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Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………..3 About this Program .......……………………………………………….....7 8 Week Workout Schedule Workout Calendar Overview Month One ……………………………………………….......9 Month Two ………………………………………………….12 Daily Workouts; Direct Links and Descriptions …………….........14-57 Recommended Nutrition for Best Results ....………………..............58 Answers to your most common questions about fitness, weight loss, and this program .......................…...….……………………………....69 Score Sheet for Fitness Blender’s Physical Fitness Test ................ 81 Disclaimer & Warnings ………………………………………….……...84

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Round 3: Workout Like You Mean It Welcome to Fitness Blender’s third installment of the 8 Week Fat Loss Program. Similar to previous editions, Round 3 methodically organizes our most recent workout videos, meticulously blending them into a detailed, day-by-day curriculum that is meant to bring about changes in the body in the fastest, safest, most effective way possible. FitnessBlender.com now has over 250 free, full-length workout videos online, and we add new videos each week. It can be intimidating to weave together all these videos without knowing whether you are exercising too much or too little, overtraining or not pushing yourself hard enough. The structured workout plans in this eBook have been worked into an ideal combination in terms of muscle groups used & the frequency and intensity at which they are engaged, the amount and type of cardio, various forms of stretching, and more. This program takes out the guesswork, laying out a clear path to follow to get the strong, healthy body that you are striving for. We want you to feel confident that the sweat equity you put in is completely worthwhile, and we want you to feel excited about each day’s workout plan. By now you have probably seen and read some of the remarkable Fitness Blender “Before & After” stories and images that come from people who use our videos and complete this two month program. Though “Fat Loss” is in the title of the program, don’t think for a moment that that’s the only benefit you will gain from following this plan, or that this plan is only suitable for people who are trying to drop fat or bodyweight; it’s also great for building lean muscle, increasing strength, endurance, speed, and flexibility. With these workouts and a healthy diet, you can definitely see significant drops in body fat and scale weight, but you would be selling yourself short if you didn’t expect much more. When we are building our workout videos & our programs, we don’t just create them to help people lose weight quickly or get a lean “summer body”. We build them because we want you to feel healthier, stronger, more capable, appreciative and aware of your 3

www.FitnessBlender.com body. We want you to experience the energy and improved quality of life that comes with committing to working out like you meant it. We want you to find a balance between appreciating your body for what it allows you to do, while encouraging you to push forward, striving to keep challenging yourself in new ways. A healthy body is one of the paramount factors in living a happy life. Your body is just like anything else; you get out of it what you put into it. Two months is long enough to start seeing significant changes in your body composition, your scale weight, and the way that you feel. If you follow this program diligently and couple it with healthy eating habits, you can safely lose 16-24 pounds. With that said, the number on the scale is nothing compared to the changes in health, energy, strength, flexibility, confidence and mood that you are likely to experience. We believe in comprehensive, well balanced, holistic fitness. It is impossible to spot reduce fat from any one area of the body and imbalances in a fitness program can be dangerous and put you at risk for injury and other sidelining events. For this reason, we approach strengthening and toning the body systematically, and we advise you do the same by following the program as it is laid out. For example, even if your goal is to just lose belly fat, building lean muscle in both the upper and lower body is not only still important, it is relevant and necessary for you to reach your goal of reduced belly fat – even though it might initially seem unrelated, building lean muscle allover the body is going to be what boosts your metabolism and effectively burns off excess body fat and makes it easier for you to stay lean and healthy. New workout videos, all new challenges Though the format is the same, Round 3 uses almost all new workout videos, in all new combinations. Whether you’ve never tried one of these plans & are jumping straight into Round 3 from a standstill, or you’re coming straight away from completing one of the first two rounds, we’re happy to have your focus for the next 8 weeks, and we promise that we’re going to put your efforts and motivation to good use. Variety is what keeps your muscles guessing and your body maximally responsive to all of the effort that you put into your 4

www.FitnessBlender.com workouts. There is no one kind of training that is a 100% standalone option – for example, doing just cardio for weight loss ends up slowing your metabolism due to the loss of lean muscle mass. On the flipside, strength training by itself typically does not expend enough energy (calories) to create a significant change in weight and you would be missing out on the health benefits that are specific to cardiovascular training. Following this extensive and varied program that combines both strength training and cardio (often even in the same workouts) will help you maintain or possibly even build lean muscle, which means that your body will burn calories at a higher rate even while you are resting. That metabolism boost can be a serious ally when you are trying to lose weight and keep it off. Because you will get the best results with a program that is diverse, we employ a careful blend of a wide variety of training styles. Cardio, strength training, stretching, Pilates, high intensity interval training (HIIT), low impact recovery cardio, plyometric training, circuit training, yoga, balance and agility training all make appearances in this program and by the time you are done you are going to feel like an athlete. The workouts address total body strength; upper, lower, and core will all be engaged, toned, and strengthened thoroughly to help reshape your body. You will be doing all different kinds of calorie blasting cardio; easy-on-the-joints low impact recovery cardio, moderate intensity cardio, and fat blasting HIIT that will boost your endurance and cardiovascular threshold very quickly. Agility drills, dynamic exercises that challenge balance, and intervals will push you to the brink of your comfort zones. Warm ups, cool downs, and stretching routines are equally important to the wellbeing of the body and should not be skipped as they contribute to overall performance and the ability to stay active. What fitness level is this plan meant for? The vast majority of people will find this program very challenging but doable, and also very easy to modify to meet their needs. While everyone has a different starting point with their weight, strength, and overall fitness capacity, this book is a very general plan that is 5

www.FitnessBlender.com suitable for most, so long as the participant moves at their own pace. Always feel free to slow down or step up the intensity or speed of repetitions in any given workout as you need to, and you can always hit pause and stop whenever necessary. Our strength training videos can easily be adapted to suit almost literally any fitness level by increasing or decreasing the weight being lifted. This program is meant for those with a general baseline of fitness and no injuries, medical conditions, or contraindications to exercise and/or working out strenuously. We didn’t want to exclude those who are brand new to working out from access to this program, so we have included beginner friendly options for the first two weeks of the program when there is a workout video that is particularly challenging. If you are a beginner and feel as though your general strength and endurance needs improving, we recommend that you repeat the first two weeks of this program (where we have provided those videos that may be more appropriate for beginners) until you are feeling stronger and more confident about tackling the workouts in the following 6 weeks. Talk to your doctor before starting this program We strongly recommend that you get medical clearance before attempting to complete this rigorous workout program. This program has been built for the general, healthy public and is not catered to any one individual. Exercise is inherently dangerous and not all workout programs are suitable for every individual or health condition; we advise that you get express approval from your physician before you tackle this challenging program. Commit, and stick with it! This program works. We can say that without even the slightest flicker of hesitation or doubt. The only variable in whether or not these workouts will bring about results is whether or not you do them.

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About the chapters of this program: Daily Workout Programs These are your detailed day-by-day breakdown of scheduled workout videos, and they correspond with the Month 1 and Month 2 Calendars. The titles of the workout plans are live links; click on these and you will be taken straight to the workout video for that day, hosted on our website. Fitness Blender Nutrition Tips for Faster Results Here we share our best tips for eating healthily. Good nutrition and eating habits are essential to both fitness and good health. Without proper nutrition & caloric intake, weight loss and fitness gains will be severely slowed. Our nutrition tips will help you eat healthily to benefit maximally from this program so that you can look and feel your best. Most Common Questions Revised to include additional questions that we frequently encountered with the first 8 Week Programs; we find that we get asked a lot of the same fitness and weight loss questions over and over again – these also tend to be the questions that are most continually answered (incorrectly) on the web. In this section we have answered just about every question we can imagine related to this program and working out for weight loss. Please read through this section before contacting us with questions, because we have likely already taken to the time answer your question in a more thorough way than would ever be possible in a personal email for our small team of two. We want you to be armed with accurate information and knowledge. We have included what we hope is an exhaustive Q & A section where you can get all of your questions about losing weight and this program answered in one place. We are confident that you will find it helpful. Fitness Blender’s NEW Physical Fitness Test (PFT) We’re happy to share our new fitness test that is much more clear and easy to follow than the previous test – this one also has an accompanying video to make sure that all instructions are easily 7

www.FitnessBlender.com understood, and we have modified all of the exercises in the test to not need any equipment. We use the tests periodically in the program because scale weight is not the end-all measurement when it comes to health or fitness. For this reason, we recommend that you utilize this Fitness Blender PFT to help you gauge your progress throughout this program. People who followed either of the first two 8 Week eBooks had incredible changes in their PFT scores from weeks one to eight – significant changes in strength, flexibility, and endurance. This is a measuring tool that will help you pinpoint weak places in your body’s abilities, and show you how far you’ve come once you complete this program. Thank you for trusting Fitness Blender to help you reach your fitness goals. Every single penny of every eBook sold goes towards funding website updates & additional features, and creating more free full length workout videos. Thank you for supporting Fitness Blender. Sincerely, Kelli & Daniel Segars

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Workout Calendar Month One Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Workout Workout Workout Workout Workout Optional Plan #1 Plan #2 Plan #3 Plan #4 Plan #5 Cardio

Day 7 Off

Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Workout Workout Workout Workout Workout Optional Off Plan #6 Plan #7 Plan #8 Plan #9 Plan Cardio #10 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21 Workout Workout Workout Workout Workout Optional Off Plan Plan Plan Plan Plan Cardio #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28 Workout Workout Workout Workout Workout Optional Off Plan Plan Plan Plan Plan Cardio #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 We strongly recommend that you take the time to take several different “before” pictures prior to jumping into this program. Facing forward, from the side, and back are good angles to help you see the changes in your body as you make your way through this program. The very first workout plan has you taking the new Fitness Blender PFT Test. This is an important step that allows you to gauge your progress through the rest of the program, so we recommend that you not skip it – plus, it’s a good workout. Record your scores and keep them somewhere where you wont lose them so that you can compare your performance 8 weeks out from Day 1. This program starts off with a bang; we are jumping directly into fullblown HIIT and strength training workouts – though you will find that workouts will get even more demanding and intense after the first couple of weeks. With that said, in the first 2 weeks of the program, you will find that there is a beginner option for the cardio workouts that are particularly intense. If you are a beginner and you get to the 9

www.FitnessBlender.com end of the two weeks and still feel like you have some progress to make, we recommend that you repeat the first two weeks until you feel as though your strength and endurance have improved. Again, take liberty in adjusting these workouts to meet your needs. You can hold onto weights or wear a weighted vest for most of these routines in order to boost the calorie burn and the intensity. You can move slower or faster than us to make an exercise easier or harder and the strength training routines can also be as difficult or as easy as you like, depending on the amount of weight that you select. It is up to you to modify the details to make these workouts maximally effective for you; just remember to challenge yourself. The “Optional Cardio” days are days where you should feel encouraged to participate in some kind of very low intensity cardiovascular exercise. This could be anything from a walk with the family to a nice long stretching session, or light yard work. Do steer clear of high intensity interval training, and/or strength training, as your body needs time to recover from the more intense workout plans of this program. After the first few weeks, you may start to notice a difference in your body’s tone, and your clothes may start to fit differently. Cardio is going to start to feel easier and you will likely find that your muscles are less stiff and your joints have more range of motion. You may find motivation in the form of your own gains in strength, and you should feel increases in your energy. After four weeks you will likely have started to adjust to the rigorous training and your muscles may be a little less sore after each workout - rest assured we wont let that go on for too long before throwing something new in the mix. With five challenging active days a week, this program is aggressive. If you start to feel as though you aren’t fully recovering between workouts or like a muscle group hasn’t fully healed in between strength sessions (for example if your quads are still very sore at a point when the schedule indicates that it’s leg day again) we encourage you to take an extra rest day and to wait another 24 hours before taxing those muscles again. It’s important to listen to your body and adequate rest (which will vary for each individual) is an important part of fitness. Check the Common Questions chapter if 10

www.FitnessBlender.com you have more concerns about overtraining and how to avoid it. If you have been creating a caloric deficit by not eating more calories than you are burning, you will have lost weight – likely between 8-12 pounds if you have been creating an energy deficit of roughly 1000 calories per day via a mix of diet and exercise (500 burnt off with exercise, 500 via reduced caloric intake). If you have lost more than 8-12 pounds you may want to increase your calorie intake, as losing more than 2-3 pounds per week can make it more likely that you gain that weight back. If you have a goal of weight loss and you’ve been following the plan but your scale hasn’t budged in this first month, don’t panic, but do check your diet. If you are working out this much and not seeing a change, your diet is highly likely to blame. Read the Nutrition Tips section for a brief rundown and try utilizing those tips in the second half of the program. Remember, while physical activity is incredibly beneficial for the health of your body and effective for burning off calories, it is not a free pass to overeat.

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Month Two Day 1 Workout Plan #21 Day 8 Workout Plan #27 Day 15 Workout Plan #33 Day 22 Workout Plan #39

Day 2 Workout Plan #22 Day 9 Workout Plan #28 Day 16 Workout Plan #34 Day 23 Workout Plan #40

Day 3 Workout Plan #23 Day 10 Workout Plan #29 Day 17 Workout Plan #35 Day 24 Workout Plan #41

Day 4 Workout Plan #24 Day 11 Workout Plan #30 Day 18 Workout Plan #36 Day 25 Workout Plan #42

Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Workout Workout Off Plan Plan #25 #26 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Workout Workout Off Plan Plan #31 #32 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21 Workout Workout Off Plan Plan #37 #38 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28 Workout Off Workout Plan Plan #43 #44

Month Two will bring about more noticeable changes in body composition. You may see a loss of another 8-12 pounds if you are sticking to both healthy eating and the workouts. You will likely find that you are able to go longer and longer before getting tired during the cardio and HIIT workouts and you may find yourself needing to bump up the amount of weight that you are lifting during the strength training videos. At this point, you might find that you are starting to crave the challenge and stress relief of a good workout each day. In this second month, you will find that we have listed workout plans for 6/7 days of each week (up from 5/7 days). The sixth day is completely optional, and the workouts that we list for you to do will be very low impact- or often times, just stretching routines. Participate in these “extra” sixth days if you want to increase your calorie expenditure for the week. We do urge you not to do any extra HIIT or strength training on those 1-2 recovery days, as low impact routines are the only level of intensity that wont impede or interfere with your body’s repairing process. At the 8 week mark you will take your second PFT. Compare your scores and you will likely find that you are more flexible, faster, 12

www.FitnessBlender.com stronger and with more endurance than when you started just 2 short months ago. If you made it through this entire program, despite challenges in time, outside commitments, and very tempting lazy days, you should feel proud. At this point, you can either repeat this program from the beginning or check out Fitness Blender’s other structured programs like this one (the different rounds of the 8 week programs can be completed in any order). You can take a short rest or stick to very light activity for a week before jumping right back into another program, but do not lose the motivation or momentum you’ve built from completing this program.

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Workout Plan # 1 Total Workout Time: Variable due to physical fitness test Equipment: A treadmill, track, or marked out course; 2 pieces of tape, and a way to keep time Strategy: Establishing a starting point for comparison in 8 weeks Total Calories Burned Estimate: Varies Cardio Warm Up (6 Minutes) Before each workout in this program you will be doing some kind of quick warm up routine to get your muscles ready to work. We urge you to never skip the warm ups. No matter what your exact fitness goals are, properly preparing your body for physical activity is essential to being able to push yourself hard during a workout and avoiding injuries. Fitness Blender’s New Physical Fitness Test (PFT) Fitness Blender’s new and improved fitness test is much easier to use than previous versions and now has an accompanying video so that we can walk you through the test with much more clarity. This revised edition has also been modified so that you wont need any equipment to complete it (aside from a couple of pieces of tape). You will be tested on measures of core, upper, and lower body strength and endurance, cardiovascular endurance and speed, and flexibility. Aside from being a great workout, this test is a fun way to measurably track how much stronger, more flexible, and fit you are becoming as you move through this program. People who complete this program are almost invariably shocked at how much their numbers improve throughout the eight weeks. Push yourself as hard as you can and make sure to record your repetitions and time. Light Toning & Stretching for Flexibility (11 Minutes) Blow off stress while you get in a good stretch. Because of the length that we hold each position, this is a great routine for increasing flexibility. After a good workout a cool down lets the blood circulation return to normal and the heart rate slow more gradually than is allowed with a sudden stop. Like the warm up, the cool down is not a portion of your workout that you should neglect, even when in a time crunch.

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Workout Plan # 2 Total Workout Time: 50-63 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Brutal HIIT Cardio and abs workout, or a combo of low impact cardio, a core workout, and a quick stretch Total Calories Burned Estimate: 309 – 758 HIIT Cardio & Abs (63 Minutes) This Tabata style routine is a combination of high intensity cardio moves that engage practically every muscle group, with an intense focus on the abs. Be warned; this one is brutal. If you are feeling sore or if you usually stick to Fitness Blender workouts that are less than 3/5 on the difficulty scale, you’re going to want to opt for the “Beginner Alternative” combination below. Both warm up and cool down are included in this video; if you complete this one, it should be your only workout video for the day…Unless you’re feeling brave, in which you can also tackle the additional 12 minute abs & obliques workout video listed in the Beginner Alternatives section below. Beginner Alternative (3 Videos; 50 Minutes Total) Calorie Blasting Low Impact Cardio Workout (33 Minutes) Perfect for beginner, intermediate & even advanced exercisers. Just because something is low impact doesn’t mean that it can’t get you fit fast; here we use exercises that call upon multiple muscle groups to get your heart rate up without jarring your joints or taxing your cardiovascular limits too heavily. While this is the beginner option, don’t expect this to be a complete breeze; remember that you can move as fast or as slow as you need to, to make the routine work for you. You will not need a separate warm up for this routine. + Abs & Obliques Workout (12 Minutes) Your core will be burning like crazy by the time you’re done; notice that there are modifications listed for each of the exercises in this routine that can make each move much easier or more difficult. + Quick Cool Down Stretch (5 Minutes) Just 5 more minutes and you’re done for the rest of the day.

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Workout Plan # 3 Total Workout Time: 50 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells, bench, physioball or table Strategy: Calorie blasting cardio warm up, upper body strength + a Pilates infused toning & stretching session Total Calories Burned Estimate: 202 – 527 Cardio Warm Up (9 Minutes) Burn off some extra calories and get your body ready for an intense upper body strength training workout. Strength Training for Arms & Shoulders (35 Minutes) Choose a weight for each exercise that challenges you - the exact amount that you lift will vary by individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as by what muscle group you are using, but you should really be struggling to complete those last 2-3 reps of a set (without sacrificing form). You can customize each exercise to be as hard as you need it to be by adjusting the amount of weight you’re lifting. Strength training is an excellent ally for men and women alike who are trying to get fit quick and lose or maintain weight. After a strength training routine like this one, you are likely to be burning calories at an elevated rate for up to 24-72 hours while your muscles work to repair themselves. Pilates Infused Cool Down & Stretch (6 Minutes) Cool down this with these Pilates moves for light toning and easy stretching. Between the maintenance of flexibility, the reduction in chance of injury, and improvement in overall structural integrity of the body, there is literally no fitness program that is complete without stretching. Stretching thoroughly has also been shown by some studies to possibly help ward off muscles soreness the day after a tough workout. It’s most important benefit lies in helping restore range of motion lost because of scar tissue formation and muscle shortening due to micro injuries caused by everyday life activities, strenuous exercise, and sedentary living.

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Workout Plan # 4 Total Workout Time: 44 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells optional Strategy: Workout for the glutes and thighs + fat blasting cardio in a Tabata format Total Calories Burned Estimate: 308 – 572 Cardio + Lower Body – Better Booty Tabata Workout (44 Minutes) Reshape your lower body and blast fat at the same time with this Tabata workout that blends lower body exercises with bodyweight cardio moves. The two different training styles will alternate back and forth in an AA BB AA BB format, for intervals that are four minutes apiece. This is a fast paced routine with minimal rest that will fly by and be done before you know it. Beginners; complete this same routine, doing the cardio at a slower pace and the lower body exercises without any additional weight, if necessary. Warm up cardio is included and there is a yoga cool down and stretch at the end. Optional: Extra Credit Burn: Oh My Glutes Lower Body + Cardio (15 Mins) Want more? Of course you do, right? For your extra credit burn, you can tack this workout onto the one above, or you can do it in a second session, preferably at least 2 hours (and at least a 300-400 calorie snack or meal) in between your first workout. March in place for 2 minutes before jumping right into this routine and stretch out those legs for another couple of minutes once you’ve finished. If you are feeling burnt out or sore from the workout above, skip this option; if you’ve got extra energy and motivation to spare, go for it, and add an additional 91-151 calories burned onto today’s total. Nutrition Tip: Packaged foods are often highly processed and loaded with sodium, unhealthy fats, high fructose corn syrups, preservatives, additives, and “mystery ingredients”. Eat clean! We define “eating clean” as fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein sources (ideally sources that have not been exposed to hormones or antibiotics), and whole grains that have been minimally processed. Watch not only the nutritional value of your foods, but the ingredients lists as well – this applies to many packaged food products that operate under the guise of “diet” or “healthy” foods, as well.

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Workout Plan # 5 Total Workout Time: 37 – 45 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Fast paced, highly effective cardio kickboxing & abs workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 290 – 578 Fat Melting Cardio Kickboxing + Abs (37 Minutes) Cardio kickboxing workouts have the ability to challenge you in a different kind of way than other cardio routines do – if you focus on really pushing yourself through this workout you’re likely going to find tomorrow that you are sore in muscle groups you didn’t realize you had. There are three different rounds in this video round 1 and 3 are kickboxing, and in between the two there is a challenging abs and obliques workout. Warm up and cool down are both included; if you choose this workout option, this will be your only workout video for today. Beginner-Intermediate exercisers, we encourage you to try this video and move at your own pace, however, we’ve built an alternative plan for you below if you aren’t comfortable with workouts that require a decent baseline of core strength. Beginner Alternative (3 Videos; 45 Minutes Total) Beginner Cardio and Toning Workout (30 Minutes) Nice and easy on the body, but still great for burning calories. You can make these exercises harder by doing them with hand weights, or by increasing the speed of the movements. You will not need a separate warm up for this routine. + Crunchless Abs & Obliques Workout (10 Minutes) Standing core exercises are more beginner friendly and easier on the back and neck. To make sure that you get the most out of this routine, focus on keeping your core engaged and tight the entire time. + Quick Stretch (5 Minutes) An emphasis on low back stretches will leave you feeling relaxed and accomplished.

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Workout Plan # 6 Total Workout Time: 56 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells or any other kind of resistance Strategy: Lower Body toning exercises done in a Tabata structure to burnout muscles thoroughly and keep the caloric expenditure high Total Calories Burned Estimate: 336 – 560 Lower Body Toning – Butt & Thigh Tabata Workout (56 Minutes) One workout video has everything that you need today; warm up, cool down, & a killer lower body workout. To keep the calorie burn high & even add a bit of a cardiovascular challenge, we are ditching traditional weight lifting rules and instead applying a Tabata format; 20 seconds On, 10 Seconds Off, eight times through. The high reps mean that you will need to select a lighter weight than you usually use, but make sure that you still push yourself – the last couple of reps, particularly by sets 5-8 should be very difficult to complete. Watch: How to decide how much weight to lift. Focus on keeping your form flawless in order to get the most from this routine. Beginners: Do this routine with very low weight or no weight at all; you can also sit out a couple of the active intervals of each exercise if you need to. Optional: Extra Credit Burn: Blenders HIIT Harder - Intense Cardio (6 Mins) If you feel guilty about not getting in a more traditional bout of cardio today, take your best shot at this intense bodyweight HIIT that will send your metabolism reeling for the next 24-48 hours. If you finish this video, you can add 60-100 calories onto your total caloric expenditure today. Do this in conjunction with the workout video above or do it in a second session several hours later (remember to refuel with at least a hearty snack in between workouts).

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Workout Plan # 7 Total Workout Time: 59 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells or any other kind of resistance Strategy: Tone and shape the upper body using the same Tabata structure as yesterday’s workout plan Total Calories Burned Estimate: 300 – 540 Intense Upper Body Tabata Workout (59 Minutes) Here we use the same Tabata structure from yesterday’s lower body routine (20 On, 10 Off, x 8) to target the chest, shoulders, back, and arms. Both cool down and warm up are included in this video. While you will likely have to choose a weight that is lighter than you would normally lift for a traditional three set 8-12 rep strength routine, make sure and still try and challenge yourself and your muscles by choosing a weight that makes it hard to complete those last few reps, particularly by the last 5-8 active intervals. Beginners: You have the option of choosing a very light weight, or sitting out some of the active intervals of each exercise, but try to make it through all eight. If you need to, you can even drop the weights completely in the last few intervals and just do the motions.

Nutrition Tip: Many diets promote drastically cutting down on one or more of the macronutrients but the truth is that all of them play important roles in everything from metabolism to brain function. The recommended dietary protein intake for adults is .8 to 1 gram of protein per kilogram bodyweight (0.36 to 0.45 grams per pound). Aim for 60-20-20 (carbs, protein, fat), in order to keep your metabolism fast, your appetite in control, and both your performance and energy levels high.

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Workout Plan # 8 Total Workout Time: 29 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Get your heart pumping with a low impact total body toning & cardio workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 150 – 270 Low Impact Cardio and Total Body Toning Workout (29 Minutes) At this point, both your upper and lower body muscle groups should be sore from the workout plans of the last two days– if they aren’t, you need to increase the amount of weight that you are lifting during our strength training workout videos - lift like you mean it, make it count! Today’s cardio routine is very easy on the body and it allows you to burn a good deal of calories and lightly engage all of your muscle groups without overtaxing them while they are healing from the more intense ones from the last couple of workout plans. Warm up and cool down are both included in this video.

Quick Tip: Make sure that you are drinking enough water; proper hydration is absolutely essential for good health and for getting and staying lean. Especially when you are as active as you will be while following this plan, drinking enough water takes a conscious effort, but the benefits make it very much worthwhile. You will sweat out a lot of water while doing these workouts! More about how water can help you get lean and stay lean.

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Workout Plan # 9 Total Workout Time: 49 – 59 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Your choice of cardio + a Pilates butt & thigh workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 208 – 690 Cardio Warm Up (6 Minutes) Get your heart rate up and your muscles warmed with this feel good cardio warm up that also incorporates some light toning moves. *Choose either the Advanced HIIT or the Burpee Challenge for your cardio component, then complete the Pilates Workout below Advanced HIIT Workout (21 Minutes) Choose this option if you are looking for a serious challenge. These are all bodyweight moves & they burn a significant number of calories in a short period of time. Or Burpee Madness! 100 Burpee Challenge (11 Minutes) Before you balk at the mention of Burpees, know that this routine has long rest periods, & that there are ten different types of Burpees to help keep you from growing bored. If the rest periods are too long for you & your heart rate starts to slow, by all means feel free to fill those rest periods with jumping jacks or even high knees. Beginners: move at your own pace and stop when you need to. If your lungs are feeling like they might burst, only do every other repetition with me. And Pilates Butt and Thigh Workout (32 Minutes) You will feel like you have a private Pilates class being conducted in your own living room with this video. This workout primarily targets the butt & thighs but it also forces the core to engage to control hip stabilization. This combination of functions and muscle groups teaches your body to function more efficiently when doing everyday life activities, as well as completing high intensity activities such as HIIT, and Plyometric workouts. This workout will leave you feeling challenged but relaxed and accomplished; a thorough cool down stretch is included. Beginners: pay attention to the progressions in difficulty and complete reps at the hardest version of each exercise that you can manage with proper form.

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Workout Plan # 10 Total Workout Time: 65 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: Cardio, upper body strength, abs & obliques Total Calories Burned Estimate: 341 – 591 Independent Quickie Warm Up: 2 Minutes Marching in Place or equivalent cardio exercise Fit is Better than Skinny: Upper Body & Cardio (37 Minutes) The cardio intervals in this dynamic workout are excellent for keeping your heart rate and caloric expenditure high, while the upper body strength training exercises will help you build lean muscle that can give your metabolism a (small, but over time relatively significant) boost. The chest, latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, biceps, triceps, deltoids and trapezius are being worked with the strength exercises, but glutes, thighs, and core will all have to pitch in during those bodyweight cardio intervals. Beginners: if you need extra rest, take it during the cardio intervals, making your main focus completing all of the reps of the strength exercises. Pilates Abs and Obliques Workout (26 Minutes) Similar to yesterday’s Pilates Butt & Thigh routine, here we use the same type of training to build core strength, which is absolutely essential to being able to complete more challenging workouts without risk of injury. At the end of this core toning routine you will find a well-deserved cool down stretch. Again, Beginners: pay attention to the progressions in difficulty and complete reps at the hardest version of each exercise that you can manage with proper form. Beginners: You’ve reached the last workout of the first two weeks of the program. From this part of the program forward, the workouts become more intense and there will be fewer beginner options and modifications. If you feel less than confident in your strength, balance, and endurance, repeat these last two weeks (days #1-10) until you feel stronger.

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Workout Plan # 11 Total Workout Time: 39 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells or any other kind of weight, a bench or step Strategy: Dynamic total body toning workout that builds balance, strength, and endurance while burning a significant number of calories in a relatively short period of time Total Calories Burned Estimate: 320 – 560 Fat Blasting Total Body Strength & Toning (39 Minutes) This time efficient workout combines some of my favorite exercises to turn them each into a more dynamic movement. Not only does this bump up the caloric expenditure of the routine and save you time, it also turns fairly basic exercises into moves that challenge the body in new ways that create coordination, functional strength, and balance. The exercises are paired up and you will do two sets of each, completing ten reps of each exercise in an AB AB format. If you want to be at the higher end of the calorie burn estimation, make sure that you choose a weight to lift for each exercise that really challenges you. Focus on keeping all of your movements smooth and controlled (no swinging to make the move easier with the help of momentum). Concentrate on full ranges of motion and keep your form as perfect as possible the entire time. Lift like you mean it: I often hear people talking about their plans of “waiting until the extra fat is gone” before they start adding strength training into their workouts. In reality strength training builds lean muscle, which requires more energy (i.e. calories) for the body to maintain – meaning that building lean muscle can actually bump up your metabolism & make it easier to lose weight and/or body fat. Adding strength training to your routine is the perfect example of working smarter & not harder (but don’t fool yourself into thinking strength training isn’t going to be hard work – if it isn’t, you’re doing it wrong). Women; don’t be afraid to lift heavy. We lack the levels of male hormones that lead to large muscles & it would take supplementation to gain much size. Lift as heavily as you can with proper form & you will have a much easier time staying lean, plus you will build a strong, capable body & reap all of the many health benefits.

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Workout Plan # 12 Total Workout Time: 52 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: HIIT, fat burning low impact cardio, and a quick stretch Total Calories Burned Estimate: 305 - 514 Red Light Green Light Cardio + Abs & Glutes (25 Minutes) Using the rules of an old children’s game, this stop and go HIIT workout is going to kick your butt. This is random interval training at it’s best - even your rest period lengths are going to be random. Not only will it keep your body guessing, it’s also going to keep you from getting too bored. If you need to, you can always take longer breaks than we allow – or shorter ones if you want to make it harder. Warm up is included. Low Impact Cardio Workout (22 Minutes) Because the HIIT workout you just completed used up a great deal of your carbohydrate stores, your body is likely now at the point where it is using fat content as fuel. This one is easy on the joints but still great for toning and even building core integrity and balance. Push through this total body toning low impact routine and get yourself one step closer to your goals. Quick Cool Down Stretch (5 Minutes) It’s just five minutes; don’t skip it! Taking the time to cool down today is an important part of being able to push yourself hard in the next day’s workout.

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Workout Plan # 13 Total Workout Time: 37 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Light cardio, lots of core work, and a total body yoga routine Total Calories Burned Estimate: 141 – 249 Cardio Warm Up (9 Minutes) Easy on the body cardio that’s still effective for light toning and warming up the muscles. 100 Rep Abs and Obliques Workout (5 Minutes) There is no rest and little transition time in this short, fast paced core workout but you will definitely feel it in your muscles by the time you’re done. In this simple rep challenge we have 5 exercises, 20 repetitions apiece. If you can’t move as quickly as Daniel does through the reps and transitions, feel free to watch the video to find out how to do each move, and then hit pause and do the repetitions at your own pace, with rest periods between each if you need them. Toning Lower Back Workout (8 Minutes) People often get so wrapped up in working out for defined stomach muscles that they completely neglect the opposing muscles of the back. Imbalance in the human body is never a good thing, and though most of our more traditional “abs workouts” also address stability and strength of the lower back, this workout focuses very specifically and solely on that important aspect of strength. Total Body Toning Yoga Workout (15 Minutes) To wrap up today’s workout we end with a yoga inspired routine that is part fluid stretching and part toning. While this one is predominately dynamic movements that move smoothly from one and into the next, there is of course some work involved and you are likely going to be experiencing some shaky muscles at some point. Feel free to throw in a few of your own independent stretches where you need it most once you are done with this video.

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Workout Plan # 14 Total Workout Time: 37 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Cardio that burns a high amount of calories without making you sore for tomorrow’s big workout… Total Calories Burned Estimate: 222 – 407 Fitness Blender Fat Burning Cardio Workout (37 Minutes) There is a careful balance between pushing your body to it’s limits and overtraining. You want to know that you are doing everything that you can to make sure that you are going to reach your goals of a healthy bodyweight or stronger, fitter body but you do not want to put yourself at risk for overtraining. Cardio workouts like this one help you burn the maximum amount of calories, without tipping over into the territory of high intensity interval training (HIIT) from which your body will need time to recover. Because we have a long duration, intense workout on the schedule for tomorrow that involves both HIIT and strength training, we want your muscles in prime condition to work hard, instead of being at some point of the healing process after a strength or HIIT routine. With that said, you will likely find that this routine is challenging enough to make you work up a good sweat, but it wont leave you feeling too worn out or sore for tomorrow. Remember that you can always make these videos much easier or much harder by altering your speed or by doing an activity during each brief rest period that is either higher or lower intensity, depending on which you need. Both warm up and cool down are included in this routine.

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Workout Plan # 15 Total Workout Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: Challenging HIIT, dynamic strength training, intensive core Total Calories Burned Estimate: 671 – 1022 1000 Calorie Workout - HIIT, Strength Training, + Abs (84 Mins) As part of our 8 Week Fat Loss Program, you get the chance to brave our 1000 Calorie Workout videos. This routine weaves multiple types of training together to target all muscle groups, and burn a great deal of calories. This should leave you completely exhausted (in a good, proud way) and if you complete the entire thing, you can burn up to 1000 calories (depending on bodyweight, muscle mass, baseline fitness, effort levels, etc). As a side note: if you use a heart rate monitor during your workouts, realize that any calorie calculations coming from that device will typically be very inaccurate because they use a simple generic equation that doesn’t take into account many important variables specific to your body. This workout is tough, but don’t be too intimidated. Just remember to move at your own pace and take water breaks when you need to. It’s also a long workout, but rest assured that we combine enough training types that you shouldn’t feel bored throughout the routine. If you don’t have enough time to do this routine in one session, break it up into multiple sessions, just make sure that you do at least a quick warm up and cool down each time. Here’s a breakdown of this video: 6 Minute Cardio Warm Up 32 Minute HIIT Routine 25 Minutes of Strength Training 11 Minutes of Abs 9 Minute Cool Down and Stretch

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Workout Plan # 16 Total Workout Time: 59 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Brutal HIIT, lower body toning, feel good stretching Total Calories Burned Estimate: 454 – 678 HIIT the Ground Running - Total Body HIIT (33 Minutes) We welcome you into your fourth week of the program with a brutal HIIT routine that is excellent for improving your cardiovascular endurance. This one is pretty intense, so take extra breaks when you need them. Butt & Thigh Workout - Beach Barre Workout (11 Minutes) The HIIT workout above will have your legs burnt out enough that all of the relatively light lower body exercises in this routine are going to make your muscles burn like crazy. Keep this workout effective by using smooth, controlled movements through the entire range of motion for each exercise – don’t use any momentum to “throw” your legs during any of the lifting variations and this will be a lot harder and a lot more effective. Feel Good Stretching Workout (15 Minutes) After today’s grueling routines, you deserve (and need) a nice long cool down and stretch. This routine is great for lowering stress and loosening up stiff muscles. If you are tempted to skip the cool down stretches, just remember that it directly improves your ability to push yourself and perform at a higher intensity during our more advanced routines. Quick Tip: If you are feeling overly fatigued during your workout, try eating a snack that is high in carbs roughly 2 hours before you start your workout in order to be able to really push yourself. The two hour window is enough time for your body to be able to utilize the carbohydrate, and it also gives your stomach time to digest so that you wont feel uncomfortable while you’re working out. Fruit, fresh fruit juices, raw honey, whole wheat pasta, and black rice are good choices.

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Workout Plan # 17 Total Workout Time: 40 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells, a chair or bench Strategy: A yoga cardio blend + superset upper body strength workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 255 – 490 Independent Warm Up: 2 Minutes Jogging in Place Yoga Inspired Cardio + Toning Blend (15 Minutes) This yoga cardio combo effectively bumps up the caloric burn of today’s workouts, without wearing you out so that you aren’t able to give your best effort in the strength training portion. It’s not traditional yoga, but it’s fun & it will get you fit. Comprehensive Upper Body Superset Workout (23 Minutes) Supersets are a time saving way to strength train a portion of the body without long periods of rest between each set. By working antagonist muscle groups (opposing muscle groups that work against one another) you can get in a thorough and effective strength routine without spending a lot of time standing around. An upper body specific warm up and cool down are included in this video. There are a couple of exercises in this routine that can be made less difficult with simple modifications. For example, if you don’t want to do an elevated military push up, you can always do a regular pike push up instead; essentially holding a downward dog position and dipping your head down between your hands, or doing a regular shoulder press if you don’t want to invert. The large range in the caloric expenditure estimate is partially due to the wide variance that occurs with the amount of weight that you’re lifting – make sure to lift as heavy as you can with perfect form in order to come out somewhere near the top end of that estimate.

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Workout Plan # 18 Total Workout Time: 45 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Cardio kickboxing, abs, + one of Fitness Blender’s signature HIIT routines Total Calories Burned Estimate: 353 – 590 Cardio Kickboxing + Abs & Obliques (17 Minutes) Blow off some steam with this quick and intense cardio kickboxing routine with Daniel. In between each cardio interval you will be doing core exercises that can easily be modified to become significantly easier or more difficult. Stay present during this workout; focus, and really push yourself to give your full blown effort the whole way through, and you can burn off a great deal of calories with this routine. Warm up is included. When I Say Jump HIIT Cardio (28 Minutes) Good for burning fat, keeping your body guessing, improving reaction time, and getting in a good laugh at yourself; this is a cardio HIIT routine with a twist. At random and sometimes obnoxious points during each interval we will give either a “down” or “jump” command. When you hear “down” stop doing whatever exercise you are doing to quickly drop down and kick back into a high plank (like you would for a Burpee) before jumping right back up to your feet and starting into the same exercise. When we say “jump”, stop in the middle of your repetition and jump powerfully upward. Don’t worry about moving along at the same speed that we do in the video, just focus on reacting quickly to the commands and immediately going back into the cardio exercise. Warm up and a yoga inspired cool down included.

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Workout Plan # 19 Total Workout Time: 44 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells or any other kind of weight Strategy: Cardio + lower body shaping Total Calories Burned Estimate: 242 – 418 Low Impact Recovery Cardio (22 Minutes) This cardio workout is low impact enough that you don’t even need to wear shoes while you’re doing it. You wont need a separate warm up video, either. Cardio like this is an easy way to bump up the caloric expenditure of a workout session without putting excess strain on the body, or wearing out your legs enough to a point that lowers the effort that you are able to put forth for the lower body routine below. Butt & Thigh Workout for a Round, Lifted Butt (22 Minutes) The three muscles that come together to make up the glutes are heavy and large, and if you aren’t proactive they begin to sag and droop over time, especially with a sedentary lifestyle. This workout uses multiple training styles to thoroughly engage the glutes from multiple angles, lifting the butt and also shaping and toning the thighs. Cool down is included. One of us will be demonstrating an easier version of these exercises, while the other will be showing modifications to make them more challenging. You can always do this routine without the weights, but it will be more effective and burn more calories if you add that extra resistance. Remember to challenge yourself. Not only does that extra resistance make the routine more effective in real time, it also helps you build lean muscle, which provides your body the advantage of a higher resting metabolism, meaning that you burn calories at a slightly elevated rate even while you’re sitting on the couch.

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Workout Plan # 20 Total Workout Time: 55 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells or a Kettlebell Strategy: Cardio + dynamic upper body toning in a tabata format + an abs and obliques workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 510 – 760 Independent Warm Up: 2 Minutes Jogging in Place Quick Sweat Cardio Workout (8 Minutes) Burn off extra calories, get nice & warmed up. Tabata Kettlebell Training + Abs (45 Minutes) Don’t worry if you don’t have a set of kettlebells on hand; in this routine one of us uses a dumbbell so that you can see exactly how to safely make it work. After a quick warm up we jump directly into a Tabata style workout that predominately targets the upper body. Because we combine multiple moves to target multiple muscle groups and because of the Tabata structure, the calorie burn of this routine is high and there is even a bit of a cardiovascular benefit. For each exercise you will be doing three 45 second active intervals with 15 seconds rest. This also includes an abs and obliques workout; one of us will be demonstrating the easier versions of the exercises and the other will show modifications to make them harder. Cool down and stretches are included in this video. End of Week 4: You are officially at the halfway point of this program. Going forward, you will find that we have listed workout plans for 6/7 days of each week (up from 5/7 days). The sixth day is completely optional, and the workouts that we list for you to do will be very low impact. Participate in these “extra” sixth days if you want to increase your calorie expenditure for the week. We do urge you not to do any extra HIIT or strength training on those 1-2 recovery days, as low impact routines are the only level of intensity that wont impede or interfere with your body’s repairing process.

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Workout Plan # 21 Total Workout Time: 45 Minutes Equipment: Optional dumbbell or weight Strategy: Intense cardio and toning intervals for the entire body Total Calories Burned Estimate: 322 – 507 Total Body HIIT Tabata & Toning Workout (45 Minutes) You will be familiar with all of the exercises in this routine, but we take it up a notch by doing a Tabata that uses 8 intervals instead of our more typical four. Give every ounce of yourself to those 20 active seconds, and then rest as best as you can during the 10 second rest periods. Your muscles are going to be screaming but your metabolism is going to be reeling; this workout uses the platform of HIIT (high intensity interval training) to “disrupt” your normal metabolic rate, and it can take your body as long as 24-72 hours to go back down to a normal rate of expenditure. The residual bump in metabolism is very slight, but spread out over several days, the numbers become more significant, particularly when you consider that kind of increase regularly over the course of months and years when you make HIIT a part of your regular program. This workout is a great way to find weak points in your strength and/or endurance, and it’s a good way to find out where you need to put in a little extra focus in your training. Both your warm up and cool down are included in this video. Optional: Extra Credit Burn: Cannon Beach HIIT Workout (3 Minutes) Keep your fitness goals on the forefront of your mind & your head in the game with this super short HIIT workout with both Kelli & Daniel. Remember to do at least a quick warm up & cool down if you do this workout separate from the one above. You can even do this 2-3 times through if you’ve got energy to spare.

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Workout Plan # 22 Total Workout Time: 45 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Abs & Cardio Total Calories Burned Estimate: 297 – 445 Independent Quickie Warm Up: 2 Minutes Jogging in Place 1 Minute Jumping Jacks Ultimate Cardio & Core Workout - Abs & Cardio (37 Minutes) Targeted fat loss is impossible. To lose fat from anywhere in the body you need total body strength training, cardio of varying intensities, and a healthy diet. This workout combines toning exercises for the abs & oblique with intervals of bodyweight cardio in order to both strengthen those core muscles, and burn off the fat that might be lying overtop of them, covering them up. The bodyweight cardio that you will be doing in this routine is far more effective, functional, and comprehensive than any cardio you will ever do on a giant piece of cumbersome gym equipment, (as is true of all of Fitness Blender videos). Light Cardio & Stretching Cool Down (5 Minutes) Clear out the lactic acid that has built up in your system from the routine above with this cool down that will take your heart rate down gradually and then give you a quick stretch. In this video, each stretch is held for 20 seconds, but you can always hit pause and hold each for up to 60 seconds, particularly if you have goals of increasing your flexibility. Quick Tip: Targeted fat loss is impossible, but there are definitely habits that you can adapt that will lead to lowering overall body fat, thereby lowering your belly fat. The workouts in this program are ideal for lowering body fat; here are some other tips for getting a flat stomach.

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Workout Plan # 23 Total Workout Time: 40 Minutes Equipment: Kettlebell or dumbbells Strategy: Time effective, calorie blasting, total body kettlebell training workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 321 – 522 Kettlebell 'til You Drop (40 Minutes) Just one video has everything that you need today; warm up, cool down, and a killer total body kettlebell routine in between. You have a very light workout plan in store for tomorrow, so make sure that you give today’s routine everything you’ve got. Some of the exercises in this routine are relatively advanced. If you don’t have the strength to do them with the kettlebell, or if you are just unfamiliar with the exercises, drop the weight completely and just go through the motion with no additional resistance. This will help you become familiar with the proper form, lessening the chance of injury and allowing you to move forward with additional weight once you have mastered your form. No kettlebell, no problem; remember that you can easily substitute a dumbbell if you don’t have a kettlebell. You will have to make small modifications and the dynamic will be slightly different, but not enough to diminish any of the benefits of this workout. If you need a reminder of how to replace a kettlebell with a dumbbell, refer back to the Tabata routine on Workout Plan # 20 where one of us uses a dumbbell for kettlebell exercises.

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Workout Plan # 24 Total Workout Time: 17 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Fluid stretching routine, resting up for tomorrow’s workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 60 – 80 Independent Quickie Warm Up: 2 Minutes Jogging in Place Feel Good Stretching Routine (15 Minutes) While it may be tempting to add in some extra strength training or HIIT on light training days like this one in order to try and reach your goals faster, we urge you to keep your activity levels incredibly light today. Overtraining is dangerous, and in all reality will actually make it harder and less likely that you reach your fitness goals (whatever they may be). Today is a sort of a rest day, a mid-week chance for your body to recover from the previous workouts, and to rest up for the monster of a workout that we have lined up for you tomorrow. The stretches in this routine are fluid, meaning that we don’t hold any one position for any significant length of time. If you want to do more activity on this low key rest day, we suggest that you pick another one of our stretching routines, ideally one that holds each stretching position for a longer length of time (typically 10-40 seconds) in order to further improve your flexibility without overtaxing your body or impeding any recovery.

Quick Tip: Don’t underestimate the importance of recovery/low impact days. Your body needs to heal in order to maximally benefit from intense workouts.

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Workout Plan # 25 Total Workout Time: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: Cardio, HIIT, total body strength training, core toning, flexibility Total Calories Burned Estimate: 866 – 1136 Epic 1000 Calorie Workout at Home (86 Minutes) This workout is tough but it is doable. If you have been following the program up to this point, you should find confidence in the fact that there is nothing in these 1000 calorie workouts that you haven’t yet conquered. In under 90 minutes, we give you warm up cardio, a HIIT routine, total body strength training, a core intensive workout, and a thorough cool down stretch. Just when you think that you can’t go along any further, we switch up the kind of training that you’re doing…And then make you feel that way again. This is a long routine. If endurance, energy, or blood sugar levels are an issue, feel free to hit pause on the video and refuel yourself with an extended water break and a snack. Good options for replenishing your energy stores are a piece of fruit, fruit juice or honey (something high in carbohydrate, low in fat). If your schedule is too packed for a routine this long, you can break it up into multiple workout sessions in the day, just make sure that you are never abruptly starting or ending your workout sessions (always include at least a brief warm up and cool down).

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Workout Plan # 26 Total Workout Time: 26 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Very low impact cardio & light Pilates Total Calories Burned Estimate: 96 – 140 This is our first optional sixth day workout. It’s the first week that the program extends to working out on 6/7 days, so if you are feeling overly sore from last week’s routines or are feeling at all burnt out, take the full two days of rest instead of doing this extra routine. Fat Burning Low Impact Cardio - Recovery Cardio (9 Minutes) Recovery cardio is exercise that will get your heart rate up and help you burn off extra calories without putting excess strain on joints or muscles that are sore from a previous intense workout. You should be sore from yesterday’s 1000 calorie workout. The two workouts that we have lined up for you today were carefully selected because they are so easy on the body – remember, adding in extra high intensity training or strength training is not recommended and can actually end up impeding your progress and undoing all of your hard work. Rest days are arguably as important as active days when it comes to working for a healthy body; allow yourself a proper chance to heal in between tough workouts by following the plan. Beginner Pilates Workout + Stretching Routine (17 Minutes) This very light beginner Pilates workout video is meant to help keep the body toned, flexible, and stress free while it is healing. It is relaxing and easy on the body, and the stretches at the end will leave you feeling much less sore and stiff from last week’s workouts.

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Workout Plan # 27 Total Workout Time: 56 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: Tabata style workout to shape & tone the butt & thighs Total Calories Burned Estimate: 336 – 560 Butt & Thigh Tabata Workout (56 Minutes) Warm up, cool down, and killer leg routine are all included in this Tabata style routine. Using 8 intervals of 20 seconds on, 10 off, we target the butt and thighs from multiple angles. We’ve also thrown in a couple of core exercises to target those abs, as well. Because we are doing high repetitions you will likely need to choose a lighter weight to lift than you do for more traditional strength training routines. With that said, remember that you can bump up both the calorie burn of this routine, and the rate that your body changes by choosing a weight that challenges you. You can always go lighter and lighter throughout the eight active intervals, switching out weight increments during rest intervals. If any of the exercises start to feel too challenging or you feel your form starting to suffer because you’re getting too tired, drop the extra weight and do the movement with just bodyweight.

Quick Tip: Add muscle to your frame in order to stay lean and fit; muscle burns more calories than fat, even while at rest. A pound of muscle burns 4.5 – 7 calories per day, while each pound of fat burns only 2. It might be a small difference over the course of a 24 hour period, but that variance becomes much more significant over the course of a year or two (or a lifetime).

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Workout Plan # 28 Total Workout Time: 59 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells, or any other kind of weight Strategy: Tone the muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms with a Tabata style routine Total Calories Burned Estimate: 300 – 540 Upper Body Tabata: Back, Shoulders, & Arms Workout (59 Mins) There are 48 minutes of very intensive, very thorough toning exercises in this workout video. We loved the toning-to-exhaust method of yesterday’s leg routine so much that we recreated it for the upper body. Today we tackle the muscles of the arms, back and shoulders; 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off, eight times through. Both warm up and cool down are included. This routine engages muscle groups that vary a great deal in their strength. For that reason, and because it has so many repetitions, ideally you will have access to a wide range of weights to choose from or a set of adjustable dumbbells so that you can go lighter and lighter as your muscles start to burnout. If you don’t have access to weights that are light enough to adjust to your needs as you get tired you can always drop the weights and do the motions without any weight at all – the number of reps is high enough that your muscles may start to burn that way, too. No matter how fit you are, a workout like this one should be tough. If it isn’t, you aren’t lifting heavily enough or controlling your form well enough.

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Workout Plan # 29 Total Workout Time: 63 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: HIIT Cardio + abs Total Calories Burned Estimate: 387 – 758 HIIT Cardio And Abs Workout (63 Minutes) Abdominal workouts by themselves are not huge calorie burners but we’ve fixed that problem by combining core exercises with HIIT cardio. The main focus of the toning exercises in the routine is on your abdominals and obliques…but there are very few muscle groups that aren’t going to be burning by the time you’re done with this tough HIIT workout. Because so many muscle groups are involved and due to the cardio intervals weaved in between each core exercise, this routine gives you the opportunity to burn off a lot of calories. Here’s a good reason to give this routine all you’ve got; with high intensity interval training like this, you can actually cause that sought after “metabolic disturbance” in your normal resting metabolism. The energy necessary for your body to reregulate itself can lead to your body burning off more energy, hours or days after you’re finished with this workout, even while you’re resting. Learn More about HIIT Warm up and cool down are included in this routine; make sure that you do both.

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Workout Plan # 30 Total Workout Time: 43 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: Upper body strength & toning Total Calories Burned Estimate: 171 – 336 Quick Cardio Warm Up (6 Minutes) Don’t skip it! Quick Chest and Back Workout (7 Minutes) Be warned that you may not be able to lift your arms tomorrow – or at least that’s the goal. This first workout specifically targets the trapezius, rhomboids, & pectorals muscles. Lift as heavily as you can manage with perfect form. Quick Arm and Shoulder Workout (8 Minutes) Just like the routine above, in this one you’ll be doing one round of ten reps, but this time the focus is going to be on your deltoids, biceps and triceps. Tank Top Workout: Arms, Chest, Back, Shoulders (9 Minutes) The two workouts above targeted large, powerful muscle groups in the upper body; this one engages the smaller & weaker muscle groups, in less common movement patterns. Your upper body should be burnt out enough from the previous exercises that you wont need a very heavy weight to make your muscles burn like crazy. Yoga Inspired Fluid Stretching & Toning Workout (13 Minutes) This is my favorite Fitness Blender stretching workout, both because of the feel-good stretches and the nice view.

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Workout Plan # 31 Total Workout Time: 59 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells optional Strategy: Lower body toning infused with fat blasting cardio + a killer HIIT routine that also targets the lower body Total Calories Burned Estimate: 552 – 860 Brutal HIIT Ladder Workout (21 Minutes) This routine is killer but it gets easier as you go with intense cardio intervals of descending lengths. This routine will push you, but you will feel so accomplished once you’re done. There are no breaks during the actual “ladder” of exercises, but you will get 20 seconds rest in between each group of time segments; take extra rests if/when you need to, don’t push yourself to the point where you feel like you’re going to be sick. Warm up is included. Lower Body Strength + Cardio Training Workout (37 Minutes) Here we alternate back and forth between 30 second intervals of cardio, and 14 repetitions of a lower body exercise. The combination of the two training types gives you just enough rest that you are able to really push yourself for both the cardiovascular and toning components, and the result is a workout that burns off a great deal of calories without making you feel too exhausted. You can make this workout more challenging and even more effective for shaping the lower body by holding onto dumbbells during the lower body toning exercises. Your cool down for the day is included in this video.

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Workout Plan # 32 Total Workout Time: 46 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Recovery cardio that tones and burns calories without excessively stressing the body; take the day off if you are feeling overly sore or tired Total Calories Burned Estimate: 224 – 448 Calorie Blasting Low Impact Cardio Boot Camp (33 Minutes) Even though this workout is low impact, you will more than likely break a sweat. After yesterday’s brutal workouts, you should be sore; this workout will allow you to continue to burn off extra calories without putting any unnecessary stress on your body, or slowing your healing process. If you are feeling too tired, or are overly sore from last week, take today off to give yourself a rest or just skip ahead to the stretching routine below to work on your flexibility. Cool Down Stretching Routine (13 Minutes) End with a thorough cool down stretching routine for flexibility to loosen up those stiff, sore muscles. Holding each position for thirty seconds is ideal for improving your body’s range of motion, and we pay special attention in this routine to parts of the body that tend to hold the most tension after strenuous workouts.

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Workout Plan # 33 Total Workout Time: 39 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Brutal HIIT cardio + core Total Calories Burned Estimate: 325 – 465 Comprehensive Total Body HIIT Cardio + Core Workout (39 Mins) We hope you’re in the mood for a good butt kicking! This intense high intensity interval training routine uses Tabata intervals of 20 seconds on, 10 off in an AA BB pattern, twice, in order to bring you a challenge that will push you to your limits. All of the exercises are dynamic and ask for 100% of your effort with each rep. These are total body exercises, and many are plyometric moves that not only burn a great deal of calories, but also help build speed and strength. This workout has no mercy on body fat. Push yourself, but listen to your body - when it says “no” like it means it, stop and go grab a drink of water, go catch your breath. Learning to toe the line of your limits, how to push yourself without overdoing it, is an important part of being fit. Before you’re done, we’ll also run you through a quick 100-repetition abs and obliques workout. Both warm up and cool down are included in this video; don’t skip them as you’re going to need to be on top of your game for the rest of the week’s workouts!

Quick Tip: Between the stress, the boredom, and the typically unhealthy break room snacks, one of the most difficult places to keep fitness and clean eating goals intact can be the workplace. Here’s a lighthearted but accurate account of the barriers that you might run into in the office, as well as some simple solutions for how to stay on track at work.

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Workout Plan # 34 Total Workout Time: 41 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Cardio infused Pilates & stretching Total Calories Burned Estimate: 202 – 310 Independent Quickie Warm Up: 2 Minutes Marching in Place Cardio & Pilates Blend (28 Minutes) Pilates has a long and significant list of health benefits, unfortunately it’s really not very efficient when it comes to burning off any significant amount of energy – a typical Pilates routine burns between 2-5 calories a minute. Burning calories is definitely not the only objective of exercise but it does make it easier to maintain a healthy bodyweight. In this video we weave cardio intervals in between Pilates exercises in order to give you the benefits of Pilates while keeping the expenditure high. The cardio is light enough that it wont impede your healing from yesterday’s brutal workouts, but if you are feeling very sore you may want to do an extra long warm up in order to get those muscles ready to work. Light Toning & Stretching (11 Minutes) A combo of Pilates, yoga, and runner’s stretches all come together in this routine that will leave you feeling well stretched, relaxed, and accomplished.

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Workout Plan # 35 Total Workout Time: 39 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells, a step Strategy: Total body strength + HIIT Total Calories Burned Estimate: 320 – 560 Fat Blasting Total Body Strength + Toning Workout (39 Minutes) Why work one muscle group at a time when you can work them all at once? Body firming, total body exercises that save you time and build you lean muscle in a hurry come together to also challenge your balance and your core strength. Using an AB AB format, you will switch back and forth between sets of two exercises, doing 10 repetitions of each. There are a wide range of exercises in this routine and ideally you will have multiple different sets of weights that you can scale in order to keep the strength exercises appropriately challenging. Remember to push yourself! Cardio warm up and cool down are included – if you do the HIIT routine below at the same time as this strength routine, be sure to save the cool down at the end of this video for once you’re finished – don’t stretch right before doing a strenuous workout as it can loosen ligaments and increase chances of injury. Recommended but optional: Extra Credit Burn: Can You HIIT like a Girl? Challenge (22 Mins) Lots of extra energy today? Itching to get ahead in moving towards your goals? If you feel like you want more, add this HIIT workout onto your routine today. You can do it along with the routine or wait a few hours and do it in a second session after a lot of water and a good healthy meal. There’s no warm up or cool down, so be sure to do at least a brief version of each, avoiding abrupt starts and stops of vigorous physical activity. Add an extra 264 - 330 calories burned onto your total expenditure if you choose to do this one.

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Workout Plan # 36 Total Workout Time: 29 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Recovery cardio, stretching Total Calories Burned Estimate: 156 – 228 Independent Warm Up: 2 Minutes Marching in Place Quiet Cardio Workout – Low Impact Cardio (22 Minutes) Today you have a relatively easy cardio workout; don’t add anything extra (especially not anything high impact) onto today’s routine as you have a long duration, demanding workout video lined up for tomorrow. Make these exercises maximally effective by keeping your core tight throughout all of the movements. This routine is low enough in impact that you can do it barefoot. We made this video to be a recovery cardio workout for days before & after a tough workout, but don’t be surprised if you still break into a good sweat while doing this total body routine. Lower Back Stretching Routine (5 Minutes) Maintaining flexibility and range of motion over the years is essential to both staying fit and leading a quality life. These low back stretches focus on the areas of the body where people most commonly have stiff, sore muscles.

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Workout Plan # 37 Total Workout Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: A little bit of everything; cardio, HIIT, strength training, core toning, stretching Total Calories Burned Estimate: 671 – 1022 1000 Calorie Workout - HIIT Cardio, Strength, & Abs (85 Minutes) We start off with some warm up cardio, and then jump right into a 32 minute HIIT. Before we completely wear you out, we switch to a dynamic strength training routine for both the upper and lower body. Next we work the abs and obliques, and then you get a nice long cool down and stretch to celebrate making it all the way through this marathon style workout video. We know this is a lengthy routine and that you guys have busy lives – remember that you can break this up however you want to, to make it work with your schedule. Just make sure that you do a quick warm up and cool down each time you leave and come back to it. This will be the second time that you’ve tackled this workout video during this program. Pay attention to how you feel during this video the second time through, compared to the first time you tried it. By now, the HIIT portions will likely seem a bit easier (not easy, just easier), and you might have to take fewer rests than you needed in the beginning. You also might be lifting heavier, as your strength has probably increased. Make sure to really be conscious of these changes, and to give yourself credit for the progress that you’ve made in your strength and endurance. That’s what it’s all about!

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Workout Plan # 38 Total Workout Time: 29 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Low impact recovery cardio and light toning Total Calories Burned Estimate: 150 – 270 Low Impact Cardio and Total Body Toning Workout (29 Minutes) This is optional recovery cardio that is low impact and easy on the body. Only do this workout if you’ve got the extra energy for it – by completing last week’s workouts you definitely earned a full two day rest period, so don’t feel like you are obligated to do this sixth workout day. Warm up and cool down are included.

End of Week 7: Next week is the last week of the program. Now is a good time to start thinking about what you might like to do next to keep your momentum going and to continue to challenge yourself.

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Workout Plan # 39 Total Workout Time: 52 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells Strategy: Lower body strength & toning exercises mixed in with cardio intervals + an abs and obliques workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 353 – 642 Independent Warm Up: 2 Minutes Marching in Place 1 Minute Jumping Jacks Booty Blaster: Killer Butt & Thigh Workout Challenge (5 Minutes) A fast paced glute and thigh workout jam packed with exercises that lift the butt and tone the thighs – your leg muscles will be screaming by the end of these 5 short minutes! Cardio + Lower Body: Better Booty Tabata + Yoga (44 Minutes) In this workout we have paired lower body exercises up with demanding bodyweight cardio intervals in order to help you burn off body fat while you tone up your legs and glutes. All of the lower body strength exercises can be done without any extra weight, but they are more effective and they burn more calories when done with extra resistance. By the time you’re done with this workout your legs should be shaking – if they aren’t you should consider pushing yourself harder by working out with a heavier weight. There is a second warm up in this routine but it starts off at a quick enough pace that you shouldn’t skip it – do it and gain the benefit of those extra calories burned. Once you’re done with all of the hard stuff, we reward you with a nice long yoga-inspired cool down and stretch.

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Workout Plan # 40 Total Workout Time: 40 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells, bench or table Strategy: Cardio kickboxing + upper body strength Total Calories Burned Estimate: 320 – 588 Cardio Kickboxing + Abs and Obliques Workout (17 Minutes) Your warm up is included in this cardio workout that weaves kickboxing moves in with exercises for the abs and obliques. As usual, we will demonstrate two slow-mo versions of the kickboxing combo before jumping into the ten regularly paced repetitions. Make sure and keep your core tight throughout the length of the routine and push yourself 100% in order to burn the maximum number of calories. At Home Upper Body Superset Workout (23 Minutes) Superset training pairs exercises that use antagonistic muscle groups together to significantly cut down on the length of your strength training routines. There is a brief upper body specific warm up before we start into the strength training portion of this routine – don’t skip it. There’s also a good stretching sequence at the end once you are done working those upper body muscles. All you’re going to need for this one is a set of dumbbells and a bench – if you don’t have a bench or table that will work for this routine, you can do the exercises that call for one from a static bridge position (lie on your back with knees bent, feet on the floor, and press up through the heels of your feet in order to lift your back up off of the ground). You can also do a Pike Push Up instead of the Military ½ Push Up.

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Workout Plan # 41 Total Workout Time: 45 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Intervals of HIIT cardio & abs + a total body yoga cool down workout Total Calories Burned Estimate: 336 – 469 HIIT Cardio and Abs Workout (30 Minutes) High intensity interval training and core toning exercises come together to bring you a workout that is great for burning off extra body fat. Here’s how this one works: - 8 Groups of 2 exercises; one HIIT cardio & one core exercise - Cardio Interval: 20 On, 10 Off x 4 - Core exercise; 50 seconds All of the HIIT cardio in this routine requires a great deal of effort from multiple muscle groups, meaning that this workout is a good calorie burner. There’s a quick cardio warm up included in this video. Total Body Toning Yoga Workout for Weight Loss (15 Minutes) A toning yoga routine serves as your cool down today. All of the movements are meant to be fluid and many of them have a stretching component, but your muscles will definitely be working throughout this routine.

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Workout Plan # 42 Total Workout Time: 45 Minutes Equipment: Dumbbells optional Strategy: Total body HIIT Tabata workout + optional Spartan 500 Challenge Total Calories Burned Estimate 321 – 507 Total Body Tabata Workout – HIIT + Toning Routine (45 Minutes) Break out your Warrior Face! Eight intervals of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest makes for a total of four minutes for every exercise in this brutal routine. Because there are so many repetitions of each exercise, you may find that you have to stop during some of the intervals to catch your breath or shake your muscles out. Pay attention to where you need to stop and rest as it might be a good clue of your weak spots in your fitness; whether it’s endurance, core, upper, or lower body strength that you might need to work on. Both warm up and cool down are included –if you’re going to do the Spartan 500 in the same session, save the cool down in this routine for when you’re completely done (hit pause & open a second tab). Recommended but optional: Extra Credit Burn: Spartan 500 - 500 Rep Workout (17 Minutes) Here’s your opportunity to earn the badge of honor of having completed Fitness Blender’s Spartan 500 Workout. If you decide to tackle this challenging workout, do it at your own pace. You can do this in the same session as the workout above, or you can do it in a second session (remember to add a quick warm up and cool down before any strenuous workout like this one). Add an extra 204 - 272 calories burned onto your daily expenditure total if you choose to do this one.

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Workout Plan # 43 Total Workout Time: 37 Minutes Equipment: None Strategy: Fat blasting cardio Total Calories Burned Estimate: 222 – 447 Fat Burning Cardio Workout at Home (37 Minutes) If you’ve been giving this week’s workout plans your full effort, you’ve probably got some sore muscles today. This cardio workout is not low impact but at this point in the program is good for getting the heart rate up and burning off extra calories without setting you back in the healing process. This is the last regularly scheduled workout day of our Round Three 8 Week Fat Loss Program. All you have left to complete this program is the second Fitness Blender Physical Fitness Test (PFT). You are finally at the point where you can measure how much all of your hard work has paid off (in ways beyond the numbers on the scale and even how your clothes are fitting you). Make sure that you don’t do any additional workouts between now and the fit test that are going to cause you any kind of fatigue or muscle soreness – we suggest that you take tomorrow off completely to rest up. Congratulations on making it almost all the way through the program; just one more day and you’re finished!

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Workout Plan # 44 Total Workout Time: Variable due to physical fitness test Equipment: A treadmill, track, or marked out course; 2 pieces of tape, and a way to keep time Strategy: Last PFT! Total Calories Burned Estimate: Varies Easy Warm Up Cardio Get your body ready to whomp on your first set of PFT scores from 8 weeks ago. (6 Minutes) Fitness Blender’s PFT - #2 Record your results, and then step back and compare them to the first test. Prepare to feel accomplished. Quick Cool Down & Stretch (5 Minutes) Congratulations - You have completed Fitness Blender’s 8 Week Fat Loss Program, Round 3!

What kind of results did you see? Have you lost body fat, or extra pounds? Can you reach your toes for the first time in years or have you shaved time off of your mile run? Can you do more pushups now than you could at the beginning of the program? We would love to hear about the progress you made. Tell us on Facebook or Contact Us. What’s next? You could start this entire program over, or choose another one of our structured programs to keep challenging yourself in new ways.

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Fitness Blender Nutrition Tips How Should I be eating? Anytime you are looking to become healthier, whether that be dropping extra fat weight, lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, increasing physical ability, or just feeling better overall, exercise and nutrition are both incredibly important. Though they do not have to necessarily play a 50-50 role, you will never get to your goals if you try just 100% diet, or just 100% exercise. They work hand in hand as they promote health in different ways; some that overlap and others that only one or the other can do and yet others still that have a multiplying effect when done in conjunction. The point of this section is not to cover every aspect of nutrition but instead to touch on the main issues you need to focus on to get the most out of your exercise and fat loss goals. The following are the most helpful tips that we have used with our clients over the years. Eating for the rest of your life: Before you take your first step towards changing your diet, start by taking some time to really examine what you are about to do and whether or not the goals and diet modifications are a realistic plan for the long term. There is nothing you can do that is more detrimental to your long term success then to set unattainable goals or at least goals that are not sustainable indefinitely. In respect to diet, be sure that the things that you eat (types of foods you like and that are available to you) and how you eat (preparation styles food combinations, and emotional connection to food) is something that you can live with for the rest of your life. For example, don’t set a diet limitation that you are never eating meat again if you know that there is no way that you can do that for the rest of your life. It is a very hard and long process to break and/or make habits so be sure you are not wasting your time trying to create a habit such as eating vegetarian, or breaking a habit like, cutting out bread, if you know that you have no intention of doing it for the rest of your life. 58

www.FitnessBlender.com The diet you use to lose weight should be the same diet you use to maintain that healthy weight from now on. The only difference is the number of calories you take in. Your intake should be 250 to 500 calories less during your fat loss phase than during your maintenance phase but the types of food you eat and how they are prepared should be exactly the same. You have to think long term if you are going to stay healthy long term. Never skip a meal: This is probably one of the easiest things you can do to improve your chances for sustainable weight control. I would cringe every time a client would tell me that they would skip a meal to cut out calories while trying to lose weight. It is one of those things that seems logical on the surface but has harsh metabolic side effects that can make it nearly impossible to lose fat content. Every time you skip a meal your body uses up all of its available carbohydrate stores in the blood, liver, and muscle tissue. Once all of that carbohydrate is gone your body has to switch to using your fat stores to continue functioning until you eat again. This initially makes enough sense; to lose fat you have to use it, right? So, why don’t you want to lose it from skipping meals or fasting? The reason why this is a bad way to lose fat weight comes down to how your body functions in relation to the “use it or lose it” principal – many of the systems in your body work off of this principal. Basically what this means is that if you don’t use a system in your body it will get weaker, smaller and/or slow down and if you do use a system in your body it will get stronger, faster and/or larger. For example when you do some kind of cardiovascular exercise on a regular basis you are telling your body that it needs to become more efficient at this activity, so every system that is involved becomes stronger; cardio, pulmonary, and vascular systems (heart, lungs, and veins/arteries) all become more efficient at pushing blood around the body not to mentions many other systems. In relation to adipose tissue (fat), the more often you pull from your fat stores (because you aren’t eating enough or frequently enough) the more importance your body puts on storing fat as efficiently as possible. In today’s generation however, where there is ample food, we actually need our fat “system” to work as inefficiently as possible so we don’t gain weight and the only way to make that happen is to use your fat “system” as little as possible by eating regular meals and not letting the body go into starvation mode. 59

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There is another factor at play when you skip meals or fast for long periods of time and that is your body’s reaction to losing fat weight too quickly. Let’s say that you are starting a new fad diet that has you consuming only a few hundred calories per day for the first week or two. Halfway through the first day your body starts to get “nervous” as its regular hunger signals are being ignored. By the end of day one or the morning of day two, a sort of panic sets in and your body will start to retaliate with everything it has to keep you from dropping what it sees as too much fat content, too quickly. Your body starts to send out hunger signals at a much higher intensity, and attempts to suppress your resting metabolism to try and make up some of the deficit you are creating each day. By the middle of the week or earlier, your body starts to do the last thing you ever want it to do; digest/break-down your own muscle tissue. This will not only give your body more calories to get though your day but it will also allow your body to permanently drop your metabolism. This makes it even easier to gain weight and the only way you can undo the damage is by rebuilding the muscle tissue you lose with weight training, which can not be done while in a starvation state. Simply skipping one meal a day can begin to activate this whole process in the body. Even if you eat three times a day, if you have too big of a gap between meals then your body will try to start this process as well, though to a lesser degree. Eat all the time: As explained in the last section, if you skip meals you can lower your metabolism and actually make it harder to lose fat weight and keep it off in the long run. So what happens when instead of skipping meals you add more meals in? Well, as I am sure you can guess, you can actually increase your metabolism not only making it easier to gain muscle tissue (with exercise) – which further increases your metabolism, but you can also increase you metabolism just by eating more frequently. The only rule is that you have to evenly disperse your calories over each meal. When you are trying to lose fat you not only want to be exercising to burn calories and watching your calorie intake to make sure that you are not taking in too many calories, but you also want to be telling your body that you don’t need your fat content anymore. 60

www.FitnessBlender.com You do this by eating more often than the typical 3 meals a day. For this to work most efficiently you need to eat at least 4 meals a day, but preferably 6 or more (or at least frequent snacking in between meals). As I mentioned before you need to realize that you cannot eat the same size meals that you normally eat and just add another meal in your day. To keep from gaining weight by eating more calories you need to be sure you take in the same amount of calories you normally do, to maintain your weight and split it evenly between 4-8 meals through out the day. If you choose 6 meals per day, this would look like 6 individual small meals, or you could set up your meals so you have three meals that you eat twice per day. For example, eat half of your normal sized lunch then eat the other half 2-3 hours later, this way you don’t have to try to think up 6 individual meals for the day but instead only have to come up with your normal 3 meals per day. That 2-3 hour break in between these small meals gives you just enough time to get from one meal to the next without switching over to fat stores. The smaller meal size also gives you just enough calories so you don’t have any surplus that your body wont need for energy, that end up getting stored as fat. By eating multiple small meals throughout the day you are not only able to avoid using your fat stores to a large degree but you can also actually boost your metabolism with this style of eating. Believe it or not, by eating 4-8 meals per day you can actually keep your metabolism running at a higher rate over the course of the day. This works by never allowing your metabolism to dip between meals as it does when eating three or fewer meals per day. This dip happens every time you run out of readily available calories and have to start using your fat stores; with the multiple meals you hardly ever use your fat stores so you can keep your metabolism running full speed all day long. Log your calories: We view this as a bit of a necessary evil, in the sense that we don’t want anyone to live their life obsessed with counting their calories rather than just enjoying their meal but at the same time you have to know what you are putting in your body if you ever want to be successful at losing weight or even maintaining 61

www.FitnessBlender.com weight. Because we don’t ever want to promote an unhealthy or obsessive relationship with food, we suggest counting your calories only for a very short period of time. You need to know what you are taking in to get an idea of what you need to change about your normal diet but you don’t need to keep an exact record every day for the rest of your life. We suggest tracking your calorie intake over the course of two to four weeks at a time as an absolute maximum, and trying to learn how to estimate your calorie intake as best you can without having to measure or weigh your food. When you are actually trying to track your calories you need to be precise about it to really get an idea of what you are taking in. For example use measuring cups to portion your food rather than just guessing at amounts. This will not only give you the most accurate numbers of calorie consumption but it will also train you to know what a cup, half cup, oz, fl oz, etc. looks like visually which comes in handy when you are no longer tracking your calories but still need to have an idea of what you are taking in (a skill you will need the rest of your life). Once you have a good idea of what you are taking in you can make adjustments to your overall diet for things like vitamin and mineral intake, percentage of fat, protein and carbohydrate, fiber and much more. There are a number of free online resources for food tracking that are easy to use even when building meals from scratch, many of which you can even put on your smart phone; some will even tell you how inflammatory a particular food is. But no matter which one you use just remember it is only as accurate as the information you give it so be sure to record everything that you eat or drink and be as exact with the amounts as you can. Calorie balance information is extremely important to setting your goals for not only food intake but also your calorie expenditure goals with exercise. Know your calories CPF%: When logging your calories; one of the most important things to pay attention to is each meals carbohydrate, protein and fat (CPF) percentages. Keeping your body running at peak performance is just as much about what you eat as it is how you train, and the first thing you need to look at in your diet is 62

www.FitnessBlender.com what your percentages of CPF are in relation to each meal and snack you consume. Almost every food logging app, or online program will have a function that breaks down these important numbers for you. Your CPF percentages are important because the amount of these three nutrients you consume effects how you digest your food and how much energy you will have available while exercising. Carbohydrates are the easiest of these three nutrients to digest, making it release into your blood stream quickly. This is a good thing in some ways as carbohydrates are directly linked to initially satisfying your feelings of hunger. Unfortunately, your body also uses and stores carbohydrate very quickly, causing hunger signals to return very quickly when consumed alone (think snack foods, chips, crackers, bread, etc.). Protein is the next to be digested, however, your body does not like using protein as a fuel source so if you consume anything else with a high protein source then that will generally be utilized first. The nice thing about protein is that it can slightly slow the digestion of carbohydrate allowing it to be released more slowly. Fat is the slowest to be digested due to its massive molecular size and the metabolic process it takes to transport and transform. This is the most important nutrient of the three for keeping you satisfied and hunger free for long periods of time. Additionally, any amount of fat will actually physically slow the release of stomach contents no matter what it is mixed with causing a slower release of those nutrients into the blood stream over a longer period of time. When all three of these nutrients are present in each meal you can use the carbohydrate to quickly satisfy your hunger and the protein and fat to slow your digestion and keep you satisfied for longer. The main benefit of this is keeping your blood sugar levels (that come from the carbohydrate you eat) at a more even level for a longer period of time. Eating like this can even reverse some effects of type two diabetes or keep it from becoming an issue in the first place. The main thing you are looking for is a percentage of 63

www.FitnessBlender.com carbohydrate, protein, and fat of 60-20-20 respectively, or up to 7015-15 for those who are very physically active (as you would be in this 8 week plan, or during competition training). These are the optimal percentages for athletic performance, maintaining a high metabolism, and keeping yourself satisfied as long as possible. Eat Fresh: One of the biggest pitfalls of people looking to become healthier is the health food and supplement industry itself and all of the foods that are marketed as healthy foods. In our opinion the only foods that are truly healthy are those that have the least amount of human involvement. Never will you hear anyone at Fitness Blender promote or suggest any type of supplement, shake, or prepackaged meals, or meal replacements. Some of the most appealing products to most people will be anything labeled with a low fat, no fat, low calorie, or my personal favorite “healthy” claim. Though these foods may seem like a good place to start to clean up your diet and lose weight or just become healthier, these foods can actually push you further in the opposite direction. Most of these so called “healthy foods” are so packed with preservatives, flavor additives, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, thickeners, and more, that they can actually cause just as many or more problems in the long run than many of the worst foods you can think of. So if the food that is marketed as healthy can’t be trusted then what can you do? This is where the “eat fresh” mantra comes in. This does not necessarily mean only fresh fruits and veggies, fresh dairy, eggs and/or meat though that is a good place to start, this also includes things like rice, beans, quinoa, lentils, and other “raw”, unaltered foods. We also make some concessions for some slightly altered foods like oatmeal, pasta (whole wheat preferably), couscous, and other more processed foods like commercially prepared bread (if made from high quality ingredients with no preservatives added), canned vegetables, and other similar items. Just be sure that whatever the item is that its ingredients are only food items and not additives of any kind. The easiest way to keep these foods on your plate is to be sure they make it in your shopping cart and knowing where these items 64

www.FitnessBlender.com are in your local grocery store is a great place to start. Typically grocery stores are a large box and if you think of the front of the box as the front of the store where the check stands are, then the left or right side of the box will be fresh produce and the remaining two sides will be seafood, meat/deli section, dairy, eggs, bakery and bread, and so on. The perimeter of the store or “box” will hold about 90% of what you want in your cart and in your diet. The other 10% will be made up of various other foods that you may have to venture to the interior of the store to get like canned and frozen items. Ideally your plate should be piled high with fruits and veggies, whole grain carbohydrates such as brown rice, quinoa, couscous, or whole-wheat pastas, and your plate should contain only a minimal amount of meat and dairy products. Not only will this get you the vitamin and mineral content your body needs but it will also fill you up more quickly and keep you full longer. Eating fresh like this can seem to be more expensive initially but the cost of not eating this way will be far more expensive related to the increase of long-term medical costs, medications, and even a shorter life span. We are not trying to use scare tactics but the consequences of a poor diet full of processed man-made foods cannot be described as anything less than terrifying. Just remember that most of the worst diseases facing first-world countries can be completely avoided with proper diet and exercise. Hydrate the fat away: Water is by far the most important substance in your body, even though it does not have any nutrient or calorie content. What water lacks in nutritional content, it more than makes up for by being an integral part of how the human body works on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis. Water works in many different ways in the body from transporting and storing to lubricating and diluting. All of these processes use calories in some way even if it is just residual calories used by the heart to pump blood around the vascular system. The most interesting way water can help you burn calories is related to how water is absorbed by the body. The human body tries to maintain a core temperature of 37 C or 98.6 F. Since the water we drink is very rarely body temperature, your body has to increase or decrease the temperature of the water to match before it can be absorbed and used. This causes calories to be used. The most significant energy used is when the body has to warm cold 65

www.FitnessBlender.com water up to body temperature. Though the amount of energy used is not particularly high, over time it can add up to a significant calorie deficit. You burn roughly one calorie for every fluid ounce of water you drink, but this only counts if the water is extremely cold. Lets say you drink a liter of ice cold water - that is an extra 32 calories burned without doing any extra physical activity (if you are drinking room temperature water then cut that number in half or more). If you were to drink 3 liters of ice cold water daily, you could burn an extra 96 calories per day – that’s 672 per week, 2688 per month, or 32,256 per year – equal to 9.2 pounds of fat you would lose or at least avoid gaining, just from drinking water. Another way water helps you burn more calories is that it increases your overall metabolism by allowing your body to work at peak efficiency. Because your body is comprised of 60-70% water (depending on your fat and muscle content) even the slightest drop in your level of hydration can have a negative effect on your overall physical ability. A 1% drop in your body’s optimal water levels has been estimated to cause up to a 5% drop in physical ability and when exercising to burn calories for fat loss you need your body working as efficiently as possible so you don’t slow your progress. This becomes particularly important when exercising heavily especially when in hot and/or humid conditions. Always keep water close while working out so you don’t become dehydrated during your routine. Lastly, we cannot stress enough to choose your fluids wisely. Many people have created detrimental habits of drinking way to many calorie dense drinks such as, soda, sports drinks, fruit juice, energy drinks or coffee based drinks. Though some of these may seem like they should be good for you, or at least neutral, all of these should be treated as special occasion drinks or at the very least should be accounted for in your daily caloric intake. Many of these calorie-laden drinks, especially in the case of coffee based drinks, can pack 1000 calories or more for every 12 fl oz. Other full calorie drinks, even the low calorie options, can be anywhere from 50-200 calories per 12 fl oz. Drinking even the lower calorie options gives you empty calories that can easily add up to extra weight. For example, drinking just 3 glasses of a calorie dense drink (100 cal per 12 fl oz) can easily add 66

www.FitnessBlender.com up over the course of a week giving you a surplus of calories equivalent to 2/3 of a pound of fat. Though drinking “zero” calorie versions of your favorite drinks is better than the regular version in terms of not having extra calories, drinking water will always be a better choice for several reasons. Firstly, water will hydrate you and burn a few extra calories while it is at it, all with no side effects, and the same can not be said for “zero” calorie substitutes. All of the no calorie sodas, and energy drinks (and even many of the reduced calorie drinks) have various artificial colorings, sweeteners, flavorings, additives - many of which have been linked to an increased chance for certain types of cancer and at the very least effect your body’s hunger response and insulin levels. Do what you can to learn to love water, if not just for the health benefits and ability to help you lose unwanted weight, then because it is the cheapest and most readily available fluid you can possibly choose. Never Use Starvation Diets: Starvation diets (those that heavily restrict your calorie intake for prolonged periods of time) act identically to your system as skipping meals during a day, it just does it to an even greater degree and it has another detrimental side effect. When you use a starvation diet, sometimes called crash diets, you are telling your body that you don’t have access to enough food to keep yourself alive at your current metabolic level. In order to “stay alive” your body does a number of detrimental things. First, it will increase your hunger response and food cravings to try and motivate you to eat anything that might have any calorie content. This makes it very difficult to maintain willpower and keep from binging on something you may not have ever eaten normally. If you have ever walked by an open box of fresh doughnuts while on a diet and the only thing keeping you from eating every last one of them is the fear of being judged by your family or co-workers, then you know what I am talking about. Secondly, your body will force your metabolism to drop by lowering some hormone levels and increasing others. What this does 67

www.FitnessBlender.com is lower the overall number of calories you can take in without gaining weight. When try to lose weight that is the last thing you want to have happen. Lastly, when you are restricting your calories to this extent you are not just using your fat deposits for energy to get through the day, you are also breaking down and digesting skeletal muscle tissue for energy. This is one of the worst things you can do for your body’s health. It is very difficult to build muscle tissue and every pound of muscle burns anywhere from 2-3.2 calories per day when you are at rest. Meaning for every pound of muscle tissue you lose from improper dieting can cost you 672-1008 calories per year that you could have burnt without any physical activity. It may not seem like much but if you were to yo-yo diet with starvation diets only three times per year and lost an average of one pound of muscle tissue each time, you could easily start gaining an extra pound per year after the first year, two pounds per year after the second year, three pounds per year after the third, etc, without doing anything differently with your diet or physical activity. In closing: Eat well, and eat often. You should not feel like you are starving if you are eating the right things. Eat fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, lean meats, healthy fat sources (avocados, oils, nuts, etc), and stay away from diet products, fad diets, partially hydrogenated oils, fake sweeteners, and packaged, altered foods that have mystery ingredients. Eat for health, and weight loss will inevitably follow.

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Common Questions How do I get to the workout videos listed in this eBook? Each day’s workout title is a hyperlink to the video on our website; click the title and it will take you to exactly where you need to be. Do I really have to get a medical release or talk to my doctor before I start this program? Because the workouts in this program are so physically demanding and because it is a general program for healthy individuals with no contraindications and not built or customized for any one individual in particular, it is our strong recommendation that you get medical clearance for vigorous exercise before you begin this program. This is not a personalized workout program and since there is no consult between Fitness Blender and the participant, your physician is the only one who can advise as to whether or not this program is appropriate for you. How many pounds will I lose doing this program? Your ideal average rate of weight loss should be around 2-3 lbs a week. There may be some weeks where you drop more than that, and some weeks when you lose less. If you were to lose 2-3 lbs a week, and stick with the plan for the full 8 weeks, you could easily lose 16-24 lbs doing just one round of this program. Losing any faster than that is not recommended as it likely means that you are not taking in enough calories, or that you are setting yourself up for a likely case of burnout. A loss of 2-3 pounds a week also does not throw the body’s metabolism into a tailspin that makes it less willing to burn calories efficiently. Even if you are anxious to get faster weight loss than that, try to keep the larger picture in mind, and don’t sacrifice long term weight loss and health for immediate, drastic results that will more likely than not only be temporary. What if I’m not trying to lose weight and instead just want to become more fit? When you want to become more fit without dropping weight, you need to be aware of calorie balance in terms of both expenditure and 69

www.FitnessBlender.com consumption. You will need to pay attention to the amount of energy that you are using (calories burned) and the number of calories that you will need to eat in order to make sure that you aren’t creating a deficit that would result in weight loss. Exercise is necessary and essential for good health, even if weight loss is not a goal. Is it okay to skip a scheduled workout in this program if I did some other kind of exercise on that day? Yes, it is completely okay to substitute one of our workouts for some other kind of activity. For example, if you have a long hike planned on the same day that you are supposed to do one of our cardio workouts, by all means sub out the workout in the video for the exercise that gets you out & about, moving on your own. This program is a great guideline to follow but you are going to have to listen to your body, consider your schedule & regular activities, and use common sense to customize this routine to fit your lifestyle and fitness needs. One of the most important parts of an exercise program is the exerciser’s likelihood of adherence – if you are rigid with yourself and don’t allow wiggle room for activities that you actually enjoy, you’re not likely to stick with it. We want you to learn to listen to your body and enjoy exercise and the way working out feels, so do what you need to in order to feel that way as you complete this program. If you do skip one of the program’s scheduled workout days, just start right back in on the day that you missed the next day – don’t skip any of the days of the program. I completely missed a day of workouts, what should I do? If you missed out on a day or two of the program, start back up into your habit by jumping right back in where you left off, completing the workout of the day(s) that you missed – don’t skip any of the scheduled program days by jumping ahead to the day that you “should” be on. You also should not attempt to squeeze the workouts from multiple days into one day – this would be overkill and you run the risk of burning yourself out or making yourself vulnerable to injury. I missed a few weeks of the program, should I start over? If you missed over two weeks of the program and were not physically 70

www.FitnessBlender.com active at all, you may want to start over. If you were still working out during your break from the program, you may just jump back in at the day you left off. How can I lose fat on/around my ________? It is impossible to spot reduce fat and anyone who tells you different likely has a gimmick or product that they are hoping to sell you. Genetics play a part in deciding how the body is shaped and where it gains extra weight and fat, but exercise can make a huge difference. Instead of focusing on the individual zones that you want to lose fat from, concentrate on reaching a healthy bodyweight and lowering your overall body fat percentage. When you focus on lowering overall body fat, your entire body, including the areas that you wish you could spot reduce, will shrink, lose fat content, and/or firm up overall. In time, and with consistent healthy eating and exercise, your trouble zones will take care of themselves. How soon into the program will I start to see changes in my body or on the scale? If you diligently follow the program, you will start to notice changes in your body composition in as little as two weeks. If you couple your exercising habit with healthy, moderate eating practices, you will notice even more drastic changes, faster. In addition to taking the Fitness Blender Physical Fitness Test, you may also want to use a tape measure or body fat percentage test to assess your body and/or record your starting place. Muscle weighs slightly more than fat, and sometimes if changes are not initially showing up as drastically as you would like them to on the scale, it can be encouraging to see that you are toning up & losing inches. The workouts are too hard for my fitness level For the first two weeks of this program, we have included beginner options for the harder workouts. If you need to, do the first two weeks several times until you feel like your endurance and strength levels have improved enough to start doing harder workouts. Keep in mind that with any of these workouts, you are very much encouraged to go at your own pace; you can always take longer or more frequent 71

www.FitnessBlender.com breaks, do fewer reps, or move at a slower pace. Some of the workout videos in this program are very physically challenging and not meant for beginners or those who are deconditioned, making it important to listen to your body and adjust the workout to make it work for you and your fitness level. It is not unusual for there to be some amount of discomfort in exercising and pushing yourself physically (raised heartbeat, sweaty brow, breathing hard in attempt to take in more oxygen, etc.) but you should also listen to your body in that when it tells you to “stop” like it means it, you should comply. It takes a little time and practice to learn to read your body’s signals and figure out how far you can safely push your own boundaries. This is yet another reason why it is so important to get your doctor’s approval and medical clearance before starting any workout program. It is important to push yourself but it’s even more important to realize that at any point during any workout, it is okay to stop and catch your breath. Just make sure that you jump right back into the routine as soon as you can. The workouts are too easy for me There are many easy ways to make a workout routine more challenging, including wearing a weighted vest or holding onto dumbbells during the exercises, moving faster than we are in the video, and increasing the weight that you are lifting. If you are finding the routines too easy, you may also want to check your form as you may be doing the moves incorrectly, or accidentally “cheating” and doing the exercises with improper form, which often makes the move less challenging. I’m injured, recovering from an injury, pregnant, have a health condition, severely overweight, etc. Your personal physician or health care provider is the only one who can tell you whether or not a program is appropriate for you. It is out of the scope of practice (illegal) for a personal trainer to prescribe exercise or diagnose, especially for those with contraindications. In addition, Fitness Blender does not have any of your health history or other important details that would be crucial to making smart 72

www.FitnessBlender.com decisions regarding what exercises might be helpful or harmful to you. The safest bet is always talking to your physician. Can I do more exercise in addition to this program? Can I do additional HIIT? Extra physical activity will likely not do any harm and may even speed up your results, as long as it is low impact. High intensity interval training and/or strength training, on the other hand, does require some time in order to let the muscles heal – with that in mind, we do not recommend doing any additional HIIT or lifting workouts while you are doing this program. On days where my schedule is hectic, is it okay to break the workout videos apart into two separate workouts? Breaking any one of the workouts up throughout the day is completely fine. In fact, breaking the routines into separate sections done intermittently through the day may end up burning more calories than if you do just one long session. Just make sure that you warm up and cool down properly each time you begin & end. Do I have to do a warm up before every workout? Doing even just a few minutes of a warm up is an excellent way to prepare your body for the workload ahead. It helps to increase your circulation, warm your muscles, and reduce the shock on your system that can occur when you go from inactivity to strenuous activity suddenly. It is a great way to protect yourself from everything from excessive cardiovascular stress to muscle strains. Some of our workout videos include a short warm up session and others do not. On days where you are doing a workout video that does not have a warm up or cool down period built into the routine, we will direct you to one of our warm up or cool down videos. How do you calculate calories burned for each workout, and why is there such a wide range in the estimates? To get calorie burn estimations we consider the difficulty of the exercises, the length of the workout, the gender and fitness level of the participant, size of muscle groups engaged, cardiovascular demand, intensity, and the effect of intervals, as well as many other factors that are present in each routine. Though we try to be as 73

www.FitnessBlender.com accurate as possible, these figures are for estimation purposes only and each person will burn a different amount of calories depending on a complex set of variables. That is why there is so much range in each estimate – weight, fitness level, exertion level, gender, one’s proficiency at a specific exercise or workout, lean muscle mass, and age are just a few of the many things that influence each individual’s actual burn. I am not losing weight, what am I doing wrong? If you have been attentively following the workout program for more than 3 weeks and are not seeing changes in your scale weight, it is very likely that your diet is the culprit. A lot of people erroneously believe that a workout is a free pass to eat whatever they like. As nice as that would be, it’s just not how it works. Here’s one way to put it in perspective in terms of calories consumed & calories burned exercising; take note of the calorie estimations for each of the Fitness Blender workout videos that you do as part of this program. For instance, it takes a lot of time, sweat, and hard work to burn 300-500 calories. Now think of the snacks and meals you eat, and how quickly extra snacking adds up to the same amount of calories. Being aware of how hard it is to expend that same amount of energy that is so easy to consume can help remind you that you need to be mindful of both creating a caloric deficit, and of keeping that deficit throughout the day while you are making your food choices. On the flipside, there are many other things that you should be looking at to determine whether or not you are making “progress”. For example, if you have been following the plan as instructed, it’s highly unlikely that you have not made changes in your body’s measurements (inches lost), body fat percentage, strength, or cardiovascular endurance. Do yourself a favor, especially if you are brand new to exercising, and don’t define “success” as weight loss and weight loss alone, because 74

www.FitnessBlender.com being active and physically fit has many more rewarding benefits than just the number on the scale. Is this a program for men or women, or both? This is a workout program for both. Gender specific workout routines are really not necessary and tend to facilitate the breeding of the misinformed concept that our bodies are different enough that one set of exercises works well for women while another works better for men. What if I don’t have the equipment one of the routines asks for? If you are serious about replacing a gym membership with home workouts, you should invest in these simple pieces of equipment (the same equipment that we use in the routines that make up this program): a set of dumbbells or resistance bands, and a good exercise mat. If a routine we have used in this program requires a piece of equipment that you do not own, you can sometimes get a little creative in order to make it work anyway. For example, if you don’t have a physioball you could use a bench (or even a table – I have been known to do chest presses lying on our coffee table in the living room). Depending on your strength & fitness level, dumbbells can be replaced by cans of soup, or inexpensive, easily stored resistance bands. A medicine ball or kettlebell can for the most part be replaced with a dumbbell, and so on. Whatever you do, don’t balk at any routine in this workout plan just because it uses a piece of equipment you don’t have. There are always easy modifications that allow you to use another option. You could even pass on a routine completely if you wanted to and search our extensive database of full length workout videos in order to find one that has the same focus in terms of muscle group or training type, but without the piece of equipment you are missing. Most of our exercises and routines are also dynamic enough that even if you were not able to add in the challenge of extra resistance as called for, you would still be getting a good workout. I don’t want to “bulk up”, should I do these workouts? 75

www.FitnessBlender.com Definitely! Fitness Blender is hoping to help bust the myth that regular strength training leads to a physique like that of The Hulk. Strength training leads to increased bone density, a higher metabolism (muscle burns more calories than fat), more graceful aging, and improved coordination, balance, and mood – just to name a few of the many perks. Women especially tend to shy away from lifting weights for fear of adding unwanted mass, but in doing so end up cheating themselves out of the only scientifically proven method of raising the body’s resting metabolism – building lean muscle. The videos in this fat burning workout program will not make women bulk up – not without supplementation and/or some seriously heavy lifting. If I am still very sore from my last day of working out, should I skip a workout? If you are really sore from a previous workout, you can always pause in your progression in the program and skip another rigorous workout, instead taking a day of rest and light stretching. After a day of rest, just start right back in on the same day that you left off – no need to rush ahead and skip any workouts just to stay on any perceived schedule. Each day of this program is important, so do your best not to skip any of them. What are the signs of overtraining? How do I avoid overtraining? While this program has been carefully crafted & designed with safety in mind, overtraining is still something that you should be aware of – particularly if you are brand new to exercise or doing a lot of additional physical activity outside of this plan. Signs of overtraining include mood swings, fatigue, loss of appetite, muscle aches, sleep disturbances and being unable to keep up with physical challenges that you can usually conquer (i.e. you suddenly aren’t able to lift as much during a strength routine or push as hard during a HIIT workout). Overtraining is dangerous and can lead to increased risk of injury and/or illness (due to resulting suppression of the immune system). If you think you might be overtraining, stop all rigorous 76

www.FitnessBlender.com physical activity and talk to your doctor immediately. What is the difference between regular cardio and HIIT cardio? High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a type of interval training that requires intense, 110% exertion for relatively short periods of time. Research has shown it to be more effective than longer, sustained effort workouts for higher calorie burn, and more rapid increases in endurance. Lower intensity cardio still has its place in a fitness plan however, and it is ideal to use a combination of regular cardio and HIIT in a workout program. Why is strength training important in fat burning weight loss plans like this one? Building lean muscle is the only thing that will increase your overall resting metabolism (contrary to what you may read on the back of weight loss products). When you build muscle, you burn more calories even while you are resting, which puts the odds in your favor for becoming and staying lean. If you are trying to get lean and stay lean, you want muscle content on your side. When you use just cardio training to lose weight, you run the risk of slowing your metabolism, which can make it much harder to lose weight and keep it off. Aside from the importance of building muscle for weight loss, strength training also has an extensive list of health benefits that you don’t want to miss out on by doing just cardio or any other kind of single fitness training method. I want to get fit but I don’t have to time to make this much of a commitment, what should I do? Make time. Your own fitness should always be a top priority, for far more than superficial appearance and vanity driven reasons; exercise is your means to a long, healthy, happy life. We know that it is easier said than done, but think of it this way: the more things in life that you have going on, and the more people that depend on you – the more that you need to be fit and healthy to keep 77

www.FitnessBlender.com up with it all. When you take care of yourself first, you are better able to do those things & be there for those loved ones. Remember, you can always do these workouts at separate times of the day. Waking up earlier, doing the routines on your lunch break, or cutting out some TV or web-carousing hours are just a few of the many ways that you can make time for these routines in your day. Whatever you do, don’t waste any of your precious energy on crafting excuses not to follow through with intentions to workout. What weight loss supplements or protein supplements does Fitness Blender recommend? None! Weight loss supplements are an ineffective, short-term solution – at best. They can be downright dangerous and are not the way that you are going to reach and maintain a healthy bodyweight. Protein supplements are unnecessary as you can get all of your body’s needs from smart, whole food choices. Not only do you not need to supplement your protein intake, many (if not most) Americans actually eat too much of it. Focus on getting your nutritional needs from the foods that you eat and your overall health and chances of losing weight will drastically improve. Steer clear of products that promise fast results or likemagic outcomes as they likely won’t work and even if they did, the results would almost absolutely not be long term or via healthy methods. Why combine so many different types of training in one plan? Variety is fantastic when it comes to trying to see fast changes in your fitness, weight, or body composition. With so many Fitness Blender workout videos to choose from, you will never have any shortage of options & this program allows you to take full advantage of that. Variety keeps your brain and your muscles from getting bored and burning out of the program. How much weight should I be lifting during these workouts? Choose a weight that you can control, but that becomes difficult to lift by the last few repetitions. Never sacrifice form for a heavier weight, 78

www.FitnessBlender.com as you will only sabotage your progress anyway. Woman - don’t steer clear of heavier weights out of fear that you will gain size, it is incredibly unlikely to happen without supplementation. If I don’t change my diet while I am doing this, can I still lose weight? Yes, but your overall rate at which you lose will be much slower with exercise alone than it would with the combination of both exercise & diet. Try to do everything you can to see big results from this program by adapting your eating habits as well as adhering to the workouts. I lost some weight when I started but all of the sudden the scale wont budge – what’s happening? First, check your diet. You may be overeating and canceling out the calories that you are burning with your working out. Also take a good look at your eating habits. Make sure that you are not skipping meals and that you have an ideal balance of carbs, fats, and proteins (roughly 60/20/20). If you are doing all of the workouts as the program has instructed and you have not seen a change in scale weight for 10-14 days, your diet is likely to blame. On the flipside, it could just be water weight from a salty meal, or even hormones. Whatever you do, don’t panic, just keep working out and keep eating healthily and in moderation. Remember that there are other ways to measure your progress other than just your bodyweight (body fat percentage, endurance, etc). What equipment do I need to do this program and what happens if I am missing a piece or two? We largely use bodyweight exercises for this program, but we also use dumbbells (or resistance bands), and kettlebells (which can be replaced by dumbbells). There are some points in some routines where it would be helpful to have some kind of bench in order to perform an exercise; a physioball or coffee table will also work. What do I do when the 8 weeks is over? When the 8 weeks is over, you can either start back over at the 79

www.FitnessBlender.com beginning, or try another one of our structured workout programs in order to keep challenging yourself. The most important thing is that you realize that just because the program is complete doesn’t mean that your exercising is over. If you follow our plan and eat healthy, you will without a doubt see results in the form of weight loss, lean muscle gains, boosted energy levels, better moods, a drop in body fat, or increased flexibility. Use your success- your loss in inches and pounds and your gains in strength, endurance and energy, as motivation to fuel your lifelong exercising habit.

© 2012 by Fitness Blender. All rights reserved No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Fitness Blender.

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Fitness Blender Physical Fitness Test Knowing your level of physical fitness is important for many different reasons and can be used as a tool to motivate yourself or call attention to areas you need to work on. When testing your fitness levels, having a standard physical fitness test to use to score yourself with is paramount. With our new version of the fit test we have not included any type of scoring as we don't need or want to compare your individual test with anyone else. Instead we want you to focus only on competing against yourself the next time you take the test. There are five sections to our test that we have outlined below, each of which you will need to either time yourself for or count total number of repetitions except the last component which you will measure with a ruler or measuring tape. This test can range greatly in the amount of time it takes to complete, as each exercise is done for as long as it takes for you to complete the task or to fatigue to the point of needing to rest. As a bonus, it also makes for a great workout. How to take the PFT: Complete each section of the physical fitness test, and record your results. Watch your progress as your strength, flexibility, and endurance improves. Make sure you warm up before starting this test. A brisk walk or jogging in place for several minutes will suffice. Fitness Blender's PFT (complete in the order shown) 1 Mile Run: Using a treadmill, local track or marked out one mile course (with a car or a smart phone app) run, jog, or walk (or any combo of those three) until you have completed the full distance. Time yourself and record it here: 1 Mile Run Time: ____________________

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Push Ups: Do either full push ups (from hands and toes), half push ups (from hand and knees) or any combination of the two. Be sure to record how many of each type you do until you need to rest. Once you sit back onto your knees or drop and rest on the ground you are done. Be sure you keep proper form the entire time as you want to only count properly done repetitions. Full Push Ups: ____________________ Half Push Ups: ____________________ Squats: With feet shoulder width apart do as many squats as you can keeping your back flat and the angle of your chest and shins the same. If body weight squats are very easy for you then feel free to use extra weight to make it harder (so you fatigue more quickly) just be sure to also record the amount of weight used as well. To keep your repetitions as even as possible you may want to use a chair, physio-ball or bench to mark the depth of your squat, being sure to come down and touch whatever you use with your butt, to keep yourself from using a smaller range of motion as you get more and more tired. As soon as you have to limit your range of motion or your form starts to suffer stop counting repetitions. Number of Squats: ____________________ Weight Used (if any): ____________________ Static Plank: Hold this position from forearms and toes keeping a straight line from shoulders to ankles. If your core cannot yet handle a full plank then do a half plank from your knees but do not switch between the two while timing. You will want to use a clock or watch with a second hand or preferably an actual stopwatch style timer. Start the time as soon as you move into the plank position and hold that position as long as you can. If you drop to the ground or your hips kick up too high into the air then stop and record the elapsed time.

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www.FitnessBlender.com Static Plank Time: ____________________ Sit and Reach: This is a very simplified version of the sit and reach test from our old PFT. In this version place a piece of tape on the ground and sit with your heels up to the edge of the tap closest to you. Holding another piece of tape in your hands (your marker) stretch down between your legs getting as close to or as far past the tape on the ground as you can. Place the marker tape you have in your hands on the ground then measure the distance from one piece of tape to the next being sure to measure from the edge of the tape on the ground that was closest to your heels to the edge of the marker tape that you placed with your finger tips. If you placed the marker in between your legs, the distance will be a negative number (in centimeters or inches), and if you placed the marker tape past your feet then it will be a positive number. Sit and Reach Measurement: __________________

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