Here’s how to Exercise LESS and Burn MORE
My Health Seeking Friend,
Imagine for a moment…
If you could make your body burn fat faster… and even STOP making new fat. Wouldn’t that be great?
You may be thinking, “What’s the catch?”
Great question.
Hold that thought, and think how you would feel for a moment…if the more you worked out, the more your body made fat.
Which would you prefer?
The answer is obvious. Nobody wants to make MORE fat through exercise. But that’s what happens when you perform long-duration exercise like aerobics and so –called cardio.
Here’s what I mean: when you do slow, long distance cardio, your primary fuel source is fat. Sounds great… BUT…what happens is, your body learns that it needs fat for fuel. So it actually makes more fat to have it ready for your next round of long duration cardio!
Now THAT”S a catch.
And it’s a vicious cycle.
This cycle of using fat as a primary source for fuel during a workout is why you see people chugging it out day after day on treadmills and getting nowhere fast. Their bodies keep making more fat to keep up with the aerobic exercise demand for fat as a primary fuel source.
Think about it for a second…
When you lay around on the couch, your body is using almost entirely fat as fuel. Well, after the first 4 weeks of doing slow long distance cardio or aerobics, your body adapts and what used to feel intense will just be a grind. And your body doesn’t see it as a challenge at all. Your body, fuel wise, doesn’t know the different.
You have to learn to see slow jogging on a treadmill, or watching Oprah on an elliptical trainer as kind of like… laying around on the couch, only you are on your feet.
And that’s also why we don’t focus on burning fat at boot camp.
Instead…
We focus on short duration, high intensity exercise. Which burns fewer calories and fewer calories of fat during the exercise session… but burns EXTRA amounts of fat AFTER the workout is over.
In fact… in a study at Quebec’s Laval University, subjects lost NINE TIMES more fat than slow cardio exercisers for every calorie burned.
After the workouts were over the aerobics group stopped burning fat and their bodies reacted by creating more fat for fuel to use at the next session.
But the other crew took advantage of the “Afterburn effect”. Essentially their metabolism blasted through the roof. And the best part is: this metabolism turbo-boost can last a whole day. But as soon as you step of a long boring session of “cardio” on a treadmill, it all comes to a halt.
So let’s do the math…
So what makes it work?
Ah. This is good: It works because after you work at a high intensity, your body needs to burn a whole bunch of calories to restore your muscles, energy supplies, back to normal.
Short burst, high intensity exercise is a proven protocol for burning the maximum amount of fat in the minimum amount of time.
It also:
Boosts your Anti-Aging hormone: Growth Hormone. Growth hormone incinerates fat, improves bone density, raises good cholesterol, and helps build muscle. Aerobics has little to no Growth Hormone raising effect!
Builds a Strong Heart. Short burst exercise needs a LOT of oxygen. And the heart has to work harder to adapt. The heart begins to pump MORE blood per beat and as a result, it grows stronger and actually lasts longer. Traditional aerobics weakens the heart over time.
An hour on a treadmill and no real metabolism boost.
OR
40 Minutes (or even much less) of High Intensity training with a 10 minute warm up and cool down with a FULL DAY of high metabolism.
*Ding Ding Ding*!
Cheers,D
Flexibility VS Mobility. Why You Should Care…
You do NOT want to be this flexible.
Remember gym class in junior high? Nothing like Portland Boot Camp, eh?
Back then we were told to stretch before we ran so we’d be “warmed up”. And to this day, many people still believe this is a good idea. It increases your flexibility and mobility right? Well, it sounds eminently logical. But, unfortunately, it just isn’t true. Turns out stretching before working out is not only ineffective — it might even injure you. (That’s why we stretch AFTER class)
So why did we do it?
Well our gym teachers wanted us to be flexible. Flexibility refers solely to range of motion. Instead, what we want…what will make us stable and ready for a proper workout… is…
Mobility.
Mobility refers to having stable joints which are ready for the demands of dynamic tasks. Dynamic or intense moves, like we do in boot camp. Just because a person is hyper flexible, it doesn’t mean their body is ready for intense, dynamic workouts. In fact, without mobility, extreme flexibility can increase the risk of injury.
And that’s why we don’t stretch before boot camp. What we do before class is mobility drills.
Here are a few basic ones we use in boot camp which you can use right now. (If you are a boot camper you probably know many of these)
The advanced moves we use, I learned from several trainers and courses. The best one is from an amazing professional named Eric Cressey. Eric trains Major League Baseball players and keeps them flexible, strong and most importantly, MOBILE. About a year ago, Eric sent me a review copy of his comprehensive mobility DVD called “Magnificent Mobility”.
And let me tell you…it is awesome.
If you want to be more mobile (trust me, you do) and reduce body pain, fatigue, and stiffness… then I suggest you grab a copy for yourself. It covers all the angles. And you can use the moves to address your SPECIFIC needs before you start boot camp. If you show up 15 minutes early to class and do the specific moves you need, you’ll be ready to rock. And it will take you a bit deeper than we go in boot camp too.
And if you are not a member of Portland Boot Camp, you can use the mobility drills to increase your mobility no matter what your current condition or skill level.
A giant double thumbs up. It’s endorsed and used by the best and most respected trainers in the industry. And now you can grab your OWN copy here ==> Magnificent Mobility
Now just so you know, it isn’t a slick DVD from some giant manufacturer, it’s kind of “homey” but it get straight to the point and tells you everything you need to know.
Enjoy your mobility!