Speak it, believe it, achieve it!

Mentors, from my perspective, are people who have “been there and done that.” They have the knowledge, the background, the experience in a specific area which can prove useful to you as you attempt to emulate or reproduce their achievements. Or even surpass them. I doubt there’s any mentor who wouldn’t be pleased to know that their students have found a measure of success based on their impact on their lives.

I purchased a Ron Harris course that covers fat loss. Interesting reading. He recommends doing cardio either first thing in the morning on an empty stomach or right after lifting. And he believes the cardio must be intense or it won’t burn enough calories to achieve that amount of riptitude many of us seek.

His advice is to employ interval training with bursts of effort followed by brief resting speed work just long enough to recover and then another burst. He also recommends increasing both the time spent and intensity used until you reach 45-60 minutes per day for 4-6 sessions each week.

Harris’ thoughts on fat burners and supplements are basic and logical. He states that they will not do the work for you, but they can give you an added edge. He cautions though that a lot of people will skip the work part of that statement and see only the words “fat burners give you an added edge.”

I liked this quote (well, sort of – wouldn’t a magic pill be nice?), “No supplement is ever going to take the place of hard work and discipline.  Supplements can give you around 5-10 % faster results than not using them, so if you’re in a hurry they could be useful for you.”

Another course or book that I’ve enjoyed reading was one purchased from Dave Palumbo. He agrees with Harris re the best times for cardio.

Cardiovascular (aerobic) training is always performed in a depleted state either:

1) First thing in the morning (on an empty stomach) or
2) Immediately after a weight training session.
This ensures that fat is used as the primary fuel source.

Palumbo recommends lifting about an hour after a meal so that your muscle tissue isn’t used as energy to fuel your workouts. Don’t lift on an empty stomach or right after your cardio. And be sure to fuel up after your workout. He calls that forty-five minute period after lifting as your ideal “window of recovery” to get a muscle-building meal in you.

Harris recommends high intensity/interval cardio while Palumbo states, “A high protein/low-carbohydrate diet combined with moderate intensity aerobic exercise will reduce body fat in equal amounts from your entire body. This means that trouble areas such as the stomach and ‘love handles’ in men and the hips, thighs, and glutes in women will be the last areas to get lean.”

Some basic information from Palumbo’s course and which I’m certain I’ve seen in high school health texts:

Max Heart Rate (Max HR) = (220 - Age) = Max # beats/minute
(e.g. 20 year old man’s Max HR = 220-20 (age) = 200 beats/minute)

Palumbo offers, “If your goal is to reduce body fat and you have been relatively inactive, you will need to train at a level of 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. This is still within your comfort zone and allows you to exercise at a steady pace for a long enough time to burn off a substantial number of calories.”

He says that if you’re already in decent aerobic shape then upping your max HR to 70-80% “is also a good zone for fat burning.”

Mentors are vital for success. One of Harris’ quotes – you’ll see it immediately if you visit his website – is “The more you know, the more you grow!”

Knowledge is key and mentors can certainly provide that knowledge. Certainly each of us must take responsibility for our own fitness, however it’s never bad to have good advisors.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.