If you’ve never heard of “complexes” before, the basic concept is that instead of repeating the same exercise for multiple reps to complete a “set”, you sequence one rep of several different exercises right after one another and repeat the sequence several times to complete a “set”. This type of training is excellent to work a huge amount of musculature in a short amount of time, and definitely takes your workouts to a whole new level of intensity. The conditioning aspect of this type of training is amazing, as you’ll find yourself huffing and puffing after repeating a sequence a mere two or three times. If I had to venture a guess, I’d have to say that this type of training probably elicits a good growth hormone response as well, due to the large amount of full body work completed in a given time period. But that’s just my guess.

I like to incorporate about 5 exercises into my complexes. Any more than that and you might start to forget what’s next in the sequence. Here’s an example of a killer barbell complex that really gets me fired up:

Use a weight that you can still handle for your weakest lift of the bunch, but keep it heavy enough to challenge you. Try to repeat the sequence 2-3 times without resting. That’s 1 set. You could progress over time on this routine by increasing the amount of times you repeat the sequence in each set, or by adding sets on subsequent workouts before eventually increasing the weight. For example, say you completed the above complex with 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 3 sets in today’s workout. Next time you perform the workout, try to do 155 lbs for 3 sequences per set for 4 sets. Once you successfully complete 5 sets with 155, increase the weight 5 or 10 lbs next time, and drop back to 3 sets. This is a great way to make improvements over time, while cycling your training volume.

Now here’s a kettlebell complex that really kicks my butt:

As with the barbell complex, repeat the sequence (without rest) 2-3 times with each arm. That’s one set…and one hell of a killer set at that! Try increasing from 3 to 4 to 5 sets on subsequent workouts with a given weight before increasing your sequence reps. If you’re not drenched in sweat with your heart beating out of your chest after that complex, you either went too light, or you are a mutant freak!

I think a great strategy is to alternate barbell complexes on one day with kettlebell complexes on alternative training days. For example, you could do barbell complexes Monday, kettlebell complexes Wednesday, and back to barbell on Friday. Maybe hit some sprints and bodyweight drills on Saturday; then Monday would be kettlebell complexes, Wednesday would be barbells again, and Friday kettlebells. Give this program a try for a month or so (if you dare), and you will be one hardened individual!

Author bio:
Mike Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer, author of the book and founder of “The Truth about Six Pack Abs”. Visit his website to receive several free bonuses including four of his secret hard body workout routines.

As you will see,  it is short, simple, effective and don’t need any equipment to do it.

Give it a go and feel free to let me know what you think.

Remember to perform an appropriate warm up before getting stuck in.

Perform 10 reps of each of the following exercises in sequence, aim to complete 3 to 5 rounds with minimum or no rest between exercises. (Click on exercise for demo)

Burpees

Press Ups

Squats

V-Sits

For the beginner: Perform press ups with knees on the floor and perform the V-Sits with your knees bent if needed.

For the more experienced: try increasing the reps to 15 and performing the burpees with a jump when you get up.

Unfortunately, the majority of people give up before they have even really began.   It happens all too often, beginners in the gym watch what others do and assume that’s what they should be doing.  Everyone in the gym has an opinion on the best way to do things, which exercises to do and which ones to avoid. This is when it gets confusing! Once you speak to several people (including the instructors) you get lots of conflicting information and are left more confused than when you started.             

So, to help out I have created a basic, easy to follow and very effective beginners fat loss and toning programme.  It is designed to be performed over 4-6 weeks, comes with full exercise descriptions and images so you can’t go wrong.             

 Here is an example of one of the exercises:             

 GYM BALL PASS:             

      

The programme is an 11 page PDF document which will be emailed to you so you can start straight away. I have Price the Programme at FREE,  ( That’s right! FREE! ) as I would like to help as many people as possible get started on their new fitness resolution.          

 So how do I get started?    

           Send a quick email to info@amfitness.co.uk stating your name and the email address you would like the programme sent to.  It’s as simple as that!

You will receive your programme via email within 24 hours.

Taking it to extremes!

I Found this article online and thought it was pretty interesting.  I agree with the theory although there are a couple of points in the article I disagree with.  However, I thought I’d post the full article and let you decide for yourself.

Fat burning: how working out in the cold can reduce your fat levels

Exercising in the cold air can help hot up your fat-burning fires.

As the weather gets colder, you may feel like hibernating instead of exercising, but don’t give in – get out and do it! Winter exertions can transform your body into a true fat-burning furnace, making you slimmer and fitter by the time April’s balmy breezes finally blow.

How can cold air clip corpulence from your body? When frosty gusts strike your skin, your brain spurs your adrenal glands into action. The adrenals release surplus quantities of a key hormone called epinephrine (adrenaline), and epinephrine forces your fat cells to push increased amounts of fat into the blood. The fat can be quickly captured and metabolised at a high rate by your muscles.

Activity magnifies this burning of fat, because exercise itself raises epinephrine levels and depletes muscle glycogen. Happily, high-intensity exercise is not required to break down blubber; in fact, top-speed efforts actually tend to thwart fat metabolism. Research suggests that an optimal intensity for fat degradation is about 70% VO2max, i.e., at about 80% of maximal heart rate (or 30 to 45 seconds slower per mile than 10-K race pace for runners), an exertion level which feels fairly comfortable for most individuals. Ignore recommendations you might see in the popular press to exercise more lethargically than this in order to burn more fat; such recommendations are wrong.

Burning the deep, dangerous fat
Even better, winter exercise not only makes a sizable dent in your fat stores, it also probably helps get rid of your most dangerous fat – the fat which is inside your body cavities, clinging to your internal organs. Strangely enough, it’s this deep, internal fat – not the fat hidden under your skin – which is much more likely to be related to lofty blood-fat levels and depressed concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (aka HDLC or ‘good cholesterol’).

Why is deep fat so hazardous? When fat cells inside your abdominal cavity release fat into the blood, the fat bobs straight to your liver, where it can be transformed quickly into VLDLs and LDLs – the ‘bad fats’ which are associated with an increased risk of coronary-artery disease. On the other hand, the fat that’s closeted inside your muscles and the fat released by fat cells located under your skin have a reasonable chance of being broken down by your muscles before they reach the liver.

Moderately paced, 50-90 minute workouts in nippy air are fantastic for breaking down fat, but slight adjustments in your workout schedule can force the fat-burning fires to kindle particularly fiercely. One strategy is to exercise for an hour in the evening about three hours after you have finished your dinner. Don’t eat after this workout, and then complete another 60-minute effort on the following morning before breakfast. Your muscles will be quite glycogen-depleted during the sunrise session, forcing fat to be metabolised at a higher than usual rate.
All of this sounds fine, but winter exercise is not all cake and icing. One of the problems with it is that we can simply get too cold. Oddly enough, the danger usually doesn’t originate in the frosty air per se but in the combination of frigid air and sweat. After all, cold air doesn’t shut down the sweating process, and we begin to lose heat at an accelerated rate as our clothing becomes saturated with moisture. Water is a terrible insulator (it conducts heat away from the body about 25 times faster than air), so sweat-soaked clothes can transform an initially comfortable workout into what feels like an arctic expedition. This can be especially dangerous if fatigue or injury produces a sudden downturn in exercise intensity. It’s a good idea to tie an extra-thick sweatshirt around your waist during all wintry excursions. You can put it on just in case the wind picks up or you become too tired to exercise vigorously.

Dealing with the ‘wind-chill’ effect

  Always bear in mind that the actual coldness of a particular winter day depends not just on temper-ature but on wind speed, too. A moderately pleasant 41° F. temperature will suddenly feel like 32°F. if a nine mile-per-hour wind develops and the perceived coldness will plummet to about 23° F. with a 19-mph wind. It’s important to remember that movement can amplify or minimise this ‘wind chill’ effect. For example, running or cycling at 10 mph into a 9-mph wind provides the same chill as standing still in a 19-mph gale. For that reason, on windy days it’s important to complete the first half of all your winter workouts into the wind. The second half of the session – when fatigue is slowing you down, your body is generating less heat and your clothes are wet with sweat – should be completed with the wind at your back. Running at 8 mph with an 8-mph wind behind you totally eliminates any wind-chill effect, whereas running at the same speed into an 8-mph wind produces the chilling effects of a 16-mph squall.
Wintry exercise can be tough, but remember that it will do great things for you. After all, winter is a perfect time to carry out lots of endurance-building, fat-burning exercise. Your cold-weather training will eventually lead to some really sizzling efforts when warmer weather arrives.

Owen Anderson

I love this type of workout because it is short, very effective, it challenges your Strength, Endurance, Cardiovascular system and is excellent for fat loss!

Ok, here’s how you do it…..

First, choose two moves to do back to back. I’d recommend compound movements and ones that focus different areas. E.g. Push / Pull

Or a compound lift with a conditioning exercise. E.g. Squat / Burpees or Kettlebell Swings  

Mike Mahler - One Arm KB Swing

Simply do 10 reps of one exercise, followed by 10 reps of a different exercise, then 9 and 9, 8 and 8, and so on… all the way to 1 and 1.

Kettlebells are excellent for this type of workout!

Enjoy.

If you’ve noticed that every year, it becomes harder to eat whatever you want and stay lean, you’ve also learnt that your BMR decreases as you age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing fat also decreases your BMR. However, regular exercise can increase your BMR by improving your health and fitness when your body’s ability to burn energy gradually slows down.

It is partly determined by how much muscle we have:

More Lean Muscle = Faster Metabolism!

Lower Lean Muscle = Lower Metabolism!

 Muscle naturally burns much more calories than fat so when we lose muscle, our metabolic rate drops and we burn fewer calories. With a calorie restrictive diet the body is likely to lose weight. Unfortunately, this weight loss comes from a loss of lean muscle which we have already established leads to a reduced metabolism. In fact, research shows that the body loses a proportionately high amount of muscle with a very low calorie intake and this may considerably suppress your metabolism by up to 45 percent.

 To help, I’ve put together a list of top 10 ways to maximize your metabolism:

 1. Eat Breakfast

Eating breakfast is essential to increasing your metabolism. I’m sure you’ve hear that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. Well, it’s true! Eating a balanced breakfast supplies you with the fuel to help you maintain energy levels and set up your metabolism for the day.

2. Stay Hydrated

It is important to drink plenty of water each day plus more on the days you exercise. Drinking 5-6 glasses of water has shown to improve concentration, help regulate body temperature and to curb appetite.

3. Eat Fat to Lose Fat

The key here is to eat less saturated fats and to get enough of the essential fats. Sources of healthy fats included nuts, fish, olive oil, and flax oil.

4. Don’t starve yourself

Cutting calories too much is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Starving yourself actually causes you to lose much more water weight and muscle than fat.

5. Eat a variety of High quality foods

Eat high quality foods that will help you control your blood sugar levels, insulin levels, and energy levels. Insulin management will help you lose fat and prevent you from gaining fat.  Combining food groups in the correct proportions will ensure that you receive a steady flow of energy and the body converts foods relatively slowly into glucose.

6. Protein Intake

It is recommended to try to consume 1g of protein per pound of body weight.

7. Avoid Sugar

Our bodies break down sugar into glucose very quickly which will contribute to fat production and weight gain. Also, there is a quick sugar ‘high’ and the resulting ‘low’ causes you to feel hungry!

8. Eat Regularly

Doing this will give you a constant supply of energy throughout the day. This will help make hunger, tiredness and food cravings a thing of the past!

9. Follow the 80:20 rule

It is perfectly normal to stray from your healthy eating plan every now and then. If you stick to it 80% of the time means you don’t need to feel guilty about eating out for social occasions etc for the other 20%

10. Strength Training

Having already established that more lean muscle = a faster metabolism, strength training is essential to an increased metabolism.

If your metabolism has slowed down due to improper dieting or lifestyle, then follow these tips to help you get back on track to lose fat and gain muscle. Once you correct your metabolism, you will be on the road to losing the fat for good.

Whether you are looking to bulk up, tone up or lose fat!  Fats form an important part of all of our diets.

Fats, or lipids, are molecules that the body uses in many different ways. Fats supply immediate energy, transport nutrients including vitamins, and play a key role in normal growth and development. The body cannot do without fat.

 It is important however, not to eat too much fat. High intakes of fat are linked with many health problems and can lead to overweight.

 Current guidelines suggest that women should eat no more than 70g of fat per day, and men no more than 95g. This equates to about 30% of calories coming from fats.

 Types of fat

 Some fats are far better for our health than others. Food labels often break down the fat present in food into the different types for example:

                                                         Per 100g              Per serving

Fat                                                        22.6g                           3.6g

Of which

Saturates                                                 9.8g                           1.6g

Monounsaturates                                       8.2g                           1.3g

Polyunsaturates                                         4.6g                           0.7g

 As shown above, there are 3 main types of fat – saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Most foods contain a mixture of all 3.

 THE BADS

 Saturated – includes hard fats like lard, butter, fat on meat, pasties and take always, Trans Fats (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils) – includes vegetable oils that have been treated to make them hard and are found in pastry, cakes and biscuits.

 These should be fats you avoid and no more than 1/3 of your fat intake should come from these fats.

 THE GOODS

 Unsaturated fats / oils - the healthier fats found generally in plant foods such as fruit, seeds, nuts and vegetables.  These are split into polyunsaturated fats that include sunflower, sesame and soya oils and monounsaturated fats that include olive oil.

 Omega 3 fats – these are a group of unsaturated fats called ‘essential fatty acids’ that cannot be made in the body in sufficient quantities. Oily fish such as sardines, salmon, pilchards and mackerel are excellent sources. These fats keep our hearts healthy and offer many other health benefits as well.

 Getting the Balance Right

 Extremely low fat diets are not healthy because they limit the amount of fat soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids in our diet which are necessary for all round health.

High fat diets are also unhealthy as they tend to lead to high calorie consumption (each gram of fat contains 9 calories) which leads to being overweight and may increase the risk of high cholesterol and heart disease.

 By reducing the unhealthy saturated fats in the diet and replacing them with healthier unsaturated fats, we will be getting a much better balance for our health.

Circuit training is a combination of high-intensity aerobics and resistance training designed to be easy to follow and target fat loss, muscle building and heart-lung fitness.

A “circuit” is one completion of all prescribed exercises in the program. When one circuit is complete, begin with the first exercise again for another circuit. Traditionally, the time between exercises in circuit training is short with rapid movement to the next exercise.

 Advantages of Circuit Training!

I decided on push/pull supersets and a full body conditioning circuit.

Superset 1: Standing Millitary Press/Weighted Pull ups  for 3 sets of 5 reps

Superset 2: Weighted Dips/Dumbbell Row for 3 sets of 5 reps

Circuit:

• Dumbbell Snatches (5 on each arm)
• Seated Rope Pull (20m tug-of-war rope)
• Sandbag pull catches x 5
• Overhead lunges x 5 reps on each leg

Go for 3-5 rounds of the circuit with little rest in between.