How to 'Tone' your trouble spots like bingo wings, arm fat, love handles, chest fat and belly fat. . what if told you you couldn't?

I know i told you i was going to tell you how to 'Tone' your trouble spots like bingo wings, arm fat, love handles, chest fat and belly fat. . what if told you that this was impossible and you couldn't? I know it would come as a shock but it actually is an impossibility to tone just your trouble spots.

Tone is another big misconception among the general training population! I even seen a television programme recently with some dumb arse trainer, he had an overweight woman doing tricep kick backs, and mislead her into thinking it was going to 'tone' her arms and help her lose fat on her arms. . You can't tone fat! My apologies but I may get a little antagonistic here. . I get angry when I hear the term 'Tone' as it causes so many dedicated people to do things all wrong!

The word TONE is a big misconception! There is no such thing as 'TONING' a muscle muscles either get

1.Bigger

2.Smaller

Now i know what your saying. . .

'I don't want big muscles!!!!!'

I understand that... women will not get big muscles no matter how hard they try... unless of course you have a good anabolic steroids dealer? Do you? Women lack adequate amounts of the anabolic hormones men possess: testosterone! So you have nothing to worry about! All training heavy and hard is going to do is burn fat, 'tone' and make you lean and sexy!

Now your muscles may get A LITTLE bigger but you will lose fat at the same time and you will remain the EXACT same size... just look far better?!

Sounds like a plan eh?

That is 'TONE'. . well at least what people are looking for when they refer to tone.

----> Reduction in body fat and simultaneous maintenance or slight increase in muscle

I know what you are thinking now. . .

'Ok so do i do this?'

You have one or more of the following: bingo wings, bat wings, upper arm fat, love handles or man boobs so it makes sense to focus on those areas, right? Nope! At first it seems to makes sense, but after thinking about it you'll understand why focusing on your trouble spots is not the solution to fixing them. This is the biggest obstacle trainees face is listening and changing their training. This is essential, especially when it comes to fat loss.

I like to describe it like this. .

'If I take a bucket of water out of the corner of a swimming pool, the water comes from the swimming pool as a whole...not just one section of it'

You get the idea? You have to train your whole body as a unit to reduce bodyfat, your blood stream supplies the energy (in the form of fat) to your muscles, yes? You cannot select where the fat comes from, your body does! It may seem logical for your body to go to fat stores closest to the muscle for energy but it doesn't! Blood flows around your body and the fat that is being used may have been picked up from your thighs or your back not your belly or bingo wings! You don't have control over this aspect of fat loss! Live with it.

Fat will be lost, more often than not, in the reverse order it was put on. Almost everone started puttin on weight in one are first then another etc and the last place to put on nasty bodyfat is usually the first to lose it. Metabolic type work and a clean diet is the key to fat loss, doesn't matter where the fat is!

Copyright (c) 2009 Athleticbodysystem

Bryan Kavanagh Bsc. CSCS

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Protein Shakes – Are They Worth It? Or Are They a Waste Of Money?

First i would like to introduce an exciting study carried out in 2008 that involved 3 groups of people.

1. A Control (CON)
2. Exercise only (EX)
3. Exercise and Protein (EXPRO)

It revealed that ingesting 2 EXTRA protein shakes (extra calories) per day (EXPRO) for 10 weeks caused a ~10% decrease in fat mass and +2% increase in muscle mass. Not bad for 10 weeks of training! This is compared to (EX) who underwent exactly the exercise programme and their diet was adjusted so that they ingested exactly what EXPRO did minus the protein drinks. (Lockwood, 2008)

So what caused the increase in muscle mass and decrease in fat you ask?

This part was not in the study and is merely my own hypothesis.

1. Satiety

My 1st hypothesis is not very scientific but makes sense Ingesting a protein shake in the morning would increase satiety and thus decrease the RISK of that individual heading for the cereal press (god I hate cereal) and eating 3 pieces fruit in the morning. No carbs + No insulin = ↑ Fat loss! Dont get me wrong fruit is great! Full of nutrients and goodness but it also contains calories, it is NOT a magical food that disappears once you eat it. . just think about it next time you eat 3 banana's on the way to work after having a bowl of cornflakes!



NO NO NO!!!

2. Timing

I am assuming the second shake was ‘post workout’ and ingestion of a post workout shake speeds up protein synthesis and actually boosts metabolism via thermogenesis (heat generation) on it own (workout or no workout!)

Also, depending on the rate of digestion/ absorption prevents muscle breakdown and increases recovery time. Whey hydrolysate (in ---->PROMAX<---- and ---->PROMAX AMINOS<----) will illicit the largest of these responses and next in line is whey isolate. Whey concentrates and milk proteins (casein) are too slow to digest (Barr, 2008) and they would not result in nearly as much fat loss or muscle gain.



3. Most people are in a caloric deficit anyway!

Most people are not consuming enough calories in the first place but their diet consists of mainly high glycemic foods and the resultant decrease in metabolism/ fat release from cells will result in a decreased 'basal metabolic rate' (number of calories your body need to survive) The excess calories along with the increase in metabolism results in a net increase in protein synthesis but increased fat loss also! You have the best of both worlds!

4. Their Strength increased!

Assuming both individuals were similar size/weight/limb length etc. If Individual A performs an exercise with 50 kilograms and individual B performs the same exercise with 100 kilo. Who has performed the most work and thus burned more calories and further stimulated protein synthesis?. . . duuhhh. . . ?

5. They 'broke the fast'

Ingesting the protein shake first thing in the morning broke the overnight fast (sleep) kerbed muscle breakdown and kickstarted protein synthesis. The post workout shake kerbed muscle breakdown and kickstarted protein synthesis post workout also. Individual B has a headstart and will accumulate more muscle and recover from his sessions sooner than individual A.

Take home message. .

Take a protein supplement! It will benefit you if your training or not! What I failed to mention was the EX group also lost 4.5% fat compared to the 10% the EXPRO group lost. . that’s 5.5% more fat lost my consuming MORE calories. . . huh? I thought extra calories make you fat? . . . well that’s another article

Promax

References:
1. Lockwood et al. Nutr Metab 2008, 5:11
2. Barr, Anabolic Index, 2008.

Bryan Kavanagh BSc. CSCS

PS

You can see me rant about this subject more by clicking HERE We hava 'Protein Debate' going on over there!

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