I know I am, so I’ve already shifted my training focus for that summer body. That’s right. I’ve been training since last month to look great for the summer!

If you are like most New York City people, you probably aren’t going to start training for that beach body until June.

Hate to break it to you, but if you wait till then, IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!

So If you want to get in shape and look good for summer in the Hamptons, down by the Jersey Shore, Jones Beach, or just laying out in Central Park, you have to start now. That doesn’t mean going on fancy diets, taking magic pills, or relying on some wonder drug. If you truly want to get that bikini body or those washboard abs, here’s what you need to do:

Top 2 Things You Can Do Now To Transform Your Body

1. Begin a HEAVY resistance training program

That’s right guys AND gals! HEAVY resistance training is the key to developing lean, tone muscles. If you are worried about getting bulky read a previous post I put up regarding an article in the NY Times that addressed this:

Click here for New York Times post.

Also check out Randy’s strength training for women article , my bro and partner in crime. It gives a more in depth look on the topic of heavy weight training for woman. By the way he wrote that article 3 years ago. Just stating that fact because we use tried and true methods that gets results. Unfortunately it took the New York Times 3 years to report the obvious . No B.S. doesn’t jump on the latest fitness bandwagon, in fact we’ve been using the latest “fads” like kbs, oly lifting, high intensity intervals, etc, for clients, for over 10 years before they became popular. Ooh sorry for that rant… back to to things you can do for the summer.

To view Randy’s article click here.

Not only does heavy resistance training develop lean muscle, it also preserves it during periods of caloric deficit. And for most of you, you will probably be creating a caloric deficit in order to lose those extra pounds of fat. And in order to preserve all that hard earned muscle and prevent your body from eating it up, heavy resistance training is going to be necessary.

2. Incorporate the RIGHT type of cardiovascular activity

When I talk about the right type of cardiovascular activity, I’m talking about interval training. Interval training has been shown to be the best type of cardio when it comes to losing fat while once again sparing lean muscle loss. Not only does interval training burn lots of calories during the exercise but it also burns a good amount of calories during rest. A term know as EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption) or AFTERBURN. And best of all the majority of these calories are burned in the form of fat.

In my experience, if you do just these two things NOW, you will no doubt be on your way to getting that summer body. Most people try to eat better first, but more often then not they usually fail at this because honestly, there are so many moving parts when it comes to nutrition (i.e. Whether or not your body is carb sensitive or not, how many calories should you be exactly, what percentage of carbs, protein, and fat should your meals be coming from, etc). It’s just too much to monitor.

So again my advice to you is…

LIFT HEAVY, RUN HARD!!!

If you don’t like to run then bike, swim, elliptical, whatever… just go harder then you are normally accustomed to. As far as rest goes, rest long enough to be able to do the next set or the next interval with the same amount of effort.

Take charge and crush it,
Alex

Yet, although the longer distance individual burns far more calories during their activity as opposed to the short distance individual they typically have a higher percentage of body fat when measured. Why is that you ask?

For starters, lower intensity, higher duration cardio makes it difficult for the body to maintain lean muscle because it tends to break muscle tissue in order to use the protein for energy. This is extremely important to know because it is lean muscle that uses fat for energy when we are at rest. The less muscle one has, the less potential to burn fat and therefore greater potential to store fat. Not only that, but once an individual stops the activity, it is relatively easy for the body to recover. Therefore it will not require many calories for the recovery and repair process while the individual is at rest. Finally, although a higher percentage of calories burned comes from fat with this type of activity, the body adapts in such a way that if you continue to do this activity, you will actually be burning less total calories for the same distance and therefore less fat calories although the percentage will remain relatively the same (50% of 300 which is 150 is less than 50% of 500 which is 250). This now means you will either have to go longer or go harder to increase that caloric expenditure.

Contrast that to higher intensity, lower duration cardio. This type of activity spares muscle break down. In fact, it promotes an increase in lean muscle in order to produce higher amounts of force. After all, the reason we all have muscle is to produce force. Not only does muscle get spared, but due to the nature of the activity, when an individual stops, there is a tremendous amount of recovery and repair that goes on. This recovery and repair requires higher amounts of calories at rest to fuel the process. And the predominant fuel source for calories when we are at rest is… You got it. It’s FAT! You also may be wondering, doesn’t the body adapt to this type of activity as well? Of course it does. It adapts by increasing lean muscle. This then allows you to apply more force. The more force you apply, the faster or harder you can go. The faster or harder you go, the more calories you will require to fuel these muscles during the activity but even as important, you will require more calories to repair and recover. It’s a win-win situation.

This explains why sprinters are more muscular, more toned, and more defined than a marathon runner.

This is not to say that long, slow distance activity is useless. It’s not. This type of activity is great for developing aerobic capacity. It also is great for training the heart and lungs. And because a higher percentage of the calories burned comes from fat, a great thing to do, if your goal is to lose fat, is after performing some high intensity, short duration cardio, you can follow it with lower intensity, moderate duration cardio, not only to assist with recovery and repair, but to take advantage of the increase fat burning that occurs during recovery and repair. You’re adding fuel to the fire so to speak.