"The 3rd Ingredient for Successful Fat Loss"

Nutrition. Exercise. Lean Muscle. Strength... N.E.LM.S. Fitness

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In the March issue of the Homesteader, I explained that the first two ingredients necessary for successful fat loss were intelligent, supportive nutrition and cardiovascular work. In fact, I suggested that more frequent eating can actually aid in increasing metabolism. Not only has this been definitively proven in real world research, but our experience shows (and other top professionals in the fitness industry agree) that eating every 3-3.5 hours can begin increasing metabolism in as little as 3 days!

Our client with the "slowest" metabolic shift changed metabolism in just 5 days. In only 5 days, this person experienced an increase in energy levels and metabolism, simply by eating more frequently. Would it be worth your effort and time spent planning frequent meals to experience an almost immediate increase in metabolism? Or would you rather continue to be fooled by marketing agencies that make millions of dollars creating the belief that you can lose body fat quickly and easily with inferior "nutrition" products?

Next, I briefly explained that your cardiovascular exercise should be difficult. This is a far cry from the sensationalist "Cardio-Free Diet" book that has been so hot in the media lately. Unfortunately, like too many fitness writers, the author of the book has decided to capitalize on what the American public wants to hear, twisting reality so far out of whack that gullible Americans now have another excuse not to exercise.

Allow me to be clear: it takes cardio to lose body fat. In fact, it takes intense cardio to lose body fat at an appreciable rate. The problem is that most people define intense cardio as running on the treadmill for 45 minutes. While working up to 45 minutes of treadmill running is certainly initially difficult to achieve, there are much better methods of burning body fat. Is 45 minutes of treadmill running difficult? Yes. Intense? No.

At the end of March's article I ran a contest, and several people were lucky enough to win a 1-day pass to the Prescott Racquet Club. To win the passes, readers signed up for my free fat loss newsletter at www.NelmsFitness.com and submitted a guess about the third ingredient for successful fat loss. Unfortunately, none (literally) of the guesses were right, which does not bode well for those out there trying to lose body fat.

Did YOU guess? What do you believe is the third ingredient for the achievement of fat loss?

For successful fat loss, you need to have proper nutrition, cardio, and…

Resistance Training

Yes, resistance training is the third ingredient to fat loss! For approximately one year now, the fitness community and magazines are finally starting to emphasize the importance of strength training for fat loss. Why is strength training important? The primary reason is because muscle is the largest component of our me+tabolism. In general, those with slightly greater amounts of muscle have a higher metabolism than those with lower amounts of muscle. Please note that I am NOT talking about becoming a bodybuilder! I am only saying that everyone should emphasize shape-enhancing muscle as a powerful method for achieving successful fat loss.

Strength training greatly increases metabolism. Again, this has not only been proven by scientific research, but in our real-world experience, as well. Our clients that have embraced challenging levels of resistance training have achieved fat loss at a faster rate than any of our other clients. Period.

It is at this point that many questions pop up. Like cardio and nutrition, there are many misconceptions surrounding resistance training and lifting weights.

From female clients, the question is usually "Won't I get bulky if I lift weights?" The short answer is no…99% of the time. Genetically, VERY few women have the testosterone levels to support large amounts of muscular gains from lifting weights. As a matter of fact, my wife and I have found that we must train women much more aggressively than men to achieve similar results in fat loss. Here are some scientific numbers for you that may still have doubts.

Normal Testosterone levels for males: 700 ng/dL

Normal Testosterone levels for females: 40 ng/dL

In other words, men have 18-20 times more testosterone than a female. Let me repeat: it is extremely difficult, and usually impossible, for a woman to get "bulky" from lifting weights. In fact, our female clients that perform resistance training with "heavy" weights always achieve better fat loss results.

So, that covers most of the women, but what about the guys?

My most common question from our male clients is this: "What body parts should I work on which days?" Another way of saying it: "How should I split up my body in the weight room?"

You shouldn't. About the only thing that body 'part' training is good for is for writing articles and selling muscle magazines.

Let me blunt: body part split training arrived on the scene immediately after drug use in bodybuilding began. Let me be more blunt: body part split training came about because of steroids. Basically, bodybuilders on drugs learned that they could annihilate a muscle in the weight room one day, obliterate a different muscle the next day, and destroy a completely different muscle the next day…and still have the ability to recover (because of the drugs).

Guess what? A natural human can't do that.

Steroids are illegal. There are health risks associated with them. Since you are a healthy, law-abiding citizen, you aren't going to take them. Therefore, you also shouldn't concern yourself with splitting your body into different parts, so that you can train them on different days of the week. In fact, doing so is extremely counter-productive to fat loss.

So, if body part splits are an ineffective use of the majority of the population's time, what should you do, especially when trying to lose body fat? The answer is to train the body as it was designed – based on large, functional movements. Isolating a muscle, like the biceps in a bicep curl, is a tremendous waste of time.

To keep things simple, I recommend that you pick 1-2 large, multi-joint movements for each broad, overall "movement" category. Everyday, you: 1) push, 2) pull, and 3) use your legs. Picking 1-2 exercises for each movement category will go a long way in helping you achieve lower body fat levels, as well as make it easier to perform normal, everyday functions.

For now, remember that it takes the combination of intelligent nutrition, intense cardiovascular exercise, and resistance training to successfully achieve fat loss at an appreciable rate. Unfortunately, I realize that I have probably raised more questions with this article than I answered. Please feel free to email me at Results@NelmsFitness.com, and I will be glad to answer some of them. In fact, I can take some of the most common questions and answer them in the Homesteader articles! Take the time to let me know what you want explained, and I will be glad to help you achieve your fitness endeavors!

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Jeremy Nelms is the fitness director at Prescott Racquet Club and co-owner of Prescott’s Adventure Boot Camp for Women. He can be reached at www.PrescottBootCamp.com or www.NelmsFitness.com. Each week, this e-zine will bring you the concepts and methods and tips that have been proven to create lifelong, effective results for individuals – just like you – who started off with a strong desire to change his or her appearance, health, and future. Call 928.778.0708 to schedule a consultation with NELMS Fitness today!

 

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