Guest Post by Scott Sonnon of Tactfit Commando
We’ve known for years that muscle tissue is highly active metabolically, and it helps us burn more calories during the day. So more muscle equals better fat burn, right? Unfortunately that’s only partly true — and not to the extent we once believed. A pound of muscle is now thought to burn an extra 6 calories per hour (as opposed to the 25 or more per hour we once believed). You’d have to pack on an awful lot of beef to make much difference.
But that’s only one side of the equation. Muscle mass provides a number of other important benefits, foremost of which is better management of insulin. Insulin is your “storage” hormone. Its job is to transport fuel into your cells. The higher your ratio of fat to lean tissue, the less sensitive your lean tissue becomes to insulin. Basically, when your body fat percentage creeps too high and insulin comes knocking, your lean mass stops answering the door. If you see a vicious cycle in all of this, you’re right!
One way to encourage your muscles to start answering the door again is through resistance exercise aimed at growth. Why is it important to improve insulin sensitivity? Well, if your muscles don’t answer the door, guess who will… Yep, your fat cells are always ready with a warm welcome.
To top it all off, long slow cardio can actually cause you to LOSE muscle because it increases your level of cortisol. If you focus instead on short bursts of high intensity effort using exercises that target the entire body in all its ranges of motion, you can actually BUILD muscle while you do your cardio! Fat burning just got easier, and a lot more fun.
Turn Your Body Into A Fat Burning Machine ( for 51% off until Thursday)
To check out Scott’s Tactfit Commando program Click HERE.
20. Jul, 2010
at 9:45 am #
In these types of articles, the authors usually just flat-out say “running sucks.” But then the questions start and they have to get specific. After many years of hitting the iron and being relatively clean with my diet I saw no change in the fat on my lower body – until I introduced 20 minute fast HITT-style runs, 6 days per week. It was the magic bullet. I may hate it, but it works. So whenever someone starts the “running sucks” thing I chalk it up to “gym rat” bias.
A 20 minute fast (HITT style) run and long-distance endurance running are VERY different animals that achieve very different results – and I agree on the endurance thing. Makes for some God-awful ugly legs… At any rate, thanks for being clear, and thanks for an informative read.
20. Jul, 2010
at 2:05 pm #
Stacey,
I feel your pain and I’ll add to your points:
1) Diet is probably the biggest piece of the puzzle when it come to fat loss. Unfortunately when your selling fitness programs you have to understate this fact.
2) A lot of successful online trainers have athletes (ie: football players, fighters, hockey players) as their clientele and underestimate the amount of non-gym work they do. Sure if you train with weights 3x/week but perform 4 hours of drills per week you might not need additional cardio! But I’m not entirely convinced the same programming should be used for us desk jockeys.
… or maybe my metabolism just sucks! :^)
21. Jul, 2010
at 11:35 pm #
Can TacFitCommando be used with 3XM as additional cardio?
22. Jul, 2010
at 10:21 am #
MAG – As a trainer I have the opposite problem of those that train athletes all day. My clients are all SUPER busy business men who really have to cram to fit in workouts. I use HIIT with them because of the time efficiency and effectiveness
24. Jul, 2010
at 12:55 pm #
I’ve never really bought the argument that muscle mass has a significant impact on metabolism. It seems to make sense that insulin sensitivity presents an explanation for why resistance training is more effective than steady state cardio. Full body, high intensity cardio workouts are definitely preferred to steady state cardio as well.
25. Jul, 2010
at 11:39 am #
For me and my clients I find that HIT is more fun, and enjoyable. It is easy to change a HIT workout but steady state cardio tends to have fewer options.
29. Jul, 2010
at 6:54 pm #
Your options are LIMITLESS with HITT style cardio.
They are quicker, more efficient, and sometimes FUN!
I’m a different kind of animal and actually welcome the nauseous feeling I get when I do real high intensity intervals.
I train my athletes to be the same way… That way when they are in battle, it doesn’t phase them one bit!
Great read!
12. Aug, 2010
at 2:03 pm #
When I started HITT it was like my eyes were opened. I hated cardio before and I never got the results that I wanted. I like the variety that it offers and though it is serious work, I enjoy the workout much more which means I actually stick to it.
05. Jan, 2011
at 8:39 pm #
Hey Jason I have the TACFIT program but I really wanted to pack on muscle and get stronger not really to get fit will this program work for me or should I just go into the gym and lift heavy weights?