In the second of his three part series, Sam Barden of SB-Fitcore looks at the big issue of weight loss.
Click 'Read More' to see the whole article.
Click 'Read More' to see the whole article.
The second of my new year’s articles is looking at exercise for fat loss.
Now that you have hopefully got to grips with your diet and what you should be fuelling your body with for optimal fat loss, it’s time to get moving.
There are so many strands of thought when it comes to the most effective way of training for fat loss, and the truth is, there isn’t a one size fits all answer. Just like nutrition, exercise has different effects on different people.
It is also true to say that exercise and nutrition are not the only two factors in keeping us healthy and helping us shed that fat.
There’s a bit more to it than that!
I will talk more about this next week when we step out of the ‘box’ and start to bring together more pieces of the health puzzle, but for now we will look at the exercise element, after all….
Exercise is good for us!
Not the most shocking statement I have ever made, but it’s that simple, and movement is the key.
Now that you have hopefully got to grips with your diet and what you should be fuelling your body with for optimal fat loss, it’s time to get moving.
There are so many strands of thought when it comes to the most effective way of training for fat loss, and the truth is, there isn’t a one size fits all answer. Just like nutrition, exercise has different effects on different people.
It is also true to say that exercise and nutrition are not the only two factors in keeping us healthy and helping us shed that fat.
There’s a bit more to it than that!
I will talk more about this next week when we step out of the ‘box’ and start to bring together more pieces of the health puzzle, but for now we will look at the exercise element, after all….
Exercise is good for us!
Not the most shocking statement I have ever made, but it’s that simple, and movement is the key.
A lot of people will work in jobs that leave them sedate for large periods of the day, and to those people I say….. move, everyday!
If you are one of these people who wake up, get in the car, go to work and sit at a desk all day, then get back in the car, get home and sit on the sofa for the rest of the evening, than all you have to do is change one of these factors to start the ball rolling. By making small changes every day then the accumulative effect will be great.
So, rather than driving to work, walk or cycle. The next day in your lunch hour go for a short, brisk walk. Day three, make a point of getting up from your desk every hour and have a stretch. The day after, when you get home, do an activity that keeps you on your feet and gets you out of breath before hitting the sofa….a few house chores will work wonders!
Raise your heart rate every day!!
That is exercise at its base. But for those who want more from their training, to really start burning those calories at an optimal level, then here are a few tips that I have found really help with my clients.
Progressive training for constant adaptation.
Have small, achievable goals!
A lot of people get into a bit of a rut when it comes to exercise. This is usually due to a lack of structure and periodization in their programs. It can also be down to doing the same things without altering and advancing the training. You want your body to have to constantly adapt to the stress you are putting it under. Progressive training should continue to push the body and not let it get too comfortable with an exercise. Exercise should always take your body to that point of slight discomfort, (without pain….muscle fatigue is one thing, pain is a whole different thing, something that I will address at a later date) to force your body to adapt.
If you are one of these people who wake up, get in the car, go to work and sit at a desk all day, then get back in the car, get home and sit on the sofa for the rest of the evening, than all you have to do is change one of these factors to start the ball rolling. By making small changes every day then the accumulative effect will be great.
So, rather than driving to work, walk or cycle. The next day in your lunch hour go for a short, brisk walk. Day three, make a point of getting up from your desk every hour and have a stretch. The day after, when you get home, do an activity that keeps you on your feet and gets you out of breath before hitting the sofa….a few house chores will work wonders!
Raise your heart rate every day!!
That is exercise at its base. But for those who want more from their training, to really start burning those calories at an optimal level, then here are a few tips that I have found really help with my clients.
Progressive training for constant adaptation.
Have small, achievable goals!
A lot of people get into a bit of a rut when it comes to exercise. This is usually due to a lack of structure and periodization in their programs. It can also be down to doing the same things without altering and advancing the training. You want your body to have to constantly adapt to the stress you are putting it under. Progressive training should continue to push the body and not let it get too comfortable with an exercise. Exercise should always take your body to that point of slight discomfort, (without pain….muscle fatigue is one thing, pain is a whole different thing, something that I will address at a later date) to force your body to adapt.
There are lots of variables that can be altered to keep an exercise routine from getting stagnant. Tempo, volume, intensity, load, rest periods, movement patterns, these are things that should be continuously varied for progressive training.
Generally speaking, people are creatures of habit, and that will correlate with their exercise regimes. It’s very easy to do an exercise that you like doing as usually you like doing it because you find it fairly easy….am I right? I know because I have been guilty of the same thing in the past!! If you find an exercise easy then chances are your body has gotten used it. If your body gets too used to doing any given exercise, e.g. running for 30 minutes at the same rate, on the same route, for the same distance and you continue to do this over and over again, then you really aren’t going to get too many benefits from it. Your body will become ‘resistant’ to the exercise and, if anything, it will start to be counterproductive to your goals. Your body will hit a plateau which simply means that you will stop getting results, and when people stop getting results, they stop exercising because….what’s the point?!
It’s essential to mix up your training by hitting different energy systems and different muscles in different recruitment patterns to keep the body guessing!
Do a mixture of weights, anaerobic, and aerobic training for the best results.
There has been a lot of research into anaerobic training along with resistance training and the positive impact it has on fat loss, especially around the belly. I find that a good mixture of sprinting exercises with some good multi-joint resistant training really does wonders for shedding fat. By inducing an anabolic response you are going to increase the secretion of your fat burning hormones, such as the growth hormone, and you will develop new muscle tissue that again will help to shed fat.
Go harder for shorter periods rather than easier for longer periods!
I often see people in gyms for up to 2 hours just wandering around, doing the odd thing here and there, not really getting a sweat on and thinking that they have been productive simply because they have been in a gym for 2 hours! It would be much better for them to exercise for a productive half hour and really hit it hard.
Generally speaking, people are creatures of habit, and that will correlate with their exercise regimes. It’s very easy to do an exercise that you like doing as usually you like doing it because you find it fairly easy….am I right? I know because I have been guilty of the same thing in the past!! If you find an exercise easy then chances are your body has gotten used it. If your body gets too used to doing any given exercise, e.g. running for 30 minutes at the same rate, on the same route, for the same distance and you continue to do this over and over again, then you really aren’t going to get too many benefits from it. Your body will become ‘resistant’ to the exercise and, if anything, it will start to be counterproductive to your goals. Your body will hit a plateau which simply means that you will stop getting results, and when people stop getting results, they stop exercising because….what’s the point?!
It’s essential to mix up your training by hitting different energy systems and different muscles in different recruitment patterns to keep the body guessing!
Do a mixture of weights, anaerobic, and aerobic training for the best results.
There has been a lot of research into anaerobic training along with resistance training and the positive impact it has on fat loss, especially around the belly. I find that a good mixture of sprinting exercises with some good multi-joint resistant training really does wonders for shedding fat. By inducing an anabolic response you are going to increase the secretion of your fat burning hormones, such as the growth hormone, and you will develop new muscle tissue that again will help to shed fat.
Go harder for shorter periods rather than easier for longer periods!
I often see people in gyms for up to 2 hours just wandering around, doing the odd thing here and there, not really getting a sweat on and thinking that they have been productive simply because they have been in a gym for 2 hours! It would be much better for them to exercise for a productive half hour and really hit it hard.
Productivity is quality not quantity!!
Big compound exercises that cross more than a single joint, such as squats, lunges, press ups and pull ups, are going to get better results than performing isolation exercises that just cross a single joint, like bicep curls or leg extensions. By recruiting more muscle fibres, using more muscles and larger muscle groups you will burn more calories and develop more muscle quicker.
Full body exercises are great for getting the heart rate high. Rather than doing a simple squat, add a shoulder press into the movement to force the heart to work harder by making it pump the blood up and down the body constantly with little rest. Super-setting a lower body exercise with an upper body exercise is also a good way to induce the same metabolic response (back squats followed by chest presses or deadlifts followed by pull ups).
Working at a higher intensity with shorter rest periods will have a positive hormonal response by increasing your metabolic rate. The key is to get your RMR (resting metabolic rate) high so when you are at rest (time spent not exercising) you will continue to burn calories at an optimal level. Remember we burn more calories at rest than we do while exercising! HIIT (high intensity interval training) will also minimise cortisol secretion (your stress hormone), which will help keep that fat off you, because remember that ‘stress, makes you fat!’
Gaining muscle is a great way of losing fat because, simply put, muscle loves muscle and fat loves fat. The more muscle you have the easier it will be to gain more muscle and reduce fat. In contrast, the more fat you have the easier it is to gain more fat, and remember that muscle burns far more calories than fat does!
BUT!
Please, please, please remember not to get too fixated on weight or BMI as they really aren’t important assessment methods as they tell us nothing about fat loss or, more importantly, about our health. If you have to quantify your results (I think that qualifying your results is a far better way to work, i.e. how you feel in yourself, not what the scales say) body fat % and inches are what you want to focus on when trying to lose fat tissue, because if you develop new muscle tissue, and bone density by doing resistance training then the chances are you may be ‘heavier’ on those scales, but you will be firmer, leaner, stronger, fitter and be able to fit into your clothes better….isn’t that what we really want?!!
If you follow these basic exercise guidelines then you are sure to see some results, however, if you feel that you have hit a wall with your training and you need some help getting some structure back into your routine then don’t hesitate to get in touch with me through my website: www.sb-fitcore.com
Big compound exercises that cross more than a single joint, such as squats, lunges, press ups and pull ups, are going to get better results than performing isolation exercises that just cross a single joint, like bicep curls or leg extensions. By recruiting more muscle fibres, using more muscles and larger muscle groups you will burn more calories and develop more muscle quicker.
Full body exercises are great for getting the heart rate high. Rather than doing a simple squat, add a shoulder press into the movement to force the heart to work harder by making it pump the blood up and down the body constantly with little rest. Super-setting a lower body exercise with an upper body exercise is also a good way to induce the same metabolic response (back squats followed by chest presses or deadlifts followed by pull ups).
Working at a higher intensity with shorter rest periods will have a positive hormonal response by increasing your metabolic rate. The key is to get your RMR (resting metabolic rate) high so when you are at rest (time spent not exercising) you will continue to burn calories at an optimal level. Remember we burn more calories at rest than we do while exercising! HIIT (high intensity interval training) will also minimise cortisol secretion (your stress hormone), which will help keep that fat off you, because remember that ‘stress, makes you fat!’
Gaining muscle is a great way of losing fat because, simply put, muscle loves muscle and fat loves fat. The more muscle you have the easier it will be to gain more muscle and reduce fat. In contrast, the more fat you have the easier it is to gain more fat, and remember that muscle burns far more calories than fat does!
BUT!
Please, please, please remember not to get too fixated on weight or BMI as they really aren’t important assessment methods as they tell us nothing about fat loss or, more importantly, about our health. If you have to quantify your results (I think that qualifying your results is a far better way to work, i.e. how you feel in yourself, not what the scales say) body fat % and inches are what you want to focus on when trying to lose fat tissue, because if you develop new muscle tissue, and bone density by doing resistance training then the chances are you may be ‘heavier’ on those scales, but you will be firmer, leaner, stronger, fitter and be able to fit into your clothes better….isn’t that what we really want?!!
If you follow these basic exercise guidelines then you are sure to see some results, however, if you feel that you have hit a wall with your training and you need some help getting some structure back into your routine then don’t hesitate to get in touch with me through my website: www.sb-fitcore.com
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About the Author
Sam Barden is a personal trainer who runs SB Fit-Core, a home fitness service geared around functional core strength and stability. Sam has developed well rounded, core specific programmes used to improve and develop core strength and pelvic stability. By using a variety of multidirectional movements, all stemming from core recruitment, SB Fit-Core programmes will help improve balance, proprioception, stability and strength, giving the client a well-conditioned body, which will improve any athletes’ performance and vastly decrease chances of injury.
SB Fit-Core is a North Tyneside-based mobile fitness service. Sam has been in the industry for going on 10 years now and has helped many clients reach their exercise goals. He is a fully qualified personal trainer through Premier Training International.
You can visit the website by clicking here or contact Sam direct at [email protected]
Sam Barden is a personal trainer who runs SB Fit-Core, a home fitness service geared around functional core strength and stability. Sam has developed well rounded, core specific programmes used to improve and develop core strength and pelvic stability. By using a variety of multidirectional movements, all stemming from core recruitment, SB Fit-Core programmes will help improve balance, proprioception, stability and strength, giving the client a well-conditioned body, which will improve any athletes’ performance and vastly decrease chances of injury.
SB Fit-Core is a North Tyneside-based mobile fitness service. Sam has been in the industry for going on 10 years now and has helped many clients reach their exercise goals. He is a fully qualified personal trainer through Premier Training International.
You can visit the website by clicking here or contact Sam direct at [email protected]