20 Jun
Blog

High-Frequency Fat Loss – What I Learned in Lockdown

When I came to terms with the reality of lockdown, I had to develop strategies that would help my customers continue to achieve their goals. I decided to use the time at home to lose some body fat.

Of course, sensible eating habits were essential, but since my usual physical activity was drastically reduced (this happens when you swap on the gym floor 8 hours a day to sit in front of your laptop), I had to be intelligent about my workout. One of the most important tools I've used for this is high frequency weighted cardio.

To be able to take a high-frequency approach with any training method, you need to be able to recover quickly. When it comes to high-frequency training, high muscle damage and days of pain are the number one enemy of the state!

There is an often neglected training method that causes almost no muscle damage, but provides a strong training stimulus. And that's the way I lean down during the lockdown. Here's how I developed my blocking plan.

Concentric training

There are two main phases of muscle contraction during strength training:

  1. Concentric muscle training
  2. Eccentric muscle training

The concentric phase is when a muscle shortens under tension. You can think of this as the lifting phase. The eccentric is when the muscle lengthens under tension. This is the lowering phase.

Most of the muscle damage occurs in the eccentric phase. By eliminating the eccentric phases, you can reduce the stress, muscle damage, and breakdown that occur with traditional training.

I would not recommend excluding all eccentric workouts from your program indefinitely as the eccentric part of the lift offers many benefits and is a key element of the size and strength puzzle. However, tactically removing the eccentric phase from certain elements of your training can have significant benefits.

Concentric training creates the potential for:

  1. Higher training frequency
  2. More volume

These are both very useful when it comes to fat loss. Even better, a 2017 study (Stock et al., 2017) showed that only concentric strength training (with minimal muscle damage) causes hypertrophy in just 3 to 4 weeks. Concentric training can help you slim down and gain (or at least maintain) muscle mass.

Studies show that only concentric training creates much higher metabolic requirements than eccentric training (Kraemer et al., 2001). Concentric training leads to significantly higher VO2 and lactic acid levels. These increased metabolic costs mean more calories burned.

Improved recovery through concentric training only

Concentric training is very popular in rehabilitation programs for injuries. In the early stages of rehab, many therapists use high-frequency concentric training as the first step in strengthening muscles.

Improved recovery from injuries is an advantage of concentric training. Improved recovery between sessions is also a big plus of concentric work.

Stimulating blood flow to the working muscles improves recovery time from one heavy session to the next. For this reason, only concentric training is a great addition to your regular workout.

Bonus training without overtraining

Concentric training means that you can do “extra” or “bonus” training with a much lower risk of overtraining. Concentric work allows you to get a training stimulus without the mechanical or neurological fatigue caused by regular exercise. As a result, you can do more training with minimal risk that it will interfere with your usual lifting sessions.

The more you can exercise without exceeding your recovery capacity, the better your results. The fact that concentric training gives you the opportunity to increase your workload without exceeding your recovery capacity is a huge bonus when it comes to winning the fight against body fat!

Lifts, concentric lifts and conditioning

Westside Barbell has made concentric sled training popular for conditioning work. Pushing and pulling a sled is an incredibly effective workout for burning fat. I have used it in the programs of countless customers with great impact. This is one of the best ways to maximize fat loss while minimizing muscle loss.

In contrast to conventional cardio, sledge work requires a relatively high resistance. This resistance signals the body to hold the muscles. So you don't lose the trouble of looking like a marathon runner when working with weighted energy systems.

Concentric training at home

Unfortunately, I don't have a sled or I don't have enough outdoor space to use one. Living in central London means that space is scarce. What I have are 6 stairs in my block of flats and I use them to get the same benefits of sledding.

Here's how:

  • I load my backpack with books and dumbbells
  • I go up the six stairs
  • I climb into the elevator and return to the ground floor
  • I repeat for 5-10 sentences

Going up is primarily a concentric activity. By loading my backpack with textbooks and dumbbells, I can add 50 pounds of external load. Climbing stairs is like a hundred weighted steps.

I climb into the elevator to go back down because I'm lazy. Obviously I'm joking, there is actually a method for my insanity / laziness. Going down with 50 pounds of extra weight requires a lot of eccentric work and a lot of muscle damage.

Walking up and down stairs would mean I was sore and it would take longer to recover. As a result, I would not be able to do this on a daily basis. Since I want to use this method as my daily cardio, taking the elevator down is the wise choice.

So if you have a backpack, something heavy and a staircase, you can isolate yourself.

Now it looks like a sense of normalcy is returning, although I think some people still choose to exercise at home until they feel comfortable when they go to a gym. Connect to mine on my Tom MacCormick Instagram account and send me a message if you need help.

26 Feb
Blog

5 Weight Loss Principles That Say It All

Weight loss is very important for boxers if they want to successfully make weight for an upcoming fight,

While this is usually more important for boxers outside of the super heavyweight (amateur) and heavyweight (professional) divisions, Anthony Joshua's recent success against Andy Ruiz has been largely attributed to his ability to keep moving around the ring, which he almost certainly benefited from had lost a significant amount of body weight six months earlier since their first fight.

For every boxer who needs to lose weight, there are two simple rules to follow:

Rule 1: You must have a calorie deficit.

This is when you consume fewer calories than you burn every day. The easiest way to check if you are in deficit is to log your food intake with a food tracker (such as My Fitness Pal) so you can see how much you are consuming compared to what you need to eat depending on your height, gender, age and level of activity.

Rule 2 You must have a calorie deficit over a longer period of time.

Most people have problems not being able to stick to a calorie deficit.

A typical approach that many boxers use is to simply keep their food consumption to a minimum. Although this is an effective way to be in a calorie deficit, the energy level will remain extremely low and you will not be able to exercise and recover properly.

It is critical that the weight loss plan is sustainable and easy to follow. With that said, here are my five principles of boxing weight loss diet.

Principle 1: Make the plan comfortable

A very easy way to do this is to allow 10-15% of your calories from whatever you want.

Remember, as long as you have a calorie deficit, you can actually eat anything you want and still lose weight. Another trick is to make your food tasty with herbs, spices, spices, etc.

Principle 2: Get the protein in

You need to be sure to eat 1.8-2 g of protein per kg of body weight.

Protein not only helps you to recover properly from an intense workout, it is also an excellent way to satisfy your hunger.

Protein is found in meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. Protein supplements are a good idea if you don't eat enough protein from other foods.

Principle 3: focus on vegetables and fruits

In order for this principle to work, you need to eat at least five different types of fruit and vegetables a day.

Fruits and vegetables contain a lot of nutrients. The more nutritious your diet is, the more energy you have – and the better your hunger and appetite are controlled.

Principle 4: sleep, sleep, sleep

Your body needs to rest and recover, so it is very important that you have more than 7 hours of sleep every night.

A clear connection between sleep deprivation and increased hunger has been established. If your goal is weight loss, this is counterproductive to your goals. If you get enough sleep, you can also maintain a good level of energy.

Principle 5: Use re-feed days

A re-feed day is when you have an additional 500 kcal per day. Ideally, these calories come from carbohydrates (500 kcal = 125 g carbohydrates). You can have up to two feeding days per week.

Refill days can help keep your hunger and energy at bay.

Apply these five principles and I guarantee that it will be much easier for you to stick to your eating plan and gain weight without the drama of hunger and low energy.

24 Feb
Blog

5 Weight Loss Principles That Say It All

Weight loss is very important for boxers if they want to successfully make weight for an upcoming fight,

While this is usually more important for boxers outside of the super heavyweight (amateur) and heavyweight (professional) divisions, Anthony Joshua's recent success against Andy Ruiz has been largely attributed to his ability to keep moving around the ring, which he almost certainly benefited from had lost a significant amount of body weight six months earlier since their first fight.

For every boxer who needs to lose weight, there are two simple rules to follow:

Rule 1: You must have a calorie deficit.

This is when you consume fewer calories than you burn every day. The easiest way to check if you are in deficit is to log your food intake with a food tracker (such as My Fitness Pal) so you can see how much you are consuming compared to what you need to eat depending on your height, gender, age and level of activity.

Rule 2 You must have a calorie deficit over a longer period of time.

Most people have problems not being able to stick to a calorie deficit.

A typical approach that many boxers use is to simply keep their food consumption to a minimum. Although this is an effective way to be in a calorie deficit, the energy level will remain extremely low and you will not be able to exercise and recover properly.

It is critical that the weight loss plan is sustainable and easy to follow. With that said, here are my five principles of boxing weight loss diet.

Principle 1: Make the plan comfortable

A very easy way to do this is to allow 10-15% of your calories from whatever you want.

Remember, as long as you have a calorie deficit, you can actually eat anything you want and still lose weight. Another trick is to make your food tasty with herbs, spices, spices, etc.

Principle 2: Get the protein in

You need to be sure to eat 1.8-2 g of protein per kg of body weight.

Protein not only helps you to recover properly from an intense workout, it is also an excellent way to satisfy your hunger.

Protein is found in meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. Protein supplements are a good idea if you don't eat enough protein from other foods.

Principle 3: focus on vegetables and fruits

In order for this principle to work, you need to eat at least five different types of fruit and vegetables a day.

Fruits and vegetables contain a lot of nutrients. The more nutritious your diet is, the more energy you have – and the better your hunger and appetite are controlled.

Principle 4: sleep, sleep, sleep

Your body needs to rest and recover, so it is very important that you have more than 7 hours of sleep every night.

A clear connection between sleep deprivation and increased hunger has been established. If your goal is weight loss, this is counterproductive to your goals. If you get enough sleep, you can also maintain a good level of energy.

Principle 5: Use re-feed days

A re-feed day is when you have an additional 500 kcal per day. Ideally, these calories come from carbohydrates (500 kcal = 125 g carbohydrates). You can have up to two feeding days per week.

Refill days can help keep your hunger and energy at bay.

Apply these five principles and I guarantee that it will be much easier for you to stick to your eating plan and gain weight without the drama of hunger and low energy.

22 Feb
Blog

The 4-Hour Fat Loss Elixir For Busy Lifters

Years ago you were young and had little responsibility. They wanted to build muscle, lose fat and gain superhuman strength. You trained for two hours six days a week. You felt invincible.

Then you have matured and life has changed.

Today you are dealing with high-level work projects, They have family celebrations to attend. Training days six days a week for two hours per session are long gone. You're in luck now if you exercise for an hour two days a week.

The pounds have crept in. You feel lazy and tired. The thought of being in the gym for two hours is as painful as growing grass. You need an iron workout plan that gets you in and out of the gym within four hours or less a week so you can dominate every day.

If only there was someone who could put together the potion that would allow busy lifters to maintain strength and protect muscles while losing stubborn fat.

Well, look! I present the 4-hour fat loss elixir for busy lifters.

Put a stranglehold on your muscle

The first instinct for some lifters is to swap workouts for hours with slow, boring cardio at steady state. I understand because I was there.

Four years ago I lost 14 pounds in one year. Ten came from fat and the remaining four were stolen from muscles. You may think four pounds is not a lot, but it's massive in an athletic 5 "and 170lb frame.

Imagine putting up four lean, delicious 16-ounce steak fillets. Now imagine these fillets as thick muscle plates on your back, chest, shoulders or arms.

It is the difference between a "thin fat" body and a muscular body,

It makes a difference whether you have enough muscle to fill a medium or large shirt.

Learn from my mistakes. If you want to show a slim and muscular body, don't skimp on weights.

A calorie deficit is required for you to lose body fat. You need to burn more calories than you consume, If you're in a calorie deficit, maintaining strength and muscles is key. When you consume fewer calories, your body wants to draw energy from every available source. Sometimes it wants to enjoy muscles.

Don't let that happen. Your body needs a reason to protect your hard earned muscle. Lifting weights is the solution. If you consistently practice the three mechanisms for muscle growth during a fat loss phase, you will keep a muscular body during fat loss. What are you?

Mechanism 1: mechanical tension

This is the process of progressive overloading or an increase in strength over time, You need to generate as much force as possible across the entire range of motion.

In rare cases, someone has to do their maximum with one repetition on one elevator. You should do repetitions in the range of 3-5. Pull the right muscles together and lift the weight with maximum strength with each rep.

Mechanism 2: muscle damage

Do you have to forget your muscles? No!

You can cause muscle damage in several ways. Create muscle damage using a slower pace for the eccentric (unloaded) part of an exercise, change an angle to target another part of a muscle, increase weight, or stretch a muscle under tension.

Mechanism 3: metabolic stress

Here you chase the pump. It is the time at the end of a set when your muscles are exhausted and you feel a deep burn.

The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn. Lifters with a higher muscle-to-fat ratio have increased energy consumption at rest. 3Even if you don't have a lot of time, you burn more calories while doing nothing because you have made lifting a priority,

The best approach for you is to lift to protect your muscles. Use your diet to lose fat. If you need a reminder, repeat this message for yourself or go to the old school and write it 100 times on a board like a child sent into detention:

"I will lift weights to build and protect my muscles. I will use my diet to lose fat. "

Protect your muscle with heavy days

The first two ingredients in your elixir are separate heavy training days for your upper and lower body. The goal is to maintain or build strength (in some cases).

Below is your preparation for heavy days:

  • CNS activation
  • Primary power movement
  • Antagonist force movement
  • Primary support exercise for strength training
  • Secondary support exercise for the antagonist power movement

Each session begins with an explosive movement to activate your central nervous system (CNS). CNS activation prepares your nervous system for the imposed neurological demands in the ongoing strength-based exercise. Jumps, throws and slams are perfect examples.

Next, continue with your primary strength movement of the day. By moving, your body responds better to building and protecting muscles by improving your neuronal efficiency. Why is that important to you?

Through neuromuscular adaptations to heavier loads, contractions can be performed powerfully and efficiently. This means that we can better utilize the full potential of our existing muscle mass.1 This leads to higher testosterone levels, a greater ability to build muscle in the future, and a better looking body

Each session ends with a support exercise for your strength movements, It gives you the opportunity to train the muscles that are responsible for maximizing every movement pattern. Use the so-called post-tetanic potentiation (PAP) because your CNS has been activated.

When your muscles produce maximum effort, this increases the ability of the nervous system to recruit muscle fibers during subsequent efforts. If you start a heavy workout, the rest of the workout will be more effective because you can recruit more muscle fibers. 4 Use heavy / moderate weight for the support exercises.

Protect your muscle with easy days

The next two ingredients in your fat loss elixir are two separate light training days for your upper and lower body, The goals of these days are to give your CNS a break and force lactate production to release growth hormone for fat loss.

Remember that you are busy and stressed with professional and family matters. Exercising with heavier weights puts a huge strain on your body and your CNS. Give everyone enough time to relax from the intense neurological demands of heavy lifts.

The solution is to include two days with less weight. Your CNS does not have to be used for lighter weights. In these sessions, teach your muscles to bend and keep them under constant tension. They repair underdeveloped muscles and build a better connection between mind and muscle.

Their ability to keep tension constant for at least 40 seconds forces lactate production, which leads to the release of growth hormone. Growth hormone regulates the metabolism of the whole body, and exercise is the strongest stimulus to induce its secretion in humans. 2

Since we need to maintain tension longer these days, the reps are 12 or more with shorter rest periods between exercises. You stay focused, increase your heart rate and burn more calories because you work out more muscles in less time.

You also have to encounter muscle failure during some exercises, Muscle failure is the signal for muscle growth and protein synthesis. Sure, your goal is not to build muscle. However, stimulating the process of protein synthesis during a fat loss phase increases your body's ability to maintain muscles. An error is achieved by expanding sets with two methods: drop sets and pause / pause.

  1. With drop sets, you train shortly before failure. Then drop the weight between 15 and 25% and do as many repetitions as possible until the error occurs.
  2. With rest / break sets, you also train shortly before the failure. Then rest for 10-15 seconds. Once the time is up, you can do more repetitions until it fails.

Below you will find your preparation for light days::

  • Representatives of 12+
  • error
  • One-sided exercises
  • Antagonist supersets

When life goes crazy and the trips to the gym are inconsistent, your muscles become fragile, Do you feel that one arm or leg is weaker than the other? You may find it difficult to play your muscles on one side of your body.

If one side is weaker than the other, you feel that you are not getting enough of your workout. Regain your muscles with one-sided movements and feel invincible again. One-sided refers to a movement in which each side trains independently.

One-sided training helps you to correct imbalances in the muscles, improve your explosiveness and sportiness and make your training more varied. Every day of light begins with a one-sided superset.

They do antagonist supersets so you can squeeze multiple muscles at the same time without losing strength, This method consists of pairing two exercises of opposite muscle groups in a superset (two successive exercises). There is a short pause between exercises and a moderate pause after one set of both has been completed.

Your training plan

Day 1 – Day of the heavy lower body

  1. Vertical jumps – 3 x 5, pause 60 seconds
  2. Front squats – 5 x 3-5, break 2-3 min
  3. Barbell RDL – 4 x 6-8, break 90-120 sec
  4. Bulgarian Split Squat dumbbell – 3 x 8-10 per leg (slowly eccentric), break 75-90 sec
  5. Lying or sitting hamstring curl – 3 x 8-10 (pause / pause in the last two sets), pause 75-90 seconds

Day 2 – rest

Day 3 – Day of the heavy upper body

  1. Tilt Plyo Push Up – 3 x 5, pause 60 sec
  2. Incline barbell bench press – 5 x 3-5, break 2-3 min
  3. Pendlay Row – 4 x 6-8, pause 90-120 sec
  4. Dips – 3 x 8-10 (slow eccentric), pause 75-90 seconds
  5. Supinated pull-ups or supinated lat pulldown – 3 x 8-10 (pause / pause in the last two sets), pause 75-90 sec

Day 4 – Day of the light lower body

  1. DB Reverse Lungs – 3 x 12 (per leg), pause 45 seconds
  2. Weighted hip joint with one leg – 3 x 12 (per leg), break 60-75 seconds
  3. Leg press – 3 x 12-15 (pause / pause in the last two sets), pause 60 seconds
  4. Leg extension – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), break 30 seconds
  5. Pull cable – 3 x 12-15, pause 60 seconds
  6. Hanging leg raises – 3 x 12-15, no break *
  7. Kettlebell Swings – 3 x 20-25, pause 60 seconds *

* Finisher for the session

Day 5 – rest

Day 6 – Day of the light upper body

  1. Single arm DB Z Press – 3 x 12 (per side), rest for 30 seconds
  2. Single arm row with split posture – 3 x 12 (per side), pause 60-75 seconds
  3. DB flies tend – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), break 30 seconds
  4. Tilt DB Reverse Flyes – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), pause 60 seconds
  5. Lean Away Cable Curls – 3 x 12-15 (3 seconds peak contraction), pause 30 seconds
  6. Triceps pushdowns – 3 x 12-15 (drop set on the last two sets), pause 60 seconds
  7. Shrug – 3 x 15 + 10 sec. Hold the last iteration, rest 30 sec
  8. Side elevations tend – 3 x 15 + max. Partially, pause 60 seconds

Day 7 – rest

Your best approach to muscles

Life is short. Don't spend ages in the gym. Each training session should not last longer than an hour, Take four to six weeks and use this plan to make yourself feel invincible again. You deserve the chance to dominate work, rest and play every day and in every way.

references::

1. Helms, Eric, Andy Morgan and Andrea Valdez. The muscle and strength pyramid: training. United States: Muscle and Strength Pyramids, LLC., 2019.

2. Ignacio, Daniele Leão, Diego H. Da S. Silvestre, João Paulo Albuquerque Cavalcanti-De-Albuquerque, Ruy Andrade Louzada, Denise P. Carvalho and João Pedro Werneck-De-Castro. "Thyroid hormone and estrogen regulate growth hormone release induced by exercise." Plos One 10, no. 4 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122556.

3. Rolfe, D.F. and G.C. Brown. "Cellular energy use and molecular origin of the standard metabolic rate in mammals." Physiological Reviews 77, No. 3 (January 1997): 731-58.

4. Thibaudeau, Christian and Paul Carter. Maximum muscle bible. Saint-Raymond, Que´bec: F. Lepine Pub., 2016.

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