Will training with more clothes on help me lose weight?

First of all, losing weight is NOT the same as losing fat.

Wearing more clothes (clingfilm or a bin liner etc) during training (usually cardiovascular) will make you sweat more, but will not help you lose fat.  You will sweat more, therefore decreasing the amount of water in your body (weight drops temporarily), but when you rehydrate after training your weight will rise again.  Think about a sauna, people don't miraculously lost fat and get fit just by sitting in a sauna.

I would not recommend this approach for weight loss, unless you're specifically looking to drop weight for a short period of time for example a weigh in before a boxing bout.

Notes from weight training eBooks (BFFM and Holy Grail)

I've been reading two eBooks about resistance/weight training and diet: burn the fat, feed the muscle; and the Holy Grail.  I made some notes, because I'm geeky like that, and thought I'd share them with you:

• Repetition guidelines:
• Strength/Power 1 – 5 reps
• Hypertrophy (size) & some strength 6 - 12 reps
• Local endurance/ little size 12-20 reps
• Abs & Calves 10-25 reps
• More sets and exercises are not necessarily better. Better training means more intensity, good exercise form and continuous progression

• Eat both protein and carbs in the post workout meal. Carbs eaten after workouts will replenish glycogen, restore blood sugar, and cause a beneficial insulin spike, which will suppress the catabolic hormone cortisol, and drive amino acids into the muscle cells.

• Do cardio and weights separated into 2 sessions, if possible. 
• To maintain good flexibility, you should stretch three or four times per week. To increase flexibility to the maximum level possible, you need to stretch on a daily basis.
• Goal Setting:
• Focus on one goal, not conflicting goals. 1) fat loss 2) Muscle gain 3) gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time (the Holy Grail!)
• Set long term and short term goals
• Goals must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound
• Body fat % classifications:
• Lean = 10 – 14%
• Ripped = 3 – 6%

Update and Isometric training

It’s been a while, so I’m going to spoil you with a three post wammy!  I competed at the GTI English Open championships the Sunday before last where I lost second round in points sparring and narrowly won the continuous sparring category.  This (and the upcoming comps) has motivated to get my ass back to training.

I’m still working in London, so am trying to cram in as much training during the weekend as I can.  There is hope though – I may have two leads for good clubs in central London; one kickboxing club and one ITF club.  If anyone knows of any decent clubs in central London I’d be happy to hear them!

Before this surge in training I was hitting the gym, mixing it up with some isometric training; static resistance training.  For example one of the most common isomteric exercises is the plank.  

An isometric exercise : the plank

I used the same isometric principles during my weight sessions e.g. dumbbell chest press, pausing for the count of 20 at the bottom of the exercise and at the top.  Likewise for bicep curls, shoulder press, lateral raises and tricep kickbacks etc.

From this experience I found it somewhat frustrating, as you don’t work up a sweat and it’s a different kind of burn, which meant that I felt like I was barely working.  I used to think, if I’m not sweating and if it doesn’t hurt then I’m not working hard enough – with isometric training this is definitely not the case.

I’ve now moved onto plyometric/ballistic training for that explosive power which is much needed in sparring.  See next post for an update on my plyometric/ballistic training experience.

M100

Another exercise for you, which is a lot shorter but more intense.  This should take between 2 - 5 minutes and works on a fairly new training principal I've been reading about called the "after burn effect".  


It's called the M100 (or Mandatory 100):
1. 10x Burpees
2. 30x Hill climbers (alternating leg squat thrust)
3. 10x Semi-squat jump
4. 10x Burpees
5. 30x Hill climbers
6. 10x Semi-squat jump
7. 10x Burpees
8. 30x Hill climbers
9. 10x Semi-squat jump
10. 10x BURPEES!


Important: there is no resting until you complete all ten sets!


Basically repeating three exercises for three sets and finishing on one final set of burpies!  


For example (skip to 1:45):

The Dirty Dozen

I spent a year working in Taunton, Somerset, where there's a Royal Marines base.  I trained there a few times and picked up an exercise routine called the Dirty Dozen!


It consists of 12 reps of each exercise. Each Round is cumulative (must include the previous set of rounds):


Round 1 = 12 Should Width Push ups
Round 2 = 12 Crunches
Round 3 = 12 Lunges
Round 4 = 12 Star Jumps
Round 5 = 12 Tricep Dips
Round 6 = 12 Shuttle Runs
Round 7 = 12 Leg Raises
Round 8 = 12 Diamond Push Ups
Round 9 = 12 Burpees
Round 10 = 12 V-Ups
Round 11 = 12 Squats
Round 12 = 50 quick sprint starts (25 on each leg)


I tried this out on my University Kickboxing club, who took ~40minutes to complete.  I showed people it when I was working in an American summer camp and I started a little competition to see which pair could get the fastest time.  From what I remember ~24minutes was the best.


I suggest people give it a go, record your time and try and beat it next time.


Enjoy :)

General Update & New Years Resolution

Apologies for leaving this blog unattended to - to be honest I had almost forgotten about it, but thanks to an interesting comment by Yakattack, I've made it my New Years Resolution to keep this updated more often.

Since my last update in October 2009, I was peer pressured into competing in a full contact kickboxing match for my university.  Having come back from four months in America (on a rubbish diet), I was a bit dubious.  To cut a long story short, three weeks is not enough time to prep for a fight, which resulted in me breaking my jaw.  
I didn't realise my jaw was broken until four hours later when the adrenaline had died down and the pain started to kick in.  It turns out my jaw was fractured in three places, from just one punch!  I had surgery where two metal plates were put in and my teeth wired, to keep it all in place.  Three months later (~March 2010) there's no cosmetic damage and I'm back in training :)

Soon after that I spent three months in Italy working as a graphic designer, unfortunately no training and an Italian high carb diet meant I started to gain the wrong kind of weight.  Following a few days back in the UK, I flew off to Mexico and travelled around Central America for two months (again, no training).

I've been back in the UK since September and have been training at my old Tae kwon-do club, where training seems to have gotten easier - I enjoy a session where I get to work up a good sweat!  I entered a few competitions in November, which showed me I had a long way to go to get back up to my "peak".  

December/January is always a bit light on the training front, but rest assured I will be training hard once Christmas/New Year celebrations die away.

Fighting the Chinese genes

As you may already know form my previous blog posts, I have been trying to bulk up and “get big”... I was told again today that I'm not as big as my (white English) friend, Ben, who is also on this “getting big” programme. It's annoying! And I blame it on my genes! The Chinese aren't built to be big. We don't play rugby; we stick to table tennis and badminton where our small frames and nimbleness works to our advantage. I'm green with envy off Ben... we have been lifting pretty much the same in the gym, yet he is the one bulking up. I argue the Chinese simply aren't built for this!!

On the other hand, another friend said to me today, “It's not all about size.” And I have to agree with this. I believe I am getting stronger, which will help my Martial Arts, and I won't need to buy a new wardrobe because I've got too big for my clothes (unlike Ben)!!

Getting BIG update (week 3)

It’s been two weeks since the “Get Big Phase” started and I thought it was time to see how effective this regime was… I am now weighing 83.5kg (up 3kg) and my fat index has dropped to 7.5% from 10.5%! I’m over the moon about this result! I thought I had put on some fat (definitely feel a bit podgier) but apparently not! Visually, I can't see much of a change apart from my back looking slightly broader. I will stick with my workout and weigh in in another two weeks.

Peace out.

Getting BIG!

For the past few months I have unsuccessfully been trying to put on weight because I am one of the lightest in the heavy weight division. It was time a drastic change. Monday morning saw the start of our (my friend’s and I) “Get Big Phase”.

Basically the first week is the loading phase: whey protein (post-gym and at 3am!), creatine, eating as much as we can (four big meals a day plus snacks) and hitting the gym everyday. The next stage, the bulking phase, involves: daily whey protein, creatine, eating four meals a day and gymming it ever other day. Bulking up will involve an increase in the amount of muscle and fat we put on, so we have planned the next stage (the getting lean phase) to strip away the excess fat. This will involve 5 weeks of high cardio, eating regular amounts and cutting out late night carbs (no creatine or whey protein). The heaviest I’ve ever weighed in my life is 82.6kg (I’m currently on 80kg), hopefully by the end of this I’ll be 86kg.

Its day five of this new regime and it feels like I’ve just spent the last few days eating non-stop! The good news is I managed to bench press my all time high (five sets of three reps at 95kg) yesterday and after jumping on the scales it looks like things are going to plan! I’ll keep you updated on my progress...