“Hierarchy of Fat Loss”

6/9/08 Posted in Kettlebell Crazy  |  0 Comments

According to trainer Alwyn Cosgrove, in a time-challenged society, such as ours, “there are stilll certain acitivities and behaviors that will result in better or faster results than other activities.”

At the top of this “fat-burning hierarchy”, Cosgrove emphasizes two important steps–and they are:

1.  Correct nutrition; and–

2.  Correct nutrition.

That’s right.  It’s that important.

“There’s pretty much nothing that can be done to out-train a crappy diet.  You quite simply have to create a caloric deficit while eating enough protein and essential fats….The fact is–you can get lean without doing any exercise at all.  NOT eating a Big Mac with a large fries and a large soda saves you about 1400 calories and takes zero seconds.”  So if you think you don’t have time to do anyting but sit around all day, you don’t have time to eat the bon-bons, either.

Lest you misunderstand, Cosgrove is not minimizing the importance of exercise when trying to lose weight.  Food is fuel.  Just make sure it’s the right kind of fuel–ever hear the “sugar in the gas tank” analogy?  But if you don’t think you have the time, or you won’t make the time to exercise, there are studies that will show that failing to do so is as bad for you as if you smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes a day!  So after correct nutrition, follows:

3.  ”Activities that burn calories, maintain/promote muscle mass, and elevate metabolism ”

In other words, resistance training–pushups, pullups, or, say, a 15-minute session with a kettlebell–Hey!  Why not?–cleans, presses, squats, swings or snatches, windmills or Turkish Get-ups, to name a few. Which is good news to those of us time-challenged souls who’ve found that they actually  do have the time to do a little something more than just diet (seeing as how certain of their co-workers who actually DO smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes a day, have seen their way clear  to sneak out and fulfill their quota); but who still don’t have the time to train for a marathon or take a long bike ride.  Muscle-building activities boost your resting metabolic rate for 38 hours post workout.  ”So if you only have time to do one activity–make it resistance training.”

4.  Want to burn a few more calories in a hurry?  Make it interval training..

“In every single head to head study, interval traininng outperforms steady state [aerobics] in terms of fat loss–for two reasons–1) you burn more calories minute-for-minute performing the activity and 2) you burn more calories in the recovery period as a result of the activity.”

In contrast to the plodding multitude who jog at a pace just slightly ahead of a fast walk and never seem to lose the weight, it’s the sprinter who has the better muscular definition.  Which one do you want to look like?

And finally, at the bottom of the heap–where we might least expect to find it–is:

5.  Aerobics–those “activities that burn calories but don’t necessarily maintain muscle or elevate metabolism….This is the least effective tool in your arsenal….

“What’s interesting is that most people tend to start from the bottom of the hierarchy and try to work up….I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve told me they are going to start weight training when they ‘get in shape….’”

Cosgrove describes steady-state aerobic exercise as merely “the icing on the cake”.

Which brings us back to “Correct nutrtition….”

Check out Alwyn Cosgrove’s website at:  www.alwyncosgrove.com