🏋️‍♂️ full-body vs. body-part splits: which is better for fat loss?

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Here’s what’s in today’s edition:

• Why cardio doesn’t always lead to fat loss

• Full-body vs. body-part splits: which is better for fat loss?

• How important should the anabolic window be for you?

Weight Loss

Cardio Blues

The phrases “doing cardio” or “getting in the steps” are things you probably hear just about every day if you are in the fitness sphere. While movement is undoubtedly a better chronic condition than stasis, this physical exercise might not be beneficial for the reasons you think.

Duke University professor Dr. Eric Trexler, among others, thinks movement is an inefficient method of weight loss. Creating a calorie deficit by adding more cardio is limited by the body’s ability to adapt to new stimuli. The body adapts to increased physical activity by reducing energy spent on other physiological processes, maintaining total energy expenditure within a tight range. This makes it more challenging to lose weight solely by adding more cardio.

If you feel like you’ve hit a wall with your weight loss despite seemingly filling your days with as much movement as possible, this article may help shed some light on the reasons behind it.

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More Weight Loss

Full-Body vs. Splits

If your weight-loss goals are stagnant, you might not be doing enough of the right kind of exercise. Swapping modalities and prioritizing the most efficient strategies for exercise-induced fat loss might yield more fruit than marginal gains.

In the article below, we look at the weight loss potential of whole-body training versus body-part training, as well as its effect on your system’s ability to retain muscle while entering into a more catabolic state.

In the abstract, training your whole body seems to do more total work in less time than focusing on one body part during each workout. Whole-body lifting also tends to let you exert yourself at a higher level (a deadlift requires more oomph than a lat pulldown), which may also help you achieve your fat reduction/muscle retention goals. 

Being lean and muscular all at the same time is hard, and this tool might just be something you take out of the shed and fire up if you need help with the job.

Muscle Growth

Is Your Window Closing?

The “anabolic window,” the belief that your body is more receptive to protein in the 30-minute period directly after a workout, has been a widely held belief in the world of strength training since the Weider Principles dominated the landscape.

Like many sacred cows, this one has been under siege for almost as long as its belief has been held. Dr. Layne Norton looks into this long-lived dogma to find out if it really has any merit at all.

Dr. Norton is a fan of protein and an expert in protein synthesis (the body’s ability to turn this macronutrient into muscle). Could it be that taking in sufficient protein throughout the day is better than trying to time your body’s synthesis to match up with your workouts? See what he has to say and decide if you really need to keep your blender on speed dial to make sure you don’t get defenestrated out of your protein gainz.

Everything Else

Hip To Be Square

• Hip hinging is one of the body’s fundamental movement patterns, but most people don’t take the time to nail the form. Learn how to master the movement and watch your lifts soar.

• Since muscle growth remains one of the most sought-after and difficult aspects of working out, Swiss researchers delved into a study to find out if you can actually lose muscle despite consistent strength training.

• Sitting has been the new smoking for almost two decades now, but going after Big Furniture has been a lot less financially lucrative. Learn the risks and get all the good data on what a sedentary lifestyle is doing to you and the world around you.