Bryan Kavanagh is a fat loss expert and physique transformation specialist, speaker and co. author of The Athletic Body System’ and Athlete Physique, with the prestigious CSCS qualification he has also completed a BSc degree (hons) in Health and Human Performance in Dublin City University

MK: Hi Bryan, I really appreciate you taking out some time for this interview.

BK: No problem marc, sorry about the delay, things are just hectic at the minute!

On a side note…it’s a good thing this is a text interview because your readers would not have a clue what I’m saying in my Dublin Accent!

MK: Can you tell the reader a little about your coaching background?

BK: Well, I’ve, been involved and competed in martial arts and boxing for as long as I remember so naturally I started experimenting on …martial artists and boxers. Ive gotten some great results. With both national and world title holders in both sports. I have since strayed and I work with golfers, badminton players, American footballers… you name it I’ve probably helped them in some way.

MK: Your book “The Athletic Body System” is based around training for performance; could you tell us why you think improving performance is beneficial for fat loss?

BK: The nature of these sports require the athlete to be as lean as possible and as strong as possible… i.e. they need to make weight and still be able to kick ass. There is a particular way of getting lean and staying strong.

The athletic body system

Only joking, but too many people complain about being tired and lacking energy and motivation when training. Reason being they are doing nonsensical cardio and eating like a rabbit. ABS forbids both

Athletes not only look lean, they are able to perform to the highest standard…olympic standard…WHILE they are lean… I read an article the other day that outline a cover models regime a couple of days out from a photo shoot…

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A six-day carbohydrate-depletion diet, in which he eats little more than chicken and broccoli, leaves his muscles weak and his brain so starved of glycogen, its source of fuel, that he feels dizzy and disorientated when he stands up. He can barely walk, let alone hit the gym…

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MK: Doing endless amounts of cardio for fat loss is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make. Would you share your thoughts on the cardio myth and the so called fat burning zone?

BK: I think I touched on this already without being asked…nice

Cardio and the fat burning zone DO EXIST

There I said it…

But are they optimal modes of fat burning and will they become useless or even counter productive in the long run? There’s the question…

I have three hang ups about steady state aerobic training…

1. Thing is, aerobic exercise WILL burn fat…any exercise will… problem number one is; you get better at it. It seems like a good thing, but in actual fact the only way your body can adapt to aerobic exercise is make your body more efficient…i.e. burn less calories doing the same thing. For example. If you burn 200 kcals this week on your run…next week you get better at it and burn 180…your essentially telling your body to burn less kcals.

2. It makes you store MORE fat.

Yup, if you burn fat during low intensity exercise then it only makes sense that your body will store it for the next time you decide to do aerobic activity… so you go for a long run today…burn some fat…your body detects that your burning fat and stores some more for next time…makes sense eh?

3. It just doesn’t make sense.

If you need to stay in the ‘fat burning zone’ (heart rate will depend on your age) but for arguments sake lets pretend its 100 bpm.

And your resting heart rate is 70 bpm… when you are on the couch watching television

So let me get this straight…you get your gym bag ready, travel to the gym and slog it out on a treadmill for 60 minutes to burn as many calories as you would in 90 minutes of sitting on your arse at home…

Sorry but that’s just not for me…

MK: Thanks for clearing that up. I often see ladies in the gyms lifting those little pink weights for high reps in the belief that they are “toning” their muscles. What is your opinion on this, should the readers be doing endless reps with light weights to “tone up”?

BK: Ah the pink dumbbells…

Let me ask the ladies this… how much does a baby weigh?

I don’t know but I know its heavier than one of those silly dumbbells and ladies…you can carry that around all day!

Those of you that don’t have babies but carry around those suitcase size handbags with all your earthly belongings in there. Come on challenge yourself and lift something heavier…

Oh right…you don’t want to get huge arms… sorry.

But lets think about this one… think about the last time you were in the gym…how many guys walked by that were ridiculously skinny? They are lifting ‘relatively’ heavy weights and guzzling down protein shakes and weight gainers to TRY to put on muscle and you think it will just happen by accident?

Doesn’t work like that.

Weights are just a tool…they can be used as a fat burning tool or a muscle building tool…depends on sets/reps/exercise selection and ultimately calories consumed.

MK: What about spot reduction? For instance, what would you say to someone who is doing thousands of crunches and sit ups a day to get six pack abs?

BK: I have a nice analogy for this one…think of all of your bodyfat as a swimming pool… and then take a bucket of water/fat out of the corner of that pool. It comes from the pool as a whole not just the corner.

Similarly, in the body if you are performing crunches (which are ridiculous anyway) you could be using fat from your legs or back to fuel that exercise…not the fat on top of the working muscle.

MK: Do you think people looking for fat loss should concentrate on body composition changes and not get hung up on what the weighing scales say?

BK: scales can be a good indicator of someone has like 100lbs to lose because to be fair… they should be losing fat fast at the start and if they don’t they just aren’t following the programme and they are lying to themselves and their trainer.

As someone becomes more experienced I’d nearly throw the scales out because it can be really disheartening to a person who really has put in the effort only for  their weigh-in to be sabotaged by a little water retention or muscle gain… you just have to monitor everything I suppose…one measurement usually explains any discrepancy in another.

MK: What do you think about all these celebrity diets and workouts in the press?

BK: boooo

There are one or two that are decent… I mean one or two. And I cant remember them because they were only decent in comparison to the crap ones.

Okay so they are all crap…next question

MK: Moving on to nutrition, what are the 3 biggest mistakes you see people make with their fat loss nutrition?

BK: 1. Eating too much

2. Eating too little

3. Eating the wrong thing at the wrong times

A poorly timed meal is worse than a bad meal sometimes.

Eat to replenish after a workout…the notion that you can eat something big at 1 because you have a heavy session planned at 7 is complete nonsense. You will not burn it off..it will be stored. Full stop.

Eat heavier after sessions is they way forward. The calories and nutrients are in demand now. Most if not all will go to aid recovery. WIN

MK: A lot of people think that eating fat will make you fat and that a low fat day is the best way. What are your opinions on this?

BK: Fat is necessary for so many bodily functions that it is nonsense to think we should be restricting it… it is also slow to digest and makes stuff taste nicer

Obviously im talking about healthy fats.. Omega 3, flaxseed, mixed seeds etc. we’ve all heard that before… but there are some saturated fats that are essential for hormone production and even fat metabolism. Stearic acid and palmitic acid found in beef are just a few examples.

Don’t fear the fat!

Fat has made very few people fat,

It’s the metabolic damage caused by chronically elevated insulin levels as a result of diets that are overloaded with ‘low calorie’ and ‘fat free’ foods that makes people fat.

So there

MK: What role would you say protein had in a fat loss program?

BK: mostly satiety, protein will be slower to digest and give you that full feeling for a little longer…

MK: Before we close Bryan, what would be your 3 top things to do regarding training and nutrition to help the readers to cut body fat

BK: 1. Time your meals, eat normal on training days, restrict calories on non- training days

2. Train metabolically don’t waste time on silly isolation exercises. Move! Jump. Step. Push and pull.

3. adopt and athletic mindset and set yourself some goals. Do you honestly think an athlete would train as hard if he had nothing to train for?

Set a date, any date.

Buy an outfit that’s too small.

Start NOW not Monday!

MK: This has been an awesome interview Bryan. Where can the readers go to find out more about you and your training programs?

BK: My own personal website is http://bryankavanagh.com and that has all my rants and blogposts on there…

The athletic body system website www.athleticbodysystem.com would be a good place to start. We are currently working on ABS 2.0 and when its ready anyone who buys athletic body system will get ABS 2.0 free when its ready.

MK: Thanks again Bryan

BK: Thanks for having me buddy…anytime!

About Bryan:

Bryan Kavanagh is a fat loss expert and physique transformation specialist, speaker and co. author of The Athletic Body System’ and Athlete Physique. with the prestigious CSCS qualification he has also completed a BSc degree (hons) in Health and Human Performance in Dublin City University. Bryan and his business partner Ian Graham run a small personal training studio called The ABS Gym in Dublin Ireland. Bryan is a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and has been Boxing for the past 5 years. He has competed internationally in both disciplines in over 20 countries.

With an extensive international career having customers and clients in over 10 countries, Bryan is an expert in both personal and online training and nutrition. Constantly striving to help others and achieve their potential.

Although the title suggests he is a personal trainer, Bryan prefers the title ‘Coach’ because a coach is somebody who helps you win. Whether your goal is to increase sports performance, lose weight or just increase vitality and health Bryan can help you WIN and be successful in whatever it is you seek. Bryan actively influences and contributes to the education, capability, and development of all his clients through thorough consultations and accountability strategies.

Alwyn Cosgrove is regarded as the Worlds Leading authority on fat loss and athletic conditioning and has kindly agreed to give me an interview on how he achieves rapid results with his clients.

MK: Hi Alwyn, I really appreciate you taking out some time for this interview.

AC: Cheers Marc, always happy to help out.

MK: Could you start by telling the readers a little about your current coaching commitments?

AC: Right now it’s a mixed bag Marc. Most of my time is actually spent coaching BUSINESS for personal trainers and studio owners. The newest arm of our business is ResultsFitnessBiz.com which puts on educational events and provides business development coaching for exercise professionals.

We also still operate a VERY busy gym – Results Fitness, here in Santa Clarita, California, with a full load of clients and of course, I’m on the road quite a bit. My commitments range from actual training sessions, staff training to more of a consulting role. I helped Felicia Oh (World submission grappling champion) and Juila Cross (World Taekwondo champion) with their physical preparation for their last events – purely as a consultant.

MK: Can you tell the reader a little about your educational background?

AC: It’s not really a background Marc – it’s an ongoing journey!

To answer your question though –formally I have a degree from the University of Liverpool (Chester College) and also completed a course of study at West Lothian College in Scotland.

I have had every certification in the book at one point, and to be honest have let most of them lapse. The education was great, but I didn’t see much point in maintaining them all (as to be honest the “maintaining” tended to involve just attending more seminars – which I do anyway – and then sending someone some money!)

But the real answer is – we have 300 clients at our facility. We monitor their results all the time and test and tweak our programming accordingly.

I try to read a book a week at minimum. Today, it’s more business and professional development books as opposed to training – but you can imagine the difference that reading 52 books a year can make.

And I attend seminars. I suggest my staff attend one every 90 days as a minimum. We bring in people to train our staff at least 2-3 times per year, and we run our own in-house training.

My suggestion for most reading this would be to attend at least 4 seminars per year. I’m blessed in that I present around 15-20 times per year, so I’m also able to attend the other speakers presentations. It makes for a lot of education.

MK: In your books Afterburn and Afterburn 2 you do not recommend any steady state cardio. A lot of people reading this will be of the opinion that steady state cardio in the “fat burning zone” is the best way to lose fat. Can you give me your opinion on why traditional cardio doesn’t work and what you think of the fat burning zone?

AC: It’s quite simple. There are no studies that show any significant fat loss effect to low intensity steady state cardio. There are tons that show higher intensity work, resistance training and interval training to work very well. It’s not rocket science. Harder work will yield more results.

The fat burning zone is correct. There is a heart rate zone where your body will burn more energy from fat as a percentage than it will from other fuel sources. However it’s been misinterpreted – the “as a percentage” line gets missed by most people. It’s irrelevant. You burn the most fat as a percentage with low intensity work (and at rest). Does anyone really think that the international obesity epidemic is as result of people working too hard in their exercise programs?

MK: In my training programs I never use any of the traditional “machine” exercises as I believe they cause long term joint injuries. Would you share your opinions of the machines that you would find in a typical gym?

AC: You’re asking the wrong guy. I haven’t been in a typical machine gym in ten years or so. I have no idea what they have in there, sorry

Basically though – all machines were ever designed to do was to mimic free weight movement and isolate muscle groups. Why we would need a more expensive “alternative” and a need to isolate anything never made any sense to me.

MK: Your training philosophy is not too dissimilar to mine in that you use supersets, tri-sets and circuits to get rapid fat loss results. Could you tell the reader why you chose this method instead of traditional weight training where you do one set of an exercise, rest before repeating the exercise?

AC: We don’t’ always use that method. Different programs require different approaches. For metabolic conditioning we use that method as it allows us to keep overall work high while minimizing local muscular fatigue. I break down the science here: Tweaking Your Workout

MK: Thanks Alwyn.  Now for some of the ladies reading this they might be reluctant to try your program due to the weight training. What would you say to a female client who was worried about “bulking up” due to lifting weights?

AC: We have 300+ clients – about 70% or more are female. They all get leaner and smaller. I think today’s female knows that weight training can be a great tool for them. Most females were leanest when they were in their early 20’s – typically when they had the most muscle mass. If any ladies out there are still unsure of the benefits of resistance training – then check out Rachel’s book – “The Female Body Breakthrough”

MK: Thanks for clearing that up. Moving on to nutrition, with regards to fat loss, what should the readers be doing to get incredible results?

AC: I think we have got carried away with nutrition. A good goal would be to eat every 3 hours, a serving of lean protein, with a serving or two of fruits and vegetables. Follow that plan 80-90% of the time and you’ll be making great progress.

MK: What would you say to someone who was training hard but still not seeing the results you would expect from the effort they were putting in at the gym?

AC: There are so many variables. It could be bad form, actually not working hard enough (perception vs reality), or not working smart enough. Busting your arse on a bench press program when your goal is weight loss won’t work – so sometimes it’s a programming issue. I’d need to see training diaries, video, and do a consultation to know for sure.

MK: With regards to calories, obviously eating too much is going to hinder fat loss, would you say eating too little will have an adverse effect on results? Could you explain why?

AC: It can but that’s rarely a problem until you look longer term. Any time you don’t eat enough you slow down. Forget metabolic rate etc for now – if you eat far too little food – you just won’t have the energy to train, work or even live. Basically you’ll move less and be tired more. Therefore you’ll close any numerical caloric deficit that you think you’ve created.

The other issue is that, as my friend Valerie Waters says – strategy will trump willpower all the time. At some point, after eating way too little, you’re going to snap and eat too much. So we have a double whammy – you’re moving less and over the course of the week, or month, you end up overeating anyway – so now we are burning less calories and still eating too much.

MK: What are your opinions on these diets that say “drink two shakes & one meal per day” or the cereal based diets?

AC: I haven’t heard of the cereal based ones – must be a UK thing. It’s a short term approach for inevitable failure. How are the result one year or more after coming off those plans? I’ve never seen anyone who can live like that for long periods of time, and I’ve never seen anyone make meaningful change when they come off those plans.

MK: I believe that supplements should be just that. They should be an addition to a healthy balanced nutrition plan make up of whole foods and not replace them. Would you agree?

AC: Yes.

MK: Before we close Alwyn, what would be your 5 top things to do regarding training and nutrition to help the readers to cut body fat

AC:

1.       Perform metabolic circuits or pairings 3 times per week

2.       Drink enough water – it’s hard to do anything in a dehydrated state

3.       Eat real food, multiple times per day

4.       Increase the amount of vegetables and fruits you consume while limiting starch and processed foods

5.       Weight train 1-2 times per week

Obviously we can create hybrid routines of #1 and #5 but most people still need to train at both ends of the continuum

MK: This has been an awesome interview Alwyn, I’ve learned a lot from you today and I hope the readers have too. Where can the readers go to find out more about you and your training programs?

AC: For trainers wanting to learn about business – check out www.resultsfitnessbiz.com. For those of you wanting to learn about training – my gym website is www.results-fitness.com and I have a blog over at www.alwyncosgrove.com

MK: Thanks again Alwyn

About Alwyn: For nearly two decades Alwyn Cosgrove has been committed to achieving excellence in the field of fitness training and athletic preparation.  Specializing in performance enhancement, Alwyn has helped countless individuals and athletes reach their goals through sound scientific training.  Alwyn has an honors degree in Sports Science from the University of Liverpool, is certified as a strength & conditioning specialist with the National Strength and Conditioning Association and has been recognized as a Master of Sports Sciences with the International Sports Sciences Association.

Alwyn is also recognized by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, the American College of Sports Medicine, the British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences, Kingsports International Australia, the Society for Weight Training Injury Specialists, USA Weightlifting and the Chek

Institute of Corrective High Performance Exercise Kinesiology. A former Taekwon-do international champion, Alwyn has utilized his personal experience as an athlete and combined it with the advanced theories of European Sports Science and the principles of modern strength and conditioning systems.

Through the years in this field Alwyn has been recognized as a specialist in Athletic Preparation by The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and has studied extensively each country’s approach to athletic preparation. During his career as a strength and conditioning coach, Alwyn has worked with a wide variety of clientele, including several Olympic and national level athletes, five World Champions and professionals in a multitude of sports including boxing, martial arts, soccer, ice skating, football, fencing, triathlon,  rugby, bodybuilding, dance and fitness competition

Alwyn recently had two books published, The New Rules of Lifting and The New Rules of Lifting for Women. A sought after ‘expert’ for several of the country’s leading publications including Men’s Health magazine, Alwyn works closely with our program design department developing all the training programs carried out in the gym, and oversees the elite staff in their implementation of each workout.

Nick Grantham has become recognised as a specialist in athletic preparation and has helped athletes at all levels achieve their personal goals and ambitions. He has kindly agreed to give me an interview on why he believes everyone should train like an athlete.

MK: Hi Nick, I really appreciate you taking out some time for this interview.

NG: No problem Marc, it’s always a pleasure to be asked to do things like this. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas and I promise I’ll try not to go off on any rants!

MK: Could you start by telling the readers a little about your current coaching commitments? (I borrowed that from your interview with Mike Boyle)

NG: I currently run my own facility in Newcastle upon Tyne, Smart Fitness. I have a wide range of clients from general population through to professional athletes, so I have a great mix. I am also the strength and conditioning coach for the GB Women’s Basketball Team, helping them prepare for 2012.

MK: Can you tell the reader a little about your coaching background?

NG: After finishing my MSc I started working with British Gymnastics as a sport scientist/physiologist but I wasn’t particularly excited by running VO2 max tests and taking bloods, in fact I was much more interested in the training that went on between the testing.  I decided to take a bit of gamble and sat the first NSCA strength and conditioning accreditation to take place in the UK. Soon after that I took up a position with England Netball which was one of the first posts in the UK specifically for strength and conditioning. Around the same time British Gymnastics asked me back as a consultant in a similar capacity where I worked with the Mens Artisitic team as they prepared for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Following this I took up the position of lead strength and conditioning coach in the West Midlands for the English Institute of Sport. This was a great job and my team looked after athletes competing in a wide range of sports. We had a great support team and I was lucky to work with some of the best athletes in the country. I held that post for 4 and a half years before leaving to open up my own business in the Newcastle Upon Tyne, Smart Fitness. I now look after a range of clients, from general population through to professional athletes and teams. I’m very lucky to be doing something I really enjoy, it’s brilliant.

MK: I recently attended a seminar where you where one of the guest speakers. In the seminar you talked about the need to train like an athlete, could you explain why?

NG: Now, I did say I wouldn’t rant but I’m really passionate about this and I reckon I’m in danger of going off on one.

Why should everyone train like an athlete. Well, the simple answer is it gets RESULTS! Most commercial facilities fail to mention anything in their marketing material about results, usually because their members don’t get any!

In my opinion a lot of what takes place in commercial gyms is simply selling the clients short. The path to improved fitness, health and sporting performances is not through slow steady state cardio, followed by a machine based resistance training session. The reason this has become the ‘norm’ in so many facilities is because it is an easy option for most gym owners and personal trainers.

We need to train in a manner that will support our day to day lifestyle. You don’t need to be an athlete to train like one. Think of a 45 year that has to sprint to catch the bus, or the young mum of two trying to carry the kids and put them in the car whilst loading the car up with shopping. Initially you may not consider what they are doing as ‘athletic’ but think about the movements and loads and stresses that are being placed on the body. Now ask yourself if sitting on a pec deck or repping out on the thigh master is really challenging the body and helping it develop the capacity to cope with everyday ‘athletic’ situations.

I come from a performance background and I figured that everyone should be able to access the level of care and attention that I gave to my high performance athletes. For the past 3 years I’ve been successfully putting my training principles into practice with the clients that train with me at Smart Fitness. The response I get from my clients when they adopt an ‘athletic’ approach to training is amazing. For many of them this is the first time in their lives that they have worked out with any real intensity. For the vast majority it is the first time that they have combined the powerful benefits of resistance training, high-intensity cardiovascular training and a clean diet. It doesn’t take long for them to start seeing and feeling the benefits of a more ‘athletic’ approach to training and enjoying the RESULTS of their hard work

MK:  Could you give some examples of the types of clients you train?

NG: Sure, we are a broad church at Smart Fitness! You met Ken in my presentation. Ken is 65 years old, had a brain tumour removed and came to me to help regain some confidence, balance and fitness. Marc, you saw the video, Ken kicks arse, 18 months down the line and he is proof as to why everyone should adopt an athletic approach to training.

At the other end of the spectrum I have professional athletes that come to train with me, usually pre-season work when they are away from their clubs and need some expert guidance at a local facility.

The beauty is that we work on a semi-private basis so we have several clients training at a time. This is, in my opinion, the perfect training environment; we have the pro’s in with the fat loss clients. What is great is that rather than being an intimidating environment, it’s a place where everyone can find motivation and inspiration. Imagine the fat loss clients face when they realise they have a better technique on an exercise than a pro-athelte! The fat loss clients realises they rock and the pro athlete realises they need to up their game. It’s a win win situation!

MK:  Athletic training would involve lots of functional exercise, could you explain to the readers what functional training is and more importantly what it is not?

NG: Marc, you are doing your best to wind me up! Functional training is not wobbling around on a stability ball doing bicep curls – save that for the circus! Vern Gambetta provides a great overview on what he considers to be functional training is in his book Athletic Development: The Art and Science of Functional Sports Conditioning. Vern says that functional training “employees an integrated (as opposed to isolated) approach. It involves movement of multiple body parts, and the move involves multiple planes”. In the seminar that I deliver on the EXF-Perform Better Learn By Doing Workshops I go into more detail about exactly what I feel functional training is, but Vern pretty much hits the nail on the head.

MK: You also talked about multi directional movements. Could you explain why this is important?

NG: It comes back to how we move in real life. Our body moves through a wide range of movements in multiple directions. I can’t think of one activity that we perform in our day-to-day lives that require true isolation of any single muscle, so why do we insist on training in this manner? Machines pretty much lock you into a single plane of movement, but that is not how the body actually moves and performs day to day functions.

MK: What type of equipment would you use to achieve this?

NG: I use whatever it takes to get the job done! There are currently a lot of coaches out there that market themselves as the ‘kettlebell guy’ or the ‘olympic lifting guy’ which seems a bit odd to me. What they are basically saying is that they only have one approach to getting people in shape! It’s my way or the highway and this is the best training method for fat loss, injury prevention, body building etc etc. I would argue that if you come across this type of coach that their locker is probably pretty empty, and here’s why. Lets say I had to put together a bookshelf from Ikea. The bookshelf had 50 screws that held it together. Now I’m a ‘hammer guy’ and I’m going to knock the crap out of each screw and make sure they go into the wood! This approach may work in the short term, it’s probably going to look a bit messy and chances are it would have been hard work! Wouldn’t it be so much easier if I chose the appropriate tool for the job. A good coach will get the screwdriver out!

Coaches need to stop attaching themselves to pieces of equipment and develop a wide coaching skill set. I will use bodyweight, weighted vests, dumbbells, barbells, bands, chains, kettlebells, suspension trainers, cable machines, medicine balls etc etc. If you want to develop functionality through multidimensional movement you need a range of ‘tools’ that will let you get the job done. Match the skill with the appropriate tool and you are onto a winner.

MK: So barbells, dumbbells, bodyweight exercises are the key. What about exercise machines that you would find in most commercial gyms?

NG: Marc, Marc, Marc…..you are determined to make me rant! Let’s face facts, exercise machines appeal to the general population because they are ‘high-tech’, and anything with a button, TV screen or LED display must be fantastic, right? They appeal to gym instructors and some personal trainers, because they don’t require a discernable level of skill to operate them! Coaching is not standing next to machine, adjusting the seat height and selecting the weight and then counting backwards, from 10 down to 1!

You’ve seen photos of my facility, and I can safely say that my training is not focused on the use of machines. Resistance machines have several fundamental flaws:

1. They are designed for the average Joe – what if you are not average, what if you are tall or short or maybe a bit on the heavy side?
2. Most machines have you sitting down. We spent millions of years, evolving so that we can walk round up right but now we seem hell bent on sitting down on our arse all day. We sit on the sofa at home, we sit in our car on the way to work, and we sit at our desk all day at work. Guess what, we go to the gym, and once again, you are encouraged to sit on your arse!
3. Most machines only allow movement in one plane. Daily activity takes place in all three lanes of movement.
4. Most machines at tempt to isolate individual muscle groups. Once again, this has very little bearing on the movements that we carry out on a day-to-day basis.

My primary goal with the clients I work with is to improve their ‘functional’ strength. I strongly believe that an over reliance on resistance machines, compromises, the overall development of an individual’s ability to perform day-to-day functions.

The exception to the rule are cable machines (see I’m not 100% against machines…just 99.9%!). If you can get your hands on a good cable system then you will have an effective tool for developing strength through a wide range of movement patterns.

MK: High Intensity Interval Training is superior to clients looking for fat loss could you explain to the reader what it is and why it is preferable to steady state cardio?

NG: Not all cardio is created equal. If you can read your magazine/book or hold a conversation with your friend whilst performing your cardio workout then you need to have a rethink!

For me HIIT is simply switching from a high intensity work effort to a low intensity work effort and repeating for a set period of time. For a new client It may simply be walking fast for one minute and then walking slow for one minute (if you are out of shape walking fast is high intensity), repeating that sequence for 15 to 20 minutes. For someone that has been training for some time, the intensity level of each work effort will be higher, but the principle remains the same, alternate, periods of high intensity with periods of low intensity efforts.

Give me 20 minutes and I will give you a fat melting cardio session which will have you incinerating calories even when you have stopped training! We squeeze every last drop out of our cardio sessions by working at high intensities. There is a heap of research that clearly shows that HIIT is far superior for increasing lean body mass. HIIT promotes EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) and research has shown it can elevate metabolisms for up to 36 hours post-exercise! If this results in even only a 1 calorie per minute increase, this comes out to an excess 2,160 calories burned over the next day and half!! This is not even counting the cumulative effect of  your next workout!

Clients have a choice, plod along for ages hardly breaking a sweat, or increase the intensity for a shorter period of time to maximise the training benefit.

MK: Could you outline a typical fat loss training program?

NG: A typical fat loss program consists of three components.

1. Strength – 1-2 whole body movements (5 minutes)
2. Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) – a series of 4-5 strength-based movements completed in a circuit (20-25 minutes)
3. HIIT – cardio intervals (10-20 minutes)

I would be looking for this session to be completed at least three times per week and combined with a healthy nutrition plan.

MK: Thanks Nick, you have given us some great information so far. Moving on to nutrition, with regards to fat loss, what should the readers be doing to get incredible results?

NG: Table push aways! Most people eat way too much and would probably benefit from pushing the table away halfway through the meal! (I got that one from Mike Boyle – he should go into stand up!)

MK: What would you say to someone who was training hard but still not seeing the results you would expect from the effort they were putting in at the gym?

NG: You need to consider your clients as a ‘24 hour client’. What are they doing outside of the gym that is preventing them from getting the results? I know that my programs work. So when a client is training with me and I’m not seeing the level of improvement that I would expect, we need to take a look at what is going on outside of their training sessions with me.

I usually ask some simple questions. I ask the clients tell me three things that went well this week with their training and nutrition. I then ask the client to tell me three things that they think didn’t go so well this week. It’s at this point that you usually find out that something has happened during the week that is counter-productive to their goals! It may be that they are freestyling their nutrition, not training enough or possibly not getting enough recovery. The key is to have a conversation with your client and start to understand what is actually happening when they are not with you.

MK: With regards to calories, obviously eating too much is going to hinder fat loss, would you say eating too little will have an adverse effect on results? Could you explain why?

NG: Starvation is not the way to go for fat loss! Rachel Cosgrove sums it up nicely in her book, The Female Body Breakthrough. “Eat more often, not less. Becoming fit and fabulous is not about starving yourself and feeling deprived. The key is to get your metabolism revving, fuel your body throughout the day with healthy foods, and learn how to enjoy a guilt free splurge that fits into your healthy lifestyle… instead of starving your body and letting your metabolism stall out, creating an ideal situation to gain the weight back, the goal is to fuel your body and boost your metabolism to the point where your body burns through the food you eat and you have to continue fuelling to keep your metabolism leading”.

The body is very clever, when you start to reduce your calorie intake the body will work overtime to save energy. The first thing that will happen is your metabolism will start to drop. This is the exact opposite of what you actually want to happen!

MK: What are your opinions on these diets that say “drink two shakes & one meal per day” or the cereal based diets?

NG: Marc, here’s what I think

Quick fix – short term results – long-term failure – yo-yo weight loss weight gain constantly frustrated!

This is not, in my opinion, a healthy approach to long-term sustained fat loss. The cereal based diets really make me laugh. Cereals are traditionally eaten at breakfast. That’s one meal out of a potential three (if we adopt a typical Western meal plan). So let’s think why they may want you to eat two bowls of cereal each day. Any thoughts? Maybe it’s because if you start to eat two bowls of cereal and you are going to need to buy twice as much cereal! I reckon it has less to do with adopting a balanced and healthy lifestyle, and more to do with sales! Just my opinion.

MK: I believe that supplements should be just that. They should be an addition to a healthy balanced nutrition plan made up of whole foods and not replace them. Would you agree?

NG: Marc, I think you have hit the mail on the head. Supplements are like the icing on the cake. The problem is, most people don’t have a cake in the first place! I think it is really important for people to adopt a healthy balanced diet and work hard to get their vitamins, minerals and nutrients from natural sources. However, it’s important that we should also recognise that some populations (athletes, students etc) may not have the healthiest and most balanced diet! These people may actually benefit from supplementation. But lets not get carried away, if you are constantly popping pills and drinking shakes then I think you need to get a grip of yourself and start eating some real food.

MK: What would be your top three “must do” things with regards to nutrition for fat loss?

NG:

1.       Eat clean  – if you can’t pronounce it then chances are you don’t want it in your stomach! Avoid overly processed foods and go natural.

2.       Drink more – reduce the amount of calorie containing beverages and drink more water at least 2 litres a day.

3.       Eat 5-6 times a day – provide your body with a constant stream of nutrients.

MK: Before we close Nick, what would be your 5 top things to do regarding training and nutrition to help the readers to cut body fat

NG:

1. Consistency of effort is the key to success. Develop a good programme, and repeat it consistently over an extended period of time. One session a week for a couple of weeks just doesn’t cut it. The same goes for nutrition, you need to be consistent with your efforts.
2. Ditch steady state cardio – it’s boring as hell and takes far too long. HIIT is tough but you can be done in as little as 10 minutes and you can let EPOC take care of things whilst you are doing something more interesting than training!
3. Lift weights – studies have compared weight lifting to aerobics and found that whilst both groups lost the same amount of weight, the group that lifted weights lost only fat. The aerobics group lost 8% of their weight from muscle! Remeber losing muscle, slows metabolism. We want to elevate metabolisms so lift heavy, you’ll love it!
4. Get Functional – ditch the machines (cables can stay!) and start to train how you need to move. Yes it’s more challenging but it’s a lot more fun and interesting than sitting on a pec deck watching TV!
5. Invisible Training – we need to take time for recovery and regeneration. If you are stressed all the time your body is going to pump out cortisol. Research has linked high cortisol levels with increased belly fat. Take some time to relax and you may just drop those muffin tops. You’ll probably be a nicer person to be around as well!

MK: It was great speaking to you today Nick, you’ve shared some incredible information which I hope the readers have found helpful. Where can the readers go to find out more about you and your training programs?

NG: Thanks for having me today Marc, it’s been fun and I hope I didn’t go off into too many rants! Your readers can keep in touch by following me on www.nickgrantham.com where I have a heap of free information, reviews, special offers, Q&A’s and the occasional rant! If they fancy seeing me in person then they can catch me at the EXF-Perform Better Learn By Doing Seminar in Oxford on July 10^th.

It’s the season finale and there is a great line up of world class speakers so even if they don’t want to see me it’s worth getting along to!

I’ve even embraced the social media side of things so you can catch me on twitter (http://twitter.com/coachnickg) and facebook (http://www.facebook.com/coachnickgrantham)!

MK: Thanks again Nick

NG: Absolute pleasure Marc, all the very best.

Nick has become recognised as a specialist in athletic preparation and has helped athletes at all levels achieve their personal goals and ambitions. Nick has worked in high performance sport for more than 10 years and has extensive experience of long term athlete development. As lead strength and conditioning coach to National Governing Body’s and Home Institutes Nick has been responsible for the management, development and delivery of integrated physical preparation strategies for a wide range of sports.

Nick has developed and delivered physical preparation strategies, incorporating other disciplines such as sport science, physiotherapy, nutrition, performance analysis and biomechanics. He has also worked closely with medical teams assisting in the management, monitoring and implementation of injury management programmes.

Nick continues to develop his knowledge of advanced training concepts and evidence based training principles, and has observed best practice at leading training establishments around the world including; the Australian Institute of Sport, International Rugby Academy New Zealand, US Olympic Training Centre, Cirque du Soleil and Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Nick has a proven record of coach and athlete education, having developed resources, practices and applied research that has enhanced the delivery of both sport specific and strength and conditioning support.

A sought after ‘expert’ Nick has presented seminars and practical demonstrations on strength and conditioning for the Football Association, the National Sports Medicine Institute, the British Olympic Association and the UK Strength and Conditioning Association.  Nick has articles published in leading sports publications such as Triathlete’s World, Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness including monthly columns in Sports Injury Bulletin and Maxim magazine.

If you have been following my series on training myths you would have read  in part one the lies that women who lift weight get bulky muscles. In training myths part two I covered the lies that says your lean toned muscles will turn to fat if you stop lifting weights and in part three I exposed the myth that says specific exercises are great for toning muscles.

If you have not read these articles yest then you can by clicking on the links below.

• Training Myths Part 1: Women Who Lift Weights Get Bulky Muscles

• Training Myths Part 2: Your Lean Toned Muscles Will Turn To Fat If You Stop Lifting Weights

• Training Myths Part 3: Specific Exercises Are Great For Toning Muscles

Today I’m going to address Training Myth 4: Specific Exercises Are Great For Spot Reduction

Spot reduction  exercises comes from the idea that if you work a particular part of the body then you can burn fat from it. In reality the theory goes against scientific principles of exercise physiology.

We cannot chose where we burn fat from our bodies, it is genetically determained. If spot reduction was possible then the amount of people walking around with six pack abs would be significantly more!

In order to get that elusive six pack you need to eat a healthy balanced diet consisting of lots of fuit and veg and plenty of protein. You also need to lift weights to build the muscles to give your body shape and to increase your metabolism while at the same time intergrating metabolic conditioning exercises such as kettlebell swings, sprints and burpees. Simply doing thousands of sit ups and crunches wont burn enough calories to achieve this and will set you up for low back problems down the line.

If fat did come off the areas that we worked the most then we wouldn’t have fat on our faces as we use our face muscles all the time from laughing to smiling, to talking to frowning! We would never have fat on our legs, thighs or butt as we use these muscles everyday for locomotion and standing.

The biggest concern with exercising muscles individully is the potential to cause injuries in the future. The body works as a whole unit, meaning lots of muscles have to contract or relax and work together to allow movement to occur. So all you ladies sat on those adductor and abductor machines in the hope of building firm thighs and butt muscles are setting yourself up for hip, knee and ankle problems. You would be far better doing squats, deadlifts and various types of lunges as these work far more muscle and in doing so burn more calories allowing you to reduce body fat faster.

So in closing this article I’m going to provide you with a simple blueprint for fat loss:

• Embark on a healhy nutrition plan for life. Diets don’t work long term and set you up for frustration and failure.

• Eat little and often. Aim for 5-6 six small meals and healthy snacks per day.

• Create a calorie defisit through nutrition and exercise. One pound of fat contains 3500 calories. By reducing calories by 250-500 and burning the same amount of calories through intense exercise can see you dropping 1-2lb of fat per week.

• Training intensly with weights to build some lean muscle which will in turn will boost your metabolic rate to increase  your calorie burn even more. Ladies don’t worry about bulking up, you can’t if you have followed the above steps. For more informaton on this click here

• Add in metabolic conditioning exercises such as kettlebell swings, squat thrusts and sprints to boost metabolism further still and increase your calorie burn.

• Hip a personal best in every single workout. Either do more reps with the weight, the same reps with more weight, sprint faster or further. To keep progressing you have to keep moving forwards, simply doing the same thing everytime will lead to plateaus and eventually regression.

• Always, always stetch. Stretching after exercise helps return the muscles to their resting length, can help speed the removal of toxins and help prevent injury. I also reccommend a sports massage 1-2 times per month.

• Drink lots of water, a dehydrated body can’t burn fat optimally

I’ll be back with training myth 5: Lifting light weights for high reps is great for ‘toning’

So Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

Ok, I’m back again to kick some more fitness myths in to touch. If you missed training myths part one where I went into depth on the myth that “women who lift weights get big bulky muscles” you can read it by clicking here

So straight into it with

Myth 2: Your lean toned muscles will turn to fat if you stop lifting weights

Muscle cannot be turned into fat, just as water cannot be turned into wine! It’s as impossible as trying to turn water into metal or plastic into wood!

If you stop training you willl naturally lose muscle strength and size, its a case of use it or lose it with muscle. Fat on the other hand is a source of energy, it can be stored or burned in muscle tissue.

This is what actually happens when you stop training: You will begin to lose muscle tissue and as you do so are going to set your self up for a bit of a weight loss nightmare!

You see, the amount of muscle tissue you have on your body has a direct link to the speed of your bodies metabolism. Your metabolism governs the amount of calories you will burn on a daily basis. In basic terms, the more muscle tissue you have, the faster your metabolism, the faster your metabolism the more caloires you burn on a daily basis.

To look at it another way, losing muscle would be like putting a smaller engine in your car! The smaller engine is going to burn less fuel.

One of the reasons fat diets result in such rapid weight loss is because of not eating enough to support your bodies current muscle tissue. Starving your self thin only ends up in a rapid weight gain once you fall off the diet. The same can be said for doing endless amounts of cardio, sure you’ll lose some weight, but you’ll be burning more muscle tissue resulting in a slower metabolic rate. This all makes it harder to keep the fat off in the long term.

So if you stop training you could get fat but not because your muscle has been magically converted to fat. You will likely get fat if you continue to eat the same amount of food you did while you exercised and because of your slower metabolism. One cannot be turned into the other.

I will be back in a coupe of days with Myth 3:  Specific exercises are great for toning muscles

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc