How To Ramp Up Your Fitness Program

What’s the point of getting in shape if it’s just going to lower your metabolism?

Remember that big exposé of that train wreck of a game show The Biggest Loser a while back, about how the participants’ resting metabolisms dropped through the floor? I showed that it wasn’t nearly as drastic for the average Joe, but it’s still something to be concerned over if you’re using exercise as part of an overall lifestyle transformation program to lose weight and get in better shape. (And just FYI, building muscle to boost metabolism has been grossly exaggerated.)

Imagine this scenario:

You’re such a couch potato you’re growing those spindly purple eyes all over your body. Sweat only happens when your girlfriend says, “We need to talk. The only time your heart rate gets elevated is when your football team is behind with seconds left on the clock.

You decide to run a mile, and want to die.

Because you’re in such poor shape, that mile burned a shit-ton of calories. Your body is not used to that kind of exercise, so everything had to go into overdrive to carry your out-of-shape ass those 5,280 feet. Not only that, but your metabolism stayed elevated for a while afterwards because your heart continued to pound and your lungs gasped for breath for several minutes afterwards, burning additional calories.

Now imagine it’s six months of running later. You’ve lost weight, so that’s less you have to carry for a mile. Your heart and lungs are in good condition so it feels much easier. You’re even more economical in your stride; because you’ve practised running, you expend fewer calories with each step because of increases in your efficiency of movement. What’s more, your heart and breathing rates return to normal quickly after the mile is complete.

Guess which mile burned more calories? Yeah, it was the first, out-of-shape mile. That sucks.

It sucks for assisting with weight loss if all you ever do is run just a mile. We keep hearing all these tales of woe about how metabolism goes down as we lose weight and get in shape, and that’s true. But what is usually left out is the conditioning aspect of training.

Getting in shape means that your ability to do more work, more intensely and more frequently, goes up. When your body adapts and says it’s ready for you to up your game, you need to up your damn game!

Here’s how.

Get Your Head in the Game

Everything starts from the neck up.

I know a lot of people who have lost weight and kept it off, and one thing they all have in common is that they went through a major mental shift. They’re not interested in bare minimum efforts and short cuts and supposed miracle cures (because that shit doesn’t work); they’re ready to embrace the work. Actually, make that “play. These people transform their minds so that physical activity comes to represent a core part of their personality. It defines them, in a way, so they’re striving to improve because they’ve embraced their internal competitive spirit. They want to see what they can do.

This doesn’t always happen overnight. Sometimes it’s a process. But you need to at least have a mindset that you’re going to continue to try to keep moving forward.

Because to get more fit, you need to get more FITT. Yes, that’s an acronym.

F Stands for “Frequency
When you begin exercising, you likely don’t go that often, for the simple reason that your body can’t handle that much. If you’re that eye-growing potato I described, then each exercise session is going to make you tired and even sore.

But as your conditioning levels adapt, you can do it more often. After 23 years of being a fit guy, I average six days a week of exercise, and regularly twice a day if I’m doing both cardio and weights. (Read my cardio vs. weights comparison.)

If you begin with twice a week, go for three. And so on. It’s not rocket science.

I Stands for “Intensity
Go harder.

Lift heavier weights. Do more reps. Shorten the rest period between sets.

Run / cycle / swim faster. Make the heart and lungs work harder.

T Stands for “Time
If you are lifting for 30 minutes each session, go for 40. Work your way up to 50 minutes.

Planning a 20-minute run? Regularly add 5 minutes to that until you’re going for much longer runs. Doing the 45-minute fitness class? Try the 60-minute one, or even the 75-minute, kick-your-ass class.

The Other T Stands for “Type
This is about what you choose to do for exercise. If you’ve just been doing some form of cardio, try adding in some resistance training like lifting weights. Already a lifter? Have you tried Olympic lifts or power lifting? Are there other kinds of lifting exercises you could add in? What about kettlebells? If you’re one of those lifters who eschew cardio, perhaps it’s time you gave it a try.

And if you’re looking to up your running game, have you considered doing intervals? Those will really kick your ass.

Beast Mode Does Sleep

Don’t take this as meaning that it’s about going all out, all the time. It’s important to ease off now and then and give the body a chance to recover. De-load your training a bit, and don’t expect that every workout is going to be an ass-kicking one.

Don’t Forget Diet

Sustainable weight loss is largely about what you shove in your face hole. (Here are some tips on managing caloric intake.) But it goes beyond weight loss and into performance. You won’t get the most out of a sports car if you’re using crappy fuel. If you’re getting serious, you may wish to consider tracking your macronutrient intake.

Overall, to kick more ass, you need to focus on the journey. Yeah, that’s some kind of cliché bullshit, but it sounds good – each morning you wake up excited about what the day will hold and how you can use the body you have and figure out what it can do.

Have fun with it.

James S. Fell is a syndicated fitness columnist for the Chicago Tribune and author of Lose it Right: A Brutally Honest 3-Stage Program to Help You Get Fit and Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind, published by Random House Canada. Visit his site at www.BodyForWife.com for a free weight loss report. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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