There is a lot of confusion about what makes a good workout program. Unfortunately part of the problem is just plain old misinformation. I'm sure you've heard the terms "toning" and "shaping". But the fact is that both of those terms are meaningless, and there have been countless people who've simply done poor ineffective workouts in the name of shaping and toning.   You have control over exactly two things as far as your muscles and body composition are concerned. They are: 1) BUILDING MUSCLE 2) LOSING FAT   When people look at a so-called toned body, they are looking at someone who has added muscle…

Most people have probably heard the term HIIT before. In case you haven't, it stands for High Intensity Interval Training. A very solid method of training particularly for fat loss. In fact, some studies have actually shown that it can be up to 3 times more effective than steady state cardio.   Not that anything is wrong with steady state cardio, but for maximum efficiency HIIT wins. Of course this concept is hardly new. A round of boxing is interval training as well. 3 minutes of work followed by 1 minute of rest. And of course, as an alternative to timing your…

I hope everyone enjoyed their long wekend. It was Family Day, Heritage Day, and Islander Day for the various Canadian provinces, and it was President's Day for the USA. Anyway we went out of town and stayed overnight at The Americana Waterpark which was a blast! As usual, I woke up early and decided to workout. However since I realized the fitness room wasn't open at that early hour, I chose to insead workout right in the hallway of my hotel room! It isn't necessary to have a ton of equipment or even ANY equipment to have a great workout.  Check…

If you have just 20 minutes, a bench, and a set of 10 to 20 pound dumbbells, you can do a total-body toning workout. For the sequence described in this article, you can begin with the first move, doing as many reps as you can for 50 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds and prepare to move onto the next exercise. Do this for a total of five moves before resting for one minute. Complete three rounds of these exercises. First, start with a foot-elevated glute bridge. Lie on your back, bend your knees, and put your feet flat on the…