Accelerated Fat Loss

23 May, 2009 11:34 PM Posted by Albert K. Park
, 1 comments


The Sun blessed us with it's presence in Seattle today with temperatures in the low to mid 70's. For everyone that is laughing at us just remember, that's amazing for us and the next few days is only suppose to get better. With the heat of the sun also comes smaller outfits for the ladies including swimsuits and shirts falling off for the guys. For all you who are not out by a lake for Memorial day weekend I thought another fat loss article would be nice to get you ready for the next opportunity in the sun. (4th of July maybe!)

( High Intensity Interval Training Jon Drummond US Men's Track & Field)

I wanted to start this article off by promoting the outdoors instead of your whack corporate gyms any opportunity you get. Many of you might be saying: What the heck can I do outside? The outdoors doesn't have a Bench Press Bro! (haha). Well if you don't like to run, play sports, or do anything active, this is the perfect opportunity for you to take a look into High intensity interval training.



What is High Intensity Interval Training?
High Intesity Interval training is basically in a nut shell what it sounds like. It is an interval based high intensity cardio workout such as a series of sprints that demand higher oxygen intake and has higher levels of EPOC.

EPOC = Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption.

Increased levels of EPOC have actually been proven to burn more calories after your workout is done and for fat loss that is our main goal. Remember? Good.

In a study by Tremblay, two groups were compared involving endurance training (your elyptical, treadmill, stationary bike) and Interval training (sprint intervals). The endurance training group proved to burn up to twice as many calories as the interval training group however in the end when concluding results, it was shown that the interval training group had lost up to 9 TIMES MORE SUBCUTANEOUS FAT then the endurance group. Soggy vs. Rock hard. Governor Arnold vs. Conan the Barbarian

So you may be telling yourself at this point, "this guy want's me to go out there and do sprints, he must be crazy cuz there's no way that....." Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I hear you but I have some sample High Intesity Interval Training workouts you can do and some tips to make it bearable. So be open minded and I really don't care if the last time you did a sprint was in 10th grade P.E..

Workout A ( The workout I did today with a group in 70 degrees of awesome Seattle weather)
3-5 sets with a 1min break in between each set.
(1 superset)
20 reps V Squats
10 reps each side staggered pushups
10 reps each side jumping lunges
10 reps v sit ups
10 burpees
Rest......Repeat
(HIIT appoved I would say)
Followed by 6 - 12 Beach Man Sprints (I don't think I made this name up but maybe?)

Beach Man sprints = Lay face down or on your back with your head facing away from your finish. Lift yourself up as quickly as you can and sprint 30-40 yds, catch your breath on your jog back. Lying face down and on your Back is counted as one. Ha. Your rest is your jog back so make it slow, breathe in breathe out.

This workout will definitley get your EPOC flying higher on the grid, meaning more calories and fat melting away.



Staggering Schedule
Another option to incorporate an accelerated fat loss technique into your workout is staggering your lifting regimen schedule. By this I mean changing your set and rep range each workout and hopefully by know you have listened to a little of the things I have said and have ditched the traditional bodypart 5-6 day bodybuilding split for a full body 3 day split for focused fat loss. By staggering your set and rep range I mean following a scheme like workout 1 is 5 sets for 5 reps on your workouts than workout 2 is 4 sets of 10 reps and so on. So for a 3 day training split try this.
Staggering Sample
Workout 1 = 5sets X 5reps
Workout 2 = 4sets X 10reps
Workout 3 = 3sets X 15reps

When staggering be careful to not overtrain. Make sure your getting in your rest days and never workout more than 2 days in a row of resistance training.

Attention Ladies! And maybe guys.


If you are serious about fat loss and still haven't caught on to resistance training, NOW IS THE TIME! You may be saying "But Albert I don't want to get bulky and Buff!" Ladies, working out with light weights 1-3 times a week is not going to get you to look like a bodybuilder, don't flatter yourselves. There is as many guys out there as there are grains of sand who work out a lot more than you do with weights and still aren't even close to bodybuilder - esque. And the bodybuilding women work their asses off to get that look. So Listen up!


The reason for resistance training is it's high metabolic cost. Resistance training, especially full body workouts and exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and cleans require your body to use a higher level of energy. Compare doing a superset of squats and rows back to back to bouncing pretty on an elyptical for a few minutes. So start utilizing resistance training when you workout and focus on full body movements along with exercises that require higher metabolic cost.

(Jamie Eason definitley is hitting the weights, Yup. she sure is)

Albert's tip: try jump squats in a rep range of 15 - 20 to jump start that workout. 2-5 sets with decreasing rest times between sets. Also why not choose this summer to graduate those girl pushups into normal ones. (If you can already do pushups step it up with form and reps)


Explosive Gains with Explosive Movements

15 May, 2009 12:49 AM Posted by Albert K. Park
, 0 comments


Waking up sore is a great and obviously not so great feeling! Great in the sense that it's reassurance and physical evidence of your hard work but it also sucks because you will probably be walking around like you got a yeast infection for the rest of the day. (sorry for the visual but it's true)
Despite the inevitable outcome of minimal to no gains, I still see countless guys following the same mundane 3 X 8 lifting schedules and ladies head straight for the elyptical to only hope for the soreness and gains they dream of. If it hasn't worked for you in the last 2 years what makes you think it's gonna work tomorrow. It's time to spice sh*t up. This is where Explosive Movements come into the equation.

What is an Explosive movement?
Don't be intimidated by the word Explosive at all,
( T.O. a product of Explosive Movements)
some may even know this movement as a power or reactive movement. It is usually a light weighted or strictly body weighted exercise that requires to be performed at maximum intensity and speed. These movements follow an eccentric (or downward) movement followed by a quick and intense concentric (upward) movement.

Benefits of Explosive Movements.
1.) Increase in strength: Alright you bench/squat-aholics, if your like most gym rats you probably already know some of these movements but refuse to incoroporate them into your workouts because your workout is the best right? Wrong fool. By utilizing Explosive training you increase neuromuscular efficiency, rate of force production, and it provides focused strengthening of tendons and ligaments.
- Also you work strength gains past your limited range of motion.
Ex. Your bench press works your strength up to the point where your arms are locked and fully extended. By utilizing an explosive movement like a bench press medicine ball throw, you train your muscles to utilize it's strength past it's set range, which is necessary to propell the ball into the air. So now your body doesn't slow down at full extension when your doing your bench press but can accelearte all the way up at a stronger and quicker speed. Get it? Good!

2.) Increase in Cardiorespiratory work (heart rate/fat loss) : Explosive movements are not only for the guys trying to get Cock Diesel (Cock Diesel = A state of maximum muscle gain where you receive the verbal response of Oh Damn!) Explosive movements are an ideal technique for individuals who are looking for goals of maximum fat loss. So ladies this is a movement you can definitley incorporate into your workouts to reach a myriad of different goals including toning and fat loss. The requirement of high intensity and maximum speed all translates into higher demand of heart rate which equals more calories burned which then equals toned body.

Explosive movements = increased required energy = increased heart rate = higher calories burned = lean body

Some of my Favorite Explosive movements
Chest:
- Explosive hand clap pushups/ladies can perform this on their knees
- Flat bench medicine ball throws.
Legs:
- Box jumps (make sure to stand up once on top of box)
- Single leg box jumps
- Vertical jumps
- Split leg box jumps
Back:
- Explosive pullups (try releasing the grip at the top for a split second then regripping on the way down)
Abs:
- Medicine Ball slams
- Sledge Hammer swings (If your gym has one like at Hocevar Performance)
- Dead weight slams (Again if your gym has one like at Hocevar Performance)

Application of Explosive movements
- For individuals seeking strength gains, an ideal opportunity to incoporate Explosive movements would be following a strength set of 4-6 reps in an exercise that works simliar muscle groups. So either immediatley or after a 15-20 sec break of your strength set exercise.
- For individuals seeking fat loss and toning goals, you can do the same after a strength set exercise of a similar muscle group or mix into a superset of a completley different muscle group.
- A key note is to remember that since you are using lightweight, you will often hit higher reps if you are performing these movements alone. If you are performing them after a strength set, aime for 5-6 reps of the explosive movement.

Ex. Sample workout
Strength gains
1a.) Bench press 5 reps
1b.) Explosive push up 5-6 reps
2a.) DB squat 5-8 reps
2b.) Box jumps 5-8 reps
3a.) BB lunges 5-8 reps
3b.) Single leg box jumps 5-8 reps

Fat Loss
1a.) Pushup 10 reps
1b.) Box jumps 10 reps
2a.) Rows 15 reps
2b.) Vertical jumps 10 reps

Albert's Advice
For a focus on fat loss, try utilizing the Explosive leg movements into your workouts. The larger the muscle group being worked, the more energy and calories are being spent. I also like to design it into the beginning of workouts because it will get your heart rate up early.
- Box jump advice: Squat down as fast you think you will explode up on to the box, it will help you develop the necessary momentum to get on the box. Always try to land softly, which will work your deceleration muscles, mainly the quadriceps as opposed to the gluteus maximus used for explosion.






Fat Loss for the Summer

06 May, 2009 7:56 PM Posted by Albert K. Park
Labels: , 1 comments




I was just reminded what time of the year it was when a friend had asked me to design a program for him. Sometimes in the Seattle area we forget the time of year due to freak weather, Monday is gorgeous with sunshine and highs of 77 degrees and Tuesday is a lovely 41 degrees with torrential rains. His ultimate goal was an improvement in health and energy through a focus in fat loss. So considering that the summer is just a stone's throw away and many of you might be interested in a program to shed some body fat, I know I am! I thought I would share some key concepts behind a fat loss program.


Today at the gym when I went in to do my workout, this guy approx. 6"3 around 255lbs and soggy, approached me in between a set and this is how the conversation in all its awkwardness went.........


(Cristiano cut up playing futbol for Portugal)


Meat Head: (while eating a protein bar in my face) "Hey can I borrow those DB's? I just wanted to work with them before I get out of here?"

Albert: "Uhh, yeah go ahead man."

Meat Head: "Yeah your workout looks pretty intense, maybe I should try something like that, I've been bulking for the last 2 months and now I"m gonna start to cut!"

Albert: (after I saw him lifting heavy low rep chest exercises on machines today) "Hey, good luck with that buddy."

Analysis:
This guy didn't know the first thing about cutting let alone bulking. He said he was cutting but he didn't have a trace of sweat on his body. Everything I did that day was to improve functional strength while conditioning my muscles. It was intense, but not really, just to the untrained eye. He seemed to be following a workout out of a Muscle Magazine, that's great and all because they can have some good information in them, but just remember that you can't write one program that will work for every single reader. Also, for all you out there lifting, don't where a medium t shirt when you really need an XXL and try not to go around talking to people while eating a protein bar because it will kind of make you look like a big idiotic tool.



The shakedown on Fat Loss:
In order to increase fat loss you need to focus on efficiency and adaptation. Not in the posistive sense but the fact that those two things are whats preventing you from being a fat melting machine. The more strain on your body to learn new and unfamiliar exercises the greater turnover of proteins in your muscle fibers. The product of this is an increase in your metabolism. So changing your workouts will keep you from adapting to the exercises. The less you are efficient with the exercises, which we induce by increasing/decreasing reps, we cause your body to experience more stress. Products of stress includes, adrenaline which leads to more blood flow and energy for your muscles to use to burn fat.

(That body looks pretty toned Miss Fox!)


Let's start melting the Fat:

I am going to mention four key points to keep in my mind during a fat loss program, which are metioned in "The New Rules of Lifting" by Alwyn Cosgrove, a fitness mastermind in the industry who is often sought after by many magazines like Men's fitness.

1. Total Body: During a fat loss program you want to focus on total body workouts. The more muscles that are worked in your body the more energy and calories are consumed. Try to focus on larger muscle groups like legs, back, and chest. Think about it, take a second! What's harder doing a bicep curl or squat. Yeah, let it sink in.


2. Superset/Circuits: Don't let the word superset intimidate you, it is nothing more than alternating two exercises. You do one exercise than immediatley after completing it you go into your second exercise and then rest. (That would be 1 set by the way) This is something anyone and everyone can incorporate into their workouts. There's a 75 year lady who supersets body weight squats with lat pulls. Dead serious!


3. Hard work Progress!: You need to constantly improve every week! Huh? you ask. Progressively working harder is going to keep you from becoming efficient and adapting to your workouts. One way to do this is to increase your weight.

4. Slowly decrease rest periods: When you initially begin a program that incoporates ciruit work and alternating sets you will quickly realize how freaking tired you are. It's okay to use 70-80 seconds of rest to catch your breath between sets so you can do quality sets but don't get used to the rest time. Slowly progress to shorter rest periods from 75sec - 60sec - 45 sec. Also if you are doing cardio try doin high intensity sprints than timing how long it takes to catch your breath. Set a goal to decrease rest periods.


Bonus Note:
When planning your alternating exercises for your supersets, try choosing exercises that don't seem to relate to one another such as in the case of a prime mover and it's stabilizing muscles. An example would be going from a squat in to a row. Also don't forget the CARDIO!!!!!!!!!









If you need advice or any help designing a related program, feel free to contact me via email. Good luck.

Albykennethpark@gmail.com

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