8 Rules for Fat Loss Training

1. Prioritize Nutrition

Nutrition is the single most important thing for fat loss. If you are serious about

stripping off body fat, you must make time for grocery shopping, cooking, meal

prep, doing dishes, and keeping a food journal. If you don't have time for this,

make time. Cut down on time wasters like social media, web surfing, playing on

your cell phone, or TV and take care of your top priority for fat loss – your

nutrition. Get plenty of natural, single-ingredient foods, meats, fish, whole eggs,

beans, good carbs and vegetables along with quality supplements such as fish

oils, branch chain amino acids, and multi vitamins.

2. Pick Compound Exercises

Regardless of your goals, effective training starts with picking the right exercises.

The best exercises for fat loss are the ones that include many muscles such as

squats, deadlifts, push-up, planks and dumbbell or body weight rows/chin-ups.

3. Get Stronger

While most people understand that getting stronger is important for building

muscle and enhancing performance, its relevance for fat loss is often overlooked.

When your goal is fat loss, you want to burn as much fuel as possible. To do this,

you want your body to be as fuel inefficient as possible. One of the huge

problems with cardio for fat loss is that the more you do, the better you get at it

and thus the more fuel efficient you become. With resistance training the

opposite is true. The better you get at strength training, the more weight you can

lift and the more it takes out of you. Spending some of your training time getting

stronger allows you to do all your other forms of training (e.g., metabolic

resistance training, conditioning) at a higher/faster level and this makes them

even more effective for getting rid of unwanted body fat.

4. Build Muscle Tone

Virtually everyone trying to lose body fat should gain some muscle. Most people

know this, but it bears repeating again and again. Even a few extra pounds of

lean muscle means a lot more calories burned each day.

5. Jack Up Metabolism Post Training

Years ago exercise scientists told us to do long, slow cardio in order to burn fat.

However, this answer was a response to the wrong question. Fat loss training

is not about what burns the most amount of fat during a training session, it is about

what burns the most amount of fat in a 24 hour period. Short, high-intensity

exercise creates an oxygen debt known as excess post-exercise oxygen

consumption and this results in a metabolic boost long after the training session

is over.

6. Schedule Wisely

When designing a weekly plan for your training, consider how different styles of

training affect different systems and thus affect recovery. Allow for some spaces

between different types of stressors. For example, if you stress something one

day, do a lighter session or work a different type of stress the next day. For

example: resistance training one day / cardio the next.

7. Rotate Strategies

As with any goal, following an effective program will only work for so long before

you hit a plateau. With fat loss programs, switch as needed to different strategies

such as the following:

• Metabolic resistance training: Use moderate weights for moderate reps while alternating upper/lower body exercises or doing whole body circuits.

• Strength training: Use more traditional strength training methods to allow you to lift more weight when you return to metabolic resistance training.

• Bodybuilding: Focus on building lean muscle to raise metabolic rate and doing brisk walking to burn a few extra calories.

• Strength plus conditioning: Focus on getting stronger in the weight room and doing challenging forms of conditioning to boost EPOC (that after-burn effect).

• Rotate your diet too: Depending on the intensity of your workout vary your carb intake. Lower intensity = lower carbs / Higher intensity = more good carbs.

8. Get Outside

We are made to be outdoors so do something physical outside. Run sprints at the

track, find a hill and do sprints, push or pull a sled. Ride your bike or grab a

sledgehammer and try to beat an old tire to a pulp. Also, doing some other

activities such as sports or outdoor recreation is great to not only burn a few

extra calories, but also to have fun, reduce stress, and enjoy the benefits of the

finely conditioned machine you are building in the gym.

If following these eight steps appear complexed or difficult, don't do them alone. At Motivate Fitness we teach, guide, and enact these actions with you step by step through our FIT IN 42 program. If you are looking for results and tired of feeling like a hamster on a wheel, click the banner below to finally achieve your weight loss goals.