By Mike Geary

The Front Squat:

As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of the heap (along with deadlifts) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss). This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man. Hence, these exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises. In fact, university research studies have even proven that inclusion of squats into a training program increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development, even though upper body specific joint movements are not performed during the squat. Whether your goal is gaining muscle mass, losing body fat, building a strong and functional body, or improving athletic performance, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations) are the ultimate solution. If you don’t believe me that squats and deadlifts are THE basis for a lean and powerful body, then go ahead and join all of the other overweight people pumping away mindlessly for hours on boring cardio equipment. You won’t find long boring cardio in any of my programs!

Squats can be done with any free weighted objects such as barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, or even just body weight. Squats should only be done with free weights – NEVER with a Smith machine or any other squat machines! Machines do not allow your body to follow natural, biomechanically-correct movement paths. You also perform less work because the machine stabilizes the weight for you. Therefore, you get weaker results!

The type of squat that people are most familiar with is the barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the trapezius muscles of the upper back. Many professional strength coaches believe that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are more functional to athletic performance than back squats with less risk of lower back injury. I feel that a combination of all three (not necessarily during the same phase of your workouts) will yield the best results for overall muscular development, body fat loss, and athletic performance. Front squats are moderately more difficult than back squats, while overhead squats are considerably more difficult than either back squats or front squats. I’ll cover overhead squats in a future article. If you are only accustomed to performing back squats, it will take you a few sessions to become comfortable with front squats, so start out light. After a couple sessions of practice, you will start to feel the groove and be able to increase the poundage.

To perform front squats:

The front squat recruits the abdominals to a much higher degree for stability due to the more upright position compared with back squats. It is mostly a lower body exercise, but is great for functionally incorporating core strength and stability into the squatting movement. It can also be slightly difficult to learn how to properly rest the bar on your shoulders. There are two ways to rest the bar on the front of the shoulders. In the first method, you step under the bar and cross your forearms into an “X” position while resting the bar on the dimple that is created by the shoulder muscle near the bone, keeping your elbows up high so that your upper arms are parallel to the ground. You then hold the bar in place by pressing the thumb side of your fists against the bar for support.

Alternatively, you can hold the bar by placing your palms face up and the bar resting on your fingers against your shoulders. For both methods, your elbows must stay up high to prevent the weight from falling. Your upper arms should stay parallel to the ground throughout the squat. Find out which bar support method is more comfortable for you. Then, initiate the squat from your hips by sitting back and down, keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the balls of your feet. Squat down to a position where your thighs are approximately parallel to the ground, then press back up to the starting position. Keeping your weight more towards your heels is the key factor in squatting to protect your knees from injury and develop strong injury-resistant knee joints. Keep in mind – squats done correctly actually strengthen the knees; squats done incorrectly can damage the knees.

Practice first with an un-weighted bar or a relatively light weight to learn the movement. Most people are surprised how hard this exercise works your abs once you learn the correct form. This is due to the more upright posture compared with back squats. To see photos of proper form on the front squat, visit http://truthaboutabs.com/Front-Squats.html.

Visit http://truthaboutabs.com/Training-and-Nutrition-Articles.html to receive your own personalized metabolic rate calculator as well as 4 of my secret hard-body workout routines – all FREE.

Michael Geary is a nationally dual certified personal trainer (NCSF-CPT, AFAA-CPT), and author of The Truth about Six Pack Abs ©2004-2009.

Technorati Tags: abdominals, back squat, barbells, deadlifts, fat loss, front squat, hormonal response, kettlebells, lower body, michael geary, overhead squats, sandbags, squats

I’ve got a new found love for fast workouts.

Why?

Well besides the fact that you can get A LOT done in a short period of time, which is paramount for a busy dad, busy business owner…and a guy who just doesn’t want to spend every waking moment doing fat loss workouts.

Who’d a thought? A personal trainer who doesn’t want to spend all his time doing workouts!

But it’s true. I’ve got better things to do than spend hours doing fat loss workouts and I’m willing to bet you do too.

You’ve got work requirements. You’ve got kids that need to get ready for school, lunches packed, homework that needs to be done, after school sports and activities like band or dance…man kids take up a lot of free time!

But on top of that you probably just don’t like to spend a lot of time working out. The people who enjoy doing long fat loss workouts are few and far between, so it’s probably music to your ears when I tell you that you can get fast workouts in that are just as, if not more, effective than longer workouts.

It’s just a matter of cutting out all the “isolation” movements like triceps kickbacks, crunches, torso twists, etc. and stick to movements that move a lot of muscle which means they burn a lot of fat.

That is the true key to fast workouts. Sticking with big movements and combination exercises, and cutting out the frivolous movements that do little to nothing in terms of fat loss.

But what do fast workouts look like? Do fast workouts have to look like some sort of new-age aerobics class?

Gosh no! Don’t even mention aerobics in the same breath as fast workouts. All I can think of when someone says aerobics class is leg warmers, spandex and Jane Fonda…and those 3 things don’t bring up happy thoughts!

I’m going to make it very easy for your to perform your fast workout.

I’m going to let you choose from the following exercises and create your own fast workouts.

Here’s the exercises, or groups of exercises, you have to choose from:

1) Squat w/Shoulder Press
2) Push-up and Squat
3) Dumbbell or Kettlebell Swings
4) Burpees with a Push-up at the bottom

You’ll notice that all of those exercises have one big thing in common. They all work virtually every single muscle in your body and get your heart pumping fast which will help you to burn a lot of fat.

Here’s how I’m going to have you perform your fast workouts.

Pick one or two of the above exercises.

Do the following for 4 minutes:

Perform the exercise as fast as you can, with perfect form, for 20 seconds.

Then rest for 10 seconds.

Repeat until 4 minutes is up.

Yes, that’s it.

If you do the exercises and fast workouts properly you will be panting like a shaggy dog on a hot summer day and will be begging for mercy.

Here’s the key for these fast workouts and using the exercises I have outlined above…pick a weight that makes the exercise difficult, but not so difficult that your form suffers and make sure you use perfect form when doing each and every repetition.

Poor form will make the workout useless and could even make you hurt yourself.

Because this fast workout only takes 4 minutes you can do it pretty much any time you have a few minutes, and sweat, to spare. But my recommendation is to do it first thing in the morning, before you let anything else get in your way. That way you’ve got the workout in and done for the day so that if anything else comes up and you miss your workout for later on in the day at least you got this killer fast workout in.

To see pictures and descriptions of the exercises in this article head to http://www.FatLossToGo.com/fast_workouts.html

To learn how to lose fat while only working out for 15 minutes a day go to http://www.FatLossToGo.com

Technorati Tags: aerobics, burn fat, burpees, crunches, fast workouts, fat loss, fitness, Jane Fonda, kettlebells, personal trainer, push-ups, spandex, squats

Great examples of kettlebell workouts for women. If you pick a heavy enough kettlebell you can really feel it work your abs and thighs.

http://www.energyflow.tv/store/index.html

Those girls make me want to do kettlebells!

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Technorati Tags: abs, beach, body, booty, circuit, core, dvd, exercise, kettlebell, kettlebells, pack, six, volleyball, workout

In search of more effective and time-saving workouts, my hurried investigation lead me to a most unusual type of women workouts, that I must admit, made me very skeptical. It is called Russian kettlebell training. And it is a butt-kicker.

A workout known for its brutal simplicity, the kettlebell itself looks like a cannonball with a handle attached. I thought to myself that this is the last sort a thing a woman would want to pick up and toss around. Could this just be another gimmick? Is this the next 6 Minute Abs workout? Hardly.

After a few rounds with this 18th century technology, I felt like the wind was knocked out of my sails. I was gasping for air. And the next day, I could feel stiffness in my legs, and my abs (a problem area for me) were quite sore. I was very impressed to say the least.

Apparently some Hollywood-types are also getting in on the kettlebell act. Beth Chamberlin of the “Guiding Light” is a recent convert to kettlebell training.

“I’ve done every type of exercise from running to Pilates,” says Beth. “This is the first workout that has really worked for me. I’ve even gotten rid of the back and belly fat.” The results Beth achieved were so effective that she was able to do her first bikini photo shoot at the age of 44. Click the link below to read Beth’s inspiring tale:

http://www.napsnet.com/articles/59034.html

To incoporate kettlebell into your Hot Women Workouts routine would most certainly give you great results. Once reserved for Russian strongmen and special forces hard-core training, the kettlebell is a great way for the modern woman to blast off those unwanted pounds and look great in a swimsuit.

Technorati Tags: kettlebells, women workouts