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.

In training myths part 1 I covered the myth that women will get bulky muscles like men if they train with weights and in training myths part 2 I covered the myth that says if you stop training your lean toned muscles will turn to fat if you stop training.

If you haven’t read part one or two yet then click on the links below to be taken to those pages.

Click to read “Training Myths Part 1”

Click to read “Training Myths Part 2”

In part 3 I’m going to clear up the myth that says “Specific Exercises Are Great For Toning Muscles”.

Having toned muscles is really a slang term that’s come from having really low levels of body fat. The lower your body fat percentage the more visible your muscles are under the skin.

Muscle is active tissue, it does not hang down or hang off your bones and it cannot be “un-toned”. The un-toned appearance comes from too much fat covering your muscle and not having enough muscle under the skin to give your body any shape. Poor posture can also give the appearance of “saggy” muscles.

In order to develop the lean toned appearance you need to train with progressive resistance. Whether that resistance comes from lifting dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells or even your own body weight, you need to challenge the muscles to become stronger while at the same time reducing your body fat.

The most effective way to do this is to train with a weight that allows you to perform 8-12 repetitions per exercise in supersets, tri-sets or indeed a circuit. The benefit of training like this is that you can get more done in less time than traditional weight training where you would say do a set of press ups, rest one minute and then repeat. The idea of resting is so you can achieve the same number of reps per set.

One of my favorite ways to build lean toned muscle is to use trisets or mini circuits of 4 exercises.

For example:

The beauty of doing this is that the legs are resting while you are doing press ups and recline rows meaning that you should still manage all you reps. An added benefit to this is that because you are doing three exercises back to back you are getting a high intensity cardiovascular workout. So it pays to train hard!

Add to the above exercise protocol some smart nutrition and you will be well on your way to reducing your body fat so you get the “toned” look.

I’ll be back in a few days with Training Myth 4: Specific Exercises Are Great For Spot Reduction

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

If you are looking to lose a serious amount of body fat and get in the best shape of your life then the following studies might help you decide which is the best way to structure your training program for the best results. Read the findings of the studies and my top tips on how to intergrate them into your training program.

(Thanks to Alwyn Cosgrove for sending this out to me).

Kelleher et al
The Metabolic Costs of Reciprocal Supersets vs. Traditional Resistance Exercise in Young Recreationally Active Adults.
JSCR 2010 Mar 17. [Epub ahead of print]

This compared traditional weight training (perform a set, rest for a period of time and then repeat) to a reciprocal superset workout (where you perform for example one set of presses, rest a period of time and then perform one set of rows before repeating). The researchers concluded that

“Reciprocal supersets produced greater exercise kJ.min, blood lactate, and EPOC than did [traditional weight training]. Incorporating this method of resistance exercise may benefit exercisers attempting to increase energy expenditure and have a fixed exercise volume with limited exercise time available.”

Basically the superset group burned more calories per minute than the traditional weight training group. So if workout time is limited (which it is for most of us), and the goal is to drop some excess fat, a superset based workout may be superior.

Another study takes the above that one step further:

Another study by Paoli et al., ‘Effects of three distinct protocols of fitness training on body composition, strength and blood lactate’ JSMPF. 2010 Mar;50(1):43-51 found that high intensity circuit training yeilded the greatest reductions in body weight, percentage of fat mass, waistline circumference, blood lactate and greater improvement in 6RM in horizontal leg press and underhand cable pulldowns, as compared to low intensity circuit training and endurance (cardio) exercise.

This study looked at three groups – a low intensity circuit training group, and endurance (cardio) only training group and a high intensity circuit training group.

This study concluded that among the three groups, the high intensity circuit training showed the greatest reductions in body weight, percentage of fat mass , waistline, blood lactate (produced at 100 Watt during submaximal test) and greater improvement in 6RM in horizontal leg press and underhand cable pulldowns.

“The results obtained favored the conclusion that high-intensity exercise combined with endurance training in the circuit training technique is more effective than endurance training alone or low intensity circuit training in improving body composition, blood lactate, moreover high intensity circuit training results in significantly greater strength increase compared to traditional circuit training”

Really this is just an expansion of the above finding – that pairing or setting up a circuit of exercises with high intensity exercise, will be more effective for fat loss and weight reduction than doing pure endurance training.

By combining the two methods we can get greater results.

So to summerise: performing weight training in a circuit like we do at Boot Camp followed by high intensity intervals will get you te quickest fat loss results.

Intervals can be performed in many ways from sprinting, kettlebell swings, to various bodyweight exercises. The key is the intensity, which should be 90% of your best effort.

With regards to nutrition, the simplest advice I can give you is to only eat natural produce, if it’s been tampered with in any way by man then don’t eat it. Or to look at another way, only eat foods that have one ingredient in it, such as chicken, salmon, eggs, and veg. Drink lots of water to help flush out the toxins the we absorb on a daily basis and you’ll be on the way to a leaner, healthier body.

Train Hard (and I do mean hard), Eat Smart!

Marc

PS. Sign up for my FREE health and fitness newsletter at the top of the page and receive my “Maximum Weight Loss Report” You will also receive a FREE one week trial  to Boot Camp for you and a friend.

Claire, myself & Chris: rasining money for North Devon Hospice

In April last year I was approached by Claire with the view to her starting Boot Camp as preparation for the walk accross The Great Wall of China to raise money for the North Devon Hospice. After talking with Claire and the rest of the members of the team and a visit to the Hospice I decided to sponsor the trek by allowing them to participate in Boot Camp for free for the entire year to get them ready to walk The Great Wall of China.

Below is Claire’s story, please read on.

Back in April of this year (2009), whilst browsing through the North Devon Journal, I came across the article featuring Richard Taylor and his challenge of walking The Great Wall of China in memory of Sarah his sister, after reading the article my first reaction was I can do that, after telling my mum my plans she immediately said the same and it all started from there.

After a lot of thought both our attentions turned to HOW we would do it, I was unhealthy and overweight and mum felt that at 60 she was not at her peak, after ringing around a couple of fitness instructors, I came across Marc Kent, who was extremely supportive of our challenge, and much to my surprise offered his services to all of the group for free, after a couple of people pulling out we were left with just me and mum.

In May we started our long journey to getting fit and ready for the walk, I think we both had misconceptions about what to expect, but after our first session we were both hooked.  3 times a week we take part in an hour of full on exercise, which includes a warm up, circuit training and the dreaded last 10 minutes, which usually involves press ups, knees to elbow, star jumps and running.

Had somebody told us 12 months ago we would be getting up at 6.30am and running around a gym, I would not have believed them, however Marc has not only prepared us physically he has given us the confidence to believe that we can achieve this once in a life time opportunity.

What Marc Kent proves is that you can be any size, any age and any level of fitness and with the right person guiding you, you can achieve anything. This may sound corny but this is fact and we are proof of that.

What is really important about this challenge is not only the chance for us to fulfil a dream, but also the opportunity to raise as much money as possible for 2 great charities, The North Devon Hospice and Tinker Taylor 12.  Both mum and I had the opportunity to know Sarah Taylor and her family, and hear about the support they received from the Hospice at a time when they most needed it, and I can not think of a better reason to do what we are doing.

As part of the fundraising for this event, we will be holding a ladies charity night on Thursday 28th January at Sticklepath School; the event will include the following:

• A ready steady cook – Healthy style

• A presentation from Marc Kent about keeping fit

• Massage, reflexology, and head massage.

• Plus other pampering ideas.

• The event will cost £7 per person.

For more information please phone Claire on 01271 371208

If you would like to sponsor Claire and Chris’s trek and raise money for the North Devon Hospice, please visit: www.justgiving.com/clairefisher7

Suppose that at a distance you see a short, stooped figure walking with short, slow steps. Most likely, you will conclude that the person is old. The hunched posture gives you the clue.

Why does aging contort so many bodies in this way? The reason is that many people, throughout their lives, never extend the neck to its full range, and so the muscles shorten. Long hours of reading, sewing, typing, or standing at a workbench take their toll. Eventually deposits of calcium salts in the joints complete the process of immobilization. Once this calcification takes place, nothing can be done to reverse it.

Fortunately, older persons can take action before it is too late. The best action is regular exercise that stretches the muscles and improves flexibility, with special considerations on the core muscles. This kind of response is relatively important for a number of factors that when taken for granted will only lead to serious health problems.

What Are Core Muscles?

Core muscles pertain to the muscles found at the obliques, abdominals, lower back, and the glutes. These four areas of the body are the ones that usually frame the posture of a person. Hence, a good posture reflects the good condition of these muscle areas.

What people do not know is that core muscles are actually the “core” or the central part for all the strength that is needed to carry out different physical activities. This only means that if an individual’s core muscle is physically powerful, it will maintain equilibrium on the body and will stabilize the system every time the person is working out and moving.

Strengthening Core Muscles

The main responsibility of the core muscles is to provide enough power to the body in order to enable it to cope with the dynamic challenges of every physical activity that a person encounters.

For this reason, many health and fitness experts have realized that it is relatively important to strengthen the core muscles than the other muscles in the body. Through some series of experiments and research, they have found out that having a stronger core can lessen a lot of health problems concerning posture.

For instance, well-conditioned core muscles can project good posture. They can also improve the endurance of the back all the way through the day.

Why? Because muscles that are included in the group of core muscles are actually the ones that initiate the proper stabilization of the whole upper and lower torso.

So, for those who wish to know and understand why it is important to strengthen the core muscles, here is a list of some of the benefits that you can use as references:

1. Strengthening core muscles will improve posture and prevent low back pain of the muscular origin.

This means that as you incorporate stretching exercises in your routine, taking a particular focus on the muscles of the upper and front part of the trunk, including the abdominal and trunk muscles, the activity has the tendency to strengthen the muscles of the back that extend to the spine.

2. It will help tone the muscles, thereby, avoiding further back injury

Exercising your core muscles will strengthen and tone your lower back muscles and buttocks while stretching the hip flexors and the muscles on the front of the thighs.

Achieving this state will deter you from any serious lower back injury.

3. Improves physical performance

Exercising the core muscles with slow, static stretching is just as effective in relieving stiffness and enhances flexibility. Once the flexibility of a person has improved, it follows that he will be able to perform his physical activities at a better state.

4. They do not cause sore aching muscles

Static stretching for core muscles is best for the muscles and connective tissues. And because it employs slow stretches only, it will not cause any soreness, as do the quick, bouncing exercises that rely on jerky muscle contraction.

5. Lengthen muscles and avoid unbalanced footing as you get old

Core muscle exercises lengthen the muscles that have contracted as a result of pain. It also prevents pain from vigorous exercise if they are included at the end of each workout.

Health and fitness experts highly recommend starting core work out immediately and repeating the routine at least 2 times a week. The process can be done after the workout or even during the activity, for about 10 to 20 minutes only.

Indeed, core muscles are absolutely important in determining the good posture of the body. Strengthening them can absolutely eliminate those nuisances of back pains.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc