Both fat loss and strength are highly dependent on total volume of work performed.
You want to burn fat? Or more fat?
You have to do work – lots of it.
Go lift some heavy weight – swing a heavy KB for multiple sets of 10.
Or do a squat a pair of heavy KBs for 5.
Your heart rate goes up, right?
You think that burns some calories?
Sure does.
My MO (modus operandi) is simply to produce force – as much force as possible, regardless of the goal of the program.
Strength?
Lift appropriately heavy with as much acceleration as possible, irregardless of the weight or exercise.
Grinds like presses and squats?
I like to move them as fast as possible.
Force = mass * acceleration, after all.
Ballistics?
BOOM!
As explosive as possible.
Swings MUST float – hang there momentarily in the air.
Snatches must move as fast as possible.
Same thing with jerks or push presses.
Doesn’t matter – move them as fast as possible.
You know what else?
All that work – all that force production burns calories.
Many times, a lot of calories.
There’s your fat loss programming.
That’s why my fat loss programs have both grinds and ballistics in them. They’re both important. They both create a lot of work.
The best rep range for strength?
1 to 5.
Simple.
Pretty sure you’ve read that before.
Best rep ranges for fat loss?
1 to 5.
And 10 to 20.
Depending on the exercise and your familiarity with the exercises.
I’m a big believer of using the lower reps on the ballistics for fat loss.
Yup – that’s right – 1 to 5.
I only reserve those higher reps 10 to 20 for those who know their way around a kettlebell and are familiar with the KB exercises.
Why?
Because with higher reps force production tends to diminish when the “survivor” mentality kicks in.
And form / technique starts to degrade.
As Vince Lombardi, NFL Hall of Fame coach said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
Which means that most people will conserve energy just to get the prescribed reps in, therefore decreasing force production and, therefore calories burned.
So that’s the basic programming.
Sure, there’s a little more to it than that.
But that’s the gist.
The rest is diet.
What you cram in your pie-hole.
And that part’s simple.
To lose fat, eat less than you normally would.
To get stronger, eat slightly more.
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