People often ask us, "Why do you have a target for your logo?"

The four quadrants of the target represent the 4 food groups: milk, meat, fruit and vegetable, and the breads and cereals group.

The foods are arranged on the target so that the "best" foods are in the center. "Best" meaning lowest in fat and sugar and highest in fiber. So as Covert says, "aim for the bullseye!" and you'll be right on Target!

The 4 rules of Target Eating that will never ever change!

Eat a diet that is:

1. Low in fat
2. Low in sugar and
3. High in fiber
4. Balanced and varied

Similarly, the target stands for what Covert calls, "The 4 Food Groups of Good Exercise"

1. Aerobics
2. Cross-training
3. Wind sprints
4. Weight lifting

To learn more about The 4 Food Groups of good Exercise see the Smart Exercise Video and the Smart Exercise Book.

When people first learn that covert is pushing this course for everyone, from very overweight to just slightly out of shape, they exclaim, "you can't be serious! I thought just competitive athletes did this heavy stuff!"

Traditionally, athletes were the only ones who used these training techniques—and guess why? Because doing them made them faster, fitter, tougher and healthier! And they'll work for you too! The three ways to improve fitness are to increase:

1. Intensity
2. Duration
3. Frequency

But the quickest and safest method is by increasing the intensity of your workouts, which can be accomplished by adding cross training, wind sprints, and weight lifting to your normal aerobic routine.

Cross training:
By alternating the aerobic activities you do, you:

1. Challenge your body to learn a new movement
2. Avoid injury from overuse/ repetitive motion
3. Decrease boredom thus increasing your desire to stick to it!

Wind sprints:
Using wind sprints to add intensity means exercising just a little bit harder than usual. For example—if you're a walker, you walk your normal pace for 85% of the time, but just for a moment you walk at a more intense pace, so you get puffing. Or walk up a hill instead. Then return to your previous pace. Just remember, intensity is a relative term. It means pushing yourself beyond what's comfortable for YOU.

The beauty of wind sprints is that they can be added to any exercise, cycling, swimming, walking, rowing—you name it!

The real secret to increasing fitness with wind sprints is what you do after the sprint—you must force yourself to recuperate while still under stress. It's the recuperation process going on inside your body that improves fitness.

Weight lifting:
There are several good reasons to weight lift.

1. Bigger muscles can improve appearance—making the body shapelier and firmer.
2. Weight lifting makes your muscles stronger so you can do the aerobic portion of your program more intensely.

But the number one reason:

3. To get the metabolic after effects. More muscle burns more fat!

During the rest period after exercise (48 hours), the muscles go through delayed muscle soreness, DMS, that sore, achy feeling. All kinds of chemical products are coming out of the muscles as they slowly repair. The waste products from the "damaged" muscles get flushed out and new stuff needs to be replaced. So your body rebuilds with fresh, new protein. It is this process which builds more muscle and creates fat buning enzymes.