Johnny O’Connor: Beginners Guide to burning fat

Connacht flanker Johnny O'Connor talks high intensity training and how to get the most out of your gym session.

By Johnny O'Connor

The battle of the bulge is happening every day; this is something we witness in our local parks or gyms all the time. Let’s be honest, there are a lot of people working out to drop some flab. The bingo wings and man boobs just are not in vogue at the moment. It doesn’t matter whether you train to simply look good or specifically for your sport, a healthy body fat level is very important and should be monitored regularly.

If you have decided that fat loss is something you’re going to invest your limited time and energy into, you obviously want to maximise your return. So don’t fall into the trap of continually doing steady state cardio. We’re told that by training in that way we are working in the optimal fat burning zone; sure you will burn a bit of fat – but not as much as you could.

So why would an apparent expert tell me this is the best way? Well most commercial gyms have a mountain of cardio gear and weight machines, which require little or no supervision and make it easy for them to pawn you off without having to invest any time in you whatsoever. Coaching is something that does not take priority in some off these places - unless you have the cash to invest in a personal trainer.

Yes there are a lot of ways to lose body fat but the quickest and most superior way is through resistance training. When you tag this with high intensity intervals or “workout finishers” you will be on your way to rapid fat loss and will no longer look like a melted wheelie bin. Not only does resistance training bring faster results it also improves your ability to use fat as fuel and turns your body into a fat burning machine.  Resistance training burns more calories while you are working out and continues to burn fat afterwards. It has been scientifically proven time and time again – simply put, it works.

Some People like comfort so they like low intensity cardio, they become the “fat skinny people” of the world. You do not want to look like this; it’s unhealthy and a waste of your time.

How it all works

We lift weight with intensity, which in turn burns a shed-load of calories. We put on muscle; with more muscle we use more energy and therefore burn more calories and fat - you then end your session with some high intensity work and your body is a furnace burning fat throughout the day

Training like this raises our resting metabolic rate (how much energy we use at rest), which is largely a function of how much muscle, we have and how hard it works. If we train in a way that promotes increasing muscle mass we will have a higher metabolic rate. When we increase the intensity in our session we create an effect, which is known as “exercise post oxygen consumption”. Basically our metabolic rate does not drop back to pre-exercise levels for a lot longer than other methods of training. This high intensity creates a massive metabolic disturbance, which keeps us burning calories, and fat for hours after our session has ended. In one study where circuit training was used for 31 minutes EPOC was elevated for 38 hours post workout - this is insane!

Now lets get real, you can do bodyweight resistance but if you want to get your metabolism cranking you got to lift some heavy tin and the pink dumbbells are not going to cut it. Heavier weights means more muscle fibre recruitment, which means more calories burned. Now remember you are not trying to become a power lifter; yea, you need to lift weight but don’t be silly, never push beyond your limitations - always leave one or two reps in the tank. You need to use exercise that involves pushing, pulling, squatting and hip dominant patterns while working in a rep range of 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets. For those of you that are more advanced you should add some heavier sets in the 4-6 reps range for the first few exercises; this will help maintain the muscle you already have.

The finisher…

Now the cream on top is known as a “work out finisher”. Finishing meaning you will not want to do any more - you are toast. A great way to end a session, it involves high intensity exercises with little rest. Your tool of choice varies; you could use a prowler (sled), weights or high intensity running intervals. It is short and sharp working from 5-10 min. You can work continuously with no break or have work to rest ratio of 1 to 1 .You do not need to puke but you should be prepared to become comfortable with being uncomfortable - I can’t remember who said that but I like them.

Diet

Diet is king; you have got to eat right to achieve your goals. You cannot out-train it. There are lots of different types but avoid the low calorie diets as they are just silly. Your body is smart, it thinks, “um I am not getting much food these days what’s wrong with this guy, why won’t he just eat. I am using all this energy and I’m wrecked - right lets slow things down not enough fuel to keep this ship running.” This type of dieting will grind your metabolism to a halt.

You have countless options when it comes to picking a diet. Just keep it simple eat some meat, veg and time your starchy carbs. You can try the paleo diet or intermitted fasting which people seem to be have huge results from - you just need to commit to one diet plan and follow through on it.

Diet info:

http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

Fat loss is all out war. Give it 28 days and only 28 days. Attack it with all you have, it’s not a lifestyle choice it’s a battle. Lose fat and then get back into moderation.