3 Fat Burning Myths That Need to Die

We’ve all wanted to lose some body fat at some point in our lives. It’s nearly everyone’s goal.

Because of that, the health and fitness space has always been putting out content to educate consumers on what they can do (and what they can buy) to help them lose that stubborn body fat. As more and more of that content gets pushed out, the odds of consumers getting misleading information increases drastically.

There are tons of myths out there. Some that don’t cause too much damage, and some that absolutely need to die because they are actually keeping people from reaching their fat loss goals.

MYTH #1: CARDIO IS THE BEST FORM OF EXERCISE FOR FAT LOSS

Does a cardio session burn a lot of calories? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean it is best for fat loss.

To lose weight, we need to be burning more calories than we are eating. This weight loss may be water, fat, muscle, or a combination of them all. If we are lifting weights and eating enough protein, that loss of weight is more likely to be fat loss.

Well, if we need to burn more calories than we take in during the day, wouldn’t cardio be best because it burns the most amount of calories? Not quite. Although cardio is one of the better ways to burn lots of calories, it has its cons.

One of the amazing things about our design is that when we expose our body to a certain stimulus/environment (like doing cardio) our body adapts and becomes better at that stimulus/environment. Our adapts to cardio by becoming more efficient at burning calories. The more efficient it is at burning calories (burns fewer and fewer calories), the longer we can last.

In and of itself, this is a REALLY good thing. If I were out in the wild barely getting any food and traveling miles and miles, I would want to burn few calories to keep myself from dying. In modern life, this is not necessarily a good thing. Food is abundant (and a lot of it is calorie-dense and highly processed), and our lives are pretty sedentary. When you pair up readily available food, a sedentary lifestyle, and a slower metabolism, it is a recipe for fat gain.

Those that begin doing cardio on a consistent basis see results relatively quick, but find themselves hitting a wall not too long after. They quickly get to a point where they’re not losing fat the same way they did before. That is because their body has become more efficient (slower metabolism) at burning calories. When they hit that wall, they either need to workout even more and/or eat even less. There is only so little you can eat and only so much you can train. There must be a better way.

There is.

Just like you can make your metabolism slower, you can make your metabolism faster by lifting weights with the intention of getting stronger and building muscle. As you lift weights, your body will be come less efficient at burning calories. When it comes to losing fat in modern life, this is a great thing. You’ll burn more calories throughout the day. Your basal metabolic rate (the calories you burn at rest) will increase, which makes up over 60% of the calories you burn each day!

The key to losing fat is relying on strength-training to get you to your goal, and use cardio as a boost when you absolutely need it. Remember, cardio is most effective when you are least used to it.

MYTH #2: SMALLER MEALS BURNS MORE CALORIES THAN LARGER MEALS

The metabolism is one of the most complex things in this universe. It is really difficult to understand. Because of that, we’ve theorized a lot of things. One of them being the metabolism is like a furnace. You gotta keep the fire stoked to keep the wood burning.

This theory turned into the idea that if you eat more meals in the day, your metabolism keeps working and working and working leading to more and more calories burned. This isn’t really the case.

At the end of the day, weight loss and weight gain ultimately comes down to the amount of calories you burn vs. the amount of calories you consume. If you eat seven meals a day but you’re eating more than you need, you’re going to gain weight. If you’re eating two meals a day but you’re eating more than you need, you’re going to gain weight. The same is true for losing weight. You can have six meals a day or one meal a day. If you’re eating less than you need, you’ll lose weight.

There is a teenie tiny hint of truth in this myth. There are certain foods that require more calorie burn in order to digest. For example, protein takes more energy to digest than carbohydrates do. Therefore, having a diet that is a little higher in protein may help you burn more calories. But remember, if that increase in protein causes you to eat more calories than you need to lose weight, it’s a wash.

What I’ve taught my clients is that the method that helps you be the most consistent is the method that is best for you. If you need to eat 1800 calories per day to lose weight, eat the amount of meals that allows you to reach that goal and keep from going over. For some, that may be three meals, for others it may be five. What matters most is consistency. Consistency is king.

It doesn’t matter how many meals you eat in the day. Eat the amount of meals that allows you to reach your nutritional goals that are required for you to lose body fat.

MYTH #3: IN ORDER TO BURN BODY FAT, YOU NEED TO BE IN THE FAT BURNING ZONE

I hate this one the most.

Most health and fitness myths contain a tiny bit of truth. This is one of those myths.

The fat burning zone is something that was discovered a while ago when people found that the most body fat is burned for fuel when the heart rate is in a specific range. As a result, products like MyZone heart rate monitors came out to help people stay in the fat burning zone during their workouts.

In my opinion (as well as the opinion of many other professionals), these monitors are nothing but a distraction for those wanting to lose body fat. You see, there are ripple effects to things. When you tell people that they need to be in the fat burning zone to burn body fat, they begin worshipping the fat burning zone, and forget about everything else involved with fat loss.

Remember, burning fat comes down to calories in vs. calories out, but there are several factors that play a role in that energy balance such as the speed of the metabolism, hormones, and more. As a result of paying too much attention to the fat burning zone during workouts, people forget that they also need to track their food intake. They also don’t realize that getting their heart rate up into the “fat burning zone” requires intense cardiovascular effort. The more cardio is done on a consistent basis, the slower the metabolism gets. And calorie burning trackers don’t take this into consideration. It will eventually be telling them that they burned hundreds more calories than they actually did. And what’s the result? They eat 500 calories more because their watch told them that they burned that many calories during their workout. But in reality they burned 200, so they just ate 300 extra calories that they didn’t need. Add that up day over day, week over week, they could be gaining a pretty decent amount of extra body fat.

In my professional opinion, based on years of experience training hundreds of clients, the people who have the most success losing body fat are the ones focused on increasing their strength in the gym and keeping their calories where they need to be for fat loss. Both of these actions lead to a faster metabolism and better nutritional behaviors that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Those that have the least success are those that get obsessed with calorie trackers, fat burning zones, and the next fat loss fad that promises them the results they’ve always wanted.

THE TAKEAWAYS

• Cardio may burn lots of calories, but only for the short term. Use strength training to speed up your metabolism for more successful long-term fat loss.

• The amount of meals you eat in the day doesn’t matter. Do what allows you to be the most consistent in hitting your calorie and nutrient goals.

• The fat burning zone doesn’t mean anything if you’re eating too many calories. Use your energy to pay attention to what matters most which is calories in vs. calories out.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

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How to Stay Lean During Quarantine

I don’t know about you, but I’ve hit my breaking point. Being cooped up at home is the absolute worst. To make it worse, it started snowing again, only after one day of beautiful 70-degree weather. The gyms are closed, parks are closed, the world is closed.

But hey, there is always something to learn in any given situation. As good as it feels to vent, I need to be careful because that venting can turn into too much complaining. And complaining only leads to a negative mindset.

I don’t know about you, but life is a real b**** when you have a negative mindset.

So I need to focus on the positives. We need to focus on the positives. The positive here is that something can be learned. And what I’ve learned during this time is that there is not better time to create new habits than when the world is shut down and you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with.

Having said that, here is what I want to share with you today: there is ALWAYS something we can be doing to keep ourselves leaner and healthier. And, the better we are at keeping ourselves leaner and healthier during crappy times, the easier it will be to stay leaner and healthier in the best of times (when the gym opens back up).

So let’s dive in. Here is how you can stay lean during quarantine.

BEHAVIOR #1: DIAL IN YOUR NUTRITION

Dialing in your nutrition means many different things to many different people. For you, dialing in your nutrition may mean figuring out how to curb your cravings. Maybe it means you need to practice better habits, like chewing slower and putting your fork down in between bites. Heck, maybe you just need to reduce your sugar intake from 200 grams per day to 180. Whatever it looks like, I am willing to bet there are some practices and behaviors that overlap from person to person.

Protein is a very familiar nutrient for the gym rats out there. But it must be a very familiar nutrient for you, too. Protein can help you stay lean during quarantine for many reasons. Protein is satiating. Protein helps you feel fuller for longer, thus causing you to feel less hungry throughout the day. Protein builds and preserves lean muscle tissue which is a main contributor to the amount of calories you burn in the day. Right now, being more sedentary than you usually are, you are at a high risk for losing muscle especially if you are not continuing your resistance training. Eating more protein can help you hold on to that muscle of yours. Protein also has a high thermic affect. This means that your body burns more calories breaking down and digesting protein than any other nutrient. Replacing excess carbs and fats with a little more protein may do you some good.

Too many people just don’t eat enough protein. It is one of the very first things I address when I begin working with a client. Unless you’ve already addressed this and are focusing on making an improvement, I’m willing to bet you’re not eating enough protein. For relatively lean individuals, I recommend .6-1g of protein per pound of body weight each day. For overweight and obese individuals, I recommend .3-.6g of protein per pound of body weight each day.

Protein can help you stay lean during quarantine.

Addressing your micronutrient intake would also be a good thing to do during this time. No, you don’t need to diligently track your vitamin and mineral intake each day, but work to incorporate more fruits and vegetables that are nutrient dense. Start with one big serving (two fist fulls) of greens per day and build from there. Greens offer an incredible amount of micronutrients that we need for a healthy life and most of us simply don’t get enough of them.

Take time to analyze your highly processed food intake. Yes, your “healthy” protein bar is a highly processed food. Our bodies simply don’t do well with a lot of highly processed foods. You should aim to have a diet that is mostly (at least 80%) comprised of whole, natural foods. What I mean by “whole” and “natural” is that it previously came from the ground or previously had a face before it became the food you were about to eat. There should be minimal change from A to B during processing. For example, it is very common to get organic cereal because it has more natural ingredients. However, there was still a ton of processing that occurred to turn the ingredients into cereal. Oats would be a more whole and natural alternative. Find ways you can begin to minimize the highly processed foods in your diet, and replace them with whole, natural alternatives.

Like I said, dialing in nutrition is going to look different for all of us. Maybe you’re not great at creating healthy meals and you need to toy with some recipes. Maybe you eat too many damn Oreos a day and you need to reduce it by two Oreos per week. Whatever it is, now is the time to create new, healthy behaviors that turn into habits. Those behaviors will help you stay lean the quarantine.

BEHAVIOR #2: PERFORM RESISTANCE TRAINING

I’ve beaten this dead horse too many times, but it needs to continue to be beaten.

Resistance training is hands down the best form of exercise for your long term health. It is also the best form of exercise when it comes to keeping you lean during quarantine.

Resistance training keeps your muscle protein synthesis elevated, meaning you can retain and perhaps even build muscle, even when you’re away from the gym. The muscle you build from resistance training can help you burn more calories in the day, helping you keep a leaner body year-round. Many other health benefits can be seen from resistance training as well. By manipulating your rest between sets, tempo, and more, you can tap into the cardiovascular benefits, improving your heart health. By increasing your rests between sets, going into lower rep ranges, and increasing the amount of weight you lift, you can tap into the amazing strength benefits that resistance training has to offer. Resistance training is really a Jack of all trades. But this Jack is a master of each and every one of them.

I know your gym is closed, and you may not have access to the equipment your gym offered. However, that’s not stopping you from getting quality resistance training workouts in. You can use your body weight and a set of bands to test and challenge yourself more than ever before. Sure, your bodyweight may not provide as much resistance during a push up as a 200lb barbell does during a bench press, but putting a band on your back and under your hands while implementing one or a combination of these tips will certainly help.

• Slow down. Slowing your tempo down during your exercise can add more intensity and resistance. Instead of doing a regular push-up, spend five slow seconds on the way down, and five slow seconds on the way up.

• Squeeze. Getting a connection to your muscles and feeling them squeeze is one of the best things you can do to take your home workout to a new level. Instead of moving your limbs and hoping to feel something in your muscles, be intentional. Squeeze your muscles first in order to move the weight.

• Hold. Adding an isometric hold in the middle of the movement will intensify the signal your muscles are receiving. Sure, you may only have a twenty-pound dumbbell for goblet squats, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it very challenging. At the bottom of your squat, maintain tension and squeeze your muscles as hard as you can for five seconds.

You may be away from the gym, but now is NOT the time to say f*ck it. Now is the time to grab those bands and test those muscles of yours.

Resistance training will help you stay lean during quarantine.

BEHAVIOR #3: GET TO STEPPIN’

As far as I know, no one is standing outside your door, prohibiting you from walking around the neighborhood. And if they are, no one is keeping you from walking around your house. Now is the time to make a habit of getting more steps in.

One of the main reasons we as Americans have such a hard time staying leaner year-round is because we don’t move enough. We’ve set up our lives to be so sedentary that we actually have to go out of our way to get activity. The average American only gets about 5,000 steps in per day, which is extremely low in my opinion. For someone that weighs 160lbs, 5,000 steps is about (and this is a rough guesstimation as there are many factors that play into this) 218 calories per day. 10,000 steps per day for that individual is about 435 calories per day. You many not think that is a huge difference, but that adds up over the course of a week, a month, and a year.

Making slight improvements to your step count can be the difference between and overweight version of you, and leaner version of you.

Seriously.

Sure, walking may not be a strenuous, bad-ass form of exercise, but those small improvements in steps compound over time to make a massive difference the the health of your body. Start making better habits by first figuring out your avg. step count currently. Whatever it is, aim to increase it by 1,000. Once that new target becomes a habit, increase it by 1,000 again.

When life gets back to normal and you’ve created a healthy habit of walking more, you’ll catch yourself going outside of the office for a walk before you head home instead of going to happy hour for another 500 calorie margarita. And your leaner self will thank you.

Steps help you stay lean during quarantine.

THE TAKEAWAYS

Whatever you need to address in your health, fitness, and nutrition, now is the time. Here is what you can do to stay lean during quarantine:

• Eat enough protein and focus on your greens. .6-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight for relatively lean individuals will do the job. Aim to get one big serving (two fistfuls) of greens per day.

• Do some resistance training. Help your body have an easier time getting leaner by testing your muscles, and testing your strength. Don’t workout to get sweaty and burn calories. Workout to get stronger.

• Get your steps in. Whatever your average is right now, start by increasing it by 1,000 and build.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

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The Best Arm Fat Burning Exercises

Most of us would love to have better looking arms. So what exercises should we do to make our arms look leaner, tighter, and less flabby?

We need to perform the exercises that burn the most fat in our arms.

But, there’s just one problem.

No such exercises exists.

YOU CAN’T SPOT REDUCE, BUT YOU CAN SPOT PRODUCE

Despite what many marketing gimmicks have tried to sell you, you can’t use certain exercises to spot reduce fat on certain parts of your body. For example, doing crunches isn’t going to help you burn body fat around your tummy. The same goes for arms, doing an absurd amount of bench dips isn’t going to reduce body fat on the back of your arms.

You can’t spot reduce. Unless you get some sort of liposuction or other procedure, of course.

In order to understand why this is the case, let’s talk about the fundamentals of fat loss and fat gain, which comes from a difference in energy balance.

Our bodies use the calories from the food we eat as energy. When we burn more calories than we eat, that is called a calorie deficit, and we lose weight. When we eat more calories than we burn, that is called a calorie surplus, and we gain weight.

When we gain body fat, we store it in different areas depending on genetics, sex, hormone profiles, and more. Women tend to gain body fat easily around their hips, thighs, butt, and upper arms. Men tend to easily gain body fat around their midsection. The areas we tend to gain it first are the areas where we tend to lose it last. These are usually called our “stubborn” areas.

When we are in a energy deficit and we are telling our body to lose weight, our body will get rid of fat wherever it wants to. The stubborn areas are the last places where fat leaves. Continuing a protocol for a period of time to finally lose that stubborn body fat is challenging, and marketing companies know this. Therefore, they aim to sell on the idea that they finally have the exercises and equipment for those stubborn areas. But they don’t.

You have what it takes, though. And it’s just a matter of whether or not you really want to commit to doing what it takes to lose that body fat even in the most stubborn areas.

So, if you are in a state where your body is losing body fat (lifting weights, eating enough protein, and being in a calorie deficit), the fat on the back of those arms will finally leave.

But before you worry about trying to lose the most fat possible, you need to focus on something else that I believe is far more important.

And that, is muscle.

There’s a saying in the fitness space that goes like this: “You can’t spot reduce, but you can spot produce.” This means that although you can’t use certain exercises to lose fat in specific areas, you can use certain exercises to build up the muscles in those specific areas. And that is what will help you get that tighter, leaner, sexier look.

Underneath the fat on your body is muscle, and muscle is what gives your body great aesthetics. Muscle is what makes your arms look better. Muscle is what makes your butt pop. Muscle is the chisel to the marble that is your body.

The more muscle you have in your arms, the more shape and definition they will have. You can lose as much fat as you possibly can, but if you don’t have muscle underneath to show off, you’ll just look like someone who hasn’t eaten in the past two years. I’m not even talking about an absurd amount of muscle. No, you don’t need to look like a body builder. Even a little bit of muscle can completely change the way your arms look. Even small increases in muscle on your arms can be the difference between flabby Abby and lean Jean.

So before you even think about losing tons and tons of fat on your arms, prioritize building muscle to show off first.

You may not be able to use curls and dips to burn the fat on your arms, but you are most certainly able to use curls, dips, and more to build muscle on those arms of yours.

EXERCISES TO SPOT PRODUCE

Here is a list of some of the most beneficial muscle-building arm exercises:

Biceps

• Chin-Ups (this exercise is primarily for your back, but heavily involves the biceps)

• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldowns (this exercise is primarily for your back, but heavily involves the biceps)

• Barbell Bicep Curl

• Dumbbell Bicep Curl

• Dumbbell Hammer Curl

Triceps

• Dips

• Bench Dips

• Narrow Grip Bench Press

• Barbell and Dumbbell Skull Crushers

• Cable Tricep Extensions

Although the biceps and triceps are the main muscles involved in the look of your upper arms, the shoulders help highlight the biceps and triceps. So here are some great shoulder exercises you can use:

Shoulders

• Barbell Overhead Press

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press

• Dumbbell Lateral Raise

• Barbell and Dumbbell Upright Row

• Dumbbell Reverse Fly

If you incorporate some of these exercises in your routine, it’s likely you’ll see some improvement in your arms, given you incorporate them into your routine properly.

Although the exercises themselves are important, I would also argue that the way you perform the exercises is even more important. Doing bicep curls is great, but just doing them doesn’t mean you’re going to build muscle on your arms.

In order to properly utilize the above exercises, I recommend performing them in a 6-12 rep range for 3-4 sets, with 60-90 seconds rest in between sets. As you perform the exercises, focus on feeling those muscles squeeze as much as they possibly can. Think about flexing your muscle in order to move the weight, rather than just moving the weight with your arms and hoping you feel something in your muscles. Focus on moving as much weight as possible while maintaining good form, too.

If you are performing the exercises as described, eating enough protein and food in general, you may likely see muscular improvement in your arms.

Once you’ve found the importance and effect of building muscle on your arms, it’s time to prioritize losing body fat.

If you have more muscle, your arms will have more definition even at higher body fat percentages. But, it’s still important to focus on fat loss so you can really make those muscles pop. The more muscle you have, the lower body fat you have, the more that arm definition will show.

While focusing on losing body fat, make sure you are still lifting weights and focusing on your strength. The fat loss will come from changes in energy balance (nutritionally), so don’t turn your lift into a cardio session. Make sure you’re eating enough protein (.6-1g/lb of body weight for relatively lean individuals, .3-.6g/lb of bodyweight for overweight and obese individuals). If you’re eating a decent amount of food, you can slowly taper your calories down each week. If you’re already eating very little, you need to continue focusing on building muscle and slowly adding calories (50-150) to your daily intake each week. It’s important that you lose as much fat as possible from increasing your steps, and changing your nutrition before you even think about adding cardio in. Cardio is extremely effective, but only in the short term. The more you do chronic cardio, the more it can impede your fat loss goals. Use cardio as a last minute fat loss boost for about 2-3 weeks at most.

Remember, you can’t spot reduce, but you can spot produce.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Your body will lose fat wherever it wants to. Doing extra reps of tricep dips won’t equate to more fat loss from the back of your arms.

• You can’t spot reduce but you can spot produce. Focus on building muscle, then start to lose body fat.

• When focusing on muscle, perform your exercises with the right intent.

• When it’s time to focus on fat loss, get the most amount of changes from increases in your steps and slight adjustments to your nutrition. Get the most results with the least amount of change. Use cardio as a last-minute boost for 2-3 weeks at most.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

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