Fat loss through exercise alone doesn’t work

The most common thing I see in the gym that causes people to fail with their fat loss goal is exercising without changing their eating habits or making a very half-assed attempt at it.

To encourage your body to loose fat you have to create a calorie deficit. Exercise by itself is not a wholly efficient way of achieving this as it takes far more time and effort with exercise as opposed to not eating the food in the first place.

To illustrate- a Big Mac which contains 540 kcal could be eaten in a couple of minutes but it would take an average person (70kg’s) cycling at a moderate pace almost an hour to burn the same amount of calories.

Here is just one study that supports that exercise is not an effective way to loose weight-

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/00958.2009

“These data suggest that when exercise is performed with energy replacement (i.e., energy balance is maintained), 24-h fat oxidation does not increase and in fact, may be slightly decreased. It appears that the state of energy balance is an underappreciated factor determining the impact of exercise on fat oxidation.”

It’s much easier to loose weight by eating less than it is than to try and try and burn off calories through exercise alone. Of course combining exercise with a dietary intervention has been shown to be the most effective method.

Please don’t just take my word for it, do some research yourself online and you will find so many more studies on the subject.

The definition of Gluttony is- “habitual eating to excess”.

Get real with yourself and realise that if you are overweight in the absence of disease (and it’s often the wrong food choices that cause the disease in the first place) then you are completely responsible for your current condition and that vey little will change unless you make changes to your eating habits. You simply eat too much or have eaten too much over an extended period of time. Trying to loose weight through exercise alone is an exercise in futility.

Quote of the day 15/9

I love this quote from Henry Rollins-

"The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you.... You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black.

I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds."

– Henry Rollins.

Take Control of Your Life, Take Control of Your Waistline

Through years of training people I heard more excuses that I care to count as to why someone cannot loose weight.

Whatever the case may be, whether its your partner or family members pressuring you to indulge in high calorie foods or work colleagues inspiring you to spend hours after work drinking alcohol and eating pub food it all comes down the choices you make as to how you look.

People suffering from metabolic conditions such as hypothyroidism and metabolic syndrome still had success loosing weight through dietary control and regular exercise.

Your results on your body shape will be directly proportionate to how 'bothered' you are by your current condition. If you are truly happy the way you look then power to you, i'm happy that you have found your ideal condition and there is no further reason for you to read on.

If you however are unhappy then you have to realise that sacrifices need to be made in order to make a change. What you are doing right now isn't working and continuing on that path is not going change your results. Albert Einstein was quoted in saying the "definition of Insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

If you are trying to loose weight but always playing catch up at the gym, trying to make up for bad eating habits combined with lack of sleep then you are bound to FAIL and keep failing until you change this.

My own status

When people see the lean physique I have achieved I often hear "oh you must have a fast metabolism". I happily respond to them that its quite the opposite, in fact I have recently been diagnosed with non-clinical hypothyroidism and my family also has a history of obesity and diabetes so do you still think I have an advantage? I have to work hard to loose body fat and keep it off at least as much as the average person.

Loosing weight comes down to a factor of calories in vs. calories out, in order to loose weight you must create a calorie deficit and this is best achieved through dietary control, trying to burn off excess calories through exercise alone is wholelly inefficient and ineffective.

Make a choice whether you want to get control of your waistline or not and stop making excuses.

Here 6 key points to weight loss success-

1. Figure out exactly what you want.
2. Commit to taking control of your life, you are the master of your own destiny!
   
3. Either teach yourself the principles of weight loss through self study or seek an expert to guide you.
4. Design an eating regime that creates a slow sustainable calorie deficit, crash dieting only works in the short term and will lead to a rebound in weight. You also want an eating regime that gives you an optimal balance of nutrients.
   
5. Perform a regular exercise regime that encompasses resistance training focusing primarily on large compound movements.
6. Stick to the plan for at least 6 months taking personal responsibility for all the dietary choices you make.

If you stick to these 6 steps I guarantee that you will have success in loosing body fat and improving your body shape.

Quote of the day 10/9

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result”

- Mahatma Gandhi

Always keep a record

Keeping a record in the form of a log book or training diary is an essential way of tracking your progress. Every single workout should have a progression of some form whether it be lifting more weight, performing more repetitions, performing more sets or doing more work in less time. You cannot rely on memory to remember everything you did last week with the information overload that surrounds us today.

Keeping a record makes it easier to plan ahead and then review your progress at a later date. It also gives you a target to shoot for which is important. Reviewing the log book a few hours before you workout is a good way to get mentally prepared for the task ahead. If you know you hit 5 reps last time then this time you have to shoot for at least 6, this little mental training tip can give you the edge you need to keep pressing forward with your goal.

When a training programme comes to an end, typically after 6-8 weeks you need to analysis it to see where you have progressed fastest and what areas have lagged behind. This allows you to plan your next training phase more effectively and target your weak points.

This is an format i use in my log book, an example of my workout today-

Date: 9/9/2010 15:00
Exercise Routine: Advanced GVT Arms
Mood: Good, restful sleep (I make further notes on food eaten, if the gym is busy etc as needed)
Exercises

Dynamic warm-up for shoulders and upper body

A1 Close Grip Bench Press
1, 80kg x 5
2, 80kg x 5
3, 80kg x 5
4, 80kg x 5
5, 80kg x 5
6, 80kg x 5
7, 80kg x 5
8, 80kg x 5
9, 80kg x 5
10, 80kg x 5
rest 90
A2 Incline Dumbbell Curl Fat Gripz
1, 14kg x 5
2, 14kg x 5
3, 14kg x 5
4, 14kg x 5
5, 14kg x 5
6, 14kg x 5
7, 14kg x 5
8, 14kg x 5
9, 14kg x 5
10, 14kg x 5
rest 90


B1 Preacher Reverse Grip Curl Fat Gripz
1, 22kg x 6
2, 22kg x 6
3, 22kg x 6
rest 90
B2 Overhead EZ Extension Fat Gripz
1, 32kg x 8
2, 32kg x 8
3, 32kg x 8
rest 90


C Machine Lateral Raise
1, 30kg x 15
2, 30kg x 12
3, 30kg x 12
4, 30kg x 12
rest 60

Time taken - 60 min’s

So take the time and invest in writing things down. It will help your progress faster, its also very satisfying to be able to look at records from years back to see how far you have progressed, which in itself provides further motivation.

Quote of the day 4/9

"You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you cannot do."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

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Quote of the day

"Thou seest how sloth wastes the sluggish body, as water is corrupted unless it moves."

- Ovid (Roman Poet)

Biceps training tip

Have your biceps grow recently, probably not?

Limit yourself to one exercise only; focusing on getting stronger on this movement and limit it to 4 good quality sets (full range, smooth tempo) after training a larger muscle group such as your back.

The principle of needing to hit a muscle such as the biceps from many angles which is often preached in bodybuilding magazines is irrelevant to the average gym trainer and is only relevant to the drug enhanced or advanced athlete.

Good exercise choices could be the incline dumbbell curl or a reverse grip preacher curl.

Martyn
(yes the picture is me)