The largest contributing factor most people deal with when attempting to burn body-fat is time. It’s not as challenging to drop body-fat if you train six days a week for two ½ hours. That’s not realistic and I don’t recommend that. There is a sound approach that has become protocol in strength and conditioning circles. Created by Alwyn Cosgrove approximately fifteen years ago, it’s called the hierarchy of fat loss. In this hierarchy, the priority is fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. When people go to extremes in fitness, it traditional comes with sacrifices in other areas. Marathon runners and triathlete’s train to improve extreme endurance and suffer muscle loss. Powerlifters and bodybuilders focus purely on building strength and size to then have reduced mobility. Extreme diets can leave people happy with a number on the scale, only to be discouraged from their image in the mirror due to the depletion of muscle.
LEVEL ONE The hierarchy starts with nutrition. You can not out train poor eating. You create a deficit of burning more calories than you consume and make sure to consume enough protein and essential fats. The rule of protein intake is one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. The example for someone weighing 175 pounds is:
175/ 2.2 = 79.5grams of protein daily.
This is where you start and can adjust as needed, based upon energy levels and rate of monthly body-fat loss. The drop should be gradual.
Fat intake should be individualized and is based upon body type, age, and activity level. Avoiding fat is not good. Fat is critical for your diet and has six major roles:
- It provides energy.
- It helps manufacture and balance hormones.
- It forms cell membranes.
- It forms our brain and nervous system.
- It helps transport the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
- It provides two essential fatty acids that the body can’t make: linoleic acid (omega-6 fatty acid) and linolenic acid (omega-3 fatty acid).
Dietary fat and carbohydrates should be inversely proportional: High fat intake should have low carbohydrate intake and vice versa. Examples of essential fats are avocados, fish oils, olive oil, eggs, red meat, nuts, and seeds.
LEVEL TWO Participate in activities that burn calories, promote muscle, and speed up metabolism. The bulk of our calories consume are used for our resting metabolic rate (RMR). It only makes sense to use activities such as full body strengthening programs and circuits. The more muscle on your body, the more calories your body will burn. Remember that fat on your body does not require calories, but muscle does.
LEVEL THREE The next step is to add workouts that burn calories and increase exercise post oxygen consumption (EPOC). An example of this are bouts on the air or Assault bike. Activities that get your heart rate to an elevated level. The benefit of this training is that your body burns calories at a higher rate when you are out of the gym. I added a workout titled Metabolic Disruption to our training schedule at the studio specifically to cater to this.
LEVEL FOUR The last piece of the pie is to use activities that burn calories but don’t build muscle or speed up metabolism. Examples of this are power walks, using the elliptical, and stationary cycling. They are the icing on the cake. If you addressed your nutrition, completed your full-body strength circuits 3-4 days a week, performed a HIIT session, then it is good to add these. Resistance training should be the cornerstone of your program. Challenge yourself and work to increase exercise intensity to enhance metabolism. Research has proven that if you take this approach, you can expect a drop in body-fat.