When it comes to losing fat through exercise I have found strength and conditioning to be by far the most effective. Here are 5 principles that I base all my workouts on for fat loss:
1. One of your biggest enemies when training for fat loss is adaptation. The longer you do the same thing the more your body adapts to it and fat loss slows right down. If you challenge your body with fresh exercises then muscles and nerves are forced to work harder to adapt to the new movement. Adaptation to the new movement increases the turnover of proteins in your muscle fibres as you breakdown and build up muscle. This constant “breaking down and building up” takes energy and so raises your metabolism, burning calories for hours, even days after your workout. So remember, the more you continue doing the same exercise the less benefit you get from it. If you are someone who exercises frequently then your body adapts quicker than someone who if fresh to exercise so ensure that you make changes more often.
2. Unfamiliar exercise usually stimulates a greater stress response from your “Flight or Fight” nervous system. This stress response results in a quickening of the heart rate and breathing, boosting adrenaline which opens up blood vessels and pushes more oxygen to the muscles and also quickens muscle contractions. All this takes valuable energy and so burns more calories. Again following a similar workout week in, week out, results in more efficiency which equals less stress hormone.
3. One stress hormone that is released is Cortisol. Cortisol has a number of jobs but one is the breakdown of muscle tissue for energy. Muscle tissue breakdown takes energy and although it may initially sound worrying it is not permanent, it can be reversed by eating or drinking carbs and protein after your workout. You produce the most cortisol by using your largest muscles and having shorter rest periods between exercises. These types of workout also generate the most amount of growth hormone response, which helps muscles grow and also helps your body use fat for energy. So to recap, Cortisol happens during the workout and breaks down muscle tissue, growth hormones are raised after your workout and build the muscle tissue back up.
4. During your workout you want to stimulate as many muscle fibres as possible so go for complete full body workouts every time. Why use the energy from 3 muscles when you can use it from 600?. Either alternate between exercises or perform them all in a circuit. For ultimate fat loss and complete inefficiency, as mentioned above, alternate exercises that have nothing to do with one another eg. Kettlebell Swings followed by Push Ups.
5. Heavier weights challenge your muscles more so don’t be afraid to increase the poundage. Think about all those times you carry a suitcase or child around and yet only pick up a small 2 kg Dumbell. Keep the rest periods down to a minimum and work up to lifting some challenging weight.
Of course when it comes to fat loss, exercise is only half the battle, the other half is nutrition. However, get exercise and nutrition working together and you will see some amazing results in only 30 days or less.
You can see all the workouts that I use and my nutritional plans in my Personal Training Secrets
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