Eat Better, Exercise Harder
Contrary to the typical advice of well-meaning but misinformed trainers and health organizations, the key to fat loss is not to simply “eat less, move more”, but to eat better, and exercise harder.
The idea one should eat less and move more to lose fat is based on a few assumptions:
- that fat gain and loss are mostly a matter of energy balance
- that body fat will be burned for energy when the balance is negative
- that exercise burns enough calories to have a significant effect on energy balance
Not quite.
1. While energy balance is a significant factor, fat gain and loss is also strongly affected by your hormonal state which is the result of the type of foods you eat. Regular, excessive carbohydrate consumption results in chronically elevated insulin levels which can promote fat storage and limits your body’s ability to access its fat stores for energy. Other hormones influencing metabolism and appetite like leptin, ghrelin and thyroid can be negatively influenced by regular consumption of grains and legumes, and those foods also contain substances which interfere with mineral absorption and irritate the gut, contributing to the development of auto-immune disorders.
2. Even if you restrict energy intake, if your hormonal state prevents you from efficiently using fat stores when there is a negative energy balance it can break down lean body mass instead and reduce metabolic rate to adapt to the lower energy intake. Foods that negatively effect leptin and ghrelin can directly contribute to a reduction in metabolic rate.
3. No activity burns enough calories to make it worth doing for that reason alone, and demanding physical activity increases appetite often causing people to consume more energy than the little extra they burned. The proper role of exercise in a fat loss program is not to burn calories, but to maintain muscle while fat is lost.
Forget the old mantra to “eat less, move more”. Instead, eat better and exercise harder.
If you eat better food – nutrient dense grass fed meat, wild caught fish, eggs and a variety of vegetables along with some fruits and nuts – and restrict or eliminate intake of grains, legumes and sugar, you will create a hormonal state conducive to fat loss and get your appetite under control, as well as improve many other aspects of health. While meat, fish, and eggs are energy dense, eating them tends to blunt appetite and keep you feeling full longer, and non-starchy vegetables are extremely high in physical volume relative to calories when compared to grains and legumes, and will also fill you up. If you ever do need a quick source of glucose, starchy vegetables like yams, sweet potatoes and beets are a much healthier option than grains.
Instead of wasting your time doing things for the sake of burning calories, spend a few minutes a few times a week doing hard strength training. While strength training won’t burn a lot of calories either, it will maintain lean body mass while fat is lost, improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, deplete muscle glycogen stores making more room in the muscles for incoming carbohydrate (meaning less of it is likely to be converted to triglyceride and stored as fat) and will raise metabolic rate slightly. When done correctly, even very brief strength training workouts significantly improve cardiovascular and metabolic conditioning and flexibility, making additional “cardio” redundant and unnecessary.
You can use all the time a more efficient exercise program frees up to do things you actually enjoy, instead of wasting it on a treadmill or elliptical machine or in group classes that burn up a lot of your time but not much of your fat.
Leave a Reply
Trackback URL
http://baye.com/eat-better-exercise-harder/trackback/
Drew,
Another GREAT Post!! I send our clients to your site all the time for information, it is good for them to hear similar information coming from another source. Keep the information flowing.
Dwayne Wimmer
Hi Drew,
Would the regular potato and corn be better than grains and legumes? What makes the yam/sweet potato better/healthier than plain potatoes?
Is the pullover exercise something to do once in awhile and not need to be part of your main routine?
Thanks, John
John,
Corn is a grain, not a vegetable, and while it does not contain gluten like wheat, oats, rye, barley, etc., it is still one of the least nutritious things a person can eat, being mostly sugar and starch.
Regular potatoes contain harmful alkaloids which yams and sweet potatoes (which are not related to white potatoes despite the name) do not.
Whether the pullover is something you do once in a while or regularly would depend on the other exercises in your program. The important thing is that you provide effective exercise for all the major muscle groups.
Great info..!! Very interesting..I remember Dr.Atkins and his revolutionary concepts while reading this…for me, he was the Arthur Jones of his field, Keep this subject on target, thanks also for the link..! keep HIT alive,
Carlos
Thanks Carlos,
The important thing here is to not just think in terms of quantity, but quality. The idea that one should simply eat less and do more ignores the quality of what they eat and do, and typical recommendations for exercise in particular are severely lacking in quality.
Drew,
I have been a follower of your training philosophy for a good while. I have implemented many of your recommendations with excellent results.
Though, I don’t agree with your Paleo influenced nutitional beliefs. The Paleo way of eating is speculative at best (how can we possibly know what they ate, and what they ate is no longer available). I do agree that Paleo is a step in the right direction. It’s the infighting within the Paelo community over the frivilous details which turns me off.
I mean come on people. America has an obscene amount of overweight and obese people. Let’s not fight over potatos vs. rubarbs minutia. The whole point is improving ones baseline from living on manufactured junk food to eating whole foods. Paleo die hards are synonymous with religious zealots, or the infamous HIT Jedis. In short both groups have a good knack for turning off the mainstream crowd.
It all boils down to calories in vs. calories out, not insulin or carbs. The goal should be eating quality calories. Though we can lose weight eating a Twinkie diet, it is probably not optimal for long term health.
People would achieve their fat loss goals if they created a calorie deficit eating those foods they enjoy, but smaller portions. I think you would get a larger following ig you dropped the Mark Sisson’s “insulin is everything” lie, and Gary “Cherry Picking” Taubes grossly distorted fictional work.
You are basically getting your eating philosophy from a handful of folks that have no education in the nutrition field, and ignoring the mountains of evidence to the contrary. You would be much better off passing the senisble nutritional info of Alan Aragon, Tom Venuto, or the legendary Nancy Clark.
Dave
David,
Although it wasn’t my primary focus, I also studied nutrition in college so I’m not completely ignorant of the science. As for paleolithic diets, as I mentioned in Thoughts on the Paleo/Evolutionary Eating and Exercise Trends what we don’t eat is probably more important than what we do. Our paleolithic ancestors would have had a wide variety of diets depending on the region and season and would have adapted to eating a variety of foods, but not the kind of grains and processed crap that line the shelves grocery stores today.
As for HIT “Jedi” this was a derogatory term used by an author outside of the high intensity training community that was adopted by some as a joke.
Also, I’m not concerned with having a larger following. I’m concerned with providing information that is accurate and useful to people in improving their fitness and health. Insulin isn’t everything, but it certainly appears to play a major role and is something people should be concerned with.
Hi Drew,
since I started following your guidelines on nutrition two weeks ago and keeping calorie restriction according to the 30 kcal per pound fat forula (ca. 650 kcal deficit/day), I have been losing weight BUT, I am pretty much concerned that it might be too much what I am loosing.
I kinda lost almost 6 pounds in two weeks. I know a bunch of it its water, but that I also lost 3 pounds on the second week makes me think that I might be loosing some lean mass? Cos I think the whole water should be gone already??
I have a bio-impendancy scale and also bought a fat caliper. The scale said half of the weight loss is fat, the other “lean” (wathever water or muscle). As for the caliper, well I just have it since two weeks, and measuring alone is not that easy/accurate. As for circumferences, waist has discrease while bizeps stays the same.
Am I too worried or what do you think? I dont wanna loose my muscles and discrease my metabolic rate
Thanks in advance again!
Mariana
Mariana,
If you’re strength training properly and getting adequate protein you shouldn’t lose any lean body mass with that calorie deficit. As long as you are maintaining or improving in your workouts you are not losing muscle mass.
Meat and poultry are definitely not good choices for energy and health. They make carcinogens in the body. The average adult male has 20 pounds of rotting meat in their digestive system. This is a startling and disgusting number.
However, I’m glad a trainer has realized that it’s not just about calories in vs calories out, and that health relies more on the quality of food, rather than quantity.
Tera,
Meat and poultry are some of the healthiest things a person can eat, as they provide an abundance of protein and healthy fats (much healthier when grass fed) and other nutrients. While overcooking may increase the presence of heterocyclic amines proper preparation and appropriate cooking temperatures and times minimizes this. Also, it is a myth that meat collects and rots in the digestive system – the proteins and fat in meat are very thoroughly broken down by digestive enzymes, bile salts, lipase, etc. and mostly absorbed, and the little that is not passes out of the body.
If you’re concerned with the health of your digestive system it’s the gluten grains you should be worried about.
Stop listening to silly vegan bullshit and go enjoy a nice big steak. You’ll feel better and be healthier for it.
Ex vegan here. While meat does not digest as easily as fruit, I am sure not walking around with 20 pounds of meat in my system. At some point you have to drop the vegan dogma and try new things.
Hi Drew,
Through trial and error I have found working out once a week HIT style to be perfect for my recovery needs. I perform 3-4 compund exercises in performing my full body workout once a week.
For leg/hip exercise I switch up every week between squats, deadlifts (regular/trap style), and leg press.
The problem is I usually have sore/painful knees for a couple of days up to 5-6 days after my HIT workouts. I only feel pain when I squat down on chair/toilet and stand back up (basically the same movement pattern as leg exercises). There is zero pain when walking or tenderness when I press my knees with the fingers, only when mimicing those leg exercises in daily life such as standing up and down.
Do you have any idea what this knee pain could be or ways to reduce/heal it? Keep in mind that I weigh almost 400lbs… I definitely look forward to your transformation book when it comes out.
Jay
Jay,
There are a lot of things that can cause knee pain. How you perform your exercises, how you stand, walk, and squat during normal daily activities, your footwear, inflammation caused by diet, some medications, and also your weight. When squatting the lower you go the higher the moment arms the muscles and connective tissue around the knee are working against, which is one reason your knees would bother you when squatting but not walking.
One of the best things you can do for your knees and your overall health is to reduce your weight, and if inflammation is part of the problem it can be fixed with healthy eating as well.
Hi Drew,
I lost 30 pounds in a few months by cutting the carbs/grains and am around 14% body fat. My goal now is to bulk up and add muscle. In about 5 months of lifting I have barley gained any weight (but my muscles do look bigger). As I see it I have to eat more calories but fat and protein fill me up, I have to force myself to eat. I started to eat oatmeal in the mornings now. How important are carbs when trying to bulk up as fast as possible?
Also is the relationship b/w strength and muscle size mostly based on genetics? Maybe I should focus on increasing my strength instead of worrying about size. If its meant to be, size will follow.. if not..ohh well?
Thanks Drew
ps: do you talk about the leg press in Elements of Form and how to determine if a certain machine is safe?
John,
To gain muscle you need to provide more protein and calories, but you should still focus on quality of food rather than just eating more. Take regular measurements of your body weight and skinfolds and adjust your food intake so you provide enough for weight gain but not so much that body fat increases significantly.
Muscular hypertrophy relative to strength gains is mostly genetic. Some people can increase strength significantly with little hypertrophy, some can gain a lot of muscular size without getting much stronger, and most of us are somewhere in between.
I believe if a person trains and eats for fitness and health the end result will be the best physique or expression of their genotype possible. If you have the genetics to be very muscular, training to get stronger will express that.
Equipment comparison is not a major focus of the book but safety considerations and equipment features are discussed.
If he adds more calories across the board he would already get more protein. Simply adding more protein does not build more muscle, training builds muscle.
Drew, what’s your opinion on recovery activities, such as yoga, foam rolling, walking? These activities are not workout, but rather to relax.
Joseph,
While these would not contribute to recovery, if done at low to moderate intensities they won’t interfere with it much either, so if they help you relax go for it.
Is foam rolling of any value?
Joseph,
I don’t know, I haven’t looked into it much. I’m skeptical of it, as most fitness trends are nothing more than silly bullshit meant to drive sales of classes and cheap gadgets, but it may be beneficial to some people under some circumstances. I’ll look into it when I’m done with my current projects.
Hi, Drew how often do I need to train my abs to get a ripped abs? Also cant wait until your fat loss ebook comes out. The post made a lot of clear. Thanks Drew
William,
The ability to perform any athletic event is a combination of skill and conditioning. The conditioning necessary can definitely be accomplished with high intensity training alone, but the skill can not, and since there will be a conditioning effect any time you practice an athletic event you can’t really separate the two. If a person wanted to train specifically for some kind of endurance event the best approach would be a combination of the two. If, however, a person was only interested in the general conditioning and not having the specific skill they could achieve that with a proper high intensity training program alone – in this case, one geared more towards metabolic conditioning.
Most people don’t get this because most people, endurance athletes included, don’t strength train in the manner I would suggest. I’ve trained a few endurance athletes (cyclists, runners, triathletes) and know a lot of other HIT trainers who have, and they are always surprised at how much more demanding it is on the cardiovascular system than they anticipated, as well as how much it improves their endurance performance.
While anecdotes don’t count for much, my brother’s experience during a college physical education course isn’t an unusual one for HIT trainees. While attending the University of Oshkosh he took a course where running was supposed to be a mandatory part of the class, but asked the teacher to be excused from it since he was already performing other conditioning activities. What he didn’t tell the teacher was these other conditioning activities consisted of only one high intensity strength training session a week. At the end of the semester the students were tested on a two mile run, and despite not running with the rest of the class he outran all of them except one student who was there on a cross-country scholarship, and he wasn’t very far behind him.
The same thing occurred during Project Total Conditioning at West Point Military Academy, when the Nautilus trained cadets experienced far greater improvements in the two mile run and every other measure of cardiovascular fitness than their counterparts who were running regularly.
Drew,
Thanks for the quick (and thoughtful) response. My previous post probably indicates my skepticism. But I’m certainly not cynical or close-minded about this. I’m relatively new to HIT in my own training (my results have been very positive) and I continue to read as much as I can. More than anything, I suspect my skepticism reveals the fact that I’m butting up against the conventional wisdom that shapes by understanding of physical conditioning. And, even though he’s been quite successful, already – at the age of 19 – I can see that my nephew is overtraining and that it’s taking a toll on his overall health. I’ll pass along the information about the West Point study with Nautilus-based HIT training. Thanks.
William,
You’re welcome. I was skeptical when I first learned about this as well, and it’s hard not to be when it directly contradicts much of what is popular, but do it consistently for a few months and you’ll be surprised at the results.
Drew-the squat description you gave in your EOF chapter excerpt was interesting. After reading it, I think I probably do my squats a little too quickly. While I don’t free fall or bounce, I’ve always tried to explode out of the bottom position. When the weights get heavy, this plays havoc with my low back, which is definitely my weak link (I have to really concentrate on keeping it tight). If I slow down when rising out of the bottom, maybe I’ll be able to better prepare my low back and protect it? I am positive it will probably also force me to use lighter weights. Do you find that people are able to work back up to previous poundage after changing their form to a slower, more controlled cadence?
Thomas,
Yes. Back the weight down a little and work on improving your form, you’ll get stronger and the weights will go back up but your back will hurt less.
Near the end of a set, when you get stuck in the bottom position, do you end the set or relax the form a bit so you get get a few more reps? I often get stuck (squat, bench, curls, etc) but if I could get past that sticking point, I could easily do more reps. Also, when I get near the end of the set, I can’t keep my face relaxed as you describe in your Workouts ebook. My mouth is usually wide open gasping for air.
Darren,
I don’t relax the form, especially around the bottom position of the squat. How you perform your reps is more important than how many you do. While loosening up your form might allow you to get a few more reps if you loosen it up too much (and most people’s form is terribly loose to begin with by my standards) you aren’t going to be working the target muscles as effectively and are more likely to be injured.
When you reach momentary muscular failure, instead of loosening up your form focus on continuing to contract the target muscles as intensely as possible for a few seconds. Occasionally, you will surprise yourself and still get a rep or two moving strictly if you are able to really “dig deep” and contract with a true, all-out effort without sacrificing form to do so.
As for breathing, just let your jaw “hang” off your skull, and breathe through the mouth, but do not hold your breath, scream, grunt, etc. – just breathe. This is not inconsistent with keeping the head and neck still and the face relaxed.
Drew,
Having read your reply that a good diet negates the need to use supplements, are there any specific foods you’d recommend consumption of pre and post workout ?
Thanks.
Ed Mac
Hey Ed,
Nothing special, just lots of meat, fish, eggs, poultry and vegetables. I generally don’t eat a full sized meal less than two hours before a workout, but will occasionally have a small snack with just a little protein and carbs before and another snack or meal afterwards depending on the time of day. I usually don’t eat much until after around noon or 1:00.
Drew
This post is 100% correct. Four months ago I cut out all grains, vegetable oils, sugar, and any processed food. I now eat meat, seafood, eggs, poultry and lots of vegetables. I buy fresh food and cook it myself. If I’m hungry I eat, if I’m not I don’t. I don’t do calorie restriction. I also started HIT workouts. I do Dr McGuff’s Big-Five workout plus a couple of other exercises for variety. I workout about once a week, one set of each exercise to failure (and I make sure I go to failure, no cheating). I have lost 50lbs and 9 inches off my waist and have steadily gained strength. I am 53 years old and look better and feel better than I have in a long time. What you recommend works.
I like the perspectives of Chris Kresser, Kurt Harris (archevore.com), Paul Jaminet (Perfect Health Diet), J. Stanton (gnolls.org), and still others who have science and/or medical backgrounds and what they have added to the discussion of the paleo diet. For example, many (if not most) people have digestive problems from eating nutrient-poor conventional food or worse, all those “healthy” whole grains, brown rice, and legumes which wreak havoc on your intestines due to their fiber and proteins. Still others have difficulty with various forms of sugars (FODMAPS). That means some of the “paleo” foods — like yams, sweet potatoes, beets, cruciferous vegetables, fruit, and nuts — are also not well tolerated. White potatoes without the skin and white rice can be safe sources of starch for those who can’t tolerate the typical paleo diet starch. And some people do need to supplement minerals and some vitamins if their digestive systems aren’t completely healthy.
Just saying, sometimes the diet thing gets oversimplified. Paleo is a good framework, but it often needs individual tweaking.
Angie,
Like most things, the general principles are a starting point from which people need to make adaptations based on how their body responds. There will occasionally be exceptional cases.
Hey Drew, In regards to your thoughts on exercising harder I was wondering about your opinion on which type of equipment is better: free weights or machines.
Here is a comment I recently came across on strength training forum
“Practically all exercise machines (including Hammer) lock the user into constricted and unnatural paths of motion and loading patterns. They do not produce a training response anywhere near the magnitude of free weights and they are, as they have always been, nothing more than square footage wastage on gym floors. If you have an injury or abnormal physical peculiarity that prohibits you from lifting free weights then they can be used to at least make you feel like you’re not completely wasting your time. Otherwise, they do not belong on any serious gym floor and should be reserved for the injured, elderly or rehabilitation.
It is not that Hammer or any other machines are inherently useless, it is the fact that they are so far inferior to free weights that in comparison they are a relative waste of time. It would be like digging a hole with a plastic spoon when you could be using a steel shovel. Sure the spoon may possibly get the job done eventually (if you’re lucky enough to be working with very easy terrain), but why would you waste your time using a plastic spoon when there are much better tools available anyway?”
Are these views misguided or do they have some merit?
Matt,
The views expressed in that quote are completely unfounded. You can train productively with a variety of tools. If anything, properly designed machines would provide an advantage due to the ability to train more efficiently and more safely.
Hi Drew,
Here in the west, we should be thankful we can screw or nose’s up at the “processed crap” on the selves. In many parts of the world, their not so fortunate, and if it wasn’t for grain’s millions of people would starve to death.
Also, if it wasn’t for the neolithic revolution, we as a species would not have come as far as we have.
Rob,
While grain is a cheap way to feed those people it is no less unhealthy relative to many other foods. As for the neolithic/agricultural revolution, while I am not an expert in anthropology or agriculture, I suspect our species would have continued to improve technologically over time regardless of grain farming although along a very different path.
Excellent article Drew, too bad most people have such a hard time letting CW go and give it a try.
A question, if you don’t mind. I’ve been doin the bbs big 5 since October. I’m thinking of doing kind of a split. W1: pulldown, overhead press, leg press. W2: seated row, chest press, leg press. Maybe salt with some iso like pullover, chest fly. But the question: should I split it so I do vert press/pull and next session do the horizontals or do vert pull/hori press and vice versa?
Matt,
I prefer to pair opposing movements as this balances the work being done by agonist/antagonist muscle pairs.
Drew,
What is your take on intermittent fasting? Have you ever done it regularly and if so, what was the outcome?
Blain,
It’s an effective approach to fat loss. I’m going to cover this in another article in the future.
Drew,
From some of your older writings, I noticed some of the workouts you discussed consisted of roughly 6 exercises per workout and one workout per week. What would be your rationale for doing 6 exercises instead of only 3 for example? It seems you could get better coverage that way on muscles such as calves and triceps. But my experience has been that if I am working hard enough on compound movements, I am typically too tired after that to really get any intensity out of an isolation exercise.
Or maybe that’s all in my head. For years, being a big fan of compound movements, I’ve always had the habit of finishing my compound movements and then asking myself afterwords is an isolation exercise on top of that is going to make any bit of a difference. It probably isn’t going to make a difference for a skinny guy who wants to gain 10-20 kg. But it might make a difference for a guy who has already fully grown for the most part, has a lagging body part, and/or wants to do a contest.
Charles,
For most advanced subjects I wouldn’t recommend more than three compound movements per workout, but a few additional simple movements to address other muscles or muscle groups won’t hurt, such as the calves or neck.
Ultimately, it depends on the individual, their level of skill, conditioning, recovery ability, and other factors.
Drew,
Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.I tried 3 exercises per workout per week last year and it worked great. It was an experiment with positive results. Although I do admit neck as an example of one body part that surely could have used the extra work.
I liked your post by the way and it goes along with everything you’ve always written about. The only thing I might add as a positive, is the fact that intermittent fasting allows some wiggle room with what you can eat and still get good results for fat loss. At least that is what my experience is.
One HIT workout per week, no cardio, simplified and flexible dieting, and I’ve had the best results in my life. I’m the leanest I’ve been in a decade. And I’ve gotten the doctors proof that I am in great shape. My blood pressure is good and I’ve got a low resting heart rate. I can’t complain! It’s great when you have a proven strategy that always works and you know it!