All quiet on the blog post front!

Its been a while since I posted a blog on here. I now have a "day job" and as an off-peak gym member, the only way I have been able to get to the gym during the working week has been to get my lazy ass out of bed and to the gym for opening time at 6:30am!!!

As you know I started the TT transformation contest blog and then sort of got bored with TT and wanted a different sort of challenge.

Well, I decided to give Vince Delmonte's No Nonsense Mucle Building a shot. However, following the TT mass building program that I did for 3 weeks, and a couple of weeks rest, I have found that Vince's workouts are just far too time consuming for me to do. They were taking me over an hour in the gym as they are 5 supersets of 3X15 reps for 2 workouts and 6 supersets for the other. Plus, I was finding it inconvenient to fit in some cardio to minimize the fat gain. I have also "ballooned" in the belly (although I still have a bit of the 6 pack that was starting to develop before I started bulking), so I have decided that I am going back to TT for fat loss again.

I have no doubt that "No Nonsense" is a great program as I have found the workouts really challenging. The members website is fantastic too with forums, workout downloads, etc. I have an incling that I will go back to complete this, probably during the winter when it will seem more sensible to "eat more", but at the moment, I am pressed for time now that I am working, and only have time to spare for long workouts at the weekend, which is really the time I want to spend having fun at the gym as I used to. I cannot give the time that this program requires at the moment, and I would not wish to do things half heartedly!

So back to Turbulence Training then! I must admit it was great to be doing the fat loss workouts. I am going "Old School" and doing the 2K4 workout which alternates between an A & B workout so it is less complex than the ones I had done before. I am also enjoying being able to do interval training. I started TT again on Tuesday and will go in again tomorrow morning , Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, so as to get back in to the Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday routine.

I went in and did some more cardio this morning. Steady state on the cross trainer for 15 minutes, and then a big challenge, 6 sets 20 second intervals at level 19 (out of 25) with 40 seconds rests in between. That was tough, I could just about handle those 20s intervals, and I was gasping for breath still by the time my cool down has completed! Given that I have been on the cross trainer twice this week already, I think tomorrow I will do some dumbell swings. They are a different take on intervals and quite a different sort of challenge. I have done these before as can be noted from the transformation contest blog.

My left ankle seems to be playing up again so I have bought an ankle support which will be needed as I see tomorrows workout has loads of lunges and bulgarian split squats (which I think is what agravates it!!!)

Anyway I am going to close down for tonight as I will aim to get to bed shortly so as to get up at silly o'clock. Night folks.

Neil

4 weeks in and going "Hardcore"

Just been re-reading last Monday's post. It's now 4 weeks since I started on Craig Ballantyne's world reknown Turbulence Training programme. Although I did weigh myself this Monday, I have decided to return back to Wednesday weigh ins as this will remain true and consistent to my previous records.

I'm pleased to say that in 4 weeks I have actually lost 1.8kg (4lb) of body fat (now down to 18kg/40lb of fat) , which represents a 1.3% reduction. My initial goal was to lose 1%. At that time I had not really made any calculations as to how much fat mass I was to lose, and based it on percentages. I made the following video not long after I started the programme.

As I mentioned in my last entry, I've had a big struggle with my alcohol consumption. Whilst I do believe that life is for living, and I have no problem with people responsibly enjoying their tipples of choice, I sometimes feel guilty about my passion for wine, particularly as it is preventing me from achieving what I want in terms of getting a great mid-section! At the moment it really is too hard a task to just eliminate my level of consumption so I have decided to do a much more gradual reduction.

We brew some lovely beer here in the UK and there is one brewery that I am a big fan of, the Badger Brewery based down in Dorset. So my treat is a (as in ONE!) bottle from their range of very fine ales every other night in the week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Friday). On Saturday, I will apply the John Berrardi 90% rule and enjoy some wine after going to my back to back classes at the Gym.

Anyway, moving back to the main point of my blog, I have achieved my goal despite enjoying a more than what would we be called normal amount of beer and wine. Whilst I wonder what I could have achived if I had been more disciplined, I will learn from my mistakes, and not get too down on myself as states in the TTFFL manual that advanced exercisers are likely to expect a lb fat loss per week. So I do still feel really pleased and positive that I can get great results. I just have to be more disciplined.

Its not just the fat loss results that are great. I'm really impressed with my improvements in my strength. Before TT I just played with resistance training doing it twice a week at my own pace. Now I am straight in, resting as little as possible between sets and supersets, lifting as heavy weights as possible, bearing in mind that my right shoulder is still compromised from last year and is nowhere near as strong as the left. The results...

I have noticed a dramatic increase in definition of my muscles in my arms, and my main vains are now starting to become noticeable on my arms and...

I am definitely a lot stronger than I was before I started the programme, even in just 4 weeks.

An example of this is the upper body workout track in the body attack class at the gym. There is a lot of core strengthening and a hell of a lot of press-ups both bicep and tricep. I used to manage bicep press-ups with my knees off the floor, but practically all the tricep push-ups were done with my knees down. Today I managed all but 4 knees off the floor. I know I will get to the stage where I no longer have my knees down on either.

Ok so thats the original programme completed my sheet is below.

Its time to move on to the next programme. I have downloaded the Hardcore Fat Loss programme from TTmembers.com. Time to up the ante and the intensity. Monday's workout was a killer, particularly the 30s/30s intervals where I have also started increased the resistance on the cross trainer at the peaks to level 17 of 25. I was knackered.

However, the thing that scared me most was Craig's nutrition plan with 8 meals a day totalling 2,100 kcals. My god!!! I am however taking some steps to move towards Craig's eating plan, and increasing my fruit and (unsalted) nuts intake with whole graprefruits, dried apricots and almonds has made an incredibly surprising impact. Yesterday I worked out til about 9:10am. I had a protein shake, a grapefruit, a banana and then a ricotta and ham fritata with some baby carrots and cherry tomatoes for my lunch at about 12 ish. I didnt actually feel that I needed to eat my evening meal which I took at about 7:15pm, and I had taken another walk up the wrekin as well to burn off my lunch!

It just goes to prove that if you are disciplined you can make those step by step, but critical nutritional changes a part of your lifestyle. If I can so can anyone!

Craig has announced another 12 week transformation contest with entries to be in between 4th and 26th May. Check here to see the links to the last contest winners with their respective stories. I am going to enter, which is the reason why I have not posted any photos after my first 4 weeks. I am not entering to win, although that would really be amazing. My main reason is that it will make me even more accountable to my friends and family whose support I will be needing. Wish me luck!!!

Click here to obtain a FREE 10 minute workout from Turbulence Training. This gives you half a dozen QUICK and SIMPLE fat-melting workouts. It's in PDF format and you can save from there. If you are interested in the full Turbulence Training programme you can follow the links from the PDF or order from Godzilla Marketing Health & Fitness (where you can view other weight and fat reduction programmes as seen below) on the following link by clicking here.

Keep working hard, stay disciplined, get results.

Neil

Time to re-group and start again. Diet VS Exercise

Where do I start? The last 2 weeks haven't been very well disciplined for me. I haven't been following the Turbulence Training plan to the full. In terms of exercise, yes, I've been following the resistance and interval training programs, as well as doing my own thing on off days. However, I haven't cut my alcohol consumption and this has dramatically affected my goals. I actually gained 2 lb of weight this week although my body fat percentage only went up by .2%. So now 78.7kg/173lb with 18.8kg/41lb of body fat.

I've embeded one of Craig's diet vs exercise videos to the blog below. It makes interesting (and amusing) entertainment and I have posted links on my facebook pages. It's a pity I never took much heed of the message it contains as I could have achieved my goals if I had.


Whilst I'm not a big beer drinker (wine is my tipple of choice), I do drink far too much of the booze. I know its been a bank holiday (and a long one at that) but 5 bottles of wine and 3 half litre bottles of 5% beer must equal at least another 5000 calories and no body fat loss!!!

That said, enough is now enough. Its time to write off the last 2 weeks and re-group to start again from scratch. And this time I'm more determined than ever to shake off this horrible fat that I'm carrying.

So, I've taken a few simple but effective measures.

Instead of setting just targets, I've actually thought about how I am going to achieve those goals.

The big problem is the vino. So I've printed my calendar off for the rest of this month and next and have scheduled when I am allowed to take a drink. I will add a "smiley" on the chart for each day i remain "dry", and start giving myself some small (non-alcoholic) rewards to keep myself motivated.

I have signed up to Craig's Twitter page and already I have 27 new followers on there, so please followers and friends keep kicking my ass to keep me off the wine cos I really do struggle at times to control it.

I've also set up an account on Fitday to allow me to keep a food journal, and I will re-do the 21 day kickstart plan on the TT for fat loss manual. I am also seriously thinking about posting my progress on the TT members forums.

Anyway, I have been doing a bit too much "guilty" exercise to compensate. However, that might contribute to dehydration and even worse, potential injury. So that is why it is important that I cut down.

To move away from my sins (for which I now repent!!!) I have had a nice long weekend. I decided to walk up The Wrekin, which is a local hill here in Shropshire. Its 407m (1,335 ft) high (according to Wikipedia). At school, we used to do our sponsored walks there (2 circuits) and it was quite a challenge. I haven't been up there for what must be 20 years. Yesterday I jogged around the base and climbed up the steepest part. It took me about 35 minutes from leaving the car to do it and it is quite a bit of a hike. I'd intended to shoot a quick video but the video cam battery had discharged so that wasn't to be.

Today I did the body attack class before doing my TT program. I have added a 5 exercise abs circuit for which I do 3 circuits before going on to do the intervals. The air conditioning hasn't been working properly at the gym (and it was worse in the studio) so it was a tough day today. The new body attack routine has now started and its a little bit complex. That said, I know I will pick it up shortly.

This afternoon I went for another trip up the Wrekin. I just walked it and did the easier route. However, I did it at a fairly brisk pace, and that combined with the abs work from earlier, I could feel the work I was doing and did break a bit of a sweat.

I am going to wrap it up for tonight and will make more of an effort to post a new entry more often

Keep kicking my ass if youre following my blog or twitter and I am still drinking the booze, and keep praising me for each bottle of diet ginger ale I consume.

Neil

Turbulence Training and other fitness e-book suites are available from

www.godzillamarketing.co.uk/healthandfitness.htm

Big Wednesday

Just posting a quickie tonight as feeling really really tired tonight.

I call it Big Wednesday because I do a good solid stint of exercise. Today, I did the body attack class. I was a little late as Micky started the class on time for once. But she never does all 11 tracks for some reason. Still we did all the aerobic tracks and given yesterday's and Monday's training efforts, and with bigger than usual turnout on a Wednesday, I was dripping by the time I came out of the studio at 10:30am.

I spoke to my mate Mark after the class (who incidentally was a footie referee here in Shropshire). We were both still feeling the effects from the studio classes last Saturday, and we were both soaking wet from just the one hour body attack class.

That little chat left me a little late going back up to do my turbulence training (program B) routine, but I did manage this in full, including interval training on the cross-trainer. I was unsure about going to the circuits class, but decided to go anyway. It was quite an intense half hour (after warm up and instruction on the circuit), and followed with a cooldown (in the loosest sense of the word) with a mini abs circuit for about 5 minutes or so.

All I can say is that If I don't sleep well tonight, then maybe I never will.

Oh, I have just remembered, for all you ladies out there, check out the Fit Yummy Mummy program available at godzillamarketing.co.uk. This has to be the premier fitness program for new mothers who are looking to get themselves back into their pre-pregnancy shape. And further, those principles can be applied to any woman of any fitness level, beginner or expert, whether post pregnancy or not. Incidentally, a copy of the basic FYM e-book is also available with the deluxe turbulence training e-book suite, also available from godzillamarketing.

Keep up the hard work.

Wishing you all the success in your fat loss quest

Neil

Let The Trials Begin!

The first thing I’m going to say is that I finally decided to download Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training e-book suite. I purchased the deluxe version, and after an initial review am quite pleased.

I will be using the TT program 3 times a week. In addition to this, I will be treating any other swimming or classes at the gym as what Craig describes as “fun” activities.

So, despite the fact that I usually do my weigh in on a Wednesday morning, knowing that I was likely to be writing up my blog, I thought “well one day is not going to matter”.

I’m pleased to say, that despite some difficult family circumstances during late February and early March, I have managed to maintain my weight. The additional stresses meant that my alchohol consumption crept back up to the excessive and unhealthy levels of the recent past.

However, I am determined to change that. After all, if I am to promote my range of health and fitness e-books that focus on losing body fat, I had better set a good example!

Here are my vitals:

Name: Neil Gazzillo

Age: 36 (I will be 37 in June!)

Height: 5 ft 9 ½ inches 176.5 cm

Weight: 177 lb (12st 9lb) 80.2 kg

Body Fat %age: 24.7%

Chest: 39in

Waist: 34in

Hips: 39in

Arms: 13 ¾ in (right) 13 in (left)

Thighs 22 in (right) 22 in (left)

I have set some short and long term fat loss goals;
To lose at least 1% within 4 weeks (I think this will be easily achievable) and to reduce the body fat percentage to 18% by the end of September.

As I intimated earlier, alcohol is likely to the biggest obstacle to overcome in my fat loss quest. That said, other than enjoying far too many glasses of wine, I do have a pretty good diet. I guess the level of exercise I undertake has meant I have been able to maintain my weight.

Whilst at the gym today, I had a good look at myself and thought I was in pretty good shape. Whilst I still have a bit of a spare tyre around my belly, my abs are reasonably well defined, albeit, nowhere close to a “6 pack”! However, the one area I am not happy with is my upper back. I expect this to be the area where the most effect is seen, although, I must admit, that I would love a 6 pack, and that is the whole point of my efforts.

So, this is where I let you know my plans for my workouts over the next 4 weeks:

This week I went in yesterday and did a 25 minute X-trainer interval program as per last entry, used the resistance equipment (rather than free weights), and some abs work.

Today I did my first TT workout (original workout A). Craig recommends using the bike rather than the X-trainer, and whilst my preference is definitely with the X-trainer, given that I did a pretty damned hard workout on it yesterday, I thought the bike would be better. Given that I haven’t used the bike for a while, I must admit I did feel it in the legs!

Tomorrow is “big Wednesday”. I love the body attack class which is a great cardio routine with some upper and lower body conditioning for a well deserved break. I will then do TT (original) workout B with the cardio element on the X-trainer. I expect to feel pretty drained after then, so I will probably give the circuit training class a miss!

Thursday is set to be mainly a rest day, although I haven’t been swimming properly for donkey’s and I think a nice half hour, reasonably paced swim sounds in order!
Friday will be TT workout A again. Saturday will be my usual day with my gorgeous daughter Lydia at the pool, and then followed by circuits and body attack in the late afternoon. There is no way I am doing anything energetic on Sunday!!!

From there, I will start next Monday with workout B and then follow a plan to workout Wednesday as per this week (but TT workout A) then TT B on Friday.

For more information, or to order the Turbulence Training e-book suite, view my sales page (and see other programmes that may interest you or others) click here.

The other thing I am going to talk about is a supplement called CLA (or Conjugated Linolelic Acid). It is reported to have anti-oxidant and fat burning/muscle mass gaining properties. I’ve purchased a tub of 270 500mg tablets from Argos for a reasonable price. I don’t claim to be a scientific expert by any means of its chemical composition can be found through the usual search engines.

I am usually skeptical about supplements, however, in the eyes of my “research” I am quite happy to keep an open mind. Obviously, with this trial, there is no “control” so to speak. So the plan is that I shall analyze my weight/fat loss whilst using the supplement and compare results after I have run out of tablets. I expect that rate to reduce once I have lost a few percent but then again I will be able to compare results after roughly 4 months.

In the meantime, I will be publishing my progress here on my blog, and giving you my (non-expert) opinion on the effectiveness.

In the meantime, keep working hard.

Neil

Welcome to my blog.

Welcome to the first entry of my fat loss blog.

I'm Neil Gazzillo. I live in Telford, Shropshire in the UK. I'm not promoting myself as a fitness or health guru. However, I am a relatively fit and active person with an interest in losing fat in those tough areas such as the belly and the love handles!

I've decided to share my tips with you on how to lose body fat effectively. These consist of both diet and exercise. But this first blog is just going to be about how I exercise.

My local gym has been a godsend to me over the last couple of years after a spell of depression after separating from my ex-wife and taking an enforced career break. However, doing the same routine in the gym everytime I go is something I have found that can become a bit tedious.

So I like to mix my workouts up.

I do a circuit training class once or twice a week along with a class called body attack, which is a mix of high tempo high impact aerobics and conditioning for the upper body, legs and abs. I usually do body attack 2 or 3 times a week. Sometimes I will do other classes such as body combat and body pump, but the other classes are the ones I attend regularly. In addition to those I normally do a cardio and resistance programme twice a week.

Recently, I have also become interested in other programmes. I have recently discovered a range of e-books and have decided to give the workouts in there a trial. "Turbulence Training" is a system developed by fitness guru Craig Ballantyne, from Toronto, Canada, which promises fat loss without doing long boring cardio exercises, and uses minimal equipment over a period of approximately 45 minutes. The workouts focus on bodyweight and dumbell exercises and a stabilty ball. So these are workouts that you can do at home.

I've decided to incorporate some of the principles from Turbulence Training into my cardio/resistance programme.

My cardio programme is on the eliptical cross trainer.

1. 2 minute warm up at level 11 out of 25.
2. 2 minute at 14kmh at level 14.
3. 1 minute as fast as possible at level 14.
4. Repeat of steps 2 and 3 a further 5 times.
5. 5 minute cool down level 10.

For my weight training I am doing supersets using the barbell.

3 supersets of:

15 shoulder press (20kg) and 20 upright row (20kg)
20 deadlifts at 30kg and 15 bent-over rows 20kg
20 barbell squats at 30kg and 30 bulgarian split squats (15 per leg) with 7kg dumbell
21 bicep curls (7 full range, 7 upper, 7 lower) and 15 tricep pullovers both at 15kg
20 chest presses at 25kg and 15 decline press ups

I then move on to my abs, where I do not tend to have a fixed programme, but do the usual suspects for the upper abs, obliques and lower abs. I then stretch and cool down and hit the sauna and spa. Well deserved too I can add!

Its a pretty tough workout but highly effective. I promise you one thing, you will sleep well the following night!

For more information on the "Turbulence Training" programme, and to get a FREE 10 minute holiday workout e-book, you can subscribe to my newsletter by filling in the form below.

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In the next few weeks, I will be reviewing more programmes and providing some diet and exercise tips that will help you lose body fat and tone up for that sexy physique!

More information on the other programmes I am promoting can be found at www.godzillamarketing.co.uk/healthandfitness.htm

Wishing you all the success you deserve on your fat loss quest,

Neil