Washington DC, Personal Trainer

Archive for the ‘Myth Busting’ Category

Mike Boyle talks weight loss with DC personal trainer Josef BrandenburgJosef, DC fitness expert, is spending the week with the legendary Michael Boyle at his training facility in Boston! 

Who is Mike Boyle and why you should be excited about this: 

Boyle is one of the foremost experts in the fields of Strength and Conditioning, Performance Enhancement and general fitness. His gym was voted #1 in America by Men’s Health magazine. 

In addition to getting his butt kicked in daily workouts (thought you’d like that!) Josef will also be ransaking Mike for the latest on:

• injury reduction
• muscle activation
• core strength
• conditioning
• injury rehab
• agility training!

Check out this video:

A friend called and left me a message the other day with a question she had about her workout. Since her question is one that a lot of people out there probably want to ask, I thought I’d answer publicly for the benefit of everyone.

Q: I did a Tabata workout last night; is 4 minutes really enough time?

A: That depends – but first, let’s explain what a Tabata workout is, since there’s sure to be readers scratching their heads about this right now.

Researcher Izumi Tabata developed this method of interval training in 1996.  His method involves short bursts of high intensity training, which he theorized would give more results in 4 minutes than you could get from an hour of conventional cardio exercise like running.

The aim is to improve fitness all around, both aerobic and anaerobic and compared to an hour long jog, a Tabata workout is better for this purpose. If your goal is to be better conditioned (and it’s not – almost everyone’s real workout goal is to look better without clothes), then Tabata is the way to go. However, in the process of looking better, you’ll get fit and healthy.

So to get back to my friend’s question, yes and no. Yes, the Tabata method does help to burn fat and improve fitness. However, as far as losing fat goes, the three most effective things are (in this order):

1 – Eat better. This doesn’t necessarily mean fewer calories, by the way. Just healthier.

2 – Metabolic resistance training

3 – High intensity interval training (the Tabata method, for instance).
While walking and jogging don’t hurt, the average person who already does some kind of regular exercise will notice much of a difference, so the three things listed here are the most important.  If you’re doing interval training or a well designed metabolic resistance training workout, then you’re getting the best results for your time and effort.

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s #1 personal trainer for busy people. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about our 30 Day Trial for DC fat loss click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.