An interview by Geovanni Derice with Mike Geary – Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

I had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by a fitness professional from NYC, Certified Personal Trainer, Geovanni Derice. The interview is below and I think you’re going to like it… I reveal some of the hardest hitting strategies for getting rid of that stubborn stomach fat to uncover those flat six pack abs that everyone wants.

“GD: Welcome Mike to our 4-ever-Toned Fitness Journal. For those who do not know you, please tell us a few things about yourself and how you can help our readers with their fitness and health.

MG: Thanks for having me, Geo. Well, to go back a little, I have been heavily involved in fitness and sports for about 17 years now, ever since I was a teenager. Being involved in sports in high school got me interested in strength training and conditioning.

At that point, once I started feeling more energetic, getting stronger, and looking better, I was instantly hooked for life. I’m 33 now and still addicted to the way living a healthy and fit lifestyle makes me feel energetic, confident, strong, and youthful on a daily basis.

I decided earlier in my 20′s that I wanted to make the commitment to help other people experience the excitement of being fit and getting in the best shape of their lives, especially since we’ve reached an epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. That’s why I became a fitness professional. It just gives me so much satisfaction to help others, who have struggled for years to get in good shape, and show them that it can be done, and it can be fun in the process.

I’ve expanded over the years from just reaching local individuals with personal training, into being able to help people all over the globe achieve their fitness goals with the reach of the internet. I only hope that my passion for fitness inspires people to take action and improve how they look and feel for life.

GD: Now Mike, there’s so many things out there as to what works and what does not work… if you had to pick 3 things that work time and time again to get flat lean abs, what would they be?

MG: The first and most important thing to get control of in order to lose your belly fat and get flat abs is cleaning up your diet. Exercise is important, but your diet is king when it comes to losing body fat so that you can see your abs.

There’s so much confusion these days about what a healthy diet that promotes fat loss really is… after all, we are bombarded by conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy and what is not, and you have all of these gimmicky diet books about low carb, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, atkins, south beach, liquid diets, and hundreds more. There’s so much conflicting info, that the average consumer doesn’t even know where to start when it comes to eating for fat loss.

The second thing that works time and time again, is to focus on the intensity of your workouts and focus on working the body as a whole in order to get the best metabolic response to lose that stubborn stomach fat.

In order to really get lean, the workouts should have a high intensity, with short rest periods, working the largest muscle groups of the body, instead of trying to isolate specific small muscles like the biceps, triceps, or calves.

For the third thing, let’s talk about actually training the abs specifically. When it comes to training the abs, if you want real results, I always recommend forgetting about the crunches and situps for the most part. They are ok for someone that is really deconditioned, but most people that already have some training under their belt need a much better stimulus for their abs than crunches. Crunches are one of the abs exercises that actually provide the least amount of resistance, and remember that resistance is what develops and tones the muscles.

I provide a ton of great abs exercises in my book, but one of THE highest resistance exercises for the abs, is hanging leg raises (but NOT the way you see most people at the gym doing them). The key to doing these and actually working the hell out of your abs is to curl your pelvis up as you raise your legs. Almost nobody ever does this right. To be honest, the majority of people cannot do this at first, but I provide some strategies in my book as to how to progress to doing these correctly.

GD: What are people doing wrong when it comes to developing the coveted “6 pack abs”?

MG: Well Geo, I know this sounds funny to most people, but the MAIN thing that people are doing wrong to get those flat 6-pack abs is… are you ready for this?

They spend entirely too much time focusing on training their abs! WAY too much time spent on abs exercises. Sounds crazy, but it’s true.

Remember, having a flat and visible six pack of abs is all about getting down to a low body fat percentage. In order to do that, your workouts must focus on stimulating a fat burning hormonal environment in your body, and increasing your metabolic rate. That just does not happen when you focus too much time training a small muscle group like the abs.

Instead, you must use the majority of your time focusing on training the largest muscle groups of the body like the legs, back, and chest. That’s what stimulates your metabolism and the fat burning hormones that will get you truly lean and sporting a flat sixxer!

GD: Which exercises are the top exercises that people need to do if they are to get maximum defintion with their midsection?

MG: When it comes to developing the abs themselves, I again refer to any kinds of hanging abs exercises, as well as some good floor abs exercises like lying leg thrusts (all described and illustrated in my book).

However, maximum definition in the abs and midsection comes from losing bodyfat, and the most effective exercises featured in my program for that goal are various forms of swings and snatches (unique dumbbell or kettlebell exercises that almost nobody ever does in normal gyms), squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, clean & presses, mountain climbers, sprinting, and other full body exercises and calisthenics. If you want great looking flat abs, focus on those instead of focusing so much on training the abs directly!

GD: When it comes to diet Mike, people really have tried millions of ways to get one thing… and that is fat loss. What recommendations have you used to successfully help your clients lose body fat and keep it off?

MG: I have included a fully comprehensive discussion of this topic in my book, which accounts for almost half of the book, but I’ll try to make some nice simple generalizations to get people started on the right path immediately. The most important thing is that your diet is as natural and unprocessed as possible. It almost always comes back to the overprocessing of food that makes it unhealthy, and makes it totally wreck your metabolism and hormone balance in your body.

For example, why eat refined grains, when you can eat whole grains (even better are sprouted grains, as I usually recommend limiting grain foods overall for best results).

Why eat refined sugar, when you can get natural sources of sugar from a high nutrient whole food like fruit. Why eat highly processed, refined, and hydrogenated vegetable oils (these are THE worst thing in the modern diet), when you can eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, organically raised meat, and so forth.

The point is to not fall for some gimmick like extremely low carbs (although I do believe in a fairly reduced carb intake as that is a big problem for most people), low fat, super high protein, or any other combination that has you focusing on one macronutrient vs. another.

Your body needs all macronutrients to thrive and obtain a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc. Trying to cut an entire food group out just works against what your body needs. I get into much more detail on this vitally important topic towards losing body fat (especially that stubborn stomach fat) for life in my book.

GD: Thank you very much Mike for sharing with us all of this great information.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this interview and plucked several nuggets of info to get you motivated and started on showing off your flat abs shortly. If you don’t already own a copy, be sure to pick up a copy of my Truth about Six Pack Abs book and discover the entire system I’ve developed for ridding yourself of that extra ab fat for good!

Try These Proven Weight Loss Exercise Programs

Almost everyone is always on the lookout for killer weight loss exercise programs. There are hundreds, if not thousands of programs out there, and you can waste weeks on a program before finding out that it’s just not for you. In today’s fast-paced world, who really has that kind of time to waste? This article outlines a few popular exercise programs that you might be the right fit for you.

The most basic sort of exercise program that you can undertake is to design your own. This type of program offers ultimate flexibility, as you can customize it to your own needs, goals, and schedule. Designing your own workout program takes some work and some research, however.

In order to properly for a personal workout program, you’ll need to understand how exercise affects the body. Obviously, it’s important not to go too easy on yourself – if you don’t work your body hard enough, you won’t burn fat, and you won’t lose weight. What some people don’t know, though, is that you also can’t overwork your body. Exercising too hard cannot only lead to injury, but can also lead to a less productive workout overall.

A basic personal exercise program will consist of both cardiovascular exercise and strength training. Cardio exercise can be a simple jog outdoors, a run on the treadmill, or even performing aerobics along to a video. Strength training includes weight lifting, as well as activities like pushups, pull-ups, and crunches. It’s up to you to find the right mix of exercises that will challenge you and keep you motivated.

For someone looking for something more structured, one of the most popular weight loss exercise programs is known as Tae Bo. This program became famous for supposedly blending martial arts and self-defense techniques with an aerobic workout. Actual martial applications of the program are slim to none, but it does provide a great structured workout that you can follow along with at home.

Tae Bo combines basic aerobic maneuvers like jumping jacks with various series of punches and kicks, sometimes done very rapidly. Although some Tae Bo programs sometimes use aids, such as resistance bands to enhance the workout, they are not necessary. People are often surprised by how much the simple act of punching and kicking the air can leave you sore the next day!

Another extremely popular exercise program is called Pilates. Pilates bridges the grasp between intensity and relaxation, and shares some similarities with yoga. It uses slow, deliberate movements rather than rapid repetitions to achieve weight loss and muscle growth.

One the major focuses of Pilates is on breathing – you might say it’s the most important part. Even if you don’t decide that Pilates is for you, this idea can be put to use in other weight loss exercise programs. Breathing is very, very important to any exercise program. Proper breathing technique can help reduce fatigue during exercise, allowing you to workout longer, which can only help to speed you along to your weight loss goals.

Incredible Proven Exercises To Lose Weight Quickly Dont Wait

So you really need to lose weight quickly, but just aren’t sure how to do it? You know diet alone won’t bring back that great looking body you had in your younger days. You know you need something else.

What you need is exercise! Any type of exercise is fantastic for weight loss but there are certain exercises that will really accelerate the dropping of those extra pounds. Fitting exercise into a busy life schedule can be challenging but don’t let that stop you. The exercises listed below only take a few short minutes out of your day but your results can be dramatic.

However, before starting any new exercise program, it is important to check with your personal Doctor to make sure you are healthy enough; to tackle a strenuous exercise program. Once that determination is made you are ready to go. Don’t wait! Get started now.

There are two types of exercise that should form part of your exercise routine. The first is aerobic and the second is resistance training (weights). Both of these exercise types are vital as they work very differently.

Aerobic exercise aims to increase your heart rate and improve stamina. Four very common forms of aerobic exercise are:

•    Running
•    Fast walking
•    Cycling
•    Skipping

These can be undertaken either outside or on gym equipment like treadmills and exercise bikes.

Weight training on the other hand aims to build lean muscle which has a result of burning fat much faster. The more lean muscle you have on your body, the faster you will burn fat and the more calories you’ll burn!

There are some quick exercises at home you can do for quick weight loss. Let’s take a look at these now:

1.    Walking
It goes without saying that walking is a key to losing weight. The more walking you can do the better, but aim for at least 30 minutes of dedicated walking per day. However, faster weight loss will be accomplished if you walk twice a day for 30 minutes. The faster you walk the better as your heart will pump faster.

2.    Skipping
Skipping is an excellent aerobic exercise. Just 50 skips per day will have you burning calories but for best results try to add an extra 10 skips to your routine everyday.

3.    Step-ups
You can simply use your backyard steps for this one. Stepping up and down will have your heart rate elevated and the calories will be burning. Try to complete 3 sets of 20 steps every day, but increase the number of steps every few days as your body adjusts as your fitness levels rise. You can also buy special step up mats which are designed with safety in mind.

4.    Squats
These won’t make your hate race but they will assist in building leg muscles. Squats are considered one of the toughest exercises to perform so don’t be embarrassed if you can only do one or two. Remember, building and strengthening muscles equals faster fat burning and that is the aim of squats.

The above exercises all have one thing in common: they are exercises to lose weight quickly. If you undertake the above four exercises on a daily basis then you are heading in the right direction for weight loss.