Just this morning a guy walked into my gym. He lives around the corner from my West Hills location and he was interested in training. He belongs to a 24 Hour Fitness or some other big chain facility, but wanted to see some actual results. He told me he spends most of his time on the treadmill and then hits some light weights – because his goal is fat loss. I told him whether he ends up training with me or not, he needs to flip that ratio- focus on the weights and spend only a little time on cardio. He thought I was joking. He asked why, only cardio burns fat right? Well I went into my normal spiel about weights, cardio fat loss and metabolism. I gave him a brief glimpse into the Carter Fitness philosophy of fat loss. When I meet with him later this week he will get the full treatment, but it got me thinking…
I have been at this a long time. I have done almost everything wrong that you could possibly do: I trained to much, too long, not enough, too much cardio, not enough cardio, ate too much, ate too little blah blah blah. I wasted a lot of effort with little or no return. So I'm not all that surprised when I see someone who has just accepted bad information as gospel. I did it too. But now it is my job to give the best information possible to help others avoid the pitfalls of fitness.
I'm glad I did all my screwing up in the gym when I was young. I'm older and wiser now (ok, debatable), but there is much I know now with a great deal of certainty. Thus, I have compiled a brief list. Nothing here is written in stone, but right now this is what has been proven to be effective and to deliver consistent results. I could probably write a chapter on each one, but here is the stripped down version.
Compliance Compliance Compliance
It's like this: If I set you up on a mediocre program and you comply 95%, you will get better results than if I set you up on the best program ever but you only comply 50%. If you are not complying with the program you cannot accurately measure the effectiveness of the program. If you can't comply with program it is doing you no good, and the program needs to be altered or maybe you do.
Psychology is Huge
This is true on many levels. For one, men and women respond quite differently to feedback (in general). Many men respond well to negative criticism. Like when they do 10 reps you tell them you were expecting 12. That generally does not work for women. Most women respond much better to positive feedback. Like even if you expected 12, you offer praise for getting 10. These are not hard and steadfast rules, but how each individual client (whether they be male or female) responds to various forms of feedback can alter the effectiveness of any program. A good trainer recognizes this, a great one uses it effectively to increase results.
Physiology is less Important
Men and women are different physically- duh. But how I train them is not that really that different; how I treat them is (see above). The exercise selection and overall programming is almost exactly the same. What creates a lean healthy body on a woman is going to be the same thing that creates a lean healthy body on a man.
The Importance of Optimizing Metabolism
To lose weight we need a caloric deficit. There is just really no debate about that. You need to consume fewer calories than you burn. The tricky part is knowing the best way to accomplish that. You could just eat less. But that just sucks and comes with a whole host of problems. Increasing the metabolism via weight training (and intervals) has proven time and time again that it is vastly superior to caloric restriction alone. The true key is to optimize the metabolism through regular intense exercise and nutritional adjustment.
Low Carb Rules
If you are over fat chances are you eat too much, and consume too many carbs. The bottom line is that you do not get to eat they way you eat now and expect your body to change. As we age our bodies change and they deal with nutrients very differently than when we were young. Study after study has shown carb modification nutrition plans out perform low fat diets when it comes to fat loss. I wish I could stay lean eating carbs with the same veracity as I did in my younger days, but I can't. And if you believe you are over fat – neither can you.
Fish Oil
When I tell my clients the long list of fish oil benefits they look at me like I am making it all up. Well I'm not. If for no other reason you should take fish oil for its effect on metabolism: A resent study showed that regular fish oil supplementation increases the metabolic rate of test subjects by up to 400 calories per day. Burn 400 calories from taking a few pills? Count me in. Oh yeah, it also reduces risk of heart attack, improves slipid profiles, increases insulin sensitivity, decreases cholesterol and blood pressure….
During is Good, After is Better
I really am not that concerned with how many calories a client burns during a session. For that matter I'm not even that concerned if the calories come from fat. Sure it matters, but not near as much as what happens after the session. My colleague Alwyn Cosgrove calls it the "Afterburn" effect. If we can create enough of a metabolic disruption during the session that it causes the body to increase the metabolic rate for 20-40 hours (no joke) post workout then we are really kicking ass.
(The next 3 I have written about before, but they are worth reiterating)
Harder is Better
I've said this before- exercising harder will always yield better results than less intense output. It just makes sense- you body will be forced to respond to more intense activities. Low intensity work requires hardly any adaptation at all. So the harder we work, the better our bodies react. This translates to more muscle, less fat and greater overall health.
Smarter is Better
Sure you can get in shape if you train 6 hours per day. But what if I could get you in the same shape in only 45 minutes 3 times per week? That's better right? Well that's the smarter part. Intelligent program design will cut your total training time and give you greater results.
Bigger is Better
This goes along with the two above. The bigger the move the harder it is. The harder the move the smarter you are training. If your goal is fat loss why would you spend any appreciable amount of time doing bicep curls when the metabolic effect is minimal? Pull ups and rows will nail the biceps while igniting the metabolism for optimal fat burning.
Routine
I have 2 kids. All the advice about raising kids says you need to have them on a routine. The same is true for most adults. The most successful clients I see have made fitness and health part of their routine. I always like to use the "brushing your teeth" analogy. Brushing your teeth is not always fun, but you do it every day. Probably at the same time every day. You don't wake up and say "Yippee! I get to brush my teeth!", but you still do it. And how well would it work if you only did it once per week? Yuck. Well working out is the same way. When you make it part of your regular routine you will see consistent results.
Got questions? Email or call me anytime.
Joshua Carter
The Body Transformation Expert
Carter Fitness
joshua@carterfitness.com
http://carterfitness.com
818-337-6175
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