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In the last couple of posts I have spewed forth rhetoric on the most important factors of fat loss in the order of their importance.  For those of you that know me realize that I don’t just make suggestion blindly, these are factors that are not only backed up by my real world experience (over 21,000 hours of training) but by scientific research.  I don’t think anyone will dispute the value of the first 2 factors…nutrition.  Though some may differ with what constitutes “good” nutrition, it is however, the keystone of a fat loss plan.  Factor 3 is strength training, but not just body building or isolation type programs, but highly metabolic strength training incorporating full body routines done in super set, tri set or circuit format.  The key with strength training is that it raises metabolism and promotes muscle maintenance or growth.  Factor #4 includes…

4. Activities that burn calories and elevate metabolism, but don’t necessarily promote muscle growth/maintenance.  For you physiology buffs these are exercises that have increased calorie expenditure and raise EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption).  In essence we’re looking for exercise that continues to burn calories even after the workout is finished, but the exercise itself doesn’t help us maintain our “metabolic engine”…our muscle.  The most common form of this is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  In order to properly stimulate the metabolism to increase the EPOC, intensity is the key.  These are not grandma’s intervals where you walk the curves and run the straight a ways on the high school track.  These are intervals in which it’s an all out sprint.  I often tell my clients they need to sprint like their being chased by a bear.  If the thought “I don’t know if I can finish”, doesn’t cross your mind, then you’re not working hard enough.  It needs to be maximum intensity.  But realize it only for a few minutes.  I don’t know about you, but 20 minutes of high intensity intervals works better in to my schedule and sounds easier than going for a 60 minute run.  And even if you enjoy going out for a steady state run statistics prove it to be inferior to intervals for fat loss.  A 1994 landmark study pitted 20 weeks of endurance training against 15 weeks of interval training.  The results were astonishing.  Calorie for calorie the “interval training” group lost 9 times more subcutaneous fat than the “endurance group”!  Even if they lost the same, intervals would still win out…the same fat loss in three quarters the time.  I don’t care who you are, that’s more efficient.

To my endurance athletes that are training for a marathon or triathlon hoping to lose weight your choosing a less effective option.  It’s like trying to shovel snow with a garden spade versus a 5 horsepower snow blower (man I wish it would snow) it’s just going to take longer.  Remember intervals are 9 times more effective in burning body fat!  My suggestion would be to stop your endurance training for 8-12 weeks and really attack your fat with clean nutrition, metabolically charged strength training and HIIT.  Once you’ve reached your fat loss goals resume your endurance training leaner and more focused on performance not weight loss.  Another option would be to start every training session with a 20-30 minute HIIT program followed by 20 –30 minutes of steady state exercise to prepare for your event.  This would be a win/win for fat loss and endurance training if your event were relatively short (90 minutes or less i.e.: 10 k runs, mountain bike races or sprint triathlons).  This is due to the fact that your training sessions would never go over 60 minutes.  It’s hard to train for a marathon or Olympic distance triathlon with 60-minute workouts.  If you train for longer than 60 minutes, you need to worry about peri workout (during the workout) nutrition and post workout nutrition to mitigate muscle loss and improve recovery.  This can slow down the increased fat burning with the increased EPOC from the intervals.  Or in layman’s terms it washes out all the benefits of intervals.

In previous posts (The Presidential Workout, and Anti-crunch 6 pack workout) I outline some cardio routines.  One of my favorite routines is “Tabatas”.  This is where you perform a cardio exercise at as high intensity as you can maintain then rest for 10 seconds.  Repeat this 30-second interval 8 total times for a total of 4 minutes.  Rest for a minute and repeat for up to 4 times.  You can choose to do the same exercise for each 4-minute “Tabata” or choose a different exercise for each Tabata.  Another less intense version would be to rotate exercises for each 20-second interval. Another options is 30/30’s.  Same idea as Tabatas except on a 30 second work to 30 second rest split.  Some exercise options include high knee stationary running, jumping jacks, lateral bounds, split jacks (jumping jack’s crazy cousin), skiers, cross-country skiers, and everyone’s favorite burpees.

The beauty of this form of cardio is that you can do it anywhere…your living room, garage, basement, a park.  If you are committed to a commercial gym you can even do these on traditional cardio equipment.  If done on a treadmill make sure you can jump off and on the treadmill (straddling the track) for your rest keeping the treadmill at your sprint speed.  Practice this skill at slower speeds first before you perform it at your max speed.  Otherwise you’ll end up getting tossed around like a rag doll…cue video.

You can also do it when you’re short on time.  People often tell me they don’t have time.  We all have the same amount of time.  I train some business professionals that work 50 –60 hrs a week juggle civil or church responsibilities, a family and still get their exercise done.  It’s not about time it’s priority.  If you only have 10 minutes, do 2 Tabatas.  If American Idol is a higher priority than exercise do Tabatas during the program or even during the commercials.  So come on people no more excuses…just get it done.  Till next time with Factor #5…

Stay Fit

Mat “the trainer”

Mat Gover BS, CSCS and Pam Gover CPT are Orem fitness boot camp instructors, personal trainers, and real world fat loss experts. They also own EXL Fitness & Performance, a personal and group training studio.   To book Mat to speak at your Utah Valley company, club, or organization please contact him by email at matgover@mac.com or by phone at (801) 836.7185. For a free one-week trial to his Orem boot camp to experience the best personal training in Utah Valley please call Mat or drop by the gym (1623 N State St, Orem right next to Costa Vida).