Interview with Fat Loss Expert Craig Ballantyne

Rob King 21.07.2010 Expert Interviews, Fat Loss 2

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Craig first off thanks for taking the time for this interview. I know your very busy. Maybe you can share some quick back ground for readers than may not be familiar with you and your area of knowledge.

Like most folks in the fitness industry, I played a lot of sports when I was younger. That led to weight training. From there, I realized I wanted to be a strength coach in professional sports.

I went to school for Kinesiology, which then led to a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology. Along the way I studied what made a good NHL Strength Coach (they had Master’s Degrees and were Certified Strength And Conditioning Specialists – CSCS).

I also started training athletes, along with men and women for fat loss.

Then I started working with Men’s Health in 2000. And I invented Turbulence Training in 1999, and finally put it online in 2001. The rest is history.

You have traveled all over the world and coached thousands of people in how to build more muscle and lose fat etc. What are the common themes you see of why people fail and how people succeed. I’m a big believer of Anthony Robbins quote that “Success leaves clues” Anything you would like to add to that?

Most people fail from:

a) Lack of motivation

I understand that you might not reach your goals as fast as you want, but you must never, ever, EVER give up! Here are a few things you can do to get back on track:

i) Set goals with a deadline & a reward/punishment for your results.

ii) Get social support. Put yourself in the right training environment and hang around other achievers. You can’t soar with eagles if you are hanging around turkeys.

iii) You must truly believe in yourself. You must end the “I’ll give this a try” mindset, and switch to a “I’m going to succeed” belief.

Craig & I In Newport Beach CA, I am shorter than everyone even Craig!

iv) Educate yourself. Never give up looking for new clues to success. The most successful people in life are often simply the most persistent.

b) Bad nutrition

Most folks who get in touch with me just don’t know what is right for nutrition. They read so much conflicting information all of the time, and it can get frustrating.

And the truth is, you will need to try a lot of diets before you find the right one for you. It might not happen on the first time. Maybe you aren’t cut out for a high-protein diet. Maybe your schedule won’t work for 6 meals per day.

But I promise there is a nutrition program out there for you. Keep trying! Never, ever, EVER give up.

c) Bad training

Surprisingly, this is not the biggest factor. In fact, it’s probably the least of people’s problems. Listen, as long as you are consistent with training and nutrition, most programs will give you good results. So really, the motivation and nutrition are more important. To be consistent, you have to find an intense program that you enjoy, but the good news is that you
don’t have to be training 6 days per week. As little as 2-3 workouts per week can give you amazing results.

How about your own training Craig? What are your current fitness goals and plans for the future?

I always want to get stronger. Unfortunately, I’m about 15% off my peak strength of 2006, but with my new approach, I’m slowly climbing back up.

I’ve cut back on volume to give myself more recovery time. I think a lot of us who start out with bodybuilding magazines tend to overdo the volume. But if you cut back, you’ll still get the same – or better – results with less soreness and fewer overuse injuries.

Off the topic Question, out of all the places you have travelled what have been some of the coolest places you have been or trained at? (I ask cuz i am jealous and plan to travel a ton this year)

Great question.

1) Jason Ferruggia’s Renegade Gym in Wachtung, New Jersey. Don’t ask me where that is exactly, but the gym is great. It has heavy weights and more importantly, an awesome environment.

2) Any Gold’s Gym in any city, USA. I’ve hit Gold’s in such cities as Charleston, South Carolina, Orlando, Florida, and Los Angeles, California, and I always enjoy the environment there. Perfect for a meathead workout.

3) Powerhouse Gym in Tampa Bay. This gym is enormous, and full of jacked up meatheads. Good times will be had there, for sure.

Those are the best ones I can remember.

By the way, for folks who travel to Las Vegas, the two best “meathead” hotel gym are at the Luxor and the Monte Carlo, surprisingly. I’m not a fan of the MGM gym, because it only has a Smith machine and you are required to pay anextra $35 to train there. Not cool.

Craig thanks for the information and your time! Can you maybe tell us what you have in the works fitness product wise for the future? give us the inside scoop! Also any chance of hooking my loyal readers a discount on something 🙂 All the best with your training & business and thanks for your time!

I’m really proud of the recent “31 Interval Training Workouts” manual that I just put together. It shows you how to do a lot of fat burning interval workouts without a lot of equipment.

But more important to your readers, the training programs I love putting together the most are my Meathead workouts. And your readers can get the entire series here at over 50% off the regular price: