The end of the year is upon us, and I thought, what better way to recap all the great health and fitness related articles covered in the blog this year than by having a bit of a quiz. I invite everyone to take the fitness test and see just how much you know about health and fitness.

Most are frustrated by their lack of results on the treadmill- now we know why!

Aerobic Exercise Will Not Help You Lose Weight- High Intensity Workouts Will!

The party line for years has been that aerobic exercise will help you burn fat and increase your overall endurance, while brief high intensity workouts only work the muscles and have no bearing on fat loss or increasing cardiovascular capacity. Since the 1980′s this has been the gospel handed down from so many accedited organizations while real world results have done little to support it. More and more people are doing aerobic type exercise and yet few see truly significant results in the gym, while for almost two decades programs like the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise ™with its 10 minute workouts have helped literally hundreds of people from fitness models, bodybuilders, actors and performers to housewives and business people lose weight and get into cover model shape all while improving their endurance from only high intensity workouts with weights. Research has come a long way in validating what has been my life practice- namely the use of high intensity workouts to help build muscle, reduce fat and improve endurance and it has been a long and hard road over the years, but the success of all those that I have trained over the years in addition to my own success as a lifetime drug free bodybuilder and martial artist has always served as the incontovertible proof that 10 minute workouts do indeed work better than traditional programs. Now we have the science to prove it as well and it is my hope that it helps the general population begin to get real results from their fitness programs as so many fall short and are frustrated by their lack of success following traditional training protocols.- Kevin Richardson, NYC Personal Trainer and founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™.

It’s a common cause of frustration, you go to the gym, sign up for an aerobics class or maybe hit the treadmill for an hour or so, and you feel really great about starting your weight loss program. However after a month of all that hard work and sweat, the results are less than spectacular. You love the way you feel during your workouts but the needle on the scale hasn’t really moved much. Maybe you aren’t doing enough, so you logically increase your efforts. Instead of going to the gym three times a week, now you are now going five days a week, maybe even six- but still to no avail. You are not looking anything like the models in the gym commercials and you can’t figure out for the life of you why it’s not working. Burnt out, over trained and fatigued from all that exercise (and more than a little frustrated), you give up after a few months and the gym membership that you had every intention of using goes to waste. Perhaps your body type is somehow resistant to losing weight, maybe it is just your genes, or maybe there is something wrong with your metabolism? Fortunately, none of these factors are to blame; the reality is simply that aerobic exercise isn’t exactly great for weight loss.

Studies Contradict The Fat Burning Effect Of Aerobics

A study published recently in The British Journal of Sports Medicine was the latest of a series of reputable research to come back with less than stellar results for the effectiveness of aerobic exercise as a weight loss tool. In this study 58 obese individuals went through 12 weeks of supervised steady state aerobic exercise without any change in their diets.  In spite of the exercise regime, the group average weight loss was only around seven pounds or so, with many losing three pounds or less. The author’s conclusion was “From a public health perspective, exercise should be encouraged and the emphasis on weight loss reduced.”1 Not a glowing endorsement for weight loss at all. True there is a calorie burning effect to any form of exercise, aerobics included, but an overwhelming body of research shows, achieve significant weight loss with exercise alone, without a major change in their eating habits- which right there casts doubts on whether aerobics are really needed in the first place. The going theory for many years has been that by doing aerobic exercise, there is an so called after burner effect- namely that your metabolism speeds up as a result for hours afterwards thus helping the body burn more calories. Sounds fantastic, and it helped sell a lot of equipment over the years, but it doesn’t hold water when held up to scientific scrutiny. In a study done at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, several groups were brought together to measure the fat burning effects of aerobic exercise, ranging from lean endurance athletes to sedentary and obese individuals. For the duration of the study, the subjects would spend 24 hours in a special laboratory configured as a calorimeter, designed to measure exactly how many calories they would burn during the period. Researchers could also tell from using several mathematical formulas whether calories burned were in the form of fat or carbohydrates. Each subject spent 24 hours in the calorimeter without doing anything whatsoever as a base reading and then another 24 hours period that included one hour of riding a stationary bicycle at an easy pace that supposedly makes the body burn fat rather than carbohydrates stored in the muscles. To the astonishment of the researchers, they found that none of the members of the groups, well trainer athletes included, experienced an increase in fat burning on the day that they performed the aerobic exercise. In fact, they found that most had actually burned slightly less fat during the period that they exercised as compared to the 24 hour period that they did nothing. Some other studies point the idea that the after burner effect of increased fat burning after exercise comes from short, high intensity resistance training and not from aerobic exercise.

High Intensity Workouts Compared To Aerobics For Fat Loss

A study of two groups of women conducted at the University of New South Wales in Australia is one of many to come to this conclusion. For this study women were split into two groups, one to perform brief high intensity exercise and one aerobic exercise to determine which type of exercise stimulated the most fat burning effect. After 15 weeks of performing high intensity resistance based workouts three times a week the women in the high intensity group lost an average of 5 ½ pounds of body fat-, which represented an impressive 11.2 percent decrease in their overall body fat percentage, whereas the women in the group that did three aerobic workouts per week for the same 15 week period, actually saw an increase in their overall body fat levels! All that time spent by most gym goers on the treadmill instead of hitting the weights hard and fast is a major factor in why few see significant weight loss today. (While the cry might be that you need aerobics for endurance purposes- the research contradicts this as well- see ‘The Science Behind 10 Minute Workouts)

The Inefficient  Practice Of Aerobics For Weight Loss Might Be The Reason Such Low Calorie Diets Are Used

 This just can’t be, you say to yourself, as there are individuals that slave away doing aerobics and get into great shape all the time- but they all reduce their calories to really low and unhealthy levels to do so. More importantly, they all exhibit a significant lack of energy during the period and are only able to maintain a lower body fat level for a very short period of time before they break down and regain the weight that they originally lost. While this may be common practice, it isn’t healthy, and we know from studies that the yo-yo effect of weight loss and weight gain increases your long term risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Besides, the research points out that the use of aerobics may be the reason why it is so hard for them to lose weight in the first place and why their calorie levels have to go down so low just to lose a few pounds. Aerobics simply are not the best route for weight loss, and while aerobics instructors and StairMaster manufacturers don’t want you to know this, it has been common knowledge for a number of us in the field of drug free bodybuilding.

The Key To Sustainable Low Body Fat Levels Comes From Low Volume High Intensity Workouts From Resistance Training & Proper Diet- Not Aerobics

The author- aerobics free since 1974!

From the very beginning of my career as a natural bodybuilder in Trinidad, all of my coaches strictly forbade me from doing aerobics of any kind. I found it rather odd at the time as all the magazines, books and even the personal trainer manuals advocated the importance of aerobic exercise as a fat burning tool. Yet here I was being told to avoid it like the plague if I really wanted to reduce my body fat levels to 5% or less. Given the number of successful athletes under their tutelage over the years, I heeded their advice, and sure enough I did end up with a body fat percentage under 5% for my first contest, and I have not doubted the soundness of that advice ever since. Over the years, I learned that with the use of brief and high intensity workouts (no more than 10 to 20 minutes of high intensity training three times a week) in addition to a natural based diet, (I call it the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™) I could maintain a healthy body fat level of 5% and help others do the same. I have never done any form of steady state aerobics as part of my routine, and in eighteen years as personal trainer, I haven’t had any of my clients do it either. Having helped literally hundreds lose tremendous amounts of weight, (read this case study on a member of our 100 lb weight loss club) there must be something to not doing aerobics. Factor in as well the dozens of fitness models and bodybuilders that I am able to get into magazine cover shape using three 10 minute workouts a week and you might give the aerobics machines in your gym a pass.

Related Articles:

Aerobics A Bad Choice For Weight Loss

High Intensity Workouts- Better Results In Less Time From 10 Minute Workouts!

High Intensity Workouts & Endurance

High Intensity Workouts For Weight Loss & Muscle Building

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His high intensity 10 minute workouts have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Jay relaxed and in shape backstage at the NPC Brooklyn Bodybuilding Championships.

What becomes a champion most? Is it the number of titles and accolades that adorn their mantles or is it their unwavering spirit of self improvement. To me only the latter is of any real tangibility and with that I would like to present my good friend and Naturally Intense client, Jay Larcher.

Jay started training with me about 6 months ago to get ready for the Eastern USA Bodybuilding Championships- a high caliber regional level contest that he had competed in last year and wanted to improve his showing. What makes Jay’s venture notable, however is that he wanted to do it drug free. Contests promoted by this organization are not tested for the use of anabolic steroids, diuretics and other performance enhancing drugs, in fact their use is strongly encouraged.

As a lifetime natural athlete myself, I was immediately impressed by Jay’s spirit. We shared a certain sense of integrity and he was not concerned about being anything but the best that he could be without the help of any artificial advantage. Preparing for a bodybuilding contest is no small undertaking, but readying to stand toe to toe with some of the top competitors on the East Coast powered only by old fashioned hard work and dedication makes it even more of a challenge.
Our challenge, though, was to make Jay the best that he had ever been, and I had full confidence that his best would allow him to hold his own against his competition, and he did just that. Having gained a full ten pounds of muscle and sporting striations that he had never seen before thanks to the brutally high intensity 10 minute workouts workouts and his customized diet. With no aerobics and following the principles of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise, Jay was not only able to be his best, but beat his best!

The Warm Up- The NPC Brooklyn Bodybuilding & Fitness Show

With all of my competitors, I always have them do a ‘warm up’ contest before their showing in a major contest, to help them get used to being onstage and also to let the judges have a first look at them as well. With my method, you are always contest ready at least 2 to 4 weeks before the actual show, so the NPC Brooklyn Bodybuilding and Fitness two weeks prior to the Easterns seemed a good choice. With nothing in terms of last minute carb depletion, water restrictions or fancy supplements, Jay walked onstage amazed by his new body, and moreover that he was able ot look better than he ever did without having to starve himself, or resort to any last minute manipulations. This new look was how he looked all the time, and as time goes on he would only get better and better. For the Brooklyn show, Jay placed a respectable 6th in the light heavyweight class- many had him much higher. With his lines, conditioning, overall symmetry and balance, several veterans in the audience placed him as high as third in their estimation, but as a judge said afterwards, it is all about being bigger. Our competition is an internal one, not a path based on the preferences of a judging panel, but more importantly a path where health comes first, and the compromises required to be bigger are not part of our program. 

The Moment of Truth- The Eastern USA Bodybuilding Championships 

Jay Larcher holding his own at the Eastern USA Bodybuilding Championships

On contest day, Jay stepped onstage with a confidence that can only be equaled by the pride that I, his girlfriend, Kimani and his family felt as we sat in the audience cheering him on. He looked very much like he belonged there and the victory that night was not in the form of a trophy, but in the realization of a personal best and a sense of accomplishment that can never be taken away. Immediately after coming off stage at the pre-judging, his first words to me were,
“Wait until they see what we are going to do next year!”

Such a spirit, such a passion and such determination cannot be stopped and I look forward to seeing him step onstage next year, no longer a light heavyweight, but a legitimate heavyweight contender. There is no off season for those of us who look to bodybuilding as a lifestyle, no pizza and junk food binges after months of deprivation. For us it is about health, balance and the understanding that such tools on your side do indeed make you unbeatable. Thank you, Jay, not only for helping inspire so many others but also for inspiring me as well.

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts have been helping people get get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

Naturally Intense Personal Trainer NYC Reviews 

Very often when asked about the feasibility of a system based on 10 minute workouts, many people have a bit of healthy skepticism, that’s why today I would like to show some of the Naturally Intense  Personal Trainer Reviews NYC. Naturally Intense™ NYC personal training clients regularly commute from as far away as Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Boston. Some fly in from as far away as Canada & the Cayman Islands just to experience the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™ and over the past 18 years of its existence, it has truly cemented its place as an effective method of not only body transformation, but lifestyle change as well for everyone- whether you are an elite athlete, bodybuilder or model or someone simply looking to get into better shape or lose some weight.

Here are some of our Naturally Intense Personal Trainer NYC Reviews, thanks for reading:

 
“I’ve lost over 100lbs using this system, and I can hardly stop telling everyone how well it works! You owe it to yourself to give it a try!” Virginia M. (Read Virginia’s Case Study On How She Lost Over 100 lbs here!)

“Compassion. Dedication. Perseverance! I get so much from working out with Kevin,the training and the diet, and what I have learned over the past year and a half has completely transformed my body! I am so grateful! Thanks, Kevin!” -Trisia T.

 “At age 53, I had been gaining 2 lbs. per year and I could do the math — I didn’t like how I was going to look or feel in 10 – 20 years! So, I started working out with Kevin for 10 minute sessions 2-3 times a week, and within months got my weight down and started to feel stronger. Kevin helped me build up the muscles around my joints so that I rarely had pain anymore from bending, lifting and gardening. He put me on the right path for healthy aging, with a good diet and workout schedule.“- Mindy S.

“A full workout in 10 minutes, not possible! Right? WRONG! A short, focused, and intense workout with Kevin always leaves me exhausted, spent, and looking forward to the next session. It’s a joyful and exhilarating feeling as I try to push through my personal limits and the impossible becomes possible. Kevin’s knowledgeable and informed suggestions about my diet are helping me to drop all those unwanted pounds and it’s great to finally learn from such an experienced and personable expert who not only talks the talk but also walks the walk.” – Tony O

“I can’t say enough about the uniqueness and exceptional quality of Kevin’s services. As a non-jock who has always been gym phobic and never had a particularly great experience with a trainer (although I’ve tried several), I found Kevin extraordinary in every respect. The first time I called him to inquire about his services, he spent an hour answering my questions.  When you work with him, you feel his full attention and as if your are the only person in the world he is focused on.  He has helped me discover at age 61 the capacity to build strength and fitness I didn’t have at 30.” – Bill B.

“Kevin is so amazingly supportive and the workouts are so short, efficient and effective that is hard to talk yourself out of your workout if it only lasts for ten minutes! It is so great to not have to spend hours a week at the gym and it works!” -Alana W.

“I dedicated myself to meet with Kevin 3 times a week for his short, yet extremely intense amount of time (10 minute workouts that you have to see to believe!). I agreed to follow everything he suggested in terms of diet and nutrition and I had it in my mind that I would give it 8 weeks. Five months later I never looked better and I feel great. I owe my newly found motivation to and body to Kevin. Thanks, Kevin for making my dreams a reality!” -Kim S. (Read Kim’s full testimonial here)

“Kevin Richardson is the bomb! He is helpful, informative and he never gives up on you and never lets you give up. I have been working out with him for 8 months and only one day a week for 10 min and following the food plan. I have lost 30 lbs and gone down about 3 clothing sizes! I feel energetic and very strong. All of this starting 5 weeks after a major surgery. Thanks Kevin”- Tia H.

For more Naturally Intense Personal Trainer NYC Reviews please feel free to visit our testimonial pages here and be sure to take a look at some of our Naturally Intense Success Stories here!

A Day in The Naturally Intense Life- Part 3

12:01 pm- 1:00 pm.

We get back to smell the curry simmering on the stovetop and now the real work begins. Today I have to write some business proposals due by the next day and I spend the next hour typing away.

1:00 pm.

Lunch time. Woo hoo! The curry is fantastic and the chicken and potatoes are topped off on a bed of long grain parboiled rice. I make a point of getting only the freshest of ingredients, and of blending the seasonings myself (that way I know there isn’t any salt or msg hidden in them), and the chicken is actually chicken! Not the ‘free range’ fake chicken, the real deal. I grew up around chickens and can tell you now that they might have a free range label on them, but truly free range chickens do not look like the ones you see at a Wholefoods. The bones are far too soft and the chickens themselves are far too fat. The meat is too soft as well, instead I get fowl from butcher shops in the West Indian neighborhoods, which look and taste nothing like the ones you’ll find in the stores. They are far cheaper too, and why spend more money for chicken that claims to be free range and (heaven forbid I use the term), ‘organic’ (when last did you see and inorganic chicken?) when I can spend less and get the real thing? The wonders of modern marketing never cease to amaze me.

1:20 pm.

After the workout I was truly starving, and after a good lunch I am ready to go! I have a business meeting in the city at 4:30 pm, then start training clients at 5:30 pm, so I spend the next couple of hours working on updating dietary guides for my clients and the numerous people that I work with online, maintaining the website, which I built myself (took all of 4 months of working until the small hours of the morning). Then I am calling and confirming schedules for clients for today and the rest of the week while also getting back to those set to come in for a trial to see what this ten minute workout thing is all about. By the time I am done it is 3:45 pm, and a quick shower later I am ready to run out of the house (I see showering after a workout as part of my contribution to a more eco-friendly environment!). I grab a piece of curried chicken right before I leave the house and pack a ziploc bag with some peanuts to keep me going for a while along with a plain bison burger that I cooked earlier this morning to take along with me. I get to my meeting (kind of) on time, and by 5:30 pm I am at the gym and waiting for my first victim, I mean client of the day. Lucky for me, he is running about 5 minutes behind and so I sit in the gym lobby and have my bison burger, savoring every bite! I made it with another Kevin R. proprietary blend of spices and the combination is right on! My client walks in and I am ready to start my working day. I have 13 clients lined up for tonight and I am looking forward to it as I always do!

The fun part for me has always been working with my clients and I have to say that I have always seemed to have been blessed with some of the most fantastic people to work with! Many trainers complain about having difficult clients, but after working with the formerly homeless population for 14 years, I really don’t see anyone as being difficult at all! My last client was running a little late, he is driving in from Westchester and got stuck in traffic. He called to apologize, but my native Trinidadian sensibilities don’t mind at all. Several of my clients come from really far away, one comes in from Connecticut, one from Long Island and we have even had some commute from Boston on the weekends! I am happy to have them and have no problem waiting a few minutes here and there to accommodate them if they are running late. They are great people and I love working with them as well.

8 pm

I am out of the gym and heading home after a quick meeting with my business development manager (the team is certainly growing these days). I get home by 8:30 pm and dinner is ready and waiting (bless Stephanie’s soul!) I was a single parent for a while and I know very well what it is like to come home and have to do everything yourself, so I am always extra grateful to come home to a home cooked meal! Rabbit is on the menu, quite a surprise, and it is served with some greens on the side. At 10 pm it is time for my last meal of the day(except on  Fridays when I teach my ninjustu class from 10 pm to about 1 am- then I eat a bit later), which is always some form of fish. I vary it each night and tonight I am having some blue snapper, a tropical fish that I know very well from my childhood in the islands. Some last minute emails, and checks online, and I am off to sleep and ready for tomorrow. Although Lucien has some other plans…

 
Celebrity personal trainer NYC, Kevin Richardson is an award winning health and fitness writer, natural bodybuilding champion and the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training™. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.