Lose Fat and Build Muscle part 3: Exercise

Lose Fat and Build Muscle part 3: Exercise

In the previous two articles of this series we covered nutritional principles and what to eat for fat loss and muscle gain. This article will explain how to exercise for fat loss. If you want to reduce body fat, both diet and exercise are critical.

Much like with nutrition, so much is written about exercise that it can seem like you’re doomed to failure without the perfect program.  Once again this is just more nonsense we have grown sick of hearing.

Today we will cover the most important aspects of exercise so you can get started straight away.

When exercising to lose fat, there are two specific goals. The first is to burn calories. And the simplest way to do that? Aerobic exercise – like walking, jogging, running, or riding a bike.  But here’s the thing: if you only do aerobic exercise, you may also lose muscle mass. That’s a problem because it’ll lower your metabolism. So you will also need to do some exercise that develops muscle, to stay strong, look good, keep your metabolism high and burn fat faster.  And that means resistance exercise – like free weights, body weight training, or circuit training.

In the end, if you want to lose the most fat and look your best, you have to do some calorie-burning exercise and some muscle-preserving or building, exercise.

Having established the type of exercise required we will now tell you how much exercise you need to do. The answer is simple: 5 hours a week.

That’s what works with our students, and there’s strong research to support the recommendation, too. A study undertaken by the University of Wyoming looked at 1500 people who exercised regularly.  And the key result was: those who exercised at least 5 hours a week were happiest with their bodies. While those that exercised less did not get the results they wanted.

Now, some students come to us doing almost 5 hours per week already. So, if they’re close to the magic 5 hour number, we just get them to increase the volume and intensity a little, or perhaps change the kind of exercise they’re doing.

The majority of students however come to us doing a lot less. Frequently no exercise at all.  So, what do we do with them?

We don’t ask them to jump to 5 hours right away. Because, for most people, that’s too much too soon and they will not be able to keep it up. Instead, we gradually increase their exercise, asking them to do just a little more than they’re currently doing. Not only is that easier for them – it’s the right thing to do in the long term. The expectation that people can make massive, instant changes to their lives — and make them last — is the biggest reason people fail to lose fat and keep it off.

If you’re currently doing no exercise, just focus on moving a little more and exercising an hour or two each week.  And if you’re doing more exercise than that already, just gradually increase your volume until you reach five hours each week.  And make sure you’re doing both calorie burning exercise (like jogging) and muscle-preserving exercise (like training with free weights.)

At this point, I want to share with you the single most important thing you will ever learn about exercise for fat loss: it’s a concept called “Progressive Overload.”  In plain English, it means: consistently challenging yourself to do a little more, or a little better.

For example, let’s say yesterday you went for a 10 minute jog. Well, then today; go for 11 minutes.  If in your last workout you lifted 40 kilograms, then today; lift 41 kilograms.

That’s progressive overload. Every time you do physical activity, you write down what you did, and the next time, you do more, or do better, even in the smallest ways.  It’s a really powerful – and unbelievably easy – technique.

So let’s recap.  The simple keys to exercising for fat loss are:

• get moving – do some exercise and do it right away
• mix calorie burning exercise (like jogging) with muscle preserving exercise (like training with free weights)
• work your way up to 5 hours of exercise per week
• track what you do, and challenge yourself to do a little more, or a little better, each time

A great way to get all the exercise you need is to enrol in the Total Martial Arts Swindon basic program. This includes calorie burning exercise in Kickboxing, Jun fan and Krav Maga classes along with muscle developing exercise in the ‘combat conditioning’ fitness classes.

In the next article of this series we will cover a topic we get a great many questions on: nutritional supplements. We’ll talk about which ones should you take – or if you should take any at all.