Body Weight HIIT Workout Video

If your fitness goal is fat loss, how much cardio you need to do on a daily or weekly basis is a major point of contention …

Some would tell you very little – two to three sessions per week of high intensity – style sessions being adequate – and that diet is the biggest factor in fat loss.

Others would say that doing cardio on a near daily basis is necessary to see best results.

At the end of the day, almost everyone can agree that cardio is a necessary evil in the fat loss battle. And another fact that piles of research points to is that high intensity/interval cardio is the way to go for fat loss and dramatic body composition change.

You can certainly perform intervals using just one cardio modality – hill running or sprints being a great example. However, you can also mix body weight movements like push-ups and lunges into an interval cardio workout for increased variety (just to change things up), adaptability (doing a workout at home, in a hotel room, etc.) and increased intensity (making your cardio sessions more difficult).

Check out this video for a high intensity body weight cardio workout (I’ve also included a written recap below):

Video Recap

Start with a 5 min. low-intensity warm up

Then, perform the following sequence two to three times without rest:

  • 1 min high intensity cardio (sprint, bike, jog in place, etc.)
  • 15 push ups
  • 1 min high intensity cardio
  • 25 body weight squats
  • 1 min high intensity cardio
  • 15 bicycle crunches
  • 1 min high intensity cardio
  • 20 mountain climbers
  • 1 min high intensity cardio
  • 12 lunges each leg
  • 1 min high intensity cardio
  • :30 plank hold

If your current cardio routine is getting stale, try this high intensity body weight cardio workout to mix things up. Keep training hard –

Forest Vance, MS, CPT, RKC II

PS – This workout is a lot like those we do at our Sacramento, CA fitness boot camps … if you have a friend or family member who’s interested in our program, forward over this article and have ’em contact us for a free Test-A-Trainer session today!

FVT/Paws For Health Charity Boot Camp Follow-Up


Vance and Kaos

Thanks to all who participated in the FVT/Paws For Health Charity Boot Camp last weekend. Our original goal was to raise $300 (enough to help three Paws For Health animals in need) … we ended up smashing our target with a total of $385!

I thought it’d be cool to drop off the donation in person and visit with some of the animals we helped. Turns out that Murphy, Luke & Leia (the three dogs I listed on the original sign-up page) are currently in foster care (which is a good thing!), but two kittens, Vance (!) and Kaos, were were at the shelter (see their picture above).

We couldn’t have made this boot camp a success without your help – so thanks again, and keep an eye out for more FVT Charity Boot Camps coming later this year!

– Forest

PS – Vance and Kaos are currently healthy, out of foster care and looking for a permanent home. If you or anyone you know is interested, give me a call at 916.273.9366 and I’ll direct you towards the proper contact at the SPCA.

April 2012 Challenge Workout Results

Here’s the April 2012 FVT Challenge Workout again in case you missed it:

  • KB Swings (two hand, one hand, or hand-to-hand – your choice)
  • Push Ups (“regular” for guys, knees for gals)
  • Body Weight Squats
  • Plank Hold
  • Jumping Jacks

Get as many reps as you can of each exercise in one minute. Rest :30 between exercises. Upon completion of one round, rest :60 and repeat the circuit two more times for a total of three rounds.

Keep a running total of reps throughout the workout. Your total number of reps for all three rounds is your final score.

And the results:

S.G.- 835
J.J.- 816
L.E.- 779
M.W.- 766
M.A.- 762
S.K.- 747
A.N.- 747
L.A.- 735
S.F.- 727
B.G.- 708
E.T.- 707
E.A.- 697
J.G.- 695
A.A.- 688
L.S.- 676
C.H.- 673
M.T.- 669
B.P.- 667
J.G.- 666
D.S.-660
F.R.- 649
A.S.- 649
M.T.- 648
N.G.- 646
M.B.- 628
B.C.- 628
P.T.- 622
N.P.- 613
J.S.- 577
M.G.- 521

Great work everyone! Keep training hard – we’ll be back with another awesome challenge workout for you next month.

Forest

April 2012 Challenge Workout

Beat your score from January’s challenge this month! Here’s the workout again in case you missed it the first time around:

The April 2012 Challenge Workout

  • KB Swings (two hand, one hand, or hand-to-hand – your choice)
  • Push Ups (“regular” for guys, knees for gals)
  • Body Weight Squats
  • Plank Hold
  • Jumping Jacks

Get as many reps as you can of each exercise in one minute. Rest :30 between exercises. Upon completion of one round, rest :60 and repeat the circuit two more times for a total of three rounds.

Keep a running total of reps throughout the workout. Your total number of reps for all three rounds is your final score.

Here’s a video where I explain the workout, demo the exercises and cover a few more of the fine details:

Good luck! Workout results will be posted at the end of the week.

– Forest

“Get Outta The Way, You Fatties!” (MY weight loss story)

As we crossed the street on our way to the bar, a young punk in a car driving by stuck his head out the window and shouted at us, “Get outta the way, you fatties!”

We were shocked. We couldn’t believe someone would call us – big, strong “strength athletes” – fat! They probably couldn’t even bench press 300 pounds!

That event stands out in my mind as one that drove me to start my weight loss journey. Shortly thereafter, I decided I would do whatever it took to lose the 50+ extra pounds of body fat I was carrying around. And I did, over the next six months or so … click the link below to read the rest of my story (and to learn more about the nutrition principles I used to do it):

https://www.forestvancetraining.com/sacramento-nutritionist

Thanks, and talk soon –

Forest Vance, Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach

April 2012 Nutrition Challenge

We have another special guest post for this month’s Nutrition Challenge from our admin assistant and trainer-in-training Alexa.

Alexa started training with me as a client about four years ago – and while she initially gained fitness, got stronger, improved her cardio health, etc. – it wasn’t until she changed her diet that she really saw the weight loss results she was looking for. I’ll let Alexa take it from here …

– Forest

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The April 2012 Nutrition Challenge

Rid your cabinets of boxed/highly processed/refined carbohydrate foods

Have you looked in your cabinets lately and taken inventory of how many boxes of crackers and sweets you may have accumulated? You may be keeping them around to eat during your cheat day or because you don’t want to waste food … but do you really avoid them throughout the week after those long days at school or work?

I first began to train with Forest four years ago. I had gained a significant amount of weight by disregarding what I was eating and vividly remember stepping on the scale at a friend’s house and realizing I was about twenty pounds overweight. I have always worked out and been involved in sports (even during the period I gained that weight), but I thought by hiring a trainer, it would up the intensity and allow me to shed those pounds. Little did I know at that point how significant nutrition factors into weight loss.

Poor Forest had to deal with my stubborn attitude towards listening to his diet advice and fibbing on the food logs when I had eaten junk food. Because I failed to see results, I stopped training with him and continued with my unhealthy diet behavior.

About a year after that point, I realized I needed to alter my lifestyle and was ready to make a change so I began monitoring what I was eating and how much I was consuming. The one thing that most affected my ability to lose those twenty pounds and maintain my current weight was clearing out my cabinets.

I will admit that whenever I went grocery shopping, I would wander through the cookie and cracker aisle and justify buying the family sized box of goldfish crackers (to portion out into sandwich bags of course) and cookies (for the weekend). Yet come nighttime after a long day at school and stress from studying, I would find myself with those items in bed (embarrassingly enough) watching TV and mindlessly eating.

I took action and rid my cabinets of foods that came in boxes and began to fill my refrigerator with fresh, nutritious foods. I learned that if I didn’t have junk food in my house, I didn’t eat it. Pretty simple concept, but it was (and still is) very difficult to stick with.

By avoiding that aisle, my weight began to drop and I have since surpassed my goal and maintained my weight for two years.

Your challenge this month: rid your cabinets of boxed/highly processed/refined carbohydrate foods so that you don’t eat a cookie after a stressful day, which then can lead to a box of cookies and a box of crackers lying next to you in bed… or was that only me?

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Thanks again to Alexa for sharing her story. While you may have a special love Goldfish crackers … or cookies … or bearclaws … or any other type of boxed/highly processed/refined carbohydrate foods … if you have them around the house, chances are you’ll eat ’em! Get these items out of the house and accelerate your fat loss progress today.

Forest

Weekend Workout(s), Charity Boot Camp & Nutrition Coaching

Happy Friday! A few quick announcements for you as we head into the weekend:

Weekend Workout(s)

If you’re participating in our 30 Day Rapid Fat Loss Challenge, don’t forget – the final extreme cardio conditioning class is taking place tomorrow, Saturday the 24th of March at 10am. Based on conversations we’ve had with participants over the last week or so, you’re making some awesome progress as a group. We’ll also be announcing final weigh/measurement times at tomorrow’s workout, so don’t miss it!

Also – I just posted up a new body weight cardio workout video on the Challenge home site – it’s a great one to work in before your final weigh-in. Check it out here: Body Weight Cardio Workout

March 31st Charity Boot Camp

A lot of folks have expressed interest in the March 31st FVT/Paws For Health Charity Boot Camp – and I’m excited to make this event a success. It’s your chance to get a great Saturday morning workout and help a local rescue animal in need – for more info and to sign up, click here: FVT/Paws For Health Charity Boot Camp

Nutrition Coaching Program

To answer your questions about details/cost/etc. of my new nutrition coaching program …

I held the coaching give-away contest last week to make sure the program was set up perfectly before accepting regular paying clients into it … so as soon as I get the ‘kinks ironed out’, I’ll be opening up a handful of spots (which will be very soon). Keep an eye on your email inbox if you’re interested!

That’s it for today! Train hard and have a great weekend –

Forest