I’m worried because I’ve got too much energy!

That’s not something that you hear every day (or every life time – it makes most people happy), but the other week a client named Alyssa came in rather concerned because:

#1.  She was dropping fat too fast (she had dropped 2.5 inches off her waist in the first 2 weeks).

#2.  She had too much energy.

She was worried that maybe there was some kind of stimulant in the Atkins protein shakes that she had been drinking as mid morning and mid afternoon snacks.  I assured her that other than the coffee flavored ones, they have no caffeine whatsoever.

Low Energy & High Body Fat Are Actually Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Accumulating extra body-fat and having less energy are actually two sides of the same coin – insulin resistance.

If you are prone to gain extra fat, then you have at least some degree of insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance is when your cells can’t “hear” or don’t respond very well to insulin.  Usually this is only in your lean (non-fat) tissue.

Lets say that you had a healthy breakfast of bacon, eggs and spinach.  Your body will be running off of fat afterwards.  Then lunch rolls around and you have a sandwich.  The bread from the sandwich will unleash a flood of carbs into your bloodstream that must be dealt with.

In response your body will secrete insulin.  The insulin sends the fat that you were using for fuel before back to your fat cells for storage in an attempt to force your body to burn off the carbs because blood sugar is toxic if it gets too high.

The problem is that if your lean tissue (non-fat) has any level of insulin resistance then it doesn’t respond very well to the insulin and can’t do a very good job of taking in the carbs, so blood sugar remains elevated.

In this scenario your lean tissue is actually being starved by the act of eating carbs:  the fat that your lean tissue was burning is unavailable, and they can’t really do a very good job of taking in the carbs, so the lean tissue doesn’t have enough fuel.  Hunger is determined by how well your energy needs are being met.  So you are both tired and hungry.

Since your blood sugar levels remain elevated (because your lean tissue couldn’t handle the carbs), your body releases more insulin.  At this point the carbs (energy) gets sequestered away in the only tissue that can take them in – your fat.

Carbs make susceptible people fat, hungry and tired.

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s top personal trainer for busy people. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Q & A: Better Results In 93% LESS Time

A friend of mine left me a voicemail message last night with this question about her workout, and since I hate giving free advice (people value it at $0 and do nothing with it) I decided to answer it on my Blog;-).

Q:  Last night I did a Tabata [explained in my reply] workout, do you think that 4min is enough for a workout?

A:  As always the answer depends.

BUT, before I get into that, let me make sure that everyone on the Blog know what a Tabata is.

Better Results In 93% LESS Time

In 1996 a Japanese researcher named Izumi Tabata discovered that you could do MORE to improve your fitness in 4min of very intense interval training than you could in an entire HOUR of regular old steady state aerobic training (such as jogging). (1)

The key word to take out of that previous paragraph is “FITNESS”, as in you will have better aerobic and anaerobic fitness with a Tabata vs. a one hour jog.  That is really cool IF your goal is to be better conditioned.

By the way, that is NO ONE’S goal.  Everybody comes in to me and gives me the politically correct answers up front, BUT what people really want is to look better naked.  And there is nothing wrong with that because you’ll do the health and fitness thing as a by-product of what it takes to look better naked.

The answer to my friend’s question is: “YES and NO.”  Yes, 2 to 3 Tabata’s will make a great fat-burning interval workout.  BUT, the hierarchy of fat-loss goes like this:

#1.  Eat better (did not say fewer calories)

#2.  Do metabolic resistance training (not bicep curls or leg extensions)

#3.  Do high intensity interval training (mush less important than #2)

I don’t think that most people will notice any difference from stuff like walking and jogging, so its pretty much just these 3.

So, if it was your interval day, then YES!  Good job.  If it was your lifting day, then NO.  A structured and long-term metabolic resistance training program will give you the biggest bang for your time invested.

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s #1 personal trainer for busy people.  He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have.  To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here.  You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

REFERENCES

1.  Tabata, I. Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and ?VO2max. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 28(10)October 1996pp 1327-1330