01 Dec, 2008
Ask the Coach: Bang for my Buck
Question
As the Christmas season approaches I want to stay focused on achieving my goal to looking my best and as time is a limiting factor, what tips would you give to get the best bang for my buck?
Answer
Pay yourself first; get your training done before work so it is not sacrificed if you have to work late. The option of hiring a trainer to set you a specific training program will keep you focussed and your training sessions should be on set days and set times.
If you’re goal is fat loss, you need to step away from the often advocated reduced calorie diet and aerobic exercise method as studies by Ballor, DL in Metabolism 1996 and Bryner RW in the Journal of American College Nutrition 1999 show it will result in lean fat burning muscle mass. If you have 30 minutes to exercise and you are looking at a treadmill instead of the circuit training section you must realise that studies by Burleson MA, O’Bryant in the Med Sci Sports Exerc 1998 show that more calories are burned after resistance training than aerobic training. Don’t shoot the messenger.
If you have enough time to combine interval training with resistance training you will increase the EPOC excess post exercise oxygen consumption dramatically. EPOC means that you will burn most of the calories post training and therefore increasing the amount of calories you burn during the week. A simple change in the lowering of the dumbbells from 1 second to 3 seconds can increase post exercise metabolism from 1 second to 72 hours. Control of lowering your weights increase the length of time the muscle is working, muscle soreness which in turn requires more calories to repair muscle proteins, which takes more energy.
There is a simple way to pump up your workouts, increase the intensity, hit it hard, lose the pink dumbbells, and put some weight on the bar. Intensity is a women’s best friend for losing fat. You may be sore… but think about your-revved up metabolism