Q and A: Fat Loss…

Q: Danny, I’ve lost about 20 pounds thus far, but my results have really slowed.  I still have about 45 pounds
to go to reach my goal.  I am currently lifting 4 days per week.
Day 1 – Chest, Back and Shoulders.  Day 2 – Legs, Biceps and Triceps.
Day 3 – Chest, Back and Shoulders.(different exercises than day 1) Day 4 – Legs, Biceps and Triceps.
(different exercises than day 2)  Do you like this set-up?  Is this the best way to help me achieve my goals?

A: First of all, congratulations on losing your first 20 pounds!  You should be proud of that.  However, if you
were my client I would make some changes.  I am definitely not a “full body guy,” an “upper/lower
guy,” or a “body part split” guy.  To see my full thoughts on training splits, check out my previous article.

When I work with people that have a ways to go to hit their fat loss goals, I’ve found that full body training is
the best way to go.  Full body sessions will burn the most calories per training session, and keep your metabolism elevated for hours after the workout is over. (This is known as EPOC)  At the end of your full body session, I would then have you go into “metabolic training.”  Like full body training, metabolic training will keep your metabolism elevated far longer than steady-state aerobic would.  If you are very busy, like many of my clients are, I’d do your metabolic training right after your weight training session.  If you have the time, you can do it on your non-lifting days.  I’ll talk more about metabolic training below. 

Basic Guidelines to Full Body Training

-Make free weight, compound movement the staple in your program. (i.e. choose bulgarian split squats over leg extensions; rows over bicep curls)
-For the majority of your exercises work in the 8-12 rep range.  To maintain your strength, you can pick one or two exercises, to start off each session, in the 4-6 rep range.  And occasionally it is ok to go into the 15-20 rep range.
-Try to go back and fourth between upper and lower body movement. (i.e. pushups supersetted with deadlifts)
-Keep the rest intervals as short as possible while NOT letting your performance drop too much.  Your heart should be pounding the entire workout.

I’m not saying that you should do no “isolation” work, like bicep curls.  But with your goals, exercises that are not targeting a large number of muscles at once, should make up a very small percentage of your program.  This is the reason I’m not too thrilled with your current program – a leg, bicep, and tricep day would have you doing too much volume of isolation exercises.  This is not an efficient use of your time.

Metabolic Training Ideas

The video below is just an example of some exercises that you can use as part of your metabolic work.  It is a beautiful day here so I thought I’d record it outside.

-Jump Rope – I did “double-turns,” you work at your level. It may be more advanced than my example, it may be less advanced.

-Squat and Press – Squat down as deep as your mobility allows while keeping your chest up and your weight on your heels. Then rapidly stand up and push the dumbells up over your head. Use a weight that makes the exercise harder, but not so much weight that your shoulders and triceps become the limiting factor. The only weights I had on me at the time were 10 pounders. I usually use 100’s, but sometimes you got to go with what you have on hand. Ok, that’s a lie.

-Bench Jumps – Just spring back and fourth over a bench in your gym. (or at a local park)

-Moutain Climbers – Keep your abs tight and drive your knees towards your chest as fast as you can. Try to keep your back flat. Mine was slightly rounded – shame on me.

Again, these are just some examples. To save time, I did not rest between exercises in the video. I suggest you pick 4-5 movements and do each movement for 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. Then move on to the next exercise. (i.e. 20 seconds of jump rope, then rest 20 seconds before moving on to the squat and press, etc. etc.) Get in as many rounds as you can get without letting your form break down or your intensity drop. So if you feel like you are not going as fast on round 6 as you were going on round 1, do NOT do a 7th round.

To make your cardio extra “fun,” you could just go to the park with a partner and run pass routes. But to get the fat burning that you are looking for, make sure you sprint back to the line of scimmage when it is your time to play Drew Brees. I think Carson throws a pretty nice ball for a 9-year old.

Wrap up:
-3 FB sessions/week
-3-4 cardio days/week. (with the majority, or all of them in the form of metabolic training. (fast paced, high intensity work followed by a brief rest interval) If you have the time, feel free to throw in a steady-state session lasting about 30 minutes.

Nutrition

Of course, I can’t make a fat loss post without at least bringing up nutrition. This is BY FAR the key to reaching your ultimate goal! No matter how hard you work during your training sessions, if you are not eating a lot of clean food, you’ll be spinning your wheels. I’ll address some of the nutrition “musts,” in posts real soon here. So be sure to check out the nutrition “category” in the near future.

Best of luck in achieving your goals.! I hope this helped a bit.