Finding it hard to lose body fat?...you don’t necessarily need cardio.

Throughout the years, body builders and indeed any athlete looking to lose body fat, have always deemed cardiovascular training an essential part of their training programme.

When preparing for a body building competition, many competitors will undergo hours and hours of tedious cardiovascular work in a desperate attempt to shed those last few pounds before contest day arrives. I know countless individuals who spend everyday on the treadmill, going through the motions whilst willing their bodies to peak at the right time.

For me, the idea of a trying to build a lean, muscular and powerful physique, has never really sat too well with the thought of endless hours on the treadmill or stepper. Try as I might, I find it hard to see that one complements the other, I just don’t get it.

When beginning my career as a competitive natural Body builder, I was well aware that weight training and the intensity and effort I gave during the sessions, provided a huge kick-start to my metabolism. Simply seeing the sweat pour off me through set after set of gruelling weight training was enough to make me think “If I can burn fat and build muscle whilst doing what I love, do I need to go down the route of doing endless cardio?”

After my novice year of competition, it became obvious that I didn’t need cardio. I didn’t perform one single minute on the treadmill, bike or whatever and still came into the competition in the best condition of anyone on the same stage.

During 2002 in my quest to become a fully-fledged contender as an over 80kg natural body builder, I made a big mistake. During the year before beginning my preparation for the 2002 ANB Yorkshire qualifier, I ate and ate and ate, until I literally could not see my abs, in the misguided belief that this was how you got bigger and better. The result was of course I had to lose over 40lbs before my next competition, which of course required the dreaded cardiovascular work because I was fighting a race against time.

The culmination of 16 weeks of dieting and cardiovascular work left my weight training in bits. My strength dropped quickly and this inevitably resulted in me sacrificing muscle mass, in an attempt to get in shape in time.

2002 taught me a great deal about body building competition and how if you wanted to experience any success, you have to take a semi-professional approach all year round. In 2004 I am now 5 weeks away from the self-same competition as 2002, only this time I have never stepped on the treadmill once. In fact, I have returned full-circle to how I prepared in 1999. Quite simply, I have used my weight training to get me in the necessary condition.

Throughout the years I have done extensive reading on how to best use weight training to build/maintain muscle, yet at the same time, eliminate body fat. Renowned strength and conditioning coach Charles Poliquin has popularised the GBC (German Body Comp) training program as the best way to burn body fat, whilst maintaining (even building) muscle mass.

An outline varying German Body Comp training cycles can be found in my second book “The Natural Edge”, however over the years I have simply tailored my own training to meet my own needs. By extensive use of alternates (picking two exercises for opposing body parts and performing back to back sets with small rest periods in between) I find that my metabolic rate is soaring, whilst the rest between sets of the same exercise allow me to maintain the strength that many deem necessary to maintain muscle mass.

Here’s how I train at the moment:

Day 1- Chest and back.

Day 2- calves and abs

Day 3- quads and hamstrings

Day 4- rest

Day 5- Delts and traps, biceps and triceps.

Day 6- Calves and abs

Day 7- repeat the cycle.

So on chest and back day I usually pick 3 exercises for each body part and perform alternating sets, whilst resting 60-90 seconds between each set. On the days I train abs and calves I tend to limit rest periods to around 30 seconds.

Whilst this may seem like a lot of training to some natural Body builders, for me it’s a far better option than the regular 4 sessions of weight training per week, interspersed with multiple cardio sessions daily. This way I can get in the gym, train hard and reasonably quickly, then get home to rest and eat.

Up to this point in my preparation I have lost no strength in any exercise and am only around 4-6lbs away from being in contest condition, when previously I have lost anywhere up to 20% of my strength on certain exercises.

Am I saying that no one should ever do any cardio to get in shape? No way. There are many athletes who need cardio training to help shift their metabolism into fat-loss mode and assist with their training and dietary plans. Cardio training is also a great way to help you keep aerobically fit and help your general health against illness later in life. Quite simply, all I am saying is that if you have performed hours of cardio in the past and not like how you have looked at the culmination of your preparation, give my plan a try. It just might work for you.

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