Optimum Training For Fat Loss
If you like workout challenges then jump back to part 4, of this expert interview series with the creator of the Hurricane Training System.
Click here to listen to the call.
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Craig: Let’s switch it up and talk about your Training for Men articles that you’ve been doing recently. We’re going to totally switch away from body weight training and talk to us about some of the exercises you think have disappeared that are maybe really worthwhile putting back in.
Here at Turbulence Training we have a bit of a meathead series of workouts that would probably go really well with the ideas here.
Martin: I created this series, it’s on T Nation Now if anybody wants to check it out. It’s called Train Like a Man. One of the things that I noticed was going on in the industry was it was almost like everything was becoming so foo-foo. Everything was becoming so scientific and rehab oriented, and I really believe that there were just people really almost pushing people away from exercise.
It was almost like, “Oh, if your ankle doesn’t Dorsey flex to 12 degrees and it’s only 10, you have to do a year of this foam roll. Nobody’s allowed to do a sit-up anymore. Overhead press is dangerous. Dead lift will hurt your back. You shouldn’t squat anymore, it’s only one leg.”
What I tried to say was there’s nobody taking the other side of this argument. I’ve produced world champions in many, many sports utilizing all the things that everybody’s saying not to do, as well as took regular people and really got them fit doing all the things that somebody might be blogging about or writing about that maybe didn’t have the same experience.
I started to do these articles about the topic and it really hit a nerve. These were some of the more popular articles that were written on the entire site, thousands of likes and hundreds of thousands of views.
So many people got behind the message.
Then I would write another article and another article, and now I think the series is up to eight or nine articles in the Train Like a Man series. There’s stuff about the evolution of exercise, like you had talked about, what I call the outlaws of exercise.
I’m trying to take a standpoint, but at the same time stir the pot to get people interested again to take a look back. That was the whole purpose.
I’m not ever going to be there to point fingers or say somebody’s right or somebody’s wrong, but what I was trying to do was make an argument for both sides. Let us not forget that sometimes you have to get in there.
The heart and philosophy of Train Like a Man is you have to get in there and kick some ass. You have to get in there and get after it. You have to get in there and move some weight.
No matter what anybody says, you can’t take these things away and say, “All you have to do is a five minute plank and there’s your workout.” I was just attacking some of that because the last thing I want is to make anybody else softer on this planet. We have enough people like that right now. I was trying to fire people up and get them going, and it definitely hit the mark.
If anybody’s listening who wants to check out the Train Like a Man series, I guarantee they’re entertaining, there are cool videos, and if what I said just resonated with you, it will get you fired up.
Craig: Speaking of that, you’ve kind of broached the topic of people need to train harder, but people need to back off. Where can people figure out exactly where they need to be in a training session? How much volume should somebody’s actual training component really be on a daily basis or on a weekly basis?
We’re talking about a guy or a woman who wants to be above average fitness, relatively low body fat, like 10% for a guy, 16% for a woman. What does that person need to do?
Martin: Another great question. I get that one a lot. Here’s how I’ll answer it, which I think is interesting.
So many people out there, I think everybody thinks, “Oh man, if I’m going to work out and I’m really going to be fit like you described, I’m going to try to get to 10%. I have to workout seven days a week, hours a day.” Then they start to think about that and they say, “I don’t have seven days a week, hours a day.” Then all of a sudden they don’t work out at all.
They kind of go from, “I’m not working out,” to, “I probably need to work out seven days, so then I’m not going to work out at all.”
What I would recommend to people is three or four training sessions a week is optimal. I’d use that with my highest level athletes, I have used that with myself. There are a few reasons. Number one, you don’t get better when you’re training. The results happen when you are recovering from your training. If you have not added enough of that in, then it doesn’t work.
The person who’s that guy out in the street that you see in the mornings, he’s running at 5:30 and he’s busting his butt and he has kind of a gut and he has no muscle mass, the guy’s just eating himself alive. He’s never recovering and he’s not doing the style of training of what he wants, but that guy wants to be lean and muscular.
What I’ve found is a couple of strength training sessions and a couple of metabolic sessions a week, which is what the Training for Warriors system is, you hit a couple of those the right way and you really eat well because yes, the 10% is found in the refrigerator, not in the weight room.
If you do those two pieces together and you add in the right amount of recovery with the right amount of sleep, the body is waiting for anybody if they want to do it. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done as you know, Craig.
Yeah guys, it’s not a commercial. Three or four days a week, which essentially if you get it right, it’s about three or four hours a week, which out of 168, everybody has it. You have to make sure you get the right recovery and you have to eat well.
If people can’t do that, then they’re lying to themselves that they really wanted to be in shape. If you want to be 10%, you have to follow that formula. Most people just don’t do it, and that is the Training for Warriors formula.
When people read my books or see the system, the maximum I will allow somebody to train is four days. The nutrition information is all in there, then you have to make sure you’re following the proper methods of recovery. It almost couldn’t be simpler than that.
If somebody’s going to tell me they don’t have time, I’m busier than most people I know and I always have time for it. If I have time for it, people listening have time for it. Now it’s just time to do it.
Craig: Yeah, and you have a couple of kids, too, so it can’t be the thing they throw at me that I don’t have kids or anything. You have a couple kids and everybody on the call knows how much stuff you have going on here.
Martin: I have four kids and it’s four daughters, so when I go home I’m defending myself almost the entire time I’m there.
It’s managing your time, managing your energy, and really learning how to be effective. This is what I do on a daily basis, helping people to learn. These are all skills.
One thing I’ll throw out there that I usually throw out to everybody. In the late 1960s we put a man on the moon. You can’t tell me that you can’t find a few hours a week to workout and still get your stuff done and get to sleep on time and eat right.
You’re not trying hard enough. If I asked somebody to put somebody on the moon, that’s hard. Because it’s possible, all of these things that we talked about, nobody’s that busy.
So true! We’ll have to end our call for today remember to join us in part 6, where we talk recovery.
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Train hard but safe but hard,
Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer