It’s a Mess…
In the U.S.A. smoking causing more than 430.000 deaths per year and obesity is following right behind.
What a shame for the fitness industry!? I feel ashamed about the fact that my guild was not able to lower these numbers significantly and help people live healthier. Fat loss is not easy, but in the last 40 years, we got it all wrong…
Problem #1
At the beginning of the fitness boom in the 1960s, we started copying the training programs of the leanest people in the world: Endurance athletes.
We hoped that if we train like the leanest people in the world we would become lean too!? But fat-loss was never the goal of endurance athletes. It was aerobic speed to run a faster marathon. Fat-loss was just a side effect!
Problem #2
In the late 80s, the whole fitness industry followed the next big thing: Bodybuilding.
We saw that these athletes transformed their bodies within months to look amazing on stage. The Physique Transformation Hype was born. And every gym in the world started promoting bodybuilding as the ultimate tool for fat loss.
Again we used the programs of full-time Athletes and copied them to the general population as a fat-loss magic pill. Without success because bodybuilders are extreme athletes working out every day with extreme methods and extreme diets. They are the most dedicated people I know. Which is not the quality of the general population.
Honestly…Do you know someone so dedicated to train every day for 90-120min and eat like a bodybuilder!? Not my buddies…! And I would concern me extreme, too.
Problem #3
Fat loss is always the quest for the extreme and new things that we are not doing right now. Because the fitness industry makes us believe that we need radical and extreme training and nutrition regimes to make fat loss work.
The Process of Fat-Loss
Okay let’s start with honesty: There is no secret training method, no magic pill, and no wonder-working diet that will solve our fat loss problems at ease.
Low carbs, low fat, aerobics, fat-burning zone, and what else is out there sounds like the ultimate solution to our problems. But they are probably the biggest lies in the fitness industry. These words play with your feelings of insecurity about you and your body.
So let us start with a better approach to the concept of fat loss!
Understanding your metabolism
If you know how your body burns calories then you can evaluate if a training program is effective for fat loss.
Metabolism or metabolic rate is simply the body expenditure of energy. Everything that the body does requires energy. The largest percentage of your metabolism is the resting metabolic rate (RMR, 60-70%). This is what the body requires to maintain its basic functions in a resting environment. The more muscle a person carries the higher the RMR is. This is why strength/muscle training is such a big factor in an effective fat loss program.
Another metabolic demand comes from the thermic effects of food (TEF, 10-20%). It’s the energy cost to process food in your body. Some foods cost more thermic energy than others. Fat got 3% of TEF, then comes carbohydrates with 15-20% of the TEF and protein with about 30%. By manipulating the three macronutrients we can regulate the TEF for more fat loss effects.
The last part of the body’s caloric needs is the calories required from activity levels (AL, 20-30%). This is the easiest part to understand and execute because everybody knows how to train. Training has become the sole of fat loss programs. But this is an inherently flawed approach to fat loss because now we know that it is only 20-30% of the total equation. The calories consumed in a training session are not as important as the RMR! For example, you burn almost 1000Cals in aerobic-based training but only 400Cals in a strength training session. But the strength sessions support the RMR more significantly than the aerobic training which burns also a big part of your muscle mass.
How to increase metabolism?
When it comes to fat loss our biggest goal is to increase metabolism. This is only possible by the combination of these four factors:
- Burn as many calories through the RMR by more muscle mass
- Burn more calories through the TEF by adjusting the macronutrients
- Burn calories through metabolic disturbances by strength training
- Create a gap between total metabolism and intake by increased calories burned and so that calories consumed can be as high as possible!
This happens when effective resistance training is implemented, adequate-protein is consumed. Then the body will burn calories also from its fat stores.
Create a fat loss effect
The fat loss effect includes a two-step process: Mobilization, transport, and oxidation.
STEP 1: Mobilization
Fat is stored in fat cells. To lose fat, we need to transport fat into the muscles where it can be burned as fuel. The body needs to recognize a fuel shortage and be forced to use other energy stores in the body.
There are three major energy stores:
- Carbohydrates: stored glycogen
- Protein: Lean Muscle tissue
- Fat: Stored body fat
The basic strategy is to keep the glycogen levels low by diet and intense exercising so that the body feels a constant glycogen deficit which has to be refilled by other energy stores.
But how do we mobilize fat into the bloodstream and therefore into the muscles It is Simple. Mobilizing body fat requires triglycerides that breaks down the stored body fat into free fatty acids. This is the only way to transport fat through the bloodstream and to the muscle cells.
When blood sugar and insulin are low they both activate HSL (Hormone sensitive lipase). HSL activates triglycerides which break stored-fat into free fatty acids.
So we need to ramp up HSL to burn fat effectively. This can easily be done by high-intensity training techniques. The higher the intensity of the training
the higher the HSL level and the better the fat loss effect!
STEP 2: Transport & Oxidation
After the free fatty acids arrived at the muscle cell they have to pass the guards to enter the muscle cell.
Imagine this: We are at the airport and the free fatty acids are passengers from an arriving flight. The guards are carnitine who let you pass through control gates. The more guards aka carnitine are there the better and quicker you get through the control.
So fat-loss is also promoted by a high amount of carnitine. Muscle glycogen must be low to allow a high amount of carnitine to have optimized fat oxidation.
So we need to deplete muscle glycogen through metabolic work (strength and interval training) and diet. Then we have a perfect fat-loss equation we can execute:
high levels of fat mobilization + high level of fat oxidation = fat loss
How can EMS training help?
Well at this point regular training might be the clearest solution to the problem! But regular training brings some problems with it…
Problem #1: Strength training can be dangerous and you need some expertise to find a safe exercise to get the intensity you need for mobilizing fat effectively.
Problem #2: Intensity itself is a tricky thing. Especially strength training beginners are not able to find the right amount of intensity for their training. Or even do not know how to handle it.
Problem #3: Muscle tension is key. To get stronger and to lift heavy weights safe you need muscle tension.
To all these problems EMS is a great solution! Our functional EMS Suit is designed to do nearly every exercise you can imagine, but without an obscene amount of weight on it to create intensity.
So functional EMS training is the safest way to do your strength training. The intensity comes from the tension the suit creates! So you do not need to put more plates on the bar to intensify the effect. Only ramp up the stimulation. 20min of EMS training equals 3-4h of regular training which shows how intense this training is. But it also shows that you can save time with EMS training! 3 times 20min each is enough to create an awesome fat loss effect.
If you are interested in this kind of training then take look at our visionbody Home Suit. Yes, that’s right! EMS is not a gym solution. You can do it at home too! Or in your garden, running, whatever your jam is!
Visit us on our homepage and take a look! It’s worth it.
