FAT LOSS – Hard isn’t it?!
How long have you been trying to get in to that bikini girls? Or boys, how long have you honestly wanted that six pack?
Honestly?
I wanted it for ages (the bikini obviously).
I read all the magazines. Men’s Health/Fitness. Girls you’ll read Cosmo and other girlie mags, that claim to have the latest celebrity diet, getting you that banging body you’re after.
Sound familiar?
Does it ever happen for you?
Does it *insert expletive here*.
Cardio Cardio Cardio
So you get to that point, you’ve dropped a bit of weight and start to see positive changes.
Nice right?!
Then what?
Usually, people get more cardio added. Either by themselves, or their trainers.
More activity = more fat loss.
That’s correct, however, it doesn’t mean its right.
So what do you do?
Here’s our guide to how we set up training for fat loss – making it easy for you to apply.
Things to consider:
- How many hours you have to train.
- Stress levels.
- Workload.
- Kids?
- Social Life.
- Sleep.
- Activity outside of gym.
- Nutrition.
- Menstrual Cycle (ladies, and men depending on how you look at it!)
- Previous history – with exercise and nutrition.
Factoring in 5 x a week lifting, plus 2 x cardio for a working mum of 2 kids, doing 40 hours a week in London, is just not going to work.
So, using four examples, I will define how I would set a training plan up.
Becky, 40, Mum of 2 kids, one of which is under 14 months old. She works 30 hours per week. Busy lifestyle and not too much time to train, or rest.
Compare with Jeannette, housewife, with 2 kids at school all day. Busy household, having to get the kids ready for school and the like. However, has 6 hours in the day time free, to set up her training and nutrition.
Becky will train 3 x per week lifting weights in the gym (oh big and bulky? Yeah right!), 1-2 x per week cardio, which is by choice. She preps her food 2 x per week and takes to work with her. If she misses a session, its no big deal. She’s getting results week on week.
Jeanette, will train 4 x per week lifting weights in the gym, 1 x cardio if she wants to, but will go out for long walks and make sure she’s being active outside the gym.
Tony, 42, owns his own business, with 4 employees. He runs the whole show and does 35 hours of physical work per week, plus all the admin with it. Has 2 children. He will train 3 x per week lifting and 1 x per week cycling or more, depending on how he feels.
Ben, 22, Student. He has 16 hours of studying in the classroom, a part time job. However he is young and has good recovery. Nutrition is on point. He will train 4 x per week lifting, x 2 cardio by choice.
Arnie trained 2 x daily. Only because that’s all he did. Train and eat.
Needs and requirements
As you can see, every single person is very different, even if they are of the same age.
Their requirements are completely different and the level at which they train at is also very different.
Frequency is something to be considered. Training too much when already facing a stressful lifestyle, will lead to burnout and fatigue.
Some coaches feel that overtraining is not a thing. I think under recovering (something I am very guilty of in my training), is very much a thing.
In the end
What you need to do with a training plan, is ensure its progressive in nature.
Going in to the gym, with no structure, no progression and no end goal, will leave you back at square one before you know it.
Training too much, too soon will leave you fatigued and demotivated.
Ensure you’re getting a training plan from the right place, that suits you and your needs.
Fat Loss comes down to getting the right balance of nutrition, lifestyle and exercise. Not necessarily in that order either.
