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Short Workouts, Big Fat Loss

By Craig Ballantyne
HealthLife.com Contributor
Updated: June 23, 2008
So many questions on TT, so little time. Here's a Q'n'A session all about the benefits of Turbulence Training.


Q: Craig, could you explain to me why long slow cardio doesn't really work for fat loss and how your system of training has helped thousands of people shed fat and gain lean muscle?

CB:
First, let me clarify my opinion of "cardio" and "aerobics". I know slow cardio can work for fat loss, but those who get the most benefit are often young, heavily muscled males with time on their hands and genetics on their sides.

They can workout 6 or 8 hours per week and have lots of muscle so even if they lose a bit, it won't matter.

But for people that only have 2-3 hours total exercise per week and want a buff body, rather than a skinny, weak physique, I have found that slow, traditional cardio is not the way to go.

Slow cardio is just not efficient for overweight women (i.e. those that use it most!), and slow cardio works less the longer you use it. You'll hit a plateau pretty fast with a cardio-only approach.

Those are my observations.

And realize that when I talk about training for fat loss, I'm almost always talking about getting the most results in the least amount of training time - because that is the population I deal with. I don't work directly with fitness models that have 8-10 hours per week to train. Things might be different there, especially the closer you get to the competition.

But for real life, slow cardio is one of the last places I would turn for fat loss help.

And because there are millions of men and women out there with little time to train but a real need to lose fat. Because there are so many of these people out there that have relied on slow cardio in the past, when they switch to the Turbulence Training approach, it's an almost overnight success story. Hence the high volume of great feedback we have on the program.
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Q: We live in a very fast paced society. People don't have the extra time for anything these days, especially long workout sessions. Can people get real results with training programs that only take 10-30 minutes?

CB:
Certainly - as long as their nutrion is correct for 167.5 out of 168 hours per week.

That's right, nutrition is the real key to fat loss. With training, all you need to do is apply a relatively small amount of high-intensity exercise to your muscles and you'll sculpt them or build them, whatever your goal.

High-intensity exercise (strength training and interval training) ramps up your metabolism more than slow, marathon cardio training sessions.

And with training, there is a diminishing return on every set. So you can't expect 4 sets to be twice as good as 2 sets. As long as you get in 1 hard set, you are on the way to fat burning and body sculpting. Then just add volume as needed and as you have the time.

Q: Can you explain "turbulence" and how it ties into real fat loss and body transformation?

CB:
What happens is this...

During high intensity training, you apply "turbulence" to your muscles. That causes muscle/protein breakdown and glycogen depletion (which can be called "cellular disruption").

This increased cellular metabolic activity results in "afterburn" - that is, the burning of more calories after high-intensity exercise than you would have burned after low-intensity exercise such as slow cardio.

So even though you might burn more calories during a slow cardio workout (say 500 calories) compared to during an equal length high-intensity Turbulence Training workout (say 350 calories), you will burn a lot more calories after the high-intensity training session.

The net result is more calories burned in the 24 hour period with high-intensity training. Combine that with the muscle-sculpting benefits of strength training, and you'll have a better body in less time. Guaranteed.

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