Fitness Pro Live

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author:  Turbulence Training 

If you depend on classic aerobic cardio for fat loss, you probably spend 30 minutes on a machine trying to burn a set number of calories.

But does that work?

Does burning 500 calories per day cause you to lose 1 pound of fat per week?

Well, according to science, it should. But if it did, you probably wouldn’t still be reading this article.

Back in the day, I used to write a column on fat loss myths for Men’s Fitness magazine. Here’s a classic weight loss topic I covered.

Myth: I need to burn 500 calories each workout to lose fat.

Truth: Possibly one of the worst inventions for fat loss was the calorie-counting monitor on treadmills, elliptical machines, and stairmasters.

Because of these, millions of men and women now obsess about the number of calories burned per session. You’ve probably even been one of those people, watching it creep up ever so slowly during a slow-cardio session. All the while knowing that you can wipe out a 30-minute, 300-calorie treadmill session with one fell swoop of the Krispy Kreme hand.

Too many people are brainwashed into thinking that if they don’t burn 300-500 calories per session, then they won’t lose fat. After all, that is what you’ve been told time and time again in those fluffy fitness/fashion magazines.

The problems with this approach to fat loss are numerous. First off, it’s difficult to say if the calorie counters are even accurate. A story on CBS news showed that cardio machines overestimate calorie burning by up to 20%.

Next, depending on slow cardio for advanced fat loss is relatively useless and at the very least, inefficient. It takes a long time for you to burn a lot of calories and one study showed that men who only used cardio training for weight loss ended up with a reduced resting metabolism. You are basically undoing the calorie burning by depending only on cardio. On the other hand, guys in the same study that used strength training didn’t suffer a reduced metabolic rate.

So what is the solution to burning fat in a faster, more efficient method?

The answer is to use strength and interval training to burn fewer calories in less exercise time, but with a more intense form of exercise.

Your body will burn more calories after exercise (when you use intervals) than it does after you do slow cardio and your metabolism will stay high. Some experts refer to this as the afterburn effect.

How do you do intervals?

Well, you could sprint or 30 seconds and rest for 90 seconds and repeat that for 6 sets – using the bike  or treadmill if you are experienced with it.

Within that short time frame the intervals will cause your muscles to go crazy with activity (I call it a metabolic turbulence). This crazy metabolism boost causes lots of calorie burning after exercise to get your body back to normal. The result is you would end up burning more fat and more calories in the post-exercise period as your body tries to get things under control.

Now there is one time where you’d want to count calories, but that is when you are counting up and determining how many calories you eat per day. Again, you can wipe out an entire workout’s work in less than a minute simply by eating garbage. Without some structure and discipline to your nutrition, there is nothing that even my programs can do to help you lose fat.

So exercise nutrition control and interval training. These are the two anti-calorie counting methods that will help you lose fat and get lean.

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Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle should be more accurately titled “The Fat Loss Bible. The author, Tom Venuto, received his degree in exercise science and has held certifications as a strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer, but more importantly, Tom walks the talk. He is a natural-for-life bodybuilder, which means that he’s never taken steroids or other body-enhancing drugs. Venuto has competed in bodybuilding 28 times and has 6-pack abs you have to  SEE  to believe.

Tom has not just spit out another “weight loss program” in a market where anybody & their brother seem to want to tell you how to lose weight. It is quite simply one of the most complete, detailed, and precise guides to fat loss you will ever read.

Tom Venuto has been featured on hundreds of websites as well as in magazines such as Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness, Ironman, Men’s Exercise and Men’s Fitness. Tom is also the author of a hardcover national best-seller, The Body Fat Solution (Penguin/Avery books). There was even a blurb about his latest book in Oprah Magazine.

Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (affectionately known as BFFM) is the #1 best selling diet and fitness ebook in the history of the Internet. In fact, it’s one of the best selling e-books on ANY subject in the history of the Internet -… And there’s a reason why…

Because thousands of women and men of every age are burning off  BODY FAT – not muscle or water weight – and they’re doing it naturally, without supplements, pills or “magic potions,” simply by using the proven, scientifically-accurate and common-sense advice found inside this amazing diet and fitness guidebook.

What makes it so much different than other weight loss publications on the market?

Well first of all, it’s not a “weight loss” program, it’s a “fat” loss program. In fact, pursuing “weight loss” is not only the wrong goal, it may be the reason that you’ve failed to reach and maintain your ideal body weight. Burn The Fat shows you exactly why it’s fat you must lose, not “weight” (which includes muscle, water and other lean tissue) and then goes on to show you exactly how to do it.

Burn The Fat  pays significant attention to each and every element of successful, healthy, permanent fat loss. Burn The Fat not only thoroughly dispels the lies, myths and fallacies surrounding a very confusing subject, it is simply the most detailed book about fat loss ever written. By reading Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, (or better yet, “studying it”), you will probably learn more about fat loss than you could from an entire semester of nutrition classes or from a library full of diet publications at your local bookstore.

You may be wondering, “Is this a low carb diet? A high protein diet? A high fat diet? What type of program IS it???” The truth is that Burn the Fat is none of the above. It’s more of a new way of living. That’s because with the information in this book, you will be able to easily determine your own ideal protein, carbs and fats ratio. You will be able to analyze your body type. You will determine your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate, or the amount of “maintenance” calories your body requires every day), and you will find out whether you are carb tolerant or carb intolerant.

This personalized approach makes perfect sense because each of us is a unique individual and no two people are exactly alike in terms of body physiology and personal goals.

One of the most powerful chapters in the book is the first one called, “How To Set Powerful, Compelling Goals That Will Propel You Forward and Charge You Up with Unstoppable Motivation.” In this chapter, you will learn what is probably the ultimate secret to burning fat and getting in shape… and it has nothing to do with diets, supplements or training programs. There’s also a great quote in this chapter from the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi…

“The dictionary is the only place success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must all pay for success.”

That line does a nice job of expressing the “no quick fix” philosophy behind the entire book. In the rest of the book, you’ll learn the complete and exact mechanics of fat loss – explained on both a scientific and a practical level (which you can easily apply in your own daily life in terms of what to eat and how to exercise to burn fat).

If there is any drawback to the Burn The Fat ebook, it’s that it contains so much information, that some readers may find it a bit overwhelming. On the other hand, if you like to know WHY you’re doing something instead of just being told WHAT to do, you’ll appreciate the detail in the 300+ pages. It’s definitely thorough. Readers can feel confident and assured that it will be worth the effort because this will literally be the last book they ever have to buy on the subject.

Anyone looking for a quick fix solution to fat loss, anyone looking to be told fairy-tales, and anyone looking for a “magic bullet” offered by the likes of body wraps, fat burning pills, diet shakes, or “fat-burning” creams and gels might be best advised to steer clear of  Burn the Fat. You will find no “30 lbs. in 30 days” miracles at work here. It’s all about intelligent eating choices, planning, hard work and lifestyle change.  As Burn The Fat author Tom Venuto says,…
 

“Burn the Fat is simple, but it’s not easy.”