I'm seeing a lot of articles about how people "should never train for calorie burning, only train for strength".

Some people do have the ability to get lean with diet and strength training alone.

The people this works best for?

• Young people with youthful hormone levels.
• Someone who carries a lot of muscle.
• Someone who is extremely strict with their diet.
• Older people with youthful hormones (hormone replacement therapy -or- other pharmaceuticals).

If you are trying to lose fat and don't have these advantages?

You will benefit from cardio.

Even low intensity cardio like walking makes a difference.

It doesn't have to be HIIT.

I like HIIT as long as intensity is closely managed.

If exercise is too intense and wears you out, you will tend to move less afterward.

One reason I recommend people avoid training to failure when lifting weights is for this reason.

If you train in a way that breaks your body down, you are less likely to be active 24-48 hours after the session.

Too much or too intense of cardio does the same thing.

When you are young, you can get lean following a "blitz and rest" approach.

As you get older you will want less blitzing and less inactivity.

Cardio performed properly is a way to stay active without breakdown.

Blitzing your body for calorie burn doesn't work that well anyway.

There is a new model called:

The Constrained Model of Energy Expenditure.

The Constrained Model suggests that calories burned per day hits a plateau at some point. The body lowers its BMR as a protective mechanism.

So past a certain point, you won't create a larger deficit even if you are burning a bunch of calories in the gym.

The key to getting lean in my opinion?

Lifting weights and following with cardio... in a way that doesn't break down your body.

AND

Burning a moderate amount of calories DAILY instead of killing yourself one day and resting the next.

I recommend daily workouts if possible.

If you are able to get lean with diet and infrequent intense workouts?

You still may want to review this article on longevity benefits of frequent exercise.

Hope these tips help!

 

I find that I get lean at the quickest pace by aiming to burn around 500-700 calories per day with exercise.

This is just an estimate.

If I aim for a lot more than this, I feel tired and lazy.

This means that my BMR has probably lowered to make up for excess exercise.

I think a lot of this has to do with fitness levels.

When you improve your VO2Max (aerobic fitness) you have the ability to do more exercise without wiping yourself out.

This is why I recommend a 6-8 week intense conditioning cardio workout like I outline in my new book '12 weeks Physical Transformation Journey'

This is good to do 1-2 times per year.

This gives you the ability to burn calories without undoing the benefits with inactivity.