Posts Tagged ‘fat loss’

In honor of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals I’m reposting this:

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Check out this study that Craig Ballantyne forwarded to me:

Recreational soccer is an effective health-promoting activity for untrained men
Krustrup et al.
British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009;43:825-831

36 healthy untrained men were randomized into a soccer group, a running group and a control group.

Training was performed for 1 hour two or three times per week for 12 weeks; at an average heart rate of 82% of HRmax for both training groups (so it was fairly intense)

During the 12 week program, the soccer group improved maximal oxygen uptake (a measure of aerobic fitness) 62% more than the running group. The soccer group also lost an average of 50% more fat than the running group (6lbs vs 4lbs)

The soccer group had an increase in lean body mass of 3.75lbs, an increase in lower
extremity bone mass, a greater decrease in LDL-cholesterol and an increase in fat oxidation
during running at 9.5 km/h. The running group saw none of these changes.

The number of capillaries per muscle fiber was also almost 50% higher in the soccer training group than in running. Both groups reduced blood pressure equally.

The researchers concluded that participation in recreational soccer training, has significant beneficial effects on health profile and physical capacity and in some aspects it is superior
to frequent moderate-intensity running.

What does this tell us?

Well, think about soccer. The difference is more than adding a ball while running (as most of the time you don’t have the ball)

Soccer is essentially a form of interval training (although the work and recovery periods are randomized – CHAOS training as my friend Robert Dos Remedios calls it).

It’s also multi-directional, multi-movement (jumping, heading, running, sprinting, kicking, tackling, with contact) and multi-planar. It’s random, opposed interval training.

Basically this study shows that open interval training, using multiple movements and directions is superior for conditioning, muscle building and fat loss when compared to the same intensity of running.

I just wish they’d discovered that watching soccer was just as good…..

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AC
PS – I hate calling the game “soccer”…. it’s FOOT-ball. Played with your feet….

This was previously published Mar 2010

I spoke to Jim Wendler a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about goal setting and best practices.

Jim mentioned that when he was playing football, everyone wants to “win the game”. Jim’s approach was to tell them — “Just win the play. Win the play and the game will take care of itself”

Great advice.

Any task can be broken down into smaller more manageable steps. Business, training, weight loss etc.

A 4 year business plan can be broken down into one year goals. And then a goal for each quarter.
Then – we can further break that down into monthly targets. Then weekly. And then daily, perhaps even hourly.

But it just comes down to this….. Take care of the next client or customer. Do that and everything falls into place.

If you want to lose 50lbs — just take care of the next meal. The next workout. The next set. The next rep. Do that and the 50lb weight loss takes care of itself.

The whole premise is similar to the “process goals” that I talked about on Facebook — just set a number of workouts to be completed in the month and focus on the process of just getting the workouts in – not necessarily the outcome that you’d be looking for. If you take care of the attention to the process, you’ll take care of the outcome by default.

The conversation with Jim reminded me of a lesson my Taekwon-Do instructor taught me (excerpted from The Total Body Breakthrough)

I can remember having to face a scary opponent in a championship match once. This guy was on the covers of all the martial arts magazines and this was my first time competing in this weight class. He was bigger, stronger and more experienced than I was.

In short, I was terrified. My instructor, Mr. Campbell, recognized this and asked me –

“I know you’re scared. On a scale of one to ten, how scared are you?”

I answered with no hesitation “ TEN!”

He smiled and said – “Ok. How scared would you be if this match was only one round in length?”

I answered” Not as scared. Maybe a seven out of ten”

He said “Well keep that in mind. You only have to fight the first round. But what if the first round was only one minute long? Would you still feel the same way?”

Me: “No. That would maybe be a five out of ten”

Mr. Campbell nodding: “Ok. What if it was just a single exchange in the middle of the ring? One time. Then it’s over. How do you feel about that?”

Me: “ Ha! No problem. Maybe one out of ten. I’m too fast for him if it’s a single exchange!”

Mr C: “Ok – let’s just attack once and then we’ll take it from there”

At this point I’m buzzing with excitement, stepped into the ring and attacked my opponent. And just repeated that single activity over and over. No fear at all.

And I won the fight.

Success is just a series of small behaviors repeated over and over. Set the behaviors in place and the outcomes will arrive in due course.

As we enter into the second quarter of 2011- take a look back at the goals you set earlier this year.
Are we on track?

What do we want to accomplish from now before the end of the year?

Break it down into smaller steps.

And just win the next play.

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AC

Special thanks to fellow geek :)  Craig Ballantyne for letting me know about a couple of these:

Knab et al.
A 45-Minute Vigorous Exercise Bout Increases Metabolic Rate for 14 Hours.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011 Feb 8.

These researchers had subjects undergo a bout of cycling at approx 73% of VO2 max (approximately 84% of max heart rate) for 45 mins.

The subjects burned on average 520 calories in the 45 min training session. The following day their resting energy expenditure was increased an average of 190 cals compared to normal. Basically – the subjects burned an additional 37% MORE calories than the workout itself in the 14 hour post workout period — meaning that a single high-intensity session, when including the post-workout metabolic boost could burn up to 710 cals in total.

A second study

Heden et al.
One-set resistance training elevates energy expenditure for 72 h similar to three sets.
European Journal of Applied Physiology. Volume 111, Number 3, 477-484, Mar 2011

The subjects were put on a very simple resistance training routine – full body training, either 1 or 3 sets per exercise of ten exercises.

The researchers then examined the subjects resting energy expenditure at 24, 48 and 72 hours post workout.  Both groups showed an elevated metabolism (afterburn effect) of around 100 cals per day.

But there was no difference between groups. It seems that it’s intensity that determines how many calories are burned post-workout, not volume (obviously a higher volume program would burn more calories during the session than a lower volume program.

A third study confirmed this:

Scott et al.
Energy expenditure characteristics of weight lifting: 2 sets to fatigue.
Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2011 Feb;36(1):115-20.

The researchers looked at the caloric expenditure of bench pressing using three different loads and concluded “As more work is completed (i.e., lower weight, more repetitions), aerobic and anaerobic exercise energy expenditures appear to increase accordingly, yet absolute EPOC remains essentially unchanged”. In other words – the post workout caloric burn (in this case measured aerobically)

One more:

Astorino et al.
Effect of acute caffeine ingestion on EPOC after intense resistance training.
J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2011 Mar;51(1):11-7.

This study showed a 15% increase in post-workout calories burned after the ingestion of caffeine as a pre-workout supplement. The total extra calories burned as a result of this only added up to around 27 cals in the hour after the workout. Not a lot but still something to consider. Plus I like iced coffee :)

As usual my questions/ideas for real world application are:

What if we trained every 24-48 hours? Would we see a compounding effect of the additional calories burned post-workout?
What if we did full body training using free weights and multiple planes of movement instead of machines?
What if we paired exercises (studies have shown enhanced calorie burning during training with supersets)? Would that change things?
What about full body ground based exercises (the last study used a bench press )? Does that change anything?
What about exercises using tools such as the TRX where not only the prime movers are being worked, but also the entire core (all the time!)

Right now at Results Fitness our fastest fat loss results are coming from a combination of resistance training and metabolic circuit training (or intervals) – two sessions per week of each). The term we use for our resistance training is “metabolic resistance training”, really just to differentiate what we are doing from traditional strength training. It can be characterized by:

* Full Body Routines
* Paired or circuit based sequencing
* Incomplete recovery periods or rest intervals
* Free weight or bodyweight based (no fixed axis machines or seated work)
* strong emphasis on “self limiting” exercises

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AC

In the past year, Results Fitness has been featured as one of America’s top ten gyms (by Men’s Health magazine) and been named by industry consultant Thomas Plummer as the most profitable gym in the USA per square foot.

As Anthony Robbins would say – this is not to impress you – but to impress upon you that we are doing things right. As I often say – I am just a kid from a small town in Scotland that did a few things right….
One of those things, and probably what we are known for, is our fat loss programming and coaching with our clients.

In March of this year, we’ll be running a two-day, no-holds-barred, everything revealed program design seminar – pulling back the curtain to reveal everything we do at Results Fitness to design and implement the best programs on the planet.

We get better results in less time than any of our competition.

And now we’re sharing that…

From the desk of the Results Fitness Team…

We have been working on completely revamping our programming templates. You see, as we have added in some of the new tools over the last 5 years including TRX, kettlebells, ropes and various other equipment that we use on a day to day basis we realized that we needed to start over from scratch thinking through the ENTIRE PROCESS of designing and implementing a Results Guaranteed Experience for our clients. We are now ready for the first time EVER to reveal our BRAND NEW information, thought process and completely revamped programming and coaching process.

This seminar will include:

• The EXACT Principles that every Results Fitness Program is based off of as of RIGHT NOW (Brand NEW!).
• The thought process behind the brand new program design templates to give you the tools to create your own results producing experience for your clients.
• How to use assessment techniques and not just assess for the sake of assessing and create a program for your clients based off of what you learn about them from the initial meeting.
• The STEP BY STEP Action plan to designing and re-creating the process we go through everyday at Results Fitness, for your clients and business. Including how to know what to do to “Release the Brakes” with some of your clients who continually plateau with their results.

You’ll leave the seminar knowing how to write a program and create the bigger picture that you can absolutely guarantee your clients will get results with.

Plus

• Go behind the scenes and learn the fitness methods from one of America’s Top Gyms.
• Learn the story behind the Results Fitness Methodology.
• Learn the stuff behind the stuff- and see why Results Fitness has been featured in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Shape, Muscle and Fitness Hers, More Magazine, Men’s Fitness, Woman’s World, U.S. News & World Report and on television on Fox, ABC, WGN and Dr. Oz.
• Understand the principles of program design that had top soccer players such as Wayne Rooney, World Champion Martial Artists and Fortune 500 companies including Nike, Gatorade, Secret and Zappos contacting Results Fitness for their expertise as a consultant.

Spaces are limited (those of you who have been to our events before know this is not hype).

Click here for details

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AC

My good friend Todd Durkin did a gust post for me last week (check it out HERE) where he challenged us all in 2011 to be the most positive person you know.

I think that’s a great goal and one I’m going to really strive for. I think I’m a positive person overall, but maybe not the most positive person I know (which is tough because I know Todd – he’s the most positive person I’ve ever met!)

That said – it’s really easy to write a blog post slamming the Biggest Loser show. There are probably a zillion posts out there from fitness professionals talking about how bad it is, and how Jillian can’t swing a kettlebell properly.
It’s EASY. They make it easy to do, but that’s not what this blog post is about.

I’m accepting Todds challenge and am only looking at what the show does well.
So let’s look at the positives…

There are some good things about the Biggest Loser show that smart trainers can learn from:

1. They train people in a group and show how valuable small or large group training can be (it’s not just one-on-one)
2. Whether you like the methodology or not — the contestants on the Biggest Loser get great results (100lbs in 6 weeks is the shows average result – which is better than most any trainer or gym out there).
   Yes I know they get multiple hours of training per day, but rather than focus on the “why that won’t work for me” let’s focus on the “what actually happened”
3. The trainers on the Biggest Loser train people HARD – very hard — and overweight people are a demographic that the fitness industry has traditionally babied…
   In fact, one of the leading fitness certification organizations has a recommendation that overweight people begin with 20mins of walking at 40% of maximum heart rate (e.g. 72bpm for a 40 year old). That’s REAL advice from a reputable fitness certification! I think most sedentary people could get their heart rate over 40% of max just watching a sporting event or a scary movie?
4. The Biggest Loser contestants use high intensity circuit training, kettlebells, battling ropes, the prowler, the TRX suspension training, sandbags and free weights.
   This educates the general public that it’s not about fixed axis machines, supplements, acai berry juice or, as I stated above – walking slowly….
5. They use circuit training and resistance training on the Biggest Loser – not just low intensity cardio

I know it’s easy to talk about how bad the show is (it’s actually hard for me NOT to talk about how bad it is…..) – but I’ve accepted Todd’s challenge to be positive.
There are a lot of things about the show that I dislike, but it’s also fair to point out that there are good things too.

If we learn one thing from the show it’s that we can train overweight beginners harder than we traditionally have.

Instead of immediately slamming the show – try to find something positive from it.
Maybe we can all focus on being positive.

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AC

Today is January 19th. That means a little over 5% of the year has passed already.

So let’s do a quick “goal review” or a Resolution recall.

Are you 5% towards your goals?

If your goal was to lose 50lbs of fat – you should be down 2.5lbs right now if you’re on track. If your goal was to increase your income by $10,000 this year – you should already have made an extra $500.

Now I know goals are not always achieved linearly – particularly not fat loss or financial goals — but you’ll hopefully see my point. Track everything.

An easy goal that I always set is just a specific number of workouts that you are going to do. Then you just mark them off. One goal for 2010 was to perform 250 workouts. I ended up a little short.
In 2011 I plan on doing 211 !
I also set a goal of twenty training sessions in January (as my facebook followers know).
So to be on track – I need to have performed at least 14 or so training sessions right now.

I am also planning to launch a couple of new product and services  this year. The fat loss programming manual is already available exclusively at the Perform Better events, and very soon we’ll be launching a new Results Fitness Programming seminar.

For one of our business projects – as of yesterday we’re at 5.5% of my annual goal. For another I’m at about a 4% increase over the same point last year (which is slightly behind schedule).

And I’m WAY behind on my newsletter schedule :)

The point is – you need to constantly assess where you are in relation to your desired outcomes.

Are you on track?
Are you headed in the right direction?
Have you even moved off the starting line?
Yes? Congratulations – 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for you.

No? Don’t worry – just step up your ACTION a little bit and catch up.

If it’s your fitness business that needs an overhaul – then check out the Results Fitness Business Mentorship. We have designed the course that we wished were available when we opened our facility eleven years ago.

If your own goal is to get leaner – get on a fat loss program
If it’s to gain muscular size then check out the Muscle Gaining Secrets Program.

Remember – even if you’re off course – you can still get there. A plane traveling cross country is off-course 80% of the time and still makes it to it’s destination because the pilot knows where the destination is, and makes constant corrections.

5% down – 95% to go. You’ve still got time to make some major changes in your life this year.

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AC

PS – Don’t forget to follow me on facebook…