If you read my blog post last week, you would know that using exercises for the big muscles such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, presses, rows, and pullups are crucial in your fat loss plan. These types of exercises require lots of energy to be performed, therefore, burning tons of unwanted body fat.
Now, what happens when you take two of these big movements and use them in unison with each other? When two of these bang for your buck exercises meet, they become a combination or hybrid. A combination exercise is two or more exercises performed with a distinct pause or separation between a movement.
Another similar term is a hybrid exercise, the only difference being that there is no separation or pause between the movements. Combination or hybrid movements are extremely metabolically demanding due to them being total body lifts. These types of exercises take your fat loss program to the next level. Before trying these combinations perfect each exercise individually as they require a higher level of coordination.
Here is a list of 4 fat loss combinations/hybrids to utilize in your program.
Front Squat to Push Press
The front squat to push press is a great exercise for working the glutes, quads, and hamstrings of the lower body and the anterior deltoids (front part of your shoulders) and triceps of the upper body. As an added benefit, the core and upper back muscles play a big roll in stabilizing you to stay upright during the front squat portion of the movement. This combination is one of my favorites for fat loss, as it still allows you to go heavy and control a substantial amount of weight. Start off by performing 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions.
Exercise description: Start with your feet a little outside shoulder width apart and a barbell held on the front part of your shoulders. Initiate the movement by pushing your hips back as if sitting into a chair. Keeping your chest and elbows up, squat down until your upper thighs are parallel to the ground. Once you reach the bottom of the squat movement, push through your heels and stand tall while simultaneously pressing the bar up overhead until your arms are fully extended.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4WPuGgf34Y
Romanian Deadlift to Row
The romanian deadlift or RDL to row is a powerful exercise that hits just about every muscle on your backside. Major muscles being worked in the lower body are the glutes and hamstrings while in the upper body the lower back, lats, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, and biceps. This exercise is extremely beneficial because many people predominantly work the mirror muscles and often neglect the posterior muscle groups. Again this movement can be performed with a heavy load once perfected. Start out with 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions.
Exercise Description: Start out holding a barbell with an overhand grip at arms length against the front of your thighs, with your feet shoulder width apart. With a slight bend in your knees initiate the movement by pushing your hips back, hinging at your hips and keeping an arch in your lower back. Lower the bar until it reaches just below your knees, then pull the bar back toward your stomach pinching your shoulder blades together. Straighten the arms back out and pull yourself back up to the start position squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybP8ufJnua0&feature=relmfu
Forward Lunge to Single Arm Press
The forward lunge to single arm pressis a highly effective movement that requires much leg, upper body pressing and core strength. Unilateral exercises are excellent at correcting strength imbalances between left and right parts. Also, sincethe load is offset on one side of the body, the core has to compensate to keep the body upright and from tilting to one side. Finally, unilateral exercises require more time to complete which helps to burn fat. I recommend this exercise for 10-12 repetitions.
Exercise Description: Starting with a single dumbbell on your right side held at the shoulder, step forward with your left leg dropping your right knee towards the ground while simultaneously pressing your right arm overhead. Push through your left heel and lower the dumbbell back down to the shoulder standing tall back at the start position. Complete all the repetitions on one side then switch to the other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ3AQhT6h4s
Reverse Lunge to Single Arm Cable Row
The reverse lunge to single arm cable row is a tremendous low level exercise that builds the glutes, hamstrings, lats, and upper back. Once again, since this is a unilateral exercise with an offset load, the core is being challenged now in a rotational manner. This exercise works great when performing for higher repetitions, the 12-15 range.
Exercise Description: Set up a cable machine at about chest height with a single handle. Grab the cable in your right hand with your arm fully extended. Step back with your right leg dropping your right knee towards the ground. Push through your left heel while simultaneously pulling your right elbow back squeezing your right shoulder blade back and down. Finally, at the top of the movement be sure to bring the hips all the way through squeezing your left glute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKqpBwU8noA
When designing a fat loss program there are many effective tools to utilize. Combination exercises are extremely metabolic making them an incredibly efficient tool to get you results in a shorter period of time. Implement these combinations into your routine and you will reap the benefits.
Who wants less body fat?
Most likely, everyone would like to have less body fat and sport a six pack, lean defined legs and arms, and a firm back and chest.
Unfortunately, most people don’t give themselves the best shot at achieving those goals right out of the gate. The type of fat loss training people perform most of the time revolves around aerobics, body part split routines, isolation movements and long rest periods between each set.
With an approach like that there’s a better chance at winning an ice sculpture contest in the middle of the Sahara desert. If your goal is fat loss this is not the most efficient way to train.
Here are 5 battle tested tips to get you the lean and defined physique you want.
Use total body workouts
When it comes to training for fat loss, total body resistance training workouts should be at the cornerstone of your fat loss plan. Utilizing total body workouts, will allow you to burn the most amount of calories both during and after training. This type of training will boost your EPOC or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, which means recovery of your metabolism to pre-exercise levels. In doing so, this will mean your metabolism is elevated to a higher rate even after you are done training. That just increased your odds of getting a 6 pack from one in a million to, so your saying there’s a chance? Additionally, a total body routine will promote building muscle, which in turn will increase your resting metabolic rate allowing you to burn more calories at rest. Holy Smokes!
Use multi-joint exercises
When picking exercises for your total body routine, utilize multi-joint exercises that incorporate multiple muscles at the same time. This will give you the most bang for your fat loss buck. By choosing these types of exercises you will increase the total calories burned during the workout session. The big bang for your fat loss training buck exercises are squats, deadlifts, lunges, rows, pullups/pulldowns, presses, and pushups. These types of exercises are extremely metabolically demanding and require a lot of energy to be performed. Hence, when performed in a superset or circuit manner, these exercises will leave you huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf.
Interval train
In the landmark study, Tremblay et al “Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism”, researchers compared 20 weeks of steady state aerobic training to 15 weeks of anaerobic interval training. The aerobic group burned a total of 28661 calories compared to the interval group who burned 13614 calories during exercise. When the researchers measured how much subcutaneous fat was lost, the interval group lost 9 times more fat than the aerobic group, despite training 5 less weeks and devoting less total workout time each session. Interval training can be characterized as alternating periods of high intensity with periods of low intensity work. This type of activity can easily be performed on any piece of cardio equipment. You can also mix it up and get creative by using bodyweight exercises such as pushups, squats, squat jumps, jumping jacks or jumping rope as your mode.
Use incomplete rest periods
Using incomplete rest periods of 60 seconds or less between supersets or circuits will help increase total calories burned. Also, by decreasing your rest periods, you increase your total workout density, or simply, your total work performed in a given time period. Pairing upper and lower body exercises will help to minimize muscular fatigue and help increase your total work performed each training session.
Vary your lifting tempo
Lifting tempo is used to control and measure the time of exposure to a weight in a given repetition. You can increase or decrease the total time under tension of a load by altering the speed in which you perform the exercise. Lifting a weight slowly or lifting a weight fast will create a significantly different training stimulus to the muscle. Varying tempos will bring new adaptation to the working muscle which will be beneficial for fat loss. When measuring tempo for fat loss, don’t overcomplicate things by counting seconds on each repetition, just look to vary the speed at which you perform the lift periodically to create a new stimulus.
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When training for fat loss, you don’t need to add extra time to your workout. Using these effective protocols will help to maximize both your fat loss and time spent. Make the necessary changes to your current routine and begin to melt your unwanted body fat.
Nobody likes a flat butt.
Having a well developed pair of glutes can break necks and build self confidence at the beach, in the mall, or wherever your escapades may take you.
There are many areas of focus that need to be taken into account when building the optimal pair of glutes. Here are some simple but effective tips to follow that will take you from flat to shapely.
1. Lift heavy weights.
Lifting heavy weights will recruit your high threshold motor units which have the most potential for growth. Women, don’t let this scare you into thinking you will become muscle bound. As I’ve talked about in a previous post, women will not get big and bulky by lifting heavy weights. If you want to build a shapely butt, you must increase your weights and challenge yourself. Lifting your exercises for 3-5 sets in the rep range of 6-8 will get you your desired result.
2. Use the most effective exercises.
Squats, deadlifts, lunges, step ups, hip thrusts and their variations are the most effective exercises to build a better butt. Focusing the majority of your training on multi-joint exercises to build lean muscle in the glutes will help give your the butt the shape you want. As above, you must apply a stress to your muscles that it hasn’t endured before by using heavier weights, turning you from Florence flat behind into dammmmmnnnnnn Flo, look at the butt on that one.
3. Sprint!!
Sprinting is one of the best exercises you can perform for overall strength, power, and decreasing body fat. Also, sprints have a great side effect of building a pair of tight glutes. Sprinting will greatly help the often troubled and dreaded gluteal fold. This is the portion where your upper hamstring and glutes meet. Err on the side of caution when starting to sprint, as it is an advanced activity that many will not be ready for right away. A great and equally effective option to start out would be to perform hill or sled sprints as this will provide less impact on the joints and muscles until they are ready for flat ground.
4. Focus on maximal glute contraction on each repetition.
Performing your lower body exercises by driving through your heels will help activate your glutes. In addition, with each repetition really focus on bringing your hips all the way through at the end of the movement on each exercise emphasizing a glute squeeze. Research has shown that having a mind/muscle connection and concentrating on the muscle being contracted will get you better results rather than just going mindlessly through the exercise just to get it done.
5. Stretch your hip flexors.
Having tight hip flexors will inhibit the contraction of your glutes. This simply means if you have tight flexors from sitting at a desk all day, driving, or eating, they will turn off your glutes preventing them from activating properly while performing your exercises. So next time you see your boss, tell him the boys call you Nikki no butt because he has you seated for long hours pounding away on the keyboard with no breaks. A simple stretch to help combat this would be to kneel down on your right knee, with your left knee up and foot flat on the ground. Now, staying tall with your upper body, tighten your right glute and shift your hips forward feeling the stretch on the front part of your right hip. Hold for 30-60 seconds and repeat on the other side for 2-3 repetitions.
There are many aspects to consider when developing a program to build a better butt. Some take priority over others, but I’ve covered the basics here. Remember, as with anything, the work must be done to reach your desired result. Now, go ahead and put these tips into practice and fill out your jeans.
In my twelve years of training, gym etiquette has always been a pet peeve of mine.
There are many things that people do which you would think are common courtesy; however, there are always those few who believe they are the exception to the rule.
I’m not sure why some of the simplest acts of common courtesy are so hard for some people to abide by.
Is it because some people are misinformed? Or have they just never been taught correctly? Or maybe some people just don’t give a damn. Whichever it is, there are some very simple changes that many people can make that will go a long way in making the gym a cleaner, friendlier, and motivating atmosphere for everyone to create great lifestyle habits through their physical fitness.
Let’s take a look at five different types of people that get first team all state honors for their gym etiquette.
To lead off we have, Mr. or Mrs. Hyperhidrosis, better known as “The Sweater”. The Sweater, commonly douses the weight benches and machines with their wonderful bodily secretions. Most often, this act of kindness leaves the bench like a Wham-O slip n’ slide, ready for the next participant to land generously feet first into the rack of dumbbells. Not only can this become dangerous, but who wants to bath in someone else’s kiddy pool of sweat. Now, I am not against sweating, as I am advocate of working hard in the gym, but it wouldn’t be too hard to carry a towel around the gym with you and wipe down the machine you just used. Sometimes, the hand towel just doesn’t cut it if you’re a larger individual: in this case, pack a shower towel. Finally, if you really want to be a great citizen, grab the spray bottle of sanitizer and give the bench a nice spritz to make it fresh and clean.
Batting second we have Mr or Mrs. “I Didn’t Share My Toys When I Was A Kid,” aka the equipment hog. When asked how many sets the equipment hog has left, it’s never less then seven or for a piece of cardio equipment no shorter than an hour. I understand that you’ve read my recent blog on progressive overload by adding a set each week to an exercise, but be courteous and let someone else work in with you. Most of the time, it will not ruin your pump or throw off you rest period. When the gym gets busy, if someone asks to work a set in, wipe the snooty look off your face and allow them to get one in. If you’re on a piece of cardio equipment for more than an hour switch to a different mode and change things up so someone else can get sexy.
In the on deck circle, we have the social butterfly, saying what’s up, giving pounds and striking up a conversation with everyone that walks by. In no way am I saying to not be friendly to your fellow gym goers, but there is a fine line in being friendly, saying hello and getting your workout done in an efficient manner. Not only are you not getting the maximum benefit for yourself, you alter the training result for the person you engage with. An easy tactic to utilize and not get caught up in a conversation with this person is to say hello while leaving you headphones on. If you do not take your earpiece out, most often they know you are here for business only.
Batting in the clean up spot we have, Mr. or Mrs. “OMG, You’ll Never Guess What He or She Did Today,” aka the cell phone yacker. There probably isn’t a pet peeve of mine that drives me crazyier than the person who talks on the phone their entire time at the gym. I understand that most phones double as music devices, but no cares about why your boyfriend dumped you, who you hate at work, or how much you can’t stand your in-laws. The only reason for picking up your phone or making a call in the gym, should be for extreme emergencies. Most of the time these are the people complaining that they never see any results in the gym. These people would be better off focusing on what they’re actually doing in the gym and get some health benefit, instead of bragging about their workout on their next date.
Rounding up the line up, is Mr or Mrs. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!. You guessed it, the grunter. Most often you can mistake this person for someone giving birth to a pair of baby seals. The grunter blesses the entire gym during every rep and every set they do with their deep guttural sounds. You should not mistake these noises for someone working hard because it can easily be done without bellowing at the top of your lungs. Under certain situations, a grunt can help you get that last rep out of a set; however, if it’s more of a nuisance to others rather then really pushing yourself, just tone it down a notch.
I could go on about some of the other gym fouls, but these are the most common ones that came to mind. My rant is now over, and I hope you enjoyed it. So, feel free to leave me a comment about your favorite act of proper gym etiquette. But most importantly, stay sharp and get your work done in the gym!!
All too often, many people write off their fitness program when they get injured..
While a broken bone, surgery, pulled muscle, or any other injury that alters daily living can be both mentally and physically demanding, it should not be your ticket to languishing on the lazy boy while hammering down Ben and Jerry’s “Chubby Hubby”.
Depending upon your injury, there are many exercises and activities that you can still do to keep yourself active while recovering. With that in mind, you should be even more tuned into proper nutrition to combat the possibility of not maintaining a routine exercise program.
Let’s look at a few scenarios, so you can get the picture and be confident that you can still create a training stimulus and burn some calories while being “Moe with the gimpy leg” (name that movie).
In the first example, let’s look at someone who has an injury to their arm or shoulder. At first glance, you may think that upper body training is out of the picture, but performing strength work with the opposite arm also known as the contralateral strength training effect, can lead to the injured arm gaining 25-50% of the strength gains acquired by the working arm. So, continuing to strength train with the opposite arm will not only still allow you to keep active, but will in turn help you regain strength in the injured arm once healed. Secondly, your legs are not broken, so train them. Your legs cover more than 50% of your body’s total muscle mass and in training them will lead to tons of calories being burned. Hammering home a ton of leg work will in turn help the rest of your body gain muscle and strength. If you don’t feel comfortable performing resistance training while you’re injured for fear of exacerbating your injury, then get some extra cardio in. The cardio, will not only keep you moving, helping to prevent unwanted weight gain, but it will also facilitate blood flow leading to better circulation that can potentially increase the rate of healing.
For the second example, let’s take a look at someone who has injured a muscle in their lower back. Injuring your lower back can be a very debilitating injury, but should not leave you bedridden watching Zach Morris ditch over Kelly Kapowski for the school nurse. Bilateral exercises such as squats and deadlifts may need to be taken out of the picture, but single leg variations such as lunges, step ups, and hip extensions can be a great substitute. Switching to single leg exercises will benefit you in a few ways. First, single leg exercises will put less stress on the lumbar spine. Next, most people have an imbalance of strength between legs, so this will force you to strengthen your legs independent of each other, ironing this out. Lastly, the single leg work will help increase your hip mobility in your hip flexors, which are often very tight in most people from sitting in front of the computer all day. Having tight hip flexors can create a downward pull on the spine leading to back pain.
In the last example, let’s review someone who has injured their ankle or knee. As mentioned above, working the opposing limb will prove to be of great benefit from a neural strength standpoint. Normally, I am not a fan of many seated exercises because most people sit all day, but in this case you can utilize them to get in some of your upper body strength work. In doing so, you can create a training effect without risking further injury to your bad wheel. There are plenty of variations of seated shoulder presses, lat pulldowns, seated cable rows, and dumbbell bench presses that can be utilized to build muscle and burn a boatload of calories.
At first glance, injuring yourself may seem like you have to avoid the gym and plant your caboose on the disabled list next to the mascot whose jumping through the ring of fire trick didn’t go exactly as planned. But, with a little creativity and a bit of planning you can still achieve success in the gym while you’re healing. So, if you happen to injure yourself, don’t just write the gym off and mail your fitness in because plenty of useful work can still be done.
The myth that lifting heavy weights turns women into “manly women” has been around since the years of tight oddly colored spandex outfits, goofy headbands, and ridiculous bunched up socks.
Many women have been brainwashed by circulating magazines and other misinformed exercisers that if they lift heavy weights they will become muscle bound, looking like their male counterpart.
Today, I will dispel this blasphemous statement.
The first reason why women who lift heavy weights will not become big and bulky is because most women do not possess enough of the muscle building hormone called testosterone. Although there are always exceptions to the rule, most men have ten times the amount of testosterone flowing through their bodies. With all this testosterone, you still hear men complaining that they can’t gain weight or any kind of appreciable muscle. So, even if some men can’t gain any muscle despite having more testosterone than women, how likely do you think it is that you will become Betty beefcakes?
Secondly, most women use light weights for a high amount of repetitions. Doing so will not elicit enough of a stimulus on the muscle to create the shapely and sexified look that most women strive for. Using weights for fifteen repetitions that you could easily lift for fifty repetitions will not change your muscles. What gives your muscles that defined look is your body fat percentage, combined with the amount of muscle you possess. So if you have a layer of flubber covering your muscle it will not have the defined or so called “tone” you are looking for.
Now you’re probably asking what will give me the look that I want? Lift heavier weights for fewer repetitions. Did someone ask why? The reason is to build more muscle.
Hey, you big meatball, didn’t I tell you I didn’t want man muscles? Yes, but the heavier the weights and the more you challenge yourself with the weights that you choose, the more fat you’ll burn and the more muscle you’ll build. In return, your muscles will show better shape in the mirror. Omg, woooooweeee!!!
Lifting heavier, more challenging weights, combined with diet and interval training will help you achieve the sexy and lean body you want. You must choose a weight that challenges you and puts your muscles into discomfort if you want your body to change. Don’t think that because you are a women, you don’t need to be strong. One of the leading female fitness professionals, Rachel Cosgrove says, “You have to sweat like a pig, to look like a fox.”
So, put down the pink weights and remember, if you’re not asking “why am I doing this?” or if you feel like you don’t want to quit towards the end of your set, then you are most likely not working hard enough.
Nutrition plays a tremendous role in our overall health, energy, appearance, and cognition.
With the amount of information that is available on the internet and in books, it is easy to get overwhelmed. One can become extremely confused about what is correct and what is incorrect.
What diet should I follow? What changes should I make? What time should I stop eating? Do I do a follow a low carbohydrate diet? Should I eat 3 meals or 6 meals daily? Do I eat the same meals but smaller portion?
If we’ve accomplished anything with all this information, it’s how to confuse as many people as possible and increase our obesity epidemic. Not exactly the outcome that we wanted.
What we need to do is simplify everything into more manageable steps, so that people can actually follow and enjoy the results from the advice they get.
Here are seven reliable nutritional general guidelines to follow.
1) Eliminate sugary sodas, fruit juices, alcohol, and calorie containing drinks. Drink adequate amount of water and green tea.
- Preferably, .5 - .7 times your body weight in ounces per day. This means, if you weigh 160 lbs, you need to drink 80-112 ounces each day. Many of you will look at this number and say, how am I going to drink all this water? Then, after completing your mission the first day you will say, how do I get my projects done at work, if I’m performing shuttle runs back and forth to the bathroom all day. Don’t worry, it will take just a little time for your body to adjust to your new habit, but after awhile your body will get used to it. Green tea has an exorbitant amount of antioxidants that will fight free radicals and can help give your metabolism a boost for extra fat burning.
2) Eat a little bit of protein with each meal.
- Having protein with each meal will help keep you full. Also, when you have protein along with carbohydrates, your insulin levels won’t spike as high as they would if you ate carbohydrates alone. You want insulin levels to stay as steady as possible throughout the day if your goal is fat loss. Examples:
A) For breakfast, eat a few cage free Omega-3 rich eggs with your oatmeal or cereal.
B) For a snack, try plain greek yogurt with crushed walnuts and blueberries.
C) For lunch or dinner, add grilled chicken, turkey or fish to your salad.
D) For a late night snack, have a friend or family member tie your hands behind your back, blind fold you, and lock you in the hallway closet. Sounds crazy, but you’ll thank them when you put your bathing suit on this summer.
3) Eat smaller meals more often.
- By eating smaller meals more often, you will help keep your insulin stable throughout the day and prevent yourself from overeating at your next meal. If you go into your dinner “starvin like marvin”, you’re more likely to eat with two forks instead of one, not come up for air and miss out on your honey bunny’s story about how magnificent her day was. Of course, we don’t want the latter to happen if you want to keep your honey bunny as happy as could be. Oh no I don’t, oh yes you do, no I love you more, hehehe!
4) Eat more fruits and vegetables.
- This one goes back to what our parents told us when we were little ankle biters. Adding more fruits and vegetables is a great way to get in a boatload of nutrients, fiber, and antioxidants all while taking in less calories. If your goal is fat loss, beware that some fruits are higher in sugar, albeit natural sugar. Regardless, you don’t want to take in too many fruits if you’re looking to decrease body fat.
5) Eliminate processed foods and eat whole foods whenever possible.
- Switching from eating foods out of a box or in a bag to fresh foods is very important. Eating processed foods can wreak havoc on your health and increase inflammation in your body leading to a boatload of problems down the road. Stick to eating lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and some grains. A good rule of thumb is to grocery shop along the perimeter of the store.
6) Keep a food journal.
- Research shows, that if you keep track of your nutrition by recording it in a journal, you’ll eat 30% better. Even more powerful is having a coach, training partner, friend, or family member for accountability. The simple act of writing down what you ate and being accountable to someone goes a long way. Start tomorrow by writing down what you eat, what you drink, and what time you had it. You will find yourself making far better food choices than before.
7) Stay on track 90% of the time.
- Nutritionist Dr. John Berardi, has come up with a compliance grid that shows if you stick to your nutrition 90% of the time, you will still see great results. Depending on how many meals you plan on eating during the week will depend on how many meals you can splurge on. For example, if you plan on eating 5 meals a day, times 7 days, that’s 35 meals for the week. So if your nutrition is on track 90% of the time you can enjoy 3.5 meals to splurge. A splurge is not an all-out eat feast with no regard for women or small children. An example would be, maybe you want to have a glass of wine, try a piece of dessert, or eat a cheese burger.
These seven guidelines have been battle tested by successful nutritionists and many of my clients. Don’t go crazy in trying to change everything at once. Make just one change at a time and master it. Research has shown that if you change one habit at a time there is an 80% success rate. If you change two habits at a time there is a 30% success rate.
Do yourself a favor and become comfortable in accomplishing one of the above guidelines and then move on to the next. After following the above guidelines for 12 weeks, you will see that you have formed new habits that will stick with you.
We want these habits to stick. So be patient, and get started now!
Most people come to the gym to lose weight and reduce body fat. My job as a fitness professional is to help my clients achieve the best results in the shortest amount of time. With that said, I am going to debunk one of the biggest fat loss myths, “THE FAT BURNING ZONE!”
What is the fat burning zone? The so called fat burning zone is the zone in which you keep your heart rate, usually between 50 – 65% of your maximum heart rate. Yes, when you train at lower intensities or in a lower heart rate zone you burn a greater amount of fat calories.
The problem is that this is not the most efficient way to burn fat. What this means is the little fat burner program on your piece of cardio equipment is only partially correct. What the program doesn’t tell you is that you burn the greatest amount of fat calories when you are lying on the couch flipping through the channels while debating whether or not you’re going to watch the next rerun of Two and a Half Men. With that said, I’m pretty sure we all know how many calories we burn when we are watching T.V. Not.. Winning :(
Scientifically, you burn almost 100% of fat calories when you’re body is at a respiratory exchange ratio of .71. Respiratory exchange ratio, or RER, is the ratio between the carbon dioxide released to oxygen consumed during nutrient metabolism. *
Alright wise guy, enough with the scientific mumbo jumbo.
Simply put, when you exercise at lower intensities the calories you metabolize for energy are predominantly from fat stores. Once you increase the intensity of exercise you are tapping into the carbohydrate or glycogen stores for energy. In the fat loss wars, whether or not you are burning fat calories or carbohydrate calories is irrelevant. You want to burn the most calories possible in order to boost your metabolism and decrease body fat.
One of the biggest fixations is that people focus too much on the amount of calories they burn in each exercise session rather than during a 24 hour period of time. If you could choose between a long low intensity steady state cardio session that burned 300 calories in 45 minutes during activity and none afterwards verses a higher intensity cardio session that burned 150
calories in 20 minutes and an additional 50 calories per hour up to 38 hours afterwards. Which would you pick? I’ll let you do the math.
The types of activities that will get you the best results are metabolic resistance training or interval training. Both forms require short bursts of intense work followed by incomplete rest periods. This type of training elevates your metabolism to burn calories at an increased rate, thus burning more fat throughout the day….Winning!! :)
Let’s recap what you might have just learned.
1. We burn the most fat calories when we are sitting on our buttocks.
2. The fat burning zone exists, but is incredibly inefficient in the war on fat loss.
3. We must use higher intensity exercises to create a metabolic boost to burn fat at an elevated rate post workout.
So go apply this knowledge and show your flubber who’s the boss.
*Wilmore, Jack H., Costill, David L. (2004) Physiology of Sport and Exercise, 3rd Edition,
“I Can’t” is one of the most disempowering phrases any human being can speak.
Is it just an excuse for not even trying to get better results?
By telling yourself that you can’t do something, you are giving up before the going even gets tough. So let’s look a little deeper into why you would even consider giving up before taking some action.
Are you afraid of failure? If you are afraid of failure, consider looking at it this way. Flip your mindset and view not succeeding simply as a form of feedback. You can get both negative and positive feedback, with the negative being failure. You can either allow negative feedback to get you down or you can use it as information to alter what you have just done and improve the next time you try.
Do you believe that you are not smart enough? If that sounds like you, simply dedicate some time to learn and improve in that area. With technology as advanced as it is these days, there is no way you can tell yourself that you can’t find the information you need. With the click of a mouse you can get an immeasurable amount of resources to educate yourself.
Do you feel physically that you are incapable? If you feel you can’t perform something physically, hire a coach to teach you how to develop the strength or skill needed to accomplish your task. Hiring a coach whether it be in the gym, on the court, or in the field will hold you accountable to your goals and fast track your results.
Did someone tell you that you couldn’t? If this is the case you might consider removing this person from your life. Surrounding yourself with negative people will only bring you down. An environment that is negative will bring low energy and negative thoughts to your mind. Surround yourself with like-minded, motivated people that will encourage you to reach your the next level.
So the next time you stumble onto a path of resistance, don’t sell yourself short by uttering the words “I can’t.” Believe in yourself and believe that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to. If you don’t believe in yourself then why should anyone else?
Put in the work and keep focused on getting what you deserve. Just remember, there will always be bumps in the road to success. Will you stop after the first one and give up, or move forward to overcome the next?
Do you go to the gym and perform the same exercises, sets, reps, and rest periods looking for a different result? Are you tired and bored of spending hours in the gym and getting little or no results?
I’m sure you’re not the only one who feels this way.
Many people spin their wheels in the gym because they neglect to use one of the most important principles in fitness, the principle of progressive overload. Progressive overload is a gradual increase in stress placed upon the body during exercise. In layman’s terms, “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.”
The human body is a very smart piece of machinery. If you place a stress on the body, it knows to adapt to that stress and repair itself stronger than before. An example of this would be, you go to the gym and perform three sets of ten pushups. After the first or second time of doing those three sets of ten pushups, your pecs, triceps, and shoulders may be sore. What you did was break down the muscle tissue.
So, when you go back to the three sets of ten pushups the third time around, your body has already been exposed to that stress and you will not get the same training effect that you once did. You see the human body doesn’t want to change on its own. Through progressive training you must force the body to change.
There are four ways you can progress the demand on your body and create that new stimulus for it to change.
1. Increase the weight on a given exercise
The first and foremost way to force the body to change is by increasing the weight on a particular exercise. For example, in week one, you perform three sets of twelve with twenty five pound dumbbells. In week two, perform three sets of twelve with thirty pound dumbbells. You may be thinking, only five pounds? Yes, we want to be gradual. If we increase five pounds per week, after the fourth week you would have increased the weight on that particular exercise by twenty pounds.
2. Increase the number of repetitions with the same weight.
Sometimes, you get to a point where increasing the weight is no longer an option. Instead, increase the number of reps you perform. For example, in the same exercise as above, instead of performing three sets of twelve reps with thirty pounds, perform three sets of thirteen. Again, each week must be incremental, so by the fourth week you will be performing three sets of fifteen reps with thirty pounds.
3. Increase the number of sets with the same weight.
Another way to further increase the demand on the body and force it to change is increasing the number of sets performed with a given weight. This is the more advanced of the four options because you will be adding an additional twelve reps in the following weeks. Increasing the volume in this manner can be more demanding on the body.
4. Decrease the rest period between each set.
By decreasing the rest period between each set, you will be increasing your workout capacity by doing the same amount of work in less time. Decreasing in increments of five or ten seconds will suffice each week. Performing three sets of twelve reps with thirty pounds with sixty seconds rest in week one. Then, week two, perform the same with only fifty seconds of rest.
When it comes down to making your body change, gradual progressions each week can make a big difference in the long term. Give each one of these methods of progressive overload a shot for 4 weeks and then change to another one. Don’t try them all at once, as it will be too much.
The idea is to get a little better each time you’re in the gym. You don’t have to increase every single exercise each week. Keep in mind that in this case less is more. Pick out just a few and push yourself one step closer to where you want your body to be.
For many individuals with the goal of reducing body fat, the number one thing that comes to mind is “cardio” training. Cardio training in reality means spending endless hours on the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike, bored to tears. That sounds about as cool as getting a flat tire in the rain on a deserted highway. When you get out to see if you have a spare, Big Papi the 18 wheeler pummels you with a tidal wave from the same pothole that blew your tire. Now I am an advocate of “some kind of exercise is better than nothing”, but unless you want to spend 6 hours a week in the gym and get minimal results, this article is not for you. Aerobic training albeit great for the heart and cardiovascular system, gets a D in the world of fat loss. Aerobic training alone will help you lose weight but not the right kind of weight. People who only aerobic train tend to lose muscle along with body fat making them look like Sally the shapeless wonder. Muscle loss can also lead to decreasing your metabolism which is exactly the opposite of what you want to be doing with your efforts. Another thing about aerobic training is that after repeated bouts your body gets better at it. This in turn means, the same amount of effort it once took to run a mile and burn about 100 calories will take you longer. Your body becomes more efficient and forces you to have to run longer for the same desired effect. Now if that doesn’t sound like banging your head against the wall not expecting a headache I don’t know what does. As a fitness professional, it is my duty to get people the fastest results in the shortest period of time. So here are the top three things that you must do to get the body you have always wanted.
1. Nutrition
The number one factor in reducing body fat is what you put in your mouth. You can not “out” exercise a terrible diet. If you are flooding your body with excess calories from drinks like sodas or fruit juices and foods like breads, pastas, cereal, bagels, fries, burgers, chicken fingers, pizza, etc, your chances of losing body fat are about as good as winning a butt kicking contest with only one leg. You must start to choose more whole food sources and less processed garbage. A steady diet of lean protein, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, and some grains will provide you with fuel to burn up the excess body fat that surrounds you muscles. Lean protein like fish, chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, greek yogurt, undenatured whey/casein protein powder, and low fat organic cheeses should be a staple in your diet. The carbohydrate sources that you should choose from are fruits and vegetables first and then whole grains. Fruits to keep on hand are apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and cantaloupe. Vegetables to be consuming on a daily basis should be spinach, broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, cucumbers, celery, kale, green beans, and cauliflower. Complex carbohydrate sources to choose from are sweet potatoes, quinoa, Ezekial or sprouted wheat bread, millet, wheat berries, and steel cut oats. Healthy fats that should be added to your diet are olive oil, coconut oil, nuts such as almonds and walnuts, avocado, natural peanut butter, and almond butter.
2. Resistance Training
Resistance training takes precedent over any type of cardio training in a fat loss program because it maintains and builds lean muscle. The more lean muscle you have the faster your metabolism is when your body is at rest. The faster your metabolism is the less body fat you will possess on your stomach, hips, and thighs. Now the type of resistance training you do is very important as well. The classic bodybuilding style of one muscle group per day needs to be left behind if you want to become lean and mean in a timely manner. You should strength train your total body every weight training session using free weight or body weight exercises that work multiple muscles at the same time. Examples would be pushups, squats, pull ups, and lunges. The manner in which you perform these exercises is very important. Using super sets and circuits of multiple exercises with no rest in between will get your metabolism fired up and blow torch body fat. You should look to weight train 2-3 times per week to create the desired results.
3. Interval Cardio Training
Interval training is described as periods of high intensity work followed by periods of low intensity work. Training in this manner has been research proven over and over again to burn 9x’s more body fat than regular aerobic training. The reason interval training burns 9x’s more fat is, it raises your metabolism not only during exercise, but also afterwards. Studies have shown that after an interval workout your metabolism stays elevated for up to 38 hours post workout. That means that your body is burning calories at an elevated rate long after you stopped working out. The easiest example of interval training would be to get on a stationary bike. After performing a five minute warm up, turn up the resistance and pedal as fast as you can for 30 seconds. Once the 30 seconds is up, take the resistance down, pedal nice and easy for 60 seconds. Perform in this manner for a total of 6 rounds then cool down for 5 minutes. You can perform 2-3 interval training session per week either after your weight training workouts or on opposite days.
If your goal is to lose body fat, slow long duration aerobic training should not be your first choice. Adding the three steps above into your fitness and nutrition arsenal will no doubt get you faster results in a shorter period of time. Only thing left is to get the ol’ caboose off that chair and start putting what you just learned into motion. Make it happen.
Goal setting is something very important that should be done in all aspects of life. The simple act of writing down your specific goal and setting a deadline is the reason I am writing this blog today. For about two years, I have procrastinated and put off creating a fitness blog for the simple fact of not taking action. All that matters now is that I am here and dedicated to bringing you the latest in nutrition, fat loss training, and corrective exercise.
Now back to goal setting and how powerful it can be. If you do not set specific tangible goals, you will have no sense of where you would like to end up or how to get there. Once you have set a specific goal (i.e. lose 10 pounds), you must set a deadline. Without setting a deadline you are giving yourself the freedom to allow things to get in the way of your goal. A goal with a deadline would be to lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks. Now you have committed yourself for the next 6 weeks to losing 10 pounds. Next, you must create a plan to achieve your goal within the given time frame. An example of a plan to lose 10 pounds in the next 6 weeks would be:
- I must work out 4 times per week doing 2 weight training workouts and 2 interval cardio workouts a week.
- I must reduce simple carbohydrate intake (i.e. pastas, breads, cereal, candy, chocolate, etc) and eat more lean protein (i.e. turkey, fish, eggs, and chicken.)
- I must drink .5 – .7 times my bodyweight in ounces of water per day. If you weigh 150 pounds, multiply 150 x (.5 – .7) = 75-105 ounces per day.
- I must get 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night.
Now that you have a plan set, this will make it much easier and clearer for you to follow and accomplish your goal by your deadline. Now get a pen and paper and get to it!
May 10th, 2012
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