Rapidfire Fat Loss and Conditoning

The following article was written by Louis Ling, an advocate of kettlebells and a freelance personal trainer.

Life has its pitfalls of ups and downs, hectic work schedules, a social life which often has been neglected. Here are some ideas on how to revamp your training routines and ideas to squeeze in that 15-30 minutes you have left of your day. We all know 24 hours is sometimes never enough…

My outlook towards training equipment has been a neutral one, everything is made equal – Each tool has its purpose and place.

The kettlebell however, is a superior conditioning tool for fat loss and to improve your anaerobic work capacity. It’s versatility is bar-none to anything else that has been created in the strength and conditioning world and it will unlock your capacity to reach your goals if its towards conditioning and fat loss.

Circuit training has been used for a long time now, be it in military or uniformed groups which boast the cardiovascular intensive workouts to boost work capacity, circuit trainings are extremely useful with fat loss too. Who said Cardiovascular exercises must be boring jogs, walks, long bike rides which allows you to soul search or moving around like a bad skiing trip stuck in mud on an elliptical trainer?

If you’re looking for an effective fat burner within a short period of time, then circuit training is your answer.

How does circuit training work for me?

High work loads coupled with short rest produces lactic acid which stimulates secretion of anabolic hormones – Growth Hormones. Growth hormones are a power agent to mobilize fat, this together with oxygen deficit from messy conversion of energy, ATP – ADP; Adenosine Triphosphate to Adenosine Diphosphate or simply known as the EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) mobilizes fat and burns more calories than low intensity, steady state cardiovascular activity. There is much research and studies being done about high work loads, low rest ratio type of exercise regime, and most studies have concluded that fat loss is the results of it. The EPOC effect boost your metabolism instantly and it continues on for up to 36 hours and sometimes even longer.

What about improving my work capacity?

Circuit training conditions your body to handle high lactic threshold, the very same burning sensation that you feel when you’re doing repetitive movement over and over again without resting. We’re using the same principles but in a progressive manner.

Enough with the science! Lets cut to the chase!

Okay, so lets start with selection of kettlebells, how heavy do I need?

For men, I recommend if you’ve just started training or have less than 1 year of training experience in the weight room, a 16kg kettlebell will suffice. When you get stronger, you can gradually shift to 20kg and so on.

For ladies, I recommend an 8 kg kettlebell and when you’re stronger, shift to a 12kg and so.

If you’re cash strapped, get a single kettlebell, if you have the extra cash get a pair of the similar weight.

Remember that what you’re going to do is going to be tough mentally and physically, there is no need to rush nor push to make it harder.

Correct form and technique is the epitome in the strength and conditioning world. Without this primary principle, you’d injure yourself which will impede your progress and that is the last thing you want to do.

Strive to manage fatigue, and do more work in less time with correct form and not knock yourself out with heavy weights that you cannot handle.

So how do you choose the exercises?

Lets look at the basics of exercise physiology, the basic 6 movement that every exercise spans from.

• Horizontal Push – Bench press, Dips, Push ups
• Horizontal Pull – Inverted/Barbell/Dumbbell Rows
• Vertical Push – Military Press, Jerks
• Vertical Pull – Pull ups
• Quad Dominant – All Squat Variants, Lunges
• Hip Dominant – Dead lifts, Kettlebell Swings

How do I put them all together?

First you need the proper equipment, if you can afford a pair of gymnastic rings, get it.

With gymnastic rings, you are able to do all Horizontal Push/Pull movement (Ring Push Up, Dips/Inverted Rows) and Vertical Pull movement (Pull ups)

A set of rings is a infinite investment as there are many other exercises that can be done with it too.

It is small enough to keep it aside to and hang it up if you wish to use it, so if you don’t have one, its time to save up.

Then you have your Kettlebells - You can use them for your Horizontal Pushing/Quad Dominant/Hip Dominant Movement – Military Press/Lunges,Squats/Swings,Dead lifts.

Beginner’s Circuit

Lets start with a simple circuit all done back to back with no rest within a set amount of Rounds/Repetitions

One lower body + two upper body (One Horizontal Push and one Vertical Pull.)

An example would be:

Rounds – 5, Repetitions – 8reps of each exercise in a round

Lunges + Push ups + Chin ups

OR

Swings + Military Press + Inverted Rows

Intermediate/Advance Circuit

Two lower body + Three upper body

An example would be:

Rounds – 3, Repetitions – 10reps of each exercise in a round

Lunges + Push up + Dead lifts + Inverted Rows + Push ups

The list goes on and on, and only limited to your imagination and work capacity!

Tips/Caution and points to review again:

• Try not to place two lower body exercise back to back when you design your circuit
• If at any point of time you’re out of breath, need to stop for a break, don’t hesitate to do it but don’t cheat yourself if you’re no where near your limit.
• Always practice good form and technique, don’t allow your ego to take over.
• Progress slowly, don’t be too ambitious. Start small and increase very slowly.
• Experiment around with the Rounds and Repetitions to find what is comfortable for you and design it to suit your current fitness level
• Always strive to do more work with good form and technique and don’t force the timing if you can’t

Now you have acquired the art of working out within 30 minutes or even lesser, there is no reason why you can’t attain your fitness goals!