One of the few trainers I "listen to" in the fitness industry is Alwyn Cosgrove.
Most other trainers just repeat what he says anyways, so when I go looking for the latest fat loss info, I interview Alwyn.
And here are the latest innovations in fat loss that he's seen work at his facility in California.
1) The New Way to Do Interval Training
For someone who wants to lose a lot of fat quickly interval training is the key.
But you run into a problem.
Running a mile burns about 100 calories, however did you know that running a mile is equal to doing 1000-1500 reps with impact forces of double to triple bodyweight?
So a 180lb person will do 1500 x 360lbs to burn 100 calories.
It's just a massive amount of load and volume and stress on the body.
Switching to the bike makes it less joint load - but the volume of exercise has to go up.
So what's the solution?
At our gym in California, we switched to doing non-traditional interval training using bodyweight, kettlebells etc.
A 5 exercise circuit performed at 30s on; 30s off for 3 rounds will take 15 minutes, but it will burn way more calories during and after the workout, with way less reps and load - plus that load can be spread over the entire body.
We experimented and hoped it would be a good substitute for traditional intervals and we found it's actually a SUPERIOR choice.
Most other trainers just repeat what he says anyways, so when I go looking for the latest fat loss info, I interview Alwyn.
And here are the latest innovations in fat loss that he's seen work at his facility in California.
1) The New Way to Do Interval Training
For someone who wants to lose a lot of fat quickly interval training is the key.
But you run into a problem.
Running a mile burns about 100 calories, however did you know that running a mile is equal to doing 1000-1500 reps with impact forces of double to triple bodyweight?
So a 180lb person will do 1500 x 360lbs to burn 100 calories.
It's just a massive amount of load and volume and stress on the body.
Switching to the bike makes it less joint load - but the volume of exercise has to go up.
So what's the solution?
At our gym in California, we switched to doing non-traditional interval training using bodyweight, kettlebells etc.
A 5 exercise circuit performed at 30s on; 30s off for 3 rounds will take 15 minutes, but it will burn way more calories during and after the workout, with way less reps and load - plus that load can be spread over the entire body.
We experimented and hoped it would be a good substitute for traditional intervals and we found it's actually a SUPERIOR choice.
2) Social support is absolutely key to success.
It's the reason why weight watchers meetings and their entire program of just "Eat less" continues to work (and beat the results of a lot of gyms).
It's not the program - it's the social support factor in their group meetings.
I think it's one of the reasons why semi-private training appears to generate better results than one-on -one and one-on-one training outperforms training on your own. Social support rules.
If you have to train alone, make sure your friends and significant others support you in your efforts outside of the gym.
If they won't - its' going to be tough so consider hiring a trainer, getting a training partner or joining an accountability forum such as the Turbulence Training Member's area.
3) Nutrition: Multiple Meals Work Best
Every time I stray away from multiple meals with our clients, results go down.
I think 3 meals and 3 snacks always works. I've seen results with carb cycling, intermittent fasting and other methods - but as the complexity goes up, the results never go up with it.
I think simple principle based nutrition of:
- eating multiple meals
- eating some protein at each meal
- eating a serving of fruit or vegetables with each meal
- and just keeping refined carbs low always ALWAYS works for fat loss
If you're dieting for a show then maybe you need to count calories - but for most people that's a level TEN approach.
And we're starting at level one: nutritional free-styling.
Just following some simple principles is a massive forward step.
Stop looking for a perfect system and just follow ONE.
********************************************************************
Thanks Alwyn.
Oh, I forgot to mention, Alwyn doesn't sugar-coat anything and is pretty blunt - just like me...
...but that's why our clients get results.
Alwyn is also the author of the workout program in this book:
=> Fast Speed Fat Loss
With that program, you can lose fat over the holiday season.
To your success,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
It's the reason why weight watchers meetings and their entire program of just "Eat less" continues to work (and beat the results of a lot of gyms).
It's not the program - it's the social support factor in their group meetings.
I think it's one of the reasons why semi-private training appears to generate better results than one-on -one and one-on-one training outperforms training on your own. Social support rules.
If you have to train alone, make sure your friends and significant others support you in your efforts outside of the gym.
If they won't - its' going to be tough so consider hiring a trainer, getting a training partner or joining an accountability forum such as the Turbulence Training Member's area.
3) Nutrition: Multiple Meals Work Best
Every time I stray away from multiple meals with our clients, results go down.
I think 3 meals and 3 snacks always works. I've seen results with carb cycling, intermittent fasting and other methods - but as the complexity goes up, the results never go up with it.
I think simple principle based nutrition of:
- eating multiple meals
- eating some protein at each meal
- eating a serving of fruit or vegetables with each meal
- and just keeping refined carbs low always ALWAYS works for fat loss
If you're dieting for a show then maybe you need to count calories - but for most people that's a level TEN approach.
And we're starting at level one: nutritional free-styling.
Just following some simple principles is a massive forward step.
Stop looking for a perfect system and just follow ONE.
********************************************************************
Thanks Alwyn.
Oh, I forgot to mention, Alwyn doesn't sugar-coat anything and is pretty blunt - just like me...
...but that's why our clients get results.
Alwyn is also the author of the workout program in this book:
=> Fast Speed Fat Loss
With that program, you can lose fat over the holiday season.
To your success,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
4 comments:
I can definately vouch for Alwyns products. I was trained by one of his trainers for a while and the results that I achieved were amazing. Nothing fancy, just good old fashioned hard work with movements that worked!
I'd be curious to see/hear some of your thoughts on his wife Rachel's new book for women, due out next week. Her (and Alwyn's) "metabolic" workouts seem to sort of follow the TT principles...
Post a Comment