Training For Fat Loss

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In reality, the single most important thing you can do (exercise-wise) to promote fat loss is to try and become as strong as you can be, given the nutritional environment you'll be in (weight loss reality: you have to consume fewer calories than you use in order to lose weight). This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but when we dig a little deeper, you'll understand why this is true.



"In reality, the single most important thing you can do (exercise-wise) to promote fat loss is to try and become as strong as you can be, given the nutritional environment you'll be in (weight loss reality: you have to consume fewer calories than you use in order to lose weight). This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but when we dig a little deeper, you'll understand why this is true".



I agree with most things that you are saying here and the science backs most of it up. There is however a difference between being strong and being muscular. Muscular hypertrophy is more important than over all strength. Bigger muscles burn more energy 24/7 and most of that extra energy will come from bodyfat stores. One can be strong without necessarily maximizing muscle hypertrophy thereby no maximizing fat loss. As i'm sure you will know most strength athletes are not necessarily the leanest people in the world. That's the law of "specificity" at work. They want to be strength athletes not body builders, or muscle athletes or beach babes for that matter.

Strength athletes main goals are not fat loss but increased lifting poundage's. Certainly there will be some muscle hypertrophy but that is not the main goal. Repetition ranges for strength being 1-5 are not considered to be in the hypertrophy range of exercise reps. The 8-12 rep range is considered to be muscle building and therefore the ideal rep range for muscle hypertrophy and expedited fat loss (in conjunction of course with your correct assertion that there has to be somewhat of a calorie deficit going on at the same time.)

Anyone looking to lose fat should exercise in a periodized manner and utilize the full repertoire of repetition ranges... 1-5 for strength 8-12 for muscle hypertrophy and 15-20 for cardio and recovery.

nuff said.

The cool thing about continuing to learn and grow each year is that I always get to look back at something I was saying or doing 12 months earlier and say: "The hell was I thinking?!" I haven't actually looked at my OP in this thread in a long time, but I assume that if I were to go through it bit by bit I'd find little pieces all throughout it that would sound close, but not quite right, today.

Musculature and strength have a funny relationship. At the time that I wrote this thread, I think I was still in my phase of "strength = muscle but muscle =/= strength" (old Riptard mentality). Back then I was perpetuating such ideas as "there's no point doing a hypertrophy program if you can't bench/squat/dead 2/3/4 plates," because "strength = muscle, so just get really, really strong and you'll have lots of muscle." The reality, however, is not so clean cut. A lot of strength can be gained without a lot of muscle gained with it. Meanwhile, it's pretty hard to gain any muscle mass without getting stronger (in a general sense -- increasing your 10RM won't necessarily increase your 1RM, but if you do increase your 10RM then you are stronger in a certain context), so that old formula never worked as well as I'd have liked. The really sad irony is that I had all the information I needed about linear periodisation before I got into that phase, but, caught up in the inaccurate rhetoric of guys who'd had much more success getting stronger than I had, I threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Out of curiosity, is there a specific method of periodisation that you've found more effective than others?

I don't really like talking about the amount of energy burned all day by muscle mass. It's true that muscle mass does burn energy all day long, but the amplitude of this is often seriously overstated (I often hear that each pound of muscle burns 50kcal/day; IIRC it's actually only about 6kcal/day, while each pound of fat requires 3kcal/day to maintain itself). In any case, more muscle mass is still better than less muscle mass, I just don't like to highlight that particular perk so much for fat loss purely because of how much it's been oversold. Even though I'm still what most guys who lift would call skinny, I've gained (conservatively) 40lb of muscle since I first set foot in a gym. If the overstatement that each 1lb requires an extra 50kcal/day were true, I'd be maintaining on something like 3,500-4,000kcal/day...and I'd be a very happy man.
 
Always good to see how well people do so stay in touch. Some of us have journals where we post about training and have some highly of topic stupid discussions too.
There are very few beginners who know much about training, the smarter among them ask a variety of people and figure out the best from all of them. I have learned a lot of things over a long time, some from books or observations others from personal experience. The thing I have found most of all is that generic is the best place to start then fine tune to suit. Goldie is one of the best for generic training guidance, Kiwi is died in the wool body builder so great for aesthetic guidance, I am a functional trainer with issues about being able to do everything hence crazy, I also tend to apply studies of everything from evolution, history, physics, anatomy and even more bizarre to fitness which means my posts can be more than a touch bizarre. None of us are always right as much as anything because we are guiding from keyboards not face to face, but if you find we are all agreeing on points there is a strong chance we are right.
No-one gets everything right at first and as I have proven beautifully this year by introducing some new kit and doing things I haven't done in years, maybe decades, the most seasoned of us still get things spectacularly wrong on occasion. The difference between those of us who do well and the rest long term is if we recognise the errors or seek advice. Assuming we are always doing things right is a sure fire way to guarantee we aren't.
 
Dennis

Well as you probably already know -- the most time proven path to weight loss and all around fitness involves 3 things ..

1) Smart meal plan based on lean protein/complex carb dietary principles
2) Some resistance training
3) Some cardio

if you truly can't find 4 hours per week total time to invest in #2 and # 3 above, you will have to rely on #1 alone ---- realizing you can certainly still lose weight, but you will not get the benefits of the other 2 steps.

My personal advice having been involved in this since the 1970s ?

Avoid the popular fancy diet fads and look for guidance from sources that are more based on science and long term success.

Those that talk about low Net Carbs per meal while maintaining a healthy level of protein and essential fats are more sound in my mind than the ones that simple have you slash all calories across the board to near starvation levels.

Michael Spitzer
Author
FITNESS at 40, 50 ,60 and BEYOND
 
wow this is great info, am currently 230 pounds , 5 10 in tall and have 30percent of body fat, i want to go down to 190, can you help me out with a routine,am going to a big gym that has all kinds of equipment. thanks again for the previous article

Hi Gabriel,

First off, I agree with what goldfish has written above. Fat loss and muscle gain are best friends. Period. How do I

know? Been there done that.

Second, strength training has it's benefits especially if th choice of exercises are the ones he has mentioned above

like Squats, Deadlift, Olympic lifts and unsupported press - none of those seated or incline bench stuff.

I am also a big fan of the body weight work. I currently am only on body weight workouts and have found those to be very

rewarding too.

Coming to your question about how to reduce body fat and reduce your bodyweight, then here is the plan:

Analysis - At 230lbs and 30% body fat, your lean mass is at 161lbs
Goal - If you want to reach a target body weight of 190lbs and reduce your fat content then you'd need to gain 29lbs of

muscle and lose 69lbs of Fat. The net result would be a 40lbs drop in your total body weight.

Do not let the goal bother you, it's not that difficult. It just requires focused actions and these actions are listed below:

Strength training:
Squats 3X5 - 3 times a week - Ex: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Deadlift 3X5 - Every alternate session - Ex: Monday, Friday - Only wedensday of the following week
Miliraty Press 3x5 - Every alternate session - Ex: Wednesday - Monday, Friday of the following week

Right after the strength routine is done you could perform a cardio session for 30 minutes or go though a circuit of calisthenics exercises, the routine for which would look something like this:

1. Burpees - 15
2. Box Jumps - 15
3. Push-ups - 15
4. Inverted Rows - 15
5. Leg raises - 15

I have found a simple calisthenic routine like Squats, Chins and Push-up done for reps also give me astounding results when it came to fat burning.

All the best for achieving your goals. If you have any queries please feel free to get in touch.

Dev
 
I completely agree that these extremely long cardio sessions are not necessarily the best way to lose fat. What has currently been working for me is HIIT training combined with weight training. For example, HIIT 3 times per week then weights 2 times per week. This new program that I have recently started helps to get you into the 'fat burning zone' without having to do cardio for an hour. I think the longest cardio session has been about 25 minutes max so far. At first I thought I had wasted my time even looking into it because the workouts were so short. As time progressed though, I saw that it was the effective movements and the intensity that helped the most in contrast to me previously spending no less than 30 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill 4-5 times per week.
 
Squats are also a beneficial exercise for preserving muscle mass, during weight loss sometimes muscle can be lost as well, so it is important to practise exercises like squats which will help you lose weight whilst maintaining a taut, toned body.
 
Hi everyone! I was wondering if intervals or long runs are more beneficial for weight loss. I actually run 3-4 times a week and I try to follow different programs in order to triger my metabolism.
 
I have been preaching this for years to friends and family. Cardio is not the most effective training to lose weight. Cardio make you lose muscle mass. Strength training builds muscle mass, and on top of that muscle burns more energy passively increasing you metabolism so you burn more calories even when doing nothing.
 
It's just occurred to me that the stickies here don't really cover training for fat loss, so here I am typing away to aware you.

Not to sound like a glossy magazine designed to sell nutritional supplements, but if you're like the majority of people, you pre-conceived notions on how to train for fat loss (and the most important means of training for fat loss) are probably in direct conflict with exercise physiology. There are a lot of ideas and beliefs about fat loss, and especially training for it, that are anywhere between not-entirely-accurate and downright wrong. The single biggest thing people get wrong here is the importance of cardio.

It's a well known fact that to lose fat you need to do lots of cardio. The longer it lasts, the better. You need to get into the fat burning zone and stay there. You shouldn't lift weights as they'll just make you bulky -- if you must lift weights, make sure they're light weights that you do for high reps. That's good for toning.

Did you find yourself nodding along to the above paragraph? I don't blame you if you did, but every sentence of the above paragraph is a lie.

In reality, the single most important thing you can do (exercise-wise) to promote fat loss is to try and become as strong as you can be, given the nutritional environment you'll be in (weight loss reality: you have to consume fewer calories than you use in order to lose weight). This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but when we dig a little deeper, you'll understand why this is true.

As I mentioned above, you need to consume fewer calories than you use in order to lose weight. Whether you offset that balance by increasing physical activity, or by reducing calorie intake, or both, isn't hugely important so long as a calorie deficit is generated. Once that deficit is generated, you will lose weight for as long as that deficit remains (as a side note, changes in calorie consumption and physical activity can shift where your body sets its resting metabolic rate, energy efficiency, etc., so what might have caused a calorie deficit one week could be maintenance the next. At that point, a deficit is no longer in effect). You have to. It's unavoidable.

You, you create your calorie deficit, and now you must lose weight. You can do that with or without exercise, so for weight loss purposes, exercise isn't even important. But, not all weight that can be lost is fat. Now think back to my claim before that strength training is the most important kind of training for fat loss. Any lightbulbs lighting up yet?

See, here's the thing, when people want to lose weight (presumably fat, not just any assortment of weight), most people will turn to cardio because they've been taught (quite accurately) that it can burn a lot of calories, and that within a certain heart-rate range a high percentage of those calories will be from fat. Some people have also clued in to concepts such as interval training, high intensity interval training, and circuit training -- these have been popularised over the last decade due to metabolic effects outside of training. That's all well and good, and there's nothing wrong with using any of these training protocols.

But, if the calorie deficit has been made, it's been made. The most important goal now is not to make it bigger, or to use high percentages of fat for activity, or to increase excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), etc. The most important goal now is to minimise the loss of fat-free mass, ie bones, muscles, connective tissue, and whatever else you might be composed of that isn't fat. And how do you prevent your body from getting rid of these things? By making it a priority that your body keep them. If you make the concerted effort to be as physically strong as you can be in a calorie deficit, then your bones will harden, your connective tissue with toughen up, and your muscle mass (the one form of body mass most at risk of degenerating with weight loss) will remain intact.

If you're still not grasping the significance of this, let me spell (actually, count) it out for you.

Two people decide to lose weight. One of them goes the typical route of diet and cardio. The other goes the atypical route of diet and strength training. They both lose 20lb.

The first person, who dieted and cardioed their way down 20lb, lost a fair amount of muscle mass while they were at it, which didn't seem to be a problem to them, because they "don't want to be bulky, anyway." They lost 10lb of lean mass within their weight loss.

The second person, who dieted and strengthened their way down 20lb, preserved a lot of lean body mass. They only lost 1lb of lean mass within their weight loss.

Do the math. What's 20 minus 10? 10. What's 20 minus 1? 19. That's how many pounds of fat each person has lost. The one who didn't do strength training has only lost 10lb of fat, while the other has lost 19lb. These are hypothetical numbers, but do you see the picture, and the point I'm making?

Wholebody strengthening is the best thing you can do. Squats, lunges, step ups, deadlifts, olympic lifts, presses, dips, pull ups, rows....these are the sorts of exercises that should make up the main focus of your training. Anything else should be peripheral to this. Learn good form first and foremost, then practice progressive overload.

Don't try and turn your strength training into cardio. You can use strength training exercises in cardio -- a circuit of squats, dips and pull ups is perfectly fine to do -- but make sure you do at least 2 sessions per week that are dedicated to the sole purpose of building strength. You can do circuits, high intensity cardio, low intensity cardio, yoga, zumba (but I will disown you for it), play sports, whatever throughout the rest of the week. But 2-3 days per week, lift some heavy weights, and aim to lift some heavier weights next week. Get your nutrition in check, and reap the benefits.


This is so true. I had been in that first section for years until a few months ago when I learned the value of strength training in fat loss. The main question I have is...to burn fat and keep muscle, should you eat pre or post or doews it matter? If I go to gym in AM is gym first or breakfast first because I have been eating first?
 
Hi Goldfish, I agree mostly but I don't think you can use with everyone. A study here shows cardio at least maintains fat free mass (ffm) The effects of either high-intensity resistance or endurance training on resting metabolic rate ...

therefore for some people who have ghrelin/leptin issues, cardio might be a preferred option as cutting down on eating is too stressful for them (ie, they'll never keep it up) - therefore, as strength training won't shift enough calories, cardio is the best option

I like your point about keeping strength training and cardio separate

Regs,

Jon.

You said......I agree mostly but I don't think you can use with everyone

There is an old bodybuilding saying........There's no such thing as a cookie cutter program. You are correct that not everything works for everybody.
 
Thanks a lot to all. Actually from here I got lots of effective information that exactly help me. I found some special tips and suggestion about fat loss. Basically I'm new here and looking for some useful information like this type. Again I'd like to say thanks.
 
Thank you for this post! I've asked so many people for solid fat loss advice and I always get the same rhetoric of "just eat less and do cardio" and I have had the hardest time getting the results I want(to lose my gut, I'm currently 5'11" and weigh 240). I really appreciate you taking the time to lay it out really simply like this
 
i'm 5'11 and 190. i wanna go back to my regular weight; 175. i need to lose the 15 pounds and get my body toned, or maybe even more muscular than what i already am. can someone please help me?
For weight Loss You Need Proper Rest Healthy Exercise Main Thing You Should Know About Your Body Type Food . check This Site Hope It Will Help
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Here are eight rules for effective fat loss training, plus a sample workout plan that puts them all into action.
8 Rules for Fat Loss Training.
1 – Prioritize Nutrition. ...
2 – Pick Big, Hard Exercises. ...
3 – Get Stronger. ...
4 – Build Muscle. ...
5 – Jack Up Metabolism Post Training. ...
6 – Schedule Wisely. ...
7 – Rotate Strategies.
 
you have to follow proper exercise for fat loss training with proper consistency.For Fat loss training you have to do these exercises
1.Crunches
2.Planks
3.Russian twist
4.Leg raise
5.Cycling crunches
6.Flutter Kicks
so on...... You have to do 10 repetition of each exercises with 3 sets and take 30 seconds rest after completing each 10 reps.
 
It's very unlikely that you'll gain much muscle mass while losing weight, even if you train like Arnold Schwarzennegger. An overfat, understrong novice will often achieve this rare feat early on in their training life, but seldom to any significant degree. For most people, muscle mass gains are slow and hard to achieve at the best of times. A calorie deficit is the worst of times for gains in muscle mass. You'll likely experience some swelling of the muscles for the first few weeks of strength training (which will then disipate after a few weeks), but that's likely to be it.

As the author of New Rules of (link removed) For Women puts it (in that book), You Aren't What You Don't Eat, thus it really isn't something you need to worry about.
I hope that helps and clears things up a bit for you :)
 
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Awesome read! I've recently once again started a fitness journey and was making similar mistakes as you said in the original post. There is an information overload out there and it is difficult to understand what routine to follow. Even though I would like to be tough and kill all the exercises I think online courses are better because there is more accountability. Instead of going around in circles, I searched for the best (link removed)weigh loss course for me and came across Waist All Day, LLC. They have helped me with reducing my body fat percentage and make me feel like I have power over on my own body and health. It is research-based and combines fitness and lifestyle into one making it easy to adopt.
 
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Closing this thread- SO much spam!
 
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