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Title: Toning, Light Weights, & High Reps
By line: By Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer
URL: www.TurbulenceTraining.com (replace with your clickbank hoplink)
Word count: 1200
Related keywords: weight loss, cardio, fat loss, burn fat, lose weight, burn calories, nutrition, exercise, workout, toning
Toning, Light Weights, & High Reps
By: Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer
www.TurbulenceTraining.com
I guess you could say it is my mission to show people the
value of intense strength training for fat loss.
Every month more research comes out to support intense training
over slow cardio, and light weights. And each week, in real-life,
more and more men and women (yes, women too!) see the benefits of
pushing themselves with strength training.
The evidence from research and real-life continues to pile up that
you need to put down those light weights and cut out those high
reps.
Take really light weights, add in isolation exercises, and repeat
for a large number of reps. Do this for 3, 6, or 12 months, and
you're guaranteed to have the same physique you have today. This
approach just does not work.
You need to step out of your comfort zone with strength training.
Research has shown using a weight that enables only 8 reps per set
results in a greater post-exercise metabolism than using a weight
that allows 12 reps per set. And this was in women! So lifting
challenging weights is not just for men, but also for the ladies.
Another research study showed that a 30-minute, hard total-body
strength training session can boost metabolism about 36 hours.
You just don't get that from slow cardio or light, "toning"
isolation exericses, I'm sorry to say.
But what if you are worried about "bulking up"? Just do one or two
sets of 8 reps per exercise, rather than three or four.
Bodybuilders know that high-volume training builds muscle. But if
you don't want massive amounts of muscle, just don't do a lot of
volume. That's just one of the reasons I don't use bodybuilder
workout programs for fat loss.
Another way to avoid "bulking up" while still boosting your
metabolism is to use more bodyweight exercises.
As for exercise choice, say goodbye to biceps curls, hamstring
curls, and triceps kickbacks. Seriously, I couldn't think of a more
useless exercise for a fat loss program than triceps kickbacks.
Stick to full body movements. Use squats, lunges, split squats,
pushups, chinups, rows, etc.
Remember, you don't have a lot of time to workout. So you can't be
doing bodybuilding splits from the 80's that call for three
exercises for the long head of the triceps, and two exercises for
each of the anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid.
That's just not possible in the real-world. A pushup trains almost
all those muscles, and more. It works your abs, chest, triceps, and
shoulders. That's the type of exercise that is going to help you
get more fat loss results in less workout time.
I train in the concept of a short time frame. That is, anyone that
wants to use my programs has less than 3 hours per week to devote
to structured exercise. So there just isn't much room for isolation
training in that time frame.
But training should be fun too, and adding some curls as a reward
for completing a hard workout is fine, but only if you want to. You
don't need those types of exercises to get results.
But remember, isolation exercises are not actually going to
burn fat, but they can build muscle and help you sculpt your body.
Here's the list of methods that lead to fat loss, in order of
importance:
i) Nutrition
ii) Burning calories with interval training
iii) Burning calories due to an increased metabolism from interval
training and strength training (with multi-muscle movements)
As long as you understand that nutrition is the most important
factor in fat loss, and that strength training is essential for
sculpting your body, than you will have realistic expectations of
success - based on how well you commit to each process.
Sincerely,
Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer
Author, Turbulence Training
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines and all over the Internet, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com
