Questioning Cardio for Weight Loss?
Q: I’ve heard you mention that you don’t need tons of cardio to burn stubborn abdominal fat. Okay, I can live with that, but you’ve also said that it isn’t absolutely necessary to perform direct ab work either. What gives?
A: If you want to build a serious set of abdominals, routinely perform the following exercises and their variations: squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, and standing military presses. These multi-joint movements require a strong contribution from the abdominals to stabilize the core, particularly when heavy loads are used. It is not uncommon to hear clients complain of abdominal soreness a day or two after performing multiple sets with a decent weight of the chin-up or standing military press exercise – the ab prestretch will tap into fibers you never thought existed! And remember, your abdominals act as a natural girdle, or weight belt if you will, when performing all exercises, particularly squats and deadlifts. These muscles act as a bridge between your upper and lower body and are heavily recruited as stabilizers.
Sure, isolation exercises like pullovers, curls, and even triceps pressdowns also require a good degree of core stability; however, the loads used are relatively low compared to the big 4 mentioned above. In fact, according to Siff & Verkhoshansky, isolation becomes virtually impossible if large loads are used, and in many cases, the tension developed in the stabilizers will equal or even exceed that of the prime movers!* So, you see, the abdominals can be trained quite effectively as stabilizers – the physiques of top Olympic weightlifters will attest to that.
*Siff, MC, Verkhoshansky, YV. “Supertraining (4th Edition).” Denver, CO: Supertraining International, 1999. (pg. 241)
Q: I am still very much confused regarding cardio intensity. One book says keep it low intensity (i.e. 60% of MHR) and go for distance; another keep it high intensity (80% or more) and go for as long and hard as you can. The goal is to burn fat. Each book has great arguments for their approach. Which is accurate?
A: The second approach is far more effective for burning fat. Without getting into a huge discussion about this, here’s how things work in a nutshell.
At a lower intensity, your body prefers fat for fuel. Yes, this is true, but two things generally happen:
1. After awhile of doing this type of activity, your body adapts by actually laying down fat (you heard me right) to become more efficient at the given task and this usually occurs in the lower body, and
2. A higher relative amount of fat is burned during low intensity cardio but a greater absolute amount is burned with higher intensity cardio and in less time.
Other things to consider are: a) the EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) is greater for a longer duration following higher intensity work; in other words, you’re metabolism is much higher for a longer period of time post-workout with high intensity cardio, and b) higher lactate levels exist with high intensity cardio. So what you may ask? Well there is a direct correlation with lactate and GH (Growth Hormone) and GH is a potent fat-burner.
Bottom line: with regards to burning fat, do higher intensity work in the form of interval training and you’ll get great results.
John Paul Catanzaro is a certified kinesiologist and professional fitness and lifestyle consultant with a specialized honours Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and Health Science. He owns and operates a private gym in Toronto, Ontario providing training and nutritional consulting services. For additional information, visit his website at www.BodyEssence.caor call 416-292-4356.
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Diet Plans for a Low Carb Diet
One of the most popular diets is the low carb one. But because of its popularity the number of diet plans is growing, and growing and growing. When you have to decide it is so difficult: the very large amount of information freezes you. You’re blocked and you have to find a way to continue what you have begun: a low carb diet. That’s why I have decided to present you some diet plans for a low carb diet.
One of the most known is the Atkins diet. It mainly consists of four phases: first phase has the purpose to induce "benign dietary ketosis" that will help the body to produce the fat mobilization substance; once this substance is being produced the body is forced to disgorge and burn up deposited body fat; this is the time when you start loosing weight. The second phase continues the process and tries to remove some of the food restrictions. This will last until you achieve the desired weight.
The third phase prepares you for the last one. Now you will change your diet into a maintenance diet and you will lose very slowly the last extra pounds. The last phase is the maintenance diet and its purpose is to maintain the target weight for life. This is achieved by setting a fairly strict diet that will forever keep off the lost weight. The person is urged to stick to the carbohydrate level they feel happiest on without gaining weight.
Another popular diet plan for a low carb diet is Eat Fat Get Thin. This is a high fat, low carb plan, which allows 60g carbohydrates per day and calories are unrestricted. The method is to reduce your intake of refined carbs. In order to do this you can eat as much as you want of any meat, fish, poultry, cheese, cream butter and eggs; you can also have green leafy vegetables. You are allowed to eat vegetables and fruits, avoiding the sweeter ones. You should cut of foods with a large amount of sugar and cereals, and you should give up eating bread, or eat as less as you can. This diet was a success for the one who wrote it, and it can be for you, too.
Another diet plans are: Life without Bread, The Diet Cure, Fat Flush Plan, Neanderthin, South Beach Diet and many, many others.
If you find this information useful you should visit the site free-online-diet-plans.com where you will find lots of interesting articles related to this topic, all original and wrote by Andreea Dinescu.
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