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As bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts, we’re constantly
trying to figure out the best workout, most effective eating
program and quickest way to burn fat. Unfortunately a lot
of obstacles are in our way. The biggest is misinformation.
Myths surrounding fat loss have been with us since the dawn
of the fitness movement. Debunking these myths and learning
the truth about losing fat is the key to maximizing your time
and effort in the gym. Separate fact from fiction and you’re
well on your way to building a body that gets noticed.
Low-Intensity Exercise Burn the Most Bodyfat
This fable was spun from a poor interpretation of scientific
research. Studies on exercise metabolism showed that the body
burns a higher percentage of fat calories during slower, easier
exercise sessions. Yes, the primary fuel used at rest is fat,
but that doesn’t mean being a couch potato or doing
low-intensity aerobic exercise will make you lean.
The key to losing bodyfat is burning calories, and you wont
do a whole lot of that doing low-intensity workouts. High-intensity
exercise (performed at 75% and higher of your maximum heart
rate) is the way to go. You’ll burn more calories during
the exercise itself, and once you finish training, you continue
burning calories. Called excess postexercise oxygen consumption,
or EPOC for short, this allows you to burn fat long after
you’ve left the gym. Low-intensity training just doesn’t
give you the same perks.
Aerobic exercise is of major importance when you’re
trying to burn fat. Combined with proper eating and added
muscle from resistance training high-intensity aerobic exercise
can make you a fat-burning machine.
Lift Weights Only After You Lose Unwanted Bodyfat
I hear both men and women say that they’ll pump some
iron after they drop some weight. This is just plain foolish.
Resistance exercise facilitates the fat-burning process by
main taming skeletal muscle and thus preserving the body’s
most important metabolic regulator muscle. Skeletal muscle
is the single largest organ system in humans, accounting for
almost 40% of our bodyweight. Most people fail to realize
that muscle is much more than something pretty to look at
it’s the key to the fat-burning process.
Bottom line, if you want to be lean, you have to lift weights.
Maintaining and especially adding muscle is the only way to
permanently alter your metabolic rate. So, hit the weight
room and lose weight.
Fat-Free Means Calorie-Free
Grocery-store shelves are lined with fat-free potato chips,
cookies, lunch meats and just about any other food you can
dream of. But are these good food choices if you’re
trying to burn bodyfat? I say no way. Fat-free doesn’t
mean calorie-free or that these foods are good for you.
The fat-free label grew popular with food companies when the
public became concerned about dietary fat intake. While they
don’t contain much fat, most of these products are loaded
with sugar. Without even knowing it, you could be consuming
large amounts of empty calories that are going right to bodyfat.
To make matters worse, most people read fat-free on the label,
eat large quantities of what they think is a good food choice
and end up getting fatter. Fat-free shouldn’t mean a
free-for-all.
Dieting Burns Fat
One of the worst things you can do to burn bodyfat is diet.
That’s right, I said don’t diet. One well-documented
change that occurs when you diet is a dramatic and sustained
reduction in your metabolic rate. That means your own body’s
ability to burn fat comes to a screeching halt. It also means
you could end up storing more bodyfat as a direct result of
your eating program. Talk about a plan backfiring!
Instead, eat your way to a lean body. Meal frequency and food
quality are vital to the person who wants to banish bodyfat.
Eating 5-6 meals per day keeps your body’s metabolic
rate high and will help you maintain that all-important muscle
mass. But before you hit the buffet at Pizza Hut, let me explain
this idea of eating your way to leanness.
Each meal should adhere to good nutrition basics low-fat,
balanced meals, no junk foods and, above all, moderation.
The following should serve as the benchmark of a sound eating
plan: low-fat sources of protein (egg whites, chicken breasts,
fish, lean cuts red meat), complex carbohydrates (rice, potatoes,
oatmeal, whole-grain breads), plenty of vegetables and just
a little fat. As a general rule, divide your plate into thirds:
carbs, a lean source of protein and vegetables. Remember,
no single eating plan is best for everyone, and nutrition
isn’t an exact science. Experiment with different foods
and quantities to find what works for you. If you think quality
and moderation, the rest will fall into place.
Fat-Burning Supplements Make You Lean
Go to any health-food store and you’ll find tons of
products that claim to be fat-burners. Do they work? Some
might, but most are just a waste of your time and money. The
truth comes to light when you look at the science. Remember,
if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
One supplement that has received lots of hype but fails to
help in the fat-burning department is carnitine. Its physiologic
role in the body is as a component to several enzymes that
transport long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria (the
energy centers of a cell). In theory, an increase in muscle-carnitine
levels would facilitate the fat-burning process during exercise
and spare muscle glycogen. But this is just conjecture. Laboratory
studies are inconclusive regarding oral administration of
this supplement. Despite questionable findings by scientists,
some supplement manufacturers are still pushing the stuff
as a legitimate fat-burner.
Other products currently available as fat-burning aids should
be classified as drugs because of their ability to alter the
body’s normal physiology and, in some cases, cause serious
side effects.
Focus on Trouble Areas With Spot Reduction
Spot reduction is localized exercise thought to reduce fat
stores in certain “trouble areas” of the body.
The theory is that if you exercise a specific area or muscle
group, more fat will be burned from that area. For example,
you might think you could do a large number of sit-ups or
crunches to decrease abdominal fat. As attractive as this
sounds, increasing a muscle’s activity doesn’t
decrease fat in that area. Sorry for the bad news, but spot
reduction is a waste of time.
The way your body stores and mobilizes fat depends on individual
genetics and is an incredibly complex process, more complex
than TV infomercials and slick advertisements would have you
believe. Current research shows that exercise stimulates the
mobilization of fatty acids via hormones delivered through
the blood, which then act on fat deposits throughout your
entire body. No evidence demonstrates that fatty acids are
released to a greater degree from fat pads located directly
over exercising muscles.
Still skeptical? Let’s look at some research that clearly
shows spot reduction belongs in the story books. In what was
a landmark study in the field of exercise physiology in 1971,
scientists examined subcutaneous fat stores in the right and
left forearms of tennis players. They found that the girth,
or degree of muscularity, of the subjects’ dominant
arm was as much larger than the nondominant arm, but the level
of fat in both arms was the same. The stresses of tennis play
caused the forearm muscles to hvpertrophy or grow, but despite
serious work to that area, fat stores remained unchanged.
Eliminate Fat From Your Diet
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all fat is bad.
In fact, taking in adequate amounts of fat is very important
to the fat-burning process and to your overall health. Dietary
fat serves as a carrier for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D,
E and K. Getting rid of all fat in your diet can lead to a
reduced level of these important vitamins, which over time
can produce a vitamin deficiency. Fat also delays the onset
of hunger pangs and gives you that “I’m satisfied”
feeling after a meal. This is a big reason why ultra-low-fat
diets fail. If you want to drop bodyfat, be reasonable with
your fat consumption and limit your fat calories to 10%-20%
of our total daily calories.
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