Summer’s getting closer and it seems like this article is just in time. This past week, I’ve been outside every day and it has absolutely rocked.
In Part I of this series, I wrote about eating for fat loss. In this article, we’ll actually break a sweat and talk about exercise.
The Most Effective Fat Loss Program Ever
When it comes to losing fat, besides good nutrition – nothing works better than lifting heavy ass weights. Now, I’m not saying to go out and just lift heavy things (even though this isn’t a bad idea), but there is a specific way of pairing exercises to maximize fat burning.
The method I’m about to teach you is specifically for experiencing the fastest fat loss possible. This should not be confused with body recomposition (losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time), which deserves its own separate blog post. The following method may help you build a bit of muscle, but its main goal is shedding fat off of your body. This is always a great place to start.
In Part I, I taught you about the purpose of growth hormone, and how it is an overall badass that will help you stay lean and look sexy as all hell. When exercising for fat loss, we want to maximize both growth hormone production and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC; I will tell you what EPOC is a little later).
Maximizing Growth Hormone
If you want to maximize growth hormone production, then you have to get lactic acid into the blood. This will make the blood slightly acidic, and then tell the brain to produce more growth hormone. Now, how the heck are we going to get the body to produce lactic acid? Well, we want to make as much lactic acid enter the blood stream as possible. This can be achieved by supersetting upper body movements with lower body movements, decreasing the rest period, and varying the lifting tempo.
Supersets
When supersetting upper and lower body exercises, I’m a huge fan of going one step further and combining a lower body push with an upper body pull (and vice versa). I’ve written about this before, used it with my clients, and seen other top strength coaches (Geoff Girvitz, Charles Poliquin, Alwyn Cosgrove, Craig Ballantyne, etc) use it with their clients. We all use it because it works. Think of all the lactic acid that can be produced in the whole body by training the legs and the upper in the same set. Brutal.
Lifting Tempo
This is where we step it up a notch and start to hate life. I want you to explode through the concentric portion of the lift, and yield a 3 second eccentric. For example, if you are bench pressing, lower the weight for 3 seconds, then push the weight back up explosively.
Rest Period
If you want lactic acid in your system, then you do not want a complete recovery. Keep rest periods between 30 to 60 seconds (work your way down to 30 seconds rest between exercises).
Reps and Sets
I like to use a rep range of 6-12 reps. If you are lifting for a higher number of reps then you will do less sets than if you are lifting for a lower amount of reps. I know that this sounds like a huge range, but you can go through different cycles (training phases) and start at 3 sets of 12 reps in the first month, and work your way down to 4-5 sets of 6 reps in subsequent months (or training phases).
Example Superset with Rest Periods, Reps, Sets, and Tempo
| Superset | Sets | Reps | Rest Between Exercises | Tempo |
| 1A: Romanian Deadlift | 4 | 8 | 45 sec | 30X0 (3 seconds eccentric, exploding concentric) |
| 1B: Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 8 | 45 sec | 30X0 |
Complexing For the Advanced
If you really want to take things up a notch, check out this article: Complexes: Lose Fat and Gain Explosiveness at the Same Time. I wouldn’t suggest this until you’ve done a complete cycle of the above program.
Finishers for EPOC
According to Wikipedia, EPOC “is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity intended to erase the body’s ‘oxygen debt.’” All you need to know about it is that it will increase your metabolism for up to 48 hours after a workout. This means that you will burn more calories for doing nothing. It’s a good investment (if you ask me).
Workout finishers are a great way to promote EPOC. The finishers that I recommend are tabatas, intervals, circuits, and barbell/dumbbell/kettlebell complexes.
Example Workout for the Gold Diggers
Foam Roll
Warmup
Supersets
1A: Romanian Deadlift
1B: Dumbbell Bench Press
2A: Barbell Split Squat
2B: TRX Inverted Row
Finisher
Tabata on treadmill
Screw Long Slow Cardio
Want to waste your time, produce too much cortisol, and burn less fat than possible? Go for a 2 hour run.
Combining Exercise and Intermittent Fasting
Oh Baby. Here comes to the good stuff. Since I recommend a weekly full day fast (FDF), and daily fasting (16 hour fast, 8 hour eating window), then I might as well tell you the best times to workout for increased fat loss.
FDF
Don’t workout on this day, but you should keep busy though. Run errands. Do chores. Do some gardening. Find work to do. If you want to do something active, go outside for long walks. Hit up the beach and bask in the sun.
Daily Intermittent Fasting
We know that if we want to lose as much fat as possible, we want to keep insulin low throughout most of the day (the exception being after a workout, and possibly before bed). With that being said, the best time to workout is halfway through your 8 hour eating window (like Ferruggia’s Renegade Diet). Believe it or not, the only time that I would ever recommend training in a non-fasted state is when you are using the fat loss workouts listed above (for every other goal, workout fasted). By working out halfway through your eating window, you will still have low insulin all the way leading up to the end of your workout. After your workout, have a meal with protein and starchy carbohydrates. This will induce a quick spike in insulin, which will replenish muscle glycogen stores and lower cortisol.
Want to know about Part III of this series?
There isn’t a Part III. Sorry bro. Try out the methods I suggested above and drop a comment if you have any questions or concerns.
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