More Fat Loss Tips
6. IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN: You plan to fail. Going in to the gym blind, without a trainer or coach's guidance, is almost pointless.
Also - doing chest on Monday, Back on Tuesday, Legs on Wednesday, Shoulders on Thursday and Arms on Friday is 1980. So is doing the latest workout from Muscle and Fitness. However, rotating workout plans, like Upper/Lower splits (training them separate, balancing out pulls and pushes) and total body routines (the most brutal and efficient routines for fat loss) can guarantee you will keep your body in a constant state of wondering what’s next.
7. DON’T WORKOUT ALONE: Research shows people workout harder and longer with either a) a training partner or b) a trainer. Remember, the difference between professional athletes and the weekend warrior is less about talent, and more about effort. Professional athletes have a superior ability to push beyond barriers, usually where most people give up. Working out with a training partner or even sharing a trainer can be the solution to breaking through that fat-loss barrier (yes, I do that too!). Find a running partner, trainer who doesn't mind you joining their workout (try and keep up) and push yourself to a whole new level.
8. MAKE IT HARD: Doing cardio? Make it short and sweet. The two most difficult ‘machines’ are the rowing ergometer and the stepmill, or gauntlet. Try one of these workouts and see if your metabolism can’t HELP but speed up:
a. Rower: 10x1 minute bursts of rowing, as fast as can be maintained for 1 minute, with one minute rest. Total Workout time: 20 minutes.
b. Gauntlet: No hands, climb 100 floors. Seriously, no hands. Time: TBD. My fastest was under 17 minutes.
c. Sprints: In a park or gym, work on 20-40 yard dashes as fast as possible, running them as if you had a sausage tshirt on and were being chased by a starving dog. Make sure to warm up plenty before, and rest roughly 1-2 minutes between sprints. Doing more than 10 of these is asking for trouble.
9. NO GYM? NO PROBLEM: Try the following “cardio” workout. Repeat 4-8 times, with 30 seconds rest after exercises A-D. All you need is yourself and a watch. Total time required (not including warm up): at most 20 minutes.
a. Split squat, 30 seconds R Leg
b. Split squat, 30 seconds L Leg
c. Pushups, 30 seconds
d. Jumping Jacks, 30 seconds
10. AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: It’s been said that health is either proactive or reactive (Mike Boyle). You either spend money and time on maintaining or improving your health through a personal trainer, massage therapist and registered dietician, or you spend money and time on emergency room visits, physical therapists, x-rays, MRI’s, cardiologists and physician visits. Your choice! The #1 reason clients of mine work out is to either reduce the chance of getting hurt through exercise and their daily life, and/or to rehab an old injury in order to keep it from happening again.
11. DO SOMETHING YOU’RE NOT GOOD AT: I don’t run, at least for long distances or long durations. I have relied on the fact that I am efficient at high workloads (former powerlifter) and high speeds (former sprinter and football player). However, I committed myself to New York Road Runners, developed a running and training program, and signed up for 5 races in the 2010. Knowing this: in order to get results you have never got, you have to do something you have never done. And when you do something you have never done, and you’re not good at it? You force your body to adapt. Now THAT’S fat loss.
Sounds easy, right? Wait until I bash basic cardio in my next blog. Stay tuned!
-Coach Kev
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