Fat Loss Made Simple
Yo.
My last blog was a little offensive and not very well thought out, written when I had no sleep and I would like to apologise.
I don’t want to go in to it, its done now, so I’m moving on.
Anywho, I just wanted to write something real quick that I thought people might find quite helpful in their quest to lean out, especially as its now bikini/t shirt wearing weather if you’re living anywhere other than the UK of course.
My style of training is bodybuilding, I would say more new school than old, progressive overload with periodisation and then some added fun higher intensity stuff. I like to read and implement a lot of what I read in to my training and my clients also, and so far, so good generally. Seems to be working. I have lost a rather portly 15kg since January (lazy christmas) and my clients are all losing fat well too.
Now clearly, as we ALL know, that losing fat is down to being in a caloric deficit and eating the right foods that suit you (IIFYM crowd won’t agree totally, but just pacify me here guys 🙂 )
However, people think that they have to do hours of endless cardio to get leaner.
Effing Treadmill
I do see a number of people using traditional SS cardio or steady state, where they perhaps jump on the treadmill and go for a jog for 45 minutes, walk etc. That’s cool, it burns calories and that’s the point.
Me personally? Not a chance. That would bore the balls off me to be quite honest. Hat’s off to those who do though because that is some mental toughness I don’t possess!
I’ve spent some time in the last few years playing around with things to find what gets me/my clients leanest.
I’ve bought a weighted sled, used a prowler, mountain biked, sport, ran, rowed, Tabata’d, done circuits you name it.
Efficiency
I am not here to criticise any form of training, there’s no point. I think if you’re training, then great. I am here to just give a small breakdown of what I have been doing and what I think works really well and provides the most fat loss “Bang for your Buck”.
Barbell Complexes – This is where you stick a very small amount of weight on a barbell, and perform multiple movement patterns for repetitions. Usually can get it done in around 12-20 minutes depending on the program.
Review: Excellent. Brutal at times. Usually by round 3 I am wondering what the hell I am doing as my muscles are absolutely screaming at me and my lungs feel like they are going to explode out of my chest. I like to use Alwyn Cosgrove’s Complex. You can find a small list here:
HIIT Sprints – Interval sprints of between 10-30 seconds with varied rest periods. I like to use 200m sprints, and I do this on a treadmill (contradiction eh!) at the end of a complex workout. I whack the treadmill up to around 20km/h and do around 4-5 200m sprints.
Review: Excellent. Horrible. Sickening. Makes you look weird. However, I find these extremely effective and hard work. Mentally challenging to get yourself “up” for doing them, but they work. ‘Nuff said.
Sled Sprints – I bought this mainly for my clients benefit! They are so hard. You basically stick some weights plates on the sled and sprint around 40 yards.
Review: Erm. Well they work, I personally think they can cause injuries as any imbalances can be found out, lots of strain on the hams. Yet, if performed safely you will get an insane conditioning workout. I think the Prowler is probably better if you have access to one.
Olympic Lift circuit – Ok, so I like to wind up Crossfitters. They are very easy to wind up. You just mention safety to them and they go nuts. It’s amusing. Personally I see a lot of merit in a lot of their training, some, ie kipping pull ups, not so much see here!
However, I like to do conditioning circuits very much based on some of their methods.
One I’ve been doing lately that I really like is:
Power Cleans with 60kg x 10
Box Jumps on to a high box x 10
Skipping for 1 minute.
As many rounds as possible.
Review: Well, I made it up so I like it. It’s not that optimal because your legs can get a little tired before your lungs, but it works for me. You could try swapping out the power cleans for something a little different. Even like a Bench Press for example. That would still be a decent heavy circuit.
Mountain Biking – this is obviously something I enjoy personally and isn’t really a standard bodybuilding staple. But hell, it burns fat and fires your metabolism right up. At least 1600kcals gone for a 92kg bloke in 90 minutes.
Review: Excellent. Hurts when you fall off though. But the hills and trails provide unintentional interval training.
So there you have it. You don’t have to just get on the treadmill or cross trainer for hours on end. You can be a lot more productive doing other activities.
