The 20/20 Diet (23 page)

sides of the chair or bench with your hands and lean backward

slightly, keeping your back straight. Bend your knees and pull

them in toward your chest. Next, extend your legs straight out

in front of you. Return to the starting position and continue the

exercise for as many reps as you can, up to 50 at a time.

N
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ote:
Continue to draw your belly button in toward your spine

during this move rather than letting your belly pooch out.

The 30-Second Burn Burst Exercise Program | 143

Push-ups (works the chest, triceps,

and core/abdominal muscles)

Lie facedown on an exercise mat (the floor works fine if you don’t

have one) with your hands placed flat on the mat on either side

of your chest. Keep your toes pointed downward into the mat.

Press up on your hands, lifting your body off the mat. Straighten

your arms at the top of the movement. Keep your bac
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k straight

and parallel to the floor and your eyes looking forward so that

your head does not droop. Slowly lower to the starting position.

Continue for 8 to 10 repetitions.

Note:
You may also do this exercise from a knees-bent position

rather than from your toes.

Biceps Cur

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l with a Resistance Band (works the biceps)

Stand on the middle of the band with your feet about shoulder-width

apart. Hold the handles with your palms facing away from your

body and your arms straight down at your sides. Flex your elbows

and bring the band up toward your chest in a curl motion, making

sure that your elbows remain fixed against your body. Slowly lower

the band to the starting position and repeat 8 to 10 times.

Note:
Purposely contract the bicep muscles when you bring your

arms up.

Dumbbel

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l Deadlift (works the glutes, back, and hamstrings)

Place two dumbbells on the floor in front of your feet. Begin with

your feet about shoulder-width apart, with your knees slightly

bent. Bend your knees and, keeping your back straight and chest

up
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, pick up both dumbbells. Slowly stand up to the starting posi-

tion, squeezing your glute (butt) muscles tightly at the top position.

Pull your shoulder blades together as you squeeze. Lower slowly,

following the same path you used to lift the weights. Continue

this movement for 8 to 10 repetitions.

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Triceps Press with a Resistance Band (works the triceps)

Stand on the middle of the band with your feet about shoulder-

width apart. Take the handles and hold your palms facing forward.

Lift your arms and hold them at your shoulders in a bent-arm

position. Press upward to an overhead position so that your hands

meet behind your head, but don’t let your elbows drift out to the

sides—they should be extending forward at this poin
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t. Straighten

your arms all the way to a full extension, as if opening your elbows

like a hinge. Flex your triceps at the top of the exercise, and then

slowly lower until your hands are back behind your head. Repeat

8 to 10 times.

Dips (works the triceps)

Position your body so that your
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back is facing the edge of a

bench, ottoman, or sturdy chair. With both hands, grasp the

edge of the object with your hands; your palms should be facing

downward and your fingers forward, toward your back. Your

elbows should be bent slightly to start. Extend your legs out in

front of you. Using the strength of your arms, straighten your tri-

ceps to a locked-out position, lifting your body upward slightly.

Slowly lower to the starting position and repeat the exercise 8 to

10 times.

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The Resistance Burn Burst Exercise Routine

This workout should take about 30 to 45 minutes to perform, and you

sho
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uld work up to doing it a total of three days per week on noncon-

secutive days so you give your muscles time to recover properly. The

idea is to keep the rest period between moves to 30 seconds or less.

That’s the intensity part of the high-intensity workout. By not letting

your body fully recover between sets, you are boosting the overall

calorie burn.

The 30-Second Burn Burst Exercise Program | 145

Warm-up: 5 minutes light cardio.

Walking Lunges/Dumbbell Rows—8 to 10 reps each exercise

30-second rest

Squats/Chest Press—8 to 10 reps each exercise

30-second rest

Sumo Squats/Bicycle Move—8 to 10 times for the Sumo Sq
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uat; up to

50 reps for the Bicycle Move

30-second rest

Chest Fly/Calf Raise on Platform or Stairs—8 to 10 reps for the Chest

Fly; 16 to 20 reps for the Calf Raises

30-second rest

Shoulder Press/Seated Reverse Crunch—8 to 10 reps for the Shoulder

Press; up to 50 reps for the Reverse Cr
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unch

30-second rest

Push-ups/Biceps Curl—8 to 10 reps each exercise

30-second rest

Dumbbell Deadlift/Triceps Press or Dips—8 to 10 reps each exercise

Once you have two or three weeks of this routine under your belt,

start working on repeating each set. Doubling up will increase the

speed of your progress.

Program Your Ne
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w Active Lifestyle

In
The Ultimate Weight Solution
, I talked about how you should program your life for your new level of activity. Likewise, here are the

impor
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tant steps you need to take in order to make this new exercise

regimen just another part of your overall routine:

1. Recognize the Payoffs of Exercise

The benefits of exercise in any weight loss program are numerous.

Exercise has the power to improve overall health and appearance. You

146 | The 20/20 Diet

need to internalize these benefits so you know why you are making

this effort.

2. Make It Motivating

These burst training routines can be done almost anywhere, with

varying types of activities, so choose a place and type that appeal to

you. If you enjoy companionship while exercising, get a fr
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iend, family

member, or coworker to join you. For example, start a walking group

at work or in the neighborhood. And here’s a tip: listen to music that

motivates you during your workout. Studies show that you’re more

likely to move or walk faster if you’re listening to upbeat music.

3. “Consequate” Your Exercise Behavior

If you currently find exercise less than desirable, pair it with a positive reward so that in order to get the reward, you must first exercise. For

example, you might tell your kids the
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y cannot watch TV until they do

their homework. (If they don’t do their homework, the consequence is

no TV.) Similarly, find something, anything, that you will not allow

yourself to do
until
you’ve exercised each day. It could be combing your hair, reading the newspaper, taking a shower—anything that

you value and want/need to do.

4. Monitor Your Progress

You started this program with 20/20 vision about what your future

would look lik
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e when you slim down because it will help propel you

to your finish line. Every step of the way, you’ve got to take mental or physical notes of how you’re improving each week. If you are using the

RPE scale, take note of how long it takes you to get to an 8 or 9 on

the scale. That time will start to decrease. Also, take a full-body photo of yourself before you start the program and then more photos every

cou
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ple of weeks so you can look back and see the change in your mus-

cles and physique. You might even modify your vision of the future

as you see what you’re capable of and remind yourself that your hard

work leads to definitive and measurable progress.

The 30-Second Burn Burst Exercise Program | 147

Reducing Muscle Soreness

Anytime you start a new exercise program that your body isn’t

used to, you are going to experience some soreness in your mus-

cles. Look at it as a positive sign that you are putting those muscles

to work so they can work even harder for you as yo

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u progress.

Your body will adapt to this program, and you won’t get as sore as

you continue it.

Here’s a word to the wise: as with the cardio portion of this

program, make sure that when you are in the recovery period

between 30-second high-intensity bursts, you are not stopping

activity altogether. You must keep going so that you’re at least hit-

ting a 5 or 6 on the RPE scale. Research indicates that this helps

your body reduce the lactic acid buildup in your muscles faster

than if you were just to stop complet
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ely between bursts.

Putting It All Together

Once you’re ready to start this entire program, your first step is to map out what you’ll be doing each day of the week. You should even prescribe a set time for each workout so that it’s in your calendar and on

your mind. It’s no
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t just your long-term goal that requires 20/20 vision;

you’ve got to have a schedule for every day and the overall week so you

know exactly how you will work exercise into your daily routine; then

you will be far more likely to actually do it.

Leaving your exercise to chance and thinking “I’ll do it when I

have time” is too risky. Something always comes up, and it’s so easy

to co
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nvince yourself that the “something” takes precedence over your

exercise. Instead, you have to look at this time as sacred. This is
your
time, for
your
health, and no one is stealing that from you because you are setting up boundaries around this time.

I did this in my own life years ago. Everyone understands that I

play tennis in the afternoons. During that time, I am unavailable for

148 | The 20/20 Diet

anything else. Period. If I didn’t cordon off this time for my exercise, there’s no doubt that someone would take up that hour of my day. It’s

true in all of our lives; someone will always need or want something

from us. But unless it’s a true emergency, you need to give yourself

permission to be selfish and stop using the needs of others as your

excuse for neglecting the physical needs of your own body.

This might mean waking up earlier so you can wor
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k out before

your day begins. Or you might need to DVR your evening TV show

so you can exercise at a time when you’re normally nestling down in

the couch cushions while munching popcorn (which shouldn’t be part

of your evening routine anymore anyway!).

Use this space to create your first week of an exercise schedule that

makes sense for you. Make sure you are giving yourself one rest day

per week. On the 20/20 Diet app, you can create workout calendars

and even set reminders for upcoming workouts.

Day of

Type of

# of 30-Second

✔

the Week

Workout

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Bursts

When Complete

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

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Sunday

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This plan can help you change the way you perceive exercise. As

you increase your strength and endurance, you’ll see and feel the

results. Make this a part of your life now and enjoy the benefits for

years to come when you incorporate exercise into your routine as a

life-long habit.

The 30-Second Burn Burst Exercise Program | 149

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11

WHEN YOUR BODY WON’T FOLLOW YOUR MIND:

ARE YOU RESISTAN
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T

TO WEIGHT LOSS?

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

—
F. Scott Fitzgerald

When it comes to failed weigh
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t loss attempts, there are generally

two types of people. There are those who know, deep down,

that they haven’t lost the weight and kept it off as a direct result of

something they’re doing or not doing. These folks make poor choices:

they eat in response to emotion, they don’t stick to a plan for any

reasonable amount of time, they lie to themselves, they make excuses,

and so on. They know that if they would just put in the effort and do

what was require
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d of them, they could lose the weight.

Then there are those people who really, truly commit to eating

healthy, exercising, and living a lifestyle that should, for all intents and purposes, lend itself to achieving a healthy weight. But no matter

how hard they try, their weight simply will not budge. When you

know—and I mean deep down in your gut
know
—that you’re doing