Train Like An Athlete; Triple Your Fat Loss

As I write this, we are smack bang in the middle of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Elite Athletes dominate our TV screens, and if you are like me and LOVE the Olympics, that TV is on in the background from dawn til dusk. I'm particularly proud of my 7 year old son, Alex, who has taken to the games incredibly well, opting to cheer on team GB rather than watch his usual Netflix or YouTube - instilling a lifelong habit of health & fitness starts from a young age after all.

Of course, the athletes currently on our TV screen are in excellent shape; not surprising seeing as they are the best in the world at what they do.

Whilst this does not apply to us everyday mortals or weekend warriors, I can assure you (having trained a selection of high level national & international level athletes over the past 10 years in a multitude of sports) that there are key concepts from their physical preparation that we can benefit greatly from. Combined with a solid nutritional set up, the following will improve performance & ramp up fat loss and athleticism in no time.

1.) Treat the body as one piece

Unless injured, athletes don't enter the gym with a view to simply developing one particular body part or muscle group. Instead, the focus on developing specific fitness qualities as required by their sport.  Each session is a total body affair, teaching their body to work as a co-ordinated unit rather than a bunch of separate pieces. 

Your action plan: Simply put, this means you should push something, pull something & do something with your legs each workout.

2.) Train multiple fitness qualities simultaneously 

Tying in with the above, athletes will often train multiple fitness qualities every session (although emphasis may change depending on their competitive schedule). These will include strength, power, speed, mobility & possibly some conditioning work as well. Due to the demand of their sport specfifc training, they don't have the luxury of endless gym sessions per week, and so must cover all bases in 2-3 sessions per week max.

Your action plan: Aim to train a range of fitness qualities each session. Start your workout with some key mobility exercises, perform some jumps or medicine ball throws for power, lift some weights for strength & finish with a short burst of direct fitness work.

3.) Emphasise efficiency in the gym

Limited time availability per gym session means athletes have to strive for the maximum effect with minimal investment of time. This means sticking to big, basic exercises that hit multiple muscle groups at one time. Examples include cleans & snatches, squats, deadlifts, lunges, presses, rows & pull ups and loaded carries, all of which  provide the biggest return on time spent in the gym.

Your action plan: Be sure to base your strength work/lifting portion of your workout around variations of the above listed exercises. Do this & you won't go far wrong!

So there you have it - implement these 3 strategies into your training today to train like an athlete & triple your fat loss results. You won't be disappointed!