Stop trying to train your way to fat loss!

One of the biggest mistakes people make when working on improving body composition is trying to train fat away. This normally manifests itself in the form of metabolic conditioning, hiit or whatever you want to call it.

EMOMs, AMRAPs, circuit training etc have no place in an effective and efficient muscle gain/fat loss program and yet so many people use it and worse, coaches still prescribe it as an effective method to try and attain that goal 🤦‍♂️

While this approach might make you “feel” good, it’s not going to help you retain muscle. Why? The non specific approach to muscles and inevitable breakdown of technique when you try to do things as fast as possible is the opposite of what’s required. For best body composition results you need to be training specific muscles very close to failure, to failure and sometimes beyond failure. This means a high degree of muscle specific mechanical tension which just can’t be achieved efficiently in the midst of a frenzied, full body AMRAP. 

Mechanical tension is what drives muscle growth in a calorie surplus and it’s that same mechanical tension that causes the body to retain muscle whilst in a deficit. By doing the incorrect training for the goal all you’re really doing is creating unnecessary and unproductive fatigue. 

Fat loss can be reframed as trying to build muscle whilst in a calorie deficit. Now you won’t actually build muscle because of the deficit but that approach to training is what’s going to help you retain muscle. This is vital for fat loss, otherwise it’s weight loss which is a completely different goal altogether. Weight loss doesn’t guarantee an improvement in body composition. It’s entirely possible to be lighter but not more toned (Google skinny fat for examples) and actually probable if you use training methods that don’t promote muscle retention. 

I’ve never encountered a client who didn’t care what they looked like as long as they weighed less.

If you need to create a larger calorie deficit without dropping calories further you will need to move more. In this case, purposeful walking is your best weapon. It won’t create lots of fatigue, won’t require extra recovery and won’t promote muscle loss. 

For optimal body composition results, create your calorie deficit outside the gym and focus all your training in the gym around trying to retain muscle!

Train Hard 💪 Train Smart 🧠