No thanks..

Every time I hear people talk about how they want to lose weight, “tone up” or just look better, they all say how they are going go to the gym and do some cardio.

In most people’s minds it would seem pretty straight forward that for fat loss, a few 30 minutes sessions on the treadmill, a few times a week, is the fast track to their goal.

I think this is a terrible approach to fat loss for 2 reasons:

1.) In general, Aerobic exercise / Cardio has a low caloric expenditure

2.) I detest aerobic exercise of all forms.

To go more in-depth on point 1, cardiovascular exercise is actually pretty ineffective at “burning” calories. The calories per hour value is dependant on the mode of exercise, with more intense exercise obviously burning more calories. However, there is a trade off between intensity and duration. As while high intensity exericse burns more calories than low intensity exercise, due to the fatigue accumulation, you can spent less time actually performing it.

When performing Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) exercise, such as walking a caloric burn of about 5-7kcal/min is the most that can be expected. As this can be done for an hour without too much fatigue, you can be looking at 300-420kcal burnt.

For higher intensity work, such as running or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), a caloric burn of 10-20kcal/min can be expected. However, as mentioned earlier, due to the increased fatigue element the duration is compromised. The average gym goer will last about 30 minutes, burning 300-600kcal.

These caloric expenditures seem a poor reward for the time and effort invested. Especially when you consider that a reduction of 300-600kcal from dietary intake is a much easier task. For example that is about the same caloric value of an average sandwich.

Personally, I’d rather not have the sandwich than walk for an hour.

Removing calories from the diet, as opposed to trying to burn them off with exercise is the most efficient way of creating a caloric deficit . It is a much simpler option and the removal of 300-600 kcal a day from diet is easily accomplished and means you can avoid an hour of cardio.
On a side note, Intermittent Fasting is an excellent approach for this, as the 300-600kcal can just be dropped from the “breakfast” meal with no ill effects.
You also sidestep the potential problems with recovery that come with high intensity cardio.

I’d just like to point out that a small amount of cardiovascular/aerobic work can be done on a diet, and a diet with a moderate deficit created from cardio and dietary restriction is often a good idea as it may encourage better adherance. However, the thought that you have to spent hours and hours on a treadmill is purely misguided thinking.

Going to point 2, I used to be of the mindset that cardio was essential and would be walking on the treadmill, 1 hour a day 6 days a week and I absolutely hated it. Once I realised fat loss was purely to do with caloric balance, cardio went out the window.

The most I do currently is a few brisk walks (30-45 minutes), a few times a week, when going to the shops. Currently I’m dropping 1-1.5lb of fat a week and the fact I know I don’t have to do cardio is making things a breeze.

**I will note that cardio/aerobic exercise obviously has a ton of health benefits for certain populations, but I am referring to fat loss specifically.

Portion Control?

I regularly see people having a whinge and moan about how “they are always hungry whilst dieting”. In fact hunger is one of the biggest reasons people don’t stick with diets.

This tends to be a product of a badly set up diet, with caloric intake set FAR too low.

The dieter ends up starving due to massive deficits for a few days, then giving into their cravings, and binging - ending back at square one. This cycle results in dieters who claim they can’t lose weight and they tried so hard. Even if they do stick to it, they end up losing all appreciable muscle mass and looking like a Kenyan runner.

A lot of this is based upon the rubbish in the media of crash diets, carb-phobia and celebrities losing 30lbs in 7 days so people try and do everything at once and expect magic results. They continue to toil away because a diet should be hard, right?

In fact, if the diet is properly set up, then hunger should hardly be a problem. This is controlled by a few factors:

1.) Moderate caloric deficits - This allows a decent amount of calories over the course of the day so you have the opportunity to actually eat enough

2.) Reduced meal frequency - This ties in with the point above. By reducing meal frequency to 2-3 meals a day you aren’t going to “slow your metabolism” and you allow more calories per meal. I’d rather have 600g of chicken a sitting and actually be full. As opposed to 6-7 meals a day where I’m always hungry

3.) Low calorie dense foods - By picking low calorie dense foods like chicken, brocolli, sweet potato etc you allow more satiety whilst dieting and makes it easier to stick to the diet. That isn’t to say you have to eat “clean” which I think is a scam, but means you get full for less calories.

4.) High protein intake - Protein has been shown to have the greatest effect on satiety and keeps you full for longer. Also protein has a higher Thermic Effect of Food (TEF), which may be a benefit whilst dieting.

It all boils down to manipulating your intake so it makes the diet easier. Im dieting at the moment and my first meal of the day was this:
1200g cottage cheese
60g casein protein powder
400g berries

Doesn’t really seem like dieting is too hard does it?

In Rest-Pause for Mass Gains, I outlined the Myo-Rep method developed by Borge Fogerli for muscular hypertrophy.

In this article I am going to outline how to use it in your training programs.

I’m a big proponent of keeping things simple in the weight room. No set upon set or tricep kick backs and bicep curls for me - just big, heavy movements. This is why I like myo-reps. It lets me go balls out (nearly) on a couple exercises and I’m done in about 45 minutes.

Only 1-2 Exercises are needed per body part. 1-2 exercises = 1-2 Sets. Awesome

Generally I divide my training days into Upper / Lower splits so training looks as follows:
* indicates end of set

Upper
Bench - 10 +3+3+2*
Chest Supported Row - 12+4+4+4+3*
Dips - 11+3+2*
Chins - 13+4+2*

Lower
Squat
RDL
*These are done in a straight set manner, due to fatigue being a dangerous factor in these movements*
1 Leg Press - 12+4+4+3*
Calf Raises - 15+5+5+3*

As you can see, it is a few exercises done very intensely, that produces excellent results.
You may also notice that the amount of mini-sets differs during each exercise. This is due to Auto-Regulation. I plan to talk about this in a future article, but for now give Myo-reps a go and let me know your feedback