The Science behind Fat Loss Training

In the Real World Fat Loss DVD I present several different research studies that influenced my fat loss programming:

• A 2004 diet study that shows a simple change can increase dietary compliance and fat loss (by 96%) -- (and it's not "eat less"!)
  
  
• A 1998 study that showed that the addition of 45 minutes of hard aerobic training, 5 times a week for twelve weeks - had no effect on fat loss
  

• A study from 1994 showed an interval training method that actually reduced body fat (skinfold measurements) nine times more than traditional cardio training -- despite taking less time, and actually burning less calories per session
  
  
• Another study (1999) showed that the addition of a specific resistance training program increased fat loss by 35% over diet plus aerobic training.
  
  
• That same study also showed that 3 aerobic sessions of up to 50 mins, for 12 weeks (36 sessions) only increased fat loss by one pound over dieting alone
  
  
• A 2002 study used an Afterburn-type approach to training - and showed an elevation of metabolism for 38 hours post workout.
  

You can see the end results - how we put it all together - HERE

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AC

You Inc, the Art of Selling Yourself

"The worst days of those who enjoy what they do are better than the best days of those who don't."
Jim Rohn - the World's foremost business philosopher.

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I mentioned in a previous blog entry that I am a big fan of Harry Beckwith's work. This is his latest book and is a MUST BUY for anyone who works in the service industry.

Pick it up.

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AC

What's your excuse?

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AC

The Berardi Compliance Grid

The Berardi compliance grid has been a huge help in terms of helping clients stick to either what they already know to be good nutrition or to what they're learning to be good nutrition.

The compliance grid basically helps a client plot out 1 week of their life and keep track of how well they're doing nutritionally. In simple terms, we create a table in which the seven days of the week are plotted along the vertical axis (far left column) and the 5-7 meals of the day are plotted along the horizontal axis (top row).

This very simple and easy-to-use compliance system helps folks gauge their commitment and regular adherence by giving an honest and accurate assessment of how well they're REALLY doing. You see, many folks - in their minds - count their hits but fail to count their misses. This makes them believe they're doing FAR better than they really are.

The compliance grid forces them to count both hits and misses - helping them avoid 'blind spots.' We often have clients who swear that they're at 90% compliance (the gold standard for Precision Nutrition) and then, upon using the compliance grid, find out that they're really at 50% or 60%. This is eye-opening and shows them that there is indeed room for improvement.

The idea is that, until you are following a dietary plan to a 90% compliance rate, we can't really evaluate how well the plan is working for you -- you simply aren't following it closely enough.

The compliance grid gives us a graphic representation of exactly where you are.

For example - your goal is fat loss. We determine that you are going to eat 6 meals per day, 7 days a week, with 3 post workout shakes after your Afterburn workouts. That gives us 45 meals per week. At a 90% compliance - that means you can only miss or "cheat" on 4.5 meals. Having three meals only on Saturday, missing one shake and having a cheat meal on Friday night means you are no longer "on track".

It's one of the simplest yet most effective tools I've found recently, and is part of the Precision Nutrition Program.

Pick up a copy of Precision Nutrition to put the compliance grid to work for you.

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AC

Personal Trainer Success Academy

"There are no phenoms in the fitness profession -- no 14 year old Tiger Woods, Freddy Adu's or Michelle Wie's. Becoming exceptional in this industry takes time, and effort -- it can't be rushed or 'fast-tracked'.
Training and coaching people is not a skill issue - it's a knowledge and experience issue - and neither of those can be rushed"

-Gray Cook

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I just finished a 75 minute long audio interview for Dax Moy's Personal Trainer Success Academy. Dax (of Magic Hundred fame) grilled me -- and to be honest - this was completely different from any interview I've ever done (you know how they are all the same? - how did you get started in the industry blah blah blah).

This one was VERY different. We covered who has influenced me in my career, the mindset of success, and why we should eliminate the fitness industry. Dax even asked me at one point - "what makes you so special smart arse?".

I think it may be the most in depth interview I've ever done.

Look at these testimonials!

"Hi Dax,

It's really late (actually early in the morning) and I should be sleeping to get ready for another day with clients but I just finished listening to the Alwyn Cosgrove interview and I don't think I'll have "another" day with clients EVER again. This audio literally CHANGED my career after the first question was answered. And my passion for helping people out will never be the same ever again either. This interview could have sold for A LOT of money and I can't say thank you enough for letting us listen to it for free. You just turned a trainer (who thought he was a fitness professional) into an ACTUAL fitness professional.

Thank you so much,

Dan Grant"

"Hi Dax

Just a quick note to say I have just listened through this for the first time and it is by far the best audio interviews I have heard. Incredible insight into someone I have a great deal of respect for, and the interviewer was not bad either ;o) I need to listen to it a few times to catch some of Alwyn’s great quotes again, it all certainly made me think more deeply about my excellence and what I want to bring to my profession. Thanks for bringing this to us and I look forward to hearing the next… This one is going on my walkman if I can figure out how!

Tim"

For a short period of time - Dax is offering the entire interview for FREE. Check it out at Personal Trainer Success Academy.

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AC

The 300 Workout Transformation

BEFORE

AFTER

I've been getting a lot of questions about the movie "300"(Starring Gerard Butler, and directed by Frank Miller). Specifically the questions that I've been getting have been as regards the spartan workouts that the actors performed to get in shape and what I think of them, how they compare to fat loss workouts I'd use etc.

In short- I think the trainers did a great job with the 300 workout program.

Mark Twight of Gym Jones was the trainer responsible for the "300 workout" and the 300 "look". The first misconception of the workout was that Mark used a traditional bodybuilding approach to try to "bulk" the actors up -- instead they used a combination of caloric restriction and total body training to develop the "chiseled" 300 look.

The mantra that guided the training philosophy which really resonated with me was "appearance is a consequence of fitness".

In other words their goal was to create a look that epitomized the 300 Spartan warriors -- a "Functional" physique that looks like it can perform and fight, is devoid of fat, and a metabolism that strips fat from your body. And the best way to do that was to use a more functional, athletic program - to actually seek performance - as opposed to an aesthetically driven only program.

From Mark Twight:

"The second misconception surrounds the idea of the Spartan workout, aka “300” [or the 300 workout], how frequently it was done or who actually finished it. “300” is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout (Logan and I were two of them). This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300” is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it – something we encouraged – was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them.

“300 Spartan Workout”

25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135lbs +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135lbs (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36lbs (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up
300 reps total"

(The actors and stunt men performed the workout against the clock).

Hard dieting. High reps. Heavy loads. Intense total body training. Great results. Train for performance and appearance follows. Nothing "magical" or "Hollywood" about it. And it's the type of training anyone looking to improve their physique should be aiming towards - total body metabolic work.

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AC
PS - The theory of total body training for fat loss is one I strongly believe in. I think it outperforms any other method for fat loss. Check out Afterburn 2 for details.

My Boston Weekend...

I spent the weekend on the East Coast with the Perform Better team. At least that was the plan....

I left LA as scheduled and arrived about 5 hours later circulating Logan International Airport awaiting for permission to land. It never came -- they were in the middle of a "Nor-easter" which I guess is an East Coast term for a completely horrendous snowstorm.

So we were running out of fuel and were diverted to Hartford, CT to refuel. After we landed the flight was canceled and the extremely helpful people at Delta told us basically "We will try to get you on a flight tomorrow -- call this number (at this point, 200 flights had been canceled and about 40,000 people were calling that number)-- blah blah -- we don't have any accommodation for you - you're on your own". Nice right?

So I walked out planning to rent a car or something -- only to find the ENTIRE airport closed. No one was around.

I eventually took a taxi that took almost four hours in the worst conditions imaginable to get me to Boston. I arrived around 1-2am. Made it to the seminar where I was speaking at 8am. No dinner, no sleep, no breakfast. Not the best ever conditions.

Despite the horrendous trip it ended up being a great weekend. I managed to spend some time with CJ Murphy, Eric Cressey and the entire Perform Better team - Chris Poirier, Mike Boyle, Gray Cook, JC Santana, Lee Taft and Anthony DiLuglio (who took us through a GREAT, very intense ten minute total body kettlebell workout ).

I'd also be remiss to mention the amazing attendees that braved the elements and spent their weekend with us.

My presentation was on the Hierarchy of Fat Loss Training. I'll be expanding it into an article soon. Essentially it's a top down approach to programming based on effective use of your time and synergistic activities. I'll cover it briefly here this week before the article is released..

I also had a great conversation with Gray Cook on combining "corrective" exercise with "metabolic" training to provide an enhanced fat loss effect. Briefly - if you accept that metabolism is a function of how much lean mass you have and use, then you'll realize the simplicity behind our approach. A deadlift can be a great total body exercise -- but what if your glutes aren't firing? then it's less of a total body exercise - you lift less weight - and burn less calories right? In other words -- what if we could switch all your muscles "on" and turn metabolism up before we even workout? Stay tuned.

I also had dinner with Mike Boyle and can confirm he is the smartest guy in the industry and one of the nicest. He may also be the most "ripped off".

I can also confirm that he pretty much"owns" the entire city of Boston :)

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AC
PS - Upcoming Seminars: April - the JP Fitness Summit
May and June: The Functional Training Summits with Perform Better
I'll also be back in Boston in October -- for this -- hopefully the weather is better!

Standing on the shoulders of giants...

I think one of the names to watch out for in the future of the fitness industry is Nate Green. I first "heard" of Nate when he walked up to me at a seminar, handed me a book and said - "this is a thank you for everything you've taught me so far".

I'd never met him before. But you can imagine I was extremely refreshed with that approach. Over time I realized this young guy really knew his stuff and was well on the way to big things.

Nate has recently released a new product called "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" where he has interviewed literally the top trainers in the field and had them divulge their best secrets. It's literally the inside fast-track to success in this industry. I'm just surprised no one had thought of it before.

I emailed Nate and asked him:

AC: Nate, where did you come up with this idea?

Nate: As a young up-and-comer in the fitness industry, I always wished there was some sort of manual - a kind of cheat sheet, if you will - that would enable me to learn from the painful mistakes and glorious successes of the people who've made a major impact on the industry as we know it.

I wanted a blueprint of their failures and successes so I could figure out just how they did ‘it’ so damn well – how they made their money, lived their life, and played by their own rules when 99.9% of the fitness industry seemed to make little to no progress.

Well, I got my wish.

I just so happened to be in a position where I knew all these guys personally. I had them on speed-dial and could call them up any time I pleased to get the answers I sought.

However, I started to feel a bit selfish. These people were so willing to help me out and put me on their shoulders to get a clearer view that I couldn’t imagine how I or anyone else could have ever gotten anywhere without their invaluable experience and information.

As such, I wanted to help other fitness entrepreneurs out and give them the type of direct access I’ve been spoiled to have.

This audio series is a culmination of the trials, errors, successes, and wisdom –over a CENTURY’S worth if you add ‘em all together—of the people who run the fitness industry.

I just want to share the success and pay it forward.

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Trust me -- this is an excellent product that I wish I'd owned when I first started out- check it out, and get a free download HERE

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AC

The New Rules of Lifting

Over last weekend a lot of trainers at the NSCA event were asking me where they could purchase the book I wrote with Lou Schuler - the New Rules of Lifting (as it's not in my web store).

The easy answer - click below:


This book contains over a year's worth of strength, hypertrophy and fat loss programming. And you can pick it up for $17 here.

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AC

JP Fitness Summit

This weekend I'm headed to Boston for the Perform Better seminar. After this weekend I have a couple of weekends of NO travelling, that I'm really looking forward to.

Next month I'm back on the road and headed to Arkansas.

I'll be speaking alongside Robert Dos Remedios, Bill Hartman, Chad Waterbury, Charles Staley, Mike Roussell and Lou Schuler at the JP Fitness Summit in Little Rock, AK April 13th and 14th.

The JP fitness forum is one of the coolest forums on the internet and home to some of the nicest people I've ever "met" (I haven't met most of them in person, but this being the internet age that's not really that uncommon anymore).

This will be a fairly small event compared to the PB tour so you'll get a great chance to interact with all the presenters - I'm really looking forward to it and hope to see some of my blog and newsletter readers there.

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AC

AC Interviewed!

The tables were turned on me and I was recently interviewed by Turbulence Training Expert Craig Ballantyne - check it out:

Weight Loss Tips from Personal Trainer Alwyn Cosgrove

Every once in a while you come across a person in their field that is so well-respected, so "on-target" with their work, and so engaging that you can't help but consider them the best in their business.

Andin the fitness industry, that person is none other than Alwyn Cosgrove. He is on top of his game.

In comparison to other personal trainers, Alwyn is at the level of 8th degree black belt, while most of the trainers you'd find in large commercial gyms barely deserve a yellow belt.

Alwyn has an endless list of certifications, but more importantly, he has boiled down complex fitness information into only what is necessary for you to know to succeed.

The Transformation King has written an excellent fat loss program ('Afterburn' and 'Afterburn 2'), and perhaps more importantly, has shared his training methods and know-how in his Professional Program Design Manual and his bodyweight exercise DVD (where I learned some nifty tricks for my bodyweight manual workouts).

And in the meantime, let's hear what the top dog has to say...

CB: So, what's new Alwyn?

AC: Nothing much Craig. As you know I spent some time in hospital last year. So I didn't do a whole lot of work in 06. 2007 has been a little busier but I'm taking it pretty easy :)

I'm currently working with a BJJ fighter to prepare for the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships and a professional MMA fighter so I've been back coaching a wee bit. I thought I'd retired but they sucked me back in :)

CB: Hey, tell us more about your project, Lifting for Lymphoma.

AC: Basically Craig I decided that it was time for the strength training community to step up and give something back. The endurance training community has been raising money for charity for years. Collectively the strength training community has fallen short by comparison.

So I contacted a bunch of writers and trainers and asked them to contribute a short article or training program to a book project that we could sell -- with all the net proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. The original idea was that it would be a 100 page manual that I could print out and sell.

Currently we're at 900 pages!! So it's going to have to be a CD rom (to keep production and shipping costs down). I hope to launch it very soon. If everyone who read elitefts.com, bodybuilding.com or t-nation.com this week bought ONE copy each -- we'd sell 500,000 copies.

The information in itself is going to be GREAT. But aside from that -- it's a chance for us to give something back to the cancer research community.

The editing etc is taking me much longer than I expected but I hope it will be available within a month or so.

CB: Your program design manual is getting rave reviews. Why do personal trainers need something like this?

AC: My program design manual I believe is the first product on the market to actually establish a SYSTEM for trainers to use to design programs. Most of the time trainers write essentially exercise "menus".

It also covers the similarities between great programs and how to extract them - instead of focusing on the differences as most people do.

CB: What is the most practical tip you've come across in recent weeks?

AC: John Berardi's compliance grid (which I saw last year - as part of Precision Nutrition) is still the best tool that I've seen nutrition wise.

Overall though -- getting the idea across that if you do something every day that causes metabolic "turbulence" and creates "afterburn" - regardless of what that activity is -- then you're going to get lean.

Maybe it's a ten minute interval session or a 20 min bodyweight circuit - it almost doesn't matter what the session is -- then you elevate metabolism when you're resting.

To oversimplify it -- if you could increase metabolism by 1/4 of a calorie per minute -- that's 15 cals per hour -- 360 per hour -- 2520 per week -- before dieting or adding in caloric burn from training. The EPOC - the increase in metabolism - is where to focus your efforts.

CB: What's the biggest mistake trainers are making in their fat loss program design?

AC: It's STILL an overemphasis on aerobic training for fat loss. I feel like I keep saying this but no one seems to be hearing it. There's an overwhelming belief that aerobic exercise = fat loss. It doesn't.

It simply means that your energy needs are being met by the aerobic energy system. It doesn't guarantee fat loss - in fact (and I'm sick of saying it) I think it's possibly the least effective fat loss modality there is.

In terms of ROI - aerobic training is like putting money under the mattress - you put it away - and you don't make anything "extra" from it. Metabolic Turbulence or Afterburn is like putting that money in a high interest money market account -- with compound interest.

I just finished an exclusive follow up interview for Craig's new member site.

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AC
PS - To read more from Craig and learn about Turbulence Training - click here.

One of the most impressive athletes I've ever seen...

I just got back from the NSCA Personal Trainer Conference in Las Vegas where I presented on bodyweight training. Thanks to Perform Better for sponsoring my portion of the seminar. Incidentally there are a tone of good training articles courtesy of Perform Better - HERE

I mentioned at the event about "real world" strength and bodyweight training and mentioned that I would post this video to show some of what I was talking about.

I think, out of all the athletes and lifters I've ever seen - this is the most "functional", "strongest" athlete I've ever seen.. and one of the nicest guys I've had the pleasure to meet.

Steve Cotter.

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AC
PS - All the bodyweight training equipment is on sale at Perform Better - HERE

UPDATE to: Reactions and resistance to change...

Been getting a lot of emails about why the aerobic group in the UNSW study gained fat....

I have no idea. But I can assume that they consumed more calories than they burned. For whatever reason. But in reality - 0.5kg over 15 weeks isn't really significant.

Someone suggested that the aerobic group "obviously didn't diet". I'm not sure that's the case -- I'm pretty sure that any dietary noncompliance would exist equally in both groups.

My guess is that the aerobic training (60% VO2 max) just didn't burn many calories. And at such a low rate - there would be little to no EPOC. So with adaptation to the exercise, the fact that it doesn't burn many calories and has no EPOC - the caloric deficit just wasn't there.

I think the bigger picture (that everyone seems to have missed) is that aerobic training didn't contribute to fat loss ( same as the other study I mentioned below), while anaerobic training contributed very significantly.

Take home message -- if your goal is fat loss - interval training works way better than steady state aerobics.

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AC

Reactions and resistance to change...

As I mentioned before -- I was asked to contribute an article to t-nation about "things I believe but can't prove"

I wrote that I felt excessive aerobic training may actually retard fat loss -- but I had no evidence to prove it other than the experience with our gym members (which I suppose is considerable data really).

I do think there are enough studies out there that show no fat loss effect with the addition of aerobic training (even though it burns calories) to question whether it helps e.g. a 1998 study (Int J Sport Nutr. 1998 Sep;8(3):213-22.) once compared the addition of 45 mins at 78% MHR of aerobic training, 5 days per week to an already dieting population and found that it had no additional fat loss effect over dieting alone. I've since collected about 5 or 6 studies with the same conclusion.

-- but as I said - I still couldn't prove it.

I've hypothesized that a) aerobic training really doesn't burn that many calories, b) the body becomes efficient at it at a fairly fast rate- therefore burning even less calories per session and c) perhaps there is an overall lowering of metabolism that occurs long term -- but I don't really know. It's just an observation that it never seems to pan out in the real world.

Despite my pointing out that I couldn't prove it (and that being the title of the article)-- I was lambasted and asked for proof in the t-nation forum.

Huh? (The clue is in the title of the article...)

Then, last week another study came out that showed that 40 mins of aerobic work, performed three times a week for 15 weeks had no effect on fat loss (in fact the aerobic group actually gained fat).

And people lambasted the study saying there was no way it could be accurate - blah blah blah - aerobics had to generate some fat loss etc (funny how everyone on the internet can evaluate a study better then the University of New South Wales).

Interesting.

In summary -- I gave my opinion as to what I think works based on several years experience, working with real clients, in person. People (some with far less experience than me, and some with more) disagreed. That's fine. It's just my opinion.

Then a study comes out that validates what I said. And people (most of whom have never published a study in their lives) disagreed with it. That's also fine. It's just a PhD thesis (!).

What does it take to change people's viewpoints, or at the very least have them not be so 'closed-minded'? More client data? Another 100 studies?

I don't know. But apparently my 17 years of experience, our 200 or so clients currently training with us, multiple studies, and a PhD thesis from UNSW aren't enough yet.

Something to point out though:
I have no vested interest in whether steady state aerobics works or not -- I don't make anything up - I just do what we have found over time to get the fastest results.

If I could get faster fat loss results using steady state aerobics then that's exactly what I'd do - because then I'd be more successful using that modality. I'm only interested in results.

My experience supports that aerobic training doesn't help, our client records support that, and the science supports that.

What are we missing?

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AC
PS - to see pretty much exactly what we do at Results Fitness -- check out our fat loss program.

"The Strength and Conditioning Era"

I think all sports evolve at some point where technique and skill level are almost equal and wins and losses are decided purely from a strength and conditioning angle.

Case in point: Mixed Martial Arts

Skill levels have elevated rapidly to the level where actual differences in technical ability are no longer enough. As evidenced by the Hughes Gracie fight last year -- skill is no longer enough - strength and conditioning at that level will always prevail.

Skill is not enough: The early days of being technically proficient and just waiting on your opponent to tire before submitting them (like Royce Gracie) are over.
Brute strength (without endurance) is not enough: The days of just hoping to overpower your opponent (like Tank Abbott) are long gone.

The evolution of MMA now dictates that the athletes have both World class skills and be in superb physical condition.

Pick any two fighters in a match up, and 99% of the time the stronger and better conditioned (not necessarily bigger - as evidenced by the recent Sylvia-Couture match up) athlete will win. Conditioning is the difference maker.

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AC

A comparison of diets...

TODAY (yes - this blog is that cutting edge) a study comparing different diets (Atkins, Zone, Learn and Ornish) was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Vol 297 No.9 pp 969-977)

The study was entitled the A TO Z Weight Loss Study (Atkins, Traditional, Ornish, Zone)

Briefly:

311 people were randomly assigned to a diet for 12 months.

Results after 12 months:

Atkins Diet: -4.7kg (10.4lbs)
Zone Diet: -1.6kg (3.5lbs)
Learn Diet (traditional diet recommendations -- low fat high carbs) : -2.6kg (5.7lbs)
Ornish Diet: -2.2kg (4.8lbs)

The diet essentially looked at different gradations of carbohydrate intake on weight loss.

Basically -- the Atkins diet (low carb, high fat, high protein diet) outperformed the other diets VERY significantly in terms of fat loss. There was no statistically significant difference in fat loss between the other groups.

Important to note is that total energy intake was NOT different among the diet groups at the baseline measure or any subsequent point -- they all ate the same total calories. However, over time all four groups significantly decreased caloric intake over the course of the study - they all did eat less to generate fat loss - but they all ate the same amount.

Incidentally - blood pressure decreased the most with the Atkins group also.
Interesting to me though was that there was no difference between the other groups statistically. I thought there would have been a trend based on carb intake.

Anyway, this week I have presented two newly published studies that showed 1) a significantly enhanced fat loss effect to interval training, and 2) a significant fat loss advantage to low carbohydrate dieting. Exactly what I've been recommending for years in our Afterburn program :)

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AC
PS - if nutrition is your own "Weak link" - it's time to develop some nutritional strategies to enhance your own results. For a FREE download of Precision Nutrition strategies (courtesy of John Berardi) click here

Aerobics vs Anaerobics and Fat Loss

A few loyal readers will remember a few weeks ago that I hypothesized that interval training would help fat loss, but steady state aerobic training may actually have a negative effect in a fat loss program (here) -(I think that it doesn't burn many calories and may decrease metabolism)...read on:

I've mentioned this study before - but now the results have been further analyzed and confirmed and after emailing the lead researcher yesterday I received more information.

Trapp EG and Boutcher SH
Fat loss following 15 weeks of high intensity, intermittent cycle training
Fat Loss Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine,
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Without going through the study line by line (that's for the guys on the internet forums) I'll summarize the findings briefly:

Two groups:

Group One: performed 40 mins of steady state aerobics at 60% VO2 max, three times per week for 15 weeks.

Group Two: performed 20 mins (i.e. half the duration) of interval training (8s on, 12s off - 60 rounds), three times per week for 15 weeks. Group two started at 5 mins total the first week.

Both groups had dietary intake monitored closely.

The steady state group GAINED 0.5kg of fat in 15 weeks.
The interval training group LOST on average 2.5kg of fat in the same time frame.

When two already very lean subjects were removed (BMI was less than 20) - the interval training groups results improved to an average of 3.9kg of fat (Steven Boutcher told me that two women in the interval group lost 8kg of fat).

Again, look at the numbers - the aerobic training group GAINED fat (a small amount). The Interval Training group lost 5-8 times as much fat as the steady state group gained despite training for half the time.

Anyway - I rest my case :)

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AC
PS - that's another reason we use metabolic resistance training and interval work in the Afterburn program.

Peaking

Peaking for an athlete is essentially dialing in all the different components of preparation so that at a specified point in time, you are in the absolute best condition possible.

I'm working with an athlete right now who is preparing for the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships -- on that date - we need to "peak".

If I'm working with an NFL prospect - then I'm looking to have them peak first at the combine, and then at training camp. With an elite player - you may want them to peak later in the season.

But what about a general fitness client? You don't have a fight to get ready for, you don't have a combine. So what do you peak for?

Let me give you a date. A preplanned date where you will show the world your abs.

Memorial Day. May 28th. As I've said before - the unofficial start to Summer.

You have 84 days to go. That's 12 weeks to peak.

Could you tighten up your diet and maybe lose 0.5lb of fat per week?
Could you add an extra day of weight training - and push the intensity?
Could you add a solid interval training program?
Could you add an extra cardio session or two to your weekly schedule?

Of course you could. But will you?

Memorial Day will be here in 12 weeks - whether you're ready or not...

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AC
PS - If you know about the Afterburn I and II programs and still haven't started - what are you waiting for? Here's what strength coach Dan John had to say:

"There is an old saying about lawyers: if you choose to act as your own attorney, you have an idiot for a client. For years, I tried to coach myself...and I merely proved that I worked with an idiot. Like most of us, I know what I know...but I was clueless when it came to fat loss. Alwyn Cosgrove and his Afterburn II program is simple, straight forward and works. Now, listen: John Powell always says this about the discus: "I said it was simple, not easy." The amazing thing about working with Alwyn is that you soon realize that the workout is not the key....it is the Afterburn. Yes, the workouts are excellent with uncanny variation and combinations that continually seem easy until your lungs step out of your chest and crank up the oxygen tank. What amazes me is the hours later...when the car seems warm, the house seems warm, and a cold shower seems warm...that's the Afterburn effect ripping the fat off of me while I tinker around the house. Alwyn is my coach...and I think his athlete is brilliant for choosing him."
- DAN JOHN