How many times a week should I train to lose fat and tone up?

The question above is a one that I get asked time and time again

In my professional and personal experience, the higher the frequency, the more dramatic and longer lasting your results are
First things first, calories play a major part in weight loss and here's why. There are 3500 calories per pound of body fat. That theoretically would mean that if you were to drop 500 calories per day for 7 days via either diet, exercise or combination of the two, you would lose a pound a week. So you can see with that in mind, the more often you train, the more likely you are to drop the weight

I think it's now pretty obvious how higher frequencies of training can directly correlate with your success in the gym!

Truth be told though, there are a lot more factors to weight loss than just exercising and diet
Things that can also affect how quickly you LOSE or GAIN weight are:-

• Hormonal imbalances
• Lack of sleep
• Stress from work or other

All three kinda go hand in hand, so sometimes it makes sense to talk to your trainer or training buddy about what you can do to relieve these problem.The internet is not always a great resource for answers. Ask a professional or someone else who has experience in  weight loss

As a basic format for weight loss, you will need 3-4 workouts per week, usually lasting at least 45 minutes in length

The session should consist of:-

• A warmup
• 2-3 weight lifting complexes consisting of at least one big compound move
• High intensity interval training using CV and resistance
• Cooldown and stretch

Keep rest between sets short and work HARD!

The Ultimate Failure

If you know me well enough, then you know that I love failure. I don't mean that I relish in other peoples downfalls, rather, I see the positives of it and the key marker it produces for progression

In everything from the very first moments in your life, failure has been a key part in the development of you both physically and mentally. If it wasn't for failure we'd never GROW STRONGER and we'd never learn to deal with even the most basic of task

As I say, GOOD PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT

If you think back again to when you were a child and a time where you remember being frustrated by something that felt impossible at the time like maybe learning to ride a bike. The chances are that you probably overcame your obstacle by continually attempting to do 'the thing'

It's called practice!

And as we get older and OLDER, we fall more and more out of practice at even the simplest things that we practiced and perfected in our youth

We can learn a lot from our kids, just watch the way that they move! By the time they are 3 years old they crawl, walk, squat, push, pull, lunge, twist and lift perfectly. Most children at this age can accomplish all of these movements without dysfunction, and the chances are that their relative strength is massively higher than most adults. Now on the other hand I've met and trained plenty of people between their mid 20s to mid 60s who just couldn't ever flex their hip & knee joints at the same time whilst keeping their upper bodies extended to produce a good squat! Even the simplest thing like walking looks a bit bodged.Not a good start to any training regime in my opinion!

The culprit of this is often because of years of low intensity activity, sitting down when you could have been doing something more worthwhile with your body and thinking that entertainment is something to only be done in a vegetative stance

The solution to this is re-learn your basic pattern movements as you would as a child
Start here with this straight forward home workout:

20 bodyweight squats (with arms vertical and thumbs pointed backward)
20 individual high knees
10 deadlifts (with light dumbells or 2 food tins)
15 push ups
10 lunges (per side)
60 seconds in plank position

Do this once today all back to back, then a couple of days later have a go at twice and then top off at thrice!

If you can manage to do all of these things and of course do them properly then I have no doubt that you will instantly see and feel the results of your labour

The point of all of this is to have a balanced and well rounded ability to move and be neurologically stable


Did you know that people who can't squat properly are more likely to to develop back problems and have constipation? Who out of you can really squat for S#!t?

It is my opinion that everyone should be able to deadlift & backsquat their bodyweight for 20 repetitions to consider themselves physically strong, plus bench press their BW for 10 reps, hold the plank for a minute and be able to produce 10 pull ups. You might think that this is extreme but believe it or not, I saw a woman weighing 120lbs (same as my wife) jerk a weight of 265lbs above her head

So I put it to you to to stop failing yourself and to take this info on board and develop your technique to in turn become your stronger, better, younger self

On a low calorie diet? What you need is a nice big kick in the LEPTIN!

So I know quite a few of you guys that I train and have spoken to about losing fat are on low calorie diets - and that's great!

It's great because you're showing great dedication to getting the results you want by being strict and thoughtful about what and how much you put in your body.

Now, I've spoken to most of you in the past about the possible problems caused long term by being on a calorie restricted diet and in this blog post I want to reiterate these points to you in BLACK AND WHITE!

Top of the list is LEPTIN - Leptin is a protein molecule that regulates metabolism. When you continue a calorie restricted diet for a long period, your metabolism will begin to stall and this will happen regardless of whether you are packing in 5-6 meals per day. The results of this are low levels of Leptin in the body and FAT gain. In order to counteract this as I'm sure I've said to many of you before is to bump your calories up 200 above your BMR one day every 6 weeks. Do not get confused and begin to think that low calories for the rest of your life are going to produce linear results of 1-2lbs of weight loss per week because it just won't happen!

My next point is to actually eat - Seriously guys, just eat! Prepare a third of your meals in advance of the week at the weekend and be sure to vary the foods you take in. Fill in the blanks with supplementation of vitamins, a good low in fat protein isolate powder and flaxseed powder for your fats and fibre. Never skip meals and be sensible with things like alcohol and eating out at restaurants!

Anyway guys, I'm back in London next week to train you all. Please either leave a comment, email me, text me, facebook me, tweet me, whatever! Above all else just take my advice and let's drop some fat and get energised!