Fat burning and athletes… Part III

In this third part, I want to talk about how to set up your training when the goal is fat burning.

Finally, I will also cover when in the season it makes the most sense for athletes to focus on fat burning.

Training and fat burning…

How should athletes modify their training when the goal is fat burning? Once again, this is an area where many people make big mistakes (to a large extent, the blame for the errors that stem from these myths lies with bodybuilders who prep for contests on anabolic steroids, and with the experience passed down from them).

I will also give training tips with the three categories of athletes from the first part in mind. In addition, I will cover both strength training and aerobic training.

Strength training can broadly be divided into very different categories. Roughly speaking, there is very heavy strength training with short sets, aimed at maximal strength (fewer repetitions), and we also know there is so-called bodybuilding training, geared more toward hypertrophy (6 – 15 repetitions and more). We can also count as strength training the so-called metabolic or carbohydrate-depleting strength-endurance sessions and the different variations of circuit training (15 – 20 repetitions and more).

Is any of these the best for fat burning? Definitely not; all of these types of strength training have drawbacks and advantages. One common belief is, of course, that for fat burning, during a diet or to get lean, the sets have to get longer. Unfortunately, that is an approach that definitely works when you train on anabolics (which protect muscle mass from catabolism), but for a natural athlete under diet conditions it is about the worst advice there is for preserving muscle mass. The amount of muscle tension is what holds on to the muscle and ensures that mass is preserved. Take away the tension created by heavy weights and both mass and strength start to disappear; that is not great during a diet, especially for athletes. If you could choose only one type of strength training during a diet, the style to pick should be more moderate, lower-volume strength training with heavy weights. Fat burning is taken care of by the calorie deficit and the necessary amount of added aerobic training.

That does not mean, of course, that strength training with longer sets that works the muscles more metabolically is completely useless or inappropriate. If your training plan has room for this type of session, such workouts have a large metabolic effect on our body and muscles, deplete carbohydrates effectively and burn a lot of calories. All of these effects of this kind of strength training also contribute very effectively to fat burning, but, as I said, it is not always the best option, and other circumstances have to be taken into account too.

As for the rest of aerobic training (long, low-frequency aerobic work and interval training), opinions split in two. Different versions of aerobic interval training are pushing conventional long, low-heart-rate aerobic work into the background. Some believe that long, low-intensity aerobic work no longer has any real place in the fat-burning period and even works against the goals of that period. That low-intensity steady-state aerobic work really does work against muscle mass preservation was something bodybuilders did not suspect for a very long time. You can read more about it in my article “Steady State vs. Interval Training”. It is a long topic of its own, but I will say only this: both interval training and long, low-intensity aerobic work have their place in a fat-burning period. What exactly to use depends a lot on the context and on other factors affecting how the diet goes. The simple fact is that, on top of their main training, which may well be very intense, athletes cannot do HIIT (high intensity interval training) for fat-burning purposes on top of that main training during a fat-burning period. In that case, only bad things start to happen.

Training volume and frequency when burning fat…

Another myth from the bodybuilding diets of the eighties is that during a diet, training volume and training frequency must increase considerably. That attitude is, once again, extremely backward. When calories are cut, recovery is always impaired. Trying to increase training volume and frequency further under such conditions is a shortcut to disaster. On the contrary, the frequency of heavy and intense training sessions has to be maintained at worst and reduced at best. This is to avoid overtraining in the longer term.

Strength-sport athletes…

Of course, these athletes also do some type and amount of metabolic training, but one thing is certain: high-volume, low-heart-rate aerobic training is disastrous for these athletes’ performance. That is because this kind of aerobic work stimulates exactly the opposite adaptations to those that result from strength athletes’ main training and are responsible for good performance.

Or, let’s look at it the other way around: show me a powerlifter or shot putter who runs 5 – 10 km a day, and I’ll show you a powerlifter or shot putter whose results start to decline. When athletes in strength and power sports start doing long aerobic sessions, their performance in their main discipline starts to drop.

Even during a fat-loss phase, these athletes’ training should stay essentially what they do all the time. Of course, if fat loss is the goal, calories need to be restricted, and in that case the volume of the main training done so far should also be cut back somewhat. Over a longer period, perhaps the frequency too.

It is not unusual for athletes in this category to reduce both volume and frequency by as much as two thirds during a fat-loss phase. But even then, you should try to keep the intensity up. So if an athlete squatted 6 sets of three in a normal phase, during a fat-loss phase they can cut the training volume so that they squat only 2 sets of three. The weight on those triples should stay the same as it was when they were squatting 6 sets. Intensity has to be maintained; if you give way on it, strength and muscle mass disappear.

Naturally, to speed up and streamline fat loss, you can add some activity. To increase calorie expenditure, after an intense barbell workout you can do lighter barbell exercise complexes or metabolic work with kettlebells. Such extra work does an excellent job of standing in for the somewhat reduced volume and raises expenditure. You can also add light sled drags as intervals.

As mentioned, athletes in this category should avoid prolonged aerobic work. It hurts their performance. The only exception would be long-duration but truly ultra-low-intensity aerobic training. It harms maximal strength minimally. I’m simply talking about calm walking at a very low heart rate. Big, muscular athletes burn quite a lot of calories from such activity alone. Added up over the longer term, such expenditure combined with monitored nutrition produces a decent calorie deficit, and in a way that doesn’t hurt strength numbers or recovery.

Interval training is of course also an option, but I would still warmly recommend the option that harms performance minimally. A 120 – 130 kg powerlifter or shot putter doing sprints probably won’t have to wait long for joint problems. Interval training can also impair leg recovery for the main training sessions.

As mentioned earlier, the frequency of the main training sessions can be reduced somewhat. For example, one heavy leg workout a week successfully maintains leg strength (at least for as long as the athlete is on a diet). So instead of the usual second lower-body workout, you can easily do a more calorie-burning session, either something with a kettlebell or calmer barbell complexes combined with longer sets. For athletes focused on strength and power, that would be better than wildly draining circuit training.

Endurance athletes…

Modern endurance training methods don’t contain very much strength training. It depends a lot on the specific sport. But for those athletes who do strength training, the same principles presented above apply. Heavy strength training should be maintained, but volume and frequency should be reduced. Strength training can also be partly replaced with more calorie-burning barbell complexes with longer sets, though for endurance athletes this isn’t vitally important either.

As you might expect, the core of endurance athletes’ training is prolonged endurance-type activity. This in itself gives athletes in this category a big advantage when it comes to fat loss. Since sessions are mostly long, energy gets burned even without high intensity. Adding twenty or so extra minutes to your sessions increases expenditure, and there you have higher-than-usual expenditure. Combine the extra expenditure with appropriate nutrition and you may not need to make any big adjustments, and the result is a lower body fat percentage.

As for intervals, most endurance athletes do them at some point in the year. How many to do or add when calories are restricted is a good question. I assume endurance athletes would be thinking about fat loss when the initial general preparation for the season begins. Not many intervals are done in this period. And adding intervals to a period whose aim is to build up volume and do a lot of long, low-intensity training would be backward. It would be better to add a little extra volume to your regular sessions to raise expenditure. Restricting calories is also an option, but tactfully, and only if the expenditure from training isn’t enough to create a slight deficit.

Combined sports…

This group includes athletes whose main training contains both strength training and endurance-type activity.

Like athletes in strength sports, athletes in this category should also somewhat reduce the frequency and volume of heavy strength training during the diet phase. In its place you can add kettlebell training or varied barbell complexes.

The metabolic training of athletes in this category can vary a lot. But if expenditure needs to be raised, this can mean adding low-intensity aerobic work or, if it’s already being done, increasing its volume. Interval training can also be added to raise expenditure. That said, let’s be careful with it, since the main training probably already includes a varied mix of high-expenditure endurance sessions. A safer way is perhaps to add a little volume to what you’re already doing, and with tidied-up nutrition, you have your result.

When to work on reducing body fat…

The last important point is when athletes can and should take on fat burning, with the season in mind. Bodybuilders and fitness competitors have it easier here, because the competitive output in their sports isn’t performance-oriented. They also don’t use periodization as strictly as performance-oriented sports do. They simply build muscle, then pick a competition to enter and go on a diet.

Athletes, as a rule, have annual plans to follow, the training year is divided into different cycles, and even before the main competitions there may be several important events you have to prepare for and be ready for. This means fat-burning periods have to be planned and timed with particular care, so that performance and the timing of peak form don’t suffer.

In general, I think that in very many cases it makes sense to schedule the fat-burning period right at the start of the season, when general physical preparation begins. Volumes are high then, intensities are lower, and maximal performance isn’t as much of a priority early on. Even with a slight calorie cut and a more deliberate cleanup of your eating plan, fat burning can be extremely effective during such a high-volume training period.

Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)

Source:Turg.Fitness.ee

Come and train! ArtGym