How I Train to Stay Lean – Fastest Way There

CARDIO VS. WEIGHT TRAINING – WHICH TO PRIORITIZE

A Cardio Heavy Move

A cardio heavy move like my HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) Burpee variation above, is excellent for:
Raising heart rate
Burning extra calories
Maintaining flexibility and agility
Heart health

BUT IT IS NOT GOOD FOR:
Sculpting
Toning
Defining a specific muscle or area of your body
Too much of this type of training can also put excessive stress on joints and cause overuse injuries

An Isolation Move…

A resistance-based, isolation move like the basic curl above, is excellent for:

Sculpting a specific area of your body
Recruitment of deep muscle fibers (this is speed and technique dependent)
Targeting and reshaping under-developed areas

BUT IT IS NOT GOOD FOR:
Raising your heart rate
Overall fat burn
Caloric/energy expenditure (how you lose fat aka thermogenesis)

The Hybrid – My Solution

A hybrid move like the one above, accomplishes a few things. What you see here is a deep squat, but let’s break it down, as there is so much happening!

• The basic deep squat movement is further challenged by the addition of loads/weights. This is, of course, the resistance piece.
• Notice that I am alternately dropping and picking up the weights. This forces me to have a target and essentially cues me to go deep enough in the move in order to reach the weight. Doing so, not only works the quads but also gets much more glute involvement. Be sure to have your foot placement ahead of you in order to keep the angle of the knees safe, especially for that deeper squat position; toes in line with the ankles or knees but never beyond the toes.
• The squat itself is already a move that raises the heart rate, thereby adding a cardio component.
• The stability ball is not just there to cushion me. The ball adds an element of IRT (Instability Resistance Training), so not only is my core involved in stabilizing me, but it is being challenged to fire off isometric contractions that engage my entire core as I keep a pelvic tilt to maintain neutral spine alignment.

CONCLUSIONS

My preference is the hybrid move. BUT, as we see, it is not an intense isolation move on its own. I prefer this move when it comes to:

• Changing body composition through resistance training in the focused area
• Raising the heart rate for additional energy and increased caloric expenditure (aka burning fat)
• Training more than one body part at a time, aka compound movements
• Most of my clients and those on my online programs are busy moms in their 40’s and prefer this hybrid training approach because:
• It staves off boring and repetitive exercises (although when periodized properly, these have their place)
• It is an efficient way to get a cardio effect as you weight train (this has been a major factor in the developing and maintaining of my physique for over 35 years)
• When exercises such as these are combined in sequences in an exercise program, they serve to train the entire body in a very time-efficient way.