• Home
• About
• Mike's Blog
• Rapid Weight Loss Blueprint
• Permanent Weight Loss Solution
• Contact

Subscribe

Warp Speed Fat Loss 2.0 – Try The First Workout

Alwyn and I have been cranking on a complete revamping of our Warp Speed Fat Loss program.

We’d love to have your try out a sample workout this weekend.

Here’s where you can get it.

http://www.warpspeedfatloss.com/workout.php

Body Weight, Body Fat, Waist Line….What Matters?

No matter what your goals are for you and your body, it is of the utmost importance that you track how your body is changing. Unfortunately in the case of weight loss most people only track the readings on the scale. As time goes on I am more and more convinced that this is a huge mistake. The numbers on the scale really give you little information about what is going on in your body because everything is equal – muscle, fat, and water weight.

It is really important to track several different markers of change in your body so that you can have an accurate picture of what is going on in your system. I have a whole presentation on this topic but for today here is a short 1-2 minute summary video covering the different aspects of change that you can/should monitor and measure.

…and please throw out the scales that ‘measure’ bodyfat percentage. They are garbage.

Monitoring your progress is all about moving towards a goal. This is the goal setting/tracking system that I use – Click here to learn about it.

How do you track your weight loss or muscle building progress? Post a comment below to let me know.

Peroidization Training. Is It Necesary?? [Ask Mike]

We haven’t had an installment of Ask Mike in a while but here we go with a great question from Mark. If you have a question that you’d like answered on the blog just go here and submit a request.

What is your view on periodization? I always assumed that  periodization should be used more for athletes or for folks with a deadline (sport, race, wedding etc.). Does an “everyday” client  looking to lose bodyfat or general fitness need to do sets of 4-6 reps  for a few weeks in order to reach their goals (weight loss, conditioning, etc)?

I know the body adapts to the same workouts, but doesn’t changing the exercises every couple of weeks avoid this?

If someone just used a rep range of 10-15 and changed (multi-joint, compound) exercises every 4 weeks and adjusted loads when needed –would that be enough to stay in shape the rest of your life?

If I’m missing the point on periodization?

Thanks again for your info in your site ——–I love the info…….
Mark

=======

Even though this is “Ask Mike” I knew I wanted to find one of the most qualified people I could to answer this training question (as you know nutrition is my gig). Keith Scott (the author of Unbreakable) graciously answered Mark’s question about periodization. Here’s Keith’s answer.

=======

Periodization needs to be looked at as a process of varying your training regimen at fixed time intervals so you can make changes or make gains.

In simpler terms, it is a long-term plan with fixed intervals of change. It can be used in sports training but also general fitness, fat loss, etc… Is it necessary? I think so if you really want to see optimal changes in the shortest period of time. Besides that, it is another way to do it all safely. It doesn’t have to be complex, but I think it needs to be there. The
biggest mistake people make in their routines is having no fixed or real plan. Periodization is the plan…

It can be as easy as doing 3 X 12 for 4 weeks with weights, and then doing 2 weeks of body weight training with 45 seconds intervals and then back to 4 weeks of weight training with 3X8. Whatever you choose to do, do it with a plan.

I use it with fat loss too.

Weeks 1-3 – Prep – 2-3 X 12-15 reps, and HIIT work with 30 on, 60 off

Weeks 4-8 – Base strength and hypertrophy – 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps (heavier) with HIIT on off days at 20 on, 45 off

Etc…

The bottom line is that you need a structured plan with set times to do these changes. Sounds like you already have a concept of this. Structure it more, and plan it on paper. Stick to it and adapt when needed.

=======

Got an opinion? Didn’t Keith’s answer just bring up more questions? Post a comment below.

Fat Loss Finishers – Making Your Fat Cells Say UNCLE!

So far in this rapid fat loss series we’ve talked about how you lose body fat without losing muscle and we’ve talked about how to safely lose 3-6 pounds per week.

We also talked about EPOC/Afterburn, what we ‘know’ about post exercise calorie burning, and how to maximize it.

Today is the last installment in this mini-series and I wanted to build on the calorie burning that you can achieve from metabolic circuits while making your fat cells scream “UNCLE!!!“.

I’m talking about Fat Loss Finishers. Fat Loss Finishers are used by just about all of the top trainers that I know. The name, Fat Loss Finishers, is a little limiting in scope as these are great for improving overall conditioning and fitness – not just fat loss.

The goal is in the name – finish your body off. This can be achieved though high intensity sets with incomplete rest (i.e. you are still huffing and puffing when it is time to start up again).

You perform a finisher at the end of your weight training workout. Here are three examples:

Tabata Protocol – I’ve written about the Tabata Protocol previously on my blog. You can read about it here. Tabatas are a great finisher.

Death Ladder – This is one that Bill Hartman tortured me with for a whole month of training. You’ll alternate between burpees and jump chin ups – no rest during the entire sequence. You’ll do 1 burpee, 1 jump chin-up, 2 burpees, 2 jump chin ups, 3 burpees, 3 jump chin-ups….continue up the ladder until you reach 10 of each.

120 Seconds  to Exhaustion – This is another gem from Bill Hartman. What you do here is 4 exercises for 30 seconds each with no rest between exercises (120 seconds of total exercise). Rest for 120 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times. This is the exercise sequence:

*Burpees
*Jumping Jacks
*Split Jacks (like jumping jacks but your feet go front to back not side to side)
*Mountain Climbers

Pick one of these fat loss finishers to do after each of your workouts for 4 weeks and you’ll be very happy with the extra calorie burn and additional fat loss.

If this articles series that really hit home with you and you want a step by step way of putting it all into action check out my Warp Speed Fat Loss program. It comes with a no questions asked unconditional 60 day money back guarantee.

In fact, I just had someone email me that ONLY lost 12 pounds in 4 weeks using Warp Speed Fat Loss and they were unhappy because they wanted to lose 20 pounds. They asked for a refund and we gave it to them – no questions ask (even though I wondered….who wouldn’t be happy losing 12 pounds in 4 weeks?).

Try Warp Speed Fat Loss today risk free – Click Here.

EPOC & Afterburn – Are They Real or Is It HYPE?

I talk a lot about EPOC, Afterburn, and the idea of burning calories and fat even after your workout is over. Over the past couple blog posts there have been some questions from readers about this concept. Is is real? Is it over hyped? How many calories are we talking about? Here is a question/comment from a reader, Jack , about this very thing:

You wrote that “Metabolic Circuits are essential to really crank up your weight loss because they have been shown in research studies to increase the total number of calories that you burn over the 38 hours following your workout.” Is this the same as when people speak of EPOC or a separate phenomenon? I ask this because I have read that EPOC is about 8-15 percent or so (depending upon activity intensity) of the total kcal expenditure during the chosen activity. As such quite a number of writers claim that any metabolic boost is not nearly as significant as it is made out to be. Not being engrossed in all of the research leaves me slightly confused as to which is closer to the reality of the situation.

Just curious if you can add some more clarity. I do not mean to come across as argumentative, I am just somewhat confused by what seems to be a back and forth between claims about significant metabolic boosts for 1+ days after certain types of activity and other claims that such impacts are largely overblown.

This is a great question. Yes, I was talking about EPOC or what Alwyn Cosgrove calls Afterburn.

What is EPOC/Afterburn? It is basically a phenomenon that occurs when you lift weights or do the metabolic type of training that I have been talking about the past couple of blog posts. The tabata protocol is a perfect example of something that elicits an afterburn effect. A very simple way of thinking about EPOC is that when you do this type of training you exert yourself beyond what your body is capable of handling (i.e. your body can’t keep up); it then uses the next 12, 24, or even 36 hours to ‘catch up’ metabolically. ‘Catch up’ = burning calories.

How many calories do you burn with EPOC? A bunch.

What is the reality of the situation? Is is 8%? 15% as Jack noted about?

I was emailing back and forth with Alwyn Cosgrove about this and here is what he had to say…

The “reality of the situation” is not going to be found in textbooks or papers unfortunately.

Basically it’s hard to truly measure caloric expenditure (during and post workout) of anaerobic activity and recovery when you are using a measure of aerobic work (traditionally oxygen debt).

Studies comparing the same volume of caloric work (ie same calories burned) from interval training or weight training to aerobic training, show a massive difference in total fat lost over a period of time?

Why? EPOC? Some other type of post workout change?

I don’t think we know the exact mechanism yet – we just know that SOMETHING happens post workout as a result of high intensity metabolic work that doesn’t happen with lower intensity work, even if calories burned during training are equal.

The numbers shown with EPOC don’t explain it completely. It would be nice to know exactly what happens, but more importantly we KNOW what happens — more fat loss.

Bottom Line - don’t be confused by “a back and forth between claims” – just do what has been shown over and over again to work.

Aside from all of this: – all the studies on EPOC are performed on aerobic work or standard weight training.

• The few studies on circuit based weight training show a higher effect.
• There has never been a formal study on the type of training we use. However – at 250 clients training 3 times a week for the past several years – I think I have more than enough “data”
• There aren’t any studies on an accumulative effect on EPOC (they all look at single workouts). If it’s even a 10% increase for 24 hours, is there an accumulative effect if you train every 24 hours? (there are studies showing an increased EPOC with two shorter daily sessions as opposed to one of the same total length) — the question is how long will the “between sessions” last?

We know that weight training increases resting energy expenditure and there is an EPOC effect. All we do is attempt to continuously ramp that effect up.

Again – in truth we don’t know the mechanisms behind this completely — I just know what results my clients get.
The research doesn’t disprove the results. It just looks at the mechanisms to explain the results.

(Mike again…) We talk a lot about EPOC in Warp Speed Fat Loss. As Alwyn said is all the extra calorie burning from EPOC? Not sure? Does is matter if we know exactly what it is from? Not entirely, as if you go on Warp Speed Fat Loss and lose 4 pounds a week for 4 weeks would you really care if it was EPOC or not? You’d just be happy you lost the weight right? So for now the jury is out but as soon as we learn more I’ll let you know. For the time being let’s just do what we know works —> This works

Please post your comments/thoughts below.

• 
  

  Naked Nutrition on Facebook

• Naked Nutrition Network 2.0

  

Copyright © 2008 Naked Nutrition Network – Health, Diet, and Fitness Hub · Revolution News theme by Brian Gardner · Log in