AC: Labor Day is coming up in seven weeks so people are looking to quickly lose at lot of fat and get into top shape. What mistakes do people typically make in pursuit of six-pack abs?
Chad Waterbury: For the last 15 years as a trainer I’d say that 95% of my clients all wanted to lose fat. It’s funny because people often associate me with training methods that are solely intended to build size and strength. In reality, when it comes to programming for fat loss, I have a lot of experience.
But as that saying goes, “Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” Even though I’ve spent a decade and a half experimenting with fat loss protocols, I’ve made many mistakes along the way.
My first mistake was having people do long-duration, low-intensity cardio. Sure, it helped people lose some weight, but a lot of it was muscle. It also wreaked havoc on their hormones and joints. The adrenals get overworked, cortisol pours out, and stubborn body fat never goes away due to an imbalance of hormones. Their hips, knees, and ankles get inflamed and this, in turn, reduces the amount of time and energy they can devote to enhancing their athleticism – a key to burning fat fast.
Second, I dropped too many calories out of their diet, too fast. When you eat less food you end up giving your metabolism fewer of the key nutrients it needs to stay running strong. This causes your catabolic hormones to escalate, while the good hormones that enhance fat burning, recovery, and motivation plummet.
My third mistake was having clients do high-rep weight training to failure. Training to failure is difficult to recover from, even when you have a surplus of calories. But when you combine it with long-duration cardio and a low calorie diet you’ve got yourself the perfect formula for bringing a person’s metabolism to a screeching halt. It’s simply too much stress for the body to handle at once.
These are the problems I faced during my first few years as a trainer.
AC: So what changes did you make to overcome those obstacles?
Chad Waterbury: First, I started experimenting with short, intense cardio sessions because it was around the time that Tabata’s paradigm-shifting research came out. His research showed that we need to focus less on the metabolic changes that occur during a workout and think more about what’s happening after you stop training.
Low intensity cardio only burns calories while you’re doing it. High intensity cardio, on the other hand, keeps burning calories for many hours after you stop training. Put another way: an hour run has a minimal impact on your metabolism but it’s very hard on your joints. An intelligently designed high intensity cardio session is very stimulating to your metabolism while being relatively easy on your joints.
Second, I started delving deeply into nutrition and the impact it has on your metabolism and hormonal profile. Put simply, when the goal is fat loss you should choose foods that are high in nutrients but low in calories. You won’t lose fat unless you give your body fewer calories than it needs, there’s no way around that. But in order to keep your metabolism from shutting down you must give it the nutrients it needs to stay elevated.
Third, I switched my strength training parameters around so people were lifting to maximize muscle fiber recruitment. This is an important step that people generally miss out on. When you increase muscle fiber recruitment you’ll increase the metabolic cost of the workout, and that’s essential for burning fat. Another change I made was with body weight exercise pairings performed at top speed without rest. This turned out to be very effective for burning calories and fat while maintaining a person’s strength.
AC: That’s a good overview. Can you give us some specific examples of what we should be doing to burn fat?
Chad Waterbury: Alwyn, we’ve shared many discussions over the components that make up an effective workout for burning fat. The bottom line is that you must create the largest metabolic cost possible in order to keep your metabolism revved up long after you leave the gym.
I’ll take you through an example of my style of fat loss training. First, start each workout with a few minutes of rope jumping to stimulate blood flow and prepare the joints for the workout. Then do a few mobility exercises or some foam rolling to mobilize your stiffest joints. Now you’re ready to train.
A typical fat loss workout doesn’t start with a treadmill jog or anything like that. Instead, I have my clients do a circuit of, say, split jacks, jumping jacks and burpees performed at top speed for multiple rounds with minimal rest.
Next, perform a full-body strength circuit with a load that’s heavy enough to stimulate all your muscle fibers, without making deep inroads into recovery. Accelerate all lifts, keep the rest periods to a minimum, and choose an upper body pull, an upper body push, a lower body exercise, and a core exercise to complete the circuit.
After that, I use unique combo exercises that can consist of as many as six different exercises in one. Or I’ll use an exercise pairing such as a kettlebell swing and push-up, performed at top speed, with minimal rest. Then I finish up with some stretches for the ankle, hip, and shoulder joints.
With regard to nutrition, the solution is as simple as replacing low-quality carbs such as bread, pasta and potatoes with nutrient-dense foods such as berries and vegetables. Then, add enough fish oil into your diet to get the results you’re after.
The second step is to feed your body amino acids and glucose at strategic times around your workouts to stave off fatigue and improve recovery. Branched-chain amino acids, for example, are very stimulating to your metabolism when you take enough of them at the right times. I have my clients take a certain dosage, based on body weight, before and after training along with a simple post-workout recovery feeding that doesn’t require any esoteric supplements.
AC: You’ve got a new program out, Body of F.I.R.E. Tell us a little bit about it. What makes it so unique?
Chad Waterbury: There are three keys to losing fat, and keeping it off. First, follow a diet that will put your body in fat-burning mode. Second, you must understand what motivates you to get in shape, and never lose site of it. Third, your training program must generate the largest metabolic cost possible.
In my experience, the best way to burn fat and become more athletic is with Full-body, Intense, Resistance Exercise, hence the acronym F.I.R.E. I’ve experimented with every type of programming imaginable, and nothing works better. The coolest part of my system is that it works just as well for professional athletes as it does for non-athletes who just want to look better on the beach. Men and women have both experienced incredible results on the program. With each workout I give a thorough description of how to modify the workouts or exercises, based on a person’s fitness level.
I’ll use the kettlebell swing and push-up pairing that I mentioned before as an example. A female might perform all the push-ups with her knees down, whereas an athlete can do clap push-ups, instead of regular push-ups, to make it more challenging. Or you can rest more, or less, depending on your fitness.
Furthermore, the progression plan is unlike any other. Instead of just adding weight, I use multiple progression methods in a systematic way to ensure that your body will keep getting better, week after week. One of the reasons why people stop getting results on a training program is because there isn’t a progression plan in place, or it’s a progression plan that won’t make your body burn more fat.
My client, Jon, lost over 40 pounds of fat on the program. Sure, he got a tan, shaved, and lost his shoes, but I think the rest speaks for itself.
I put Ralek Gracie on the program for his recent win over the legendary Sakuraba. He didn’t need to lose a lot of fat, but he had to get stronger, faster, and more explosive. He said the Body of F.I.R.E. program quickly got him in the best shape of his life.
I’ve also had outstanding results with females who did the program. My client Danielle lost five pounds in the first week. Another client Molly, a 44 year-old actress, used the program to get in shape for a movie role where she plays Reese Witherspoon’s softball coach.
It was my goal to make a program that give anyone great results, that’s why I spent so much time tweaking the program so people can easily modify the workouts to his or her own level of fitness.
It’s mid-summer now, so this is the perfect time to change your body for good. If you get started right away, you’ll have your best, leanest body by Labor Day!
–
Alwyn
PS – You can pick up Chad’s fat loss program – HERE
