Weightloss and Bodycomposition for GST

[Daniel Burnham]

This article is aimed at those trying to loose fat and are training using the programs here.   The GB program provides a fantastic strength and mobility program.  However, those struggling with the programs due to weight may wish to accelerate progress with proper weightloss. The article is broken down into three basic sections. Diet and two sections on weight loss strategies. One strategy is for those people whose are considered overweight or obese and whose physical ability is being impaired due to the excess weight.  The second strategy addresses those who are physically able to perform strenuous tasks and are looking for better body composition through fat loss.  Originally I had thought about assigning body fat percentages to the division between these groups , but I think that there is enough variation between people that this shouldn’t be used as a hard line.  As such it is up to the reader to determine which weightloss strategy they would rather use. 

 

Diet:

Diet plays an role in any weightloss scheme as does training.  There has been a lot of discussion on whether diet is important on this website.  There are a few things to consider. No one can beat thermodynamics.  There is no such thing as eating nothing and gaining muscle.  Likewise in the obese population cutting calories is often the best approach regardless of the calorie type.  Now there are those that seem to be able to eat anything and not gain weight.  These are the people who are general not eating near their upper limit and/or are in good shape metabolically (ie not damaged).  I know several like this and I myself become more and more like this from GST training methods.  I would suggest the strategy of getting good diet and getting thinner to help performance than having a very difficult time progressing because of your weight.  Approaching a problem from both sides training hard and eating well tends to help more than doing one of the other.

There are fans of every kind of diet out there and people who have achieved great body compositions from these.  I will provide some guidelines that people should consider when picking a diet that suites them.  It is always a good idea to get nutrients from whole foods.  Shop in the perimeter of the grocery store prepare whole meals and get most of your nutrients from those meals rather than using snacks as a substitute.  Also limit certain foods like sugar and alcohol.  Try to limit liquid calories in general, as these tend to be consumed very quickly and rarely have any nutritional value.  This includes meal replacement shakes, soda, etc.  The general idea is to eat whole foods.  Do not be fooled into thinking that some shake like soylent brings the best nutrients to your body.  There are many interactions that whole foods have with our bodies that we are just now learning about whose benefits are likely not replicated by shakes.

Nutrient timing has also become a hot topic. For loosing weight 3 meals with whole foods will release well and keep calories at a minimum.  And though I do not use intermittent fasting, I have nothing against the LeanGains approach if you use it correctly and it is working for you.

I will make one more note about carbs.  I have found some carbs to be beneficial in my own diet around the workout window. The have helped me tremendously in fueling long workouts.  However if you keep the workout short (1hr or so) you may be able to handle very low carb quite effectively even if intensity is quite high.  There are also many techniques such as carb back loading that may help performance while keeping carbs low. 

Some good dietary guidelines can be found in Ancestral Diets, and the Weston Price dietary articles. 

 

Weight Loss of Overweight People 

As I discussed earlier in the article, being overweight can make even the simplest training very difficult.  If you fall in this category it will also be very difficult to employ fat loss schemes that are meant for those simply trying to achieve better body composition.  HIIT training has been shown to be very effective for these individuals and I will cover this approach in the next section.  However for people who already have difficulty performing the early strength training in GST it is not prudent to try and do advance movements as a metabolic conditioning exercise. 

For obese people simply burning more calories will be helpful.  General habits should be applied such as walking more.  Start a step count and set a goal to achieve an overall higher caloric burn.  It will not be possible to offset a complete days worth of eating Cheetos by doing this but it will be a big help in the long run to be more active in general.   Strategies can include taking a walk on your lunch break or walking every hour if you have a sitting job.  The key is to be up and mobile more often rather than sitting in a certain place. 

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for.  GST should be accompanied by some type of cardio training.  For this category cardio training will not be able to be too intense due to physical limitations.  Because of this long slow cardio may be necessary.  Jogging is one good thing, riding a bike.  The goal here is to work at an intensity that is bearable but not painfully slow.  If you feel the ability to take it up a notch without causing injury then go for it. 

A couple of good strategies are to have two days a week of longer cardio workouts.  This should be done in addition to the GST work you are already doing.  Remember these workouts are an aid, not the main goal.  Getting good at jogging will not help GST.

On days that you are doing GST make sure to have a good warmup that includes some activity that will get heart rate up and burn some calories in excess of the GST workout.  I do not suggest trying to do long cardio sessions and your strength workouts on the same day. 

Another controversial cardio fat loss tool is fasted training.  I don’t want to get into the argument here but it if you want you may feel it is worth a try.  And I think there are some benefits especially in habit.  Starting the day out with activity never seems to hurt and at least for me tends to lead to better appetite control during the day.

 

Getting Better Body Composition

Now then we get to the part that most people are likely to be interested in.  Body composition for those able to do the workouts unimpeded.  The good news is that if you are following the GB program you are nearly there!.  Gaining muscle always helps.  Now some may still want an accelerated path to that sub 10% bodyfat.  The bad news is that there is not quick and easy path.  Now diet quality becomes even more important here so you should focus on eliminating the things previously mentioned. As I mentioned before GST should really be accompanied by some cardio training.   The best bang for the buck cardio training is high intensity interval training (HIIT).  Really the sky is the limit on things you can use for metabolic conditioning, but you should take a few things into account.

 Too often GST practitioners are working trying to get through a progression and then turn right around and use a more advanced progression for their conditioning.  This is counter intuitive.  You should not be doing burpee conditioning if you have not mastered pushups!  By now you should know what mastery means.  If not check out Foundation series for a good idea.  It is possible to use a lower progression for conditioning, however you should also be careful here.  Is doing the lower progression going to impede recovery?  For example should you really be doing pushups for conditioning between to hollowback days? Use GST skills in conditioning circuits only when they become easy strength wise.  You can also do things like sprints, rowing, etc…without having too much effect on your GST progression.

Programming options depend on how you have you week split up but I would not recommend replacing all your rest days with HIIT training.  This usually is a fast track to overtraining effects.  You can however do it in between workout assuming the type of HIIT is picked accordingly.  If you have enough time you can even try GST in the morning and a short HIIT in the afternoon.  Do not go overboard.  Typically spend only about 30 min total on the HIIT training.  And that’s if your intervals include a great deal of rest.  Personally I have been doing hill sprints and track sprints and have had very good results.  I do two days GST then track and then two more days GST..  If you find you have some energy left over after prescribed GST and you are hitting all your goals then you can even add HIIT after the workout, but remember to keep it short and do not loose focus of the main training.

I haven’t been too technical here because I really don’t think there is a need to be.  Getting training down and focusing on that generally takes care of everything assuming diet is not atrocious.  Remember not to bog down in the details if you are making progress don’t feel like you need to tweak something.  Train hard and eat well and 90% of things will fall into place worry about the other 10% when/if it becomes critical.

[Daniel Burnham]

BTW my usual type checker is away so if you find one let me know and Ill change it in the article to avoid confusion.  Should be a bit better than my bus ride iPhone posts though

[GoldenEagle]

Paper Rater: Grammar and spelling check

Edited June 15, 2014 by GoldenEagle

[Jacob Morsbøl]

What a great pragmatic approach. I do have some questions.

1) Make me an example. I'm around L.5 in terms of Foundations series. I'm 186 cm tall and weighs 83 kg. I think my body fat percentage is around 15, so I'm and the group of 'those who are physically able to perform strenuous tasks'. My question is now whether I should make weight loss a priority if I just want to optimize my training? Or is weight loss as a priority only necessary if i want 'quick' cosmetic progress.

 

2) How important do you find it to eat low carbs? As an example I can tell that I'm a danish student. Shopping in the perimeter of the grocery store is the cheapest way to eat in Denmark. So I'm already shopping in the perimeter of the grocery store and eating whole foods with a few exceptions. Around half of my meals are vegetable and I'm quite fond of meat. However rye bread is quite popular (and good) in Denmark and rye bread is quite easy in the lunch box. I surely choose some great freshly made rye bread without any additives or sugar, but there is carbs in ryes. So my question is whether carbs from whole food of such quality is worth eliminating?

[Daniel Burnham]

Wether you should make weight loss a priority is up to you.  Personally I don't.  You will probably notice that with correct diet GST and light other exercise is good enough to produce good composition.  However if you are keen on getting down you may do this.

 

I don't find it that important to eat low carbs.  Im a pretty active guy and adjust the carbs to match the level of activity and type of activity.  The only meal I don't include a starch with is breakfast.  Here in include a small fruit to help replenish the liver from over night.  Rye bread is probably ok as long as you don't get carried away.