I received an E-Mail last week from a friend of mine (not an employee of Europa). She
was in a dilemma that a lot of ladies and even the men are or can be in at one time or
another. So I thought I would share it with you. Her problem is that she just can’t lose weight
no matter how much cardio she does! Here is what she relayed to me:

In one month I have.....
*Walked/run 195 miles
*Spent 320 minutes in swim class
*Cycled 17 miles
*No soft drinks
*No desserts
*Eaten healthy (but what does that really mean)

And how much weight have I lost??????
!!!!!!!!!!!! ZERO !!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see, she is performing a lot of work with very little results. I like to make
the analogy of fitness training to that of building a house. There are many tools that can be
used in getting the job done, but finding the right tools to build it in the most useful and
efficient way possible is of the upmost importance if one wants the results they desire. So I
responded by first complimenting her on her hard work but then of course pointed her in
another direction.

First I told her to stop all the cardio that she was performing except for the swimming
which I’ll discuss later. Now she could have added some muscle just by swimming and that
would account for the negative weight loss, but that would have been very little however. So
then, why would I tell her to stop all the cardio? Well, it doesn’t take a nuclear engineer to
see that what she was doing just wasn’t working (and it could have been for many reasons)
but with the information I had obtained it was obvious something just wasn’t right. That’s
why no more cardio or at least the type of cardio she was performing.

Why I told her no more cardio??—that’s because it was doing nothing to raise her
metabolic rate or the amount of calories she is burning throughout the day which is also
known as EPOC, (Excessive Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption) which is defined as a
measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following strenuous activity or simply called “the
after burn.” When performing regular steady state cardio (a walk jog let’s say) the metabolic
rate stops right after the session is complete. So I told her to start weight training 3 days a
week. With weight training your metabolic rate continues for hours after your training
session is complete. Plus with weight training, for every pound of muscle gained up to 50
extra calories one may burn during the day. This is because it takes a lot of energy to sustain
muscle.

With her body having to sustain and use energy to build and keep that muscle her
body becomes an anabolic machine and as Marcus Lemonis would say on my favorite TV
show “The Profit” “that’s a big plus!” Because of this metabolic process being speeded up I
also told her to up her protein intake to at least 1.4 to 1.8 pounds per kilo-gram of BW. OK I’ll
do the math. If she weighs 130, 130 divided by 2.2 = 59. Then 59 X 1.4 = 82 grams of protein
she needs during the day and this is at the low end of the scale. Protein is critical recovery
and for protein synthesis which aids in the building up of muscle which also keeps the body
anabolic during the entire day.

I then went back to the cardio and the type of cardio she should be performing. To mix
in with her weight training afterwards or on off days she should be doing some type of
interval sprint work. For example: sprint 40 to 60 yards, walk back and sprint it again. Or she
could sprint or go hard on the treadmill or elliptical for 30 seconds then rest 60 to 90 seconds
and repeat for 8 to 10 times. This will also speed up ones metabolic rate. Look at your
Olympic sprinters. They have less fat than distance runners. Why, because of the type of work
done which is High Intensity training that produces a high energy and a high anaerobic effect
which will also leads to that desired EPOC.

Now she was swimming which I really like and you’ll burn massive amounts of calories
because of the total body work, plus it’s great for the joints. So I want her to continue with
the swim sessions and why this wasn’t helping could be because of many factors. It could be
because of the low intensity of the swim class, her nutrition or a combination of both. Again
with the information that I obtained let’s see what the weight training, upping the protein,
and the sprint work does to help her finally see some results. Always remember that it’s a
process, not a quick fix!

I’ll keep you posted.

One final thought. Now I have nothing against walking or any type of steady state cardio, and
walking is always a good place to start. However when something isn’t working over an
extended period of time it’s time to change, and her body just wasn’t responding. If she had
been losing weight with this type of routine and the movements that she was performing I
wouldn’t have changed a thing. Remember the old saying,” the height of stupidity it
continuing to do the same thing over and over again and getting the same unwanted results.”
This lady was smart enough to change and ask for help!

Chip Sigmon
Wellness & Fitness Coordinator
Europa Sports Products