Every month I have the privilege of helping people tuned in to AM Northwest.
Recently we talked about working out on the Commercial Break! We also got into a special technique borrowed from ol’ Charles Atlas. If you aren’t currently in Portland Adventure Boot Camp, you can do these exercise in the comfort of your own home while watching television.
Here it is:
When I was 
a little kid we used to spend a portion of each hot summer at the lake in Michigan.
It was a family place in the Upper Peninsula. Everyone there sounds a little Canadian, eh?
Anyway…I had this cousin who always seemed to be there. He was an avid angler. A fisherman.
Well…actually he was probably more of a lazy bum who liked to fish. A lot.
Right. Really, I think fishing was his clever way to avoid being productive. At any rate, he was fond of telling us (over and over again) about the time he caught a fish “THIS BIG”. And for whatever reason, I remembered him and his stories today.
Well, yesterday I was thinking fondly of the summers up north. And my cousins fishing fables, when suddenly realized: tall fish stories are like the fat loss fibs people tell about losing weight on commercials.
Think about it.
When you watch a commercial for a weight loss product on TV you hear exaggerated claims of weight loss. Just like how fisher-folk like to spin yarns about giant fish that got away… Seems to be human nature.
Which begs the question: what is reasonable? What is realistic? What is the truth? Well…
If you are on a fad diet where you eat only 800 calories a day, your body will drop water and muscle like crazy. At the end of your first week of starvation, your body can lose dramatic amounts of weight. The scale will seem to show the most amazing success in the world. The scale, if it could talk, would say, “WOW!” .
Now, at this moment of psychological triumph… it is the perfect time for an unscrupulous marketer to swoop in and grab a video testimonial. Which usually goes something like this: “My name is Jenny Lostalot. In my first week on Super Fat Incinerator I lost 25lbs! Friends all think I look the best I ever have. Blahbiddity fib-diddly fib.”.
And then 50,000 people rush to buy a bottle of Super Fat Incinerator and the thigh master to sculpt their inner thighs. (Impossible to spot reduce…but that’s another post for another time) All the while, knowing somewhere deep inside, that it is all a fabrication.
A hoax.
A bamboozle.
A fable.
Sigh.
It makes my job of being honest about body fat loss tougher. And a lot less glamorous. After all, I have to fight the colorful tales in the media and tell the truth.
You say you want the unvarnished truth?
Yay! OK, then here it is. Or at least this is what data says:
A good rate of body fat loss for permanent change is about 1 percent of your current weight per week or so. So if you currently weigh 180lbs, you might expect–by following a properly constructed food plan, tracking calories with a food journal, performing regular metabolic conditioning workouts (like boot camp), getting lots of motivation, accountability, and proper guidance –to lose approximately 1.8lbs per week. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less since body fat loss is never like clockwork.
Gee whiz. I wish it were as easy as creating a pill or radical fad diet plan which would magically cause 25lbs of body fat loss the first week. I’d be a billionaire overnight. Because I’d patent that shinola.
But alas. The only way I know to lose 25lbs in a week legitimately, is to amputate your leg.
Or throw back that giant tall-tale trout.
Coach D
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
Hi, Boot Camp Heroes,
You know…
Since you are in Portland Boot Camp, I know how you feel about yourself more or less.
But the unfortunate truth is, most people don’t really care too much about their bodies.
And that is their choice.
Of course, there are some who care, (or claim to care) but not enough to do something about it.
The dwindling minority stay trim and healthy all year…or are currently watching their waistlines disappear.
The rest… well, let’s just say they are what they eat.
What makes the difference?
Lots. But to offer a few suggestions, here are 39 quick ways to help you stay (or get) lean and trim.
Tell me what you think. I love hearing about your successes!
Cheers,
D
Valentine’s Workout
People keep telling me they don’t have time, aren’t ready…yada yada yada.
Here’ are two boot camp rockstars showing us how it is done on AM Northwest.
Enjoy!