How to burn fat and lose weight effectively

The obesity epidemic is completely out of control, it’s staggering. The prevalence of obesity is rising to the point where the majority of adults in western society will be obese. The US has the highest obesity rates in the world and if they continue to rise as they have, then by the year 2022, 80% of American adults could be overweight or obese; and the prevalence may even reach a startling 100% by the year 2048. Wow!

Losing weight/fat is not easy, bottom line. Our environment is one that promotes weight gain and excess fat, which is why so many people are so big. If I put you, as you are right now, in an environment that promotes non-physical activity (buses, cars, dishwashers, washing machines, playstations, DVDs, internet, cable TV, lawnmowers etc.) and offers high calorie foods and beverages, then it is inevitable that you will gain weight, unless of course you make dedicated, disciplined efforts to do otherwise.

What do you do? Well firstly you have to eat right. Our problem is not fat. Our problem is the over-consumption of carbohydrates that does two things: 1. Over-consumption of carbohydrates leads to excess glycogen being stored as fat, a process known as lipogenesis 2. more importantly, fat is not being burned for energy. When you lower your carbohydrate intake, you reduce your calorie intake, but you also promote fat burning. Fat is used for energy in the absence of carbohydrate. Does this mean you can’t have pasta, potatoes, bread etc. well not quite. But if you wish to lose weight/fat, you will need to reduce these food groups.
I do not eat a lot of carbohydrates. I have cereal, and maybe new potatoes, but unless I’m eating out I don’t eat much carbohydrate. I never have no-carb days though as you do need them for energy and training, your brain for instance runs solely on carbohydrate. My diet typically looks like this:

7am Cereal (weetabix) & protein shake (with a raw egg)
11am Three egg omelette with ham, cheese, peppers, onions
2am Train
4pm Full cup of Blueberries with organic natural yoghurt and a scoop of protein powder
7pm Two chicken breasts or steak, brussell sprouts, turnip, mushrooms & onions.
I may add another snack in there if I feel too hungry but that’s pretty much my diet. I drink nearly a gallon of water a day. My only other drink is tea, never drink sodas, or fruit juices. I do treat myself when I’m dining out but that’s not too often. Most fitness people eat the same foods with a slight bit of variety, but their diets don’t change much, just like athletes.

Exercise is very important for promoting fat loss as long as it is done correctly, and unfortunately the way that most people train, it isn’t. I could give you a program written by the alien from the film Super 8 and it would still be effective as long as you were training at the correct intensity. Even if you had the world’s best program with incredible exercise selection, it would be useless if you didn’t train with the proper intensity.

Have you ever seen a car break down and two people then help to push it? Do they just put their hand on the car and give it a nudge? No they don’t. They’ve got both hands on, they bend their knees and push like hell! In order to move the car it needs the appropriate force. If you want your body to change, lose weight/fat, then the appropriate amount of physical stress must be placed upon it.

A great way to do this is by using weights with no rest between exercises and I’m not talking about using machines, although some machines are effective. Try doing a circuit of five exercises four times. Something like:

1. Dumbbell squats
2. Standing shoulder presses
3. Barbell curls
4. Lunges
5. Assisted pull-ups

The key is not the exercises as such although exercise selection is important, but it’s the intensity that will crank up your metabolic and hormonal system and start burning fat effectively. The reduced rest period is designed to promote the build-up of lactic acid (cruelly and unjustifiably labelled a waste product when it actually provides us with energy!) which then promotes the release of growth hormone which is a major fat-burner.

One point I have to make here, exercise is not great for weight loss, dieting is. A good workout may burn 10kcals/min, so if it’s an hour that’s 600 kcals. The equivalent in food? Maybe two slices of pizza, a quarter pounder with cheese or a Chicken Sandwich from MacDonalds, 6” (not 12”) Meatball Sub from Subway, three lattes from Starbucks, one Lasagne, three packets of Doritos or Walkers crisps. It’s easy to see that it’s far better to diet for weight loss than to exercise for weight loss.

This combination of exercise and diet will GUARNTEE wonderful results. At my Personal Training Studio in Edinburgh we’re seeing incredible results with our clients. A young lad who came to us weighing 24 stone (336 lbs) has now lost over 7 stone (98 lbs). One lady has lost over 60 lbs, another recently passed the 45 lb mark. Personal Training does help as the trainer is able to push you further than you can do by yourself and that’s very important as many people just go through the motions with exercise, especially those who read books and watch TV, a lack of focus.

Make sure you have a goal and work hard consistently every day towards it. We all enjoy our treats, that’s the way it should be. Just make sure you’re doing more things each day that contribute to your weight loss than to hinder it.

Mike

Personal Trainer Workshop, Edinburgh

Our Personal Training Workshop set for Sunday 6th March has now sold out! More workshops will be posted in the near future.

Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks!

January sales for our Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks package have been wonderful as people from all over Edinburgh look to the Mike Heatlie Personal Studio in order to lose their festive weight gain! Our weight loss package includes 15 Personal Training sessions in 5 weeks, a free copy of the Mike Heatlie weight-loss ebook, food diaries, and an unlimited amount of support and advice! We are the experts in weight loss in Edinburgh, one of our clients has almost reached 70 lbs in weight loss within a few months! If you would like to book a consultation email Mike Heatlie personally at mike@mikeheatliepersonaltraining.com.

Snow

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The Top 8 Fitness Myths Exposed!

Myths is the fitness industry can act as priceless moments of humour to the Personal Trainer but they can also produce consistent banes of frustration as well regularly witness exercisers practicing ineffective or useless protocols on the basis of mythical rumour. Many fitness myths come and go, however some seem as if they’re here to stay. Only through dependable promotion from trainers and the fitness industry will we hopefully see these ridiculous myths finally put to bed.

1 Muscle weighs more than fat

It is almost ludicrous to suggest that one thing weighs more than another. One pound of fat weighs the same as one pound of muscle. How on earth can fat weigh more than muscle, or vice versa, without giving a tangible example? Muscle tissue is denser that fat tissue and this is where the myth emanates. Five pounds of fat will be larger in size than five pounds of muscle, but they still weigh the same. A person who weighs 10 stone and has 15% body fat will look smaller than a person of the same weight but has a body fat percentage of 30%.

2 High reps and low weight for toning

Women are highly concerned about gaining bulky muscles which is why in many gyms and health clubs are occupied with female exercisers who either avoid weight training completely, opting for cardio instead, or they use light weights with many reps to “tone” their muscles.

Light weight with more reps leads to poor results due to the lack of stress placed upon the muscle tissue. Muscle and fat cells either gain or decrease in size. To “tone” muscle one must stress the muscle tissue enough so hypertrophy occurs. The level that one wishes to increase their muscle cells, and decrease their fat cells, will determine their training programme, protocol and diet.

3 The more sweat, the harder you’re working

Ever wondered why some people sweat profusely and others don’t despite exercising at a similar intensity? Sweating is produced through and number of factors and conditions. Fitness level, age, weight, gender, genetics and environment all influence how we sweat, but when you consider that the human body has between 2-4 million sweat glands it’s easier to understand why some people sweat more than others. Generally fitter individuals will sweat more proficiently but even just because an individual is sweating profusely doesn’t mean they are training at a high intensity.

4 Cardio training is the best method to burn body fat

Firstly cardio training needs to be defined properly. If one is performing 50-60 mins of cardiovascular training using the cross trainer, running, cycling etc. at the same moderate pace then this is not an effective fat-burning protocol even if one is burning 600 calories. This type of training does not stimulate the powerful fat-burning hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, and can actually breakdown muscle tissue resulting in a fall in metabolic rate. Additionally if the same cardio workout is being performed consistently then the body will adapt to it in time leading to less stress on the body.

Weight training, performed correctly, and cardio interval training, are better methods of training for burning body fat.

5 Eating before bed will lead to greater fat storage

Eating late at night will not affect fat storage unless you have consumed an excessive amount of calories that day. The amount of total calories you eat each day is more significant and has a greater effect on weight loss than eating late at night.

6 Crunches and sit-ups will help you gain a six-pack

A well-defined six-pack is the result of quality dieting and exercising to decrease body fat levels to the point where the abdominal muscle is completely visible. No amount of crunches will be effective if the diet is average, your abs will forever be hidden behind the body fat.

7 Stretching prior to exercise reduces your risk of injury

There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that stretching prior to exercise reduces an individual’s risk of injury. Stretching prior to strength training can actually weakened the muscle and reduce the lift. This is not to suggest that stretching is not necessary, it is, but stretching should be performed at the end of a workout in order to promote pliability within the muscle tissues.

8 When you stop exercising muscle turns to fat

Muscle and fat tissue are two separate components. You either gain or lose muscle and fat tissue depending on diet and exercise.

Fitness myths are here to stay unfortunately. However if enough promotion is conducted in gyms and health clubs then this can lead to fewer people performing ineffective training protocols and gaining training effects more rapidly.

The key to fat loss: intensity!

When working with my clients exercise selection is obviously very important, but what is just as important is the role that rest periods have on fat loss. I use a lot of the major exercises with my clients so squats, bench press, chin-ups, dips, lunges etc. as these are exercises that stress our bodies the most. Research clearly shows though that whilst these exercises are wonderful if you manipulate the rest period you can determine which major hormones are secreted the most, which can determine your end result.

For example, I have a male client who wishes to gain muscle mass. I use heavy resistance training with this client with rest periods between 90-120secs. This maximises testosterone stimulation. I have many female clients I train where their rest periods are significantly shorter, sometimes only a few seconds. Research shows this increases greater release of growth hormone which is a significant fat burner!

It amazes me when I see either trainers or exercises have so much rest between exercises that do not stress their body with any great significance. I’ve seen numerous exercises perform a set of 10-12 reps and then take maybe 2-3 mins rest. They check their IPods and phones, chat away to somebody for a while, or simply just daydream, all the time they are losing the training response.

In my own training I will usually set superset circuits which an active recovery exercise. So one training protocol might look like this:

Chin-ups                                                                  8 reps

Dips                                                                           8 reps

Dumbbell chest press                                          12 reps

Dumbbell lat rows                                                12 reps

Weighted sit-ups                                                   15 reps

Rest

The weighted sit-ups do not involve using the upper body so they take an active rest and then there is a rest period of approx 30 secs before the second circuit begins. I would do four circuits. This leads to high intensity exercise, major fat loss, quality testosterone release, and excellent cardiovascular benefits. It’s a myth you can’t receive cardiovascular benefit from resistance exercise, you just have to manipulate the rest period.

Critique of a singer’s diet and exercise plan

Listed below a critique I did for a young singer/songwriter regarding her training and diet, thought you guys would find it interesting:

Candidate:  XXXXX late 20s, singer & songwriter

Background:

Played volleyball and reactive sports during school days. Does little for arm strength (no biceps and triceps) as these are not a priority in her training, but she welcomes exercises for them. She does some yoga, which helps open up her chest. She has an artistic personality, not athletic. She doesn’t do DVD work outs, yet likes listening to instruction. Health affects her creativity.

My goal:

“To improve my cardio for singing and trumpet playing without losing weight, and to gain five pounds of muscle mass to bounce quarters off my butt.”

My workout:

“Healthy Habits [a boutique fitness studio] in Toronto designed my workout. I like free weights and body-weight workouts. Once a week, we’re strengthening the upper back and shoulders so that it pulls me back because everything I do is leaning forward. When I write I’m hunched over keyboard, the computer.

As well we’re doing very deep abdominals and obliques exercises with weighted long-arm crunches. My small, flat stomach runs in my family, and I play trumpet, which keeps a strength people can’t see, so I’m internally strong. But it’s not the kind of strength that holds my core up, my supporting muscles.

My trainer changes the routine every week, but I do three sets of 15 repetitions of these exercises: medicine ball squat and press, side shoulder cable raises, standing abduction, cross step-ups and side walking with bands for glutes. Yoga once a week stretches me backward.”

My lifestyle:

“There are weeks I don’t see daylight when I’m in studio for 3 days straight working from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. There are days where I’m in meetings, doing interviews, at the keyboard or computer, writing. Travel, gigging and rehearsals don’t happen predictably, so many aspects are sedentary, then rush, rush, rush.”

My motivation:

“My grandfather passed away several years ago and I put some of the money he left me into my health. Since then, if I’m not physically healthy, it affects my mood and my ability to write with a clear head.

Gwen Stefani is very strong on stage. Her fitness seems to give her boundless energy, not just an aesthetic [look], it’s about being healthy.”

My anthem:

“If I had anthem I’d choose White Snake’s “Here I Go Again.”

My challenge:

“Discipline. Establishing consistency within an inconsistent schedule.”

The Critique by Mike Heatlie MSc CSCS

When designing exercise and diets programs a trainer focuses solely on one thing: the client’s goal. If XXXXX’s goal is to gain 5lbs of muscle mass without gaining body fat, in addition to maintaining or improving cardiovascular fitness, then certain changes in her workouts and diet need to be implemented.

Exercise

For muscle to increase in size, a process known as hypertrophy, then it needs a degree of stimulus that exceeds squats with a medicine ball and bodyweight exercises. To target the buttocks and legs I would recommend XXXXX be coached to perform deep squats, deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, sumo squats, and Romanian deadlifts. You have to love these eastern European exercise names! J These exercises, performed correctly, stimulate the metabolic and endocrine systems far greater than most other forms of exercise. There is no real need t perform direct abdominal training if a client is performing squats, deadlifts, chin-ups etc. as the recruit of the “core” muscles from these exercises is far greater than popular “functional” exercises.

These exercise will stimulate far more muscle motor units and will stress the tissues significantly, which, when combined with a higher protein intake, will results in hypertrophy. It would be wise for Ivana to have her body fat percentage taken prior and then if she gains 3-5 lbs she will know if those extra pounds are body fat or muscle tissue by having the measurements taken after the intervention.

Some other great exercises for Ivana would be assisted chin-ups, pull-ups and dips, as well as bench press, dumbbell flys, cable bent-over lateral raises, and hyperextensions. As Ivana is predominantly in a forward flexed position with rounded shoulders, she should perform pulling exercises more often than pressing exercises, perhaps a 2:1 ratio. She should also focus on quality stretching of the chest and neck after each workout.

In order to boost cardiovascular function, Ivana could superset her exercises or even perform tri-sets so 2-3 exercises in a row without rest. An example would be, keeping in mind the pulling/pressing ratio:

A1) Chin-ups 8 reps 75-80% 1RM

A2) Dumbbell chest press 8 reps 75-80% 1RM

A3) Bent over rowing 8 reps 75-80% 1RM

XXXXX would need a frequency of 3-4 times per week, no more than 50 mins per workout. Her repetition range should drop in order to promote hypertrophy so more weight can used to increase the intensity. Yes she’s going to have to work hard!

Diet

I would recommend Ivana consume close to 100 grams of protein per day and cycle her carb and calorie intake. On days she does not train she should consume more carbs and calories, depending on the results she was receiving from the diet and training program. A breakdown of her daily intake would be:

1464kcals per day

Nutrient ratio:  35% Protein, 55% Carbs, 20%, Fat

366 kcal. protein per day (91.5 grams)

805 kcal. carbs per day (201 grams)

293 kcal. fat per day (33 grams)

Lifestyle

Having trained the singer Gwen Stefani and the band No Doubt I fully appreciate how difficult it can be to organise any type of schedule at times but I would encourage XXXXX to avoid working through the night as I imagine this will upset her sleep, exercise and eating pattern. Even if the working schedule could be compromised to 8pm – 4am if she feels more artistic and productive later in the evening as opposed to daytime.

Meals could be prepared prior to the Studio work and she would be wise to keep well hydrated at all times. Protein shakes are excellent for consuming quality proteins without having to prepare meals and these could be implemented also.  It is difficult but quality sleep and rest and vitally important for hypertrophy so XXXXX would have make sure she gets enough rest when she has the time to do so.

Our latest Edinburgh Personal Trainer to the Studio!

The Mike Heatlie Personal Training Studio is delighted to welcome Ceredwyn Notje (aka Kerry!) to our team. She will be a wonderful asset to the Studio and offers something a little different from our current approach. To book sessions with Kerry email the Studio today and kick start yourself into the body you know you deserve!

Our Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks Package soars!

Sales of our Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks package have soared recently with people looking to lose weight in a kick-start fashion. With 15 Personal Training sessions in 5 weeks and a meticulous diet plan, our success rate is very high!