Ladies! This one is for you:
A brand new, Mighty Fit Grasshopper-exclusive workout plan designed for the busy, “always-on-the-go” woman!

I’m excited to finally announce to you the ladies only “Too-Busy-To-Workout Workout!”

This workout plan will be revealed over the course of the next 12 weeks and is designed to melt fat, tone and build muscle, and get you in beach-body form for summer time – while keeping BOTH cardio and resistance training workouts to less than 30 minutes!

The “Too-Busy-To-Workout Workout” (TBTWW) is designed by fitness trainer, Micaela Whitworth, owner of Micaela Fitness and blogger. An extremely busy woman herself (and former beauty queen), juggling multiple projects, work, and clients each day, she has designed a plan that maximizes fat-loss results in the shortest amount of time by keeping the intensity of the workouts high, ensuring that the workouts are fun, and by recognizing the importance of a healthy diet.

The best part – she’ll be performing all the exercises in the videos revealed each week, demonstrating proper form and pace!

The format is extremely simple – Month 1 follows the “15+10” format – which consists of 15 minutes of resistance training, followed up with 10 minutes of cardiovascular training. Boom and BOOM! Muscle building and fat burning all combined in under 30 minutes. As your progress, the workouts get more intense and the sessions will increase but just enough and no more. With the intensity high, you’ll be able to increase your resting metabolic rate so you’ll be burning calories even while you sleep!

Don’t forget that diet is important folks – so stay tuned for more information on how to keep this in check!

The program starts Monday March 3rd, 2010. So be sure to check it out and join in on the action. By the end of 12 weeks, you’ll be in shape for the summer! How perfect is that?

The equipment you need is minimal but is essential: You will need resistance bands, a floor mat (if required), a timer or watch and a chair/bench. The resistance bands that Micaela is using can be found here but any type you'd like to use will do. If you have access to a gym, you could use the equipment there as well.

I look forward to hearing from you all and so does Micaela! See you Monday!

Micaela Whitworth is a Canadian model, entrepreneur, fitness trainer, writer,
medical exercise specialist, and former Beauty Queen. She is currently training corporate clientèle at The Mansfield Club as a full-time personal trainer and group exercise instructor. You can find her website here.

And just like that, I only have 4 weeks left as we enter the last stage and the pressure is ON! Now before I start - I just wanted to let you know that I am working on something for the ladies to get in shape for the summer time. I've joined forces with an exceptional fitness trainer and we are going to bring you an effective, fun and amazing workout that will fit a lady's busy schedule. So if you have any lady friends who are "too busy to work out" please pass on this information to them. Stay tuned!

OK, back to it..

For myself, the pressure is at its highest. My last month was not great - I ate horribly over the last four weeks so I know that put a huge dent into my mission for 6 pack abs. That just means I must put in even more work into the last 4 weeks.

For the next few weeks, the rep range changes once again so be sure to add on the right amount of resistance so that it's difficult for you to perform the last 2 reps in the appropriate rep range. The amount of sets will also be increased. No doubt the final leg of this abs program is going to test my will and physical ability. Awesome!

Week 13 Resistance Training Routine:

A1: Ball Pushups (feet elevated, hands on ball, with resistance bands)
A2: Pistol Squat (with resistance bands)
*4-5 rounds

B1: Pushups (feet elevated, with resistance bands)
B2: Weight Swings (you can use backpack, dumbbell, weight plate, etc)
*4-5 rounds

C1: Chin Ups or Chin Ups (with weight)
C2: Squat Up and Downs (with weight)
*4-5 rounds

D1: Recline Pull (wide grip, elbows out)
D2: Hip Bridge
*4-5 rounds

E1: Tricep Extension (with resistance bands)
E2: Stability Crunch (with resistance bands)
E3: Ball Plank (feet elevated, hold as long as you can)
*2 rounds

Rep range is 8-15 reps. Rests are to be limited to 30 seconds max.

High Intensity Interval Training:

During this final stage, we add another round and another session for a total of 6 HIIT rounds, 6 days a week.

Your HIIT session would like this:

5 minute warm up
1 round consists of:
1 minute sprint
2 minute jog
Repeat for a total of 6 rounds
5 minute cool down.

Now on days where I perform both resistance training and then move immediately onto HIIT, I can't keep up to the above HIIT session, so I've shorten it quite a bit. This is what I do on days where i perform both HIIT and resistance training:

1 minute warm up
1 round consists of:
1 minute sprint
1 minute jog/quick walk
Repeat for a total of 6 sprints.

Your workout schedule for the next 4 weeks will look like this:

Monday: Resistance Training + HIIT
Tuesday: HIIT
Wednesday: Resistance Training + HIIT
Thursday: HIIT
Friday: Resistance Training + HIIT
Saturday: HIIT
Sunday: Rest

Remember to always perform resistance training BEFORE HIIT training and not the other way around.

Ok folks, let's get to it!

Click here for Week 14!

What if I told you that cheating on your diet will actually get you better results than not? Absurd? Perhaps, but cheat meals sure sound tempting...

For those that have been following me on my journey to sexy six pack abs, you’re more than well aware of the importance of diet, in addition to resistance and cardiovascular training. I’ve written articles on how to diet, particularly focusing on the glycemic index and insulin resistance by sticking to unprocessed, whole and natural foods.

But for those of you who have been pretty good with their diet and keeping up with their workouts, I am now going to introduce to you a concept that may either piss you off immensely or make you really happy.

The concept is called the CHEAT DAY or CHEAT MEAL. In essence, the idea here is that you get to eat anything you want and/or as much as you want on a particular day of the week. Some people like to make a day of it, eating whatever is in site – cookies, cake, pasta. Others like to keep it to a meal, deviating from their diets but staying relatively healthy – thin crust pizza, lasagna, steak and potatoes, etc.

I would like to let you know that cheat meals or cheat days are more than just a means to keep you on your diet – it actually can help you BURN MORE FAT.

When someone goes on a diet, where they are on a calorie deficit to lose weight, over time, your body goes into starvation mode. This is where the body decreases your metabolism and holds onto fat. This starvation effect is related to your leptin hormone levels. The lower your leptin levels, the more your body kicks into starvation mode.

As your progress with your diet diet, the more your leptin levels drop. Actually, for every pound you lose, it’ll be harder for you to lose the next pound, and so on.

The idea behind the cheat meal is to give your body a shot of leptin – by increasing your calories with a cheat meal, your leptin levels jump up, your body does not go into starvation mode, metabolism increases and catabolic (muscle building) hormones increases.

Now, of course, you do run the risk of gaining weight when you do this, but the net effect of maintaining a good diet for the remainder of the week provides a net loss in fat. That’s what matters.

The cheat meal also helps to prevent a plateau of your weight-loss results. For some, an extended period of a caloric deficit can leave them feeling lethargic and weak during the workouts. Cheat meals are great to give you that boost again.

To get the most out of your cheat meal, you’ll want to make sure that want to deplete your body of glycogen the day before (eg. high intensity interval training/supersets) and then, on the day of your cheat meal(s), to workout (eg. supersets). This will minimize weight gain and take full advantage of the increased leptin levels.

Bottom Line: it’s ok to eat some cake, pizza and mashed potatoes – even if you’re looking to lose weight. In fact, it seems that’s something we should all be doing. Incorporate a cheat meal or cheat day into your diet routine and you will notice some incredible fat loss – go figure! .

This is the last week before the FINAL stage. With only 5 weeks left to go!

The week will emphasize increasing muscle and strength by using a lower rep range. Be sure to increase your resistance so that it is difficult for you to complete the final rep. Keep your heart rate up by minimizing the rest periods. If you haven't noticed already, this is almost like combining cardio and weight training into one routine. Your heart should be beating like crazy after a superset and you should be sweating!

You will notice the workout laid out below uses a fitness ball. In my video I used a balance board, but I would recommend the balance ball as it hits your core much better.




Week 12 Resistance Training Routine:

A1: Push Ups With Resistance Bands (Hands on Ball)
A2: Jump Squat With Weight
*3-4 rounds

B1: Spiderman Push Ups With Resistance Bands
B2: Alternating Jumping Lunges With Weight
*3 rounds

C1: Pullups With Weight
C2: Squat Hold With Weight (for as long as you can)
*3-4 rounds

D1: Recline Pull With Resistance Bands (use more resistance than last week)
D2: Calf Raise With Weight (you can do this on a footstool, ledge, etc)
*3 rounds

E1: Bicep Curls With Resistance Bands
E2: Ball Crunch With Resistance Bands
E3: Ball Plank (hold for as long as you can)
*2 rounds

Aim for 6-10 reps. Keep rests to no longer than 30 seconds.

High Intensity Interval Training:

As laid out in Week 9, 5 rounds of HIIT, 5 days/week.

Remember to keep the intensity high and the form proper!

Click here for Week 13!

What is validation, anyway?
Let's take a look!

Those that work within the supplement industry are aware of the term “GMP” – which stands for “Good Manufacturing Standards.” These are standards imposed by the government that provide a certain level of quality into natural health products. Typically, this will include having written and standardized work procedures, that laboratory testing is performed before a product is released and that certain mechanisms are in place to perform a successful product recall, should the need be required. This is well established in Canada for many years. For the US, however, this is a relatively new requirement.

For companies that are serious about the quality of their product, the next level up would be ensuring that the manufacturing facility is “validated.” Validation is a rather anal, yet necessary, activity that ensures quality is maintained at every critical step of the manufacturing process. Validation can actually reveal problems in the manufacturing process that cannot be captured by testing a final product alone and, more importantly, can help a company improve their quality systems and capture new sales markets.

Validation encompasses the entire scope of a manufacturing company including:

• Laboratory methods: Precision, accuracy, robustness, linearity for a given lab method. It can answer the question “How do I know if the result that measures the amount of vitamin C really is, in fact, vitamin C?”

• Equipment Operation: Installation, operation and performance of the equipment is demonstrated.

• Computer systems: If your company relies on computer system to order raw materials, build product, track production, then you’ll need to ensure that it’s doing it properly and that there are no security issues and that procedures are in place should a crash take place.

• Manufacturing process: Checks are made while the capsules are being manufactured to ensure that they meet all product specifications.

• Equipment cleaning procedures: How do you know if your cleaning procedures are actually cleaning the equipment entirely? What if allergen residues are left behind and can get into the next product being made on that same machine? Validation determines if this is happening.

• Facility Systems: Critical systems such as purified water system, the heating/ventilation system needs to be validated. For example, it is possible that the ventilation system, when designed poorly, can blow active ingredients into another room and get into the machines of another product being manufactured.

Although Validation is not a requirement in Canada or the US for dietary supplement companies, it is essential if the company is serious about the quality of their products. Make no mistake, Validation is not cheap. It comes at a cost in terms of man power, paperwork, slowing down day to day business activities, but the return on investment can be huge. Not only does it ensure your existing customers of the quality of your products, Validation can open new markets internationally, where such stringent quality checks are highly valued, as well as make your company more efficient at what it does and better at what it does.

Bottom Line: Validation is the next level up in quality assurance and can reveal issues or out-of-trend situations where finished product testing fails to detect. Although it’s not required by Canadian or US authorities, it’s something that manufacturing companies should consider if they are truly serious about the quality of their products and safety for their consumers.

When I started Week 1, there were only 6 exercises. I remember almost puking and feeling incredibly weak as I crawled my way through that first workout. Now, at week 11, there are 12 exercises and the number of sets performed have increased. And I'm feeling great as I push myself through it each week.

As with last week, the target reps are lower than previous weeks. This is to build strength and muscle, as well as keeping your body guessing. For some people, it's about adding weight or resistance. Although this is true, I also take the time to focus on exceptional form, slow down the movements, and feel where my muscles are being stressed. I believe this is MORE IMPORTANT than simply adding more weight or resistance.

I was pleasantly surprised, that when i did this, I felt I was getting a lot more out of the workouts even at 6 or 8 reps at a lower weight vs. 10 reps at a higher weight. It's not quantity, but quality.

Ok here's week 11:

Perform all exercises in supersets, resting for NO MORE than 30 seconds between exercises. Note the targeted number of sets to perform, depending on your fitness level.

A1:Pushups with bands (feet on ball)
A2: One leg squat (use bands to assist you)
*3-4 sets

B1: Spiderman Pushups
B2: Deep Squat with weight
*3-4 sets

C1: Pull-up with weights
C2: Squat hold (as long as you can)
*3-4 sets

D1: Recline pull with bands
D2: Forward lunges with weight
*3 sets

E1: Tricep extension with bands
E2: Weighted ab crunch
*2 sets

F1: Side plank right (hold as long as you can)
E2: Side plank left (hold as long as you can)
*2 sets

Cardiovascular Training

Stick to the HIIT routine as described in week 9.

Click here for Week 12!

After another ridiculously hard workout, the last thing you want to do is to take a shower at the local gym locker room. I don't know about you, but the thought of bare feet touching the locker room floor is pretty disgusting, even for that microsecond as you slip into your flip flops . Luckily there's Xsport Swash Body Cleanser and Rejuvenator.

Xsport Swash is designed to cleanse the body without the use of water. You just rub it on and rub it off. It really is that simple, but does it work? Let's take a look.

Product Label and Design:

Label design is rather straight forward. Nothing exciting to look at, but it's clean, easy to read and the instructions are simple to follow. It's steak and potatoes and nothing more. It would be nice if they could make the label more attractive, or perhaps make the bottle look like some of the more common products out there for men, like Gillette or Nivea For Men products. That said, it does the job. It just seems fairly generic and almost, dare i say, private label? Perhaps I'm just being picky? But my intentions are good, I do believe this product is more than just "generic" and should be perceived as such by the average consumer.

Health Claim:

The label indicates that Swash can be used "without water to cleanse and cool your body. It leaves the body with a clean scent and does not dry out your skin." Interestingly, it also says that Swash can be used to relieve the discomfort of insect bites. A visit to their website also indicates that Swash can be used to relieve sore muscles. It seems that this product has variety of uses. Very interesting!

Regulatory Compliance:

This product is sold in the USA but can be purchased online and shipped to Canada. As such, it's not considered a natural health product, so Canadian regulations don't apply. That said, this product is topical, so safety risk is minimized. There are some caution statements on the label, which is a good thing, to remind consumers not to let this product come into contact with the eyes or open wounds. Because there are herbal ingredients in here, such as eucalyptus, tea tree, and alcohol (to name a few), Xsport does not recommend that this product be used by pregnant women. This is all very valuable information. Kudos for keeping these statements on there.

Appearance/Smell:

The lotion itself is clear. Appealing to apply on the skin. The smell is something I also liked. It's a minty fragrance, much like that of mint-chocolate mixed with a little bit of Tiger Balm. There are also some sweet tones as well. Overall, very appealing.

Does The Product Work?

At this time, I can only attest to it's cleaning effect. And yes, this product does work. It's very easy to use too. Simply, give the bottle of Swash a shake, apply to the skin and wipe off with a clean cloth and that's it! It evaporates very quickly and leaves a fresh scent.

My concern was whether there would be any residue after its application, and I can say with confidence that there isn't any residue whatsoever.

I also tried to see if this would help relieve soreness. I would apply it to the muscles and give it a good rub. It did help soothe some of the pain, unfortunately, it's hard to say if that's a result of my own massaging efforts or if that's from the Swash.

One thing I did notice, however, is the fresh minty scent does linger. I would have to give my hands a wash after a while, unless you enjoy leaving a scent trail of chocolate mint and Tiger Balm.

But regarding it's cleaning properties, this stuff is great! And as I applying the Swash lotion, i thought that this would be very handy for camping!

Adverse Reactions:

No adverse reactions such as rashes, dry skin, etc were noted. And just so you know, i normally have dry skin.

Bottom Line: Xsport Swash is a great product that I can quickly apply in the locker room, leaving a fresh scent as I make my commute back home for that "post-workout" shower. Although it's not explicitly mentioned, this product would be something I'd take with me on a camping trip where showers may be hard to come by. Very handy I must say. Now it has also come to my attention that Xsport is coming out with two more products, one called PREP and one called EASE. PREP is designed to be used prior to your workout and EASE is to help joint pain. Can't wait to check these ones out too!

To check out Xsport Swash, click here.

Well I wanted to thank everyone for the amazing words of encouragement after having seen my half way pictures. I hope you have yours, because I want to see them too! If you have any pictures you'd like to share, hit me up at brian@mightygrasshopper.com.

Ok, to week 10 - the rep schemes will change, so be sure to increase the resistance so that it's very difficult for you to do the last two reps.

Resistance Training:

Like last week, all exercises are to be performed in supersets. Note the number of sets to perform.

A1: Push Up With Bands
A2: Close Grip Pull Ups
*perform 3-4 rounds

B1: Staggered Push Ups
B2: Stiff-Armed Lat Pull Down With Bands
*perform 3-4 rounds

C1: Squat and Press With Weight (eg. fill a backpack with books and press that)
C2: Jumping Alternating Lunges With Weight
*perform 3-4 rounds

D1: Calf Raise With Weight (eg. weighted backpack, dumbbell, etc).
D2: Hammer Curl With Bands (keep wrists vertical)
*perform 2 rounds

E1: Ab Crunch With Weight
E2: Plank with Leg Lift
*perform 2 rounds

Aim for 6-10 reps.

Rest for no longer than 30 seconds.

High Intensity Interval Training:

Perform as set out in week 9, performing 5 rounds, 5 days/week.

Click here for Week 11!