rying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

CB: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough

The secrets to achieving the lean athletic physique that you’ve always wanted are held by top trainers. Most people, on the other hand, waste a lot of time in the gym. Strength coaches, such as Alwyn Cosgrove know there is a better way. Alwyn is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach and a writer for Men's Health and Men's Fitness magazines. He’s trained champions in multiple 12-week body transformation contests and he owns and operates a training facility in Santa Clarita, California. Today, I'm interviewing Alwyn to help you lose more fat in less time.

CB: Hi Alwyn. What is your general approach to helping people lose fat?

AC: The basic concept for any fat loss program is to burn as many calories as possible and maintain or increase lean tissue (which is what burns the calories in the first place). Regardless of how many calories you burn in training – once you lose lean tissue (a typical problem) you burn less calories overall – so your focus has to be on burning calories while trying to offset that problem.

A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition (8(3): 213-222, 1998) showed that 5 days a week of 45 min aerobic training for 12 weeks had no effect on body composition over dieting alone. Obviously even at these high levels of activity there is still a problem.

CB: Where do you start working with an overweight person?

AC: With a full lifestyle and structural evaluation. Typically the overweight person has so little structural integrity that a resistance training program to target their weaknesses and imbalances is my first approach. By manipulating rest periods I can always get a cardio workout without the overuse injuries that often occur in the untrained.

Research (Jones et al., Sports Med. 18(3): 202-214, 1994) has shown that the intensity required by the average sedentary person trying to improve their cardiovascular system will likely create an excessive structural overload – in fact in this study there was a 50-90% injury rate in the initial six weeks of training.

It’s interesting that the typical program for an overweight person is usually 1000’s of reps (i.e. aerobics) which will cause more problems. A superior system would be to target the muscular system and control set duration and rest periods in order to create the same metabolic and cardiovascular demand.

CB: What type of questions and lifestyle review do you do with overweight clients? Are there any common factors among overweight clients?

AC: Primarily we see people with more structural weaknesses – it’s their ability to move their body that is the biggest problem – not just their ability to transport oxygen! So we need to begin with a full body strength and stability program.

Trying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

CB: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough p

ram is to burn as many calories as possible and maintain or increase lean tissue (which is what burns the calories in the first place). Regardless of how many calories you burn in training – once you lose lean tissue (a typical problem) you burn less calories overall – so your focus has to be on burning calories while trying to offset that problem.

A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition (8(3): 213-222, 1998) showed that 5 days a week of 45 min aerobic training for 12 weeks had no effect on body composition over dieting alone. Obviously even at these high levels of activity there is still a problem.

CB: Where do you start working with an overweight person?

AC: With a full lifestyle and structural evaluation. Typically the overweight person has so little structural integrity that a resistance training program to target their weaknesses and imbalances is my first approach. By manipulating rest periods I can always get a cardio workout without the overuse injuries that often occur in the untrained.

Research (Jones et al., Sports Med. 18(3): 202-214, 1994) has shown that the intensity required by the average sedentary person trying to improve their cardiovascular system will likely create an excessive structural overload – in fact in this study there was a 50-90% injury rate in the initial six weeks of training.

It’s interesting that the typical program for an overweight person is usually 1000’s of reps (i.e. aerobics) which will cause more problems. A superior system would be to target the muscular system and control set duration and rest periods in order to create the same metabolic and cardiovascular demand.

CB: What type of questions and lifestyle review do you do with overweight clients? Are there any common factors among overweight clients?

AC: Primarily we see people with more structural weaknesses – it’s their ability to move their body that is the biggest problem – not just their ability to transport oxygen! So we need to begin with a full body strength and stability program.

Trying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

CB: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough

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AC: With a full lifestyle and structural evaluation. Typically the overweight person has so little structural integrity that a resistance training program to target their weaknesses and imbalances is my first approach. By manipulating rest periods I can always get a cardio workout without the overuse injuries that often occur in the untrained.

Research (Jones et al., Sports Med. 18(3): 202-214, 1994) has shown that the intensity required by the average sedentary person trying to improve their cardiovascular system will likely create an excessive structural overload – in fact in this study there was a 50-90% injury rate in the initial six weeks of training.

It’s interesting that the typical program for an overweight person is usually 1000’s of reps (i.e. aerobics) which will cause more problems. A superior system would be to target the muscular system and control set duration and rest periods in order to create the same metabolic and cardiovascular demand.

CB: What type of questions and lifestyle review do you do with overweight clients? Are there any common factors among overweight clients?

AC: Primarily we see people with more structural weaknesses – it’s their ability to move their body that is the biggest problem – not just their ability to transport oxygen! So we need to begin with a full body strength and stability program.

Trying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

CB: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough

ting that the typical program for an overweight person is usually 1000’s of reps (i.e. aerobics) which will cause more problems. A superior system would be to target the muscular system and control set duration and rest periods in order to create the same metabolic and cardiovascular demand.

CB: What type of questions and lifestyle review do you do with overweight clients? Are there any common factors among overweight clients?

AC: Primarily we see people with more structural weaknesses – it’s their ability to move their body that is the biggest problem – not just their ability to transport oxygen! So we need to begin with a full body strength and stability program.

Trying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

CB: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough

rying to address purely the cardio system is like trying to put in a new engine in a car while the front end is still out of alignment. We can increase engine “output” by working on alignment first.

Common factors: structural weaknesses, flexibility issues (i.e. they would be unable to walk on a treadmill for 15 minutes continuously), lack of nutrition (funnily enough we see overweight, almost malnourished people all the time).

CB: What physical concerns do you have to be careful of when working with overweight clients and how do you take these into account?

AC: Typically the biggest physical concern is that they are overweight and reconditioned. That’s a big enough problem right there.

But it’s not just overweight clients – it’s EVERYONE! Every client is different and presents different challenges – the one size fits all cookie cutter approach is long gone.

Everyone should have a full evaluation performed by a qualified professional. Any serious health and medical issues should be cleared by a medical professional first.

Most trainers have a program in mind when someone walks in the gym. I have NO IDEA what I’m going to do until I see the client and evaluate them. If you’re not assessing – you’re just guessing!

CB: So for beginners, a good nutrition program is possibly the most powerful factor?

AC: Obviously a nutrition program is vital – you must create a caloric deficit through a combined exercise and nutrition approach.

So the key for the fat loss programs we use is exactly that – how can we force the body to burn as many calories as possible, and continue to burn them between workouts. The idea is to demand as much work from the body as possible – and maintain that caloric burn for as long as possible (by EPOC, increasing LBM etc).

Now the ONLY reason the body burns calories is because the muscle tissue is working. It doesn’t matter what activity you are involved in – aerobics or weight training – its muscular demand that determines caloric burn. So you have to begin with that in mind.

Let’s think about this:

You can run a mile in ten minutes.

You can swim a mile in twenty minutes.

After a year of swimming every day and not running – you can now swim a mile in 16 minutes.

Without running – how much has your running improved? Very little.

Why? We only have ONE cardiovascular system – so why doesn’t improving your swimming (and cardio system) automatically improve your running?

Because the ONLY reason your cardio system was involved in the first place was because of demand from your muscular system. So you adapted to the SPECIFIC MUSCULAR demands of swimming which by default then involves the cardiovascular system – it’s not the other way around as most people think. The muscles don’t move because of cardiovascular demand – the cardio system is elevated because of muscular demand.

CB: What’s the takeaway message?

AC: Hopefully the readers can understand – that we need to program the body based on the movements it’s going to perform – not based on the cardiovascular system. That’s an upside down method.

CB: So what methods work for fat loss? What methods are ineffective or inefficient for fat loss?

AC: Circuit weight training and interval training always work. Steady state aerobic work never works long term in the real world. Now for those of you out there who will no doubt get ca