March 2007 Fitness Newsletter

I have a couple of updates to the website. The first is the exercise video clips page. I’ve put all the small and big clips I’ve done over the last year or so onto one page that you can reference any time you need to. You can find that here:
exercise'>http://www.buildingbodies.ca/exercise.shtml

Also I have a new video for you to see and rate about athletic drills. This is the fun stuff! You can see that here:
power'>http://www.metacafe.com/watch/453638/power_and_speed_drills_for_athletes/

There has also been an update to the famous glute and butt exercises page that you can check out here:

http://www.buildingbodies.ca/exercise/index.php/glute-exercises-for-a-better-butt/

I took the two most frequently visited “Butt” pages and combined them to put the information into one place. Everything you need is there for you.

Now for the exciting part. My book FAT TO FIT is now available on Amazon.com in paper back. Yes, after being on the internet for years, and selling it from mail order, I have officially gone commercial! I could use a few reviews over at amazon, so if you have read the book or done the online program, please go over and share your opinions.

Here is the product page:
Amazon.com
Also, if you have liked the info I've given you so far then let someone else know about buildingbodies.ca and forward this email newsletter to them!

Now For Readers Questions

Hi Ray,

I got your 6 fat burning don’ts letter and got kind of concerned. I am about halfway through phase 1 and am really liking the way I look, all except my midsection. I'm a slender guy to start with so fat really stands out on me when looking at the rest of my physique and right now my body fat percent is 15.2. I would like to get down to 8 percent if possible.

The reason your letter concerned me is because according to it I am really overdoing my workouts and causing that awful stress hormone to retain fat. I do cardio about 5 times a week (about 70 % heart rate at constant pace) and lift weights 3 times a week. The days that I combine cardio and weight lifting usually takes me a good 2 hours, which really exceeds that 1 hour stress limit! Also I do the beginner ab routine 3 times a week (crunches x 3, leg lift/hip rolls x 3, bridge x 3) and 3 sets of side crunches the other three days of the week. Am I doing too much ab work to get a trim waist?

I am pretty confident in my diet (250 protein, 150 carbs, 40 fat) from natural sources. If I am taking the right steps to attain those coveted six pack abs just let me know when you can, it would save me a lot of stress and worry. Also if I am doing the right steps how long would it take to burn 7 percent body fat? Thanks again Ray and take care.

Joel Smith
San Antonio, TX


P.S. I have written you a ton of emails in the past 2 weeks and you have yet to ignore or blow off any question I had. Thanks for your dedication and for caring. Keep up the great job!

Hi Joel,


You are not doing too much. Two hours is defiantly on the outside of the beneficial time limit to train though. You should train harder and faster to attain the lower body fat percentage. Everything should be finished in less than 1.5 hours on the long side. If you are really working hard on an abbreviated schedule like I suggest in the program/book and only taking one minutes rest between sets, that is enough time.

I would also suggest that if you insist on doing cardio five times a week as a beginner, that you switch back and forth between interval training and steady state cardio. Do the 20-30 minutes of sprints on the weight training days.

As for how long it will take you to achieve a 7 percent body fat, here is how you figure that out. Take your weight and multiply it by your current 15.2 percent figure. That will give you how many fat pounds you have. Now do the same thing using 7 percent body fat. See how many fat pounds that gives you. Take the difference and you have two options here; the first is extremely fast and the second is more normal. The fast route you would divide your fat pounds by two, that is how many weeks it will take to achieve a 7 percent body fat. The normal route has your difference between 15 and 7 percent being the weeks to achieve your goal.

Here is another question and answer I did with Ben about weight loss exercise:

weight-loss-exercise-workout-help


I am looking for farms and ranches for sale. I am also looking for info on renting retreat locations. If you have any info on either, please forward it to me by replying to thisemail. Yes folks, there is a weight loss camp in the works.


That’s is for this month main newsletter,
See you in the updates,
Ray Burton