Man, this is exciting. Call me a dork, but I love these Q and A sessions. And what’s even better, I have a challenging finisher for you to try. It’s all about the lower body this week, too. Good times.

Gather round kids - it's learning time

But don’t cheat and go straight to the finisher. Grab a cup of coffee or hot tea and gather round kids. Let’s learn some cool stuff:

Q: “How often and at what intensity should I work out since I’m 50 years old? I’m a fire fighter and still very active.

A: Well, first of all, thanks for what you do. Second, here are 3 things to gauge the right intensity:

1) Are you recovering properly between workouts? If you find yourself struggling during each workout, it’s time to cut back on the intensity.

2) Are you getting results? If you’re getting results, you don’t have to increase the intensity. You need to work hard, but you don’t have to kill yourself.

3) Finally – your workout schedule should look like this (click here)

Q: “I am staying the same weight. I am getting stronger, but not losing weight. Do I need to cut down the strength training to lose fat? I am intense in all my workouts, with sandbags and heavy rack training. I am doing cardio as well, but always maintain my weight.”

A: First of all, great work on working so hard. It sounds like your training is spot on, with the exception of cardio (I would do intervals or finishers instead). The truth? It’s going to come down to your diet. Improve your quality first, and then see what that does. If you don’t see a difference after improving the quality, cut back about 200/cals per day. But gauge your progress with clothes and the mirror, not the scale.

Q: “Energy… not enough – over 40 years old!”

A: That’s simple – go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. It’s a boring answer, but trust me on this. I thought Craig Ballantyne was crazy when he told me about this, but I get up at 4:30 Mon-Fri, and between 5 and 5:30 on the weekends. It’s made a huge difference. Second – take a look at your food. Eating junk will make you tired.

Q: “Junk food addiction!”

A: You admitted it – that’s the first huge step, so congrats. Food can be like a drug. You have to wean yourself away from it. This is what I did with a great client named Chris, who lost 70 lbs.

One week at a time – improve one bad habit. For example, if you drink a soda every day with lunch, replace that soda with water or tea. That’s it. Don’t worry about any other habit. Improve that for one week. Next week, keep that change and improve another habit.

12 weeks later – you will improve 12 habits, which means you will lose fat.

Q: What is the “SCREACH” exercise?

A: I got this question about 10 times. It’s an amazing exercise found in Craig Ballantyne’s Bodyweight Cardio program. Seeing is believing:

Spiderman Climb with Reach (SCREACH)

Brace your abs. Start in the top of the pushup position.
Keep your abs braced, pick one foot up off the floor, and slowly bring your knee up outside of your shoulder and touch your foot to the ground.
As you reach the top of the motion, rotate your upper body to point your arm toward the ceiling.
Keep your abs braced and slowly return to the start position.

Alternate sides until you complete all of the required repetitions.

SCREACH

Q: “How to lose weight when your diet and exercise is on point but can’t get over that hump.”

A: First, are you judging by the scale? Don’t – use clothes and the mirror. Second, is your nutrition truly on point? Be honest. If you feel the least bit guilty after reading that, then that means you can improve it more. Third – use metabolic resistance training and finishers.

Q: “I see a lot of info about losing subcutaneous fat. But what about visceral fat? How can we lose this unhealthier fat?”

A: Fat is fat. Lose it with exercise and diet. That’s too simple, I know. But it’s the truth.

Q: “What do I eat and when?”

A: Simplify. Don’t worry about when. That takes out half of your concern. The next thing – what to eat. Eat quality food. Aim for foods with less ingredients and keep processed foods to a minimum. If you want more guidance, then watch this video.

Q: “How do I lose fat and gain muscle? Do I have to do focus one at a time?”

A: Alas, you do not. Craig has all the answers to do both at the same time by clicking here.

Good times, and great questions. There are still hundreds to go.

Alright, let’s get to the lower body finisher: You can see my goofy self in the video below. It’s the new and improved “Lungs and Lunge” finisher.