ninja strategies for lightning fast fat loss

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Ninja Strategies For Lightning Fast Fat Loss

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2010 John Alvino All Rights Reservedhttp://www.JohnAlvino.com

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Ninja Strategies ForLightning Fast Fat Loss

By John Alvino





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Table Of Contents

INTRODUCTION ............................................. 3

NINJA STRATEGY #1 Go On A Cycle ............. 2

NINJA STRATEGY #2 Train For Muscle ......... 3

NINJA STRATEGY #3 Eat For Muscle ............ 3

NINJA STRATEGY #4 Do Inferno Cardio ....... 3

ABOUT ALVINO .............................................. 3





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Introduction i

So you want to learn some of my secret strategies to burn fat as fast as possible, huh?

Well, this is your lucky day, because I’m going to share with you a few of my little knownNinja Strategies that will, at the least, triple your rate of fat loss!

But even better than just burning fat fast, these strategies will get you as lean as you

want while maintaining your muscle, your energy and your health. This is in stark

contrast to most of the fat loss techniques out there that just leave you weak, tired and

with less muscle and a damaged metabolism.

These are definitely not your ordinary fat loss methods. I’m sure you know the “normal”

fat loss routine: eat fewer calories, don’t eat after 7 pm, cut out carbs, avoid saturated

fats, circuit train, do morning cardio, blah blah blah!

The unique methods I am about to share with you are ones that I have discovered after

20 years of intense research and experimentation. These techniques were once only

available to my high paying clients, but I want to get the word out to as many people as

possible.

I also know that there are many people who can’t make it to my training facility in New

Jersey, and I want to help as many of you as I can.

I’m really excited to share this info with you. I hope you’re excited too, because I can

assure you that these methods are exactly what you’ve been looking for.

So get prepared to discover some Ninja Strategies, because I’m ready to “let the cat out

of the bag” and reveal some of the best fat loss methods ever!





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Ninja Strategy #1: Go On A Cycle!

Relax guys; I’m not suggesting a cycle of Winstrol and Anavar (although truth be told,

that steroid stack has been partially responsible for a lot of ripped physiques!). Believe

it or not, the fat burning techniques I’m talking about here are far more powerful than

that.

Before I get into this powerful Ninja Strategy, I’m going to give you a little background to

help you better understand this technique.

A low carb diet will definitely burn fat faster than a high carb diet can. You see, your

body prefers to burn carbohydrates over fat as its primary fuel source. So when carbs

are not present, the body will be forced to burn fat for fuel.

Thus, having an absence of carbs will accelerate the fat burning process. So is that the

Ninja Strategy? Does this mean we should all start a low carb diet tomorrow?

Absolutely not — on both fronts!

You see, even though low carb diets do burn fat faster, they are also responsible for a

host of nasty side effects that MUST be avoided.

Here are some of the drawbacks to following a low carb eating plan:

1) Very low carb diets zap your energy levels- Nobody wants to feel tired all of the

time. But some “dieting warriors” are willing

to deal with the excessive daily fatigue that

accompanies most low carb diets, in the

hope that a lean body will soon be theirs.

Although I certainly appreciate the mental

toughness and discipline of these trainees,

this fatigue does a lot more than just test

their willpower. Even if you are willing to feel like crap in exchange for faster fat loss





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there is an additional (and significant) side effect that will eventually work directly

against your fat loss efforts.

You see, when your energy levels plummet, your ability to train suffers greatly. And

mediocre workouts lead to mediocre results.

In other words, fatigue due to low carb dieting can actually hinder your workouts so

much that your fat loss results are significantly compromised.

2) Very low carb diets cause muscle loss- Your muscles have carbohydrates

(glycogen) stored inside them. This glycogen gives your muscles energy, tone and

fullness.

On a low carb diet, your glycogen levels plummet.

When this happens, your muscle will look flat and

flabby, and you will feel weak.

It is important to realize that muscle tissue is made

up of 72% water. For every one gram of stored

glycogen, your muscles will store approximately 3

grams of water. Thus, the simple formula looks

something like this:

Losing Your Glycogen = Losing Your Water = Losing Your Muscle.

Believe me, having depleted and “flat” looking muscles is NOT the look you are going

for, nor is it helpful for your long term fat loss goals.

3) Very low carb diets are unhealthy- The low carb advocates will tell you that in the

absence of carbs, you can eat fatty foods and still lose weight and be healthy.

In other words, they claim that it is perfectly healthy to eat limitless bacon, sausage and

cream while eliminating fruits, vegetables, and legumes!





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This is one of the most foolish dieting concepts that have ever been introduced to the

public. It is NEVER a good idea to eat limitless amounts of saturated fats, trans fats or

processed meats.

Even worse, a low carb diet actually requires you to cut out most of the healthiest foodsyou can eat.

Fruits, vegetables, legumes, pseudo grains and other foods that contain healthy carbs

are the best sources of fiber, enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Yet a low carb diet

requires that you drastically restrict your intake of these healthy foods.

4) Very low carb diets cause you to be very carb sensitive- Did you know that 98%

of the people who follow low carb diets end up regaining all of the weight they lost...and

then some? You see, shortly after you cut out carbs, your body starts to become

sensitive to them.

This increased sensitivity will lead to rapid gains in fat the moment carbs are

reintroduced into your diet.

In other words, the low carb dieting you are doing to lose fat is actually making your

body MORE susceptible to gain fat in the long run.

5) Very low carb diets are impossible to stick with for the long haul- When you

follow a radical diet that requires you to completely cut out an entire food group, it is just

a matter of time until you develop unstoppable food cravings.

These cravings are natural, since your body was not made to permanently live without

one of the major macronutrients. Your body will simply not permit you to live this way

forever.

And I can tell you with certainty that when those cravings hit you, they will eventually

lead to binge cheating, even with the most strong-willed dieters.





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And guess what you will be binging on? Carbs,

and lots of them!

So we now know that low carb diets do burn fat

faster, but also are accompanied by side effects

that must be avoided at all costs. So what can we

do?

Enter Ninja Strategy #1:

After years of research, I have perfected a clever way to achieve the amazing fat loss

associated with low carb diets, but avoid the pitfalls of its many unfortunate sideeffects! Here’s the trick: Decrease your carbohydrate intake moderately, but "carb up"

every few days.

This will keep your fat loss efforts moving along nicely, while avoiding muscle loss and

all of the other negatives of a typical low-carb diet.

There are many ways to cycle your carbs. The most popular way among fitness

enthusiasts has been the 5-2 approach (5 days of low carbs followed by 2 days of high

carbs). This approach looks something like this:

Monday- Low Carbs

Tuesday- Low Carbs

Wednesday- Low Carbs

Thursday- Low Carbs

Friday- Low Carbs

Saturday- High Carbs

Sunday- High Carbs





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I have tried this variation, and have found that decreasing carbs for 5 straight days was

too long. In almost all cases, dieters started to lose muscle, strength, energy and tone.

After experimenting with every possible permutation, I have found that you should never

follow a low carb plan for more than 3 consecutive days. How much and how long youcarb up for is based on your current level of body fat, amount of lean muscle and your

metabolic rate.

The explanation of this calculation is beyond the scope of this report. Instead, I’m going

to give you 2 effective options so you can get you started right away. Here they are:

Ninja Option 1- This options does not respect the particular days of the week but it

does give you the precise ratio of 3 days low carb followed by one carb up day.

Day 1- Low Carbs

Day 2- Low Carbs

Day 3- Low Carbs

Day 4- High Carbs

Day 5- Low Carbs

Day 6- Low Carbs

Day 7- Low Carbs

Day 8- High Carbs

Continue this pattern.

As you can see, with this option it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is. The low

and the high days simply rotate in cyclical fashion.





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Ninja Option 2- This is a great option for those who like to have the same daily

schedule every week.

Monday- Low Carbs

Tuesday- Low Carbs

Wednesday- Low Carbs

Thursday- High Carbs

Friday- Low Carbs

Saturday- Low Carbs

Sunday- High Carbs (stop starchy carbs at 6 pm)

This option is easier for those who like a very structured schedule, as you know exactly

what you’ll be eating on each day of the week.

This one Ninja technique has saved countless dieters who were headed towards fat

loss failure. Try it today!





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Ninja Strategy #2: Train For Muscle!

The key to successful long term fat loss and body transformation is to increase your

metabolic rate. The only way to truly accomplish this is to build some lean muscle. In

fact, your lean muscle literally dictates your metabolic rate.

Studies have shown that for each pound of lean muscle that you can build, you burn an

additional 50 calories per day. This is because muscle is “metabolically active” and

burns more calories than any other body tissue, even while you’re at complete rest.

In other words, muscle requires a certain number of calories just to sustain itself.

Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn each day.

So building a few pounds of well placed muscle will do wonders for your physique and

your fat loss efforts. I know most guys will welcome this new muscle with open arms.

It’s usually the women who run for the hills when they hear the word “gain”. Ladies,

believe me, this is not an issue for you. You simply don’t have the muscle fiber makeup

and the hormonal profile to get bulky. Instead, building a couple pounds of muscle will

add shape and tone to your body while encouraging the burning of your unwanted fat.

It turns out that most fat loss programs out there actually cause you to lose muscle

mass. This is unfortunate, since for each pound of muscle that you lose during a poorly

designed fat loss program, you will burn 50 calories LESS per day. And after taking

body composition of dieters for the last 20 years, I can tell you that it is not uncommon

for a trainee to lose 10 or more pounds of muscle during a fat loss program.

For example, let's say that you just lost 20 total pounds (10 from fat and 10 frommuscle). The 10 pounds of muscle loss would result in your body burning 500 fewer

calories per day.





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So with this muscle tissue gone, you must now consume 500 fewer calories per day in

order to even have a shot at maintaining your fat loss. The take home message is

simple: the more muscle you lose, the FEWER calories you will be able to consume if

you want to continue losing body fat or even maintain your fat loss results.

Now, let’s just suppose that those 10 pounds of muscle had been maintained during the

fat loss process (like they should have been). Those 10 pounds of muscle would be

burning 500 calories a day (even during rest!). Hopefully, this illustration makes clear

the importance of muscle maintenance during a successful fat loss program

Once this is understood, it makes perfect sense why so many people hit fat loss

plateaus and quickly gain all their fat back as soon as they eat a normal meal.

Ok, now that we established the importance of muscle, we need to discuss the best way

to train in order to build, or at the very least, maintain your lean muscle.

Without a doubt, the best way to accomplish this is through a well-designed resistance

training program. In fact, resistance training is so important that it should be the

cornerstone of your entire fat loss program.

Unfortunately, most people go about their resistance training all wrong when fat loss is

the goal. In fact, even most of the “experts” out there don’t know how to use resistance

training to optimize their fat loss results.

As a matter of fact, most people actually make losing fat even more challenging by

following the “experts” advice.

You see, most experts recommend performing metabolic circuits to maximize fat loss.

Metabolic circuits involve high rep training with short rest intervals.

I do understand why this type of training is recommended. It does burn a significant

amount of calories, triggers a fat burning hormonal response and depletes your

glycogen stores rapidly, thus forcing the body to use more fat as a source of fuel.





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Sounds great, huh? Not so fast. Although it is true that this type of training can have

some positive effects, there is a dark side to metabolic training (if done exclusively) that

could bring your progress to a screeching halt (and in some cases have you going in

reverse!)

You see, due to the nature of metabolic training, you need to use a relatively light load

during your workouts. And that’s the problem: this type of training provides too little

tension, and will not activate your fast twitch muscle fibers sufficiently to maintain your

muscle mass.

Thus, this type of training done exclusively will, without fail, lead to DECREASES in

your strength as well as your metabolic rate.

So to avoid this negative effect…

Look out! Here comes Ninja Strategy #2

Activate your Type 2b (fast twitch) fibers during your resistance training! This will help

you maintain your muscle mass during a fat loss routine. And that muscle mass is the

key to your long term success!

Now, there are two ways to activate your fast twitch fibers effectively.

The first is to lift heavier weights than metabolic circuits could ever allow! To best

accomplish this, you will need to perform some of your sets in the 4-8 rep range while

using full recovery rest intervals.

And the second is to focus on explosiveness in your exercises. This can be done by

accelerating the concentric portion of a repetition. Additionally, some explosive athleticmovements will fire up your fast twitch fibers nicely.





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Ninja Strategy #3: Eat For Muscle!

One of the most basic facts of fat loss is that you must burn more calories than you eat

for actual fat loss to occur.

So this must mean that the more you decrease your calories, the more fat you will lose,

right? Wrong! Although mathematically this would make sense, it turns out that people

who adhere to this philosophy have a staggering long-term failure rate of 100%! The

question is, why do these diets fail?

Well, decreasing calories lead to failure for a variety reasons:

Muscle loss- Here we go again with muscle loss! Starting to see a trend yet? Yes,

most popular fat loss techniques (both training and dieting) lead to muscle loss. In fact,

during calorie restriction, a significant portion of one’s scale weight decrease actually

comes from losses of lean muscle rather than losses of body fat.

In some cases, I’ve seen over 50% of calorie restricted dieters' total weight loss come

from lean muscle tissue!

As you have already learned in Ninja Strategies #1 and 2, this is the worst casescenario if you ever want to achieve a lean ripped body and maintain it for life.

Hormonal changes- When your calories drop too low, your body will decrease its

output of thyroid hormone. In addition, your body will convert less of what little thyroid

it DOES produce into the active form (T3) of the hormone.

These hormonal side effects lead to a slower metabolism, which is the number one

enemy of anyone who is trying to achieve a lean body.

Additionally, testosterone levels will plummet on a calorie restrictive diet. Since

testosterone is one of the main muscle building hormones in the body, this clearly spells

disaster.





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To combat this, you must restrict your calories for a few days and then increase your

calories to maintenance levels. One to two days per week of maintenance levels of

calories will do the trick.

2) Be conservative with your calorie restriction. On a calorie restrictive day, reducecalories by no more than 15-20% less than your maintenance level of calories. This will

stimulate fat loss without burning up muscle and triggering a metabolic slowdown.

The additional calorie deficit required to burn fat fast should come from an increase in

your activity levels, rather than a decrease in caloric intake. Stay tuned for Ninja

Strategy #4 as it will explain how to do just this!

By using these guidelines, it is possible to actually INCREASE your metabolic rate while

simultaneously losing body fat. This was once thought to be completely impossible, but

I have witnessed this phenomenon again and again. When done properly, it has

AWESOME fat loss effects that are both quick and permanent!

I hope you are now convinced to stop the daily “self-imposed famine” that so many

dieters put their bodies through. My approach is more effective, more sustainable and

definitely more enjoyable! The days of dreadful hunger pangs are finally behind you!





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Ninja Strategy #4: Do Inferno Cardio!

There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to fat burning cardio; steady

state aerobic exercise and interval training.

For many years now, steady state aerobic exercise was considered the gold standard

protocol for fat loss.

But recently there has been an emergence of fat loss experts who are kicking steady

state to the curb and are wholeheartedly advocating interval training instead.

Here is a brief description of each type of protocol.

Steady State Aerobic Exercise

Steady state aerobic exercise involves doing a cardiovascular activity at a constant

intensity level. It is recommended that this activity be done for an extended period of

time (usually 20-60 min) for fat burning to occur. Because of the long duration, intensity

levels should range from low to moderate.

There are pros and cons to this style of training. Here they are:

Pros

● Relatively easy to perform

● Due to the low intensity, doesn’t interfere with recovery

● Won’t drain energy

● Less likely to cause injury





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Cons

● Boring

● Requires a large time commitment

● Only raises metabolism for a short period of time

And then there is the currently popular high intensity interval training (HIIT) school of

thought. HIIT is a type of cardio that alternates bouts of high-intensity exercise with

bouts of low-intensity exercise.

This style of fat loss training has been very popular over the last several years. It is

effective, but before you totally jump on the HIIT bandwagon, we need to consider thepros and cons.

High Intensity Interval Training

Pros

● Very time efficient

● More fun, can be sport-like

● Raises metabolic rate during and then long after the session is over

● Can improve conditioning levels very quickly

Cons

● Can lead to overtraining

● Difficult to perform

● Depending on which activity is chosen, can present a higher risk of injury

● Can interfere with recovery and thus can compromise resistance workouts





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As you can see, there are pros and cons to both types of cardio. And guess what? You

got it! The Ninja Method gets the best of both while avoiding the potential drawbacks of

each.

Enter Ninja Strategy #4

I have found that HIIT is more effective and far more time efficient than steady state

cardio. The problem with HIIT is that it can lead to overtraining if performed too

frequently or in high volumes.

That’s why this Ninja trick requires you to perform both types of cardio in a very precise

way. You will begin your cardio workout with high intensity intervals, and then follow

them with lower intensity steady state.

The interval portion will last from 6-14 minutes and the steady state portion will last for

9-24 minutes.

How long each stage should last for you is almost entirely dependent upon your current

level of body fat and your amount of lean muscle.

The leaner you are and the more you carry, the shorter the interval stage should last.

This prevents the risk of muscle loss as body fat gets low.





About John Alvino

John Alvino has been acknowledged by Men’s Fitness magazine to be one of America’s top 50 fitness trainers.

John is a published author whose articles can be found in

Men’s Fitness, Men’s health, Muscle and Fitness and

countless other newsstand magazines.

Additionally, he has recently been added to the Men’s

Fitness exclusive advisory board.

What sets John apart from the competition is his unique

combination of real world experience and scientific knowledge.

Unlike most other "armchair experts" in the field, John has spent thousands of hours in

the trenches, personally testing and perfecting each one of his nutritional strategies and

training techniques.

ninja strategies for lightning fast fat loss

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