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by Rusty Moore
Copyright Notice
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copyrights are reserved.
by Rusty Moore
Table of Contents
Introduction: Losing Body Fat as a Skill
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Once you have mastered the skill of losing body fat, getting lean will never
be a problem again. Routines are nice...fat loss mastery is better.
Chapter 1: Calories Burned After Exercise Don't Amount to Much
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I critique 2 studies quoted most often in favor of brief intense exercise: The
Tremblay Study and Tabata Study. A 3rd study examines how little calories we
actually burn after an intense exercise session.
Chapter 2: Focus on Calories Burned During the Workout
Since the afterburn effect (EPOC) is less than what we have been led to
believe, the calories burned during the workout is what matters most.
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Introduction
Losing Body Fat as a Skill
The purpose of this ecourse is to teach you one thing: to master the skill of
losing body fat. Yes...I'm claiming that getting lean is a skill that you will be
able develop.
Much like basketball or any other sport, there are fundamentals that will
make you successful. Before I teach you the plays, I need you to know
exactly how fat storage and fat loss works (the fundamentals).
Unlike generic, rehashed fat loss courses...this won't be boring.
I typically know within 5-6 pages if a fitness book has game changing
information. My guess is that less than 10% bring anything new to the table.
The books and courses that I consider game changers typically venture into
a subject at a higher level.
My first cardio & fat loss course was NOT a Game Changer.
by Rusty Moore
My first fat loss course, Treadmill Ninja Master, was released in 2009. I've
received tons of testimonials about how well it worked for people. I'm proud
of it and still believe it was worth every penny.
...but NOT a game changer.
It didn't go deep enough into the subject of fat loss.
It didn't teach you how to track cardio progression.
It didn't allow for enough flexibility.
This has bothered the heck out of me! I would rather create 3-4 fitness
courses that change the game for people, then have 10+ courses that just list
routines. An analogy for ya:
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Too many Recipe Followers and not enough Master Chefs in the Gym!
As you can probably tell...I'm doing my best to sell you on the idea of
understanding fat loss. It's tempting to go straight to the routines. The
problem with jumping to the routines is that you will become just another
recipe follower.
What I'm going to show you.
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Chapter 1
The Calories Burned After Exercise
Don't Amount to Much
I believe the single biggest reason that people are having a tough time getting
lean these days is that they rely too heavily on the afterburn effect.
by Rusty Moore
Tremblay Study[2]: This is the one showing that intense interval training
burns 9 times more fat than slow and steady cardio.
People who suggest that brief intense exercise is the way to go, love to refer
to these two studies. Let's take a closer look at each study...
by Rusty Moore
The graph is showing a point where the rate of oxygen consumption does not
increase, even when the exercise intensity is increased. This point is
considered to be 100% of VO2 max.
As you become more aerobically fit, your VO2 max increases.
Someone who is out of shape typically has a low VO2 max. They can get
out of breath walking up a flight of stairs. In fact, I've seen people who
reach their VO2 max pushing a cart in a grocery store.
The Tabata Study Was Done at 170% of VO2 Max.
It is possible to train at over 100% of VO2 Max. If you look at the graph
above...I marked off along the Exercise Intensity line, where 100% of VO2
Max was reached. Any Exercise Intensity past that point, is over 100% of
VO2 Max. Make sense?
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ZIP, ZIP, ZIIIIP...ZIP Da, ZIP, ZIIIIP (We need a DJ for This One)
ZIIIIP... Cuz baby tonight, the DJ got us falling in love again! So dance,
dance...Like its the last, last night...of your life, life....Don't get you right.
-USHER
Yes, 1/5th of a pound of weight loss in 15 weeks!
Here's something else you might find amusing. The steady state group lost
more weight than the HIIT group.
How can they claim HIIT is 9 times more effective?
They are comparing skin fold measurements. The HIIT group had 3 times the
drop in skin-fold measurements. They only trained 1/3 as long as the steady
state group. Thus...it is 9 times more efficient. Or is it?
A (possible) error in the calf skin-fold measurement.
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All the skin-fold measurements in both groups went down, except one. The
skin-fold calf measurements of the steady state group went up. I have to
believe there was a simple error in measurement going on. I'm not sure it is
possible to drop body fat from your entire body, but gain fat in your calves!
I'd like to thank both Christian Finn and Tom Venuto. They were the
first, as far as I know, to point out the flaws in this study.
If you take away the skin-fold difference from the calf area, the results of the
HIIT vs the steady state group are quite similar.
So let's talk more about the afterburn effect of intervals.
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Chapter 2
Focusing on Calories Burned
During the Workout
What happens during your workout is what matters most...but what intensity
of training burns calories at the fastest rate? Training at (or above) your
lactate threshold is the fastest way to burn calories and deplete glycogen in
your muscles. In this chapter I will explain lactic acid in a bit more detail.
How do short intervals like Tabata work the Lactic Acid system?
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Chapter 3
Calories Burned: Intervals vs Steady State
It is easy to figure out roughly how many calories are burned during steady
state cardio. Things get trickier when intervals come into the picture. Here is
a way to figure out calories burned, compared to steady state cardio, as well
as a concept I call Average Intensity Level.
Here's one way to figure out how many calories are burned.
I'll use a real world example of a favorite HIIT (high intensity interval
training) session that I've used for years on a treadmill. The interval session it
setup as follows.
Note: The walking speed is set the same for each interval. With the sprinting
portion I do the first sprint at 8MPH and the last one at 12MPH. The
average sprinting speed winds up being 10MPH.
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You could walk (or slow jog) at a speed of a little more than 5 MPH on a
treadmill to burn 200 calories in 20 minutes. So this 20 minutes at 5 MPH is
equivalent, as far as calories burned, to the 20 minute HIIT workout.
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Chapter 4
A 1 Page Interval Training Summary
For those who don't care about the exact studies and exactly how interval
training works, this is a 1 page Cliff Notes style summary. This is also a
good page to come back to for a reminder of the benefits of interval training.
Releases Free Fatty Acids from Fat Cells: Intervals release fat from the fat
cells, but aren't ideal for using fat for fuel. Low intensity cardio is opposite...
great at burning up the fatty acids. Together they make a lovely couple :)
Depletes Muscle Glycogen: Intense exercise (like intervals) use muscle
glycogen for fuel. When muscle glycogen is low, the body tends to burn fat
for fuel. It makes sense to be depleted (some of the time) to lose body fat.
Improves VO2 Max: Intervals, done properly, are the fastest way to improve
VO2 max (aerobic capacity). People with a higher VO2 max burn more body
fat, even when doing low intensity activity, than people with lower levels.
Increases Lactate Threshold: Lactate threshold is the point where lactic
acid is pouring in faster than it can be removed by the blood. By increasing
this threshold, you can train with more intensity for longer periods of time.
Improves Your Cardiovascular System: During the relief periods of
intervals, your heart beat slows down faster than blood flow. The heart pumps
more blood per beat. This improves the stroke volume of your heart.
Increases HGH Release: HGH blunts the effects or cortisol. Cortisol causes
fat gain and muscle breakdown, so slowing down these effects are a good
thing. The direct fat burning effects of HGH are likely less than we have been
led to believe, but nonetheless this does help when losing body fat is the goal.
Okay...the next chapter is a bit heavy and goes deep into each of these points
above. Some of you will skim, which is okay, but just makes sure and
remember the benefits of intervals listed on this summary page.
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Chapter 5
How Interval Training Actually Works
In this chapter we will go into detail about how interval training works. This
is for those people who really want to understand the reasons for including
interval training and not just doing steady state cardio all the time.
When I use the term interval training...I'm talking about all forms of interval
training, not just cardio machines. So weights, body weight circuits, kettlebell
circuits, some types of CrossFit, etc.
Some key points about intense interval training.
Intense intervals...Release Free Fatty Acids from the Fat cells.
Intense intervals...Deplete Muscle Glycogen.
Intense intervals...Improve VO2 Max.
Intense intervals...Improve Anaerobic System.
Intense intervals...Increase Lactate Threshold.
Intense intervals...Improve Your Cardiovascular System.
Intense intervals...Increase HGH Release
Note: Please don't fall asleep on me. I will try not to go deeper than
necessary...but each point will be backed by scientific studies for those who
want to geek-out.
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I created this chart largely based upon a paper titled, Fat Metabolism in
Exercise[4]. My entire strategy of Performing Intense Intervals followed by
Low Intensity Cardio was based upon the findings of this research.
Let's dig deeper this time around, into this research.
High intensity exercise releases free fatty acids.
Quote: During higher intensity exercise, triglyceride within the muscle can
also be hydrolyzed to release fatty acids for subsequent direct oxidation.
Intense exercise is not efficient for burning (oxidizing) fat.
Quote: At higher intensity exercise, stimulation of glycogen breakdown and
glycolysis cause increased pyruvate entry into the TCA cycle for oxidation,
and as a consequence the inhibition of fatty acid oxidation by limiting their
transport into the mitochondria.
Low intensity exercise is efficient for burning (oxidizing) fat.
Quote: During low intensity exercise, glycogen breakdown and thus
glycolysis is not markedly stimulated, so the increased availability of fatty
acids allows their oxidation to serve as the predominant energy source.
Any intense interval training will do the job of releasing fatty acids from the
fat cells. I prefer High Intensity Interval Training on a cardio machine, but
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If losing body fat is your goal, don't purposely try to refill the glycogen
in your muscles after your workout. I recommend keeping in a slight
glycogen depleted state. This way if you do cheat a bit, those calories
are much less likely to get stored as body fat.
...more to come later about the benefits of avoiding large post-workout meals.
How intense does the training need to be to burn glycogen?
Anything under 70% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) is not going to burn
much glycogen. Training at this low intensity will come into play, but not for
burning glycogen.
Any activity that gets your heart rate up to between 70-90% of your MHR is
a good number to shoot for.
A 30 year old with a MHR of 190 would want to perform an activity that
keeps an average heart rate of 133 to 171.
Why not do an activity that puts you over 90% of MHR?
This is where interval training comes in. Interval training allows you to get
into the 90%+ MHR zone...providing maximum glycogen depletion...for
short bursts. If you do large bursts of 90%+ MHR you do risk the chance of
muscle loss. There is a place for that type of training as well, which will be
discussed in a bit.
I'll explain Lactate Threshold Intervals in a later chapter...which is a way to
ensure maximum glycogen depletion in the least amount of time. You don't
want to deplete glycogen with lactate threshold intervals every workout.
Again, this is just a tool you will use at the proper time.
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Cyclists in the Tour De France have an incredible VO2 Max. This can be
improved with prolonged cardio done at a reasonably intense level, or with
intervals.
So how do intervals improve VO2 max?
The simple explanation is that with intervals you have periods of time where
you are venturing above 100% VO2 max. During the rest periods you are
below 100% VO2 max. Spending a certain portion of time at or above 100%
VO2 max is what improves it. Think of it as a kind of progressive resistance
that improves your aerobic capacity (VO2 max).
What type of interval improves VO2 max the most?
Here is a study with a title that says it all: Aerobic High-Intensity Intervals
Improve VO2 Max More Than Moderate Training[7]. This study found that
longer, aerobic style intervals, were more effective than steady cardio.
Quote: High-aerobic intensity endurance interval training is significantly
more effective than performing the same total work at either lactate threshold
or at 70% HRmax, in improving VO2max.
This study used 4 minutes of intense training, alternated with 3 minutes of
active rest. I have found through various sources, that the intense part of the
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interval can vary between 2 to 5 minutes when aiming to improve VO2 Max.
Again...you will want to improve your VO2 Max. The higher it is, the
more body fat you will burn even during lower intensity exercise.
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...this is one reason why athletes can't sprint at 100 meter speed, in an 800
meter race. If you are familiar with track and field, you know that 800 meter
races hurt. This distance tests the lactate threshold to the max!
So why would we want to increase our lactate threshold?
...because we will be able to train at higher levels aerobically, burning more
calories with less perceived discomfort.
By increasing our lactate threshold through interval training, we will be
able to push harder and burn more calories with steady state cardio.
I was definitely wrong. You can work the heart as well as improve the aerobic
system with brief intense intervals using weights, body weight, a barbell, etc.
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This repeated peak stroke volume improves the heart over time.
The heart will eventually be able to pump more blood with each beat when
needed. Intervals are more effective than continuous exercise for improving
stroke volume of the heart.
Quote: Since SV is highest not during exercise but during the recovery
period, and since interval training has many recovery periods, the SV
reaches its highest level many times. By comparison, continuous training has
only one recovery period, immediately after the workout is over. Over time,
repeatedly attaining peak SV values from interval training provides a much
greater stimulus for improving maximum SV and the capacity of the oxygentransport system than continuous training does.
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Chapter 6
Calorie Deficit, Calorie Burning, & Fat Loss
If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. This is the
calories in vs calories out principle. It works every time, but not always the
way people want it to work.
A calorie deficit always creates weight loss, but not always body fat loss.
When you are in a calorie deficit, the body begins to use stored energy in
your body. It would be cool if the body used your stored body fat as fuel right
away, but that typically isn't the case. Here is where the body pulls fuel from
when in a calorie deficit.
The glycogen (sugars) stored in your muscles.
The fat in your fat cells.
The actual muscle tissue itself.
The body almost always uses glycogen for fuel before body fat.
If you have ever lost 4-5 pounds in the first couple days of a diet, most likely
this is simply the loss of stored glycogen (and water) in your muscles. On the
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flip side, if you have gained 4-5 pounds back after a few days of cheating,
this is simply your body refilling the lost glycogen in your muscle cells.
Tip: Don't be too optimistic about quick weight loss...or too frustrated
by fast weight gain over a 2-3 day period. What you are experiencing is
the emptying and refilling of glycogen in your muscle cells.
What happens once glycogen is depleted?
After glycogen is depleted from the system, the body will either use fat for
fuel or muscle tissue. The more excess fat available, the more likely the body
is going to use fat for fuel. The less fat available the more likely the body will
use muscle tissue for fuel. An overweight person can stay in a strong calorie
deficit for long periods of time, but a lean person needs to be a little more
cautious.
A lot of people simply don't ever create a strong enough deficit to ever tap
into losing body fat. Their diet and workout plan has them hanging out in the
glycogen zone.
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Other people get it right for the first few days of the week, burn glycogen,
then tap into their body fat...but then blow it on the weekend. I like the idea
of having a loose weekend, but only if the week was setup properly.
The chart below shows the ideal situation for fat loss in my opinion.
This chart shows someone who aggressively burns glycogen early in the
week to get into the right zone to burn body fat. They continue to push the
envelope hard to burn body fat for fuel, but then allows themselves higher
calorie days on the weekends.
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This allows you to socialize. Along the same line as the point above.
Most people like to go out to eat on the weekends, camping, BBQ's,
clubbing, etc. You should be able to do all that and still get lean.
Keeps your hormones in check. The one complaint that a small
percentage of men have following one of the aggressive diet plans I
have outlined in Visual Impact Muscle Building is that they lose their
sex drive. Many women find that long term aggressive dieting makes
them irritable. We can avoid this by consuming higher calories on the
weekends.
To avoid muscle loss. No doubt that you can lose a large amount of
weight continuing on in a strong glycogen depleted state. The problem
is that there is risk of losing muscle tissue for fuel when this is done for
too long. Not a huge risk, but a risk nonetheless.
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I really do like this fat loss model the best. Here's that image again.
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Chapter 7
Burning Stubborn Body Fat
The last chapter discussed fat loss in general. In this chapter I want to explain
what additional steps you need to take to target stubborn body fat.
Specifically, what happens when your glycogen levels are low.
Once you have done the hard work to deplete your glycogen, you are now in
the fat burning zone. The goal now is to do a lot of low level activity. Get
outside, go shopping, walk around town, etc. It is all going to use fat for fuel.
Try not to blow it once you are in the fat burning zone.
It takes a bit of work and time to be depleted of glycogen, so don't waste that
effort by eating a large amount of calories. You can still eat carbs now, but
keep it on the moderate side. I actually prefer to eat low carb during the day
and allow myself a bit more carbs at night...while maintaining a calorie
deficit. I'll talk more about diet in a later chapter.
Speaking of diet...Why not just eat low-carb and skip the cardio?
Some genetically blessed people can burn all the fat they want and get lean
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without cardio. All it takes is a calorie deficit created through diet and within
a few months they have great muscle definition and low body fat.
These same people have even fat distribution over their entire body.
They lose as much fat as they need through diet alone and get
systematically leaner with very few trouble spots. When they diet they
tend to use body fat for fuel with little muscle loss. Must be nice!
Most of us have stubborn body fat areas & reach fat loss plateaus.
Following the advice of someone who is genetically blessed when it comes to
losing body fat, makes sense if you are genetically blessed in the same way.
Most of us, including myself, have many trouble spots and stop well short of
our fat loss goals with diet alone.
More about stubborn body fat.
Stubborn body fat...has less blood flow than normal fat.
Stubborn body fat...is more sensitive to insulin than normal fat.
Stubborn body fat...is less sensitive to adrenaline than normal fat.
Here's another point in favor of cardio done in a fasted state.
To access stubborn body fat, we want more blood flow and low insulin
levels. Insulin level essentially slows down or blocks any fat loss from
happening. This is especially true when it comes to stubborn body fat.
Why training in a fasted state is ideal.
When you are in a fasted state, your adrenaline levels increase. Fasting also
lowers insulin. This covers 2 of the problems with stubborn body fat. Poor
blood flow is going to be taken care of through exercise.
What about lean individuals who eat before working out?
Well...those lean individuals probably have very little stubborn body fat.
They also have a more ideal insulin response to eating.
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Chapter 8
Calories, Food, and Workout Timing
This is the diet chapter, if you hadn't guessed already. I'm trying to avoid the
word diet (although I've mentioned it two times in this opening paragraph
already...doh!). I've always been hesitant to give exact meal plans. I simply
don't believe in forcing you to eat anything you don't want to eat.
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You can eat a big dinner containing carbs and successfully lose body fat.
Let me pull up that fat loss chart again and give you a few scenarios...
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Let's use a common way to figure out how many calories per day to eat to hit
a certain weight. This is just a decent starting point, it could be more or less
than this, because individuals do vary a bit.
Goal Weight in Pounds x (hours working out per week + 9.5) = Calories
So lets say we are tying to figure out the calories per day for a woman who
wants to get down to 125 pounds and trains 5 hours per week.
125 (pounds) x 14.5 (hours she trains plus 9.5) = 1,812 calories per day.
This woman would need to eat roughly 1,812 calories per day to hit that
weight. This is just an estimate and doesn't take into account how fast she
wants to drop this weight, how tall she is, how old she is, etc.
There are a couple of problems with eating the same amount each day.
You are never able to go out to eat and socialize without cutting back.
You don't maximize the fat loss window on your workout days.
Tracking calories per week solves this problem completely!
A big breakthrough happened when I started coaching people to track
calories per week...instead of calories per day. In my opinion, this is a game
changer for a lot of people. A big paradigm shift!
If we know that the woman in the example above can lose weight off of
1,800 calories per day. Then she has 12,600 calories to work with over the
course of a week. Here's an example of how she could set that up.
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My recommendation is to try and keep these low cal meals under 300
calories. I typically make a 3 egg omlette with salsa, eat a small portion of
leftovers from the night before, or make a protein shake. While working I
will almost always just drink a Ready-to-Drink protein shake. The one I'm
drinking now has 30g of protein, 160 calories, and 3g of carbs.
What about Intermittent Fasting?
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I first experimented with intermittent fasting about 5 years ago. At that time,
there was a book that received publicity called The Warrior Diet by Ori
Hofmekler. This diet laid out a plan based around eating one meal per day at
night.
One meal per day was a pretty radical concept 5 years ago!
I gave it a shot, and found that I could easily maintain my weight even if I ate
a big meal at night. Ori was right about the fact that you didn't have to eat
every few hours to keep your metabolism high. I did his diet for about 6
months. It felt a little bit too much on the fringe for me to want to follow
long-term...plus the large dinners gave me digestion problems.
Shortly after that, Brad Pilon came out with Eat Stop Eat.
Brad's approach was much more doable in my opinion. Fast until dinner 1-2
times per week. Instead of a huge dinner as recommended by Ori in the
Warrior Diet, dinners were kept moderate in calories. The idea was to just eat
1/3 of your normal calories on those fasting days to create a large deficit.
My thoughts on Intermittent Fasting today?
The one meal per day approach works best on overweight individuals.
Those with less than 15 pounds to lose do best with Eat Stop Eat.
People who get cranky when they go without food should avoid this
method altogether.
You can get as lean as you desire without using Intermittent Fasting.
I like to simply use it as a tool every so often when I know I have a few
higher calorie days coming up. I'll do an Eat Stop Eat style fast a day or two
before Thanksgiving, before the Superbowl, etc. I will also do it once per
week during the summer, since I don't get into the gym as often.
My advice for Friday is to eat strictly until dinner.
Friday nights are not the time to follow a strict diet. Seriously...I think
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attempting to follow a diet that makes you stick to a 400-500 calorie dinner
on Friday night is bound to fail. The only exception is perhaps someone who
is getting ready for a photo shoot...or something along those lines.
Almost everything is fine in moderation.
I'm a big fan of beer, but realize that some people reading this don't drink
alcohol or prefer wine, etc. The point is, that it is fine to enjoy these things in
moderation.
I swear, they put something special into that first Friday beer. Is it just me, or
does it taste better than any other beer served that week? My whole body
(and brain) relaxes after just 4-5 sips of that first Friday beer. It is magical :)
So how do you figure out calories?
My Fitness Pal is the coolest website and app I've ever seen when it comes to
tracking calories. It has a crazy database of food and food brands. For
example, I found out the calories from this dinner I eat from time to time.
1 Chicken Casita Burrito (Taco Time): 490 calories
1 Mothership Wit Beer (New Belgium Brewing): 155 calories
17 Haribo Gummi Bears: 140 calories
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That would be around an 800 calorie dinner. A lot of the time I simply have a
blended protein shake (300 calories) for breakfast after my workout, another
lower calorie shake (160 calories) for lunch. Adding in my 800 calorie
dinner makes it a 1,200 calorie day. This is actually one of my stricter days.
Note: For health reasons I don't eat gummi bears every day. I wish they were
a health food, but they aren't. I try and limit this to 1-2 times per week. As far
as dinner goes...sometimes it is pure organic healthy type of foods, other
times it isn't. The Taco Time drive thru sometimes gets visited on the way
home when I don't feel like cooking.
The trick...is to avoid calorie land mines on your lower calorie days.
Liquid calories need to be watched closely. I've seen brands of apple juice
that exceed 250 calories a glass, while an apple has around 60-80 calories. If
you like to enjoy a beer or wine with your dinner, you won't be able to eat as
much food. Again, My Fitness Pal is a great free tool to use.
Don't make diet more complicated than it needs to be.
Try to go into your workout in a somewhat fasted state. Setup your eating
schedule to have a prolonged period where you are using fat for fuel. You do
this by limiting higher calorie, high carb meals. Relax on the weekends and
eat higher calorie foods, without eating everything in sight.
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Chapter 9
Improving Popular Fat Loss Programs
Before I get into the detailed fat loss routine in this course, I wanted to
discuss other popular fat loss programs. All of these are great approaches to
getting in shape, but there are ways to make them even more effective.
Kettlebell Training
Kettlebells are an old-school piece of equipment that became popular again
in the late 90's largely due to Pavel Tsatsouline. He recommends high rep
kettlebell training, and not traditional cardio, to strip body fat off the body.
Kettlebell intervals are more anaerobic than using a cardio machine.
They deplete glycogen like a cardio machine, but use a combination of
anaerobic energy and lactic acid (which burns glycogen). Typically most
cardio machines use a combination of aerobic energy and lactic acid.
One of the better tools for people short on time.
The advantage kettlebells have over a lot of other training methods is that it is
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a true 2-for-1 workout. All of the muscles of the entire body get a great
workout, while at the same time burning glycogen.
Superb for releasing the fatty acids out of the fat cells.
Back in chapter 4, I referenced a paper titled Fat Metabolism in Exercise[4].
The paper found that intense exercise was ideal for releasing the fatty acids
from fat cells. The problem is that high intensity exercise, like kettlebell
intervals, are not great at using body fat for fuel.
Kettlebells are great for the heart.
They increase the stroke volume of the heart during the recovery periods due
to the heart rate slowing down quicker than the blood flow. So, the heart has
to pump more blood per beat.
A few challenges with Kettlebell training.
Burning the same amount of total calories with kettlebells is more
intense than with moderate cardio. The body can become overtrained
before someone burns an optimum amount of calories to hit their fat
loss goals.
Since it has a strong anaerobic component, it can build more muscle
mass than some people are after. A lot of kettlebell exercises target the
hips, thighs, and butt. This can be good or a bad thing depending upon
someone's goals.
It can interfere with other resistance training routines.
How I would recommend using kettlebells for fat loss.
Kettlebell intervals are tremendous for depleting muscle glycogen and
increasing your lactate threshold. I would recommend kettlebell workouts
after a weekend break...Monday and Tuesday would work well. This would
be a great way to burn off a lot of those weekend calories and get into a
glycogen depleted state. I'd just switch it up to low-to-moderate cardio on
Wednesday and Thursday...and add in one more intense Friday session before
the weekend.
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CrossFit
If you don't have a CrossFit gym in your town now, you probably will soon.
This type of training has grown tremendously the past few years. I think I
pass by at least 4 CrossFit gyms on the way to my office.
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At that time, I lived in a tiny 366 square foot apartment right across the lake
from these houseboats on Lake Union in Seattle. Seriously...it was 18 feet by
18 feet. That was including the bathroom. Expensive little apartment too...it
was $1,100 per month over 5 years ago. Killer location, though.
Body weight circuit training was my only option at that time.
I used a few Turbulence Training routines by Craig Ballantyne. These little
20 minute routines kept me lean when I literally had almost no time to train.
I'm a big fan of body weight circuit training as a way to save time and stay in
shape. A great way to train at home too.
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Body weight training for fat loss does have a few challenges.
If you are doing a regular resistance training routine and you are using body
weight circuits for fat loss...the circuits can mess with your resistance training
goals. Also, it is hard to challenge your muscles in the lower rep ranges with
body weight training if you aren't supplementing it with another form of
resistance training.
Making body weight training more effective for fat loss?
Just like with CrossFit and kettlebells...I'd recommend the tougher stuff on
Monday and Tuesday to deplete glycogen gained from the weekend. I would
also recommend it on Friday, to get one final glycogen depleting and calorie
burning push before the weekend. Wednesday and Thursday could be low
intensity cardio like waking, jogging or riding a bike for 30-60 minutes.
If time permits, a 20-30 minute walk after an intense body weight
circuit works as well for burning a little more fat each workout.
Here is a summary of some of these popular fat loss routines.
Intense lactate threshold intervals that also stress the anaerobic system
(Kettlebells & CrossFit) are great at depleting glycogen, but can lead to
over training if done too often.
Lower intensity aerobics like Zumba are great for using fat for fuel, but
not great for releasing fatty acids out of the fat cells. A quick 5-10
minute interval routine done beforehand will solve this problem.
Body weight circuits and things like P90X are huge time savers because
they can be done just about anywhere. I'd recommend saving the more
intense body weight routines for Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.
You can dial in any fat loss routine once you understand the principles.
The main point is to race to empty out your muscle glycogen early in the
week, back off a bit once you are depleted and switch to lower intensity
exercise...and possibly add one more intense session right before the
weekend.
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Chapter 10
Separating Your Fat Loss Routine from
Your Resistance Training.
Most of the popular fat loss routines from the last chapter are 2-for-1 type of
workouts. The workouts are aimed at burning fat and working the muscle
simultaneously. In my opinion you can get leaner with more muscle
definition, by separating your fat loss workout from your resistance training.
The downside of trying to work the muscles while burning body fat.
It is hard to focus on things like progressive resistance when you are running
out of breath. Low rep training is great for increasing density and improving
muscle tone, but bad for fat loss and calorie burn. I have found the best
solution is to separate your fat loss from your resistance training.
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Quote These findings support the notion that heavy and light training loads
may elicit similar training-induced increases in muscle hypertrophy provided
exercise is performed to maximal failure.
I cover this in my Women's course in detail...but for those who don't have
Visual Impact for Women, I recommend low rep training short of failure. So
why not high rep training short of failure? Because high reps have a tendency
to create a pump...which can lead to vascular muscles.
Let's talk about fat loss routines and why I recommend cardio machines.
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Chapter 11
Visual Impact Cardio Preparation
My hope is by this point, that you have a crystal clear idea of what it will take
to burn body fat. Once you know how fat loss works, and don't just simply
follow routines, you will be able to lose body fat doing activities that are a
blast.
Note: Even if these surfers came back and ate a lot of food, a portion of that
simply goes into restoring glycogen. Someone who just sees them at night
eating pizza and drinking a few beers, believes that they are blessed with a
high metabolism.
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The majority of the time, it is simply a matter of having a bit of glycogen left
in the system. I would recommend a similar glycogen depletion workout like
Monday and Tuesday's workout. Even if it is body fat, it makes sense to add
in a rough max-calorie burning session.
For those people who are still gaining muscle while dropping fat?
The majority of people are not going to gain muscle while following this
cardio and diet strategy. The exception is typically people who have been
inactive for a long period of time or beginners. Someone with a few years of
consistent training is probably not going to add muscle at this time.
Get an inexpensive pair of body fat calipers if you believe that you have
the potential to gain muscle on this fat loss program.
...instead of tracking weight each day, take and compare skin fold
measurements each morning. This works well, but probably not necessary for
most individuals.
Focusing on an actual number will make you more disciplined.
Today (Monday) I had my weigh in and came in at 197 pounds. Last week,
my weekly low was 192. I have a good 5 pounds to drop before my
Wednesday weigh in. Most weeks I only drop 4 pounds total after my
Monday and Tuesday workout. This means, I will add 5-10 minutes to my
cardio today and make sure my dinner is slightly smaller than normal.
Tip: Make sure and use the same scale for each weigh in. Different scales
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will give you different readings. I use the one at my gym, because it is much
nicer and more accurate than the one I have at home.
I'll use a 180 pound man who wants to get to 165 as an example this time.
185 x (6 + 9.5) = 2,557 calories per day.
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...now I think that number is a bit high. I know for a fact most guys in this
position would do better at a level lower than this. So I'll lower it down to
2,200 calories per day. That comes out to 15,400 per week.
I am going to recommend 1,000-1,200 calories as the lowest low days.
On Monday and Tuesday (possibly Wednesday), I'm going to recommend
eating between 1,000-1,200 calories. It is certainly possible to eat less
calories than this and lose fat quickly with minimal complications...but there
is risk of mood swings, dropping testosterone levels, etc.
There is no problem eating less than the weekly calorie goal. In this case this
guy was aiming to hit 15,400 calories per week and wound up consuming
14,000 calories. The calories were never ridiculously low and were high
enough on the weekend to replenish glycogen levels.
If you are doing Eat Stop Eat style fasts 1-2 times per week it is fine
to dip a little below the 1,000 calorie mark.
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We are just about to the actual routines. I will explain a bit more behind the
setup and then give you what you have been waiting for. You are going to
love how well this works!
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the next level of fitness. If you push hard nonstop, with ever increasing
intensity, you will reach a sticking point. Backing off on intensity prepares
the body to reach a new high the next time you push hard.
Each cycle of fat loss will last 8 weeks.
Some people will get as lean as they desire in 8 weeks. Others will need to go
through a few cycles to reach their fat loss goals. I'm going to create cycles
for a few different categories of people.
The Beginner's Cycle: For people who haven't trained in a few years
or are new to exercise altogether.
The Intermediate Cycle: For those who are currently following a
program and want to reach peak condition.
The Advanced Cycle: For people who are willing to devote a lot of
time and effort to push their genetic limits.
The Maintenance Plan: For people who have reached peak condition
and want to stay there.
What to expect?
If you have a lot of weight to lose...any good program that puts you in a
consistent deficit will get the job done. The people who tend to get
discouraged are those who have lost a bit of weight, but have been stuck for a
while. This is the program that is going to help you lose body fat again.
Expect to put in 4-5 days per week until you hit your goal.
This works if you take it seriously and do the workout. You can get away
with 4 days per week, but I wouldn't go lower than that. I know for a fact I
can help you predictably get as lean as you want off of 4-5 days per week. If
you only train 3 days per week, you may or may not reach hit your goals. The
choice is yours.
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Chapter 12
The Beginner's Cycle
For the first 2 weeks of this routine, you will be training 4 days per week.
You are going to bump it up to 5 days per week after that. The goal here will
be glycogen depletion and getting used to the cardio machines the first few
weeks. I'll introduce lactate threshold intervals later in the program.
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LT=5
LT=6
LT=7
LT=8
LT=9
LT=10
LT=11
LT=12
LT=13
LT=14
LT=15
70%
3.5
4
5
5.5
6.5
7
7.5
8.5
9
10
10.5
75%
4
4.5
5
6
7
7.5
8
9
10
10.5
11
80%
4
5
5.5
6.5
7
8
8.5
9.5
10.5
11
12
85%
4.5
5
6
7
7.5
8.5
9
10
11
12
13
90%
4.5
5.5
6.5
7
8
9
10
11
11.5
12.5
13.5
95%
5
6
6.5
7.5
9
9.5
10.5
11.5
12
13
14
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Week 1
This week is just a break-in period. The workouts should be easy. Don't
worry too much about results the first two weeks. You may or may not lose
weight. We are simply prepping you for the remaining 6 weeks.
As the intensity drops later in the week, time is added to the workout. This is
a common strategy used throughout this program. The reason for this is that
intense exercise will burn glycogen quickly, but it can also lead to
overtraining.
You can burn the same amount of calories by simply training at a lower
intensity for a longer period of time. So as the week progresses it makes
sense to use this approach.
Week 2
This week isn't too much different than the first week. There is a slight
increase in intensity on Monday and Tuesday. The last part of the week the
intensity still stays pretty low, but the time is extended a bit.
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Week 3
This is the week where you should begin to notice a decent drop in weight.
Training at 90% of your LT burns glycogen at a pretty decent rate. It won't
feel really tough, but you will probably work up a sweat.
For your optional day, do the Tuesday glycogen depleting workout if you
have a lot of energy. If you are worn out either skip today or do a lower
intensity workout similar to the Thursday or Friday workout.
Week 4
You are now going to gradually introduce Lactate Threshold Intervals. You
will want to do LT intervals to improve lactate threshold.
The average intensity level equation works with percentages too.
[(80 x 3) + (100 x 1)] Divided by 4 = 85
You are working at an intensity level equivalent to 85% of your LT. So in
some ways it is less intense than last Monday's session which was done at
90% of your lactate threshold.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (3 min @ 80% LT + 1 min @ 100% LT)
Tuesday: 30 minutes @ 90% of LT
Wednesday: 30 minutes @ 75% of LT
Thursday: 10 min HIIT (90 sec @ 70% LT + 30 sec @ 100% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 75% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 75% of LT
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This is the first week you will be using one of my favorite fat loss techniques.
On Thursday you will be using an easy variation of this workout. The HIIT
has an average intensity level equivalent to 77% of LT. Intensity will be
increased a bit as the program progresses.
Week 5
This week you are going to begin by using a lactate threshold interval that
reaches an average intensity level of 95% of LT. On Tuesday you will do
steady state cardio at 95% LT. You are going to feel this a bit!
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (2 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 100% LT)
Tuesday: 30 minutes @ 95% of LT
Wednesday: Depends upon your weight (read below)
Thursday: 10 min HIIT (60 sec @ 70% LT + 30 sec @ 100% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 75% of LT
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Week 6
This week you will hit 100% of LT with the lactate threshold intervals. This
will accelerate fat loss and prepare us for the final two weeks, which will be
above 100% of LT.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (2 min @ 95% LT + 1 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 minutes @ 100% of LT
Wednesday: Depends upon your weight (read below)
Thursday: 10 min HIIT (30 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 110% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Week 7
Just two more week's to go. This week your lactate threshold intervals are
going reach an average intensity level of 102.5% of LT. You are going to do
these intervals on Monday and Tuesday this week. You are going to feel a bit
of discomfort when training for 2 minutes at 110% LT.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (2 min @ 95% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (2 min @ 95% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 10 min HIIT (30 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 110% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 10 min HIIT (30 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 110% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
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Wednesday and Thursday's HIIT will have an average intensity level of 95%
of LT. So it is lower than Monday and Tuesday, which makes sense because
we want to lower the intensity levels as it gets later in the week.
Week 8
For this final week, you are going to be reaching 105% average intensity
level for your LT intervals. This time your recovery portion of the interval is
shorter than the intense portion of the interval. This will feel like work, but
will burn calories at a fast rate.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 95% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 95% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 10 min HIIT (30 sec @ 90% LT + 30 sec @ 110% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 10 min HIIT (30 sec @ 90% LT + 30 sec @ 110% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
As always....the average intensity level will be less on Wednesday and
Thursday. The 10 minute HIIT sessions are 100% of LT...still rough, but not
as hard as Monday and Tuesday.
Congratulations!
At this point you will have lost a significant amount of body fat. Your VO2
max will have improved, your lactate threshold is now higher, and your heart
health will have improved. All great stuff!
What to do next?
If you are at your ideal weight, then move forward to the Maintenance Plan.
If you want to lose even more body fat and take your physique to the next
level, then you are ready for the Intermediate Cycle.
Note: You will need to re-test to find your new baseline LT, before starting
the Intermediate Cycle.
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Chapter 13
The Intermediate Cycle
This is for people who have been consistently training for at least 3 months,
or who have already gone through the Beginner's Cycle. This cycle will
quickly get you lean. Depending upon how much weight you have to lose,
you may need to repeat it 2-3 times. If you only have 5-10 pounds to lose,
this should get the job done your very first time through.
The HIIT workouts will be more intense than the Beginner's Cycle.
Although the average intensity level will still be lower than the lactate
threshold intervals...the intense portion of the HIIT intervals will be pretty
darn intense. The reason for this is that you are going to need to develop a
little bit of anaerobic power.
Why more anaerobic power?
Your muscles are going to need to be strong enough to push hard as your LT
increases. If your muscles are too weak, you won't have the ability to burn
calories and glycogen at a rapid rate.
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Note: This shouldn't build size in your legs. If you are concerned with this,
then simply avoid the exercise bike when doing this type of interval.
Also...you will only be doing this type of interval later in the week, when
glycogen levels are so low, that it shouldn't build a pump in the muscle at all.
Every visit to the gym will start with a weigh-in.
You will weigh the most on Monday morning and the lowest on Friday
morning. Wednesday's weight should match the low point of the previous
week. New lows will be reached Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Important: Get out a calculator and fill in all the fields in your Visual
Impact Cardio Journal. This will help you get systematically leaner weekby-week.
Here is a conversion table for you, in case you don't have a calculator handy.
LT=7
LT=8
LT=9
LT=10
LT=11
LT=12
LT=13
LT=14
LT=15
LT=16
LT=17
70%
5
5.5
6.5
7
7.5
8.5
9
10
10.5
11
12
80%
5.5
6.5
7
8
8.5
9.5
10.5
11
12
13
13.5
90%
6.5
7
8
9
10
11
11.5
12.5
13.5
14.5
15
Note: The beginner's cycle only went up to 105% of LT. This one will go to
120%, because we will need that for short intense HIIT bursts.
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Week 1
This week is just a break in period. This workout should feel pretty easy to
you. Remember, it makes sense to gradually increase intensity. If you jump
right into the most intense stuff, you will reach a sticking point. If you
systematically increase intensity your body cooperates by adapting and
improving each week.
As the intensity drops later in the week, time is added to the workout. This is
a common strategy used throughout this program. The reason for this is that
intense exercise will burn glycogen quickly, but it also can lead to
overtraining.
You can burn the same amount of calories, by simply training at a lower
intensity for a longer period of time. So as the week progresses it makes
sense to use this approach.
Week 2
On Monday you will be training at an average intensity level of 93% of your
LT for the lactate threshold interval. The following day is steady state at 95%
of your LT.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 80% LT + 2 min @ 100% LT)
Tuesday: 30 minutes @ 95% of LT
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 75% LT + 30 sec @ 110% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
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Wednesday will be a rest day, because Thursday will work shorter more
intense intervals for the first time.
After the intense interval, you will follow up with low level cardio for 20
minutes. Feel free to increase the time to 30 minutes if you have the time.
Friday will be low level cardio that just targets body fat. We could do the
HIIT + low level cardio like Thursday, but that is probably too instense for
this stage in the cycle. We will save that for week 5.
Week 3
This week, the average intensity level of your LT interval will be 100% of
your LT. On Tuesday you will train using steady state cardio at 100% of your
LT. You should work up a sweat here, but still nothing too crazy.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 105% LT)
Tuesday: 30 minutes @ 100% of LT
Wednesday: Optional Day
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 115% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday's HIIT session has an average intensity level of 87% of your LT. So
it is less taxing than Monday and Tuesday's workout...but works the
anaerobic system harder.
For your optional day, do the Tuesday glycogen depleting workout if you
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have a lot of energy. If you are worn out either skip today or do a lower
intensity workout similar to Friday's workout.
Week 4
This week your average intensity level will be 103% of your LT. This is hard
to do with steady state training so both Monday and Tuesday will be LT
intervals. Wednesday, we will focus on further glycogen depletion and
calorie burning but at a lower intensity level.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 115% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 45 minutes @ 75% of LT
Since Monday and Tuesday were somewhat intense this week, you will do
the same workouts on Thursday and Friday of last week.
Week 5
This time you will keep the LT intervals at an average intensity level of 103%
of your LT, like last week, but increase the intensity of the workouts at the
end of the week.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
The HIIT intervals are now done on both Thursday and Friday at an average
intensity level of 90% of your LT.
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Week 6
Time to push your LT intervals to an average intensity level of 105%. These
are going to be pretty tough. You are actually going to take Wednesday off
this week, just to ensure that you don't get overtrained.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday and Friday's HIIT session uses the same recovery and work speeds
as last week, but the recovery time is reduced from 90 seconds down to 60
seconds. This increases the average intensity level from 90% to 93% LT.
Week 7
Just two more weeks to go. You are probably going to be a little worn down
this week. Remember, this is the tough final stretch of the cycle. You won't
increase the intensity of the LT intervals this week, but will be doing them for
45 minutes instead of 30 minutes.
Monday: 45 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 45 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 15 min HIIT (30 sec @ 85% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (30 sec @ 85% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (30 sec @ 85% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 85% of LT
HIIT at an average intensity level of 102% for Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday. Followed by 20 minutes of steady cardio.
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Week 8
For this final week, you will attempt to do the LT intervals for 60 minutes on
Monday and Tuesday. Also Wednesday, Thursday and Friday's HIIT session
will be pushed to 20 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of cardio instead of 20.
...yes this is excessive. You wouldn't be able to keep up this pace for long, but
you only need to do this for one week. This is the final week, so push
yourself to complete this rough schedule!
Monday: 60 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 60 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 20 min HIIT (30 sec @ 85% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 20 min HIIT (30 sec @ 85% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 20 min HIIT (30 sec @ 85% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 85% of LT
Congratulations!
This one was probably a little bit rough. It is hard to push past your lactate
threshold, but doing so burns calories at a fast rate.. No doubt your VO2 max
has improved, your heart has a better stroke volume, and you are noticeably
leaner.
What if you still have weight to lose?
You can simply repeat this cycle if you have more weight to lose. When you
do it again, you will most likely have a higher lactate threshold. So test to see
what your new baseline LT level is.
Who is the Advanced Cycle for? You can get as lean as you desire with the
Intermediate Cycle. The Advanced Cycle is for people who want to push the
limits of fat loss. It requires quite a bit more time and effort than the
intermediate cycle. If you are up to it, then move on to the next page :)
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Chapter 14
The Advanced Cycle
I just about left this chapter out. In my opinion the Intermediate Cycle will
get you about as lean as you desire. This cycle is for people who are already
pretty lean, have lots of experience workout out, but want to maybe go for
one hard push before a big event.
...think along the lines of photo shoot, movie role, wedding day etc.
This routine isn't balanced and isn't meant to be done year round. This is
two months of intense training. It isn't one that you can repeat like the other
two cycles. If you do use it, get lean and then maintain it with a maintenance
phase type of workout.
This time it gets rough early on...and continues along that trend.
The first week will be pretty easy for those who have just completed the
intermediate cycle, but it gets pretty darn rough from there. Again...most
people will get as lean as they want with the intermediate cycle.
The intense part of HIIT will be pushed to the limits.
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You are going to need to push harder on the tough portions of HIIT to really
ensure maximum release of fatty acids. Most people will get as lean as they
want without doing this. It just takes an extra effort to force the body to burn
off the last bits of stubborn body fat.
Every visit to the gym will start with a weigh-in.
You will weigh the most on Monday morning and the lowest on Friday
morning. Wednesday's weight should match the low point of the previous
week. New lows will be reached Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Important: Get out a calculator and fill in all the fields in your Visual
Impact Cardio Journal. This will help you get systematically leaner weekby-week.
Here is a conversion table for you, in case you don't have a calculator handy.
LT=7
LT=8
LT=9
LT=10
LT=11
LT=12
LT=13
LT=14
LT=15
LT=16
LT=17
70%
5
5.5
6.5
7
7.5
8.5
9
10
10.5
11
12
80%
5.5
6.5
7
8
8.5
9.5
10.5
11
12
13
13.5
125%
8.5
10
11
12.5
13.5
15
16
17.5
19
20
21
130%
9
10.5
11.5
13
14
15.5
17
18
19.5
21
22
135%
9.5
11
12
13.5
15
16
17.5
19
20
21.5
23
140%
10
11
12.5
14
15.5
17
18
19.5
21
22
24
Note: For some machines you may need to get creative to hit over 120% LT
intensity levels. You can increase the angle of some machines, peddle at a
faster speed, etc.
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Week 1
We are simply going to go for it this week. Someone at this advanced level
has no problem with training at 100% LT. We will start the week off at 100%
LT then spend Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with HIIT + Steady State.
Monday: 30 minutes @ 100% of LT
Tuesday: 30 minutes @ 100% of LT
Wednesday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
The HIIT sessions are going to be at an average intensity level of 90%. They
are done for three days this week. Next week you will back off a bit on
Wednesday. You will have a few moderate Wednesdays mixed in to prevent
overtraining.
Week 2
This week you will start off with two days at an average intensity level of
103% of your LT. This is going to deplete glycogen at a fast rate. Wednesday
will be easier than last week's Wednesday workout.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday: 30-45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday and Friday we are reducing the recovery period which was 90
seconds last week, down to 60 this week. This will increase the average
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Week 3
This week you will increase your average intensity level of your LT intervals
to 105% of your LT. You will also been doing these LT intervals three days
this week instead of 2. Any hint of glycogen and water retention should be
gone by Wednesday at the latest.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Wednesday:30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 3 min @ 110% LT)
Thursday: 20 min HIIT (30 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 20 min HIIT (30 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday and Friday you are reducing the recovery period from 60 seconds
down to 30 seconds. This will increase the average intensity level from 93%
to 100%. Next week you will bump the recovery period back up to 90
seconds, but increase the intensity of the intense portion of the interval.
Week 4
This week you keep the same average intensity level of 105% for your LT
intervals, but increase the speed of the intense portion of the intervals. This
will serve to increase anaerobic power. Wednesday will be moderate, to avoid
overtraining.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (2 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (2 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Wednesday: 30-45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (90 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
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Week 5
Last week the average intensity level of your LT intervals was 105%. This
week we will increase it to 110%, by cutting the recovery portion time in
half. Wednesday will be the HIIT + Steady State combo. This will work well
because adding in another LT interval could result in muscle loss.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Followed by 15 minutes @ 90% of LT
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Followed by 15 minutes @ 90% of LT
Wednesday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 80% of LT
You are now adding in steady state cardio after LT intervals on Monday and
Tuesday. For Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the average intensity level of
HIIT is 96%. We probably won't go higher than that. I'll include an option to
push harder in the following weeks if this doesn't feel tough enough to you.
Week 6
We will keep the LT interval to 110% average intensity level. The idea going
forward will be to spend 60 minutes each day M-F dedicated to cardio. These
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last 3 weeks are going to burn away every last little bit of fat that you would
like to get rid of. You will feel a bit worn down at times, but this rough part
only lasts 3 weeks.
Monday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 95% of LT
Tuesday: 30 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 95% of LT
Wednesday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Thursday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Friday: 15 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 45 minutes @ 80% of LT
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday's HIIT session is set for 96%. If you are
feeling up to it, you can reduce the recovery portion down to 30 seconds.
This will put you at 105% average intensity level. Another alternative is to
keep the recovery portion the same, but push the limits of the work session to
140%+ which will put you up over 100% average intensity level.
Week 7
Just two more week's to go. Just like last week, this will be an hour per day.
The things we will change will be to increase the time spent doing LT
intervals and decrease the time of steady state cardio. The steady cardio will
also be a little more intense each day.
Monday: 40 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 100% of LT
Tuesday: 40 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Followed by 20 minutes @ 100% of LT
Wednesday: 20 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 40 minutes @ 90% of LT
Thursday: 20 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 40 minutes @ 90% of LT
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Week 8
For the final week you are going to attempt to do your LT intervals for 60
minutes straight. This is 60 minutes at an average intensity level of 110% of
your LT. You will burn a lot of calories training for 60 minutes at this level!
Monday: 60 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Tuesday: 60 min LT Interval (1 min @ 90% LT + 2 min @ 120% LT)
Wednesday: 30 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 90% of LT
Thursday: 30 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 90% of LT
Friday: 30 min HIIT (60 sec @ 80% LT + 30 sec @ 130% LT)
Followed by 30 minutes @ 90% of LT
You can push the level of HIIT as hard as you want, but the time element
alone of this week is going to burn a ton of calories and body fat. You really
don't need to push much harder than what is outlined here.
Congratulations!
You should be dramatically leaner at this point. I wouldn't recommend doing
this Advanced Cycle two times back-to-back. If you still have any body fat to
lose, you should consider the intermediate cycle, and maybe tighten up your
diet a touch.
Your life shouldn't be spent training this much!
I created these programs to quickly help you reach peak condition, but then
maintain it with a much more balanced approach.
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Chapter 15
The Maintenance Plan
The three cardio cycles I outlined in the past few chapters are not meant to be
used year-round. My goal was to give you the quickest route to hit your fat
loss goals and then a way to maintain that with a much more balanced
approach.
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The 15 minutes could be body weight intervals, kettlebell intervals, etc. The
key would be to do intense intervals of some sort followed by 20 minutes of
jogging. The jogging would be a faster pace on Monday to burn
glycogen...and a slower pace on Friday to target body fat.
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Chapter 16
Final Thoughts
If you are going through the program the first time, then it may be a good
decision to follow the cycle how it is laid out. That being said, my goal with
this course was to teach you the skill of how to lose body fat at get lean.
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6. Jacobs I, Westlin N, Karlsson J, Rasmusson M, Houghton B, "Muscle
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8. Stellingwerf T. "Explanation of Lactate Threshold and Vo2max".
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