Rather than focusing only on my clients' bodies, I try to work on their approach toward dance, fitness and life. My personal-training fat-loss program has four components that will give you results: training in the gym, doing fun activities like dance, working on your diet, and taking an adult gymnastics class once a week for four weeks. You'll see that I try to make fitness enjoyable so that once you lose the weight for that wedding, spring break or summer vacation, you'll be committed to a whole new lifestyle of being mentally and physically fit.
Commit to be fit
If you truly want to work with me for one month, you have to follow my complete instructions before starting my program. First of all, clean out of your kitchen all the foods we won't use for the four weeks to come. This includes all cakes and candies; anything that's creamy, including butter; all juices and sodas; all crackers; and all salt and sugars.
The diet for the month is as follows:
We drink only water. (No other beverages, including coffee and tea.)
We eat when we're hungry. (Even if it is late.)
We remove all junk foods from our diets. (You know what they are.)
We will never skip a meal. (This is most people's problem.)
We will eat 3-5 regular meals a day. (This includes protein and carbohydrate.)
The biggest obstacle to losing fat for most of my clients is their relationship with food. Usually they'll eat if they get depressed, or if something bad happens in their life; then they turn to food to make them feel better. Other women I work with starve themselves and say, "If I eat that, girl, I'll be huge!" They don't get enough calories to fuel their workouts.
You have to fix your relationship with food. This means learning to listen to your body: to eat only when you're hungry and to not eat when you aren't hungry. Dieting tears you apart mentally. If you wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and you're hungry, eat something but try not to overeat. You'll go, I ate an apple, I'm cool.
Core training
The two gym-based workouts are definitely the more traditional components of this program. To burn fat yet attain a muscular body, you need to sculpt your muscles with weights and regularly do continuous cardio sessions - there's no way out of this one.
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You'll be going to the gym four times a week, but for no more than an hour each time. When people tell me they spent two hours at the gym, I ask, why? Really, what were you doing? You should be able to take care of everything you need to do in an hour.
In Workout A you'll target chest, shoulders and back, then finish off with 30 minutes of cardio on a machine. In Workout B you train legs and arms, then again do 30 minutes of cardio. Generally you'll be doing straight sets, which means finishing three sets of one exercise before moving to the next exercise. Abs aren't worked separately in my program because they're always worked in dance and gymnastics - believe me, you won't need extra crunches! You'll also notice that two calf exercises are included on leg day, since strong calf muscles help with gymnastics and dance. If you aren't going to do either, substitute a lunge for one of the calf movements.
I keep the weights relatively light so that you can go from exercise to exercise without resting. The last few reps of each set should be challenging, but not agonizing. An added benefit of moving swiftly between exercises is the extra calories you'll burn.
Perform your 30 minutes of cardio at a moderate intensity on any machine. You don't need to go all-out. An example on the treadmill would be walking 3.5-4 miles per hour. The idea is to just keep moving.
Staying active
A lot of people think they can train in the morning, go home, eat and sleep and that's enough. My philosophy, on the other hand, is about staying active. And the only way you can stay active is by doing an activity.
You'll see that in my fat-burning plan I schedule traditional training in the morning. After work (if you have a nine-to-five type job), you'll take a dance class, go for a walk, play a sport or do some kind of activity - even shopping - for about an hour. When I say dance class, I mean jazz, modern, ballet, Latin, hip-hop or even swing - not the latest cardio-based class at your gym. Taking a dance class like ballet, jazz or modern helps with your flexibility and your mind; burning calories isn't the point. It's to keep you sane. If dance isn't your thing, try a yoga class, play basketball or tennis, or take a long walk.
You'll notice that I don't put this under cardio or training, because it's neither. I consider this your play time, your own time. The problem with working out is that people don't enjoy themselves. You might think, Oh, I work nine, 10 hours a day and I don't feel like doing anything after work. But if you have an hour already set aside for a tennis match or dance class, it's so different. My clients do this all the time, and they find that they're healthier and they work better.
Though calorie-burning shouldn't be your focus here, your added activity will help rev your metabolism and assist in fat-burning. The most important thing is doing something you enjoy.
Gymnastics
If possible, go to a gymnastics gym once a week for weightless full-body training. Unless you have a gymnastics background, you'll need to work with a trainer; you may be able to reduce the cost by doubling up with a friend. I know that everyone won't be able to afford this or even have access to a gymnastics studio, so an alternate activity would be taking a gym-based class, joining a hiking club or playing a sport.
We offer adult gymnastics classes at my studio and all sorts of people come in. Your coordination, flexibility, balance and strength will be worked in totally new ways. It's so great because you just jump on the trampoline, do a few presses and stretch out. It's so much fun and not at all like going to a gym. It's just flat-out something different.
Results Oriented
Burning fat and achieving the body you want takes hard work, there's no denying that. But if you can make your training fun and enjoyable you'll be more likely to continue, and thus more likely to achieve those results. Good luck, and welcome to your new lifestyle!
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