ShareToday I have an awesome post from my one of my fave fitness experts, Shawna Kaminski.
She explains the reason why steady state training won’t help you lose fat, the one hormone you want to optimize, and how you can increase your fat burning with challenging workouts.
Enjoy, take it away Shawna K!
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Do you love a challenge?
I sure do. A challenge will separate the boys from the men and the girls from the women.
This applies to life as much as in your workout.
Now the biggest ‘challenge’ that most folks face is getting lean and losing that last bit of weight, especially that flub around the middle.
If you’re looking for your abs, I’ve got good news. Fat loss is easier and takes less time than you think.
What does this have to do with the challenges I started talking about?
Well, most people aren’t doing any.
Hey, I’m Shawna K and I love challenges. I’ve used challenging workouts to coach hundreds of clients to achieve and maintain their best body. I base my workouts on research and over 25 years as a professional in the fitness industry. As well, I’m the same size, albeit leaner and more muscular now, two babies and decades later than when I was in my 20’s. So I ‘walk the walk’ as the saying goes. I clearly have some secrets about fat loss and how to look and feel great.
Let me tell you something…the most popular and least effective method of fat loss is steady state cardio. Are you doing your 30 minutes on the treadmill for fat loss? (I know ‘someone’ is out there, my gym is packed with magazine reading dreadmill-ers, although I would hope that if you follow Kate, you’re much smarter than this.)
Studies show that challenging workouts will burn more fat and build more muscle in less time than hours on the treadmill. By ‘challenging’ workouts, I mean one that will REALLY make you sweat, one that uses what I call ‘muscle metabolism acceleration’ or M2A.
Why does performing challenging workouts help create a leaner physique than doing hours of steady state hoe-hum cardio on the treadmill?
Fat loss is not necessarily ALL about calories in-calories out. Fat loss is about hormone manipulation too. Here’s some science…
Growth hormone for Fat Loss
Fat burning is improved in the presence of growth hormone. If you’re not six years old anymore with a ton of circulating GH, you can naturally increase growth hormone production by increasing lactic acid. Lactic acid is produced when training anaerobically.
Steady state cardio is AEROBIC training. Strength training with HIIT and incomplete recovery is ANAEROBIC training. (This is what you want.)
This is a big reason to STOP the steady state cardio that most people have turned to for fat loss.
Calorie burning occurs while you perform steady state cardio, and at a minimum at best. Once you step off the treadmill, bike or elliptical machine, your calorie burning efforts stop.
When you replace steady state cardio with HIIT (high intensity interval training) along with strength training in the right combination, you’ll burn calories WHILE you train AND even AFTER you train. This is called EPOC (post exercise oxygen consumption) or AFTERBURN.
You can increase your metabolic rate for up to 36 hours after a short and INTENSE workout of this nature.
Another bonus of doing challenging workouts that include strength training is that you can train eccentrically. Lactic acid is produced through eccentric training. Examples of eccentric training are lowering slowly from the pull up bar or doing a slow descent on a squat.
Remember the formula?
Lactic acid = GH = more fat loss and more lean muscle gain
Any way we can naturally increase growth hormone will improve our fat loss efforts. By the way, adding a bit of lean muscle has multiple benefits too. Along with the sexy shapely looks, improved performance, muscle is metabolically active to burn more calories at rest.
Do I hear, ‘Bring on challenging workouts for increased fat loss’?
Here’s a cool circuit that will push you into that anaerobic zone:
Challenge Workout
A) One legged burpee
B) Ab roller or plank reach
C) Hanging oblique leg lifts
D) Sit out or mountain climber (watch this demo of the sit out)
E) Shoe touch
- Do each exercise for 40 seconds with a 7 second transition to switch.
- Repeat for 5-6 rounds
This is a great way to burn fat and focus on abdominal strength. You’ll increase fat burning and even improve your core strength all at once.
Win win!
If you’d like more challenging workouts, ones that will push and challenge you, check out my Challenge Fat Loss program. You’ll have me pushing you through out the follow along videos to increase YOUR workout intensity and boost your fat loss results. You’ll also discover my M2A method of fat loss.
Trust me, I’ve been around long enough to know that there’s NO magic bullet when it comes to fat loss, this is as close as it gets. Be prepared for a challenge, 20 minutes of possibly taking my name in vain. I’m cool with that, because as much as you’ll hate me during the workout, you’ll love me for the results you get.
Everyone wants to look good in their birthday suit. To have something you’ve never had before, you need to do something that you’ve never done. Challenging workouts is just that. You’ll get that necessary boost to push you over the top so you can achieve the results you deserve.
Read more about Challenge Fat Loss and M2A science here.
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It’s me again, KV. Thanks Shawna for the awesome info. I love doing challenge workouts! I think it’s great to step up and challenge yourself, and focus on improving your athletic performance to help you reach fat loss goals.
Try this challenge workout today and let me know how it goes in the comments box below!
Have an awesome day,
KV
