Even though I’ve been helping people change their bodies and improve their health for over 11 years now, I still get excited about the results.
Even with amazing success stories like:
- Rosie, who lost over 125 lbs…
- Debbie, who was able to get off her Type 2 diabetes AND high blood pressure medications…
- Megan, who had Brittle Bone Disease becoming strong enough to bike 160 kms in 2 days…
It still feels extremely rewarding to play even a small part in people’s journey to better health. And last week I had one of those very proud moments.
A Common Fat Loss Struggle
Last week we wrapped up the first 6 weeks of our new “Fit Body 4 Life” program with a small group of hard-working women.
These women had been going to the gym for months. Working extremely hard on every cardio machine, and eating “healthy” foods. Foods like whole grains, cereal, fruit juices, and every low fat product they could find. The only problem was that they weren’t making any progress. Like, zero.
Understandably, they were frustrated.
That’s when they heard about a free seminar I was putting on. During the seminar I would be discussing how to make your workouts more effective for fat loss by focusing on the Hierarchy Of Effective Fat Loss Workouts. What did they have to lose? They were already frustrated and the seminar was free, so they thought they might as well check it out.
As you can imagine they were blown away when I told them that spending hours on every cardio machine was the opposite of how their gym time should be spent.
{RELATED: “The King Of Fat Burning Workouts”}
They were even more blown away when I took a quick nutrition tangent. I explained that what most people are told is “healthy”, just simply isn’t true. This is especially true when you have 20+ lbs to lose. Or if you’re battling insulin resistance and a slow metabolism, combined with digestive issues.
Unfortunately I couldn’t spend too much time on nutrition. The seminar was supposed to focus on effective fat loss workouts.
Back on track, I explained to them that the best solution for long term fat loss is to focus on building lean muscle. The kind of muscle that burns calories simply sitting on your body, and takes up 50% less space on your body than fat. And the best way to increase muscle is through a properly designed strength training program (combined with proper nutrition, obviously).
More muscle = Increased Metabolism = Burning More Calories Everyday.
Cardio-based workouts have a lot of health benefits, but long term fat loss is just not one of them. When you have limited time to spend in the gym your focus should be 2-4 properly designed strength training workouts per week.
{RELATED: “Walking: Lower Stress, Improve Recovery & Reduce Risk Of Disease”}
Back to the women…
They swapped their daily cardio sessions for 2 workouts/week in my Fit Body 4 Life group training program. This was combined with some slight shifts in their nutrition and one additional workout on their own.
They were blown away by the results they got.
The Results
One woman – who had not seen the scale move in months despite killing herself with cardio workouts every day – lost 16 lbs and 4 inches off her waist in 6 weeks! She was also able to eliminate the knee and hip pain she had been having for over a year. Plus she was able to do a jump squat at the end; something she told me at the beginning she would never be able to do.
Another woman who was in the same situation for almost a year, lost 9 lbs along with 2 inches off her waist, and 4 inches off her chest.
And the third woman ended up losing a couple pounds and 2 inches off her waist, despite coming off of a very restrictive 500 calorie/day diet before meeting me. I’ll cover this in another article, but coming off that kind of diet makes it very hard to lose weight initially. One reason for this is your body has slowed your metabolism in order to survive on that little fuel.
These were all very proud moments to be sure.
So you might be thinking – “What workouts were these women doing?”
Great question, and I’ll give you a one of them right now.
Since it was a group training program, we focused more on metabolic resistance training and high-intensity interval training (#2 on the Hierarchy Of Effective Fat Loss Workouts).
Here’s one of the fat loss workouts from the program:
Workout A
Alternate between 40 seconds of WORK and 20 seconds of REST for the following exercises. Push hard to get as many GOOD reps as possible in that 20 seconds of WORK. Complete 6 rounds of each exercise before moving onto the next. When you complete the first group of 4 exercises, rest 2-3 minutes before moving onto the second group of 4 exercises.
1A. Sled Push – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
1B. Push Ups – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
1C. Kettlebell Deadlift – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
1D. Dumbbell Bent Over Row – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
REST 2-3 minutes
2A. Battle Ropes – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
2B. Plank – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
2C. Seal Jacks – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
2D. Goblet Squat – 20 seconds WORK/20 seconds REST x 6 rounds
The second workout of the week was similar to that, but with different exercises.
{RELATED: “10 Metabolic Workouts You Can Do In 10 Minutes”}
With this kind of training the key is to push yourself as hard as possible during your WORK intervals. You should need the full rest time to let your heart rate come down.
And obviously, the best results come when these workouts are combined with proper nutrition.
Now these women are starting their second 6 weeks of Fit Body 4 Life. And I have no doubt they will continue to see amazing progress now that their focus is in the right area.
And as for me, I’m very excited to see what other “proud coach” moments come out of this group of women!
Next Steps
If you’d like some more personalized help with all this, I highly recommend scheduling a complimentary, 1-1 Transformation Strategy Call with one of our Transformation Specialists:
Simply take 5 minutes to answer a couple of questions, and then choose a time that works best for you.
During your call, we’ll go over:
- Where things are at right now for you, what’s working/not working
- Where you’d like to be in the next 12 months
- Any obstacles or challenges you’re facing, and how to break through them to achieve your biggest goals!
At the end of your call you’ll have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have, and if it makes sense we can chat about getting involved with one of our coaching programs.
But either way, you’ll you have crystal clear clarity on exactly what you need to do to moving forward to achieve your biggest fitness, weight loss or transformation goals.
It only takes 5 minutes to schedule a call and there’s zero-risk, so do it now before it gets lost in the shuffle of life: