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Today I just wanted to drop a quick note to share a few things.

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1.  FitJerk Interview

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Today an interview was posted that I did with a guy that calls himself FitJerk.  If you hadn’t guessed by the name, he calls himself this because he’s delightfully pleasant, politically correct, and loves to sip tea and eat crumpets.  *Note the obvious sarcasm*.  He’s actually a straight shooter and doesn’t take BS from anyone which is part of what made the interview so cool to do.  If you want to check it out you can do so HERE.  (Some language in this interview not suitable for work or those who are offended by such things).

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2.  Thoughts on Intervals

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I was recently asked to write a piece for the Ontario Society for Health and Fitness Bulletin (which is an evidence based publication) on my thoughts on interval training for fat loss.  Interestingly, they paired it up with another article on the same topic that presented a different viewpoint.  You can check it out HERE.  (My stuff is on page 3).

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3.  Last call for Muscle Imbalances Revealed Upper Body

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Yesterday I wrote a post on why I think MIRU is going to be solid.  So today I just wanted to remind you that the sale where you can save $70 on this product will end at the end of the day TODAY.  After that, the price will go from $77 to $147!

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Of course, if you’re still leery about shelling out the dough, I also want to remind you that there is a 60 day money back guarantee on this product so if you’re interested in checking out the product, I’d highly advise that you take advantage of the deal now before the price jumps.

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So that’s it.  Last call.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  :)

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Muscle Imbalances Revealed Upper Body <– Get it now before the price goes up!

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I have a confession to make.

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I use interval training with my clients for fat loss.

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For those who are new to this blog this will probably come as no surprise as interval training is pretty trendy and everyone and their mother “knows” that interval training is better than steady state exercise for fat loss.

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However, my regular readers will know that I’m not buying this at all.  As far as the research is concerned, I don’t think that there is any evidence to date showing that interval training is vastly superior in terms of total fat loss compared to steady state exercise.  In fact, there are only a handful of studies (less than 5) actually looking at this and the differences in fat loss between groups are actually quite small.

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To further complicate matters, in studies where intervals and steady state have been compared, there was no calorie restriction.  As I mentioned previously, adding exercise to diet rarely yields additional weight loss so I’m wondering just how much of an extra effect intervals would have if this was added to the mix.  I’m guessing the divide between intervals and steady state would get even smaller!

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Until a study is conducted where steady state is compared to intervals with dietary restriction and a similar amount of mechanical work,  I think the jury will be out on the true effectiveness of this method for fat loss.  I could be wrong, but in the end, I think they may just pan out to be even.

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Of course, some might find this shocking given the amount of media hype about how intervals will make you lose 26 pounds of fat in 18 seconds.  But the truth is, that if you prefer steady state exercise or you don’t love puking on your shoes after repeated sets of sprints, you don’t necessarily need to jump on the interval bandwagon if you want to get lean.  After all, people used steady state exercise to get lean for years before intervals were “in”.

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So why would I use intervals in my fat loss programs???

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One word.  TIME.  I certainly don’t believe that intervals are better, but I know they are faster and that is where I believe the big distinction is.  Maybe it is semantics, but I don’t think it is fair to tell people that intervals are superior when the research doesn’t support it.

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If you only have time for short bouts of activity then I’m in full agreement that intervals are a good choice (which is why I think so many facilities that use them feel intervals are superior).  But for those who prefer steady state exercise and have more time available for this I don’t feel that we need to force them into interval training.

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Both work.  Find what you like, get it done, and be consistent.  Diet is probably more important anyway.

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What do you think?

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As most of my frequent readers know, I’m an avid reader of anything and everything to do with fitness and nutrition.  Today I’d like to share with you some of the stuff I think is worth reading this week.

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1.  Interview with me by Ben Bruno

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In case you missed this last week, my friend and up and coming strength coach Ben Bruno (his blog seriously kicks ass) interviewed me about training, fat loss, mullets, and everything in between.  I think this is possibly my best interview yet.  Check it out HERE.

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2.  High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise and Fat Loss

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You’ve probably heard me ranting (as in the interview above) about the relative usefulness of interval training for fat loss.  Well…just today I recieved the email update from The Journal of Obesity and it featured a great review on the research on Interval Training for fat loss by Dr. Stephen Boutcher.

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His conclusion (for those who don’t feel like reading the whole thing) is as follows:

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“The effects of HIIE on subcutaneous and abdominal fat loss are promising but more studies using overweight individuals need to be carried out. Given that the major reason given for not exercising is time, it is likely that the brevity of HIIE protocols should be appealing to most individuals interested in fat reduction. The optimal intensity and length of the sprint and rest periods together with examination of the benefits of other HIIE modalities need to be established.”

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It should be mentioned that the protocol created by his team that uses 8 second intervals with 12 seconds of rest that I described in THIS ARTICLE appears to be the best researched backed interval method for fat loss that I’ve seen to date.  I still think the results are pretty modest and not worthy of the hype intervals get, but if I’m going to use intervals this is the method of choice…for now at least.

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*Note that this review did not include Dr. Lemon’s latest study which shows similar amounts of fat loss for intervals versus steady state running.  Again…faster, but not necessarily better.

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3.  Factors that may impede the weight loss response to exercise-based interventions

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I’ve said before that exercise is often unable to provide much benefit over and above diet alone for weight loss.  However, it is important to remember that individual differences do apply and it does work for some (men more than women), but not others.  This review talks about these differences and makes recommendations on the use of exercise for weight loss.

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And finally, I want to congratulate Chris Krattiger on winning Mike Boyle’s Functional Strength Coach 3.0 last week.  Chris, I’ll be in touch shortly to get your mailing info.  Everyone else, keep reading.  More stuff to come this week!

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PS: Please feel free to read the articles above and discuss in the comments below.

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A couple weeks ago on StrengthCoach.com I called out the masses to defend the current practice of using interval training for fat loss.  As a result, a great discussion followed and I think everyone took home some great information.  I was also asked by my friend Chris Kelly to share some of my thoughts on intervals.

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Check our discussion on his blog HERE.

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PS:  Yes ladies, I think he’s single.

In my recent article Intervals Don’t Work I discussed the scientific evidence surrounding the use intervals for fat loss.  By why, if science says intervals aren’t that much better than endurance exercise, does everyone report such great success with intervals?

In my mind, there are a few possible reasons for this:

1.  Actually Doing Cardio

Before interval training became en vogue, many people weren’t doing much (if any) cardio.  Whether it was due to fear of cardio burning off hard earned muscle (which it doesn’t), boredom from endurance style cardio, or lack of the “cool factor” associated with intervals people just weren’t getting it done.  The additional calories from doing something instead of nothing could easily account for the “success” of intervals for those that were previously doing nothing for conditioning.

2.  Working Intensely

Many who were actually doing cardio before considered walking on a treadmill sufficient to burn calories.  Of course, exercising at this intensity is hardly different than sitting on the couch watching Gilligan’s Island reruns so it should come as no great surprise that doing high intensity interval work brings about greater results.  Had they done higher intensity steady state work the result would likely have been similar.

3.  Efficiency

Those that were doing cardio before and doing it with success (i.e., busting ass and burning kcals) realized that it takes time and hard work to lose extra fat via cardiovascular exercise.  Intervals (even if not technically better in terms of fat loss) were a welcome addition since they made achieving the same results possible with less of a time commitment.  So not better, but faster.

4.  Appetite Supression

While everyone knows that it is quite possible to burn off the same number of calories from endurance or interval training, intervals have the added bonus of appetite supression.  This could lead to less eating for those who are doing intervals and not consciously dieting.  It could also result in greater ease in sticking to a nutrition plan for those who need a more formal eating plan.  Personally, I lean slightly toward this as the most likely player for the relative success of intervals because the calorie deficit from any exercise is fairly dismal compared to the calorie deficit that can be achieved with food.

What do you think?

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