal from the pain. However, if you take that pain component out of there then you get progress.  So, plug it into that four day wave.

The other way is to cycle, and we have very specific cycles that are located in our program, 28 days. If you follow one cycle and then say you cycle in a strength or hypertrophy phase, we have different types of programs depending on whether you want strength, hypertrophy, endurance, stamina, specifically shrink wrapping your body fat.

Each one of the programs has a specific intention, but it cascades through all of the other benefits if you know how to cycle them one after another. So, there are specific ways that you can plug it into the formula, and you can also cycle them so that you’re getting more of a cumulative effect. Think of Turbulence Training on your moderate intensity day and then following that with TACFIT Commando on your high intensity day.

If you only did those two things and then took two days off, I’m not saying do active recovery, what I would suggest is going to YouTube. I’ve put out my basic active recovery program for free on YouTube just Google “flow.” Do that for two days, then hit Turbulence Training again, then follow that with TACFIT Commando. Do that for several cycles and you’ll see the benefits.

Not only will you accelerate your recovery, and you’ll feel better, you’ll move better, but you’ll have a cumulative effect. The exercise physiologists are fond of calling it EPIC. EPIC is exercise post oxygen consumption, so basically it’s just a scientific way of saying that there’s a lingering benefit from short high intensity exercises that are full body, and it lasts much longer than we think.

The initial research came out that said it lasts for a couple of hours after your work. Now our researches are now showing us its 48 to 72 hours afterwords that we’re STILL GETTING THE BENEFIT from that short high intensity workout.  But, to do high intensity, to actually do a high intensity workout we have to have those active recovery methods in there so that we’re prepared for them, and we can recover from them.

In that four day wave, you’ll get more body fat loss and more muscle gains simultaneously if you follow the four day wave then you would if you were to do the individual components separately for the same amount of volume.

Craig Ballantyne: That’s very interesting. Man, you’ve taught me a lot of stuff here. Scott, I really appreciate you going into depth on all these topics it’s been very interesting and obviously very helpful to people as well.

Today I have another guest post for you by Mike Geary – Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist. This post is a little bit different in that it doesn’t talk directly about exercising, nutrition or fat loss. Just keep an open mind while reading it, apply it’s principles and you just my be surprised at the results. Here we go…

_________________________________________

I ask you to have an open mind and accept some ideas I’m going to throw at you today. If you can take full grasp of these ideas, take my word that this will be the most powerful secret you’ve ever discovered for attaining the exact body that you desire. 

I’m basically going to take the concepts from the hit movie “The Secret” and show you how to apply it towards your fitness goals. 

Keep in mind that this “ultimate secret” has nothing to do with our normal discussions of reps and sets. It has nothing to do with calories or fat or protein. It has nothing to do with cardio training or abs exercises. But once you discover the “Secret”, you will be on your way to the body of your dreams, or any other goals that you have in your life, for that matter. 

Elite athletes have practiced the “Secret”. Champion bodybuilders have practiced the “Secret”. Virtually all of the most influential, powerful, wealthiest, and happiest people throughout history have either knowingly or not, practiced the “Secret”. Some didn’t even realize that they knew the “Secret”, but applying its power is the sole reason for their success. In today’s discussion, I’m simply putting a little twist on this “Secret” and applying it to your fitness goals. But in reality, it works for any of your goals and desires in life. 

Before I reveal the “Secret”, I want to ask you a few questions today and I want you to answer the questions that are appropriate to your goals. I want you to be honest with yourself. If you discover that you have not accomplished your goals related to these questions, pay close attention, because I’m going to reveal to you how you can change this immediately and be on the path to achieving whatever it is that you want in life. 

Do you currently have the body that you want?
Do you feel full of energy every single day?
Do you feel strong, confident, and proud of your body?
Do you feel that you have no physical limitation to be able to do whatever you want to do in life?
Do you want to be thinner?
Do you want more muscle?
Do you want sexy flat abs or a tighter butt? 

The answers to these questions will be vastly different for everyone. Not everyone wants the same things. Not everyone has the same goals. 

But the most important thing to realize, is that ANY of your goals can be achieved, no matter who you are, if you understand and APPLY the “Secret”. Alright, enough of the build-up. What exactly is the “Secret”? Drum roll please….. 

The “Secret” lies within your mind and revolves around the powerful Law of Attraction. What you focus on becomes your reality. To put this another way, “What you resist, persists. Whatever you are feeling and thinking is a perfect reflection of what you will become”. 

In other words, if all you ever focus on is how frustrated you are that you can never lose weight or get rid of that belly fat, then you are doomed to a flabby body forever, because you are actually creating that reality. On the other hand, if you focus on your successes with every ounce of your being, every single day, and continually feel in your mind what your dream body is going to be like, you will create that reality. The key point is that your thoughts and feelings must revolve around already having the body that you want. You must actually imagine daily that you are already living in your new body. 

If you’re closed-minded, at this point in reading this article, you will probably say something like, “what is all of this gobbly-gook crap this idiot is talking about”. And then you will click away to another site, go back to your daily life, and continue to be frustrated by failing to achieve the body you want for the rest of your life. 

On the other hand, if you’re open minded, and truly want to succeed, you will continue to read, absorb, and start to apply the “Secret”, and watch your body slowly become exactly what you want it to become. 

I’ve discovered the “Secret” a couple years ago and how to apply this towards my other goals in life aside from fitness. 

However, I also realized that the reason I’ve been successful with my fitness goals is that I’ve been unknowingly applying the “Secret” towards my fitness goals for many, many years now. I have always visualized exactly how I wanted my body to look, how energized I wanted to feel day in and day out, how strong and confident I wanted to feel. These visualizations led me on a constant mission to take massive daily ACTION towards exactly what I wanted. 

So how do you get the exact body you want? Well, the first thing I want you to realize is that how you feel today and the body that you see in the mirror today is actually a combined result of how you have lived your life in the past… the habits, thoughts, and actions that you have taken throughout every single day that has preceded today. If your past has not given you the body you want today, the energy you want, the powerful feeling of health that you want, then you need to change your mindset and start taking immediate and massive action towards exactly what you want. 

You need to visualize yourself living in that desired lean, strong body… feel the energy, vitality, and strength running through every inch of you. Imagine the confidence you feel. If you want it bad enough, you WILL achieve it, but it takes a BURNING DESIRE to succeed. 

You need to keep running through this imagining process, and actually capture this “feeling” every single day, until the day comes that you realize that you have achieved your goals. If you practice this enough, you will attract into your life exactly what you want. Again, if all you focus on is your failures, and continue to think negatively, you will only attract more failures and negativity into your life. 

Amazing things and amazing people have been coming into my life ever since I discovered the “Secret”. If you have an open mind and focus your entire being on what you want, it WILL come into your life. It starts with the mindset, and your journey towards your goals continues from there with massive action taken on a daily basis toward your goals. Once you get this process right, you CAN’T fail. 

I will leave you with one more powerful quote that has totally transformed the way I think about what I can achieve in life: 

“Whether you THINK that you can or can’t do something, either way, you are right”. 

Read that one again, and believe it! It is a powerful shift in mindset that will change your life. 

I want you to do me a favor and read this entire article over again and really start thinking about how you can apply it towards your goals. They don’t even have to be fitness goals. It can really be anything that you want to achieve. 

Once you’ve got your mind in the right place, you are now ready to take massive action towards your goals starting now! Getting back to your fitness goals… If your goals revolve at all around losing body fat, tightening up your entire body, and creating an energy filled lifestyle, then a great place to get all of the information you need to achieve this and start taking action is in my Truth about Six Pack Abs book.  

By the way, this book does not simply revolve around abs exercises. To be honest, the abs exercises are the LEAST important part of the book. The most important parts of the book are carrying out the nutritional program and compiling all of the training information into a full body training program to stimulate your metabolism and create the right hormonal environment in your body that removes body fat consistently. 

Combining a fool-proof training and nutrition program such as this with the proper mindset and application of the “Secret”, will give you a very powerful solution to the lean-body that you desire. 

The solution is here – The Truth about Six Pack Abs 

All that stands now between you and your goals is getting your mindset right, and taking action! 

I hope this article has given you some things to think about. I urge you to have an open mind and allow yourself to attract what you want into your life. 

Yours in good health, 

George 

Today I have another great guest post for you. Holly Rigsby from Fit Yummy Mummy is back with a great motivational article and some killer tips on hot to handle fat loss one day at a time. Enjoy!

Fat Loss, One Day At a Time

Rome wasn’t built in a day and your fat loss won’t happen that way either. Don’t expect to start eating perfectly and exercising religiously tomorrow. Instead set yourself up for success by implementing at least one supportive habit per week. Make an effort to adopt the premise of “progress, not perfection.”

By developing awareness that improvement is measured by your daily progress, you can save yourself a lot of grief and frustration from the beginning. Focusing on small, positive steps in everything you do is a vital component to change. It starts you moving in the right direction and the momentum of your amazing, transforming results will soon follow. With time, commitment and a willingness to continue to take those small steps, failure is not an option.

How to do it: Be mindful of the fact that you didn’t gain it overnight so you’re not going to lose it overnight. A safe and effective fat loss program will yield 1 to 2 pounds of fat loss a week, not 10. As you begin your weight loss journey, aim for 2-3 small improvements each week. Build up to eating more supportively and moving a little more than yesterday. These small changes will add up to big improvements over time.

Beware of supplements and “quick fixes” that promise accelerated fat loss. Instead, plan on losing fat weight slowly. Sure we all want instant results, but it’s impossible to undo a years of inactivity and poor nutrition overnight.

Instead of only looking at the big picture, try to break it down into smaller bites. Set one-month goals, three-month goals, six-month goals and even yearly goals. Carry over each previous goal to make sure that you aren’t stopping one to achieve another. Make sure goals are achievable and realistic and what you truly want. A half-hearted desire will produce half-hearted results.

Remember, life happens and we must face the challenges. Sometimes that means not getting to exercise or eat properly. The difference is we get it. We make it a point to view each situation, each setback as an opportunity to LEARN and ASK, “What could I do differently next time?” Then it becomes a matter of getting back on track as soon as possible. Leave the excuses and blame behind and forget about beating ourselves up – we’re only human. Strive to do a little better today than you did the day before. The key is to stay consistent, focused and take daily action. Make goals meaningful. Our minds cannot differentiate between achieving an enormous goal or a miniscule goal it only perceives success or failure. If you set a goal that is impossible to fail you’ll only be setting yourself up for tremendous victory.

Don’t be too rigid. Telling your self that you HAVE to workout for a set time to feel a sense of completion is ill fated. If you set out to workout for 30 minutes and you only get in 20, you’ll more apt to be disappointed regardless of how hard you worked. If you simply set a goal to go to the gym at least 2-3 days a week and complete your resistance training and cardio you’ll perceive yourself as a winner.

An additional goal idea: Have you ever wanted to participate in a race or sport that you’ve never had the endurance for? Then use that as a goal! When the end justifies the means it’s easier to make it through the rough spots. It’s a win-win situation if you are able to achieve a want and a need simultaneously!

I hope you enjoyed the article!

Keeping you fit while you’re busy,

George

P.S. The BusyBod Workout for Fat Loss Sale was supposed to end last night. HOWEVER, my Canadian cousins have overtaken my house and will continue to do so until Thursday, so I’ve decided to extend the sale until then. Go get it at a dirt cheap price while you still can!

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