Staying Healthy » 7 Minute Muscle

4 Common But Useless Fattburning Exercises

Joeyd — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:30:45 +0000

You may be wasting your time in the gym or at home if you are trying to shape your body or get rid of body fat.

Most people are. That is when it comes to exercise for getting rid of belly fat and getting into better shape.

I was in the gym today (nothing new… ; ) and I saw all 4 of these exercises being performed by various gym members (again… nothing new.)

And they are useless for 99% of the people on the planet.

Here they are…

——————————

USELESS EXERCISE 1: Walking Dumbbell Lunges

Okay ladies, this one is for you… although I see guys do this exercise as well.

This is where you take a pair of dumbbells and kneel with one leg, then the other, and so-on, walking around the gym as you go.

The idea behind this exercise is to work the butt, and to some extent the thighs… but it’s a joke. It’s something invented by trainers who should know better.

If you want to build and tone your butt, exercise one leg at a time. Lunges are a great exercise for this, but save your energy. Do them on a Smith Machine or with a barbell. Work one leg at a time, too. Do not alternate legs. This just wears you out aerobically before it has a chance to get to your gluts.

Here’s how I perform lunges: On a Smith Machine, with pretty heavy weights… one leg at a time. I will do 2-3 sets, or do them in my 7 Minute Body-style workout fashion. I will finish one leg (and one butt cheek) before moving to the other leg.

Why? Again, to focus on the muscle more intensely and to avoid turning a leg/butt workout into a cardio session.

Jon Benson covers exactly how to work the butt area for the best results in 7 Minute Body and 7 Minute Muscle, found right here:

click.here —– > http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/7mm

USELESS EXERCISE 2: The Sit-up

I’m shocked that people still think sit-ups done the old-fashioned way actually work the abs. Even worse, most people have been fooled into believing this actually helps get rid of belly fat.

Nonsense. Belly fat is burned off when you have a good nutrition plan and through general exercise, not using exercises for the abs. Ab exercises are fine, but guess what?

I never train my abs more than 3-5 minutes. Today my ab workout took 3 minutes and 12 seconds to complete. And my abs are sore!

But without the nutrition plan, forget it… I’d never SEE my abs at all. I’d just have a nice wall of muscle with a bunch of flab covering it up.

The best nutrition plan for abs is The Every Other Day Dietplan, found here:

click.here —– > http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/eodd

The best exercises to do for the actual ab muscles are hanging leg raises, done slowly, crunches (if you do them right)… and that’s really all you need.

USELESS EXERCISE 3: The Bench Press

I’m going to get a lot of flack from the guys out there who love to bench, but I’m here to tell you that this exercise for body shaping is all but worthless.

Why? Because most people are not built right body-wise to bench press on a flat bench with a barbell. I am not, that’s for sure.

Bench presses work if you have short arms, a relatively short torso, and your shoulders are genetically strong.

Protect your shoulders and really work your chest by doing incline dumbbell presses with your palms facing OUT, not in toward your head. This protects the rota tor cuff, a part of the shoulder that is often injured using barbell bench presses.

Combine this with a good cable fly or press movement and you’re set. Again, you only need about 7-14 minutes of chest work tops to get the job done.

USELESS EXERCISE 4: Most Cardio Exercises

Yep… saved the best for last.

Here’s a fact: Most cardio (bike, treadmill, glider, whatever) is a waste to time… UNLESS you do it at the right time with the right nutrition plan.

The calories you burn from cardio will be easily negated simply by eating a bagel! Hardly effective for getting rid of bodyfat. Weight training and/or resistance training at home or with your body weight, as covered in 7 Minute Muscle, is your best bet for exercise that burns-off mega-calories and keeps on burning long after the exercise session is over.

Here’s how to use traditional cardio wisely:

1. Do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach;
2. Keep your heart rate down to 75% of your max (220 minus your age x .75 will give you this number, at least approximately);
3. “Burst” for 2-3 minutes in your session up to 85-90% of your max heart rate.
4. OR, do cardio right after weight or resistance training when your heart rate is already elevated and your blood sugar is lower. Your body burns blood sugar first during exercise.

Cardio for most people only needs to be performed 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes. The only time I break this rule is when I want to get my body fat below 10%. Then I will do more, but only using the rules above.

Hope this saves you a ton of time with your workouts.

Enjoy your holidays!

Joey

P.S. You can get both books, The Every Other Day Diet plan and 7 Minute Body, for a big-time discount by going here and watching this presentation:

click.here —– > http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/eodd

Joey

Exercise Less, Not More!

Joeyd — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:13:12 +0000

[ Editor's Note: Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

If I had to pick out the number one reason most people fail to achieve good results in the gym, guess what it would be?

Over-training. Exercising too much.

Sounds counter-intuitive, but trust me: It’s quite real.

Folks write to me all the time and say…

“Jon, I don’t get it. I cannot lose bodyfat and I’m running six days a week for an hour and training in the gym five days a week for 45 minutes!”

My answer back is usually:

“You are training 4x more than me, and I’m a fitness pro!”

Look, do you take 21 aspirin for a headache, thinking the more you take the faster your pain will go away?

No?

So why apply the same logic to fitness? Only a certain amount is required. Beyond that, you are spinning your wheels.

When I wrote 7 Minute Muscle (available here: http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/7mm) I exposed all the lies about training too long and why this is not the best way to achieve the results you want. Check it out if you want the facts.

One more thing: 75% of your progress will come in the kitchen, not in the gym or on the treadmill.

As for me, I would much rather eat smart and train less than train all the time and be forced to eat 6-8 times a day just to recover from it all.

That makes no sense to me at all.

You?

http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/7mm <— Less Is More!

How Long To Rest Between Sets

Joeyd — Mon, 30 May 2011 05:31:19 +0000

[ Editor's Note: Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

A lot of my readers ask me how long to rest between sets while exercising.

The answer is: It depends on your goals.

If you are training to increase strength, I recommend resting a bit longer – up to two minutes for exercises like squats and heavy dumbbell work. But if you want to burn the most amount of bodyfat and gain lean muscle, I recommend resting for very short periods of time.

“The Iron Guru” Vince Gironda used to recommend leaving your hands on the bar between sets — now THAT is short rest intervals! He would frequently rest only 15-20 seconds between sets.

This is similar to the strategy I use in 7 Minute Muscle — very short rest intervals and very intense training. Smart, short, efficient. That’s the way to go.

A good place to start is simply reducing your rest intervals by 10 seconds. No matter what workout you’re using, decrease your rest by 10 seconds between sets. You may not be as strong on the last few sets (if you are training traditionally… if you use 7 Minute Muscle your rest is “built-in” and not an issue.) Over time you will work your way back up to the same amount of sets and reps but done in far less time.

This means more work output, which means more muscle if your nutrition is good.

This is the best way to train most of the time: Limited rest, intense sets, and short workouts.

They are the ones that produce results.

Go here for more information –

http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/7mm <— Short, effective workouts

How To Gain Muscle And Burn Bodyfat At The Same Time

Joeyd — Sun, 22 May 2011 04:26:32 +0000

by Jon Benson

I remember a friendly argument with my co-author of Fit Over 40 Tom Venuto. It all started when I told Tom how I was eating and training for my last peak. A peak is where you lower your body fat and try to maintain as much muscle mass as possible.

“There’s just no way I could ever get in shape eating and training like that,” says Tom. “Sure you could man…what are you, a mutant?” Tom fires back, then me, then Tom….and so it goes. (I really didn’t call Tom a mutant. That was creative liberty.)

So why are so many fitness pros like Tom freaked out about my training and nutrition plan? Simple: I claim it burns fat while building muscle at the same time. Every time I read an article by some doctor or expert claiming it’s “biologically impossible” to gain lean muscle mass on a hypo caloric diet (a diet low in calories) I just laugh.

I do more than make claims–I have proved this to be true many times. I’ve had my body fat hydro statically measured during several peaks. In all but one I showed an increase of muscle mass and a decrease of body fat during a 12-16 week period. The one time I didn’t show an increase in muscle mass when was I was training the most in the gym. That may not make sense right now, but it will in a moment.

Article Continued Here –
http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go/joeyd255/7mm/gain-muscle-burn-fat

[audio] Insane amount of free diet information!

Joeyd — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:58:52 +0000

[ Jon Benson writes some of the most entertaining fitness stuff on the Internet, so I know you\'ll love this recent article from him... ]

Scott Colby, CPT just interviewed me recently for “Fit Pros Against Cancer.” My job: Help give away a TON of free fitness information to his listeners as they called into the show.

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Here’s what we cover in just about 30 minutes…

How much fat can you burn (and inches can you lose) in just 6 days?…
How to make fatloss “easier” (not ‘easy’… but easier!)…
What to do about perimenopause and menopause stress and the fat-gain that comes with it… AND…
The “Stress-Free” dietplan for women who fight the “pooch” or who are going through perimenopause or menopause!
Is exercise worthless if you sit down while you work?…
What about fitness for “seniors”?… Can you gain muscle and shed fat past the age of 60?
An inhome exercise that lasts 7 minutes but that can increase the lifespan of women by up to 60%! …
The shocking truth about whole grains and disease…
The “myth” of shaping/building muscle AND dropping bodyfat at the same time… hear the TRUTH about this once and for all! …
How you can have your cake (literally!) and eat it too (i.e. get all the fatburning benefits while still enjoying desserts)…
How to “reboot” your key fatburning hormone using nothing more than the food in your refrigerator!…
This freee substance uses 90% or more of your calories… and you need more of it… find out what it is!…
The “Food Purist” versus the “Food Rebel”… which one are you?…
The one thing you can to TODAY without hardly any effort to improve your appearance and your health!…
2 simple exercises you can do at work to remove back strain and improve your abs (yes… ABS!)…
Why the “baby boomer” generation is literally being left out of most fitness plans… and a plan that’s perfectly suited for all boomers!…
The 1 trick I use to workout without nagging injuries! …
Why exrercise decreases 1 critical sex-hormone… and what you can do to prevent it (even increase it!) …
The importance of strength over the age of 30 (it’s not what you think… and it’s VITAL!) …
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Listen By Clicking The Play Button Below!

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“Micro-Session” Cardio Works Best

Joeyd — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:23:21 +0000

[ Sometimes I read an article so great I have to all my readers. This recent post by fitness expert Jon Benson is one of those articles. See if it doesn\'t help you with your weight loss goals. Thanks! ]

Several recent studies have pointed to the validity of doing very short cardio sessions (10 minutes) several times a day as being as beneficial… or even better… than one longer session. I agree, assuming you do some form of interval work in your cardio sessions. In fact, unless you want to drop a lot of bodyfat, you can get by with one 9-minute session a day if you do it right.

Quick Start: Try three super-short sessions with at least a 2-3 minute higher-intensity ‘burst’ in the middle. You do not have to go to the gym to do this. You can do this by walking stairs, stepping up and down on a low platform, or even walking outside. Let’s face it: 10 minutes is a lot easier on the brain than 30 minutes… and just as good.

For More Information: When you pick up my book The Every Other Day Diet you’ll have a chance to get my book 7 Minute Body for 1/3 the retail price for a limited time only.

In 7 Minute Body, I cover my personal 9 and 15-minute cardio sessions, my 3-minute abs workout (no kidding… I do not train my abs for more than 3 minutes!) and more.

Watch the presentation on my Every Other Day Diet homepage or just click here now to just pick up 7 Minute Body now.

[ More from Jon Benson in upcoming blogs... but you can get more info and some freebies by taking action now and checking out Jon\'s pages found in the article above or the banner below. Thanks! ]