Making your workouts "Fat Loss" Specific

There are certain questions I get often, but some more so than others. Whenever anyone hears that I’m a nutritionist, exercise specialist and have successfully lost and kept off 30 pounds myself, the questions usually start pouring in.

Here’s a question I get the second most often of any other question (the first being “How many calories should I eat” which I have covered many times before.)

Isabel, I am currently doing Blah Blah workout (blah blah is any workout you are currently involved in). Is this the best workout to lose the maximum amount of fat?

Oh, the million dollar question and if we had 1 precise and easy answer for this, we’d all be walking around with six pack abs, right? Well, maybe.

Some of the best information I’ve gotten regarding “Fat Loss Exercise Programming” has been from my good friend and fellow fitness author, John “Roman” Romaniello. The last time I saw Roman I had just found out I was pregnant with my second child and I specifically remember saying to him “John, after I have this baby and am cleared to exercise, I want you to be the one that gets me back into ridiculous shape.” He said DEAL and we shook on it.

It’s not that I can’t handle this task on my own, but I’ve seen the results John gets with clients and I am constantly learning new and innovative strategies from him.

With John’s permission I am going to give you 5 of his best recommendations for putting together an effective fat loss exercise program that will quickly melt the bad fat off your body. There is just 1 stipulation…you have to do it! All the information in the world is useless to us unless we put it into practice right?

Also, (and this should go without saying), your eating regimen is priority number one. Without the right nutrition principles in place, none of the exercise recommendations below will have the dramatic effects they have the potential to have. Even “Roman” states in just about every single one of his exercise articles that nutrition should always be considered the most important component of any fat loss program.

Without further ado, here are just a few of Roman’s Tips for Radical Fat Loss….

1. The best fat loss cardio is that which is SHORT and INTENSE. When I say INTENSE – that means intense from where you are now…not running Olympic sprints or 50 pushups in a minute. INTENSE is always defined from where you are now and as you do it, it may change over time.

This has often been referred to as HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training. Jump Rope or Sprints are 2 great examples, but intervals can be done using pretty much any form of cardio. You can even perform intervals while swimming laps. A good example of a HIIT style cardio workout would be jumping rope (or swimming) intensely for 1 minute and then resting for 1 minute. Repeat this series 7 – 10 times for a total of 14 – 20 minutes…that’s it! There’s no need to abuse yourself on the treadmill or elliptical machine for 45 – 60 minutes at a time (actually, this could work against you when attempting to lose tons of fat). So be sure to keep it short and intense to maximize your fat loss efforts.

2. Weight Training sessions should also be SHORT. Wow…more good news! Where fat loss is concerned, weight training workouts any longer than 45 minutes are not only unnecessary, but also have the potential to lead to overtraining, injury, and stagnation. Again, intensity is extremely important here, and if you perform a 30-40 minute intense weight training workout, there is no need to exceed the 45 minute mark.

3. Rest periods between exercises must be kept short. This means you should not be “chit chatting” with your friends at the gym in between sets, catching up on the latest gym gossip or even answering your cell phone between sets (heaven forbid). Save the gossip session for after your workout is complete since you will be in and out of the gym in no time. Only rest about 30 seconds in between exercises and you’ll be sweating and burning off fat in no time.

Before we move on to the last 2 great tips for Radical Fat Loss, let’s see what the top three recommendations look like when implemented into an exercise routine. This workout was taken directly from John’s Final Phase Fat Loss Program Manual (with permission from John of course)

Set---up:

Perform A1, A2, A3 and A4 sequentially, resting 10 seconds between exercises and 30 seconds between circuits. Perform this circuit twice. After your second circuit, rest 60 seconds and proceed to Workout Set B.


Workout A
A1) Overhead Shoulder Press, 2 sets, 12 reps
A2) Alternating Forward Lunges, 2 sets, 15 lunges each side
A3) Side Plank, 2 sets, 25 seconds each side
A4) Swiss Ball Crunch, 2 sets, 15 reps

John then provides a similar circuit (with different exercises of course) for Workout Set B and C.

I absolutely love John’s workouts because they are short and extremely effective, 2 very essential ingredients for anyone who is super busy and wants maximum results in a minimum amount of time.

Making your workouts “Fat Loss” Specific with John Romaniello

Stay tuned for a video coming tomorrow where I’ll, not only explain the above tips in detail, but I’ll also give you the last 2 so you can structure your own workouts to effectively burn off your unwanted fat without wasting any time.

Be back tomorrow with some more great tips! In the meantime check out:

Making your workouts “Fat Loss” Specific with Roman


In health and happiness,



Isabel De Los Rios
Certified Nutritionist
Certified Exercise Specialist
Author of TheDietSolutionProgram.com

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