11.24.2007

Fat-Burning Travel Workouts

Do you travel a lot? I know I do. It can definitely be difficult to stay in shape while you're on the road. But with a little creativity you can get a great fat-burning "travel" workout anytime using just your own bodyweight, a hotel gym and/or some light dumbbells. Here's a good article that describes how busy travelers can squeeze in effective workouts from Turbulence Training author Craig Ballantyne...


Workouts for the Busy Traveler


Bodyweight exercises and dumbbell supersets are the best way to burn fat in a short amount of time when you are on the road.

Here's how to workout for fat loss when traveling...

I recently did a 4 day trip to Tampa Bay, where I was busy with a seminar, but still needed to do my workouts. On Wednesday, I did dumbbell swings supersetted with pushups in a fast workout that replaced my normal Wednesday workout with kettlebells.

A dumbbell swing or kettlebell swing is a great fat burning exercise. Just hold a light dumbbell or kettlebell in both hands (or in one hand), squat down, and swing the weight between your legs behind you, then stand up and use that momentum to swing the weight up to chest height.

Use extreme caution when doing this exercise.

Two days later, I did a decent fat burning, muscle building Turbulence Training workout in the hotel gym on Friday night. Supersets of dumbbell chest presses (very high reps) and split squats and some other upper body stuff.

Got this hotel gym workout done in only 25 minutes. It was another classic hotel gym set-up. A bunch of relatively useless (and definitely inefficient) machines, along with a lot of cardio equipment, and then some light dumbbells.

Its annoying, but when you know as many exercises as I do, its not that hard to come up with a decent hotel gym workout as long as you use the Turbulence Training principles of Supersets and intervals if you want to do cardio.

So here's a general plan on how to workout when traveling, even when you are pressed for time.

Superset two exercises in the hotel gym.

Try to pick an upper body exercise and a lower body exercise (i.e. a dumbbell chest press and a forward lunge) or a pushing exercise and a pulling exercise (such as a pushup and a dumbbell row). Do each exercise three times. I prefer 8 reps per set.

If you are really pressed for time, you can do bodyweight only exercises in your hotel room. A circuit of bodyweight squats, pushups, lunges and abdominal planks will use all the muscles in your body and boost your metabolism for the day.

If you are traveling and can't make it to the gym, you can still do a bodyweight workout. I did a Turbulence Training Bodyweight 750 repetition workout.

I used lunges, pushup variations, stickups, mountain climbers, and plenty of others as I trained for about 30 minutes and felt great afterward - I really benefit from this type of activity before going to the airport and being strapped into a seat for 3 hours.

Overall, 3 surprisingly good hotel workouts using bodyweight and dumbbell exercises only. Goes to show you there is no excuse for letting up on your fat burning workout routine when you are on the road - even when you are really busy.

You can do supersets in the hotel gym and bodyweight exercises in your room. Don't ever say you are too busy or don't have access to fat burning workouts...you can always do something.

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About the Author

Men's Health expert Craig Ballantyne has designed the trademarked Turbulence Training home fat burning workouts to help thousands of men and women with weight loss and fat burning in less than 45 minutes three times per week. Craig's workouts help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment. Craig's beginner bodyweight workouts for fat loss help you lose fat without any equipment at all.






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11.07.2007

Akavar 20/50: Does This Much-Hyped Diet Pill Work?

In the past few weeks I've gotten quite a few questions about the new diet pill called Akavar 20/50. This is an appetite suppressant (aka "caloric restrictor") that promises to make it much easier to cut calories and lose weight. In fact, the maker of Akavar -- a Utah-based supplement company called Dynakor Pharmacal -- claims that you can "eat all you want and still lose weight!" Obviously, statements like this are extremely difficult to believe... especially in the fitness/weight loss industry.

Apparently what they mean is that the pill reduces hunger/appetite so much that you'll consume fewer calories (even though it's "all you want" to eat) and thus lose your extra body fat. Certainly an interesting (or completely BS... your choice) marketing angle to take!

The main ingredients in Akavar include:

Caffeine
Green Tea
Guarana
Yerba Mate
Kola
Damiana
Ginger
Scutellaria
Schisandra
Ginseng
Cocoa
Jujube
Thea Sinensis

Most of these are herbal stimulants that can be found in various amounts and combinations in dozens of other fat-burners, appetite suppressants, diet pills, etc. For that reason alone it's hard to believe that Akavar 20/50 is the "breakthrough" supplement it claims to be. Still, it is of course possible that they've somehow discovered a formula that contains the right ingredients in the right ratios to truly dampen hunger and assist with easy weight loss.

The only positive things I can say about Akavar right now before actually trying it (which I plan to do) is that at least it's not overly expensive and they do offer a 100% money-back guarantee... even if you've used the entire bottle. It can be bought directly from the manufacturer or through the Bodybuilding.com site.


Have Akavar 20/50 Reviews, Questions, or Comments?

I'd love to hear your questions and comments about this popular new diet product. Have you or someone you know tried Akavar 20/50? If so please leave your reviews and any other useful info below. Thanks!



Related info:

Akavar on Wikipedia
Guide to Akavar 20/50 Reviews


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