The 5 principles of radical fat loss
Email number 54 - More of the same
"Hey Roman, I want to be defined and I know this is your area of expertise. I am running 5/3/1 and making pretty good strength gains with it. However, I would like to lose 25 pounds in 8 weeks. How can I modify the program and what diet should I use?"
My mouse pointer circles briefly over the "Delete" button, but since I reply to every email I receive, I type in the same answer I've given 53 times before.
"If you do almost everything right, your diet is perfect and you do regular intense cardio, you can lose fat with almost any reasonable training plan."
Then I gave him specific instructions.
And even though I already had a lot of practice answering this question, I wished I understood it better.
Why on earth would anyone want to lose fat this way?
Sure, it's possible, but it's certainly not optimal. And for me, it's all about optimal approaches.
A better way
I have five principles for fat loss programs that I'll share with you below, and none of them are really complicated. Even more straightforward is the overarching theory I use to design extreme fat loss plans. It's the broad basic idea, if you will. It is as follows:
All facets of the program must be aimed at fat loss.
And now we're talking about radical fat loss - not this half-hearted "I just want to lose a few pounds." If you want fast results, it's not enough to modify your diet and do some extra cardio. Heck, if it was that easy, a lot more people would be walking around with decent muscle development and visible abs.
Extreme fat loss is something I deal with every day. My clients want to get lean in the shortest time possible and that's exactly what my programs aim to achieve. For this to be possible, a complete and comprehensive approach is necessary. Keeping in mind the basic idea I mentioned above, this means that all aspects of nutrition, cardio, supplementation and training with weights must be geared towards this specific goal.
My recommendations:
Nutrition
Finding the exact balance of macronutrients that will help you succeed can be a little tricky. Not only is this highly individual, but it's also important to realize that no calorie formula is perfect. In order to achieve radical fat loss with my clients, I have to start somewhere. Here are a few general recommendations to determine calorie intake.
To determine maintenance calories, I use the following formula:
| Current body fat percentage | Caloric Intake |
| 6%-12% | 37 kcal per kilogram of lean body mass |
| 12%-15% | 35 kcal per kilo of lean body mass |
| 15.1%-19% | 33 kcal per kilo of lean body mass |
| 19.1%-22% | 31 kcal per kilo of lean body mass |
| 22.1% and above | 29 kcal per kilo of lean body mass |
The obvious reason for this structure is the rate of fat loss. The more fat you have on your ribs, the faster you can lose it and the more you can lose without sacrificing lean body mass. For this reason, you can consume fewer calories and still maintain a useful rate of fat loss without compromising the metabolic processes responsible for fat loss and muscle gain.
In terms of macronutrients, protein intake is considered to be between 2.5 and 3.3 grams per kilogram of lean body mass. There is no real magic number here. As long as you consume a little more than 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, you should be in the green zone. The reason for a range is to leave some room for individual adjustment, with satiety being the determining factor. If you start with a lower protein intake and feel hungry, then you can increase your protein intake up to 3.3 grams per kilogram of lean body mass. This allows you more flexibility in meal size and food choices.
As for carbohydrates, you should limit your intake to 1.1 grams per kilogram of fat-free body mass if you are insulin resistant or do not do well with carbohydrates. On the other hand, if you do well with carbohydrates, you can go up to 1.6 grams per kilogram of fat-free body mass.
The rest of your daily calorie intake should come from fat. Of this fat, you should consume 1 gram of fish oil per percentage of body fat. If your body fat percentage is 10%, that would be 10 grams of fish oil.
The most important thing to remember here is that you don't need a radical reduction in calorie intake to achieve a radical reduction in body fat. Although a calorie deficit of 400 kcal will not go unnoticed in terms of both satiety and energy levels, the effects in this respect will not be extreme. For fat loss without sacrificing muscle mass, it is much more efficient to generate a higher deficit through an increased level of activity.
Cardio
Do high-intensity interval training (preferably sprints or jumping rope) or complexes at least once a week. In most cases, I have my clients do one HIIT training session and one complex training session per week. I consider complexes to be cardio training and not training with weights.
Supplementation
I recommend the use of fish oil and a fat burner.
Training with weights:
Why is training with weights crucial for fat loss results? I have 3 reasons for this:
- It generates a higher calorie consumption than a cardio workout of the same duration.
- It increases the activity of metabolic processes involved in fat loss over a longer period of time.
- It is better suited to maintaining existing muscle mass, which keeps the basal metabolic rate high.
Now that we've covered the basics, let's take a closer look at how to put together the perfect weight training program for weight loss.
1 - You need to train often
If you want to lose fat, you need to exercise - and you need to exercise often. In almost all cases, it's more effective to spread your activity over a longer period of time (while still getting enough rest). For fat loss, I prefer two workouts per day, splitting the workouts between weights and cardio.
Of course, training twice a day is not possible for some people and in this case I allow them to do their weights workout and their cardio workout back-to-back as long as they make sure the weights workout comes first.
The high training frequency ensures a consistently increased metabolic rate, a strong and constant increase in EPOC (Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption) and a resulting increase in energy expenditure.
Here is an example of a three-week training plan I created for one of my clients whose goal was to lose 18 pounds in 8 weeks.
Week A
| Morning | Afternoon | |
| Monday | Sprint HIIT workout | Training session with weights #1 followed by 15 min rope skipping |
| Tuesday | 20 min. continuous rope skipping | Training session with weights #2 followed by 10 min. walking on the treadmill |
| Wednesday | Complexes without weights | No training |
| Thursday | No training | Training session with weights #3 |
| Friday | Training session with weights #1 followed by 15 min rope skipping | No training |
| Saturday | At any time: training with your own body weight | |
| Sunday | No training | No training |
Week B
| In the morning | Afternoon | |
| Monday | Training session with weights #2 | 20 min. HIIT jumping rope |
| Tuesday | No training | Complexes |
| Wednesday | Training session with weights #3 | Walking on the treadmill |
| Thursday | No training | No training |
| Friday | Training session with weights #1 directly followed by a HIIT sprint training session | Training free |
| Saturday | No training | No training |
| Sunday | At any time: training with your own body weight followed by 15 minutes on the treadmill |
Week C
| In the morning | Afternoon | |
| Monday | No training | No training |
| Tuesday | Some kind of HIIT training | Training session with weights #3 |
| Wednesday | Complex | Training session with weights #1 |
| Thursday | No training | 20 min. Steady Jump Rope Work |
| Friday | Training session with weights #2 | |
| Saturday | Training with your own body weight followed by 10 min. rope jumping | HIIT sprint training session |
| Sunday | No training | No training |
This client trained 23 times in 21 days or an average of 7.6 times per week.
In fact, this client trained five times in 60 hours! This may sound crazy, but if you take a closer look at the training program, you will see that phases with a lot of training are followed by sufficient rest phases.
If this still seems like too much, then read on.
2 - The training sessions must be short
When creating a training program aimed at fat loss, it is important to remember that you will start each training session with a moderate energy deficit generated by your diet. Each training session is designed to increase this energy deficit as much as possible without killing you.
Long training sessions (anything over 45 minutes) are unsuitable for radical fat loss programs. Considering the reduced calories and the structure of the workouts, this would give you the perfect recipe for overtraining, injury and stagnation. I'm certainly an advocate of pushing yourself hard, but there's a fine line between well-intentioned intensity and stupidity, and the dividing line between the two can be defined by how long you train during a fat loss program.
In addition to this, based on what I've observed with hundreds of clients, the decline in performance towards the end of a 45 minute training session is so severe that it's basically pointless to spend any more time training. Unless you have exceptional work capacity (and in this case, the question is why the hell are you fat and need a radical program), 30 to 45 minutes is enough.
Don't believe me? Wait until you try the workouts I've put together for you.
As I mentioned earlier, short workouts will generate enough stimulus because the frequency of the workouts is high.
3 - The workouts need to be done at a fast pace
One of the aspects of training that is least talked about is training density, which is defined as the amount of work you complete in a given period of time. The higher your training density, the higher your calorie consumption will be.
The easiest way to increase your training density is to shorten your rest intervals. I generally don't like rest intervals much and don't recommend long rests even in my hypertrophy programs, but for fat loss it is absolutely necessary to keep the rest intervals short, which will also make the workouts themselves short and miserable.
Here's an example:
| Types of exercises | Examples | Pause (sec.) |
| Between competing upper body muscle groups | Chest and shoulders | 20 or less |
| Between non-competing "large" upper body muscle groups | Chest and back | 15 or less |
| Between non-competing "small" upper body muscle groups | Biceps and triceps | 5 or less |
| Between non-competing "mixed size" upper body muscle groups | Chest and biceps | 10 or less |
| Between straight sets of squats or deadlifts | Squats, deadlifts | 45-60 |
| Between squats or deadlifts alternating with lower body exercises | Squats and reverse lunges | 30 or less |
| Between squats or deadlifts alternating with upper body exercises | Deadlifts and bench press | 25 or less |
| Between non-competing lower body exercises | Lunges and calf raises | 20 or less |
| Between lower body exercises alternating with "small" upper body muscle groups | Lunges and biceps | 10 or less |
| Intermediate lower body exercises alternating with "large" upper body muscle groups | Romanian deadlift and chest | 25 or less |
| Between straight sets of explosive exercises | Repositioning, jump squats, push press | 35-45 |
| Between explosive exercises alternating with "small" exercises | Repositions and curls | 15 or less |
| Alternate between explosive exercises and "big" exercises | Push press and lunges | 25 or less |
These guidelines are rough and advanced. I use them as a starting point and try to reduce the rest times further where I can. If your fitness is poor, then you will probably need to increase the times above. It probably doesn't need to be mentioned that you will need to reduce the weight on many exercises.
Additionally, I would like to mention that even for the more advanced of my clients, these numbers are only realistic during the first half of the training session. After this we generally need to add a few seconds.
4 - Workouts need to focus on the most effective exercises for fat loss
Not all exercises are the same. Just as deadlifts are better than leg curls for building mass in the leg curl area, some exercises are clearly superior for fat loss.
My fat loss programs are based on an a-list of exercises to which we add other exercises. Generally speaking, my fat loss workouts consist of two to four circuits, with each of these circuits consisting of four to six exercises. At least two of these exercises are from the A-List.
Without question, the following exercises are the top exercises for fat loss:
- Lunges (all variations)
- Step-up
- Push press (standing shoulder press with momentum from legs)
- Transfer
- One-legged squat variations
- Full body pulling exercises (pull-ups, inverse rowing)
These exercises serve as the basis of each circuit, with at least two of these exercises appearing in each circuit. The remaining exercises are further multi-joint exercises, occasional isolation exercises and usually at least one front or rear core exercise.
Here is an example of a training day in one of my fat loss programs.
Note: Using the workout plan above, this would represent "workout with weights #1". There would then be two more workouts during the given week.
Circuit A
Set Up: Perform A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5 in succession, keeping to the pauses indicated. Pause for 30 seconds between two circuits. Perform the circuit twice. Pause for 60 seconds after the second circuit and continue with circuit B.
| Exercise | Repetitions/Time | Pause (sec.) | |
| A1 | Push Press | 12 | 25 or less |
| A2 | Alternating forward lunges | 15 / side | 15 or less |
| A3 | Pull-ups with close grip | 10-12 | 25 or less |
| A4 | Side Plank | 25 sec/side | 5 or less |
| A5 | Swiss Ball Rollouts | 15 | N/A |
Circuit B
Set Up: Perform B1, B2, B3 and B4 one after the other and keep to the indicated pauses. Perform this circuit once. Rest for 90 seconds after the circuit and continue with circuit C.
| Exercise | Repetitions/Time | Pause (sec.) | |
| B1 | Barbell row bent forward | 8-10 | 25 or less |
| B2 | Deadlift with straight legs | 6-10 | 15 or less |
| B3 | Jumping lunges | 15 / side | 5 or less |
| B4 | Bulgarian split squats | 10-12 / side | N/A |
Circuit C
Set Up: Perform C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 in succession, keeping to the pauses indicated. Rest for 45 seconds between two circuits. Perform the circuit three times.
| Exercise | Repetition/Time | Pause (sec.) | |
| C1 | Step-up onto a bench | 12 / side | 15 or less |
| C2 | Dips on a bench | 6-10 | 10 or less |
| C3 | Jumping jacks | 15 | 5 or less |
| C4 | Side raise bent over | 10-12 / side | 10 or less |
| C5 | Superman hold | 20-30 sec. | N/A |
As you have seen, each circuit is intense and performed at a fast pace. The key is to perform the circuit as fast as possible while maintaining good form and using a weight that you find challenging in terms of strength and endurance.
5 - Multiple training variables need to be manipulated during a single week of training
This is the change that makes my radical fat loss programs a little more fun than any other program I've tried. And to be honest, I think it makes them more effective too. The reason for the difference is a long look at training from the perspective of someone who has tried pretty much every way of training.
Most fat loss gurus will say that the goal of the training program is not to increase strength or endurance. Those are less important things and I agree.
The primary goal is to lose fat fast. However, it is important to me that the exerciser finishes the program in a better condition than when they started. Getting lean is the primary goal and I insist that all thoughts of strength and hypertrophy are put aside.
However, I also make sure that no one finishes the fat loss program weaker than when they started or with less muscle than when they started.
The rotating change of training styles - provided that you keep the basic idea of the overall program in mind - serves two purposes.
Firstly, this rotation allows you to lose fat faster as your body is constantly experiencing different stimuli and it is difficult for it to adapt to this. This lack of adaptation is what increases the rate of fat loss compared to other programs.
I hate to use training clichés and colloquial bodybuilding phrases like "keep your body guessing", but staying ahead of the adaptation curve is better for progress. For this reason, I usually add a secondary training protocol to the training program. In the example above, it's bodyweight training. By doing this, I keep the workout varied and the client motivated while accelerating their progress.
Secondly, I like rotating training styles throughout the week because these give me the opportunity to keep an eye on factors that will be important to the progress of the program. Conventional fat loss programs are usually somewhat in line with what I've listed above - at least in theory. The problem, however, is that these programs fail to address strength. More specifically, the fast-paced training regimen used in most fat loss programs necessitates the use of light weights.
Do you know what training only with light weights while in a calorie deficit will do within six weeks? It will make you really good at moving light weights, but very bad at moving heavy weights. And for me, that's unacceptable.
So at least one day a week should be dedicated to using heavy weights (85 to 95% of 5 RM weight). This training session will still be high tempo and intense, but it will also keep you strong. And any strength athlete worthy of the name knows that heavy training is vastly superior when it comes to maintaining existing muscle mass while dieting.
I've had discussions about this with some other trainers who specialize in fat loss and one argument I hear a lot is that taking time off from heavy training during a fat loss program is actually a good thing. They will tell you that this will decondition you so that you will experience stronger growth when you start training heavy again and they disguise this with terms like supercompensation.
I call bullshit. For me, there is no advantage in getting weaker.
To stay strong during a fat loss program, you should train heavy one day a week. Acceptable programs include an abbreviated 5x5 workout or something with low reps and heavy weights using the perfect repetition method.
Final thoughts
Forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but I need to say it again:
All facets of the program must be aimed at fat loss.
I start each day with the hope that this message has gotten through to the world.
If you want to start a fat loss program, make sure you actually start a fat loss program.
This means that for the next six weeks you should not worry about building muscle. You will stop worrying about the amount of weight you are moving.
Instead, you will focus on fat loss - but with the most comprehensive attention to your ultimate goal.
Will you build muscle? Probably not. Will you get stronger? It's possible, but unlikely. You will, however, get extremely lean extremely fast. In addition to this, you will gain exceptional stamina, exceptional strength endurance and increased work capacity. When you start training for mass and strength again, these improvements will be invaluable in taking your body development to the next level.
If you follow my guidance, I promise you will get lean without losing muscle and without becoming a weak shadow of your former self.
By John Romaniello
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/five-principles-of-radical-fat-loss