CategoriesFat Loss Strength Training

The Tenets of Fat Loss

UPDATE:  The original title of the post was The Tenents of Fat Loss.  As in “tenents,” a word that doesn’t even exist.  I meant to say tenets. My bad (and thanks to the 17 or so people who pointed out my mistake.).  There I go again making up new words!

I don’t claim to be an “expert” in anything.  Actually, that’s false.  I am an expert in somehow forgetting to clean all the dirty dishes in the sink before I leave for work every morning, much to my girlfriend’s annoyance.

Oh, and I can crush 90’s movie trivia.

But other than those two things, I don’t claim to be an expert in anything.

Which is why I’m amazed as to how often that claim – being an expert –  is tossed around. Especially in the fitness industry. I once had a 20 year old – Like, still an undergraduate 20 year old –  email me and claim he was an “expert” in lumbo-pelvic-hip anatomy and rehab.

Okay dude, calm down. How bout you pass Kinesiology first, and then we can talk.

And of course the internet is rife with Paleo experts, low-carb diet experts, kipping experts, heart rate variability experts, strength experts, body recomposition experts, experts, experts, experts.

Maybe it’s just me, but unless you’re a NASA rocket scientist, or a medical researcher, you’re not an expert, mmm kay?

Thanks to Dean Somerset for the hilarious pic!

Alas, we can talk all we want on what it actually means to be an expert – they do exist – whether it’s education, years of experience, real-world application of said education, but it’s not going to prevent people from putting the term into their bylines.

With that teeny tiny rant out of the way, I’m going to take a little time this morning and discuss fat loss.  More specifically what I feel are the main tenets, criteria, or components of effective, efficient, and long-term fat loss.

Note: I am not an expert (but I play one on the internet)

In my defense: while I don’t claim to be an expert, this isn’t my first rodeo, and I do train people – in person – on a daily basis, so I do feel that gives me some degree of credibility.

I guess the first point to tackle is to make the differentiation between fat loss and weight loss.

Weight loss is easy.

Don’t eat or drink for a day, go take a dump, cut off a limb……..SHA-zam, you just lost some weight.

Fat loss on the other hand, is a different ball game and takes a little more attention to detail.

Granted I’m playing with words, but it’s technically true.  I won’t belabor the point here, but if you’re interested I wrote on the topic of Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss HERE.

Some people do need to lose weight.  If we’re referring to a morbidly obese person, then I’m not going to be overly concerned with the ratio of muscle loss to fat loss. This discussion changes for someone who’s 50 lbs overweight – who runs the risk of developing a plethora of markers which can affect their health and well-being – as compared to someone who’s 8% body fat and four weeks away from a photo shoot or from stepping on stage.

For the sake of this blog post, lets assume we’re not referring to the morbidly obese person.

If that’s the case……

Make no mistake, regardless of the end game (photo shoot, content, or you’re just looking to bring sexy back), MAINTAINING AS MUCH MUSCLE MASS AS POSSIBLE – especially when dieting  – IS THE KEY TO FAT LOSS.

You do not want to sacrifice muscle mass.  Or, at the very least, you want to minimize its loss as much as possible.  More on that in the link I provided above.

Stealing a funny anecdote from my buddy, Mark Young, coach at Lean Body Consulting, the keys to physique improvement (in order of importance):

Makes a ton of sense to me, and I doubt there are many reputable fitness professionals who would disagree.  Although, admittedly, we LOVE to argue about the minutia.

Take nutrition for example.  Everyone knows – or, they should know – that in order to promote fat loss you need to elicit some sort of caloric deficit (calories in vs calories out).  It’s science, there’s a law to back it up (Law of Thermodynamics.  And yes, I realize there are 4, and one is called the Zeroth Law, which is snarky. For simplicity I’m referring to the 1st Law and maybe elements of the 2nd Law, and even then I understand that even those can be interpreted into a million and one different things. Why don’t you just get off your high horse, huh???), and I find it comical that people debate it as if they’re the one example unique flower in all of recorded human history to defy it.

Calories count

^^^^ I understand that the above article doesn’t make the distinction of fat loss vs. weight loss, and I also understand there are other variables that come into play, but I do feel that the first talking point comes down to how many calories someone is eating on a given day.

If someone isn’t losing weight/fat, the obvious starting point is a discussion on their nutrition and whether or not (s)he is ingesting too many calories.

If you have 20 or so minutes to spare you can check out the EPIC thread that started on my Facebook page with people arguing over the article HERE (just scroll down a bit).

As the saying goes:  you can’t out train a poor diet.

Dieting for fat loss can bite the big one at times. It sucks.  Some days you’re going to want to stab someone in the throat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B80r9rE-DXg

But it’s a moot point, I feel, to argue that a caloric deficit isn’t what’s needed or that calories somehow don’t matter so long as it fits your macros, yo!  Yes, other factors come into play once someone is already pretty lean, and looking to get leaner – meal timing, meal frequency, the interplay of hormones, even macros!

But for 90% of the people out there reading, 90% of the time, calories in vs. calories out matter.

And it should be said:  just telling someone to eat less and move more defeats the purpose and is borderline counterproductive. As fitness professionals it’s our job to educate our clients and to arm them with the skills necessary to succeed. It’s imperative that we teach them habits that will stick and help them not only get from Point A to Point B, but to stay there.

People aren’t dumb. They understand that crushing Taco Bell every night isn’t the best choice, and it certainly won’t help them attain their goal(s). It’s our job to figure out WHY they’re going to Taco Bell and to set up preventative strategies to help them avoid it.

It could be something as simple as outlining an alternate route home from work.  Or maybe it’s coaching them on better food choices. I don’t know, it could be dozens of things.  The point is: WE NEED TO DEVELOP HABITS.

And lets briefly discuss lifting heavy things.

As I noted above, the key to fat loss it to limit the amount of muscle loss.  What makes muscle, keeps muscle.

Lifting heavy things provides the stimulus the body needs to keep muscle.  One of the biggest mistakes I think many people make when following a fat loss plan is ramping up their training volume to ungodly levels.

The mentality that more is better takes over, and it’s just not true. I’m actually more of an advocate for dedicated strength training when dieting for fat loss.  Sure, other things like finishers, circuits, medleys and what not can help expedite the process….but for all intents and purposes, training should be geared towards MAINTAINING MUSCLE MASS. And low(er) rep, non-sadistic volume strength training is often the right course of action.

Not always, but kinda always.

In Closing

I’m in no way insinuating that my way is the only way, and I realize that this is a far-stemming topic that entire books, DVDs, and television infomercials have been dedicated towards.

I just wanted to hit on a handful of “big rock” talking points – namely, that calories do in fact matter and strength training is an often overlooked component – I feel are important to the discussion.

There are many, MANY other things tethered to fat loss – not to mention subcomponents that can (and should) be tweaked depending on one’s needs/goals/experience level/progress.

Have your own points to sound off on?  Share them below.

CategoriesMotivational

The “Key” to Results. A Hollywood Actor Tells the Fitness Industry What’s Up.

I had an interesting interaction on Facebook yesterday I wanted to share with everyone. No, it has nothing to do with an internet troll trying to one-up me (although it happens a lot).  And no, it has nothing to do with ice or buckets or pouring anything over my head (which, I happily did thank you very much).

<—– LOL (and, I smell an abs alert!!!!!!!!)

It has everything to do with a story I shared on my Wall concerning actor Chris Pratt and his sincere interaction with a fan admiring the actor’s physical transformation for a recent movie role.

For those of you who have no idea who Chris Pratt is, he’s probably best known for his role as Andy Dwyer on the television show Parks and Recreation.

In addition he’s also had bit roles in a handful of hit movies such as Moneyball, Zero Dark Thirty, Her, and most recently as the lead (voice) character – Emmet – in The Lego Movie.

Even more recently, you can see him in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy as the lead character and protagonist Peter Quill/Star Lord.

It’s been regarded as a “break out” role for Pratt who, up until now, has never been the main attraction in anything he’s been associated with. Movie geeks like myself, however, have been familiar with his work for some time now and understood that it was only a matter of time before people jumped on the “where did this guy come from?” bandwagon.

Not for nothing:  he has several HUGE projects in the pipeline. He’ll be the main character in the upcoming Jurassic Park reboot, Jurassic World, and it’s been rumored that he’ll also be involved with the Knight Rider reboot.

And before I give my hopes up that this will actually happen, can I just say how obsessed I was with Knight Rider when I was kid!?! I may or may not have pretended that my BMX bike was Kitt and I was Michael Knight (sans the chest hair).

Anyways, all of this to say: Chris Pratt is kind of a big deal and don’t be surprised if you start seeing him all over the place.

More germane to the point of this post is that, outside of how awesome Guardians of the Galaxy is (4.5 lightsabers out of 5) and how perfect for the role Chris Pratt was, is the fact that it’s widely known he got into phenomenal shape in order to play the part.

You see, he’s never been associated with muscles or anything to do with fitness, and he’s certainly never been mentioned in the same breath as The Rock, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), or hell, even Gina Carano.

But it’s hard to look at his transformation and not be impressed.

Like, whoa!

As is the case whenever a Hollywood actor makes such drastic changes to his or her’s body, people want to know how they did it?  What’s their secret?

Of course, we can’t forget that these people have many more resources at their finger-tips compared to the average person and it’s their job – and often in their contracts! – to “look the part.” So part of me feels we have to put things into perspective and perform a little “expectation management” when comparing ourselves to actors.

I.e., what works for them in a span of six months won’t necessarily correlate to “bringing sexy back” in the same six month span for us.

Regardless, people are always curious and want to know how said person was able to accomplish their goal(s), in addition to looking up to said actor/actress for inspiration and insight.

And it’s with that I want to share Chris’s answer to a question he received asking him “how did he do it?”

I LOVED his answer.

It’s amazing how his answer makes much more sense (and I suspect will resonate with more people) compared to much of the garbage and hearsay that’s promoted by a lot of quote-on-quote “fitness experts and gurus.”

I wasn’t able to link directly to the video, but you can watch it below. It’s only like three minutes long and worth the time.

HERE

Was I right, or wha I right?

He didn’t fluff anything. He didn’t allude to a magic pill or elixir or special gadget that’s going to lead to better results.

All he said was START.

Doing SOMETHING, along with CONSISTENCY is the key.

Whatever your goal is -whether it’s to shed some weight, lose a few inches, or look like a badass – there’s no need to make things more complicated than they have to be.  You need to START and be CONSISTENT.

I had someone make a comment in the original thread on Facebook:

“I agree everybody makes everything so complicated. Just move more and eat less!”

I couldn’t DISAGREE more.

Listen, people aren’t stupid. They know that crushing a bag of Doritos before bed isn’t the wisest (or healthiest) nutritional choice they could be making.  They know that regular exercise – any form of exercise – is far more productive than trash talking some 13 year old kid who lives across the country while they attempts to increase their kill rate in Call of Duty.

People KNOW they should move more and eat less. That’s not the problem. The problem is trying to figure what obstacle(s) prevent them from exercising more and eating less in the first place!

If someone’s cupboards are filled with nothing but highly-processed foods – cereal, chips, cookies, etc – and they have easy access to such foods…..it’s going to be really hard to lose weight.

The answer isn’t telling them to “just eat less.”  The answer is figuring out a way to get those foods out of their reach in the first place.  Educating them on how to make better food choices would come in handy.  If the shitty food isn’t there to eat, then we’ve tackled a huge obstacle.

From there we just have to make sure there’s a level of CONSISTENCY!!!!

Likewise, if lack of exercise is the bottleneck.  Just telling someone, “dude, you idiot, you just need to move more!” isn’t going to help matters.

Maybe they don’t have easy access to a gym. Showing them some bodyweight routines to follow or directing them towards something they can do at home with minimal equipment would help.

For shits sake, maybe the reason why they don’t go for walks is because they don’t have a decent pair of walking shoes!

Sometimes, you just need to lead the horse to water, ya know!?  But of course, as the saying goes, you can’t make it drink the water.

I understand the frustration, though.  At a time where people have entire conversations in 140 characters or less and want (and expect) instant gratification, it’s a tough sell to say to someone “you have to be consistent.”

Unfortunately health and fitness doesn’t happen instantly. It just doesn’t.It doesn’t come down to simply telling someone to follow “x” program or “y” supplement.

And what I LOVED about Pratt’s message is that he makes no connotation to that point.

Many of us (fitness professionals included) would be wise to listen to Star Lord.

CategoriesExercise Technique Fat Loss

Nailed It: Ass-Kicking With Nothing But a Kettlebell

Note from TG:  Still on vacation.  Lisa dragged me zip-lining yesterday.  I almost destroyed the back of my pants.  But it ended up being so much fun!

That is all.  

Enjoy this awesome guest post by current Cressey Performance intern, James Cerbie (who happened to write THIS very popular article on push-ups a few weeks ago).

Enjoy!

Conditioning can be boring.  Like really boring.

Just think back to high school sports, or really any level for that matter, and reflect on how many times people had you run for the sake of running.

Ugghhh….

Unless you’re a long distance runner (I currently live with two and don’t know how they do it) this was probably about as much fun as repetitively banging your head against a wall.

This isn’t to say that running doesn’t have its place (because it does), but more to bring light to the fact that there are many ways to burn fat, get in shape and all that jazz.

Furthermore, we know from experience that high intensity work (think sprints, circuits, finishers etc) is more effective than slow, steady state cardio when it comes to burning fat, building muscle, increasing VO2 max, and improving GPP.

Enter the kettlebell:  one of the greatest and most versatile pieces of equipment of all time.  It, by itself, has the ability to take your conditioning and fitness to the next level, so let’s get started.

The Movements

For the sake of today’s discussion, these are the movements you will need to be familiar with:

1.  Russian Kettlebell Swing

There are primarily two types of kettlebell swings:  Russian and American.  In the Russian swing the bell will only reach eye level, while in the American swing the bell will go all the way overhead.

We will be concerning ourselves with the former because I think it’s more user friendly, teaches the hip hinge better, and gets more out of your glutes and hamstrings:

2.  Kettlebell Goblet Squat

3.  Kettlebell Squat Jump

4.  KB Goblet Walking Lunge

5.  1-Arm Kettlebell Push Press

6.  KB Snatch

Note from TG:  as simple cue I like to use on these is to pretend as if you’re performing a KB high-pull and then the bottom of the KB should face straight a head once it hits about nipple height.  From there just think about “punching” the ceiling with a quick, explosive jab.

Look at you!  It’s like you’r Thor!

7.  1-Arm KB Reverse Lunge

The Workouts

As I mentioned above, all you need for a kickass “cardio” session is a kettlebell and your imagination.  With both of those things you can burn fat, build lean mass and take over the world.

Here are 4 variations to get you started:

1.  100-300 swings

This is about as straight forward as you could ever ask for:  pick how many swings you want to do, grab a kettlebell, and start swinging until you finish all the reps.

Side note: I’d recommend checking out THIS piece by Dan John on the 10,000-swing challenge.  It just goes to show how effective high volume swings can be.

2.  Swing and Squat/Jump Ladder

Perform the following in descending order until you hit 1.

10  kettlebell swings

10  kettlebell goblet squats or kettlebell squat jumps

9  kettlebell swings

9  kettlebell goblet squats or kettlebell squat jumps

8  kettlebell swings

8  kettlebell goblet squats or kettlebell squat jumps

.

.

.

.

1 kettlebell swing

1 kettlebell goblet squat or kettlebell squat jump

I’d recommend sticking to the swing and squat combo if you only have access to one kettlebell because you’re realistically not going to be able to jump with a heavy kettlebell (unless you wanted to do bodyweight squat jumps).

If you have access to a lighter kettlebell, and enjoy having jello legs, then give the swing and jump combo a try.  You’ll swing a heavy bell and jump with a lighter one.

3.  Squat, Press, Lunge Circuit

Complete as many rounds as you can in 8-10 minutes of the following:

15 kettlebell goblet squats

10 1-arm kettlebell push press with right arm

10 1-arm kettlebell push press with left arm

16 (8/side) kettlebell goblet walking lunge

4.  Overhead Nightmare

This variation is only for more advanced personnel that can go overhead safely.  Give THIS article by Tony a read over if you have questions concerning whether or not you should go overhead.

Perform as many rounds as possible in 6 minutes of the following:

10 kettlebell snatch on right

10 1-arm kettlebell reverse lunge on right

10 kettlebell snatch on left

10 1-arm kettlebell reverse lunge on left

Rest 1.5 min

And then go for another 3 minutes.

Closing Thoughts

Hopefully this has given you some new exercises to play with and ideas on how to put together a conditioning session with nothing but a kettlebell.  There’s honestly an infinite number of possibilities you could throw together just using the 7 exercises I gave you.

In addition, I hope it helps those of you who have really tight schedules.

Just because you can’t go to the gym for an hour, or just because you have access to limited equipment doesn’t mean you can’t get in an awesome workout.

Anyways, thanks for your time and post any questions or comments you have below.

Note from TG:  On an aside, my good friend Jen Sinkler just released an awesome new product – Lift Weights Faster – that mirrors many of the same thoughts in this article.  Ie:  Traditional cardio is about as exciting as watching NASCAR.

In it you’ll find 130+ grab-n-go workouts that will not only improve your conditioning, but also help you burn fat, possibly build a little muscle,  move better, and possibly help you look better naked…….with the lights on…..;o)

Go HERE to check it out.

About the Author

James Cerbie, CSCS, Pn1, USAW, Crossfit Level 1

James Cerbie is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, Precision Nutrition level 1 certified, USA weighlifting sports performance coach, and Crossfit Level 1 certified.  He has been blessed to work with athletes from the middle school to professional level, powerlifters, olympic lifters, and Crossfit athletes alike.  At the end of the day, James gets no greater enjoyment than seeing people improve, succeed, and achieve their goals.  He’s the owner of Rebel Performance and currently works as a strength and conditioning intern at Cressey Performance.

Come hang out with James on Facebook, Twitter, or drop him a line at Rebel Performance.

CategoriesUncategorized

Lifting Heavy and Staying Injury Free: Interview on BuiltLean.com

A few weeks ago I had the honor of being asked to take part in an interview for the website BuiltLean.com – a health and fitness site created by Marc Perry which caters to busy professionals and helps provide ammunition to lead a lean, fit, and strong life.

While many people resort to snorting cheese vapors from an empty Doritos bag as “low carb” and view taking the stairs rather than the escalator as exercise, Marc and his team of fitness experts have built a site (and system) which has helped countless people and has gained a lot of notoriety within the fitness community.

With over one-million visitors (and growing) to their site each and every month, it stands to reason they’re doing something right.

Now, with a name like BuiltLean it shouldn’t come as a surprise that their M.O is helping to get people’s sexification on. In other words:  the deal almost exclusively in fat loss.

Normally I roll my eyes at stuff like this because a fat loss site is a fat loss site is a fat loss site.

Moreover, typically what happens is the theme music from Jaws starts reverberating inside my head because almost inevitably I’ll be asked questions like, “so, um, what are you thoughts on Paleo?”

Which is why it was such a breath of fresh air when that wasn’t the road taken.  Thank god. These guys (and girls) take more of a well-rounded approach and understand that “fat loss” isn’t just about caloric restriction and exercising until you’re swimming in a pool of your own sweat.

Instead I was asked non sequitur things like:

1. Why I feel getting stronger and placing a premium on strength is often the missing link for most people.

2. Why I think the same train of thought applies towards women as well.

3. Why I just about destroyed the back of my pants upon learning that Disney plans to release the next Star Wars movie on December 18, 2015.

Note to Self:  be sure to drop Jedi cloak off at dry-cleaners after work.

In short: it was just awesome to see a site

Nevertheless, I had a BLAST doing this interview and I think all of you will enjoy it as well since it’s equal parts me being me and actually providing some good information. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Tony talks lifting heavy things, women training, and yes, there’s a reference to zombies and bacon….

CategoriesFat Loss

The Tabata Delusion

Anyone in the strength and conditioning realm, or general fitness for that matter, has at one time or another come across the name ‘Tabata’ during their various fitness related rendezvous.

Most common would be those interested in interval training for fat loss.  Back in 1996 Dr. Izumi Tabata and his colleagues submitted what is now a well renowned (and often misinterpreted) study that revolutionized the fitness industry.

In fact, as my good friend, Mark Young, noted a while ago, “this study created such a rage that now hundreds of thousands of trainees around the world now include “Tabatas” as part of their fat loss programming.”

You name it, people have Tabata the shit out of it.  You have your garden variety bike and sprint intervals, which most people equate Tabatas with and are most familiar with. And now it’s not uncommon to see people performing Tabatas with the Olympic lifts (borderline asinine), deadlifts, squats, kettlebell swings, push-ups, pick your poison and it’s been done.

Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if Tabata cow tipping has entered the foray somewhere.  Anything to feel the burn, right?

Well now it seems it’s gaining steam elsewhere, and I suppose it was only a matter of time before it happened.

My other good friend, Emily Socolinsky (which many who read this blog consistently should recognize), posted the following picture on Facebook wall yesterday:

After ungluing my face from my keyboard, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “poor Mr. Tabata.”

You see what many out there think is Tabata training is anything but, and jives AGAINST what the actual study demonstrated.

Rather than try to explain it myself, I’m just going to defer to Mark Young again who wrote THIS post a while ago on some common Tabata Myths:

Despite the widespread use of this system, most people have absolutely no idea what the actual Tabata protocol is.  In the often cited (but rarely actually read) study, one group performed moderate intensity (70% VO2 Max) steady state cardiovascular exercise for one hour on 5 days per week.  This would be along the lines of what most people would be accustomed to doing in the gym.

The other group used the Tabata protocol which consisted of a 10 minute steady state warm up followed by 7-8 sets of 20 seconds at 170% VO2 Max on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer.  Subjects were given 10 seconds of rest between each set.

One more interesting part?  On 4 days of the week the Tabata group performed this exact protocol.  On the fifth day they actually did 30 minutes of steady state exercise at 70% VO2 Max followed by 4 Tabata style intervals.

So over the course of a week the Tabata group also did a total of 70 minutes of steady state exercise as well!

But here is where most people mess up.  VO2 Max is determined (in this case) by having the person ride the ergometer while measuring their oxygen uptake and gradually increasing the wattage until the person’s oxygen uptake no longer continues to rise.  This is considered 100% of their VO2 Max and it is often associated with complete exhaustion and/or vomiting.

Now imagine increasing the resistance on the bicycle to increase the wattage to 170% of that value.  That is the intensity required for a true Tabata interval.  Each interval is completed with maximal effort.

Despite what you’ve been told, front squats, resistance bands, or any other bodyweight routine you might be doing may replicate the time sequence of the Tabata protocol, but it is NOT a Tabata interval.  If your first set is performed at a submaximal weight that becomes maximal by the final set this does not even come close.  It might be hard, but it isn’t a Tabata.

Now I know what some of you may be thinking:  “what the hay Tony…..why are you chastising people for wanting to work hard, and what’s more, why are you playing semantics?”

Listen I’ll never downplay anyone who wants to work hard and take steps to improve their health. Moreover, I don’t necessarily care how they go about doing it.  Sure I have my own biases as to what I feel are the most ideal, time efficient, and most important of all, SAFE, ways to go about things given one’s goals and ability level; but in all, if someone is taking steps to improve their health, I’m all for it.

Who am I to judge?

I just think it’s funny (and by funny, I mean the exact opposite of funny) that the word Tabata has grown to encapsulate what mounts to, well, everything.

Tabata burpees; Tabata apple picking; Tabata recycling; Tabata Dating………..I’ll keep going!  I’ll do it!

And I’ll just add as an afterthought my fingers are crossed that there’s some semblance of assessment (and regression/progression system) to ascertain one’s ability level before starting one of these classes.

The last thing Dick from accounting, who’s 40 lbs overweight and hasn’t exercised since Patrick Swayze made stone-washed jeans cool, needs is to jump into a 30 minute class of mountain-climbers and lunges on day one.

I’d argue that if most people placed a premium on getting stronger, were CONSISTENT, didn’t automatically feel that they have to resort to 30 minutes of “HIIT” training to the point where they can’t feel the left side of their face, stopped crushing Frappuccinos, and actually went to bed at a decent hour (and drank more water), they’d be surprised with their results.

But I digress…

CategoriesFat Loss

The Forgotten Keys to Fat Loss

I don’t consider myself a “fat loss” guy per se.  I spend the majority of my days working with athletes ranging from high school all the way to the professional ranks helping them move better, run faster, lift more weight, throw harder, or whatever their respective sport may be, I just try to help them become a little bit more awesome compared to when they first walk through our doors at Cressey Performance.

This isn’t to say that some of the athletes that show up don’t need to get rid of that spare tire around their waist. But in the grand scheme of things, when it comes to fat loss, the only time I really place an emphasis on it – or at least go out of my way to make it a priority – is when I work with general population clients who come to the facility to get their ass kicked to get their sexy on.

It’s with that in mind that I recently wrote an article for Livestrong.com which sheds light on two forgotten components of fat loss – directed specifically to those people who are frustrated that, despite being inundated with a literal avalanche of information on the topic, are still fighting the battle of the bulge.

Two favors, if I may:

1.  Read the article HERE.

Or

HERE (<— In case you needed bigger letters).

2.  Once you read it, and if you thought it was pretty baller, please “Like” it  on Livestrong’s page. Or Tweet it.  Or better yet, do both!  I want to send a message to them that the TonyG.com empire are a loyal bunch.

If you don’t like it, that’s cool. I’ll just remember that the next time you need help moving into your new apartment.

Or the next time you need to borrow some money because you happened to “forget your wallet.”

Or the next time you need affirmation that the girl you’re currently dating isn’t some uppity skank who thinks she’s better than everyone else.

I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO READ IT ANYWAYS!!!!  YOU’RE RUINING MY LIFE!!!!!! AHHHHHHH.

*slams bedroom door*

3. In all seriousness, though, I’d appreciate any feedback or insight or opinions on the article.  Thanks everyone!

CategoriesMotivational Nutrition

A Discussion: Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss

Today I’m throwing everyone a bit of a curve ball, and doing something a little differently compared to what I normally do. To be as succinct as possible, I had an interesting email exchange with one of my female clients last weekend about the difference between weight loss and fat loss, and I thought I’d share the dialogue both she and I exchanged here as I felt it would make for some decent blog fodder.

I think this is a topic that leaves a lot of trainees flummoxed, and it’s something that unfortunately, despite our best efforts, is a message that gets lost in translation – especially within the mainstream media.

If nothing else, I thought my insight would serve two purposes:

1.  I think it’s a topic that a lot trainees (especially women) need to hear more often, and is something I feel pretty strongly about.

2.  Hopefully help turn the tides and help people realize that it’s not necessarily an “education thing” (we all know that pounding beer isn’t the answer), but rather a BEHAVIORAL issue that we need to address.

With that said, below is the email exchange between her and I, which has been edited slightly so that it would “flow” more easily in blog format.

On that note: Bagels suck!

Female Client:  Hey Tony, it’s been several weeks since I’ve seen you and I’m excited to get back to CP to train!  Having said that, while I still have some things I’d like to work on in terms of some aches and pains, and I definitely want to get my strength back,  I would like to work on weight loss, do you have any good suggestions for me in that area?

Me: Hey Kate Beckinsale (name has been changed to protect the identity of the actual client)!  Great to hear from you. With the weight loss issue, I think it’s important to understand that there’s a huge difference between weight loss and fat loss.

Far too often – at least in my experience, and this may or may not pertain to you – women get overly caught up on what the scale tells them. Weight loss can be completely subjective, and the truth of matter is the scale really doesn’t tell you anything.

If I told you to not eat for eight hours, you would weigh less.

If I told you to not drink water for a day, you would weigh less.

If I told you to cut off you right arm, you would weigh less.

In all three scenarios you weigh less, but does that really mean you made any significant progress?

Answer:  Um, no.

Sure, you weigh less……….but all you’ve really accomplished is to make yourself a smaller, weaker, armless, version of your original self.  There’s no shape, form, or contour to the body. What’s more:  now you have to do everything with your left arm.  And that just sucks!

How most women (and I’ll throw a lot of men under the bus here, too) approach weight loss is wrong.  Many would bode well by changing their mindset altogether and start thinking in terms of FAT loss.

More to the point:  to MAINTAIN as much muscle as possible (even better, build some muscle) and focus on fat loss.

One lb of muscle weighs the EXACT same as one lb of fat – well, DUH!! –  the difference, however, is that muscle is more dense than fat and takes up less space.

Stealing a little thunder from my good friend, Nia Shanks, here’s a great example of why it’s often a VERY good idea for women to not only toss their scale into the trash, but to not be skeered of adding a little muscle to their frame as well:

Muscle is more dense than fat, and that’s why a woman who’s been training hard and, despite losing body fat, hasn’t seen the number on the scale change much, if any, because she’s built muscle, too.

This is one reason why building muscle is a very good thing for women.

Here’s a picture to show that you can look better even if you gain weight. This is one of Jason Ferruggia’s clients.

As you can see, she gained 9 pounds but looks leaner, more “toned”, and more athletic because she lost body fat and built muscle. Good thing she didn’t let the number on the scale upset her!

I could write an entire book on what type of training one should follow in order to elicit similar results (Note to Self:  write a book), but I don’t really want to get into that here with you.

This might come across as beating a dead horse, but when it DOES come to fat loss, almost always, nutrition is going to be the biggest determining factor.

So, with that said, we need to come up with some “system” that starts to change your behaviors. I’m sure we can sit here and figure out a multitude of things that you need to change from a nutrition standpoint (eating more veggies, stressing protein with every meal, increasing healthy fats, food prep, etc), but that’s not going to help you.

Instead, and this is a concept I “stole” from another buddy of mine, Mark Young, who has a lot of experience in these sort of things,  we need to figure out a way to fix/change your behaviors one at a time. As an example, on a scale of 1-10 (one being “I’d rather swallow a live grenade and ten being “I could do that in my sleep”) how confident do you feel about omitting fast food or weekend brunches out of the mix?

If it’s not at least an eight or above, then we need to take a step back and figure out a better approach.  It’s only when we can figure out a way for you to be successful and to carry that over into a CONSISTENT behavior that things are going to really make a difference.

If you don’t feel overly confident about eating protein with every meal (using another example), then what about two meals?  Once you start making two meals a day a habit, then we can push the envelop to four meals per day, so on and so forth until it becomes standard procedure.

You go girl!

But remember:  YOU CANNOT OUT TRAIN A POOR DIET

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In case you were wondering, I used capital letters so that you’d understand that this is kind of an important point

You. Can. Not. Out-Train. A. Poor. Diet.

It’s just not going to happen.  I can write you the most kick-ass fat loss plan in the history of the human race – training 4-5 times per week, throwing in any combination of circuits, finishers, or anything else we can think of that will make you hate life – but it’s not going to matter if we don’t tackle the nutritional side of things.

Using an analogy I’ve used in the past, if we KNOW that fat loss is (more or less) determined by calories in vs. calories out, which seems to be a more efficient use of our time:

A) Spending upwards of 45-60 minutes (maybe) burning off 350-500 calories (depending on the mode, intensity, duration) exercising ?

Note to Everyone Reading: trust me when I say this, despite the machine telling you otherwise, you DID NOT just burn 700 kcals walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes at a 5% grade.  Those machines are WOEFULLY off and not remotely accurate.

Seriously, think about it. Unless you’re walking with Volkswagon on your back, you’re not burning that many calories.

OR

B) Electing not to eat that bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios before bed?

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

If we were to take the simple equation that a lb of fat equals 350o of excess kcals (which I know can be argued, but bare with me, I’m trying to make a point), we can surmise that subtracting 500 kcals per day (whether through diet or exercise, or both!) leads to a lb of fat loss per week. Give or take.

Again, from a time efficiency standpoint, and with FAT LOSS as the goal, nutrition is going to trump exercise in terms of better use of our time no matter what.

Here’s the rub though:  as I noted above, it’s not an education thing.  You know that it’s not the best idea to crush Doritos (or whatever) or to forego preparing a home cooked meal in lieu of hitting up McDonald’s on your way home from work.

You know that eating a boatload of highly processed carbohydrates on a day where you’re less active probably isn’t the best idea.  You know ALL of this. So what’s holding you back?

It’s all about behavior change.

We need to have some sort of default “path” to help you succeed.  So,  instead of McDonald’s, maybe you hit up Chipolte Grill and order a meat salad with a heaping pile of guacamole on top?

While still not the best option, it’s a heckuva lot more conducive to your goals, and a step in the right direction.

The same can be said for trying to include more veggies, healthy fats etc.  We need to find a “spot” where you feel confident you can be successful. Going back to the scale suggested earlier: how confident are you that you can include five servings of vegetables per day?  Is it an 8 or above?

If not, then what about three servings? Two?

Hopefully this all makes some sense, and more importantly sheds some light on why I feel weight loss is not where your head should be at at the moment.

Still think cutting off that arm is a good idea?…..;o)

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Fat Loss Forever

Back in the winter of 2009, having nothing better to do than pick the worst time of year to get lean (not many people see your six pack when it’s 15 degrees outside), I took it upon myself to do a little experiment which I appropriately called Tony Gets Sexified.

I’m not going to go into the details here, but little did I know at the time I had inadvertently used a form of intermittent fasting (IF) to help expedite the fat loss process.

You see, at several points throughout the week I’d have “windows” where I’d eat very little which, from a hormonal standpoint, allowed my body to become a fat burning ass kicking machine.

I’d train. Hate life. Fuel my body.  And then repeat the process, giving myself a “cheat” meal on the weekends.

My cheat meal, contrary to most who dream of endless mountains of ice-cream and all-you-can-eat pizza buffets, consisted of 2 lbs of BBQ steak tips, with homemade sweet potato fries and a shit ton of broccoli.  Exciting, I know.

Anyways, it worked. I took my body fat from a fairly consistent 10% year round, to 7-8% in a matter of six weeks, which ain’t too shabby given my starting point.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m NOT an expert on intermittent fasting. The fact that I wasn’t even aware that I had done a pseudo IF experiment on myself back in day should make that abundantly clear.

Still, in the few years since, IF has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of its popularity, and with that in mind, you’d be hard pressed to peruse any fitness blog or website and not see it mentioned in some fashion.

Which is why, today, I’m pleased to introduce John Romaniello’s latest product Fat Loss Forever.

Roman – as he’s more appropriately referred to – has gone out of his way to provide an outstanding product that not only educates, but entertains as well. It edutains!

When was the last time you were told breakfast was NOT the most important meal of the day?

Yeah, that one hurt me too. I heart breakfast. But when you think about it:  our ancestors had to chase down, wrestle, kill, butcher, and cook various small (and large) animals.  They didn’t eat breakfast everyday, and they turned out alright.

Moreover, what’s the deal with ALWAYS being told that you HAVE to eat 5-6 meals per day in order to keep your metabolism up?

Guess what: doing so may be making you fatter.

Fat Loss Forever goes against conventional wisdom, and helps introduce the concept of intermittent fasting in way that’s easy to understand and easy to implement.  But be forewarned: IT IS NOT easy.

You’ll have to do some work along the way.

With that said, Roman was kind enough to answer a few questions I sent his way, so feel free to read the interview below which sheds some light on this very popular topic.

Enjoy!

*** Oh, and since I know a fair share of you won’t make it all the way to the end, on top of the already stellar bonuses that Roman is offering, anyone who purchases Fat Loss Forever from this site and sends a copy of their receipt to my email address – [email protected] – I’ll send you a TG written, Roman approved, FLF strength-based program that will increase your overall level of badassery by at least 156%.

On to the interview!

TG: Roman you’re an NYC native, and I currently live in Boston (and yes, am completely immersed in the sports scene here). The Giants just beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl (again…FML).  This is your chance to gloat. 100 words or less. Go.

John Romaniello:  Ha! No gloating here—was actually rooting for the Pats. As a Jets fan, that’s heretical…but honestly, the last thing I wanted to deal with was Giants fans with an inflated Big Brother complex.

On to next year!

TG:  My apologies. I just assumed everyone in NYC was a Giants fan.  Lets get down to business: If there was ever an app listing what’s “trending” in the fitness industry, intermittent fasting (IF) would be right up there along with LOLz Bosu Ball Fails

Note to Reader:  LOLz BOSU Ball Fails doesn’t exist, but it should.

 1.  Can you provide a Cliff Notes version explaining the premise behind IF?

and

2. Why do you feel it’s gained so much popularity in such a short amount of time? 

Roman: It certainly does seem to be trending.

The premise is simple: IF is essentially alternating structured, pre-determined periods of “not-eating” with periods where you’re allowed to eat.

There are a lot of different styles of IF, the differences between each essentially being the length of the feeding and fasting periods.

IF has a number of benefits, ranging from practical (caloric restriction becomes easy when you are only allowed to eat for a few hours each day) to more physiological (hormonal benefits, including increased secretion of GH).

Each “type” of fasting will allow for each of these, some more than others—but all of them work.

As to why it’s popular recently, that’s simple: once I started talking about it, it became cool 😉

Okay, that’s not true…I can’t back that up.

The real reason it’s reached a tipping point as a result of a few factors: the first is that the research just kept backing it up; that’s a big thing.

More than anything else, it’s really that the “fasting guys” caught the attention of the rest of the industry, and finally forced us to see the truth.

A good example is Brad Pilon, who has been preaching the benefits of fasting for many years.

More recently, Martin Berkhan has been the head of the movement—his clients get incredible results, and Martin isn’t exactly what you’d call a quiet guy; he’s very vocal about his opinions and that he believes his way is the best.

Guys like these catch the attention of magazines with big numbers of followers, and then it just cascades.  We owe those dudes a lot.

TG: Indeed – while they’re not necessarily the pioneers, those two have definitely brought the concept of IF to the forefront.

That said, I know some people reading right now may be under the impression that IF is too radical and that it couldn’t possibly fit into their current lifestyle. What would you say to them?  What are the benefits?  Negatives?  Will it increase their general level of awesomeness?

Roman: I would just say to try it.  Read the research.  Give it a shot.  You really don’t have anything to lose, other than whatever emotional attachment to your particular set of beliefs you have.

The benefits are clear: hormonal optimization, increased satiety.  More than that, you will start to see the difference between “head hunger” and “body hunger” – that is, you’ll realize when you’re actually hungry and stop snacking out of boredom.

The drawbacks are that you might try something new.  This scares the shit out of some people.

Another drawback is that you might be uncomfortable for a little while. Yup. Fasting has the potential to be mildly uncomfortable. This is different from sprinting, deadlifting, squatting, and dieting in general, all of which are incredibly pleasant, right?

TG:  Very true. It’s very similar to a phrase I like to throw out there when people question doing something different to they’re unfamiliar with: 

If you continue doing what you’ve always done, you’ll continue getting what you’ve always gotten.

Pigging back on the question above, can you explain what IF isn’t?  Meaning, people are going to see the word “fast” and automatically assume that it’s a starvation method.  Could you elucidate on this fallacy, as well as any other common misconceptions that you’ve come across?

Roman: Ah, that’s a good one.  Mainly, fasting isn’t starving, because, at the end of the day, you’re still going to get roughly the same number of calories you would on any fat loss plan – just all at once.

Let’s say you maintain at 2400 calories, and you’re dieting; maybe you want to take in 1900 calories per day.

In a traditional dieting model, you might have six meals, each with about 320 calories.  You might be hungry after each one.

With IF, you’ll have three meals, each with ~630 calories. You’ll be fuller, longer, and possibly eat less.

You’re eating the same amount of food, just in less time—the extended fasting period giving you more time to be active and productive, as well as the hormonal benefits.

TG:  Well that makes a whole lotta sense.  Sweet!

So, now that you’ve thrown yourself onto the IF train, what makes Fat Loss Forever different from the various predecessors?

Note:  I only ask this because you know you’re going to get some a-hole who’s a Berkhan or Pilon fanboy (and rightfully so) getting his panties all up in a bunch

Roman: Haha, well, far be it from me to deny the right of a fanboy to hate me for impugning the honor of his guru =)

Here’s the deal: again, all credit to Pilon and Berkhan. I’m fans of their stuff. Which is the lead-in to this answer:

My stuff isn’t radically “different” from their stuff because it’s inspired by their stuff—HOWEVER…

It’s different BECAUSE of that as well.

My program takes a look at all of the best and most effective forms of fasting around, and, after much experimentation, creates a synthesis of all of these things.  It takes the best and makes them better.

FLF is the Frankenstein’s monster of fasting—it’s made up of the parts of other programs, and, in the end, is something that is both exceptionally effective and unique to me.

It’s a lot of fun, and Pilon is promoting, so I’d say we’re pretty solid in that regard.

TG: I’d say so!  Lastly, how “adaptable” is it?  For example, there are people on this site who spend a large portion of their day staring at a computer screen and are lucky to get three hours per week to train.  On the flip side, you have those, like me, who are on their feet for a large portion of the day, coaching. How easily can IF, and specifically, FLF, be implemented?

Roman: That’s that best part—all forms of IF are highly adjustable.  FLF is even MORE so.  All you need to do is NOT EAT…then eat.

The program works well for guys like us, who make our own schedules—but also for people whose time is less their own.  We’ve had firefighters and nurses who work 36-hour shifts have success, as well as entrepreneurs and other trainers.

It’s the most moldable nutritional protocol around; certainly moreseo than those that make you eat every few hours.

Plus, you get a cheat day…so right there, you know it’s awesome.

TG: Okay I lied, one last question: How is training “adjusted” when following the FLF protocol?  I know many reading may balk at the idea of training on an empty stomach, or with very little calories in the tank.

Roman: This is pretty individual.  Personally, I like to train in a fasted state.  But—and you’ve known this about me for years—that’s because training with a full tummy makes me get all…pukey.

I have trained truly empty, though; as in, haven’t eaten for 50 hours.

Anyway, this isn’t about me, it’s about other people—and my clients are mixed.  Some love the fasted training. Some find that some BCAAs are enough to give them the energy and have a great training session.

Others seem unwilling to break away from old ideas and just have a snack before training.  And that’s fine.

As long as you follow the bigger rules, eating 30 minutes before your workout won’t derail you =)

TG:  Thanks Roman!  Jets suck!

And there you have it folks. For more information, and to save $50 off the regular price (not to mention having access to a bunch of sweet bonuses), I highly encourage you to check out Fat Loss Forever HERE.

And remember, if you send your receipt to my email address (see above), I’ll send your my special 2-day per week strength-based program that I wrote specifically for this program!!

CategoriesUncategorized

2011 Bits of Awesomeness: Part II

In keeping with the same theme as yesterday, today I’m going to share the remaining top posts/articles from 2011 on TonyGentilcore.com that, for one reason or another, were the most popular.

For those who missed the first part, click HERE.

Guess What:  You’re Not an Elite Athlete

This was a post that struck a chord with me because, well, people need to understand that they’re not as advanced as they think they are. Don’t get me wrong:  I want people to train with some intensity and purpose.  But at the same time people need to take a step back into reality and understand they’re not on the same level as an Olympic athlete.

What’s the Real Key to Fat Loss?

With the New Year right around the corner, there’s no doubt we’re going to be inundated with infomercials, advertisements, and god knows what telling us how “x”  fad diet or “y” exercise gizmo is the key to unlocking your body’s potential.  The truth of the matter is, though, stepping away from the cookie jar and actually following the advice in this post will probably be more effective in the long run. Not to mention save you three easy payments of $99.

How to Set Up to Deadlift Properly

This was the most recent post of the bunch, but the amount of people who responded and the feedback I received easily made this one of the most popular of 2011.

Taking a risk and going a little out of my comfort zone, this was my first attempt at vlogging (video blogging).  Sure, there were times where it seemed like I was fumbling around like a teenager trying to unclasp his first bra, but all told, I wasn’t too shabby – especially considering I did it in one take!

Look for more of the same in 2012.

Who Ever Said Lifting Things Ain’t Cardio….

I never quite understand why it is people are so obsessed with their “cardio.” Of course, there are a million and one health benefits, and I’d never dissuade anyone from getting in exercise – regardless of their chosen mode.

But, come on peeps:  who says you HAVE to be on a treadmill or elliptical trainer in order to hit your “cardio” quota for the day?

Regression <—-> Progression

I think the opening paragraph to this post says it all:

As trainers and coaches, I think we often get too carried away with our programming to the point where we’re more concerned with impressing our clients with bells and whistles than actually getting them healthier.

I can say – unabashedly – that I’m not perfect and neither are the programs that I write. Sometimes I hit the nail on the head, and I come across like a program writing ninja.  At other times, not so much.

That notwithstanding, having the ability to REGRESS an exercise is an act in progression. Confused? Just click the link for the love of god!!!!!

Top Exercises For the Rotator Cuff

Given we train a lot of valuable arms at Cressey Performance, it only makes sense that I’d write a post here and there on some of the exercises we incorporate to improve or maintain shoulder health.

And this post isn’t just limited to athletes either. We use a lot of these same exercises with our general population clientele as well.

I know, I know:  it’s a boring topic and watching grass grow would probably be more exciting, but I promise it’s short and sweet, and will undoubtedly help a few people out there reading.

And that about wraps it up!  Again, thanks to all of you who supported the site in the past year, and here’s hoping that 2012 will be just as informative (and entertaining) as 2011.

 

 

CategoriesUncategorized

7 Fat Loss Essentials

With it being Veteran’s Day today, I just wanted to give a heartfelt THANK YOU to any current (or past) servicemen or servicewomen who may be reading this.  Your courage, bravery, and dedication to keeping us safe is unparalleled – again, thank you!!!!

I don’t really have any content planned for today since a bunch of the CP crew have a shortened day today and we’re all heading down to the South Shore for a client’s wedding.  And yes, in case you’re wondering, that totally means I’m busting out my robot on the dance floor.

Luckily, though, my good friend Dr. Mike Roussell just released a FREE webinar yesterday titled, 7 Fat Loss Essentials.  Now, if that title doesn’t pique your interest, I don’t know what will.  Well, okay, it could have said something like 7 Reasons Why Kate Beckinsale Should Challenge Jessica Alba to a Mud Wrestling Fight, but that’s just crazy talk and totally not even relevant.

……but I digress.

I’ve known Dr. Mike for a few years now, and have grown to really appreciate his approach to nutrition.  In fact, not too long ago I asked if he’d write up a personalized nutrition plan for my girlfriend before we headed down to Florida for vacation.  Not only did he write it, but he aptly titled it The She-Ra Diet Plan.  Awesome.

Anyways, Dr. Mike knows a thing or two about fat loss, and I think he provides some useful information that can help a lot of people and provide some great insight as to why many never get the results they want.  Check out the link below (dude, it’s free).

And with that, have an awesome weekend!

====> 7 Fat Loss Essentials <====