Read 37 times since Saturday, January 14, 2012
Working as a Glasgow personal trainer the vast majority of my clients want to lose weight. They often arrive at my gym with the common misconception that cardio, for example running on a treadmill, is the best training for weight loss. This kind of thinking is about 30 years out of date but is perpetuated by the media because they do not keep up with the latest advancements in exercise science.
It never takes long to convince people that they can get a fantastic cardiovascular effect with strength training if you know how to modify traditional weight training to burn fat faster and more efficiently that ever. There is a lot of current research has shown that higher intensity, lower volume and shorter duration resistance training is a much more efficient, much more effective and a much better way to get rid of unwanted body fat.. To harness this information we must rethink how we train because some bench press followed by bicep curls just won't get it done.
Firstly we need to train your whole body ever session using big basic movements. Each session should contain a total leg exercise, an upper body pull, an upper body push, an abdominal exercise and then a whole body movement. To get the most out of this kind of training you have to start thinking like an athlete and choose exercises that may be more technically and physically demanding than the kinds of strength training exercises you are probably familiar with. Steer clear of fixed path machine weights and exercises where you sit down. My favourites would be reverse lunge, pull ups, dips, grappler twist and tyre flip.
As important as the exercises you choose is the way you arrange the session. Normal strength training is arranged in a series of exercises where you complete all the required sets of one exercise before moving away from it and onto a new exercise. Strength circuits are different. Here we take our exercises and arrange them into a circuit, doing 1 set of all 5 exercises in order without rest between them except for the time it takes to move quickly to the next one.
The best way to keep the pace of the session high, and consistent is to set a timer to beep every 5 minutes. This beep indicates when you should start the next circuit. This means you have 5 minutes to do the circuit, rest between circuits and start the next time round the circuit. Aim for 5 sets of 8 reps on each exercise with as much weight as you can handle with good technique.
Training like this burns fat quickly because it uses up a lot of calories in a very special way. The circuit will only take about 30 minutes and maybe 300 calories to do but it creates an effect called "afterburn" that increases your metabolism for the next 48 hours. University studies have shown that this means you can use up to 600 more calories than you normally would and the total energy cost of the circuit could be around 900 calories. I would have to run at 18 kilometres per hour for 30 minutes to burn that much!
Afterburn is simply a coaching term given to the increased energy expenditure your body is forced into to repair, refuel and return your body to its pre training state. It takes a demanding while body training session to create this effect and you won't get it from a slow jog or peddle on a stationary bike. To get the kind of session you need you have to keep it short so you can give your all, pacing yourself is a sure sign that you won't be creating much afterburn. Iain Smith (MPhil/CSCS) owns Standout Gym, an independent warehouse gym in Glasgow, focusing on weight loss. He offers small group training as an affordable alternative to Glasgow personal training. Iain is a former international decathlete with 17 years coaching experience. www.standoutgym.com.
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