Why You MUST Be Inefficient For Maximum Fat Loss By Nick Nilsson
So here's the thing...when you're training to lose fat, efficient is the LAST thing you want to be. Now don't look at me like that. Allow me to explain...
Let me set the stage for you...you began your fat-loss training and all the weight training exercises were new and tough. All the cardio was challenging. The diet was rough. Yet you started losing fat FAST.
Then you started getting into the groove - you learned the exercises and training techniques, you got good at the cardio and could really power through it. Even the diet part was getting easier.
Now, you would think with things going this well (your training and eating actually improving as you were going) that your fat loss would actually be accelerated.
But then things started to slow down.
You're training just as hard. The cardio is tough but you've found your stride with it. The diet part is going well.
Is your metabolism slowing down? You take a few days off and eat more to try and reset your metabolism and then jump back in but things still aren't moving.
What now?
Time to go back to the drawing board and quite literally go back to when you were BAD at things!
Because when you were BAD at things, everything you did seemed to take more energy. It was inefficient. And in that inefficiency, you burned a LOT more calories...getting the idea now?
Let's take running as an example as this is a very visual thing. Look at two people...one is a first-time jogger, trying to get into shape. The other is an experienced runner.
Let's also assume these two people weigh exactly the same so they SHOULD be burning the same number of calories when they cover the same distance, right?
But when you see the poor guy slogging his way down the side of the road, barely lifting his feet off the ground and you see the OTHER guy practically floating past him, who do you think is burning more calories and challenging their body to a greater degree?
The guy who is completely inefficient is driving his metabolism to a whole other level than the experienced runner, even though the runner is probably going 3 or 4 times faster!
So here's the take-home lesson. When fat loss starts to slow down, you don't necessarily need to work harder at the same things you're already doing...you may just need to do something completely different!
Let's say you're used to doing barbell bench press for chest and rarely ever do dips. Even if you push yourself on the bench press, what do you think will get you cranked up more...bench press or dips? You'll be so unused to doing dips that your body will have to work a lot harder just to perform the exercise.
Then when you get too good at dips, switch to dumbbell bench press. Keep doing stuff you're NOT good at!
You want to really lose fat? Put together a program based on exercises you STINK at or rarely do (maybe because you stink at them).
You may have to use a lot less weight but I can promise, you'll kick your metabolism into gear far more than when you cruise through even tough sets of exercises you ARE good at.
Try a workout based on weighted dips, front squats, wide-grip barbell rows, hang clean and press, and stiff-legged deadlifts.
Or if you're good at those, go with exercises you're NOT good at. Force yourself to do them until you GET good at them, then move on to something else.
When it comes to cardio training, do you do interval training on the treadmill? Get out to an athletic field and do sprints there instead. Kick butt on the stair machine? Try some real stairs and see what happens! Or, even better, do something TOTALLY different like swimming.
I think you're getting the idea...when the body gets good at something, it gets lazy and efficient. It uses as little energy as possible and CAN use very little energy because it IS so efficient.
It might be tough on the ego, but by working with exercises you're not good at, you'll actually be speeding up your fat loss significantly.
And, as a bonus, you might just get good at exercises you used to stink at!
You want to really lose fat? Put together a program based on exercises you STINK at or rarely do (maybe because you stink at them).
