The Program:

For Liz Montalbano it's all about results. Her philosophy is:

• if you put in the time and work
• if you focus and program your mind to succeed
• if you are realistic about your successes and failures during the process
• and you surround yourself with a good support system

you will get results. It's that simple.

"I'm committed to getting you results," she says. "My approach is simple - gradual progression overload. It's one of the basic concepts in the fitness industry. Start slow and build."

The rate of how quickly a person should take their fitness program varies from person to person.

"Again, some people are stronger than others," explains Montalbano. "Some have better cardio capacity and endurance than others. Some have more muscle fibers than others. Every person is different. This is why every program is different."

Her program combines resistance training with cardio-vascular training.

"Most people underestimate the power of resistance training and often equate it with "body building" or bulky big muscles," she says. "Many of you, specifically women, shy away from weight training due to fear of 'getting bulky'. This is a complete misperception."

Montalbano says women should know the following facts.

Fact #1 - Women cannot get big bulky muscles unless they use growth hormones. It's that simple. Our bodies are not designed to get bulky.

Fact #2 - The more lean muscle mass you have the more fat you burn.

Fact #3 - Your body will continue to burn fat 24-48 hours after resistance training. This is as opposed to walking or running on the treadmill for 30 minutes where "fat burning" ceases when you stop moving. When you break down muscle fibers, your body has to repair them.

Fact #4 - You begin tapping into your fat stores 20 minutes into your cardio program (treadmill, elliptical, stair master, etc.)

"This repairing process continues well after you've finished training," Montalbano explains. "This is why many of us feel sore the second day after a workout instead of the first."

"You're body is repairing the broken down tissue well into the 2nd day," she says. "And what does it take to repair muscle (or anything for that matter)? Energy!"

She says people need to understand that during minutes 1-20 you're increasing your cardio capacity, strengthening your heart muscle, improving your circulation, and opening capillaries.

"But it's only after 20 minutes that you're body begins to pull from its fat stores for energy," she says. "So if you're on the treadmill for 30 minutes, you're only burning fat for 10 of them. Not exactly what you were going for when you pressed the start button on the machine I'm sure."

This is why resistance training and cardio work best together.

"Combining resistance training and cardio training is the perfect cocktail for obtaining your goal," Montalbano says. "Fat reduction and lean muscle growth!"