Are you an Alpha Type Workout Fanatic? Try This Routine on for Size...

Every athlete that has ever looked in the mirror and flexed their bicep can identify with the alpha type personality that lives within each of us. We want to be better, stronger, and faster than anyone else. For those that look at working out not just as a hobby but more as a way of life then here is a workout specifically designed for you.

First of all, just because you “think” you have an Alpha type mentality, don't jump into the workout listed below unless you have some serious training and conditioning of 1-3 years under your belt. Jumping into the exercises that follow without being in pretty good shape may see you lying in a hospital sucking on an oxygen mask with needed high strength pain killers… certainly not the main goal of any alpha type workout fanatic.

Okay, so you're in pretty good shape and you’ve decided to proceed. Well, turn on your heart rate monitor and lace up your cross trainers because that’s the minimum equipment you'll need to complete this high intensity workout. Warm-up Begin by warming up with a light dynamic stretch and fast walk to jog for about 4 to 5 minutes. Get the blood flowing to your extremities and warm-up those tight muscles. Calisthenics Next, ramp up your heart rate by doing some simple 15-four count windmills, hi jack-hi Jill’s, press-press flings to warm up shoulder girdle and jumping jacks for five minutes with no rest. As soon as you have completed these movements, get started on eight count bodybuilders.

Again, with no rest, standup and began performing a set of 50 body weight lunge squat combos. As soon as you have completed the squats, knock a set of 25 push-ups. Repeat 2-3 times. Stairs Running stairs is the next exercise and if your thighs are beginning to burn because of the squats, it should be no limitation for you. You want to aim for a set of stairs that has about 30 steps to get the maximum effect. Running 2 stairs at a time up the steps at a medium to fast pace and once you reach the top, do a light jog down single steps to the bottom. Repeat this exercise for a total of three to 5 sets. Sprints Getting tired yet? Nah, alpha types don't get tired, they just get pissed off. Good.

Pissed off is fine, you can use that energy for the sprints you are about to do. Your body should be more than warmed up at this point so get ready to complete a high intensity interval sprints 5-10 reps. Sprint at your highest level of intensity for 20-30 seconds and do a light jog back to the starting point between each set. Once you have completed five-ten full sprints, begin jogging at a medium pace for about five minutes to allow your heart rate and breathing pattern to normalize. Core Get into a plank position and hold it for about two minutes. While most people would be shaking uncontrollably after about a minute, the body will adapt as you become stronger and allow several more advanced variations like the alternating foot raise technique. Repeat this exercise two more times aiming for 90 seconds and then 60 seconds for the last two sets. Add a set of alternating bicycles and super vee’s and this intense core workout will help you complete your exercise routine. As stated previously, this workout is not for the beginner.

If you had difficulty completing the exercises as described, simply aim for improvement the next time around. There is no question that if you can get through this routine without stopping for long rest durations beyond the suggested, then you truly are an Alpha type workout fanatic and your efforts will be rewarded with a lean ripped physique that will be the envy of everyone else who simply isn't in your league.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Weight lifting isn't just for meatheads

We have all seen them. The huge guys at the gym, lifting huge stacks of plates and grunting and sweating like their head is about to explode. Their arms are busting out of their shirts and their legs look like they belong to a horse…a muscular horse. Who wants to look like that? This is one of the main reasons that some people, although they want to lost weight and look great, refuse to lift weights. They are scared that picking up the heavy iron will turn them into hulking behemoths that can’t put their arms down by their side. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Lifting weights will not turn you into a bodybuilder overnight. Getting the kind of muscle you see on those big boys in the gym takes years (10-15) of work, incredibly long workouts, and sometimes, a little “help” from a not so natural source…if you get my drift. For most of us, adding weight training into our exercise regimen will do exactly what we want it to. Weight training will help you to lose weight, get in shape, and look better at the beach. You see, for every ounce of muscle you build, your body will speed up its own internal fat burning process. The more muscle you build, the more fat you were burn. Now, muscle DOES weigh more than fat, but don’t let that scare you. I mean, what do you really care about, how much you weight, or what you look like with your shirt off? That is the real test if improving your physique is high on your priority list. Most of us just want to watch the scales and see the pounds come pouring off, but when you are regularly training with weights, this oftentimes does not happen. As you are burning fat, you are building muscle, so your weight may stay the same, but your body may look drastically different. Your clothes will fit better, the people at the office will start to look at your differently and when beach time comes, you will be the first to rip off your shirt!

So, how do you get started with a good weight training program? The last thing you want to do is hit the gym and start blasting out arm curls with absolutely no idea of what you are doing. Weight training is serious business and can be very dangerous. One wrong move and you could wind up lying in bed for 6 months watching your body slip into worse shape than before you started. A solid rule of thumb when beginning to work with weights is to partner up with someone who knows what they are doing. This could be a friend who has lots of experience or better yet, a personal trainer. A qualified personal trainer can walk you through a step by step process of building an effective weight training program that will help you to reach your goals while avoiding injury along the way.

So the next time you think about lifting weights, you may not conjure a vision of a well oiled massive figure posing in tiny trunks; you may see yourself, ripped, in shape, and looking fantastic thanks to your weight training program.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching and previous NPC judging experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

The World's Best Kept Secrets for Fat Loss

Okay I'm going to go ahead and admit that the title of this article sounds like a late night infomercial you might've caught part of last Saturday night. But the fact is I am going to reveal the world's best kept secrets for fat loss; whether or not you choose to heed the advice is up to you.

When trying to delve into the secrets of fat loss and the way the body works and wants to work, we have to look at ourselves the ways we existed long ago in our past. A few thousand years ago man could not just jump in the car and run down to the local grocery store or fast food joint. In primitive times, if you wanted to eat, you had better have been fast and good with a weapon. These skills were the two most important attributes you needed to possess in order to provide food for yourself and your family.

Once you did track down your prey and prepared the nights meal, there were no low fat versions available on the menu. You ate what you killed and this included a healthy combination of protein, in the form of muscle, and fat which added flavor and provided the needed energy the body required for the next day's hunt.

Did you catch that? I just divulged the world's best kept secrets for fat loss. If it went over your head, let me spell it out for you.

1. Exercise 2. A high fat diet

That's right exercise and a high fat diet. This represents what our bodies were used to many thousands of years ago when man had to hunt and kill for his meals on a daily basis. I want to emphasize the existence of protein in these diets because of course most of the animals eaten were composed of muscle and fat. Protein worked well in the bodies of those who ate animal protein in order to help maintain and build their own muscle. But fat is also a fantastic energy source for our bodies and when we put ourselves into a energy demand state that will allow your body to burn fat for fuel, other fuel types (muscle tissue) will be preserved plus we’ll burn more stored body fat as well. The combination of a consistent exercise plan demanding more energy (calorie burning) with a modified diet that includes high fat foods, lean proteins and significantly less carbohydrates than found in other diets can be a great and very effective combination for fat loss.

The state in which our bodies are burning fat as their main source of energy is called ketosis. It is the principle behind such diets as the Atkins diet and if used properly can be extremely effective at stripping away body fat like nothing else you have ever tried. The fat that you consume is burned for energy and in turn your body will continue to want to burn fat once you've trained it properly and this will lead to your existing stores of fat (yes, I'm talking about your belly and your butt) to be burned off as well.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you go sharpen a broomstick and start tracking deer in order to put food on your table on a nightly basis, but if you can work to mimic the diet of early man through a high-fat high-protein diet coupled with a rigorous and consistent exercise program, you can begin to achieve the streamlined and muscular physique that was so common in our early predecessors. The world's best kept secrets for fat loss may just be entering your body into a state of ketosis and exercising regularly like we did long ago.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching and previous NPC judging experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Building Muscle and Burning Fat in 30 Minutes or Less

The next time you're at the gym stop for a few minutes and take a look around at the people working out. Chances are you'll see the following steps being completed by just about everybody there:

1. complete one set of exercise 2. get up and walk around for a minute 3. grab a drink of water, look around or stare into space a couple minutes 4. complete another set of exercise 5. get up and walk around for a minute 6. say hello to a friend or two 7. grab a drink of water, sit and ponder life’s mysteries 8. go to the bathroom 9. come out of the bathroom and slowly walk to another machine to complete a set of exercise

Personally, I don't feel like this is working out at all. I don't mean the person in this example will not achieve much or any results. A much higher level of intensity is required to achieve the results that most people are after. The following is the type of routine that I prefer to perform which helps me to finish my workouts in about 30 minutes and achieve all the results that I desire. Each movement is followed with very brief rest:

1. 5 minutes moderate warm up with multi plane series of movements with med ball 2. 20 reps of military pull ups followed immediately by 3. 50 reps of pushups followed immediately by 4. 20 squat thrusts followed immediately by 5. 20 reps of military pull ups 6. quick drink of water then within 30 to 60 seconds 7. 100 body weight squats followed immediately by 8. 15 reps of military pull ups followed immediately by 9. 50 reps of incline push-ups followed immediately by 10. three minutes of moderate to high speed jump roping followed immediately by 11. quick drink of water 12. repeat 2-3 times…you get the picture

In the workout that I outlined above there is very little if any rest at all between different exercises I perform. This helps to keep the heart rate up to a significant level and you will constantly be burning fat while building muscle. Most people at the gym treat their 30 to 60 seconds of work during a set as something that has earned them the ability to rest and relax. If you watch them, most don’t even do intense enough work even during the set, so resting afterwards see can be a complete waste of time especially if your goals are burning fat and building muscle. Completing the type of workout listed above can really kick your butt but if you're serious about changing your body in a significant way, these types of workouts will help you get there. You can ease yourself into one of these bodyweight calisthenics workouts simply by beginning to perform 2 to 3 exercises back to back followed by a short rest. This achieves the same result as someone who's trying to build their endurance and stamina through running. You're not going to rush out to the track and try to knock out 5 miles when you haven't run five steps in the last few years. Instead, you take it slow and build up your endurance over time. If you can focus on decreasing the amount of rest between sets, then you can go from exercise to exercise and complete a very intense and effective workout in 30 minutes or less.

In a few sessions you’ll be able to add more repetitions with more movements and still complete your workout in less than 30 minutes…dropping even more body fat while increasing your level of stamina.

If you're looking for incredible results then you had better have an incredible workout. Performing exercises back to back with little to no rest can not only help you finish more quickly but it can help you reach your results more quickly as well.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching and previous NPC judging experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Functional Strength Training-The military way to strength and fitness

Have you ever seen someone just after they got out of a military boot camp? I mean really SEEN them, as in a before and after comparison. The effects are stunning. A highly trained recent graduate of boot camp has a ripped, well defined, muscular and most of all VERY STRONG physique. It is easy to understand why so many trainers have set up “boot camp style” trainings all across the country. Folks flock to these early morning intense session in hopes of shedding pounds, building muscle, and totally transforming their physique. These boot camps, in mimicking their military counterparts, focus their workouts around the concept of training known as functional strength training.

So, what is functional strength training anyways? Functional Strength Training is “The development of physical strength that most closely mimics what might be needed in real world situations.” Pretty simple, why work on building strength or developing muscles you may never really need in the real world. Let’s take the bench press, for instance. Try to imagine a scenario where you would be laying directly on your back, and the only way to survive would be to push an extremely heavy weight straight over your head. Whenever I ask this question to a group of fitness buffs, I usually get someone who shouts out “What if a car fell on you?” Well, in the real world, I am not usually in a scenario where a car could fall on my, and if in fact I was laying on my back and I car DID fall on me, well, no amount of bench pressing would turn that into a happy scenario.

There ARE many real world scenarios where functional strength training could play a part in your safety or survival. What if, in order to save yourself, you had to scale a high wall? Maybe someone was chasing you, or you had to get on the other side to rescue someone, how would you get over the wall? No matter how pretty your pec muscles were, no amount of pressing will get you through this one. Nope, this is all pulling my friend. This type of scenario is one of the reasons that the military put such an emphasis to perform pull-ups. The ability to pull your own weight is an extremely useful and tactical skill and forms the foundation of a solid functional strength training regimen.

Another heavily focused fundamental of this type of training is core strengthening. Remember that scenario with the bench press? Well, if you DID have a large weight on your chest that you need to get off, you would save yourself, not by pressing straight up, but my twisting your torso (using your core muscles) and pushing with your legs to throw the weight to the side. The press does come into play, but it is the functional movement of your whole body that gives you true strength and ability in these types of real world scenarios. Other types of exercises include the squat, dead lift, lunges, and push ups among others.

Functional strength training can help you get through your everyday activities more easily. They can also better prepare you for life threatening situations that could befall any of us at any time. They can also give you a slim, ripped, muscular physique. So what are you waiting for? Do some research on functional strength training, put together a workout, and transform your body for the better today.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Choosing a Weight Lifting Program for Women

One of the most effective activities for getting your body into shape and losing weight is something that many women are scared to try. Weightlifting can be a daunting activity for a beginner especially in a crowded gym environment. Seeing the scores of overly muscled men as they throw about ridiculously heavy amounts of weight can scare many from the weight room and keep them happy and comfortable hovering over their exercise bikes or treadmills. This is not always the best place for someone who is trying to lose weight and get in shape however and building true muscle should be part of anyone's exercise and fat loss regimen. Muscle helps to burn fat and muscle also helps shape the body… so choosing a weightlifting program for women can be extremely helpful for them in achieving their goals.

But how does one go about choosing such a program if they are a beginner? Well, as is the case with beginning any new activities the wisest advice is to simply take it slow. You don't have to rush in and pick up the heaviest weight or advanced program you find out about to start making progress. In fact, this is probably the easiest way to impede your progress. Your goal is to get in shape, not hurt yourself. In addition, you don't even have to lift free weights to build significant amounts of muscle.

In any gym environment there are usually a number of machines that you can use in your weightlifting program. One of the trainers on-site or members of the gym can surely help you get acclimated if this is your first time. Your goal as a beginner should be to incorporate as many muscles as possible into each movement you make. For instance, first-time weightlifters are probably wasting their time by doing sets of bicep curls. Instead, choose a compound movement like dips or pull ups using a machine that recruits many muscle groups at the same time. Performing these exercises will allow you to work your biceps, triceps, delts (shoulders), upper back, trapezius, and the muscles of your entire forearm. In the same amount of time it would take you to do a few sets of curls to just hit your biceps or push downs you've worked a good portion of your entire upper body.

The same is true for your lower body. Many women assume that a weightlifting program must include such singular exercises as leg extensions or leg curls. Instead, a few sets of high rep body weight squats will provide you with much bigger bang for the buck. Body weight squats are simply performed by standing straight up and squatting down until your thighs are about parallel with the ground making sure to keep your knees behind your toes. This one exercise can work your glutes (butt), leg biceps (hamstrings), quadriceps, calves and believe it or not, even your abdominals. Add a couple of sets of push ups to these exercises already mentioned and you have worked your entire body.

As you can see, developing a weightlifting program for women to help them build muscle and burn fat is not as difficult as once perceived. Taking it slow and simple can be your key to a healthy and effective weight-loss program.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Like Running Hills on your Treadmill? Try a REAL Hill for your next workout...

It doesn't take much to convince somebody of the exercise benefits of running. Anyone who has spent any time at all running knows just how taxing it can be on the body and how quickly it can get your cardiovascular system into shape. The fat burning effects of running are well-known as well; ever seen a chubby marathon runner?

At gyms everywhere one of the most prevalent pieces of equipment you can find is a treadmill. They are often stacked up along the wall and you can see folks waiting in line for their turn to run off the pounds. Those who have put in some time on treadmills will probably have graduated to the level where they are doing at least part of their workout on the simulated hill profile. The hill profile takes runners through a hill protocol running workout where the incline of the treadmill goes up and down during the workout simulating varying degrees of inclines you may encounter during a normal outdoor run. These hill profiles offer a real challenge to runners and greatly increases the amount of work done during a normal treadmill workout. Some folks can burn up to twice as many calories when running on a treadmill in an inclined position than when it is just flat. This is one of the reasons to work yourself up to these hill profiles, but why limit yourself to the treadmill? The simulated outdoor hill profiles on treadmills and cardio equipment in gyms were designed to simulate running on the open road. Why not just get out of the gym and go outside and find a REAL hill yourself?

Running on a treadmill can be great and if it's too rainy or cold outside it is a fantastic option. But in my opinion, running on treadmills is much less effective than running on hills outside. What could be better training than working out on the real thing? Many parks feature trails full of difficult hills that will allow you to run in a beautiful open air scenic environment and still get an incredible workout and it will beat the one you get on a real Hill profile treadmill machine hands down every time. Don't believe me? Go ahead and do 2 to 3 miles on a treadmill machine hill profile one day, and then the next hit a hilly trail and do the same 2 to 3 miles. If you don't feel the difference in your legs and the way your lungs are burning when you get done, then you're probably just lying to yourself. The uneven terrain provided by outdoor environments will put much more strain on your lower body to make sure that you stay balanced and will also utilize more oxygen than simply running a very smooth, padded surface such as a treadmill. In addition, the treadmill allows you to hold on to the machine itself for stability which folks often do as a quick cheat. Even holding on to the machine for 20 to 30 seconds while you take a drink from the bottle of spring water in your fancy cup holder, next to the built in fan, TV screen on the machine will distract you from the overall level of exercise you will get from this workout.

So the next time you want to complete a real hill profile workout, go outside and choose a REAL hill. Go outside and enjoy yourself and get one of the best cardiovascular workouts you can get by running hills in the open air.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Walk, Then Jog, Then RUN off your Fat!

The secret to fat loss is one that people have been searching for as long as, well, people have been fat. The exercise equipment and fat loss product industries make billions of dollars each and every year from individuals who are looking for a quick fix to super fat loss results. The fact is you don't need a special piece of equipment that's offered on late-night TV or a super secret diet plan invented in the Orient in order to get trim and lean. The only things you need to shed off pounds of fat and get your body in the lean and ripped condition are your two feet and enough motivation to get them moving. There is no question that a simple but effective running workout gets you in the shape that you desire and the only piece of equipment you'll need is a good pair of tennis shoes. Running can burn more than 500 calories per hour and depending on the intensity and speed of your run, it can burn a whole lot more as well. Some folks don't know where to begin and assume that a complicated running routine is required in order for them to reach the fat loss goals they are after. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are looking for a simple but extremely effective running routine that will help you build your cardiovascular endurance and shred pounds of fat from your body than simply follow the routine below and you will get there in no time. First of all, you have to start slow. If you’ve never run, are out of shape or over-fat and you take off down the road at high speed looking to burn fat before you've built up your stamina up, you might risk injury and take your training to a complete halt. Simply start with a walking program for 2-4 weeks to build lower body endurance. Begin each walk at a light to medium pace for about five minutes to get blood flowing through your body to allow your muscles to be properly warmed up for the workout to come. After the initial 2-4week adaptation period, once you have properly established a base conditioning, you may be at a place where you can shift into a light jog. Focus on your breathing and get into a rhythm and jog at a medium pace for about another five minutes. Once your muscles have been warmed up and your breathing is regular, take off into a light sprint working towards faster jog/sprints as your weight drops and you begin to get into better shape. Jogging sprinting at higher speeds and at all-out intensity will do more for your cardiovascular and fat burning routine than just about anything else out there. No matter what kind of shape you're in, you will probably only be able to do an all out sprint for about 30 seconds or so. This is fine so, don't try to overdo it. Once you have completed one jog/sprint combo, slip into a very slow walk/jog once again to allow your body time to recuperate. Once you have walked/jogged for another minute or so switch back to a jog/sprint for another 30 seconds. After about 10 minutes of the sprint and jog intervals, your workout is just about complete. Slow down to a light jog, and then to a walk to allow your breathing to normalize and your heart rate to come back to normal. This simple workout described above should only take about 30 to 35 minutes but far as fat burning is concerned, it will be one of the most effective routines you may ever do. Simply walk, jog, then run your way to your fat loss goals. http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Do you have No time or patience? Fast Fat loss with HIIT

What if I told you there was a workout that you could do that would allow you to burn fat more quickly than just about any other exercise in existence, requires no special equipment at all, and it is extremely easy to do? Well, scratch the easy part, but I can help you with the other two. The exercise technique is called high intensity interval training, or HIIT for short and it is one of the most effective fat loss methods known to man. HIIT is a simple principle to understand and it simply combines short bursts of high-intensity exercise coupled with longer duration low intensity exercise for a brief recovery period. Here is a quick scenario of how you may perform a high intensity interval training workout: Start by warming up with 4 to 5 minutes of light jogging or doing jumping jacks to get your blood flowing. Then, begin jogging at a light to medium pace for about one minute. Now, break into your first low to moderate intensity jog, then sprint for about 30 seconds and without stopping simply slow down to the jogging pace you were at before. You have now just completed a 90 second higher-intensity interval training session. To complete an entire workout, simply continue doing those intervals 5 to 10 more times and peaking a little higher in intensity with each rep of the workout. More advanced trainers will work up to as many as 8 to 10 interval sessions but either way the entire workout will last no more than about 25 to 30 minutes. For those of us that are used to spending an hour or more doing grueling cardio workouts, the short duration HIIT sessions may seem like we're not doing enough work to truly reach the fat loss goals that were after. The fact of the matter is, high-intensity interval training is actually proven more effective than the longer paced workouts because of the amount of work you are performing in that small period of time. It has been shown in clinical studies that after performing high-intensity interval training, your body will continue to burn fat at a rate of about nine times more over the hours following the workout than you would had you just spent an hour on the treadmill at a medium pace. Your body will continue to stay in this fat burning state much longer than with regular exercise thereby increasing the fat loss benefit you receive from a HIIT session. In addition to the calories and fat that can be burned with high intensity interval training, one of the other positive effects of the exercise is in the building of fast twitch muscle fibers thereby increasing your overall muscle mass. Long-duration aerobic exercise, such as marathon running, will actually work to diminish the amount of muscle that you have. Marathon runners are usually skinny, but if you want to maintain or actually build muscle like a track and field sprinter with your cardio workouts, then high-intensity interval training may be the answer you are looking for. The perfect combination of shorter duration workouts that not only burn fat but help to maintain and build muscle mass make high-intensity interval training and extremely effective fat burning workout to add to your regimen.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FitnessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU

Fat Loss Secrets: Using Your Mind Instead of your Body

Are you overweight? Do you have a big belly or a big butt and you have for most of your life? If you answered yes then losing weight and getting in shape is probably a priority for you. Achieving this goal, however, can be much easier said than done. You see while it is our bodies that will do the actual physical exercise needed to transform them it is our minds that control whether or not that will ever even happen.

Your mind is incredibly powerful and can help you overcome just about any obstacle in life if you let it. Once you truly decide to do something and put all of your mental abilities toward achieving that goal then it will be difficult for anything to stand in your way. This can include overcoming drug or alcohol addiction, smoking, anger issues and yes losing weight and getting in shape. If you are not able to develop the right mindset up front, however, these goals may never be achieved. You see, our mindset is often focused on what exists at any particular time rather than what you want to be. What I mean is if you're overweight and your mind continues to see your body as being overweight and not as it would look like once you are in shape. It is only through overcoming this negative mindset and allowing you to see or visualize the potential results that can occur through action that you will really achieve results.

Think about it for a second. You saw someone on the beach who was in incredibly good shape or maybe you saw someone wearing clothes that you wish you could fit into. This scenario is probably made you feel less than positive about your body rather than spurred you on to achieve the results you desire. If instead of thinking about how you were at any particular time and focusing on how you could be you could dramatically speed up the results that you achieve from any activities in life. Simply focusing on your goals will help you to achieve them. Your actions and reactions to the things that surround you in your life will help to support your efforts rather than combat them and this has been proven in study after clinical study. If you focus on what you are then you'll reinforce that, but if you focus on where you want to be you will move toward it. Be the change you want to see!

Overcoming these mental blocks can be just as difficult, if not more so, as simply exercising and eating right. The fact is they represent a critically important step in your achieving your body goals and you must work on changing your mindset first even before developing an effective exercise routine. There are many ways to help you achieve the proper mindset and these can include motivational books, CDs you can listen to in your car or at work, or in person seminars where you could hear from speakers who have used these techniques to great success in their own lives. While some people look at using these tools as foolishness, those that adopt the right mindset and simply use them as an aid in their overall program, the results can be absolutely staggering. Making the decision to completely change the way you look, feel, and view your body from now on may be one of the most important and positive steps you ever take in your life. Know that changing this mindset can be tough, but if you focus on your goals and use motivational tools to help you along then you can absolutely achieve the positive results that you desire.

http://www.MrFatLoss.com , aka, Emile Jarreau is 31 year veteran fitness professional and co-owner of M2FtinessPros.com in Long Beach, California. Also having 19 years of bodybuilding and figure coaching and previous NPC judging experience, he specializes in fat loss and all its aspects and freely shares online resources to the world.

By EMILE JARREAU