For Women

Whilst I am not a women myself I would say that one of the main points made by all trainers is that men and women are not that different when it comes to fitness. Women often avoid resistance training however resistance training is the key to super charging fat loss. Intense resistance will not make women grow big muscles. This is extremely difficult for women considering the much lower testosterone levels than men.

So in terms of overall fat loss and toning strategies which is what most women want the solution is the same as in men but done slightly differently. It should include good nutrition as opposed to diet, some form of resistance training either weights or body weight and short and intense cardio. These 3 factors are the key in combination.

So overall the 2 training programs I would suggest fit that bill but focus on bodyweight resistance and or/low level weights as opposed to full gym equipment is Holly Rigby with Fit Yummy Mummy and Craig Ballantyne in Turbulence Training.

The main difference being that Holly has designed a program of 15-30 minutes per day 3 days week or 15 minutes 6 days week for busy mothers and more especially with women in mind and Craig has no specific time but looks at 45 minutes plus overall 3 days per week. So I would say Fit Yummy Mummy is better for mums and perhaps women in general but both are excellent. For intermediate to advanced trainers the advantage of Craig's Deluxe Edition is the shear number of exercises available.

See each review again below

5. Holly Rigby, Fit Yummy Mummy

The Author

Holly Rigby is a CPT or certified trainer and busy mother that has created a fitness and nutrition plan for busy mothers.

Content

This E Book is around 100 pages long and contains information on diet, exercise and resistance training. The Book is well written by Holly and although it only includes 100 pages in total it is packed with very good information on all of the key fat loss and fitness areas.

The unique part about this book is that Holly as designed a very functional at home or gym workout routine that only consists of only 90 minutes of training per week. That's 15 minutes of resistance circuit style training (think lunges, pushups, squats) followed by 15 minutes if HIIT (high intensity interval running). This can be split as it fits into your lifestyle. 30 minutes 3 times week or 15 minutes 6 days a week. Overall the resistance exercises were excellent and Holly has even designed over 12 weeks. You progress from beginner exercises for 4 weeks to intermediate and advanced. There are even some additional advanced exercises. Overall the exercise side is great for toning and cutting fat especially when combined with HIIT and a good diet.

Nutrition - Holly also goes through nutrition quite meticulously without getting you bored. She lists the foods that need to be eaten but furthermore is very clear on how to organize your food around your life and how to make nutrition easy for a busy mum. Included are some example meals, a meal planner and good information on metabolism and how to keep it activated.

Overall an excellent program and although I did not implement it myself I know the exercises well and do many of them plus I also do HIIT training recommended here. I would recommend this program highly to any mum or women that wants to keep fitness short simple and highly effective. This will burn fat for women as its an intensive but short program.

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2. Craig Ballantyne, Turbulence Training

The Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and author of many articles in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Maximum Fitness.

Content

Turbulence Training is primarily a fat loss and strength conditioning program that works on circuit style superset weight training and body weight training mixed with high intensity interval training for maximum fat loss. These circuits are done with little rest so combined with interval style cardio the idea is to create 'Turbulence' in the body to get significant fat loss. In other words the opposite of slow cardio.

The main e book itself is written in a question and answer style format followed by the workouts ranging from get off the couch basic circuit style training progressing to advanced superset free weight and body weight workouts combined with HIIT cardio (Short Fast Sprints and Rests).

The format of the E Book Turbulence Training is mainly in a question and answer format. He covers off most common questions on Cardio, Nutrition and the Exercises he performs and generally why. That probably covers the first 40% of the ebook followed by the Routines and Workouts themselves of which there are 5 levels plus bonus workouts. They all also come with workout sheets to print and record your sets in terms of the progression made.

Craig believes Resistance Training is an essential component of fat loss. It essentially increases the metabolism and continues burning calories long after your workout as opposed to slow cardio that only burns the calories while your training. Variety is a also a key principle for fat loss in Turbulence Training so workouts need to be changed up every 4 to 12 weeks in order to avoid the body adjusting a to a routine and then reaching a plateau. The resistance training sessions are completed normally in only 40 minutes leaving 20 minutes for cardio interval training. Resistance exercise examples include incline dumbbell presses, chin ups (he works the beginners up first) and lunges plus many many more. There is quite a number of exercise in each of the level workouts and they are always changing apart from the key major compound exercises. Again Craig is a big fan of compound exercises.

From a cardio perspective only HIIT (interval sprints) are recommended in Turbulence Training some 3 to 4 times per week maximum along with the resistance training.

Nutrition is also discussed in a question and answer format and includes 25 tips on nutrition for fat loss. Turbulence Training doesn't go into a lot of detail but does list the good and bad foods, the number of times to eat per day, the crabs , protein and fat mix you should aim for and type of foods to eat. It keeps this part pretty simple which I liked and tells you what you need to do to ensure your losing weight. As with most of the others Nutrition its pretty straight forward unless your talking about getting to an ultra lean sub 10% body fat level and in those cases you may need to go into more detail.

All in all Craig is an excellent trainer and in terms of muscle growth and nutrition and cardio he is in a similar vein to Sean Nalewanyj however his resistance TRAINING METHODs are less about all out body building and probably more a mixture of body building and strength and conditioning techniques. In saying that Craig does include a free Mass Building Bonus Routine, also an Abs Routine and some others.

I personally found some of Craig's Intensive Resistance TRAINING METHODs without weights the most interesting. The exercises were supersets with no rest and to be honest the first time I tried this one in particular I could hardly finish the 3rd round or 20 minutes or so. It gave me one of the best ab workouts I had ever had and is probably best described as a HIIT Resistance Workout. Example exercises included Burpees and some calisthenics type movements and some excellent pushup variants which I had never heard of that worked the abs very directly whilst still doing your chest. The whole routine had your heart rate up most of the time and breathing pretty heavily.

I was a little skeptical at first at seeing another circuit style program but once I tried Craig's program I found that his advanced programs included all the key body building free weight exercises that are core for strength and hypertrophy combined with lots of body weight exercises that were very effective. The whole program is in a superset style (alternate muscle group exercises without rest) and is well thought out ensuring as much quality exercises is jammed into the shortest period.

This program is my second pick behind Sean Nalewanyj in overall value and may in fact be better for those that seek fat loss as their main goal and are less interested in muscle building or free weights.

Craig Ballantyne, Turbulence Training $39.95 (Basic Edition)

Craig Ballantyne, Turbulence Training $97.00 (Deluxe Edition)

If you can afford the deluxe edition I would recommend you buy that version especially for Home Gyms. The Deluxe includes 5 additional books on Bodyweight Exercises which you don't need any equipment for. I use one of these workouts once per week currently for an aerobic and strength dual workout and I find it works my abs like nothing else. These are lots and lots of great workouts included in this Deluxe Edition that makes it worth the extra money.

All Reviews

1. Muscle Gain Truths
2. Turbulence Training
3. Max Work Outs
4. Burn The Fat
5. Fit Yummy Mummy
6. Fat Loss Secrets
7. Truth About Abs
8. Strip That Fat
9. Cheat Your Way Thin
10. No Nonsense Muscle

Category Winners!