Fat Loss Myths

Fat Loss Myths

With all the television ads, advice from misinformed friends and assumptions there's bound to be a few myths out there. However, some are a lot more commonly believed than you would think. Many people are so desperate to lose weight they will try any outrageous diet or workout tools. Here's our guide to bust those myths and tell you how you should be training.

Myth One - Spot Reduction fat loss

Many people want to loss fat on a specific part of their body, usually the stomach. They think by doing thousands of sit ups and crunches they'll eventually burn off their stomach fat.

This however is not true. Your genetics determine where to store your fat reserves and how much. This means the only way to lose fat in your target area to you reduce your body fat throughout your body by having a good diet and cardiovascular regime.

Myth Two - High Reps to burn fat

With this myth people assume for reps equals more work therefore burning more fat. However, this is not the case. Studies have shown that moderate reps (8 to 12) with a heavy weight will be more effective than higher reps with a lower weight.

Another thing to consider is that building your muscles will increase your metabolism and in turn shed the fat. The most effective way of building muscle is heavy weights with low reps (5-8).

Myth Three - Starving yourself

Not only is this really unhealthy for your body, as your are starving it of it's vital nutrients and minerals that it needs to function properly, but this also a very ineffective way of weight loss. Your body will slow your metabolism right down and will conserve as much fat as possible.

For effective weight loss, eat around 500 calories less than your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Eat lots of protein and try to cut down on carbs. Do cardiovascular exercise at least 3 times a weeks and try HIIT which is the most effective form of cardio for burning fat.

Get HIIT Fit!

Get HIIT Fit!

Let yourself go a little this Christmas and found yourself feeling a little too festively plump? Here's out guide to shed the fat in minimal time. It's all about HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training. This revolutionary new form of training will avoid the tedious hours on the treadmill at the gym with only a 15 minute workout necessary three days a week. In tests by the Laval University it burns up to nine times more fat than conventional low-medium intensity training.

How it works

1. HIIT exercise speeds up your body’s metabolism and stays in this fat burning mode for up to 24 hours. For faster and maximum results do your HIIT in the morning on an empty stomach and then refrain from eating for another hour. This will force your body gobble up your fat reserves for energy!
2. Varying intensity rates prevent your body from going in to 'Steady State Mode' where your body gets used to exercise and tries to preserve calories. This can happen in traditional forms of cardio and affect your results.
3. It's 50% for effective at burning fat than low-intensity exercise.
4. It's an excellent way of improve your VO2 Max, which the maximum amount of oxygen you can absorb. This will have obvious health and fitness benefits.

HIIT Workout

1. Warm up. Jog at a steady pace for 5 minutes.
2. Sprint as fast as you can, using maximal effort for 15-30 seconds
3. Return to your jogging pace for around 2 minutes to recover
4. Repeat this 5 times, even more if you can manage it.
5. Cool down and stretch off.

As you progress make sure increase your sprint times and reduce your recovery times to see best results!