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Oh my.
New Years resolutions are already over two weeks old.
Few things, except maybe Kardashian marriage, end as quickly as New Years resolutions.
We’re a shade over 2 weeks into the New Year, and statistics show us over 65% of people have given up, opting to spend their “workout” gawking at hot chicks in yoga pants and watching Dom Mazzetti spewing bro-science instead of hoisting weight and training hard.
Yep—the resolutions for 2016 are fading into another average year despite your “promises” that this is the year you’ll get in shape. Here are three tips to keep your fat loss resolution in 2016.
Push Breakfast Back a Few Hours
Remember health class?
Bad question… Do you remember anything from health class besides joking with your friend Billy every time your instructor said “penis”?
Well, nestled between the birds and bees was a chat about breakfast being the most important meal of the day. Your teachers said. Your doctor, and even your dear mother.
They said something along the lines of, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day to stoke your metabolism and keep you full.”
I hate to break it, but these are only half-truths.
Most dudes that eat breakfast opt for a bowl of Cinnamon toast crunch, a doughnut, or a pastry at Starbucks with their vanilla soy latte. The vanilla soy latte is a problem in itself, but crushing a breakfast may lead a few fat loss issues:
• When you’re sleeping your body is in a fasted state, which uses stored fuels for energy. During this fast, your body spikes growth hormone, a powerful fat burning and youth-promoting hormone. Eating will down-regulate this growth hormone spike and slow fat loss.
• The larger your eating window, the more you will eat. This isn’t rocket science—If you have 16 hours to eat rather than 12 you’ll probably eat more overall. Fat loss is about burning more calories than you take in—a shorter eating window works to your advantage.
Conversely, pushing breakfast back a few hours has major benefits to losing fat:
• . Additional growth hormone spikes, promoting fat loss.
• . Improved insulin sensitivity. This means your body will partition food better, or use more of the nutrients you eat to build muscle than store body fat.
• . More dietary flexibility. If you need about 2300 calories per day to function and stay in a deficit, you’ll be able to eat greater portions at night when you’re more inclined to eat socially. This helps many of my clients enjoy their social life while still losing body fat.
The big takeaways on pushing breakfast back are more dietary flexibility later in the day, and improved insulin sensitivity and growth hormone release. If you can eat breakfast and still make progress, be my guest. But, if your fat loss stalls quicker than your pick-up lines, try extending your overnight fast and have lunch be your first meal.
Increase Your Training Density:
Training density is the amount of work done per unit of time.
Increasing the density of your training has two major advantages:
> You’ll increase the metabolic demand. Basically, by your cutting rest periods you’ll get winded, and burn more calories for greater fat loss during your workout. The goal here is to work over
• You’ll burn more calories after training. The more gassed you get during a workout the greater the oxygen debt. Like financial debt, the oxygen debt must be repaid. This happens through exercise post oxygen consumption (EPOC). EPOC dictates that high-intensity training creates a bigger metabolic demand that extends 24-48 hours after training.
For this time period, your metabolism is working double-time to gather in oxygen and thus, burns more calories and body fat.
There are a few simple methods to improve training density.
First, you can decrease your rest between sets. I would do one main exercise to build strength, like a squat for 5×5 and 2-3 minutes rest.
Then, decrease rest on all future exercises to 30-60 seconds.
Second, you can start pairing exercises together. Supersets pair opposing movements or muscle groups and have them performed back to back.
1a. Dumbbell Push Press 4×6, Rest 0
1b. Chin Up Rest 4×6, Rest 90 seconds
Momentum Building Morning Workouts
Momentum is a powerful thing. In sports, one play can completely change the attitude of a game and prompt a blow-out or massive comeback.
In dating, one home run boosts your confidence, improving your charisma and body language to attract infinitely more women going forward.
Fitness is no different—making decisions and seeing progress pushes you to stay the course and see your fat loss goals through. On the flip-side plateaus, getting “too busy,” and your social life can create negative momentum, leading to the “fuck it” phase.
Positive momentum is the most important factor to being successful on a diet, and my favorite way to build momentum is morning micro-routines.
Micro-routines are simple: Take 5 minutes and perform a bodyweight workout every single day.
These micro-routines give you a few major benefits:
• .By starting the day with a workout that works towards your goal, you’re reminding yourself that you can do this.
• . Increased energy: By hitting the snooze button you might as well punch yourself in the face and kiss your abs goodbye. Micro-routines get your body moving ASAP
• .Over time, these workouts really add up!
Here’s a sample Morning Routine for my clients. All exercises are performed in succession without rest. Rest after one set of all exercises.
1a. Push Up x10
1b. Inchworm x5
1c. Bodyweight Squat x10
1d. Plank x30 seconds
1e. Lateral Squat x5/side
If you did this even 5x per week for two sets, that would equal 5,200 push-ups and squats over a year. I’d venture that 5,200 push ups and squats would get you stronger, jacked, and more ripped.
Keeping your fat Loss resolutions doesn’t need to be brutally difficult, you just need the right set of behaviors to build momentum and stay consistent. Adding any one of these will boost your fat loss.
Add all three? Then you have a winning combination.