Lactic Acid Training The Most Effective (and Hardest) Fat Loss Training Methods You re Not Using

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1 Lactic Acid Training The Most Effective (and Hardest) Fat Loss Training Methods You re Not Using By John Romaniello Fat loss training programs are a dime a dozen; and although most of them seem to be moderately effective, they re all pretty much interchangeable. That is, while they certainly have different exercises, set and rep schemes and even theories behind them, they all work on the same basic principles: create energy deficit in the immediacy through calorically demanding workouts, and in an extended sense through Excess Post- exercise Oxygen Consumption, or EPOC. That means that most fat loss workouts are effective through two means: energy expenditure and elevated metabolism. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with this it s better, of course, to be attacking fat through two pathways rather than one. However, if we agree that two is better than one, it s a short step to see that three is better than two. The third manner to speed up fat loss is hormone manipulation or rather, using certain modifications to training to elicit certain desirable hormonal outcomes. Enter lactic acid training: the most effective way to utilize weight training for fat loss and hormone manipulation. Unlike metabolic resistance training or circuit training both of which essentially focus on a particular exercise order and short rest periods lactic acid based programs are a different beast altogether. Building on the aforementioned concepts, this type also employs explicit tempo manipulation to encourage a desired effect: produce more lactic acid. 1

Specifically, your attempt to lift weights requires the conversion of glucose into contraction and movement and the oxygen demands exceed your body s ability to meet them.

2 What is Lactic Acid? Of course, this merits some discussion on what lactic acid is, and why the goal is to produce more of it. Without getting too scientific about it, lactic acid is a chemical waste by- product that is created during certain chemical reactions that exercise creates. Specifically, your attempt to lift weights requires the conversion of glucose into contraction and movement and the oxygen demands exceed your body s ability to meet them. As glycogen breaks down in the absence of oxygen, it creates both Adenosine- 5'- triphosphate (ATP) and Pyruvate*, which in turn creates hydrogen ions. Ultimately, this reaction creates lactic acid *Fun little side note. Contrary to popular belief, it is Pyruvate, not lactic acid, which causes the not- so- pleasant burning sensation that we associate with the approach of muscular failure. On overly scientific discussion of the production of lactic acid is a bit past where we need to be to explain how to do it, so I ll skip ahead to WHY we do it. One of the cool things that happens when you product lactic acid is a corresponding increase in Growth Hormone in fact, you can think of it as a direct relationship: as lactic acid is created, the production and release of Growth Hormone increases. This is important because Growth Hormone is THE single most powerful substance your body can naturally produce to directly increase the rate of fat burning and muscle gain. 2

3 The above that may seem to suggest that the sole reason to create lactic acid is to produce Growth Hormone; however, interestingly, that is NOT the only reason to perform lactic acid training. Of course the increased production and production and release of growth hormone is, obviously, of great benefit; however, it s also extremely important to not that lactic acid training in and of itself great for fat loss and depletion of muscle glycogen because it is so demanding. And, like nearly any fat loss protocol, because of the demanding nature of the exercises, you ll experience the afterburn effect: keeping your metabolic rate elevated for up to 48 hours after training, helping you to burn fat well after you leave the gym. So, how do we do it? While nearly any kind of exercise can (and does) produce lactic acid to some degree, the goal here is to produce as much as possible. This is where tempo manipulation comes into play: you see, lactic acid is produced to a much greater degree during the lifting (concentric) portion of exercise than the lowering. In fact, the discrepancy between the two is so great that is serves as the foundation for the entire training protocol. Because we know that more LA is produced when we lift and not so much when we lower, the idea is to EXTEND the amount of time it takes to LIFT a weight, and DECREASE the amount of time it takes to LOWER a weight. So, for most exercises, you ll be lifting the weight(s) over a period of 3 or 4 seconds, and lowering quickly but safely usually about 1 second. By doing this, we extend the concentric time under tension and drastically increase the production of lactic acid. 3

4 Not to mention making the workout extremely hard. An important thing remember when performing lactic acid workouts is that because you are lifting slowly, you MUST reduce the weight quite a bit below what you are normally accustomed to. Generally, I recommend a decrease of 20-25% below your normal lifting weight. That is, if you normally use 100 pounds for an overhead press, drop it down to about pounds, at least for the first few workouts. As you get the hand of it and your body adapts, you ll be able to bump it up as you go. Lactic acid isn t easy, but it is one of the most effective fat loss training methods around, from both an immediate physiological and a long- term hormonal perspective. 4

5 Workout Set A Set-up: Perform A1, A2, A3 in order, resting 10 seconds between exercises and 45 seconds between circuits. After your last circuit, rest 30 seconds and proceed to workout set B. This circuit is performed 3 times. Exercise Sets Reps Tempo A1) Alternating DB Chest Press 3 12 per arm 3 seconds up, 1 second down (hold the non working arm locked out) A2) Dumbbell Goblet Bulgarian Split Squats 3 15 per side 3 seconds up, 1 second down A3) Bent-over Lateral Raises seconds up, 1 second down After your last circuit, rest 90 seconds and proceed to Workout Set B Workout Set B Set-up: Perform B1, B2, B3 in order, resting 20 seconds between exercises and 75 seconds between circuits. After your last circuit, rest 30 seconds and proceed to workout C. This circuit is performed 3 times. Exercise Sets Reps Tempo B1) Rotating Dumbbell Row seconds up, 1 second down B2) Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift seconds up, 1 second down B3) Lumberjack Press seconds up, 1 second down After your last circuit, rest 60 seconds and proceed to workout set C Workout Set C Set-up: Perform C1 and C2 alternately, with no rest in between. Exercise Sets Reps Tempo C1) Garhammer Raise seconds up, 1 second down C2) Dumbbell Goblet Squat 2 10 Drop down, 4 seconds up 5

6 Exercise Descriptions: Alternating DB Chest Press: Lie on a bench and press both dumbbell upwards. Keeping your left arm locked out, quickly lower the dumbbell in your right hand to the bottom. Press that dumbbell back to the starting position over a period of 4 seconds. Repeat for the left arm while keeping the right arm locked out. Alternate in this fashion until you have completed 12 reps with each arm. Dumbbell Goblet Bulgarian Split Squat: Holding a dumbbell goblet style, elevated one foot behind you. Keeping your weight centered on your working foot, drop quickly to the bottom of a squat. Return to the starting position over a period of 3 seconds. Repeat for 14 more reps, and switch legs. Rotating Dumbbell Row: Hold two dumbbells, bend at the waist until your torso is roughly 30* from the floor. Make sure to hold a tight arch in the lower back. Starting with the dumbbells in an overhand grip, slowly row the dumbbells upwards over a period of 3 seconds while twisting your hands outwards; when you complete the rep, you should be in an underhand grip. Quickly lower the weights to the starting position. Perform 12 reps. 6

7 Lumberjack Press: Hold a barbell lengthwise with a hand- over- hand grip in the center. Bring the barbell up onto your right shoulder. Press the bar slowly up and over your head over a period of 3 seconds, the come quickly down onto your left shoulder. Push back up over a period of 3 seconds, then come quickly down to your right shoulder. Think about knighting yourself with the bar. Garhammer Raise: Lying Flat on your back, bring your legs into the air so that you are bent 90* at the waist. This is the starting position. Over a period of 3 seconds, contract your abdominal muscles and pull your hips and butt off the floor. This is a very short range of motion; only pull until your lower back starts to come up. Move quickly back to the starting position and repeat. 7

8 About The Author John Romaniello is one of New York s most highly respected trainers, and one of the industry s most sought after fitness authorities. Working with professional athletes, actors, and models in the gym Roman also runs an online coaching program through which he helps people all over the world achieve incredible results. He is the author of Final Phase Fat Loss, one of the best selling fat loss programs available on the Internet, as well as countless articles for Men s Health, Men s Fitness, Oxygen, SHAPE, TMuscle.com, LiveStrong.com, and others. For more information on Roman or any of his articles, you can check him out at his website 8

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Workout 1 Workout 2 Workout 1 Workout 2 Rest Workout 1 Rest

60 Day Workout Plan 1 Workout Schedule Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Workout 1 Workout 2 Workout 1 Workout 2 Rest Workout 1 Rest Summary of workouts Workout 1 Workout 2 1. Cardiovascular-Walking/Jogging