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:

=> http://www.turbulencetraining.com/meatheadsmuscle/

Those are 21st century intense bodybuilding workouts based on the programs I  give to my meathead clients here in Toronto.

Thanks for the information & awesome interview Craig!  For more info on Craig be sure to check out his site at www.TurbulenceTraining.com



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Ed Newman 6 Week Change

Let me ask you a question.

How have the last 6 weeks of your training gone?  Are You Ripped?

Did You get the body YOU WANT?

How about the last 12 Weeks?  Any Different?  3 Months?

Think about it for a second…

Are you making progress or are you stuck in a rut?

Look back at the last 6 weeks and tell me something.

Have YOU Improved?

Do you have the body YOU want when you look in the mirror?

Are you proud of your body?

If you are like most people my guess (sadly) is no, you haven’t changed that much in the last 6 weeks or even the last 6 months!

I can change all that!

Here’s the deal, my good friend and Newfoundland’s TOP Personal Trainer Andy Pratt just last month finished filming his Warrior Built 2.0 program.  He did this for the relaunch of his DVD.

16 People got in CRAZY shape following his plan.  I mean CRAZY, just see the 3 people here, that’s only 3!  There was 13 more!

The average fat loss was close to 20lbs in only 6 WEEKS!

Average waist line dropped 4″

Andy was only going to use this for his DVD project but I convinced Andy that he had such a good thing that I wanted to bring it to my customers, friends, and to my gym Bushido.  So I convinced him to open this up to another group!

Andy Pratt WB 2.0 Coach

And we are doing one better.

I am helping Andy this time around as a coach and trainer!

We are going to make this next 6 Week Warrior Built Challenge Even better!

Here is my promise to you.

I can GUARANTEE you a NEW BODY in 6 weeks!  All you have to do is follow what we say.

We will give you everything!

• The Training Plan

• The Nutrition Plan

• The Weekly Support to keep you on track

• Group Training to keep you motivated

What If I promised you that in 6 weeks YOU would have a NEW, BETTER BODY?

See For Yourself! Check this out!

Here is the deal.  We are starting Warrior Built 2.0 on April 3.  It is a 6 week plan that we GUARANTEE will work (it’s has already proven that it works).  All you have to do is put in the work!  That’s it!

See I believe people fail at their Fitness Goals for 3 reasons:

1 Lack OF GOAL

2 Lack of Tools to ATTAIN That Goal

3 Lack of Accountability

Now what we have done with this is, we have taken these 3 reasons OUT of the equation.  We are giving you everything!

3 Reasons YOU WILL get your best body!

1. The Goal – May 16 (Just in time for SUMMER!)

2. Tools – A FULL 6 Week Plan covering Weights, Cardio, Nutrition, Supplementation THE WORKS!

3. Accountability – We meet EVERY SATURDAY 10am for a workout and a progress check.  Believe me you don’t want to show up and not have improved!

But there is a catch.

We are NOT TAKING JUST ANYONE!  We are ONLY taking SERIOUS COMMITTED people who WANT to be RIPPED for May 16!

Is this YOU?

Space is LIMITED.  We are taking 16 people that want to be RIPPED for May 16. We don’t want people who are lazy, we want people who have the DRIVE but just need the guidance.

If so I want you to fill out THIS APPLICATION and tell us WHY we should take you!  We are not promising we are going to.  But I want to see if YOU are serious about wanting a ripped body for summer!

Remember we are ONLY TAKING 16 people!!!  This is open to everyone so TELL US WHY WE SHOULD TAKE YOU!

Warrior Built 6 Week Body Transformation Challenge

What you get for this

• 6 Group Workouts With Andy Pratt & Rob King
• Warrior Built DVD
• Complete Nutritional Program
• Bushido Open Time Gym Membership
• 10% Heavyweights Supplements For 6 Weeks
• 30 min 1 on 1 phone consult with Andy or Rob (To fine tune your progress)
• Access to private message board for questions & support

We are offering this to only 16 SERIOUS PEOPLE!

Do you want your BEST body just in time for spring?

APPLICATIONS FOR WARRIOR BUILT 6 WEEK TRANSFORMATION ARE CLOSED.

Thanks to all applicants!

ANY Questions post em up!  We are happy to answer them!

So Saturday past was the 1/2 way point of my 6 week Warrior Built challenge.  Andy informed me Saturday that  everyone is making awesome gaines and that few of the guys are really taking things to another level so it’s time I try to step things up a notch!

Things are going great so far but with 3 weeks left I am really need to step things up to get under 180 lb (which was my goal).

Saturday i was in Halifax and couldn’t make the workout but even while in Halifax i ate clean 90% of the time (not an easy task), and hit the gym for 2 awesome workouts hitting cardio, circuit weight training & stretching so I could keep on pace. (One thing i noticed is it’s amazing how airport food is CRAP and eating good healthy food is hard to do!) Tim Hortons Fruit Explosion dounuts are not “HEALTHY” LOL.

But now I need to take things to another level and here is how I plan on doing this.

• Bump up my steady state cardio adding in 45min min for 6 days a week (it’s boring but it helps and doesn’t cause soreness, if anything it helps me recover)
• Adding in Tabata Cardio 3 days a week (A blog post coming on this soon) basic premise is HIT cardio like this Sprint for 20 seconds, rest for 10, repeat 8-10 times.
• Cut carbs back even lower.  I will try to have them only every 2nd to 3rd morning and only post workout.  My carbs will be mixed berries & banana post workout.
• Bump my fish oils to about 30g a day.
• Bump my general energy expenditure (more walks, more movement, just generally move more…sounds funny but it works)
• Miss NO WORKOUTS

So I have less than 3 weeks and my goal is going to get done!  When I finish this I am going to enjoy 1 day of food and get my junk and cheating done and go right back to clean eating as to be honest I am loving it!  Energy is better, mood is better, my recovery & strength is down but low carbohydrates will do that.  The good thing is once I reach the leanness I want I can ADD more good carbohydrates back into my diet and I can maintain the level of bodyfat without as much “work”.

Ill have another update next week.  We have pro MMA fighter & UFC competitor Jeff Joslin in for 3 days for training & seminars so I will get some crazy workouts in for next week and post it up!

Andy Pratt & I were at our first Fitness MasterMind group meeting in Orlando and man was it ever freakin awesome!  We learned a ton of cool stuff to implement into our business’s to offer even more quality to what we offer now.  It has been information overload!  But more on that to come (and some good stories also lol).

I got 2 new products in at Heavyweights last week and the feedback in only a few days has been CRAZY!

Comatose & Poison from ALRI.

Comatose for Relaxation

Poison for Mood Enhancement, Appetite Control, and fat loss with NO stimulants.

Feedback in just a week has been mental on these products.  I am ordering more ASAP and cant wait to get more feedback on them, just thought I would share.  I am pretty damn excited to try them myself!

REMEMBER who told you about this line/products first!  CUZ they are awesome!!!

ALRI Makes some bad ass products!!

Poison - Mood Enhancement, Appetite Suppression, Stim Free FAT LOSS!

Comatose - Natrual Relaxtion, Mood Enhancement, Anti Anxiety, Sleep Aid

Best Ways to Burn Belly Fat

I often get asked, “What’s the best way to burn fat and lose my belly?” People want to know if aerobics is better than strength training, or if traditional cardio exercise is better than intervals.

Well, to say I’ve done them all would be an understatement.

With over 15 years experience helping others, training myself, training for sports, spending countless hours in the gym, AND actually conducting laboratory research studies on different exercise methods, I’m pretty confident in knowing what works and what does not.

But first of all, I want to frame my responses. I’m going to talk about what works for people that have a limited amount of time to exercise, mostly because I expect your readers don’t have 90 minutes per day to devote to a workout, unlike the typical audience of a fitness magazine.

That’s why there is a huge disconnect between some of the information found in magazines and the ability of the reader to apply it to their lives.

We just don’t have 6-8 hours per week for exercise, nor do we need it. If you’re a triathlete, you might need that, but not someone that just wants to lose fat and gain muscle.

Having said all that, the bottom line for getting a better body is…

Use bodyweight exercises to warm-up, strength training supersets to build muscle, and then finish your workout with interval training to burn fat in a short amount of time. I’ve structured my system so that you are in and out of the gym in 45 minutes, three times per week.

You’ll do 5 minutes of bodyweight exercises to warm-up. This is a much more efficient approach than spending 5 minutes walking on a treadmill, which really doesn’t prepare you for anything except more walking on a treadmill.

Then we move into the strength training supersets, where we use two exercises performed back to back with minimum rest between each. This cuts our workout time, while still giving us maximum results. We only need 20 minutes for this, and we’ll use basic exercises, and sometimes even more bodyweight exercises, depending on the client’s goal for muscle building.

And finally, we’ll do 18 minutes of interval training. A warm-up, followed by six short intervals at the appropriate fitness level for the client, interspersed with short periods of low-intensity recovery. Finish with a cool-down. And that’s the workout. Again, about 45 minutes total.

Compare that to what most people do, which is run, jog, cycle or use the cardio machines for 45 minutes straight. Sure, that will burn calories, but it doesn’t build a better body.

In fact, there are a few “dark sides” to long slow cardio, including less-than-optimal results, the potential for overuse injuries, and it is an inefficient form of exercise. If you only have 30-45 minutes for your workout and you spend it all on a cardio machine, when are you going to train the rest of your muscles and sculpt a better body?

So the best way to burn belly fat is with a combination of strength training and interval training. It’s fast, it works, and it’s fun!

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

Turbulence Training

There seems to be a huge myth when it comes to cardio and building muscle.  Too many magazines with articles ghost written by pro bodybuilders have sent the wrong message with regards to cardio vascular training and building muscle.  I was also a victim to these myths many years ago and lucky enough I learnt the truth about building muscle and doing cardio.

Local Boy Frank McGrath

Let me be very clear on something everyone has different opinions on everything.  Ask 5 personal trainers the same question, you will get 5 somewhat different answers.  However there should be some underlying truth to them all (Unless your trainer has no clue, and there is a lot of that around so be careful”!

Moderate Cardio Vascular Training Will NOT reduce your chances of building muscle!

First off cardio is not the enemy.  Too many people avoid cardio when ‘bulking” (did I mention I hate that term), anyways do not avoid cardio.  Cardio has far too many benefits with regards to overall health, well being, muscle recovery & muscle building.  Yes cardio can help you build muscle.

Let me define cardio training that I recommend vs. cardio that I do not recommend.  Keeping in mind if your sport or goal is cardio that is a whole different ball game.  For now I am going to talk about cardio and building muscle.

Cardio I like while building muscle includes such things as most cardio machines in your gym, hiking, biking, martial arts, yoga (I consider this cardio), swimming etc.  What I recommend to avoid is LONG duration running.  If you are a runner that is fine, but if your goal is building muscle and you run 3-4 times a week at an hour each run you are going to have a very hard time building muscle.

Cardio Training

If your #1 goal is building muscle how much cardio should you do?   Well there are a lot of factors that play a role in putting cardio into your muscle building program.  However here is my very basic recommendation.

On weight training days add in 10-20 minutes Interval cardio AFTER WEIGHT TRAINING.

On Days off from weights do 30-40 low impact cardio.

Add in 6-8 cardio BEFORE WEIGHTS to get core temp up and get the joints warmed up for training.

That’s it!  Pretty Simple hey?   Yes it is, but it will do the job and add up.  This is only the start of adding cardio training to your muscle building program.  Once you have 4-6 weeks of steady cardio in your program you can add or remove more depending on your progress towards your goal.  But this is a great start!

Why do cardio training after weights?

Well there are a few reasons.  Weight training is more demanding on your CNS (Central Nervous System), so it is always good to do your most demanding tasks when your body is fresh and ready.  Try doing a heavy power clean, or squat AFTER 45 minutes or hard cardio.  I can assure you that your lifts will suffer in terms of weight lifted and co-ordination in doing the lift.

Another reason I recommend cardio after weight training is the improvement of blood flow after weights, which in turn leads to IMPROVED RECOVERY.  Improved recovery is a huge factor in building muscle.  The faster you can recover, the better you can build muscle and repeat the cycle.  By doing cardio training after weights you flush out a lot of waste that is created in your muscles during weights, and also you bring fresh blood to the muscle which aids in recovery.

Why do cardio on off days?

I always recommend some sort of cardio on off days for the same reason as above, Recovery.  However this is more considered “Active Rest”.  Meaning that you will recover better from a workout doing a low intensity cardio session than by sitting on the couch watching Oprah (and if you are sitting on the couch watching Oprah we need to talk”!

So in summary a good starting program for cardio training would look like this for a 7 day split.

Day 1 Weights & Cardio (12 Min Interval training after weights)

Day 2 Weights & Cardio (14 Min Interval training after weights)

Day 3 No Weights (30 min steady state cardio low/moderate intensity)

Day 4 Weights (16 Min interval Cardio)

Day 5 Weights (12 Min interval cardio after weights)

Day 6 No Weights 30 min steady state cardio

Day 7 No Weights (Do any cardio you want, as long as its something).

Yes I have NO Rest days in this program.  Reason being is I don’t consider 14-20 min interval training or 30 min light cardio to be very demanding.  If anything it will only help with your weight training and muscle building.

However, listen to your body.  If you don’t recover well, or find you need a day to relax by all means take a day off.   I usually recommend for every 6 weeks training you take a WEEK OFF from weight training. This is a minimum to let your body recharge.

So remember that cardio is not your enemy when building muscle.  You will recover better, you will FEEL BETTER and you may even lose a few pounds of fat!  Not a bad sacrifice for 20 minutes a day.

There seems to be a huge myth when it comes to cardio and building muscle.  Too many magazines with articles ghost written by pro bodybuilders have sent the wrong message with regards to cardio vascular training and building muscle.  I was also a victim to these myths many years ago and lucky enough I learnt the truth about building muscle and doing cardio.

Local Boy Frank McGrath

Let me be very clear on something everyone has different opinions on everything.  Ask 5 personal trainers the same question, you will get 5 somewhat different answers.  However there should be some underlying truth to them all (Unless your trainer has no clue, and there is a lot of that around so be careful”!

Moderate Cardio Vascular Training Will NOT reduce your chances of building muscle!

First off cardio is not the enemy.  Too many people avoid cardio when ‘bulking” (did I mention I hate that term), anyways do not avoid cardio.  Cardio has far too many benefits with regards to overall health, well being, muscle recovery & muscle building.  Yes cardio can help you build muscle.

Let me define cardio training that I recommend vs. cardio that I do not recommend.  Keeping in mind if your sport or goal is cardio that is a whole different ball game.  For now I am going to talk about cardio and building muscle.

Cardio I like while building muscle includes such things as most cardio machines in your gym, hiking, biking, martial arts, yoga (I consider this cardio), swimming etc.  What I recommend to avoid is LONG duration running.  If you are a runner that is fine, but if your goal is building muscle and you run 3-4 times a week at an hour each run you are going to have a very hard time building muscle.

Cardio Training

If your #1 goal is building muscle how much cardio should you do?   Well there are a lot of factors that play a role in putting cardio into your muscle building program.  However here is my very basic recommendation.

On weight training days add in 10-20 minutes Interval cardio AFTER WEIGHT TRAINING.

On Days off from weights do 30-40 low impact cardio.

Add in 6-8 cardio BEFORE WEIGHTS to get core temp up and get the joints warmed up for training.

That’s it!  Pretty Simple hey?   Yes it is, but it will do the job and add up.  This is only the start of adding cardio training to your muscle building program.  Once you have 4-6 weeks of steady cardio in your program you can add or remove more depending on your progress towards your goal.  But this is a great start!

Why do cardio training after weights?

Well there are a few reasons.  Weight training is more demanding on your CNS (Central Nervous System), so it is always good to do your most demanding tasks when your body is fresh and ready.  Try doing a heavy power clean, or squat AFTER 45 minutes or hard cardio.  I can assure you that your lifts will suffer in terms of weight lifted and co-ordination in doing the lift.

Another reason I recommend cardio after weight training is the improvement of blood flow after weights, which in turn leads to IMPROVED RECOVERY.  Improved recovery is a huge factor in building muscle.  The faster you can recover, the better you can build muscle and repeat the cycle.  By doing cardio training after weights you flush out a lot of waste that is created in your muscles during weights, and also you bring fresh blood to the muscle which aids in recovery.

Why do cardio on off days?

I always recommend some sort of cardio on off days for the same reason as above, Recovery.  However this is more considered “Active Rest”.  Meaning that you will recover better from a workout doing a low intensity cardio session than by sitting on the couch watching Oprah (and if you are sitting on the couch watching Oprah we need to talk”!

So in summary a good starting program for cardio training would look like this for a 7 day split.

Day 1 Weights & Cardio (12 Min Interval training after weights)

Day 2 Weights & Cardio (14 Min Interval training after weights)

Day 3 No Weights (30 min steady state cardio low/moderate intensity)

Day 4 Weights (16 Min interval Cardio)

Day 5 Weights (12 Min interval cardio after weights)

Day 6 No Weights 30 min steady state cardio

Day 7 No Weights (Do any cardio you want, as long as its something).

Yes I have NO Rest days in this program.  Reason being is I don’t consider 14-20 min interval training or 30 min light cardio to be very demanding.  If anything it will only help with your weight training and muscle building.

However, listen to your body.  If you don’t recover well, or find you need a day to relax by all means take a day off.   I usually recommend for every 6 weeks training you take a WEEK OFF from weight training. This is a minimum to let your body recharge.

So remember that cardio is not your enemy when building muscle.  You will recover better, you will FEEL BETTER and you may even lose a few pounds of fat!  Not a bad sacrifice for 20 minutes a day.