Creating a fat loss cardio program & keeping goldfish alive.

A couple of months ago someone at my house had the bright idea of buying some goldfish.  Ok, so off to the pet store we went. Each of my sons got to choose which fish he wanted from the thousands of feeder goldfish.  Great, I thought, each fish was only 28 cents. Somehow, by the time we got out of there I had spent $100 on two 28 cent goldfish. What?  Yes, $100.

You can’t have that tank, you need this tank.  Don’t forget the filter, the food, the water treatment goo, the blue rocks, fake plants, fish scooper, tank scrubber and lastly the sunken pirate ship.

By the time it was all set up, Fishy Crackers and Batman Speed had some sweet new digs (yes, the boys each named their fish).

There was of course a problem, we had no idea how to take care of them. As of this writing we are currently the proud owners of Fishy Crackers III and Batman Speed III.  And yes, we did the “parent” thing and switched them out without telling the kids. Easy to do with fish. Yes, I feel guilty.

Each time we went for a replacement we had a conversation with the fish guy a the store.  It was likely we were feeding them too much, not changing the water enough, and not doing other stuff too. One thing the fish guy suggested was to take the tank scrubber and stir up the rocks.  That would kick up the old matter at the bottom and the filter would suck it out.

So what am I getting at?  Well first off, I got to rant about paying $100 for 2 goldfish( I feel much better, thanks), but more importantly it set up a great fat loss analogy. 

When working out for fat loss, there are 2 important things you must do: Mobilize and then utilize body fat.

So what is the difference?   It can get very chemically and biologically complicated, but you know me, I don’t let science get in the way of me making a point.

When we say “mobilize” we basically mean accessing the body fat and releasing it the blood stream. Cool right? Intense exercise does that pretty well.  There are several tricks you can use to make this happen more efficiently (certain supplements really help), but interval training has proven to be a real champ at getting this done.  The problem can come later.  So you have released the fat to be used as fuel, but if your body does not then use that fuel for something it can easily be re-deposited. That would just suck.  All that hard work to release the fat and then it just ends up right where it started.
That is where utilization comes in.  We need your body to have a reason to use the fat as fuel.  If you have set up your diet well and there is a sufficient caloric deficit then there is a good chance that the fat will be used as fuel and not re-deposited.  But what if I told you there was a way to make certain it got used, and super charge standard cardio to make it worth doing? Standard cardio can utilize fat for fuel fairly well.  But here is where many people get it wrong, standard cardio while good at utilizing fat for fuel can’t do so (at least not very well) if fat has not been previously released.

Get ready, here  it comes.

So let’s kick up some dust and get back to the fish analogy: Fish guy told me to stir up the rocks (interval training), then let the filter suck out the kicked up matter (cardio). Get it?  To create a insanely effective cardio program to augment your already solid fat loss weight training program what you have to do is simple- just combine interval training with standard cardio to reap the benefits of both.

Here is how I would set up a interval/cardio routine:

5 -10 mins warm up
4-8 mins interval work
20-30 mins cardio

You can play with the timing quite a bit, but the basics are simple: warm up, hit the intervals, walk for a while.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: The addition of a “cardio” training component assumes that you have time to add it in. Prioritize your fitness training events. Weight / Resistance training should be at the top of your list as that has the biggest metabolic bang for your buck.

Fat loss can be as tricky as keeping gold fish alive, or it can be as simple as learning how to properly care for them.  Once you know the guidelines it is not that tough.  I wish you luck in your fat loss endeavors, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Wish me luck with my fish.

Joshua Carter, CPT
http://carterfitness.com