Weight Loss Exercise

 

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Weight Loss Exercise

by Nev Dodds
author of 'Fat Loss For The Rest of Us'

"What's The Deal About Weight Loss Exercise?"

Weight loss exercise - isn't that just about any exercise? you might ask. And surely, the more of it, the better?

Well, that's true essentially, but there are still a few things that you should understand about weight loss and exercise, if you want the best results.

For one thing, some exercise methods are better than others for this purpose and, for another, the rate at which you exercise can affect how you burn fat.

When you consider how difficult it can be to fit an exercise routine into a busy life, it makes sense to ensure that you get the best return for your time and effort.

Years ago, before I learned better, I used to slog away at miles and miles of running, cross-country skiing, bicycling... I did everything at a high intensity because, when it comes to weight loss exercise, more is better, isn't it?

Well, not if my results were typical, no. I became a super-fit, overweight person. Even though I could obviously stand to lose more pounds, my doctors never gave me such advice, probably because all the other indicators looked so good...

... Low resting heart rate, absolutely normal blood pressure, huge lung capacity, oodles of energy.

But I still didn't feel good when I looked in the mirror. Vanity, I suppose, but when you know you can look better than you do, it's human nature to want to achieve the best look you can get.

So, let me tell you how I discovered about effective...

Weight Loss Exercise 

The sad part was, even though I'd been messing around with all this exercise for years - without achieving the weight loss I craved - I just kept right at it.

Why? Because everything I'd ever heard or read suggested that exercise (of any description or intensity) was the only way to get rid of that excess body fat. It was all just a question of burning calories.

It took a chronic injury to cure me of that delusion.

For some time, I'd had recurrent problems with my Achilles tendons. Those are the two bits that connect the calf and soleus muscles to the heel bone. I'd rested, recovered, then gone back to serious mileage for my runs again and again - only to end up barely able to walk six months later, each time!

Sometimes, it was so bad that I couldn't even hobble around a tennis court. When you can't play your favourite sport, it's obviously time to take stock of what you're doing to your body.

It was plain that jogging/running was going to cripple me if I persisted. So I looked around for a better way to stay fit and lose fat.

Which is when I bought my cross-country ski machine. No impact for the feet meant no pain in the Achilles tendons, so I was able to exercise as much as I wanted. Luckily, the ski machine came with some instructions and suggestions for exercising. It also had a heart rate monitor, so I was able to gauge intensity of exercise while doing it.

By trying various exercise routines, I was able, over the course of about a year, to establish what sort of exercise worked for shifting body fat. In other words, what really worked as weight loss exercise.

Guess what? It wasn't the high-intensity stuff I'd been doing on my runs.

Instead, I was able to use the skier at a much lower heart rate - around 60% to 70% of my maximum HR. I still worked up a sweat, of course, but I was able to listen to music, learn a language, watch television - whatever I wanted, because I was just chugging along at a reasonable pace.

Once I had established that I didn't need to break personal records every time I exercised and I could still burn fat, I was a convert. I suppose that I must have lost a little of my previous super fitness. But, once I got lighter, I was faster round a tennis court anyway, so that was fine.

Doesn't Eating Count?

Of course, weight loss exercise alone won't do the trick for body fat. You do have to eat properly, too. Face it, if you're burning fat through exercise but still adding it to your body through eating badly, all you're doing is slowing down the rate at which you gain. 

Better than gaining faster, sure - but not as good as losing that body fat.

As I had found to my cost, too much exercise at too intense a pace didn't burn just fat, it also consumed muscle! (Which slowed down my metabolism and made it harder to use energy when I was resting).

So, strange as it seemed to me, I was able to exercise less, at an easier pace, and still shed more body fat than I had when I was killing myself with over-training.

Weight Loss Exercise - How Much Is Right?

I found that three times every week did the trick. But I alternated the cardio exercise with resistance training, that is, lifting weights.

Why? Because I realised that I needed to put back some of the muscle I'd lost by over-exerting myself.

What I found was that the combination of both was the ideal form of weight loss exercise. If you alternate cardio and weights, you increase your recovery time from each. You also avoid the boredom that comes with doing the same sort of exercise day after day.

And what sort of intensity is right?

Check out this chart below, to find your own target heart rate band. They're based on 60% to 70% of notional maximum heart rate for ages in steps of 5 years. (If you're in between ages shown, just use the lower figure at first).

Check your age along the bottom line, then read off 
the target heart rate band up the vertical line

Why a start point? Why not an absolute figure?

You'll notice that there's not a single figure for each age group, but a band. So, for a 30-year-old, the HR target is somewhere between 114 and 133 beats per minute.

That's because we're all different. Most HR charts assume that our maximum heart rate (max. HR) is 221 minus your age. So a 50-year-old should have a max. HR of 171. That may be true statistically, but not individually. I know for sure that when my own max. HR should have been 180 or less, I could exercise at 186. Even if I ran faster (and I did!) it didn't increase beyond that point. So I used 186(!) as the start point for my calculations of HR intensity.

It's supposed to be safest to assume your max. HR will be 'normal'. But you may find out with experimentation that when you aim for (say) 65% of max. HR in a workout, you actually shed fat better at a rate just above or below that figure.

(And I should add at this point that you should of course consult your doctor before embarking on any new exercise regime, because he/she knows your medical history and therefore what's best in your own case).

Okay, so that's intensity taken care of, but what about the best form of...

Weight Loss Exercise?

If you're very overweight, the low impact exercise is best. Your joints already take a pounding from just walking. And jogging / running might mean your body fat straining muscles, since it tends to keep moving in the opposite direction to the one you've just taken!

Elliptical trainers and ski machines are very low impact and the best models allow you to exercise your upper body at the same time as your legs, thereby increasing the effectiveness within the time period.

Static bicycle trainers or spinners can be good, but you don't get much upper-body benefit. If you're alternating cardio days with weights days (as I suggest you should) then that might not matter much in the long run.

Row machines can be effective, but may give problems of balance for the very large person.

Brisk walking is effective, costs nothing but some sturdy shoes, and can be done just about anywhere.

Even riding a road bike is better than not exercising, but the varying rate of effort depending on terrain and traffic can spoil the training effect. When you're walking, you can't 'freewheel' downhill, but you can on a bike.

Weight Loss Exercise - How Much Is Best?

If you can manage three sessions a week of 20 minutes duration, that should be fine. Three times 30 minutes would be better, but we do have lives to lead.

Same goes for the weights. Three sessions of 20 or 30 minutes per week will show you good improvements in a satisfyingly short time. Plus, you get the 'body-shaping effect' of toned muscle earlier!

I advocate weights exercise for 8 minutes only within my 'Fat Loss For The Rest Of Us' method, but that's too long a subject to go into here.

Weight Loss Exercise - Summary:

For best results, exercise on six days a week, alternating cardio and weights to allow better rest and recovery. That means:

When you carry out your weight loss exercise, ensure that you stay within the fat-burning range. Even if you feel you could do more or go faster, resist the urge. You should save exercising for peak fitness until you have reached your fat loss target.

The best way to monitor your heart rate, if you're not using a machine that does it for you, is to buy a cheap wrist monitor (the sort that uses a chest band transmitter). That way, you know you're exercising correctly and optimising your fat burning efforts.

Stick with the plan, show some consistency, and you'll reap the benefits with a steady loss of that pesky body fat...

Weight loss exercise - it's easy when you know how!

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