In my quest to stay up on what’s new in the fitness world and sniff out any useful nutrition tips for my clients and the members of my weight Loss Boot Camp I read about 5 magazines and 1-2 books cover to cover every month.

I have to say, most of the time, what I read is simply a new spin on the basics: Eat clean and work your butt off .

This morning however, I learned a little tip that all this time even I didn’t know!

Drinking cold water will make you lose weight. And a significant amount of weight at that.

These are the facts:

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One of the exercises that we do almost daily in my weight loss boot camp is the good ‘ol fashioned jump rope.

But did you know that jumping rope has been scientifically proven to reduce cellulite?

It’s a fact that I just learned recently and it solidifies it as one of my all time favorite workouts for my clients.

The reason it can improve the look of those unsightly bumps is because of the rhythmic movement and it’s effect on the lymphatic system.

Have you seen those different very expensive cellulite treatments like velasmooth and endermologie? What they do is based very much on the rhythmic massage and what it does to your lymphatic system.

Check out this excerpt from Womentowomen.com:

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The last two weeks I’ve been talking to you about avoiding the end of the year weight gain but let’s get serious for a moment. You’re going to eat a LOT of food this Thursday. You know it. I know it. And that’s ok. I’m sure you’ve been working out just a little bit harder to prepare for it, right? And I know you’re going to get a good workout in on Thursday before you chow down, right?

Now, besides that, I also want to remind you one thing you do NOT want to do on Thursday is

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One concern that I often hear a lot from my clients in Booty Boot Camp is the fear of eating late.

I think it’s safe to say that we have all heard the advice to not eat after a certain time, say 7pm. Most of us have come to believe that if we do eat past that magical cut off time, our weight loss efforts are doomed to failure.

But this is simply not true as a cut and dry fact. There’s more to it than that.

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4.) Fly Machine             

If your goal is to tear your pecs and destroy your rotator cuff, then I highly recommend that you add this exercise to your routine. I think the chest fly machine actually gets even more play than the bench press, which is considered to be the most popular exercise for guys.

The problem is not only the destruction of the major muscles of your body, but the elimination of the main stabilizing muscles surrounding your shoulders. So when you decide to pick up something overhead, like moving your plates from the dishwasher to the overhead cabinets, your muscles will be shaking and your arms will get tired faster than you can count to one-1. Men also tend to use all the weight in the weight stack, helping cause shoulder impingement and even biceps tendinitis.

21 Century Training Upgrade:For strong, stable shoulders focus on performing an equal amount of

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In the past, I’ve shared my top secret exercises to help you lose fat faster by doing total-body exercises that use tons of muscles in each move that you do.

Whether it’s compound movements for your upper body (e.g. push-ups, pull-ups, rows, dips, etc.), lower body (squats, dead-lifts, lunges, etc.) or core (plank holds and rotational core exercises) these “many muscle” exercises provide the biggest bang for your buck during your workouts requiring MINIMAL time, but giving you MAXIMUM results.

Today though, I want to talk to you about something different. Today, let’s bring our focus on the WORST exercises you could ever add to your training routine.

I believe that a lot of women turn to these “easy” exercises because they just don’t know what else to do or are intimidated by the free-weight room at their gym.

You’ll never see me perform these movements because it’d give half the results in double the time and probably hurt me in more ways than one.

I truly believe that sometimes learning what NOT to do is just as beneficial as learning what you SHOULD do.

So let’s get to the three exercises that you would never want to do in your life!

1.) The Abs Machine

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“I don’t have time to workout” I hear this all the time in my training business. You may have been guilty of saying this yourself when it comes to starting an exercise routine.

And no wonder. In the past, the cornerstone of most resistance training workouts has been performing exercises in a straight set format. Essentially, this means you perform a certain number of reps for a given exercise and then you rest anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes based on your training goals before repeating this set a certain number of times based on your goals. For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain emphasis shorter rest periods are ideal. For more of a strength or power emphasis, longer rest periods are prescribed.

So what’s the problem with this format?

Well, let’s just say that 3-5 minutes is the average rest period between sets when using this format, and that 3 sets is generally the norm. Using these numbers, one exercise for one body part would take about 15 minutes to complete. That means in an hour you would have only completed 4 moves. That’s it. This might be ok if mass and strength are your goals, but if you are looking to burn some serious fat and reveal some sexy muscle, as most of us women are, this just won’t cut it.

A much more effective and time-efficient approach to ordering your exercises is utilizing the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s).

The result is improved training economy and density: more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program.

There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:

Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

Tri-sets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body

Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though supersets and tri-sets are excellent alternating set options, I believe circuit training is by the far the best option time and time again. To demonstrate why,let’s examine my favorite circuit training template using timed set intervals:

50-10 Five Exercise Circuit: You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for all five exercises in the following 5-minute circuit:

Exercise#1- Alternating front lunges

Exercise#2- Dips

Exercise#3- Split squat

Exercise#4- Inverted pull-ups

Exercise#5- Alternating side planks

Perform this circuit up to four times for a 20-minute total body fat burning workout.

Do the math,in the same 15 minutes that it took to get in three sets on the bench you could have gotten in three sets of five different exercise for a staggering total of 15 work sets! And because you have four full minutes before you repeat an exercise your intensity level will not suffer at all.

To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and sexy,lean muscle gain. Use the following template I use with my many boot camp clients for some killer, yet simple fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg

Exercise#2-Push

Exercise#3-Single-Leg

Exercise#4-Pull

Exercise#5-Core

I’ll be posting a video later this week showing you a great circuit you can perform anywhere, so stay tuned.

Stay focused!

Sarai Jones

www.getfitwithsarai.com

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