Q&A #2 - The Quickest Way to Lose Fat and Working Out When Tired

If you don’t follow me on Instagram (@mjttraining), you should. I’ve been doing Instagram fitness Q&A’s every Friday I’ve been getting requests through DM’s to elaborate on several of them so I figured this is a great way to share more in-depth answers with everyone.

Today’s Questions:

1. What’s the quickest way to lose fat?

2. Favorite squat assistance exercises?

3. Should I still work out when I feel super tired?

4. When should I use a lifting belt?

5. What’s a good workout to do on the Airdyne bike?

6. How do I build grip strength for deadlifting?

7. I missed a couple of workouts, should I just jump back in, repeat the week, or what?

8. Best ways to increase pull-ups

9. What’s more important, getting leaner or getting stronger?

 

1.       What’s the quickest way to lose fat?

There is no “quickest way.” You need to change your mindset. Small, consistent wins over the long term beat fast progress every time. Generally, the faster you lose weight, the more short-lived your progress will be. I’m sure you’d rather lose the fat for good.

You didn’t get overweight overnight. Usually people just put on 5-10lbs per year and it sneaks up on them. Even just gaining 2-3lbs every Christmas season for 10 years adds up – that’s 20-30lbs of extra fat! If it took you years to accumulate the fat, don’t expect it to go away (and stay away)
 in 8 weeks.

Instead, focus on changing the small habits that got you to where you are. This takes  a lot of critical thinking and constant effort, but will get you further than any crash diet or crazy training program ever will.

 

2.       Favorite squat assistance exercises?

If you’re training to improve a specific lift, assistance exercises that most closely resemble the lift will carry over the best. For squatting, I like:

·       Pause Squats – pause at the bottom for a 2-4 count, then explode up.

·       Pin Squats – set the pins in a power rack so the bar rests on them at the bottom. Descend under control, rest the bar while maintaining your bracing and tightness, then explode up.

·       Safety Bar Squats – focus on keeping an upright posture and keeping your knees forward. The bar will try to dump you forward. Fight it.

·       Front Squats – self-explanatory.

·       Single Leg work – split squats, lunges, etc, done for high reps to build muscle.

 

3.       Should I still work out when I feel super tired?

Probably. How you feel isn’t a lie, but it isn’t the whole story. I’ve had some of my best workouts when I was running on 3-4 hours of sleep and would’ve rather been anywhere but the gym. I’ve also had some of my worst workouts when I felt rested and ready to go.

I usually recommend showing up at the gym and starting to warm up slowly. If you start feeling better, great, get the work done. If you start feeling worse, reduce your weights, volume, or both. Choose low intensity conditioning instead of interval training. Etc. Don’t be an idiot but don’t trick yourself into thinking that you can’t train productively just because you’re tired.

 

4.       When should I use a lifting belt?

Whenever you want. Using a belt does not make your abs weaker; it just gives you something to brace your core against, which helps stability in all barbell exercises. You shouldn’t be relying on the belt to stabilize you. You have to learn how to use it effectively.

My favorite cue to learn proper bracing is “push your obliques into the belt.” This will create 360 degree pressure against the belt and brace you much more securely than just pushing your belly into the belt and possibly hyperextending your lower back in the process.

I recommend using a belt that has a uniform width all the way around, instead of a “bodybuilding” style belt that is wider in the back than in the front.

 

5.       What’s a good workout to do on the Airdyne bike?

Fan bikes are awesome, but they’re just a means to an end. They’re not universally better or worse than any other method of conditioning, so there aren’t any specific interval workouts for them.

However, these bikes do tend to lend themselves better to shorter intervals, say in the 10-60 second range. Rest periods will depend on your goals. The longer the interval and/or shorter your rest interval, the more heavily you’ll tax the aerobic system. Short intervals with long rest periods will tax you anaerobically. Your sport or job requirements will dictate how your structure your workout.

My go-to starter workout for general fitness is 20 seconds at a hard pace followed by 1-2 minutes of rest. This can be repeated 4-12 times depending on your fitness level. The 20 second “sprint” shouldn’t be all-out at first. You should be able to maintain the same pace for all of your intervals and not have a major drop-off in pace as you go through the workout. This type of workout will develop both high- and low-intensity endurance.

 

6.       How do I build grip strength for deadlifting?

Deadlift more! But seriously, train your grip specifically for the task. And ditch the straps if you haven’t already. My favorite method is to hold the last rep of your last set at the top for a 5-10 count. You could do this on multiple sets, but it may fatigue your hands too much.

Using a mixed/alternating grip is absolutely acceptable as weights get too heavy to hold double overhand. If you do exercises like Romanian deadlifts or other light deadlift variations, try doing those with a double overhand grip instead.

 

7.       I missed a couple of workouts, should I just jump back in, repeat the week, or what?

Depends on how many “a couple” is. If you just missed a day or two, you should be fine to jump back in where you left off. If you missed a week or more, generally I advise clients to repeat the last week you did. You may also need to reduce volume by one set per exercise to avoid excess soreness.

Everyone goes through periods when they can’t train like they want. The main thing to remember is that just because you got busy or got off track doesn’t mean you’ve gone backwards. Jump back in and keep pressing toward your goals. Build momentum.

 

8.       Best ways to increase pull-ups

I did a video/blog post on this a while back. Check that out here. Basically, train frequently using bands for assistance. Do negatives 2-3 times per week. Then do low rep sets throughout the day to get a ton of volume and practice without a lot of fatigue.

 

9.       What’s more important, getting leaner or getting stronger?

If your waist is over 40” (for men) or 35” (for women), focus on fat loss for overall health and longevity. Only caveat to that is if you’re competing in a strength sport and understand and accept the health trade-off. Read this post to help decide if you need to lose some fat.

Otherwise, focus on building strength and performance in your chosen sport or activity. Getting leaner and getting stronger don’t have to be mutually exclusive unless you’re an advanced athlete. Training programs for both goals don’t need to be drastically different. If you’re focusing on fat loss, your strength progress will be slower, but you can still do it. Just make sure you aren’t trying to push too hard toward both goals. There’s always a trade-off and you can’t serve two masters.

**Thanks for reading. For more Q&A’s, follow me on Instagram @mjttraining or just shoot me an email**

If you’re looking for a fitness trainer in the Mt Juliet/Hermitage/Nashville TN area, online fitness training, or just need some advice to get your fitness program started, contact me