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It’s been a week with no gains,
I’m feeling slightly insane,
I don’t wanna talk about it,
Ain’t nothin’ to talk about,
I just wanna work it out…
– Kanye (probably)
If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.
Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.
Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.
Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…
Without any further ado, let’s get started..
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N.W.A. Training Tip Of The Week
Fasted cardio is one of the most hotly debated topics in fitness.
Coaches everywhere will debate its benefits and effectiveness.
Your “hardcore” coaches – the ones whose clients need to get up on stage in a banana hammock or tiny bikini – will swear by it, and demand you do it.
The “lifestyle” coaches – the ones whose clients are normal, non-obsessed humans (like me) – will say it doesn’t really matter.
But what does the actual science say?
Looking at the various studies done, it does seem there is up to a 20% increase in calorie burn when cardio is done in a fasted state.
On the surface, this looks great!
20% is a solid increase!
So, it’s a wrap, right? We should all do fasted cardio?
Well, not so fast…
There’s a bit of nuance to consider…
The first thing to consider is how small of a raw number 20% of your calories burned actually is.
Let’s say you do jog for 40 minutes, fasted.
You’re going to burn somewhere in the ballpark of 350 calories (more if you’re bigger, less if you’re smaller).
20% of 350 calories is 70 calories (and that’s the maximum, too, you’re probably burning less than that).
70 calories isn’t much. It’s not even an apple. It’s a handful of broccoli.
That won’t really move the needle in any significant way… 1-2k more steps in during the day will burn close to the same amount, without the need to run without food in your stomach.
There’s something else to consider as well.
With strength training and HIIT, the “calorie afterburn” is just as important as the acute calorie burn.
The “afterburn” is the time after your workout where your metabolism is in an elevated state.
With time equated, HIIT workouts will burn up to twice as many calories as low impact, steady state cardio (aka walking).
(Do keep in mind this doesn’t mean to skip the walking and do all HIIT workouts – “time equated” is key here. You’d be hard pressed to do HIIT for a long duration; it’s very taxing on the body.)
When you’re lifting or doing HIIT in a fasted state, the calorie afterburn is much less than it would be if you were in a fed state.
This makes sense – the body burns calories as it’s digesting food.
Having food in your stomach would boost your metabolism in this scenario, especially since your body is actively repairing itself after the intense exercise.
So what should you do?
As with many fitness dilemmas, it’s your call.
Some people love fasted cardio and the feeling of getting a good workout in on an empty stomach.
Others feel light headed and need to be fed before they start exercising.
To each their own.
If you were going to do a bodybuilding competition or a bikini show, I’d say fasted cardio it is.
In those situations, every little bit helps, and technically speaking, if you’re doing steady-state cardio, doing it fasted does provide a slight metabolic advantage.
But that’s not you, is it? (Probably not.)
Do your cardio whenever you want to.
Because, as always, just getting it done is far and away the most important part of your fitness regimen.
N.W.A. Mindset Tip Of The Week
I was recently asked:
“What should I do if someone is sitting on a machine and hogging it?I don’t want to be rude, but they’re not doing anything, and I need to use that machine…”
This is a great question, and this can be a frustrating situation.
I know it well… I train at a busy, commercial gym.
I often need to wait for equipment, and it can be annoying if someone is sitting on a machine on their cell phone, oblivious that other people are waiting.
First, if they’re just resting between sets, and not taking a lot of time, leave them be.
That’s totally acceptable.
This is only for those times when they’re using the machine as a bench to sit on, and they’re taking forever without doing anything.
If this has ever happens to you, this is what you do…
You’re within your rights to walk over and (politely ask):
“Hey, I’m wondering – how many more sets to you have?”
9 times out of 10, that’s enough to snap the person back to reality.
Self-awareness is lacking these days, and even moreso when someone is on their cell phone.
In most cases, the person will respond with “I have one more” and they’ll immediately begin.
(Seriously, it’s weird how many times they say “one more” when asked that question…)
Or, if you’re a bit braver, you could go with:
“Do you mind if I get a set in while you’re resting?We can rotate back and forth if that’s cool with you.”
In gym culture, “working in” with each other is a normal phenomenon.
You do one set, and while you’re resting, your partner does their set.
If you train with a partner, you know how this works.
But that one’s a bit more “bold” if you will.
Only do that one if you’re okay with actually working in with someone else (usually you don’t wipe the machine down every time the other person does a set – not sure how picky you are about things like that).
Either way, if someone is lost in their cell phone, and not using the machine they’re sitting on, you are within your rights to approach them and politely remind them people are waiting.
Using one of the 2 approaches I highlighted above work very well – that way, you’ll “remind” them without directly doing it.
And one last thing… please have self-awareness, and don’t do this.
There’s nothing worse than having to wait forever because someone is texting a friend back and forth… all while taking up a valuable machine during prime lifting hours.
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
At some point, you’ll need to stop accepting mediocrity for yourself.
That sounds like a sound bite, but it’s just so true.
If you want to get into great shape and maintain it, you’ll need to do all those little things most people don’t want to do.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Anyman Fitness N.W.A. Newsletter.
I’ll be back next week.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Best,
Coach J
Anyman Fitness
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4 and 3 and 2 and 1 and get those sit ups riiiiiiight… (NSFW – lyrics)