Programs aimed at rapid fat loss are quite the rave nowadays. There are some excellent programs out there (most notably Warpspeed Fat Loss, which we've discussed here quite a bit) that deliver some quick reductions in body fat over the course of a few weeks of absolutely hellish training and strict nutritional modifications. There's no doubt that it's a effective way to drop body fat quickly.
That said, the question is whether that degree of specialization - incinerating body fat at all costs - is what's right for an individual. For some people - particularly woman (who aren't generally as concerned with carrying appreciable levels of muscle mass and strength), these programs are just fine; any accompanying losses in strength and muscle mass won't be as disconcerting because they aren't perceived as being as important. Obviously, it's also true for those who are morbidly obese, but they generally aren't candidates for complete overhauls right away, as they have to get their feet wet first with the basics of regular training and better nutrition.
Most specific to this piece, though, rapid fat loss programs are most enticing to the more experienced trainee who carries a lot of muscle mass, but needs to shed some blubber quickly to get ready for a vacation, photo shoot, or scandalous make-out scene on live TV.
However, for every one of these folks (the experienced trainees - not the horny, drunk, bearded dudes with Confederate flag hats), there is another individual who is male, with limited training experience, subpar strength, and not enough muscle mass on him to really even demonstrate that he regularly trains. He might be 6-1, 180 pounds at 20% body fat. For those of you keeping track at home, that's 144 pounds of fat free mass, and 36 pounds of fat mass.
Well, here's a question: if this hypothetical guy dropped 10 pounds of body fat right now and somehow managed to maintain all his muscle mass (and recovered any water weight reductions he got from lower carb dieting), would he be happy with how he'd look? That'd still put him at 144 pounds of fat free mass, but lower his body weight to 170 with 26 pounds of fat mass (15.3% body fat). Sorry, but while respectable, 15.3% body fat isn't super lean. And, 170 pounds at 6-1 will only earn him points with insurance companies who calculate premiums based on body mass index.
Imagine taking about the ideal NFL cornerback, and then stripping 25 pounds of muscle off him and adding back 15 pounds of body fat. Be sure to kill off all the athleticism in the process, too. Not a very impressive picture.
In other words, a program that might have been perfect for a guy who was 30 pounds heavier with the same body fat percentage - but two more years of training experience - just isn't a good fit for a guy who can become "skinny-fat" really quickly.
I have just seen a lot of guys go on crazy fat loss programs only to get to a lower weight and realize that they look skinny because they aren't carrying enough muscle mass in the first place. And, along the way, they lose a lot of strength - so it's harder to build up muscle mass quickly thereafter to right the ship.
For this reason, it's been a long time since I resorted to a rapid fat loss program in my own training; I just am not willing to sacrifice the strength gains I've made just to see the scale weight go down quickly. Rather, I'd prefer to do it gradually and retain the gains.
This has also been a strategy we've employed with excellent success with athletes who come our way who need to lean out. Often, body weight - and not body composition - are what predicts their success. Pitchers are a perfect example; I've seen many who have just indiscriminately lost body weight, only to see their velocity drop considerably. This may come from the actual loss of body mass, the increased training volume that caused it, the type of training (extra aerobic activity?), or - most likely - a combination of all these factors. One thing is for sure, though; I would be my 2010 salary on the fact that if CC Sabathia "trimmed down" to 210, he wouldn't be nearly as dominant as he is.
Would some gradual weight loss and an emphasis on improving body composition help him? Absolutely. Would taking 80 pounds off him be a smart or specific off-season goal? In my opinion, no. The research has demonstrated that body mass is one factor that predicts velocity.
Baseball relevance aside, this is why I rarely go "exclusively fat loss" or "exclusively bulking" with a lot of general fitness clients who don't have more than two years of strength training under their belt. They absolutely, positively can add muscle mass and drop body fat simultaneously if they accumulate enough of the right kind of activity and eat the right stuff. It just takes some individualization, adherence, consistency, and effort. We've seen it hundreds of times already with the Show and Go program alone, and that doesn't even take things to the level of individualized programming.
To reiterate, I'm not saying that rapid fat loss programs don't have merit; I've seen a lot of people get tremendous results when the program was the right fit for them. However, I also know that handing a NFL running back's training program to a 12-year-old Pop Warner running back isn't appropriate in light of his experience. The same can be said for novice trainees who try to drop body fat too quickly; they are skipping steps and missing out on crucial adaptations - including strength and muscle mass gains - that could bode more favorably for long-term progress.
As always, you have to fit the program to the individual, and not the individual to the program.
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Q: I recently purchased Show and Go and noticed that you include barbell rollouts in the weight training program. I did this exercise at the end of an aerobics class and was told by the fitness instructor not to do it, as it was a dangerous exercise. Given it's in your book, I gather you deem it a safe exercise. What is your opinion on this exercise? Do you know why some people say it's a dangerous exercise?
A: As with just about everything, the devil is in the details. For many individuals, this is a fantastic exercise. For others, it may be too advanced. And, for another group of folks, it just isn't good because it gets absolutely butchered technique-wise. Let's attack this piece by piece with a rationale for its inclusion/exclusion, and then some training options and coaching cues:
(yes, I know I said "A" and then "2." Gotta love live TV!)
You can progress this exercise a bit more by either elevating the knees slightly or going to a band-resisted ab wheel rollout. Just a heads-up: in this video, the athlete should have stopped a bit shorter in the top position to avoid the subtle lumbar rounding that took place; it's a good demonstration of technique that's good, but not quite perfect:
To learn more comparable exercises and see how they fit into a comprehensive weight training program, check out Show and Go: High Performance Training to Look, Feel, and Move Better.
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Just a quick heads-up for my loyal weekend blog readers...
1. Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussell just provided a free fat loss training session example using Alwyn's new 4x Method. Check it out HERE. With their updated Warpspeed Fat Loss program almost ready for release, these two give you a good taste of what's to come.
2. I did the Fitcast with Kevin Larrabee on Friday morning, and the full audio is available (also at no charge) HERE. We talked about assessment, programming, whether squatting is "safe," my recent deadlifting specialization program, and our new product (Assess and Correct). My portion kicks in about halfway through the episode.
3. Speaking of Assess and Correct, today is the last day for the early-bird price. At midnight tonight, it'll be gone forever, so if you haven't taken advantage of this offer yet, now's the time! www.AssessAndCorrect.com.
A few good reading recommendations for this week...
Sucker Punch: Alwyn Cosgrove - This is a fantastic interview at T-Muscle with one of my best friends and mentors in the industry. Alwyn calls it like he sees it (which is sadly becoming less and less common in this industry). He even gives some schmuck named "Cressey" a shout-out in the interview.
The Influence of Strength and Power on Muscular Endurance Test Performance - This recent study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research confirms what we already know - but also gives a quantifiable number for which we can shoot when training for something like the 225 bench test - or even in dealing with endurance athletes. Here are the sentences I like the most:
"...the current research suggests that the initial goal of a training program to enhance muscular endurance should be to increase maximum strength to a point that the specific load being lifted during repeated actions is less than 40% of the individuals' 1RM. Subsequent training should then focus on maintaining maximal strength levels and improving local muscular endurance in the specific task."
So, if your goal is to get better on the 225 bench press test, unless you've got a 562.5-pound bench press, it's still going to help you to train for maximum strength.
And, more significantly to what we see on a daily basis, you need to get fit to run, not run to get fit. A 200+ pound woman who takes up jogging as her initial form of exercise to lose weight is just asking to get hurt because she is far too weak for the load (at least 800 pounds of ground reactive forces) that is imposed on each leg with each stride.
Someone like this would be better off focusing on programs like Afterburn or Warp Speed Fat Loss - which focus on using resistance training, interval training, and nutritional modifications to get unwanted weight off folks.
It's impressive how I brought this entire blog post back to Alwyn in a big circle, huh?
It's that time of year in Boston. The "shufflers" are out in full effect.
For those of you who aren't familiar with a "shuffler," it's an individual who has recently taken up distance running as a means of losing weight. As the weather gets nicer and the Boston Marathon rapidly approaches, you can spot shufflers out in droves all over Boston. They shuffle for a number of reasons:
1. They believe that shuffling at 2.5mph is actually more effective than walking at 2.5mph.
2. Usually, they're about 80% of the way through the marathon training programs that were provided to them, and as a result, most are suffering from IT band problems, plantar fasciitis, Achilles and patellar tendinosis, sciatica, and a serious case of "whatthehellwasithinkingsigningupforthis-itis."
3. Because they never learned to sprint, they run with zero hip flexion (check out Newsletter 77: Sprinting for Health for details).
4. They are simply trying to finish their exercise in the most efficient way possible. In other words, complete the task with as little discomfort as possible.
And here, we have the problem. Sally takes up running because she thinks she'll lose some body fat. And, initially, she does lose weight because - to quote Alwyn Cosgrove - it's a "metabolic disturbance" compared to doing nothing. Moving burns more calories than not moving.
However, over time, that activity injures Sally and fosters bad movement patterns, meaning that she'll miss more exercise sessions down the road. And, she quickly starts searching for the most efficient means of completing her runs, so her body gets more and more efficient - meaning that it burns fewer calories to accomplish the same task. Whether it is three miles or 13 miles, it's always about just finishing. Quantity always takes precedence over quality.
With March Madness upon us, pretend you're watching a basketball game where you have two teams: Team A wants to win, and Team B wants to simply get through the 40 minutes of the game. Team A dives for loose balls, full-court presses, and hits the boards hard. Team B watches the clock. Who burns more calories? Team A, no doubt - because they get lost in their performance.
Back in college, did you learn more in the graded courses, or the ones that were simply pass-fail? And, as I asked in Maximum Strength, do you get stronger when you "train" or "work out?"
This, to me, is one more reason why interval training outperforms steady-state cardio on top of all the other reasons (e.g., excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, reduction of overuse injuries) that we already know. There is not a single effective exercise modality out there in a non-beginner population that works simply because one shows up and finishes. The outstanding success loads of folks have had with Warpspeed Fat Loss is a perfect example; Cosgrove and Mike Roussell challenged them to be just a little bit better at each successive training session - either with loading or number of sets completed.
If you are going to distance-run (and aren't a competitive endurance athlete), focus on going faster, not fine-tuning the art of pacing yourself when grandmothers are passing you with their walkers. Pacing yourself doesn't even work at all-you-can-eat buffets; everyone knows you get full too fast and never live up to your gluttony potential. And, as I always say, if it doesn't fly at all-you-can-eat buffets, it just ain't right.
If you're going to interval train, your goal is to go faster each time. More watts, more steps in a given time period, more ghastly stares from the lady reading a magazine on the leg press, whatever. Mike Boyle had some great thoughts on this front in a recent submission HERE. As long as it is quantifiable and you're busting your hump to compete against your previous best, I'm happy.
I like the idea of camaraderie and/or competition with others in interval training, too. For example, our staff did this 16-yard x 16-trip sled medley three Thursdays in a row - and each time, it was a little faster (meaning that we had fewer rest periods between sets):
Just a quick heads-up for my readers on a great offer that's available for a short amount of time...
As you know, I'm a big fan of Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussell's Warpspeed Fat Loss program. It's an extremely comprehensive and effective fat loss protocol I've seen work wonders with some of our clients, staff members (myself included), and even my girlfriend. I even wrote up two newsletters (here and here) about the amazing results one of our clients had with it.
Anyway, Alwyn and Mike are guaranteeing that their product will take ten pounds off you in 28 days or else they'll refund your money plus $20 for your time and effort. They're only making this available to the first 100 people, though. And, even if they don't sell 100, it'll be taken down on Monday - so don't wait!
Click here to check out this sweet offer.
In my newsletter earlier this week, I introduced you to Danny, a Cressey Performance client who had made some awesome progress on theWarpspeed Fat Loss diet over the course of 28 days. In reality, though, there’s quite a bit more to that story.
You see, Danny had actually made a lot more progress than that since December of 2007 when he really committed to kicking a** and taking names. As was the case on Monday, a picture is worth a thousand words; here are the ten-month progress pictures:
In my last newsletter, I told you that this wasn’t just about “Hooray for Danny” or “Horray for Warpspeed Fat Loss” – although both definitely deserve all the credit in the world! Rather, I’m a firm believer that anytime someone is successful, you have to look at what they’ve done right – and these are the three things so important for Danny’s success.
1. Danny got involved with a great training crew. I don’t care who you are: a training crew will always yield better results. Danny actually lifts quite a bit with our staff nowadays. Hell, with all he’s learned, he’d be a great addition to our staff!
Obviously, I firmly believe that our job is to hammer on technique in a coaching-intensive set-up early on when someone trains at CP. However, I think that our longer-term responsibility is to create the most motivating environment possible in which to carry out our programming.
Additionally, Danny had a great “crew” at home in the form of a very supportive wife who helped him on the diet side of things. It always helps to have someone along for the ride at home; I’ve seen a lot of people “sabotaged” by unsupportive family members.
2. Danny’s goal from the get-go was always performance. The physique stuff took care of itself when he just focused on getting stronger with each session and attended to his nutrition. Along the way, he got his first 300-pound bench and deadlifted well into the 400s.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again: train for performance, put the right stuff in your mouth, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the physique improvements you see. It’s a theme that resounded in my Maximum Strength book.
3. Danny realized that you can always get a training effect in spite of injuries. When he first came to us, Danny had been dealing with some pretty significant neck spasms. In fact, when we went to work on some bench press technique the first night, he was pretty nervous that 95 pounds on the bar would trigger a spasm. Toss in a testy lower back, shoulder, hamstrings, and adductor strain, and you’d think that Danny would have been on the shelf for months. In reality, he didn’t miss a training session, as he appreciated that there was always something he could do to get better around those issues – and get better he did!
These factors for success are just the tip of the iceberg, and they'll be different for everyone. However, it's important to recognize them early-on and use them to your advantage, as getting leaner, stronger, faster, and healthier isn't always peaches and cream.
The Truth About Unstable Surface Training: An Athletic Trainer's Perspective
“As someone who has both rehabbed injured athletes and trained healthy people for over 18 years, I can honestly say that Eric Cressey’s The Truth about Unstable Surface Training is a breath of fresh air."Being a certified athletic trainer and a strength and conditioning coach has afforded me a unique perspective in the training world. I have watched personal trainers, strength coaches, athletic trainers and physical therapists use and abuse unstable surface training.
"Eric has combined his in-the-trenches experience with research to uncover the truth behind unstable surface training. This book is a must-read for anyone that trains, rehabs, or coaches, people in anyway. Yes, that means Physical Therapists, Athletic Trainers, Personal Trainers, and Strength Coaches.
"I hope that this book will help to 'stop the madness' of a training fad that has gotten out of control and help to support the proper uses of unstable surface training.
"I know I will be referring this work to my network of athletic trainers, strength coaches, physical therapists and personal trainers.”
Keith Scott, MS, CSCS, ATC
Certified Athletic Trainer, and Strength and Conditioning Coach
www.BackToFormFitness.com
I pretty much wrote off Week 4 intentionally during my fantasy football draft, as I had four starters on bye weeks (three from Indianapolis, and one from Seattle). I figured that anything I could salvage this week - even if it was just a good point total for potential tie-breakers down the road - would be a good result.
I wound up losing 101-98; it wasn't even decided until Monday night. Props to Danny for putting up his best showing of the year in spite of being on a severe caloric deficit that's given rise to such gems as:
"This diet is making me sharper, angrier, cockier. Driving into work at 6am this morning, I was shoveling 8oz. of grass fed ground sirloin and broccoli with parmesan into my piehole while gargling SPIKE."
and
"I am annoyed and grumpy as as hungry grizzly bear that has been waiting at the foot of the riverbed for the salmon to spawn."
Nonetheless, he put up triple digits for the first time this year.
I picked up Steve Slaton as a free agent last week to fill in for Joseph Addai, and he scored me 17 points. As usual, though, I didn't get jack from my tight end; Heath Miller has apparently been collaborating with every other TE I've started this year on a plot to put me through years of therapy. He had a whopping eight yards receiving last night for a total of zero points - when just 22 yards receiving more would have gotten me a tie.
However, Kurt Warner is the goat of the week. With 472 yards passing and 2 TDs, you'd think he'd be the highlight of my team - but the truth is that he was the third-highest scorer because he had 87 fumbles and two inconsequential (for him, anyway) interceptions in the fourth quarter. If Warner just takes a knee, I win.
Oh, and in a game where 91 points were scored, Chansi Stuckey had just two catches for 12 yards. I watched most of the game and seriously couldn't see him anywhere on the field. He didn't get a single mention from the commentators. As it turns out, he was in the locker room playing video games wearing Laveranues Coles' away jersey the entire time trying to live vicariously through Coles, who actually catches passes.
But, all that said, 98 points on my bye week isn't too shabby. Good showing, fellas, and congrats, Danny.
Oh, and on an interesting note, the top 3 scorers this week were the three guys on the Warpspeed Fat Loss program. Coincidence? Hmm...
I figured I ought to give the official check-in report on my Warp Speed Fat Loss journey, as I'm six days in (started last Tuesday). As I noted in Friday's blog, I don't really have a whole lot to lose, so I'm just playing it by ear on how I respond. Through five days, I have dropped from 194 to 187.5 pounds.
I'm normally a pretty low carb guy anyway, so it really isn't as much water weight as one would normally think. I tend to lose "puff" from my face right away when I cut calories, and two people told me on Friday that I looked like I'd lost weight. They were right.
Performance-wise, things aren't going badly at all. On Wednesday of last week, I benched 315 for 3x3 before heading on to a bit more "metabolic" weight-training pairings. I've been doing some low-intensity cardio (walking on the treadmill), but to be honest, I am on my feet so much at the gym that it's really not necessary, especially when you consider that I'm not looking to drop 20+ pounds.
Thursday was just my 30 minutes of the where I take a medicine ball and just throw the crap out of it. It's an absolute blast; here's a little taste:
When I was done, I did two rounds of 5x40yd sprints with jog-backs between sets. It is a little bit of a compromise between actual speed work and true metabolic conditioning.
Lower-body lifting was Friday, and after doing some speed front squats at 275 for doubles, I hit up the trap bar for some higher rep work. Already with two sets of ten under my belt at 405, Pete called me out and said I could do more. He answered "14," so I went and did 14 on the next set (and another ten on the last set). It was probably a lot more amusing for him than me; my glutes, hams, and traps are all still sore.
The low carbs caught up to me on Saturday. We did quite a bit of sprint work prior to our lift, and by the time I actually got around to speed benching, I was pretty gassed. I'm working at higher percentages now, and did my 225 for 6 sets of three, and while it was fast, it wasn't as fast as it should have been. Moved on to some assistance work to save the session, and made sure to get in some good post-training nutrition and hit up Sunset Cantina that night with the crew for some lime and garlic-rubbed chicken fajitas (more on that later in the week).
Yesterday (Sunday), was my first extremely low carb day (i.e., less than 30g), and honestly, it wasn't so bad. I do fine with lower carbs, and was actually just doing boring computer stuff most of the day, so it wasn't an issue. All in all, so far, so good.
An EricCressey.com Exclusive Interview with Mike Roussell – and a Special Offer!
A while back, Alwyn Cosgrove and Mike Roussell introduced a new product together. Both these guys are really bright (and good friends of mine), but to be honest, this summer at Cressey Performance was crazy and I never got around to checking it out - until last week. Frankly, I'm pretty annoyed with myself for waiting this long, as Warp Speed Fat Loss blew me away. I emailed the guys right away about an interview for this newsletter, as I think this product would be right up a lot of our readers' alley. Mike agreed - and also decided to throw a special offer our readers' way. So, without further ado, Mike Roussell...
EC: There are about 6 million fat loss products out on the market right now. What sets Warp Speed Fat Loss apart from the rest of them?
MR: Warp Speed Fat Loss is different from a lot of the other fat loss stuff out there today (even stuff that Alwyn and I have previously made) for a few major reasons. The most important one that Alwyn and I focused on while building and tweaking this program is that we wanted the diet and exercise to work together in a synergistic fashion and not as two separate components. So, the Warp Speed Fat Loss diet is specifically set up to work with the Warp Speed training program; calorie manipulation and carbohydrate cycling, for instance, are both “in tune” with the program.
EC: I noticed that right away. A lot of people overlook synergy in training and nutrition, just focusing on one or the other at a single time. You really took the guesswork out of this, didn’t you?
MR: Yes, and that’s the second big difference with Warp Speed Fat Loss. We tell you EXACTLY what to do. There is no wiggle room. I think a lot of times people don’t give specific instructions because they don’t have 100% confidence that their system works. We have tested and tweaked this enough to know that it works. So, in the program we tell you exactly what to eat every single day and exactly what to do for training. It is black and white. Follow this exactly and lose a bunch of weight FAST. It is pretty cool.
EC: You make some bold claims about how quickly people can drop body fat with a program like this – but the results thus far seem very promising. Can you please fill our readers in on them a bit?
MR: You are correct. We do make bold claims, but we didn’t make them up. People went on our program and started losing 15-20lbs in 28 days. So we decided to start saying “Hey – do this and lose 15-28lbs in 28 days.” Your readers will be familiar with Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson; they both used the program (actually, I don’t believe they used Alwyn’s training, but they used the diet). Bill lost 17lbs in just over 3 weeks; he wanted to lose 10lbs. Mike lost 12lbs in 2 weeks (I emailed him back and called him a liar – but it turned out to be true).
EC: Yeah, I figured Robertson would be reluctant to skip his step aerobics class on Alwyn’s recommendation. He loves those 1980s leg warmers.Those guys are in-tune with the industry and know what it takes to succeed from years of watching clients get lean. What about others who don’t do this for a living?
MR: One of the best email’s I’ve gotten is from Paula Gawlas in Scottsdale, AZ. She said, “Your program rocks! I've exceeded my goals! I am so happy because whereas before every morning I would have to search for some pair of ‘elastic’ somethings to wear, now I know I can wear anything in my closet! (And there's a lot in my closet, so I can go weeks without doing laundry now!).
I work out at an LA Fitness here in Scottsdale and a girl was watching me work out and she questioned me about my program. Thought it was some sort of national challenge! I told her about you guys--I kind of hate saying "fat loss" at this point because I don't have any more fat to lose, but I just love the total body workouts! So thank you, thank you!
EC: Rave review, indeed. What blew me away the most was the amount of time you put in to the meal plans. When all is said and done, you’ve got about 350 pages of meal plans; that’s insane! Why so many, and what makes these meal plans different?
MR: Yes you are right; it is INSANE. The reason why there are so many meals plans is because I wanted everyone to have a meal plan that fit their body. So, I created meal plans for bodyweights ranging from 115lbs to 240lbs in five-pound increments. This way the program will automatically be tailored to the person the second they download it. Initially we didn’t have meal plans lower than 125lbs but people asked for them so I put them together.
On a side note, this is really a gem for trainers, as you have so many meal options to use with your clients.
EC: Let’s talk training. What tricks does Alwyn have up his sleeve? How much synergy is there between the diet and training components? Would an athlete be able to use your dietary recommendations with his current training model and still get appreciable results?
MR: For best results, you need to do the diet and training together. As I mentioned, though, Bill and Mike modified AC’s training program and it still went really well. The training program that Alwyn put together is really awesome. It is different from anything else that he has released. There are no barbell complexes in the program at all. Instead, he uses Metabolic circuits, some heavy weight, low-rep stuff, and a mixture of interval and steady state cardio.
EC: What about athletes? Is this suitable for them?
MR: We’ve gotten the question about athletes using the program before. In an ideal scenario, an athlete would not use the program until he/she has 28 days to fully dedicate to it. 28 days isn’t very long – especially when you consider most transformation contests are 84 days.
EC: Awesome stuff. You’ve got a special deal on this e-book for our readers today, right? Please fill them in.
MR: Yeah. So the price of Warp Speed Fat Loss has recently increased to $97 but since you are as big of a Patriots fan as I am, Alwyn and I will knock $20 off the price for your readers. Here’s the special link for that discount:http://www.warpspeedfatloss.com/ec_deal.php
This link will be good until – Monday September 22nd
EC: Thanks for taking the time, Mike. Here’s that link again, folks:http://www.warpspeedfatloss.com/ec_deal.phpNew Blog ContentRandom Friday ThoughtsAn Epic BattleFeedback on Maximum Strength
Have a great week!
EC
