THE TJF NEWSLETTER - MAY 2007 Edition 3

Welcome to Edition 3 of the TJF Newsletter. We hope you are enjoying the good weather and are managing to keep up the exercise. This month we investigate the theory that aerobic activity will make you lose weight and we argue against this theory. We hope you find it interesting!

INTRODUCTON It is widely thought that prolonged aerobic exercise will help you to lose weight. Much to many peoples amazement the exact opposite has been proven true in many circumstances. Too much aerobic exercise can actually make you fatter!

ARTICLE - Fitness Myths After aerobic activity your body will produce more of the hormone cortisol, which will break down your muscle tissue at a rate faster that it can be regenerated. Your lean muscle is a fat metabolising system even at rest. Therefore if you lose some of this valuable muscle your metabolism will go down and it will therefore become harder to burn calories and metabolise your fat. The end result is your body fat percentage in relation will actually go up.

To avoid this you should stay away from long bouts of aerobic activity and try to combine some strength training exercises into your workout routine. This will help you increase your lean muscle instead of decrease it. Instead of stressful long distance runs, focus on higher intensity interval exercise that will promote the correct hormonal response and help to elevate your metabolism. Look at incorporating functional movements which require you to use the whole body, which will create a huge calorie deficit.

With the right workout programme you can transform your body hugely. However, keeping lean is not just about how much fat you can burn when you are working out. You can only spend so much time training, so you must be as metabolically active as possible the rest of the time. This is where the lean muscle comes into its own. Remember, fat is simply an energy source for the body, but most people are storing much more than they actually need. Fat doesn’t use energy – it is used as energy. Therefore the more muscles you have in your body the more energy you will require and the more fat you will burn - yes, even at rest.

Charles Poliquin is one of the world’s most renowned strength coaches and he has outlined 6 reasons why aerobic training is counter productive to fat loss:

• Continuous aerobic work plateaus after 8 weeks of training so anything more is counter productive.
• Aerobic Training worsens power locally and systemically. In other words, it makes you slower.
• Aerobic Training increases oxidative stress which can accelerate ageing.
• Aerobic Training increases adrenal stress which can make you fatter and produce other undesirable health consequences.
• Aerobic Training increases body fat in stressed individuals by contributing additional stress.
• Aerobic Training worsens testosterone/cortisol levels which impede your ability to add fat burning lean muscle.

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