Today we finish up where we left off yesterday...with the remainder of an interview between strength coach Jason Ferrugia, and fat loss expert Alwyn Cosgrove.
(Thanks to Jason at www.j1strength.com for letting us use this interview.)
Alwyn doesn't hold back with political correctness, so let's let him loose...
JF: First of Alwyn, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us today. I want to talk to you about fat loss and hear some of your thoughts on this much debated subject. First of all what are some of the biggest misconceptions out there about dieting and training for fat loss? What do most people do wrong?
AC:
There are two main mistakes Jay - and it might seem like a contradiction but it's really true.
The first is making too many changes to your program and diet - in other words, you stop doing the most effective exercises and rep ranges, and cut your calories or carbs way too much.
Everything that works to build muscle - activate as much muscle mass as possible, multiple muscle groups with good form and decent weight - will also burn a s***load of calories and create "metabolic disturbance" - this is perfect for fat loss phases.
The other main problem I see is people not changing anything BUT diet. The recent trend has been "Training doesn't change at all - just your diet."Really?How does the diet change?"Set protein at 1g per lb and fat at 30%. The rest comes from carbs"
Hmmm. So your fat loss program and your sports conditioning programand your hypertrophy program are the same exercises, same protein,same fats, the only difference is the amount of carbs?
Then you probably don't have too many before and after pics to support yoursystem do you, you training genius?
JF: Hahaha, great point. What are some of the biggest time wasters when it comes to training and dieting for fat loss?
AC:
The biggest ones are very low calorie diets (they just slow metabolism down too much) and low intensity steady state aerobics.
You need to keep the "furnace" (your metabolism) cranking. The goal as I call it is "metabolic disturbance" - burn as many calories through training as possible but use a system that will elevate metabolism through EPOC significantly for several hours.
Low intensity cardio (even on an empty stomach) just doesn't fit in there.
JF: How does the weight training which you prescribe for a fat loss client differ from that of some one who is trying to get bigger or stronger? Or does it remain the same and you just change the diet and add in more cardio?
AC:
It depends on the client and the amount of fat to lose really.
With the beginner/intermediate client I have NEVER seen these massive amounts of muscle loss that everyone is afraid of on fat loss programs. With these groups I use upper-lower supersets with slightly higher rep brackets.
With more advanced clients muscle loss can be a problem - but it is easily offset by doing 1-2 heavy sets of 4-6 reps as your first couple of exercises and then moving into a similar program as described above.
JF: I like that idea.
AC:
I've been experimenting recently with an undulating periodization approach for more advanced fat loss clients and it has been extremely effective. It's going to be the focus of Afterburn II.
JF: What are your favorite methods of cardio/energy system work for losing fat?
AC:
Interval training is obviously the way to go, but I like to use non-traditional methods of doing so - i.e. bodyweight circuits, sled dragging, barbell complexes etc. Again it's all about creating that metabolic disturbance that I was talking about.
Walking on the treadmill has its place - but it's not in one of my fat loss programs.
JF: Is there a difference in the way you train females for fat loss versus the way you train males for fat loss?
AC:
Not really although I tend to see more pure beginner females than I do males. So that alters the programs somewhat.
***
In my opinion, Alwyn Cosgrove is head and shoulders above the average fat loss personal trainer. In fact, he has written THE book on Program Design for personal trainers. And Alwyn was handpicked by Ryan Lee to be the keynote speaker at the best Personal Training Industry seminar this year.
Visit Alwyn's site to improve your workouts and your program design skills
So there you go,
CB
P.S. I just reviewed a recent presentation by Alwyn's wife, Rachel...
And I was amazed by the success story transformations that Rachel's female clients made in such a short time. I'll share the link to that presentation in tomorrow's email.
It will show you that there are NO LIMITS for women when it comes to changing your body.
Get the mental barriers out of your head and get focused on positive change.
Until then, check out Rachel's website: http://www.rachelcosgrove.com/
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