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Inefficiency is the Key To Rapid Fat Loss

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So here is the thing…when you’re training to lose fat, efficient is the LAST thing you want to be. Now…don’t look at me like that. Let me explain…

Let me set the stage for you…you began your fat-loss training and all the weight training exercises were new and tough. All the cardio training was challenging. The diet part was tough. Yet you started losing fat VERY fast.

Then you started getting into the groove – you learned the exercises and training techniques, you got good at the cardio and could really power through it. Even the diet part was getting easier.

Now, you would think with things going well like this (your training and eating actually improving as you were progressing) that your fat burning would actually be increased.

But then fat loss started to slow down.

You’re training just as hard. The cardio is tough but you’ve hit your stride with it. The diet part is going well.

Is your metabolism slowing down? You take a few days off and eat more to try and get your metabolism reset and then get back in but fat still isn’t coming off.

So what now?

Time to go back to the drawing board and quite literally go back to when you were BAD at things!

Because when you were BAD at things, everything you did seemed to take more energy. It was inefficient. And in that inefficiency, you burned a LOT more calories…getting the idea now?

Let’s take running as an example as this is a very visual thing. Look at two people…one is a first-time jogger, trying to get into shape. The other is a very experienced runner.

Let’s also assume these two people weigh exactly the same so they SHOULD be burning the same number of calories when they cover the same distance, right?

But when you see the poor guy plodding his way down the road, hardly lifting his feet off the ground and you see the OTHER guy floating past him, who do you think is burning more calories and challenging their body to a greater degree?

The guy who is completely inefficient is driving his metabolism to a whole other level than the experienced runner, even though the runner is probably going 3 or 4 times faster!

So here’s the take-home lesson. When fat loss starts to slow down, you don’t necessarily need to work harder at the same things you’re already doing…you may just need to do something completely different!

Let’s just say you’re always used to doing barbell bench press for chest and rarely do dips. Even if you push yourself on the bench press, what do you think will get you cranked up more…dips or bench press? You’ll be so not used to doing dips that your body will have to work harder just to do the exercise.

Then when you get too good at dips, switch to dumbbell bench press. Keep doing stuff you’re NOT good at!

You want to really drop fat? Put together a program based on exercises you STINK at or rarely do (maybe because you stink at them).

You may have to use less weight but I promise, you’ll push your metabolism into gear far more than when you go easy through even hard sets of exercises you ARE good at.

Try a workout based on weighted dips, front squats, wide-grip barbell rows, hang clean and press, and stiff-legged deadlifts.

Or if you’re good at those exercises, go with one that you’re NOT good at. Force yourself to do them until you GET good at them, then move on to something else.

When it comes to cardio training, do you do interval training on the treadmill? Get out to a soccer field or baseball diamond and do sprints there instead. Kick butt on the stair machine? Try the real stairs and see what happens! Or, better yet, do something COMPLETELY different like swimming.

I think you’re getting the general idea…when the body gets good at something, it gets lazy and efficient. It uses as little energy as possible and CAN use very little energy because it IS so efficient.

It might be tough on the ego, but by working with exercises you’re not good at, you’ll actually be speeding up your fat loss significantly.

And, as a bonus, you might just get good at exercises you used to stink at!

Now, when it comes to programs, you need a fat-loss program geared towards keeping you inefficient, where the training and eating are constantly changing, never allowing your body to get accustomed to (or efficient at!) really any part of it. This not only gets you better results, it keeps things challenging and interesting.

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Written by Guest

April 12th, 2010 at 9:48 pm