Destroying Fat

Destroying Fat
War Room Strategies to Maximize Fat Loss
by Christian Thibaudeau

Most gym enthusiasts, from the spandex-wearing Stairmaster addict right
up to the biggest bodybuilder in the room, have something in common: at
some point they'll want to improve their appearance by losing some fat.
Obviously some value that goal more than others and are
willing to go to more extreme means to reach that goal, but anybody who
lifts weights will eventually think to himself "Hey, I think that I'd
look better if I drop the fat." Destroying Fat Image001

Yes,
even powerlifters sometimes go there (although for some it might be a
rather rare an unexpected occurrence). The thing is, and that's where
us ironheads (and I'm including both guys and vixens here) differ from
the cardio bunnies (again girls and"guys"): we want to get that fat off as fast as possible while preserving or even gainingmuscle mass. Yes
we know a nutritional plan will be responsible for the biggest chunk of
our fat loss. We are also aware that energy system work/physical
activity can contribute to speed up the process. However, what should
we do about our beloved weights? How should we train when attempting to
lose fat? Can we use weight training to turbocharge our fat loss efforts? Can we preserve or even ... gulp... ADD muscle while dieting? These are the things I want to talk about in this article.

Three schools of thought When
it comes to training strategy during a fat loss phase; there are three
major schools of thought. Two are pretty smart and valid while one is
downright idiotic and even counterproductive.

1. High volume training to "cut up" a muscle. If
you've been reading Testosterone for more than a week you probably
guessed right off the bat that this is the idiotic theory of lifting
for fat loss. Yet, for 90% of the population you see in gyms all around
the world, this is still the prevailing notion: if you want to "get
cut," you should increase your repetitions per set. A trainer schooled in this philosophy will say something like, "Do sets of 8-12 for size and 15-20 for cuts".
He obviously disregards the simple physiological fact that you cannot
"cut" or "define" a muscle with strength training. Doing high reps will
not "add detail", "carve" or "sculpt" anything. Simply bumping up the reps per set will do nothing but slightly
increase energy expenditure and use up more muscle glycogen. This is
not sufficient to speed up the fat loss process. Plus, not only will it
not help you protect your muscle mass, it can actually lead to muscle
loss! In a deprived caloric state your body will need a real
good reason to keep its energy-costly muscle mass. Going from a heavy
lifting regimen to an easier (as far as muscle tension production goes)
high reps/lighter weights approach will not force it to preserve its
muscle mass. The muscle used to need its mass to move heavy shit, now
you're only asking it to move light weights so there is no need for
that big engine anymore.

2. Lactate-inducing training Coach
Poliquin was the first one to bring to light the physiological fact
that there's a direct correlation between the amount of lactate
produced and the output of growth hormone. This is the basis of his
German Body Composition I and II programs as growth hormone is a highly
lypolitic (stimulates the release of fatty acids) and anti-catabolic
(muscle defender) hormone. It's also one of the reasons why
200 and 400m runners are so lean: these distances lead to a giant
lactate production spanning over the whole body (a maximum 400m race
has often been described as hell on earth). Other athletes who do a lot
of anaerobic lactic work include basketball and hockey players, who are
also quite lean. Destroying Fat Image003

In
some regards, applying this concept to weight training does have
something in common with the preceding "idiotic" approach: it generally
relies on slightly higher rep ranges. Why? Because lactate production
is at its highest in sets lasting around 50-70 seconds. So if each
repetition lasts 4 seconds (let's say a 3 seconds eccentric and 1
second concentric), hitting the ideal time under tension for lactate
production requires 12-18 reps per set. However, the
differences between this approach and the first one are that you
drastically reduce the rest intervals (shoot for 30 seconds), normally
alternate exercises for muscle groups that are "far away" from each
other (to increase overall whole-body lactate production), and don't
use too much volume per muscle group (in a typical bodybuilding
"cutting program" you might do 20+ sets per body part). The
short rest intervals and use of multiple muscles per session jack up
lactate levels, which increase GH production. So compared to the
traditional "cutting" approach, this second method is more effective at
stimulating fat loss and protecting muscle mass.

3. Heavy lifting to protect muscle mass This
is the philosophy championed by many top coaches. Even I've written an
article detailing this approach in depth. It is now catching up in the
bodybuilding circles since more and more elite bodybuilders keep
lifting as heavy as they can during their pre-contest period. We've
all seen Ronnie's 800lbs deadlift 2-3 weeks out from the Mr. Olympia or
Johnny Jackson competing in powerlifting 3-4 weeks prior to the Toronto
pro (bodybuilding) show. Dorian Yates, Marc Dugdale, Lee Priest, and
several others are also proponents of lifting heavy year-round to keep
their muscle mass: they don't change their training between the
off-season and pre-contest periods. Destroying Fat Image004

They
let the cardio and diet drop the fat and simply lift weights to
preserve muscle mass. It makes sense, too. When in a
calories-restricted state, your body will look to drop some muscle
tissue to alleviate its daily energy needs. Simply put, muscle is
energy-expensive and when there's a shortage of energy (calories and
nutrients) it needs a darn good reason to keep it there! The
best way to maintain muscle mass is to give your body a good reason to
keep it, and that reason is to lift heavy. Lifting heavy weights
requires a lot of muscle tension, and that needs the muscle to be
strong. To keep up with the demand, your body will have no choice but
to maintain (or even increase) its muscle mass. So as you can
see we have two viable options when it comes to selecting a lifting
approach during our fat loss phase: lifting heavy and lifting to
maximize lactate production.

A third player comes into the game... But
that isn't all there is to it. I picked up a little something from Dr.
John Berardi that can maximize fat loss even more. This little
something came to me when reading his excellent piece on the G-Flux
phenomenon. JB noted, rightfully so, that athletes engaging in several
different types of training were leaner despite a pretty high caloric
intake. I've seen this myself with elite hockey players who are
lean and muscular despite a less than spectacular diet. I use them as
an example because on average, hockey players aren't as genetically
gifted as sprinters or football players. Why are they so lean? Well,
first because they do a lot of work in the anaerobic lactic zone: on
the ice, on the track and in the gym, but also because they must train
using several completely different methods (they need strength, power,
endurance, lactate tolerance, agility, etc.). The varied physical demands they must face lead to what I've called "hypermetabolism". Destroying Fat Image006

We all know that several things contribute to our daily energy expenditure (the amount of calories we burn during a day):
a) Our basal metabolic rate which is the amount of calories our body uses during a 24 hour period, even at complete rest.
b) Our activity level: more activity equals more fuel used up.
c)
The thermic effect of feeding: digestion requires calories — eating
more often increases caloric expenditure, and protein also needs more
energy to be digested and absorbed than carbs and fats (JB has written
a lot on this subject).
d) Our body's maintenance
of thermal homeostasis: for example, when it's cold outside your body
must produce more heat to maintain its temperature. This requires
calories. However, one thing that we don't factor in is the
adaptive response of our body. Simply put, your body needs energy and
nutrients to adapt to a physiological stress. Every time your body
needs to repair and build-up a structure (muscle for example), it needs
energy to fuel the process and nutrients for raw material. Need
to repair muscle after a gruelling lifting session? That's gonna cost
you some fuel and protein! Your nervous system and cell membranes also
need restoration? Yep, more calories, plus some lipids and protein.
Need to make that big brain of yours function? You need carbs (or
ketones); in other words energy! As you can see,
adaptation requires energy and nutrients. So it stands to reason that
the more your body needs to adapt to physical stress, the more
nutrients and energy it requires. So having to adapt more frequently
and to a greater extent will jack up your daily energy expenditure.
Furthermore it will jack it up for a relatively long period of time
because most adaptations aren't instantaneous... hence the term
hypermetabolism. Okay, so what am I getting at? Only using
one type of training quickly leads to a decrease in the adaptive
demand. If you always train the same way, your body will rapidly become
efficient at that type of work and as a result, each session won't
represent much stress, which also means that you don't need to adapt as
much. Less adaptive demand equals a lower caloric expenditure. By
using several types of training in your week (or even day) you prevent,
at least to some degree, an excessive efficiency that would decrease
the need to adapt. The more different the types of training are, the
more effective at preventing super-efficiency your program will be. So
what I'm saying is that to lose fat it's best to include several
different types of physical activity in your weekly schedule.

The four horsemen of the fat apocalypse Okay,
so I could have done better with that subtitle! But the message I'm
about to convey is that to maximize fat loss we'll need four different
types of training. Well, we don't absolutely need all four, but the
more of them you include in your own schedule, the more results you'll
have. These four aspects of our fat loss training approach are:
1. Heavy lifting
2. Lactate-inducing lifting
3. Aerobic work
4. Anaerobic alactic energy systems work

Heavy lifting As
we saw earlier, the objective of the heavy lifting portion of our
training is maintenance or even an increase in muscle mass while in a
fat loss phase. In the approach I recommend, you should have one or two
heavy lifting sessions per week. Destroying Fat Image007

Obviously,
only compound movements are used on that day. Since you'll be using
caloric restriction, you'll need to minimize overall training volume to
avoid overstressing your structures. For this reason you don't need
(and should not do) any direct heavy work for the biceps, triceps, and
shoulders. These muscles will get hit sufficiently from the other heavy
exercises to accomplish our main objective (maintain overall muscle
mass). During a caloric restriction phase, it doesn't make much
sense to use a ton of exercises since your body isn't likely to add a
lot of muscle mass anyway. It's not a time to work on your weaknesses
or
balance/symmetry, but simply to hold on to as much mass as you can. If
you're using two weekly heavy sessions I suggest dividing the body in
two:
Day 1: Chest and Back
Day 2: Quads and Hamstrings These workouts should look like this:
A1.
Main chest exercise (DB press, incline DB press, wide grip bench press,
etc.) 4-6 reps No rest (or 10 sec. to change exercises, as coach
Poliquin would say)
A2. Chest secondary exercise (DB flies, cross-over, etc.) 6-8 reps Take 2 minutes of rest, then move on to...
B1. Main back exercise (weighted chins or pull-ups, chest-supported row, 1-arm row, etc.) 4-6 reps No rest
B2.
Secondary back exercise (any back exercise described in my Torso
solution article) 6-8 reps Take 2 minutes of rest then get back to A1.
Perform each superset 5-6 times. The same logic (main + secondary
exercise superset) applies for the quads and hams.
Now, I'm not one of those "you don't need direct arms work" guys. I do believe that to maximize
your arm size you do need at least some direct biceps and triceps work.
However, keep in mind that this type of program is used during a fat loss phase. You're
not going to maximize anything; all you can accomplish is to minimize
muscle loss. So in that regard adding a ton of direct upper arm work
isn't necessary. However, you can still add a few sets of curls or
triceps work at the end of the chest/back workout.

Lactate-inducing lifting The
objective of a lactate-inducing session is to stimulate growth hormone
release (as well as burn a lot of calories for fuel) via a whole-body
lactate production. The more the number of muscles are involved in the
process, the more effective the session will be. So in that regard we
should respect these guidelines:
1. Work the whole body
2. Minimize rest-intervals (or maximize the work-to-rest ratio)
3. Use sets lasting 50-70 seconds (12-20 reps)
4. Alternate exercises for muscle groups that are far away from each other and "unrelated" The
approach I recommend is a derivative of Bob Gajda's Peripheral Heart
Action training (PHA), which is an early form of circuit training that
Gajda used to win the 1966 Mr. America bodybuilding title. You'll
perform two or three different circuits of 5 exercises per day, each
circuit being performed three times. There's no rest between the
exercises within the same circuit and you can rest for 1-2 minutes once
all three sets of a circuit have been completed.
CIRCUIT A (12-15 reps per set) A1. Horizontal pushing exercise
A2. Quads-dominant exercise
A3. Horizontal pulling exercise
A4. Hamstrings-dominant exercise

A5. Abdominal exercise No rest between exercises within the circuit (or
as little as possible). Perform the circuit three times.
CIRCUIT B (15-20 reps per set) B1. Vertical pushing exercise
B2. Quads-dominant exercise
B3. Vertical pulling exercise
B4. Hamstrings-dominant exercise

B5. Abdominal exercise No rest between exercises within the circuit (or
as little as possible). Perform the circuit three times.
CIRCUIT C — OPTIONAL (15-20 reps per set) C1. Biceps exercise
C2. Calves exercise
C3. Triceps exercise
C4. Abdominal exercise

C5. Shoulder isolation exercise No rest between exercises within the
circuit (or as little as possible). Perform the circuit three times. The
lactate-inducing sessions are performed twice a week; they should not
be performed before a heavy lifting session to avoid a decrease in
performance. Limit strength is something that cannot be trained
efficiently in a fatigued state. So far a weekly schedule would look
like this:
Day 1: Heavy lifting chest/back
Day 2: Lactate-inducing workout 1
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Heavy lifting quads/hams
Day 5: OFF
Day 6: Lactate-inducing workout 2
Day 7: OFF

Aerobic work Yes,
steady-state aerobic work is overrated, but it can still contribute to
the fat loss process, especially in view of the hypermetabolic aspect
of caloric expenditure. That having been said, doing too much
steady-state cardio is indeed a sure-fire way to lose muscle mass
(especially in the lower body) so we don't want to turn into gerbils by
running on the wheel 4-5 times per week. Aerobic work by
itself is pretty ineffective, but doing it for a relatively short
period of time (20-30 minutes) at the end of the lactate-inducing
sessions can enhance the efficacy of that day: the LIS drastically
increases fatty-acids mobilization because of the increase in growth
hormone. Adding a short steady-state aerobic session at that
point will help you use up more of these released fatty acids. This
approach will make each 20-30 minutes session as effective as aerobic
workouts 2-3 times as long, without the risk of leading to muscle loss.
We can now update our weekly schedule to:
Day 1: Heavy lifting chest/back
Day 2: Lactate-inducing workout 1 + 20-30 minutes of steady-state aerobic work
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Heavy lifting quads/hams
Day 5: OFF
Day 6: Lactate-inducing workout 2 + 20-30 minutes of steady-state aerobic work
Day 7: OFF

Anaerobic alactic energy systems work Think
"sprint". Alactic means "without an accumulation of lactate". As we saw
earlier, lactate is maximized by intense efforts lasting 50-70 seconds.
However, there's still a good amount of lactate being produced in those
lasting 30-40 seconds. So when training in the alactic energy
system, you should shoot for energy system work lasting 20 seconds or
(preferably) less. I personally like 30 and 60m sprints for that
purpose, in other words "speed work". Speed/alactic work is much like
strength work in that it's all but impossible to efficiently train that
capacity in a fatigued state. It's also pretty metabolically and
neurally draining. So for that reason you can't perform the alactic
session...
a) The day before a strength workout (as it will drain your CNS too much to maximise strength)
b) The day after a strength workout (for the same reason)
c) The day after a lactate-inducing workout (because of residual fatigue) So
the only solution is to perform the alactic session on the same day as
another workout. Since we are already doing steady-state cardio on the
lactate-inducing days, we can only put the alactic work on the same day
as a strength workout. Yes, there will be some CNS drainage
taking place, but it's still the best solution to fit our needs. The
only real option is to use one alactic session per week and to do it on
the same day as the upper body strength work. I personally
prefer to do the strength session in the AM (because Testosterone
levels are at their highest) and the alactic session between 4 and 6PM
(because naural activation is at its highest). However, I understand
that this schedule isn't always ideal because of work. You can remedy
this situation by starting your training week on Sunday (so day 1
becomes a Sunday) or on whatever day is the easiest to schedule for
you. So now the complete weekly schedule becomes:
Day 1: Heavy lifting chest/back + alactic work
Day 2: Lactate-inducing workout 1 + 20-30 minutes of steady-state aerobic work
Day 3: OFF
Day 4: Heavy lifting quads/hams
Day 5: OFF
Day 6: Lactate-inducing workout 2 + 20-30 minutes of steady-state aerobic work
Day 7: OFF Now, for the alactic session I do suggest sprinting. However sprint cycling can also be an option. If
you select sprints as an option I suggest keeping the total distance
for the session at around 300-400m at the maximum. For example you
could perform:
4 x 30m (120m total) + 3 x 60m (180m total) = 300m or...
6 x 30m (180m total) + 2 x 60m (120m total) = 300m or ...
5 x 60m = 300m or...
1 x 30m, 1 x 60m, 2 x 100m = 290m etc. The
rest intervals should be pretty similar to that used during a limit
strength session. For example, in this program you have around 5
minutes between sets of the same main exercise. For example,
after your chest superset you have 2 minutes of rest before you hit the
back. Then the chest continues to rest for the 1 minute or so of the
back set. Then you have another 2 minutes of rest before getting back
to the chest. So for our sprints, 3-5 minutes of rest should be used.
The key is to be totally rested before hitting the next sprint.

Lean mean machine This
training approach, when combined with an intelligent nutrition program
will allow you to maximise fat loss while keeping all of your muscle
mass (even add some). Not only that, but it will also allow you to
develop several physical capacities, making you a more functional and
athletic human being. You'll look good nekkid, but will also perform good nekkid, if you catch my drift! Destroying Fat Image009

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