Too many trainees I see miss the forest for the trees. They are approaching their training programs all wrong, and stagnating as a result. If the goal is fat loss, then metabolic optimization should be our primary focus. Let me explain. Your metabolic rate, or "metabolism" is the rate at which you burn calories in a given day. From a fat loss perspective, the more calories we expend per day, the better. Far too many people I see in my gym look the absolute same as the day the walked in the door (the same cannot be said of ANY of my clients). If they were to follow some basic principles, all that could change.
Big Weights - Big Workouts
To increase your metabolism working out with weights is a must. First off, the more muscle you carry on your frame, the higher your metabolism. You should want to stimulate as much of that muscle as you can. This is because muscle is metabolically active, and requires energy to exist. So the goal when working out should be to cause as big a "metabolic disruption" as possible. The more muscle you stimulate, the bigger the disruption, the bigger the metabolic increase. For example as session of 10 sets of deadlifts would cause a greater metabolic shift then a session of 10 sets of bicep curls. Deadlfits use almost your entire body, while curls only use the bicep muscle (give or take). The net effect will be increased calorie utilization over the long term.
Consistent Eating Habits
Eating regularly increases your metabolism, while skipping meals actually lowers it. Eating multiple times per day is an easy way to keep your metabolism humming along. For example, you will increase you metabolism more if you consume your daily allotment of calories over 5 meals than you would if it were only on 1 or 2 meals. Here's food for thought: Sumo wrestlers only eat one meal per day.
Do Not Drop Calories Too Low
Your body is extremely smart, or exceptionally stupid depending on how you look at it. Your body probably does not know that you would like to drop a few pounds. If it did, it would not create so many road blocks making that endeavor so difficult. As you drop your calories, your body responds by lowering the rate at which your body uses those calories. It is a survival mechanism preventing you from starving to death. Let's say your metabolic maintenance level is 3000 cals, and you drop your intake to 1500 cals in a effort to drop some weight. Your body will soon respond by lowering your maintenance level to meet the new lower calorie intake level. Now what do you do? Drop your calories again? Well that sucks. The better way is to not drastically drop your calories and take some of the other measures in this article to make certain your metabolic rate stays nice and high.
Do Not Over-Do Cardio
We have had it beaten in to our heads that cardio is the be all and end all of fat loss. But I am here to tell you it ain't so. The people I refereed to earlier in the article, that look the same as the day they walked in my gym- they are the ones who come in and do nothing but extended cardio work. Here's my beef with cardio- it does NOTHING to increase metabolism- get that? NOTHING. It's only saving grace is that is burns calories while you are performing it – but big deal really, so does brushing your teeth. How many calories you expend during a workout session (whether it be a cardio or weight session) is almost irrelevant. What matters is how many calories it expends in the long run. When you complete a traditional cardio session you are done burning calories the second you step off the treadmill. This is not the case with weight training. You continue to burn calories as a result of the workout for days and days (no joke). So what do you do instead of traditional cardio? Interval training. Interval training simulates the same metabolic response as a weight training session, and revs up the metabolic rate.
EFA's
It seems I cannot write an article without espousing the benefits of fish oils (EFA's). Well here is another one to add to the list. Recent studies have shown that steady intake of EFA's can increase metabolic rate by 400 cals per day. That is just freaking amazing. If you are not already taking EFA's what is it going to take? Do they need to do your laundry or cook dinner too? Just take them.
That's it for this time. Be well and I will talk to you all next time. If you have any questions I am looking to do a Q&A in an upcoming newsletter, so drop me an email at Joshua@carterfitness.com.
Joshua Carter
The Body Transformation Expert
Carter Fitness Training
http://carterfitness.com
818-766-8888
No comments:
Post a Comment