BLOG 19
By Head Coach Marcel Mandagaran
Summer is around the corner. And you know what that means, tossing aside your winter sweaters as you tend to pool parties and beach days. Some of us could be still be struggling to get that holiday weight off. And with summer festivities like, weddings or big vacations creeping up on you, you want to look your best. Well it’s not too late, with the right training and the right adjustments to your nutrition habits, you could be ready to rock by June.
You could do some damage to that excess belly fat in just 8 weeks. It's possible to drop a good 4-5% body fat in that time. For someone weighing 200lbs, that would be 10lbs of body fat. That’s a big deal when it comes to trimming up! Not to mention all the other benefits that are happening inside the body as well. If you struggle with high blood pressure, high glucose levels, etc., those numbers will also drop. Clean eating and a solid training program are a double-edged sword. Not only will you feel better and healthier but you look great doing it.
So how do we do this in 8 weeks?
Easy. Like Greg Glassman says, “Off the carbs and off the couch”. When it comes to maximizing the benefits of your training, you can’t beat functional movements performed at high intensity. You get so much more bang for your buck doing 10-12-minute intense workouts instead of the good old elliptical for an hour. Don’t fall into the trap of training in “the fat burning zone”. Here’s what happens when you do light cardio for an hour… During those long sessions, it takes at least 20min use up your glycogen stores (what we use for energy) is essentially when you finally start burning fat. The kicker here is, once you stop your 1-hour jog, your body stops burning fat. Sooo much time and work to get INTO the fat burning zone with very little lasting effect.
On the flip side of that, a 10-12 min high intensity workout uses mostly glycogen stores during the workout, BUT… once the workout is over the body switches over to fat burning, and continues in for the next 2-3 hours. Those of you that have done this type of training and still find yourself mildly sweating after an hour has gone by, you know what I’m talking about.
When it comes to shredding fat, nothing can compare to good eating habits, not even the high Intensity training we just talked about has. The goal here is to get your body to switch from a sugar burner, which is using the sugar from the carbs we eat, to a FAT BURNING MACHINE, as stated before in Coach Jesi’s blogs before.
How do we do that? Easy, just cut out the sugar—not just the sweet stuff either, I’m also talking about all the processed carbohydrates that turn to sugar as the body breaks them down. Once our glycogen stores, sugar, are all used up and once we stop cramming more sugar down our systems, then the body doesn’t have a choice but to start using fat for energy. Thus, you… burning some serious fat.
Now we are on the fast track to our beach body. All it took is 10-12 min of high intensity training 5-6 times per week and a high protein, high fat, low carb diet.
As simple as that sounds, we also understand how difficult that can be. So that’s why we offer our expertise in both the Training and Nutrition. Not sure where to start? Click the link below to get your beach body back.
CrossFit Journal Nutrition Article
BEYOND THE CALORIES -CrossFit inc -BY MICHAEL GIARDINA CF-L4
