This is the final installment of my Weight Loss 101 series. I hope you've found it beneficial, easy to follow, and practical. My goal with this series was to cut through all the fluff, details and minutia, and just cover the key components and principles 95% of people need to understand in order to experience weight loss and fat loss success. Ok, on to our discussion of exercise and it's contribution to weight loss.
If you've read my blog, website, or listened to my podcasts, you already know my feelings regarding exercise as a stand alone weight loss method: in stinks! Exercise, in any form, is very inefficient in terms of burning calories. Those who try to "exercise off" excess body weight and body fat fail miserably. You can eat 500 calories in a matter of minutes, but it takes an hour or more of reasonably intense exercise to expend that same 500 calories. As I've said before, using an exercise only approach to weight loss is the equivalent of trying to drive a nail into a board using the handle of screwdriver: if you keep banging away, you may make a little headway, and, if you bang away long enough, you may actually end up driving the nail completely in...but wouldn't it be much more efficient to just use a hammer (diet)??
With all of the above being said, YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD EXERCISE. In fact, you should do so 5 or 6 days per week. Exercise provides tremendous metabolic health benefits which one cannot get through proper nutrition alone. Furthermore, most people do not want to lose weight just for the sake losing weight: they want to look more athletic, "toned if you will, and look better naked!
This athletic look cannot be achieved simply by reducing your calorie intake and losing weight. Proper exercise is what gives muscle its tone, hardness, etc. Maintaining and/or gaining muscle mass, specifically, is what provides the "look" everyone so desperately wants. If you want your body to look contoured, you have to have a level of body fat low enough for the muscles to show from beneath the skin, AND you also have to have conditioned muscle in the. Without the combination of the two, you are not going to achieve the athletic look.
Also, while inefficient, exercise obviously makes a contribution to weight loss and fat loss because it burns calories. Any human movement burns energy, and, in order to lose weight, you have to burn more energy than you consume. Furthermore, maintaining lean muscles tissue-something the vast majority of adults do not do as they age-will ensure your resting metabolic rate (RMR) doesn't decrease. A decrease in resting metabolic rate means your body will be expending less energy while at rest. RMR is the largest contributor to overall daily calorie expenditure, so the ramifications of losing muscle mass should be obvious...and you can only maintain muscle mass by placing a consistent mechanical stress or overload on the muscles.
Finally, in order to get the most out of exercise, you want to make sure you choose activities which give you the most bang for your buck. Activities which (1) burn calories (2) maintain/increase muscle mass & (3) allow the body to continue burning calories even after the exercise session is over are ideal. What type of exercise does all of this? Strength/resistance training.
Therefore, I suggest strength/resistance training 2-4 days/week. When strength training, you want to choose mostly multiple joint exercises (squats, lunges, step-ups, rows, presses, etc) which work 2 or more muscle structures simultaneously. Why? The more muscles you involve in an exercise, the more calories you burn. Contrast this to what most people do at the gym: single joint, machine based isolation exercises while seated. These movements, while beneficial for certain purposes, do not place a great demand on your physiology
Also, when strength training, be progressive. Try to lift more weight and/or perform more sets or reps (volume) over time. Why? Training progressively-asking more of your body-burns more calories over time and also provides a consistent stimulus for your muscles to become more and more toned and solid. Many women are leery of lifting heavier weights in fear of becoming bulky. This is analogous to not playing golf too often because you fear you might become too good. It's not going to happen. Also, we know we have to burn up energy in order to lose weight and fat, right? Well, what takes more energy, lifting 20 lbs., or lifting 50 lbs.? 50 lbs. or 100 lbs. It's basic logic.
On days you strength train, after that portion of the workout is complete, I would suggest adding in 10:00 of interval based conditioning. Interval conditioning is simply alternating bouts of really hard work with bouts of easier recovery work in a ratio of 1:3, 1:2, or 1:1 (this would obviously be the hardest). So, if you sprint on a treadmill at 9 miles/hour for 30 seconds, you would want to recover (maybe a 4 mile/hour walk) for 30-90 seconds. Interval training can be performed on ANY piece of traditional cardiovascular equipment (bikes, treadmills, elliptical type machines, stairclimbers, versa climbers, rowers, UBE's, etc). You can also perform intervals using bodyweight resistance training exercises, kettlebells, bands, etc. The bottom line is that whatever modality or activity you choose, the work intervals should be HARD...meaning you shouldn't want or be able to continue at that intensity for much longer than the duration of the interval. Interval training burns calories at an increased rate during the exercise session, and, more importantly, gives the body a stimulus to continue burning calories at an increased rate after the session.
On days you do not strength/resistance train and perform intervals, I would recommend traditional cardiovascular type work at a lower (although not easy) intensity for about 30 minutes. If you want to monitor your heart rate while doing this, fine. Want a recommendation? About 70% of age predicted maximum heart rate (220-current age X .70). Traditional cardio burns calories and can aid in recovery without over taxing the body. It does not do a very good job of causing the body to continue burning calories after the workout is over, but that's not the primary objective of this form of conditioning anyway. Oh, and leave one day per week when you don't do anything. Rest and let your body recover.
Finally, just move more in your daily life. We all know a guy or gal who works a manual labor type of job, doesn't workout, and is very lean. Why? Because they are expending energy, even if on a lower level, all day long. They are on their feet. They are moving around. Any muscle contraction in the body uses energy, so move more. Park farther away when you go to work or the store. Take the stairs. Go for walks with your wife. Toss ball with your kids. If you are sitting around at home, fidget a lot. Get up from your desk at work, walk down the hall and bother your boss. Whatever, just move. We refer to this as NEPA: non exercise physical activity. NEPA is kind of the icing on the cake and can actually add up over time to enhance your results.
So, there it is. Everything you ever wanted to know about practical, no BS weight loss. So, no need to scour through all the diet and exercise books out there. Don't waste your money. All of these books and programs operate under the same principles I've outlined here. The authors may dress things up a bit and market the hell out of their products, but it still comes back to the stuff I've outlined in this series.
Now, go put this information into action!
Also visit us at:
http://www.cincinnatifitnesstrainer.com/cincinnati-personal-trainers.html
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