ERROR 1 YOUR CARDIO ISN'T GEARED TOWARD MAXIMUM FAT BURNING.
"More is better." It's the mantra that built
America, right? So if 20 minutes of cardio is good, 40 must be even better.
Heck, let's just round it up to 60, and I'll be ripped in a week!
Ah, if only it worked that way. Yet in reality, if you could
plod your way to a great body—and catch up on your favorite shows in the
process—everyone in your gym who camps out on the cardio equipment for hours at
a time would be spectacularly lean.
In the case of cardio, more is not always better. In fact,
it can be wasteful at best, and counterproductive at worst, as you often end up
compromising your muscle mass without ever adequately tapping your fat stores
for energy. Instead, you'll want to drastically cut down your cardio sessions
while ramping up your intensity to maximum levels.
"If somebody really wants to drop and burn body fat in
the quickest, most efficient way possible, and they have the drive to undergo
it, there's nothing better than high-intensity interval training,"
Balcombe explains. "Nothing is as effective as HIIT. There's no exercise
protocol I would recommend more to someone who wants to get lean.
HIIT alternates periods of high intensity and low intensity
in a repeating pattern. For instance, if you're running, you'll do 15 seconds
of an all-out sprint followed by 15 seconds of a slow recovery jog or walk. The
better your fitness levels, the further you can push yourself during the active
phase—you can do 15/15, 30/30, 45/45, or even 60/60, although a 60-second all-out
phase is definitely pushing the upper limits of your short-term abilities and
may cause you to fatigue early in your workout. Someone new to HIIT can also
consider a 15/45 work-to-rest ratio, which is obviously easier because of the
longer low-intensity periods.
"These alternating periods of intensity target both
type I and type II muscle fibers, enhancing not only overall aerobic
conditioning but muscular strength and power too," Balcombe says.
"HIIT not only helps you burn fat, you'll also spare muscle because of the
shorter workout periods, as you'll spend less time in a catabolic exercise
state."
To do HIIT right, you'll need to approach cardio like you do
your toughest lifting sessions. That means no reading, no watching TV, no
chitchat; you're waging war, and every rep—or in this case, interval
burst—counts.
"Back when I was following a HIIT program on a regular
basis, I would either set aside a whole training session for it, even though
the sessions are only 10 or 15 minutes, or I would do it at the beginning of a
regular weight workout," Balcombe says. "I personally loved to do it
before I worked out with weights, because you go into your weight workout with
all the fat-burning hormones like epinephrine and norepinephrine elevated,
giving you an additional fat-burning effect long after your cardio session is
over. Of all exercise protocols, HIIT just annihilates all others in terms of
how much fat you burn, both during your workout and afterward.
ERROR 2 YOUR EATING IS OUT OF PROPORTION.
With HIIT in your repertoire, you'll have taken a great leap
forward in your training efforts. But that's not even half of the equation if
weight loss is your goal, Balcombe warns. "Exercise has a very small
impact on fat loss compared to dietary changes," he says. "More than
any training or supplementation changes you make, diet has by far the most
major effect on weight loss. And the biggest mistake I've seen people make
nutritionally is [eating] portion sizes [that] are so out of whack."
Blame it on restaurants—or your well-meaning family
members—who heap dinner plates with food, throwing off our ability to eyeball a
proper serving of just about anything, from steak and potatoes to breads and
cereals.
"People may think they're eating a normal portion, but
in reality they're eating 3-4 times what they should be," Balcombe says.
"It's the most important part of weight loss, and it's the one part people
have the least awareness of. They'll instead focus on the next level, which is
looking at things like macronutrient ratios and food types. Of course, those
other aspects have an effect, but when you're overconsuming calories, the
ratios don't make much of a difference."
The solution, thankfully, is simple, and temporary as well.
Balcombe recommends a set of measuring cups and spoons. "You don't need to
actually weigh all your food, just put it in a measuring cup before plating
it," he suggests. "Over the course of a few weeks, you'll start to
get a real feel for what a proper portion is, and eventually you'll no longer
need the measuring devices to know what you're doing."
ERROR 3 YOU'RE NOT MINDING YOUR RATIOS.
"Once you have portion control down, you can start
experimenting with macronutrient ratios," Balcombe says. He recommends
that 15-20 percent of overall calories come from fat—mostly the healthy
unsaturated variety found in foods like nuts, fish and avocadoes. The rest will
come from protein and carbohydrates.
How much of each? Well, that depends on you. "It comes
down to your lifestyle and training," Balcombe says. "For instance,
if you're doing HIIT regularly, you won't be able to handle it if you're going
low carb. When I first started HIIT, I was on a diet of no more than 50-70
grams of carbs per day, and I just couldn't pound out the interval sessions. So
I had to crank up my carbs."
Balcombe suggests a 2:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio for
people on a HIIT program, with the carbs consisting mainly of slow-digesting
carbs. "I don't use the terms 'complex' or 'simple' carbs, because they
don't really mean much," he says. "You have complex carbs like
maltodextrin that break down fast and behave just like a simple sugar, for
instance. So forget about simple and complex, and just rely on slow-digesting
carbs as your main source." Options include sweet potatoes, brown rice,
green leafy vegetables, and steel-cut oatmeal.
The one exception, where a fast-digesting carb is preferred,
is within the 30-minute pre-workout window. "That can include anything
from a Gatorade to a dextrose drink to maltodextrin or waxy-maize starch, which
might be included in a pre-workout supplement," Balcombe says.
"Having carbs that break down faster in this time is okay because your
body is chopping through massive amounts of glycogen (energy) during these
workouts."
ERROR 4 YOU'RE NOT TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS.
"Even though I run a supplement company, we don't
pretend that these products are a magic bullet," Balcombe says. "We
want people to have proper expectations, which is that they can lose weight
from dieting and exercise. A well-designed supplement, meanwhile, will help
give you an extra edge in propelling your results forward."
When it comes to choosing a fat-loss supplement, look for
research-backed ingredients like green tea extract, caffeine, and yohimbine,
all of which have been shown to increase energy expenditure and accelerate fat
loss. "Green tea extract—specifically its level of
epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG—has an impact on caloric expenditure, while
caffeine improves energy and alertness," Balcombe explains.
Natural plant extracts, like Sphaeranthus indicus and
Garcinia mangostana, may also help to fuel your fat-loss efforts. In a
randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, subjects taking 400
milligrams of Meratrim (an ingredient composed of both Sphaeranthus and
Garcinia) two times a day (for a total of 800 milligrams) showed significant
weight loss in as little as two weeks.1
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