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Ask Tom Fitness Q & A
Most Recent Columns
Tom's 3% bodyfat routine: is it only for "supermen?"
 Hey Tom, I just read your article, "The Great Abs Mistake" and you said that to reach the "ripped" 3.7% body fat level you held for some of your bodybuilding competitions, you did cardio 7 days a week for 30-45 minutes per session, in addition to your 4 weight training workouts per week. I have a question about that. if I did cardio 7 days a week in addition to my weight training, I would be totally wasted by the end of the week. My body doesn’t recover from workouts as quickly as it did when I was younger. Don’t your weight training workouts for your legs suffer from doing all that cardio?
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The color code diet. Is it just the lastest gimmick?
 Dear Tom: I’ve seen quite a few diet books lately that are based on the color of the foods you eat, including the rainbow diet and the “color code” diet (sounds like the Da Vinci code, LOL!). Anyway, I’ve been reading your newsletters for a long time and I know how you feel about diet pills, books and gimmicks and I was wondering what you thought about these programs. Is it just another gimmick?
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30 grams of protein per meal limit: Fact or myth?
 Dear Tom: "I know what my approximate protein needs are by bodyweight and activity level (about 180 grams), but the question I have always had is: how much protein can I eat/drink at one time? I have heard that only 30 grams can be digested at a time. I eat 5 times a day like you recommend, but supposing I only ate 3 times a day; that would be 60 grams of protein per meal. Would half of the protein be wasted?"
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Toxins Lurking In Fat Cells?
 Dear Tom: I have been following your Burn The Fat system with good results. I am losing body fat and maintaining my current lean mass. I've noticed that during my calorie deficit phase I sometimes suffer from light headedness and nausea for no particular reason but not during my maintenance phase. I read an article that said toxins from the "typical American diet" (processed crappy foods) get stored inside our fat cells, and when we create a calorie deficit and burn the excess fat in our bodies, we release those toxins back into the blood stream. Any truth to this?
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Am I ready to compete in bodybuilding or do I need to put on more muscle mass?
 I'm 5' 10" tall and 40 years old. I competed in my early 20's, then I got married, had kids, lost the muscle and got fat. I'd given up entirely on the idea of competing again because I'm a hard-gainer ectomorph to begin with, now I'm skinny-fat so I figured it just wasnt meant to be. Then I read your book and thought maybe I could do it again; the only problem is I'm not sure if I have enough muscle mass. At my height and weight, what do you think Tom, am I ready?...
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1,000 sit ups and crunches a day and still no abs
 What should I do to get abs?" is still one of the most frequently asked questions out of the 30,000+ emails I receive every month. Although the question is often phrased differently, the answer is always the same: Seeing your abs, or any other muscle group, for that matter - is almost entirely the result of having low body fat levels. You get low body fat from proper diet (as well as cardio and strength training), not from doing hundreds of ab exercises every day...
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The Incredible Shrinking Fat Cell: What Really Happens When Body Fat Is Burned?
 Earlier this week someone in our discussion forum wrote, "I haven't "LOST" any fat... I know EXACTLY where it went! I got a chuckle out of that because I "got" the joke, but truth is, most people really don't know how fat cells work, where the fat goes when it's burned or how the fat burning process takes place. It's actually quite a complex biochemical process, but I'll explain it as simply as possible, so by the end of this article, you'll be a "fat burning" expert!
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How Do Bodybuilders And Fitness Models Get So Lean?
"Tom, Why do bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to go through a 12 week 'transformation' prior to every event instead of staying 'lean and mean' all the time? If they practice the secrets exposed in your book, they should be staying in shape all the time instead of having to work at losing fat prior to every competitive event, correct?"
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Body Wraps And Waist Wraps - The Difference Between Losing Fat And Losing Inches
Body wraps and rubber waist belts have been around for ages, claiming to take off fat and inches. What few people realize is that “fat” loss and “inch” loss are not one in the same. If you don’t know how to tell the difference, you could be falling for one of the oldest fitness scams in the book.
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How do you get rid of loose skin after losing a lot of weight?
If you're extremely overweight or if you've been extremely overweight in the past, then you know that getting rid of the excess pounds is only one of the challenges you face. Once the fat is gone, you are often confronted with an equally frustrating cosmetic problem; Loose skin.
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HMB: Is this supplement worth the money?
In the late 1990's HMB was hyped in the magazines as one of the hottest muscle building supplements to hit the bodybuilding and fitness scene.There were even some studies that looked promising. Although it looked good on paper, most people who tried it found that it didn't live up to the claims, so it lost a lot of popularity points. Nevertheless, HMB still sells to this day and we continue to hear about new studies from time to time. Has anything changed or is HMB still a question mark at best?
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Careers in fitness: where to get certified?
Personal training and nutrition consulting are outstanding and rewarding careers to be involved in today. The demand is enormous and is only going to increase. Nothing replaces experience, but getting an education that includes a widely recognized and/or nationally accredited certification would be a good first step towards breaking into the field. The problem is, how do you know where to start?
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What about alcohol? How does drinking fit into a fat burning program?
A couple drinks on the weekend and or on special ocassions probably won't have any major impact on your fat loss results. A drink or two on ocassion is a part of enjoying life for many people, and it's important to find lifestyle balance for the sake of your long term happiness and success. However, if you're serious about fat loss I do not recommend drinking every day - even one or two - and here's why...
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