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NUTRISHOP Workout of the Week: Shed Fat With Circuit Training

One of the most effective ways to target fat burning and muscle growth within the same time frame is circuit training — grouping together several exercises for different muscle groups to get in a full-body workout in minimal time.

A good versatile power rack can make your circuit training much more effective, but there’s nothing wrong with moving around the weight room, either.

There are many types of circuits you can put together depending on your goals, but today we’ll give a good general formula and example that you can use to work your entire body — you’ll get the blood flowing all over to get your heart working and burning fat, on top of the resistance training to strengthen your muscles.

FULL-BODY CIRCUIT

The General Plan: You want to start with your biggest muscles first and end with your smallest ones in this circuit, and you also want to alternate upper- and lower-body muscle groups to get your heart rate up. You’ll obviously just be doing one set per group before moving on to another, and once the circuit is done, repeat the same circuit twice for a total of three circuits. Your rest between sets should be minimal (no longer than 60 seconds) and you’ll be moving between weight stations, so don’t drag your feet — get your set in, and move on to the next one. If you can get into a versatile squat rack, you can do nearly all your exercises in one spot.

You can fill in with your favorite exercises based on this basic plan: Quads, chest, hamstrings, back, calves, shoulders, upper abs, lower abs, biceps, triceps, and finish up with some obliques work.

The rest is pretty easy — just fill in quality exercises for each group. So, a sample circuit would look like this:

  1. Squat
  2. Bench press
  3. Romanian deadlifts
  4. Bent-over rows
  5. Seated calf raises
  6. Standing shoulder press
  7. Crunches
  8. Hanging leg raises
  9. Curls
  10. Skull crushers
  11. Alternating twisting decline sit-ups

Run through them all in order, perhaps starting with just two completions of the circuit if three is too challenging. If you feel you want to remove any of the lifts, don’t sacrifice the bigger-group exercises and instead drop the auxiliary lifts (biceps, triceps) first.

Tried the workout? Let us know what you think. Got a better one? Let us know and we might use it as our Workout of the Week in the future!

Jun 27, 2013 By Weight Loss, Workouts

METABOLIC SPIKE

As we showed earlier this week, NUTRISHOP will soon unveil its next great pre-workout formula: METABOLIC SPIKE, a supplement designed to amplify your workout intensity and energy levels while working WITH your current favorite pre-workout stacks.

Unlike many pre-workout products, METABOLIC SPIKE does not rely on caffeine to provide its energy boost, but instead a specifically designed formula of vitamins and organic compounds that complement the products you may already be taking. It’s approaching workout intensity and focus from a different angle than you’re used to with your favorite pre-workout — not meant to replace it, but enhance it.

One of the leading active ingredients in this new formula is niacin, a vitamin that is one of the world’s oldest compounds known to reduce lipid levels in the body. Because of this property, it is ideal as a fat-burner of sorts as it shuttles stored fat cells to be used for energy. Its effect seems to be blocking the breakdown of fats, thus lowering the number of free fatty acids in the bloodstream (source).

In addition to niacin, METABOLIC SPIKE includes a 3-mg dose of Vitamin B6, which plays a crucial role in the metabolism of lipids in the body. More plainly speaking, it converts fat to energy, as well as playing a role in protein metabolism. It has a wide range of other benefits, too, including being linked to decreased risk for Parkinson’s (source), alleviated PMS symptoms and many more — but primarily, in terms of METABOLIC SPIKE, its function is to provide clean energy using the body’s own lipid stores.

The other active ingredient of note is the METABOLIC SPIKE Proprietary Complex, a blend of ingredients including L-Carnitine L-Tartrate, Choline Bitartrate and raspberry ketones.

A 2011 Dutch study suggests that L-Carnitine L-Tartrate can be used to increase muscle and impact muscle metabolism. Research has indicated that LCLT reduces fat mass — the actual size of the fat cells in your body — and increases muscle mass and reduces fatigue. Choline bitartrate is a compound that can help improve the transfer of fats and proteins to the liver, for more efficient metabolism, and the virtues of raspberry ketones have been gaining popularity, too.

The main benefit of raspberry ketones, a supplement that, no surprise, comes from red raspberries, is that it helps release norepinephrine in the body, which in turn raises the body’s temperature slightly. It might not sound like much, but a slightly higher body temperature is what’s responsible for the “thermogenic” effect: Fat cells shrink, and adipose tissue  decreases, with a warmer temperature.

Raspberry ketones are also believed to release adiponectin, a hormone that can help decrease glycogen levels, meaning less sugar in the bloodstream and, naturally, less available blood glucose that can be saved as fat.

Jun 26, 2013 By Weight Loss

Coming Soon: METABOLIC SPIKE

XP2 is excited to introduce Metabolic Spike; the most versatile, caffeine-free, metabolic boosting formula available!  Metabolic Spike will fill a substantial void in the fat-loss category of this industry!  …And wait until you taste it…AMAZING!
There are tremendous fat-loss benefits of “Spiking” your favorite pre-workout cocktail!  After all, who doesn’t need to lose a little around the mid-section?
And, some are sensitive to stimulants but still looking for a great-tasting, caffeine-free alternative to assist the body in utilizing fat for energy in order to increase fat-loss — Metabolic Spike is also excellent as a stand-alone product!

Jun 25, 2013 By Uncategorized