How To Train for Strength and Fat Loss with Consistent Results Hi. My name is Johan and I'm Head Fitness Coach at BIG 5 Fitness in Yarraville, VIC. I have been training myself and my clients using the methods in the e-book with great results for years. I wanted to share this so that you don't have to waste your time on long slow boring cardio ever again. Most people hate running, yet it's the first thing they go to when they are trying to drop weight. Running is fine, if you really like it, but it's not going to be the most efficient way for losing fat and gaining muscle. Unless you love running and want to train for a fun run or a marathon, there's no real reason you have to keep pounding the pavement. I have to say this. None of the information in this e-book is to be taken as medical advice. Always consult your GP or Physiotherapist before taking on any highly strenuous training practices. There are risks with any kind of physical activity so if you are not sure how to perform any of the exercises or workouts, see a professional that can help you out or give me a call on 0468 861 910 and we can set up a consultation to get you started. Now that we have said that, let s get to the point. First we ll go through a few things that are common misconceptions and important points. The Fat Burning Zone It's too common that the first thing people go to when they want to lose some fat is running. Or jogging more specifically. Why is this? Well for starters, The Fat Burning Zone myth was up on posters next to the cardio machines in all gyms for a lot of years. Hell, you still see them today. The fat burning zone says that you should be working at about 55-65 % of your maximum heart rate to burn more fat.
So why would you work any harder than that, when that's all you need? Well it's very misleading. It was stated so because at lower heart rates you would burn more fat relative to glycogen. That would have been awesome, you could just lie on the couch and burn fat. However we all know that isn't true. At higher intensities you will burn more calories though. Plus, cardio at heart rate at those low rates have no afterburn effect. So whilst you will burn more calories during the workout than doing weights or high intensity training, it stops when you stop. With weight training and High intensity intervals or sprints your body will continue burning fat long after you stop because of the metabolic disturbance. (EPOC mentioned in an earlier email.) Don't lie on the couch for fat loss. Lift weights, do bodyweight intervals and sprint. Caloric Expenditure In order to lose body fat, you must burn off more calories than you consume. Despit what all diets say- low carb, low fat, high protein, high carb etc this simple rule remains.
Mindless eating. We're unaware of what we eat. I've lost count of how many times I've heard people say "I barely eat anything - I eat like a bird and I still gain weight". You are eating fewer calories than you need and your body is gaining weight? Impossible. This violates the law of thermodynamics. (fancy word hey?) Usually it's a case of not really being aware of how much you are actually eating. Because let's face it - if your body was capable of producing body weight from nothing, then we better get you sent over to NASA or UNICEF immediately - with magical genes like yours, we might just be able to solve the Third World's hunger problem. Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption Fat loss is all about caloric expenditure. We must burn more calories than we take in, and the real key to doing this, as mentioned before, is not aerobic training, which will burn calories while you are doing it, its anaerobic training, which burns calories while you are doing it and increases the calories burned for hours afterwards. In the case of weight training, if we build muscle and keep it, that burns calories forever more. Even when you sleep! The key with anaerobic training is what is known as EPOC. Anaerobic exercise burns a ton of calories while you are performing it. However, the metabolism remains elevated following this type exercise. This is what's called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). The recovery of the metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels can require several minutes for light exercise (aerobic training), several hours for very heavy exercise (anaerobic cardio training), and up to 12 to 24 hours or even longer for prolonged, exhaustive exercise (interval training or circuit weight training). If the metabolism remains elevated for five hours, this would amount to an additional expenditure of 75 calories that would not normally be included in the calculated total energy expenditure for that particular activity. The biggest part of fat burning, which occurs during recovery, is most often ignored when calculations are made for different activities. This is why we don't worry about adding in exercise when we track out calories at BIG 5. Shocking The Body I wrote about lifting weights to build muscle which is fantastic for increasing your metabolism. However it's not actually when we're in the gym that the muscle grow. What actually occurs is a breakdown of muscle tissue and the body adapts by building muscle. The body literally adapts to anything we attempt to do by responding in the reverse manner. Don't drink any water? Your body tries to retain water.
So if you burn a ton of calories doing aerobic training (like running), that same body adapts to aerobic exercise by slowing your metabolism and allowing your body to store more fat. Same body - same system. The biggest problem with aerobic training is that you get better at it. In weight training, as you get better, you add more weight or more reps and there is literally no finish line. In aerobic training, the work required to run 5 miles will become less and less as you get fitter. So to continue to improve you either go further (do more work for the same amount of calories) or you run it faster. Going further kind of defeats the purpose. Is there much joy in running 40 mins to burn the calories you once burned in 30 mins? Going faster involves the same problem. Eventually, the new speed becomes too easy for you and you have to go more intense to get the same benefits. Now as I mentioned, there is no end point with weight training. However there is an end point with aerobic training. You will reach an intensity eventually that will be the end of the aerobic zone. Quite simply going any harder will send your body into the anaerobic zone. So at some point you're not doing aerobics any more. So, if you have to stop doing it at some point to get the benefits you seek why not do anaerobic work to begin with? You don't need to "shock the body" by doing different exercises all the time, what you should do is progress with bigger weights and make sure you lift more and more over time.
Metabolism Metabolizationing. It's not a real word but I think it explains exactly what happens when you lift weight. Or does it? Your metabolism or your metabolic rate is what determines how many calories you burn each day - or how many you need to maintain your current weight. Your metabolism is quite simply how many calories you burn in a typical day. It is affected and controlled by your thyroid, and is largely a factor of your muscle mass. To break it down further - every pound (just under half a kilo) of muscle you put on requires approximately 50 calories per day to maintain. This doesn't take into account the calories burned in training to develop that muscle, or the calories burned in training to keep that muscle - these 50 calories are just the amount needed by that muscle to just sit there. So, half a kilo of muscle on your body requires approximately 50 calories per day. This would be about 18,250 calories per year and mean a loss of about 2.5 kilos of fat during that time. So you can see that gaining and maintaining even a few kilos of muscle in your training program, will assist in burning off a lot of extra fat. The above image is obviously two extremes but the guy to the left is a sprinter and the one to the right is a marathon runner. The sprinter has a lot more muscle tone and will require a lot less time to stay that lean. The marathon runner is skinny, however if he stopped running, he s most likely add on weight as he's got no muscle to help his metabolism. So in order to really get the athletic look we want to develop, the key is not just how many calories we can burn during exercise, it's how many calories we can force the body to burn all the time. Raising your metabolism is the real key in long term fat loss and physique change.
How do you do it? Lift weights and sprint. That s it. Don t complicate things. This is the most effective way, which you have to combine with a flexible dieting approach. This is a separate topic but for fat loss, keeping your calorie intake in a deficit is crucial. I m going to give you a sample program below. The key is to stick to big compound moves that use the most energy and build muscle. The old basics have always been working so I m going to give you a couple of examples below that I believe to be very efficient for burning fat and building muscle at the same time. Yes, you can do it, however you are more likely to be maintaining you muscle mass than adding some one, than you are actually gaining. The key to getting that part right is to have the right amount of calories and macros. For all programs below you should choose a weight that you can safely perform for the prescribed amount of repetitions but it should be a challenging weight. Don t choose a weight that you easily finish 12 reps if that s the number. The last 3-4 reps should be hard to complete, but never go to failure. If you fail on a repetition, drop the weight. Training example #1 Do the moves 1A followed by 1B with minimal rest in between. Rest 30-60 seconds after 1B and repeat 3-4 times. Do the same with the rest of the workout. 1A Barbell back squat x12 1B Dumbbell incline press (30% incline) x12 Rest 2A Kettlebell deadlift x12 2B Barbell high pull x12 Rest Perform the following as a complex, meaning don t put the weight down until you ve finished 3C. 3A Dumbbell push press x12 3B Dumbbell reverse lunge x12 (6/side) 3C Dumbell bent over row Rest Finish the session with some hill sprints or treadmill incline sprints.
Training example #2 This one is a strength circuit. All moves are to be performed in a sequence with minimal rest between the exercises. Rest 60-120 seconds after 1F. 1A Trap bar dead lift x8 1B Dumbbell Snatch x8 1C Barbell push press x8 1D Dumbbell floor press x8 1E Barbell bent over row x8 1F Dumbbell goblet hack squat x8 Training example #3 Ascending ladder. This one gets really tough when you start getting towards the high rep end. Rest only as needed to maintain good form for the moves. First do this as a warm up. Can t do double unders? Just do normal skips. 1A Double under skips x20 1B Jumping pull up x9 1C Double unders x30 1C Jumping pull up x6 1D Double unders x40 1E Jumping pull up x3 Should have your blood pumping a bit now before we get started. Here s the workout. 2A Barbell dead lift 2B Barbell floor press 2C Dumbbell squat clean For round one you perform 2 barbell dead lifts, 1 barbell floor press and 2 dumbbell squat cleans. In round 2 you double that for each so you do 4 dead lifts, 2 floor presses and 4 squat cleans. Work up so that you finish with 20 dead lifts 10 floor presses and 20 squat cleans. You don t have to do the sets unbroken, in fact if you can finish 20 dead lifts on the last round easily, you have probably not used enough weight. There you have it. Simple basic exercises that I guarantee you will change your body. If you are unsure of any of the moves, hire a coach somewhere. You can contact us at BIG 5 Fitness or find a good coach out there that you trust. For more details about our coached programs, email me at johan@bigfivefitness.com.au. Good luck with your training and remember, we always strive to progress. Don t keep using the same weight month after month. Progression will slow down however there should always be some kind of increase in either weight or intensity.
Want to try our small group training program? Click here for a 14 Day FREE Trial. Johan Palsson Fitness Coach P: 0468 861 910 E: johan@bigfivefitness.com.au W: www.bigfivefitness.com.au