One of the main questions I receive on a daily basis is, “What can I do to lose weight?” The purpose of this article is to get you off of the treadmill and change up your usual routine. I’m not saying that treadmills or other cardio machines are bad, but there is a much more efficient way to achieve your weight loss goal and overall health/fitness. I’ll breakdown a few components on increasing your chances of weight loss:
1. Calorie Deficit
Simply put, in order to lose weight your metabolism must burn more calories than you consume each day. There are many fad diets that promise weight loss but all of them have the same idea; eat frequently and portion control. Another way to create a metabolic disturbance is through a resistance training plan that boosts your Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) which I will cover in the followings tips.
2. Biggest Bang for your Buck
It is essential to choose exercises where you get the ‘biggest bang for your buck’ and increases the metabolic cost of the workout. The best way to find these types of exercises is to focus on those where the most muscles are being used during the movement. For example, there’s a huge difference between a Squat and a leg extension or a deadlift compared with a leg curl. Squats, deadlifts, push-ups, shoulder presses, pull-ups, and more are great examples of compound movements which involve more than one joint and muscle group. Simply put, the more muscles you use the more calories you will burn.
3. Perform High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Don’t be intimidated by the name. HIIT depends on the individual’s fitness level. Research shows that HIIT cardio burns more calories than slow steady state cardio. Not only are more calories burned during HIIT, but it also revs up your metabolism much higher than slow steady state cardio by boosting EPOC. This means you will continue to burn calories throughout the day after you leave the gym. That’s a really good thing!
4. Increase the Metabolic Cost of the Workout
I can’t stress the importance of tips #2, and #3. It is essential to not only look at the ‘biggest bang for your buck’ exercises or perform HIIT, but you must look at the training session as a whole. The higher the metabolic cost of the total workout is, the faster you’ll transform your physique. I will show you a workout with a good level of Metabolic Cost.
5. Have Fun!
When it comes to achieving a goal, it’s much easier when you have fun with the challenge. There may be some days where you don’t feel like pushing hard in the gym or even going. That is why I would recommend you to surround yourself with a support group or even have training partners that will hold you accountable. It’ll make things a lot easier if the environment around you is conducive towards your goal.
Sample Training Session:
The following workout is a basic exercise plan which will give you an idea of what it means to fire up your metabolism and increase your EPOC. The following paired exercises will be performed back to back without any rest in between. Rest follows after you’ve finished the second exercise in the pair.
Repetitions: 10-12 reps each exercise unless noted differently. After you’ve tried this workout, use the same exercises for 6-8 reps. You will be able to use a heavier weight and it will also give you variation.
Rounds: Perform 3 rounds of each pair before moving on to the next.
Exercise 1a: Push-up
Exercise 1b: Planks (30 sec)
Rest: 60 sec
Exercise 2a: Lat Pulldown
Exercise 2b: MB Squat – Press
Rest: 60 sec
Exercise 3a: DB or Barbell Row
Exercise 3b: DB or Barbell RDL
Rest: 60 sec
Exercise 4a: Standing DB or Barbell Shoulder Press
Exercise 4b: DB or Barbell Stationary Lunge
Rest: 60 sec
Cardio: Elliptical or Bike
- Warm-up for 3 minutes and a slow pace
- Perform 15 seconds at high speed, followed by 45 seconds of low speed
- Continue for 7-12 minutes
*Note: Depending on fitness level, you can adjust the times between high speed and low speed. But if this is your first time performing HIIT, I recommend starting with this.
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