Diet makes the training program
Brian November 8th, 2008
I see too many people come into a health club and log hours upon hours on elliptical machines, treadmills, bikes or whatever the latest, greatest fad is. Inevitably, I hear their story about how much time they spend doing aerobic training and still haven’t lost weight. I am going to say something blasphemous to the fitness community; you DO NOTÂ need to do tons of cardiovascular/aerobic training to achieve fat/weight loss.
The cardiovascular/aerobic training craze began in the 1970′s with Dr. Kenneth Cooper (he has a clinic in Texas to this day). This mode of training was promoted as the best mode of exercise for health and weight loss. Now, it may be the best mode for cardiovascular (heart, lungs and vessels) health, but not for weight loss. This dogma is still pervasive in todays exercise culture, which is why there is no limit to the number of exercise machines on the market.
Weight loss is simply calories in versus calories out. However, the quality and timing of those calories makes the difference between being successful and not. Research has shown that athletic performance improvement is 50% genetic, 30% training and 20% diet with a small percentage being psychological. Now, weight loss probably looks something like the following: 80% diet, 10% training and 10% psychological (willpower). Exercise should be something that complements your diet, not the other way around. People can lose weight without ever increasing their activity level. Look at it this way, there are 168 hours in a week, and most dedicated exercisers may spend 5 hours of that training. It is what you do in the other 163 hours that makes the biggest difference!
Note: People looking to change their physiques need to differentiate between weight loss and fat loss. The goal of all exercisers is fat loss, and not simply losing weight. Weight loss can include water, glycogen, fat and muscle. The primary goal should always be losing fat and retaining as much lean tissue as possible. Women in particular are only focused on what the scale says, and not what is happening to their body composition.Â
The take away point from all of this is that cardiovascular exercise is important for health, but not necessary for fat loss. Stay tuned for tips on how to lay out your diet and strength training program for maximum fat burning.
In Health,
Brian Ramage