Now I have never claimed to be a doctor, nor a nutritionist. But doesn’t this sound like me?   I think we’re on to something……..

by Dr. Kareem

Accelerated Fat Loss = (# of METs used) x (# of Joints Involved)

When you want to lose fat super fast, you have to challenge as much of your body as possible in a repeatable, safe way. Heart rate alternation, Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE), and VO2 max are all important; none of these is as important as the multiple of your metabolic equivalent cost of an exercise and the number of joints involved in a given movement.

Essentially, the more of your body you get moving, the faster fat loss is going to take place. It often helps to think of your “metabolism” as a system of smaller metabolisms, one at each joint in your body. Together, these “local metabolisms” add up to form your “global metabolism,” or your overall metabolism.

When You Want To Raise Your Metabolism,
Get More Of Your Body Moving.

The more muscle you have involved in any given movement, the higher the # of METs (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) you’ll use, and the increased number of joints you’ll have involved. Normally, what happens is that the # of METs go up by increasing speed or intensity of a movement, such as running on a treadmill, instead of just walking. When the # of METs go up, so does the caloric expenditure – More calories burned.

The Problem: You’re Training The Wrong System

The way most workout programs are designed is by deciding which muscles to work today, and how to best set up your program to hit everything eventually; all of this while stimulating the greatest “metabolic” effect. The problem is, you’re already off to the wrong start.

But, Muscle = Metabolism, right?

So in order to stimulate the greatest metabolic effect from an exercise, we want to get as much muscle involved as possible. This just makes sense. However, stimulating as much muscle as possible may not be what it seems…

Now, what we’re talking about by working multiple joints together at once is coordinating “like” muscle groups together and multiple body parts. This requires much more electricity from our nervous systems, as well as coordination of muscle timing to execute a movement. This will allow us to activate much more muscle with every exercise we are using to increase our MET usage. So, every calorie burned gets multiplied.

What we’re talking about is a bit trickier to design, but much more effective since we’re also going to be multiplying the ‘Neuro Factor’ at the same time by adding more joints into a movement (more to come on this soon.) However, to build this level of complexity into your exercise program, it’s crtical that you remember something very important and counterintuitive:

The Best Thing You Can Do Right Now To Increase
The Metabolic Cost of Every Exercise Is Stop ‘Working’ Your Muscles

Well, that’s not completely true. Instead, shift your focus off of working your muscles and onto working your nervous system. Most people don’t have any idea how slow and debilitated the signals to their muscles have become. Consider this:

• Nerves innervate many muscles, not just one.
• Nerves get compressed all the time from poor sitting posture, awkward lifting technique, or small, repetitive injury.
• By working on improving a nerve signal, we are working on simultaneously activating more of many muscles, at once.
• More muscle activated = higher metabolic cost of the exercise = Faster Metabolism.

In my next post, we’ll talk all about the 6-Step Neuro-Activation Sequence I use with my clients to help them get as much muscle active as possible. You’re going to love it, so be sure to check your inbox tomorrow and click the link. It’ll say something like this:

OMG. We are really on to something here. Just last month we were doing this. check it out…

by Mike Geary,

If you’ve been looking for a different training technique to break out of a rut, eliminate the boredom, and bring on new results, workout “complexes” may be just what you’ve been looking for.

What are workout “complexes”?

If you’ve never heard of “complexes” before, the basic concept is that instead of repeating the same exercise for multiple reps to complete a “set”, you sequence one rep of several different exercises right after one another and repeat the sequence several times to complete a “set”. It’s basically like performing a routine, instead of just mindlessly performing a typical “set”.

This type of training is excellent to work a huge amount of your body’s musculature in a short amount of time, and definitely takes your workouts to a whole new level of intensity. The conditioning aspect of this type of training is amazing, as you’ll find yourself huffing and puffing after repeating a sequence a mere two or three times.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d have to say that this type of training probably elicits a good growth hormone response as well, due to the large amount of full body work completed in a given time period.

I like to incorporate about 5 exercises into my complexes. Any more than that and you might start to forget what’s next in the sequence.  I’m going to show you example routines to use for “complexes” below for barbells, dumbbells, and even kettlebells too.  I’m willing to bet this is a totally different style than you’ve ever trained before.

Here’s an example of a killer barbell complex that really gets me fired up:

Example Barbell “Complex” Sequence

1. 1 rep:  barbell clean and press from floor (explosive lift of barbell from floor to “catch” on front shoulders in one motion, then push-press overhead);
2. 1 rep:  barbell back to thighs, then hang clean (explosively pull bar from knees and “catch” the bar at shoulders);
3. 1 rep:  keep barbell at shoulders, then front squat;
4. 1 rep:  barbell back to thighs, bend over, then bent over row;
5. 1 rep:  barbell back to thighs, then finish with Romanian deadlift
6. repeat each rep of the sequence 2-3 times

Use a weight that you can still handle for your weakest lift of the bunch, but keep it heavy enough to challenge you. Try to repeat the sequence 2-3 times without resting… That’s 1 set. You could progress over time on this routine by increasing the amount of times you repeat the sequence in each set, or by adding sets on subsequent workouts before eventually increasing the weight.

For example, say you completed the above complex with 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 3 sets in today’s workout. Next time you perform the workout, try to do 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 4 sets. Once you successfully complete 5 sets with 155, increase the weight 5 or 10 lbs next time, and drop back to 3 sets. This is a great way to make improvements over time, while cycling your training volume.

Now I’m going to show you a great kettlebell complex that really kicks my butt.  If you don’t have a kettlebell, you can use a dumbbell, but I’d highly recommend picking yourself up a kettlebell… they’re very convenient to have around the house when you want to bang out a quick intense workout at home without going to the gym.

I’ve been training with kettlebells for about 5 years now, and can definitely say that they’ve dramatically improved my strength and overall physical capabilities. If you’re not familiar with kettlebells, they are an old eastern European training secret that has just started to take the US by storm over the last few years. Many elite athletes are using kettlebells as their preferred training tool for serious results.  If you’re new to kettlebells, you can learn how to get started with kettlebells at this article.

I’d recommend just starting off with one kettlebell and learn all of the single kettlebell drills first, before delving into the double-bell drills. Just one kettlebell coupled with some bodyweight exercises can literally be enough to comprise your own home gym, without any other equipment necessary. Or a kettlebell can just be a great alternative workout to incorporate into your routines once or twice a week. Either way, it opens up a whole new world of training for you.

Example Kettlebell Complex

1. one arm swing
2. one arm snatch, keep the bell over head;
3. one arm overhead squat;
4. bell back down to bottom, then one arm high pull;
5. bell back down to bottom, then one arm clean & press
6. repeat sequence with opposite arm

As with the barbell complex, repeat the sequence (without rest) 2-3 times with each arm. That’s one set…and one hell of a killer set at that!  Try increasing from 3 to 4 to 5 sets on subsequent workouts with a given weight before increasing your sequence reps. If you’re not drenched in sweat with your heart beating out of your chest after that complex, you either went too light, or you are a mutant freak!

Since dumbbells are more accessible to most people than kettlebells, now I’ll show you how to put together a good dumbbell complex.  This dumbbell complex is a better option for beginners or intermediate exercisers.  The barbell and kettlebell complexes I showed above are for advanced trainees.

Example Dumbbell Complex

1. dumbbell squat and push-press
2. front lunge with one leg, then the other
3. back lunge with one leg, then the other
4. curl to overhead press
5. keep dumbbells at shoulders and squat
6. repeat sequence 2-3 times

Again, the same type of sequencing and progressions explained with the barbell complexes work great with the dumbbell complexes. I think an amazing workout strategy is to alternate barbell complexes on one day with kettlebell or dumbbell complexes on alternative training days.

For example, you could do barbell complexes Monday, kettlebell or dumbbell complexes Wednesday, and back to barbell complexes on Friday. Maybe hit some sprints and bodyweight drills on Saturday; then Monday would be K-bell or D-bell complexes again, Wednesday would be barbells again, and so on. Give this program a try for a month (if you dare), and you will be one hardened individual!  Make sure to shift to a different training style after 4-5 weeks as your body starts to plateau on this specific training routine.