That’s because exercise causes the body to lose most of it. What mineral am I talking about?

Chromium!

Simply put, chromium plays an important role in your body, as far as maintaining stable sugar levels. But as research is pointing out, it can do a whole lot more…  For example, a study published in the Journal of Animal Science gave a large group of pigs a chromium supplement. Nothing else was removed or added to their diet. The end result was a SIGNIFICANT reduction in weight and an increase in muscle mass.  Another separate study done at the University of Kentucky found the same exact thing. They gave pigs chromium and the result was an increased percentage of muscle and a decreased percentage of fat.

Okay, so now you’re probably thinking, “That’s great for pigs. But what about for humans!?”

Well, the good news is chromium has the same powerful fat-burning, muscle-building effect on humans.  Australian researchers took two groups of people. One group was given a calorie-restricted diet. The second group could continue eating whatever they normally ate, but were given a chromium supplement.  The researchers studied both these groups for 6 months.  Of course, the calorie-restricted group lost weight. But the surprising thing was that the folks taking the chromium supplement lost just as much weight!  What’s more, they actually had a slight increase in muscle too. And here’s the kicker… when they gave chromium to the group that was starving themselves thin, they increased their muscle mass, without gaining extra fat.

How’s that for one little amazing mineral?  So if you aren’t already, you SHOULD take chromium to maximize your fat loss efforts. You can find it at any local health food store labeled as chromium picolinate.  Most will come in doses of 200mcg – 400mcg.  So train hard, eat clean, and take some chromium if you want to start seeing some incredible, mouth dropping, head-turning results!

And by the way … if you’re serious about taking your health and fitness to the next level, why not take advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation? (an $87 value)  During this consult, you’ll receive detailed information on how to get fit and trim that’s tailored to YOUR body.There’s no obligation and it’s totally and completely free. To sign up, click here Quote Corner 

“Unless you’re willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won’t happen.” - Phillip Adams Eat Yourself Thin 

Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken
(Serves Four)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts in water, drained and quartered

1. Season both sides of chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place chicken in skillet; cook, turning once to brown each side. Remove chicken from pan, and set aside.

2. Pour tomatoes into pan; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, and incorporating any brown bits from bottom of pan. Stir in pesto and artichokes, and return chicken to pan. Cover, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Ready: 35 mins

Amount Per Serving – Calories: 249 / Total Fat: 6.5g / Cholesterol: 68mg / Sodium: 1193mg / Total Carbs: 15.4g / Dietary Fiber:4.8g / Protein 31.8g

Recipe from AllRecipes.com.

If you haven’t already, please come check out the location, it is located just behind Scottsdale Quarter on the corner of 76^th Place and the Greenway-Hayden Loop (15444 North 76^th Place Suite 115).  I’m sure that you will be as impressed as I am with what you see.

And while you are there, now is as good a time as ever to sign up for your Boot Camp program.  We will help you to get fit and stay in shape for the long, hot summer months ahead!  Maybe it’s time for you to make a big change too?

Yours For Health,
Mark Norton
SPT & Adventure Boot Camp Scottsdale Scottsdale’s Premier
Health & Fitness Expert

Have you ever wondered what those models on the covers of fitness magazines do to get in such great shape?  They eat right and exercise, that’s for sure.  But there’s a secret dieting trick practically ALL of them use to get such great results.  It’s a simple technique called carb-cycling.  As the name implies, carb-cycling is when you vary your carb intake throughout the week.

Now, before I go into more detail about HOW to cycle your carbs (for fabulous results!), it’s important you get a quick and basic understanding of WHY this works so well.  It has to do with the hormone leptin.  Leptin is the “Starvation” hormone that was discovered around 1994.  When your body is starving, leptin levels go down, and send signals to your brain to make you hungry and eat as much as you can to get back to your normal calorie and fat storage levels.  During this time, leptin also tells your body it’s NOT okay to burn fat. Instead, it tells it to do whatever it can to store as MUCH FAT AS POSSIBLE!

Crazy, right?

Here’s what happens next…  Once you eat enough calories, leptin levels rise, and tell your body it has enough. It also tells it things are “okay” once again, and that it’s now okay to start burning fat, since there’s no risk of starvation for the time being.  Now, how does changing how many carbs you eat affect leptin and your metabolism’s ability to burn fat?

Scientists have discovered a DIRECT link between leptin levels and carb intake. The more carbs you eat, the more leptin levels rise.  The less carbs you eat, the less leptin you have floating around in your blood stream.  So what these fitness models do is start out by dieting and restricting their calories.  They start to lose fat. However, if they keep eating the same amount of carbs and calories week in and week out, they’ll hit a “wall” or plateau where their body doesn’t want to give up the fat (this is thanks to low leptin levels).

So to trick their bodies into burning more fat, they cycle their carbs.  For example, maybe the first 4 days are spent eating low-carb foods… things like chicken breasts… small amounts of brown rice, broccoli (and all that other fun stuff).  Then for two days, they’ll eat what they’ve been eating, but add pasta… or bread… plenty of fruits, or even chocolate and ice cream, for example, to increase their carb intake.  After those two days of “high” carbs, they go back to eating the way they did the first 4 days.  Changing up your carb intake like this keeps your leptin levels from dropping too low… and keeps your body’s metabolism in a “fat-burning” state, so you continually see progress, instead of hitting that dreaded plateau.

So here are the basic principles of carb cycling: These are just general guidelines – you’ll have to tweak these and experiment with them until you figure out what works best for your body and metabolism…

1. Eat your “normal” calorie-restricted diet.

2. Do this for 3-4 days.

3. Then for the next day or two, significantly up your carb intake. This can be done by having your cheat meal this day… and by increasing the amount of carbs such as fruits, rice, oatmeal, potatoes, etc.

4. Go back to “normal” eating

Try this out for the next three weeks and no doubt, you’ll be well on your way to looking AWESOME for summertime.

20 triangle poses

40 Frankenstein lunges with weight

40 prisoner squats

20 plank jacks

SET 2

20 scorpions

20 plank-knee touches (opposite elbow to opposite leg)

20 plank hip dips

20 leg raises

SET 3

20 windshield wipers

50 bicycles

50 straight leg sit-ups with alternating toe touch

20 bird dogs

COOL DOWN

Walking lunges (50 feet and back)

200 jump ropes

Jog one lap

Perform the two exercises continuously, without breakings, until you complete all four sets.

SUPERSET 1:

12 Plié squats

20 Abductions

DO 4 SETS

SUPERSET 2:

12 Curtsey lunge

20 Adductions

DO 4 SETS

SUPERSET 3:

15 Leg presses (feet together)

50 Bridges with weight

DO 4 SETS

20 Deadlifts for a good stretch

20 pushups

20 sit-ups

20 shoulder presses

CIRCUIT II:

Walking lunges (25 feet and back)

20 rows band

1 suicide

CIRCUIT III:

20 kettle bell swings

100 jump ropes

1 small lap

20 band rotations

REPEAT CIRCUITS 3X

*TABATA*

Alternate between the following four exercises (20 seconds on, 10 second break for each) for a total of 8 minutes

Split squat, lateral raise, leg raises, pushups

20 plank rows

20 tricep walkups

20 push-ups

20 lateral raises

SET 2:

20 shoulder presses

20 spilt squat jumps

20 step-ups

20 ironmans

SET 3:

20 burpees

20 hip hops

20 frogs

20 mountain climbers

20 bicycle crunches

15 Toe touches (each side)

15 Chest presses

15 Dips

15 Step-ups

15 Rows

15 Curls with band

15 Dots

15 Lunges

15 Sit-ups

15 Push-ups

15 Mountain climbers

20 Pull-downs

20 Kettle bell swings

20 Dumbbell rows

20 Glute-ham sit-ups

CIRCUIT II:

20 Cable rows

20 Bench hops

20 Cable pullovers

20 Hanging knee raises

CIRCUIT III:

20 Pull-ups

20 Barbell rows

20 Cable high row

→Beginners 2 reps/set, then jog a lap

→Intermediate 5 reps/set

→Advanced 8 reps/set

After 8^th set go backwards, starting with hip hops.

Continue backwards through the list, dropping one exercise each time (first push-ups, then squats, etc.) until you complete the list.

Push-ups

Squats

Sit-ups

Walk-outs

Lunges

Shoulder presses

Side lunges

Tri extensions

Burpees

Lateral raises

Tri walk-ups

Frogs

Mountain climbers

Hip hops