Gravity Fx Fitness

Saturday I used only sandbags in my workout and burned 641 calories according to my HR monitor. In one exercise I used a slight assist from a TRX, but the workout took 45 minutes and worked every muscle in my body.

The TRX suspension trainers are supposed to be “all core all the time” because your core is activated to some degree in every exercise.  Same thing with sandbags – you’re always working your abs, low back and hips during an exercise.

Cardio strength training (interval training) is a great way to build lean muscle tissue and burn fat at the same time.  For example, my average heart rate for this workout was 78% of my max, with the peak HR reaching 98%  (pretty intense).

So a 45 minute workout at 78% will obviously burn some calories.  By doing more intense interval training you go into oxygen debt, where you are breathing heavily.  Research has shown that this can elevate your metabolism for 24 hours or more AFTER you have stopped exercising!

That’s one of the things I like about sandbags – improved fat burning efficiency while improving your coordination in different movement patterns.  The exercises train multiple muscles to work together at the same time.

I did step ups, overhead presses, high pulls, partial rotation deadlifts and an overhead rotational lift that is often done with a medicine ball.  I kept the rest periods between exercises minimal which keeps your heart rate up and stimulates your fat burning hormones.

One of the reasons you’re metabolism stays elevated after this workout is because of the fast twitch muscles that are worked with the exercises that focus on either strength or power.  More muscles used equals more calories burned but you also have the “afterburn” effect going on as these muscles are being repaired after the workout.

These workouts can take a lot out of you and need to be progressed gradually.  I have my baby boomer clients doing most of these same exercises and it allows them to get in a fast, efficient workout – letting them spend more time with family and friends.

I really could feel it in deep in my abs the next day, particularly from the overhead rotational lift with the sandbag.  I have taught those 15 minute ab workouts before at a healthclub and would never feel it in my abs like I do with the sandbags, or even the TRX.

Here is a video from coach Josh Henkin that shows a few examples of sandbag training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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My fat loss workout burned 457 calories in 30 minutes. What did I do?  Glad you asked.

I only had 30 minutes for my training today so I combined some sandbag exercises with rope training and the X-iser.  I wore my HR monitor to see how many calories I torched.

After Monday’s all sandbag workout I mixed in some other moves for a little variety.  I did burpees combined with sandbag high pulls, alternating between the 30 second (approximately) sprints on the X-iser.

Resting for 30 seconds, I did some of my favorite rope throws – one and two arm grappler’s throws and alternating uppercuts, which is somewhat similar to cross country skiing, only more intense.

I tried to alternate between upper and lower body exercises, in order to keep my intensity high.

I did some various lunges and split squats as part of my warmup.  I also threw in a set of one arm rows on the suspension trainer and a set of ab wheel rollouts to the front and sides (diagonal).

The 30 minutes went by pretty quickly and I stopped my HR monitor to check the damage…..457 calories burned in 30 minutes even.  Of course, your heart rate stays elevated for a while after this type of workout, since you went into oxygen debt with all the short bursts of exercise.

I’ll take those numbers any day of the week.  In a magazine advertisement for the Bowflex Treadclimber they mention 321 calories burned in 30 minutes versus 150 for a treadmill at the same speed but no elevation.

Not bad numbers but not as good as my workout – and with my intense interval training, my metabolism would stay elevated longer after the workout. Plus, I worked my upper body and midsection, too.

More bang for your buck if you ask me.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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I’ve lost 20 pounds in the last 6 months and playing basketball recently has kept it off while exercising just a few hours here and there.

I’ve been playing once a week for the last 7 weeks against guys who are mostly 10-20 years younger.  Our team is made up of men in their forties with one guy in his early fifties and two young bucks of 30 and 25.

I lost the weight prior to starting this league but have kept it off without spending much time doing anything else.  Basketball is a stop and go sport, mixing in periods of higher and lower intensity.

This stop and go nature really generates a lot of body heat, sweat, and greatly increases your oxygen consumption – causing you to suck in extra air at times, which is why us old guys need an occasional “sub” to come in for us.

Two twenty minute halves is plenty of action and our heart rates and metabolism stay elevated for a while afterwards, burning additional calories.  I was in pretty decent shape previously, but hadn’t done specific training for playing hoops, since I didn’t know I was going to play.

One of the things I have done is to do jump rope training between games to prepare for the jumping impact of the games.  I’ll do about 20-30 seconds on and then rest for the same amount of time.  This is for 5-7 minutes and then back to more interval training, keeping my heart rate up with different agility and strength training.

Besides being a time efficient way to workout, these interval workouts prepare you for the stop and go nature of basketball.  One of my personal training clients recently talked about doing step aerobics classes twenty years ago.

“I didn’t lose any weight but it was fun.”  Many people adapt to steady pace activity very quickly and don’t end up losing much, if any weight.  Not long ago, this same client walked on a treadmill 5 days a week for four months and only lost 6 pounds – not the greatest return for her “investment.”

She’s since lost close to 20 pounds by doing shorter bursts of exercise and eliminating processed foods from her diet.

The amount of sweat we produce in these games is a pretty good indication of large amounts of calories burned.  The guy who is 52 remarked about how you can’t get the same kind of breathlessness from doing typical workouts on a treadmill.

This guy is a former college wrestling coach, so he knows a little about training…. and is in pretty decent shape, too.  The take home point is that long periods of exercise aren’t always necessary and sometimes can be counter-productive if you don’t get the weight loss you want and decide to give up because you get frustrated with a lack of progress.

At the same time, if you haven’t done much exercise in a while, start out easy and gradually increase your intensity and/or decrease the amount of rest between exercises as you become more fit.

Train to play the sport and don’t play the sport to get in shape.  Don’t forget to do your strength training to help protect your joints and flexibility/mobility work is also strongly advised.

Get Moving!

Brian Morgan

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To burn fat you need to turn up the heat – dial up the intensity of your workouts!  One of my clients has lost 14 pounds in a month, while spending less time exercising.

Previously, she was walking on a treadmill 5 days a week and 4 months later had lost only 6 pounds.  She’s made more progress by making dietary changes and doing burst-type training.

She is still walking, but now she alternates her pace, going back and forth with periods of higher intensity walking – kinda similar to how your car burns more gas during stop and go driving in the city.

She is doing similar exercise in the studio with dumbbells.  Multi-joint movements that involve multiple muscles to burn more calories, alternating between two exercises with little rest in between.

This causes you to release more of your body’s fat burning hormones naturally.  This gets your metabolism elevated without spending hours exercising.  She can feel the warmth in her muscles as she sweats more, helping the body get rid of toxins that can build up.

I showed her a routine that she can do at home with dumbbells and bodyweight when she isn’t working with me in person.  Its great to get results while exercising less.

Research studies have shown that walking on a treadmill without doing any resistance training doesn’t always lead to much weight loss.  If you’re like most people and short on time, interval strength training and interval cardio are the way to go.

Yeah, triathletes and marathoners are usually pretty lean, but they often spend 10 hours or more per week on their training.  Unless you are training for competition, there are more efficient ways to stay in shape.

Yesterday, I did some interval cardio using the Ropes Gone Wild training ropes.  I did 15 minutes of various diagonal, circular and vertical patterns (beatdowns) with the ropes, elevating my heart rate in a short amount of time, going into oxygen debt.

I had my HR monitor on to see what my body was doing and also to see how many calories I burned.  In the 15 minutes I burned 230 calories according to the monitor, which isn’t all that much…..until you read the rest of the story.

I turned the monitor back on as I did some kettlebell presses, before packing it in for the night, leaving the HR monitor running.  An hour and a half later I stopped it and looked at how many calories I burned.

It said 490 calories in that hour and a half after the interval rope training, for a total of 720 overall!  Got your attention now?!  Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that the number is a little high.  Knock off 100 calories and that’s still a LOT of calories burned in less than half an hour of exercise.

The point should be clear – intense exercise keeps your metabolism elevated after you have stopped exercising.  So if short on time, turn up the flame to burn more total fat.  Its fine to mix in longer walks, bike rides or runs with your interval resistance training.  By the way, the monitor is a Polar F6.

If you’re looking for a simple program you can do at home, you might check out Turbulence Training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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If you’re eating the wrong foods and don’t even know it, you might be screwing up your hormone levels – causing your body to store more fat!

Items such as low fat, reduced fat, diet sodas, and diet drinks, are often unhealthy foods in disguise.  If its something highly processed and/or containing high amounts of high fructose corn syrup or sodium, it could increase the size of your waist.

“Foods” containing trans fats (artificial fat) can slow down your metabolism, as your body doesn’t know what to do with these and stores them in your fat cells.

If it says low or reduced fat, it usually means they replaced the fat with carbs, which isn’t typically a good thing.  Extra carbs tend to get stored as bodyfat – not what you want!

Are high cholesterol levels really a bad thing?  Trainer and nutrition specialist Mike Geary has a new book that addresses all these issues and helps you fuel your fat-burning furnace, instead of slowing down the fat metabolism.

If you would like some info on Mike’s Fat Burning Kitchen, click here.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Is it more important to burn fat during your workout or after?  Alwyn Cosgrove recently wrote an article on EPOC and the “afterburn” effect – where your metabolism stays elevated after the workout.

A research study published in 2002 looked at the effect of a 31 minute circuit training workout on post workout metabolism.  This study showed an increased metabolic period lasting 38 hours after the workout.

Meaning, 38 hours later, their bodies were burning more calories than before the workout session!  The workout involved three multi-joint exercises (bench press, squat, and power clean) done in a circuit, 4 times in 31 minutes.

This should say a lot about the role of high-intensity resistance training and the ability to burn fat – also, the use of compound movements (multi-joint) for maximal efficiency.

One of the things this study does, is highlight the fact that the number of calories burned during the workout isn’t necessarily as important as the number of calories burned after.

This routine broke down a lot of muscle tissue and the rebuilding phase obviously burns quite a few calories.  Combine this interval resistance training with a cardio and nutrition program and you should see even greater fat burning.

This is the basis for Cosgrove’s Warp Speed Fat Loss system that I completed earlier this Summer.  I lost 13 pounds in a month and wasn’t quite perfect in following the low carb diet.

Training is important, but so is the eating.  These workouts were all under an hour in length.

Get moving!

Brian

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Hollywood trainer Gunnar Peterson is using rope training with his celebrity clients to increase the intensity and variety of their workouts.

Ropes Gone Wild are a new tool for high intensity cardio training developed by innovative trainer Anthony DiLuglio.  The ropes are 1 1/2 or 2 inch diameter and typically are 50 foot in length.

Two recent articles in Muscle and Fitness and Muscle and Fitness Hers feature Peterson putting a couple of his clients through some grueling workouts.

He calls this type of training “beatdowns”, as he tells clients to beat the floor with the ropes.  The ropes create undulating patterns (waves) as you go through many different movements – vertical, diagonal, and circular.

Besides adding much needed variety to your typical cardio routine, it jacks your heart rate up in a short amount of time.  So if you’re like me and find treadmills and stationary bikes boring, this is a “fun” alternative.

Of course, by fun I mean an incredibly intense workout that doesn’t have to take much time to elevate your HR and metabolism, burning plenty of calories in the process.

One of the reasons Peterson’s clients seek him out is because of the innovative training methods he uses.  He has a gym full of equipment that allows an endless variety of combinations.

His one hour workouts combine strength, cardio, and flexibility in one session.  You know me, I like time efficient workouts that don’t last too long, except for an occassional bike ride that goes an hour and a half or longer.

Besides being time efficient, rope training works your core and lower body without any pounding on the joints.  If you can’t run because of past or current injuries, you can still get your cardio with the ropes.

Most people can use them at home in their basement or garage, or even take them outdoors, if you wish.  I like to use them with sandbags, kettlebells, and suspension training.  For more info, go to Art of Strength.

Get Moving!

Brian Morgan

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Is steady state (constant pace) aerobics the optimal way to lose fat?

Let’s take a look at some of the research that shapes the way that Alwyn Cosgrove trains his fat loss clients -

• A 1998 study that showed that the addition of 45 minutes of hard
  aerobic training, 5 times a week for twelve weeks – had no effect on
  fat loss.

• A 2007 study – that showed the addition of 50 minutes of aerobic
  training, 5 times per week for six months – also had no effect on fat
  loss.

• A 2008 study showing 40 mins of aerobic exercise three times per week
  for 15 weeks actually resulted in the participants gaining fat!

• A study from 1994 showed a specific cardio training method that when
  adjusted for calories burned – actually reduced body fat (actual
  skinfold measurements) nine times more than traditional cardio training
  — despite taking less time, and actually burning less calories per
  session!

• Another study (1999) showed that the addition of a specific resistance
  training program increased fat loss by 35% over diet and aerobic
  training.

Many top trainers advocate interval training for their clients looking to lose weight.  This can include interval strength training and interval aerobics.  This type of training consists of shorter rest periods and more intense cardio, that keeps your heart rate elevated.

Besides taking less time, this type of training can raise your metabolism for several hours after you are done exercising.  If you have limited time to exercise, than you need to make the most of your training.

Several years ago, I had a client who did a lot of extra cardio on the treadmill and stepper, in addition to the resistance training I had her doing.

She thought this would burn off some extra fat and didn’t tell me she was doing this.  After a while, we re-tested her bodyfat levels and found that she had gained fat.  Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy about this.

Too much exercise, with too little rest and not enough protein, can actually break down lean muscle tissue – not a good thing!

If you’re not training for an endurance competition, than you are better off doing shorter, interval cardio combined with strength training.  This gets the best results without spending hours and hours in the gym.

I’ve lost 8 pounds in just over two weeks on the Warp Speed Fat Loss program and have a smaller waist in the process.

Here is an example of interval training that doesn’t take a lot of time to do.  Choose exercises that use multiple muscles instead of “isolating” different body parts – more calories burned.

Get moving!

Brian

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I’m in the process of lowering my bodyfat levels in preparation for Summer, so I’m trying to be a little stricter with my diet, but also training a little more.

Yesterday I did a light workout.  I went to a nearby track for a walk, but decided to throw in a twist.  After each 1/4 mile lap I threw some core training in.

For example, the first time I did an inchworm exercise in the forward position.  You start with your hands and feet on the ground, fairly close to each other and then “walk” your hands out in front of you as far as possible.

Then you “walk” your feet in towards your hands and repeat.  Its great for your core and also good for shoulder stability.  Next lap I did the inchworm backwards until fatigued.

Next lap I did a lateral bear crawl on all fours.  Again, plenty of tension on the core and shoulders, great for adding stability to my rotator cuffs, which have seen their share of problems in the past.

So 2 miles walked and some core training to boot.  Today I alternated between Ropes Gone Wild and some interval sprints.  Interval training is a great way to burn fat and keep your metabolism elevated for several hours.

My upper body was fatigued from previous workouts so I did some grappler’s throws and side to side movements with the ropes, which puts all the emphasis on the core and minimal work for the arms.

I ran 75 yards at about 80% and alternated the runs with the rope work.  These kind of workouts get you breathing hard and burn more calories overall than steady pace cardio, especially those done at moderate intensity.

Elliptical machines are great if you have joint issues, but not that great for fat burning – the movement is too easy and efficient.  If fat loss is the ultimate goal turn up the intensity on your workouts.

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After a long Monday I am left with little time to exercise – a perfect time for a little Power Plate workout.  I had a fairly intense workout two days ago, so something lighter will do the trick.

If you have heard that a 10-15 minute workout on a vibration platform is the equivalent of a normal workout, it depends on what you are used to.

If you haven’t been exercising for quite some time then you can get some results from 3 of these sessions a week, but if that is all you do, you won’t look anything like your favorite athlete or be mistaken for a fitness model.

Your best results will come from combining it with other forms of resistance training – or you can do a session in between longer workouts, as a maintenance workout.

Like most people, I need a time efficient workout now and then to keep my metabolism elevated.  It also serves as a nice break from more intense workouts – it can help you recover faster.

Tonight I combined the vibration platform with some joint mobility movements.  Besides being a very joint friendly workout, all the reflex muscle contractions helped increase my circulation and flush out some waste products.

Movement based workouts are good for relieving stress and keeping the mind fresh, something we all could use.  I spoke once of “fire and ice training”.  This would definitely be a good example of the two extremes – high and low intensity.

Get moving!

Brian

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