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You are here: Home / Archives for Diet & Fat Loss

5 Ways to Burn Fat While Running Errands

June 21, 2017 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

5 ways to burn fat

Do you know that you can make the most out of your time and burn fat by squeezing in a bit of exercise while running errands? You can burn fat while going to a convenient store – that’s called killing two birds with one stone. In this article I am going to give you 5 ways you can accomplish this..

1) Running

Run at a constant pace for a longer duration. The rationale here is the lengthier a physical activity is, the more fat your body burns in the process. For running, the ideal pace is achieved when you’re still able to perform normal conversation while maintaining your speed. This way, the sustained motion allows your body to burn fat better.
Remember that your body keeps burning fat for the next 2-3 hours after the run, which is why it’s best if you just consume water or low-protein food during that duration. Running on an empty stomach is also recommended but not for lengthy durations; 40 minutes should be the max limit.

Intense sprinting is ideal for muscle buildup, while slower paced runs burn fat more effectively. You can combine them to get the best results.

Running has a lot of other health benefits. Aside from how it burns fat, it can also help relieve stress, keep you away from depression, and boost your self-confidence to a whole new level.

You can incorporate running into your errands by parking a distance away and jogging to and from the store. This makes more efficient use of your time.

2) Walking

When you walk, you’re using important muscle groups that allow you to sustain physical activities for a certain period of time and burn fat. Your arms, waist, hips, and legs all move to increase heart rate and improve breathing.

Walking burns fat best if you alternate steady brisk walks and faster strides. Interval pacing lets your body use up more calories while improving cardiovascular endurance.

Again, you can incorporate this into your errand time by parking a long way away from the store and walk briskly.

3) Riding a bicycle

Get off that stationary bike and ride a real one. A good 20-minute ride each day is a good starting point. Increase your pace and duration every week until you’re comfortably able to ride continuously for an hour. Cycling at a speed of 15 mph can burn a sizable amount of calories and will burn fat.

Perform interval training when you ride your bicycle. After some time, your body will get used to the physical activity and will require a different challenge to burn fats. Add some variations to your sessions, like going through a different path than usual or cycling at alternating speeds.

Take your bike instead of your car when running errands. You will be getting in some much needed exercise while your body burns fat.

4) Take the stairs

Avoid using the elevator. Taking the stairs help increase energy consumption while building your muscles and helping your body burn fat.

Studies reveal that climbing the stairs burns more calories compared to walking but uses less in relation to running – it’s like the middle ground of the two exercises. This exercise uses your glutes, calves, quads, and hamstrings, strengthening them as you go up against gravity.

A 15-minute workout using alternating patterns of sprinting and walking up and down the stairs is the ideal condition to burn fat better.

5) Carrying grocery items

Ditch that push cart and just lift your grocery bags on the way back home. Think of it as lifting weights outside the gym but for a more practical purpose.

The weight you carry should not be too heavy or too light. The right load should allow you to still walk normally. Otherwise, you’ll just strain your muscles or burn nothing at all. Carry the items for at least a hundred yards, resting for a few seconds before continuing your journey.

The calories your body burns may be less than the other exercises but you still burn fat and that’s the important part.

Take these tips and merge them into your daily routine and you will be surprised at the results. The extra exercise will happen without you even realizing it.

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Filed Under: Diet & Fat Loss, Featured

Do Your Research or Perish

March 17, 2017 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

do your research or perish

Do your research or perish. It sounds dire, doesn't it? I chose the title specifically because so many people jump into things without researching what it is they want to do. If someone approaches you about Beach Body or Herbalife or one of the dozens of other fitness companies, do you jump right in or do you check things out first? If you don't do your research you are sure to miss all your goals.

Research Product Ingredients

When you are presented with a new product you always need to check out the ingredients. There are many things on the market today that contain things that might hinder your goals. It is so very important to understand this when deciding what products to use. By way of example, let's examine the ingredients from the Shakeology Chocolate flavor.

The firShakeology ingredients listst thing I notice about this product is that it lists whey as a proprietary superfood. I find this intriguing. I also notice that it contains only 17 grams of protein per serving, far below a standard whey shake. We also see that this product contains pea protein,and  brown rice protein in a proprietary blend. To me that's an instant red flag. How much whey is there in this thing? How much pea protein? How much brown rice protein? We don't know because it is part of a proprietary blend.

Next I see the product contains camu camu, a product high in vitamin c that alleges to improve the immune system. The serving size should be 1/2 a teaspoon, but we have no idea how much is in this product because, once again, it is part of a proprietary blend. This is another red flag for me.

Maca root is yet another ingredient in this product. It alleges to help with sexual function, mental focus and a boost for the immune system. How much is in this product? We have no idea because it is listed as part of a proprietary blend. More red flags for me!

Due to all the red flags, I am pretty sure what research will reveal, but we should conduct the research regardless. Going to Google and typing in “third party scientific proof for shakeology” yields many articles. The first result is an obvious advertisement for a Beach Body affiliate. The next article comes from the Huffington Post and it is quite helpful. This article points out there are no legitimate third party studies of Shakeology. It suggests a “back to basics” approach where you simply eat less, but continue to eat whole foods. I personally agree with this approach. The final article I reviewed makes some great points about the contents of Shakeology. It turns out that the whey protein (which is the major component of Shakeology) comes from a less than desireable source. The article compares Shakeology to making a salad and then topping it with a ton of Oreo cookies. Yes, the salad is healthy, but those Oreo cookies ruin it all. The article even points out some problems with the vegan version of Shakeology.

“Holy phytic acid. Oat, rice, quinoa and amaranth are all loaded with lectins and phytic acid, gut irritants and enzyme inhibitors. Phytic acid binds to calcium, zinc, iron, manganese, magnesium and other minerals, preventing them from being absorbed.”

Now, armed with our research, we can safely turn down any suggestion that we use Shakeology.

Research Saves You Time

By doing a little bit of research we have saved ourselves a major hassle and a lot of money. While there are many good ingredients in Shakeology, they don't offset the problems that exist with the product. The research we did has shown us that we won't get the results we are after with Shakeology.

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Filed Under: Diet & Fat Loss, Featured

Monday Madness: Cardio with Weights

June 6, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

cardio-with-weights

Today we are going to show you how you can get a cardio workout with weights. This technique requires a great amount of intensity and isn't for the lightweights. You are going to be sore and breathing hard after this workout.

People engage in this discussion all the time–weights or cardio–which is better for fat loss. With today's workout you get the best of both worlds. No need to debate any further.

The Workout

You are going to do 8 sets of each exercise. You will go hard for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. It will take you 4 minutes for one group. You will spend 8 minutes total because you will do two groups.

Exercise Interval
Front Squat 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
Front Squat 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
Front Squat 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
Front Squat 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
DB Overhead press 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
DB Overhead press 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
DB Overhead press 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest
DB Overhead press 20 seconds high/10 seconds rest

Make sure you use a light enough weight that you can complete the full 4 minutes, but heavy enough that it is difficult to complete the 4 minutes. You should not be able to talk during this.

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Filed Under: Diet & Fat Loss, Featured, Training

Crock Pot Chicken Recipe for Gains

May 25, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

chicken recipe

This crock pot chicken recipe is going to help you get the gains you want while enabling you to eat a tasty meal. It is easy to prepare and takes 3 to 4 hours to cook.

Ingredients for Chicken Recipe

The Make-It Bacon Paleo Chicken Classic

  • 1 lb. cubed chicken breasts
  • 1/3 lb chopped bacon.
  • 1 small white onion thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 tbsp chipotle sauce

Directions for Chicken Recipe

  1. Place uncooked bacon pieces in the crock pot. Stir bacon in among the cubed chicken, onion and seasonings
  2. If you like, give it a light olive oil glaze. It will taste good and help keep your chicken from sticking to the pot
  3. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours
  4. Top with your chipotle sauce upon serving

Nutrition Facts

Calories 594
Total Fat 37.7 g
Total Carbs 1.8 g
Protein 56.2 g

Enjoy this tasty meal!

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Filed Under: Diet & Fat Loss, Featured

Are You Eating Enough

May 11, 2016 By Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT Leave a Comment

May2016-Day11

Make sure you're eating enough calories! This statement may shock you if you're trying to lose weight, but it is an important consideration. Most people do not eat enough and they force their body to go into starvation mode.

The easiest way to calculate your body’s caloric needs is to simply multiply your weight times a number of calories and that gives you a number to start with. I suggest the following to estimate your calories for the day:

Sedentary people: weight x 10
Moderately active people: weight x 13
Active people: weight x 15

This will give you the caloric need for the day. Now you want to start by creating a deficit. At this point I recommend the following approach:

Normal fat loss: cut 10%
Faster fat loss: cut 15%
Aggressive fat loss: cut 20%

Simply reduce your calories by the percentage listed. As an example, if you weigh 240 pounds and are moderately active and want normal fat loss:

240 x 13 = 3120

3120 x .10 = 313

3130 – 312 = 2808

You would aim for 2808 calories a day. Anything lower than 2400 calories is too aggressive and should be avoided.

Be sure to recalculate this number each week as your weight drops. Do this and you will find weight loss is much easier.

 

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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Filed Under: Diet & Fat Loss, May 2016 Challenge

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