Before diving too deep, it’s important to establish that your nutrition and sleep are critical factors when it comes to fat loss.
Think of these as the fertile soil that will allow your training results to grow.
Time Is Your Limiting Factor
The demands on your time are significant and it’s unlikely that you’ll magically find an additional 5 hours per week to workout.
Given your time restraints, the following 2 principles are important if you want to achieve sustainable results.
1) Include the most effective training methods
2) Create a training plan that can be done consistently
Top 5 Training Methods For Fat Loss
1- Strength Training
This type of training should be the foundation of your program. Strength, or Resistance training, burns calories, builds lean muscle mass and elevates your metabolism.
Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the biggest factor in determining the number of calories you burn on a daily basis. Your RMR is largely a function of how much lean muscle you have on your body and how hard it works.
Since strength training helps to build and maintain your muscle mass better than any other type of training, you’ll want to include this in your plan to increase your metabolism. This includes Maximal Strength Training and Muscular Endurance Training.
Ladies, you will NOT start looking like a man or “get bigger” by lifting heavier weights. If this were true, you would have continued getting bigger from holding your children as they got older.
2- Power Training
This type of training is designed to produce a maximum amount of force as quickly as possible.
The basic formula here is Strength + Speed = Power.
Exercises typically associated with power training are Medicine Ball Slams / Throws, Kettlebell Swings and Snatches and Box Jumps.
Given the explosive nature of this type of training, a smaller number of repetitions or shorter work period is necessary. Too many reps or too much time will come at the expense of power.
3- Interval Training
Almost any exercise can be trained in intervals which is simply a defined period of work and a defined period of rest.
An example would be doing 3 rounds of push-ups for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds of rest.
Strength training, power training and conditioning can all be performed using intervals.
In this context, we are performng Interval Training at a moderate intensity level with equal work and rest periods. There are countless interval combinations and circuits you can create with this type of training.
For example, power training intervals would have shorter yet significantly more intense work periods and longer rest periods.
4- Steady State Aerobic Training
This type of training is just good steady conditioning work at a consistent pace.
This type of training is designed to improve your Work Capacity and overall endurance.
Getting stronger isn’t very useful if you’re exhausted quickly.
If you’re using a device that can track your heart rate, you’ll ideally keep your heart rate between 115 and 140 beats per minute for 20 to 30 minutes (or more) with this type of training.
Steady State Aerobic Training doesn’t have to be confined to 30 minutes on a treadmill. Check out this post for adding a little excitement into your conditioning!
5- Complexes and Chains
Kettlebells are fantastic training modalities for Complexes and Chains. However, these can also be completed with barbells, sandbags, medicine balls or dumbbells.
A Complex is a series of exercises strung together without setting the kettlebell (or other modality) down to rest. A great example of a Complex would involve a Clean, Squat and Press. You would perform 5 repetitions of the Clean, followed by 5 repetitions of the Squat, followed by 5 repetitions of the Press.
A Chain is also a series of exercises strung together without having to set the kettlebell (or other modality) down to rest. Let’s use the same 3 exercises (Clean, Squat and Press) for comparison. You would perform 1 repetition of each exercise (1 Clean, 1 Squat and 1 Press) and then repeat this sequence 4 more times.
Complexes and Chains are fantastic for Fat Loss because they involve the entire body and allow you to efficiently perform more work in a shorter amount of time.
Managing Your Training Time For Fat Loss
Don’t limit yourself with the question of which method is best (strength training or conditioning).
Multiple studies have found that combined training methods produce the best results.
Just like you wouldn’t limit yourself to Oxygen or Water, a well rounded training program will include different applications within strength and conditioning.
How To Structure Fat Loss Training
If you can only train 2 days per week consistently, we recommend 1 strength training day and 1 conditioning day each week.
For the person who can consistently train 3 days per week, we recommend 2 days of strength training and 1 day of conditioning.
When you can consistently train 4 days per week, you have a little more flexibility. This could have 3 strength days and 1 conditioning day OR 2 strength training days and 1 conditioing day.
If you’d like to work with a group of experienced coaches to reach your fat loss goals, contact us today to schedule your free No Sweat Intro.
